Welcome to this year's reviewz. Enjoy the list and keep watching movies!
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ALIEN OUTBREAK (2020) recommended!
Dir: Neil Rowe (ROBOT WORLD)
Well done and incredibly creepy! Flawless effects and a great ending. Nice example of what a low budget can do with good ideas and maturity of vision. Very scary physical action in the best John Carpenter sense (think ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13(1976), THE FOG(1980) or THE THING(1982)) Characters desperately trying to fend off an assault, with no resources or information or communication abilities. When they are outdoors they seem utterly vulnerable and exposed and when inside, claustrophobic and trapped. Terrific plot twists I never saw coming. My only complaint is the lead actress casting choice and some of the pacing.
There was a constant motif of the characters leaving doors open behind them in the midst of a siege which seemed unrealistic at points, yet was likely a director's choice to increase audience tension. Typically I love this device (see all things Carpenter again) but it grew on my nerves.
A word on straight-to-streaming Sci-Fi/Horror:
As written above, a good idea and maturity of vision is what makes or breaks a feature film of any stripe. With the advent of so many video-films existing today, there is a deluge of wanna-be's that have some of the necessary elements, but just aren't quite all the way there. In the past, the difficulty and expense of the filmmaking process and the film industry would have likely "selected these out" in a sort of, evolutionary process. Today these films exist mostly to fill air time and empty space on streaming services quite frankly. ALIEN OUTBREAK is a welcome exception to this trend.
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Other features on this year's list like ALIENATE(2016), UFO(2012) and BEYOND(2014) have a similar look and feel, but are not as strong (see all below.) One gets the feeling we are in an age of filmmakers who grew up wanting to make Sci-Fi/Horror films, but don't have good scripts or fresh ideas to work with, yet get their projects green lighted anyway. I constantly feel like I'm suffering through someone's visual-effects demo reel.
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DAS LETZTE LAND (2019) (aka: FINAL VOYAGE) recommended!
Dir: Marcel Barion
Very well done Sci-Fi and Horror/Suspense from Germany with big existential concepts. Reminiscent of SOLARIS(1962) and bits of 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY(1968) and EVENT HORIZON(1997). Two men escape a planet they don't want to be on anymore and conflict over which direction to go. The differing destinations the men bicker over represent the differing views one can take on the world and the meaning of life. Heavy stuff reflecting the enormity of the universe, yet all taking place in one room (the small spacecraft) essentially. Good directing and cinematography by Barion. The acting, casting, production and set design, special effects, sound design and music are all meticulously well done. (FYI, is showing on streaming services as "FINAL VOYAGE".)
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ANTI MATTER (2016) recommended!Dir: Keir Burrows
This one gets high on the list for concepts alone. In the same "quantum anomaly" vein as PRIMER(2004)(see review), COHERENCE(2013)(see review) or ALIEN CODE(2017)(see review), when scientists unlock the key to teleportation, it is not so much their hubris that causes problems as it is fate and chance. Mystery-drama with paranoia-horror elements and sci-fi concepts, all through the point-of-view of the lead scientist who feels she's going mad. Although high-concept, ANTI MATTER dwells on emotions, which is the key to it's success. Lots of heart and character, the ending is emotional!
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SNOWPIERCER (2013)Dir: Jong Boon Ho (PARASITE, THE HOST)
Oscar winning director Jong Boon Ho does it again, bringing us a horror cross-over that is intellectually provocative as well as emotionally high-impact. Bloody and brutal (think BATTLE ROYALE(2000)(see review)), but also not what you think it is. This film starts as a very specific drama of an underclass of people imprisoned on a train trying to escape. As the narrative progresses, we realize the story is not literal but figurative. As the escapees transcend through sections of the train heading for the engine, each section represents levels in society and human nature. Battling their way to the front, what they discover is not at all what they expected. Based on the celebrated graphic novel by Jacques Lob, director Ho weaves satirical and absurdist humor, the action-scene brutality of modern Korean Sci-Fi/Horror and continuous plot-twists to present a genre-bending allegory on human class structure and self-governance. Not for the feint, FYI...
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PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965)
Dir: Mario Bava (LISA AND THE DEVIL, BARON BLOOD, A BAY OF BLOOD)
Bava's much discussed Science Fiction and Horror fusion project that is one of his masterpieces. What the film lacks in story and character it more than makes up for in style and production. Truly a feast for the eyes, VAMPIRES uses Bava's excellence in color, lighting, shadow, production design and costuming to create a truly mesmerizing other-world. It is often referenced that Bava's VAMPIRES was a heavy influence on Ridley Scott's ALIEN(1979) and this would certainly seem to be correct.
Similar to other Sci-Fi greats of the era, most notably FORBIDDEN PLANET(1956), a deep space away team of humans land on a foreign planet only to encounter incredible horrors. In this tale however, it is not a monster of the projected inner-psyche wreaking havoc, but a supernatural presence that re-animates the dead into living zombies. The films' title should have been "Planet of the Undead", not "Vampires" because there are in fact, no vampires or vampirism in the story. The entities behind the undead phenomenon are using the bodies of humans as material vessels, as they themselves are non-corporeal. If we want to stretch the concept of "Vampires" to this end, then perhaps one could make a case (beyond simple marketing strategy) for the awkward title. The question is: what are the aims of these ethereal beings?
Although the plot isn't much more than your standard Star Trek episode, the concepts are interesting and at points, quite original. Something that resonates very clearly is the level of care and sophistication the filmmakers put into this project. One does not feel talked down to by the sensational nature of the film, but rather, like one is in the caring hands of serious artisans. The special-effects in particular seem seriously limited by today's standards, and perhaps cheesy even in their own time; but the craftsmanship involved makes this obvious labor-of-love a joy to watch.
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BARON BLOOD (1972)
Dir: Mario Bava (LISA AND THE DEVIL, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, A BAY OF BLOOD)
Refreshing in this day and age to indulge in an old-school cheezer that has more heart and character in its first reel than most movie studios' entire portfolio. Bava delivers with lighting and cinematography once again. The atmosphere is creepy and foreboding and the hints of the supernatural in our midst keep us deliciously un-nerved throughout. Nothing terribly provocative or original going on here except a terrific castle location and some cheezy effects. Funny how a simple idea told in the right way can be really scary and entertaining!
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THE LIVING DEAD GIRL (1982)Dir: Jean Rollin
A masterpiece in many ways and yet, an utterly low-budget, grindhouse mess. It starts out as the cheesiest of Italian-splatter-Cinema Z-graders (the film is actually American) imagineable, then shapes into a pretty strong drama about love, obsession, co-dependence and identity. If you get past the initial cheeze and take the film with "Motif-Cinema" in mind, its strong themes and story arc are quite rivetting. One of the most abjectly sorrowful endings and portrayals of "personal hell" in memory. See also: DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS(1971)(see review) and ZEDER(1983)(see review).
