Vampire Queen of Quezon City (2010)

Director: Khvan


Premise:
A cop is searching for a serial killer who is taking young girls. This disturbed man tortures, violates, murders, and eats these women.

My Take:
There is a lot of intense and explict scenes and imagery in this movie (including a hardcore rape scene). Plus several long and extended scenes of nothing important. It makes for a bad balance and ultimately a missed opprotunity on a familiar subject by a different culture than mine. However that's to say it doesn't have some merit with  great surreal moments known in the experimental film genre. The director is one to keep an eye on.

Rating: In the middle (but not for every one)

Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Thankskilling 3 (2012)

Starring: Joe Hartzler, Daniel Usaj
Director: Jordan Downey


Premise:
The homicideal turkey named "Turkie" tries to stop a group of strange individuals from destroying the last remaining copy of Thankskilling 2. 

My Take:
Last year I watched the orignal, and while it provided a few laughs the movie was junk. This sequel however is far better and way more weird. If you seen Meet the Feebles, then you might like this one too. It has a lot puppets interacting with humans including a foul mouth grandmother, a space girl searching for her mind, and bi-sexual worm. There's a lot of jokes and wackiness with not a lot of Turkie. This is an interesting flick to say the least which people will either love or hate. And I could see either side.

Rating: In the middle






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus (1962)

AKA: La Mano de Un Hombre Muerto

Starring: Howard Vernon,
Director: Jess Franco


Premise:
A young girl is found murdered and the police expect the brother of a former Baron who had a reputation for torture, rape, and murder.

My Take:
This early Franco oozes style and has a big nod to German Expressionism. The cinemaphotography is spectacular. A solid suspenseful mystery from start to finish. 

Rating: So Good






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Hotel Translyvania (2012)

Starring: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, CeeLo Green, Jon Lovitz,
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky


Premise:
Count Dracula runs a remote hotel where monsters can come and not fear mankind. But a young traveler accidentally finds the castle and crashes the Count's daughter birthday party. Now the Count must deal with the human and try to convince his daughter the outside world is too dangerous for her to venture out into.

My Take:
I was fairly entertained by the this movie at least to until the terrible musical number to end it. But I suppose the kids will like it. At the end of the day, it is a decent and fun flick for the whole family to enjoy.

Rating: In the middle






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Invisible (2006)

Starring: Kit Pongetti, James Tupper
Director: Adam Watstein


Premise:
A couple get terrorized at a remote lake front cottage by two locals.

My Take:
After about thirty minutes into the movie when this couple is doing nothing more than driving, walking, and trying to discuss their marrital issues (poorly); well I completely lost interest and began hitting the fast forward button. The movie is very amatuer looking and as is the dialog and acting. Those flaws are forgivable if you at least have something to keep the viewer interested. And this did not.

Rating: Steaming Pile






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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The Skull (1965)

Starring: Peter Cushing, Patrick Magee
Director: Freddie Francis


Premise:
A collector of the macabre comes across the skull of Marquis de Sade and discovers it turns the owner into a killer

My Take:
A nifty little tale with suburb acting from the always great Peter Cushing and solid direction.

Rating: In the middle






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Dark Feed (2013)

Starring: Michael Reed, Victoria Nugent
Director: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen


Premise:
A movie crew is filiming an low budget movie inside an abandoned psychiatric hospital when the past starts to effect the crew.

My Take:
If you want a cliched snoozer with a premise done way to many times then look no further. A hospital is shut down for alleged torturous practices and the evil doctor comes back to kill more. And thats the looses version as the backstory is never fully explained. Nor will you care.

Rating: Steaming Pile






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Hypothermia (2012)

Starring: Michael Rooker, Blanche Baker, Don Wood
Director: James Felix McKenney


Premise:
A family goes to cabin on a frozen lake for a weekend of ice fishing. Soon another family sets up for fishing. Then they snag something that isn't a fish and wants to eat them all.

My Take:
The movie does a good job at building up suspense and the cast does a good job. The movies biggest downfall is the creature, which looks like a guy in a rubber suite. It's terrible even with the quick cuts and editing. If yo can look past that aspect, the movie is watchable.

Rating: In the middle





Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Solomon Kane (2010)

Starring: James Purefoy, Max Von Sydow, Pete Postlethwaite, Alice Krig
Director: Michael J. Bassett


Premise:
During the 1600's a man learns is soul is bound for Hell. He changes his ways to be a man of God, until the family who takes him in are slaughtered by a group of soldiers possessed by a demon.

My Take:
This is a movie seemingly made to attempt a cash in on a story that could become a series. It fails, mainly because there is no depth to any characters therefore one doesn't care about the plight. There are some decent visuals though and James Purefoy is outstanding per usual.

Rating:Warning






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Family Demons (2009)

Starring: Cassandra Kane, Kerry Ann Reid
Director: Ursula Dabrowsky


Premise:
An abusive, alocholic mother is killed by her tormented daughter. Then her ghost comes back to terrorize the girl. 

