PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 811

Doors 2021 Written by Chris White, Saman Kesh, Ed Hobbs and Jeff Desom, directed by Saman Kesh, Jeff Desom and Dugan O'Neal. An American anthology film. Chris White wrote Portals in 2019, another film about strange doors that appear on the Earth. Chris mostly works as a producer, I can't say I've seen any of his producing efforts but I have heard of V/H/S Viral, The ABCs Of Death and Vlog.

Aliens leave doors on Earth and the humans figure out that they are all about. Millions of people disappear into them, some return but they're affected by their experience. We follow some people about as they encounter a door.

It's got a decent hook but the execution is a bit weak. The four segments don't really have much connection and there isn't really a framing story. Characters also do some stupid stuff when confronted with the door. We do find out why the aliens are there but it's a bit vague. I liked it but only gave it a 4 on the IMDb. I wouldn't need to see it again. You can check out both of these movies on YouTube, link in title.

Restart The Earth 2021 Written by Zhenzhao Lin and Shengfan Zhang, directed by Zhenzhao Lin. A Chinese disaster movie.

Plants have been tampered with by humans to grow faster and they have taken over the world. They are strangling the environment and vast swathes of humanity are dead. The remaining governments have organized an attack on the plants with some sort of device. We follow one group of Chinese soldiers and a couple of civilians as they try to get to the deployment point. 

There's a series of disaster set pieces, giving plenty of opportunity to sacrifice someone so the other characters can weep and wail. The plant CGI is about average. The dubbing not so much. I wouldn't need to re-watch this one again.

Science Fiction Sunday 810

Project Gemini 2022 Written by Natalia Lebedeva and Dmitry Zhigalov, directed by Serik Beyseu. A Russian SF film that was filmed in 2016 but not released until 2022.

The Earth is dying and the humans have sent a ship to another planet to terraform it for colonists. The human's are using alien tech that they found in a cave on Earth. The alien tech jumps the ship to another planet. Trouble is, it's not the planet they planned to terraform. They set up the device anyway and it starts terraforming the place. Trouble is, the settings are wrong for humans. There's a lot of tension in the crew while they try to figure out what's going on and what to do. On top of that a strange energy beast has popped out of the alien device. People start dying and things get pretty hectic for a while. It's got a bit of a positive ending.

It a good looking film, the space ship and effects are decent. The story is where it goes off for me. How easily the human's were fooled by the alien tech. The script has the crew make irrational choices when things go wrong. They turn on each other every quickly. Oh, well, wish it was better but it saves me from bothering with it again.

Aniara 2018 Based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, screenplay and direction by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. A Swedish and Danish production.

A spaceship transporting Earthlings to Mars launches from the Moon's orbit. The ship is the Aniara, before it travels too far it has a  collision with some space junk. That causes the Captain to dump the damaged nuclear reactor. They're stuck in space with no way to return home on their own. The Captain says there's a chance they can slingshot around some large body and be rescued when they get to Mars. They've got power from the backup supply and the food machine will make food for years and years.

A time goes by there's no slingshot and things are getting tough for the hundreds of passengers. The main character runs a room where an AI with brain probing powers helps keep the human's from going mad. The demand is high and the poor AI blows itself up. The death count rises as the months pass. Cults form and things get worse and worse. It doesn't end well for the people but it was nice to see that the ship was still traveling through space nearly 6 million years in the future. That's reliable.

It was keeping my interest to the end but I don't think I'll bother with it again. It's rather dire and depressing.

Science Fiction Sunday 809

Eolomea 1972 Written by Willi Brückner, directed by Hermann Zschoche. An East German - Soviet - Bulgarian science fiction film.

Disappearing spaceships from the space station Margot have caused the authorities to shut down launching more ships. Professor Maria Scholl goes to investigate, she finds out there's a secret plan to steal some ships and run off to the planet Eolomea.

I enjoyed the movie, it has a decent script and cast, the sets look fine and modern.

Signale Ein Weltraumabenteuer 1970 Written by Gottfried Kolditz and Claus-Ulrich Wiesner, directed by Gottfried Kolditz. A German - Polish science fiction film.

Commander Veikko leads a rescue mission to the damaged spaceship Ikaros. They have a bit of an adventure, and rescue some survivors.

