Bathtub Shark Attack (2023) Movie Review

 

If anyone remembers, about a year ago I reviewed an indie horror movie called Spirit Animal. Brought to us by Nekroshark Films, writer/director Madeline Deering has done it again with today’s review offering, Bathtub Shark Attack.

Yes, you read that correctly.

By the time I get to the end of the review, I’m sure I’ll have figured out exactly how I feel about this flick. But for now, let’s get into some details.

The basic premise of this one is about a down-on-their-luck couple who moves into a really cheap apartment, something that seems to good to be true. And you’d be right. Because the caveat here is a creature lurking in the pipes that demands flesh and blood!

 

Pretty straight forward, right? I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot since it just came out last year. And since it’s an indie film, it might take a little longer to get distributed beyond its native Pennsylvania and Ohio where I was able to get a copy (thanks for grabbing one, Jeff, while I worked the table with David at Cinema Wasteland.)

If I remember correctly, Spirit Animal opened with the rando bartender breaking the fourth wall to tell us about the movie. Guess what? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it because he’s back. He explains the tape; he explains the premise; and, again, he tells us about the game you have to play when watching with friends. Since the movie was shot in “Splash-o-Vision” every time a shark picture pops up on screen, shoot your fellow movie watchers with the squirt gun you got with the movie.

I watched a bit of the Indie-Go-Go promo in the Special Features section of the DVD and Madeline explains that they wanted to make the GORIEST shark film ever. I wasn’t so sure about that until we get to the final scene. But I’m not about to relive that moment so you’ll have to get the DVD and witness it yourself.

Lush just released their new Halloween bath bomb!

I have to say, there are GALLONS of blood sloshing around in this movie. There are probably a minimum of a dozen kills that involve some body part being bitten off, crushed in (with a toilet plunger no less), run through either by glass shards or projectiles. This doesn’t count the half a dozen characters who were electrocuted! And while, perhaps, the f/x weren’t super polished, I always appreciate practical rubber and corn syrup over trash CGI any day.

And Madeline certainly delivered! The blood, not the shit CGI.

The story itself is pretty standard as far as horror tropes go. Evil cult, immortal monster, virgin sacrifice, etc. And I appreciate that Madeline knows how to build a story, piece by piece, so we’re guessing what’s going to happen next (or trying to puzzle it out along the way). I’m not saying there weren’t parts I’d figured out right off the bat, but despite some general lagging in the middle, I liked the set-up, development, and climax of the story.

The one problem I had was trying to figure out when this movie is supposed to be taking place. There were a lot of nineties references (Melrose Place, the Nintendo gaming system the stoners used) but Chad references his record store job and how everyone wants cassettes now, not vinyl. Which would be the eighties. Also the woman in the beginning had a rotary phone which basically went out of fashion in the seventies and eighties…

SEE, THESE KIND OF INCONSISTENCIES DERAIL MY ENJOYMENT!

Anyway…

The character development felt a little lax but if they wanted to make this the goriest shark film ever, you’re gonna need a lot of cannon fodder and the audience can’t care about cannon fodder, amirite? While the acting was not good, I did find myself rooting for Chad and Bill the Plumber. In fact, there’s a scene between them where, after the power goes out in the building, Bill is dumbfounded by the fuse box and when Chad unintentionally sneaks up on him, they both do this pretend kung-fu dance that actually made me pause the DVD because I was laughing pretty hard.

How many times do I have to tell you NO GARLIC before lovey dovey time?

In fact, I think I did all my laughing at the scenes with Chad and Bill – not always together, though. Each character had his amusing moments. Probably the best with Bill was the epic fight scene with the cult near the end, and Chad jerking off with his right hand while he worked a Shake Weight in his left.

I do have to mention, though, for an indie horror, there was a particular LACK of titty shots. And I’m not complaining! It’s a rather tired trope so to only have a couple was rather refreshing. Hey, I get why they’re popular and why people demand them. But it was nice to see a writer/director do things a little differently for a change.

