Notizie

“Luke Skywalker” Mark Hamill is among the people who have evacuated Malibu amid the fires raging across parts of L.A. The Star Wars actor shared on Instagram how he and his family left their home amid the spreading fire.

Starting in Pacific Palisades, the fires have overnight also hit parts of Malibu and Santa Monica.

“7pm – Evacuated Malibu so last-minute there (were) small fires on both sides of the road as we approached Pch,” Hamill posted on his Instagram account on Tuesday night. The Pch is the Pacific Coast Highway.

At 8:15 p.m., Hamilton, wife Marilou York, and their dog Trixie arrived at their daughter “Chelsea’s house in Hollywood,” he added. “Most horrific fire since ’93,” he concluded, expressing hope that other people would also “stay safe.”

Other Hollywood stars have also spoken out about the blaze and its impact. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, as well as...

The Palisades Fire has engulfed Palisades Charter High School, a school that has long been a popular location for Hollywood productions.

NBC Los Angeles reported on Tuesday night that the fire spread through several structures at the Pchs campus, and had all but destroyed the adjacent Theater Palisades.

Earlier in the day, Pchs posted a note on its website that the school was closed due to the Palisades Fire.

As the fires continued to rage, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, and nearly 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate.

Pchs is a popular location for Hollywood productions. The school has featured prominently in films, most notably Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic Carrie, where it was dubbed Bates High School in the movie. The school also featured heavily in Danny Steinmann’s 1984 teen vigilante movie Savage Streets, the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday, the Teen Wolf TV series,...

There's no question that the moviegoing experience has changed since the "The Exorcist" became a landmark cultural event when it was released the day after Christmas in 1973. Anyone that waltzed right in to see "The Exorcist: Believer" in theaters this October would have been shocked by the long lines snaking around the block to see the controversial original when it took the world by storm almost 50 years ago. It's unlikely that any other film will ever match that particular watershed moment in horror ever again.

"The Exorcist" marked the first time a genre film had ever received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Notably, the entire production garnered 10 nominations, winning two for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. In the decades since its release, "The Exorcist" has retained its well-deserved status as one of the scariest movies ever made, having left an indelible mark on generations of unassuming spectators that...

Hello everyone! We’re back to give you the lowdown on another week of home media releases, and while we don’t have a ton of titles on tap, there are still a few key releases genre fans are going to want to pick up this Tuesday.

If you missed it during its run on HBO, you can finally catch up with the first season of Lovecraft Country, as Warner Bros. is bringing it home on both Blu-ray and DVD. Jay Baruchel’s Random Acts of Violence is also headed to both formats this week, or if you’re in the mood for something a little more old school, both The Unseen and Slithis are getting the Blu-ray treatment on Tuesday as well.

Other home media releases for February 16th include Bad Impulse, Butchers, The Leprechaun’s Game and Mask of Thorn.

Lovecraft Country: The Complete First Season

Based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff,...

Happy 2021, everyone! It’s been a few weeks, but we’re back with a brand-new edition of our weekly Blu-ray and DVD releases column to kick off this new year. And while we may not have a ton of titles headed home on Tuesday, we do have an excellent bunch of films all the same, including one of my favorite films of 2020, Love and Monsters, which hits various formats this week. Another film from last year that I really enjoyed was Brea Grant’s 12 Hour Shift, which hits both Blu-ray and DVD (and will be available On Demand) tomorrow, and if you have somehow never seen it, I highly recommend picking up the new Blu for Savage Streets, featuring Linda Blair.

Other releases for January 5th include Tintorera… Tiger Shark, From the Depths, Nina of the Woods, and Hacksaw.

12 Hour Shift

It's 1998, and over the course of one...

Hey there, campers. Are you ready for another scintillating installment of our horror franchise power rankings, this time for the blood-curdling series that cannot be killed by conventional means, Friday The 13th? Please note: if you haven’t watched these movies but intend to one day do so, you’d be advised to read no further than these introductory paragraphs.

Obviously, this is not the first Friday The 13th movie ranking list. Or the second. Or the third. Or the fourth. Or the fifth. But it is, as of this writing, the newest.

What makes Friday The 13th, a critically-reviled saga that turned 40 this year, unique among the all-time stalwart slasher franchises is the fact that its formula (and its signature killer) is constantly evolving and wholly permeable to suit whatever type of story its tellers want to create.

The first film was designed as a one-off Halloween (1978) and Psycho (1960) rip-off,...

