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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"Insecticidal" review

Insecticidal (2005)

Directed by Jeffery Scott Lando
Writing credits Jeff O'Brien

Meghan Heffern .... Cami
Rhonda Dent .... Josi
Samantha McLeod .... Sophi
Shawn Bachynski .... Martin
Vicky Huang .... Fumi
Travis Watters .... Mitch

A sorority house is under attack from giant insects. The one geeky girl in the house, (who looks pretty good to me), is playing around with bugs in the basement. But like all would be B-movie scientists, her crazy experiment must go awry. The bugs mutate into super sized critters and want to eat some sorority babes.

OK, seriously. I think I could have made these giant bug effects.Actually, I probably could have paid a ten year old to crank them out. There was nothing special about these effects. Half the movie is spent having the cast react to these cheap effects. They don’t look convinced. I’m not convinced. The filmmakers weren't convinced. So we all agree. These effects stink. Sure there’s suspension of disbelief, but I didn’t believe for one second that there was anything remotely hostile attacking these people.

It’s a shame that they didn’t spend more than $20 bucks on their monster effects because “Insecticidal” starts off like a B-flick I’d get into. We get sorority girls making out, getting close in the shower, making out some more and various other scenes of sorority babes partying.I was rooting for “Insecticidal” to be a winner. But staring at those cheap-o effects attacking an unconvincing cast sunk the movie for me. “Insecticidal” has its good points but it’s just not fun enough to recommend a viewing.

One last thought. Why didn’t the blonde girl with the largest breasts get naked? Why? Almost every other girl got topless except the one who really should have. She was heaving throughout the whole movie but still didn’t feel the need to undress. Why I say?Why oh why!?

SCORE: 2 out of 4 giant rampaging cheap effects attacking WHY?!!

"Live Feed" review

Live Feed (2006)

Directed by Ryan Nicholson
Writing credits Roy Nicholson Ryan Nicholson

Mike Bennett .... The Giant
Greg Chan .... The Butcher
Stephen Chang .... The Boss
Taayla Markell .... Emily
Kevan Ohtsji .... Miles
Rob Scattergood .... Darren
Ashley Schappert .... Sarah

They say that every decade gets the horror movies they deserve. This is especially true of B-movies. The really smart B-movies try to find a popular trend and exploit it for all it’s worth. So in these cynical, violent times we get “Hostel” and the “Saw” movies as horror entertainment. Just in case we can’t get enough torture and mayhem, along comes “Live Feed” to inflict more pain and suffering on us. You know you love it.

Five friends are vacationing in an Asian country. They stop in at one of the local bars only to be tossed out after insulting the local Triad boss. On the way back to the hotel, they decide to rebound by checking out an all night porno theater. Once inside, the fiends pounce. The Triad boss sets up a Live Feed so he can watch the tourists get tortured for his pleasure. He keeps a giant leather bound psycho on the payroll for just such occasions.
“Live Feed” is a B-movie knock-off of “Hostel”. You may have thought “Hostel” was a B-movie to begin with but then “Live Feed” appears to show you how far they can stretch a dollar. And some necks.

“Live Feed” is a pretty sleazy movie. There’s plenty of nudity, girls are tortured in sick and inventive ways and the blood gushes by the gallon. So yes, as you can imagine, I loved every second of it! It says a lot about me that I connected with this movie as hard as I did. “Live Feed” is a good example of how B-movies can shine. If you can show things that the normal horror flicks wouldn’t do, then you’ve got something special. Here’s a good sleaze example:

*SLEAZY GORE SPOILER*

So one of the girls gets captured by the giant leather-bound behemoth. They decide to stick a large pipe down her throat. Naturally, the next step is to shove a small snake down her windpipe. As the snake makes its way through her body, the large maniac sticks her in the ribs with his machete. Guess what wiggles through her ribcage? When I saw that snake pop its head up from her guts, I knew that the filmmakers were on the same demented wavelength as me.

*END SLEAZY GORE SPOILER*

“Live Feed” keeps the torture vibe going from “Hostel” and “Saw” and adds a few more sleazy scenes for us to enjoy. It delivers the gory goods. “Live Feed” was the B-movie we deserve.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 tortured girls on the live feed

Sunday, January 07, 2007

"Dream Witch" review

Dream Witch (2000)

Chrissy Mountjoy .... Susan
Glori-Anne Gilbert .... Pamela
Savannah Powers .... Jennifer
Melissa Wolf .... Dream Witch

I was reading the news the other day when I saw that a high priced escort service was busted in Atlanta. It said that Lisa Ann Taylor used to be a Penthouse centerfold and allegedly ran a call girl ring out of a house in Duluth. It also alleges that it would cost you $10,000 for a weekend at the house if you wanted to have sex with Taylor and friends. The article finished by saying that Lisa Ann Taylor was also known as Melissa Wolf and had done some skin flicks. Heh, I said. That’s kind of interesting.

