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The distribution company Kino Lorber recently launched an interesting Blu-ray line called Kino Cult, and so far they have released the 1985 sci-fi Western Alien Outlaw, the Bettie Page double feature Teaserama and Varietease, the 1985 horror film The Dark Power, the 1974 drama Drifter, the 1974 Jess Franco horror film Lorna the Exorcist, the 1973 Jess Franco crime thriller Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac, and the 1985 Clive Barker adaptation Underworld (a.k.a. Transmutations). Now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that five more Kino Cult Blu-ray releases are set for August 20th, and there’s a theme to this batch: they’re all “nature run amok” horror movies! Most of them are movies I love to watch, too. Here’s the line-up: The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Each one is available for pre-order on Amazon, and each of these...

Nature will run amok when Kino Lorber unleashes five classic eco-horrors on Blu-ray as part of its Kino Cult line:The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, Squirm, and Kingdom of the Spiders. Due out on August 20, each title comes with a slipcover and features reversible artwork. Pre-orders are up for $24.95.

1976’s The Food of the Gods is written and directed by Bert I. Gordon, based on H. G. Wells’ 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth. Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Jon Cypher, and Ida Lupino star.

In the film, “On a remote island, a mysterious substance is oozing from the ground. A farmer sees that it acts as a growth hormone and thinks his fortune is made. But when rats, chickens, worms and wasps begin sampling the potent substance, they morph into bloodthirsty giants! Now, it’s up to...

Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with a rodent roundup of horror, or more accurately, psychological suspense interrupted by a few salacious slayings. What would Mickey say?

The brief synopses of Daniel Mann’s Willard and Phil Karlson’s Ben that appeared in the horror movie books and magazines that kids in the UK loved to pore over during the late 1970s always gave the impression that this pair of killer rat films were hardcore horror shows.

In truth, the actual horror content of both films is relatively mild and infrequent. In spite of this, Willard and Ben still tend to be discussed in terms of their relation to the often more extreme movies that appeared in the “animals attack” cycle of horror films that flourished during the 1970s.

That particular subgenre represents something of a niche interest area that is governed by a pretty tight set of boundaries. The...

In a femme fatale performance as Marion Crane, Janet Leigh is such a compelling leading lady in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, that it’s that much more shocking when you find out in bloody fashion that she, in fact, isn’t the leading lady. So, you can imagine my excitement when I realized that one of the other movies on Leigh’s résumé features killer rabbits. With Easter Sunday coming up, I figured what better way to celebrate Jesus coming back from the dead as a giant bunny (I’m assuming that’s what happened) than by checking out a flick about massive rabbits terrorizing the Southwest?

I’m a sucker for “nature’s revenge” movies, and the sillier the premise, the better. George McCowan’s Frogs, for example, is a nutty exploitation masterpiece that layers insightful social commentary in between sheets of bonkers set pieces where various amphibians and reptiles attack the local aristocracy.

Nick Aldwinckle Oct 25, 2016

Fancy some horror? We've been taking a look at the discs of Ghoulies, The Burning, Psychomania and more...

“Have you ever heard a frog scream?”, the tag-line to George McCowan’s 1972 ecological horror Frogs (out now on Arrow Blu-ray) should have read. Indeed, for any of you readers that have ever been rudely awoken at 2am by the sound of a traumatised frog being gifted to you by your pet cat/furry psychopath, an amphibian cry of terror is probably the second worst sound there is (behind, of course, Kaiser Chiefs).

See related Will Arnett confirms more Arrested Development Arrow's Stephen Amell stars in Lego Batman 3 Dlc trailer

Not that frogs themselves are inherently evil, though viewing this classic dose of seventies green-themed nastiness might convince you otherwise. Slugs are Ok, too, though we’ll get on to them later on in this month’s vague...

Reviewed by Kevin Scott

MoreHorror.com

Frogs (1972)

Written by: Robert Huchison, Robert Blees

Directed by: George McCowan

Cast: Sam Elliot (Pickett Smith), Ray Milland (Jason Crockett), Joan Van Arc (Karen Crockett), Adam Roarke (Clint Crockett), Judy Pace (Bella Garrington), Mae Mercer (Maybelle), Lynn Borden (Jenny Crockett)

One great truth that I have learned is that there are truly no new things. There are only old things happening to new people. Agree or disagree, I’m using it in this particular instance to describe a little subgenre of the horror film, the eco horror film. My picks for horror movie watching in general are usually split between about 70 percent random and about 30 percent deliberate. It’s usually the random ones that are the most fun. I’m a sucker for American International Pictures flicks from the 1970’s. They fall under a few different types of classifications, but they are all Grindhouse...