Stars: Pollyanna McIntosh, Serinda Swan, Diego Boneta, Vanessa Dubasso | Written by Timothy Durham | Directed by Melanie Aitkenhead

Written by Timothy Durham (Blood Ride) and directed by Melanie Aitkenhead, Revenge Ride is an independent horror movie about an all-female biker crew named Dark Moon, who are out for revenge when member of the gang, Maggie’s (Serinda Swan) cousin Mary (Vanessa Dubasso) is drugged an assaulted by a group of football players. It harkens back to old exploitation biker flicks of the 70s, as well as female-fronted revenge pictures like Savage Streets.

I was attracted to the film immediately, being a fan of the genres it feels like an homage to. A terrific cast, I thought most delivered in their roles, with Serinda Swan (Ballers) as Maggie and Polyanna McIntosh as Gang Leader, Trigga, both standing out the most for me. Revenge Ride is a fast-paced action revenge tale, and so...

Film sales veteran Michael F. Goldman, who helped launch the American Film Market, died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease on June 9 in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Goldman built and owned the international film sales company Manson International, a business that had been started in 1953 by his father Edmund, after leaving Columbia Pictures in 1953. Goldman joined Manson in 1962 upon graduating from UCLA and took over its operations in 1975.

Goldman was a founding member of the the American Film Marketing Association (which became the Independent Film & Television Alliance), representing independent producers and distributors worldwide. He helped launch the American Film Market in 1981. He served as Afma’s first CFO at inception and was elected Chairman of the board in 1984-85 and 1991-93. He remained active in the organization throughout its first 25 years, serving on the board and elected to its executive committee as vice chairman-secretary in 1999-2001.

Jean Prewitt, current president and CEO of Ifta,...

Happy (Good) Friday, everyone! Even though time isn’t much of a construct these days, the weekend is officially here and if you’re like me, you’re looking for ways to entertain yourself at home during this whole pandemic mess. And with the economy being what it is right now, I know it’s helpful for many folks out there to save money wherever you can, so I thought I would dive into all the great films over at Tubi TV to compile a list of more than 50 different cult films you can currently stream for free.

Just a note: there are a lot of definitions of “cult film,” so I did my best to not include a bunch of titles that horror fans throw around ad nauseam here, and I even opened up my search parameters a bit to include horror, sci-fi, and genre-adjacent titles that I feel...

Back in April, Scream Factory heated up their summer release schedule with a bunch of new Blu-ray announcements for July, and now they're adding even more must-see scares to the calendar with a new wave of August Blu-ray announcements, including Horror of Frankenstein, Fear in the Night, The Leech Woman, Isle of the Dead, a Collector's Edition of Vice Squad, and Steelbook releases of Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror.

Vice Squad Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Hollywood, cops, hookers and killer pimps! Director Gary Sherman’s 1982 “neon-slime” cult classic Vice Squad is finally coming to Blu-ray this Summer!. We’re so excited! And if you’re a fan of movies like Savage Streets, 10 to Midnight or Class of 1984, this is a must have. Here’s the early details we have a current time to share.

• Blu-ray debut!

• National street date for North America (Region A) is August 13th.

• This...

This might be the first time you’ve heard of Dude Apparel, but those in the horror industry already know a dude named Tom Hodge (aka The Dude Designs). As an artist, his unique aesthetic has been featured on posters for Hobo With a Shotgun, Savage Streets, The Innkeepers, They Live, Wolfcop 1&2, The Other Side […] The post Dude Apparel Launches the Perfect Retro Gear for Nostalgic Film Fans appeared first on Dread Central.

80s horror hounds rejoice! Linnea Quigley is back and screaming loudly in the new werewolf thriller Bonehilll Road. Today, we have a look at the first trailer and awesome new poster.

From legendary underground filmmaker Todd Sheets comes a howlingly terrifying werewolf movie just in time for Halloween, Bonehill Road! Emily and Eden Stevens escape one violent situation only to dive head first into another. Terrified and alone they are stranded in the dark woods only to be chased into a horrific scene in a house or horrors. They must work together to get out alive. But what is worse? What is on the inside or out?

Linnea Quigley, Gary Kent, and David E. McMahon star in Bonehill Road, out from Wild Eye Releasing this week on DVD and on Digital soon. Todd Sheets has 47 directorial credits to his name, most of which have gone straight to home video. It's...

