Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (Nathan Juran, 1958)

Probably the most ridiculed classical sci-fi after Ed Wood's Plan 9 but I simply love it.

Seems like the whole budget went for design of the poster which had since become a synonym for exploitation movies art. All they have left to work with were 3 sets: Ms Archer's "mansion", hotel bar and a desert. And since you can't do much with these they decided to blend sci-fi and film-noir and melodrama into this weird classics.

And yet another remarkable evidence how to make something out of nothing if you try hard enough and you are at least modestly talented and you don't give a shit about what other people think about you and you are lucky enough to find collaborators with a similar frame of mind.

9/10

The Image aka The Punishment of Anne (Radley Metzger, 1976)

This one caught me a bit by surprise which is always good. I came across it on some discussion boards and downloaded it just to see it out of curiously. Always interested into “cult” movies that nobody actually has seen.

So it starts predictable as typical French erotic/SM kinky drama with a bit more of women frontal nudity as usual. Which is great and I’m all for that! Especially when made in this stylish way that frogies are so good at. But then, halfway through the movie, came surprise in a form of blow job shot in very hard core porn style!? 

It’s basically more daring version of Story of O, one with the guts. It’s about love through submission and it’s similarly stylized but it goes further with explicit shots. Which are not exploitive at all and movie is certainly far from hard core pornography. Narration of story basically follows these little erotic episodes, but there’s still enough of characters development and various mind fucks (who in fact is slave and who’s a master?) to make it very intriguing. And of course very sexy – lead actress Rebecca Brooke is so fucking hot!

Good stuff, it leaves you uncomfortable and it stays in the back of your mind for some time. Probably too dark and depressing for general public but I liked it a lot.

8/10

Wolf Creek (Greg Mclean, 2005)

Wolf Creek is one of the movies that were praised by almost everyone but I have always managed to miss somehow. I don’t think it got theatrical release in Slovenia and I downloaded it few times but file was always somehow fucked (either synchronized or badly ripped or created by some obscure codec etc). So I didn’t hesitate for one moment when they were showing it on Film Four the other night.

It was worth waiting because it really is that good! It’s surprising how great horror flick can (still) be made without trying to do anything really new or radical and just using well known and established “tools of the trade”. Suspense, eerie atmosphere, creepy sound effects and music, few unsettling scenes (I guess torture porn became mandatory these days) together with good technical qualities all result in above average movie.

But what I liked the best is intelligent use of clichés to achieve some cool mind fucking. Good example is when our villain is lying unconscious and his victim is frantically trying to find car keys in his pockets. In 90% of the movies guy would wake up and in the rest 10% some other shit would happen (usually nasty and not pleasant at all for our heroine). But nothing here! Greg Mclean just uses this cliché to scare us shitless. Very smart and original!

Cool stuff, go see it!

8/10

The Drowning Pool (Stuart Rosenberg, 1975)

Second Harper movie and somehow I like it a bit more than the first one. Which is strange in a way because (a) I don’t usually go for crime stories that involve our hero personal shit and (b) don’t like crime stories that take place outside the big cities. They belong to urban jungles right?

Paul Newman is still overdoing his character a bit too comically for my taste, but Drowning Pool is much darker than its predecessor. It also deals with more sinister topics than “simple” greed and successfully manages to merge couple of fucked up family dramas into crime/mystery. Don’t get me wrong – it’s still as hard boiled as they come and body count reaches quite respectable number at the end!

Supporting cast is not such an all-star affair as in the first one but they somehow function together even better. Joanne Woodward is of course great but real mini-star here is Murray Hamilton who plays villain perfectly. He steals every scene he’s in even from the mighty Mr. Newman. 

Good stuff indeed. Probably mostly well-known for its ending climax escape scene but I liked it because of its dark moody noir atmosphere and well developed story that works on many levels. It feels very modern even today and – as Harper – doesn’t age at all.

8/10

The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009)

Saw this one for the first time few years ago because Larry Fessenden had mentioned it in an interview. I remember being totally blown away by his Habit and Wendigo and decided to watch House of the Devil just because he was its producer. Good thing I did because it’s really fucking cool and it was no brainer to go see it again when Hollywood Babylon film club in Dublin put together its screening in a local pub. 

Like most of the next-to-none budget indie horror flicks it’s all about atmosphere build-up. Since the 1940s and thanks to Jacques Tourneur we all know that horror images can be very, very, very effective (=horrifying) when director leaves them to audience's imagination instead of force-feeding you with his/her vision of scary shit. Skilful director will lead you just by using tools like solid script, intelligent narration, photography, editing, music, sound effects and you will seat on the edge of your seat for an hour. No special effects are needed.

And director Ti West obviously knows these things. And I’m pretty sure he has good knowledge and respect of horror genre. And was also lucky with his choice of leading actress Jocelin Donahue. 

And you should definitely check it out!

8/10

Le Voyage en Douce ( Michel Deville, 1980)

In my opinion Michel Deville is (together with Claude Miller) one of the most underrated French directors from the 80s. His movies have distinct style and bear his personal signature. I like most of his stuff, from light hearted comedies to more complex and often dark stuff he made later in his career before retirement. It’s just too bad that so many of those are unavailable with English subtitles. Damn French snobs!

