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Zombie with a Shotgun arrives on MoviVue with a Bang!

In a world ravaged by a virus, Aaron—caught between man and zombie—fights for survival with his shotgun and girlfriend, Rachel, hunted by enemies who fear his evolving powers. He may be the key to humanity’s future… or its destruction.

Directed by Hilton Ariel Ruiz

Starring Braeden Baade, Kathryn Kuhn, and Kyle Hester

MoviVue is the New home for indie horror hits! Check out Trapped Ashes, Theater of Terror, Hole, Tonight She Comes, In My Skin, The Bunny Game, Darklands, The Black Mass, and The Imposters.

Experience MoviVue

https://movivue.com/

The post Zombie with a Shotgun Now Showing on MoviVue appeared first on Horror Asylum.

If you’ve read my previous recap and review, you already know that I’m not a big fan of reality TV, and I especially didn’t enjoy the long and winding first four episodes of the show. But I’m not sure if this is owing to the comment of the one person who said they hope the next few episodes change my mind, or if it was just the one game that made the show far more interesting, but despite having an extra episode and being 3 hours too long, I actually did enjoy the second set of episodes of The Devil’s Plan season 2. I’m not a big fan of math (because I’m terrible at it), which makes me the wrong audience for this show. But this is my job, so here I am with an unbiased mindset and an open heart. So maybe that’s...

Before I get into my breakdown of The Devil’s Plan, or rather, before I completely break down after having watched more than 6 hours of this show, you deserve a little disclaimer: I’ve never enjoyed reality TV, but this one has got to be the most boring show I’ve ever watched in my entire life. Now, I can understand the appeal of reality TV. It might not be for me, but I get that the gossip, the backstabbing, the relatability, and everything else that works for them is somewhat entertaining, if nothing else. But The Devil’s Plan: Death Room by far has been the one reality show I’ve been forced to watch that somehow makes me feel the most like I’ve got it all wrong. By this, I mean I can’t think of a single thing that makes this show in any way watchable.

In season 2, 14 participants,...

Midnight Pulp has revealed the new films that are joining the cult streaming service in May.

Horror highlights include: Mario Bava‘s gothic chiller Kill, Baby… Kill!; acclaimed psychological nightmare Repulsion; Ken Russell‘s Gothic, a retelling of the drug-fueled night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein; and The Coffee Table, about which Stephen King said, “My guess is you have never, not once in your whole life, seen a movie as black as this one.”

There’s also ’60s sci-fi horror Queen of Blood with Dennis Hopper; Bigfoot hidden gem Creature from Black Lake; horror anthology Trapped Ashes featuring segments by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th); supernatural horror To the Devil a Daughter with Christopher Lee; Larry Cohen’s genre-defying God Told Me To; and the irresistibly titled Kaiju Glam Metal Shark Attack.

Here’s the full line-up:

May 2: Return of Street Fighter,...

Fandor has revealed the new films that are joining the artfully entertaining streaming service in May.

This month includes Dario Argento‘s influential directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage along with a several other stylish giallo murder-mysteries, like Footprints, Night of the Scorpion, Libido, and Sonno Profondo, plus the documentary All the Colors of Giallo.

Other highlights include: Mario Bava‘s Gothic chiller Kill, Baby… Kill!; Ken Russell‘s Gothic, a retelling of the drug-fueled night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein; ’60s sci-fi horror Queen of Blood with Dennis Hopper; and horror anthology Trapped Ashes featuring segments by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th).

Here’s the full line-up:

May 2: The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque, 1982, Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx, Lie With Me, Labyrinth of Cinema, All the Colors of Giallo, Sonno Profondo, Trapped Ashes

May 9: Footprints,...

Stars: Olivia Nikkanen, Naomi Grace, Jayce Bartok, Devin Druid, Emilia McCarthy, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin | Written by Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist | Directed by Erik Bloomquist

The Bloomquist brothers, director Erik and co-writer Carson are back with their second film this year, following up their summer camp horror She Came from the Woods with Founders Day. Billed as a political slasher has an interesting history to it. The original concept dates back to 2011, and a script that was considered for inclusion in Project Greenlight. They even made a conceptual trailer for it before the project collapsed. And what better time to revive it than now in a time of political division and violence?

