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DarylJGittings
I enjoy various film genres, with comedy and horror being my favorites.
Obviously, this isn't a picture of me on the profile. My picture came out sideways, so I used a picture of "Cora" for the time being.
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The Warriors (1979)
A classic!
Cyrus calls a truce for all the New York street gangs so he can host rally. Most of the gangs come in peace, including the Coney Island gang the Warriors. When a member of one of the gangs shoots Cyrus, one of the members of the Warriors withesses the deed and is blamed. Now the truce is off and the Warriors must try to make it back to their home turf while being hunted by various gangs.
Since Cyrus had called a truce, the Warriors find themselves without any weapons to defend themselves from their attackers. They must battle various gangs while trying to make it from subway station to subway station to make it back to Coney Island.
The Warriors is a very good film from director Walter Hill (48 Hours). I can't speak for the accuracy, as I live in a rural community in the Midwest, but anyway the Warriors is a captivating film.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
A great movie that will appeal to kids and adults alike.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a movie that was truly ahead of it's time. The mixture the of live action and animation works so well. Bob Hoskins is great as Eddie Valiant, a bitter, drunken detective hired by R. K. Maroon to get some candid photos of his competition Marvin Acme with Roger's wife.
After the star sees the photos, Mr. Acme is murdered, making Roger the number one suspect. Judge Doom hates toons, he wants to catch Roger and "dip" him. Roger turns to Eddie Valiant to help him prove his innocence. Eddie has no love for toons anymore. His brother was killed by one. Regardless, Eddie reluctantly helps Roger.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a visual treat that both children and adults can enjoy. There's many classic cartoon characters featured in the film. The story is well paced and keeps you entertained. I enjoyed this film as a child and I find that it still holds up well.
Zapped! (1982)
Nothing special!
Zapped is about a teenager, Barney (Scott Baio), who gets telekinesis from a science lab accident. He does the typical childish stuff like pop females clothing and have bullies punch on themselves. This is strictly teenage fare, but it's certainly not one of the better teen comedies of the 1980s. It's a shame too, considering Zapped has a decent cast that includes; Willie Ames, Scott Baio, Scatman Crothers, and Heather Thomas.
Zapped just isn't raunchy enough for it's target audience and it's not funny enough for anyone else. I don't the blame the cast. The concept just wasn't played out in a very good way. I ultimately find Zapped to be rather dull despite having enjoyable moments here and there. Perhaps if they trimmed it by 15-20 minutes to tighten things up. Zapped will be enjoyed most by first time viewers. It doesn't hold up very well to repeat viewings. Sit this one out and pick another 80s teen comedy instead.
Hot Moves (1984)
American Pie owes a great debt to Hot Moves.
Four friends make a pact to trade in their "V" cards the summer between their Junior and Senior years. Hot Moves is one of the countless 1980s teen comedies along the ranks of Porky's, Private School, Spring Break, etc, that were popular at the time.
Hot Moves has everything that you would expect from this type of movie. There's a couple of familiar faces like the incredibly gorgeous Debi Richter (Cyborg), Jill Scholen (Popcorn, The Stepfather) and Monique Gabrielle (Silk 2, Bachelor Party).
The guys try to spot each other and help each other score. Each guy has is own approach. One guy realizes that there's more important things than just sex. Like I said, American Pie owes something to Hot Moves. If you're a fan of the genre check it out.
Perfect Fit (2000)
The perfect pair of jeans makes the man!
Dickie meets Perry (Maria Ford) in a nightclub one evening. Dickie says he'll do anything for her. Perry takes it literally. How far will Dickie go to keep Perry happy?
Perfect Fit is a dark comedy about what a person will do to get the perfect pair of jeans. Maria Ford is the main reason that I watched this. Friends Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul, Rock and Roll High School) and Mary Woronov (Angel of H. E. A. T., Sugar Cookies) are part of the supporting cast, as is John Philbin (Return of the Living Dead).
If you like bizarre films and strange humor, you'll find Perfect Fit worth a viewing. A must for Maria Ford fans too!
