Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

THE CORRIDOR (2010): Would you accept an invitation to hang out for a weekend in the middle of nowhere with the childhood buddy who recently stabbed you during a psychotic break, but claims he's fine now as long as he takes his pills? If so, you may enjoy this cabin-in-the-woods horror with good character development and a hallucinatory "is this really happening or is it all in my head?" ending. 3/5.

[Pilgermann]

Pieces (1982) - The beginning of the film features a young boy putting together a puzzle of a naked woman.  His mother walks in and sees this and slaps him around, yells at him and tells him how he's gonna end up like his father, blah blah.  Next thing you know, the little boy is hacking up his mother!  When police arrive he's whimpering in the closet and they don't suspect him of being the murderer.  Cut to many years later, young girls are being mutilated on a college campus by some psycho with a chainsaw.

This is pretty much the epitome of trashy, nonsensical film making.  It exists in its own world where the police operate in a way that isn't effective or sensible, like keeping the murders totally hush-hush to appease the university's dean ('cause, you know, we don't want to make the school seem dangerous or alarm any students whose lives are at risk).  The dubbing is awful and hilarious.  Also features a totally nutty ending!  I enjoyed this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGAorYpjFqw
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I give it a 9/10

[fulci420]

Manhattan Baby-One of Fulci's less heralded early 80's entries in the genre. Starting off in egypt, theres an amulet, and snakes and.... wait I actually don't know know what the hell was going on in the Egyptian scenes. Before we know it though we are in New York and who do we encounter but the infamous Giovanni Frezza most famously known as BOB from House by the Cemetery. He calls his sister a "lousy lesbian" in his first scene which is a comedic highlight. Eye Lasers are a prominent plot device as is sand which is now appearing in a new york apartment for some reason. Other than that I think there was dimension traveling and possession but I cant be sure.

So is this worth watching... yes and no. Firstly this is one of Fulci's least violent efforts and while that's ok it could use with more kills during its run time to improve the pacing. In terms of directing I think there are some striking images here and some fine camerawork. The Egypt scenes in particular were quite impressive in their scope and atmosphere. Finally I thought that the film got increasingly dream like and surreal as it went on, which is definitely a good thing for me.

Hard core fans of Italian genre fans could do worse than picking this title up through Blue Underground. Their dvd has a great anamorphic transfer, as well as a interview with co writer Dardano Saccheti. Interestingly unlike most featurette's where people gush about how great the film is, Dardano doesn't much like this film at all. He claims the budget was overly cut making it impossible to make the film they intended. The egypt footage was shot in order to save what is described by Dardano as a poor film. Personally I think this film may be a bit better than it's reputation indicates due to excellent visuals and some good atmosphere and music.

[JaseSF]

Attack the Block (2011): A group of troubled youth/gang teen toughs decide to take it in their own hands to fight off an alien invasion that dares enter their territory.

While the lingo is sometimes hard to understand and the kids aren't always as sympathetic as a viewer would like, this movie is a surprisingly enjoyable gory action thrill ride. It harkens back in some ways to those old 50s drive-in horror films where only the teenagers realized an alien invasion was going on (Invasion of the Saucer Men, The Blob) but of course is much gorier and violent. The alien critters prove rather nasty, rather gorilla like with large teeth and it really leaves one wondering whether all the characters will make it out alive. Some elements do push credibility but hey, that's a given it seems in movies of this type. In the end, I'd give this ***1/2 out of ***** stars. Folks here should enjoy this one.

The Ghost Breakers (1940): Radio host Lawrence Lawrence (Bob Hope) ends up unexpectedly entangled with murder intrigue when he meets up with pretty brunette heiress Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard) whose just inherited Castillo Maldito, a spacious mansion and plantation off the coast of Cuba. Seems someone else is trying to scare Mary away from the property and isn't afraid to resort to murder. Making matters even worse, Castillo Maldito is reputedly a very haunted place. Lawrence Lawrence and his valet Alex (Willie Best) decide to try and help Ms. Carter out with her predicament.

