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DVD Review: Troma Takes a Terrible ‘Blood Oath’

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Arriving on DVD May 10th from Troma Entertainment is David Buchert’s Blood Oath, a film Ryan Daley despised is his previous review.

Bloody Disgusting Lauren Taylor received a copy of the Troma release and has tossed in her two cents, which isn’t much different than Daley’s.

Here’s the plot crunch, with a full review inside: “If you find the cabin in the woods, then you may find her. If you find her, then you’ll never be seen again… She’ll kill you, and then eat you… or worse.
You must take any Troma release with a grain of salt.
In the case of Blood Oath, make sure you apply liberally.

The setup is simple. Charlie, his girlfriend-Beverly, and their friends – Lisa and Kevin – are camping for the weekend. Drinking beer around a campfire, they begin to tell a story about a local couple – the Krupps. One day a mysterious woman shows up at the Krupps’ door, stating that the Krupps are going to have twins. However to make this happen, both of them are instructed to put a drop of their blood into a golden pendant and bury it in their yard. Like any normal couple, they agree because why would there be any harm in a mysterious woman showing up at your door and predicting your future and asking for your blood?

Financial hardship soon falls on the Krupps, however their twins are born healthy. The woman shows up again, now stating that Mr. Krupp must sacrifice one of the twins much like God told Abraham to kill Isaac. He refuses and the woman retreats.

It isn’t until one night when they are driving that they see the mysterious woman standing in the roadway. A horrific accident occurs and Mr. and Mrs. Krupp are killed. One twin is adopted out after it avoids injury being thrown through the windshield. The other twin is badly scarred when it hits the dashboard. The mysterious woman takes this twin and raises it. The next thing we know, this twin is all grown up and is killing those who tread on its territory at the cabin in the woods.

Fast forward – What are bunch of overly horny, f-word wielding kids to do but go hunting for such a cabin where the horrific monster lives!

Once there, they discover remnants of college hazing victims in drawers full of class rings and cell phones. They find a room with a cliché baby crib, complete with a talking disfigured doll, which has them fighting between the idea of staying until dawn or trying to make their way back through the woods.

As Lisa states, it’s a tossup. “It’s just as darker out there.”
Just as darker, indeed, Lisa.

Stuck in the cabin, in the dead of night, the four must fight for their lives!

The effort to make this a legitimate film is painfully obvious. The set up of artistic shots are so blatant that one would think some exertion would have been put into the casting, let alone the writing. The “horrific” monster turns out to be a cross between a cheap wannabe `Leatherface’ and `Joseph in his technicolor dreamcoat’ – noting that he wears a smock made of scraps of his victims’ clothing. Perhaps this was an Ed Gein type homage, yet with no explanation it is hard to be sure. With true Troma style, we get a lesson in anatomy which reveals that the human head is very pliable and full of strawberry pie filling! In the end, the most cringe worthy aspect of the film is Jamie Reynolds’ (Kevin) acting.

Again, Blood Oath IS a Troma release – however there were so many moments that I would have liked for the killer to break through and put me out of my misery, that I am almost embarrassed.

1/5 Skulls

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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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