Sitting Target, directed by Douglas Hickox. Starring Oliver Reed, who is, imo, one of the finest screen actors, period. I’d really, really wanted to see this one for a long time, as it had a reputation as being one of the bleaker and more violent British crime thrillers of the 70s. A letdown—not a major one but a letdown, nonetheless. Reed is a convict, sitting in the pen. His lady visits him one day and tells him that she’s pregnant. He concocts a plot w/a prison buddy to break out and go and kill her. Get some money too, while they’re on the outside. Too much misogyny for me in this one.
Thirsty Dead, directed by Terry Becker. A 70s American/Phillipines co-production. It’s about a cult of peeps in the Phillipines who kidnap women and drink their blood. It keeps them young. However, they are confined to the b-movie sets and cannot venture out further. Lots of potential for this one, but alas.
Killer Bees. I’ve seen a couple of the Switchblade Pictures flix. They’re a region-one outfit who’s been distributing Japanese D2DVD flix. This one is truly unremarkable. A group of young ladies go camping over the weekend and get attacked by killer bees. Yep, just about exciting as that sounds. Late.
GRIZZLY: Great JAWS rip-off with Christopher George (who was also great in ENTER THE NINJA), Richard Jaeckel, and Andrew Prine. I caught this many times on my local ABC affiliate when I was young, but I never knew just how grisly (pardon the pun) this little flick is. It moves along at a nice clip, and you never get really bored. Plus, a kickass ending.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974): I got the Blu Ray for this, and it really does look gorgeous. I don’t know what I can tell you about it you don’t already know, and if you haven’t seen it yet, make it a priority.
WITHOUT A CLUE: Really good Sherlock Holmes comedy. Holmes is a fictive character created by Watson (the real brains behind the crime-solving duo) for publicity. They have a falling out, but are forced back together, because nobody wants to confer with Watson alone. A great cast with Michael Caine as Holmes, Ben Kingsley as Watson, and Jeffrey Jones as LeStrade. There is a lot of slapstick, but it is played absolutely straight-faced and works. I enjoyed this thoroughly and give it high marks.
CONVOY BUSTERS: “When his no-holds-barred tactics get him in trouble with a powerful criminal, a big-city police officer (Maurizio Merli) is transferred to the emergency squad, but he eventually blows that assignment, too. Now, hiding out on a quiet beat near the Adriatic Sea, he ignites a romance with a pretty teacher (Olga Karlatos) and works on tracking down a gang of local arms smugglers.”—from Netflix. In other words, Merli’s character loves bitch-slappin’ perps and witnesses around and shoots before he looks. So after the mid-point anti-climax, he’s shipped off to the boonies and puts his gun away for good (right). I really enjoyed Stelvio Massi’s flick, even though it doesn’t go anywhere you would think a poliziotteschi would (though I’m not really well-versed in the genre, so I may be wrong). Plus Merli plays the hirsute slab of granite to a tee. Recommended.
I finally watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time a few days ago, and was completely blown away. I actually got a pretty bad nose bleed during the dinner table scene where Sally is just screaming her head off. I absolutely love those close up shots of her eye which brings me to my next point. This film is SOOO well made and is one of the reasons I think it is so effective. All this, I’m sure, has been said a bagillion times, but I thought I would just say it again.
Watched Goya Lifetime Achievement Award-receipient Jess Franco’s Killer Barbys. I bought this disc and its sequel (Killer Barbys v. Dracula) for the low, low price of five dollars. The Killer Barbies are a Spanish punk-rock group (http://killerbarbies.tk/). They kind of sound like L7 to me. Anywho, they play a gig and en route to the next, their Mystery-Machine-looking tour bus breaks down. They are invited to spend a spooky evening in the villa at the top of the hill. Great throwback to oldskool 80s horror. Good times.
Rule #1. Kelvin (The Maid) Tong is an obvious talent behind the camera. Ekin Cheng is obviously not talented in front of the camera. Shawn Yue is an up-and-coming young HK actor (whose been great in what I’ve seen him in). Yue’s a cop who has a confrontation w/a serial killer in a parking garage. He’s wounded and kills the serial killer. He recovers to be reassigned to the “Mysterious Affairs” division. Cheng is his superior. Next hint: ghosts are involved. Surprisingly, Cheng is decent in this one. He’s still not very good but I can’t complain. Overall this is an okay flick. Late.
Let’s see if I can properly recall what I’ve been watching lately:
I am still trudging through Nightmares in the Damaged Brain. God awful film. I was under the assumption that it was highly controversial due to its graphic nature but there isn’t much to boast about. I’ve been watching it off and on for the past week or two…at this rate I’ll finish it by June.
Repo: The Genetic Opera - The story is one of the more original concepts to come out of Hollywood in the genre as of late, so I really appreciated the movie on that level. The singing, however, was a burden. If I was a fan of musicals in the first place I’d probably rate this one a lot higher.
