Top 20 Horror Movies
1. Beyond the Black Rainbow – the strangest movie I saw this year is also my favorite horror film this year. This is a slow burn, but the slowness added to the foreboding feeling, and the overall uneasy and creepy feel. I won’t revisit this film often in the future, but when I do, I think Im going to enjoy it more each time.
2. Excision – this was one of my few blind buys this year after Chuck and Jason described it to me. I love how the …

Noirmageddon: A Mark Anvil Thriller
Directed by Thomas Berdinski
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
 
Last year, a few of us at Horrorphilia were lucky enough to have Thomas Berdinski and Jeff Bromley join us as we reviewed 6 zombie movies on a podcast. Prior to that show, I was able to watch The Italian Zombie Movie which was directed by Berdinski and starred Bromley. Instantly, it was obvious that The Italian Zombie Movie was made by a crew that loves fun films, and love to have fun while shooting a film. Their sincerity and genuine …

Resurrection County
Directed by Mark Zettell
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals

Today, I stopped by the local Redbox and took a look to see what horror films were left out of the already picked over selection. One of the movies left over by the masses was Resurrection County. I had never seen or heard about this before, so a swipe of the card and I was on my way home with this little known film.

So was this film a hidden gem or were the masses smarter than I at the Redbox this day? To be …

Dog Blood
Written by David Moody
Published by Thomas Dunne Books
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Dog Blood is the second book of the Hater trilogy, and is a very effective bridge for the first and last books. The first book introduced us to the concept of the “Hater”, which is a person that becomes filled with rage, so much so that they cannot control their unexplained hatred for those not filled with rage, called the “Unchanged”. The first book also introduces us to the character of Danny McCoyne, and we follow him as he goes …

Choke
Written by Chuck Palahniuk
First edition published on June 11, 2002
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
 
Let me start by saying this is the first book I have ready by Chuck Palahniuk, but it definitely won’t be the last. Most people will know Chuck Palahniuk because of his most popular work, Fight Club. Fight Club is definitely a personal favorite. It was a movie that really tapped into my mind and made me think of things in a totally new light. So I figured if a movie adaptation of one of his books could be …

Helldriver
Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
 
So, I just finished watching Helldriver and I’m not even sure what I could write to give this movie justice. The overall ridiculousness and insanity cannot easily be put into words that would begin to describe some of the characters, set pieces, and props used in this film, but let’s give it a shot anyway since you are going to want to see this film.
The plot is very simple and is in no way essential to the enjoyment of this film. The film follows a …

Piranha
Directed by Joe Dante
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
A few weeks ago I was watching the Alexandre Aja film Piranha. Then it occurred to me, I still hadn’t seen the original Piranha. How could a film with such a cult following elude me for so long? I’m still not sure but I was determined to rectify that situation. After watching the 1978 Joe Dante film, I can see why Piranha garnered such high praise from cult film fans. Its a fun ride from beginning to end.
Piranha has a very simple …

Attack the Block
Directed by Joe Cornish
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
I decided to check out Attack the Block after hearing people debate on whether the film was awesome or just pretty good. I figured since nobody is saying it’s terrible, then maybe I should give it a go. After completing the movie, I think I fall more on the side of the people that think it’s good, but not great. However, I think my opinion of this movie will only go up upon rewatches. Maybe getting into the movie will explain a little …

Baise Moi
Directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
I’ve been wanting to catch Baise Moi for some time now. I heard it was pretty violent and very, very sexually explicit. After checking Baise Moi out, I can confirm that this description is 100% accurate. It is quite violent, but since it was made on a very low budget, none of the violence is very gory. The same cannot be said for the sex. The sex is very graphic. You see everything! We’re talking XXX content, but its not …

Roid Rage
By Ryan Lightbourn
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Roid Rage. Wow! I had no clue what this short film was about, and as luck would have it, I viewed it at the perfect time. By perfect time I mean after a few shots of Jameson and half a bottle of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum. No, I didn’t have to drink to enjoy this, but let me tell you, it helped. I don’t mean that in a bad way, because Roid Rage is more like a party movie. This is …

