This rather suspect boxset begins things with cover art that betrays the contents. Is it a set of dangerous and subversive "torture porn"? Some obscure and near-forgotten collection of seminal horror films that will satisfy even the cruelest sadist's thirst for blood? Most certainly not. With "Savage Holocaust", expectations be damned. When it comes to shady multi-disc "value packs" containing movies that either didn't sell on their own, or were overstocked in their previous format, this is a deceptive and lower-tier set. There are 5 discs here, with a total of 6 films. I'll give brief synopses here.
"Psycho Santa" (director: Peter Keir) - A horrendous backwoods Santa stalks his prey in broad daylight, and in full costume...and it doesn't even look like December! A little bit o' titties, some bad acting, almost no story...pass.
"Satan Claus" (director: Massamiliano Cerchi) - Cheapie slasher with painful sub-par over-acting. Santa here is a NY serial killer in costume, with plenty of sappy one-liners. Was this shot during a power outage? Why is the NYPD a dinky one-room with about 5 employees? I dunno, but this one's pretty well garbage.
"Campfire Tales" (directors: William Cooke & Paul Talbot) - This one's a series of
mostly-derivative 80's serial killer/slasher tales, notable for an appearance by Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface). Dumb teens and flat acting, mostly, but plenty of gore. My favorite piece is called "Overtoke", and is a sort of cautionary tale of weird-weed...fun in a seriously gooey way.
"Vampire Junction" (director: Jess Franco) - What the fuck is this? Weird, disjointed, surreal, and outlandish Spanish-Western-vampire romp, with plenty of Franco's trademark sex. Includes a multitude of odd and annoying filters, but also tons of tits, labial shots, and lesbian vampire action. But why do these vamp lezzies make piggie snorting sounds when performing cunnilingus? Almost unwatchable stuff here.
"FAQ" (director: Carlos Attanes) - An oppressive Orwellian future, in Paris, where human contact is verboten. Nono is a subversive citizen who chooses to interact with nature, women, and underground groups who seek to preserve the sounds of nature (of course, outside the law). The powerful Sisterhood attempts to silence him, or do they? Kinda confusing, kinda visionary, barely tolerable.
"Binge & Purge" (director: Brian Clement) - Clever and interesting (though sometimes poorly-acted) tale of fashion models (who look more akin to rollerderby girls) whose methods of dieting are a bit, uhh, unorthodox. Packed with meaty entrail-ripping and H.G. Lewis-styled gore, "Binge & Purge" is full of lovely ladies and slurpy cannibal action. Best of the bunch? Maybe.
(MVD Visual)
Among Olympia, Washington's most innovative and influential acts, Earth are immense. A major inspiration on one Kurt Cobain (who, incidentally, appears here), this is a reissued collection of early work from 1990, making this the earliest recorded Earth material. In contrast to the band's more recent atmospheric work, this is low-and-slow drone/doom metal. Think an instrumental Melvins, and you'd be in the same family. "Ouroboros Is Broken" is 18 minutes of throbbing, ebbing riff and Alesis drum machine -- like Godflesh all strung out, and in slow motion. 'Geometry Of Murder" is doom-grunge of the first order, while "Divine And Bright" has some mumbled vocals from Cobain. But that's just window dressing, as they say. The focus here is on the huge ten-ton riffage and alternating drone and pummel. "A Bureaucratic Desire" is Earth at their most monumental and gigantic. (Southern Lord)
