The concept of a corrupt prison system using inmates as test subjects dates back to 1771, when the Italian physician and philosopher Luigi Galvani stimulated dead flesh with bioelectricity on the inmates of London’s Newgate Prison. His work, alongside the tales of Johann Konrad Dippel’s experiments in tissue reanimation, fueled Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The Americanized version.
And now . . . in an undisclosed future, Warden Crowe and Dr. Brooks conduct “volunteer” clinical trials for commuted sentences at the all-female Saint Leonard’s International Detention & Medical Facility on Saint Leonard’s Island off Ireland’s North Atlantic west coast (based on Spike Island, “Ireland’s Alcatraz” in Cork Harbour, but filmed inside the U.K.’s 400-year old HM Prison Shepton Mallet). Of course, the ends justify the means in the corrupt end of the medical spectrum: the good doctor is developing a cancer-curing drug that could mean a financial windfall to the Warden Crowe.
Just as the experiments go astray—as the test subjects die (graphically) and reanimate—in steps St. Leonards’ newest arrival: Stone (French actor Jess Chanliau in her leading lady debut), an ex-Special Forces and political body guard set up by a corrupt U.S Senator. While the battle lines are drawn inside the prison walls—with Stone leading a small band of survivors against a corrupt guard leading another band of survivors—the island’s small population of 1100 are infected as well, and attacking the prison.
The overseas original.
Released in the overseas, international marketplace as Patients of a Saint and rebooted for the U.S. market under the Patient Zero moniker, this second effort by Welsh-born writer-director Russell Owen (the 2013 psycho-thriller Welcome to the Majority) hasn’t done that well in the critical marketplace, with the main complaint being, “we’ve seen it all before.”
While I won’t argue the “derivative” point (and lets be honest: when’s the last time, since the gooey, Italian zom-’80s, we’ve seen a “not derivate” zom-flick), Owen expertly knows how to maximum a tight budget to bring us an A-List Hollywood-styled film that rises above the glut of what’s been way too many Asylum-styled zombie cheap fests. While the Irish and Welsh accents can be a bit trying at times for American ears (as are American-English accents on European ears), Inmate Zero is nonetheless well-acted and undeniably a well-shot horror film. So don’t let the “Americanized” retitle and artwork lead to you believe Russell Owen’s take on the zombie genre is a cheapjack bore fest: it’s packed with plenty of zom-action and top-notch gore effects for horror hounds who like it bloody n’ icky.
Bottom line: I enjoyed this flick! And it gave me chance to work Luigi Galvani and Johann Konrad Dippel into the conversation.
Previously released as a VOD through Amazon Prime, Google Play, and You Tube Movies, you can now watch Inmate Zero as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTv. You can watch the trailer on You Tube.
Disclaimer: We did not receive a screener or review request for this movie. We discovered it on our own and enjoyed the film.
About the Author: You can learn more about the work of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes forB&S About Movies.
This Tarantino-esque crime thriller brew (the first, non-horror half of From Dusk Till Dawn) with a shot of whiskey comes from the husband and wife writing team of Kevin James Barry (who directs) and Evalena Marie (who stars).
The noirish boilermaker bubbles with a bank robbery gone wrong as the two robbers take their unwanted — and unknowing hostage — to a seedy, off-season coastal motel in the dead of winter. When they come to realize their boss double-crossed them and they’re trapped in the hotel with no way out, psychosis and paranoia takes over as they turn on each other. And the fact that the motel manager is of the Norman Bates variety doesn’t help.
This is film about hunger: not just from the film’s characters, but from the filmmakers. In a script reportedly written over a frenzied weekend, and with little budget, they put together a gritty crime drama that may remind you of the hungry-budgetary spirit of Tarantino with his debut film, 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, but more accurately, 1993’s Amongst Friends, the debut film by Rob Weiss*.
As you can see by the trailer, while everyone involved is relatively new to the scene with no notable credits, the film is competently shot and acted above the level of most low-budget, self-produced direct-to-video and VOD streaming efforts. Caveat: Since we’re dealing with bouts of paranoia and psychosis, the story take a non-linear approach to convey the character’s deteriorating states. So, if you’re not into a story filled with flashbacks, this may not be the flick for you. But if you enjoy a neo-noir approach to storytelling that keeps you guessing, then there’s something to enjoy.
