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Sunday, July 30, 2023

STAR PILOT 1966 (RARO) BLU-RAY

God I love Italian sci-fi!!

Well I like Italian horror films just as much and you may ask why. It's the babes man...THE BABES. Actresses in 60's Italian genre films were simply gorgeous.

This is perhaps one of the oddest films I have ever seen. Several people including 3 Chinese spies are captured by aliens hiding on Earth and attempting to repair their ship.

They kidnap earthlings to help them, and when the repairs are made the blast off without letting their captives go. While heading for their home in the Hydra constellation the aliens constantly fight the Earthlings and the Earthlings manage to sabotage the ship and it heads out into intersteller space.

Now everyone must work together to stop the ship from drifting in space forever. They land on a strange planet inhabited by weird monster who kill all of the Chinese spies.

The luscious Leontine May is a sexy earth girl that falls in love with one of the aliens named Belsy (Kirk Morris). Sexy Leonora Ruffo is Kaena, the leader of the alien ship. Both of these women make the film totally watchable and that was my point with my opening statement. THE BABES ALWAYS MAKE THE FILM WATCHABLE, NO MATTER HOW BAD IT REALLY IS.

A lot of the effects are sub-par but the viewer shouldn't pay much attention to that. This film is so over the top that it is enjoyable as hell. The Raro Blu-ray presentation is the best this film has probably ever looked.

The colors are bright and very eye catching. If you like Italian sci-fi are gorgeous babes I'd recommend this forgotten film.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Vivica A. Fox is 59, and Monique Gabrielle is 61.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

HELLBLOCK 13 1999 (TUBI)

A low budget and strange anthology horror film from Troma.

The always wonderful Debbie Rochon stars as Tara, an insane female seriel killer.

While awaiting her execution time she reads three tales of terror to a jailer played by Gunnar Hanson. The first tale in entitled "Watery Grave" and it concerns a young woman named Sherry Simpson (Amy Beattie) who is haunted by memories of her two missing children, both of whom may have drowned.

As the tale progresses we learn Sherry killed her children and now the water logged corpses are seeking revenge on both her and her lover.

The second tale is called "White Trash Love Story" and concerns a young, abused wife named Heidi Mae (Jennifer Peluso) who is constantly tortured by her redneck hubby Joe Mark (David Holland).

After being beaten and whipped one too many times Heidi seeks out a local witch who gives her a potion to use and rid herself of Joe Mark. The witch tells her she must get something of his and mix it in the liquid, but DO NOT get anything of hers in it or there will be dire consequenses.

Well needless to say things don't go as planned and a tear from Heidi falls into the potion. I won't give away the end, but it is a good twist to a very good tale.

The third and final stay is entitled "Big Rhonda" and is about a motorcycle gang that heads to Mexico for drugs, but first stops off in a secret burial ground to pay homage to their eternal leader "Big Rhonda".

They have a new member and he just cannot figure out what is going on,but being part of the gang he just goes with it. It turns out Rhonda protects the gang from cops and others who would interfere with their drug trafficking. The new member, who is an undercover cop finds out the hard way.

This final tale was ok, but damn it had so much potential and it never took advantage of anything. The very sexy J.J. North is Rhonda, and we never get to see her much.

Tara's execution time arrives and she has a big surprise for the evil prison guards who have made her life hell as well. Look, I liked this film better than I thought I would, and for a Troma film, it ain't too bad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Robert Fuller is 90, Delia Sheppard is 63, Roz Kelly is 81, Tina Krause is 53, Lana Kinnear is 47, and Scott Steiner is 61.

Friday, July 28, 2023

RIP LELIA GOLDONI 1936-2023

You may not know the name, but you'd know her face.

Lelia started her acting career in 1949 in an uncredited role in the film noir "House Of Strangers". In her 68 year career in movies and TV she was always a welcome face in any film or TV show she appeared in.

Her genre credits include "The Unseen", "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" (1979), "Good Against Evil" which was a TV movie and many other.

Lelia Goldoni passed away on July 23rd, 2023 at the age of 86.

THE FLYING TIGERS 1942 (MAPLE)

Here is a movie I hadn't seen for many years.

John Wayne stars in this epic film. He plays Jim Gordon who is in charge of the small group of fighters who are helping the Chinese fight the Japanese Army before America gets involved in WW2.

Gordon has a lot of problems with his crew and their different personalities, but the real problems start when a hot shot flyer named Woody Jason (John Carroll) shows up.

He doesn't take orders well and even attempts to make off with Gordon's girlfriend Brooke Elliot (Anna Lee). There are a lot of great action scenes in this film, and I suppose a lot of left wing loonies would consider some of this to be non PC, but I simply don't care what the crazies think.

This is a wonderful film made just after we entered WW2 and it's a great propaganda piece. The rest of the cast includes Paul Kelly, Gordon Jones, Mae Clarke and David Bruce.

I recommend this Republic Studio release for John Wayne fans and fans of WW2 movies in general.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Elizabeth Berkley is 51, Lisa Gastoni is 88, and Maura Monti is 81.

