I’m traipsing around the Carolinas the next two weeks helping my mother get ready to move. Rather than leave a blank space until I return, I’m going to offer up a few choice entries from UBHB’s first six months, some of which you newer readers may have missed. Enjoy, and I’ll be back at the end of the month with all-new tasty horror morsels!

Despite script and editing problems, “Hellbound: Hellraiser II” is a labyrinthine nightmare that ups the ante from Clive Barker’s original.

1987 was a watershed for the horror genre. From the gigglin’ ghouls of EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN to Alan Parker’s pitch-perfect voodoo nightmare ANGEL HEART or the grimy Brooklyn tenements of Jim Muro’s audacious STREET TRASH, the year raised the bar and eyebrows alike in the thick of the VHS boom. 

They say good things never last, and holy shit did 1988 prove that. I nearly punched a wall after paying good money to see the latest Jason and Freddy outings that summer. The latest crop of cheap, direct-to-video shockers hadn’t helped matters, either. 

That autumn, I had moved back to the Rust Belt from California. My family had gone broke after my single mother was caught in a 26-car pile-up on a Los Angeles freeway. The lack of friends, interests, and daylight as the year wound down injected an unshakable, sinking feeling in the stomach of yet another faceless American teenager living below the poverty line. 

I had one hail mary left: the first sequel to Clive Barker’s low-budget debut hit, HELLRAISER. My choice to trudge through the post-Christmas slush to take in the continuing adventures of the Cenobites–Hell’s bounty hunters with a taste for S&M–turned out to be a revelation. Four decades on, HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II remains my favorite of the series, which has since imploded on itself in a orgy of subpar video-only releases. 

As the final flash in the embers of 1988, HELLBOUND emerged as a deliciously vulgar and daring continuation that picks up where Barker’s original left off. With the help of a young mute girl with a penchant for puzzles, Kirsty Cotton must square off against the labyrinthine tricks of Hell to save her poor father’s soul. 

The film suffered from typical editing and script wrinkles, a few of which are ironed out by the longer, ‘unrated’ version that now serves as the default edition in most countries. Reactions at the time from both critics and horror fans were mixed, as Barker had opted out of helming the sequel, working instead on the ill-fated screen adaptation of “Cabal”, later retitled NIGHTBREED.

Ultimately, the tantalizing mix of redemption and revenge from late director Anthony Hickox and his crack team of SFX wizards was enough to restore my faith in the genre after quite a rocky year. More importantly, HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II still serves as one of horror’s last gory hurrahs of the 1980s. 

#letsallgotothelobbytogetourselvessomemeat #hellboundhellraiserII #anthonyhickox #cenobites #clivebarker #cabal #nightbreed #jimmuro #streettrash #alanparker #angelheart #evildead2

I always thought that THE RELIC got a bad rap. It was a fun popcorn movie that sported a hell of a monster, courtesy of Stan Winston. However, the film had a lot of things going against it, so let us count off its three main problems, shall we?

First, its leading man was Tom Sizemore, who had a very public struggle with drug dependency. Second, the budget (reportedly around $50 million) unwisely hurled at the film’s production was immense, especially for a 1990s creature feature. Third, I distinctly remember Paramount pushing back the release date at least twice, with the flick finally opening on January 10th, 1997 (belying the prominent “1996” date on many of its promotional materials).

Considering these factors, THE RELIC ultimately suffered a predictable fate and was shuffled off to video soon after where it hopefully turned a profit by the end of the year. A lot of horror fans wrote it off in the wake of its disappointing theatrical run, but it’s probably time to check it out again after all these years. There’s a lot of fun stuff in there, and it seemingly set the stage for the later success of histrionic monster melees like THE HOST (2006), CLOVERFIELD (2008), and even the recent crowd pleaser, GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023).

#horrorhappenings #therelic #paramountpictures #tomsizemore #stanwinston #thehost #cloverfield #godzillaminusone

A very long 44 years ago this month, David Cronenberg unleashed SCANNERS on the world. This advert was something I kept from circa 1987 when it had its ‘world television premiere’ on KTLA in Los Angeles. I can say with confidence that the head explosion was NOT shown uncut that evening!

#fearflashbacks #scanners #davidcronenberg #KTLA #losangeles

As far as “Alien” rips go, I defy you to find one more entertaining than this!

Roger Corman was a genius and there’s no refuting that. However, it was rare one of his films ever got within spitting distance of being taken seriously by the moviegoing intelligentsia. 

