Recent viewings

[Jack]

Planet Terror (2007) - one of those grindhouse movies.  Some sort of virus is released that turns everybody into zombies.  A go-go dancer (Rose McGowan) and her boyfriend join other people fighting to stay alive.  This was pretty good;  the characters were entertaining, the action certainly moved along at a good pace, and there were subplots o'plenty.  Lots of icky gore, though for a "grindhouse" movie, I don't think there was anything that really qualified as  nudity.  They had fake film damage throughout most (but certainly not all) of the movie which I guess was supposed to make it look old.  That was a dumb gimmick, as characters were using cell phones.  And if they really wanted to create a convincing effect, they would have made the video look like crap and had a mono soundtrack, but instead you've got a pristine new movie with stupid lines running through it.  And that "missing reel" towards the end of the film was idiotic.  3.5/5.

[claws]

 

[Jack]

Okay, 3.6/5   

[JaseSF]

Queen of the Amazons (1947): Miss Jean Preston (Patricia Morison) hires a reluctant guide named Gary Lambert (Robert Lowery) to take her into the African jungle is search of her missing beau Greg Jones whom rumor has it may have been captured by a "white goddess" Amazon queen named Zita (Amira Moustafa).

This late 1940s jungle fantasy adventure film feels rather like a movie serial of the era albeit much shorter. Still it has many elements common to serials - the mystery villain we see only in shadow for most of the story until his true identity is finally revealed, people getting killed just as they're about to reveal things to our heroes, lots of stock safari jungle footage, etc.. This movie also has the added benefit of some talented trained animals including a monkey, a crow and a lion and the Amazon Queen actually does turn out to be quite beautiful and the ending is in ways a little bit surprising. Still the acting is terrible, the red herrings seem obvious and well our heroes never truly seem to ever be in any real peril. Worst of all is the statement they would be mourning one character for a long time following his death when there was no real indication anyone even ever liked the guy during the film's running time?! *1/2 out of ***** stars

[indianasmith]

ROADKILL - One of the Fangoria Frightfest series; so far the weakest one I have seen, but still somewhat enjoyable.  Two Aussie couples on a long, lonely highway across the outback are run off the road by an enormous "Road Train" semi.  When they crawl out of the wreckage, they find the semi abandoned a mile up the road.  But what is in the two locked trailers?  And why is the engine running if both gas tanks are still empty?  And what's up with the three headed dog hood ornament?
   Some decent scares and a plot that leaves more unexplained than explained, but definitely worth a watch.

[claws]

Okay, 3.6/5   

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion 

Planet Terror? "5/5 kick-ass!" 

[claws]

The Prey (1984)

Outdoors Slasher about friends on a camping trip stalked by disfigured maniac. Love the setting and atmosphere, and the cheese of course. This movie is also loaded with wildlife stock footage which adds to the hilarity. Decent kills, fun monster and dumb/naive characters. 4/5 cheese.

[Jack]

Reeker (2005) - A group of kids out in the desert are on their way to a big party.  The car breaks down, so they go back to a hotel/diner that they had visited earlier, only to find it mysteriously abandoned.  Not having anything else to do, they hang out and do a bit of partying, and before long a supernatural force starts killing them.  This had some excellent characters:  likable, entertaining, believable, the whole nine yards.  The plot was completely mysterious, and established a good sense of suspense right up until the big twist ending, which was rather disappointing.  But at least they tried.  4.25/5.

[3mnkids]

Beyond the Door III (Amok Train)~ A group of students travel to Yugoslavia to study.. something. Anyway, its all just a ruse to get the one girl there since she is supposed to be some kind of chosen one for the devil.. or something. They end up on a crazy train that at times looks very similar to a toy train being pushed through dirt. This train can go off road too. At one point it goes through a swamp area and takes out two of the kids who had gotten away.

The acting is atrocious, the dialogue is stupid, and the plot.. oh my     It was very entertaining and i ended up rewinding several scenes so I could continue laughing my ass off.   There are some pretty good deaths in this, nice and gory. Several scenes have people talking in another language and there weren't any subtitles except for one line - She's not a virgin!. Why they subtitled that but not the rest is crazy but whatever.