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Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Oh Rammbock: Berlin Undead, how you disappoint me. This movie was recommended by a close friend of mine that usually has pretty good taste in zombie movies. It was pitched to me as a German Dawn of the Dead, so you can imagine how excited I was to watch it. However, after watching it, the first sound to come out of my mouth was “meh!”
The plot of the movie is fairly simple. A man named Michael visits his ex-girlfriend to …

The Big Bird Cage
Written and directed by Jack Hill
Starring Pam Grier and Sid Haig
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
The Big Bird Cage is a women in prison movie made in 1972 by Jack Hill. It isn’t a typical prison as we know it today. It is more like a labor camp in the Far East. Women that commit crimes are sent to this camp as punishment, where they are forced to operate a machine called The Big Bird Cage which separates sugar from its cane.
We are also introduced to a …

Cannibal Holocaust
Directed by Ruggero Deodato
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
It’s been a while since I had last seen Cannibal Holocaust, and since it came up in some discussions recently, I figured I’d give it another watch. Man, am I glad I did since it was even better than I remember it being. This is a movie that is hard to say you enjoy. It is brutal and filthy, and definitely sticks with you after watching.
Cannibal Holocaust is about a group of four filmmakers that go to the Amazon to document the tribal rituals …

Nightmare
1981
Directed by Romono Scavolini
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
After watching some 80’s slashers recently, I wanted to find an early 80’s slasher that I had never seen before. That’s when I came across this little gem called Nightmare, also known as Nightmare In A Damaged Brain. Nightmare was released in 1981, right in the middle of the slasher boom of the 80’s. Thankfully, it was one of the better slashers to be released during that wave.
Nightmare follows a mental patient in New York. He escapes from a mental institution where doctors have been …

Feast 2
Directed by John Gulager
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
I have had this movie sitting in my Netflix queue for a while now. I finally bumped it up in my queue because I wanted to see a fun, mindless, gory film. Basically, I wanted more of what I saw in the first Feast movie. Feast 2 is mindless and gory, but it definitely lacks in the fun department which is probably the most important characteristic of the first film.
Once again, John Gulager is the director. This is not a very good follow up …

Salon Kitty
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
So I woke up this morning and wanted to watch a movie. I had two movies from Netflix that I needed to watch and send back. So which one did I choose? Salon Kitty. Not your standard early morning fare for sure, but there’s no time of day that would prepare me for what I was about to watch. Its not a movie that’s gory or terribly mean spirited. It’s just twisted as all hell.
Salon Kitty takes place during World War 2. The setting is a brothel …

Vampyres
Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Vampire week at Horrorphilia! Is there any other sub-genre that has this much potential to disappoint? Not for me there isn’t. I can usually tell if I’m going to like a vampire movie within the first 5 to 10 minutes. This movie begins with two beautiful women in the throws of passion, when suddenly they are shot by an anonymous person. Needless to say, that was an effective way to hook me.
The plot to Vampyres is fairly simple. We see a man driving down …

Happy Mothers Day from Horrorphilia and we have a special treat for you. Something new we are going to do is a “gang” review each month for one particular movie so you can get a different perspective from the different personalities of Horrorphilia. For our first foray into this type of review we chose Mother’s Day. So here’s our reviews posted in random order. Enjoy.
Mother’s Day
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
When I first heard there was another Mother’s Day movie coming out, I didn’t know how they …

 Zeopatra
Published by Dark Brain Comics
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Dark Brain has finally done it! They’ve given us something that many of their fans have been clamoring for, a zombie series we can sink our teeth into. For those people that don’t know, Dark Brain has a very distinct style. They make graphic novels that are violent, graphic, and erotic. Take those elements, throw in the zombie apocalypse, and out comes the new zombie graphic novel, Zeopatra.
Zeopatra begins by throwing you right into a zombie attack located in Phoenix. We see a group …

Panman
Written and directed by Tim Pilleri
Co-directed by Jim Zaguroli
Segments also directed by Andrew Genser, Brett Register, and Dan Riesser
Reviewer: Brandon Ennals
Panman is a movie I had to see after I heard the main character kills people while wearing a stock pot on his head. If that alone doesn’t make you want to see it, and I don’t know why it wouldn’t, then this movie might not be for you. That may be an extreme simplification on my part, but that image alone is symbolic of …