But if you want gratuitous nudity, there is an extreme close up of some lady bits at the end (again, I’m not going to describe it any more than that for reasons that will become clear if you watch the movie) and some shark dick. So…

I will spoil one thing for you. The number of times you’re supposed to squirt your friends with a water pistol (that I caught anyway): seventeen. I say turn that into a different party game and make it like going to a Japanese hibachi grill. Fill those guns with sake and the person you aim at has to drink!

So while this is not one of the better indie films I’ve seen, I have to say Madeline stepped up her game and delivered a solid horror comedy. Maybe not worth multiple watches but I’m not mad at the time I spent watching it.

3 hatchets (out of 5)

 

 

 

 

Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast 
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

IT’S JUST A GAME (2018) Movie Review

I know nothing about this movie. I know nothing about the writer/director, the cast, the production company, etc. But I saw it at the Flashback convention on a table at the HSPPA booth (Horror & SciFi Prop Preservation Association) offering it to anyone passing by for free. Naturally, being a cheap ass, I picked it up. And after seeing the name of one of the actors on the cover, someone who shares my maiden name, I felt obligated to take it and give it a shot.

I doubt they are any relation to me but what the hell. Seems like the universe wanted me to watch it. So here we go with 2018’s It’s Just a Game.

(As this is relatively new, I will do my best not to spoil any plot points)

 

The flick opens with a quartet of teenage girls having a slumber party. Get your minds out of the gutter, pervs. Not THAT kind of slumber party. They gossip, they play one of those silly ghost games (like Bloody Mary) that, naturally, doesn’t work. It’s just a set up to scare someone. After talking about a bunch of urban legends, they convince the mousy quiet girl, Brianna, to summon Mother Murder – the soul of a long dead witch who was banished to the land of lost souls.

Again, this is just a scare set up by the main mean girl, Claire. She’s the only one laughing so Brianna and Ruby decide to bounce, Ruby inviting Brianna to stay at her house for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, they run into Claire the next day who is STILL a total bitch, making fun of Brianna for her parents committing suicide.

I mean….jeebus ass crackers, Claire.

Brianna runs home and actually tries to summon Mother Murder again, because if you get it right, Mother will grant you any wish. And Bri wants Claire dead.

Typical teenage girl drama.

What Brianna doesn’t realize is that the spell DID work. Mother Murder comes to Brianna in her sleep and gets her to make that wish. Once that happens, all hell breaks loose (literally) as the members of a cult who worship Mother Murder, and want to bring her back into a physical form, come out of the woodwork and make the young teen’s wish come true.

Exactly how many people will die who stand in the way of Mother Murder and her desire to come back and wreak vengeance upon all those who have wronged her?

 

For an indie horror movie, I have to say this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. That’s probably unfair of me most of the time but you have to admit, A SHIT TON of independent films suck major donkey dick. Can’t blame a girl for being gun shy.

The majority of the acting is lackluster but the actress playing Brianna (Hannah Cohen-Lawler) completely surprised me. Like a pro, she carried every scene she was in. Leah Hudspeth as Amelia was a close second, followed by Sarah Kopkin as Ruby. All three of them played sympathetic characters, though Leah’s Amelia had that extra psychotic flavor to her. Everyone else was just okay…you could see the actor, not the character they played.

I’ve never seen any other works by the writer/director, Daniel Emery Taylor. While the more supernatural urban legend story bits were the most interesting, the rest of the film was filled with  pretty standard horror tropes. But again, for an indie film, I gotta hand it to Daniel for getting some good stuff to the final product.

That said, however…

One of the biggest issues I had was with the audio. Most of the time it was perfectly balanced. But at the most crucial points, let’s say when a few characters are explaining the backstories or important plot points, the music was crushing the actors’ vocals. To this day I have no idea who Skull Girl is, why she can’t or won’t talk, how this damn cult got started, half of Ruby’s sister’s dialogue at the record store, why Thaddeus will back up Skull Girl no matter what, and more.

