WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Taoism Drunkard (1984)
Directed by and starring Yuen Cheung-Yan, this serves as the spiritual (and sort of) third entry in the legendary Miracle Fighters series. Operating under the powerhouse Yuen Clan banner—the cinematic bloodline of patriarch Yuen Siu-Tien (Jackie Chan’s beloved master in Drunken Master)—the film operates entirely on Looney Tunes logic. Physics are treated as polite suggestions, […]
CBS LATE MOVIE: Where the Boys Are (1984)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Where the Boys Are was on the CBS Late Movie on June 3, 1988. Twenty-four years before, Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton, and Frank Gorshin learned about Where the Boys Are. That movie had no topless scenes. There are in this one. The last movie directed […]
CBS LATE MOVIE: The Enchanted (1984)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Enchanted was on the CBS Late Movie on March 18 and July 23, 1987. The Enchanted is a Florida regional film that mainly played in the South but still found its way to the CBS Late Movie. Its filmmakers self-released it on DVD, but the first Blu-ray release is on the new Severin All […]
CBS LATE MOVIE: Blind Date (1984)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Blind Date was on the CBS Late Movie on August 15, 1988. “The ultimate high tech thriller,” this Nico Mastorakis-directed movie — he also wrote it with his regular script partner, Fred Perry — gets one part of the Giallo genre right: its science is absolute bullshit. Jonathan Ratcliff (Joseph Bottoms) is an ad exec working […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Surf II (1984)
If it weren’t for the book Teen Movie Hell, I would never have discovered this film. I feel like my life is infinitely better for watching this movie, which surprised me every step of the way with how far it was willing to go. Every time I thought that it had reached the limit, it climbed […]
CBS LATE MOVIE: Starman (1984)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Starman was on the CBS Late Movie on February 23, 1990. If you know director John Carpenter only as the undisputed king of synth-laden horror and gritty urban chaos, Starman proves just how versatile the man behind the camera really was. Steering away from pure terror to craft an intimate, cross-country romance, Carpenter delivered a […]
CBS LATE MOVIE: Samson and Delilah (1984)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Samson and Delilah was on the CBS Late Movie on March 24, 1989 and March 23, 1990. Based on Husband of Delilah by Eric Linklater, this made-for-television movie stays true to the original Biblical story of the legendary Israelite hero (Antony Hamilton) gifted with supernatural strength, but it isn’t just a straight rehash. It takes […]
Jungle Warriors (1984)
What happens when you mix a planeload of high-fashion models, a slick art director, a multi-million-dollar cartel drug deal, and the steamy depths of the South American jungle? You get Jungle Warriors, an ambitious international action-thriller directed by German filmmaker Ernst R. Von Theumer. While it shares DNA with the rough-and-tumble exploitation cinema of its […]
Sybil Danning’s Adventure Video: Killing Machine (1984)
Txema Basterreneche (Jorge Rivero, Mace from Conquest!) is an ordinary truck driver hauling fruit between Spain and France, trying to make an honest living. However, his runs draw the brutal ire of the French Produce Mafia (which is totally a thing as this movie is loosely inspired by genuine historical tensions involving French farmers blockading […]
Sybil Danning’s Adventure Video: A Man Called Rage (1984)
Tonino Ricci — often using the Americanized name Anthony Richmond — was an Italian exploitation director, and you know what that means. He jumped genres. From mob films (The Big Family), westerns (Bad Kids of the West) and a White Fang ripoff after doing second unit on the original (Zanna Bianca alla riscossa) to sharks […]
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