Melissa Wolf. I knew that name rang a bell but it took me awhile to remember it. A couple of days went by and I started to have this nagging feeling that I knew who she was. And then it hit me. I’ve had one of her movies sitting on my DVD pile for the last year! What luck! I had bought a double feature DVD of “World of the Erotic Ape” and “Dream Witch” and had been waiting for just the right time to watch it. After I made the connection to the sleazy publicity from Atlanta, I had a quick “Pulp Fiction” flashback. “You sending the Wolf?” Oh yeah.

A bunch of hot babes get together for a girl’s weekend. Glori-Anne Gilbert shows up as the dorky friend who is still a virgin. This will not stand. The Dream Witch, (The Wolf), appears with her mandatory lightening bolt flash and dreadful rock song blasting away to sex Gilbert up. Their scene together was the best in the movie. As they squirm around together, the video gets scratchy and faded and the audio has nothing but a horrible rock song plaguing your ears. This is supposed to denote that the Dream Witch is in the house. This was also a very poor choice of visual effects as I would have been much happier hearing the Wolf howl with Glori-Anne.

After her wolfing, Gilbert becomes a sex machine. Once you’ve had the Wolf, you can never go back. The rest of the movie has Gilbert jumping on all her friends while the Wolf pulls her strings. Dance, Glori-Anne, dance.Well, I’m not going to tell you that this was a good movie. “Dream Witch” is a cheeseball lesbian flick. The sound is terrible, the video is cheap and the acting is atrocious. It was as cut-rate and pathetic as I thought it was going to be. But with a little sleazy publicity behind it, it’s kind of interesting. The Wolf looks pretty good to me. She has got some hot moves on her. She also has the distinction of being the first woman to have a good sex scene with Glorie-Ann Gilbert. Gilbert needs to be dominated and the Wolf took over the second she put her hands on her. There’s also a lot of nudity in “Dream Witch” so it’s got that going for it.

So if you want to see if the Wolf is (allegedly) worth 10 grand for a weekend of Wolf action, check out “Dream Witch”. If that doesn’t interest you, you can let this one go. As for me, I smell a Melissa Wolf comeback! I’m ready for “Dream Witch 2: Return of the Big Bad Wolf!”

SCORE: 1.5 out of 4 Dream Wolfs

"Frankenstein Reborn" review

Frankenstein Reborn (2005)

Directed by Leigh Slawner
Writing credits Leigh Slawner

Rhett Giles .... Victor Franks
Thomas Downey .... Robert Walton
Jeff Denton .... Hank Clerval
Joel Hebner .... Frankenstein/Bryce
Eliza Swenson .... Elizabeth Weatherly
Amanda Barton .... Dr. Emily Hertz

Frankenstein is reborn. This time the mad doctor is a lusty egomaniac. He likes the hot women to go with his cold corpses. My kind of guy.

Victor Franks is in the insane asylum. The authorities want to know if he is mentally competent to stand trial for murder. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Doc Franks is trying to bring life to dead tissue. This is how he impresses the chicks. But like all mad B-movie doctors, his insane experiment has to run amok. He has created a monster. The monster has inherited some of the doctor’s maniacal urges. The good doctor has a lot of people he needs to kill…

“Frankenstein Reborn” starts off with all guns blazing.

*SPOILER*

In the first five minutes, a sexy woman, (it turns out later to be one of the doctor’s many enemies), enters the doctor’s laboratory alone. Foolish woman. Haven’t she ever seen a horror movie before? Needless to say, she dies very badly.Very, very badly. Nice gory way to start the flick. It’s never too early to have the blood start spilling.

*END SPOILER*

After that, “Frankenstein Reborn” downshifts into a give and take between the mad doctor and his psychiatrist. We get the doc’s back-story but the horror movie gets put on pause until he gets around to the good parts of his tale. Once the doc jumpstarts his monster into the world of the undead, the movie picks up. There are a lot of good bloody scenes as the monster starts ripping and tearing his way through the Doctor’s enemies.

Overall, I was satisfied with this one. There’s plenty of blood and guts in the second half of the movie to make a B-movie fan happy. I liked the monster’s work ethic too. He pursued his prey wherever they may be. And if his victim happens to be a beautiful redhead taking a bath, well, sometimes a monster just has to get a little wet for his homicidal thrills.

