The Merits of Sin…The Book Spook du Jour alum and oddball cinema connoisseur Brennan Dortch has published his first book, which is a mighty doozy mind you, and so I figured it would behoove me to say a few words: There’s a shit ton of heart and a severe lack of narrative control which is … More The Merits of Sin…The Book
Carter the Great, the world’s greatest magician, discovered some sort of super substance called raw zeta which seems to be some form of hasheesh. When it’s introduced into the human body it becomes deadly zeta or some shit which grants the conduit’s voice the power to control humans or something along those lines. Carter vanished … More The Merits of Sin: Alabama’s Ghost (1973) (USA)
At the age of 29, in the year 1993, director Fabio Salerno committed suicide. Leaving behind a handful of little distributed horror films that sit comfortably in the ever popular bizarre landscape of backyard horror. Sadly for Mr. Salerno he snuffed out his own candle a few decades before the boom in SOV and amateur … More The Merits of Sin. Fabio Salerno: Unsung
As a fan of world horror there’s a few regions on this stupid rock I’m absolutely in love with. Mexico offers some of the best genre output this gringo has ever come across. They can get wild but if you’re in the mood for some serious pants shitting horror they throw it out with equal … More A Magical Evening in Indonesia
In this addition of Short Cuts, we got a handful of ghosts, a demon or two, and a stuffed pig with a homicidal streak. What a gallery of rogues! Attack of the Killer Hog (2003) An explosion of ideas sadly never gels and just left me a bit confused but mostly pissed off. Two detectives … More The Merits of Sin (Short Cuts): Attack of the Killer Hog (2003) (Argentina) Pyewacket (2017) (Canada) Hell Mountain (2016) (USA) We Go On (2016) (USA) Muirhouse (2012) (Australia)
Depressing and disturbing Swiss flick manages to make you feel yucky all over but is so well done it’s hard to dismiss it as exploitive crap. So… win? Beaten deaf and dumb by his abusive, sister molesting father, our introverted protagonist (?) goes about his life excelling at his accounting job and living a quiet … More The Merits of Sin: Mosquito the Rapist aka Bloodlust (1977) (Switzerland)
Indonesian slasher. That’s all you had to say. Indonesia has been a constant source of joy in my trip down the horror rabbit hole and I was teethed on slasher flicks so I was all in when Waterfall of Pengantin first bleeped on my radar. Luckily it wasn’t that hard to track down and here … More The Merits of Sin: Air Terjun Pengantin aka Waterfall of Pengantin aka Lost Paradise: Playmates in Hell (2009) (Indonesia)
I rarely get angry. It’s just not in my nature. I worked over a decade in the construction business and even in dealing with customers who knew everything there was to know about home remodeling thanks to catching a few seasons of whatever garbage HGTV was shitting out, I always kept my cool. Frustration would … More The Merits of Sin: Deep Blood (1990) (Italy)
Direct to dvd madness was in full swing as the millennium kicked in the door like a drunk daddy on a cocaine binge. Video stores were stocked to high hell with bottom shelf loveliness mass produced for a hungry horror market. Slashers were cheap as hell to make, giant animals rendered to life with defunct … More (Amazon) Prime Grime: A Rogues Gallery of Crap Part One
Mexico’s legendary Headless Rider returns and this time there’s many a dangerous secrets spelling out trouble with a capital T. A tight knit group of soldiers who once served under General Villa are called to their comrades home by his doctor. There they get sworn to an oath of protection by their dying friend. He … More Forgotten Nightmares: The Head of Pancho Villa (1957) (Mexico)
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