This was quite a fun little movie that seems to end much too fast which is probably a good sign meaning one wishes the fun went on a bit longer. Hope is funny here but most of the best laughs actually come from Willie Best as Hope's valet even though he is essentially playing the now arguably stereotypical scared silly black servant and the film definitely seems dated with this now questionable portrayal and some racial jokes that would never be used nowadays. Goddard makes a nice potential romantic interest for the male characters in this film and really looks quite lovely here and shows arguably more skin than was usual for the era. The Castillo Maldito is also quite well achieved as it definitely does look like a very haunted place. Also adding to the atmosphere of this one is the startling and loud lightning storm that opens the film and an apparent monster of sorts with a zombie. This one is very much in the vein of other old dark house comedy horrors of the era but is arguably better than most of them. I'll give this one ***1/2 out of ***** stars too.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Saturn 3" (1980)
http://www.youtube.com/v/NENxIu02bvg

Cheesy sci-fi cult classic starring an aging Kirk Douglas and a hot-n-juicy Farrah Fawcett as a pair of research scientists/lovers on a remote space outpost, whose idyllic existence is threatened by a new arrival from Earth (a young Harvey Keitel) and his psychotic killer robot - both of whom have designs on Farrah.

This flick wants to be a terror bonanza ala "Alien" but though it's got some cool set designs and a bad-ass looking robot, the flick is slow as molasses and never builds up any real suspense. You do get to see Farrah's exposed breast for about two seconds though, which must count for something.

Believe it or not, this flick was directed by Stanley "Singin' In The Rain" Donen, of all people.

Useless trivia, Keitel's dialogue was overdubbed (woodenly) by another actor to cover up his thick Brooklyn-ese accent.

Recommended only for Farrah fans and sci-fi geeks with a high tolerance for B-Movie pain.

[Rev. Powell]

TWIN PEAKS PILOT (INTERNATIONAL VERSION): This is the version of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" pilot with a 20-minute alternate ending solving the murder of Laura Palmer; it was released as a standalone movie in Europe (the financiers were trying to protect their investment in case the pilot wasn't picked up for a series). The original "Twin Peaks" pilot was full of quirky characters and situations, subdued psychological horror and quotable lines, and was possibly the most fascinating 90 minutes ever shot for television. The conversion to standalone movie format makes little sense, because the characters and clues to the mystery had not been developed yet; the solution comes out of nowhere and bears no meaningful relation to the first three fourths of the movie. Most of the sequences here were recycled and put into future episodes of the TV show; this is where the iconic backward-talking midget dream sequence makes its first appearance. Worth a look as a curiosity for fans of the series but only after you've seen the pilot in its original form. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Dog Day Afternoon" (1975)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPwBfZHozQ8
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Based on a true incident that happened in 1972, two losers (Al Pacino and John Casale) attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank ... and before they quite know what's happening, the situation has spun out of control, they're holding eight bank employees hostage on live TV, and "Sonny" (Pacino) has become a reluctant folk hero.

This is regularly mentioned as one of the best movies of the 70s and now I see why. Fantastic screenplay and excellent performances, especially by Pacino.

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: GAMERA: The first "Gamera" movie is a more "serious" film and the only one in the series in black and white; it just makes for so-so mocking fodder and is basically a set-up for the wackier Gameras to come. Highlighted by Tom's song about Tibby ("do you realize a robot just sang a love song to a turtle?") the host segments in this one are pretty good---the writers have hit their stride and everyone's comfortable with their role. 3/5 alone, but add a half star for the extras on the Shout! Factory DVD for a 3.5/5.

[JaseSF]

The Monster Club (1981): An eccentric vampire (Vincent Price) invites a famous horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes (John Carradine) to an evening out at a most unusual nightclub especially designated for members of "The Monster Club" where he relates three startling horror stories about different types of monsters (the stories are based on the writings of real British horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes).

