Terror Firmer

Description

Honored at film festivals the world over and revered by tromites and tromettes worldwide, Terror Firmer is an unforgettable look into the set of one of Troma's movies of the future! Featuring director Lloyd Kaufman in the role of blind director Larry Benjamin, Terror Firmer tells the story of a low budget film crew trying to make The Toxic Avenger Part IV, only to find themselves stalked by a sexually confused killer! A satirical schock-comic tro-masterpiece, Terror Firmer stands as the tro-magnum opus of blood, breasts, gore, satirical laughs that will stick with you forever! And that's not even including the extra features! A second disc features the feature length making-of documentary, "Farts of Darkness," which is must-see viewing for anyone interested in making their own damn movie! With over two hours of extra features, Terror Firmer delivers the troma-riffic goods!

Customer Reviews:

Perfect date movie.......2007-09-13

This movie would have sucked if it have been taken seriously. The reason why its so funny is because its way over the top. I love Lloyd Kaufman in this movie, he's a riot. I dont know too much about Troma movies but I loved this movie. Pick it up for a date movie, you dont be disappointed.

FAT SLOB EATEN BY AN ESCALATOR.......2006-09-08

This is probably the goriest and most puke used Troma movie ive seen so far besides The Toxic Avenger Part IV. One of the best scenes in Terror Firmer is when the killer Grabs the fat movie producer and eats him with the axe in the business building while he is getting sucked into the escalator! Surely the intestines and blood spilling looked like rubber balloon animals but hey, it's Troma! Im really happy I bought this film, but I did not recieve my free mini poster that claimed was inside the case. Oh well, the film is worth the false advertising. The fat naked guy running through New York and getting his head crushed by a car is a classic! Disc 2 also has the Terror Firmer video game which is tons of fun and incredibly gory. BUY it. ! Although I hear that Troma's new movie "Poultrygiest" is gonna be gorier than this?

Not Tromas best........2006-05-02

I have mixed feelings about this movie, I think it was a slight let down. The movie was filled with gross-out humor,But what can you expect from Troma. The movie is about a killer within, a Troma movie set,The killer turns out to be a sick,Demented Hermaphrodite.The film has some memorable gross-out scenes. If you are a fan of Troma by all means by this movie.

funny and stupid.......2006-03-11

best movie ever-will fufill your need for both digusting nudity as well as terrible acting.

just amazing. about as good, if not better than citizen toxie!.......2006-01-31

while terror firmer is nowhere near the excellence of the classic tromeo and juliet, it is very entertaining and gripping. also cheesy and hilarious. i recommened you dont show this film to sensitive viewers until you have built them up to this level of troma. to get someone into a troma junkie, i must say start with the first toxie and cannibal! the musical. then you can move up to tromeo and juliet and finally this monster! i really dig this new age troma crew with the likes of will keenan, ron jeremy,lemmy and the guy who plays jerry(i forget his name) and such. this is one of the three essential troma films of the new troma era. the other two being citizen toxie and tromeo and juliet.

"dont give up the fight for truly independent cinema!"

Average customer rating:

Perfect date movie
FAT SLOB EATEN BY AN ESCALATOR
Not Tromas best.
funny and stupid
just amazing. about as good, if not better than citizen toxie!

Terror Firmer
Starring: Edouard Baer , Tracey Burroughs , Roy David , Lyle Derek , and Mario Díaz (II)
Manufacturer: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002VEV5C
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Customer Reviews:

Perfect date movie.......2007-09-13

FAT SLOB EATEN BY AN ESCALATOR.......2006-09-08

Not Tromas best........2006-05-02

funny and stupid.......2006-03-11

best movie ever-will fufill your need for both digusting nudity as well as terrible acting.

just amazing. about as good, if not better than citizen toxie!.......2006-01-31

Average customer rating:

Another fun romp through CAMP BLOOD!
Can you smell that? We must be "Within the Woods"...

