Iron Sky (2012)

It is written in all legit History textbooks that a secret Nazi space program managed to evade capture and sneak off to the Moon, where they built a space fortress and have been making preparations to invade Earth ever since.  I mean, everyone knows that right?

Leave your brain at the door here and just enjoy the film.  I've read reviews that are taking this way too seriously, saying it's anti-American and such.  Well, it kinda is but it's still harmless fun and enjoyable satire.  Personally, I'm of the belief that there's no harm ribbing on anyone as long as it doesn't start any wars.  I'm the world's biggest South Park fan, so a little satire isn't going to offend me.  Nazi's are a touchy subject.  The atrocities from World War 2 will never be forgotten, but this isn't pro-Nazi in any way, shape or form.  It pokes fun at Nazis as well.

Julia Dietze is my new favorite actress.  She's so damn hot and gives a superb performance as the sweet, naive Nazi who doesn't know the truth about Nazi history.  She believes in peace and love, unlike her dominant loverboy Claus Jensen, played by Gotz Otto, who steals the show as the future Fuhrer of the Fourth Reich.  He's a terrific villain.  Christopher Kirkby as James Washington, the male model kidnapped by Nazis on a visit to the moon is frigging hilarious.  Udo Kier also has some cameos in the movie, and where as he's always nice to see, his role isn't huge but it's effective.

This isn't a 'so bad it's good' affair either.  For a 7.5 million it looks visually stunning, and the viewer could be forgiven for thinking it cost a whole lot more.  Not bad considering it went straight to DVD (at least here in the UK anyway).  It looks good and it's full of heart.  A winning formula.

Iron Sky is cheesy, funny, campy and over the top awesomeness.  This film is going to be a cult classic and if the plan sequels get the green light, it's going to be one bad ass franchise.  This will surely become a cult classic over time.  I love you Julia Dietze.

Silver Bullet (1985)

The Stephen King quest continues and next up is the little known...

Until I began this epic quest of deciding to watch everything put to celluloid that Mr. King has ever written or been involved in, I hadn't heard of half of them.  This was one that I hadn't heard of but one that immediately took my fancy.  I was interested to see Stephen King's take on the werewolf genre (without having to go through the effort of reading a book).  Plus, when you see a movie with the late great Corey Haim (bes tchild actor ever maybe) and Gary Busey, and even Lawrence Tierney attached, then you get the feeling that it's going to be a contender.

The movie starts off with a decapitation followed by a howl into the night.  Good way to start a movie.  Like a lot of King works, it's set in a small town.  Right away we feel sympathy for Corey Haim's character Marty.  His disability seems like somewhat of a hindrance to his family, and despite being a little nuisance with pranks, he has a good heart.  An instant likable character.  You know who else is likable though?  The big bad wolf.  It doesn't take the rascal long to claim a second victim by ripping a pregnant woman attempting suicide to shreds.  The townsfolk begin to get concerned about the mutilated bodies showing up and Marty, his sister and alcoholic uncle set out to find the beast responsible for the slayings.

The family drama adds depth to the movie, so it's not just simple werewolf mauls citizenry.  The performances are outstanding, especially from Corey Haim, Everitt McGuill and Gary Busey as you'd expect.  The kills are frequent and there's enough tense build up to make them a sweet pay off.  The werewolf may look dated to some, but for those of you like me who love the man in suit monsters with limited FX will love our dear canine villain.  Overall, an enjoyable film that horror fans should check out.

The Wraith (1986)

During my Charlie Sheen marathon I came across a gem of an 80's horror/sci-fi/romance/comedy.  This movie really kicks ass.  I expected a fun movie but after watching this, I gotta say, HOLY MOSES!!! This is an underrated 80's masterpiece.

Charlie Sheen plays Jake, the reincarnation of Jamie, who was murdered by a group of misfits.  The group of misfits have a habit of stealing cars from nice people if they beat them in car races, but when a mysterious car shows up and keeps offing them one by one, they've met their match.

This movie has a lot going for it - it's funny, action packed, has car racing and chasing, hot chicks, an awesome soundtrack and a convincing group of characters.  The performances were cheesy and goofy, but the good guys were very likable and all of the bad guys were easy to hate. You really root for the car murdering the bad guys in this one.  It's not often seen in horror films, but this has a sweet tenderness to it.  It's essentially a love story at heart and when you know the killers motives, you want him to succeed.  If you want scares and horror don't watch this, but if you want a sweet romantic love story with high speed motor vehicles, explosions, a kick ass soundtrack and enough 80's cheese to feed a third world country then this is for you.

This is better than you might expect.  I knew it'd be fun, but I didn't expect it'd be as awesome as it was.  I am in awe.

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

First off let me start by apologising to my faithful blog readers for the lack of activity within the last month or so.  I had lots of work and exams to do for university and didn't watch an awful lot of horror.  The only films I did catch were American Pie Reunion and some gross out comedies from the early 2000's while I studied.  However, I made my return to movie geeking today and watched 2 Charlie Sheen flicks (I'm doing a Charlie Sheen marathon.  If you want to know my thoughts I can break the horror habit and give you my thoughts).  I also continued my Stephen King marathon with Maximum Overdrive, a heavily criticised directional debut for Stephen King.  The fact that it's so shit on is living proof that the world is majorly populated by wrong people.

