Billy Zane plays one of the coolest villains in the movies as The Collector in this soon to be classic. "Demon Knight" is the story of a man named Brayker (William Sadler) who was chosen to save the world from the darkness that demons will bring to earth if they obtain seven keys. They already have six of them and it is up to Brayker to make sure that they don't get the seventh. He finds his way to a hotel and is trapped for the night with seven other people including Jada Pinkett ("Set It Off"), Cch Pounder ("ER"), Thomas Haden Church ("Wings"), and Dick Miller. They must survive the night by battling demons and having the inner strength to avoid Billy Zane's seductive advances on their weaknesses. This is a very well acted HORROR movie and it is great that Hollywood is again producing scary, suspenseful, monster movies like this and "From Dusk Till Dawn".
I don't really know what to say about "El Topo" other than the fact that it is a must see. Alexandro Jodorowski ("Santa Sangre") wrote, directed, and starred in the fantastic story of El Topo and his various quests for inner and outer rewards. Jodorowski also designed the costumes and wrote the score. The acting is phenomenal and this movie is completely engrossing. I have only seen this once so I can't yet truly go on about the greatness of it but it is the type of movie that will get better with each viewing. You know what I mean, the type of movie that you watch with a friend and discuss for hours and hours over endless coffee and cigarettes and always find something you didn't see before.
Tobe Hooper's follow-up to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has many of the same elements. Marilyn Burns from TCM is in this one as well, again playing the victim in a truly frightening manner. She is one of the few women who can scream and actually freak me out. The basic story is that a character named Judd (Neville Brand) runs a hotel with a pet crocodile in a pond at the back. He has a bad habit of slicing up his guests with a scythe and feeding them to his big reptilian friend. There is a lot of violence in this one and it is pretty pointless as you never really learn why Judd is such a nutbar or what his motives are. I don't mean that the movie is pointless, I mean the violence is. Judd is just a killing machine who kills for no apparent reason. I had fun watching this as it is plays like an violent, live action, Saturday morning cartoon. The lighting and set designs really add to this cartoon feel. An early appearance by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) as a misogynist redneck.
I went into this one expecting some sleazy exploitation flick that I was curious about as I have heard so much about it. What I got was a very well acted revenge film that was very depressing and dirty. Camille Keaton plays a woman named Jennifer who is repeatedly raped by a group of rednecks and then she exacts her revenge on them and give them what they deserve. The rape scenes are unflinchingly convincing and genuinely frightening as you realize that she is completely powerless against the male scum. I felt horrible after the movie and would not recommend it to those who are easily offended. In my opinion, this is not the pro-rape film some would like to make it out to be but a brutal film about the effects of rape and the outcome that is deserved by rapist assholes.
Crispin Glover is one weird cat. Ha ha, "cat" being the operative word as in this flick Crispin is out to find the perfect burial place for his dead cat. He plays a guy named Rubin who hooks up with a guy named Ed (Howard Hesseman) and together they travel to the desert to bury the cat. This is filled with bizarre little scenes and some genuinely gross moments. It is also hilarious as Ed is a motivational fanatic and Rubin has an uncanny ability to kick his shoe at people as a flying projectile weapon. Co-starring Karen Black as Ed's ex-wife.
This movie opens with a quote from Church of Satan founder, Anton La Vey. It then proceeds to tell the story of an evil black car (possessed by Satan himself) that goes around running over people. James Brolin stars as sheriff Wade Parent who is out to stop the devilish vehicle. There are a few surprises in this flick and it is sort of like a B-movie "Christine". By the way, the car is really cool looking and I want one. Kim Richards ("Tuff Turf") plays one of Wade's kids.
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