This is my favorite vampire movie. Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 masterpiece has finally received the treatment it deserves thanks to Anchor Bay's special edition DVD and I must say that this movie is as great as it was when I first saw it. Adrian Pasdar stars as Caleb, a young man who is captivated by the beautiful Mae (Jenny Wright). After a brief encounter, Caleb discovers that he cannot be exposed to the sun and he has a thirst for blood. Soon, Caleb is introduced to Mae's family consisting of Jesse (Lance Henriksen), Diamondback (Jenette Goldstein), Homer (Joshua Miller), and Severen (Bill Paxton) and he struggles to let go of his human life and make his first kill in his new life. "Near Dark" is one of those movies where you begin to watch it and discover at some point that you mouth is hanging open in awe at how amazing the film you are watching is. Everything from the cinematography to the acting to the script to the makeup is damn near perfect and it is hard for me to think of a better way to spend a night than watching this movie. Unfortunately, many people have not seen this film as it was released at the same time as the wildly overrated "The Lost Boys" and it sort of got swept under the rug by Hollywood. This makes little sense to me as "Near Dark" is an infinitely better movie but I guess "The Lost Boys" had more bankable talent. Coincidentally, Jason Patric (from that film) is the half-brother of Joshua Miller (who has faded into obscurity as has Jenny Wright). Look for Tim Thomerson ("Trancers") as Caleb's dad, Troy Evans ("E.R") as a cop, and James LeGros as a terrified bar patron. Paxton, Henriksen, and Goldstein all appeared together in Jim Cameron's "Aliens". You will never forget the bar scene in this movie, the shot of the family coming over a hill, Paxton and Henriksen's amazing performances, or the ending and you will never see a better blend of a horror movie with elements of a western narrative. "Near Dark" has a secure place in my top 10 favorite films of all time.
This is probably the best known movie starring the gorgeous Candice Rialson and as with all her pictures, it was a blast! Candice stars as Penny Pittman, a hairdresser who is horrified to discover that her vagina has begun to talk. Not only is it a "chatterbox" but it is doing so at the most inconvenient times and saying things that put Penny in some really awkward positions. Soon, she meets up with a psychiatrist to help her with her problem. He sees and hears the phenomenon and decides to exploit Penny and her vagina (now known as Virginia) when it is discovered that Virginia has a great singing voice. Soon, Penny is a superstar appearing on talk shows, getting harassed wherever she goes, and even making a weird movie complete with musical numbers featuring chicken people and the voice from "down there". There is also a great scene in a disco (following a "Dating Game" parody) where Penny dances to her own hit single named "Wang Dang Doodle" in a sort of impromptu choreographed dance number. Other points of interest include sex featuring a suit of armour, some hilarious montage shots of Penny being 'lost' in Hollywood, and Candice looking more beautiful than ever and showing off herself much more than I have seen in any other movie. What a total babe! This was directed by Tom DeSimone who went on to make "Reform School Girls", "Hell Night", and "The Concrete Jungle". This was the end of Rialson's wonderful run as a b-movie starlet and she left the film business shortly after this. It's too bad but she sure left some great movies behind and has become quite a legendary figure in the world of b-movies. My only wish is that she had made more...
Even though most of the actors in this movie were going through a dark time when this flick came out I still figured that it would be decent for cult value and have some good qualities. Boy, was I wrong. This total waste of time was actually directed by Fred Williamson ("Black Caesar") and was a total mess with a confusing story, boring action scenes, and characters you really couldn't care less about. Williamson also stars as Mack Derringer, an ex-football player turned private eye who is trying to find out who is extorting a local business while also trying to protect his ex-wife (Vanity) from a serial killer. Both plot lines are underdeveloped resulting in a confusing mess with Mack punching people out and dragging Peter Fonda around with him. We also have Gary Busey as the 'what am I doing in this movie' vacationing partner, Robert Forster as the 'I don't belong here but I am doing it as a favour to Fred' police chief, Henry Silva ("Sharky's Machine") as the unnecessary crime boss, and Stella Stevens ("The Poseidon Adventure") as the unnecessary aging prostitute. Williamson is no stranger to directing and he did manage to come up with a complete film but totally lacking style and substance. There was also a really bad blooper where the killer clothes change from white to black and back to white for one shot of him jumping through a window. It's too bad because I thought this would be a decent flick.
