Satanico Pandemonium:

I've given Satanico Pandemonium a couple two or three viewings and still can't penetrate it satisfactorily. If you haven't seen it yet, and call yourself a Eurotrash movie fan, well, there's a reason; when a nunsploitation movie, released on Blu-ray by Mondo Macabro, fails to arouse much interest, you know the level of specialization in the movie is working like a perfect chastity belt.

Not that nunsploitation isn't already pretty specialized, and in case you've read this far, but are new, know that nunsploitation is exactly what it sounds like; a genre for reprobates who are turned on sexually by nuns, larded with the twin tent-pitching attributes of bloody violence and blasphemy. (A note to my readers who might now be asking "why do they let people who hate horror etc. review these movies" just stuff it. I love horror, Eurotrash, and all of those sleazy genre...Read the entire review

Brace yourself, Italy! An end to your sexual repression is on its way.

[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]

But, y'know, revolutions don't come cheap. Lodging, petrol, sandwiches: the costs quickly pile up. But Dick (Ray Lovelock) and Ingrid (Ornella Muti) have figured out a way to finance their travels across Europe and continue spreading their message of sexual liberation. Porn! At least c...Read the entire review

Who Can Kill a Child?:

After 40-plus years of watching horror movies, I'll often judge a film's effectiveness by whether I even once cringe, flinch, or talk-back to the screen. From a purely objective standpoint I feel confident in passing judgement and defending said judgement while acknowledging that readers' opinions may differ from my own. Blessed be. So from a pure film-making standpoint, Who Can Kill a Child? is a great movie, well-made. But when, after four decades of rotting my brain, I'll shout "put down the damn rye and get out!" at the TV, you can rest assured that director Narciso Ibanez Cerrador delivers the goods.

Vaguely irritating Brits Tom (Lewis Fiander) and Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) are on holiday in Spain, tiring of the hub-bub on the mainland, they rent un barco (a boat) in which to float on out to Almanzora, the little island Tom remembers fondly from years past....Read the entire review

THE FILM:

British import The Devil's Business feels more like an episode of Hammer House of Horror than a theatrical film, but I am not complaining. This is an unexpectedly tense, slightly bizarre exercise in occult horror that just happens to use a pair of hitmen as its leads. The film is talky in its first half but runs a lean 69 minutes, complete with gonzo climax and Tarantino-esque exchanges between the leads. I am not sure how much replay value this one has, but anyone looking for a horror/British gangster mash-up should give it a spin.

Hired assassins Pinner (Billy Clarke) and Cully (Jack Gordon) enter a shadow-cloaked country home...Read the entire review

THE FILM:
The next time you go to a mainstream movie and you see one of your favorite actors or actresses dropping trou and exposing their naughty bits to you, or the storyline tackles a subject that is sexual either in theme, subtext, or outright bonking, you can blame/thank the exploitation era and - perhaps more importantly - the envelope pushing foreign films that came out under its erotic auspices for such frankness. Apparently, other countries around the world lacked our Puritanical perspective and didn't mind showing a bit of skin (or simulated sex) for the sake of its proposed motive. If you were 'Curious Yellow' or into Inga, you remember the impact this kind of film had. While the true pioneers were pushing the "educational" aspects of the nudist colony film, France and Sweden were sending us our sultry, secret desires. By 1970, this was all becoming old hat, which is why you can f...Read the entire review

Countess Perverse: Original Director's Cut:
At the risk of once again enraging loyal 'Franco-philes' out there, I must again mention that there are few Euro-Sleaze directors out there able to do so little with so much quite like Jess (The Jesus) Franco. This super-slight exploitationer burns up 75 minutes ripe with potential, turning in moments of queasy delirium separated by endless stretches of boredom and plain laziness. There is nudity galore from three leading ladies, and not a heck of a lot else.

Countess Perverse is Franco's take on The Most Dangerous Game, possibly as seen through the eyes of a Portuguese retiree in the midst of a Quaalude haze. Featuring hottentot Alice Arno as the titular, often naked Countess, and her stone-cold freak of a husband, Count Rador, (an effectively creepy Howard Vernon) the movie kind of follows their exploits as they hunt down cuties to...Read the entire review

Silip - Daughters of Eve:

One need look no further than the subtitle of Silip to guess a central message to the madness. It's not the only message, but taken with the others it foments an environment ripe for cinematic exploitation. Which in fact is what Silip is being sold as - an exploitation picture. While there are exploitation elements a-plenty (and to list them would only further ghettoize the picture) the question remains, why was Silip committed to celluloid? Is Silip a high-minded excuse to shower the screen with a little sex and violence, or a trash epic for the penitent? I'm afraid I don't have the answers, but I can assure you that Silip is not your usual empty-headed sleaze show.

