Tag Archives: 1987

APRIL MOVIE THON 2: Violence Violence (1987) and Video Violence 2 (1988)

Posted on by

April 22: Terror Vision — Write about a movie released by Terror Vision. Here’s the list.

Video Violence (1987): Writer and director Gary Cohen was working in a video store and noticed that no one was renting any of the classic films that he loved. They were all renting slashers.

One day, a mother asked him if I Dismember Mama had any sex in it. He told her that it didn’t, but it had plenty of graphic violence. She told him that if it didn’t have sex, it was find for her kids. This scene is in the movie, except they are discussing the movie Blood Cult.

Steve and Rachel have just moved to a new town, setting up a mom and pop rental shop that seems to exclusively rent out slashers. One of their customers — probably Howard and Eli, whose sports store seems to be a front for mayhem — accidentally returns a video tape of one of their murders, which soon reveals that everyone in this sleepy little SOV town is a killer.

If you look closely on this box, it has J.R. Bob Dobbs of the Church of the Subgenius on it, claiming that he has approved this movie. Your tolerance for SOV horror will determine how much you like this yourself.

Video Violence 2 (1988): At some point after the events of the first movie, Eli and Howard have decided to start broadcasting a public access show from their basement, one that has viewers from home sending in their own kills as if this was America’s Bloodiest Home Videos.

It has an electric chair, a gang of woman seducing a pizza guy until deciding to repeatedly stab him, a commerical for some killing implements and a live guest becoming, well, a dead one. And where the first film starts to make you wonder if you’re just as bad as the killers for loving their work, this one decides to go full Herschell Gordon Lewis and make the whole thing a ridiculous, if not blood spraying, laugh fest.

Either that’s going to work for you — I love it — or you’re going to feel like this whole thing is a poorly acted waste of time, which is a sad state for you to be in. You have to love a film that has The Shape, Freddy and Norman Bates all show up and bother the same girl in the same shower.

Hurry up and get the set of both of these movies from Terror Vision. Last time I looked, there were only 2 left.

APRIL MOVIE THON 2: Black Cobra (1987)

Posted on by

April 4: Remake, remix, ripoff — A shameless remake, remix or ripoff of a much better known movie. Allow your writing to travel the world (we recommend Italy or Turkey).

When a gorgeous photographer named Elys Trumbo (Eva Grimaldi, Obsession: A Taste for Fear) watches the leader (Bruno Bilotta, Demons 2) of a motorcycle gang kill someone, only one man can protect her: Robert Malone (Fred Williamson).

Were you expecting someone else?

Manny Cobretti?

Yes, this movie is Cobra but made in Italy by director Stelvio Massi (Arabella, Magnum Cop) and writer Danilo Massi (who yes, is his son, and also the writer of Convoy Busters).

Williamson starts the movie by stopping a swimming pool hostage situation with a shotgun — yes, there’s nudity, this was made in Italy — and is the kind of action hero who can look dangerous wearing a leather trenchcoat and still be secure enough to have a cat for a pet. He also has Chief Max Walker (Maurice Poli, Malombra, The Murder Secret) as his boss and has to save Max’s daughter. And wow! His daughter made the movie for me because she’s played by Sabrina Siani from The Throne of Fire.

What I love most about this movie is that the biker gang is in our reality but dress like they’re from after the end of the world. I guess Cobra did the same thing.

As good as Stallone’s movie was, there was never a sequel. Black Cobra got three, two directed by Edoardo Margheriti and another by Umberto Lenzi which has Bobby Rhodes in it.

If you dig this, check out the book “How the World Remade Hollywood” by Ed Glaser from McFarland Books. You can also read the interview that I did with Ed.

You can watch this on Tubi.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ed Glaser and Rutledal on Twitter, I learned that there’s a fifth Black Cobra movie, The Last Mission of Detective Malone, that is Godfrey Ho-style assembled from footage from Black Cobra 2 and Umberto Lenzi’s Bridge to Hell. You have no idea how happy this makes me.

DEAF CROCODILE BLU RAY RELEASE: The Son of the Stars (1987)

Posted on by

Directed by Călin Cazan and Mircea Toia (who also made Delta Space Mission) this Romanian science fiction animated movie is at once several films you’ve seen before and then like nothing you’ve seen before.

In the year 6470, two married explorers receive a distress signal from a female astronaut who went missing years before. Leaving their son Dan safely on their ship — or so they think — they go missing as well as the ship crashes into an alien planet that their son must soon learn to survive, then find his parents and battle the evil Von Kleefe.

The art style of this film brings to mind Heavy Metal and other 80s fantasy like Rock and Rule and Fire and Ice, particularly as the animation uses rotoscoping. Obviously, it has a debt to Star Wars, but then it has telekinetic blob aliens, a synth soundtrack and so many moments that become purely psychedelic.

