Gross Movie Reviews #642

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They Call Me Bruce? (DVD) – A 1982 comedy that would be seen as a politically incorrect film these days more than the comedy it was playing as on the early cable channels in the early 80s. An Asian man who keeps being mistaken for Bruce Lee wants to make his way to New York? As much as the young man would love to be like his hero Bruce Lee the man knows nothing of the martial arts. The man Bruce after a hilarious series of scenarios finds himself working for the mob but making his way to New York. The delivery boy as he is known as for the mob keeps finding himself in a series of ridiculous events as he makes his way to New York and mind you the FBI is also involved. The movie has many laughs of a time that is now forgotten as there is no way this film would be made today as I give it 2 ½ stars.

Cicada! (DVD) – This low budget flick keeps it a simple “creature feature” as a once legendary baseball player now disgraced and retired finds himself fighting giant cicadas! The former ball player hooks up with a small group of people who run around town killing the mutant cicadas. The film is silly, dumb, but holy hell it was entertaining enough for me as I give it 2 ½ stars.

Crocodylus: Mating Season (On Demand) – For those who may not remember the terrible first feature? It has produced a sequel that goes away from being serious in Peaceful Creek, Florida where the creature still lives! This recent urban legend is back and snacking on boaters and swimmers again but there is more to it this time. A young lady Allie Glades hires a P.I. Harry Bates to seek out her brother Mark who had disappeared. He was very sick and started an experimental drug to help cure him then that is when he disappeared. As Allie and Bates investigate they soon find themselves in something much bigger in this spoof? The experiment was meant to cure cancer is more of just turning a human into a monster that feeds on fish then humans. There are hilarious jokes throughout like Harry Bates ex-wife became a professional Hide and Seek player who he could never find… For that I give this film 2 ½ stars for throwing something different out there than the usual follow up.

Mausoleum (Blu-ray) – This 1983 film is just a complete wild ride that I know I have seen once before and have completely forgotten and not totally sure why? Anyhow a young girl loses her mother at the age of ten and must go live with her aunt. Instead she goes crying through a graveyard until she comes upon a mausoleum called ‘Nomed’ where she becomes possessed but doesn’t remember it. Twenty years pass and Suzie gets the sudden urge to get naked anytime men are around, have sex with them, and make their heads explode! If that wasn’t enough hilarious weirdness… look for the odd gardener who plays with his belly button constantly. Susan’s husband Oliver suspects something and gets Susan’s doctor involved only to learn the doctor may have knew Susan had been possessed for years. While this goes on Susan’s powers grow and there is some weird thing that may help separate her from the demon if they can put a crown of thorns on her? There is just a fuck ton of weirdness here that I am glad I rewatched and will again sometime soon as I give it 3 stars.

Paganini Horror (DVD) – It is Italian, Luigi Cozzi made it, and Donald Pleasence plays the devil? Yes kids I am in! I feel you don’t need to know anything else but I will review it anyway as apparently some musical dude sold his soul to the devil 200 years ago and his unproduced song has gotten into a singer’s hands to make a huge video called “Paganini Horror”. Kate and her manager set up the video to begin filming only to accidentally conjure the spirit of Paganini… I think? The movie doesn’t make a ton of sense but it’s bloody and Italian so yinz will love it as I give it 3 stars.

Curtains for Christmas (Blu-ray) – Great, just what we need another holiday film of goodness! But this isn’t just your usual Hallmark happy holiday festive bullcrap as director/co-writer Steve Rudzinski and co-writer Aileen Isley craft a tale of holiday terror about a young woman Holly who just wants Christmas to be perfect like her favorite holiday film. The film goes for the holiday throat in no time as Holly kills her boyfriend of eight months because he refuses to spend the holiday with her and won’t introduce Holly to his parents. (Absolutely love Holly chowing on the block of cheese depressingly watching her favorite holiday film). The murder is only the beginning as Holly now has conversations with an imaginary holiday rodent who is giving her advice as she believes there is still time for her to have the perfect Christmas like her favorite film. So why not go kill your way to having the perfect holiday where you fall in love, have a family, and it’s the greatest Christmas tale ever told. That is when she meets Jay and she puts her killing spree I mean plan into action. Everything from the gingerbread house contest to the fake kidnapped family for Holly makes this beyond entertaining and ends in a huge bloody mess of course. So grab the milk and cookies, and possibly a sharp knife to stab I mean to have with your loved one while watching this sick holiday treat as I give it 3 ½ out of 4 stars.

