Exploitation/B-Movie Challenge 2015 - Days 2 and 3

Long worth the wait was DAY OF ANGER. I've wanted to see this one for years but the lack of an affordable priced DVD kept it from my eyes but thanks to Arrow's new Blu-ray which is gorgeous, I've finally been able to see this spaghetti western that is widely considered among the best the genre has to offer. I won't disagree there. Lee Van Cleef and Guiliano Gemma star in this film by the vastly underrated Tonino Valeri. Cleef and Gemma are damn near perfect with each other as the grizzled old gunfighter and his new understudy as they right some wrongs that have been done to them in the past. There's fun gunplay, fantastic photography and direction and a brilliant score from Riz Ortolani that really pulls the whole thing together and controls your mood. The horseback duel is a scene for the ages!

Following that was DEATH OF A SNOWMAN, an action/crime film from South Africa. Billed as blaxploitation on its DVD cover, I wouldn't call it full blown blaxploitation, but the influence is there. The movie itself is messy with a bit too much going on for its own good. The lighting is total shit in some scenes so that it's almost impossible to see what is going on. It's not all bad, as there are some fun action sequences like the one set around a truck carrying chicken cages but it isn't revered as a classic for good reason. 

The final movie of day 2 was CYCLONE from 1978, the same year as Snowman as a matter of fact. This mishmash of natural disaster, shark terror and cannibalism makes for an interesting piece of work. A glass bottom tour boat full of survivors from a vicious cyclone, some from a downed plane, others from various boats, try to survive in the middle of the ocean until help arrives but supplies of food and water quickly deplete and the survivors begin to turn on each other. CYCLONE has long periods where very little happens but remains strangely engaging and watchable. There's a few shocking moments that add excitement when needed. Overall it's a decent one. 

The lone movie for day 3 was ANIMAL. I'll sum it up as short as I can... a group of stereotypes takes a hike in the woods, they argue like assholes for 20 minutes before they're chased in the dark by some sort of weird bucktooth monster animal who has no problem dispatching of the biggest guy in the group. The rest of them get to an old house in the woods where they find a few more people hiding out from the animal. And thus begins the waiting game. Almost nothing happens after this. The animal pokes around looking for a way into the house despite broken windows and doors being boarded up with crappy plywood, something that shouldn't stop this megabeast from getting in. Every horror cliche under the fucking sun is on full display in ANIMAL and almost worn with pride. It's amateurish at best and even that is being a bit too nice. 

Today's Rundown

Day Of Anger - 8.5/10

Death Of A Snowman - 4.5/10

Cyclone - 5.5/10

Animal - 1/10

Exploitation/B-Movie/Drive-In Challenge 2013 Days 20 & 21

There were 3 movies across days 20 and 21, starting out with ALIENATOR. This movie rounds out the Action 4 Pack DVD set from Shout! Factory that also had Exterminator 2, Cyclone and Eye Of The Tiger, all which I enjoyed this month. ALIENATOR was the disappointment of the group. A fugitive alien being comes to Earth and shacks up with a local group living in the woods when he is hunted by the title character, a platinum blond killing machine that looks like something out of American Gladiators on weird Sci-Fi steroids. There is some cheesy action and a few entertaining scenes but overall it falls flat and isn't anything special.

RATTLERS was next, a mid 70s Eco-terror type flick about killer rattle snakes terrorizing a small desert town. This movie plays out exactly how you'd expect if you've seen any similar animal terror type flicks. The movie has a single moment at the beginning that is very nasty where a pair of young kids, no older than 10, fall into a den of dozens of rattle snakes and pay the ultimate price for their misstep. After that the movie goes downhill.

The final movie was an Italian produced Women In Prison flick, CAGED WOMEN, from 1991. This is part of the Full Moon Grindhouse DVD Collection and looks a lot better than I thought it would based on Charles Band having anything to do with an old film transfer. The movie is actually rather entertaining and sleazy as hell. A bunch of naked women fighting for their escape from a secluded island/jungle prison. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but it does what it does pretty well.

Today's Rundown
Alienator - 5/10
Rattlers - 4.5/10
Caged Women - 6/10

Humanoids From The Deep (1980)

This is what happens when The Creature From The Black Lagoon hangs out with Ben Roethlisberger for too long. HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP is from Roger Corman's New World Pictures and that right there should tell you enough that you know just what kind of movie you are about to watch.

The blue collar town of Noyo is highly dependent on their Salmon fishing industry and when The CanCo company has proposed to open a cannery that they promise will hugely expand the business for the fishermen. The Native American population is highly against the damage it will cause to the local ecosystem and it is a driving force for most of the main characters. When the CanCo companies test tanks break during a storm DNA altered Salmon are released into the wild and the larger fish that ate them have now mutated into human-like creatures with great brain capabilities that want to mate with human women.

The movie has a brisk run time of 82 minutes and it moves swiftly through them. The pacing is spot on, following Corman's formula for successful film making we never get a lull in the action (or boobs) of more than a few minutes. The acting is surprisingly good for the most part and the direction is solid. Much of the exploitative moments in the film were shot with the 2nd unit crew because the original director Barbara Peeters had shot a more shadow based suspense movie that lacked the critical ingredients for a Corman production. The original title for HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP was Beneath The Darkness in order to play it off as the suspenseful mystery that Peeters was directing for so that they could land some name actors. The special effects in HUMANOIDS are fantastic. The suits are convincing, far from too rubbery and they have good movement. The gore, which is plentiful, is stomach churning in the best way. Excellent prosthetic work here from Rob Bottin (The Thing, Robocop). There is even a creepy score from future Academy Award winner James Horner (Titanic, Braveheart). And if the ending doesn't make you stand up and cheer in the name of all things ridiculous and awesome you can go to hell (not really, but you should be cheering.)

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP is the whole package . Its fun (as any Corman should be), its scary, violent, action packed and sexy (as any Corman movie should be). Hell there is even a scene that may have been taken straight from the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. I only wish I had seen it sooner.

9.5/10

I'd like to quickly add in that Shout! Factory has done an incredible job restoring these Corman Cult Classics for their newer Blu Ray and DVD releases. These are B movies getting the Criterion treatment. It's a real shame that the Blu sales haven't been good enough to warrant future titles being released to get the HD treatment they deserve. Just go buy them, you won't be disappointed.