Conrad von Starke is going to meet a female friend. But this isn't any meeting. The woman, Lise Cohen, he is going to meet was a female inmate at the concentration camp von Starke was in command of. We get to see what happened in this camp through Lise's flashbacks and how she and von …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 23- Gestapo’s Last Orgy (1977)
Forest of Fear (aka Toxic Zombies, Bloodeaters, Bloodeaters: Butchers of the Damned and The Dromax Derangement) is about a huge outdoor marijuana crop that is dusted with a substance which transforms some boring hippies into something much more interesting- flash-eating zombies. Forest of Fear is very low-budget, with a gritty(and ultra simplistic) synth score and …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 22- Forest of Fear (1980)
This Andy Warhol (Paul Morrissey) adaptation of Mary Shelley’s morality tale involves Udo Kier’s Baron Frankenstein making a male and female creature who he wants to procreate and make a master race. As with a lot of his other films, Warhol’s involvement as minimal with just the most perfunctory visits to set so that he …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 21- Flesh For Frankenstein (1973)
Three escaped convicts invade the home of a black minister and his family. But whilst initially they are at the command of the criminals, the tide begins to turn. There are many parallels between Fight For Your Life and Wes Craven's Last House on the Left. Race plays a HUGE part in this film though …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 20- Fight For Your Life (1977)
Faces of Death is a compilation of clips depicting death caused by various causes. There was a trend in exploitation cinema for documentaries that could get away with material that wouldn't be allowed otherwise. Hence, there were documentaries into, say, nudist camps as they could show full frontal nudity whilst meeting any criticism with cries …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 19- Faces of Death (1978)
Paul Martin is writing his second novel. He has shut himself away in a secluded cottage in the country to complete the task and a secretary is coming down to transcribe. But is she all she appears to be? Expose acts not just a film but also as a time capsule. It was made at …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 18- Expose (1976)
Stanley Coopersmith is the butt of everyone's jokes at the military academy he attends. However, when he discovers that satanism and an early 80's home computer can be combined, the effects prove to be very effective indeed. Evilspeak is a doozy of a film. It's basically Carrie but with computers and Satan instead of telekinesis. …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 17- Evilspeak (1981)
Another serious contender for the title of 'The Most Controversial Video Nasty' (the film shared that title with The Evil Dead). And whilst the film does have its shocking moments of lurid horror (yes, involving an electric drill), this is more a slow and meticulous study into alienation, the descent into madness and mental illness amidst …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 16- The Driller Killer (1979)
Four youngsters go camping. But there’s someone or something bumping people off. As you’ve probably guessed, we’re in slasher territory here. Don’t Go In The Woods earned particular notoriety during the Video Nasties moral panic. Would this film be so horrific and depraved that it could turn viewers into mindless killers?! Of course not. This is another …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 15- Don’t Go In The Woods (1981)
This Spanish/Italian/German production is directed by Jesus Franco under the pseudonym Clifford Brown. It concerns a young model/actress who is scouting for locations in South America but is then kidnapped. A Vietnam vet is sent in to find her, which is perilous as there are cannibals in that part of the world. This film is …
Continue reading The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 1- Day 14- The Devil Hunter (1980)
Meathook Cinema 