Moviecritic1990's Movie Commentary

 20 years ago in high school, I was heavily into horror films (still am) and I remember coming across this monstrosity of a horror film. It was laughingly bad then... and it's still bad with some parts that are funny. It's not just the acting that's terrible, it's the plot holes and upon this viewing, I noticed some mistakes which made me wonder how they missed it. I'm not sure what the budget was on the film itself, but how Full Moon could afford Gary Busey is questionable. The man played & won best supporting actor for playing Buddy Holly & was the main villain in Lethal Weapon and then resorts to dreck like this. The crazy thing about this movie is that it spawned a franchise and yes, back in the day, I did manage to see the other two movies and they were just as bad as this one. Will I be reviewing them both? Time will tell. All in all, The Gingerdead Man is well... dead on arrival and don't get me started on that bristle board cover as a store sign....

 At the time of this writing, there's another Popeye horror flick coming out this year and I do plan on reviewing it once arrives. There's this trend going around the horror community where they are taking classic children cartoon characters and making them into slasher flicks. You've probably heard of Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey which kickstarted that trend. Like The Marvel movies, there's a universe of these movies coming soon that tide Winnie The Pooh and the rest of the films together into one Avengers type style movie. and I'll be checking those out once released. I'll go on record and say that this and the other upcoming Popeye flick have no affiliation with the Twisted Childhood universe. Now on to Popeye's Revenge. The movie itself was pretty stupid and the script leaves a lot to be desired  but it had enough gore to make it humorous in parts. I should say the plot on IMDB is incorrect.  According to IMDB:  The legend of Popeye haunts a group ...

See For Me is an interesting but fun little Canadian horror film. At a brisk runtime of 92 minutes, it wastes no time into getting right into the meat of the story. The only issue I had is the main character. She comes off as snobby & unlikeable. I understand that when it comes to horror movies you need characters that you like & hate. As soon as the main character came on screen, right away I could sense snobbery and it was very off-putting. Despite that, the film is fun and a good for a Friday night. 2 1/2/5  

Since 1999, fans wanted a Phantasm 5 because they felt the ending of 4 need to be resolved. I remember as a teenager in high school after watching all 4 movies that I would read various articles on the horror sites, trying to find info on a part 5. I read Roger Avary's script called Phantasm's End, which went straight back into part 3 being a heavy horror-action finale and Bruce Campbell would have been in it. The teenage me would have loved this very much but now as I'm older, it wouldn't have been a great idea and I'm glad it was rejected. In 2014, news broke that a Phantasm 5 was shot in secret and would be out soon. I was skeptical, yet excited for this as news would come up and then nothing would happen. It wouldn't be until 2016 until I finally saw the movie and while it was nice to see the cast come back for one more ride, I was a little disappointed as I was hoping to see the final *phinal battle between the characters of Mike, Reggie, Jody & the Tal...

Phantasm 4: Oblivion has gone back to it's low budget roots similar to part one. It was a wise decision by Coscarelli as I believe upping the action & horror on part 3, brought it down a little bit. Oblivion goes back to what made the original the success it was. I think if I had to rank the films down it would be 1,4,2,3,5. Growing up watching these movies, I can see why I became a horror fan. Stuff like Phantasm, Creepshow and all the other horror movies I've seen over the years. They're just so much fan and I like sharing my favorite movies with people. Phantasm 4 is in my opinion, a good end to the series. 3/5  

 After the box office results of Phantasm 2, Universal chose not to do a sequel but did offer to distribute should Don Coscarelli decide to a part 3 and would have total say in the casting. After the experience he went through doing a studio film, Coscarelli refused and brought it over to AVCO Embassy Pictures to do Phantasm 3. Now, Phantasm 3 is a fun sequel to the first 2 movies and it does play up on the comedy a little bit in some sections of the film. It is still a good sequel. It is rare for a horror series to still be good when it comes to the third installment. Usually by that time, sequels tend to be tired & boring and other people try to take over and add their 2 cents in which results in a bad film, Phantasm is a rarity as Coscarelli & CO. stuck together and made these for the fans or should I say phans.  3/5

