Episode #9 Is Alive! It's Alive!

Horrorphilia's 'Much of Madness/More of Sin' 1st Annual Holiday Special

What better time than the holidays for all you horror fans to come get your 'Frank' on. Join us as we cover the 100-plus year history of Frankenstein films ...with reviews of Universal's 1931 'Frankenstein' starring Boris Karloff, Hammer's 1966 classic 'Frankenstein Created Woman' starring Peter Cushing, 1970's 'Dracula vs. Frankenstein' starring Lon Chaney, 1981's 'Frankenstein Island', Roger Corman's 'Frankenstein Unbound' from '90, the 1993 TV version of 'Frankenstein' starring Randy Quaid as the monster and a modern day version from 2004 starring Parker Posey & Michael Madsen.

We're also joined by the 'Mavens of Horror' who take on 1971's 'Lady Frankenstein', 1976's 'Terror of Frankenstein', the 1999 comedy 'Rock n Roll Frankenstein' and the 2009 Japanese splatter flick 'Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl'.

We apologize for some of the background noise during the first 10-15 minutes of the show, Dr. Frankenstein was on the roof with Igor doing some repairs and messed with our antenna.

Music by: 'Alice Cooper', 'The Mansfields', 'The Edgar Winters Group', 'Oingo Boingo' and 'The Cramps'

'Click here to listen to Episode #9 at Horrorphilia.com'

Contact us: theotherpodcast@yahoo.com

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Be Kind, Rewind: The VHS Reviews ~ Devilfish (1984)

a.k.a. Shark: Rosso nell'oceano
"Sink Your Teeth Into Pure Terror"

Synopsis: Many questions arise when bodies begin to wash ashore along the Florida coast. Since the marks on the corpses don't lead to any known animal, scientist Dr. Stella Dickens (Valentine Monnier) suspects it's the work of an unknown life form and strives to catch it alive. It turns out, a group of scientists at the underwater-study institute have genetically created the 40 foot creature as a bio-weapon and it's been designed to reproduce by asexual means. She soon finds out that the company she works for is responsible and will stop at nothing to keep their secret from getting out.

My Thoughts: Originally titled 'Shark: Rosso nell'oceano' or 'Shark: Red on the Ocean', this long lost 'Jaws' rip-off from Lamberto Bava is a bit of a mess. I had no problem with the plot and the acting seemed passable, though it's really hard to tell with these English-dubbed Italian movies. The main thing that got under my skin was the terrible editing, something I have never noticed in other Bava films. I can only hope that this was just some bad American edit and the original film isn't as choppy. After all, different cuts of the film have been released in several countries under dozens of titles, such as 'Monster Shark' in Germany, 'Devouring Waves' in the U.K. and 'Jaws Attack 2' in Japan.

In addition to the crappy editing, the scenes with the 'Devilfish' were not convincing at all. Actually, all of the fish scenes were totally cheesy (and not in a good way). Bava and his crew obviously had no idea how to shoot underwater, though I did enjoy some of the out of the water gore effects.

One of those most interesting things about watching this movie was picking out all of the stuff that has been copied (or stolen) from it in recent years. The obvious one is the creature itself. It's the f%#kin' Sharktopus! Come on Bava, sue those motherf%#kers. Shit, I would. You know come to think of it, just about every movie that the Sci-Fi channel makes is based on this plot. The other noticeable thing was a few of the kills were lifted by Alexandre Aja for his 2010 'Piranha' reboot, which would have been a nice tribute if anybody even remembered this film.

My Rating: 4 / 10






Bava followed up this forgettable killer fish flick with one of the greatest horror films of all-time, 'Demons'. You can go ahead an argue that fact, but you'd be wrong ...so don't bother. Because he made 'Demons' (and even 'Demons 2', for that matter), we'll forgive him for this one.

I'd probably say unless you're really into those Sci-Fi channel killer fish movies, you should skip it. I would suggest watching anything else he put out in the 80's, like maybe 'A Blade in the Dark' or 'Delirium'. Plus, it's not available on DVD and used VHS copies are going for over $15 on amazon. If you're just looking for a laugh, check out the MST3K version on Netflix instant.