You can watch Among Them as a VOD exclusively on Amazon Prime or as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTv. You can learn more about the production on its official Facebook page. You can also learn more about the work of Kevin James Barry and Evalena Marie at the Horroble Pictures website.
Oh, how we go on and on about the apocalypse on this site. Especially the films shot in Australia, Italy, and the Philippines. We love it so much that we waxed nostalgic — twice — about Michael Sopkiw’s and Sergio Martino’s 2019: After the Fall of New York (Sam and R.D reviews). We even went Hunter S. Thompson-gonzo (we can’t write any other way; gotta go for broke) and wrote a month of apoc film reviews this past September, which you can revisit with our two-part Atomic Dustbin round ups.
Our location out in Allison Park–if you feel like making the drive–will feature No Blade of Grass, Chosen Survivors, Ravagers, and Damnation Alley.But there’s no swap shop this Sunday at Allison Park. Gotta bush hog the lot and patch some parking lot potholes.Damn those city ordinaces and inspectors.
But before the low-budget hoards raced out of the lands overseas beyond the rising sun, Hollywood, inspired by the apoc turns of Moses and Ben-Hur himself, Charlton Heston, in Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man and Soylent Green, the apocalypse went mainstream.
So Oliver Reed went “apoc” with Z.P.G, while Yul Brynner starred in The Ultimate Warrior, Sean Connery followed his worldwide fame as James Bond with Zardoz, and the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Paul Newman ended the ’70s with Quintet.
So raise ye spiked bats and chains, my warrior hoards and perloin that water, you motherlovers! (Ye must know their cheezy apoc movie quotes or die!) Let’s light up the big screen for the A-List Apocalypse!
A don’t forget to follow the dancing pop corn boxes to our snack bar. I hope you ripped those two-fer-one coupons from the newspaper.
Movie 1: ZPG (1972)
If you’re a bloxploitation fan, you know writer and director Michael Campus for 1973’s classic The Mack, starring Richard Pryor (it bombed, but is considered the best of the genre). But did you know Michael Campus went apoc? Yep, he did. Those crazy Danes purchased the rights to Paul R. Ehrlich’s 1968 worldwide best seller, The Population Bomb, and turned it into a movie. And they managed to hire Oliver Reed of Burnt Offerings and Severed Ties, Gor and Outlaw of Gor. (Now, I must point out, again: Reed was so bad ass with his #1 box office-grossing actor self, that he turned down the role of Quint in Jaws. But now, I must addendum: he accepted two Gor films and Severed Ties?)
Truth be told, while this film has no middle ground and is either loved-loved, or hated-hated (I am of the former), it came out pretty good and is the best of this evening’s quartet of films. And bonus, Geraldine Chaplin — the daughter of Charlie Chaplin — won Best Actress (well deserved) at Spain’s 1972 Sitges Film Festival for her performance in the film.
The film concerns an overpopulated future Earth, whose world government executes those who violate a 30-year ban on having children, so as to balance out the food shortage. And to maintain normalcy, the government develops realistic mechanical babies to satiate the maternal instincts of the world’s 10 billion women. But for Carol — played by Chaplin — a mechanical child won’t do. And she spirals into an obsession to have a real child. (Special Effects artist Derek Meddings — who got his start with Hammer Films, worked with Gerry Anderson on UFO and Space: 1999, along with several James Bond films (our featured reviews all of next month), and designed Pink Floyd’s stage shows — designed the machine babies.)
Are they kidding? No online PPV rental streams? You have to “buy it” for $9.99? Well, if you absolutely must, You Tube has it. Amazon wants $12.99 to buy it? What the hell?
So, Charlton Heston was Moses in The Ten Commandments. And he went apoc with The Omega Man and Soylent Green as “the last man.” And you thought Yul Brynner, who played Ramesses alongside Heston in The Ten Commandments, wasn’t going to jump on the apoc battlewagon to box office gold? (BTW: Check out our “10 Post-Apocalyptic Vehicles” feature.)