As a teenager in high school. It was very easy to find Phantasms 1,3, and 4 on DVD. 2 was never released on DVD for the longest time because it was a studio movie which I'll get to in a minute. Phantasm 2 is a great follow up to the original film. But that doesn't mean it has it's fair share of issues. The movie was made by Universal which demanded that certain things needed to be changed. 1. It couldn't have a dream-like state like the first movie because audiences who didn't know the original would be confused as to what's going on. 2. I have no disrespect to James Le Gros what's so ever, who I feel did a great job but the role was Michael Baldwin's and for many years, when I've discussed the films to people, I've said how stupid Universal was for demanding casting changes. This brings up my opinion that studios who do horror films & or sequels have no clue what they're doing and this is why I hate studio interference. Despite the issue...

 Next to The Return of the Living Dead, Creepshow, & Hell Night. The Phantasm series was my introduction to horror. thanks to hours of watching everything on VHS back in the day. Everything about the film is a classic. I would say that Phantasm is more than just a horror film but a drama about fear & death which is what our lead character Mike goes through. It may be a well known horror franchise, but I think a lot of people who may be horror fans that don't know the Phantasm films should check it out. It's disjointed, almost a dream-like state. But that's what makes it work. 5/5

By 1982, slashers were invading the theatrical & VHS markets what with Friday the 13th part 3 & Halloween 3: Season of the Witch coming out at that time. Flicks like Curtains (1983), Road Games (1981) & Hell Night (1981) were trying to get people's attention. There was a need for more and filmmakers went out and started cementing their legacy in a slasher flick with the hopes that people would see it. Some have achieved cult status while others have faded into oblivion and that's where Humongous comes in. Humongous is a typical slasher that wastes no time in getting into the story. The only unfortunate thing about the flick is it's too dark at times to see what's going on & the pacing is a little off. Humongous is a film that not a lot of slasher fans talk about which is a shame because I feel that it should be seen more.  2 1/2 /5  

 Break In was a struggle to watch. Despite an interesting premise, the film itself was not very good and most of it had to do with the pacing of the film. A film like this has to have a strong pace and characters to care about or not care about. Martin Sheen & Albert Finney, two great actors were given a terrible script and I couldn't have cared less about either one. I wanted to like this film but all in all, it was very boring. 1/5

Above the Law (1988), Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990), Out for Justice (1991) & Under Siege (1992) are in my opinion classic Steven Seagal action flicks. With the exception of Marked for Death, 4 of his films from the early days were released by Warner Bros and Death was released by Fox.  I consider them to be so bad it's good and there's many reasons for that. In the first 4 movies I mentioned, Steven plays the same type of character, a cop with a special forces background & a lot of people will agree with me on this, he's devoid of any emotion. Which is funny to me because a bunch of the action stars from the 90's showed emotion when required. Steven just makes a face and next scene. Marked for Death is a typical Steven Seagal action flick and believe me, I've seen pretty much everything he's done and it's all the same for the reasons I described above. Going away from the movie for a moment, it's been said that he & Jean Claud...

 A friend of mine who recently passed away introduced me to Jackie Chan & Chow-Yun Fat's Hong Kong action films and I thank him very much into doing that. In my younger days, I was never interested in them and I didn't know why. But now so many years later, I can appreciate them more now then before. I find that they're a lot better than what Hollywood churns out. The stunt work is more realistic and the action sequences are more believable. When it comes to The Replacement Killers, it is a typical Hollywood production with enough cliches to dumb the audience down, but I really enjoyed it. It doesn't have that John Woo style that I'm used to seeing in the Hong Kong flicks but Chow does his best with the material he's given. When it comes to action movies, I expect two things: a bar fight and cheesy dialogue. Replacement Killers has none of that. There's no bar fight and our hero doesn't spout out cheesy dialogue. I guess I'm thinking about all th...

