Zombi 4: After Death (1988) Featuring The Elite Zombie Styker Force

Yesterday when I was talking about The Horror Show being shoved into the continuity of the House franchise (as if such a thing as that exists in those films), I mentioned Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 which claimed to be a sequel to Zombi, the Argento cut of Romero's Dawn of the Dead. So with zombies on the mind and since it is October 4th, I chose to watch Zombi 4: After Death [Italian: Oltre la morte](1988). Since none of the installments of this pastiche franchise have anything to do with each other, I won’t go much into the long and sordid tale of how they all came to be a string of films. Suffice it to say that somewhere along the line, someone decided that Claudio Fragrasso’s Voodoo action film belonged nestled into the franchise between the Fulci & Mattei’s Zombi 3 mess and Zombi 5: Killing Birds, film with no zombies that came out the year before the supposed fourth installment. Add into the mess that After Death is also known as Zombie Flesh Eaters 3 in the UK, and you’ve got one of those classic cases where Italian cinema  can make your head hurt a bit.

After Death begins when a group of researchers discover a group of natives performing a voodoo ceremony, and naturally, the nervous looking fellow among them with very few lines goes and shoots their priest. To no one’s surprise, zombies pop up out of the ground and start peeling faces off people, and when I say no one’s surprise I really mean it. While the initial idiot gets peeled like an apple, the rest of them stand there neither looking frightened or impressed for far too long for any of them to survive. They don’t, but the daughter of one of them does thanks to a magical amulet given to her by her mother. Years later Jenny (Candice Daly) finds herself pulled back to the island when she hitches a ride with a group of mercenaries. While Jenny and her merry band of men get stranded on the island, a group of hikers reignites the zombie curse, and only the surprisingly acrobatic Chuck (Jeff Stryker) survives. He meets up with Jenny’s group, and together they make their stand holed up in the abandoned research facility, but as they all fall prey to the zombies, their chance of escape begins to look increasingly slim.

The worst part, at least for me, is that I could not have cared less what happened to Jenny, Chuck, and the band of mercs. Given that the movie is basically an island based action romp with zombies, taking time to make anyone a character was just not in the cards. Now this could have been because of the poor American dub I watched, but Fragrasso (who would go on to write and direct the legendary mess Troll 2) is not known for his expertly made and constructed films. What Zombi 4: After Death does include is bakers dozen of buck toothed, borderline offensive island zombies. I’m not even sure how a zombie is supposed to get any quality eating done with its teeth pointed out. Plus for an island that is supposed to be the launching ground of a zombie takeover of the world, the undead could really use to dig up some more numbers.

If Fragrasso’s inept direction and the gaggle of buck toothed zombies done convince you that this film has its share of problems, let me get into the cast a little bit. The Heroine, Candice Daly, must have really enjoyed a homophone of her archetype because other than a few scattered film roles, IMDB’s big claim to fame for her is that she died due to “polydrug intoxication complicated by severe steatohepatitis". If I had a choice between that epitaph and “She was in Zombi 4”, I might choose the former as well. The only other notables in the film are Massimo Vanni, Enzo Castellari’s cousin, who played Chuck’s friend David, one of the doomed hikers and Nick Nicholson as Rod, one of the mercs. He also makes appearances in American Ninja, Apocalypse Now, and Brian Trenchard-Smith’s The Siege of Firebase Gloria among others.  Well saying that those are the only notables in the film isn’t really true.

The real name here is Jeff Stryker though he is billed as Chuck Peyton. Stryker, for anyone that doesn’t know, has been a star of dozens of gay, straight, and bisexual adult films over the course of his career. Once called the “Cary Grant of porno” by John Waters, Stryker has rarely taken on mainstream roles (though Zombi 4 could hardly be called mainstream), but he wasn’t what I would call bad. Actually out of the bunch he’s the best actor, his character has the only interesting storyline, and he handles action well (so many jokes so little time). Stryker had the kind of look that could have made him a star in foreign cinema along the lines of Peter O’Brian or Christopher Connelly, but instead Styker returned to porn and over the years has recorded an album of songs (Wild Buck), been inducted into the Hustler Adult Walk of Fame, and had his “Jeff Stryker Cock and Balls” become a perennial best seller on the adult market.

