Recent viewings

[akiratubo]

Wild Country (2005)

Some Scottish teens go on a camping trip and run afoul of a monster.  While on the run, the kids find an abandoned castle which is apparently the monster's lair.  At the least, it's the monster's larder.  There are some dead bodies inside ... and a living baby.  Can the kids manage to escape the monster and save the baby?  Maybe, but the real question is: why would the monster leave the baby alive, and why is it so damned determined to get it back once the kids rescue it?

This movie is pretty good.  I liked the monster.  What it's supposed to be is not immediately obvious.  It's certainly not a wolf or a bear.  I thought it might be intended to be a giant badger, other reviews I've read posit that it might be an andrewsarchus.  The kids aren't that annoying, nor are they irritatingly stupid, which is refreshing.  They're a lot better than the kids from It Follows, anyway.

Unfortunately, the movie s**ts its trousers with a "twist" ending that anyone even halfway paying attention would see coming as soon as that baby shows up.  Here's a hint: babies often bite when they suckle.

Aside from the ending, Wild Country is a perfectly serviceable little monster movie.

[Rev. Powell]

If you've a fan of the undefinably weird, this is probably a movie for you.

Nah, it wasn't. I think I might have liked it if I went into it knowing nothing about it and got blindsided like you did, though.

I considered saying as little as possible about the story but I quickly realized that without that, there really wouldn't be anything to say.

Yeah but I had been waiting for it for months, your little spoiler wouldn't be a problem.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Planet of the Vampires" (1965)
http://youtu.be/F-PcyyDlytM

A crew of space explorers follow a mysterious distress beacon to a seemingly-dead planet. Eventually they encounter its disembodied inhabitants, who need to take over the newcomers' corpses in order to survive.
This stylish sixties sci-fi from Italy's Mario Bava is no great shakes in the story or acting departments but the cool set designs and colorful, comic-strip styled lighting and fog effects keep it watchable in spite of its obvious low budget. Legend has it that this flick was a major influence on the original "Alien."

[indianasmith]

I watched a neat little film called INDIGENOUS this morning.  Five Americans on vacation in Panama decide to visit a waterfall in the jungle, against the advice of their local friend.  They wind up fleeing through the jungle from some pretty creepy looking subhuman monsters.  An interesting twist ending though, about the power of social media to provoke reaction.  Definitely worth the rental.  4/5

[claws]

The Boy Next Door (2015)

Jennifer Lopez plays a hot teacher and single mother on the verge of giving her cheating ex husband a second chance while dating other men. In between she has a one night stand with next door hunky psychopath-teen Noah who doesn't take rejection very well. Soon enough Noah goes full Fatal Attraction on J.Lo.

Blumhouse-Thriller and one-woman fashion show. Lopez displays various outfits for every scene while lusting in perfect make up behind curtains after Noah's chiseled body. This movie is a hoot at times, and actually quite entertaining. Plot holes and silly cliches just add to the fun. Regular rating 2.5/5 Camp rating 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

A double shot of late '80s action cheez:

"Robowar" (1988)
http://youtu.be/onbkXlzzywU
A squad of commandos are sent into the South American jungle on a rescue mission and get hunted down one by one by a rogue military android.
...if that plot description sounds vaguely familiar, that's because this is an absolutely shameless Italian rip-off of "Predator." Replace Schwarzenegger with Reb Brown and the alien with a robot and it's pretty much the same damn movie, except "Robowar" was made on 1/100th of the budget and has 10x the suck. Hilariously awful Eurotrash!!

"Shakedown" (aka "Blue Jean Cop," 1988)
http://youtu.be/ZXfBbkfobLk
A public defender (Peter "RoboCop" Weller) and a burnt out NYPD detective (Sam Elliott) tangle with a crew of murderous, crooked NYC cops. An underrated-as-hell action flick/courtroom drama hybrid with great performances and some insanely cool shoot'em up bits. This one's worth watching just for the action scenes shot in the late '80s Times Square/42nd Street "grindhouse" district -- they're a snapshot of an era in New York that's long gone.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Treasure of the Four Crowns" (1983)
http://youtu.be/aY-6uRfwjRY
I hadn't seen this ultra cheesy Spanish/Italian "Raiders of the Lost Ark" knock-off flick since I was in seventh grade and yup, it's just as bad as I remembered. American bit player Tony Anthony stars as "J.T. Stryker," an Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunter. He's hired to recover some priceless ancient crowns from a castle fortress run by a murderous religious cult, so he recruits a team of expert climbers and acrobats (?) to help him pull off the heist.
The ultra-cheap special effects and near constant 3-D gimmicks (EVERYTHING flies towards the viewer's face in this movie - flames, arrows, fingers, tambourines, blades, and on and on and on!) provided tons of unintentional humor.

[lester1/2jr]

Daybreakers - I'll be charitable and call this "middling". Vampires in the vampiric future are running out of blood because they ate all the humans already. Ethan Hawke: vampire scientist is tasked with inventing some sort of blood substitute. Through some turn of events he begins down a different path to solving the problem with the help of some humans including Willem Dafoe.