Within the Woods
Starring: Brad Sykes , and Phil Lander
Director: Stephanie Mathis
Manufacturer: Razor
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000A59PQU
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Customer Reviews:

Another fun romp through CAMP BLOOD!.......2005-10-07

What can you say? Nothing's better than watching pretty girls run through the woods while being chased by a big nasty killer clown! This isn't a big budget adventure - but as long as you go in knowing that it's a fun and campy story - well... then it WILL indeed be a fun and campy movie! The gals are hot... and you just can't help but give a little cheer each time someone who deserves it gets all slashed up... Relax... enjoy it! I did...

Can you smell that? We must be "Within the Woods"..........2005-10-01

If you want to see a really scary, well produced horror movie, stay away from this one. The director must have thought ripping off other horror movies done much better was some kind of homage but it's not. The cast does the best they can, although the lead actress's greatest talents lie hidden underneath her shirt, and we're not even given the pleasure of a glimpse (nice going brainiac). The scene at the end in the control room was unintentionally hilarious, when the guy gets his hand chopped off by the killer clown and screams, you'll scream too... with laughter.

As cheesy as this movie is it does have some entertainment value if you want a laugh, when you're done watching it, the DVD makes a nice drink coaster.

Average customer rating:

Transparent Plot - Horrible Script - Browder saves the Day
Suprising End For Me
Was this actually released theatrically?
Entertaining
A Killer Within

A Killer Within
Starring: C. Thomas Howell , Sean Young , Ben Browder , Dedee Pfeiffer , and Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Brad Keller
Manufacturer: Fireside Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0006VY6OY
Release Date: 2005-01-15

Description

Addison Terrill (C. THOMAS HOWELL), a former district attorney now in a lucrative private practice, has what seems to be the perfect life. Sharing a successful law firm with his best friend, Sam Moss (BEN BROWDER), Addison's career is on the rise and he has a luxurious home, a beautiful, sexy wife, Becky (SEAN YOUNG), and a bright young son. But life as he knows it is turned upside down when he arrives home from work late one night to find his wife brutally murdered and his son unconscious in critical condition at the hospital. Now, fingered as a suspect by the police, Addison must race to find the real killer and prove his innocence before it's too late. Out of desperation with no where else to turn, Addison must put his trust in the only other person tied to the case, ex-cop Jesus Vargas (GIANCARLO ESPOSITO). Bitter and humiliated by his removal from the police force, Vargas holds Addison personally responsible for ending his career in law enforcement, and his motivation for finding the killer may not be to Addison's advantage. In order to solve the case and find the true killer, both men must put their differences aside and their lives on the line. Their search leads them through the city's underworld and into a wicked web of deceit. As hard truths become revealed and dark secrets begin to unfold, the ring of suspects close in around Addison and he finds himself questioning the very people he trusted.

Customer Reviews:

Transparent Plot - Horrible Script - Browder saves the Day.......2007-09-07

Unfortunately this movie did not have much to work with, considering the horrible script by Chris and William Peirson, who are real life attorneys. They should probably stick to their day jobs.
I knew who the killer was and the murder weapon to be used long before Sean Young's character was actually killed. It was that transparent. The whole cast gave a somewhat lackluster performance, but C. Thomas Howell as the bumbling attorney who is trying to solve his wife's murder was simply ludicrous. Again though - he didn't have much to work with. For someone who was supposed to once have been one of the top prosecutors in a city like Dallas, he behaves like a naive newbie from some backwoods town, who has absolutely no street smarts, or common sense for that matter. It was actually painful to watch. Sean Young gives a solid performance, albeit appearing a bit bored with her part. Who can blame her. The only performance that somewhat saves the movie is Ben Browder's. Too bad he is seriously underused. However, he is allowed to shine and give us a glimpse of what he is capable of during his final scene and the flashbacks thereafter. The man can express more with one look than other actors can with two pages of dialogue. He is definitely one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. Will someone cast him in an A-movie lead already! We need to see more of him.

Suprising End For Me.......2007-05-29

I had No idea who the killer was until the very end. I thought this was an excellent movie.

