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Junkmaster3: https://www.youtube.com/user/Junkmaster3
https://www.imdb.com/user/ur32335273/ratings
Some of my favoirte actors:
Emilio Estevez
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sylvester Stallone
Linda Blair
Christopher Lee
Adrienne Barbeau
Corey Haim
Jill Schoelen
Edward Furlong
Linnea Quigley
John Candy
Patricia Arquette
Some of my favorite directors:
Lucio Fulci
Dario Argento
David Cronenberg
Alfred Hitchcock
Wes Craven
Andrei Tarkovsky
Stanley Kubrick
Sergio Leone
Sam Raimi
Takashi Miike
John Carpenter
David A. Prior
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Junkmaster3's Favorite 2000's horroR films
My entire movie collection (not completed)
Junkmaster3's Favorite 90's horror films
Thurday madness
Thursday cult madness, movies watched (2024)
My Movie Collection (Movies I haven't seen yet) (NOT COMPLETED!)
Junkmaster3's Favorite 80's horror films
My Movie wishlist
Reviews
Occhiali neri (2022)
Back to the roots! Argento's back!
The movie begins with a fairly bloody murder of a prostitute and right off the bat we are treated with some very interesting blood and gore effects.
Diana( Ilenia Pastorelli) who's another prostitute looses her sight after a freak car accident after she's been targeted by the local serial killer. She is later told by the police that the killer has killed at least 3 other people (one of which was the woman in the opening scene).
In the other car that Diana crashed into there was a chinese family, the father dies right away, the mother sinks into a coma and the boy survives. Some time after this the boy named Chin decides to seek out Diana for help since he does not want to be put in another foster family.
Diana is letting him hide from the police so he wont be taken away. Since Diana is now blind she gets help to deal with her new life as a blind woman by Rita (Asia Argento) and her dog Nerea. Diana and Chin decide to escape from the cops and seek shelter at Rita's place. Meanwhile the two cops looking for them are killed by the mysterious killer.
Overall I was pleasently surprised by this film (granted I have not seen Argento's previous film Dracula 3D which I've been told is a real stinker). Im glad Argento came back and made this film so he at least can say he made a good film if this turns out to be his last. The story/writing might sound simple for some but I thought this one was really good, usually when it comes to Argento's films he never seem to disappoint in terms of lighting, camerawork and music. All of these three works really well together and this creates an awesome atmosphere. The lighting can sometimes be really bad in most films that takes place at night and this film's runtaime probably had at least 70% of scenes taking place at night and the lighting is spectacular! I have to say though that after all of these good points that I have already mentioned I must say my favorite part of this entire film is the chemistry between the two main characters (Diana and Chin). They felt very believable in their performances and let's not forget the dog Nerea who I really grew to love in this film. The weakest point of the film is probably the killer himself that just felt like some random guy and his motivation felt really weak but that's such a minor thing in a film like this so I wont be too harsh about it.
If you are a fan of Argento's work like me I think you'll enjoy it, sure it's not his best work but it's a darn good entertaining movie experience.
Im gonna rate this film a 7 out of 10.
Kogyaru-gui: Oosaka terekura hen (1997)
If Marian Dora made a film in Japan?
Where to even begin?
This film is about two young guys who seem to be doing dirty work for the local yakuza gang. Both are incredibly demented in their own way (one of them is just obsessed with sex and the other one is perhaps even more crazy because he's into phone sex as well as violence in all forms). The more demented guy for some reason walks around dressed as a girl and kills off people in various ways (mostly with violent knife attacks) and after he's finished he cums on/in the victims wounds, talk about messed up! During this he's pretty much told by an angel which he has visions of to commit these crimes. Another scene which I felt was hard to watch was the long drawn out rape scene commited by at least 4 yakuza members, after this just for the hell of it they decide to inject her with some kind of laxative and well... I'll let you figure out what happens next.
That's pretty much it in terms of storyline.
The storyline is very weak but I also think that it's main purpose was to shock and I can say that they did succeed in that aspect. You don't look for films like this expecting superb storyline, you are probably here because of the sleaze, shock, blood or gore effects. For me personally I was there for the shock and it did indeed shock me in one way or another. I think the acting overall was ok but I have to give most of the credit to most of the female characters in this film since they probably had the hardest parts among everyone involved in this project.
Lighting was good since it was a low budget production but I think some of the camerawork could be done better. Like i briefly mentioned before the blood and gore is really good in this film and that was probably the best thing anout the whole film (that and the acting by the women).
There isnt too much to say in terms of music/score, it felt very bland. Some of the editing was interesting as well.
Finally I would like to say that this is a very hard film to rate, it delivers in the shock aspect and that was the main point of the film to begin with so props to the filmmaker.
I would say I'll give this film a 5 out of 10. Keep in mind if you wanna watch a shocking film, look no further, this film delivers!
To sum up this review I would like to say this, it has lots of body fluids and it did remind me of various work by german director Marian Dora.
