Witchouse (1999)

Witchouse written by Charles Band and directed by David DeCoteau by Full Moon Entertainment, is a great fright fest taking place in Dunwich, Massachusetts. Elizabeth (Ashley KcKinney) invites a unique group of individuals to her secluded mansion for a strange evening and an eventful party. The party individuals include Jack (Matt Raftery), Jennifer (Monica Serene Garnich), Tony (Dave Oren Ward, R.I.P), Brad (Ryan Scott Greene) Maria (Marissa Tait) Scott (Dane Northcutt) Bob (Jason Faunt) and Margaret (Kimberly Pullis). Elizabeth is a descendent of an evil witch Lilith LaFey (Ariauna Albright) who was burned at the stake during the Salem Witch Trials, in which this gathering is held for in retribution of they’re ancestors. Fast forward 300 years to the present time, Elizabeth resurrects her malevolent ancestor during a pagan ceremony to conduct murderous deeds against her party guests as retribution. This same group of party guests happens to be descendants of the towns’ people who burned Lilith at the stake centuries ago. As each party guest has flashbacks of that fatal night, they see the past and what their ancestors did to Lilith. One by one they are killed by Lilith under Elizabeth’s control. This is a campy horror witch themed film done well and unforgettable, with reminisces of another similar classic, Night of the Demons. Witchouse is well written and produced. It’s not one to miss, and definitely one to own. Get your copy today directly from Full Moon Entertainment, Streaming or on DVD from Amazon.

The Guardian (1990)

For thousands of years a religious order known as the Druids worshiped trees believing that every tree has a guardian spirit. Most of the trees are associated with good but many trees embodied powers of evil and darkness.  In this folktale, The Guardian by director William Friedkin is his first horror film since The Exorcist. The Guardian is based on a parent’s worst fear, losing a child. Parents of two children, Alan (Gary Swanson) and Molly (Natalija Nogulich), decide to take a trip leaving their two children in the care of a guardian, Camilla Grandier (Jenny Seagrove). Camilla’s intentions are quickly revealed as a battle for the child’s soul begins, based on the popular novel by Dan Greenburg, “The Nanny.” As the parent’s leave for their trip, Molly, the wife realizes she left her glasses at home. She returns home to find her youngest child missing and had been taken away by Camilla. Camilla sacrifices the baby to the tree in the woods which leaves the imprint of the baby’s face in its roots. Fast forward to three months later where the story continues with a new couple Phil (Dwier Brown) and Kate (Carey Lowell), and their baby boy Jake who moves into the same house. The parents hire Camilla, as a guardian to look after Jake so they can continue with their advertising jobs. Camilla quickly becomes a part of the new family. Things begin to get strange when the husband begins to have weird dreams about Jake and Camilla that begin to come true. As the story continues, Camilla is caught trying to steal Jake from the hospital after a minor injury. A detective investigating the baby’s injury tells the parents that Camilla doesn’t exist. Camilla begins to turn into part tree and attacks Kate, while Phil attempts to cut down the demonic tree with the embedded baby’s face. As he cuts down the limbs of the tree, pieces of skin start to fall off Camilla and she loses her entire leg after Phil cuts down an entire branch of the tree. The Guardian is an action packed horror film with lots of folklore on the Druids who sacrificed human beings to trees for centuries, and includes ancient evil, and the occult. The film is clearly another well directed movie by the famous William Friedkin, which makes the film a must see for horror fans. Released on Blu-Ray by Scream! Factory is now available for purchase also as DVD on Amazon.

Cellar Dweller (1988)

This 1980’s Horror Gem directed by (John Carl Buechler) Cellar Dweller starts off “30 years ago”, when a young comic artist Colin Childress (Jeffery Combs) is working on a piece of horror art work for a comic. He takes his references for his story from a necronomicon. After looking for dark passages and possible séances and saying a few incantations and inscribing his artwork, he introduces “The Beast”. Everything he’s written in his comic has come true. As he keeps writing and drawings the comic he can start or stop something bad from happening. As the beast comes to life, Combs searches for it ending up in the cellar of the house armed with an axe. After a struggle with The Beast the necronomicon gets knocked into a chest and sealed. Combs eventually finds out that he can set the beast on fire, but ends up burning the entire cellar and dying with the beast. Empire pictures presents, Cellar Dwellar. As you write your artwork, drawing, comic, it comes true. And most of the artists have a macabre sense of art. This ensues for an excellent movie. Then 30 years later, a young striving comic artist Mrs. Briggs (YvonneDe Carlo) a huge fan of Colin Childress work, revives the artist’s work again not knowing it caused the first fire and was created with the help from the necronomicon found in the chest. Reviving the beast in his footsteps, joining an artist’s colony of kooky and quirky characters and striving young artists Cellar Dwellar will eat you out of house and home in this retro 80s horror movie released by Scream! Factory and can be purchased on Blu-Ray, DVD & Retro VHS by New Wide Video.

Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf (2015)

A Lifetime drama meets 1981’s The Howling in a comedic, harrowing, werewolf thriller Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf (2015) by director Adrián García Bogliano, Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is a United States Army Vietnam Veteran, an old school lone wolf who takes matters into his own hands, despite being blind and wounded in the Vietnam War. Ambrose accompanied by his son Will (Ethan Embry) moves his father into a retirement community called Crescent Bay Estates. The movie starts off well with great cinematography and undertones of dark comedy. Ambrose doesn’t let him being blind get in the way of anything; even on his first night at Crescent Bay he survives a harrowing werewolf attack. The local cops call off all suspicious activity in his community after surmising that the attack was an unknown animal attack from the nearby wood.   Ambrose’ key sense of smell he acquired after becoming blind, tells him it is more than a simple animal that attacked him. He discovers that animal attacks have been happening in his community once a month for some time now. After losing his guard dog to the beast he takes matters into his own hands to seek and uncover the truth of the death of his beloved guard dog and other strange occurrences that have plagued the small community of Crescent Bay. Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf is a must see for fans of werewolf movies. The wolf transformations are excellent and the fresh plot take on to a new level of thriller, keeping you guessing if it could be someone in the community itself or if Ambrose already knows who it may be. Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the movie with dark humor, mystery, and mysticism. Who is committing these heinous acts on the resident’s animals and fellow residents? Surely Ambrose will get to the bottom of it in this revenge seeking thriller. Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf is available for purchase on Blu-ray, DVD and available for rent on Amazon Prime