Category: Horror

“Perdita Durango” aka “Dance with the Devil” (1997) starring Rosie Perez, Javier Bardem and James Gandolfini / Z-View

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Perdita Durango aka Dance with the Devil (1997)

Director: Álex de la Iglesia

Screenplay: Barry Gifford, David Trueba, Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia; based on 59° And RAINING: THE STORY OF PERDITA DURANGO by Barry Gifford

Stars: Rosie Perez, Javier Bardem, Aimee Graham, Demián Bichir, Santiago Segura, Don Stroud, Roger Cudney and James Gandolfini.

Tagline: Get On The Road

The Plot…

Perdita Durango, in Mexico to scatter the ashes of her dead sister, meets Romeo Dolorosa who is on the run.  Dolorosa is a drug dealing, bank robbing satanist.  The two hook-up and devise a plan to kidnap a couple of college students and use them in a cannibalistic ceremony.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Álex de la Iglesia has a very visual style.  He was joined by terrific leads in Rosie Perez, Javier Bardem and James Gandolfini.  But the subject matter was too over the top gross for me.  I tapped out at about the 20 minute mark when a coked-up Dolorosa was hacking up a dead body in front of tourists.  He then threw the limbs in a boiling pot of blood and drank from it.

The character of Perdita Durango first appeared as a minor character in WILD AT HEART another novel by Barry Gifford.  On film she first was played by Isabella Rossellini in the adaptation of the novel.

Javier Bardem’s hairstyle in Perdita Durango is worse than his in No Country for Old Men.

Perdita Durango was released in the United States as Dance with the Devil.

Perdita Durango aka Dance with the Devil (1997) rates 1 of 5 stars.

“Diabolique” (1955) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, and Charles Vanel / Z-View

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Diabolique (1955)

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Screenplay: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérôme Géronimi, René Masson, Frédéric Grendel, based on  CELLE QUI N’éTAIT PLUS by Boileau-Narcejac

Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel

Tagline: Don’t Reveal the Ending!

The Plot…

Michel Delassalle is a cruel man.  Michel is the Principal of a boys’ boarding school owned by his wife, Christina.  Christina also works as a teacher at the school.  Michel enjoys flaunting his authority over his teachers including his wife.  He gets off on humiliating them at every opportunity.  To make matters worse, Michel has an on-going affair with Nicole Horner, another teacher at the school, who he also mistreats.

Surprisingly, Christina and Nicole have developed a friendship… and a plan.  They’ve devised the perfect albi so when they kill Michel, they will be above suspicion.

Or so they thought.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Alfred Hitchcock reportedly wanted the rights to the original novel but was beaten by just a few hours by Henri-Georges Clouzot who went on to direct Diabolique.

Véra Clouzot died suddenly of a heart attack five years after the release of Diabolique.  She was only 46. Her character in the film suffered from a weak heart.

Diabolique was ahead of it’s time.  It inspired filmmakers from William Castle to Alfred Hitchcock.  And what a twist ending!

Diabolique (1955) rates 4 of 5 stars.

FEVER HOUSE by Keith Rosson / Z-View

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FEVER HOUSE by Keith Rosson

First sentences…

Tim Reed sits in the driver’s seat of his ancient and rust-punched Datsun hatchback, balancing a screwdriver on the tip of his finger.  Hutch and Tim are killing time, waiting for some poor guy to come home so they can terrify him and, if necessary, perform grievous harm to the architecture of the man’s body.  It’s the usual deal: reluctance to pay a debt owed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Tim and Hutch are leg-breakers for Peach Sorreno.  Although the two are more than willing to throw a beatdown on deadbeats who’ve borrowed from Peach, when Tim and Hutch show up to collect, more often than not they come away with money.  That’s par for the course and the way it’s been working that night.

Until they get to Wesley.

Wesley’s a methhead. He claims he has no money.  When Tim and Hutch search Wesley’s apartment, they find a severed hand in his refrigerator.  Tim and Hutch decide to take Wesley and the hand to Peach’s warehouse.  There they’ll sort out what to do next.

What Tim and Hutch don’t know, but will soon learn is the hand causes anyone near it to get violent, murderous thoughts.  These urges become so strong and persistant that those under the influence lose control and act on them.  They will brutally murder anyone near.  Worse still, the killed by a person under the influence of the demon hand, reanimate as zombies with the same sadistic killing urges.

As the madness spreads two factions work to recover the hand…

  • Peach Sorreno knows Tim and Hutch had the hand, but do they still?  Sorreno wants it badly, and brings in Nick Coffin, one of his “fixers” to resolve the issue.

 

  • A US government black ops organization that deals with the occult has been searching for the hand.  Under the direction of David Lundy (who wants the demon hand to weaponize it), two field agents, John Bonner and Samantha Weils are boots on the ground.

With each passing minute, the fevor spreads.  One infected becomes two.  Two become four.  If the hand isn’t recovered and destroyed, it could be the end of the world.

+++

When I started FEVER HOUSE I expected a crime novel with horror overtones.  What I got was an epic, crime/conspiracy/horror/demonic/apocalyptic tale that I absolutely loved.  I’ve already purchased the sequel and it’s nearing the top of my next-to-read pile.

FEVER HOUSE gets my highest recommendation.

