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Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)
Have You Seen It?
Opening up with a recap on what has happened so far, "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" begins with the ending of "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" and continues the ongoing struggle of good vs. evil with Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) and The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm). We see Mike driving a hearse down a desert road in effort to get as far away from the mysterious Tall Man with Reggie (Reggie Bannister) following Mike. While Reggie deals with demon cops and a sexy lady (Heidi Maranhout), Mike travels through multiple portals and discovers how The Tall Man came to this dimension and if his brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) is really what he seems to be.
Phantasm IV is the most recent entry in the series to date but thank god it is not the last as there will be one more film on the way. While Phantasm II and Phantasm III were both very straightforward, Oblivion brings back the strange and unique feel of the original. So in short, you often have no idea what the hell is going on. ANd the fact that they show deleted scenes from the original Phantasm as part of the story really doesn't help either. I consider Phantasm IV to be a little better than the disappointing (but still good) third entry of the series, but my issue with this one is that even though you are entertained throughout and your eyes will probably be glued to the screen, nothing really happens when you think about it. You see a lot of Mike driving. Then Reggie driving, then Mike sitting in the desert. Reggie driving some more. Mike still sitting in the desert. Had the movie had more than one setting (not counting the ones in the portal jumping) it may not have felt this way. Towards the end it gets a lot more interesting and a lot of stuff happens but everything else was more or less a build up. The other thing is the ending. Thank god Phantasm V was announced because this has an extremely vague and unsatisfying ending. If you have seen 1-3, which all have the same ending more or less (which is vague also), this one blows it out of the park. Basically the film reaches it's climax, drifts to something completely random, and just ends out of the blue. And this is ten years (1998 at the time) before another film will be seen. Wow...
Continuity errors are what really disappointed me about the third movie, but aside from The Tall Man's need for Mike to be alive carried over from the third, one this one luckily has none. The amazing Phantasm score isn't really played, but a slow violin version that sounds great is herd often which adds to the drama of the film (also herd in 2 and 3). Despite that there isn't much going on in the middle, the film manages to be extremely entertaining and if you are a fan of the series your sure to really like this one. Reggie Bannister serves as the source of humor and bad-ass hero who once was an ice cream vendor once again gives a great performance as does Angus Scimm as the sinister Tall Man as usual. Michael Baldwin gives a much better performance than in Phantasm III which was good to know. Like Phantasm III, Bill Thornbury is just kind of there but unlike Phantasm III he actually has importance in this one.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Captivating story, Great score, Likable characters, Dosen't contain many continuity errors unlike it's predecessor, Attractive women (Heidi Maranhout), Very surreal, And who wouldn't like to see a bald and middle-aged ex-ice cream vendor dressed in his old uniform shooting demon midgets with a quad barrel shot-gun?
CONS: The ending will really annoy you for a really long time, Though the film contains many of silver spheres, there arn't any real drilling's:(, and you occasionally have no idea what is going on.
OVERALL: It isn't as good as "Phantasm" or "Phantasm II", but "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" is yet another satisfying entry to this amazing fantasy/horror series. While the series tends to be more horror, this one seems more of a fantasy/drama. Not that thats bad thing though. If you haven't seen any of the Phantasm movies I recommend you do as it is a great franchise. Also Reggie Bannister does a surprisingly good song called "Have You Seen It?" played in the credits and was made for th film.
Rated R: Mild Violence and Language; Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes; Score: 8/10
D.E.B.S. (2004)
Quite possibly the WORST movie I have ever seen
"D.E.B.S." is about four teen secret spy agents known as (you guessed it) D.E.B.S. (Disipline Energy Beauty Strength; no it makes no sense). Together they fight crime in plad mini-skirts, and just because their special like that they always manage to kick everyones ass. Eventually they get a call to go after Lucy Diamond (Jordanna Brewster), the worlds most notorious and dangerous criminal. She somehow manages to get away, but not before meeting Amy (Sara Foster), the leader of the D.E.B.S. squad. Lucy becomes obsessed with Amy and arranges a meeting for the two of them and before she knows it, Amy falls madly in love with Lucy. Amy is then forced into a decision: run away and be with Lucy or do the responsible thing and apprehend Lucy and stay with the organization. Guess which one she chooses?
