Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

the Playgirl Killer (1968) - no its not abuot a male nude model, just a cheap Something Weird style exploitation movie that is pg 13 and therefore not very exploitative. It doesn't really have anything to compensate for that. The various women are pretty but there's no ... weird band playing or particularly woeful acting or cheap monster or something. I think people from Blood Feast were involved but, while passively entertaining, it's certainly no Blood Feast.

2.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Lady Battle Cop" (1990)

! No longer available	Small | Large

It's the near future and "Neo-Tokyo" has come under siege by a brutal new crime organization called "The Cartel." When a scientist and his fiancee get caught in a crossfire between gangs, he saves her life by turning her into a crime-fighting cyborg programmed to take back the city.

...this hilarious gender-swapped "RoboCop" variant from Japan barely makes a lick of sense,  but its comic book style ultra-violence made it tons of fun to watch. Since the original "RoboCop" is my favorite movie of all time, I feel duty bound to check out any and all rip-offs like these. The not-quite-English subtitles add another level of WTF-ness to this already bizarre film!

[lester1/2jr]

The Calamari Wrestler (2004) - A guy wins a wrestling championship only to have a giant Calamari come in the ring and kick his ass. The Calamari has a girlfriend and goes food shopping in between a couple different dramatic matches, including one against an Octopus from Pakistan (?) or something.

The plot is pretty strong though its all about is he gonna win the next match. It seems wacky and it is but its not like one of those Vampire Girl movies where everyone is sawing someones leg off and crazy CGI everywhere. It's just a wrestling movie albeit one about a squid.

4.5 /5 colorful, different, and funny. If you're a fan of Ultimate Banzuki, Ninja Warrior, etc you'll probably get it

[claws]

The Aftermath (1982)

Post Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Action Drama about astronauts returning to a nuked earth. Everything is destroyed, zombified mutants run about and there's a brutal gang of rapists collecting whatever survivors they can find. The astronauts are optimistic and want the re-boot life on earth, but things get quickly out of hand when the brutal gang interferes.

This is very low budget done with plenty of love for the genre. There are a few bloody, graphic and sadistic moments but everything is quite dull in execution, which makes it for a somewhat boring viewing experience. In other words, the cheese was much too stale for me to fully enjoy. 2/5

[Rev. Powell]

BAD TIMING (1980): It starts with a woman being rushed to the emergency room; then flashbacks explain the troubled relationship between a psychology professor and a free-spirited younger woman that brought them to this pass. Nicholas Roeg had great success casting singer David Bowie as an alien in THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. Lead Art Garfunkle (!) is no David Bowie, but the story is compelling---Roeg feints that he's about to tell a bittersweet meditation on a failed affair, but gradually probes a deeper psychology of paranoia and obsession, using a subtly dislocating style to keep us off guard. 4.5/5.

[claws]

Project: Metalbeast (1995)

1974: two soldiers hunting down a werewolf are attacked by the creature. The werewolf is eventually killed, and they draw its blood for future experiments. After injecting himself with the werewolf blood the other soldier is cryogenically frozen for well, future experiments.

1994: a team of scientists are forced by the military to contuct werewolf experiments with the frozen guy and tissue that turns the werewolf-guy's skin into metal, making it the ultimate indestructible fighting machine. Things go wrong as always, with the metalbeast going on a roaring rampage of death and destruction.

Trivia: one of Prism Video's final releases before they filed for Chapter 11 in 1995. I've always wanted to see Project: Metalbeast and I can't believe it took me that long. The movie was pretty much what I expected, a low budget B-movie not fun enough to be so-bad-its-good. The effects are decent but all characters are annoying so you really don't care what happens to them. 2.5/5

[dean]

Hidden Figures (2016) - Perhaps the very definition of a 'feel good film'. Enjoyable period piece about race, women and NASA during the space race in the 60s. Kevin Costner kind of solves racism in this, which copped a bit of criticism on the web, but I think that he wasn't particularly trying to be a 'white saviour' stereotype but just was sick of how much the segregation actually made his team's work less efficient which is probably more utilitarian than noble.

Cast is generally pretty great, nothing too groundbreaking here with a modern soundtrack to keep things lively, but I can imagine it'll be relatively forgettable when I think about it in a few weeks time.