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ENTITY (2012)
Dir: Steve Stone (SCHISM, IN EXTREMIS)
Very scary and well done! A partially "caught-on-video" movie, but not completely. A team of paranormal investigators journey into an abandoned area of Russia to investigate a government operation that was never fully disclosed to the public. All that is known about "the incident" is that 50 people died and the case was closed. With a medium on board, the team follows her vibes to an old laboratory deep in the woods. The sense of building dread is well cultivated and before the characters even enter the rusted old lab, you know they are stepping into hell. Supernatural forces abound, brought about by cruel Cold-War military experiments and the team must fight to survive. The narrative and action are directed quite well and stand in stark contrast to similar low-budget, video-films that predictably disappoint. The ambience and tension are wonderfully creepy and the ending takes no prisoners. Stone also directed IN EXTREMIS(2017)(see below).
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FLORA (2017)
Dir: Sasha Louis Vukovic
Terrific period piece about a group of university students on a science gig in the Canadian wilderness. Arriving at base camp after paddling up-river for days, the Professor and his crew are nowhere to be found. The kids must piece together clues as to what happened and how they might return to civilization. Turns out there is a closed-ecosystem where endophytes have killed off all Fauna and only plant life remains! Having inhaled the spores for days, the kids know their days are numbered and scramble to mount an escape through uncharted territory in hopes of finding help. Will they survive in time? Is it too late even if they do? Great tension and storytelling in spite of a sluggish first act (with some amateurish audio problems in the sound design). In spite of its Sci-Fi/Horror premise, the film never wanders far from realism and the focus stays on the characters and the Science. No Hollywood ending tacked on either!
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LAKE ARTIFACT (2019)Dir: Bruce Wemple (DAWN OF THE BEAST, THE RETREAT, MONSTROUS, ALTERED HOURS)
Charming enough indy thriller with time-shifting elements. Felt much like Larry Fessenden's BENEATH(2013)(see review) or 2018's THE AXIOM (see below) and sort of picks up where COHERENCE(2013)(see review) leaves off. A group of young friends vacation at a lake side rental house that starts giving them visions. When they try to leave, the road just loops back around to the house again! Are they stuck in time somehow? There are some good bits of humor in the acting performances, which by and large were solid. The narrative is told in a series of documentary interviews about past incidents, while we cut to those incidents playing in real time. There is a slow realization of hidden malevolence that works its way slowly through the story until all is revealed by the time the credits roll. This element was slightly reminiscent of the mood and tone of Roman Polanski's films or Ari Aster's recent MIDSOMMAR(2019)(see review) or HEREDITARY(2018)(see review). As with Wemple's more recent MONSTROUS(2020)(see below), there are points where scenes are purposely left out in order to withhold information, and although not as crude as MONSTROUS, the result is still kind of sloppy.
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LET'S DREAM (2021)Dir: Eric Gorlow
Captivating and somnambular tale of a young man who does not sleep. Fixated on a place in the woods he visited as a child, he returns this site on restless nights. Something is calling him, something from a cave within those woods... After a strange apparition appears to him offering "to help", people start falling into a hypnotic trance and also stop sleeping. Some malevolent force has humanity caught between layers of consciousness and perhaps our young man is the only one fit to try and do something. Interesting ideas and very ambient, pondering feel and pace. (think BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW(2010)(see review) or DONNIE DARKO(2001)(see review)).
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THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE (2015)Dir: Perry Blackshear (THE SIREN)
Interesting drama about a character who has developed schizophrenia and struggles to perceive reality. We get to see the point-of-view of his delusions which makes for the horror element. Wyatt knows he can't trust his own mind, yet must deal with the contents of his conscious experience none the less. Is he crazy or saving his friend from an impending invasion? This dilemma sets up some good tension in that we don't know what this guy will decide to do- and neither does he. Seemingly out of desperation, Wyatt shows up at the doorstep of his old friend Christian, who intuits something is wrong and takes him in. The two set out to find out which of Wyatt's realities is the "really-real." A lost soul himself, Christian even risks his life in order to help his friend find the truth.
In spite of being overly actor driven and purposefully awkward (the film was written and produced by the two lead actors) the story is quite touching. It was also refreshing that both characters were not exactly at their "A-game" so to say. Just two regular dorks trying to find their way through the world. Very Reminiscent of William Friedkin's BUG(2006)(see review).
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THE MOOSE HEAD OVER THE MANTLE (2017)
Dir: Rebecca Comtois, Bryan Enk, Jessi Gotta, Matthew Gray, Shannon K. Hall, Jane Rose
A one-room Theater piece that utilizes Cinema to achieve what Theater cannot do on it's own. A compelling story of a twisted and truly evil family over 100 years, told by scenes that take place in the living room of the family house. These scenes jump back and forth through time to reveal some of the worst privations of this corrupt family and its malevolent acts. All of this is told from three basic camera angles- the point-of-view of stuffed animal heads about the room! The chief view is from a giant and awkward stuffed moose head mounted over the mantle. This eyes of the walls peer in quiet judgment at the acts of the individuals in their midst. An interesting angle on a film that could probably be an actor's-lab theater piece, but without the omniscient judgement-eye-view the camera angles provide. All production is kept to a minimum and any musical score is relegated to ambient effects and background tones.
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WER (2013)
Dir: William Brent Bell (THE DEVIL INSIDE)
Ultra-modern take on werewolves. The production, performances and story are all solid as are the effects, score and direction for the most part. Certianly a mainstream "Hollywood" film rather than any kind of indy effort. Is for this day and age perhaps what AN AMERCIAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON(1981) was for werewolf films of the 1980's.
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IN EXTREMIS (2017)
Dir: Steve Stone (SCHISM, ENTITY)
A man and his wife struggle alone in their remote house to protect their sick daughter as a bizarre storm threatens. Trying in vain to organize everyone to stay inside, Dad is abandoned by the wife who tells him "she just can't do it anymore" and he is left to care for the daughter on his own. Trying to rush into town by car, the storm is impenetrable and Dad and daughter must turn back and barricade themselves in the trembling house. Meanwhile, a shadowy presence haunts the house and tracks the young girl until she finally disappears. Panicked and desperate, Dad wanders into the nearby village, and finds a hospital seemingly frozen in time. He runs about until he discovers an office manager who explains that he can see the girl, but then must leave. You guessed it, turns out Dad is the one dying- from a suicide attempt no less- after his daughter dies of Cancer. This has all been purgatory where he refuses to let go. Turns out this is not the first time this has happened, hence the wife's comment. Can the man comprehend all this in time to wake up and survive? The film is quite compelling as the point-of-view of a dream basically, much like THE SIXTH SENSE(1999) meets JACOB'S LADDER(1990). All is well until the feel-good ending (complete with spiritual pop-song) which is Unforgivable!