Demons (4K Ultra HD) – By now in your life if you are a horror movie fan, especially one that grew up in the 80s you know of this classic film. The project from Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento has people invited to a secret screening of a film that seems to be a great idea to check out until… all hell breaks loose. Just like the film they are watching a mask scratches a character and they begin to change. Same thing happens to a patron before the screening and once the movie plays all the movie goers are trapped in hell by these crazed blood thirsty demons! Chaos, gore, and non-stop drooling demons seeking out any living being make this film a horror fan’s dream. This new transfer just pops off screen and will make horror movie fans really think “Now is a good time to pick up that 4K player.” This collection has a card inside that is the movie ticket for the theater explaining the transfer but also the disc has three different versions of the film, a couple commentaries with Bava and cast, a segment on Dario Argento producing the film, archival special features that is everything and anything ‘Demons’ related from different versions released over the years, along with different audio tracks for the commentaries. So there are few 4K films that impress me but this  just jump off the TV at you from frame one and has more than enough ‘Demons’ related stuff to keep you busy for the next day in a half as I give this absolute beauty 4 out of 4 stars as it is available at www.synapsefilms.com .

Demons 2 (4K Ultra HD) – It worked the first time so why not in a high rise building? Again if you are a hardcore horror movie fan you know all about the sequel just trying to up the violence and drooling demons running through the hallways of an apartment building slicing and dicing any human! And again just like the first film in 4K the sequel just jumps off the screen with its bright colors. Can’t complain the amount of gore, goo, and demons they throw this time around especially with its crazy ass ending. The disc has two different versions of the sequel, a commentary from Travis Crawford, a very interesting segment with author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas discussing both ‘Demons & Demons 2’, more fun archival special features for the horror nerds, along with a couple trailers, and a couple Italian audio tracks and subtitles. Having both of these titles on 4K reminds when the ‘Alien: Quadrilogy’ set was released. So much cool shit to comb through that you just hope to get the flu and stay home from work for three days so you could get through everything ‘Demons’ as like the first film I gotta give this 4 out of 4 stars and it is available at www.synapsefilms.com .

Cold Blows the Wind (On Demand) – A dark thriller stars the talented Jamie Bernadette while Dean and Tasha is a couple who were celebrating Tasha’s birthday where they just happen to run over a man on their way to an isolated family cottage. As the couple fight over exactly what they should do which it becomes apparent not to call authorities the victim tries to escape. Dean stabs the man dead or at least he believes and their fate is sealed as they agree to bury the body and clean up their mess. But the night is about to get weird as they hear a knock at the door from a young frighten woman who knows too much? Briar has come to make a deal as the night continues to get more bizarre with her appearance and the couple questioning their own relationship. The film is a fun strange evil twist of fate that will make you think about the plot quite often after viewing the film. My only complaint of the film is if ‘Don’t Kill It’ doesn’t exist I believe I would have enjoyed the ending more? Or never quite explaining the reasoning of what was happening to the couple I may have like this thriller a little more. Overall the movie has enough scary tension that should satisfy the horror fan looking for a little more evil plot than just blood and guts as I give it 3 out of 4 stars.

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We talked Eye-talian flicks this past week

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On the show this week we cover 3 more genre flicks you may or may not have seen.  First we chat about the sequel to a beloved franchise that Kyle thinks the fans are split right down the middle on in terms of liking or not in DEMONS 2.  Then Tim picks a pretty good witch/slasher/babysitter flick in THE NIGHT SITTER.  And finally John talks about a Giallo from master Eye-Talian director Dario Argento in the Karl Malden masterpiece CAT O’ 9 TAILS.  We also run down what we have been watching the past week, John slips further down the Camp Blood wormhole,  Old MTV shows that we miss, Kyle is highly disappointed with Willys Wonderland AND the new Wrong Turn jam. All this and we answer your listener questions.  So download this episode or Curtis Armstrong will tell everyone the exact location of your moms old douchebag SPOILER ALERT:  It’s in Ohio

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Episode 171 is up for listening pleasure

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This week GARY HILL come back to the show (for a little while before falling into internet oblivion) to discuss PUPPET MASTER 4 and 5 and the great Italian gore masterpieces DEMONS 1 and 2. Also we talk about a murder that may or may not be happening on the show, the genre of Ringosploitation, Kyle gets addicted to the best videogame that has ever been made in Bloodborne, serial killers and their antics, we watch the Ash Vs. Evil Dead trailer, new Blu ray announcements, And we go through a list of films that Kyle has never seen.  

