The Skin I Live In - A New Shocker from Spain

Noted director Pedro Almodovar steps firmly into horror territory with THE SKIN I LIVE IN (LA PIEL QUE HABITO). Based on Thierry Jonquet's TARANTULA (MYGALE), the film so horrified certain audience members at its Cannes Film Festival premier that groups left the showing before it was over. But it also received a five minute standing ovation from those hardy audience members who stayed and viewed the entire film.

SPOILERS AHEAD... Starring Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya, the horror thriller concerns a plastic surgeon who seeks vengeance on the person who raped his daughter. The daughter kills herself after the brutal violation. The Banderas character, Dr. Robert Ledgard, kidnaps the rapist and performs a sex change operation on him, transplanting his daughter's face onto the rapist. He then rapes the rapist!

Strong sexually violent scenes and abundant nudity are sure to make this a controversial film that will be seen and talked about by many aficionados of shocking horror. The film should arrive in the United States in November.

Motorzombies - THE CURSE OF SPANISH HORROR MOVIES

Not sure when this was released, but within the last couple of years, if not recently. It's a special vinyl album, a tribute to Paul Naschy, that contains the following numbers:

Horror Express
La Llorona
La Marca Del Hombre Lobo
El Espanto Surge De La Tumba

Only the last two numbers concern Naschy films, of course.

Motorzombies labels itself a "psychobilly band."

DIE VAMPIRE DES DR. DRACULA

The German title. Otherwise known as LA MARCA DEL HOMBRE LOBO, in Spain, and FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR, in the United States. The Germans had a thing for adding "Dracula" to their retitled foreign horror films.

"Alaric de Marnac" -- Darkmoor's Naschy Homage

ANCESTRAL ROMANCE, the latest CD from the Spanish metal group, Darkmoor, has been out for a while, but it was only recently, through a gift from the Molina family, that I was able to listen to it. The third cut, "Alaric de Marnac," is a Naschy tribute song based on the master's famous other alter ego character (Waldemar Daninsky being the first), who appeared in HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB and PANIC BEATS. The lyric page is above.

EMPUSA trailer

The last film directed by Paul Naschy...EMPUSA. But when, oh when, will we be able to finally see this film?

Juan Piquer Simon (1935-2011)

Spanish horror/fantasy/sci-fi director Juan Piquer Simon died on 1/7/2011 after a battle with lung cancer. Simon directed over a dozen films, but it was PIECES that made him famous worldwide and in the United States, where the film was a theatrical hit and, later, a popular video rental. Simon crafted the film with an American sensibility (and using several American actors), so that few were aware that it was, in fact, a Spanish film.

I had the opportunity to interview Juan Piquer, via e-mail, several good years ago, and he was very gracious in answering my questions and provided me with photos to illustrate my interview. I had intentions of contacting him again for my Spanish horror book project.

Here are highlights from his most notorious film, a perfect Times Square movie during that district's last decade or so of double-bill showings:

THE BLIND DEAD Comic

Well, almost. David Zuzelo's "Ascension of the Blind Dead," rendered by artist Billy George, is now part of the ZOMBIE TERRORS collection from Asylum Press. Available at your favorite comic book store or, at 32% off, from Amazon.com.