If the music were any good, which it really isn’t – kinda like eighties punk pop wanna be pretending to be Birthday Massacre -  I’d still be mad because I want to know what’s going on in the film. The background music (ambient, setting the mood, etc.) should be IN THE BACKGROUND.

The other problem I had was with the long winded philosophising of Mother Murder when she shows herself to Brianna. I can only assume she was explaining her back story and what she’ll do when she manifests into physical form. But don’t fucking ask me because, along with music, the vocal echo effects put on the actress’s voice made it nearly impossible to understand her. If it was a short sentence or two, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But this bitch went on and on and on and on and completely lost me about one quarter of the way into her speech.

All of that, and the completely left turn ending (as in introducing new names and characters without any explanation, that I could hear anyway), left me disappointed. While I do hope that Hannah Cohen-Lawler, Leah Hudspeth, and Sarah Kopkin continue to act, I hope they find more worthy vehicles of their talents.

 

1.75 hatchets (out of 5) 

Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!

Follow Cinema Head Cheese:
Website: cinemaheadcheese.com
Facebook: /cinemaheadcheese
Twitter: @CinHeadCheese
Email: cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com
Instagram: abnormalpodcast 
Pinterest: /abnormalpodcast/cinema-head-cheese/
RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CinemaHeadCheese
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cinema-head-cheese-movie-reviews-news-a-podcast-and-more/id393261942?mt=2
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=18843&refid=stpr

You can support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment on our Support Us page.

FanCam: Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (2010)

This is a little different. A fan 're-imagining' of sorts. These are prevalent online, but I think that this the first shot per shot that actually had a decent release. Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated from Wild Eye Releasing takes us, finally, on a unique journey through a story that most film fans, horror and secular, are familiar with. The story itself is a remake of the original Night of the Living Dead, complete with same characters, plot devices and pacing and even uses the original audio and soundtrack. What NOTLD:R gives us, though, is over 150 artists working in various mediums in order to tell the story. It is a unique mish-mash of animated styles and interpretations that only works because of the story’s familiarity, but serves better as a cohesive inter-modal art show with a thematic backbone. The original NOTLD is a classic and has been seen, and re-seen, by millions. In its wake, though, the zombie apocalypse story has become contrived and, evidenced by even Romero’s most recent work, a unique take on the sub-genre is not forthcoming. So, what Michael Schneider and his NeoFlux Productions has done is remade the original zombie apocalypse in multiple formats. Each contribution to the film will not be the particular ‘cup of tea’ to every viewer. That’s fine and, in creating NOTLD:R in such a manner, Schneider has made the zombie apocalypse relevant again.

Buy Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated on DVD!

Movie Review: Raiders! (2015)

One of the biggest movies of the 1980s was Radiers of the Lost Ark. The entire Indiana Jones series (barring the shots taken at The Crystal Skull) has been an action/sci-fi mainstay for my generation. For one group of kids, it became an obsession that lasted seven summers. Friends Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala led a group that reshot the entire movie scene for scene and practically frame for frame.

It's actually a pretty amazing feat for a bunch of kids with a VHS camera.What's even more amazing is the fact that they were able to hold everything together for so long in spite of all of their difficulties. One thing they were never able to complete was the scene where Indy is getting pummeled by a shirtless goon who ends up being chopped to bits by an airplane propeller. Finally, in their adulthood, they got the opportunity. For one last weekend, the boys would get together to complete their homage.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Turbo Kid (2015)

Kevin, Dalyn, Sam and Mandy discuss the Canada/New Zealand joint throwback to 1980s cult cinema.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

You can always email us at cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com or tweet us @CinHeadCheese.

Support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment by clicking the links on our Sponsors page!

