Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Crazyhead (Netflix, 2016)

Two young women become demon hunters to prevent a complete takeover of Earth.

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Movie Review: Riff Raff (1991) and Raining Stones (1993) (Twilight Time)

Honestly, fellas, I don’t know how well I can review these two movies. For one, they aren’t typically what I enjoy watching. Sure, a human interest/drama/comedy film can be interesting or at least, entertaining (like Philomena or Lizzie Borden Took an Axe). But for another reason, I couldn’t understand 98% of what these fookers were going on about in the films. The heavy cockney British accents DO NOT make for easy listening. So I gleaned what I could from every 100th word I caught and the accompanying acting. Here goes nothing.

Riff Raff and Raining Stones are two films from Ken Loach. Apparently, he’s well known for creating movies about the poor/working class and their struggles with every day life, particularly during political change.

Riff  Raff focuses on Stevie (a very young Robert Carlysle whose Scottish brogue is near impossible to translate), a drifter who finds work at a construction site. He squats in a nearby empty apartment, with the help of a few of his coworkers. The construction site has appalling safety conditions: read none at all. Anyone who brings that up is immediately sacked. 

Stevie meets Susan, a lacking in talent singer but they hit it off. After moving in with him, he learns she’s a druggie. Maybe something you could have learned if you knew each other AT ALL before moving in together. After that relationship falls apart, one of Stevie’s coworkers dies on site. The obvious reaction to that is for Stevie and his buddy to burn the location down.

Movie Review: Zulu (Blu-ray, Twilight Time)

Reviewed by: Mike Heenan

Years ago, at the height of my 35mm collecting I got an unused dye transfer Technicolor trailer for Zulu.  Never having seen it before but knowing Michael Caine was in the film, I was excited to see it projected and when I finally did, I was hooked.  The colors simply just popped off the screen.  The film content itself looked very interesting as I’m a big fan of older epic films, but I never managed to see it until receiving Twilight Time’s amazing Blu-Ray release.

The film is a true life account of a regiment of British troops led by Stanley Baker and Michael Caine who are stationed in Africa at a missionary depot.  They are warned by traveling missionaries that a large group of Zulu warriors, having achieved mighty success earlier on against another regiment, are headed their way.  The regiment fortifies the mission and Stanley Baker pleads with no luck to traveling Boer horsemen to stay and fight with them.  In the vast distance appears 4,000 Zulu warriors, ready to battle against the 150-something troops.  The warriors initially attack with rifles.  The British are surprised at this and guess the warriors must have claimed the weapons from the earlier defeated regiment. The battle rages on in droves and the British manage to maintain their hold on the depot.

Movie Review: "Cockneys vs. Zombies" (2012, Bishop Rock Films Limited/Scream Factory)

...the cross-melding of movie genres and situations, if one really considers it, it very much like dating; in the onset, there might be an alluring amount of initial novelty to the pairing, but unless there's good chemistry between the seemingly ideal, albeit possibly unconventional match...well, the melding might be hard-pressed to adhere and work. However, when that good and amiable chemistry does take place, it often amusingly turns the associated genres and situations on their ear, and becomes a matter of the sum of the parts being very much greater than the singular parts themselves. Nothing could be closer to the truth, when it comes to playing the genre-matching 'what if' game with zombie movies. Zombie comedies...zombie romances...zombie westerns...zombie babies...zombie surfers...zombie chickens...vegan zombies...zombies vs. vampires...zombies vs. strippers...zombies at Christmas...zombies vs. Lincoln...and so on. One might ask, what hasn't been explored?? Once again, as this viewer has pointed before, it remains enlightening that each and every time one has coined the 'zombie' genre tired, worn out, shot in the head, dead and buried, someone manages to breath new, undead life into the cinematic living dead. And with the outrageously irreverent and zany 2012 zombie comedy, "Cockneys vs. Zombies", this time it's the working class 'everyman', as well as the surprisingly able-bodied geriatric, who take on the living dead...with an approach and attitude, which might just seem inspirationally familiar, in a surprisingly refreshing way, to those closely privy and devoted to the genre...

Movie Review: Tower Block (2012, Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

Shout Factory has brought us a nice little treat from across the pond. That flick is “Tower Block”, the flick is a lean, mean and vicious machine. Directed with a break neck pace by first time filmmakers James Nunn & Ronnie Thompson. This little flick was written by James Moran who's a veteran of British television. He's written episodes for everything from Doctor Who, Torchwood & Primeval. Unlike those series that were heavy on the syfy, this film is set firmly in reality. If anything the film is more akin to Moran's first writing credit, the criminally underrated horror/comedy “Severance”. Tower Block isn't a horror film at all but the film features a tight script and breathless suspense. Moran even injects a bit of humor here and there to lighten things up a bit. The flick falls in line with other siege movies, Assault on Precinct 13 being one of the biggest influences.

