'Monstroid' aka 'Monster' (1978) - Kenneth Hartford & Herbert L. Strock.

This visibly penurious, enjoyably creaky creature feature, not unsurprisingly, stars gaunt B-Movie icon John Carradine, alongside, Phil Carey, with big, Jim Mitchum playing amiable Alpha monster slayer, Travis with a notal lack of zeal! Like fellow agitprop eco-shocker 'Slithis', the lumbering 'Monstroid' takes broad potshots at the cavalier approach big business has to their chemical waste disposal. The US owned concrete processing plant in a sleepy Columbian village has been blithely pumping dinosaur DNA making gloop into the local water supply. The soapy melodramatics, prosaic chatter, goofy monster gorings, and rudimentary practical FX all guarantee that no truly warped lover of cornball 70s creature features shall feel aggrieved by the conspicuous cheapnis of 'Monstroid'. The climax remains outstandingly ridiculous, and yet, the winningly absurd sight of swarthy Spaghetti western icon, Aldo Sambrell enthusiastically whizzing about in a speed boat in order to subdue the distempered behemoth has a screwball charm all of its own!  

'Angel of Vengeance' aka The Rejected' (1987) - Ted v. Mikels & Ray Dennis Steckler.

When these skeevey survivalist skells took on War cat, Tina (Jannina Poynter), they just done bit off more than they could screw! It might be fair to claim that the gutsy 'Angel of Vengeance' remains one of the more memorable exploitation films of the 80s. Sadism, abundant sleaze, breathtaking scenery, Teflon tough action, sordid spree killers, doomy synths, and a righteously vengeful Valkyrie, 'Angel of Vengeance' is blood-soaked, bullet-blasted B-Movie heaven! I gotta say sleaze titan, Manny (Macka Foley) is one monumentally toxic douche!

 

 

'Nagai Go no Horror Gekijo: Kirikagami' (1992) - Hidehiro Ito.

Maestro animator, Go Nagai introduces this ghastly tale of blood-thirsty slaughter from beyond the grave! The querulous rehearsal of a melodramatic play is disturbed by two cast members breaking into a locked and inadvertently awakening the once dormant demon therein! The amorous couple make some disturbing discoveries about the nefarious crimes perpetrated within the very same building which now houses the theatre! Recalling, Lamberto Bava's Demons, the gruesomely beleaguered theatrical troupe are nightmarishly trapped inside the ill-fated theatre, with no hope of escape from the vengeful supernatural samurai's grisly wrath! Cut off from the outside world, the phones are all dead, and, very soon they will be too!!!! Somewhat talky, but darkly atmospheric, the cast deliver fine performances, and the menacingly smoke-slathered, sword slashing Samurai demon proved strikingly sinister. More adventurous J-Horror fans will find Nagai Go no Horror Gekijo: Kirikagami a worthwhile watch.

 

 

 

'The Vanished' (2006) - Makoto Tanaka.

On an assignment for a lurid magazine, melancholy reporter, Sota Kaneishi (Sôkô Wada) investigates the bizarre discovery of a dead child without any visceral organs! Once at the desolated, almost completely abandoned village, the macabre mite's singular physiognomy proves to be the least disturbing attribute to this forest-dwelling terror Tyke! Well acted by a fine cast, this bleak J-Horror treat has spooky set-pieces, and a rich atmosphere of slowly creeping dread, concluding excitingly in a thrilling, albeit oblique finale! While I very much enjoyed 'The Vanished', some may balk at the vague resolution, the mostly splendid text offering very little explanation over these sinister sprogs manifestly supernatural origins.

 

'Fantasy Mission Force' (1983) Kevin Chu.

This is sheer unleavened lunacy, and I loved every Chop Schlocky second of it! This overripe iteration of the 'The Dirty Dozen' frequently exudes the very same mad energy of equally incongruent Turkish/Filipino exploitation gems. One of my favourite moments includes the hysterically slapstick-slathered haunted house/ hopping vampires sequence! Great cast, insane music cues, plentiful pyro, prodigious Gun-fu, and more, Jackie Chan that you might think, but, for me, the clear star of the show is the dynamic death dealer, Brigitte Lin!

 

 

 

 'Go Nagai’s Scary Zone : 2 Senki' (1990) dir. Go Nagai & Hikari Hayakawa.

This gruesome Twosome remains an entertainingly lurid J-Horror S.O.V double-deader by visionary artist, Go Nagai. This dastardly duo of doom-laden diabolism is gory, well acted, and ably directed by, Nagai and, Hikari Hayakawa. Go Nagai introduces the terrific toxically revenging oily maniac-inspired 1^st instalment. Beginning nastily with some sleazy Nikkatsu-style grindhouse romping as sociopathic, thrill-seeking biker punkers cruelly torment an innocent young couple. Savagely beaten, the young man loses an eye, and to add insult to considerable injury, he is submerged in a convenient barrel of caustic-looking industrial waste! Galvanized by immortal love, our gloop-faced revenger's brutally enacted retribution proves cathartic, concluding sweetly with a sublime moment of genuine pathos!

Following Nagai's intro the second instalment is shot in stark monochrome, concerning the increasingly frosty misfortunes of a group of friends downward-spiralling skiing trip. After one of their number suffers a life-threatening injury, their fate takes a rapid turn for the worst! Claustrophobically trapped within an isolated cabin, a raging storm icily precludes any hope of escape! The eccentric behaviour of these querulous companions increasing defensive, bloodily erupting in terminal case of cabin fever! Paranoid, and splendidly strange, this tersely told terror tale remains an effective mini-slasher with a rewardingly odd-ball WTF climax!