Dead End Drive-In (1986)

Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith

Writers: Peter Carey, Peter Smalley

Composer: Frank Strangio

Starring: Ned Manning, Natalie McCurry, Peter Whitford, Wilbur Wilde, Dave Gibson, Sandie Lillingston, Ollie Hall

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There's a party every day, a movie every night, and all the junk food you can eat. What more can a kid want... except to get out.

Plot: In the near future, a teenage couple is trapped in a drive-in theater which has become a concentration camp for social outcasts. The inmates are treated to drugs, exploitation films, junk food, and new wave music.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

I've seen a few of Trenchard-Smith's pictures and I like what I've seen so far.  This one has an interesting and fun premise and it's got some neat things going for it even if it goes on for too long.  The guy knows how to make good looking, professionally made films on the B/exploitation side.  With the music and the post-apocalyptic look, it's definitely a product of the 80s.  The characters are one-note and even though there's not much plot beyond getting stuck somewhere and doing whatever it takes to survive and escape, it has a level of fun that kept me interested enough to see the end.  It helps that it's Australian.  80s horror fans beware, there's not a lick of nudity.  Excuse me while I dry my eyes.  The Anchor Bay DVD has a great looking anamorphic widescreen print with a couple of extras in a commentary with the director and the theatrical trailer (also A-wide).

Dangerous Partners (1945)

Director: Edward L. Cahn

Writers: Marion Parsonnet, Edmund L. Hartmann, Eleanor Perry

Composer: David Snell

Starring: James Craig, Signe Hasso,Edmund Gween, Audrey Totter, Mabel Piage, John Warburton, Henry O'Neill, Grant Withers, Felix Bressart, Warner Anderson, Stephen McNally, John Eldredge

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Guns and girls in MGM's thrill drama!

Plot: After surviving a plane crash, a couple tries to find out why one of the passengers was carrying four wills for a million dollars, with each one naming him as the beneficiary.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Have you ever noticed in movies how often people familiar with one another call each other by their last name and not their first?  I don't mean people in authority like the military or police, but everyday people.  It's just one of those things I guess.  It happens a lot in this picture.   It's a rather good film despite some slow spots.  I really dug how different the crime is, how far the participants are willing to go and then the bombshell in the final act that changes everything, including the motivations for our two partners in crime.  I'm sure the trailer spoils it but I LOVE that the real baddies have different ideas on how to spend the money.  It's this that elevates the film from being just another average crime flick from the 1940s.  The acting is good.  I really liked Craig, Hasso and Gwenn.  Great stuff.   There's a lot to the story and it goes to some really nifty places plus it packs it into 78 minutes.  It's too bad about those few slow spots. Great finale and a surprising lack of music (which is a nice change, coming from a guy who LOVES film scores).

Strait-Jacket (1964)

Director: William Castle

Writer: Robert Bloch

Composer: Van Alexander

Starring: Joan Crawford, Diane Baker, Leif Erickson, Howard St. John, John Anthony Hayes, Rochelle Hudson, George Kennedy, Edith Atwater, Mitchel Cox

More info: IMDb

Tagline: HER HUSBAND...HER ROOM... ......AND ANOTHER WOMAN

Plot: After a twenty-year stay at an asylum for a double murder, a mother returns to her estranged daughter where suspicions arise about her behavior.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  YARRRRRR!!!

There was a time in the mid-60s where aging Hollywood former starlets were all getting re-introduced to the younger set by starring in psychological thriller/horror pictures.  Well, it seems like it.  It's easy to call Crawford's performance campy...because it's campy, only I'm sure that's not what she was going for.  She was from the old school of acting and by the time this picture rolled around, that style was out the door.  She's got her moments where she's fun as shit like when she's whoring it up, drinking lots of liquor sauce.

Now that's a broad lookin' for a good time, right?  My favorite performance is from George Kennedy.  I love this guy's work.  He's fantastic.  His acting is more modern in a picture that feels like (for the most part) it was filmed ten years earlier.  There are some cool kills (a few beheadings!) and a neat twist or two that's got you guessing for that last half of the film.  It's not surprising to learn that it was written by Rober "PSYCHO (1960)" Bloch.  Look fast in the beginning to see Lee Majors in his first movie!

The Columbia DVD sports a nice anamorphic widescreen print with extras in a modern making of featurette (14 minutes), Joan Crawford make up and costume tests (less than 3 minutes), axe-swinging screen test (1 minute) and trailers for this film (fullscreen), 13 GHOSTS and MR. SARDONICUS (both anamorphic wide).

The Terrorists (1974)

Original title: Ransom

Director: Caspar Wrede

Writer: Paul Wheeler

Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

Starring: Sean Connery, Ian McShane, Jeffry Wickham, Isabel Dean, John Quentin, Robert Harris, James Maxwell, William Fox

More info: IMDb

Tagline: SKYJACK. KIDNAP. A time-bomb of suspense has started ticking. Two nations are being held for ransom and... Sean Connery is the agent who takes on The Terrorists