Not everyone owns a Steinmann, or has seen one for that matter. They are an acquired taste, much like doing a deep scrub on your tongue with a Brillo pad, or massaging pickle juice into your eyes. They’re not for everyone, is what I’m saying. I’m of course referring to writer/director Danny Steinmann, former porn auteur (and still quite dead), helmer of Savage Streets (1984), Friday the 13th: Roy’s Boy (‘85), and today’s topic of discussion, The Unseen (1980). To say that a film about a killer inbred man-baby is his subtlest work is testament to his next level commitment for producing entertaining sleaze. Were it not for bad taste, he wouldn’t have shown any at all.

Released in Japan and Denmark in late ’80 with a September ’81 rollout stateside from World Northal, The Unseen came and went, well, unseen by most. Steinmann himself disowned it; he...

“Jason Voorhees is dead! His body was cremated. He’s nothing but a handful of ash!”

Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning was supposed to screen Midnights this weekend at The Moolah Theater and Lounge (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, Mo 63108) as part of Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse film series but it has been postponed becasue of the weather until next weekend (January 20th and 21st).

Okay, so Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning is hardly a subtle, and tasteful work of sophisticated cinematic art, but it is so incredibly crass, coarse, and unapologetically trashy that it’s always entertaining and occasionally even downright sidesplitting in its gleeful go-for-it nastiness. Director/co-writer Danny Steinmann (also responsible for the terrific Linda Blair rape-and-revenger Savage Streets) deserves credit for effectively creating and sustaining an engrossingly sleazy atmosphere throughout and eschewing the by now exceedingly tiresome...

Due to nasty weather that hit St. Louis this past weekend, we postponed our January Late Nite Grindhouse show a week to January 20th & 21st.

A New Year. A New Beginning.

Late Nite Grindhouse returns to the Moolah Theatre & Lounge with the continuation of the Tommy Jarvis trilogy. Last Friday the 13th, we presented Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. If you have been living under a rock, you know it wasn’t the final chapter. Director Danny Steinmann (Savage Streets) directs the sleaziest entry in this popular horror franchise – if not the sleaziest in any of the slasher films of any franchise.

Still haunted by his past, Tommy Jarvis – who, as a child, killed Jason Voorhees – wonders if the serial killer is connected to a series of brutal murders occurring in and around the secluded halfway house where he now lives.

Late Nite Grindhouse presents Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning Friday,...

“Jason Voorhees is dead! His body was cremated. He’s nothing but a handful of ash!”

Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning screens Midnights this weekend (January 13th and 14th) at The Moolah Theater and Lounge (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, Mo 63108) as part of Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse film series.

Okay, so Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning is hardly a subtle, and tasteful work of sophisticated cinematic art, but it is so incredibly crass, coarse, and unapologetically trashy that it’s always entertaining and occasionally even downright sidesplitting in its gleeful go-for-it nastiness. Director/co-writer Danny Steinmann (also responsible for the terrific Linda Blair rape-and-revenger Savage Streets) deserves credit for effectively creating and sustaining an engrossingly sleazy atmosphere throughout and eschewing the by now exceedingly tiresome summer camp slaughter format for a fresh and different approach that’s essentially a vulgar...

The Movie:

Olive Films has released an extremely strange movie on Blu-ray. 1979’s Roller Boogie, directed by Class of 1984’s Mark Lester, and starring Linda Blair. If you’ve seen Class of 1984, Firestarter, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Commando, Armed and Dangerous, or any of Mark Lester’s classics, you will probably not recognize it in this film. Perhaps a little bit, but for the most part, this is the least Mark Lester-like film in his entire body of work. Also a little odd, is the fact that Dean Cundey was the director of photography.

If you’re familiar with Linda Blair’s post-Exorcist career, you’re probably aware that she turned into somewhat of a “bad girl.” Hopefully you’re not expecting much of that here, as Roller Boogie is rated PG. Granted, this PG was prior to the existence of the PG-13, but all that means is...

Stars: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole Laliberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard | Written and Directed by Austin Chick

Ah, the rape-revenge movie. A bastion of the horror movies since the 70s, the genre has seen some great, and some not so great films fall under the banner of “rape-revenge” including such greats as the female-led I Spit on Your Grave and Savage Streets. Now comes Girls Against Boys, which picks up the mantel from those films and runs it straight into dullsville.

The film tells the story of Shae (Panabaker), a college student all set to spend the weekend in the Hamptons with her much-older lover. However just before their trip he calls off the relationship and reveals he has a wife and kid which sends Shae into a state of shock and depression. But she still has to go to work right? Right. Spending some quality time sobbing in the...

Wow. So much has happened in Crystal Lake since our last visit. Mrs Voorhees got in over her head. Someone attempted to open another camp, a lot of people went to the lake to relax, and they’re all dead. Oh, and Jason, Mrs Voorhees’ son, isn’t dead. Maybe he didn’t even drown because he’s a full grown man running around the woods killing and maiming. Except for Tommy Jarvis, a young boy who killed Jason in part 4, The Final Chapter. But after the box office returns there was nothing final about that chapter.

