A startling genesis.

Here's one that may divide audiences. It has since it was made in 1991. Many people do not understand it but before I go into further detail, let me offer it up. After that, you be the judge.

 Yes, it is the rare film, BEGOTTEN, from E. Elias Merghige.

Here it is. The one and only.

Why does it look like that? Is this some sort of high art horror film? Well, yes, technically it is, actually. The whole film is comprised of black and white film rephotographed under high contrast. There is no spoken dialog and the soundtrack consists of mostly natural sounds such as crickets. By the very nature this is an odd film.

But, oh yeah, the story. I said this was an art film so the story is one of those that is open to individual perspective. But the best I can do is copy and paste the explanation from the Wikipedia entry. It does contain spoilers so you might want to glance further down past the following paragraph.

The story opens with a robed, profusely bleeding "God" disemboweling himself, with the act ultimately ending in his death. A woman, Mother Earth, emerges from his remains, arouses the body, and impregnates herself with his semen. Becoming pregnant, she wanders off into a vast and barren landscape. The pregnancy manifests in a fully grown convulsing man whom she leaves to his own devices. The "Son of Earth" meets a group of faceless nomads who seize him with what is either a very long umbilical cord or a rope. The Son of Earth vomits organic pieces, and the nomads excitedly accept these as gifts. The nomads finally bring the man to a fire and burn him. "Mother Earth" encounters the resurrected man and comforts him. She seizes the man with a similar umbilical cord. The nomads appear and proceed to rape her. Son of Earth is left to mourn over the lifeless body. A group of characters appears, carry her off and dismember her, later returning for Son of Earth. After he, too, is dismembered, the group buries the remains, planting the parts into the crust of the earth. The burial site becomes lush with flowers.

OK, that's what Wikipedia had to say for the plot.

This film does require some understanding of symbolism and creation myths plus a strong stomach since some of the imagery is very disturbing. Even so, BEGOTTEN is a fascinating piece of film. It is definitely a horror film. It takes a very dirty and ugly approach to tell the tale and is somewhat nightmarish in its execution. In the years since this came out, it has become highly collectible. New DVD copies go on amazon for $189.99 and up. Even VHS copies demand a pretty penny. So this is your valuable freebie of the day. Love it, hate it, or simply shrug your shoulders at it, BEGOTTEN is a force to be reckoned with.

Play time.

This is one of my favorite horror films from the 1980s. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it.

It is Stuart Gordon's DOLLS from 1987.

 Here is the film.

DOLLS begins with a family on a European trip. Judy, the little girl, is very imaginative but her father and stepmother, Rosemary (Stuart Gordon's wife, Carolyn) don't like her constant daydreaming. When their car breaks down, they seek refuge from a storm in an old house occupied by Gabriel and Hillary Hartwicke. Gabriel is a doll maker and the house if full of his creations.

He gives Judy a Punch doll (get it?) to keep her company and then we meet three news strangers who come in from the rain. Ralph, a kind American businessman, and two English hitchhikers, Enith and Isabelle. By the way, Isabelle is played by Bunty Bailey, the girl from AHA's "Take On Me" video.

The people settle in for the night but Isabelle has other ideas. Mainly along the lines of theft.

 That kills the deal. The dolls show their true nature and come to life during the night. They go after those without their inner child. Those cynical ones who don't see the joy and loyalty that toys provide. From here on out, it's their house and it's going to get ugly.

                         
                                                                  Fuckin' A, Mr. Punch!

There's more to the story, of course but I won't spoil everything here. Needless to say, this is a damn awesome movie! It harkens to the old dark fairy tales and "what ifs" that we all think about as children about our toys coming to life at night while we sleep. And it actually has a valuable lesson about staying young at heart.

My old story about this film goes like this. As a kid, the old dolls used to spook me out big time but when this movie was making its run through the cable channels, I saw the trailers play and even though dolls gave me the heebie-jeebies, I still wanted to see it. My dad said no way. So I looked up the local listings and found out it was going to be on during the middle of the night. I woke up and watched it with very low volume, constantly checking that my parents weren't awake and coming down stairs. I loved the movie and years later, confessed to my dad that I had watched it. We then watched it together. I've seen it several times since.

