I saw a trailer for Bad Milo! about a month before watching the film and I had a few concerns. There were definitely some comedic parts I was looking forward too, but worried how hit or miss the jokes would be and if they would interfere with the horror elements. I was also worried how Milo himself was going to play out and if there would be terrible CGI that would take me right of the story. Well, I’m happy to say that this film defied any concerns I had and exceeded my expectations.

Bad Milo! tells the tale of a stressed out man named Duncan. Problems at home, at the office and with his parents leads Duncan to a point of no return as his stress takes on a mind of its own, literally. Milo is the little…thing…that makes his presence known when Duncan is having a bad day and takes it upon himself to relieve the stressful aspects of Duncan’s life. Milo emerges from Duncan’s back end to take care of business and then scoots back on in after the deed is done. There is a twist towards the end that I saw coming, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

The comedy found with Bad Milo! is just my cup of tea. The actors all have impeccable comedic timing as I found myself laughing out loud numerous times. The awkward comedy reminds me a bit of the The Office during the good years and it is so refreshing to actually like the characters and want to be involved with there life. The funny moments play a nice contrast to the horror aspects when Milo does his thing. There were a few bloody scenes and one in particular that will make any man cringe…

Milo himself is cute, ugly, scary and vulnerable all at the same time. Big time props go out to the effects team who created Milo as he has a very distinct look and a very expressive face. The pure absurdity of a little monster with a melon sized head going in and out of a butt hole may push some people away, but I’m all too ready for my copy on blu-ray and fingers are crossed for a McFarlane figure!

This is the kind of slasher that is about five times better than it has any right to be. So often at Slasher Studios we have been mourning the loss of the “fun slasher.” Well my dear readers, if a fun slasher is what you want…a fun slasher is exactly what you get here. At 85 minutes, it never its pacing never drags and is filled with such a maniacal glee that even the hard core slasher snob will find something to enjoy here.

The performances are all top notch with a special kudos Ross Noble as Stitches who plays the clown with a demonic glee and Tommy Knight as Tom who is so sincere and sweet that you actually care about his future. The rest of the cast performs well and it’s interesting to see such a bunch of misfits interact. Oh…and the deaths?! The cherry on this slasher sundae! Easily some of the best gore I’ve seen in years with the bitchy girl Sarah getting her just desserts involving an umbrella and another boy dying to…wait for it…”(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight.” Classic. Ladies and gentlemen, my new favorite slasher!

Dark Night Of The Scarecrow is a made-for-TV movie that appeared on CBS in October of 1981. Directed by Frank De Felitta, this film has a lot of heart and will hopefully get more recognition now that it has a Blu-ray release. This very nice HD transfer along with great artwork and a fun and informative insert will be a needed addition to your movie collection, if it already isn’t.

The film, with a running time of 96 minutes, tells the story about the friendship between a mentally challenged man and a young girl who befriends him. After a brutal dog attack, the young girl, Marylee is mauled. A number of the towns people automatically assume the her older friend, Bubba, is at fault. Four friends take the law into their own hands and hunt down poor Bubba. Disguised as a scarecrow, Bubba hides out in a field but is tracekd down by the lynch mob and murdered. Sooner than later, the scarecrow appears again…

There are a few good reasons to check this film out. First is the scarecrow mask. It is the perfect amount of creepy and works great within the story. I would love to find this mask someday at a horror convention. Another reason is the filmmaking itself. The colors are vibrant and the cinematography is stellar. It’s great to see so much passion go into a film that was produced for the television audience. The acting is spot on and it’s a real shame that we don’t have made-for-TV movies like this anymore.

So if this film has been on your to-watch-list, by all means move it up to the #1 spot. The Blu-ray packaging is great and I haven’t seen that much work go into an insert since the early days of DVD. It’s a great story line paired with a great mask and that is always a win-win!

When a group of old friends: Bobby (Marshall Caswell), Allison (Erin Hammond), Kyle (Nick Sommer), and Devon (Mathew Dunlop) go off together to commemorate their two Little League friends and coach, they begin to find themselves hunted. They start to wonder if it’s a kid from their past they played a prank on.

Directed by stars Drew Rosas and Nick Sommer, and also written by the two, Billy Club is a great revenge horror with everything to please horror fans. Sommer and Dunlop provide HUGE laughs for the film. Every moment with them provides great entertainment. We are also given a strong female lead in Erin Hammond. Apart from the laughs come excellent and gory kills. Every kill will leave the viewer cringing all the way through. The story itself is really engaging and keeps you guessing until it’s blowout ending that will make you want to go back and watch it all over again. Billy Club is also supported by amazing filming styles that will put many large budget horror films to shame. For great laughs and great kills, check out this excellent indie slasher.

–Cody Landman

This special 31 Days of Horror review comes from a previous review on Slasher Studios from Riley Lender. Enjoy!

Popcorn is one of the last movies of the slasher era and to me, one of the most under rated and unknown too. This movie starts out with Maggie (Jill Schoelen) having a nightmare of a man trying to kill her, but before any damage could happen, she wakes up. Her mother receives prank calls, having someone call but no one on the other end type of deal. Maggie proceeds to go to her class, Cinema to be exact, where they decide to have a fund raiser at the old, and local rundown movie theater. They then go to the theater where they get it ready for the B-rated 50’s horror movies they’re going to feature in 3 weeks.

