The Forest of the Lost Souls blu-ray + Extras (2017: Wild Eye Releasing)

It's nice to be back with a new Saturday Screamers!  Today's film comes to us from our friends over at Wild Eye Productions.  They brought this film to the U.S. as well as hooked us up with a copy.  So thank you to them for this blu-ray!

They watched too much Daria.

Taking influence from the infamous Japanese suicide forest, the Aokigahara, The Forest of the Lost Souls places itself in Europe where a man is looking for his own patch in the woods to end his life.  While he begins to set out his personal artifacts a college age woman tells him she has already claimed the spot.  The two begin to talk and strike up a morbid acquaintanceship which eventually leads to a lake on the forest edge.  It's here that we find that the woman is really a killer.  I'm not spoiling anything as she's on the cover of the case holding a bloody knife.  We knew this was coming.  It's the fact that we find out the entire conversation was meant for her to learn about his life in order to extend her murderous intentions to those connected to him.

The Forest of the Lost Souls initially feels like it's an "artsy" film.  I use that word in quotes because there's an unpleasant tinge to it, like tasting copper on your tongue.  Around the 15-minute mark I was concerned that this film just wasn't going to be for me.  Thankfully I pressed on and the second half of The Forest... does such a great job of giving the viewer that sense of suspense and dread up until the third act hits and everything comes together.  The director knows exactly how to surprise you, at the right moments, with imagery in the background and holding it just long enough that you feel that anxious flutter in your stomach.

This movie also gave me one of the weirdest self psychological moments when the time came for me to do this write up.  The entirety of The Forest of the Lost Souls is in black and white, but for some reason I recall the latter parts of the film in color.  I actually had to put the disc back in and scene skip in order to see if I was right or wrong.  Sure enough, my memory was wrong.  I've never experienced this but I chalk it up to the set designers, costumers, and director for doing such a good job with establishing the house that I can, for lack of a better term, feel the color there.

I also want to give some love to the fact that this is one of the first films that I've seen where we get a killer spending the time to establish an alibi.  Taking selfies, making phone calls saying you didn't have service while you were somewhere the night before, going through all of this effort... it's something we don't get with a lot of horror.  Our monsters tend to be supernatural or have these character flaws that lead to them being pursued, jailed, or killed.  They're not so calculating and sociopathic as to do this extra work or, if they are, we aren't privy to those scenes.  So thank you to The Forest of the Lost Souls for having this.

EXTRAS:

Extras are slim on this as it is just an initial release.  We have two deleted scenes with director's commentary.  I really appreciate that input because these scenes were cut because they didn't fit what became the tone of the film.  Without being told that these scenes would feel confusing as to why they even filmed them at all.  We also get a short film based on a holiday in Portugal where people hit each other with squeaky hammers as a greeting.  I liked this short except I think it would've worked much better without the final shot.  Finally there is a commentary track which I would like to listen to the next time I watch this film and also a fight rehearsal which I didn't watch and may revisit.

FINAL VERDICT:

If you are someone that doesn't like subtitles (this film is in Portuguese), black and white films, or artistically done films, this might not be your thing.  On the flip side, if you don't mind any of that and want to take a break from all of the slashers, torture porn, and b-movie bloodbaths then give The Forest of the Lost Souls a try.  I may not pull this out as an option at every movie night, but when I'm with the right group of people I wouldn't definitely pull a "hey, have you seen this" and put it on.

Thanks again to Wild Eye Productions for the hook-up!

Doom Asylum + Extras (Arrow Films)

For Saturday Screamers this week we're tackling Arrow Films' blu-ray re-release of 1987's Doom Asylum.  As always, thanks to Arrow Films for sending us a copy so we can do this review!

So the official description of Doom Asylum is: "A demented coroner uses autopsy equipment to kill off the teenagers who trespass on the long-abandoned asylum he inhabits. Filmed on location in an actual abandoned asylum."  I address this because I had no clue what I watched, but I loved every second of it.

Doom Asylum is a b-movie with a capital "B."  When a coroner and his girlfriend are in an accident, with a comically long lead-up, he awakens hideously deformed and deranged.  A group of the most absurd teens(?) go to sunbathe by an abandoned asylum.  Also present in the asylum is the greatest all-female experimental noise band which might as well be the b-film version of The Misfits from Jem.  Lead by Tina (Ruth Collins), they are this film's greatest asset.  The final presence in the asylum is the coroner ghoul that ends up killing these teens in random ways, except for Tina that somehow accidentally turns herself into a meat cube,

This movie is the absolute definition of The Dio Effect: It's so cheesy and bad that it is amazing!  It's also self aware of how bad it is.  Although, when your big draw to the film was "We have a Penthouse Pet and a Playboy Playmate in our film," you know you're not swinging for the fences.  The practical effects are pretty decent despite finding out in the extras that half of them didn't work as planned.  The acting is... well... overacting and you'll hear the same cover version of House of the Rising Sun about 20 times.

