MZ's Movie Review Thread

[MinionZombie]

Nail Gun Massacre (Terry Loftus & Bill Leslie, 1985) Blu-Ray Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2018/1...ftus-bill.html Cheaper than a chainsaw, pointier than a pointy thing, this low budget revenge-fuelled slasher brings bargain basement gore to the woods of rural Texas where a maniac with an aversion to amorous couples and construction workers is on the rampage. Cobbled together by determined first-time film makers and exploited by unscrupulous distributors for decades, the journey towards wider recognition has been an arduous one for Nail Gun Massacre, a gritty DIY horror from the heyday of the video cassette that is adored just as much for its unintentional goofs as it is for its scripted sarcasm...

[MinionZombie]

Nightmare Sisters, Murder Weapon, and Deadly Embrace (David DeCoteau aka 'Ellen Cabot' 1987-1989) https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2018/1...ens-david.html Three low budget genre movies on two discs: Nightmare Sisters, Murder Weapon, and Deadly Embrace; with three legendary scream queens popping up (and popping out) across them all: Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, and Michelle Bauer. Fans of 1980s VHS flicks, roll on up for 247 minutes worth of low budget run-and-gun exploitation as sorority nerds are possessed by a succubus, two psychotic mob daughters throw a house party, and a desperate housewife entertains the pool boy...

[MinionZombie]

Contraband (Lucio Fulci, 1980) DVD Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...vd-review.html Otherwise known as The Smuggler, gore maestro Lucio Fulci's crime epic Contraband mixes old school Mafia romanticism and contemporary cynicism with extreme violence as cigarette smugglers face off with the new tough guy in town: a drug runner with a sadistic streak... There's something oddly appropriate about the review this month, because a contraband cigarette racket just got busted (for the third time) in my local area!

[MinionZombie]

Body Melt (Philip Brophy, 1993): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...93-review.html A lesser-known entry in this sub-category of splatter-fuelled flicks is Body Melt, an Australian B-Movie that takes a few cues from Peter Jackson's early films and sprinkles a dusting of 90s rave culture style into the mix – oh, and Harold Bishop from Neighbours is in it, too!

[MinionZombie]

Evil Toons (Fred Olen Ray, 1992): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...92-review.html From Fred Olen Ray, the director of Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, comes Evil Toons: the saucier, spookier, and definitely cheaper alternative to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? But don't let the title deceive you with it's plural-based promises, because you only get one titular torrid toon! However, with a game cast – featuring support from a ham-tastic David Carradine (Kill Bill) and the late, ever-reliable Dick Miller (Gremlins, The 'Burbs, damn near everything else) – plus oodles of meta humour and a multitude of babes laid bare, this gleeful exploitationer from the VHS rental heyday has plenty to offer...

[Neil]

Evil Toons (Fred Olen Ray, 1992): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...92-review.html OMG! That looks appalling

[MinionZombie]

OMG! That looks appalling I rather enjoyed it. I've become quite a fan of cheesy low budget movies with a sense of heart and fun, particularly from the heyday of VHS.

[MinionZombie]

Microwave Massacre (Wayne Berwick, 1983) Blu-Ray Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...wick-1983.html A schlubby construction worker (played by old school comedian Jackie Vernon) sick with his wife's bizarre cooking discovers culinary cannibalism is the answer to his problems.

[MinionZombie]

Hard Ticket To Hawaii (Andy Sidaris, 1987) Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...aris-1987.html How do you take care of a snake infected with weaponised cancer? With a rocket launcher, of course ... and that's only a subplot in this friggin' bonkers movie!

[MinionZombie]

Picasso Trigger (Andy Sidaris, 1988) Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...88-review.html Following on from the giddy heights of the utterly bonkers Hard Ticket To Hawaii (1987), writer/director Andy Sidaris had found the right kind of groove to establish his 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' series, and so entry number three – Picasso Trigger – sees numerous returning characters, more bared chests than you can shake a boom-erang at, a Martini distillery's worth of cockamamie riffs on James Bond, and an endless supply of exploding vehicles to rival any episode of prime time television in America's Reagan era...

[MinionZombie]

Malibu Express (Andy Sidaris, 1985): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...85-review.html The first part (of twelve) in Andy Sidaris' “L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies” series doesn't pack the same punch as its follow-up Hard Ticket To Hawaii, but the writer/director's heady mix of beautiful babes, muscular men, brash action, and corny dialogue was clearly the state of play from the very beginning. At the heart of the somewhat baffling plot – a vague remake of the director's own 1973 début feature film Stacey – is a Private Investigator, a wealthy family, and a scheme to sell America's computer technology to the communists – and a hell of moustache...

[MinionZombie]

Formula For A Murder (Alberto de Martino, 1985): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...e-martino.html The 1980s were a bit of a lean time for gialli (the heyday of which was the early 1970s) what with splatterific American slasher movies dominating the horror genre at that time, but there was still room for Italian murder mysteries amidst the Jasons and Freddys and Michaels. Alberto De Martino's slow-burn killer thriller combines the priesthood, repressed memories, and that old motivator money in a story about a wealthy paraplegic sportswoman who spirals into a whirlwind of love and murder...

[MinionZombie]

Splatter University (Richard W. Haines, 1984): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...-w-haines.html From the director of Class of Nuke 'Em High, Splatter University – otherwise known as Campus Killings – is a cheap as chips horror comedy in which a bunch of reprehensible, unteachable college kids test their new teacher's patience while getting bumped off during the new semester. The trailer and 'back of the box blurb' sell it skilfully, but what's it really like – a forgotten gem, a dropped turd, or perhaps a malodorous diamond?

[MinionZombie]

Savage Beach (Andy Sidaris, 1989): https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/0...89-review.html In the words of writer/director Andy Sidaris “You can't not like beautiful women and explosions, if you don't, then you're a Communist” … ah, the 1980s! When he wasn't chewing on his tongue, lodged so firmly in his cheek, Sidaris was making movies in the 'Skin-emax' style, that is: guns, babes, and all sorts of shit blowing up somewhere sunny. The fourth entry in Andy Sidaris' twelve-strong 'L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies' series features the final on-screen team up for arse-kicking agents Donna and Taryn, and sees the zesty duo crash land in the middle of a hunt for missing gold on a remote Pacific island...

[MinionZombie]

Castle Freak (Stuart Gordon, 1995) DVD Review: https://deadshed.blogspot.com/2019/1...-1995-dvd.html Director Stuart Gordon and actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton had a good run together with the iconic 'H.P. Lovecraft meets splatter' flick one-two punch of Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986). However, with those two titanic entries in the horror genre, one of their other efforts – 1995's Castle Freak – has flown somewhat under the radar. Re-teaming with screenwriter Dennis Paoli, Gordon explores some deeply dark themes as he pits a self-imploding family man against the embodiment of his monstrous, tortured soul...