“What’s it (yawn) all about?” you ask director Robert Clouse.
Set in a post-civilization New York City in 2012, The Ultimate Warrior depicts the struggles of a small enclave of entitled inhabitants (led by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow of Victory and Judge Dredd) attempting to survive in a compound under endless attacks by the starving hoards outside (led by William Smith of Invasion of the Bee Girls and Grave of the Vampire).
And they need a magnificent seven to help them. But they can only afford one: Carson, played by Yul. For ye is the ultimate, perpetually shirtless, warrior: a man with no name. Well, he has a “name,” but you get the point.
Ugh. No free rips? You’ll have to settle for the PPV via Amazon Prime or Vudu.
A throw-down-the-apoc-gauntletchallenge to Sam: How is it that you ragged on Mitch Gaylord in American Tiger in our Drive-In Friday grand opening — and have yet to review fellow gymast Kurt Thomas in Gymkata? Must it always be about your man-love of Sergio Martino? (Geeze, no wonder Pittsburgh’s having a T.P shortage; and we thought it was the Coronavirus straining the T.P supply chains.) How’s about showing Robert Clouse of Enter the Dragon fame — and Jim Kelly’s Black Belt Jones and Golden Needles — some love?
Gymkata, Samuel. Gymkata. Isn’t “gymkata” sort of kind of like wrestling?
Intermission!
A cut of the first five Phantasm films set to Blue Oyster Cult’s 1976 classic, “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”
What in the hell? John Boorman ignited hicksploitation cinema with 1972’s Deliverance (read our “The Top 70 Good ‘Ol Boys Film List” round up of our month-long review of backwoods epics) and decided a movie with Sean Connery ditching the toupee, slapping on a pair of Speedos, wearing a set of bullet belts across his chest, and slipping into a pair of knee-high red boots — and, oh, a floating giant stone head spouting lines about man’s evil penis spreading his seeds on the Earth — was the way to follow up a box office blockbuster?
What’s it all about? Uh, in a post-apocalyptic world where “Brutals,” aka barbarians, worship a stone god called “Zardoz” set forth by the elitist “Eternals,” everyone fights against death and hope for an eternal life.
And how is it that they are smart enough to building an electromagnetic stone head that spits out supplies to the barbarians, but not wipe the crud off of the cover of an old story book — which they based their society on? (The “plot twist” must be seen to be believed . . . dude, not that Star Trek: The Motion Picture V’ger non-sense again. WTF!)
Yeah, this deserved being singled out in our “Ten WTF Movies” feature: for Zardoz is the definition of “WTF” more than any other movie. Well, at least until Paul Newman did Quintet.
Ack. There’s no freebies on Zardoz? You’ll have to settle for a PPV on Amazon Prime or Vudu.
Movie 4: Quintet (1979)
And you thought John Boorman’s Zardoz was a mindfuck (or bore; opinions vary).
Welcome to the apoc-world of Robert Altman. Yes, the five-time Oscar-nominated director of M.A.S.H and Nashville fame went apoc. According to a then report in Variety, 20th Century Fox President Alan Ladd Jr. told the industry trade paper that Altman was not given final cut on what he termed “a complicated picture.”
That’s putting it mildly, Mr. Ladd.
Of course, we all know a quintet is a group containing five members. And that the geometric pattern of a pentagon (as you see in the theatrical one-sheet) has five sides. And dices (aka, a hexahedron) have six sides.
Okay, that’s the easy part. Now comes the hard part.
Well, take The 10th Victim and eliminate five players. And take them out of the world stage and toss them in a makeshift casino during a future, world ice age where bored humans play “Quintet,” a fight for the survival of the fittest — with human game pieces. And those who are “killed” in the game are executed in real life. (Connect Four with a knife or Monopoly with a 45-revolver, anyone? Wanna try for the “funny bone” in Operation with a 10,000 volt hookup?)
Paul Newman is a seal hunter, Essex, who impersonates someone named Redstone, and gets “entered” into the game (a similar plotline used in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1975 noir The Passenger starring Jack Nicholson). And Ingmar Bergman’s muse, Swedish actress Bibi Anderson, shows up as Ambrosia, the games crucial “sixth man.” So, uh, why didn’t they title the movie “The Sixth Man” instead of Quintet?
