Recent viewings

[Pilgermann]

Just watched The Narrow Margin (1952), a thrilling picture about the widow of a mob boss being escorted by an undercover detective on a train from Chicago to L.A. so she can testify against the mob.  It has a lot of noir-ish elements but I don't think it's the most pure example, but it's got some great characters with great dialogue, good doses of suspense, some humor, and cool camera work.  See it!

[Jack]

Witchcraft (1964) - A real estate developer is building some houses, but his unscrupulous partner decides to bulldoze a cemetery on the property.  It's an 800 year old cemetery, and a witch was once buried alive there.  I'll give you one guess how that turns out    There's a centuries old feud between the developer's family and the cemetery owners (lead by Lon Chaney Jr.), and there's more to Lon's family than meets the eye!  This was really good.  The story moved along at a fine pace, the characters were likable and well acted, and the script was nicely done as well.  It was more of a suspense/mystery than an outright horror movie.  4/5.

[JaseSF]

The Monster Squad (1987): The plot here is pretty basic. A bunch of little kids in a monster club stumble across a bunch of actual Universal monsters (including a Wolfman, a Gillman, a Mummy and a Frankenstein Monster), lead by Count Dracula himself, on the verge of bringing evil to reign on Earth for a thousand years if the Count get his hands on a certain amulet at the right time. The gutsy kids in Monster Squad set out to find some way to stop them.

This was sooooo much fun!!! I loved it! Sure they toned the monsters down here a bit considering this was essentially a kids' film but not as much as I expected they would in all honesty. By in large, they were more faithful to the originals than I thought they would be. Also the violence and kid talk has a surprisingly believable edge to it that I doubt would be there if they made a film like this nowadays. Well nowadays it would probably be way too wholesome or way too over the top offensive but the way this was made back in the late 80s, it was just the right fit IMO. Tremendously entertaining and of course I have a soft spot for those traditional style monsters. **** out of *****

[Jack]

Black Scorpion (1995) - this is a low budget female version of Batman.  There was a TV show based on this movie, and I remembered it being enjoyable on a very cheesy and silly level.  But that starred Michelle Lintel, who really brought a feisty and fun attitude to it.  This movie stars Joan Severance, and she doesn't bring anything at all to the role.  In fact she's fairly boring.  Anyhow, she's a cop and she gets suspended, so she dresses up in a sexy S&M outfit and becomes a superhero.  There's some bad guy in a really cheesy costume who wants to release some sort of gas which will make all the city's inhabitants into his slaves.  Yadda yadda yadda.  I dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it.  It lacked the strong central character that would have made all the silly nonsense into FUN silly nonsense.   3/5.

[JaseSF]

The Terminator (1984): A woman finds herself the unlikely target of a seemingly unstoppable killer cyborg from the future. A soldier, also sent from the future to guard her, is her only hope for survival.

Take Harlan Ellison's classic Outer Limits episodes Demon With a Glass Hand and Soldier and a bit of the episode The Man Who Was Never Born to boot, mix in John Carpenter's Halloween and you wind up with The Terminator. Essentially The Terminator is when you really stop and think about astonishingly similar to Halloween. In both, you have an unstoppable killer hunting a young female throughout most of the film's running time. Granted the method of operation might be different as Michael Myers isn't a cyborg and uses a large knife instead of guns but other than that the similarities are striking. Both Myers and the Terminator are introduced with omnious music to annouce their presence. That said, The Terminator is a very well done action fest with only a few lulls in the excitement and is sure to please almost all those who love action and suspense. The Terminator also has the added element of passing for an ordinary human being at first glance and the whole future with machines determined to wipe out humanity is shockingly similar to what one might expect the aftermath of Colossus: The Forbin Project to be. Highly entertaining viewing but hardly original. ***1/2 out of *****

[3mnkids]

The Crazies (2010)~ The people of a small town suddenly become crazy. Cue black helicopters, military people in black SUVs, and guys with guns...

I liked it but I like anything with Timothy Olyphant. Damn, that is one fine looking man.    okay, back to the movie.. yes, its a remake and not a great one. It isn't anything we all haven't seen before but the acting is solid and its entertaining.

[Vik]

^Been browsing on that site huh 

Teenagers from outer space

Cool old, black and white B-movie. Not much else to say about it 

[3mnkids]

^Been browsing on that site huh 

Guilty.. im so ashamed..   

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: RED ZONE CUBA:  Wow.  Coleman Francis was something, wasn't he?  In the movie, three hobos join a Bay of Pigs type invasion force, are captured but escape, and return to the US to start a random killing spree while searching for a uranium mine.  The plot is totally incoherent and the editing is tragic, but the boys did cut this one up for television, so it may look even more random than the "director's cut."  I can't say the riffing really did much for me, I found the underlying insanity of Coleman's vision more interesting than the comments.  Dr. Forrester spends most of the episode in traction, and the movie makes Mike think he's Carol Channing, a joke that just didn't work for me.  With another posture short.  This is a favorite of some of the show's fans but it didn't work that well for me.  I suspect it gets better with repeat viewings.  Still, I'll give it 3.5/5. 

I don't think an uncut version of RED ZONE CUBA (AKA NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNDO FINE) is available anywhere. I'd be strongly tempted to see it if it was.

