GHOSTLIGHT is an upcoming indie feature from writer / director Jeff Ferrell who was responsible for last year's short film MORELLA. The first teaser trailer has been released along with some stills, all of which you can check out below. And don't forget to head on over to the official website, Facebook page and Twitter for more info and details.
Written, directed, edited and produced by Jeff Ferrell, GHOSTLIGHT stars Brian Sutherland, Lisa Coronado, Dennis Kleinsmith, Russell Hodgkinson, Eden Campbell Ramona Freeborn, Armitage Shanks and Jeff Ferrell.
Synopsis: "Andrew (Brian Sutherland) wins a radio contest to spend one night alone in a haunted theater on the 80th anniversary of the bloody murder/suicide that occurred within its walls. His prize: $50,000. His task: Spend 12 hours alone inside. The catch: The theater has been reportedly haunted ever since the tragedy 80 years ago and has been plagued by a series of mysterious deaths in the years since. A devout disbeliever in the supernatural, Andrew has no qualms about spending the night there. But his wife, Mira (Lisa Coronado), who has been haunted by psychic premonitions about the place, feels differently. As Andrew is locked inside the theater for the night, the ghosts and secrets of its past begin to reveal themselves to him. Will he make it through the night to collect his prize? And will he get out before the murderous ghosts take hold of him forever?"
Back in July, Brandon Fowler's HYBRID VIGOR successfully met (and exceeded) it's Kickstarter goal and now the Latvian horror flick has revealed its first teaser trailer which just oozes with atmosphere. This looks like one to keep an eye on. Check it out below and make sure you check out the official website, Facebook page and Twitter for more info.
Synopsis: "A mysterious girl is found living in a forest in Latvia. After being captured by the police she is taken to a mental institution in Riga. She doesn’t speak, but seems to understand everything. She doesn’t sleep, but never acts tired. Who is she and where is she from? Could she be connected to the disappearance of a little girl in the same area 20 years earlier? Most important, is she dangerous?"
Hybrid Vigor is a film about life, death, violence, morality, immortality, love, and loss in the USSR during Soviet times and in present day Latvia. The film stars Velta Buka and Jevgenija Mirosnicenko. It’s written, produced and directed by Brandon Fowler.
Adult star Alexis Texas gets top billing in this low budget zombie / infected flick about a virus which gets unleashed in a research facility. But is the name of a pornstar (I will refer to her as such from now on. Fuck that adult film star bullshit, she's a fucking pornstar!) really enough to lure people in to see a flick which would have otherwise completely passed them by? Well it was good enough for me. Hey, don't judge me. One of last year's best films EXCISION featured a fantastic performance by ex-pornstar Traci Lords which proves it is possible to successfully make the transition from porn to mainstream cinema. It's just very, very rare. In this case it didn't work. At all.
As mentioned previously this film takes place in a research facility. It's after hours and the team are celebrating after successful trials of some mysterious virus concocted for military use. A mishap in the lab releases the virus and the whole building is put under lockdown. The people trapped inside need to stay alive until help arrives. The only problem is that nobody is coming and the building is rapidly filling with 28 DAYS LATER style Rage victims.
Ok so let's get the obvious out of the way first. Alexis Texas can't act. She may do a good job of shaking her ass and taking a cock in any one of her orifices but she can't act for shit. Fortunately she does briefly get her tits out but it's not really enough to justify having a pornstar in the movie. Plus everybody knows that her ass is her best feature, so why focus on the tits? Who knows?
During the majority of the film when she is clothed she runs around stumbling over her dialogue and generally just being an irritating bitch. Also she has the most annoying scream ever.
Fortunately for Alexis (but not for us) the rest of the cast is not much better and not only is the acting terrible but so are the characters and all of the dialogue. Darren (Danoff) is an overly douchey douchebag who's one soul purpose in the film seems to be making immature jokes and just being an all around prick. But it's not even his character that is the problem, after all we've all seen these douchebag asshole characters played perfectly well before. Think Stifler from AMERICAN PIE or even Biff from BACK TO THE FUTURE. Darren is just a dick.
The security officer (played by director Dan Lantz) is a stereotypical lazy lump who sits on his ass reading manuals. The temp Libby seems to have no place in the story at all. Why is her foot broken? Why is she even there after hours if she's just a temp? Why is she carrying a gun around? Most of the characters are more like caricatures.
So now lets get to the gore, after all this is a zombie film right? Well yes and no. It's not really a zombie film (one character even explains why they're not zombies) but there is a lot of blood and fortunately it's almost entirely practical. Unfortunately it looks fake as fuck. And there are way too many neck bites and head shots (how about some variety?). Along with Alexis' breasts there are another two pairs we get to see briefly although they do belong to some unsexy infected freaks.
In all honesty I can sadly see a market for this type of film, but I hope that it is mostly people who just want to get drunk and have a laugh. If you came for Alexis you will be severely disappointed and the same goes if you were looking for some neat gore, suspense or scares. Avoid it like the plague. I give this two stars, one for each of Alexis Texas' tits.
Starring: Reiko Ike, Christina Lindberg, Ogin Shitateya
I'm not altogether familiar with Pinky Violence films and I'm sure a lot of other people are in the same boat. But I've found a nice explanation on Listal which seems to sum up the genre fairly well.