Your guess is as good as ours. Somewhere in the frames, Altman is being profound . . . about something.
You can watch a very clean rip of Quintet for free on You Tube.
Hey! Don’t fear the reaper. Come and take our hand and let us show you a whole list of end-of-the-world flicks with our two-part Atomic Dust Bin round-ups (by God, by Man, etc.) full of helpful tips on how tough out COVID-19. For there’s no paper for the loo. So you better bring your shovels to dig your own dunnys (Aussie apoc-speak; gotta keep the theme rollin’).
Don’t be def-conned!
In case you missed the reviews . . . here’s a few more A-List “End of the World” flicks resulting from man’s folly we’ve finally got around to. Within each, you’ll find links to even more . . . both of the A-List and B-List knockoff variety. Enjoy that fiery rabbit hole!
Remember Lucio Fulci’s House by the Cemetery with the basement experiments of Dr. Freudstein getting loose and tormenting the new residents of a New England home? Now, instead of the real estate horror of 1979’s The Amityville Horror, think the home invasion horror of 1971’s Straw Dogs, or the more recent, You’re Next, or the Wes Craven classic, The Last House on the Left (that got ripped by things such as The Last House on the Beach and The Last House on a Dead End Street).
So goes the English-language, but Italian made Dead House: The story of three masked thieves who invade the remote country mansion of a god-playing scientist — and they come to discover his deadly viral experiments in a basement lab that mutates the infected into psychopaths. The film questions how far will men will go into their depravity — which is evident as the invaders force the doctor’s teenaged daughter to watch him and his wife have sex and play other deadly games.
Dead House is the debut film of Brini Amerigo, a writer-director who embraces old school practical effects, which is refreshing in this digital age. The U.S reviews on this haven’t been kind, but as you can see from the trailer, it’s competently shot and above the fray of most direct-to-video streamers.
Originally release as a 2014 European theatrical known as Beautiful People, Wide Eye Releasing rebooted the film for U.S audiences — with a new title and artwork — for its U.S. PPV and VOD debut in 2018. They’re now offering it as free-with-ads stream on their TubiTv channel.
Disclaimer: This was sent to us by the film’s PR firm.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
Dario Argento’s Demons meets The Blair Witch Project as the movie about a real life haunted hotel (ala The Overlook Hotel from The Shining) turns into a “real movie” via its behind-the-scenes documentary footage.
As Darkness Reigns unfolds, we meet documentary filmmaker Daniel Whitaker (filming himself via smartphone, of course) on the way to host the premiere of his documentary Darkness Reigns — his movie about the failure of Defantus Soul, a Casper Van Diem-starring horror film shot in a real haunted hotel. The original intent of Whitaker’s documentary was to include it as a behind-the-scene vignette-extra on the eventual DVD/Blu-ray of Defantus Soul.
But since the director sold his soul to The Devil to be a successful filmmaker, the demon haunting the hotel seals it off, and kills Casper with a push off the mezzanine. The “deal” was to spook everyone and Daniel would film “real ghosts.” Of course The Devil reneges on the deal and kills everyone. And Daniel got what he wanted: he’s famous and Darkness Reigns is the most-talked about movie in the world. And now a documentary is being filmed about him and his movie.
Yeah, The Devil’s a dick when he needs to be.
Now, the caveat: If you learned your lesson from your steady diet of Nicolas Cage (Arsenal), Eric Roberts (Lone Star Deception), and Tom Sizemore (Zyzzyx Road) movies, you know you get a little bit o’ Casper and a whole lot of everybody else. But what little Casper we do get, he’s a real sport playing up himself as possessed by a demon.
Darkness Reigns is the third feature film by longtime documentary and reality TV purveyor Andrew P. Jones, who made his fictional film debut with the urban drama Kings of the Evening (2008) and Haunting of Cellblock 11 (2014). So, based on his experience, you go in knowing he brings a level of quality to the table that’s a head above most of the direct-to-video horrors in the streaming marketplace.
