Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Trevor]

"The Acid King" (2021)
Intriguing but slightly overlong true-crime doc about Ricky Kasso, a Long Island stoner and alleged "devil worshipper" whose brutal murder of a fellow teen in 1984 kicked off a "Satanic Panic" in the New York suburbs. I remember when this case happened, because it was pretty big news at the time, but it was interesting to hear all the gory details all these years later.

I lived right next to that s**t at the time it happened! On Long Island! It was all over the news. LI was f**king weird place in the 80's. Bodies all over the place. Not just Kasso. There was some crazy s**t going on. Lotsa drugs.

I just googled Ricky Kasso: wow 😳😳

[indianasmith]

DRAWN INTO THE NIGHT (2022)

   High school girls are disappearing at an alarming rate, so a young policewoman goes undercover as a senior to find out what's happening.  Of course she and several classmates get abducted, and it turns out the girls are being pitted against each other in death match arenas for the amusement of wealthy patrons.  A quick watch (an hour and change), and a fairly pedestrian thriller.  Could have been better, but not a total waste of time. 3/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Truck Turner" (1974)
Soul music legend Isaac Hayes is Mack "Truck" Turner, L.A.'s most badass bounty hunter, who ends up with a price on his head when he kills a powerful pimp. Soon, every bad mo-fo in the city is gunning for him.
This action packed blaxploitation classic is worth seeing just for the "pimp funeral" scene, which is, hands down, one of the greatest things ever committed to celluloid; and the utterly amazing, over-the-top, cast-against-type performance by Nichelle "Lt. Uhura" Nichols, as a foul-mouthed vengeful Madam. A stone cold hoot and an absolute must see for aficionados of funky '70s kitsch.

Fun fact: Rob Zombie sampled some of Nichelle's dialogue from this movie ("I want you to come out there and shake yo' asses proper, ya hear?") in the song "Dead Girl Superstar," from the album The Sinister Urge.

[RCMerchant]

^ LOVE that film!

[FatFreddysCat]

"My Science Project" (1985)
A fun, mostly-forgotten sci-fi action comedy about a slacker high schooler who finds a cool glowing machine in a junk yard and takes it home, planning to pass it off as his semester-ending science project. Unfortunately, the gizmo turns out to be an alien device from a crashed UFO, which has the power to open portals through time and into other dimensions. Mucho space-time mayhem ensues while our hero and his friends try to figure out how to shut it off.
This movie came and went in the same summer as two better-known, similarly-themed "teen science" flicks (Weird Science and Real Genius). I remember Roger Ebert on At The Movies proposed a sequel that would combine all three, called My Real Genius' Weird Science Project. :lmao:

[M.10rda]

"The Acid King" (2021)
Intriguing but slightly overlong true-crime doc about Ricky Kasso, a Long Island stoner and alleged "devil worshipper" whose brutal murder of a fellow teen in 1984 kicked off a "Satanic Panic" in the New York suburbs. I remember when this case happened, because it was pretty big news at the time, but it was interesting to hear all the gory details all these years later.

I lived right next to that s**t at the time it happened! On Long Island! It was all over the news. LI was f**king weird place in the 80's. Bodies all over the place. Not just Kasso. There was some crazy s**t going on. Lotsa drugs.

RC, did you ever see a documentary called CROPSEY from about 10-15 years ago? It might've focused on Staten Island instead of long island, but it did a great (and creepy) job of capturing the same f***ing weird s**t all over the place in the 80s vibe... police and journalists constantly freaking out about all the strange stuff they're finding in the woods and in abandoned buildings... full blown Satanic Panic. Really good dank doc!

[RCMerchant]

^ I HAVE seen Cropsy! That s**t is creepy. I lived in the Bronx, too-the Son of Sam  lived in Yonkers- which was the burrogh right next to us! But that was 2 years prior as to when I moved there.
I seen the Amityville house!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer" (2019)
Interesting doc about the long and strange history of the ubiquitous supermarket tabloid, whose history dates back to the 1920s when it was a "legit" newspaper called the New York Enquirer. New ownership in the 60s struck gold when they turned it into a celebrity-gossip rag, and it ruled the checkout-stand roost for many years afterward with stories of UFO's and cheating movie stars. By the late 90s they'd even managed to beat some of the "real" news outlets to stories on the death of Elvis, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and many others. I haven't read an Enquirer in many years but it was fun to go down memory lane with this flick.

[lester1/2jr]

The Mad Magician (1954) - It's good, but not great. Vincent Price is a magician who creates awesome concepts for magic shows but isn't the greatest performer or businessman himself, so he's constantly getting ripped off by his manager and another more charismatic magician.

very nice print, decent budget but it's more a detective than horror story despite having the trappings of the latter. I wanted the magician to be MAD, not reasonably peeved about unfair 19th century show business practices.

3.75/ 5

[indianasmith]

DEMON ISLAND (2002) The only thing worse than sitting through a low-budget horror movie about a giant killer pinata is realizing about halfway through that you've actually seen it before!
Group of college kids go to a tropical island for some sort of cheesy competition between fraternities and sororities, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.  They find an ancient pinata in which a host of evil spirits were imprisoned centuries ago, and break it open thinking that there may be liquor inside.  Pinata comes to life and kills most of them.
Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds!

[Rev. Powell]

THE MADS ARE BACK: THE MANSTER: In THE MANSTER, a Japanese scientist provides an American journalist with booze, geishas, and a secret shot of a chemical that mutates him into an (honestly pretty cool) monster. This 1959 public domain JEKYLL & HYDE variation is easy-to-follow and fast-paced, but still ridiculous; it would have been perfect for the original MST3K. Frank and Trace do a capable job and land some big laughs. The post-show Q&A guest is STAR WARS expert Bonnie Burton, who's actually pretty funny and geekily enthusiastic (it's a good watch if you like THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL). If you're interested in the Mads, this is one of the better features (the shorts shows are usually better options). 3/5.

[M.10rda]

Rev, where do you watch the Mads? Through their website...? Or are they on some streaming service?

[Rev. Powell]

Rev, where do you watch the Mads? Through their website...? Or are they on some streaming service?

https://dumb-industries.com/themadsareback

Live streams are on YouTube (usually), replays on Vimeo.

[M.10rda]

Great! Thank you! 

[RCMerchant]

RABID (1977)
 Porn star Marilyn Chambers tries her hand at "straight" acting as a motorcycle accident victim who recieves a skin graft under her armpit that somehow transforms into a bloodsucking orfice! And if you happen to get bit by this creepy thing, it turns you into a rabid maniac! No- don't make a lotta sense, but who cares? It's a David Cronenberg body-horror film! Of course anyone bitten by these unfortunates turn rabid too! Eventually, half of Canada is teeming with drooling psychos, whom the cops shoot and load into garbage trucks.
 Favorite scene- Miss Chambers tries drinking a cow's blood, but her body rejects it and she starts puking blood!
Alright!