reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
519,348 | 8,239,592 | 70,730 | 8 | A fun little semi-documentary on daredevils | Writer / director Mark Lester's immensely enjoyable Southern-fried 70's drive-in yarn spins the semi-autobiographical tale of Dusty Russell , a former moonshine runner turned acclaimed professional automobile daredevil who made his name jumping over an increasingly large number of cars in the traveling daredevil show " Circus of Death . " Russell's eagerness and fearlessness wins the respect and approval of his fellow daredevils with the exception of jealous washed-up has-been Dangerous Dan Carter , who sparks a bitter rivalry with Russell which leads to a tragic ending . Lester , who got his start making documentaries , relates this very basic and uncomplicated story in a spare , minimalist , unaffected verite style : John Arthur Morrill's plain cinematography , Don Tweedy's judiciously applied jaunty country folk score , the leisurely pacing , the relaxed , unmannered acting from a cast who mostly play themselves , and the straightforwardly presented daredevil stunts lend this picture a most disarming and effective quasi-documentary aura . The car stunts are every bit as exciting and nerve-rattling as they ought to be . The movie's vivid , evenly balanced portrait of the tight camaraderie , macho gamesmanship , occasional dreary lulls between shows and crazy feats of cocky daring-do that are significant components of the daredevil lifestyle neither glorifies nor vilifies said lifestyle . Real-life ace World Champion daredevils Russell , Carter , Buddy Love , Dutch " Atom Man " Schnitzer , Big Tim Welch , Speed Stearns ( who subsequently appeared in " Joyride to Nowhere " ) , and Ed " Chromedome " Ryan do their harrowing white-knuckle stunts with commendable bravery , while Gene Drew gives a funny , robust performance as the show's gruff , irascible , motor-mouthed owner ( Drew also acted in both " Truck Stop Women " and " Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw " for Lester ) . This breezy , amiable ode to bold , brash , red-blooded all-American male recklessness , restlessness , and gallantry would make an ideal double feature with the equally cool " Death Riders . " |
518,854 | 8,239,592 | 56,127 | 8 | A neat early 60's low-budget sci-fi romp | A team of astronauts go to Uranus and discover that not only is the supposedly barren planet hospitable ( there's a lush , verdant green forest were there ought to be dry desert ! ) , but also encounter several beautiful young women . But underneath this pleasant facade lurks an evil alien brain which can manipulate men's minds and make either their deepest desires or greatest fears become real . Naturally , said brain plans on conquering Earth . Director Sidney Pink , who also co-wrote the clever and interesting script with Ib Melchior , relates the arresting story at a slow , yet steady pace and does a nice job of creating an intriguingly outré atmosphere . The cast all give solid performances , with stand-out contributions by the ever-reliable John Agar as the cheery Captain Don Graham and Carl Ottosen as the hard-nosed Commander Eric . Better still , ravishing blonde Greta Thyssen as Greta , lovely Ann Smyrner as Ingrid , and fetching brunette Ulla Moritz as Lisa supply some mighty tasty distaff eye candy . Kudos are also in order for the funky special effects which include a gnarly stop-motion animation one-eyed rat monster , a giant spider , and the huge pulsating alien brain . Aage Wiltrup's bright , sharp color cinematography and Ronald Stein's moody score are both up to speed . The thrilling mondo destructo climax hits the stirring spot while the groovy lounge ending credits theme song is a total swingin ' gas . But what really makes this picture such a fun and entertaining winner is the infectiously inspired sense of pure imagination evident throughout . Worth a look for science fiction buffs . |
519,025 | 8,239,592 | 86,154 | 8 | A remarkably solid and satisfying belated sequel to the classic original | Norman Bates ( a strong and touching portrayal by Anthony Perkins ) gets released from the sanitarium after spending twenty-two years under psychiatric treatment . Nervous and vulnerable , Norman gets a job at a diner , befriends flaky young waitress Mary ( nicely played by the adorable Meg Tilly ) , and struggles to maintain his fragile sanity . Meanwhile a series of terrible murders occurs . Is it Norman or someone else behind the killings ? Ably directed by Richard Franklin , with a clever , witty and inspired script by Tom Holland , the tricky and involving plot takes plenty of nifty twists and turns while building to a chilling and startling conclusion . Perkins really holds the picture together with his outstanding lead performance ; he pulls off the extraordinary feat of making Norman simultaneously scary and pitiable in equal measure . The supporting cast are likewise excellent : Vera Miles as the vengeful Lila Loomis , Robert Loggia as kind , supportive shrink Dr . Raymond , Dennis Franz as disgusting sleazeball motel manager Warren Toomey , Hugh Gillin as affable Sheriff John Hunt , and Claudia Bryar as the sweet , protective Emma Spool . Dean Cundey's handsome cinematography and Jerry Goldsmith's supremely spooky'n'lovely score further enhance the overall sterling quality of this superior sequel . |
518,597 | 8,239,592 | 56,112 | 8 | A delightful fantasy adventure treat | Brave , noble , resourceful farmboy turned knight Jack ( well played with dashing aplomb by Kerwin Mathews ) has to rescue fair damsel Princess Elaine ( a charming performance by the lovely Judi Meredith ) from the vile clutches of powerful evil sorcerer Pendragon ( essayed with marvelously sinister brio by Torin Thatcher ) and his creepy , whimpering henchman Garna ( a perfectly detestable Walter Burke ) . Assisting Jack on his bold quest are eager young boy Peter ( likable Roger Mobley ) , hearty , scruffy Viking Sigurd ( the solid Barry Kelley ) , and cheerful , helpful leprechaun Diablotin the Imp ( a winningly warm and witty portrayal by Don Beddoe ) . Director Nathan Juran , who co-wrote the smart script with Orville H . Hampton , handles the fanciful subject matter with admirable conviction and seriousness , relates the absorbing story at a steady pace , and stages the action scenes with considerable rip-roaring panache . The stop-motion animation creatures are quite colorful and enjoyable ; they include a dancing little doll man , a huge nasty giant , a vicious two-headed beast , a gnarly sea lizard , and a flying harpy . Plus we also have a bunch of strikingly grotesque witches . Better still , there's a real sweet innocence and good-natured quality to this movie that's both refreshing and engaging in equal measure . David S . Horsley's crisp cinematography , a robust , rousing score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter , and the endearing characters all add immensely to the overall irresistible appeal of this hugely entertaining little gem . |
518,154 | 8,239,592 | 66,928 | 8 | An interesting and incisive Italian political Western | Tight-lipped and blithely indifferent gunslinger Marco ( a fine and intense Terence Hill in a refreshing change-of-pace serious role ) gets hired by evil land baron Don Antonio ( the always excellent Fernando Ray ) to assassinate a man who's planning to start a revolution amongst the local oppressed and impoverished peasants . After finishing his assignment , Marco realizes the error of his ways and sides with the peasants to overthrow Antonio's cruel reign . Director Mario Camus , who also co-wrote the thoughtful and literate script , eschews the expected shoot ' em up formula in favor of something more lofty and ambitious : a thinking man's oater that deals with the weighty Marxist theme of how the strong and wealthy upper class make their living exploiting and degrading the poor and powerless lower class . While it sounds heavy-handed and the pace periodically drags in spots , this movie nonetheless manages to be a gripping and satisfying viewing experience thanks to the well-drawn central characters , the right-on leftist politics , and occasional outbursts of exciting and well-staged action . Kudos are also in order for the sturdy acting from a capable cast : Hill in particular excels in a meaty non-comedic lead role , plus there are praiseworthy contributions from Rey , Mario Pardo as Marco's loyal , easygoing brother and partner Jacobo , Maximo Valverde as the mean Ramon , Angel Lombarte as the hot-headed , but decent and charismatic worker's union leader Jose , Maria Grazia Buccella as feisty hotel proprietor Soledad , and William Layton as the humane Don Lucas . Roberto Geraldi's bright , picturesque cinematography does the trick . Augusto Martelli's twangy score likewise hits the harmonic spot . A pleasant surprise . |
519,032 | 8,239,592 | 66,827 | 8 | A satisfyingly sleazy slice of Italian slasher trash | A murderous mystery maniac wearing a hood and cape brutally butchers staff and patients alike at a posh all female asylum run by Dr . Keller ( the one and only Klaus Kinski sporting modish long hair ) . Director Fernando Di Leo ( who also co-wrote the sordid script with Nino Latino ) really pours on the hardcore raunchy and explicit scuzziness in this alarmingly fetid flick , delivering extremely ample and explicit amounts of seamy sex and gory violence with jaw-dropping go-for-it slimy abandon . There's a real leering , nasty , rub-your-nose-in-the-filth grimy and graphic edge to this picture that's a terrifically trashy wonder to behold . Delectable brunette beauty Rosalba " The Devil's Wedding Night " Neri as the resident insatiable nympho ain't the least bit bashful about baring her sleek , shapely body in a much-appreciated steamy shower scene ; she later strips in order to seduce the hunky gardener and gets killed while writhing naked in bed . The equally tasty Margaret " Venus in Furs " Lee , Jane Garret , Monica Strebel , and Giora Desideri all likewise dutifully doff their duds in the name of gleefully lowbrow exploitation . Silvano Spadaccino's groovy score neatly alternates between funky , percussive prog-rock and lush orchestral jazz . Franco Villa's snazzy cinematography goes gloriously overboard with crazy tilted angles , sinuous prowling tracking shots and crude , shaky hand-held camera-work . The murder set pieces are every bit as bloody , vicious and sleazy as they ought to be . The seriously sick and twisted over-the-top nutty ending concludes things on a perfectly putrid note . Good lowdown gritty and unapologetically scroungy fun . |
518,253 | 8,239,592 | 82,379 | 8 | A superior early 80's " Friday the 13th " rip-off | One of the better " Friday the 13th " - inspired let's hack up a bunch of attractive young adults in a breathtaking remote sylvan setting slasher fright features to flood theaters in the early 80's . Not just content to emulate the basic story from that horror film hit , the screenwriters ( " Dead and Buried " scribe Ronald Shusett among ' em ) toss in elements of " Deliverance " and " The Texas Chainsaw Massacre " into the varied , yet still hugely derivative brew as well . Lack of originality aside , it's the very mixing of random bits and pieces from several different disparate sources that gives this honey a substantial lift out of the rut , especially when in a refreshing break from the wimpy dumb victim slice'n'dice norm the obligatory coed campers being terrorized by a wild , grubby , mangy-haired , murderous cannibalistic hermit hag band together into a mighty fighting force so they can kick the nasty old psycho biddy's ugly ill-kept a for putting them through sheer torturous hell . Yes , fellow theme freaks , this picture does indeed persuasively articulate a valid point about strength in numbers . Moreover , the film is made with praiseworthy polish and panache . Director Andrew Davis , who started out as a cinematographer-for-hire on such solid Grade B outings as Paul Bartel's " Private Parts , " " Cool Breeze , " " The Slams , " and " Mansion of the Doomed " before moving on to helm the more respectable mainstream blockbusters " Under Siege , " " The Fugitive , " and " A Perfect Murder , " keeps the pace barreling along at a speedy , steady clip , successfully evokes a frightfully palpable sense of ambient , ever-present and expansive backwoods danger and menace , and manages to create a sizable amount of nerve-jangling tension . Davis ' sharp , crisp , strikingly slick and handsome photography also hits the spot ; ditto the fluid , smooth editing by Paul Rubell and Erica Flaum and Susan Justin's spooky , shivery , crackling guitar feedback-drenched score . The cast come through with uniformly sound performances : John Friedrich cuts an impressively rugged and unnerving figure as a crazed , truculent , take charge ' Nam vet , classy British beauty Rachel Ward and the eternally yummy Daryl Hannah make for highly delectable damsels in distress , Mark Metcalf , Adrian Zmed and Lewis Smith are solid and engaging as trainee forest rangers who get a harrowing on the job education on the essential rudiments for survival , and Joe Pantoliano goons it up something spazzy as an edgy , browbeaten , hot-tempered geekoid handyman . In fact , the uncommonly strong acting and production values are good enough to make the minimal body count , only moderate lashings of pretty mild gore , and extremely tame sex ( with no nudity ! ) both forgivable and acceptable . |
519,155 | 8,239,592 | 63,790 | 8 | An enjoyably hokey piece of cheap 60's sci-fi cheese | A group of astronauts and their big , clunky robot find themselves stranded on Venus . They run afoul of various prehistoric monsters and kill a Pteradactyl who's worshiped as a god by a bunch of lovely young ladies led by Moana ( the delectable blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren ) . Director Peter Bogdanovich's debut feature rates highly as one deliciously cheesy slice of pure kitsch : we've got poky pacing , tin-eared dialogue , grave sub-Paul Frees droning narration from Bogdanovich himself , laughably lousy monsters ( besides the pathetic Pteradactyl , there's also an equally atrocious giant killer Venus flytrap plant and several guys in tacky Godzillaesque rubbery dinosaur suits ) , cruddy dubbing , the astronauts tooling around Venus in a funky hover car , cardboard characters , and a bevy of gorgeous alien gals wearing seashell bikinis and skintight hip-hugger pants who communicate with each other through telepathy . Moreover , there's loads of striking special effects footage taken from the Russian science fiction picture " Planeta Bur " that's truly breathtaking to behold . Keith Benjamin's moody , wonky score deserves plaudits as well ; the odd , otherworldly ghostly singing done by the Venusian women is genuinely haunting . Flemming Olsen's bright , colorful cinematography likewise does the trick . While by no means a good movie , this flick nonetheless proves to be strangely hypnotic in its jaw-dropping badness . |
518,129 | 8,239,592 | 188,203 | 8 | An amiably silly piece of 70's drive-in piffle | Here's a perfectly brainless , senseless , shiftless , witless , virtually plot less and basically pointless 70's drive-in car chase comedy time capsule relic that's ripe to bursting with all the right rotten stuff so it can measure up as a fine bit of lobotomized " we're all just having a little fun " dippy entertainment . We've got Stacy Keach's forever trapped in a B-movie grind brother James and no-name numbskull Stanley Livingston as a pair of nitwit drifters who bumble , fumble and stumble their aimless way throughout the entire picture . Then there's groovy disco music and even groovier disco dancing . Moreover , for your viewing pleasure there's lots of good-looking gals in tight cut-off shirts and hot pants . The hilariously dated CB lingo makes for mighty funny listening ( my favorite lines are " We're going 10-7 " and the often repeated " See you in a short-short " ) . " Green Acres " TV series regular Alvy Moore portrays a feckless hillbilly sheriff . Familiar 70's exploitation feature face Albert ( " The Hard Ride , " " Sweet Sugar " ) Cole appears as a greasy hood . Funky wah-wah guitar riffs rip away on the soundtrack . Two mellow dudes who sell grass for a living figure as secondary characters . But that's not all . There's more . A 70's feminist strong-minded chicks pushing around wimpy-willed dudes subtext ala " Truck Stop Women " gets clumsily tossed into the ramshackle brew . An armored car robbery occurs in such a quick and cursory manner that it seems tacked on as an afterthought . An endless " running around in circles " search for a stolen van owned by blustery Kustom Kar King George Barris takes center stage as the key piece of the action . A sub-Mickey Rooney raspy-voiced speed demon middle-aged guy who helps the sheriff by driving him willy-nilly all over the county and a rascally midget provide comic relief . Busty brunette Carla Ziegfeld fills out her role in more ways than one as " Hotwire , " a nasty wench socialite who runs a combo drug , stolen car and prostitution ring . Hey , what's missing ? Oh yeah - - a story . Well , there ain't one . Instead , director Anthony Cardoza and screenwriter T . Gary Cardoza allow the sloppy , digressive , permanently stuck in park free-form narrative to grind its wheels into the ground in a strangely amiable and hence oddly enjoyable fashion . |
517,942 | 8,239,592 | 70,696 | 8 | A deliciously slimy and sordid piece of pure 70's exploitation swill | Depraved , sadistic dwarf Olaf ( a genuinely creepy and unnerving portrayal by Torben Bille ) and his boozy , overbearing mother Lila Lash ( a perfectly wicked performance by Clara Keller ) abduct lovely young ladies , hook them on heroin , imprison the gals in the dungeon-like attic of their shabby boardinghouse , and force the hapless lasses to work as prostitutes . When newlyweds Peter ( drippy Tony Eades ) and Mary ( fetching , buxom blonde babe Anne Sparrow ) rent a room in the ratty abode , Olaf naturally can't wait to get his naughty little hands on Mary . Director Vidal Raski , working from an extremely sick and mean-spirited script by William Mayo , really delivers the lowdown harsh and raunchy goods in a commendably stark , graphic , and unflinching manner : we've got plentiful full-frontal female nudity , voyeurism , incredibly explicit steamy and strenuous sex scenes , a raw , seamy and uncompromisingly twisted scuzzball atmosphere , flagellation , beaten-down women strung out on smack , severe sexual deviance and repression , and Olaf using a cane on poor Mary in a positively vile and unspeakable way . There's a pervasively grimy , seedy , and downright nasty sense of all-out decadence and perversity evident throughout that in turn gives this picture an extra foul and unsettling skin-crawling repellent edge . With his broad , leering grin , annoying throaty chortle , and uncanny resemblance to a diminutive degenerate Jack Black , Bille's Olaf makes for a truly scary and repulsive tiny freak of a main villain . Lasse Bjorne's rough , no-frills cinematography gives the movie an appropriately gritty look . Ole Orsted's neatly varied score alternates between droning dissonance and groovy-jammin ' psychedelic prog-rock . A few from out in left field cabaret musical numbers further enhance this flick's overall oddball allure . Essential viewing for devout aficionados of unapologetically kinky and disgusting celluloid filth . |
519,240 | 8,239,592 | 94,862 | 8 | A fun late 80's killer doll horror winner | The evil spirit of vicious serial killer Charles Lee Ray ( the ever creepy Brad Dourif ) gets transferred into the body of a popular doll . Plucky single mother Karen Barclay ( superbly played by Catherine Hicks ) purchases the doll as a birthday present for her son Andy ( an endearingly sweet performance by Alex Vincent ) . Chucky the doll comes back to murderous life and embarks on a killing spree . Director Tom Holland , working from a clever and witty script that he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia , treats the frankly silly story with admirable seriousness , keeps the pace brisk and unflagging throughout , and builds a good deal of tension which culminates in a lively and exciting conclusion . Moreover , although the tone is basically straight , Holland still injects the proceedings with a wickedly nasty sense of dark humor . Additional kudos are in order for the uniformly excellent acting by a bang-up cast : Hicks makes for a sympathetic lead , Vincent is adorable as Andy , Dourif does the voice of Chucky with his customary rip-roaring crazed aplomb , plus there are sound contributions from Chris Sarandon as cynical , skeptical detective Mike Norris , Dinah Manoff as Karen's spunky best gal pal Maggie Peterson , Neil Giuntoli as Lee Ray's cowardly partner Eddie Caputo , Raymond Oliver as voodoo priest Dr . Death , and Alan Wilder as Karen's jerky boss Mr . Criswell . This film even manages to astutely address such timely 80's topics as single parenthood , mass media commercialization , and urban squalor and decay ( Karen buys Chucky from a street peddler ) . The tight 87 minute running time ensures that the movie never drags or gets bogged down in needless tedious filler . Kevin Yagher's animatronic doll puppet f / x are nifty and impressive . Bill Butler's polished cinematography makes effectively fluid use of a prowling Steadicam . Joe Renzetti's shivery score does the shuddery trick . All in all , this surprise 80's horror hit holds up quite well and remains a neat little romp . |
518,366 | 8,239,592 | 66,845 | 8 | An enjoyably trashy horror murder mystery potboiler | After a wealthy old geezer dies , his four greedy and no-count backstabbing kids get together at the family mansion so they can get their grubby paws on his sizable inheritance . Naturally , there's a catch : They all have to spend an entire week at the estate before they can collect the dough . Of course , a vicious killer starts brutally bumping folks off . Carl Monson's blunt direction fails to wring much tension from Eric Norden's trite , yet deliciously lurid script ( a sleazy incest subplot is especially tasty ) , but does succeed in creating a compellingly seedy atmosphere and stages the murder set pieces with considerable go-for-it grisly gusto ( said kill scenes include an axe to the noggin , a bullet to the head , an electrocution and a guy being stung to death by bees ) . The stand-out trash movie cast qualifies as another significant asset : Jeff Morrow and Faith Domergue from " This Island Earth , " rugged Western film perennial John Russell , the luscious Brooke Mills from " The Big Doll House , Buck Kartalian of " Planet of the Apes " ( very funny and creepy as a masochistic butler ) , Richard Davalos from Jack Hill's " Pit Stop , " and the ubiquitous John Carradine as the mean , overbearing patriarch of the extremely depraved and dysfunctional clan . The gritty , washed-out photography by Jack Beckett and Ben Rombouts , Jamie Mendoza-Nava's spooky'n'shuddery score , and the delectably hammy performances add immensely to the picture's oddly appealing and engrossing ratty charm . Entertaining low-grade junk . |
