Movie Review: The Baby (1973, Blu-ray)

Directed by Ted Post


Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Social worker Ann Gentry (Anjanette Comer, The Loved One) is assigned to a most unusual case: The Wadsworth family is composed of ruthless Mother Hen Mrs. Wadsworth (Ruth Roman, Strangers on a Train) and her two voluptuous daughters, Germaine (Marianna Hill, Messiah of Evil) and Alba (Suzanne Zenor) and their son … Baby (David Manzy). Baby just goes by the name of Baby, appears to be at least 21 and acts in the manner of a two-year-old. The Wadsworth family showers lots of love on Baby, and the occasional touch of discipline: cue cattle prod. Proudly displaying Baby in toddler clothes and oversized playpen in their front yard, Mrs. Gentry suspects that something is “not right” with the arrangement. After a lengthy tug-of-war Between Mrs. Gentry and the Wadsworths over the well-being of Baby, things quickly degenerate into a bloodbath … and it’s revealed that there’s a very special reason as to why Mrs. Gentry wants Baby all to herself! 

This scintillating slice of Seventies sickness, seen frequently on daytime TV with a few edits, is enjoying a renaissance in the digital age. It’s recently got the Blu-Ray treatment from Severin Films, and cult film fans are lining up to watch what many describe as a “film you CAN’T unsee.” Seeing as every slasher film is written off as “misogynist,” The Baby offers up a particular worldview where every woman is a predatory monster bent on the subjugation of males. This reviewer has long thought that the Wadsworths would be the deadly trio of femme fatales from Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill, Kill (1965) if they managed to survive hightail it to the suburbs.

Movie Review: Blood Ties (2014)

When hearing about a potential film I will be watching one of the worst words for me to hear is a film is generic. I would rather take awful, because I know with awful different people may have different opinions, but more than likely when people say generic and they know what they are talking about, it usually is the case. Guillame Canetâs, who I remember liking his 2006 gem Tell No One, has created a beautiful looking film, the film is sleek and slick. The production of this film puts the viewer in the 1970's; they paid attention to every little detail about the era. This film does so much background work that it forgets the important part, the script and acting. Clive Owen's accent is horrible, his Brooklyn accent was eye-rolling and very nails to the chalkboard bad. This film has plot holes that you can drive a truck thru. When you look at the movie cover, see the actors in this film and think why this wasn't in the movie theater, you pretty much get what this film is all about.

Movie Review: Tourist Trap and Demonic Toys (Blu-ray)

Charles Band and his company Full Moon Features has had a history that that dates back into the 1970’s. While it wasn't until the late 80’s the actual Full Moon brand was conceived, the director, producer, writer had his stamp on genre films with movies like David Schmoeller’s thriller Tourist Trap. Tourist Trap has just made its debut in the High Def arena as well as his Child’s Play rip-off Demonic Toys and they certainly should garner some attention from horror fans both young and old. My first of Tourist Trap came at a very young age on video and it scared the shit out of me so it's nice to see this one again after so many years.

A jeep full of college-age vacationers breaks down in the middle of nowhere near an old wax museum run by a recluse named Slausen (Chuck Conner, The Rifleman). Here the kids get to know Slausen and even experience the interesting sites of the many dummies in costume at the museum. What they don’t know is that there is a danger among the shadows and the myriad of dummies occupying the whole residence. The group begins to shrink as each perishes at the hands of some large figure with telekinetic powers that has a striking resemblance to ol’ Slausen. Could it be Slausen or his twin brother? Or is the place just haunted. Schmoeller and his crew pile on an appropriate amount of brooding atmosphere to make Tourist Trap one of the creepiest and most underrated horror films to come out of the 1970’s.

Movie Review: The Ong Bak Trilogy

Review By: Jimmy D.

