Recent viewings

[Jack]

Shadowzone (1990) - some people at a research lab are conducting experiments with sleep - they've got two people in a deep state of sleep and somehow this opens a corridor to another dimension and some sort of shape-shifting monster comes through. It spends the rest of the movie terrorizing them. I watched this before and didn't really think much of it but it seemed a little better last night. The story was a somewhat interesting and I guess it had decent atmosphere. The characters, though they were a little bit developed, all seemed completely disposable and it just didn't generate any scares for me. Decent enough for a 3.5/5 though I guess.

[FatFreddysCat]

American Mary (2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vICehR-H00

Entertaining, disturbing little sickie about a terminally-broke female medical student (Katherine Isabelle of 'Ginger Snaps') who finds a unique way to make ends meet: doing underground surgeries for people in the 'body modification' community. Naturally, the deeper she goes into that increasingly bizarre world, the weirder things get.

Not a classic for the ages, but a decent watch with some good gore and lots of eye candy courtesy of Isabelle. Think Dee Snider's Strangeland without the Internet angle and a hot chick in place of Dee Snider, and you're sort of in the ballpark.

It is unclear why the film is called American Mary since this film was apparently an all-Canadian production. Maybe 'Canadian Mary' didn't have the right ring to it.

[claws]

Moon 44 (1990) (Blu-ray)

A "hired" group of convicts must "protect" a mining planet from rival companies who battle each other for access to mining planets.

Director Roland Emmerich copies James Cameron's Aliens for his third movie. Emmerich even recreates certain scenes from Aliens that left me watching wide eyed.

What a thieving bastard 

Other than that Moon 44 offers nice but familiar visuals and set designs, plus unintentional homoerotic undertones. Acting can be borderline bad at times. 3/5

[indianasmith]

During the ice storm this weekend I rented 5 movies and have watched 3 so far, plus one from earlier in the week:

KILLER HOLIDAY - Group of teens during spring break spends the night in an abandoned amusement park and become slasher fodder.  Pleasantly gory but a bit hard to follow; my favorite line was when the killer slashed a girl across the stomach with a broken bottle and she looked at him and asked "Why are you doing this?"  He responded: "I do not understand the logic of your question."  He chatted pleasantly with her for a moment, then rammed the bottle into her heart.  Disturbing, but the killer really comes across as a genuine psychopath and not the usual cheap slasher movie stereotype.

MURDER UNIVERSITY - A series of killings in a university span over 20 years, as the orphaned son of a local teacher and the hot daughter of a cop try to apprehend the cult behind the killings.  Hit and miss; a fair amount of nudity and some gory kills, but the plotline is hard to follow in places.  And a couple of the girls are VERY unattractive.

RED 2 - The Retired, Extremely Dangerous seniors from the first movie are back for more mayhem, joined by none other than Sir Anthony Hopkins.  This series is pure fun from start to finish, if you like lots of shooting, gaping reality flaws, ridiculous plot twists, and balding sixtysomething men who still manage to have totally hot thirtysomething girlfriends.

THE WOVERINE - Saw the latest X-men franchise entry tonight, and loved it.  Hugh Jackman is still a total bada$$ in the role, and this time he's wreaking havoc in Japan, where the owner of a huge corporation is trying to steal his self-healing ability and use it for nefarious purposes.

Tomorrow - 2 GUNS and JUG FACE.

[Kooshmeister]

Magnum Force
Battleship
The Gauntlet
Grabbers
Die, Monster, Die!
Pacific Rim
The Dark Knight Returns: Deluxe Edition
Christmas Vacation
Analyze That
The Hideous Sun Demon
Superman Returns
and
Man of Steel

[Jack]

The Girl Who Played with Fire (aka Flickan som lekte med elden) (2009) - second movie in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy (my wife read all the books so now we're watching the movies). Lisbeth (the girl with the tattoo) is being hunted by a mysterious figure form her past, while meanwhile Mikael, the journalist from the first movie, is investigating this and trying to contact Lisbeth. As before, she's a very troubled but very intelligent person, and she stole a whole bunch of money from the bad guys at the end of the first movie so she's got the resources to stay well hidden. But of course she's got to investigate who's after her as well. I actually liked this a little better than the first movie, it's got a bit more action. Very good acting and interesting, likable characters. 4/5.

[Jack]

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) - another from the Dan Curtis collection. Jack Palance stars as our titular character(s) who's developed a formula to split the evil part of man away from the good part. So you go through the usual shenanigans of Mr. Hyde getting in all sorts of trouble etc. This wasn't bad, it had a bit of drama to it and the characters were vaguely interesting. It dragged quite a bit in the last third though. I'll be a little generous and give it a 3/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Iron Man 3" (2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CzoSeClcw0

Tony Stark's suffering from a bout of post-traumatic stress syndrome brought on by his "Avengers" experience, just as a terrorist named The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) starts blowin' a whole lotta sh*t up around the U.S. Can Tony shake off his personal demons and get back to kickin' bad-guy butt again? Well, duh. This third chapter is far better than the blah "Iron Man 2," with more humor and of course plenty of action.