TV Review: The Path: Season 1 (Hulu, 2016)

Aaron Paul made a huge impact on fans when he costarred in Breaking Bad. In case you didn't know, his character was supposed to be killed off after three episodes. He ended up being so entertaining that he completed the full run of the show. This time around, he's the executive producer and star of another serious drama for Hulu. The Path focuses on a religious movement called Meyerism. Sure, it might look like a cult that lives in a compound while recruiting those who are down and out, but that's only because it is.

Paul plays Eddie Lane, a married father and Meyerism member. He is married to Sarah, a high ranking member of The Movement. She works with Cal, the de facto leader of the group while founder Dr. Steven Meyer is away completing the last three rungs of the movement's "ladder," a series of levels you reach through your journey to the light.

Movie Review: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

by Hal Astell

Director: Joseph Green

Stars: Herb Evers, Virginia Leith and Leslie Daniels

Buy The Brain That Wouldn't Die on Blu-ray from Scream Factory

'Let me die!' a woman's voice repeatedly pleads before the title credits begin, in fact before we see anything. It's a disembodied voice out of nowhere that suggests a female version of Johnny Got His Gun, or at least that begins where that book and film ends. It's all very promising but sadly it's all downhill from there, which possibly explains why this was completed in 1959 under the title The Black Door but wasn't released until 1962 under its current more lurid title. It isn't without merit, as it does contain a number of memorable cult moments, not least one of the most abiding images of all sixties genre cinema, but it still can't live up to the title. It comes from the common mad scientist subgenre of horror/science fiction movies of the time but unlike their progenitor Frankenstein which remains as timeless as ever, this has already been superceded as the unholy transplantation of limbs and organs that it rages against is routinely beneficial today.



It's fascinating to watch these movies and see public opinion, as distilled through scriptwriters trying to please the largest audience possible, change over the decades. This film is only half a century old, but it already seems quaint and dated to those of us who have benefited from or know people who have benefited from the very transplant techniques that are derided by the characters as immoral, unethical and insane. Much of the problem is that the overtly schlocky characteristics of a mad scientist are so much easier to write than his more sophisticated drives, especially if you ignore the idea that science is constantly moving forward; and naturally scriptwriters of schlocky low budget genre movies from the fifties and sixties really couldn't give a transplanted rat's ass for anything sophisticated. They could happily start at 'Burn the witch!' and work backwards from there to generate a salacious heap of scientific gobbledygook.

Movie Review: Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things

Review By: James DePaolo

1971 was a weird time in film, you had so many studios just putting out films at a rapid rate that if you blinked you missed at least four new films. For better or worst this film sort of hid under the cracks until just recently when they re-released it. This film centers around two criminals who decide to hang low in a small town in Florida. Which if you know Florida, there are a million places to hang low in. Paul and Stanley, (Maybe that is where we got the name for the Kiss vocalist) hatch this idiotic plan for Paul to pretend to be Stanley’s Aunt Martha. The whole while it seems that a local woman takes a liking to Stanley and invites him to go out with her and the friends. Paul on the other hand seems to be the brains and in his disillusionment decides that the only way they can maintain their cover is by murdering people that the paranoia would have them believe are catching on to them.

This film covers sexual confusion, dysfunction and sleaze fairly well in its oddness. Paul as we learn is a homosexual and Stanley is a teenage lover of his that really comes across as a generation clash of sorts. You have the restless youth who does what all teens do, and the older man who is possessive to the point of over controlling. We watch as one starts to blossom on the world outside of them and the other becomes desperate. This film has some scenes that are set up for shock value and at times works decently.

Movie Review: Flesh and Bullets

Review By: James DePaolo

On March 1989 the film industry lost the man who could be singled out for my blindness, Carlos Tobalina. To me, he was one of the king of the adult film world with his love of romancing the camera and getting those shots that other directors seem to stray from. When I heard he did a film that was not a porn my first reaction was that it was a porn in hiding, but needless to say this film is nowhere near porn which still should be said, it is a good enough film to recommend nonetheless.