So if you take what I’ve given you, a low to middling director, a “universally” sexual male porn star lead, and zombies that are in desperate need of orthodontic help, then you can probably guess what I thought of this flick. While I had a good time watching it, I can’t see recommending this one outside of hardcore Italian zombie fans. If you really are interested in seeing what movies got lumped into the Zombi franchise, then you’re going to want to watch it, and if you’re a big fan of Jeff Stryker, well, seeing him in a (pardon the double entendre) straight action role is not to be missed. Everyone else will benefit from a repeated watching of Fulci’s classic Zombi 2 or from checking out one of the other great Italian zombie titles like Cannibal Apocalypse or Hell of the Living Dead.

Bugg Rating 

This isn't really a proper trailer for Zombi 4, but it does show off a little of the action and the theme song "After Death" by Italian pop star Al Festa.Unfortunately I can't embed it so go to You Tube and check it out!

Here's the trailer...

Here's Jeff Stryker in action (not that kind of action)

And just for kicks, here's Jeff singing his song "Bigger than Life" from the adult film of the same name....

Smash Cut (2009): David Hess Meets Sasha Grey (And the Clothes Stay On)

AMC’s filmsite defines a smash cut as “a cinematic term that refers to an abrupt, jarring and unexpected change in the scene or film's image (and the audio), in order to surprise the viewing audience.” The official site for the 2009 film Smash Cut says it is “the story of Able Whitman, a horror-film director whose career is on its final reel.” There are plenty of examples of the former technique in the latter film, but Smash Cut is far less interested in surprising the viewer than I would have expected. After reading the synopsis and finding that it starred David Hess, I expected a bloody, brutal film, but instead, the flick turned out to be a horror comedy that worships at the altar or Herschell Gordon Lewis. A while back I reviewed director Lee Demarbre’s first feature film, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, and much like that film, Demerbre sets his sights on a sacred cow only this time it’s the classic era of gore films.

As the one line synopsis says, Smash Cut is the story of Abel Whitman (David Hess), a horror film director whose latest film Terror Toy is panned for a severe lack of realism. While drowning his sorrows in a strip club called the Ass Menagerie, he meets stripper Gigi (Jennilee Murray), and the two leave the club together. Abel runs the car off the road, and Gigi is killed in the accident. Cracking under the strain, Whitman sees a way to finally get a realistic looking corpse in his film. When the police seem less than inclined to investigate her sister’s disappearance, TV reporter April Carson (Sasha Grey) approaches renowned investigator Isaac Beaumonde (Jesse Buck) to help her find Gigi. Their search leads them to Farmsworth studios and Abel Whitman, but when April goes undercover as an actress in Abel’s film, she might end up on the cutting room floor.

While the box art for the DVD may hint to a film with Hostel’s violent tones, Herschell Gordon Lewis is the real inspiration for the film. The man himself introduces the movie (and appears in a minor role), and my notions of what Smash Cut might have in store changed entirely. The film that followed was one cut from the same cloth as Lewis’ but with a tongue planted firmly in the cheek. It’s certainly not the best horror comedy I’ve seen in the last year (that honor goes to the hilarious Brutal Massacre), but it successfully walks the line between a cult film and a film made to be a cult film. Most wacky entries into the horror genre fit into the latter category, but Smash Cut chews up and spits out its influences in such a way that winks at the viewer without making too big a deal out of the broadly played humor.

If I was casting an actor for a horror comedy, David Hess would not make the shortlist. I’m not sure that he’d make the long list or the even longer list, but that would be my loss. Hess is what really made this movie for me. He’s made a career out of playing sadists in films like Last House on the Left and Hitch Hike, and casting Hess as the nebbish director Abel Whitman who cracks under the strain of his own incompetence is a stroke of genius. The years have mellowed Hess’ appearance so that at first glance he doesn’t look like a big eyed psycho, but make no mistake, that psycho is still lurking under the surface. Hess gives a pitch perfect, broadly played comedic performance. I’ve seen some criticism of the “bad acting” in Smash Cut, but the acting by Hess and everyone else in the film is on par with any of H. G. Lewis’ films which is surely what Demerbre was looking for. Even if it wasn’t, by the time Hess wipes the sweat off his brow with the sleeve on a severed arm, I was a believer in Hess’ comedic abilities.

