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 ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
436,696 | 9,938,570 | 120,667 | 5 | The 4 | The supposed bread and butter of this film's premise as promised is the Fantastic Four doing battle with Doom . That occurs for like ten minutes at the tail end of the movie . What we get are a modicum of visual effects that are moderately successful . Lots of cars get thrown around in this movie , that's for sure . The synopsis , or what there is of it , consists of five people going into space ( it's that easy when you are wealthy like Julian McMahon to just up and go to space when you feel like it ) to find cures and stuff for disease . They encounter some sort of life force entity which gives each of them powers beyond what mortal man can possibly imagine . Ioan Gruffudd is Reed Richards , the nerdy shy scientist whose job at NASA sent him into bankruptcy with pal Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm . . always watching his friend's back through all the heartache . Jessica Alba is Sue Storm , Reed's ex who still carries a torch for him . She has been working under the millionaire Victor Von Doom ( what a name , huh ? ) , played by Julian in all his menacing glory . Julian is indeed the only real thing this film has going for it with the exception of the harrowing bridge sequence caused by a man who planned to jump off of said bridge . To close out the group is Chris Evans as Johnny Storm , a cocky , self-assured pretty boy who is to pilot the ship to space . I'm surprised he had enough brains to pilot his car on Earth much less some ship into space . Anyway , after the crew encounters the anomaly in space , Reed's limbs become tender and he can now stretch them for miles and miles , Sue can make her entire body invisible , Johhny can turn his body into a flying fireball , and poor Ben forms into this huge rock creature . Victor's body is slowly growing into steel while also carrying a unique ability to shift electrical current with his hands . Victor , who loses money from his company for his funding the space fiasco , lets lose on his boss who tells him he's finished , and once he sees that Sue , who he has a thing for , is still in love with Reed , DOOM will soon come upon The 4 . The film opens sappy story lines like the whole love angle between Reed and Sue , Thing's unbearable hardship with how he looks , and sister trying to stop fire torch brother from enjoying his unique abilities . Reed is trying desperately to solve the riddle behind how to change everyone back to their original normal form , but brick walls seem to always stand in front of him . Meanwhile , Doom likes his increasing power and will tool his resources to try and unleash a flurry of rage against those who sent him into financial ruin . |
436,837 | 9,938,570 | 106,743 | 5 | What can The Scarecrow say ? | The film , as reviewed already by many on this site , is a bit short . It gets on with it leaving little room for us to see built story . A hobo falls from a little child's tricycle and his head smashes the solid floor so hard his blood flows for ages , not to mention something magic about his blood " creates " four demonic dolls from thin air and little bolts of lightning . They are the same demonic dolls beleaguered cop Tracy Coggins battled in a previous film { labeled " Demonic Toys " } . . a clown with a snake's tail , a baby doll with a potty mouth , an action figure with a twisted sense of rage on his face , and one of those toy robots with lasers that blast out little light rays of red . Coggins realizes that these toys are simply too small for her to reach within the toy factory ducts so she enlists the aide of alien cop from Artorous Tim Thomerson { from the film " Dollman " } and miniature nurse hottie Melissa Behr { from " Bad Channels " } to stop them once and for all . Scoggins is in this film maybe ten minutes , but is quite good in her way too limited time . Thomerson is the true reason to watch this film for he gets to blast dolls with his gun that blows things to smithereens and quip phrases like " Pop goes the weasel " . Behr is here for the eye candy . The film lets us into all three crossover stories to this film's point . It's filler for a total absence of story and saves a lot of money , also . Still , it seems that everyone is having fun , but one can really see the budgetary constraints on the filmmakers when it comes to visual effects . The dolls have some large shots against Thomerson and Behr which don't match well with single takes of the dolls from afar . The film's length also shows proper lack of funding . It's clear Full Moon has always been limited somewhat by lack of budget , but always seem to provide casts with spunk . The film has a perverted sense of humor and if one likes this type of junk might really enjoy it despite how really silly it all is . |
436,714 | 9,938,570 | 409,182 | 5 | Poseidon | The cruise ship Poseidon is hit by a nasty rogue tidal wave which capsizes it . While many perish in the turning of the ship , there are a few designated characters , arranged properly by the screenplay since we are introduced to each just before the wave hits , who head for the top ( bottom ; propellers offer an exit if they are cut off ) while others , who stay at Captain Bradford's ( Andre Braugher ) request , are sealed off by bulkhead doors . We automatically know who made the right decision but I never could understand why so many didn't follow suit instead of trusting the unknowable . . especially with the idea of being sealed off by steel doors . Anyway we automatically know who the two heroes are at the beginning , because we've seen so many of these Hollywood adventure / disaster flicks it isn't that hard to realize . Kurt Russel portrays the former mayor of New York and firefighter ( how appropriate , eh ? ) whose daughter Emmy Rossum is secretly engaged to Mike Vogel . Richard Dreyfuss portrays a homosexual deeply wounded by a lover's recent betrayal . Jacinda Barrett is a mother whose son Jimmy Bennett is in constant peril . You have Josh Lucas , a card shark who takes money from chosen victims at cruise-ship poker tables , but is a commanding leader who understands any ship pretty well because of pretty much living on them for some time . Mía Maestro is a woman who snuck on the ship and plans to join her young brother in the States . This motley band of characters will strive , through constant danger such as fallen debris and blasts of water , to make it to the destination of the propellers , but often , as is expected in disaster / survivalist films , they will face many set-backs . The tidal wave slamming into the Poseidon is the film's major impact . It succeeds as Cameron's TITANIC did at make your jaw drop , but that is the film's main high-light . Russell and Lucas do what they can with their limited characters . Dreyfuss has seen better days and is given little to do but survive . The chicks of the picture , Rossum , Barrett & Maestro come off better because they are given a bit more to work with . . but even they are saddled with basic melodramatic clichés that have been drilled to the audience in these types of film for ages . The film simply dispenses with the usual 30 minutes of building up story so that we can get to know them a bit , leaving us mainly with snippets of dialogue as entrances into their lives at the moment they begin their fateful voyage . Other than the disaster and survival elements in the story , there just isn't much to the film . It really doesn't add anything really fresh to the genre and , sadly , is rather forgettable . Good cast , though . |
435,921 | 9,938,570 | 433,442 | 5 | The Return | Joanna ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) has remained out of the state of Texas for some time , while still working mostly on the road winning clients for a business she works for . As a child , she had a mental breakdown . She kept seeing mysterious images while cutting herself apparently because of the horrors of what was there presented to her . At a carnival , we get a look inside what Joanna as a child sees . . a male figure , shrouded in darkness , who calls out for his " Sunshine . " Joanna takes a chance re-entering Texas , while infuriating a co-worker who wanted to win over the same company ( Adam Scott ) . She immediately experiences weird occurrences such as her radio's insistence in playing the Patsy Cline tune , " Sweet Dreams " . Later she experiences a trip into a bar she has never seen the inside of in a little dust stop called La Salle . She also sees the face of a woman named Annie ( Erinn Allison ) in the mirror reflecting back at her . Meeting Terry Stahl ( Peter O'Brien ) in a bar , Joanna remembers him from her dream . Her co-worker has followed Joanna to La Salle still fighting mad about losing the job to her . Trying to rape her in her hotel room , Terry comes to Joanna's rescue . They strike up a quiet friendship and she realizes he has lost a wife . . the very woman whose face she saw in the mirror . As time continues , Joanna sees past memories of Annie , as her murder unravels who that mystery man is that haunts her visions . My question after giving this flick some thought was why would Joanna continue to remain in this state if she was okay outside of it . Is curiosity in such a foreboding place worth the torment that is constant . I felt that despite all the mystery surrounding the man Joanna is constantly running from ( the man who seems so real because of the fear Annie experienced that night ) , the film ends with rather a whimper than a bang . I dunno . The way the film explains how Joanna inherits the ability to see through Annie's eyes that night she was chased and killed didn't quite go over well with me . But , I felt the filmmakers and cast tried hard to create a unique experience even if the film fails . |
435,865 | 9,938,570 | 93,626 | 5 | Nightflyers | Michael D'Brannin ( John Standing ) has a great vision and that is to find a certain form of alien life / intelligence but needs a space vessel to seek it out . The ship he's able to find is captained supposedly by a mysterious man named Royd ( Michael Praed ) who won't reveal himself in person to the crew . Miranda ( Catherine Mary Stewart who I thought was just fine ) is a head-strong woman who is D'Brannin's confident , a person who believes in him and his life's goal & desire . The rest of the crew are not as assured of this mission , but go along with the ride anyway . They are mostly made up of tech-heads who wish to understand Royd more and try various ways to get more information about him . Then there's a woebegone Class-10 telepath Jon ( the always watchable , flashy , flamboyant Michael Des Barres ripping to shreds every scene he's in ) who believes he's found an evil presence on board the ship , at it's very core . This " seething malignant presence " hates the crew , Jon informs them in shouting tirades as he has " linked " with the very evil itself . Royd has found a person to confide in with Miranda , obviously a woman he's also attracted to . He finds her doing gymnastics ( perhaps one of the few times the film really pursues character development by placing a past to a person ) and is intrigued by her and the things Miranda has to say . Royd informs her that he is in fact a clone , created by a woman he calls " Mother " who died before the chamber birthing him completed it's cycle . Royd wishes to leave his ship and realizes that his immunity system is so weak he'll probably die leaving the ship , but his feeling of imprisonment makes his decision easier . His desire to do this makes the evil presence on the ship erupt as it's obvious who it is that is behind the violence that will take place . . Mother . Jon wishes to " take over " the ship and believes he can defeat the evil that is control at the present . . big mistake . He is instead controlled by Mother and forced to attempt the murder on the one she believes is responsible for putting thoughts of leaving in Royd's head . . Miranda . The rest of the crew are merely fodder for her death belt . From Jon we find out what is indeed behind the evil . . somehow the woman who created Royd transfered her consciousness and will into the ship's core meaning that it's her who controls the ship and it's computer . Somewhere on the ship lies her power and it must be destroyed or else everyone perishes . Yeah , it's rather mediocre , but I never found it to be as bad as everyone else posting user comments does . Now , this could be because I haven't read the book it's based on . I'll admit , there isn't much character development and the crew , for the most part , are merely here to serve as victims for the " Mother of evil " . Lisa Blount who portrays Audrey , the crew member who questions nearly everything , especially the trustworthiness of Royd , is feisty enough , but a bit grating at the same time . James Avery ( as Darryl , the cook who gets his fingers taken off in a kitchen explosion during one of Mother's emotional outbursts and then later re-applied during a surgery scene ) tries hard in the role of token black guy who serves as emotional center to the nervous crew members who do not trust Royd or the other goings-on on board this alien ship . Glenn Withrow is Keelor , the nerd who understands the engineering side of things and has a scene where he finds the massive schematics of the computer showing us what they're up against . Hélène Udy is Lilly , the computer wiz mostly seen punching keys trying to get at what makes Royd ( . . and the ship ) tick . Annabel Brooks is Jon's telepathic lover , Eliza . There's one great sequence where someone possessed by Mother attempts to kill Miranda and during the struggle gets his arm sliced off & face broken apart by a renegade laser . Another poor soul is sucked out into space when , in another one of her emotional tirades , Mother opens the cargo bay doors . During that tirade , Royd is able , he thinks , to stop Mother , but not before the cargo bay is breached meaning it must be patched before the ship implodes . So you know that going outside the ship is very necessary . . is Mother really dead ? I thought some of the special effects sequences were just fine and the murkiness of the ship's interior isn't something I was bothered by . It could've been better , I assume , since many consider this an abomination to a good novel . Whoever made this probably didn't have the money or proper resources to make the kind of ambitious project that novel needed . |
436,098 | 9,938,570 | 63,272 | 5 | Mantis in Lace | Cheeky smut is perfect entertainment for sleaze aficionados . Photographed by Bogdanovich's frequent cinematographer László Kovács whose experiments with psychedelic colors during Lila's ( Susan Stewart ) drug trips are quite an experience . The film concerns the homicidal tendencies of a stripper triggered by LSD during Lila's sexual confrontations with men in a candle-lit abandoned warehouse for rent . Lila picks up various males for whom she encounters at the club she works , an unusual assortment of men , who have no idea what lies in store for them as they take part in passionate love-making as she succumbs to possible past incidents which re-awaken as the LSD overtakes her senses . After stabbing the men she beds with a screwdriver , Lila chops their bodies up with a cleaver disposing of the corpses in cardboard boxes in the warehouse , leaving them in vacant areas . The film shows two weary detectives pressed into solving the serial killings , this rash of homicides is growing in number and Lila shows no signs of stopping . The acting is obviously sub-par with this dime-store cast of unknown faces and the dialogue leaves anything to be desired . Stewart , in the lead as Lila , is quite beautiful ( . . often bearing her breasts during rather lackluster dance-routines ) yet rather vacuous . The film luridly shows the club crowd's enthusiastic reactions to the performance artists on stage as they bare their breasts for the public . . László Kovács camera gets in very close , his eye-lens peering provocatively as the strippers ' bodies move in various dance routines . This film made me feel like I was a paying customer . . that was how the director and his photographer often focus completely for long periods on the strippers and their routines . This will definitely be embraced by that crowd who adores trash and twisted premises like this film has . There's a soft-core sequence between the club owner that Lila works for and a potential client that seems to be in the film merely to satisfy an audience looking for a sex scene . I wouldn't call this a good film , but I certainly think it achieves what it sets out for . . giving a specific audience exactly what they crave . The abrupt ending leaves anything to be desired . |
436,757 | 9,938,570 | 460,742 | 5 | House of Blood | There's a cabin in the middle of the woods , far from modern civilization , inhabited by a group of unusual people who speak Old English and become demonically possessed savages with a craving for " anything with blood in it . " Poor Dr . Douglas Madsen ( Christopher Kriesa ) , traveling to pick up medical equipment , happens to come across a bus wreck carrying evil inmates who have eliminated the security assigned to keep them detained . Forced against his will , Doug will have to follow the four inmates into the woods as they head for the Canadian border only to find the cabin which occupies the strange folk who warn them repeatedly to flee before the turning occurs . What commences is a slaughter , but thanks to one of the group , a young lady named Alice ( Martina Ittenbach ) , Doug escapes . When he tries to explain to a detective ( Jürgen Prochnow ) what happened to him , he isn't believed and must face the idea of prison . He's the only one who came out alive with four missing inmates and dead security guards . . Doug seems to be in a bit of trouble . Well , prison might be better than what awaits him . Traveling in a bus with other inmates , they drive through a female traveler , out of her car to see about a deer she hit , causing an eerily similar wreck to the one that occurred at the start of the film . A feeling of deja vu for Doug and , as before , another group of inmates will force the doc to accompany them into the woods , with a goal of heading north . . just guess what happens . Forget the story-line , director Olaf Ittenbach's horror tale is mostly a German splatter-fest . . pure unadulterated gore movie , loaded with outrageous violence . I mean the religious freaks in this house turn back flips using the wall as a springboard for petesake ! I didn't know if they were supposed to be a relic from another time , or luchadores needing a wrestling ring . You get an arm amputation , eyeballs pried away from a victim's face as it's being ripped apart , heads exploding ( . . including one nifty scene where a demonically possessed savage's face forms back together from it's shredded remains ) from shot-gun explosions , a face being stabbed with a spate , lots of blood splatter from bullet riddled bodies ( . . it appears that A LOT of squibs were used in this movie ) , guts being pulled from bellies , etc . The Doc even gets to remove shrapenal from an inmate's nut-sack , for crying out loud . There's a nice attempt , straightly executed , at how fate , or a divine force , can guide certain people to a specific fate . The undesirables from prison who often find themselves supposedly heading north only to meet an ominous fog within the woods which leads them to this cabin housing God's chosen to feed on their flesh . I guess that was what this crazy movie was attempting to accomplish . I just laughed this aspect off and rather enjoyed the battles between inmates and demon-baddies . Simon Newby really lays it on thick as the first heavy , Arthur , spending his time on screen barking orders and threatening dire consequences towards anyone crossing him . Doug gets treated like dirt the entire running time of the film . First he's the constant source of bullying , given little chance to survive , only remaining so because of the assistance Arthur's brother , Spence ( Luca Maric ) needs with a torn arm with a bullet wedged causing an artery to bleed badly . Then later , Doug must deal with a quiet psychopath , Paul Anderson ( Dan van Husen ) , who likes to wax poetic , often quoting from books and writings from popular writers . I found van Husen amusing as Anderson , the kind of bloke who loves to hear himself talk and has a superiority complex . . he informs Doug that he'll remain alive as long as he pleases Anderson's intellect . You really can't give much thought to things that often matter in movies . . a decent storyline and acting . These departments in " House of Blood " are missing . I will say this . . Olaf Ittenbach has some style , but his attempts at messing with the chronology in the story-line ( . . going back and forth in time , often in the case of Doug , such as his interrogation scenes tied in with the second act and how events unfold in Doug's life and how the whole escape of the inmates came to be ) , I felt were unnecessary . The Old English will probably have many viewers trying to hold back giggles . Thee and thus , it becomes quite tiresome . And the opening actors who play the inmates Doug must deal with overact , often blurting profane lines with each other , often shouting , and always quite annoying . . . they're like rejects from an episode of HBO's OZ . They're a source of amusment as well as they really try hard to elicit evil by heightening their voices towards each other . Perhaps with half-decent material , Olaf might have potential . |
436,061 | 9,938,570 | 348,150 | 5 | The Return of Mr . S | Superman has been away for 5 years searching for any sign of life from his birth planet Krypton . While away , Lex Luthor was able to get out on appeal for Superman is not there in the court as the key witness to keep him behind bars . When he returns , Superman finds Lois dating another man , Richard , the assistant editor ( and general nice guy ) to Perry White of the Daily Planet . Lois also has a male child which brings to the viewer the possibility of a super-son . Lois claims the boy is Richard's . Superman takes up his crime-fighting ways and saving those in peril . Luther's partner in crime , Kitty Kowalski , helps him out on occasion , but mostly walks nearby his side tossing " witty " quips ( which seems to be one of her only purposes ; we must remember she is played by Parker Posey who has a knack for delivering witty puns ) . Luthor finds the location of where Superman received his father's guidance and instructions through the use of crystals . Luthor takes the crystals and soon finds Kryptonite buried within a rock housed in a museum . He then plans through the use of the crystals , whose power is unimaginable ( they literally can shut an entire city's power down while also growing crystal-shaped rock formations from the watery earth ) , to bury a large part of the United States under water for forming his own land for substantial gain . Will Superman be able to stop Luthor's diabolical plan while also having to save a city on the verge of collapse when the evil bald one sets just a few crystals in the ocean ? This film is a one hour forty five minute movie buried under a running time of two and a half hours . I was expecting fireworks , but said to myself once it was over , " That's it ? " Sure , there are some clever super-saving special effects in the film like how Superman rescues a crew of passengers on the verge of death landing them safely on a baseball diamond or how he is able to fly through clouds ( not to mention how a bullet simply smashes an unphased eyeball of Mr . S ) , but that big climactic wallop just really never comes . The film is more of an introduction to the characters and the casting choices , for the most part , are fine . I was quite surprised at how much Brandon reminded me of Chris Reeve . Even when he speaks , it seems like they have laid a voice-over of Reeve saying goodbye to Lois . I think Kate Bosworth makes a beautiful Lois and Spacey seems to relish his menace in the guise of Luthor . Poor Marsden ( sort of like his Cyclops in the X-Men franchise ) is the unfortunate come-between as Lois ' beau Richard . He is as good as good can be , but he isn't Superman and seems to be in this plot more for being a roadblock for the romance viewers expect from the new film . I found it laughable the way the screenplay finds ways to put Lois in peril and then showing Superman coming to her rescue right on cue . But , the most unfortunate thing is that the confrontation we wait two hours for is short-lived having their encounter brief until the next film . Really , to be brutally honest , the film's story isn't any more thrilling than a Smallville episode . We just have to watch the story develop over an exhausting two and a half hours instead of week to week . Still , despite the film not being that great , I do think now that they've made the characters clear to us , the franchise has opportunities to take off . I will certainly give a second film a chance . . I just hope they don't waste my time for an epic length next time . |
436,338 | 9,938,570 | 1,213,856 | 5 | Voices | For about 90 minutes , practically everyone around Ga-in ( Jin-seo Yun ) wants her dead . A classmate . A teacher . Her male fencing partner . Her mother . Perhaps even her best friend . But , the very one she wouldn't realize is exactly the person that wishes to kill her the most . A little boy sees his mother topple over with a knife in her back and we later discover that his father went apesh # t due to stress and poverty . This corresponds with Ga-in's family we later discover with the little boy seeking revenge for he blames them mostly for his father's eventual psychotic breakdown . The film also highlights a young man who seems to follow Ga-in around yet no one seems to acknowledge him but her . Ga-in's aunt presumably leaped off a balcony ( . . or was pushed by her fiancé ) and was eventually stabbed to death by her sister as she lie recuperating in a hospital bed . Ga-in later is sent by her father to an elderly man who tells her of a story concerning his decision to murder his wife out of rage towards her adultery . He feels his action , fueled by a voice over the phone who warned him of her adultery , has perhaps set off a chain of events where some sort of curse is running rampant hypnotizing folks into killing people they wish were dead . And , the young man who hangs around with Ga-in , like a little drooping , sad puppy with nowhere else to go , tells her to trust no one , not even herself . Eventually someone Ga-in loves so dear will unleash a fury on her family , her having no idea that he harbors such harsh feelings . There are a lot of hallucinatory scare effects designed to make the viewer jump concerning a monster which resembles red raw hamburger meat in the shape of a man always reaching out to grab Ga-in . She also sees this spooky young women , her face emerging from a pool of dripping blood , hovering over her bed , threatening that Ga-in would be next ( . . this happens after Ga-in's aunt stabs her sister in the hospital room ) . The film seems to establish that a sinister figure representing a symbolic form of harbored desire ( . . the desire one has against another , out of jealousy , mostly ) provides people with an option to violently rid themselves of their " adversary . " Ga-in stands in the way , so to speak , of certain people's happiness . The student who never benefits due to Ga-in's success as a fencer . The teammate who is one step below Ga-in in their sport , wanting her out of the way . The best friend jealous of her attaining the boyfriend she always wanted . The mother who doesn't feel appreciated . But , to be honest , I couldn't understand what happened at the end ( . . Ga-in's fate after a tragic murder of a relative ) regarding Ga-in . I thought I had a decent understanding of what the hell was going on , but , like a lot of these films , the filmmakers involved desperately needed to throw a wild twist at us . . the heroine can't get off that easy can she ? That's how I felt . . we watch this poor girl go through an absolute nightmare for 90 minutes and yet she must not escape . That's the mentality of horror films these days . Still , there's some great moments here and there , but this is quite a confusing experience one must endure in order to enjoy those instances of shock and awe . |
435,676 | 9,938,570 | 91,462 | 5 | The Majorettes | A psychopath wearing camouflage with a hunting knife as his weapon , commences in slaying female majorettes across the throat while bathing their bodies in water " purifying their sins " . A reluctant county detective is placed on the case with a sheriff who doesn't want his company . A nurse , whose son is the high school janitor and resident idiot with a vent opened up in his supply closet so he can spy on the majorettes removing their clothes in preparation for the showers ( . . while also taking snapshots of them , for his private collection ) , hopes to gain a great sum of money from her employer's will . . the employer is an invalid , pretty much a vegetable unable to speak due to a stroke that has left her practically a zombie in a wheelchair . The nurse informs the poor woman of her diabolical plans while injecting her with heavy doses of insulin . Meanwhile , a gang of drug-dealing hoodlums selling their dope to underage teens cause problems towards a high school quarterback and his friend ( . . she's the granddaughter of the invalid the nurse plans to kill , and also a victim-to-be set up for execution due to what she'd receive in the will at the age of 18 ) which culminates in two tragic shoot-outs leaving quite a many dead . The nurse , thanks to her voyeur son's taking photos of a victim as she's being mutilated by the killer , blackmails the serial killer , wanting him / her to execute her employer's granddaughter to keep their silence . While I give a lot of love to the " Russo camp " for keeping it real by investing the film with local folks , this film is burdened by the cast's inabilities to adjust to acting in front of the camera . The screenplay is uneasy as the film moves from one scenario to another , with nearly everyone winding up dead . Though , everything ties together somehow , the glue is running and so is the audience for the eject button . I did think the twist regarding the identity of the killer was nifty and the final scene I thought worked really well . The slasher portion of the film I felt was rather clumsily staged and dragged out a bit too long removing the power these are supposed to bring when we are being led through a building murder sequence where the killer is about to strike his prey . The attacks are rather uninspired and typical of the genre . I feel the convoluted uneven story will leave many slasher fans frustrated and the killer's identity is revealed a bit too soon . The shootout belongs in another film ( . . although , I did enjoy both shootouts I must admit ) and feels tacked on . . although , the first shootout spoils the nurse's initial plans and shockingly some important characters wind up dead a lot sooner than one would expect . There's some nudity , particularly in the majorettes ' locker room . As far as the attacks , most of the violence , except a few throat slicings , is off-screen . Kevin Kindlin , the quarterback who wages war with the nasty bikers , would later return as the lead " vampire " in Russo's flick , " Dark Craving . " |
436,075 | 9,938,570 | 91,499 | 5 | Maximum Overdrive | The MORON MOVIE , if there ever was one , I have no right whatsoever defending it . It's a hunk of pure garbage , but I just couldn't stop laughing at it . I think this was completely made as a tongue-in-cheek comedy not as some sort of horror flick to be taken at all seriously . Most consider Stephen King , as director and writer , the equivalent of Ed Wood with this flick and it's insane premise about trucks and other various machinery running amok killing human beings once a mysterious comet surrounds the Earth . The film's main setting is a truck stop where a collection of workers , truckers , and other passersby are trapped inside the Dixie Boy while diesels circle awaiting some sort of command which later comes when a military jeep , equipped with a machine gun , makes it's way on the scene . The machine gun also serves as the jeep's eyes ! Emilio Estevez is " Bubba " , an ex-con having to work overtime without getting paid extra thanks to Pat Hingle's sonofabitch boss at the Dixie Boy , Hendershot . Laura Harrington is a drifter heading to her family in Florida named Brett who falls for Bubba . Connie and Curtis ( Yeardly Smith and John Short ) are newlyweds who almost get crashed by a renegade diesel and find their way to the Dixie Boy . Ellen McElduff is waitress Wanda June , who never quite recovers her sanity with a mechanical knife attacks her . Holter Graham is the young kid , Deke whose dad was murdered by one of the trucks at Dixie Boy . The film is full of ridiculous gags such as a bible salesman who gets hit by a truck so hard , the camera pans back revealing his shoes . . he was hit so hard the truck knocked him out of his shoes ! You have a plane running on it's own as " Ride of the Valkyries " plays ! You have a homicidal coke machine spitting out full cans which smash in the skull of the coach of a little league baseball team while other tykes get hammered as well . One poor kid , trying to escape on his bike , gets squashed by a steamroller , for crying out loud ! The most memorable scene to me is when young Deke rodes his bike down a neighborhood where we witness the carnage of the machine attacks as bodies lay strewn all over the place with heads hanging out of windows , laying dead by their hammocks , legs sticking out of bushes , etc . Hell , there's even a dead dog with a toy mechanical car wedged in it's mouth ! Somehow , Bubba will have to lead those capable enough to survive out of this difficult situation . . perhaps a sewer tunnel system might be an option at their disposal . It's all played for shock value , nothing more or less . What's even more hilarious is when the trucks desire for the remaining survivors left to feed them gas ! The damn jeep uses Morse code to communicate with them for petesake ! Check your brains at the door for this one ! Just see how King explains what might've actually caused the rampage . . it's quite absurd really . |
436,120 | 9,938,570 | 87,592 | 5 | The Last Horror Film | New York taxi driver , with aspirations in directing a big horror film , Vinny Durand ( Joe Spinell ) is obsessed with female horror icon Jana Bates ( Caroline Munro ) and follows her to Cannes Film Festival willing to go to any lengths necessary to see the actress star in his picture . The film paints him an oddball right from the start as we see Durand masturbating in a darkened theater to the scene of a horror flick featuring a naked woman frying from an electrical wire in her hot tub . . this ought to let the viewer know from the get-go what they're in for . The film is mostly set in Cannes and director David Winters shoots exact streets , movie posters , and people on locations trying to capture that spirit of movie-making as the film transpires with sweaty Durand , quite bonkers as he endlessly fantasizes of being a star director appearing before crowds of adoring fans applauding at a movie premiere dressed in fancy black suit and cape ( . . this is a gas ! ) . Soon those associated with Jana Bates who turn Durand down , when he approaches them with his great desire and script for her , wind up murdered in various ways ( sliced throat , ax to the back , knife-stabbing , and gun-shots to the back of the skull ) . Is Durand the man responsible for these crimes ? My favorite scene has poor , frightened-out-of-her-wits Munro running from crazed Spinell from her bathroom , through her hotel , and into the Cannes streets in nothing but a towel ! Love those scenes between Spinell and his mom ( ESPECIALLY the final one ! ) . Those expecting the graphic blood-letting of Spinell and Munro's previous " Maniac " will probably be disappointed with this film . I don't think the film is very good , ( quite sloppy actually ) , but Spinell delivers enough lunacy in his wacko to entertain those horror fans looking for it . |
435,938 | 9,938,570 | 478,125 | 5 | Creepshow III | Anthology horror with no direct link to the first two . It contains five tales all tied together in one way or another . You'll notice that Professor Dayton ( Emmett McGuire ) and his toys often play a heavy role in the outcome of certain characters in the film . The first has a father's new remote control creating a living nightmare for daughter Alice ( Stephanie Pettee ) . It seems that when her father presses the button , Alice is sent to an alternate parallel reality where her family is either black or Hispanic . . not to mention the fact that Alice is suffering through these severe skin mutations which increase every time her alternate father pushes a button on the remote . The second has lonely , alcoholic security officer Jerry ( AJ Bowen ) receiving a strange transmission from a radio he bought off a hobo street peddler nearby where he lives . . a sexy female voice , who sees his every move and begins controlling his life ! This voice will guide him into some hairy situations particularly murder ! The third regards Rachael ( Camille Lacey ) , the " Call-Girl Killer " , notorious for her series of knife murders to supposed male clients . Rachael believes she's about to collect another frat boy victim for her growing resume , but little does she know that Victor ( Ryan Carty ) isn't quite who he appears to be . . Jovial Professor Dayton ( you remember Dayton turning someone into a rabbit early on ) , a quantum engineer who often retreats reclusively to his lab working on " THE experiment " , is getting married and invites two former students he often played practical jokes on to meet his new fiancé . They believe she is his new experiment , a robotic bride and partake in " dismantling " her . But , she might not be what they were expecting . . Rude Dr . Farwell ( Kris Allen ) , a foul , crude , pill-popping jerk serving off a sentence by doing free clinical work , is haunted by the spirit of a bum he gave a poisoned hot dog to ( . . which was actually meant for him ) ! He delivers bad news to patients with as little care as possible . Example , he informs a father that his daughter has a cancerous inoperable tumor ( with her hearing it for the first time in horror ) and tells him he might ought to take her to the senior prom one year early ! Now , this anthology isn't noteworthy or that well produced , but isn't , in my honest opinion , nearly as awful as many have said . Is it that great ? No , not really . But , I've seen much , much worse . And , at least some of the tales have amusing bits . I honestly believed the directors did what they could with limited means in order to provide Creepshow fans some cheesy enjoyment . I chuckled quite a bit , especially at how many of the characters made mistakes they lived to regret . Some stories I really found amusing , like the one with the two students and their Professor's wife or the one where humans receive orders from a radio . At least , these are somewhat original instead of plagiarized ideas blatantly ripped from others . |
