Movie Review: Race War: The Remake (2013)

From the start, I could tell that Race War: The Remake was going to be a low budget mess. I know this, because I have been a part of many low budget messes in my time. At the same time, I knew it could be fun, because based on the opening credits, I knew there was no way the people involved in this movie took themselves seriously. How did I know this? After an epic narrative that scrolled across the screen to set up the story, lead actor Howard Calvert, who plays a drug dealer named Baking Soda, dances in a forest preserve behind the opening credits.

The forest preserve is a familiar scene in the micro-budget horror world. So is a warehouse / storage facility that doubles as the storefront of something else. Add poor lighting and on and off room tone, and this a a late '90s or early 2000s c-movie masterpiece. I know you think I'm dumping on Race War, but I'm not. Movies at this level are what they are. They're usually silly, and they usually look a little crappy in spots. That's fine when you know what you're going into. There is one very important element that every movie at this level needs in order to be enjoyable. Fun. It has to show that the cast and crew had fun. After watching Race War, I can tell you that there's no way anybody involved didn't have a great time, and it shows.

Movie Review: "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff" (1978, Vinegar Syndrome)

...this ardent and open-minded viewer, in engaging a review of the film you are about to be privy to, haplessly found himself at the indelible horns of a frustratingly interesting dilemma; having recently partaken of the controversial and rarely seen 1978 exploitation drama, "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff" (...also known as "The Sin" and "The Shaming", in alternate theatrical re-release and broadcast cable venues), this viewer had afterwards placed the crust of director Marvin J. Chomsky's powerhouse of a film, and it's viscerally daring subject matter, on a mental display stand...indeterminately and indecisively circling the whole of the film...poking and prodding...the arduous challenge being, trying how best to approach it from an objectively critical standpoint. In the course of better understanding...historically, as well as literary, considering the source material, which this film is based (...in this case, the best selling novel of the same name, by author William Inge, who previously penned "Come Back, Little Sheba", "Bus Stop" and "Picnic")...this viewer especially could not help but feel thrice parallel divided and segmented, in the sense of desiring to be a fly on the wall on multiple levels, with regards to both the time & place of the film's events, the time & place when this movie itself was released, and finally, the ensuing aftermath thoughts of having viewed the film, in the midst of today's social climate. Amusingly enough, much like the film's evasive advertising campaign, this viewer has thus far avoided delving into exactly how provocatively powerful, traumatically explicit, emotionally distressing, and overall compellingly thought-provoking this film is. And at some point, dammit, one has to stop trying to say it, or stop trying to say around it, and just come out and say it, right?? So, enough of this pussy-footing, big-toe-testing-the-waters lolly-gagging; let's jump head first into these provocative waters, shall we...??

Movie Review: Undocumented (2011)

IFC Midnight has shown some wonderful consistency in releasing quality, provocative and even topical horror films over the past few years. For instance, we've sang praises for their release of Simon Rumley's Red, White and Blue numerous times on the site. A little bit of originality goes a long way, even for us genre junkies. Chris Peckover's Undocumented is on that same level, and boy does it pack punch that makes it easily the most fearless little film I've had the pleasure of seeing in a while.

Buy Undocumented on DVD