SUMMER OF 87 #6: Rampage

 The cover of my VHS copy of Rampage

8.45pm, Day 1:

Rampage
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Michael Biehn, Alex McArthur, Nicholas Campbell
Format: VHS (Kerridge Odean Amalgamated)

Plot: Liberal district attorney (Biehn) decides to seek the death penalty for a man (McArthur) who slaughtered a family at Christmas time, then drank their blood. He escapes, though, and starts killing again. Based on the true story of Richard Trenton Chase, "The Vampire Killer" who killed six people in the course of four days in January 1978.

- I've always been a fan of Michael Biehn. Everyone knows about his roles in The Terminator and Aliens, but my favourite role of his was in Tombstone. His performance as Johnny Ringo is outstanding.
- Friedkin is of course best known as director of The Exorcist and French Connection. He also helmed the underrated To Live and Die in LA.
- There's Whitby Hertford, a couple of years before he played the creepy kid in Nightmare on Elm Street 5.
- Grace Zabriskie (TWIN PEAKS, GALAXY OF TERROR) in one of her trademark wide-eyed crazy roles.
- Alex McArthur isn't an actor I'm familiar with, but he's very effective in his role as serial killer Charlie Reece. Charismatic in a boy next door kind of way, with an underlying creepiness.
- So apparently this movie wasn't released in the US until 1992, due to its distribution company going under. Mind you, it would have been tough to market anyway - a movie revolving around the trial of a serial killer isn't an easy sell.
- For the most part this is a crime procedural, but there are sporadic scenes of disturbing violence, with lots of bloodshed.
- I've been reading that Friedkin changed the ending when this movie was released theatrically in the US in 1992, but from what I can tell my VHS has the original ending.

Overall thoughts: It's hard to review a movie like Rampage. It's well shot, has a great score by Ennio Morricone, and has good acting performances across the board, particularly from Biehn and McArthur. William Friedkin knows how to build drama and suspense and the violence is brief but brutal. If crime thrillers are your thing, then you're going to enjoy Rampage. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it to a certain degree, but give me boobs, ninjas and explosions over courtroom drama any day.

SUMMER OF 87 #5: Teen Wolf Too

 The cover of my VHS copy of Teen Wolf Too

 

7pm, Day 1:

Teen Wolf Too
Director: Christopher Leitch
Starring: Jason Bateman, Kim Darby, John Astin
Format: VHS (Filmpac)

Plot: Todd Howard (Bateman), the cousin of Scott Howard (played by Michael J Fox in the first film) has recently been accepted into Hamilton University on a full athletic scholarship on the recommendation of Coach Bobby Finstock (Paul Sand), who was Scott's basketball coach at Beacontown High. Finstock's hope is that Todd has the family genes to become a werewolf and turn Finstock's new struggling boxing team into championship contenders. Todd is horrified by his "family affliction", but eventually gives in to it and finds fame after winning his first boxing fight. With it comes girls, top grades etc, but he starts losing his friends. Can Todd relearn to be humble while also winning the big championship fight coming up?

- After a break for dinner, we're back into it with the third of four "part two" sequels I'll be watching during this marathon. I guess 1987 was a big year for sequels.
- Disclosure: Of course I've seen the original Teen Wolf (1985), which from what I remember was pretty good for an 80s teen comedy. I'm also aware MTV made a Teen Wolf TV series a couple of years ago, which I haven't seen, and because it's MTV I have no desire to see it.
- So apparently Michael J Fox didn't sign on for this sequel partly because he didn't want to go through all the makeup again.
- Bateman and Fox are of course connected by Jason's sister Justine, who played Fox's sister on TV's Family Ties.
- The support cast in this is pretty good and includes two actors whose most famous roles were in the 60s (John Astin, Gomez in the Addams Family, and Kim Darby, who was so brilliant in the original True Grit).
- Tim Kring, who wrote this screenplay, went on to have more success writing about people with hidden powers. He wrote and produced the TV series Heroes.
- So far this movie isn't offering anything very original, but the song and dance number to Do You Love Me was fun.
- You can't get much more 80s-centric than a soundtrack containing songs by both Oingo Boingo and Real Life. "Send Me an Angel" is a weird choice for a "studying hard for exam tomorrow" montage though. Unless it morphs into a "getting it on with the girlfriend" montage. Touche.
- Semi-interesting trivia: Estee Chandler, who plays love interest Nicki, only made one more movie after this, but was visual effects producer on Team America: World Police.
- Well, I saw that "twist" involving Kim Darby's character coming a mile away.