The Daughters of Eve in this case are Tonya and Selda. Tonya is a sort-of interim Catholic Priest in a tiny Philippine village in a desolate, desert-like coastal region. Selda, Tonya's sister...Read the entire review

Considered a landmark of Indonesian horror, Mystics in Bali (Leyak, 1981), has "cult classic" written all over it. The film developed an underground buzz long before its first official release in the west, four years ago as a Region 2/PAL DVD via Mondo Macabro's UK arm. After all the hype, the film lives up to reputation as a jaw-dropping riot of weird and disturbing imagery, but in other respects the picture is an amateurish mess, notably in its poor, almost schematic screenplay and atrocious non-acting by its leading player. As it turns out, top-billed Ilona Agathe Bastian wasn't an actress at all, but a German tourist the film's producers plucked off the streets, and it shows. Boy, does it show. Complaints aside, Mondo's DVD is another stellar presentation with some good extras.

The film's story is incredibly simple. Incredibly naeve black magic scholar Cathy Kean (Bastian), having ...Read the entire review

After a too-long absence, Mondo Macabro is back with The Blood Rose (La rose ecorchee, 1970), an alternately ambitious and absurd jumble of art and commerce about a famed artist's determination to restore his once-beautiful wife's monstrous face, horribly scarred in an accident. The film attempts to lift this old chestnut of a story to Georges Franju artiness - it bears more than a passing resemblance to the acclaimed but somewhat overrated Eyes without a Face (Le yeux sans visage, 1960) - while meeting the commercial demands of early-'70s horror but the results are erratic in the extreme. The opening reel or two suggest an unearthed lost treasure, a heretofore unknown classic of the genre, but then monster midgets in caveman-style skins show up and, well....

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/25646 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:27:32 UTC Rent It

Mondo Macabro is a terrific label that's unearthed some of the damndest films from remote corners of the earth, occasionally plucking fascinating, sometimes indescribable genre films from the jaws of total obscurity, supplementing them with a feast of bonus material. Mondo's latest, Snake Dancer (1976), a South African production about a notorious, real-life former Sunday School teacher-turned-stripper, unfortunately falls far short of the label's standards, both in terms of the video transfer and the film itself, which doesn't come anywhere close to living up to the hyperbole of its DVD box art and text.

Bearing the onscreen title Glenda, the film purports to tell the life story of Glenda Kemp, a university graduate with a passion for exotic dance and a curious attraction to snakes. Kemp plays herself, more or less, though her character is here called "Glenda Williams," which makes li...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/24659 Thu, 26 Oct 2006 02:20:26 UTC Recommended

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

As part of their unique mission to bring the world's exploitation film fare to Region One DVD, The Mondo Macabro company offers The Bollywood Horror Collection Vol. 1, a dizzying taste of Indian horror filmmaking. The Ramsay brothers initiated a line of horror films starting in 1972, culminating in these two epic-length entertainments. Bandh Darwasa is an Indian reworking of the Dracula myth, and Purana Mendir tells the story of a 200 year-old family curse.

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Bandh Darwaza
1990 / 145 min. The Closed Door
Starring Hashmat Khan, Manjeet Kular, Ajay Agarwal
Original Music Anand, Milind, Bappi Lahiri
Written by Dev Kishan
Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22707 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:56:58 UTC Recommended

The Devil's Sword (1984) is a wonderful fever dream of Indonesian action-fantasy. As a kid in the 80's, one of the first rated R vhs rentals I managed to slip past my parents and fall in love with was Conan The Barbarian, a film which set the gold standard for modern pulp fantasy, medieval action films. I loved the genre and watched Hawk The Slayer, The Sword and The Sorcerer, Beastmaster, and even the horrid likes of Ator The Fighting Eagle countess times.

It wasn't until the mid 90's that I found a handful of Indonesian fantasy films from the same period. They were The Warrior films, all of which starred Barry Prima, and I realized I hadn't even broken the surface. I thought I'd seen some far out stuff. I was wrong.

In an Indonesian fantasy film, guys get slashed down, maybe do the geyser blood spurt thing like in most films of this ilk, but they also can get kn...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21639 Fri, 12 May 2006 08:30:51 UTC Recommended

Yet another title plucked from relative anonymity courtesy Mondo Macabro, Lifespan (1974) is a modest but unusual and ultimately worthwhile science fiction thriller structured as a mystery. Taking a story repeatedly mined by low-budget producers for decades, the filmmakers' approach is decidedly more adult and intelligent, though the end result doesn't carry a whole lot of weight, either. At a time when British and continental pictures at this budget level usually pandered to the lowest of lowbrow audience expectations, Lifespan aims higher though the results are mixed, comparable to similar, not-quite-successful efforts like The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970).

