Blood Thirst (1971)

Director: Newt Arnold

Writer: N.I.P. Dennis

Composer: ???

Starring: Robert Winston, Katherine Henryk, Yvonne Nielson, Vic Diaz, Vic Silayan, Eddie Infante, Bruno Punzalan, Judy Dennis, Max Roio, Ching Tello, Minda Morena, Isidro Francisco, Felix Marfil

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Sinister! Inhuman! What was the thing that came out of the eerie blackness of night...to satisfy its blood thirst!

Plot: A sex-crimes specialist from New York travels to the Philippines to help his friend, a Manila homicide detective, solve a series of murders.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Doubtful.

Despite IMDb saying this is from 1971 (it may have been ultimately released that year) it looks and feels like it was made ten years earlier.  The trivia says it was shot in '65.  It doesn't matter.  It's alright.  The use of lighting and shadows is probably the best thing going for it.  It feels like it takes a hefty dose of inspiration from the James Bond pictures of the time.  Robert Winston is a very likable actor.  He's tall, good looking, has a voice like Anthony Perkins and he handles himself very well...BUT he's much too flippant and and amusing for the entire film.  He practically smiles with a one liner on the tip of his tongue in every scene.  He even has Bond-ish one liners when he's completely alone.  If he'd played it cooler like Connery he would have been fantastic.  This is his only starring role which is too bad, he could've gone on to a great B-movie leading man career.  I wonder what happened to him. 

Fans of 70s Filipino exploitation Women In Prison (WIP) films will recognize Vic Diaz (here as Inspector Miguel Ramos) from films like THE BIG BIRD CAGE (1972) and BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA (1973).  That's him on the right with Winston on the left.  BLOOD plays out like a film noir/spy/horror flick and it sort of works.  I like the look of it and a good deal of the performances but the film drags at times and Winston's performance is too light in tone.  The monster scenes are spliced in at strange times making it feel like somebody had the crazy idea to turn a noir spy flick into a horror one by adding a few shots here and there.  That'd make more sense if it weren't for the ending which brings all of the actors and the monster together for the big finish which gets ridiculously silly (and fun).  This is the second half of a double feature Something Weird Video DVD along with BLOOD SUCKERS (1970) and a plethora of fun extras. 

Mr. Brooks (2007)

Director: Bruce A. Evans

Writers: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon

Composer: Ramin Djawadi

Starring: Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, William Hurt, Dane Cook, Marg Helenberger, Ruben Stantiago-Hudson, Danielle Panabaker, Aisha Hinds, Lindsay Crouse, Jason Lewis

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There's something about Mr. Brooks.

Plot: A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? YES!

I don't know why I've avoided this for all these years.  It's a great fucking serial killer thriller with a balls-out fantastic ending!  The pairing of Kostner and Hurt is brilliant.  They work so well together.  There's a moment when they both giggle at the same time, the first time they come together like you'd imagine it was for them in the old days.  It's wonderful.  Everyone does a fine job.  The ending was bugnuts off the charts awesome!!!  It's hard to talk about this without spoilers but I was most satisfied.  The IMDb trivia states that Costner said this was to be the first film in a trilogy.  After 7 years it's safe to assume that it's not going to happen.  Too bad, as this is one hell of a thriller that's as smooth as Billy Dee Williams.  I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing it again,  listening to the commentary and checking out all of the extras.  Do yourself a favor and check this out.

The Disco Exorcist (2011)

Director: Richard Griffin

Writers: Ted Geoghegan, Tony Nunes

Composer: Daniel Hildreth

Starring: Michael Reed, Sarah Nicklin, Ruth Sullivan, David Adams Murphy, Alex Aponte, Brandon Luis Aponte, Babette Bombshell, Jon Brandi, Ken Breese, Gio Castellano, Bruce Church, Alexandra Cipolla

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Get Down. To Hell.

Plot: Suave swinger and womanizer Rex Romanski loves and leaves evil black magic priestess Rita Marie. Naturally, Rex incurs Rita's lethal wrath by spurning her. Can Rex figure out a way to stop Rita's subsequent rampage of revenge, murder, and destruction as well as reclaim the soul of his new porn starlet gal Amoreena Jones before it's too late?

