Horror Bulletin Monthly November 2023: Horror Bulletin Monthly Issues, #26

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 covered most of the October new releases, some excellent, some stinker. As always, we looked at our usual variety 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
1975 Darker Than Night
1976 Grizzly
1978 Piranha
1993 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
1997 Anaconda
1997 The Relic
1998 Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm
1999 The Sixth Sense
2000 Final Destination
2009 Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker
2014 Zombeavers
2016 Anti Matter
2018 The Basement
2018 The Marshes
2020 Relic
2023 Beneath Us All
2023 Bloodthirst
2023 Boy Makes Girl
2023 Five Nights at Freddy's
2023 No One Will Save You
2023 Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
2023 Slotherhouse
2023 Soul Mates
2023 Subspecies V: Bloodrise
2023 The Angry Black Girl and her Monster
2023 The Goldsmith
2023 Werewolves Unearthed
2023 Book Review: Holly by Stephen King

 

Short Film Reviews

2018 Short Film: Consurgo
2023 Short Film: Leech
2023 Short Film: Maria Jose Maria
2016 Short Film: Overtime

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Schell
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215719572

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

PART ONE

MOVIE REVIEWS

1975 DARKER THAN NIGHT

AKA Más Negro Que La Noche, Blacker than Night

Directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada

Written by Carlos Enrique Taboada

Stars Claudia Islas, Suane Dosamantes, Lucia Mendez, Helena Rojo

Run Time: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4nuWBmdauA

SPOILER-FREE JUDGEMENT ZONE

This was a bit of a whodunit of a ghost story that makes you wonder what is happening. It starts out a bit slow but picks up after a while and moves to a satisfying ending. It's very European and very 1970s, which was fun. We thought it was quite good.

SYNOPSIS

A woman talks about her hat to the cat. The cat changes color as the credits roll. The woman talks to Becker, the cat, about how they can't end the plague. The cat plays with yarn until the old woman suddenly dies.

We cut to Ofelia Escuderi, arriving by taxi. She says hello to Pilar in the shower and wonders who's sleeping in her bed. It turns out she's Aurora's cousin, Marta, a model. The four women will be staying together for a while. They go see a lawyer, and Ofelia has inherited a large estate in the country from Aunt Susana, who recently died. The only condition is that they take care of Becker, the cat. Ofelia barely remembers Susana.

The four women go to the old house to move in. There's a creepy housekeeper there, Sofia, who shows them around. Sofia says Becker the cat has been hiding since the old lady died. That night, Pilar finds Becker the cat in her room, and she's terrified of cats. Chasing him out is inadvisable, warns Sofia. Ofelia agrees to switch rooms with her tomorrow night.

The girls find a room full of Susanna's old clothes, including a wedding dress that should fit Ofelia. She plans to modernize it for her upcoming wedding to Pedro. Sofia finds Becker eyeing Aurora's pet bird in its cage.

That night, Aurora comes home and hears someone outside calling for Becker. She comes in, and tells the others about it. Marta thinks she's playing a prank, but Ofelia and Pedro go outside to look. They hear it, too. They think it was Sofia, but the older woman denies it.

Later that night, someone in a dark dress comes into Ofelia's room and steals the wedding dress. Could it be Susana's ghost? She finds the dress in the fireplace downstairs, burning. Marta and Pilar blame Sofia, and Sofia takes the blame and apologizes. Later in the day, Aurora finds her bird out of the cage, dead on the ground. She blames the cat. That night, Aurora hears a woman moaning downstairs and tells Marta, who hears nothing.

Ofelia and Pedro come home, and the others say they found Becker dead in the basement; he must have gotten trapped. Ofelia wants to bury him in the garden. I'm thinking about if she found out, Marta tells Pilar. Did they kill the cat?

That night, Marta sees a shadow in the next room that resembles an old woman with a cane. She finds the dead cat and blames Sofia for bringing it upstairs, and Sofia reluctantly admits she did it. We see that Sophia's as surprised as anyone, but she takes the blame anyway. They bury Becker the next morning, and Aurora throws a temper tantrum.

Aurora gets a vision of the old woman's ghost at work the next day; it's carrying a cane. She looks just like the old woman in the portrait and tells all her friends about it that night; Sofia says the old woman's cane was buried with her.

Pilar and her ex-husband Roberto talk; he begs her to take him back. At the library, the power goes out, and Aurora gets a scare. Ofelia and Pedro come to pick her up, and the security guard can't find her. They do find her when the lights go back on-- dead.

Sofia gives a week's notice; She thinks there's a connection between Becker's death and Aurora's. Your aunt is here! I've heard her moaning at night and wandering the halls.

