The Terror Within 2 - 1991

 When you vaguely remember The Terror Within because of the werewolf on the cover, and cause it came out trying to capitalize on The Howling and Wolfen and all the others, well that is when you watch the sequel.

C'mon, let's admit first off the title begs reexamination. How about The Terror Without first of all- or The Terror Within You? Guys, he creative. 

I only vaguely remember the first movie, which if memory serves, is werewolves. I say this because in this movie it's really not.

There's a pandemic on, see, and people are sort of rotting/seeping blood and becoming gross blood monsters. R Lee Ermey and some other people are in an underground bunker in the desert and thus relatively safe. Some newcomers come to the situation and now it's a game of try to survive. 

90s trash, yes. If you were wondering. Maybe it's the film quality. Maybe it's the acting. I couldn't say what it is for sure, but there is a distinctive feel to 90s movies.

By the way this is only 4 years off Full Metal Jacket, and Ermey is aleady in Z grade direct to VHS bullshit? Geez he deserved better. 

1.5 stars

Dark Tower - 1988

 I'm feeling a bit more like watching horror flicks and reviewing them, plus we up here in Idaho had another cold snap n 6 inches of snow, so....

Dark Tower has Michael Moriarty of Q The Winged Serpent and The Stuff, he's playing another square who's called in when a window washer falls to his death from a big ol tower. The window he fell from was that outside of Carolyn, so now she's dragged into the investigation. 

This movie is a minimal, cheap dumb horror flick. In fact, that's a term that I would say exists to describe this exact type of thing- if the set at any point is, say, hastily put up unpainted walls, if your set has exposed wood or lighting from just exposed lightbulbs, if your set has empty cardboard boxes around... It's a flick.

Dark Tower is a flick, and in those terms, which themselves predispose for middling, Tower is a middling one. It's average, it's whatever, it's a "sure, ok". 

If you haven't gotten the picture yet I'll say this, another necessary thing to define a flick is that you'll pretty much never think of it again, it's anywhere from 1.5-3ish stars, but hey, you also weren't looking away from the TV screen the whole time with boredom. 

I'll give this a 2.5 

From a Whisper to a Scream - 1987

 I was cruising Amazon and this movie was recommended so why not.  I had been feeling like a slasher and I thought for a minute this might be one.  It's not, but it did fit the bill regardless.

Vincent Price leads us on an intro where I'm wondering where this will go, then we cut to the first story cause you guessed it!  It's an anthology film.

Segment one is a story of a dorky guy that goes on a date with a woman and when she rebuffs him he kills her.  Then he kills his sister, before a mutant baby creature shows up and kills him!  I must've missed that this was supposed to be the baby of him and the woman he killed.  I must've missed that somewhere.

Second segment, some asshole guy owes some gangsters and flees to the swamp and is saved by an old black man who practices voodoo.  The asshole comes to believe the man might be over 200 years old and tries to get him to share the immortality secret.

Segment three is a story of a carnival glass-eater who is in love with a woman.  He wants to leave the curcus and be with her, but the circus is hella evil and they don't want him to leave.  What lengths they're willing to go to...now that's the horror.

Segment four is a civil war thing where a squadron of officers finds a small secluded house where evil children live.  They kidnap the soldiers and slowly kill them off, leaving Cameron Mitchell to be tortured.

Vincent Price is in the wrap-around, and shit, what else do you need?  Some unexpected and unusual nudity, in that it is from an older woman, some good kills, some of the more unusual villains and ideas.  I'll take it!  Hell I'll even give it 3.5 stars.

Maciste in Hell - 1925

Damn yo, I guessed the year right first try!

This is on the boxset and I ask you is hell not the ultimate Nightmare World?  I say it is.

Maciste is an Italian hero from the silent film era, and in this he is brought down to hell by Satan to get tested by the creatures down there.  He is put through tests both spiritual and physical, and must endure with only his strength of body and will.  

There was a funny slide in this movie that described Maciste, it was a while ago and I didn't write it down but it was something like "Maciste with his power slightly more than average man".  I just liked that they basically downplayed him like, guys he isn't that strong.  Just a bit.

Hell in this movie is pretty badass I have to say.  A lot of the imagery was based on an Italian artist Gustave Dore, and this shit does look like the movie in a way:

This movie's got a bit of tinting to it as well, it was black and white but early on it's more like yellow and black, then hell is definitely red and black.  With cool costumes and satanic things all around, with a frame rate that makes things move quick and choppy, hell indeed looks brutal as fuck.  Surprising also is that hell has scantily clad women!

I have not seen a ton of black and white silent films, but if someone made a list of films stylistically akin and fast paced like this, I would check some of them out!  This is damn entertaining!  I'll give it 4 stars!