Netherworld is a southern gothic fantasy horror from the early 1990s.  It follows a twenty-something man returning to the mansion of his estranged & dead father- uncovering a whole host of mystery, magic, and species-shifting shenanigans. The film is a glossy & lightly arty affair that blends fantasy & horror tropes- with moments of bizarre intriguing, and a few occasions of fairly brutal gore. All been a generally entertaining- if slightly hammy/ wacky ride. Here from Full Moon Futures is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film.

Netherworld appeared in the year 1992- it was largely filmed on a large & grand plantation in Louisan. The film was written and directed by Kentucky-born David Schmoeller- a genre director who had arty cinematic origins/ connections- as he studied with Alejandro Jodorowsky, and was referenced by Luis Buñuel. Between the mid-’70s and the present day, he has twelve feature-length films to his name- these go from off-kilter proto-slasher Tourist Trap (1979) to stranger-in-the-house horror thriller Crawlspace (1986). Through to classic killer doll fare Puppet Master (1989), to crime drama Little Monsters (2012).

The film opens in a river-side bar/ brothel as we see a late teen going to get his end away. He’s led downstairs to one of the places female workers- who is made up like Marilyn Monroe- just as he’s going in the room, he questions what is behind the door at the end of the corridor with a badly written ‘no entry’ sign on it…he’s told he mustn’t go in. Across the corridor is another client- who has just finished his pleasure.  He goes through the door, sneaks down the stairs- getting glances from all manner of strange/ quirky people. He finds a room with brunette Delores(Denise Gentile) in- he has no money- so tries to rape her…then the prime fantasy kicks in- as we see a stone hand on a wall- which peels itself off its setting, and starts flying down several corridors( in a very Phantasm way). It hooks onto the man’s face, and starts making a bloody mess as she talks about the man being her new bird now.

Next, we get introduced to our lead Cory (Michael Bendetti)- a twenty-something with a curly & gelled mullet- he's sitting on a small boat travelling along a river- as he voices over that he’s going to take charge of his dead father’s large house & estate. His father left when he was very young- and he’s not seen him since.

As the film unfolds, we get introduced to a selection of rather hamming-it-up southern characters. Cory does some more voice-overs of his dad’s diary- finding out he wanted his son to bring him back from the dead, as well as a few puzzling flashbacks. I won’t detail too much more- but instead say the film is a glossy/ quirky blend of slight steamily edged magic shenanigans, southern gothic atmosphere, and quirky fantasy, with light touches of gore body horror.

The acting moves between hamming up, rather TV soapy, and rather hit ‘n’ miss- but I guess most acting in horror/ fantasy of this period sits in one of these settings. But otherwise, the film is entertaining, at times lightly wacky ride- with some glossy, grand, at times lightly arty edges.

This recent region-free Blu-Ray features a nicely clean and crisp print of the film- which I guess at times does enhance the whole glossy, at points 90’s music videos look of the film. On the extras side we get Videozone (26.23) this was the seventh edition of Charles Band’s videozine which he did back in the ’90s. And the focus is the making of Netherworld- we get a few minutes' introduction by Mr Band himself. Then we’re into the making of- with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with David Schmoeller, and a few of the cast members. There are also interviews with David Bryan (of Bon Jovi) who did the film's soundtrack/ plays in the bar band, and respected American multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter who plays Sax in the bar band. We also get a look at the effects of the film- in particular the flying stone hand.  All in all, well worth a watch feature. Lastly, we get a trailer for the film, and a trailer reel.

It's wonderful to see this rather distinctive & lightly artily edged horror film from the 1990s getting a well-deserved Blu-Ray reissue. With the making of been a great bonus to the Full Moon Pictures release- which are usually rather bare-bones affair.