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New month, new horror recommendations from Deep Cuts Rising. This installment’s five selections reflect the month of July 2024.

Regardless of how they came to be here, or what they’re about, these past movies can generally be considered overlooked, forgotten or unknown.

This month’s offerings include a snake thriller, a giallo, and more.

Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

Directed by Luciano Ercoli.

For fans, July is dedicated to gialli. And one giallo that doesn’t come up too often in discussions is Death Walks on High Heels (La morte cammina con i tacchi alti in Italian). After Nieves Navarro‘s character’s father — a jewel thief — is murdered, the masked assailant comes after the daughter. The protagonist flees to England, however, her pursuer won’t stop until he gets what he seeks.

Death Walks on High Heels never quite reaches the heights of its contemporaries,...

The ever-articulate and principled Peter Weller has told us a lot about ourselves in his roles as an actor and director. Learning more about this gifted storyteller and true Renaissance man can tell us even more. But Weller hasn’t been seen in a major motion picture since 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, which ended a long silver screen hiatus. Is the man’s relative absence from the silver screen a product of demand, or might it be more down to his preference? Should his career be brought back into the mainstream spotlight like he was Murphy returning from the afterlife? Or is he busy doing different, more interesting things than being a badass in front of a camera? Let’s find out as we ask ourselves, Wtf happened to Peter Weller?

But first, let’s get a better feel for why the man has been so missed by starting at the beginning.

The countdown to Creepmas continues, and it’s crunch time. With three days left remaining, it’s time to cram in as much holiday cheer and fear as possible. So, for the 3rd day of Creepmas, we’re offering up three genre-bending double feature ideas for your holiday horror watchlists. These pairings delve into action-horror or fantasy or even switch tones once the holiday spirit has been established. If you’re trapped spending the holidays with family members that hate horror, these double features might do the trick.

The 12 Days of Creepmas continues on Bloody Disgusting, this time with 3 genre-bending double features that bring the holiday spirit.

Keep track of the 12 Days of Creepmas here.

Holiday Action/Horror/Sci-fi Mashups:

Horror pairs well with everything, from holiday fare to action and sci-fi. This double feature is for those that want it all.

Cobra

Director George P. Cosmatos gives a horror...

Like most hardcore horror fans, Guillermo del Toro loves a good anthology series. From "The Twilight Zone" to "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," which del Toro produced, the notion of getting a completely different tale of terror each week is too tantalizing to resist. So genre fans should be giddily anticipating the October 25, 2022, Netflix premiere of "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities," which boasts eight episodes of spine-tingling fright from some of the most talented horror directors working today.

In the newly released teaser, del Toro promises, "Each of the episodes has a whole world." Though he is presenting the series, he has given all eight directors free rein to tell their stories on their own creative terms. Perhaps the most exciting element of the series is its focus on the construction of "beautiful, practical creatures." In an industry where CG dominates, it's an absolute joy to hear...

Mark Alan Miller and his creative team at Encyclopocalypse have been bringing horror books to life with compelling audio versions, and now the company is expanding with the launch of a publishing imprint for original content and movie novelizations, including Fright Night and Re-Animator:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA- Saturn and Rondo award-winning producer and writer Mark Alan Miller, best known for Nightbreed: The Director's Cut and Boom! Studios’ Hellraiser comics, is adding a new title to his already expansive resume: publisher.

Miller announced this week that his company Encyclopocalypse, which specializes in audio adaptations of notable works of horror literature, will be expanding into publishing books itself under a new expansion that will encompass both paperback and e-books.

The move came about partially as a result of Encyclopcoalyse acquiring the audio rights to John Skipp and Craig Spector’s novelization of Fright Night, the classic 1985 horror comedy starring Roddy McDowell and Chris Sarandon.

