The scare attraction is a pretty common thing these days – most tourist towns and cities will have something of the type, and there's an increasing number of rather more specialist trips and locations of the type that seek to offer you some real hardcore scares. Honestly, as strange as it might sound, I'm not a massive fan – maybe I've seen too many horror films over the years to want to inhabit one, or perhaps it's something to do with the particular stripe of horror film that I watch? Whatever the reason, I've been to a few and never quite got the kick out of it that some do.

I am going somewhere with this, because Fear Inc. explores this very idea of the extreme horror experience. The story follows 'charming' goofball Joe, his 'bland but rich' girlfriend Lindsey and their friends David and Ashleigh. When Joe and Lindsey visit a haunted house, horror buff Joe bemoans that it's just not scary enough, which prompts a random onlooker to offer them something a little more intense. He offers a card for Fear Inc, which Joe takes with interest.
 
Flash forward a few days (I think?) and the four friends are gathered together for a small party between them – plenty of booze and drugs to go around, even if the numbers might not be great – which Joe decides to spice up by calling Fear Inc. And it's from there that things start to go severely south...

The concept of a specialist horror experience company that goes too far is an interesting one, but Fear Inc. doesn't really deliver it as effectively as it could. Partly it's because of just how infuriating Joe is as a lead character – he'd fit much better into an animated comedy show in the useless Homer Simpson/Steve Smith/Peter Griffin mode than a personality you're actually supposed to care about or be invested in whether they live or die. That character is a serious dent in this movie – the rest of the individuals in the movie might not exactly be in-depth, but I can at least bear them being on screen. It gets pretty convoluted as it wears on, and numerous things don't really make sense if you pull at those various threads. There are a few solid moments, but much that isn't as exciting or dramatic as it might be, and the ending frustrated me immensely to be honest.
 
In all my years of reviewing, there have been two threads come through – I have a huge respect and admiration for originality, and it drives me to distraction to watch films squander potential. And this one falls into the second category – this could have been really current and really different, but all too often lapses into horror cliché. Throw in a weak cast of characters and some strange plot choices and Fear Inc. ultimately misses more than it hits throughout its ninety minute runtime.

RATING: 4.5/10. I've been cogitating on this one for a few days, and I feel as though the rating for this has maybe slipped a mark or a mark and a half the more I've thought on it. Fear Inc. is low-budget but actually has a decent core idea, yet it's the delivery that lets it down in the end. There are little flashes of inspiration, but it doesn't deliver on numerous fronts – and as a horror fan the depiction of Joe as the responsibility-free, slacker horror buff was pretty excruciating to watch. I'm happy to go almost down the middle – much less would be too harsh but it's just short of average for me.

In the line of duty reviewing here at Film Gutter, I've encountered an awful lot of very different and unusual things on screen. Those absolute revelations seem to have become a rarity lately, so much so that I was starting to think to myself that there wasn't going to be a film out there that could still surprise me.

Then, along came Beyond the Black Rainbow. And I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like this one in all my time. The 2010 debut from Panos Cosmatos – who recently directed the popular feature Mandy – has certainly accrued a cult following, but for all that certainly has plenty of detractors too. Still, a movie that stirs up this level of debate must have something about it, right?

It's honestly hard to say too much about this one without absolutely spoiling it, and equally because the storyline in and of itself is relatively slim. The movie itself follows of Elena, a young lady who is a ‘patient’ at the Arboria Institute, led by the enigmatic Dr Barry Nyle. Nyle claims that Elena isn't well, but his diagnosis comes under increasing question as she demonstrates telekinetic powers, suggesting another purpose to the institute entirely. As we delve deeper into the history and indeed the present of the Arboria Institute, things become to slowly spin completely out of control for Nyle in both his home life and work life.

Despite the relative slightness of the plot, that certainly doesn't dictate my feelings about this movie. In fact, not only was this one a genuinely original offering, it's one of the best films that I've seen in a long time – indeed it may well be among the best ever. The whole thing plays like a crazed dreamscape in oversaturated colours and bizarre imagery, dangling plenty of questions and offering just enough answers to tantalise and draw you in further as a viewer. The soundtrack is absolutely superb, adding to the surrealistic quality of what is presented, and the lead performances are genuinely brilliant. Eva Bourne's depiction of the mute Elena is simple but effective, an ethereal acting performance that elevates what could have been a really bland character, but the standout is Michael J Rogers as Dr Nyle. He has this wonderfully creepy, unsettling confidence in his actions and his dialogue throughout the whole film – watching this I couldn't help but think he'd have made an absolutely ideal Patrick Bateman were American Psycho made around this time rather than ten years before.

