Written by: Michael Den Boer on December 10th, 2009
The Maniacs (Mya Communication)
“The Maniacs is a delirious comedy that puts a devious twist on everyday situations.” – Michael Den Boer
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – BluRay (Blue Underground)
“Very few directors have made the impact that Dario Argento and his debut film The Bird the Crystal Plumage did upon their arrival.” – Michael Den Boer
Exposed (Synapse Films)
“Christina Lindberg is very good in roles like this one which require her to be innocent and sexually curious. Fans of Christina Lindberg will be happy to know that she spends plenty of screen time with little or no clothing at all.” – Michael Den Boer
Star of David Hunting for Beautiful Girls (Discotek / Eastern Star)
“Star of David: Hunting for Beautiful Girls is the most perverse and demented film ever to emerge out of the fertile mind of director Norifumi Suzuki.” – Michael Den Boer
Sins of Sister Lucia (Mondo Macabro)
“Sins of Sister Lucia is a well made Nunsplotation film that is knee deep in this genres most perverse clichés.” – Michael Den Boer
Cat in the Brain (Grindhouse Releasing)
“despite its flaws a Cat in the Brain is an entertaining and amusing satire.” – Michael Den Boer
The She Beast (Dark Sky Films)
“The She-Beast is a flawed film that is most remembered because of the participation of actress Barbara Steele who steals very scene she appears in. If you a fan of Barbra Steele or Gothic horror film’s then The She-Beast should be right up your alley.” – Michael Den Boer
Kadin düsmani (Onar Films)
“This DVD’s box art proclamation that Kadin düsmani is the Turkish equivalent of Italian thriller’s known as Giallo’s is dead on. The film opens with a series of stylized murder set pieces before any characters are fully introduced and there is not a single syllable of dialog spoken until for the first nine minutes of the film.” – Michael Den Boer
Nightmare Castle (Severin Films)
“Nightmare Castle is an underrated horror film that gets better with each new viewing.” – Michael Den Boer
Marquis De Sade’s Prosperities of Vice (Mondo Macabro)
“The story takes a darker turn when life imitates art and one of the actors at the counts theater is murdered. The counts downward spiral and those who he surrounds himself with faithfully capture the essence of the Marquis De Sade.” – Michael Den Boer
The New York Ripper – BluRay (Blue Underground)
“From the opening moments of The New York Ripper when a dog brings a severed hand to a man, it is quickly established that what you are about see is going to be violent and undeniably gruesome.” – Michael Den Boer
Hardware – BluRay (Severin Films)
“stylistically, the film is closer to such Italian directors as Mario Bava and Dario Argento rather than Ridley Scott or James Cameron – while reflecting his own personal interests and perceptions (for a potentially mainstream picture, HARDWARE is intensely perverse in its depiction of sex, drugs and violence). The results are an aesthetically enthralling experience that ranks as one of the finest genre debut features of the 90s.” – Christopher O’Neill
Silent Scream (Scorpion Releasing)
“It is shocking that Silent Scream is not as widely known and regarded, since it holds up as one of the better slasher films to emerge from the early 1980’s.” – Michael Den Boer
Messiah of Evil (Code Red)
“Messiah of Evil is an eerie tale that owes to the just as much to the literature of H.P. Lovecraft as it does to the European filmmakers whose films served as inspiration for this films visual style.” – Michael Den Boer
House of Horrors (TCM / Universal)
“This is actually one of the best Universal horrors of the 40’s, a list that is generally topped off with The Wolf Man. House of Horrors can certainly hold it’s own against most other contenders such as Man Made Monster, and it blows away inferior junk like The Mad Ghoul. It may not have Jack Pierce makeup, but it’s got Rondo Hatton, so who needs makeup?” – Carroll Jenkins

