Just Watched Movie (2011)

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A Woman Possessed-A vampire hypnotizes the descendent of his long-lost love to force her into killing off members of her family so he can raise her again, and when they discover the ruse, set out to stop the whole affair. Pretty decent Gothic Mexican vampire effort, with some fun set-ups in the beginning and ending, in the former with it being a direct rip from another classic Horror film but oddly fits into the action nicely, while the finale manages to mix in pain transference, hypnosis and other elements with Gothic surroundings to produce some fun and a good ending, and mixed with some sleaze and some bloodshed during the middle portion, keeps it at least somewhat watchable. Throughout it all, though, one nagging flaw keeps resurfacing in that there's absolutely nothing at all shown to make us fearful of the vampire since he never gets into action and hypnotizes the girl to do the dirty work while he's off-screen, leaving him absent for the majority of the time. Not a great way to ensure fear in your lead, despite the promise within the plot, so overall it lowers it somewhat but not enough to completely discard it at all.

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein-In order to advance his own scientific research theories, a fanatical doctor continues a predecessor's work in reanimation to bring to life a specimen from dead tissue, only for it to start a campaign of terror against him and his family he had no way of knowing beforehand. I'm not too sure about this one, as on the one hand it's a little long for me, the constant talk about the rewards for science and utter lack of feeling like a horror film in the first half are just an absolute chore to get through, making it feel way too classy to be a horror film it should be based on the subject matter. Then, once the creature's out and rampaging through the countryside seeking revenge, it's a ton of fun and gets in some impressive action, lots of big stunts and plenty of impressive visuals, meaning it's a lot of fun. I'll just split it in the middle and say it's slightly overlong and dull but still incredibly enjoyable.

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Basement Jack-When a serial killer starts up another murder spree after years of being inactive, a cop team ups with a woman who claims he's back to kill her after failing to do so during his first rampage to put an end to the new reign of terror. A perfectly decent slasher, with a really unique set-up in which the killer targets a whole family during his rampage, then will pose them after death into mannequin-like displays allows for some extra carnage and gruesomeness, the kills are brutal and bloody, and the stalkings are really good, making it really serviceable in those areas as long as you ignore the killer's backstory, which nearly everyone of us will be able to guess in one or two tries, three at the most, as it pertains to the most utterly obvious scenario for creating a psycho and really just drags the film down with it's repetition and use, but it's still an above-average slasher anyway.

The Jailhouse-While his new house is repaired after a storm, a cop is forced to live below a haunted jail with inmates of the overcrowded nearby prison but slowly becomes possessed by the former guards and begins to torment and brutalize the inmates, forcing them to rise up against him. Not really as great as the plot sounds since the possession is really only hinted at and then figured out through the actions taken, despite the fact that it's never directly stated but rather implied, meaning that this one has just a long amount of time with nothing all that interesting going on. The attacks are brutal and bloody, but because we spend a lot of time with the inmates rather than the cop, lowering the film even more so and making it harder to get into. That, as well as a last-act twist that just makes the entire film a pointless endeavor and is utterly infuriating all the more-so lower it even more and makes it almost worthless.

Cyborg Cop II-A policemen must track down the escaped terrorist that has accidentally been retrofitted for a special project that turns the recipient into a genetically-enhanced cyborg now causing untold destruction in the city. A rather decent low-budget feature, not really doing a whole lot that really wows but manages to pretty much stay the same all the way through, in that there's a lot of action, shoot-outs and explosions all the way through so there's that, and the fighting scenes aren't bad even though it's all down with the obvious-ness of having guys out-of-their-element fighting the main guy who takes way too long to hand their butt to them, resulting in some pretty boring fights as well. The main problem, though, is the rather confusing story which doesn't make a lot of sense, tends to go off on several weird tangents and really feels scattershot, lowering it but not effectively killing it.

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Evil Aliens-A film crew for an exploitative paranormal TV show heads off to investigate claims of alien abduction and pregnancy, but soon come face to face with a far more hostile threat than they imagined and must fight to escape the alien beings in the area. A bit of a weird one, in that there's parts which are absolutely infuriating and others which are abnormally fun. The set-up with the brothers on the farm, their backwoods behavior and the general amount of time spent on them horsing around on the farm trying to get the footage started, are just plain irritating and make it a real chore to try to get through. That it's what starts the film off is not any helpful, but once it gets to the creatures out and about, it's a bit more easier to take, letting loose with some nice gore gags and the splatter becoming really enjoyable as a result. It still thinks it's way too funny all the way through when it's really not, but it has enough to make it worthwhile.