The humor for me comes from the fact that the original print of the film he changed his name to hide the fact of who he was. In a somewhat odd retelling of sorts from Alfred Hitchcock’s Stranger on a Train, we meet two unhappy married men both of whom have shady pasts meet in Vegas and hatch a scheme to murder one another’s ex-wives. Well as you can guess there will be a catch to this plan and each of them fall in love with the other’s ex.

Cinematic Hell: The Pink Angels (1971)

Director: Larry G Brown
Stars: John Alderman, Tom Basham, Henry Olek, Bruce Kimball, Maurice Warfield and Robert Biheller

When I started my Cinematic Hell project, the aim was to watch (or rewatch) some of the worst movies of all time and try to build a primer into who, what and why. Much of my planning was on including a suitably wide range of titles, genres and key names to take care of the 'who' and the 'what', but over time the 'why' of it all took over. I became fascinated about why films like these were made, why anyone ever thought they might have been a good idea. Perhaps inevitably at that point, the scope morphed a little from bad movies to inexplicable ones. After all, there's a huge crossover between the two, and most of the films I'd covered fit both categories because the more inexplicable a picture is, the more likely it is to be really bad too. Yet The Pink Angels is something of an exception. While it's certainly no great cinematic achievement, it's capable in so many ways that it escapes the usual levels of badness. Yet it remains wildly inexplicable.

Secondhand Smut #2: March & April 2014

Welcome back to this bi-monthly (and arguably bi-sexual) column about my second-hand smut findings (both films and literature). I review treasures (or trash, depending on how you look at it) and I provide you with high resolution scans of their covers. The reviews are kept short in order to have as many as possible each time.

I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

D.O.A. (1950)

A man [Edmond O'Brien from 1984 (1956)] is walking at a police station, during the fabulous credit sequence. He finds the captain and says that he has been murdered. The rest of the movie is a series of flashbacks that will let us know how did this happen. The protagonist was poisoned while he was partying, but even though we know he’s about to die (the doctors say he could live up to two weeks at the most) the film [directed by Rudolph Maté, cinematographer of La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)] is still very interesting, because everybody in it seems to know more than he or she would like to admit (it is sort of an interesting whodunit). The story is very clever and I demand a remake.

This PAL DVD was released here through a newspaper and I bought it at a secondhand store for 1 euro, so I wasn’t expecting much, but still the copy’s quality was shit. Is it me or every low budget black & white flick from this era lacks proper restoration?

Movie Review: Jug Face (2013, Moderncine/MVD Visual)

...it often proves interesting when a genre writer or filmmaker takes an observation of unconvention...that is, 'unconventional' to that of an established and status-quo accepted 'norm', but perhaps, for all intent and purpose, completely 'normal' to the subject of said observation's origin, as well as those who subscribe to it...and weaves a literary mythos of originality and intrigue, with said subject as the protagonistic centerpiece. Few and far between situations, exactly like this, tend to somewhat dispel the sometimes resigned suggestion that the best of creative and imaginative ideas, with regards to the genres of horror and dark fantasy, are all used up...that 'the well' has run dry, in that respect. And yet, every once in a while, that very thing indeed occurs, and when it does, we of the devoted fright film aficionados, have every reason to gleefully revel and rejoice. Such is the case, when director Chad Crawford Kindle, in pondering upon his next project...his first feature film...happened to venture in and around one particular Northern Georgian pottery exhibit, came upon a most interesting (..and creepy, to say the least) discovery, and had an epiphany...a vision...an idea for a most chilling film, wrought with mystery, intrigue and unmitigated horror, beyond imagination and belief...

