Our first feature was The Flesh Eaters, recently restored on a newly minted dvd. I bet you can guess from the title what the movie is about. Yup, eatin' flesh, but it's not about cannibalism, don't get fooled. I'd seen this several times in the past. Nobody's eatin' nobody. Not a great movie but a fun movie with a great story.
Short time actress Rita Morley plays a boozy actress with a need to get to Provincetown in a hurry. Her assistant, played by another short timer Barbara Wilkin, hires Byron Sanders to fly her and her boss in his sea plane. Byron has a face to fit his name and he wasn't in very many movies either. None of them are good actors, but they're still fun to watch. Our trio run into a storm and mechanical trouble forcing them to land the sea plane near a small island. They seek shelter with a German scientist and his big tent. I don't know who plays the tent but the scientist is played by Martin Kosleck, and he's great, probably the best actor of the lot. Check out his bio. He often plays Germans. That's him on the dvd cover, in all his arrogant glory.
Turns out science guy has a secret plan. I won't tell you what it is. It's a secret. The flesh eaters live in water, and they are ravenous, thumbnail sized, glittering critters who eat any living flesh. A full human skeleton, still all connected together, washes up on the shore. The flesh eaters have stripped it clean. Trying to cover up, our scientist suggests it was sharks. That lie soon unravels, but not before the arrival of Omar, played by Ray Tudor, who was also in Sidehackers. Omar, one of the best characters in the movie, and Ray, one of the worst actors on set, blend together to form a tasty mélange. His great part is only bettered by his grisly death. A grisly death now enhanced with restored footage of his see through corpse. And who doesn't like that. Ironically Omar arrives and leaves the island with a great deal of yelling.
There's more murder and mayhem and bad acting ahead. The script is a hoot, and combined with interesting characterizations by the actors, sure made me laugh at times. There is a giant monster at the end. It does double duty as a dog size monster as well. At 87 minutes it's a short movie but the time is well spent, as I've said I've seen it several times before.
I'd seen Waxworks II: Lost In Time about ten years ago and I didn't remember anything about it all. Zach Galligan returns and leads a chase through time to save is girlfriend from a murder conviction. A disembodied hand from the previous movie killed her dad and she ground up the evidence. Hoping to get proof they rush through various times and places. There are a lot of movie references, spotted with a bunch of cameos. The jokes aren't too good and it drags alot. It would have been better shorter. It's more interesting for the guest spots, especially the Bruce Campbell bit. I perked right up and after his grisly death I nearly went back to sleep. We actually stopped the film near the end to confirm "that sure looked like Drew Barrymore". Turned out to be her. Look for David Carradine briefly.
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