Bounty Films is excited to announce the global video-on-demand release of Ross Perkin’s dark-comedy, Mad House. The film will be available globally on Prime Video, Vimeo on Demand than later via Oona, Mx Player and Roku. Mad House is a pitch black comedy about three junkies who attempt to exhort a successful real estate mogul, …

The post Mad House – Home Invasion Dark-Comedy appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

Itsy Bitsy is a horror film with lots of spiders. Developed by first time feature film director Micah Gallo, this title involves a single mother and a move to small guesthouse. Inside the new home, Kara must look after an aging antiquities collector, Walter. Once an ancient artifact is found, this family is put in jeopardy. Itsy Bitsy centrally stars Elizabeth Roberts as Kara, along with Bruce Davison (Along Came the Devil), Chloe Perrin and Treva Etienne. The film is out now and the latest release details are hosted here. Recently, director Gallo has been interviewed on this title. Developed from a Kickstarter campaign, Gallo also mentions his influences for the film: "[its] something like Jaws with edgy character drama. Kind of like The Exorcist. But really, if you're familiar with something like Q the Winged Serpent or Of Unknown Origin (Movieweb)." This filmmaker knows his horror films. Gallo also studied...

We’ve got a ton of great titles on the docket for this final week of home media releases in August. Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters is hitting various formats on Tuesday, and if you’re looking for some oddball entertainment, The Banana Splits Movie should undoubtedly do the trick. For all you sci-fi fans out there, the classic V miniseries is finally making its way to Blu, and Scream Factory is also giving both The Leech Woman and Fear in the Night the HD treatment as well.

Vinegar Syndrome is showing some love to Hell Comes to Frogtown this week, and the Warner Archive Collection is bringing home several of their films on DVD, including Wolfen, Of Unknown Origin, The Hand, and Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Also, one of the more disturbing psychological thrillers I’ve seen in some time, Ladyworld, is being released on DVD on August 27th,...

Spiders are one of the things we, as humans, are commonly terrified of. I count myself in that category. And yet, I adore horror movies focused on the creepy, crawly creatures. Arachnophobia, Eight Legged Freaks. I eat it up. And thanks to effects guru turned director Micah Gallo, the new generation has a scary spider flick of their own to enjoy in the form of Itsy Bitsy.

The upcoming creature feature includes a cast featuring Elizabeth Roberts, Denise Crosby, Arman Darbo, Chloe Perrin and character actor extraordinaire, Bruce Davison. It also features some incredible practical creature effects, especially for something that started life as a Kickstarter-funded movie. I recently had the chance to speak with Micah Gallo about directing his first feature, his history with the business and much more. So, without further adieu, here's our chat.

Congratulations. As I understand, this is your first full feature. And the...

Brian Taggert, a prolific TV and film writer whose credits include “Adam-12” and the script for the feature film “Poltergeist III,” died on June 1 at the age of 81.

His cause of death has not been made public, but the Los Angeles County coroner’s officer said Thursday that Taggert died in his home.

Taggert’s career took off in the 1970s with an extensive list of credits that includes “Adam-12,” and “Emergency!” He went on to write for TV films like “The Mark of Zorro,” “The Spell” and “Night Cries,” the television remake of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane,” and the TV miniseries “V: The Final Battle” and “V” the series, among many others.

He also co-produced “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”

Also Read: All 21 Pixar Movies Ranked, Worst to Best (Photos)

In the 1980s, he began writing for film, with credits including the 1982 slasher “Visiting Hours” starring Lee Grant...

And so it was written, that a beast would come in the form of film, and that film would beget others due to profit, and those films would spread across the horror landscape to mostly whispered calls of, “meh”. Not for this little demon, however; as all of The Omen films work for me in one way or another, bringing us to number four and the first for the small screen, Omen IV: The Awakening (1991). The script gets flipped, yet it’s more of the same, and I’m not complaining.

Originally broadcast as part of the Fox Night at the Movies, Omen IV was trounced by ABC’ MacGyver on one side, CBS’ Murphy Brown/Designing Women on the other, and NBC’s Fresh Prince/Blossom on the other other. And as expected, no sins lain upon the critics were forgiven. This thing got roasted on the coals of Hell itself.

He stayed home during his family's vacation to work, but businessman Bart Hughes (Peter Weller) might lose his mind instead in Of Unknown Origin, and with the 1983 horror movie coming to Blu-ray from Scream Factory on May 21st, we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers!

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Of Unknown Origin Blu-ray copy.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Of Unknown Origin Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on May 28th.

