For all we know of the movies of Lucio Fulci, how much do we really know about the man himself? What drove him to make films of such stunning cruelty? And what is meant in this film when they discuss that each film formed a mosaic made up of the tragedies of his life?

The conceit of this film is that an actor (Nicola Nocella) is getting ready to play the Godfather of Gore in a biographical movie, yet he must research the life of the man as well as his work. We never see the actual film that gets made, but is that even the point? We do get to learn plenty of stories of the director and attempt to get a richer image of who he was and how his life shaped and was shaped by his art.

Driven by new interviews with composer Fabio Frizzi, cinematographer Sergio Salvati, former actor and assistant Michele Soavi (an incredibly important artist in his own right) and Fulci’s daughters Antonella and Camilla Fulci, we discover how many of the stories of Fulci’s legendary hatred of actors and misanthropy are true. But a better image emerges as we learn of a man who hid his deepest emotions within his increasingly obtuse films. And we cannot forget that after a thirty-year career, the main films that he’s known for all emerged in a five year or less burst of body fluids.

Written and directed by Simone Scafidi (Eva Bruan), this is a movie that may not have much new for Fulci hardcores, but would form a nice starting point for neophytes to understand why these movies inspire such devotion. The interviews are the best part of the story, obviously, but if you have 2008’s Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered, you already have around four hours of folks talking about him.

There is one moment of absolute truth in here, as the actor is meditating on the fact that producers wouldn’t even give Fulci a movie to make for the last five years of his life — other than his “rival” Argento, who was going to hire him to make The Wax Mask — and yet today, whatever movies he would have made would still be making money as limited edition reissues, bought by people like, well me. After all, I got this movie in a set with Demonia and Aenigma. I’m the kind of person who would buy a $50 version of Manhattan Baby. I am the exact audience for this.

That said, you can see how Camilla’s condition — she was in a riding incident soon after her mother’s death and further diseases weakened her (she has since died) — informs the reasons behind The New York Ripper‘s rampage, taking what would be a pornography of violence in a lesser artist’s hands and more of a vacant stare at an unfeeling void, shot at the dead center of the end of the world.

While the actor framing device never really works, the interviews and idea shine. The whole blu ray is worth it just for the extras, which include interviews with the director and crew, longer cuts of the interviews from the film, home movie and camcorder footage of Fulci scouting locations and even working on set and audio recordings of the director working with Michael Romagnoli on his memoirs.

I really don’t think that there can ever be a definitive Fulci biopic. Instead, we should look to his films — this effort makes quite the case for The Beyond, which I wholeheartedly agree is filled with messages — and wish that he had lived long enough to know that his name is spoken in the same hushed tones reserved for the greats.

You can learn more on the official Facebook page and order this film from Severin.

There are parts of America that may as well be another country or even another world. In this film, originally known as Reckoning, we learn that the Appalachian mountains are isolated and quite frankly terrifying, with the community in the film operating in its own very unique set of rules.

When Lemon’s husband dies, she must fight to keep his farm working and repay his debt to the oldest family on the mountain. Their cold-hearted matriarch is ready to destroy a decade-old truce and even hurt Lemon’s son to get what she wants.

Lane and Ruckus Skye have worked together to create movies like the upcoming Becky and the short The 7 Sevens. This is the first of their films that I’ve seen and it certainly sets a mood. A grim one, but quite a mood.

Danielle Deadwyler, who appeared on HBO’s Watchmen series, is really solid in this, putting you directly into her struggles and getting you on the side of her character.

Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures will release this on October 2 in drive-ins and then on-demand four days later. They sent us this review copy, which has no impact on our thoughts.

The Aristas are a wealthy Mexican family who are charging high prices from the well water on their property. Is it the fountain of youth? Is it a source of power? Or does the water just taste that good?

Regardless of the answer, a young handyman named Don has started to work for them, guarding the well while being tempted by the two young Aristas daughters, who are obsessed with sex and flaunting their power.

I had no expectations going in on this and was really intrigued by how it was put together. Its definitely unlike anything I’ve seen before.

You’ll recognize Esai Morales and Mariel Hemingway in the cast, but the young actors in the lead really make this work, as does the assured direction by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak.

Jackson Rathbone, who was Jasper Hale in the Twilight films is our window into this world of the ultrapowerful, who are separated by only a gate from the lower castes. Once he is inside their world, he cannot help but be changed by it, particularly by his attraction to Tania (Marisol Sacramento) and Ximena (Carmela Zumbado) while learning from the more seasoned Michael (Xander Berkeley, Candyman).

Once the well starts being drained, the family demands that the American workers build a wall around their property, which seems to be the very textbook definition of ironía. Yet being kept out of the thing they want most means the townspeople won’t be silent for much longer.

Dark Star Pictures has already released this in virtual theaters and it will be on demand as of October 13. They sent us a review copy, but that did not impact our review.

A mother and daughter have decided that a weekend away would be the best way for them to reconnect. So they head off to a house in the woods, unaware that this is a place that attracts only the worst in people.

Basically — never ever take a vacation.

Originally called Fake Flowers, this stars Helene Udy (Amityville Clownhouse, My Bloody Valentine) as the mother and Angela Barajas as the daughter. You’ll see her naked just as often as you see establishing shots of the scenery, which go on so long that they take a life of their own and are no longer establishing shots. Hey — here’s the daughter naked bathed in green light so you forget that!

