Movie Review: The Manson Family (2003 via 1997)

Nothing like delving into the nightmare world of Charlie Manson and his followers. Most of the US, and probably the world, know of the atrocities these people committed. And sometimes it can be interesting to get a peek behind the curtain inside a madman’s mind.

But this is not one of those times.

The Manson Family was shot like a documentary. A local television producer is tired of Charles Manson getting all the hype. Why is no one talking to the Family to get their side of the story? He puts together several interviews with the ‘where are they now’ members. In between those scenes, we are privy to flashbacks to 1969 and the events therein with Charles and his followers. And while all of this is going down, we get to watch a group of young people as they prepare themselves for…something by doing drugs naked, performing S&M, and worshipping Manson in someone’s mom’s basement because angst.

Movie Review: Ace Jackson is a Dead Man (2015; Full Circle Filmworks)

......in gangster flicks...for good or for bad, whether one like him or not...there's seems to be an undeniable appeal, in watching the little guy climb, or at least attempt to climb to the top. You don't necessarily root for the lil' bastard, because let's face it: crawling out of the gutter, onto the savage crime-laden  streets, and fighting tooth & nail for even the most minute crumb of respect, admiration and power...not to mention, the greed-driven acquisition of wealth...well, one of such reckless and unswerving determination of such things, might well be at his most dangerous...most despicable...most deadly. And yet, there's no denying that certain measure of appeal there, in the sense that...despite all the bumbling and mishaps...well, the little guy, damned if he doesn't try harder...not necessarily smarter. mind you, but yes, definitely harder...

...OK, so shady folk of this ilk isn't exactly a likable lot, in that respect, to say the least. You know 'em...the 'Junebugs', 'Rentons', 'Beaumonts', 'Pookies' and 'Mikey T's out there, just to name a few. However, one cannot help but appreciatively rally witness to the upstart's blindly unswerving tenacity...his determined attempt to rise above, break the waters, and hold his own...greed and power, being the base-instinctive driving forces...his resigning realization that he has to kowtow to some deeply instilled assholes, in an effort to prove his worth. And charisma, a ton of fly-by-the-seat-of-one's-pants luck, and...yeah, let's say it...balls, the size of cantaloupes...well, that's part of the charm, as well...

Movie Review: Surreal Sicko/Metalheads (2012, Bill Zebub Productions)

...stepping outside the box for a moment, so to speak, this viewer cannot help but express appreciation for the occasional 'curve ball', thrown my way, with regards to the eclectic variety of films, which are laid out before me, to review; proving an exercise in literary prowess, time and time again, it has taken a respectable amount of objectivity and open-mindedness, in critiquing such films...with a good measure of dedication towards...for good, or for bad, no matter what the subject matter is, or how it is presented...conceiving of what the filmmaker possibly wanted to do or say, with regards to the film, or films in question. With that deftly said, let's move on to yet another one of those 'curve balls', shall we?? And from the looks of things, this one ain't gonna be pretty...

...considering the minimal premise associated with "Surreal Sicko", this ready-steady viewer feels inclined to unconventionally portion, or ration out the threadbare storyline, get right to the heart...or rather, 'meat' of the matter, and pick up the pieces, with regards to premise, as things progress. Of course, taking into account, the exploitatively striking and lurid title of these proceedings, the harrowing synopsis of these affairs (...i.e.,  'a landlord takes advantage of a tenant who is haunted by visions and suffers from mental illness and goes on a rape spree and makes him his scapegoat'), the DVD cover photo shots...even the initially numbing effect of the film, itself, post-viewing...this viewer admittedly had initially resigned this material, in much the same light as the similarly lurid, subversive and disturbing fetish-flavored fare, once offered by now-defunct underground video distributor Astaroth Entertainment, who amidst their smattering of genre fare, which this viewer more readily favored, in his collection (...'The Necro Files", the 'Faces of Gore' shockumentary series, etc.), they also handled the release of sexually sleazy and disturbing (...and that's putting it mildly) micro-budgeted flickage, depicting (...emphasizing the word 'depicting', mind you) scenes of no-holds-barred, extreme rape, forced asphyxiation, inhalants, mutilation, and anything else with similar shock value...

