Recent viewings

[Rev. Powell]

REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE (1973): Two lesbian killers dressed as clowns flee the law and wind up in the hands of a vampire who needs them to perpetuate his race. This is a typically slow, senseless and surreal Jean Rollin lesbian vampire romp, except this one contains so many bondage and softcore rape scenes it actually got dubbed and distributed in the U.S. (under the title "Caged Virgins"). Beware the vagina bat! 3/5.

[ChaosTheory]

JOHN CARTER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcV7aXL8txU

Ehhhhhh......This was kind of like seeing DUNE; I admire its ambition but it was simply no fun to watch.  Too much CGI wallpaper, didn't feel for the characters, really choppy storytelling/editing.  Although, I always like seeing Dominic West in things because I like to randomly shout "DAMMIT MCNULTY" at the screen 
3/10

[indianasmith]

I watched GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE with my wife and daughter last night.  What a mess!  I loved the first GHOST RIDER, but this thing was downright awful.  One of the few bright spots was the guy who played Roark, Satan's stand-in, Ciaron Hinds.  I have loved his acting ever since his turn as Julius Caesar in ROME, the HBO series. Christ Lambert of HIGHLANDER fame had a turn as a monk fanatically determined to stop Satan from reincarnating into a half human, half demon body, but the whole effort was jumbled and off kilter.  The only redeeming line in the whole movie was spoken to Johnny Blaze by the boy Danny:

"What if you have to pee when you're on fire?"

[alandhopewell]

    For three bucks, I got this....



     Once again, proof that it ain't about spending the bucks all'a time. Dennis Hopper (!) gives an actual performance as a young man trapped in a nightmare of desire and legend, wandering through a waking dreamstate, in the thrall of a beautiful creature who just may be more than she seems.

      Recommended.

[Rev. Powell]

3 DEV ADAM (1973): Captain America and Santo take on evil stolen antiques dealer Spiderman---in Istanbul! This Turkish ripoff has few moments of high absurdity beyond the ridiculous premise, but it is packed with action and reminds me of a lesser Shaw Brothers effort. Not exactly a bad movie must see but worth a look if you can find it cheap. 3/5 (ion a bad movie scale).

After composing my official review I'm bumping 3 DEV ADAM up to 4/5 on a bad movie scale, thanks mainly to the hungry hamster habitrail torture scene.

RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE (1968): Although it doesn't really have a coherent plot, this experimental B&W vampire movie involves a psychoanalyst who tries to convince four sisters that they are not vampires; in part II he actually meets the Queen of the Vampires. Jean Rollin's first movie tries to be the "Un Chien Andalou" of lesbian vampire movies; it's not entirely successful but it has some nice moments and images. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

for some Reason I really liked Requiem for a Vampire. I can't remember why.

Haywire- two different people gave similar views of this with which I'd concur: It has tons of problems and doesn't make much sense but it's still enjoyable. It
s the Soderbergh/ Gina Corano one. 3.75/5

[JaseSF]

Comic Book: The Movie (2004): A lifelong comics fan, fanzine editor, high school teacher and expert on his favourite character Commander Courage, Don Swan (Mark Hamill) is contacted as a consultant on the new big budget film version of the updated Codename: Courage comic book which does away with Commander Courage ideals and heroism in favor of guns, busty babes and lots of explosions changing his Robin-like sidekick Liberty Lad into the voluptuous Liberty Lass adding new sexual tension to the comics. Swan sets out on a mission of his own hoping to convince the film studio to instead film a version of his beloved old-fashioned Commander Courage.

This was a pretty fun and enjoyable ride. Of course, it helps I myself am a former comic book geek and I immediately recognized many of the names and faces who pop up here. It was also great fun for me to get such a great glimpse of the San Diego ComicCon as that's something just not possible for me here. The characters in this actually do feel very much like real-life people and animated series fans may get a kick out of the fact most of the series cast is made up of folks who typically do animated voice-over work (many with Hamill on the Batman animated series)  including Billy West, Arleen Sorkin, Daran Norris, Lori Alan and Tom Kenny. There's numerous cameo and short appearances by familiar faces likely to a lot of people here including Bruce Campbell, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, Hugh Hefner, Peter David, Paul Dini, David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Matt Groening amongst others. Sometimes things get weird and silly well like life can sometimes get weird and silly especially if you're hanging around a group of people like those in the film. Overall it was more amusing than funny but the spirit of it felt right and true with regards to how passionate some comic book fans feel about their favourite creations. ***1/2 out of ***** stars.

[JaseSF]

Werewolf Shadow (1971) (AKA: The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman): Watched this Anchor Bay DVD of this classic horror mash-up starring Paul Naschy in his familiar Count Waldemar Daninsky werewolf role. Here he gets to mix things up with a vampiress/satanist with a backstory similar to Elisabeth Bathory named Countess Wandessa (Patty Shepard) who's accidentally resurrected by Waldemar and two women - Elvira (Gaby Fuchs) and Genevieve (Barbara Capell), seemingly university students, researching her story.

