Bart La Rue was a character actor that was in an astounding number of television shows in the 60s and 70s (Mission Impossible, The Brady Bunch, Star Trek, Bonanza) who had a deep, resonant voice made for broadcasting or the stage. Something he always wanted to do was direct. In his short directing career, he…
Blood-a-Rama Triple Frightmare 2 [AGFA + Something Weird] Blu-ray review
The triple feature, ahem, sorry. I meant to say triple frightmare is comprise of three movies contained in this release and are all very short, one under thirty minutes and two around an hour. The run time is padded a little with AGFA’s always entertaining drive-in mode where they intersperse clips and trailers from old…
Super Soul Brother and the Films of Rene Martinez, Jr. [AGFA] Blu-ray Review
There are many categories of movies. I like to think of it as a four-square matrix. One axis is good/bad in terms of technical execution. The other axis is good/bad in terms of enjoyment. So, there are movies that are well executed and entertaining (good/good) and movies that are poorly made and boring (bad/bad). Occasionally,…
Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore & the Films of Sarah Jacobson [AGFA] Blu-ray Review
Sarah Jacobson was a director that explored a lot of feminist themes in a less narrative driven style. Think of Richard Linklater’s less story focused work. While making a splash and generating interest in the 1990s, she died young due to cancer. Her body of work only includes one feature length film and a handful…
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians & Other Holiday Hallucinations! [AGFA and Something Weird release] Blu-ray review
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (SCCTM) is a notoriously bad movie. The first time I watched it was a Rifftrax Live event where a trio of comedians mocked the film in front of an audience. The event was hilarious. In the recent joint release between AGFA and Something Weird, the movie stands alone, and it…
The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show [AGFA] Blu-ray review
The Cult of AGFA Trailer Show is kind of a mixed tape of random clips from movie theaters: commercials, public service announcements, movie trailers, etc. The “movie” itself contains some full trailers but also some clips spliced together for comedic effect, but a lot of them are crazy enough to not need editing to be…
The Rock-afire Explosion (American Genre Film Archive) Blu-ray Review
Find a person who claims to have grown up in the 1980’s but never heard of ShowBiz Pizza or its iconic band of animatronic animal musicians known as The Rock-afire Explosion, and chances are you have encountered a liar. Possibly. I mean, maybe they were huge fans of ShowBiz’s much flashier competitor, Chuck E. Cheese….
Hey Folks! It’s the Intermission Time Video Party! [AGFA] Blu-ray Review
Ah… Can you smell that buttery stale popcorn? Look at all those boxes of brightly-colored, tooth-rotting candy confections! Put down your life savings to buy soda by the bucket! That’s right… We’re going to the movies. As you walk into the auditorium, you hear the familiar skrriitch, skrriiitch of the bottom of your shoes as…
The Defilers and A Smell of Honey, A Swallow of Brine – Blu-ray Review (AGFA/Vinegar Syndrome)
The Defilers (1965) is about two friends, Carl and Jamie, a couple of assholes who are always out for kicks, which means trying to sex up the ladies and successfully smoking doobies. Thanks to his father being a hotshot wheeler and dealer about town, Carl has secured himself a party space/sex dungeon in a nasty…
Dracula (The Dirty Old Man) – Blu-ray Review (AGFA/Vinegar Syndrome)
One night, Dracula wakes up thirsty for blood but also, he’s horny as hell. He hypnotizes Mike Waters, a newspaperman or lawyer or something (who looks vaguely like Wayne Newton), enslaves him, and then turns the guy into Irving Jackalman, a werewolf or werejackal. Dracula then commands Irving to bring him some lovely ladies so…