Rating:

“Halloween” Alt Poster by Chris Koehler!

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John Carpenter’s Halloween was a little independent film that jumpstarted the slasher genre.  Actually it poured gas on all horror films due to it’s success.  Although many would follow in Carpenter’s footsteps none was as good.

Chris Koehler  has created an alt Halloween poster worthy of the film.  I love how this red variant makes Michael Myers “pop”.

“Nightmare” (1964) / Z-View

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Nightmare (1964)

Director: Freddie Francis

Screenplay: Jimmy Sangster

Stars: David Knight, Moira Redmond, Brenda Bruce, Jennie Linden.

Tagline: THREE SHOCKING MURDERS…did she DREAM them? …or DO them?

The Plot…

Six years ago Janet Freeman saw her mother stabbed to death.  Janet was eleven.  Nightmares have haunted her since.  Now seventeen, the night terrors have become so bad that Janet has been sent home from boarding school to recover.

At home, the nightmares become worse and even more realistic.  Is Janet dreaming of murders or commiting them?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

There are worse ways to spend 82 minutes…

Nightmare (1964) rates 2 of 5 stars.

BLOOD AND MAGICK by James R. Tuck / Z-View

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BLOOD AND MAGICK by James R. Tuck

First sentences…

I should have known.

There were signs.  I’m supposed to be the damn expert.  I should have caught the warnings.

I should have.

But I was completely clueless until the minute the restaurant exploded in a wave of eldritch flame and burning glass.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Deacon Chalk knows the truth about things that go bump in the night.  Chalk looks like a stereotypical biker.  Bald head.  Tats. Tall, broad-shouldered and muscular.  But Chalk is anything but stereotypical.  Several years ago, he almost died along with his family.  Vampires took them out.  But Chalk was saved by an angelic blood transfusion.  Yeah, angel’s blood.

Now Chalk and the small circle of friends that surround him are monster hunters.

But not tonight.

Chalk, his girlfriend Tiff, and their friends are having a quiet dinner.  Then all hell explodes.  Literally.  Members of a coven known as the Wrath of Baphomet attack.  They’re after the “Blood of the Trinity”.

Chalk and his team are no longer the monster hunters… tonight the monsters hunt them.

+++

BLOOD AND MAGICK is the third book in James R. Tuck’s Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter series.  I’ve read and enjoyed all three.

I love crime, noir and detective/anti-hero stories. Add the right mix of humor and violence and I’m on board. The tales don’t normally feature werewolves, vampires, witches or demons.  But Tuck’s Deacon Chalk yarns do, and they work.

Chalk is the type of anti-hero I like. Smart (but not brainy), tough and with enough attitude to get him in tight jams as he tries to (mostly) do the right thing. While I’m not ready for a constant diet of this genre, when I do want another taste, I know James R. Tuck is open for business with other tales.

 

Rating:

“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” – The Poster & Teaser Trailer are Here!

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The poster and teaser trailer for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is here!

Deal me in.

Some things are meant to stay buried.

#LeeCroninsTheMummy only in theaters April 17, 2026.

Hot off the record-setting resurrection of EVIL DEAD RISE, writer/director Lee Cronin turns to one of the most iconic horror stories of all time with an audacious and twisted retelling: LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY.

The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace — eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.

The film stars Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, with Veronica Falcón. The film is written and directed by Cronin, and produced by James Wan, Jason Blum and John Keville. The executive producers are Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Macdara Kelleher and Lee Cronin.

Cronin is supported behind the camera by a team of sterling film artisans, including director of photography Dave Garbett, production designer Nick Bassett, editor Bryan Shaw, costume designer Joanna Eatwell, music by Stephen McKeon and casting by Terri Taylor and Sarah Domeier Lindo.

New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Present, A Wicked/Good Production, A Lee Cronin Film: LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in theaters and IMAX in North America on April 17, 2026, and internationally beginning 15 April 2026.

“They Will Kill You” directed by Kirill Sokolov, starring Zazie Beetz, Heather Graham & Patricia Arquette – The Posters and Trailer are Here!

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Here we have three posters and a trailer for They Will Kill You directed by Kirill Sokolov, starring Zazie Beetz, Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette.  This looks like crazy fun.

Deal me in!

From New Line Cinema and Nocturna comes THEY WILL KILL YOU. The film unleashes a blood-soaked, high-octane horror-action-comedy in which a young woman must survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious and twisted death-trap of a lair, before becoming their next offering in a uniquely brazen, big screen battle of epic kills and wickedly dark humor.

THEY WILL KILL YOU stars Zazie Beetz, Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette.

Directed by Kirill Sokolov and written by Sokolov & Alex Litvak, the film is produced by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Dan Kagan, and executive produced by Russell Ackerman, John Schoenfelder, Carl Hampe, Litvak and Sokolov.

Behind the camera, Sokolov is joined by director of photography Isaac Bauman, production designer Jeremy Reed, editor Luke Doolan, costume designer Neil McClean and visual effects supervisor Marc Smith. The composer is Carlos Rafael Rivera, the music supervisor is Andrea von Foerster and the casting director is Richard Delia.

New Line Cinema and Nocturna present THEY WILL KILL YOU, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in theaters in North America on March 27, 2026, and internationally beginning on 25 March 2026.