Then again, the dialogue outright says, “Nobody cares about boobies. This is Oregon.”

There’s also an incestual brother and sister team who have nothing to do with the plot, but such is life in Oregon, one imagines. “Nobody cares about incest. This is Oregon.”

This is the kind of movie that gets things like Lynchian thrown at it in the hopes that you’ll watch it. I’ve already told you that it has basically sixty straight minutes of naked girl in it and if that doesn’t sell you, the fact that it makes no sense and not because of talent won’t get you to watch it either.

Evil Under the Skin is available on demand and on DVD from Midnight Releasing, who were kind enough to send us a copy of this film.

The sole survivor as her military industrialist father declares revenge on the family that halted his political ambitions, Miriam gets an offer: either die in jail or go back in time and try to save her family. However, the rules keep changing as god-like overseers bet on her life and death battle.

To Your Last Death is a visually stunning comic book come to life, with animatic-style animation, intense gore and a voice cast that includes William Shatner, Morena Baccarin (Vanessa from the Deadpool movies), Ray Wise and Bill Moseley.

Originally titled Malevolent, this was directed by Jason Axinn, who has mostly worked on TV shows and on shorts. He tells a story that effortlessly moves through time and space while rewarding horror fans with bloody visuals, including a shark feeding scene that must be seen to be believed.

Seeing an animated Ray Wise is also worth the price of admission. I had a lot of fun with this movie, which kept me watching right until the ending scene of the gambling beings. It’s well worth a watch.

To Your Last Death has been available on demand, but will release on blu ray on October 6. Thanks to its PR company for sending it our way. Getting a copy for review in no way influences our review.

Based on the 2010 comic of the same name by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, this film stars Jesse Williams as a comic book creator whose work is being used to create real-life murders, which is concerning, as the comic itself is based on the unsolved killings of a maniac named the Slasherman.

After nearly a decade in production, this film has finally emerged. Written, produced and directed by Jay Baruchel, who usually shows up in much more comedic fare, this is a dark journey into being a creator and what happens when your audience takes things too far.

Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious films) is in this as Kathy, Todd’s girlfriend and Niamh Wilson (Saw III and Saw V) as Aurora, Todd’s assistant, who are all brought into a world of horror that spills from the comic pages and into their waking lives.

I like the juxtaposition between Kathy writing about the victims at the same time that Todd is glorifying their deaths through his work, which he just can’t figure out an ending to.

This hasn’t received many good reviews, but it’s not all that bad. You may be put off by the comic scenes or some of the pretentious voice-overs, but it does deliver on the gore and at least makes you think about the people that get killed way more than most slashers ever would.

You can watch this movie exclusively on Shudder.

Made with talent from Spain, Estonia, Ethiopia, Latvia and Romania — yet shot in English — Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway is honestly unlike any movie you’ve ever seen before.

It’s a cross between exploitation cinema, surrealism, web videos, strange animation and no small amount of Phillip K. Dick all in one more, as hunchbacked CIA special agent Gagano (Daniel Tadesse, Crumbs) ust enter the cyber world of Psychobook to stop a computer virus and a gang of maniacs who have the faces of Stalin, Peter Graves, Richard Pryor and more. Oh yeah — Jesus with a boombox and an African-American Batman that fights like Dolemite but has his logo blurred out shows up spoiling for a fight.

Somehow, this movie crosses Bond films with kung fu, 16-bit era video games, Turkish ripoff cinema, lucha films and so many more genres that you know that everyone from our site knows and loves. It’s like a mashup of everything we love all in one frenetic and astounding package. I don’t know what kind of drugs Miguel Llansó has, but he’s high on his own supply as only the best of all creatives should be.

If you think you’ve seen everything, wait until you see this.

This Arrow Video release is — as always — packed with extas. Beyond the high definition 1080p presentation, there’s a new audio commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Anton Bitel; From Talinn with Love, a new visual essay by critic Will Webb concerning the influence of exploitation films on this movie;  an audio interview with the director and three of his other films, Crumbs, Chigger Ale and Night In the Wild Garden; a proof-of-concept trailer, theatrical trailer, image gallery and more.

You can grab this now from Arrow Video, who were kind enough to send us a copy. That has no bearing on our review, however. You can also learn more on the official Facebook page for the film.

Colm is in his mid-40’s, married, has two teenagers and has never gotten over the death of his father. He doesn’t get along with his own son and his job is falling apart while his wife has no real interest in him. You can see why he’d drift into another world and find comfort in the hidden sex he has with a prostitute named Jay. This is his story.

Between drinking and risky sex, Colm (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Thanos’ henchman Ebony Maw in the last two Avengers movies) finds something in Jay (Tom Glynn-Carney, Dunkirk) that he can’t find anywhere else. Whether or not his life emerges in one piece doesn’t matter any longer.

Based on the play Trade, a play written by Irish playwright and screenwriter Mark O’Halloran (Garage, Adam & Paul), this is another very human movie from Peter Mackie Burns, whose Daphne was another tale of a life in crisis that needs a major change. The sex between the men isn’t even about sex or money or power by the end, but the shared need of a moment that allows them escape the pressures of being men, of being fathers, of expectations and worries and disappointments.

Rialto will release to digital cinemas Friday, September 18 and on demand and on DVD Tuesday, October 20. We were sent a copy by its PR agency, but that has no bearing on our review.