This movie is metal as fuck. I mean it must be, right? If not for this film we wouldn’t have the greatest metal band of all time. Birmingham’s best would still be “Earth” and everyone knows the Earth is not metal. Except that it is 35% iron, 15% silicon, and 13% magnesium, but it doesn’t rock. Though it is a rock, but I digress.

So why did Earth become Black Sabbath? The band had their pick of the litter of badass Mario Bava titles; Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace, Planet of the Vampires. The story goes the band saw Black Sabbath playing on a marquee across the street, noticed more people were seeing the movie than their show and thus changed their name to Black Sabbath, and thank Satan they did. Black Sabbath is one of the best band names on the face of this non-metal Earth. There’s a classiness to the word “Sabbath” and yet it feels gothic and evil. Like a Holiday for demons. In fact, the name is so good it’s actually better than the movie it’s attached too.

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Welcome to another Shocktober! I don’t know that I’m the most fitting person to kick off this year’s monthlong celebration of horror movies, marked by a review a day in this most spookiest of genres. After all, this thing was John’s brainchild nearly a decade ago. We’ve reviewed a lot of horror movies over the years (and by “we”, I mostly been John), and this is evidenced by today’s entry, since it is a movie John already reviewed on this blog several years ago. But as John would admit, it probably wasn’t the most whole-assed review, so I suppose I’ll try to throw my entire ass into this first review of Shuddertober.

To me, the 1960s seem like the definition of a transitional era for film. As the culture at large seemed to be slowly consumed by sex and drugs and violence, these things similarly we’re bubbling just beneath the surface of many landmark films during the first half of the decade. Black Sunday meanwhile, feels like a very transitional film for the horror genre, since it’s filled with the kind of gothic pretenses that were there in a lot of the horror films from the 30s through the 50s. Yet, it also has moments of violence that hint at a more savage breed of horror film that had still yet to arrive. Continue reading →

So we’ve finally caught up with ourselves, not just with a film that came out this year (in the U.S.), but also one that was released by Criterion about a week ago. Personal Shopper was one of those Shocktober films that I wasn’t really expecting to be much of a horror movie, since it comes from a contemporary artsy French director, Olivier Assayas, who I’d heard of, but never knew to be much of a genre director. Surprisingly, Personal Shopper does have its share of thrills and shrills, but while also retaining the air of a contemplative character study. Continue reading →

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a “Polish Horror Musical” turns out that’s a very accurate description. The Lure or “The Daughters of Dance Party” is the story of two mermaids who join a small-time electronic pop band only to find themselves disenchanted by the selfish desires of mankind. It also has rock and roll sing-a-longs and the devouring of human flesh. It’s a well-rounded film.

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