They find a film in a case that is extremely bizarre and continually says “I am the possessor”. Maggie passes out at a scene in the film that she has saw in her dream. She then finds out the history of the movie, the man who made it, killed his family and himself on stage as it played in the background. Her mother gets another phone call, this time saying “I am the possessor, I want her! I want her!, knowing where the voice is from, she goes to the movie theater to investigate, where she ends up being murdered. Not knowing of what the previous night entailed, Maggie gets ready for the big night at the theater. A strange man who recites the possessor movie buys a ticket off of Maggie, she tells Toby (a boy from her cinema class she likes), he tells her that she should call the police. Making fun of him, saying that they wouldn’t believe her about a man who was supposedly dead. One by one, each member of her class is killed off, but not knowing who the killer is because whoever it is, is replacing the dead bodies with themselves and making it seem like they’re alive. The power ends up going out because one of the deaths involved electricity.

Maggie is behind the stage, in the dark when a man grabs her and is taken to the basement, then the power comes back on and the movies continue to play. Being tied up to some sort of device that holds her head in place, she discovers the killer is Toby, stealing people’s faces and making Maggie believe he is everyone. She finds out the reason for his killer is when the possessor was first shown in the theater that Toby was in the first row and has been burned because Maggie’s aunt set the theater on fire, leaving him not only burned but also extremely disfigured too. She then finds out that the man who made the possessor was actually her father. Her aunt is actually still alive and Toby has her right behind the screen, to get ready to finish what Maggie’s father was unable to do. He sedates Maggie and puts her in a cast with a dress over it, getting ready for their final scene. Now on stage, everyone believes it to be a joke laughing at Maggie because they think it’s all an act. The only person to discover the truth, Mark, then crashes onto the stage using the fly prop from one of the films they were showing. Mark knowing who Toby is, then frees Maggie and kills Toby with the fly. The police and ambulance end up showing up and BAM! Movie is over!

This film is considered to be the predecessor to the Scream franchise, which is clearly seen, is parts of the film. It’s one of the most underrated films I can think of, but it’s one of my favorites. There’s something fun about it and it didn’t lose the seriousness either, keeping true to what they wanted to execute. With next to no gore and no skin showing, There’s just nothing to hate about this film, period.

–Riley Lender

“Poltergeist” is the best haunted house horror movie that I’ve ever seen. It is scary as hell (Robbie getting attacked by the tree outside his bedroom window still gives me chills) and the performances are all spot on. If the effects feel a bit dated (the “melted face” is no longer scary, it’s laughable), it only adds to the film’s charm. This is just about the best you can expect from an old fashioned style horror movie that relies on creativity rather than gore to sell its scary story. From beginning to end everything here works and works perfectly. Hopefully Hollywood doesn’t mess things up with a remake. It would be another kind of nightmare…and not the good kind.

October is right around the corner horror fans and you know what that means: lots and lots of horror movies, pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING, and Halloween! To celebrate the month that every horror fan waits for year round, we will be watching a different horror movie every day for the entire month. What’s even better is that YOU get to join in on the fun! Every single day we will be reviewing a different horror movie at Slasher Studios Horror Film Club and we want you to help us talk about our favorite horrors. Below is the list of horror movies we will be checking out. Feel free to talk about each of them on the day they will be reviewed. It’s going to be a gory good time!

October 1–Poltergiest
October 2—-Demons
October 3–Popcorn
October 4–Night of the Scarecrow
October 5–Billy Club (Oshkosh Horror Film Festival)
October 6–Nail Gun Massacre
October 7–Jack-O
October 8–Curse of Chucky
October 9–Tourist Trap
October 10-Warlock
October 11-Hell Night
October 12-Hard to Die
October 13-Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
October 14-The Gremlin
October 15-Deadly Blessing
October 16-The People Under the Stairs
October 17-VHS 2
October 18-Warlock Moon
October 19-Killer Party
October 20-the Witches
October 21-Deadly Friend
October 22-Village of the Damned
October 23-Link
October 24-Humongous
October 25-Offerings
October 26-Night of the Demons
October 27-Silent Night
October 28-Hell High
October 29-The Convent
October 30-Halloween
October 31-Trick r Treat

One of my favorite slasher/undead movies of late 80’s, Night of the Demons is a rousing, gory, razor-in-the-apple type of horror pick. The actors are terrible, the pacing sucks, and the cinematography is mediocre at best. Hell, sometimes it is hard to even see what is happening on screen. What makes this film work? The rousing energy from the cast and crew and some of the best gore effects to come out of the 80′s. You want to see eyeballs gouged out? A tongue ripped out? A tube of lip stick stuck through a nipple? It’s all here and in a spectacularly gory fashion. “Night of the Demons” was one of the few genuine horror hits of the late 80′s and rightfully so. This movie is a blast from beginning to end and I appreciate the amount of energy that went into this production. This movie has its share of problems but everyone looks like they had their hearts in the right place—right on the bloody screen where we can see them.