Customer Reviews

Catacomb of Creepshows 50 Movie Pack

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

All but eight titles in PENDULUM's CATACOMB OF CREEPSHOWS 50 MOVIE PACK are new (for them) DVD releases. The repeats: "Cope," "Deadly Memories," "Demon Slaughter," "Hell's Highway," "Night," "Sick Bðstðrd," "Slaughtered" and "The Tenement."

MAXIM MEDIA's "Pendulum Pictures" horror films are distributed exclusively by MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT. These movies are a throwback to the early '60s type of drive-in theater gorefests that were once popular with teens. Fans of low-budget murder, mayhem and maniacs will not be disappointed by this little collection.


This item's companion, MORTUARY OF MADNESS 50 MOVIE PACK (also from PENDULUM-MILL CREEK), offers up another 42 new-to-MCE-DVD gorefests.


Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film research website.

(6.8) Addiction (2003) - Frank Franconeri/Mim Granahan/Lydia Fiore
(???) At the House of Madness (2007)
(1.4) Awaken the Dead (2007) - Gary Kohn/Lindsey Morris/Nate Whitty (and dozens of zombies)
(???) Caregiver (2007) - Asa Wallander/Rebeka Montoya/Elisa Elliot
(5.2) Clean (Canada-2006) - Marco Calliari/Sebastien Croteau/Martin Dubreuil
(6.6) Cope (2007) - Rachel Pinto/Robert Allen Wagner/Krystal Sullivan
(???) Dead Country (Australia-2008) - Zoran Babic/Andrew Merkelbach/Mandy Kane/Lloyd Kaufman (voice)
(1.4) DeadHouse (2005) - Pablo Macho Maysonet IV/Brian Rivera/Bryan F. Irrera
(2.9) Deadly Memories ("Body Shop") (2002) - Phillip Newman/William Smith/Robert Z'Dar
(???) Death Becomes Them (2001)
(4.7) Death Factory (2002) - Lisa Jay/Karla Zarnudio/Jeff Ryan/Ron Jeremy
(3.1) Death From Beyond (2006) - Trisha Hershberger/Sarah Marie Muhl/James Panetta
(???) Dee Flowered (2006)
(???) Demon Slaughter (2004) - Adam Berasi/Vic Badger/Peter Blessel
(3.8) Demons in My Head (Australia-1998) - Matthew Mariconte/Greg Bowman-Miles/Jane Rowland
(6.0) Divine Intervention (2007) - Vic Clay/Jonathan La Mantia/Ingrid Fenn
(???) Dr. Shock's Grindhouse of Horrors (2007) - Three more stories presented by the bad Dr.
(2.0) The Forever Dead (2007) - Bill Mulligan/Patrick Loree/Libby Lynn/Jessie Walley
(2.1) Frightworld (2006) Andrew Roth/Kamillia Kataxenna Kova/Gary Marzoff
(3.7) Fungicide (2005) - Dave Bonavita/Wes Miller/Dave Wascavage
(???) Grave Mistake (2008)
(2.8) Hell Hath No Fury (Canada-2006) - Linda Stang/Nicole Hancock/Johnny Cantiveros
(2.5) Hell's Highway (2002) - Phoebe Dollar/Kiren David/Jonathan Gray
(???) Holy Terror (2006)
(3.2) In the Woods (1999) - DJ Perry/Aimee Tenaglia/Tim Jeffrey/Jim Greulich
(???) Johnny Sunshine Maximunm Violence (2008) - Sean-Michael Argo/Matt Yeager/Shey Bland
(5.0) Kottentail (2004) - Nathan Faudree/John Karyus/Joe Geragi/Jake Andolina
(5.5) Machine Head (2000) - Josh Walitt/Sondraya Rowe/Rich Cowden
(???) Master of Darkness Magic (2001)
(2.3) Night (2006) - John Hardy/Shawn LeTang/Melanie Ginnett
(???) Prey for the Beast (Canada-2007) - Brett Kelly/Lisa Aitken/Mark Courneyea
(3.9) Raving Maniacs (2005) - Patrick Cohen/Emily Morettini/Andrew Vellenoweth
(???) Reservoir Cats (2001)
(3.0) Satan's Whip (2006) - Robert Field/Hannah Friedman/Bob Connelly
(2.7) School of Horror (2007) - Bobby Baldassari/Abe Dewing/Vic Clay
(???) Shadow People (2007) - Suzanna Hartzell-Baird/Justin Klemann/Michelle Shea Walker
(7.0) Sick Bðstðrd (UK-2007) - Ken Dirke/Collette Green/Amy Hill/Michael Johnson
(???) Sinner (2007)
(3.4) Skeleton Key (2006) - Conrad Brooks/John Johnson/Jay Barber
(???) Slaughtered (2005) - Khhryst/Rebecca McCuen/Arlisha Fogle
(1.5) Stereotypes Don't Just Disappear Into Thin Air (2005) - Bill Zebub/George 'The Slayer' Stiso
(???) Stiff Odds (2004) - Gabe Strachota/Kate Delaney/Cory Pearson
(3.8) Storm of the Dead (2006) - J. Todd Smith/Debra Cassano/Karin Justman/Bob Cook
(2.7) Swamp Zombies (2005) - Shannon Solo/Jasmin St. Claire/Brian Heffron/Pamela Sutch
(3.4) Tartarus (2005) - Dave Wascavage/Juan Fernandez/David Weldon
(4.0) The Tenement (2003) - Joe Lauria/Michael Gingold/Doreen Valdati
(3.7) Torment (2008) - Suzi Lorraine/Tom Stedham/Ted Alderman/Lucien Eisenach
(4.0) Trees (2000) - Kevin McCauley/Phil Gardiner/Peter Randazzo
(4.0) Trees 2: The Root of All Evil (2004) - Ron Palillo/Brandi Coppock/Kevin McCauley/Phil Gardiner
(???) The Walkers (2006)

If you are looking for weird video to show at a party, this is perfect. I could not finish watching the fifteen I attempted to watch. I would not give these a B movie rating. Perhaps a E movie rating.
The plus side of this collection is you can see that the people involved making these were obviously having fun. That's the good part. The bad part; it's like watching someone else's kids in a school play where you don't know anyone.