Was this actually released theatrically?.......2005-11-28

Putting this on DVD seems like a big enough waste of money. You can tell the film is going to be chintzy on the budget when the lead actress's wig looks like a Halloween prop at your local Party City; however, the beautiful house used for the main characters was the real star here. But this film's redeeming quality is how laughably bad it is. You will find yourself rewinding scenes to laugh again as you won't believe how cheesey it looked the first time - like when the hooker gets shot - a classic death scene! The cinematography never rises above a primetime episodic on a low budget giving it a shot on video feel. The dark night scenes were overlit, and the supporting cast were the real jewels here insuring they never work again. The mention of "Dr. Pepper" numerous times was so ridiculous - did the Texas-based Dr Pepper demand to be featured throughout this Texas production or were they offered some free publicity? Either way, Dr Pepper sure tastes good with Turkey.

Entertaining.......2005-05-14

An entertaining 94 minutes of "who done it" intrigue.
Was good to see Sean Young again.
C. Thomas Howell looked a bit ragged.... is his health OK ?

Admittedly we guessed the plot and the killer at around 30 minutes into the movie and at times the plot twists made us think we might be wrong.... but we were right.

Despite figuring it out so early, it was still entertaining

A Killer Within .......2005-04-16

A Killer Within does a good job of coupling some original surprises with a character-driven plot. No easy feat for sure, and trust me, the script could have easily been turned into a lousy Lifetime Channel movie of the week without the right direction and cast.

Becky Terrill, played by Sean Young, leads the caricatured life of a stereotypical Dallas socialite. Her posh North Dallas house is ridiculous, her Mercedes is pristine and her dependency on alcohol is ravenous. The only thing that seems to bother Becky's Prada-clad existence is her 4 year-old son.

Becky's husband, Addison, played by C. Thomas Howell, is a high-powered corporate attorney with some codependency issues and a raging Dr. Pepper jones. Addison comes home from work to find Becky brutally murdered, apparently at the hands of someone targeting Addison. The lead detective fingers Addison as suspect number one and his investigation basically ends there.

But Addison, who has made some dangerous enemies during his climb to the top of the food chain, has a suspect of his own. In order to find the killer and protect his innocence, Addison reaches into his past and enlists the help of Jesus Vargas, a former cop played with enthusiasm by Giancarlo Esposito. Esposito's performance as the renegade ex-cop is the most authentic in the film. The lawman and the lawyer strike an uneasy alliance as they navigate the seedy side of Dallas in search of Becky's killer.

Director Brad Keller does a masterful job of introducing just about everyone as a suspect and the guessing continues to the very end.

Average customer rating:

Killing is a Contact Sport!!
Average giallo with above average gore
Entertaining Enough. 3.5
A Dario Argento He's Not
You Are A Female! You Are A Female!

A Blade In The Dark
Starring: Andrea Occhipinti , Anny Papa , Fabiola Toledo , Michele Soavi , and Valeria Cavalli
Director: Lamberto Bava
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000059PQ7
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Customer Reviews:

Killing is a Contact Sport!! .......2007-07-20

A landlord and a meeting, a foolish inquiry into some unsolved demises after this point in time, and even more deaths to follow as foolishness keeps searching. This is one of the wonderful things about Bava's film - you really get to have your cake and eat a lot of it, and sometimes the frosting is lavishly eclectic.
The bizarre becomes even more bizarre, making the oddity interesting.

Sometimes I want to take a look back at the Eurofilms and ask certain questions, but when you look at the people in these movies and even the movies themselves, you have to remember the era of film you are in AND you have to remember exactly where your film is coming from. Italian cinema was a gore-fueled beast that worked off of low cost, kicking out themes that other countries would often ban. Italian films, especially those made in the Slasher-film's Golden age, were also created with dialog that could be formatted to anyone's lips quickly (the old Sergio Leone trick perfected in his Westerns) despite the language they were dubbed onto, were filled with people that were simply picked out on a shoestring budget that didn't allow for veterans of the trade, and were graded on a curve that leaned more toward the graphic nature of the story and not toward plot-points or acting prowess..
So, how do you deal with the problem of acting? You cover each actor with gore and you do it with style so that everyone remembers it and not the dialog.