436,659 | 9,938,570 | 124,014 | 5 | The Mutilator | And , does this psycho mutilate ! Really sick slasher regarding a madman who suffered a state of psychosis after finding his wife dead from an accidental shooting when his son was cleaning one of his shot guns ( . . she was in the process of topping the icing of his birthday cake ) . Deflated at the thought of spending another boring vacation around their college , Ed Jr . ( Matt Mitler ) receives word from his disgruntled pop ( . . the psycho of the film's title ) that his beach front condo needs a serious clean-up . Their relationship seriously strained , Ed Jr . wishes not to return to the condo , but his college friends coerce him into it ( . . in a prophetic declaration , Ed Jr mentions he has a bad feeling about it and couldn't be more accurate ) . What none of them realize is that Ed's father has disturbing plans in store for the entire group and exacts a murderous rampage to take place the very night they arrive . Feeble excuse to set off a violent graphic killing spree , writer-director Buddy Cooper arranges for Ed to murder his mother , giving his father a fragile reason to execute innocent people . The young cast is a spirited bunch making their college characters likable and light-hearted , thinking they are the only ones on the whole beach for miles , not knowing that Ed's own father is hiding in a room within the garage , metal spikes designated for each victim's head as a type of trophy . Ed's father hunts game just for sport and there's even a photo of a man he run over with a boat for chrissake ! The maniac uses an assortment of weapons to destroy his son's friends . He drowns a victim in a nearby pool before later attacking her boyfriend with a chainsaw , devastating his chest , ripping away chunks of flesh . A local cop working his beat is stabbed in the face before being beheaded by the killer's battle ax ! The killer slams a pitchfork into a victim's throat , sticking him to a door , later ramming a fishing gaff into his girlfriend's vagina , decapitating her with same the bloody battle ax that had been used on the cop ! Not to be denied , the psychopath even attacks his own son with the battle ax after binding Ed's hands and feet ( . . before attacking the group we are privy to his homicidal fantasies regarding the violent harm he'd like to afflict on Ed as a child ! ) . Don't worry , though , because this bastard doesn't walk away unscathed . . that I promise you . MAJOR SPOILER . . this film is very derivative of the genre films that came before it in that it features a psychopath who seems to have a threshold and tolerance for physical pain . He is able to endure a vicious stabbing from a knife directly into the chest , a vehicle's cigarette lighter driven deep into his hand burning away flesh , and is also cut in half after Ed's virginal sweetheart ( . . who is the only one of the group that actually inflicts real harm on this bastard ) drives him into a brick wall . And , this guy still is able to chop off a policeman's leg while his lower half lies right beside him ! This slasher will certainly appeal to those who love their gratuitous violence from a killer so vile he giggles after adding victims to his trophy room and as he lies in two parts on the ground , watching that poor police officer crying in pain as his wound gushes blood ! Not a lot of nudity except a pair of breasts . . this group is a decent and acceptable bunch , rather normal and less obnoxious . They certainly don't deserve the punishment Ed's father inflicts on them . The gore scenes might , though , have a less of an impact due to how they are enacted . Such as how the victims react to their predator when he harms them . And , the decapitation of the cop with blood squirting from the place where the head once was , is unintentionally hilarious . This film surely will repulse many and induce riotous laughter from others . |
435,699 | 9,938,570 | 91,828 | 5 | Raw Deal | A former FBI agent , Mark Kaminsky ( Arnold Schwarzenegger ) is recruited by his mentor , Harry Shannon ( Darren McGavin ) to go undercover , infiltrating a dangerous crime syndicate in Chicago . The operation is unofficial , masterminded by Harry as retribution for his son's murder . . someone inside the FBI told Luigi where an informant was hiding in protected custody . One of Arnie's lesser 80's action vehicles , but still a showcase for violent mayhem . The finale is pretty much a machine gun massacre within a lavish meeting room for the mafioso in a heavily protected headquarters , where Arnie intrudes upon their gathering firing away . Lots of bodies are pulverized by bullets . And , you get a couple of exciting car chases with Arnold given a chance to pummel mobster goons ( . . he even gets to throw men through windows and tables ) . Competent cast includes the aforementioned McGavin as a FBI investigator who desires revenge against mob boss , Luigi Patrovita ( Sam Wanamaker ) and his lieutenant Paulo Rocca ( Paul Shenar ) , with Ed Lauter in support as a detective also assigned to take apart the gangster activity . While Wanamaker and Shenar make colorful heavies , it's Robert Davi , as Rocca's loyal , vigilant , and alert assassin , Max , who has the juicy , scene-stealing part . Steven Hill ( . . known mostly for his work on LAW AND ORDER ) has a field day in his role as an adversary of Luigi's , Martin Lamanski . Max , suspicious of agent Mark right from the start , calls on a sophisticated , glamorous high-class gambler , Monique ( Kathryn Harrold ) to keep an eye on him , with Joe Regalbuto , as district attorney Marvin Baxter , a perfectly weaselly crook actually aiding Luigi in secret . . Baxter is the one who cost Mark his FBI job & provided information for Luigi to find the informant and confiscated drugs / loot . A really nifty robbery is carried out , at the suggestion of Mark no less ( . . the attempt to forge his way into Luigi's trust ) , where Luigi's men successfully heist their coke and drug money , which had been seized by police . But , ultimately , this is an action thriller with Arnie , muscles bulging , carefully stockpiling his weapons and smoking his cigars before beating the crap out of people , or blowing scumbags to kingdom come . |
436,806 | 9,938,570 | 282,163 | 5 | Shredder | A group of snowboarders take up lodging at closed ski resort Rocky Summit , have their hands full with a psychopathic skier . It seems this skier has a major problem with snowboarders and it may or may not have something to do with the accidental death of a little girl . . who died thanks to drunken snowboarders . Lots of " dude-speak " with this cast of stereotypical clichéd characters ( especially Billy O'Sullivan's Skyler who , if he didn't look human , would pass for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ) who love to drink and party . You have Scott Weinger as the hunky Cole , being led around like a puppy by the manipulative hottie bitch Kimberly ( Lindsey McKeon , playing the kind of blonde product of wealth you just want to see die horribly ) . You have Holly Towne as the horny Robyn ready for just about anyone to mount her , Brad Hawkins as Christophe , a young supposed Frenchman with a direct link to the dead girl of legend at the slopes , Juleah Weikel as Pike , who is believed lesbian but is actually head-over-heels for Cole & Peter Riggs as a star of snowboarding who loves the weed . The locals around the lodge dislike snowboarders and there's a beautiful chick named Shelly ( Candace Moon ) who likes to ski in the nude . Okay slasher , could've been better , could've been worse . Somewhat more entertaining than the usual modern slashers of it's ilk . The film is helped a great deal by it's setting and there are quite a few bloody , gory bits to keep fans of the genre satisfied . The title of the film is a term to describe a snowboarder . |
436,244 | 9,938,570 | 80,853 | 5 | The Hearse | Trish Van Devere stars as Jane , a troubled school teacher from San Francisco , trying to recover from a terrible divorce and her Aunt's death , who moves to a small town country home , which lives in infamy as the local boogey-house . The locals resist her , often even appearing hostile or stand-offish just because of the house she lives in . Her aunt was known as a " devil worshiper " , so Jane will not be given a fair shake by the citizens . Jane's arch-nemesis is Walter Pritchard ( . . an ornery Joseph Cotten ) , a bitter misanthrope who wanted the house she resides . He handles the deed and proper papers that Jane needs to sign if she wishes to remain in her aunt's house or sell it off . There are signs of her Aunt's presence in the house ( . . the music cues definitely inform us of this ) and she meets a handsome , yet mysterious young man , Tom ( David Gautraux ) for whom she begins a relationship . But , Jane is tormented by a hearse ( . . and it's sinister chauffeur ) which often tries to either run her of the road , or pull into the yard . Soon , the chauffeur begins invading Jane's house , threatening danger . Is Jane losing her sanity ? Or , is the chauffeur real ? All of Jane's problems began when she started to read her aunt's diary , which reveals her secret affair with a man , while engaged to another ; even mentioning that her lover worships Satan promising eternal life if she joins his cult ) . For about an hour or so , this is a nice little surprise . . a kind of haunted house creeper you might see on a chiller theater program . But , the ending descends into a demonic chase thriller with a rather disappointing close which lets Jane off a bit too easy . I think the one tormenting her is rather predictable for those who understand strange behavior and love unrequited . Donald Hotton portrays the local priest who challenges the demonic power which threatens Jane's life in the house . Med Flory is the unsubtle , flirtatious sheriff who provokes Jane with his sleazy smiles and aggressive attitude . Perry Lang is the affable Paul , the son of a hardware store owner who helps with the repairs of Jane's house , carrying a torch for her . It's a drag that the film builds up to such a rather flimsy close with Jane being chased by the menacing chauffeur wishing to capture her soul which leads to a lackluster conclusion . Might be a bit entertaining for haunted house fans , but even this group will find that " The Hearse " doesn't quite fulfill expectations . Might even be a bit dull for those expecting thrills and chills and only coming away with a pounding score that builds suspense gradually only to a whimper instead of a thrill . This could've been a real winner , instead it's an interesting failure , a curio perhaps worthy of pursuit for one viewing . Not particularly a film which stays with you either . For the exception of some profanity , this has the qualities of a decent made-for-television feature . Fans of Christopher McDonald might get a kick out of seeing him as a foul-mouthed , high-strung youth who questions whether Paul was getting laid with Jane . The house itself is an appropriately spooky enough place and the director sometimes uses P-O-V when the spirit ( . . or person ) invades Jane's home unannounced . The chauffeur has a memorable appearance stalking Jane in the house , while a nightmare sequence provides a creepy sense of dread as she is led into a church where her burial is being held . Ultimately , I think the film works best of it's fish-out-of-water theme where a " big city girl " is treated unceremoniously by the " rednecks " of a small town . . with Jane trying to cope with all those who wish for her to leave . I think , also , that her sanity being tested by the hearse-driving ghoul adds to the film's allure because the locals are provided with reasons for wishing Jane to leave . The major flaw of any film regarding haunted houses is why would Jane remain in such a hostile place with her life clearly in danger ? |
436,574 | 9,938,570 | 96,153 | 5 | Spellcaster | Hokey Charles Band production ( Empire pictures before starting Full Moon ) about various characters participating in a million dollar treasure hunt in a mysterious castle whose owner doesn't show his face . Dr . Diablo remains in his little lair often caressing his crystal ball casting spells on those characters who represent the loathsome types that normally die in horror films . The french snob / slut eaten by a lion chair ( ! ) , a aristocrat ( who likes wild game hunting ) who winds up a feast for some sort of leaping monstrous leopard , a crook who finds himself chasing after the check and falling to his doom , an American bitch who teases the males of the group who treats everyone rudely and winds up in the clutches of a demon on a painting ( ! ) , and so on . Our protagonists are Jackie & Tom ( Gail O'Grady & Harold Pruett ) , a sister and brother from Cleveland . If anyone will survive , they seem to be singled out . You have a VJ , Rex ( Richard Blade ) for a replica of MTV , who excitingly points out that this treasure hunt is sponsored by the rock star Cassandra Castle ( Bunt Bailey ) , an alcoholic wench who wishes she was elsewhere rather than in this castle with these people she deems inferior and annoying ( clearly , she's the annoyance , surprisingly Cassandra is normally the first to go in a horror flick like this , but is kept alive . . hmm . . ) . Good monster effects by John Carl Buechler's company redeem this otherwise silly waste of time . I think monster movie fans will like this best because the creatures present are quite well made . But , the premise isn't really taken advantage of to full effect . The castle is a perfect tool for a horror flick , but isn't ominous at all . . and when you can not utilize the castle as a horror set-piece , you're in trouble . Adam Ant appears briefly ( and effectively ) as Dr . Diablo , the mysterious proprietor of the castle who practices black magic . . or could very well be ole Beelzebub himself . Best sequence : An overeater literally turns into a pig ! |
436,761 | 9,938,570 | 355,954 | 5 | Riding the Bullet | During Halloween night of 1969 , a college student Alan Parker ( Jonathan Jackson ) , a possible future artist obsessed with death , takes to the road on a surreal nightmarish odyssey hitchhiking to his home town in Maine to visit his mother in the hospital after she suffered a stroke . Along the way Alan experiences near-death encounters with troubled drivers such as a farmer ( Cliff Robertson ) whose suffering with prostrate problems and the loss of his wife appropriately to a stroke , a returning Vietnam soldier as a wannabe-hippie in disguise , and a Grim-Reaper like Ferryman , George Staub ( David Arquette , going way off the deep end , camping it up with all his might ) who gives him a difficult choice to make . Alan's father committed suicide , but his mother Jean ( Barbara Hershey ) had claimed it as a car accident for her son's sake . A memory that haunts Alan was his not riding a roller-coaster called The Bullet . Alan has a love-interest back at the university , Jessica ( Erika Christensen ) who has tried to shake him from this whole death obsession that has plagued their relationship . . he shuts himself off from others due to a troubled past where his boozing mother and missing father created a void for living . For most of the film's duration we follow Alan on desolate , wet , misty roads surrounded by forests as he encounters troubling , often hallucinatory images of his mother and past memories . Director Mich Garris likes to toy with the audience by showing something that occurs to Alan , only to show that it didn't really happen , but was merely conjured up by him . . it's as if Garris is showing a rash of possible situations created in the mind of a very tormented soul , snuffed out one by one as the ultimate obstacle awaits Alan , his meeting with the Grim Reaper . When Alan starts his journey , and we follow him , Garris doesn't allow the comfort of following the narrative without some sort of jarring jolt within the plot . . such as two hunters who chase after Alan , a rabid dog that eats a rabbit before getting hit by a diesel , or a crow eating dead possum on the side of the road asking him what the " youknowwhat " was he looking at before becoming mush into a car grill . I felt the film is ultimately about embracing what time you have on this earth and Alan has that chance , but will he sacrifice his mother for that opportunity ? The way Garris directs this film , often tossing wild ideas at the viewer such as a " guiding voice " , which looks exactly like Alan , often trying to tell him what to say , or the constant flashbacks of Alan as a child / teenager with his mother , might add fuel to growing haters of his work . He can not help himself in this film . . it's an odd duck for sure , this movie . I felt he was trying to toy with the idea of " is anything Alan actually sees real ? " and for most I guess Garris doesn't succeed . You be the judge . My favorite scene has the Grim Reaper coming to visit him as he lays in his bathtub contemplating suicide by a razor-blade , rooting for Alan to slice his wrists . |
436,895 | 9,938,570 | 109,551 | 5 | The Dark | A prehistoric carnivorous predatory creature ( which resembles a large-sized rodent of some kind , with a huge possum tail ) feasts on the buried dead of cemeteries , creating underground tunnels to travel . A leather-jacketed widowed scientist , Hunter Henderson ( Stephen McHattie ) is in pursuit of that creature , moving from graveyard to graveyard until he can find it . But , also on it's trail is an unstable , rather homicidal , discharged FBI agent , Paul Buckner ( Brion James , just recycling his old menace , but , as always , it works well for his character making him just as monstrous , if not more so , than the creature itself ) , after it for murdering his partner and especially monetary benefits for it's capture . . dead or alive , but preferably dead . The creature secretes a sludge that can regenerate the cells of flesh wounds . Along the way , Hunter encounters a nasty threesome of bikers who threatened the life of a diner waitress , Tracy ( Cynthia Belliveau ) , which ends in a minor shootout with a cook suffering the most of this unfortunate display of violence . With an APB out for them , Hunter and Tracy head on the road as they fall in love . In a nearby graveyard , cemetery groundskeepers portly Jake ( Dennis O'Conner ) and his young assistant Ed ( Jaimz Woolvett of " Unforgiven " fame ) encounter an entrance to the monster's tunnel hole and call in police deputies Gabe ( Christopher Bondy ) and lovely female partner Jesse ( a young , pre-Scream Neve Campbell ) . After Gabe is eaten because of his attempts to see what was inside the tunnel , Jake , Ed & Jesse meet up with Hunter and Tracy . . as a collective , the group will try to take the creature alive , under sedation from a special needle-gun Hunter has in his medical bag . But , Paul will certainly make that task especially difficult . The monster looks like something out of the Jim Henson monster factory . . the filmmakers try hard to shade it as much as possible . As I mentioned already , Brion James is the real villain causing much strife towards the others in his goal to kill and capture the monster . Stephen McHattie , a very recognizable face in television often portraying villains , is the laconic , brooding hero in this particular film . Might be interesting for those seeking out Neve's resume . . the stuff she was in before " Scream " and " Wild Things " . I think creature feature fans might get more out of this flick than most others . The characters aren't really developed overwhelmingly , just little glances into their lives through momentary lines of dialogue . . the filmmakers focus more on the monster , it's lair and those pursuing it . |
435,994 | 9,938,570 | 1,183,732 | 5 | Tokyo Gore Police | Ruka ( . . scrawny and sullen Eihi Shiina ) watched an assassin blow her father's head apart and bears this burden as an " engineer hunter " ( . . humans with hideous mutations genetically created ) working for a " privatized police faction " known as the Tokyo Police Corporation who destroy criminals on the spot , wearing heavy armour and equipped with state-of-the-art machine guns under the control of a Police chief ( Yukihide Benny ) whose vocal cords are severed and speaks through a special magnified intercom system attacked to his uniform . Ruka is on the prowl for the mastermind behind the engineers , a madman who actually injected himself with the genes of notorious serial killers , his method for being able to create this race he claims derived from the devil after attempting to kill himself . The Mastermind wishes to join forces with Ruka , both have something in common , concerning her father's murder and how the assassin relates to him . Ultimately , The Mastermind will inflict Ruka with a genetic mutation ( . . inserting a hunk of flesh , in the form of a key , duplicated from a sample found in the Mastermind's body after awakening from a coma which derived from his attempted suicidal leap from a building , leaving his face scarred ) that will turn her into the very thing she hunts , with complicated results . The Mastermind will also infiltrate the Tokyo Police Corporation , using one of their own men , after turning him into an engineer when he visited an underground freak show containing mutants . This sets off a chain events which will expose the corruption of an organization which was built , supposedly , to protect citizens , with Ruka forced into fighting against the very ones she's worked for her entire adult life . Outrageous , cartoonish , over-the-top , extremely graphic action-horror hybrid featuring every possible violent act that can happen to the human body . Body parts are ripped away or chopped from victim's bodies and blood sprays all over the place . Faces are stabbed and mutilated , even removed from the head . Hideously grotesque body mutations are a constant ( . . clearly Cronenberg's Videodrome has had a profound impact on the filmmakers ) such as a crocodile mouth forming from the arm or legs of humans effected by The Mastermind's mutations , chomping down on limbs and faces , jerking them from victims ' bodies . Faces are often deformed with icky make-up effects . Ruka uses a Kitana sword and many a victim are split apart with blood squirting , whether it be someone's head parted down the center or bodies cut in half and hacked to pieces . This kind of film is not for the squeamish , that's for sure . The mutations are liable to get under the skin of those who have a hard time dealing with fleshly deformities and abnormalities . I think the film goes a little overboard with it's excess of gore . . a woman is torn to shreds after the Tokyo police pull her apart using four separate vehicles , her hands and legs all pulled in individual directions . Multiple heads are severed and a kooky coroner has a missile launcher he uses to blast human arms ( . . they even give poor Ruka the finger ! ) ! One poor soul gets his penis bitten off with a large mutation growing in it's place shooting flesh-bullets at the police ! The film , as it continues , just gets more ridiculous , surreal and crazy . . it's hard to ever take serious even when the story unfolds a grim fact involving Ruka's father , an advocate against a privatized police force , and her boss , the man who raised her . Features commercial bits representing a hostile future embracing the violent nature of a culture spiraling out of control and the dark humor on display will not appeal to everyone , some would find it unpleasant and sick . But , this film is a no-holds-barred , go-for-broke type of entertainment that is audacious and repulsive in equal measure . Spirited camera-work , colorful visual style , and energy to spare , Yoshihiro Nishimura aims to please gorehounds with a penchant for ultra-violence . The visual effects are , at times , so bizarre , revolting , and shocking ( . . while also , at times , looking rather unconvincing as if it was the director's intent to make the violence seem unrealistic and cheesy ) that it elicits awe and surprise . Rarely does the director let you catch a breath , either , and there's hardly ever a moment where the film is civilized or humane . Enter at your own risk . |
436,400 | 9,938,570 | 60,716 | 5 | The Embalmer | More of a tourist trip through Venice than an effective psycho-thriller regarding a madman , in scuba diver gear , who selects pretty victims on the streets nearby canals , securing them from behind , pulling them into the water , dragging the drowned bodies into his submerged monastery , embalming the poor girls , preserving their beauty using a serum he has perfected . Andrea ( Luigi Martocci ) is a newspaper reporter who pursues the case , falling in love with a tourist , Maureen ( Maureen Brown ) who has brought along a class of schoolgirls , as he shows them around the city . Andrea believes the girls are being hunted down and kidnapped by a homicidal maniac , but his superiors aren't interested in his opinions , since there are few facts substantiating them . Soon , however , Andrea's feelings are confirmed as he uncovers the monastery , but will he be able to stop the killer who has targeted Maureen next ( . . she , through chance , discovers a secret passage to the monastery putting herself at risk ) ? What really sets THE EMBALMER back is the unfocused story-line with the director seeming little concerned for the pace , rather interested in Venice itself with great lengths displaying Andrea giving his new friends a tour of the city . The methods of the killer become repetitious and drab , him removing his monk robe , putting on his goggles , descending into the water , coming ashore , awaiting for his target victim behind a corner , cloaked in darkness , before seizing her , diving into the canals back to his lair . We see the killer , in a monk robe , working on his experimental serum , as the dead female's body lies on a slab , injecting it as he speaks with enthusiasm and admiration on his newest acquisition , as his trophy case of preserved corpses grows in number . The director sets up who the next victim will be in a snapshot of them during an ordinary day . There's potential for a good thriller here lost within a rather plodding approach , and a lack of skill at moving the story along . Certain characters are dwelled on for great lengths , but aren't that interesting . . and the hotel where Maureen's girls stay is definitely of great importance to the director since he spends a lot of time there . Venice is an ideal setting for a giallo thriller ( . . see THE BLOOD-STAINED SHADOW for instance ) , and the underwater monastery is particularly atmospheric ( . . the showcase of the entire film is at the end where we discover the robed skeletons of monks who died within the church ; and the killer has a really nifty skull mask he wears as he chases Maureen ) , but there's a way to shoot a thriller effectively without dulling the audience into a coma over mundane filler which grinds the pace to a halt . As an early form of the Italian giallo , I recommend it to buffs , but wouldn't call it a classic . I think if more focus had been given to the detective elements of the story than countless time on the alluring beauty of Venice and the entertainment that awaits you there , then this could've been far more memorable than it turns out . |
435,748 | 9,938,570 | 454,839 | 5 | Broken | Harrowing story of a woman's fight for survival , kidnapped and taken to a wilderness by this cold-blooded misogynist ( Eric Colvin ) who wishes to " break " her into servitude , obeying him while he has her chained to a tree to tend a garden that will feed them . The woman is Hope ( . . interesting name , isn't it ? ) , played effectively by Nadja Brand , run through the gamut of crisis , suffering physical ( . . the violence that results of being chosen by the devious jerk , including suffering when she attempts to escape ) and emotional ( . . not knowing what has happened to her daughter , and not being able to pry her whereabouts and well being from the lips of her attacker ) strife . The opening shows Hope's " initiation " , it's either death or life , she's the deciding factor as she must remove the stitches from a gash in her stomach containing a razor blade which will cut the rope around her neck ( . . she's tied to a tree ) that will hang her if not torn apart before the log under feet falls away . Her wounds treated by the sadist , Hope is then given commands by her captor to wash the pots and tend to a garden ( . . her life is threatened if the garden isn't kept in good condition ) , as she plans on ways to escape her situation . Soon another young woman is kidnapped , a wailing , screaming sort who is mortified of her current circumstances . Together , they are to keep the man happy or else , but neither will rest until they are free from captivity . While not as brutal as I was expecting , it is nonetheless quite difficult to watch at times . The opening act , as Hope frees herself from a hanging , by loosening the stitches , digging in her stomach for the razor blade to cut herself from the rope , is potent stuff . Then , after an attempted escape ( . . she slices his leg , just missing the tendon which would have left him a cripple ) , her leg is broken . . while this act isn't as gory , you can just feel the anguish of it all . Amazing enough , she tends to the leg the best way she can , while he was away kidnapping another . But , over all , this film is about adjusting to the demands of a captor who holds your very life in his hands , and the mind games that occur between the two as a result . Colvin is quite imposing and quietly intense . . when he snaps , human suffering is the cost for his rage . While , the film never quite gives us answers as to why this psycho does these things to innocent people , abduct them , put them through such turmoil , and force them into laboring for his benefit , I kind of figured it was to produce his own twisted form of a proper marriage , his control and their obedience . The final scene is just a bit too much , though , and seems to be put in the film to not let Hope off the leash . . I guess it could be a punishment for abandoning her duties and responsibilities as the master's slave , not recognizing that he is her only family . But , still , hadn't she been through enough ? Why treat her in such a fashion ? I'm not against grim conclusions , or for watered down and pat victories for the victims , but if you spend over 90 minutes watching a tortured soul put through such a series of trials , waiting for her time to break free , do we have to see her so abused at the point of bliss ? |
436,241 | 9,938,570 | 858,437 | 5 | Ed Gein-The Butcher of Plainfield | Inaccurately detailed account of the effect Ed Gein had on the lives of Plainfield , Wisconsin , following the burdened sheriff's department and , in particular , the new deputy whose life would change forever when the psycho kidnaps / brutalizes his mother . While Kane Hodder proves that he can be even more menacing without make-up as a serial killer , he doesn't look at all like the Ed Gein we have read about , and seen photographs of . Director Michael Feifer's camera always keeps the actors closed in tight , perhaps a sign that he didn't have enough budget to fortify a realistic county . I felt a bit claustrophobic with this style , hoping that we could see more of the rural trappings within where Gein moved freely , creeping locals who were seemingly unaware that he could be some serial killer kidnapping folks . But , the camera only gives you so much , so you are forced to look at the faces of the characters up close , so the cast had to be up for the challenge . Unlike other users who have commented rather badly about the cast , I never found any of the actors unconvincing . I agree that the film's direction geared more towards the deputy's relationship with the sheriff's daughter and his beloved unflappable mother , may be a mistake because the title is " Ed Gein " , not " Days of the Lives of Plainfield's Deputy out to find Ed Gein " . The screenplay and film's execution clearly set up the fact that deputy Bobby Mason's ( Shawn Hoffman ) mother and girlfriend would be targets of Gein . Priscilla Barnes easily has a handle on Bobby's mother , Vera , making her a concerned and proud parent of her boy . Adrienne Frantz is Erica , Bobby's girlfriend , a pretty little chick whose doomed to be the final girl , who is badly hurt in a car crash when her man drives haphazardly down a dirt road after finding out Vera went missing . The film shows brief glimpses into Ed's psyche , with his mother barking orders reaffirming to the viewer that his childhood was a difficult one that has warped this man . We also see Ed in his barn carrying out gruesome deeds on a trapped victim , a kind waitress who is tied to a table , kept sedated as he removes her limbs . He eventually creates a costume from her flesh . As an Ed Gein film , it doesn't hold up I'm afraid . Researching the back story , it seems the filmmakers took liberties to craft their own tale of a lurking psycho always seeking fresh victims . This interpretation , unlike two previous films ( " Deranged " & " Ed Gein " ) stays away from elaborating what drove Ed to commit his deeds , using only images of an angered mother and voices driving him over the edge into rage and sadness . Another major problem is that Ed Gein isn't supposed to look like a scary , hulking menace and Hodder's character would be the first suspect in an investigation for missing and dead people . And , I'm hard-pressed to believe the real Ed Gein could suffocate a caretaker with his arm , snap his neck after underpinning his head between two trees , before smashing his skull with a log . I think , though , that Hodder , judging from this film , could be utilized in slasher films without wearing heavy make-up , because he has a sinister presence that can be a real asset if you are wanting an effective psycho . Unlike other films on Ed Gein , which infuse bits of twisted black humor , this particular tale is completely dark . Ed Gein never seems anything but an imposing figure on the edge of snapping at a moment's notice . |
436,564 | 9,938,570 | 98,143 | 5 | Puppet Master | I revisited David Schmoeller's " Puppet Master " while it received cable play on AMC and must say it isn't quite as good as I remembered . Granted this version is cut for cable and commercials ( argh ! ! ) , but most of the film is from what I remember . Four psychics , including Paul Le Mat from " Strange Invaders " , come to a manor on a cliff near a shore where Andre Toulon , a famed puppet maker , was living and subsequently died . They also attend the funeral of a colleague ( Jimmie F Skaggs ) after an apparent suicide . One by one , they are being murdered by an array of creepy puppets , many of them equipped with various weaponry such as the one puppet with a drill that bores a hole in a woman's face , one female puppet likes to spit out blood-sucking leeches , one has not only a knife blade on one arm , but a hook on the other . The funniest puppet has this massive torso and hands , but very tiny head , not to mention a court jester puppet whose face spins three ways . The film is merely an excuse for people to be massacred by puppets with a little plot that deals with possible life after death . . something Neil Gallagher { the colleague who killed himself ) was studying from the late Andre Toulon's notes . The cast tries to rise above a very mediocre screenplay which is meant to simply obliterate people in various ways with minimal development given to the characters who perish . Some unique killings from the wooden psychos is pretty much the reason to see it . Though , I really do need to see the film without interruption from commercials or people's censoring . |
436,031 | 9,938,570 | 397,044 | 5 | Blood and Chocolate | We're all lost souls , Vivian . At least we're lost together . Vivian ( Agnes Bruckner ) watched her family being slain as she fled to werewolf leader , Gabriel ( Olivier Martinez ) who offers sanctuary to all werewolves in native Bucharest , Romania where werewolves have their own church . Vivian has reached the age of 19 and in this built werewolf law titled " Gabriel's Law " , every seven years he takes a mate and has made it quite clear he desires her . Complications arise when Vivien falls in love with a visiting Graphic novelist , Aiden ( Hugh Dancy ) who has a particular fascination with wolves . Vivien doesn't enjoy the fact she's a werewolf , yet is told explicitly not to mingle with the humans for their secrecy is always in danger . Rafe ( Bryan Dick ) is Gabriel's son , and always a thorn in Vivian's side for he reminds her constantly of who she is despite her resistance to their laws and way of life . Rafe resists the rules his father has set , while masquerading as being loyal , like when he murders a chick that turned him down at a dance party . Rafe notices the blossoming romance between Vivien and Aiden and makes sure to turn squealer to papa obviously to ruin her happiness while being allowed the chance to kill , if necessary , someone who threatens their way of life . . even though he's done that himself in killing the human . Gabriel tells his son to warn Aiden to leave the city or else . So , the plot thickens . Will Vivien choose the one she truly loves ( Aiden ) , or follow the law and mate with Gabriel ? Better yet , is Aiden's life in jeopardy against a foe he couldn't imagine was more real than any drawing on paper ? Will Vivien resist her clan risking separation from the group she's always considered family ? I guess you could call this a werewolf love story . The " loup-garous " , as they are called , sparkle with light before instantly turning into these beautiful wolves . There is no massive morphing into some grotesque beast . Gabriel might seem on paper to be a sort-of villain , but I saw him as a leader looking out for his people because humans , in general , kill what they don't understand . Gabriel tries to explain this to a hot-headed Rafe who wishes to hunt and return , in a sense , to the primal beings they are . Gabriel tells him that they are not numbered in the millions anymore and the overwhelming majority of human hunters would render them extinct if they didn't remain in hiding . Rafe considers this fear when it's really simple logic . Vivien is this young blossoming woman who wishes for love with whoever she chooses , not what her supposed family sets up for her . This conflict is what drives the film . That and a certain tragedy that occurs when Rafe decides to violently confront Aiden when he doesn't respond too well to the warnings toward leaving . It's not a horror film as much as a difficult love story between two different people , one human , the other only masking herself as human trying desperately to deny the beast within . Still , Aiden becomes a hunted human for he represents the constant threat against the werewolves with his unfortunate fateful battle with Rafe only adding fuel to the fire . Vivien's occupation in the film is a cook in a chocolate shop , hence the part within the title . This is also actually how Aiden is able to find her once they separate after their first meeting . |