One last thing, I would be remiss in my reviewing duties if I did not give praise to the lesbian sex scene. It wasn’t the hottest scene ever put to film but you gotta like a maniacal doctor who can take the time from his reanimation experiments to have his hot lab assistants get naked for him. Well, maybe you don’t have to like him but I sure appreciate it.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 mad doctors

Thursday, January 04, 2007

"Bordello Exposed 2" review

Bordello Exposed 2 (2006)

Directed by Christopher Murphy

Ava
Ander Page

“Bordello Exposed 2” has one of the greatest softcore lesbian scenes I’ve ever seen. The first sex scene in the movie has two brunettes going at it in the entranceway to the club. It’s all an act to turn on the guy, (viewer), in the room. After it’s over, they decide to let him go in because he passed the endurance test. These two ladies were really into each other. There was a lot of kissing and breast licking. My favorites. They would have broken me in minutes. I don’t want to endure! Keep going! WOO-HOO!“Bordello Exposed 2” is another sex flick from Torchlight pictures. These movies saturate the softcore market now. For ten dollars a pop, it’s no secret why. The director of this flick also did another stellar softcore flick “Secret Desires of a Housewife 2” with Akira Lane. I will be on the lookout for more of his work.

A private detective is hired to find out about a wayward husband. He’s got to go into the bordello and expose him. And there you have it. From there, the private eye runs into people having sex and stares at them. If he runs into a woman alone, it’s private eye sex time. He exposes the husband and wife’s scheme at the end by having more sex. There’s also a little sex in the middle to spice things up.

“Bordello Exposed 2” is a fine softcore flick. I enjoyed it. The lesbian scene at the beginning was top notch. One of the best. The other sex scenes had the private eye doing it with a prostitute, the main club guard and, in an amazing twist ending, the blonde wife who hired him. When I say amazing, I really mean no surprise at all. So if you’re looking for a great softcore girl/girl scene with some private eye sex thrown in as well, “Bordello Exposed 2” has got what you need.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 hot bordello women

"Santa's Slay" review

Santa's Slay (2005)

Directed by David Steiman
Writing credits David Steiman

Bill Goldberg .... Santa - Naughty
Douglas Smith .... Nicolas Yuleson - Nice
Emilie de Ravin .... Mary 'Mac' Mackenzie - Nice
Robert Culp .... Grandpa - Nice
Dave Thomas .... Pastor Timmons - Naughty
Saul Rubinek .... Mr. Green - Nice
Rebecca Gayheart .... Gwen Mason - Nice
Chris Kattan .... Jason Mason - Naughty
Fran Drescher .... Virginia Mason - Naughty

I was given this DVD as a Christmas present. It does my heart good to know I have friends out there who are thoughtful enough to give me a killer Santa flick. Nothing says Christmas like Bill Goldberg stomping on people’s heads as Jolly Old St. Nick.

“Santa’s Slay” is about Santa Goldberg and his yuletide massacre. After 1,000 years of being nice to people, it’s time for him to get back to what he really likes doing. Kill, kill, and, if he has some spare time, kill some more! Apparently Santa was really a demon who lost a bet many moons ago. He’s had to play nice to the kiddies for the last millennium. Now the bet is off and he’s returned to kill anyone he wants. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice. Santa hates you all.

“Santa’s Slay” has an odd mix for a B-movie. The first scene in “Santa’s Slay” has us staring at Fran Drescher’s cleavage. Tis a bountiful harvest! I’d never thought I’d say this, but Fran Drescher is looking pretty dang good. She has quite the figure. She is eating Christmas dinner with Chris Kattan, Rebecca Gayheart and James Caan. What the heck are all these actors doing in my killer Santa movie? Now, I’m not in tune to the inner workings of the Hollywood machine, but when I saw that Brett Ratner was one of the producers of this flick, it became clear who got Sonny Corleone to sit at the B-movie dinner table. Hopefully we’ll see Drescher’s cleavage in Rush Hour 3 or 4 sometime soon.

So with a little money and Hollywood weight behind it, “Santa’s Slay” comes into existence. It really only consists of Goldberg beating people to death wherever he goes. He goes to a strip club, people die. He finds a bunch of carolers, he destroys them all. There is a flimsy plot about some teenagers and a crazy old grandfather but then Santa Goldberg shows up and kills someone and the plot is tossed away.