Sometimes, when watching some of the more gruesome deaths, I wonder if they were dreamed up because of specific actors? The instruments used, for example, and the situations they were used in; in the states these things were taken from our Slasher movies and, when imported in their first outings, a lot of the shots were deemed gruesome enough hat they would have to be hacked up and retitled just to get some time on a store's shelves.
It was in movies like this that I learned about drills and flutes and other implements that could kill, for example, and why they were used. In one film I read something Argento was quoted as saying about this type of film, stating that "most people have never been shot, so using a gun only give into a fear of what people have seen in the movies. In you drop a person into a vat of razors, however, people know how a razor feels and can identify with that." Since Bava worked with Argento alot, I think he knew this all-too-well.

For people who like Italian horror, gore-films, or 80s slashers, then this might be fun to try out.

Average giallo with above average gore.......2007-05-22

I don't really envy Lamberto Bava. Sure, he's a director in the movie business, which means he comes into contact with very hot chicks on a daily basis. That would definitely rank as a plus in my book. His career also means he doesn't have to put up with the daily grind like the rest of us mere mortals. Another plus, I think. A final positive? He makes horror flicks. That's fun with a capital 'F'. He gets to stage all sorts of bloody mayhem, capture it on film, and entertain weirdos the world over. I still don't envy him, though. Why? Look at his last name. Having the name "Bava" in the horror business would be the equivalent of laboring under the title "Spielberg" or "Lucas" in the United States. Lamberto Bava is the son of Mario Bava, a legendary Italian filmmaker who could lens a movie in any genre with astonishing ease. Mario made romantic comedies, westerns, science fiction, gialli, and a host of horror films. I've never seen a Mario Bava film that I disliked. All of his pictures contain that certain something that makes them a good viewing experience. Lamberto, on the other hand, has a tough time living up to his father's reputation.

"A Blade in the Dark" is a giallo, one of those infamous Italian murder mysteries larded with red herrings, an enigmatic killer, and hot babes. It was only a matter of time before Lamberto tried to cover ground previously explored by his father. This movie is the result, and it's not a winner. The story focuses on Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti), a composer currently scoring a horror film for his director friend Sandra (Anny Papa). The opening of "A Blade in the Dark" shows a bit of the film Bruno's laboring on. A scene unfolds in which three kids, one of them played by Giovanni Frezza (one of the most annoying child actors in the history of the world, by the way), dare one another to descend into a darkened basement. Down the stairs goes the kid, and seconds later a bloody ball comes bouncing out of the darkness! Huh? Oh well. It's all a set up to get us into the story of Bruno and the strangeness he's about to encounter in the seaside villa Sandra set him up in so the composer could create a masterpiece. From the sound of the music he's banging out on his keyboard, I think it's safe to say John Williams doesn't have much to worry about.

The hijinks kick into high gear when Bruno discovers a woman, Katia (Valeria Cavalli), hiding in one of the house's closets. Hmmm. That's weird. Anyway, the two engage in mindless dialogue before Katia sneaks off and leaves the house. She's brutally murdered outside by some kook sporting a utility knife and clad in female attire. Bruno, noticing Katia's sudden disappearance, goes looking form her only to discover a diary she dropped outside. A clue! Upon reading the diary, Bruno learns some intriguing bits about the villa's former occupant, a woman named Linda. It's intriguing enough that Bruno begins to delve a bit deeper into the history of the house. He finds a locked door downstairs that he can't get into, and learns that the room has something to do with Linda. While all this is going down, other women suddenly show up only to fall into the psycho's orbit. Bruno's girlfriend Julia (Lara Naszinsky) and Katia's friend Angela (Fabiola Toledo) both meet their grim end in or around the seaside villa. What's going on? It turns out that the answers lie in the very film Bruno is working on. Prepare yourself for a shocking denouement in which the movie reveals all.