D.E.B.S. at first seems like a goofy movie you can just sit there and brainlessly chuckle at for a little while, which is exactly what I thought too. No, it's not. This movie is a steaming pile of crap, I have seen a lot of movies and don't dislike many but it's insane how bad this one is. First let me start with the acting and so-called "humor". Acting isn't god awful but in a lot of ways it was below par. Jordanna Brewster is a good actress but her character here required a terrible performance considering she is supposedly the most dangerous person on the planet and always seems to kick everyones ass, especially if that someone is male. If you want to see Jordanna give a really good performance, see her in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning"; the film may be a half-decent gore-fest but it was a good time killer and Jordanna gives a really good performance in it. Sara Foster was decent but her characters decisions throughout the movie didn't help things. The superiors (including Michael Clarke Duncan; don't know how they convinced him to do this) are all acted well but they have little part in the film. The rest of the D.E.B.S. agents are typical teen girls, complete with calling each other "bitches" and "whores". Movies that mirror teen life and high school (such as Mean Girls) get away with this fine and be funny, but here it's just really stupid. Almost nothing in this film is funny at all. It's not even hilariously bad, it just flat out sucks.
One matter you would never think to find in here is sexism believe it or not. Michael Clarke Duncan's character is the only smart male in the whole movie. The other one that comes close is Lucy's friend, though he never gets a hit in fighting the D.E.B.S. and gets his ass kicked horribly. Everyone else like Amy's ex-boyfriend are just complete retards, which there is no excuse for. I understand the director is a lesbian and she said this film is for teen girls to encourage them "it's okay", but there is no excuse for this, not all guys are retarded. Oh, and the infamous "love story" this film is famous for is one of the worst played out in cinematic history. I'm not kidding, wait 'til you hear this. At first Amy is straight and broken up with her ex-boyfriend, and you know she cared because she was a little sad about it. Then at a heist to catch Lucy (who is invincible apparently and can never be shot; even if she's three feet in front of the guns shooing at her) the two meet up and start talking about nothing really; just that Amy has been researching her and was surprised to find out that she was a lesbian (she was with a girl at the time). Lucy leaves when the other agents show up and says to her male friend "she was so into me" and arranges a meeting for her and Amy and a friend of Amy's comes too by accident. They have like two or three minutes of casual talk and all of a sudden a straight girl is in love with criminally infamous lesbian. Wow, is that all it takes? The movie is also advertised to be a complete spy spoof, but don't be fooled: the lesbian plot consumes 99% of the film.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Every now and then there will be a laugh or two because it did do a couble things right as far as spoofing goes, but not nearly enough to redeem itself from anything.
CONS: The movie sucked, the "love" plot is pathetically unrealistic and unbelievable, sexism, watching teen girls in plad mini-skirts beating the crap out of everyone may sound fun but it is portrayed so horribly here it's just plain stupid, Lucy and her inability to be show from three feet away, D.E.B.S. stands for Disipline Energy Beauty Strength..okay..., and do I really need to continue?
OVERALL: This is not so much as a review as it is a warning to stay away from the disaster known as "D.E.B.S." as if your life depends on it. All the movies it tries to be or tries to be a fusion of such as Mean Girls and Charlies Angles are all 100x better than this load of crap. This film had a chance to be something really fun and goofy, instead it was a really crappy "gay is OK" flick. I really wanted to like this one too (seriously, I did). AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!
(Side-Note)- Keep in mind this is coming from someone who thought "Lady in the Water" was an excellent movie. Because of this you may want to see it and make your own opinion, but unless you are A.) a lesbian, B.) an open-minded girl, C.) a horny dude, or D.) a retard your opinion is likely to be similar to mine.
Rated PG-13: Some Lesbian Sexuality (nothing special really) and Language; Runtime 91 minutes; Score: 1/10
Stripperella (2003)
A definite favorite of mine and a huge guilty pleasure!
"Stripperella" is an animated series about a girl named Erotica Jones (voiced by Pamela Anderson) who lives a double life as a stripper at a gentleman's club known as "The Tender Loins" and as a sexy crime-fighter known as Stripperella, a.k.a. Agent 69 who works for a government organization. As Stripperella, Erotica fights crime and the forces of evil such as a plastic surgeon who gives women breast implants that either explode or make them fat and Cheapo, a criminal who steals from 99 cent stores and makes his two henchmen share a gun. The creator of the character and the series is Stan Lee of Marvel fame (and creator of Spider-Man).
