Horror Bulletin Monthly August 2023: Horror Bulletin Monthly Issues, #23

By Brian Schell

The newest issue of the Horror Bulletin Monthly includes reviews of everything we reviewed last month-- a film each day! This month, we did two theme weeks-- "Serial Killer Week" and "Funny Zombie Week" among our usual collection of old and new films. 

 

Each of the films contains a complete synopsis of the film, including spoilers (so beware!), as well as our commentary on the quality of the story and how well it holds up for viewers today.

 

Movie Reviews
1940 The Devil Bat
1944 The Uninvited
1958 Monster on the Campus
1963 Atragon
1976 The Little Girl Who Lived Down the Lane
1986 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
1989 Warlock
1993 Warlock II: The Armageddon
1995 Se7en
2001 Dagon
2002 28 Days Later
2004 Shaun of the Dead
2007 28 Weeks Later
2007 Timecrimes
2008 Zodiac
2009 The Collector
2009 Zombieland
2010 I Saw the Devil
2013 Warm Bodies
2016 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
2017 The Killing of a Sacred Deer
2018 Overlord
2019 Zombieland: Double Tap
2021 Hollywood in the Atomic Age - Monsters!..
2023 Mad Heidi
2023 65

 

Short Film Reviews
2023 Short Film: Flat
2023 Short Film: Worth the Weight

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Schell
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223772569

Brian Schell

Brian Schell is a College English Instructor who has an extensive background in Buddhism and other world religions. After spending time in Japan, he returned to America where he created the immensely popular website, Daily Buddhism. For the next several years, Schell wrote extensively on applying Buddhism to real-world topics such as War, Drugs, Tattoos, Sex, Relationships, Pet Food and yes, even Horror Movies. Twitter: @BrianSchell Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Brian.Schell Web: http://BrianSchell.com

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the August issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly. In this one, we cover the reviews from July 2023.

HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS

Summer tends to be the slow season for new horror, and we’ve only got two films from 2023 for the month. Other than that, we still managed to watch a bunch of good stuff. We did both serial killer week and a funny zombie week this time around. Lots of good stuff there!

Here’s what we each thought stood out this month:

Brian liked Dagon and I Saw the Devil best this month. He hadn’t seen either before and was blown away by both. Mad Heidi was really funny and unique. He thinks the first 28 Days Later may be one of the best zombie movies ever. He didn’t care for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and would call them both boring slogs. He also thinks the whole premise behind The Collector makes it too dumb to get a pass.

Kevin’s favorites of the month were I Saw The Devil, which surprised and delighted him, and Seven, which he liked even better with this rewatching. The Killing of a Sacred Deer gets a special mention because it’s one that stuck with him after viewing, though in an interesting movie kind of way, not a great movie kind of way. He also really likes the zombie flicks 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and both Zombieland movies. Timecrimes had the most clever script. And he really enjoyed the heavily science fiction 65. His least favorite for the month was the dull Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

NEW BOOK - THE HORROR GUYS GUIDE TO THE HORROR FILMS OF PETER CUSHING

He’s Been Dr. Frankenstein, Grand Moff Tarkin, Van Helsing, Doctor Who, and Sherlock Holmes. He’s fought Dracula, werewolves, ghouls, gorgons, Nazi zombies, upstart rebels, ancient mummies, skulls, aliens, and even the abominable snowman.

With a range from cold, calculating malevolence to kindly grandpa, Peter Cushing enthralled horror (and non-horror) fans for decades. With a humble start with Laurel and Hardy in Hollywood, to a low point where he couldn’t get anything but BBC Radio roles, Cushing always knew he was made for acting. Still, it wasn’t until Hammer Films decided to remake Frankenstein that Cushing’s star really began to rise.

Starring in dozens of chilling films from Hammer and Amicus, he soon became one of the great icons of horror. Toward the end of his career, he took a role as Tarkin in Star Wars, which popularized him with an entirely new generation of fans that couldn’t get enough of his earlier work. We’re here to look at his horror films. *All* of them.  

This is not a Peter Cushing biography. What the book does do is go through each and every one of Cushing’s horror films, going through a *complete* synopsis, including spoilers and commentary. We’ll look at Cushing’s array of characters shift from the evilest incarnation of Dr. Frankenstein to lovable old benefactors. We’ll look at fifty horror films and eight important non-horror films that are significant in Cushing’s career.

Pick it up here: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing

NEW BOOK - FREE!

Last month, we released "The Horror Guys Guide to the Halloween Films" For a limited time, it’s absolutely free on our web store. Go to https://brianschell.com/b/halloween to pick up the ebook [epub/pdf] version of the book. The site also has a link to order a paperback version (not free).

