Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

THE LIVING SKELETON (1968): Five men massacre a ship's crew to obtain a fortune in gold, but years later both the perpetrators and the twin sister of one of the victims are haunted by ghosts from the past. The rubber bats and Halloween skeletons seen in clash with the excellent, inventive B&W cinematography; coupled with absurd plot twists, the cheapness of the production wrecks what might have been a very good maritime Japanese ghost story. 2.5/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Living Daylights" (1987)
007 The Living Daylights Theatrical Trailer

Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond is a mediocre (at best) affair. Dalton's performance is fine, but the story, which takes Bond from Czechoslovakia to Austria, Tangiers and Afghanistan in pursuit of crooked Russian military arms dealers, is an overlong muddle. In addition, Maryam D'Abo is perhaps the blandest Bond girl in the series' history. The series was clearly unsure of what direction to go in after the departure of Roger Moore.

[Jack]

Parasite (1982) - a guy who keeps a nasty little worm critter in a thermos ventures out to a small town in a mildly post-apocalyptic world. He's got another worm living in his stomach and needs the one in the thermos to conduct experiments to hopefully cure himself. Of course a gang of thugs swipes his thermos and well...that doesn't go well for them. This was okay, pretty slow moving and very little actually happens, but Demi Moore looked cute and it had just enough low budget '80s atmosphere to keep it interesting. 3/5.

Sweatshop (2009) - a group of kids are setting up a rave in a warehouse but unfortunately for them, a huge hulking killer lives there and I guess he doesn't like their music or something. He's got this thing that's like an anvil attached to a pipe that he uses as a hammer - extremely effective   I didn't think I was going to care for this much at first as the characters were just your typical rave screwballs and every third word was f***, but as it went on the cliches did seem to develop a bit of personality and grow on me a bit. It's got a nice dark sense of humor to it and the gore is so over-the-top it's amusing. 3.5/5.

[Trevor]

YOUNG ONES (2014):  In a future America where water is a scarce commodity worth killing for, a teenage boy discovers lies, crimes and betrayals around the title to his father's farm. The parched outlaw setting is the star in this near-future dystopian Western. 3/5. TREVOR ALERT: Shot in South Africa.

I wasn't sure which message to reply to.. 

That looks good, thanks Rev. Someone on the IMDB message boards asked if this was a remake of the 1960s Cliff Richard film. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"House of Usher" (1960)
House of Usher Official Trailer #1 - Vincent Price Movie (1960) HD

In the first of Roger Corman's series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, a man wants to take his beloved fiancée away from her family's creepy old house, against the wishes of her creepy old brother (Vincent Price). This charmingly retro terror tale is hardly "scary" by modern standards but it's still a fun watch.

[Rev. Powell]

GENOCIDE [AKA WAR OF THE INSECTS] (1968): Insects begin attacking humans; on a remote archipelago, an entomologist looks for the cause, while American soldiers are looking for a missing H-bomb. This is a lot like a Japanese version of THE BIRDS with bugs instead of birds, and a dumb script instead of a great one. There is some choice dialogue: "I love insects because they never lie"; "insects have babies, too"; "I just want to breed vast numbers of insects that drive people mad and scatter them over the world." 3/5 on a bad movie scale.

[alandhopewell]

     Watched these this morning....

The Baron (1977) - how to ask for a loan

The Girl From Rio (1969) Full Movie SUMURU Sequel Bond Girl Shirley Eaton Jess Franco

     The Shirley Eaton film was unrepentant Italian cheese, the Calvin Lockhart flick a decent action movie, with Richard Lynch as a thoroughly icky bad guy; both worth watching.

[JaseSF]

Father Hood (1993): A delinquent deadbeat dad named Jack Charles (Patrick Swayze) abducts his kids and takes them on the run with him in order to rescue them from an abusive environment in a foster care institution. All the while, Jack is still planning his next big score in New Orleans but eventually begins to realize the importance of the safety and well-being of his kids.

