Recent viewings

Rev. Powell · October 25, 2019, 12:58:06 PM

SICILIAN GHOST STORY (2017): A dreamy 12-year old Sicilian girl loses her grip when her young beau disappears without explanation. Slow to get started---the "ghost" in question doesn't show up for a while---but if you like movies that task the viewer with deciding what's real and what's fantasy (I know I do), you should find this reasonably engaging. 3/5.

FatFreddysCat · October 26, 2019, 05:32:30 AM

"Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" (1988)
The slinky horror hostess is summoned to a stuffy, uptight town in Massachusetts, where she has inherited a creepy, crumbling old house from her long lost aunt. Naturally, her unconventional looks and 'tude make her popular with the local teens (especially the boys) but she also draws the attention of some witch-hunting yokels.
This campy, corny gag-a-minute horror comedy isn't a great movie by any means, but it's watchable enough thanks to the considerable charms of its leading lady (in other words, they focus on Elvira's cleavage a lot).
Silly fun for the Halloween season.

FatFreddysCat · October 26, 2019, 07:12:49 PM

"House of 1000 Corpses" (2003)
It's Halloween Eve, 1977, and four twenty-somethings on a cross-country tour of roadside weirdness get more than they bargained for when they pick up a lovely hitchhiker who takes them home to meet her demented family.
Rob Zombie's directorial debut is a loving tribute to 70s grindhouse faves like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes." It's short on plot, but it makes up for that with loads of bizarre visuals and gooey FX. Cheap, cheesy sicko fun.

Rev. Powell · October 27, 2019, 08:24:42 AM

RELAXER (2018): In 1999, Abby, a much-bullied ultra-slacker, accepts a challenge to not leave his sofa until he's completed a challenge to make it through level 256 of Pac Man. Minimalist director Joel Potrykus challenged himself to make a movie where his protagonist (BUZZARD's Joshua Burge) doesn't leave the couch in his apartment for the entire movie; the result is surprising, gross, funny and sometimes depressing. 3.5/5.

FatFreddysCat · October 27, 2019, 12:38:43 PM

"Hack-o-Lantern" (aka "Halloween Night," 1988)

An awesomely awful '80s-to-the-max horror flick about a Satanic cult causing murder and mayhem during a small town's Halloween celebrations. There's a few good gory bits, a healthy amount of T&A, and an unexpected Metal Moment (a full music video by the forgotten hair band DC LaCroix is randomly shoehorned into a dream sequence) which almost make up for this flick's cardboard sets, wooden acting and ridiculous plot. "Hack-O-Lantern" is terrible, which means it's perfect Schlock-tober entertainment.

Rev. Powell · October 28, 2019, 08:54:07 AM

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 (2019): Anthropomorphic pets team up to save a wild tiger held captive by a cruel circus ringmaster. Diverting, if disposable, entry from the second-string animated series. 3/5.

Rev. Powell · October 30, 2019, 10:26:57 AM

LUZ (2018): A doctor meets a woman in a bar who tells him about her friend, the taxi driver Luz; the scenario that develops involves possession, hypnotic regression, and an occult ritual. Short (only 70 minutes long) yet (deliberately) hard to follow; if you can sort through the fog, it's a worthwhile lesson on how to make an intriguing fantastic film with almost no money. 3/5.

FatFreddysCat · October 30, 2019, 01:43:56 PM

"The Purge" (2013)

In a near-future America, one night a year is set aside for the annual nationwide "Purge," in which all crime is legal for 12 hours. A wealthy family settles in for a long night behind locked doors in their gated community, but they soon learn that even their state of the art home security system is no match for a particularly determined batch of home invaders.

The political subtext of "haves vs. have-nots" in this suspense thriller is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the forehead, but if you can get past that, you're in for some quality ultra-violence and mayhem. Followed by three sequels and a TV series

Rev. Powell · October 31, 2019, 09:55:16 AM

BEST F(R)IENDS, VOL. 1 (2018): A mortician (Tommy Wiseau) takes in a homeless man (Greg Sestero), but gold teeth come between them. A few chuckles here and there, especially in the back stretch, but basically this proves that Wiseau's awkward acting can't carry a film without Wiseau's clueless screenwriting. 2.5/5.

Rev. Powell · November 01, 2019, 08:47:46 AM

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948): Assisted by the friendly Wolf Man, angry Abbott and cowardly Costello foil Dracula's plans to re-animate Frankenstein's monster. A very silly movie helped out by a wild (and very silly) ending with all the monsters running loose wreaking havoc in a cliffside castle. 4/5.

Rev. Powell · November 03, 2019, 10:29:00 AM

BEST F(R)IENDS, VOL 2 (2018): Thinking he accidentally killed his best f(r)iend after the events of Vol. 1, Greg Sestero and his girlfriend try to open Harvey's safe to get at his fortune; but who is the guy following them wearing a knight's helmet and speaking in Tommy Wiseau's voice? Sestero takes the spotlight here, using Wiseau's notoriety in an attempt to launch his own career, and this odd mess almost plays like sequel with pick-up footage of Tommy Wiseau shoehorned in for the fans. 2/5.

Alex · November 03, 2019, 11:17:17 AM

Rendel: Dark Vengeance. A Russian(?) superhero movie. Very badly dubbed although the fight scenes were decent enough.

indianasmith · November 03, 2019, 06:47:55 PM

WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE - A lesbian couple head up to a mountain cabin in order to celebrate their one year anniversary. Then suddenly, one of them pushes the other off a cliff - but her wife survives, and has to figure out why her lover/spouse is now trying to kill her. Actually much better than it sounds, and incredibly gruesome to boot! 4/5

Jack · November 03, 2019, 08:13:14 PM

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) - As it turns out, there's a magical cure for the zombie virus responsible for the first several movies! Alice just needs to get back to Raccoon City before time runs out in order to save humanity. Cue video game "working your way from level 1 to level 12" movie.

One of the poorer entries in the franchise (and I actually like most of these things). All action scenes - which is to say 60% of the movie - are edited together like a strobe light. Remember Ewe Boll's spinning camera stuff in "House of the Dead"? Well, at least he had a spinning camera. The plot is irrelevant, Alice is once again more like a terminator than a human being, and...blah.

Some of the better sequels in the franchise had lots of style and a satisfactory amount of substance, this one is pure ADHD frenzy and no substance. Too bad. 2/5.

FatFreddysCat · November 04, 2019, 07:00:05 AM

"Bait" (aka "Bait 3D," 2012)
A freak tsunami crashes into an Australian beach town, trapping a group of shoppers inside a flooded supermarket... and just in case that didn't suck enough, they soon learn that there's a hungry great white shark stuck in there with them.
An entertaining Aussie mash-up of the disaster-movie and creature feature genres.

"The Mentors: Kings of Sleaze Rockumentary" (2017)
...second viewing of this fun rock-doc about the long, strange history of the notorious hooded porn-rockers, led by the legendary "El Duce." Gross, hilarious and totally rockin'.