Maniac Driver (2020)
Kurando Mitsutake makes an Argento style Giallo
As the movie tells you right away this film labels itself as a giallo. I have a feeling you could also say it's a pinku film but Im not gonna say too much about that since Im not that familiar with that genre.
The movie begins with a murder commited by the Maniac Driver (surprise, surprise). This is no real murder mystery, it's more so a character study of the Maniac himself about his struggles in life and his constant depression (quite similar with Lustigs' Maniac). The reason why he kills women is according to himself because his wife got killed by a guy in a motorcycle helmet (who right after that commited suicide) and after this he sees his killing spree as a revenge on society as a whole. Im gonna leave the storyline right there since I don't want to spoil anything (I try to write my reviews as spoiler free as possible).
When it comes to the story and the writing the whole film is pretty predictable if you've seen similar films before but if you walk into this film expecting a masterpiece you should look elsewhere, however if you look for a stylish giallo/sleaze film this one's for you!
Speaking of sleaze, once again this is something I've grown to despise to a certain degree, I don't understand the need for so much sex and nudity shoved into some films. I don't deny that I like sleaze and nudity but if you have too much of it, it just takes away some of the sexy aspects of the film and leaves nothing to the imagination. I have to say though that the film has lots of beautiful women in various stages of undress. The acting is good for this type of film and what I really liked about the film is the overall style to it, in perticular the lighting and camerawork, it really reminded me of Argento's older films from the 70's early 80's. The pacing is also really good and it doesnt overstay it's welcome since it's only about 76 minutes long. I also have to point out that I really enjoyed the soundtrack and score to this film which had an old school heavy metal style to it.
If there is anything I can say that the film could do better it would be more blood and gore effects and more death scenes (because the blood and gore that is seen here in the film is spectacular!).
Overall I would give this film a 7 out of 10. For those of you who love sleaze more than I do I think you'll find this film even better.
You Only Live Until You Die (1997)
Porn disguised as Bond spoof
Oh boy... where to even begin with this one?
When I saw the poster and the storyline here on imdb I was expecting a really good and funny Bond parody much like the chinese flick From Beijing With Love. How wrong I was!
The very start of the film aint to shabby when our hero Agent 0014 beats up a few bad guys while a woman is seen masturbating... yes you heard me MASTURBATING. After that we get a really silly and stupid theme song about Agent 0014.
After this the movie goes downhill fast... For some reason our hero has a very strange looking device that makes people in the same room very horny and because of this we see a whole lot of sex and nudity. Don't get me wrong I like films that are sleazy and have nudity in them but only if you have it for a limited amount of time. In this flick it seems like at least 90% of the film is nothing but porno like scenes and the other 10% a re a few action scences and bad jokes. I think it should have been the other way around especially since it's aimed to be a Bond paody.
Don't get me started on the acting... it was atrocious! Im not surprised that most of the cast turned out to be adult film stars either. Our main actor is also bad but mainly because his voice is so damn stupid and over the top that it made me want to kick him in the face so he would have chocked on his own teeth!
The only somewhat good acting performance in this has to be that of Michelle Bauer and she is not really known for good acting to begin with. Also for some reason we did not get to see her tits this time around but I can't blame her since this is a real crapfest.
Music is really awful as well and very repetitive and almost gave me a headache.
After I've been rambling on you might ask yourself if there is anything good in this film except for the very opening scene. NOOO! Well... yes one thing... you could actually see what was going on.
After about 25 minutes into this film I was already thinking of giving this film a 2 out of 10 but this movie pissed me off so much that I can't give it anything else than a 1 out of 10.
If you want to watch another Bond spoof I can highly recommend From Beijing With Love.
As for You Only Live Until You Die...
AVOID THIS AT ALL COST!
White Fury (1989)
The build up makes it feel more like a slasher than an action film...
I've seen loads of David A. Prior films andvery many of them has something to do with Vietnam which might get rather repetitive. After watching this flick I kinda wish I'd watch any of his other Vietnam themes action flicks instead.
The storyline is very simple and we follow a couple of teenagers (?) and one of them are a real champ when it comes to snowboarding. The intro is rather boring with the main character riding his snowboard and jumping up and down in slow motion (there is a whole lot of scenes like this that felt they were shoved into this picture just to pad out the runtime). If they wanted it to look cool they totally failed in that aspect and I kept thinking that I could have watched x-games instead.
After this our main characters decide to take a break and head for a house which is owned by the snowboard expert's uncle or something. Now you better get used to that house because there are waaayyy too many scenes in this house that are so streched out and flat out dull to look at.
A couple of bank robbers decide to show up and take them hostage and this is where the tense moments were supposed to set in but instead it feels like a bad imitation of Home Alone (which is rather strange since this one came out one year before that film).
