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1/10
In the subgenre of backyard SOV horror, this might be the worst.
25 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Holy crap, this Russian rank-amateur backyard SOV "movie" makes stuff like Blood Cult, Violent Sh*t or hell even 555 seem like the height of wealthy capitalist productions. The technical ineptitude is amazing and matched only by the alleged acting and vague attempt at storytelling. The tacked-on opening and closing scenes are supposedly a Colonel sending a black ops guy on a mission to kill people. This is shot from one angle in a parked car with the Colonel in the driver's seat and the soldier in the back seat. It's supposed to be setting up the Russian stuff, but the black ops guy has a full head of hair and in the rest of the movie he is a COMPLETELY different guy with a shaved head! I thought "maybe that's his disguise." Nope! At the end they have him reporting back to the Colonel that the job is done.

Then we get the Russian stuff which is in a different aspect ratio, in lousy video quality that fluctuates from terrible to worse with every scene. After showing a guy in a gas mask dumping purple liquid (I hope that was a non-toxic dye) into a lake, the now bald black ops guy visits his brother who he hasn't seen in 20 years setting the stage for a "party" (a few bored people who sit and eat and drink in complete silence) where a zombie "infestation" breaks out around the village. Or rather a couple people drink water (which presumably comes from the lake) and vomit blood. One guy is shown agonizing on the toilet as he passes his heart. Yes, apparently pooping out your own heart not only can happen, but isn't necessarily fatal.

Most of the movie is 20something Russian people arguing and then turning into "zombies", which look like thin papier-mache face coverings that have been painted red and black. Man, it's such a home movie that the music abruptly cuts every time they cut to another scene and the make-up effects are what appear to be red food coloring mixed with yogurt dumped on people's faces. There are also what appear to be footage stolen from other SOV movies as the video and special effects quality are completely different and don't seem to match or even fit in with the rest of the movie.

After 50 minutes of its 70 minute run time the movie ends stating that the tiny zombie outbreak that consisted of a couple of people was caused by the ops dude just so he could have fun killing zombies. And THEN they have a long scene recapping the entire plot with Claudio Fragrasso on the telephone (insert phoned-in joke here)! This is clearly taken from what appears to be a DVD extra as there is a clapboard in the background for the 2005 Fragrasso film Concorso di Colpa and then dubbed over with Russian narration. THEN they have a long montage of clips from other SOV movies that actually put a tiny bit of effort into make-up (and I do mean tiny) and THEN they have the wrap around with the (other) ops dude reporting to the Colonel by a swimming pool that the job was done, at which point the Colonel gives him a poisoned drink and the ops dude falls dead in the pool. Roll credits!

I don't remember how I stumbled across this stunning display of ineptitude, but I know I grabbed it because of having advertised that Claudio Fragrasso, Andreas Scnaas and Harry Bromley-Davenport were in it. Of course the joke is on me as they clearly never signed on to this movie and to be honest I couldn't find Shnaas (credited as a zombie) or Bromely-Davenport (credited as a doctor) in the footage at all, though I suspect they are somewhere in the stolen footage montage section under some cheap make-up.