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S.U.M.1 (2017)Dir: Christian Pasquariello
Well done and compelling Sci-Fi thriller about a lone soldier manning an outpost in a post-apocalyptic Earth where powerful alien creatures hold dominion. The films' only flaw is in the dramatic arc of its' story. After thinking reality is one way the entire film, only to discover he is completely wrong by the end, the soldier betrays his own resolve. This is the heart of the drama where the story needed to expand and explore itself, rather than be a plot-twisty ending. Leaves us feeling like the movie ends half way. Other than this misfire, the rest of the content is a wonderful play on isolation, perception and societal information culture. The special effects, production design and score are all well done. Very much like the film MOON(2009)(see review). (Also goes by the title: ALIEN INVASION: S.U.M.1 on streaming services)
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ROBOT WORLD (2015)
Dir: Neil Rowe
Super-indy but very clever Sci-Fi mystery from ALIEN OUTBREAK(2020)(see above) director and visual FX wizard Rowe. Charming little tale of a lone astronaut who crash lands on a planet assumed to have intelligent life. The only "life" that seems to be around are robots going on about their business long after all the people have gone. Some good plot twists and really good mechanical robot FX make this very low-tempo narrative enjoyable. Rowe seems to have pulled off a home-grown effort as the credits reveal tons of his family members involved in the production as well as himself in every other role behind the scenes! One super-creepy scene toward the end has a robot walking towards the astronaut in a tunnel that perhaps was the inspiration for Rowe's later effort: ALIEN OUTBREAK. (FYI, the overly done poster has nothing to do with the film and is just some marketing fail)
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KILL COMMAND (2016)
Dir: Steven Gomez
Obviously riffing on video-game aesthetics and culture and very much an A.I. Cinema entry, this actioner delivers some tremendous special-effects thrills and some creepy suspense to go with it. When military robots evolve their own cold and detached, sentient intelligence, a special-ops squad must battle for their lives on a covert island facility.
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THE BLACKOUT (2019) (aka: AVANPOST)
Dir: Egor Baranov & Nathalia Hencker
The first two acts are awesome! Ultra-Modern Sci-Fi/Horror/Action romp from Russia with amazing production values and visuals. (Also goes by the title: THE BLACKOUT: INVASION EARTH on streaming services) Part Stephen King's THE STAND and part Danny Boyle's 28 DAYS LATER(2002). Ending disappoints a bit.
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JULES VERNE'S MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (2005)
Dir: Russell Mulcahy (RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION, RESURRECTION, THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR, HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING, HIGHLANDER, RAZORBACK)
I loved the Charles H. Schneer 1961 version (directed by Cy Enfield) with "SuperDynamation" by Ray Harryhausen; and as a big fan of Mulcahy's music-video legacy, I had to check this out. Made-for-TV in two parts and starring Kyle MacLachlan as a Confederate soldier in the American Civil War who escapes a prison camp in a hot air balloon with a group of others. With no way to control direction of the balloon, the group find themselves on an uncharted island in the South Pacific where they must battle giant sized animals and insects to survive. Along the way they encounter evil pirates looking for lost treasure and run into the mythical Captain Nemo (Patrick Stewart) himself!
The special effects do enough to advance the story but are pretty thin at points. However, the production design and locations are fantastic. Casting and acting are quite solid as is the musical score. A very enjoyable ride, especially for a made-for-TV production. A "Sci-Fi Channel Original" this is not!
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THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (2009)
Dir: C. Thomas Howell (THE GENESIS CODE, THE DAY THE EARTH STOPPED, WAR OF THE WORLDS 2: THE NEXT WAVE)
An ASYLUM straight-to-video production that wasn't awful beyond belief. Another Directed and Starring C. Thomas Howell in a remake of a favorite old-time classic. This time one of Edgar Rice Burroughs "Caspak" series (the first in his trilogy) that is a personal favorite of mine. The screenplay shifted the story only slightly from the 1970's Doug McClure version, but it was interestingly done. Yes the CGI effects were 2nd rate Commodore Amiga 16bit circa 1990, but the rest was solid enough. Acting and casting were lame. Honestly, I rather enjoyed this one. The locations and the production design were all pretty good. Sort of for the younger audiences. I wonder if it was sort of a dream project for Howell, who is roughly my age and likely grew up on this Sci-fi/Fantasy classic as well.
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THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS (1962)
Dir: Wesley Barry
A.I. Cinema way before its time! Awful movie, but great concepts that make it worth a watch. BLADERUNNER meets EX MACHINA meets GHOST IN THE SHELL. Can't believe this one flew under my radar all this time, but I suspect the less-than-par filmmaking had something to do with it. Although the Script and the concepts are on point, the acting is ridiculously stilted and cinematically it is basically a play with a lone camera pointed at the stage. The sets and wardrobe are all great but again, never "breaks the 4th wall". This movie is A MUST SEE for anyone into Cyberpunk-Cinema or A.I. Cinema.
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DAY THE WORLD ENDED (1955)
Dir: Roger Corman
Awesome! Save for some cheesy monster costumes (it's Rog, C'mon), this drama about a small cast of characters in a prepper house after the big fall is terrific. Not unlike George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD(1968), themes of trust and scarcity push humanity to it's limits. Who will survive?
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MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954)
Dir: Wyott Ordung
First film produced by Roger Corman! Cheesy, grindhouse and dated- this film still has more heart than most video-flicks of today. Ocean diver Julie (Anne Kimball) searches for answers to missing persons cases in a rural Mexican cove. Local legends tell of an ancient curse and questions about atomic experiments make our heroine believe there is a creature lurking below. Ding bat scientist boyfriend helps out but doesn't believe her. Turns out, there is a nuclear altered creature (FX are mercifully sparing). Will Julie's interests save the community or will she meet an untimely end? There was actually some good thinking behind the script even if the film is very rough. Themes of hubris, dogma, Science and changing social mores- and an empowered female lead character- speak to the progressive and maverick independence of Corman's early career. Kimball is terrific in the lead role as both actress and accomplished diver. Shot with a skeleton crew over a few days for $12K, and the director doubles as one of the actors as does Corman himself. Floyd Crosby's deep focus Cinematography and composition sense are terrific. Despite the run-and-gun nature of the production, there are no hand-held shots to cut corners, all the shots are locked down and done the hard way. Bravo!
