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Horror In Your House Experiences ‘Bad Biology’

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It has been brutal ever since the clock struck 12 and 2010 was ignited. Each week I’ve been complaining about the lack of releases, and while it continues, at least there are a few gems worth pointing out. Frank Henenlotter’s highly anticipated (and long delayed) Bad Biology finally arrives on DVD, along with Lionsgate’s director’s cut of Saw VI, IFC Film’s Canadian zombie flick Pontypool, and Blue Underground’s high def release of The Toolbox Murders. Read on to see what else hits stores tomorrow.
Horror in your House
January 26, 2010

BAD BIOLOGY: Shriek Show

Acclaimed director Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Brain Damage, Frankenhooker) is back with a twisted tale of love and weirdness. Driven by biological excess, a young man and woman search for sexual fulfillment, unaware of each other’s existence. Unfortunately, they eventually meet, and the bonding of these two very unusual human beings ends in an explosive and ultimately over-the-top sexual experience, resulting in a truly god-awful love story…. With bizarre special effects by Gabe Bartalos, a hip-hop soundtrack from Prince Paul, and shot in glorious 35mm, Bad Biology is guaranteed to shock even the most desensitized of audiences, and sure to become a modern cult classic.

DEAD AT THE BOX OFFICE: Sub Rosa

A film reel of a mind control experiment created by a Nazi scientist is found hidden in a theater projection room. The theater employees mistakenly show the film prior to a midnight screening of the classic zombie movie Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero. The audience members turn into zombies and the theater employees fight to stay alive while government agents attempt to contain the zombie threat.

DEMONIC TOYS 2: Full Moon

Dr. Lorca from Hideous! is back and is continuing to collect strange oddities, along with the help of Caitlin and her boyfriend David. Along the way, they collect the mysterious pieces of the last Demonic Toys and they continue their search at a mysterious castle in Italy, where there have been rumors of a mysterious, ancient puppet alive and walking around, which is under the control of a mysterious demon, who takes on the human form of a little woman named Lilith. When not looking, the puppet brings the Demonic Toys back to life, and now… blood, terror and death counts will rise again.

DOCTOR DEATH, SEEKER OF SOULS: Scorpion Releasing

Meet the charming, flamboyant Doctor Death, a 1000-year-old man who has mastered the art of “selective reincarnation”, promising to keep one’s soul alive forever! The catch? He needs a fresh body to host it for you, and finding willing volunteers is an impossibility. When Fred’s beloved wife dies, he refuses to believe she is gone forever. Dr. Death’s loyal assistant, Tana, offers a supernatural solution to return his wife to him…only to run into trouble when Dr. Death can’t find a suitable body for her to reside in! The bodies pile up and Fred must choose between his lost love and stopping a mad doctor hellbent on success!

THE DOUBLE BORN: Celebrity

In this tense and twisty thriller, a grieving mother embarks on a strange and dangerous friendship with a pair of troubled day laborers hired to repaint her dead son’s room, with terrifying and tragic results. Unable to put her child’s death behind her, Sophonisba’s desire for motherhood is further frustrated by a sterile husband. As she becomes increasingly unhinged, she proves more dangerous than the bad boys she befriends.

INALIENABLE: Anchor Bay

Still guilt-ridden over the accident that took his family’s lives, Eric Norris discovers that his body is host to a parasite from another world. Except, it is more than a parasite: it carries his DNA. Is this his new son or – as the government believes – a threat to mankind?

MADNESS: Well Go USA

Cheerleaders, Tara and Jenna are on their way to Minneapolis to complete in a cheerleading competition. When they stop for gas they meet a couple guys dealing with car trouble and eager to catch a ride back to the city. The four also see this as an opportunity to party together. However, what they don t realize is they re being watched by a group of ruthless killers in desperate search of their next victims. It s wrong direction….ruthless rage….crazy guys and cheerleaders…..It s Madness!

NIGHT OF TERROR: Video Pictures

Horror spoof parody about mad scientists performing brain surgery on unsuspecting patients and turning them into trained killers. Can the teenagers, the psychic, the nurse, the doctors, the patients, the party guests, the rock band and the street people all survive this haunted night of terror? Probably not many!

PONTYPOOL: IFC Films

A small-town radio station discovers that recent madness in the local population may be caused by a virus transmitted through speech.

SAW VI (DVD & Blu-ray): Lionsgate (TEX’S PICK OF THE WEEK)

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood.

TEX SAYS: Since so many people missed this one in the theater I thought I would recommend Jigsaw’s latest. It’s probably the best Saw film since Part III. Defiantly worth checking out. Also the Blu-ray and DVD comes with copies of the original film as a bonus freebie!

THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (Blu-ray): Blue Underground

In a quiet apartment complex in Los Angeles, a deranged handyman goes on a killing spree, savagely murdering ‘immoral’ women with the tools of his trade – claw-hammers, screwdrivers, power drills and even a deadly nail gun! But these gruesome massacres are just the beginning of this landmark epic of violence and depravity that was vilified by critics, banned by censors, and treasured by splatter fans worldwide. This is… THE TOOLBOX MURDERS!

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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