In the town of Fairwood, two things are fast approaching, its 300th anniversary and the election of its next mayor. The race is a contentious one, the first image we see is of a campaign sign being destroyed.

A special two-part episode. From the movie Werewolves Within, director Josh Ruben discusses a few of his favorite movies. Then, Werewolves Within writer Mishna Wolff plays a game of “find the woman” in some of her favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode Josh Ruben:

Werewolves Within (2021)

Werewolves On Wheels (1971) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Wrath of Man (2021)

Trapped Ashes (2006)

The ’Burbs (1989) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

The Fly (1986)

To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore (2007)

Road To Perdition (2002)

Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985)

Nightmare On Elm Street Part III: Dream Warriors (1987)

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Grease (1978)

Honey I Blew Up The Kid (1992)

Big Top Pee-Wee (1988)

A History of Violence (2005)

The Dead (1987)

The Peanut Butter Solution (1985)

Irreversible (2002)

Hunter Hunter (2020)

Man Bites Dog (1992)

The Human Centipede: The First Sequence (2009)

A Serbian Film (2010)

Planes Trains And Automobiles (1987)

Lost In Translation (2003)

JFK (1991)

Home Alone (1990)

The Second Civil War (1997) – Glenn...

Influential instead of famous, brilliant in a way for which his medium has little remaining use, Monte Hellman died yesterday at 91. It was heartening, if not a bit surprising all the same, to see my Twitter feed instantly and unanimously alight with praise for the director, whose filmography is often distilled to one sui generis classic and considered an object of intense interest for true believers otherwise.

Whatever that implies, it’s hard to recommend a filmography with less reservation—Hellman’s cinema is immediately identifiable for its vision of rugged, roughshod masculinity, accessible with its use of iconic figures, and (at the risk of underlining this point too sharply) always invigorates in its sense of discovering some well-kept secret.

Some cursory searches reveal a good number readily streaming. So long as you don’t mind the occasional ad break, your first step is Tubi, which hosts his Jack Nicholson...

Monte Hellman, the film director who earned a cult following with movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and Ride in the Whirlwind, died Tuesday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Springs, California, after a fall in his home. His daughter, Melissa Hellman, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 91.

Hellman was well regarded for his genre films, such as his 1964 war drama Back Door to Hell, 1966’s pair of Westerns The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (both starring Jack Nicholson), and the acclaimed road movie Two-Lane Blacktop starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson.

Although he's responsible for directing such popular titles as Piranha and Gremlins, Joe Dante continues to be one of the most underrated filmmakers in Hollywood. While primarily steeped in the horror genre, Dante has proven his diverse filmmaking range with everything from Rock 'n' Roll Hich School and Explorers to Innerspace and Small Soldiers.

Related: Gremlins: 10 Reasons It's A Better Christmas Movie Than Home Alone

Ever since making his feature debut documentary The Movie Orgy in 1968, Dante has accrued 40 big and small screen credits. He's worked on horror anthologies such as The Twilight Zone Movie, Nightmare Cinema, Trapped Ashes, etc. and has lent his directorial stylings to such TV series as Night Visions, Masters of Horror, Splatter, and others.

Darren Lynn Bousman joins Josh and Joe to discuss his favorite over-the-top musicals of the 70s.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Sorcerer (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

Death of Me (2020)

Jesus Christ: Superstar (1973)

Pennies From Heaven (1981)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Requiem For A Dream (2000)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Movie Orgy (1968)

Gremlins (1984)

The Room (2003)

Rocky (1976)

Hair (1979)

The Apple (1980)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)

Tommy (1975)

Quadrophenia (1979)

Altered States (1980)

The Devils (1971)

Trapped Ashes (2006)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Devil’s Carnival (2012)

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Rent (2005)

Wild In The Streets (1968)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Jazz Singer (1980)

Forbidden Zone (1982)

Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)

The First Nudie Musical (1976)

Chatterbox (1977)

Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963)

Cabaret (1972)

Saw II (2005)

Other Notable Items

Final Draft

Paris Hilton

Elvira

Angelyne

The William Friedkin podcast episode

Leonardo DiCaprio

Jesus Christ Superstar...