He stayed home during his family's vacation to work, but businessman Bart Hughes (Peter Weller) might lose his mind instead in 1983's Of Unknown Origin, coming to Blu-ray this May from Scream Factory with a new 2K scan from the interpositive and several new bonus features that have now been revealed:

Press Release: When not mired in the corporate rat race, Wall Street executive Bart Hughes is king of his sleek Manhattan brownstone … until he finds his castle under siege by the most determined of home intruders. Forced to enter a rat race of an entirely different sort, Bart takes a stand, with his survival and sanity at stake. Making its Blu-ray debut May 22nd, 2018 from Scream Factory, Of Unknown Origin also includes a number of bonus features, including a new interview with executive producer Pierre David, a new interview with writer Brian Taggert, a new interview with actor Louis Del Grande...

Before he was Alex Murphy from RoboCop, Peter Weller was Bart Hughes, a slick Wall Street executive who must fend off home invaders in Of Unknown Origins (1983). Bonus extras have not been revealed at this time, but the Blu-ray from Scream Factory will be released on May 22nd and we have a look at the cover art.

From Scream Factory: "Experience a home invasion tale you’ll never forget when the 1983 thriller Of Unknown Origin comes scurrying to Blu-ray for the first time this Spring!

When not mired in the corporate rat race, Wall Street executive Bart Hughes is king of his sleek Manhattan brownstone ... until he finds his castle under siege by the most determined of home intruders. Forced to enter a rat race of an entirely different sort, Bart takes a stand, with his survival and sanity at stake. Stars Peter Weller (RoboCop, Sons of Anarchy) and directed by George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone,...

Until you start watching killer rat movies, you don’t realize how few killer rat movies there are. It’s not a sub-genre that sparked off franchises (does Willard and its sequel Ben count? Let me know) or inspired Funko toys, but rather has films strewn here and there throughout horror history. Today we’re scurrying back to my particular turf for Deadly Eyes (1982), Golden Harvest’s Canadian-lensed attempt to move over from Kung Fu to Rodent Fu. (Sorry Joe Bob Briggs, I couldn’t resist.)

Released in October by Golden Harvest (the Honk Kong based studio with nearly 300 production credits) in Canada and stateside by Warner Brothers the following April, Deadly Eyes (aka Night Eyes) laid droppings all over the place according to critics and audiences alike, and was quickly relegated to clamshell heaven. Was it a film ahead of its time? God no. But Deadly Eyes is way more fun than I remembered,...

Man versus Nature, Man versus Beast, Man versus Food; all mythical in status to varying degrees and most represented on the silver screen. Of Unknown Origin (1983) tackles the middle myth with a tongue firmly planted in its giant rat infested cheek and is an obsessive tour through a domestic hellscape.

Released in November by Warner Brothers, and produced in conjunction with some of that glorious Canadian tax shelter money (you’re welcome, eh), Of Unknown Origin only made back a quarter of its $4 million budget. It didn’t wow the critics either, although Peter Weller (Robocop) was singled out for his wry performance as the put upon vermin victim.

Bart Hughes (Weller) has it all; the perfect wife (Shannon Tweed, in her feature film debut) and son, a high paying job, and a beautiful brownstone in New York. (Read: Montreal. Tax coin. Beauty.) Wife and child head off for a...

Welcome to the latest episode of The ScreamCast! Each episode sees hosts Sean Duregger and Brad Henderson take a look at another slice of home video horror.

Don’t forget to check out TheScreamCast.com for the show notes and for more news and reviews of Scream Factory releases and make sure to follow them on Twitter too!

Episode 90: Dominion Over The Asylum Of The Tricky Rat

Bj sleeps in, Sean gets bored with a mountain climbing expedition gone horribly wrong, and Brad looses his shit over Asylum flicks! We cover a handful of flicks that have arrived on our doorstep and then spend time with Peter Weller’s first film, Of Unknown Origin, for our Stream Screams segment, then we move on to VHS-omg with 1995’s “Men-on-a-hunting-trip-gone-horribly-wrong” flick Dominion.

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Episode 91: Help Tex Montana Survive!

O. hannah Films (The Battery guys.) needs...

Welcome to the latest episode of The ScreamCast! Each episode sees hosts Sean Duregger and Brad Henderson take a look at another slice of home video horror.

Don’t forget to check out TheScreamCast.com for the show notes and for more news and reviews of Scream Factory releases and make sure to follow them on Twitter too!