There are a few other actors I should mention. This was actually porn starlet Sasha Grey’s first mainstream role though her breakthrough performance in Steven Soderberg’s The Girlfriend Experience made it to release first. Soderberg’s film, while technically better than Smash Cut on practically all levels, was plodding and dull, and it didn’t allow Grey to show any potential or personality. That’s surely not the case with Smash Cut. Her performance is probably the best of the bunch, and the scenes she shares with Jesse Buck as Beaumonde are high points in the film. This is the first film I’ve seen Buck in, and I really hope I see him more in the future. The first scene of Beaumonde where he strips away a disguise to reveal himself a la Inspector Clouseau had me in stitches. The film also proudly boasts some other familiar cult film favorites so look out for a nearly unrecognizable Michael Berryman in a crazy wig, Montag the Magnificent himself Ray Sager as a pervy evangelist, and, of course, H.G. Lewis as April Carson’s boss at the TV station.

Lee Demerbre has made several films in the intervening years between Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Smash Cut, but he clearly hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for making low budget gems. With the films or Mr. Lewis as a jumping off point, Demerbre made a film that was witty, snappy, and full of great touches. One of the best decisions he made was having the special effects be at the same level as Lewis’ films. So don’t expect blood and gore unless you’re looking for the Wizard of Gore. On the whole, Smash Cut is not as crazily manic or fun as Vampire Hunter, but it definitely proves to me that Demerbre is more than a one trick pony.

Smash Cut is a film I would surely recommend with a few caveats. If you don’t like large portions of camp and humor in your horror, Smash Cut is not for you. If you are expecting buckets of blood and realistic gore, then Smash Cut is not for you. If you want to spend ninety minutes laughing, looking for references to H.G. Lewis’ film, and the thought of David Hess as comedic lead interests you, then I highly recommend you check this one out. In the pantheon of horror-comedy, Smash Cut may never make the list of the all time greats, but it surely does not disappoint (if you know what to expect).

Bugg Rating

B.L.O.G Presents Evil Breed (2003) with Jenna Jameson

Hello and welcome back to the last week of May, and the last B.L.O.G. girl of the month. This month as we’ve taken a look at XXX Divas gone mainstream we’ve seen the girls succeed, Rabid with Marilyn Chambers, and try their best, Ginger Lynn Allen in Vice Academy, but what we haven’t seen yet is when the formula fails. To illustrate this we must take a look at a film starring the woman sometimes called "The Queen of Porn". 

Jenna started her porn career in 1993 with a pair of scenes with legendary porn stud Randy West. From these humble beginnings Jenna built an empire and became the face of porn for a generation of horny teens in the mid '90's. Nowadays she's often found in mainstream films such as her 2008 film Zombie Strippers, but there are some films a XXX actress might get involved in for a paycheck. The producers are looking to add to the fodder of direct to DVD releases on the shelves, and what better way to make sure your box gets noticed than Jenna gracing your cover. There's more to a film than a cover though, and sometimes inside what you find is... 

Evil Breed (2003) starring Bonnie Phillips, Howard Rosenstien, Ginger Lynn Allen, Chasey Lain, Jenna Jameson. Directed by Christian Veil. 

A group of college students travel to a house in the Irish countryside to study the rituals of the ancient pagan cultures that used to inhabit the land. Once there, they are warned by the caretaker not to wander into the woods lest they want to encounter monsters and death. Naturally, the teens wander directly into the woods and sure enough there is plenty enough monsters and death to go around.

The Bug Speaks

I’m going to tell you right here, in the first line of the first paragraph of what will undoubtedly be a venom soaked but rather short review, this film is horrible. Not as horrible as say, Blown, but pretty dang close to being as bad as Isle of the Damned. For anyone who’s familiar with The Lair knows that those two pictures are the epitome of bad around these parts, and Evil Breed now gains the dubious distinction of joining those films. That being said, I am going to spoil the hell out of this film because no one, for any reason short of a threat to their lives should make themselves watch this flick. 

To explain how badly this flick goes wrong, I have a simple story to tell you, but first I must go off on a tangent. I love the NBA. It’s the only sport I ever got into watching, and for many years one of my favorite teams has been the Boston Celtics. Now we all know where the team got it’s name. There’s a leprechaun involved here after all, but surely, it is common knowledge that their moniker is a gross mispronunciation,  Selt-icks and not with the hard ‘K’ sound that is intended (i.e. Kelt-ics). If everyone knows that, then why does Bonnie Phillips’ professor with a specialty in Druids and Irish mythology proudly announce that the students are there to study the ancient Selts. 

