The Exotic Zoo of Terror (Blu-ray) – The latest project from the young talented filmmaker Blaize Tudor that parodies something everyone lost their mind over during COVID. With the right location Mr. Tudor took full advantage of shooting his low budget project that involves Mr. Exotic waking up after a possible drug and booze filled night of partying only to find his so-called zoo is in shambles. Animals are loose, employees are nowhere to be found, and there is a line from said character claiming he woke up in the future. Mr. Exotic wants to get to the bottom of the mess once the initial shock wears off believing he can fix this but there are many that are against Mr. Exotic to stay in business. What doesn’t help the odd situation is the animals are on the prowl on the property and hunting any humans that enter. The film to me comes off as an oddity that doesn’t quite make sense since I wasn’t into the reality show that took the world by storm but the ending as bizarre as it is did make sense for what I watched. Is it Mr. Tudor’s best project to date, probably not in my opinion, if anything that you should take away from this is Blaize Tudor might be the next Mark Polonia? His knack to get the features done quickly, use of already made locations, how to write a script around said locations, and his stable of people he uses in several different roles at all times tell me greater and bigger projects are on the horizon for this kid so independent film lovers pay attention to this one as I give this project 2 out of 4 stars.
Flatwoods (Blu-ray) – Budding filmmaker James Lockhart edits, writes, and directs this somewhat documentary style feature based on the events that happened in Flatwoods, West Virginia, 1952. Fifty years after the famous event a mother, daughter duo who were walking through the woods are abducted and subjected to things that make you believe aliens. Carol James was the daughter and now in present time has made it her life goal to uncover the truth about these strange events that happened to her and her mother. Through a series of interviews and investigations Carol finds herself increasingly getting nervous of not just finding the aliens who may have abducted her but the strangeness around men in black among other bizarre characters she meets along the way. Lockhart does a superb job intertwining a real event that people talk about till this day with Carol who may or may not have been abducted, along with the weirdness of possible alien/human hybrids that gives you wonderful X-files vibes throughout. Alien believers need to add this to their collection as this was released under the radar a couple years back and I give it 3 out of 4 stars.
Invitation Only (Blu-ray) – A dark horror film out of Taiwan that centers around a young man named Wade who dreams of dating a supermodel and owning the fastest car made. But when called into work on his day off to take care of Mr. Yang, Wade accidentally finds him bumping uglies in the car he is driving him around. After some awkward looks in the car Mr. Yang offers Wade an invite to an exclusive party that has drinking, gambling, sex, money all for the rich. After a night of fun it isn’t quite over as that was just the appetizer because Wade and a few others were brought there to be helped aka rich people go all ‘Surviving the Game’ on these people who they claim are just lower beings that need taught a lesson. Let the brutal killing and torture begin as Wade and new friends try to escape as again we are taught by movies rich people are some evil sons of bitches as I give this fun gory tale 3 stars.
Wasteland Cop (Tubi) – In a not too distant post-apocalyptic wasteland is a future that blends ‘Blade Runner’ with ‘Mad Max’ with a little bit of ‘Wyrmwood’ where there are still cops that try to keep the peace. A troubled marshal who patrols the wasteland has come possession of what is called a “Fulcrum” device and a bad ass disfigured character is dying to kill for it! The marshal sends his team out to investigate every lead about this device as he soon learns this is a smaller piece to the puzzle as scientists reverse engineered this device that can have control over what’s left of the human race. In the end the marshal doesn’t like what he discovers as this sci-fi adventure has clones, mutations, crazy people, and wasteland peacekeepers that keep it just interesting enough to get through. I enjoyed the attempt at restarting a genre that has all been lost in recent decades (outside of Mad Max sequels) but the main character that holds everything together is slightly average when it doesn’t help the movie in the end as I give it 2 stars.
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