PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 828

Face Of The Frog 1959 Based on 1925 novel The Fellowship Of The Frog by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Egon Eis and J Joachim Bartsch, directed by Harald Reinl.

Joachim Fuchsberger plays an American playboy called Richard Gordon who solves crimes. Richard is working with Inspector Elk from Scotland Yard trying to catch the notorious scumbag the Frog. He's got a gang of 300 and none of them is any more aware of who the Frog is than the police are. We only see the Frog with his mask on. He's a deadly guy, cross him and you're dead, screw up in the gang and you're dead, I bet his henchmen don't expect any pension when they retire.

There's the usual bit of romance, made all the more complicated by the Frog being interested in the same woman as Richard. There's plenty of murdering and chasing about as the Frog goes about his dirty biz. The story is fairly good, the cast is fine, nice sets and locations, can't complain about much of anything. I found a copy on Rarelust and downloaded that.

The Avenger 1960 Based on the 1926 novel The Avenger by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Gustav Kampendonk and Rudolf Katscher, directed by Karl Anton.

That's Klaus Kinski and Heinz Drache, Klaus is a film maker working as the script supervisor for a film company, Heinz is a detective for the Special Branch. They meet through murder, someone is cutting off the heads of people and leaving packages with the severed heads for people to find on the street. The heads are packaged with a note from The Executioner. The typewriter used has a couple of misaligned letters.

The Inspector meets with the niece of one of the murder victims and on the film set he finds a script page with the same misaligned letters. That leads him on a search for the writer of the script. Klaus isn't any help, he said he hasn't seen the script before, soon after his head is in a box. More and more evidence piles up and the case is solved.

It's a goofy story with an odd villain at the core. I enjoyed it, fairly decent script, a good lot of characters and a bit of a sense of humor. I'd watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 827

Hard Ride To Hell 2009 Director Penelope Buitenhuis co-wrote the screenplay with Matthew Chernov and David Rosiak. Another of the dollar DVDs from the Dollar Tree. I've got a big stack of them but many of them make me wonder why I bought them.

Some young people are traveling in Texas in an RV. During an overnight stop in the badlands one of them accidentally sees some bikers doing some satanic stuff to some naked ladies. His phone goes off and the chase is on. The young people get some help from a knife salesman and a priest. Miguel Ferrer plays the head of the bikers and Katherine Isabelle plays one of the young travelers.

There's plenty of chasing and fighting, with additional biting and knife stabbing. Even so it's not overly gory. It's got a fairly good sense of humor, some of the characters were less annoying then the ones I usually find in these sorts of movies. There's nothing new here, just another story about some poor saps who went to Texas and got in some deep shit. It scores a 3.8 on the IMDb and that's with 22.2% of the votes being a 10. I wouldn't give it more than a 4, it's lacking enough to be a 5. I'll keep the DVD but I probably won't watch it again.

The Thompsons 2012 Directed by Mitchell Altieri ad Phil Flores under the name The Butcher Brothers. Mitchell co-wrote the screenplay with Cory Knauf, who also stars in the movie. It's a sequel to The Hamiltons from 2006. I haven't seen that.

The Hamiltons are a family of curse vampire like creatures. That's them in the poster. They had parents but they are dead now. They must kill and drink blood to survive. In the first movie they kill way too many people in one place, a security camera caught them, now the police are on their trail.

They've moved to Europe and changed their name to Thompson, eventually they wind up in the UK. The youngest kid got shot in the first movie and they are trying to keep him alive. They have a lead to possible help, a town and a name, Cory heads there and meets the lead. He's got a pub and it turns out that the people they meet are their ancestors. They are just as awful as the Hamiltons. Then it's a battle between parts of the same family until one side comes out on top.

I found it about average, it's well enough made but that Cory spends a lot of movie narrating his plight as a cursed murdering scumbag. He's kind of annoying. I wouldn't think I would need to bother with it again but I will keep the DVD, it was another Dollar Tree purchase.

The Nanny 2018 Written by Matthew Allen, Ed Dougherty and Marcel Sarmiento, directed by Joel Novoa. Another Dollar Tree dollar DVD.

