PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 812

Magma: Volcanic Disaster 2006 Screenplay by Rebecca Rian, directed by Ian Gilmour. Music by Nathan Furst, he's the son of Stephen Furst. I can't say I've seen, or heard of, the many films and TV shows he'd scored.

All the volcanoes are blowing off in a big orgy of destruction. Some scientists have a plan to bomb the Earth with nukes to stop the lava flow. It works, the world is saved.

It's all bog standard stuff you've seen before, it's got a poor script, plenty of cliches, subpar CGI, so-so acting and not much of anything going for it. Don't watch it. If you do want to hurt yourself the movie is on YouTube, link above.

Post Impact 2004 Written by Torsen Dewi and Christoph Schrewe, directed by Christoph Schrewe. A German American production with Dean Cain. I saw this on Amazon Prime, amongst all the free with membership crap.

A giant comet is headed for Earth, a scientist uses a secret space ray gun to cut the comet in half. It's only partly effective, the larger half the comet veered off into space but the smaller half of the comet crashes into Russia. Citizens are urged to evacuate Europe. Dean is forced out of Berlin but his wife and child get left behind. Things go bad in the northern hemisphere, millions die, cities are blanketed with huge drifts of snow. Dean can't get back to Berlin, he doesn't know if his family are still alive.

Dean gets a chance to go back to Berlin, he finds his family died. A madman has taken control of the secret space laser. He wants money and power. The team shots the crap out of that guy. They use the space laser to fix Europe and the world is saved.

It's pretty much the same as the other one, all cliches and low production values. The CGI is a low rez wash of grey and dirty white. Over all the movie isn't that good. I wouldn't recommend it. Don't bother unless you have a desire to watch all the SF movies you can find. It's a sickness, I know from experience, at least I have a blog to complain about the films, perhaps someone else will be saved. I did have the opportunity to fast forward through some of the dull bits. You wouldn't be surprised how many there were. I did think Dean looked good in a beard. That is all.

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 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.

Friday Night Movies 1004

Reptilicus 1961 Written by Ib Melchior and  Sidney W Pink, directed by Poul Bang. We watched the new Blu-ray of the Danish version of Reptilicus. The English and Danish versions of the film were shot at the same time with the same cast and crew. Pink directed the English version for AIP, when he delivered a poor film, Melchior made changes. Pink was so upset he sued AIP but after seeing the finished version he dropped the charges. Pink is not noted for his direction, he's more a producer.

Miners are drilling for copper in Lapland, they find a frozen dinosaur tail and bring that to Denmark's Aquarium in Copenhagen. Scientist put the tail in a big freezer but it accidentally gets thawed out. Poor Peter will pay deadly for falling asleep later in the film. Surprisingly the tail doesn't start to rot, it starts to regrow a whole Reptilicus. That's the name the head scientist gives the creature, he compares it's regrowth to the starfish.

There's not much going on while the creature is regrowing. The head scientist's daughter falls for the tall and moody miner, the head scientist's other daughter falls for the gruff American general. There's a goofy janitor for some comic relief, he sings a song to some kids in a park. The main characters are either at the Aquarium or gallivanting around Denmark. At one point they visit the Trivoli Gardens and hear a song.

When the tail regenerates it becomes a whole creature and breaks out of it's holding cell. During it's rampages around Denmark, many die. They're fighting a creature with the ability to regrown from a single bit of flesh. That makes it dangerous to use explosives to kill it. Eventually they figure out what to do. The beast is knocked out and the head scientist says he'll dispose of it. They leave us with an open door for a sequel. Sadly, there's never been one.

The Danish version hadn't been released in the US before this Vinegar Syndrome release. It's quite a bit longer, 94 mins instead of 81 mins, and Reptilicus flies. The monster is a puppet, he's not the greatest but Denmark isn't famous for it's giant monster movies. A lot of reviews of both versions sure don't care for the monster. At least he doesn't spit green slime in the Danish version, that green slime was so fake looking in the English version. The Danish version is nicely restored, it looks and sounds great. We were all a bit excited to see this version. Most of us have seen this movie more than a couple of times. The Danish version is definitely more of a movie than the English version. It's still not a great film but it's fun to watch. I had fun watching it and would want to get my own copy to rewatch.