435,702 | 9,938,570 | 160,184 | 5 | Eye See You | A serial killer who preys on cops , murders FBI chief investigator Malloy's ( Sly Stallone ) fiancé in cold blood . Malloy and other cops track the killer , donning a SWAT suit , into an abandoned warehouse , his lair , but he's found presumably hung from a rope having committed suicide . The case seems closed , but Malloy hasn't recovered from the loss of his beloved , now an alcoholic mess in need of a good detox . His partner Hendricks ( Charles S Dutton ) is able to successfully talk Malloy into entering a detox center located in an isolated military bunker now run by a former cop ( Kris Kristofferson ) known as Doc to the small group of patients who are gathered there . When patients start turning up dead , Malloy realizes that his nemesis , the serial killer who was thought to have hung himself , has emerged staging the murders as suicides . Malloy will have to determine who amongst the group is the killer , the one that has taken the identity of a cop , having swiped the files containing the information of all involved while also removing the medicine needed to detox the patients properly . Meanwhile , Henricks discovers the body of a cop , the victim murdered by the serial killer who has assumed his identity , and will attempt to reach the bunker to assist Malloy . Superb cast have little much to do in this rather routine , woefully average mystery thriller with a fine performance from Sly Stallone as the tormented hero who can not escape the failure of not saving his girl , her memory ever fresh in his mind all the time . Out of the cast , Robert Patrick shines brightest as a paranoid , confrontational hot-head always criticizing everyone , using their frailties as a method of ridicule . Dutton really anchors the film , despite a thankless role , bringing a dignity and strength to Hendricks , a true friend to Malloy who needed someone as life was spiraling from his grasp . Polly Walker is the center's doctor , Jenny , and Malloy's damsel-in-distress . Kristofferson is the stern voice of reason , but he's given little to do , sad to say , and doesn't last too long . Jeffrey Wright rewards us with another freakshow in Jaworski , a loose cannon barely held together . Tom Berenger is the mechanic Hank , and in normal circumstances could be the lead in a film such as this , but is handed barely anything at all to work with , doing what he can . Stephen Lang is yet another smart aleck a$$hole working as an obvious red herring for who the real killer is . Christopher Fulford is Slater , a patient who seems to be a willing ear for the wounded Malloy . Courtney B Vance drops by in a very small role as a religious cop , an obvious calm source of strength needed in such a somber place . . his role is very minor and beneath his great talents . Stallone has a great opportunity here to show his acting ability , and it's a solid part , earning sympathy , which includes the typical heroism he's accustomed to delivering . EYE SEE YOU should remind viewers of THE THING as Stallone must figure out who amongst the group is the killer disguised as a cop , along with the practically deserted wintry setting in a secluded environment of the bunker where he's able to roam free throughout as victims often are attacked from behind by the predator . Everything down to the conclusion where Stallone inevitably has his showdown with the killer is familiar and derivative , unfortunately . One of Stallone's lesser ( . . if not least known , along with SHADE & AVENGING ANGELO ) known films , but contains a stellar performance that deserves to be seen by his fans regardless . From the director of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER . Most of the murders occur off camera as victims are found dead by others . |
435,799 | 9,938,570 | 72,136 | 5 | Seizure | Horror author Frid ( . . who portrayed Barnabas Collins on " Dark Shadows " ) invites friends to his mountain estate where they are threatened by three of his nightmare creations , come to life with a thirst for bloodshed . The three , led by the delicious Martine Beswick ( . . well cast ) as a " Queen of evil " , run these people through a series of head games , allowing them no chance of escape with only one afforded an opportunity to survive . First time director Oliver Stone shows all the signs of being a new filmmaker . While I like natural lighting , in many instances , " Seizure " has scenes which are richly atmospheric ( . . the use of red is often striking and candle-light can often produce a great sense of mood ) while other times ( . . especially outside in the woods ) you can't see a thing . The violence is of the off-screen variety . I found the scenes where the screenplay attempts to explain who these venomous fiends are rather overwrought . . I felt that if Stone and company had never given them exposition , it would've worked just as well . Beswick is why I'd recommend it for she is incredibly sexy , very seductive and quite dangerous . . a great combination for a supernatural villainous . Some effective camera-work and odd musical arrangements help this film somewhat , but the editing often abruptly moves from one scene to another . I think Stone would fare better 8 years later with " The Hand . " I must be painfully honest when I say ( . . and I got nothing but love for the dwarf population ) that Herve Villechaize , as the knife-wielding " Spider " , is about as scary as a Cabbage Patch Doll . He seems to be living it up as a nasty minion , in control of people's lives , foretelling how their fates are doomed and that praying to God was futile . Joseph Sirola is a hoot as millionaire blow-hard , Charlie Hughes , who thinks he can buy anyone with indie horror siren Mary Woronov ( . . looking fantastic ) playing his adulterous wife , who only married him for his money . Woronov has an amusing knife-fight with Frid's Edmund . Frid brings the pathos generated by his tortured vampire from " Dark Shadows " to the role of Edmund , a tormented artist who has given birth to the monsters of his creative genius . There are some great make-up sequences such as when Anne Meacham's Eunice Kahn , the type who invested her entire soul into her beautiful face , receiving a hideous mask provided by Spider , and Beswick's ghoulish face drawing towards Edmund , as her cape opens . Also Henry Judd Baker's Jackal , the third evil nightmare killer , an executioner , has a nasty scar on the side of his face that is rather unpleasant to gaze upon , although he's mostly hidden within the darkness of night . Another concern perhaps for this film is that the viewer has few to root for besides Edmund's wife and child , true victims of his demons . Roger De Koven's Serge Kahn is Edmund's confident , who believes that the supernatural killers are historical menaces from centuries ago . |
435,869 | 9,938,570 | 56,875 | 5 | Blood Feast | Popular notorious / infamous gore film from the Grandpappy himself , HGL , concerning a wild-eyed , gray-headed nut-case , Fuad Ramses ( Mal Arnold ) , a caterer for Petesake , who worships an Egyptian goddess , Ishtar , god of blood , for whom he keeps an idol of in a secret chamber inside his store where he cuts and cooks meat . Fuad hunts his prey through a list of female clientèle whose names are on a waiting list for a published novel of his concerning Egyptian mythology . He , in unhinged delight , surprises his victims , removing parts of their body often using a machete or cutting tool of some sort . He believes that once he has gathered all the parts needed that Ishtar will return to life . Fuad ultimately sets his sights on Suzette Fremont ( Connie Mason ) , whose mother desires for one of his elaborately staged catering services using an Egyptian setting . Suzette even attends classes on Egyptian folklore with boyfriend / cop Pete ( William Kerwin ) in tow . Pete , along with his boss , Frank ( Scott H Hall ) are trying to find any clues that can help them stop Fuad's murdering spree , often coming up with small bits of info from whoever can at least partially identify him , including a woman's whose face was carved to the bone , eyeballs removed , and another victim's emotionally ravaged boyfriend who briefly glimpsed Fuad before being cold-cocked . The film slowly but surely depicts Fuad's methods of attack on females and grisly displays of violence towards their bodies all in the name of Ishtar , the goddess he'd do anything for . AS expected , Blood Feast is technically crude on all levels . Pacing , editing , acting , camera-work , dialogue , and gore all presented unglamourously and flatly . HGL loves dragging his camera's eye across a bloody and ghastly mutilated female body . One scene has the camera gazing strongly at a woman's bashed-in skull with her brains spilled out ( . . before this HGL shows Fuad staring lustfully at bits of brain in his hands ) . The first female victim is the unfortunate victim of an eye and leg removal while naked and vulnerable in her bathtub . This was HGL's opening scene setting up just what his future gore films would be like . Lots of blood on display and the cast , especially Mason , are horrendous and dull performers . An audience embraces this film's cheap , amateurish and sick nature for HGL provides a certain type of entertainment geared towards a crowd looking for the exact opposite of skill and craft . Charm is a word thrown around in regards to HGL's films because of how they do not adhere to any kind of tasteful standard . Before there was TROMA and John Waters , there was HGL laying the groundwork for future generations in regards to bad taste and low-budget trash . |
436,723 | 9,938,570 | 107,504 | 5 | Man's Best Friend | From the " killer canine cannon " comes this mediocre horror outing , Man's Best Friend , regarding a genetically enhanced mutt with DNA of many dangerous animals injected into it making the dog particularly lethal towards those that tick it off . A journalist looking for her big break , is invited by a nervous employee at a scientific institute run by Dr . Jarret ( Lance Henriksen ) to peek inside the corrupt practices regarding the horrifying mistreatment on animal test subjects . This employee is attacked and killed by the powerful and unpredictable canine , Max 3000 , who has been supplied a drug suppressing it's violent tendencies , but thanks in part to snooping kind-hearted journalist , Lori Tanner ( Ally Sheedy , just adorable in the movie ) , it is released from the institute and Jarret is unable to coerce it back into the cage . Hopping into Lori's vehicle , Max will soon infiltrate her life , their bond keeping her temporarily alive as it poses a threat to suburbia and everything within it . Lori's beau , Perry ( Fredric Lehne ) doesn't find Max very comforting , particularly due to the canine's jealousy of anyone coming between dog and owner . Meanwhile , a very worried Jarret , who knows that the drug he administered to the dog will only last for a certain amount of time , confides reluctantly with police detectives in finding Max before it loses control and becomes completely volatile towards everyone / everything in it's path . I imagine writer / director John Lafia had a field day coming up with ideas regarding Max and the damage he could inflict on people and animals . It actually climbs a tree after a cat and eats it . It can actually adapt to it's environment and blend in like a chameleon , doing so and frightening a couple of goofy dog-catchers away . After being sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray , Max actually hunts down and bites into the ankle and throat of a postal worker who had delivered mail to a home . A sadistic mechanic ( . . played by the surprisingly imposing William Sanderson , who rarely acts so cruel ) assaults Max with a shovel across the head , even taking to it's face with a lit blow torch , before the canine clamps down ferociously onto his crotch ! Max pisses acid into the face of a victim it doesn't like , and pretty much sexually molests a collie who attempts futilely to escape from the canine . Even an insulting parrot ( . . actually taught such naughty , inflammatory words by a neighborhood kid ) makes the wrong gesture towards Max , getting eaten ! I think Lafia , though , establishes right away that Max is a product of man's own engineering . . it would in all likelihood be a very hospitable and loving pooch if Jarret hadn't injected the DNA of a rattlesnake and tiger into it . And , we are privy to what Jarret does to his animal test subjects with the footage recorded by Lori and her camerawoman , Annie ( Trula M Marcus ) , so Max is a victim of unhealthy scientific experimentation . Henriksen , as Jarret , is often presented as desperate and scared , sweating and always urgent because he know what kind of killing machine has been released on the city . His whole career and well-being is centered on Max's protection and capture . Like many films of this nature in the 90's , punches are pulled ( . . we don't even get to see how Max killed a despicable thief who attempts to mug Lori's purse ) , with the scenes where Max attacks animals and humans not that gory as the camera immediately pulls away as it bites down or inflicts harm . This kind of film would probably be rated PG-13 and transition easily to cable television . Certainly maintains the Hollywood polish , often featuring cute comic scenes concerning Max's behavior within a normal suburban environment ( . . and it's reactions towards people and situations ) where it doesn't truly belong . |
436,424 | 9,938,570 | 100,623 | 5 | Singapore Sling | A private investigator , obsessed with a woman named Laura he was tracking , leads to the palatial estate and grounds of a very warped mother-daughter team of wackos who like to play out " make-believe " scenarios and murder hired chauffeurs . The film looks like a film noir , gorgeous B & W photography and plays like a depraved version of Otto Preminger's LAURA . PI falls in love with an image which gets him into a heap of trouble . Arriving at their door with a gun-shot wound , falling unconscious , he awakens finding himself bound to a bed , a victim of the crazies , at their mercy and becoming , for a while , a victim of vile torture . For instance , while the daughter pumps him full of juice , the mother is on top , riding him because , it seems , that the electric charge rises his member . She subsequently urinates on his face after reaching orgasmic delight . Anyway , the daughter takes her own ride , while " mommy " is asleep . She later self-induces vomit all over his face and the camera rarely moves showing the poor guy getting the liquid food-goo all over his face . It's really gross stuff . The film , though , is so well made , the acting by the women ( . . they're absolutely bonkers , but their unpredictable nature is so compelling and repulsive ) superb and wacky , and there's plenty of S & M for those who enjoy that sort of thing . I'd say this is meant for a particular crowd . I found the film equally parts amusing , stunning , sick , and icky . The film has the daughter and mother often talking to the camera which might easily annoy those who hate this cinematic technique , although these two are so positively nuts and say some the most darnedest things , I couldn't look away . They're very beautiful , especially the mother who has ways with using her eyes to express her sheer lunacy ( . . while the daughter twitches , talks off to herself , and makes funny expressions with her hands ) , so the acts they commit can become startling . There's actual fruit masturbation ( . . I kid you not ) , vaginal violence with a hunting knife proportioned in a place where the male member is normally located , and other forms of sexual unpleasantness ( . . or pleasantness if you are into the sort of things which take place ) . The filmmakers are so good at creating the noir look that they could've easily made films in the 40's or art films in the 60's . But , this film ups the ante with the stuff I mentioned , and a dinner table scene ( s ) where the women stuff their mouths with food , shortly after barfing it back out on their plates ! |
436,798 | 9,938,570 | 450,843 | 5 | The Devil | Eve ( Roxane Mesquida ) , a hot little number , turns some young adults on to following her to her place of residence . Joseph ( Vincent Cassel , who is creepy and weird . . a marvelous departure from the norm ) is an grounds-keeper who might have sinister plans in store for the group . Following along with the boys is " camel rider " Ladj ( Ladj Ly ) , a bartender friend of theirs . The country manor is home to rooms of creepy dolls , a profession Eve's parents were partakers of . There's a mysterious pregnant woman Joseph often sneaks off to attend to . Joseph also has relatives nearby in the little town who are just as strange as he is . Strange movie never quite works . I was expecting Joseph to eventually go crazy because the signs , the moronic characters seem oblivious ( . . or , blind , for a better word ) to , are there in pockets of slight outbursts and moments of aggressive behavior . We also see oddball behavior ( and quite moments of creepiness ) from Eve as well . Olivier Bartélémy's nuisance Bart is a real annoyance as he often crybabies his way through one situation or another . It's hard to feel compassion towards characters who walk head-on into a most certain difficult situation because a couple of guys want to get into Eve's panties . Cassel is the whole show . . he's able to really freak you out . Incest plays a huge part in the overall unpleasantness of this film . I thought the camera-work was repugnant and self-indulgent . . there really was no need for attempted stylistics if you believe in your story strong enough . The ending where a certain character is hit by a car at full speed and yet survives without much damage sinks the film's attempt at realism . The title is another word of The Devil . |
436,585 | 9,938,570 | 119,891 | 5 | Phantoms | It Wiped out the Mayans . . Are We Next ? Doctor Jennifer Pailey ( Joanna Going ) coerces her sister ( Rose McGowen ) into leaving LA for a little while so they can bond in the sleepy town of Snowfield only to find the place deserted for the exception of dead bodies drained of blood and severed body parts . Soon they are joined by policemen , Sheriff Bryce ( Ben Affleck , who really isn't that bad , just a bit too young for the role ) and his deputies Stuart ( Liev Schrieber , who really makes his character come off an eccentric oddball ) & Steve ( Nicky Katt , wasted ) . Funny noises and blinking lights greet them along with some sort of bat creature and distorted voices . They can not leave for whatever has taken over this town drains power from vehicles and / or destroys the insides under the hoods . Bryce finds writing on a mirror ( from red lipstick ) calling for a Dr . Timothy Flyte ( Peter O'Toole ) and " Ancient Enemy . " They also find a mound of metal products such as wrist watches , buttons , and even a pacemaker . . we later learn from Flyte himself that the metal is " undigested remains " vomited by whatever is doing the dirty deed . Calling for help from outside sources such as the FBI , Bryce and the clan wait in the hopes that they'll be on their way as soon as possible . The FBI , along with a biological and chemical task force suited and helmeted for the search , call on Flyte to assist him . He wrote a series of articles claiming that civilizations ( such as the Mayans ) and large groups of people vanished because of a specific organism not quite known by mankind . He was " politely " excommunicated from the scientific community where he began to write for " World Wide News " a rag dedicated to phenomena and mysteries unsolved . . in other words , a rag whose voice veers towards the fantastic . It's soon understood that what has taken over the town is indeed a ancient organism which has lied dormant under ground that can feed on human and animal organisms absorbing everything about them including memories , thoughts , feelings of the host . . perhaps their very soul . When nearly the entire task force is wiped out and taken over by the organism , Flyte , Bryce and the sisters ( . . his deputies don't quite make it ) will have to somehow outsmart the thing or else perish . The organism has a massive ego claiming " god-like status " and this may be it's downfall . In essence , the thing is animal and therefore might have weaknesses that can be virally infected . I thought the opening thirty minutes which essentially makes the flick an old-fashioned type of " boo " flick is excellent . Director Chappelle really builds suspense as we ponder what happened to the people in this town . We also wonder what the small group of characters will find as they search for signs of life or a hidden killer . Peter O'Toole is a pleasure to watch as Flyte , a man who knows all the answers and has some funny zingers ( . . appropriately amusing considering the silly premise regarding the monster ) that follow the bizarre circumstances he's faced with . The film loses steam and credibility when it becomes a monster movie fashioned directly after the 1988 version of " The Blob " even having a sink scene where a suited scientist sticks his hand toward the drain . Schrieber just behaves strange from the get-go often having you wonder what exactly keeps such a character on a police force . . at least he does bring something unique to his character making him watchable . Going and McGowen are our female heroines we expect to see survive and Affleck is clearly the voice of reason in a situation of chaos . Good tentacle effects especially when a monstrous Schrieber comes hunting for the sisters . I just thought the final 45 minutes concerning the hilarious plot about the monster and how it consumes societies using them as hosts , with it's agenda for Flyte to write about it as a god to worship , hog-wash . The film simply slides in quality , in my opinion . . it's kind of disappointing because the build-up in the opening I felt was very effective and scary . |
435,955 | 9,938,570 | 96,046 | 5 | Scarecrows | A lot of my horror internet friends love this flick , but my first viewing of it just wasn't that great . I decided to give it a re-watch , and while I still feel it's not a very good film story-wise or logically coherent , I can see why many dig it . It comes down to it's off-beat atmospherics . The score by Terry Plumeri is penetrating enough to keep you on edge and the eerie shots of those scarecrows almost compensates for what this film lacks . I'll take up for this film when it comes to the darkened cinematography shot at night . There's a foreboding you always feel . . that is hard to accomplish with characters and a plot as stupid as this one . Para-military group heists a payroll office on a base , out-shoot military police , and commandeer a cargo plane piloted by a father and daughter . One in the group , Bert ( BJ Turner ) , uses a smoke bomb to distract the crew while he exits the plan with the stolen loot . He also leaves a grenade inside , but that is discarded before it can explode on board . Bert lands on a graveyard with scarecrows hanging overhead as if hovering doom above him . Bert discovers an unoccupied farmhouse with a photograph of three male hunters . Next to the photo was a rusty flyswatter , but when he turns momentarily , that is replaced by a vehicle key . Bert finds a truck and drives it to the place where the loot landed , but soon finds that his partners-in-crime are coming down after him . In a freakish discovery , Bert finds that the truck , which just goes dead , has no engine ! How did this truck even start-up ? ! Every once in a while the camera closes in on the photo of the three men , but one shot shows a crack form and that occurs right before the para-military commando group approach the farmhouse . This photo ( and the truck which seemingly runs on it's own ) may be hints at who is behind the supernatural violence that will occur later . The key scene which opens up the notorious scarecrow killers is when Bert is trying to pull his money into a safe position as the men gain ground on him . He is gutted by a scarecrow and we now are introduced to the ominous presence that will haunt those who wish to retrieve their money and make it safely to Mexico . Soon , however , each member of the military thieves will be picked off one by one by the killer scarecrows . There are lots of weird , only modestly , subtly explained supernatural occurrences . I mean what force is controlling all the bizarre happenings to begin with ? We are given little dialogue hints along the way such as when the group searches the farmhouse closely observing signs of Satan worship . There's this continual camera shot of a stuffed crow , and we notice how these scarecrows have some very unusual abilities . For instance , there's a scene where Bert , before he's killed , hears the voices of the men looking for him . But , they are nowhere in sight and we can only assume whatever evil force is at work can use persuasive means mentally . . tricks , I'm guessing , stemming from their devil worship . This is an illogical story point that doesn't get much elaboration . We have to fend for own on how anything occurs such as how Bert returns to the farmhouse a zombie filled with straw and cash , but able to attack and talk . That whole sequence is just bizarre and doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense . There's another scene where the very idiotic Curry ( Michael David Simms ) sees his pal Jack ( Richard Vidan ) gutted , but after hearing his voice accepts that he's still alive . . yep , just like that ( SNAP ) . This film is basically an exercise in seeing people getting murdered in grisly ways by scarecrows who at times hang on wooden crosses , at other times appear out of nowhere ready to slay . There's a scene later in the film where a very shaken Curry develops his own theory that they were already dead and that this was some sort of TWILIGHT ZONE trip . That existential nonsense shows , I think , the screenplay's inability to develop a cohesive plot for us to go by and , instead , is a passing of different ideas so that all this weird stuff can take place just for the sake of violence . Some gore is here and the scarecrows are quite well created . I just wish a story could've been better developed to match the eerie location work and the creepy atmosphere which really brings that ominous edge we horror fans enjoy so well . |
436,186 | 9,938,570 | 24,554 | 5 | A Shriek in the Night | A dummy falls from a balcony ( . . actually it's supposed to represent a man , but many will giggle a little at how unrealistic it is with the flailing arms as the body impacts with pavement ) and detectives consider it possible homicide . The man who fell to his doom , a Mr Harker , had a temporary secretary , Patricia Morgan ( Giner Rogers ) working in his apartment who in fact is a reporter infiltrating the man's privacy trying to uncover his ties to a gangster , Joe Martini ( Maurice Black ) . It's soon discovered by Inspector Russell ( Purnell Pratt ) that Harker was perhaps thrown off a balcony in his lover's room . The female lover was found strangled ( . . but we see a person's silhouette with a mask cutting off the gas , telling us that it's in fact a mystery assassin attempting to throw detectives off the scent ) and later her husband , Mr . Colby , police's number one suspect , is found dead , potentially of suicide . Patricia has the scoop , but her current ( . . well , sort of ) boyfriend , Ted Ford ( Lyle Talbot ) steals her story , having her believe that he's from her newspaper . Losing her job when the big story turns up on the front page , almost word for word the way she had intended , of Ted's newspaper , Patricia will coordinate a relationship with Russell , remaining in Harker's Penthouse sweet , attempting to discover any possible evidence that might provide a link to the killer's identity . Meanwhile , Ted tries to make nice , forging a team with Patricia to solve the mystery . A letter from the killer ( . . to Harker , found hidden in a small compartment in a dresser drawer ) is discovered by his always-hysterical housekeeper , Augusta ( Lillian Harmer , in a hideous performance , as the comedy relief but it's excruciatingly forced and over the top to a ridiculous degree ) which relates to an innocent cabbie sent to the chair for a murder of someone who was rivals with Harker . Acting suspiciously is the apartment's janitor , Peterson ( Harvey Clark ) who we see feeding a recording of a shrieking woman's voice into the ventilation to mask the sound of another killing . The janitor also has skeleton keys to every room and sneaks around like a mouse , not to mention that he listens on conversations made between Patricia and Ted . . why would he be so interested ? It's only a matter of time , despite Ted's efforts to keep her safe , until Patricia's life will be threatened as she gets too close to the truth . Okay little murder mystery designed as a star vehicle for the always charming and illuminating Ginger Rogers . She re-teams with Lyle Talbot ( . . they worked beautifully together in THE THIRTEENTH GUEST ) and they have great chemistry which certainly helps rise this above it's rather decent , but unremarkable , presentation . Pratt comes off a jackass as the detective , always insulting somebody , never listening to his partner , Wilfred ( Arthur Hoyt ) , for whom he considers an idiot . Actually , Wilfred , a very timid , meek , quiet little fellow , helps out a great deal when Russell gives him a chance to talk . Wilfred's bravery at the end resulting in a scuffle with the killer is a nice scene that allows him to be the hero as others are upstairs looking for clues . The plot is rather complex even though the killer's identity could be guessed relatively soon through obvious clues . . the finger in pointed in one direction early and never relinquishes it , so I think that's a failure in Albert Ray's work as director , not to produce effective red herrings that would keep us guessing . As a Ginger Rogers movie , I do think it succeeds , but that could be because I personally love her in practically everything . And , the unflappable , extremely likable Talbot lends great support . Some of the comedy bits with the housekeeper ( . . and another black stereotype , played by Louise Beavers , the maid frightened of morgues and dead people , is provided for African-Americans to cringe ) are really irritating , though . Those accustomed with cinema at this time can probably adjust to the dead air that often exists making scenes between characters seem like lengthly affairs . |
436,313 | 9,938,570 | 93,855 | 5 | A Return to Salem's Lot | Pretty freakin ' weird Cohen vampire film has anthropologist Joe ( Michael Moriarty ) and his foul-mouthed , smart aleck son Jeremy ( Ricky Addison Reed ) going to vampire-infested Salem's Lot to live in a badly aged home left to him by Aunt Clara . The vampires wish to turn Jeremy ( also secretly hoping for Joe to voluntarily turn as well ) and desire Joe to write a bible for them dispelling several myths that are merely untruths regarding their species . Joe doesn't know they want Jeremy to turn and needs to find some way of escaping the town , but has their drones ( humans who watch over their graves and tend to matters during the day ) to deal with . Soon , however , Joe receives help in Nazi hunter Van Meer ( THE Sam Fuller , who is an inspired bit of casting and carries the film on his back ) who will assist him in killing those blood suckers who have , for the longest , feasted on the cattle they raise only occasionally taking a passerby or two . As can occur in a film directed by Cohen , there's strange behavior and dialogue to spare . I never bought the motives of the vampires and thought they were pretty stupid allowing Joe and his boy to walk around free instead of turning them right away . The drones could've easily put them in prison to keep them from roaming freely making sure Joe wrote the bible or else . Another bizarre chain of events has Joe impregnating an old sweetheart from his youth . . she's a vampire ! How can this be ? I dunno , do you ? I can't say I think this film is good , but Sam provides some spark to the proceedings and it is entertaining to a point . The film isn't very balanced story-wise and the actions of the characters can be just plain stupid . It's odd enough to hold interest , but far from Cohen's best work . |
436,007 | 9,938,570 | 381,966 | 5 | The Scarecrow reviews " Creep " | Creep is so much an exercise that you can see the actors actually standing in position to be slaughtered . You see them stand in front of an appropriately placed spot with the death just waiting to happen . The predictability doesn't stop there . The killer is fashioned after the new breed of ugly man . The creep of the title seems to have been born disfigured . . but there's more disfigured than just his body . The film has Franka Potente as pretty much the typical running chick who doesn't seem to understand how to use a weapon on a monster when she has the open chances . There's one scene where she has a chance to hit Craig the creep with a crow bar but reluctantly misses . It's a clear open chance to eliminate a complete vile creature of pure evil and she misses reluctantly . The film follows Kate as she tries to find a way out of the stinking subway station while a maniac is chasing her . The victims of Craig the creep are a homeless couple ( Paul Tattray & Kelly Scott ) , George ( Vas Blackwood ) , Arthur ( Ken Campbell ) , & Guy ( Jeremy Sheffield ) . They all are the unfortunate victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and , in many ways , are killed thanks to Kate seems to be a magnet for others getting killed . She is almost raped by Guy and Craig kills him . Then the idiot gets Jimmy the homeless man to help her try and help Guy ! Jimmy asks her " Did he not try and rape you ! " Then poor Jimmy's girl , Mandie gets left alone and becomes a vicious victim of Craig's ( her murder isn't seen but one can clearly imagine it ) . Poor George just wants to get out , has Craig held down and beaten bloody , when Kate reluctantly won't hit the monster . So poor George winds up getting a blade penetrated through his skull . Everyone becomes an unfortunate victim , but the nitwit Kate somehow survives because of the written rule that the main heroine must be able to survive no matter how bumbling and stupid she it . The film has a grit and many moments that work thanks to the under dwellings of the subway station and the look of the creep is ghastly . We never know where he is lurking which adds greatly to the surprise factor . Still , it's at best average because of such a weak heroine who just makes foolish mistakes . When you have the creep down , kill it for pete's sake ! |
436,764 | 9,938,570 | 45,216 | 5 | Talk About a Stranger | A child's pet dog dies of poisoning and young Robert ( Billy Gray ) points the finger at a mysterious neighbor named " Matlock " ( Kurt Kasznar ) who lives near where the mutt was found dead . Robert pursues the truth with passion and without restraint no matter the consequences his doggedness brings . . but is he correct on his presumption that Matlock committed the deed to start with ? Robert didn't see Matlock actually poison the dog , but a few near run-ins with the strange , quiet man who keeps to himself , separated from the little town merely only to drop in for supplies every now and then , motivates his blinded rage for finding the truth against him making up most of this little film . Robert's father ( George Murphy ) is an orange farmer and when Daddy doesn't charge Matlock for supposedly killing the dog , their relationship is strained . We watch as Robert , Jr . forces his hand around town asking local newspaper publisher William Wardlaw ( Lewis Stone ) to print the story of Matlock's poisoning the dog . While Wardlaw won't just publish a story based on theory , he does encourage Robert the truth by asking around and fishing for clues . So Robert does , but his anger for the loss of his pet pooch might cause the young lad to make rash decisions he might soon regret . Little film barely runs over an hour and has a simple story regarding the reasons for not storming blindly against someone without knowing all the facts just because the accused seems guilty of the crime presented . The boy is the perfect protagonist for his dangerous mission might not yield the results he built up in his little mind . . yet his pursuit often causes him to make irrational decisions which could cause multiple harm to others . And , I'm pretty sure many will point out that this whole dangerous mission is over " just a mutt " , but I think to a kid who grown to love it with all his heart , that this film is able to capture that . Still , when the result is shown , the child makes a decision out of hatred , and it could possibly affect the farmers trying to make a living with the frost threatening their crops , that the film comes full circle speaking it's peace ( the moral lesson this story had been planning to unleash ) about finger-pointing without knowing for sure if the one whose getting singled out is actually the culprit . I think this flick is much ado about nothing , but it does build up some tension considering the child's journey into possible ( this is the word I'm trying to emphasize ) shark-infested waters . Some fabulous photographic work by John Alton bringing a noirish look that actually heightens the suspense which might dazzle some viewers ( there is a cool sequence where little Robert is returning home from a California estate that might've pointed out Matlock as a murderer and appears on the verge of being run over just to watch the headlights split under the fog pointing out a young man on a motorcycle , or the scene where it , at first appears , that Robert is being pursued by Matlock in the orange grove ) , but the film , in my opinion , isn't that lasting . . you'll probably forget it shortly after you've watched it . |
