Recent B-Movie Marathon

[dean]

A what a fantastic day/night!

A friend decided to have a Bad Movie marathon at his place, so a few of us cramped into his impossibly small 'vieiwing room' [his house is insane; full of books everywhere, but that's a whole other story] to watch a few bad movies for a relaxing saturday.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've sat down and watched a whole movie, let alone a bad movie, so it was a welcome change!

Here's what we watched:

Vertical Limit:

This was on when I arrived, so I take no responsibility for the choice.  I remember watching this at an outdoor cinema when I was younger, and I thought it was nothing special then, and it certainly hasn't changed at all.  Though I must admit, Bill Paxton being an evil bastard is fun, though he wasn't used anywhere near enough to upgrade the movie to 'ok'.


Texas Chainsaw Massacre [original]

I have to admit, it's been a very long time since I've even come close to a copy of this film, so it was nice to watch it for once.  Gotta love crazy hicks and chainsaw wielding maniacs.  It's a nice feature of the dvd menu to have a 'scare' every now and then with the chainsaw noise as well.


Overdrawn at the Memory Bank:

This was the Mystery Science Theatre version of this Raul Julia 'classic.'  Great stuff, I have to admit.  From the hatred of Anteaters, to the fantastically electronic soundtrack and 'classy' special effects, this movie sure was entertaining, made even more-so with the comments from Mike and gang.  Hehe... fun.  

Also one thing I've noticed: Raul Julia, no matter how old he is, looks exactly the same in every movie.  He doesn't look like he aged at all from the time period of this movie to Streetfighter.  How very odd really...


The Abonimable Dr Phibes:

Nine Eternities in DOOM!!!  Vincent Price in all his glory, and he doesn't even open his mouth once in that film to talk.  In fact, we get through most of the film without even hearing his voice, which made for interesting viewing.  Now I'm going to have to track down the sequel to get more Phibes goodness.

Great film, especially with the catapulted brass unicorn.  I mean, how the hell does that work???  That would certianly take some timing, and a hell of an aim, that's for sure.

Also, you just gotta love the absurdity of it all [you're getting your blood drained and not putting up a fight at all?? Now that's just either really lazy, or really silly!!]


Slumber Party Massacre [Or as we came to know and love it: 'Slumber Party Massacre, rated 'D' for Denim, and frequent use of the Canadian Tuxedo.]

Ah, fun... I very much believe that some of my old cinema studies lecturers would have a field day analysing this film in terms of sexuality and whatnot.  The very overt use of the 'phallic' Drill to kill people is just incredibly funny [there is one shot from behind the killers legs with the drill in between his legs, as he is about to 'drill' one of his female victims.]

Just a question: is this movie part of a series?  I feel that would explain alot since the villain has barely three lines the whole movie, and we have no proper idea about what the hell is going on.  Add to that the fact that he runs around with a portable drill with a seemingly endless power supply, and a very fine denim suit, and you get one hell of an odd serial killer.

Ah well, it's a fine fine way to spend a saturday night, that movie is!


We also dabbled briefly in a couple of movies which we quickly changed in favour of something different, or because some of us left.

Looked at the first 10 minutes of 'Colour Me Blood Red' which looked suitably crappy enough, but the constant drumming at the start perhaps put us off a bit and we switched it.

Watched a bit of an old Skateboarding film called, well, 'Skateboard' which had some famous skateboarders in it [whose story was told in the recent, excellent film "Lords Of Dogtown"]

Also watched the first half of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' just because it was there, but then I had to leave so that's what I did.



All in all I'd say it was a successful day's viewing really.  Will have to do it again some time soon!

[Ash]

Vertical Limit...
Didn't that have Charlie Sheen skydiving at the end while trying to get his girlfriend out of the trunk of a free falling car?

[ulthar]

Are you perhaps thinking of Terminal Velocity?

Vertical Limit is a mountain climbing movie that does not have Charlie Sheen (Vertical Limit is BAD, agonizingly so, but worth a watch; I'd say one of Andrew's slime drops).

[Ash]

Ah...you're right.

Vertical Limit....Terminal Velocity.
They sound similar.  

[daveblackeye15]

You had Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the list? The other I don't know about except for TCM

But with TCM alone it becomes a great marathon!

A+

[BeyondTheGrave]

Hey Dean MGM Midnight movies line has The Abonimable Dr.Phibes and the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again on DVD. I think when I bought it was about $7.

[dean]

I rented the first Phibes via our netflix equivalent here.  So I guess I'll look for the sequel there [since it's almost impossible to find at a 'normal' video store]

Also dave, there is a review for The Phibes films on this website, and they are highly reccomended.  Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is terrible on it's own, but the MST3000 version makes it all the worthwhile, great stuff.

[Scott]

Been wanting to see Slumber Party Massacre. Sounds like fun.  I do remember seeing part of it years ago at a friends house when it first came out on tape.

[dean]

Well Scott, if you know any vague psychoanalytical theory, or just can generally laugh at the visual metaphors they are throwing out constantly, Slumber Party Massacre definitely is worth a look.  It's not the best bad movie out there, but it's worth it just to make fun of the very somewhat plain antagonist and his denim fetish, and just generally the fun that ensues from that.

Gotta love 'subtle' sexual symbolism.