So if you want to see Bill Goldberg dress up as Santa and indiscriminately kill people while cracking terrible jokes, this is the movie for you. “Santa’s Slay” breezes right along and doesn’t tax too many brain cells. Actually, it doesn’t tax any brain cells. Santa, death, screams, Drescher’s cleavage, etc. You know the drill.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 4 body slamming Santas

"Santa Claws" review

Santa Claws (1996)

Directed by John A. Russo
Writing credits John A. Russo

Debbie Rochon .... Raven Quinn
Grant Cramer .... Wayne (as Grant Kramer)
John Mowod .... Eric Quinn
Dawn Michelucci .... Angela Quinn
Savannah Calhoun .... Savannah Quinn
Marilyn Eastman .... Mrs. Quinn

An obsessed B-movie fan has it in for Debbie Rochon. He wants her all for himself. But in order to win her love, he has to kill all of the sleazebag leeches that hang around her. He becomes Santa Claws, a mad killer with a garden cultivator. Nothing is more dangerous than a man with a garden cultivator. Of course he likes to think of it as his "Claw". "Santa Cultivator" just doesn't sound as scary. He stalks his way through the cast and crew of Rochon’s latest B-epic so that he can finally take Debbie home for himself.

“Santa Claws” is another tirade against mentally unbalanced B-movie fans. Or is it saying that all B-movie fans are unbalanced? I’ve never seen one of these movies where the fan was shown as anything more than slobbering obsessed loser. The simple fact that someone actually enjoys watching these movies is reason enough for condemnation. They must be crazy. I’ve often wondered if the people who make these movies ever stop and think about who’s watching their flicks. Now I’m pretty sure that they are very wary of their fan base.

As a horror flick, “Santa Claws” is a complete dud. Nothing remotely scary happens in this movie. A nut with a garden cultivator is as cheap as it gets.The results are not surprising. But as a Debbie Rochon flick, "Santa Claws" is kind of interesting. Debbie gets a lot of chances to spout out about her career and fan worship. “To horror fans, I am a celebrity.” She also has a nice scene where she poses in front of the Christmas tree. That’s the Debbie I like to see. Does that make me an obsessed loser? What’s wrong with liking a beautiful brunette who can scream her lungs out? Not a thing.

SCORE: 2 out of 4 sexy Scream Queens I exploit women all day but it's the fans who are sick! Yeah right.
Here's the B-movie nut, I mean fan, trying to talk to his Goddess. Hard to do because the man is obviously insane. He watches B-movies! Watch out Debbie!

Debbie under the tree. Merry Christmas indeed.

Monday, January 01, 2007

"Black Christmas" review

Black Christmas (2006)

Directed by Glen Morgan
Writing credits Glen Morgan

Katie Cassidy .... Kelli
Michelle Trachtenberg .... Melissa
Mary Elizabeth Winstead .... Heather
Lacey Chabert .... Dana
Kristen Cloke .... Leigh
Andrea Martin .... Ms. Mac
Crystal Lowe .... Lauren

I saw “Black Christmas” in a dinky theater with two other guys. Literally, two other guys. We were the only ones there. They weren’t friends of mine; they just kind of stumbled into the theater. Each one of us had a whole row to ourselves. It was great. Best audience I’ve seen a movie with in a long time. So it was three die hard horror fans that came out to see a Christmas-set slasher flick. Who else would possibly watch this?

A bunch of college girls are stuck in their sorority house over Christmas. It just so happens that their house used to be occupied by a psychotic killer. This year, the nutcase decides to come home and ruin their festivities. By bashing their heads in and carving their eyes out of course. He doesn’t like the way they look at him. Many girls will pay the price for not going home for the holidays.

I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to seeing sorority babes run for their lives from a holly jolly madman. “Black Christmas” held promise. But this movie reminds us all why slasher flicks shouldn’t be set during the winter. The sorority girls are wearing too much clothing! They can’t jump in the pool, can’t skinny dip in the lake, etc. What can they do? Wear lots of scarves and mittens that’s what! It’s just not right. Psychos need tempting targets.

Now, speaking of the sorority girls, I’m not one to complain about such a trivial thing in a slasher flick as characterization. But “Black Christmas” doesn’t even make a vague attempt to differentiate between these women. I mean, they are all the same woman. The same over dressed, idiotic woman who creeps into dark spaces so she can die as quickly as possible.

“Black Christmas” is a by the numbers slasher flick. It’s as stripped down and efficient a blood spilling machine as I’ve seen. That doesn’t mean it’s scary. Or good for that matter. The women walk around the house and get killed. That’s all there is to it. It has a couple of decent gore scenes so it’s not totally worthless. It moved right along and kept the blood flowing. If you’re in need of a slasher movie fix, “Black Christmas” may be worth a rental. But if your need for bloody slasher mayhem isn’t desperate, I’d let this one go.