518,005 | 8,239,592 | 94,860 | 8 | A worthy and supremely creepy Italian horror shocker winner | A group of alleged Devil worshipers are killed by knights in medieval Europe . A large Gothic church is built over the site were the massacre took place . In the modern age the sealed crypt which keeps the ancient evil at bay gets broken . A motley assortment of folks find themselves trapped in the church with the deadly and diabolical demonic force . Director Michele Soavi relates the absorbing and unsettling story with tremendous flair and style ; Soavi delivers plenty of flesh-crawling jolts , offers up a striking wealth of truly disturbing images , adeptly creates and maintains a potently dark and brooding mood , and even comes through with a strong and provocative meditation on faith and religion . Renato Tafuri's sharp and agile cinematography is positively breathtaking with its frequent fluid tracking shots and expert use of a prowling Steadicam . The extremely spooky'n'shuddery score by Keith Emerson and Goblin further enhances the overall eerie atmosphere . The cast all give solid performances , with especially fine work by Tomas Arana as studious librarian Evan , Barbara Cupisi as fetching painter Lisa , Hugh Quarshie as the assertive Father Gus , Feodor Chapliapin , Jr . as a stern , cranky bishop , Giovanni Lombardo Radice as a timid priest , Asia Argento as cute , spunky , rebellious teenager Lotte , and Antonello Vitale as a vain , snippy bride . Moreover , there's a handy helping of gruesome splatter featured throughout : Grisly highlights include a man tearing his own heart out , another guy impaling himself on a jackhammer , a woman being run through with spikes , a hapless lass getting pulped by a speeding train , and an old lady using her husband's severed head to ring a bell . Nice ambiguous ending , too . |
519,272 | 8,239,592 | 129,797 | 8 | An authentically grimy piece of 70's drive-in horror junk | The wealthy De Lorca family has suffered from the curse of vampirism throughout the centuries . Suave patriarch Carlos ( decently played by Paul Everett ) invites four lovely young women to his creepy isolated opulent estate . Carlos singles out rich blonde Yvonne ( the supremely snotty and unappealing Dolores Heiser ) as the ideal candidate to be impregnated by his vampire son Juan ( the pitifully unscary and unconvincing Chuck Faulkner ) and uses the other luckless gals as mere disposable canon fodder . Man , does this gloriously ghastly abomination possess all the right wretched stuff to rate as a choice chunk of cheapo dime-store cinema cheese : fumbling ( non ) direction by Robert R . Favorite , mostly atrocious acting from a lame no-name cast ( Bob Lelizia cops the top thespic dishonors with his singularly stinky portrayal of pathetic mute idiot hunchback servant Perro ) , a sluggish pace , rough , grainy , ugly-as-dirt cinematography , shoddy make-up ( one bloodsucker babe sports a mouthful of obvious chintzy novelty schlock shop plastic fangs ! ) , an annoying generic ooga-booga synthesizer score by Lee Peters , tacky gore , and a seriously depressing surprise bummer ending . Moreover , we also got a smidgen of gratuitous female nudity , a grotesque demon dude running amok , and a hot belly dancer doing her sexy thing at a local tavern . The seedy backwater Florida locations add a tasty regional flavor to the gloomy proceedings . In fact , this flick often plays like a lurid Southern-fried version of your basic paltry Andy Milligan fright feature . To sum up , it's worth a watch , but only if you are a really hardcore aficionado of deliciously dreadful micro-budget obscure dreck . |
518,666 | 8,239,592 | 70,680 | 8 | Burt Reynolds excels in this tough and exciting 70's private eye mystery action thriller | The ever-cool Burt Reynolds gives a typically fine and credible performance as Shamus McCoy , a scruffy , but smooth and studly rugged womanizing private detective who's hired by flaky rich guy E . J . Hume ( a pleasingly offbeat turn by Ron Weyand ) to find a killer and retrieve a fortune in stolen diamonds . During his investigation McCoy makes the acquaintance of the lovely , vivacious Alexis ( delightfully played by the gorgeously voluptuous Dyan Cannon ) and uncovers a wild plot to sell surplus military weapons on the black market . Adroitly directed by Buzz ( " The Hunter " ) Kulik , with a colorful and compelling , if rather muddled script by Barry Beckerman , a groovy score by Jerry Goldsmith , occasional exciting outbursts of raw rough'n'tumble fisticuffs , gritty , but lush cinematography by Victor J . Kemper , a funky New York City atmosphere , and a few charmingly quirky touches ( McCoy sleeps on a pool table with a mattress on it and has a deep-seated dread of large dogs ) , " Shamus " makes for a hugely enjoyable and often thrilling private eye flick . Popping up in solid supporting parts are Larry Block as funny sports trivia freak informant Springy , Joe Santos as hard-nosed police Lieutenant Promuto , John P . Ryan as crazed fanatical army Colonel Hardcore , and John Glover in his film debut as a pathetic heroin addict . Excellent downbeat ending , too . Granted , we're not talking unjustly overlooked lost classic here , but this baby overall sizes up as a most entertaining vintage 70's Burt Reynolds star action vehicle . |
518,454 | 8,239,592 | 843,873 | 8 | A gloriously ludicrous laugh riot | Ladies and gentlemen , we've really got ourselves a winner here . Actually we don't , but boy is this film an often hilarious and always entertaining horrible hoot of a stinker . Poor Alma ( fetching Julia Ruiz ) is suffering from an ancient Mayan curse that causes lethal poisonous snakes to grow inside of her body . Alma and her deranged shaman husband Brujo ( Alby Castro , who feverishly overacts with delicious eye-rolling intensity ) stowaway on a train that's bound for Los Angeles . Naturally , a bunch of deadly vipers get lose so they can terrorize the motley assortment of passengers . The Mallachi Brothers , working from an absurd script by Eric Fosberg , treat the ridiculous premise straight , thereby creating a wonderfully wretched piece of deliriously campy cheese . The cruddy CGI effects , the pathetically unfrightening common variety Gardner snakes ( there's would-be scary rattlesnake noises added to the soundtrack to imbue them with a faint sense of otherwise nonexistent menace ) , the plodding pace , the total dearth of any tension or momentum , the obvious rickety stage-bound train set , and especially the simply astonishing " you gotta be kiddin ' me ! " over-the-top preposterous ending are all downright awesome in their very jaw-dropping awfulness . Better still , we also got game ( if lame ) acting from a no-name cast , a nice smidgen of tasty gratuitous female nudity , a funky hum'n'shiver score , and plenty of extremely gross and grotesque make-up f / x . Bonus points for the fact that the token irritatingly cutesy little girl gets eaten by a large reptile and for the stoner engineer who gets caught smoking crack out of a hollow light bulb ( ! ? ) . An absolute gut-buster of a kitsch howler . |
518,140 | 8,239,592 | 66,863 | 8 | A creepy , quirky and effective early 70's devil worship horror flick | A young couple - - father Ben ( solid Charles Bateman ) , wife Nicky ( the lovely Ahna Capri ) and their daughter KT ( the cute Geri Reischl of " I Dismember Mama " fame ) - - find themselves trapped in a small California desert town populated by hysterical lunatics . Worse yet , there's a pernicious Satanic cult that's been abducting little children for their own diabolical purposes . Director Bernard McEveety , working from an offbeat and inspired script by William Welch and L . Q . Jones ( " Devil Times Five " director Sean MacGregor came up with the bizarre story ) , relates the compellingly oddball plot at a slow , yet steady pace and ably creates a creepy , edgy , mysterious ooga-booga atmosphere . Strother Martin delivers a wonderfully wicked and robust performance as Doc Duncan , who's the gleefully sinister leader of the evil sect . The top-rate cast of excellent character actors qualifies as a substantial asset : Jones as gruff , no-nonsense Sheriff Hillsboro , Alvy Moore as friendly local Toby , and Charles Robinson as a shrewd , fiercely devout priest Jack . John Arthur Morrill's bright , polished widescreen cinematography , Jamie Mendoza-Nava's spooky score , and the wild , rousing climactic black mass ritual are all likewise up to speed . The idea of having toys come to murderous life is simply ingenious ( the opening scene with a toy tank coming real and crushing a family in their car is truly jolting ) . Nice eerily ambiguous ending , too . A pleasingly idiosyncratic and under-appreciated winner . |
518,134 | 8,239,592 | 70,672 | 8 | A solid and thrilling 70's cop flick | A team of tough rogue New York cops led by the rugged , hard-nosed Buddy Manucci ( superbly played by the always excellent Roy Scheider ) go after a group of nasty mobsters involved in a kidnapping ring after one of their number gets killed by them . Director Philip D'Antoni , the producer of " Bullet " and " The French Connection , " ably creates a potent , gritty , starkly amoral no-nonsense tone , maintains a steady pace throughout and stages the action scenes with considerable rip-roaring vigor . Don Ellis ' rousing string score further pumps up the raw'n'rattling intensity while the scrappy Big Apple locations and Urs Furrer's rough , grainy cinematography both greatly enhance the overall grungy realism . Moreover , the fine line distinguishing cops from criminals gets chillingly blurred in this picture : the titular squad use harsh , brutish and morally dubious strong-arm tactics as a means to an end for enforcing the law and there's certainly no code of honor amongst the thugs and thieves who populate the seedy urban underbelly that's vividly depicted in this movie . Nice supporting performances by Tony Lo Bianco as wormy , sniveling snitch Vito Lucia the Undertaker , Richard Lynch as vicious psychotic hoodlum Moon , Bill Hickman as Moon's equally coldblooded partner Bo , Jerry Leon as funky flatfoot Mingo , and Joe Spinell as a parking garage attendant . An extremely wild and exciting protracted heart-in-your-throat mondo destructo car chase qualifies as a definite highlight . The climactic shootout likewise delivers the stirring goods . A real bang-up little winner . |
518,000 | 8,239,592 | 760,186 | 8 | A really fun horror / action hybrid romp | An elite commando squad led by the rugged Hawk ( an engaging performance by Casper Van Dien ) and his equally tough longtime buddy Grieves ( the hulking , deep-voiced Kevin Grevioux , who's excellent ) run afoul of lethal and powerful vampires in a South American rain forest . Grieves gets turned into a vampire and becomes the leader of a savage roving herd . Moreover , Hawk has to rescue his spunky scientist ex-wife Dr . Laurie Williams ( winningly played by luscious blonde looker Jennifer O'Dell ) from the bloodsuckers ' evil clutches . Writer / director Kevin VanHook concocts a fresh , lively and inspired horror / action genre hybrid that delivers likable characters , a handy helping of graphic gore , a constant snappy pace , and plentiful rousing and well-staged action scenes . In addition , VanHook puts a novel spin on standard vampire lore : these vampires are extremely smart , hunt in packs , and can walk around in broad daylight . Van Dien and Grevioux are fine in the leads ; they receive able support from Tony Plana as amiable local innkeeper Javier , Ray Park as a pair of vicious martial arts acrobatic twins , Joyce Giraud as fierce , yet sexy vampire vixen Estrella , Lynda Carter as the hard-nosed Colonel Jessica Weaver , and Danny Trejo as jolly , wily fisherman Montegna . Matt Steinauer's slick cinematography and Ludek Drizhal's stirring score are both up to speed . Spirited and exciting , this nifty little feature makes for hugely enjoyable viewing . |
518,325 | 8,239,592 | 470,000 | 8 | A genuinely creepy zombie horror flick | Young widow Karen Tunny ( winningly played by the lovely Lisa Heuring ) and her two daughters - - brash teenager Sarah ( spunky hottie Scout-Taylor Compton ) and sweet , perky moppet Emma ( adorable sprite Chloe Moretz ) - - inherit a rundown house located deep in the remote Pensylvannia forest after their father dies . Said dense woodland region turns out to be the nightly stalking grounds of a bunch of lethal zombie kids who were all killed in a tragic mining cave-in back in 1913 . Director J . S . Cardone does an adept job of creating a compellingly eerie atmosphere , maintains a slow , but steady pace throughout , stages the shock scenes with considerable grisly aplomb , and coaxes fine acting from a bang-up cast . Nice supporting performances by Ben Cross as gruff , jumpy , religious hermit Hanks , Martin McDougall as mean , arrogant millionaire Carlton , and Geoffrey Lewis as grouchy plumber Harold . The ferocious pasty-faced flesh-eating ghoul tykes armed with shovels and pick-axes are genuinely creepy and unsettling little buggers . Moreover , there's a strong subtext concerning greed , the evils of child exploitation , justice being served and reaping what you sow that in turn adds surprising poignancy to the story . Emil Topuzov's misty , polished cinematography , Tim Jones ' supremely spooky'n'shivery score , the refreshingly well-drawn and likable main characters , and the beautiful Bulgarian sylvan scenery further enhance the overall sturdy quality of this solid and satisfying fright feature . |
518,066 | 8,239,592 | 51,786 | 8 | A hugely enjoyable 50's sci-fi / horror precursor to " Alien " | An expedition to Mars picks up Colonel Edward Carruthers ( an excellent performance by Marshall Thompson ) , who's the sole survivor of a previous disastrous mission to the red planet . A strong , lethal and seemingly indestructible reptilian alien beast ( Ray " Crash " Corrigan in a cool rubber suit ) also stows away on board the spaceship and starts bumping off various crew members . Director Edward L . Cahn , working from a smart and taut script by noted science fiction author Jerome Bixby , wrings plenty of harrowing suspense from the absorbing premise ( said premise was an obvious influence on " Alien " ) . Moreover , Cahn maintains a steady pace throughout and stages the shock scenes with considerable panache . The cramped set design , stark lighting , and inspired use of both shadows and suggestion all add immensely to the creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere . The shuddery ooga-booga score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter further enhances the eerie tone . Kenneth Peach's crisp black and white cinematography offers several nifty fades , wipes and dissolves . Kudos are likewise in order for the sound acting from a sturdy cast , with especially praiseworthy work by Thompson , Kim Spalding as the hard-nosed Colonel Van Heusen , Ann Doran as the compassionate Dr . Mary Royce , Paul Langton as the sarcastic Lieutenant James Calder , Dabbs Greer as the shrewd Eric Royce , and Richard Benedict as the excitable Bob Finelli . A highly satisfying little winner . |
519,294 | 8,239,592 | 91,024 | 8 | Unpleasant , but undeniably gripping and potent | Marjorie ( a splendid and riveting performance by Farrah Fawcett ) narrowly avoids being assaulted in her car by vicious serial rapist Joe ( superbly played with frightening conviction and intensity by James Russo ) . However , Joe steals her wallet and finds out where Marjorie lives . He pays her a visit one fateful day . After subjecting Marjorie to plenty of degradation and psychological abuse , Marjorie manages to turn the tables on Joe and locks him in the fireplace . What is Marjorie going to do with Joe ? Director Robert M . Young and screenwriter William Mastrosimone concoct a harsh , gritty and often disturbing morality tale that astutely nails the stark brutality and painful debasement of rape while also showing how any person when pushed to extremes is capable of shocking acts of violence and inhumanity . Joe perceives women strictly as objects while Marjorie only sees Joe as an " animal . " However , this movie to its admirable credit refuses to make Joe out to be simply a vile one-dimensional creep ; instead he's a terrifyingly real and ultimately pitiable human monster with a wife and kid ( Joe's climactic confession in particular is genuinely poignant ) . Fawcett and Russo are both outstanding in the leads ; they receive fine support from Diana Scarwid as the passive Terry , Alfre Woodard as the sensible Patricia , and Sandy Martin as sympathetic policewoman Officer Sudow . Both Curtis Clark's agile cinematography and J . A . C . Redford's shivery , skin-crawling score greatly enhance the considerable claustrophobic tension . A real powerhouse . |
518,960 | 8,239,592 | 94,886 | 8 | Victor Salva's supremely creepy and effective debut horror feature | A trio of dangerous psychopaths escape from a nearby asylum and murder three circus clowns . The deranged fruitcakes dress up in the clowns ' garish costumes and make-up . They proceed to besiege a large mansion where three brothers - - jittery Casey ( the solid Nathan Forrest Winters ) , friendly Geoffrey ( winningly played by Brian McHugh ) and mean overbearing bully Randy ( a marvelously hateful turn by a then unknown Sam Rockwell ) - - live . Tautly directed by Victor Salva ( who later gave us the excellent road thriller pip " The Nature of the Beast " and the deliciously perverse " Jeepers Creepers " pictures ) , with surprisingly strong performances by the three capable youthful leads , plenty of creepy atmosphere , a pleasingly concise 81 minute running time , and a respectable corpse count of eight , " Clownhouse " makes the grade as a gripping and well-made edge-of-your-seat nail-biter . The clever subversion of the naturally unsettling aura about clowns ( what's actually behind the cheery smiling facade ? ) is an especially smart and inspired touch . Moreover , Salva wisely downplays graphic gore and excessive violence in favor of deftly creating and sustaining a supremely eerie and unnerving tone . It's the film's potently spooky and nightmarish mood which really clinches its sterling status as an extremely scary and harrowing horror sleeper . |
518,368 | 8,239,592 | 70,908 | 8 | A true oddity | Dean Stockwell gives a deliciously droll and wired portrayal of Jack Whittier , a hotshot presidential press assistant who gets bitten by a werewolf while on assignment in Budapest , Hungary . Whittier comes back to the United States and begins terrorizing the nation's capitol , turning into a werewolf whenever there's a full moon and bumping off various folks in the immediate area . Writer / director Milton Moses Ginsberg concocts one hell of a strangely engaging and amusing eccentric blend of tacky horror and broad political satire , rather clumsily mixing the disparate elements together into a pretty messy , yet still funny and enjoyable synthesis . Technically , the film is very slipshod , with rough , grainy photography , ragged editing , generic spooky music and the laughably shoddy werewolf make-up leaving something to be desired , but still adding substantially to the picture's singularly screwy charm . Fortunately , the game cast come through with delightfully ripe performances : Biff McGuire as the smarmy Nixonesque president , Clifton James as an oily , huffy attorney general , Thayer David as a ramrod police inspector , June House as the president's desirable hottie daughter , Michael Dunn as quirky mad scientist Dr . Kiss , and James Tolkan as a shady fed in sunglasses are a total blast to watch . Best-ever scene : the werewolf attacks a screaming woman trapped in an overturned phone booth . An authentically offbeat curio . |
518,529 | 8,239,592 | 56,201 | 8 | An enjoyably inane Mexican horror wrestling hoot | A mad doctor who's referred to as - - what else ? - - " the mad doctor " kidnaps women so he can use them as objects for his nefarious brain transplant experiments . The doctor , assisted by the brutish humanoid ape beast Gomar ( an idiot mute strongman with the brain of a gorilla who when he's decked out in some chintzy bulletproof outfit can butcher four cops no problem ) and a legion of expendable goons , unfortunately can't find a gal with the necessary stamina to survive his grueling operations . When one of the doc's many female victims is the sister of wrestling star Gloria Venus ( the lovely , voluptuous Lenora Velazquez ) , who along with fellow wrestler Golden Rubi ( the gorgeously statuesque Elizabeth Campbell ) and a pair of blundering , ineffectual peabrain cops decide to take on the evil medico . After the girls burn down his lab and disfigure his face with acid , the mad doctor builds himself a ferocious lady wrestler called Vendetta and poses as her creepy manager ( the doc covers his scarred mug with a mask ala Santo ! ) , unleashing Vendetta on both Gloria Venus and Golden Rubi for a riotous climactic wrestling match . With its rusty tin-eared dialogue ( " I must say that this particular criminal is disconcerting " ) , a snazzy beatnik jazz score , countless ineptly staged fight scenes , a self-consciously cutesy'n'campy sense of humor , bloodless violence , laughable costumes ( the mad doctor's white hood disguise makes him look like a rogue Klu Klux Klan member ! ) , scrappy , washed-out black and white cinematography , winningly bad acting , implausible plot twists ( the particularly unbelievable man with an ape's brain brain idea really stands out here ) , cruddy make-up f / x , and breezy tongue-in-cheek tone , this absolute howler rates as an often sidesplitting serving of sensationally silly south-of-the-border schlock . |
517,918 | 8,239,592 | 63,980 | 8 | A deliciously sordid 60s soft-core sleazefest | A psychiatrist treats a bevy of lovely , but deviant female patients . Said patients are a pretty messed-up bunch . Sadist Vickie derives sick kicks from beating up guys and then tying them up . Unhappily married Sherry is addicted to engaging in dirty sex with total strangers . Insatiable teenage nympho Kathy just can't get enough . Married couple Fred and Janet enjoy having a threesome with lesbian Barbara . Director George Rodgers , working from a trashy script by Martin Lathrop , delivers plenty of in-your-face explicit nudity and really raunchy soft-core sex . A heavy-handed narrator babbles incessantly about the girls ' severe sexual hang-ups . H . M . Schultz's rough , grainy black and white photography greatly adds to the pervasive seediness . Arthur Lindsey's wild free-form jazz score likewise does the groovy trick . The wonderfully wretched theme song is downright hilarious . Best of all , the women look quite attractive and aren't the least bit bashful about showing off their nice natural naked bodies at pleasingly regular intervals . Moreover , there's all kinds of seamy carnal activity on display throughout . A satisfyingly scuzzy slice of pure unadulterated junk . |
