Recent viewings

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Curse" (1987)

A meteorite crashes on a Tennessee farm. Gooey alien stuff leaks out of it and seeps into the well water, and soon the crops are full of maggots, the animals are becoming unusually aggressive, and the family's youngest son (a teenage Wil Wheaton, later of "Star Trek: TNG") watches helplessly as everyone starts turning into murderous, green-goo-drooling zombies. Fortunately John Schneider of "Dukes of Hazzard" is there to come to the rescue!
Typically cheesy '80s horror nonsense, supposedly inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft story. I used to see this one in video stores all the time back in the day, but never pulled the trigger on it till now. I wasn't missing much...

[lester1/2jr]

The Revenant - pointless my side of the mountain retread. Also, like why does Leo's hair look so stringy? No really, this was as great as everyones heard/ seen. very very gritty and gnarly and accurate portrayal of some kind of insane 3 way fur trapping war in the frontier days. The French are menacing the Americans who are getting too close to their turf. They get the Indians to help them do this. Why people want animal pelts so bad I have no idea. Wasn't there an easier way to make a buck?

That's just the background though. The main thing is the beef between Dicaprio and one of the guys. DiCaprio, famed for being in the celebrity p***y Posse off screen, gets abandoned by them and isn't too happy about it. It's a long road to revenge though. There are many many very nice shots of snowy pristine mountains and forests. It looked great on my tiny portable DVD player it must have been majesterial (sp?) in the theater.

very masculine almost like a western except I don't like westerns and I liked this. the mood is more akin to a horror movie 5/5

[claws]

Willow Creek (2013)

A young couple on vacation are filming a documentary about the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot footage. They camp near the actual filming site and encounter terror beyond belief.

This is your typical average found footage film with ok acting, interesting location and locals. Those desperate to "see" something could argue that 'nothing is happening' though most (but not all) of the intended to be scary stuff is indeed food for imagination, fueled by effective sound f/x. Director/Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait still placed a few surprises along the way that caught me off guard. "Willow Creek" enjoyed some mild Internet buzz upon release, mainly for the "15 minutes" scene without editing. 3/5

[indianasmith]

I really loved WILLOW CREEK, one of my all time favorite Bigfoot movies.

[indianasmith]

I recently added to my stack of Hastings Going Out of Business bargains my very own copy of FDR: AMERICAN BADASS.

This movie is gross, offensive, disrespectful to the memory of a famous President, historically inaccurate, and FUNNY AS ALL GET OUT!!!
Whether it be FDR smoking pot with Lincoln's ghost (played by Kevin Sorbo) as he debates leading the country into World War II, or Werewolf Hitler playing beer pong with a half naked fraulein, this movie has something for everyone.

Did I mention that FDR's eldest son liked to poop into flower vases?

4/5

[Rev. Powell]

LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (2003): Suicidal expatriate librarian Kenji witnesses an automobile accident while contemplating jumping off a Bangkok bridge, and falls for the driver, a beautiful guilt-stricken local. A few fantasy scenes enliven, and confuse, this quirky-melancholy indie-spirited Japanese/Thai co-production. 3.5/5.

[Jim H]

The Horde (2016).  Pretty terrible Hills Have Eyes 2/Wrong Turn 2 ripoff.  Has a few interesting cameos - Vernon Wells (Bennet in Commando, the guy with assless chaps in Road Warrior)  is one of the cannibals, and gets a fun scene. Otherwise, terrible acting, some murky audio..  But it's short and passably entertaining at times, with a bunch of fight scenes and ok stunts. Oh, and a guinea pig in a north american forest. What the hell was that?

[FatFreddysCat]

"Curse II: The Bite" (1989)

In this in-name-only sequel to the 1987 flick, a young couple is traveling thru the American desert when Boyfriend gets bitten by a snake. Unfortunately for him (and everyone else in the movie,) the snake was radioactive due to its living near a leaky nuclear power plant. Soon the bite begins to have "transformative" properties on the poor young fella's body. Yikes!

