schism101

NIKOS THE IMPALER is the sort of horror film that doesn't require that much intelligence or thinking or...well its a horror film that just perfect for watching after a few (hundred) beers. Evil Romanian tyrant Nikos, is executed in ye olden days and then through some unlikely coincidences and spilling of blood thanks to a botched robbery in a art gallery he is promptly resurrected in modern day new york and goes on a much needed killing spree, dispatching relative unknown and wooden actors, in various gory set pieces. Simple as that and no intelligence required. Along with the awful soundtrack, and cheesy effects, there's also a great/bad cameo by Lloyd Kaufman for all you troma fans out there other than that the film has enough late night watching value to warrant at least some attention, just drink beforehand!

There's no denying there's something remarkably entertaining about watching Bruno Mattei's SNUFF TRAP, and entertaining in all the wrong reasons. Mattei essentially reworks Joel Schumacher's 8MM, though with only a few differences, mainly being its a female character who ventures into the sleazy world of the porn underground looking for her kidnapped daughter who or may not have fallen victim to a snuff film. Though with a decidedly different change in certain scenes and a shorter running time, a lot of the film consists of scenes almost similar and in one case exactly the same as 8MM. Even dialogue from 8MM is used in certain speeches, exact dialogue. Mattei's version is a lot more sleazier and explicit, and comes off as one part lurid thriller, soft porn flick and European travel monologue (I lost count the amount of scene where our heroine is just walking around European city's). It also has a happier and anti climatic ending, which I'm certain features footage lifted from another film. If you want to watch a film that provides cheesy, 'so bad its good entertainment' then Mattei is your man, and this along with his other 'masterpieces' such as RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR, THE OTHER HELL and ZOMBI 3, would make great late night beer and pizza entertainment.

Pupi Avati's ZEDER, is a different take on the undead genre, but is not a zombie film outright. Rather than being all out 'dead rising from the graves and feeding on the flesh of the living' the film takes its time to build up tension and atmosphere, that adds a genuine sense of creepiness to the films tone. A young journalist, given a typewriter as a present from his girlfriend discovers some text written on the ink ribbon, and threw this mysterious text he uncovers a past story of a scientist called Paolo Zeder, who discovered areas of terrain that can revive the dead. The journalists investigations lead him to a group of outlaw scientists who are attempting to reconstruct these experiments in the present day. Avati clearly goes for atmosphere over gore, though there are a few scenes where we see the aftermath of some murders, the film doesn't show any bodily mutilation, and instead the films builds up tension and dread through suggestion and use of sound, and characters reactions. It's a clever and excellent choice of direction that makes ZEDER stand out as an intelligent and if slightly obscure and offbeat entry into the living dead cycle.