tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8567775683120321172024-03-06T16:58:22.599+13:00Schlock to the System<center>Follow our intrepid adventurer as he wades through the trash-infested depths of B cinema (schlock), armed only with a sense of humour, a few snacks and a love of the absurd.</center>fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-58413722476798010592017-01-18T10:06:00.000+13:002017-01-18T10:06:08.778+13:00Stanley (1972)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUIMUJe_8BqcM_EuqQZBl7LF7xpTT4Xsg-XIgn4oSE7tJq3YlEEO4ZGeaGtBGjKGnwJMm6eQe56dOkHA2fBb94cR-BFtFMsLwYimerARQPjzpczM-EsjTK4Ozw7yLZLN4xAKkmGJMMyCW/s1600/stanley.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitUIMUJe_8BqcM_EuqQZBl7LF7xpTT4Xsg-XIgn4oSE7tJq3YlEEO4ZGeaGtBGjKGnwJMm6eQe56dOkHA2fBb94cR-BFtFMsLwYimerARQPjzpczM-EsjTK4Ozw7yLZLN4xAKkmGJMMyCW/s320/stanley.jpeg" width="227" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;">Stanley (1972)</span></b><br />
<b>Director: William Grefe</b><br />
<b>Starring: Chris Robinson, Alex Rocco, Steve Alaimo</b><b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span></b><br />
<b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span>Format: DVD</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Plot: </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>A young Seminole Indian uses his rattlesnake to take revenge on all those he believes have wronged him.
</i><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Florida regional B-movie maker William Grefe is best known for helming some of the worst films of all time, like Death Curse of Tartu and Sting of Death. Given that reputation I went into this - a lesser-known nature revenge flick - with extremely low expectations and came out pleasantly surprised.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't a great movie. In fact, the first two-thirds are for the most part pretty boring, as we meet ex-Vietnam Vet and Seminole Indian Tim (Robinson), who has shunned society to live in the Everglades with his pet rattlesnakes (including the titular Stanley). We also meet local crime boss Thomkins (Alex Rocco from THE GODFATHER), his slutty daughter, a variety of Thomkins' henchmen and assorted other locals. When Tim finds out that Thomkins' men killed his father he gets revenge on them, but things don't really pick up pace until another henchman slaughters some of Tim's scaly friends.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Once Tim goes into full-on revenge mode Stanley becomes good fun to watch, full of zany, weird action as only the 70s could provide. Unintentional humor abounds. Among the highlights are Tim explaining about the death of his "family" to a stripclub bouncer, Thomkins diving into a pool full of snakes, the way a henchman named Psycho keeps saying "Yeah Mutha!", and the wacky ending. There's plenty that'll have you shaking your head with a wry, confused smile on your face.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Part Willard (man uses animals to get revenge), part Billy Jack (Native American fights back against evil white men) and part Copperhead (killer snakes), Stanley is worth watching if you're in the mood for an offbeat 70s b-movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-54525968108215836542017-01-15T17:14:00.002+13:002017-01-15T17:14:38.494+13:00Black River (2001)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1EEz2FQ9d7W_W_6ZvbFwl5n4u28eFOdCXq0TAfJw3bo_bl2iWjYOHW76K4s7SCFXIzjRG-0l6TsFsgPtnXVOuOiLWRfMEH2tAd61Hk7VGEAmnTQvIoA3yQ-OaB9Vcr5fiiWTJWCCDJE-1/s1600/blackriver.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1EEz2FQ9d7W_W_6ZvbFwl5n4u28eFOdCXq0TAfJw3bo_bl2iWjYOHW76K4s7SCFXIzjRG-0l6TsFsgPtnXVOuOiLWRfMEH2tAd61Hk7VGEAmnTQvIoA3yQ-OaB9Vcr5fiiWTJWCCDJE-1/s320/blackriver.jpeg" width="224" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><b><span style="color: red;"><span>Black River (2001)</span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>
<b>Director: Jeff Bleckner</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>
<b>Starring: Jay Mohr, Lisa Edelstein, Ann Cusack</b><span><b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span>
<b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span>Format: DVD</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<i>Plot: A writer visits a town that isn't what it appears to be. </i><br />
<br />In the 80s and 90s two people stood at the top of the mainstream world of horror fiction - Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I'm a dedicated King fan, having read all of his books and watched all the movie adaptions. On the other hand I've read only a few Koontz novels and seen maybe two or three film versions. I'd never heard of Black River (based on a Koontz short story of the same name) until stumbling across this DVD for $2 at Half Price Books, but the plot summary sounded intriguing and I like Jay Mohr, so I decided to give it a go.<br />
<br />
The first thing to know about Black River is that it's a TV movie (originally aired as a mini-series I believe) so it has all the shortcomings of the format - no gore, no T&A, broadly-stereotyped and shallow characters etc. The second thing is that it's not a horror movie. The best way to describe it is as an extra-long episode of The Twilight Zone. If you're at all a fan of that show (original or 80s version) you'll pick the "twist" right away, I know I did.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeBQL-g1EiyfjQsy5bIb32MqgWrz7FnUuEcdzL3fmwBppugSYZRpUjK1_kvt4CYGjoiph2Bdb30lw32S5HZBursZSitbIxZ3nUuXmreA3DrxNKYwRcmU17dkX786ylQzTlNVa35xSEwiu/s1600/blackriver2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeBQL-g1EiyfjQsy5bIb32MqgWrz7FnUuEcdzL3fmwBppugSYZRpUjK1_kvt4CYGjoiph2Bdb30lw32S5HZBursZSitbIxZ3nUuXmreA3DrxNKYwRcmU17dkX786ylQzTlNVa35xSEwiu/s200/blackriver2.jpeg" width="195" /></a>Jay Mohr (CHERRY FALLS) is a likeable protagonist, a recently-divorced novelist (Koontz and King sure do like basing their stories around what they know) named Bo. Escaping the LA rat race, he finds himself in an idyllic small town. One that he can't escape no matter how hard he tries. Lisa Edelstein (three years before her key role in TV's HOUSE) is his love interest and John and Joan's sister Ann Cusack is a quirky waitress.<br />
<br />
As mentioned the plot is entirely predictable. As a half-hour TV episode this may have worked, but as a feature-length presentation it ultimately fails. This is no fault of the cast or the director (handcuffed by the format no doubt), the story is just... blah. There are a couple of moments of unintentional humour (a garden hose inexplicably coming to life by itself) but for the most part things just plod along until the expected finale.<br />
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I'd recommend skipping this unless you're a Koontz completist or a huge fan of Jay Mohr. Even then you'd be better off searching out Mohr's better work, like the aforementioned Cherry Falls or his underrated TV sitcom Gary Unmarried.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-43045587016006128162017-01-11T08:45:00.001+13:002017-01-11T08:45:11.998+13:00All Night Horror Marathon Volume 2 (4-movie DVD set)<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Overview:</b> Scream Factory released this four-flick set in 2013, bringing to DVD for the first time a quartet of obscure horror offerings. Let's dive in and see if these movies are any good or if they should have been left in obscurity...</span></span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYCfHYR-3HFqthcFetkpSPdIT6Mcx9P17vzLD-71X-8S8f0CAueWG0S0oST_RhJkMHLbDQ8hdY6lntC60oZOFsu2nBIUd1P0USSsakLa_WhGsMJzdtmYHJV6dB-glCyf-73TNGAMh7pJR/s1600/91aRbDS%252Bz5L._SL1500_.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbYCfHYR-3HFqthcFetkpSPdIT6Mcx9P17vzLD-71X-8S8f0CAueWG0S0oST_RhJkMHLbDQ8hdY6lntC60oZOFsu2nBIUd1P0USSsakLa_WhGsMJzdtmYHJV6dB-glCyf-73TNGAMh7pJR/s320/91aRbDS%252Bz5L._SL1500_.jpeg" width="226" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Cellar Dweller (1988)</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Director: John Carl Buechler (Troll, Friday the 13th Part 7)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Starring: </b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Yvonne De Carlo</span></a> (TV's The Munsters), </b></span><b>
<span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Debrah Farentino</span></a>, </span>
<span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Brian Robbins (TV's Head of the Class)</span></a></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><i><span style="font-size: small;">Plot: In the 1950s a</span> horror-comic artist's creations come alive and kill him.
Years later a new cartoonist revives the creatures in his house, now
part of an artist's colony. </i><br />
<br />
Cellar Dweller gets off to a great start with an opening scene featuring genre legend Jeffrey Combs (REANIMATOR), but sadly he's quickly killed off. Luckily the remaining cast is still pretty good, headlined by Lillian Munster herself, Yvonne De Carlo, as the grumpy matriach of an artist's colony. Debrah Farentino, making her feature debut, is the main protagonist, a comic book artist who unwillingly revives an age-old monster via her art.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wNHcxalinIldXUCUE2DzgPPf5pBvF9f7e55CHQ07DInb2EgwE_NXdyxNDu_G7Z4l5ckxoPEe8OmO7lPWMwZ4f0ZnK8nYULcmpT_6d_Bd8kINdhsVSynGIv06yEMlpSsELsoc8U1s3sfF/s1600/cellardweller2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wNHcxalinIldXUCUE2DzgPPf5pBvF9f7e55CHQ07DInb2EgwE_NXdyxNDu_G7Z4l5ckxoPEe8OmO7lPWMwZ4f0ZnK8nYULcmpT_6d_Bd8kINdhsVSynGIv06yEMlpSsELsoc8U1s3sfF/s320/cellardweller2.png" width="320" /></a><br />
Brian Robbins is another artist and Farentino's love interest, a strange casting decision given his nerdy looks (utilised so well as geek Eric on Head of the Class, showing on TV at the same time this movie was made). In any other movie Robbins would be cast as the lovable loser forever in the friend zone, but not here.<br />
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Once Farentino's art unleashes the monster, Cellar Dweller moves into familiar monster/slasher territory as the body count mounts and a predictable climax looms (albeit one with a last-minute swerve). The kills are nothing too notable, but what really keeps things interesting is the monster. The creature effects are cheesy but endearing, along the lines of the monsters from Castle Freak, Subspecies and the like.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Contamination.7 (1993)</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Directors: Joe D'Amato (Beyond the Darkness), Fabrizio Laurenti (Witchery)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Starring: </b></span><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><b><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Mary Sellers</span>, </b></span><b>
<span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
</span><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Jason Saucier</span></a>, </span>
<span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Bubba Reeves</span></a></span></b><br />
<br />
<i>Plot: People from a small town are attacked by evil radioactive tree roots growing in the forest.
