ZIFT (2008)

It's not often that a film can successfully be both depressing and uplifting, but somehow ZIFT does it.

Moth (played perfectly by Zahary Baharov) is doing time in a post-WWII Bulgarian prison for a murder he didn't commit, but that's the least of his worries though because everybody thinks he knows the location of a large diamond that is rumored to have belonged to the guy Moth supposedly murdered.  He's released early by the crooked warden but his new found freedom is actually a one way trip to Hell.

In one of Moth's many flashbacks (sometimes there's even multiple flashbacks within flashbacks!!!) he remembers an old cell mate telling him about a sign on the exit door of a prison that read "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." meaning the outside world. That proves to be only too true because Moth doesn't even make it out the door before all Hell breaks loose. It's great.

I love high-energy movies that keep you on your toes and constantly guessing and ZIFT does it perfectly from the opening scene (a guy emptying a sewage truck into somebody's apartment window) all the way to the final moment. I was having so much fun I completely lost track of time.

Not only is the story engaging and the acting impressive all around (including Tanya Ilieva, who might have the hottest body in the history of the universe), but the look and feel of the movie is exceptional. Cinematographer Emil Hristow throws in all kinds of great stuff.  So many great shots that there's no way you can soak it all in in just one sitting.  And that leaves us with director Javor Gardev who, according to IMDb, has only directed this movie!!!  ZIFT is 9 years old now (March, 2017), so how come he isn't busy with something else? That is very disappointing to read.

Intriguing story, lightening quick pace, nudity, violence, murder, perversion, torture, glass eyeball, grave digging, beautiful B & W photography, quirky characters.  Highly recommended.

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)

There's been a rash of killings in the area surrounding an American Air Force base in Canada and the locals ain't too happy about it.  Even stranger is the killer (or killers) have been poking two holes into the base of the victim's skull and sucking out their brain.  Kind of like a mental vampire or something.  Of course nobody has the foresight to wear some kind of protection around their neck/skull, so the killings continue.  Eventually an Air Force dude gets to the bottom of it and it is mental vampires!  And apparently a mental vampire looks like a disembodied brain with antennas that propels itself around with a spinal column tail.

I'm sure when FIEND WITHOUT A FACE came out in 1958 it scared the living bejesus out of younger audiences, but watching it now, it's extremely dated.  Tons of military stock footage, slow pace, lots of scenes of just people standing around talking, a slow-moving finale that seems to take like 20 minutes, stiff acting, amateur dialogue.  The monster attack scenes are entertaining, but other than it's a slow moving affair.  Worth a watch for fans of 1950's era monster movies, others might want to think twice.

Drinking game idea: every time somebody says "Gibbons", "mental vampire" or "atomic".