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DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN (1961)
Dir: Sidney J. Furie
Solid Brit-Horror (not from Amicus or Hammer!) about missing persons in a rural, coastal town. The local doctor's office keeps getting broken into and shortly after, the Doc's son returns home from Med School. Doctor Blood's new assistant Linda, quickly falls for Dr. Blood, Jr. and romance ensues! However, our gal grows suspicious when Junior rants on about modern medicine not being "open" to his experiments. Is there a connection to him and the town's recent troubles? Junior thinks he's found a potion that can help him reincarnate the dead, but it becomes clear these are his obsessive delusions, not real Science. Refusing to gel with reality, Junior takes Linda hostage in his underground lab in the nearby mines. Will the local Sheriff and Doc Sr. be able to get there in time? Unlike Dr. Frankenstein, who punishes himself for his errors of hubris and wishes he could undo his deeds; young Doctor Blood insists his maniacal, narcissistic visions can come true. The ending climax cleverly shows us events through Junior's point-of-view, but does not commit to portraying them as actually real.
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THE MAGNETIC MONSTER (1953)Dir: Curt Siodmak
Charming "Yay Science!" drama about scientists trying to figure out and stop bizarre magnetization incidents. A rogue university professor succeeds in producing a new fundamental element that sucks energy and then doubles in size (leaving all things metal in a hyper-magnetized state). In short order, this element will be dense enough to rock the Earth's gravitational balance, in which case all life on Earth will end! Racing the clock, the team hustles through many experiments with many pieces of cutting-edge, space-age equipment (lol), the emphasis always on the miracles of Science! Flying to Canada to use the worlds largest electric generator, our heroes try and bring the mystery element to an inert state, but will they be too late? Very similar in style and smarts as THE MONOLITH MONSTERS(1957)(see review), CRACK IN THE WORLD(1965)(see review) and THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED(1957)(see review).
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GOG (1954)
Dir: Herbert L. Strock
One long explanation of technical and scientific processes and space-age polymers and 15min of plot at the very end. Nothing to hate and quite a fun watch and well produced. I love Atomic Age buttons and levers and underground-fortresses (think THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN(1971) or THE MAGNETIC MONSTER(1953)(see above)) but this one takes it about two acts too long. Felt almost like a live-action version of THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!(1966). The ending climax is actually quite compelling save for some cheesy robot props (Gog and Magog make Doctor Who's Daleks seem super high-tech). Good production design and technicolor and tons of expository dialogue turn-key ready for MST3K!
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QUANTA (2019)
Dir: Nathan Dalton
Slightly Sci-Fi drama about Science ethics. When a professor with a world-changing formula for communications technology can't get a sponsor to fund a prototype device, he is paired with a young polymath grad student. Working together the duo are finally able to complete the professor's career-long project and their prototype detects a signal from intelligent life not of the Earth! Full of himself and lacking the maturity to know better, the cocky kid publishes their findings on the internet. Not only does this put them in the spotlight of the global media, and risk the professor's still un-published work being scooped- but turns out the professor was still under contract from the company he previously worked for, who own the rights to his discovery. All legal and academic hell breaks loose. Given the implausible nature of the discovery, the news is successfully spun as a conspiracy hoax, buying everyone some time. When the corporation confiscates the device they offer the professor a job working for them on his own discovery- the ultimate humiliation. However, when the professor discovers that his former employer is using the research for ill gains, he takes the job in order to stay inside the loop. Will he expose them and thus put himself in legal jeopardy and lose his work forever? Will he stay on and finally complete his work but with compromised ends? Will the lure of a fully funded lab for his life-long pursuits overcome his inner principles?
The narrative drama is pretty harsh as the good professor is constantly having to choose between bad and worse just to do important, humanitarian work. All in all, a good drama about high-stakes Academia and the Scientific Method. The alien signal is merely a plot device and not the point of the film, which keeps the story realistic.
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TIME TRAP (2017)
Dir: Mark Dennis & Ben Foster
Pretty fun adventure a la Jules Verne or Edgar Rice Burroughs. An obsessed geology professor explores a rural desert cave in search of a family that went missing in the 1960's. Turns out this family was obsessed with finding the "Fountain of Youth" and believed it to really exist. Now the professor has gone missing as well and it is up to his students to search for him. Finding the cave, they make their descent, but when they re-emerge to the surface, decades of time have passed! The cave sustains some bizarre temporal anomalies that appear to freeze things in time, thus the myths of "everlasting youth." With no choice but to explore deeper into the caverns, the kids do in fact find the Fountain- it is real! They also discover the answer to the missing family- they were the professor's parents! In the depths of the cavern, everyone is found- the professor, his parents and family, as well as various lost souls from other periods of time. Cowboys and Conquistadors are frozen in time battling with ancient cavemen. When all seems lost, an alien traveler from outside shows up to take some of the water from the Fountain. Unphased by the time distortions, is this being a further evolved human from the future? Turns out he is and a hovering spacecraft pulls everyone up out of the cavern through some liquid portal and they all end up together in the same vector of time, on some Earth orbiting space station where human civilization has retreated to in the future. Sort of wished the film had continued from there but that was the end.
The film is smartly done and really kind of plays to a younger crowd. Some good conceptual ideas, the mystery aspect is engaging and the special effects are solid.
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THE AXIOM (2018)
Dir: Nicholas Woods
Compelling and creepy idea that, like most video-films today, sort of runs out of gas in the third act. Group of folks enter a forest that is a parallel reality they cannot find their way out of. Makes you really wish the filmmakers had a complete idea, not just part of one, before endeavoring to make a movie.
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TREEHOUSE (2014)
Dir: Michael G. Bartlett (THE ZOMBIE DIARIES 1 & 2, THE PARANORMAL DIARIES: CLOPHILL)
Started out ok, certainly adeptly made- but the pacing- ugh! Someone get out and push! A town goes into lockdown when some kids go missing, which seems to be a once in a while recurring problem for the town. Meanwhile, a rebellious teen and his brother defy curfew to go out in to the deep woods to set off some fireworks. When the fireworks display reveals an old treehouse way up high, the two go exploring, only to find one of the missing kids hiding inside.
Almost interesting angle that in the first two-acts of the film, the villains are treated as presumably supernatural figures of evil. We see these human-like, demon things in silhouette or in inferential ways but not directly. This is actually quite scary and begs the imagination in many directions. By the third act, these villains are revealed to be just some dastardly young men from a ferel family at the other side of the forest. This film could have easily cut its screen time in half. The acting left something to be desired (director and editor's fault) and the inner stories of the characters was tacked on and mostly implausible. The ending was atrocious (same ending as John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS pretty much) as the two survivors decide to arm-up and kick-ass! Followed by the obligatory rock music track over the end credits. Duh.
