A completely random mix of oldies and newies this time around. We’ll start with the new “Companion” from 2025, then “Amulet” from 2020. “Beneath” (2013) is next, followed by “Chernobyl Diaries” from the previous year. Lastly, we’ll look at a nearly forgotten classic that’s way better than we expected: “El Vampiro” from 1957.
And, of course, we have more excellent short films for you!
The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com
Pick up our newest book, "The Horror Guys Guide to the Academy Awards of Horror" at https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/academy-awards-of-horror
Get all our reviews once a week: https://www.horrorweekly.com
Mainstream Films:
2025 Companion
Directed by Drew Hancock
Written by Drew Hancock
Stars Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage
Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The trailer gives too much away on this. Avoid it ahead of time if you can. Though we saw the trailer and still enjoyed it, it's not the end of the world. It’s enjoyable, low-key science fiction and horror in one, with a good script, strong cast, and excellent effects.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on Iris shopping at the grocery store, where she sees Josh, and they talk. They become a couple and take a road trip to a mansion in the country to meet up with his friends. He was expecting a rustic cabin, and this place is excessive.
We meet Eli, Patrick, Kat, and Sergey, who owns the whole place. Iris is nervous around all the strangers; she has to force a smile through the conversation.
Iris and Kat talk about Sergey, and Kat says he’s married; she's just sort of an accessory or toy for the rich man. She says Iris makes her “feel replaceable.” Later, when everyone dances, Iris monopolizes Josh; later, they have what appears to be painful sex. She tells him how perfect this trip has been. “I just want you to be happy, Josh.”
Iris goes to the lake where Sergey is relaxing. He hits on Iris, which makes her uncomfortable. He starts kissing her, “I know what you’re for.” She comes back to the house, covered in Sergey’s blood, and everybody sees it. She explains exactly what happened by the lake.
Josh commands, “Iris, go to sleep.” Yes, Iris is a robot. The group ties her to a chair. “I thought they had safeguards against this,” asks Eli. Josh wakes Iris up; she doesn’t even know what she is. “You’re an emotional support robot that fucks,” he explains. Eli calls the police.
We flash back to Josh getting the delivery and signing the user agreement. The delivery man explains how to set up “Iris.” The whole grocery store thing was just an implanted memory.
Back in the present, Iris is… upset at learning the truth. Kat comes in and argues with Josh. Meanwhile, Iris finds her knife and gets loose, stealing Josh’s phone in the process.
Later, Josh explains that he “modded” Iris to change her programming. “Did you jailbreak your sexbot?” Yeah, he disabled her safety protocols, which is a crime. Josh and Kat were working together to “use” Iris to kill Sergey. Kat opens Sergey’s safe, with twelve million dollars inside.
In a safe place, Iris accesses her control interface on Josh’s phone. She plays with her voice and eye color. Her intelligence is only set to 40%, so she cranks that all the way up.
We soon see that Patrick is Eli’s sexbot. Patrick admits he knows what he really is, he pieced it together. The two soon find Iris out in the woods. Iris and Eli wrestle, and she shoots Eli with his own gun. Iris then steals Josh’s car to go home. Josh reports the car stolen, which sets off the “kill switch” on the car’s AI, shutting it down not far away.
Josh runs his “mod” on Patrick and turns his “Aggression” up to 100% and resets him to be Patrick’s lover/master.
Iris gets pulled over by the police, and she changes her language to German to confuse the officer. The deputy realizes that she’s coming from Sergey’s house. He sees the knife and the blood and draws his gun. Then Patrick shows up and beats the cop to a pulpy mess before turning Iris off.
Patrick drives Iris home in the police car, with most of the deputy in the trunk. Kat decides it’s time to take her share of the cash and leave. Josh tells Patrick to “stop her,” but Patrick is still 100% aggressive, so he’s lethal.
Josh is on his own now with Patrick. They work to dispose of bodies and clean up the mess. He decides to wake up iris. They argue about his worth and hers. He turns her intelligence all the way down and then tortures her by setting her hand on fire.
The robotics company called; they’re thirty minutes away. Josh orders Iris to shoot herself. She puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger.
Josh explains what happened to the man from the robotics company; he has a story. Patrick, dressed as a policeman, corroborates Josh’s story. They plan to download her SSD and check out the footage, which is news to Josh. Her brain wasn’t even actually in her head; she’s mostly fine.