Back in late June of 2003, Spike TV (then known as The New TNN) premiered a Thursday night block of three animated shows. Those shows were "Ren & Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon"; new adventures of classic kids show characters Ren and Stimpy for adults done by original creator John Kricfalusi, "Gary the Rat"; about a lawyer who is turned into a human sized rat starring Kelsee Grammar of "Cheers" and "Fraiser" fame, and "Stripperella"; the adventures of a stripper who doubles as a superhero voiced by Pamela Anderson and created by Stan Lee. I remember seeing all three of the premiers. I was anxious to see Ren and Stimpy as I love the original show. I was a little let down. It was alright but it seemed to take things a little too far; seeing the two have gay sex together was a bit much. Though Gary the Rat wasn't bad, the best of the three was easily Stripperella. The animation was really good, it had an awesome intro song, it had some good talent behind it, and it was funny as hell! The show was just so silly, I don't even know how to begin explaining it! After four of five weeks (if not a little less) the animation block disappeared, which was weird because I know it got good ratings and it was advertised everywhere. I was disappointed to see Stripperella go but several months later I found out about new episodes that aired at like 1:00 AM. I only got to see one and though it was funny as hell and I was glad to see the show back after all that time, something seemed a bit off....
In the beginning of it's short run, "Stripperella" had great animation. It was dark, moody, realistic, and somewhat sexy too. The Stripperella costumed looked good too, the character was drawn well. After the long hiatus and during the rest of the episodes, the animation was very different. Instead of dark and realistic look it originally had everything was now really colorful and cartoonish. Stripperella received the biggest changes though. Before she had normal long hair, now she had hair bigger than Peggy Bundy's (Married with Children) if even possible. Also, the eye mask actually shows her eyes now; before it was just white you saw which was cool since it was more superheroish. Also, the upper part of her costume was kind of a vest-type thing with a collar and her costume was dark blue; that changed to her costume being a bluish-violet color and her upper costume being really crappy looking in comparison. In short, the show was a cartoon and very over the top silly beforehand, but the second-half it became more cartoonish looking and though still laugh-out-loud hilarious, it became more zany as well; for example, there was a later episode about a were-beaver...yes, a were-beaver.
Anyway, instead of complaining about the mid-series changes, "Stripperella" only ran one season but it was a very good show. Like the Tales from the Crypt film "Bordello of Blood", it may be really campy but it's really fun. As long as your not a prude you'll find yourself laughing repeatedly at this show. I haven't seen every episode because I haven't got the DVD yet for two reasons: #1. Paramount released and they have this screwed up policy about not including any extras on nearly all released TV shows, even though this was the entire show (I would have liked to see some commentary's maby explaining the animation change and interviews with Pamela Anderson and Stan Lee) and #2. the awesome Kid Rock song during the opening was replaced. Now I'm not a fan of his, but that intro sang WAS the theme for the show! If your not going to pay to have any extras at least pay to have the original intro song you jack-asses. The show also had a few interesting guest stars such as John Lovitz as Cheapo and Mark Hamil as the plastic surgion who hates models. Also Tom Kenny (SpongeBob) was on the show as the owner of the strip club in most every episode. Stan Lee has a cameo in one episode too.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Had a great look to it at first, FUNNY AS HELL, a very fun show, great voice talent for the most part, Chief Strogenoff (watch the show and see some of the stuff he does), and was easily the best of the three animated shows mentioned earlier.
CONS: The mid-series animation change and the crappy DVD described earlier. Aside from the fact that some of the humor could be kind of dumb at times I have nothing really negative to say about this.
OVERALL: Stripperella is a huge guilty pleasure of mine and it's a shame it only ran one season. It was a very funny, sexy, actioned packed cult series that I hope to see air on Adult Swim someday with the original intro intact and possibly give it another season like Family Guy. Check it out even if it is on the lousy DVD. You will laugh yourself silly.
Rated TV-MA: Crude and Sexual Humor and Nudity, Runtime: About 25 minutes per episode, Score: 9/10
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Now this is how remakes are done!