That’s right, Selts. That’s what she says loud and clear. 

And that’s what kind of movie we’re looking at here. There is no rhyme or reason to the goings on, and the plot that is intended to be a variation on the legend of Sawney Bean, the same ground Wes Craven covered in The Hills Have Eyes, makes little to no sense. I mean I should have known what I was getting into when in the first three minutes of the film they manage to kill off both Richard Greico, oh, he of 21 Jumpstreet and If Looks Could Kill fame, and porn actress Chasey Lane. When a film opens up and they kill off Richard Greico, arguably the biggest star name attached, and then you know you’re in some bad shape. 

Then there’s the other big draw, Jenna Jameson. As you can see from the DVD cover, Ms. Jameson is front and center on the cover art, and if you could see the back of the box then you would see that two of the three stills from the film feature the porn queen. Unfortunately, these are the only two scenes she appears in. Jenna shows up once to establish she is looking for her friends (who we can assume were Greico and Lane), and then the second time she shows up to get gutted and her implant ripped out. Her total screen time, less than one minute. 

Now the plot of the film, if you can call it that, has to do with these inbred mutants coming out on Samhain to gather girls to further their genetic line. That would make great sense if they didn’t kill every girl they see! While I am no big fan of Jenna Jameson (too plastic for my tastes), it still boggled my mind that the mutant things would rather kill her off than breed with her. You’re inbred mutants for fuck’s sake, don’t be so picky. They also put an end to another porn star when Ginger Lynn Allen meets her demise. Ginger, who as you know from my review of Vice Academy, is one of my favorite X rated stars, but in this flick, she deserved to die. I don’t know who thought that letting Ginger Lynn tackle an Irish accent was a good idea, but believe you me, folks, it was not a good plan. Generously, I would say that every third of fourth word, and the occasional line, was said with some kind of accent, but for the most part Ginger sounded like she had a cold. It was horribly embarrassing and the best part of the film was when she died. I nearly cheered in joy that she didn’t have to talk again. 

I’m going to wrap this up because there’s nothing more to really say, and if I keep going then there will be a few more paragraphs of me tearing this film a new one. Now I understand that Christian Vale, the writer/director had this film taken from him after completion and almost the whole picture was re-shot. So I won’t pass any judgment on him as I don’t really feel like I saw his work. I understand that somewhere on the internets there is a bootleg copy of his cut that makes sense, has plenty of gore, and a fair amount of nudity. Perhaps someday I’ll track down his version and give it a whirl, but until I do, remember folks, you really can’t judge a DVD by the cover. What I thought would be a cheesy horror flick starring one of porn’s reigning queens turned out to be nothing more than a shiny, DVD shaped turd. Stay away from this one folks, seriously as far away as you can. 

Bugg Rating

 

No Trailer for this one. Instead check out some clips dubbed into Spanish. At least you don't have to hear Ginger Lynn's accent.

B.L.O.G Presents I jomfruens tegn (1973) a.k.a In The Sign of the Virgin

When I look back at the seven months since I threw open the LBL’s doors and began to bring you folks my humble opinion on genre film, I had originally envisioned this as a horror site, but it’s become much more than that. I’ve covered action, comedy, giallo, Euro-crime, Pinky Violence, classics, sexploitation, blaxploitation, Sci- fi, and everything in between (all the while kicking in a steady stream of horror). However tonight I am tackling a genre which I have never attempted to bring up from the depths of the Lair.

The Bugg is covering Porn, hmm, what? Call it erotica because it’s from a foreign country? Nah, I don’t think so. I gots to call ‘em like I see ‘em, after all, like a famous man once said would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? And when you have a bevy of nubile young Danish girls who spend much of their time disrobed and/or having hardcore sex, what you’ve got there is porn. And what we’ve got here is tonight’s group of B.L.O.G girls, I give you….

The Girls of Nulpolitterorden’s Boarding School star in tonight’s example of the Danish Tegn film. Tegn, which literally translated means Evidence, is a style of erotic film which dominated the Danish cinema in the early 1970’s. Appropriately in 1969, Denmark became the first country to legalize pornography, and with this came a huge influx of erotic films to the market. One of the first films in this style was tonight’s flick which was so influential in its mixture of porn and comedy, it loaned part of its name to the style. Ladies and Gents, this one is not for the prudes out there, this is….
I jumfruens tegn [a.k.a In the Sign of the Virgin] (1973) starring Ole Soltoft, Sigrid Horne-Rasmussen, Bent Warburg, and Anne Bie Warburg.

