25 years ago, Samaritan and Nemesis — twin superhuman brothers whose parents died in a fire — fought to the death in Granite City.

Today, graffiti of both of their logos can be seen all over, but if anything, the city has gotten worse. A gang leader named Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk) has found the weapon and mask of Nemesis and is using his image to gather the downtrodden in a play for power which, ultimately, will benefit him.

Meanwhile, Sam Cleary (Javon Walton) is growing up in the middle of all this, working for Cyrus’ gang in an attempt to keep his mother from being evicted, all while obsessing over the fact that Samaritan is still alive and just waiting to come back to save everyone.

He’s seen Samaritan in numerous older male role models, but when he sees garbageman neighbor Joe Smith (Sylvester Stallone), he knows he’s found his hero. That becomes even more true when Joe saves him from the gang attacking him. He punches one member so hard that he flies through the air and when they retaliate by hitting him with a car, he survives.

Written by Bragi F. Schut — it was originally a spec script, sold as a movie script and adapted as a graphic novel while waiting to be filmed — and directed by Julius Avery (Overlord), this is the kind of movie that superhero fans will adore and those bored by the genre will immensely dislike. I fall more in the first column, so I’ll say that I had a great time with it. I also — as this site has proved time and again — that an intense fascination with the films of Stallone. He imbues the role with the right level of weariness and finally anger, as this film has quite the twist near the end — and I’m not just talking about the fact that his character pours apple juice on his cereal instead of milk.

For everyone who says this is Stallone’s first comic book role, well…he was Judge Dredd, Starhawk in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and King Shark in The Suicide Squad.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Patty Hearst was not produced by Cannon but was theatrically distributed by Cannon France.

Directed by Paul Schrader and written by Nicholas Kazan based on the book Every Secret Thing by Hearst with Alvin Moscow, this film tells how rich college student Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, how she became an active SLA member and her arrest after a series of armed robberies.

The performance of Natasha Richardson and the way that Schrader frames Patty being locked in a closet for weeks with her emergence into being part of her SLA cells’ lives makes this movie more than a cash-in “torn from the headlines” exploitation movie. Plus, there’s Ving Rhames as SLA leader Cinque Mtume, William Forsythe as Teko, Francis Fisher as his wife Yolanda and Dana Delaney as Gelinda.

I’ve always wondered whether Hearst’s Stockholm Syndrome defense was true or if she wanted to escape the shadow of her rich family and live the life she’d only read about in college. Even with this movie and years of books and interviews, I don’t think we’ll ever know.

The film closes with this: “Patricia Hearst was granted a Presidential commutation of her sentence on February 1st, 1979 and now lives on the East Coast. She is married to Bernard Shaw, her former bodyguard. Efforts to overturn her conviction have been futile. Bill Harris (Teko) and Emily Harris (Yolanda) were found guilty of kidnapping, robbery and auto theft and served 8 years in prison. They are now separated. Bill works for a legal firm in Northern California. Emily lives in Los Angeles County. Wendy Yoshimura was convicted on unrelated weapons charges and served a short term in prison. She works at a restaurant in Northern California. None of the later SLA members were convicted of any crimes. Randolph and Katherine Hearst are divorced. He is now remarried. She lives in Southern California. Stephen Weed published a book, My Search for Patty Hearst. To this date, she is not spoken to him. F. Lee Bailey also wrote a book about the case, but to date it has not been published. District attorney Jim Browning is now a judge. The proprietor of Mel’s Sporting Goods sued Patricia Hearst and the Harrises claiming the shooting at his store rendered him incapable of performing his duties as a spouse.”

You can watch this on Tubi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was on the site for the first time on May 27, 2020. Brain Damage was not produced by Cannon but was released to theaters by Scotia/Cannon.

Beyond being a historian of exploitation films, Frank Henenlotter has made some outright insane movies like Frankenhooker and Basket Case. What other kind of mad genius would hire horror host Zacherle to be a worm named Aylmer, who creates drug-like relationships with his hosts while demanding to eat the brains of everyone they love?

That blue phallic worm secretes a highly addictive hallucinogen directly into the brain, forcing Brian to leave behind his life, his girlfriend and any hope of normalcy, all while being pursued by the old couple that had imprisoned the parasite and who know way too much of his history, leading to some of the longest and most hilarious expository dialogue I’ve seen in a film.

During the fellatio scene — yes, a woman puts Aylmer inside her mouth — the crew walked out, refusing to work on the scene.

There’s a great moment where Duane and Belail from Basket Case meet Brian on a train before he ends up killing his girlfriend. I realize that’s a spoiler, but nothing can prepare you for this movie. It’s truly one of a kind.

