I’m blessed, seriously, to live in Pittsburgh, a place where Tom Savini will just show up next to you at the drive-in. To the rest of horror movie fans, he’s this exhaulted gore god. And he still is here, but I have so many memories of just seeing him jogging or riding in the elevator with him when he taught at the Art Institute. He’s someone who made it from our town and as such, while the rest of the world may or may not know him, he’s royalty here, even if we basically leave our royalty alone and just wave or be polite.
Jason Baker’s Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini tells his story, starting in Bloomfield — where he still lives — and showing how his art of splatter led to a series of films that are still celebrated. It also has appearances from Robert Rodriquez, Tom Atkins, Tony Todd, Greg Nicotero and so many more, as well as clips of Savini’s best work and appearances in films.
I was in sheer bliss watching this. Sure, if you’re a fan you know so much of it. But I really liked the place that it found Savini in, at peace with what he’s done and where life has taken him. It really gets into how much of a devoted family man he is, which I enjoyed very much.
If you’re a fan of horror at all — and why are you on our site if you’re not? — you need this.
The Wild Eye release of this movie has four hours of extras, including an audio commentary with Tom Savini and director Jason Baker; Savini’s personal behind the scenes video archives with footage from Day of the Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, From Dusk Til Dawn, Creepshow, Friday the 13th Part IV and more; Savini’s personal video behind the scenes footage from directing Night of the Living Dead; Savini’s home movies; footage of his stage version of Dracula; a folded poster and an illustrated slipcase. You can get this from MVD.
As Ozzy was fired/quit/we can debate that from Black Sabbath, his solo career was incredibly exciting, not just to see what the singer would do next, but because he’d be joined by Randy Rhodes, a young guitar genius from the band Quiet Riot. It didn’t last — Randy died at the young age of 25 in a plane crash — but the legacy has.
This documentary — directed by Andre Relis, written by Michael Bruining and narrated by Tracii Guns — tells his story, from starting in his mother Delores’ music school to being a guitarist copied by nearly everyone. A 1971 Alice Cooper concert — and seeing Glen Buxton and Mick Ronson play live — gave Rhodes the dream to do this for a living. In turn, he inspired so many.
With interviews from Ozzy Osbourne, Dana Strum, Ron Sobol, Rudy Sarzo and Eddie Van Halen, as well as footage of Rhodes performing with Quiet Riot and Osbourne, this is a great film for those that love guitar playing, heavy metal or just want to explore early 80s pop culture.
Reusing so many of the costumes and props from War of the Robots— and spraypainting cardboard swords to look like lightsabres.
This is the fourth and final film in Alfonso Brescia’s sci-fi series — War of the Planets AKA Year Zero War in Space, Battle of the Stars AKA Battle in Interstellar Space and War of the Robots AKA Reactor. Star Odyssey has plenty of alternate titles, like Seven Gold Men in Space, Space Odyssey, Metallica and Captive Planet.
In the year 2312, Earth is sold to Kress, an evil ruler who wants to turn humans into slaves. Professor Maury and his band of, dare we call them rebels, set out to win the planet back from Kress and his cyborgs.
Those good guys include a space hero called Hollywood, a swindler named Dirk Laramie who wears a Spider-Man t-shirt who is played by Gianni Garko, Norman the gymnast who does cartwheels all day long and robots named Tilk and Tilly who blew themselves up at one point and constantly have to put themselves back together.
There’s also a wrestling match in the middle of this movie for seemingly no reason. Also — while it claims that the actors are listed in alphabetical order, they are not. Star Odyssey lies. It just lies to you.
Is there an actor that can save any movie for you? There is one for me: John Saxon. I have sat through many a piece of absolute shit only because Saxon shows up to be the hero of the day, even if he’s usually the villain.
TV reporter Carrie Madison (Kay Lenz, The Initiation of Sarah,House) is trying to meet with mad scientist Dr. Hartmann when she literally runs into Dan Roebuck’s (Richard Hatch, TV’s Battlestar Galactica) truck. Once they find the scientist, his machine causes them all to disappear to the parallel world of Vonya, which is populated by cavemen and the warlord Kleel (John Saxon, of course) who has plenty of Earth technology.
Director Terry Marcel also was behind the films Hawk the Slayer and Jane and the Lost City, so obviously sword, sorcery and science fiction was his bread and butter. Too bad that his bread and butter tastes so bad.
If you want to see John Saxon out act everyone around him — sadly I wish this were higher praise — and a ragtag group of aliens fight cavemen, I guess you should watch this. I can recommend several much better movies in this genre, though.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was first on the site on June 19, 2019.
Whatever you call it — Terror House, Terror at Red Wolf Inn or Folks at Red Wolf Inn — this 1972 horror comedy is one strange film. It makes a nice double or triple feature companion for a few other movies from the early 70’s like The Babyand Messiah of Evil. They’re horror, sure, but they also all feel like they’ve come from some other planet, somewhere beyond the walls of our normal plane of existence.