I'm sort of kidding about a "shocking denouement". "A Blade in the Dark" isn't really shocking at all in terms of plot or character development. What we're dealing with here is an average, muddled giallo that doesn't live up to anything made by Mario Bava (or Dario Argento, for that matter). I had a tough time keeping track of what happened as the film progressed, and the conclusion is a real groaner in terms of logic. Another negative plaguing the film is the lousy dubbing. Really, this movie contains some of the worst dubbing in the history of cinema. It's so laughable and distracting that it takes away from the movie's impact. What rescues the movie from the garbage bin is the gory kills. We see women sliced and diced with that utility knife in ways that will make the hardcore gore fans cringe. The killer wraps one gal's head in plastic and then proceeds to slam it repeatedly against a tiled countertop until she dies. The stabbings go on and on in nauseating detail. The murders in "A Blade in the Dark" are so violent that even Europeans had problems with the film. Too, it's hard to ignore the inherent misogyny in these crimes. Those wacky Italians!

Anchor Bay, which I'm told doesn't exist anymore thanks to a buyout, brings us a great DVD version of the movie. The picture and audio quality should keep most buyers happy, as will the extras on the disc. We get a trailer for the film, liner notes from Mario Bava historian Tim Lucas, and a twenty-minute interview with Lamberto Bava and scriptwriter Dardano Sacchetti. This last feature, called "Behind the Blade," is neat to watch, as the two men reminisce about making films on a low budget and offer their opinions about the film business in general. So there you go. If you like gialli, you'll definitely want to give "A Blade in the Dark" a shot. It's not nearly as good as the movies made by Lamberto's father or those from Dario Argento, but the excessive gore and laughable dub job should keep you marginally entertained for an hour and a half. Three stars.

Entertaining Enough. 3.5.......2005-01-29

This is the only Lamberto Bava movie I've seen, and it's pretty good. It's a giallo, and massively influenced by Dario Argento's work, particularly 'Tenebre'. (On which Bava was a assistant director, I believe) And no, it's not as good as that movie, or 'Deep Red' or 'Opera', but if you like all those films I think you'll at least find this to be quite watchable, and there's a good chance that you'll rather like it.

As with all giallo or slasher films, the quality of this film is primarily derived from how interesting the murder/horror scenes are. Fortunately, the ones here are quite good. Unfortunately, all the other aspects of this film are a bit sub par, but this doesn't effect the overall enjoyment level of this film much. 'A Blade in the Dark' was originally made with Italian television in mind, which likely hurt the film in a number of ways. First of all, it doesn't appear to have been made with an English audience in mind, so the dubbing isn't up to snuff, either in terms of performance or translation.(And the dubbing/dialogue never tends to be very good in this sorta film) It is never really incoherent, I guess, but it's pretty damn inelegant most of the time, and is occasionally laughably stilted and unrealistic. That, and there are some rather weird translations, such as when one character refers to another as 'cockroach', in a manner which suggests that this is a term of endearment. The basic plot is that there is a musician living out in a large, empty house, where there are a number of murders.(Or apparent murders. They don't find the bodies until late in the film.) Part of the reason it doesn't work as a mystery is because it's trying to hard to hide the killers identity. Virtually everyone is setup as a potential suspect, but no one really stands out, and the only way to figure out the killer's identity would be to be abundantly familiar with the genre's clichés. And there isn't really much of an investigation. The characters just sorta sit around and talk about who the killer might be, or whether there really is a killer at all.

Yeah, this film is far from plausible, but I don't really buy that it is any less plausible than your average Argento film. Sure, nobody calls the police, but no charred dummies are mistaken for corpses, nor are vengeful ravens used to identify the killer(Opera), no apartments are left unwatched by the police despite the fact that the killer is known to have dropped a note off there, in person, and will almost certainly do so again (Tenebre) and the entire investigation does not depend upon sheer luck and happenstance (Deep Red). (Well, actually it arguably does, but that only makes it equally implausible) Still, the whole murder-mystery is less interesting than in those films, for the aforementioned reasons. The film also has some pacing problems, which I suspect may have been created by it's intended medium.(It would need to fit into a time slot, on TV) Thus, the latter portions of the film are a bit too talky, with characters frequently just sorta rambling on without really discovering much.