But, really, how can one hate a movie that has Ogre prancing around with a dead skin mask on singing in that faggy Italian falsetto?
Dance of the Dead - Apparently, out of all the films recently released under Sam Raimi’s company ‘Ghost House’, Dance of the Dead is the only one worth viewing. Not too bad of a film. Kind of liken it to Return of the Living Dead-lite…(with the punk aspect of RotLD being replaced by whiny, emo, suburban, white kids). Exaggerated characters, mostly high-school kids, fending themselves from the zombie hordes. Hell, they even take refuge in a Funeral Home ala RotLD.
I’d recommend it if you haven’t seen a zombie film in awhile and need something for a quick fix. But I wouldn’t rush out for it.
Teeth - All Men Are Scum! This is the message I received from watching this film. Hell, I’m prepared to join one of those feminist-nazi groups out there after this experience. I wonder if I can still perform after this…? I have a new-found appreciation for the power of the vagina.
Sporadically watched Zombie Strippers. About 40 minutes total. Complete waste of film. No redeemable qualities. It was made for 13 year old’s…of course, it is entitled ZOMBIE STRIPPERS, so it’s amazing I was expecting anything else.
Got a touch of the flu, so I had lots of time for some dvds. Made it through about 24 of the 29 epsiodes of Twin Peaks. What a great series, especially the first seven episodes. Great humor and a nice amount of suspense and mistery.
THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW: Decent giallo about two brothers (a priest and a professor) tracking down a murderer. But there’s something in their past that is coming back to haunt them. It was good, I liked the ending and the soundtrack. Stefania Casini has way too much armpit hair. You can guess the big reveal after about 3 seconds, but all-in-all, a decent time waster.
EMERGENCY SQUAD: Tomas Milian tracks down the bloodthirsty robber who murdered his wife. A terrific ending and a very restrained performance by Milian as a cop over the edge. And he’s about the best shot with a revolver from a helicopter I’ve ever seen. I’m warming up to Stelvio Massi’s work. Highly recommended.
ESCAPE FROM L.A.: Not nearly as repugnant as I recall it being upon first viewing, but this is still just not that good. TRON-level FX, a beat-for-beat plot retread of EFNY, and who the hell thought it would be good to have S.D. Plissken surf and shoot hoops? I realize this was largely a satire, but still…
SISTER STREETFIGHTER 1 & 2: I’m throwing these together because they’re essentially the same movie. The beautiful Etsuko Shihomi stumbles onto drug cases involving her immediate family, travels to Japan, and kicks some serious ass. Sonny Chiba bolsters the asskickery in the first one. The villains are of the 5 DEADLY VENOMS Gimmick School of martial arts, and there is insane stuff happening throughout both. The pace moves briskly, and there is very little for filler. If you’ve never seen any of the STREETFIGHTER movies, do yourself a favor, buy them all. However, it’s recommended you space your viewing of each because, like I said, they really are the same plot over and over. Recommended.
I’ve been watching the old-BBC serials of The Quatermass Experiment and Quatermass 2. I love old sci-fi that is made in the 50s. There is an overwhelming fear in all of it of technology and undiscovered outerspace. It’s so archaic, because of the modern view of being in tune w/technology or being out of tune w/society. Anyhoo, only the first two episodes of the first series exist and the second series is complete. Professor Quatermass is always on the scene!
Watched Pupi Avati’s Arcane Sorcerer. Anyone familar w/ House With Laughing Windows knows that Avati can create some serious atmospheric horror. I love this stuff. Anyway, set in the 15th or 16th century, a de-frocked clergyman is about to get into trouble w/the Inquisition for doing the deed and making the woman have an abortion. He makes a pact w/a supernatural figure to become the clerk to a reclusive Monsignor who studies esoteric materials. This one looks to be shot on location and is just a tremendous amount of fun. High re-watchability factor.
Finally, The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, dir. Kim Ji-woon. This is a massively big-budget Western set in Manchuria, where the Koreans are on the cusp of fighting for independence from the Chinese and the Japanese. Like most big-budget adventure movies, this one has a lot of exciting, over-the-top set-pieces. Song Kang-ho stands out on top amongst many a fine performance. What is amazing about this film is that for a commercial film, I would’ve thought it would have been lighter and more comedic in tone. However, there is an undercurrent of mean-spiritness to the whole film. That being said, it was enjoyable. Late.
The Vampire Who Admires Me: HK horror/comedy. One thing about HK horror/comedy is that it is extremely broad—the same jokes and formulas have been in place for almost 30 years. It can be totally tired and lame or I eat it up w/a spoon. This one’s gold. A group of smoking-hot models visit an island for a photo shoot. On the island, there is a vampire king buried, who has recently escaped and is infecting the population. Inept police hijinx, toilet humor, and HK vampires. Great stuff.
