Rats: Night of Terror (1984)

Original title: Rats - Notte di Terrore

Director: Bruno Mattei

Writers: Claudio Fragasso, Bruno Mattei, Herve Piccini

Composer: Luigi Ceccarelli

Starring: Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Geretta Geretta, Massimo Vanni, Gianni Franco, Ann-Gisel Glass, Jean-Christophe Bretigniere, Fausto Lombardi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Mutants of a nuclear disaster

Plot: In a post-apocalyptic Earth, a group of punk friends find themselves against millions of bloodthirsty rats - but the weirdest it yet to come.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

The Italians of the 1980s sure loved their post-apocalyptic pictures, didn't they?  So what makes this different than the others?  It takes place in 225 AB (After the Bomb) and it's got rats.  Lots of them and they're everywhere!

The movie's OK.  Instead of the usual factions of humans fighting each other in a bombed-out city it's small group of humans encountering a metric shit-ton of rats.  I guess you might dig it if you masturbate to WILLARD (1971) (and who doesn't?) or if you put your privates underneath the last stage of the Mouse Trap board game.  It's really not that bad of a Ratsploitation picture.  There's a little bit of nudity and gore, cheesy dialogue, mid-budget Italian schlock, post-apocalyptic nonsense and a whole lotta rats being tossed and poured on the poor actors.  The ending is nothing short of HOLY FUCK THAT'S AWESOME!  Look at this as a reasonable group watch with the liquor on tap kind of movie.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Director: George Miller

Writers: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

Composer: Junkie XL

Staring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Josh Helman, Nathan Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abby Lee, Courtney Eaton, John Howard, Richard Carter

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What a lovely day.

Plot: In a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, two rebels just might be able to restore order: Max, a man of action and of few words, and Furiosa, a woman of action who is looking to make it back to her childhood homeland.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Wow.  It's hard to think that it's been 30 years since MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985).  I'd like to have had one sooner but better late than never.  It's a really fun flick that keeps the action going almost non-stop.  Seriously, it's practically a two-hour car chase and the action is fantastic.  I loved that Miller went with is much on-camera practical effects as he did.  The quality shows and it feels more grounded in real life for as much as these stunts look and feel like they're real.  Some of the CGI is obvious but I don't care.  Oh, and there are a nice number of neat and unexpected deaths.  It's a great, fun Summer ride and I'm glad I caught it on the big screen first (in 2D and it looks great...I can't see how 3D would help it much).  Theron gives a good performance.  I've got so much respect for her.  For being one of the most beautiful actresses (and talented) out there, she has no problem making herself look weathered and beaten.  Aside from all of the great stunts and barren desert location shooting, there are a couple of things worth pointing out.  Tom Hardy doesn't have nearly enough to do to the point of wondering about calling it a Mad Max movie.  He does fine in the role I guess but there's not much room for acting for him in this picture.  There were a few moments where he had that look that would fit right in as Indiana Jones.  The role of Max was close to generic as so much as there are a slew of actors that could have done the role and it wouldn't have mattered much.  I would've liked to have seen more Max.  Still, despite those minor nit picks, it's a thrilling ride that comfortably fits into the Mad Max universe.  If you're wondering where it fits in the scheme of things, it's not as good as MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981), one of the greatest action movies EVER, and it's a damn sight better than THUNDERDOME.  One thing that would've made this picture better is having Mel Gibson back in the role despite his age and shitty racist comments.  That would have been fucking awesome!