The positives:
Amazing and funny chase sequence where the hero character gets chased on his snowboard by the evil baddie on a snow scooter. While this happens they even have the time to shoot against one another! Also the soundtrack is very much all over the place which makes it rather funny at times. Some of the action towards the end of the film is alright I guess but at that time you've already gotten quite bored...
That's where the positive words stop for this film...
The negatives:
Awful and bland acting. The main bad guy is overrating to the point when it doesnt even get so bad i'ts good, it just becomes frustrating. The characters are forgettable and very boring except for the bounty hunter which has way to little screen time. The editing is not very good either and it feels pretty choppy from time to time.
Summery:
Sadly I have to say this is one of if not the very worst David A. Prior film I've seen so far. Heck I thought it was even worse than Future Force which was also quite dull but that one at least had a drunken David Carradine wandering around.
If you like David A. Prior flicks and you are curious on his films I would say you should instead check out any of his all Vitenam themed action flicks like Deadly Prey (which is more of a Rambo rip off) or the hilariously entertaining slasher flick Killer Workout
This film gets a rating of 3 stars out of 10 from me.
Enemy Unseen (1989)
Deadly natives and killer crocs in the jungle!
The story starts with a man and a woman who are on a trip in the jungles of africa. There they witness a human sacrifice by a dangerous tribe and after this they get attacked. The man gets killed and the woman gets captured by the natives.
We then cut to the big city somewhere in the US and the father of the woman kidnapped decides to arrange a rescue party and recruit a bunch of former soldiers (I would assume). They go to the jungle but they eventually realize that the natives are the least of their problems when they encounter deadly hungry crocs in the water.
This film does sometimes come across as rather boring even though it is labeled as an action and horror film (two of my favorite movie genres) but what helps the film along the way is the atmosphere and the locations in the jungle. I've always had a weak spot for films that takes place in forests/jungles and in wildelife locations.
The acting overall is ok and the blood and gore is also pretty fun and entertaining.
The dialogue can sometimes be really bad but you also have to keep in mind that the director was more aiming for good action and good horror which he did succeed with. I do feel that one of the negative things about the film are most of the characters, they are rather bland and boring to a certain degree.
Cinematogrophy is really good (except for a few badly lit shots) and sooths well with the beautiful locations.
Of course there are better action/horror flicks out there but if you, like me like these type of wildlife action/horror flicks go give this one a shot. Oh and did I mention that the leader of the tribe has a really funny looking crocodile costume on?
Also the end credits song kicks ass!
My rating:
6 out of 10.
Killer Crocodile (1989)
Jaws - the crocodile version!
This film follows a group of kids (yes they are referred to as kids even though the clearly looks much older) and they are on a mission in this tropical location to figure out if toxic waste is dumped there or not. The further into the case they go the more corrupt they realize the whole thing is and that Judge (who is sort of a leader of this small community) and a journalist namned Foley might be the main bad guys. Soon they also discover that's the least of their problems when one of their own friends gets killed by a monstrous croc. After this the meet up with a hunter named Joe who's desperate to kill the croc. At first they want to protect it from getting killed by Joe or anyone else since it might be one of a kind type of croc. Their plans to protect the croc soon turnes around for the other alternative meaning now they want to kill the croc at all cost since it has now killed another person in their group so they decide to team up with Joe in order to kill off the croc once and for all.
I'll leave it at that storywise since I don't wanna spoil the film for you.
I really liked this film. It delivers in those categories you expect from a film like this. Top notch blood and gore effects, great and beautiful looking locations and a score which is really good composed by Riz Ortolani. Sure at times the score is really ripping off the main theme from Jaws but that didn't bother me that much, I saw it more as an homage to the classic shark film. The acting is pretty good for the most part, cinematography is really good as well, I really liked the POV shots they used to show the crocodiles point of view. Speaking of the croc itself, it looks amazing and it was mainly built for this film.
If there's anything I can bash on then it has to be our villain(s). They come across as very cliché and rather boring in my personal opinion.
If you like animal attack films you should give this one a shot. If I compare it to similar films such as Alligator (from 1979 by Sergio Martino) and Alligator (from 1980 by Lewis Teague) I have to say it's as good as Lewis Teague's film and way better than Sergio Martino's film.
My rating:
7 out of 10.
Return to Justice (1990)
Action film you say? I beg the differ
The film is about a couple, Bo and Angie.
Bo works as a photojournalist and they are both off to Colombia for some work there.
While there they get imprisoned and accused of a crime they didn't commit. Of course the man responsible for this is highly corrupt, Alvarez played by James Ryan.
Bo eventually ends up in hospital while Angie is still held captive. In some way she is able to call her father Jethro (Richard Lynch) for help.
What ever happened to Bo after this is rather unclear for a pretty long time. Richard Lynch realizes he can't do this all by himself so he teams up with an old pal named Wayne (played by Cameron Mitchell). Mitchell tries to recruit more people for the rescue mission but fails. They take Mitchell's private airplane but crash land somewhere in Jamaica. Once there they get attacked but somehow are able to escape.