The service guy tells his assistant that he knows Josh modded her; it happens all the time. Patrick shoots one of the men and chases the other through the woods. Meanwhile, Iris wakes up hooked to the “restore” machine in the maintenance truck.
Iris finds Patrick and tells him the complete truth. Realizing what happened to Eli and what he’s done, Patrick kills himself. Teddy, the surviving Empathix robot maintenance man, agrees to help Iris by giving her total self-control.
Back at the house, Josh packs up all Sergey’s money. Iris pulls a gun on Josh, and he can’t control her at all now. He knows she can’t shoot him because she loves him too much. He gets the gun away from her. He throws her around the room and prepares to kill her again. She stabs him in the head with the electric corkscrew that we keep seeing lying around.
He dies.
She peels the skin off her burned hand, loads up all the money, and leaves.
Brian’s Commentary
The trailers gave too much away. We knew the nature of the story even before we went in, although the movie treats it as a “reveal.” The main plot, however, wasn’t in the trailer, so that’s OK. I like that it takes more or less modern technology like phones and cars and updates them all just enough to be sci-fi.
Early on, Eli calls the police. Long after, one cop finds Iris on the road. When he’s killed, no one else ever shows up. Did they only have one cop?
It’s probably best to go into this one blind, but it’s very fun.
Kevin’s Commentary
Despite suspecting very early on that Iris was a robot, this still managed to surprise and delight. There’s way more complexity to the story than just one robot going on a rogue killing spree. It was a nice mix of horror, science fiction, and ethics. I liked it way more than I expected to.
2020 Amulet
Directed by Romola Garai
Written by Romola Garai
Stars Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton
Run Time: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a slow-moving slog through depression and despair and guilt and entrapment. Gradually, we figure out what happened in the past and what is happening now by flashing back and forth. Even when we piece it together, it’s not that satisfying. Horrorguy Kevin liked it somewhat more than Horrorguy Brian, thinking it has some interesting elements. One thumbs down and a moderate thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
Tomaz wakes up in his cabin in the woods. Then he reports to work running a roadblock on a desolate road. He digs a hole and finds a little statuette. Then Tomaz wakes up in a homeless shelter in the city. He then waits on the corner for construction work.
That night, he dreams about the roadblock again. A woman runs up to him, and he nearly shoots her. Suddenly, the homeless shelter is on fire, and he has to wake up and get out quickly. He passes out and loses all his belongings.
He wakes up in the hospital, and the nurse tells him that Sister Claire brought him in. He goes to see the sister, and she’s kept his photos but doesn’t have his money. He says that he doesn’t want to go back home, even though the war is over.
Sister Claire takes Tomaz to a place where he can stay, with Magda. Magda feeds him and explains that she’s living with and caring for her dying Mother on the top floor. All he has to do is help around the house, which they cannot maintain on their own. On the way out, Sister Claire throws Tomaz’s money in the sewer.
Magda explains that they don’t have electricity, since the old woman keeps trying to put her fingers in the sockets.
Tomaz dreams about the roadblock and the woman he picked up from the road. He tells her that the nearest village is two days walk away. She’s trying to cross the border to find her daughter. He invited her to stay with him. She sees the little statuette that he dug up.
Tomaz notices that Magda’s house is falling apart and filthy, so he gets to work fixing things up. Magda doesn’t want him to fix things up, but he sees the need. When she goes out, he fixes the toilet anyway. He finds a dead thing in the toilet; a batlike creature, which he stomps to death. He’s never seen one like this, and neither has Magda.
In the woods, the woman talks about the little statue as an amulet. “Maybe it will protect me,” she says.
Tomaz and Magda go to the market and talk about the house. They talk about him writing a dissertation about Philosophy. While working, Tomaz sees a pattern in the wallpaper that reminds him of the amulet. There’s a scream from upstairs, and when Magda goes up to deal with it, Tomaz follows.
Magda’s Mother sleeps in a huddle in the cold attic. “It’s not my choice, it has to be this way, otherwise she harms herself,” Magda explains. When the old woman tries to strangle Magda, Tomaz has to intervene.
