Video Nasty: SS Experiment Camp (1976)

No rest for the wicked so back to the Nazi camp I go. Not that I'm lookin' fwd. today either , and not out of fear that I'll be tortured, and killed, but cause this has an even lower Imdb rating than SS Hell Camp, at 3.1, but if the same happens with this as Hell Camp, I'll be pleasently surprised, so without further to do, here I go to the:

Like yesterday it wastes no time, so straight to the SS camp we go where naked prisoner girls are being forced to swear allegiance to the fuhrer by means of electrocution, and if they don't, and at first they don't, it's lethal injections, and off to the crematory.

The grim, dark atmosphere tells me right away that this won't have the comic relief which made Hell Camp a fun but twisted ride. In other words, this will be much closer to the real thing, and probably much harder to sit through because of that, we'll see.

Once again we witness Nazi camp murder, torture, rape, sadism, nudity, orgies, and oh, did I mention hairy armpits?

Fine mix there for it to be banned, and labeled a nasty. This time it comes with a twist however as sexperiments are carried out between female prisoners, and Nazi soldiers to attempt creating the ultimate master race so the (un)lucky participants gets training through orgies, etc, and if they refuse to participate, they end up like this:

But it goes further than that as the head Nazi officer in charge decides he wants a new set of balls from a soldier younger than him, so to the operating table it goes where the surgery is shown in a drawn out vomit inducing sequence.

But when the young soldier finds he's impotent, and naturally goes "nuts" because of it by first approaching the officer who now possesses his family jewels, saying "You Bastard. what have you done with my Balls?", and from there on out, it's all down hill for the SSexperiment camp staff, but is justice served at the end?

What's good:
Funny at times, especially during the end, and when Nazis toast at a party they don't go "Cheers", but "Heil!" Hahaha. OK. The what have you done to my balls line was also worthy of some ROFLOL biz. The movie is at best somewhat realistic regarding what went on in those camps during the big one. The hot, and cold water torture shown in this film was one of the most painful SS torture methods according to a long gone friend, and neighbour of mine who was unfortunate enough to be a concentration camp prisoner during the war. The typical 70's Italian OST is ok, and has some catchy haunting tunes. Directing, acting, and all the other tech stuff is done well but not great by any means, the sets are fitting, and feels like it happened during WW2, and there's enough vileness goin' on for it to deserve it's video nasty stamp of disapproval. Well at least it was, back in the 80's, and this was no less than the movie that started the video nasty hysteria much because of it's original GO Video VHS cover art. GO video was also responsible for releasing Cannibal Holocaust, and more nasties, and of sending them to the censorship fanatics, hoping to get some extra promo that way, and they had Pandoras box wide opened at a level they hadn't dreamt of in their wildest nightmares, so SS Experiment Camp has to get props for kickin' off the vid nasty hysteria in the first place.

What's bad:
If it hadn't dropped before it, I'd say they tried to make a Holocaust for the big screen, but failed at that as it has few of the qualities that made the Holocaust TV series a masterpiece, so I doubt this hit many big screens if any at all. 3/4 of the movie is hella boring, and I was tempted to fast fwd. a lot, but it picks up in places, and towards the end. The love experiments are nothing but an excuse to show as much softcore porn as possible. Yawn. The testicle transplant scene almost had me puke, and that my friends has never happened to me, and I've seen a disgusting scene or two before surprisingly enough. That scene was hard to sit through, and has the power to make even the most jaded reach for the barf bag like it almost did to me though I'm fine now but not without scars, so as an endurance test I guess that scene's actually not a bad, but a good thing.

The Verdict:
Not all that much left to say really but it's not essential viewing,  however worth a one time watch to see if you can endure the worst bits, and to check the film that started the video nasty hysteria. Other than that it's pretty much boring, and worthless, so SS Hell Camp reviewed here yesterday was a way better example of a good Nazi explo film.

Rating: 2/6

Video Nasty: SS Hell Camp (1977)

Yay! Finally back again with more video nasty reviews after another two year absence, but I was locked up at Hell Camp, and oh no, now it seems I have to go right back there!