"Pinky Violence is a film genre that developed out of the Japanese New Wave in the late sixties and blossomed into it’s own during the early seventies. The term came from the way the films mixed the erotic elements found in Pink Films (a.k.a. Roman Porno) with the action and violence found in Yakuza crime films. They are often grouped in with sexploitation films because of their excessive nudity, over the top gore and low budget production. These films have influenced many Western directors such as Russ Meyer, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez"
So in the most basic of terms Pinky Violence films are "sexed up, bad girl action films" punctuated with lots of nudity, erotic scenes and strong female leads. I stumbled upon Grindhouse Database's "Pinky Violence: A Beginner's Guide" and as suggested I checked out SEX AND FURY for an introduction to the genre. By this point it's still the only Pinky Violence flick I've seen, but if it's representative of the genre then I am most definitely a fan.
The general outline of SEX AND FURY is simple. It's a revenge flick. A young girl witnesses the murder of her detective father by three men who escape with some important evidence. With the last of his strength the dying detective provides a clue to the identity of his killers by arranging three gambling cards with the images of a deer, a boar and a butterfly upon them. The young girl grows up and takes on the name of Inoshika Ocho (played by the lovely Reiko Ike). What the English subtitles failed to mention however is that this name is taken from the Japanese words for wild boar (Inoshishi), deer (Shika) and butterfly (Chou) which I thought was a little too important not to mention.
As simple as the revenge story is, there is enough subplot going to make sure that the movie is never boring. Ocho encounters the idealistic young man Kurokawa who is intent on seeking his own revenge upon the corrupt politicians responsible for his father's downfall. Another player entering the story is the spy Christina (Swedish import and cult favorite Christina Lindberg) who has to choose between her important work and her love for the young rebel Kurokawa. Kurokawa's past also intersects upon Ochu's as he knows of her father's murder and can help her find the men responsible.
For a movie I had never heard of before I honestly wasn't expecting too much. I decided that if I saw a good amount of boobage then I would at least be satisfied if not impressed. What I didn't count on however was just how much I would love this movie. From the opening title sequence right through until the end SEX AND FURY is a gorgeous looking film with a great soundtrack, plenty of nudity and some nice action sequences. Reiko Ike is nice and easy on the eyes and seeing her fully nude and wielding a katana against a throng of bad guys in a snowstorm is truly a sight to behold. Lindberg unsurprisingly gets naked more than once also and gives us the film's only lesbian scene.
As for the violence there is plenty of it although it's not overly gory. Having said that though there is plenty of blood spraying all over the place particularly in the final sequence which was obviously a big influence on Tarantino and KILL BILL. Although SEX AND FURY sits easily inside the genre it is so well made that it would be unfair to view it simply as a Pinky Violence flick. The cinematography is great, the fight choreography is well done, the acting for the most part is good, the sets are nice and elaborate and the entire film is a visual treat. The only qualms I had were minor. There probably could have been a little more violence particularly near the middle of the movie, and also Christina Lindberg's acting isn't exactly what you'd call great. Getting to see her naked is always a plus though.
Apart from those very minor problems SEX AND FURY is definitely a film I would recommend not only to fans of sexploitation, grindhouse and pinky violence but to movie lovers in general.
I'm not really all that familiar with these type of erotic Eurosleaze films but that's something I've decided to rectify, and what better film to begin with than one I heard described as an erotic, sleazy, Italian EXORCIST? The fact that it's directed by Andrea Bianchi (BURIAL GROUND) pretty much sealed the deal for me.
The plot is very loose and there's good reason for that. This movie is first and foremost a sleazy sexploitation flick and the 'plot' is just an excuse to bind together a bunch of sex scenes. There is some unimportant subplot shoved in there somewhere but it too is also just an excuse to see more tits, pussy and cock.
Nais (Webley) is the busty woman whose bare chest we are treated to in the opening minutes of the movie. Her character is a slutty seductress who is basically willing to fuck any man she can, and since her husband is paralyzed and wheelchair-bound she has her sexy eye set on his brother Andrea. For most of her time on screen she wears little to no clothing and she also supplies a fair portion of the hardcore scenes. And when I say hardcore I mean it. The X-rated version has plenty of up close and personal penetration shots, masturbation and fellatio. They are more explicit than a movie like THEY CALL HER ONE EYE but somehow slightly less jarring which is probably due to their context (all of the hardcore scenes in ONE EYE are basically rape).
The possessed girl Bimba (Katell Laennec in her one and only film role ever) wanders around throughout the film either spying on people mid-coitus, seducing people (both male and female) and pleasuring herself with various plush toys. She is also involved in an incestuous death-by-fellatio scene (yes you read that correctly) which is equal parts disturbing and hilarious.
Throughout the movie Bimba's family obviously notice her bizarre behaviour but put it down to some sort of odd teen phase. I'll bet good ol' Dad realizes that it's not just a 'phase' when his daughter French kisses him and grabs his crotch though.
So there you have it. MALABIMBA is a cheap EXORCIST ripoff albeit a super sexy and sleazy version. If you're into Eurosleaze, sexploitation or just want to see some hardcore sex while without feeling guilty because you're not 'technically' watching porn, then MALABIMBA is for you. But if you hear the word 'possession' and expect a horror film you will be sorely disappointed. It is surprisingly a decent film though with an ending that wraps things up nicely and although there's nothing you could call a standout performance, Laennec gives a nice performance as the possessed and sexually charged Bimba.
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