While in its time, this anthology film from Amicus directed by Roy Ward Baker probably seemed rather campy and cornball especially during the Price-Carradine segments where we also get to see monster themed musical performances, watching it today is instead so very much fun and seems somewhat like a throwback to another movie era that's trying a bit too hard to be hip for a more modern audience. The musical performances actually proved far better and slightly more cleverly orchestrated than I expected though and I really enjoyed the anthology stories too although the last story about ghouls is by far the most powerful and genuinely scary while the second story is more an amusing dark comedy about vampires and the first seems more a bittersweet tragic monster love story gone awry. There's a great cast of familiar faces involved with this one including Donald Pleasance, Britt Ekland, Barbara Kellerman, Simon Ward, Stuart Whitman and James Laurenson with those last two performers standing out by far the most in their respective stories. I'll give this one ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Scooby-Doo" (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/v/80xWiJ-0j94

Live action version of the cartoon classic reunites the Mystery Inc. crew to solve a mystery on Spooky Island, a horror-themed tropical amusement park. Lots of garish sets, loud noises and cheap-on-purpose (at least I hope it was on purpose) CGI follows.

This flick is total kid stuff, of course, but I have to admit that it wasn't nearly as painful as I'd expected. Thankfully the filmmakers were thoughtful enough to provide some eye candy for Dad, in the form of Sarah Michelle Gellar as a butt kicking Daphne and Isla ("Wedding Crashers") Fisher as an island cutie who befriends the Mystery Machine gang.

Oh, and I swear that Matthew "Scream" Lillard was born to play Shaggy. :lmao:

My kids thought it was a hoot and I've seen worse. Let's leave it at that.

[lester1/2jr]

Corvaile or something (The Ordeal) - another overrated french horror movie. the best thing I can say about it is it has a little bit of that film festival spirit where the thing may not be great but it's at least demented and offbeat in an" i'm learning how to make a movie" way. a guy winds up at a shack somehow and discovers a weird world of backwoods weirdies, some of whom are secretly awful. It's cliche to say a movie is a collection of cliches but this one is.  it constantly reminded me of other movies. There are some "torturous" sort of scenes that are I guess done well enough and if you really don't think about hoe improbable everything is it's passively entertaining. It has that sort of feel where everyone is quite dirty, like literally.

 I feel like a total snob saying all this but ..it's a french movie how is that possible? 3/5 lets move ON now

[fulci420]

Nikita-Great film, incredible directing and preformances. I had seen the american remake Point of no Return and was pleasantly surprised at how superior this original version is. The blu ray is fantastic with the great soundtrack being presented in superb quality. Right up there with the best foreign movies i have ever seen.

[Jack]

Idaho Transfer (1973) - to avoid a looming eco-disaster, a group of young people use a teleportation device to travel 54 years into the future. Once there, they take a really long walk and then sit around and talk for a bit. They're out in the middle of a huge nature preserve in Idaho, so other than a bunch of flat land, there's not much to see. The main character is an apathetic self-absorbed girl who wanders off on her own, travels back to the present, and then travels farther into the future for the obligatory Twilight Zone twist ending. It was sort of an atmospheric thing, and the teleportation device didn't work unless the girls took their pants off (kudos to the guy who designed that thing), so it kept me mildly interested. (Well, that and a nice mellow beer buzz.) It was directed by Peter Fonda, or maybe Peter Fonda's character from Easy Rider, I couldn't really tell which. 3.75/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Deception" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPSCMaIluGc
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A jet set lawyer (Hugh Jackman) befriends a dorky corporate accountant (Ewan McGregor) and introduces him to life in the fast lane. Of course, eventually Accountant Boy learns that his new pal nas a serious dark side.

Stylish thriller w/decent performances even if it did drag for a bit in the middle.

[lester1/2jr]

I lked Idaho Transfer. It was insanely slow but good.