Recent viewings

[retrorussell]

Humongous (1982)

Five friends trapped on an island must face a gigantic disfigured and mentally challenged man who is the seed of a rape 30 years ago.
Canuckploitation that looks like a Slasher but is more like a Backwoods bleeder. Low budget but solid, and maybe a bit misogyny. A tiny notch above average though, and bonus points for being the inspiration for Hatchet (2006). 3.25/5

I seen this! On USA UP ALL NIGHT in the 80's! Linda Blair,right?

You're thinking of Hell Night (1981).  Different, and better, movie than Humongous.

[claws]

Splice (2009) (Blu-ray)

Two genetic engineers create a hybrid life form that develops into a female. They name it Dren and soon enough Dren's out of control.
Not a "Species" clone but a pretty freaky sci-fi horror thriller. Dren did actually freak me out but also rocked my world. Love it. 4.5/5

[dean]

GENTLEMEN BRONCOS (2009): A successful pulp author who's run out of ideas steals a teen author's sci-fi novella.  The beyond-offbeat tone, which might be characterized as "nerd grotesque," is uneven and takes some serious getting used to, but the movie is never boring; Jemaine Clement's often hilarious performance as the pompous Dr. Chevalier and the bizarre dramatizations of the epic "Yeast Masters" (which feature cyclopses, flying stags and stolen gonads) makes it worth the price of admission. Not for everyone, but sci-fi nerds who remember pulp novels of the 30s-70s may connect with it.  I'd give it a cautious 3.5/5.

Oh wow, I didn't know this was an actual movie!  I saw the below clip a couple of years ago and thought it was hilarious and just assumed it was a Jemaine Clement character that he was riffing on.  Must have been some marketing tool for the movie that obviously failed since I didn't know the movie existed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NtdCq0-Qn8


There are a few different clips related to this which are also very funny, so now I must see the movie.   

[RCMerchant]

Humongous (1982)

Five friends trapped on an island must face a gigantic disfigured and mentally challenged man who is the seed of a rape 30 years ago.
Canuckploitation that looks like a Slasher but is more like a Backwoods bleeder. Low budget but solid, and maybe a bit misogyny. A tiny notch above average though, and bonus points for being the inspiration for Hatchet (2006). 3.25/5

I seen this! On USA UP ALL NIGHT in the 80's! Linda Blair,right?

You're thinking of Hell Night (1981).  Different, and better, movie than Humongous.

Actually,I own HELL NIGHT......I was thinking of GROTESQUE (1988).

[Rev. Powell]

GENTLEMEN BRONCOS (2009): A successful pulp author who's run out of ideas steals a teen author's sci-fi novella.  The beyond-offbeat tone, which might be characterized as "nerd grotesque," is uneven and takes some serious getting used to, but the movie is never boring; Jemaine Clement's often hilarious performance as the pompous Dr. Chevalier and the bizarre dramatizations of the epic "Yeast Masters" (which feature cyclopses, flying stags and stolen gonads) makes it worth the price of admission. Not for everyone, but sci-fi nerds who remember pulp novels of the 30s-70s may connect with it.  I'd give it a cautious 3.5/5.

Oh wow, I didn't know this was an actual movie!  I saw the below clip a couple of years ago and thought it was hilarious and just assumed it was a Jemaine Clement character that he was riffing on.  Must have been some marketing tool for the movie that obviously failed since I didn't know the movie existed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NtdCq0-Qn8


There are a few different clips related to this which are also very funny, so now I must see the movie.   

Clement was definitely the funniest part of the movie. 

[Hammock Rider]

Mr Boggs Steps Out.

 This is a short little Public Domain comedy that I downloaded the other day. Basically, a mousy little fellow who's a whiz at statistics and trivia wins a bean counting contest and decides to buy a barrell making factory with his winnings. He moves from the city to a small town, steps out of his shell and experiences a little excitement and romance for the first time in his life.

 It's a pretty low key and gentle comedy but enjoyable enough.  I was impressed with the female lead, Helen Chandler, who played Mina in the Bela Lugosi Dracula. She was actually charming and spunky in this one and her character was alot more likeable than her character in Dracula.  It's just about an hour long, so it's a quick watch and a quick download.

[Doggett]

Trancers (1985)

Jack Deth (seriously, thats his name) is a trooper in a dystopian future.
He goes back in time to stop evil super villian called whister who has the ability to turn the weak minded into zombies called 'Trancers'. This film is riddled with plot holes that makes it even more fun.