This film isn't as stylish as lots of other Italian stuff, but it's nicely crafted, particularly during the murder scenes. It lacks any elaborate camera movements or surreal sets and lighting, but it is nicely shot, and the murder scenes have got a nice rhythm to them. Sadly, the first two death scenes are definitely the most interesting ones. The first one is the best, and it's really quite brilliant. It's a very extended scene, showing both the stalking and killing, juxtaposed with shots of our musician protagonist working on his music, and the following disposal of the body, and the near discovery of it by said protagonist.(I can't come up with his name right now. Sorry.) The most effective part is when the killer is dragging the body over a staircase, with the head brutally thumping itself against the steps again and again. The next, more famed scene, is less extensive, but still quite impressive. It is one of the most brutal murders I've seen in this sort of film, and it has a fairly nice, extended buildup, but there are a few basic execution flaws. Most notably, it involves smashing someone's head against a counter, repeatedly, but the attempt is less than convincing, as the killer sometimes lifts the head all of an inch of the counter before smashing it again, and it often doesn't seem to be being done with any real force. That, and I swear the sound isn't quite in synch some of the time, so that the smashing sound doesn't come at the right moment.(I haven't watched it carefully enough to know for sure, however). Still, it's a very effective scene, with a very cold and vicious finish. The rest of the murder scenes aren't as interesting or original, but they get the job done. The film isn't terribly gory, but it is very forthright and harsh with the violence, which probably works better overall, and is fairly typical of this sort of film.

The film looks and sounds pretty decent, as you'd expect for an Anchor Bay release. Lastly, in case you didn't notice, you ought not to buy this version of the film, as there is the 'A Blade in the Dark'/'Macabre' disc which is also available. I haven't actually watched 'Macabre' yet, so I can't vouch for it's quality, but that disc only costs half as much as this one, and I'm betting that `Macabre' is worth -15 dollars, at the very least.

A Dario Argento He's Not.......2004-11-15

Lamberto Bava is lucky to have a dad like Mario. According the the bio in the DVD, his dad used to feign illness to let Lamberto direct scenes from "Shock." How nice of the more talented Bava to humor him like that! It also said that Mario asked Lamberto to help him with scripts when the story wasn't so good. After you watch "A Blade in The Dark," you'll ask yourself, "What was Mario thinking?"

This movie begins promisingly enough. Three young kids (although sadly, none of them are malevolent) enter an old creepy building late at night. One of them throws a tennis ball down a long, dark staircase. In some sort of bizarre Cool Kids Club initiation ritual, the two really tough kids tell the third wimpy kid he has to go down and get it. If he doesn't do it, he's a sissy little girl. They begin to chant, "You're a female, you're a female," over and over again until he starts down the stairs. (Thanks, boys. Some of us were born this way!) Seconds later, we hear a scream, and the tennis ball flies up and hits the wall behind the two boys, leaving a bloody stain.

After then, the opening credits begin, and the awesomeness has ended. We then learn that the prologue is actually a scene from a horror film the main character has been contracted to score. As it turns out, the scene was based on an actual event that happened to someone the director really knew. Alright! I can get behind that! That opening scene really held my interest! I wanna know what happens next! Tell me more!

Sadly, I never got to find out. The "traumatic childhood experience," that is obviously very central to the plot, is never explained. All we know is that it was based on a story told to the director by her friend, but never what the whole story actually was. What we never find out is what really went on down there, why did the little kid scream, and most importantly, why was the tennis ball bloody?

Like most giallos, this one is about a regular guy who is not a detective or a police officer, who is trying to solve a murder. Dario Argento, undoubtedly the master of the giallo, usually has his protagonist as an eye witness to a murder who sees some weird detail that he is sure is important, but the police don't take him seriously. This leads to the protagonist trying to solve the mystery himself. But this, of course, is AFTER the protagonist has already gone to the police and they didn't buy his theory. This isn't really a very hard concept to work into your script. However, this guy never even goes to the police. The director he's working for asks him the same question I'd been dying to ask the entire movie. "Why don't you call the police?" He explains that since there are no bodies, they would think he was nuts. Well, if you don't have a body, you can't make an arrest, and it's true that none of them have been found yet. But this is AFTER he's found a blade-shaped hole in his bathroom counter top with blood coming out of it. Now, I think that constitutes physical evidence of foul play, don't you? That at least warrants a police investigation. Maybe if they did a search of the area, they could find out where those bodies are?