I liked the sets and space stuff. The script is a bit dull, there are long stretches of sitting and yakking. It gets more interesting when they get to the Ikaros. I enjoyed it well enough, it's certainly better than a lot of the newer SF films that I see on Amazon Prime. I might even watch it again but I doubt that's going to happen. I watched it on YouTube, link above.

Science Fiction Sunday 808

Midnight Movie Massacre 1988 Written by Roger Branit, John Chadwell and David Houston, directed by Laurence Jacobs and Mark Shock. Filmed in 1984, released in 1988. It's also known as Attack From Mars. Don't be fooled.

The movie is set in the 1950s, people are watching a movie at a theater when an alien invasion happens. Exciting, huh. Not in the hands of these film makers. The film is poorly shot, written and acted. I couldn't think of anything good about it so I'll just say: Stay Away! Don't waste your time. I watched a poor copy on YouTube, I wouldn't bother posting a link.

Monolith 2022 Written by Lucy Campbell and directed by Matt Vesely. An Australian bottle movie set in a living room of a podcaster. I watched this on Amazon Prime.

Lily Sullivan plays a disgraced reporter who's turned to podcasting. She finds out about a conspiracy that is connected to her and her family. The whole movie takes place in her house with phone conversations and a few slight flashbacks. Lily was alright, she handled being the only actor on screen. The story was less than interesting to me. The Wikipedia says it's a science-fiction thriller but it certainly lacks the thriller part. Give it a miss. I should have.

Science Fiction Sunday 807

Outpost 11 2013 Written and directed by Anthony Woodley. I saw this on Amazon Prime (free with membership), it's also on Tube.

The movie is set in a dreary alternate Earth, England is fighting a second war with Russia. That's sounds interesting but all we see is three guys going doolally in an arctic outpost. The men are there to pass on messages from outpost to outpost and gather any Russian messages. There's a commander, a corporal and a private. The commander is moderately decent, the corporal is a royal prick and the private is scared. The private is especially scared of the Omega Machine, the outposts source of power. We're not really told why.

One day the red warning light goes off and they receive a coded message from HQ. The message says to Abandon All Hope. The code reads initiate plan 9 but the corporal tells the other two the message says more news coming. The private finds the code and they play Plan 9's tape. The commander makes a trip to the next outpost only to find them all dead. Their day logs tell of Russian psychotropic drugs that have driven the staff crazy. They killed themselves. Things go about the same back at Outpost 11. 

Why everyone always makes there dreary bleak SF stories I'm not sure. Probably cheap to make. Slap up some cheap sets, plaster on some bleak paint, fill the script with moans and kill everyone off. Not one I enjoyed that much, wouldn't want to watch it again.

Cargo 2009 Written by Arnold Bucher, Ivan Engler and Patrik Steinmann, directed by Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter. I watched this on Amazon Prime where they said the movie is German and came out in 2012, in the real world it was made in Switzerland in 2009. It's their first SF feature film.

Another dreary SF tale of the future. The Earth is ruined and everyone lives in space stations or the planet Rhea. A crew is assembled to take another ship to a space station. It costs a lot of money to migrate to Rhea, a woman signs on for an 8 year voyage to earn her passage there. Things go badly with the flight and we learn all is not as it is said to be. The movie ends with the crew destroying the lie and leaving the station.

I found it unengaging and wouldn't want to watch it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 806

Dark Asset 2023 Written by Michael Winnick and Terri Fraley-Teruel, directed by Michael Winnick.

A company's secret project creates augmented humans for spy programs. Robert Patrick is the chips creator. He's ruthless and so is his staff. The guy in the upper right on the poster is the newest of the augmented agents.  After he's activated he goes rogue and escapes. He meets a woman in a bar and tells her about the project and what happened to the augmented folk. Some of the story is told in flashbacks. There's plenty of fighting and murder.

It's watchable and looks fairly decent. I thought the story was below average and gave it a 4 on the IMDb. Of course, I'm thinking the secret program plot is a tired one. I enjoyed some of it but it's not going to be something I would rewatch.

Final Voyage 2019 Written and directed by Marcel Barion. A German film that was estimated to cost €20,000. It looks fairly decent for that money.