...and not in a good way either. What starts out as a promising title and idea for a film - a couple of guys go "in the woods" on a hunting trip and discover a grave of a horned creature - progresses rather badly. The acting is very subpar to begin with, and the production values are worse that what it tries to imitate - the Blair Witch project. Now, when a film tries to be cutting-edge with a documentary style approach like Blair Witch attempted, it can meet with some success. This film is a rather cheesy attempt to feed off some of the success of the Blair Witch. It's not scary, and not worthy of even a first viewing - I can't believe I've wasted my time watching it in it's entirety, but I had to see if it could redeem itself somehow. Alas, it could not. The characterizations, the creature makeup, and the plot are all some of the worst I have seen - almost laughable...but it tries to be a serious scary movie and fails badly. Now some "scary" movies are actually funny, and I like those, but this was just horribly made on so many levels. To give you an example, the two guys come upon the creature grave, decide to dig it up, then see the horned skull, get scared and begin to run away... but then (this is sooooo bad), smoke starts to pour out from the skull - bright BLUE smoke like some one had put a colored smoke bomb under it (hey, that's probably how they did the effect). That's when I began to know how "horrible" this flick would be. I can only give one star for the attempt to make a scary movie about what can happen "in the woods" as it was all a dismal disappointment. Heck, even I could have made this a scarier movie, based upon my real camping experiences. The movie's motto "Venegence is Eternal" is true if only the director is forced to watch this movie eternally.

Hours of enjoyment sorry if its not upto these others high standards of pepsi endorsed modern horror flicks. is what it should be thanks!

(But, your mileage may vary...) I liked these independently made flicks. But I can understand how they might not be for the regular consumer of mass media. So buyer beware....

Watching these movies reminded me of a book I read earlier this year; "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor" by Bruce Campbell. It's in part an autobiographical account of how he and his buddies (such as Sam Raimi and his brother) made similar independent films in their youth - such as the "Evil Dead" series of movies. It's clear from reading this book that making such independent fare is hard work and in no small degree something that they put their heart into. The same I imagine was true for the people who created the films in this set and the "Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares 50 Movie Pack" (I bought both).

I noticed that several of the other reviewers made comments along the lines of - "I could do this" or "My kid could make this".... My suggestion if that is true; get your stuff together and go for it! Who knows - maybe someday we will seeing a major blockbuster you made.

This is possibly one of the worst horror movies I have ever seen. Although entertaining in places due to its laughable script and even weaker acting, and I use that term very loosely, it is unfortunate that this film was not consigned to B movie hell for all eternity. What could have been a good idea has been ruined by an ultra low budget, poor sound and effects and actors who probably earned their wings in children's television, and poor children's television at that. With one scene reminiscent of "Pet Sematary" and two nicely designed monsters, this could have been a winner. Unfortunately, cliches abound and hamfisted direction causes the film to be overlong in places, e.g. the first thirty minutes do nothing to advance the plot and could be a mockumentary about a small town fire department. Much more could have been made of the monsters and their background but it was all passed over in a ten second flashback which had to be explained ten minutes later. If you want to see how to ruin a horror film, study this one very closely. In fact, it is so bad that people should buy it for that reason alone. Especially note how the final scene looks as if it was knocked up in about 5 minutes. Realism escapes this movie on every levels. The overall impression is that someone was given a below average script, wannabe actors, an average director and absolutely no budget whatsoever. With a formula like that, it just had to be doomed.

There's nothing I can say that hasn't been said by the other reviewers, but even in the worst of films there are usually one or two servicable performances...not in this piece of pathetic garbage. I've seen better acting in high school plays. Every, and I mean every 'actor' is bad beyond belief, and what's truly amazing is the uniformity of the badness...gosh, it must have been the director. Where did they get these people? They must have dug them up along with the monster dog, which, by the way, makes the "Basket Case" twin Belial look like state-of-the-art FX. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" at least had Bela Lugosi. Avoid this turkey at all costs.

This seemed a good combination of movies, for a husband who grew up in the fifties and sixties. It turned out to be filled with amature photographers attempts at horror. It seemed like my neighbor down the street took home movies with patched up sets, and very poor sound quality and then tried to put it to video. My kids could do better with our video camera.

Don't listen to these people! You will love this marvelous movie. This film kept me at the edge of my seat. The acting wasn't oscar worthy I admit, but it's well beyond the everyday amateur actor wannabee's of today's Hollywood. This is a psychological/existential marvelous masterpiece that will keep you awake for days if not weeks. The monster effects were just marvelous! DJ Perry is an up and coming talent and we can be sure to look forward to more of his movies in the future. Watch out Jack Nicholson! This movie has it all; Drama, Suspense, Horror as well as some well placed comedy. IE: "Can I have some Wheaties?"

You should absolutley buy, NOT RENT this film! It will make a marvelous addition to anyone's movie collection.

From the bad community theater acting, to the bad script, to the bad direction, to the bad not-so special effects...I found this movie to be the funniest movie I've seen in a really long time.

Is it scary? Only if you think that someone out there thought it was a horror movie and marketed it as such.

It it even good? Not even decent.

I recommend a Friday night viewing over pizza and a six pack. That's the only way to get any enjoyment out of this laughable piece of dung, especially if you spent more than a penny to view it.