Saturday, April 9, 2011

Update and some quick reviews...

Well, the last month or so has been incredibly busy and I haven't got to watch nearly as many movies as I would have liked to.  Luckily, last week slowed down a lot and I got to catch up, so you can read about that in a bit.  But first...
Cinema Wasteland was last weekend.  As usual, it was a great time.  They had a Cannibal Holocaust cast reunion, which was a big deal to many.  Stupid Robert Kerman was a cancel though.  William Forsythe was supposed to be there but he got casted in Boardwalk Empire, so he wasn't either.  That guy is a blast and I hope he shows up at future shows. 
I did pick up a lot of new movies.  You will be able to read about some of them in this update and in future updates. 
Nothing beats spending a weekend with like-minded individuals.  I am already looking forward to the next show, this coming fall. 

As I mentioned, I did pick up a lot of new titles at Cinema Wasteland.  There will be full reviews for select titles but for now...

Deadly Eyes- aka The Rats- this is a Canadian made movie about giant rats.  You see, a health inspector discovers that a corn shipment has been laced with steroids.  She demands that it be destroyed.  It does get destroyed, but not before rats eat it and grow to giant proportions!  The movie is off to a quick start with a baby being eaten by rats and other random peoeple being attacked.  About halfway through, the pace slows way down and the plot develops.  Just as things start to get boring, there are two fantastic set pieces that comprise the end, where the rats attack a movie theater packed with people and a subway station.  This was highly enjoyable and I recommend that you check it out. 

Blood Diner- a blend of dark humor and gore about two weirdo brothers who revive their dead uncle and open a diner where they kill people and collect parts of their victims and serve the left over peices to their customers.  This is one of the more well known, and remembered, late 80's gore comedies.  The plotline is completely ridiculous and the acting is terrible, but the movie has a lot of memorable gore and general wackiness that has helped it build a large following over the years.  I watched this numerous times on VHS long ago, but it didn't hold up to my memories of it.  It wasn't great, but is still worth a look if you haven't seen it. 

The Mutilator- another 80's slasher movie about a disgrunutled man who kills off a group of kids on their Fall Break.  There are some fantastic splatter setpieces here.  Someone is killed with an outboard motor, with blood spraying all over the place.  Someone else is killed with a pitchfork and pinned to a door.  And in a scene that makes women cringe, a woman is killed with a fishing gaffe up her... well, you know!  Haha!  The acting is pretty weak, but I think the actors did an OK job with what they had to work with.  There is minimal suspense too.  By the time this one came out, a lot of the suspense and mystery of the slasher genre had been completely replaced by out of control gore, which was good and bad (depends who you ask, I guess).  Eventually, we find out who the killer is and the final minutes are a full force assault of blood and gore, as the killer and the survivors battle it out.  The Mutilator was often remembered for it's VHS artwork and it's gore, and those are the two things that I would say to check it out for. 

The Creature From Black Lake- this is a great, mostly forgotten Bigfoot based movie from 1976.  Two students convince their anthropology professor to take them to the south to search for a Bigfoot.  The professor makes a point in saying how there is no record of a Bigfoot attacking a human being.  Well, that little speech of his is intercut with a scene of a Bigfoot attacking two trappers on a boat.  Haha!  Eventually the boys head south and meet up with people who have seen the Bigfoot.  This is a great movie.  It is rated PG, so don't come in expecting Night Of The Demon levels of Bigfoot gore.  There are some suspenseful moments of the Bigfoot watching people as they wander closer to him.  The acting is also solid, with all of the characters being believeable.  Even the actors who play the hillbillies are good, which is rare, because hillbillies are always over acted to the point of them being cartoonish.  Likeable characters and some solid suspense make this a definite recommend. 

More soon...

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