Recent viewings

[lester1/2jr]

Legendary Weapons of China - I hadn't seen this in about 10 years. Opinions on it vary. Some feel it's a classic and others feel it's one of those "classics" that isn't actually that great. I'd lean toward the former but can understand the latter.

The once mighty Magic Fighter clan is on a downward trajectory. Why? guns. Their "iron shirt" kung fu doesn't actually turn their skin to iron and all their magic tricks and whatnot can't match a bullet for effectiveness. Their day is over, but some of them can't let go. When one of their leaders leaves the clan (for all these reasons) the main guy sends people to track him down. (Somehow the bounty hunters don't know what he looks like though? )

Anyway, It's a simple story and though they could have done more with the theme of guns vs kung fu, which really must have been a big deal, it's still good. The hot kung fu girl from other Shaw brothers movies is in it Kara Hui I think as is Gordon Lui, Alexander Fu Sheng and other familiar faces. the last 15 or so minutes is an extended sequence with, you guessed it, the legendary weapons of China. Three sectioned staff, metal hammer thingies, double swords, huge axe things etc

I enjoyed it and despite the kind of claustrophobic Shaw Brothers sets it's got plenty of action and some semblence of a theme. must have been a huge hit in when it came out in the 70's

4.5/5

[claws]

The Outing (1987)

Student Eve and five friends decide to spend the night at the local museum after a field trip. Trouble arises when Eve's ex-boyfriend sneaks into the museum to cause trouble. None of them are prepared for what horrors lies ahead: an evil giant Genie floating through the halls looking for victims.

Supernatural splatter with slasher-like kills, possession, rape, nudity, sex and what not. All students appear to be in their early 30s, none of the characters really stood out. Budget was tight but the f/x deliver, especially the giant genie which was very impressive. On a side note, I recall an old Fangoria article about The Outing, which was a pet project by actress Deborah Winters (Eve) who also produced the movie. She retired from acting a few years later and became a real estate agent. 3.75/5

[indianasmith]

This weekend's double feature was interesting.  I started off with a Korean-made thriller called CONFESSION OF MURDER (2012).
A detective is haunted by the memories of the serial killer that got away seventeen years ago, after slashing him across the face. The killer had murdered 10 women and taken another whose body was never found - and who, as it turns out, was the detective's fiancé.  The statute of limitations on murder expired after fifteen years, and two years after that, a young man steps up with a book confessing to all 10 murders.  He is repentant and apologetic, which, combined with his good looks and the book's graphic details, makes him an overnight celebrity.  The law cannot touch him since the statute of limitations has expired, and as the detective tries to sort out his options, the families of the victims come up with an elaborate plot to kidnap and kill the man who deprived them of their loved ones.  But is he the real killer?  Or is there another reason for his shocking literary confession?
 This was a very neat, action-packed thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.  A wee bit overlong, but still solidly recommended.  My only beef with it is that Lee, the confessed killer/author, looks WAY too young to have killed people 17 years before the story.  If you can suspend that bit of disbelief, this is a very solid film.
 Next, I watched EMPIRE OF THE APES, the Polonia brothers re-telling of the classic PLANET OF THE APES story.  It was, as usual, laughably bad - the apes are humans in really cheap Wal-Mart masks, and the three human protagonists, while attractive, are obviously having a hard time remembering their lines. And apparently Mr. Polonia could not fork over enough money to make them shed any clothes, so other than bad acting, cheesy dialogue, and goofy costumes, this movie has little to recommend it to this forum's average viewers.

[Rev. Powell]

NORTHFORK (2003): In 1955, officials try to convince reluctant residents of Northfork, Montana (one of who has built an ark) to leave before the town is flooded by new dam construction; meanwhile, a dying orphan sees a ghostly family and tries to persuade them to adopt him. The mildly surreal Big Sky spirituality here may be too dry to inspire as intended, but it does set a unique and thoughtful mood. 3.5/5.

[alandhopewell]

     HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (1972)

     This was in one of the Echo Bridge horror sets I bought a few months ago; dunno why.
Actually, a very good made-for-tv movie with Sally Field and Walter Brennan.

Home For the Holidays TV 1972 2.wmv

     A whodunit from the early Seventies, HFTH isn't shocking, but well made, with excellent performances by all....too bad that "made for television" these days generally means some Sy-Fy crap or Disney-froth.

[Jack]

Germ Z (2013) - a satellite crashes in the woods near a small town. Next thing you know residents are turning into bloodthirsty cannibal mutants. Will the surviving residents have enough ammo to kill them all? This was sort of good. The two main characters are decent, there's some cool gore, and although it doesn't really have much of a plot the ending is kind of good. It had a few dark comedy elements to it that were...okay. For instance a girl is riding her bike and listening to her headphones, totally unaware that a cannibal dude is chasing her, and chasing her. It had a nice downbeat, hopeless atmosphere that was pretty well done. Meh, it was a decent enough waste of a boring Monday evening. 3/5.