The Ong Bak films really took Thai films to new levels and help break thru the martial arts market. In an era where stunts are down with wires and thru computers the Ong Bak films really impressed me by how real the action in the films was. Ong Bak opens with a tree-climbing contest to capture a red flag on top of a tree. While getting up the trees, people were kicking and shoving their opponents off the limbs. Just watching these guys falling off those high trees was such a remarkable feat in itself. Tony Jaa and this film took the martial arts world by surprise and shock. Like what Raid Redemption is doing right now, in the early 2000’s Tony Jaa was doing with the insane stunts that were real, the fresh camerawork and dynamic feel of each fight sequence. The two films that followed and are also in this collection, I feel pale in comparison to the original. Watching part 2 made me scratch my head did we really need a sequel? If you already have the blu rays, the only difference this time around is they come in this box, but there are no slim cases or special features that if you are a fan you have not seen before.

Feel the "Rage" from Cage this August!!

IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS

RAGE

Starring Nicolas Cage

Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download on August 12, 2014

Los Angeles, July 21, 2014 – Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand, brings you the heart-stopping thriller Rage, available on Blu-ray and DVD on August 12, 2014. Directed by Paco Cabezas (The Appeared, Neon Flesh) and written by Jim Agnew (Giallo, Game of Death) and Sean Keller (Giallo), the film stars Academy Award Winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, The National Treasure films), Rachel Nichols (Star Trek, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Danny Glover (the Lethal Weapon films), and Aubrey Peeples (ABC’s “Nashville”).

Rage tells the story of Paul Maguire (Cage), a respectable businessman and loving father living a peaceful life, until his violent past comes back to haunt him. When his teenage daughter is taken from their home, Paul rounds up his old crew to help him find her by any means necessary. His search for justice leads Paul down a dark and bloody path of revenge, betrayal and long buried secrets.

“Caesar and Otto” create first fully interactive Indiegogo.com Campaign!

               

          

From Fourth Horizon Cinema comes Writer/Director Dave Campfield’s newest  popular “Caesar and Otto” series, “Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween”. Se t up with a campaign through Indiegogo.com, with perks like associate producer, your own commentary, get eaten by the  beloved fan favorite Piggyzilla, autographed dvds and more, the goal is set to raise  a portion of the funding through the fans.  Campfield aims to make this the biggest release to date! But the most unique aspect of Campfield’s campaign is bonus short film he calls fully interactive. Fans by lines of dialog for actors like Sleepaway Camp’s Fellisa Rose, rocker Deron Miller, or scream queen Brinke Stevens. And in this interactive event, the sky is the limit. Once completed, the fan driven film will be featured on the DVD with the feature film and other special features.

         

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Oldboy vs. Oldboy

After watching the original Korean film and the American remake, Kevin compares and contrasts both versions of the revenge thriller Oldboy.

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!

"Space Raiders" and "Short Eyes" Debut on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing and Kino Lorber this August!

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 22, 2014 - Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing announce the release of Roger Corman's sci-fi adventure SPACE RAIDERS, starring Vince Edwards, and Robert M. Young's prison drama SHORT EYES, starring Bruce Davison, in limited edition Blu-rays, available on August 1st exclusively at kinolorber.com.

SPACE RAIDERS streets on September 2nd, with a SRP of $29.95, in a limited edition of 2,000 units. SHORT EYES streets on September 16th, with a SRP of $29.95, in a limited edition of 1,500 units. Both titles will also become available on DVD with individual SRPs of $19.95.

SPACE RAIDERS

1983 Color 84 Minutes Anamorphic (1.78:1) Rated PG Science Fiction

Join a pint-sized boy for a giant-sized space adventure! On the distant planet of Procyon III at a time far into the future, 10 year-old Peter Tracton (David Mendenhall,Over the Top) is innocently trying to catch a pesky space bug when suddenly the warehouse he is playing in is attacked by outlaw Space Raiders, and the boy is whisked off on an incredible adventure beyond his wildest dreams. Vince Edwards (TV's Ben Casey M.D.) stars as Col. C.W. "Hawk" who discovers Peter hiding the hull of the of the cargo ship that he and his raiders have just hijacked. While under attack by Hawk's arch nemesis, the alien Zariatin, Peter risks his life to help with the repair of a damaged engine, enabling the Raiders to a make a safe escape. With exhilarating echoes of the movie Star Wars, Hawk and his crew reward Peter's courage by promising to return the little boy safely to his home planet. Together they embark upon a thrilling odyssey across millions of miles of outer space. Directed by veteran cult director Howard R. Cohen (Saturday the 14th).