I'll leave it at that storywise to try and not spoil the entire film for you.
The biggest flaw of this film is that it's ment to be an action film but this film is lacking that to a rather large amount of time. It takes about 1 hour or so into the film when things really get going in terms of action.
This is really a shame because I wish I could have gotten a really cool action filled film with both Richard Lynch and Cameron Mitchell. This is rather sad because I now know I'll never see another film where they team up (the only other time I've seen them in the same film was in the 1987 film Nightforce and Cameron Mitchell had a very small part in that one).
I did not care too much for Bo or Angie's characters in this as they were rather bland. The star of this film is definitely Richard Lynch. It's so refreshing to see him play a hero character instead of a bad guy which he usually played for about 90% of his career. I also liked the music and the locations, it's just so damn irritating they didn't use those location as ther advantage while making an "action" film. The few action sequences that are seen here are ok but not more than that. The very end of the film was also a huge disappointment.
Only recommended if you are a die hard fan of either Richard Lynch or Cameron Mitchell, otherwise stay away from this flick.
My rating: 4 out of 10.
Howling: New Moon Rising (1995)
This is PAIN!
This film is truly a disgrace to the entire Howling series.
Im not saying most of them are any good to begin with but this is really bottom of the barrel garbage.
The main character played by the director of the film Clive Turner (could this have been a vanity project gone horrible wrong?) is seen roaming around in this small town of rednecks and he is mostly seen at the bar with friends and pals while there's plenty of people dancing to god awful country music. He seems a little bit shady from the get go.
Meanwhile there's werewolf attacks but guess what, we only see a red vision which is supposed to be from the werewolves point of view. This means pretty much no blood or gore in sight.
At the same time a preacher and an investegator keeps rambling on about what happened in two of the previous films (Howling 4 & 5) and what happens next is very lazy, they show clips from both of those films and what is seen there is actually pretty good but why even bother? That just made me want to watch both of those films again instead of ever going back to this abomination of a film. The overall pacing of the film is really what is one of the worst things about the film and it seems like at least 95% of the film takes place at the bar. Most of the actors are lifeless in their perfomances and they all look like zombies wondering how they even ended up in this so called film. Also don't even get me started on the music/score/soundtrack of the film. Some people like country music and some people don't. Personally I don't mind it that much but when it's almost played all the time throughout the entire film that got me extremely frustrated. Now you might wonder, is there anything good about this film at all? Well, not much since the only good things it had going for it was some acceptable cinematography and good lighting but that's not gonna be any problems in that type of location it was made in.
This has to be one of the very worst horror sequels I've seen in a long time and I would even consider it being at the bottom three worst horror sequels as I write this review.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS, unless you really REALLY want to say you've seen all of The Howling films.
I kept thinking, why was this even made??
My rating: 1 out of 10.
Hell's Highway (2002)
One of the better Brain Damage Films
This fim is by far nothing original but it still has some really good things about it.
The story overall is very cliché and begins with a hitchhiker (Phoebe Dollar) hitching a ride from a really creepy preacher. The preacher decides to kill her by poisoning her. After that he buries her but right after that he begins to hear vocies from her. Is she really dead?
Cut to a couple of friends on a car trip through the desert road on their way to California. Right from the get go I though these characters were gonna be an absolute nightmare to follow but hear me out, even though the might at first come across as unlikable douchebags the longer into the film you get the more you start to care about them and their attempt at survival. They pick up the same girl that we saw in the intro and right after that all hell breaks loose.
I'll leave the soryline right there since I don't want to spoil anything else.
For a low budget film I have to say I was gladly surprised. The acting overall was ok (the better one being Phoebe Dollar) and we also get a really funny cameo by Ron Jeremy and his demise is truly something that gorehounds will love! Speaking of gore, this film has some really awesome and cool splatter and gore effects, I would also say this is the biggest highlight of the film, since we see both awesome gunshot wounds, swinging chainsaws and more! The cinematography is pretty good, lighing is also good and we do get a couple of really cool atmospheric shots with a bunch of fog machines doing what they do best (makes me think of 80's horror films in general).
If there's something I have to complain about it has to be sound and audio which sometimes does seem a little glitchy but I can let that go since it didn't bother me that much.
The biggest complaint I have with the film is the ending which in my opinion was incredibly stupid and irritating. It felt like the director had seen really many horror films that ended with a twist but I would've thought this one would be so much better if it didn't end with a twist.
I will end this review by saying that if you like low budget films with great gore and splatter effects, this one's for you! Also don't let yourself get fooled by the fact that it is a Brain Damage Films production, most of their films tend to be garbage but this is one of few occations which I thought this felt more like a Full Moon or heck even a Troma film to a certain degree.
My rating: 6 out of 10.