I know that if the police had gotten involved, he would have been asked to leave the house, and there would be no movie. Call me an armchair quarterback if you want to. I'm not trying to say that if I found a bloody dent in my bathroom, I would react more rationally. But Argento was able to create characters that were believably obsessed with solving the puzzle. This guy's only motivation is his safety, and that's a problem that could be easily solved by calling the police.

Let's quickly review this movie's strength's: for one thing, it has the hot babe who played Eva in Aenigma, the Lucio Fulci film that borders on the absurd. (I say that as if it's the only one.) Not that I really care about that hot babe, or anything, I just thought you might. Also, the death scene in the bathroom was very well done. Lamberto managed to do the blade-through-the-hand thing even better than the master Argento did in "Phenomena." That's pretty impressive, because I don't think I ever recall watching any horror movie and saying to myself, "they did that better than Argento!" even if it was in "Sleepless."

Getting back to other things that really annoyed me...there is a red herring that makes no sense whatsoever. We find out that one character has been telling ridiculous lies about where she's been. The main character even goes to the trouble of finding a PHONE BOOTH to make the call to find this out. Anybody who watches giallos knows that a phone booth means serious business, and an important plot point is about to be revealed. However, as it turns out, these gigantic lies have nothing whatsoever to do with the story, and we never even find out why she told them! Now I can appreciate the red herring. And I know that if you don't have at least one, Dario Argento will kick you out of his Super Secret Giallo Society. But if you're going to have the main character enter a phone booth to discover someone else was lying to him big time, you obviously want us to think she's the killer. Then, when you pull the rug out from under us, (you really had me going with that phone booth) could you at least explain what the heck was going on there?

Lamberto Bava's finest moment was by far the supernatural horror flick, "Demons." In that movie, people enter a theatre and begin to transform into Demons for reasons that seem to exist, but don't really make much sense. But that part doesn't matter, because it's fun. Unfortunately, "A Blade In The Dark," is a giallo, and when giallos don't make sense, they just don't work.

You Are A Female! You Are A Female!.......2004-01-06

Lamberto Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK from 1983 is one of the greatest giallos of all time regardless of the dubbing, which is rather incongruous and weird at times. This movie is a combination of the great Dario Argento's DEEP RED (my favorite giallo) and TENEBRE (Awesome ending!), where a composer is drawn into a bizarre murder mystery involving the former tenant of the villa that he's rented to compose a horror movie score. This movie had me on the edge of my seat whenever the killer was on the loose; the box cutter clicking made my skin crawl and the bathroom scene made me cringe with fear! The scene where the director of the horror movie in question gets strangled by the film of her own final reel, the one she doesn't anyone to see, left an impression on me; this was perfectly ironic and kind of humorous when you consider that the director is killed by her own movie! I also like the humorous tone of this movie (I actually read the booklet that came with the DVD, which is how I learned about the sense of humor); this must be a precursor to SCREAM in that respect.
Lamberto Bava learned a lot from his father Mario and Argento, with whom he worked with on INFERNO and TENEBRE, which is why this film is so good. I loved the music score in this one as well and I still have it stuck in my head as I write this review! In my opinion, although I knew about this movie since I read about it on Terrortrap.com (which summarized the entire film), the way the killer is revealed made me scream just like the ending in TENEBRE did! A must for giallo buffs and horror movie fans alike!

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PSYCHOLOGICAL DOODOO

Ripper 2: Letters From Within
Starring: Richard Bremmer , Colin Lawrence , Nicholas Irons , and Erin Karpluk
Manufacturer: Velocity / Thinkfilm
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Ripper - Letter From Hell

ASIN: B0007GP7E6
Release Date: 2005-03-29

Customer Reviews:

PSYCHOLOGICAL DOODOO.......2005-11-15

I saw Ripper I and don't remember a whole lot about it, so in going into RIPPER 2, I was a little leary about what to expect. If you haven't seen the first Ripper, this one will probably be confusing anyway. A different actress takes over the role of Molly and there's so much plot twisting and lack of cohesion that this movie is merely a dull waste of time. The trend of overabundant lesbian sex is once again used as padding and the murders are staged so haphazardly no terror is induced. The acting by all is really pretty bad. Let's hope we don't have a RIPPER 3, although its ambiguous ending suggests we might be burdened with it. This reviewer will not go for a third run though!