Overall thoughts: That was pretty bad. I mean, there's nothing overly offensive about Teen Wolf Too. It's just unnecessary. If you've seen the first movie, there's absolutely no need for you to see the sequel. All they did was change basketball to boxing and substitute Michael J Fox for the less-charismatic Jason Bateman. The end result is a poor imitation of the original and a movie that I'd recommend bypassing.

SUMMER OF 87 #4: The Stepfather

 The cover of my VHS copy of The Stepfather

4.30pm, Day 1:

The Stepfather
Director: Joseph Ruben
Starring: Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack
Format: VHS (Virgin)

Plot: A family-values man named Jerry Blake (O'Quinn) marries widows and divorcées with children in search of the perfect family. As soon as his new family members show signs of being human and not robots who will march unquestioningly to his tune, his dreams of domestic bliss begin to crumble, and he kills them. Then he alters his appearance, assumes a new identity, and skips to another town to begin the deadly ritual all over again. He marries Susan Maine (Hack), who sees him as the ideal surrogate father for her teenage daughter Stephanie (Schoelen), and he is soon up to his old tricks when she proves to be too much of a troublesome teen to handle.

NOTE: I was originally going to watch Ghoulies II in this spot, and in fact did watch about 40 minutes of it. But then I realised two things: I'd already seen it, and it was released in 1988, not 1987. The strange thing is my VHS copy says 1987, but every reference online says 1988. It didn't feel right to continue so I stopped Ghoulies II and moved onto the next movie in the marathon. I'll find something else to make up for it at the end of day two, to still hit my target of 12 films.
- I haven't seen this. It's one I've been wanting to watch for years but just have never gotten around to it.
- I know Terry O'Quinn is best known these days from his time on the TV series Lost, but I never watched that show. I know him from TOMBSTONE (one of my favourite movies) and from the TV show MILLENNIUM.
- Shelley Hack is best known for her short stint on Charlie's Angels in 1979.
- Okay, so I didn't write many notes while watching this movie. Mainly because it's not the kind of movie you can make wisecracks about, and also it's the kind of movie you just want to sit back and watch.

Overall thoughts: I know most people have seen this movie and I was late to the party finally getting to see it, so I don't need to say to much about it. It's just a really good psychological thriller, which is carried by a fantastic acting performance by Terry O'Quinn. He's brilliant because he looks so innocuous most of the time, but through subtle movements and looks he begins to show what lies beneath, until finally he goes nuts. If you're into these kinds of slow-burner thrillers and you haven't seen The Stepfather, definitely hunt it out.

SUMMER OF 87 #3: Hard Ticket to Hawaii

The cover of my VHS copy of Hard Ticket to Hawaii

1.50pm, Day 1:

Hard Ticket to Hawaii
Director: Andy Sidaris
Starring: Ron Moss, Dona Speir, Hope Marie Carlton, Harold Diamond, Rodrigo Obregon
Format: VHS (RCA Columbia)

Plot: Two drug enforcement agents are killed on a private Hawaiian island. Donna (Speir) and Taryn (Carlton), two operatives for The Agency, accidentally intercept a delivery of diamonds intended for drug lord Seth Romero (Obregon), who takes exception and tries to get them back. Fellow Agency operatives Rowdy (Moss) and Jade (Diamond) get involved, and a full-scale fight to the finish ensues, complicated here and there by an escaped snake made deadly by toxic waste!

- Disclosure: I haven't seen this movie. In fact, this is my first Andy Sidaris movie. I've heard a lot about his stuff so I'm looking forward to this.
- Bare breasts and gratuitous shotgun violence before the opening credits. We're off to a good start!
- Super cheesy opening credits.
- Very Toto-esque theme song by Gary Stockdale.
- Donna to fellow blonde bimbo Taryn: "Let's unload and hit the jacuzzi, I do my best thinking there". I think that best sums up the vibe of this movie so far.
- "If brains were birdshit, you'd have a clean cage". The awesome dialogue just keeps coming!
- Sledgehammer of plot: Donna and Taryn have a poster of Malibu Express (the previous Sidaris movie) in their apartment. They mention that the star of that movie, Cody Abilene, is a cousin of Rowdy Abilene (Ron Moss' character in this movie). Awkward way to tie the two flicks together.
- The acting is terrible across the board, but Rodrigo Obregon's efforts take the cake. Laughably bad.
- Speaking of laughable, the snake special effects are hilarious. More hilarious than the actual jokes, that's for sure (most are the kind of toilet humour we all told when we were 10 years old).
- Andy Sidaris has a cameo in this as a TV director.
- So apparently (according to IMDB), Sidaris made quite a few sequels to this movie, with Donna and Taryn as recurring characters.
- First moment of sheer awesomeness: Bad guy on a skateboard with a blowup sex doll(!) gets taken out with a bazooka. And then the doll too!
- Man, this plot is all over the place. For no reason there's an interview with football players that pops up mid-movie, and the sub-plot with the mutant snake is so out of place with the rest of the plot.
- Great frisbee kill!
- And nice use of a microlite.
- I never knew bamboo furniture could stop bullets.
- Despite the two leading ladies being quite attractive, IMO the hottest chick in this flick is Cynthia Brimhall, who plays Edy. Apparently Sidaris liked her too, cause he recast her as Edy in five more of his flicks.
- Woohoo, Donna used the four-barrel bazooka off the VHS cover!
- Sweet Jebus that was a crazy ending. Mutant snake, bad guy that won't die, dirtbike, bazooka, spear gun, nunchucks, samurai sword... I love it!