Regina (Linda Gillen) is a young college student with no money, friends or plans as the rest of her class leaves for spring break. That said — her luck is about to change, as she gets a letter informing her that she’s won a free vacation to the Red Wolf Inn.
She even has a plane ready for her and a handsome young man named Baby John Smith to pick her up when she arrives. Their ride to the inn is wild, as he races the police, but instead of reacting with fear, she enjoys the ride.
Once they arrive, Regina meets the owners of the inn, Henry (Arthur Space, who played veterinarian Doc Weaver on TV’s Lassie) and Evelyn (Mary Jackson, Sister Felice in Airport and Emily Baldwin on TV’s The Waltons), who are also Baby John’s grandparents. Plus, there are two other contest winners, Pamela (Janet Wood, Angels Hard as They Come) and Edwina (Margaret Avery, who years later woud be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work as Shug Avery in The Color Purple; she’s also in the made for TV movie Something Evil that Steven Spielberg directed before Jaws).
That night, everyone sits down to an extravagant meal where they’re encouraged to indulge themselves. The next morning, Pamela has gone, but her dress has stayed behind.
Baby John and Regina’s feelings for one another are noticed by everyone in the house. This leads to my favorite scene in the movie, where they share a moment on the beach, flirting with one another before they embrace and kiss. Then, Baby John catches a small shark and loses his mind, smashing it over and over again before punching it, all the while screaming “Shark!” before confessing that he loves Regina. It’s incredibly disconcerting, like the way that beings from another dimension would act thinking that they were fitting in with humanity.
Before you know it, it’s time for another party, this time celebrating Edwina’s last night. After everyone goes to bed, the Smiths go to her room, knock her out with chloroform and then slices her to ribbons inside the refrigerated meat locker. After Regina worries that Edwina left without saying goodbye, she tries to run away, but even the police are members of the Smith family.
A prisoner inside the Red Wolf Inn, she soon discovers that she’s been eating human flesh the entire time there. She tries to run one more time, but is caught and finally admits that she’s in love with Baby John. Despite the fact that she believes that his grandparents want to kill and eat her, she thinks that they’ll come to accept her. There’s a test later that night where they try to get her to eat human flesh, now that she knows what she’s been devouring, but she runs away.
Baby John is smitten, but will he save the woman he’s fallen for? Will he eventually eat her too? Or is there an even stranger ending poised to blow your mind?
If you want to know every single thing there is to know about this film, I heartily recommend the zine Drive-in Asylum. In issue eight, there’s an interview with Linda Gillen that goes in-depth into every facet of the film and its production, as well as a great article by Terry Thome that dissects the film’s mixture of romance, horror and comedy. In fact, if you check out the Drive-In Asylum etsy store, you’ll find everything from signed VHS copies of the film, promotional photos and even a cookbook inspired by the film! I’m proud to say that I illustrated this unique souvenir of this film, which as a real honor (and I even have one signed by Linda).
BONUS: We spent two full episodes of our podcast discussing this movie with Bill from Drive-In Asylum, which will give you even more insight into the sheer craziness at the heart of this film.
Joseph Valachi was an informant in the early 1960s who was the first to acknowledge that organized crime existed. Based on The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas — Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach stopped Maas from publishing his edition of Valachi’s original memoirs, but did allow him to publish a third-person account based upon interviews he had conducted with Valachi — this has Charles Bronson as the protagonist, a man who suddenly finds himself fingered as a snitch when he was keeping omerta. He finally decides that if he’s going to get killed for being a rat, he better just be one and hope to get out of this alive.
A prisoner in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, he’s given the kiss of death by his boss Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura) and becomes paranoid, killing anyone who comes near him after he’s nearly murdered in the shower. Then the film shows the life of crime that Valachi has lived, including his marriage — Jill Ireland plays his wife, of course — and all the people killed along the way.
Dino de Laurentiis had to convince Charles Bronson to take the role, as Bronson turned it down at least twice. He took it when he found out the character got to age from his late teens to early 60s. This movie was pushed up after The Godfather was such a big hit, a movie that Bronson referred to as “The Godfather? that was the shittiest movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Director Terrence Young may be best known for his Bond movies, but he also did this and Wait Until Dark, two films far removed from the spy genre. He keeps things moving and sometimes the violence is stylized as black and white photos that are discussed or tightly wound moments where blood and gunfire can erupt at any time.
The Kino Lorber blu ray release of. The Valachi Papers has commentary by Bronson expert Paul Talbot, trailers from Germany and the U.S., a TV ad and a radio commercial. You can get this from Kino Lorber.
Le Monache di Sant’Arcangel, Sisters of Satan and The Nuns of Saint Archangel are the other names for this film by Domenico Paolella who started his career all the way back in 1939 and also directed Stunt Squad, Women of Devil’s Island and Story of a Cloistered Nun.
Based on authentic 16th Century records and a story by Stendhal — sure, whatever you say — this film really hits all the expected sleazy beats of nunsploitation but it invented it, coming early in the cycle that really got going between The Lady of Monza and The Devils.