You can watch this on Tubi or on Shudder with and without commentary by Joe Bob Briggs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Malombra was not produced by Cannon — shh, Roger Corman was the uncredited producer — but was theatrically distributed  by Cannon Distributors (UK) Ltd.

Directed by Bruno Gaburro (Ecco Homo, Scandal In the Family) and written by Piero Regnoli (Demonia, Burial Ground, Cry of a Prostitute), this is pure Italian sleaze with the venneer of art — as you like it — imported to America by Cannon (well, the UK division).

A young man named Marco (Stefano Alessandrini) goes to stay with his uncle after his aunt dies. They’re all alone save his uncle’s sister-in-law. Oh yeah — and the redhead who every night appears and gets herself off and then disappears. That redhead? She looks exactly like Marco’s dead aunt.

Really, the reason to watch this is because Paola Senatore is in it. You may remember her from A.A.A. Masseuse, Good-Looking, Offers Her Services, Ricco or Emanuelle in America.

Gaburro re-edited footage from this movie into another, Penombra, which focuses more on Sanatore’s character and her affair with a man named Alessio (Daniel Stephen).

This is just another example of how the original Cannon made its first successes: grab some foreign softcore and play it in grindhouses and drive-ins; has anyone ever seen an ad for this?

EDITOR’S NOTE: This originally was posted on October 10, 2020. Amsterdamned was not produced by Cannon but was theatrically distributed by Scotia-Cannon.

Dutch director Dick Maas started his career directing the videos for Golden Earring, including “Twilight Zone” and “When the Lady Smiles,” which was controversial as it showed a man about to assault a nun. He moved into feature films, including the comedic Flodder and The Lift. He’s also known for the American version of The Lift, which was called Down, and the absolutely deranged holiday movie Sint.

This film is at the crossroads of giallo and slasher, using the canals of Amsterdam instead of Venice to create a place where the killer can appear at seemingly any time and place to murder at will.

The film starts with a bravura scene of violence, as a prostitute is murdered and then her body, hung above a bridge, literally rains blood on to a boat full of tourists.

What keeps it from being giallo and pushes it toward slasher is the fact that its protagonist is not a stranger in a strange land, but instead Eric Visser, a detective struggling to be a single father while solving cases around Holland’s capital.

And what pushes it even further into slasher territory is the film’s propensity to deliver on the gore, from decapitated heads to bloody kills. The antagonist is so brutal that one of the witnesses refers to him as a monster that came out of the water.

That said, where it does flirt with the giallo are the sheer number of red herrings that this movie throws at you, which makes sense, as Holland’s fishing industry continually lands plenty of them from the nutrient-rich coastal waters of the North Sea.

You can watch this on Shudder and Tubi.

A killer is trying to compose a symphony made up of the screams of his victims. At the very same time, Artemis ( Cassandra Scerbo) is planning a party at her parents’ vacant lake house, which is right next door to the RV that a killing machine named Caleb (Michael X. Sommers) is using. Yes, it’s a new RV slasher — you can add it to the list of movies like Hitcher In the Dark, The Toybox, The Hills Have Eyes, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Race With the Devil, Crowsnest, Death Valley and Motor Home Massacre.

Directed by Ben Meyerson (Deadly Girls Night Out), Requiem for a Scream was produced by Cartel Pictures (Shudder’s Creepshow and Syfy’s upcoming Day of the Dead series) so it looks really great. In fact, there’s a scene in the woods — and a mask — that reminds me of Sergio Martino’s Torso.

Her friends Shira (Georgia Leva), Delan (Zachary Roozen, Romeo and Juliet Killers), Theo (Brandon Santana), Ellen (Erica Shaffer), Alex (India McGee) all come out to visit — and do coke and watch Night of the Living Dead on an iPhone — while Caleb haunts the halls with a hammer.

Writers Jordan Robinson and Andre Puca have put together a slasher that has some decent blood and guys, as well as a nailgun getting used in a particularly nasty way. I’m all for more slashers getting made particularly ones that take it somewhat seriously and the throat slash murder of Shira really surprised me.

It’s not The Prowler (or any one of the slashers of 1981, perhaps the last year where they were all something wonderful) but it’s definitely a lot of fun. That’s high praise for a 2022 stalk and slash.

You can watch this on Tubi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: White of the Eye was not produced by Cannon but was theatrically distributed by Cannon Film Distributors (UK) Ltd.

Donald Cammell reportedly spent his childhood on the knee of Aleister Crowley, he went from a painter to a writer to a director. While a good chunk of his career was confounded by trying to make multiple movies with Marlon Brando, he did leave us with Demon Seed, Performance and this movie before killing himself with a shotgun.

Rich young women keep getting killed in Globe, Arizona and this movie in no way skimps from the horrific carnage that they are treated to. Even though this is from 1987, it’s still shocking. The first kill has an incredible 55 cuts in two minutes and twenty seconds, making it seem even more violent than it is.

