The man, the myth, the legend. Known as much if not more so for being a producer, Band has a long directing career as well. Band’s first big success was with his Empire production company where he produced bonafide classics like The Re-Animator and the horror comedy fun of flicks like Ghoulies and Troll which cemented Band as an heir apparent to Roger Corman in some respects. With both the films he produced and directed, Band showed a knack for creating films that stretched the value of the dollar and made them look like bigger studio pictures on a tiny budget. After Empire collapsed, Band formed Full Moon Pictures which he still runs to this day, doubling down on the camp horror comedy elements and big studio-style polish that many of his Empire films displayed, Band also ramped up the marketing aspects of his business, and at times has even seemed to create new franchises in order to sell merchandise. His films often featured delightful stop motion effects courtesy of budget effects maestro David Allen and cheesy, over-the-top acting and plots giving his films the feel of a living comic book. Band is shameless in his self-promotion but delivers the goods where it counts on giving the public macabre, entertaining pictures that leave a big impression.
The Creeps (1997)
The Creeps is exactly the kind of kooky horror comedy that Band is known for. It’s about a librarian who hires a video rental employee that runs a private eye business on the side to track down a rare first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that was stolen from the library. What he finds is that a mad scientist has been stealing first edition horror novels to use them in a device that brings character archetypes to life. Something goes wrong and the monsters come back as little people. The scientist convinces them the librarian must be captured and used to help them grow to full height. Band has a way of using broad character acting and garish lighting to produce a very comic book-like atmosphere and this film is a prime example of that. It’s a really kooky movie, and cult movie fans will get a kick out of the detective/video store guy’s random references to obscure horror movies. Like many Band films, it’s stupid but fun.
Petrified (2006)
This one is about an alien mummy brought back to life that proceeds to drink people’s blood and/or turn them to stone (there doesn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to this). The acting is terrible. The effects look like they’re from a TV show from the early ‘90s. The plot doesn’t make any sense. This typifies the kind of lazy movie that has sadly come to represent Full Moon in the 21st century…
Prehysteria! (1993)
In addition to Full Moon, Band also created a production company to produce children’s movies called Moonbeam. Prehysteria! was probably Moonbeam’s biggest hit, spawning two sequels with all three being staples of video rental stores throughout the ‘90s. It’s a pretty cute movie about a family that ends up caring for and having to protect a bunch of unusually small (like knee height) stop-motion dinosaurs. My daughter found the dinosaurs pretty adorable. This is actually not a bad family film, and the stop-motion effects are generally very good for this kind of movie.
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983)
Spoiler alert but that title is a liar. Honestly I’m not even sure why this movie has a subtitle. It’s not like it provides any additional insight into what the movie is about, and Jared-Syn, the antagonist in the movie, isn’t a pre-existing brand that would have name recognition. I dunno. This is a pretty silly movie. It’s essentially a long chase sequence with a guy named Dogan trying to track down Jared-Syn in a weird world that’s like a mix of fantasy and post-nuke movies. If you wanna just watch people drive around in Mad Max-style armored vehicles while using magic, then knock yourself out with this one. Just know that it should’ve been called The Pursuit of and Eventual Escape of Jared-Syn: See You in the Sequel That Never Happened.
Ragewar a.k.a. The Dungeonmaster (1984)
The Dungeonmaster is essentially an anthology movie that isn’t structured as one. The premise is that a guy and his girlfriend get zapped into a fantasy world where an ageless demon played by Richard Moll challenges them to a series of scenarios they must overcome for his amusement. Basically each segment is directed by a different Empire Pictures director including Charles Band, special effects guy David Allen, John Carl Buechler, Ted Nicolaou and several others. It’s a lot of fun generally with a lot of cheesy, stop-motion action and a nice variety in challenges. Plus Band’s section has the band WASP for an even higher cheese factor. The only section that stands out a little awkwardly is the “Slasher” segment directed by character actor Steven Ford. It’s the only one set in just a regular modern urban setting and doesn’t really have much in the way of fantastical elements that the other sections do. Overall, it’s an entertaining movie. Just treat it as an anthology rather than a single, really disjointed story and you’ll be fine.
Puppet Master: The Legacy (2003)
This is almost entirely a glorified clip show of the previous Puppet Master movies. That’s it. I won’t waste more time describing it than Band did making it.
The Dead Want Women (2012)
This one opens in the swinging 1920s in what starts as a debauched orgy then devolves into a mass murder committed by an actress unable to cope with the switch from silent films to talkies. Jump forward to modern day where the ghosts of those flappers and gangsters killed back then now haunt the mansion (is this the same mansion David DeCoteau filmed several dozen ‘dudes with no shirts’ movies in?) and torment the unfortunate hot, young women that show up there. The basic premise of Band making a horror movie set in the 1920s isn’t a bad one but everything about this just feels weird and wrong. The emphasis on incredibly raunchy sex and nudity, the bad acting and the very limited location shooting makes it all feel incredibly cheap and sleazy. What’s missing I think is that spark of fun that embodies the best of Band’s features.