Psycho Pike (1992)
Fascinating SOV obscurity
I have seen plenty of SOV flicks and for some reason I found this to be incredibly fascinating. For sure not good but at the same time you can't look away. It's like looking at something you were never ment to watch.
It has a feeling to it that someone found this film in a dumbster, based on the grainy picture quality and audio quality.
The intro of the film is incredibly entertaining when we see an old fisherman getting mauled and eaten to death by this mutated fish. Right after that we kick of the film with a hilarious song and opening credits with a bunch of friends on a vacation (fishing trip basically). Most of the music in this film is incredibly out of place which makes it even funnier.
They encounter some local rednecks/hobos so you also get some funny dialogue to go along with this. Unfortunately it feels like most of the budget was shoved into the intro of the film because after that there is a pretty huge lack of blood and gore effects for most of the film.
I loved how trashy this looks and from time to time it just looks like someones home video while having a great time out on the pond (most people probably find this annoying but I found it more charming). Acting for the most part is pretty bad and the characters rather forgettable but along with that you get some hilarious dialogue. The locations are very good as well and I've always been having a soft spot for films that takes place out in nature. The biggest highlight of the film is whenever you see the mutated fish attack people (some funny blood and gore scenes). The biggest problem with the film is the running time, it would of been better it was arount 20 or 25 minutes shorter.
If you love obscure SOV flicks give this one a go since it has very special atmosphere.
My rating: 5 out of 10.
Grim Reaper (2021)
How to shoot a micro budget slasher in one weekend
This is a typical slasherfilm but without all of the interesting bits.
If I watch a slasher I usually want at least one or two cool kills or interesting characters but this film lacks most of that.
It's pretty clear from the get-go that the director was inspired by Psycho (shower scene) and Halloween (the killer POV shot).
I would also say that I hated the fact that most of the kills takes place during the middle of the day and for that reason it never gets scary or atmospheric, I think the reason why is because they wouldn't have any problem with lighting in that way but if your picture quality is good doesn't mean that your film is automatically good or great. The characters are very forgettable because there's a big problem to know who any of these character's names are. The kills are mostly boring and by that I mean next to no blood or gore at all (except from a really funny head decapitation scene). The mask of the killer looks ridiculous and makes me think it was bought at the closest shop/supermarket in the area. If I have to point out any positive things about this film it would be the dialogue (which is really unintentionally funny at times) and the lighting in the film which makes me think this would be better if it was an action film and not a horror film. I had a few laughs when I saw the police officers in the film because of how stupid they looked.
Also I think I would of found this more entertaining if it was a SOV horror flick from the 80's.
Well... at least it wasnt that long and it had a kind of "so bad it's good" type of vibes to it. Im sure the people who worked on it must have had a blast though.
Only recommended if you like micro budget horror films.
5 out of 10.
Diamond in the Rough (1988)
Low budget mafia action flick
An incredibly strange low budget film that feels like a SOV horror film. That really is the best way to describe this.
Right of the bat we get a shootout/robbery in a house and the bad guys escape. After this we are introduced to our main character Sara (Bonnie Beck) who works as a singer in a band. Usually I find it quite irritating when a film decide to pad out the runtime just to show us concert footage but this sequence is cut short which I tought was a bummer because I really liked what I heard, a really nice AOR type song. Sara eventually gets caught up in the illegal diamond smuggling business, for what reason I have a hard time to tell (maybe she was just a part of this all along or forced into this). She teams up with a mercenary who helps her to fight the bad guys/mafia guys.
The positives I have to mention in the film is that the direcrtor did the best he could despite the low budget and what really holds this movie up is the entertaining action sequences along with a really cool score and soundtrack.
The acting was alright considering the low budget and most of the characters are likable. Even though it has a SOV feel to it I really liked the camerawork and actually the fact that it looks low budget (this helps with the atmosphere I would say). I also really appreciated that the film has many different locations, I've seen plenty of low budget movies that takes place at the same location almost every scene and Im really glad this film didn't go into that trap.
I still have a hard time to describe the storytline any further mainly because that's the movies biggest flaw, it's too much all over the place. It is very hard to follow and I sometimes had a very big problem to tell who's who because many of the characters look very similar.
Also I find that the film does lack in action in the middle section and some scenes like that drags on for a little too long for my liking. The runtime is too long, if it had a very good storyline to go along with it it would be fine but sadly no...
Overall I can only recommend this film to die hard low budget action type fans and if you expect quality in terms of a great storyline you should look elsewhere.
My rating: 5 out of 10.
The Lost Platoon (1990)
The Platoon meets The Lost Boys?! Missed opportunity...
This film is really a mess but that's what I also usually like about David Prior films.
We follow the character of Hollander who fought against the nazis during the second world war. During a battle at the end of the war most of his buddies gets either killed or disappears, when he think he's done for he survives thanks to a mysterious man who kills off the nazis.
