Mocata's Den of Horror

The '70s and '80s saw quite a few holiday-themed slasher flicks.  One that I find to be quite a lot of fun to watch, especially on its respective holiday, is New Year's Evil .  It may not be the most groundbreaking film, but I think it manages to give its audience what it wants and does it with style.  Also, there are some minor departures from the standard slasher formula. DVD Edition   Let's start with one of the biggest differences from most slashers: you see the killer right off the bat.  Usually, you don't know who the killer is until he/she is unmasked right before the big final chase and face-off.  In this one, you know who he is the whole time, as he does not wear a mask (at least not until very late in the film).  Of course, you don't know his name or his relationship, if any, to the other characters in the film and he does put on some basic disguises in the film.  Still, his face shows up onscreen and you know he is the killer, so there ...

Since I did this last year, I figured I would feature some more recommendations this year.  Being a huge metal fan, these will be primarily metal. Necrophagia- Season of the Dead and Ready for Death Okay, I am going with a double-feature kind of thing with this one.  The first full-length studio album by one of the original death metal bands and the album recorded before it that remained unreleased until a few years later.   First, Season of the Dead came out in 1987 and was Necrophagia's one and only album until vocalist/mainman Killjoy teamed up with Phil Anselmo to reactivate the band with a new lineup in the late '90s.  The lyrics are filled with horror influences, as is the cover art.  The music itself is going for a bit moodier sort of feel rather than just out-and-out speed.  It is a classic and always a great listen.  The imagery and mood make it a natural choice for Halloween listening. Ready for Death was recorded in 1986, but was not...

 I have previously discussed a couple of Italian cannibal films on here and I figured it was time to do another, so decided I may as well knock out the most notorious of the bunch: Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust .  Most people are probably not aware of the Italian cannibal film boom from the '70s and '80s, but many people are still aware of this particular film. DVD release from EC Entertainment   Booklet from EC Entertainment DVD release With a reputation such as the one Cannibal Holocaust has developed over the years, one may wonder whether or not the movie itself can hold up to it.  After all, this is a film that shocked people during its original release in 1980, but the world has changed so much in the four decades that have passed since then, so would it have the same impact today?  Is this a movie that would instead lose any shock value it once had as audiences became desensitized?  Well, first let's talk about the movie itself and then we can...

The Beast Within is something of a forgotten gem of '80s horror.  Released in 1982, it features Ronny Cox (who would later appear in Robocop and Total Recall ), Bibi Besch, R.G. Armstrong, and others, including Paul Clemens as the main character, Michael MacCleary, who has inherited some monstrous curse from his unknown father.  Born as the result of an attack on his mother, Caroline (Bibi Besch), on the night of her wedding to Eli MacCleary (Ronny Cox), Michael is raised by the two as if he were any normal child, rather than the result of a sexual assault.  When, in his late teens, Michael starts exhibiting strange symptoms and the doctors are unable to determine the cause, Eli and Caroline return to the town where the attack occurred all those years ago, looking for answers.  Unknown to them, Michael heads there as well, driven by some instinct inside him. U.S. theatrical poster Michael begins to show signs of some personality change, developing an obsession with...

The Reel Ghoul is a book of movie reviews, primarily horror, but also including some action and sci-fi films.  Written by life-long horror fan, Ustumallagam, over a roughly three year period, the author had initially intended to publish them in an old-fashioned 'zine form, but found himself with too much material for that smaller size publication and instead opted to publish them in book form through Feral Books. Front cover Ustumallagam is also known as the vocalist for the Danish band Denial of God, which has been releasing music since the early '90s.  To date, the band has three full-length albums, numerous EPs, and a couple of demos to its credit.  Much of the discography would be tough to track down, as is pretty common with metal bands in general due to things going out of print and labels going out of business, not to mention the very international nature of the music.   Back cover The reviews in this book are fairly short and to the point.  He typically ...

Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director who worked in just about every genre there is.  He did sex comedies, westerns, historical/period pieces, gialli, and basically anything else Italian cinema had to offer during his long career.  His directorial credits go back to short documentaries in the late 1940s. Laserdisc edition by The Roan Group However, it wasn't until the late '70s that he would begin the work that would form his legacy, whether he liked it or not. VHS release by Anchor Bay Entertainment 1979 saw the release of his film Zombie (aka Zombi 2 , Zombie Flesheaters , Woodoo , Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us , and many others).  This film would kick off the most celebrated part of his career, with films like House By the Cemetery , The Gates of Hell , The Beyond , and The New York Ripper to follow.  Written by Dardano Sacchetti (who ended up taking his name off the movie) and Elisa Briganti, Zombie was Fulci's first foray into horror.  He had previou...

Aristide Massaccesi, primarily known by the pseudonym, Joe D'Amato, didn't just slog through the foul waters of horror and exploitation, but also delved into pornography, both of the softcore and hardcore varieties.  It is only fitting then, that this was his approach to the cannibal film boom that was happening in the late '70s. Blu-ray edition with slip-case from Severin Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali (1977), aka Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals and Trap Them and Kill Them , mixes up the jungle adventure featuring cannibals with the softcore porn elements of an independent woman reporter named Emanuelle, played by Laura Gemser, who played Emanuelle in a number of films, starting with Black Emanuelle (1976), who does whatever she needs to do to get her story, all the while taking the time to have sex with anybody and everybody she feels inclined to do so with.  While she is undercover in a mental hospital, she encounters a young woman who is violent towards nurses...

In the 1970s and 1980s, Italy released numerous movies dealing with cannibalism.  Starting with Il paese del sesso selvaggio (aka Man from Deep River, Deep River Savages, Sacrifice! , and many others), they were initially adventure movies set in the jungle.  The cannibal element was initially a minor subplot, with the later films concentrating more and more on cannibal carnage as the films also went stampeding into the horror realm.  These movies would become notorious for various reasons in the years after their original releases, some getting banned in various countries and most getting cut to ribbons in many countries.  Regardless of any controversial content these films may feature, they are an important part of horror and exploitation cinema.  I am also a big fan of these movies in general, so I am going to discuss some (maybe all), one at a time. First up is undoubtedly one of the most notorious, Cannibal Ferox .  Released in the U.S. as Make Them ...

A long time favorite band of mine is Necrophagia, which initially formed in the early/mid '80s before splitting then eventually resurfacing with a new lineup in the late '90s, continuing on until the death of its founder, Killjoy, in 2018. Set list from Necrophagia show, plus flyer and stage-used drumstick from drummer Shawn Slusarek There are a couple of recent releases from two different labels released as tributes to the band and the memory of Killjoy.  The first is a best-of compilation and the other is a cassette release containing the band's demos from the '80s. Best-of collections are generally a bit of a weird thing for me, personally, as they are derivative by nature.  However, they are good for people who are trying to get into the band, but don't know where to start.  I also find them good for situations where you want to listen to a specific band, but want to hear stuff from different albums, which I find does happen to me from time to time.  Th...

Few things are as pleasant as having a couple of beers and watching a good horror movie.  For some horror movies, there are certain beers that are especially appropriate to drink while watching, usually due to that beer popping up in the movie itself.  Here are a few to start with.  At some point, I will likely do another, because there are certainly more than I will be listing now. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)- Shiner Premium To start off, we have Tobe Hooper's classic, which features some country guys drinking some Shiner Premium in a cemetery at the beginning.  The choice of Shiner makes sense for the movie, as it is a Texas beer, brewed in Shiner, Texas.  This particular beer was, as far as I know, discontinued for some time, but it showed up some time back on shelves, with the label looking very close to the ones visible in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre .  So if you plan on watching this one and want to really get into the vibe of the movie,...