What I'm Watching: January, 2011

Happy new year, and greetings programs!  Sorry there wasn't an early January posting, but I honestly didn't have much to say.  I was stuck watching the new Doctor Who season, and that was pretty much it, and there was no juicy news to share.  But what that means is I've built up a pile of stuff since then, so this is a biggy.

Starting with the much anticipated Tron: Legacy.  I may well be the last person on the planet to see it, because I literally just got back from the theatre.  I had to wait for the movie to get into a 2D theatre, which is why this movie I've waited two decades for, a sequel to one of my fave guilty pleasures, has not been seen until now.  Sucks.

But I digress.  How was the movie?  For the most part, it was worth the wait.  Even in 2D, it was a visual and auditory feast.  It had a plot, that was maybe a little thin at times, but even then everything just looked and sounded amazing.  I'm not a style over substance kinda person, but you can't comment on those things with this movie.  Sam Flynn was one of the weaker links, as I never quite connected with who he was.  The movie could have used a little more character building on his part.  He still had his moments though.  No surprise that Jeff Bridges was amazing, though.  And his younger self managed to stay out of the uncanny valley, for the most part.  The biggest glitch with Clu was that his head and neck didn't always seem connected.

The first movie seemed to do more with comparrisons to the real world, and I don't think Legacy *quite* pulled that off.  The world didn't seem quite as well thought out to me.  It felt more like an alien world than a computer world, if that makes any sense.  What I really would have liked to have seen was more conflict, and not just in the good versus evil department.  They could have done SO much with fathers and sons, two brothers pairing against each other, the difference of generations both in people and technology, between the open source and closed source movements, religion and tech...so many options.  There were moments of some of those things, but that's all they were.  There was some great stuff between Clu and Kevin Flynn towards the end of the movie that was the closest to that, with a son's rage against a father's broken promises.  I wanted more of that.

But there was a plot in the movie, and one that moved pretty well for a two hour film.  It never quite felt like it dragged.  If anything, it needed to be longer, to give it more meat.  This could have easily been a mindless action movie to cash in on 3D, but they had a story to tell, and they told it.  It just wasn't as much of a story as I was hoping for.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

I've got a stack of DVD movies I've watched lately, so I'm going to breeze through them.

I have now seen the infamous Lindsay Lohan bomb, "I Know Who Killed Me."  And...and, I um, actually liked it?  Don't get me wrong, there is plenty bad here.  The acting is subpar, the story is laughable, but...with the other movies I watch?  It is NOT that bad.  Maybe worse than a lot of other big Hollywood movies, but it was entertaining, and well made.  I was absolutely enthralled with the noirness of it, and the way it was shot.  This movie dripped style, and the director did an amazing job.  But it is what it is, a goofy pulp bit of fluff that is best left forgotten.  But I've seen worse.

A little less horror, although there's a personal level of horror to the story, is Catfish.  This is a documentary of a guy who gets involved with a person online, things start to seem hinky, and his quest to get to the bottom of things.  I was surprised to find out this is a supposedly true story, but just as surprised to find out how interesting it actually was.  The story isn't terribly surprising, but there's a few unforseen twists, and the depth of the lies was truly enthralling.  I was on the edge of my seat watching to see just how deep things got.  The best part for me is that once the truth came out, they did not make it confrontational.  It could just as easily have been a case of, "HOW DARE YOU??" which I am sure many people would have taken, but instead the people involved were understanding and almost caring, even in light of the lies, since we're all a little bit of a lie online, aren't we?  I like what the understanding nature of it says about humanity.

On a bit of theatrical catchup, I saw Machete finally.  Hooboy, this is a tough one.  It is way over the top, and gets very silly.  But then, we knew that, didn't we?  It's a modern day grindhouse film.  And much like Rodriguez's other grindhouser, Planet Terror, he nails the style and energy and fun of it.  This isn't the movie you watch for a serious movie.  It knows what it is, and what it wants to do, and does it.  No questions asked.  Perfectly executed, but problematic if you don't know what you're going to watch.

Continuing the catchup theme, I also got to see Piranha at last.  Another one I had to wait on because of 3D.  And much like Machete, it's not very serious, nor is it trying to be.  In almost any other world, this would have been on the Scifi Channel, but it somehow snuck onto the big screen.  It's a fun, deadly fish filled romp, with everything you would expect from a love letter to 80s horror movies.  Campy, classic fun.  If it had come out 20 years ago, it would get a full review.

Lastly, there's Buried with Ryan Reynolds, and almost only Ryan Reynolds.  It's a very simple story of a man trapped, buried in a coffin, with only a few items, and trying to find the way out.  For a movie that is solely on one character, in a single location, for 90 minutes, it was way more enthralling than you might think.  It dragged a few times, but it works for the confinement and claustrophobia.  You get uncomfortable waiting, and that's how you should feel.  It was a decent watch that kept me totally entertained, and the ending...well, I won't say a word.

Oh, and just one more quick shout out to a little known film that has nothing to do with anything; Gunless.  Yes, it's a western, and has nothing to do with this site, but it is smart, funny, clever, and is more of a deconstruction of the Western genre than anything else.  It's about a wanted man who ends up in the wild west...of Canada.  The Montana Kid then tries his best to get out, but that's easier said than done when he challenges a gunless man to a duel.  Very fun, and just something from the left of nowhere I wanted to shine a light on for interested parties.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff.  Well, I have even more movies to watch, and even more to write up reviews of, so until next week...end of line!

J

What I'm Watching: Christmastime

A bit of a mixed bag this time out, killing time as the next review floats through the interpipes, and catching up on the backlog of DVDs that piled up.  Even though I never feel like I make a dent.

Nic Cage's latest movie, that I never got to see in theatres, was Sorcerer's Apprentice, and you know what?  It's a pretty fun flick.  It's nothing super great, it's not the next great classic.  But it is VERY fun, and the plot holds together very well.  The cast is almost completely well acted, and even Nic Cage who can be uneven does a decent job.  The magic looks good, thanks to a lot of practical effects supporting the visual effects.  The plot is made up of a lot of familiar elements, but they are put together in such a way, that this is almost a unique story.  Yes, it's the classic good versus evil paradigm, but they tackle it in a unique way.  I definitely recommend it for a fun, popcorny movie to watch on a snowy afternoon with cocoa.