Train of the Dead: This is a Thai horror film about a group of bank robbers who escape aboard a train that carries dead passengers to the afterlife. In my experience w/Thai horror, it can be complete and total shit or something offbeat and cool. This is in the former camp. The first 60 minutes of the film are set-up (and are painfully long) and the final third shows of some sparks of what could be. I saw this on the Tai Seng, U.S. label. Interesting note about Thai censorship—smoking, pointing guns at people’s head’s, and drug use, for example, are all optically censored on screen. If I’d've seen the Thai disc for this one, over half the film would have been blurred. Food for thought. Late.
Dead Man’s Shoes - A bit hard to get into it initially due to the heavy accents, and with no English subtitle option I was ready to give up, but I was determined and the film falls into place quickly. After adapting to the accents, I was treated to one of the better neo-revengesploiters out there.
Deep Red
Tenebrae
Felt it was necessary to revisit these. Deep Red seems to get better with age I find. Although Tenebrae seems to get worse. I think it’s Anthony Franciosa portrayal of Peter Neal. This guy rivals Shatner with his dramatic pauses between each word.
Gutterballs - A surprisingly fun film despite Kevin’s ho-hum attitude about it. Now, envision this: A Troma film (it’s not actually a Troma film, but has the same spirit as Troma), set in a bowling alley, with hardcore porn, a ridiculous looking killer stalking some very unsavory characters, and some brutally gratuitous murders. A completely vapid movie but it does what it sets out to do very well. Also has some penis mutilation that rivals the penis scene in Buttgereit’s Der Todesking…excellent FX throughout.
Street Law - A fantastic little vigilante flick from Enzo G. Castellari (director of Inglorious Bastards, New Barbarians, Bronx Warriors, etc…) and starring the ever-wonderful Franco Nero. Not your traditional vigilante film as I found it to be a bit more complex than your standard fare, but this helped it in the long run and propels it above most.
My Bloody Valentine - eh. Pretty much what I was expecting. Sub-par slasher fun. Although with the new uncut print on the DVD, it gave it some redeeming qualities with the grue.
Brutal Massacre: A Comedy - I think it’s safe to recommend this to everyone here (excluding Duane of course). A fun mockumentary following the shenanigans of a rogue film crew attempting to return to their former glory with their latest horror project, Brutal Massacre. Some big names in horror are attached to this movie, and surprisingly, they all pull off their roles very well; this includes Ken Foree, David Naughton, Ellen Sandweiss, Gunnar Hansen (a very over the top performance, but oddly fits into the context of the movie). Genre fans will have a greater appreciation of this as this movie is completely littered with minute references and nuances throughout. Great fun.
Cannonball - An underground racing circuit where the contestants must race from LA to New York. The winner receives $100’000. Directed by Paul Bartel (Death Race, Eating Raoul) and produced by Roger Corman. You can’t go wrong on this one if violent road movies are your dig. Kind of plays out like Death Race without the futuristic aspect and the gaudy cars/costumes.
The Wrestler - As usual, hype and accolades will inevitably ruin this movie for people as they will be anticipating something beyond their wildest dreams, but this movie hit on all points very well for me. An incredibly simplistic movie of a man who finds it impossible to let go of the dying past of his former glory. Very minimalistic use of music gave the movie a very raw and documentary feel, which made this heart-wrencher that much more perturbing. Insanely good performance by Mickey Rourke, really formed into “The Ram” from frame one.
Zombie Lake: The story is far from being original, but I could excuse that it if was presented in a decent way. However, the flow of the narration is really bad, there are so many mistakes in continuity and the zombie-father subplot and the softcore-scenes do not help to improve anything. The shots of the zombie-soldiers rising from the lake or walking around in town are quite nice. The musique-concrete theme of the zombies is nice too. But after all this is a baddie.
BTW: The “castle” reminded me of the crypt in “Plan 9…” immediately.
This is currently what I have on this weeks watch list
Satan’s Baby Doll - lmdb has no info on this but come on with the title i have to see it.
City of the Walking Dead - An airplane exposed to radiation lands, and blood drinking zombies emerge armed with knives, guns and teeth! They go on a rampage slicing, dicing, and biting their way across the Italian countryside.
Operazione paura (Kill baby Kill) - Dr. Eswai is called by Inspector Kruger to a small village to perform an autopsy on a woman who has died under suspicious circumstances. Despite help from Ruth, the village witch, Kruger is killed and it is revealed that the dead woman, as well as other villagers, have been killed by the ghost of Melissa, a young girl who, fed by the hatred of her grieving mother, Baroness Graps, exacts her revenge on them. Dr. Eswai, along with Monica, a local nurse, are lured into a fateful confrontation at the Villa Graps
Cat in the Brain - Yea like we dont know this one.
