How can I begin to describe this film which is another one of director John Carpenters masterpieces. This film is a great suspense and isolation thriller that just happens to include a shapeshifting body-snatching alien as its villain. I have seen this film many times over the years but with the recent release of the special edition DVD, I figured that I would finally add it to my collection. The transfer is incredible as are the abundance of special features and I would highly suggest that you pick this up if you have a DVD player. If not, I would still say to rent this film from the video store if you at all like mystery thrillers, science fiction, or simply a good horror movie. Kurt Russell stars as Mac McReady, one of the many men who are stationed in Antarctica to do research. A mysterious dog and Norwegian man show up at their camp from another camp and the man dies. The dog does not. The researchers then go on to research the origins of these visitors and find strange things at the Norwegian camp including a mutilated body/thing. It doesn't take long for things to get really weird and it is discovered that they are dealing with a monster that can take control of any body and replicate it perfectly. Nobody knows who to trust and the tension builds to the true meaning of "edge of your seat". I, along with the majority of genre fans, love this flick and if you haven't seen this yet, go now.
I read about this in one of Danny Peary's cult movie books. This is based on the true story of a bunch of teens in a manufactured US town going wild and wrecking stuff. Actually there is a lot more to it than that as we have an ensemble cast of youngsters (including very young Matt Dillon and Vincent Spano) living in a small town and trying to deal with the boredom and the fact that their parents care more about property value than their children. The thing that I liked about this movie is that from the beginning you knew that bad things were going to happen and I found that they were executed in a a slightly campy way when you were watching it but after viewing, it all became quite serious. The performances were all very believable (especially for a group of inexperienced actors) and the story was built up well. I found there was a slight lull a little past the halfway point but overall this was a good picture with a good message. This was also Orion Pictures' first release.
Another true story "message" movie that succeeds on the excellent performances and direction that was put into it. Omar Epps ("Juice") stars as Greg Yance, a young black hustler who is busted for dealing drugs and sent to prison. He is given the choice of staying in the pen for five years or participating in a new work camp/boot camp type program aimed at rehabilitating quickly and teaching the inmates new values before it is too late. Greg takes the boot camp option and we are introduced to a variety of new characters including a rival gang member played by Treach and two guards that want to help the kids but have different methods of achieving this. The guards are both played beautifully by Delroy Lindo and Rachel Ticotin. This movie did give a sense of hopelessness that really made you think about the way former prisoner's are treated and the fact that they have to work infinitely more than average joes in proving themselves to society. It also made you realize why so many ex-cons turn back to crime. An excellent film examining these social attitudes in America today. Be advised that if you are looking for "Oz" on video, this is not the one to rent.
This is one of the more enjoyable Troma movies that I have seen in the recent string of rereleases. A plane crashes on an island that just happens to have an army on it that want to dominate the world I think. Anyways, the plot doesn't really matter as this has all the things that make Troma great: cartoon style sex and violence in cheesy abundance. There were bullets flying everywhere, scantily clad females and everything else not politically correct that makes a Troma movie so much fun. I had a great time with this one and particularly liked the funny punk rocker and his punk rock girl companions. This had action, explosions, siamese twins, people falling off of stuff, boobs, guns, fishnets, blood, and everything else that makes a b-movie a b-movie. If you are new to Troma, start with a double feature of "Troma's War" and "Toxic Avenger".
It is sometimes difficult for me to review a simple movie such as this one as I am so used to all this crazy stuff happening in the movies I watch that sometimes I am at a loss for words. This was a really good movie in that it simply showed the lives of four young men in a small US town with a population of 81. I always like this type of movie as it is an escape from the craziness of life and I like it when I feel that I am just a quiet observer of other people's lives. The top-notch (always wanted to use that) cast includes Breckin Meyer ("Clueless") as Keller who really wants to leave Dancer, Peter Facinelli ("Can't Hardly Wait") as Terrell Lee who is under pressure from his parents to join the oil business, Eddie Mills as John the cowboy who doesn't want to leave the ranch, and Ethan Embry ("Empire Records") as Squirrel the nerdy boy who is kinda confused and sexually frustrated. These four have been friends since they have been children and they made a pact to leave Dancer when they graduate but feelings are brought to the surface as it comes down to the last weekend before they are to depart. This was excellent and it is great to see such excellent performances from these up and coming young actors whose faces are not plastered on the cover of every magazine at 7-11. With this kind of talent, these guys are here to stay.
Another Hammer rerelease that was not quite as good as I was hoping. This is I believe the second and last Hammer collaboration with the Shaw Brothers who released a number of classic martial arts movies in the sixties and seventies so I was expecting quite the flick from these two powerhouses put together. My hopes were shattered though as this film seemed to fall a little flat. Stuart Whitman stars as Shatter, an assassin for hire who is trying to get paid for a hit he made. He gets involved in some sort of drama and hooks up with a martial arts champion named Tai Peh (Ti Lung). There is some kung fu which is cool but generally I found this movie to be quite boring and standard. I didn't feel that Whitman pulled off the James Bond-ripoff type coolness that he could have and the plot was confusing and flat. Ti Lung was good as Shatter's temporary partner and I only found the film truly enjoyable when he was part of the action. Too bad. Peter Cushing has a small role.
Alien Agenda: Out Of The Darkness (1996)
This is what I believe is the first in the series of "Alien Agenda" films that were made by Kevin J. Lindenmuth and if so, this is a quick and impressive beginning. Those of you who are wary of super low-budget filmmakers should give this one a shot as it is extremely well written and delivers much of the same suspense and sometimes better acting than many of the bigger budget fare that takes up shelf space at the video store. Lindenmuth co-directed this film with frequent collaborator Mick McCleery and the two of them have developed a mini anthology dealing with aliens on our planet and how they function. McCleery's story stars John Collins as a doctor who is on the lam as he is wanted for murdering his wife and child. He is picked up by a hitchhiker and as the story unfolds we see that things are not always as they appear. Collins, who I liked in "Twisted Tales", carries the story with little effort and keeps you interested even though there are no effects or action (which is rare for a low budget genre pic such as this). Lindenmuth's story follows and features Sasha Graham ("Addicted To Murder") as a runaway who gets involved with a blood drinking charismatic humalien played by "Shatter Dead" director Scooter McCrae. Great performances are given by both and this one is heavy on the blood with some creature effects thrown in for good measure. I love reviewing this stuff because I see it for what it is, a cool idea that was filmed by some chaps with an obvious love for what they are doing and for movies in general. This is what makes it fun, not how much they spent. I hope some of you can see it this way too.
The Perils Of Gwendoline In The Land Of The Yik-Yak (1984)
80's sex kitten Tawny Kitaen badly acts her way through this Indiana Jones ripoff that is much funner when you are just entering puberty. Kitaen plays Gwendoline, a girl whose father was searching for a rare butterfly in the land of the Yik Yak and who never returned. She goes to the Yik Yak with her friend and a studly explorer and they run into natives and lack of water (so they naturally have to take their shirts off to capture the falling rain in the middle of the jungle). They eventually wind up in a topless Amazon fortress where we are treated to some female hand to hand combat and not much else. It was so much better when I was a kid because I was really into "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and any chance that I could get to see boobs. Oh, how we become bitter with age.
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