Years after his deadly encounter with Jason Voorhees Tommy Jarvis (John Shepard) is being moved to the Pinehusrt Youth Development Center. This halfway house has some pretty odd patients, fat guy who loves chocolate, a stutterer, nymphos, nonspecific sub cultured girl, and a redhead(?). Why are they actually there? Far away from Crystal...

Linnea Quigley is a prolific actress with over a hundred credited film and television appearances including the likes of Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons, Graduation Day, Savage Streets, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, and Silent Night, Deadly Night. Ms. Quigley, who was kind enough to sit down for an interview with Sound on Sight, is currently working on several projects at the moment and will appear at screenings of both Night of the Demons and Return of the Living Dead in the Chicagoland area at the end of August.

Acting is a dream job for many people in the world and it is an extremely competitive field. When and how were you able to break into the business?

Well I didn’t think that I had any chance, because I came from Iowa and I was very very very very very shy and it...

Stars: Cung Le, Dolph Lundgren, Vinnie Jones, Gianni Capaldi, Briana Evigan, James C. Burns, Robert Lasardo, Sean O’Bryan | Written by James Coyne | Directed by Giorgio Serafini, James Coyne

A Certain Justice, aka Puncture Wounds, is the latest film from the foursome of Giorgio Serafini, Dolph Lundgren, Vinnie Jones and Gianni Capaldi, who previously worked together on Hard Rush (aka Ambushed) and Blood of Redemption. This time round the group is joined by Ufc Fighter-turned action star Cung Le (from the awesome Dragon Eyes) and one of my favourite female stars working in Hollywood today, Briana Evigan.

The film tells the story of soldier John Nguyen, who returns home from a traumatic tour of duty in Iraq struggling with Ptsd. What little peace he had managed to build around him is shattered one fateful day when he rescues a local call girl from a group of violent pimps, killing one and severely injuring the other.

Louisa and Lisa Burns, who played the now-iconic twins in Stanely Kubrick's The Shining, attended a film screening at the BFI in London yesterday (January 29).

Do you recognise the @Shining_twins? Special guests at our anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove pic.twitter.com/5x0DLPiPrq

— BFI (@BFI) January 28, 2014The Shining review: Extended cut packs in more psychological terror

The Shining's Maze of Meaning: Room 237 and the extended cut

The twin sisters have kept a low profile since the film's release back in 1980 but happily posed for a picture on the red carpet as they arrived for the screening of Kubrick's Dr Strangelove as part of the Loco London Comedy Film Festival.

We've found 10 other former child stars from iconic horror flicks to see what they look like now, and what they went on to do next:

Linda Blair in The Exorcist

Linda Blair starred as the head-spinning,...

Louisa and Lisa Burns, who played the now-iconic twins in Stanely Kubrick's The Shining, attended a film screening at the BFI in London yesterday (January 29).

The twin sisters have kept a low profile since the film's release back in 1980 but happily posed for a picture on the red carpet as they arrived for the screening of Kubrick's Dr Strangelove as part of the Loco London Comedy Film Festival.

We've found 10 other former child stars from iconic horror flicks to see what they look like now, and what they went on to do next:

Linda Blair in The Exorcist

Linda Blair starred as the head-spinning, projectile-vomiting and crucifix-stabbing child in 1973's controversial The Exorcist.

A few years after the film's release, Blair encountered trouble with the law when charged with possession of drugs and conspiracy to sell. She managed to turn her career around by the early '80s, going on...

The Salt City Horror Festival keeps getting better and better. We attended the horror film festival years ago, when just a handful of movies screened. Now, they have a lineup that features ten horror films all being shown from 35mm prints, including the original 13 Ghosts, Sleepaway Camp, Pumpkinhead, and more.

The event will take place on April 19th at The Palace Theater in Syracuse, New York. Doors open at 11:00am and the first film screens at noon. Alcohol is being served to those 21 years of age and older, and the lobby is said to be filled with vendors and a number of surprises. Here’s the full lineup of films that will be screening:

Lost Boys Invisible Man (original) 13 Ghosts (William Castle using Illusion-o vision viewers) Pumpkinhead John Carpenter’s Halloween 2 Candyman Sleepaway Camp Story Of Riki-oh Ernest Scared Stupid Jack Ketchum and Moderncine 2007 Horror Film: The Girl Next Door.

