Cruel Movie

CRUEL WORLD-2005-In this stupid movie a reality show reject psycho (Edward Furlong) kills the husband and wife winners and takes9monster over their house. He creates his own life and death reality show and invites a bunch of young people to participate in it. He monitors it all from a special room while talking, smoking cigarettes and laughing. He also has the big dumb Claude (Steve Franzese) who kills the contestants. Furlong is a good nut but this movie is like a hundred other direct to video slasher movies despite it’s updated trappings. The director, Kelsey T. Howard was a second unit director on many films.

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Killer Kids

BLOODY BIRTHDAY-1981-Three brats are all born right as there is a lunar eclipse. Ten years later they have become little murderers. They are kind of creepy but also rather annoying. They shoot their strict school teacher (Susan Strasberg), bludgeon the sheriff to death and use a bow and arrow to kill. They later terrorize an older girl (Lori Lethin) and her younger brother (KC Martel). Somehow the little dorks can drive cars, shoot guns and move heavy dead bodies with no problem. Jose Ferrer has a small role as the doctor who delivered them. Director Ed Hunt also made STARSHIP INVASIONS and THE BRAIN.

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The Conspiracy Continued??

DAY OF THE DEAD-2008-This movie "based on the film by George Romero" is a piece of crap. It must be part of a conspiracy to remake and destroy any decent horror film of the past. While some might argue the original is not Romero's best work it looks like a classic compared to this talky, annoying shit which seems more influenced by 27 DAYS LATER. Once again the zombies are turned into clowns in unintentional funny attack scenes made up mostly of poor CGI SFX.

Mena Suvari (AMERICAN BEAUTY) stars as an Army corporal with an idiot brother (Michael Welch) and Ving Rhames plays an Army captain who's killed in the first half hour of the movie but comes back later and eats his own eye. As usual the government is to blame for spreading a virus that started the whole thing. Ian McNeice is a fat DJ and Nick Cannon is a dickhead private who's death scene is the only highlight of this miserable tale.

Not one likable character in the whole cast makes you wonder if a world inhabited by flesh eating zombies wouldn't be so bad....But what can you expect from a movie that's final scene is like a YOU TUBE screamer??

Director Steve Miner made the second and third entries in the original FRIDAY THE 13th series and lots of TV episodes.

I think this is also known as DAWN OF THE DEAD 2.

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Bad Girls

SO YOUNG SO BAD-1950-CASABLANCA's Paul Henreid stars as Dr. Jason, a psychiatrist sent to a girls reform school to help out. He runs into a lot of bureaucracy and is hindered in his progress to help the troubled girls by the uncaring staff. Catherine McLeod plays Ruth, a social worker who resents Jason's presence. He and Ruth have a heated debate on a moving merry go round! Mike Kellin has a few brief shots as the operator and some seem to think a guy selling balloons looks a lot like Phil Silvers! Jason tries to expose the sweat shop like conditions and ignorance of Mr. Riggs, the idiot who’s in charge. At one point, the girls sneak a rabbit into the school and a matron stomps it to death! The girls then riot and set fire to the school. As punishment some of the girls are hosed down like Charlton Heston in PLANET OF THE APES! Later Jason kind of blackmails Riggs into letting him run the school his way. He does do a lot of good but when the evil matron punishes one of the girls by cutting her hair, suicide, deception and an inquiry that could lead to Jason's dismissal follow.

It’s an earnest low budget little movie but the most interesting thing about it really is that it introduces three actresses who went on to famous careers: Anne Jackson, Ann Francis and Rita Moreno! Director Bernard Vorhaus also made THE AMAZING DR. X.

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Time Travel From TV to Movies

ALIENS FROM OUTER SPACE-1967-This is two (or three) episodes of the short-lived TV show TIME TUNNEL edited together for a phony feature length release. Both feature the time traveling regulars James Darren and Robert Colbert.

In the first half Robert Duvall guest stars as a time traveling spy who plants a bomb in the Tunnel headquarters and escapes into the future. Whit Bissell and Lee Meriwether try to help in the present as the duo chase the future Oscar winning actor into the far future where silver and gold-faced humanoids with no feelings are building their own time machine. It all ends in a beehive in prehistoric times!

The second half also features sliver-skinned aliens. They are planning an invasion of Earth. It takes place in The Old West. Darren winds up in jail and Colbert becomes a zombie. Stock footage from another movie is also used. There are no real “name guests” but some familiar character actors like Tris Coffin, John Hoyt and Byron Foulger appear!

The Time Tunnel was the least successful of Executive Producer Irwin Allens’s four Sci-Fi TV shows. It only lasted one season and it was apparent that before the season was even half over they were running out of ideas! Many of the sets, props, SFX and even the monsters seem to be “borrowed” from some of the earlier shows (like Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and Lost in Space).

Allen of course went on to produce disaster films like TOWERING INFERNO and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

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More Lon

LAUGH CLOWN LAUGH-1928-Lon Chaney at the top of his game.

He gives a heart breaking performance as Tito, one half of a famous clown act who takes in an abandoned baby girl. Time passes and the baby grows up to be portrayed by 15 year old Loretta Young. Of course Tito is now in love with her but one day finds a rival for her affections in Count Ravelli (Nils Asther). Although the storyline is the familiar unrequited love triangle Chaney once again carries the whole film with poignant performance!

Director Herbert Brenon directed nearly 130 movies including the silent version of BEAU GESTE in 1926. He made his last film in 1940 and died in 1958. Sadly Chaney would make only 5 more movies before dying in 1930.

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By Night but in America

LONDON BY NIGHT-1937-Murder mystery (with comic overtones) set in London but shot in an MGM studio with American actors (some with phony accents). Future US Senator George Murphy plays a newspaper reporter who gets involved with “The Umbrella Murderer”(Leo G. Carroll) but he just wants to go on vacation with his pet dog. The always entertaining George Zucco is Inspector Jones. Leading lady Rita Johnson (in her film debut) had roles in many films later on (EDISON THE MAN, HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, THE NAUGHTY NINTIES) but suffered brain damage from a blow to the head in 1948 and there after made only a few appearances. Also with Virginia Field, Eddie Quillen and Maontagu Love. Director William Thiele directed a couple of Tarzan movies then went into TV.

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