Sure Death: Revenge (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Much more samurai who-done-it rather than samurai actioner so don't go in this expecting lots of sword fights and off the wall martial arts despite Sonny Chiba and his Japan Action Club's involvement. I love mystery movies and I love samurai movies so this is a win on both fronts for me.
Born Of Fire (product link) Horror / Fantasy This is one of those movies that really defies categorization other than weird. It is in the vein of Jodorowsky so if you love movies that make almost no sense then 'Born of Fire' is up your alley. The cinematography is beautiful, it really makes the most of its stark Turkish setting and its very distinct characters. The movie can best be looked at as a piece of music that uses visuals instead of notes. This is a movie that is best view with the idea of listening to the music not the song. If you want to try something different that will probably baffle you but the beautiful visuals will make up for the lack of an easy to understand plot.
The Great Horror Family (product link) TV Shows/Movies / Horror This is a great horror-comedy series from the man who gave the world the scary Ju-On movies. The story is about a family that lives in the most unlucky house in Japan and all the crazy ghosts that come with it. A little foreknowledge of Japan's host of many supernatural creatures but it isn't necessary. One of my favorite episodes involves a severed hand with aims to kill the family, yes it is Thing from the Adam's Family gone psycho. It is a very unique series, if you like J-Horror you'll enjoy this lighter look at the world of ghosts, aliens, and demons.
Mr. Brain (product link) TV Shows/Movies / Mystery Quirky and fun take on the modern crime drama where the ridiculously smart character is the only one who can possible solve the crime. The mysteries are often solved in unique ways. If you like interesting and often funny characters in your forensic's based police drama you will enjoy this.
33-Minute Detective Season 2 (product link) TV Shows/Movies / Comedy More absurd hilarity from the 33 Minute Detective and company. I really like this parody of mystery television shows. If you like murder mysteries and if you like 'Airplane' then you'll really enjoy this.
Happy Flight (product link) Comedy / Drama Surprising blending of several various genres into what can best be termed as an interesting day in the life of several people working for the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways. That is the first surprise, you never see an actual airline used in a movie where one of the plot points is something going wrong with the airplane. The movie has a breezy charm that makes it very enjoyable, its not a serious as your usual disaster movie nor is it as silly as something like 'Airplane'. It is character driven and while having enough characters to fill an actual airplane everyone really does an excellent job and you never left confused with who was who. This was a movie I wasn't exactly sure what to expect going in but was quickly won over by the great characters, excellent story, and the charming humor.
Negotiator (product link) Crime / Drama Smart police thriller where nothing is exactly what it seems to be. I like movies that keep you guessing and this movie really manages to keep you on your toes until the very end. Plenty of red herrings but the ending is still believable.
Japan's Longest Day (product link) Drama / Historical Intriguing historical drama about the last 24 hours of World War 2. It looks at the internal conflict Japan faced at the end of the war. Toshiro Mufune leads a cast of faces familiar to any one who has watched a single Kurosawa Film. If the movie has a problem it is the sheer weight of characters. To make this as factual as possible you have to have a small army of people but I admire their dedication to authenticity by keeping so many characters in the movie. A modern movie would take the easy road and just combine half the roles into the other half for convenience sake. This is an excellent addition to any WW2 movie fan's collection it gives an more realistic view of the Japanese in the war rather than the one-dimensional action movie villain you see in virtually every other movie.
Black Dynamite (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts Very funny parody of every conceivable Blaxploitation theme out there. This extremely broad scope, from pimps, to the mafia, to corrupt government officials, to evil Asian kung-fu drug lords, to finally Kung-Fu Nixon himself does reduce the story to pretty much a collection of cobbled together vignettes that does run a little low on energy two-thirds through but does manage to really end in fine form with Kung-Fu Nixon. No previous experience with Blaxploitation necessary but it does help get you into the swing of things but any fan of seriously over the top parody will quickly come to enjoy this.
Hard Boiled (product link) Action/Adventure / Bullet Ballet I love 'Hard Boiled', it has all the excess of the great action movies of the 80s and early 90s, probably the pinnacle of that kill 'em all action movies from that era. In my opinion this the ultimate of the John Woo/Chow-Yun Fat actioners and the ultimate example of the HK gun-fu movies with its ever increasing scale of action set pieces and if the movie went on for another hour I'm pretty sure the final battle would have involved destroying the entire city of Hong Kong.