I can get why the movie has been criticised, because it requires a certain mindset and a high degree of patience. Things do happen slowly, almost glacially so at times, but I don't think that this would work any other way. And the visuals are often so striking that I actively enjoy watching even the most languorous of scenes in the film. Honestly you'll likely know within a quarter of an hour if this is for you – you may even be best advised to check out early if you find yourself losing focus or not enjoying it at that phase, because there’s no real shift in the pace or method of delivery. But once you're in and you've immersed yourself into the strange world of Beyond the Black Rainbow, there's certainly no way you'll want to escape from it...

RATING: 10/10. I'm going bold with this one – it's certainly the best film I've seen this year and must be one of the top five films I've ever seen. It's fascinating and confusing at once, gloriously colourful whilst maintaining a mood of menace and darkness, asks questions without offering many answers and leaving you craving to know more without ever feeling unsatisfied. The finale has sometimes been criticised but I absolutely loved the way that it amped up the bizarre nature of things. For me it's a movie I'm certain to be coming back to again to peel back more and more of its layers – they're there for sure, and I have a sneaking suspicion this one might just improve with repeat watching as you come to further grasp its nuances and the more hidden elements within it.

As much as it can sometimes take a while for sequels to be made, it sadly often takes me even more time as a reviewer to get around to watching them. And I have fairly fond memories of the initial Contracted, so it's not as if I was putting it off because I hadn't enjoyed the first. Anyway, let's get cracking, shall we?

The original followed Samantha, who succumbed to a sort of sexually transmitted zombie plague, given to her by a mysterious stranger at a party by the name of 'BJ'. But before she goes full undead she sleeps with Riley, in a scene that left me pretty nauseated at the time and isn't much less disgusting in flashback here. This is the backstory you need to have, as this story follows Riley's own descent into the zombie plague as well as his role in the effort to catch the disease's carrier, BJ. There are one or two other side characters from the first film, but nobody all that recognisable, or certainly nobody that had cemented themselves in my mind.

It's a strange offering as a sequel, because as you can see from the above it doesn't follow the same lead character as its predecessor. Najarra Townsend's depiction of Samantha in Contracted was one of its best features, but then again given the ending this could only be expected – barring it being a prequel, which this is not. Matt Mercer is perfectly good in the role of Riley, but it does another problem in that so much of the storyline is already familiar. If you've seen Contracted, then the way that this disease takes over and what it does to a character will be well known to you, and as such the tension of that element is removed. Instead the story leans at least some of its story weight on the police pursuit for BJ as the cause of the viral infection, with a fairly anonymous Detective Young trying to track the man down officially while Riley goes on a vigilante pursuit of the same man, hoping to find a cure.

While Phase II isn't bad, it's also not massively inspiring. The effects are good, and at large the performances are decent enough – although as I mentioned Detective Young could have been more well-rounded. What little we see and hear of BJ as the cold, apocalypse-inducing psychopath is good, but there's not enough of it for me. With all that said, Contracted: Phase II is somewhat hamstrung by the foreknowledge we have from the first movie, as well as the pacing being a little clumsy. As a result of that, the chase element seems to suffer a bit, and the suspense goes up and down unevenly. The romance element in the story also feels a bit forced, and doesn't really smash home with the emotional impact that it could have.

If you're really into your zombie films, then Contracted: Phase II does offer something different from the usual fare and explores the trope in an interesting way. However if you have seen the first, it doesn't do a huge amount to advance the story or upscale things – there is some escalation in the infection, but a lot plays out in the background rather than the foreground. I've not seen any whispers of a Phase III, which might be interesting, as this one does feel like a real bridging section towards something that could be much bigger and more expansive. I don't rate it quite as highly as the original, but if you liked the first you should find something here for you to latch on to.