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: Scumbag Hustler (2014; Full Circle Filmworks)

...from a filmmaker's point of view, one might imagine that going into films that spotlight drug addiction (...or any type of addiction, for that matter), and stirring in a measure of comedy, in the midst of the film character's catering to, or dealing with the addiction, is a fairly tricky tightrope to transgress. The balance has to be amiable; indeed, one doesn't want to patronize the viewers, in exploiting the addiction facet, to the point where one is basically saying, in a 'politically incorrect' way (...damn, I hate that term), 'hey, lookie here...join the party; this is the in thing to do!' And yet, with too much comedy inter-spliced...in a slapstick sort of way, ironically enough, the same thing seems to happen. Fortunately, for the most part, the lead dudes behind the camera, as well as the hungry, scribbling writers, have for the most part, genuinely managed to assume that proper balance (...off hand, this viewer cannot recall any film, immediately to mind, that otherwise doesn't do this), making that tightrope seem as easy to trod upon, as if the rope itself is three feet wide, and flat. The window of range is so wide, in fact...well, for the indiscriminate, everyman 'tourists', there's the almost countless cinematic antics of Cheech & Chong, or Jay & Silent Bob. But, for the more eclectic tastes, the devoted naysayers reach for cult oddities, like Terry Gilliam's eccentric road pic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Gregg Araki's wacky and cartoonish "Smiley Face", David Cronenberg's macabre-flavored dark-humored & surreal "Naked Lunch", or even the recent toke of deliciousness from director Adam Mason...the wildly, albeit darkly comical "Junkie". And to that respectable lot...can we conceivably add tag-team director Sean Weathers' and Aswad Issa's newest production, "Scumbag Hustler"...a quirky and episodic, inner-city staged look at crazed desperation...and appetite never sated...and yes, addiction wildly out of control...to the point where our hapless protagonist, herein, is quite willing to...well, let's take a peek, shall we??...

Movie Review: The Upper Footage (2014)

Review By: Rob Sibley


 So what are the the two things I hate most in this world? Found footage movies and rich yuppie kids who are given way to much money and power way to young. It's all over mainstream media these days. You see pop singers or talent-less boy bands making it big not for the talent but because they have money and enjoy punching limo drivers in the back of the head while they are not busy doing 8-balls or H or pick any drug.

"The Upper Footage" I will say right now... will make it onto my top films of 2014. Why? Because it feels like Bret Easton Ellis grabbed a camera and filmed a night out of him partying (when he was younger). The film oozes the vibe of early Ellis. If Less Then Zero was a found footage film... you'd have something like "The Upper Footage".

Movie Review: Junkie (2013, Indiecan Entertainment)

...ah, yes...the ol' time-worn, though still timeless 'odd couple' plot device. The 'what if' driven coupling...sometimes amiable, sometimes reluctant...of two abrasive and acidic personalities, set invariably against each other. Polar opposites...the oil and vinegar types...the ying, against the yang...Baby Jane and Blanche...Oscar and Felix...Riggs and Murtaugh...Elliot and Beverly...Tyler Durden and...well, the other guy (...Sheesh!! All these years, and it wasn't until now that it hit me, that 'the other guy' was not even named)...haphazardly walking that fine line between compatibility and incompatibility. Will they find that happy medium, in order to co-exist...at the very least, work together...or will they drag each other down, down, down, into a dark and inescapable abyss?? Come on, people...be perfectly honest, now; sure, it's fun and interesting to watch two totally different types, finding it within themselves to amiably play their differences harmoniously in tandem, in order to get the job done, no matter what 'the job' is. However, isn't it so much more outrageously fascinating to watch two polar opposites, tug and pull at each other, gratingly...combiningly driving each other down exponentially faster than what each separately might voluntarily plummet. Like watching two freight trains, barrelling incessively and inevitably towards each other at high speed, on opposite sides of the same track...the resulting and unavoidable crash, a sad and tragic, albeit irresistibly compelling inevitability. After all, misery does love company...and of course, demands an audience...

Movie Review: Jail Bait (2014, DVD)

Review By: Rob Sibley

 This is what I'm talking about, this film easily makes it onto my best of list for 2013. I know you are going to see the "Asylum" name and just assume, "Okay, they ripped off Orange Is the New Black". Not the case here, Jailbait is based on a graphic novel and has nothing to do with "Orange". Which was a highly overrated TV show for an audience who wasn't familiar with women in prison flicks.

Jared Cohn directed this, an Asylum regular director of 12/12/12/, Hold Your Breath and Atlantic Rim to name a few. The film stars an up and coming actress Sara Malakul Lane, who is building up an impressive resume of performances. She got her start in the underrated Seagal film shot in Thailand "Belly of the Beast". She also was the star of 12/12/12 in which she gave a solid performance despite all the craziness that so-rounded her.

Movie Review: An American Hippie in Israel (Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack)

With just a handful of companies putting out Laserdiscs in the mid 90's, Grindhouse Releasing (headed by Bob Murawski and the late Sage Stallone) stepped to the plate to deliver some kick-ass titles, namely one of my favorite cannibal flicks in Cannibal Ferox.  From what I had known then up until recently was that Stallone and Murawski had just been working on films around that time. I was wrong. In the late 80's Murawski started his work on bringing one of the most bizarre, jaw-droppingly ridiculous films ever made to cult film audiences. Thought to be lost forever, 25 years later Amos Sefer's An American Hippie in Israel has made its debut on Blu-ray and DVD in a loaded three disc combo-pack and, well... it is a sight to behold.

