Category: Horror Movies

Finishing the Complete Twelfth Season (2022)

Season 12 was a season punctuated with several rather big moments for the channel, ones im very proud of. It was the season that helped us ease into monthly streaming, it was the season to feature our longest review (“Sweet Insanity” – Thanks to Peckingforgoodtv for being a good sport on that one!) it featured probably our most mainstream review (I Spit on Your Grave) and our most obscure review (Santa’s Pocket Watch)

It saw the wind down of “The Comedy Dining Experience” and probably our crowning achievement for the year, as not only did we smash through 150k views (for the 2nd time I might add) BUT! we also FINALLY hit 1000 subscribers after over 6 years of weekly uploads. It’s been a hell of a road, but its one im fiercely proud of, and one that I simply couldnt have done without the help of our wonderful viewers and the many friends and creators i’ve made along the way.

Latter in the year seasons (basically the September – December stint) are always a little less fun for me. Don’t get me wrong! they ARE still very fun, otherwise I wouldnt do them the way I do. But with the pressure to do spooky stuff at Halloween and Christmassy stuff at Christmas, it usually means that at least 8-10 of my 16-18 slots for the year are eaten up with a rigidly structured type of arrangement. one of the things I really love about the February – June/July run is the fact that it’s in total free flow. I can plan the season out months in advance, but all it takes is one release to creep into my radar and I can easily swap it into the schedules with no problem. With the September – December run, im not as carefree.

But this year was a little bit different, Being able to collab with so many wonderful people across this season really helped to keep things fresh and keep my interest on the ball. The fact this years halloween special theme was “Poundland Horror” meant I wasnt rigidly stuck to one genre for a full month and could relax into the season quite nicely. and even the christmas specials were perked up somewhat by being able to tackle movies like “Winterbeast” with George. It just made things a lot less dogmatic and more, just for the fun of it. Yes I didnt get to do everything I wanted to do this season, but I got like; 95% of it done, and thats good enough for me!

Of the two seasons that made up 2022, Season 11 was probably the most fun to work on, but Season twelve was almost certainly the most rewarding. The former was the last hurrah to my old system, and the latter was me basically relearning how to do my trade having upgraded all my kit over the summer. and Season 12b (Im not calling it Season 13, theres no way im cursing this thing right out of the gate) is going to be the biggest and longest season we’ve ever done to date! I honestly cant wait for you guys to see it when we premiere on Feb 3rd 2023!

All I can say is, Season 12 was a fun one, and I hope 2023 keeps that postive energy coming!

by tytdreviews

Silent Night Deadly Night 2 – (1987)

And with that! we’ve reached the end of another season, and once again we’re revisitng the ‘Silent Night Deadly Night’ franchise with probably the most infamous entry of the entire franchise.

Yes, we’re doing the ‘GARBAGE DAY’ movie. and honestly, this one was really quite the blur from a behind the scenes standpoing on the show, the last 3 months of the year were frankly pretty crazy and (to my admitted shame) this one ended up kind of being bashed out in a bit of a haze while dealing with a load of personal issues around work. Nothing too awful mind…just jarring. it’s something im still kind of dealing with now even, but I’ve gotten a bit of a better grasp on it. for now at least.

Anyway; enough of my problems! Silent Night Deadly Night 2! the film that made me wonder how on EARTH they followed up on this with 3 other movies. and…well, you’ll find out exactly HOW they did in a year or two. because…im not touching those movies again for a while let me tell you now!

Anyway! merry christmas and all that! we’ll be back in february! all my love x

by tytdreviews

Winterbeast – (1992)

Well, its a bit late! but heres the first of our christmas specials, and rather wonderfully, we’re welcoming back George from The Best Little Horror House In Philly to help us take on a stop motion cult classic like you’ve never seen!

The one big thing I can say about this is, I didnt actually pick up on the ‘Twin Peak’ themes and references (to my UTTER shame) until George sent his side of the script over! I was so busy focussing on the execution I totally missed it! but im SO glad George caught it, because as soon as I heard it, suddenly the whole thing took on a completely new life!

It’s kind of a good news/bad news with Winterbeast. the good news is Vinegar syndrome have done a lovely restoration of it on bluray! the bad news is, it’s part of the ‘Home Grown Horrors’ boxset which only has a limited number of copies left! So nab this while you can! and thank you SO much to George for jumping in on this one with me 🙂 he’s awesome and I hope we get to work together agains soon!

by tytdreviews

I Spit On Your Grave – (1978)

Probably the most surprising film of this season for me, I REALLY wasnt looking forward to talking about this one, it’s a catagory 1 Video Nasty however, so I kind of felt obliged to.

I was expecting over 90 minutes of rape and unpleasent grimness that would leave me feeling uncomfortbale. But instead I actually found the film strangely compelling an empowering. I absolutely dont agree with Siskel and Eberts take that this work is Mysoginistic. I think personally it comes from a place of very careful consideration.

As the credits rolled I actually felt more comfortable with the film that I had expected, and I actually kind of got on with it a bit more than say ‘The New York Ripper’ or ‘Night Train Murders’. This one was Palettable, and is absolutely one i’d watch again.