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AFTER WE LEAVE (2019)
Dir: Aleem Hossain
Compelling enough genre-splicing blend of Dystopian Sci-Fi and mobster drama. Slow and dry, the story follows an ex local mob tough who has burned too many bridges but wants to get his life in order. In the near future, the Earth has been deemed to be on a slow path toward becoming inhabitable for humans. Colonies have been establish in space, but only for those who are married couples drawn from a lottery. Estranged from his wife, our hero's number comes in. In order to get on the away ship, he must find and reconcile with his wife, which takes him straight through the mob family he has forsaken. Will he be able to square up a troubled past in order to secure a future? The escaping off-World motif is a good stand-in for the idea of one's future leaving them behind (hence the affecting poster of a man watching the rockets leave without him.) Not a stand out film but solidly made and never talks down to its audience.
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BEYOND (2014)
Dir: Joseph Baker & Tom Large
Interesting Sci-Fi/Horror angle that is not unlike a zombie apocalypse genre entry, only is actually a psychological drama. A young couple's love relationship is shown in flashbacks while the present day is a post alien-invaded Earth on the brink. The relationship has gone sour as the two continue an empty day to day quest for survival as resources grow thin. The two turn on each other, doubt one another and sabotage each other's ends even in spite of their own needs. How can a relationship this toxic survive? Should it at all? It should be no surprise that the ending reveals that the guy has been in a coma the entire time and the film was his abstract dreams about his own life. He awakens to find that he is still in the relationship, but perhaps with a fresh perspective and a second chance.
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A.I. 187 (2020) (aka: THE PALMER SUPREMACY)
Dir: Billy Dickson
Somewhat engaging drama of a near future where a single computer chip can change and control the world. Deals with human ethics, corporate corruption and future Science and progress. Cut down to feature length from a CGI web series. On streaming as "A.I. 187"
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ALIENATE (2016)Dir: Michael Shumway
The poster is completely misleading, it is not some BATTLE: LOS ANGELES(2011)(see review) or INDEPENDENCE DAY(1996) type action romp. This is a more character-driven, very sparce indy flick about a post-invasion Earth. The title "Alienate" has a double meaning as the survivors of a post-invasion Earth must learn who they can trust to stand with; and that some things are more important than survival. More of a sociological drama than explicitly Horror/Sci-Fi.
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BATS (1999)
Dir: Louis Morneau (CARNOSAUR 2)
At least it was a traditional drive-in horror flick, which is refreshing even if bad because it's still better than the straight-to-streaming crap of today. The LA BAMBA guy stars (Lou Diamond Phillips).
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TERMINATION (2019)
Dir: John Carlin, Alice Nicolini
Anthology of Sci-Fi shorts that felt a bit like Ray Bradbury's novel "The Martian Chronicles". The common thread with each piece being the moral philosophy of identity.
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EYES BEHIND THE STARS (1978)
Dir: Mario Gariazzo (VERY CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FOURTH KIND, ENTER THE DEVIL)
Cashing in on the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND(1977) craze of the time, this low-budgeter is lame but far scarier than the UFO films of today. It's interesting comparing this film and its naive charms from the late 70's to all that has come since. A lot has been lost.
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IF THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE TO WATCH...
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UFO (2012) (aka: ALIEN UPRISING)
Dir: Dominic Burns
A group of young, English suburbanites endure an alien invasion of the Earth. Part paranoia film, part human drama. Could've been better. Pacing needed to step up. Features Jean Claude Van Damme in a bit part as a straight actor (he's in one fight scene for good measure.) On streaming services as "ALIEN UPRISING".
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THE RIFT (1990)
Dir: J.P. Simon (LA ISLA EL DIABLO, CTHULHU MANSION, SLUGS, PIECES, EXTRA TERRESTRIAL VISITORS, SATAN'S BLOOD, WHERE TIME BEGAN)
Straight-to-video, drive-in fun. A submarine on a secret mission is sent through a rift deep in the ocean on what they think is a rescue mission, only to find they've been sent on a clean-up operation. Turns out the military has created a deep-sea laboratory in the shadows of the rift. Tampering with biology to try and create a hybrid creature as a war weapon (just like with ALIEN LOCKDOWN(2014) reviewed below), scientists let loose a rogue, parasitic blob-like species that goes rogue. Courage and sacrifices must be made by the team in order to keep the species from reaching the surface and threaten the world! Low-budget cheezer that actually has ok effects and a decent story.
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LORDS OF THE DEEP (1989)
Dir: Mary Ann Fisher
I'm giving it some credit for being a decent "drive-in" flick in the old-school tradition. Although cheezy and straight-to-VHS, it required efforts of filmmaking the likes of which have disappeared in this day and age. Miniature effects and optical effects were bountiful as were sets and costumes and props. Although a Roger Corman cheeze-tacular, it had more charm than anything on the "skip" list for sure.
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THE PHOENIX INCIDENT (2015)
Dir: Keith Arem (ELEVEN ELEVEN)
Better-than-most found-footage flick about 4 friends who go missing in Arizona during the famous "Phoenix Lights" phenomenon. Loosely based on actually disappearances, the film stretches the mystery into a story about a government cover-up of a battle in the desert with alien space crafts. Told in flashbacks with interviews and home-video footage, the 4 friends happen into the incident and after an alien craft crashes, are pursued by ruthless pachaderm-esque alien creatures who eat them! The special effects are top notch (director comes from video game world) and the creepy element of military planes flying about build terrific tension. The acting needed to be reigned in a bit as the 4 dudes yell and holler a bit much and a side-story about a weird cult leader in the desert is unnecessarily brutal. I'm always a bit put off by movies that sensationalize real-life tragedies to fatten up their narratives.
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HORIZON (2019)
Dir: Paul Dudbridge & Simon Pearce
Edited down to a feature length movie from an internet original series. Very much like ALIEN UPRISING(aka: UFO)(2012)(see below) in the first act, a group of British friends survive an alien invasion as the world loses its mind and chaos takes over. In the second and third acts, the story drifts into a pretty cheesy time-travel sub-plot. The ending has the cast uncovering an ancient mystery about two alien species at war.
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OCCUPATION (2018)
Dir: Luke Sparke
Australian rural town endures global alien invasion. Alien shock troops and hover crafts take out anyone in plain site. Community members ban together to form a roving commune to stay alive, while trying to mount some sort of defense. Meeting up with the military, the group tries one last stand against the invading army. Pretty much a made-for-TV INDEPENDENCE DAY(1996). There is a sequel entitled OCCUPATION: RAINFALL(2020)
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THE DEVICE (2014)
Dir: Jeremy Berg
Misleading poster has nothing to do with the movie. Sisters return to a summer house where one was abducted by aliens as a child. They find a small sphere in the mud and bring it back home to the suburbs. Sure enough it tracks aliens to them and the sisters must relive traumas from childhood all over. Compelling for two acts and the ending falls apart. Creature FX are cheezy and unnecessary, bringing the whole film down a notch. Also, ending is really abrupt. High point is the abducted sister telling her abduction story, pretty creepy.