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'GHOULIES' vs 'CRITTERS'

HORRORPHILIA's 'MUCH OF MADNESS/MORE OF SIN' PODCAST #4

    For our fourth episode, we've conjured up the 'Ghoulies' and squared them off against their arch-rivals, the 'Critters' for an epic battle between the two most successful "Gremlins' rip-off franchises. Will the 'Ghoulies' send their sworn enemies right back to outer space or will the evil space porcupines drop them into the fiery pits of hell where they belong? You can be sure that the blood will fly as Horrorphilia's Much of Madness/More of Sin podcast presents... GHOULIES vs CRITTERS

...we also discuss Ryan Convery's independent zombie-comedy 'Mourning Wood' from Fat Foot Films.

mourningwoodmovie.com

fatfootfilms.com

Music by: W.A.S.P., The Bloodhound Gang & The Cramps

Contact us at: theotherpodcast@yahoo.com

Listen to Episode #4 here or at Horrorphilia.com :

Be Kind, Review: The VHS Reviews ~ The Dark (1993)

"It Will Consume You."

Synopsis: The story involves two men who are searching for the same thing: an ancient creature who lives beneath the surface of a graveyard and feeds on recently buried corpses. The first man (Stephen McHattie, 'Watchmen', 'A History of Violence') is a scientist who wants to capture the creature for its remarkable healing properties, believing that humans can benefit from it. The other man (Brion James, 'Blade Runner', 'The Fifth Element') is a former F.B.I. agent who is obsessed with killing the monster to avenge his partner, who years ago had been killed by the creature.

My Thoughts: A few weeks back on my podcast we reviewed a fairly unknown sci-fi/horror flick from 1979 called 'The Dark'. Well, here's an even lesser known sci-fi/horror movie called 'The Dark'. Made 14 years later (and no, it's not a remake), this Canadian creature feature stars a young Neve Campbell right before her 'Scream' & 'Party of Five' fame.

If you're in the mood for a good late night popcorn movie, you could do a lot worse than 'The Dark'. This low budget monster movie is without a doubt a homage to the creature features of the 50's. It's certainly no classic, but it does have a kind of b-movie charm (and a few funny moments) that keep it from getting boring.

The acting is just okay. Stephen McHattie who has shown off his great acting ability in other films (like 'Pontypool') is just average here. Maybe it was just me, but he seemed to be impersonating Lance Henriksen for some odd reason. The casting of Brion James was perfect in his usual tough guy role. Neve Campbell was a different story, but it was interesting to see her trying to play a cop. She couldn't have been much older than 18 or 19. I guess in a movie like this, what's the difference.

The make-up effects were much better than expected for a movie of this caliber. The creature, who tunneled around the cemetery looking for his next meal, was really creative. It looked like some kind of mutated rodent. The kills were pretty well done, although not much gore (after all, it was the 90's).

6 / 10

My Rating: 6 / 10

Not too bad for a 1990's low-budget Canadian horror flick. I'm surprised that this one was never released on DVD during the height of Neve Campbell's popularity (1998-2000). Since it wasn't, once again VHS is our only option. It was released by 'Imperial Entertainment Video' in 1994 and used copies are going for about 8 bucks on amazon.

"click here to see the trailer"

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The Troll Hunter (2010)

a.k.a. Trolljegeren
"You'll believe it when you see it!'

Synopsis: A group of students investigate a series of mysterious bear killings, but find out that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.

My Thoughts: I gotta admit, going all the way back to "The Blair Witch Project", I've pretty much been a hater of the hand-held video camera faux documentary horror flicks.  There have been one or two that I can tolerate, but nothing that I would ever purchase or even suggest to a friend. Though unlike most of the true haters, I do always give the next one a chance. Maybe I've just been looking for the one movie that would convince me that it's not an utterly hopeless form of entertainment. Well, it took the Norwegians to pull it off.

This film finally delivers where many (if not all) of it's predecessors have failed. The main reason they show you what you wanna see. If it's a ghost movie, show me some damn ghosts. If it's a troll movie, show me the trolls. Not only do they show you what you came to see, but the trolls are fuckin' badass ...and really pissed off.

The story is interesting & well written. The acting is believable. The camerawork isn't too shaky and the scenery of Norway's wilderness really fills in the holes where the viewer might tend to get a little bored between the action sequences.

My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen a little gore, which would have made this in my mind the perfect film of it's kind. Suck on that "Paranormal Activity"!

My Rating: 8 / 10









This is one movie that should definitely be delivered to the American public. So dub it over in English, give it the million dollar advertising campaign (ala Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity) ...hell, even turn it into 3-D. These Norwegians should get their just due.

"click here to see the trailer"