Recent viewings

[Gabriel Knight]

HOUSE OF GAMES (1987)

A psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.

After enjoying the superior THE SPANISH PRISONER, I decided to watch the first movie from David Mamet, and it's... a little bit underwhelming, but watchable. The problem with these con movies is that, after watching plenty of them, you can see the "twists" coming from a mile away. Not to mention, the lead actress is awful. I know she's supposed to play a controlled and unoemotional character, but this gal acted like a robot - in pretty much every situation she reacted exactly the opossite as anyone else would, which conveniently allowed the plot to kept going.
Oh, and I don't like Joe Mantegna also, he's always acting as himself, this criminal italian dude. Boring and unbelievable.

Meh, it's not great but at least it's fun. 7/10

[FatFreddysCat]

"Creepshow 2" (1987)
Sequel to the classic 1982 Stephen King/George Romero anthology classic features three new tales of terror, involving a vengeful cigar-store Indian, a carnivorous oil slick, and (in the best segment of the three) a hit-and-run victim who refuses to die ("Thanks for the ride, lady!").
It's cheaper looking and not as good as the original, of course, but "2" is still good enough for a few Halloween season laughs.

[lester1/2jr]

"Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies" (1993)
Todd Philips, later of "The Hangover" and the upcoming "Joker" fame, directed this disturbing low budget doc about the late, not-so-great GG Allin, the notorious death obsessed, feces flingin', brutally violent punk rocker. After spending an hour-plus watching this looney tune verbally and physically abuse himself and his audience, you'll feel like you need a shower. I feel safer knowing he's not walking around loose anymore. Seriously, this is just... ugh. (shudder)

todd Phillips latest project is called The Joker, about the infamous batman villain

[Rev. Powell]

BLOODSUCKER'S PLANET (2019): A spaceship crew answers a distress signal and lands on a planet with strange bats and a suave host with a gynobot. Sort of a modern microbudget tribute to Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES done in a swinging 60s style (a space age pop soundtrack, a groovy vampire bachelor pad, model spaceships for special effects); it's not entirely successful, but the aesthetic makes it quite watchable for its brief 66 minute runtime. A prequel to the same director's BLOODSUCKER'S HANDBOOK, which was done in a noir/neo-noir style. 2.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

LET THE CORPSES TAN (2017): A gang hijacks a case of gold bullion and then hides out at a bohemian artist's villa, but double-crosses and a pair of policemen who stumble onto the scene precipitate a tense standoff. The movie is excessively and proudly overstylized, includes graphic sex hallucinations, and you'll have trouble keeping the large cast of characters clear in your mind and remember who's betraying who; but if you can deal with that, it's one hell of a ride, looking almost exactly like something Sergio Leone would have made if he'd experimented with dropping acid circa 1970. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Eagle Eye (2008) - the first half was a good "La Femme Nikita" type action thing but gradually it dawns on the director that the movie has one awesome logical ending that he can't deliver, so it just ends 2.75 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"C.H.U.D." (1984)
A photographer and a homeless advocate discover that toxic waste dumping beneath the streets of New York City has mutated the subterranean homeless population into Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. I never get tired of this stone cold cult classic!

"The Haunting of Sharon Tate" (2019)
In yet another fictionalized version of the infamous Manson Family murder saga, former Disney Channel kid Hilary Duff portrays the doomed actress Sharon Tate, who is plagued by nightmares and visions of her own death in the days leading up to that fateful night in August 1969. 
Duff's performance is better than I expected but otherwise this is more or less a gory Lifetime movie. If you're expecting historical accuracy, obviously you can look elsewhere.

[Leah]

Saw Joker. It's okay, the media making it seem controversial is complete bulls**t (surprise). However, the origin about Joker has elements to another DC character; Rorschach. It's uncanny how closely both are portrayed with Rorschach in Watchmen and Phoenix's Joker. The movie is intense and violent, so if you are thinking about seeing it then note that it's an intense and violent flick.

[indianasmith]

CHEERLEADER AUTOPSY - Amazon Prime seems to be a dumping ground for this sort of zero budget, amateur horror/comedy mashups.  In this epic saga, a busload of skanky cheerleaders are killed when their broken down schoolbus rolls over them while they are practicing their routines in the middle of the road to kill time while they are stranded.  The local coroner's bumbling assistant tries to stitch together one perfect cheerleader from their mangled parts so he can create the perfect woman he's always wanted.  Sound bad?  Yeah, it's even worse.  2/5

[Svengoolie 3]

Sounds worse than "frankenhooker".

[Alex]

IT part 2. Watching it now.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Skinner" (1993)
A lonely housewife (Ricki Lake) rents out her spare room to a seemingly harmless, nerdy new tenant (Ted Raimi), who turns out to be a serial killer who carves up prostitutes to make suits out of their skin. Just when it can't get any darker or weirder, 80s porn queen Traci Lords turns up as one of Raimi's horribly-disfigured former victims, looking for revenge. 
This stylish '90s splatter sickie has got a few problems with pacing and plot holes, but it gets by thanks to the solid performances by its oddball cast (Raimi is an absolute hoot as the skin wearing nut job) and some nasty-ass gore. Ideal Schlock-Tober entertainment!

[Gabriel Knight]

SLITHER (2006)

A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.

What can I say? From the cheesy plot, tongue in cheeck humor, over the top characters (that mayor is amazing), great practical effects, and constant references to classic horror movies, SLITHER is a great homage to all those 80's and 90's flicks that we still watch to this day. While the CGI was rampant halfway through the movie, the effects of the mutated Grant were great. Overall, a sometimes disturbing but overall extremely fun and engaging movie, recommended only for fans of the genre, but also for the younger viewers who want to get introduced to it but don't know where to start.

I give it a solid 8/10. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Mandrake" (2010)
Treasure hunters in the South American jungle violate a sacred native burial ground, which awakens a giant, homicidal tree-like something or other.
So yeah, basically this average SyFy schlocker is one part "Tomb Raider," one part "Predator," but obviously it's nowhere near as much fun as either of those. For creature feature completists only. 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks" (1976)
Dyanne Thorne returns as the blonde, big boobed sadist in this pseudo-sequel to "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS," which takes place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country in the '70s present day. This time Ilsa's working in the palace of a ruthless sheik, in charge of the harem girls. She keeps them in line with regular beatings and torture while dabbling in a little human trafficking on the side. However, her loyalty is put to the test when a studly envoy from the U.S. arrives -- supposedly to discuss oil rights with the sheik, but he's really there to bring about a regime change.
This one's not quite as horrifically sicko as the original "Ilsa" -- you won't feel like you need a shower when it's over -- but there's still plenty of over the top violence and gore, nudity, humiliation and sleaze.
The people who made the "Ilsa" movies definitely had some issues, but hey, I watched it, so I guess I have issues too. (Shrugs)