Another movie I've watched recently, but seen before, is Metropolis.  The original, not the anime version.  The very much original, as the Complete Metropolis was finally released.  It's missing a few pieces of footage still, but this is the most complete version ever, and possibly the most complete we'll ever get.  The new sound is downright amazing, and actually jarring to have a 5.1 orchestral score to an old, silent, black and white film image that is occasionally dug out of a poor archive because that was the best copy available.  The story is much clearer than I remember it being, and more engaging.  It's been a long time since I've seen earlier hacked up versions, but I'm pretty sure this is a better, more coherent film.  You have to judge it on what it is, and the time it came from, but if you can get through that, it's certainly worth a new look.

Say what you will about Metropolis, the plot may be light, the characters not that built up, but it's an early filmic work, from another country so...but even so, you have to respect the film for what they were able to do in 1927, in the way of scale and effects.

My favourite new zombie movie, well new to me, is Dance of the Dead.  It came out in 2006, but I just found out about it and got it around Halloween.  I adore this movie.  It is *almost* the US version of Shaun of the Dead, but not quite as good.  It's a fun teenage high school romp at the prom, with zombies.  How can you go wrong?  The writing is smart, with some nice wit, and very fun.  The gore is great, and the plot hangs together.  My one complaint is, again, comparing it to Shaun.  The movie doesn't quite pull together as many threads, and isn't QUITE as clever as Shaun.  Which is a shame, because there are some great opportunities for them to set things up and pay them off, but they rarely have that payoff.  If they had followed through on some very obvious plot threads, this movie would be a classic.  But for an independent film from newer filmmakers, it's still rock solid.  Like I said, I adore it.

While not really science fiction, fantasy, or horror, I do want to talk about the new BBC show, Sherlock.  Hey, so many of these movies involve mysteries and twists, so there's a slight connection.  And hey, dead bodies and slashers.  This version is taking the basic Conan Doyle characters and dropping them into 2010.  And you know what?  It totally works.  Almost nothing needs to change about the characters, it just needed updating to more common parlance, like Watson's journals becoming a blog.  If you're a fan of classic Holmes, there is a lot to love here.  There's a lot of references, both in the background and right in your face.  The mysteries are very solid, and very engaging.  And the actors playing Sherlock and Watson are amazing.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first series.  My only complaint is that it's too short!  Three episodes of 90 minutes each?  That's just enough to get me interested and frustrated!  The wait for new episodes will be sheer torture.  If you love mysteries, and are wanting for good ones, or just have a soft spot for Sherlock, this is a must watch, plain and simple.

That's plenty to ramble on about this time, gotta get back to work on Trisk's Christmas review!

Happy Holidays, Horrorheads!

J

What I'm Watching: Early December, 2010

Well, the year is almost done, and it's been a decent 2010.  I've not gotten out to as many movies as I've liked, but that's what DVD is for, and that's what a lot of this post is about.  A couple of movies this time around are a bit of the odd, little known, rare side of things.

An odd little movie I grabbed randomly because it sounded fun, was the Australian thriller, Restraint.  Or Ravenswood as it's known in some markets.  It's a very small cast, but the performances are pretty well done across the board.  Most notable in the cast is Stephen Moyer, whom will be familiar to horror fans as Bill Compton on True Blood.  He plays a rich agoraphobe who is trapped inside his own home after some bad events.  One day, his home gets invaded by a pair of criminals on the run from the cops.  To save his life, he offers them large gobs of cash sitting in a trust fund that the female accomplice can get her hands on since she has a striking resemblence to his fiance.  Things go awry from there, as the trio are forced to spend time locked up in the house together, learning about each other.  It is a very good ride, especially for a low budget movie from first time (I think) filmmakers.  The ending leaves a weird taste in my mouth, but it works.  If you're looking for something a little low key with a few thrills and character exploration, this one is worth a rent.

Speaking of movies with decent thrills but weird endings, the other movie to pass my DVD player lately has been Altitude.  That's actually an odd coincidence between two very different movies.

Altitude is the story of a bunch of young students renting a plane to go to their annual Coldplay concert.  The pilot lost her mother in a plane accident when she was young, and the event haunts her.  After takeoff, things go from bad to worse as they get lost in thick, dark clouds, and start to see a creature lurking within them.  What the creature is and where it came from is the driving mystery.  This was a decent little movie, and used the bottle formula of a small cast trapped in a single location as they're slowly wiped out to good effect.  The first third of the movie is spent learning who the characters are and the plane's initial flight before things even go that wrong, so by the time the shit hits the fan, you actually care when tentacles start tearing people apart.  Or root for it, in one case.  But at least you do care about these people, which is always a good sign in a thriller/horror movie.  The ending is VERY strange, and while it wasn't unique, it did come out of nowhere, and was just so out there and a little bit ballsy that it kinda blew my mind.  I think I liked how it all wrapped up, but I'm not sure!  It was just such an out there twist, it sits uneasily with me.  But I've seen worse movies, so I say it's worth a look.  It was also directed by comicbook artist Kaare Andrews, and for a first time director, he does a good job.  Again, for a movie from new creators, and low budget, it's good for what it is.

Two very interesting flicks, that are a bit off the beaten path and might be of interest.  I've still got a lot more backlog to get through, and reviews to work on, so best to get back at it.

J

What I'm Watching: Early Novemner, 2010

Hello, horrorheads!

It is November, and I am neck deep in words while working on NaNoWriMo.  Things are going great word wise.  The story...well, not so much.  I'm sure it's fine for an alpha draft, probably even better than that, but I've hit a rough patch that's making me grumpy.  And for a horror story, I need more horror.

But I digress!  We know I hate everything, and I hate my own stuff the most.  Y'all are here to see what I think about other stuff, not stroke my own ego.  Or punch it in the kidneys in my case.

So, what AM I watching?

Since I'm so busy writing, not a whole lot.  The DVD stacks are getting oppresive in their size.  But I do still sneak in a few things here and there.

A most eagerly awaited movie I was waiting for was Red: Werewolf Hunter, a Scifi Channel movie.  Yes, something I *wanted* to see on Scifi Channel.  This was, surprisingly good!  Felicia Day was as awesome as I expected to be, the acting for most of the main cast was solid enough.  Stephen McHattie was a little scenery chewer as the werewolf leader, but hey, I expect that from my villains.  The effects were cheesey, there wasn't much to the plot that was that special, but when Scifi has such a history of delivering crap, well...this is a cubic zirconia in the crap wishing it was a diamond.