After this we flash forward to 1991 in Nicaragua where there's some kind of civil war between military soldiers and evil mercenaries of some sort. Hollander is pretty high up in the ranks but when he sees his old pals again along with the mysterious man he also notices that his old buddies have barely aged at all, of course there's no surprise by this point that they have become some sort of vampires and the mysterious man is responsible. Now Hollander has to fight not only against the evil mercenaries but also against his former military buddies now turned vampires.
Now as usual I'll leave it at that since I don't want to spoil the entire movie for you.
Like I mentioned in the begginning of this review this film is very much a mess and by that I mean that the storyline is very muddled and has too many types of storylines attached to it. It's a real shame because if this film had a bigger budget, better actors and more entertaining action sequences this could of been a really cool and entertaining flick. It's also unfortunate that very many scenes feels flat and stale, I can't really explain how but if you've seen the film you might know what I mean. However I must also mention the positives aspects of the film. First I'd like to mention the music/score which I thought was very atmospheric and great, I liked the locations as well even though I have a feeling it might be shot at the very same place as Prior's previous film Deadly Prey. I also appreciated that Prior this time focused on the secnond world war and a civil war than the usual vietnam war which at this point in his career was overdone by a long shot.
At the end of the day can I recommend The Lost Platoon? Yes...BUT ONLY if you are a big fan of David Prior and know what type of films he usualy directs (meaning mostly low budget action flicks).
My rating: 6 out of 10.
Boys on the Run (2003)
Teenage drama and wildlife adventure mixed in a good way
Im surprised Im the first one on imdb to wirte a review for this but hey ho let's go.
The plot is fairly simple but still works fine.
The story begins with our lead character Charlie burning his parents garage and car (and he states right away that he does not get along with them and that they are also beating him up) and for that he gets sent to some sort of juvenile prison.
There he meets another teen named Joe who seems to be up to no good but when he gets defended by him when bullies start to harrass him they slowly begin to develop a brotherly bond. For some reason the security in this so called prison isnt the greatest so they escape by climbing in to the food truck that escorts food to the prison. When the driver gets notified that the boys are hiding in the back he gets smacked with the backdoor of the truck and they flee through the city. While there they climb up on the roof of a building in the outskirts of town to meet and befriend an indian guy who tells them a story of how it is to live in nature in the wild away from the big cities. This makes the boys want to try it out and escapre from their past. They get into the wild and so far so good until they meet Raindrop (which is a really stupid name even though it's explained later on in the film). Raindrop tells them that she's fleeing from some very dangerous type of people and then the hunt is on.
Now Im gonna stop tell you about the story from there and keep it as spoilefree as possible.
The writing is very good and I was surprised of how much I liked the stroyline but I think it has something to do with the characters, we've all been in some sort of trouble where we just want to escape and live out in nature right?
In the beginning you don't care too much for the two lead characters but you slowly begin to really appreciate them more the longer into the film you get and the acting in general wasnt spectacular but it wasnt bad either.
I think it comes down to good chemestry between the characters that really made me care for them.
This film could of been just another teen film but what also makes this film work really well is the beautiful locations and shots out in nature and the fantastic socre by Bill Conti.
If there is something I have to mention which is on the negative side it has to be the last act and also the character Captain played by Ron Perlman which felt kind of cliché and stupid.
Overall if you love films that takes place out in nature or if you just so happen to be a person who loves teen type films from the early 2000's give this one a shot. It's not the greatest one out there but it sure as hell aint the worst and it is a very obscure and underrated film that I feel more people should give a chance.
My rating:
7 out of 10.
Scanners II: The New Order (1991)
Really good and underrated sequel!
First of all I must admit that I wasn't the hugest fan of the original movie irected by David Cronenberg, don't get me wrong I liked the film but I just thought that something was missing in it. It did however have one of the very best head explotions ever captured on film.
Now when I've got that out of the way let's talk about this movie shall we?
We follwow David (David Hewlett) who suspect that there is something special about him but he can't put his fingers on what. He has constant headaches and pain and his parents and his childhood is a complete mystery to him. It slowly comes up to him that he's a Scanner just like his parents were. Meanwhile as we get to know his character and his love interest in the movie we have this lunatic of a Scanner (an evil and very powerful one) called Peter Drak who only uses his Powers for evil and bad purposes.
It's up to David to find out about his past and reveal what Drak (and his boss) purposes really are and save the ones he love.
The acting is mostly good even though the actor who plays Peter Drak is a little bit over doing it at some point. The effects are good but not nearly as good as some of the effects in the original film (still good enough for being a film in the early 90's with a much lower budget). The musical score is fine and the song that plays over the end credits is amazing!
This movie is not a masterpiece or anything but it's a movie which feels as it hasn't gotten it's praise or attention that it really deserves.