Fun movie.

Shuttle~ Two young girls returning from a trip to Mexico get on the wrong shuttle home. First, the good - The acting, character development, and tension. I really liked a couple of the characters and really hated a couple. 


The bad - I just kept screaming at the TV, would you do something!no! not that! Towards the end it gets a little ridiculous and the ending bummed me out.

Overall I liked it but wouldn't watch it again.

[JaseSF]

Moon of the Wolf (1972): Sheriff Aron Whitaker (David Janssen) investigates the mysterious murder of a girl and soon enough more brutal seemingly unexplainable murders occur eventually leading the Sheriff to suspect he may in fact be dealing with a werewolf on the loose.

This movie is a bit of a mixed bag. The acting in it is actually quite good particularly from Janssen, romantic interest Barbara Rush and familiar faces/character actors John Beradino and Geoffrey Lewis. Also the rural setting and its feeling of isolation adds something too. The ending proves quite suspenseful and packs a bit of a punch. The cinematography is surprisingly good and the whole atmosphere becomes very creepy and unsettling in the end. Still the movie really drags in its first half, is much too slow-moving and lacking in action early on and we don't even see the werewolf until near the end which might have worked well (in terms of being the surprise they seemed to be going for) except one expects a werewolf from the very start given the title of this film. The low budget makeup effects aren't exactly convincing but serve well enough for this 70s TV movie. The last half of this movie is quite good but the first half just really drags and bogs things down. **1/2 out of ***** stars.

[Rev. Powell]

Moon of the Wolf (1972):

You got the Sci-fi 50 Movie Pack, didn't you Jase?  Anyway, I despise MOON OF THE WOLF---horribly boring and talky.  There's about 5 seconds worth of entertainment value in watching the ridiculous werewolf at the end.  I'd rather watch PETRIFIED WORLD or QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS again than this one.   

[Rev. Powell]

HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964):The three sibling rulers of Babylon search for the queen of the Hellenes, who's disguised among Babylon's slaves, but will Hercules find her first and keep her safe? The plot of this sword-and-sandal cheapie, with its ancient political intrigues and backstabbing factions, is more ambitious and has more potential than usual, but the movie is undone by action/battle scenes that are subpar even by Italian peplum standards. "Rock Stevens" isn't fit to wield Herc's plastic club.  1.5/5.

MST3K: ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY: The second Comedy Central episode improves on the first but still isn't good enough to be recommended to anyone but dedicated series fans.  The good points are that the movie is, just as the title promises, utra-cheesy and does feature a man-in-a-box robot who shows up at the very end to fight the Aztec mummy.  The linked host segments, which features alien devil-dogs infiltrating the bone-shaped Satellite of Love, is pretty well done, though the crew hasn't quite got the acting thing down yet.  Fans will be pleased but with no great riffs it's still just a 2.5/5.

[JaseSF]

Rev., you're pretty close--actually I've got the Sci-Fi Classics 100 pack. Anways I obviously have more tolerance for Moon of the Wolf than you (honestly I can fully understand your reasons). I think I generally have more tolerance for slower moving movies than most people. With regards to Incredible Petrified World, I've seen several different running times listed. The one on this set is edited down to just 63 minutes---the IMDB lists its running time at 70 minutes and I've seen it listed as 78 minutes in some movie guides?! Anyone know it's true running time and why it is I want to actually see the whole thing in full?

[InformationGeek]

Zombieland: Rewatched this, time with my mom.  She's normally not into zombie films, but I manage to trick her into it.  Surprisingly, she actually liked it.  Then again, I'm should be surprised by what she will like after she said she enjoyed Astro Boy and Kick-Ass.

[indianasmith]

My wife and I watched PREDATORS tonight.  It was better than I thought it would be, and Adrian Brody did a good job as the main bada$$.  The creature effects were great, and the kills quite amusing.