My Take:
This movie has no likeable characters. Even though you sympathize for the teenage girl because of the mental and physical abuse she receives, the movie turns her mental basketcase with an itch killing. It is a poor job all around on a subject which could have had great impact instead the movie is turned into a typical horror flick.

Rating: Warning






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Soul (2003)

AKA: Lhorn


Director: Apichart Potipirojn


Premise:
A group of friends help out on remodeling a home one of them has inherited. During the night they begin to tell scary stories and strange things begin to happen.

My Take:
Like many Thai horror movies this one has a lot of ghosts but it also packs sex and weirdness. A watchable flick but doesn't stand too far out of the normal fare.

Rating: In the middle

Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Eaters: Rise of the Dead (2011)

Starring:
Director: Luca Boni, Marco Ristori


Premise:
After the world is over taken by zombies a group of people try to figure out what happen and why it occurred.

My Take:
While it doesn't add anything new to zombie movies, it does manage to pack in a good amount of gore and keep things interesting, even if the ideas aren't fully played out.

Rating: In the middle






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night (2010)

AKA: Paranômaru akutibiti: Dai-2-sho



Director:Toshikazu Nagae


Premise:
A women returns from the US with broken legs due to a car accident. Her brother stays at home to help her recover while their father works out of country. Soon the two discover that she may have brought something else back from America with her.

My Take:
It's a Japanese version of the American movie which does tie in to the series. While it does manage to tell a different and interesting story from the US version. It's not quite a remake and it's not quite a sequel. It has creepy moments, especially the last act,  but ultimately the scares dont hold up.

Rating: In the middle






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Dracula: The Vampire and the Voidvade (2008)

Premise:
Sorting between myth, fiction, fact, and legend the documentary attempts to answer why Bram Stoker choose Romania and Vlad Tepes as a template to write Dracula. 

My Take:
This documentary will probably be most enhoyed by enthusiast of the Bram Stoker novel as it cover a lot about the author and how he came up the ideas behind it. Even then, it is fairly dry and mundane.

Rating: Warning

Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Ghostwatch (1992)

Starring: Michael Parson, Sarah Greene, Craig Charles.
Director: Lesley Manning


Premise:
The BBC turns dedicates an entire night of programming to investigating a haunted house complete with onsite interviewers, studio hosts, and experts staying inside the house.

My Take:
Interesting set up with the story, as its done as a real investigating. However the majority movie is boring. A lot of nonsense talking and man on the street interviews. I guess the makers were going for that real feel to the movie. If you make it to the final thirty minutes though, the flick does redeem itself.

Rating: In the middle
 




Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Magic Magic (2013)

Starring: Juno Temple, Michael Cera, Emily Browning, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Director: Sebastián Silva


Premise:
An American girl visits her cousin who is staying in Chile. They travel with a group of friends to a remote island cabin for the weekend where the situation gets strange very quickly.

My Take:
The film is feels like a missed opportunity. It's a strange one that combine an girl's unstable mental state with the atmosphere of dread and confusion. Maybe that was the point.

Rating: In the middle





Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

Starring: John Baer, Ed Nelson, Angela Greene
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski


Premise:
An astronaught dies on re-entry to Earth and has alien embryos attached to his insides.

My Take:
Defintely a cheap, older drive in movie from the Roger Corman factory that's bad enough to warrant "cult" status amoung some. This is not very good film with a lot of talking and not much action... or common sense.

Rating: Steaming Pile






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Invitation Only (2009)

 AKA: Je Ming Pai Dui



Starring: Juliann Chu, Maria Ozawa, Bryant Chang
Director: Kevin Ko


Premise:
Five people receive an invitation to a party, only to realize they are to be hunted, tortured, and killed for the amusement of the party guests.

My Take:
Billed as "Tawain's first slasher", the movie missed most of the trademark items found in slashers. It's much closer in style to the term I hate, "torture porn". There's a lot blood flying and decent gore gags, but ultimately I really didn't care about these people who were being hunted or those hunting them.

Rating:Warning






Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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Appalachian Undead

 Editors: Jason Sizemore and Eugene Johnson

Premise:
An anthology collection of zombie tales set in the Appalachian Mountains.

My Take:
All the stories in this collection are well written and fairly original in nature, though a couple do seem out of place. The crop of authors are some of the best in horror literature with the likes of Elisabeth Massie, Jonathan maberry, Tim Waggoner, John Everson, Tim Lebbon, Ronald Kelly, John Skipp, Gary A. Braunbeck, and more. Like in all anthologies, some stories are more enjoyable than others. Lots of tales with descriptive narrative on the mountain terrian and the people who inhabit the area and how they deal with zombies. What the readers find in the pages are simply a solid anthology of unique tales.

 Rating: So Good


** Thanks to Apex Publishing for the material to review.  One can find this and many other books at their website Apex Book Company 





Fringes of Horror by Sean Kimmel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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