This movie starts out like a plain ol' nothin' special creature feature (snakes everywhere!) but does a 180 degree turn into straight up Cronenberg style body horror (on a six pack budget) in the second half, when the snake bite starts turning Boyfriend into a homicidal reptilian something-or-other.

This is pretty typical late '80s direct-to-the-video-store schlock, but it was way better than the first "Curse" thanks to the slightly higher production values, some decent gore scenes, and especially due to the presence of cutie-pie late '80s scream queen Jill Schoelen in the female lead/damsel in distress role (whatever happened to her, anyway?). Snake-o-phobics need not apply.

[Rev. Powell]

DARLING (2015): A woman goes insane when she takes a job as caretaker in an old Manhattan townhouse that's rumored to be haunted. This low budget REPULSION/THE SHINING hybrid privileges mood far too much over plot, but it has three things going for it: rising horror star Lauren Ashley Carter, some of the year's best black and white cinematography, and the good sense to keep the whole thing to a brief 75 minute running time. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Hitler's Children (1943) - I wanted to see this since I heard it was the top grossing film of 1943. As far as I can tell it was actually #4 and the competition wasn't too fierce either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_film#Top-grossing_films_.28U.S..29.5B2.5D

still it did very well for a movie thats been forgotten. Attention grabbing title aside it's not that good though. It's "good" in the way that ,s ay, I accuse my parents is good. The leads are well chosen, the writing is solid in a perfunctory way and it has a beginning middle and end but you know its just gonna be the americans are good and the Nazis are bad.

the plot is a German kid (everyone speaks English though) falls in love with a girl at an American school thats somehow in Germany. She gets in trouble with the Nazis as they get more powerful and this causes him to reevaluate their program which he's doing very well at, hes like a captain or something

To reiterate: for a movie who's value is mainly historical its pretty good. Relative to movies in general its...not very artful

this poster is hilarious


2.5 /5

[Rev. Powell]

MEAT (2010): A melancholy detective investigates a murder at a butcher shop where the employees have high libidos. A not-for-everyone arty erotic drama, with some very explicit sex scenes at the beginning, that turns completely surreal in the third act. 2.5/5.

[Jim H]

War of the Arrows - Korean action drama about a village attacked by Manchurians, and the brother of one kidnapped villager attempting to save her. This one wants to be more than it is, attempting to weave bits of history, mild nationalism, drama, comedy, action and even a tiger. The execution is decent, but unexceptional. Some parts look like shooting was rushed (especially opening). Still, it's entertaining. 7/10

[lester1/2jr]

The Maltese Falcon - I saw this a billion years ago and forgot everything about it. Obviously it's a classic. If I was disappointed in one thing it was that theres a lot of talking in rooms. Humphrey Bogart says hard boiled detective things, Peter Lorre says eccentric things, the fat guy says fat guy things and they don't really go anywhere. I think with a title like The Maltese Falcon it wouldn't have killed them to throw in a little exoticism. 5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming" (1990)

A "fictionalized" biography of the 007 author, detailing the events that led to the creation of James Bond - from Fleming's upbringing in a privileged British family, to his first "real" job as a crusading news reporter and finally as an agent for the British Naval Intelligence Service during World War II. Naturally  Ian romances several hot babes and gets into scrapes with Russians and Nazis along the way, just like his literary counterpart would. In a nice touch of stunt casting, young Fleming is played by Jason Connery, son of original 007 Sean Connery. "Spymaker" was made for TV so it suffers from its obvious budget limitations, but otherwise this was an enjoyable espionage/adventure flick with quite a few clever nods to the "real" Bond movies.

[Rev. Powell]

MST3K: I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF: Classic title, terrible movie---not so bad it's good, just limp. A teen with anger issues (Michael Landon) undergoes weird hypnotherapy which changes him into a werewolf, for dumb reasons. The host segments, which parody ALIEN/ALIENS, didn't do much for me, either. A not-so-good episode that fortunately marks the end of a string of mediocre movies at the beginning of the transition to the Sci-Fi Channel---after this, the gang would get their mojo back and turn the last 2/3 of Season 8 into one of the best eras in the show's run. 3/5 for fans.