Because today's nasty is none other than the infamous SS Hell Camp aka Beast In Heat, and here we go with some Italian Nazi flick madness which should be fun so let me break out the old Gestapo uniform, and Mein Kampf to get in the mood to enjoy the SS havin' fun @ experiment camp!

Ok. That was a joke, and a bad one at that, as I don't consider WW2 Nazi atrocities fun entertainment, but it's a video nasty so it has to be reviewed. My expectations are low with an Imdb rating of 3.4, but the shock value should still be worth it. Only one way to find out, so let's do this!


Plot:
First thing we see is a Swastika, then it's straight off to the Nazi camp where atrocious experiments take place on the poor prisoners, and nothing's left to the imagination, to the sound of a sinister 80's style synth score, which is far from a masterpiece, but gets the job done.

The oh so notably beautiful, but oh so evil Dr. Ellen Kratsch is portrayed by Macha Magall, (un)known for a handful of not so notable Italian erotic, and Nazii exploitation films, does a great, and believable job here as the head Nazi mistress in charge. Why the hell didn't she do more films? She has only nine to her credit, and looking as great as she does, one would think she could've done a lot more, but at least we get to see just about all there is of her in this movie. ;)

She's got an experiment goin' where a 100% retarded beast of a man is injected by something that makes him go bonkers. He rapes, screams, howls, growls, drools, etc through his entire screen time, and his favorite dish is pubic hair!

All that during the first 30 minutes! So far, so gross. Of course, even a nasty can't be all sex, and violence, so there's a plot too. Imagine that! It's your basic WW2 Resistance vs. Nazis with plenty of battlefield action.

Of course there's also brainwashed, sadistic SS including this guy who gets a call from a superior, and when Der Fuhrer called it was "Stop your grinnin', and drop your linen'!"His girlfriend has a habit of yelling "Heil Hitler!" while jumping naked on their bed too.

The plot switches back, and forth between the Nazi camp experiments, the Nazi vs. Resistance fight, sadism, torture, violence, rape, and twisted sexual desires, so it's all lined up for some of the good old video nasty business here.

The arguably worst scene has the Nazis throwing a baby in the air, then shooting it with a machine gun, which is up there with the worst scenes from any video nasty.

And they all look like they're having so much fun doin' it, and get turned on sexually by it, and so much, the head Nazi bitch in charge cuts off this poor dude's dick too.

As it was in WW2, the Nazis get limited time to do evil though as the Resistance closes in on them which results in a final showdown at the experiment camp, and by then it's gonna be hard for the Nazis to save their asses even if they have the Gestapo version of Laurel & Hardy coming to their rescue:

What's good:
I expected this to be bad so I waited for years to view it but was pleasently surprised actually. It has enough sex, violence, gore, torture, etc to deserve being a video nasty, and though I'm sure it was supposed to disgust, and apall the viewers it does that yes but is often un-, and intentionally funny, especially Salvatore Baccaro as the caged beast who's performance is so over the top we rarely see anything like it, and none quite as savage as him, so that alone is worth the price of a free download, and even a purchase as this can be viewed repeatedly with no problems, and is a great one to disgust your friends by showing them the demented delights of a true video nasty. It's fast paced, has lots of nudity, and once again I gotta stress how hot the Nazi experiment mistress is even though she's pure evil.

What's bad:
The fight coreography is clumsy, and I can't help but wonder if the Nazi vs. Resistance plot was such a good move as it would've been more interesting to stay at the camp more but hey it sorta mixes the hardcore atrocities up with a basic action war movie a bit for some relief. There's also a fighter plane which is definitely a toy plane model. See for yourself below, but that too makes for some unintentionally fun moments.

