Tag Archives: Robert Forester

Gross Movie Reviews #534

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Gross Movie Reviews #534

Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator (DVD) – This 1989 spoof comedy of sorts lies to you because we never get to see Stephanie thrown into the incinerator! This is more of a tale of ridiculousness as some rich friends get bored every year and do a bad reenactment of ‘Clue’. If there wasn’t much cooler flicks out there from the late 70s and early 80s that already did this better this film would be more of the worthwhile search but in the end I can only give it 1 ½ stars.

Witchcraft IV: Virgin Heart (DVD) – Our sequel starts with possibly the lamest opening of a film ever that has a young couple Pete and Nora out in the woods alone and the actress playing Nora sounds completely monotone when she is in distress. But moving on it has been three years since William the lawyer has used his warlock powers and now just works insurance cases. But when Nora goes missing and Pete is the only one being accused, Pete’s sister needs help so she comes to see William. Once they meet and William agrees to help this sets the tone for the rest of the movie as it plays out like a cheesy film noir with a three minute stripper scene that stars Julie Strain! Even though the film feels cheesy throughout it had a good flow, Julie Strain, a weird backstory for Strain’s character that keeps William interested in trying to help, for that I got to give it 2 stars.

Witchcraft V: Dance With the Devil (DVD) – This might be where the series starts to derail as the only thing left from the first four films story wise is the William character now played by a different actor. So “Bootleg” Ronnie James Dio comes to town and takes over a shady ass club and uses it to take souls. If Mr. Bootleg collects enough he can bring Satan into this world or just have an excuse to have even more naked people than this sequel. This sequel also begins the soft-core porn stuff literally as people seem to be having sex about every 8 to 10 minutes throughout. I’m not complaining but wanted to point out and give credit to the writers and director that were sure to have concerned girlfriend character Kelly care what her reverend thought of her boyfriend. She thought something wrong is going on with him so she turns to the man of the cloth she knows but hey never mind Kelly and the boyfriend have been living in sin the whole time! This is where we can see what these movies were being made for and it wasn’t exactly aimed at the horror fans as I give this 1 star.

Witchcraft VI: The Devil’s Mistress (DVD) – Oh in this 1994 sequel we meet a hunk named Jonathon that enjoys picking up young attractive women and dropping them off dead all over the city for detectives to find and be baffled by the motive. After a couple victims and the press calling it a “serial killer killing spree” a connection to a body in San Francisco is made in the now the detectives highly believe the possibility of the supernatural being involved. The coppers track down William because of his knowledge of the occult and ask for help. They bring in William in this hilarious scene where the detectives’ interview: fortune tellers, psychics, and other crazies that just mark the beginning of the downward spiral of William into witchcraft that he never wanted to begin with. Again this film goes out of its way to be filled with soft-core porn scenes (lots of big boobs, no dongs, but there is a tight dude butt!) I cannot confirm this but I thought I seen this sequel being sold in the famous “Adam & Eve” catalog at one point? You know kids that thing before the internet? Anyway lots of people banging not many people dying as I give it a ½ star… Next time throw a naked dong in to complete the trifecta?

The Mutilator (Blu-ray) – It was time to revisit this low budget slasher film from the early 80s as I didn’t get to see it then and only learned about it in the late 90s, early 2000s when it was being found on the bootleg market. Arrow Video recently corrected this problem putting together a 2-disc “must-have” edition for any horror fan. I myself remembered liking it the first time around but it was some crappy quality. Anyway, most of the gore takes place late in the movie but is well worth the watch if you are a gorehound. A father seeks revenge on his son Ed years later after his son accidentally shoots and kills his mother with a loaded rifle. Our tale goes forward when Ed gets a call from his father to go close down his beach condo during ‘Fall Break’ (which also was the original title). Ed and his friends decide to take advantage of this and go to party before they close it up for the winter but Ed’s father has other plans. Arrow Video not only restored the original unrated version of the film cleaned it up so much it was like watching this movie again for the first time. This of course means we get to see the famous giant fish hook with the girl parts for a wonderful death scene! But Arrow Video didn’t stop there as they loaded it up with a couple funny commentaries, a feature-length documentary (which was eye-opening on the background of this film), original music, and alternate opening titles that played with the movie before anyone knew about it. It does not happen often but I think I like this film more now than then because of this 2-disc Blu-ray from Arrow as I give it 3 ½ stars.

