Customer Reviews

Toxie's Triple Terror, Vol. 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At last, they have decided to publish on DVD the movies that Troma fans have been asking for. This is a collection of titles that Troma has, apparently, licensed to Brentwood for DVD release. Although Brentwood has only put the movies on the discs, without any additional features (in other words, treating the DVDs as though these are nothing more than round, flat, VHS tapes) this is no worse than Troma studios has decided to do with all of their recent releases. But the point is, THESE are the very movies that Troma Fans have been clamouring for!

Or are they? The first (chronologically) and worst of these, 1980s "Beyond Evil" directed by Herb "Graduation Day" Freed, does not seem to be listed in Troma's online database, and neither was it ever mentioned as an acquisition by the company. It does seem that this was just something that Brentwood stuck in the box. Still, I don't mind. This movie does feature some unintentionally funny dialogue.

The second disc, featuring 1987s "Evil Clutch" is much more entertaining. This is also the scariest of the trio, in my opinion. This is a ghost story that was, apparently, made in Italy. Describing it only as "a ghost story", however, is woefully insufficient. This has the best, and most complex, plot of the three movies.

Almost as entertaining is 1987s "Chillers", on, obviously, the third disc in this set. This one is much more simple than the other two, involving five travellers exchanging frightening tales while stranded at a bus depot. Not all of these stories, each a mini movie within the movie are good, but the overall effect is very satisfying.

As mentioned above, there are no additional features on these discs, other than ads for the the same features on two of the discs. Which is to say, "Evil Clutch" has an ad for "Evil Clutch", "Chillers" has the ad for "Chillers". This is the only thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars. However, the movies themselves are very entertaining, so I do recommend this boxed set.

This is the second 3-disc set of early Troma movies that Navarre/BCI licenced. The box promises there will be 7 of these handsome sets, and I can only hope this will be true. The tone of the films included in this set is much darker than those in the first one.

EVIL CLUTCH
This Italian film (originally titled Il Bosco) has that wonderful atmosphere of the better Italian films from the 70's and the 80's, including the wonderfully disturbing English dubbing. It is probably influenced by the highly popular Evil Dead, but definitely not a rip off. If we were to say that, all vampire themed films would be Dracula rip offs and fortunately certain themes can be explored in many different ways. The Italians have very often taken some inspiration from certain american films,only to take the themes to new and higher levels. And one thing sets this one apart: there is none of the distracting humor that made Evil Dead way too funny to be terrifying. Evil Clutch has long been one of my absolute favorite Troma pick-ups.
An American girl and her Italian boyfriend take a vacation in the Alps and are lured in a web of inescapable horrors. That seems a simple enough plot, but of course there is more to it than that. Evil Clutch builds the tension tentilizingly slow by using long shots of seemingly trivial happenings, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that there is a very specific need for this, as the horror, when is starts to show itself, is all the more terrifying. A good example is the meeting with the writer (who disturbingly speaks with an electronic voice device due to an operation) that gets more claustrofobic as it goes on.
In the last half hour the slowly built tension in unleashes in a never-a-dull-moment stream of horrifying events that keep my eyes glued to the screen and **spoiler aler** the climax is not the ultimate gruesome gore laden scenes, but what comes after that: our heroine fleeing from the place of horrors in a long and stunningly acted scene of absolute fear, thus going back to the slow pace of the beginning of the film, but in entirely different circumstances.
A much overlooked film, which can be corrected now that itis released on DVD as part of the Toxie's Triple Terror volume 2 set.

CHILLERS
Is certainly the best looking from this set, rare for such an obscure gem. Very clear picture and sound. Chillers is an episode film, and usually these don't work too well because not enough time is given in the short segments to build up tension, get to know the characters a.s.o. Here, however, in the 87 minutes the film lasts we are treated to no less than 5 stories that build up very well and involve many unexpected plot-twists. We get zombies, vampires, psychopaths, ghosts and possession plus an unexpected surprise ending (which is given away in the included trailer, so watch this after the film). A group of travellers are stuck in a bus-depot that has all the hospitality of the one in Rock Bottom, where Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick Star get stranded, and in order to kill time they somehow wind up telling each other their worst nightmares. I won't give away any of the stories here, except that they range from very entertaining to truly frightening. Winner of the prestigious Silver Scream Award by the Acedemy of Science Fiction, Fanstasy and Horror Films, and rightfully so, Chillers is a very good horror movie that is one of those examples where a limited budget enhances the creativity of the filmmakers. A truly original visual paperback of great stories.

BEYOND EVIL
A very satisfying film, with incredibly good acting, especially for such a low budget movie. John Saxon.(From Dusk Till Dawn, Dario Agento's Tenebrea, to name but a few of his many starring roles) and his wife Linda Day George (who starred in such different works as Pieces and the tv series Roots) go to an island for a building project the husband works on, and while there, are offered a wonderful mansion to live in. As it is on islands in horrormovies, the locals have some superstitions about the house, which are not far fromthe horrible truth. I won't tell too much, because it would spoil the fun of watching this well crafted film.