RATING: 6.5/10. As sequels go, it's a slightly unusual one, but certainly not a bad one by any stretch. There is an effort to do something different, but so much of the first movie hung on its central conceit that you can only really follow it here without completely undermining the original. Most of what is here is done pretty well, but the pacing was a little off here and there and a few other things didn't hit their marks perfectly, so it's an eminently respectable 6.5/10 for this one.
 

Dir. Romain Basset, France, 89 mins

Dreams can be weird things, right? You go to bed feeling perfectly fine and while you sleep your mind conjures up the weird and the wonderful, the strange and the surreal, the fearful and the frightening. We've all had nightmares and tried to pull apart the symbolism and dissect what it all really means.
 
Don't worry, I'm going somewhere with this. Because Horsehead is a movie heavily preoccupied with dreams, and in fact does a fantastic job of capturing the look and feel they so often have.  By blending reality and these slumbering fantasies, this is a film that cooks up something surprising and effective.

Horsehead itself follows the story of Jessica, a young student pursuing a better understanding of the meaning and context of dreams. She returns home to a less-than-supportive mother and a rather more caring stepfather in order to attend her grandmother's funeral. The house itself is pretty unusual, with its own dreamlike quality, and Jessica's curiosity about her grandmother's life drives her to ask more and more questions at home – and suffice to say that doesn't go down well. So, as a deep and lucid dreamer, Jessica seeks her own solution – to find the answer in the sleeping world rather than the waking...

I'm happy to concede that this central conceit might be a bit hokey, and that controlling your dreams by constantly drugging yourself probably wouldn't work in real life, but if you're willing to let that element slide – or just suspend disbelief for long enough – then what lies ahead is a really rewarding experience, with Jessica's time split between short spells awake and significant amounts of time caught in nightmarish visions that begin to give her clue about the buried secrets within her family. For me personally, the pacing and the way the main reveals occurred was very good, and the visual style was excellent – it had all the disjointed fashion of a dream, and in that respect reminded me in parts of movies like The Cell or Subconscious Cruelty. There are plenty of moments where it's hard to distinguish the real and the unreal, which further adds to the quality of the piece. The lead performance from Lily-Fleur Pointeaux is very solid, and the finale had a great impact also – this one just caught my attention from the get-go and held it throughout.

Honestly I could get that some people wouldn't like this one – it's arty and abstract, and doesn't spoonfeed much at all to the viewer. The narrative is not terribly linear either, but all of those are things that on a personal level add to its appeal – I've been turning it over a lot in the days since I watched it, and finding myself digging deeper to find fresh nuances and new interpretations of certain scenes and lines of dialogue.

My only frustration really is that it's five years on and there's no indication of anything further coming from this director – I'd merrily watch more from Romain Basset, but barring a few shorts before this there's nothing else to get stuck in to. There's a feel from Horsehead this is a man with real directorial talent and vision, but for whatever reason this appears to be it for the time being.

RATING: 9.5/10. Sure, it's not the most extreme film we've ever reviewed, but it is gloriously unusual and has many of the qualities that I love in a horror movie. It's dark, it's atmospheric, it's complex and multilayered, it tackles some uncomfortable ground and it unfurls its story slowly yet fascinatingly. Likely my favourite film watched in 2019 so far, and one that I feel might even grow in stature given how much it has continued to preoccupy my mind in the time since I watched it.

Dir. Frank Henenlotter, USA, 85 mins
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So, I had a day off recently, and I was all good intentions to watch something cutting, intelligent and brilliant. But as I woke up to a day of relaxation after an ultra-busy couple of weeks, I realised I simply couldn’t manage anything cutting, intelligent and brilliant that day. I needed something silly, and something fun, and something I could just enjoy without engaging too much of my brain.

Enter Frankenhooker!

I often talk about some of my favourite directors, and many of them are producing artistic, brutal and flat out hard-to-watch pieces of art. But the more I watch from Frank Henenlotter, I feel like he deserves a mention in that very same breath. You see, usually I’m not a fan of the horror B-movie, but Henenlotter seems to be someone that does it so well that the effect is almost impossible to resist. I felt it with all the Basket Case films, I felt it with Bad Biology, and damned if I didn’t feel it with Frankenhooker. There are many directors who produce one great film and that’s in, but Henenlotter has produced consistently fun and entertaining movies over a long spell of time.

