Week of October 29 through November 04, 2006

Sunday, October 29, 2006
Eastern Horror – Corpse Master – (can’t find in IMDB and nothing in English in the film)

It’s another Chinese classic, with hopping vampires, little kid vampire/ghost, stupid cops. Everything you’ve come to expect from these things. Greatness! And of course, the subs are “hard coded”, and partially off the bottom of the screen sometimes, but not as bad as on some other films. Still doesn’t ruin the experience. These movies are just so wacky and fun.

But what’s with the music soundtrack. It appears that they blatantly copied several movies. The first I heard is the driving them of the 1982 remake of Cat People? And then, late in the movie, is the unforgettable soundtrack from Fulci’s Zombi! Guess they don’t have a very rigorous RIAA in China.

Petrified – 2006

Lesbianism & a mummy with the power of the Medusa. Still, there’s not nearly enough boobage here. What is up with that? Still, the “stoning” effect is pretty well done.

No subs or commentary, but a Making of that was far too short with no details.

Monday, October 30, 2006
No movie tonight. Real life issues intruded.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Slither – 2006

Ladies and gentlemen, the absolutely fabulous Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity). He brings a whole level of goodness to anything he’s in. And this being homage to 80’s monster movies, his kind of “smart-assy” personality is perfect! Meteor crashes and releases slimy things that infect folks and turns them into ready-to-merge slimy zombies. Yeah, buddy!

Very nice special effects, lots of fun, funny & yucky. Lots of cheesecake, not enough boobage. And subs! Yeaaaa!

Commentary by director Gunn & Fillion. It was entertaining. And that is then followed by about 4 tons of extras. Deleted scenes with and without commentary. Extended scenes, same. Visual Effects: step by step. Set tour with Nathan. Creature creation featurette “Brewin’ the blood”, Gag reel, and more. Several hours worth. This is definitely a “buyer”.

November 1, 2006
Sexploitation Double Feature
Restless Souls – 2002

Ohhhh, how original. A couple stranded by car trouble go into an abandoned castle, and mayhem ensues. Who thought up this fresh concept? <-- Sarcasm.

Well, it’s not hardcore, but it is interesting. The softcore sex is pretty intense. Pretty sure it wouldn’t run on Skinemax. And just when the sex fades out, so does the wife. Now, that’s original. Never seen a women seduced by a ghost and fade into the bed before. NOW I’m interested.

So, now the castle is hell house. With crappy sets. And more sex. We're talking Hell House with sexploitation. This really is a modern sexploitation flick. Simulated sex scenes connected by a story. Pity there’s not a single extra on this disc. Might have been fun to have a commentary or making of.

And the Boobage extrasveganza continues.
Terminatrix – (can’t find in IMDB)

Japanese Terminator ripoff with sexploitation roots. Completely predictable but with lots of pretty Asian boobage. Audio was in either English or Japanese with subtitles. I picked original language with subs, as I like the intonation & inflection of the original.

Hideously predictable, but nice to watch.

Thursday, November 2, 2006
Cinderella 2000 – 1977

Directed by Al Adamson, so stand by for pain. This comes with the standard version, and a longer European version. So I initially watched the longer Euro version, and then listened to the commentary on the standard.

Nice. We start off by a couple screwing while their leader rants on TV against “unauthorized fornication”. And the guy’s so dumb; he uses the wrong finger to flip off the leader. [I learn later that this is one of the “extended” Euro only scenes, and that’s probably why he uses the wrong finger]

Oh god! A “cutesy” robot that says the same thing over and over again. Yeah, true pain. I’m gonna kill that stupid robot myself.

OMG!!!! It’s a freakin’ musical?!?!?! Shoot me now!

Commentary by Sam Sherman, short as usual, doesn’t mention the one thing I thought was odd. Al is well known for not likely to shoot nudity. So how did they talk him into doing this movie? Not a peep about that. Rats.

Friday, November 3, 2006
Fire and Ice – 1983

Another Ralph Bakshi pic. Standard sword & sorcery plot with characters created by Frank Frazetta. With subtitles. More rotoscoped goodness, from the man who gave us Fritz the Cat and Wizards. Nothing exceptional, but not bad. I’m just watching it for completeness-sake.

Commentary by Ralph and Lance Lepsi (a documentarian). Part art class, part technical explanation, part history of Frank Frazetta. Very nice.

Other extra including a making of that was thought lost, and restored from a VHS copy, and some interviews.

Saturday, November 4, 2006
Slaughterhouse of the Rising Sun – 2003

Wow! Midget sex in the first three minutes. We're in for an interesting ride here. This homage to the 70’s is supposed to be old (even a fake story about how the director killed the producer and died in jail). It’s a crazy woman killing hippies. OR IS SHE?

No subs, no commentary, but a way too long Making of that carries on the stupid story about it being old & the director killed or dead or some such bullshit. Oh, and deleted scenes.

And it wasn’t until I watched the making of featurette that I got the reference to House of the Rising Sun song. Guess I’m a little dim.

Peeping Tom – 1960

Another hoity-toity film from Criterion. Thirty minutes in, it’s pretty dull. I like the alcoholic Mom; she’s got a good attitude about being a drunk.

Here’s the plot:
As a boy, Mark Lewis was subjected to bizarre experiments by his scientist-father, who wanted to study and record the effects of fear on the nervous system. Now grown up, both of his parents dead, Mark works by day as a focus-puller for a London movie studio. He moonlights by taking girlie pictures above a news agent's shop. But Mark has also taken up a horrifying hobby: He murders women while using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror. One evening, Mark meets and befriends Helen Stephens, a young woman who rents one of the rooms in his house. Does Helen represent some kind of possible redemption for Mark - or is she unknowingly running the risk of becoming one of his victims?Summary written by Eugene Kim {genekim@concentric.net} From IMDB

Once again, I don’t see the greatness. In fact, I think it pretty much stinks. Glad there were subs, as I would have had a hard time understanding what was said at places without it. But overall, this really isn’t all that different from about a thousand exploitation movies. (See the SWV catalog).

Commentary is by some “theorist” that was recorded in 1994. She “interprets” the whole thing, scene by scene, with very little history. Perhaps the worst, most pretension commentary I’ve ever heard. I could only stand 30 minutes before giving up.

Also, a documentary about the writer. Evidently, the British react poorly to exploitation. Critics talk about how awful it was. “Too hard to watch”, “Salacious” they call it. Are they serious? Did we watch the same movie? I find it VERY hard to believe that anyone thought this was so shocking. I thought it was stupid and dull. I’m beginning to loose faith in Criterion.