Burial of the Rats (1995)
Burial of the Rats
Bram and his father's carriage is attacked by masked assailants. Bram kills one of the assailants trying to protect his father. They abduct Bram and take them to their home.
The assailants are a group of women who are ruled over by a queen (Adrienne Barbeau). The queen has taught a group of rats to devour their enemies. Bram is destined to become rat food, but one of the women has sympathy for him since he was trying to protect his father, so he lucks out and the queen keeps him alive.
Eventually, the women take Bram with them on their outings and he starts writing about their escapades. Soon they initiate him into their group.
Burial of the Rats is a low budget Roger Corman production. It's most notable for featuring Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Creepshow) and Maria Ford (Deathstalker 4, Naked Obsession).
Despicable Me (2010)
Cute, funny family movie.
Gru is a criminal mastermind in danger of being shown up by a new criminal mastermind, Vector. After someone has stolen a giant pyramid and replaced it with a blow-up version, Gru decides he's got to do something big to get the focus back on him. Gru decides he will steal the moon. With the help of his assistant and his minions, Gru must get a hold of a shrink Ray to carry out the task, but young criminal mastermind, Vector beats him to it.
After several failed attempts to get into Vector's home to secure the shrink Ray, Gru witnesses a trio of young girls get into his place to sell cookies. This gives Gru the idea to adopt them and use them for his scheme. The girls look at Gru as a father figure. He slowly starts to care for the girls much to the dismay of his assistant, who feels they're interfering with the plot to steal the moon. Gru will discover what's really important to him.
Despicable Me is a fun movie that both kids and adults can enjoy. There's enough humor to keep both adults and children entertained.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Spiral
Spiral features a "Jigsaw" inspired assailant targeting corrupt police officers. The person behind the spiral deaths chooses detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) to send clues to. Detective Banks is an honest cop, who doesn't go along with the corruption in the police force, refusing to cover for the cops that have harmed innocent citizens.
Spiral puts the corrupt officers in similar situations to what Jigsaw did with his victims. They have the opportunity to live if the sacrifice the offending appendage. A cop lies in the court room, he's expected to sacrifice his tongue. A cop shoots an innocent person? He's expected to sacrifice his fingers. This is how Spiral plays.
Will detective Banks be able to find the Spiral killer before he dispatches the whole police department? Will he find him before someone close to him pays the price for his sins?
Spiral is a pretty good spin-off of the Saw franchise.
The Witches (1990)
A good family film.
A young boy's Grandmother tells him stories about Witches. When his parents pass away, she becomes his guardian. They go away for a short vacation at a seaside inn. One day at the inn, the young boy accidentally witnesses a witch convention at the inn and learns of their diabolical plan to turn all of the children of the world into mice.
The witches smell the young man and chase after him, eventually catching him and transforming him into a mouse. It's now up to the lad and his friend Bruno, who is also a mouse, to reach the boys Grandma and convince her to help them stop the witches.
Witches is based on a book by Ronald Dahl. The movie adaptation has effects by Jim Henson.
The Witches is a fun family movie sure to be enjoyed by both children and adults alike. Younger children may be frightened by the Witches when they remove their hair, but most school age children shouldn't be bothered by it.
Crackcoon (2024)
Fun mix of horror and humor!
Brad Twigg's Crackcoon is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It's a low budget indie horror film, meaning it was crowd funded and then created with the funds raised on Indiegogo.
A raccoon eats some street crack that gets tossed out by two drug dealers about to be pulled over by the police. When the dealers return to where they tossed the drugs, they find them missing and meet up with the cracked out raccoon. The raccoon attacks everyone who comes into it's path. The attacks are gory and funny.
If you enjoy your horror mixed with humor, you'll enjoy Crackcoon. Again, this is an independent film shot on a small budget. It isn't going to look like or have the effects of a multimillion dollar film. If you keep your expectations in place, you'll find Crackcoon to be a quality film.