The star, Alexandra Daddario, the writer, Alan Trezza, and the director, Marc Meyers, of the terrific new film We Summon The Darkness walk us through some of their favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

We Summon The Darkness (2020)

Burying The Ex (2015)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

American Beauty (1999)

Strictly Ballroom (1992)

Ghostbusters (1984)

The Sound of Music (1965)

L.A. Story (1991)

Ghost Dad (1990)

Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003)

Roxanne (1987)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

The Godfather Part III (1990)

Fargo (1996)

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Psycho (1960)

Psycho (1998)

Defending Your Life (1991)

Modern Romance (1981)

The Jerk (1979)

Jaws (1975)

Notting Hill (1999)

Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

Love Actually (2003)

Marley & Me (2008)

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Raging Bull (1980)

Mandy (2018)

Heathers (1988)

Ed Wood (1994)

Hellzapoppin’ (1941)

Fletch (1985)

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Batman Returns (1992)

Warlock (1989)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Star Wars (1977)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

The Swimmer (1968)

Sherman’s March (1985)

Amadeus (1984)

Amarcord (1974)

Hugo Pool (1997)

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills...

Just ahead of its Us bow (details forthcoming), we’ve received UK release details and exclusive photos from filmmaker Dennis Bartok’s supernatural feature Nails, releasing this October via Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment on DVD and VOD. Directed and co-written by Trapped Ashes… Continue Reading →

The post UK Release Details, DVD Art, and Exclusive Photos from Dennis Bartok’s Feature Nails appeared first on Dread Central.

Gather your fright-loving family members, fill your cup to the brim with egg nog, and find a comfy spot around the TV (or computer) screen, because enough horror movies to fill Santa's sleigh are coming to the streaming service Shudder this December, including Rob Zombie's 31, Bob Clark's Black Christmas, and many more.

Press Release: This December, there’s oh so much under Shudder’s tree. But before you get unwrapping, let’s shake the boxes a bit… We have something special for everyone, inside.

Love clowns? Coming exclusively to Shudder is Rob Zombie’s latest, 31, a vicious and characteristically Zombie film. Which is to say it’s dirty, mean and, from the get, right up in your face.

Looking to stay in? We’ve got a very special Shudder exclusive in Shrew's Nest. Directed by Juanfer Andrés & Esteban Roel (and produced by Alex de la Iglesia), this elegant,...

Dennis Bartok - writer of horror anthology Trapped Ashes and former programmer at the American Cinematheque - has just wrapped principal photography on his debut directorial effort P.O.V. and we've got two pieces of exclusive concept art for you to take a look at!Shot entirely in Dublin, Ireland, P.O.V. stars Shauna Macdonald (The Descent) as Dana Milgrom, a sports coach, who is nearly killed and completely paralyzed in a hit and run accident while out jogging one morning. While recovering in hospital and imprisoned in her own body, Dana, struggling for her very existence, comes to realize that a malevolent and increasingly violent evil spirit is out to get her. Starring alongside Macdonald is British comedian and stand-up phenomenon Ross Noble (Stitches) in his first...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Dennis Bartok, who scripted 2006 anthology Trapped Ashes, will his make his feature debut with P.O.V., the story of a newly-paralyzed woman and the evil presence in her hospital room. Screen Daily reports production on P.O.V. will get underway later in 2015, with Fantastic Films’ Brendan McCarthy and John McDonell (producers on Wake Wood, The…

The post Bartok to Direct Hospital-bound Horror, P.O.V. appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

The terror of knowing something evil is there but being unable to do a thing about it is the focus of P.O.V., a feature from the creator of the anthology chiller Trapped Ashes (pictured) that’s getting ready to roll this fall. Screen Daily reports that P.O.V. will being production during the third quarter this year […]...

Pre-sales to commence at Cannes.

Ahead of the Cannes Marche, Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights (excluding Dutch-speaking Benelux) for Dennis Bartok’s English-language horror, P.O.V.

The film, currently in pre-production, is due to commence principal photography in Q3, 2015, for an early 2016 debut. Pre-sales will commence at Cannes.

Casting is currently underway for Bartok’s directorial debut, which will shoot in Ireland and various locations around the UK.

P.O.V follows the story of Dana Milgrom, a track coach who, having survived a near-death car accident, finds herself completely paralysed and trapped inside her own body. While recovering, she becomes convinced that an evil presence exists inside her hospital room and is intent on killing her - and she may not be the only target.

Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell will produce through their Ireland-based, horror production outfit Fantastic Films along with Jan Doense and Herman Slagter of The Netherlands-based, genre-specific, House...

Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...

The “omnibus” horror film – a feature length collection of cinematic horror stories – is one of the most beloved and respected horror movie genres for many reasons; but most importantly, horror is often very effective in concentrated doses (just check out our excellent short film collection for some great examples), especially with a storyline that's designed to set up one good shock or twist, saving the writer the effort of milking more scares out of a single tale. The field is overflowing with some landmark films, including the timeless 1945 classic Dead of Night (still creepy and funny after all these years); Roger Corman's Poe collection Tales of Terror; a ton of cool flicks like From Beyond the Grave from UK studio Amicus; EC Comics-inspired films like the original Tales from the Crypt (actually another Amicus film) and George Romero's Creepshow; made-for-tv faves like Trilogy of Terror; and stylish international...

Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, Crimes of Passion Provocative, Controversial Director Ken Russell Dead at 84: Women In Love, Tommy, The Devils Valentino (1977) was another much-talked about biopic. (Perhaps not too surprisingly, decades later Ken Russell would write a positive commentary on a horrendously sensationalistic Valentino biography.) Reviews for the film starring Rudolf Nureyev as silent-film idol Rudolph Valentino were mostly negative. Audiences, for their part, opted instead for Stars Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Three years later, Russell went Hollywood with Altered States, a bizarre, philosophical, hallucinogenic sci-fier starring William Hurt as a scientist who undergoes genetic regression. Written by Oscar winner Paddy Chayefsky, with whom Russell clashed on the set, the costly Warner Bros. release was a major box-office disappointment. Another Us-based effort, the Belle du Jour-like 1984 sex drama Crimes of Passion, earned Kathleen Turner a Best Actress Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association...

It's a sad day indeed as we are truly sorry to have to report that the great British director Ken Russell is no longer with us. Read on for all the details about the man's legacy, life, and death.

Russell died in a hospital on Sunday, November 27, following a series of strokes. He was 84.

Ken touched our genre several times throughout his illustrious career including such memorable classics as 1971's The Devils, Altered States, Gothic, Lair of the White Worm, and finally an entry in 2006's anthology film Trapped Ashes. Along with those classics, he's best known for adapting The Who's rock opera Tommy along with a myriad of other films.

We here at Dread Central would like to take this time to offer our sincerest of condolences to Ken's friends, family, and constituents. Rest easy, good sir. Your legacy will live on fruitfully!

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Ken Russell is dead. And while I consider Ken Russell a giant, a genuine force to be reckoned with, a man who left a giant shit-smeared mark across the face of cinema like a moustache added to the Mona Lisa, I confess I haven't seen one thing he made in the 20 years since his film "Whore" was released. That's crazy.  According to the IMDb, he's directed 19 things since then.  I knew he contributed to "Trapped Ashes," an anthology film that I still haven't seen, but I didn't see it.  And I've never heard of the other 18 projects.  He...

Director Ken Russell has passed away at the age of 84. According to various sources, he died peacefully in a hospital on Sunday in the wake of a series of strokes. The filmmaker directed the controversial 1971 film The Devils and, later, Altered States (pictured), The Lair of the White Worm and Gothic . In 2006, the genre saw his return with the anthology film Trapped Ashes in which he helmed the segment "The Girl With the Golden Breasts." Click here for a full look at Russell's oeuvre.

We at Blogomatic3000 love our horror movies, so it’s fitting that we get the chance to bring you the schedule for FEARnet’s exclusive Halloween horror movie extravaganza! So if you’re looking for a good scare in the month of October, read on to see just what FEARnet has planned for you!

On Sunday, October 30th at 9:00 p.m. Et, FEARnet will air a special Halloween episode of Psychoville, the award-winning British black-comedy thriller series written by and starring Reece Shearsmith (Shaun of the Dead) and Steve Pemberton (The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who). In the Halloween special, four tales of terror unfold as a film crew investigates the abandoned ruins of Ravenhill Psychiatric hospital.

