The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 9- Madman (1981)

This slasher movie starts in the most obvious seting for a film of this ilk- a campfire! We hear of Madman Marz who was a vile man by all accounts. Abusive to his family until he decides to kill them with an axe. He then casually goes to his local tavern to have a drink …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 8- Macabre (1980)

Macabre is based on real events (ahem). A middle-aged woman (Jane) is having an affair. She leaves her young son and daughter alone in their house to meet up with her lover for a passionate tryst. Unfortunately, her daughter is psychopathic and drowns her brother in the bath. Jane learns of this and rushes home …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 7- City of the Living Dead (1980)

A seance goes badly wrong when one of those involved, Mary, has a vision of events that happened in a place called Dunwich years before, when a priest hung himself. Mary freaks out and collapses to the floor. She is later found to have died. The police arrive and think that something underhanded has occurred. …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 6- Blood For Dracula (1974)

Count Dracula is ill as he needs v*rgin blood but can’t find any. He decides to travel to Italy where he learns of a family which includes four daughters. The family is broke and so they think a Count might bring them a few quid if he marries into the family and so the arrangement …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 5- Basket Case (1982)

Duane books into the sleazy flophouse Hotel Broslin with a large basket. It's contents consist of his deformed twin brother who he used to be conjoined with. Both Duane and his twin are hellbent on enacting revenge on the surgeons who separated them against their wishes. Basket Case will always occupy a special place in …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 4- Mother’s Day (1980)

Three friends since high school known as The Rat Pack plan a weekend camping vacation to Deep Barrens in New Jersey. They are suddenly captured by two hillbillies who take the three women home to their demented mother who detains them and plans to torture and kill them one by one. I first learnt of …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 3- Maniac (1980)

William Lustig’s depraved classic Maniac was massively controversial when it was first released in 1980. It garnered the ultimate accolades for an exploitation film- it was HATED by Siskel and Ebert (Gene Siskel said he made it to the shotgun murder then had to leave the preview screening as he couldn’t stomach anymore!) and was …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 2- In The Realm of the Senses (1976)

In The Realm of the Senses concerns the s*xual relationship between a hotel manager (Kichizo) and a maid (Sada). Trigger warning- this film is an arthouse film and hence, not my usual fare. There are no chainsaws, zombies or apocalyptic dystopias. But there is smut. In fact, the film was massively controversial on its original …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 1- Alien Terror (1980)

This Italian film was made before the trademark of the better-known Alien film was registered. After the success of Ridley Scott's movie, it was duly released as Alien 2. It may have been cheekily named as if it was a sequel to this film, but it wasn't. Cave explorers find more than they bargained for- …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 3- Day 82- Zombie Lake (1981)

A small French town finds it now has to fend off Nazi zombies that the residents had killed twenty years earlier and then thrown into a local lake. I wanted to really like Zombie Lake. The poster for it is great with a very skeletal looking zombie wearing an SS helmet looking utterly menacing. But …

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