Demon Warriors (product link) Action/Adventure / Fantasy Interesting superhero style movie with buckets and buckets of spraying blood. The movie's plot is rather dense and throws lots and lots of plot and dialogue at you in the beginning which can make the average viewer lose track of what exactly is going on but once the talking stop the movie is a series of pretty good action set pieces that are both exciting and bloody. If you like superhero movies you will like the Thai take on the superhero formula that mixes it all up really well. Pretty solid, not perfect, but it is still worth the watch.
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (product link) Horror / Thriller Everybody's favorite Spanish werewolf Waldemar Daninsky is here once again to romance the ladies and kill the locals. There is no Frankenstein or Frankenstein's monster, a quirk of domestic distributing that is covered by the opening intro where the narrator explains the Frankenstein family changed their name to Wolfstein and went into the lycanthrope business rather than making monsters. The movie aside from the rather misleading title is a standard 60s gothic werewolf movie. It has loads of atmosphere but takes too long to get going. It isn't til the 25 minute mark that we actually get the first werewolf attack, which is way too long for a horror movie. Not the best, wildest, or goriest of all the Jacinto Molina werewolf movies but if you want a decent, not great, but decent gothic werewolf movie it does the trick.
B13: Banlieue 13 (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts Its a Luc Besson style movie, lots of exotic European scenes, plenty of action, and a paper thin plot that if you stare hard enough can see clear through. But it isn't supposed to be a well written costume drama it is a movie about Parkour and asskickery which is delivers on both fronts. Watching the displays of Parkour, which were done without wires or CG, is very impressive and will make your feet sting just thinking about it. The fighting is in the flavour of 'Ong-Bak' of punishing strikes that make you feel the pain arcing through the screen. This offers a different and European flavour to the usual action movies tropes and delivers all the fun you need.
Emanuelle And The White Slave Trade (product link) Erotica / Drama The final of the Joe D'Amato/Laura Gemser Emmanuelle movies and oddly enough probably the most restrained of their outings. Really nothing more than a series of saucy vignettes around the concept of the White Slave Trade this movie doesn't have the berserk flavour of 'Emmanuelle in America' or 'Emmanuelle and the Last Cannibals' and if you are looking for a way to ease yourself into this series is probably a decent start. There are some really bizarre moments, the Transvestite-Bowling Alley knife fight gives you a flavour of where these movies can go but doesn't get as violent or crazy sleazy as other titles in this series can.
Varan The Unbelievable [3-Disc Set] (product link) Science Fiction / Action/Adventure Early kaiju movie that doesn't feature Godzilla but takes all the music from the original 'Gojira'. Not as scientific or as elaborate as later kaiju movies but still lots of fun.
The Dead Pit (product link) Horror / Thriller 'Dead Pit' comes from a really rough time in the world of horror movies. The late 80s saw the lowest ebb in the every fickle horror movie market. Even decent films from this era were difficult to come across and while 'Dead Pit' is far from perfect it does have some really creepy moments and if you are creeped out by doctors and hospitals this will certainly not improve your opinion of either. If you like one sentence mash-up descriptions of movies this can be summed up as 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' with Zombies.
The War In Space (product link) Science Fiction / Action/Adventure Super campy sci-fi ride that owes more to the sci-fi movies of the 50s and early 60s than it does to its contemporary 'Star Wars'. It is something Toho knows well and does well. If its your kind of thing, I'm a big fan of this kind of kitschy scale model kind of sci-fi and it does a good job of pleasing. I love the wookie knock-off the bad guy keeps as his personal guard, it almost looks too cuddly to be dangerous. If this is your kind of fun you will surely enjoy it.
Ong-Bak 2 (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A little too much plot and not enough bone crunching winch inducing ass-kicking. It is still a fantastic movie, I like the setting and the mythic setting but the damn plot moves around at its own will throwing you into flashbacks at a moment's notice. The plot itself is straight forward enough and if you pay attention the twist comes as no surprise but the method they arrive at it is uneven and like driving on a rough dirt road at 80 miles an hour you start to grow weary from the constant snapping about. But the fights are great not to the jaw dropping levels of the first 'Ong-Bak' but that was pretty much a bunch of fights with a story to give them purpose while this is the opposite, a movie with fight scenes in it. Still an excellent movie that will please all martial arts movie fans and can not be missed.