Ana (Sarah Polly) is a hard-working nurse; after countless hours of sleepless work she goes home to her normal suburban home to be with her husband. All seems well, life is great and everything is near-perfect. Randomly all of a sudden her neighbor's young daughter shows up "not as herself" and attacks her husband and before Ana knows it, her husband is a mindless being trying to kill her. She manages to escape and as she does, she witnesses total chaos as many people have become mindless flesh eaters as her husband has. As she tries to find someplace to go, she finds a police officer named Kenneth (Ving Rhames) and the two find more survivors and take refuge in a local shopping mall in "Dawn of the Dead", the 2004 remake of George A. Romero's 1978 horror classic.
I like a few remakes, but quite a few are also complete garbage. Remakes of "When a Stranger Calls" and "Black Christmas" really suck where as others like "Psycho" and "The Fog" are at least mildly respectable. Classic '80's remakes such as "The Thing", "The Fly", and "The Blob" were great ones as was the recent "King Kong" remake, which I will say is definitely better than the original. 2004's remake of "Dawn of the Dead" was a nice surprise as it seemed to have all the ingredients to make a remake good. It keeps the basic plot of the original with many little tributes to the original (such as Ken Foree of the original having a cameo restating the famous line "When there's is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth") while being a very different movie at the same time. Even George A. Romero, who did the original said he thought this would suck but admitted that he kinda liked it. The biggest difference from the original is the zombies themselves; in the original (as well as "Night of the Living Dead", "Day of the Dead", and "Land of the Dead") they were slow, brainless, and looked dead. The new zombies have normal complexion for the most part, run extremely fast, and are very aggressive. While the others are more or less "classic" zombies, these are probably scarier. Movies don't scare me but there was this one scene in a pitch-black parking garage that zombies eventually filled into was really intense. Also, there are quite a few characters in this one as opposed to the four in the first.
Acting in this film is very good for the most part especially from leads Sarah Polly and Ving Rhames. Ving's character Kennith I'm assuming is named after actor Ken Foree who's character in the original (I think) was a police officer as well. Characters for the most part are likable and it is hard to see a lot of them die, though of course there or a few putrid ones who you can't wait to see get eaten. The movie is quite gruesome as you may have imagined; the only way to kill zombies to to shut down brain activity so there are plenty of exploding heads. Aside from that there is no actual "gore" in the film but there is plenty of blood, filmmakers were very generous in that department. It's not the greatest movie in the world but aside from the fact that it's not the original film there isn't much holding it back. I was kind of disappointed with the ending though. I apologize if you may consider this a spoiler but the endings of both versions of "Night of the Living Dead" and the original "Dawn of the Dead" had sad endings but basically said that humanity will overcome this ordeal and this version ended like "Day of the Dead" saying that we're all screwed. I herd that Day of the Dead was depressing long before I saw it and it didn't ruin the movie for me so that is why I mention that. Both the original "Day of the Dead" and this remake of "Dawn of the Dead" are still very good movies so I suggest you check them out.
*Note that the only version of the film I saw was the Unrated Directors Cut, which has more gore and character development as the director says in the introduction on the DVD so I recommend that that is the version you see.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Excellent gore and special effects, plenty of bloodshed, good acting, a pretty creepy film, lots of depth in characters, cameos from a few members of the cast of the original "Dawn of the Dead", and is one of the better remakes out there.
CONS: Zombies are complete opposites (fast, aggressive) from their Romero counterparts (slow, dumb) (this can be a pro or a con), a depressing conclusion, not quite as good as the 1978 original classic.
OVERALL: The 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" is very well done as far as remakes go. It is a fairly creepy and very thrilling movie. If you can stomach the violence you should definitely check this out. It may not be the original but it has everything a good remake should have. I didn't expect to like it that much but I was very surprised.
Unrated: Graphic Violence/Gore, Languege, an Sexuality; Runtime: 110 minutes; Score: 8/10
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)
Easily the weakest chapter of the "Phantasm" series but still pretty good
Like with every sequel in the series, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" begins immediately where the previous film leaves off (in this case "Phantasm II"). Reggie (Reggie Bannister), who was left for dead in part 2, is still alive and runs to help Mike and Liz. He finds Liz dead and Mike out cold. After a run in with The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), he and Mike (A. Michael Baldwin after being replaced in part 2) get away, and run into Jody (Bill Thornbury), Mike's brother killed years earlier by The Tall Man and has become a servant of his. Soon after The Tall Man finds them and kidnaps Mike, leaving the ex-ice cream vendor hot on the trail of The Tall Man once again. During his search for Mike he runs into a sexy looter (Cindy Ambuehl) and her friends, a kid (Kevin Conners) who can shoot straight, a girl named Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), and more of The Tall Man's flying silver spheres. Together (minus the looter and her pals) they plan to save Mike and complete the task begun in Phantasm II: destroy The Tall Man once and for all.