Also on Scifi recently was Sharktopus.  Holy shit this was awesome.  I was keeping a running death toll and by the end of the movie hit a whopping 30+ deaths.  That's over one death every three minutes!  This was a terrible movie in all the right ways.  I mean, it had a shark/octopus hybrid being chased by a very over the top Eric Roberts.  How could this NOT be awesome?

I want DVDs of those two, like right now.

Also of note to the horrory sort of things, is AMC's new series based on the zombie-filled comic book, Walking Dead.  I am completely unfamiliar with the comic so I can't compare the two, but the series?  The series is marvellous.  It is awesome in exactly the opposite ways that Sharktopus wasn't.  Pretty good acting, very tense writing, the makeup effects are good, and it has some great emotion.  I've often said the best horror is the stuff that makes you feel for the characters, and Walking Dead is very much a character drama.  With zombies.

The best part of Walking Dead is that it is entirely unique on television.  Name me one other zombie series on right now.  Or ever.  Supernatural comes close, but that's far more adventury and supernatural horror in general.  It fills a niche I didn't even know I had.  And I am loving it.  Some people have criticized it for saying it's like the first ten minutes of 28 Days Later, which is fine by me since the last half of that movie seriously lost the plot and was pretty terrible.

As a little treat, I got the new MST3K DVD set, which came in a HUGE box to accomodate the newest figurine, Gypsy.  So my bad movie warriors grows, and Servo and Crow are joined by their comrade.  Her base is a giant coil of tubing, so she takes up a ton of space.  I did find a great spot to stick her and watch over me and my sanity though.

And yes, that's this very post I'm working on.  How meta is that?

Coming up on the 15th is this year's Triskaidekafiles Thanksgiving turkey, so keep your eyes peeled.  And after that, I will see you back here in December for bad Christmas movies.

J

What I'm Watching: Late October, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Before I dive into the movies and such I've been watching lately, just some quick notes on what's coming to Trisk in the near future.

For those that have been here for awhile, you will remember the very quiet November from last year, as I partook in the yearly NaNoWriMo writing competition, and this year will be the same.  But with one main difference, there WILL be a review, come hell or high water.  I also plan to still do a Watching post at the very least, so it won't be a total ghost town around here.  Look for our Thanksgiving review on the 15th, to split the month up nicely in half to bide time between now and December.  And there's still one more review going up before then.

After that, Trisk will be diving right into more Christmas movies, and that will take us through 2010.  I've got only a little inkling of 2011 movies to kick off January.  There is a number of films jumping up and down to be reviewed, so they definitely have my attention.

Over the past few weeks, I've watched a number of horror movies; one rather strange, and one pretty straightforward but really good.

The stranger of the two was the rather infamous Human Centipede.  It's the rather simple story of a mad scientist who captures some hapless people stranded on the road, and then does crazy experiments on them, but taken to the Nth degree.  There's nothing that special in the plot, and what really makes the movie stand out is the nature of the experiments.  The crazy Dr. Heiter sews three people together with their mouths connected to the preceeding person's ass and connects their digestive tracts.

Ew, right?

Personaly, I found the Hostel movies far more disturbing, but I can see why this would squick people out.  I still found it to be an interesting study of the few characters in it, and was intrigued to see just how it would turn out.  While I find it hard to recommend something so bizarre and disgusting to many, if you can stomach it and aren't downright turned off by the description alone, I do think it is at least worth seeing, just for the experience of having done so.  I'm not going to get into the medical accuracy, or the movie's claims thereof.  Why start now?  NONE of the movies here are accurate to any sort of reality.  Isn't that half the fun?

From the weird to the almost normal, comes Frozen.  I really, really liked this movie!  I am sold on Adam Green's work, and am definitely moving Hatchet up my list of movies I need to see right the hell now.  Some people will sit down and nitpick apart every last second of the movie, trying to come up with things the trio of characters could have done differently once they get stuck on an abandoned skilift one weekend, or plot holes, or the usual.  However, in my opinion, I feel the movie addressed most of the major potential stupid moments very well.  Most ideas people come up with actually wouldn't work as well as you would think upon first thought.

The strength of Frozen is in its characters.  The secret to all good horror movies.  If you care about the people about to die, then you're willing to buy 90% of anything a movie might throw at you.  Since this movie is three people on a chairlift and nothing else for 80 of it's 90 minute runtime, you absolutely need great characters, and Frozen delivers.  Especially with the casting of Emma Bell as Parker.  She is absolutely adorable, and just on sight alone, you want absolutely nothing bad to happen to this girl.

Your desires will be completely denied, as much happens to Parker.

The absolute best scene in the movie is centered around what the movie doesn't show you, as a brutal attack that many movies would go to for the blood and gore, is left completely out of our sight, and we only experience it through the faces and reactions of the other characters.  That was brilliant and sold me on the movie.

Oh, and the writer/director is from my neck of the woods, and includes a lot of references to the New England skiing culture, so I may be grading on a curve just for those things alone.

But seriously, I could go on and on about this movie, and would love to talk more about it with anyone who has seen it.  If you haven't, I definitely recommend that you do.

And the reason I've kept this post on delay for so long, I literally just walked in the door from Paranormal Activity 2.  I talked about the original back in January, and wanted to get around to my thoughts on this as well.

It's not as good as the first movie, I'd say.  Whereas the original knew just when to get to scaring you, I felt the second time around they spent a little too much time with the characters.  It was ok stuff, but just a hair too long, and I started squirming in my seat waiting for things to get going again.

That said, the scares do make up for it, and are pretty good.  Some of them outdo the first movie, some don't.  It was a really good ride though, and a must see for any fan of the original.  A lot of the events were a bit confounding to me with how they lined up with the first, how they could possibly coexist, but that was explained nicely by the end.

I could have easily set fire to the three young women sitting across the aisle from me though.  They would not shut up and kept giggling.  Some of the giggling was warranted, but argh.

My one complaint is barely even a thing.  It has nothing to do with the plot, and it was a joke that got made by the husband.  His wife is in the bath, and he makes a joke about joining her and how he will, "Release the Kraken!"  In a movie set in 2006.  Um...  Gotta love anachronisms.

That's all for now!  Next full review up soon, and I'll see you when the snow flies.

J

A Bloody Good Year

Hello horrorheads!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, TRISK!!

Holee crap.  I can not believe I am actually writing this.  A year ago today, our first review went up, Popcorn.

Wow, just wow.  To celebrate, I posted our epic 26th review today, Demons of Ludlow!  Total coincidence that we did #26 today, but isn't that awesome?  Gotta love synchronicity.  What makes this movie so special that it got the honour of being the one year in review?