OK, the special effects are very seventies, and in those days probably could even have been slightly better - but if the filmmakers decided to spend whatever budget they had rather on great actors than on the effects, I would say this was money well spent. This is a good story that borrows a little here and there, but never crosses any line of plagiarism as so many recent Hollywood productions get away with shamelessly. Adding a lot of itself and a rather disturbing atmosphere (which is enhanced by Saxon's briljant acting) this results in a very enjoyable and sometimes frightening horrormovie.

This 2nd set is again wonderfully packaged: three ultra-slim slipcases collected in an attractive slipcase. There are no extra's apart from some trailers for the films themselves, but the price is right and it is a rare chance to collect a great number of very interesting otherwise unavailable important horror-films from a time when these were still allowed to be inventive and the genre wasn't yet taken over by the streamlined and predictable producions that we see nowadays. The films look good, considering the obscurity and age of the works. Especially EVIL CLUTCH looks surprisingly great and surely never surfaced like this ever before and Chillers is near perfect!

"Beyond Evil" was acceptable for these reasons 1)John Saxon and Lynda Day George, genre fixtures, do a good job 2)jaw-droppingly hokey "special" effects, including eyes shooting green beams that made Star Trek's original phaser blasts look like they were done by Lucasfilm and 3)I'd never seen it before. Yes, this was a 1 star movie.
"Chillers" was enjoyable in that train-wreck way: you just have to keep watching, because you can't believe someone actually made this movie! As an anthology movie, no one part of it can ever become TOO boring, as a lot of "action" is supposed to be packed into each episode. "Action" is a subjective word. I must say that I did enjoy this hideous example of some gumby getting a video camera in 1984 and getting together some losers from the bad side of town's trailer park and making a movie! Especially enjoyable is the "swimming nymph" in the first episode, whose (real) teeth look like they are only half as long as normal people's teeth. There are some VERY entertaining "special" effects (which apparently took some effort, unlike "Beyond Evil"), and some hilarious "acting"; probably the best actor(who actually really does a good job) was this 12-year old kid...who probably was the writer/director. Oh yeah, the box says it won some kind've prestigious "award"; probably from the 12-year old director's gang...of younger kids that he's able to boss around because HE's and important film-maker! This will probably garner a second or even third watch, unlike "Beyond Evil". "Chillers" really isn't as fully entertaining as I'm afraid I made it out to be, but really should be seen for afficianados of terrible 80s garbage. It has it's own (rotten)flavour.
The crowning jewel of this cheapo collection is the Italian "Evil Clutch". Most of you know the assumed belief that Italian horror films make no sense. THIS one is the reason! You will be utterly baffled by this, for more reasons than one. The most unfortunate reason is that (and I'm not sure if the film as originally presented was like this) everything is almost IMPOSSIBLE to see. Some scenes in forests during bright daylight hours are almost totally black. You can see the daylight, but whoever filmed this must've been totally insane. I've seen this before, and this latest printing STILL has me asking along with one of the characters "what's dis STUFF?", as I am still unable to see what he's talking about. The answer, by the way, is "somesing GREAT!" It looks like this was filmed with the actors expected to speak in ENGLISH...to great effect. Some of their accents are incomprehensible. Then add a crazy, motorcycling writer who speaks through a voicebox, so he is left "talking like a rubOAT"(robot), and you have a LOT of laughs, especially with his inexplicable croakings of doom. Before watching this, read the description where it says "a beautiful hitch-hiker"; how to word this without sounding cruel? The said hitch-hiker is in NOBODY's definition of "beautiful", nor even "vaguely attractive".....or even "acceptable-looking". WOW! Zombies appear in the true Italian "oatmeal glued to the face" tradition, while borrowing a bit from "Evil Dead". There are many cool things that happen in this film...too bad you can't see them, because you really WANT to see them. The big exciting climax is pretty bloody in an "Evil Dead" way, and almost NOT too dark to see, but perhaps an even greater problem with this absolute gem of bizarreness is the old "walking/running/being chased through the woods" problem.....you WILL be compelled to fast forward through these interminable segments. These are, luckily, compensated for by the peals of laughter that will burst from your gaping mouth, as you are agape with disbelief that this preposterous film is making you laugh so hard! But this is an essential piece of endearing garbage; despite it's flaws, one of THE most entertainingly bizarre Italian gore films of all time. Such a classic that the Horror MeTal band Ghastly Secret summed it up in one of their songs, in regard to the writer's story-within-a-story, "The Evil Death"..."you think you can avoid the Evil Death, NOone can avoid the Evil Death, you will never understand the Evil Death, because I just made up the Evil Death"? Ridiculous? Baffling? Perhaps you've so far been able to avoid seeing "Evil Clutch"...but how long CAN you avoid it?