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THE LAST LIGHT (2014)
Dir: Andrew Hyatt (ALL THOSE SMALL THINGS, PAUL: APOSTLE OF CHRIST, FULL OF GRACE, FROZEN)
Interesting spiritual-horror piece in spite of it's B-grade appearance. A man tries to keep a small group of apocalypse survivors safe in a barricaded old hospital while unknown creatures roam outside. Themes of guilt, penance and forgiveness abound. As the resolves of each character erode, plot twists are revealed. Edward Furlong co-stars and Jeff Fahey gives the best performance I have seen from his career. Similar in scope and feel to the failed efforts ATTACK OF THE UNKNOWN(2020)(see below) or WARRIORS OF TERRA(2006)(see below) which also co-starred Furlong; combined with say, the spiritual element of JACOB'S LADDER (1990).
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EARTHLING (2010)
Dir: Clay Liford
Strange and charming drama about a group of aliens in human form stuck on the Earth. Slimy slugs in their true form, these beings emerged from a space-pod that drifted into the International Space Station and possessed one of the astronauts. On Earth, the aliens invade human forms as symbionts. Slowly, the aliens become self-aware and yearn to merge again with the pod, bringing them together from various corners. The story focuses on one of the aliens, in the form of a female school teacher who ends up in a lesbian love relationship with one of her students, who turns out to be her "husband" from their alien former lives. Although the drama arc of the film is strong, the rest seems rather un-contoured and it's hard to tell if the film is an analog of sex and gender identity or what. The performances were strong and there was a lot of emotion but in service of what is unclear. Similar in feel to FROM THE DEPTHS(2020)(see below).
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LOST TIME (2014)
Dir: Christian Sesma
Starts out as an alien abduction film, then turns into a weird story about being trapped in a cult. Overzealous acting makes this low-budget misfire louder than it needs to be. Ending is super cheezy, new-age nonsense.
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BEYOND WHITE SPACE (2018)
Dir: Ken Locsmandi
Visual-effects maestro Ken Locsmandi delivers a Sci-Fi actioner full of high-end special effects and dense production values. One of those films that kicks in as if a sequel to a previous film that isn't. Sort of a Captian-Ahab tale of an obsessed space pilot hunting a dragon creature outside of known space. Motley crew of underworld anti-hero characters are as harsh as the plot lines, where desperate people in a desperate future sacrifice everything for a shot at rare treasure.
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AREA Q (2011)
Dir: Gerson Sanginitto
Mildly charming yarn about a has-been journalist who takes a job investigating UFO phenomena in a South American town. The region is known as "Area Q" due to its off-the-charts record of UFO sightings and alien-abduction legends that date back hundreds of years. A slow but sure investigation is compelling enough, along with some flashback scenes, but the film is more of a drama than anything special-effects oriented (similar to SIGHTINGS(2017) reviewed below.) Sadly, the ending turns into a bit of a feel-good Hallmark card (ugh) complete with unforgivable pop-music ending track. Could've been ok but they blew it. As with the same year's CURSE OF THE MAYANS (see above), one gets the sense the movie was more about trying to sell the indigenous culture of the particular Latin-American region than anything Sci-Fi.
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INVASION UFO (1974)
Dir: Gerry Anderson & Tomblin Summers Frankel
Very much in the style of 60's Brit "Space Age" TV shows like Thunderbird Are Go!, this Sci-Fi drama sort of blends the James Bond/Get Smart secret agent milieu of the times with alien-conspiracy intrigue. It really felt like the debut feature of an episodic for television, even though wasn't. A super hi-tech government agency guards the Earth from alien invaders who randomly show up and steal human bodies. The story centers around the commander of this secret organization and just sort of abruptly ends at some point. You get the feeling it was just about the kitchy effects and production design and no one cared about a story really. Technicolor fun! but pretty silly. This was in an era where style kind of subbed for substance, and the results do not date very well.
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BOA (2002)
Dir: -
What this had going for it if anything was that it all takes place in a lab facility in Antarctica. This allowed for the cheezy concept, cheezy FX and cheezy story to kind of work as a C-grade drive-in flick. Didn't hate it, but...
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ALIEN LOCKDOWN (2014) (aka: CREATURE)
Dir: Tim Cox
Another C-lister with a "trapped in a lab in Antarctica" angle, this drive-in flick actually does well with what it has. CGI effects are entry-level but minimal, practical effects are surprisingly effective. Special forces "clean-up" unit drops into a lab where genetically created creatures have run amok. Lots of plot twists and lots of guns and futuristic location design. Martin Kove and John Savage co-star. Silly but fun if you're drunk and bored. (FYI, being marketed on streaming services as "CREATURE".)
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FROM THE DEPTHS (2020)
Dir: Jose Montesinos
Psychological drama about a woman who survived a shark attack that took the lives of her boyfriend and sister. Her survivor guilt manifests in hallucinations of a shark following her everywhere as well as the undead versions of BF and Sis! (a la AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). Seeking relief from her therapist as well as her new found girlfriend, our tortured hero tries to find a way to put her fears to reast. Big ending twist shocker a la JACOB'S LADDER(1990). There is even an homage to SNL's famed "Land Shark" sketch from the 1970's!
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THE GRACEFIELD INCIDENT (2017)Dir: Mathieu Ratthe
I'm sparing this from the "skip" list simply because there were some decent moments of freaky tension in the second act. A guy with an iPhone camera in his fake eye (duh) and his filmmaker friends (duh) stay in a house in the woods where weird sightings have been occurring. Turns out it's aliens and the group all do everything stupid you can imagine and get themselves in trouble. There is a lot of screaming and we want them all to die. (Writer/Director Ratthe is also the lead actor btw.) The film takes some cues and even some direct shots from SIGNS(2002). Everyone needlessly runs around the woods where it is most dangerous (see CATSKILL PARK(2018)(see review)) and in a nearby cornfield with crop circles. The freaky parts come when at night everyone is hunkered down in the house but clearly the aliens are inside the house! (see GREY SKIES(2010)(see review)) The dialog and acting are bad, especially since most of the dialogue is over-dubbed since the scenes are mostly hand-held "caught on tape" style. The ending is sappy and the whole thing could've been done better but it was all rushed and sensationalist. The spaceship at the end is clearly an homage to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND(1977) as can be seen on the poster.