A single mom hires Jamie Murray to be her new nanny, Noa and Michael are the two children. Jamie is a rather odd character and Noa really doesn't want her around. Turns out she had good reason to dislike the new nanny. Jamie triggers something in Noa and we learn eventually that Jamie is a fairy and Noa is a sort of changeling.

Nicholas Brendon has a date with mom, he uses that opertunity to kidnap Noa. Turns out he knows what the nanny is, he's looking for his daughter, she was taken by fairies. Jamie comes after him and so do mom and her friend the local policeman. It all has a sort of happy ending.

It's more an urban fantasy film than a horror film. It was about average. Script wasn't bad, nice countryside locations in Northfield Minnesota, good cast. I doubt I'd bother with it again but who knows. I'll file it away for the future.

Friday Night Movies 826

Godzilla 1985 Written by Shuichi Nagahara, Lisa Tomei, and an uncredited Tony Randel and Straw Weisman, directed by RJ Kizer and Koji Hashimoto.

I'm watching the Red Menace HD Reconstruction from the Internet Archive. It's a fan made wide screen release of the film. It's a massive 12.4GB file, it took over 8 hours to download. You can also watch it right on the Internet Archive with their player.

There's no Blu-ray or DVD release of the movie, some one tells me that the music rights are an issue that might never be resolved. Movie and music people are so greedy and stupid. There was a laser disc and VHS release but they were pan and scan

The movie is called Godzilla 1984 in Japan and, like the original 1954 Godzilla, it's been Americanized for release here. Godzilla surfaces again and the world is watching. Especially after he attacks and destroys a Russian submarine. The Russians are all mad and shouty, first they blame the Americans but they soon learn that it was Godzilla. 

Raymond Burr plays the same American reporter who appeared in the 1955 movie. He's called in as a consultant on Godzilla by the military. Both the Americans and the Russians want to nuke Godzilla but the Japanese Prime Minister says not while he's on Japanese soil. Secretly the Russians arm a nuke.

When Godzilla returns to Tokyo the military have their new Super-X Attack Plane and the scientists have an idea on how to lure Godzilla into a trap. There's plenty of collateral damage and stuff blowing up. I've see it a few times already but I enjoyed it again.

Gravy 2015 Written by James Roday and Todd Harthan, directed by James Roday. You might remember James from Psych. This is his first film. James and Dulé Hill make cameos in the film.

Jimmi Simpson, Micheal Weston and Lilly Cole are murdering cannibal psychopath scum, they seal everyone in a small Mexican restaurant for some late night torture and snacking. They get the drop on the staff and some of them die. The tide turns after a while when the bartender, Sutton Foster, starts fighting back. Still, hardly anyone gets out alive.

It's gruesome and gory with a twisted sick sense of humor. Certainly not going to be popular with some. I got to the end and thought it was sort of funny but barely average. I had bought the DVD a while back, so I have it, and I might watch it again someday.

Friday Night Movies 825

Tag 2018  Written by Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen, directed by Jeff Tomsic. The basic story is based on an article from the Wall Street Journal about a group of Spokane men who play a game of tag over the month of February. They've been doing it for 28 years.

Playing the gang of hide and seekers are Ed Helm, Jake Johnson, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Hannibal Buress.Annabelle Wallis plays the WSJ reporter who goes with the guys on what might be the last game. Isla Fisher plays Ed's wife, she's plenty of fun. Rashida Jones, Leslie Bibb, Nora Dunn and Brian Dennehy play other friends and family.

The guys are thinking of packing it in but they really want to get Jeremy, he's never been tagged, and he's the best at planning and avoiding. There's layer after layer of lies and deception. There's a good bit of physical comedy, it's no wonder Ed winds up in the hospital. I had a laugh and would watch the movie again some day. It was another Blu-ray/DVD combo set that came from the Dollar Tree for a smackaroonie.

Hot Dog 2013 Written and directed by Marc-André Lavoie. A French Canadian crime comedy that was more entertaining than I expected. The management team from a hot dog factory cross paths with a crime boss and a guy who found a human tooth in one of their dogs. It's kind of pokey but the story is solid and there are some fairly good jokes. Plenty of goofy characters and silly situations. It's another I found at Dollar tree for a buck, worth it. I'd watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 824

Age Of Kill 2015 Written by Simon Cluett and directed by Neil Jones.