Two men escape prison on a  dusty wind blown planet. They escape the planet in an old spaceship and pick a preprogrammed route to take them to another planet. Most of the movie takes place in a claustrophobic space ship, there's hardly any light and the men are grimy and sweaty. They barely talk and there's hardly anything going on. It goes on a long time and I was getting tired of them. 

Eventually they come to a planet which doesn't look very inviting. One guy goes to see what's up and disappears. The other guy sets the ship for another destination and heads off into space. The movie ends there.

I thought it was watchable but not that enjoyable. I learned that sometimes prison is a fine place to live. Not something I would watch again. Just too long and slow. Both of these are on Amazon Prime right now.

Science Fiction Sunday 805

Jurassic Triangle 2024 Written by Harry Boxley and directed by Victor De Almeida. There's nothing in the movie that is as good as that poster. The CGI is especially low budget and awkward.

A portal to another dimension appears in the sky. A helicopter full of people passes through it and winds up somewhere else. It's a place with dinosaurs, some based on real dinos, some imaginary bitey scuttley things. Everyone gets killed because the pilot was trying to find his daughter, she was a previous victim of the portal. They find her long dead body just before the movie ends so it was all for nothing. That's what I feel about the movie, it's all for nothing. Lucky for me my failing memory will wipe it from my noggin. I recommend staying away, it might linger in your memory and you'd only have yourself to blame.

The Loch Ness Horror 2023 Written and directed by Tyler-James. Another poster filled with lies. Nothing in the movie looks that good.

Just about everything about this movie is poor, the script, the dialog, the actors, plot devices. You name it's bad, except for the ship. It looks a real ship. The unrealistic bit about the ship is that 3 or 4 people are going to run it along with a few scientists. As the movie starts a submarine is attacked and goes off line without us knowing for sure what happened. A corporate type sends 4 people to take a big ship out to sea with a handful of other characters like a medic and a guy who runs the submersible.

The crew turn out to be gun toting psychos that have been secretly told to kill the beast. It's such a cliche move it's embarrassing. It continues in that same vein to the Gorgo like ending of the movie. Nothing original, nothing to elevate the film, nothing to make me more entertained than the slight amount I get from complaining. Another one I should have given a miss.

The Black Demon 2023 Story by Carlos Cisco, screenplay by Boise Esquerra, direction by Adrian Grünberg. The movie is set in Mexico but it was filmed in the Dominican Republic.

A man and his family are on a vacation trip in Mexico, the man is an inspector for an oil company. He's a bad man, falsifying records of poor working conditions and bad safety habits, the company gives him lots of money to cover stuff up. He's got to take an afternoon out of his vacation to inspect an offshore well just a short way from the town.

They find the town nearly empty and everyone is hostile to them. He goes out the ship and the family stay in the town. Things continue to go downhill as the man finds out there's a giant megalodon attacking the well. The townie's pick on the family and chase them to the shore. A man takes them out to the boat, he leaves them and runs, the shark eats him a short way from the well. Ha ha.

The man discovers he's being set up for poor practices by the company, they've set a bomb to go off while he's there, he uses it to destroy the shark, sacrificing himself to save the others.

Another cliche ridden film. The acting was better than the script. The CGI was at the lower end of acceptable. I enjoyed it more than the previous two but I wouldn't need to see it again.

All three of these were in the free section of Amazon Prime. I'm not including links, can't be arsed, you shouldn't watch these anyway.

Science Fiction Sunday 804

Doctor Who Series 14 BBC/Disney is calling this Season One. I'm hip to the change but I don't care for it. It's annoying enough that they also call this Series 14 and not Series 40.

Russell Davis is back as show runner, he wrote most of the 8 new episodes, one is by Steven Moffat and another is by Kate Herron and Briony Redman. Directors were Mark Tonderai, Julie Anne Robinson, Ben Chessell, Dylan Holmes Williams and Jamie Donoughue.

I liked most of the episodes. Space Babies and The Devil's Chord were fun. Boom, 73 Yards, Dot and Bubble were a bit more serious. I didn't care that much for Rogue, not for any good reason. The two part ending, The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire Of Death seemed drawn out. Announcements last April filled me in about the new companion already in the mix.