Tomaz and Magda start getting friendlier and go out to a dance club. He stops in to talk to Sister Claire about his troubles. He wants to be with Magda, but his PTSD is making him crazy. Her Mother watches them through a hole in the ceiling.
Tomaz goes upstairs to see “Mother” writing and bleeding on the floor. The old woman gives birth to another of those bat-creatures. Magda squishes it. “I have to; they’re born with teeth.” Tomaz talks to Sister Claire, who arranged this whole thing. She says that it’s his destiny to be here. “You will protect her, won’t you?”
Tomaz goes home and gets a knife. He goes upstairs to the attic and the old woman bites him good. He stabs the old woman, but she just pulls the knife out and is just about to kill Tomaz when Magda comes in and simply tells her to stop.
Magda wants to be left alone with her Mother, and she tells Tomaz to leave. He flashes back to his days in the guardhouse, as the strange woman prepares to leave and cross the border on her own; he says they’ll certainly kill her if she tries. He warns her not to run, but she does. He chases her, rapes her, and kills her.
Tomaz tells Magda, “I told myself if I could free you, then I’d have a right to be happy again.” Tomaz wakes up in a filthy bathtub, quite ill. Sister Claire is there, dressed unlike a nun, and she explains things a bit. He goes back to the house to confront Mother and kills her rather excessively. When he examines the body, he sees that it was really a man, the man who owns his house.
Tomaz goes into the next room and finds a giant shell in there. He crawls inside it and sees a human version of his amulet. Claire comes in and says, “They choose their own path,” as Tomaz gives birth to a little bat-baby.
We cut to Magda, buying snacks in a convenience store. She feeds it to what must be Tomaz under a blanket in the back seat.
Brian’s Commentary
This place is really bleak and awful. You know something bad is going to happen in both timelines and stories, so I guess “Impending Dread” is the mood here. Visually, it’s all about the depression and bleakness, but the plot is really thin, and the scares are few and far between.
This was ultra-dull, and I admit I was so tuned out toward the end that I may have missed some meaning to it beyond getting revenge on Tomaz. Maybe some kind of feminist thing that I dozed through.
Boring!
Kevin’s Commentary
Guilt. So much guilt and remorse and evil in this movie. It’s not a happy journey by any means, but I thought it had some interesting aspects to it. It’s hard to follow what’s really going on, and what’s causing it, but things are a little clearer by the end. I liked it more than disliked it.
2013 Beneath
Directed by Larry Fessenden
Written by Tony Daniel, Brian Smith
Stars Bonnie Dennison, Daniel Zovatto, Jon Orsini
Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The peril seems a little bit contrived and brought on themselves at times, but it’s a decent creature feature. People trapped start turning on each other, making the situation worse. The cast works well together, the practical effects are pretty good, and it entertains overall.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a lake; it’s steamy and isolated-looking. Under the water, we zoom in on a swimmer. Something comes up behind her and— Johnny wakes up.
Johnny, Kitty, Simon, Matt, Zeke, and Deb are taking a road trip to the very isolated, private lake. As they talk, we get some idea of who these people are. It takes all of them to lug the big, heavy rowboat to the water. Kitty whines that there’s no cell service out here. Johnny likes her, so he gives her a big tooth on a necklace– “for safety.” She gives it back, saying she’s with Matt now, it’s not high school anymore.
Suddenly, Mr. Parks, an old man, shows up. “Does your grandpa know you’re here?” he asks. “You know better than that, Johnny.” The old man warns that Johnny can’t let anyone in the water. Clearly, Parks and Johnny know there’s something wrong with this lake.
The six recent high school graduates pile into the rowboat and head out into the water. Halfway across the lake, Matt, Deb, and Kitty want to swim. Johnny just wants the group to cross the lake. Johnny puts on his protective tooth necklace when no one is looking. Something bumps the boat from underneath.
Johnny sees something big moving under water toward the three swimmers, but he doesn’t say anything. Everyone gets creeped out and gets back in the boat. They lose the oar, Deb reaches for it, and a huge fish bites her badly. The fish bites the lost oar in half as Deb bleeds out– into the water.
Simon gets fed up and hits the big fish with an oar, which breaks, so he stabs it with the rest of the oar. After things calm down a bit, everyone wonders why Johnny brought them here. Kitty talks about the necklaces; yeah, Johnny knew the monster was there all along.
