Hello all! Happy belated New Years! It's been awhile since I have made a new entry and for that I apologize. Life has been busy in the coffin lately and with that said I thought I would update you Monsterkids on some new titles that are available now from Celluloid Coffin Video!

First up is one of my favorite 1950's sci fi flicks, Invasion of the Saucermen (1957). As a young Monsterkid I remember seeing this on t.v. and loving every minute of it. It's played as more comedy than frightening sci fi but it's so enjoyable. This movie introduced me to the big headed alien look. I can't recall how old I might have been but I was probably around 6 years old, but I found those big headed bug eyed creatures to be quite frightful! This film has never had an official DVD release and still floats around in limbo. Celluloid Coffin Video is proud to present this with very nice picture quality and fullscreen (4:3).

Paul Naschy returns to Celluloid Coffin Video in two titles that are some favorites of mine. Our first Naschy feature for 2016 is La Furia Del Hombre Lobo aka Fury of the Wolfman (1970). Waldemar Daninsky returns as everyone's favorite tortured soul of a Wolfman. This installment also stars the beautiful Perla Cristal. Fury is one Naschy title that has been released many times in it's edited American form. Celluloid Coffin Video presents this version under the title Werewolf Never Sleeps and is uncut. The print is a little shaky as it is taken from the Swedish VHS release. However it is the most complete English language print (with Swedish subtitles). A real mess of a film but a fun furry romp for sure!

Our next Naschy release also came out in 1970 and co stars Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Karin Dor (Castle of the Walking Dead). Los Monstruos Del Terror aka Assignment Terror has Naschy playing the role of Daninsky and the Frankenstein monster! It's also a tribute to the monster mash films of the 1940's as it features Earth's most frightening monsters as The Mummy and Dracula also make an appearance. This feature is presented in Widescreen format from a very nice Spanish language print. It's got English subtitles so you don't have to be bilingual! A nice extra is the German language trailer for the film under the title Dracula Jagt Frankenstein (Dracula Vs Frankenstein) which also was the American title for the film when it hit stateside in the 1970's. Ok I might have fibbed you will have to be bilingual to understand the German trailer!

And finally another Naschy gem! Inquisition (1978) the witch craft film starring Paul Naschy as a Witchfinder General investigating stories of witchcraft in a small village. Naschy becomes romantically involved with a young woman who has made a pact with the Devil! All hell breaks loose! A absolutely beautiful print in Spanish language with English subtitles. Lots of nudity in this one kids! It's also features some great performances from Naschy and Daniela Giordano. It also has a really great story line. A highly recommended film! The film is presented in Widescreen and it is stellar!


Also coming soon is another fun filled trailer compilation! I am currently slicing and dicing rotted celluloid and pasting it all together with crypt drippings left over from the bats so once it's finished fermenting the Coffin will be unleashing it onto the world!

As always ghoulies come on by the Ebay Coffin to grab a copy of the newest Celluloid Coffin Video release and our other releases as well. Feel free to rummage around the coffin to see what other goodies can be found as well!

Cheers!!

Coffindan

R.I.P. Wes Craven 1939 - 2015

At 7AM this morning I saw the news ticker across the bottom of my T.V. screen as I watched the morning newscast. Wes Craven was gone.....but certainly not forgotten.

I first heard of Craven through an ad in Fangoria magazine. The movie was "The Hills Have Eyes" but I can't really recall if it was an article on the movie or an ad for the soundtrack in Fangoria's soundtrack section. I didn't experience Craven's craft until 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street". I was instantly taken by the film and all it's nuances. I hadn't seen anything like it before unless you count Phantasm (1979) which I've always kind of thought ANOES was similar to. While Phantasm scared me, Nightmare and it's main character Freddy Krueger, scared me to death.