DOLLS is a great spooky flick and I really hope you give it a chance.

Stuck in the uncanny valley.

In psychological terms, the uncanny valley refers to a region of human emotion when things that look and move in a nearly perfect, but not quite fashion, causes a negative response. It makes the observer feel uncomfortable and it gives off a sense of creepiness. Today's film excels at that. So welcome to the valley.

Today's movie is TOURIST TRAP from 1979.

Here's the movie itself. Enjoy.

So, TOURIST TRAP. Yes, this is a surprisingly effective creeper. Lately I've been hearing that this film was a big childhood traumatizer to a number of people. It gets common mentions at places such as KINDERTRAUMA, which is a site dedicated to movies, toys, commercials, TV shows, and so on from yesteryear that scared people as kids. But why? Well, let's get into the basic plot with an eerie pic to start off.

That will do nicely. So we have a group of friends that head off road to a quirky museum full of anamatronic mannequins in search of their friend, who went looking for help with his car. As they arrive, their car also mysteriously breaks down. At the museum, they meet and are helped by Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors). Slausen owns the place and an old plantation house a distance away. He mentions his love for the museum and the mannequins and that his brother was a master craftsman and making them look so realistic. He advises them to stay inside though, citing the dangers of coyotes at night as a deterrent.

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It doesn't take long for the group to become suspicious and decide to venture outside anyways and head to the spooky old house for answers. The house quickly becomes a house of horrors as it is filled with mannequins and pieces of mannequins and the friends soon find themselves terrorized by a madman who dons the faces of the figures.

Whoever this creep is, he knows how to to "mannequinize" people into living anamatrons. Part wax museum, part Hall of Presidents in Disneyland. His creations then become assistants who help out on his reign of terror.

It is well worth your horror entertainment time to give this film ninety minutes. While the story has some obvious plot holes, the overall execution works and it preys on our mutual discomfort with mannequins. And that it does in spades.

Welcome to the Hotel Screaming Streaming!

I noticed a few parallels to Hotel California with today's offering. Not exactly the same idea, but it has similarities. This film is another one from the drive-in era and it lived a second life on the dusty VHS shelves before being pulled out again and given a DVD incarnation.

It's TERROR AT RED WOLF INN.

Here's an alternate poster. Now for your movie.

Have at it.

TERROR AT RED WOLF INN is also known as TERROR HOUSE, THE FOLKS AT RED WOLF INN, and TERROR ON THE MENU. The video cover at the top is the VHS art from the 1980s. It is that very cover that used spark my interest and eventually persuaded me to rent it. It's been an old favorite ever since and a title I've been wanting to share but only now have I found the full film online.

Meet Henry and Evelyn Smith. They run the old bed and breakfast vacation spot, the Red Wolf Inn. It's a quaint house on a secluded beach. They randomly invite a number of college girls for a free weekend at their establishment. That's nice of them. The hospitality is nice and the food is even better.

Our main girl, Regina, meets the couple's son, Baby John. He's quiet and sort of a simpleton. Not an idiot, exactly, just non-assuming and gentle. He seems to know more about what's going on behind the scenes at the inn than Regina and when girls begin to check out suddenly during the middle of the night, Regina becomes suspicious. Henry and Evelyn reassure her that everything is OK and encourage her to enjoy her stay since her time will be over all too soon.

Regina tries to get Baby John to come clean but she eventually learns the horrifying secret for herself.

This is a great old creeper of a film. Almost no gore, the film relies heavily on atmosphere and old fashioned storytelling.

It is available on DVD on a double feature with HOUSE OF THE LIVING DEAD and as part of the Mill Creek 50 pack, NIGHTMARE WORLDS. I believe all DVD copies are the R rated version as was the VHS copy. There is an uncut version that is a tad longer although this one is very hard to find. I own that one.

I believe this link is the shortened version but the uncut one doesn't have anything that will add more to experience so either version is perfectly fine. Enjoy.

A murderous mattress.

Today we have a film that simply defies explanation. It's so zany and ridiculous that it's hard to believe this film actually exists. But it does.

DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS!

Proof that this head-scratcher of a film is real. Watch it now.

                                                                             

                                                                    It's so EVIL!!!!

Wow, OK, a little back story first. This film was originally started in 1972 and finished in 1977. It was the only film from George Barry and it never got a legitimate release. It did make circles through the bootleg community but finally got released by Barry himself in 2004. Apparently Barry forgot he even made the film. I would think I would remember making something like this. Even Patton Oswalt is dumbfounded by this film and has jokingly vowed to make the sequel, "RAPE STOVE: THE STOVE THAT RAPES PEOPLE".

                                                     Here is his comedy bit about the film.

So we have this black four post bed in a castle-like basement that is possessed by the spirit of a demon. It eats people. That's what it does. It starts with a gross yellow foam. I guess it's supposed to be digestive juices or something. Then it grabs its food and digests it in a big vat of piss colored beer. I know. It's supposed to be digestive enzymes, but it looks like fizzing piss.

                                                   Sometimes the bed gets indigestion.

                                                Seriously. Somebody actually made this movie.

So the film is divided into meal segments starting with breakfast. Each meal is another combination of idiots that just have to sleep on the bed with predictable results.

                                                       Grandma loves her oral lesbians.

Once again, somebody actually made this movie.

The bed can also use its sheets as makeshift tentacles, so it can pull the victims right to it if it wishes. Of course it can. Duh!

This movie is so out there that Screaming Streaming has difficulty containing it on this page. One of the strangest and silliest concepts for a horror film you'll ever see, unless Oswalt makes his film.

What's for dinner?

Yes, you probably guessed that that was a cannibalism joke. Nothing gets past you, Sherlock. Today's offering is mouth-watering.

It's MICROWAVE MASSACRE! With Jackie Vernon AKA Frosty the Snowman in his final film!

The movie via YouTube.

Wow. Somebody actually uploaded the classic MICROWAVE MASSACRE. How cool is that? If you really don't know, allow me to enlighten you.

The guy on the left is Donald (Vernon), a goofy guy construction worker with a wife who has the cooking skills of a four year old with a Play-Doh Fun Factory. Her cooking sucks balls, OK? 

One night, he gets into a drunken fight with his wife and kills her with a pepper grinder. The next morning with no memory of the night before, he finds her body in the comically large microwave and begins to eat her, to discover she tastes fucking amazing.

He begins taking her to work as his lunch and even shares her with his coworkers.

"Damn! This is some good stuff!"

Donald then begins to bring home hookers to stock his refrigerator and cook in the microwave.

That's all the plot spoilers you get. The rest is up to you to discover.

This is a silly horror comedy here. Everything about this movie is built for laughs. 

I'll leave you now with probably the funniest quote of the film, brought to you courtesy of Donald himself.

"When I get really bored, I like to drive around and see how many squashed dogs I can count on the freeway!"

It's an evil samurai kind of Christmas!

Oh yes it is indeed! And only this movie will serve up that dish.

It's BLOODBEAT from 1982!




And now you can watch it. See that video above? Yeah, click on it to play the film.

Here's another picture. Pictures are cool.

BLOODBEAT is a bizarre film. It just is. But it is also pretty entertaining. The story is about some friends in the wilderness during the Christmas season. More specifically, the guy, his sister, and his new girlfriend. They head home to see his mother and then the girlfriend gets possessed by the spirit of a malevolent samurai warrior.

This guy right here, actually.

The victims begin to pile up.

Yep, sucks to be that guy. So anyways you get some interesting death scenes and some typical crazy 80s light effects.

She's not channeling Olivia Newton-John, believe it or not. While this film is balls to walls weird, I will point out that there actually is one particular scene that startled the crap out of me but it wouldn't be any fun if I told you what it was. Much more interesting if you watch it and see if you can identify the scene.

BLOODBEAT was one I was introduced to some years back during a time period when I collected rare and obscure horror films. This one was sent to me by a fellow film trader and I just notified him about my recent discovery of the YouTube link. It's pretty cool to see it available and I knew it had to be the subject of today's Screaming Streaming.