The interesting thing is that it shows how crap Russian life is. The main house that this is shot in is out in the middle of nowhere in a small village of tiny houses and the inside is smaller than a US apartment with cheap, rickety furniture that looks like it came from K-Mart in the '70s. Even the glasses they use to drink vodka are molded, not blown! Apparently blown glass is not suitable for the honest proletariat. It is hilarious to think that back in the '80s, America as a nation, thought that the Russians could not only invade America, but actually take it over! Man, Red Dawn is a freaking absurdist comedy in 2022.
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The greatest literary mind in modern SF and this is what he gets...
6 April 2003
While I enjoyed listening to the handful of people that are interviewed, this is a seriously shoddy effort. No other documentary filmmaker is going to be in fear of being overshadowed by Mark Steensland. He has no narration, no biographical information, no archival footage (of which I have seen and know of PKD on a couple of talkshows), nothing to cut away to from the talking heads, and when he does show a magazine cover and article header they are flashed so quickly that you don't even have a chance to see it without hitting the freezeframe button and not even a PHOTOGRAPH of the man on the box or in the "film"! There are a couple of sound-bites from a wealth of taped interviews that are played with a poorly animated cartoon PKD lip-synching along. This animated PKD also serves to break up the material into sections with looooong animations of him getting paper, inserting it in a typewriter, typing a bit, pulling the paper out of the typewriter and laying the sheet down with one sentence on it. This repeated three times to complete the preface to the section. After seeing this animated sequence that makes South Park look like the height of technological wizardry, it wears REALLY thin. I had to resort to fast forwarding through the animations to get on with the damn thing. Still, the interviews were semi-cool - except for the real lack of information they provide and the somewhat derogatory way in which they are presented. Steensland claims to be a fan, but obviously has no interest in providing any back ground, history, or any details about Dick's life, except for a handfull of moments that portray him as a drug-addled lunatic. This should have been an incredible tribute and biography of a brilliant man, but it is neither. It's so poorly done that it makes the entire documentary genre look bad and will not make anyone want to read Dick's books if they haven't already.
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Bloodlust (1992)
Don't let French people fool you.
6 March 2001
Some people are born clueless I guess. The movie is AUSTRALIAN - the "fake" English accents are in fact Australian accents! The actors who are speaking in this dialect happen to be real junkies, prostitutes and pimps which certainly adds a bit of authenticity if not an interestingly perverse element to the movie. Also, the music is by The Buzzcocks, a well thought of Industrial/Punk band that sure ain't "80's hard rock" and is totally appropriate to the approach of this revisionist vampire outing. Yeah, sure they can walk around in sunlight, so what? If no filmmaker could diverge from the exact formula in popular mythology things would get pretty boring and predictable and we would be missing out on a lot of classic cinema. Though admittedly the drooling masses like their mindless entertainment to adhere to predictable rules. Actually I'm amazed that there was only one entry here for this movie. It's been banned in the UK due to the copious amounts of sex and gore, but still there are other places where this has been seen, where are the real trash movie fans when ya need 'em?
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L'alcova (1985)
8/10
Surprisingly well-crafted piece of twisted art-house erotica from Joe D' Amato.
17 November 2000
An English soldier (Cliver) returns home from the Zulu war with the daughter of a tribal king (Gemser) as his slave (a gift that he was given for "saving" the kings life). The spoils of war, ya know? While he's been gone, his wife has been having an affair with the female housekeeper (Belle). Not at all pleased with being a slave, the Ebony princess notices the mistress of the house engaging in a quick bit of foreplay with the housekeeper and plots her revenge starting with the seduction of the mistress. Jealousy spreads like wildfire and before you know it, she has turned the household into a lustful frenzy of sex and hatred. I can't give away too much more or it would ruin the story, but there are plenty of little twists along the way. Speaking of twists, this film is actually far more twisted than it sounds. One of the more disturbing moments being a sequence about the filming of an inquisition-themed porno that turns into the sadistic rape of a lesbian / virgin by the filthy and none too bright gardener. Sporting tons of full-frontal nudity, simulated lesbian and straight sex and some hard-core (as seen in an old stag film), this has the sleazy goods to go along with the D.H. Lawrence-ish setting and atmosphere, and is definitely recommended for fans of such.
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8/10
Unusual, but entertaining, blend of the Italian western and giallo
12 November 2000
Gianni Garko stars in a slight variation of his Sartana persona (so slight it's almost non-existent), here named Silver. Or MISTER Silver if you are the unlucky type.

When a the local saloon is robbed, two citizens killed in the process and two of the three gunmen killed by the third partner, the town unanimously decides to pin the rap on the local black sheep (Klaus Kinski in another great performance). The town lawyer will have none of this injustice no matter how much of an SOB the guy is and even the saloon owner who loathes the sight of the man decides to put up money for Silver to find the real killer.

While Silver pieces together clues, the body count piles up and the clock ticks down to the day when the scapegoat will be hanged.