This film opened me up to the world of Wes Craven and I needed to see more of his work. I do know that after ANOES I went directly to The Hills Have Eyes. While the film was gritty and unsettling, it still didn't hit me like Elm Street did. With Elm Street I didn't know what was real or a dream (of course a running theme throughout the series) and the imagery is simply outstanding and frightening. That shot of Freddy with the out stretched arms slowly coming down the alley to get Tina is forever burned into my brain. I believe it was then I saw The Hills Have Eyes II and I was left feeling flat. The film just didn't have that "umph!" that Elm Street had and that I really wanted to experience again in a Wes Craven film.

Finally, one day while browsing the horror aisle at my local video store I saw the title I was looking for. The title I had read about but no one seemed to have on their shelves for rent (remember kids this was the mid - late 80's, we couldn't stream a movie on the internet you had to go out and rent a tape and if the store didn't have it in stock you were screwed). The Last House on the Left was the game changer for me. I had read about it so I knew what I was getting into, we I thought I did. By today's standards the film may have lost some of it's impact but still to me, it retains plenty of it. It was the film that seemed to get referenced all the time when people talked about Elm Street....and with good reason.

Last House was an assault on my senses. I hadn't seen such brutality on the screen until I popped that tape in the VCR. The film was extremely gritty, more so than Hills Have Eyes. The movie was full of squirm in your seat scenes which I admit bothered me the first go around. Hell they are still squirmy scenes which is a testament to Craven's ability as a director and story teller.

For me Craven's films were a series of ups and downs, good and not so good but always entertaining. When Craven returned in 1994 with Wes Craven's New Nightmare I was excited to see what he was going to bring to the Krueger family dinner table. Craven did not disappoint although some didn't like the film, I thought it was a nice return to that dark uncertainty that was found in the original Nightmare film. 1996 would be the year that really brought Craven back into the mainstream of the horror genre. Scream was an instant hit in theaters and a very nice tribute to the slasher film genre from a man who helped shape the genre in the 80's. While it might not be one of my favorite films of the Craven cannon, it is still one that has its frightful place on the shelves of many a horror fan.

Wes Craven will be missed. I will miss seeing his name pop up on new projects or seeing that he will be making an appearance at a horror convention. Although I never got a chance to meet the director, I have always heard some many great stories from those who have. He was described as one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.....which seems about right. Usually it's the nice ones that have the ability to scare the pants off us!

Coffindan's Haunted Halloween Hootenanny

Greetings from the vault once again! I just wanted to make another announcement that in October of 2015, Celluloid Coffin Video will be releasing Coffindans Haunted Halloween Hootenanny!

This release will be a tribute to the old super 8mm Castle Films digests of the 60's and 70's. So if you like Drac, the Frankenstein monster, werewolves and creatures from dark lagoons, you are going to totally dig this release! This release will be chock full of monsters, spooky cartoons from yesteryear and lots of trailers! Possibly a video tribute to our favorite holiday here at the coffin featuring original music from yours truly, Coffindan! Check out this intro that will be featured on the disc. This is a nice tribute to the Creature Features of the 70's that will kick off the hootenanny!

So rock on fellow monsterkids and thank you for contributing to the success of Celluloid Coffin Video!

New titles from Celluloid Coffin Video!

Some new titles are readily available from Celluloid Coffin Video. I am very proud to present some classic horror plus the first CCV Euro Spy release!

 First up is our debut double feature release! This one is a Bela Lugosi special featuring The Devil Bat (1940) and White Zombie (1932). This double feature is really a great drive-in experience featuring trailers and intermission concession ads!

We hope to bring you more double feature discs in the future and believe me I have plenty of ideas to put together whether it be giant monster pairings or classic actor pairings.

Next up are two great titles from the coffin! Barbara Steele stars in The Long Hair of Death (1964) directed by Antonio Margheriti, one of the greatest Italian gothic horror directors. This underrated tale of terror is one of Steele and Margheritis best collaborations. Atmosphere is plentiful in this film and Steele sort of plays a dual role. The ending has such a great twist! The disc will also feature a Barbara Steele video tribute entitled "Barbara Steele: Queen of Gothic Terror". Plenty of photo stills and trailers in this extra exclusively brought to you by the Celluloid Coffin.