On Halloween, FEARnet will air an all-day marathon of Trick ‘r Treat, starring Anna Paquin (True Blood), Brian Cox (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Leslie Bibb (Zookeeper). Michael Dougherty...

In Venice this year, there's the more "known" tale of rivalry between young females in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan and then we have an additional, lesser-known girls "backstabbing one another" with Monte Hellman's Road to Nowhere. Best known for Two-Lane Blacktop and he helped produce Venice head jury member Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, the 77 year-old Hellman has been inactive for some time (he did direct "Stanley's Girlfriend" - an episode for Trapped Ashes alongside folks such as Ken Russell and Joe Dante, but for the most part, it's been a job in teaching film in California that has kept the director occupied. How will this romantic film noir thriller play out in the Main Competition of a major film festival is anyone's guess. Written by Variety’s Executive Editor Steven Gaydos, this is about a young filmmaker who becomes enmeshed in a criminal scheme while making a movie on location.

Filmmaker Curtis Harrington: 1926-2007.

Our Friend Curtis Harrington

by Jon Zelazny

Curtis Harrington was born in Los Angeles in 1926. He made short films as a teenager, graduated from USC, and began his Hollywood career in the 1950’s. By the end of the decade, he was directing: independent films, studio pictures, made-for-tv movies, and episodic TV. He completed his last short film in 2002, and died in 2007 at the age of 80.

I knew Curtis well in his final years, as did writer-producer Dennis Bartok, the former head programmer of L.A.’s famed American Cinematheque.

Dennis Bartok: I think the most interesting aspect of Curtis’s career is that he was really the only filmmaker to successfully transition from the avant-garde scene of the late 1940’s to directing Hollywood feature films. And when you see how distinctive his movies are, you wish he could’ve made more… but when you...

It's about time these hideous cannibal neo-Nazis showed their faces to FEARnettians nationwide! This New Fear Wednesday we're exposing the sick, twisted and remarkably flesh hungry—as usual—in our 10 new Free movies! Start off with the cannibal crazies of After Dark Horrorfest's Frontier(s) and finish off with 9 other titles including The Dentist, The Dentist 2 (online tomorrow), The Graveyard, Gothic, Love Object, Trapped Ashes, Days of Darkness, The Entrance and Restraint. Our 10 new movies this week are added to 10 favorites from last week so be sure to check out FEARnet's Free movie page and check back each and every Wednesday for new titles. And remember, those cannibal neo-Nazis wont wait!

While horror anthologies have fallen on hard times Stateside in last decade, with the very sporadic likes of Trapped Ashes relegated to the most limited big-screen play before heading to DVD, the format has flourished in Asia. The Three movies, Unholy Women and others bespeak Far East producers’ commitment to offering tasty samplers of different kinds of fear, and Thailand has now entered the fray with the cleverly monikered 4Bia, playing this week at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Like all its predecessors, this one’s a mixed bag, but its good far outweighs its bad, and more than any of its predecessors, it offers a genuine variety of stylistic approaches, revealing just how broad the genre’s possibilities are. At Montreal’s Fantasia fest, where the film had its international premiere, one of the quartet of filmmakers remarked that there had been some discussion about how to order the segments,...

The luck of the Irish came one day late as FEARnet presents you with this week's pot of Free movie gold! FEARnet's New Fear Wednesday has just gotten a whole lot bigger with the jump from 10 Free movies to 20 Free movies per week! And this week, we're doing anything but coming up short—sorry to our Leprechaunian viewers, that was literarily a low blow. We've got Neil Marshall's The Descent, Trapped Ashes, Restraint, Waxwork, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Soul Survivors, Near Dark, Joyride, The Amityville Curse and finally, Blackwater Valley Exorcism. As if that weren't enough, we're adding those 10 new titles to our overflowing brew from last week including Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw III, J.T....

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from The Devils and Lair of the White Worm director Ken Russell, outside of his segment of Trapped Ashes (review). Seems the reason for that is he’s moved from film to stage and his latest directing gig has been for Mindgame, a play written by Anthony Horowitz.

Keith Caradine and Lee Godart star in Mindgame, Caradine playing the director of an insane asylum and the Godart a pulpy crime writer. It's up to the audience to decide which one of them is the serial killer at the heart of the play’s story.