Phantasm III many conceder to be the absolute worst of the Phantasm series. Yes, it is probably the worst but it's definitely not bad, I liked it (but then again I'm a big fan of the series). The biggest problem people have with Phantasm III is that it has a much bigger campy and comedic side to it in addition to a lot of action (think "Commando" sort of) while the first was focused on mainly chills with additional dark action in the second. This isn't really a negative in my opinion as the film was pretty funny and it didn't seem to hurt it in any way. Another point brought up by some is that it's a low budget film and effects look crappy. Umm....those guys must be high because I know the budget wasn't so high but the film looked great; special effects, make-up, and stunts were all great. There is an amazing car jump in the film that apparently was extremely frightening behind the scenes (see commentary) and the zombie make-up is realistic and sphere effects were really cool. The film is also very rich in color; the first two were very dark tone wise (which I liked) but this one has very vibrant colors which giver the film a fascinating look. Just watch the trailer for the film; it pretty much shows off a lot of the great effects as well as the color tones.
That being said how exactly is this one the worst in the series? Well one part in the beginning pretty much ruined the movie for me practically. The character Liz (Paula Irvine), who starred with Mike and Reggie in "Phantasm II", was made out to be an equal with Mike in the eyes of The Tall Man; meaning she was just as big a character as Mike plus she and Mike were deeply in love and they were played out to be soul mates. Phantasm III opens with the cliffhanger end of Phantasm II and shows Liz dead and Mike still alive. It wasn't even a believable death. Now your probably thinking "of well she's just a character, your just obsessing" your absolutely right; I loved Paula Irvine and Liz but it's not just that. As I said she and Mike were made out to be soul mates as well as equals and after the shot of her corpse there isn't even as much as a mention of her for the rest of the movie. Yeah, I know. What the hell? I've herd of poor story telling but this is just retarded. Now I would have felt a lot better had they just at least took her death into consideration and had Mike actually react I would have been a little happier. Seeing Bill Thornbury of the original Phantasm return Jody was cool, especially for die-hard fans, but aside from navigation it didn't seem like his character served much of a purpose. He has a bigger role in the next film in the series though. The character Mike, who was the main character in the first two films (and still has a big role), only appears in 10, 15, maybe 20 minutes of the 91-minute film. I found that kind of strange Also, The Tall Man's intention in Phantasm I and II was to kill Mike, but here (despite that it picks up where Phantasm II ends) he for whatever reason wants to capture Mike ALIVE. I don't get it either, but this continues onto the next film as well.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Very funny, awesome fantasy action, attractive women (Cindy Ambuehl and Gloria Lynne Henry), beautiful sets and color tones, a bald guy with a quad-barrel shotgun and a Hemicuda, great acting for the most part, and flying silver balls! Plus the Anchor Bay US DVD is great pretty good.
CONS: Killing/ignoring Liz, a few continuity errors annoyed me, Michael Baldwin's performance wasn't very good in comparison to the first and fourth films, seeing Bill Thornbury was nice was it wasn't really necessary, the thing with brains and extend able eyeballs in the silver spheres I wasn't really fond of, and of course, the whole thing with Liz.
OVERALL: "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" is a very fun and humorous fantasy/action flick that is very enjoyable. Michael Baldwin's return didn't really thrill me like it did others since he appears very little and gives a below par acting job (he gives a great one in "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" though) but Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister are great as usual. The film ignores a key plot point but the rest is pretty good. I highly recommend it as it is a very fun and entertaining film.
Rated R: Fantasy Violence/Gore, Language, and Some Sexuality; Runtime: 91 minuets; Score: 7/10
Phantasm II (1988)
A sequel that not only lives up to the first, but takes the "Phantasm" series to new heights
"Phantasm II" literally begins where the original Phantasm ended. Mike (A. Michael Baldwin in the beginning) narrowly escapes capture by The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and his army of zombified dwarfs thanks to the efforts of his friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister). After a narrow escape, Mike is placed in a psychiatric hospital and a young girl named Liz (Paula Irvine) does a voice-over stating she is involved with The Tall Man as well. Eight years later, Mike (now portrayed by James LeGros) is let out and he and Reggie go on a hunt in search of The Tall Man, following his trail of victimized towns that have been wiped out and turned into his followers while in search of Liz additionally, who is telepathically connected to Mike through their association with The Tall Man and become romantically involved. Together Mike, Reggie, and Liz fight together in effort to put an end to The Tall Man's mysterious evil once and for all.