The Ultimate Warrior (1975)

Director: Robert Clouse

Writer: Robert Clouse

Composer: Gil Melle

Starring: Yul Brynner, Max von Sydow, Joanna Miles, William Smith, Richard Kelton, Stephen McHattie, Darrell Zwerling, Lane Bradbury, Nate Esformes, Mel Novak, Mickey Caruso, Gary Johnson, Susan Keener, Stevie Myers, Fred Slyter, Regis Parton, Larry Bischof, Pat E. Johnson, Henry Kingi, Alex Colon

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A Film of the Future

Plot:  Only a few people still live in New York in 2012. They are organized in gangs with their own turf. One of them is led by Baron, another one by Carrot, and they are constantly at war with each other. Baron's gang is more peaceful and have developed seeds that can germinate despite the nuclear fallout. The lone ranger Carson is hired by Bishop for protection.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Honestly, I was expecting a lot worse.  You'll probably dig this a little if you're into Brenner, Smith or von Sydow.  I really dug what happened to von Sydow's character.  It was an interesting turn of events that adds more than just mindless action and plot to this flick written and directed by the same cat who brought us the excellent ENTER THE DRAGON (1973).  Smith plays the bad guy (surprise!) and as usual, he's underutilized.  It's a pretty standard post-apocalyptic flick that's saved by the three leads I mentioned. The fight at the end between Smith and Brenner isn't as epic as it should have been but it is fun and how it ends is pretty fucking awesome except that you'll immediately realize a couple of ways Brenner could've avoided his little sacrifice.  Is it me or does Yul Brenner wear black in all of his action roles?  The score feels like it's written for TV which doesn't come as a surprise as Melle almost exclusively wrote for TV.   It's an OK movie but if you lower your expectations it's even better.

Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Directors: George Miller & George Ogilvie

Starring: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Adam Cockburn, Tina Turner, Frank Thring, Angelo Rossitto, Paul Larsson

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A lone warrior searching for his destiny...a tribe of lost children waiting for a hero...in a world battling to survive, they face a woman determined to rule.

Plot: Bartertown is a city on the edge of a desert that has managed to retain some technology if no civilization. Max has his supplies stolen and must seek shelter there in a post apocalypse world where all machines have begun to break down and barbarians hold what is left. He becomes involved in a power struggle in this third Mad Max film where he must first survive the town, survive the desert and then rescue the innocent children he has discovered.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Sure, in another 20 years.

OK, as a piece of entertainment goes, as an action movie goes, it's fun. I dug it. Tina Turner surprised the hell out of me in that she didn't suck. It's the longest of the three Mad Max pictures but it doesn't feel like it. The action scenes were fun and the prerequisite car chase at the end wasn't as inspired as the previous films but it was still exciting. It's too bad that Brian May wasn't back for the score. Instead we get Maurice Jarre who did a pretty decent job of it.


The kids were handled OK (except for when they start attacking in Bartertown) It was done better than most movies would have dealt with them but that still doesn't help the fact that this is a really weak story. There's no story arc for starters. Max goes to Bartertown, fights a guy to the death but doesn't kill him so he's banished to the desert. Some kids find him and think he's their savior. Max and some of the kids go chasing after a couple of them that escaped to the desert in the night and they all end up at Bartertown where they liberate a prisoner who knows how to drive the train out of Bartertown. There's a big chase ending with Max sacrificing himself so the kids can fly safely back to their little paradise. Where's the arc? It's pointless that max did what he did because the kids ended up back where they started.


Hell, what's the point of even having the tribe of kids anyway? They were a cross between the Peter Pan kids and Ewoks and that ain't good. It didn't really occur to me that there wasn't a good plot until after it was over but the funny thing is, I enjoyed it far more than I should have and that's largely due to Miller and the cast and I was surprised with what they did with a weak story and a larger budget. To paraphrase Tina Turner, we didn't need another sequel but since it's here, we'll take it.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

Director: George Miller

Starring: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells

More info: IMDb

Tagline: In the future, cities will become deserts, roads will become battlefields and the hope of mankind will appear as a stranger.

Plot: A former police officer is now a lone wanderer, traveling through a devastated Australia after a nuclear war looking for now-priceless petrol. He lives to survive and is none too pleased when he finds himself the only hope of a small group of honest people running a remote oil refinery. He must protect them from the bike gang that is terrorizing them whilst transporting their entire fuel supply to safety.

My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again? Guaranteed!