Directed by Ben Wheatley, Simon Rumley, Jake West, Lee Hardcastle, Ti West, Jason Eisener, Kaare Andrews, Bruno Forzani, Noboru Iguchi, Jorge Michel Grau, Srdjan Spasojevic, Adam Wingard and many more…

The ABCs of Death is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning fifteen countries and featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film, including the directors of House of the Devil, Hobo with a Shotgun, A Serbian Film, Tokyo Gore Police, and You’re Next as well as four homegrown British directors – Ben Wheatley (Sightseers), Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), Jake West (Doghouse) and Leeds based Lee Hardcastle, who with his claymation short, won a competition to be the final director (and whose short is one of the highlights of the film).

Anthologies are always a difficult thing to get right even when they’re helmed by just one director,...

Stars: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole Laliberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard | Written and Directed by Austin Chick

Ah, the rape-revenge movie. A bastion of the horror movies since the 70s, the genre has seen some great, and some not so great films fall under the banner of “rape-revenge” including such greats as the female-led I Spit on Your Grave and Savage Streets. Now comes Girls Against Boys, which picks up the mantel from those films and runs it straight into dullsville.

The film tells the story of Shae (Panabaker), a college student all set to spend the weekend in the Hamptons with her much-older lover. However just before their trip he calls off the relationship and reveals he has a wife and kid which sends Shae into a state of shock and depression. But she still has to go to work right? Right. Spending some quality time sobbing in the...

The Abcs Of Death

Directed by Ben Wheatley, Simon Rumley, Jake West, Lee Hardcastle, Ti West, Jason Eisener, Kaare Andrews, Bruno Forzani, Noboru Iguchi, Jorge Michel Grau, Srdjan Spasojevic, Adam Wingard and many more…

The ABCs of Death is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning fifteen countries and featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film, including the directors of House of the Devil, Hobo with a Shotgun, A Serbian Film, Tokyo Gore Police, and You’re Next as well as four homegrown British directors – Ben Wheatley (Sightseers), Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), Jake West (Doghouse) and Leeds based Lee Hardcastle, who with his claymation short, won a competition to be the final director (and whose short is one of the highlights of the film).

Anthologies are always a difficult thing to get right even when...

Savage Streets (1984) Motion Picture Marketing Directed by: Danny Steinmann Starring: Linda Blair, John Vernon, John Dryer, Linnea Quigley The Plot is Afoot! Brenda is the leader of a pack of young girls in her town who spend their free time making trouble and raising hell. When they cross a gang and wreck their car, they strike at Brenda by raping and violating her sister, Heather, as well as murdering her best friend. Having had enough, Brenda unleashes street justice on the bastards, switch blade and all. The Damage: Sure, Sure, Linda Blair. “The Exorcist” is a family drama, not a horror movie. No, we believe you. And “Repossessed” was a relevant Mel Brooks throwback. And “Chained Heat” was an indictment on the prison system. And “Savage Streets”? An honest look at the peril of American youths! What? Just because “The Exorcist” is my favorite horror film ever made doesn’t...

A genuine mystery and all-around obsession arose in 1986 during the “discovery phase” of my relationship with horror in the mid-1980s. It would last until the early summer of 2008.

It was something I could not share with my friends or my family, and in those pre-internet days, information (such as the type I needed) was in short supply, and there was little hope that I would ever find the answers I was so desperately looking for.

The question at hand…

Who was Danny Steinmann?

He was the director of my personal favorite of the Friday the 13th films…the often-derided and misunderstood Part V: A New Beginning, released in 1985. He also had the action/exploitation flick Savage Streets to his name from 1984. But that was it, as far as I knew at the time. For months on end, I scanned the pages of Fangoria for word on Mr. Steinmann’s next film,...

Director Danny Steinmann passed away yesterday; details of his death are still unknown.  While the director is probably best (or worst) remembered for his addition to the Friday the 13th franchise, Part V: A New Beginning, he was also behind The Unseen, starring Bond girl Barbara Bach, and the Linda Blair exploitation film, Savage Streets.

Steinmann's filmmaking was a tribute to extremes: gore, kills and sex. Especially sex. He will be remembered for his crazy, chaotic movies and additions to the genre. Watch the trailer for Savage Streets where uncoordinated cheerleaders and bad high school girls meet '80s street punks in a "frenzy of savage violence."

 ...

Our brothers in blood have posted that Danny Steinmann, director of Savage Streets, Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning and The Unseen, has passed on. Reports on The Latarnia Forums popped up a few days ago and I had yet to see a confirmation. This is a very sad day for me as he was a director that I don’t think got the respect deserved to him. Cause of death is undetermined at this time.

