A group of children embark on a macabre adventure into the jungle of Brazil, one filled with characters from the horror traditions of Brazil: the werewolf, a witch, a ghost, monsters and The Saci. This anthology unites four of the most important names in Brazilian horror: Rodrigo Aragao, Petter Baiestorf, Joel Caetano and Jose Mojica Marins, the eternal Coffin Joe.

In the first story, directed by the brains behind this entire movie Aragão (Dark Sea, Cemetery of Lost Souls), the corrupt mayor of a city dies on the toilet and his blood and bile go directly into the water system he refused to fix, transforming everyone who interacts with the water into zombies filled with the same filth that he was. Talk about starting things off hot, as this is filled with so many gross-out effects.

Petter Baiestorf (Zombio 2: Chimarrão Zombies) directed the second story in which a military presence rules a town through violence, fear and outright racism. Yet when a werewolf starts to be sighted, even their might isn’t enough to stop it. This segment has some of the most gut-churning werewolf scenes I’ve ever seen, moments that look like barbecue-sauced infused blasts of muck, internal organs, peeling skin and always blood.

Marins directed and starred in the third story, a tale of exorcism gone wrong and the monster known as the Saci, which is a one-legged black man, always smoking a pipe and in a magical red hat that leaves behind a smell that never goes away. He appears and disappears in the form of a dust devil and has the power to grant wishes. Any small misfortune — even if a popcorn kernel fails to pop — is said to be caused by the Saci.

The final story is directed by Caetano (Encosto) has the ghost of a woman haunting a school, causing death after death that is hidden by being buried. The woman in charge of the school and this ghost are linked and that story is soon revealed.

I really had fun with this film. The credits are great with everyone seemingly overjoyed to work with Marins and when he is asked what it’s like to make a horror movie in Brazil, he answers, “Terrible.”

You can watch this on Tubi.

Carrie Gemmell — who also appeared in director and writer Chris Alexander’s Queen of Blood and Blood for Irina — is She. During the day, she’s merely an office drone. Yet at night, She dreams of another woman (Cheryl Singleton) that she works with, as well as blood, sex and death. And when she wakes up, it isn’t where she went to sleep. And her fangs are growing.

I thought maybe it was all in her head, but then after luring the woman back home, She opens her mouth and reenacts The Company of Wolves with a head emerging from her lips. Or is this her finally coming out? Ah, maybe I just need to remember the words of Georges Bataille. “Eroticism is assenting to life even in death.”

If you haven’t seen one of Alexander’s films, they remain deceptively simple. There’s a moment here where She is looking in the mirror when she wakes up and the white wall creates an effective split screen, juxtaposing her inspecting herself with absolute nothingness. It’s all in camera, not something created in the edit, and so much of this is just art emerging for long takes or color taking control of the screen.

There’s also another woman — Shauna Henry — who was Irina in Blood for Irina, Blood Dynasty and Queen of Blood. Is she playing the same role, lending her vampiric power to this tale of another creature that walks the night — “To walk the night / To feel no love / To know the touch of another kiss / Never more.” — and wakes to wonder if these transformations and desires could be true?

Instead of Samhain, maybe I should have considered The Electric Prunes as a theme for this film. “Last night your shadow fell upon my lonely room / I touched your golden hair and tasted your perfume / Your eyes were filled with love the way they used to be / Your gentle hand reached out to comfort me / Then came the dawn / And you were gone / You were gone, gone, gone.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was originally on the site on December 22, 2017.

We love portmanteau movies. Tales from the Crypt, Asylum, Tales that Witness Madness, really anything that Amicus ever did? Yep. However, modern versions tend to be seriously lacking, substituting gore and shock for storytelling and proper use of the form.

LIke A Christmas Horror Story. It skirts the very thing that makes the anthology film tick — it has a framing device, but instead of using it to start the story, every single installment seems like it’s happening at the same time. The better way to do this is for each story to have its moment in the sun, as narratively this film feels like cut jump city.

The main thread of the film is Dangerous Dan (William Shatner, The Devil’s Rain!), who is doing his annual holiday marathon radio show. Meanwhile, all holiday hell is breaking loose:

STORY ONE: Three high school kids break into their school — which was once a convent — to investigate the murders that happened in the basement last year. One of their friends was supposed to go, but she had to go out of town with her parents. We’ll get back to her later. Anyhow, everyone ends up locked in the basement, one of them gets possessed and tries to have sex with everyone. Turns out that the ghost is a pregnant teenager who had a virgin conception that nuns killed when they tried to take it out of her body. The ghost just wants her child to be born, so it gets the girl knocked up, kills the boy and lets her go.