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SIGHTINGS (2017)
Dir: Dallas Morgan
Conspiracy theories merge in this straight-to-streaming entry about a family haunted by an alien in the woods on their property. Turns out, it's the monster is a "Bigfoot", and Bigfoot creatures are actually aliens! Cheezy but compelling because the lead actor is quite good. All is well and suspenseful until the final action, in which nothing is shown which kills the effort. The filmmakers banked on "what you don't see is even more scary" as a work-around for their lack of budget and effects, but it failed. Also, the score which is wonderful in its composition but not a good choice for the film, is horribly mis-used with inappropriate music cues that take one completely out of the drama. Might have been an ok flick if not for the failed climax.
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BE AFRAID (2017)
Dir: Drew Gabreski
Family moves to new house near an old train tunnel in the woods where malevolent forces wreak devilish influences. Played like a bit like a Hallmark Hall of Fame TV drama. Happy family comes together, etc. Ending a bit melodramatic, then nice brutal twist. I dunno, didn't hate it. Evil ghoul costumes dumb.
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SINGULARITY (2017)
Dir: Robert Kouba
Skynet de-caf. Big-budget barf. Pass...
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PORTAL (2019)
Dir: Dean Alioto
Ghost hunter TV show tries to find a real haunted house and they do, but before the spooks start, they fake the results and then everything gets confused. Heather Langenkamp co-stars. Meh.
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BOOK OF MONSTERS (2018)
Dir: Stewart Sparke (THE CREATURE BELOW)
As the overly-articulated poster hints, this film is a big loud genre mess that takes itself way too seriously. A Joss Whedon wanna-be project, this feature bets the house on its audience coming-along-for-the-ride with a winking splatterfest that riffs on grindhouse tropes and B-grade guilty-pleasure treasures. However, the result is nothing but a big, very loud FAIL. When you have a good idea and it doesn't work out, at least you have your good idea. When you bet on trends and it fails, you've got nothing.
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MONSTROUS (2020)Dir: Bruce Wemple (THE RETREAT, LAKE ARTIFACT, ALTERED HOURS)
Bigfoot horror. This time, it's murderous lesbians (yes that trope again.) Pretty good drama about two young women who road trip together and end up in a love tryst with murderous ramifications. The lead girl is out to find out what happened to a missing friend and suspects her fellow traveler of knowing something about it. Turns out this traveler girl who our hero befriends and eventually falls for, is in fact, a serial killer who murdered the missing friend. All of this is ok enough as a drama, but Bigfoot is thrown into the mix and is obviously meant as some stand in for inner-evil or "the monster in us all" or some such, but I couldn't quite track it. Anyhoo, "Squatch" kills the bad girl and rescues the good girl. I guess Bigfoot is some arbiter of moral justice, who knew? I guess if you're a lesbian who can't deal you end up like Bigfoot(?) only you get killed by Bigfoot(?) Um, ok...? The only other character is the lead girls' guy-friend, a bumbling, ineffective male who shows up too late and too impotent to affect the plot.
I have to say, ONCE AGAIN the "murderous lesbian" thing is tired. I understand the complaints about this from the GLBT community; and at the same time I defend horror tropes like these, when used effectively. I dunno. (see also: BASIC INSTINCT(1992) and HIGH TENSION(2005))(see review.))
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The casting and acting of the two lead girls is very good as is the camera work and overall production. The monster effects (guy in a hiary suit) are actually quite good as well and were photographed cleverly and sparingly enough to not be cheesy. There is a big technical problem in the opening scene however. A tense action sequence ends with several missing shots key to the storytelling, rendering the scene unintelligible. I almost hit STOP on the video and watched something else, but I stuck with the film anyway. Later at the climax, it is revealed through flashback what the missing shots would have told. So it was all a choice by the filmmakers to purposely leave those shots out in order to withhold information for a later plot reveal. BIG MISTAKE! The cost of this choice is too high. Leaving your opening scene unintelligible is never the way to go about it and will likely cost you audience "walking out" on the film. Perhaps the edit choice was a "save" because some footage couldn't be used or something, but all told, the scene didn't work.
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XIBALBA (2017) (aka: CURSE OF THE MAYANS)
Dir: Joaquin Rodriguez (YO SOY PEPITO, TIME WARRIOR, 666:THE BEGINNING OF THE END)
Very well done in terms of cinematography, casting and acting and overall direction. The problem is that the film seems like it uses a light Sci-Fi/Horror premise as an excuse to make a movie about (1) a scuba diving team (2) indigenous cultures of Latin America. Although the story is compelling until the end, the final reveal and action are z-grade at best and everything falls apart. All for nothing! Should've made a documentary instead.
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HUNTING GROUNDS (2015)
Dir: John Portanova
Bigfoot yarn about a young guy stuck with his drunk Dad in the woods when Dad's dumb friends come to visit. Good story element about how people can be really dumb, but acting needed to be a lot better. Not sure why a horror film needs to be about a disaffected father/son relationship (broken family motif, blah, blah...) We've already seen ORDINARY PEOPLE(1980) thanks. Hairy Bigfoot costumes silly but fun. You just wish the kid would grow a pair of balls already and start shooting stuff. The kid must put up with three annoying adults and there are (shocker) three big foots. Will baby boy pull the trigger? No, he learns to put the gun down and practice peace and acceptance. Poor Bigfoot just wanted to be left alone! Maybe the kid will find his dick in the sequel.
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SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK lll (1999)
Dir: Daniel Zelik Berk
I liked the small-group-trapped-in-arctic-bunker set-up (John Carpenter's THE THING(1982)) but there was little explanation as to the whole undead angle (I have not seen the prequels) so not good as a stand-alone film. The ending was silly. Felt like one of those WARLOCK movies.
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MIND RIPPER (1995) (aka: THE OUTPOST)
Dir: Joe Gayton
Lance Henricksen stars in this low-budget lamer about a science crew in a desert bunker who fend off an undead creature from an experiment gone wrong. Saved from death, a man found in the desert is injected with a prototype virus that is part of a military super-soldier program. The virus saves the man but biologically evolves him into a super strong being that wants to feed on brains! Slowly stalking and capturing each member of the lab, the creature sucks their brains out through a toothed appendage that snakes out of its mouth. Silly effects and premise make for a straight-to-video yawn-fest. Also re-marketed as "WES CRAVEN'S MIND RIPPER" and also "THE HILLS HAVE EYES 3".