Wild Eye Releasing now offers Darkness Reigns as a free-with-ads stream on TubiTv.
Disclaimer: The was sent to us by the film’s PR firm.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
When I first loaded up Evil Little Things, I was expecting a creepy little doll flick of the Richard Matheson Trilogy of Terror or Child’s Play variety terrorizing a family headed by Zach Galligan of Gremlins fame—which are, in themselves, evil little things. Then things unexpectedly (and pleasantly) veered into portmanteau territory with stories concerned with creepy little dolls or, in this case, evil little things.
The linking device across the two stories—instead of the usual three or five stories typical of most anthologies—is a young boy with a fear of monsters under the bed; his mom takes him to a local toy store the next day to buy a friend to keep him company at night.
Of course, the toy store’s proprietor and resident doll maker is an odd duck. At first glance, I thought he was played by Bill Mosely (of our recent “Radio Week” reviewed Dead Air), who does a lot of put-a-star-name-on-the-box type of movies as of late. But it’s actually Geoff McKnight (who very good here). He did an early ‘90s, three-season run on the NBC-TV series In the Heat of the Night as Deputy Farrell and got his start working on Tracy Keenan Wynn’s excellent In the Line of Duty series of NBC-TV telefilms.
In the first tale, “Blood for Gold,” which reminds of the 1973 Kim Darby-starring TV movie classic Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a horror novelist moves her children into her great grandmother’s house in the Atlanta countryside—a house attached to the legends of an evil Leprechaun that haunts Irish Mountain. And the house has a creepy fireplace. And mom’s hearing music coming from the fireplace. Of course, she starts an excavation. And then she starts speaking in an Irish brogue. And a creepy, red-bearded doll shows up . . .
And that takes us to the second tale, “Be Careful What You Wish For,” which harkens the classic ‘60s Telly Savalas episode “The Living Doll” from TV’s The Twilight Zone. We meet Abby, an emotionally damaged collector of antique dolls on her way to another Magna-Con. And Abby’s a bit tweaked with her doll obsession, and one doll in particular, Patty, who likes to “hurt” the other dolls. Is Patty possessed or is Abby imagining it? Of course, Patty’s jealous of Abby’s suitor, Jeremy . . .
Hey, we almost forgot about Zach Galligan (who’s very good in his small role as the abusive dad). You didn’t think he was getting out of this alive, did you? Say hello to Giggles the Clown, Zach.
Although we know the dolls will prevail and the owners will suffer an evil fate, both tales are well-written with enough suspenseful creeps and twisted mystery to keep our interest. And once those dolls break out the knives—especially Patty (voiced to chilling perfection by screenwriter Yasmin Bakhtiari) from the stronger, second segment, yikes! I haven’t had dolls freak me out this much since Dan Curtis broke out the dolls all those years ago in Trilogy of Terror.
Evil Little Things is a solid debut from the screenwriting team of Yasmin Bakhtiari and Nancy Knight (Knight effectively stars as Aunt Sally). I’m looking forward to their next horror opus and I’d love to see either of these tales expanded to feature-length films. Director Matt Green has been around a little bit longer, with an ever-expanding resume of direct-to-video horror films he’s been building on since the early 2000’s. He most recently worked behind the scenes as a set designer on the Taraji P. Henson-starring Hidden Figures (2016).
Evil Little Things is available from Uncork’d Entertainment on all online streaming and PPV platforms in the U.S on May 12. Visit them on Facebook for the latest news on their releases.
Huh? You need more creepy little dolls? Do you, really? Hey, it’s your funeral. Check out our “Ten Evil Dolls” examination for a list of cursed figurines that date from the ‘60s anthology series The Twilight Zone to the present-day horror of Annabelle Comes Home from The Conjuring series.
Disclaimer: This movie was sent to us by its PR department. As always: you know that has nothing to do with our feelings on the movie.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook.He also writes forB&S About Movies.
