Gross Movie Reviews #487
The Black Gestapo (DVD) – A mid-70s Blaxploitation film that stars “Night Court’s” Charles Robinson where the story is about ‘The People’s Army’ helping out black people. But Charles Robinson aka Colonial Kojah is tired of just waiting around and not doing anything to help his fellow black man. He is tired of the abuse especially from the white man mafia. Kojah is given permission to protect his fellow black man but has something else in mind once he and is closest friends make an impression on the mafia. Kojah helps stop the shake downs of black businesses and hookers but that isn’t enough? He has his own ‘People’s Army’ to train for war, changes names, new uniforms, etc. Soon both People’s Armies are not fighting to gain on the white man as they fighting each other. Fun stuff as I give it 3 stars.
The Human Tornado (DVD) – Rudy Ray Moore is Dolemite and having an important party at his big house in the hills. But the white sheriff cannot stand a rich black man having fun. He does not appreciate all the non-white people including his wife being at the rich party. So sheriff and a couple hicks crash it! After a car chase, a fight with the sheriff, and blowing up a car Dolemite, Ernie Hudson, and others carjack a man on the highway and head to California. Dolemite wants to hang out at Queen Bee’s place only to see it is closed down by a wannabe Godfather figure. So Dolemite and crew put a plan in action to get the place up and running again and of course to bring the white man down. Again hilarious fun action including the fight scenes in fast forward as I give the film 3 stars.
The Werewolf (DVD) – I have to admit this I never heard of this 1956 different werewolf film. It doesn’t play by the rules we all know and love. Part of it is the film for many years wasn’t released on any format outside of its initial release to theaters and drive-ins. But anyway a mysterious man walks into town and hits the bar for a drink but has no clue who he is or how he got there. Cornered by a bigger man to rob him of his money is a mistake as the stranger turns into a werewolf and rips the bigger man’s neck out. But Mountaincrest authorities track him down to get him looked at by doctors but is not thrilled by it. For good reason after a few plot twists and the mysterious man escapes as we come to learn he is a product of an experiment by two scientists that have used him. Now they want to see their results as they were able to make a man into a werewolf. This film is very different from the usual werewolf fare and surprised this hasn’t been rediscovered for a series or remake as I give this cool find 3 stars.
Haunt (On Demand) – Your typical campus housing plant has a group of students looking for a good time on Halloween. After hitting the usual bars they find a flyer for an ‘extreme haunt’ so they decide to check it out. They believe its all bullshit until they enter after signed over their lives and give up their cell phones. At the time the six friends believe it is a lame haunt until they split up and continue to move forward but they all must follow the rules or face the horrifying consequences. I really enjoyed this Halloween flick and believe this is what Rob Zombie’s “31” should have been? Now I did have my issues with the lead character but still enjoyed this gory treat that will have the teenage horror fans screaming for a sequel as I give it 3 stars.
Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island (DVD) – After many years of solving mysteries Scooby and Shaggy make the rest of the gang to promise just be normal teenagers. So Fred sells the Mystery Machine and they promise not to solve any mysteries. But Shaggy wins a contest on Elvira’s movie show for a tropical vacation. All they want to do is eat a ton and relax without worrying about running from some masked monster. They arrive at the island hotel and things look very familiar as it was the one mystery they never solved. Scooby and Shaggy allow the gang to solve the mystery after enough weird stuff happens and it is a low budget film crew filming a found footage film. But that isn’t all of it as there other people still using the Zombie Island legend to look for the treasure they believe is there so the gang must solve that mystery too. If you are a long time Scooby fan you will enjoy it a lot as they incorporate a lot of classic characters from Scooby past. Not as good as the first Zombie Island but still worth the watch as I give it 2 ½ stars.
Disco Godfather (DVD) – Rudy Ray Moore is back for more this 1979 film as a famous DJ spinning disco records. But when his nephew gets high on Angel Dust and loses his mind Mr. Moore aka Dolemite makes it his business to track down the drug dealer who sold his nephew the smack. The film has a lot of flaws including lots of drawn out scenes of disco but has a thrilling cliffhanger of an ending I wasn’t expecting from this flick as I give it 2 ½ stars.
Vigilante (DVD) – Finally righting a wrong that I had never finished this Fred Williamson classic. In this William Lustig gritty flick Robert Forester plays Eddie that believes in the system and how it works. His friends (Fred Williamson being one of them) on the other hand believe in street justice and taking back the streets as the hoodlums just do not care anymore and neither do the police. After Eddie’s kid gets his head blown off by the Headhunter gang and screwed over by a sleazy lawyer played by Joe Spinell, Eddie is sent to prison for 30 days. Once out he has a whole new perspective on what his friends do at night and helps them track down the Headhunter gang! Great gritty gang film even with its choppiness this still worth keeping in your rotation of movies to watch on a regular basis as I give it 3 stars.
Doom: Annihilation (DVD) – Just in case you needed to know about this incarnation of the video game to film… They still don’t get it. So much source material here for a fun gory alien film and they screwed up as I give it 1 star for just incorporating a few things the first film didn’t have.
One Remains (DVD) – A low budget film crew heads to a remote large home in the mountains to visit an old man for a documentary they want to make. Lance the owner allows the crew to come and do the interview. Their documentary is going to be about Samuel Mahoney and how he found some missing college students in the mountains that were supposed to be experienced hikers but went missing for a long period of time. Then one day as Samuel was walking through the woods he stumbled upon them and it changed his life forever. It was the 70s things like this just didn’t happen but it did and Samuel’s whole family was affected by it. The first half of the film is the usual independent horror buildup but switches to a cool weird thriller vibe when Samuel tells the crew he has a VHS tape that contains footage that he shot on his camera the day he found the dead students. Things get a little confusing but interesting as the crew rewatch the tape all the way through and things change. I enjoy that it wasn’t a straight up horror film and more of a well-produced thriller with weird stuff happening as I give the film 3 out of 4 stars.
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