I think people may be reluctant to give this one a chance because it has a gimmick. The gimmick in question is that the film appears to be done in one continuous shot thus providing the ultimate documentary type effect. The idea of maximizing the length of shots was previously done in Hitchcock's "Rope" and I think that director Josh Becker did a good job with this idea. The story centers around Carl (Bruce Campbell), a thief who is released from prison and who intends on pulling a heist right away. His buddy Patrick is waiting outside the prison gates with a truck and off they go to steal some money. They pick up a few characters along the way including an older safecracker and a junkie driver. Things feel uneasy from the start and they only get worse. We also meet a pleasant prostitute named Janie who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend of Carl's. Now, it is hard enough to be able to identify with characters sometimes even when you are given back story and a reason to sympathize but in this case, it would seem to be even harder as we are thrown right into an action-type scenerio in the first five minutes that does not let up until the end. Well, the cast pull it off and I was rooting for Carl right away and I thoroughly enjoyed this short 70 minute flick. I have always been a fan of heist movies and I find the real time concept intriguing and was very happy with the results. I found this worked much better than a film like "Nick Of Time" because Becker was smart to keep the plot quite simple and focus more on the characters than the action. I also felt that Anita Barone's portrayal of Janie really carried the film to the level it needed to be at and resulted in a very satisfying conclusion to a tense story.
I loved the first half hour of this movie. We are plunged into a tale of two girls dressed as clowns and a guy. They are all in a speeding car with guns blazing as they are being chased through the European countryside. Soon, the male and vehicle are no more and our female clowns are left wandering the countryside. What amazed me is that there was no dialogue for the first half hour (and barely any for the rest of the movie) and yet I was totally into what was going on. I'm sure the amazing cinematography featuring creepy old buildings and beautiful women didn't hurt and also the fact that the music was totally atmospheric. Soon there are vampires as well as sex, lesbians, organ music, skeletons, coffins, fangs, live burial, a burning car, a piano in a graveyard, and what looked like a bat having sex with a woman. Visually, this movie was a total original and I could not look away as there was always something cool to look at whether it was a freak molesting a caged woman or a simple shot of some castle stairs. I have new respect for Jean Rollin and this one was just as good if not better than "Fascination". The two lead clown girls are both Rollin regulars.
The Rape Of The Vampire (1967)
Here we have another film from Jean Rollin. Plot wise, this one was a complete black hole. To be honest, I stopped trying to figure out what was going on after the first fifteen minutes. On the other hand, this was another visual triumph and seeing this guy make a film in black and white is a beautiful thing. This was a movie that, like Bava's "Black Sunday" provides a haunting and interesting image in every frame. If you rent this movie, you can pretty much press pause at any point and have a picture that you could hang on your wall. Well, at least I would hang it on my wall. I would not recommend this to everyone but if you enjoy Rollin's work as much as I do, you will probably like this just for the look of it. I believe that this was his first feature. Some main points of interest are a spinning sequence that brought the prom sequence from "Carrie" to mind (note the year), close ups of lips dripping blood, secret corridors, and sword fighting vampire girls in white gowns. Cool and very gothic.
I bought this one strictly for the cover as it looked like the ultimate in cheese and I got more than I bargained for. This is a summer camp comedy filled with the usual devices including breasts, bikini babes, dumb jocks, horny teenagers, inept park rangers, and a silly competition as the climax. We also have an environmental theme as the evil corporation wants to take over the campsite and turn it into a toxic waste dump. Fun enough if you like these light comedies but this one also had a few standout features. First, we open with an environmentalist running around in a bear suit to disrupt the evil corporate activities and protect the land. I have never seen a bear suit used in a movie like this and it was pretty ridiculous when the bear launched into a monolog in it's lair. Soon, we are introduced to a pair of musicians, one of whom looks like "Shout At The Devil"-era Tommy Lee who have dreams of playing with Ted Nugent (who makes an appearance later in the film). We also have a brief montage of a skinny dipping babe intercut with bunny rabbits as well as a tame sex scene featuring a character who gets off while cutting hair intercut with quacking ducks. Love, laughs, drama, and teen angst are all covered in this one that needs a certain mood and mindset to be appreciated fully. I thought it was pretty goofy but I was in the mood for something light. Stars include Kim Myers ("Nightmare On Elm Street 2") and James Wilder ("Melrose Place").