Red Rover is an indie rom-com that questions the motivations behind one’s passion to enlist on the Mars One Project—and about the infection of wanderlust; everyone here is fear and loathing in Toronto, bumbling about as errant Huckleberry Finns. And Red Rover accomplishes that goal without any Passengers SFX pretentions, so Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt fans need to hit the emergency escape hatch button: this is not the film for you. For Red Rover isn’t a movie about exploring the frontiers of outer space, but the frontiers of one’s inner space. Yes, exploration is essential to human survival. But it’s not the exploration itself that’s the problem, but where we explore.
Philosophers Nikolai Gogol and Johann Wolfgang von Gothe expounded on man’s failed, perpetual quests for satisfaction: there’s always that one, elusive desire that weighs us down like Prometheus to a rock. For man is always searching for something else, something better; so busy looking down into our foolish, electronic devices that we never see the answer right in front us. We never realize that, while we may not have everything we want, we always have everything we need: each other. And it’s as easy as lifting our face and lighting another’s world with a smile. (There’s no reference to either writer in the film or any “electronic subtext”; that’s my interpretation of the material.)
And in Damon’s case, the answers, the happiness he aches for, don’t lie 33 million miles away, but right here on Earth.
Damon (Kristian Bruun of NBC-TV’s Departure and BBC America’s Orphan Black) is an ordinary average guy; a lonely, unemployed geologist dumped on by his report-stealing jerk of a boss and a heartless ex-girlfriend. To fill the emptiness, Damon putters around the beach with his metal detector.
It’s there that he meets Phoebe (Cara Gee of the SyFy Channel’s The Expanse and Harrison Ford’s recent film, Call of the Wild), a bohemian musician handing out promotional flyers—while wearing an astronaut suit, complete with helmet—for a reality TV series that will chronicle the Red Rover Project to Mars.
And with his life swirling in the past, and with Phoebe’s extroverted passion, Damon’s going for it. And he passes the application process. And the final interview process for the mission becomes a catalyst for turning his life around, as Damon gives an inspiring speech about exploring the unknown for the right reasons; on how we, as humans, can only grow by not wallowing in the past. And he soon realizes he doesn’t need to go to Mars to accomplish man’s prime directive: be truly you.
Shane Belcourt developed his writing and directing career with a series of shorts and feature documentaries. Discovering his background, in conjunction with watching Red Rover, his feature film debut, I couldn’t help but think of the similar career trajectory of William Eubanks: Belcourt has that same eye; the same passion.
Director William Eubank’s first two, under-the-radar films, the low-budget science fiction dramas Love (2011) and The Signal (2014), rightfully received worldwide critical acclaim for their ingenuity on a tight budget. And 20th Century Fox took notice and handed him the director reins of Underwater. And I have no doubt the major studios will be knocking on Belcourt’s escape hatch sometime soon, for he has an equally bright future as a storyteller.
Red Rover makes its DVD, PPV, and VOD premiere on May 12. You can learn more at the film’s official website and Facebook page. Speaking of indie filmmakers, especially of the not-easy-to-shoot-on-no-budget sci-fi genre, I invite you to discover the low-budget gems Space Trucker Bruce by Anton Doiron and Robert Goodrich’s Ares 11.
Disclaimer: This movie was sent to us by its PR department. As always: you know that has nothing to do with our feelings on the movie.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook.He also writes forB&S About Movies.
You’re Monte Light, a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado’s theatre program. You meet Drew Carey on CBS-TV’s long-running gameshow The Price is Right. And you walk away a winner.
What would you do with your winnings?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Monte Light, who’s honed his craft across five award-winning shorts and received kudos from the Toronto Wildsound, Las Vegas, and Austin Film Festivals — in addition to contributing a segment to the 2018 horror anthology 2 Die For (which features a segment from For Jennifer‘s James Cullen Bressack) — decided to make a movie with the $11,000 he cleared from the game show.
And as with the similarly, ultra-low budget sci-fi romps Space Trucke Bruce and Ares 11, this writer is as impressed-as-hell with the end result. So keep that all in mind because, if you’re expecting an Ad Astra with space walks and moon buggy battles in the frames of Space, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re a film lover who appreciates inventiness against a tight budget, then you’ll appreciate Monte Light’s efforts. If you enjoyed the claustrophobic settings of John Carpenter’s Dark Star, which we mentioned in passing in our reviews of Space Trucker Bruce and Ares 11, then you’ll enjoy your journey on The Udo.