Movie Review: The Doll Squad

Reviewed by:

Hal Astell











Tura Satana got to be ahead of the curve a couple of times in her career. Our Man Flint dealt with man-made global warming in 1966. Here, Ted V Mikels starts The Doll Squad with the Challenger shuttle explosion in 1973. Well, it's really the launch of a rocket called Star-Flight XII but it does seem rather prophetic, especially as it lifts off from Cape Kennedy. The difference here is that the disintegration is deliberate, as a mysterious voice tells Senator Stockwell, head of the Defense Committee, right after launch but before the explosion. Fortunately, he has an IBM System 360 just down the corridor, with punch-cards and colored buttons and the ability to decide from next to no information which department should attack a particular problem. This time, the teleprinter suggests the Doll Squad as the most capable to investigate, under the leadership of SO-1 Sabrina Kincaid. This is Our Man Flint all over again, but with chicks kicking ass.

As you can imagine, the Doll Squad is a squad of dolls. In case, you don't grasp the concept from the name or the action that unfolds in lurid negative colors behind the credits, the tagline should do the trick. 'They're beautiful!' it reads. 'They're dangerous! They're deadly!' Really, that in itself is enough to warrant a viewing of The Doll Squad, but it proves to be pretty capable too. Sure, it's obviously not shot with a huge budget, the quarter of a million dollars Mikels claims to have spent on it certainly not all going on the production itself. It looks a lot better than The Corpse Grinders, made a year earlier, and it goes back to what Mikels did best, showcasing strong women. There's a lot more consistency than in The Astro-Zombies: all the characters, whether male or female, seem capable and decisive, the light feels appropriate and the changes of scenery are believable. The soundtrack is dated but appropriate. It all feels like an Andy Sidaris film without boobs.

Paul Schrader's "CAT PEOPLE" Collector's Edition Blu-ray and Daniel Haller's DIE MONSTER DIE Blu-ray - coming this Jan 21, 2014

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

A Film by Paul Schrader

CAT PEOPLE

Starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O’Toole

COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY™

&

DIE MONSTER DIE BLU-RAY

Starring Boris Karloff, Nick Adams and Suzan Farmer

Directed by Daniel Haller

Leaps Onto Home Entertainment Shelves Everywhere on January 21, 2014

Pre-Order These SCREAM FACTORY Home Entertainment Collections Today!

It’s time to unleash our primal animal nature and succumb to the unbridled cravings for generous dose of suspense, unspeakable desires and good old-fashioned horror storytelling! On January 21, 2014, SCREAM FACTORY™ is proud to present the provocative 1982 thriller CAT PEOPLE Collector’s Edition Blu-ray™. Directed by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), this memorable cult hit is a remake of 1942 Jacque Tourneur horror noir classic. The all-star cast includes Nastassja Kinski (Tess, Savior), Malcolm McDowell ( A Clockwork Orange), John Heard (Prison Break, The Sopranos), Annette O’Toole (48 hrs), and features music by Giorgio Morotor (Top Gun, Flash Dance) with “Cat People” theme sung by legendary artist David Bowie. 

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: John Dies at the End (2012)

by John Beutler

There have been a good number of 'fan-fav' cult genre film directors, who regrettably have seemed to have lost a good measure of their 'mojo' over the years, and have turned out some pretty lackluster, albeit mildly entertaining productions in their later years, as compared to their peaked and reveled heyday (...regrettably, George A. Romero and Dario Argento, for instance...just to name a couple). On the opposite side of this eclectic coin, there have been similarly embraced cult film directors, who have genuinely stood the test of time, endured through the years, and like a fine wine, have actually gotten 'better' (...read: comparatively and delightfully more weirder, more bizarre and more twisted, then they have, in their initial onset). Producer/director Frank Henenlotter would definitely be one of the prime examples, in this case (...those who have merely seen his "Basket Case". "Brain Damage" or "Frankenhooker" have seen nothing, until having partaken of his latest, from a couple years ago...an over-the-top, nasty little ditty, called "Bad Biology"...Definitely look THAT one up!!). However, ol' Frank's varied and eclectic filmography will have to be a tale told at a later time. 