There's plenty more to the plot with murdered prostitutes, illicit diaries, mad judges, crazy townfolk, hooded killers and such, but I can't go spoiling it, now can I?

Unfortunately fans of giallos tend not to be interested in Spaghetti Westerns and the other way around as well. It's too bad, as this may not be any great milestone in either genre it is still very entertaining for what it is and of course you have the always entertaining Garko, Kinski and the ubiquitous Alan Collins to keep things lively on the acting front.

Well worth checking out for the non-purists.
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This is painful...
11 October 2000
Quick cash-ins were common back in the day, but some were actually good. This is not.

Jeff Cameron plays Sartana in an embarrassingly phony blond wig and a white outfit that looks nothing like the Sartana we knew (what were they thinking, that no one would notice?).

The plot concerns a villainous black robed figure, with long grey hair, known as The Mormon who has been organizing the kidnapping of various individuals (by talking to his henchmen from behind a portrait with the eyes cut out) and getting huge ransoms. During his last effort, Sartana interferes and now the Mormon must put together a band of stone cold killers to take him out before the next big job.

Flatly acted and directed with a minimum of production values (not always a bad thing, though), this is probably exactly what non-fans think a Spag is: A boring rip-off with a laughable villain and no budget.

If you've never seen a Sartana movie, please, do not start here! Look for the one's with Gianni (John) Garko and prepare to get hooked!
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10/10
A sadly overlooked masterpiece from the man who brought us the Trinity films.
10 October 2000
Starting with the very first scene, this flawed masterpiece of pastaland gunslingin' grabs your attention and keeps it locked in until the final, intricately choreographed shootout.

When some bank robbers set fire to the local nut-house to create a diversion, four inmates manage to escape and take in on the run. One is an amnesiac who is searching for his identity and in the process the four find themselves on the trail of the bank robbers. The trail leads to a town where Chuck Mool's family is located, but who are they? And why is everyone in town deathly afraid of him?

The plot outline may not sound like much but this top-notch spag is excellently made with great camerawork, a well written script, exciting, intricately choreographed action and hell, even the costumes and sets are done with style.

It's not just plot that makes a classic spag, but character bits, atmosphere and action, and this one's got it in spades. One of the more amusing character moments is when Eastman finds Strode in the local church cheerfully playing the organ and singing hymns while an exhausted preacher, in fear of his life, is madly pumping the instrument.

From blazing infernos and barroom brawls to cat n' mouse gunfights in dark cemeteries this one is a winner from the first frame. Too bad nobody seems to know about it.
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10/10
This is what it's all about.
8 September 2000
Nothing short of great stuff here with an excellent cast and a well written script punctuated by some great little moments of humor. Garko is better than usual as the eagle-eyed, razor toungued and lightning fast Sartana and has a wealth of great character actors to support him, including the vastly underrated Frank Wolff. The direction is exceptionally stylish, with numerous POV shots and expressionist angles that add loads of atmosphere to what, in lesser hands, could have been a rather average outing. Great stuff, that may not convert the heathens, but will definitely please the spag aficionados.
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Robo Vampire (1988)
9/10
100% Real Cheese, 100% Real Entertainment!
30 August 2000
The credits seem to be completely wrong and the plot synopsis lists it as a Japanese movie (with Japanese hopping vampires - !?), but this is the perpetually poverty-striken Thomas Tang's unflinchingly cheesy rip-off of RoboCop... Sorta. Not to leave well enough along Tang decided to have their RoboReject (here called RoboWarrior), looking utterly laughable in a silver lamé get-up that must be seen to be disbelieved, fight a bunch of drug-dealers who are using hopping vampires to protect their drug smuggling.

Subplots and characters are completely forgotten half way through the movie about only to pop-up near the end, the main tough-guy hired to rescue a drug-agent in the hands of the bad guys constantly gets his butt kicked and has to be saved every time and some sequences just make no sense whatsoever. Apparently the entire budget went to guns, explosives and pyrotechnics (which ain't exactly a bad thing). Oh, and the white chick who plays a ghost who shows her boobs when not being doubled by an Asian in a similar (but not remotely identical) outfit for the fight scenes.