Intrepidos Punks 1988 Writers Tomás Fuentes, Roberto Marroquin and Ulises Pérez Aquirre. A Mexican bikers vs cops film.

Bikers break their leader out of jail and start a crime spree. Two cops are on their tail. The cops get a bit of help but they keep getting beat down. When the bikers aren't robbing and raping they're taking drug and having orgies. There's plenty of driving about and fighting. Both would be less dull if they had managed to edit the film better, it drags way more than it should. The car chase is unambitious. The biker gang has it's own theme, a lackluster song at best, sadly it's repeated Ad infinitum. Not one I'm going to pick up for myself. I was glad to have seen it but only in the I've seen another movie way, yay for me.

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.

Friday Night Movies 1003

The Breach 2022 Based the novel The Breach by Nick Cutter, screenplay by Nick Cutter and Ian Weir, directed by Rodrigo Gudiño. A Canadian Lovecraftian sort of story.

A boneless and mutilated body turns up near the town of Lone Crow Ontario. A backpack suggests he's a scientist called Cole who rented a house near the town about 18 months ago. It's an isolated house that's only accessible by boat. The Chief of police John heads up there with his ex girlfriend Amy and Jake, the local coroner. It's dark when they arrive, the house is empty. They decide to crash there and look for clues in the daylight. Why they wouldn't have waited to leave until the next day I don't know, just goofy choices by the characters.

During the night Cole shows up and all sorts of bad things happen. Sadly it just takes forever to get to the action. Turns out that Cole had built a device that connects to some other dimension or some such. Jake gets drawn to the machine, John pulls him out but he's been affected by the machine and starts to mutate. Cole's wife Linda shows up to complicate the night even more.

It's a nice looking film with plenty annoying cliches. It's John's last week at work before he leaves the town, Amy is his ex, she also dated Jake before John lived in the town, Jake still has bad feelings about Amy dating John and John breaking it off, Cole had caused the death of his daughter with the machine, his wife is damaged because of it. It all adds up to a lot of blather among the principles that slows down the story. I thought it was entertaining enough but it wasn't something I would bother with again.

Without Warning 1980 Written by Lyn Freeman, Daniel Grodnik,Ben Nett and Steve Mathis, directed by Greydon Clark. I bought the Kino Lorber Blu-ray from their current sale, I was interested in the commentary. I had seen the film before, I was just surprised it was in 2017 and a movie night. In that post I mention that the film has a 5.1 on the IMDb and it still has that rating. I gave it a 5 then and still feel the same way.

It's an alien encounter movie, the alien is in the woods hunting people with little fleshy discs that kill people, the alien stores the bodies in his larder, an old shack in the woods. Four young adults arrive in a van and a couple are killed pretty quick. The rest of the movie has the other couple try to survive. The locals are a lot of old actors, Jack Palance, Martin Landeau, Sue Ann Langdon, Ralph Meeker, Larry Storch and Neville Brand. The alien is played by Kevin Peter Hall.

I liked it better than the previous film and I'm listening to the commentary as I write this. Greydon has a fair bit of info about the film. I'm looking forward to the other bits on the disc. I might watch it again someday.

Sins Of The Fleshapoids 1966

Sins Of The Fleshapoids 1966 Directed by Mike Kuchar. An underground SF movie set a million years in the future. It's only 43 minutes long.

Future men have created human like androids called Fleshapoids, they treat the androids like slaves and live in comfort. Having had enough, a male androids kills the woman who's his master and runs away with a female android. There's a bit of a revolution. The script is vague on what's going on, it's all a guess on my part. The movie lacks any audible dialog, there are word balloons superimposed on the screen for some of the times someone speaks. It doesn't matter, it's just not that good. I downloaded a copy from the Internet Archive, see link in title. Don't expect anything. Not something I'd rush to get back to at any rate.