</i><br />
<br />
Decades before M. Night Shamalan inflicted cinema-goers with his
own nature-gets-revenge borefest, The Happening, Italian genre veterans
D'Amato and Laurenti achieved the same feat without any big name stars
and a fraction of the budget.<br />
<br />
Whereas Cellar Dweller is cheesily enjoyable, Contamination.7 will be appreciated only by the most seasoned of bad cinema fans. For the most part it's a stodgily-paced bore, the only respite from its mire coming from a smorgasboard of awful acting and some ridiculous killer-roots special effects.<br />
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The plot is threadbare - pollution causes vines to kill a variety of townsfolk, a group of protagonists must survive while also battling crooked cops and politicians. The final showdown between the townsfolk and the roots does manage to veer away from being totally predictable, while completely throwing logic out the window, before a final scene that restores proceedings to yawn-inducing predictability.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ex_q1La21uC6CMvoDcUMehMPBR9byY4OboimxqhCN-8Upl2qW0nkBGiUEESrVFIuboM5Jt0EWJ4bwqRACdiq4WElt3_D3JGIcSR17PaK9zud87Gm9teckwIQnw_gKYNqBbddOSS303dh/s1600/contamination-7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ex_q1La21uC6CMvoDcUMehMPBR9byY4OboimxqhCN-8Upl2qW0nkBGiUEESrVFIuboM5Jt0EWJ4bwqRACdiq4WElt3_D3JGIcSR17PaK9zud87Gm9teckwIQnw_gKYNqBbddOSS303dh/s320/contamination-7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As mentioned above, the acting here is horrendously bad - every single performance is more wooden than the evil roots themselves. Leading the way is Vince O'Neil as the corrupt sheriff. He's meant to be the main bad guy but O'Neil's "acting" is so off-kilter he becomes the main source for unintended laughs. Sellers also makes a weak leading lady, no doubt cast as a favour to her husband Laurenti. The rest of the cast are nobodies with the acting chops of your average high school production.<br />
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This movie is also known as The Crawlers and, amazingly, Troll 3. Like Troll 2 it has nothing to do with the first movie. It doesn't reach the comedy heights of Troll 2, but Contamination.7 has enough unintentional laughs (check out the comically-delayed reactions to a bad guy shooting himself in the head) to sate the appetite of most schlockophiles. However, if 90 minutes of bad acting and action scenes comprised of people rolling around on the ground with rubber "vines" doesn't sound like a good time to you, you'll probably want to steer clear.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Dungeonmaster (1984)</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Directors: Charles Band (Trancers), John Carl Buechler (Cellar Dweller), David Allen (Puppetmaster II), Steven Ford, Peter Manoogian (Demonic Toys), Ted Nicolaou (Subspecies series), Rosemarie Turko</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Starring: </b></span><b>Jeffrey Byron, Richard Moll, Leslie Wing</b><br />
<br />
<i>Plot:</i> <i>Paul, a computer whiz who spends more time with his machine than with
his girlfriend, finds that he has been chosen as a worthy opponent for
Mestema, and evil wizard who has spent centuries searching for a
challenging foe. After having his computer changed into wristband
weapon, Paul does battle with a variety of monsters before finally
coming face to face with the ultimate adversary.</i><br />
<br />
Also known as Ragewar, The Dungeonmaster is essentially an anthology movie overseen by Charles Band with a plethora of Full Moon regulars writing and directing their own portions. Each of these mini-stories takes the form of a challenge that hero Paul (Byron) must complete to defeat the evil Mestema (Richard Moll from TV's NIGHT COURT) and rescue his girlfriend (Wing).<br />
<br />
From an opening dream sequence involving full frontal nudity (80s bush alert) and crude monster effects, through to the predictable happy ending, The Dungeonmaster is 73 minutes of cheesy 80s good fun. Hell, there's even a scene involving heavy metal legends WASP! Laser beams, studded wrist gauntlets, Mad Max-esque vehicles, midgets, giant hair, bad puppetry, corny creatures - this movie has it all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWArO8mTrVoq2GZE3s-XSB7BZzCve_wVwxzWLpOIgdPWT6rZONk8ui6Yp2i8VwM3vDE3SBdMCpIWV6_lFjsFAmR0-aawAZgCfuLy0TneKkcF-VKzx4dbjuvLwuA_fxSt8QsCEqzsXoWnHO/s1600/dungeonmaster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWArO8mTrVoq2GZE3s-XSB7BZzCve_wVwxzWLpOIgdPWT6rZONk8ui6Yp2i8VwM3vDE3SBdMCpIWV6_lFjsFAmR0-aawAZgCfuLy0TneKkcF-VKzx4dbjuvLwuA_fxSt8QsCEqzsXoWnHO/s320/dungeonmaster.jpeg" width="320" /></a>As with most anthology movies, some of the segments are better than others. As a fan of 80s heavy metal I enjoyed seeing Blackie Lawless from WASP playing a bad guy in "Heavy Metal", directed by Band himself; "Stone Canyon Giant" (by David Allen) has a Harryhausen-esque charm to it as Paul battles a stop-motion statue; "Desert Pursuit" (Ted Nicolaou) is a fun little segment that does what so many others were doing in the early 80s, ripping off The Road Warrior; and "Demons of the Dead" (John Carl Buechler) has a wacky puppet monster and zombie warriors. On the other hand Steve Ford's "Slasher" is lame, with more time spent on unfunny comedic relief cops than the Jack the Ripper killer, and "Cave Beast" (Peter Manoogian) and "Ice Gallery" (Rosemarie Turko) are entirely forgettable.<br />
<br />
Byron and Wing aren't about to win any acting awards but make a passable leading couple (once Byron loses his ridiculously-large glasses after the opening scenes). But it's Moll who steals the show, looking and sounding like a hybrid of Connor and The Kurgan from THE HIGHLANDER (albeit two years before that movie) while spouting ridiculous dialogue with evil glee.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Catacombs (1988)</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Director: David Schmoeller (Tourist Trap, Crawlspace)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
<b>Starring: Timothy Van Patten (Class of 1984), Ian Abercrombie, Laura Schaefer </b></span><br />
<br />
<i>Plot:</i> <i>A demon is trapped in the catacombs beneath a European monastery. Four centuries later a young woman arrives at the monastery to study just as the demon begins to stir.
</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Although made in 1988, this Empire Pictures effort sat on the shelf for a few years due to its distributor going out of business. When it finally reached the light of day in 1993 (via VHS and Laser Disc) it had been retitled Curse IV in an effort to "cash in" on that series (not sure why, that series was never very successful). But its original title is obviously more fitting, as this movie is set at a monestary built over a series of catacombs where an evil lurks.<br />
<br />
Filmed in Italy, this is undoubtedly the most well-photographed of the four movies in this set. Director/writer David Schmoeller throws in a variety of artistic flourishes that make for a visually-pleasing experience, even if the story doesn't hold up as well. The problem is, while the cinematography is good, nothing really happens for most of the movie. I like a good slow build, but Catacombs crawls along at a snail's pace with very little of interest (apart from one eerie scene involving a Jesus statue) until the inevitable showdown between good and evil in the third act. And even then things reach a rather anti-climactic resolution.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1kSUH2Q2w39nNDQGuSCOUZyESx-WXcIheHo4dkPlw3mM2lcSR5gzmty6S5OC7uStOR2BQJzktJKJ7g3UKWOXc8K0HXUYbRp8-OqY13kk5tJB1qEISwaiHDpZp5SmkBe19KQMNVI2gZQi/s1600/catacombs.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx1kSUH2Q2w39nNDQGuSCOUZyESx-WXcIheHo4dkPlw3mM2lcSR5gzmty6S5OC7uStOR2BQJzktJKJ7g3UKWOXc8K0HXUYbRp8-OqY13kk5tJB1qEISwaiHDpZp5SmkBe19KQMNVI2gZQi/s320/catacombs.png" width="320" /></a>On the acting side, Timothy Van Patten stands out, as expected, as a conflicted young Catholic priest. Anyone who has seen CLASS OF 1984 knows what a fantastic job he did in creating a complex and iconic character in that film. Sadly (for us fans of his work) Catacombs was his final feature film role to date - after this he had a regular role on a TV series for one season and then has spent the last three decades behind the camera as one of the most prolific directors in TV land. The rest of the cast does a decent-enough job - Schaefer is pretty if a touch bland as the leading lady, and Abercrombie brings a veteran touch to his role as the head monk.<br />
<br />
In the end it is the plot that leads to Catacombs' downfall. Great cinematography, good sets, good acting and decent atmosphere can't save what is ultimately a boring experience. This is, after all, supposed to be a horror movie and you can't do it properly without throwing the viewer a bone every now and then in the form of some decent scares or gore.<br />
<br />
Poor Timothy Van Patten, such a great young talent deserved a better movie than this to be his final (to date) feature film.<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Conclusion:</span> </b>I didn't hate any of the movies in this set and I'm glad I finally got to see them (well, I had seen The Dungeonmaster already, on VHS a few years back). In terms of my personal enjoyment of the four flicks, they would rank (best to worst): 1 The Dungeonmaster, 2 Cellar Dweller, 3 Catacombs, 4 Contamination.7. As far as recommendations go, I'd suggest watching The Dungeonmaster and maybe Cellar Dweller. Skip Catacombs and only watch Contamination.7 if you're a sucker for punishment (aka a seasoned fan of bad cinema).<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-78672157156218410832016-05-06T12:51:00.000+12:002016-05-06T12:51:05.471+12:00What I Watched - April 24-30 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - APRIL 24-30 2016</span></b></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHbS5WULaTVlXfMQoS92BrzMQstxLT28G34hYSsBNptHJOm4mAS9WLcJLeCXx9e1F4aWYO4EpcspByjjyUkfBZLTlMJELOLEMcfPK_XTO0tE0DBeTEncnSqc_ecd4xy1EOsFfEEOHMWAs/s1600/theforest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHbS5WULaTVlXfMQoS92BrzMQstxLT28G34hYSsBNptHJOm4mAS9WLcJLeCXx9e1F4aWYO4EpcspByjjyUkfBZLTlMJELOLEMcfPK_XTO0tE0DBeTEncnSqc_ecd4xy1EOsFfEEOHMWAs/s320/theforest.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The Forest (2016) AVI</b>
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-<b> </b>While not a bad film, I was ultimately disappointed by this American horror flick set in Japan. It has a great premise - an American girl travels to Japan to search for her missing twin sister, who has disappeared in the "Suicide Forest" on the slopes of Mount Fuji. I've watched a few documentaries about this very-real place and find the concept of a forest full of dead bodies to be as creepy as hell, so had fairly high hopes for this one. It does start promisingly, building up some nice suspense and using the setting to its advantage, but in the third act it devolves into jump scares and then ends with a ridiculous climax, complete with one of those awful last-second jump scare moments. Given the setting and premise, this should have been better.</div>
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<b>Krampus (2015) AVI</b></div>
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- I had mixed expectations going into this one. On the one hand I was excited to see a movie made by the director of the awesome Trick R Treat, but on the other I was worried about the subject matter. I guess I'm a bit burned out on evil Santa movies after A Christmas Horror Story and Rare Exports. It turns out I did enjoy this one to a certain degree, but I ended up wishing it was more horror and less comedy.</div>
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The premise of a dysfunctional family at Christmas being forced to fight off an evil version of ol' Saint Nick and his minions is a good one, but so much time was spent setting up the family that the early parts felt a lot like a remake of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I love that movie, but that's not what I was hoping for here. Minus some goofy gingerbread men, the creature effects are excellent - the Krampus itself is extremely creepy. </div>
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Overall, Krampus is a decent horror comedy that is elevated by its effects, just don't expect it to be as good as Trick R Treat.</div>
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<b>Diamond Ninja Force (1988) Stream</b></div>
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- See full review <a href="http://moviegeeknz.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/ho-ho-no-diamond-ninja-force-1988.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<b>Invasion of the Girl Snatchers (1973) Stream</b></div>
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- Originally going by the tongue-twister name of The Hidan of Maukbeiangjow, this is a no-budget 70s exploitation flick about a private eye hunting down a pair of criminals and getting tied up with a strange UFO cult. It never takes itself too seriously (the main private investigator is named Sam Trowel, get it?) and throws in some nudity to try to keep things interesting, but the acting is awful across the board and it looks like it was shot at the director's house. Quite boring for the most part, there's just not enough cheese factor to make this one recommendation-worthy.</div>
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<b>White Ghost (1988) Stream</b></div>
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- See full review <a href="http://moviegeeknz.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/white-ghost-1988.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<b>Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015) AVI</b></div>
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- The latest Stars Wars blockbuster has been reviewed to death so I'm not going to say much other than I loved this movie. After the extremely-disappointing prequels, this was a fantastic return to form for the franchise and what a Star Wars movie should be.</div>
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<b>Robot Ninja (1989) AVI</b></div>
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- How could you not love a movie with that name? This low-budget actioner is about a comic book artist who adopts the identity of his superhero character (Robot Ninja) to fight crime. Kind of a Z-grade Kickass or, if you're my age, Condorman. Full of all of the traits you'd expect - bad acting, dumb humour, non-existent special effects (gotta love the fact that the main guy puts on a metallic mask to appear like a robot, but has his curly mullet showing out the back). Besides the cheese factor, what makes this watchable is the gore. Director JR Bookwalter (THE DEAD NEXT DOOR) doesn't spare the blood and guts, which are spilled in a lovingly low-budget manner. This is a good time for fans of bad cinema.</div>
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-69127478262471999962016-05-01T22:13:00.000+12:002016-05-01T22:13:46.868+12:00White Ghost (1988)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3phkWtvzFxprKim3TlI2QZD1ElEYmcvfRyYPt3vIfmXxeK8LjgXqjoQauWghDQlidGprWDOLwCjJP1EA0b7zKo0EcfHY1Pr-kSK-PGXMwELkLwiNUsVhTz7a9gRrl6n4ElYNuSC-kSCG/s1600/whiteghost2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3phkWtvzFxprKim3TlI2QZD1ElEYmcvfRyYPt3vIfmXxeK8LjgXqjoQauWghDQlidGprWDOLwCjJP1EA0b7zKo0EcfHY1Pr-kSK-PGXMwELkLwiNUsVhTz7a9gRrl6n4ElYNuSC-kSCG/s400/whiteghost2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span>White Ghost (1988)</span></span></b></span><br />
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<b>Director: BJ Davis</b></span><br />
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<b>Starring: William Katt, Martin Hewitt, Reb Brown</b><span><b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span></b></span></span><br />
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<b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span>Format: Stream</b></span><br />