Verdict:
Luigi Batzella is miles away from one of the best Italian directors being best known for the lackluster Nude For Satan, but hit more of a home run with SS Hell Camp. I was pleasantly surprised, and had a twisted fun time watching this. The Beast is insane, the acting was passable for such a C grade flick, the nasty bits were fun, and makes the film rewatchable for shock value, and Macha Magall was a hottie! Way better than I thought it would be, and the Imdb rating, so I'm lookin' fwd. to reviewing the next video nasty which is also an Italian Nazisploitation flick. If you like 70's trashy shock cinema, violent video nasties, and have a no holds barred sense of humour, then by all means give this one a shot.

 Rating: 4/6

Video Nasty: Tenebrae (1982)

Any day I can rewatch a Dario Argento classic is a good one, and now I even have an excuse to do so because of this review, so here we go with what's surprisingly the only Argento film to make it to the infamous nasties banned list, so get ready to be swept aside by the simple act of annihilation.

Plot:
What would you do if you were an author, and suddenly a maniac started killing people based on a book you wrote? And not only that but what if the maniac also stuffed pages from your book down the throats of the victims? I would probably follow the investigation closely, and write another book about that, and that's close to what's goin' on in Tenebrae as author Peter Neal experiences what I just said. Brutal murders a plenty follows, and everyone is trying to find out who the killer is including the police, Peter Neal, and everyone around him.

The murders get more brutal and gory as the film carries on, and among other things we get to witness axe-murder where nothing is left to the imagination, hand being chopped off painting white walls blood red, a lesbian couple getting killed, a girl being chased by killer dog sequence, and other fun. Among all that, flashbacks of a sexual encounter with a slut from the killers childhood who was played by a she-male nonetheless.

What's good:
Dario mixes violence, and gore with sleaze, horror, and an Agatha Christie type murder mystery in Tenebrae which was the second Argento film I ever saw after Opera many years ago, and is arguably Dario's best film. His trademark camera techniques are present too, giving this an artsy early 80's Italian feel. The acting is also good for an Argento film, Anthony Franciosa does a great job as Peter Neal, so does the rest of the cast, especially John Saxon as Neal's agent, and Daria Nicolodi, Dario's ex-wife. Several legends of the Italian horror cinema are also involved on the production side plus acting, like Michele Soavi, and Lamberto Bava.

Add an almost Goblin score to that. Three members including Simonetti did it because the band had just split up and Simonetti & co didn't have the rights to use the Goblin name. The score is a mix of your basic electronic horror soundtrack with a bit of Disco and Electro mixed in and a bunch of weird experimental music too which is perfect for the movie, and the Italo-Disco main theme works well on the dancefloors. I used to play it at times back in the old days as a DJ and it rocked the clubs. There's a 12" single of it with added breaks in the beginning of the song that any DJ, Horror or Disco fanatic should get even if they have the album.

　
Also the movie has plenty of beautiful women, some get naked too, and the mix of sex & violence was a sure way for a film to end up on the video nasties list. A final great thing about this is the murder mystery plot. Dario' always does his own killings when shooting films, but I dare you to find out who the real killer is. You will have a very hard time, but in the end it all makes as much sense as a Giallo should. Finally, this is a great film to introduce people to Argento, the Italian horror genre, and the giallo as it's a mix of the American and Italian styles of moviemaking.

What's bad:
Absolutely nothing. Dario Argento is one of the very best horror and giallo directors and this is one of the masterpieces from his golden era.

Verdict:
Horror and giallos don't get much better or more brutal but at the same time cinematically artistic as this. This shows the damage a Dario Argento at his very best could do, and Tenebrae is also typical of the Italian cinema of the 80's when it comes to style though this is a lot better than the average later Italian Giallo. Another fantastic Goblin score, and different from their 70's work. They've always managed to change with the times, and be a bit ahead of them too so their newer albums are also great though very different from their older stuff, and the same can be said about Argento for the most part. Not only is this one of the best video nasties but one of the best horror and mystery movies of all time, period, so once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, so I give Tenebrae a solid...