In a boarding school in a Danish village, the Headmistress has her hands full. She’s got a school full of wanton little girls who seem entirely driven by sex. Unbeknownst to her, she can’t even punish the girls without them breaking out of the basement dungeon to sneak over to the local brothel. Soon the planet Jupiter with the constellation Virgo will align with the village as the focal point, and she worries that a sex frenzy will break out on her campus. Thankfully there’s science to the rescue.

Scientist Armond is dispatched to the village with a new hormone treatment in the form of a powder. If Armond doses the girls and the town’s water supply with the powder, then the mad orgy might be averted. However rival scientist Professor Bomwitz has hit town with his own special hormone powder, but his causes people to go into fits of ecstasy. When the two scientists literally run into each other, they accidentally swap identical cases of powder. With Bomwitz frustrated with the results his powder gets, Armond happily drops the wrong powder in the town reservoir. Now with the stars and planets aligning, the girls are taken over by an unquenchable sex mania, and no man is safe from their desires.

Film Facts

--Finn Karlsson directed his first feature film the romantic comedy Stine og drengene (Stein and the Boys) in 1969. He would go on to direct "potato western" Gold for the Tough Guys of the Prairie in 1971. I jumfruens tegn was his last film before reportedly descending into a life plagued by alcoholism.

--Ole Soltoft would appear in several other "Sign" films including Agent 69 in the Sign of Scorpio.

The Bug Speaks

When approaching a film of this nature, I feel that is is best to begin with the erotic aspects first. I Jumfruens tegn stars a verifiable cavalcade of young Danish women. (Although I have seen some buzz that not all the girls were Danish, and this explains the dearth of lines from the girls.) When I saw these girls, I was struck with how each of them was so adorable and real looking. This is one of the best things about watching Porn of bygone eras. For anyone who is a fan of the beautiful European ladies that populate '70's genre cinema, this is a film you will truly enjoy. These are not the blow up doll porn stars that grace the screens of modern blue movies, these girls are surgically unaltered, un-tanned, and decidedly unshaven. (Except for the scene involving the "Barber" who has a strange fetish for, shall we say, baldness.) To me this makes the film, and yes the sex, more enjoyable to watch. 

It was somewhat odd to watch the pornographic scenes with subtitles blazing by, but thank goodness I had them. I would have hated to miss some of the wonderful comedy this flick had to offer. Bent Warburg, as Bomwitz, dazzles with his performance. When the horny scientist takes a taste of his rival's non-horny powder, it is hilarious to see Warburg struggle with his limp little friend as several rather pretty girls try and inspire a response. (Bent should get an award for his tenacity while filming these scenes.)He finally does overcome his problem, and delivers a sex scene which gives you the feeling of Benny Hill indulging his naughty fantasies.  On the other hand you have Ole Soltoft. He plays wet blanket Armand with equal skill. Soltoft plays the straight man role so well that you can actually believe he is the biggest prude to ever walk the streets of Denmark. 

One of the saddest things about the film is the lack of information out there about it. With little to no credits on the actual movie, and a lack of information to be had elsewhere, I was not able to identify a single one of the girls in the film. That's too bad because there are some beauties on parade. Finn Karlsson really knew how to choose the right actresses. However, what Karlsson did not have was a great skill as a film maker. The transfer I got (from those great folks at Cinema de Bizzare! Sign up for the newsletter to get my exclusive reviews! I'm such a whore.) looked great, so I can only blame Karlsson for some of the dark muddy shots. That being said the final "sex ballet" in the reservoir is stunningly realized. If only Karlsson had been able to harness that energy in the rest of the film, this could have been a classic. 

As it is, Karlsson gives some wonderful scenes. After all what other film contains, girl fights, lesbian scenes, sorority hazing rituals, antique vibrators, aged hookers, and a girl who gets to "know" a loaf of bread in a biblical sense. All these things together make for a very entertaining film which I have never seen the like of. There may be other examples of Tegn film which might be more erotic, better filmed, or funnier. However this film will take a special place in my heart. After all, you don't forget your first. 

Bug Rating

Sadly no trailer or clip os available for this film, but in this pic you can see captures of many of the film's scenes. This does include some images that are decidedly NSFW.