After seeing the hilarious trailer for An American Hippie in Israel on previous Grindhouse Releasing discs, I must say that my anticipation for whatever the hell this thing was, was  at an epic high. The story is simple with our main character, Mike (Asher Tzarfati) has taken his free-loving ways thousands of miles from America, to a country he hoped to travel from end to end, Israel. When he arrives he hitchhikes with an attractive non-hippie named Elizabeth (Lily Avidan). Before Mike can put the moves on her the duo are stopped by a couple of creepy looking mimes. These guys have cock-blocked Mike before so he gives them an earful. Naturally, they don't respond...but that doesn't mean they won't continue to fuck with Mike while he's on his trip.

Movie Review: Pusher (2012, Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

Spanish filmmaker Luis Prieto had a tall order to fill with Pusher. Which is a British remake of the 1996 Danish Nicolas Winding Refn film of the same name. I was highly skeptical about this picture, considering the the original Pusher is a highly regarded film and personally one of my favorite Refn films. Starting out with the biggest differences between the two is the original Pusher took place in the deep dark belly of the Danish underworld. While the remake is much more glitzy and glamorous, taking place in many high end techno blasting night clubs. It ditches the grit for a more stylized approach which actually works for the film. The music is another huge part of the films success, composed by British dance band “Orbital”. The techno tracks add a nice kinetic feeling to the film and Prieto keeps the film moving at a nice frantic pace.

Pusher tells the story of Frank (Richard Coyle) he's a small time coke dealer living in London. He's living the good life with his stripper girlfriend Flo (Agyness Deyn) and his sexually hopeless buddy Tony (Bronson Webb). One day out of the clear blue Frank is contacted by an old cellmate Marlon (Neil Maskell, Kill List). Marlon is looking for a good amount of coke, around forty five thousand worth. Frank meets up with a contact of his, Milo (Zlatko Burić) a ruthless Serbian gangster. The deal is simple, Milo will loan the 48K worth of gear to Frank. Frank will make the deal with Milo and bring the money back. Paying Milo back and taking care of his debt of 3 grand that he already owes Milo.

Movie Review: Dropping Evil (DVD, 2012)

Review By: Rob Sibley

Dropping Evil is a mind fuck of a movie, it's soul goal is to fuck with you. It accomplishes all of this in spades. I love it when an Independent film shoots for the stars. What the filmmakers did with D.E. Was take a high concept idea and make it on a low budget. But due to some creative cinematography, editing and post production tinkering they were able to pull it off.

The plot concerns... well it's an easy film to spoil. So the basic premise is four friends go on a road trip, one friend is a Jesus freak. They want to loosen that one friend up a bit some they put some LSD in his drink... think is are crazy Christian loses his shit are starts bumping off his buddies. Oh and did I mention there is a “Cabin in the woods” style corporation watching these folks via a camera that's been implanted in the eye of one of the friends?

Movie/Music Review: Fix: The Ministry Movie (2011, Gigantic Pictures)

Directed by Doug Freel

Starring Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker and Trent Reznor

Rising from obscurity in the 90‘s, a band with a unique sound emerged to inspire an entirely new genre in the rock/metal scene. The genre is known as Industrial and the band was called Ministry. Their music was a mirror reflection of their lifestyle, chaotic and intense.

What this documentary captures are the lifestyle, musings, fears and hopelessly flawed coping mechanisms of Al Jourgensen, the lead singer for Ministry. Trapped within the confines of rock super-stardom, record contracts and life on the road, his only escape is his drug use.

Movie Review: Trippin' (2010)

Occasionally when I have that rare chance to get out I love to hit local film festivals. The only problem is, is that they rarely come to Phoenix. Horror film festivals even more so are few and far between. A couple years back we had a genre festival in which I went to a showing of Devi Snively's Trippin'.  I unfortunately only got a chance to see about 20 minutes of it. What I saw was fun, so it was very cool to see that Alternative Cinema had picked it up for distribution. Was it good beyond the 20 minutes? Let's see.

A group of young campers set out to enjoy some sex, drugs and well...more drugs. The kids seem to be purposely cliché: virginal girl, slut and of course a stoner named Zed (Zed Wilson). Everything seems to be going fine until the group crosses paths with a creepy fellow lugging around a rolled carpet with some red substance dripping from it. Could it be a body? Well, a couple of the kids think so.