WEB STORE

You can now pick up ebook editions of all our Horror Guys Guides and all back issues of Horror Bulletin Monthly issues as well as our fiction stories at https://brianschell.com/ and then click on the appropriate category. Or pick them up at any of the usual e-book places. Although we don’t sell paperbacks from our site, there are links to pick them up on the store site as well.

Also note that our Horror Guys Guides (not the Horror Bulletin Monthlies) are also now available in hardcover.

EMAIL US

As always, we’d love to hear YOUR opinions on the films and critique our reviews. Contact us at [e-mail]

And now… Here. We. Go!

PART ONE

MOVIE REVIEWS

1940 THE DEVIL BAT

Directed by Jean Yarbrough

Written by John T. Neville, George Bricker

Stars Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher

Run Time: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKxhzAGnSE

SPOILER-FREE JUDGMENT ZONE

It’s dated, the acting is inconsistent, the story is silly, the effects are awful, and yet it still manages to be a fun watch. And it’s short at just over an hour. If you’d like to see Bela Lugosi trying his hand and something other than Dracula, this is a good one to check out. And he looks like he’s having a lot of fun with it.

SPOILERY SYNOPSIS

Dr. Paul Carruthers is a beloved village doctor, but they never knew about his terrifying secret experiments. We see him mix up some stuff in the lab and then open a secret door, where he talks to a huge pet bat about glandular injections. He’s been giving the bat electroshock treatment. He throws the switch, and the bat starts to grow. He’s trained the bat to attack when a certain fragrance is present.

Don Morton and Martin Heath call and invite Paul to dinner; he is going to be presented with a bonus check for $5,000, but he doesn’t know that. Paul forgets to go to the party, but they send Roy over there with the check. Paul shows Roy some of his new cologne, and insists that Roy put some on. We see that Paul resents "the company'' for taking advantage of him all these years. He releases the giant bat, trained to home in on that scent.

Meanwhile, Don and Mary discuss announcing their engagement. They see Roy attacked, but they don’t know what did it. Dr. Paul arrives later and pronounces Roy dead from a wild animal attack.

At the newspaper, Johnny Layton gets assigned to investigate the mysterious death. He says that Martin Heath owns a huge cosmetic and fragrance empire– who killed his son? They all seem to assume the wild animal attack was really a murder. They found some mouse hairs on the body, but how did that happen? A bat has hair like a mouse, says Layton.

Layton goes to see Mary and Dr. Paul.

Paul offers some lotion to Tommy Heath, Martin’s surviving son. Not long after, there’s another bat attack. Tommy comes to see Layton and Mary in the park. He leaves, and they all hear his screams. They all see the devil bat this time.

The next night, Don Morton, Henry’s son, is killed. One-Shot McGuire, Layton’s photographer, starts faking photos of a giant bat, but the sheriff shoots it. Layton finds Don Morton’s aftershave, which smells like the other two murder victims.

Radio pundits discuss whether McGuire’s photo is even real. Layton’s boss calls and fires both of them. Now everyone knows the devil bat is fake news.

Layton suspects Dr. Paul Carruthers; he sold out for cash, but Morton and Heath got really, really rich without him. Layton and the sheriff ask Paul to analyze the aftershave. Paul admits that he developed the scent himself; it’s something he ran into in Tibet. He says the dead boys were just testing his formula. Paul says he believes there is such a thing as the devil bat and he kindly offers his shaving lotion to both Layton and the sheriff. The sheriff declines, but Layton takes some. Good-bye, says Paul.

Layton doesn’t like the smell of the aftershave, but McGuire loves it. The bat comes and tracks McGuire– Layton shoots it half a dozen times. There’s a lot of speculation as to where the giant bat came from.

Paul sets about growing a new bat.

At Heath Cosmetics, Paul offers Morton some aftershave. Paul insists that the old man try it, and he does. Morton says they’ve made more than a million dollars this year, and they only paid ten thousand dollars to Paul. Paul gloats and almost spills the beans about what he’s done.

Morton suspects that Paul may be behind the murders, and he wants to meet with Heath and the sheriff.

Paul goes to the sheriff and Heath first. They hear Morton outside, and he’s been bitten. The Devil Bat’s Mate gets the blame.

Layton wonders why only people connected to Heath Cosmetics have been attacked. Mary Heath wonders why her perfume smells different than it used to. The bat comes for her, but it can’t get in through the window. She explains about her evening, including the new perfume, to Layton.

Layton calls Paul to come over and treat Mary while he checks out Paul’s laboratory. When Paul returns, Layton follows him into the secret room where the bat lives. He