STORY TWO: A police officer illegally chops down a Christmas tree for his family, but his son disappears for a while. When they find him, he’s never the same again. The owner of the woods calls the wife and tells her that he is a changeling and that they need to return him. Of course, the kid kills the dad and decorates him like a tree before the mom brings it back, kills the master of the woods and gets her child back.

STORY THREE: Remember that girl who didn’t get to go along with her friends? Well, she’s heading to visit aunt Etta, who scares everyone with her tales of Krampus. On the way home from the disastrous family holiday, they crash their car and are chased by Krampus. Turns out that this is the worst family ever, filled with sins. Luckily, the oldest daughter is able to kill Krampus before transforming into the beast and killing her aunt.

STORY FOUR: Santa Claus has issues — everyone in his life has become a zombie. He fights a horde of his loved ones to the death before battling Krampus, but it turns out that he is really Dangerous Dan’s weatherman and he’s had a nervous breakdown. He’s really been killing people in the mall and the police arrive and gun him down.

This film all takes place in the town of Bailey Downs, where both Ginger Snaps and Orphan Black originate. That’s because they share the same directorial team — Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, and Brett Sullivan.

I will say that the special effects are really nice for the budget. But sadly, the film feels rote. There are few moments of surprise or wonder that things happen the way that they do. Some of it feels made for the Hot Topic hipsters of the world, those that scoff at Christmas while celebrating Krampus because it makes them feel cool and edgy to do so. And yet there are a few cool moments and it’s not like I wasn’t entertained. But I wanted more. I wanted a narrative thread I could follow, I wanted a reason for these things to be happening versus them just happening.

Maybe I expect too much. Maybe Amicus spoiled me. But I felt like I had just eaten several handfuls of Christmas cookies and was left with a stomach ache.

If you want to watch it, it’s on Netflix and Shudder.

Directed and written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses, Game Night), Vacation has Ed Helms as the grown-up Rusty Griswold and married to Debbie (Christina Applegate), with whom he has two kids — James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins).

To recapture the fun of his childhood vacations, he rents a Tartan Prancer and puts his family in the car for a trip to Wally World. Unlike his father’s trip, it’s his son James who keeps running into his dream girl, Adena (Catherine Missa). Well, there is a scene where Rusty does flirt with another mystery woman (Hannah Davis Jeter) but she quickly wrecks into a truck.

They also meet up with Rusty’s sister Audrey (Leslie Mann), who is now married to anchorman Stone Crandall (Chris Hemsworth) and his parents, which is a nice use of Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo.  Actually, the guest roles are way better than the cast, as Charlie Day is great as a suicidal river guide, Norman Reedus is a trucker chasing the Griswolds and when Rusty and Debbie try to make love where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet, they are almost busted by Tim Heidecker, Nick Kroll, Kaitlin Olson and Michael Peña.

It’s a movie with a few funny scenes but come on. This is a Vacation movie. It needs to be more and there was no way it could be as good as the past, just like your childhood vacation.

Writer Jesse Andrews was born in Pittsburgh and his family home in Point Breeze was used as lead character Greg’s (Thomas Mann) house in the film, while Rachel’s (Olivia Cooke) house is in Squirrel Hill and Earl’s (RJ Cyler) house is in Braddock. This film actually gives a pretty good tour of the city, as the old Schenley High School, The Warhol, Copacetic Comics and Oakland all show up.

I first watched this because it was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who did such a phenomenal job on the reimagined The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

Greg’s parents — Nick Offerman and Connie Britton — force him to spend time with Rachel, who is suffering from leukemia and not attending school. As she grows sicker and loses her hair, Greg assures us that she does not die in the end. To keep her spirits up, he shares the film parodies that he creates with his co-worker — he is afraid to say friend about anyone — Earl.

Greg begins to neglect school — and even a popular girl named Madison (Katherine C. Hughes) as he struggles to stay positive as Rachel gets worse. He even loses his friendship with his collaborator as they finish making a movie to try and help her spirits.

I can’t think about this movie without tearing up  Gomez-Rejon made it in the attempt to create a more personal movie and deal with the loss of his father. It really says something about growing up and the people we gain and lose as we stumble through life. I recommend it highly.