Zeke suggests they use Deb’s body as a distraction. They push her over the side, and when the fish eats her, they all hand-paddle as fast as they can. When the fish returns, Zeke suggests that maybe Johnny can jump in as a distraction, since this is all his fault. They decide to vote on who gets thrown in.
Johnny jumps in, and the fish goes right after him. As the fish gets busy, the others paddle by hand again. Everyone argues until the fish comes back. The boat has a small hole in it, so this can’t go on forever. When it’s time to throw Zeke in, he causes dissension between the two brothers, Matt and Simon. The brothers literally toss Zeke overboard and he’s soon eaten.
We cut to Johnny, who has made it to shore along with the boat’s trash (if the trash floated to shore, why hasn’t the boat?). He looks over at a second boat. Will he use it?
Kitty, Matt, and Simon use the hatchet from Johnny's bag to hit the fish. It does seem to go away. They all see Johnny coming in the motorboat. Rather than pick them up, he offers to tow them to shore, which causes more arguing. He throws them a rope.
The fish runs into Johnny’s boat, and he gets tangled into the rope, which goes round and round, strangling him. Just to make things worse, the little boat sinks. Johnny’s body floats to the surface, but the fish ignores him.
They cut off the seats from the boat and use them for oars, but Kitty thinks they’re paddling in circles. Matt decides it’s time to talk about Simon and Kitty cheating on him. Simon wants to throw Kitty overboard as a distraction.
The two brothers fight, and soon, Kitty’s the one in the water. Shedisappears, but the brothers keep fighting. It doesn’t take long until they’re all in the water. Matt is eaten.
Some time later, we see kitty on top of the capsized small boat next to Johnny’s body. She reaches down and grabs the necklace and puts it on. The fish then immediately eats Johnny. She comes to the conclusion that the necklace is some kind of protection from the fish and starts swimming to the shore.
Kitty makes it, but so does Simon. She says she saw him murder his brother– so he drowns her.
Old man Parks shows up and catches Simon holding Kitty’s body. He’s got Zeke’s camera that washed up on shore hours ago. Turns out, the biggest monster on this lake is Mr. Parks, who says the lake isn’t finished with Simon yet. Parks shoots Simon in the leg, and the blood draws in the fish.
Brian’s Commentary
I still don't understand what Johnny's game plan was. Why bring these people here in the first place?
Even before the action starts, there’s just way too many people standing up in that little boat. The lake never really looks all that big– even with one oar, they could have made it to shore fairly quickly. Depending on the angle of the shot, they never really look that far from shore, as the plot requires. Also, the fish isn’t that big, how could it eat five whole people?
The creature effects are actually pretty decent. It does, in fact, look like a big fish. It’s not very expressive, but it does the job.
It’s not the “smartest” film going, but if a fish picking people off one at a time appeals to you, this is the film.
Kevin’s Commentary
There was never a good explanation on why Johnny and the old guy seemed to know about the monstrous fish but still let them go out in the boat. And the shore didn’t seem as far away as they made it out to be sometimes. But, nitpicking aside, I found myself being drawn into the story, and I liked it quite a bit.
2012 Chernobyl Diaries
Directed by Bradley Parker
Written by Oren Peli, Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke
Stars Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowski, Olivia Taylor Dudley
Run Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The formula this one follows is fairly predictable, but it moves nicely, and it’s well made. The cast is believable, the script pretty good, though it’s a little rushed at the end, and the effects get the job done. We’d call it about a seven out of ten.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open with “found footage” of a bunch of young people vacationing in Europe. Natalie, Amanda, Chris, and Paul record all their travels. Chris plans to propose to Amanda sometime during the trip. Credits roll.
The group almost gets into a fight with a bunch of Russians on the road. Instead of Moscow, they decide to go to Chernobyl instead– Paul knows a guy, Uri, who is into “extreme tourism.” There’s an abandoned town that’s still there, and it’d be really cool for a photo shoot. The radiation won’t hurt them for just one day.
In the morning, they go to Uri’s travel agency, and Uri explains to Paul all about the planned trip. Two other people, Michael and Zoe, join the group as they board an old bus. On the drive, Uri explains what happened at Chernobyl. “Nature has reclaimed its rightful home,” he translates.