I don’t know about you, but that is one hell of an impressive space suit on a budget.
In the year 2050, the BrightSTAR Corporation launches the five-manned deep-space mission Udo to terraform the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, with experimental nanotechnology.
The crew is headed by Dr. Ada Grey (Lara Jean Sullivan of 2Jennifer), an astrobiologist who developed the nanite technology used on the mission. The mission goes south when the nanotechnology develops into a man-made alien that threatens the crew and an accident leaves them each trapped in separate escape pods. A nice twist-of-the-plot statement about online relationships occurs as a romance blossoms between Dr. Grey and the mission’s French pilot Evan Durand (Kurt Quinn from Law & Order: True Crime), the mission’s last two survivors, over the pod’s communications system.
Since were on a low-budget, and even thought the story unfolds in real time, Light opted to use a cost-effective, psuedo-documentary-cum-found footage narrative. As result, we watch most of the film from the ship’s security cameras and we see the tale unfold in split-screen, complete with electronic interference. So, if it seems that the actors are inept, they’re not: the staring/talking into the cameras is part of the film’s narrative. Ah, but there’s more to the cameras and mics (as a cost-cut): they’re mounted around the ship to document the long-term psychological effects of deep space travel.
Sure, you can nitpick Space apart into stardust, but when one considers the non-budget Light worked with, the cinematography, set design, and limited CGI (for the ship’s exteriors) is top notch. And as we pointed out: the costumes developed by Doug Marr are simply astounding. And the experienced, but unknown cast (which features Len Kabasinski, currently directing Pact of Vengenance starring Leo Fong) sells the sets and the “reality” they live in, just as effectively as the cast in William Malone’s Alien ripoff Creature (1985) and Carey and Chad Hayes’s TheDark Side of the Moon (1990), of which Space’s budgetary sets and costumes reminds. Some may say the film could use a tighter edit, but we must again consider the “real time” aspects of the film and the surveillance camera narrative serves as a medical-psychological mission log.
Watching Monte Light’s $11,000 journey to Ceres unfold reminds me of William Eubank’s sci-fi indies Love (2011) and The Signal (2014). And Eubank’s ended up being hired by 20th Century Fox to direct Underwater (2020). So I have a good feeling we’ll see Monte Light helming a major studio sci-fi film in the near future. As we pointed out with Anthony Z. James’s Ghost: It’s not the budget or the technology, it’s how the filmmaker uses the technology within that budget.
And Space is Monte Light’s beginning on an amazing journey through the stars of Hollywood. Watch him now, so you can say, you knew him when.
Space was released on March 31st by Random Media via Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft for XBox, and Vimeo, and as a manufactured-on-demand DVD. You can learn more about Random Media’s catalog on Facebook and about the film’s production on its official Facebook page. As of October 2020, you can also stream Space on the new 1091 Pictures service. It’s also now part of the programming of the Unidentified web channel on the XUMO streaming service that offers free-with-ads live TV streams as well as a TubiTV-styled “watch anytime” VOD stream.
Monte Light, along with his crew and cast, held a You Tube watch party on May 25, 2020, at the time of the release to offer additional insights to the film. Light has since returned to streaming platforms in 2023 with his homage to F.W Murnau’s Nosferatu* with Blood Covered Chocolate. As of April 2023, you can watch both of Light’s films as a free-with-ads stream on Tubi. (*We’ve reviewed the Klaus Kinski-starring remake, Nosferatu the Vampyre; click through to learn more about the Murnau original.)
Disclaimer: We weren’t provided with a screener for Space. We discovered it on our own and genuinely enjoyed the movie.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
There’s no stopping low-budget auteur Brett Kelly: He’s 40 credits deep on his 20 year resume — and he’s back in 2020 with his soon-to-be-released meshing of the Ouija board and monster shark franchises with . . . Ouija Shark. Yes, a witchboard that summons an evil shark. The premise is so whacked that you’ll stream it to see what’s rattling around Kelly’s brain.
However, with this offering, he’s meshed the serial killer and human death sport genres (which we explore in our review of The 10th Victim).