435,844 | 9,938,570 | 85,124 | 5 | 1990 : Bronx Warriors | The heiress of a major corporation ( . . called The Manhattan Corporation ) decides to flee to the trash heap of Bronx , getting caught in the middle of a gang war as a hired ruthless cop , Hammer ( Vic Morrow ) is charged to get her . This heiress , Ann ( . . the lovely Stefania Girolami , daughter of the director ) finds herself in the company of The Riders , whose leader Trash ( Mark Gregory ) keeps her safe . This endangers the group as Hammer will target them , attempting to pit The Riders against The Tigers , led by the formidable , highly regarded Ogre ( Fred Williamson ) . Other gangs patrol their own areas attacking those who enter their territory , such as The Scavengers ( . . who look like rejects from The Stone Age ) and The Zombies ( . . roller skating hoods with funny looking chest wear and white helmets ) . When Ann is kidnapped by the Zombies , Trash will gather two of volunteers in an attempt to ally his gang with Ogre's but must enter through other group's territory's in order to do so . Meanwhile we discover that within The Riders is a trader , Ice ( Joshua Sinclair ) who is working with Hammer and a diesel driving weapons supplier , Hot Dog ( Christopher Connelly ) who has been attempting to pit his gang against Ogre's so that chaos could ensue . The Bronx , no longer policed & left to rot and ruin , is a scar to the rest of the large city and seeing gangs warfare with each other doesn't bother those far from such violence . Hammer , born in Bronx , is a mercenary for hire who doesn't care about anyone and enjoys the role of killing people , particularly gang members . And , once Hammer discovers Ann's whereabouts , he gets Ice involved in negotiating her to Manhattan Corporation , but if Trash is able to join forces with Ogre , then such a plan will have complications . Obviously another Italian imitation of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK & THE WARRIORS , director Enzo G . Castellari attempts to keep the action front and center despite the many problems weighing against it . . such as the absurd casting of Mark Gregory , without the look needed for the role of a tough leader of a motorcycle gang ( . . his uncomfortable walk and teenage face , not to mention his vacant delivery ) . The costumes and make-up for the gangs are modeled after THE WARRIORS , except in 1990 , they aren't as effective as they are laughable . The hideous , crude , vulgar dialogue spoken throughout the movie by all the characters is a laugh riot to behold . The action set-pieces themselves , however , are entertaining and thrilling . . lots of bodies being stabbed with plenty of hand to hand combat . Slick Vic the Hammer is a joy to watch , slippery in how he infiltrates the Bronx , blasting a couple with his shotgun . Williamson is allowed to kick some ass as Ogre , always cool , with a cigar , bright blue shirt and shiny jeans , with a cane that has a sword ( . . he gets to chop a head off with it ) as his weapon . Perhaps the show-stopping set-piece is Williamson in battle with gargantuan George Eastman ( . . as the pony-tailed leader of the Zombies ) to the death . Gregory never convinces as the hero , so it's up to Williamson to pick up the slack . . although , Gregory does have an effectively emotional moment where his Trash discovers a friend , damaged and dying after being attacked by the Scavengers . Betty Dessy is actually quite effective as Ogre's companion , Witch , a tall , long-haired blond who can wield a mean whip , with sharp steel claws ( . . applied to her fingers ) that buries into the torsos of enemies like blades . Hammer and a heavily armed task force plan to besiege Ogre's fortress with all manner of hell breaking loose ( . . including blow torches assaulting victim's faces and machine guns dropping running gang members ) . Before the film ends , nearly everyone is dead . The ruins of Rome serve the setting of a fallen Bronx quite well . The film is pure testosterone . See this for the action choreography , because 1990 : BRONX WARRIORS is a pure trash epic without a hint of originality . |
436,760 | 9,938,570 | 58,706 | 5 | Monster of London City | A serial killer , modeling his methods and look after Jack the Ripper , stalks prostitutes on the streets of 60's London , lurking the dark allies and street corners as the ever-present fog makes it's presence known . The killer surprises his prey , strangulating the girls into unconsciousness before mutilating them . There's a special vicious strike when he draws his cutting blade diving into the mod hookers before discarding them like garbage ( one girl he drives her car into a ditch while another he tosses her carcass into the river ) . Scotland Yard focus their attention on troubled actor Richard Sand ( Hansjörg Felmy ) , whose past yields a stint with drug addiction and at present is struggling with bad nerves . . he portrays Jack the Ripper in a stage production of the killer . Sir George ( Fritz Tillmann ) , an important member of Parliament , is hoping to pass a bill to remove / censor objectionable theatrical productions , often escapes , when his niece Ann ( Marianne Koch ) goes to bed , at night cautiously . . we see that his attire looks like what the copy-cat Ripper killer wears , perhaps a far-too-obvious red-herring . Ann is in love with Richard which annoys George who wishes to close the Ripper production down . Dr . Michael ( Dietmar Schönherr ) , a man in love with Ann having grown up with her after " his father died " , is good friends with Richard . All these melodramatic complications only add to poor Richard's troubles as he feels the investigation breathing down his neck and a desire to quit the Ripper character who is slowly wearing him out . The film also has Teddy ( Peer Schmidt ) and his assistant as this moronic sleuthing team hoping to catch the Ripper so they can become famous making a name for their amateur detective agency , but always come up short of that goal despite being so close . Ann suspects her Uncle after catching him whisking off one night and decides to conduct a little investigation of her own . The mystery , as explained by two other users , is not too hard to figure out which does take away from the overall appeal of this atmospherically made low-budget thriller . I loved how the director shoots the Ripper and his killing methods , not exactly displaying the cutting , but getting the grisly display over by showing how he conducts himself so thoroughly . Still , a good mystery should make the identity of the psycho a bit harder to figure out . . and , it isn't too hard in this flick's case . I think it's well crafted , but the screenplay is lacking . I like how the film feels authentic instead of stage-bound . . I think that adds to the mood of it . Even if the film may not actually take place in London , Berlin sure looks a lot like the British city and that's certainly a benefit as far as I'm concerned . Director Zbonek likes to shoot action from afar , even when the Ripper does his dirty business , lensing those desolate quiet streets where no one can help those unfortunate females needing assistance where there is none . But , stylish direction can only carry you so far and the story itself isn't anything to write home about . . even after we get an explanation of why the killer committed his heinous acts . |
436,190 | 9,938,570 | 810,823 | 5 | The Deaths of Ian Stone | Harvesters live among us , vampiric ghoulish predators that feed off our fear and pain , even killing so that they can receive that major high their addictions so desire . For some reason , Ian Stone ( Mike Vogel ) is sent through a variety of lives , a hockey player , office rat , taxi driver , junkie , and quadriplegic . Each life grows worse than the last as Ian is stalked by beings who can take the shape of humans , their true forms existing within a black mist , eyes blazing a ferocious red . Yet , Ian has a mysterious ally who informs him that he must protect Jenny ( Christina Cole ) , a pretty blond who seems to exist in every life as a potential love interest . Ian's main nemesis is Medea ( Jaime Murray , who looks quite sexy in tight black , and red , leather ) , a malevolent harvester who is wanting to know something he's supposedly hiding . . it has to do with an act against the harvesters and Ian is suffering life to life for whatever it is . Will Ian be able to protect Jenny from these creatures or give up the secret he has buried so deep within ? There is a legitimate reason why Ian doesn't truly die . This reason he's so sought after is becoming more and more clear from lifetime to lifetime . I will admit that I was a bit frustrated for a while due to how this film was unfolding . Moving from one life to the next , I think we're supposed to be bewildered because the viewer is confronting the same scenarios as Ian . The whole point , I felt , was that the viewer is to experience what Ian is . . it's an unfolding mystery as we learn why he's going through each situation , and how Jenny is a part of this , unlocking through each perilous battle ( . . and death ) . Unlike many , I thought the harvesters were rather neat creatures . . I guess you could describe them as smog-ish , they almost exist within a ominous cloud of smoke , with these angered faces and enraged eyes , charging at victims ( . . and , most importantly , Ian ) scaring folks , with their fear exiting from their mouths and feeding the predators . The premise will be undoubtedly silly to many , even cheesy perhaps . The scenes where Ian is locked into a neck harness as Medea and her co-horts torture him reminded me of " Jacob's Ladder " . When the harvesters often attack , their hand forms into a crustacean type of claw as they slice or stab victims . When they are actually stabbed ( . . by their own ) , we see the harvesters vaporize . The film itself looks great thanks to Stefano Morcaldo's polished professional cinematography . And , Elia Cmiral's music score gives the film an immediacy as Ian often runs for his life . The action scenes are given much more tension , also , thanks to Cmiral's work . I will say that the film's structure is liable to test many a viewer's patience , but I thought this worked as popcorn escapist fare . I do think director Dario Piana aspires to create much more than just escapist fare , but the complex nature of it all can be quite a nuisance . At best this is a play on the " cat with nine lives " theme with evil fear-sucking ghouls thrown in the mix . |
436,154 | 9,938,570 | 65,750 | 5 | Fury of the Wolfman | Mess of cobbled together ideas and scenes ( . . some scenes directly lifted another previous El Hombre Lobo film to pad this movie ) with corny background music , abysmal camera-work ( . . I read elsewhere that the director was drunk a lot during filming , and it shows ) , static direction ( . . with so many things tossed at the viewer , you'd think it wouldn't be as slow and uninvolving as it is ) , and full of soap opera-style melodramatics , yet overall I still found individual things from the film I enjoyed . Revered professor / scientist Waldemar Daninsky ( Paul Naschy ) is supposedly bitten by a werewolf in Tibet ( . . idea obviously lifted from Univeral's " Werewolf in London " ) while on an expedition , with the crew who accompanied him vanished . He finds that the pentagram mark on his chest might work as a sign of what ails him , and Daninsky goes to fellow scientist , Dr . Ilona Elmann ( Perla Cristal ) noted for her provocative experiments in the control of the human brain . Waldemar finds out through an unnamed source that his wife , Erika ( Pilar Zorrilla ) is having an affair with a man named Nevell ( Fabián Conde ) . What he doesn't know is that the couple are secretly plotting to kill him , tampering with the brakes causing his car to hit a tree . While not dead , Daninsky seeks the help of Ilona , who will exploit his unfortunate lycanthrope condition for her own mind control experiments . Unleashing the werewolf from his chains to terrorize innocents round abouts , Daninsky accidentally electrocutes himself on a fallen power line . Ilona will later dig up his undead corpse , forcing him to do her will , with assistant / student Karen ( the lovely Verónica Luján ) resisting her teacher's philosophies falling for the victimized Daninsky . Karen's boyfriend , reporter Williams ( Mark Stevens ) will join forces with detective Miller ( Miguel de la Riva ) to find out the one responsible for the rash of murders and werewolf attacks plaguing the community ( Ilona sends Daninsky , in werewolf form , to murder his wife and her lover ) . Ilona , with a reluctant Karen in tow , will continue their experiments in the notorious Dr . Wolfstein's castle , a place where many insane patients are held locked in chains , humans are harvested as plants ( ! ) , and possibly even the supposedly dead owner of the place himself walking amongst them . We will see that Ilona is a mastermind behind everything that has taken place and that her ability of hypnotic mind control is being used for criminal and immoral purposes . And , the secret of her birth rite is revealed . . Such a convoluted mess as the synopsis I wrote above does yield some things I found entertaining . The old-school werewolf look of Daninsky is still my favorite next to Pierce's Univeral creation . The attacks often feature gaping flesh wounds and are often bloody . I loved Perla Cristal in the role of mad scientist , even if the character's methods are a bit unorthodox and often just plain silly ( . . although , she's certainly insane , so perhaps despite being a scientific genius , Ilona is not operating within a full capacity ) . I especially enjoyed the scene where Ilona whips Daninsky , in werewolf form , seemingly relishing the opportunity to do so . . and having full command of what is taking place , demented as the situation is , Cristal displays the drunk power underneath brooding . Verónica Luján is simply the eye candy , as Daninsky's ally . There's a plot twist concerning Daninsky's condition and the affair which brought out the vicious werewolf attack on Erika and Nevell , which I found a bit out of the blue and bonkers , that just explains how out-of-control Naschy's screenplay is . Couple all this will excerpts of Daninsky's werewolf ( . . in a different colored shirt practically screaming at the viewer that this was from another movie ) spliced into " Fury of the Werewolf " and you have an unholy affair which produces uneven results . |
436,245 | 9,938,570 | 80,645 | 5 | Don't Answer the Phone | Psychologist Dr . Lindsay Gale ( Flo Gerrish ) who operates a free clinic for troubled women , also working as a radio personality for those with emotional baggage and drug abuse , realizes that a caller , going by the name of Ramon ( . . speaking in a ridiculous accent ) could be behind a series of strangulations towards women that is plaguing the police force who have exhausted themselves trying to catch him . That killer , Kirk Smith ( Nicholas Worth ) is actually a skilled photographer , but suffers from head aches and emotional trauma possibly stemming from his childhood , hinted at throughout as he pursues female victims in Hollywood . AS a lot of killers do , he's quite elusive , at first , but with each passing victim , Smith makes mistakes , leaving things ( . . like drug paraphernalia , and even his photographic equipment ) behind at the crime scenes . The film follows this nasty psychopath , and his methods for finding and killing women & the detectives , McCabe & Hatcher ( James Westmoreland & Ben Frank ) trying to catch him . The film also establishes Gale's role as a care-giver to those who need assistance with problems / weaknesses plaguing their everyday lives , with her kindness setting her up as a potential victim for Smith . I think the film's main asset is the tour-de-force performance of Worth as the mental case . He runs the gamut of emotions , crying at times , even quite pleasant when he approaches unfortunates who have no idea that they are to suffer the wrath of his mental trauma . Worth also has this bulky menacing figure which works well as an object of fear . Those poor women he chooses to strangle are frail in his monstrous hands . Smith often wears a stocking over his face which only adds to the ferocity of his attack scenes on women . . we can see the rage even present through the stocking . I felt the more impacting scenes display a seemingly trustworthy Smith , soft-spoken and smiling cheerful , being invited by models / hookers hoping to make a splash on magazines . . he uses his photographic strengths to take advantage of women , vulnerable to an attack they are not aware is escalating in Smith's mind . There's some tasteless humor put in the script , mostly for the detectives who find time to joke with each other . . it's kind of a release valve for the horrors they must face everyday . The film probes the seedy side of Hollywood , Smith's hunting ground . Alas , I watched the scissored version by Rhino which hacks away at the final product . There's at least 9 minutes I've not seen , so my rating is towards the cut version where even profanity is blanketed . You can clearly see how badly cut it is , blatantly obvious which annoys me to no end . There are even fade-outs right during a scene as if the censor police were making it quite clear as to their clipping methods . I realize a film like " Don't Answer the Phone ! " will not appeal to everyone , or even most people . But , the audience that does watch this kind of film , wish to see it in it's entirety . I think it's rape , to be honest , when you strip away scenes meant for a film , just so you can grab a wider audience . A wide audience isn't gonna rent this film anyway . The film's low budget provides a raw feel that bodes well for the type of characters , plot , & setting featured . Michael Castle portrays a coroner who likes to sickeningly crack jokes about his cases , and Chris Wallace has an amusing scene as a legit traveling psychic , booked by McCabe because he knows way too much about the case ! |
436,937 | 9,938,570 | 82,948 | 5 | Private Lessons | Silly , sleazy nonsense about foreigner Sylvia Kristel blackmailed into seducing a teenage Eric Brown by scumbag chauffeur Howard Hesseman . She will lead the horse to water , despite his ridiculous resistance at first , and then fake her own death with Hesseman tricking Brown into paying him off for disposing the body . But , Kristel falls in love with the gullible kid and decides to hatch a plot to turn the tables on the despicable chauffeur . Brown's father is away on " business " . Taboo-shattering , icky , squirm-inducing wet-dream fantasy might be more believable today as women ( . . and men ) seem to stay on the headlines for sleeping with underage teens . I watched a specific R-rated version which does show plenty of Kristel . . enough to make your mouth water anyway . She's quite sexy , but the whole plot with her falling for nerdy Brown is just too hard to swallow . |
436,658 | 9,938,570 | 435,617 | 5 | Chupacabra : Dark Seas | A scientist , Dr . Peña ( Giancaro Esposito ) is able to succeed in capturing a seemingly uncatalogued creature ( . . costing the lives of many hired hunters in the process ) , and , in turn , able to successfully board it in the cargo hold of Captain Randolph's ( John Rhys-Davies ) cruise ship . A detective , Lance ( Dylan Neal ) is brought on board the ship to uncover a thief who was able to unlock a safe , removing cash within it . Through a very unfortunate decision made by the cargo workers who loaded the crate carrying the chupacabra creature ( . . a vicious , impressively fast , flesh-eating beast which resembles a giant bat , with an exoskeleton shielding it's body from bullets ) , it is released onto the ship and it's crew . Capt Randolph and Lance will find themselves , instead of focusing on a thief , in a whole heap of trouble as the chupacabra creature goes on a deadly rampage , attacking innocents in a violent fury , as the lives of an entire cruise are in perilous danger . Randolph , after his own men , despite the heavy arsenal at their disposal , are taken apart as the chupacabra beast moves from deck to deck , room to room , will have to call in the calvary , a commando unit sent in by a military base in close proximity . Commander Link ( Matthew R Anderson ) will not only take control of the cruise ship , but order Randolph and everyone aboard to vacate so that he and his men can kill the chupacabra . . but , Link has no idea what terror lies in wait for he and his men . Meanwhile , Dr . Peña will undermine Randolph and Lance as often as possible because of his obsession to not only keep the chupacabra alive , but to prove it's existence to his colleagues and peers who dismissed his theories about such a beast . Adding to their worries is the safety of Randolph's daughter , Jenny ( Chelan Simmons , a blonde , freckled cutie with a nice rack ) , an aerobics instructor who never seems to be able to escape from the ship , despite daddy's demands that she remain safe from harm . Passable Sci-fi channel monster movie , has enough carnage to keep it fun , despite it's derivative and predictable nature . Solid cast also keep it afloat . So often , as is the case with these movies , it borders on the routine . You have the three leads with an ability to survive while Randolph and Link's men are fodder for the beast who moves really fast and explodes out of nowhere , popping up from every corner , moving through ducts , and able to escape certain capture thanks to Dr . Peña . Despite a troop of soldiers , unable to remain alive very long when confronted by the beast , Jenny is able to kickbox the monster ! Veteran character actor , Rhys-Davies lends a great deal of class to the film , his character is recognized as a hero who saved Lance's outfit in Operation Desert Storm . . his camaraderie with Neal ( Lance ) is also a plus for the film . As you'd expect many of the victims make stupid mistakes ( . . like a wealthy widow rejecting curfew orders to walk her dog , the thief constantly returning for his dufflebag of stolen loot despite knowing what dangers are in store , a cruise cook walking blindly into terror after disobeying his friend's advice not to follow a mysterious / ominous sound ) and are lunch for the beast , while , as I mentioned before , others have no prayer of surviving because they are written specifically in the film to be torn limb from limb . The gore is often made through , startling enough , practical effects ( . . make-up displaying torn flesh , one poor fellow finding the lower half of his body gone , fondling visible intestines ) with limited uses of CGI . Often , director John Shepphird forgoes showing the nasty flesh-eating , as the chupacabra attacks it's prey , merely showing blood streaking across walls . Still , I think there's enough graphic violence to satisfy . |
436,892 | 9,938,570 | 804,555 | 5 | Wrong Turn 2 : Dead End | A reality survivalist game in the woods of Greenbrier Back Country , West Virginia brings in a group of clichés to be hunted down and slaughtered in this sick , gratuitously gory sequel releasing the inbred cannibal family to brutally slay with glee . Henry Rollins is the host as a Marine who goes Rambo when he's almost included on the menu escaping by the skin of his teeth . He gets a chance to blow a man to smithereens with a stick of dynamite , blow one cannibal away with a powerful shot-gun blast that sends that joker sky-rocketing , and even hits one inbred with an arrow shot with taped dynamite that ignites the bastard and his girlfriend / sister . Oh , but the family get in on the fun , too . When two contestants get caught on one of those rope traps that suspends you upside down in the air , they receive an arrow through the eyeball . Another contestant is sliced repeatedly in the back by a butcher knife that exposes her spine . One gets his head removed in bloody fashion and we later see it worked on by the family in preparation for supper . In a surprising change of pace , the film seems to build one female character as a slasher heroine ( she has all the goody-two-shoes traits that make her a sympathetic cliché ) only to see her get the axe . . literally . And , we must not forget the very opening kill , which sets up the brutal nature of the rest of this splatter-fest , as a female contestant gets her lower lip and chin-skin eaten away by one of the inbreds and then split right down the middle by another inbred with an axe . The character cliché list includes a skateboarder jokester , a very bitchy vegan , a female producer whose so in love with her executive producing boyfriend she'll join the team when the other contestant " opted out " ( the one who isn't present introduced a tattoo that offers a nice little gruesome joke for twisted effect ) , a black football star whose career was cut short due to injury , and a lesbian military officer . . all these contestants are sent into the woods to , unbeknownest to them , square off not in competition with each other but against a foe who understands this area a teeny bit better . Erica Leerhsen ( the wiccan in BLAIR WITCH 2 , and victim of Leatherface in the 1998 remake of Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE ) gets the lead , finally , in a horror film as a suicidal victim of a hard relationship and the new horror hottie right now , Crystal Lowe , as a slutty model who plans to help boost ratings by adding spice to the show . Ken Kirzinger ( Jason Voorhies of FREDDY VS JASON ) has the role of head mutant who swings a mean axe and is a dead aim with a cross-bow . |
435,997 | 9,938,570 | 94,015 | 5 | Specters | Whether evoked , or not evoked . . evil will come . During a routine archaeological study , a secret door is discovered leading to an undiscovered tomb . What lies within this tomb , a demon , if able to escape the tunnels , could threaten the lives of everyone above ground . It'll be up to Marcus ( John Pepper ) , a member under renowned archaeologist Professor Lasky ( Donald Pleasence ) to seal the tunnels and stop this powerful demon who has designs on his temperamental actress girlfriend , Alice ( Trine Michelsen ) . That's the best I can do to provide a reasonable synopsis for such a difficult film . It seems director Marcello Avallone and his co-writer Andrea Purgatori were more interested in flashy visuals than creating a decent story which we can follow . I kind of reacted to Specters the same way as Soavi's The Church . I think Avallone wishes to depart from following a narrative structure , freely using the premise of an evil resurrected from it's place of entrapment , to unload bizarre sequences such as the importance of wind which disrupts the characters and often leads to the presence of the monster somewhere within the proximity of those destined to perish . I was disappointed in the lack of gore , because there seems to be opportunities to show gruesome violence . I will admit that I think it's got some incredible atmosphere , especially the tunnels which lead to the demon's tomb , and the Roman catacombs . I'm not sure why the film was called Specters , though . I guess it sounded cool and those Italians , God bless them , love a catchy title . There were , to me , striking uses of light ( . . the dark silhouette of characters from afar in tunnel entrances as light shines from behind them , the demon opening it's arms after rising from under earth with light grandly presenting it to us , barely visible but still ominous enough , the great scene where the demon's green eyes blanket Lansky , his face full of fear at what he has just encountered ) , and a nifty tourist trip through the Roman catacombs . Didn't care for the Marcus character or his girlfriend , Alice ( . . although , she's hot in a man's shirt ) and too many scenes end abruptly just as they were on the verge of getting really good . I loved the first time Marcus follows the tunnel which eventually leads to the demon's tomb and that marvelous sequence where Lansky is engulfed in darkness , his flashlight pointing out statues in his dead employer's cavernous " tropy room " . There's a scene very reminiscent of Nightmare on Elm Street where Alice is sleeping , with the demons hands exploding from the mattress , pulling her into it ( . . many will consider this an outrage , I imagine ) . The main flaw , among many , that bothered me the most was the fact that Lasky informs Marcus to close the tunnels so that the demon can not escape , yet the beast attacks victims on the outside of the tomb . I think the feeble plot serves as an excuse for the demon to prey on those who were involved with it's discovery . Repercussions for those who are responsible for unearthing evil seems to be the point of emphasis , if there is one . The creature is flimsily established by the filmmakers with artifacts such as a dagger buried into a wall , pagan symbols , skeletal remains and a sarcophagus all tied to the demon terrorizing folks . The demon does rip the flesh of victims ' faces and there's this neat jump scare involving a destroyed corpse . Enter with caution because Specters is not an easy nut to crack . Oh , and Donald Pleasence fans will probably find his character and performance rather disappointing . There were times when the poor guy just agreed to work in anything and Specters certainly doesn't display Pleasence at his best . . he was sleepwalking all the way to the bank to pay his electric bill . |
436,176 | 9,938,570 | 92,074 | 5 | Terrorvision | A mutated creature ( terrifically icky thanks to the superb work by John Carl Buechler ) escapes to Planet Earth through a lightning bolt ( ? ! ) in space from it's planet Pluton before being exterminated . The bolt enters a badly assembled satellite dish thanks to father Gerrit Graham who is unsure how it is to be put together . Along with wife Mary Woronov ( very sexy in this flick ) , daughter Diane Franklin ( barely recognizable underneath her whole punk garb ) , son Chad Allen , Franklin's Metalhead boyfriend OD ( Jon Gries ) , & Grampa ( Bert Remsen ) , the family will have an uninvited monster with an unhinged appetite for their flesh . Exiting through their television screens , many of them become lunch as Franklin and Allen try to teach the monster human traits , but it's desire to eat may halt it from making any earthling companions . The acting is animated , to say the least ( hyperacting , I guess for lack of a better word ) and the plot is chaotic along with the effects of how the monster is able to take those it eats using their voices and faces to trick others suspecting anything fishy . The film wears it's stupidity as a badge of glory . . it never really wants us to take it for a grain of salt . Everyone involved just seems to have decided to have fun . It's a roller-coaster of access with lots of gooey melting effects . Woronov is a treat as always , but this is clearly Franklin's film as she just lets it all hang out in very unusual role for her . The film doesn't pretend to be anything more than a silly sci-fi horror picture with not a serious bone in it's body . |
436,270 | 9,938,570 | 78,405 | 5 | The Toolbox Murders | Sick puppy from director Dennis Donnelly concerning how the car wreck demise of a young woman named Kathy causes her father and cousin to commit unspeakable acts towards innocent human beings . The father , Vance ( Cameron Mitchell ) is a simply deranged owner of the apartment complex for which he murders a set of beautiful tenants who represent " sinners " needed ridding of so that the world could be a better place . Laurie ( Pamelyn Ferdin ) shares an apartment with her mother , Jo Ann ( Aneta Corsaut ) and brother , Joey ( Nicolas Beauvy ) and Vance kidnaps her , holding the poor girl captive in his suburban home , commissioning his nephew Kent ( Wesley Eure , of " Land of the Lost " fame ! ) to clean up his bloody messes ! The police are baffled at the murders wondering just how the killer could operate so freely in dispatching them , moving within their rooms with only one forced entry . Joey , motivated by his sister's disappearance , opts to work as an amateur sleuth as he sees that Detective Jamison ( Tim Donnelly ) and the police have little to go on . Thanks to Kent , who seems to know more than he lets on ( . . while also displaying strange behavior when Joey speaks about the acts of violence and his calm demeanor around the crime scenes of the victims ' rooms he's about to clean up ) , Joey suspects Vance once entering the sicko uncle's garage , finding the infamous toolbox , containing the devices used on those women during the nightly murder spree . But , Joey will not suspect someone else . . Kent's not exactly operating with a full deck , either ! We watch as frightened , and subdued , Laurie , tied to a bed frame , attempts futilely to coerce Vance into letting her go as he drifts into his own fantasies even believing she is his daughter incarnate . Kent , also , finds himself lost to the memories of Kathy , a kissing cousin with a history he is all too willing to share with good ole Uncle Vance , with shocking results . The film doesn't really create an air of mystery as to who committed the grisly , bloody murders at the beginning of the movie , and the reasons for doing so . The director opens inside the front seat showing gloved hands driving a car past the location of where a woman died as a result of a car crash . We then are treated to a series of murders ( . . perhaps not as notorious because of how the director pulls away the camera before the weapons really do their damage , but still repulsive acts of violence ) with an assortment of weapons raging from a spinning drill driven into the back of an alcoholic who knows him and is surprised at his antics , a hammer slammed into the back of a victim's head after knocking her unconscious , a screwdriver stabbed into the stomach of a victim who stumbles upon the killer before he could leave , and a nail gun to the head of a model after her lengthly bath tub masturbation sequence . Unlike a lot of giallo thrillers and slashers ( . . which would follow a similar model as this film ) , the investigation of the murders is the weakest aspect of the film . The director instead , after bludgeoning the viewer with that wallop of a crime spree , decides to take us into the insanity of Vance , with actor Mitchell , a veteran from the old school Hollywood working in films like this for the money because of problems in his life , sucking a lollipop the first time we see him bringing din-din to Laurie . Mitchell just lets it hang out as the wacko holding so tight to the memory of his little girl and going on and on about the wicked sinners of the world with how he must cut them out like the Bible says . Eure , with those pretty boy looks and squeaky-clean image actually surprised me because he was such an innocent teenage idol on the LotL show . I could see how Joey would be startled at the true maniac that lies behind what appears to be just an ordinary young man looking for some extra dough handed out by Uncle Vance . Beauvy as Joey didn't really impress me , he's merely a plot device who makes a grave discovery whose fate is particularly memorable . Ferdin is a virginal sweetheart mostly tied to the bed hurting from the tightened bondage and worried for her life , a fawn trapped in the madness of a crazed predator ( s ) . What I found most effective was the use of country music playing as Vance murders his victims , and the way the killer carries out his acts so cold-bloodedly , with calculated precision . This will certainly be unpleasant for the weak-hearted and easily offended . |
436,198 | 9,938,570 | 57,181 | 5 | The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies ! ! ? | The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies ! ! ? is most certainly a one-of-a-kind experience . Madame Estrella ( Brett O'Hara ) doesn't like being ridiculed or questioned by detractors . When an old drunk turns down her sexual advances ( ! ) she gets really angry and , trust me , you don't want to see her ( . . or hear her squeaky voice ) when she's angry . If you make Madame Estrella mad , you not only get acid tossed in your face ( . . this turns your face into silly putty ) but a prison behind her purple curtains is your brand new home . Almost always by her side is hideous hunchback , Ortega ( Don Russell ) who assists her in disposing bodies and grabbing innocents ( . . he even pops up in nightmares and hypnotic trances caused by Estrella ) . A customer ( . . a boozing club dancer who has a rather uninspired act with a male partner ) desiring to know her future fate finds Estrella's " xombie prison " ( . . I spelled zombie with an x because of have no idea what these ugly fiends should be labeled ) and is targeted for execution . She'll find a dope in " I'll try anything once " ( . . the world is my college ) Jerry ( Ray Dennis Steckler ) who is entranced with popular stripper Carmelita ( Erina Enyo ) . Carmelita , in league with Estrella , will trick him into coming backstage where he will be hypnotized into killing those who threaten to expose her prison . Estrella chose Jerry when he , pal Harold ( Atlas King , with an unbearably laughable accent ) , and girlfriend Angela ( Sharon Walsh ) wanted to try out a " reader " . I guess Jerry pushed that " no-no " button when he poked fun at her magical crystal ball . Anyways , hoody-up and eyeballs wide-open , Jerry , along with his incredibly shiny butcher knife , stabs the singer and her dance partner ( ? ! ) in the face during their act on stage . Haunted by one hell of a bizarre nightmare , Jerry awakens to a blur wondering what happened the night before when he went backstage to meet with Carmelita . Soon another dancer , who happens to oh so eloquently mention she had seen the murdered girl meeting with her , gets the knife ( . . along with a date , the barker who brings the salivating males to dance shows ) treatment . Soon , though , Estrella will make on fatal mistake , keeping open the prison a little too long as the xombies soon revolt , shredded clothes and hands that strangle . Soon Jerry will get acid-faced , on the lam as blank-faced police , guns-a-firing , give chase with Angela , her bro Madison ( Pat Kirkwood ) & Harold is hot pursuit . The closing of the film features a VERY long run across a rocky beach front as Jerry stumbles , falls , returns to his feet , and repeats the clumsy cycle for our amusement , performed so melodramatically . I'll admit that I found the carnival atmosphere particularly effective , it's all spontaneous and random , scenes where Jerry and friends are living it up . I realize that many will giggle at the lack of spirit or choreography for the MANY musical dance interludes which populate this bizarre 60's token of campiness , but I kind of figured it be this way in real life . . this isn't The Chorus Line , you know . The transitions from scene to scene are jarring to say the least , and the sound is rather tepid . I had a great difficulty hearing what was being said half the time ( . . maybe that's a good thing ? ) . I thought the nightmare sequence was a hoot , dancers with painted faces , images of Estrella and Ortega giving Jerry commands , and what seems like cigarette smoke steaming upward ( . . and the spinning spiral , a constant , returning Jerry to his homicidal ways ) . As MANY others have mentioned , this is far from a good movie and suffers from lack of real experience , but " The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies ! ! ? " is such a strange experience I couldn't turn away , wondering what was gonna happen next . Lots of dead air and oddly structured camera shots of characters ' faces . I must admit that I rather enjoyed some of the music sprinkled throughout and it was kind of neat getting a peek at certain parts of LA during such a cinematic era where independent filmmakers ( . . good and bad ) were finding opportunities to make movies . |