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<i>Plot: An M.I.A. US soldier nicknamed White Ghost (Katt) lives in hiding in the
jungles of communist Vietnam. The US army finds out about him and sends a
black ops team to rescue him. However, the team is lead by a man who
wants White Ghost dead. </i><br />
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The Greatest American Hero was one of my favourite shows when I was a kid. The show aired from 1981 to 1983, when I was aged 6 through to 9, the perfect age to appreciate the show's wacky appeal. Hell, I just loved getting to see a live action caped superhero in action, even if he couldn't fly properly or use his superheroes to save himself. And that theme song... awesome.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSQjUxbrl7oRP0HHTLXR9fDZT9Pm0F6yXxuSxW87Fwo17FZBDMJKaHgA4IJjG_5AFcF6cIN1kPjeZQBiesCltK6LY4m_CjlLlA5IdTDWlF9K1PPZqMwjiHM3GIq-a3BmeH-o5xPPE32LB/s1600/whiteghost3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitSQjUxbrl7oRP0HHTLXR9fDZT9Pm0F6yXxuSxW87Fwo17FZBDMJKaHgA4IJjG_5AFcF6cIN1kPjeZQBiesCltK6LY4m_CjlLlA5IdTDWlF9K1PPZqMwjiHM3GIq-a3BmeH-o5xPPE32LB/s320/whiteghost3.jpg" width="171" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4a9mzjK-tjXtuBuKivVAadPwYWi7iDIV9UmizYyFojeyRRZBbKmKVHZApTrmYrj2IlzSG_uLDl2x-EXCq7Pgrijh93l0mB64yJY_0HBLODG74AQKdW0eb-LcNTrmR4xCRazOG2fkeHYmn/s1600/white-ghost1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4a9mzjK-tjXtuBuKivVAadPwYWi7iDIV9UmizYyFojeyRRZBbKmKVHZApTrmYrj2IlzSG_uLDl2x-EXCq7Pgrijh93l0mB64yJY_0HBLODG74AQKdW0eb-LcNTrmR4xCRazOG2fkeHYmn/s320/white-ghost1.jpg" width="184" /></a><br />
Lead star William Katt unfortunately faded into obscurity after the show's run, apart from showing up in a couple of the House horror/comedies I honestly couldn't tell you what he's been doing since. A look at his IMDB page shows that after Greatest American Hero he acted in a bunch of Perry Mason TV movies. Who knew? Well, luckily for us after that he chose White Ghost, a low-budget action flick that I happened to find in full on Youtube. The listing caught my eye because of one name - Reb Brown - an actor who I've raved about before on this blog for his bad, bad acting which is a sight to behold. Sadly Brown has only a small role in this, but despite that it's a good ol' time anyway.<br />
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Besides Brown and Katt, White Ghost also features Martin Hewitt (THE PARATROOPER), making for something of a bad-acting trinity. And it's directed by the guy who made the Brandon Lee vehicle Lazer Mission!<br />
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The storyline is part Missing in Action, part Predator (the team aspect, not the alien) and part Rambo. There are plenty of great cheesy moments, from Katt's frizzy mullet (which he unfortunately gets cut early in the piece) to the facepaint he dons that makes him look like the bassist from a Norwegian black metal band. After growing up on Katt as a comedic actor it's hard to take him seriously in a straight-forward action movie like this, and his facial expressions don't help. Let's just say his stoic face is more Alzheimer's patient than ass-kicking soldier.<br />
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The climax of White Ghost is typical of these movies, with all the explosions and gunfighting an action fan can wish for. My only complaint is the misuse of Reb Brown - he spends most of the movie in an office and only enters the jungle in the third act. He does get to brandish two machine guns and use his trademark yell, which I appreciate, but it's too little too late. I really wish they had cast Brown in the lead role (ala STRIKE COMMANDO) or at least in the main baddie role which instead went to Wayne Crawford (BARRACUDDA). But that complaint aside, White Ghost is a fun actioner - not quite as cheesy as classics like Strike Commando or Deadly Prey but worthwhile for fans of cheesy shoot-em-ups.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-12660123913217687622016-04-27T23:19:00.000+12:002016-04-28T11:56:39.808+12:00HO NO: Diamond Ninja Force (1988)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UFQpnZWx4PAt-9r3Ef2Pcgkhx1osF_9Vh2TPBneBWcgZaERHYg-C6K_Ktvn0220QgHv3OyVtmTwF0kRflgIaOD5NvIPzQ_Ag_fIqqXoq89s9JNe0KjQIHURjmaChNmxy9N69Hev7Ufub/s1600/DiamondNinjaForce2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UFQpnZWx4PAt-9r3Ef2Pcgkhx1osF_9Vh2TPBneBWcgZaERHYg-C6K_Ktvn0220QgHv3OyVtmTwF0kRflgIaOD5NvIPzQ_Ag_fIqqXoq89s9JNe0KjQIHURjmaChNmxy9N69Hev7Ufub/s400/DiamondNinjaForce2.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Diamond Ninja Force (1988)</span></span></b><br />
<b>Director: Godfrey Ho</b><br />
<b>Starring: </b><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Richard Harrison, Melvin Pitcher, Andy Chworowsky<span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span></b></span><br />
<b><span itemprop="actors" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span>Format: Stream</b><br />
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<i>Plot: This is a Godfrey Ho movie... you expect plot?</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNZ-VrvROvQEPGDBtwS0iETU1dn-pbRlZqd4Mg9xQ6mdUeyTGiqqRZprfcRF89XlEfjCjP9_uLZs9YdkjbdNDBUjAgrrD-rPT3QokJr33P3ZT92SXvAqTcbgp33vSBFvhAA1Dm-ScxU76U/s1600/diamondninjaforce3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNZ-VrvROvQEPGDBtwS0iETU1dn-pbRlZqd4Mg9xQ6mdUeyTGiqqRZprfcRF89XlEfjCjP9_uLZs9YdkjbdNDBUjAgrrD-rPT3QokJr33P3ZT92SXvAqTcbgp33vSBFvhAA1Dm-ScxU76U/s320/diamondninjaforce3.jpg" width="196" /></a>Also known as Ghost Ninja, this is one of the many 80s mash-ups that Godfrey Ho "directed", starring washed-up former sword-and-sandals star Richard Harrison (GIANTS OF ROME). As is usually the case, Ho takes an established movie, adds some newly-shot ninja scenes and voila, ninja mash-up goodness. But unusually he chose a Taiwanese horror movie to chop up, which actually works in this movie's favour.<br />
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Whereas the non-ninja portions of many of the Ho movies I've seen thus far tend to be a bit boring, that's not the case here. The Taiwanese horror bits are goofy as hell and a whole lot of fun. A family - including mum Fanny and son Bobo (dig those names man!) - finds their home haunted by a ghost, or ghosts (it's hard to tell) and all manner of campy low-rent Amityville Horror stuff happens to them. Some of it is quite adult in nature, so we get a strew of sex scenes and nudity. That does get a bit tedious, but it's saved by the variety of supernatural "special effects" which are downright hilarious.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBV6_-g2BX8hyDV2P0ksjYyOGpQYnToI4jLUHl9XaWJkubkYxTXLb5skiBwmM288uFzrCjG6F3eFThHVzXFDnEqHQAYU-cK2Hc-Ck2JwVF_8KYaeuwoUab8TqPRR-f8h1LF-Cbwadj5vrJ/s1600/diamondninjaforce1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBV6_-g2BX8hyDV2P0ksjYyOGpQYnToI4jLUHl9XaWJkubkYxTXLb5skiBwmM288uFzrCjG6F3eFThHVzXFDnEqHQAYU-cK2Hc-Ck2JwVF_8KYaeuwoUab8TqPRR-f8h1LF-Cbwadj5vrJ/s320/diamondninjaforce1.jpg" width="196" /></a><br />
Meanwhile, the bad guy who summoned the "ghost ninja" to haunt the family and drive them off their land, accidentally(?) kills the girlfriend of badass ninja dude Harrison, a member of the titular Diamond Ninja Force. Naturally he vows revenge on the bad guys, leading to a series of "fights" interspersed between the haunting storyline - in each, Harrison shows up and kills a bad guy easily and without any blood (despite using swords and throwing stars). More haunting stuff, another fight, more haunting, another fight... rinse and repeat until the final showdown between Harrison and the main baddie.<br />
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Naturally this is a bad movie. The name Godfrey Ho essentially demands that. It has the usual awful dubbing and incoherent plotline (although more coherent than most Ho flicks), and everything else that lovers of bad cinema will revel in. And adding to its appeal is the fact the non-ninja portions are just as fun, not something that is common for Ho's masterpieces. Given that, I think this might be my favourite Godfrey Ho flick so far. I found it on a streaming website called Creepster.tv, but it's also available on Youtube.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-4438887733551085862016-04-27T20:29:00.001+12:002016-04-27T20:29:30.986+12:00Catch Up - What I Watched March 27-April 23<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - MARCH 27-APRIL 23 2016</span></b></h3>
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I don't know what it is about March and April, but every year they seem to become one big black hole for movie watching in my household. This year has been no different, with viewing totals a lot lower than what I typically achieve. I honestly don't have an explanation, but with so few movies passing before my eyes, rather than do the usual weekly What I Watched column, it's time for a catch-up...<br />
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<b>River's Edge (1986) VHS</b>
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-<b> </b>This teen drama that comments on the increasing apathy of the younger generation is as poignant today as it was back in the mid-80s. When a male member of their group of friends kills a female friend, the rest of the group reacts to the news in different ways. Oddball Layne (Crispin Glover) turns uber-loyal and tries to cover up the crime, while Matt and Clarissa (Keanu Reeves and Ione Skye) choose the more ethical route. Matt's younger brother Tim (Joshua Miller) sees his contacting the police as a betrayal, and adding to the volatile mix is crazed drug dealer Feck (Dennis Hopper). This bleak affair benefits from some stellar casting (Glover and Hopper are the stand outs).</div>
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<b>Scream season 1 (2015) Netflix</b></div>
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- I'm on the fence about the Scream movies. I did enjoy the first couple (and part four was okay), but I also recognise the damage their success did to horror movies, spawning a long line of soulless teenybopper movies that are better left unmentioned. The TV series brings back a lot of the elements of the first movie, to the point of making me wonder halfway through if the outcome was going to be the same (luckily it wasn't). Yes, it revolves around high school life and features a bunch of stereotypes but the writing is pretty good and it kept me guessing all the way to a fairly-satisfying conclusion. Bonus points for giving regular work to Bex Taylor-Klaus (THE KILLING, ARROW).</div>
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<b>Roadkill (2011) DVD</b></div>
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- This Scifi/Syfy original movie will be appreciated by fans of their output and is best avoided by haters of their fare. It has the usual elements - washed up star (THE CRYING GAME's Stephen Rea in a short cameo role), bad CGI and a killer creature (giant bird of prey). Making it rise above the crowd is its setting (Ireland) and the inclusion of some gypsy mumbojumbo magic. If, like me, you can appreciate Syfy's flicks as modern-day versions of 50s B movies like Attack of the Giant Leeches and The Giant Gila Monster, you'll dig this.</div>
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<b>Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) Netflix</b></div>
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- Family movie night, and we sat down to watch this Brendan Fraser vehicle. Remember him? I recently read something online about his fall from grace, and it seems part of the blame sits on his decision to pass on the sequel to this movie (he was replaced by Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson).</div>
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Fraser's slide into obscurity aside, this movie succeeds in doing what it sets out to do - bringing a Jules Verne tale to life in a family-friendly way using modern graphics. You get what you'd expect - lots of fights with giant creatures, perilous treks through underground worlds etc. Good fun.</div>
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<b>The Hallow (2015) AVI</b></div>
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- I've lost count of the number of horror movies I've seen in the last couple of years that start off with a family leaving the city to move into a house in the country. That's the case with The Hallow (aka The Woods), with the three-person family (mum, dad and baby) leaving London to set up home in the Irish countryside. Dad is some kind of environmentalist, who ignores local warnings and ventures into the dark woods. This riles up the creatures of local legend (faeries, goblins etc), who begin to terrorise the family. It's a simple premise, part survival horror part fairytale, but one that succeeds for the most part. The creatures, which are presented using a mix of CGI and practical effects, are pretty damn creepy and the infusion of Celtic folklore keeps things interesting. Not a must-see, but okay for what it is.</div>
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<b>Justice League vs Teen Titans (2016) AVI</b></div>
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- The latest DC animated superhero flick has a great premise, but sadly is not executed as well as it could have been. I love the idea of a movie centred around the Teen Titans (particularly Nightwing, my favourite outside of Batman) having to work together to defeat a Justice League possessed by an alien force. I even don't mind the heavy emphasis on Damien Wayne/Robin, despite the fact I usually find the character annoying. But what brings this one down a peg or two is the fact that it just feels like it drags on for too long. More action and less set-up would have been a better idea. My six-year-old son loved it, but then he's easily impressed when it comes to superheroes.</div>
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<b>Hell and Back (2015) Netflix</b></div>
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- I was excited to check this one out, as stop animated movies for adults are few and far between. As the title suggests, two friends venture to hell to rescue their buddy who is accidentally sucked into the void. Together they face an army of demons led by the Devil (Bob Oedenkirk, BETTER CALL SAUL) and a variety of other characters, including a human demon hunter and a half-human, half-demon girl (Mila Kunis, FAMILY GUY). The humour is definitely of the toilet kind and I found myself laughing a few times, but for the most part the comedy hit the mark for me. I still enjoyed watching because of the glorious stop motion animation, but was left wishing this one had been better than it turned out to be. </div>
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-73648720178831735452016-04-03T10:59:00.001+12:002016-04-03T10:59:39.676+12:00What I Watched - March 20-26 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - MARCH 20-26 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>Deathsport (1978) DVD</b>
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-<b> </b>A very loose "sequel" to Roger Corman's cult hit Death Race 2000, this stars David Carradine, although he doesn't reprise his Frankenstein role. Instead he's a cyborg warrior who rides a suped-up motorcycle (a "destructocycle"!) around the wasteland and battles bad guys. This is essentially Robin Hood if you trade the bow and arrow for a two-wheeler, with the always-menacing Richard Lynch playing our Sheriff of Nottingham-type baddie. Maid Marion is ex-Playmate Claudia Jennings, who naturally spends most of the movie in the buff.</div>
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Sadly this lacks the intended humour of Death Race 2000, although it's so bad that it elicits a few laughs, mainly around the action and the inane dialogue that Jennings and Carradine swap back and forth. The action consists mainly of motorcycle stunts, feeling very much like that other futuristic turkey, 1982's Megaforce. Definitely another one that bad cinema junkies will enjoy.</div>
