Recent Viewings, Part 2

[FatFreddysCat]

"Warrior of the Lost World" (1983)
In the post-apocalyptic future, a lone biker (Robert "The Exterminator" Ginty, rockin' a Chuck Norris beard) joins a resistance movement planning to overthrow the fascist new government, "The Omega" by eliminating its leader (Donald Pleasance).
A terribly slow moving Italian "Mad Max" wanna be with a couple of familiar faces to keep it somewhat interesting. Skip it unless you need to see every spaghetti knock-off flick ever made.

[pacman000]

My Dog Shep

An orphan boy goes on the run with his dog. His uncle wants him back, but not because the uncle cares: the boy has an inheritance, of which the uncle wants control.

Decent B-Movie if you like dog movies.

[M.10rda]

FRAULEINS IN UNIFORM aka SHE-DEVILS OF THE SS (1973):
In some ways a relatively innocuous entry in the Nazisploitation genre in that there's essentially no sexual assault (though certainly plenty of inappropriate interrelating, by 21st century standards) or torture (if you exclude the dull filmmaking and weak acting). The ladies have nice bodies generally but the men are pretty gross-looking, though fortunately they're less naked than the women and often don't even bother removing their pants before the softcore hay-rolling. Producer/director Erwin C. Dietrich (who would later employ Jess Franco to deliver much higher sleaze-levels to his Nazi movies) went to the trouble of recommissioning tons of old German military hardware but didn't save any of his budget to give the very 70s-looking cast any period-appropriate hairstyles, so that lends the proceedings a certain quaintness.

There is one thing about this flick that struck me as particularly unsavory. So, most of the male characters are Germans, German soldiers, Nazi officers, etc. Most of them are also portrayed more or less sympathetically. Okay, hold on - furthermore, most of them make some effort at one point or another to express disapproval of Hitler, shy away from celebrating Hitler, mentioning to one another how they never really wanted "this war", etc etc. Now I don't find that particularly unusual or surprising... we saw the same sort of rationalization and hand-washing in DAS BOOT, for instance. What I did find weird and kind of distasteful about this movie is how, while all the men are distancing themselves from Der Fuhrer, nearly every (hot, hot) female character is constantly goin' around saluting and "Heil Hitler"-ing w/ a big smile, volunteering to strip naked or have sex w/ Majors or leap on grenades for the Third Reich and the glory of Adolf, et al. I don't know what this means or what the intention was, but the effect is that of fantasy melodrama where older German men in the 1970s audience can feel morally superior about WWII while also ogling some seriously devout Gestapo babes.   

1.5/5 Not many thrills for this American.

[Trevor]

"Warrior of the Lost World" (1983)
In the post-apocalyptic future, a lone biker (Robert "The Exterminator" Ginty, rockin' a Chuck Norris beard) joins a resistance movement planning to overthrow the fascist new government, "The Omega" by eliminating its leader (Donald Pleasance).
A terribly slow moving Italian "Mad Max" wanna be with a couple of familiar faces to keep it somewhat interesting. Skip it unless you need to see every spaghetti knock-off flick ever made.

The MST3K version of this is very funny 

[FatFreddysCat]

"Atomic Blonde" (2017)
In the waning days of the Cold War, a lady super spy (Charlize Theron) is sent into East Berlin to track down a defector with important information before the Russians find him first. Charlize kicks a TON of bad-guy ass in this very cool, action packed, stylish '80s period piece that features amazing stunt work and a great soundtrack of '80s Euro-pop including New Order, David Bowie, Peter Schilling, and Nena.

[lester1/2jr]

Ash and Dust (2022) - Wildly uneven movie here. The director is an absolute and total pro at doing grisly gangster scenes where like...a guy has a bag over his head and the guy tasked with shooting him has second thoughts...or a sicko terrorizes a pregnant woman over some stolen money. Grim, backwoods type stuff has never been done better.

Except it has virtually no story! If they took a third of this stuff out and put some plot it in would be 5 stars. It was done so well I watched it in one sitting, but I can't recommend it because it doesn't make enough sense. WTF was the box of coins supposed to be I WANT TO KNOW

3/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Halloween" (2018)
After 40 years, a PTSD-stricken Laurie Strode finally gets her chance at revenge on Michael Myers when he escapes from the asylum and begins a new Halloween night killing spree in Haddonfield.
Blumhouse's 2018 "reboot" erases everything from the series continuity except for the 1978 O.G., and it does a pretty nice job of picking up where Carpenter's film left off, with plenty of creepy October atmosphere and some impressive bits of ultra-violence. Unfortunately, the two follow ups that complete this trilogy, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, were pretty much both total poop. Oh well. At this time of year, you're almost required by law to watch at least one Halloween flick; Lord knows you can certainly do a lot worse than this one.

[pacman000]

War Horse

A boy raises a horse in the early 20th century, & is separated from it when WWI starts. Follows the horse through the war.

Interesting war drama\animal movie from an unusual perspective. Perhaps the individual plot elements have been done before, but that doesn't matter if they're done well, & they are done well here.

[zombie no.one]

PUMPING IRON (1977) (do we have a documentaries thread?)