First off I can see how many zombie movie fans will like this movie but I couldn't stand it. From the obnoxious main character his phobias, his rules, and his ridiculous coming of age love story bored me and annoyed me enough to really dislike this movie. I look at this like the 'Scream' of zombie movies which took the last bits of seriousness from a genre milked dry by numerous cheap throwaway films and reduced them to smug self aware parodies of themselves. I did like Woody Harrelson's role in the movie, and Bill Murray's cameo really saved me from writing this movie off all together. I don't like these trite coming of age stories where the awkward nerd manages to land some insanely hot girl because she sees the real person within the awkward shell, and really we're supposed to believe the girl in this movie would look that good after the end of civilization? What she managed to save an entire Hollywood hair and make-up team to keep her looking so polished? More 'Adventureland' than 'Dawn of the Dead'.
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Zombieland’s advertisement was misleading when it initially came out. But I loved it. The film is fun road flick. And it’s an odd pairing of two diff. movies a genuine coming of age story mix w/ horror fits perfectly. Zombieland has heart.
Dark Forest (product link) Horror / Thriller Fair movie that exchanges a decent plot for buckets and buckets of gore. Not the greatest kids go into the woods to meet their doom movie but once the killings start manages to keep the blood pouring to make it worth a look.
Beyond The Door (product link) Horror / Thriller Uneven Italian knock-off of 'The Exorcist' & 'Rosemary's Baby' that takes way too long to get to the actual pea soup spewing devil voice possession stuff. A fun drinking game for this movie is to take a drink everytime you see a can of Campbell's Pea Soup, which litter the movie to a near hysterical degree.
Double Impact (product link) Action/Adventure / Martial Arts I'm not sure exactly why but I've always liked this Jean Claude Van Damme movie. It only gets more nostalgic with each passing viewing. I like Van Damme the yuppie because that probably wasn't acting back in those days. Bolo Yeung again plays a great villain but he always plays a good villain. Not as good as 'Bloodsport' I think it takes too long to get the fighting and spends too much time playing the opposite twins shtick too much in the first act to the point where you start to get bored and annoyed but just as you are about to give up the movie changes gears and the kicks start flying and the heads start getting busted. Definitely one of Van Damme's better films.
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My favorite childhood movie, I remember growing in the 80's & reenacting “Bloodsport" in my parent's basement was a blast. I recently caught a packed midnight showing & it still delivers the goods.
This is a bit of a trip down memory lane for me, this was my very first Asian horror movie that I watched on VHS from Video Search of Miami over fifteen years ago long before 'Ringu' or 'Dark Water' became the standard for J-Horror. I've always thought the title was wrong and should be 'Evil Death Trap' makes so much more sense but such is life. There are a few nods to the original Evil Dead, mainly the force that roams about this rundown industrial hell. What really makes this movie is the gore, from the get go you know what kind of absolute unrelenting slaughter fest this movie is going to be with the very first death and its close-up eye stabbing which if you can survive that you can probably make it through the rest of the movie and get a shiny gorehound merit badge for your sash. Many people want to compare this to a 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' movie or slasher movie, and while this is probably as close as Japan came to making a slasher movie in the 80s with its disguised killer, who looks really creepy by the way, I look at this more like a really hardcore 'Suspiria'. In 'Suspiria' you had elegant death set pieces whereas in 'Evil Dead Trap' you have dirty brutal industrial death set pieces. My favorite is probably the metal poles because it really hits you out of left field, you are expecting something to happen but not that. There is some definite slasher movie logic at play here but its a horror movie you have to have some gaps in logic or it doesn't really work and if you are complaining about that when watching a horror movie what the hell are you doing here in the first place? Put your beret back on and go back to your art house to watch two people talk about the meaningless of life for three hours and leave us gorehounds in peace. This is a must see for gorehound fans this movie is without a sense of mercy, most movies give the audience the out by cutting away from the blood and guts but not this one. A solid gold piece of 80s gore cinema.
Once again I return the extremely unique world of Bollywood movies for another dose of the Ramsay Brothers and their unique take on the world of horror. Once again we have plenty of musical numbers, often while bathing, which vary in quality from catchy to dull and unnecessary. Many of the same features of 'Purani Haveli: Mansion of Evil' are here, the fat comic relief who still reminds me of Lou Costello but without any real comic ability, the same mansion is featured where Veerana takes her victims for their untimely demise, and the plot is dragged along a good twenty minutes longer than ever necessary. This movie is just too bloody long, it seems to be a thing with Bollywood to make their movies as long as possible but never with enough plot to avoid repetition. It is fun to watch, especially the lair of the evil wizard who has an council of guys with stalagmites for heads. The evil wizard is a great scenery chewing villain with a giant beard and crazy beards. While not a great movie, it is one you have to see to believe and if you are a fan of cheesy b-movies you will leave this feeling very, very full.