Episode 88: Scream For Help On Your Last Shift

Anthony Diblasi’s Last Shift appeared on many “Best Of 2015” horror lists, so Sean, Brad and Bj decide to evaluate it themselves. Does Last Shift deserve the praise it’s received? What do you think? We also dive in to 1984’s Scream For Help and 1988’s Deadly Dreams!

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Episode 89: Remembering Bowie, Lemmy, Rickman & More

On this week’s show we say our goodbye’s to some legends that have recently left us, Lemmy Kilmister, David Bowie,...

You love the horror, suspense thriller, action and science fiction films that make up the world of Canadian cult cinema affectionately known as Canuxploitation.

You’ve watched the entire David Cronenberg genre filmography (if not, please do so now as The Brood, Scanners and The Fly are three of the greatest horror films ever made).

You’ve seen Black Christmas and The Changeling and watched a slasher-ific marathon of Prom Night, Terror Train, Happy Birthday to Me and My Bloody Valentine.

You caught up with Cube, the Ginger Snaps series, Splice, Hobo with a Shotgun and WolfCop all while keeping close tabs on the works of Astron-6.

Yet your hunger for Canadian genre film productions and co-productions cannot be satiated.

To aid you in your deeper exploration of the field, following is a chronological look at a number of Canadian genre films that simply don’t get enough attention.

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The Groundstar Conspiracy...

"In the early days, people seemed to believe that we were the people in Pink Flamingos, that we lived in a trailer and ate dog shit," John Waters says. "And we really weren't, obviously. We'd be in prison if we were. But it was a good reaction. It meant the movie worked."

For the past half a century, the Baltimore-born filmmaker and his pencil mustache have gleefully stood at the vanguard of vulgarity in cinema. Movies like his 1970 freak show Multiple Maniacs and his 1972 offering Pink Flamingos nauseated audiences when...

For the third week of August, there are a handful of great horror and sci-fi titles being released this week on DVD and Blu-ray including Jim Jarmusch’s stunning vampire love story Only Lovers Left Alive, Ti West’s The Sacrament, Scream Factory’s high definition release of Leviathan and much more.

Spotlight Titles:

Only Lovers Left Alive (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)

The tale of two fragile and sensitive vampires, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), who have been lovers for centuries. Both are cultured intellectuals with an all-embracing passion for music, literature and science, who have evolved to a level where they no longer kill for sustenance, but still retain their innate wildness. Their love story has endured several centuries but their debauched idyll is threatened by the uninvited arrival of Eve’s carefree little sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska) who hasn’t yet learned to tame her wilder instincts.

Ah, Leviathan, the poor man’s The Abyss. Or is it The Thing or The Alien underwater? Whatever the case may be, the fact that a film like this, that owes its existence to an entire list of other monster movies, is still thought about enough to be given the Blu-ray treatment by a company like Scream Factory is a testament to its charm. A low budget contrivance of elements of similar films that “worked”, but still has enough going for it to remain memorable. Is it the cast? That’s one thing that Leviathan has going for it. It may be a low-budget knockoff of Aliens, The Thing, and other monster movies, but they assembled a cast of genre rockstars to play these derivative characters, and play them well. Ernie Hudson, Hector Elizondo, Peter Weller, Daniel Stern, and even Meg Foster and her entrancing blue eyes makeup the cast.

*Updated* Back in 2011, Shout! Factory released 80′s horror cult movies, Bad Dreams and Visiting Hours, in a 2-disc DVD set. Thanks to Scream Factory’s recent success, both titles will be getting a Blu-ray upgrade next year:

via Scream Factory: “Some of you may be aware that Shout Factory released this double feature already on DVD only in 2011 as a “Killer Double Feature”. All the extras from that release will be ported over including new extras that are in the works for Visiting Hours (which had only TV spots and a still gallery at the time.). No firm details to report on them at this time. Artwork is not final but expect it to look close to what’s presented here.”

Bad Dreams: “In the mid-1970s the members of the love cult Unity Fields sought “the ultimate joining” by dousing themselves with gasoline and committing mass suicide. A...

We're big supporters of author, screenwriter, and artist Stephen Romano, mainly because not only is he uber-talented, but he's also just as sick as we are. God bless him! Read on for the first details on Resurrection Express as it heads toward the screen.

"I am happy to announce that I have officially sealed the deal with a pair of real Hollywood legends to bring my highly acclaimed novel Resurrection Express to the big screen," Romano tells us exclusively.