Whenever I see super-geek Eddie Deezen in a movie, I always wonder what became of him. After a little research, I found that Eddie has gone into the world of voice-overs for animation as well as having an official fan club. It looks like his movie career for the most part is over, however, as the age of the geek is passed. Anyways, Eddie is the star of this flick along with Morgan Fairchild ("The Seduction"), William Hickey ("Puppetmaster", "Prizzi's Honor"), Stuart Whitman ("Shatter"), b-movie regular Irwin Keyes, and the beautiful Brinke Stevens. Fred Olen Ray directed this movie and although it was a departure from the horror/sci-fi flicks he is known for, it was still a fun little gangster parody that I found worked quite well. Hickey plays a mob boss named Don Anthony who is wounded in a hit gone wrong and who gives his son (Deezen) the job of acting mob boss until he recovers. Anyone who knows who Deezen is knows how ridiculous the notion of Eddie Deezen as a mob boss sounds and it was quite entertaining seeing him travel the same path as Pacino did in the first "Godfather" including the scene of the gun hidden in the bathroom. He becomes a thorn in everyone's side from rival families to a pair of inept hit persons to Don Anthony's mistress. A fun little movie but could get quite annoying if you do not understand the power of Eddie. Look for Ray regular Jay Richardson as a drug testing lawyer, Debra Lamb as a kung-fu teacher, and Dick Miller as a mechanic.
If you are looking for a great western, you have come to the right place. Clint Eastwood stars as Josey Wales, a family man who turns badass after his family is murdered by a group of nasty union soldiers called Red Legs. What follows is a man hell bent on revenge who, while trying to bring his justice to those who deserve it, is also being hunted by pretty much everybody from soldiers to bounty hunters to anyone who wants a piece of the substantial reward for his dead or alive body. He does make some friends along the way including an old indian (Chief Dan George), an indian girl (Geraldine Kearns), an old woman (Paula Trueman), and her granddaughter (Sondra Locke). All of the characters are brilliantly written and acted and I felt you were given a non-biased view of everyone's motivations making for a movie that is completely deserving of the reputation it has achieved as one of the best westerns ever made. Eastwood also directed the film and along with director of photography Bruce Surtees has given us a movie that combines beautiful blue skies, rugged western scenery, and a portrait of a group of characters that will find a permanent place in your mind. Some of the many notable co-stars include John Vernon ("Animal House") as the conflicted Fletcher, Sam Bottoms ("Apocalypse Now") as Jamie, Will Sampson ("One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest") as indian chief Ten Bears, Matt Clarke ("Ruckus") as a ghost town saloon owner, and Buck Kartalian ("Please Don't Eat My Mother") in a small part as a sellout shop owner. If I had to choose one Eastwood western, this would be my pick.
Does anyone remember the wonderful 80's sub-genre of the sword and sorcery "Conan" ripoffs. Well, I certainly do and this was director Jim Wynorki and executive producer Roger Corman's contribution to the genre. Like most of Wynorski's pictures, this one turned out to be a fun and cheaply made little romp with many homages and definitely entertaining from start to finish. John Terlesky ("Hard Bounty") stars as Deathstalker, a cool guy swordfighting thief who is always ready with a one-liner and is always impressing the ladies. He meets up with a beautiful but inept seer who is actually a princess (Monique Gabrielle) and they begin a journey to reclaim her castle that was taken over by her clone and an evil sorcerer (John Lazar from "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls"). On the journey they run into assassins, zombies, amazons, deathtraps, and a Deathstalker vs. butch amazon wrestling match. Although I find that many sword and sorcery movies are not quite as fun as I remember them from when I was younger but this one stands up as still being pretty good. Monique hasn't made any movies recently other than some special interest sex tapes. Look for Wynorski regular Toni Naples as the evil Sultana and Maria Socas ("The Warrior And The Sorceress") as the amazon queen.
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