Change Your Image
son_of_vazkor
Reviews
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
All hail the Vincent
My goodness, this movie holds up well. First watched it some 5 years ago, watched it again tonight, and I am beginning to realize how influential it is. As observed by many other posters, many films/directors are in debt to this movie. The list would begin but not end with "Night of the Living Dead", "Omega Man", "28 Days Later", and "Day of the Dead". There is also that very good Australian (?) movie, "This Silent Earth." That is to only mention the good movies. Countless crappy movies also owe their profits to this woefully unknown gem. Sure, as a Vincent Price fan I am biased. But the quality of this movie - from the script to the photography to Price's glorious intonations - is hard to deny.
Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
This movie goes to eleven
On the "So bad it's good" scale, this movie is off the charts. My friend brought his copy of this movie (yes, HIS copy) to our recent get-together. Every ninja-movie cliché is to be found here, from the climbing claws being used to scale a 50 story building, to the smoke bombs, to catching arrows with the teeth. The "bad guys" are out of sight, and the acting is so deadpan that I hope these guys are still getting royalties from this incomparably entertaining master-piece. The final battle is a great payoff, long and unbelievable with the androids and what not. Anyway, from the opening scene, this movie delivers nonstop b-movie action that few can equal. When the "indian" jumps off the roof and smashes the wooden crate over Sho's head, I almost soiled myself. See this movie at all costs.
The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (1983)
Funny. Just funny. Funniest ever, maybe.
I would not spend 1 minute in a room with someone who hates on this movie.
Yes, it is stupid; that's the point. If you are busy pointing out holes in the plot, just forget it and go watch a Ben Stiller movie. The rest of us are too busy laughing, eh.
A previous poster had a good point, though; don't make your girlfriend/wife watch this movie, they won't get it.
This movie is a comedy of comedies; almost a parody, as the two main actors/writers are just cutting loose and having fun.
My friends and I get together and watch this one every so often, making sure to have a supply of (preferably Canadian) beer on hand. Yes it is a cult flick, but it is a very friendly cult flick. As others have pointed out, no gross-out humour, no swearing, just lots of incredibly funny dialogue and purposefully ridiculous special effects. No movie makes me laugh like this one, and I'm not alone.
Session 9 (2001)
This is what horror films should be.
It is hard for me to think of a horror movie that I would rate higher than Session 9. The performances are outstanding, the script realistic (us working joes recognize the everyday problems that come up in the course of the character's lives), the atmosphere menacing and the conclusion terrifying. Session 9 has just a hint of the supernatural, and the director realizes that high body counts and copious blood do not equal horror. Real horror (or terror) arises from from fear of the unknown, and this movie accomplishes that. This movie is so far superior to cynical garbage like "House of Wax (remake?)" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Remake)" that it is depressing to see those movies get so much more recognition. I guess T&A, voyeuristic sadism and a big marketing budget are all that matter.
Note: the original TCM and HOW rocked!
Dagon (2001)
More faithful to HPL than anything else filmed . A good movie
Blade has better acting? I like Blade (except for Trinity, which was formulaic Hollywood garbage) but come on; it wasn't the acting that made it likable, it was the style and terrific action. Blade started the whole "sunglasses & leather trenchcoat" style of action that has been ripped off by many lesser movies, most notably The Matrix which does not live up to the hype.
Anyway I've been a devoted fan of HPL for years now. I've read all of his stories at least once and many of his letters as well. What this movie gets right is the atmosphere, the terrible rituals being performed by degenerate humans (not inbred hillbillies) who have sold their souls to a forgotten god more ancient than the Christian god. As for not seeing the terrible creature - Dagon himself - that is a bonus. Too often movies show everything in CGI and leave nothing to the imagination.
What they get wrong, mainly, is the exploitation. Quite a bit of gratuitous nudity at the end, making me think the producers wanted to ensure that the 14 to 18 demographic got around to seeing this one. Sexuality (and money, for that matter) were never a part of HPL's stories. He wrote almost exclusively about the futile efforts of mankind to understand the universe around him.
I like this movie but whether or not I would recommend it to someone else depends entirely upon my understanding of that person's tastes. As noted by others in this thread, this is a different kind of horror movie that will not appeal to fans of conventional slasher flicks. But for the genre it is quite good; imaginative and semi-devoted to HPL's ideas.