While vampire science is fantastical, the notion presented here, that it can be overcome via pretty simple natural means, seems a little far fetched. and why is Ethan Hawke the only vampire in the world who wants to be human? Is big business really so evil that they themselves wouldn't want to not be the undead?

they needed to establish a reason, perhaps because vampires lack humanity, that the vampires are so wedded to the vampire status quo. I've never really sensed that about vampires though. that they wouldn't change back to human if they could.

the message in general is confusing. am I supposed to relate my own struggles to that of a society of vampires? They're vampires they're evil. it's like having a zombie movie where they try to run a political campaign while delivering bon mots about how the hypocrisy of it all or something. like one of those fake jane austen books this is basically 1984 with vampires

passably entertaining but mostly just not that great of an idea or a very confused one.

2.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN (1971): A neurotic woman dreams that she kills her neighbor, then finds herself accused of murder when the crime actually happens just as she dreamed it. Lucio Fulci's early giallo is full of psychedelic style and probably his best work; the storyline is as confused and hysterical as its protagonist. 3.5/5

[claws]

Boggy Creek (2010)

A troubled girl visits her dead fathers cabin somewhere in Texas, bringing along four friends. While she is going through emotional flashbacks of her dad, the locals warn them of hairy beasts responsible for mutilated bodies and abducting women. Ignoring the warnings, the friends decide to go camping and soon encounter the hairy beasts.

Low budget affair but nicely shot (gorgeous location actually) without CGI, this Bigfoot terror flick offers weak horror, bland drama, lots of padding and zero suspense. I can't deny a certain dream like quality caused by snail pacing and odd production errors (dialogue can be hard to understand or overly loud at the times), but the movie's general lack of focus is annoyingly irritating. 1/5

[lester1/2jr]

en la cama (2005) - twitter sized review: sort of a soft core Breakfast Club. 2 one night standees alternate between sex + random conversation. they/ it r likeable enuff

Chilean movie that begins with two relatively attractive and personable people humping then slowly reveals ....if not a mystery than slightly more context and depth to the whole thing. It all takes place in the hotel room so it's a great idea budget wise at least. one caveat if you are lonely it will make you feel moreso.I mean...Sheila come back to me! uhhh... It works though. not hugely ambitious however it's just banging and talking and if you don't like indy/ foreign movies this probably won't make you a fan.

If you can get into stuff like Before Sunrise check it out

4.5 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)
http://youtu.be/ngElkyQ6Rhs

30 years after "Jedi," Luke Skywalker is M.I.A. and a new evil has risen from the ashes of the Empire. Some of our old friends team up with some new ones (a scavenger and a defecting Stormtrooper) to kick some serious bad-guy ass and to find Luke's super-secret hidden location.

Nevermind the sh*tty prequels, this is the first real "Star Wars" movie in 30+ years. Thank you, J.J. Abrams! You've made this old fanboy very happy.

[indianasmith]

This week I finished watching THE ALAMO with my 7th grade - the 2004 version with Billy Bob Thornton and Jason Patrick.

I LOVE this movie.  The most accurate Alamo film ever made, great cast, great acting - and it's one of the top ten box office flops of ALL time.  For the life of me I don't know why.

Last night I watched a film called JULIA about a gang-rape victim who becomes a lesbian serial killer.  I'll admit I was distracted Emailing with a friend who was undergoing a minor crisis, but this movie was hard to follow.  How much of this stuff was really happening, and how much of it was her twisted revenge fantasy?  Not sure, but not worth a second viewing to find out.  Worth the first viewing, though.  I'll give it a 3.2/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Hell Fire" (2015)
http://youtu.be/pZVg0hysKdY
Four prostitutes attempt to double cross their pimp by kidnapping his newest business associate -- who turns out to be the Anti-Christ. What are the odds? Eventually the prisoner starts using his Satanic powers to turn his captors against one another in various gory, ultra-violent ways.
The plot description sounded promising but this was nothin' but cheap, loud, irritating shot on video crap. AVOID.

[FatFreddysCat]

"AC/DC: And Then There Was Rock! Life Before Brian" (2005)
http://youtu.be/_uHayiggHY0
This is one of those cheap, "unauthorized" rock documentaries that consists mainly of still photos and public-domain footage, and can't use any of the band's actual music. Despite that, this examination of AC/DC's early years is actually pretty interesting. The interviewees (incl. original AC/DC vocalist Dave Evans and drummer Colin Burgess, and U.K. rock critic Malcolm Dome) tell some great stories and there's even some rare footage of Bon Scott crooning away in his pre-AC/DC band "Fraternity," which I'd never seen before. Even diehard, know-it-all AC/DC fans might learn something new from this doc.


"Avalanche Sharks" (2013)
http://youtu.be/1rvSLOop59A
Here's some seriously high-concept shiz, folks. Ski bunnies vs. snow-swimming spirit sharks during Spring Break! An avalanche awakens a Native American curse on a mountain resort, just in time for their big Bikini Snow Weekend bash. Don'cha hate when that happens? There are some pretty girls in this cheaper-than-usual "Sharknado" wanna-be, but that's about the only nice thing I can say about it.