Thats it really.
Deth is a dirty Harry kinda maverick cop, full of one liners.

It's very Terminator, with zombies. An awful lot of fun. And there's 5 sequels.


Oh, and Helen Hunt.



3.5/5

[lester1/2jr]

trackdown (1975) - I was in a bad mood so this really hit the spot. Jim Mitchum who is sort of a cross between his dad, John Wayne andd the most mediocre actor ever tries to get his runway sister back from unscrupulous peoples in LA. Erik Estrada and kathie lee crosby help him out.  It's not great and I'm not hugely surprised it hasn't been reissued but it's solid for what it is.

3.75/5

[claws]

Shelter (2010) (Blu-ray) (Region B)

Julianne Moore plays a Doctor taking care of a young man who might be suffering from multiple personalities. As it turns out there is much more to it. Possession perhaps?
Horror in Thriller disguise. Nice atmospheric setting (Pennsylvania) and decent enough creepy moments. Plus you get Julianne Moore giving this film credibility. 4/5

[lester1/2jr]

Millions- This is by the guy who did Slumdog Millionaire which I haven't seen. Two kids find a bag full of stolen money thrown from a train. One of them wants to give it to the poor, one of them wants to spend it on all sorts of things, gizmos, property (he has a precocious business instinct) and then the guy who stole it figures out they've got it and so forth. Why don't they just bring it to the police?  ehh well kids movies aren't known for their air tight plots. 

It was a nice change of pace for me and the british kids movies aren't quite as dorky and the humor is more sophisticated than american ones.  It had some colorful fantasy sequences, and was generally a good time.

4/5

[claws]

Frozen (2010) (Blu-ray)

Three friends trapped in a ski lift must face severe weather and hungry animals. Great little shocker that lives up to its hype. 4.5/5

[Jack]

The Skull (1965) - Watched this again.  Peter Cushing is a collector of demonic antiquities, and he comes into possession of the skull of the Marquis de Sade.  His buddy Christopher Lee warns him to stay clear of it, but Peter forges ahead.  Not a good idea, it takes possession of him and makes him do its bidding.  Not the most exciting movie, but the characters and atmosphere make up for it.  Sort of cheesy too - you get a lot of scenes of the skull slowly floating off its shelf toward the camera - eek    I really enjoyed this one.  4/5.

[claws]

Whisper (2007)

Amateur criminals kidnap rich kid but the boy turns out the be ze devil. Love the snow setting and The Omen like moments. Thrilling and original, with a great ending. 4/5

[lester1/2jr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNoDLUeRIo

Born Wild(1968) aka the Young Animals - thistv has some really cool not available on dVD stuff. Pretty much anything owned by MGM can turn up there.  This played back to back with "halls of Anger" which I reviewed on this thread a while ago .


Born Wild is a little better than that one all around. It's one of the few movies about mexicans I can think of.  Patty Mcormick from "The Bad Seed" is in it and she looks really good, kind of like Reese Witherspoon. She has good chemistry with the lead spanish guy.

The mexican kids get s**t on at the high school in Arizona they go to. There is defacto segregation, a***ole rich kids who get away with s**t, and one of the teachers is an obnoxious racist. The new kid shows up and decides to start a movement to get equality. There is some pretty over the top stuff including rape, beatings, and setting cars on fire. It's a little crazy but it livens things up considerably. The spanish lead, who I think is actually jewish, isn't all that pretty and in general there could have been more sex.

This is not on netflix but is probably available unofficially elsewhere and it is good.

The soundtrack by Les Baxter is awesome and there are two short perfomances by two psych rock acts, one is Orphan Egg who's album I have! (in s**tty bootleg form). Both titles Born Wild and The Young Animals make little sense. Check it out if you're a big Tea Party fan.

4/5

[Rev. Powell]

TO DIE FOR TANO (1997): Pretty crazy: a campy, amateur, very strange musical about a Mafia slaying that was a cult hit in Italy.  It's gratifying to see these hateful tough guys reduced to mincing buffoons; the best segments are a "Saturday Night Fever" disco number with the mafioso looking pretty effeminate, and a ridiculous rap.  It's very Italian and pretty strange, and the American distributor couldn't find anyone to distribute it on DVD, so it's going to be self-distributed (i.e. unlikely to show up on Netflix).  May be worth looking for if you crave oddities.  3/5.