Martin Kemp plays an MI5 sniper, Phil Davis plays his team leader. Phil orders Martin out to kill a man, turns out their target wasn't a baddie after all. Phil gets mad when the agency doesn't stand by him. Martin gets a call, a baddie named Jericho has kidnapped his daughter, Jericho needs Martin to kill some guys or she's dead. As an incentive Jericho kills Martin's current girlfriend and a handful of other people in front of Martin's apartment.

Martin goes along with the plan and starts killing the men Jericho has picked out. The police are hot on Martin's trail and soon they know who he is. The story unfolds rather predictably and people are killed left and right. It's rather dark and bleak and a good reminder that there are people in high positions in government who are just out and out evil. Still, nothing much stands out. I liked Martin Kemp and Phil Davies is the evil sort of prick he often plays. It looks alright but it's an unpleasant slog for some reason. I wouldn't need to bother with it again.

48 Hours To Live 2015 Written by Gregory Ramon Anderson, Rashad El Amin and Hannah Macpherson, directed by Benny Boom. Benny has directed about 100 music videos, he's only made two feature films including this one, and he's directed some TV. I pretty sure I haven't seen any of his other work. The film was released in 3D.

Some guy gets out of prison, after a 5 year stretch, and moves into a half way house. He'd been living on the streets with his sister when he got busted., He'd left her and lost touch with her. Out of the blue she calls, she's in trouble and is killed while on the phone. Her burnt body turns up for the police to find. They bring the brother in and want him to help them find the Sandman, a ruthless drug dealer, who they believe killed his sister. 

The guy gets work at a club that his sister frequented, the owner, played by Tommy Flanagan, was her pal. The brother digs into her past while his catches up with him. He used to know all the drug kingpins and they all connect with him. While all this crime story is going on, Benny keeps slipping in dance scenes and melodramatic personal drama. Eventually the big reveal happens and then there's no real ending. I feel a hattrick of writers, and Benny, have failed me. It's noisy and it's colorful and it's forgettable. I won't need to see it again.

 

Friday Night Movies 823

Evil Takes Root: The Curse Of The Batibat 2020 Director Chris W Freeman co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Mack.

A woman finds a monster in her bedroom and the police find her body in a tree. Before that she had called her ex and the message brings him to her small town only to find her dead. Things turn weirder when the daughter becomes possessed. Turns out mom's company had done some clear cutting and unwittingly unleashed an ancient forest demon. It's come to visit and it's not a happy critter. The monster wasn't too badly portrayed.

The movie is pretty much a standard monster slog to the end. There's plenty of running and yelling in the woods. It's pokey and there's nothing really unique that stands out. There some fair to middling graphics and a passable production. I can't complain much about the acting. Sadly, it's still some below average. I'd give it a 4 before I would give it a 5 on the IMDb, it's current score is a 4.1. I did like the African priest character.

H0us3 2018 Director Manolo Munguia co-wrote the screenplay with Sergio Martinez. It's a Spanish picture, dubbed in English. It's pretty much shot in one room in a big house.

Computers figure heavily in this film, the characters were all computer students in university. Most of them haven't kept in touch much but they've all come to have dinner and stay in a big old house. There's not much going on but them all talking about stuff. One of the more annoying guys tells everyone he's cracked the password on a secret file from the dark web. He's found some code and put it on his phone. Now his phone can see 30 seconds into the future.

Everyone gets all excited wondering about the implications of the software and what it could mean if the government had it. They alter it to see 12 days into the future and find everything was on fire. Everyone freaks out. It takes about 90 minutes to get to that point in this 104 minute movie.

I didn't much care for the ending and the sting before the credits. It's ponderously slow and quite dull at times. I watched it on Amazon Prime and wished they would add variable speed to their player. Anything to get to the end of the movie quicker. I wouldn't need to see either of these again.

Friday Night Movies 822

The Night Before 2015 Director Jonathan Levine wrote the story that he adapted into a screenplay with Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, and Evan Goldberg. A couple years before TNB Jonathan wrote and directed Warm Bodies. I saw that and liked it well enough. I haven't seen any of the other 5 movies he's directed.