Movie Review: Zombie Lake (1980)

You know, the French love to act and think they’re above the rest of us. With their snooty cuisine and upscale museums and nudie ‘art’. Well I’m here to tell you they’re just a bunch of big pervs, like the rest of us, because 50% of this film could have been used in my Jr. High sex ed classes. My evidence? I submit to you: Le Lac de Zombie.

Zombie Lake is about a quaint little town in France. I don’t remember the name and honestly, do you really care? A young woman stands in a gazebo, possibly waiting for her lover. More likely just standing in weird postures so the camera can get a great angle of her tits and ass. She decides to go skinny dipping in a lake where a sign is posted with a giant skull and cross bones as a warning of some kind. But what does she care for rules? She eez franch. When she is killed by a one-eyed zombie that rises from the lake, we all point and laugh.

Halloween COMPLETE Blu-Ray Collection from Anchor Bay!

Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd HALLOWEEN Complete Collection Blu-ray set.  This new set boasts a wealth of NEW bonus features including 7 brand NEW featurettes, 3 brand NEW commentaries, 4 brand NEW interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and NEW transfers and audio specs on selected titles.

Movie Review: Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)

Directed by Henry Koster

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Mr. Hobbs (Jimmy Stewart) yearns to take a romantic holiday with his gorgeous wife (Maureen O'Hara). However, a vacant beach home on the Northern California coast proves too good to resist, and so the Hobbs bundle up their youngest daughter Katey (Lauri Peters) and only son Danny (Michael Burns) along with their Finnish cook (Minerva Urecal) and head out to later join their two older, married daughters and their husbands and children at the cottage. Said “cottage” turns out to be a Victorian ruin that makes the Bates Mansion in Psycho (1960) look positively inviting. Straight away, troubles ensue. Katey is far too self-conscious with the braces on her teeth, and dear old Dad must pay the boys at the yachting club to dance with her. Everything works out and Katey begins a chaste romance with beach bum Joe (teen idol Fabian Forte). Mr. Hobbs drags son Danny for a boating adventure that almost turns tragic – but turns into a bonding experience for both. The older daughters' families seethe with neurosis, one long unemployed son-in-law abandoning the home to seek work. Landing a job offer, it is up to Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs to entertain his prospective employers (John McGiver and Marie Wilson). Things go disastrously, but everything turns out alright in the end.

Movie Review: Camp Blood: First Slaughter (2014, MVD Visual)

...in our childhood, we all had hamsters, at one time or another, right?? Cute little buggers, weren't they?? Running around their little cage, grabbing a glug of water over here...occasionally stopping nervously, to see who's looking...snagging a little morsel of food over there...again, stopping and looking around...maybe even, just to show off, grabbing more morsels of food, and stuffing it in their cheeks, until they look like furry little roadsters (...always good for a little chuckle). And then, they scurry over, climb up on the wheel, and away they go, go, go. And after the novelty wears off, one cannot help but watch that cute little rodent, working that wheel with great vigor, and wonder...does it know that it's putting out all that effort, and not really going any place?? And we watch...and watch...and watch...possibly even fantasizing that the little bugger, all too well knowing that it has our full attention, will suddenly dismount the wheel, quickly don a top hat & cane, and break into an impromptu well-choreographed and animated Busby Berkley number, a la Michigan J. Frog. But then, reality hits, and we come to realize that, yes...that spry little hamster is just gonna continue going round, and round, and round...and getting nowhere. Alas, that is the relevation which most will resign themselves to, after engaging the ho-hum, beat-by-beat, by-the-numbers slasher-film throwback, "Camp Blood: First Slaughter"...a lackluster follow-up to a rather surprisingly successful and prolific micro-budgeted, direct-to-video horror film franchise...

Book Review: Hell Chicks by Ed Wood

by David Hayes 

Hell Chicks details the story of a band of girl bikers who terrorize the countryside. The group of them are insatiable nymphomaniacs, each with their own specialty. Hell Chicks marks Wood’s (writing as N. V. Jason) turn to truly hardcore pornography. As far as a story goes, there really isn’t much of one. The gang travels around, has sex and is finally tracked by the police and killed (for the most part). What Hell Chicks does have, though, are the patented quirky characters that only the mind of Ed Wood could devise.