519,157 | 8,239,592 | 82,198 | 8 | A supremely tough , gritty and exciting sword and sorcery fantasy action winner | Conan ( Arnold Schwarzenegger in the tailor-made role that launched his career ) vows to get revenge on evil cult leader Thulsa Doom ( a grandly wicked James Earl Jones ) , who killed both of Conan's parents and everyone in his village . Conan is assisted by the brave Valerie , Queen of Thieves ( a fine performance by the exquisitely graceful and gorgeous Sandahl Bergman ) , loyal thief / archer Subotia the Mongol ( an extremely likable turn by champion surfer Gerry Lopez ) , and a batty , but wise wizard ( the excellent Mako ) . Director John Milius , who also co-wrote the smart and gutsy script with Oliver Stone , does a masterful job of creating a hard , serious , rough-edged tone , maintains a steady pace throughout , and stages the action scenes with considerable rip-snorting brio . The sterling cast qualifies as a significant asset : Max von Sydow hams it up deliciously as the drunken King Osric , William Smith makes a strong impression as Conan's father , Valerie Quennessen is absolutely ravishing as a fair princess who falls under Thulsa Doom's spell , Cassandra Gaviola has a memorably sexy bit as a lovely , yet lethal witch , brawny behemoths Ben Davidson and Sven-Ole Thorsen serve as perfect foils for Conan as two of Thulsa Doom's nasty henchmen , and Jess Franco film regular Jack Taylor even pops up in a small part as a priest . Kudos are also in order for the wonderfully robust , stirring and flat-out beautiful full-bore orchestral score by Basil Poledouis . Duke Callaghan's stunning widescreen cinematography and Ron Cobb's striking production design add immensely to the overall breathtaking epic scope and majestic sweep of this hugely enjoyable rough'n'tumble fantasy action treat . |
518,293 | 8,239,592 | 86,050 | 8 | Good , silly early 80's low-budget cheesy horror fun | Famous and mysterious recluse Raymar , who's some kind of lethal telekinetic psychic vampire , abruptly dies under bizarre circumstances . Nice girl high school student Julie Wells ( a warm and sympathetic performance by the lovely Meg Tilly ) wants desperately to be accepted by the snobby clique the Sisters ( played to sublimely bitchy perfection by Leslie Speights , Robin Evans and the ever-cuddly Elizabeth Daily ) , so she agrees to spend a night in a creepy mausoleum where Raymar's body has been interred as part of an initiation rite . Naturally , Raymar still has his extraordinary powers , so it's going to be a very long and harrowing night of pure nerve-wracking terror for poor Julie . Director / co-screenwriter Tom McLoughlin ( who later gave us the enjoyably tongue-in-cheek " Friday the 13th Part VI : Jason Lives " ) eschews graphic gore in favor of creating a brooding and eerie atmosphere , but fails to pull this particular feat off because the first hour is way too slow , talky and uneventful to be remotely scary or suspenseful . However , I nonetheless still found this flawed fright flick to be oddly appealing and entertaining . The big poofy hairdos , a goofy music montage sequence , badly timed false scares ( including the ubiquitous hand on the shoulder gag ! ) , a scene at a glittery video game arcade , kids gleefully smoking pot , and the hilariously dumb teen slang ( " nerdle brain " ! ? ) give this picture a certain endearingly quaint 80's period charm . Hal Trussell's handsome , polished cinematography ( I especially dug the smoothly gliding Steadicam tracking shots ) , Bob Summers ' spooky , yet funky hum'n'shiver synthesizer score , and Tom Burman's splendidly ghoulish make-up f / x are all up to snuff . The ever-stolid Adam West of TV's " Batman " fame merely takes up space in a nothing secondary part . The mausoleum makes for an impressively vast and unsettling main location . The grand finale with a bunch of ghastly rotting corpses popping out of their coffins and floating about qualifies as a marvelously macabre shock set piece . Sure , this baby definitely ain't some unjustly unsung gem , but it still delivers plenty of pleasingly silly and diverting cheesy fun all the same . |
518,770 | 8,239,592 | 59,588 | 8 | An enjoyably silly mid 60's Italian low-budget sci-fi hoot | A destructive series of freakish natural disasters decimate the earth . The cause of said disasters turns out to be a barren , yet lethal , living and breathing asteroid that's hurtling through space on a collision course with our world . It's up to an intrepid team of astronauts led by courageous ramrod Commander Jackson ( a suitably stiff'n'stalwart Giacomo Rossi-Stuart ) to destroy the asteroid before it's too late . The fate of our planet depends on Jackson and his team successfully accomplishing their desperate mission . Director Antonio Margheriti keeps the pace moving along at a steady , speedy clip and plays the utterly absurd story ludicrously straight . Moreover , all the necessary winningly crummy ingredients for an entertainingly asinine piece of unmitigated drivel are present and accounted for : cruddy dubbing , wooden acting , cardboard characters , a corny stock film library score , and wonderfully rinky-dink ( far from ) special effects ( I especially dug the Tonka toy miniatures ) . Sure , this admittedly schlocky flick is dumb , chintzy and totally ridiculous , but this engagingly inane and immaterial piffle nonetheless is still tons better and more enjoyable than the abominable " Armegeddon . " |
518,424 | 8,239,592 | 153,206 | 8 | An amusingly broad and goofy porno comedy from the always dependable Joe Sarno | Hopelessly gawky'n'geeky mama's boy Melvin ( played to endearingly nerdy perfection by Doug Stone ) discovers sexy genie Amara ( the absolutely adorable blonde dish Chris Jordan ) in a bottle . Amara grants Melvin five wishes . Melvin wishes that he can become his favorite hardcore movie stars so he can make love to beautiful adult film actresses . Writer / director Joe Sarno , who usually makes thoughtful and intelligent serious soft-core pictures , loads this radical change-of-pace full-blown goofy porno farce with plenty of often hilarious crude jokes , lots of gleefully inane Jewish shtick humor , and outrageously broad Jewish stereotypes . While it might sound offensive , Sarno thankfully takes any potentially objectionable edge off by successfully creating and maintaining a sweet good-natured sensibility that's impossible to either resist or dislike . Moreover , the capable cast have a ball with their colorfully kooky roles . Ultramax in particular contributes a hysterically sidesplitting portrayal of Melvin's overbearing shrew of a mother Ms . Finkelfarb . Harding Harrison likewise amuses as Melvin's whiny kvetch best friend Irving Stein . Delicious brunette Tina Russell enjoys a nifty dual role as both herself and Melvin's flaky gal pal Janet Geckel . The sex scenes are quite funny and fairly explicit : Highlights include doctor Harry Reems having a threesome with a trio of hot babe patients , private detective Marc Stevens giving a luscious female criminal the special treatment , and hunky insurance salesman Eric Edwards getting intimate with his libidinous distaff clients . Joao Fernandes ' rough , no-frills cinematography , the blithely bouncy'n'playful score , and the authentically grubby New York City locations further enhance the infectiously silly charm of this cute little hoot . |
519,322 | 8,239,592 | 70,893 | 8 | A jaw-dropping marvel of gut-busting ineptitude | The mummy of long dormant , but powerful Haitian voodoo priest Gatanebo ( a chromedomed Aldo Sambrell , who's appeared in countless Italian spaghetti westerns ) gets revived on a luxury South Seas ocean cruise liner as a big buff bald guy and proceeds to terrorize the passengers . Gatanebo beheads several folks , occasionally reverts back to his prune-faced mummified state , and develops the hots for Sylvia ( ravishing redhead Eva Leon ) , who reminds him of his old lady love Kenya ( the equally gorgeous Tanyeka Stadler ) . Boy , does this beautifully bad and berserk baby possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as an enjoyably dreadful dud : we've got clunky ( mis ) direction by Manuel Cano , a plodding pace , a talky , rambling script by Santiago Moncada , laughably lousy dubbing , garish cinematography by Roberto Ochoa , incredibly cheesy make-up f / x ( the paper mache decapitated heads are uproariously phony and unconvincing ) , a groovy swingin ' psychedelic lounge score by Fernando Garcia Morcillo , plenty of cheesy red-tinted flashbacks of Gatanebo frolicking on the beach with Kenya , and lots of hysterically bad dialogue ( " I am a homemade cop ; a little clumsy and a little old " ) . The cast of colorful supporting characters further adds to the unintentional hilarity : Fernando Sancho as the lazy , cigar-chomping Inspector Dominguez , Alfredo Mayo as stuffy anthropologist Dr . Kessling , Maria Antonio del Rio as an irritating shrew , and Enrique del Rio as her long-suffering husband . Moreover , Leon takes a bath and a voluptuous native exotic dancer really shakes her awesomely ample figure several times throughout the picture . Keep your eyes peeled for the wondrous moment when the cameraman's reflection can be clearly seen in a mirror during an attack scene . A shamefully unsung schlock riot . |
517,915 | 8,239,592 | 101,467 | 8 | A fun Italian zombie splatter romp | Six black slaves are resurrected as lethal and vengeful zombies through voodoo and go on a gruesome spree in Brazil . Vacationing British guy Kevin ( smooth Kevin Van Hoven ) , his spunky American girlfriend Jessica ( fetching blonde Sonia Curtis ) , and Sonia's whiny , annoying brother Dick ( the extremely obnoxious Joe Balogh ) all find themselves in considerable jeopardy . Director / co-writer Umberto Lenzi manages to create a reasonably creepy atmosphere ( the sequence with the zombies coming out of their graves in a misty cemetery is especially strong and memorable ) , relates the story at a snappy pace , and stages the splatter set pieces with his customary lip-smacking grisly gusto . The pleasingly hideous make-up f / x by Franco Casagni deliver the ghastly goods ; nasty highlights include an eye gouged out with a crowbar , an axe splitting open someone's skull , and a bloody throat slashing . Moreover , the shambling , rot-faced zombies with their egg-white eyes , unsightly faces , and rattling chains are genuinely unnerving . The cast for the most part give really bad performances , although Maria Alves contributes an amusing turn as superstitious maid Maria . Franco Micalizzi's spirited spooky'n'shuddery score , Maurizio Dell'Orco's crisp , handsome cinematography , and a lively last third with Kevin burning up those pesky zombies real good with a bunch of Molotov cocktails are all up to speed . An enjoyably schlocky piece of low-grade Italian horror junk . |
518,843 | 8,239,592 | 82,213 | 8 | A very funny low-budget send-up of ALIEN | This delightfully goofball " Airplane " - style spoof of ALIEN in particular and lovably lousy 50's sci-fi cheapie clunkers in general has the daffy crew of the spaceship U . S . S . Vertigo - - pompous macho jerk captain Leslie Nielson , obsessive , glory-seeking mad doctor Patrick MacNee ( " Knowledge is my candy ! " ) , relentlessly perky , but uptight morale officer Cindy Williams , crude , slobby pervert Gerrit Graham , and writer / director Bruce Kimmel as the meek , cloddish , browbeaten cook / janitor - - discover a mysterious unknown organism on a heretofore uncharted and previously undiscovered barren planet . The initially minuscule organism promptly grows into a large , tubby , one-eyed , red-skinned , slime-dripping man-eating gelatinous humanoid blob which in time-honored hoary B-movie fashion proceeds to devour most of the crew before being jettisoned into space . Kimmel wittily uses the obvious two-cent budget to the film's amiably chintzy advantage : the deliberately tacky special effects , hokey-looking monster , crummy sets , rigidly static and immobile cinematography , broadly hammy acting , cardboard characters , and cornball synthesizer score all serve as amusing dead-on deadpan send-ups of the flat production values and hackneyed conventions that were ripely abundant in those endearingly awful science fiction programmers of yore . More importantly , the frothy , facetious tone strikes just the right note of wide-eyed affection throughout , never seeming either smug or condescending in its cheery poking fun at stupidly generic sci-fi potboilers . Definite comic highlights : a TV news program which shows gorilla extraterrestrials invading Earth , when the ugly thingie heartily belts out the sidesplitting ditty " I Wanna Eat Your Face , " and the final shot which hilariously parodies that age-old " it ain't over yet ! " inconclusive sequel set-up non-ending cliché . Granted , it's no " Dark Star , " but this nifty little number overall rates as a pretty funny and enjoyably asinine tongue-in-cheek outing all the same . |
519,259 | 8,239,592 | 70,868 | 8 | Another worthy and entertaining horror anthology outing from those fine folks at Amicus | A quintet of men find themselves trapped in a deep , mysterious high-rise building basement where they relate their recurring nightmares to each other . 1st and most eerie tale , " Midnight Mess " - Ruthless criminal Rogers ( a solid Daniel Massey ) tracks down his sister Donna ( a marvelously sinister Anna Massey ) to a remote small town which turns out to be populated by vampires . 2nd and most darkly amusing story , " The Neat Job " - Overbearingly neat and tidy nit-picker Critchit ( a perfectly irritating Terry-Thomas ) drives his sweet , long-suffering wife Eleanor ( the delightful Glynis Johns ) murderously around the bend with his annoying fussiness . The sick punchline to this one is simply great . 3rd and most nifty yarn , " This Trick'll Kill You " - Arrogant magician Sebastian ( well played to the cocky hilt by Curt Jurgens ) and his wife Inez ( lovely Dawn Addams ) seal their gloomy fates when they steal an Indian rope trick . 4th and most ironic segment , " Bargain in Death " - Shrewd con artist Maitland ( the excellent Michael Craig ) concocts a seemingly foolproof insurance scam by faking his own death , but his plan goes horribly awry . Arthur Mullard contributes a winningly droll turn in this one as a clumsy oaf gravedigger . 5th and most nasty vignette , " Drawn and Quartered " - Struggling , destitute , bitterly vindictive painter Moore ( a splendidly performance by Tom Baker , who's barely recognizable beneath a big , bushy beard ) uses voodoo to get revenge on three greedy fellows who exploited him . Capably directed by Roy Ward Baker , with a tight script by Milton Subotsky , sharp cinematography by Denys N . Coop , a supremely spooky'n'shivery score by Douglas Gamley , a morbidly funny line in wickedly witty gallows humor , and tip-top acting from a bang-up all-star British cast , this film makes for a good'n'gruesome omnibus outing . |
518,123 | 8,239,592 | 75,655 | 8 | A solid and touching 70's made-for-TV drama | This surprisingly strong and absorbing made-for-TV drama tackles the pretty sordid subject of male prostitution with admirable taste and restraint . Sensitive aspiring artist Alexander Duncan ( an excellent and convincing performance by Leigh McCloskey ) winds up adrift , desperate and penniless in Los Angeles after he's thrown out of the house by his cranky , disapproving , overbearing farmer father ( a sturdy cameo by Lonny Chapman ) . Alex befriends slick , fast-talking male hustler Buddy ( a delightfully dynamic Asher Brauner ) and becomes a male prostitute . He gets arrested , but a sympathetic shrink ( nicely played by Earl Holliman ) has the charges dropped . Alex winds up living with friendly closeted homosexual pro football player Charles Selby ( well portrayed by Alan Feinstein ) , but both of them know that their relationship together isn't going to last forever . Capably directed by John Erman , with a thoughtful script by Dalene Young and Walter Dallanbach , sunny cinematography by Gayne Rescher , a funky score by Fred Karlin , a touching love story between Alex and Dawn , and bang-up supporting turns by Eve Plumb ( Jan on " The Brady Bunch " ) as Alex's loyal and loving reformed ex-hooker girlfriend Dawn , Jean Hagen as Alex's drunken , rundown land lady , Juliet Mills as a wealthy sophisticated lady customer Alex spends the night with , Jonathan Banks as a troubled gay man , Frances Faye as herself ( she performs on stage at a groovy swingin ' gay party ) , and P . J . Soles as a giggly football groupie , this movie overall rates as a solid , compelling and ultimately quite moving little drama . |
518,599 | 8,239,592 | 56,233 | 8 | A nifty nudie fantasy romp | Young marine biologist Dr . Samuel Jamison ( a likable performance by director George Rowe in his only acting gig ) discovers a bunch of lovely and enticing lady mermaids while searching for buried treasure located deep in the ocean nearby an isolated Mexican island . Writer / director John Lamb gives this simple tale a certain sweet and strangely innocent charm . Moreover , Lamb also maintains a steady pace throughout and brings a sense of genuine awe to the fantastic subject matter . The actresses who portray the titular topless sea sirens are quite attractive and well-endowed ; Diane Webber and Gaby Martone in particular are totally ravishing . Popping up in cool supporting roles are the singular Timothy Carey as nasty no-count criminal creep Milo Sangster , Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as excitable Mexican fisherman Pepe Gallardo , and John Mylong as weird old gent Ernst Steinhauer . Lamb's beautiful bright color cinematography offers a wondrous wealth of stunning visuals ( the underwater photography is often very striking ) . Richard La Selle's lush , stirring orchestral likewise hits the melodic spot . An enjoyable little flick . |
518,041 | 8,239,592 | 75,662 | 8 | A nifty and interesting little low-budget 70's drive-in variant on " The Andromeda Strain " | A surprisingly solid , engrossing and reasonably tense $1 . 98 one set wonder drive-in sci-fi thriller in the same strange , deadly disease from outer space medical chiller vein as " The Andromeda Strain . " The Viking space probe returns from Mars with an unwanted guest : a weird , fatal , positively unknowable plague which kills its victims when they fall asleep , causing their heads to expand until their skulls crack open and their brains come seeping out . A motley assortment of five people at a remote Wisconsin railway station get the lethal bug and must do their best to stay awake while scientists work around the clock to whip up a cure before it's too late . Directed , produced and edited as a true labor of low-budget love by Bill Rebane , whose largely awful cinematic track record includes the laughably horrible " The Giant Spider Invasion , " " The Alpha Incident " comes across as a most pleasant surprise . Granted , what we have here is very little money , a minimal set , a small cast , strictly elementary music and cinematography , but plenty of ambition and a welcome smidgen of genuine film-making ability . It's the rare movie where its paltry five-and-ten cent production cost and tight , pared down , stripped - to - the - bare - essentials look and feel actually work in its favor ; the total lack of potentially credibility-killing high gloss razzle dazzle ensures that the picture's gritty , no-frills style retains an oddly arresting and utterly convincing sense of plain , everyday , true-to-life mundane plausibility which in turn both heightens and strengthens the steadily escalating suspense . Ingrid Neumayer's uncommonly well thought-out script is another substantial plus , scoring points for its increasingly bleak , pessimistic tone ( the dark , downbeat ending is especially potent ) , hard cynical attitude towards secretive , sinister military operations , barbed dialogue ( " Don't look at me like I'm crazy - - I'm trying to stay alive ! " ) , clearly drawn and distinctive characters , and an intriguing air of general mystery . The cast of dependable B-movie vets come through with capable performances : frequent bit player and occasional screenwriter John ( " The Witch Who Came from the Sea , " " They Live " ) Goff in a rare meaty leading role as breezy , feisty , antagonistic blue collar hothead Jack , Stafford ( " The Stunt Man , " " The Forest " ) Morgan as enigmatic , levelheaded biochemist Sorenson , Ralph ( " The Food of the Gods , " " Without Warning " ) Meeker as weary , doddering train depot manager Charlie , Carol Irene Newell as perky secretary Jane , softcore sexploitation film regular John ( " The Black Godfather , " " This Is A Hijack ! " ) Alderman as coldly rational researcher Dr . Rogers , and , best of all , the always entertaining and invigorating George " Buck " Flower as gabby , gregarious railroad worker Hank , a lovable ol ' slob who unwittingly first catches the maleficent contagion when his curiosity gets the best of him . Truth be told , this feature sure ain't no earth-shattering major work of cinematic art , but for a down'n'dirty spare change grindhouse quickie " The Alpha Incident " is fine of its type and packs an unexpectedly strong wallop . |
518,918 | 8,239,592 | 75,656 | 8 | A deliciously cheesy low-budget sci-fi schlock hoot | Perpetually all-thumbs Baltimore , Maryland no-budget sci-fi dreck picture filmmaker Don Dohler strikes out with enjoyably abysmal results with his first ill-advised foray into " I got money , I have no clue how to direct , but I'll make myself a motion picture because I want to " Do It Yourself dimestore cinema . The fill-in-the-blanks obvious and predictable plot concerns a spaceship which crash-lands in the woods located nearby the sleepy podunk town of Perry Hill . A trio of pernicious and ferocious extraterrestrial beasts - - the Leemoid , a clunky stop-motion animation lizard dinosaur which sucks out people's lifeforce and turns their bodies into dried-out husks ; the Interbyce , a black , scaly , crusty-faced insect being wearing blue jeans ( ! ) , and the Zagatile , a hirsute , towering , long-legged Bigfoot-locking behemoth with lethal sharp claws - - escape from the downed craft and embark on a murderous spree , picking off a sizable share of the dipstick hillbilly populace . Boy , does this delightfully dopey unintentional riot really cover all the right wretched camp movie bases , starting with Dohler's characteristically ham-fisted direction and by-the-numbers cookie cutter cliché-ridden script . The pitifully fake , unconvincing ( substantially less than ) special effects are quite rubbery and laughable , with two of the creatures being clearly nothing more than a pair of hapless dudes in lumpy Halloween costume party-style outfits ( the Zagatile is especially crummy ) . The community theater level acting from a stock bunch of eternally awful Dohler film regulars is hilariously horrible : ungainly beanpole Tom Griffith cuts a most unimpressive figure as the earnest good ol ' boy sheriff , Dick Dyszel ( better known as Washington , DC TV horror show host Count Gore Devol ) does an odiously smarmy turn as the corrupt , money-grubbing mayor , blubbery beefcake Don Leifert wears a fixed scowl and snarls all his lines as an arrogant , trouble-making redneck monster hunter , and " Cinemacabre " fanzine editor George Stover nerds it up somethin ' gawky as a dweeby doctor . Brit McDonough's ratty cinematography , shot on chintzy , scratched-up 16mm film stock , gives the whole cockeyed affair the oddly endearing poverty-row look and feel of a slightly embellished home movie . Kenneth Walker's noodling , creepy-crawly synth score shrilly screams " Cheeseball sci-fi schlock flick music ! " The lowdown funky blue-eyed soul garage group Atlantis make a great cameo appearance cranking out a slow-grinding tune at a seedy bar . The atrociously banal dialogue boasts such tin-eared gems as " She's a cool chick and we're gonna take her with us " and the immortal deduction " Looks like my meteor is some kind of spacecraft . " Several unsightly white guy mushroom Afros and tacky sideburns , the choppy editing , poorly synced sound , a clumsy " Jaws " - derived subplot dealing with a few greedy and unscrupulous politicians who want to cover up the killings because it's bad for business , and an absurdly telegraphed would-be surprising twist ending cap off the goodies to be relished in this sloppy and amateurish , yet somehow still crudely appealing and entertaining clunker . |
