You have to give it to Japanese filmmakers, who are unafraid to mash up franchises and give people what they want. And this was a big deal, combining the  Ju-on (The Grudge for Americans) and the Ring franchises.

The promotion for this movie was insane, with a Twitter contest between Sadako or Kayako to pick Japan’s favorite horror icon, with Sadako winning. Then, there was a press conference where Sadako, Kayako and Toshio attended and never broken character, which is awesome. This was followed by the characters interrupting a baseball game between the Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yakult Swallows.

I mean, there was even a collaboration with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty for this film. That’s saying something.

The craziness starts when a social worker comes to do a wellness check on an elderly patient, who of course has a VCR that is still playing the infamous tape from Ringu. As if to answer, “Who still needs a VCR in 2016?” the player is sold to a shop, where it ends up in the hands of college kids Yuri Kurahashi and Natsumi Ueno, who want to use it to transfer Natsumi’s parents’ wedding tape to DVD.

However, the cursed tape has now evolved, with better-looking footage, an urban building instead of the traditional well and now, only two days for the curse. As the phone rings, Sadako shows up.

The girls go to their professor, an expert on urban legends, who instead of helping them wants to see Sadako for himself. He watches the tape and brings in an exorcist, who is boiled alive by. the vengeful ghost, who also murders the teacher. Before the exorcist dies, she tells the girls that only the psychic Keizo Tokiwa can save them.

Natsumi blames Yuri for her curse and begins to upload the tape to the internet, hoping to somehow pass the curse away from herself. Keizo soon arrives, accompanied by the blind psychic Tamao, and informs them only by pitting Sadako against Kayako Saeki can they all survive. Meanwhile, Natsumi, who has been trying to kill herself, is hung by Sadako.

Meanwhile, the haunted Saeki house has shown up in a new neighborhood and Toshio has been snapping the necks of bullies and dads.

As for that whole put the ghosts against each other plan goes, it backfires not once but twice, as the vengeful ghosts combine to create one unstoppable entity called Sadakaya. It has the body of Yuri, the appearance of Sadako and moves like both spirits, all with the death rattle of Kayako.

While not anywhere nearly as good as the original franchises by themselves, this is pretty much big budget fan service. It takes a long time to get there, but I had a ton of fun watching it. Not bad for a movie that started off as an April Fool’s Day joke, huh?

Still, nothing in this is quite as good as this theater etiquette video, right?

You can watch this on Shudder.

The sequel to Dear God No takes the insanity of that film and goes beyond the limit to create a movie that pretty much takes every taboo and shoves it in your face to smell and taste it. It’s not for everyone — neither was the first film — but it’s an absolute thrill for those who are ready for it.

Jett has been resurrected from beyond the grave, but is now addicted to the substance that brought him and his gang back. Now, they’re forced to capture cryptids and be the errand boys for the Nazi scientists that hold the keys to keeping them all alive. Now, with every gang in the world — including Val, a one-eyed mankiller played by Tristan Risk — after him, as well as bounty hunters, a chainsaw-wielding priest, rival gangs and topless masked exotic dancers — nobody is getting out alive.

This goes a bit too long at 2 hours and 5 minutes, but that’s really my only complaint. There’s something here to excite and offend everyone, sometimes at the same time. And hey — Darcy the Mail Girl dances on stage at one point.

There’s enough in here for about ten movies, so if they ever make a third one, I have no idea what’s next. I enjoyed the journey that all of the gang took on this one, but this definitely feels like the end. Then again, they all got killed last time, too, as must happen in all good biker movies. No matter what happens, if there is a sequel, I’ll definitely be there for it. Probably drinking beer the whole time again, too.

After all, the world needs more perverted biker movies filled with drugs, mutilation, nudity, sex, gore, Bigfoot and one-eyed murder machines, right?

Before becoming a writer and director, John Carney played for the Irish band The Frames. In fact, the lead singer of that band, Glen Hansard, starred in Carney’s best-known film, 2007’s Once alongside his partner in the band Swell Season, Markéta Irglová. Made on a budget of around $150,000, it ended up earning $23.3 million worldwide. an Oscar for the song “Falling Slowly” and the admiration of Steven Spielberg, who said, “Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.”

Carney replied, “In the end of the day, he’s just a man with a beard.”

Sing Street tells the story of Conor “Cosmo” Lawlor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), whose family is struggling so much that he’s forced to go shoeless at school when they can’t afford the proper ones for his uniform. He’s bullied day in and day out, but soon meets Darren, who becomes his manager, and Eamon (Mark McKenna), who can play any instrument. Initially, the idea of a band is just a way to win over Ralphina (Lucy Boynton, who will soon play Marianna Faithfull in Faithfull), who wants to be a model.