The "Phantasm" movies arn't exactly very well known known which is too bad because they are great films. The second installment of the series can easily be considered it's highest point. The first film was a great movie and a definite classic but this one just kind of expands on everything. "Phantasm II" has a completely different mood from the atmospheric original; this one is more of an action/adventure film in a fantasy/horror setting. This is not a bad thing really since those looking for a thrill have come to the right place and for horror fans, the film is still pretty creepy. Thanks to a much bigger budget than the first, there are loads of great special effects in this film, which is essential for a film with as many fantasy elements as this. I'm amazed the original got as far as it did with such a small budget, especially since that one was more focused on fantasy elements. The famous silver spheres of which the series is famous for make a return in this film, only this time there are a bunch of them plus a large gold sphere in this one as opposed to the single sphere in the original. Charicter's in this film are great as they are very likable and and they actor's who play them are great; James LeGros does a great portrayal of Mike despite the fact that he isn't Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister is bad-ass as usual, Paula Irvine is terrific as Liz (it's a shame she stopped acting), Samantha Phillips is good as mysterious hitch-hiker Alchemy, and Angus Scrimm of course gives another great performance as The Tall Man.
There isn't really much about this film to complain about. I liked it a lot more than I should have but still. It has an interesting plot, great characters, a mysterious villain, a bald guy with a quad-barrel shotgun who used to sell ice cream, and flying spheres that drill people's brains out :) It's definitely not a film everyone will like but it's definitely one to check out. I loved it and many other reviewers did too. Those concerned about content the film had a bit of blood but isn't terribly gory; most of the violence more or less comes from the spheres who only kill two people. There is also a brief sex scene with a little nudity but other than swearing thats about it. The film is written and directed by Don Coscarelli, who wrote and directed the other three films in the series (and an upcoming fifth and final one) as well as classics like "The Beastmaster" and "Bubba Ho-Tep".
The Breakdown:
PROS: Solid acting, likable and interesting character's, attractive women (Paula Irvine and Samantha Phillips), a revamped version of the already awesome Phantasm theme (one of the best tunes ever; ranks with Terminator and Halloween), great FX and special effects, a few good quotes, great action, and the plot is pretty good as well.
CONS: As of June 7, 2007 there are no plans to release this on DVD (which is flat out pathetic), kind of confusing at times, and as the 5.8 rating suggests it's not a film for everyone. There really isn't much that is bad to say about this in the end.
OVERALL: "Phantasm II" is not only a worthy sequel to a classic original but ranks with films like "Terminator 2" and "Aliens" as a rare sequel that manages to be just as good as the original. It is also very different in style and the film's score is awesome. Should you have interest in seeing this, be sure to see the original "Phantasm" first since this one begins right as that one ends. I highly recommend this one, I love this series and this film is incredible. It's highly recommended as at least a rent to watch if you have nothing better to do, are in the mood for a movie, or whatever. "Phantasm II" is a thrilling action/horror flick and I recommend the whole franchise as well. Only if you really liked the character of Liz like I did the way Coscarelli treats her in the beginning of the next installment will be a huge disappointment.
Rated R: Grisly Fantasy Violence, Language, and some Sexual Content Runtime: 1 hour and 36 minutes Score: 10/10
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)
The last 'classic' entry of the "Elm Street" series and not as bad as they say
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" picks up about a year or so after the previous film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master". Alice Johnson (the hero of the fourth film) is graduating high school with plans to vacation in Europe with her boyfriend Dan (also in the fourth movie). Her alcoholic father is going to AA meetings and is becoming a better person. She has a new group of friends who care for her a lot as well. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her and the town of Springwood is more peaceful than ever. Of course now that everything is normal, Freddy Krueger resurrects himself to once again wreck havoc on the defenseless town. It is once again up to Alice, who vanquished him in Nightmare on Elm Street 4, to put a stop to the sadistic sandman once and for all.