Crime writer Mark Styler is hoping to get an interview with a famed cannibalistic serial killer who’s been locked up for years at Fairfields insane asylum. Dr. Farquhar refuses his request but as Styler tries to make his leave, he finds the doors are locked. He...

Release the hounds! It's a fan pit frenzy this week on Deadpit Radio, as Ck and Ub field the mass assault of hungry Pitheads calling into the show. DVDs will be used for barricades, and this week we've got some nice stopping material with Scott Phillip's latest Manson-themed dish "Gimme Skelter", Patrick Rea's required weekly short film "Paint Shaker", Lionsgate's new anthology "Trapped Ashes", the aptly titled "I Spit on Your Corpse, I Piss on Your Grave", and an exclusive sneak peek of the mother clucking new Troma film "Poultrygeist". All this plus a new series of Diary of the Deadpit films, some news on upcoming guests, and an amazing new offer for all the memorabilia fans...only on Deadpit.com!

It’s all about the traps this week. Check out what horror flicks are hitting DVD on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008...

Asylum (2008)

Directed by David R. Ellis

It seems all the madness surrounding Ellis’ last effort, Snakes on a Plane, popped something in his head and he decided the only way to follow it up would be with the most generic, bland, impotent kind of horror film. Enter Asylum, the story of a group of new kids at college who find out their new dorm is adjacent to the former stomping grounds of a doctor who got off on conducting experiments on kids their age. Lameness follows. Be sure to read our Asylum DVD review for more! Buy it here!

Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell (2007)

Directed by Kevin Wheatley & Jonny Gillette

How strange; I remember when this film first was getting festival play it was the talk of the...

TORONTO -- It would seem like a tantalizing proposition.

Take a quintet of filmmakers, including the presumed long-retired Ken Russell and Monte Hellman, and let them loose in a haunted mansion picture that owes a tip of the shroud to classic horror anthologies like Dead of Night and Tales From the Crypt.

Alas, what should have been a twisted romp proves to be only fitfully entertaining -- a messy hodgepodge of styles and tones forced to co-exist by a cheesy wraparound segment furnished by Joe Dante.

Currently in the market for a distributor, this U.S.-Japan-Canada co-production could find a suitable home based on fan expectations, but, aside from the midnight movie circuit, DVD looks to be the logical resting place.

Shot in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Tokyo, the production gets under way on the backlot of venerated Ultra Studios, where a group of six strangers board a tour tram. With Henry Gibson as their eccentric guide, they end up finding themselves imprisoned on the House of Horrors set of a notorious '60s thriller called Hysteria.

Just like in that movie, the captives will only get out alive if they relate their most terrifying, personal stories. Fortunately this bunch has got a couple of doozies.

The first, "The Girl With the Golden Breasts," promisingly sets the stage with signature Ken Russell kitsch involving an ingenue who has implant surgery with material that is neither silicon nor gel, but made from reprocessed human cadavers. While her new attributes prove to be a boon to her acting career they also happen to crave regular feedings of fresh human blood.

Next up, Friday the 13th director Sean Cunningham tries modern Japanese horror on for size -- it's an unsatisfactory fit -- with Jibaku (Evil Spirit), about an American architect and his wife on vacation in Japan who discover the hanged body of a Buddhist monk and come under his supernatural spell.

By far the most stylized of the bunch, but lacking sufficient creepiness, is Stanley's Girlfriend, contributed by Two-Lane Blacktop director Hellman. Set in Hollywood circa 1957, the noir-tinged black-and-white segment is narrated by a swell-looking John Saxon, who tells the story of a B-movie writer who befriends a budding director and, in short order, his insatiable girlfriend.

Rounding out the quartet is My Twin, the Worm, for which visual effects supervisor John Gaeta (the Matrix pictures) makes his directorial debut. It's an odd bit of business about a young woman who had shared her mother's womb with a six-foot-long tapeworm. While it was killed after her birth, it would definitely appear to be living on in spirit.

Unfortunately Dante's tongue-in-cheek connecting bits are neither moody nor campy enough for the requisite twist ending to create much of a jolt.

By the time the final story's told, even with a densely atmospheric score by composer Kenji (The Ring) Kawai, Trapped Ashes bears the stale scent of a failed pilot for a cable horror anthology series.