This also has the most calming feel of any animated space opera I’ve ever seen. It’s literally a chill out movie and I mean that in the most glowing of ways. It’s the perfect comfort cartoon.

The Deaf Crocodile blu ray of The Son of the Stars has a new restoration by Deaf Crocodile from the original 35mm negative, a commentary track by film journalist Samm Deighan, an interview with co-director Călin Caza and an essay by Stephen R. Bissette. You can get it from Deaf Crocodile.

JESS FRANCO MONTH: Phalo Crest (1987)

Posted on by

Not every Jess Franco movie was directed by Jess. I mean, not every Stephen King book is, supposedly. I’ve heard Tabitha King may have written a few of his books or at the very least the central ideas. That’s how strong reltionships work. Well, Lina Romay, Jess’s muse, directed this while he wrote it, composed the music and probably just about anything else that had to get done.

In case you didn’t get it from the title, this is Jess and Lina making Falcon Crest but with porn, just like how Phollastía is Dynasty. Angela Channing (definitely not Jane Wyman) has brought the entire family to the wine fields to share the secret of their success: the wine is mixed with, well, look it’s a Jess Franco movie. It’s mixed with baby batter, so to speak. When mixed with wine, that guy gravy has the tendency to drug people and that’s how Angela takes over her entire family’s will.

In case that wasn’t enough, a small dog licks a man’s ass. I have no idea why this is in the movie, as I don’t remember that ever happening to Lance Cumson, despite his name. Also: incest, in case you were wondering if Franco wouldn’t go down that route.

I have no idea why there’s no Dallas by Jess and Lina. I can only imagine what’s in the oil.

JESS FRANCO MONTH: Phollastía (1987)

Posted on by

The American adult film industry isn’t the only one that made parodies of popular pop culture. Even Jess Franco was on hand to do this, making Phalo Crest and this film which places Lina Romay as Jean Collins — get it, this is Dynasty — and yes, this was shot at the same time and on the same sets but this at least has the look of the TV show and, most importantly, the shoulder pads-heavy fashion.

Franco used the name Betty Carter for this, taken from a jazz vocalist with a scat singing style. You can understand why Jess took this name as Carter was known for doing everything in her “…bold, inimitable way — regardless of the commercial consequences — to the passionate delight of her fans and the occasional exasperation of record-company executives and club owners,” according to her San Francisco Chronicle obituary. Franco would use the name Lennie Hayden for Phalo Crest, in case you wondered.*

He also used the name Chuck Evans for his screenwriter credit.

Franco actor Antonio Mayans turned down this film but acted as its agent as he sold it. In an interview, he mentioned that he had no issue when Jess would use the same set for mainstream and an adult film, as it saved money and could even make a profit, but to make movies specifically to be adult and no other art coming out of it wasn’t something he thought Jess should do.

*For a breakdown of all of Franco’s jazz-related alternate names, this Tom Clark article is incredible.

MILL CREEK BLU RAY RELEASE: Peter Falk 4-Film Comedy Collection: Happy New Year (1987)

Posted on by

John G. Avildsen is probably best known for movies with fighting in their center, like the two Rocky and three Karate Kid movies he made. Here, he’s working from a script by Warren Lane, which was based on La bonne année by Claude Lelouch.

Nick (Peter Falk) and Charlie (Charles Durning) are two old timer thieves looking for one last big score. That score is a Harry Winston jewelry store in Palm Beach, but for all their planning Nick’s potential love interest Carolyn (Wendy Hughes) might throw these cons off their game. Their mark is her boss Edward Saunders (Tom Courtenay) and his security team, which they throw off through a series of disguises.

Hollywood once seemed addicted to remaking French films — 12 Monkeys, And God Created Woman, The Jackal, Jungle 2 Jungle, The Birdcage, Blame It On Rio, Diabolique, Oscar, The Toy, True Lies, Three Man and a Baby, so many more — and this is another example. It’s a cute movie that didn’t get seen much when it first came out, which gave it a bit of appeal.

Luv is part of the Peter Falk 4-Film Comedy Collection from Mill Creek Entertainment, along with The Cheap Detective, Luv and Big Trouble. You can get it from Deep Discount.

88 FILMS BLU RAY RELEASE: Magnificent Warriors (1987)

Posted on by

Fok Ming-ming (Michelle Yeoh, as ever amazing) and Secret Agent 001 (Derek Yee) are Chinese secret agents who learn that the city of Kaa Yi is being turned into a weapons manufacturing site by Japanese occupation forces. Along with a drifter (Richard Woo) and Princess Chin-chin (Cindy Lau Chin-Dai), they must rally the people to defeat the Imperial Japanese Army.

Directed by David Chung and written by Kan-Cheung Tsang, this is part World War II movie and part Indiana Jones. How amazing that Yeoh and Yee share the duties of being adventurers and if anything, Yee feels like he has to keep up with her?