519,355 | 8,239,592 | 70,834 | 8 | A satisfyingly sleazy sliver of vintage 70's drive-in exploitation trash | Totally bonkers psycho Alan ( Zalman King in robust , divinely unhinged and uninhibited gonzo form ) and his more mellow , but still quite lethal brother Peter ( a sedately sinister Robert Porter ) are a pair of odious , malefic , resolutely vile and unwholesome degenerate biker louts who gleefully torment , terrorize , manhandle , degrade and generally flat-out grossly mistreat a prissy school teacher ( plucky , comely brunette Brenda Fogarty ) and her bus load of four nubile strumpet teenage girl students ( Susie Russell , Cathy Worthington , Jill Voight and Dina Ousley , all sublimely delectable fair maidens who are just ripe with adolescent purity and ingenuousness ) in a remote area of the California desert . That's it for the admittedly skimpy plot and frankly who cares about some fancy-schmancy story , for what this really base and repulsive vintage 70's drive-in sleaze lacks in style and substance ( plenty , man ) , it more than compensates for with a winning abundance of ferociously foul-minded hardcore grindhouse cinema sliminess . We've got blunt direction by Earl Barton , grainy cinematography by Erwin Jay Barer , and a get-down funky syncopated score by Igo Kantor . Moreover , we also got rape , gratuitous nudity , a thrilling motorcycle chase that's followed by an equally exciting foot chase , a truly mean misogynistic bent , a few fiercely protracted murder set pieces , a marvelously vicious last reel onslaught of mass killing and destruction , and absolutely no redeeming artistic quality to ground the assorted trashy activities in any slight semblance of unwanted pretense or needless gravity . Best of all , it's considerably enlivened and made essential viewing by the incomparable Zalman King's frenzied , overwrought , explosively insane and unrestrained scenery-gulping histrionics . With his unsightly mass of curly , unwashed greasy hair , soiled dirt-stained blue jeans , irritating wheezing , deranged cackle , nasal , slurred mumble-grumble voice , enormous wrap-around black shades , fixed , unblinking baleful stare , crazed facial expressions ( King contorts his sweaty puss into a hilariously pained grimace whenever he bags somebody ) , scraggly five day beard , getting wackier by the minute slow burn intensity , and hysterically out of it live-wire mugging , King could pass for either David Hess ' severely dysfunctional sociopathic near twin brother or a twitchy heroin addict who's in dire need of an immediate fix . An exquisitely gnarly'n'nasty nugget . |
518,137 | 8,239,592 | 86,129 | 8 | A worthy follow-up to the excellent original | Director / co-screenwriter Bob Clark follows up his surprise hit original with this solid and often sidesplitting sequel . This time those rowdy lads at Angel Beach High are pitted against a bunch of uptight killjoy religious fanatics led by the smarmy Reverand Flaval ( a perfectly slimy Bill Wiley ) who object to a Shakespeare festival on the grounds that the Bard's work is obscene . Moreover , the local Klu Klux Klan aren't happy that Native American John Henry ( likable James Runningfox ) is playing the lead in the production of " Romeo and Juliet . " Clark not only incorporates the expected wild'n'raunchy anything-goes humor that was a key pleasing ingredient of the first film , but also takes wickedly nasty satiric potshots at such deserving targets as racial prejudice , religious hypocrisy and political corruption . Once again the cast really sink their teeth into their parts with unbridled gusto . Special kudos are in order for Dan Monahan as the impish Pee Wee , Kaki Hunter as the cheerfully bawdy Wendy , Nancy Parsons as stern gym teacher Ms . Balbricker , and Eric Christmas as the timid Principal Carter . Comic highlights include a nice tongue-in-cheek homage to Clark's earlier fright feature " Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things , " Ms . Balbricker singing on the toilet , and Wendy acting like a loud obnoxious ill-mannered immature brat at a posh French restaurant . Cisse Cameron has a memorably sexy bit as a luscious stripper who disrobes in a cemetery . Reginald H . Morris ' slick cinematography , Carl Zittrer's lively , rousing score , and the catchy golden oldies soundtrack are all likewise up to par . There's even a surprising amount of sweet sensitivity to be found amid all the wacky tomfoolery . Granted , this film doesn't totally match the gut-busting hilarity of the incredible original , but it's still plenty of good , naughty fun all the same . |
517,919 | 8,239,592 | 59,541 | 8 | One of Ted V . Mikels ' better movies | Hunky , lecherous businessman Cliff ( handsome Gary Kent ) and his sweet , lovely wife Mindy ( the adorable Lee Anna ) move from Grand Rapids , Michigan to Los Angeles , California . They take up residence in an apartment complex where several alluring young ladies also live . Pretty soon Cliff is having an affair with the boss ' secretary while poor neglected Mindy becomes involved with exotic and predatory nightclub owner and bisexual dominatrix Tanya ( enticing brunette firecracker Verne Martine ) . This enjoyably tawdry melodrama rates as one of infamous Do-It-Yourself indie schlock cinema auteur Ted V . Mikels ' better films : The competent direction , Gregory Sandor's fairly polished cinematography , the steady pace , Icaras De Docaras ' groovy bongo drums-driven score , solid acting from an attractive cast ( slinky dish Maureen Gaffney makes an especially favorable impression as the uninhibited Joanie ) , some kinky stuff like bondage and sadomasochism , the racy script , a nice smattering of female nudity , and a smidgen of mild soft-core sex all ensure that this picture hits the sizzling salacious spot . A nifty and satisfying little walk on the swingin ' 60's wild side . |
519,253 | 8,239,592 | 82,247 | 8 | A solid and exciting chase action thriller winner | The Yukon territory in 1931 . Rugged , laconic loner trapper Albert Johnson ( a splendidly terse and stoic Charles Bronson ) saves a badly wounded canine from a brutal dogfight . The guys involved in the dogfight decide to pay Johnson a visit . Johnson shoots and kills one of the men in self-defense . Tough Mountie Sergeant Edgar Millen ( a strong , steely turn by Lee Marvin ) tries to arrest Johnson , but he gets away and so begins one of the deadliest manhunts in history . Director Peter Hunt relates the gripping story at a steady pace , vividly evokes the Great Depression period setting , stages the action scenes with rip-roaring flair , and frequently punctuates things with startling outbursts of raw , bloody violence . Bronson and Marvin both excel in the leads ( their one big confrontation scene is a taut , crackling doozy ) ; they receive fine support from Andrew Stevens as eager , by-the-book , fresh-faced rookie Alvin Adams , Carl Weathers as the jolly Sundog , Ed Lauter as gruff , huffy troublemaker Hazel , Angie Dickinson as the sweet , enticing Vanessa McBride , Henry Beckman as wily veteran tracker Bill Lusk , August Schellenberg as the hot-tempered Deak De Blearque , Maury Chaykin as the scruffy , dim-witted Claurence , Len Lesser as the grizzled Lewis , Scott Hylands as cocky airplane pilot Hank Tucker , and Willam Sanderson as the clumsy Ned Warren ( he gets his arm caught in a bear trap ) . James Devis ' slick , expansive cinematography , Jerrold Immel's rousing , majestic score , and the desolate wintry landscape all further enhance the overall sound quality of this cracking good and stirring picture . |
519,419 | 8,239,592 | 66,950 | 8 | An entertaining comedic pirate romp | Wily and suave buccaneer Blackie ( a smooth and charming portrayal by the always solid Terence Hill ) clashes with several fellow pirate captains while trying to get exclusive dibs on both a fortune in gold and enticing fair damsel Isabel ( the ravishing Silvia Monti ) . Director Lorenzo Gicca Palli and screenwriter George Martin ( who also appears in the movie as Blackie's bumbling destitute partner Don Predro ) concoct an amiably silly tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler that unfolds at a steady pace while offering a winning blend of colorful characters , a flavorsome period setting ( the sets and costumes are both impressively lavish ) , and plenty of lively action which includes the expected rousing sword fights and no-holds-barred rough'n'tumble fisticuffs . This jolly affair further benefits from spirited acting from an engaging cast : Hill displays his usual affable charisma as Blackie , Monti is simply luscious as Isabel , Bud Spencer is suitably redoubtable as Blackie's gruff rival Skull , plus there are neat supporting contributions by Diana Lorys as feisty barmaid Manuela , Edmund Purdom as the irritable viceroy , Monica Randall as the fetching Carmen , Sal Borgese as the kindly Martin , Pasquale Basile as primitive brute Stiller , and Fernando Bilbao as hulking strongman Moko . Jaime Deu Casas ' polished cinematography gives the picture a nice sense of scope . Gino Peguri's jaunty score likewise hits the cheery spot . An enjoyable flick . |
519,445 | 8,239,592 | 66,954 | 8 | An engrossingly creepy 70's made-for-TV thriller | Albert Graves ( splendidly played by Arthur Kennedy ) and his wife Alice ( a top-drawer performance by Teresa Wright ) are a nice middle-aged couple who discover young , homeless , troubled Richard Atley ( a frightfully edgy portrayal by Tom Happer ) residing in a crawlspace in the basement of their house . They adopt Richard as if he was the son they never had . Things work out for a spell , but eventually turn sour when Richard's volatile nature asserts itself with tragic results . Director John Newland ( who also gave us the terrifically freaky " Don't Be Afraid of the Dark " ) , working from an intriguing script by Ernest Kinoy , does an able and effective job of creating and maintaining an absorbingly mysterious tone . Jerry Goldsmith's beautifully classy and eerie score adds substantially to the tension . Urs Furrer's slick , pretty cinematography likewise hits the spot . Kennedy and Wright do sterling work in the leads ; they receive bang-up support from Happer , Eugene Roche as folksy , responsible sheriff Emil Birge , Dan Morgan as doddery old shopkeeper Harlow , and Matthew Cowles as local troublemaker Dave Freeman . This offbeat and enjoyable little winner would make a perfect double bill with the similarly solid and unnerving " Bad Ronald . " |
518,180 | 8,239,592 | 66,952 | 8 | A deliciously groovy 70's drive-in cult horror treat | Robert Quarry gives a suavely sinister and mesmerizing performance as Count Yorga , a smooth , cultured and highly dangerous Bulgarian vampire who's posing as a psychic medium in modern-day 70's Los Angeles , California . Yorga preys on several young ladies and incurs the wrath of their boyfriends , who find that killing Yorga is easier said than done . Directed with real skill and assurance by Robert Kelljan ( who also wrote the witty script ) , with sharp cinematography by Arch Archambault , a steady pace , a lively , shuddery score by Bill Marx , a good deal of tension , and an extremely wild , rousing and gruesome conclusion that comes complete with a surprise downbeat ending , this horror opus puts a really nifty and entertaining contemporary hip spin on the usual bloodsucker premise . This movie further benefits from solid acting from a largely attractive cast : Roger Perry as the concerned , practical Dr . James Hayes , Donna Anderson as the fetching Donna , Michael Macready as Donna's worried , protective boyfriend Michael Thompson , Michael Murphy as the brash Paul , Judy Lang as the alluring , outgoing Erica Landers , Edward Walsh as Yorga's brutish , creepy manservant Brudah , and buxom blonde 60's soft-core cinema starlet Marsha Jordan as one of Yorga's sexy , yet lethal vampire brides . Better still , Kelljan totally pushes the PG rating to the limit : Erica snacks on a cute little kitten in one particularly shocking scene and Yorga's vampire brides all show off a lot of cleavage . George Macready supplies the supremely sonorous narration which bookends the picture . A real fun'n'funky delight . |
518,411 | 8,239,592 | 197,116 | 8 | More amusingly crummy zombie horror splatter junk from Todd Sheets | Tireless and irrepressible Do-It-Yourself indie schlock horror blunder wonder Todd Sheets works his cinematic ( anti ) magic once again with this third delightfully dreadful installment in this perfectly pathetic series of cheap'n'cheesy micro-budget shot-on-video horror zombie gorefests . This time a bunch of zombies that were used by the government in the near future to fight in a major war are shot into space . Naturally , the space shuttle gets caught in a time warp and comes back to Earth in the present . Of course , the ravenous horde of flesh-eating fiends proceed to terrorize a motley assortment of wholly hateful and unappealing folks who are trapped inside a high school . Besides the needlessly convoluted and ludicrous premise that's essentially an godly blend of " The Breakfast Club " and your standard zombie fright feature , other choice cruddy stuff to relish in this goodie are rough , ugly and unpolished shot-on-smeary-video cinematography , a headache-inducing roaring hard thrash metal rock soundtrack , an excruciatingly sluggish and drawn-out opening third ( the so-called " action " doesn't really kick in until the 40 minute mark ! ) , poor acting from a lame no-name cast , awful , pun-ridden , ridiculously profane dialogue ( the almighty " F " bomb gets dropped with appalling frequency in practically every other line ! ) , terrible CGI ( far from ) special effects , and a frustrating circular non-ending . However , Sheets does deliver on his customary gleefully excessive and over-the-top unflinching in-your-face graphic splatter : blood squirts all over the place , guts are torn out , and entrails are devoured with appropriately disgusting gusto . A hilariously horrible howler . |
518,365 | 8,239,592 | 86,113 | 8 | A pleasingly perverse and twisted early 80's killer kid horror hoot | Here's a particularly weird , warped and flat-out unsettling little low-budget killer kid horror favorite . This truly strange offering centers on 12-year-old oddball Jamie , a friendless , sexually precocious and socially maladjusted pre-pubescent teen creep whose sole pal is a teddy bear with glowing red eyes that occasionally talks to him . Jamie's heretofore lousy lot in life perks up considerably when two good things go his way : his parents hire a sexy young lady ( nicely played by brunette hottie Jeannie Ellis ) to look after him and , better still , Jamie discovers a deep hole in the nearby woods with a bunch of big , hairy , carnivorous prehistoric humanoid beasts he dubs " trogalogs " residing in it . Pretty soon Jamie is not only spying on his babysitter in the shower , but also feeding various folks who mercilessly persecute him and / or put a crimp in his lifestyle - - his babysitter's football player boyfriend , the mean schoolyard bully and his equally nasty girlfriend , even some cranky old biddy in a wheelchair who lives down the street - - to his newfound butt-ugly , fanged and hirsute flesh-eating monster buddies . Director Lew Lehman really plays up the intrinsic perversity of the alarmingly aberrant premise ; he has the evil little brat " hero " cut out nude photos from a book and force the uptight , yet attractive local librarian to secretly strip for him in front of an open window ( ! ) . Lehman's aided substantially in his goal to present Jamie as one deliciously deviant and depraved puppy by the strikingly obnoxious performance by homely and charmless child actor Sammy Snyders : With his stringy build , bumpy nose , grating raspy voice and unsightly salad bowl haircut , Snyders qualifies as one of the most grotesquely off-kilter and unsympathetic murderous little twerps you will ever see in a fright flick . The movie has a very cool surprise ending , too . The Anchor Bay DVD offers this demented dilly on a two-sided flipper disc with the hilariously horrendous late 80's direct-to-video clunker " Hellgate ; " it's a satisfyingly clean and crisp widescreen presentation with a skimpy still and poster gallery as the only extra . |
518,412 | 8,239,592 | 197,115 | 8 | A deliciously cheesy zero budget zombie splatter laugh riot | Do-It-Yourself indie horror auteur Todd Sheets returns with another entertainingly atrocious nickel'n'dime shot-on-video clunker that's basically just a feeble excuse to sling around a lot of watery blood and gleaming guts as often as possible . An evil demonic scarecrow resurrects the dead as ravenous rot-faced zombies so they can feast on the living . A bunch of bickering college kids , a trio of dangerous escaped convicts led by the vicious Slade ( Byron Nichodemus hamming it up to an outrageous degree ) , two equally savage sleazeball hoodlums , and a trio of hottie sisters all have to do their best to survive this harrowing ordeal . That's it for the needlessly muddled and convoluted plot , but fortunately what this hilariously horrendous hoot lacks in narrative coherence ( plenty ) it more than compensates for with a pleasing plethora of gloriously gross'n'graphic gore . Disgusting highlights include a woman having her fingers chopped off , a fatal gunshot to a young gal's groin , attempted necrophiliac rape , evisceration , and , of course , more repulsive entrail eating than you can shake a pile of moist intestines at . Moreover , we've also got rough , grainy cinematography that constantly alternates between washed-out color and grimy black and white , ineptly staged fight scenes , lousy acting from a uniformly pathetic no-name cast ( Jerry Angell in particular cops the top crummy thespic dishonors for his laughably abysmal histrionics as slimy no-count psycho criminal Joe Bob ) , a grating head-banging thrash metal soundtrack , and a generic shivery'n'ominous synthesizer score . Let's not forget the ridiculous ending in which several of our survivors stumble across a few vials of flesh-eating bacteria to use on the shambling undead hordes . Sure , this flick is pure dreck , but it has a certain endearingly abominable quality to it that in turn makes it a great deal of so-awful-it's-awesome Grade Z fun for hardcore aficionados of bad fright fare . |
518,674 | 8,239,592 | 116,953 | 8 | An enjoyably off-center black comic parody of gangster movies | Loopy , but shrewd and formidable mob boss Vic ( an excellent performance by Richard Dreyfuss ) gets released from a mental hospital . Several of Vic's fellow criminal cohorts who include volatile henchman " Brass Balls " Ben London ( a gloriously manic and over-the-top hammy portrayal by Gabriel Byrne ) , the smarmy Jake Parker ( a perfectly smug Kyle MacLachlan ) , and vicious rival " Wacky " Jacky Jackson ( a neat turn by Burt Reynolds ) all try to bump Vic off . Meanwhile , laid-back and self-assured hit-man Mickey Holliday ( nicely played with low-key confidence by Jeff Goldblum ) finds himself caught in the middle of all this deadly lunacy . Writer / director Larry Bishop brings a supremely hip , quirky , and original idiosyncratic sensibility to this deliciously dark and deadpan pitch-black comedy about betrayal , loyalty , and ruthless ambition run dangerously amok . The bang-up cast have a field day with the colorfully grotesque rogues ' gallery of blithely amoral and treacherous hoodlums : Ellen Barkin as tough , sultry moll Rita Everly , Henry Silva as Vic's reliable right-hand man Sleepy Joe Carisle , Gregory Hines as philosophical smoothie Jules Flamingo , Diane Lane as Vic's sweet , perky mistress Grace , Billy Drago as the slimy Wells , and Christopher Jones as brutish rub-out artist Nicholas Falco . Bishop makes the most of his juicy secondary role as lethal and laconic ace assassin Nick . Popping up in nifty bits are Billy Idol as a blustery thug , Michael J . Pollard as the ill-fated Red , Joey Bishop as mortician Mr . Gottlieb , Rob Reiner as a jolly chauffeur , and Richard Pryor as Jimmy the Gravedigger . Byrne's delightfully insane duet with singer Paul Anka on " My Way " rates as a definite sidesplitting highlight . A tense and amusing climactic Mexican stand-off likewise tickles the funny bone something hysterical . Frank Byers ' slick cinematography , the outrageously nutty dialogue , Earl Rose's jazzy cocktail lounge score , and a choice soundtrack of vintage swinging golden oldies all further enhance the engagingly peculiar charm of this immensely entertaining one-of-a-kind curio . |
518,449 | 8,239,592 | 51,948 | 8 | A hugely enjoyable 50's horror creature feature romp | A giant , ugly prehistoric fish causes any living thing which comes into close contact with it to revert to a wild , brutal and murderous primitive state : a friendly German Shepard turns into a fanged ferocious wolf , a dragonfly transforms into a big killer insect , and , worst of all , amiable college professor Arthur Franz becomes a strong , hairy , lethal apelike Neanderthal beast who embarks on a deadly rampage . Silly ? Oh yeah . Still quite fun and enjoyable ? You bet . Ace 50's sci-fi / horror master Jack ( " The Creature from the Black Lagoon , " " The Space Children " ) Arnold's proficient direction , Russell Metty's crisp black and white photography , admirably sincere and committed acting from a mostly solid cast ( Joanna Moore as Franz's concerned , fetching blonde fiancé and the ubiquitous Whit Bissell as a skeptical colleague are especially good , although 50's teen scream pin-up hunk Troy Donahue gives a hopelessly flat and colorless performance as a drippy student ) , a nifty plot which provides a clever contemporary variant on " Dr . Jeckyll and Mr . Hyde , " Joseph Gershenson's effectively spare'n'shivery score , and several jolting jump-out-at-you shocks ( the single most startling moment occurs when the Neanderthal man tosses a hatchet right into a forest ranger's face ! ) all ensure that this fright feature remains a highly entertaining item from start to finish . The Universal DVD offers a nice fullscreen presentation with the trailer as the sole extra ( legendary voice actor Paul Frees handles vocal chores on said trailer with his trademark lip-smacking aplomb ) . |