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

RAMBLINGS...

I recently went to an estate sale, which I seldom do and much to my surprise the person was an avid DVD collector.

I picked up a few books and DVD's. One set was the entire 6 year run of "Have Gun, Will Travel" which is a great show. I also picked up a lot of good sci-fi TV including "One Step Beyond" and there are 16 episodes of this classic series.

Also I picked up 14 episodes of "Flash Gordon" from 1953-1954 and I forgot how entertaining there really are. There were others including "Lights Out", "Tales Of Tomorrow", "Rocky Jones: Space Ranger" and also some older serials from the 30's and 40's.

I'll be including some of these in the future here on the blog, but I have to say, it was quite a find.

Monday, July 24, 2023

Sunday, July 23, 2023

CREEPSHOW 1982 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY

This is, in my opinion the BEST horror film of the 1980's.

This ultra high definition version in 4k is the best the film will ever look. It's simply beautiful. I have talked about this George Romero film before so I want to keep this short and sweet.

As you all know, this comic book horror film consists of 5 tales and a cool wrap-around. The tales are "Father's Day", "Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill", "Something to Tide You Over", "The Crate" and "They're Creeping Up On You".

This presentation looks stunning and if you're a fan you're gonna love it. The disc has a ton of extras and if you're able to play the $K UHD version you get even more extras.

I question that marketing idea from Shout, but hey, who am I? Anyway, pick this up and you won't be disappointed. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Charisma Carpenter is 53, Ronny Cox is 85, Lydia Cornell is 70, and Erica Blanc is 81.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

CHROME AND HOT LEATHER 1971 (TUBI)

It had been a long time since I saw this film.

I enjoyed this film and it is really made for the time period it takes place in. I remember these times very well indeed.

The plot is a simple one. A Green Beret returns from Vietnam and gets the news that the woman he was going to marry has been killed by a biker gang. The leading man, Tony Young is fine as Mitch, the soldier, but Bill Smith as T.J., the leader of the gang steals the show.

Mitch gets three of his buddies to help him find the gang and then execute their vengeance. It's pretty straight forward, but there are some great set pieces including where the four soldiers train on Kawasaki motorcycles to take on the gang. It's done in a very humerous fashion, and it works well.

It very much a product of its time, but don;t let that stop you from seeing a very enjoyable film that moves along well.

The rest of the cast includes Marvin Gaye, Michael Haynes, Peter Brown, Larry Bisho, Wes Bishop, Herb Jeffries, Bobby Pickett and the always gorgeous Cheryl Ladd.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tisa Farrow is 72, and Erica Gavin is 76.

Friday, July 21, 2023

THE SLASHER IS THE SEX MANIAC 1972 (TUBI)

This film is also known as "So Sweet, So Dead", and that is a kind of boring title.

I enjoyed this Italian horror film. Farley Granger stars as Inspector Capuana, an overworked and somewhat happily married man who is assigned the case of a violent slasher.

The case takes a lot of his time and he never gets to have time with his gorgeous wife Barbara (Syvia Koscina). It turns out the mysterious killer dresses in black, wears a fedora and only kills unfaithful women.

At the scene of each crime he leaves several photos of the women in their trysts. It seems almost impossible to catch the killer as the bodies pile up, and the pressure to catch the slasher is high.

Since this is an Italian Giallo/Horror film, you can expect a great twist ending, and there is one and, of course I will not give it away here, but it's pretty damn cool.

Granger turns in a great, low key performance and carries the film well, but as usual for these films, it's the beautiful women that are the main attraction.

Besides the already mentioned Sylvia Koscina, we also have Annabella Incontrera, Nieves Navarro and the stunning Femi Benussi. These women always make the films good in my opinion.

If you get a chance you might want to check this out.

Monday, July 17, 2023

Sunday, July 16, 2023

SPACE MONSTER WANGMAGWI 1967 (TUBI)

A VERY RARE Korean monster movie.

I had high hopes for this movie, I really did. A race of aliens from space decide they want the Earth and makes their plans to take it.

Their plan consists of releasing a giant monster to destroy the population and then they can move in. The monster, called Wangmagwi is an interesting looking creature indeed.

There is the usual monster destruction scenes and these are done fairly well and the plot moves along fine. My big problem with this film is the forced comedy from some of the characters. Believe me, it isn't funny at all.

And for some reason the Koreans felt that we hasd to have annoying children, much like the later Gamera films. It is the first Korean sci-fi film to be filmed entirely in it's home country and I love the black and white photography, but I just thought there was too much "comedy" and that killed it for me.

The film was thought lost for many years, but it has resurfaced, and that's always a good thing no matter if I like the film or not. These kinds of lost films must be found and shown again for the masses to make up their own minds on what is good and what isn't.

The movie is available on Blu-ray or streaming, which is how I caught it. If you're a giant monster movie fan you need to see this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

AnnaLynne McCord is 36, Ann Turkel is 77, Al Cliver is 72, Stephanie Beaton is 51, and Lacey Von Erich is 37.