Recent viewings

[dean]

CARGO (2017)  Martin Freeman (THE HOBBIT trilogy, SHERLOCK) plays a father trying to protect his baby daughter in post-zombie apocalypse Australia.  He has 72 hours from the time he is bitten before he transforms; he must evade those who have already turned while trying to find uninfected people who are willing to take on his child.  More drama than horror; this is a well done film with some genuinely creepy moments.

This is based off a short and is one of those instances where they are actually both quite good. If you're a parent there's probably a bit more 'ick' factor here, as there aren't too many scares but it's a pretty decent movie which I enjoyed. Got the usual 'show a lot of the barren landscape in wide shots' that a lot of Australian cinema really loves to throw in there.

Only unrealistic part of the movie is the fact that there are so many people around and that you could walk anywhere in 48 hours and find them in that part of the world.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Stunt Squad" (1977)
! No longer available

A ruthless criminal syndicate holds an Italian city in a grip of terror, till a tough police inspector forms the "Stunt Squad" - an elite unit of motorcycle ridin', straight-shootin' cops who are allowed to use any means necessary to bring law & order to the streets.
So yeah, this is yet another entertainingly schlocky "polizotteschi" flick, full of dudes with rad '70s mustaches, lots of gun battles, frequent vehicle chases/crashes/explosions, and occasional splashes of cheesy gore. These movies are like potato chips, you can't watch just one! :D

[indianasmith]

SACRIFICE (2016)  Rhada Mitchell (SILENT HILL) plays Dr. Tora Hamilton, an American medical doctor who moves with her husband to the Shetland Islands after suffering her third miscarriage.  While digging on her new farm property, she discovers a "bog body" - a young woman, perfectly preserved, with strange runes carved into her back.  While local authorities dismiss the find as a Neolithic sacrificial victim, Tora believes the remains are far more recent.  When her suspicions are confirmed, she begins to uncover a sinister conspiracy involving the island's leading citizens - among them her own father-in-law.  Predictable but well done, this was a fun mystery/suspense story to while away the evening with.  4/5

[Leah]

The Incredibly Strange Creatures - A trio of friends goes to an amusement park and stumble upon a fortune teller. One of the friends, Jerry,  scoffs at the fortunate teller, so she has her sister to hypnotize him via staring. Jerry goes to the fortunate teller's sister's performance and gets invited backstage, where he is then hypnotized to be a slasher. Oh and it's supposed to be a musical, but that element is fillef. The movie is crap, highly recommended. 1/5

Pink Flamingos - A couple is jealous of a drag queen being crowned as the filthiest person alive. A supposed shock humor exploitation film that is disgusting is just that, though I wasn't bothered by it since being disgusted at something that was written for that response is miles better than being bored to death.

[FatFreddysCat]

Not exactly a "movie," but yesterday I watched a countdown show on Amazon Prime called "The 50 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen" (hosted by P.J. Soles of "Halloween/Rock N Roll High School" fame)... and of course I was sitting there like "Seen it. Seen that. Seen that too. Yup." 

By the end of it I hadn't seen all 50 of their picks, but at least 2/3 of them.

I also had to pick a bone with certain selections, like "Halloween III," "Motel Hell," or the original "Silent Night, Deadly Night"... I would think pretty much any horror movie fan has seen all of those at least once (or in my case, more than once, haha).

[Svengoolie 3]

I tried to watch "blood glacier" but couldn't finish it due to terrible dubbing, terrible science and something bad was going to happen to a dog.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Return of the Living Dead" (1985)

Two dorky warehouse workers accidentally release a toxic chemical that re-animates corpses, leading to an invasion of brain-eating zombies from the local cemetery. Hilarity ensues. 

This action packed, tongue-in-cheek parody of the zombie genre features a great cast, delightfully gross makeup and gore effects, and a punk rockin' soundtrack. This flick is so "80s" it hurts!

[Svengoolie 3]

"The Return of the Living Dead" (1985)

Two dorky warehouse workers accidentally release a toxic chemical that re-animates corpses, leading to an invasion of brain-eating zombies from the local cemetery. Hilarity ensues. 

This action packed, tongue-in-cheek parody of the zombie genre features a great cast, delightfully gross makeup and gore effects, and a punk rockin' soundtrack. This flick is so "80s" it hurts!

The punk chick doing the strip dance didn't hurt either...

[FatFreddysCat]

"Batman and Harley Quinn" (2017)
! No longer available
Batman and Nightwing grudgingly enlist Harley Quinn -- who's been trying half-heartedly to go straight -- to help them stop an apocalyptic plot by her former BFF Poison Ivy in this entertaining cartoon flick. This fast, funny team-up is a throwback to the style and feel of the classic early '90s Batman animated series (though this flick's PG-13 rating allows for a few risque gags that the old show wouldn't have gotten away with!), and is thankfully far less grim than the last few DC Animated Universe installments I've seen. Cool fanboy stuff.