[indianasmith]

Last night I watched a surprisingly good slasher film called HAZMAT.
"Scary Antics" is a popular TV show with a familiar premise: someone is set up by their friends to have the bejeezus scared out of them by exploiting a secret fear of theirs.  The friends pick the place and work with Scary Dave, the show's host, to get the person ready, and then the crew's hidden cameras film the fun as the shrieking chump wets themselves.  At least, that's how it's worked up till now.
   Jacob is obsessed with the abandoned chemical plant where his father died in an accident 10 years earlier.  His friends, hoping to shock him back to normality, set up a scare with the Scary Antics crew.   Cameras are put in place, and the four friends enter the abandoned building and begin looking around.  At the appropriate time, they separate - and Jacob finds an abandoned HazMat suit in a locker and puts it on.  But when Tim, the show's designated scarer, pops out and pretends to kill Jacob's friend Adam, Jacob goes nuts.  He grabs an axe and kills Tim, then dons his helmet cam and proceeds to hunt down and kill his friends - and then the crew of the show.  Trapped inside the huge abandoned warehouse, they have to try and get out with an axe-wielding maniac who knows the building better than any of them watching the exits . . .

This was a very effective film with some really well-drawn out characters.  It avoids most of the classic horror movie clichés, and delivers some very effective scares.  4/5 

[lester1/2jr]

A Lonely Place to Die (2011) - Rock climbers in Scotland or something face off against, no not aliens or mutant mountain Nazis, kidnappers after rescuing their kidnapped kid. There's no sex but a fair amount of violence. The "strong women" lead is pretty, but butched up a bit and of course totally indestructible. "I'll just fall off this mountain and land on my head then get up and run to the thing don't mind me. "

It moves well, they don't have a corny amount of "maybe we should do the WRONG thing because it's safer" tomfoolery, and pretty much everyone just puts their head down and gets the job done. 4.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

THE MONSTER WALKS (1932): A man who owns a gorilla dies and the family arrives to read his will. They start dying to: did the primate do it? It's OLD DARK HOUSE with an ape. Fainting heroines, killer monkeys, and cowardly black comic relief servants: this is what they had to put up with before DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN. 1.5/5.

[Jack]

Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989– ) TV series, we finished watching all the episodes they had on Netflix. David Suchet stars as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, sort of a Sherlock Holmes type who can unravel any mystery no matter how complicated. Oftentimes they're so complicated that I don't even understand all the details after they've been explained Suchet is just delightful in the role, very much the proper gentleman to the point of mild comedy on occasion. He's often accompanied by his British sidekick Captain Hasings and Scotland Yard Chief inspector Japp, both more down-to-earth types and there's plenty of chuckle-inducing scenes when Poirot takes his eccentric perfectionism a bit too far. The mysteries are almost always interesting and entertaining. This show must have had quite a budget as every episode features a totally convincing recreation of 1930's Europe (usually London). 4/5.

[claws]

re-watch The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

Young man with the ability to jump back in time unwillingly creates a serial killer while traveling back ten years ago trying to rescue his girlfriend from her deadly fate.
Smart script, engaging characters and quite heavy on the splatter. I found this unrelated sequel to be more entertaining than the overhyped and pretty bad original. 4/5

re-watch Room in Rome (2010)

Two young women meet in Rome while on vacation and spend the night inside a hotel room. Erotic lesbian Euro-drama (lots of thick accents) stylishly filmed and avoid of any unintentional cheese. Nudity galore, but with the focus on the "human side" and not just a showcase for fapping material. Certainly not boring with surprisingly decent (honest) acting from both women. 4/5

[Rev. Powell]

GIANTS OF ROME (1964): A squad of Romans sneak behind the battle lines into Gaul to destroy a secret Druid weapon. There are almost as many fight scenes as plot holes in this kind of dumb but brisk, not-so-historical epic. 3/5 if you're really into swords and sandals, though 2/5 is probably more reasonable.

[Jack]

Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (2011) - so there's a zombie apocalypse and a handful of survivors take refuge in an abandoned military base. But there are various types of zombies and some of them can run and jump, so it's not long before their fence no longer offers protection, and they set off in search of new digs and have various run-ins with the undead on the way. This started off really slow, with undeveloped characters and I couldn't wait for whiny complainer guy to get killed. Eventually though I did come to care about the characters at least a little bit, and the action picked up pretty well. Though many of the scenes were in the dark so I couldn't tell who was killing who. The main girl, Luise Bähr, was a real cutie. So bad start but fairly good ending, meh...3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Antiviral - First, I give this movie credit for being weird. Movies have gotten rather straight forward lately and we need a little of that artsy indulgence that isn't singing for it's supper every 5 seconds. Not a lot of it, but some.  I almost turned off after the first couple of minutes, though. The biracial androgenous lead actor was weird and someone was droning on about our "celebrity culture". I'm a big show don't tell guy. Say it in the movie not in a monologue masquerading as dialogue in the movie. I hung on though and was glad I did.

The weird guy works at a pretty weird place: when celebrities get sick they take blood samples from them and people buy them this store so they can have the same illness as their favorite celeb. One guy gets mouth herpes or something by choice from some actress.  I bet some people would do this now so it's not hard to imagine it for the future.

There is some weird machine where you can see a face or something in the virus. It's all part of the weirdness. It's not just a Idiocracy style thing, there's skullduggery and so forth. 

It took me a couple nights to watch this. I liked it though, it was refreshingly different. 4.5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Die Another Day" (2002) Pierce Brosnan's 4th and final 007 adventure teams him up with a hottie American agent (Halle Berry) and puts them both up against a North Korean terrorist who wants to destroy the West with a solar satellite weapon.
Probably Brosnan's weakest Bond film, but there's still plenty of over the top fun to be had.