The gang itself is made up of some of the worst sexual deviates in the world and all of them have names based on their particular specialty. Flame, the leader, has red hair—everywhere (wink, wink), Hot Lips is the finisher whose fellatio is beyond comparison, Pisser is a, well, she likes urine, Boobie has big, uuh… boobies, Syph has syphilis, Ankles grabs hers, Fingers uses hers, Sissy is one and Cherry doesn’t have one. That, dear friends, is the roll call of the roughest bunch of nymphos that ever straddled a motorcycle. They lived for sex, drugs and sex…in that order.

Movie Review: Under the Skin (2014, Blu-ray / DVD)

Reviewed by: Jimmy D.

In Hollywood, when any actor/actress goes outside of their comfort zone two things usually happen: 1. They create art and win Oscars. 2. They run back to their comfort zone when they flop. I respect Scarlett Johansson as an actress who likes to take chances, but I feel this film she was trying a little too hard. Ghost World was that quirky film that put her on the map, almost by accident. After all it was a Thora Birch vehicle after she got people talking in American Beauty. Scarlett was just that also-ran in Home Alone 3, who somehow got people talking and put her in the A-list. That being said, if this was the film that was supposed to put her on the map, I feel Thora would now be the star.

Movie Review: The Invoking (2013)

Reviewed By: Jimmy D.

When did horror have to be so dramatic and over-written to be effective? The Invoking is that film that I feel people who love horror, and I mean truly love horror will not get. This film is for those Roger Ebert types or people who are in horror to make a paycheck and have no care or passion about the genre or what they recommend to the people who follow them. The Invoking is a 88 minute film that uses every cliché we have seen in indie films in the last two decades. I am not going to say the film is a total waste, it does have its moments that are quite effective, but I will say what you have to endure to get to those moments is unfair. Unfair especially if you see the cover and the quotes and think this film is going to deliver a satisfying horror experience. The plot is simple enough; you have Sam who along with three of her friends go back to the house she grew up in. When they arrive there, they meet a guy who has been taking care of the house who lives a little past it. This film goes into a realm of what is real or unreal, when Sam starts to see visions and her friends acting odd. We learn as the film goes on that Sam's parents who once lived there were not kind to her, it is like she is watching her friends reenact memories from her childhood.

Movie Review: Ravenous (Blu-ray, Scream Factory)

Reviewed By: Jimmy D.

I hate to admit this but this is the first time I ever seen Ravenous. I remember in the age of the video store that I rented this once or twice, but never got to watch it and had to return it back. Ravenous is a very atmospheric horror film that is centered on an epidemic of flesh-eating and how it empowers people once they taste the flesh. The film takes place during the Mexican-American War, Col. Ives who seems to be on the verge of death makes his way barely to an isolated outpost. Once there he goes into the fort with this story of what brought him to this place.

The story is about some travelers who battle starvation. They ate all the livestock and animals first, and then stuff like belts and shoes. When one of the people dies, they decided to eat him. Thus, they started to eat other people as well. Well the commander sends out a group to investigate this story. Ravenous is bleak, it is cold-blooded and just all out cruel. The blood and gore is only half the fun of the film, the other half is just the tremendous acting by all involved. Directed by the late Antonia Bird and starring one of her regulars Robert Carlyle, this film like her earlier film Priest really shows that she thinks outside of the box and knows how to really capture the desperation of mankind. This film has so many creepy moments and all-out surprises and revelations that I feel this film really thought outside of the horror realm and wanted to create a multi-layered film that was just more than your simple cannibalism horror film.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Kevin talks about the ape movie that everyone's been waiting for.

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!

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

Reviewed By: Hal Astell

In 2006 Sylvester Stallone made Rocky Balboa and people wondered if he could still do the job at 60 years of age. In 2008 he made Rambo and the same question got asked, with only the age being different. The question will be back again very shortly with Harrison Ford who will be 66 when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comes out, but it isn't a new question. I'm sure people asked the same question when John Wayne made Brannigan in 1975. He was 67, in bad health and wearing a toupee but he enters the film by kicking down a door and playing hardball with a forger.