Fifteen years after they started to look for the legendary Christmas Party, the Nutcracker Ball, three friends decide to quit the hunt after this one last try. Lucky for them Joseph Gordon-Levitt works in a hotel and he finds and steals three tickets to the secret event. Seth Rogan and Anthony Mackie are his pals, all three guys have their own issues, all of which are mostly resolved by the end of the movie.

It's kind of funny, not all the gags were to my liking, and kind of like a bunch of movies. It's still a bit better than average and I would watch it again sometime. I believe the DVD came from Dollar Tree. When they used to have DVDs for a buck. Haven't seen that for the last year or so, I rarely ever go there anymore.

Plan 9 2016 Written and directed by John Johnson. John adapted Ed Wood's  Plan 9 From Outer Space but made it as a modern zombie film. These zombies run fast and bite hard. There's plenty of gore and loose body parts. It's sadly sexed up with some nudity and sex scenes. It's better made than Ed's film, John had more money and a bit more talent. Brian Krause is the big name in the film, at least from the modern day, Wood fans will recognize Conrad Brooks from the original film. He's got a small part, mostly he sits in a chair. It's watchable, though my mind did wander at times, some scenes are not as good as others. On the whole below average, I'm leaning more to a 4 than a 5 on the IMDb. I was kind of wishing that John had made his own story, instead of fiddlin' with Ed's story.

Interestingly the votes on the IMDb look like this.

Friday Night Movies 821

Species 1995 Written by Dennis Feldman and directed by Roger Donaldson. Roger has  banged out quite a few movies since 1971 but I can't say I ever watch many of them. I know I've watched Cadillac Man and The Getaway. I didn't care that much for either. I know I watched Dante's Peak on TV some time after seeing Species. It was about average for a disaster movie I think I went to see Species in the theater.

The movie opens with a nice fly over of the Arecibo dish. Ben Kingsley is head guy at a secret government lab that's been in contact with aliens. The aliens told them to make some DNA and mix it with human DNA, then tell the aliens what happened. When I first heard that I thought, how fuckin' stupid are these guys, by the end of the movie you know. Repeat 3 more times.

Michelle Williams plays the young alien human hybrid called Sil. They keep her in a locked room with transparent walls. They decide to terminate her but that goes wrong and she escapes. I wonder if those transparent walls have a warranty. While Ben gets a team together to track and destroy Sil she grows into Natasha Henstridge.

Sil has an urge to mate and create more of her. Men fall for her charms and fall down dead after she pokes a pointy tentacle into them. Sil's body morphs when having sex, she becomes more the alien creature. Not the last thing you want to see as you get stuffed full of tentacle.

The team, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker and Marg Helgenberger are after Sil and have one encounter after another as they follow the trail of corpses. Alfred even impregnates her, he was easily fooled by a cut and dye job. They keep chasing her and eventually Sil and her offspring are destroyed. At est until the sequel. 

I like the movie for the most part, plenty of running about and stunts. The cast is okay, nice production values. I've seen it 3 or 4 times and enjoyed it.

Species II 1998 Written by Chris Brancatto and directed by Peter Medak.

Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger and Natasha Henstridge all return to the film. A mission to Mars is the big news as the movie opens. The crew of the ship collect some soil samples and bring a bit of alien DVD aboard. It thaws out and infects the crew. Marg has created a second Sil, calling her Eve, and isolated her in a lab. One of the returned astronauts pulls a pair of sisters and knocks them up with his super powerful alien sperm.

Micheal gets called in once the bodies start showing up. He goes on the hunt with Marg. They chase about until the aliens are put back in the bottle for the sequel. It wasn't quite as good as the previous film, barely average but watchable. Good monster effects though.

Species III 2004 Ben Ripley wrote the script and Brad Turner directed. It was a direct to video release that repeats the same story as the first two films. Just some different guys making the same mistakes as the previous. I'm only watching it to watch all four films. It's not awful but it is repetitive. The big difference is producer Fran Mancuso wanted to young up the cast to appeal to young adults. Big deal.

Species: The Awakening 2007  Ben Ripley wrote the script and Nick Lyon directed. Another direct to video of the about the same quality as the third movie. I might skip the last two when I watch the first two again some day.