The Sant Arcangelo Convent is where Sister Julia (former Miss Great Britain Anne Heywood, who was also in The Fox and The Killer Is on the Phone) is doing everything she can to become Mother Superior. This all happens as the nuns may take on celibate vows yet make love to one another and invite men inside the walls of their holy place. Of course, this just means that we get a square up reel after holy men come in and torture these sinning women, all before Julai is forced to drink poison.
Shot in a real convent — Fossanova Abbey in Priverno, Latina — that has to be a Jess Franco-like trick, as somehow they were never told exactly the movie that was getting made. I can’t even imagine the condemnation that followed.
Look, I don’t want to be some kind of drooling leering fanboy, but if you make a movie with Ornella Muti as a nun, well…it’s going to be something I’m going to watch.
Twilight Time’s new release of The Nun and the Devil has an audio commentary with critic Kim Newman and Italian cinema expert Barry Forshaw, interviews with Luc Merenda and Martine Brochard, a profile of Domenico Paolella, a nunsploitation interview with Marcus Stiglegger and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.
I mean, the cast is pure magic. Rutger Hauer playing a gaijin Zatoichi? Terry O’Quinn as his chemical expert war buddy who gets wacky when he throws explosives at people? Nick Cassavetes and Rick Overton as the cowboy henchman known as the Pike Brothers? Randall “Tex” Cobb as Slag, the man trying to get O’Quinn’s kid and who has already killed his ex-wife, played by Meg Foster?
This is a movie where, of course, Hauer has crazy blind eyes and goes eyeball to eyeball with Foster, her blue eyes staring a hole into the sun.
Lisa Blount as O’Quinn’s new love? Tiger Chung Lee playing a heavy? Sho Kosugi showing up just long enough to go one on one with Hauer in a sword duel over an electrified hot tub?
Phillip Noyce made this and Dead Calm in the same year, which is absolutely amazing. He also made Sliver and I’d love to talk to him about all of the insanity.
Seriously, I watched every single moment of this with a huge smile on my face. The idea of remaking Zaitochi Challenged in America and not losing any of the charm? Credit goes to Tim Matheson, a fan of that Japanese series, who worked with producer Daniel Grodnik for seven years to get this made.
The Kino Lorber blu ray of this has an audio commentary by screenwriter Charles Robert Carner, moderated by Filmmaker Douglas Hosdale, as well as a newly remastered trailer. You can get it from Kino Lorber.
The sequel to the spin-off prequel Minions and the fifth movie in the Despicable Me franchise, this is actually the first I’ve seen. And you know, I liked it! Directed by Kyle Balda and written by Matthew Folgel, this episode takes place in 1976 as the young Gru (Steve Carrell) tries to join his dream supervillain team, Vicious 6, which is made up of Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), Jean-Clawed (yes, JCVD!), Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), Stronghold (Danny Trejo), Nun-chuck (Lucy Lawless) and Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin). Plus, you get Julie Andrews as Gru’s mother, the RZA as a biker, Michelle Yeoh as Master Chow and Russell Brand as the record store owning Dr. Nefario.
Oh yeah — Pierre Coffin plays Kevin, Stuart, Bob, Otto and the rest of the Minions. But I was amazed at what this movie does: it gives fathers of a certain age a cast from movies that they grew up loving and gives them a movie that they can enjoy with their kids. How cool is that?
Yeah I know — this site is usually me salivating over giallo. But even I can appreciate a fun kid movie.
This blu ray comes with two mini-movies — Post Modern Minions and Minions and Monsters — as well as an extended scene, outtakes, character profiles, interviews about the inspiration for the movie, a how to draw section and on-disk games where kids can create their own Minion lair and outfits.
Steven Wang co-directed The Guyverbefore making this wild kung fu movie in America in which Toby Wong (Mark Dacascos) has an advanced bio-device installed in his chest that gives him superhuman speed and agility. He doesn’t want China to get it after Hong Kong goes back into their control, so he runs to America to sell the device for $5 million with the Chinese government and their killer Vic Madison (John Pyper-Ferguson) and his henchman Hedgehog (Tracey Walter, always Bob the Goon) in the lead. Yet because they need the device working, they can’t kill Toby.
Meeting up with songwriter Malik Brody (Kadeem Hardison) and gun crazy Deliverance Bodine (Brittany Murphy), Toby makes his way to Los Angeles, finally engaging all of the folks chasing him — and the new Advanced Model (Masaya Kato) who has an even better device — in a battle to the death.
So yeah — it sounds like every other action adventure movie that went direct to video. But Drive is special, infused with just enough weirdness and off-centered ideas to be something really amazing. I mean, what other movie has former Leatherface R. A. Mihailoff play a singing trucker?
I don’t know how this movie never found me until today, but I’m beyond happy that it did. If you’re ready for some great fight scenes, fast chases and lots of unexpected oddness, grab this now.
The 88 Films release of Drive has a limited Edition slipcase with artwork by Sam Gilbee, a 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), audio commentary with director Steve Wang, fight choreographer Koichi Sakamoto and stars Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Harrison, the original cut that didn’t appear in America, a behind-the-scenes documentary, six deleted scenes, an interview gallery with cast, director and crew and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.
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