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<b>Congo (1995) VHS</b></div>
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- I hadn't seen this movie since it was first released on home video, but remembered quite liking it and my girlfriend had never seen it. Based on a novel by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) this tells the story of a group of explorers who venture into a jungle where ancient killer gorillas are on the loose. Pretty straight forward, although there's a "talking" gorilla that adds a bizarre, family-friendly angle to things. As a result this feels like a weird hybrid between a kid's jungle adventure movie and something more adult-oriented like Jurassic Park or King Kong.</div>
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What makes this watchable is the cheese factor. On top of the "talking" gorilla stuff, Tim Curry hams it up with an awful Romanian accent, Joe Pantoliano shows up for a humorous cameo, the science involved makes no sense, and the killer gorillas aren't very convincing. Oh, and Bruce Campbell has a very small role, although he plays it fairly straight.</div>
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<b>The X-Files season 10 (2015) AVI</b></div>
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- I was a bonafide X-Files fanboy back in the day. The show kind of jumped the shark towards the end, with all of the alien conspiracy plotlines. I enjoyed it most when it was just Mulder and Scully travelling somewhere to investigate and finding some new form of creature or other unexplainable phenomenon. When they announced a new season I was a bit sceptical that it would just be more of the alien bullshit, but I was still pretty excited to see Fox and Dana back in action.</div>
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While there is a fair amount of alien conspiracy stuff in season 10, I was happy to see that there's also some "creature of the week" episodes amongst the 6-episode revival. Even the alien stuff wasn't overbearing, so I enjoyed this new season a lot. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson feel so natural back in their career-defining roles and I was happy to see other series regulars like Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) and William B Davis (Smoking Man) show up for cameos.</div>
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My favourite episode was the comedic Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster, featuring my fellow countryman Rhys Darby. Darby's comedy is very hit and miss for me, but this was extremely well written and funny throughout.</div>
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I'm looking forward to a season 11 if it happens, although it did kind of feel like the introduction of two young pseudo-Mulder/Scully type agents (played by Lauren Ambrose and Robbie Amell) was maybe setting the way for them to eventually take over the show?</div>
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<b>Nothing Lasts Forever (1984) AVI</b></div>
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- This is a bizarre lost film, which has never had any kind of home video release. It was directed by Saturday Night Live writer Tom Schiller and because of this has a few SNL alumni (most notably Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray) show up in supporting roles. The lead is Zach Galligan, a couple of years before he would hit the big time with Gremlins (this movie was filmed in 1982 but shelved for two years, and then barely shown anywhere).</div>
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In terms of plot this one's a weird one, set in some weird future or alternative totalitarian world where you have to go through customs to enter Manhattan and pass a test if you want to become an artist. There's a bus that flies to the moon for shopping, some bizarre avant garde artists and more. It's definitely one of those movies where you have to throw logic out the window and enjoy the ride. A ride made quite enjoyable by the cinematography. Most of the film is shot in black and white, with the futuristic city resembling something out of 1927's Metropolis. Dream sequences and the finale happen in colour, a change that is quite startling. In fact, the word "dream" is probably the best way to describe this movie - it feels like one big dream.</div>
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<b>The Witch (2015) AVI</b></div>
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- The uber-creepy trailer to this horror flick had me drawn in from the start. While the movie itself didn't prove to be quite as good, it's still a nice little tale of witchcraft, religion and family dynamics in the early days of American settlement. A puritan family is banished to the wilderness for an indiscretion, and soon finds that the forest bordering their new, isolated farm is harbouring something evil. </div>
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I appreciate that this isn't your typical modern horror movie, so bypasses inane jump scares to take things slowly, building up the suspense and using light and shadow to create an ominous atmosphere. Some people might find this boring, but fans of more subtle horror should enjoy it. Add in a couple of creepy kids and an even creepier goat and you've got a successfully chilling flick. It's not perfect - things fall down during a "possession" scene - but is one of the better horror movies to be released in the last couple of years. Recommended.</div>
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-71355837764099209022016-04-03T10:11:00.000+12:002016-04-03T10:11:31.963+12:00What I Watched - March 13-19 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - MARCH 13-19 2016</span></b></h3>
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Very much a down week in terms of movie watching. I don't know what it is about March - looking back over the past few years (I've kept note of every movie I watch since May 2011) it always seems to be a slow period for me watching films.<br />
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<b>Leprechaun (1993) DVD</b></div>
-<b> </b>Naturally I watched this movie on March 17, St Patrick's Day, because what is more Irish than a killer leprechaun, right? Embarrassingly I don't think I'd ever seen this movie up until now. Not that I was missing much. Beyond getting to see a young Jennifer Aniston in action, and some minorly amusing scenes, I didn't enjoy this one much at all. How do you screw up a movie about a killer leprechaun? I haven't seen any of the sequels either, are any of them worth seeing?<br />
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<b>Storm Warning (2007) DVD</b><br />
- This on the other hand I enjoyed immensely. It's a good backwoods, killer hillbilly movie ala Wrong Turn, with the major point of difference being that it's Australian. A city couple get lost while out yachting and end up on a secluded island where a family of rednecks (or yobbos as the Aussies would call them) are growing pot and killing anyone who gets too close.<br />
What makes Storm Warning work so well is some great acting (especially by David Lyons as inbred Jimmy) and the way director Jamie Blanks (Valentine, Urban Legend) builds up the tension for a good long time before unleashing the inevitable violence. And when that violence arrives, it is gloriously brutal. The bodycount might not be high, but the way people meet their end will have any gorehound cheering their ass off.<br />
Not as torture porn-y as fellow Aussie flick Wolf Creek, Storm Warning still packs a major punch and is a damn good time.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-36804237608778343712016-04-02T20:51:00.000+13:002016-04-02T20:51:18.992+13:00What I Watched - March 6-12 2016<br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - MARCH 6-12 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>Finding Vivian Maier (2013) Netflix</b> </div>
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-<b> </b>This documentary is a posthumous look at a woman who worked as a nanny for rich families in America, but secretly documented the world around her via hundreds of thousand of photographs that she took. After her death filmmaker John Maloof bought her negatives in an auction and discovered that her work was world class, so set about telling her story. It's amazing that none of her work was ever exhibited for the world while she was alive, because her work truly is inspiring. I do love a good doco and especially one that unveils something that has up until then been hidden from the world, which is definitely the case here.</div>
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<b>Cub (2014) AVI</b></div>
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-<b> </b>I remember hearing about this Belgian horror movie in the lead up to its release, but I never got around to seeing it until now. It tells the story of a group of boy scouts who go camping in the woods in an area that is off limits, and discover something horrific lurking there. I was a boy scout in my younger days and director Jonas Govaerts captures that time of life perfectly, especially the banter and mischievousness of young boys. He also captures the bullying that inevitably goes along with any gathering of pre-teen males.</div>
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As for the horror elements, they are handled very well, with plenty of suspense and even some gorey moments. The mystery as to what is exactly going on keeps you enthralled until the ending, which will please some people but annoy others. It's definitely outside the box, and that's to be commended. </div>
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<b>Dead and Breakfast (2004) DVD</b></div>
- The cover of my DVD copy of this movie has a quote about it possibly being the American equivalent of Shaun of the Dead. Praise like that always makes me wary, so I went into this expecting to dislike it. But while it's not a great movie, it's a perfectly entertaining splatter comedy in the vein of Brain Dead (Dead Alive to you Americans), Evil Dead 2 and, yes, Shaun of the Dead. It's not as good as any of those, but I still enjoyed it. The gore is good fun, and the comedy actually hits the mark for the most part (the real telling factor for any horror-comedy).</div>
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<b>This is England '90 (2015) AVI</b></div>
-<b> </b>A<b> </b>couple of years ago my girlfriend and I discovered the English TV series (mini-series?) This is England and loved it. We subsequently watched all the sequels (This is England '86 and This is England '88). Then last year the final part, This is England '90, was released, so we were eager to see that as well.</div>
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In a nutshell, This is England tells the story of a group of young skinhead punks as they grow up in poverty in the UK. The best part is the series started in 2006 and finished last year, so the cast really do grow up before your eyes. There's violence, there's comedy, there's a lot of references to pop culture stuff from the 80s (and 1990) which is great for anyone who remembers those times.</div>
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This final chapter ties up a few loose ends (Combo gets out of prison, Shaun goes back to high school, Woody and Lol get married) and introduces some new storylines (Kelly gets hooked on heroin). I really do wish this series would continue though, as I have thoroughly enjoyed it. To me Woody is one of the best-written, funniest characters of all time. </div>
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<b>Men Behind the Sun (1988) AVI</b></div>
-<b> </b>This movie is one that I've heard about in passing over the years, usually mentioned as one of the most shocking films ever released. In my experience most movies that get that kind of hype fail to live up to it, and usually I'm left feeling a big "meh" about them. I guess that's what comes from having watched so much horror cinema over the years.</div>
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With that in mind, I sat down to finally watch this movie, and I can honestly say it shocked me. That's not an easy thing to do, but Men Behind the Sun did it. Parts of it feel very much like any other torture exploitation film (like the Ilsa series or 120 Days of Sodom), but what this movie does differently is set up the victims as sympathetic, so when they meet a gorey end it actually hits home. As anyone who has seen this movie will probably agree, the scene in the operating room is heartbreaking.</div>
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This is definitely one of those movies you don't need to watch twice, but I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it. Hard to "recommend" as such, but worth seeing once. </div>
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<b>The Man Whose Mind Exploded (2012) Netflix</b></div>
-<b> </b>Another doco,<b> </b>this one about an extravagant British man who suffered a terrible brain injury in an accident and now suffers from short-term memory loss. There's really nothing more to it than that. Interesting enough, a good time waster. <b></b></div>
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<b>Cry Wolf (2005) DVD</b></div>
-<b> </b>I bought this DVD last year at some point (for very cheap) and have almost watched it a few times. But every time I picked up the case and looked at the back, the "pretty" teens (male and female) have put me off. I usually find that when a horror movie is populated by nothing but picture-perfect model types, it blows. But I had also heard some decent things about this one, so I finally<b> </b>pulled the trigger.</div>
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As a horror movie this is nothing special, just any other slasher about a group of high school students being stalked by a masked murderer. But what makes it stand out is that the storyline is very well written, with all sorts of twists and turns associated with the fact that this particular group of teens engages in a game where they try to outwit each other through deception and lies. Rich kids, am I right? But this adds another layer to the slash-and-bash proceedings, making for a fun little movie. </div>
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-27414696676045833512016-04-02T19:54:00.002+13:002016-04-02T19:54:41.747+13:00What I Watched - February 28-March 5 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 5 2016</span></b></h3>
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A light week in terms of how much I watched, but definitely quality over quantity IMO. Well, maybe not quality, but definitely rarity over quantity.<br />
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<b>Roller Blade Warriors: Taken By Force (1989) DVD</b><br />
- I've seen this one before and bored one night I decided to throw it in again and have a few laughs. In a desolate post apocalyptic world, a group of women belong to a religious order that instructs them to go out into the world wearing skimpy leotards and on rollerskates. As you do. This is actually the first sequel to the movie Roller Blade, and several sequels follow - talk about beating a dead horse.<br />
The acting is over-the-top and campy, the fight scenes are hilariously bad, and the script doesn't make a lick of sense (why would anyone want to rollerskate when what’s left of the roads are going to
realistically be covered in all sorts of rocks and rubble? Just who is
sweeping these roads?). Notice I said rollerskate, not rollerblade. There are no rollerblades in this movie, only four-wheel rollerskates. I'm willing to let that pass though, because everyone fights with ninja swords (aka blades), so the name could come from that.<br />
If you haven't figured it out already, this is definite so-bad-it's-good material. One for the bad cinema afficionados.<br />
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<b>Funeral Home (1980) AVI</b><br />