Romano continues, "I really love the book. It's one of my favorite things I've done so far. Simon and Schuster really took a chance on it because it's a batshit-crazy, ultra-violent thrill ride filed with over-the-top action, horrific torture, nonstop intrigue and crazy plot twists. It's about a half-mad hacker/martial artist named Elroy Coffin, who gets word that his dead wife may still be alive, and all he has to...

Sharks, dogs, rats, snakes, even earthworms. Any one of them (being big enough, or with enough of their friends) can kill you dead…quickly. The animal world is pretty much a bastard with big teeth and an insatiable appetite waiting to eat whatever lesser life form comes across its path. Piranha 3Dd is the newest reminder of that.

Everyone loves their favorite pet and can't get enough of happy little penguins or otters or other cute creatures, but the truth is animals can be simply brutal. Just keep that little fact in the back of your mind the next time you bend down to pet a strange dog. Snap! Goodbye nose. With that in mind, and with Piranha 3Dd hitting the open waters, isn't it only fitting that we would take a look back at the Top 13 Killer Animal Films of All Time?!?!

Of course we mustn't forget our honorable mentions!

by Jesse Miller, MoreHorror.com

When his wife and son leave for a vacation, mild-mannered businessman Bart (Peter Weller) stays behind to get some work done on his latest project.

However, that all changes when he becomes obsessed with capturing a mischievous rodent that begins to cause destruction to his beautiful home, one expensive object at a time.

Bart becomes fixated with capturing the rat so much that he is absentminded during his work hours and hard at work at setting up traps during the evening. At one point, he even interrupts a perfectly pleasant dinner amongst colleagues with random statistics and facts about rats. Yes, these facts are all startling (if true) but even still, his descent into what appears to be madness is a little out of the blue.

Of Unknown Origin is billed as a “suspense-horror” but it feels more like an oddball dark comedy with very slight undertones of horror.

Plastic Paper is Winnipeg’s celebration of animation, illustration and puppet films, organized by the Big Smash! filmmaking collective. Their second annual event will be held on May 4-8 at the Park Theatre.

The big score for this year’s edition is a special screening of Ralph Bakshi’s 1981 feature-length musical opus American Pop with the filmmaker in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. For this groundbreaking work, Bakshi utilized the innovative technique of mixing rotoscoping, water colors, computer graphics, live action shots, and archival footage. This screening and discussion will be a real treat for animation junkies.

But that’s not to say that the rest of the festival isn’t also filled with other amazing films.

Because, speaking of groundbreaking work, the fest kicks off with Brent Green’s simply astounding film Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, the first full-length film utilizing real-life actors in amazing stop-motion animation.

Peter Weller looks like an android. On the surface he has movie star good looks – tall, blue eyes, square jaw – but examine him closer and you’ll see none of it quite fits. His face is taut and angular, his eyes set deep in his skull and his skin looks like it’s made out of moulded plastic. His voice too is monotone and he reads lines like it’s in his programming. He was made to play Robocop (1987).

As Alex Murphy, the police officer executed by street hoods and then resurrected as a mechanical super cop, he stomps through the streets of Old Detroit like a technological knight in shining armour. “Dead Or Alive,” he utters to criminals in an unemotive, basso voice. “You’Re Coming With Me.”

With his face hidden, Weller learnt to act through his body, training for months with a mime artist and devouring books of robotics.

We've all used the expression "they just don't make 'em like they used to," but in the case of Happy Birthday to Me, it's more than just a cliche. And now that the film is being re-released with the full restored score, we can hear it just like it was intended to sound.

Bo Harwood and Lance Rubin composed the film’s haunting orchestral score. Happy Birthday to Me was directed by Academy Award® nominee J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, 10 to Midnight, Murphy’s Law) and stars Emmy Award® nominee Melissa Sue Anderson (“Little House on the Prairie,” “Midnight Offerings”) and Golden Globe Award® winner and Hollywood legend Glenn Ford (3:10 to Yuma, Blackboard Jungle, The Big Heat, Superman), along with such familiar co-stars as Lawrence Dane (Scanners, Of Unknown Origin, Bride of Chucky), Daytime Emmy Award® winner Tracy Bregman (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “The Young and...