Plot: A gang of hijackers led by Ray Petrie (McShane) seize a British plane as it is landing in Scandinavia. Ruthless military police chief Colonel Tahlvik (Connery) is assigned to rescue the plane and its passengers. But he must also deal with the problem of the British Ambassador, whose residence has been seized by a second group of terrorists.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I'm a huge Connery fan and I'm slowly making my way through is filmography.  While he's always fun or at least tries with every picture, his movies don't always share those traits.  With Ian McShane as the bad guy, you'd think this combination would be at least make for a good thriller.  It's OK.  Since Petrie's (McShane) action is almost entirely on an airplane and Tahlvik's (Connery, and who cares that he's playing a Scandinavian, right?) is in a room (different rooms but still rooms where's he's on the phone, walkie talkie or looking out of windows with binoculars), there's not much movement in this thriller, making it...well, uh, thrilling.  Jerry Goldsmith's manly score helps but there are times where his music has a great sense of urgency when there's nothing of the sort on screen.  The last few minutes has Connery boarding the plane to save the day and his reputation as a badass.  The biggest disappointment is the lack of tension and presenting a middle of the road thriller that could've easily been made for TV (sans Connery of course).  The Anchor Bay DVD looks good (anamorphic widescreen) but the only extras are trailers for this film (a teaser and theatrical trailer), THE LONGEST DAY, ZARDOZ (all anamorphic wide) and ENTRAPMENT and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (both non anamorphic wide).

Cheerleader Camp (1988)

Director: John Quinn

Writers: David Lee Fein, R.L. O'Keefe

Composers: Joel Hamilton, Murielle Hamilton

Starring: Betsy Russell, Leif Garrett, Lucinda Dickey, Lorie Griffin, George 'Buck' Flower, Travis McKenn, Teri Weigel, Rebecca Ferratti, Vickie Benson, Jeff Prettyman, Krista Pflanzer, Craig Piligian

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Give me a K - Give me an I - Give me an L - Give me an L

Plot: A group of cheerleaders become the targets of an unknown killer at a remote summer camp.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

The best thing about this movie is the awesome poster.  I was hoping this was going to be better.  I'm a sucker for 80s horror.  It's a slasher set in the woods.  It's got some nudity...

but not nearly enough (and sadly, all but one brief shot is in the first 15 minutes) but it's missing a lot more and that's kills and gore.  This is one of the lighter slasher films out there in terms of kills/gore and in tone.  Take out the deaths and it's just another average teen comedy with poor acting and gags.  Having a killer on the loose helps but it's not much of an improvement.  So where were the great kills and blood? The DVD commentary with the director and producer might shed some light but I don't like the film enough to give it another 90 minutes of my life to find out.  The movie is OK if you're looking for an 80s horror movie you haven't seen before but if you do watch it, see it with a group of friends and drink.  The Anchor Bay DVD presents the film in anamorphic widescreen and the extras you get are the aforementioned commentary track, 3 trailers for the film (two anamorphic and one fullscreen), an alternate title sequence for when it was titled BLOODY POM POMS (there's nothing but credits for this) and photos.

K-PAX (2001)

Director: Iain Softley

Writers: Gene Brewer, Charles Leavitt

Composer: Ed Shearmur

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack, Alfre Woodard, David Patrick Kelly, Saul Williams, Peter Gerety, Celia Weston, Ajay Naidu, Tracy Vilar, Aaron Paul

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Is he crazy?...or is he light years ahead of us?

Plot: Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

The funny thing about having a spotty memory is being able to watch a movie after 15 years and remembering very little except for the overall feeling.  I'd forgotten most of this picture but what I remembered is not knowing if Prot (Spacey) was telling the truth about being from another planet.  The story cheats us by letting Prot giving detailed information about planets and solar systems that only 2 or 3 people on the planet are even aware of.  That alone should tell you that he's telling the truth (and that's the strongest bit of evidence that I think he is) but then there's the flipside where we find out who Prot might really be and that he's suppressing his bad memories.  That works, too.  Regardless of where you fall on the truth (the film ends leaving us the option to choose), it's a well-told story with wonderful performances and a score filled with hope and wonder.  OK, that bit about the score sounds kind of lame but it's true.  It plays a big part in letting you believe Prot's story.  It's a good film and Spacey comes across as genuine and very likable.  The Universal DVD presents the film in anamorphic widescreen with extras in an alternate ending, commentary with the director, deleted scenes, storyboard comparisons, behind the scenes photos and the theatrical trailer (non-anamorphic widescreen).

Dangerous Mission (1954)

Director: Louis King

Writers: Horace McCoy, W.R. Burnett, Charles Bennett, James Edmiston

Composer: Roy Webb

Starring: Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, William Bendix, Vincent Price, Betta St. John, Harry Cheshire, Steve Darrell, Walter Reed, Marlo Dwyer, Dennis Weaver

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Avalanche of action!

Plot: A policeman tries to protect a young woman against a hit man, when she flees New York after witnessing a mob killing.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Man, it's just been one long string of mediocre movies I've been watching lately.  The thing is, there something about them that appeals to me enough to see them, which is usually the cast.  I like Mature a little bit but I LOVE Vincent Price, and he's playing a bad guy in this crime thriller.  This isn't nearly exciting as that great poster or the trailer.  Hell, a third of the trailer is taken from the last few minutes of the movie which is where all of the action and tension is.  The film does feature the best that fashion had to offer.  Price and Mature rocked their happening threads!

I can't recommend this even to fans of Price.  He's good (as always) but most of the movie's outdoor scenes are clearly shot on a soundstage which makes it look cheaper than it should.  When they do film outdoors, the location of Glacier National Park is gorgeous.  The climax in the snow is good as is Price's exit but there's so much ho-hum that comes before it that lessons the final act's impact.  I see that it was co-written by W.R. Burnett who also worked on CRASH DIVE (1943) which I wrote about yesterday, another mediocre film.