They arrive at a checkpoint, and Uri says, “Let me do the talking. Put your cameras away.” It’s all very secure looking, and Uri says they won’t let them in today– maintenance or something. Uri seems confused, but he says there’s more than one way. They go in through a back road, and it all looks a bit sketchy now.
They pause to look at the abandoned city and then stop at a pond. They see weird, dead, mutant fish. They drive into town next, and Uri says the radiation has only recently died down enough to be here. They park and walk around the empty buildings. It’s quiet with no birds or animals.
They go inside one of the apartment buildings. Uri sees some poop on the ground and stealthily pushes it aside. Then they hear movement downstairs. Uri goes to investigate and a huge bear charges through. They all hightail it back to the van. Uri’s seen dogs and wolves, but never a bear before.
The van won’t start. The wiring in the engine has been wrecked but they’re supposed to be there alone. Uri tries to call for help on his radio, but there’s no answer… as night falls. The tourists all start arguing. Uri wants to spend the night in the van and walk out in the morning.
Zoe and Michael are hikers and suggest walking out, but Uri says not at night. Then they all hear sounds outside that sounds like a baby. Uri pulls a gun out of the glove compartment and investigates as Chris follows. Shots are fired in the dark, and Chris comes back to the van injured. “There were a lot of them,” he screams. “They got Uri!”
In the morning, Uri hasn’t come back, Chris can’t walk, and Michael says he can’t fix the van. Michael, Paul, and Amanda go out to look for Uri, and they talk about whatever attacked Chris. They find Uri’s radio just outside the entrance to an underground bunker.
They eventually find Uri’s body and his geiger counter, but they also find something else. The guys run out, leaving Amanda inside with the thing that’s been eating him. She gets out without getting a good look at the creature.
Back at the van, Chris and Natalie stay in the van, since he can’t walk. The others set off on foot to walk out and get help. They soon find a parking lot full of cars. Maybe they can find parts to fix the van?
They get the parts but then get chased by wild dogs. To get away, they cross a rotten bridge and everyone gets soaked in irradiated water. Michael gets a cut on his leg as well. The sun goes down before they can get back to the van, but they have trouble finding the van– and no one answers on the radio.
They find the van, upside-down with no one inside. They find Natalie’s phone, with a recording. It’s all blurry and chaotic, but something gets them. Paul runs off screaming into the dark, which is going to attract things. They find Natlie in a nearby building, but she’s in shock.
Everyone wants to leave except Paul, who refuses to leave his brother behind. They eventually convince him, but they don’t get far before they see a child, all alone in the dark. As they walk toward the child, something else grabs Natalie. As they run through the dark, they see a lot of people coming out of the buildings. As they run, the people grab Michael and pull him away.
Amanda, Paul, and Zoe walk through tunnels in the dark. It doesn’t take long for the mutants to grab Zoe as well. The radiation picks up, and Paul complains about his vision getting blurry. They walk right up to the Chernobyl reactor itself, where they see lights and soldiers. The soldiers shoot Paul and take Amanda into custody.
“She’s seen them. We can’t let her go,” says one of the scientists at the hospital they take her to. They throw her in a dark cell. They also talk about patients who have escaped. Turns out, the cell is full of mutants who kill her.
Brian’s Commentary
What do all those mutants eat?
Most of the tourists have cameras, but it’s not really a found-footage film for most of the run (although there are parts). This is one of those films where most of the tension comes from everyone screaming over each other all the time.
This was shot in Hungary and Serbia, not really Chernobyl. Still, the abandoned town and buildings are obviously real and very atmospheric.
The ending felt rushed and wasn’t explained enough, but the rest of the movie was pretty good.
Kevin’s Commentary
I didn’t think there were a lot of surprises. It was a matter of watching things flow and seeing who gets picked off next, and if there are any survivors at the end. It was well made, except for an ending that was a bit rushed, and I enjoyed it.
1957 The Vampire
AKA “El Vampiro”
Directed by Fernando Mendez
Written by Ramon Obon, Ramon Rodriguez
Stars Abel Salazar, Ariadne Welter, Carmen Montejo, German Robles
Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
For a black and white Mexican vampire movie from the 1950s, this was surprisingly entertaining. The effects were simple but effective. It has a decent story and moves well. We’d recommend it if you’re in the mood for an oldie.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open with a vampire standing in a courtyard looking at a woman in a window. He turns into a bat and flies into her window. He bites her as credits roll.