I could ramble on about this gem, but words cannot do this film justice! It must be seen to be disbelieved!

A treasured part of my bad cinema collection and if you are a cheese lovin' trash cinema fan (not some dork who is into it because it's the cool thing these days but would rather see a Schwartzenegger flick when all is said and done), this is essential viewing with a short-case of suds and some quick-witted friends.
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Death Hunt (1981)
9/10
Clever, well made adventure film with a great cast.
3 January 2000
Nicely crafted adventure yarn set in 1931. Anymore info and it would spoil the fun. Lee Marvin plays his role as a run-down lawman in a run-down Yukon trapping town with a tongue in cheek charm that he was known for in his later efforts. Add to this Charles Bronson doing his stoic loner and a great list of character actors (including William Sanderson) coupled with a tightly woven script, beautiful cinematography and some rousing action and you've got a neat little classic. Supposedly based on a true story, but whether it holds to the facts or not, who cares? Is it accurate? Maybe, maybe not. Is it a good movie? You bet! And in the end that is all that matters.
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8/10
Aside from the US box art this is not a zombie movie, but it is quite good.
14 April 1999
It's a shame some video companies mis-market films in a deliberate attempt to get consumers to rent or buy movies based on false assumptions. Zeder is one such film that sadly falls into this category here in the US. Ravenous zombies claw their way out of man-hole covers and sewer gratings on to city streets in search of human flesh... or at least that's what the box depicts. Unfortunately for some, Zeder was never intended by anyone, other than the US video distributors, to be a zombie movie! What Zeder is, is an inventive horror-thriller that has quite a few unique ideas that, while fumbled at the very end, are engaging and fresh. More of a horror-mystery than anything else, a writer follows a trail of strange events that lead him to a secret society of occultists who are experimenting with some ancient, highly secret ways of returning the dead to life. This is a much simplified version of the plot and I don't want to give too much away. There are some great creepy moments and lots of plot twists. Granted the film ain't Zombie, just like it ain't Gusseppe Verdi. You shouldn't expect it to be either one. Take it as it is and enjoy it or try and force it to conform to what you want it to be and be disappointed.
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A slasher flick directed by everyone's favorite psycho that transcends bad.
28 October 1998
David Hess (yep, the same brillo haired psycho you know and love) made his directorial debut with this downright bizarre slasher flick that transcends bad. Ol' Hess must have been blazing on coke and pot when he made this flick, because while it follows the formula of the ol' stalk n' slash (featuring the first Santa Clause killer, too) the college co-eds do and say some seriously surreal stuff: in a scene in which a couple of co-eds are about to get it on, the foreplay includes her dancing around the bed in a leotard with a tray of hors d'oeuvres! The plot is a rather blatant knock off of Friday the 13th with a Sorority house being stalked by a killer who is avenging the death of a loved one, killed years back in an initiation hazing (this scene is particularly amusing as the girls chase after the initiate screaming "sorority!" over and over until she is frightened by a girl wearing a Santa Clause mask and wielding a butcher knife causing her to plunge off a balcony to her death ten feet below). Some good gore FX courtesy of a young Mark Shostrum, but the real attraction is the surreal heights of badness that only a drug-addled first timer could create. Also of note: Hess' mother actually has a small role in the film and in the credits her character is listed as a "Mr. Ronsoni". If you love bad cinema this is a must see, if not, avoid it like the plague.
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A well-made crime thriller with plenty of plot twists.
18 October 1998
Excellent delitto thriller starring Franco Nero as a middle-aged, brown-eyed cripple who works as an accountant for a bank. Little do his employers realize it's a disguise that he has perfected so that he can rob them blind and in the process flashing his natural blue eyes to throw them off the track. Unfortunately for him his plan isn't quite perfect and suddenly several people start to catch on. Very well executed plot twists with Nero turning in a top-notch performance.
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