[Leah]

Fun in Balloonland
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1577811/
A 52 minute flick that has a 15 minute story about a b oy going to Balloonland, a place that has "talking" balloons. It's incredibly shocking at how bad it is, but remember that the story is 15 minutes long. Over 30 minutes of the film is a narrator commenting on a balloon parade, nothing to do with Balloonland. Make matters even more awkward the narrator, a woman, sounds like she has a few orgasms while talking about some balloons. I'm not exaggerating, she sounds like she has a balloon fetish and maybe have a sex toy with her and is using it while looking at the parade balloons.  There are many things wrong with it, starting with the opening song to the closing song. If Andrew were to review it he would probably give it a double skull rating, that's how bad it really is.

[FatFreddysCat]

Lazy Sunday double feature:

"Justice League Dark" (2017)
! No longer available
A series of violent deaths seem to be caused by magic, so Batman enlists some of the DC universe's supernatural anti-heroes like John Constantine, Zatanna, The Demon, Deadman, and Swamp Thing to help solve the mystery. The usual blasting, zapping and ultra-violence ensues.
Nicely animated as usual, and it's nice to see some different characters getting to play in one of these DC 'toon movies for a change, instead of the usual Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman triad.

"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" (1984)
! No longer available
The heroic Buckaroo Banzai - a neurosurgeon, rock n roll star, adventurer and all around awesome dude - has to save Earth from destruction by inter-dimensional aliens in this utterly bizarre cult sci-fi/action comedy.
The last time I saw "B.B." was in the late '80s and after all these years, I remembered next to nothing about it except for a vague feeling that it didn't make much sense. Re-visiting it today... it still doesn't. "Buckaroo" has a great cast incl. Peter "RoboCop" Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, and more) but it feels like it was made up as it went along. I guess this is one of those movies that you either "get" or you don't, and I don't. (shrugs)

[indianasmith]

AMERICAN MADE (2017) Tom Cruise stars as Barry Seal, a daredevil pilot who flew arms to the Contras, drugs for the Medellin cartel, and guerilla fighters for the CIA.  It's a fun movie, but it also is clearly designed as a slam against Republicans, American foreign policy, Ronald Reagan, the war on drugs, and the efforts to keep Russia from setting up puppet regimes in South America during the cold war.  In short, this movie took one jab after another at causes and people I believed in and supported.  It's a measure of the film's quality that I still enjoyed watching it; it's a measure of its bias that I am a bit p**sed off about it after the fact! LOL  4/5

[dean]

Marrowbone:

A fairly decent character based thriller/horror directed by the writer of personal favourite 'The Orphanage.' It tries to be sneakier and scarier than it actually is and probably could have used a finesse in the third act but I found it pretty well put together overall. A nice under the radar pick for those who like their horror more on the arty side.

3.5/5

[indianasmith]

RAMPAGE (2018) - I missed this one in the theater but finally got to see it last night.  Great popcorn flick with Dwayne Johnson trying to stop a giant Gorilla named George, plus a giant wolf and a giant mutated alligator, from destroying Chicago.  Pure silly fun with another great performance by The Rock. 4/5

A QUIET PLACE (2018) A brilliant horror/sci-fi film following the adventures of a family as they try to maintain a normal existence in a world taken over by monstrous predators that hunt by sound - but how can you silently have a baby?  This one worked for me on all levels; highly recommended! 5/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Teen Titans: The Judas Contract" (2017)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmpUh7U7Sq
As DC's teen heroes plunge into battle against Deathstroke and crazed religious cult leader Brother Blood, they learn that they have a traitor within their own ranks. This animated adaptation of the classic Marv Wolfman/George Perez epic (one of the best comic books of the '80s IMO) has been updated from its '80s origins to fit current DC continuity, so some of the faces and characters have changed from the story I remember, but it's still a fun, action packed 'toon with plenty of the usual animated ultra-violence and cool voice casting (incl. the late Miguel Ferrer making his final film appearance voicing Deathstroke, and Christina Ricci as Raven!).

"Amityville II: The Possession" (1982)
! No longer available
Another ill-fated family moves into the infamous house on Ocean Avenue and soon their teenage son is hearing demonic voices that inspire him to put the moves on his own sister (yuck!) and eventually commit all-family homicide.  
This sequel is actually sort of a semi-"prequel," as it's basically a very loose adaptation (with plenty of supernatural embellishments) of the real-life murders of the DeFeo family who occupied the house prior to the Lutz family moving in. As an added bonus, the movie turns into a pretty decent ripoff of "The Exorcist" in the last 20 minutes, as the family's priest struggles to save the boy's soul before he gets the electric chair. "Amityville II" is nastier, more mean-spirited and way sleazier than the original film, and as a result it's the best movie of the whole damn franchise!