Sayonara Jupiter (product link) Science Fiction / Drama Old school epic sci-fi. The only problem with this movie is there are just too many sub-plots for even the 2 hour + run time. The main plot is good and I think if they'd focused more on it than being all over the place. The environmental extremists is while diluted with songs and dolphins is just as relevant today with Global Warming as it was nearly thirty years ago. It scores extra points for having a zero-g sex scene and one of the best fake shark deaths in the history of killer great white sharks on film. Great old school sci-fi full of models, jumpsuits, and rooms full of computers less powerful than your iPhone.
Story Of Sorrow And Sadness (product link) Drama / Thriller Excellent thriller about the pitfalls of fame and celebrity which is as related and revelent today as it was when this movie was made by master Japanese filmmaker Seijun Suzuki over 30 years ago. It balances nicely between erotic thriller and deep character study with strong performances all around. A must see for fans of good cinema.
Schoolgirl Report 6: What Parents Would Gladly Hush Up (product link) Erotica / Comedy Those wacky sex crazed German teens are back once again to show more vignettes of naked teens cavorting on camera. I do give this entry a little more respect by at least attempting to tie the numerous vignettes to a central story thread. It's pretty thin but at least they are trying something different. Aside from this little variance it is more of the same you'd find in any of the other entries into this series. If you're into 70s softcore and its distinct visual style you'll find something to enjoy.
Mafia Vs. Ninja (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure So-So kung-fu movie where ninjas and martial artists face off to see who controls Shanghai. The plot is all over the place and barely makes an attempt but the problems are at least somewhat covered over by the numerous fight scenes. There is nothing you haven't seen here before but at least isn't painful to watch.
Mongol (product link) Action/Adventure / Drama Solid epic historical story about the rise of Genghis Khan. Tadanobu Asano does an excellent job as the great leader to be in his rough rise to being king of all he surveys. Full of amazing landscapes, blood soaked battles, intrigue and betrayals which does a decent job of actually following history. It does go the 'Braveheart' route of fudging the truth to make a better story but stays well clear of wandering into '300' territory of complete hooey history.
Don't Torture A Duckling [2-Disc Set] (product link) Horror / Thriller One of the most daring and provocative exploitation movies out there. From the grandmaster of Italian horror/gore cinema Lucio Fulci comes a movie that is often cast as a gialli but I look at it more like a pseudo-documentary like 'The Town that Dreaded Sundown' with its authentic cast and stark subject matter. It is a very unusual movie in that not only is about child murders but they show a couple of the kids dying which is virtually unheard of in movie making. It lacks the flash and glitz of gialli, the murders are grim, and the tone is grim. It is an excellent movie, its really unlike anything else in Fulci's more gory canon and is one of the more unique movies out there for having the balls big enough to tackle something like this head on.
A Colt Is My Passport (product link) Crime / Action/Adventure Excellent and extremely stylish Yakuza thriller. The cinematography alone makes this notable for all its inventive camera angles. A must see for any fans of noir or gangster movies.
Dragon On Fire (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A simple story meant to give purpose to a host of great fights. If nothing else watch this movie for a chance to hear the music of Star Wars score two of the fights. The version I watched (Crash Brothers) had it had the Star Wars music which is just hysterical for such blatant 'borrowing' of such familiar music. I have to admit a soft spot for Godrey Ho movies. He may not be original but he does deliver the goods however cheesy they might be. Great cameos by Bolo Yeung, sporting some great chest hair, and even Dragon Lee makes an appearance. The movie takes some time to get going but once it does the fights are solid and well balanced and who doesn't love Mad Dog Style Kung-Fu?
Gun Crazy 3: Traitors Rhapsody (product link) Girls With Guns / Action/Adventure I was rather surprised by this. I was expecting a Girls With Guns movie but what impressed me was how well it was put together. It reminded me of those great 80s action movies for which I have quiet the soft spot for those movies with all their gun play and flunkies dropping left and right. Add to that a solid story and you have a satisfying action movie.
Gappa: The Triphibian Monsters (product link) Science Fiction / Horror Nikkatsu gets into the kaiju genre with a thoroughly enjoyable parody of the genre. With all great entries into the kaiju genre Gappa has all the required parts: giant monsters destroying cities, science trying to stop giant monsters from destroying cities, a love interest, and adventurers going someplace exotic. Despite it being a parody there is a sincerity that really makes this movie shine. 'Gappa' like many kaiju greats is a lot of fun and the perfect Saturday afternoon movie.
