Since the straight-to-DVD market has become more and more of a necessity for movie studios, us horror fans get a treat every now and then when it comes to multiple film releases.

Ghost House Pictures Underground gave us that treat when they released 8 films in one shot right around Halloween time for the horror junkies as well the Halloween nostalgic genre watchers in all of us.

Sadly, not all 8 were great. Take “Room 205,” for example. It mixed a wacky love story along with the reemergence of a ghost that goes on a killing spree. I suddenly wondered if that is what “Twilight,” will bring once it is released? Anyway, it was too slow at times and obviously way to predictable to even be considered cool – or even fun for that matter.

I forgot to mention that I am writing about these films not in order I watched them, it makes the writing that much better, plus the last film I speak on, which was the first one I watched, was a good one.

From that came “No Man’s Land: Rise of Reeker,” which is a prequel to a film “Reeker” I once caught on Cinemax one night – yes because I thought porn was on.

It is a supernatural slasher film, if that is even considered a sub-genre, set at a motel where people start dying from an entity that “reeks” of decaying flesh. It was filled with character actors seen in most Hollywood films that gave it some form of credibility yet failed to impress. The opening however was kick ass. The realism of someone getting run over by a car then have the driver get out and cut off the victims tongue…thumbs up for me on that front.

Director Ole Bornedal tried to channel his inner Robert Rodriguez when he co-wrote and directed “The Substitute,” which is about an alien life-form that comes down and decides to take up teaching 6th graders in order to find true love to take back to her home planet.

The children obviously know that she is from out of this world, yet their parents do not feel the same way. Alien mind tricks? Maybe. But for the most part it was just high class CG work with no real goal of making a point on why the hell I was watching the damn thing.

Due to my intense love of all things cinema, I do not consider myself to be musically inclined. With that being said, a death-metal group – I think, Lordi, made a movie where they were the main villains. From what I gather by the making-of featurettes, they look like a Slipknot-type group that dresses in the macabre and seem to live by their chosen characters. Therefore, they took these characters of their band and made them into supernatural killers that terrorize a hospital centered on a little girl that showed the symptoms of autism. The girl and her father, as well as different hospital employees and a creepy homeless guy, seem to be stuck in a time warp while they try to escape the hospital while being pursued by the mentioned ghostly band members.

It was very impressive visually, lacked a little in story but kept me interested throughout because the visual work done on the ghosts was superb. But when a film is great visually, 9 times out of 10 the rest of the film will fail story wise, and this is one of those 9 films.

When a film is titled “Last House in the Woods,” what comes to mind? That’s right, Wes Craven’s “Last House on the Left.” Do not expect the same kind of cult classic impact that Craven’s film became. However, expect cannibalism and creepy ass parents instead. Factor in some drunk and drugged out soccer nuts as well as a almost intense rape seen and you have…success. The dubbing on the film didn’t deter me from going gonzo for what went on with this film. It might not reach the success of Craven but it sure will be added to my DVD collection soon.

The absolute worst of the bunch was “Trackman.” A Russian heist film turned slasher when a group of bank robbers and their hostages take to the underground during their escape and are “tracked” by what the filmmakers led me to believe was a man that lived in the underground sewers but went all Shyamalan and twisted the ending to reveal it not to be the case. Please avoid this at all costs if you can because I felt that those 90 minutes or so will never be returned to me no matter how many times I re-watch a John Waters film.

The last two movies of the total 8 were the first two films I watched in the series. I had high hopes for one more than the other yet was taken back by what took place.

“Brotherhood of Blood,” and “Dance of the Dead,” were those films. And when “Blood” starred horror icons Sid Haig and Ken Foree as the lead vampires, high hopes indeed were expected. But what took place was that the filmmakers lucked out by scoring these two actors because the script and directing and pacing just left me asking, “what the hell were Haig and Foree thinking when they said yes to this thing?” I learned a valuable lesson; no matter who is in the film, when the story sucks, no acting chops can save it.

And lastly was “Dance of the Dead,” the first film I watched in the series and the absolute best film of them all, and damn near one of the best zombie films I have seen since “Diary of the Dead.”

Romero would be proud of this film as he was for “Shaun of the Dead” because I can only explain this film the way I would pitch it to a studio. Think “Prom Night” meets “Shaun of the Dead,” and boom! You get “Dance.” Prom for the students involved is taken over when a nuclear power plant next to town lets out a gas that brings, you guessed it, the dead back to life – and hungry for flesh. Filled with teen angst and goofy hilarity, “Dance” made me run out and buy the DVD right as I dropped the rental back in the bin. A definite diamond in the rough if there ever was one. It will absolutely be one I watch every Halloween or even when I am feeling a little blue and need a great laugh.