Well, not much.  The biggest thing is that I hale from a town called Ludlow.  Or near enough.  I went to high school there, and those years are largely responsible for my love of horror movies, so why not do a movie set in the town?  Well, it isn't the SAME Ludlow, but close enough for horseshoes.

I discovered the movie completely at random.  I was going through a site that lists and briefly comments on a lot of our sort of movies, and almost breezed right past the title.  I paused, scrolled back, and stared.  How could I *not* review this movie?  I researched it, had the damnedest time trying to find it, and finally tracked down some printed on demand versions.  Before that though, I did a little more research, found someone talking about it, and I realised I had the pack of movies they got it from.  I ALREADY OWNED THE MOVIE.

Let me just say that I am not the sort of person to ignore Fate when she punches me in the face that hard.

So here we are a year later, and I am surprised.  I'm not the best at sticking with things, but somehow, this site...I've stuck with it this long, which is one of my personal bests.  I've got a few other things I've kept at as long or longer, but this is definitely in my top five.  I hope to keep doing it for years to come.  What is it about this site that keeps me around?  I don't know, and I don't care, but I am loving doing this.

Well, some days I look at the next movie to review, whimper, and go watch Supernatural instead, but I always get around to it when I need to do it.  Can you blame me for shivering at the thought of some of these movies?

What have been the high points and low points for me?  My favourite review is either Blood Freak or Corpse Grinders, the sequel.  These movies were SO bad, SO entertaining, and I just sat and stared bewildered at the screen for the entirety of them.  They are the worst movies I've ever seen, and the most entertaining.  They burn, but in the good way.  I never thought I would ever see a movie worse than Blood Freak, but the two CG movies came along.  May the day never come that tops them!

I come across new movies almost weekly while I'm wandering the internet.  I started out thinking I knew so much about bad horror movies, and have discovered how little I truly knew.  My education has only begun.  The discovery of these new and wonderful, and painful, gems.  And I have loved sharing these discoveries with everyone reading, as well as sharing the classics I already know.  Just wait until you see what the rest of 2010 has coming!

There have been days though, where I feel discouraged about the site though.  We have some slow growth.  It sometimes feels like I'm shouting into the darkness, and not a voice is out there hearing me.  I get the occasional response, but I want more.  I crave more.  I NEED MORE.  Speak up, folks!  I want to hear from you!  I want to know what you like and what you want.  Tell me what movies you loved to hate, and would like to see featured.  I did that for 976-Evil, for a friend.  Species as well, although I had them in the back of my mind.

Let's make our second year the year where we start interacting.  And don't just talk to me, talk to your friends!  Spread the word!

One thing kept me going, aside from too much free time and coffee, and I want to share that.

This is the graph I check frequently, detailing the channel's stats.  The dark green line is unique, monthly page hits, and the light grey line above is the total page views, counting every time a page is viewed, so if one person visits the site and looks at every review, that's one unique and a ton of views.  Or something.

Our first month had 73 visitors, and November ducked down to 50ish.  That's understandable as the first month got a lot of eyeballs as I jumped up and down screaming, "Looka me!"  Since then, the site has actually had some pretty steady growth, with two exceptions.  There was a *very* tiny dip in March.  No idea why.  July had a big drop, as far as things go, and I figure that was because I was sick for almost two weeks and neglected the site until the very last day.  But the next month things leapt back up and it was like there was no dip.  It's almost a straight line, without that drop, for whatever reason.

The first year ended with JUST short of 400 visitors, and I figure we'll break that this month, and continue to grow.  From 50 to 400, and that's not bad.  And should keep going up.  Fingers crossed.

Whenever I was down about the site, I'd look at that graph and know that people ARE coming here.  People ARE looking at the site.  And every month, more and more are coming.  The site isn't an instant hit, but we are growing, slowly but surely.  Seeing that kept me going.  I wasn't just raging against the night.

AND I THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.  This site is here for you.  Without my readers, I am nothing.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Keep reading, keep talking.  Trisk owes you for a decent, if quiet, first year.

Our first year is done, and there's been a lot of bodies left in our wake.  I am so happy to have made it this far, am still going, and I have no regrets starting this.  It was a good first year.

Let's make some noise in year two, people!

J

What I'm Watching: Early October, 2010

Hellooooo, horrorheads!

We are hard at work here in Trisk Labs working on the next review, but as always, there's other stuff to watch.

A few weeks ago, I went to go see Devil, the new movie from the mind, if not the director's chair, of M. Night Shayamalan.  Why would I do such a thing?  Well, that's simple.  I *like* M. Knight.  He's had a few bombs, and I have yet to see The Happening, but I remember his early works very well.  Unbreakable is one of my favourite movies, period.

Also, the trailers for Devil, and the general plot, actually didn't sound that bad.  They took a locked room mystery and squished it down to the smallest possible space we are all intimately familiar with and have anxiety about, an elevator.  And instead of just one body, and trying to figure out how the killer did it, you had a group of people all being picked off.  We all dread being stuck in a jammed elevator somewhere in a high rise, but what do you do if one of your fellow passengers is a murderer?  That's a great idea.

Oh yeah, and the killer?  Is the devil.  How screwed are you?

So, what did I think of the movie?  I gotta say, I kinda loved it.  Now, remember what website you're on.  I also love all those other movies I review.  They are NOT good movies, and this one was pretty average.  But it's nowhere near as bad as other stuff on this site.  If Devil had been released direct to video back in the 80s, with a smaller budget?  I'd be all over it.  It's corny, but has a decent plot, and actually made me feel a lot like I was watching an old Outer Limits episode, and that's not bad company.  Not one of the better OLs, but a fun ride.  Definitely a must see if you remember the better Shayamalan movies.  But don't expect it to be that good.  A pleasant surprise.

I also just watched the new documentary, Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Movie.  With that as a topic, I kinda had to watch it, didn't I?  It's a pretty solid documentary, but nothing that surprising in their thesis.  It's still a good look at the history of horror in America, though.  I would have liked it to be longer even, since some of their points didn't feel fully fleshed out, but overall it was a well thought out and well made view at the genre.  Lance Henriksen as the narrator was great, and with many of the fathers of horror sharing stories, it was a fun watch.  Check it out if you're a fan, which I assume you are if you're reading this.

That's it for now, time to get back to working on our epic one-year anniversary review!

J

What I'm Watching: Early September, 2010

Hey, gang!