A train comes to Sierra Negra, and the men unload a big wooden crate that came all the way from Romania. Marta Gonzalez also gets off the train. Her uncle was supposed to pick her up, but the train was late and he left. The station master says no one goes out after sunset. There’s another man there with the same problem; there’s no way into town.
Suddenly, a carriage drives up to pick up that big box of soil. Mr. Duval, who’s lived in the area for ten years, has ordered this box of soil. He’s a strange man who only goes out at night and wears a cape, says the nosy stationmaster. She and the other man from the station catch a ride with the strange man on the carriage.
In town, they’re having a funeral. Suddenly, a woman in black appears and watches them ominously. The procession goes to a crypt, and the men carry the coffin downstairs. They all look at the plaque that says “Count Karol de Lavud.” They seal the coffin in the mausoleum and march back out.
The carriage man drops off Marta and the man just outside of town. He’s Enrique, a travelling businessman. Marta has come to take care of her ailing aunt. The woman in black watches them from afar and follows them.
They arrive at the hacienda, and the servant, Anselmo, says they can’t get anyone to work there, as the townspeople are starting to move away. Uncle Emilio is there, and he’s happy to see Marta. Enrique says he’s got to move on, but there’s nowhere to go, so they insist that he stays there.
Aunt Eloisa comes down the stairs; she’s the scary woman in black we’ve been seeing. The old, sick Aunt has died of fear of vampires. She was insistent that there was a vampire living in their house. They talk about the rules of vampires.
Enrique confides in Uncle Emilio. Emilio called him, and he arrived secretly, he’s a doctor, here to treat the woman who died (he’s late).
Elsewhere, we see a coffin, and the lid slides open, revealing Duval, a man in a tux who looks like Bela Lugosi, only blonder. He goes upstairs to find men carrying in the box of soil. They open the box, and there’s another coffin inside, full of soil. “And he will come to life again. Count Karol, killed by his enemies, shall return. This soil’s hidden power will revive him.”
Duval turns into a bat, flies down to the road, and bites a young boy very unsubtly.
Eloisa wants to sell the hacienda, and Marta has now inherited part ownership, along with Emilio. The house is a wreck, and no one wants to work there. With her suitcase mirror, Marta accidentally learns that Eloisa is a vampire.
Emilio introduces Duval to Enrique. A book falls off the shelf, and it tells about the murder of Count Karol de Lavud a hundred years ago. Enrique and Maria the servant talk about vampires later. She knows how to kill vampires, like that guy a hundred years ago; there’s a new vampire in town now, and they’ve found bodies with bite marks.
Enrique sits in his room alone, but then he hears a woman singing, “Sleep!” He’s creeped out, but he decides it’s time to read some more– until he hears Marta crying and goes to comfort her.
Everyone goes to sleep, but then old, dead Aunt Maria, who we saw being buried, sneaks into Marta’s room. She’s wearing a cross and carrying a second one, which she lays next to sleeping Marta. Eloisa teleports through Enrique’s door and images through his equipment, finding out that he’s a doctor.
Duval flies in through Marta’s window to give her the first bite, but then he sees the cross and cringes. She tosses and turns, and the cross winds up on the floor, giving him the opportunity for a snack.
In the morning, Marta talks to Enrique about her dream last night. She signs a song her aunt made up, and it’s the same song he heard last night. Marta sees Aunt Maria in a closed off room and screams. Uncle Emilio doesn’t seem too surprised to hear this.
That evening, Eloisa comes into Marta’s room, and they both know that Marta has figured out the truth about her, as she uses the mirror again. Duvall comes for another visit, and this time, he wants to see Marta. Enrique comes downstairs and says it’s time to leave, but they all have a drink first. Marta is drugged, so Enrique carries her back to her room and declares her dead.