519,443 | 8,239,592 | 70,828 | 8 | A taut and gripping 70's made-for-TV thriller | Businessman Chuck Brenner ( a strong and engaging performance by James Brolin ) gets mugged and knocked unconscious in the bathroom at a department store . When Chuck comes to , he finds himself locked inside the store with a bunch of ferocious Doberman guard dogs . Writer / director Frank De Felitta , who also wrote the superior supernatural shocker " The Entity , " relates the arresting story at a snappy pace and does an adept job of creating plenty of sweaty , nerve-wracking suspense . Fred Mandl's agile cinematography and Gil Melle's primal , robust , throbbing score greatly enhance the white-knuckle tension . Brolin excels in the strenuous and demanding lead role : Scared and delirious , suffering from severe blood loss ( one of the vicious canines bites his leg ) and fending off those pesky pooches with either a chair or a flaming mop , Brolin has you rooting for him every harrowing step of the way . Moreover , the supporting cast likewise contributes solid work : Susan Clark as Chuck's bitter estranged ex-wife Elaine , Earl Holliman as Elaine's patient , practical new hubby David Moore , Robert ( " Trouble Man " ) Hooks as smooth , helpful police Sergeant Connaught , and Tammy Harrington as Chuck's adorable little daughter Carrie . An excellent nail-biter . |
519,436 | 8,239,592 | 1,414,345 | 8 | An amusing horror comedy short | A miserable henpecked sci-fi movie fan ( a solid performance by writer / director Jason Knuth ) wishes that his shrewish and nagging wife ( a perfectly bitchy Beth Knuth ) was dead . The wife gets killed in an automobile accident , but comes back to life as a pesky rot-faced zombie . This short'n'sweet little horror comedy romp maintains a nicely deadpan tone throughout , pokes affectionate fun at both cheesy fright fare and hardcore film nerds , and culminates in a nifty , if rather predictable conclusion . Moreover , the zombie make-up is really gnarly , the cinematography is likewise pretty crisp , the generic shivery synthesizer score does the trick , and the soundtrack boasts a few lively rock songs . Plus the outtakes are absolutely sidesplitting . A real hoot . |
518,806 | 8,239,592 | 82,276 | 8 | A wonderfully wretched Grade Z horror gore schlock howler | Since I'm a hardcore aficionado of Grade Z garbage I must confess I was really looking forward to this notoriously lousy piece of absolute grindhouse horror splatter trash . I just recently snagged a copy of this brain-numbing bilge on DVD and dared to give it a stare . WOW ! This sure ain't your garden variety bad flick . Instead , it's a very special and oddly endearing sort of unbelievably bad flick . Let's start with the lovably preposterous premise : Prehistoric cult members Gar ( some hopelessly wooden stiff acting under the incredible pseudonym of Crackers Phinn ) and Tra ( the equally woeful Barbara Monker , who's really Barbara Bain of " Space : 1999 " fame ! ) are banished from their tribe for cannibalizing little kids in order to gain eternal youth . Prior to getting the boot the wizened old crone queen puts a curse on the pernicious pair : they are forever doomed to walk the earth in perpetual suffering in which they age one year every ten years and must resort to further flesh-eating to become young again . Fortunately in the early 80's in Los Angeles Gar leaves the park the two have been living in and marries a hot , but snippy young lady ( an early appearance by popular 80's horror scream queen Linnea Quigley , who looks awful cute , but can't act for spit ) and has a daughter who he names Bondi ( the adorable Tamara Taylor ) . Naturally , something sinister is afoot here : Both Gar and Tra plan on devouring Bondi's precious innocent virginal flesh when she turns 16 in order to achieve complete everlasting eternal life . Boy , now that's what I call an absurdly complex , convoluted and rather confusing story ! Besides the gloriously gonzo narrative , this choice chunk of prime tasty celluloid cheese further boasts dreadful direction by Lawrence D . Foldes , muddy , shaky , vertigo-inducing cinematography by William De Diego , cruddy make-up effects , tacky excessive gore , choppy editing , a rancid score by Chris Ledesma , a threadbare , barely coherent and rambling script , sluggish pacing , a stupid shock surprise ending , and uniformly dismal acting from a pitiful cast ( Meeno Peluce wins the grand thespic booby prize as an obnoxiously hearty young kid runaway while poor Aldo Ray is wasted in a nothing minor part as a writer ) , all of which are exceptionally atrocious . The film's single most jaw-dropping sequence occurs when Bondi gets abducted by three degenerate rapists in a van , but is saved by a magical amulet given to her by her father which causes the van to go off a bridge and explode ! Another stupendous moment has Gar and Tra shooting crummy laser beams out of their eyes . And let's not forget the pathetic handful of moaning rot-faced zombies who pop up for the stirring conclusion . As an added bonus , both Linnea Quigley and Tamara Taylor have nude scenes . This sublimely shoddy stinker is a real must-see for devout fans of deliciously down'n'dirty dimestore dreck cinema . |
518,196 | 8,239,592 | 66,982 | 8 | An eerie , offbeat and interesting early 70's Hammer Gothic horror oddity | Wicked , decadent Baron Zorn ( a robust , rip-snorting portrayal by Robert Hardy ) keeps both his frail daughter Elisabeth ( touchingly played by the delicately comely Gillian Hills ) and tormented son Emil ( Shane Briant in his excellent film debut ) locked up inside his dismal castle because of a hereditary family curse of insanity . Meanwhile a bunch of gorgeous peasant girls in a nearby village are being brutally murdered by a mystery maniac . Pretty soon the frightened townspeople succumb to mass hysteria . Director Peter Sykes , working from a quirky , intricate , literate and compellingly subversive script by Christopher Wicking ( who also wrote " The Oblong Box " and " Scream and Scream Again " ) , expertly crafts a spooky , artsy and intriguing psychological portrait of madness and despair , relating the story at a slow , stately rate and deftly creating a potently gloomy and melancholy atmosphere . Popping up in enjoyably colorful supporting roles are Patrick Magee as a cynical , unhelpful charlatan psychiatrist , Yvonne Mitchell as a loyal housekeeper , Manfred Mann lead singer Paul Jones as Elisabeth's ardent suitor , and Michael Hordern as a deranged , doddery priest . Arthur Grant's exquisitely lush'n'lovely pastoral cinematography , the brooding 19th century setting , Harry Robinson's eerie , elegant score , and a dark narrative which boldly explores such disturbing themes as incest , repression and the sins of the fathers further enhances the overall fine quality of this flavorsome Gothic horror outing . |
518,735 | 8,239,592 | 82,279 | 8 | An amusingly awful early 80's collegiate slasher hoot | Your average garden variety psychotic nutcase ( deliciously essayed with unhinged glee by Stephen Sachs ) knocks off various dim-witted young " adults " ( to use the term very loosely ) in Dayton Hall University , which is being closed down for demolition . Featuring dreadful acting by the entire cast ( Daphne Zuniga makes her ignominious and inauspicious film debut here as Debbie , a bimbo who has her head crushed by a car ! ) , a hefty corpse tally of 10 , okay make-up f / x by Matthew Mungle , a few bloody murders ( baseball bat bludgeoning , chicken wire strangulation , your standard drill through the head bit , that sort of gruesome thing ) , a downbeat surprise twist ending which was later copied in " Intruder , " a creepy score by Christopher ( " Hellraiser " ) Young , a slight smidgen of gratuitous female nudity , and endearingly incompetent direction by Jeffrey Obrow and Steve Carpenter ( who also blessed us with " The Power " and " The Kindred " ) , this entertainingly abysmal slice'n'dice atrocity sizes up as a good deal of delectably dopey and drecky low-grade fun . |
518,967 | 8,239,592 | 75,729 | 8 | A solid and unjustly forgotten 70's blaxploitation sleeper | Calivin Lockhart gives an excellent and affable performance as the Baron , an idealistic and impractical independent filmmaker who's struggling to get his first completed movie distributed . Calvin's a starry-eyed , woolly-headed dreamer with delusions of grandeur who gets a painful and jarring crash course in brutal , sordid reality when one of his financiers , a vulgar and flamboyant dope dealer called the Cokeman ( a superbly cool and sweetly villainous turn by Charles MacGregor ) , demands that Calvin immediately cough up the $300 grand the Cokeman lent to him for his picture . The Cokeman desperately needs the dough to pay off a debt he owes to mean , racist , neurotic , homophobic and highly image conscious bon vivant loan shark Joey ( veteran bad guy character actor Richard Lynch in peak scurvy form ) . Hard up for cash , Lockhart is forced to turn tricks as a gigolo , with his prize customers being wealthy elderly widow Joan Blondell and affluent , married young tease Caroline ( the lovely Marlene Clark ) . Under Phillip Fenty's able , assured direction ( Fenty also wrote the unusually thoughtful script and previously penned the screenplay for " Superfly " ) , this offbeat and interesting feature does an equally adept job as both a taut , gripping down and dirty crime flick and a trenchant , absorbing examination on the difference between dreams and reality , how far one is willing to go to make one's dreams come true , the desire to have control over your life , and the powerful need to be a success on your own terms . The catchy , funky , groovy soundtrack , uniformly top-notch acting ( Lynch , decked out in flashy white suits and a snazzy top hat , especially shines as the eminently hateful and manipulative main bastard heavy ) , a sharply delineated contrast between the cold harshness of life on the streets and the lazy , decadent opulence of the high life , and the compelling , thematically rich narrative further enhance this film's overall sound quality . Although sometimes a bit slow and pretentious , " The Baron " still warrants praise as an ambitious , intriguing , uncommonly reflective and refreshingly unconventional existential thinking man's blaxploitation gangster sleeper . |
518,979 | 8,239,592 | 70,788 | 8 | A bleak & gritty , yet solid & engrossing British kitchen sink drama | Set in a plausibly dreary and defiantly anti-nostalgic late 50's era Britian , this grimly serious kitchen sink drama relates the turbulent up and down tale of one Jim MacLaine ( superbly played by David Essex of " Rock On " fame ) , a discontent working class bloke who wants to be a rock star so he can successfully transcend the dismally unrewarding banality of plain old normal bourgeoisie existence and live a free , spontaneous , not attached to any heavy responsibility life . Jim drops out of school and moves out of his mother's house . He winds up going nowhere slowly , selling beach chairs on the arid shore in order to scrape by , until a shrewd smoothie busboy ( Ringo Starr in a surprisingly excellent performance ) takes the shy , naive Jim under his wing and teaches the heretofore sweet , guileless lad the fine art of picking up girls and gypping patrons at the local carnival of their spare change . Pretty soon Jim degenerates into a cold , heartless womanizing cad who's incapable of commitment and , as long as he refuses to settle down , just a few steps away from the fame he seeks . Loosely based on John Lennon's actual early exploits , with an outstanding golden oldies soundtrack and a rough , seedy , marvelously unglamorous and unromanticized depiction of the 50's , " That'll Be the Day " offers an engrossingly seamy and minutely detailed evocation of drab blue collar life , chiefly centering on the pertinent role rock music plays in serving as an outlet for overcoming the horrid ordinariness of said average lifestyle . Claude Whatham's astutely observant direction delivers a striking wealth of piquant incidental touches - - the ghastly shabbiness of Jim's cheap apartment , the faulty , out-of-tune speakers at a rundown dance hall , the grungy sleaziness of the fairground Jim works at , an incredibly cheerless wedding reception - - which in turn brings a splendidly gritty , lived-in conviction to Ray Connelly's meticulous , unsparingly downbeat script . Moreover , the acting is uniformly top-notch ( Essex's finely underplayed characterization is especially strong ) , with commendable work turned in by Rosemary Leach as Jim's doting , concerned mother , James Booth as Jim's restless and unreliable absentee deadbeat dad , and Billy Fury as hotshot lounge singer extraordinaire Stormy Tempest . A sterling cinematic testament to rock music's undying allure and magical ability to create hope in an otherwise bleak and thankless world . |
518,493 | 8,239,592 | 1,297,815 | 8 | An enjoyable horror comedy short | Suave vampire Anton ( smoothly played by Jeremy Harrison ) and his sultry spouse Monica ( deliciously essayed with supremely sexy and wicked aplomb by Becky Biggs ) plan to have attractive , but sexually frustrated young couple Christopher ( an endearingly whiny performance by Jason Amerson ) and Jill ( a perfectly uptight turn by Kelly A . Young ) over for dinner . But the bloodsuckers ' bestial and deranged snarling subhuman pet Toby ( a marvelously crazed portrayal by Dave R . Watkins ) threatens to ruin everything with his rude and unruly behavior . Writer / director Watkins delivers a brisk and witty short horror comedy feature that offers a fine amusing line in twisted black humor , pokes inspired fun at the suburbanite obsession with always maintaining a pleasant and respectable appearance , and culminates in a neat surprise conclusion that's neither obvious nor expected . This film further benefits from the uniformly solid acting by an appealing and good-looking cast , with the pretty and alluring Biggs rating as the definite stand-out of the bunch . Melanie Mascioli's slick cinematography and Daniel Solammon's shuddery , syncopated score are both up to speed as well . A cute little tongue-in-cheek fright flick romp . |
518,538 | 8,239,592 | 75,740 | 8 | A pleasingly sleazy and mean-spirited serving of down'n'dirty Italian crime action trash | Sadistic no-count killer Nanni Vitali ( excellently essayed with lip-smacking wicked relish by Helmut Berger ) and three equally brutish hoodlums escape from prison . The foul foursome embark on a savage spree of rape , murder and robbery . Vitali even abducts and defiles frightened hapless lass Giuliana Caroli ( a solid turn by the strikingly gorgeous Marisa Mell ) . Rugged police Inspector Giulio Santini ( a properly steely performance by Richard Harrison ) becomes determined to bag the despicable Vitali . Writer / director Sergio Grieco keeps the movie rattling along at a constant swift pace , stages the stirring action scenes with considerable rip-snorting brio ( the occasional use of strenuous slow motion is especially effective and impressive ) , and does an expert job of creating and sustaining a harsh , gritty , resolutely tough-minded and nasty-hearted tone . Vittorio Bernini's crisp , handsome widescreen cinematography gives the picture an attractive glossy look . Umberto Smaila's funky , throbbing score likewise hits the groovy spot . Best of all , this extremely hard-edged winner certainly doesn't skimp on the excessive full-bore profanity , tasty female nudity , raunchy sex , and rough , unflinching , no-holds-barred ferocious violence . A satisfyingly sick and vicious little beaut . |
518,486 | 8,239,592 | 68,271 | 8 | An enjoyably goofy tongue-in-cheek sequel to the classic 50's original | This belated purposefully campy sequel to the ' 58 cult sci-fi / horror classic has old gooey being thawed out and going on a voracious feeding frenzy in a sleepy small Southern California town . It's up to amiable hippie Robert Walker , Jr . and his sweet girlfriend Gwynne Gilford to stop the lethal gelatinous sentient mass of alien goop before it's too late . Of course , uptight sheriff Richard Webb doesn't believe a word of their incredible far-fetched story . Directed with oddly engaging incompetence by a clueless Larry Hagman ( J . R . on " Dallas " ! ) , with hokey special effects by Tim Baar , a delightfully corny score by Mort Garson , a silly script by Jack Woods and Anthony Harris , rough , unpolished , but still blindingly garish cinematography by Al Hamm , gleefully hammy acting from an appealingly enthusiastic cast , and a lively climactic raid on a bowling alley by the writhing pile of deadly jello , " Beware ! the Blob " provides a great deal of infectiously giddy'n'goofy fun . Appearing briefly as blob food are Carol Lynley as a vacuous flower child , Gerrit Graham as an obnoxious party animal , Dick Van Patten as an overzealous cub scout troop master , Godfrey Cambridge as a lazy Alaska pipeline worker , Marlene Clark as Cambridge's nagging wife , Cindy Williams as a pot-smoking teenager , Shelley Berman as a smarmy barber , Burgess Meredith as a grouchy wino , Hagman as a whiny drunk , and Del Close ( Reverend Meeker in the terrific ' 88 " The Blob " remake ) as a pitchfork-wielding dude with an eyepatch covering his left eye . An entertainingly inane hoot . |
519,230 | 8,239,592 | 72,604 | 8 | An amiably silly and harmless tongue-in-cheek Western comedy romp | The ever-solid and charming Fred " the Hammer " Williamson stars as a rugged itinerant gunslinger who becomes the reluctant constant patsy for slick'n'shrewd con man Richard Pryor . The crafty duo experience a series of goofy misadventures in the Old West in this amiably inane and inconsequential piece of low-budget blaxploitation sagebrush fluff . Competently directed by Williamson ( who also wrote the slight , but witty script ) , the rambling narrative saunters along at a pleasingly relaxed rate , the tone remains pleasant and playful throughout , and there's a winningly breezy'n'easy chemistry between the two leads , with Williamson engagingly playing the long-suffering straight man to Pryor's smartaleck joker . Moreover , Williamson stages the expected rough'n'tumble fisticuffs , heated shoot-outs , a daring jailbreak and frantic horseback chase sequences with a reasonable amount of skill and brio . Popping up in nifty supporting parts are Thalmus ( " Blacula , " " Cool Breeze " ) Rasulala as a rascally old coot with two hot daughters and former Tarzan Mike Henry as a dumb , ornery cuss . Both Luchi ( " Friday Foster " ) De Jesus ' cool soulful score and especially the funky R & B theme song really hit the groovy spot . Granted , " Blazing Saddles " this picture sure ain't , but it's a satisfyingly lightweight and good-natured diversion just the same . |
518,288 | 8,239,592 | 116,714 | 8 | A sad , sometimes funny , often sobering and underrated sleeper | I'm actually a big fan of this movie and consider it to be quite underrated . By now anyone who bothers to read these reviews knows the plot , so I won't waste your time with yet another synopsis . Instead , I'll just explain certain aspects of this film which make it in my book a genuinely solid and touching picture . First off , the emotional rapport between David Arquette and Lukas Haas is just lovely : loose , natural and totally unaffected , the chemistry between these two is very credible and engaging . Moreover , the supporting cast all turn in bang-up performances . Elliott Gould was extraordinary in his brief , yet startling appearance as an in-the-closet married gay man with a wife and kids . You don't know whether to laugh or cry at the sight of this pathetic guy ; it's this peculiar complexity Gould projects which makes his cameo so striking and unforgettable . Richard Kind as a compassionate hotel clerk brings a truly sweet and appealing warmth to his part . But the real revelation here is Keith David as a kindly and protective " angelic " homeless man . Usually cast in intimidating tough guy parts , David gets a rare chance to show a more soft and sensitive side that I especially enjoyed seeing . And to hear David sing a forlorn gospel song in that magnificent liquid bass during the ending credits constitutes as a substantial extra treat ! Arliss Howard turns in a thoroughly creepy and compelling characterization as a man whose severely repressed homosexuality manifests itself as pure psychotic rage . The other thing in the movie that warrants additional kudos is the stupendous blues score by noted blues musician Charles Brown ; it perfectly captures the downbeat tone of film and exudes a sense of bleakness and despair that's in itself very powerful . The gritty , no-frills , washed-out cinematography likewise accurately pegs a deep-seated feeling of grungy sordidness and hopelessness as well , although those constant fades to black struck me as a rather annoying stylistic flourish that's jarringly at odds with the basic gritty realism . The somewhat telegraphed ending may be predictable , but it's still very devastating . Furthermore , I give the film bonus points for having the strength of its own bitter convictions ; there's no fake " everything works out " Hollywood happy ending . And the occasional moments of darkly funny humor are neatly incorporated into the overall film ; they add some much-needed levity and stop the movie from becoming too unbearably depressing . All in all , " Johns " sizes up as a sound indie picture that warrants a second look and reappraisal . |
518,131 | 8,239,592 | 165,223 | 8 | An amusingly awful piece of chopsocky schlock | An evil drug cartel uses vampires to ensure that they retain their power . Some guy wearing a motorcycle helmet who looks like he's wrapped in tin foil - - he resembles a poor man's Inframan - - battles said vampires . Meanwhile criminal mastermind Steven Cox gets sprung from the joint and tries to hook back up with wicked duplicitous former moll Mary ( the ever lovely and graceful Angela Mao ) . Got that ? Well , I'm still not quite sure I got the insanely incoherent plot right , but this ridiculous rambling mess is nonetheless very entertaining in its nonstop jaw-dropping absurdity . For starters , those aforementioned vampires are clearly a bunch of dudes sporting tacky greasepaint make-up and a mouthful of cheap plastic fangs . Plus they can be controlled by sticking a piece of paper to their foreheads ! The wild martial arts fight scenes with these hopping freaks wreaking all kinds of crazy havoc are absolutely sidesplitting . The alarmingly atrocious scenery-gnashing acting provides a wealth of unintentional laughs as well . Ditto the expected hilariously horrendous dubbing . But what really clinches this baby's status as a total schlock hoot is the way it haphazardly tosses together two separate pictures into a single incredibly inane composite feature . It's by no means a good film , but it's definitely a great deal of always enjoyable and often uproarious goofy fun all the same . |