- A girl goes to stay with her grandmother, who runs a bed-and-breakfast in a creepy old Funeral Home, which grammy and her missing husband used to run together. In true slasher style people start dying and the girl hears some strange things coming from the basement. Is grandpa not missing after all?<br />
This little rarity (no DVD release) from director William Fruet (House by the Lake, Spasms, Killer Party) is a solid slasher that is boosted by some solid acting from Lesleh Donaldson (Happy Birthday to Me) as the granddaughter and Kay Hawtrey as the grandmother. The wacky ending also saves it after some plodding middle parts. Overall it's definitely worth watching for slasher fans.<br />
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<b>Boardinghouse (1982) AVI</b><br />
- What drew me to this one was the cover art, which is so awesome/cheesy. The movie itself? Not so much. I'm sure if I'd seen this movie in the mid-80s my teenage self would have enjoyed it - it's full of T&A. So much so that it feels like a softcore porno with some supernatural/killings thrown into the mix. And the acting is terrible... it's obvious these girls were picked for talents other than their thespian chops. Apparently the budget was a whopping $10,000, and I guess most of that went on catering.<br />
This one's definitely a chore to get through if you're not a teenager with over-active hormones.<br />
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<b>Perfect Victims (1982) AVI</b><br />
- Another rare title, this one has never made it to DVD. It's about a guy who contracts AIDS and blames women for it, so he goes on a rampage of killing random females. The AIDS angle makes it stand out a bit from the sea of slashers that the 80s brought, but other than that it's fairly by-the-numbers. There are a few rape scenes, so if that's a deal-breaker for you, I suggest you give this one a miss. Interestingly the director went on work on mostly Power Rangers-type TV shows, which is a real change of pace from his work here.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-22264696971670905642016-03-21T12:13:00.000+13:002016-03-21T12:13:06.495+13:00What I Watched - February 21-27 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - FEBRUARY 21-27 2016</span></b></h3>
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Quite a lot of VHS watching this week, as I readied another lot from my collection to be sold online. Most of the ones on this list are rarer titles (not-on-DVD or OOP) which I watched while converting to DVD before listing them for sale.<br />
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<b>Dagon (2001) VHS</b><br />
-<b> </b>This movie isn't rare, but I was putting it up for sale and my girlfriend hadn't seen it so we sat down to give it a watch. I had seen it once before (when it first came out on home video) and remembered quite liking it. It definitely stands up to the test of time, but it's directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-animator, From Beyond etc) and based on Lovecraft, so how could it not be great? A creepy setting (isolated European fishing village), good gore and some nice creature effects make this is a must for horror fans.<br />
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<b>Cabin in the Woods (2012) AVI</b><br />
<b> </b>- Another one I'd seen before but watched again because my girlfriend hadn't seen it. More a comedy than a horror, this one gets batshit crazy towards the end. As a side note, my girlfriend is legitimately terrified of werewolves and won't watch any movies that feature them - I forgot that there's a werewolf in the climax of this film... oops!<br />
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<b>Highriders (1987) VHS</b><br />
- Also known as Warlords of Hell, this rare film is about a couple of Americans who go motorcycling in Mexico and run afoul of some local bad guys. Naturally they fight back. This gets points for featuring future-Terminator Robert Patrick as a hell-raising biker but other than that though it's basically a bunch of action shots of dirtbikes jumping through the air. If that gets your blood pumping have at it, but I found it mostly boring.<br />
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<b>Blue Sunshine (1978) VHS</b><br />
- Bizarre oddity from Jeff Lieberman (director of Squirm, Just Before Dawn and Satan's Little Helper) about a mind-altering drug that turns people into bald psychopaths. Starts off really strong with a great "guy snaps and kills everyone" scene, but then it turns into a police procedural, before a final showdown that ends too abruptly. Still worth seeing though for some of the weirdness involved.<br />
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<b>The Pay Off (1987) VHS</b><br />
- Some movies that have never been released to DVD are better off that way, and this is one of them. A woman is framed for murder and sent to an insane asylum, where... well, not much happens. Most of the running time is taken up with various inmate antics, which boil down to showcasing how "crazy" they are. For a movie set in a woman's prison/asylum, it doesn't even feature any nudity to make things interesting. Avoid.<br />
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<b>American Horror Story season 5 (2015)</b><br />
- I'm somewhat torn on this show. I have watched all of the seasons so far and while I would say I have enjoyed most of them (the Coven series was pretty stupid IMO) I also feel like this show could benefit from being a bit less melodramatic and a bit more gritty. That being said, I did find this latest season to be a bit more enjoyable than some of the past ones.<br />
The cast was great across the board (Lady Gaga surprised me, Wes Bentley needs more big roles and Kathy Bates is always fantastic), I dug the concept of a hotel full of murderers, both living and dead (the Halloween dinner with all of the dead serial killers was a lot of fun), and the music was fantastic. The only downside was Evan Peters' performance - I've always said he's the spitting image of a young Johnny Depp, and his acting here was way too much like one of Depp's "kooky" characters, all the way down to the wacky accent.<br />
Overall, a great season of AHS.<br />
fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-37927921776775573742016-02-29T22:24:00.000+13:002016-03-21T11:37:34.702+13:00What I Watched - February 14-20 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - FEBRUARY 14-20 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>Slow Learners (2015) Netflix</b><br />
<b> </b>- On Valentine's night my girlfriend wanted to watch a rom-com, and since most big budget examples of the genre end up being formulaic crap, we settled on this indy movie. It follows two unlucky-in-love loser teachers, one male and one female, who decide to let loose over the summer and indulge in all sorts of one-night stands, drugs and alcohol. The end result - the losers ending up together - is predictable but the journey is less so, which I appreciated. Online reviews I've seen aren't very flattering towards this movie, but I found it enjoyable enough, more awkward humour (ala Napoleon Dynamite or Eagle vs Shark) than laugh-out-loud funny.<br />
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<b>Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1984) AVI</b><br />
- As a side-note, this blog was once known as "The Barbaric Bs of Schlocky Creek", a play on the original title of this movie, The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part 2. But it was too confusing, long and obscure of a reference, so I changed it.<br />
This movie is the second sequel to the original Legend of Boggy Creek (1972), but the first involving original director/producer Charles B Pierce. Pierce plays a university professor out to prove the existence of the Boggy Creek bigfoot. He takes along three young students (one played by real life son Chuck Pierce Jr) and naturally they run afoul of the creature.<br />
Sadly this doesn't have the docudrama elements of the original (which felt like a 70s version of the opening portion of Blair Witch Project) and instead opts for straight drama/horror. The bad effects, acting and cinematography mean this movie is only worth watching for its unintentional comedy, and even that's in fairly short supply.<br />
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<b>Bloodline Season 1 (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- This is another TV series that has been on my Netflix list for a while. I liked the synopsis and the involvement of Kyle Chandler was enough to interest me. Chandler is one of my favourite actors since seeing him in the Friday Night Lights series (I did watch a few episodes of Early Edition back in the day, but it wasn't until FNL that he really made an impression on me). This series is all about how a successful family's facade can often hide dark secrets. It has a stellar cast including Chandler, Sissy Spacek, Linda Cardellini, Sam Shepard, Chloe Sevigny and under-rated Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn. And a great setting - the Florida Keys.<br />
Most of the season is dedicated to establishing the family dynamics and slowly revealing a tragic incident in the family's past. It ends with a bang, and Netflix has announced Season 2 will be online sometime early this year. I'll be interested to see how they proceed from the developments of Season 1.<br />
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<u><b>Polonia Brothers Splatterfest Double Feature:</b></u><br />
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Two movies made by the Polonia brothers 20 years apart, both containing the word "Splatter" in the title.<br />
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<b>Splatter Farm (1987) AVI</b><br />
- John and Mark Polonia were 19 years old when they made this low-budget gorefest, in which they cast themselves in the lead roles of young twins going to stay with an Aunt on her farm. Her live-in handyman is a psycho who kills and cuts up people.<br />
The acting of the paltry five cast members is awful and the plot is virtually non-existant, but what makes this amateurish flick stand out is the gore. The brothers go overboard with the blood and guts and show they aren't afraid to offend, throwing in necrophilia, animal abuse, incest and child murder. There were a couple of moments where I even felt a bit ill, which doesn't happen too often these days.<br />
Good music and some inventive camera angles also help make this movie rise above what the budget should have allowed - this is truly an example of no-budget horror done right.<br />
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<b>Splatter Beach (2007) AVI</b><br />
- Two decades after Splatter Farm, the Polonia brothers directed this, their 22nd straight-to-video feature. It doesn't have anything to do with Splatter Farm, instead telling the story of a sea creature that attacks beachgoers, paying tribute to the 60s Frankie Avalon/Anne Funicello beach movies as well as every sea creature flick you can think of - Humanoids from the Deep, Creature From the Black Lagoon and so on.<br />
This movie gets points for using practical effects for the monster - good ol' man in a suit - but unfortunately it over-indulges in green screen and CGI effects elsewhere and there just isn't the gore or shocks of Splatter Farm. The acting is on par with that earlier film (ie terrible) - the former-Misty Mundae, Erin Brown, is in it and she couldn't act her way out of a wet paperbag.<br />
I can appreciate what the Polonia brothers were trying to achieve here, but it just felt flat and boring for the most part. Sadly this is the penultimate directing credit for John Polonia, who died in 2008, although Mark has continued to make low-budget horror flicks.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-29602462632005697822016-02-29T17:40:00.001+13:002016-02-29T17:40:06.131+13:00What I Watched - February 7-13 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - FEBRUARY 7-13 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1 (2015) AVI</b><br />
<b> </b>- I finally got around to watching this awesome series (filmed here in my native New Zealand), digesting it in just a few days. It's only 10 40-minute episodes, perfect for binge-watching. And what a show it is! Of course, I'm a huge fan of both Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead movies, so I'm slightly biased, but my girlfriend isn't too familiar with either and she really enjoyed this too. Bruce is in great form in his return to the boom-stick and chainsaw-arm of Ash, and has a pretty good supporting cast (Ray Santiago is hilarious as Pablo). Best of all, it doesn't spare the blood and guts, which is vital. This really does feel like an extension of the original movies - I can't wait for season 2!<br />
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<b>Burying the Ex (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- I've heard a lot of good things about this horror comedy from Joe Dante (you know, the guy who did the Gremlins movies, Small Soldiers, The Burbs, Piranha, The Howling - the list goes on). It spent a while sitting on my Netflix list before I finally gave it a watch, and... it's pretty okay. As a zombie romcom it doesn't come anywhere near close to Shaun of the Dead, or Zombieland, but it's not bad. I like Anton Yelchin (having recently seen him in Odd Thomas), who is charming enough to do the donkey work here. More cute than outright funny but worth seeing.<br />
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<b>The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- Sometimes I just browse a synopsis, think something sounds interesting and add it to my Netflix list, but when I finally watch it, it turns out to be very different than what I was expecting. This is a case in point - I thought it was a documentary but it's actually a dramatised retelling of real life events. That being said, it's an intriguing watch, telling the story of a man who is accused of a rape/murder basically because of his odd behaviour and appearance. He is found innocent but the damage is done by the media. Originally aired as a mini series, it plays a bit long in the "movie" form on Netflix, but is never boring and often awkwardly funny due to Jason Watkin's stellar portrayal of the title character.<br />
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<b>Better Call Saul Season 1 (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- Another series I've been looking forward to seeing for a while now. As a big fan of Breaking Bad I was so happy to hear that Saul Goodman was getting a spinoff show. This played on TV here in New Zealand last year but I don't have cable, so I waited until it showed up on Netflix. This first season was great, showing the history of Saul as struggling young lawyer Jimmy McGill, his nutty shut-in brother, his love interest fellow lawyer and best of all, Mike Ehrentrout, who is just as surly as he was in Breaking Bad. While Saul on Breaking Bad came across as an inscrutable lowlife, we get to see the man before he "went bad", the man with morales and dreams. Of course, seeing all of that get crushed and a life of crime come beckoning is all part of the fun!<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-36237824842896310952016-02-16T19:53:00.000+13:002016-02-16T19:53:15.201+13:00What I Watched - January 31-February 6 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>Sinister 2 (2015) AVI</b><br />
<b> </b>- I quite enjoyed the first Sinister. It wasn't anything great, but the storyline was interesting enough and the villain Bughuul has a cool look (albeit very much a ripoff of Slipknot guitarist Mick Thompson). This sequel covers similar ground, except for obvious reasons Ethan Hawke isn't in it. Instead, Deputy So-and-So (the returning James Ransone) takes over the task of trying to defeat Bughuul, who has his sights set on a new family. The best part is the home movies showing Bughuul's past handywork. There are a few too many jump scares (mainstream horror to a T), but if you enjoyed the first Sinister you should enjoy this.<br />
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<b>The Bridge (2006) Netflix</b><br />