Overall thoughts: I can now say I've seen a movie written and directed by the infamous Andy Sidaris. And I can honestly say I need to see more Sidaris magic!
Hard Ticket to Hawaii has bad acting, lousy dialogue (full of groanworthy jokes like "She's so dumb she went home to study for her pap test"), dumb special effects... but it's so much fun! You'll groan at the bits where you're meant to laugh and laugh at bits that're meant to be cool, but the one thing you'll never be is bored.
The best way I can sum up this movie is like this: It's as if Sidaris came up with the plot for a simple "chicks with guns" movie, where two hot chicks spend half their time naked and the other half battling some bad guys over diamonds. But then he realised that would only come to about an hour's worth of film. He needed other stuff to fill it out. To do that he wrote down a bunch of random words on pieces of paper and put them in a hat and drew a few out. Whatever he drew out he would throw into the movie. And the words he pulled out were: Mutant snake, sex doll, skateboard, bazooka, microlite, dirtbike, speargun, frisbee and American football. And somehow he managed to fit it all in and make a kickass movie in doing it!

SUMMER OF 87 #2: Hello Mary Lou Prom Night II

The cover of my VHS copy of Hello Mary Lou

 

12noon, Day 1:

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2
Director: Bruce Pittman
Starring: Lisa Schrage, Wendy Lyon, Michael Ironside, Louis Ferrera
Format: VHS (Premiere)

Plot: When Hamilton High's Prom Queen of 1957, Mary Lou Maloney (Schrage) is killed by her jilted boyfriend, she comes back for revenge 30 years later. Bill Nordham (Ironside) is now the principal of Hamilton High and his son (Ferrera) is about to attend the prom with Vicki Carpenter (Lyon). However, Vicki is possessed by Mary Lou Maloney after opening a trunk in the school's basement. Now Bill must face the horror he left behind in 1957.

- Alright, after a bit for lunch it's back into the marathon with some cheesy 80s horror.
- Disclosure: I've seen the original Prom Night, but haven't seen this sequel. I remember very little about the first one except it had Jamie Lee Curtis in it (I think I remember the killer reveal correctly too).
- Alright, it looks from the opening scene that this sequel is going to be part comedy. I wasn't expecting that.
- It also looks like this is from the "sequel in name only" department.
- Michael Ironside as a high school principal. I bet he doesn't take any crap from the kids.
- Holy 80s fashions Batman! So much teased hair, so many giant earrings.
- Characters with the last names Carpenter, Browning, Henenlotter, Waters. Nice way to homage great genre directors.
- Nice tease job on the first kill (well, the first kill after Mary Lou bites it).
- Louis Ferrera has been in a bunch of stuff (DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, SAW IV, STARGATE SGU tv series etc).
- This isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's very derivative of Nightmare on Elm St (slow mos, dream sequences) and Carrie (overbearing religious mother, mousy girl protagonist). Only without any of the suspense of those movies.
- When a movie is this boring I end up scrolling through IMDB.com looking for interesting trivia. Here's a couple of tidbits - Wendy Lyon and Terri Hawkes (who plays queen bitch Kelly) both ended up voicing main characters on a Sailor Moon cartoon series in the mid-90s. And another: Brock Simpson, who plays nerd Josh, was in the original Prom Night, playing a young version of one of the main characters.
- Full frontal female nudity and a (albeit unfulfilled) lesbian shower scene... things just got a little less boring.
- Hey and a cool kill scene, with some actual suspense. Maybe there's hope for this movie yet?
- Yikes. Daddy seemed to be enjoying that kiss with his possessed daughter a little too much.
- Death by neon, how very 80s!
- Cheesy ending, but kind of fun.