The story itself follows mad scientist Jeffrey, and we begin with his newly-invented lawnmower inadvertently chopping girlfriend Elizabeth to pieces. We’ve already seen him experimenting on a brain in his kitchen (??) so it’s not long before a deeply depressed Jeffrey has determined that he will find a way to bring Elizabeth back. Thankfully he has her head on ice, but all he’s missing is the rest of the body…

You see where this is going?

He decides his best route forward is to get the body from a local hooker, but an unfortunate super-crack accident involving a host of prostitutes (yes, you did read that right) leads to him having a superfluity of body parts to make his own Bride of Frankenstein. The procedure is a success – of sorts – barring the fact that Elizabeth seems to have adopted the speech and mannerisms of the prostitutes that make up her new body.

If it sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is, but Henenlotter’s ability to capture the comedy and absurdity of these sorts of situations is fantastic. By taking everything too far it achieves something more than so many other B-movies can – looking at his career record, maybe it’s just the case that Henenlotter has a lot more love for this type of move than his contemporaries in this patch. The whole thing is hilarious from the get-go, aided by the wonderful central performance of James Lorinz, who plays the whole thing like a lousy 80s sitcom – which is intended as a compliment! The pimp Zorro is also good for plenty of laughs, and everybody almost caricatures the people they are depicting to a fabulously overblown effect. It’s also boosted by an unexpected finale that really brought me one last chuckle from this movie.

Let’s be honest, Frankenhooker is not one of those movies that transcends its title or its premise – you could likely take a good guess at what it would be on its moniker alone. But it’s delivered with such a verve and energy and madcap manner that it’s hard not to like – I’d argue that Henenlotter is the ultimate horror B-movie director, and I think a look at his back catalogue would back that case up too. Henenlotter has recently been working mostly in short films and documentaries, which feels like a bit of a shame, but maybe it’s a matter that the market just isn’t ripe for this particular stripe of horror comedy in 2019.

RATING: 8/10. I don’t want to go nuts on the rating – it’s not a movie that’s pushing boundaries or redefining anything or even making you think much about anything. But it is unequivocally a lot of fun, aided by some excellent comic performances and moments, and might just cement Henenlotter among my top five directors. If you’ve loved any of his previous work – or indeed are just a fan of horror comedy at large – then this one is well worth going out of your way to check out.

When it comes to reviewing, there are two categories that things fall into – those movies that you simply can't wait to watch, and then those films that you simply feel it is your duty to review. And today I shall be throwing myself onto the sword of reviewing once again, as it's a return to the world of Chester Novell Turner, director of the staggeringly atrocious Black Devil Doll From Hell. The only slight note of relief here is that Tales From The Quadead Zone is the only other feature from this director, although there have been numerous rumours of sequels to both of these offerings given the cult following they seem to have developed.
 
Oh, before I move on, if you happen to have this on VHS, it's probably worth over £1000. I couldn't think of a worse way to spend that kind of money if I put my mind to it...

Anyway, Tales From The Quadead Zone is effectively a Twilight Zone knock-off, starring Shirley L Jones of BDDFH as a mother reading stories from the eponymous book to the ghost of her dead child, Bobby. Now, Quadead might imply that there would be four stories here, but there are three – which might be a blessing in disguise. Apparently Black Devil Doll From Hell was meant to be the fourth installment of this, but that grew into a cinematic bomb of its very own.

Our first tale, 'Food For ?', seems to run for little more than five minutes and is a truly bizarre tale of a family that don't have enough food to go around. This leads to one of the family shooting numerous of the others to ensure there is sufficient grub for everyone, followed by a rushed (why the hurry? It's not exactly overlong) conclusion with a host of text on screen concluding the piece. This one is horribly quick and badly acted, and really misses its mark.

This is followed by 'The Brothers', which conversely feels about twice as long as it needs to be. The story of Ted and his deceased brother Fred sees Ted laughing an awful lot about the death before dressing the corpse up in a clown outfit (no, I don't really get it either) and proceeding to dig his brother a grave down in the crawlspace. But it's not long before Fred is back to life and turning the tables. This one is horribly slow and badly acted, and really misses its mark.