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DARKNESS WAITS (2020)
Dir: Libby McDermott (DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW)
A very "homemade" super indy film that seems more like a class project than a feature film. Some local video-bloggers on the hunt for supernatural bumps-in-the-night encounter a psychopath on the Appalachian trail. A local sheriff on his first week on the job must deal with the murder of the students as well as anyone working the case with him. A corrupt mayor stands between the sheriff and doing what is right. Although clunky, uneven and half-baked- the ending is actually quite strong! The heart of the film is about politics and personal integrity more than any horror elements- which were frankly awful. The film plays almost like an unofficial sequel to McDermott's previous effort DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW(2013).
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THE TERROR WITHIN (1989)
Dir: Thierry Notz (WATCHERS ll)
Bunch of scientists stuck in an underground lab in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Might have been a guilty-pleasure drive-in cheezer were it not for the dreadful creature "FX" (guy in bad costume) that renders this lamer from just bad to worthless.
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ATTACK OF THE UNKNOWN (2020)
Dir: Brandon Slagle (THE DAWN, AREA 51 CONFIDENTIAL, VIVID, SUBJECT 87)
Aliens attack Los Angles and some burnt-out SWAT cops battle to survive. I agreed with a reviewer said, "certainly bad but compelling enough I couldn't stop watching for some reason." Alien effects were beyond cheezy, cheap-ass and dumb, but the story about loyalty, sacrifice and regrets could've worked if the editor cut about 1/4th of the film out to shore up the horribly slow timing. It wasn't until the last 10min of the film that I recognized the very grizzled and worn lead actor was Johnny Greico, who actually wasn't half bad.
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AE APOCALYPSE EARTH (2013)
Dir: Thunder Levin (GEO DISASTER, AMERICAN WARSHIPS)
The Asylum and Richard Greico again. It's basically riffing on the original THE PLANET OF THE APES(1968). I almost spared this Z-grader from the "skip" list simply because it's concepts weren't all bad, but alas- no.
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DARK ISLAND (2010)
Dir: Sam Gorski & Niko Pueringer
C-grade made-for-TV movie about an away team sent to an island where corrupt scientists have created some anomolous smoke creature run amok. Cheezy and bad with over-zealous actors.
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BATTLE OF LOS ANGLES (2011)
Dir: Mark Atkins (MONSTER ISLAND, JURASSIC SCHOOL, ALIEN ORIGINS)
More Asylum garbage. Nia Peeples stars and is the only actor to do any acting in the film.
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INVASION PLANET EARTH (2019)
Dir: Simon Cox
An almost, semi-passable Sci-Fi thriller (if everything about it were different and it was a different film) until the the dumb, New-Age, feel-good, Hollywood ending.
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THE RIFT: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (2017)
Dir: Dejan Zecevic (OFFENDERS, THE ENEMY, THE FOURTH MAN)
Incoherent mess with a unbelievably bad soundtrack. I've never seen a movie that uses the wrong music for its soundtrack and at the most inappropriate times (aka: "music cues") Also the slow pacing is unbearable.
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WARRIORS OF TERRA (2006)
Dir: Robert Wilson
Meh. Edward Furlong and some irredeemably douchey youngsters break into an underground lab to protest animal rights, only to find a biologically weaponized creature that stalks and liquifies them.
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BOG (1979)
Dir: Don Kesslar
Meh.
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DARK SPACE (2013)
Dir: Emmett Callinan
Meh.
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BATTLEFIELD 2025 (2020)
Dir: Joseph Mbah
Amateur effort, not even film-student quality. Somehow I watched it all. Passages literally reminded me of Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE(1957). The piece could've been improved about 80% from "bad" to "just awful" had there been any decent directing of the actors. As is usual for these Z-graders, the pacing was awful and the editor should be shot. The overall concept was dumb, the effects silly, the script bad, the ideas ridiculous. Other than that it was great.
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XENOPHOBIA (2019)
Dir: Joe Castro, Thomas J. Churchill, Steven Escobar
Silly excuse for make-up effects, alien-invasion schlock movie. Told as flashbacks in a series of shorts with different directors. Brinke Stevens co-stars and puts in the only thing close to an acting performance.
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NO GOOD HEROES (2016)
Dir: Johnny Xeno
One of the weirdest films I've seen in ages. What seems like perhaps an interesting, downplayed approach to a story about aliens in our midst is really just bad filmmaking. If there was allegory to be found, I certainly didn't find it. Pacing was painfully sluggish as well. If the title is any indication, I think the film was supposed to about how all the characters were irredeemable. What I know for sure is that they all did dumb things and I didn't care about any of them and the ending was an enormous "so what?"
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ROBOT WARS (1993)
Dir: Albert Band DOCTOR MORDRID, GHOULIES ll, DRACULA'S DOG, I BURY THE LIVING)
Review coming soon!
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THE COLONY (aka: THE ADVANCED GUARD)
Dir: Peter Geiger (40 DAYS AND NIGHTS)
This Z-grade, tongue-in-cheek, made-for-TV, Sci-Fi drama is difficult to describe. At once, cheezy and awful, the film seems to be sufficiently aware of itself enough that it's hard to bash it too much. Stock cut-aways to a naked girl in slow-mo are tacked in for no reason (an "R" rating?) leading one to believe this feature to be a rare outing from some soft-core porn outfit(?) With the dramatic heart of say, an episode of Star Trek, the premise and ideas are poignant, but all too tired. Somehow I couldn't stop watching. Anyway, I saw it.
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THE KILLINGS AT OUTPOST ZETA (1980)
Dir: Robert Emenegger & Allan Sandler
Review coming soon!
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SHOCKWAVE (aka: A.I. ASSAULT) (2006)
Dir: Jim Wynorski
Far be it from me to give a project from cheez-meister Jim Wynorski a good review, so I won't. What I will say is: the CGI effects were surprisingly good for such a stinker as this, especially for 2006. "Good" as in, cheap fun. Obviously based on the Tripods from H.G. Wells THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, several military A.I. machines go rogue on a South Pacific island. The production is lame but the robot FX hooked me into watching the entire thing. Michael Dorn, Bill Mumy and Robert Picardo are in the cast and George Takai and Alexandra Paul and make appearances.
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SHOCKWAVE DARKSIDE (2016)
Dir: Jay Weisman
I got through the first third. A green-screen and some props does not a movie make. Bill Sage used to be in Hal Hartley films, ouch.
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MARTIAN LAND (2015)
Dir: Scott Wheeler (AVALANCHE SHARKS, SINBAD AND THE FURIES, SINK HOLE, ATTACK OF THE KILLER DONUTS)
The Asylum again...
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DON'T SPEAK (2020)
Dir: Scott Jeffrey (CUPI, CLOWN DOLL, THE FINAL SCREAM, THE BAD NUN)
Pretty sure the pacing could not have been worse. This sucked.
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