As I said, don't listen to the haters.  To quote the poet Justin Bieber, ''BRING THE DOUBTERS ON, THEY DON'T MATTER AT ALL.''  Those words were written for this movie.  Those of you who read my blog tend to love all things b movie, fun and ridiculous.  We don't have Citizen Kane standards and nor do we give a shit, do we?  We like our movies for what they are, and sometimes a low budget mechanical horror with Goblin trucks might just find it's way into the heart of a person.  Let me start this review by giving you a summary of the film.

A mysterious comet is passing the Earth and it causes mechanical things to come to life and terrorise humanity.  It's up to a group of people in a truck stop led by Emilio Estevez to find a way to stop them.

... I suspect most of you are searching for this to watch right now if you haven't heard of it.  If you're still reading you've a) seen it and want to revel in my praise, b) seen it and only reading on for ammunition to disagree, c) just reading on anyway, d) you've just swung by in the hope to read something interesting.  Well, whatever it is thank you.

This film doesn't deserve the criticism.  For a directional debut from an author it's really well done and delivers on everything it needs to - action, fun, trucks and Estevez.  Like most Stephen King movies, part of the charm is the scenery.  It's a middle of nowhere town and there's nowhere to run.  There was another really cool scene with a polluted sky and it looked amazing.  AND - THE COOLEST THING IN THE MOVIE - GOBLIN TRUCK.  This truck was bad ass and looked menacing with its goblin face on the bumper.

The acting was cheesy, the movie was cheesy but it was fun and action packed.  The only thing I can really say it was fun.  If you're looking for flawed film making you're probably going to find it here.  If that bothers you then go make a better movie yourself or don't watch it.  If you're looking for mindless entertainment for 90 minutes then check this out.  I love it.

The Stephen King Challenge

Hello readers, I have some news.  This is not important news, but you fellow horror fans may find it interesting nonetheless.  I have made it my mission to watch every Stephen King movie and TV show adaptation I can find.  The plan is to watch everything based on his works.  I have no time frame in mind for this, but I will document each night on this blog and keep you all posted, with reviews of each movie and TV show.  I intend to watch everything - even the ones I've seen will be revisited.  So, there's my news.  Why don;t you join me and share this journey?

Society (1989)

Billy is just a regular 18 year old high school kid; he likes to play basketball, goof around and attempt to hook up with girls.  However, something doesn't quite sit right with him - his family.  There's something off about them, and it's not teenage alienation, it's something else.  They're cold, distant and freakishly polite.  Poor Bill just doesn't feel like 'one of them,' considering he's largely ignored and his sister is adored.  His therapist isn't much help either and gives him reassurances in the form of prescription medication instead of sound advice.  Maybe he's hiding something?  Billy gets the sense something twisted is happening with The Society,a group of upper class residents of Beverley Hills that everyone is associated with.  Soon, weird things start happening and Billy sets out to prove something is wrong, but no one believes him, and who is there to even trust?

Society was the directorial debut by Brian Yuzna, who previously produced the classic Re-Animator.  Yuzna is also arguably the king of body horror movies and is prone to delivering some of the most visually disgusting images ever put to celluloid (also see Faust: Love of the Damned).  Society is an odd movie for sure, but it's also an intriguing one.  It's a satire on societies lower classes being exploited by the rich, however, it doesn't take itself too seriously and has enough cheesiness and goofiness to make us laugh out loud.  Incest is a strong theme in this movie, but it's presented in an OTT, hilarious way.  Sure, the movie has moments that might disturb some viewers, but it's mainly just a very black comedy.  It has an intriguing, perfectly paced mystery throughout, accompanied by a constant feeling that something bad is going to happen.  Movies like this, the viewer has every right to demand a memorable pay off and trust me, you'll never forget the ending to this one.

So, to summarise - most definitely not for everyone but if you like odd movies then check it out.  It's funny, disgusting, intriguing, goofy, original, sinister and mesmerising throughout.  Brian Yuzna, you are a wonderful man.

Infestation (2009)

Don't you just love movies where slackers are forced to become heroes?  I sure do.  Infestation is a prime example of one of these movies.  It's about a lazy employee who is forced to save the world from a bug invasion.  It's a matter of minutes into the movie when the bugs invade and our hero awakes in a web having to think quick and fast.

Infestation is a movie that grins at you throughout, wearing it's B movie influences proudly on its sleeve.  It's one of those movies you can't really go into depth about because really, it's all about the fun.  It's funny, witty, charming and entertaining from start till finish.  Chris Arquette, like many of his roles (watch FANBOYS asap), plays the perfect slacker.  His father is also a gung-ho Ray Wise.  There's hot chicks, likable characters and lots of crazy bug action to keep the adrenalin pumpin' all the way through.  Definitely a cult classic.