Film Review: CATACOMBS (1988)

The Beast of the Apocalypse has been buried for over 400 years beneath a monastery where the secret has been kept until a female school teacher and an American priest uncover the truth in the film Catacombs (aka The Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice) (1988).  Laura Schaefer is the school teacher Elizabeth Magrino who has been invited to the monastery to photograph everything.  Her arrival coincides with the release of the Beast who has influence over everyone that comes near him which he uses to kill and/or possess people into furthering his escape from his prison.  Elizabeth must overcome not only the slow possession of the Beast but the open sexism placed upon her as the first woman to ever be allowed access to the monastery. 

Time is running out as the more people the Beast kills the stronger he becomes until he is able to release himself from captivity.

Written by David Schmoeller and R. Barker Price and directed by Schmoeller (who also directed Netherworld, Puppetmaster, Crawlspace, and Tourist Trap) the film is well made but is not one of his better films.  This being said it is entertaining in a ‘80s horror film kind of way and will appeal to those who love the films of Full Moon Entertainment.

Film Review: THE LAUGHING DEAD (1989)

A priest who has lost his faith is at the heart of the possession horror film The Laughing Dead (1989).  Catholic priest Father O’Sullivan (Tim Sullivan) is escorting a group of tourists into Mexico to visit the Aztec ruins.  He’s having a crisis of faith stemming from the fact that he had an affair with Tessie (Wendy Webb) which yielded a son Ivan (Patrick Roskowick) and they both just so happen to be a part of his tour.  It also happens to be the Day of the Dead festival and the evil Dr. Um-tzec  (Somtow Sucharitkul) plans to resurrect the Death God.  Dr. Um-tzec uses O’Sullivan as a vessel for the Death God but also needs hearts of children to sacrifice of which Ivan is a prime candidate.  Now O’Sullivan must fight his possession of the Death God before he kills Tessie and his son or any more innocents that get in his way. 

Not a particularly interesting film.

Written & directed by Sucharitkul the film is dull and at times rather boring and uninteresting due to the script and the lazy handling of the material by the cast who all pretty much seem bored in the film.  There are a few moments that perk up but these are few and far in between creating a film that is a slosh to get through.  Make-up FX are pretty standard low budget (or no budget) ‘80s and there is nothing in the film that will have you calling it a cult classic of any kind.  Just another highly forgettable ‘80s film.

Film Review: THE WILD BEASTS (1984)

The “80s Italian production The Wild Beasts (1984) sees the water supply of a zoo contaminated by PCP which drives the animals crazy and they eventually break out of the zoo to cause panic and chaos in the city.  Written and directed by Franco Prosperi, an animal expert and police inspector fight against time to save as many people as they can from all the wild animals while also trying to recapture as many as they can in the process. 

Being an Italian production there is plenty of violence and death to be had in the film even where children are concerned.  Although very basic and straight forward the film is still entertaining (as most ‘80s Italian horror films) and even has many great sequences with wild animals menacing humans (before CGI became the norm).

The entire cast is pretty good (Lorraine De Selle, John Aldrich, Ugo Bologna and Louisa Lloyd, to name a few) but what audiences want to see are the wild animals and there are plenty of them here.  What starts off as simply rats infesting the city ends with a giant bear menacing everything in its path.  Not the greatest of “80s Italian horror films but it is entertaining.