Polly Bergen: 'Desperate Housewives' Emmy nominee; winner for 'The Helen Morgan Story' (photo: Felicity Huffman, Doug Savant, and Polly Bergen in 'Desperate Housewives') (See previous article: "Polly Bergen: Actress on Richard Nixon 'Enemies List'.") Polly Bergen began her lengthy — and to some extent prestigious — television career in 1950, making sporadic appearances in anthology series. She won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Single Performance – Lead or Supporting — beating Julie Andrews, Helen Hayes, Teresa Wright, and Piper Laurie — for playing troubled torch singer Helen Morgan (Show Boat) in the 1957 Playhouse 90 episode "The Helen Morgan Story," featuring veteran Sylvia Sidney as Morgan's mother. Curiously, Bergen's retelling of Helen Morgan's story was broadcast the same year that Ann Blyth starred in Michael Curtiz's Morgan biopic. Also titled The Helen Morgan Story, the film focused on the relationship between the singer and a...

Miramax

For one reason or another, be it a creative led decision or simply not being able to gain the rights to using certain real products, film and TV is almost as stocked with as many fictional consumer products as we have here on the bulging shelves of the real world.

We’ve all walked past a shop window and thought “I need one of those” or “i need to eat that immediately” but what if those products that tantalise us are something that we can never tinker with, or wear or taste? Nothing can be as alluring as something desirable that you cannot have. Ironically this fact isn’t lost upon those people in the real world who want to market desirable products to us, as in this day and age even fictional products that don’t adhere to the laws of physics in our world can cross over...

Writer Lee Gambin calls them Natural Horror films, other writers call them Revenge of Nature or Nature Run Amok films and writer Charles Derry considers them a type of Apocalyptic Cinema.

Of course we’re speaking of one of the great horror subgenres for which we’ll employ writer Kim Newman’s tag: The Revolt of Nature.

Since the end of the 1990s, lovers of animal attack films have been subjected to copious amounts of uninspired Nu Image, Syfy Channel and Syfy Channel-like dreck like Silent Predators (1999), Maneater (2007) Croc (2007), Grizzly Rage (2007) and a stunning amount of terrible shark attack films to name a few that barely scratch the surface of a massive list.

These movies fail miserably to capture the intensity of the unforgettable films they are imitating and the recent wave seems to carry with it the intent of giving the Revolt of Nature horror film a bad name.

By the 1970s, mankind had finally realized that, as species go, we were pretty much the worst thing to ever happen to the planet – what with treating the natural world as our own personal dumping ground, pumping pollution into the air, and poisoning the waters with chemicals – and so the modern environmental movement was born. Not only was this a hopeful development for the survival of the Earth but it was also terrific news for connoisseurs of B-movies as “eco-horror” became a popular trend and the ‘70s became a decade when – on screen, at least – nature had finally had enough of man’s bullshit.

In Frogs, directed by George McCowan and written by Robert Hutchison and Robert Blees, a young Sam Elliott stars as Pickett Smith, a freelance photographer busy taking pictures of the trash-strewn Southern swamplands surrounding the island estate of the wealthy Crockett family. While paddling around the Crockett’s property,...

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. In the pantheon of dangerous animals, this one ranks pretty low. Until you see the trailer for this film. Then it ranks even lower. There’s absolutely nothing scary about these things (except maybe the warts), but that didn’t stop George McCowan from directing a horror film about them and their take over of the polluters of the world. And, yes, that is Sam Elliot. For some reason. Involved in this thing. Think you know what it is? Check the trailer out for yourself: Let the film marketers of the past sell you on their movie by checking out more VTOTDs...

As the spookiest day of the year (Halloween) approaches, people start talking about what actually scares them the most. We’ve run several articles this month discussing horror films from multiple genres (Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller) and then we covered a list of “fun for everyone” Halloween films.

In too many instances people focus on the alien, zombie, ghost and slasher films to represent the horror genre - and while those are all truly frightening topics for films, I think that ultimately one of the scariest horror sub-genres often gets overlooked: Animals gone crazy!

Whether it’s by land, sea or air, creatures of every imaginable size and shape have terrorized us for decades. Some are exotic animals, others are extinct beasts brought back to life by the magic of Hollywood, while still others hit closer to home and make us question if we should even own a pet. Come join...