Detective Charles Mendoza to visit Paul White, a sound expert to the rich and famous that is able to make an echo that he hears inside the air cavities of his head — yes, Cammell definitely made this — and that’s how he picks where the speakers go in each room.

Paul stole his wife Joan from an old friend Mike on a hunting trip in which he mutilated a deer and covered his face in its blood. Again, Cammell definitely made this movie. Oh yeah — and Mike is haunting the couple, ten years older and walking. the streets constantly eating peanut butter and claims he has the ability to see the past and future, which may come in handy because Paul has definitely been murdering women and hiding them in his bathroom, explaining to his wife when he’s caught that the universe has picked him because its heart is female and destructive like a black hole and demands destruction. And also because…you know who made this movie.

Paul then decides to lock his wife in the basement, dress in Kabuki makeup with a vest covered with explosives and chases his wife, daughter and even Mike into a cave where he keeps making his echo sound to please himself and further explains how the universe wants him to kill women.

Yeah — you know that I totally loved this absolutely berserk movie.

For all Brando screwed with Cammell professionally, he did take the time to write a letter to the MPAA to ensure that this didn’t get an X rating. So there’s that, I guess.

You can watch this on Tubi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This originally was posted on October 6, 2019. The Hills Have Eyes II was not produced by Cannon but was theatrically distributed by Cannon France in association with Adrienne Fancey, VTC and New Realm Entertainment.

Seven years after the original film, Wes Craven would return to the desert, bringing more folks back into the near apocalyptic territory lorded over by the mutants from the first film. In fact, if you liked that movie, you’re in luck, because clips from it play throughout this one’s running time.

Wes Craven has disowned this movie, which started filming A Nightmare On Elm Street. Though it was released after that film, only two-thirds of it was finished when the studio halted production due to budget issues. Once Freddy Krueger became a household name, that convinced Craven to finish the movie using only the footage that he had in the can. That’s why so much of this film comes from the original, a point I will continually bludgeon throughout this article.

Robert Huston, who played Bobby in the original (and brought Lone Wolf and Cub to American screens) returns, as does Janus Blythe (she’s also great in Eaten Alive). She was Rachel in the first film and now everyone calls her Ruby. They now own a motocross team and have invented a super fuel. The team’s latest race takes them through the same stretch as…yes, I know I keep saying the original film, but this movie keeps referencing it.

Bobby’s psychiatrist wants him to go, but he chickens out with Rachel taking his place along with Beast the dog. Yes, from the first film.

The team — blind Cass (who brings a blind girl motocross racing?), her boyfriend Roy (Kevin Spritas from the Subspecies films and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood), Harry (Peter Frechette, The Kindred, The Unholy and T-Bird Louis DiMucci in Grease 2), Hulk(John Laughlin, Footloose and The Rock), Foster (Willard E. Pugh, Harpo from The Color Purple), Jane (Colleen Riley, Deadly Blessing) and Sue (Penny Johnson from TV’s Castle and 24) — head off to the desert but get lost.

Harry takes a shortcut through an old bombing range, which Ruby should have protested way more than she does. This leads them to a mining ranch where Pluto (Michael Berryman) comes back — yes, from the first movie — and attacks her. Everyone thinks she’s crazy until he also steals one of their bikes. Roy and Harry give chase but Harry gets killed by a boulder and a new cannibal named Reaper (John Bloom — who isn’t Joe Bob — the Frankenstein’s Monster from Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein) knocks out Roy.

Reaper is Papa Jupiter’s older brother and he isn’t here to mess around. Seriously, he wipes out everyone — including Ruby or Rachel or whatever she was calling herself these days — in short order, using spearguns, machetes and improvised traps. However, Craven didn’t like John Bloom’s voice, so he’s dubbed by Nicholas Worth, who we all know as Kirk Smith from Don’t Answer the Phone!

Sadly for Pluto, he’s still no match for a dog and gets dropped off a cliff.

The end of the film gets pretty thrilling, as the survivors use the bus itself as a trap for the gigantic mutant leader. There’s an amazing fire stunt at the end, which made me really happy. And hey — Kane Hodder was one of the stunt people for this!

You can buy this from Arrow Video but keep in mind that it’s limited to 3,000 copies! It’s packed with extras, like brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues and Blood, Sand, and Fire: The Making of The Hills Have Eyes Part II, a new documentary that has interviews with Berryman, Blythe, composer Harry Manfredini and more.

Like everything Arrow puts out, it’s a high quality release well worth your money. And despite being told for years how bad this sequel is — it’s certainly not the dark and brutal classic that it’s forebearer was — it’s entertaining.