Abby needs to get to her sister’s wedding cross-country, but can’t afford the plane fare and she doesn’t know how to drive. Basically, she’s useless. So she ride-shares with her “he’s-not-my-boyfriend,” Mike. Traveling on-the-bone (sorry), they decide that, instead of staying in a hotel, they’ll camp in the woods. And they “hook up.” And Mike disappears. And Abby can’t find the car. And she wonders through the woods and gets caught in a bear trap — and a hungry wolf is on her trail.
She comes to find sanctuary — she thinks — courtesy of three kind hunters who take her to their isolated cabin. Then she discovers that she’s inadvertently become the perfect “contestant”: these hunters fancy hunting humans. And Mike was their last prey. And she finally finds her inner “girl power.”
If you’re a fan of Kelly’s oeuvre and enjoying binging the various low-budget mockbuster hybrids of the streaming universe, such as Raiders of the Lost Shark and Jesse James: Lawman, then you’ll recognize a lot of the dependable, working actors in Countrycide. If your into hicksploitation flicks*, but are burnt out from re-watching all the classics from the ‘70s and ‘80s, such as Hunter’s Blood or Baker County, U.S.A, then this Kelly romp fills that redneck psychos gap.
Yes, We reviewed all of these Wild Eye/Tubi releases! Search for our reviewsvia our search box, upper left.
Wild Eye Releasing is now offering Countrycide as a free-with-ads stream as part of their TubiTv channel.
* For more hicksploitation flicks, be sure to check out our “The Top 70 Good Ol’ Boys Film List” that explores down home films from 1972 to 1986.
Disclaimer: This was sent to us by the film’s PR company.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
If you’re in the market for an Asylum-styled Christian disaster flick, you just found it. And, as with most Christian flicks, the bible is interpreted — literally.
Well, okay. Maybe not literally.
There’s no mention of bees in The Book of Revelation (9:3-10 displays as an opening title card), but locusts. But who cares!? Let’s have some B-Movie fun! We dug Ants on a Plane, right? Throw your inhibitions for schlock cinema to the wind and just thank the Lord that John of Patmos didn’t interpret his future-visions of battle helicopters (at least according to dispensationalist Hal Lindsey) as sharks. And besides, we already had sharks doin’ da portmanteau waltz with earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and tsunamis in the mockbuster wastelands.
So . . . hell has literally broken loose all over the world in the form of unexplainable “9-11-styled” attacks . . . meanwhile, deep in the jungles of Namibia, some entomologists discover a new hybrid of giant bees makin’ honey. Yep, nature is ready to run amok . . . right into a disaster flick.
Cut to Los Angeles: We have a trio of gang members fleeing the wastelands of La La Land. And they have a roadside showdown with two bible-thumpin’ n’ gun totin’ desert rednecks and a female sheriff. The mixed-bag sextet isolate themselves, George Romero-style, in the remote farmhouse of a god-fearing father and his “anointed daughter.” And yes, some zombies, well, if we portmanteau it, “ZomBees” created by bee-stings, do show up along the way.
And did you know the “ZomBee” plague was foretold by the book of Daniel 12:5?
“The multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: Some to everlasting life; others to disgrace and shame.”
See? It pays to know your bible.
Tsunambee was originally released in 2015 as Tsunambee: The Wrath Cometh, and received a truncated title and new artwork for its VOD reboot. Directors and writers Milko Davis and Thomas Martwick also collectively brought us The Jurassic Dead, Jurssaic Thunder. Davis made his debut with Raiders of the Damned.
As long as you give Davis and Martwick a wide berth and realize this was their debut feature film, and consider we had a fun time watching their most recent effort, Jurassic Thunder, you’ll have fun streaming their latest VOD offering as a free-with-ads flick on Tubi. Don’t want the ads? Stream it on Amazon.
Disclaimer: This was sent to us by Wild Eye Releasing.
Update: Do you want to be a part of a Milko flick? In November 2021, Team Milko launched a Kickstarter campaign for the production and release of his next film, Phantom Patrol.
B&S About Movies 
You must be logged in to post a comment.