Robert Downey Jr. gets to flex some action-hero muscles outside of the Iron Man suit, and Gwyneth "Pepper Potts" Paltrow is given more to do than the standard damsel-in-distress routine for a change. The end credits promise that "Tony Stark will return," ala James Bond, which is fine by me.

[Rev. Powell]

DRUG WAR: A drug kingpin falls into the police's laps when they discover him injured in a car crash, but can they trust the criminal's plan to save himself from execution by setting up a sting on his fellow cartel members? Superior police procedural with slick action sequences that hearkens back to the days of New Wave Hong Kong cinema, and explains why deaf-mutes make the best footsoliders in your drug army. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

My Twisted Christmas Film Festival continues with...

"Saint Nick" (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcxuWV2CWl0

Also known as "Saint" or "Sint," this Dutch holiday-horror import is like a Euro twist on "Silent Night, Deadly Night." Shortly before Christmas, the city of Amsterdam comes under siege by the p**sed off spirit of Saint Nicholas, who's not nearly as jolly as his American counterpart, Santa Claus. It's up to a disgraced cop and a kid to stop him before he massacres the whole city.

Note: the version of this flick that's available on Netflix has one of the worst English dubbings I've seen/heard since the Italian horror flicks of the 80s....but the stilted, awkward English translations only add to the film's overall surreal vibe.

"Saint" is much more mean spirited than Finland's similarly themed "Rare Exports," with lots of improbable action and some sweet-ass violence and gore, so I certainly wasn't bored. Worth a look if you're in the mood for something out of the ordinary.

[Jack]

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (aka Luftslottet som sprängdes) (2009) - third movie in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I'm not even going to attempt to explain the plot as it's fairly complex and wouldn't make much sense to anyone who hasn't seen the second movie. It's a combination detective mystery and political thriller with a bit of courtroom drama at the end. I think this is my favorite of the three, as we see all the plot lines from the previous films finally get tied up. And after spending 7 1/2 hours with these characters, you really feel as if you know and care about them. Despite the fact that there very little action in this one, the plot was very suspenseful and kept me intrigued throughout. 4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (2013): A sexually confused teen girl falls for an artsy college girl with blue hair; the movie then follows their relationship and eventual breakup over the years. Brilliantly acted, but at three hours long, it's obvious director Abdel Kechiche is more fascinated by these characters than the average viewer will be; his inability to stop rolling the camera, whether it be during endless pasta dinners or graphic sex scenes, starts to become a problem as the hours drag on. 3/5.

[claws]

"The Elvira Show" (1993) (YouTube)

Unaired pilot for a sit-com starring Elvira (Cassandra Peterson). I thought this was funny, even though it recycled jokes, themes and scenes from the Elvira movie Mistress of the Dark (1988). Filled with typical Elvira humor, would've been interesting to see how this sit-com would have unfolded. 4/5

Freddy vs. Jason (2003) (Blu-ray)

Freddy Krueger resurrects Jason Vorhees and sents him to Elm Street in order to provide Krueger with fresh souls. Once Freddy has his strength back he tries to get rid off Jason - but Jason won't die.
Clash of the franchises, stylish and bloody with high body count. Dumb but entertaining. 4/5

The Possession (2012) (Blu-ray)

Daughter of divorced parents buys mystery wooden box at yard sale containing evil. After opening the box she is possessed by a demonic spirit.
Solid supernatural horror pushing the PG-13 limits. This film was quite effective I thought, mostly thanks to scary soundtrack score. 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3qhpflogU

On Christmas Eve in 1971, lIttle Billy witnesses the murder of his parents by a guy in a Santa suit. Naturally this instills some, shall we say, issues regarding Santa Claus. Spending the rest of his formative years in an orphanage under the thumb of an abusive Mother Superior doesn't help. You can barely blame the guy when he grows up for snapping on Christmas Eve and going on a killing spree of his own while wearing a Santa suit. Am I right? Am I right?

But seriously...this controversial little slasher sickie got run out of theaters by angry parents and PTA groups back in the day, instantly cementing its rep as a cult classic. As slasher flicks go, it's a delightfully sleazy piece of work that will make you feel like you need a shower when it's over. This flick is a perfect antidote to all the holly-jolly Christmas movies that clog up the airwaves at this time of year!!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2" (1987)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kgOsPBMPk

"Ricky," younger brother of the killer Santa "Billy" from the previous "SN,DN" film, pours out his tragic story to a jail psychiatrist before escaping and embarking on a Santa-suited killing spree of his very own.

This cheap-as-hell sequel is infamous for its liberal recycling of footage from the first film (which takes up most of the first half of the movie) and the terrible over-acting of the dude playing "Ricky" (two words: "GARBAGE DAAAAAAYYYY!").

Make no mistake, this movie totally sucks, but it sucks in an  awesome sort of way.