The third installment is effectively a tie to the framing device, with Bobby's mother being confronted by her abusive husband (ex-husband? It's not immediately apparent) whom she kills in an extended struggle. It's not long before the police come by – in fact that seems to have weirdly rapidly – and rather than facing leaving her son alone, she decides to cut her throat and join him in the afterlife in a distinctly yellow conclusion. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

In all honesty, I can't look you in the eye and say this is any improvement on Black Devil Doll From Hell. In fact it might be even worse, because this one contains very little of the inadvertent humour that permeates its predecessor. Anyone connected with any iteration of The Twilight Zone would be ashamed to see this one and think they had some hand in inspiring it. The dreadful Casio keyboard music is present again – all too often drowning out the dialogue – and it's layered over some terrible acting and laughably thin 'stories'. For me, the only reason to watch this would be if – like me – you feel you owe it to your audience. I suppose you might also consider it as some sort of slice of horror history as well, and if you're an absolute completist you might seek it out to satisfy your strange curiosity. Then again, if you happen to see it on video for a couple of quid on your travels, I'd very much suggest picking it up...

RATING: 0/10. I can't say I take much relish in dishing out zeroes for films, but then again based on past experience with this director I wasn't really expecting anything that was going to be hitting the heights. I suppose much of what constitutes to Chester Novell Turner style – or lack thereof – is present here as it was in Black Devil Doll From Hell, including a soundtrack that has to be heard to be believed, amateur acting – literally and figuratively – and threadbare 'plots' that barely hang together and don't really work as individual pieces or a complete whole. Nothing to like for me, so I'm afraid this one earns itself nada out of ten.

Australia is not a country we visit often here at Film Gutter, but it's certainly not unheard of. In fact I tend to associate that neck of the woods with dark, wry horror-comedies in the vein of Body Melt or The Loved Ones. Sure, they pack in the gore and the shock, but there's plenty of humour to boot, which can be a welcome relief from some of the more unremittingly bleak content that I engage with on these pages.
 
Funnily enough, Sheborg follows on in much the same vein.

I do a lot of blundering about at random looking for movies to watch – there are plenty I've got on a long list that I want to check out at some point, but now and again a movie just stands out on the power of the title alone. Sheborg sounded like it should be an awful lot of fun, and it lived up to those initial impressions.

The story itself follows rebellious friends Dylan and Eddie, who want nothing more than to fight the system and 'city hall' – although unfortunately Dylan's dad is rather high up in said 'city hall'. However the youngsters' lives are about to take a surprising turn when an alien cyborg crashes to earth just outside a puppy farm (??), and it's not long before this 'Sheborg' sets about a rampage of death, destruction and assimilation. Numerous of the staff at the farm find themselves converted into human-alien-cyborg hybrids, carrying out the evil bidding of the Sheborg as she prepares to bring more of her kind to Earth to take over.

Dylan and Eddie, along with rocker Josh (who's trying to get together with Eddie), decide that they have a duty to rescue the puppies from the puppy farm, but of course don't fully realise what they're getting themselves into, soon enough finding themselves under attack from the minions of the Sheborg. Cue plenty of kick-ass action, surreal moments of humour and general excitement and adventure as the girls look to not only defeat the cyborgs in their own town, but try and save the whole planet in the process.

Sheborg certainly qualifies as a very entertaining piece, and there were a good handful of genuinely laugh out loud moments from the unusual ensemble that makes up the cast. All of the actors and actresses involved seem to be really enjoying themselves and throwing themselves into it, which makes it a lot easier for you to enjoy it as a viewer. It feels like it's fairly low-budget, but it doesn't really show that much in the way that it looks or is shot, cleverly using what it has to best effect. The plot isn't anything spectacular, but presents enough to keep you going and whips along at a good pace as a whole.

My reservation is that I think there's just a bit too much time devoted to action here, and for me those scenes ultimately just become a bit too repetitive and overdone. There's nothing wrong with them per se – they look decent enough, and again are laced with a chuckle or two in the way that our human cast overcomes the alien threat. But I'd have liked to see a bit more character development and more exploitation of some of the comedy chemistry between the cast – it's undoubtedly there from what we do see, and I'd prefer more of that and less of the fighting we encounter.