436,974 | 9,938,570 | 93,990 | 5 | Slaughterhouse | Well I'll be a suck-egg mule , director Rick Roessler's SLAUGHTERHOUSE is an oinker . Teenagers , police , and other unfortunate folks are being stalked by a father and son who live on the land of a decrepit , abandoned abattoir , pressed into bankruptcy due to an evolved mechanized processing system which prospers more within the county . The star of the film is Buddy ( Joe B Barton ) , a massive , unclean , mentally challenged son , in overalls , of demented slaughterhouse father Lester Bacon ( Don Barrett ) who kills people that threaten his pops or pigs . He's very primitive in nature , and the film establishes his kinship with the porcine population . . he even grunts like a pig instead of talk ! The problem with Buddy is that he comes off so cartoonish , the character doesn't have the menace required . Lester is told by his lawyer and an arch rival " hog slaughter " businessman that he's being foreclosed if he doesn't except a substantial fee offered for his land , not longer used to process hog meat . So Lester takes his vendetta one step further by having his boy dispose of them in gruesome ways ( . . one is lifted off his feet , his face crushed , another is forced into a meat grinder ) . A group of teenagers are shooting an amateur horror movie , using the abandoned slaughterhouse as a setting which is how they come in contact with Buddy , sealing their fates . The final girl is Lizzie Borden ( Sherry Leigh ) , not joking , and her father is the county sheriff ( William Houck ) . Generic characters ( . . the cast do their best but have little to work with ) and plot , relatively little profanity and features no nudity . The gore is at a minimum with director Rick Roessler having to find economic ways to make kill-scenes more cringe-worthy ( . . even without the graphic nature to back them up ) due to lack of budget . Let's face it , not every low budget filmmaker had the fortune of acquiring Tom Savini's talents so they had to do the best they could with the finances available . Rick Roessler uses blood and certain camera angles to emphasize blunt force trauma to victim's faces / heads without the effectiveness of grisly carnage . Buddy's weapon-of-choice is a " bone crusher " cleaver with a long handle and he swings it wildly at horrified victims who get caught on the premises of his paw's slaughterhouse factory . Some characters have trouble getting their key in the ignition to start up their cars , with one female victim actually vacating her vehicle ! Besides his cleaver , Buddy uses other hog slaughtering equipment to kill his victims . One positive is that the rural setting firmly plants SLAUGHTERHOUSE in the " hillbilly horror " category and is a nice change-of-pace from the usual squalor of city life ( . . or small town suburbia ) , but Rick Roessler isn't quite able to succeed in tapping into the terror such a location can often elicit . I felt the light-hearted and goofy tone , along with the kooky music had something to do with that . |
436,721 | 9,938,570 | 328,031 | 5 | King of the Ants | Gullible nobody Sean " Crawl " Crawley ( Chris McKenna ) is duped by cunning , imposing building constructor , Ray Mathews ( Daniel Baldwin , as mean as ever ) into murdering a pesky accountant , working for City Hall , who has incriminating evidence against him . Upon the scene of the crime after a startlingly violent attack , leaving the accountant dead in his kitchen , Crawl wisely decides to confiscate those important documents that Ray so desperately wishes to retrieve , passing it off to his only friend in the world , nerdy zoo-keeper , George ( Timm Sharp ) for safe-keeping . Meanwhile , Ray and his cronies , Duke ( George Wendt , vicious and malicious in an uncharacteristic role ) , Beckett ( Vernon Wells ) , and Carl ( Lionel Mark Smith ) attempt to force Crawl's information regarding the whereabouts of the documents , by beating him to a pulp . . held prisoner in a foul shack located at Ray's desert ranch house , each member takes turns swinging a mean golf club across Crawl's skull ( . . his head is reinforced with ripped mattress to soften the blows enough not to kill him ) leaving his face swelling and mind disoriented . Escaping through savage means ( . . his work on Duke's neck to break free is a nasty bit of business ) , Crawl's disposition favors the Elephant Man , and he just so happens to come across the homeless shelter run by gentle-hearted Susan Gatley ( Kari Wuhrer ) . Nursing him to health , Crawl is mad in love , but a dilemma arises . . she is the wife of the accountant slain by his hands ! An intimate relationship ensues , but how long can Crawl keep the truth from Susan , not to mention keep himself safe from Ray ? Probably one of a few disappointments I've had sitting through a Stuart Gordon film . Basic revenge tale , with Crawl getting even with those who wronged him . The film is crippled from predictability . . you can easily figure out the outcome of the entire story . You know Sean will escape certain death and that he'd eventually meet , and fall in love with , the wife of the very one he killed . You know that , despite how his mind-boggling decisions to associate himself with obvious crooks ( . . who never appear to be trustworthy in the slightest ) and kill an innocent man will bring nothing but trouble into his life , Crawl will somehow escape from his difficult situation . And , I had a really hard time feeling anything for Crawl , the guy brought all this on himself and poor McKenna has to somehow make this character worth rooting for . . to his credit , he almost pulls it off ( . . some might feel he does , but I still found him contemptible even as he gets his retribution towards those who caused him such misery / agony during the torture ) . Wuhrer does what she can with a rather underwritten , clichéd part as a lonely woman with a father-less child who finds comfort in the arms of Sean . . I had an awful hard time , to be honest , seeing what such a woman would see in him ( . . perhaps crippled souls find some sort of solace during passionate embrace , but I had a feeling she'd not fall for such a mysterious fellow who arrived at her shelter so badly beaten ) . Wendt and Baldwyn are suitably loathsome as hissable cretins who service the plot as bait for the audience to cheer against . The violence is , at times , shocking , but unlike in the past , Gordon pulls his punches a bit . Wuhrer does have a couple of sex scenes with McKenna , but Gordon doesn't remain with these acts of passion too long , although she's still quite a sex kitten . In my opinion , one of Stuart Gordon's weakest films . The title refers to a remark Duke makes to Crawl after nearly strangling him , pointing out how he's similar to an ant . |
436,775 | 9,938,570 | 765,487 | 5 | The Wizard of Gore | Complex mindscrew following an underground newspaper journalist ( . . who authors the Cacophony Gazette ) whose life is turned upside down when he visits ( . . supposedly ) a flamboyant magician , Montag the Magnificent's gore-themed magic show which repels the audience with a ( . . supposedly ) staged murder , through a chosen planted female assistant in the audience . Kip Pardue is Ed Bigelow , the writer who always dressed in suits and fedora hat as if he belonged in a Bogart movie , finding that his reality could very well be an illusion created by the drug tetrotoxin , planted on his hands thanks to Montag's handshake . He discovers that Montag's assistants are all chosen through the service of supplier Dr . Chong ( Brad Dourif ) winding up dead the night after their tour of duty for his live act . Ed utilizes the services of his pal , " Jinky " ( Joshua Miller ; Near Dark , The River's Edge ) , a coroner , in helping to establish Montag's use of a drug to possibly trick his audience in believing that they're seeing a live murder , quite an illusionist trick , while also hoping to indict him with their actual killings . But , what Ed soon discovers is that perhaps his whole life has become an illusion , the tetrotoxin creating a existence of constant disorientation and the impulse to attack those who provoke a negative response . We watch throughout the movie as Ed begins to breath into a paper bag as if hyperventilating , with bones cracking / popping due to the excessive abuse of tetrotoxin which is coursing through his body . Bijou Phillips is Ed's " girlfriend " , Maggie who might or might not have been a whore working for Dr . Chong . Jeffrey Combs is Montag's " opening act " , a filthy alley-cat who eats maggots and bites off rat heads as a means for sickening the audience in preparation for the really nasty stuff to come afterward . I was excited when I rented this just because Crispin Glover was in it , as the magician who seems to be actually killing those he performs fake murders on stage . As expected ( . . with my hopes fulfilled ) , Glover brings his glorious weirdness to the film , creating such a strange stage performer in the magician , Montag . This isn't his film , unfortunately , as Pardue gets the lead as the very confused and befuddled reporter who may be used as a pawn in Montag's games of illusion . Dourif , well , is Dourif , creating a manic " salesman " who treats clientèle to whores and drugs . Wild-eyed and temperamental , Dourif provides us with yet another memorable character . Combs hides underneath scraggly hair , beard , and tattered clothes , quite an accurate depiction of a homeless nut-case willing to go the extra mile to put on a performance which would make an audience gag . Miller is a far cry from that annoying brat with an attitude we remember from THE RIVER'S EDGE ( . . also starring Glover ) . Sporting a beard and curly locks , tossing witty liners often hurled at Ed , he is much more mild-tempered than the kid who used to clash with those around him . The film mostly features CGI gore ( . . and even this is shown from a distance probably to be on the safe side as to not expose the special effects ) when Glover performs his grisly stage acts on female victims ( . . the film proudly proclaims that the Suicide Girls perform the demanding tasks of standing on stage naked as Montag mistreats / humiliates them ) . The story is demanding and will require patient viewers willing to go the extra mile until everything falls into place with a satisfying ( . . to me , anyway ) finale when we get answers to a lot of head-scratching scenarios which present themselves as Pardue's " hero " wishes to expose Montag for the criminal he is . But , Dourif's " connections " with Glover's Montag regarding his " girls " also plays a major part in the grand scheme of things . Pieces to a puzzle come to fruition as the bizarre plot continues to the end . Clever , but difficult , this remake of HGL's notorious gore film will probably alienate some while others might find it rewarding due to it's challenging story . |
436,836 | 9,938,570 | 111,474 | 5 | Jack Deth goes Medieval ! | Tim Thomerson is terrific as the returning Jack Deth , yet he is surrounded by Shakespearean rejects who wouldn't even last five minutes in a Dumas novel . The pains of carrying this film way heavy on the character of Deth as he must talk in this film with characters like Prospero and Caliban . Caliban is the lead villain in this film where his kind of Trancers are vampiric who suck the lifeforce from the humans on the planet ( when the humans turn white they're in the " safe zone " , but if the color reaches blue then red during an uncontrollable feeding it's " uh oh " ) . Jack Deth had become a time cop , traveling through the boundaries of time and space , working for Stephen Macht who finds " rifts " and anomalies in certain times . So Deth goes where he is needed because if there's a mess needing cleaning , Jack's the man for the job . On route for another job , this creature who manifests itself on board Jack's time ship causes an accidental crash onto this medieval planet which looks like a small patch of area with a castle . Caliban is shown here by Clabe Hartley to be a towering presence who strikes fear in everyone under his rule . Humans can not stop him and his great power outmatches anyone who dares face him . Yep , Jack Deth winds up in this place and now poses a threat to Caliban . That's about as easy as the convoluted , confusing film gets . There's this old wizard whose prophesies spelled out Deth's arrival to the planet not to mention his artistic rendering was put on paper by the old timer hooded as if just coming from " Star Wars : Episode 1 " . Deth seems to represented in this film as a savior for the people , but if anyone saw how he handled a sword against Caliban might try thinking twice . It's hard to watch really . To be honest , Deth is perfectly suited for the urban sci-fi waters of LA , but in a sword and sorcery adventure , he looks out of place . Thomerson still makes this nonsense fun to watch and his face down with whomever comes at him is always thrilling . The dialog is really horrendous { I believe one character in the castle says finding Jack Deth will be like " looking for a needle in a haystack " . . I kid you not } , especially when Deth and Stacie Randal's " first " Lyra have a spat about how they act to each other . I'm pretty sure Thomerson would probably enjoy starring in a couple of higher quality pictures , but is seemingly stuck in poopers like this film where his charisma has to take up the slack . |
436,125 | 9,938,570 | 69,745 | 5 | Female Vampire | A vampire countess and her various sexual conquests , drains the life force from her victims of passion . Countess Irina Karlstein ( Lina Romay ) often feeds from her male suitors as they are ejaculating ! The film opens the possibility of the vampire countess and a proposed rendezvous with a poet named Baron Von Rathony ( Jack Taylor ) . . Franco seems to be building to this meeting ( . . perhaps a love affair is in the future for these two ) as Rathony often hears the fluttering of bat wings in the sky from the patio of his palatial cottage overlooking a sea . Despite what the title says , this flick doesn't follow the usual vampire traits . . there isn't bloodletting ( . . in the typical sense , although there's a scene of whipping that sheds little cuts of blood ) and Lina certainly doesn't look like your usual member of the undead . Lina dives in no-holds-barred , willing to bend over backwards for director Franco as she is pretty much naked the entire film having graphic sexual sequences with men and women often rather explicitly . To be honest , the film is less a horror film than a porno flick . Franco's camera ravishes Lina's body , even closing in on Romay's vagina as she spreads her legs teasingly . Whether writhing in passion on her bed ( . . making good use of her bed post ) or bathing with erotic bliss in a bathtub of bloody water , Lina certainly is uninhibited and willing to go the distance . Not shy either is Taylor and other male actors unafraid to show their naughty bits as well . Not for the easily offended . As expected , the film often features jazz as background music often removing the slightest bit of tension ( . . although , I feel his films often are so coldly presented one feels little tension to begin with ) . The procedural with detective Franco on the case to prove Lina's involvement with the vampire-type homicides seems uninspired . My favorite scene has Lina's car driving around curves with this silver bat ornament adorning her car hood with bat wings that flap with the wind . My rating is more towards it as a horror film . I think it merely uses the idea of a vampire using lust as her way of surviving . I do think it'll work for those seeking other forms of entertainment . |
435,887 | 9,938,570 | 111,383 | 5 | Teenage Exorcist | College student , Diane ( Brinke Stevens who also wrote the screenplay based on a story by Fred Olen Ray ) gets a house ridiculously cheap for a reason . . a demon resides in the basement of her home . Plagued by weird goings-on ( . . milk box " breathing " , lettuce bleeding , Ouija board demanding her to join the evil living between her walls , etc ) , Diane calls up sister , Sally ( Elena Sahagun ) and her husband Mike ( Jay Richardson ) to see the place . Making the mistake of going down into her basement , Diane is possessed and it'll be up to Sally and Mike to somehow save her soul . Soon insufferable , jaded " boyfriend " , Jeff ( Tom Shell ) , who can not leave Diane alone despite her demands for privacy , will force his way into the situation . Together the three will see no other alternative but to call up a priest to exorcise Diane , Father McFerrin ( Robert Quarry ) . Due to outrageous circumstances , a pizza delivery boy , Eddie ( Eddie Deezen ) will even enter the picture and all hell breaks loose , with Mike chosen as a " virgin " sacrifice so that the demon in the basement can be set free to roam the earth . Full on spoof of The Exorcist with a spirited cast enjoying themselves . Stevens isn't a teenager , but she does spend a lengthy amount of time in seductress mode , transforming into a sultry sex kitten from a rather mousy , geeky type of virginal innocent when possessed . Deezen gets top billing despite not entering the film until it was half way over , doing his usual nerdy shtick . . he will become a chess piece the trio uses in an attempt to gain an upper hand against the forces of evil . Richardson , inspired casting as a stock broker , smoking a pipe , hams it up ( . . and obviously enjoying himself ) , as the cowardly hero who is at times almost putty in Stevens hands , resisting her feminine wiles unlike many others . . it's the kind of tongue-in-cheek performance he's accustomed to and a wink to the viewer that this movie is all fun and games . Sahagun is the worried sister who spends a great period of time talking her husband out of fleeing the house . . and has a very lurid shower sequence where demonic hands caress her naked body . Robert Quarry steals his scenes as an unprepared priest , in over his head and helpless when his bible is burnt to a crisp . Shell is the second unlikely hero trying to uncover a strategy that would enable them to save his beloved . Stevens , spending time in a very alluring gown and dominatrix outfit , seems to be reveling in the role of an innocent intruded upon internally by a demonic force using her buried sex appeal as a method for securing potential freedom . Michael Berryman has an amusing cameo , cast certainly against type , as a real estate agent ! You get the usual Exorcist parody gags such as Diane's face grotesquely warped , spitting pea soup , sounding out bizarre voices . The film is really more of a sex comedy , though , as non-stop zingers and sight-gags are on display , with horror elements also given goofy treatment such as the zombies released as a dangerous tool of the demon ( . . they are convinced by Father McFerrin to play cards instead ! ) to prevent the trio from exiting the premises for outside assistance . The horned demon is even lampooned for our viewing pleasure , lamenting aloud at how hard it is to complete his sacrifical ceremony because of Diane's " freshman " blunders . Mike , Sally , and Jeff often favor the scooby doo gang peeping cautiously throughout the house just in case evil is lurking around the corner or in the next room . This is essential viewing for fans of Brinke Stevens , even though she doesn't get naked . If you are in the right mood , Teenage Exorcist will entertain you , although the comedy is hit and miss . |
436,550 | 9,938,570 | 463,985 | 5 | Tokyo Drift | I like Lucas Black . He's the kind of actor that isn't limited by his southern accent and has the ability to always play believable characters even if they are stuck in genre films like this second sequel to the " race-car " franchise which has a lot of cars speeding and crashing with some plot thrown in to distract some . In this film Black is saddled with limited story to somehow overcome what is essentially a cliché part and create something out of it . For the most part , he succeeds . He plays this unfortunate teenager stuck in the role of " magnet " . . he always seems to link himself to trouble . With no other alternative but jail , Lucas ' Sean Boswell is sent to Tokyo where his military dad resides to somehow stay away from hot-rodding . It doesn't matter where Sean goes , he is destined to be placed a position to race for something , whether it's for high-stakes or good ole ' fashioned pride . He rubs a yakuza boss ' nephew the wrong way almost instantly , but finds an ally in Han ( Sung Kang , who is really the best thing about the film next to Black ) . . someone who seems connected to DK ( the yakuza boss ' nephew , played with a twisted look of menace by Brian Tee ) , but only by business standards . DK ( Drift King ) is known as the best racer and one who is indeed feared . He takes his role as yakuza nephew very seriously . Heck , even DK's smile is a snarl . He has a girl by his side named Neela ( Nathalie Kelley ) who has a thing for Sean . . she is pretty much his trophy to show off ( Neela was taken in by DK's grandmother we learn so that seems to mean she's his girl by default ) . Bow Wow adds flava and soul as Twinkie , an army brat like Sean who fulfills his goal as token black kid by selling goods for profit . He also does what he can with a cliché role . The film pretty much uses story as padding for all the dangerous races . Within the sub-plot we learn that Han has been stealing from DK , so this sets in motion a death and climactic race to end all races between Sean and DK . . loser must leave Tokyo for good . The place the big happens is up a curvy mountain known to only be driven by one man . . DK . I feel bad for Lin who must sacrifice story for stylish chases . His " Better Luck Tomorrow " was right the opposite . The characters in that film were able to grow in a very fascinating story . It's not the case here . People come to a film like this for the cars that rev up and the speedy , lightning-quick turns down highways in traffic ( one scene show Sean almost drive into a crowd of people ) . The film shows how " drifting " is the way to race in Tokyo . Drifting is a high-profile way of turning curves with delicate precision without hitting anything . To be honest , the whole film is ridiculous and it's hard to believe one ounce squeezed from this formula racer . Black tries to embody his young man with truth because he has nowhere else to go . . he's at the end of his rope and this climactic race may be his last chance to really put an end to the dangerous lifestyle that always followed right at his feet . |
436,536 | 9,938,570 | 117,966 | 5 | Trilogy of Terror II | Considerably tame tales of terror with Lysette Anthony portraying the female victim in each story . In the first she joins lover Geraint Wyn Davies ( Of " Forever Dark " fame ) in a plot to murder her husband Matt Clark and take his fortune . She finds herself instead contending with underground graveyard rats . In the second tale , she's the grieving mother who calls son Bobby back from his watery grave , after using some sort of witchcraft , only to find that he's not the same boy he once was . He , in fact , wishes to play his own game of homicidal hide-and-seek with her running for her life . The third tale , the best and yet silliest , has Lysette portraying a museum scientist studying a Zuni fetish doll which was found burnt in an oven at a vicious crime scene . It so happens that two women were found with their throats sliced open . What she doesn't realize once she takes this necklace from the doll's neck is that it is the very killer responsible for those other homicides . It seems , through a scroll also found at the crime scene , that the spirit of an African Zuni warrior harvests within the doll . The special effects are low-grade and each story is rather hokey , but , all in all , it's decent fare . Nothing spectacular , but if you want to waste 90 minutes . . |
436,289 | 9,938,570 | 95,756 | 5 | Not of This Earth | Alien ( Arthur Roberts ) , from a nuclear devastated planet , needs blood not only to keep himself strong , but for his people from home as war ravishes there . He brings in nurse Nadine ( Traci Lords ) to apply transfusions often so that his strength will remain . His eyes glow so he has to keep a pair of shades on unless retrieving the life force of victims . . he also uses mind control over the inferior humans who are weak against his power . He has a blonde servant , known for his criminal activities , named Jeremy ( Lenny Juliano ) . Nadine's boss , Dr . Rochelle ( Ace Mask ) is a mind control victim of the alien's and does as he wishes . If anyone even mentions his name as a possible suspect in the rash of crimes taking place , where corpses are being drained of blood , Rochelle will not implicate him . Various bimbos become victims as Nadine , her cop boyfriend Harry ( Roger Lodge ) , & Jeremy begin to suspect their wealthy employer , Mr . Johnson being his disguised earth name , may be . . Not of This Earth . Johnson keeps a gateway housed in his study which works as both a portal between worlds and a telecommunications device to his leader . Soon Johnson discovers that he'll possibly not be able to return home when a female alien passes through the portal to earth informing him that a bimbo he sent was crushed during the travel . Needing blood , the female alien is accidentally given blood , through a transfusion conducted by Johnson , infected with rabies that sends her into a violent frenzy wiping out a group of punks and hunting / executing an innocent woman . The discovery of the female ( . . coupled with Nadine and Jeremy's snooping ) could lead to the revealing of Johnson's true identity . To be honest , my true recommendation towards others is seeing Traci Lords in various states of undress or wearing dresses and / or skimpy , scantily-clad clothing that reveals her magnificent body . She's undeniably a sexy woman who does a capable job in the starring role opposite the stone-faced Roberts as an emotion-less alien killing machine , while Juliano as the slimy Jeremy , with a thing for Nadine ( . . who could fault him for that ? ) is a hoot . The special effects sequences at the front are really not needed and rather detract from the rest of the film which has nothing to do with those images of various alien monsters terrorizing . There are a number of spirited weirdos who often frequent director Wynorski's trashy pictures . But , Lords is the film's highlight , ESPECIALLY in that blue bikini . As Lodge's cop Harry pronounces as she walks away from him . . " Phew , have mercy . " Have mercy is right ! |
436,915 | 9,938,570 | 454,970 | 5 | Those tourists never learn , do they ? | Dr . Zamora ( Miguel Lunardi ) loves to cut into idiotic tourists and take their organs for hospitals in his third world neck of the woods . This film provides him with some pesky ones who wish not to see their kidneys and heart removed from the bodies while they lie motionless unable to spring from the table . Thankfully , the tourists , who decide to hang down at a beautiful beach for the night instead of awaiting the next available bus ten hours down the road , make a Brazilian friend in Kiko ( Agles Steib ) . Kiko has an uncle he will take them to when they wake up the next day after being drugged and robbed . . it isn't a kindly fellow they hope for but Zamora himself . The place Kiko takes them to ( after carrying them on an exhausting hike through a jungle and inside a waterfall cavernous lair where only portions of air or openings to escape are available . . but come in handy later on ) is Zamora's place of removal . The hero , Alex ( Josh Duhamel ) discovers passports of people which ( like the opening sequence where a victim begs for mercy as the reflection of a man appears in her eye ) could very well be victims of Zamora's handiwork . Unfortunately , Kiko leaves the group in the monstrous hands of Zamora and his henchmen as many are thrown in animal cages awaiting what occurs to one of the them . . the surgical removal of many of her organs ( . . a ghastly scene which shows the removal taking place in exact detail as he informs her why he does this and how much he loathes tourists ) . The rest of the film focuses on if the group can somehow escape the clutches of Zamora and his men with a ridiculous , but harrowing , sequence in a cave where holding your breath ( . . flashlights ) is essential for survival as one of Zamora's men swims after them with an arrow gun ( . . while Zamora and another henchman await the moment they pop their heads up to shoot or secure them ) . The flick is mainly about how characters make one mistake after another because of a situation of their own making . Nooooo , they just couldn't wait for the bus , these tourists just had to find a hot spot to party . If HOSTEL doesn't shy away the tourist trade , TURISTAS will . It's amazing how skilled certain characters are at holding their breath under water while eluding danger in caves that look quite mean when one faces peril . To sum up this film . . at times the flick is quite intense , other times it's quite preposterous , but oftentimes it's both at the same time . |
436,214 | 9,938,570 | 87,130 | 5 | Def Con-4 | Three astronauts operating an American satellite in space orbiting the globe , carrying a package of warheads , during a turbulent time on Earth as nuclear is a penetrating threat where war is imminent . When an American thermonuclear warhead lands in Russia , supposedly released by terrorists , which doesn't explode , chaos ensues , and the astronauts , faced with the fact that their loved ones and friends will perish , can only look on as the Earth is plunged into worldwide war . Someone from the ground below on Earth , after the nuclear devastation ends with most of the world dead from the nukes landed or dying from radiation in the air , triggers a program which forces the astronauts to land . Landing on a beach , the doctor Jordan ( Kate Lynch ) is knocked unconscious , while Captain Walker ( John Walsch ) is removed from the crash-landed capsule by cannibals which cook him over a fire , as astronaut Howe ( Tim Choate ) tries to find help . Awaiting Howe and Jordan will be a militant group under the command of baby-faced teenager Gideon Hayes ( Kevin King ) who operates a make-shift concentration camp ( . . he was the son of a military man , and successfully survived a helicopter crash , leaving him a broke-backed satellites specialist and girlfriend ) with other school chums as gunmen . With Gideon's lieutenant Lacey ( Jeff Pustil ) , a pathetic goon who relishes his powerful role which puts him in position to bark orders ( . . when in truth he'd be mincemeat if left in this world without such company ) , they take the remaining astronauts hostage , and the rest of the film shows their attempts to break free from his totalitarian grip . We are also shown that , despite most of the warheads having released from the satellite , one has remained lodged in it's chamber counting down to it's explosion time . Maury Chaykin has an amusing role as a filthy civilian named Vinny who , for a time , threatens Howe's life if he doesn't take him to the space capsule full of food , before taken prisoner by Gideon . Lenore Zann is Gideon's Achilles ' heel , ex-girlfriend JJ , for whom he still covets despite her rejections . Amusingly , JJ was Vinny's " prisoner " ( . . but basically , she was using his booby-trapped abode as a hide-out from Gideon ) who attempts to help Howe escape . I enjoyed the opening of the film inside the capsule with our astronauts showing their emotions at what was transpiring on Earth . The last portion of the film , once we enter Gideon's concentration camp , kind of ruins an otherwise interesting premise . . the idea of astronauts crash-landing on a nuclear devastated world . Gideon , played by King who looks all of 17 , as a leader is a bit of a stretch . . it's hard to believe that he , Lacey , or any of these teenage clowns , with ( . . or without ) guns could operate a camp of any kind . Gideon is quite a despicable bastard . . a kid obviously born with a silver spoon in his mouth and the world at his feet ( . . there's one scene where he promises his satellite specialist a cooked steak if he reveals a certain password , going back on his word once getting what he desired ) . But , would such a military brat survive a nuclear devastated world becoming a feared leader over slaves ? Bah , I doubt it . I think the film has it's moments , and certainly isn't the worst movie every made as claimed during the user comments . I found it minimally entertaining , being a sucker for post-apoc sci-fi . . but , it could've been much better with a more believable story ( . . and a more realistic villain ( s ) ) and focused direction . To start so well , and fall so short is a bit disappointing . I truly feel the film would've served better if the story remained centered on the three astronauts and their adapting to a devastated world . |
435,835 | 9,938,570 | 89,308 | 5 | Howling II : Your Sister is a Werewolf | Occult investigator / werewolf hunter Stefan Crosscoe ( Christopher Lee ) offers his assistance to Ben ( Reb Brown ) when he informs him that his sister is inflicted with lycanthropy . We understand that there are several werewolves amok in Los Angeles when a group of punks get destroyed in an abandoned warehouse . Jenny ( Annie McEnroe ) , a journalist ( . . and friend to Ben's sister , Karen ) will assist Stephan in his efforts seeing a juicy story in the future and does seek revenge for the loss of her friend . Mariana ( Marsha A Hunt ) , a vicious werewolf plans to remove Karen's body from consecrated ground . Karen's soul is not at peace because the silver bullets used to kill her were removed during autopsy . Mariana is a dangerous kind of werewolf for silver bullets can not harm her . . but titanium will ( yes , I know . ) But , Mariana is only a member of the werewolf race . . it's Stirba ( Sybil Danning , sporting a nice rack ) whose 10th Millennium birth is approaching and transformations reverse meaning all werewolves who hide under their human masks will show their true side . Through a werewolf he sets free from his curse , Stephan finds out where Sirba is in hiding . . Transylvania . So Stephan will set a course for Transylvania . . accompanying him with revenge on their minds , Ben and Jenny . What they find is a village overrun by werewolves under human skin hiding until the moment they can strike those who wish to interrupt their usual methods . Eventually , Jenny will find herself kidnapped , and Stefan & Ben will make their plans to attack Stirba's fortress once and for all with only vanquishing her evil on their minds . Don't let the respectable rating of fool you , this is not a very good film . It earns the stigma of " so bad it's good " . It's pure trash that finds itself amusing even if few others do . Christopher Lee is so stern and serious you'd think he was performing on Masterpiece Theater , yet this perhaps adds a peculiar quality to the film is doesn't deserve . It's noted for the notorious werewolf sex and Sybil Danning baring her terrific breasts . She also shows her naked body covered in fur . There's an orgy prior to Stefan and Ben ( along with some others merely put with them to service as werewolf lunch ) ' s arrival , Stirba practices black magic ( she has the ability to make a dwarf's eyes pop out by loudly expressing incantations ; she also shoots out bolts from her fingertips ) . There's plenty of gory violence toward werewolves , very in-your-face presented by director Mora . You also get the punk group Babel singing before a crowd of degenerates enjoying themselves in a club spliced throughout the film for some reason . This flick got brownie points for showing Lee dressed in punk garb ! The bland sexual chemistry between Brown and McEnroe makes their sex scene come off very awkward . |
436,184 | 9,938,570 | 50,722 | 5 | The Monster That Challenged the World | In the Saltan Sea of Southern California , giant prehistoric mollusks ( ! ) emerge from their centuries old tomb when an Earthquake cracks opens the wild rock formations which held them there . The monster's size derive from a Naval base's top secret Atomic experiments . Newly appointed Naval investigator , Lt Commander John Twillinger ( Tim Holt ) and the military will attempt to kill them as they use irrigation channels to travel , the mollusks threaten to drain the blood and water from any human being they come in contact with . In a method to stop such a thing from happening , the military attempt to close beaches and assign watches where the mollusks could surface . The key is to kill them before they multiply , or else the world could be in danger . Minor creature feature which doesn't really stand out amongst the vast series of sci-fi B movies that were in abundance during this period of time . The mollusks will induce giggles more than fright , and aren't very convincing . . but , for many , this will be entertaining , the monster design and movement part of it's charm . Holt's a serious , tough , rather bossy Naval investigator , who is actually a softy on the inside . . the kind of man-in-charge who expects proficiency and is always by-the-book . Audrey Dalton is Gail , Holt's love interest and woman-in-peril as she'll need rescuing at the end as a captured mollusk breaks free to terrorize her ( . . and Gail's little cutie pie daughter ) . Hans Conried is Naval scientist , Dr . Jess Rogers , the man in charge of the large desert base's laboratory . He's the one Twillinger turns to in discovering the facts regarding the mollusks . The film features unrealistic dummies representing human victims of the mollusks including one underwater military diver whose neck is caught in the creature's mouth . Another in a long line of films during this period focusing on the dangers of Atomic radiation , regarding testing and what it could mean to the welfare of our country and the world at large . Often develops minor characters who are to be sucked dry by the mollusks such as a young couple swimming and an assigned guard posted to watch guard over his portion of the irrigation canal . There's also a liberty to develop other characters effected by the duties of a Naval officer such as the pregnant wife of a scientist who is killed by the mollusk and we witness the blossoming of the relationship between widow , Gail and Twillinger who obviously takes a shine to her . Despite the hokey creature , I do , however , commend the filmmakers for at least building around it an ambitious screenplay ( . . the narration at the beginning is another familiar trait of these monsters movies which came out in the 50's , explaining the setting and the positions of the military who operate there ) . Despite the unusual creature itself , there's nothing particularly special about THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD ( . . including it's long-winded title ) , for it doesn't feature anything fans haven't really seen before , or better . And , killer snails are hardly the most scary kind of creatures to strike terror in the hearts of the viewers who watch such a movie . |
