Some recent vewings

[Cheecky-Monkey]

Route 666 (2001)- Undercover agents must fight undead road workers when they take one wrong turn down a desert road. While this isn't breakthrough material its kind of entertaining in a way in that its beautifully shot (The makers really milked the desert scenery for all its worth) and some of the locations, especially the ghost town (well, drive-in) are striking. Not very gory, but the zombies sure looked cool and the pace never drops.
I'm in a good mood, I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Uzumaki (2000)- A small Japanese town is suddenly posessed by spiral-shaped objects, or Uzumaki as its called in Japan, driving people to gory deaths or transforming them into bizarre creatures. This is probably the most surreal, bizarre film I've ever seen. It's atmospheric, cheesy, entertaining and weird. Plenty of gore and really cool, unique music (especially during the final scene). Worth seeing, if only for its surreal weirdness.
3 stars out of 5.

Dark City (1998)- An advance race of beings create a city-like ship, aimlessly floating through space, constantly changing the identity of the people living there.
I looked foreward to this one but was somewhat disappointed in the end.
Good acting, nice atmosphere, well-shot and original, and with cool visual effects, but in the end I was expecting...more. Others will probably like it more than I did.
3 satrs out of 5.

Regenerated Man (1994)- A scientist is forced by thugs to drink a formula after they break into his lab. Rather than killing him, the formula causes the scientist to transformed into a Freddy Krugeresque monster that hunts criminals at night. Awful! A very poorly done, pretentious film. Cheap production values, bad acting, no atmosphere, tention or suspense, flat direction and a really lame finale featuring a giant CG crab-like monster. On the plus side, there is some decent stop-motion and the make-up effects are passable.
1 star out of 5.

Dead End (2003)- A family is driving to relatives Christmas eve, when the husband (Ray Wise, Jeepers Creepers 2) decides to take a short cut, leading the family down an endless, nightmarish road. Great! a huge surprise. Excellent acting, especially from Wise and the girl playing his daughter (Name escapes me right now), a dark, creepy atmosphere, a fresh, intriguing premise, a slick look and some gore sprinkled throughout for good measures (the lip bighting scene was painfully realistic!). Very well-made and entertaining, despite a somewhat disappointing ending.
4 stars out of 5.

Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies go to College (1991)- The ugly little muppets go to college, killing off students and doing the bidding of a demented professor. This is complete crap in that the fart jokes are beyond stupid, the creature effects are lousy (the Ghoulies look like rehashed muppets), the acting is bad, its terribly written. Perhaps the filmmakers should go to college!
1 star out of 5.

The day the world ended (2001)- A boy with powers unknowingly brings a cycloptic, tentacled monster from another world to earth, where it proceeds to kill everyone who took part in his mother's murder. While this isn't really bad its to familiar and boring to be entertaining. Randy Quaid gives a note-worthy performance and the creature effects are okay (though their easily among the weakest to come out of Stan Winston's studio) but its never fun, refreshing or original in any way.
Watch for the truly hilarious 'face skinning' scene.
2 stars out of 5.

Earth vs. the Spider (2001)- A comic-nut police officer injects himself with an experimental serum in a lab after his partner is killed. As a result, he turns into a killer  arachnid with a taste for flesh. Well-done, polished made-for-cable film with strong performances (especially the two leads and Dan Ackroyd, playing a police chief here), great editing and cinematography, terrific special effects (the creature transformation scenes are similar to those in Cronenberg's the fly remake) and a nice, refreshing anticlimax. Could have used a little more gore, though.
3-and-a-half stars out of 5.

[DaveMunger]

I was just wondering the other day if Uzumaki has anything to do with Spiral, the second book in the Ring trilogy.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Cheecky,

You might want to put up a spoiler warning or kinda change your Dark City synopsis.  It kinda gives away the ending.  

Dark City is a fantastic flick, and one of the only really good SF flicks to come out of the late 90s.

I've seen Dead End in my local Blockbuster but haven't gotten around to renting it yet.  I'll probably do so this weekend.

[Scott]

ROUTE 666 - Enjoye this Lou Diamonds film set in the desert with a chain gand returning to kill those who take this particular road. Saw it on New Years Day a few years ago.

DARK CITY - Is a neat film in both the visual and idea, but perhaps it was to dark for me.

[Mofo Rising]

UZUMAKI is based off a manga.  The manga was been serialized in the US in a magazine called PULP, buy PULP was cancelled before the series completed.  I believe you can find it in backwards book form now.

[peter will]

I have seen some of those