I've been busy the last few days, and wanted to pop in with what's been going on.

But first, I wanted to speak about a movie.

I finally got around to watching Pontypool.  I've been wanting to see this movie for ages, and it finally popped up on the DVR and I had the time to sit back and just enjoy in a nice, dark room.

This movie is so totally up my alley.  Lurking creatures, that trapped feeling, and a great use of language, both in the script and the device of the movie.  That first hour or so was simply amazing.  One of the best hours on film I have seen in a long time.  The character building, the tension, the slowly creeping dread, and all of it happening off screen, as we're stuck inside a small radio studio.  So well done, and I cannot praise it enough.  It even sounded amazing on my sound system.  I seriously just wanted to lean back, close my eyes and just listen.  It almost works as an audio drama, which makes sense for the setting, doesn't it?

But the last 15, 20 minutes or so left me a little baffled.  Things were moving too fast, the language of the movie was getting a bit too confusing, which was deliberate to a point.  Something about that final act just didn't quite click for me.  I don't hate it, I just don't quite GET it, you know?  They lost their focus somewhere along the way.  Which is a shame, since that first hour was SOO good, and have it just fall apart like that.

I would love it if my faithful readers would get a discussion going here about the movie, maybe we can hash it out.  Either here, or I think I'll make a post on the Triskaidekaforum.  This movie could so grow on me, and I definitely want to watch it again, just for that build up, and to pick it apart.  I really want to totally grok this movie, and just love it.  Pontypool is SO close to being a fave.

Aside from movies, I've also been busy with the site.  If you're reading this, then it would be very difficult to miss the changes.  I yanked the login link, since I'm the only one who needs that, and I don't need the link to login.  And since that was gone, it made sense to move the links up to the navigation banner.  I'm also toying with ditching the contact form since no one uses it, and maybe just move it to its own page linked in the banner.

Speaking of the banner, I moved that below the logo.  I've actually moved that back and forth, or up and down as it were.  I like the seperation of it being above the logo, but it also makes sense to have it below as well.  Any preferences?

The biggest change though, is the main page.  I was never comfortable with the Triska- definitions.  It was a cute idea that never quite worked for me, and felt too cold of a welcome to the site.  Now it's more personal, and describes the site better, I think.  I'm sure that page will change frequently as I think of things to say there.  For now, I am much happier with how it looks, and how it reads.

And finally, I finally got off my ass and got the Cover Gallery up to date and fixed, something I was putting off for far too long.

Whew, like I said, I have been rather busy.  On top of all that, there's bad movies to watch, so I better get back to it!

J

Good News?

I've been poking the site a bit over the past week or so, and it looks, tentatively, like whatever wasn't meshing between SquareSpace and my browser has been fixed.  We'll see what happens when I do my next full review over the weekend.  Some testing posted ok, and wasn't eaten by the WYSIWYG gremlins, so here's hoping!

On another note, we're pulling into September soon, and right around the corner is October, which means the site will be celebrating its birthday.  I'm scratching my head trying to think of what would be a good movie to do for our anniversary, and just can't think of a single thing that would have any kind of one-year significance.  Maybe I'll do a Friday the 13th?  Maybe just another Puppet Master?  Or maybe just something that looks truly awful in the awfullest of ways?

So I ask my readers, also in hopes of getting more feedback, if there's a movie I'm just not thinking of that would be perfect, or just something YOU would like to see?  I've got plenty of movies I hate to love, but if no one has heard of them, that doesn't do much good.  My only requirement, and even this is negotiable, is that I'm trying to stick to movies pre-2001.

Hit me!

J

Bad News

I just tried posting and working on the latest review, and fortunately I was pretty early in the process, because when I clicked save, almost the entire post was blanked out.  I've tried several more times, and each time once I paste in the text for the analysis, it just blanks the entire post with the first attempt to save.

Until this is fixed, I literally cannot work on the site.

J

What I'm Watching: August, 2010

Hey hey, horrorheads!

Taking a break from the dungeon, and thought I'd rear my head to talk a little about stuff.

Not much on the old viewertube lately, since we're in that lull of movies coming out in theatres for Halloween, and the DVDs coming out from last Halloween, but a few things do still appear.

Like Parasomnia.

I came across this movie out of nowhere while seeing what releases were coming out, and it seemed like an interesting idea that hasn't been done that much, and written and directed by William Malone.  Who?  Well, he's probably best known for the 1990s remake of House on Haunted Hill.  Which has its problems, and boy are there problems, but I kinda like.  So I grabbed it.

But you don't care about that, you want to know if it was any good.

And y'know what?  It was!  Surprisingly enough, with the other credits to Malone's name.  He's not made a lot of good movies.

As before, Parasomnia has problems too.  The story is a little too straightforward, the acting isn't great from time to time, the dialogue is a lot stilted, although in fairness a lot of that is relegated to the very noir detectives, and that's clearly deliberate.

The plot circles around a young man who discovers a girl suffering from a sleep disorder that keeps her asleep most of her life, and is only awake for minutes or hours at a time.  The reverse of most people, to put it another way.  Or the way it feels my days are going lately, to put it a third way.  But I digress...

Their relationship gets complicated when Danny discovers Laura's mind has been tampered with by a sociopathic, murderous, mesmerist who was kept tied up in the padded room next to her place at the psych ward.

There's some amazing bloody parts in this movie, Laura is a thoroughly innocent and charming character whom I quite felt for as she's been so manipulated and has no idea what's real and what's a dream.  A situation that hasn't been helped by Volpe's hypnotic voice.

The thing I loved most about this movie is the cinematography.  The directing is amazing in a lot of scenes, and even the credits are gorgeous.  The plot was lacking, but this was an enthralling movie to just watch.  Forget the story, just get this movie to watch.  The colours, the angles, and editing...Malone may not be a good writer, but man can he direct the crap out of a movie.  For a low-budget independent movie, this rivals the look of many bigger horror flicks.

I've seen better movies.  I can nitpick this thing to pieces.  But the more I watch it, you know what?  The more I kinda love it.  It's pretty solid, and developes the characters well, before the bodies start hitting the floorboards.  And hey, it's got Jeffrey Combs, and he's always fun to watch.  It's not the best movie, but it's the one I was most surprised by how much I enjoy it.

Aside from that, I've also just wrapped up watching the newest MST3K DVD boxed set, as I tend to do every few months.  Another great release from Shout! Factory.  Not much more to say on that.  More of the same, really.