518,531 | 8,239,592 | 80,362 | 8 | A prime twisted piece of Italian horror nunsploitation trash | A series of brutal murders occur in a convent . Stalwart , no-nonsense priest Father Valerio ( well played by Carlo De Mejo ) investigates the killings and discovers that the devil himself might be responsible for all the mayhem . Director / co-writer Bruno Mattei does an expert job of creating and sustaining a potently brooding gloom-doom atmosphere . Moreover , Mattei delivers several effectively nasty moments , starting with an incredibly tasteless sequence in which a deranged nun stabs the crotch of a dead woman and subsequently mutilates her vagina ( ! ) before totally flipping out and bumping off a fellow sister . Other grisly highlights are a priest getting turned into a human torch , weird gardener Boris ( a memorably creepy Franco Garofalo ) having his throat torn out by a German shepherd , and a newborn baby being dunked into a pot of boiling water . This film further benefits from the dusty , cobwebby set design ( the basement full of human skulls is especially unnerving ) , Giuseppe Bernardi's slick , shadowy cinematography , a splendidly severe and sinister performance by Franca Stoppi as the formidable Mother Vincenza , and , best of all , a throbbing , groovy-rockin ' score by Goblin . A hugely enjoyable chunk of perfectly offensive celluloid blasphemy . |
518,226 | 8,239,592 | 85,627 | 8 | Lucio Fulci's very cool and interesting futuristic sci-fi / action flick | Framed for the murder of three guys who killed his wife by an all-powerful megalomaniacal master computer , nice guy reigning " bloodbike " champion Drake ( the ruggedly appealing Jared Martin ) is forced to engage in a ferocious only one winner allowed mass televised old Rome-style gladiatorial combat game called " The Battle of the Damned " that offers just the right amount of nasty and copious real-life bloodshed the jaded future TV audiences need in order to get their violence fix . Whipped into fierce fighting shape by sadistic trainer Raven ( a robustly evil Howard Ross ) and befriended by token compassionate chick Sarah ( the lovely Eleanor Gold ) , Drake has to mix it up in lethal combat on elaborately made-up motorcycles with a savage bunch of barbarians who include Al Cliver as a scruffy ape , Hiruiko ( Al ) Yamanouchi as a feral mohawked chopsocky demon , and almighty blaxploitation bad-a Fred " the Hammer " Williamson as a cool , composed , cocky and swaggering smooth dude . A most uncharacteristic self-criticizing sci-fi / action picture departure by famed Italian horror movie specialist Lucio Fulci , this suitably violent and gory outing offers a barbed , cynical , corrosive commentary on the bloodthirsty gorehound viewers who enjoy watching Fulci's gruesome fright features by showing a bleakly amoral futuristic society where warring TV stations try to score high ratings by broadcasting excessively brutal and barbaric fare like " The Danger Game , " a particularly gross simulated atrocity offering which crassly caters to the lowest common denominator by going heavy on the mondo fake bloodspilling . Fulci co-wrote the acrid , biting script with frequent screenwriter Dardano ( " Zombie , " " The Beyond " ) Sachetti , Cesare Frugoni and Elisa Briganti . Riz ( " Don't Torture A Duckling , " " Cannibal Holocaust " ) Ortolani supplies a booming , wildly wailing , hard-grooving Goblinesque score . Joseph Pinori's gaudy , luminescent , loud bright color-saturated cinematography gives the film a garishly ornate , glittering , dazzling look that's in equal parts florescent Christmas tree lights glow and blinding pinball machine arcade high-gloss sheen . Fulci stages the killbike sequences with wired , heart-racing gusto , with guys astride motorcycles slicing'n'dicing each other with swords , lances , spiked clubs and hammers . Unique in its genre due to its pointed , self-recriminating exploration of using violence as a cheap titillating device and an obvious precursor to " The Running Man , " this funky item makes for a refreshingly unusual and oddly thought-provoking addition to the sci-fi / action genre . |
519,402 | 8,239,592 | 68,282 | 8 | A deliciously down'n'dirty 70's distaff drive-in movie variant on " The Defiant Ones " | Brassy , just looking out for herself black hooker Pam Grier and earnest , considerate of others white chick revolutionary Margaret Markov escape from jail , disguise themselves as nuns ( the sight of Pam and Margaret running around the Phillippines in nun's habits is well worth the price of purchase alone ) and go on the lam , trying to avoid being apprehended again so Margaret can hook back up with her underground guerrilla army pals . Sleazoid lecherous rhinestone cowboy bounty hunter Sid Haig , who gives a sidesplitting comedic performance that's so broad that I swore he was doing an absurdly overdrawn caricature of sardonic country and western singer / songwriter Kinky Friedman ( Sid's large droopy hat , hokey Texas drawl , gaudy fringe jackets , day-glow boots , furry mustache and especially the six-shooters tied to both legs are pure overkill ) , is hired by the local corrupt dirtbag authorities to track the gals down . Directed in crisp , straightforward , " let's get down to some serious butt-kicking business " - style by Filipino exploitation movie ace Eddie Romero ( who also co-produced the flick with John Ashley ) , with an original story by Jonathan ( " Caged Heat , " " Crazy Mama " ) Demme and Joe ( " Angels Hard As They Come , " " The Hot Box " ) Viola , this American International Pictures release blatantly rips off the central premise from " The Defiant Ones " and grafts it on to a perfectly trashy , smack dead on the money winning handy dandy combo of a junky women-in-prison film and your basic chase thriller which really delivers the delectably down'n'dirty exploitation feature goods : a lengthy prison shower scene which comes complete with Lynn ( " Frogs , " " Dirty Mary , Crazy Larry " ) Borden as a masturbating voyeur lesbian guard who's a dead ringer for Cheri Caffaro , excessively violent and bloody gun battles , a few explosions , a crackling , positively volatile go-for-the-jugular hoppin ' chemistry between the always great Grier and the lovely , willowy blonde looker Markow ( Pam and Margaret , a dynamic distaff duo made in schlock movie heaven , reteamed for the equally excellent " The Arena " ) , coarse dialogue ( " Some jive-a revolution don't mean st to me ! " ) , authentically gross and sweaty Filipino extras , a wired score by Harry Betts which features a pile-driving cowbell relentlessly banging out a bone-rattling Morse code beat , ferociously brutal cat fights , raunchy humor , and the ever-welcome presence of the almighty Vic Diaz , who pours on the slimy charm by the nauseating bucketful as a horrendously vile scuzzball pimp who peddles dope on the side . What's not to like ? |
518,525 | 8,239,592 | 165,230 | 8 | A hilariously horrendous high camp hoot | Virtuous white ninja Gordon ( the ever suave Richard Harrison ) vows revenge on the evil Kogan ( outrageously overplayed with eye-rolling hammy brio by Tao Chiang ) and his no-count squad of nasty black ninjas after they murder his sweet girlfriend Lori ( the lovely Maria Francesca in a too brief cameo ) . Meanwhile , Kogan enlists the aid of a wicked witch to conjure up spirits in order to get a family out of a house on a patch of land with a secret treasure hidden on it . Writer / director Godfrey Ho delivers an undeniably clumsy , incoherent and nonsensical , yet often sidesplitting and hence hugely entertaining blend of martial arts and supernatural elements into a gloriously ludicrous cinematic hodgepodge that comes complete with lousy dubbing , plain cinematography by Raymond Chang , a frantic nonstop pace , hysterically inept fight scenes , some tasty gratuitous female nudity , a smidgen of soft-core sex ( a hot amorous ghost lady seduces a guy while he's sleeping in bed with his wife ! ) , campy bad guys , cheesy ( not so ) special effects , a funky , syncopated discoid score , and an annoying little boy named Bobo . Moreover , we also get such choice gut-busting moments as a severed head in a basket and the ghost girl masturbating as she watches the guy make love to his wife . Yeah , this flick is by no means a refined work of subtle and sophisticated celluloid art , but it does possess a certain loopy charm and wiggy energy which makes it a lot of fun to watch . A deliciously crummy schlock riot . |
518,419 | 8,239,592 | 59,297 | 8 | A very enjoyable and suspenseful thriller from William Castle | Libby Mannering ( cute brunette Andi Garrett ) and Kit Austin ( adorable blonde Sarah Lane ) are a couple of fun-loving teenage girls who get their kicks calling strangers over the phone and exclaiming " I saw what you did and I know who you are ! " . Libby and Kit find themselves in considerable jeopardy when they pull this particular prank on Steve Marak ( excellently played with brooding menace by John Ireland ) , a hot-tempered brute who's just murdered his wife ( an effectively startling set piece that clearly imitates the famous shower scene from " Psycho " ) . Adroitly directed by William Castle , with a clever and absorbing script by William P . McGivern , a steady pace , a nicely varied score by Van Alexander that alternates between bouncy frothiness and shivery jumpiness , a good deal of tension ( the last third is especially harrowing ) , an engagingly playful sense of lightweight humor , and sharp black and white cinematography by Joseph F . Biroc ( Biroc's use of light and shadow is nothing short of masterful ) , this fun and gripping thriller offers proof positive that Castle could grab an audience without always resorting to gimmicks . The sound acting from a sturdy cast rates as another substantial asset : Lane and Garrett make for very pretty and appealing leads , Joan Crawford contributes a typically classy and commanding turn as Marak's headstrong lover Amy Nelson , Sharyl Locke almost steals the whole show with her delightfully spunky portrayal of Libby's bratty little sister Tess , and John Crawford has a cool bit as a state trooper . A neat little flick . |
518,808 | 8,239,592 | 80,354 | 8 | A delightfully lively and witty giant monster on the loose horror creature feature treat | A 36-foot giant lethal mutant alligator that's the net result of 12 years of eating animal corpses with an experimental growth hormone in them which have been illegally dumped in the sewers by a nefarious big corporation comes above ground and goes on the expected grisly people-noshing spree in Chicago in this delightfully spirited tongue-in-cheek horror creature feature treat . Director Lewis Teague ( who went on to do the superior Stephen King adaptations " Cujo " and " Cat's Eye " ) , working from a wonderfully witty script by the ever-dependable John ( " Piranha , " " The Howling " ) Sayles , crafts one dandy little low-budget fright film winner , expertly maintaining a swift , unflagging pace throughout , creating a suitably creepy atmosphere for the subterranean sewer sequences , tossing in a few sly in-jokes ( one of the alligator's victims is a sewer worker named Ed Norton ! ) , and staging the ' gator attack scenes with considerable aplomb ( gory highlights include a little boy getting chomped by the bloodthirsty beastie and one luckless guy who has his legs from the knees down bitten off by the killer critter ) . The always excellent and engaging Robert Forster makes for a hugely likable lead as the rugged obsessive cop determined to bag the reptilian menace , with equally fine supporting performances by Robin Riker as a spunky herpetologist who helps Forster out , the gravel-voiced Michael Gazzo as a gruff police chief , Dean Jagger as a crooked CEO , Bart Braverman as an obnoxiously pushy tabloid reporter , Sue Lyon and Angel Tompkins as TV anchorwomen , Jack Carter as the jerky corrupt mayor , Sydney Lassick as an amiable pet store owner , and Perry Lang as Forster's ill-fated eager beaver rookie partner . Although all these folks turn in first-rate work , the top acting honors easily go to Henry Silva , who hilariously sends up his macho screen image as a cocky and racist big game hunter who more than meets his match in the ravenous over-sized monster . Moreover , the special effects are actually pretty good and the alligator itself qualifies as a truly cool creature . All in all , this baby sizes up as a whole lot of refreshingly breezy and unpretentious straightforward B-horror fun . |
518,364 | 8,239,592 | 124,307 | 8 | Bill Rebane's good'n'goofy Sasquatch cinema romp | A pair of no-count crackers are savagely killed by Bigfoot after they abduct the enormous fellow's young ' un . A slimy businessman ( an outrageously hammy turn by Richard Kennedy ; the evil Nazi general in " Ilsa : She Wolf of the SS " ) who wants to snare the full-size galoot so he can cruelly exploit Sasquatch for his own selfish ends puts a hefty bounty on Bigfoot's head . A bunch of hillbilly hunters , eager to collect the plentiful reward money , venture into the woods to nab the huge hairy humanoid beast . It's obvious that this picture was a true labor of low-budget love for Wisconsin-based Do-It-Yourself auteur Bill Rebane , who not only directed , but also produced , co-wrote the script and even co-edited the feature as well . Additionally , Rebane cast his son Randolph as the baby Bigfoot ! Actually , truth be told , Rebane does a pretty skillful job in every department : the performances are acceptable , the pace quick and steady , the photography proficient , the jazzed-up 70's cop show-style score seriously smokes , the philosophical country theme song likewise kicks , the wintry snow-covered landscapes look lovely , the Sasquatch attack scenes are staged with a reasonable amount of vigor , and we even got a nice dash of savory local folklore ( the creatures are described as the " Legend of Aurak " ) . Heck , the sterling B-movie cast alone earns this pup a passing mark : the ubiquitous exploitation flick twosome of John Goff and George " Buck " Flower ( who also appear together in Rebane's " The Alpha Incident " ) , " Blood Beach " ' s Otis Young , Stafford ( " The Zebra Force , " " The Forrest " ) Morgan , and Buck's sweetly plump daughter Verkina . The Bigfoot family , who more closely resemble yetis with their white fur , teeth and claws , are a reliable source of unintentional amusement , for they prove to be more fat , clumsy and lumbering than George " Buck " Flower . |
517,973 | 8,239,592 | 93,200 | 8 | An extremely charming and funny indie comedy gem | Director / co-writer Robert Townsend gives a wonderfully engaging performance as eager and affable aspiring actor Bobby Taylor , who's having trouble getting that one major role that will launch his career . While waiting for his big break Bobby daydreams about being a movie star . Townsend delivers a pointed , incisive and often uproarious comic critique of racial stereotypes in mainstream Hollywood fare with a series of spot-on and frequently sidesplitting parodies . " Sneakin ' in the Movies , " a hilariously rude spoof of TV review shows , rates as the definite gut-busting highlight : two hip homeboys from the hood give their profane opinions on recent theatrical releases ( they both give one flick they totally hate the finger ! ) . Other amusing skits are " Black Acting School " ( one of the courses is Jive Talk 101 ) , the blaxploitation send-up " Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge , " and the tongue-in-cheek private eye romp " Death of A Breakdancer . " Townsend effortlessly carries the picture with his supremely amiable presence . Excellent supporting turns by Helen Martin as Bobby's loving grandmother , Anne-Marie Johnson as Bobby's loyal girlfriend Lydia , Starletta Dupois as Bobby's sweet mother , Craigus R . Johnson as Bobby's adorable younger brother Stevie , David McNight as Bobby's sad failure Uncle Ray , Keenan Ivory Wayans and Ludie Washington as a couple of shiftless hot dog stand workers , and Dom Irrera as a low-rent schlock movie screenwriter . Moreover , there's a palpable feeling of genuine heart and warmth in this film which in turn adds immensely to its considerable charm . A real delight . |
518,174 | 8,239,592 | 63,145 | 8 | A delectably dreadful doozy | Bickering couple Norman ( stolid Corveth Ousterhouse ) and Leilla ( pretty blonde Shirley Bonne ) find themselves hopelessly lost in some remote rural region . They seek assistance from deranged redneck farmer Greely ( a game performance from beefy veteran exploitation picture regular Bill Thurman ) , who locks them both in a cave so he can feed them to his beloved pet lethal carnivorous reptilian humanoid monster ( also played by Thurman ) . Flatly directed by legendary Grade Z schlockmeister Larry Buchanan , with a dull , talky , uneventful script , a sluggish pace , cruddy , washed-out color cinematography by Robert B . Alcott , a tedious drawn-out flashback that's just tossed in to pad out the running time , a generic film library orchestral mush score , a simply pathetic some - poor - zhlub - in - a - lousy - rubbery - suit creature , no tension or momentum to speak of , and a spectacularly fumbled less-than-thrilling explosive conclusion , this hilariously horrendous hunk of unmitigated junk possesses all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four-star stinkeroonie . Former Disney kid thespian Tommy Kirk seems asleep on his feet as paleontologist hero Wayne Thomas while Annabelle MacAdams does her best with the thankless role of Greely's scared and abused housekeeper Bella . Moreover , the misty cavern setting is genuinely cool and creepy . A tasty slice of prime celluloid Velveeta cheese . |
519,356 | 8,239,592 | 93,231 | 8 | A very charming 80's comic fantasy variant on " Faust " | Sweet , but lonely computer nerd Bradley Brinkman ( the engagingly gawky Steve Levitt ) ain't pleased with his lackluster lot in life . So he sells his soul to sexy spirit O'Brien ( the astonishingly hot Deborah Shelton ) and the gleefully wicked main evil dude Dr . D ( a delightfully droll James Coco ) so he can become handsome and irresistible beefcake stud muffin on wheels Hunk Golden ( winningly played by John Allen Nelson ) . But will being Hunk enable Bradley to finally find happiness ? Writer / director Lawrence Bassoff relates this charming 80's comic fantasy variant on " Faust " in an infectiously frothy , silly and lightweight manner ; he maintains a bubbly good-natured tone and pleasant sense of goofy humor throughout . The excellent supporting cast qualifies as a substantial additional plus : Rebeccah Bush as helpful , sympathetic psychologist Sunny , Cynthia Szigeti as chatty , obnoxious Chachka , Avery Schrieber as Bradley's huffy boss Constantine Constapopolis , Melanice Vincz as vapid former cheerleader Laurel Springs , Hilary Shepard as arrogant brunette babe Alexis Cash , and Robert Morse as pompous , drunken TV show host Garrison Gaylord . Bryan England's glossy cinematography and David Kurtz's neatly bouncy'n'catchy score are both up to par . A nice little movie . |
518,881 | 8,239,592 | 68,232 | 8 | A very solid , satisfying and even superior sequel | The first of three follow-ups to the popular " Tombs of the Blind Dead , " this is one of those rare sequels that's actually a good deal better than the original . While the initial feature has its moments ( the climactic train massacre sequence is an absolute gut-wrenching tour-de-force of heart-stopping horror ) and plenty of creepy atmosphere to spare , it nonetheless suffers from a heavy-going lethargy which prevents it from being an all-time classic . On the other hand , this fright film has almost no dreary lulls to speak of , substantially benefiting from a tightly wound plot , a quick , snappy pace , more dynamic direction and an invigorating sense of rip-snorting vitality noticeably lacking in the previous movie . This time the murderous cannibalistic Knights Templar , a dastardly group of Devil-worshiping monks who drink human blood in order to acquire immortality , are resurrected 500 years after they were slaughtered by the townspeople of a small Portuguese so they can butcher the ancestors of their killers during an annual gala bicentennial festival . With their hideous skull-like faces , hollow eye sockets , and filthy flowing white robes , the Knights Templar qualify as genuinely scary and unnerving supernatural zombie menaces . The various attack scenes are executed with a truly rousing panache ; the fight between the townspeople and the Knights Templar in the village square is quite thrilling . There's even some nice touches of irony sprinkled throughout , with the ultimate dismal fates of the contemptibly craven no-count mayor ( excellently played with hammy élan by rotund Italian spaghetti Western regular Fernando Sancho ) and the crippled local dolt being especially spot-on . Furthermore , the film earns bonus points for its grimly serious take-no-prisoners tone : A little girl who's put in considerable jeopardy loses both her parents to the unrelenting Knights Templar . And those strikingly ghostly slow motion shots of the Knights Templar riding their horses across the desolate countryside possess an amazingly eerie poetic quality . So , if you only see one " Blind Dead " outing in your lifetime , make sure it's this pleasingly lively and on the money entry . |
518,181 | 8,239,592 | 68,230 | 8 | A hugely enjoyable all-star British Amicus horror anthology romp | Young psychiatrist Dr . Martin ( the always fine Robert Powell ) goes to a sanitarium for the incurably insane for a job interview . He expects to talk to one Dr . Starr , but winds up conversing with the wheelchair-bound Dr . Rutherford ( a marvelous Patrick Magee ) instead . Rutherford challenges Martin to find out who among the four patients is Dr . Starr . If Martin chooses the right one he gets the job . First and most gruesome tale , " Frozen Fear " - The disembodied body parts of the snippy murdered Ruth ( the perfectly bitchy Sylvia Simms ) come back to lethal life to exact a grisly revenge on both her weak faithless husband Walter ( a superbly sniveling Richard Todd ) and his sexy mistress Bonnie ( the solid Barbara Parkins ) . Second and most poignant anecdote , " The Weird Tailor " - Poor kindly tailor Bruno ( the excellent Barry Morse ) is hired by the mysterious Mr . Smith ( beautifully played by the great Peter Cushing ) to sew together a suit out of a strange white fabric which has the ability to resurrect the dead . Third and weakest story , " Lucy Comes to Stay " - Troubled schizophrenic Barbara ( the gorgeous Charlotte Rampling ) blames her naughty alter ego Lucy ( the equally ravishing Britt Ekland ) for killing her brother . This particular episode is way too slight and obvious to really work , but fortunately the delectable distaff eye candy provided by striking beauties Rampling and Ekland ensure that it remains watchable enough throughout . Fourth and most outrageous yarn , " Mannikins of Horror " - Mad Dr . Byron ( a delightfully deranged Herbert Lom ) transfers his spirit into a diminutive , but dangerous mechanical doll facsimile of himself so it can embark on a deadly spree . Director Roy Ward Baker makes the most out of the macabre merriment that's richly abundant in revered " Psycho " novelist Robert Bloch's wickedly witty script . Baker ably creates a properly creepy atmosphere and elicits sterling performances from a top-drawer all-star cast . Denys Coop's crisp , handsome cinematography and Douglas Gamley's robustly booming'n'bombastic score are likewise on the money effective . The wraparound segment's conclusion is truly shocking and unexpected as well . An immensely entertaining omnibus outing . |