 

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episode 171

Gross Movie Reviews #332

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Gross Movie Reviews #332

 

By Tim Gross

 

Assault on Precinct 13 (DVD) – John Carpenter’s second feature in 1976 is just brilliant! Great music, great characters, and Carpenter makes a no budget project feels like a big budget action fest. The film also stars Nancy Loomis and Charles Cyphers who would be in Carpenter’s next big film “Halloween”. Lt. Bishop is sent to the Anderson Precinct first day on the job to oversee its closing as the station moved. Nothing much is left except some boxes and a couple staff working there. Soon Lt. Bishop is in for the night of his life as a special agent with three prisoners who are being transferred and one is sick. They don’t have anything there to help but to try and call a doctor in. Also a man out of his mind wonders in talking about killing someone after his daughter was killed. Night falls and an unlimited amount of gang members call for war against the precinct to get the man that killed one of their own. Bishop soon relies on a mysterious prisoner, a receptionist, and himself to take a gang that will stop at nothing to kill all who are in the way of one man. This may be the best western, action, masterpiece that was overlooked for years by Carpenter fans during its time?! This film marks the beginning of a filmmaker who was about to unleash an unimaginable amount of brilliant films in the next several years. If you never have seen it do yourself a favor and watch it. If you have seen and it’s been awhile do yourself a favor and rewatch it as I believe it’s a piece of cinema we rarely have the blessing of seeing very often if at all these days… I give the masterpiece 4 stars.

 

Nightbreed (Blu-ray/DVD) – Well the much talked about uncut/Cabal cut (sort of) of Clive Barker’s cult monster film has finally been released nearly 24 years later. For years I and other cult fans of the flick have screamed about seeing a more complete version of the film. Even Clive Barker for years talk about wanting the fans to see what he created so many years ago. Now with that in mind did we get everything…? No is the best answer. But why is because some of the footage from 1989/1990 was just downright unusable. But if you are a hardcore fan there is a bootleg version overseas floating around called, “The Cabal cut”. But most of that footage and interviews about it is in the extras of the Blu-ray version and the so-called limited edition of “Nightbreed” that was released by Shout Factory/Scream Factory. This new uncut version is 20 minutes longer, some different music pieces, different ending, and a lot of different stuff that will make a Nightbreed fan’s heart happy with content just to hold what some considered “The Holy Grail” the past two decades. Your best bet is to own the Blu-ray version as it has a lot of stuff worth checking out as the so-called limited edition is cool but does not justify its $71 to $80 price tag. The Blu-ray does have the uncut version that will make you happy to own and just wait for the extras to pop up on YouTube (which several people have told me they have already been up with several attempts for them to be taken down) or just wait a year if not less for that despicable price tag to go down. Now getting away from that, I must applaud Shout Factory and Clive Barker with the film and its extras.  By some chance you are a horror movie or monster movie fan that has never had the pleasure of viewing this film, now is a good time to watch it as the new transfer of the film is above and beyond that snap case relic from years ago. Midian is where the monsters live and Boone keeps having weird fantastical dreams about monsters and Midian to the point it is consuming him and affecting his relationship with his girlfriend. But little does Boone know his doctor played perfectly by David Croenberg has other things in mind as he wants to see, the knowledge of the monsters and Midian. Boone finds his way to Midian and soon dies after only to become a part of the tribe or Nightbreed. The film is an amazing mix of fantasy, monsters as heroes, the afterlife, serial killers that the world and 20th Century Fox wasn’t exactly ready for in 1990. I give this beautiful film about monsters 4 stars and thank you Clive Barker for you being so talented.

 

Body Bags (DVD) – A fun anthology that is rarely talked about among horror fans that John Carpenter put together in 1993 for Showtime. Carpenter plays a caretaker or morgue worker or a zombie, you decide as he is the thing that puts all three stories together. Carpenter directed the first two stories and Tobe Hooper directed the third. The first called, “The Gas Station” is a fun lunatic escapes and is killing people story that stars all of Carpenter’s friends. My favorite is Wes Craven as the pasty old white guy buying cigarettes! The second story called, “Hair” is an odd sci-fi story starring Stacey Keach who wants more hair on his balding skull and goes see a creepy doctor played by David Warner for an experimental hair treatment! The third story directed Tobe Hooper is called, “Eye”. It’s about a character played by Mark Hamill who is a baseball player about to make it in the majors but has a terrible accident where he loses his eye and it’s replaced with another through experimental surgery.  He soon has terrible visions and also tries to kill his pregnant wife a few times. And it’s all wrapped up with Tobe Hooper and Tom Arnold performing an autopsy on Carpenter. I give the fun anthology 3 stars.

 

Teen Wolf (DVD) – The film that made it possible to make a PG rated sex comedy that has Michael J. Fox as a werewolf who is able to play basketball and help his high school win the championship. This entertaining film took the formula from the early 80s sex comedies and made it acceptable for Disney crowd. I give it 3 stars.

