Horror > SHAMELESS Horror

Video nasty or not?

Advantages: Compelling story, creepy
Disadvantages: Some poor acting, subject matter horrific

College students, Laura and Margaret, are travelling by train to stay with Laura's parents for Christmas. On the way, they bump into two reprobates, who are trying to travel without buying a ticket. They show an interest in the girls, but thankfully, a mysterious blonde woman comes to their attention instead, and one of them ends up having sex with her in the toilet. The girls change train and settle down for what they think is going to be a quiet ...
...changed train. Sharing the same carriage, it soon becomes clear that the girls are in danger of rape and maybe even murder. Will anyone try to help them? And will the criminals and their accomplice ever be brought to justice? I added this to my Tesco.com rental list after reading a review. By the time it plopped through my door a few weeks later, I had forgotten all about it. A little Internet research prior to watching left me wondering exactly ...

sunmeilan 17.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Night Train Murders (DVD)

Italian giallo thriller

Advantages: Intriguing, Agatha Christie-like plot
Disadvantages: Bad dubbing, weak performances

...when this film was made. My Dear Killer was directed by Tonino Valerii, who only made one giallo, but names like Aldo Lado, Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento are better known. One of the quirks of the films, or at least those that I've seen, was that actors were allowed to speak their native languages, which were then dubbed into the target language, meaning that lip synchronisation is way off at times. Probably because most of the actors are foreign, ...
...is a limited audience for My Dear Killer. You really have to enjoy dubious retro horrors made on a budget in order to appreciate it, or at least know what to expect. However, if you do fall into that category, then I'm sure that you will enjoy it as much as I did. Recommended. The DVD is available from play.com for £5.99. Classification: 18 Running time: 96 minutes ...

sunmeilan 06.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of My Dear Killer (DVD)

Killer cats

Advantages: Entertaining, easy to watch
Disadvantages: Hard to take the plot too seriously

...film? I needn't have worried. Black Cat is not without sex and nudity, but it is a very small part of the film and the 'horror' elements are tame compared to, for example, some of the Korean horror films I have seen. Based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the film is about killer cats. As such, it almost goes without saying that the plot is a bit daft. Perhaps because I love cats so much myself, I couldn't bring myself to believe what I was seeing ...
...is quite a lot of black humour in the film and this made it very easy to watch. Plus the Englishness of the setting is stressed throughout - I don't know where it was filmed, but it really is picture-perfect, particularly the house in which the Professor lives. Patrick Magee plays the Professor and I thought hammed the role up quite a bit. There were lots of looks of wide-eyed terror that told of the horrors yet to come. This was hardly the role ...

sunmeilan 13.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Black Cat (DVD)

Flay Me Baby One More Time!

Advantages: For the first time uncut
Disadvantages: I was left a bit dissapointed

...highly controversial but little discussed Flavia The Heretic. Launched onto DVD for the first time in the UK, and in a rather bizarre state of affairs released uncut. Set in early in the15th century the story begins with young Flavia Gaetani enjoying time with her father in the fields of Trani, Italy. Seemingly from nowhere an army appear and behead her father before her very eyes. Without choice Flavia is forced into a convent where she seemingly ...
...invade the convent, Flavia is forced to question her life and her devotion to God. Surrounding events see her only real friend tortured to death for having "impure" thoughts. As the so called Christians exorcise their own law of the land, Flavia and her friend Sister Agatha welcome an incoming invasion by Muslims; time has come for a change. Flavia The Heretic is a familiar title to me but not one that normally I would pursue, I find the European ...

sghawken 22.02.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Flavia The Heretic (DVD)

Let The Symphony Of Slaughter Begin

Advantages: Great release of a little seen movie
Disadvantages: Not the best Deodato movie, not overly gory either

...in different forms. The Phantom Of Death Straight on to Shameless' second DVD release a little known movie called The Phantom Of Death AKA Off Balance (Un Delitto Poco Comune as its known in its native Italy). Scarcely seen in the UK on its release back in 1988 to some degree this is the first proper release the movie has had in UK shores. Piano virtuoso Robert Dominici (Michael York) is much loved and famous face in Italy, but when his girlfriend ...
...guess you would classify The Phantom Of Death as Giallo, but unlike most its blatantly apparent whom the killer is in this movie. York as Dominici is a man troubled by a rare illness that causes him to age heavily and beyond his ears, so as the movie progresses we see him age from his mid thirties to a ninety year old man, obviously a little bit annoyed he takes his anger out on people that bother him; although beyond that there is not a great deal ...

sghawken 11.02.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Phantom Of Death (DVD)