For as fun as MAD MAX (1979) was, THE ROAD WARRIOR is even better. It was only a few years ago that I watched this all the way through for the first time. I recall I had a bad feeling about it when they introduced the dog. Oh, great, I thought, they're going to do the same typical bullshit with the dog that they do in every other movie. Nope. They didn't and I liked what they did with it. Then the same thing happened when they introduced the feral kid and they totally surprised me with how well they treated that character. NICE! That's just indicative of the whole picture, really. George Miller & co. took cliches and did the unexpected with them.





The story is all too simple but it's how it's treated that makes it stand taller than most action movies from the past forty years. The stunts are bigger than the last movie and the whole thing wraps up nicely. The desolated Australian landscape is put to great use and you really get the look and feel for a post apocalyptic world without them spending an awful lot of money. It's a stellar ride and a whole lot of fun.

Mad Max (1979)

Director: George Miller

Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, Roger Ward

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Maximum Force of the Future.

Plot: In a post apocalyptic future, jaded motorcycle cop Max Rockatansky (Gibson) is ready to retire. But his world is shattered when a malicious gang murders his family as an act of retaliation, forcing a devastated Max to hit the open road seeking vengeance. As he travels the Australian outback's empty stretches of highway, he tours the bloodstained battlegrounds ruled by marauding bikers who feed on violence.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Oh, yeah!

#44 on my on-going quest to watch every film from the amazing documentary, NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF OZPLOITATION! (2008)



It's kick ass. That's all that needs to be said. There's plenty of action and UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE car stunts that put modern films to shame. Gibson is fun and it's too wild seeing him so young. In my younger days I remember this had long stretches of boring but I can't imagine now what I must have been thinking. Yeah, there's some lovey-dovey stuff in the middle but it's the quiet before the storm and when Max gets mad...IT'S ON!























Fun score by Brian May. The real stars here, though, are the stunts and stuntmen. They're fucking insane. The camera mounts on the cars, being so low to the road were ground breaking. You see those kinds of shots now but you didn't 30+ years ago. MAD MAX is a film that is often overshadowed by it's sequel which is understandable. It's got even more action and the stunts are even more insane. THE ROAD WARRIOR is a more enjoyable film but the apple didn't fall far from the tree that brought this franchise to life.

Escape from New York (1981)

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt "Badass" Russell, Lee "Badass" Van Cleef, Ernest "Badass" Borgnine, Donald "Badass" Pleasence, Isaac "Badass" Hayes, Harry "Badass" Dean "Badass"Stanton, Adrienne "Badass Boobs" Barbeau, Tom "Badass"Atkins

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: 1997. New York City is now a maximum security prison. Breaking out is impossible. Breaking in is insane.

Plot: In 1997, when the US President crashes into Manhattan, now a giant max. security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in for a rescue.

My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? sure as shit

John Carpenter + Kurt "Badass" Russell, Lee "Badass" Van Cleef, Ernest "Badass" Borgnine, Donald "Badass" Pleasence, Isaac "Badass" Hayes, Harry "Badass" Dean "Badass"Stanton, Adrienne "Badass Boobs" Barbeau, Tom "Badass"Atkins = a solid sci-fi actioner that kicks ass!!!


I mean, shit! Look at that cast! And it also includes George 'Buck' Flower!!! Don't know who he is? Click on his name and check out the 143 credits he has. He's been in a TON of great, classic genre films. And then there's Barbeau and the twins...mmmmmm...


It's not the kind of movie you throw on when your sleepy and that's partly due to the subdued, moody electronic score, and great as always, by Carpenter. It's set at night in a destroyed NYC landscape and it's not exactly filled with explosions and happy things. It's a whole lot of fun.

It's a solid 8 for me. The only thing that hurts this film is this bozo:


WTF? He's so fucking flouncy and flamboyant that you'd think he'd just had his coming out party the night before on Halloween. He represents all that's bad about Hollywood's idea of what gang members look like in post-apocalyptic movies. Other than that, this film's a hoot.