Overall thoughts: I've seen lots of bad reviews of this movie and... well, they're on the mark. There's nothing special or original about Hello Mary Lou (which, as I mentioned, has nothing to do with the original Prom Night). It's like director Bruce Pittman took a bunch of ideas that weren't used in the first two Nightmare on Elm St films and used them without the style or suspense that Wes Craven would have added. Things improve after Vicki gets possessed and the cheese factor ramps up for the climax, but you have to sit through an hour of generic and uninteresting stuff to get there.

SUMMER OF 87 #1: American Ninja 2

 The cover of my VHS copy of American Ninja 2

 

10am, Day 1:

American Ninja 2: The Confrontation
Director: Sam Firstenberg
Starring: Michael Dudikoff, Steve James, Larry Poindexter, Gary Conway, Jeff Celentano
Format: VHS (RCA Columbia)

Plot: On a remote Caribbean island, Army Rangers Joe Armstrong (Dudikoff) and Curtis Jackson (James) investigate the disappearance of several marines, which leads him to The Lion (Conway), a super-criminal who has kidnapped a local scientist and mass-produced an army of mutant Ninja warriors.

- Opening disclosure: I haven't seen this movie. I have seen the first American Ninja, but not in about 20 years. I remember enjoying it though.
- A bar brawl and our first shot of ninjas inside the first two minutes. Nice!
- "Move to the City" by Guns n Roses! Great soundtrack so far.
- Apparently this was filmed in South Africa. Interesting that Apartheid-era South Africa would double for a Carribean island.
- WTF? They just had some other guy standing in for Dudikoff in a scene of Armstrong walking out of an office, and they showed his face clearly. The guy doesn't even look anything like Dudikoff! Whoops!
- Classic moment as Joe and Curtis leap off a huge cliff and land in a boat like they had only jumped a few feet.
- One thing you can always count on from an 80s action flick: At least one of the thugs will have a great mullet.
- They've done a pretty good job hiding the fact this was filmed in South Africa... until that barmaid spoke in a heavy Afrikaaners accent.
- The main bad guy, The Lion, is played by Gary Conway, who starred in the late-60s TV series Land of the Giants.
- Great scene with a ninja being dragged behind a truck, then climbing onto it, ending in a nice big explosion.
- An ending with ninja fights _and_ gun fights. Making me double happy!

Overall thoughts: What can I say? American Ninja 2 was the perfect way to get this movie marathon started. It's just a fun ninja flick, with everything a discerning action fan could ask for.
The meat in the sandwich is of course the ninja fights, and there's plenty of them (the bodycount must be over 50, maybe closer to 100), but there's also plenty of humour, a simple-but-entertaining plot involving mad science, a little love interest, lots of interesting minor characters, and towards the end some explosions and gunfights are even thrown into the mix.
About the only thing I would add is that while watching American Ninja 2 I kept wondering if it would have been better with Steve James in the lead role. He's a better fighter and a better actor than Dudikoff. Not saying that Dudikoff is bad - he does a good enough job and has the all-American looks that sell a film like this - but James is the best thing about this movie. But regardless, American Ninja 2 rocks!

Announcing... Summer of '87 VHSathon

SUMMER OF '87 VHSATHON

The first weekend in June in New Zealand is Queen's Birthday Weekend, a three-day weekend when we celebrate the birthday of our monarch. Last year I used this long weekend for Cormania 2011 - a movie marathon in which I watched 11 movies over two days, produced or directed by the King of the Bs, Roger Corman.

It's hard to believe a whole year has passed since Cormania 2011, but Queen's Birthday is here again, and you know what that means... it's movie marathon time!

This year I've got today (Friday) off as well, so I'm going to be holding my movie marathon over Friday and Saturday. I'll be watching 12 movies over the two days and blogging as I watch them. If you've read any of my past marathons you'll know what to expect - bullet-point observations rather than fully-blown reviews.

This year's marathon is called SUMMER OF '87 VHSATHON. All of the movies I'll be watching fit two criteria. They a) were released in 1987, and b) are on VHS. Simple as that. Most of them will also be movies I have never seen before. There are a couple in there I have seen before, but I've still avoided all of the obvious choices from 1987 (Beverly Hills Cop 2, Robocop, Predator, Hellraiser etc).

So stay tuned for updates as the marathon proceeds!