Tony Todd passed away last year after a battle with cancer and he left behind around 7 movies that have yet to be released and Werewolf Game is one of them. Growing up, I was a fan of Tony Todd in films like Night of the Living Dead (1990) & Candyman (1992). I actually met him back in 2012 and he was a really nice guy. He was surprised when I brought up liking the remake of Night of the Living Dead. To be fair, his handler only had photos of Candyman and nothing from Night of the Living Dead so that took Tony by surprise when his handler asked if he had any photos from Night. Anytime, he was in a direct to video flick, I knew I had to watch it. The movie may not have been good but Tony's presence always made it a good watch. Despite him doing a great job with what he was given in Werewolf Game, the movie itself isn't very good. I have to admit that I turned it off halfway as I felt the film was disjointed and slow paced. It's a shame though as I wanted to like the film....

The Nature of the Beast is a entertaining little movie with enough twists & turns that makes you wonder who's who by the end of the film. I've heard about this film in passing and I've kept putting it off and after finally watching it, I can say The Nature of the Beast is not a bad film. It drags in a couple of spots but despite that, Lance Henriksen & Eric Roberts do a great job with what they were given, but I feel the script could have used some tightening up. 2 1/2 /5

 In my opinion, Roy Scheider is one of the best actors of his times. I think he was frustrated with the fact after movies like French Connection & Jaws, he was getting all these scripts where he played a cop. In Cohen & Tate, he plays a different type of role as a hitman which I was really surprised at how good the film was. It's an entertaining road movie where you have Scheider as the veteran hitman trying to do his job without any problems & then you got his sidekick, Adam Baldwin who's kill crazy and inexperienced. Both actors give great performances as does Harley Cross, the kid trying to survive the night against the 2 hitmen. Cohen & Tate is a great thriller. It's a shame the film is forgotten. 3/5

 The Friday the 13th franchise was one of the popular slasher film series of the 80's. Throughout the decade, many slashers were made hoping to piggy back on Friday's success. Some have succeeded and achieved cult status, while others have been largely forgotten. In the case of Madman, it's forgotten. That isn't to say that it's not a good film. It's a bad movie that tries to copy Friday's success but in the end it became largely forgotten by the horror community. It's got some creative kills which makes up for the story and the film's pacing but could have been better if the script was a little stronger. Overall, a decent slasher flick. 2/5

When the slasher craze dominated the 1980's, studios were trying to figure out various holidays they could set for a slasher film. Home Sweet Home (1981) & Blood Rage (1987) are set on Thanksgiving. Halloween (1978) is set on Halloween, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) is set on Christmas and My Bloody Valentine (1981) is set on Valentine's day. I hadn't seen the latter film in awhile and it's due for a rewatch on this blog. I'm here to talk about the new Valentine's day slasher flick, Heart Eyes. Heart Eyes is a typical slasher film which is part 80's rom com and 80's slasher. As a slasher fan, I've seen my fair share of them over the years including the ones I brought up above and I knew what to expect going into this movie. The rom com section of the flick is sappy at best while the slasher stuff is hilariously gory. If you watch Heart Eyes, just know that you will have fun with this like I did. 3/5

Death Wish is in my opinion one of the classic flicks of the 1970's that dealt with the subject of vigilantism and how the justice system was broken at that time. I could go on about the justice system in the world today, but this is a movie review site and I rather focus on films than politics. Death Kiss is a cheap knock-off of the classic 1974 film, Death Wish. I've seen one other film from Bronson lookalike, Robert Kovacs and that one was okay. Death Kiss is slightly better when it comes to pacing. But I think what hurts this film is the acting. The dialogue feels so stilted that there are times when I thought I was watching a Lifetime channel movie instead of a action flick. Daniel Baldwin plays the radio DJ giving commentary on crime & justice that it almost seemed like he was playing himself instead of a character and Richard Tyson plays the main baddie in this movie but I was shocked with how bad his acting was and I've seen him in other projects where he did a ...