3.5/5

[Rev. Powell]

DEMENTIA [DAUGHTER OF HORROR] (1955): A deranged woman walks out into the night, encounters skid row bums and a millionaire, hallucinates, and is involved in a "mysterious stabbing." Told with no dialogue at all (and minimal sound effects), DEMENTIA is a great experimental horror movie that doesn't overstay its welcome at a brisk hour's running time. Subtract one half-star for DAUGHTER OF HORROR, the alternate version with sparse but obvious and unwelcome narration (by Ed MacMahon) that assumes you're an idiot. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Secret Life Of Pets" (2016)

A pampered city pooch and his friends set out on an adventure through the mean streets of NYC in this fast & funny animated hit from the makers of "Despicable Me." This was a repeat viewing and it was still a hoot the second time around

[Rev. Powell]

MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA (2016): An antisocial sophomore writer for the school newspaper must become a hero when, as the title suggests, an earthquake causes his entire high school to sink into the sea. With piles of teenage corpses and corny jokes, the tone is macabre/whimsical--but plot and character take a back seat to the animation, which is crude but imaginative and varied, shifting through numerous styles and even venturing into a psychedelic freakout. 3.5/5.

THE MONSTROUS DR. CRIMEN (1953): Looking for a scoop, a female reporter answers an ad seeking companionship and finds a lonely, deformed plastic surgeon whose thoughts turn to vengeance when he discovers her vocation. Cheap, predictable Mexican Gothic that is sincerely intended but has little to recommend it (although the plot gets a little crazy). 2/5.

[javakoala]

Hidden Figures (2016) - Perhaps the very definition of a 'feel good film'. Enjoyable period piece about race, women and NASA during the space race in the 60s. Kevin Costner kind of solves racism in this, which copped a bit of criticism on the web, but I think that he wasn't particularly trying to be a 'white saviour' stereotype but just was sick of how much the segregation actually made his team's work less efficient which is probably more utilitarian than noble.

Cast is generally pretty great, nothing too groundbreaking here with a modern soundtrack to keep things lively, but I can imagine it'll be relatively forgettable when I think about it in a few weeks time.

3.5/5

I won't call this movie what I really think it is because I don't want to get political, but I'm sure all the white people involved in the making of this movie patted themselves on the back enough that they bruised their spines.

A "feel-good" movie is just about all this was. It hit every cliche we've grown up seeing and hearing. I was saying most of the dialogue before any of it came out of people's mouths.

What I really wanted was a story that honestly focused on these three women and their lives. I wanted to see their individual struggles and how, as individuals, they proved their skills and adaptability in a society that was still one-and-a-half feet back in the past. Instead, we get them falling in love or their spouse just suddenly does a 180 and starts backing the wife when there should have been a scene that displayed her commitment so that her husband would at least grudgingly support her choices. Just poor writing to get to the "feel-good" point.

I will say that the performances were solid, and that the movie looks great. Other than that, not the groundbreaking film I was honestly hoping for.

1.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cropsey" (2009)
There's an urban legend in Staten Island, New York about a crazed child killer who lives in the woods near an abandoned mental hospital. The kicker is, this legend may actually have basis in fact, as numerous Staten Island children have disappeared without a trace since the early '70s. In this intriguing documentary a local drifter is accused of the crimes and brought to trial more than 20 years after the fact. Absorbing stuff.

[Rev. Powell]

IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN (1973): Two Spanish spinsters kill promiscuous women who stay at their hotel. Badly-dubbed bad movie. 1/5.

[javakoala]

IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN (1973): Two Spanish spinsters kill promiscuous women who stay at their hotel. Badly-dubbed bad movie. 1/5.

What you watched may have been the heavily edited version, given the title. Under the title A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL, you get the full movie, depending on the source.

The uncut version is closer to 90 minutes and explores the story of one of the spinsters who has a deep carnal craving that she satisfies with one of the young boys of the village, basically making her the same type of person she helps kill. And it is a touch more graphic.

Not that the full version is any great shakes, but it is better than the edited version, if that is what you happened to see.

[Rev. Powell]

IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN (1973): Two Spanish spinsters kill promiscuous women who stay at their hotel. Badly-dubbed bad movie. 1/5.

What you watched may have been the heavily edited version, given the title. Under the title A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL, you get the full movie, depending on the source.

The uncut version is closer to 90 minutes and explores the story of one of the spinsters who has a deep carnal craving that she satisfies with one of the young boys of the village, basically making her the same type of person she helps kill. And it is a touch more graphic.

Not that the full version is any great shakes, but it is better than the edited version, if that is what you happened to see.

Yeah, I saw the edited version (Mill Creek 50 pack). I didn't think more gore or some nudity would help much, but I should have pointed it out to be fair to the flick. Thanks!