Therefore, when the first trailers for GALAXY OF TERROR debuted (under its early name, MINDWARP: AN INFINITY OF TERROR) it was very, very easy to dismiss it as another ALIEN clone on a SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS budget. But if you caught the beginning credits of this on late night cable these days, I bet you’d be positively flabbergasted when you recognized most of the cast. The dude from THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS? Joanie from “Happy Days”? The guy who created “Red Shoe Diaries”? Captain Spaulding? Susan’s mother on “Seinfeld”? Mr. Hand? Freddy Fucking Krueger? Are you serious?! 

To make a long story short, we get a Nostromo-type space crew checking out a LV426-kinda planet that may or may not be inhabited by some Xenomorph-like creatures. Okay, I admit it doesn’t sound promising, but stick with me. After some requisite poking around (dead people, blah blah, exposition, yada yada, character development, zzzzzzz, more dead people), we find the only way out of this place is by confronting your greatest fears. The whole planet seems to be a high-stakes game orchestrated by one known only as Xerxes, Omnipotent Ruler of Planets and Space Shit (registered trademark). This is when kiwi director Bruce D. Clark and his whipper-snapper effects team, which included a then-unknown young twit by the name of James Cameron, can begin to wow you with their penny-pinching brilliance. These guys probably made the whole set out of Sprite cans, McDonald’s styrofoam, and spray paint, but goddamn if it doesn’t look good. Everyone’s dedication shuttles you along as the ill-fated crew crawl deeper into the maze-like corridors of this shadowy planet where only the most terrible things await. 

But once you start to wonder if you’re going to get a truly cerebral piece of cheap horror cinema, suddenly one of the team gets raped by a giant maggot and things go back to being bugfuck again (no pun intended). I want you to read that last sentence again and let me know if that’s the kind of thing you usually see at the movies. This is a film of extremes, folks. For every grave, dagger-filled glance Sid Haig can throw at his fellow team members, there’s a glorious moment of levity, the best of which is Robert Englund serving up one of the best girly screams in film history. 

Come on, man! Do I have to try to sell this to you any longer? Click your ass over to Tubi and don’t live another day without GALAXY OF TERROR. If you’re really nuts, you can take it to the max with the limited-edition, 4k-transfer steelbook release! Just think of it–Joanie Cunningham’s head exploding in HD. Do it!!

#unclean&unseen #galaxyofterror #mindwarpaninfinityofterror #rogercorman #brucedclark #edwardalbert #erinmoran #zalmanking #gracezabriskie #robertenglund #sidhaig #raywalston #jamescameron #alien #aliens #tubi

There are some things that just don’t make sense. When it belatedly hit US theaters in the spring of 1985 after opening more than six months earlier in the UK, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES should have been a hit just off its poster alone. I remember being really intrigued by the agonizing sight of a wolf’s snout emerging from a man’s face. It seemed to be a fresh spin on what effects master Rick Baker had achieved with his werewolf transformation in John Landis’ AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981).

Directed by Neil Jordan, the Irish filmmaker who would soon go on to acquire critical and financial success with such offerings as MONA LISA (1986), THE CRYING GAME (1992), and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994), THE COMPANY OF WOLVES offers up a mature, esoteric examination of “Little Red Riding Hood”. To the film’s detriment, there wasn’t anything like it in theaters at the time, and that novelty seemed to alienate a lot of moviegoers. Ultimately, the film cashed out only a bit more than $4 million stateside and it was left to become a rather obscure cult classic. Forty years later, it seems to be unheard of by the younger horror fans, which is one of the reasons I’m featuring it here. With the rise of A24 Films and the work of directors like Robert Eggers, I think there are some newer horror hounds out there who would find a lot of inspiration in Jordan’s adult fairy tale.

#onesheetwonders #thecompanyofwolves #neiljordan #monalisa #thecryinggame #interviewwiththevampire #littleredridinghood #johnlandis #anamericanwerewolfinlondon #rickbaker #a24 #roberteggers

Time for another prop I saw at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Seattle, Washington. This one served as Pamela Voorhees’ severed noggin in the 2009 reboot of FRIDAY THE 13th!

#fearflashbacks #fridaythe13th #props #pamelavoorhees #museumofpopculture #mopop #seattle #washington

Welcome back from our little Christmas break! Hope you’re rested and ready for more horror fun.

Today, we consider a quick prop swap. Man, HELLRAISER would have been a whole other movie if the Lament Configuration would have instead been a Rubik’s Cube. The longer you think about it, the better it gets.