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

After falling in love with Richard Griffin's NUN OF THAT (2009) last year I did something I'd never done before and bought every film this guy made (within financial reason) and he's made a lot.  The first few films I watched had me re-thinking what I'd done.  They were either too silly ala Troma or dull and amateurish.  Granted, some of them were pre-NUN.   Well, Micheal Reed (Jesus from NUN) is back and he's a disco dancin' stud that fucks the wrong broad.  The first thing you'll notice is the faux dirty print and 70s look.  Fortunately they don't give up on that and maintain it until the end.  Don't get too picky with this as it only sometimes really looks like a 70s grindhouse film but I give them lots of credit for at least trying despite their limited budget.  The acting is all over the place but there isn't a truly horrible performance in the lot and some of them are very good.  I'm pleased that Griffin & pals took the gratuitous nudity route as it helps the picture.  Some of his other films feel like they avoid skin on purpose as if to alienate the audience.  And there's an unusually large amount of nude men, too, which is wild.  But what I really dig about this picture is how much fun it is.  Not only can you tell they had a blast making it but it's got some great gags that will find you laughing out loud frequently.  It does have some pacing problems as if it's struggling to maintain an 80 minute run time.  I'd be OK trimming a few minutes making it tighter at even 70 minutes but don't let any of that keep you from getting this.  Hell, maybe that would have been fixed if the screenplay had been given another tweaking. Fans of NUN are going to dig this and I'd so far to say that you shouldn't be disappointed with blind buying this.  The DVD extras include a commentary, deleted scene (VERY funny) and trailers.

Mobsters (1991)

Director: Michael Karbelnikoff

Writers: Michael Mahern, Nicholas Kazan

Composer: Michael Small

Starring: Christian Slater, Costas Mandylor, Richard Grieco, Patrick Dempsey, Robert Z'Dar, Michael Gambon, Anthony Quinn, Chris Penn, F. Murray Abraham, Seymour Cassel, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joe Viterelli, Titus Welliver

More info: IMDb

Tagline: They had what it took to build an empire...They just built it on the wrong side of the law.

Plot: The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime. As their crime empire expands, they have to deal with many problems, including their own differing opinions on how to run their business, the local Godfather, and the psychotic Mad Dog Coll.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Oh boy is this underwhelming and cheesy as shit.  Did you get a load of that trailer?  Wow.  It's hard not to laugh at it (they made better trailers for it but this one was the first one I watched on the DVD and I about fell out of my chair in disbelief of how bad it was).  It felt so contrived that I'm compelled to look up the facts just to see how fast and loose they played with them.  The connect the dots plot was often paper thin.  They tried to cover a couple of decades in the span of 100 minutes and with a cast of pretty boys.  Some of their acting was OK and some pretty sloppy.  It shouldn't have been so for a high profile Hollywood picture.  And I get why they throw the true story out the window, but did they hit the plot tropes that go with the rise and rise of a crime figure.  Knowing that so much of this is bullshit hurts in trying to enjoy the show but there are some things I dug.  The spinning newspapers and machine gun montages were outstanding and lots of fun.  Shit.  Now I'm trying to think of some other stuff I thought was nicely done and I can't think of any, even an hour outside of watching it.  Nuts.  I remember the love scene being unnecessary and bringing the film to a screeching halt.  F. Murray Abraham is awesome in everything.  That much I know.  It kind of felt like a gangster version of YOUNG GUNS (1988) with all of the popular pretty boys of the day.  If you're a Great Depression-era gangster fan like me, you're going to have to see this but for everybody else, watch a few seasons of the excellent BOARDWALK EMPIRE (2010) instead.  At least it's closer to the truth and they're all trying really hard to make something worthwhile.

Blood Suckers (1970)

Original title: Incense for the Damned

AKA: Freedom Seekers

Director: Robert Hartford-Davis

Writers: Julian More, Simon Raven

Composer: Robert Richards

Starring: Patrick Macnee, Peter Cushing, Alexander Davion, Johnny Sekka, Madeleine Hinde, Edward Woodward, William Mervyn, Patrick Mower, David Lodge, Imogen Hassall, John Barron

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Hideous witchcraft rituals cast their spell!