519,054 | 8,239,592 | 59,283 | 8 | An enjoyably tawdry 60's no-budget exploitation potboiler | Frustrated and unhappy restless sweet young thing Myrtle Pennypacker ( adorable blonde dish Shirley Boyd ) goes off the deep end after she discovers that abusive husband George ( writer / director Dale Berry ) is cheating on her . Myrtle gets committed to an asylum , but escapes and tracks George down so she can kill the two-timing jerk . Berry relates the trashy story at a constant snappy pace and fills out the skimpy 69 minute running time with plenty of mild soft-core sex scenes and a decent smattering of tasty female nudity ( the definite highlight occurs when a foxy brunette removes all her clothes to take an utterly gratuitous , but still much-appreciated bath ) . Moreover , we also get a fierce catfight , Myrtle doing a wild dance on top of a table at a seedy bar , and a neat bit by Larry Buchanan film regular Bill Thurman as a hulking would-be rapist who has a fist fight with George . The rough , scratchy black and white cinematography , ragged editing , and poorly dubbed in dialogue all greatly enhance the pervasive seaminess . The groovy swinging jazz score hits the soulful spot . The cool rocking bluesy theme song likewise smokes . Nice bummer ending , too . A pleasingly sleazy diversion . |
519,088 | 8,239,592 | 72,625 | 8 | An enjoyably silly comedic soft-core romp | Longtime favorite 70's soft-core starlet Sharon Kelly lands one of her best starring roles in this enjoyably junky outing as the eponymous Alice Goodbody , a lovably ditsy waitress at a Hollywood greasy spoon diner who dreams of celluloid superstardom . One fateful day she makes the acquaintance of perpetually on the make sleazeball Second Assistant Production Manager Myron Mittleman ( splendidly played to smarmy perfection by Daniel Kauffman ) , who gets Alice a bit part in a ghastly musical version of " Julius Caesar " ( a spot-on silly send-up of " Jesus Christ , Superstar " ) . Alas , Alice's sudden good fortune proves short-lived after she's struck in the face by a runaway boom mike . However , the fiercely determined and resourceful Alice promptly learns the valuable lesson that the only way to really make it in show business is by making love with the right higher-up connected people . Pretty soon Alice has done just what you think with a handful of kinky major Hollywood biggies and her ascent to tremendous film fame is secured . Sure , this flatly made , stiffly directed ( by Tom Scheuer , who also wrote , produced and edited the picture as well ) , and cheaply produced item is without a doubt shamelessly stupid lowbrow nonsense , but a spirited turn by the ubiquitous George " Buck " Flower as a goofball voyeur food fetish sex freak , a bouncy soundtrack loaded with catchy , upbeat songs , and , most of all , the always delightful Sharon Kelly's indomitably effervescent presence and boundless vitality as well her often undraped and thoroughly yummy voluptuous body make this dippy affair a great deal of solid and satisfying dumb fun just the same . |
518,700 | 8,239,592 | 110,667 | 8 | A fun sequel to the enjoyable original | Snarky Shirley Finnerty ( a nicely bitchy performance by luscious brunette Zoe Trilling ) and her friends from St . Rita's High School decide to have a Halloween party at the infamous Hull House . The kids find out that stories pertaining to the place being haunted are anything but silly or far-fetched . The malevolent spirit of Angela ( slinky Amelia Kinkade ) is still alive and ready to wreak some major league nasty havoc . Ably directed by seasoned Australian exploitation movie expert Brian Trenchard-Smith , with a suitably crude script by Joe Augustyn , plentiful gratuitous female nudity , a thrashin ' rock soundtrack , polished cinematography by David Lewis , a wild pull-out-the-stops last third , an amusingly campy sense of goofy humor , and a spooky score by Jim Manzie , this pictures makes for a pleasingly trashy tongue-in-cheek hoot . Moreover , the cast are all solid , with especially praiseworthy work from Jennifer Rhodes as the stern , but spunky Sister Gloria , Cristi Harris as the sweet , adorable Bibi , Merle Kennedy as Angela's timid sister Mouse , Bobby Jacoby as the nerdy Perry , Johnny Moran as the libidinous Johnny , Christine Taylor as yummy blonde Terri , Rod McCary as the uptight , skeptical Father Bob , and Darin Heames as the raucous Z-boy . In addition , Steve Johnson's excellent make-up f / x really deliver the grotesque goods ; grisly highlights include a slimy snake-like creature horribly violating a lovely young lass , a guy having his neck snapped , a juicy decapitation , a possessed dude's head melting after its drenched with holy water , and one fellow's severed noggin being used as a basketball . Plus the giant Angela humanoid snake monster which pops up at the end is genuinely gnarly . Sure , this flick definitely ain't no work of subtle and sophisticated art , but it's still perfectly entertaining nonsense just the same . |
518,642 | 8,239,592 | 89,963 | 8 | An enjoyably trashy piece of biker exploitation schlock | Rough'n'tumble , laconic , no-nonsense former Green Beret Vietnam veteran Stryker ( a typically fine performance by Lance Henrikson ) goes to visit his old soldier buddy Tick Rand ( the always affable George Kennedy ) in a small Arizona desert town . Unfortunately , a gang of ferocious bikers led by the vicious Pigiron ( William Forsythe snarling it up with his customary rip-snorting brio ) are terrorizing the community . It's up to Stryker and Rand to put a permanent stop to these nasty no-count hooligans . Competently directed by Simon Nuchtern , with polished cinematography by Gerald Freil , a decent smattering of gratuitous nudity , a funky , syncopated score by Pino Donaggio , well-developed main characters ( there's a nice chemistry between Kennedy and Henrikson ) , and a handy helping of raw violence , this grungy biker version of the classic Western " Shane " makes for an entertainingly scrappy affair . The cool cast of familiar B-feature faces helps matters a whole lot : Karen Black as two-bit floozy barmaid Rachel , Richard Lynch as lecherous weakling priest Reverand Romano , Claudia Udy as Tick's tough hottie daughter Katie , Leo Gordon as the gruff , but ineffectual sheriff , Mickey Jones as evil Harley hound Zero , and wildman stand-up comedian Sam Kinison in a funny bit part as an obnoxious born again Christian barber . Good , low-brow fun . |
519,188 | 8,239,592 | 380,687 | 8 | A fine return to fabulously freaky fright film form by the always worthwhile Jeff Lieberman | Longtime favorite quirky horror cult movie director Jeff Lieberman , the swell fellow who blessed us with such enjoyably idiosyncratic terror treats as " Squirm , " " Blue Sunshine , " " Just Before Dawn , " and " Remote Control , " makes a triumphant belated return to fabulously freaky form with this wickedly funny and entertaining horror black comedy hoot . Bratty ten-year-old Douglas Whooly ( excellently played to obnoxious perfection by Alexander Brickel ) unwittingly befriends a diabolically clever murderous maniac ( an exceptionally expressive mute pantomime portrayal by Joshua Annex ) who's dressed up as the Devil . Video game addict Douglas thinks the dangerous lunatic is just like Lucifer from his favorite game , so he decides to become Satan's Little Helper and assist the madman as he terrorizes a suburban community on Halloween . Lieberman has a wonderfully warped ball with the deliciously dark and depraved premise , using the nifty plot to take stinging satiric potshots at such relevant topics as religion , exceedingly violent video games , and how said video games can cause kids who avidly play them to become indifferent to the severity of real-life violence and brutality . The acting is uniformly up to par , with especially praiseworthy work by Amanda Plummer as Douglas ' wacky mom and the ravishingly gorgeous blonde hottie supreme Katheryn Winnick as Douglas ' sassy'n'sexy older sister . Better still , Lieberman further enhances the picture with his patented funky oddball ( and weirdly amusing ) touches : there's a strikingly abundant amount of incestuous lesbian innuendo to be found in the relationship between Plummer and Winnick ( Plummer at one point gleefully smacks Winnick on the butt ! ) , the Satan man kills a cat and writes " Boo " on a wall with the slain kitty's blood , Douglas and the Satan man merrily mow down people in a grocery store parking lot with a shopping cart ( said hapless individuals include a pregnant lady and an old blind dude ) , the Satan man later on in the movie disguises himself as Jesus ( which enables Winnick to say the following fantastic line : " Jesus is Satan " ) , and one guy at a costume party is dressed up as the wormface character from " Squirm . " Dejan Georgevich's slick cinematography and David Horowitz's spare , yet effectively spooky score are both solid and impressive . Joyfully sick , twisted and of course quite amoral , this baby overall delivers a handy helping of delectably deranged tongue-in-cheek fun for aficionados of deviant fright film cinema . |
518,028 | 8,239,592 | 75,913 | 8 | A superior 70's revolt-of-nature fright feature | Man's foolish , environmentally unsound overuse of aerosol spray cans causes the ozone layer to deplete ; this in turn makes all the animals in the High Sierras go totally crazy and become nastily aggressive , brutally assaulting and , yes , even killing numerous hapless homo sapiens . A motley bunch of bitchy , irritating campers led by macho expert trail guide Chris George get jumped by the assorted righteously ticked-off wildlife , who have declared open season on us unfortunate humans . Directed with commendable assurance and competence by late , great seasoned 70's schlock movie maven William ( " Abby , " " Grizzly " ) Girdler , further enhanced by Bob Sorrentino's pretty , polished cinematography and Lalo Schifrin's eerie , understated score , " Day of the Animals " passes muster as a reasonably creepy , fast-paced , and hence way above average eco-fright item . The top-notch all-star junk picture cast includes Chris George's hot blonde wife Lynda Day , a hilariously miscast Richard Jaeckel as a nerdy , wimpy , bespectacled outdoors loving scientist , Ruth Roman as a stressed-out single mom trying to bond with her estranged teenage son , Michael Ansara as a proud and dignified Native American , Andrew Stevens as some goofball young guy , Paul Mantee as a tough jock pro football player who's dying of cancer , Susan Backlinie ( the sexy skinny-dipper who gets munched by the great white shark in " Jaws " ) as an early victim , Michelle ( " Demon Seed " ) Stacy as a traumatized mute little girl who's rescued and protected by Jon Cedar , and , best of all , Leslie Nielsen , who gloriously overplays his ripe hammy part as a hateful racist advertising executive who goes completely bonkers ( Leslie roughs up a young lady , impales Stevens with a tree branch , and even wrestles a bear during a raging thunderous storm ! ) . One especially juicy animal attack occurs when a folksy small town sheriff gets pounced in his kitchen by cute , yet lethal mice . Overall , this baby sizes up as loads of highly diverting and entertaining low-budget drive-in horror fun . |
518,440 | 8,239,592 | 63,172 | 8 | A hugely entertaining Japanese monstermash | In 1999 all the big monsters have been put on a remote and secure island . An evil horde of alien invaders make the various giant monsters turn on mankind and trash major cities all over the world . An intrepid band of humans must find a way to defeat the aliens or else destroy all the monsters before it's too late . Director Ishiro Honda , who also co-wrote the compelling script , relates the clever story at a steady brisk pace , treats the plot with admirable seriousness , and stages the large scale mondo destructo mayhem with his customary rip-snorting aplomb . It's a real treat to see such popular Japanese monsters as Godzilla , Rodan , Mothra , Varon , and King Ghidorah all together in the same movie . The protracted climactic battle between King Ghidorah and the other monsters rates as a definite exciting highlight . The funky special effects and cool guys-in-rubber-suit creatures are not exactly convincing , but they do possess a certain gnarly charm . The sincere acting from a game cast , Akiro Ifukube's moody , surging score , and Taiichi Kankura's glossy widescreen cinematography are all up to speed . A total blast . |
518,029 | 8,239,592 | 85,540 | 8 | Still yet another enjoyably trashy Italian post-nuke sci-fi picture | Okay , we all know the post-nuke sci-fi action picture score by now . Well , here we go again . Once more what's left of society following a devastating nuclear holocaust has degenerated into total every-man-for-himself , kill-or-be-killed , survival-of-the-fittest barbarism . The callous , haughty upper class get their twisted sicko jollies off by hunting expendable contaminated poor folks . One team of contemptibly snooty wealthy scum nihilists , lead by vicious master swordsman Erasmas ( a superbly hateful Harrison Muller ) and arch bitch Idra ( played to the eminently hissable hilt by Marina Costa ) , almost succeed in killing wimpy decent dude Allan ( a likable performance by William Mang ) . Allan is saved and nursed back to health by tough , but tender-hearted ex-cop Sam ( grizzled veteran macho man supreme Woody Strode in peak rugged form ) . Sam transforms Allan from a slow , clumsy pushover into a mean , fast , ultra-lethal fightin ' machine through an especially harsh , painful and arduous bout of rigorous training . Allan , primed and ready to stomp some serious booty , tracks down the rich aholes who nearly did him in and picks ' em off one at a time . Basically just another rehash of that much copied and ripped off hoary old chestnut " The Most Dangerous Game , " this spare , gritty , very ugly and ferocious little number gets by on the basis of its raw , no-frills , rough-edged brutality alone , unnervingly blurring the line between the good guys and the bad guys by depicting a grim future where violence and savagery are an everyday part of life . Although marred by a tepid opening third and an all-too-apparent two-cent budget , " The Final Executioner " does possess the right sleazy materials to measure up as a properly hard-hitting and two-fisted up to speed action item : Besides the copious nasty and often unsparingly grueling violence , there's also a generous sprinkling of sex and nudity , plus rape , torture , degradation and even voyeurism . Now , that's exactly what low-grade exploitation trash is all about ! |
517,928 | 8,239,592 | 75,931 | 8 | An eerie , gripping and intelligent sci-fi / horror thriller | Obsessive scientist Alex Harris ( well played by Fritz Weaver ) gets so caught up in his work making the brilliant super computer Proteus IV that he neglects his fed-up , beautiful wife Susan ( a terrific performance by the lovely Julie Christie ) , leaving her all alone in their fancy fully automated home . Proteus IV ( superbly voiced with suavely smarmy'n'sinister élan by an uncredited Robert Vaughn ) traps Susan in her house and plans to impregnate her in order to spawn an offspring that's a living , breathing , flesh and blood organic human being . Director Donald ( " Performance " ) Cammell directs the potentially lurid premise with admirable taste and restraint , ably creating an eerily ambiguous tone ( we never learn if Proteus ' intentions are either benign or malevolent ) and milking plenty of claustrophobic tension from the compelling story . The smart and insightful script by Robert Jaffe and Roger O . Hirson provocatively addresses the then ahead-of-its time , still quite relevant and topical issue of artificial intelligence run dangerously amok . Comic actor Gerrit Graham has a nice change-of-pace straight part as an ill-fated computer nerd . WARNING : Possible SPOILER ahead . Popular 70's child actress Michelle ( " Day of the Animals " ) Stacy makes a startling last reel appearance as the little girl made by Proteus who utters the chilling line " I'm alive " in Vaughn's tinny , metallic voice . Christie maintains her dignity throughout . The film starts out a touch slow , but really gets cooking once Proteus locks Susan in the house and begins terrorizing her . Bill Butler's stunningly polished cinematography , Jerry Fielding's spooky offbeat score , and the excellent special effects further enhance the overall sterling quality of this superior sci-fi / horror hybrid thriller . |
518,230 | 8,239,592 | 85,515 | 8 | An intriguingly odd and atmospheric , if rather slow and muddled horror-Western item | The American Frontier , 1750 : A motley bunch of Irish pioneers led by the meek Reverand Will Smythe ( a strikingly quirky performance by Dennis Lipscomb ) trespass onto sacred Native American territory that's haunted by a malevolent devil witch who turns pesky interlopers into tortured souls whose faces are implanted on trees . Although marred by a confusing story and often lethargic pacing , this compellingly peculiar horror-Western oddity nonetheless casts an effectively spooky and arresting spell on the viewer thanks to Avery Crounse's stylish direction ( Crounse also wrote the idiosyncratic script ) , a creepily off-kilter and nightmarish atmosphere , plenty of stunningly bizarre and beautiful visuals , Brad Fiedel's fine , eerie score and the sheer fascinating weirdness of the outré story . The uniformly solid acting from a tip-top cast constitutes as another additional plus , with noteworthy turns by Kathleen Crockett as a strange mute psychic teenage girl who knows what's going on , Guy Boyd as a rugged mountain man , and Will Hare as an ill-fated old-timer . By no means a perfect fright flick ( it's rather slow , sometimes unfathomable and the ending is dissatisfying ) , but an admirably unusual , inspired and unconventional genre-blending low-budget indie effort just the same . |
519,435 | 8,239,592 | 808,276 | 8 | A supremely eerie and effective Norwegian slasher winner | Five teenage snowboarders - - mature , composed , take-charge Jannicke ( superbly played by Ingrid Bolso Berdal ) , nice guy Eirik ( a fine performance by Thomas Alf Larsen ) , jocular Morten Tobias ( a wonderfully engaging portrayal by Rolf Kristian Larsen ) , amorous Mikal ( a solid turn by Endre Martin Midtstigen ) , and Mikal's sweet , sexy girlfriend Ingunn ( the fetching Viktoria Winge ) - - are forced to spend the night in a remote abandoned ski lodge after Morten has an accident and breaks his leg . However , there's a deadly and ferocious lunatic ( hulking behemoth Rune Melby ) residing in said lodge who naturally doesn't take kindly to any interlopers on his property . Director Roar Uthaug , working from a familiar , but serviceable script by Thomas Moldestad , makes expert and inspired use of the desolate wintry setting ; both the dingy rundown motel and bleak snowy mountainside landscape evoke a very vivid and palpable sense of dread , isolation , and vulnerability . Moreover , Uthoag takes his time to establish the premise and the genuinely likable main characters before delivering the expected gut-wrenching thrills and brutal violence . While the violence featured herein isn't that graphic or gruesome , it still manages to pack quite a wallop ( the protracted murder of Ingunn is especially strong and upsetting ) . What gives this film an extra edge over the usual slice'n'dice fare is its welcome emphasis on creating a powerfully spooky and unsettling tone ( the lodge registers as an extremely creepy and claustrophobic place ) and admirable lack of any dumb silly humor to diminish the severity of the stark and unflinching horror . The last third of this movie is truly tense , gripping and harrowing stuff that culminates in a haunting and startling climax ( the killer even gets a poignant back story ) . Daniel Voldheim's striking cinematography uses both washed-out colors and shadowy lighting well , plus offers several breathtaking panoramic shots of the vast mountains . Magnus Beite's shivery score likewise hits the shuddery spot . Highly recommended . |
519,412 | 8,239,592 | 116,622 | 8 | An intriguing true life made-for-TV drama | Kindhearted social activist and filmmaker Micki Dickoff ( a fine performance by Veronica Hamel ) is shocked when she discovers that her sweet and optimistic childhood best friend Sunny Jacobs ( wonderfully played with endearing radiance by Mimi Rogers ) has been incarcerated for fifteen years in prison for allegedly killing a state trooper . Micki does her best to uncover the truth about what really happened so Sunny can be freed from jail . Director Micki Dickoff and screenwriters Rama Laurie Stagner and Dan Witt concoct a strong and compelling tale about a gross miscarriage of justice which serves as a frightening and provocative expose on how the legal system can work against an innocent person . Moreover , this film also delivers a touching message about the triumph of the human will and how one person can indeed make a big difference . Hamel and Rogers both excel in the lead roles ; their warm and engaging chemistry makes the friendship between their characters totally moving and convincing . The movie further benefits from sound supporting performances from a sturdy cast : Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Sunny's decent ex-con boyfriend Jessie , Carlos Gomez as shrewd and helpful defense attorney Jose Quinon , Brian Markinson as slimy and self-serving prosecuting attorney Satz , Mary Maya as Micki's spunky lawyer best gal pal Christie , Denise Richards as Sunny's bitter , estranged daughter Tina , and Piper Laurie as Jessie's supportive mother Kay . A gripping and worthwhile picture . |
517,999 | 8,239,592 | 782,399 | 8 | A wickedly funny black comedy hoot | Seemingly nice and mild-mannered suburbanite bachelor Harold Thompson ( splendidly played with jolly aplomb by George Wendt ) just wants to have the perfect family and will do anything to get it , including and especially murder . Lovely young Celia Fuller ( an appealing performance by the gorgeous Meredith Monroe0 and her husband David ( a solid Matt Keeslar ) move in next door . Harold singles out Celia as his next intended victim . Director John Landis , working from a wickedly clever and funny script by Brent Haley , deftly creates a pleasant small town world of cozy and polite normality that's right out of a corny sitcom . This in turn makes the more horrific elements that much more potent and jarring . The story is rife with nifty macabre touches ; Harold merrily listening to gospel music while assembling the skeletal remains of his victims in particular rates as a real hoot to watch . Moreover , the subtext about the severely messed-up insanity lurking underneath the rosy sweet surface of suburbia really hits home ( pun intended ) . The surprise twist ending is a total doozy . Jon Joffin's bright , pretty cinematography and Peter Bernstein's alternately jaunty and shivery score are both on the money excellent and effective . Best of all , George Wendt's remarkable portrayal of Harold offers a truly memorable psycho character who hides his genuine lethal and twisted nature behind a charming teddy bear veneer . A total treat . |