436,197 | 9,938,570 | 182,996 | 5 | Don't Go in the Woods . . . Alone ! | Irresistible hunk of wilderness slasher trash regarding a grotesquely filthy homicidal mountain man who viciously attacks any camping tourist who enters his neck of the woods . I guess he might be a cannibal as well since he stores the bodies of the fallen in bags , placed inside his makeshift house , where a private collection of his victims are also present . While most victims are merely presented as lambs to the slaughter ( . . and artist , an ornithologist , wheel-chair cripple ) , the film does follow four backpackers , Peter ( Jack McClelland ) , Ingrid ( Mary Gail Artz ) , Craig ( James Hayden ) and Joanie ( Angie Brown ) who spend a great deal of time either arguing or pulling pranks on each other . They will eventually fall prey to the maniac who thoroughly enjoys hunting down his quarry and hacking away at them with a home-made spear ( . . a long stick with a blade on the end which sheds a hell of a lot of blood ) . While Joanie watches from her sleeping bag , hung from a tree ( . . by boyfriend Craig , whose the type of know-it-all who enjoys the authoritative sound of his own voice as he informs the others of the ways of living in the wilderness ) , Craig is sliced and diced while Peter , who has seen the killer and made a great escape , hunts for Ingrid . Joanie , separated from her friends , must find shelter while Peter and Ingrid attempt to find any sign of civilization , each trying to avoid being hacked to pieces by the demented psycho . Bottom line , this film is about a maniac savagely attacking innocent folks who are minding their own business . The film must be set during tourist season because the killer has quite a list of victims to dispatch . The camera-work is mostly following the actions of the characters as they move throughout the woods . . I guess this would explain why the film is so heavily dubbed . Layered like a lot of low-budget slashers with a synth score , the director often shoots the picturesque landscape of Utah , I'm guessing , to establish that the killer has plenty of territory to hide and roam as those from the city infiltrate his home opening up themselves to certain terror . The dialogue and dubbing is indeed cringe-worthy , no doubt , and there's some really mind-bogglingly stupid behavior exhibited by certain survivors who escape only to re-enter the woods . The director obviously had a limited budget to work with and the knife and machete stabbings are heavily edited with lots of blood splattering to and fro , cutting away from showing the weapons actually penetrating the bodies of those attacked . I found some of the killings rather effective because , despite not displaying how the blade truly slices flesh , the murders are so savage and unrelentingly sadistic that the menace behind the attacks left an impression . The film doesn't pretend to be anything other than a slasher where victims are brutally slain by a nutcase . The Utah setting probably enhances this film despite it's unoriginal plot and rather mundane characters / performances . I won't lie , though , when I say that I had fun with this one . The ending , reflecting an infant the sicko kidnapped , is a hoot . The most creative kill would have to be how the killer brutally stabs a couple who were together in a sleeping bag , thrown over a tree and stabbed repeatedly ( . . the director even shows their reactions inside the bag ! ) . |
435,908 | 9,938,570 | 87,096 | 5 | Crackers | A motley band of desperate , unemployed , penny-less characters desire to rob Pawn Dealer Jack Warden's safe while he's off to visit his mother . Sutherland at first shrugs robbing his boss ( for the time being ; his job as Pawn shop security is threatened when Warden mentions a desire for an alarm system ) , but has motivation when he sees he'll soon be unemployed again ( . . and losing his cable box only makes matters worse ) . Warden is the " bad guy " of the film , a penny-pincher who stiff those seeking a much larger sum than he's willing to pay for their valuables . The thing is though , as Warden tries to tell the film's characters as they come in to sell stolen merchandise or valuables from their own homes , that business is business and turning a profit is essential . The flick clearly exposes the unemployment hike and immigration pressure in early 80's Reagan era . Sean Penn ( . . tries on a Southern accent to give his character flavor and fails miserably ) plays a wannabee musician , often seen blowing on his harmonica or clanging away on a guitar in Warden's pawn shop he had to give away , who is Trinidad Silva's thieving partner as they often commit petty crimes such as stealing car radios from BMWs only to get close to nothing from Warden for them . Penn takes a personal interest in Silva's sister Tasia Valenza , courting her when dear brother's back is turned ( Silva is overprotective and wishes to pair Tasia with a bartender of his own choosing from Mexico ) . You have Wallace ( MY DINNER WITH ANDRE ) Shawn as an always-hungry pauper who is friends with Sutherland and hangs around the pawn shop playing chess all day ( it's rare you don't see Shawn eating something which is a gag the film plays to the hilt ) . There's Larry Riley as a would-be pimp stuck with the baby of a former " employee " . Following the cast of supposed safe crackers are Christine Baranski as a meter-lady who writes the tickets for those who stay parked too long on the side-walk who likes to moonlight as a slut and Charlayne Woodard as an always-unemployed maid who hooks up with Riley . All that said , this is a forgettable , minor film from critically acclaimed director Louis Malle with a decent cast not having that much to do . It supposed to play as a bumbling-thieves comedy , but seems to want to take a detour into character study . I'd say unless you just wish to see the film for it's cast , this is a very skippable film which ends with the characters looking quite silly at staging such an attempt towards cracking the safe . They still face what we saw them against at the start of the film . After watching the film , I just felt that this flick wastes our time . |
436,961 | 9,938,570 | 104,808 | 5 | Badge of Silence : Maniac Cop III | Matt Cordell's ( . . the formidable Robert Z'Dar , under heavy prosthetic make-up ) restless soul is conjured by a voodoo priest , with the resurrected zombie seeking a mate , which is provided when he hears about a shoot-out at a pharmacy between a female cop , Katie Sullivan ( Gretchen Becker ) and a sadistic junkie , Jessup ( Jackie Earle Haley ) . Katie doesn't know that the employee working in the pharmacy is Jessup's gal who picks up a revolver willing to kill the cop who had " saved her . " A couple of corrupt news clowns falsify the story , by deleting certain material which proves Katie's innocence , depicting her as a rogue cop using illegal weaponry , not allowed by the force to carry . In a vegetative state , Katie's brain seems dead , and her " guardian " , Detective Sean McKinney ( Robert Davi , returning from the previous film as the chain-smoking , reliable , street-wise cop whose seen it all and then some ) is disgruntled with how his best friend is being treated in the press . Despite his decomposing state , Cordell still understands how he himself was treated by those he considered allies , and begins murdering those who offer Katie harm , hoping to clear her . . while also planning to betroth her in unholy matrimony , with assistance of the voodoo priest who brought him back to life ! Dr . Susan Fowler ( Caitlin Dulany ) , the on-call physician over Jessup , who somehow survived multiple gun shot wounds from Katie's firearm , will assist McKinney while also falling in love with him during the process . Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy , incoherent mess of a script , director William Lustig and Joel Soisson ( . . Soisson , I'm guessing , was probably more associated with the stunt-work ) unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road , or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies . There's a thrilling shoot-out in the hospital when Cordell releases criminals from their handcuffs , with McKinney getting to show out his skills of evading gunfire . Beside Haley's psychotic junkie , many familiar faces make appearances such as Robert Forster as a happy-go-lucky doctor who plans , faithfully , to carry out a plan to remove Katie off of life support so that the police department could save face with the public as the image of the force has been dealt a serious blow , becoming one of many Cordell victims , thanks to the nasty use of an X-ray machine . Paul Gleason ( . . with his typical slimy charm , always portraying those kind of characters you love to hate ) plays an unapologetic lawyer for the police department who wishes for Katie to be taken off of life support so that they wouldn't have to forfeit millions to Jessup . His demise , along with Jessup's grinning lawyer who sees future engagements ( . . such as television shows ) for her client regarding Katie's supposed mishap , will probably elicit applause from the audience . . Cohen's screenplays always seem to have these appalling suits attempting to screw over unfortunates unable to defend themselves , meeting grim fates in crowd-pleasing fashion . I thought Dulany was fine as Davi's love interest , she's the kind of dependable female support Davi's cop needs when the stack is decked against him . Davi , as always , brings his usual grit to the role of a city detective . . looking the part of a cop whose been through the rigors of such a job , only helps sell his character . The whole sub-plot regarding Cordell's desire to marry Katie didn't really work for me , but maybe it will you . It does provide a memorable sequence in the voodoo priest's church where Cordell , on fire , carries Katie's corpse in his arms walking towards a trapped McKinney and Fowler . I'm not really sure why the priest resurrected him unless he felt that Cordell's reign of terror over those who betrayed him , wasn't finished , and that he needed further vengeance for how others wronged him . There seems to be a theme of anger towards the police force and their methods of justice , while also hammering the message home that the streets are a difficult place for the men and women in blue trying to halt crime . |
436,575 | 9,938,570 | 89,274 | 5 | The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 | A group of motorcyclists , including Ruby ( Janus Blythe ) , formerly a cannibal of the hills now reformed since leaving with the two survivors of the first film , get stranded out on the desert hills where two cannibals wreak havoc on them . The group find a compound that seems deserted , but a hidden room inside what appeared to be a refrigerator houses a place that might explain who is out there in the darkness causing so much terror . Blind Cass ( Tamara Stafford ) and others await the return of her boyfriend Roy ( Kevin Spirtas , the hero hunting down Jason Voorhies in Friday THE 13TH THE NEW BLOOD ) and Harry ( Peter Frechette ) who are chasing a cannibal survivor from the first film , Pluto ( Michael Berryman ) after he steals one of their motorbikes . This leads to both possibly being killed while the others having no idea of their condition . Slowly , each fall prey to a much more menacing cannibal , the dead Jupiter's larger brother , The Reaper ( John Bloom ) while Pluto tangles with Ruby and that blasted dog that messed him up the previous time , Beast . At night , things get really scary because those who await the return of their two men , believe they are playing a practical joke which is not unlike them ( we see both several times pulling stunts on various characters ) . In the darkness , The Reaper and Pluto have a distinct advantage . . how will a blind woman and her friends defend themselves in a place they have no knowledge of ? The film is more of a slasher flick than the great original Craven effort . This one is VERY low budget , but doesn't pack the same punch as the brutal superior original . I felt this sequel resembles the Friday THE 13Th films , not just because of the familiar Harry Manfredini score , but the methods of the killers . Like those victims of Friday THE 13TH , those who are killed normally separate themselves from the group making themselves vulnerable to attack . The film has a dirt-poor grungy quality that hearkens back to the original film , but lacks bite . This one offers some flashbacks from Bobby , the male survivor & Ruby from the previous film . . and the notorious one by the dog , Beast . I feel like this was intentional comedy on Craven's part that many just couldn't giggle at . I rather found it amusing . But , why a blind woman isn't killed immediately and instead allowed to last throughout the film ( . . and how The Reaper couldn't just escape a circle-of-fire at the end by jumping a little ) is just too ridiculous to accept . |
436,335 | 9,938,570 | 52,901 | 5 | Horrors of the Black Museum | The plot is deceptively simple . Michael Gough portrays murder novelist Edmond Bancroft who is obsessed with death and the act of killing in various methods especially . His devious acts of violence towards women is perhaps a hidden hatred for them . Perhaps researching murderers from the past , and his obsession with them , forged the way into his demented reasons to kill women . As explained to his hypnotized assistant Rick ( Graham Curnow ) , women were the main culprits in how murderers were caught and executed . Edmond lives and breathes the novels of killing he writes and he will do whatever it takes to make those works continue . So he uses poor Rick as a means to help perpetuate his literary bloodlust by often forcing him to kill or by helping him get rid of bodies he had murdered . Certain characters threaten Edmond's work so he makes plans to do away with them when their not expecting such as an antique store saleswoman for whom he buys merchandise from ( she plans to blackmail him after spotting her name on a pair of " spike-lensed " binoculars that stabbed a woman's eyeballs to the very nerves killing her ) or a doctor who , through both mental and physical examination , sees what Edmond is turning into ( . . or has already become ) . But , the most major threat is Rick's secret lady-love , Angela ( Shirley Anne Field ) . Horrors of the Black Museum has loads of potential , but seems to be devastingly marred by an abrupt ending . I myself felt like this film could've really been something great if we could've understood more about Rick's plight . Why does his face twist into this hideous sight ravaged by an ugly green tint . Sure towards the end we see him receive an injection by his master Edmond Bancroft , but really delving deeper seems to be this film's major flaw . It wants to make the evil Bancroft pay for his crimes rather quickly instead of furthering his abilities to lead detectives on a wild goose chase . He makes too many mistakes at the end which question his credibility to have gotten away with his twisted scheme for so long . I would suggest seeing it for several interesting death weaponry like the mini-guillotine or the aforementioned spiked-lensed binoculars , but Gough's delicious villainy is why I enjoyed it to a point . But , I also felt it needed a stronger ending than the blown-up finale which has Rick faced with the position of killing Angela when Edmond demands it . His descent through the " fun-fair " running around like a maniac is laughable ( still his face and how he turns is a mystery to me ) , and the reasons behind Edmond even going to the " fun-fair " is even more a mystery . And , why would Edmond abruptly try to have Angela killed so soon . . and SO PUBLIC ! Why not kill Angela like all the others . . in some sort of secluded execution . But , the film is colorful and has some fascinating moments . . just not enough for a great movie . |
435,807 | 9,938,570 | 80,431 | 5 | Beyond Evil | Newly married couple , Larry and Barbara Andrews ( John Saxon & Lynda Day George ) move to a reputedly haunted mansion , Casa Fortuna , which yields a vengeful witch's spirit with strong powers . Poor Barbara's body and soul are slowly taken over by the spirit , Alma Martin ( Janice Lynde , under various wigs ) , and those Larry works with during the construction of a major hotel , such as pal Del Giorgio ( Michael Dante ) and Dr . Frank Albanos ( Mario Milano ) both men with a lot riding on the job and it's business potential , are in danger of her wrath . A worried Larry , whose own life is threatened when a crane , operated by Alma's spirit , carrying heavy material used for construction which nearly falls on top of him ( . . killing a co-worker by him ) , will seek help from a faith healer Doctor Solomon ( David Opatoshu ) . But , as Alma slowly gains control of Barbara her powers emerge , such as green laser blasts from the eyes , superhuman abilities to lift and throw men in the air , pulling a car apart before exploding it down a cliff , etc . Larry and Solomon will have to work together to somehow stop Alma from totally taking control . From the director of " Graduation Day " ( . . another Troma release ) , Herb Freed tries his hand in the demonic thriller genre . I think the cast gives it their best shot , but the budget is just too small and so many scenes show signs of post production tinkering where one scene doesn't transition smoothly to the next and the special effects ( . . particularly when Alma uses her powers , with green tint often appearing like a halo around Day George's head before she blasts somebody ) are rather cheap . I think one often needs an appropriate budget when approaching a film about demonic possession and a lot of the special effects undermine a decent effort from the director . I must also admit that there are some lighting issues , with a lot of scenes so dark you could barely see the actors , especially at night . I'm certainly not against low-budget film-making , and I think setting your film on an island inside a mansion which carries a certain flavor of it's surroundings certainly helps . I think the leads are fine . Saxon is the concerned husband , often playing him as conflicted and confused . Day George shows the battle of personalities raging inside , the sweet innocent Babs , and the evil Alma starting to take over . Lynde as Alma is actually pretty creepy with how she widens her mad eyes , opening her fingers exposing those long nails as she shoots green light . I think if Herb just had some more money , and decidedly remained away from using special effects concerning colors , he'd had a better film . But , it's assured that people will watch this with uncontrollable laughter , certainly at the special effects and perhaps hold a feeling of embarrassment for Saxon and Day George who deserve a better film . There are some make-up effects concerning Solomon's faith healing rituals where he slices open the stomach of " patients " removing the problems plaguing them ( . . one case goes wrong , to a child no less , when Alma interferes ) that work well . |
435,989 | 9,938,570 | 161,970 | 5 | Shark Attack | Action hokum concerning a marine biologist , Steven McKray ( Casper Van Dien ) , who convinces his boss to fund a trip to South Africa where a series of unusual , grisly shark attacks have occurred . The fishing village , owned by an unscrupulous businessman , Lawrence Rhodes ( Ernie Hudson ) collecting on foreclosures , has fallen on hard times due to the alarming increase in these shark attacks on tourists and fishermen . McKray was to meet up with an old friend who went on numerous shark-hunting expeditions , Marc Desantis ( Cordell McQueen ) , and finds that he has died under horrifying circumstances , his arm found in the belly of a shark . Joining forces with Marc's disgruntled sister , Corinne ( Jenny McShane ) and likable live-wire fisherman , Mani ( Tony Caprari ) , who drives his truck and boat on full-speed always , Steven will seek answers regarding his best friend's death which seems like more than just an accidental dive gone terribly wrong . Monitoring a former colleague Dr . Matt Craven's ( Bentley Mitchum ) shark experiments , Steven soon discovers that he is attempting to find a cancer cure but the side-effects prove that such procedures are ethically , and more importantly , physically , wrong . And , Steven , studying sharks that are active in the area of the village , discovers that they are being controlled . . motivated by a mechanical source and have abnormal defects , some organs much larger than they are supposed to be , not to mention uncharacteristic behavior brought on by Craven's experimentation . But , is Craven ultimately the villain of this film ? As Steven pursues the truth , he and Corinne become endangered by a corrupt police , willing to kill them to keep their silence as they discover the truth about a shady oil deal in the works . It'll be up to Steven to uncover the truth , to shed light on the underhanded tactics concocted by greed without remorse for innocent blood shed . The shark action is relatively tame . . the photographic documents of such attacks are more grisly than what happens to innocents attacked in the water of this film . A lot of quick cutting between the faces of frightened victims and sharks underwater swimming towards potential human meat , blood used to relate whether or not someone has been ensnared within the mouth of the lurking predator . The film resembles those goofy actioners from the 80's we so know and love where the heroes and villains are black and white with only Craven given any shades of gray . Hudson chews scenery as he does his cigar as the town shark , in a suit and tie , attempting to play nice when anyone can see he is corrupt to the core . Van Dien does his usual mugging , a perfect direct-to-video hero for the B-movie market . He suitably fills the role of the crusader out to find out the truth . Mitchum is smarmy as the crooked scientist with dreams of a Nobel prize and millions if he can perfect his experiments and create a cancer cure . Jenny McShane is your typical free-thinking independent woman , a diver and love-interest for Van Dien , fulfilling the requirements of " damsel in distress " , and used as a negotiating piece when evidence is collected on villains . . she also looks great in a bikini , which doesn't hurt . There are lots of shootouts and hand-to-hand combats between the fishermen and the police at the end which many might find exciting , although I found the whole orchestrated set-piece rather surreal and humorous . Also features a boat chase , explosions resulting , and Van Dien gets to show that every investigating marine biologist might ought to study martial art techniques . |
436,808 | 9,938,570 | 113,451 | 5 | Jade | A polished , sleazy tale ( . . did you expect anything less from writer Joe Eszterhas ) about an assistant to the District Attorney with the Homicide division , David Corelli ( David Caruso , who isn't the weak link here ) , who finds that the number one suspect of a hideous hatchet murder { to a very wealthy man , Kyle Medford ) is a friend of his . That friend , Trina ( the sexy Linda Fiorentino ) , is married to his old buddy , Matt ( Chazz Palminteri ) . . a high powered attorney everyone fears . What makes matters worse are that things begin piling up against here . . the most damning evidence being a videotape , nearly destroyed in a fire , containing her doing the nasty with another man . The pot is stirred as always because Eszerthas can not resist implicating high-society types and their varying degrees of immorality . The governor of California ( Richard Crenna ) finds his hands muddied when the investigators find photographs of him in bed with a hooker , Patrice ( Angie Everhart ) . David finds he has a difficult path to tread as the governor threatens him , his important witnesses who can identify this particular woman named " Jade " as a woman sleeping with various men at a beach-house owned by the deceased Medford are being murdered , and the thought of his friend's wife ( . . a woman he had a relationship with before and still secretly loves ) being a vicious killer . . they all stockpile against him as he gets closer to the truth . This film , as directed by workman-like Friedkin , is very beautiful to look at , but like many films by the screenplay writer it is sordid and cold . There's a marvelous car chase as David tries to catch this black thunderbird that has killed Patrice . In an epic moment , both cars drive through a Chinatown Buddhist celebration . You have several shady characters who might be possible suspects , but if you have seen the work of one actor in particular , the twist at the end can be seen much earlier on . I feel Friedkin should've used a different actor to play the real killer , but can see why this person was cast . . there's an animal in him that is often showcased in other films that needs to be driven home in this movie . I , for one , like the casting of Caruso as the hero of the film for he brings this intensity and intelligence to the character . He has that kind of trustworthy and likable face that makes us root for him as he races against many elements to find a killer . The film is layered with sex and deprivation as one should expect , and I didn't feel the ending holds up to the solid establishing scenes early on . Perhaps the film is too heavy on plot devices and not strong enough on plausibility . So many people are shown as corrupt lowlifes , that the only one we can trust is David ( . . well " most " of his team of investigators ) . Perhaps that is what the filmmakers wished to accomplish . . that typicality of noirish film . I believe the film runs out of steam and I just couldn't buy how the killer does his deed and get away with it . Though the car chase is amazing , it's hard to believe anyone could survive such a maddening ordeal . |
436,211 | 9,938,570 | 475,417 | 5 | Unearthed | An alien creature , dormant under a type of suspended animation thanks to a poison used on it 900 years ago by a tribe the thing was wiping out , is unearthed by a crackpot would-be archaeologist unleashing it on a desert town . Sheriff Annie ( Emmanuelle Vaugier , who I actually thought was a rather good heroine ) is struggling with alcoholism due to an accidental shooting of a child during a botched arrest . Her small town community plan to relieve Annie of her duties as an official with a set-up town meeting , but no one amongst this dust-spot planned on some alien monster with multiple eyes and slimy sharp teeth ( . . reproducing worm-like creatures which burrow in the skin killing the host inside out ) wiping them out . A truck turning over when the monster runs out in front of it causes a road block which leaves motorists , without fuel , at a gas station run by a wise , kind Native American ( Russell Means ) and his daughter Nodin ( Tonantzin Carmelo ) , who has returned from college to help out her pa . Kale ( Luke Goss ) , who looks like a soldier-of-fortune with a long tattoo down his face , is the archaeologist working for the Native American who discovers in a cavern why his people were practically wiped out , with the business of starvation being merely a created falsehood . Film is essentially ALIEN in New Mexico . The creature kind of carries the HR Geiger design somewhat , but this film is badly hampered by a constantly moving steadicam . . I had trouble seeing anything , at times , making the action & gore sequences a trial to sit through . I kept hoping the camera would just stay still for just a little while so I could see the creature mauling someone , but there are tons of quick edits often making the attacks on human prey hard to visualize . Great setting , with actors who aren't that bad even if they're left with partially realized characters . There's an arachnid like bug-walker the alien reproduces very akin to the face huggers of ALIEN which attacks a victim and the worms are shown entering flesh , but what could've been cool icky moments to relish are interrupted by a camera with jitters and neverending editing . Please , someone just hold the damn camera still and give me one continuous uninterrupted take of a monster attacking a human ! |
436,377 | 9,938,570 | 91,990 | 5 | Sorority House Massacre | Beth ( Angela O'Neill ) has been battling recurring nightmares since moving back to her sorority after her beloved aunt passed away . There's a man who has just murdered an entire family and seems to be coming for her . Director Carol Frank juxtaposes Beth returning home to her sorority with a man named Bobby ( John C Russell ) trying to free himself from the cell of a psycho ward . What does happen over time is that Beth will find that the images that occur in her mind and dreams ( not just that one recurring nightmare , but various images of Bobby trying at her with a long curving knife ) are repressed memories from her childhood resurfacing because they are awakened as she comes to the sorority which was once that very home Bobby killed in . Bobby will break from his cell when he attacks a nurse and return to the scene of the crime to finish what he started . . killing Beth , the one that got away . But , other sorority friends of Beth's will unfortunately bear her burden as they fall individually to his twisted wrath once he takes from a hardware store a knife he used to kill the owner . Energetic photography , potent nightmarish images of Bobby and his mean blade in Beth's mind , and a likable performance from cute O'Neill as heroine Beth lend a helping hand in another of those run-of-the-mill college slashers where young adults are simply enjoying life until they walk unknowingly into the knife of a sicko . There are jump-scares aplenty , over and over . The film pretty much is predictable and the screenplay provides ways for Beth's poor college mates to perish . This has those wonderful 80's items we cherish , the lousy fashion , lots of posters of musicians hot at the time , and those glorious hairstyles . The film also shows lots of cleavage . . nearly all the females ( . . but , Beth , of course , who appears to be the pure virginal innocent ) show their breasts . The boyfriends are all goof balls ( and most of the gals , as well ) so that might be another reason to check this slasher flick out . Just don't expect originality , because this sticks pretty close to formula except the added angle of repressed memories . |
436,669 | 9,938,570 | 203,830 | 5 | Reaper | A coastal Maine town is rocked by two vicious murders to traveling females which are similar to the deaths within a visiting troubled writer's novel , " The Reaper " . Famous novelist Luke Sinclair ( Chris Sarandon ) , notorious for his grisly , detailed violence in his books , is struggling through writer's block deciding to get away for a spell hoping to tap into the primal side that unleashes the creativity which yields the stories that have made him such a success . He believes we all have an ability , primal , to kill , but many of us know how to control it . Government sends a forensic pathologist , Sonya Lehrman ( Catherine Mary Stewart ) to the town to assist the sheriff's department in the case . Sheriff Norris ( Vlasta Vrana ) doesn't make it easy for Sonya , as he's not used to being ordered around " by a girl . " Sonya tries to cope with Norris ' " backwards ways " while trying to find the serial killer before he copycats the final murder from the " Reaper " novel . Luke seems to know a great deal about how the murders might've occurred as Sonya interviewed him , probing his thoughts and feelings on the two open cases . His boozing , and not taking prescribed pills to assist a mental disorder certainly don't help Luke's standing while a killer is being pursued . Understanding the psychology of the killer also makes him an ideal suspect . Slowly Sonya begins to develop feelings for Luke as his life begins to crumble due to alcoholism , a souring marriage , and media coverage of his possible criminal involvement in a double-murder case . The film also offers a possibility of Sheriff Norris ' less than polished career as a Boston detective and certain knowledge of a tattoo found on the second victim . To be honest , without some nudity ( . . the sight of two naked bodies , not exactly elaborating too much as the director does a good job of removing the camera shortly after we first see them ) and coarse language , " Reaper " actually plays like a Lifetime movie . The violence in this film is more discussed in details than shown . The film is quite dialogue , and performance driven . It's overall a detective thriller with multiple red herrings used to throw the viewer of the scent of who the killer really is . Some soapy melodrama thrown in with Luke and Sonya's developing feelings adding a bit of spice to the proceedings . |
436,097 | 9,938,570 | 37,985 | 5 | The Phantom of 42nd Street | Minor little murder mystery involving the deaths of members of a theater company and how it revolves around a popular star of the stage , Cecil Moore ( Alan Mowbray ) . A renowned New York City theater critic , Anthony Woolrich ( Dave O'Brien ) is asked by his newspaper's publisher to cover the story of the murder of Cecil Moore's brother , found hung with a note with written verse from a play . A second murder , an electrician who once worked for Cecil during an old theatrical troupe many years previous , is murdered as well ( . . a note with verse also left at his crime scene ) , and Tony has a hunch that it might concern a revenge of some sort tied to the Moores from their past . Looking through an old program that contained names of those involved with this troupe , Tony questions the leading actress , Janet ( Edythe Elliot ) and discovers , by her own admission , that she was in fact married to Cecil and is mother to his daughter , Claudia ( Kay Aldridge ) . This might just be the link . Both Cecil and his brother were after Janet's hand , but she was in love with another . . and actor who vanished , perhaps murdered by a jealous rival for her affections . Janet married and divorced from Cecil , and soon met another , a Buchanan , someone also involved with the stage who she confirmed died in an asylum . . or did he ? Tony believes someone currently working for Cecil might be the madman and that Claudia could be in danger as well . Even Tony himself was shot at . Along with his trusty taxi driver , Romeo ( . . the wisecracking Frank Jenks , whose cabbie never feels appreciated for all he does for our intrepid reporter ) , and Homicide detective , Lt Walsh ( Jack Mulhall ) , Tony will attempt to lure the killer into a trap by staging a charity play of Julius Caesar , hoping that he will literally inhabit the role of Brutus , getting caught in the process . Time hasn't been kind to this relic , and when you watch a film like THE PHANTOM OF 42ND STREET , you'll realize just why the role of film preservationists is so important . Lots of film jumps , lines and blotches that have effected key moments in the movie , and cuts into the dialogue due to the devastated quality really hamper the viewing experience . . nothing's as important as getting all the details and when characters are interrupted by ravaged film and sound , you never completely get the whole story . The film is certainly of it's time as the talk and humor are relative to the people who existed in New York City of the 40's ( . . Jenks ' cabbie is a true example of this ) . O'Brien is a handsome charmer and Aldridge quite a stunner . It's relatively quick at around an hour and harmless , but rather forgettable amongst others of it's type . Very talky . . quite dialogue driven as clues are pursued with our hero's life always in danger , although he never breaks a sweat , quite determined and motivated to save the Moores from potential peril . |
436,674 | 9,938,570 | 452,592 | 5 | Borderland | A sadistic Voodoo cult , practicing the Santerian rituals passionately so that their drug running would remain invisible to the authorities , plan to sacrifice a white American , Phil ( Rider Strong ) , a minister's son , whose screams would be loud enough to appease their god , Nganga . His pals , Ed ( Brian Presley ) & Henry ( Jake Muxworthy ) and their new female Mexican friend , Valeria ( the smolderingly sexy Martha Higareda ) must somehow save him before the ritual to take place at the next night of the Full Moon . The head honcho of the group , Papi , is worshiped by his proud and dedicated underlings like a god , for he has brought them much success in their efforts . In the border town between US and Mexico , the police are frightened of Papi and his Santillan brood , preferring to turn their faces away from the injustice which has lead to a multitude of sacrifices leaving a blood trail of vanished Mexicans along the way . To hopefully find their pal before being sacrificed , they will enlist the aide of a broken detective , long since casted off by his peers , who watched as his partner was butchered by two Santillan hoods , performing for their boss dutifully . Papi has his horde of heinas believing so wholeheartedly in this god Nganga , that they will perform whatever duties he sole requires , truly feeling they are invisible against any foe . Fairly predictable thriller , with director Zev Berman pulling most of his punches . Most of the hard stuff comes in the initial sequence where we see two of Papi's thugs , Gustavo ( Marco Bacuzzi , who impresses with his intensity in the undyingly loyal character he portrays ) & Luis ( Roberto Sosa ) giving detective Ulises ' ( Damián Alcázar ) partner the treatment , with an eye removal and decapitated arm , but even that is shaded somewhat through camera movement and cunning editing . The film does show how this group moves in packs swarming their prey , instilling a fear that leaves the citizenry of this bordertown frightened for their very lives , not knowing when they will be selected as a victim . I agree with others that this film follows the Hostel model in that Americans , who stray into a foreign land where protection and comfort of home are not as established , far removed from family and friends , can pay the ultimate price . This can clearly happen in America , too , obviously , but when you take three Americans who enter an unknown world alien to their own , somethings always open to happen . And this film , like Hostel , uses the young adults , with their careers ahead of them who go to a foreign place for beers and sex , right before setting off into the vast unknowns of life . . the oft-used angle that has worked for horror since " The Texas Chainsaw Massacre " and beyond . You're basically replacing Leatherface and his family of cannibalistic savages for this religious breed of murderous thugs dedicated to a cause with a fervent intent of pleasing their gods . And , as often is the case , certain characters are established , thanks to the detective Ulises , as the ones who will put an end to this reign of terror . Rider Strong is okay as the " soft " American who will be the sacrificial lamb , mostly shown tied or chained in some barn awaiting whatever this group of deranged loonies have in store for him . . he's both literally and figuratively left in the dark . What happens to him is mostly hinted at rather than shown . Whatever gory version others watched of this film must've been toned down , because most of the violence , is cleverly disguised through various technical methods . The breed often use machetes when they attack , and they work from a compound , with a fortress built for their master when he arrives from his drug-running errands . Sean Astin is cast against type as this American loser , whose body odor reeks right from the screen . Unshaven , with a filthy cap stained with sweat and dirt , often carrying a wad of chew buried deep in his mouth , Astin's Randall is a dedicated follower of Papi's who stands guard over their new prisoner . The film is shot a lot on steadi-cam , a choice that I guess Berman opted for to capture the characters in the heat of the moment , but as is often the case , will blur a lot of the action on screen . Violence , is blurred , thanks to this method perhaps allowing Berman to both save money on full fledged gore scenes while also alleviating the stress of having to set up long sequences with a camera on a dolly . This method is used among the new breed of horror directors and less expensive , so we are stuck with " Borderland " almost delivering us scenes of feverish intensity . . obviously , I'm one of the few who found this flick rather by-the-numbers and familiar . I never felt " Borderland " truly " seals the deal . " Perhaps , I'm wrong , but Berman certainly captures the zeal of faith in the clan of Santeria worshipers , and that sense of dread and fear is present in the border town . Still , I feel the viewer will know how the film ultimately will turn out , because the screenplay establishes , as films of this type often do ( . . especially slashers ) , who will live and die . |