‘Iconic’ is too small a word.
by tytdreviews

Camp Blood 2 (2000)

If Nukie is a film that isnt worth your Vitriol. Camp Blood 2 ABSOLUTELY is. my GOD this films dull and incompitent.

…thats all I have to say, Having now seen Camp Blood 3 (within the woods) I can say this is*probably* the most watchable of the 3. But thats REALLY not saying much.

Ugh.
by tytdreviews

Halloween Night (2006)

And so! another Halloween draws to a close and I chose this one to see us out, ‘Halloween Night’ is a VERY early ‘Asylum’ picture, trying to get a publicity boost off the ‘Halloween’ franchise (itself having a reboot upcoming in the form of the Rob Zombie movies at the time) AND given that this year marked the final part of the EVEN NEWER soft reboot of the Halloween franchise with ‘Halloween Ends’ it made sense to check this one out.

And you know what? it’s actually pretty okay! like…its nothing mindblowing, but of all the films i’ve covered this month, this would be the one i’d feel most comfortable coming back to at some point for a stable watch!

Short but sweet, I liked it! give it a go!

As for next halloween? well, I think it’s going to be a bit of a ‘Trick or treat’ grab bag of titles, I have a few already lined up, but it’s still early days!

That cover haunts my nightmares, I remember seeing TONS of them in film and music stores in the mid 2000’s
by tytdreviews

Final Scream (Final Stab) – 2001

It wouldnt be a ‘Rip off’ movie month without taking a look at probably the most proliferated ‘knock off’ feature the 1995-2005 window could produce. David Decoteau’s ‘Final Scream’ a picture that looked at ‘Scream 3’ and went ‘Hey! thats been out for 12 months. Lets make an unofficial one of those!’ before being slapped with a lawsuit and being forced to change its name to ‘Final Stab’ (Itself, a reference to the movie series within the scream franchise that retells the scream films…this is…all getting a bit confusing.’

ANYWAY! the reason it’s so well known (at least in the UK) is because back in the VERY early day of DVD distribution, players were often sold bundled with a few packs of ‘Multi film’ box sets, usually containing the cheapest, lowest budget productions ever shot. and 9 out of 10 of those sets, came with ‘Final Scream’ bundled in with them.

All bein said? its not THAT bad of a movie. it has nothing to do with ‘Scream’ in any way shape or form. but it could have turned out a LOT worse than it actually did.

probably one of Decoteau’s better offerings. I’d say if you can get your hands on a copy for this (and it’s not going for stupid money, i’d say a tenner or less) then maybe check it out? just dont go into it expecting a knock off ‘Scream’ movie…it’s really more of a murder mystery haunted house flick than a reference laiden slasher.

This poster is SUCH a rip off. I kind of love it for that.
by tytdreviews

Dawn of the Living Dead (Curse of the Maya) – 2004

As we continue our deep dive into ‘Films that wish they were part of ‘Official’ film franchises’ We arrive at 2004’s “Dawn of the Living Dead” a ludicrous work that I still have total and utter mixed feelings about. It feels like a made up movie, like something that shouldnt actually exist. It feels odd. like a concussion. situations and circumstances have this overly woozy quality and a total miscasting of Joe Estevez (who I mainly know for ‘On Cinema‘ which adds a WHOLE other level to this thing). Just makes this whole thing a totally surreal watch for me.

Whether its actually any good? I cant say. I know I was so conflicted about it, I ultimately ended up putting it on my ‘Shelf of quite good films’ pending a rewatch (which’ll probably be next halloween now at this rate) I just…Im lost for words with this thing. and I think if you check the below review…you’ll see why.

Still, the posters kinda cool for this one.
by tytdreviews

Sweet Insanity (Stranger: A Soulmate of Chucky) (2006)

Well! it’s our SIXTH Halloween special run (honestly, where does the time go!?) and this year we were going downmarket and dirty, looking at ‘knock off’ movies that were riding the coat tails of much more successful pictures. And this film was very much the inspiration for this months offerings. “Stranger: A Soulmate of Chucky” a film i’d wanted to get my hands on since AT LEAST 2007, maybe even earlier. As soon as a saw the cover and found out it’s intentions in DESPERATELY trying to appear to be tied to the childs play franchise. I just KNEW I needed to see it. It’s apparently quite hard to get ahold of these days, which makes me glad I grabbed mine some years ago when it was just “kinda uncommon” rather than “full blown rare”

Not only is this the start of a new themed month for halloween AND a movie i’ve wanted to watch for the best part of a decade and a half and review since I started the channel, but it also gave me the opportunity to work with a fellow cult film critic and genuinely good egg, Dan From Peckingforgoodtv. Honestly, his ’31 horror movies in 31 days’ halloween specials have EASILY replaced the hole in my life that was created when ‘Cinemassacres Monster Madness’ was wound down. I think the guys spot on with his reviews and is very sincere. and I highly recommend you check his stuff out.

In the meantime though! strap yourself in for 41(ish) minutes of analysis about a killer doll movie that isnt really a killer doll movie! YAY!

That cover is SUCH a fucking lie. Jesus…
by tytdreviews