Friday, April 7, 2006

First off, I should apologize for the lack of updates. My new job is very demanding, and there’s no time for blog entries (unlike my tenure as a contractor for Blockbuster, where there was plenty of time!). Also, I ran out of Netflix discs, and so did a TV series I had stored away. But first, I need to catch up a missed entry.

The Legacy – 1978

     This is probably one of the rare “classic horror” movies from a major studio in the 70’s. They (the studios) have realized that the independent exploitation movies were doing better than their more “standard” films in many cases, and so decided to start making the same kind of movies.

And this movie is a perfect example of why. The great cast here, set amid beautiful sets, are really basically wasted. By today’s standards, the deaths are neither interesting or scary. The whole thing is pretty dull. There’s not a real “gripper” idea here to keep you interested. And for the life of me, I cannot imagine why its an “R”. It could be released today at PG. Unfortunately, that demographic wouldn’t like it either, as its too boring.

No extras on the disc whatsoever. No nudity. No chance.

One beer out of five.

Galaxy of Terror – 1981

     Here is another thing I don’t do too often. This disc is a “grey market” product I bought at a Horror Movie Con back in February. I think it’s a rip/conversion of a region 2 PAL disc, but couldn’t say for sure. The image is much better than a VHS conversion, so I don’t think it is that, or a TV dub. They certainly didn’t bother hiding the fact that the disc is a DVD-R.

But I remember seeing this movie at the theater, and really liking it. It was a great Alien rip off by Roger Corman. So its been on my wish list since I started collecting DVDs. And no one appears interested in releasing a Region 1 NTSC version, so I bought the grey market disc. And I’m glad I did, cause this movie is as fun as I remember.

First off, what a cast!
Robert Englund – young, and a good guy!
Ray Walston – Uncle Martin, a lowly cook?Sig Haig – the ever wonderful, as some kind of crystal warrior
Erin Moron – little Joanie from Happy Days’ last movie

The soundtrack is really effective. And someone named James Cameron was the Second Unit Director. Three years later, he’d make a little movie called Terminator, and then 2 years later another little flick you may have heard of called Aliens. And then some stupid big boat movie.

Some of the deaths are really clever. A couple are pretty grueling, especially for the early 80’s. I especially liked the woman who is stripped, slimed, and raped by a giant caterpillar. Don’t see that very often.

Four beers out of five.