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The Adventures of Johnny Tao-A young man finds that a family heirloom is the key to releasing a horde of demons on Earth and battles the disciples off with the help of a society member dedicated to stopping the impending resurrection. Actually a fairly mediocre Kung-Fu film than Horror as, instead, possession by a demon turns the victim into a martial-arts champion, which in turn leads to a lot of fights and battles in this one. Sadly, none of those fights shown make the participants look any good at all, especially the lead who seems to perform rather rudimentary moves and strategies rather than showcase someone who knows what he's doing until we get to the final one-on-one showdown, which is really good and much more exciting than the other fights put together, making it the highlight as, despite the lack of exciting fights, the film's not really boring and stays interesting throughout.

Tough and Deadly-A cop rescues an amnesiac Agent for help in a drug-smuggling case and finds a level of corruption among his superiors far beyond his original understanding and forcing them to fight their way clear of the criminals. A decent enough actioner, helped along with some fun yet routine fights, chases and shootouts that, while not wowing anyone over it's still not bad enough to turn it off so it stays interesting all the way through. When it gets to the final showdown, again it gets really good with tons of fighting, shootouts and lots of explosions which really ends it on a high note and makes up for the film's middle segments which aren't bad at all except for the rather tiresome bonding scenes between the two that drag the film to a halt with their lack of excitement and action. Overall, not bad but certainly could be worse.

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SS Doomtrooper-Allied Soldiers in Nazi Germany undertake a suicide mission to destroy a research lab where the German's are conducting genetic experiments, but are stalked by a monstrous creature spawned from the facility before they can complete their original mission. A kind of hard film to review, since it seems more concerned with it's War movie sensibilities and plotline than dealing with the creature-feature horror it's shoe-horned into so the dealings with the creature tend to take a back-burner to the main suicide mission storyline and the creature only appears as a mere obstacle for them to overcome rather than collecting any fear from it. It hardly makes any kills, the few it does are really dull and lame and no one seems to be really concerned at all about fighting it, so it's backlogged in it's own film, yet there's a lot of War-movie action scenes in here that make it still an enjoyable experience. Lots of gunfire, explosions and more are showcased, which makes it enjoyable, yet it fails miserably as a creature feature.

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The She-Creature-Following a hypnosis session at a party, a rash of murders leads the police to the professor who conducted the experiment, and eventually find that he inadvertently triggered his assistant to undergo a devolving process that reverts her back to the prehistoric creature she once was, and they race to stop the creature's rampage. Not all that great, as it definitely has it's problems. One of the biggest is the fact that there's just not a whole lot of creature action in this that makes it seem interesting or exciting, concentrating more on the disproving of his techniques or a lame romance angle that feels forced the second it's introduced and really doesn't do much to help the film. this leaves the film just wandering around and just plain stalling for creature action as it winds through them, leaving the few moments of action fun but entirely all-too-brief, as the longest attack seems to last at least two, maybe three minutes and it's not the finale, another factor which leaves the film to end on a whimper than a bang. The titular creature does look good and it has a fair mystery in whether or not it's a real creature or a figment of the imagination, but it's not enough to save it.

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Cyborg 3: The Recycler-A freedom fighter joins forces with the first pregnant cyborg ever created to rally against the Government agency intent on hunting her down to use her in a special program to create more cyborgs to overthrow humanity. Now, if that plot description doesn't make it known, this was a pretty goofy entry and had absolutely no way of ever being anything otherwise, simply for the sake of what actually happens rather than the execution of the story, which is rather nice. Being a "Mad Max" rip-off, it's pretty wall-to-wall in terms of action and that allows for tons of chases, fights and shootouts which are all pretty fun and enjoyable if a little too reminiscent of their low-budget background. Overall, not bad but not too great either.

Freaked-A popular actor, his best friend and an activist, hoping to overturn the release of a devastating chemical he's promoting, are captured by a freak-show owner and turned into the newest star attractions at the event due to the chemical he's there to promote. Admittedly a lot funnier than it had every right to be, as this is pretty much in the non-stop everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach that'll appear familiar to most of us, only this time in doing the goofy creature features of the 50s. The biggest issue in here, though, is that it's trying to riff on those films yet still retains the style and tone of a Naked Gun film, not really the target audience for this one and you can tell there's a lot of stuff shoe-horned into this one that'll make it appeal to that audience. The jokes are pretty funny, the gags much better and the special effects look great, but it's just aimed at the wrong people and it suffers a little due to that.