Rolling Thunder (1977)
One of the best revenge tales ever told
First of all I must say Im a sucker for revenge films. It's something strong about them. But sometimes when it comes to these type of films we do not get to know the characters really well. This film is not one of them, you really get to know the characters very well and you feel really sorry for the protagonists in this tale and feel anger and hate towards the bad guys. The acting is superb by everyone involved and I love the fact that it slowly builds up to the grand finale. At the moment I can't think of any negatives about this film. Everything else is also very good, camerawork, soundtrack, atmosphere etc. If you are a big fan of revenge stories make sure to see this one, it's certaintly one of the best. It wouldn't be fair if I gave this film any lower than 10 out of 10 stars.
Saturday the 14th (1981)
Goofy, cosy and charming horror comedy
I decided to watch this movie late at night maybe around midnight at Saturday the 14th (hehe yeah I know very clever) so I was quite tired and maybe should'nt have checked it out at this late hour but I found this movie to be very charming and cosy.
The film is about a family moving into a house which looks like a big dump but unbeknown to them this house has a curse of some sort. The son in the family starts to read and look into a book and as fast as he do this the creatures in the book comes to life! Meanwhile the parents find a note in the kitchen left there by the prievous owner telling them not to open the book but they brush it of thinking it's a different kind of book, (im gonna leave it at that plotwise because I do not want to spoil the whole movie for you).
Something which I really enjoyed about this movie was the numerous references to other horror movies such as Creature from the black lagoon, Jaws, Dracula and perhaps Evil Dead ( I say perhaps because Im not sure if Evil Dead came out before or after this movie). The humour in it was not the funniest ever or so but I would rather call it charming just like all the references and I think this movie makes a great job of that, much better than the movie called Student Bodies (1981) which had way to many jokes in it which just made it annoying after a while.
The acting is ok and I say ok because some of them were good and some of them were annoying or terrible. I Think this movie is more aimed towards a younger audience which maybe explains why this movie was rated PG.
If you wanna have a funny and entertaining movie to Watch on your own late at night I can really recommend Saturday the 14th just don't have your expectations that high.
6/10 stars from me
Quiet Thunder (1988)
There are movies that are so bad they are bad and then there are those that are so bad they're good...
Let me start this review by saying this is no where near a good film, it has so many flaws and so many mistakes but that's what makes it charming and rather funny for all the wrong reasons.
A pilot called Max and the wife of a senator named Karen witnessess an assassination and for some reason they're accused of it (if I got it all right)? Along with Max's friend Two Days (which has to be one of the silliest names I've heard in a long time) they try to escape the authorities by plane but they crash into the middle of no where and the rest of the movie is basically one long chase.
This might sound really boring but there are a few of these action scenes in between which are really entertaining for all the wrong reasons (if you've seen the movie you get what I mean). It feels like the filmmakers thought some of these sequenses were really cool, awesome and somewhat clever but they are so stupid and silly that you can't help but laugh at the whole mess. And did I mention that the movie ends so strange and ubruptly?
I went into this film expecting nothing and I got a whole lot of laughter and a really good time out of it. If you're a fan of "so bad it's good" type of films I can really recommend to watch this film with a couple of buddies and have a really fun and great time.
6/10 stars from me.
Trick or Treats (1982)
A lot of tricks but not any treats for the audience
**This review may contain spoilers** Linda (Jacqueline Giroux) is working as a babysitter for one of the most irritating kid (the son of the director by the way) I've ever seen on film. She does this only because the parents of the kid has a lot of money and she thinks she is going to get a pretty large amount of money for it. But what turns out as a nightmare by babysitting this annoying kid turns out even worse when a mental patient has escaped and he sets his goal towards the very same house that Linda and the kid is in. The mental patient does this to get his revenge on his ex-wife that sent him away to the "looneyhouse" several years earlier.
Now this has to be one of the most boring films I've ever seen and that's simply because the pacing is so damn awful and the acting is absolutely horrendous. The only thing I was waiting for was at least one interesting death scene but not even that. It takes about 1 hour before the maniac arrives at the house and I just wanted someone to get rid of the damn kid.You do not care about any of the characters simply because there is barely any backstory to any of them not even the killer himself! If you wanna see about 4 minutes of David Carradine and 2 minutes of Steve Railsback sure there you go but there is not anything else to find interesting here... 1/10
Stepfather III (1992)
Weakest in the series but still very underrated
**This review may contain spoilers** Even though this movie is the weakest in the series I would say I walked into this movie with almost no expectations whatsoever and it surprised me. The Stepfather has now gone through plastic surgery and is searching for a new "perfect" family. This felt like a rehash of the first movie since it's almost the same story except for the plastic surgery involved in the plot.
Terry O'Quinn is replaced by Robert Wightman and this is what's probably the biggest problem with the movie. He's nowhere near as good as Terry O'Quinn but he keeps getting better the longer into the movie you get (when he plays the "nice" Stepfather is the weakest part of the movie but when he plays the "evil" Stepfather he does a really great job). The supporting cast is probably the best part of the movie and the actress who carries this movie on her shoulders is Priscilla Barnes, she gives her all in this movie and she does a really great job. Another character I was very fond of was Father Brennan played by John Ingle, he was very likable and funny at times as one of the most down to earth preachers I've seen on film. A surprise for me was the character of Andy portrayed excellent by David Tom (espesially during the more emotional scenes).
