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“The Wait” * (2023, Film Movement) A foolish decision causes Victor Clavijo, a gamekeeper for wealthy landowners in a rural Spanish town, to lose his son and wife in rapid succession. But his search for answers to the tragedy – motivated largely by guilt – reveals that their deaths may have been part of a strange ritual involving the town and all those who previously held his job. What begins as a revenge thriller in modern Western dress takes a turn into supernatural horror with religious (established and folk) overtones; all sides are deftly handled by writer-director F. Javier Guiterrez, who also focuses on the rash emotions that fuel them. The striking and often nightmarish visuals are photographed expertly by Miguel Angel Mora; currently available as a VOD title on various platforms.
“The Profane Exhibit” * (2013, Unearthed Films) Ten short exercises in extreme horror are featured in this portmanteau from writer/co-producer Amanda Manuel, who enlisted an who’s who of international directors to oversee her work: Ruggero Deodato (“Cannibal Holocaust,” Yoshihiro Nishimura (“Meatball Machine”), Uwe Boll (“Postal”) and others. The individual episodes themselves are rife with physical punishment and abuse, serial murder, and an astonishing amount of cannibalism. Some stories work (Sergio Stivaletti’s “Tophet Quorum”) and others don’t (Deodato’s disappointingly brief “Bridge”), though in some cases,”success” means an ability to repulse, like Boll’s “Basement.” Unearthed’s HD Blu-ray includes interviews with Manuel, who discusses the film’s decade-plus gestation, as well as a longer cut of Michael Todd Schneider’s brutal “Manna,” behind-the-scenes footage of “Tophet Quorum,” and interviews with several of the directors. I know two of the participants – director Jeremy Kasten, who oversees the grisly wrap-around segment, “Amuse Bouche,” and “Ultra Violent” editor Art Ettinger, who joins Manuel and Schneider on the commentary – so I’ll let you know judge those elements for yourself.
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Hillbillys in a Haunted House” * (1967, VCI) The hillbillies in question here are singers Ferlin Husky and Joi Lansing who, with anxious manager Don Bowman, are forced to take shelter in an Old Dark House after being caught in a crossfire between federal agents and foreign spies. The crumbling manse is actually the spies’ HQ, which they protect through various measures to suggest that the place is haunted. Sequel to “Las Vegas Hillbillys” trades Jayne Mansfield for Lansing as Ferlin’s Gal Friday, Boots Malone, and adds John Carradine, Basil Rathbone, and Lon Chaney Jr. as the foreign operatives (who also keep a pet gorilla, played by career movie ape George Barrows). Otherwise, it’s thin soup enlivened by the horror stars’ mugging (Carradine and Chaney are the main offenders) and breaks for songs by a dyspeptic-looking Merle Haggard, Sonny James, and other lesser lights (the three stars also get tunes). Jean Yarbrough, a veteran B-horror director (“The Devil Bat”), goes through the motions, though his choices occasionally generate some accidental surrealism (the haunted house is stocked with televisions on which the irritating Bowman takes frequent breaks from the action to watch Haggard and others). Passable amusement for badmovie fans, who have unquestionably seen worse films VCI’s Blu-ray/DVD combo includes commentary by podcaster Robert Kelly, who provides more info than you may have thought possible on this film.
“The Sect” * (1991, Severin Films) Kelly (sister of Jamie Lee) Curtis runs afoul of a global Satanist cult, represented by a raving Herbert Lom, who wants her to birth the Antichrist. Said plan involves gruesome, tangentially related murders (including Mariangelo Giordano’s death, revival, and subsequent suicide), a sentient rabbit, beetles up Curtis’s nose, the Moon, references to the Rolling Stones, and an amorous supernatural bird. Co-writer/director Michele Soavi (“Cemetery Man”) and producer/co-writer Dario Argento have crafted a curious and at times impenetrable supernatural thriller that still begs attention because of its lysergic visuals (which, it should be said, do have context within the film’s storyline) and exceptional production, of which Raffaele Mertes’ cinematography and Pino Donaggio’s score are among the standouts. And if “The Sect” refuses to follow a linear storyline, it also holds interest longer than the glut of bland American and often doggedly silly Italian horror product of the period. With Tomas Arana, cult favorite Giovanni Lombardi Radice, Daria Nicolodi, and Soavi himself (on TV); Severin’s 4K UHD/Blu-ray features Italian and English audio and interviews with Soavi, Argento, Mertes, Donaggio, and other cast/crew members, as well as historians Alan Jones and Fabrizio Spurio, and a brief tour of a weird space in Soavi’s house that inspired the film.
“Mute Witness” * (1995, Arrow Video) Make-up artist Billy (Marina Zudina) isworking on a low-budget horror film in Moscow when she stumbles on a real-life nightmare: the film’s Russian crew is making a snuff film after hours. The police (represented by Oleg Yanofsky) and her protective sister (Fay Ripley) seem like natural sources for help, but there’s one problem – Billy can’t speak, which the snuff film’s Mob-backed crew and its mysterious benefactor (Alec Guinness in a cameo) hope to exploit. Modestly budgeted horror-thriller, filmed entirely in Russia, benefits greatly from Zudina’s sympathetic but capable lead and writer-director-producer Anthony Waller’s skill at crafting nerve-ratting suspense setpieces (something he’s had relatively little opportunity to do since this film’s release); the rundown locations (including the venerable Mosfilm studio) are a plus, and Guinness’s cameo (filmed a decade prior to release) lends polished menace to the plot. Arrow’s Blu-ray features a 4K restoration and commentary by Waller, as well as a second track by composer Wilbert Hirsch and production designer Matthias Kammermeier; video essays by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Chris Alexander discuss the snuff and film-within-a-film angle, while an investor reel and footage of Guinness round out the disc.