I watched some of the first four episodes of DW Unleashed but decided to skip the other 5 episodes because I was fast forwarding through a good bit of the last couple I watched. Maybe some other day.

Science Fiction Sunday 803

2 + 5 Missione Hydra 1966 Written by Pietro Francisci and Fernando Paolo Girolami, directed by Pietro Francisci. A dubbed version was released in the US in 1977 under the title Star Pilot. It has a new script by Ian Danby and additional footage from other movies. I saw the US version some years ago. I picked up the Blu-ray during the current Kino Lorber sale. It has the original film and the US version. I watched both and listened to the commentary on the original version.

The movie opens as a spaceship from the planet Hydra lands on Sardinia and buries itself in the ground. Next we spend some time with a young lady on a movie set. She drives around Rome with her friend and goes to pick up her scientist father. They get involved with an accident and takes an unconscious man to a clinic at the airport. The actress, her friend and her father all take a ride in a helicopter to a remote location. The unconscious man wakes and runs off to join the suspicious guys in a big car.

At the remote camp the scientist and his team do some work, it leads them to a cave where they find and enter the ship. The aliens observe the humans and figure they might be the ones needed to make repairs to their ship. They take the scientist, his daughter and a couple of technicians hostage and make them do the work.

Once the ship is repaired the aliens decide to take the humans with them to Hydra. During the flight the humans rebel. The ship is damaged and a photonic storm sends them to a strange planet the aliens are unfamiliar with, they land and look the place over. There's some time for romance before the ape creatures attack. There's a bit of a battle and the ship leaves. They return to Earth to find the place a mess, cities have been destroyed. There's a montage of destruction and some dramatic music. They leave the Earth behind and travel to another planet where they meet some nice aliens. 

It's much more entertaining to see the Italian version of the film. It's still not a great film but the story holds together a bit better. It comes across as more satirical and camp, similar to films like Barbarella and Wild Wild Planet. The 4K restoration is nice looking with clear images and sound track. There's a spirited audio commentary with David Del Valle and Matteo Molinari. David's a film historian and Matteo works in the film industry. Matteo was born and raised in Italy until he moved to the US as a teenager. They've got a good bit of info to share. Glad I bought the Blu-ray. I'll probably watch it again someday.

Science Fiction Sunday 802

Terminator Dark Fate 2019 Story by James Cameron, Charles H Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S Goyer and James Rhodes, screenplay by David S Goyer, Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray, directed by Tim Miller. The 6th in the Terminator series and a sequel to the first two films but not the three that followed.

Rev-9, a new style terminator, comes from a well changed future to kill a woman called Dani who's going to be a problem for the future robots. Instead of the rise of Skynet there's been a AI revolution called Legion. The machines want to kill off the humans. The resistance to Legion sends an augmented soldier called Grace to destroy the terminator and save Dani.

Linda Hamilton plays Sarah Connors 25 years on. She saves Dani and Grace and they escape for a bit. Rev-9 keeps on coming and there's a seemingly endless series of flights and fights with plenty of explosions and collateral damage. At some point Arnold Schwarzenegger turns up, he's a T-800 and he's been alerting Sarah to the arrival of the Legion terminators. That's how she arrived to save Dani and Grace. Near the end of the film they finally destroy the Rev-9 and hope to stop the rise of Legion.

Mostly it was entertaining but I got tired of the constant battle by the end of the second act. At least it was only 128 mins, so many of these action films are over long. I'd still watch it again at some point.

Attack Of The Giant Teacher 2019 Written by Nobuhiko Ishii and Yoshikazu Ishii, directed by Yoshikazu Ishii. A Japanese low budget kaiju musical movie.

A teacher is informed his school will close at the end of the school year. He gets his class to put on a musical and they do. In space an alien plans an attack on the Earth. The teacher grows large to fight the alien.

Sadly the musical isn't interesting to me but I liked a few of the characters. I'm sure the budget meant the giant alien action only happens in the last act. Most of the effects were CGI and the low budget didn't help there either. Doubtful I'll get back to this one, thankfully someone passed a copy to me and I didn't buy a copy. You can see it for free on YouTube, link in the usual place.