EXTRAS:

Like most Arrow releases, they got together some of the cast and crew to do individual interviews to talk about their time with Doom Asylum.  We get Ruth Collins doing one and she is like the scream queen aunt you didn't know you wanted.  Cinematographer Larry Revene lets you know all the issues with the film during its production.  He doesn't talk shit though. Instead it can be seen as someone looking back and working with fresh faced amatures and where they under or over extended themselves.  The final interview is with special effects artist Vincent Guastini (who worked on my favorites The Devil's Carnival and The Devil's Carnival: Alleluia!).  He talks about his early process starting out and working on this while pulling ideas from Tom Savini books he keep with him.

We do get an older set of interviews with the director, producer, and someone else but it was about 2 A.M. when I finally got to those and wasn't in the mood, so I'll end up watching those later.  I also definitely want to revisit this film with the commentary track on.

I think that's the best sign for Doom Asylum.  I want to revisit this movie.  It's Friday night with your friends campy fun.  It's also 1h 17m and moves quickly so you have no worries about people getting bored.  Pick this up if you like 80's cult classics, schlocky horror, or just want to see a very nice pair of breasts thanks to Ruth Collins.  I'm not even trying to be a pervy jerk here because I am of the homosexual persuasion and I can admit that those, well, they're just swell.

If you want to pick up a copy of Arrow Films' Doom Asylum then you can click here to get it from Amazon.  It's currently at the $29 mark for this blu-ray but the joy it brings is free... and $29 in order to purchase the disc to bring free joy.  The free joy is included in the $29.  Just buy it!  Also, buying it from that link helps out 30 Days of Plight with domain fees and caffeine!

Thanks again to Arrow Films' for a review copy of this film!

Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-Ray + Extras (AGFA/Something Weird)

Welcome to 30 Days of Plight's newest segment, Saturday Screamers!  During these we will be covering various DVD and Blu-Ray releases and re-releases that were lovingly provided to us through secret underground connections!  Today's comes to us from the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and Something Weird. 

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The year 1973 brought us many things.  Off the top of my head I can't think of any, but it did give us Godmonster of Indian Flats.  A local sheep herder has his casino winnings stolen by a questionable group of people.  He returns to his flock only to have some sort of UFO experience.  The next morning brings us an external hybrid sheep embryo blob thing.  Luckily, this dirt town has a scientist can take it to his lab in hopes of finding out what the hell it is.  Now forget this monster even exists until the third act because the real story is that a black man comes to the town in an attempt to buy it up for a development company.  Sadly, the entire town is full of racist scammers that pull some serious shit on him so he ends up in jail and then almost lynched.  The monster, now full grown and looking like a shitty Snuffleupagus, brings hell to the town... for like five minutes.  Then the ending becomes as equally confusing as the rest of it.

This movie screams MST3K.  Get your friends together and feel free to riff on this as much as you want because it's full of material.  For example:

- a dog funeral
- a crash mat made out of a mattress and empty PBR cases
- awkward attempts at 70's psychedelic film making
- the line "I've been following you all the way from the glory hole!"

The transfer quality is crystal clear as well so you'll be sure to see all this on your screen.
But wait!  We're not done!  Let's talk about the extras on the disc, thanks to Something Weird.

You get an entire extra film entitled The Legend of Big Foot (1975) where you follow a man on his narrated journey in search of Big Foot.  Despite his claims of having video evidence of the creature (which we're also told were discredited) we don't see any real footage of Big Foot.  It's a insane journey full of moose fights, squirrels getting hit by jeeps, native people, and shots of bears.  I felt changed as a man after it was over because I had no clue what the hell just happened.

Next, you are given three short films.  The first is Dr. Frank E. Strange's Strange Sightings from 1964.  This is meant to be a true story about a man that was labeled by the courts as a "UFO Eccentric."  Supposedly his lawyer wanted to know more so we get a very staged scene where they talk about why UFO's are probably real. We're treated to various interviews with random college kids about if they believe and then an interview with someone that claims they were taken on a UFO multiple times.  The climax of this short is an interview with the founder of The Aetherius Society which is a spiritual organization where he claims to communicate with aliens.  It's amazing!

The second short film is a safety film entitled Just In Case: Suppression of School Bus Fires.  Here are the things I learned from it:

- Middle school kids have zippos and bowie knives
- All vehicles in the 70's where explosive death traps, especially school buses since we're given about a dozen ways they might just catch fire
- It wasn't just my school bus that used to have a cardboard box in the front for trash
- The guy that takes the help instructions from the kids, drives 10 feet and then tears it up and throws it out the window while they watch is my fucking hero.  I haven't laughed that hard at something in ages.

The final short is entitled White Gorilla and contains questionable racism and even more questionable accents.  A group of assorted Europeans are tracking a white gorilla in the Congo.  They build a super camp overnight but the gorilla ends up stealing the only female in their group.  It's stopped by a regular gorilla that comes out and they fight with trees for about ten minutes.  White gorilla wins, he's shot somewhere that just makes him fall on his side, and then he's captured.  Mission accomplished and film over!  Before you ask, yes, it's a man in a gorilla suit with a plastic mask.

That's it!  That's the mass of the Godmonster of Indian Flats Blu-Ray!  Thanks again to AGFA and Something Weird for collecting such strange and wondrous this on a digital format for the ages!  Also, thanks again to them for hooking us up with a copy of this!  This will be released on July 10, 2018 so if you want a copy you can head over to the AGFA or Amazon to bring this joy into your home!