Search - Cradle of Fear on DVD

John H. (johnniemidnite) from LYNNWOOD, WA
Reviewed on 5/31/2011...

A great bad film. British splatter gore fest starring Dani Filth, recorded on video, so it has the look of a Doctor Who program. Buckets of blood, puke, devil stuff, entrails, decapitations, gore porn, partial decapitations, auto accident, dismemberment, on-line snuff adventure, creepy people of the streets, Cradle of Filth music, whole cat eating, nudity, creepy music, bad acting... everything a gore hound would eat up. As art, the special gore effects go from spot on to laughable. Probably no redeeming value... social or otherwise. One of those films that once you've seen, you can't un-see it. As nice addition to put next to your copy of The Human Centipede.

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"CHEERS, SOPHIE! WHERE'S MY SHARE??!"

Pamela Scarangello | Middletown, NJ USA | 08/04/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been collecting horror movies for quite a long time now, and I'm happy to say that London's "Cradle of Fear" is a relentless cult film that will undoubtedly offend conservative viewers and titillate all sex fiends! A must warn you all, however, that this low-budget flick isn't perfect: the film was shot entirely on video and includes alot of soft porn dialogue, amateurish acting, and cheesy gore effects. Still, with enough blood, topless girls, and vomit to spill over the exploitation genre, "Cradle of Fear" can easily make Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" look tame. And of course, rock screecher Dani Filth is given his first starring role. What I can say in absolute confidence is that this anthology is a black metal blood feast guaranteed to satisfy every occultist's desire for the terminally sick!

Kemper (David McEwan), a crazed child murderer and Satanic hypnotist, is imprisoned within the concrete walls of Fenham Asylum. Despite this, he calls upon his own son and follower, "The Man" (Dani Filth), to wreck havoc on society by painting the streets with blood and death. "The Man," by the way, is sort of like "The Crow," except he has supernatural powers and an insatiable lust for killing. Meanwhile, an embittered Detective Neilson (Edmund Dehn) is forced to investigate the crimes. As each twisted tale unfolds, Neilson becomes hellbent on destroying Kemper by any means necessary.

Story #1: Melanie (Emily Bouffante) is a sexy Goth chick who meets "The Man" in a rave club. Anticipating a hot night of passion and drugs, Mel gets more than she bargains for as her partner gives her a monstrous one-night stand. The very next day, after seeing several hallucinating images of demons walking up and down the sidewalk, she dies of a nightmare pregnancy as a grossly deformed child with spider legs bursts out of her stomach!

Story #2: Sophie (Rebecca Eden) and Emma (Emma Rice) are a pair of tough street girls who attempt to rob a rundown apartment. While discovering a huge sum of money under the bed, the two are suddenly attacked by a crazed old man (Al Stokes). Together, the terrified Sophie and Emma bludgeon him with a candlestick and stab him in the face with a knife. Then, Sophie murders Emma to snatch the money all for herself. As you horror fans might have guessed, both Emma and the Old Man return to life as zombies and give poor Sophie an eyeful of their wrath!

Story #3: Nick (Louise Brownsell) is a rich and greedy businessman who lost one of his legs in a car accident (undoubtedly because he and his lover Natalie (Eileen Daly) snorted cocaine behind the wheel). Determined to be a whole man again, he sinks to new lows with both a gun and a knife. He shoots Thomas (Neil Keenan), a local slob and former friend, carves off one of his legs, and forces a doctor to perform the surgery. At first, all seems well in Nick's physical therapy. However, as he and Natalie go out on a drug-infused joyride, Nick's new appendage takes on a life of its own, refusing to accept its current owner.

Story #4: Detective Neilson's own son, Richard (Stuart Lang), is an office employee who develops a dangerous addiction to Internet snuff and porn. Knowing this was his weekness, "The Man" entices Richard with -The Sick Room-, an interactive website where members can torture and kill their victims with just a few clicks of a button. After losing his job and his home to this perverse obsession, Richard searches for the site only to be led down a trail of madness... and his execution is ready to be broadcast.

With cannibalism, dismemberment, and Devil imagery at every turn, "Cradle of Fear" is quite campy at some moments, although the movie overall was intended to be serious. Viewers will definitely laugh, of course, at the scene where where Dani Filth stabs a pussycat and swallows its mutilated organs in one gulp! Yes, it's THAT over-the-top! Both disturbing and fun at once, the DVD is worth the money. Get it when you can, creeps!"

Sick 'N Twisted

Pamela Scarangello | 03/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cradle of Fear is a movie of its own. It may not be shot on film but the movie itself makes up for it. Alex spat down a great story that has plenty of twists and turns followed by huge blasts of crimson and body parts. The movie basically is told by the sick and metally twisted Kemper, a child murderer and eater (You can see him in Cradle Of Filth's "Her Ghost In The Fog" video) and how he uses his demonic friend the Man (Non-Other than Dani Davey/Filth himself) to get back on those related to and those who acturally had him incarcirated to a padded room in a huge insane asylum. Chopped full of gore and skin to satisfy even those who crave old 80s horror films."

How low budget horror should be done

Carlo Monte | Bronx, NY USA | 02/25/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"OK, I am a COF fan so I may be a bit biased, but this is a pretty good(and gory as hell) film that will fit into your horror collection nicely. Taking a cue from "Creepshow", it follows 4 different stories that all have one basic connection, that being "the man"(Dani Filth). Apparently all of the stories victims have relatives that have imprisoned some crazy child murderer so to extract his revenge he calls upon the man - chaos and carnage ensue.While this is low budget, it is far from the junk I have spent my money on in the past. I mean it's uncanny - the plot makes sense! It's not boring! The F/X are well done! It doesn't pull any punches either! I wish Hollywood would take a cue from this movie and start making horror movies with umm, "round things" again."