"Operation Kid Brother" stars Neil Connery (Sean Connery's brother) and is a classic Italian James Bond rip off. This is the complete widescreen version and not the version used on the cult tv show Mystery Science Theater 3000. Connery stars as Dr. Neil Connery (how's that for originality?) who finds himself mixed up in an international brouhaha when the British Secret Service use him as an operative to help thwart a terrorist group who wants to detonate an electro magnetic pulse upon the world. It also stars several Bond regulars such as Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell and Adolfo Celi. The U.S. theatrical trailer is also included on this disc and it just happens to be Celluloid Coffin Video release.....wait for it......007!

You can find these titles at my ebay store, just clicky clicky here. Here you will find other Celluloid Coffin Video titles and various DVDs, VHS, CDs and the like.

I thought I would include some photos of our other releases in this entry. I hope you take a moment to check out the ebay site as well and pick up some of these titles. I want to just take a quick moment to thank everyone who has bought a CCV titles these past few months! Night of the Howling Beast and La Venganza De La  Momia have been the best sellers so far! It makes sense though.....both are Paul Naschy films!

ALL titles are just $6.00 each plus $3.00 shipping.

 Night of the Howling Beast (1975)

 

Terror in the Crypt (1963)

La Venganza De La Momia (1973) AKA The Mummy's Revenge

Coffindan's Cult Trailer Vortex (2014) 

Celluloid Coffin Video

Hello all! It's been awhile since I have updated my blog. Life has been busy and well sometimes I don't get the chance to come by and post my thoughts on films that I have watched or wax poetic about analog VHS goodness. For that I apologize.

I do want to announce my new venture into horror DVD! Last October I created a trailer compilation and sold about 20 copies. This was my little test to see how things might possibly go if I decided to venture into releasing some horror titles. It went well enough to prompt me to start Celluloid Coffin Video Productions.

CCV (Celluloid Coffin Video) will be a very small operation. For now it will specialize in public domain titles. Each title is produced per order on quality DVD-R. Each release will come with color artwork and labeling. I will also try my best to make each title special by adding as many related extras as I can (trailers, slideshows, bios etc.). The price will be low and I will start out selling on eBay. I already sell there anyway so why not right?

The first four titles that are ready to be unleashed are:

La Venganza De La Momia (The Mummy's Revenge - Paul Naschy - 1973)
Terror in the Crypt (Christopher Lee - 1964)
Night of the Howling Beast (Paul Naschy - 1975)
Coffindan's Cult Trailer Vortex (2014)


I have had a love for horror films since I was a kid and this venture is something that I have always wanted to try. I'm not getting any younger so the time is now! Check out the trailer for CCV and feel free to stop by the ole coffin over at eBay as well. I hope to go live soon and I will certainly announce the live date here at the coffin blogspot!

Cheers!

Coffindan

Coffindan's eBay site

Marilyn Burns 1949 - 2014

When I read the news of Marilyn Burns passing, my heart sank a bit. I did not know the actress but I still felt some sadness because Marilyn's portrayal of Sally Hardesty in Tobe Hooper's 1974 seminal horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was one of my favorites in all of horror cinema. I have only seen a few of the films she starred in but I thought I would just take a moment and present my thoughts on her role that made a permanent mark on me.

A great shot of Sally before the madness.

Without going through a detailed synopsis of the film, the basic story of Texas Chainsaw is that of Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), her invalid brother Franklin and three friends taking a trip into Texas to check out Sally’s family grave site at a cemetery which had been hit by some grotesque vandalism (filmed so perfectly in the opening credits). They pick up a strange hitch hiker who attacks Franklin with a straight razor and they kick the stranger out of their van. Afterwards they visit the now dilapidated family home in which Sally and Franklin grew up. One by one they are picked off by members of a deranged family that live close by.  The members of the family include the hitch hiker, an older man known as “the cook” and of course the iconic younger brother “Leatherface”. Everyone is basically killed off a little more than halfway through the film and the rest of the film hangs on the performance of the deranged family and their captive, Sally. 