This surprised me by having so much great atmosphere rather reminiscent of many Gothic European horrors of the era including some of Hammer's 70s offerings. Naschy gives by far the film's best performance and the women sure prove stunningly beautiful to watch (and yes there's some nudity too). The action here keeps things moving at a brisk and exciting pace and the characters play their roles very much in line with the expected mythology surrounding werewolves and vampires. An enjoyable way for any classic movie monster fan to spend 90+ minutes. Only real flaw is some of the plot seems a bit confused and the vampire woman never feels as fully realized as a character as is Naschy's werewolf. Still I'd give this a solid **** out of ***** stars.

[Jack]

Doctor Who - The Horror of Fang Rock (1977) - one of the Tom Baker episodes. Taking place in about the year 1900, set in a lighthouse on a dark and rocky island. One of the lighthouse crew sees a bright light fall from the sky and crash into the sea. It's not long before another member of the crew turns up dead, and The Doctor and Leela arrive just in time to investigate what sort of strange occurrences are taking place. A bit later on a steamer ship crashes on the rocky shore, bringing a few more characters into the mix. I really liked this one, it creates a great mood of mystery and tension, full of wonderful characters and a, well...rather cheesy looking alien. Lots of fog and foghorns too The acting is done in that sort of over-exaggerated stage play style which adds a bit more charm.  4/5.

[Pilgermann]

    For three bucks, I got this....



     Once again, proof that it ain't about spending the bucks all'a time. Dennis Hopper (!) gives an actual performance as a young man trapped in a nightmare of desire and legend, wandering through a waking dreamstate, in the thrall of a beautiful creature who just may be more than she seems.

      Recommended.

That's one of my favorite movies, and I found it through a cheap AMC Monsterfest DVD several years ago.  I've got the Image DVD which is the only widescreen one available as far as I know (but it's not anamorphic and the transfer is still kinda crappy).  I love the eerie atmosphere.  It's one of my comfort films.  Unfortunately director Curtis Harrington never made another film as good as that one in my opinion, although The Killing Kind (1973) is excellent and I enjoy most of his other movies.

Hmm, last thing I watched was The Video Dead (1987).  The acting is horrific but it's still weirdly charming thanks to the funky zombie scenario.  If you love total dreck as much as I do then I'd recommend it.  7/10

[Jack]

Alien Opponent (2010) - a comedy about an alien that crash lands his ship in a junkyard, but the owner of the yard wants him out of there and offers a $100,000 reward to anyone who can kill him (it's actually a bit more complicated than that, but close enough). So a whole bunch of heavily armed yahoos show up, but it doesn't take long before they become more interested in getting rid of their competition (only one person can get the reward) than killing the alien. The movie is basically the alien and these stupid, totally amoral hicks killing each other in ways that make you snicker. It is actually quite funny in parts - a very dark, pretty much black sense of humor. And that's it - it's completely pointless otherwise. Doesn't even have a climax at the end, just a conclusion that serves no purpose but to put an exclamation point on the meaninglessness of it all. The characters were entertaining, and the alien was a guy in a futuristic spacesuit so he didn't look too bad. A few CGI effects that they obviously spent a bit of money on. So a few chuckles but otherwise unsatisfying.  3.25/5.

[Rev. Powell]

MAYA DEREN: EXPERIMENTAL FILMS (1943 - 1959): Six silent, dreamlike films (often featuring dancers) from the enigmatic Deren. Visually innovative with lots of camera tricks, and historically important due to the fact that Deren basically founded the underground film movement in the USA; still, these movies are made for cinema specialists and not aimed at the general moviegoer. 3.5/5.

[indianasmith]

My wife and I watched SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS night before last.  I must admit, I just don't care much for this Holmes franchise.  Jude Law is an effective Watson, but Downey as Sherlock is just underwhelming.  And while the actor who played Mycroft Holmes did quite well, his inexplicably walking around the house nude in front of a lady is so far out of character it wasn't even funny, it was just . . . bizarre and offputting.  The actor who played Moriarty did a very good job, though.

[Venomx73]

I got my girl hooked on Ancient Aliens so we had a season 1 netflix marathon last night.

We both freaking LOVE that show. I hope it never ends.

[Jack]

Contamination .7 (1990) - a nuclear power plant has been dumping its waste out in the woods. The inevitable killer mutations follow - I was hoping to see walking trees or something, but all we get is lots of rubber tree roots wrapping themselves around people. And plenty of POV shots from a camera being pushed through the grass. Anyhow, a group of people try to do...something... about this, but of course the sheriff is in on it and when they try to warn the locals, the yahoos threaten to shoot them if they don't get off their property. This is sort of a "so bad it entertaining" movie; although some of the main actors are okay, most speak in a complete monotone. I've heard computer voice synthesizers display more emotion. And whenever one of the "terrifying" attacks takes place, we get music straight out of an '80s aerobics video. I did like the climax though, now that's the way you take care of killer trees    3.25/5