I previously met the man at the spring show of Cinema Wasteland 2009 and honestly, he was involved in one of my favorite memories of Wasteland. My friends and many attendees of the convention huddled into a room to watch what many think is the worst entry in the Friday the 13th series. I never felt this way towards the film but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a lot of fun with itself either.

One of the saddest stories I've ever written here on Dread Central. Danny Steinmann didn't have the longest career, nor was his work appreciated by mainstream critics. But genre fans loved his crass and darkly humorous voice, and if you're anything like me, you hoped he'd revisit that territory one day. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen now.

We've received word that Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning director Danny Steinmann has passed away. Details are non-existent at this point, but we're inclined to believe Melanie Kinnaman, who posted the news to her Facebook page less than an hour ago.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love that particular installment in the Friday the 13th saga, but Steinmann was also responsible for one of the greatest "urban decay" exploitation thrillers of the 1980s, Savage Streets. A movie which finds Linda Blair donning a skin-tight catsuit and...

"While travelling across country, Zoe, a lovely deaf mute woman, stumbles on a horrific crime – a gang of rednecks slaughtering two Native American boys. Zoe’s brave attempt to save one of the boys seals her fate. She is captured, raped and left for dead. When an Indian shaman finds her clinging to life in a shallow grave he attempts to save her – but something goes horribly wrong. The spirit of an ancient Apache warrior takes host of Zoe’s dead body. So now she walks amongst the living, hell-bent on getting revenge. One by one she slaughters the men who brutalized her, while the clock ticks away on her quickly decomposing body."

Savaged looks to be the rare contemporary rape/revenge film, a subgenre that seems to have all but died out. And while the quality of Savaged remains to be seen, I'm curious if it should stay that way.

"While travelling across country, Zoe, a lovely deaf mute woman, stumbles on a horrific crime – a gang of rednecks slaughtering two Native American boys. Zoe’s brave attempt to save one of the boys seals her fate. She is captured, raped and left for dead. When an Indian shaman finds her clinging to life in a shallow grave he attempts to save her – but something goes horribly wrong. The spirit of an ancient Apache warrior takes host of Zoe’s dead body. So now she walks amongst the living, hell-bent on getting revenge. One by one she slaughters the men who brutalized her, while the clock ticks away on her quickly decomposing body."

Savaged looks to be the rare contemporary rape/revenge film, a subgenre that seems to have all but died out. And while the quality of Savaged remains to be seen, I'm curious if it should stay that way.

"While travelling across country, Zoe, a lovely deaf mute woman, stumbles on a horrific crime – a gang of rednecks slaughtering two Native American boys. Zoe’s brave attempt to save one of the boys seals her fate. She is captured, raped and left for dead. When an Indian shaman finds her clinging to life in a shallow grave he attempts to save her – but something goes horribly wrong. The spirit of an ancient Apache warrior takes host of Zoe’s dead body. So now she walks amongst the living, hell-bent on getting revenge. One by one she slaughters the men who brutalized her, while the clock ticks away on her quickly decomposing body."

Savaged looks to be the rare contemporary rape/revenge film, a subgenre that seems to have all but died out. And while the quality of Savaged remains to be seen, I'm curious if it should stay that way.

Note: This week is Italian Horror Week over at WWW.Docterror.Com, which is the blog from which I hail, Dr. Terror’s Blog of Horrors. I’ve cooked up some extra special giveaways, some extremely fun content and a bunch of guest contributors that will make you bleed red, white and green. Stop by, enjoy the festivities. This particular entry is a crossover entry into the It Came From 1980X feature as the title suggests. It’s important to note before we begin that so much Italian Horror and Giallo is stuck on VHS. That isn’t to say that you should appreciate it any less, but that does mean you might need to go an extra step or two to make sure you see ‘em all. VHS is not a dead format. That’s half the reason we write this damn column and why magazines like HorrorHound and...

by Nick Schager

[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the Nicolas Cage-starring revenge thriller Seeking Justice.]

Born in an era of Charles Bronson death wishes and Chuck Norris invasions, Savage Streets remains a preeminent example of vigilante pulp, awash in gaudy 1980s fashion and attitude while also delivering female empowerment of a decidedly broad, silly, Slumber Party Massacre sort. A vehicle for Linda Blair to further distance herself from her iconic head-spinning, pea soup-vomiting Exorcist past, Danny Steinmann's film is pure, unadulterated exploitation, trading in violence and T&A with brazen gusto. That profane-and-loving-it posture does wonders to prop up what is, in effect, merely a cheap women-centric version of Death Wish, one in which men are—save for John Vernon's foul-mouthed high school principal—all scumbags (either actively or passively), and women are either bitches or badass angels. Brenda (Blair) fits into that last category, strutting about L.A.'s nighttime streets with her gang in tow, her low-cut top...

