Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

MADHOUSE (1974):When young actresses start turning up dead, suspicion naturally focuses on horror icon Paul Toombes, who has just been released from a mental hospital and is trying to resurrect his career as "Dr. Death."  Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and old clips from better Price vehicles liven up this otherwise ordinary horror/mystery.  I saw this recently and completely forgot about it until I saw that I had jotted the title down; that should tell you something. 2/5.

[claws]

Sand Serpents (2009)

Marines stranded in Afghanistan encounter a new kind of enemy - gigantic worms zipping through the desert.

This is what you get when pairing Dune with Tremors.

What sets this creature feature from other RHI Entertainment productions apart is restraint. Sand Serpents is not your obvious in-your-face CGI crapfest with flying bloody limbs. It's more in the vein of Eye Of The Beast (2007) for those familiar with the movie. It might not be as good but then again hardly any RHI releases are, with only a few exceptions.

That said, I enjoyed this for what it is. A fun 'little' monster movie where the only cool character dies a heroic death.

Is this one worth tracking down? I found my copy in the bin for $5. It was worth the price. 3.25/5

[indianasmith]

I watched THE RIG tonight.  A deepwater drilling rig hits a weird pocket on the ocean floor which spews glowing purple gas and somehow unleashes some hungry, amphibious humanoids who feast on the rig crew during a hurricane.  Pretty by the number monster from the deep flick, not that great but worth a watch if you catch it on the bargain shelf.

[Hammock Rider]

 

 Zasu Pitts is Emma, a spinster who is called "Aunt" by all who love her. To the great disapproval of her old maid sisters Emma pines for the late "Gentleman Jim" and dreams of her youth when she was romanced by the legendary boxer. Emma reads about "Gentleman Jim's" troubled son Mickey and his upcoming championship fight with Tiger Wilson. Emma heads out to the big city on a mission to help the boy who if things had turned out differently might well have been her son. In the city Emma is mistaken for notorious lady gangster Ma Parker and becomes innocently involved in a mob war. Assuming the identity of Ma Parker Emma realizes that she will be better able to help Mickey's career in disguise.  This is a quaint and mildly funny movie about a sweet little old lady who sets things right after many years of living in the shadows of her fading memories.

[lester1/2jr]

The Nameless (2005)- this guy did the movie [rec] which I gather has a bit of a following. This is a pretty typical "earlier effort" and is solid but pretty nondescript. The story is creepy but just not all that great and neither is the writing. It's like a  "Masters of Horror" creation with more angst and less whimsy.

 A womans daughter is kidnapped and horribly mutilated, years later she starts receiving phone calls from a girl who says shes the daughter. It ties back to some group called "the nameless". Hey people in the movie, ever heard of the internet? There are no shadowy groups anymore.  I think this movie may actually have been made earlier in 1999 but still.

It's kind of a cross between Videodrome and a japanese horror movie. Needed alot more in the way of character development. Watcheable but none too profound. 3/5

[retrorussell]

Just saw Basket Case for the first time in forever.  It takes a while to grow on you, and the stop-motion effects are pretty bad, but it's worth sitting through as the weirdness of the premise kind of draws you in.  The part where the normal (!) brother is about to bone the secretary and she says "take me, Duane", then the monster brother pops out of the case going "RAHHHHR!" made me double over with laughter.  Not too bad a flick for being zero budget.

[lester1/2jr]

Eyes of  Stranger (1981)- This is worth seeing if you are a real diehard 80's horror fan but otherwise I'd say skip it. The opening is very promising, a hot british (? ) waitress is stalked by a guy. She is beautiful, gets naked, there is a really good gore sequence, it's shaping up to be a really good exploitative horror but that ends after about 20 minutes. The next 50 or so minutes is a pretty dull story about a female news anchors tracking of the killer guy. She doesn't bring much to the table and neither does this whole part of the movie though there are some alright murders. The final section is pretty good and features a just pre Fast times Jennifer Jason Leigh, who we met before as the anchors deaf and blind sister, being stalked. She is great and the whole movie should have been about her. I'm glad I saw it but I fast forwarded through a bit of the dull center.

2.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE (1966):  Lost in the desert, a vacationing family comes seeks lodging from Torgo, who takes care of the place while the Master is away.  Okay, okay, this is technically terrible, dull moviemaking, but I defy anyone not to giggle at least a couple of times at the antics of Torgo, the spastic satyr.  1.5/5. 

The first time I'd seen it in the unedited (non-MST3K) version, and it wasn't as painful as I thought t would be.  Maybe I was just well prepared for it, but I actually grew kind of fond of it.  Torgo is a magnificent creation!   

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: THE CORPSE VANISHES: Another season 1 episode.  The riffing is a little better and the underlying Bela Lugosi feature is easy enough to follow despite the comments, but they drop the ball in making this a superior season 1 episode with some lame host segments (although "Tiger Bot" was good).  2.5/5.

