Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Monster Dog" (1984)
A rock star (a sickly looking Alice Cooper, who was fresh outta rehab at this time) returns to his old family estate to shoot his latest music video. A pack of wild dogs has been killing people all over the area, and the video crew soon learns that it may he tied to the rocker's troubled past.

...this notorious Spanish/Italian "Howling" wanna-be was written and directed by Claudio Fragasso, later of "Troll 2" fame, which should tell you everything you need to know. The story is virtually incomprehensible, the dialogue is wooden, and the dubbing and special effects suck. (The only time you hear Alice's real voice is during his two musical numbers; the rest of the time, his lines are dubbed by another actor.)
This one's a slog, even for the most diehard Alice Cooper fans and/or B-Movie masochists.

[Dr. Whom]

I generally liked Beyond the Rising Moon, but it is kinda slow. There's an interview with the director on this site! Here: http://www.badmovies.org/interviews/philcook/

Thanks for pointing that out. I fully agree when he says
"On the artist side, I love building these places; caverns, aircraft, spacecraft, tunnels, robots, all this stuff. "

It shows in the movie. There is a lot of miniature stuff, matte paintings and the like, lovingly filmed and remarkably good for so small a production. The internet informs me that for the DVD release under the title Outerworld, he went all George Lucas and cleaned up the original effects, adding CGI and the like. I saw the original version, which is knocking about on Youtube somewhere.

[Rev. Powell]

IT WAS A COLOSSAL TEENAGE MOVIE MACHINE: THE AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES STORY (2015): If you ever wanted to know the history of the independent studio that brought the world such titles as I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and the BEACH PARTY series and launched the career of Roger Corman, among others, this specialist documentary will scratch that itch. Although AIP movies seem cheap, campy and innocent, it's interesting to see how cynical the studio was in finding a niche (movies aimed at the new teenage demographic) and exploiting it in the most cost-effective way possible. Buried as a special feature on the VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT MST3K disc, where it will find a small but appreciative audience. 3/5.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Tunnels" (aka "Criminal Act," 1989)

Tubi bamboozled me on this one. I had never heard of this movie, but I was intrigued by their capsule plot description, which said "Beneath the streets of New York, two reporters investigate sightings of giant rats in the city's sewer system." From that, I was expecting to see some cheap subterranean monster action ala C.H.U.D. or Alligator. No such luck.

Instead, this dull as dirt, no budget pseudo-thriller features two lady reporters whose pursuit of the rat legend ends up with them stumbling into a plot by a crooked land developer to kidnap the local homeless population and sell them to human traffickers ... or something like that. No giant rats, no monsters. Boooooo! Well, at least one of the reporters was played by Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach, who still can't act her way out of a paper bag, but she wore a short skirt for the whole movie.

So unless you're still maintaining that boyhood crush on Ms. Bach (like me) there's absolutely no reason to sit through this flick, which fails at being a horror film, a suspense thriller, or even a "good" bad movie.

AVOID.

[FatFreddysCat]

 (inspired by a discussion thread on this forum)

"Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Video Tape" (2010)
A documentary about the "Video Nasties" hysteria that gripped Britain during the early '80s home video boom. When certain moral guardians and government stooges decided that gory horror films like "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Evil Dead" were going to turn England's children into serial killers or criminals, they attempted to classify them as "obscene" so they could be banned. Interviews with important figures on both sides of the argument, some unintentionally hilarious vintage news clips, and lots of gory highlights from various "Nasties" illustrate this bizarre censorship saga.
I guess this could be considered the British equivalent of the PMRC controversy that was going on in America at the same time, when Tipper Gore and her bored-housewife pals were trying to keep Motley Crue records out of the nation's K-Marts. :D

[lester1/2jr]

Fascination (2004) - IMDB reviews are polarized: most either 1 or 9-10. They're both right. awesomely cheesy and sordid drama/ thriller with genuine suspense, strong plot and really corny dialogue and embarrassing acting. Adrianne Lynne with a lobotomy. It reminded me distantly of that movie Blue Crush anyone remember it? a tropical guilty pleasure

http://youtu.be/-32R9_PedPo?t=2764 "what does that f**king mean!" 5/5

[Rev. Powell]

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM (2020): Disgraced Kazakh journalist Borat returns to the U.S., daughter in tow, to deliver a bribe to some high-ranking member of the Trump administration. Partly scripted and partly improvised with unsuspecting dupes, Sascha Baron Cohen does a good job of returning a character who's all too familiar, using new disguises and his daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) to put one over on unsuspecting yahoos. This one is explicitly political and, needless to say, Trump fans can give it one star without bothering to watch it. 3.5/5.

[Trevor]

(inspired by a discussion thread on this forum)

"Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, and Video Tape" (2010)
A documentary about the "Video Nasties" hysteria that gripped Britain during the early '80s home video boom. When certain moral guardians and government stooges decided that gory horror films like "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Evil Dead" were going to turn England's children into serial killers or criminals, they attempted to classify them as "obscene" so they could be banned. Interviews with important figures on both sides of the argument, some unintentionally hilarious vintage news clips, and lots of gory highlights from various "Nasties" illustrate this bizarre censorship saga.
I guess this could be considered the British equivalent of the PMRC controversy that was going on in America at the same time, when Tipper Gore and her bored-housewife pals were trying to keep Motley Crue records out of the nation's K-Marts. :D

I just watched that: I thought the apartheid censors were bad but this lot: Eish. Graham Bright comes across as a class 1 a hole.

[Rev. Powell]

PSYCHOMAGIC, A HEALING ART (2019): Alejandro Jodorowsky (EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN) describes his own form of psychotherapy, which involves patients smashing pumpkins with family member's faces on them, covering themselves in gold paint and wandering around the town square reciting poetry, or recreating their own births. Undoubtedly engaging in rituals can help with some psychological issues---among those who don't mind looking ridiculous---but despite one impressive case (the stutterer) this doc doesn't convince that psychomagic is the psychotherapeutic revolution Jodorowsky wants us to believe in. 2.5/5.

[Trevor]

My neighbors, doing the wild thing 

[Rev. Powell]

This one was so memorable I forgot to write it up after I watched it last week.

WELCOME TO THE CIRCLE (2020): After a bear mauling, a man and his daughter encounter a strange cult in the woods. Some possibly interesting musings about the ways ideology might affect reality get lost in a barrage of confusing, on-the-cheap horror-surrealist twists. 1.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Vampire Bat - Fay Wray and the insane Renfield from Dracula are the big stars in this decent enough hour long "scary" short. 3.75 /5

[RCMerchant]

 ^  

[lester1/2jr]

it was pretty much the exact same role as Dracula, but he still stole the show

[indianasmith]

SLICE (2018) - A series of murders target pizza delivery personnel in the most ghost-haunted town in America.
But are the ghosts to blame?  Or is it the renegade werewolf who recently returned to town?
Are witches involved? 

A rather silly but mildly entertaining bit of horror/comedy.  starts slow but gets better as it goes on.

3/5