- I find myself following a similar pattern a lot these days. I take my iPad to bed with me and watch something on Netflix before going to sleep. I usually choose a documentary over a movie because they're usually shorter. This was one such choice - a doco about people who commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Morbid subject matter for sure. There are interviews with those close to the jumpers, which is interesting, but what makes this stand out is the footage of the actual people jumping. I guess so many people jump off that bridge that it was worth the gamble for these film-makers to have a cameraman film the scene for a few months, knowing they would capture what they needed with enough patience. It's extremely unsettling and the images stuck in my mind for a long while after watching this.<br />
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<b>Safelight (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- Indy drama about a disabled young man (Evan Peters from American Horror Story) and a truck stop hooker (Juno Temple) who strike up an unlikely friendship as they photograph a series of lighthouses on the California coast. I watches this mainly because I liked Peters' work on AHS and wanted to see how he would handle a feature film. He did fine, in fact his acting is probably the highpoint of the movie. If you like indy movies about quirky characters, this is pretty good.<br />
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<b>Jack Be Nimble (1993) DVD</b><br />
- The last of a handful of New Zealand films I purchased on DVD recently, Jack Be Nimble is the best of the bunch. It tells the story of young siblings torn apart at a young age, who come back together as adults. But while Dora (NZ actress Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) was brought up in a good family and is well-adjusted aside from some psychic abilities, Jack (Alexis Arquette) was raised in a violent, hate-filled foster home and is severely unhinged. This movie has a dark, almost dream-like quality to it, aided by a great job from Arquette (born Robert, now a woman, sibling of Patricia, Rosanna and David). The late Bruno Lawrence also shines in a support role as Dora's manipulative older boyfriend.<br />
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<b>Capital C (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- Another late-night doco in bed, this one is about crowdfunding and follows a few entrepeneurs in their experiences using Kickstarter and the like. Interesting time-filler.<br />
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<b>Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) AVI</b><br />
- When I saw the trailer to this I thought it looked funny (especially the zombie cats) but I'm burned out on zombie movies so it's taken me a while to get around to watching it. If you've seen the trailer you know what to expect - essentially a teen sex comedy mixed with a zombie flick. If that sounds like your cup of tea, it's actually quite funny. One scene involving a character falling out a window and grabbing hold of... well, I won't spoil it, but it had me rolling on the floor. Good stuff.<br />
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<b>Batman: Bad Blood (2016) AVI</b><br />
- My son and I, being huge Batman fans, sat down to watch this, the latest animated Batman DC offering. In hindsight it's probably not ideal for a six-year-old, as it has some mild swearing and violence, but the movie itself is awesome. I enjoyed the fact it takes the emphasis off of Bruce Wayne for a bit and lets the B Team (Dick Grayson aka Nightwing, Robin aka Damien Wayne, Batwoman aka Katherine Kane and Batwing aka Luke Fox) take the lead. As always the animation is incredible and the plot was simple but fun.<br />
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<b>Sucker (2013) DVD</b><br />
- I didn't know what to expect from this, a low-budget scifi/action flick about a guy who gets infused with a toxin and becomes a half-man, half-mosquito superhero. If that synopsis sounds dumb to you, you're probably better off skipping this one. Director Michael Manaserri (who doubles as lead actor) does an admirable job with a $1.5 million budget of creating a live action comic book. Sure, some of it's pretty goofy, but it's a lot of fun. The settings and overall look remind me of a more-polished Troma movie. Also known as Mosquito Man.<br />
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<u><b>30th anniversary low-budget slasher Double Feature:</b></u><br />
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As the name suggests, a pair of slasher flicks that were released 30 years ago, in 1986.<br />
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<b>Blood Hook (1986) AVI</b><br />
- How could you not love an 80s slasher about a killer who literally hooks his victims using a fishing pole and an oversized hook/lure? Director Jim Mallon clearly had an eye for the campy - this was his only directing gig for 10 years, then he became a director/producer/executive producer for Mystery Science Theater 3000. On its own merits, this is one of the many, many slashers that came out following the success of the Friday the 13th movies, and this one is more derivative than most, being set at a lake and having some very Jason-esque music cues. Some of it is actually quite well shot, with some fun camera angles, and while a portion of proceedings fall into the unintentionally-hilarious territory, this is a good time for anyone who has a hankering for good ol' 80s slashers.<br />
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<b>Dreamaniac (1986) AVI</b><br />
- Where Blood Hook was thoroughly entertaining, sadly Dreamaniac is a bore. Directed by the prolific David DeCoteau (Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowlarama, three Puppetmaster movies among many others), this plays like a soft-porn movie with some attempts at horror thrown into the mix. Not surprisingly DeCoteau had made a few porn films before this, his feature film debut, and one of the lead actresses, Ashlyn Gere, became a pornstar after this. There are a couple of alright moments of gore involving a power drill, but otherwise this is a yawnfest - people arrive at a party, a succubus kills someone, rinse and repeat. Best avoided.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-69549876291059692852016-02-10T22:40:00.002+13:002016-02-10T22:40:57.066+13:00What I Watched - January 24-30 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - JANUARY 24-30 2016</span></b></h3>
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<b>The House at the End of Time (2013) Netflix</b><br />
<b> </b>- This horror/thriller is from Venezuela of all places and apparently set all sorts of box office records in that country. It's easy to see why, as this continues the great run of success for Spanish-language supernatural movies (Devil's Backbone, The Orphanage, Julia's Eyes, Timecrimes etc). I know it's unfair to lump a Venezuelan movie in with films from Spain, but if I can generalise for a minute... the Latino directors/writers/actors are masters at creating haunted house movies thick with atmosphere and with an underlying feeling of loss.<br />
The House at the End of Time is one of those movies that keeps you guessing right until the end, and wraps things up nicely with an explanation that makes you smile. But as well as being a good mystery, it uses some great suspense and is genuinely creepy throughout. Definitely recommended.<br />
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<b>The Martian (2015) AVI</b><br />
- I'm sure every man and his dog has seen this movie by now. This Matt Damon-starrer got a lot of buzz when it came out last year. And it deserves a lot of the praise, because it's a genuinely-intriguing tale of one man trapped alone on Mars and his battle for survival. While some of the supporting roles are miscast, Damon is really quite good in the lead role and director Ridley Scott once again shows that he is a master of scifi.<br />
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<b>Craigslist Joe (2012) Netflix</b><br />
- Nifty little doco about one man's quest to survive solely on the generosity of others on Craigslist. There's nothing profound about any of it, but it's interesting to see the film maker's journey across the US while meeting some of the more bizarre characters from the website.<br />
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<b>The Internet's Own Boy (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- Before sitting down to watch this I had never heard of Aaron Swartz, the subject of this documentary. He was a gun young computer programmer who developed the RSS protocol and co-founded reddit, so quite a big deal in terms of the internet world. He also seemed to be something of a tortured genius and killed himself while waiting to be tried by the authorities for hacking. This doco has interviews with all of his family, friends and important people in the tech-world that he lived in. An interesting watch.<br />
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<b>Case 39 (2009) Netflix</b><br />
- Another late-night blind-watch on Netflix, this one turned out to be pretty good. One-time A-lister Renee Zellweger plays a social worker who saves an abused young girl from her crazy parents. But were her parents really crazy or was there more to it? Ian McShane shows up in a fairly-bland supporting role, but Zellweger carries the load (all wide-eyed and shocked throughout) along with young Jodelle Ferland (Cabin in the Woods, The Tall Man), who is outstanding as the foster girl who isn't all that she seems. Shades of The Good Son and Orphan, this thriller is by-the-numbers but has a few twists to keep things interesting.<br />
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<b>Contracted: Phase II (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- I quite liked the first movie, but sadly this sequel doesn't really add anything, just going over the same ground again. It picks up right where the first movie ends, with a supporting character from that taking over the lead role. There's some gore and some gross-out moments, but for the most part I was generally bored here.<br />
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<b>A Lonely Place to Die (2011) Netflix</b><br />
- A survival thriller where the good guys are mountain climbers and the bad guys are either people smugglers or kidnappers (I won't give it away), this plays as a cross between Cliffhanger and any number of modern thriller/horror movies.<br />
What saves it is that the climbing scenes are handled very well, keeping the pulse racing throughout (particularly if you're terrified of heights like I am), and the performance of Melissa George. I've been watching her since she was a kid on Australian soap Home and Away, and she's turned into a solid Holywood actor. She plays a good survivor/victim, as shown in 30 Days of Night, and she's in good form here. The script is also clever in a few places, twisting our expectations and going against the predictable, which I appreciated. All in all a pretty good little thriller, but be warned - if you're scared of heights you're in for a rough ride.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-66531588546237233462016-01-25T22:49:00.001+13:002016-01-25T22:49:37.943+13:00What I Watched - January 17-23 2016<h3>
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - JANUARY 17-23 2016</span> </b></h3>
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<b>Crimson Peak (2015) AVI</b><br />
<b> </b>- I managed to avoid most of the hype about this Guillermo del Toro-directed gothic horror so didn't have any expectations going in, other than what comes with having del Toro's name attached (which means it is usually excellent). While I didn't flat out love this movie, I did enjoy it and I have to give kudos to Guillermo for producing something as close to the old Corman/Price Poe movies as we've seen in decades.<br />
The house in this movie is one of the greatest settings for a haunted house movie - the leaves falling through the busted roof make for some beautiful, haunting scenes. Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain stand out in the acting department. In the end the ghosts in this movie actually play little part in proceedings, making this more of a dark, gothic period mystery than an out-and-out horror movie. Worth seeing for the visuals alone though.<br />
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<b>The Kingdom, season 1 (1994) DVD</b><br />
- I have owned this Danish series on DVD for years but have only now gotten around to watching it. I have heard a lot of good things said about it, but unfortunately I found that it didn't live up to the hype for me. The man behind this series (which influenced Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital series, which I also haven't seen) is Lars von Trier. I've seen exactly one of his movies, Antichrist, which I found to be beautifully shot and weirdly trippy, but mostly nonsensical. I was expecting something along those lines with this four-part first season, but instead it's a fairly straight forward narrative about a hospital with ghosts.<br />
What made it hard for me to really take to it was the fact it felt like a Danish version of ER with a ghostly sub-plot. It's more about relationships between doctors, nurses and patients than it is the supernatural. I have season 2 on DVD and will give that a watch at some point, hopefully it gets better.<br />
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<b>The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- If you're a fan of baseball like me you'll enjoy this Netflix original documentary about Bing Russell (Kurt's dad) who brought an independent minor league team to Portland in the 1970s, snubbing his nose at the game's establishment and doing things his own way with a ragtag bunch of MLB castoffs. Even if you don't like baseball, this is masterfully told (Kurt himself regales about his late dad) and will appeal to any fans of the underdog.<br />
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<b>Wake in Fright (1971) Netflix</b><br />
- Quirkly little Australian movie about an English teacher who gets marooned in a small Outback town and has to deal with the hard-drinking, hard-living locals. Top acting performances (including by the always-great Donald Pleasance, naturally playing a drunk) and desolate scenery make this an intense tale of how civilised man can give in to his basest instincts when presented with the opportunity. Don't go in expecting a horror movie or exploitation though, it's a drama first and foremost.<br />
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<b>Central Park Five (2012) Netflix</b><br />
- After recently digesting the infamous Making a Murderer series, I stumbled upon this similar documentary about five young black and hispanic men wrongly imprisoned for the rape and attempted murder of a jogger in New York's Central Park in the 1980s. This is another fascinating watch, and all it does it increase my unease about police confessions.<br />
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<b>Call Me Lucky (2015) AVI</b><br />
- A correspondent on a popular website I frequent named this their top documentary for 2015, so I downloaded it, not knowing anything about it. The synopsis let me know it was about a "cutting edge" comedian who I'd never heard of, Barry Crimmins. It starts off that way, telling Crimmins' life story and how he got into comedy, then how he alienated crowds with his political rantings. But then the doco takes an unexpected turn into much darker territory - I won't spoil it, but it makes for some unpleasant viewing. I take my hat off to Crimmins for talking about it, and it's important that conversations are developed about this subject, but it made this hard to enjoy.<br />
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<b>Detroit 9000 (1973) Netflix</b><br />