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Hard Ride to Hell-A group of friends on a camping trip run afoul of a group of Satanic bikers looking for a live offering to birth the return of the Antichrist and must fight to get away from the crazed cult alive. Actually, not all that bad at all, managing to feel pretty tense and creepy during the opening set-up despite not having a whole lot of action at all and really just selling itself on the ways in which they're conducting affairs, but once they get captured it turns a lot more fun with some nice blood and gore, a couple nice torture scenes and some more, which is mixed nicely with it's chase scene that is a really bigger scene than expected from this kind of film. It looses some energy with the finale, mainly due to it losing the supernatural angle and opting for a normal bloodbath which has it's own pluses but it feels a little out-of-place in a film with the atmosphere it had previously built up, yet it has it's own fun with it's gore-soaked shenanigans. Overall, not all that bad and a pretty enjoyable time.

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The Hard Corps-A traumatized former soldier is asked to head up the protection for a former boxer against a notorious gangster when he gets early release from prison who starts up a war against him to finish what he started before being sent away. Overall, I'm not too sure about this one in the sense that it doesn't really seem like a plot worthy of sustaining as much as it does here, which is kinda long and tends to have a lot of acting in the middle segments where he has the usual romance with the female worker on the assignment as well as the training of the replacements following a hit, and that leaves large stretches of the film with very little action or anything usually involved in such films and makes it really hard to stay invested during these scenes, yet the problem remains that, when it does get back to the action, it's not all that impressive since he rarely lets loose and showcases any of his normal abilities or moves beyond a fleeting few, ultra-brief encounters where it's obvious that he's better than his opponent yet never presses an advantage or even goes on the offensive and instead relies on shootouts to carry the majority of the action. And in spite of all these, its still watchable and not really boring, so it's a tough one to call.

Hard Justice-A cop goes undercover at a prison to investigate the high rash of brutal beatings and deaths reported there and finds the warden involved in a gunsmuggling ring with his former foe who killed his partner years earlier. Indeed, it's a pretty cliche effort that doesn't really do anything new or innovative with it's choices, instead intent on running through the basics and hitting every note possible, from the inmates in league with the warden as the enforcements/foot-soldiers keeping it in check to the brutality in the beatdowns and the threatening to expose his secret to the others and the help of a kind sole inside far too long who just wants it to end, this is nothing new and yet, because it tends to keep the energy and momentum high, the action non-stop and the fights involved look really good, it stays interesting throughout. As well, we're giving a fun, explosive finale to end on a high note, so it's got a good feeling at the end, despite it being so familiar and cliche.

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Bloody Reunion-A group of school-friends gathering at a former teacher's house to boost her spirits following a row of ill-health, but find that the weekend resurfaces a series of murderous tendencies and feelings towards her capped off by a masked maniac killing them off one by one. Man, I really, really wanted to like this one since it's got a fantastic premise that just screams old-school slasher, the setting is perfect for these and the building tension when it's revealed all of them hated the main guest started off a wild series of potential killers and the kills are just merciless and bloody, some of the most brutal in this type of film, yet there's just a lot to dislike here. From the myriad of plot-twists that seem to serve more as an example of audience-tricking rather than actually meaning anything to the story, too many loose threads and unresolved points and some scenes just not plain making sense really, really hurt this one more than they should've considering how much this had going for it. Watchable, but highly disappointing.

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Death Bell-A group of students at an elite school find that the series of mysterious disappearances are the result of a vengeful ghost intent on playing murderous games with the faculty as retribution for their behavior towards her and must race to solve the clues to stop the games from getting out of hand. Again, another confusing one to write up about, as there was some parts to this one that was really enjoyable and some parts that were really infuriating. From the atmosphere of the school and the sense of everyone being targeted, the sense of panic as the games started and how to deal with them, it’s really good and of course, once the games start this one is just an absolute blast as they finally make people being placed in traps scary for once since it connects them with a series of questions to be solved in order to free them, their failure resulting in graphic deaths which are really fun and bloody. The part that’s really hard to get around is the fact that the ghost isn’t really all that active in the story and it’s more about the solving of the questions rather than dealing with a ghost running around kidnapping and killing people, making its involvement more like an afterthought rather than the main focus, which is a shame since it’s got a couple really good, creepy moments that are really enjoyable, but it’s confusing storyline arch and a rather inane ability to announce on-screen someone’s death we have just witnessed seconds earlier knock it down somewhat.

