Bear

The Mad Monster

The Mad Monster is another Sam Newfield film, but it was made the year before Dead Men Walk. It also stars George Zucco who starred in Dead Men Walk. It's basically a mix of The Wolf Man and The Devil Bat and it's bad, but in a very charming, fun and entertaining way. Absurd, but with plenty atmosphere, and lots of camp. It's very hard to dislike something like this.

George Zucco is an awesome actor. No matter how shit the film is, he's there to impress you like hell.

6/10

Dead Men Walk

In many ways Dead Men Walk is just a Dracula rip off, but in some other ways it comes off as rather unique. I did not expect much from this, but it took me completely off guard. It's slow, it's poorly directed, weirdly acted and so on, but the atmosphere is just fantastic and Dwight Frye's Renfield-esque character is really cool.

The part where the vampire gets up from the grave and chants some black artsy mumbu jumbo really sets the tone for the film. It's a campy moment, but it's just awesome.

7/10

This is dropping tomorrow. Really looking forward to this.

The Fatal Hour

The Fatal Hour is as far as I know the fourth film in a series if six films about the chinese detective James Lee Wong, played by none other than Boris Karloff the Uncanny! The Fatal Hour is not a horror film, and it's not a very good film. The Fatal Hour is a crime-mystery made to cass in on the success of the much better Charlie Chan film series, which consists out countless films, some which has been lost.

Anyway, The Fatal Hour is a surprisingly tame film with poor pace, a boring mystery and a less than interesting cast. I love Boris Karloff and he is fantastic, but he doesn't really fit the role of a chinese detective. But maybe my relationship to horror-esque Karloff is a bit too strong. I don't know.

I've seen worse, but I wasn't entertained.

5/10

I thought 13 Reasons Why was really good. Was super entertained throughout the whole series, and I didn't find it slow at all. I thought the pacing was brilliant. I do think it could've done with a few episodes more tho. But that's not a big deal.

The Giant Gila Monster

While not a great classic, this creature feature took me by surprise. It's not a good film at all and the lizard usef for the giant gila is just hilarious. It looks sad and tired, and barely moves. But that's just part of the fun in a film like this. One thing I especially liked was the whole Hot Rod part of the film. It really helped set some special mood to the entire film.

But the film just has that nice 50's horror/sci-fi feeling to it, and I just can't get enough of that.

The thing I did hate in this film though, was Don Sullivan's fucking singing with the god damn ukulele. Fuck off! Someone should've smashed the ukulele over his head and raped him with the remains.

Just listen to that abomination of a song. God damn!

6/10

He really tears these ANTIFA and BLM fuckers a new fucking asshole, this guy. Lovely!

Revolt of the Zombies

Revolt of the Zombies are Victor Halperin's atempt to make a sequel and recreate the magic from White Zombie, but he fails in all ways possible. Everything about it is poor, and the zombies disappointing. In White Zombie they feel a bit menacing and threatening, but there's nothing like that about them in this film. The lack of atmosphere is also really sad.

It's a failure through and through.

4/10

The Terror

The Terror is a very cheap film filmed on sets by previous AIP movies, like The Haunted Palace and The Raven, that has Roger Corman as a director and Boris Karloff, a very young Jack Nicholson and Sandra Knight among other in the cast. But wait a minute. Roger Corman as a director? Yes, he was. But there's also a lot of uncredited directors of this film. Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Jack Hill and Jack Nicholson also directed big parts of this film.

It's rushed, it's poorly written, slow as fuck and is just overall lackluster. Not even Boris Karloff or a young babyfaced Jack Nicholson can save this.

However, it's not a total waste. The sets are beautiful and Boris Karloff is Boris Karloff.

5/10

You are a spy.

No. A real slav will have both heels touching the ground when squatting. This is common knowlwdge.

The Beast of Yucca Flats

The Beast of Yucca Flats is a legendary bad film and is quite often included in worst movies ever lists. Why you ask? Well, because it suck donkey ass. The direction, acting, cinematography, editing, dialogue and the cheesy, pretencious narration are all fucking shit. The Beast of Yucca Flats ia an absolute travesty of a film. But you know what? This is so bad it's good. This is one of the very few films I've seen which I've rated 1/10, and 1/10 for me is quite a good score. It's what I rate the worst of the worst.

This deserves a mention alongside films such as The Nail-Gun Massacre, Manos: The Hands of Fate, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Troll 2 and a dew more as some of the worst films ever. Love it!