There's a handful of newer horror related films sitting next to me waiting to be watched, so I'll cover those in my next WIW post, most likely.

But before I get to those, there's the next movie to watch for this site, so keep your eyes open, and see you in the theatre!

J

What I'm Watching: July, 2010

Hello, horrorheads!

Probably the biggest news is that I saw Predators this weekend.  What a movie!  Light, popcorny fun, a good guilty pleasure type of movie, and definitely a worthy sequel to the original.  There's a few issues with it, but overall I was thoroughly entertained for 90 minutes and change.

The acting was pretty good from everyone involved, and it was fun to watch the characters trying to figure things out and not get dead.  If you're a fan of the movies, I definitely say you gotta see this movie.

In more closer to home stuff, right here in Trisk Labs, as has been obvious, I have something old and something new in the Puppet Master movies.  I've already covered the new remastering of PM1, and I want to write up my thoughts now that I've actually watched the whole thing instead of just looked at images.  That's a post in and of itself.

But the something new is Puppet Master: Axis of Evil, the first, new PM movie in ten years.  Since it's brand new, I don't plan to do a full on look at the movie like my other reviews, but I do have some thoughts on it.

Sigh, it's not bad, for a Puppet Master movie, but it's not great either.  There've been worse PM movies, that's for sure, but it doesn't quite reach the greatness of those first few films.

The movie just looks weird, for starters.  The movie starts off with some new footage spliced in with scenes from the first movie, notably William Hickey's role as Toulon and Blade's scampering around the grounds of the Bodega Bay.  But the differences between the original and new are VERY noticable.  I don't know what they filmed the new movie on, but it has a very digital look, and it just doesn't mesh well with the classic, filmic look.  It becomes very noticable when people are supposed to be in the same hallway, but in two different movies.  I could get really geeky and talk about the depth of field, and the compression artifacts, but you get the idea.

The plot is pretty standard, as a kid who was friends with Toulon discovers the puppets, and just so happens to run into the same Nazis that chased down the puppet master when he returns home.  How coincidental.  Oh, and they're also trying to blow up the bomb factory the guy's girlfriend works at, as well as come between the boy and the girl.  Convenient.

The acting isn't that great either, and the making of features on the disc probably explain why.  This movie was filmed in 13 days.  That's very fast for a movie, and they could have used a little more time to finesse the perfomances some more.

But I don't hate it.  It's got some nice kills, the new puppet isn't so bad (Although he's a bit on the nose with the plot), and the plot may be standard, but it gets the job done and is a solid kind of standard.  Stick with what works, right?  But then the movie fails to end.  It is all setup for the next movie.  Ugh.  I hated it when Puppet Master 4 was the first half of Puppet Master 5, and I hate it now.  I want a complete story from my movies, not a setup for the next film which may or may not be made.

In fairness, this is a Full Moon movie, and they'll surely shove it out sooner or later.  They crank these puppies out like a cor...meat grinder. ;)

Maybe I'll be happier once the next chapter is out and I can see the 'whole' film, but that is a huge beef of mine.  Definitely worth seeing for fans of the series, but not the best entry, with some weird visual touches.

Now I gotta get back to the dungeon and watch the next movie for review, which just arrived the other day!  Keep an eye out for more snakes, and more puppets shortly.

J

Murder at 200 Visits

Well, Trisk hit a bit of a milestone, and I thought I should make a post and wave around the party favours.

I follow the users and visits to the site pretty closely.  Some might say too closely, but I have free time to kill.

Ever since we opened the doors in October, 2009, the site has had steady growth each month, with one exception.  I've been wanting to see the site crawl over the 200 unique visits mark for a month, and we finally did that the other day.  Sure, it's only 200 people, but the first month after the introduction got a teeny 50 people.

The best thing is, this month isn't quite over yet, and I've only posted one review.  There's another one coming up before we wrap up June, so we are doing pretty good.  200 is a paltry number in the grand scheme of thing, but the steady growth and ever increasing interest in this site bring me joy.  I'm clearly doing something right here.

Although I speak out to each and every person out there, please post comments!  I crave feedback.  What works?  What doesn't?  What movies do you want me to see?  I know you're looking at this site.  I can hear you breathing.  Let's communicate!

Also, just a few notes on Murder Mansion.

What is up with the movie image? you may be asking.  Well, Murder Mansion is the first movie from the three 50 movie packs of awesome badness I got, and naturally there's no DVD covers for each movie to scan.  I decided a fair compromise would be to use the image from the set the movie is in so people can see where it's from if they're interested.  And adding a nice, bloody title to it for a quick eyeball of just what I'm reviewing.  I decided not to do a 'full size' version, since everything is visible in the small image, and making the larger one would take up unnecessary space and be a little silly.

Does that work for you guys?  Would you rather I try and track down some poster art, or some other usable picture?  I'm good either way, although I do like the images I made.  And I probably won't always be able to find usable art.

 There's also been a number of changes to the review style, as people may have noticed.  "The Guts" was a lot more concise header for the whole synopsis and breakdown than what I had been using, and I like changing the Rundown to the Autopsy Report.  Feels more in line with the style of the site.  And of course, these aren't final and could change at any moment, if anyone has better suggestions or I come up with one.

I want to add more things to the Autopsy too, like maybe a full body count, best scene...  I also did character breakdowns in Sideshow and really want to do more stuff like that as well.  I would have done it for Murder Mansion, but damned if I knew who anyone was.  I'm not even 100% sure I paired up the right actors with the right characters, since there's no ending credits to my copy of the film.

Also of note is that this movie definitely doesn't fit the usual mold.  It does have a body count, and is a little slasher like, and at least has the possibility of a witch, but it's also a little off to the side of our usual fare.  But I like that.  I want to start opening our scope, since there's a number of more science fictiony fare I'd love to do as well.  If there's blood, we'll probably do it.  Or even if there isn't.  If MST3K can do "The Girl in Gold Boots" I can do a cheeseball scifi movie.

Ok, that's way more than enough rambling from me!

Back to the dungeon!

J

What I WILL Be Watching!

Yeah, that's right.  A glimpse into...THE FUTURE!  Ahem.

Hey horrorheads!  Took me awhile to get out of the manacles that I was locked up in down in the dungeon.  I really want to have some good regular journal posts for you fine folks, and I'm slacking on that.  My bad.

The biggest bit of news for the site is, well, let me show you.

When bad movies strike back!