518,091 | 8,239,592 | 50,610 | 8 | A cool 50's sci-fi alien invasion flick | A horde of evil invading aliens unleash a giant robot named Kronos on our planet . Kronos goes on a rampage . It's up to stalwart scientist Dr . Leslie Gaskell ( well played by Jeff Morrow ) to figure out a way to stop Kronos before it's too late . Director Kurt Neuman , working from a clever script by Louis Goldman , relates the story at a steady pace and maintains a serious tone throughout . The picture begins a little slow , but kicks into gear and starts cooking once Kronos arrives and runs amok ( the sequences with Kronos causing all kinds of mass destruction are both exciting and impressive ) . This film further benefits from the commendably sincere acting by a solid cast , with especially praiseworthy work by Morrow , Barbara Lawrence as fetching , spunky lab assistant Vera Hunter , John Emery as the detached , possessed Dr . Hubbell Eliot , George O'Hanlon ( the voice of George Jetson on " The Jetsons " ) as the affable Dr . Arnold Culver , and the ever-reliable Morris Ankrum as the concerned Dr . Albert Stern . Karl Struss's crisp widescreen black and white cinematography , the nifty special effects ( Kronos looks pretty gnarly ) , and the spirited shuddery score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter are all on the money as well . A fun film . |
519,052 | 8,239,592 | 215,658 | 8 | A very energetic and entertaining 60's grindhouse thriller gem | Nutty rich lady Virginia Marcus ( a deliciously wicked and vampy performance by Eileen Lord ) offers three folks who are all murderers - - sniveling heroin addict Buddy ( twitchy Ed Brandt ) , haughty actor Charles Freeman ( a perfectly snooty Frank Grace ) , and brutish champion wrestler Rocco ( essayed with snarly aplomb by legendary real-life boxer Jake LaMotta ) - - $100 , 000 thousand dollars each if they manage to stay alive for twenty-four hours in Manhattan . Naturally , there's a catch : Virginia plans to hunt down and kill each and every one of these guys like a pack of wild animals . One-shot movie director Herb Stanley relates the familiar " The Most Dangerous Game " - style premise with surprising style and panache : he keeps the pace rattling along at a speedy clip , develops a substantial amount of tension , makes inspired use of authentically seedy New York City locations , sprinkles in a generous amount of grisly violence , and stages the rousing hunting sequences with tremendous rip-roaring brio ( the big back alley confrontation between Rocco and Virginia is an absolute corker with Virginia dressing up as a matador and taking Rocco on like a ferocious charging bull ! ) . Special kudos are in order for the inventive and impressive black and white cinematography : the overhead camera shots , distorted lens , askew angles , and lively hand-held camera-work ensure that this picture remains quite visually exciting throughout . The swinging groovy jazz score likewise does the trick . The much-criticized tacked-on gratuitous female nude inserts and lurid soft-core sex scenes further enhance this film's trashy appeal . Granted , the acting is decidedly hit or miss , with Lord's gleefully nasty portrayal of the cackling and cunning Virginia rating as a definite stand-out . Moreover , the tight 69 minute running time qualifies as another major asset ; this picture never drags and certainly delivers the mean'n'lean lowdown scuzzy goods . Highly recommended for exploitation cinema fans . |
519,423 | 8,239,592 | 72,695 | 8 | An offbeat and interesting 70's road movie curio | Mature , stable Jesse ( a solid performance by Richard Hatch ; Apollo on " Battlestar Galactica " ) , his more nutty and impulsive immature best friend Pat ( an effectively loopy and intense portrayal by Doug Chapin ) , Jesse's caring fiancé Kathy ( nicely played by the lovely Susanne Benton of " A Boy and His Dog " fame " ) , and Pat's fragile gal pal Jo Ella ( essayed with sweet charm by the cute Ann Noland ) all decide to embark on a cross country road trip in a Winnebago prior to facing the challenges of encroaching adulthood . Relationships between everyone become increasingly strained by this journey : Jesse has a fling with Jo Ella , Pat attempts to rape Kathy , and the whole thing culminates with the now deranged Pat terrorizing the other three on a beach while riding around on a motorcycle . As the above plot synopsis alone suggests , this film sure ain't your standard crude'n'sleazy Crown International Pictures drive-in exploitation fare . Granted , this feature does deliver the expected soft-core sex and tasty female nudity ( Jo Ella does a wild impromptu tabletop striptease at a funky bar ) , but director Noel Nosseck and screenwriter Arnold Somkin focus more on low-key and incisive introspection rather than the usual seedy thrills . The gradual pace and character-driven plot take a little getting use to , but thankfully this movie hits an appealingly mellow and laid-back distinctly 70's groove early on and offers some poignant insights into the difficulty of growing up and facing responsibility . Moreover , there are quite a few bitter truths to be found in the tense and homoerotic friendship between Jesse and Pat . The acting from the attractive and personable young cast is uniformly strong , with Hatch in particular the stand-out among the bunch . Stephen M . Katz's bright , sunny , sparkling cinematography makes exquisite occasional use of fades and dissolves . Rick Cunha's catchy country-rock score likewise does the trick . An intriguing and ultimately pretty touching oddity . |
518,333 | 8,239,592 | 99,160 | 8 | A tense and exciting psychological thriller | Jamie Lee Curtis gives a superb and winning performance as Megan Turner , an eager and gutsy , but neurotic and vulnerable rookie cop who blows away a supermarket hold-up guy ( an electrifying cameo by Tom Sizemore ) on her first night of active duty . Demented Wall Street broker Eugene Hunt ( a terrifyingly intense and wired portrayal by Ron Silver ) steals the crook's gun and embarks on a killing spree ( he carves Megan's name on the bullets , no less ! ) . Moreover , Hunt also begins dating the initially unsuspecting Turner . Director Kathryn Bigelow , who also co-wrote the sharp and incisive script with Eric Red , relates the compelling narrative at a constant quick pace , expertly builds plenty of gut-ripping tension , gives the film an attractive polished look , and really pulls out all the stirring stops for the rousing climactic shoot-out between Hunt and Turner on the streets of New York City . This film further benefits from fine acting by a bang-up cast : Curtis makes for a very strong and sympathetic , yet troubled and flawed heroine , Silver's cunning and charming psycho likewise sizes up as a memorably crazed and frightening villain , plus there's sound supporting turns by Clancy Brown as tough , cynical homicide detective Nick Mann , Elizabeth Pena as Megan's loyal friend Tracy Perez , Louise Fletcher as Megan's timid , browbeaten mother Shirley , Philip Bosco as Megan's gruff , abusive father Frank , Kevin Dunn as the stern Assistant Chief Stanley Hoyt , and Richard Jenkins as cagey , sarcastic attorney Mel Dawson . Brad Fiedel's shivery , rattling score and Amir M . Mokri's slick , striking cinematography are both excellent and effective . Granted , the story is wildly implausible , but thankfully Curtis ' complex and intriguing central characterization of Meg , the hard , gritty tone , the riveting cat and mouse games between Hunt and Turner , and , most of all , Bigelow's stunning sense of pure cinematic style and panache keep the picture on track . A taut , edgy and absorbing little winner . |
518,198 | 8,239,592 | 99,153 | 8 | A good'n'gruesome little redneck horror romp | This cheerfully ( and uproariously ) gruesome tongue-in-cheek Southern-fried horror opus centers on the demented hayseed Pruitt clan - - crackpot religious fanatic papa Jake ( delightfully played to the cackling wacko hilt by Danny Nelson ) , his sweet-natured portly oaf son Roy ( an endearingly goofy Ralph Pruitt Vaughn ) and his surly sadist brother Hiram ( an amusingly nasty Christian Hesler ) - - who use hapless passersby as involuntary donors for their nefarious human body organ spare parts ring . Competently directed by Tucker Johnson ( who also co-wrote the witty script ) , with first-rate make-up f / x by Tony Gardner and Bill " Splat " Johnson , fine acting from a solid cast ( Lori Birdsong is especially impressive as the feisty crippled heroine while Ray Walston as an unscrupulous black marketer and the always awesome John Saxon as Birdsong's hard-nosed dad deliver typically up to speed performances ) , plenty of sidesplitting sick humor ( the throwaway Elvis joke is really funny ) , and a hilarious ending credits religious hymn theme song that's warbled off-key by the deliciously deranged Pruitt family ( " Are you warshed in the blood of the lamb " ) , " Blood Salvage " makes the grade as a good'n'grisly backwoods terror tale . |
518,781 | 8,239,592 | 68,308 | 8 | A neat 70's made-for-TV Western | Mean and formidable bounty hunter Kinkaid ( a suberbly hard-edged portrayal by Clink Walker ) nabs likable outlaw Billy Riddle ( an engaging performance by John Ericson ) in order to collect the substantial reward that's been placed on his head . Kinkaid and Riddle go trekking across a remote desert region . Riddle's naive , but loyal and feisty prostitute girlfriend Mae ( a delightfully spirited turn by Margot Kidder ) tags along . Complications ensue when the trio runs afoul of a no-count gang of mangy desperadoes lead by the shrewd and fearsome Angus Keough ( Richard Basehart in deliciously robust and wicked form ) . Firmly directed by John Llewellyn Moxey , with a smart , intriguing script by Jim Byrnes , a steady pace , several exciting and well-staged action scenes , crisp cinematography by Ralph Woolsey , well-drawn characters ( for example , Kinkaid is really a tragic and lonely figure while Riddle ultimately gets exposed as a sniveling selfish coward ) , a pleasingly harmonic folksy score by the Orphange , a tough , gritty tone , and a refreshing surprise ending , this film makes for an enjoyable and engrossing sagebrush saga . Moreover , this movie benefits from uniformly fine acting from a tip-top cast : Walker impresses in the lead , Basehart registers strongly as a memorably cunning and nasty villain , Kidder shines in the token female role , plus there's solid support from Arthur Hunnicutt as a grizzled sheriff , Gene Evans as amiable saloon keeper Tom Brady , Rex Holman as the laid-back Driskill , Dennis Cross as the hot-tempered Rufus , and Paul Harper as grubby trader Hargus . A nice little picture . |
519,129 | 8,239,592 | 54,416 | 8 | A solid and inspired Hammer adaptation of the classic story | 1874 , London . Obsessive and reclusive weakling Dr . Jekyll ( superbly played by Paul Massie ) creates a formula that causes him to transform into his evil and impulsive id run amok alter ego Mr . Edward Hyde , who stirs up much trouble and eventually tries to take over Jekyll's meek personality altogether . Director Terence Fisher and writer Wolf Mankowitz offer a sound , absorbing and surprisingly elegant psychological take on the often told tale along with a flavorsome evocation of the Victorian era . This film further benefits from splendid acting from a top-notch cast : Massie delivers an impressively anguished portrayal of a tormented split personality in the demanding lead role , Dawn Adams brings real class and poise as Jekyll's fed-up faithless wife Kitty , the always great Christopher Lee positively oozes smarm as Kitty's shameless ne'er-do-well gambler lover Paul Allen , ravishing brunette beauty Norma Marla burns up the screen as fiery , sultry dancer Maria ( her introductory snake dance set piece is memorably sexy ) , and David Kossoff does well as Jekyll's wise , concerned colleague Dr . Ernest Littauer . Better still , this movie rates as pretty bold stuff for the decade it was made in : we've got opium smoking , adultery , implied nudity , mild profanity , and even ( offscreen ) rape . Having the wimpy and homely , but humane and pleasant Jekyll turn into the suave and handsome , yet foul and caddish Hyde is a very nice touch , thereby suggesting it's what's on the inside that makes a man either good or bad . Look fast for Oliver Reed as a nightclub bouncer . Both Jack Asher's vibrant color cinematography and the jaunty , dramatic orchestral score by David Heneker and Monty Norman are up to snuff . Well worth a watch . |
518,460 | 8,239,592 | 106,950 | 8 | An excellent and exciting futuristic prison winner | In a grim totalitarian near future married couples are allowed to have only one kid . John Brennick ( a solid and engaging performance by Christopher Lambert ) and his pregnant wife Karen ( well played by the fetching Loryn Locklin ) get arrested for trying to have a second child . They are both sent to a brutal subterranean maximum security penitentiary run by the cruel Prison Doctor Poe ( a splendidly wicked Kurtwood Smith ) . Of course , John plans to escape and take Karen with him . Director Stuart Gordon relates the absorbing story at a brisk pace , does an expert job of maintaining a tough , gritty tone throughout , and stages the thrilling action scenes with rip-roaring verve ( the climactic jailbreak sequence in particular is quite tense and stirring ) . The uniformly ace acting from a tip-top cast qualifies as another significant asset : Lambert and Locklin make for sympathetic leads , Smith excels in one of his customary bad guy roles , plus there are stellar supporting performances by Jeffrey Combs as flaky , bespectacled computer whiz D-Day , Lincoln Kilpatrick as wise trustee inmate Abraham , Tom Towles as mean roughhouse bully Stiggs , Vernon Wells as vicious top con Maddox , and Clifton Collins , Jr . as scrappy young punk Nino Gomez . David Eggby's fluid , polished cinematography , the nifty special effects , Frederic Talgorn's moody , rousing score , and a few dollops of grisly gore are all on the money effective and impressive . A very cool and satisfying science fiction film . |
518,612 | 8,239,592 | 93,315 | 8 | An enjoyably dopey mid 80's Crown International Pictures teen comedy romp | Amiable college varsity Coach Chip Williams ( the always solid Richard Roundtree of " Shaft " fame ) has to whip his wacky team of misfit players into shape for a major regional tournament being held in Las Vegas . Said wacky misfits include charming stud muffin on wheels the Kid ( hunky Scott Strader ) , affable mellow dude Jeff ( cute Perry Lang ) , raucous wildman Ripper ( the incredible Donald Gibb ; Ogre from " Revenge of the Nerds " ) , and excitable Mexican Chito ( the hilarious Trinidad Silva ) . But these nutty guys are more interested in having fun than winning a big game . Capably directed with infectiously easy'n'breezy panache by Steve Carver , with bright , sunny cinematography by Adam Greenberg , lots of cool-jammin ' songs on the bouncy soundtrack , an endearingly sweet'n'silly tone , engaging acting from the likable and attractive young leads , a groovy , hard-rockin ' score by David McHugh , cheap gay jokes , a priceless sequence in a sleazy biker bar , a nice smattering of gratuitous nudity , and several thrilling tennis games , this flick overall rates as an entertainingly lightweight diversion . The eclectic supporting cast qualifies as a substantial plus : future " Law & Order : Special Victims Unit " TV series regular Mariska Hargitay as adorable tennis groupie Nicole , Christopher Lee as pompous killjoy college President White , R . G . Armstrong as bumbling , sycophantic athletic director Coach Bettleborn , and future mainstream movie director Tom ( " Liar , Liar , " " Bruce Almighty " ) Shadyac as arrogant rival tennis champ Chris . Good , goofy fun . |
518,801 | 8,239,592 | 75,850 | 8 | Al Adamson's stunningly bad sci-fi soft-core musical comedy marvel | Late , great Grade Z drive-in exploitation filmmaker par excellence Al Adamson really outdoes himself with this gloriously ghastly sci-fi soft-core musical comedy atrocity which plumbs deliciously dismal and dopey depths in sheer celluloid silliness and jaw-dropping stupidity . In the grim totalitarian future of 2047 sex has been deemed an illegal act by the Big Brother-like impotent bumbling idiot the Controller ( an amusingly goofy Erwin Fuller ) . However , sweet'n'sexy Cinderella ( radiant blonde cutie pie Catherine Erhardt ) remains determined to change things for the better . With the help of her effeminate Fairy Godfather ( a flamboyantly campy Jay B . Larson ) , Cinderella attends a grand gala ball with the specific plan of seducing handsome stud Tom Prince ( the dorky Vaughn Armstrong ) and teaching everyone that making love is a positive , pleasurable and wholly acceptable activity . Adamson directs this ridiculous yarn with his customary all-thumbs incompetence , staging the incredibly awful'n'inept song and dance sequences with a totally sidesplitting lack of skill and flair . The uproariously abysmal " We All Need Love " number with people in absurd animal costumes awkwardly prancing about the forest is a hilariously horrendous marvel ; ditto the equally abominable " Mechnical Man " routine featuring a bunch of clumsily cavorting robots . Louis Horvarth's crude , static cinematography , the tacky plastic miniatures , Sparky Sugerman's groovy throbbing disco score , the copious gratuitous nudity ( ravishing brunette hottie Sherri Coyle warrants special praise in this particular department ) , the brain-numbingly puerile attempts at leering lowbrow humor ( Roscoe the Robot law enforcer is especially irritating ) , and the uniformly terrible performances ( Renee Harmon's outrageously hammy portrayal of Cinderella's wicked overbearing stepmother cops the big booby prize here ) further enhance the strikingly abundant cheesiness to be savored in this delectably dreadful doozy . |
518,204 | 8,239,592 | 154,013 | 8 | A hilariously horrendous tongue-in-cheek porno comedy hoot | Picture an episode of " Happy Days " gone incredibly seedy , with lots of foxy naked women and scuzzy hardcore sex scenes , with the added attraction of a fantastic rockabilly score and plenty of amusingly leering humor , and you'll have a good idea of what this enjoyably mindless 50's nostalgia-tinged mess is like . Writer / director / producer / star Johnny Legend , a show biz jack of all trades whose many job titles include wrestling manager , filmmaker , rockabilly singer / songwriter ( Legend's potent double whammy of the truly cool " Are You Hep to It ? " and the especially smokin ' " Hot Rocks " are featured on the movie's stand-out soundtrack , which boasts such appropriately salacious tunes as the deliriously bawdy " Slip , Slip , Slippin ' In " by Mac Curtis , Ray Campi's feverishly cooking " Eager Boy , " and Alvis Wayne's tart'n'tasty " I Wanna Eat Your Puddin ' " ) , cameo actor , and general all-around self-stylized California eccentric , juggles several balls here with largely disastrous results , creating a delightfully obnoxious tongue-in-cheek fiasco with an endearingly rank and witless sense of breezy'n'cheesy high school locker room humor . Legend even acts in this gloriously ghastly and off-the-wall period oddity ; he hammily portrays manic , fast-talking , foul-mouthed second-rate Wolfman Jack wannabe disc jockey Mambo Remus . The plot is messy , sprawling , and virtually nonexistent , the editing , sound quality , and cinematography are all strictly home movie level amateurish , the characters by and large extremely unappealing numbskulls ( Tony Conn in particular is seriously creepy and unlikable as lonely , tormented , pathetic middle-aged voyeur loser Willy ) , and the dialogue is pretty terrible , but that really doesn't matter much . This film is still awful funny in a so-crass-it's-killer sort of way . The loosely knit , often crudely humorous and usually quite sexually graphic vignettes rigidly adhere to an " American Graffiti " - like multi-storied format ; my favorite subplot focuses on the randy escapades of a sex-crazed madwoman called Babs the nuthouse nympho . Better still , the hardcore sex scenes are every bit as rough and raunchy as they ought to be ( among the highlights are the gorgeous Serena masturbating with an automobile cigarette lighter and legendary Me Decade porn stud John Holmes doing just what you think with two lovely ladies both inside and beside a pool ) . Plus there's lots of uproariously tasteless bad jokes about such trashy topics as smoking weed , cunnilingus , fellatio , rape , and even bestiality . A real sleazy hoot . |
518,962 | 8,239,592 | 54,385 | 8 | A really enjoyable redneck stock car racing drive-in flick | Rory Calhoun ( Farmer Vincent in " Motel Hell " ) gives a dead bang-on solid portrayal as Mitch Cooper , a smoothly charming former moonshine runner turned professional stock car racer who , after wrecking both his car and his ankle in a brutal smash up , takes time off from racing to teach cocky eager beaver kid Les York ( played with bright , wide-eyed gusto by the likable John Gentry ) how to drive well on the track . Mitch takes a fancy to York's lovely , no-nonsense wife Rene ( a winningly sparky'n'spunky performance by toothsome blonde Connie Hines ) , which leads to Les ditching Mitch so he can drive for a jerk millionaire who only cares about winning . In fact , success transforms Les into a greedy and selfish egomaniac , therefor causing Mitch and Les to become bitter adversaries . The two race against each other at a grand high stakes race . Granted , Alexander Richards ' stand-issue script doesn't cover any new ground , but Paul Helmick's efficient direction , a hearty supporting turn by the always engaging Alan Hale , Jr . ( The Skipper on " Gilligan's Island " ) as an amiable , anecdotal pit crew chief , an interesting , commendably unglamorous warts-and-all depiction of professional stock car racing which shows how the sport can become an addiction and poison a man's blood , a colorful evocation of the grimy , sweaty , ferociously competitive and occasionally dangerous ultra-macho racetrack milieu , a marvelously mawkish ballad called " He's Gone Away " sung by Ann Stevens , Joseph Brunt's nifty cinematography ( there's some nice use of cheesy fade-outs and snazzy super-impositions ) , and authentically gritty racetrack footage of the Darlington , South Carolina Southern 500 that doesn't skimp on the dust-flying , dirt-kicking , rubber-shredding , tire-screaming , butt-tearing floor it and go the distance action movie goods make this honey a perfectly enjoyable and up to speed Southern-fried drive-in potboiler . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.