Running Time (Blu-ray) – Leave it to Josh Becker to come up with a cool idea for a film starring Bruce Campbell that doesn’t get seen and appreciated by many fans as it deserves. It’s a black and white project from 1996/1997 where it was shot and edited into one continuous shot by Becker that is a crime drama with a small cast. Bruce Campbell is Carl who is literally just released from prison and after getting his freak on with a girl he had crush on in high school is ready for a heist… that involves the prison he was released from! Once Carl’s best friend and Carl begin their journey into the heist what can go wrong, goes wrong quickly: flat tire, wrong safe, unknown strung-out getaway driver, people dying of heart attacks, a friend’s watch stolen, and Carl getting shot during this mess of chaos. Carl forever optimistic, money or no money must pick between his best friend or start all over with a girl he had a crush on. A super well-balanced, entertaining flick that should satisfy any bitter film junkie out there that doesn’t believe anything good is being released for the public to view. If anything this project further cements that Josh Becker can make something out of nothing no matter what genre it is. The Blu-ray is packed by Synapse Films with fun tidbits such as a fun commentary from Josh Becker and Bruce Campbell, film footage of a Q&A at a film festival the film was a part of, plus a great interview with Mr. Campbell giving the backstory on this project and comparing it to much bigger films. I have a feeling Synapse Films has a quick seller on their hands as I give this Blu-ray 3 ½ out of 4 stars and can be found at www.synapse-films.com .

Infra-man (DVD) – This 1975 project is also known as ‘The Super Infra-man’ for no other reason that I can think of but we do have a weird alien princess and a bionic superhero if you were not aware of this title. Alien princess is pissed off, causes a crap load of disasters, and threatens to enslave all the humans. To fight the alien princess a professor has invented a formula that can turn a man into a bionic superhero that is indestructible and rid the earth of this life-threatening menace. This Hong Kong film clearly has to be the beginning of ‘Power Rangers’ and people cosplaying because there is just a bunch of weird monsters running around the movie fake fighting. Good, bad, whatever you think I give it 2 stars as this just didn’t flip my switch.

Walking the Edge (DVD) – A title under the Empire Pictures umbrella that you would never expect from them that stars Robert Forester, Joe Spinell, and Nancy Kwan. A gritty revenge flick that starts off with a quick bang as Spinell and his cronies visit Kwan’s home looking for her husband. He shows up and things go bad quick as Spinell shoots the kid and father as Kwan runs off. Now with Kwan on the loose Spinell has some loose ends to tie up. Meanwhile Forester plays a cabbie that runs numbers for the mob and sometimes has a nice streak that doesn’t serve him well in the business he is in. Kwan and Forester cross paths after Kwan collects herself and uses the cab to take her places and gun down the people involved killing her family. A gritty thriller I never heard of until recently that was an excellent watch as I give it 3 stars.

Any comments please send to grossmoviereview@verizon.net 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………

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Gross Movie Reviews #487

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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.

 

Any comments please send to grossmoviereview@verizon.net 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………

Don’t forget you can also hear Kyle Poling, John Shatzer, and me talking about horror flicks on the Bloodbaths and Boomsticks podcast at: www.bloodbathspodcast.blogspot.com .

Plus you can always go to the greatest T-shirt place online or if you are in Texas visit the store of “Fast Custom Shirts” where T-shirt Joe is the only place you should purchase your horror T-shirts: Go to www.fastcustomshirts.com and support!