Week of Friday March 28 through Thursday April 3, 2008

Friday, March 28, 2008
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - 2007

Wow, how can a movie with such good cast (Christopher Eccleston, the first new Doctor Who, and Ian McShane , Al Swearington from Deadwood). And BOY, is there a lot of grief on the Internet about the director and this movie. Evidently, this is a very good series of books, that somehow I've never heard of. In fact, the buzz is that it's better than Harry Potter. I can't imagine that this is the case, but that's what they say.

So they have a good reason to be upset, because this movie is not very good. It's not bad bad, not a turd blockbuster, but it's not very good. It's kind of a kids movie, but at least it's not "cute". It just fails to build any kind of real tension or interest. Basically, it's duller than it ought to be. This is probably the editor's fault as much as the director. But it didn't hold my interest very well, and my kids never made it through it. They'd rather watch Sponge Bob reruns for the 500th time than finish this movie. That says it all, I think.

Saturday, March 29, 2008
Hunting Creatures - 2004

German language only, with subtitles. It looks like it was shot on 16mm or 8mm, the video quality is TERRIBLE! But that means it fits in well with the terrible editing and terrible music. There's plenty of blood and gore, though. Which is, of course, why I rented it. Alas, that's all you're gonna get outa this, because it's pretty unintelligible. It was better than the last couple of Brain Damage films, though.

Sunday, March 30, 2008
Shaolin vs Ninja - 1983 Taiwan

The movie is pretty good, but I can't focus on it because they keep stealing music. First, there's a slow'd down version of Jean-Michel Jarre's Magnetic Fields (which most people wouldn't recognize, but it was one of my favorite albums on the submarine, of so many years ago). Then they steal most of the fanfare's from Wrath of Khan. It's so obvious, but evidently that's okay in Taiwan. One wonders why they didn't change the music on this DVD. Where's the RIAA on this. It's blatant piracy, and the company releasing this DVD didn't pay the composers.

Shaolin vs Tai Chi - (can't find in IMDB)

Harcoded subtitles too small and fast to read, so never really knew what was going on. Which is too bad, cause it's hard to see how the title would work out. Print is really bad shape, and there's a jumps indicating missing footage or REALLY bad editing. Anywho, the title is more interesting than the movie.

Monday, March 31, 2008
SWV's Brand of Shame - 1968 aka Nude Django

Produced by David Freidman, this must have been done very shortly after he and Herschell parted. And this is sexploitation at it's best. The fake sex scenes are *SO* gratuitous, and the girls so natural. Lots of nice boobage is always easy on the eyes, and the silly plots are easy on the mind. I love this stuff.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Star Slammer - 1986

Ahhh, the greatness of Fred Olen Ray. And look who else signed on to do this cheapie coattail rider of Star Wars, Ross Hagen, Aldo Ray, Johnny Legend, John Carradine . Cheesy and fun! Not enough boobage, and no extras whatsoever.

The Committee - 1968

Music by Pink Floyd, but this is SO old, they are referred to as The Pink Floyd. This movie is SUCH a product of the 60's. Philosophical and surreal. Truly bizarre. If you didn't live thru the 60's, you are not going to believe what was considered "hip" = cool back then. Other music includes a perfectly 60's song "by the crazy world of arthur brown". Guess I need to get that album and check it out.

Other extras include interviews/making of, which is actually quite interesting, talking about the whys more than the hows.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The Day Earth Caught Fire - 1961

Wow, this was surprisingly good for a b/w movie from the UK. Dark and depressing. And it's got Leo McKern, who played a Number Two in The Prisoner.

Commentary with writer/director Val Guest and journalist Ted Newsom. Here we learn that this was shot for 200K pounds. Some tech, some historical, VERY nice. I'm glad I bought this one instead of renting.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
Tooth & Nail - 2007

Okay, this isn't really a spoiler, but I gotta rant on this. This may win as the dumbest plot device in a month. "We ran out of gas". Are you kidding me? How can you "suddenly" run out of gas? And why would THAT kill everyone?

Not original
Not entertaining

And the only other extra is this super-stupid, long, competition for Miss Horrorfest 2007, that is SO contrived I shut it off after 10 minutes. This was the illegitimate lovechild of the movie and American Idol. God-awful. I'd rather pound on my thumbs with a hammer.

Three on a Meathook - 1972

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the first entry by the late, lamented William Girdler. Unfortunately, this is just a VHS dub, obviously. I already had a VHS rip that I did from my own copy of the VHS. Color was bad, audio too soft, muddy. I really like this movie, but I was really hoping for a new transfer.