Also, many popular actors and actresses of the current indie horror scene are in this including;
Beth Metcalf (Inner Beauty), Morrigan Milam (Lust, Magic, and the Witches Sabbath), Angel Bradford (Night of the Axe), Hunter Redfern (Inner Beauty) and the fabulous Jessa Flux (Murdercise).
Checkout Crackcoon and be sure to support indie horror.
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
Pretty good early blaxploitation film.
Sweetback is considered one of the first blaxploitation films, being released shortly before "Shaft". Melvin Van Peebles stars in and directs the film. Sweetback is a product of it's time. It's got a bit of a trippy late '60s, early '70s vibe to it with it's jump cuts, and kaleidoscopic superimpositions.
Sweetback is on the run from the law after beating two cops who are beating up another young black man. He hits the road while the cops search for him high and low. He comes across a wide variety of people while on the lamb.
Melvin Van Peebles made this film without the backing of a major Hollywood studio. He was able to put together a crew of people and create a film that was true to his vision. While not for all tastes, Sweet Sweetback is a solid film.
Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie puts his spin on Halloween
I like Rob Zombie's Halloween. He takes the basic idea of Michael Myers and puts his own spin on it. This version is more violent and brutal than John Carpenter's Halloween.
I also enjoy the fact that Mr. Zombie always uses actors that we don't always see much of anymore like Ken Foree, Leslie Easterbrook and Dee Wallace. I also think it's cool that he used Danielle Harris (Halloween 4 and 5).
This movie gets a lot of guff, but I think it's more enjoyable than many of sequels of the original series. I probably watch this at least once a year. It has pretty much everything that I want from a horror movie like plenty of gore and gratuitous nudity.
Cannonball Run II (1984)
Cheesy '80s goodness!
The Sheik (Jamie Farrar) hosts a second Cannonball Race. Much of the original main cast returns this time around. Doug McClure, Richard Kiel (Moonraker), Tony Danza (Hollywood Knights), Jim Nabors, and Shirley Maclaine join the fun too.
Nothing really that different from the first film. If you liked the first film you'll probably like this one as well. The character Don Don is pretty annoying, but otherwise the movie is fun. Don Knott's makes a brief appearance.
The Sheik gets kidnapped and it's up to the Cannonballers to head up a rescue. The movie could use some trimming to improve the pacing. 109 minutes is about 15-20 minutes longer than the movie needs to be.
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Get Out!
Newly weds George (James Brolin) and Kathy (Margot Kidder) Lutz find a dream home at an excellent price. The home was the site of a brutal murder.
Everything seems fine as the Lutz family move into their new home in Amityville. After a while strange things start to happen. Flys gather in one particular room, the walls bleed, their daughter has an "imaginary" friend, Jody who wants the girl to stay and play forever. Overtime George seems to slowly descend into madness. He starts to neglect his business and his family. Strange accidents begin to happen, but George doesn't want to leave. Many guests are weary of their house.
The Cannonball Run (1981)
Cannonball Run
The Cannonball Run is a cross country race. Hal Needham, director of Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper directs this silly comedy.
What really makes the movie is the all-star cast. Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise are joined by many familiar faces including; Roger Moore (Live and Let Die), Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels, and she is possibly the most popular poster of the seventies as well), Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Mel Tillis, Terry Bradshaw, Jackie Chan and more.
If you like these types of movies and seeing so family familiar faces, you'll enjoy the Cannonball Run. I believe it was a big hit upon it's initial release in 1981. It's not high art, but it is fun and entertaining.
The Garfield Movie (2024)
Pretty good for a family friendly movie.
Is the Garfield Movie a masterpiece? No, but it is a pretty enjoyable film for being a children's/family movie.
Garfield and Odie are kidnapped by Jinx's lackies. Jinx is cat who feels that she was wronged by Garfield's father Vic. Jinx forces Vic, Garfield and Odie to pull off a heist at Lactose Farms to square things up between Jinx and Vic.
With the help of a bull, who was a former mascot for Lactose Farms, they concoct a plan to get into the dairy and steal the milk that Jinx wants and set free the other Lactose Farms mascot.