But he's still John Wayne and he's still the tough guy, even though the people behind the film are second generation: the executive producer is his eldest son, Michael Wayne, and the writer is Christopher Trumbo, son of Dalton Trumbo. The Duke only had two films left after this one, Rooster Cogburn and The Shootist, and he looked even older in both. As always he has a gun and a badge, but unlike those films he isn't in the old west, he's a Chicago cop in London.

He's there to pick up a mobster being extradited back to the States, one he's been chasing for a long time and who has put a contract on him. He's in the hands of Scotland Yard but after he's kidnapped, it's up to Brannigan and his English compatriots to find him again. Beyond the Duke, there are a number of other major names here to ensure that things are done right. Larkin the mobster is played by John Vernon, always excellent as a powerful but amoral thug, and Fields, his sleazy lawyer, is Mel Ferrer. Scotland Yard provide Richard Attenborough as Cmdr Sir Charles Swann and the always delightful Judy Geeson as Brannigan's caretaker.

Movie Review: Radio Days (1987, Twilight Time)

Reviewed By: Hal Astell

Woody Allen pretty much always wrote stories about himself, though he tweaked the truth so none are actually autobiographies. This one is about him as a young Jewish kid in Rockaway when the radio was on all day every day and all he ever wanted was a Masked Avenger ring with a secret compartment. He's played by someone you wouldn't expect on the face of it to be believable as a young Woody Allen, here called Joe, let alone appear in a Woody Allen film, but Seth Green does a solid job. He's really young here, long before Buffy the Vampire Slayer let alone Robot Chicken, but he looks exactly like a really young Seth Green.

The script is really nothing but a dramatized collection of reminiscences, and as you'd expect from such a setup some are better than others. The biggest challenge of all is to make it hold together as a single entity. It works best as a box of treats to dip into whenever we feel like it, so unlike most films, catching five minutes here and there while channel surfing roughly equates to watching it in an 85 minute stretch. You could probably even watch it backwards, scene by scene, and it would still make about as much sense.

The first reminiscence is a peach and sets the stage very nicely for all the rest. It has two crooks breaking into a house when the phone rings. They answer it to avoid waking everyone up and end up winning the grand prize on a game show called Guess That Tune. Mr and Mrs Needleman arrive home the next morning to find their home robbed but no end of goodies arriving in the place of their own stuff. It's hilarious but ludicrous at the same time, and quite a few of the other reminiscences fit the same bill. There's a sports story show that involves a baseball pitcher with heart, even though he loses a leg, an arm and his sight. There's even a radio ventriloquist.

Movie Review: "Captain Kidd" (1945; United Artists/Cheezy Flicks)

...there's an old saying, about 'truth' being 'stranger then fiction'; often we hear about stories, related to certain historical figures or celebrities, which we'd come to accept as the norm, and yet, when one digs deeper amidst the common pleasantries, one finds that there's a lot more to the story, than originally related. As much as we want ever so much to forever remember and recall the best and most significant deeds and behavior of a famous person, we are also drawn toward the underlining controversy, as far as the true nature of the person...and often times, that 'true nature' isn't hardly what we expected, or perhaps would rather not have known about. And then, there's the opposite side of the matter...a matter which suggests that this historical figure or famous personality has proven to possess a relatively interesting background...but not in Hollywood's terms; and when that happens...well, our fine and fettered Hollywood writers & filmmakers, just can't help but deftly and creatively weave greater interest and intrigue, for the fascinating, albeit less-than-charismatic character...fiction, yes, but fiction deftly woven into fact. It's happened countless times in the magically embellishing realm of Hollywoodland, and such is the case with one of Cheezy Flicks recent additions to their spansive selection of films; indeed, from a historical point of view, one definitely won't come across any new revelations about Captain William Kidd, in the daring pirate adventure excursion from 1945, United Artists' "Captain Kidd", but what the filmmaking powers that be, have come up with, herein...on an anemic shoestring budget, no less...is still a whole heck of a lot of fun to watch...