American post-graduate gerontologist Benjamin Land (Hiram Keller) arrives in Holland with a grant to study under Dr. Paul Linden (Eric Schneider), whose research efforts on antioxidants to slow the aging of cells Ben admi...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21252 Thu, 20 Apr 2006 06:10:07 UTC Skip It

The Movie

Filmmakers seem to be obsessed with the idea of youth and innocence versus corruption and violence (of course, this concept goes beyond the history of film, as it has existed in literature forever). So many movies have dealt with characters who seem noble and good, only to be revealed as soulless monsters. As time has gone on, these films have continued to push the envelope, showing these characters doing more heinous and shocking things. But, said envelope pushing doesn't always guarantee an entertaining film and the newly released French film Don't Deliver Us From Evil...well, doesn't deliver.

As Don't Deliver Us From Evil opens, we meet Anne (Jeanne Goupil) and Lore (Catherine Wagener), two teenaged girls who attend a Catholic boarding school. It's readily apparent that the girls are very close and find their school life to be very boring. The girls ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/20589 Sun, 12 Mar 2006 17:37:09 UTC Recommended

Satan's Blood (Escalafrio, or "Chiller," 1977), a post-Franco Spanish horror film, is a real curiosity. Parts of the film live up to its Euro-trash classification, to say nothing of its "S"-for-sex rating in Spain, with its sometimes ludicrous if explicit mix of sex (especially) and gore. It's the kind of film that would certainly earn an NC-17 in today's more conservative climate, and many would regard the film as borderline porn. Most of it, however, is actually quite moody and effective, though it requires its protagonists to behave so stupidly that you may be screaming at the screen not in horror, but frustration, by the final reel. As usual, Mondo Macabro has treated the movie with the same kind of reverence Criterion reserves for Bergman and Tarkovsky.

The story is simple: Bored lovers Andy (Jose Guillen, who looks like a Spanish Jacques Perrin) and Annie (Angel Aranda, a Hispanic Cathe...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19909 Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:25:08 UTC Recommended

Virgins from Hell (Perawan Disarang Sindikat, 1987), an Indonesian thriller pitting biker chicks against slobbering drug lords, is pure exploitation trash. Fans of such lurid, outrageous thrills will find the film lively and amusingly over-the-top, while others will scratch their head wondering why anyone in his right mind would waste 90 minutes of their lives on such cinematic junk. As utterly mindless entertainment goes, Virgins from Hell delivers the goods, but all others beware.

The film presently isn't listed on the IMDb, while Mondo Macabro's English language version is missing all screen credits. The story involves two sisters, Shelia (Yenny Farida) and Dina (Nina Anwar), whose parents were murdered by drug lords wanting to turn their fortress-like estate into an illegal drug laboratory and all-around headquarters. The girls seek vengeance against their leader, Mr. Tiger (Dicky ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/19891 Sat, 28 Jan 2006 21:14:39 UTC Recommended

The Product:
Prior to the death of its dictatorial leader, General Francisco Franco, Spain had some of the harshest censorship laws in the world, let alone Europe. Anything remotely resembling nudity, sadism or horror was immediately removed. With the powerful politician's passing, the nation decided to make an attempt at rescuing and restarting the arts. A new ratings code was developed, with movies now allowed to show what they wanted. In exchange, they were required to wear an "S" as part of their preparation for public consumption. Such a stamp meant that the story being shown was steeped in sex, sadism and violence. One of the first films to flaunt its "S" was Escalofrio (Satan's Blood). A weird, warped tale reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby and the haunting Hammer films, it mixed killing with carnality to deliver an uneven set of shivers. Now available on DVD from Mond...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/17007 Wed, 03 Aug 2005 02:54:32 UTC Rent It

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

England's Mondo Macabro company remains true to its mission of presenting quality versions of arcane exploitation films from around the globe. French Sex Murders is a grindingly trashy giallo set in Paris but largely shot in Rome, with a cast of notables that any 1972 thriller might envy.

Synopsis:

Paris Inspector Pontaine (Robert Sacchi) manages to arrest Antoine Gottvalles (Pietro Martellanza, aka Peter Martell) as the murderer of a prostitute in the brothel of Madame Colette (Anita Ekberg). Antoine is gruesomely killed trying to escape, but the murders continue as suspects associated with the brothel are wiped out, one after another.

As is often the case with int...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/16486 Thu, 23 Jun 2005 17:58:53 UTC Recommended

Released internationally under a slew of different titles,Mondo Macabro has sifted through numerous different versions of the 1972 faux-giallo thriller French Sex Murders and compiled as complete a version of the film as possible -- maybe more complete than anything ever screened theatrically. The truth-in-advertising title sums up the plot well enough. A blonde bombshell of a Parisian hooker (Barbara Bouchet) is gruesomely murdered, and since the thieving Antoine Gottvalles, the last man believed to see her alive, has a reputation for being violent, the case seems open-and-close enough for Inspector Pontaine (Robert Sacchi). The suspect accidentally decapitates himself in a high-speed chas...Read the entire review

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