Even the brief opening text echoes Precinct 13 while informing you of the history of tower blocks. “The Tower Block was first built for affordable living after the world war. Communities welcomed them as their excellent views made them popular places to live. They deteriorated and became a breeding ground for crime and violence. Re-developers took over, knocking them down. However, it's not easy moving out existing tenants. Serenity House awaits demolition. The top floor residents are the final people left to be rehoused.”. The films tone is set right from the start as a young man runs for his life, being chased by two hooded thugs. He runs into the Serenity Tower Block and bangs on doors, only to be ignored by the tenants. As they listen behind locked doors to the sounds of the teen being beat to death. This scene sadly has to much resemblance to reality where people often turn a blind eye to the events unfolding around them.

Movie Review: Lifeforce (Blu-ray,1985)

For those of you who thought Cannon Films were just action film specialist back in the 80's, look no further then the sci-fi/horror oddity that is Lifeforce. Directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Funhouse, Poltergeist) and penned by the late Dan O' Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead),  this cluster of space-vampire wackiness has just made it to Blu-ray and DVD via the folks at Scream Factory in a special edition that could "breathe" some new life into this underrated space fright flick.

When a group of astronauts attempt to explore "Halley's Comet", they instead find something way more interesting - naked people encased in glass floating. Sounds like fun, but the expedition unfortunately ends poorly for the crew and our seemingly harmless nudists become a threat to earth as they are pent on sucking the life out of humans and taking earth for themselves. The stunning Mathilda May plays the lead space vampire who seduces literally any man in her path after she escapes a laboratory.

Movie Review: The Experiment (2012)

Apparently being British does NOT automatically add an air of sophistication to any project. Their low budget horror is just as shitty as ours (mostly) is.

The Experiment is about a shady organization that is conducting some kind of experiment on the unsuspecting public. Through vague newspaper ads, this company lures in folks desperate for money. The only way they get paid is to take a drug that's designed to heighten female sexuality. Okay so maybe the ads are specific in their demographic but not much else. The company is only interested in finding the 'right' candidate.

Cue our main character (whose name I've forgotten because, honestly, I don't give a shit) who has just lost her job as an exotic dancer. For some reason her husband goes to her work to watch her dance and then gets jealous when men pay any attention to her. Huh? After a huge fight, of his accusations and she accusing him of not turning away the attentions of another dancer, she's fired. And a new divorcee.

Movie Review: The Sweeney (2012, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

“The Sweeney” is Nick Love's re-imagining of the classic 1975 British TV series. Love had a tough task on his hands, the original Sweeney TV show was immensely popular back in the day and has built up a huge cult following. Fans of the series scoffed when they first heard that Nick Love was developing it for a film adaptation. Were they justified? Did Nick Love do the show justice and still be able to put his own spin on it? The answer to those questions is a mixed bag.

Now I got to say before I discuss the film I was a huge fan of the original TV series. My Dad is a big fan of British television and he was the one who first exposed me to classic shows like The Avengers, Fawlty Towers, vintage Doctor Who, The Prisoner and The Sweeney. The original Sweeney TV series was probably the most gritty cop show around till “The Shield” showed up. Each episode had that gritty urban decay vibe that the original “Get Carter” had. The film wasn't afraid to show violence, language and have coppers doing things that aren’t necessarily legal but things that needed to be done. The show also relied heavily on the chemistry of it's leads who brought a blue collar worker quality to their roles which made them easy to relate to.

Movie Review: [Rec] 3: Genesis (Blu-ray, Momentum Pictures)

Reviewed by James DePaolo

(Rec)3 takes the illness out of the apartment complex of the first two and moves it to a wedding reception. The first twenty minutes or so of this film takes us via handheld video cameras on the big day of Koldo and Clara, we get to watch the pre wedding, the wedding and most of the reception. Where part 2 was just to the point and felt people understood the situation and premise, this film decided to build the story of the lovers and make us feel invested when things do start to go down. Unlike, the other two Rec films this one is more of a steady cam, instead of the usual shaky. While the reception is going on and everyone is having fun it seems to take a turn for the worst when an uncle who was bitten outside is possessed, and falls from the ceiling and starts to bite people. When all the chaos break out, which you know will, the bride and groom get separated and forced to go into different directions. Whereas the other two Rec films have been more about searching and trying to quarantine the virus and people infected, this one is more about survival and love.

Movie Review: Little Deaths (2011)

I love a good anthology. I just watched and enjoyed Image Entertainment's recent Chillerama and well folks, we have yet another called Little Deaths. This film is a completely different animal than the playful, humorous Chillerama. Little Deaths, pure and simple, is a take-no-prisoners taboo-busting horror movie. Some of the best horror anthologies come from Britain, which is exactly where our feature here was produced, written and directed. Genre stand-out, Simon Rumley (Red, White and Blue) is joined by Sean Hogan and Andrew Parkinson to create this sinister trilogy.

Buy Little Deaths on DVD or Watch It Instantly