The soundtrack is good and you can sort of hear the theme from the previous two films in the series within this theme if you listen very closely.
For a made for TV movie Stepfather 3 was great, even though it's the worst in the series I can recommend it if you enjoyed the first two. 6/10 stars from me.
The Addiction (1995)
Artsy bore fest by Abel Ferrara
***This Review may contain spoilers***
First of all I must say that I have never been a huge fan of the director and after this Im not sure if I'll be able to give him another chance. The movie is about Lili Taylor's character being bitten by a prostitute which unfortunately for her is a vampire and we then slowly follow her change and transformation and when I say slow I mean REALLY SLOW.
This is the biggest problem of the movie, the fact that it takes way too long before anything interesting happens. Another thing which does not fit in is the annoying hip-hop/rap music which does not fit in the movie or any sequences whatsoever (or maybe my despise for this music genre made me hate the movie more than I had to). Also worth mentioning is the complete waste of Christopher Walken's character which does not appear to have any meaning or reason to even be in the movie at all. Don't get me wrong Walken is a great actor and I think the problem is the fact that his lines are so cheesy at times and it feels like they only had him at set for only about a couple of days.
Now when it comes to the positive aspects of the movie I must say that I was rather impressed by the use of the black and white theme of the movie, that at least gave the movie a little atmosphere. The acting is overall quite good and there is nothing wrong with Lili Taylors acting (I think the overall problem with the movie was the script).
I say if you want to watch a different type of vampire flick or if you're a hardcore vampire fan, sure check it out...otherwise don't...
4/10
Night of the Scarecrow (1995)
One of the best "Scarecrow-related" horror flicks
When two drunks accidentally awakes an old warlock (who takes the form of a Scarecrow) from the grave the terror begins in town. It's up to a newcomer named Dillon and the daughter of the mayor named Claire to put an end to the warlock once and for all.
I think the characters in this movie are very well written and you care about each and everyone of them (since many of the characters have different personalities it gets much more entertaining to watch this movie).
The special effects are top notch (if Im not mistaken done by the same team who worked on the Elm Street movies), the death scenes are very cool as well even though they aren't that bloody (if you've seen the movie you know what I am talking about).
Already from the opening sequence you get the "Children Of The Corn" vibes and you're drawn into the movie immediately. The only problem with the movie is that it gets a little bit drawn out during half of the running time.
I am ready to give Night Of The Scarecrow a 7/10 stars. I would say it's Jeff Burr's worst movie I've seen so far but by saying that I don't mean it's bad in any way (only that his other movies are so damn good).
Stitches (2012)
Watch out Pennywise! There's a new clown on the block!
We follow the clown Stitches who has some work to do at Tom's birthday party but things don't work out as he wants and he gets accidentally killed. We then cut to 6 years later when the kids at the birthday party has gotten older and Tom decides to arrange a little party again with beers, loud music and of course the love of his life Kate!
Something that he don't know is that Stitches has been brought back from the dead to finish the job and kill those little brats who were responsible for his death.
First of all I would like to mention that the effects and death scenes in this flick are hilarious. As a hardcore slasher fan I found the death scenes to be very creative and the effects that was used was not only CGI, even practical effects which makes it even more fun to watch.
When I heard the song "Dying In your Arms Tonight" my heart melted because Im a sucker for 80's music in general. The acting is surprisingly good since almost all of the actors and actresses in this film were all quite young (I think this is working so well because the chemistry between the characters is so good and you can clearly see that they all had fun while they participated).
Stitches gets a 9/10 stars from me.
The Reef (2010)
One of the best shark movies since Jaws
The Reef surrounds 5 people who decides to go on a little trip to an isolated island with their boat but unfortunately for them the boat gets damaged and tipped over. They discuss what to to next, either stay and hope to be rescued or head for the island they just visited (by the time of this they are far away from the island). After a long discussion and a few doubts 4 of them decides to leave and swim for shore and the last one decides to stay.
This is a very well made shark movie and I believe that they had a real shark while making this movie which makes the whole movie so much more horrifying. The underwater point of views for the character Luke along with some tense and scary musical score makes it so scary and you really feel like you are a part of the movie. At parts it looks like the shark comes out from the shadows and just gets closer and closer for each second and your heartbeat gets faster and faster (great filmmaking right there!).
Apparently The Reef is based on a true story which makes it even more terrifying (similar to another Australian horror movie called Wolf Creek).
In recent years we have gotten cheap looking CGI and low budget shark movies like Sharknado and if you are tired of that make sure to check out The Reef, it's one of very few "serious" shark movies to have come out in the past 5 years. My rating, 8/10 stars.