With all that said, that's not a huge quibble and this one certainly earns high marks for being extremely watchable, for some solid comedy performance and for a generally chaotic, anarchic feel that felt very genuine. If you're into horror-comedies then this one could well be worth checking out – although if you hate the idea of anal probes, this may not be the movie for you...

RATING: 7.5/10. Sheborg doesn't achieve classic status, nor is it really shooting for it in my opinion. But I feel as though it does aim to be a future cult favourite, and it might just go on to achieve that. It's funny, it's energetic, it's well-delivered and has a great style to it. Maybe there's a bit too much action for my personal taste, when there could have been more made of the comedy timing and interplay that we see elsewhere, but that aside there's plenty to like here and a lot of laughs to be had.

Oh yes, it's time for more shot on video goodness – and today it's time to visit some familiar territory...

I keep telling myself that I won't got back to the works of Nick Philips, one of the most notorious directors of cheaply made slashers throughout the 80s and 90s. It's like saying you'll only watch one more TV show on your box set binge, or that you're only going to have more sweet out of the share bag. You know it's not good for you, and you know you shouldn't really, but you somehow can't help yourself.

In the first six months of the year I had the pleasure of checking our four other Philips features – Criminally Insane 1 and 2, Doctor Bloodbath and Satan's Black Wedding. One of many pseudonyms for director Nick Millard, who also worked on a host of sex films and action movies, the Philips moniker is likely the best-known and notorious for shot on video slashers. All four of those offerings were terrible in varying degrees, and in the bad habit of 'recycling' clips from each other to pad out the already short running times, which begs the question even more... why I am back here? I can only put it down to a morbid sense of curiosity.

Which brings us to Cemetery Sisters, the story of two young sisters who grew up in with their father working in a mortuary and as such developed an unhealthy obsessions with death. Their living these days is hooking in unsuspecting men from the dating sections of newspapers (way before your online dating here), marrying them, killing them and copping the money and goods that they owned. That's established in about the first three minutes, so that's no spoiler – what is strange is just how quickly this process seems to happen, with the ladies looking like they have a new victim each week. Anyway, the real trouble begins when the girls' aunt comes to stay, and the girls have a body upstairs in the bedroom they haven't gotten rid of just yet...

Cemetery Sisters has so many of the Philips hallmarks that there's something weirdly comfortable about it – a familiar cast of actors (including a lady whom I now realise is Mrs Millard playing auntie, as well as having been in Doctor Bloodbath), lame-looking death sequences, some really hokey performances and of course the reuse of footage from other movies, with flashbacks to one of our leads watching Criminally Insane and Satan's Black Wedding as a kid. Honestly, if I had seen those two as a youngster, I think it would have disturbed me just the same...

Then part of me started to speculate that maybe Philips had jumped the gun on Marvel by developing his own Philips-verse, with the actors who occurred in multiple films actually playing the same character. Why couldn't auntie here also have been the wife of the mass-murdering doctor in Doctor Bloodbath later down the line? Many of the stories take place in the very same house – maybe it's been passed from one serial killer to another because it's actually got some kind of curse hanging over it? Maybe the sister who also appeared in Doctor Bloodbath was really the same character, and met her grisly end there after this movie?

OK, maybe it's coming to a point where I've seen too many of these films, but you have to find some way to kill the time while this hour of your life is burned away for absolutely nothing. As is almost invariable, there's little here to redeem this one. It looks cheaply made – in no small part because it is cheaply made – and as always feels so rushed in how it's put together that you wonder why there was sometimes such a big gap between Philips offerings. You could be charitable and say this was an era where slashers were often turned out cheap and quick, but Cemetery Sisters does little to improve on any of the previous offerings from the director. It's actually weirdly and eminently possible the director made money on these, because it's hard to think they spent much putting them together before they went to market...

RATING: 2/10. I'll concede that this is not the worst of Philips' slashers, nor is it the best – that honour still remains with the 3/10 awarded to Satan's Black Wedding. The lead actresses at least look like they're having fun with the material, and there are a couple of moments that made me chuckle, deliberately or otherwise. Again it falls into the category of 'has to be seen to be believed' rather than being 'must watch', with a poor 2/10.