#killermemes&comics #hellraiser #pinhead #cenobites #clivebarker #lamentconfiguration #rubikscube

A few days back, I did a post on Mario Bava’s last film, SHOCK, and that got me thinking about his earlier films. Though he’d already been in the film business for over 20 years, BLACK SUNDAY marked Bava’s auspicious directorial debut. You can tell by how small his name is on the poster.

And what a poster it was! I remember when I was young and I first saw this seminal one-sheet. That woman’s eyes freaked me the fuck out (in a good way) and, if I’m remembering correctly, they may have actually been the catalyst for me to ultimately seek out Bava’s films. Personal inspiration notwithstanding, it’s a striking image that most certainly helped to launch Bava into the Euro-horror stratosphere.

#onesheetwonders #blacksunday #mariobava #shock

A shameless concoction of erotica, camp, gore, and medieval legend.

Paul Naschy may be a household name for Spanish horror fans, but America still seems to be catching up with him. Ironically, he was best known for a role he never intended to play, Count Waldemar Daninsky, colloquially known as “El Hombre Lobo”. In the 11th hour of pre-production for the 1968 film, THE MARK OF THE WOLF MAN, he made the jump from screenwriter to actor, simply because the producers couldn’t find a suitable leading man in time for principal photography. Thirty years and more than ten sequels later, Naschy (real name: Jacinto Molina Alvarez) had easily clawed his way into the annals of Euro horror cinema. 

One of the roles Naschy was proudest of, though, was that of 15th century French warlock, Alaric de Marnac, first featured in his 1973 hit, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB. After watching this slice of early-70s fromage, you can see why Naschy held a soft spot for the character in his stone-cold heart. After being tried for witchcraft, both de Marnac and his mistress, Mabille de Lancre, are condemned to death, with it being decided on the fly that de Marnac’s head and body should be buried apart for good measure. Shoot ahead 400 years as some young and stupidly optimistic Parisians hold a swinging 70s seance that allows de Marnac to divulge the whereabouts of all his body parts. Soon, a scavenger hunt of sorts begins in order to piece the ol’ Satanist and his girlfriend back together. Anyone outside of a horror film would instinctively know this is a terrible idea, but our plucky Parisian dipshits start getting slammed with a 400-year-old warlock whammy once Alaric screws his head back on. 

Before you know it, we’re in the midst of a cavalcade of male and female nudity, sickle murders, heart-rippin’, toasted zombies, and something resembling Necrophilia-Lite (“just one calorie!”). One’s only protection from all this is a talisman that looks like something I made in 11th-grade shop class. All of this is taken *Very Seriously*, with music cues straight out of “Dark Shadows” and melodramatic acting that would make Hammer Film alumni blush. Having said this, the gusto our players leverage makes for an uncommonly breezy and enjoyable 90 minutes. 

Fans can be grateful that the rights to the film (as well as its lesser, belated sequel, PANIC BEATS) got scooped up by discerning folks in recent years. I have an old, washed-out edited version from at least 15 or 20 years ago, and finally watching the movie remastered and uncensored is a refreshing experience indeed. 

Ultimately, there’s no use resisting temptation. HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB is undoubtedly my favorite of Naschy’s earlier films, and pretty much the entire reason it works is due to having such an interesting villain. Alaric de Marnac is imbued with a hypnotic aesthetic that combines vampirism, satanism, and templar knighthood. Confidentially, I haven’t even made my new year resolutions yet but I already know my costume for the next Halloween season. Hell, I already have the beard, the hair, the build, and at least half of the accessories, so this should be a knockout. Sure, I’ll inevitably have an unending string of uninformed looky-loos asking all day long, “Are you supposed to be, like, a medieval Dracula, or something?”, but I guarantee I’ll get more ass than anyone that night. 

Finally, for all you history buffs in the crowd, Naschy based his antagonist on one of the most despicable villains of the Renaissance: Gilles de Rais, a 15th century French baron who fell into the occult before being convicted of unspeakable crimes against more than 140 children (!!!). He later revisited de Rais for inspiration on THE DEVIL’S POSSESSED (1974) and ROJO SANGRE (2004).

Respect the warlock whammy, bitches.

#historicalhorror #horrorrisesfromthetomb #paulnaschy #jacintomolinaalvarez #alaricdemarnac #mabilledelancre #medieval #france #spain #themarkofthewolfman #elhombrelobo #countwaldemardaninsky #panicbeats #thedevilspossessed #rojosangre #gillesderais #darkshadows #hammerfilms

WHOO! It’s time to ring in the new year. Let’s do it with an original advert for the 1980 punk-rock slasher NEW YEAR’S EVIL, which haunted theaters 44 years ago this month!

#fearflashbacks #newyearsevil #punkrock #slashers