Plot: A group of friends search for a young English Oxford student who has disappeared whilst researching in Greece. They are shocked to find that, wherever he has been, certain unsolved murders have taken place. Not believing that their friend could be the perpetrator of such acts, they press on with their search, finding him under the spell of a beautiful Vampire, whose blood-sucking methods include the use of sado-masochism. Believing they have killed her, the group return home, unaware that their friend is now a Vampire.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? By the power of Satan's horned donger....NO!

This took me three attempts to get through all 80 minutes of it.  I can't blame it on the cast; they all do an admirable job.  The Greek location shooting was nice.  It does take a long while before our troupe discover what's been going on.  Once we're back in England (the final third of the picture) it drags.  We know something's up with Richard (the man Derek (Macnee) and pals are looking for) at this point but we're not sure what. His big speech at the university is great and from that point on it picks up quite a bit with the chase.  One of the problems is tha it's at night and the print is dark, not allowing us to see much except shadows.  Otherwise the print is OK for fullscreen.  Wide would have been preferable, of course.

It's clear that Macnee (above left) was brought in to sex things up for the kiddies.  There's a blood orgy and more nudity in this picture than you'd expect (which helps) but ultimately it's routinely dull.  It'd probably take another viewing with toothpicks keeping my eyelids open to find out the precise reason but it's not worth revisiting.  I'm probably being more generous than the film deserves but then it's got Macnee, Cushing and Woodward which, alone, make the compelling case that if you're fans of these cats, you're gonna want to see this regardless of what anyone says.  It's the first half of a Something Weird Video double feature DVD with BLOOD THIRST (1971) along with two fistfuls of trailers, shorts and intermission goodies.  Even if the other movie sucks these SWV DVDs are welcome on my shelf just for the extras.

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Philip K. Dick, Richard Linklater

Composer: Graham Reynolds

Starring: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Dameon Clarke, Marco Perella

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What Does A Scanner See?

Plot: An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

Damn fine science fiction.  The animation style of rotoscoping was a brilliant decision.  It adds to the story in a way that live action couldn't do.  The performances are great and the script is intelligent and funny.  Nice score, too, Graham Reynolds!  I was engaged from the beginning and the ending had me by the short and curlies.  It's a real thinking man's flick and Linklater and pals did an excellent job all the way around.  Not much to say about this one except I really dug it.  Reeves can be hit and miss. Here, he hits.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Director: Bryan Singer

Writers: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

Composer: John Ottman

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Daniel Cudmore, Bingbing Fan, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Famke Janssen, Lucas Till, Evan Jonigkeit, James Marsden, Michael Lerner

More info: IDMb

Tagline: His past. Our future.

Plot: In 2023, the entire human race is on the brink of extinction. Sentinels, originally created to kill mutants now hunt all of mankind. The remaining survivors cannot stand against the onslaught of the Sentinel army. In order to save the future, Wolverine is sent back to 1973 in order to stop the war before it even starts.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Man, I'm so glad I caught this one in the theater before it left.  It's outstanding.  I loved the way they were able to reset the stage for the continuity of the previous films.  It works.  Unlike X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011), this film had me genuinely caring for the characters which heightened the suspense and tension, especially in the final half hour.  They're not going to kill the franchise so you know they're going to make it somehow, but at what cost?  It's great seeing McKellen, Stewart and the rest of the old gang back.  The performances are good except for one, Jennifer Lawrence.  She's the weakest link in that category.  I REALLY miss Rebecca Romijn as Mystique.  She handled it so effortlessly.  I don't mean to compare the two actors but Lawrence either doesn't feel comfortable in the roll (which she should considering this is her second outing with it) or she's just not as good of an actress as she needs to be (which is weird because she does a fine job in the HUNGER GAMES pictures).  She isn't terrible or anything but you can tell she's a little out of place.  I really love the story and how Singer & company were able to make it work.  I'm looking forward to seeing it again on Blu-ray.  Great fun.