So yeah, I got my hands on three packs of 50 movies each.  These things look to be almost routinely bad from A-Z.  I recognise a number of titles from actual MST3K episodes, and I'll be avoiding those.  I can't hold a candle to anything Joel, Mike, and the Bots have done, and wouldn't dream of touching that territory.

So that's 150 bad movies now sitting next to me, and they will keep me busy for a long, long time to come.  Constantly buying new movies, some out of print, chews through funds, and these will be good emergency go to flicks when my wallet is hiding from me.

I would've touched these awhile ago, but I just couldn't decide how the heck to start to tackle such a wide array of choice.  I have picked one though, and it is coming up as the next review!  It's a fun movie with lots of stuff that's baffling, so I hope everyone enjoys it.

And yes, that is me.  And that is the bad movie theatre machine I'm sitting at.  Triskaidekafiles Central.  You can see my copilots Tom Servo and Crow helping to keep me sane and inspire me, as well as alot of other interesting tidbits scattered around.

It's rare when I put myself on that side of the camera, but I had fun putting this image together, since it gave me something to talk about, and show a bit of a behind the scenes look at Casa De 13.

But these reviews don't write themselves (Oh how I wish!) so it is back to the dungeon with me.  See you in a few days!

J

The Daily Grind

Welcome back, bloodsuckers!

It's time for a quick look back, and in my ongoing effort to get caught up, anyone keeping track should be able to figure out its time for me to ramble about Corpse Grinders.

Oh gods.  This movie.  This...this thing.

I don't like hyperbole, but this movie is sheer awfulness on a stick.  It's not quite bad enough to be bad in the special way that like, Blood Freak or Manos is bad, but man.  What is here in this movie is just bad!  There is nothing good here, as I said in the full review.

A friend of mine suggested this piece of trash, and I'm glad she did.  This is a real gem of cinematic garbage, and I am so glad I've been introduced to it, and got to see this thing.  Getting suggestions and discovering new awful things is why this site is here.  I like to share my own personal horror stories, but it is even better that I get to find brand new things to torment myself and you with.  I need more suggestions like this.

I also feel I owe a quick explanation about the running gag for this review.  I get into some pretty random stuff and try not to be TOO obscure but I think I wallowed in the obscurity bucket.  Why did I continuously refer to Maltby as Luckman?  That goes back to Marvel Comics' Wolverine series, where he frequently encountered, and occasionally worked for, a mysterious interdimensional lawfirm called Landau, Luckman, & Lake.  And every time I wrote Landau and Maltby, it just kept coming out as the comic reference.  So I ran with it.  And I ran, and I ran.  That's the story behind that little oddity.

This movie really could have done with more psychotic felines.  Random rage kittens would have made the movie far more entertaining, and hidden the rickety plot, the bad lighting, the horrible acting, the...you get the idea.  I can forgive any bad movie if there's some shredded faces and decapitations.

I still remain traumatised and confused by the baby doll.  What the hell was that?

As I ponder that mystery of the universe, I've got to get back to work on the next review!  Should be up in a day or two.  Back to the dungeon!

J

Master of Puppets

Hey, horrorheads!

I kinda like doing these little post mortems on my reviews, kinda picking my own brain a little in ways that don't seem appropriate for the review, so I'm working through the backlog, and PM1 definitely deserves a few extra comments.

Oh, Puppet Master and Full Moon.  You guys are so responsible for this site existing.  So much of my formative years was spent watching these movies.  Blade is my personal Freddy Krueger.  Or something.

Part of me really wanted to make Puppet Master the 13th review on this site, because of its significance (Although I believe I saw Full Moon's Pit & the Pendulum before it but PM solidified my love), but I had this huge stack of Full Moon movies waiting for review, and I absolutely had to be the first one be Puppet Master.  I just couldn't wait any longer!

This was another movie where I was not wanting for images and captions.  I tossed out a number of images that it was actually painful to leave aside, and I hope I used the cream of the crop.  I also had a number of alternate captions for images that did get used, and it was tough to decide.

The biggest change with this review was titling my in depth look "The Whole Blood Mess".  When I looked at the final reviews, it was always bugging me that it zoomed right from synopsis to my review, and it looked wrong.  I'm still not happy with that title, but it gets the job done and breaks it up.

It was good to have something relatively short after the monster that was Waxwork 2.  I still need to sort out how to cut these down, but I haven't had THAT many complaints yet, so I'm just keeping on.  This actually feels like a good length for this movie, and the images break it up well.

The biggest thing with this review is something yet to come.  I've actually got plans to go back and retweak this review in a few months.  The content will remain the same, I'm just going to make it...better.

I've got the big bad Puppet Master boxed set, so have no fear.  Blade will return shortly.  And the movies just get worse and worse, trust me.  Unlike with Waxwork and Corpse Grinders, I want to space out the Puppet Master movies.  Doing all six or so that I have here in one long run would have gotten boring for me and you guys too, I presume.  It's one thing to do an original and sequel in succession, it's another to do every movie ever.  I'd also hate to be done with them all so soon.

Full Moon alone will keep me in movies for a long, long time.

Speaking of, I need to pick out my next monsterpiece to go through.  See you in April!

J

Waxing Poetic

Hey, horrorheads!  Since it's taking me longer than expected to get to the next review, I thought I'd post up some thoughts on some previous reviews, namely the ones for the Waxwork films.  Because I apparently didn't say enough already, I guess. ;)

These two films are just so bizarre, so all over the place, they just defy description.  They literally are just a little bit of everything.  I love the wackiness of the second one, but the more straight horror of the first, and a little more cohesion, makes it a much better film.  I lean more towards the second one since I saw it first, so it was my first impression of these characters.  The first Sarah is the one that seems wrong to me.

I loved the excuse this site provided me to sit back and watch them again, and the slow process it takes to watch and pick apart these movies makes the flaws a lot more noticable.  There's stuff that now bugs me that never occurred to me before, I was just along for the ride.  I knew they were silly, and unfocused, but wow the plotholes really jump out at yah.

Those keeping track may have noticed I try to keep the image count low in a review, somewhere around 15, although I fudge that a little if I feel like I can and the caption is just so necessary or funny.  The images are sometimes posted to illustrate a point, or a bit of hilarity, or just something awesome (BAT KILLED BY GUN!).  I had a TON of screencaps for the first Waxwork, and it was so damned hard to get it down to the amount I did.  If that was tough, the second film was damned near impossible.  I finally gave up and said what I had would be good, and that's a shame, since the review got SO bloody long, the extra images would have broken that text up some more.