 

Captain America The Winter Soldier (DVD) – The sequel to the surprising fun first flick has Steve Rogers trying to still adjust to a new world different from his 70 years ago and questioning whether he should still work for S.H.E.I.L.D. Steve doesn’t want anybody to get close to him and is told to not trust anyone by Nick Fury. But a new enemy has been born or reborn and its HYDRA as they have been on the inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the beginning and it’s up to Captain America, Black Widow, and Cap’s new winged friend to bring it all down before the new HYDRA goes online and kills millions. Good film but couldn’t help to feel like it’s only in existence to bridge the gap between “Avengers” films? I give it 3 stars.

 

Apocalypse of the Dead (DVD) – A lower budgeted zombie film from overseas starring Ken Foree who was also a producer for the film. Interpol agents are transferring a prisoner when they arrive in town they just happen to be in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Lots of zombies, lots of bad effects, and lots of shaky cam make this a zombie film that you should pass on. I always love seeing Ken Foree in a horror film but this is bad as the shaky cam will annoy you before the first zombie is shot in the head. I give the film a ½ star.

 

Animal (Chiller Channel/DVD) – Five friends are out in the mountains for an all day hike. A brother and sister haven’t done this since they were kids but know their way around the woods even when it gets dark. But soon they all are being stalked by a creature that has them trapping themselves a in a cabin with some other people who have been tracked and trapped. Soon tensions rise and the group become restless as ideas on how to escape are scarce. Great gore scenes, great looking practical make-up creature, and lack of origin of the creature makes this an interesting watch for horror fans as I give the flick 3 stars!

 

Killdozer (DVD) – An ABC Saturday night movie from 1974 about a crew of construction workers working on an island off of Africa trying to clear for new construction. One day while trying move some earth a bulldozer comes in contact with a meteor that had been buried in the dirt and a blue light is absorbed by the dozer causing it to be taken over by a strange alien force. Soon the “Killdozer” is smashing the camp and mowing down construction workers one by one. A great B-flick from the 70s that you it’s bad but a good bad from the start. I give the flick 2 stars.

Kolchak

Kolchak: The Night Strangler (DVD) – Another TV movie from the early 70s starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak a reporter who has been fired and had to move to Seattle to seek another job. Kolchak finds a familiar face and gets with a newspaper to receive his first job and it’s about the recent murders in the square where young women have been murdered with no clues of who or what it could be? Soon Kolchak finds himself in familiar territory where after doing research he has found there have been six murders in the same area every 21 years for the past century. Of course no one believes him but that doesn’t stop him from insulting the police chief, the owner of the paper he works for, and being arrested. Great flick and if you are an X-file show fan this is required viewing as I give the film 3 stars.

 

Demons (DVD) – Synapse Films is rereleasing new versions of “Demons” on DVD and Blu-ray and if you were not lucky enough to snag the ‘Steelbook’ edition this is a good chance for you to get the Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento project at a reasonable price. Great transfer and color correction make this improved disc a must have for horror fans compared to the ones released several years ago by Anchor Bay. A woman is offered a free ticket to an unknown movie showing at a theater that has just reopened. She grabs one for her girlfriend so they can skip class and go check out what it’s all about. Then an unsuspecting audience begins watching a horror film about four poor souls who are in a strange cemetery where they find a strange mask that if someone puts it on they will become a demon. There just so happens to be the same mask in the lobby and someone has scratch themselves with it and soon a demon takes over the host’s body and begins feasting, ripping, tearing into other audience members flesh! The gore scenes look absolutely beautiful compared to the older versions of the film released. I give the new release at www.synapse-films.com 3 ½ out of 4 stars. The only downside is really no extras but uncertain if there is much bonus material out there?

 

Demons 2 (DVD) – Well of course if Synapse is gonna release the first “Demons” film you know they were gonna get the rights to rerelease the sequel also. Again a great transfer and colorful, an improvement over the disc from Anchor Bay. I do not like the second film as much as the first but it does have a great scene of a child that has turned into a demon chasing a pregnant woman around her apartment. This time during a birthday party Sally becomes engrossed with several others in a TV show that shows four people entering an abandoned town that was supposedly overrun with Demons! The Demons are awakening again and possess the birthday girl Sally so she can slash and gash her guests for her demon delight. Synapse Films does a wonderful job again and make this a must buy for a lot of horror fans out there as I give the movie 2 ½ stars. You can purchase the DVD or Blu-ray at www.synapse-films.com .

 

Any comments or questions please send to: GrossMovieReview@verizon.net, GrossMovieReview@aol.com or www.facebook.com/grossmoviereviews . Remember folks always support your local independent movie theater, independent video store, and independent filmmakers! It will keep horror alive………

You can always visit and see some past reviews, independent film news, or me ranting at: www.grossmoviereviews.com !!!

Don’t forget you can also hear Kyle Poling and me talking about horror flicks on a weekly basis on the Bloodbaths and Boomsticks podcast at http://bloodbathsandboomsticks.blogspot.com/ .

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