435,783 | 9,938,570 | 88,889 | 5 | Cat's Eye | So-so anthology film with a cat linking the three vignettes . The first features James Woods as the victim of an anti-smoking organization and their disturbing , unorthodox ways of " healing " their clients . The second features Robert Hays as a victim of Kenneth McMillan's nasty millionaire who " offers him a way out " from his debt to him ( Hays also was having an affair with McMillan's wife ) if he can make a complete walk around the ledges of a high-rise . Along the way , McMillan toys with him trying his best to aggravate Hays ' fall . The third , and worst , feature is about some monster in Drew Barrymore's room that sucks her life force and eats her bird . The cat plays a more major role in this particular one for it must stop the monster before it kills Drew . This film really isn't all that scary despite being set in the 80's and having Stephen King's name draped all around it . The first two vignettes have their moments ( wondering if Woods will be able to outlast his hunger to smoke or risk possible harm to his wife thanks to the evil organization's threats ; Hays ' near-falls and revenge on McMillan ) , but the third falls flat to be basking in plain silliness . The film really is only moderately successful . I did like the little in-joke with " Cujo " and getting " The Dead Zone " in there was sneaky . But , the film just doesn't have that many true thrills to ultimately satisfy the true horror fan as this film takes a more psychological approach . The satirical humor of the first film , I believe , makes it my favorite of the three . |
435,730 | 9,938,570 | 415,160 | 5 | Minotaur | A monstrous product of a queen and bullgod by a people who desired amorous things , is fed the children of a nearby village ( 8 youths ) every so often . This massive bull , named the Minotaur , with a diseased skeletal look , was caged within a cavernous labyrinthine pit underneath the palace which is now ruled by King Deucalion ( Tony Todd , chewing the scenery as the lecherous villain ) and his sister Queen Raphaella . Sheepherder Theo ( Tom Hardy ) is being groomed by his father Cyrnan ( Rutger Hauer in a glorified cameo ) to become leader of their little village which is often raided by Deucalion of the youth . A wart-infested leper informs Theo that his beloved Ffion ( Donata Janietz ) , who was one of those chosen as meat for the Minotaur , is still alive and that he was destined to be the very man to kill the god . Their village worships the Minotaur as a deity , but Theo believes , thanks to this driven spirit and a strong love for his Ffion , he can kill the beast and will sneak among the chosen to face the music . Among those from the village chosen are loud-mouth Vena ( Fiona Maclaine ) , gruff & tough Tyro ( Lex Shrapnel ) who holds a grudge against Theo for " taking his girl Ffion away from him " , mute Morna ( Maimie McCoy ) , Morna's love and Theo's close friend Danu ( Jonathan Readwin ) , Tyro's love interest Didi ( Lucy Brown ) and quiet Ziko ( James Bradshaw ) who keeps to himself mostly . These are the ones who will be sent into the beast's lair maze to try and survive . Theo will have to somehow guide them through the most difficult situation . In an interesting turn of events , Raphaella hopes that Theo will succeed and opposes her brother Deucalion who wishes for her to bare him a child . She , herself , will enter the monster's lair willing to face whatever obstacles come upon her as a sign of resistance towards Deucalion and what he stands for . Meanwhile , Deucalion will plead with his sister to return even promising the bullgod statue sacrifices of the entire village and infants born for it . Okay little mythical monster movie set centuries ago . . small scale and mostly takes place within the Minotaur's den . A slight bit of graphic violence showing the Minotaur goring victims , but most of the deaths in the film happen off screen . Nothing truly memorable about it , really . May work best for monster movie fans with a Saturday afternoon to spare . |
436,418 | 9,938,570 | 415,167 | 5 | Mortuary | I must admit that this film really hooked me in at the opening hour or so as the film centers on a closely-knit family of three , mother Leslie ( Denise Crosby , Star Trek-The Next Generation ; Pet Semetary ) cutesy-pie , wide-eyed daughter Jamie ( Stephanie Patton ) and cynical , but sweet , son Jonathan ( Dan Byrd ) attempting to adapt to a small town , trying to renovate their mortuary which is in dire shape , needing extensive repairs and care . Something evil lies underground , a well housing something black which is attracted to blood , it's oil-slick tentacles reaching out for any it can find , such as when Leslie ( . . quite an amateur mortician , still learning her trade ) cuts her hand after a mishap with her embalming machine as the hose breaks away releasing fluid all over the place . . . a fungus-like residue remains whenever it comes from underground for blood . There's a spooky myth attached to the mortuary regarding local boogeyman , Bobby Fowler ( Price Carson ) whose parents once run the outfit , that he butchered them and still lives within the area . It turns out that Bobby does indeed exist and that he often feeds victims to the well , their blood giving whatever it is nourishment . Oftentimes , the black goo from the well turns humans into loony zombies , such as a trio of misfits , two goofy punk gals , Tina & Sara ( Courtney Peldon & Tara Paige ) and their brutish and rude male love-toy , Cal ( Bug Hall ) who have a bad habit of starting trouble , such as picking an altercation with Jonathan or mistreating the graveyard nearby the mortuary . The film , as typical with Hooper's oeuvre , has an array of eccentric supporting characters such as a stuttering , nervous sheriff and an always-laughing real-estate agent , a bit too cheery with off-the-wall remarks which produce most of the dark humor on display . I think the setting , a creepy mortuary with evil lurking within , works exceptionally well , and the graveyard is quite spooky , but the computer graphics are simply abysmal ruining what could've been an impressive follow-up to Hooper's The Toolbox Murders . The well isn't defined enough and is sloppily created , not looking the least bit realistic . Bobby goes from grotesque villain to heroic savior way too fast , and seems integrated into the film way too late . The corpses in Leslie's morgue , which are given life thanks to the black goo , are certainly effective enough , resembling the Romero signature zombies . The computer graphics ( for how they are destroyed through the use of salt ) are dreadful . And , the grim twist at the end doesn't make sense in regards as to what happens to Jonathan . Most of the murders that take place are handled specifically through the use of CGI ( . . even when the hand of a zombie bursts through the chest of a victim ) which removes the effectiveness of the horror ( . . The Toolbox Murders , on the other hand , is much more effective due to it's use of practical gore-effects ) . And , I , for one , felt the film was hampered by the decision to turn Leslie into a zombie because the strength of the family was an important ingredient in the overall story ( . . and I just enjoyed the chemistry of the three leads as a family absent a father , trying to start over ) . Perhaps , Hooper and company wanted to turn Leslie so that the terror heightens towards Jonathan and Jamie , a hopeless situation where they must depend on themselves to survive . Those also facing the zombie crisis , are Jonathan's gravel-voiced love interest Liz ( Alexandra Adi ) and her pot-smoking homosexual pal Grady ( Rocky Marquette ) . Lee Garlington has a nice supporting turn as a foul-mouthed diner owner , Rita , often mentioning her frequent drug-trips in the past ( . . she also serves as a mentor to Liz and gives Jonathan a job ) informing Jonathan of Bobby Fowler . The dialogue , as usual in a Hooper film , can be quite profane and darkly humorous . As typical in a Tobe Hooper horror film , corpses have collected by certain victims within Fowler's lair , and the theme of innocence facing destruction is ever-present . |
436,743 | 9,938,570 | 307,105 | 5 | Long Island Cannibal Massacre | You're mad , aren't you ? You're mad because I'm alive and you're all chopped into little pieces . A psychopathic duo mutilate and destroy victims , chopping up their bodies ( . . mainly the female victims ) for their " boss " who needs the human flesh to feed his leprous cannibalistic father ! A cop discovers a head in the sand of Long Island ( . . after the duo sloppily kill a victim on the beach ) and after being bribed by the leprous father's son to keep what he found hush-hush , pursues the truth behind the strange situation . Missing people around Long Island , an epidemic that seems to concern the police who have encountered no leads , could sure use a detective willing to find the ones responsible . Nathan Schiff's super 8 low budget " extravagansa " is loaded with everything a lover of bad cinema craves . I knew right from the start when I saw lines on the film stock , with the sounds of a projector running creeping into the dialogue . . I believe I even heard the opening and closing of a door at one point . . with silent film scores ( . . even some music from old serials , haha ) that I was in for a " treat . " Using non-actors and home-made grue ( . . I believe one of the actors in an interview on the DVD said the director used turkeys ) this film is bound to capture the hearts of an audience willing to embrace the cruddy visual look and home-movie aesthetic which this has . The movie is essentially a series of attacks , most of them off-screen with the viewer getting nasty aftermaths of bloody meat and torn flesh wounds . I particularly enjoyed one scene where a poor female victim gets her head smashed when the killer ( wearing a pillow case on his head with goggles , haha ) slams the back door of a van , re-opening it displaying smashed brains and blood splatter all over the place . And , another bit of sick humor shows the pillow-cased killer pulling a lump of flesh caught at the end of his tire-iron after bashing a victim's face in with it . I think going into this film , we get a direct idea of what we're in for . A school girl is walking down a green forest path home , with books in tow , deciding to relax for a bit when the killer , pillow case on head / goggles across face , attacks her with a lawnmower . . he opens the lawnmower bag to remove the head meat revealing her skull ! And , not long after we get the beach discovery of the human head as the camera hones in on a maggot-infested eye socket . The film's sound is about as cruddy as the film stock , bringing this effort from Schiff a unique charm film cineasts might not agree with . I think , for that specific audience , this will be a gift . . especially the gratuitous chainsaw attack at the end where the cannibalistic father relentlessly tears into his son's body with torn flesh , body parts , and blood ripping apart . You get the removal of a female victim's guts , and we even see the cannibalistic father's son forced into eating from a dead body . The detective , seeking the murdering duo , has sequences with his girlfriend that seem like padding to the rest of the film . He has a hilarious fight scene with the motorcycle riding psycho of the serial killing duo . There's even a " psychological twist " at the end revealing the detective that will have you howling . And , this guy doesn't die easily ! And , to cap that off , female children , seemingly followers of the cannibalistic leper ( . . now with an appearance of a monster whose face and hands are akin to those bad creature concoctions in old-school Roger Corman productions and Grade-Z creature features which burst upon the scene back in the 50s and 60s ) eats the guts of his son's mutilated corpse ! Pure sick trash with an assured cult following . . certainly not for all , or most , tastes . |
436,498 | 9,938,570 | 146,336 | 5 | Urban Legend | One night " Urban Legend " was being shown ( cut , mind you ) on ABC Family's " 13 Days of Halloween " late at night as I passed by the living room with my wife watching . It put an interest to see it and I found it at a decent price so I said to myself I'd give it a shot . " Urban Legend " , as you should know , is part of that cycle of films that spurned successfully from the huge popularity of Wes Craven's SCREAM . This one is pretty silly , but far more entertaining than it should be . Quality camera-work and craftsmanship try to make-up for a screenplay which asks a lot from our viewer . We are supposed to accept the fact that this serial killer can move from one location to another in quick speed ( with some of the deaths desiring elaborate planning and cunning ) . . and in a torrent rain-storm that would rival anyone having to stage death traps at just the right moment with success . Alicia Witt is the heroine who knew the murdered Natasha Gregson Wagner from High School . Around her are friends dying in different ways by a psychopath wearing a huge coat with a fur head covering that provides us with no way of seeing the killer's face . The gimmick of this slasher flick is that people are dying according to elaborately staged Urban Legends . Witt will turn to college-newspaper journalist Jared Leto for help . The film is loaded with the faces of youth television stars such as Joshua Jackson , Michael Rosenbaum & also features the likes of Robert Englund ( as a professor of folklore ) , John Neville ( as the college dean ) , scene-stealing Loretta Devine ( as the security guard modeling herself after blaxploitation heroine Pam Grier ) , Tara Reid ( as a radio-host who looks great with meat on her bones ) , & Rebecca Gayheart ( as Witt's best friend ) . |
435,928 | 9,938,570 | 81,383 | 5 | Prom Night | A young girl dies tragically when she falls through the window of an abandoned building upper floor as a result of a scare tactic prank performed by four kids playing a hide-n-seek version of " I'm going to kill you . " The kids responsible make a silent pact to keep their actions behind this death secret , with a schizophrenic known child abuser accused of being the guilty culprit responsible . The wrongfully accused man is seriously burned after trying to flee the police with his car turned over in a crash . Breaking free from the asylum imprisoning him , this event coincides with the four kids , now teenagers in high school , receiving creepy phone calls from an unknown psychopath forewarning their up coming meeting at the senior prom . The film shows the days leading up to the senior prom , and the psycho , dressed in black with a ski-mask covering his face , attacking each member of the group responsible ( . . when they are most vulnerable , away from a crowd of people , alone in some place either inside the quiet abandoned halls & rooms of the school , or just outside the building ) for the little girl's death many years ago , on Prom Night . More along the line of " Halloween " than " Friday the 13th " , this is a methodical ( . . some might say . . slowwwwwwwww moving ) character driven slasher with limited death sequences shown , with most of the killer's murderous activities occurring off screen . I will say that the victims are developed , given exposition before the senior prom so that they gain sympathy from the audience . The only one who might deserve her comeuppance in many viewer's eyes is Wendy ( Anne-Marie Martin ) , the very one who instigated the silence of their misdeeds as children , and the one who causes most of the mischief towards Kim ( Jamie Lee Curtis ) , who is dating her former squeeze , Nick ( Casey Stevens ) . What makes this union most interesting is that Kim's sister was the girl who fell through the window to her death , and Nick was one of the kids responsible for frightening her with that game . We witness the other two girls , now young women either experiencing love for the first time or heartbreak , before meeting their doom at the hands of the mysterious psycho . As is the case in giallo thrillers , which this is closer in spirit than 80's slashers , there are red herrings regarding who the killer might be . Could the psycho be the escaped lunatic seeking revenge for being framed for a murder he didn't commit ? Could the killer be Kim's grieving father , Principal Hammond ( Leslie Nielsen , handed a very underwritten role ) ? Could the killer be the peeping tom , alcoholic , sneaky janitor ? I'm just not convinced this will work for many slasher fans because the seedy , gratuitous elements which draw such a crowd are not that present here . Like a lot of fans of " Halloween " from their youth onward , I followed Jamie Lee Curtis ' career , looking for other horror films on VHS shelves , and " Prom Night " was one of those . Expecting something more visceral , I guess I was a tad bit disappointed . Watching it as an adult , I believe I can see what director Paul Lynch was trying to accomplish . . building up these characters looking forward to the future , or dwelling on their own personal dramas and dilemmas ( . . relationships and growing pains , these teens had in high school ) , before facing a grim fate they weren't prepared for . He also lenses the film , very soft-focus , giving it an almost dreamlike aura . One of a handful of slashers Curtis would star in during the early 80's before moving on to " Trading Places " where she'd hone her comedic chops , she was blossoming into a stunning woman . While I loathe disco with a passion , this film might amuse as a time-capsule film with how Curtis shows her stuff on the dance floor . She even teases her faithful with a lockeroom sequence showing how she has developed wearing a bra , shirt opened . As far as the death sequences , the highlight , of course , is the decapitation where a thug , taking Nick's place after he and his cronies attacked him , tying the kid up in a situation planned by Wendy , gets his head lopped off with it rolling onto the dance-floor walkway . The film's main suspense chase concerns Wendy trying to flee her pursuer through the empty halls of the school as the other teens are dancing . The film's reveal of the killer is really kind of sad , actually , as so many perish because of a childish prank which could've been prevented if the kids responsible had acted civilized . |
436,766 | 9,938,570 | 100,152 | 5 | Mindwarp | In a post-apocalyptic future , an " Inworlder " , Judy ( Marta Alicia ) resists the Infinisynth way of life , wishing to experience reality instead of the paradise of pure fantasy ( why ? ) where the world can be created at her choosing . There are few lucky enough to be an Inworlder and Judy wishes to go above ground and see the real world . Her mother embraces Infinisynth and has practically abandoned Judy for the fantasy world she's hooked into to . Judy wishing to communicate with her mother , is able to enter her fantasy causing a system malfunction . This system error kills Judy's mom , and she finally is allowed by the Systems Operator ( the person / godhead over maintaining the Infinisynth program with an overhead helmet and these peculiar wires which stem from it emitting blue light ) to have her wish . These mysterious police drug her with a hypodermic and Judy awakens on the cold , barren surface . Almost sinking in a quicksand death-trap , Judy is rescued by " Crawlers " , mutated cannibals who scavenge the surface at the command of a leader from underground . She is to be taken somewhere , but Stover ( Bruce Campbell ) , a regular human whose ancestry have since perished as the surface is an unforgiving place often causing " brain disease " , nasty facial sores , and death , saves her by vanquishing them with his crossbow and sword . They fall in love but are soon kidnapped by mutants and carried into a " Crawler's hole " which tunnels straight into an underground hellhole of darkness , garbage , and junk-metal . Underground , led by a homicidal , psychopathic intellectual named Seer ( Angus Scrimm ) who was once an Inworlder has the cannibal mutants under his command , adapting a religion and totalitarian environment where his voice is one of power and dread . The Crawlers are hideous with no language , just grunting . . . they are mostly used as workers trying to find anything of value from civilization of long ago ( such as the motor of a blender ) and when no longer of use ( such as one mutant whose hand is chopped off in an accident ) are put away . Cornelia ( Elizabeth Kent ) is Seer's sore-spotted maiden ( the marks on her face do not remove her slight beauty , though ) , with a nasty attitude , who has a slave named Claude ( Wendy Sandow ) , a timid mute who has been rendered quite fragile and weak by this underground world that would remove the strength of many a normal person . Judy will try to coerce Claude into helping free her from the bondage of leather arm straps , while Stover , put to work with the mutants , has removed the blade from a bender hatching a plan of escape . A cruel bit of irony is that Seer might be someone Judy has been looking for . . his plans to pro-create with Judy add a grotesque spin to this already blood-drenched gore-fest . What one must never forget is the Infinisynth machine and the world Judy was " released from . " Even though it seems the film is about escaping this society of monsters led by a pure human madman , the Inworld way of life doesn't completely fade from the plot . If you like the Mad Max films , this might be up your alley . Bruce makes a great hero , even though he finds himself always at odds against many more men often besieging him before he can save the woman he loves . The underground hellhole and Scrimm as the mutants ' Messiah add an extra bit of " fun " to this B-movie gore-fest . There's one scene where Scrimm's Seer removes the eyeball of a victim before throwing her into a chopping machine that drenches blood from the one being cut to ribbons for a ceremonial drinking ( . . no , I'm not kidding ) . Bruce gets a chance to slice throats , penetrate blades through mutant scum , even sword-fight with Angus . Scrimm displays his menace with a guilty-free calm . . he's flat-out bonkers , but carries himself like a quiet gentleman which makes him even more the creep than the typical over-the-top lunatic that often portrays these kind of characters . Marta Alicia is okay , I guess , but she's damned sexy so she's granted a reprieve if her character of Judy fails to truly grab you . I say see this if you liked the recent sequel to Alexander Aja's remake of " Hills Have Eyes " . . both resemble a lot . I don't think it's all that memorable despite carrying two horror icons . The most unpleasant sequence , other than Scrimm's chopping machine , is when these leech-like sea-slugs enter Campbell's body , crawling underneath his flesh towards the back of his neck ( how they are released is also a nasty bit of business , I must say ) . |
436,759 | 9,938,570 | 55,391 | 5 | Secret of the Red Orchid | The lieutenant of a Chicago crime syndicate shot down by rival gangster boss Kerkie Minelli's ( Eric Pohlmann ) hoods , Gunner Steve ( Klaus Kinski ) sets up new roots in London and is suspected of blackmailing wealthy aristocrats threatening through the use of mailed letters written in block newspaper / magazine clippings not to report to the police or else . Minelli himself , along with his gangster clan , decide to take up residence in London themselves splitting the city in two . Scotland Yard Inspector Weston ( Adrian Hoven ) convinces his superiors to join forces with American ( ! ) FBI agent Captain Allerman ( Christopher Lee ) , a cunning investigator who understands the methods of these Chicago crime families and their history offering a brand of expertise needed to take down these hoodlums who have possibly led to the murder of several wealthy citizens already . But , are these crime families really responsible for the blackmailing and murders of those aristocrats ? Or , are they merely the perfect cover for another schemer ? In an important sub-plot , Lilian Ranger ( Marisa Mell ) watches with her buffoon butler , Parker ( Eddi Aren't , the comedy relief of this crime thriller . . a running gag has him labeled the " death butler " for he winds up under the employ of every single aristocrat murdered by the blackmailing killer ) as her employer , Elias Tanner ( Fritz Rasp ) is gunned down by hoods in his own home passing themselves off as Scotland Yard guards . His bachelor nephew , Edwin ( Pinkas Braun ) , one known for being quite the playboy and ne'er-do-well , comes home supposedly from Brazil to hopefully receive an inheritance from his uncle's will . Edwin is known as an orchid hunter / enthusiast and often drops by to see Lilian , even after he finds out that his uncle has left the entire inheritance to her . Can Edwin be trusted ? Or , is he possibly secretly plotting something ? He always brings a unique orchid for Lilian when he visits her . To be honest , this crime / gangster thriller is only notable for it's cast , particularly Lee and Kinski . But , they can not save themselves from the rather dull plot or the atrocious dubbing which causes one to wince . . whoever was responsible for the voice-work , which is indeed a travesty to listen to , shouldn't have been paid a dime . It's interesting seeing Mell in this before she'd go on to become an icon in Italian cinema . One thing that just drove me bonkers was the way hoods would shoot people and the camera would close in to show that the victims of bullet-fire had no wounds or even a hint of blood . . the effect of Minelli's fate , for instance , is ruined because of a close-up showing not the slightest hint of bodily damage . The film itself is rather a bore , I must admit . But , seeing Lee and Kinski opposite each other , even if for just one scene , is quite a thrill . The film's main mystery is practically ruined by the title ! |
435,773 | 9,938,570 | 100,114 | 5 | Marked for Death | Screwface has two heads and four eyes , and that's the secret to his magic . Lincoln Heights , a cushy suburb of Chicago , is being overrun by Jamaican drug-lord Screwface who is selling to the white youth on school grounds . Burned-out , retired DEA agent John Hatcher ( Steven Seagal ) gets in the middle of a blood feud with Screwface and his cronies when they threaten his family after he exposes them in a bar shootout with Colombians that goes awry . Teaming with old Vietnam war buddy Max ( Keith David ; now a football coach with a player and family exposed to the ills of Screwface's drug trade ) and a Jamaican cop Charles ( Tom Wright ) who has spent his career trying to take apart Screwface's drug trade , they will infiltrate the cartel with many dead bodies lying in the wake . The title of the movie represents a Voodoo curse placed on Hatcher and his family for he has corrupted their business with his involvement in putting a stop to them . About as dumb as these typical actioners come , it supplies fans of Seagal for what they ask for . . car chases , gun-fights , sword-fights , and snapped limbs . Seagal's hands are amazingly swift and he's able to mow over these Jamaican scum with ease . It doesn't stray far from the usual formula of a Steven Seagal picture . . it's all about the man taking out the trash in graphically violent ways . Many arms and legs are snapped like a twig and the villains are merely clichéd vermin to be eradicated like cockroaches . . Seagal is the quintessential exterminator . The lovely Joanna Pacula has a thankless role as an expert in Voodoo assisting love-interest Seagal with information about his nemesis ' religious practices . Basil Wallace is unintentionally hilarious as the over-the-top , spitting , bulging-eyed drug-lord . The Jamaican gangsters are presented as uneducated twats who can not pronounce a single sentence plainly . |
436,479 | 9,938,570 | 904,049 | 5 | Hair Extensions | Positively bizarre supernatural Japanese horror regarding killer hair extensions ! A female corpse is found engulfed in hair , her organs removed by those black market surgeons , and becomes the immediate fixation of a nutty mortician who kidnaps her body taking it home with him . Enamoured with her hair , Gunji Yamazaki ( Ren Osgui ) begins furnishing salons " samples " with horrifying results . The film focuses on hair stylist Yuko Mizushima ( Chiaki Kuriyama ) , a young apprentice in a salon whose cruel sister , Kiyomi ( Tsugumi ) drops in unannounced to cause disturbance , leaving behind an abused daughter , Mami ( Miku Sato ) while embarking in a relationship with a sleazy lover at night . Yuko and Mami form a bond as Kiyomi is away ruining her life , while the hair extensions used from the dead girl cause death to customers . The extensions carry the hostile feelings of the dead girl and those who happen to wear the hair are recipients of the vengeance she so desperately harbors . Soon Yamazaki will drop off samples at the salon for which Yuko works bringing the separate stories together . Also , Yamazaki , with an unhealthy obsession with hair , is drawn to Yuko and Mami and wishes to possess what they have . . beautiful hair , of course . We also follow two detectives pursuing the one responsible for kidnapping the corpse and how their search will soon lead to Yuko and Yamazaki . Unsettling violence to human victims mainly displaying how hair bursts from body orifices and wounds , increasing in size as it flows out , often wrapping around arms and throats , out eye sockets , even bleeding when cut by scissors . The film really gets serious with Mami's neglect at the hands of a monstrous mother , whose presence yields nothing but anguish and misery . That bitch gets hers , though . Chiaki Kuriyama is a very likable lead with a wonderful smile that lights up the screen , and a pleasant disposition that is a direct opposite of her polarizing sister . The film grows darker and darker as Yamazaki becomes more and more unhinged , his home besieged by the corpses hair as it grows following fits of anger during violent acts towards victims . You just have to see this to believe it ! |
436,571 | 9,938,570 | 90,196 | 5 | Transylvania 6-5000 | Two journalists , Jack ( Jeff Goldblum , doing his usual shtick ) & the incompetent Gil ( Ed Begley , Jr . , who tries so hard ) are sent by their employer looking in Transylvania for Frankenstein ( never called Frankenstein's monster which tells you how badly the film will indeed wind up ) . But , this Transylvania , or it's supposed " monsters " are anything but ominous . Clearly the cast appear to be having a good time at the poor viewer's expense . I thought Goldblum was gonna burst into laughter out of character numerous times as we watch him trying to hold himself together . His character Jack spends most of the film trying to romance Elizabeth ( Teresa Ganzel ) . It's Gil who gets to do most of the foot-work and snooping , often stuck in unusual situations trying to sniff out leads . You have some weird characterizations . Michael Richards has by far the strangest pulling a more bizarre version of Kramer as Fejos , butler of the hotel where Jack and Gil are staying . He has some really off-the-wall comic bits with Begley , Jr . You have Geena Davis in an early role as a vampire wannabe named Odette who has a lustful thing for Gil . Donald Gibb ( Ogre of REVENGE OF THE NERDS fame ) as the " wolfman " . Joseph Bologna as Dr . Malavaqua , a gentle kindly doctor who turns stark , raving loony when he enters his lab underneath the hotel . John Byner is Radu , the much maligned assistant of Malavaqua , who also spends the day as a manservant ordered around by Mayor Lepescu ( Jeffrey Jones ) and Inspector Percek ( Bozidar Smiljanic ) who seem to care more for their wine festival than keeping law and order in Transylvania . Dusko Valentic is the supposed monster ( known by Jack as " the twisted man . " ) while the Mummy unwrapped has to be seen . Carol Kane is Lupi , the wife who adores Radu . . the running joke is she always informs him of her love and devotion to him in spades . More odd than funny . To be honest , the cast gives it their best shot . . energetic and inspired even if the material they're saddled with isn't . The film just lacks big laughs , and the moments of weird behavior will not always wash with the more mainstream crowd . I do believe fans of spoofs regarding classic horror might respond to it the most . Never quite works , although it desperately wants to . |
435,674 | 9,938,570 | 428,390 | 5 | Severed : Forest of the Dead | A genetic breakthrough which can produce large trees at a quicker rate has an unfortunate side-effect . . the sap , once entered into the human bloodstream , turns humans into flesh-eating zombies , whose bite produces the same effect . Tyler ( Paul Campbell ) doesn't wish to follow in his Chairman father's footsteps , but is coerced into going to a logging site whose production has grown silent . Once there , Tyler finds that the workers , and environmentalist protesters , are raving zombies munching on mutilated bodies . Finding a logger , Luke ( Michael Teigen ) , who saves his life , they make for a makeshift shack of temporary safety containing a small motley group of frightened survivors . Rita ( Sarah Lind ) , the mastermind of the major protest against the logging company's cutting down trees , is one of the few who made it to shack , along with fellow protester Stacey ( Leanne Adachi ) . Mac ( Julian Christopher , a fatherly , trustworthy , wise , & heroic presence ) is the foreman whose men were plagued by the zombie virus thanks to a horrifying chainsaw mishap , caused by a spiked tree ( . . planted by the protesters ) , which mixes the genetically enhanced sap into a worker's wounded shoulder . Carter ( JR Bourne ) , is a wimpy , pathetic scientist , working for the company taking samples of the sap , testing it for possible dangers with the results , good or bad , sent back to the research center . Carter perhaps knows what is causing the zombie plague . Together , on foot , Tyler will lead the motley group to his truck hoping to escape with their lives intact . Rita , however , has plans to save her boyfriend , Greg ( John Reardon ) which separates them temporarily . Problems arise even when they make it to the truck , and the group find themselves , thanks to the board who forces Tyler's father to sign a decree for confinement , trapped in the camp with only a back road as a possible escape route . Things get even worse when those who somehow survive multiple zombie attacks , find themselves in the camp of another logging company , led by the massive , imposing Anderson ( Patrick Gallagher ) whose presence over the men offers just as much a threat to them as the bloodthirsty undead . This zombie film is rife with stupid human behavior , particularly by the cowardly scientist Carter , played by JR Bourne as if he were Dr . Smith of LOST IN SPACE . He quivers like a little scared child , always cowering and shaking . He is the type who doesn't help others in need , despite the rescuing he receives ( . . like when Luke saves him from an attack only to be left by Carter to fend for himself ) . Tyler makes two really dumb decisions ( . . one , obviously because without making it there wouldn't be a movie , his leaving the truck as zombies come toward him , opting instead to flee into the forest , and a second , instead of leaving with Rita when escape is possible , decides to try and help Carter who was completely surrounded by zombies with no hope , it seems , of escaping a sinister fate ) which will have you screaming at the screen . The film is shot in a frenzy , using grainy stock it seems , never keeping the camera still when the zombies make their appearances . Blood spurts in slow motion , but rarely is the true violence ( . . like our characters bludgeoning the zombies with weapons ) ever shown on screen . The zombie virus works like in the 28 DAYS / WEEKS LATER with those infected convulsing not too long after being bit . They rampage their victims just as feverishly as in Zack Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake . Actually , this film is shot very similar to Snyder's film , giving those infected little time on screen , instead almost completely focusing on the characters and their plight . This film , despite how the zombie virus starts , isn't really any different than the films that have came before it . I do think many zombie fans will like it . . many will be game for zombies in a forest , even if we rarely see true carnage ( . . there is some flesh-eating , but most of it is more implied than shown in depth ) . The cast , for the exception of Bourne , who I thought was dreadful , is actually pretty decent . I really thought Christopher , as the foreman who becomes the rock everyone leans on to stay alive , was especially good . |
435,806 | 9,938,570 | 71,629 | 5 | House on Skull Mountain | Relatives are sent a letter , an invite to come to the Southern mansion , on the outskirts of Atlanta , of a voodoo priestess , who has died , expecting them to ward off an evil they do not know . Each person , the foxy attractive Lorena ( Janee Michelle ) , smart-mouth , obnoxious Phillippe ( Mike EVans of " The Jeffersons " ) , polite , mannered Christian Harriet ( Xernona Clayton ) and the unlikely " honky " of the group , an anthropology professor , who has studied voodoo , Dr . Andrew Cunningham ( Victor French of " Highway to Heaven " and " Little House on the Prairie " ) , haven't even met their ancestor . While it appears this group is gathering for a will reading , they are instead in for a battle against the creepy butler , Tomas ( Jean Durand ) , secretly practicing voodoo rituals in a hidden room below the mansion using his abilities to endanger their lives . It'll be up to the unlikely heroics of Cunningham , who definitely sticks out like a sore thumb in this mostly African-American cast , and his knowledge of voodoo , to stop Tomas who wishes to strengthen his powers by marrying Lorena , a mostly pure Christophe . Voodoo horror outing even has a musical ritual performed by practitioners in that cavernous den below the mansion . There are skulls aplenty , which I admired , such as the face on the mountain where the mansion resides and on the door that greets visitors . Even Death pops up every once in a while to point towards potential victims . The climax even has Pauline Christophe ( Mary J Todd McKenzie ) rising from the grave , by order of Tomas which adds some fun to the proceedings . I think this kind of horror film , which gives over to the supernatural elements of the practiced religion , might make many viewers chuckle instead of fold into their seats . The cast is okay , nothing mind-blowing , but just the audacity to have a white hero is something to create interest for this kind of unusual horror effort . Not a bit violent , this was suppose to spook , not disgust . The setting , I loved a great deal . . the mansion is quite a stunning set . I thought the ending where Tomas and Cunningham square off in a sword fight was a bit hokey , though . I'm not sure whatever happened to the participants of the voodoo dance once Tomas accidentally slices a skull , ritualistically placed on a stick which holds Lorena hypnotically imprisoned . You have to gloss over flaws like that when a film allows liberties regarding the power of voodoo on innocents . |