I am rather tempted to make a post of captions from the cutting room floor, since some of them are genuinely funny, in my opinion.  If enough folks asked for something like that, then I'd probably take the time.  But y'all are probably sick of Waxworks by now. ;)

Also these reviews started seeing some format changes creeping in, like the double ratings for the two sides of the films, which I think is rather necessary, since these films are so bad, and yet so fun most of the time.  These reviews are a work in progress, and I'm constantly tweaking each and every new one in tiny ways, trying to make them better than the last, and I'm starting to find out just what works and what doesn't.

Anyone reading these words, feel free to throw suggestions on the site and reviews (Yes yes, I know, shorter!  Hey, Puppet Master 1 was half the length of Waxwork 2, lemme alone!) either in the comments, or shoot me an email.  You're the people reading these things, you're the ones I serve, in the end, so I want these reviews to be easy on you as much as they fit my style.

I still actually feel *bad* about how long Lost in Time got, and there's even some stuff I left out.  I feel I need to include at least most of the details in these things, otherwise the jokes or descriptions stop making sense (As much as these things CAN make sense, I guess) and that movie was just packed to the brim.  It was literally like reviewing four movies at once.  I had zero clue it would get so long until I was well into it.  I hope everyone that read that entire thing enjoyed it, because I spent a lot of time on it, and did enjoy the writing, and the jokes that came out of it.  If the reviews aren't being enjoyed, then what's the point?  I'm slowly getting the hang of what to keep and what to trash, but of course, the longer the movie, the longer the review tends to be.

As for the site itself, February is gonna be a slow month, I think.  Naturally because it's shorter, and also because I got caught up with some other stuff, and have yet to watch the next movie to torment my soul.  Soon, though.   But the month is half over, and I ain't done squat.

So it is back to the grindstone for me!  Please ignore the screams, I'm just working.

J

What I'm Watching: February, 2010

Been awhile since I posted up something new over here, and I've got a few movies sitting around.  I also want to post up some thoughts on the last few reviews, so I should get to that in the next few weeks.  I've also got the next Trisk movie sitting here ready to go, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

So anyways, what have I watched of note lately?

Well, I finally got to see Zombieland, yay!  This is a *really* good movie.  I wouldn't call it the best horror movie of recent years, like I have a number of others that I've mentioned here, but it is absolutely rock solid.  I thought of saying that it's the American answer to Shaun of the Dead, but it's not quite that good, but oh it so wants to be.  But just because it does not reach those heights doesn't mean that it isn't worth watching.  It is a very close #2 to Shaun, which is no bad thing, my fiends.  It creates a very believable, well thought out world that I totally buy as a post-zombie apocalypse land.  The characters pop, and the writing is very clever.  It also has a great gimmick; we're all familiar with the rules of zombies, but what about the rules of surviving in a zombieland?  The ongoing runner of rules is a great addition, good advice, and incorporated so well into the movie.  If you've not seen Zombieland yet, you gotta check it out, if you read this site.  For a low budget film, its very well done, and this is the Dawn of the Dead for the 21st Century.

Besides that, I've also seen another low budget independent film, House of the Devil.  Sadly, this is not as good as Zombieland.  I had high hopes for this one, and in some ways it gets there, but for the most part, it is going to turn a lot of people off.  If I ever need to explain to someone what a slow burn movie is, I'll just show them House.  There's not a lot of dialogue in the movie, and not a lot happens until the last 20 minutes, and that is no joke.  There is a lot of walking around, sitting, staring, and poking around a more or less empty house.  Now, it does take that time to establish the world and characters, as well as being pretty atmospheric and a little creepy in the empty house, but it's a little TOO slow.  If it had been ten minutes shorter, or more things happened, this would have been a great film.  This is very much a throwback to late 70s/early 80s horror films. There's a wonderful simplicity to it which I quite like, and it even uses a lot of that classic style for the credits and direction, in much the same way that Planet Terror was a loving recreation of grindhouse films.  Sadly, it's closer in storytelling to Death Proof, where nothing happens 'til the very end.  The movie is well cast and acted, it just didn't quite reach where it wanted to go, I think.  It's absolutely worth a look though, but it may disappoint many people, if they don't reach for the fast forward button.

And that's it for the moment.  Now it's back to the grindhouse grindstone for me!

J

What I'm Watching: January, 2010

Happy 2k10, everyone!

We had some nice holidays here, and the viewership numbers were pretty decent for December as well, and so far so good for January.  Growth is slow, but we're getting a steady trickle of visitors.  Spread the word folks, tell everyone!

Anyways, it's been awhile since I've posted a journal entry, so thought I'd take a break from the next review, and toss up some comments on what other stuff I've been entertaining myself with.

Probably the highlight of the entertainment has been District 9.  Such a very well done movie, and amazingly so for the budget.  They did a nice mix of regular movie style, and the resurging trend of documentary style footage.  I love stories where the scifi is mixed with a blend of reality, and District 9's and South Africa's prejudices aren't a very overdone topic in entertainment, so I really enjoyed seeing that.  Definitely worth a rental, and I'd say add it to your shelf.  Or hard drive, if that's the way you roll.

Coming in a close second is the very docustyle Paranormal Activity.  I love this movie.  They really knew how to dole out the tension, and just how much time to spend on characters and exposition.  The behaviour and actions didn't seem overly forced or mindnumbingly stupid like they did in Blair Witch project.  I could nitpick a few things, but these characters seemed very real to me, and reacted in mostly real ways.  Micah was maybe a little thick, but his actions were pretty understandable.  They're more or less what I would do in a similar situation.  If you enjoyed Blair Witch Project, well first of all what's wrong with you?? ;)  Second of all, then you'll probably enjoy this movie quite a bit.

Also, I sat back and waded through the second season of the Showtime anthology series, The Hunger.  It's basically Twilight Zone, but with more adult situations, language, and skin.  Also, they tended more towards the horror than scifi, but that's splitting hairs on these types of shows.  The main problem with anthology shows is that the quality of stories from one episode to the next can be wildly random and uneven, and that's just the case here.  There are some absolute gems though in both seasons.  Terrence Stamp hosts the first season, and David Bowie replaces him in the second, and both bring the show up considerably from where lesser hosts could have left it, and even in a meh episode, then they're fun to watch.  Even if they're only in a few minutes per episode.  And hey, they are FAR less annoying than the Cryptkeeper.  If you can find these seasons cheap, then they might be worth your time for the good episodes scattered in there.

Now, back to the next review!

J