- On the surface this seems like a run-of-the-mill 70s blaxploitation b-movie, but while it features a lot of the tropes of that sub-genre (jive-talking pimps, crooked politicians, street thugs etc) it's more of a police action thriller. Unlike a lot of the blaxploitation movies, this one doesn't make all the white characters bad guys (the two main cops are one black, one white), and has a black politician as the main villain. Veteran actor Alex Rocco is great as the hard-boiled white cop, although his voice is so distinctive that every time he talked it made me think of his voice work on The Simpsons as Roger Meyers jr. As you would expect from a 70s cop flick, proceedings lead up to a lengthy car chase, which is pretty damn good. An enjoyable time-waster.<br />
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<b>Zathura (2005) Netflix</b><br />
- I let my five-year-old son choose a movie for the family to watch for the night. As we'd just seen Jumanji he chose the "sequel", Zathura (it's not really a sequel, but is based on a book by the same author and the plot is similarly about a magic board game). While enjoyable, this one doesn't measure up to Jumanji. The CGI is better (given the time that had passed between movies) but that's about it. This one gets mentioned as "Jumanji in space without Robin Williams" and that about sums it up.<br />
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<b>Ex Machina (2015) AVI</b><br />
- Another movie that got a lot of love on people's Best of 2015 lists. It tackles the subject of AI (artificial intelligence) in androids, by telling the tale of a young man who works for the biggest search engine in the world (Bluebook - clearly a stand in for Google). He wins a raffle and gets to fly to the remote home of the company owner, where he discovers that his boss has made the ultimate android. His job is to test her and find out if she can pass off as a human. But naturally he falls in love with this "girl" and finds out that his boss isn't being completely truthful. I'm not going to give away anymore of the plot, but this is a fantastic scifi thriller which is beautifully shot and full of excellent acting performances. It could almost pass off for a prequel to Blade Runner in a way. Highly recommended.fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-66414539789760126302016-01-19T11:12:00.000+13:002016-01-19T11:12:46.593+13:00What I Watched - January 10-16 2016<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - JANUARY 10-16 2016:</span></b><br />
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<b>Rush (1983) Youtube</b><br />
<b> </b>- From the long production line of Mad Max-inspired Italian post-apocalyptic B-movies comes this one, directed by Tonino Ricci and starring Bruno Minniti. The early going - our hero is caught by the bad guys and put into a futuristic prison camp - is pretty dire, but once he escapes the camp and takes to the forest things really pick up in an unintentionally-hilarious way.<br />
Rush seems to have some kind of magic power, because no matter how close the bad guys are and how unprotected our hero is (like sitting on a tractor or hanging in mid-air) they can't seem to shoot him. None of the numerous stunts make a lick of sense - somehow he manages to jump over a truck roadblock on a motorbike without any kind of ramp - and the plot is full of holes - supposedly in this future world plants can't grow yet most of the later action takes part in a fully-wooded forest. Even the climactic fight is awesomely dumb, because the main bad guy's stunt double doesn't look anything like him! This is definitely a bad movie, but the cheesiness of the second half makes it good fun.<br />
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<b>He Never Died (2015) AVI</b><br />
- My interest in this movie started when I saw the poster - Henry Rollins with a pair of wings on his back, looking like a deshevelled fallen angel. I was expecting something along the lines of Prophecy or Legion, but it turned out to be very different, in a good way. To talk too much about the plot would be to give too much away, but this is a fantastic film, a mix of dark comedy and violent crime thriller. Rollins is superb as the grumpy immortal who is jaded to the world but forced to take action when things go bad.<br />
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<b>Making a Murderer (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- After hearing this Netflix-original documentary mentioned over and over on social media, I decided to check out the first episode to see what all the fuss was about. I was instantly hooked and watched all 10 episodes in a few days. It's definitely a well-crafted doco that asks real questions about the legal system and the pressure on police to get a prosecution at all costs, even if the evidence points elsewhere. A must-see!<br />
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<b>Big Sky (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- This is one of those movies where the premise outweighs the execution. The idea of a girl suffering from agoraphobia having to survive while being attacked in the wide-open desert is an interesting one, and while it's handled competently there's just nothing to really make this movie stand apart from any other average drama/thriller. The storyline meanders along predictably, needing a stand-out climax to save it, but sadly it never comes.<br />
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<b>Anomalisa (2015) AVI</b><br />
- I kept seeing this oddly-named movie mentioned on internet critics' top 10 of 2015 lists. After sitting down to watch it, I can honestly say I have to agree with the critics, this is one of the best of last year. It has a beautiful and enchanting animation style that's like a dreamy variation on clamation and a great story of love and loss and being numb to the world. Anyone who has suffered depression at any point in their life will be able to relate to the main character. The gimmick of having every other character looking and sounding virtually identical is a bit hard to get used to at first, but by the end of the movie it all makes sense. This movie will have you thinking about it for days afterwards.<br />
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<b>Valhalla Rising (2009) Netflix</b><br />
- Director Nicolas Winding Refn is a love-him or hate-him kind of guy. I know people who think his movies are pretentious and boring. I'm not one of them. Drive is one of my favourite movies of all time, I really like Bronson and while Only God Forgives was a tad disappointing, I didn't hate it.<br />
This earlier effort by the Danish director will do nothing to appease his haters, drawing from the same stylistic pool as Drive and Only God Forgives - a silent anti-hero, long periods of meloncholic silence interspersed with bursts of extreme violence, and beautiful establishing shots.<br />
Mads Mikkelsen (TV's Hannibal) is intense as the silent One-Eye, a mute warrior who escapes slavery in 1000AD and joins up with Christians heading on a crusade to the Middle East. But they end up somewhere else entirely - could it be hell? If you like Winding Refn movies you'll enjoy this.<br />
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-78585950851293697222016-01-14T21:50:00.000+13:002016-01-14T21:50:11.296+13:00What I Watched - January 3-9 2016<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - JANUARY 3-9 2016:</span></b><br />
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<b>Woundings (1998) DVD</b><br />
<b> </b>- I can usually find something good about just about any movie, no matter how bad it is. But this one left me disappointed AND pissed off. Disappointed because the concept (alternate universe Britain where soldiers are fighting for a Falklands-like island) could have been good; pissed off because it was so bad and wasted a fairly good cast.<br />
The story is just downright sloppy and doesn't make sense. The acting is ridiculous, like everyone was trying to play their characters as mentally-challenged. Usually-great actors like Guy Pearce and Ray Winston are awful in this - Winston tries to be quirky but comes off as silly, Pearce mumbles his way through his lines.<br />
The music is terrible, alternating between thumping techno music and the keyboard noodling of a three-year-old. One scene involving a dance for soldiers and their prospective girls feels like something out of a Dr Who episode, but it's only a fleeting moment. It's a shame the whole movie couldn't have been like it. Avoid at all costs.<br />
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<b>Carnivale, Season 2 (2005) DVD</b><br />
- After finishing off season 1 in a day it didn't take long to get into season 2 and get it finished as well, that's how addicting this show is. If anything season 2 was better, as the characters were established and more actually happened. The entire season headed towards the inevitable showdown between Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) and Brother Justin (Clancy Brown), while answering other mysteries (who and where is Hack Scudder, who is Management etc) and taking in sub-plots involving all of the carnival folk. My favourite characters are Jonesy and Stumpy, the former for his no-nonsense attitude and the latter for his comic relief.<br />
The season reached a somewhat-satisfying conclusion while also setting up future seasons that never came to be. It's a great shame, because this is one of the finest TV shows I've ever seen. If internet streaming is allowing shows like The X-Files to get new life years later, why not Carnivale? Come on Netflix!<br />
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<b>The Lost Tribe (1983) DVD</b><br />
- During the recent Boxing Day Sales (our version of America's Black Friday, held the day after Christmas) I picked up a bunch of quite-obscure New Zealand films for dirt cheap, this being one of them. A thriller set in remote jungle, it tells the story of a missing anthropologist and the search for him, headed by his wife and twin brother. As the name suggests, there might be a lost tribe lurking in the woods, ready to consign them to the same fate as their lost loved one.<br />
A lot of 1980s NZ films have a certain charm to them that's hard to put a finger on, and this one definitely feels that way. Aside from that it's just a solid little thriller with some nice atmosphere and a satisfying climax.<br />
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<b>Trial Run (1984) DVD</b><br />
- Another Boxing Day pick up, this one and I have something of a history together. Unlike The Lost Tribe, I was actually familiar with this New Zealand film before going into it. However, I had never actually seen it. Let me explain... this showed on NZ TV in 1984 when I was 9 years old and the teaser ads for it terrified me. In particular a scene involving "something" outside a kitchen window and the growling, animal noise it made. I'll never forget it. Of course I didn't watch the movie, but the night that is showed on TV, my mum watched it and I could hear the movie from my bedroom. In some ways that was worse than actually watching it, because my imagination ran wild.<br />
So, 30-plus years later, is it as terrifying as my memory tells me? Well, no, of course not. In fact, it's hardly scary at all. It's a psychological thriller about a woman staying in a remote location to study wildlife, while also training for a marathon. The locals start acting weird, she hears things at night, strange things happen... and there's a twist at the end that no-one would probably see coming, because it doesn't make a lot of sense. It's hard to recommend this one to anyone who doesn't have nostalgic reasons for giving it a watch.<br />
fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-27625926713257024122016-01-03T11:00:00.000+13:002016-01-03T11:00:10.865+13:00What I Watched - December 27 2015-January 2 2016<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - DECEMBER 27 2015-JANUARY 2 2016:</span></h3>
<span style="color: red;"></span>Obviously it's a busy time of year with Christmas celebrations and then New Year's Eve (Happy New Year readers!), so the movie-watching output wasn't great, but I did manage to fit in a few, while also knocking off a couple of seasons of TV during this week.<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>CBGB (2013) Netflix</b><br />- I've said it before that I do love a good music documentary, and that's what I thought I was sitting down to here. It turns out this is actually a dramatic film retelling the story of how Hilly Krystal started up the famous (and infamous) NYC punk club CBGB. I didn't know too much about this story before watching this (didn't know for instance that the club was originally started as a country music venue, hence the name was short for Country Blue Grass Blues). The story is fascinating and the cast is stellar - the superb Alan Rickman plays Krystal, with main supporting roles for Donal Logue, Freddy Rodriguez and Ashley Greene and cameos by everyone from Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki to Harry Potter's Rupert Grint and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (who does a pretty good job of playing Iggy Pop). If you count yourself as even a passing fan of punk or underground music, this is a must-see.<br />
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<b>Tale of Two Thieves (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- This is a fascinating documentary about the UK's infamous 1963 Great Train Robbery. While most people think of Ronnie Biggs when they think of that crime, this doco paints a different picture courtesy of one of the other robbers, Gordon Goody. Goody, this film asserts, was the real mastermind behind the robbery. Still alive and living in Spain, Goody is interviewed extensively and gives a lot of insight into his life before, during and after "the job". A sub-plot has the doco's producers trying to identify the mysterious "Ulsterman" who was the inside man on the crime. Even if you know the Great Train Robbery's story well (it's been featured in countless movies) this is worth watching for the new information it brings to light.<br />
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<b>Pod (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- I remember seeing the trailer to this at some point months ago and thinking it looked pretty good. Then I forgot all about it until it showed up on Netflix. The plot has an estranged brother and sister visiting their other sibling, a brother with history of mental problems. He's gone off the grid at the family holiday home. When they find him they discover that he is paranoid about aliens and claims to have one of them trapped in the basement. Does he, or has he gone off his rocker? I won't say anymore than that about the plot. This one has a few effective scares and some good suspense, but it's also a very "shouty" movie. The siblings spend most of the movie arguing, yelling and fighting, which really grates the nerves after a while. Unfortunately the unlikeable characters and all that damn squabbling makes it hard to recommend this movie.<br />
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<b>The Red Road, Season 2 (2015) Netflix</b><br />
- The first season of this mini-series (six hour-long episodes per season) - about a cop and a criminal whose lives intertwine while living on a Native American reservation - really took me by surprise. I hadn't heard any hype about it before it showed up on Netflix, despite it featuring Jason Momoa (Aquaman in the upcoming DC movies) and my fellow Kiwi, Martin Henderson, in the lead roles. I liked the first season but it felt like it finished right when it was gaining momentum. This second season was much better, but again it was too short. And now I discover that the show has been cancelled without any resolution to the storyline. Knowing that, I wouldn't recommend watching it, because it'll be a frustrating experience. Which is a shame because it's a good show. Not great, but good.<br />
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<b>Carnivale, Season 1 (2003) DVD</b><br />