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The Brain Eaters-After a series of strange communication failures in a small town, a rescue party finds the cause to be rooted in a strange alien-like parasite from the Earth's core latched onto the necks of the townspeople, leaving them to stop the impending invasion. Again, this one wasn't all that great. The big thing with it is the fact that the film is not even an hour long, so it's got major problems already in trying to cram enough material that actually works in a decent, full-length release into a shorter amount of time, rushing along through everything despite their being no need to do so, cutting down the action to a few brief inserts that are fun but definitely could've been stretched out, a totally pointless narration running over everything that doesn't need to be there and several other rather big problems that really don't help to elevate it's 50s Sci-Fi origin, admittedly fun suspense in the part of who's under the spell and who isn't and what happens once the creatures are loose, which is barely explored but could've been good. Overall, this one was fine but had a lot of problems going for it.

Outside the Law-A widowed Federal Agent tracks down the drug lord who has taken up a gun-smuggling operation in her small town and seeks her revenge for the death of her husband and stop his illegal activities. Pretty cliche actioner, not really anything new or original here which makes it all that much better that we get some decent action out of the skilled action-hero cast, including Rothrock, Wincott and several others. The fight scenes are a little too brief, edited way too haphazardly or just plain off that it's more about the amount of scenes rather than the content because of those flaws, which is a shame because there's a lot of potential here to be an above-average entry. There's a lot of shoot-outs and some fun explosions to keep it interesting, but considering the talent involved the fighting here was the big problem. Perfectly acceptable for fans of the performers featured, but not for everybody.

Second in Command-A US soldier tries to protect the President of a war-ravaged country from the fanatical terrorists loyal to the opposing party who wanted to instill their leader into power during that country's recent elections. A little timely despite it coming from several years ago, again this one a little bit on the confusing side for Van Damme loyalists in that, while it's a good film in most senses, it just doesn't seem like one of his films in the sense of not really being a vehicle to showcase what he can do. He spends far more time standing around giving orders to others than fighting the terrorists, which are right outside the building where they're held-up, but yet it compensates for that with a lot of really good action scenes. Close-up guerrilla combat shoot-outs, tons of explosions, tank battles and more are brought into play and it makes it a lot more enjoyable despite the lack of typical Van Damme action.

[Fenril]

Attended a Dario Argento double bill:

- Suspiria. By now y'all know the plot and if you don't, you really need to see this movie right now (well, you all except the very squeamish, that is). I really like this witchcraft movie, and it retains its power to this day, I'd say. Not sure if this or Profondo Rosso is Argento's best, but it's definitely one of the best fantasy / horror movies I've seen so far.

- Phenomena. A young Jennifer Connelly uses her psychic link to insects to track down a serial killer that's been preying on the girls of an exclusive Swiss boarding school... For the most part a great thriller that combines ghiallo elements with Argento's later supernatural leanings, with typical visual flourishes and plot twists. One problem: the last ten minutes or so are sheer insanity and not always of the good kind [Note: This was the uncut version, not the US "Creepers" release].

Let me put it this way: the audience in the theater was mostly young kids in their early 20's. Troughout Suspiria, a few screamed and when the credits rolled by a few were still gasping for breath. When the credits for Phenomena rolled, half the teather was in tears from laughing so hard. True story.

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Bloodmatch-A champion kickboxer heads out on a quest to find the martial artist responsible for his brother's death, gathering them together and fighting them one at a time until they reveal who's the main culprit. Well, it was bound to happen at some point, we've reached the bottom of the barrel in terms of Bloodsport/Kickboxer rip-offs, and this one is it. From a moronic motive, hardly thrilling matches that really aren't that exciting and a leaden pace hampered by it's inclusion of so many filler scenes that broaden the plot to include everyone assembled since the main story doesn't support it's running time, this one here just wasn't all that exciting. It does start off pretty entertaining, and I suppose the fights have their charm since it's a hard-hitting affair (just not filled with exciting or flashy moves) it does have some going for it, but there's far better out there that don't need this one to be bothered with.

Lethal Panther 2-Two female police officers join up with a fellow detective out on a quest of vengeance against the criminal gang who killed his wife and partner years before now involved in a violent gun-smuggling operation they've been assigned to break. Initially begins as an explosive, shoot-em-up Action film with a spectacular opening filled with the usual, outrageous stunts associated with the HK action scene before delving into a lame drama about him being consumed with guilt over the shooting incident and taking up residence with the women and their families, which is pretty dull and boring since it's so cliche and completely lacking in action before it picks up fantastically for the finale. One of the more impressive shoot-outs in the genre's history, completely with several fine hand-to-hand fights that are perfectly mixed in with the action and makes for a blast to finish, and while it's middle segments are too drama filled, the action scenes in there are just a blast, with a spectacular kung-fu fight, several fine car chases and a glorious gun-fight mixed into the proceedings to help it along, making it a flawed but watchable affair.