Now here's some good news! Clive Barker's Nightbreed, one of the most fan-adored monster movies of all time, will be shown in a never-before-seen three-hour long director's cut at the Mad Monster Party horror convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, March 24th, 2012.

From the Press Release:

In addition to this special rare event screening, Nightbreed stars Craig Sheffer and Anne Bobby (marking their very first convention appearance) will be in attendance for a Q&A session following the screening and will be signing autographs in the dealer room throughout the weekend. Mark Miller, Hellraiser comic writer and Nightbreed expert, will also be on hand to introduce the film on behalf of Clive Barker and share some insights into Barker's vision for the future of Nightbreed.

Join Mad Monster Party to champion the cause and be a part of the growing movement to give the director's cut of this beloved...

Earlier today the folks over at EatSleepLiveFilm put up a list of what they called the ’100 Best Films of the 80s’ and whilst their list was full of awesome films – covering a plethora of genres and touching base on a number of the decades best and most-loved movies – upon reading it, and as a 80s aficionado, I found there to be quite a few glaring omissions. Hence this “rebuttal” – a list of 50 films (in no particular order) that Didn’T make Eslf’s Top 100 that I think are some of the best of the 80s, including some that might surprise you…

Weird Science One Crazy Summer How I Got Into College The Burning Class of 1984 The Adventures of Ford Fairlane The Beastmaster The Sword and the Sorceror Hiding Out Battle Beyond the Stars Home Front (aka Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home) The Blob Dance Til’ Dawn My Science Project...

The Mad Monster Party convention delivers us evil March 23-25 at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. Meet Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Hitcher), Brad Dourif (Child’S Play, Exorcist III, Lord Of The Rings), Linda Blair (The Exorcist, Savage Streets), Angus Scrimm (Phantasm) Ace Frehley (legendary Kiss guitarist), Rowdy Roddy Piper (wrestling legend, They Live), Richard Moll (House, Night Court) and William Katt (The Greatest American Hero, Carrie), among over 35 celebrity guests.

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The Mad Monster Party convention delivers us evil March 23-25 at the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. Meet Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Hitcher), Brad Dourif (Child’S Play, Exorcist III, Lord Of The Rings), Linda Blair (The Exorcist, Savage Streets), Angus Scrimm (Phantasm) Ace Frehley (legendary Kiss guitarist), Rowdy Roddy Piper (wrestling legend, They Live), Richard Moll (House, Night Court) and William Katt (The Greatest American Hero, Carrie), among over 35 celebrity guests.

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If you enjoyed Linda Blair in Savage Streets, the Late Night Grindhouse Midnight offering the past November, I have great news! Linda Blair and her naked sneer are back at the Hi-Pointe this weekend, January 6th and 7th, for more 80.s exploitation madness. Chained Heat, a wonderfully sleazy trash epic from 1983 has everything you could possibly hope for in a Women-In-Prison movie: nudity, shower catfights, rampant lesbian action, nudity, race wars, rape, murder, Sybil Danning, chain-swinging, switch-blade slashing, and more nudity!

Chained Heat stars Linda Blair as Carol, a naïve teenager who enters the .D-Cup. wing of a tough women’s prison after being sentenced to 18 months after accidentally killing a man. There she encounters the cruel reality of life behind bars. There.s a massive drug ring running the prison, and most of the girls are picking off traitors threatening to reveal the conspiracy and when Carol finds herself...

2011 has, despite claims to the contrary, been – for me at least – a pretty decent year for movies. Between comic book flicks, sci-fi, teen comedies and some of the best big-screen horror, I’ve actually seen more films in the cinema this year than any before it… And shockingly not everything was in 3D!

Surprisingly choosing my final top ten wasn’t as difficult as I originally imagined, although I have a feeling that not everyone will agree with anything on this list:

Deadheads

A low-budget, straight to DVD zombie movie as my number one..? Hell Yes! Screened at August’s London Film4 Frightfest, Deadheads turned out to be a surprising mix of John Hughes teen comedy and traditional zombie film. And with shades of Night of the Creeps it was pretty much guaranteed to be on my top ten list come the end of the year. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Yet another horror comedy,...

“You scared, ain’t ya? You should be! Christmas Eve is the scariest damn night of the year!”