Many people say Nightmare on Elm Street 5 is the worst film in the series but it is far from that in my opinion as it is much better than the disappointing part 6 as well as the crappy second film. Nightmare 5 is somewhat conjoined with the fourth one, as the films bear many similarity's and have all the same characters; much like Halloween 4 and Halloween 5. The main problem with The Dream Child is it's many plot holes. First of all Freddy brings himself back somehow with no actual explanation on how he was able to come back after his defeat in Nightmare 4 (well actually he does that in every movie), but at least they have a resurrection scene here instead of him just being there at the films start. Here he somehow brings his mother Amanda Krueger (a nun raped by 100 maniacs which resulted with Freddy) into Alice's dream to re-birth him into dream land. He then finds what was leftover from his demise in the previous film and crawls over to it (yes, there is a baby Freddy in here) and transforms into his old self. But for whatever reason he can only kill by going through through Alice. This was actually made up in the fourth movie but here since Alice is apparently "too powerful" for him to face, Freddy goes through her and Dan's unborn baby to get to everyone else. No, it really doesn't make much sense, especially now that Freddy is afraid of his mother as she for some reason is the only one who can kill him.
As previously stated, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 wasn't a bad movie. I personally thought it was pretty good even though it wasn't as good as the previous two. One complaint is that Freddy doesn't seem like as much of a character as he was in the third and fourth movies; it seems like he appears very little and doesn't have a whole lot to say, where as the fourth film you see him frequently and he constantly makes odd one-liners. He still makes jokes here though and there were a few funny bits with him. You may have herd that this FX heavy, and it is. The special effects in this film look great. I consider The Dream Child to be the last classic entry of the series. The first five films continue each other very well and have a great 1980's nostalgia feel to them. "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" was the sixth and final entry in the central series and it has a "classic" feel too in a way, but I consider the fifth the last because the sixth abandons all plot of the first five, makes up it's own rules (like when Freddy kills someone their entire existence is erased with their death), and does a poor and retarded portrayal of what Elm Street and Springwood have become. So Nightmare 5 basically wraps up the entire story in a way.
The Breakdown:
PROS: Directly continues after the events of the fourth movie, Lisa Wilcox (Alice) and Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) give great performances as do most of the cast. The soundtrack is pretty good though the one's for 3 and 4 were a bit better. The FX effects look really good and most character's are likable. It has that great '80's feel to it I mentioned earlier and Lisa Wilcox is both hot and cute. And to top it off the classic Nightmare on Elm Street theme is present as in all the Freddy films except for the second movie.
CONS: There are a crap load of plot-holes, Freddy doesn't appear as much as the previous two, and I can't really say what but some bits in the plot didn't really work (which is probably a lot of the reason why people didn't like this one a whole lot).
OVERALL: The Nightmare on Elm Street series tends to produce films with better quality and more plot than many of the other entries in standard slasher horror series. This film was no exception really as it's better than a lot of the Friday the 13th and Halloween films (though arguably some of those can be more fun and entertaining). Here you get a lot of what you would expect from a Freddy movie (mainly bad jokes and surreal fun), it's not really gory but then again none of Elm Street films really were aside from the original one. I recommend Nightmare on Elm Street 5 to anyone who likes these kind of movies (horror, fantasy, sci-fi, or whatever) or if your looking for something to pass the time on a rainy day or if your either bored or in the mood for a movie. It's nothing incredibly special like the first one was but it's great entertainment as is the rest of the Elm Street series.
Rated R: Fantasy Violence and Language (the film is pretty mild), Runtime: 1 hour and 30 minutes, Score: 6.5/10
Filter (2002)
One of the best and funniest shows on G4
Filter is one of G4's original shows hosted by the hot and funny Diane Mizota (Fook Yu or Fook Mi from Austin Powers in Goldmember). What I mean by original is TechTV. Ever since G4 and TechTV have merged the channel has lost its potential. Filter is still on, but not as much. But anyway back to Filter. A lot of the countdowns are quite interesting, one was "the worst games ever". And another was "most controversial games ever". The Grand Theft Auto series won that one. How is it funny? Mainly Diane Mizota cracking jokes and comments. To sum it up, Filter is a top 10 video game count down show on G4techTV (ch.219) with a different topic for the countdown each episode. The host is hot and hilarious. I love the original G4, not the TechTV part of it now. I give Filter a 10/10