This one starts totally Rohmer-esque. For the first 20 minutes or so we have our two main ladies protagonists just talking about everything and nothing. Both Dominique Sanda and Geraldine Chaplin are phenomenal and their acting is so effortless that it makes you forget you’re watching a staged movie. Story then moves “on the road” as they take a trip for a few days to countryside and through the conversations they revisit their childhoods and revive their friendship. It’s all very subtle and nostalgic (Google translates French title to “The journey quietly”) with more than enough sexual undertones to keep viewer interested. And frankly, those few nude shots of both of them do help as well.

Truly great stuff and kind of movie they unfortunately don’t make anymore.

8/10

New Kids Turbo (Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil, 2010)

I was warned about this from a friend who watches nothing but crazy movies but it still caught me off guard. And it’s great, one of the nicest surprises of the recent times. Although right from the beginning you keep asking yourself “Why I’m watching this nonsense?!?” you just cannot stop it. Hell, I didn’t even pause to go piss.

It’s about some white thrash very 80s like guys who get fired due to economic crises and then decide to “not to pay for anything” since they don’t have no money. By doing so they become a threat (don’t ask!) to authority so government decide to bomb them and shitty town they are from (I told you already not to ask!) but at the end they manage to save the day. And get laid!

And to all you snobs that are looking for metaphors and deeper meanings in the shitty movies: no, I’m 100% sure this is not about condemnation of the capitalist system or consumer society or current economic crisis! It’s just a good fun and highly original if you ask me.

And there’s a second part out already. It’s of course definitely on my to-do list!!

8/10

LolliLove (Jenna Fischer, 2004)

I love Troma and I love mockumentaries so I should have known all about this little flick right after it was made. But I’m ashamed to admit I had no idea it existed until I’ve read hilarious “Direct Your Own Damn Movie!” (BUY TROMA!) 

Was  even more intrigued because it was apparently such a bad experience for director Jenna Fisher that she decided it was the last film she’s ever going to direct. Which is damn fuckin’ shame because this is great stuff! And make no mistake - I don’t mean good in “bad Troma” way. 

We follow this wealthy, stupid, bored, shallow, pretentious (you can add anything else here) Californian couple of ass-holes. They decide to make a difference in the world by giving homeless people lollipops decorated by guy’s paintings. Idea is pretty cool and original but execution and tone of the movie is what I really liked. It’s funny but at the same time a bit dark and politically incorrect with really good performances from both protagonists. Only later I discovered on IMDB that they are both professional actors and Jenna Fisher is actually pretty well-known on TV.

It has few minor mistakes and glitches for my taste. Sometimes it forgets that it’s supposed to be documentary because protagonists start to act their roles. I would also prefer that storyline would concentrate more on the charity thing than on the couple itself. And it surprisingly lacks some real one-line “killing” joke (remember 11 in Spinal Tap?). This one is pretty cool though: “Spielberg wouldn't have won an Oscar without the Holocaust.”

It would be also cool to have some of those big “cool” H’Wood celebrities (Sean Penn, Johnny Depp) appear in the movie (remember Sam Neill in Forgotten Silver?). But hell, this is Troma and we get to see the greatest celebrity of them all, our favourite uncle Lloyd Kaufman (as a priest !!!).

Great low budget stuff, hope that Mrs. Fisher reconsiders her decision about directing!

9/10

Leprechaun in the Hood (Rob Spera, 2000)

Needed something honestly dumb to wash off that stank of Haneke so I went for 5^th Leprechaun. Watched the first one few months ago (as a part of my getting to know Irish folklore, make no mistake) and it was pretty bad so I expected something five times worse than that. But worse in the good kind of way, of course. I mean – just the idea about putting that little fucker into LA South Central is totally mental (though still not as crazy as Billy the Kid vs. Dracula).

But it turned out to be really pleasant surprise and total joy to watch. Yes it is crazy, but at the same time strangely appealing and I think the entire crew had great time making this. It qualifies into this horror/comedy genre that it’s been so popular since (at least) Shaun of the Dead. Usually I can’t stand these flicks because they target juvenile and family audiences, but this one has plenty of swearing and some gore to deserve its 18 rating.

So we are in the hood following these three rappers trying to make it big and in the process avoiding getting killed from the Ice-T and especially our little bastard hero whom original gangster has stolen his pot of gold and magical flute. Ice-T, after fucking up so many movies, is actually decent in this one, but the real star is Leprechaun. He soon blends into this gangsta-rap-hood crap and by the end of the movie he’s smoking weed and has three beautiful chicks bringing him women and his rapping at theending just leaves you speechless.

Here are some of his wisdoms:

·         A friend with weed, is a friend, indeed. But, a friend with gold, is the best, I’m told. (when smoking weed)

·         Look at all these glittering goods - I've got more loot than Tiger Woods!

·         I didn’t come to play with fruit. I only seek me magic flute. (when being seduced by transvestite)

·         I'll take it from you, homie, you'll see, cause you know the Leprechaun is the real O.G.

And this kind of shit goes on and on. Some funny, most hilarious.

8/10