Silent Night, Deadly Night, the poster child for Holiday horror films, caused a huge stink when it was released back in 1984. Influential film critic Gene Siskel especially despised the film, going as far to list, on his syndicated TV show, the film’s producers by name and, wagging his finger like a sweater-vested church lady, wailed “shame, shame, shame” after each name. What got Siskel’s holiday hackles up was the distasteful idea to have a slasher film featuring Saint Nick as its bloodthirsty villain. It wasn’t even the first “killer Santa” movie – (Christmas Evil from 1980 has that distinction) but Silent Night, Deadly Night is the most notorious because it had the balls to be released during the Christmas season and its holiday television ads attracted the ire of overly-sensitive parents,...

From writer/director Eric England, producer Daniel F. Dunn, and actor/producer Ace Marrero, new horror flick Madison County – which had a sold out world premiere at this years ScreamFest – follows a group of college students that travel to a remote, mountain town called Madison County to interview the author of a tell-all book on the accounts of the grisly murders that happened in the town over two decades ago.

Upon their arrival, the author is no where to be found and the townspeople state that they’ve “not seen him in years.” They also deny that Damien Ewell, the notorious murderer, ever existed and that the murders never happened. As the kids start to dig around to get their own answers, they come to find that the stories, and Damien, maybe more real than the townspeople are letting on.

Produced for well under $80,000, Madison County has already been mentioned...

“They Raped her Sister!…Killed her Best Friend!…and Now She’s Crossbow Psycho!”

Savage Streets (1984) is a sleazy tale of high school revenge that’s a must for fans of gritty exploitation and over-the top action. Made during Linda Blair’s less-than-wholesome phase (posing naked, getting arrested for cocaine, dating Rick James, etc) eleven years after she turned heads with her performance in The Exorcist, Savage Streets features a hideous new wave soundtrack, great 80′s L.A. locations, punk outfits, lots of neon, and a cat-fight in the gym shower. Savage Streets is Linda Blair’s showcase film and her finest hour. The chubby, big-haired, spandex-clad vigilant-ette chews her way through atrociously vulgar dialog as she hunts down the gang who raped her deaf little sister (Linnea Quigley) and threw her best friend off a bridge. The climax is a classic as she shoots her would-be rapist in the...

October was a busy month for the Late Nite Grindhouse program. We showed two films during the month and before you know it, it is not too long until our regularly scheduled show in November approaches. We are happy to show a 35mm print of the 80′s sleazetastic classic, Savage Streets starring Linda Blair, Linnea Quigley and John Vernon. This is our first film that isn’t really horror but we know everyone will dig it.

Synopsis:

After nearly being rundown by a gang known as the Scars, Brenda (Linda Blair) and friends trash the leader’s car. Gang Leader, Jake, exacts his revenge by getting his cohorts to gang-rape her mute-deaf sister, Heather. Armed with a crossbow and a bad attitude, Linda Blair sets out to avenge her mute-deaf sister while blazing a bloody, Bronson-inspired trail through 80′s Los Angeles.

We will be showing a 35mm print along with our infamous pre-show.

A teenager seeks revenge on thugs who raped her sister.

A gaudy teens-at-war flick from deepest darkest early Eighties, Savage Streets hasn't aged well but this will no doubt be what attracts modern audiences to it. Director Danny Steinmann throws enough subversive wit and exploitation action into the plot to keep you reasonably engaged even when he's putting you on edge with despicable misogyny. He's blessed with spirited turns by an array of cult stars, Linda Blair making the most of her best top-lining gig since that bilious head-spinning debut in The Exorcist.

Brenda...

The only movie to bring Linda Blair, Linnea Quigley and John Vernon together where drugs, rape and murder live and breathe on the streets of Los Angeles. In an era where the punk-apocalypse was in high time with similar films like Death Wish 3 and Class of 1984, Savage Streets fits snugly right into the fold creating a mixture of women empowerment, revenge and crime doesn't pay. Though Savage Streets lacked a popularity-winning audience, the Danny Steinmann and Arrow Films released film exploits a lot of guts in this more urban day of the woman flick.

I watched Danny Steinmann's Savage Streets (1984), knowing nothing about it besides what I’d seen in the trailer, with a friend who admitted to “not understanding” this kind of film - what he’d earlier described as “shitty exploitation”, films which aren’t ‘proper’. Watching the film, he laughed and gasped consistently, thus proving that there is no challenge in ‘getting’ films like this, the problem are those who lump all exploitation films in the same so-bad-it’s-good group.

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