Highly recommended together with some nachos and a shitload of beer.

1/10

The Screaming Skull

I think I mentioned this among the godawful so bad it's gone films in this pack, but I'm not sure what I was thinking. I must have mixed it up with another title. Because I don't think this is a bad film at all and do not let the 3,4 rating on IMDB fool you. The Screaming Skull is cheap, it's silly and very predictable, but it's got tons of fantastic atmosphere throughout the entire film. Highly recommended!

Love the opening with the narrator btw: "The Screaming Skull" is a motion picture that reaches its climax in shocking horror. It's impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect. It may *kill* you!

Then he tells you you will be buried for free if you die of fear during this film. That's how you start a movie!

8/10

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Sci-fi horror made by Gene Corman, brother of legendary producer/director Roger Corman. It's a farirly standard 50's creature feature, cheap, b-film horror shlock. This is an entertaining film. It's dumb, it's silly, it's stupid and it's bad, but in a very fun, charming and entertaining way.

Not a masterpiece by any means, but it's cool alright.

7/10

Holy fucking fuckity fuck! Most people, me included, thought Syphilitic Vaginas disbanded back in 2012-13, a couple of years after the release of the masterpiece that is Alpha Antichrist, but out of nowhere is an album called Death Freak added to metal-archives, as well as a new single called O.D.C. Agitator and a Complete Studio Collection II which seems to include the majority of the releases between 2011-2014, including Death Freak. That is fucking sick! One of my favourite bands, these unique, blackened speed punkers just can't seem to do no wrong, and their newest album Death Freak sounds crazy good.

https://syphiliticvaginas.bandcamp.com/album/complete-studio-collection-ii

This sure made me happy.

White Zombie

This gem is recognized as the first zombie fil ever. However, the zombies in this film is quite different from the modern zombie seen in Night of the Living Dead and later zombie films which is cannibalistic in nature. The zombies in White Zombie are mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician.

It's a melodramtic horror film starring none else than the glorious Bela Lugosi, where atmosphere is the key to everything. It's a flawed film, with lots of awful acting and some poor timing, but the atmoshere is unique and makes this film to what it is, along with Bela Lugosi of course.

I really like this film!

8/10

Ah, ok. My bad.

Yeah, early Samhain feels very punky, but then againd deathrock did evolve from punk and is a subgenre of punk. And Samhain isn't the only band who sound punky. It's not like a classic deathrock album like Only Theatre of Pain isn't punky, because it sure does have a strong punk feeling to it. Which again is very natural. But on Samhain's first few releases they kinda took the sound of Misfits into a darker, grittier and more atmospheric direction, starting to move away from the traditional punk/hardcore sound of Misfits. But 45 Grave are also knows as a classic deathrock bands, and it's another band that is heavily rooted in punk.

And what exactly is pure deathrock, or what does it mean to play straight deathrock? Christian Death also have clear influences from other genres and subgenres, but no one would deny that they, and a masterpiece like Only Theatre of Pain, are deathrock as pure, straight, true, whatever worse you'd choose, as it gets.

And Samhain are a 80's band with an 80's sound, btw. So if the scene is more focused on recycling the 80s than 90s then it wouldn't be totally unlikely that someone would create something in the vein of Samhain.

But when I do search for new deathrock bands I usually look for bands who are heavily connected to hardcore than gothic rock or pust-punk. So in that sense I know what I am looking for.

I had to search up Deathcharge+deathrock because I know a brazilian Deathcharge (who recently changed their name to DeathSlaüghter) and imidietely thought you were talking of them, which I through was odd as they play black/speed/hardcore/doom metal heavily inspired by Vulcano, Sabbat, Venom, Warfare, Discharge, Apokalyptic Raids and so on.

Used to love Trap Them, but I can't remember the last time I listened to one of their albums. They got a nice sound, got a great SweDeath-esque production and all that, but for some reason I can't really get the band to work all that anymore. It's as if the music is a bir too controlled. It just lacks a real feeling of chaos, madness and brutality.

I don't know. Used to be really into them and should probably still be, but. Eh. Don't know.

One Body Too Many

Frank McDonald is probably best known for making western films, musical and directing numerous episodes for western series, many with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, but he also stepped away from these genre and tried something else now and then. one Body Too Many is one of these films.