Texas Chainsaw is a film that completely delivers on a visceral level yet does so without spilling the ole crimson all over the screen. The film hits you visually and audibly with camera movements, settings, a minimalistic and eerie soundtrack and of course screams. No one conveys terror quite like Marilyn Burns does in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  I believe the reason why this works so well is the fact that Burns sells her character right from the get go. She is presented as an everyday Texas girl, somewhat of an innocent. She is free spirited which makes her very likeable and her character is presented as someone that you can relate with.  One moment in the film has her lashing out at her brother Franklin, only to apologize later showing her remorse and solidifying her relationship with her brother, making her “real” to the audience. If you have siblings you know that feeling and you relate with it. 

My second viewing of the film was when I noticed the "arms".

When Sally is kidnapped by “the cook” after fleeing through the woods being chased by Leatherface, this is when the film really cranks up the sadistic factor. We’ve already seen Sally’s friends meet their demise and their demises are pretty sadistic but that is just a warm up to the horror that Sally faces once she is dumped in a gunny sack, taken to the abode of the damned and then tied to chair half made of human appendages. Sally is a special “dinner guest” at the Sawyer family table and you’re never quite sure exactly what is on the menu. We know these people are cannibals so that sausage on the plate could be made from anything or anyone. Burns’ performance here is overwhelmingly terrifying. Her eyes convey the fright but also convey the madness in which she is being exposed to. She is presented to “grandpa” who is a half alive and decrepit old man who can hardly move. Her finger is cut and grandpa suckles on it like a baby on its mother’s breast. All the while she screams in terror at the old man. Her screams and expression really come across as genuine. She is beaten about the head with a hammer as well before finally escaping the chaos through the dining room window. 

The terror and joy of survival.

Fleeing down the dirt driveway towards the main road, she is pursued by the hitch hiker. He stays within arm’s length slashing at her back with his straight razor. Leatherface joins in the chase with his chainsaw but lags behind. Again Sally sells her terror and her pain until making it onto the main road and flagging down a tractor trailer. The tractor trailer inadvertently runs over the hitch hiker killing him. The driver and Sally are then chased around the tractor trailer by Leatherface. Sally flags down another driver in a pickup truck and jumps in the bed of the truck. The image of her riding away from the madness is iconic in of itself.  Her blood caked face expresses the relief but also the mental torture she has endured. Her screams are mixed with laughter than gives you that cringe factor. The scene is only rivaled by the closing shot of Leatherface “dancing” with his chainsaw and the film abruptly ends. Marilyn Burns completely sells this role from start to finish. I believe the way her character was written by Hooper and screenwriter Kim Henkel coupled with Burns’ ability to convey innocence and terror equally, is what makes her performance so powerful.  Her realistic portrayal, the gritty documentary style filmmaking and hinted at gore combine to make The Texas Chainsaw Massacre what it is, a complete terror ride. 

Helter Skelter (1976)

Marilyn Burns also had a role in Tobe Hoopers follow up to Texas Chainsaw, Eaten Alive (1977) and again her performance is believable and genuine. It is sad that because of her death, I am propelled to really dig into her limited screen time. She also starred in the 1976 film Helter Skelter which I only have seen bits and pieces. I truly need to check this film out as well.

 Rest in Peace Marilyn Burns and thank you for being part of this monsterkid’s cinematic journey. 

 

Graduation Day (1981)

Slasher films have always been at the forefront of a good deal of my horror viewing, especially in the mid to late 80’s during the video rental days and the churning out of franchise sequels each year to millions of movie goers the world over. You would think that as into the genre as I was and have been, I have probably seen all there is to offer. Alas titles always slip through the cracks only to be discovered years later. Graduation Day is one of them.

Graduation Day stars Christopher George, a genre veteran from such great films as Pieces (1982), City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Exterminator (1980). He portrays the hardnosed track coach and woodworking teacher George Michaels (no not that George Michaels). One of the coaches star track team members, Laura, has died of a blood clot in her heart during a track event. He is of course accused of pushing her too hard to try and run the race in under 30 seconds. That will be a time frame that comes into play throughout the film. 

I hope I make the cover of the Wheaties box........errggggg!