436,046 | 9,938,570 | 261,250 | 5 | Royal Rumble 1989 | I guess one could look at the second Royal Rumble as Big John Studd's last hurrah , and a fitting finale to a rather unfulfilled career . He enters the 30 Man Battle Royal rather late , but , once he's in the ring , everyone else ( . . especially Akeem & Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase ) knows it . I had never realized just how massive and imposing he really is because I hearken back to his times opposite André the Giant in the squared circle , and everyone looks small compared to him . But , anyone can see , if you are watching it on home video , that Studd was having the time of his life , pounding away at Akeem throughout most of his time in the ring . If anyone attempted to attack him , they were tossed aside with ease . The major running story-line at the time was the crack in the foundation of The Mega Powers , WWF World Heavyweight champion Randy ' Macho Man ' Savage and former champion Hulk Hogan , mainly due to beautiful manager Elizabeth . Savage , no matter how successful during his one-year tenure as champion , was always under Hogan's shadow , and if you add jealousy into the equation ( . . at the previous Thanksgiving wrestling card , Survivor Series , Hogan hoists Liz in the air after their victory and Savage doesn't exactly like it ) eventually the foundation will capsize . In the Royal Rumble , Savage was in a continuing battle with a foe at the time , Bad News Brown ( a rough Harlem streetfighter , always carrying a scowl , never getting along with anyone ) when Hogan eliminates both of them . Savage confronts Hogan after his accidental exit and this is a definite sign that the relationship , once quite strong , has deteriorated . Liz is able to separate the two and they end in a handshake , but later ( . . in the Saturday Night Main Event card where The Twin Towers , Big Boss Man & Akeem , wrestle the Mega Powers ) the situation between the two would end quite ugly , thanks to Hogan's leaving Savage to fend for himself against the Twin Towers while taking to an injured Liz ( Savage would accidentally fall on her ) to medical assistance . The opening of the card features a six-man tag match consisting of three falls ( . . whoever wins two out of three times is the victor ) between Hacksaw Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation against " Canada's Strongest Man " Dino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers . Pretty entertaining , although , at times , sloppily performed . Duggan is quite a fan favorite at this time , although his style is not necessarily graceful ( . . Bret was a fine compliment to the team , his excellence of execution adding quality to the proceedings ) . The Rougeau Bros ( . . never given a chance to hoist the tag titles in the air ) have an abundance of talent and work extraordinarily well as a team while Bravo uses his brute strength to extend punishment to whoever the victim might be . Bret is pinned after the Rougeaus apply their fabulous finishing maneuver , and mostly dominate the opening of the bout pummeling Hart who finally breaks free to tag Duggan . Duggan pins one of the Rougeaus , then uses his 2X4 across the back of another Rougeau to win the match . This kind of cheating raises the ire of commentator Jesse the Body Ventura . The " pose off " between ' Ravishing " Rick Rude and Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior , is little more than filler , providing the audience with a new feud which would lead to an exchange of the IC belt between the two at both Wrestlemania V & Summerslam ' 89 . The Women's Championship is a joke and shows the viewer that this division will never work despite Vince McMahon's continual efforts . ' Sensational ' Sherry ( ' Scary ' Sherry , she'd later be labeled , making her presence felt when joining Randy Savage's side later after he turns heel ) makes an appearance disrupting the women's bout before it begins . The Battle Royal itself consists of a lot of WWF wrestlers of that time ( . . some like Shawn Michaels & ' Mr . Perfect ' Curt Henning were just pups at this point in their careers ) . Many tag teams represented the event , providing numbers to the 30 because no one expects the Bushwackers to win it . The Powers of Pain , Strike Force ( Tito Santana & Rick Martel ) , The Brain Busters ( Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard ) , The Rockers ( Marty Jannety and Shawn Michaels ) , & Demolition ( Ax & Smash who would draw numbers 1 & 2 tearing into each other at the beginning ) . André the Giant was easily the one favored , at first , to win the Battle Royal , and , despite multiple attacks by an army of wrestlers , was pummeling everyone in his path and tossing them around . André the Giant definitely used his size and girth to dominate those who dared challenge him . Fortunate for those in the ring , Jake Roberts ( . . who had been tossed over the ropes by André ) had his secret weapon , his pet snake Damian , with André the Giant eliminating himself and running for his life in absolute fear . Until Macho Man and Hogan arrived , it loses steam with the exit of André . A running feud at the time was between The Mega Powers & The Twin Towers , and the crowd would shockingly witness Hogan being thrown out of the Royal Rumble by the gargantuan duo . The final act would have Big John Studd , Ted Dibiase and Akeem going at it , with a surprising win going for the more unlikely candidate . . Big John Studd , who was not amongst any hot story-lines during this point in 1989 . It was a great thrill to see a very satisfied Big John Studd win the Royal Rumble in such a memorable fashion , disposing of Akeem ( . . once One Man Gang , and quite the behemoth ) and Dibiase , barely breaking a sweat . A sense of funny irony was that Dibiase had purchased the final draw to enter the event , and was not at all successful in his desire to win The Royal Rumble . This victory is not as recognized as many others mainly because of the Mega Powers soap opera , but I was proud for Studd , a man who would walk tall celebrating quite a substantial victory , a shining exit to a rather disappointing career . |
436,243 | 9,938,570 | 81,186 | 5 | Mother's Day | Three friends ( . . the rat pack ) , old college buddies who now live in different cities coming together once a year for a gathering to get away from their lives , decide to camp in the woods and find themselves in the belly of the beast where a deranged mother and her two equally repulsive sons ( . . who she's training to be perfect serial rapist-murderers ) wish to abuse them in every way possible . Like a lot of other rape-revenge films , the girls strike back at their captors when one of the three dies from her wounds . Mother ( Beatrice Pons , the mother of director Charlie Kaufman and producer Lloyd ) has her boys enacting staged encounters they might use later to innocents on Jackie ( Deborah Luce ) , the vulnerable one of the group , eventually sodomizing and beating her senseless . The other girls , Abbey ( Nancy Hendrickson ) and Trina ( Tiana Pierce ) , are spared this humiliation and agony , for over night at least , while spending their time tied up to exercise equipment knowing that god knows what was happening to their pal , Jackie , in the next room . Freeing themselves from the room , and eventually finding their friend nearly beaten to death , crammed in a dresser drawer , Abbey & Trina try to flee the residence with a battered Jackie in tow . Into the woods , Ike ( Frederick Coffin ) , the more filthy son , with decaying teeth and dead left eye , is sent out to catch the girls . The film follows the remaining two girls and their return to Mother's den , with a sadistic brand of justice to wield against the scum that wronged them . Troma release which at points is wacky , sad , vile , and violent . The film gleefully pokes fun at the two brothers , Ike , & Addley ( Michael McCleery ) who are always willing to please , in regards to brutalizing women , their mother in any way possible . They have the manners of pigs and live like them ( . . Ike even eats out of a slop-bucket ) . Beatrice Pons lets it hang out as the mother who soldiers her kids in the arts of masochism and proper attack techniques . The ultra-violence is at times cheap ( . . such as a beheading which couldn't look more staged ; a television set is used and one can tell that the innards of the thing were removed ) , other times effective such as when an ax stabs into a crotch and Drano is forced down a throat . Even an electric carving knife is used ( . . not shown penetrating flesh , though ) to do damage . The girls are given a little development , with each's lives shown before departing for the camping trip . Their camaraderie is pleasant and fun , which makes the inflicted trauma by mother and her boys rather tragic for such a Troma release . Still despite what transpires , the tone rather ever darkens too much for the filmmakers always try to lighten the movie with twisted humor . Still , this is a legit Troma release , and therefore not for all tastes . |
436,795 | 9,938,570 | 787,485 | 5 | Killer Pad | Three kooky Midwestern pals move to Los Angeles renting what they believe is the perfect place , sitting on a hill away from civilization , not knowing that inside the basement is a portal to hell ! Three Hollywood hotties , presumed neighbors who supposedly wish to greet them to their new residence , are actually Satan and his minions wanting the naive outsiders to host a party inviting citizens who unknowingly will become victims for the Lord of Darkness . I will admit that the premise wasn't as much a draw as noticing that Robert Englund was returning for only his second film feature directorial stint ( . . after a twenty year absence ) . Without even listening to Englund's theatrical audio commentary ( . . which was a lot of fun ) , you can tell that Killer Pad , from the very beginning , is aiming squarely for laughs . A lot of Hell jokes and toilet bowl humor which will probably leave many wanting pure scares and not finding them here . Lots of in-jokes regarding reality TV ( . . a priest , portrayed by Jeff Bryan Davis , was once an alcoholic , drug-addicted human-stunt crazy , modeled after those idiots from Jackass who purposely perform body damaging stunts to inflict harm for laughs by unorthodox means ) and LA itself , featuring many eccentric citizens such as porn stars , gym babes , Joey Lawrence ( . . who provides some humor involving his peers such as a bad impersonation of Bruce Willis and his secretary's address miscalculation which sends him to the party instead of Tobey McGuire's house for poker ) , a Kinkos teenage nerd with no friends , a fire marshal desiring to work as a guard for the party to find a date , an Asian transvestite who provided them this palatial pad to begin with , and 16 year old Catholic school girls in need of some clothes and a spanking . The three leads were obviously hired for their physical comedy , their faces are colorful and Daniel Franzese , Eric Jungmann & Shane McRae really play their dupes to the hilt , providing the film with prime bona fide morons to root for with all our hearts . These guys work well off each other , embracing their characters ' gullible nature . Their horny goof balls are easy prey for the major babes , Emily Foxler ( . . as Lucy / Satan , who looks fantastic in red ) , Noureen De Wulf , and Corri English who use their seductive wiles , attractive figures , and supposed willingness for sex as a weapon . The film is loaded with wacky special effects such as Latino " angel " Héctor Jiménez ( who attempts unsuccessfully to ward our heroes away from the pad housing hell ) who , at one point in the film , spits pea soup , is forced against his will to rip his own heart from his chest and eat it , with his head twisting and spinning repeatedly ( . . spoofing The Exorcist ) before leaping off their balcony . Three models from Sweden are boiled in a jacuzzi . One poor soul's head explodes ( . . well , the silhouette of his head from behind a closed curtain does ) while another's throat is slashed after his body slams into a mirror . We get to see the babes in demon form and the priest , after porking one of the naughty Catholic school girls , converting to a rocker , belting Kiss ' " I Just Want to Rock'n'Roll All Night . . " in an act against Satan and his / her minions who were about to pulverize the entire group assembled together in the party who hadn't been killed yet . We get a disgusting bathroom sequence featuring a very imposing masculine woman and the toilet she was using . Englund just seems willing to please and the film has a goofy spirit to it , but I thought it wore a bit thin by the time it was over . Englund , during the making-of doc on the DVD , speaks about how his film , shot on a Viper camera , doesn't , at all , use stock ; the entire feature is shot all digital . Almost the entire film exists within the " killer pad " and shies away from presenting nudity even when the porn stars show their breasts to our Kinkos nerd . Oh , and there's a dwarf ( . . who orders the porn gals around ) whose buttocks are present throughout for in his cut leather pants for extra tasteless chuckles . I sure do wish Englund would actually make a film built for scares instead of giggles , though . He understands menace and evil portraying quite a many unique and colorful monsters over his career , you'd think Englund could direct a chiller . Still , the film has moments which are quite stylish when Englund doesn't resort to zany hi-jinx and over-the-top cheese . The pad itself has a very vibrant use of red and he establishes this as the film's intricate color because of the story arc involving hell . Englund also uses symbolic imagery involving Satan ( . . such as a pentagram from discarded beer cans and statues featured throughout the house ) . |
436,092 | 9,938,570 | 844,708 | 5 | Last House on the Left | I can just imagine LHotL purists balking in disgust as the new remake unfolds , how the horrifying rape of a beautiful , sweet-hearted virginal teenager at the hands of the muscular , intimidating brute Krug is " tamed down " and how her pot-smoking friend is stabbed only once in the back and once in the stomach ( . . compared to the multiple stabbings in the original ) , left to die , how the camera work and lead performances of her parents , Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter , are of a higher quality , how the violence is ratcheted up in extreme fashion at the end when revenge is sought against the thugs , how John Collingwood is made a knowledgeable surgeon whose expertise come into use to save his daughter , how the character of Mari Collingwood is a talented swimmer appropriate especially when she escapes her attackers . It's all in the details . The idea that Goldwyn's John Collingwood is a surgeon is a plot point specifically designed to save his daughter . His daughter's swimming ability is a plot point to save herself even when she's shot by Krug . The rape is carefully shot where you see no penetration , mostly just poor Sara Paxton's face as her Mari is molested and mistreated . The film allows her to get shots at the female member of Krug's brood , Sadie ( Riki Lindhome ; HACK ! ) a car cigarette lighter and a heavy stone . The brood themselves are rather colorless , not as " white trash " or ugly as the original film's nasty villains . Garret Dillahunt is nowhere even close to as imposing as David Hess in the original as Krug ( . . but those shoes couldn't be filled by anyone ) with the actor ( . . despite being athletically built , tall , and handsome ) lacking that extra edge and presence needed for this particular role . Aaron Paul , as Krug's wild-eyed , explosive brother Francis , looks the part of an unhinged thug , but lacks the quiet intimidating presence of Fred J Lincoln's Fred ' Weasel ' Podowski ( . . just the way Weasel toyed with his knife , is more creepy than anything Aaron Paul does in the entire movie ) . Riki Lindhome is simply a bitch , not the " anything goes " Sadie , Jeramie Rain portrayed with chilling realism in the original . But , there's no doubt that Potter and Goldwyn are far and away superior in the roles of the devastated and deeply wounded parents in the remake . Their breakdown in realizing that they had just provided comfort to the very thugs who raped and harmed their daughter runs rings around the performances of Richard Towers and Cynthia Carr in the original . The grisly rampage of violence is the major difference between the two . The protracted revenge lasts quite a bit longer in the remake , with superior effects and nastier attacks ( . . the use of a garbage disposal and microwave provide rather interestingly brutal results ) where a fireplace poker , hammer , butcher knife , and handgun all play important roles in how people are punished . I do believe director Dennis Iliadis does , at times , attempt to shoot the actions of characters in ways similar to how Craven did in his film , but there's certainly a polish and accomplished look that the remake has due to the much larger budget ( . . a luxury Crave didn't have when making his little exploitation shocker ) . And , this film adheres to the criticisms often made towards Craven's version . . NO COMEDY . This film is dead serious from start to finish and his straight forward , full steam ahead . Actions are in place , choices are made , and the carnage ensues . This wasn't made in the 70's and feels every bit the modern slasher variation Craven's film wasn't . . this will be a problem for LHotL faithful . The depth is removed and there's no hostile Vietnam era undercurrents at the heart . . Iliadis ' film is set in the now and simply displays two teenagers going along with the wrong young man , even though he's a baby-faced gentle lamb ( Spencer Treat Clark , as Krug's oft-abused son , Justin , a handsome kid who looks positively nothing like the freakish Marc Sheffler ) , paying the price when the kid's dangerous family arrives on them unannounced . I think a modern audience might just enjoy this remake , but I do feel that the unabashed vocal supporters of the original will hate it . I was quite surprised to see Paxton in this film , having noticed her in Disney fare before , because the poor girl goes through hell . The survival of Paxton's Mari is quite a change from the original ( . . how she could still swim back home with an embedded and bleeding bullet wound , also serves as a reason to lament ) and might provide even more disgust with purists who stand by the power of a murdered daughter and how that kind of emotional loss would properly engage such a negative reaction towards revenge . My favorite scene would probably be when Francis ' nose is reset and stitched by John , only to be broken again later . |
435,829 | 9,938,570 | 115,471 | 5 | Adrenalin : Fear the Rush | A virus-infected cannibalistic maniac , who needs to be killed because in a certain time he'll supply a plague that will danger mankind as he is a carrier , attacks humans using a curving knife with a spiked handle . Cops Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstridge must pursue him into ventilation ducts which lead to an old , shut-down prison where he feels right at home . He becomes the predator and the cops become the prey as the prison is quite darkened and the monster is able to move quickly with cunning and skill . He also uses a gun that shoots the hell out of Lambert . Lambert's other partners include Liz Barondes and Norbert Weisser who wind up being hunted as well . As Weisser goes for help ( there are scientists in quarantine suits on their way and Andrew Divoff is the leader who understands what is wrong with the maniac on the loose . . if only he'd share with the rest of us ) , the other three must fend for themselves in an environment the quarry understands a lot more than them it seems . Once the maniac riddles Lambert and Barondes with bullets it'll be up to Henstridge to save them . Surprisingly suspenseful with a lingering foreboding due to the decrepit , darkly lit prison setting . Director Albert Pyun decides to close his camera in on the killer's ferocious fangs and blood-shot eye . Most of the time , he's shrouded in darkness . Pyun mostly shoots everyone up close with long shot sequences mainly of the spooky corridors where the killer could pop out at the cops at any time . The film , though , doesn't have much of a plot other than the killer trapping our heroes in the prison . This horrifying future where plagued humans are separated from the healthy isn't given enough treatment . Pyun tended to shoot way too many facial shots barely giving the viewer any breathing room . He edits fast as well keeping the action moving at such breakneck speed . The camera rarely sits still . I kind of liked this B-movie for what it is . It doesn't have much of a leg to stand on , but with what little story Pyun ( it's his own fault , though , since it was him who wrote it . . it seems like he merely designed a chase'n'attack flick ) has he makes an effective little no-budget creeper . |
436,152 | 9,938,570 | 410,650 | 5 | Species III | Female , birthed from Henstridge's alien and the alien DNA infected astronaut from the previous film , is close to the most perfect hybrid whose eggs might lend an answer to how to cease the dying half-breed alien species . The half-alien / half-human species , created when the astronaut impregnated human women , have flaws in their DNA and succumb to illnesses and sickness due to their low immunity . Dr . Abbot ( Robert Knepper ) kidnaps " Sara " ( Sunny Mabrey ) , posing as a soldier in the military , before a half-breed could get her . Abbot is a professor who sees the Nobel Prize in the future if he finds the answer to the perfect half-breed species , devoid of the current flaws plaguing them now . He seeks assistance from a gifted student , Dean ( Robin Dunne ) , to help him in collecting data and perfecting their experiments on Sara . Meanwhile , Sara , who has grown to a young , luscious , sexual creature from an infant in a manner of days , seeks a mate , finding none that are worthy of her impregnation due to their sickness . Abbot and Dean always remain in danger as the lethal half-breeds continue their pursuit of Sara and a cure . As with most second sequels and beyond , the premise of the half-breed female sexpot aliens is wearing thin despite rampant nudity by stunningly gorgeous naked bodies . While some of the f / x are effective ( . . such as Henstridge's giving birth to infant Sara , subsequently strangled by a half-breed alien boy's tongue in the truck with her ; a man is split in half by an alien Sara's tongue ; some cool disease-riddled aliens in human form showing nasty flesh wounds developing ) , the budget has certainly dwindled somewhat when compared to the other films . . . such as when Sara murders the college dean which isn't the least bit convincing . Also , the story is smaller scale , removed from the governmental / national / global aspects which enriched the apocalyptic terror , instead taking place almost completely within a university town where college kids reside . . . sure , in dialogue that global terror exists , but in this film , the setting is confined in one significant area . Leads Dunne and Knepper are okay enough , and Mabrey is a babe . Yet , compared to Henstridge , who is almost irreplaceable as the incredibly sexy alien from the previous two installments , Mabrey is also smaller scale . As a sequel to an okay franchise , I have seen worse . And , we at least get to see the alien creature designs again , even if there few and far between . |
435,851 | 9,938,570 | 60,380 | 5 | This Night I will Possess Your Corpse | The sadistic atheist Zé do Caixão ( José Mojica Marins ) returns , this time with a hunchback assistant Bruno ( Jose Lobo ) , still trying to find a woman to bare him a child ( this child , he feels will give birth to immortal blood ) . Certain women are disappearing and it's obvious who is behind the kidnapping . Zé has chosen these women to determine which is willing to carry his child . He releases spiders on them as they are sleeping as a test of their courage . All the women reply to the spiders with shock but one . . that being Marcia ( Nadia Freitas ) . Marcia is chosen while the other women ( save one , who becomes Bruno's " birthday present " for which he accidentally snaps her neck when she begins to struggle with him ) are placed in a snake-pit to die . Marcia eventually shows a weakness ( her love for Zé for which he can not bear . . he doesn't like dramatics ) , but Zé spares her life because she showed courage before . Marcia will remain loyal to Zé for a large period , even assisting him in tricking Truncador , the strongman ( Antonio Fracari ) who often is out-dueled psychologically by Zé . Eventually , Zé finds his mate and " carrier " of the great child he feels will lead the way of a brand new race of non-believing people who denounce God and embrace life without attachment . Laura ( Tina Wohlers ) , the Colonel's daughter , arrives into town and immediately takes up with Zé . She doesn't believe in anything but Zé and this will be her downfall . Even after Zé crushes Laura's brother's head with a large rock , she still remains just as loyal risking the scorns of others for him . Soon , mental torments plague Zé as the announcement of one of the women he killed in the snake-pit claims she'll return from the dead to get her revenge telling him that he will never have a son born in this world . As tension mounts in the village , Zé will eventually be found out as the killer of the missing women and have to deal with a maddened crowd wanting him dead . Two problems with this one I had . Laura just arrives and yet having never met Zé before just up and devotes her life and soul to him . It doesn't add up . Another is the snake-pit sequence which isn't very convincing because the actresses portraying the victims attacked don't sell it well . But , the " tortures of hell " nightmare sequence Zé suffers is an unintentional laugh riot . And , the ending is quite heavy-handed , yet eerie at the same time . Still , the film retains it's nasty edge from the previous film and that creepy atmosphere around the graves and forests remains one of the film's main strengths . This film is , however , much more cheesy than the first . |
436,734 | 9,938,570 | 802,956 | 5 | Bryan Loves You | A therapist from New York finds himself in danger when he reluctantly crosses paths with a cult sweeping across Arizona . The cult's deity was an heir to a throne , Bryan , who was slain ( . . his throat was slashed from behind in his own castle ) by a commoner dealt harshly by his community , named Tanzi . The cult dress like Mormons and often wear a plain white mask with black marks which carry the appearance of cracks . This group brainwashes the unadorned , taking innocent outsiders unacquainted with this spooky religion , running them through a psychiatric institute until they are essentially zombies , as if their humanity were stripped , soulless to servitude for Bryan . The film is completely told through hand-held cam-corders and hidden security cameras , nearly everyone snooping has one , whether it be our hero , his stalkers or an outside crusader working with a quiet few hoping to defeat the cult and their schemes at enlarging through their brainwashing tactics . Tony Todd is a very disturbed narrator who introduces us to the various recorded documents of the evolution in terror for Jonathan ( Seth Landau , who also wrote & directed ) who is kidnapped by the Bryan cult after making some inquiries into their worship practices . We see inside their secret society and how they slowly gnaw at those they wish to include within their religion . Jonathan represents a rare case of someone who somehow hangs on despite the rigorous degrees of manipulation and psychological warfare induced over a span of time . Someone is on his side , however , who wishes to bring to an end the Bryan cult which has become a cancer across this desert community , Frenchette ( Tom Noga ) who plans to somehow break him out of the mental torture factory before he's affected by their powerful methods of mind control . The film features a cast of B-movie horror cult icons such as Lloyd Kaufman as a " helper " who attempts to motivate Jonathan's acceptance of a mental reject claimed by the cult to be his alcoholic father . Scream queen , Tiffany Shepis portrays a nasty " psychiatrist " , Cindy , who mistreats Jonathan , often interrogating him while administering drugs into his system , with Brinke Stevens as a nurse who works for the cult . George Wendt has a strange role as a wacky patient of Jonathan's . The hand-held style services the paranoia theme where escape from a place overrun by diabolical extremists is quite difficult because eyes are all around watching your every move . The film grew tiresome to me over time , specifically the never-ending brainwashing portion of this film , and a stupid decision by our hero at the end robs this scary tale of a bit of it's power and realism . I do not think Jonathan would make such an incredibly asinine decision to risk his life in such an unnecessary way after such an exhausting exercise towards his mind and body by this unwavering cult trying every way to break his will . I did feel Landau produces a credible account , to a certain extent , of how spooky and terrifying such an ordeal could be when one is trapped within such an established cult willing to resort to drastic measures to seize one's soul and mind . It was amazing that he had the ability to round up so many familiar faces , also including Daniel Roebuck ( The River's Edge ) as a professor who informs us of Bryan's history and how it relates to the cult that would form in his name . To me , the pacing lags a bit , and I wasn't quite convinced that such a cult could completely unify an entire community , even conforming a pal of Jonathan's . The gimmick of " footage found and brought to us as a warning tool " wore itself thin to me , but others might find it rewarding . |
436,321 | 9,938,570 | 74,971 | 5 | Night of the Skull | Relatives and hired help of murdered aristocrat ( . . and close to English Parliament making him quite the important man it seems ) converge at his estate to hear if they receive anything from his inheritance as a notary is assigned to read his will . But , a killer donning a skull mask is murdering them one by one using a noted scripture from a book titled " The Apocalypse " ( " Earth to bury us . Wind to scourge us . Water to drown us . Fire to burn us . " ) as method of execution . A detective from Scotland Yard , Olive Brooks ( Alberto Dalbés ) , who knows a lot of things about the murdered Lord Archibald Percival Marion that he shouldn't which in itself is mysterious , assists Inspector Bore ( Vincente Roca ) in the case to find the skull-masked assassin . The film opens the possibility of relative Mr . Tobias ( William Berger ) being the possible killer because of something his wife Marta ( Evelyn Scott ) says when they are in private . Lina Romay has the role of plain Rita , supposedly the abused daughter of the murdered Lord Marion , whose servant mother was his mistress . Secrets and red herrings abound as characters aren't who they appear and few can be trusted . Not your prototypical Jesús Franco flick operating as a psycho-thriller murder mystery as he uses lots of rain and noirish darkness to create atmospheric flourishes . He doesn't even use as much zoom lens , although he does often close his camera in on faces tight showing their expressions during key moments in the film . He also , every now and then , likes to implement images of a skull into the film at certain points as the plot thickens . I didn't think the film was mind-blowing or anything , but still fairly entertaining on a basic crime mystery level . You could call this Jesús Franco's Spanish equivalent of the Italian giallo , but I'd say " Night of the Skull " is more akin to Agatha Christie mysteries ( . . even if the film claims Edgar Allen Poe as it's source ) . The film doesn't even feature a reliance on nude flesh or sexual sequences . . and surprisingly Franco doesn't even exploit Romay's naked body , something he hardly ever passes up . Despite this being a psycho-thriller , the film isn't very violent . . most of the murders are rather tame or occur out of focus ( or blanketed in the dark such as when the dead Lord Marion's butler stabs a couple who are about to find out a damning secret ) . I think real die-hard fans of Jesús Franco will be rather disappointed with this film . |
436,298 | 9,938,570 | 89,038 | 5 | Don't Open ' Til Christmas | Oddly structured , startlingly sadistic , and extremely sleazy British slasher concerning a maniac viciously stabbing and slashing unfortunate victims who happen to make the mistake of wearing a Santa costume during the Christmas holiday season . Inspector Harris ( Edmund Purdom ) is being grilled by his superior at Scotland Yard to solve the case before Christmas Day arrives , but he doesn't entirely seem that interested in finding the perpetrator , singling out Cliff Boyd ( Gerry Sundquist ) , the live-in boyfriend of a wealthy heiress , Kate ( Belinda Mayne ) whose father was a victim of the Santa Claus killer when dressed like Jolly Saint Nick one night at a party ( . . thanks to a spear through his head and out his mouth . . ouch ! ) who couldn't possibly be the one responsible if he were standing beside his lover when the murder took place . When Harris comes up with no results , he's suspended and his associate , Sergeant Powell ( Mark Jones ) takes over , given information by a creepy supposed newspaper journalist , Giles ( Alan Lake ) to keep an eye on the Inspector for he might know more than he letting on regarding the Santa Claus killer . Kate begins her own investigation in true slasher / giallo fashion and finds the man she was looking for , while also possibly falling for Harris , discovering that he visits an institution for the insane . Who's Harris visiting and does this revelation possibly lead to the killer ? As far as Giles goes , what he to do in the grand scheme of things ? The film also shows that a stripper , who witnesses a murder through her glass terminal towards someone wearing a Santa costume , who gave what little information she knew to Scotland Yard , herself is kidnapped by the mysterious killer , given a little time alive , imprisoned in a small makeshift room hoping that he makes a false move so she can escape . Pretty messy which is understandable due to it's difficult production problems . This is a must for slasher fans , though , as it features ample doses of both nudity and violence . Different types of sharp weapons are used to plunge into the bellies and faces of victims who are stalked down streets into darkened buildings , often throughout alleys . One especially memorable kill concerns a castration in a bathroom as the poor chap is relieving himself . My favorite sequence is where this drunken Santa attempts to hide from the killer in a darkened wax museum . Also memorable is one Santa victim's fate in the Piccadily theater as Caroline Munro portrays a pop singer belting a tune as she swivels her curves for an unseen audience . For fans of all things lurid , the film often takes place in seedier sides of London and the killer decides to check out a nude model underneath a Santa coat as the straight-razor slides seductively down her naked chest . The film never quite gels overall and the characters aren't given flesh perhaps due to a lot of footage not so easy to piece together even by the third director who was an editor . The reveal as to why the killer is offing unsavory sorts donning Santa outfits is as sleazy as the overall product which won't disappoint those accustomed to 80's slashers . |
435,899 | 9,938,570 | 346,811 | 5 | Curse of the Komodo | The brainchild of military man Foster ( Jay Richardson ) regarding giant Komodo dragons against American enemies is given birth thanks to scientist , Professor Nathan Phipps ( William Langlois ) who has bio-engineered the supposedly extinct species into massive dinosaur sized monsters , quite carnivorous and hungry for food . Along with a few associates on an island compound near Hawaii , Phipps , his daughter Rebecca ( . . porn starlet Glori-Anne Gilbert , who isn't in this flick because of her acting ability , having a nice little topless bathing scene near water falls ) , and his assistant Dawn ( Gail Harris ) attempt to find a way at controlling the beasts without success . Meanwhile , a trio of casino thieves hitch a ride with paid alcoholic ex-military pilot Jack ( Tim Abell , an ex-porn actor who gets a chance to play hero in an action adventure ) who lands them on the island containing the Komodo dragon . Jack informs cranky muscular head heister Drake ( Paul Logan ) , his lover Tiffany ( Melissa Brasselle ) , and fellow thief Reece ( Cam Newlin ) that his chopper will need repairs , but they will soon find themselves joining forces with Phipps remaining crew against a giant Komodo dragon whose outer skin seems impenetrable from gunfire as everyone fires endless rounds at it without effect , just annoying the beast . Phipps ' compound is guarded by an electric fence but they are low on fuel and the generator is on the fritz . With a plague deriving from a slime secreted by the Komodo dragon causing those infected to slowly succumb to horrible skin rashes , sickness and erratic behavior , and that Komodo loose and hungry , the group will attempt to make it for Jack's chopper due to the fact that Foster won't send a rescue team to fly them off the island . But , it won't be easy as the Komodo always returns to feast on human meat when it can corner victims . When inspired , director Jim Wynorski makes other films than just porn spoofs which is the case with this creature feature . It's nothing that you haven't seen numerous times on Sci-fi channel ( . . for which Wynorski has been a major contributor with numerous killer monster flicks ) , but I found it an entertaining enough time-waster . You get to see the Komodo dragon gulp a few humans . For a low-budget horror adventure , the special effects of the monster are the standard you are use to seeing on the Sci-fi channel , not really that bad or mind-blowing , either . The film alternates between our folks on the island squaring off with their sharp-teeth beast and the military headquarters of Foster . Unlike many of Wynorski efforts , the film plays it straight , not layered with tongue-in-cheek humor . As usual , though , Wynorski has two actresses with large fake breasts . Gilbert is a Wynorski regular who has starred in several of his porn spoofs such as " Witches of Breastwick " & " The Breastford Wives " ( . . also starring as a fantasy girl in another Wynorski creature feature " The Thing Below " ) . She attempts to emote , but couldn't act if her life depended on it . Abell isn't so bad and could make a living in these type of genre flicks . He'd probably made it well in Italian rip-offs back in the late 70's / early 80's . Brasselle is a major babe who serves as a very ripped source of eye candy . Logan as the brooding heavy Drake ( . . who shoots the late Buck Flower in his opening scene because Reece mentioned his name while they were looting a casino ) might be familiar to those who have his seen him in a bevy of porn flicks . The film has a nice pace , with decent inserts of military footage , and fulfills all the requirements of a B-movie adventure flick . It's supposed to be escapist fare and is geared towards fans of creature feature flicks . Could be better . Could be worse . It is what it is . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.