- I have quite a few seasons of TV on DVD that have been on my "to watch" list for the longest time, and this one's probably been there the longest. A rainy New Years day, recovering from over-indulging the night before, provided the perfect opportunity to blob out and finally give this a watch. Twelve hours later and the 12 one-hour episodes of season 1 were done and dusted (pun intended - if you've seen the show you get it). What a great show! The best way I can describe it is like taking American Horror Story: Freakshow's setting and mixing it with the religious themes of movies like Prophecy and Legion. Top performances from the likes of Michael J Anderson (the creepy dwarf from Twin Peaks), Nick Stahl (Sin City), Clea Duvall (The Faculty), genre favorite Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog) and the always-sinister Clancy Brown (Highlander, Pet Sematary 2). I can't believe I took so long to finally watch this! I'm already into the second (and final) season and loving it. <br />
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fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-69568632129311112812015-12-27T11:23:00.002+13:002016-01-03T10:15:24.619+13:00What I Watched - December 20-26 2015<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - DECEMBER 20-26 2015:</span></h3>
The house move is completed but most of my DVD collection is now in storage due to my new place being very small. Managed to get in a few movies between completing the move and Christmas celebrations.<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>Wendigo (2001) DVD</b><br />
- While most of my DVDs are in storage, I have had a few new purchases arrive in the mail at my new house, including this one. I hadn't seen this one since it came out. As a side note, I have a poster of this movie which director Larry Fessenden signed for me when I met him at Fangoria Weekend of Horrors NYC convention in 2001. The movie itself is about the Native American legend of the Wendigo, a deer-headed forest creature, but more of the plot is devoted to "fish-out-of-water" goings on involving a city family holidaying in a snowbound rural setting where some of the local yokels don't take too kindly to them. If you're familiar with Fessenden's work (in particular the pseudo-vampire flick Habit) you'll know to expect a great deal of ambiguity around the supernatural elements. Bare on the scares and gore, this one instead relies on its creepy setting and some good acting from leads Jake Weber (Dawn of the Dead remake, TV's Medium), Patricia Clarkson (Shutter Island) and Erik Per Sullivan (the youngest son on TV's Malcolm in the Middle).<br />
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<b>Fargo (1996) VHS</b><br />
- When you're in a new house with all of your possessions in boxes, it becomes a case of "what is easily accessible" and it's no different when it comes to movies. I found a box of VHS that I could easily open and pulled out this 90s gem. My girlfriend had never seen it, and having recently enjoyed The Big Lebowski, I knew she'd dig this, the Coen Brothers' immediate predecessor to that movie. I don't need to go into plot details, because I'm sure everyone has seen this quirky crime caper, but I will add a side note that it's ironic (and unintentional) that during the blaring heat of a southern hemisphere summer I watched two successive movies set in deep wintry snow.<br />
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<b>The Ruins (2008) DVD</b><br />
- Another recent (cheap) pick up to fill a gap in the collection and another I haven't revisited since its release. I remembered quite liking this one and while it didn't hold up so well to a repeat viewing, it's a passable time-waster. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I quite liked the "nature run amok" angle and the Mayan temple itself was pretty cool. On the flip-side, I found myself constantly irritated by Jenna Malone's character and it doesn't help that she reminds me of that waste-of-oxygen Kristen Stewart. fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-79645918886428798412015-12-23T15:49:00.000+13:002015-12-23T15:49:16.530+13:00What I Watched - December 13-19 2015<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - DECEMBER 13-19 2015:</span></h3>
<span style="color: red;"></span>More moving house (yes I own a lot of stuff) so not much movie-watching again.<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>Rubble Kings (2010) Netflix</b><br />- Reading the synopsis of this one, I thought it was going to be about the rise of hip hop in New York City. But while that is covered in the last 10-15 minutes, the bulk of this documentary is about street gangs in the Big Apple from the late 1960s through to the present day, in particular the gang The Ghetto Brothers. They turned to peace and, according to this doco, made a lot of other gangs join their cause, in something of a real-life scene from The Warriors. Told via talking heads from a bunch of current and ex gang guys, with archival footage in between, this is fascinating stuff while not particularly earth-shattering.<br />
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<b>Let Us Prey (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- Pollyanna McIntosh just keeps popping up in stuff I've watched lately - Tales of Halloween, The Blood Lands and now this. That's not a complaint, as she's a pretty good actor - kind of like Milla Jovovich with acting talent. In this Irish horror she plays a straight-laced rookie cop who moves to a small town just in time to witness some strange goings on involving a group of people who end up in the police station's holding cells. It seems one of them (Liam Cunningham from Dog Soldiers) is more than he appears and knows quite a lot about each of the others' lives. I won't say any more, other than to say this one leaves things moderately ambiguous. There's not much in the way of actual horror or gore (although one of the characters takes a surprisingly sick twist), but first-time director Brian O'Malley crafts a tense and intriguing thriller.<br />
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<b>Wolf Lake (1980) VHS</b><br />
- With my Netflix temporarily disconnected and my DVDs all packed away I reached for what was laying around to watch while packing boxes. I've seen this one before and enjoyed it so popped it in for a repeat viewing. This variation on the Most Dangerous Game theme, thick with Vietnam War tension, is a good little action thriller, helped by a great cast including Oscar-winner Rod Steiger (In The Heat of the Night, Amityville Horror), Jerry Hardin (Deep Throat in The X-Files) and David Huffman, who was tragically murdered at the age of 39 just five years after this movie. Huffman plays a Vietnam deserter who is hunted by a group of old war vet buddies, with predictable but enjoyable results.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-62220547359465496912015-12-14T15:25:00.000+13:002015-12-14T15:25:00.969+13:00What I Watched - December 6-12 2015<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - DECEMBER 6-12 2015:</span></h3>
<span style="color: red;"></span>The house move continues so another very quiet movie-watching week.<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>Kristy (2014) Netflix</b><br />- "Victim fights back against intruders" is hardly an original theme and one that has been done quite a lot in recent years (The Strangers, You're Next etc etc). But this one has an interesting setting (deserted college campus during holiday break, which reminded me of 1981's The Final Exam), an excellent performance by leading lady Haley Bennett (The Haunting of Molly Hartley) and some decent action and suspense. The killers are also made more interesting with the addition of a mysterious cult element. I recommend this one for fans of man-made horror.<br />
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<b>The Den (2013) Netflix</b><br />
- This one has been on my Netflix list for the longest time, but I recently belatedly read someone's blog entry listing their favourite horror movies of 2013, and this was quite high on the list. So I decided to check it out. First of all, yes, it's "found footage" in that it's completely made up of footage captured on webcams, phones and camcorders. Having spent a great deal of time on Skype (my American girlfriend and I lived in separate countries for a couple of years), I dug the premise of a college student studying online relationships (in this case random interactions on a chat program called The Den). Of course this is a horror movie so things go bad - she pisses off the wrong person online and quickly finds her life being turned upside-down by this "hacker", ultimately leading to a bloody conclusion. What makes this so terrifying is that it's so plausible. If you hate found footage move on, but otherwise this one is highly recommended.<br />
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<b>Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (1957) DVD</b><br />
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- This Roger Corman-directed, Samuel Arkoff-produced cheapie has the formal title "<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent"! But either way don't let the name fool you, the sea serpent plays only a small part in proceedings. This is no monster-fest, instead it's a sword-and-sandals "epic" about a group of viking women who go in search of their lost men and must save them from an island of evil warriors. It's only real value is in laughing at the low-budget antics. It also gets points for featuring The Wasp Woman's Susan Cabot in a villainous role.</span></div>
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name"><b>Stir of Echoes (1999) Netflix</b></span></div>
- This was my first time seeing this Kevin Bacon movie, which I remember seeing the trailers for back when it came out. I can see why this one didn't do so well - it was released at around the same time as Sixth Sense and covers similar ground (someone who can see dead people). It was just a case of bad timing, because this is actually a good movie. The "hypnotism opens man's mind to seeing ghosts" angle is a good one and while in essence the plot boils down to a whodunnit murder mystery, Bacon's great performance as the family man driven crazy by his "visions" takes it up a notch or two.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-16491182623245309022015-12-14T12:11:00.000+13:002015-12-14T12:11:59.187+13:00What I Watched - November 29-December 5 2015<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5 2015:</span></h3>
<span style="color: red;"></span>A very quiet week for me, movie-watching wise, as I am in the middle of moving house and that hasn't left much time for anything else.<b> </b>I did still manage to sneak in a few watches though.<b><br /></b><br />
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<b>Not Quite Hollywood (2000) Amazon</b><br />- This documentary about the Australian exploitation (Oz-ploitation) scene of the 70s and 80s is one that I've been wanting to see for a while now. Like Machete Maidens Unleashed (Filipino b-movies) and Electric Boogaloo (Cannon films), this is mostly talking heads with some clips from the movies in question, but it's greatly interesting for anyone who calls themselves a b-movie fan.<br />
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<b>Kingdom Come (2014) Amazon</b><br />
- A group of strangers wake up in a building they can't escape from and are judged for their various sins by an unknown person/entity. This one plays like a Saw movie if you replaced the traps/torture with religious judgement. Ultimately its ambition outweighs its budget, but the result is still entertaining enough. Nothing great, but an okay time-waster.<br />
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<b>Eagle Island (1986) VHS</b><br />
- Black-clad Soviet operatives attack a Swedish island to steal a secret code, but are met with resistance by a recently-fired soldier and a female bird-watcher. This Swedish production had potential to be good, but director Mats Helge Olsen lingers too long on boring stuff instead of action. The casting is also questionable, as the leading man (Tom O'Rourke) is a middle-aged guy who looks like a failed James Bond auditioner. His chemistry with his much-younger love interest is also non-existant. This one's a bit hard to find, and maybe it's best kept that way.<br />
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<b>Demons of the Mind (1972) VHS</b><br />
- Later-day Hammer offering set in 19th century Austria, which deals with insanity, incest, rape and murder. Steeped in the gothic trappings that Hammer did best, but held down slightly by a turgid early pacing and some hammy over-acting by main villain Robert Hardy, this one gains momentum in the last act, which includes some quite stunning scenes involving an angry mob and a burning cross. Not the best Hammer movie, but a mediocre Hammer is still better than most.<br />
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<br />fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-856777568312032117.post-8248244420378772672015-12-03T22:31:00.000+13:002015-12-03T22:31:24.394+13:00What I Watched - November 22-28 2015<h3>
<span style="color: red;">WHAT I WATCHED - NOVEMBER 22-28 2015:</span></h3>
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<b>Bound to Vengeance (2015) AVI</b><br />-Decent little rape revenge flick that thankfully doesn't dwell on the sexual assault for long (unlike a lot of these types of movies). The storyline - a rape victim escapes her captor and makes him take her to other captive girls to free them - is simple but done in an interesting way. There's a twist which I predicted quite early in the piece, but it's well executed enough to not take away from the overall enjoyment.<br />
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<b>Gag (2006) DVD</b><br />
- This straight-to-DVD movie sells itself as a Saw-type affair, but it's not really torture porn, it's more a psychological thriller with some minor moments of torture thrown in. Two thieves break into a house in search of a safe, but find a man chained to a bed. Everything isn't as it seems though, and soon they're in a fight for survival. Shot for just $40,000, this is far more ambitious than its budget, with some nice camera work and passable acting. The plot has a lot of holes but is entertaining enough. Go in with low expectations.<br />
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<b>The Blood Lands (2014) Netflix</b><br />
- The set up to this one has been done a million times in horror - a couple flee the big city (London) and buy a house in the countryside (here it's Scotland), where things go pear-shaped. Good acting and some suspenseful work by director Simeon Halligan (Splintered) keep you guessing as to whether events are supernatural or man-made. I enjoyed seeing Polly McIntosh in one of the lead roles here - apart from her short turn in Tales of Halloween I've only really seen her in her non-speaking roles in Offspring and The Woman, so it was nice to see her in a more conventional role. This one has undertones of the English-Scottish rivalry and a great, isolated setting. Recommended.<br />
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<b>Legend of Galgameth (1996) VHS</b><br />
- I watched this with my son and while it didn't offer much in the way of adult viewing, he enjoyed it quite a bit. Essentially it's a tale of a young prince in medieval times and his golem-like protector (a dinosaur-like being that grows bigger and bigger as the movie goes on). Some of the special effects are pretty laughable by today's standards, but charming in a 90s-kids-movie kind of way.<br />
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<b>Circle Man (1987) VHS</b><br />
- I watched this one as I was copying it from VHS to DVD (it has no official DVD release) and found it to be a quite bland fist-fighting actioner, saved mainly by the work of lead actors Vernon Wells (Commando, The Road Warrior) and William Sanderson (Blade Runner) as an aging fighter and his promoter. The story is pretty thin and the fist fights are only marginally exciting, but it's just great to see Wells in a lead role after so many great supporting jobs. Also known as Last Man Standing.fletchanatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00321779300316103022noreply@blogger.com0