It’s also astounding that Yeoh keeps smiling through all this action, including an ending battle that has a cast of hundreds as modern technology meets sharp swords. Between firing a gigantic gun, flying a biplane and numerous hand to hand battles, this is all her film. If you want a movie you can just sit back and enjoy, well, Magnificent Warriors is more than up to the challenge. It feels like a huge video game that you just want more of.

The 88 Films blu ray release of Magnificent Warriors has a new 2K restoration from the original camera negatives, commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng, interviews with Yeoh and Tung Wei, a poster and a book on the movie. You can get it from MVD.

KINO LORDER BLU RAY RELEASE: Programmed to Kill (1987)

Posted on by

International terrorist leader Fatima (Sandahl Bergman, She, Hell Comes to Frogtown) tries to hijack a plane and runs right into a secret task force called the Retaliators and their leader Eric Matthews (Robert Ginty, Exterminator 2) and finds herself critically wounded. For some reason, the U.S. government takes her and turns her into a cyborg killing machine — I mean, she already was a killing machine — and sends her after her former friends. Sounds like a great plan said no one ever, as the moment she’s hit in the head, she remembers that she’s a bad girl and now has the robot powers to dispense even more death and destruction than ever before.

Director Allan Holzman also made Forbidden World, Grunt! The Wrestling Movie and Out of Control, so he knows how to make a good rental movie. Writer Robert Short also wrote Scared to Death and Rage of Honor, so yeah, he also knows how to make an entertaining film.

Keep in mind this is a Trans World Entertainment movie and not Cannon, because if Cannon made it, it would somehow even be even crazier and yes, this is also a movie that has Sandahl Bergman machine gun a school bus full of children. Things would be better if this movie inverted the screen time that Ginty and Bergman have, as she’s the best thing in this.

Bonus: Paul Walker’s third acting job after appearing on Highway to Heaven and in Monster In the Closet.

The Kino Lorber blu ray release of Programmed to Kill has a 2K Scan of the 35mm Interpositive, new commentary by director Allan Holzman (moderated by filmmaker Douglas Hosdale), a new interview with writer Robert Short, an alternate opening and a theatrical trailer. You can get it from MVD.

Splatter Farm (1987)

Posted on by

Man, those Polonia boys are always getting in trouble. This time, John, Mark and their friend Todd Michael Smith start with the strangeness of Hallucinations and then decide there’s no way to go but all the way as they direct, write, star and survive this assault.

So yeah, the simple breakdown would be something like Alan and Joseph (Mark and John Polonia) plan on spending the summer with their Aunt Lacey, but soon run into Jeremy (Smith), one of the workers on her farm who just might be killing people.

Except that, well, Aunt Lacey is ready to take the virginity of either of her nephews, Jeremy isn’t just killing but keeping body parts and oh yeah, that scene where John craps out a full knife and screams in bloody underwear from Hallucinations comes back to destroy minds.

What can you say about a movie that begins with a man axe hacking a body to pieces, except for a hand that he uses it, well, give himself the ultimate stranger? Or when it comes out that the body of their uncle is in the house and their aunt still has sex with him? Or a fisting scene that ends with a killer forcing his victim to eat feces, all while Casio synth plaintively blasts?

This is amongst the most offensive and in your face SOV films I’ve ever seen — I haven’t even mentioned the golden shower or oral sex with a severed head scene, but you know, not everyone is ready nor should they need to be — and it’s amazing that the Polonias were teens making this and that Mark is still making movies today. This feels like the kind of movie that you need to watch with a room of people and see how many make it to the end.

Killing Spree (1987)

Posted on by

Tim Ritter might not be the best person for your female friends to date but we’re not trying to fix him up with someone. We’re watching SOV. For that, he’s the right person, as Killing Spree builds on the same plot I’ve seen in several of his movies — man is either getting cucked or has fears that his wife is sleeping around — and he loses it and kills everyone he knows.

Tom Russo is that man, an airplane mechanic working non-stop to keep a nice house for his wife Leeza. He’s sure that she’s cheating on him — he’s read her diary — so he starts killing anyone who she has written about, starrting with his friend Ben and a punk girl whose head he cuts off and uses as a weapon to murder his former buddy.

Anyone in Leeza’s notebook dies, like the electrican who gets chopped off by a machete ceiling fan and the lawn guy who gets buried up to his neck and mowed.

The truth? Leeza has been writing for a romance magazine to earn money so Tom doesn’t have to work so hard. But now, Maniac-like, all the victims are coming back from the dead and begin to shout at Tom to kill his wife so they can rest.

Shot on 16mm instead of camcorder — yes, I know, it’s another SOV that doesn’t live up to the format — this movie has an old ladyt’s face get hammer-based surgery and the line “You screw my wife, I screwdrive your head!”

Also: The lead actor’s name is Asbestos Felt.