Laura’s sister Anne comes to town on leave from the Navy to try and make sense of it all. She visits both Laura’s boyfriend Kevin and Michaels but nothing seems to be clear as what actually happened. We only learn of the blood clot later on in the film. Meanwhile track team members are starting to disappear. A black gloved and gray sweat suit clad killer is on the loose and marking off team members one by one. Several are attacked at different times along the wooded path behind the school. The area seems to be frequented by students so I’m kind of surprised anyone can get away with anything but hey it’s a slasher film so. Team members find their ends in several different ways and several are pretty inventive. One has their throat slashed, another is run through the throat with a fencing sword, and another is impaled on spikes hidden in the landing pad at the pole vault. One of the most inventive deaths involves a football with a long blade sticking out of one end and delivered into the gut of one of the track members who is also a football player. Of course there is a good ole decapitation too. You can’t have a slasher film without one of those. I think it comes standard. All of these murders are timed with a stopwatch by the killer. His mission is to kill each track team member in less than 30 seconds each.  I thought that was a pretty original idea and I give the writers kudos for coming up with it.

Jogging can be messy

Both Laura and Coach Michaels are implicated to the viewer as being the killer since the movie does go out of its way to make sure we see that both own gray sweats and black gloves. Hell even the principal (Michael Pataki) is implicated because he has a switchblade in his desk……well several actually and they were probably confiscated from students at one point. 

Ladies and Gentlemen....Felony!

One of the high points of the movie is the roller skate party scene. Here we get to boogie down with music provided by hard rock band “Felony”. 

They got their own special mention in the opening credits and were actually an up and coming band. The song performed in this movie was “Gangsters of Rock”. Just remember when you are watching this movie that is was filmed in 1981. The whole song is performed in this sequence but is also accompanied by the decapitation death of a track member. His girlfriend, played by Linnea Quigley (yes the naked chic from Return of the Living Dead), is also murdered. 

Linnea.....doing what she does best.

The police finally show up at the school after six team member s have disappeared. You would think after maybe the second missing person someone would have inquired but again, this is 1981 slasher film logic. The police question Michaels but he’s out on his ass after being fired by the principal. The bad publicity surrounding Laura’s death has finally gotten the best of his career. One of the bodies is discovered by two students in the girls’ gym locker room. The coach comes to investigate and finds a fencing sword in the locker. Laura’s boyfriend Kevin also shows up and believes the coach is the murderer. They struggle and Michael’s runs out of the school. Kevin chases him into the woods behind the school and here we discover that it’s not the coach but Kevin who is the real killer. Kevin’s reasoned that the coach and the team members were all responsible for Laura’s death and all would die in the same time frame as her. A struggle ensues and Michaels is able to disarm Kevin. He picks up the knife but is then shot by the police thinking Coach Michaels is trying to kill Kevin.  

Why I outta....

TOUCHDOWN!

Later Anne visits Kevin and discovers that Kevin has been keeping Laura’s corpse in his room. The body is decomposing and Kevin has dressed it with a graduation gown and set the corpse in the rocking chair facing the window.  After a quick struggle Anne pushes the rocking chair which empties Laura’s corpse into Kevin making them both fall through the window. Laura runs out of the house and is followed by Kevin who didn’t die from the fall. He chases her to the track field at the school where Anne finds the hidden bodies of several track team members. Anne fights off Kevin and pushes him into the body of one of the victims who was impaled on spikes. Kevin is then impaled as well and dies.

Never shave your legs in the sink...it can kill you.

Even though Graduation Day has its moments of 1981 goofiness it is still able to deliver pretty well. It doesn’t have a great deal of character development but it does have a pretty interesting story line for a slasher flick. It’s never really boring but it never really creates a lot of suspense. I think it succeeds solely based on the twisted storyline which is something that I have come to realize about many of these films from the early era of the genre. Even though they were modeled off of films like Halloween and Friday the 13^th, sometimes you find one that actually tries to be a little different. Graduation Day does that and succeeds in some areas but falls a little flat in others. Still worth a view though!