DON'T LOOK BACK (2009): A French writer loses her ability to recognize her surroundings; her apartment becomes unfamiliar, her husband looks like a stranger, and eventually even the face she sees in the mirror is another woman's, until she follows a clue in a photograph and discovers a secret about her own identity.  This psychological mystery is a bit slow moving and lays on the horror music cues a bit too thick, but Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci give wonderful performances as the same woman in two different bodies.  2.5/5. 

[claws]

The Expendables (2010) (Blu-ray)

Botox never looked that good in HD, but I shouldn't be saying that. The Expendables is the manliest movie of the year after all. Enjoyable action, and Dolph Lundgren really stood out. He has aged gracefully and doesn't look like a walking plastic surgeon's nightmare (no offence to the others). Beware the shocking Schwarzenegger cameo though. 4.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

"Botox never looked that good in HD, but I shouldn't be saying that. " lol


Born Free (1965) - First yes this includes the song Born Free and they play it instrumental version just a few too many times. Otherwise this is a very good movie about a white lady and her husband who is a game warden in Africa, the black guys call him "Bwana" whatever his name was, and how they take care of little lion cubs. The lion cubs like being around the house but they are indeed Born free so they gotta go at some point. One of them, Elsa, the lady (who is blonde and charming but was fat in real life) becomes attached too so she raises it than eventually they try and get it to go back to the wild. So the cute raucous cubs are the appeal of the first part then the heartstring pulling and drama of reintroducing Elsa into the wild is the second part.  

It's good but it doesn't move super fast. It was certainly different for me. I don't watch many G movies. Filmed in I think Kenya and lots of nice shots of it.

4.5 /5

Rolling Stones (2010): Stones in Exile - I wasn't all that interested in the likes of Will I am and Sheryl Crow's opinon on this album but once it got to the point it was pretty interesting. If you don't have The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street I don't know what to tell you. Have you ever been to a bar?  It's the perfection of rock n roll. Anyway, They get pretty well screwed over by their management and also due to Britains insane 93% tax rate (if you make a million dollars you get to keep 70,000) they cannot afford to make the album there.  They are off to the South of France where they bang out this album over the course of months, jamming endlessly and doing a ton of drugs.

Then they go to LA to finish the album which has evolved into a double album and which they are all sick of after a while, but it ends up working out for the best as thousands of fans will attest.

It's not perfect and you think they would have had some more practice footage and so forth but if you like Exile this is a must see at any rate. I watched it while "Shine A Light" was on tv and it made that look pretty stupid.

also 4.5/5

[Trekkie313]

MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE (1966):  Lost in the desert, a vacationing family comes seeks lodging from Torgo, who takes care of the place while the Master is away.  Okay, okay, this is technically terrible, dull moviemaking, but I defy anyone not to giggle at least a couple of times at the antics of Torgo, the spastic satyr.  1.5/5. 

The first time I'd seen it in the unedited (non-MST3K) version, and it wasn't as painful as I thought t would be.  Maybe I was just well prepared for it, but I actually grew kind of fond of it.  Torgo is a magnificent creation!   

For me Torgo and his amusing music are the only good thing about the film.

[Couchtr26]

Observe and Report:  Yeah, I am late to the game.  Didn't like it.  Seemed to exaggerate way too much and would have preferred something a bit more subtle.  1.5/5.

Blade Runner: How can you hate Blade Runner?  Got the Final Cut edition.  Enjoy it.  See it if you haven't.  4.5/5. 

Blood Rain:  Interesting Korean film.  I initially thought horror when I saw the trailer but more a detective story about who is killing who and why.  It seems to be mixed at times as the death scenes seem more like they would belong in a horror movie but much of the movie is more about the investigation.  Anyway, enough about that.  4/5. 

Grave of the Fireflies: Following the recommendations here saw it and to be honest I can understand the story but not as emotional as most seem to feel for it.  It seems to be a common theme and anytime I see something about WW II, you of course always see the perspective of the company producing it.  It feels like it would be much better to see one group try to make a movie explaining the others perspective.  Ah well, I ramble 3/5. 

[indianasmith]

Last night I watched a strange Japanese comedy/horror film called VAMPIRE GIRL MEETS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL.  Very weird, very over the top, VERY politically incorrect - there is a "Super Tan Club" at this high school of Japanese girls who are trying very hard to become black!  the Wrist Cutters' Club is funny too.  But the main attraction is the vampire babe fighting the reengineered dead science teacher's daughter for the affections of a hot senior guy.  Mondo weird, and buckets o blood for all.

Then tonight I took in a fairly new flick called SQUEAL.  Pretty forgettable - travelling amateur rock band falls afoul of a family of genetically engineered pig people who, well, squeal a lot while dicing up the luckless musicians.  Meh.

[Rev. Powell]

Last night I watched a strange Japanese comedy/horror film called VAMPIRE GIRL MEETS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL.  Very weird, very over the top, VERY politically incorrect - there is a "Super Tan Club" at this high school of Japanese girls who are trying very hard to become black!  the Wrist Cutters' Club is funny too.  But the main attraction is the vampire babe fighting the reengineered dead science teacher's daughter for the affections of a hot senior guy.  Mondo weird, and buckets o blood for all.

Thanks for reminding me of that one---added to my NF queue.