This mixes action with comedy as Jack and kids Kelly (Sabrina Lloyd) and Eddie (Brian Bonsall) are constantly on the run from the authorities who believe Jack is an armed and dangerous kidnapper despite the fact his kids went with him willingly. There's some fun chase sequences here that are perhaps a bit over the top at times. Nevertheless, the film I felt was surprisingly enjoyable. Halle Berry, Michael Ironside, and Diane Ladd are also important players in this one. Better than I expected, I'll give this ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

Life with Mikey (1993): A former child star named Michael Chapman (Michael J. Fox), who's struggling for success and survival in his new career as an agent for child actors, stumbles across quite the find in young but troubled Angie Vega (Christina Vidal), a pickpocket/shoplifter who can talk and act her way out of trouble. Only problem is can he straighten her out and set her on the right path?

This wasn't your typical Michael J. Fox comedy. No, this has much more serious dramatic moments. While there are moments of humor, it really isn't the biggest focus here. No, this is more about the friendship that grows Mikey and Angie, a sort-of surrogate father-daughter type dynamic given Angie feels lonely and ignored by/within her own family. Another element in the story is the struggle Mikey has had finding success since his childhood acting days are now well past him and now he alongside brother Ed (Nathan Lane) constantly struggle to keep their business alive with Ed feeling strongly it might soon be time to throw in the towel. Cyndi Lauper is also on hand here as their receptionist Geena and proves surprisingly fun and entertaining in her role. A very enjoyable little film with a very likable cast and characters. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Tourist Trap (1979) - some kids go to some tourist trap out in the desert. The guy who runs it seems really nice, but more than likely he's gonna turn out to be a psycho. This was...okay. It was too silly to be effective (the killer wore a variety of masks that just struck me as really goofy) but at least it had a bit of a plot. Tanya Roberts was cute as could be. 2.5/5.

[Jack]

Beast Within (2008) - some kids go to a mansion out in the country and soon there's a viral outbreak that turns the locals into yucky zombie sort of critters. Our kids try to barricade the house but of course one or two of their own have become infected. This was another okay one, it had decent atmosphere and theme music which set a proper horror movie mood, the characters were marginally developed, and a couple of them were so unlikable that it was a pleasure to see them meet their fate. Nothing special overall though. 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

BUBBA HO-TEP (2002): At the Shady Rest Retirement Home, a man who may be Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) and a man who is almost certainly not John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) team up to fight a mummy. This is almost certainly the best movie there is, or ever could be, about geriatric rock icons teaming up with ex-presidents to fight the undead, although I would like to see Ronald Reagan and Michael Jackson face off against a werewolf just to be sure. 4/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Pit and the Pendulum"(1961)
The Pit And The Pendulum (1961) Trailer

A 16th century Englishman arrives at a Spanish castle to investigate the mysterious death of his sister, where he meets her guilt ridden husband (Vincent Price), experiences weird phenomena, and eventually becomes an unwilling visitor to the torture chamber in the castle's dungeon.

This was the second film in Roger Corman's series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, and though it takes a little while to get going the last half is great fun, with an excellent performance by Price.

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN: An iconic B-movie makes for an iconic, if not classic, episode. Glen Manning is irradiated by a plutonium bomb and grows 60-feet tall; he whines about it endlessly until he finally goes insane. Frankly, the movie is pretty dull until Glen goes on a rampage in Las Vegas at the end. Mike is good as a still-growing Glen who eats cattle by the handful in a host segment. 3.5/5.

[claws]

As Above, So Below (2014) (Blu-ray)

A "rouge" team of archeologists exploring catacombs underneath Paris, France are drawn into bizarre supernatural happenings threatening their very lives.
Found footage with a few original ideas, which sets this apart from the usual found footage terror flicks. Quite claustrophobic at times. 3.75/5

[lester1/2jr]

Excision (2012) - This is kind of halfway between David Cronenberg and "Ghost World" and has a hard time figuring out which one it wants to be. In the end, it's a bit more of the latter and I think it would have been strong if it had been more of the former. The dark edge gets lost in all the coming of age stuff.

There is way too much dithering along those lines. We get it there's a girl, she's an outcast and she uses black humor to deal with that no need for multiple scenarios illustrating this. It starts off really strong, gets repetitive and ends on a high note that needed more build up.

One of the strongest elements is the lead actress AnnaLynne McCord. She's kind of like Stevie from The Pact meets the lady from the Secretary or something. and some Charles Manson thrown in. The Mom is played by Traci Lords I totally forgot it was her she was pretty darn good though the role was a little one dimensional. John Waters has a cameo as a Rev Lovejoy style repressed gay priest.

I'd say it has the indie part down, the horror not so much. Largely enjoyable though 3.75 /5