6 (out of 6)

Video Nasty: The Burning (1981)

We continue with the Video Nasty reviews. Way overdue of course but it is what it is. Today's pick is nothing less than a Slasher classic. I've seen this one hundreds of times, but it's only right to watch again when reviewing and I suggest you do the same. Lock the doors, close the windows, lights off, and volume up loud. Don't move or you're DEAD! Light some candles or better yet make a skull and put some lit candles in it for decoration cause hey, that's exactly how The Burning starts.

Plot:
Summer camp, I must admit I loved it in junior high, and like me, the kids at Camp Blackfoot knows how to have fun, meaning pranks with a big P! Most of them quite innocent though like the camp bully, Glazer, about to get glazed by the trusty old airgun, and that shit hurts when it hits, trust me.

As much fun as summer camp is there's usually a kid or employee who ruins the fun, and The Burning is no exception as the camp caretaker Cropsy isn't exactly what you'd call popular among the kids, havin' a rep for being quite a bit of an asshole, so the kids decides to do the right thing, and get more than even on his ass.

Short story short, they sneak into his cabin at night while he sleeps, with the aforementioned homemade skull filled with maggots and lit candles for good measure. They place it by Cropsy's bed, sneak back outside, and starts bangin' his window to wake him up. Well he does, sees the skull, and has a heavy panic attack. Unfortunately for him he bumps the skull over, lighting fire to his own bed, and yes you guessed it, not only does the bed catch on fire but so does the whole cabin with Cropsy inside. Now I've done some heavy pranks in my days but they never turned out quite as bad as this one...

But!...Cropsy survives, and ends up in a hospital with n'th degree burns all over his body. There he's known as the hospital monster. The freak that's burnt so bad that it is what the new doctors needs to see. It's where it's at, and Cropsy is by now a fuckin' Big Mac!...Overdone!

However, not for long, as the Big Mac escapes the hospital, and goes on a killing rampage revenge spree for the kids who were responsible for turning man into monster, so back to the old camp he goes, and that is when the slicing and dicing slasher fun starts, and The Burning has plenty of it. Cropsy stabs, chops, axes, and more than anything, hacks, and he doesn't settle for only the kids who turned him into a monster but any kid that comes in his way gets the Cropsy treatment. He's literally on fire!

What's good:
This is one of the few films that manages to mix comedy with horror without it becoming too silly. The kill and gore scenes are heavy which is why it was banned, thanks to fx master Tom Savini who actually turned down working on Friday The 13th. part 2 in favor of The Burning, but the comedy somewhat lightens up the mood in between the blood and guts.

If you ever went to summer camp this is as real as it gets and brings back fond memories, well, except for a murdering maniac being about, as that was of course mostly campfire tales, and The Burning was based on a real such tale about the Cropsy Maniac. Then there's the incredible musical score! Rick Wakeman's synth score just might be the greatest of all time for a slasher movie, only rivaled by Carpenter/Howarth's original Halloween score in my opinion. All the characters or just about, are likeable too so we don't want em to die, well maybe except for the bully, "You got that!", but even he is a good guy at the end of his days.

What's bad:
For the first time I can't find much bad things to say when reviewing a movie. To some it might be that this film's from the 80's so it's slower than modern films, and a bit outdated, but that's just the way I like em, especially since I grew up in the 80's, and there never was or will be a better time to grow up in. There's also a scene early on where Cropsy kills a prostitute which doesn't make much sense as there were no prostitutes at Camp Blackfoot, no? However that scene looks great in a very Dario Argento type way, but it's out of place considering the revenge type plot.

The verdict:
This is the perfect slasher movie, once again only rivaled by the original Halloween, perfect cast of quite a few who became famous later like Holly Hunter and that guy from Seinfeld, direction by Tony Maylam is superb, villain, plot, musical score, I could go on and on. One of my favorite slashers and one of the very best video nasties that really wasn't nasty enough to be one, but it still delivers on the gore, and the fun, and that means repeated viewings, and plenty of 'em. They truly don't make em like this no more, and it's rep hasn't been ruined by sequels or god forbid, a remake, and if you plan on doing a remake beware that Cropsy's still out there...waiting...watching.