Sofia goes home for the night, leaving Pilar there alone. Pilar soon starts hearing a cat meowing and goes outside to investigate. She sees light in one of the barns and goes inside. We see an old woman with a cane wandering around in there with her. Then she runs into Sofia, who takes her home.

Pilar and Roberto go to a dance party that evening, but she's too shaken up to have any fun. He says it's a simple problem: just don't go back there again. He eventually cheers her up, and she goes home happy. She sees the old woman and falls over the stairway railing to her death below.

It's Sofia's last day, and Ofelia begs her to stay, and she declines. Marta says the house feels lonely now. Marta thinks both girls died from fright and that she's next. The electricity goes out, so Ofelia goes outside to the fuse box in the rain. When she comes back, Marta has seen the old woman. There's nothing there now but the old woman's knitting. Marta admits that the three girls killed Becker on purpose. After they found the bird dead, Aurora hit him with a chimney shovel. When he fought back, the other girls finished him off. Marta believes the old woman is getting her revenge on them for it.

Pedro shows up outside, and Ofelia goes out to meet him. While alone, Marta hears the old woman moaning. She sees Becker and then old Aunt Susana. When Ofelia and Pedro come inside, they find her body stabbed with knitting needles.

The cat howls in victory...

COMMENTARY

It's really slow getting started, but once things start happening, it moves pretty quickly. We wondered whether it would turn out to be crazy Sofia all along, but that didn't happen. We also thought for a while it was Ofelia being possessed, but no, not that either. It really was the old woman's ghost, with maybe the dead cat assisting.

1976 GRIZZLY

Directed by William Girdler

Written by Harvey Flaxman, David Sheldon, Andrew Prine

Stars Christopher George, Andrew Pine, Richard Jaeckel, Joan McCall

Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPe4CDP8nhE

SPOILER-FREE JUDGMENT ZONE

It's just one bear, but it is a big one, and it causes a surprising amount of chaos and drama. The film moves at a steady, if a little slow, pace and seems dated, but overall, it was a decent watch.

SYNOPSIS

A pilot flies some men in a helicopter over a forest, and he talks about the national parks and keeping things as they always were in nature. Credits roll.

We cut to people walking around outside a vaguely-unnamed National Park. Michael Kelly is the head forest ranger, and he tells his team that they have a larger crowd of backpackers and hikers than they've ever had before.

Allison talks to Corwin, the man who runs the local resort; he's losing a bunch of money and has a pile of unpaid bills. She's a nature photographer, and she and Kelly go out together.

A couple of girls complain about walking so much today as they approach their campground. They hear something in the woods! It's okay; it's just a ranger on horseback who warns them not to get off the trail and be careful. He leaves, and we cut to something big, growling in the woods nearby. A bear brutally rips off one of the girl's arms, and the other runs away into a tiny cabin. The bear tears the place apart before mauling her.

Ranger Tom mentions to Kelly and Allison that there are two missing girls, so they all go looking. Kelly soon finds the body of the girl in the shack. They know it's a bear right away, and soon, there are dozens of men searching the woods at night.

Kelly is confused. The bear shouldn't have come down from the mountain, and they generally don't eat people, but this one did. Word gets out, and most of the hikers head out-- in a hurry! Kelly calls in Arthur Scott, a wildlife expert.

One of the forest rangers, in the middle of the search, decides to get undressed and go for a swim. There's a predator stalking her from the bushes, and not the usual kind. She's soon torn to pieces.

Kelly starts to take it personally, wondering if he's cut out for the ranger biz. The next morning, Pilot Don takes Kelly up to search from the air, and they spot a bear in a field. No, it's just Scott in disguise. Scott reports that it's not a big brown bear; it's a grizzly, and it's at least fifteen feet tall and two thousand pounds. It might even be prehistoric.

We cut to a huge group of families camping. The bear tears up a woman right in front of all of them. The park supervisor, Kitteridge, blames Kelly and doesn't like Scott.

The next morning, dozens of bear hunters converge on the woods and spread out. Kelly, Scott, and Don spot the hunters in the woods and don't like it. One of the hunters sees the bear, drops his gun, and runs away, but the grizzly takes offense and chases him away.

Kelly is ready to go out searching again, and Allison wants to go along with him, and she won't take no for an answer. Three sleeping hunters are surprised by a bear, but it's just a little black bear cub. One of them wants to use the cub as a lure, thinking the big bear's parental instincts will kick in to rescue it. Instead, the grizzly eats the cub. Scotty later says that cannibalism