She Freak (product link) Horror / Thriller Southern fried semi-remake of Todd Brownings' immortal 'Freaks'. A true 60s oddity, lots of loud colors, quirky acting, and a dash of realism you just don't find in the modern cinema. The movie is only a loose remake, the freaks are rather absent except for the beginning and the end but it is more of a look into the world of carnies and hucksters that just doesn't exist anymore and that look into this very unique lost world is worth the watch if nothing else.
The Man From Oklahoma (product link) Western / Action/Adventure This is either genius or pure lazy stupidity to pack a movie so full of cliches that is becomes parody. Every possible Western movie cliche is present and accounted for except a marauding band of Comanches. The movie is low budget Spaghetti Western which is about as bad as you can get. It could have been funny if they made fun of all the troupes they paraded about but this movie didn't have enough budget for inspiration just playing the game as safely as one could. Definitely not one to check out, just too many boring ideas done as bland as possible.
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (product link) Science Fiction / Action/Adventure Godzilla does battle with his metal mirror image built by monkey men from beyond the stars. It is a fairly straight forward Godzilla picture, plucky humans, evil aliens (who beamed down from Planet of the Apes) and lots and lots of giant monsters duking it out to see who gets to destroy more of Tokyo. It just plain fun in a very 70s Godzilla kind of way. I do like the King Caesar monster they have living in the mountain. His fight with Mechagodzilla was more energetic than the usual slower paced typical Godzilla brawls albeit he looks like an accident at a shag carpet factory.
Godzilla Vs. Gigan (product link) Science Fiction / Action/Adventure Unintentionally funny Godzilla outing with cockroach aliens, Godzilla Theme Parks whose overall goal is destruction of giant monsters, possibly to corner the market on giant monsters, and hippies mugging manga artists with corn on the cob. Its pure Godzilla silliness and fun, you get plenty of scale model destruction, 70s fashions, and a loopy plot.
Cannonball Run (product link) Comedy / Action/Adventure Stupidly silly movie that is fun for its stupidity and silliness. Its a send-up of all the 70s road movies including all the car chase movies staring Burt Reynolds who makes fun of them himself. It gets points for the sheer number of famous faces cobbled together for this movie. It also scores an extra half star for Jackie Chan and Michael Hui as the most stereotypical 'Japanese' racers humanly possible short of giving them thick round glasses and kamikaze headbands which is only more amusing because they are Chinese. My favorite is Roger Moore, and Adrienne Barbeau, for entirely different reasons. I like road movies and this is a fairly silly road movie. This is definitely a guilty pleasure kind of movie, thoroughly stupid, chalked full of ethic stereotypes that border on the ridiculously racist but because of all these things makes it fun to watch and laugh at.
Rob Zombie returns to the venerable 'Halloween' series and turns it into a white trash slaughter fest which pretty much tarnishes the series like no other. Michael Myers now rides about on a white winged horse in between killing pretty much everybody in the movie. The entire town of Haddonfield has been turned into the most silly white trash den imaginable including Laurie who is now heading down the psycho highway herself. The gore is brutal and poorly lit. There is no excuse for the piss poor lighting in his movie considering the budget and major studio backing this movie got. The movie is basically a chain of gory murders strung together with a few dream sequences and psychobilly numbers. Really the good psychobilly music is really the only thing I liked in this entire movie. The best way to describe the movie is by looking at Dr Loomis. Malcolm McDowell, for what little of the movie he is in, looks bored and tired and his character is in it just for the money which I think is a perfect symbol for the movie. None of the actors seem at all interested in making the movie, and Rob Zombie was obviously just cashing a paycheck here wading through white trash blood and guts. It really sucks because I stood up for the first remake and took a great deal of abuse for it now even I'm on board for calling the sequel utter crap. I think all of this would have worked out so much better if they had just made the first remake of 'Halloween' and this exercise in shameless sequels as an entire original slasher series. You cut out the title, and character names do a little rewriting and it would have been so easy to make this series on its own without dragging the hallowed name of Halloween through the trailer park cesspool. It's not like slasher movies are unique snowflakes they are slasher movies because they are all incredibly similar but with different killers and locals. One of the biggest failings of the movie is the 'Halloween' name and what baggage it brings with it. Making it original would have smoothed over the problems with redoing the all-time slasher classic into a white trash death fest and probably would have given Rob Zombie more of an investment into the series and made him less likely to dash off a cheap cash in sequel.
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For the most part, I could not disagree more. Instead of "part 2 - more of the same" he took things down a very dark mental path to show the deterioration caused by the first film's events. You do have a point about the franchise "baggage" however.
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