Jinx sets the group up, with Vic fleeing so that Garfield and Odie will end up in the pound, safe from Jinx and her crew. Once Garfield and Odie are rescued by John, they decide that they must go and rescue Vic. They come up with a plan with some help from their new friend, the bull.
The Garfield Movie is a cute movie. I'm sure children will love it and I would think parents should have no trouble tolerating it. I'm actually a bit surprised at the 5.6 rating. I figure this is a lot easier to sit through and watch than most children's movies.
The Terminator (1984)
Fast paced sci-fi action thriller!
In the future there's a war between the humans and machines. The humans defeat the machines, under the leadership of John Connor. Cyberdine or Skynet send a cyborg to 1984 to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) before her son, John Connor, is ever born. Solider Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) follows the Terminator to 1984.
Once arriving in 1984, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) starts hunting for Sarah Connor and eliminates anyone that stands in it's way. Reese is also searching for Sarah so he can protect her and try and stop the Terminator. Reese is also stuck with trying to convince Sarah that he's not crazy so that she will stay with him for protection.
The local police pickup Sarah and Reese. They lock Reese up thinking he's crazy. The Terminator finds them and wipes out the whole police department, putting Sarah and Reese in the run again from the killing machine leading to a final showdown between man and machine.
The Terminator is the film that put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the map after he gained some ground doing Conan the Barbarian. The Terminator is a great sci-fi action thriller. If you're an action fan the Terminator is a must see film!
Arachnophobia (1990)
Solid comedy thriller!
Arachnophobia is a solid comedy thriller. A deadly spider is accidentally brought back to the United States from South Africa along with a dead body. The spider sets up it's best in the barn of the town's new doctor (Jeff Daniels). When the new doctor's first and only patient suddenly dies, people wonder if the doc knows what he's doing.
When a couple of other locals do suddenly, they exhume the bodies and discover that they all have one thing in common, a spider bite. The doc calls in an expert on spiders and he sends one of his men to town. The doc, the spider dude, the sheriff, and the local exterminator (John Goodman) go searching for the queen's nest and set out to stop the spiders before they wipe out the whole town.
Arachnophobia does with spiders what Hitchcock's the Birds did with birds. If spiders creep you out then Arachnophobia will too with it's mix of horror and humor.
Bad Influence (1990)
A very good psychological thriller!
Michael (James Spader) is an easy going guy doing the daily 9-5 in the money market. He gets passed up for the big promotion at his firm, so he goes out for a drink. Michael finds himself in trouble at the bar and a mysterious man, Alex (Rob Lowe), comes to his aid. A manipulative friendship is born.
Michael and Alex start to hanging out. Alex is the type of guy who pushes Michael to do things that he wouldn't normally do. At first it seems like Alex is giving Michael good advice, such as standing up for himself at work.
As time goes on, it seems like Alex is enjoying manipulating Michael into doing more outrageous things each time they get together. Eventually Michael realizes what Alex is doing. Now Michael wants to get Alex out of his life before he ruins it. The only issue is that Alex wants to turn Michael's life upside down.
Will Michael be able to escape the toxic "friendship" of Alex before it's too late?
Bad Influence is a quite enjoyable thriller. Both leads do a fine job in their perspective roles.
Cocaine Werewolf (2024)
A fun Indie Horror flick!
Cocaine Werewolf is an Indie Horror film from Mark Polonia. When his Uber driver has to make a pit stop, Jack (Brive Kennedy) gets bitten by a werewolf. Jack also finds multiple bags of cocaine. Jackpot! Lol! So as Jack escapes the werewolf, he takes his newly found nose candy with him.
Having been bitten by a werewolf, Jack is now a werewolf himself. The cocaine seems to accelerate the transformation into a werewolf for Jack. Jack wakes up in the woods near the location that an independent horror film is being shot. The film's two female actresses bring Jack back to the house their filming at. The crew agrees to get him home in a day or two when they are finished filming. Jack's little secret comes out on the film set, sparked by doing coke with the film's director.