One of those things I've always wanted to check out, but at the same time have never had any urge to actively seek out... today I found it dirt cheap in the racks of my local charity shop.

Pretty much exactly what I thought it would be like. What else can a documentary about body building be like?

I laughed at the intro where Arnie is meeting his buddies in the gym... "hey big tony!... hey, big jim, how are ya!... oh hi, big paulie!".


however I got some sociopathic / narcisitic vibes off big Arnie at various points in this... despite the persona and charisma I think he might actually be a bit of an unpleasant guy? Or maybe I'm just jealous 

the climax of the main competition was like a dog show. It's like  they're judging dogs. kind of weird and oddly dehumanising.

[Dr. Whom]

Renfield (2023)

The basic idea of exploring the Renfield/Dracula dynamic as an exploitative relationship isn't bad, but for it to work you'd need a more grounded movie, that is centered on the characters. Instead, you get a very cartoonish comedy (with the silliest action scenes this side of Kung Fury) based around a completely by the numbers plot of honest-cop-against-the-mob. Also, the four main characters all do their thing, but there is very little chemistry between them.

Disappointing.

[M.10rda]

SHE-DEMONS (1958):
Three male adventurers and one dame travel to a secret location that's not on any map and discover intrigue and danger - I know, you've never heard of a 50s/60s movie w/ an outlandish plot like that but I swear it's true! Okay, in all seriousness it's not three interchangeable white dudes this time - it's an interchangeable white dude and two distinct South Pacific/Asian dudes, which seemed cool and automatically made me think I should pay a little closer attention to SHE-DEMONS. The one Asian dude is essentially doing Asian minstrelsy but the other one is allowed to act more or less like a real human being (though he is sometimes required to act dumb in order to make the dumb white male lead seem smarter than he is). Rounding out the crew, the distaff member isn't some out-of-place housewife - she's an out-of-place Paris Hilton-type who b***hes non-stop until finally the hero has negged her so much that she has no choice to relent and proclaim her love for him. 

SHE-DEMONS sounds like a bad movie, but actually it's a lot snappier and more action-packed than many similar horror/adventure films from the era. The jungle island setting is home to a tribe of caucasian blondes and brunettes who perform elaborate nightclub dance routines in animal-skin undies and expensive hairstyles from the salon. It's also home to a Nazi laboratory - and these are real Nazis, not the soft-serve version from SHE-DEVILS OF THE SS. The fat chief officer whips a native girl to death, and the island's resident Dr. Mengele enjoys transforming the native ladies into deformed killers who look a lot like Byron Mabe's SHE-FREAK, almost a whole decade early...

SHE-DEMONS was director Richard E. Cunha's (immediate) follow-up to the preposterous GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN - the Bigfoot movie that replaces Bigfoot w/ a fully armored Spanish Conquistador - yet somehow it's better made, faster paced, and much more entertaining. There's a little blood, a brutal (if sometimes goofy) fistfight, and an ambitious climax where airplanes drop bombs on the island and trigger a volcanic eruption! The actor who plays the hero ain't much but the guy who plays the Mengele character, Rudolph Anders, was apparently a real actor w/ a long resume who sinks his teeth deep into his role and relishes each ridiculous proclamation. Anders even gives off Anthony Hopkins vibes at times, and his performance automatically makes Don Calfa in ROTLD make sense. The Paris Hilton chick is played by Irish McCalla, who starred as Sheena of the Jungle on TV in the 50s, and when I say she has incredible bone structure I'm being literal and sincere, not slimy. She is upstaged, however, by the lovely and lively She-Demons themselves, and my foremost criticism of this movie is it could've benefitted from more She-Demon!!!

3/5

[RCMerchant]

^ I LOVE that movie.
Harry Thomas (who also did the make-up for FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) did the makeup for SHE DEMONS and -surprise!- the make up in SHE FREAK!

[Trevor]

PUMPING IRON (1977) (do we have a documentaries thread?)

One of those things I've always wanted to check out, but at the same time have never had any urge to actively seek out... today I found it dirt cheap in the racks of my local charity shop.

Pretty much exactly what I thought it would be like. What else can a documentary about body building be like?

I laughed at the intro where Arnie is meeting his buddies in the gym... "hey big tony!... hey, big jim, how are ya!... oh hi, big paulie!".


however I got some sociopathic / narcisitic vibes off big Arnie at various points in this... despite the persona and charisma I think he might actually be a bit of an unpleasant guy? Or maybe I'm just jealous 

the climax of the main competition was like a dog show. It's like  they're judging dogs. kind of weird and oddly dehumanising.

Some of that was filmed in South Africa 😁

[zombie no.one]

really? wasnt aware of that.

^ I LOVE that movie.
Harry Thomas (who also did the make-up for FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) did the makeup for SHE DEMONS and -surprise!- the make up in SHE FREAK!

I've not seen it but the trailer is memorable for containing the line "two men and a lovely girl"... always cracks me up for some reason 

[M.10rda]

^ I LOVE that movie.
Harry Thomas (who also did the make-up for FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER) did the makeup for SHE DEMONS and -surprise!- the make up in SHE FREAK!

Makes a lot of sense - and Richard Cunha also directed FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER (which I don't think I've seen). (Maybe I will now!)