[lester1/2jr]

The haunted world of Ed Wood- I can't really evaluate this for 2 reasons 1. I really don't like when people say "the book was better" when talking about a movie. In this case though, the book is basically nightmare of ecstacy, a book I've read about a million times and this movie is really at best a companion to that. 2. but because it is a companion to "nightmare" it is immediately 5 stars however dated and /or clunky parts of it might be.  Extra included "streets of laredo" Woods first movie which I didn't feel like wathcing but will someday

[Jim H]

MST3K: RED ZONE CUBA:  Wow.  Coleman Francis was something, wasn't he?  In the movie, three hobos join a Bay of Pigs type invasion force, are captured but escape, and return to the US to start a random killing spree while searching for a uranium mine.  The plot is totally incoherent and the editing is tragic, but the boys did cut this one up for television, so it may look even more random than the "director's cut."  I can't say the riffing really did much for me, I found the underlying insanity of Coleman's vision more interesting than the comments.  Dr. Forrester spends most of the episode in traction, and the movie makes Mike think he's Carol Channing, a joke that just didn't work for me.  With another posture short.  This is a favorite of some of the show's fans but it didn't work that well for me.  I suspect it gets better with repeat viewings.  Still, I'll give it 3.5/5. 

I don't think an uncut version of RED ZONE CUBA (AKA NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNDO FINE) is available anywhere. I'd be strongly tempted to see it if it was.

Do you mean a non-MST3K version?  Or just one that isn't missing footage?  If so, there are non-MST3Ked versions floating around.  I've seen it in dollar bins.

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: RED ZONE CUBA:  Wow.  Coleman Francis was something, wasn't he?  In the movie, three hobos join a Bay of Pigs type invasion force, are captured but escape, and return to the US to start a random killing spree while searching for a uranium mine.  The plot is totally incoherent and the editing is tragic, but the boys did cut this one up for television, so it may look even more random than the "director's cut."  I can't say the riffing really did much for me, I found the underlying insanity of Coleman's vision more interesting than the comments.  Dr. Forrester spends most of the episode in traction, and the movie makes Mike think he's Carol Channing, a joke that just didn't work for me.  With another posture short.  This is a favorite of some of the show's fans but it didn't work that well for me.  I suspect it gets better with repeat viewings.  Still, I'll give it 3.5/5. 

I don't think an uncut version of RED ZONE CUBA (AKA NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNDO FINE) is available anywhere. I'd be strongly tempted to see it if it was.

Do you mean a non-MST3K version?  Or just one that isn't missing footage?  If so, there are non-MST3Ked versions floating around.  I've seen it in dollar bins.

I haven't searched for a DVD but I remember someone asking in this forum if there was one commercially available, and I remember no one could point him to one.  I also saw people on the MST3K boards saying the uncut film wasn't available on DVD.  I wouldn't be shocked if the situation had changed since then, though.

[claws]

Hush (2009) - A young man who installs ads/posters in frames at rest stops must pursue a truck because the driver kidnapped his girlfriend. Tight Thriller that reminded me of Joy Ride (2001). However, this is a British movie. Nothing wrong with that but I was tempted to switch on subtitles because it was so hard to understand what they were saying. I've seen tons of British movies but this one had the worst accents ever 
4/5

[claws]

Prisoner in the Middle a.k.a. Warhead (1977) - (Private) war in the Middle East: bad and good guys sort of battle over an explosive device accidentally dropped by the U.S. Basically they are trying to outsmart one another, but in primitive ways. In the end there shall be no winners. Eh yeah. Dull Action with a desert setting. The only reason I watched this was because of Christopher Stone. It was nice to see him in something else for a change. 2.5/5

[JaseSF]

Planet Terror (2007): a mysterious tow truck driver nicknamed El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) and his on again/off again go go dancer girlfriend Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), despite Cherry's having lost a leg, join the local police force lead by Sheriff Hague (Michael Biehn) in a desperate pitched battle against a horde of rampaging zombie like people, the result of a biochemical weapon being released into the atmosphere.

This movie delivers what 2007 audiences were most likely looking for: the over the top grindhouse goods. Loads of violence and gore and just plain craziness, there's never a dull moment here. That said, this requires much suspension of disbelief as the overall plot is kind of insanely farfetched (especially the machine gun leg cool looking as it is). Those looking for shocks, gore, grossness, T & A and loads of shoot 'em up action adventure should be delighted with this one. The trailer for Machete was a very fitting little bonus extra. ***1/2 out of *****

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988): Ten years after his first escape, the thought to be an invalid Michael Myers escapes once more this time looking to kill his young niece. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) once more pursues Michael hoping to stop the inevitable carnage.

While competently made, this film seems somewhat inconsistent in terms of plot continuity. One minute Michael is moving very slowly Mummy style in pursuit of someone, another minute he suddenly springs out in front or just behind them. One minute Michael seems to be watching and doing nothing, then suddenly he springs into action right out of the blue. The mask and look of Michael isn't as good as in the first film or even the second. Here he has a much blander mask and overall appearance and his fate at the end seems completely unbelievable given what we've seen from Michael before. The twist ending I could see coming a mile away. Best thing about this movie honestly is the performance of young Danielle Harris as Jamie. She does a very good job at playing terrified and adequately getting through to audiences a character in emotional turmoil. Donald Pleasance looks tired and just seems to be going through the motions here. Pretty much seems to be and probably was a movie just churned out looking to cash in on the reputation of the Halloween name. ** out of *****