Crimson Screens #8... Out Now!!!

Hello!  The newest issue of Crimson Screens is out now!  Issue #8 has reviews, opinions, more reviews and thoughts on collecting.  There is also a story about an old video store that I used to frequent.  Email me your address for a free issue: crimsonscreens@gmail.com

New issue of Crimson Screens.... Out Now!!!

Issue #7 of Crimson Screens is out now.  It's a bit longer than the usual newsletter format and it is still free. So if you would like a copy, get me your address and you will receive one.
It is the action issue, with a lot of reviews and talk about 80's action icons like Reb Brown, Michael Dudikoff and Steve James.
crimsonscreens@gmail.com

Chain Of Command...

They don't make action stars like Michael Dudikoff anymore.  The man starred in many 80's and 90's action movies, many involving ninjas or the martial arts.  Yes, most of them were low budget but it is almost a non point.  Many of them were just as good, if not better, than the big screen offerings of the day.

Chain Of Command is about an "advisor" for an oil conglomerate.  The oil refinery that he works on is taken over by terrorists and almost everyone is killed.  He investigates a little bit and end up joining forces with bad guys who are against the terrorists.  Except the terrorists are really terrorists and the bad guys aren't even bad guys.  It's not as confusing as it sounds, I promise!

The movie offers a lot of shoot outs and minimal martial arts action.  There is a wild shoot out in a desert command center, which IMO, was the highlight of the movie.  There is some brief nipple but it's a body double and the scene it is involved in is pretty creepy.

Michael Dudikoff swears a lot in this one too.  I don't recall him ever swearing this much is any of his other movies.  When Michael Dudikoff says, "Get the fuck out of my way!", you get the fuck out of his way!

The one glaring error I noticed about this movie was the casting decision for the main bad guy.  He overacts throughout.  Sometimes he is calm and a suave killer and other times he is a sweaty, leering weirdo, which is normally a great thing, but it doesn't work here.  The showdown at the end between the two leads is well done, especially the part with the axe, but his overacting takes away form the movie as a whole.  You know, he reminds me of a poorly done version of Hans Gruber from Die Hard.

Despite the low budget and the hammy acting from the lead bad guy, the movie is still worth a watch or two and is one of the last solid efforts from the amazing Cannon.  Check it out!

New Year's Evil...

There is this TV show and they are showing a New Year's Eve marathon and they have a countdown for each time zone that changes to the new year.  Apparently, this show is huge.  What we see of this show is musical numbers and monologues and they all pretty much suck.  Then a killer shows up and starts offing people for each time change.  Then he calls the show and plays the recorded murders over the phone.  The concept is cool, but the execution is weak. 
The main failure of the movie, imo, is that they show the killer's face way too soon.  That took away all of the mystery and excitement out of finding out who he is.  The killer isn't that scary either.  Maybe a little bit weird, obviously, but far from scary.  It's also a let down that there isn't anything cool about the killer.  Maybe they tried to go for the "this can be anyone, even the guy next to you!" route, but it doesn't work.  At the end of The Burning, you see Cropsy, and you are like, "Damn!!!"  You see the killer in this and you are like, "oh".  Also, none of the kills are very inventive either. 
I can think of a lot worse movies than this one but there are also a lot better ones.  A late entry slasher letdown from Cannon.