The Burning, you're never gonna forget this man, as long as you live, so for the first time on this blog it will have to be a...

Score:
6 (out of 6)

Video Nasty : The Devil Hunter (1980)

Oh my, I haven't updated this blog since 2008 (!) Back then the video nasties were a fairly rare topic online, but now there's been several documentaries made about them and released on DVD, there are message boards, and websites dedicated only to the nasties, etc, so for some time I thought I wouldn't bother to finish my reviews of the banned 39, but just decided for the hell and the fun of it that I'll complete 'em, and give you my take on them anyway, and by my speed they'll probably be done some time in 2099, but at least I'm back to review, back to burn, back to hurt 'em! So...here we go with the next movie on the nasties list. I'm going to review them alphabetically but from Z to A as you've figured out by now, so we're at the titles starting with "The", and since The Grim Reaper's original title is Anthropopagus The Beast, I'll skip that one for now, and head straight for The Devil Hunter, so here we go.

The Devil Hunter from 1980 directed by Jess Franco, and originally titled El Canibal so I guess I'm about to review the first straight up cannibal flick on the Nasties list. Good! I like cannibal movies, however, at an Imdb rating of 3.1, and not a huge fan of Franco's directing skills, though he has his moments, and running at 102 minutes in all it's uncut g(l)ory, I guess I might be in for a boring old time here, but we'll see..

Plot:
We happen to be in a part of the world where cannibals live dangerously close to the city, and oh, just five minutes in, and the cannibals have secured themselves to a nice big feast in the shape of a naked, sexy townie. Then what's supposed to be the main cannibal shows up. He's got creepy, bulging out of his head, bloody eyes, and is introduced lurking around the jungle searching for human prey! Ten minutes in, and there's more nudity than most porn flicks, mixed with some violence. Add some cannibalism to that, and it was bound to be one of the 39.

Our friend with the bloody eyes is already at it, and so mean it even scares the other cannibals off. They have a Totem of him at their camp where they also worship him though. Now there's some kinda mafia in the city kidnapping women providing food for the cannibals, and there's a team of hunters in the jungle as well, I guess hence the title of the film. A combo of cruelty against women, and sleaze is present throughout, very much in the spirit of Jess Franco. Some more people join in with money to free a kidnapped girl, among them an ex Vietnam vet who throws a tantrum at the slightest smell of a jungle, no doubt bringin' him Vietnam flashbacks of the unpleasant kind, and so with all those people running around in the jungle, some of them, especially the women, butt naked, it's all set for no less than a smorgasboard for El Canibal.

What's good:
This was quite a lot better than the imdb rating indicates. Direction, and acting was not bad, plot made sense and was well carried out from start to finish, the feeling of being in the jungle while watching was present because of the location combined with the proper soundeffects along with a tribal score which was noisy and threatening at the right moments, and loungy during the scenes in the city, the gore scenes left more to be desired but (the victims) were well executed, and the main villain, El Canibal, was creepy, and one of the few villains that's managed to somewhat scare me, and must've scared the diapers off kids (un)lucky enough to see this back when it was new. The nudity and sleaze as expected in a Franco film was an added bonus.

What's bad:
Some messy editing here and there. Being a Spanish film, the English dubbing made the actors seem more amateurish than I think they were. It was a shame that we didn't get to see more of the violence and gore as it happened but were instead for the most part left to see the results of it after, which I guess could've been due to a lack of skills, budget, or both. Could've been more cannibalism being this was a cannibal film, and they didn't use El Canibal to his full potential as they could've easily made a series of movies with him as the villain had they done it right in the first place. The smorgasboard never really happens, and so the poor cannibal didn't even get to eat properly before they killed him off. Shame, shame.

The verdict:
Original VHS copies, and there's two versions, one with a red, and one with a green cover, one being more rare than the other, fetches a few hundred dollars on ebay and the likes if you're lucky enough to find one at all. As a movie it's by no means worth that price of admission though it's a little underated, and if you're a fan of Euro Horror from back in the days, you'll find this entertaining, but if your idea of a good Horror movie is Silence Of The Lambs then avoid at all costs. The main thing that pulls it down is they built the suspense well but tore it down too quickly makin' it essentially an anti climatic movie leaving more to be desired, so I guess a good warm up to say Cannibal Holocaust or Cannibal Ferox. Still it has it's moments, and it's easy to understand why this was a video nasty. Not great, not bad, so it will be...