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Great satire on the film industry
FOR ROURKE FANS ONLY

Shades
Starring: Veerle Robbijns , Andrew Howard , Eddy Vereycken , Mike Verdrengh , and Peter Borghs
Director: Erik Van Looy
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008XRX2
Release Date: 2003-04-15

Customer Reviews:

Great satire on the film industry.......2003-11-12

I really liked this movie. It is a must for any Mickey Rourke fan. The inside jokes are enough to make it good but Mickey takes it that extra step further and makes it great. A movie about a movie that takes great pleasure in poking fun at Actors, Actresses, Producers, Directors, cast and crew. The movie industry portrayed as the cutthroat, unscrupulous, painful industry it is. No one is left untouched. Even the writers get a jab when the "full of himself" star wants to change the script as he sees fit. A full-length feature full of Mickey Rourke makes this a must see.

FOR ROURKE FANS ONLY.......2003-08-28

I'm glad this movie didn't cost me too much. Why? Because it was bad? No, the movie was O.K. but it was like every other Euro-movie with one "name" American star set somewhere in Europe. Who knows, maybe it played better over there. For Mickey Rourke completionists only.

Average customer rating:

BRUTAL AND SADISTIC

The Killer Within Me
Starring: William Benton , Asher Brauner , Lydie Denier , Stacie Doss , and Calamity Kate
Manufacturer: New Concorde
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009AV8W
Release Date: 2003-08-12

Customer Reviews:

BRUTAL AND SADISTIC.......2005-05-19

This film was brought to life by the former acting brothers Jesse and Alan Vint. It's a low-grade but intensely presented treatise on the nature of evil. A prominent writer has written books supporting the belief that evil is not inherent, but is created by social standards. He believes that criminals have the ability to be reformed, and it is this premise that gets him into real big trouble. The film opens with a narrative by a prisoner who is seeking parole, saying he feels he has "a mission to go out and help others before they end up like him." Well, not more than an hour and a half after his parole is granted, we see him dragging a dead body on the back of a car, and torturing a young couple. He places the male in the trunk of the car with a deranged dog, and then he stabs the girl. This obvious sociopath's parents seek the famous writer to help them with their son, but not telling him the truth about him. So young psycho is greeted warmly by the author, but it isn't too long before the boy is up to his old tricks and things spiral into a nightmarish conclusion for the writer and his sexy daughter.
THE KILLER WITHIN ME is brutal in its depiction of senseless and mindless violence, but it also supports the theory that evil may be inbred, and no matter how society tries to help these deviants, there is little that can be done. Corbin Timbrook who plays the author tries to be tough and compassionate, but his limited thespian skills don't give credence to this machismo. William Benton as the psycho is gleefully sociopathic, reminding me a little of Mark Wahlberg in his younger days. Stacie Moss as the daughter Stacy is appropriately naive and her gullibility isn't predicted so it comes out of nowhere, hurting her performance some. The movie says it is inspired by true events, but I don't recall any famous novelists doing what happens in the climax, but maybe I just didn't hear about it? At any rate, THE KILLER WITHIN ME survives its inadequacies and is a pretty effective thriller.

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A Killer Within
Starring: Sean Young , Ben Browder , Dedee Pfeiffer , and Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Brad Keller
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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A Kiss Before Dying

Product Features:

Widescreen
Dolby 5.1 Surround
Commentary
Theatrical Trailer
Interviews

ASIN: B000LSIUEO

Average customer rating:

BRUTAL AND SADISTIC

The Killer Within Me

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00014WA1C

Customer Reviews:

BRUTAL AND SADISTIC.......2005-05-19

DVD:

DVD

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