Movie Review: Dead End Drive-In (1986)

Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith

Review by Greg Goodsell

In the far-flung future Australia of 1995, things have taken a turn for the worse. A series of global catastrophes has rendered the world effectively bankrupt, and law and order is strictly on a limited basis. Taking his girlfriend Carmen (Natalie McCurry) to the Star Drive-In for a quick one, unemployed lay-about “Crabs” (Ned Manning) has his lovemaking rudely interrupted when armed policemen steal two wheels from his ’56 Chevy. The next morning, the true purpose of the Star Drive-In is revealed to him; it is a concentration camp for undesirables, chiefly the young and jobless. In exchange, the inmates are allowed all the junk food they can eat and a steady stream of no-budget action pictures screened nightly. Making friends with their fellow inmates, Crabs and his girlfriend discover that everyone there has more or less accepted their fate. Things get sketchier still when the drive-in is given a sudden influx of Asian inmates. In response, the white Australians band together -- NOT to confront their captors, but to discriminate and harass the minorities. Confronting the kindly, if insidious drive-in manager (Peter Whitford), Crabs vows to escape from the dismal drive-in – or die trying.  

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith one-upped the likes of Quentin Tarrantino with this ironic, self-reflexive film, which has yet to be equaled – low-budget action car crash movies are part of a greater social malaise, this message being tucked neatly into a low-budget action car crash movie! Dead End Drive-In looks great, with artfully composed shots of a dirty, dystopian backdrop comprised of spray-painted junked cars and wild colored lighting. The drive-in’s denizens are a smash-up of the then current punk rock hairstyles and fashions, coupled with Mad Max-inspired remnant attire. 

Movie Review: The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis

When the word “lost” is used referring to the films of a very popular cult filmmaker come to mind people tend to listen. Some movies are just fine staying lost, but when those films are from the great Herschel Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs, and The Gore Gore Girls), good or bad, you just need to see what they’re about.  HG Lewis shot three sex films between 1969 and 1971 that fell completely off the radar – The Ecstasies of Women, Linda and Abilene and Black Love all under the pseudonyms of Mark Hansen and R.L Smith.  Thanks to some major digging in film vaults the movie archaeologists over at Vinegar Syndrome have unearthed all three films and remastered them for their debut release. The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis Blu-ray / DVD Combo is Vinegar Syndrome's launch title  Debuts are make or break for any new company but with H.G Lewis’ name attached to these creations it could be something enjoyable for fans of Lewis.

The first film on the Blu-ray (all chronological) is the 1969 sex comedy The Ecstasies of Women. Nearly half of “Ecstasies” takes place in a titty bar with numerous topless gals bouncing their massive areola in the background. A group of gentlemen sit at a table chatting with the various strippers. Their pal Harry (Walter Camp) is enjoying a bachelor party the boys are throwing for him. Stories are told by Walter that usually lead to him nailing a beautiful woman.

Movie Review: The Wild Geese (Blu-ray / DVD Combo)

More than 30 years before action superstar Sylvester Stallone corralled a bevy of top talent for his smash hit The Expendables, veteran director Andrew V. McLaglen (Chisum, The Sea Wolves) made his own film starring some of Britain's finest actors with his feature The Wild Geese. Severin Films has taken the action classic, remastered it and stacked it with extra features for their own American release that should please fans of balls-out mercenary mayhem.

Richard Burton leads the cast as Colonel Allen Faulkner, the leader of a group of "mature" mercenaries in the unforgiving surroundings of South Africa to track down a kidnapped president played by Wintson Ntshona (Dogs of War, Ghandi). After agreeing with millionaire Sir Edward Matherson (Stewart Granger, The Prisoner of Zenda), to gather a group of his hand-picked men (Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Kruger), Faulkner quickly moves forward to prepare his men for the risky mission.

The "Return Of Nuke 'Em High" Poster Unveiled!!

December 5, 2012, New York, NY - Greetings from Tromaville! Troma Entertainment is proud to unveil the official theatrical poster for the latest Troma Team production Return to Nuke 'Em High, directed by Lloyd Kaufman. The poster was created by Justin Osbourn of Slasher Design.