Cocaine Werewolf is a pretty fun film. It's a low budget indie film, so the costumes and special effects are on par with the budget.
Body Snatchers (1993)
Body Snatchers
Abel Ferrara (Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant) directs this update of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, bringing it into the '90s.
The Malone family ends up on a military base while the father is doing some testing for the Environmental Protection Agency. Marti (Gabrielle Anwar) is quick to make friends on the base. Her little brother is the first one to discover that something isn't quite right when everyone except for him paints the same picture in daycare. He doesn't want to go back. He eventually realizes that his mother isn't really his mother. Nobody thinks anything of it until Marti dozes off in the bathtub and awakens to find these weird stringy objects going up her nose. Marti most fight for her survival and get off of the military base if she doesn't want to be replaced.
This update of Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a lot of familiar faces in the cast. Gabrielle Anwar (For Love or Money), Meg Tilly (Psycho II), Christine Elise (Child's Play 2), R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket), and Forest Whitaker (Species) are all part of the cast.
Smile (2022)
Doctor vs evil entity
Doctor Rose Cotter witnesses one of her patients killing herself in a gruesome fashion. Rose thinks her patient is seeing things that aren't real. Soon afterwards Rose starts seeing things similar to what her patient described before her death. Is Rose going crazy? Is a childhood trauma still haunting Rose? Nobody believes Rose. Both her fiancee and her sister think that she has lost her mind. When Rose decides to research what's happening to her, see goes to her ex boyfriend Joel, who is a police officer. Their research leads to the discovery of twenty similar incidents of a person witnessing a suicide and commiting suicide soon after. Out of the twenty incidents one person was able to break the pattern. Rose visits that person to learn how they broke the chain of events before the entity claims her life. Will Rose defeat the entity before it posses her and takes her life? Watch and find out.
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Disturbing remake of a disturbing film.
I Spit on Your Grave (2010) is a remake of the 1978 film of the same name. Writer Jennifer Hills (Sarah Butler) has rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere so she can relax and do some writing. A group of locals sexually assault her and leave her for dead. A month goes by and possible signs of Miss Hills being alive start to surface. Miss Hills exacts brutal revenge on her attackers. One redeeming value of the film, if there is one is that Jennifer Hills is a strong character who is content to be a victim.
While this version is still disturbing, it's not as graphic as the original film so if you find this version to be too much you won't want to watch the 1978 version. Overall this is a solid film if you can handle the subject matter.
Campfire Stories (2001)
Nothing special
Two teenagers come across a teenage girl in the middle of nowhere who claims to have had car trouble. The two teens themselves have a flat tire on their car. The three of them go into the woods and find a campfire and decide to stay. Soon they are joined by Ranger Bill (David Johansen). Ranger Bill informs the teens that he has called for a tow truck and that they should wait for it to arrive. To kill the time Ranger Bill tells the teens a few scary stories around the campfire.
None of the stories are overly entertaining. The film lacks several things that a horror fan expects. There's not much gore, no gratuitous nudity, and no real scares.
Ultimately I found Campfire Stories to be a largely forgettable film. Charlie Day and David Johansen are this film has going for it. There's many more better horror anthologies out there such as Creepshow, Tales from the Hood, or Tales from the Dark side: the Movie.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Underwhelming!
I rented "I Know What You Did Last Summer" back when in first came out on VHS. I had never re-watched it since. After seeing a few minutes of it on television last week, I decided to watch it again.
A group of four friends have an accident after leaving a party. They ultimately decide to dispose of a body that they hit out of fear of what may happen if they report the accident as alcohol was involved. There's one major issue, the person may not actually have died.
A year after the incident one of the friends receives a note in the mail that says "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Incidents start happening amongst the friends. Leeding them to even suspect each other.
I can't say that I was overly impressed. I liked the cast, but the movie didn't really do anything for me. Now, I remember why I never rewatched it. If it's a first time view for you, you could probably add a star or two to my rating.