3 (out of 6)

Video Nasty : The Driller Killer (1979)

One of the most infamous nasties, much because of the nifty cover art, which sent religious fanatics, hysterical crusaders of moral issues, and frustrated housewives alike into a frenzy. Now, this one must be REALLY sick with a cover like that, right?



Plot:

Reno is a confused artist who's about to face some hard times, and become a deranged, then crazy, then homicidal artist. He can't pay the rent, a really bad Punk band messes up his consentration to say the least, he has a fucked up love and social life, and his paintings?..well, they suck. Then he finds a new friend...an electric power drill, and goes on a rampage removing what...ahem..WHO ever is bothering him.



What's good?:

Abel Ferrara does a decent job directing this, but a better job starring as Reno. The style of the film is very 70's underground New York, and portraits it as a place you would never wanna live. The various characters underlines that as we are talking about some of the utmost human trash. The climax of the film is the infamous power drill through the head which is well made and bloody as hell.



What's bad?:

Slow pacing to the extreme which makes this a very boring 90 minutes. You sit and wait for the power drill scene from the cover, suffering through the deranged painters problems that you don't give a shit about, actually you'll catch yourself thinkin' you hope he puts that drill right through his own forehead rather sooner than later. In addition we have to suffer through the music from the incredibly bad Punk band, and get familiar with characters which is the kind of people we would like to keep at a good distance in real life, and wouldn't dream of dating any of the girls in the movie...well, unless you're on smack.

The Verdict:

Worth it only for the power drill scene which is what got it banned, but it could've been released with that scene cut out with no problems with the censors, but who would wanna watch this mess without that scene? To some degree it's also interesting to get a glimpse at New York during the time at it's most trashy, but that becomes dull after about ten minutes of it. All in all not a good start for actor and director Ferrara. I suggest you see the drill scene on Youtube, and forget about the rest of the movie, unless, you like me, is a Video Nasty completist. I got bored just thinking about having to review this movie, and guess what. Now, I'm done!..YES! :)



Rating:

2 (out of 6)

Video Nasty : The Ghastly Ones (1968)

One of the oldest entries on the banned list is Porn director Andy Milligan's The Ghastly Ones aka Blood Rites. The media warned to be aware of any title including Cannibal, Zombie, Savage, and Blood cause they were all potential nasties. Now, how do Porn directors usually do when they attempt to make a movie in a different genre?



Plot:

Some couples needs to spend the night at a mansion according to a will. Once there, they get killed off one by one. Whodunit?

What's good?:

Not much! There's some fairly bloody killings. A killer in a cloak and hood is hiding in the cellar and kills with a hayfork, a butcher knife, and a saw, and the family retard eats live rabbits. The music is orchestral and quite good, but I'm guessing that with the budget Milligan had at hand it's library music.



What's bad?:

Just about everything, as this falls into the so bad it's really bad category. The director can to some extent direct but still fails, much because the actors shouldn't be allowed to "act". I could care less about the whodunit plot, and I'm a big fan of whodunit's. A scene in the cellar when the killer "hides" from his prey is so stupid the victim must've been deaf, dumb, blind, and retarded. That however is nothing compared to the very ending which is so bad you will actually laugh cause it is possibly the most stupid line to end a movie ever!



The Verdict:

Only worth seeing for the gore scenes. They are quite bloody, disgusting, and well carried out. The rest is worthless, and it's boring and very amateurish. It takes about 55 minutes for something to really happen, besides the beginning, and when a movie is about 70 minutes long that should say a lot! Don't bother unless you have to see all the Nasties. However, the killings are not bad, so instead of a zero, it will be a...



Rating:

1 (out of 6)