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Four college friends take a fateful road trip. The road, Hell's Highway--a direct route to terror. They pick up Lucinda: A hot young hitchiker (Phoebe Dollar), full of sexual deviance and lust for the bloody kill. After being terrorized and nearly killed, the group manages to turn the tables. They thought they killed her, but around the next ben--around every ben-- she appears like a mirage ready to murder again. Is she the devil? Can anyone stop her killing spree? Hell's Highway is written and directed by Jeff Leroy. There are some pretty horrible acting is this, the camera-work and editing is okay. The sound quality is pretty bad, its difficult to hear what the actors are saying, I don´t know if it´s due to the original material or the DVD release. It´s surrealistic flick and it´s best to be prepared for it so don´t look for logic instead just enjoy the ride. It delivers excessive gore, it´s all old school practical make-up fx and some of it looks good while some of it is pretty bad. The highlight is a scene where a carcass is being dragged behind a car. I do love that Jeff Leroy yet again shows us some miniature-work magic, the highlight being a miniature gas station and Matchbox Cars that blows up. In the T & A department I can report topless nudity, a prolonged softcore sex-scene and there is a scene where Lucinda fingerbangs one of the female characters at gunpoint.
This review is based upon the German region 2 DVD release from Arena Film with the alternative title Bloody Highway, it has english audio and is uncut.
Rating: 1½ out of 7. Despite some obvious flaws and seriously bad acting I was entertained as there are some cool stuff in Hell´s Highway that I like. Recommended to fans of micro-budget horror flicks.
/JL
A horrific plague infects a maximum security prison, turning visitors, guards and prisoners into viciousm flesh-eating beasts who slaughter all in their path. A heavily armed unit of elite guards band tgehther with the surviving inmates to battle the ravenous horde with barely a prayer of making it out alive. Dead Men Walking is written by Mike Watt and edited and directed by Peter Mervis. The acting is pretty decent. The camerawork and editing is good but in my opinion the editing does get annoying in places. It´s a fast-paced little flick with some plot holes but as usual I won´t go into details. The prison setting is cool and used very well and helps to create a nice atmosphere. There is no intentional comedy to be found in it. There are some small glitches in continuity and for instance it quite obvious that it is toyguns that they are using, we can see characters jerking the guns to simulate firing their, we hear the sound of gunfire but there are no muzzle flashes, no casings being ejected ... In some scenes we can see that they edited in the flash from the gun in post-production. We get fast and agile zombies and not the slow ones that I do prefer. Gorehounds out there will be pleased, it´s gory and it´s all old school practical make-up fx and it looks pretty good, we get plenty of shotguns blasts to face, cannibalism, limbs being ripped of and so on. There is some brief topless nudity in this.
This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Timeless Media Group.
Rating: 5 out of 7. I really enjoyed this, sure it has some flaws but the filmmakers utilize the prison setting to good effect, it´s very gory and fast and furious. Recommended to fans of the zombie genre.
/JL
First I´d like to thank Brian Clement for providing me with a screener.
Men have killed for it.. Women have died for it... Now, The Encyclopedia Nefastus, a source of ancient, un earthly evil has found its way into the hands of Barry, an unsuspecting writer, inspiring him to write horrific, bloody, stories for his mysterious publisher. As his work becomes more and more violent, he finds himself unable to escape brutal acts of despicable sadism all around him. Fleeing the city for more peaceful surroundings, he finds himself becoming increasingly paranoid, believing someone is watching him. When his writing seems to invoke grotesque manifestations, he finds himself drawn further into the horrifying conspiracy of the sadistic cult that has returned to finish what was started sixty years earlier... Dark Paradox is written and directed by Brian Clement and it´s even more ambitious than his previous The Dead Inside and it have connections with that film (these are nicely done). The influences of H.P Lovecraft is strong and I can also feel that Lucio Fulci´s The Beyond has been a source of inspiration. The acting is pretty good and for the most part the cinematography does look good. There are also some really nice and moody scenes and striking visuals on display. The soundtrack is great. The plot is very good and unpredictable due to a couple of nice twists along the way. Very little gore and the goriest scene consists of truly bad computer gendered effect which I find a bit sad. There is some T & A in this.
This review is based upon a DVD-screener provided by the director.
Rating: 6 out of 7. There is less gore (almost none in fact), more emphasis on plot and atmosphere and this works for Brian Clement. There are some really good looking visuals,
It would be very interesting to see what Brian Clement could do with a little bit bigger budget
/JL
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