One Body Too Many sees Frank McDonald try his luck making an Old Dark House film, which basically means a mystery thriller/horror. This also has some comedy thrown in, but the majority of the attempts at comedy stinks. But when it's not trying to be funny it's actually fairly atmospheric and got some nice suspense.

And it's got Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi.Aight? Bela Lugosi!

There is one hilarious scene, tho. And I mean HILARIOUS! The Lugosi-Haley coffee scene.

6/10

The Invisible Ghost

This is the second of Bela Lugosi's infamous "Monogram Nine" which saw Bela Lugosi appear in no less than 9 Sam Katzman produced films between 41-44. This was the first of them, but the second in the horror pack, with the first being Black Dragons.

Anyway, The Invisible Ghost stars a magnificent Bela Lugosi in a film with a plot as ridiculous as its absurd. But it works fairly well. Its weird, murky, bizarre and ghostly atmosphere really does the job here. And that's all it has for itself to be honest. Because the plot is poor and the execution worse, but the setting, which has a classic Old Dark House feeling to it, and the atmosphere created by Bela Lugosi, the setting, the way the film is shot and so on, is really nice.

Worth a watch for sure.

7/10

Not sure why I mentioned The Church to be honest. It's not an Argento film. Great film nontheless, with hints of Bava, John Carpenter, Argento and more. Some clear Prince of Darkness influences.

Wow, those scores are shockingly low. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage are one of the best giallos ever if you ask me, and I'll give it 10/10 any day of the week. Absolute perfection. Love the shit out of Four Flies on Grey Velvet and Opera as well.

As far as post-Opera Argento goes I'd say that The Church, Two Evil Eyes, Trauma and The Stendhal Syndrome are worth a watch or two, and maybe the two episodes he did for Masters of Horror, but these are mostly for die hard fans of Argento.

And Cat O'Nine Tails is a proper underrated gem. Stunning film.

1 hour ago, Ikna said:

^well, no wonder since goth rock and deathrock are not the same or as strongly affilated to hardrock or hardcore and historically most wavers and goths hated anything heavy or metal-ish. I also always felt that Samhain was more of a Horror Punk band that also happens to draw influence from deathrock, but isn't necessarily a pure deathrock band itself.

No one have said that deathrock and goth rock are the same as far as I can see. Not sure where you've read that. The reason I wrote "deathrock/darkwave/post-punk/goth rock mixes" is because the majority of the mixes I find includes two or more of these subgenres. I don't think I've found a single mix that's all deathrock. It's always mixed up with other genres, like post-punk, goth rock, darwave and whatever, and even then there's barely any deathrock to be found. It's usually just post-punk/darkwave/goth rock, with maybe a couple of deathrock tracks if you're lucky.

And I don't think you can deny the fact that Samhain is a deathrock band. It's not exactly a hidden fact or something that they are, in fact, a deathrock band.

Are Samhain closer to hardcore than most other deathrock bands? Sure. Does that mean they're not a deathrock band? No, not at all. Saying that Samhain isn't a deathrock band is like saying that Darkthrone's "A Blaze in the Northern Sky" isn't a black metal album because there's a shitload of death metal riffing and druming throughout the album. Yet it's considered one of the best and more importantly one of the purest black metal albums of all time. Becuase it's fully possible to be inspired by other genres, include lots of elements of these genres, and still be genre X. It's very natural, very usual.

I wish pain upon anyone who tries to tell me that Samhain III: November-Coming-Fire isn't a deathrock album. What an album btw.

But I will check out these tracks posted. See if I find something to my liking. Thanks for the recs!

I would assume that no one gives a fuck about a band like Old Season, but I'll just leave it here anyway:

Old Season - Beyond the Black

It's been no less than 8 years since their last release, but Old Season finally returns and I just can't wait for this. Their debut, Archaic Creation, is fantastic so I got high expectations to this. Sound-wise they play a mix of epic heavy metal and doom metal. They basically sound like the love child of newer Primordial and Doomsword.

Btw, I've been listening to a lot of youtube/spotify/whatever mixes lately trying to find great bands (goes for all genres, especially trap, psytrance, disco and such where it's more about single songs than albums), but no matter how many deathrock/darkwave/post-punk/goth rock mixes I listen to I never find any deathrock bands that's hard enough. I want bands like Samhain, with that punky/hardcore attitude, but no-one really comes close. All are a lot softer and play more on atmosphere.

Give me deathrock in the vein of Samhain for fuck sake.