SCORE: 2 out of 4 lambs to the slaughter

"Bloody New Year" review

Bloody New Year (1987)

Directed by Norman J. Warren
Writing credits Frazer Pearce

Suzy Aitchison .... Lesley
Nikki Brooks .... Janet
Colin Heywood .... Spud
Mark Powley .... Rick
Catherine Roman .... Carol

Ahh, the New Year is here. So many hopes and possibilities stretch out before us. What wild and wondrous things will be accomplished this year? Who can say? All I know is that I’ve started off the New Year with another B-movie so all is going according to plan in my world.

I’ve had “Bloody New Year” collecting dust on my DVD pile for many a moon now. I just never seemed to be in the mood for an 80’s British horror movie. When I woke up this morning, I was looking for something timely to watch. My New Year needed to start off with some B-movie madness. The time was finally right for “Bloody New Year”.

So a bunch of fun loving, twenty-something teens end up on a deserted island. It soon becomes clear to them that there is something really weird going on. Various malevolent spirits want the teens to stay on the island forever. The ghosts are stuck doing the time warp again. It’s always 1959 on this island. It’s time for a bloody New Year.

I suppose I should give “Bloody New Year” some points for being creative. This movie wants it all. It has ghosts popping off of movie screens, angry fish nets attacking, hungry dishwashers, and of course, killer ping pong balls. There’s even one scene where two of the teens are stalked by an evil laugh track. The camera chases after them while unseen forces laugh their heads off. Some might call this a good change of pace from the usual maniac with insatiable bloodlust flick. As for me, I found it all to be a little too goofy. “Bloody New Year” was not satisfied with just being a run of the mill slasher movie. I would have been happier if it was. The space time continuum was whacked out of its mind.

I also want to highlight the description on the back of the DVD: “Set on a deserted island, and in an empty amusement park, a group of teenagers have sex and get killed in a variety of ways.” Sounds like every other slasher flick right? Except for the fact that whoever wrote that description has not seen this movie. There is no sex or nudity of any kind in this movie. I was on the lookout for it but was denied. Also, the amusement park was not empty and it’s only in the first 10-15 minutes. Can you believe the description on the DVD lied? Can you?! Shocked are you? Well, you shouldn’t be. This is standard B-movie practice. I should know better.

Overall, I was not satisfied with this one. There was a little blood and some interesting ghostly gimmicks but it wasn’t enough. Also, the “New Year” angle doesn’t really figure into the movie until the last five minutes. It’s actually July when the teens arrive on the island. Casper and his not so friendly ghosts are the only ones who are still partying like it’s 1959. One lie brings more lies which make B-movie reviewers say enough is enough. Let's not do the time warp again.

SCORE: 1.5 out of 4 not so bloody new years

Thursday, December 28, 2006

"Secret Desires of a Housewife" review

Secret Desires of a Housewife (2004)

Directed by Francis Locke

Beverly Lynne
Evan Moore

I bought this DVD. I bought it because I needed to see what secret desires Beverly Lynne had. Guess what? Her secret desires involve sex. Although this time, she actually just wants to watch. Now Beverly is playing the voyeur as other people get it on for her pleasure.

So Beverly and her friend start a webcam business. Beverly gets to be the horny webmaster while her friend auditions people in front of the camera. This is all Beverly’s secret desire as she’s afraid to tell her new husband that she has hardcore voyeuristic tendencies. It all ends with her husband helping fulfill Beverly’s secret desire by having some webcam sex with her hot girlfriend. What a guy.

“Secret Desires of a Housewife” is pretty ho-hum. The only good scene is the first sex scene with Beverly. She walks into the bedroom in the first five minutes of the movie and has some marital bliss with her hubby. This scene is shot in a very slow, lovey dovey kind of way. Usually this would make me retch but it allows the real voyeur here, (me), to linger on Beverly’s body. This is the only Beverly Lynne sex scene in the movie as the rest of the time she is logged onto the webcam watching and watching and watching…She likes to watch. The rest of the movie is a letdown. Beverly stares at her computer as various exhibitionists have sex on her webcam. She was turned on by it all but I was not. This movie also breaks one of the cardinal rules of softcore filmmaking by having the same couple have sex twice. This might not have been so bad if the couple was worth watching. When the first audition was over, Beverly’s friend shouts out, “You are hired!”. I’m not sure if we were watching the same couple. I would have fired them on the spot. I also would have had the guy arrested for impersonating a softcore actor. Oh man, it was bad.

Overall, “Secret Desires of a Housewife” is not worth the time. If you’re in desperate need of some more Beverly Lynne in your life, it may be worth a little something.

SCORE: 1.5 out of 4 Beverly's in the bedroomBeverly, Beverly, Beverly.