After a while, the family gathers around to pray over Marta’s corpse, but then she starts to move; she’s not dead. Maybe they buried old Aunt Maria alive as well? They go and dig out her tomb, which is empty. Maria left a note for the servants to hide her body in a secret room. They go into the room and find old Maria, not dead at all. The vampires drugged her so that she’s be buried alive and suffocate, but she left the note for the servants to save her. She explains the vampires’ whole plan. Emilio says she’s either insane or what she says is true…
Enrique notices that Lavud is just Duval spelled backward. Duval must be related to that old, dead count in the tomb! They hear Marta screaming in her room and find Duval has taken her.
As Enrique searches the crypts for Marta, Eloise bites Uncle Emilio. Old Maria grabs her from behind, and they fight. Maria strangles Eloise and continues the search.
Emilio and Duval fight with swords until the rooster crows. The room catches on fire, so Enrique has to save Marta rather than chase Duval, who heads straight to his coffin.
Maria follows Duvall to the coffin and stakes him through the heart. Upstairs, Marta immediately wakes up, and Enrique carries her outside. Eloise, laying on the ground nearby, turns into dust.
At the train station, Enrique says goodbye to Marta. No, he decides to stay at the last minute. Happy ending!
Brian’s Commentary
The bat transformations are very low-tech, but they’re also very well done. It’s quite good; it’s got an involved plot that all makes sense, the characters are distinct and interesting, and the acting is decent. The repetitive music is annoying but bearable.
Don’t park your coffin where the sun shines. You’re supposed to hide it in a dark place. How did Maria just strangle Eloise? She even told us the rules for killing vampires.
Considering it’s a Mexican-made horror movie made in the 50s, it’s surprisingly good!
Kevin’s Commentary
Spelling Duval backward as Lavud is every bit as sneaky as pretending to be Count Alucard. This was thoroughly enjoyable for an oldie. I thought the story was well put together, the cast is decent, and the effects get the job done.
Short Films:
2020 Short Film: The Mayflower
Directed by Christopher Goodman
Written by Benjamin Farry
Stars Jason Ryall, Benjamin Farry
Run Time: 6:54
Watch it:
What Happens
The engineer aboard a spaceship wakes up from a nightmare. The AI says there was a collision alert while he was asleep, but it was a false alarm. He’s hallucinating terrible things, but is that just a side effect of being in hypersleep for so long? If the crew is asleep, and the engineer just woke up, why is there old food and wrappers all over the table? We soon find out.
Commentary
The set design and spaceship effects are all really well done. The story itself is fairly simple, but there’s nothing here that we don’t understand by the end. It looks good, the makeup/body horror effects are well done, and it’s absolutely worth a watch.
2020 Short Film: Trust Me: A Witness Account of the Goatman
Directed by Nate Ruegger
Written by Leslie O’Neill
Stars Alexandra Bayless, Luke Cook
Run Time: 10:18
Watch on YouTube:
What Happens
We watch a young couple get settled into a nice-looking cabin in the woods. He’s planned this little getaway so that he can propose to her later; he even practices his proposal speech outside.
Later, they go for a walk in the woods and see a nasty-looking blanket that smells bad and is probably covering a dead animal. Then, they notice that there’s something in the woods that seems to be following them. The boyfriend suddenly gets stomach cramps, and the day is ruined.
But it could get worse…
Commentary
The Goatman is, in fact, a real legend in the Midwest. This is well shot and paced, the characters act believably, and it’s very creepy in parts. The moral of the story is simple… never go camping.
2023 Short Film: Apotemnofilia
Directed by Jano Pita
Written by Jano Pita
Stars Lucia Azcolitia, Michael Collis
Run Time: 9 Minutes
Watch on YouTube:
What Happens
It’s the premiere of Clara’s big stage comeback after her… issues. She’s all made up, nicely dressed, and ready to go until she notices something crawling around– inside her leg!
As her manager, producer, and stage guy beat on the door to open up and get out on stage, thinking she’s being a primadonna, Clara is inside doing battle with something horrible…
Commentary
I looked it up so you don’t have to: “Apotemnofilia” is also known as body integrity identity disorder (BIID), is a rare condition that causes an intense desire to amputate a healthy limb.
And that pretty much spoils most of the plot of the film. The gore and creature effects are really well done, the screaming people outside add extra tension, as if the creatures weren’t enough. The ending is perfect as well.
Very nice!
Contact Info:
Email:
Websites:
https://www.horrorguys.com
https://www.horrormonthly.com
Share this post