Soon, though, the band becomes a driving force in their lives and even allows for their bully to have a place to belong. It also allows him to bond with his borther Brendan, who teaches him what music should mean in your life.

The close of this film has always made me wonder if everything — please, don’t let me spoil it for you, so stop reading if you haven’t seen it — from the gym sequence to Cosmo and Ralphina sailing away is all just a dream sequence from a music video.

Carney hsa said, “Well, I don’t see it just as a happy romantic ending. I think that’s the tone of the piece, but I think it’s more like… they’re setting off together, that’s true, but I wouldn’t say that’s some huge relationship that’s going to last forever. They’re kids. I sort of hope the scene at the end would look a little like a fantasy sequence. You’re supposed to wonder where the reality ends and the pop video begins. But people are actually taking it very seriously, and people are presuming it’s fully real, which is interesting. That wasn’t the intention.”

If you grew up in the 80’s and dreamed that a girl would fall for you because you were on the verge of becoming a music video star, then this movie will warm your heart. Like all the best films, I wish that it was real.

Two Kansas college kids — photographer Steve Ewert and writer Dick Russell — had traveled across Europe looking for a place to belong and having adventures. They went to de Charles De Gaulle’s funeral at Notre Dame, met famous artists, almost got arrested in Amsterdam and had two cars stolen. But their real adventure wouldn’t begin until they hitchhiked 2,700 miles across the Sahara Desert.

Told in the actual voices of Ewert and Russell — and directed by Scott Petersen — this movie tells how they went from Algeria to Ghana, as well as all of the incredible moments in-between. Could they remain friends? Would they be able to get a story out of this? And how does one stay alive when their driver is a Dutch revolutionary given to crashing his van into sand dunes just for a laugh?

We are living in a time much like the upheaval the protagonists of this story lived through. Their experiences should serve to educate, inform and even entertain us.

You can learn more about this movie at the official site. It’s now available on Amazon Prime and will be coming to Tubi this fall.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this film by its PR company. That has no impact on our review.

Eight young addicts attend an experimental group therapy run by self-help guru Doctor Carson. This will keep them out of prison, which a TV reporter sees as a scam. She tries to expose the group but just as this UK movie sets itself up as a thriller, it shifts into science fiction as an alien invasion throws the entire plot into pure chaos. I mean, they do warn us at the beginning that those alien ships are showing up in three months!

You know how you wait for the entire running time of The Alpha Incident for something otherworldly to happen? This is close to that, but not as well made. That said, it has a great poster going for it.

Director Steven M. Smith has tons of direct to streaming videos in production, so good for him for hustling. This isn’t bad and there’s some promise, so here’s hoping I like his next effort even more.

This movie will be released on demand and on DVD August 4 from Midnight Releasing, who were nice enough to send us a review copy.

In 1982, Peter Brosnan heard a story about an ancient Egyptian City buried in California that had once been used for The Ten Commandments. For thirty years, he fought to discover it and make this film.

Yes, below the dunes, buried so no other movie would use it, is an entire City of the Pharaohs. The fight to get it consumed everyone in this movie.

Built in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, the set had 20 sphinxes and four 35-ton statues of Ramses. You have to give it to Brosnan, who didn’t give up even when it seemed like he’d never get the chance to see his dream come true.

This movie is the history of every setback over his life, which starts with he and his friends recording the site with film cameras and ends with his children recording him on an iPhone. This study of film history, legal woes and dreams come true is well worth the watch.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

Duke is a carousel unicorn who hates his job. One day, a fat child pushes him beyond the brink, bringing him to life and sending him on the path of revenge. Honestly, if you read that sentence and laughed, this movie is for you.

This was directed by Steve Rudinzki, who was also behind Red Christmas and makes Christmas movies like A Meowy Christmas because that’s what else horror directors are known for in the 2020 world of video streaming.

Don’t expect a budget. Do expect women to have sex with unicorns. See? You can’t always get what you want, but when you try sometimes, you just may find a tusk in the meat locker.

Want to know more? Check out the official site. You can get this from MVD and Diabolik DVD.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie on DVD from Wild Eye Releasing.

It’s Valentine’s Day and Bigfoot is looking for a mate. Even the prostitiute they hired to satisfy him isn’t enough, so he’s soon killing his way through the suburbs in this movie that was released on the Wild Eye Raw label.

BIgfoot, we learn, has a very small member. Yes, if you wanted to see Bigfoot tallywhacker, good news. This movie has the goods. Until now, I’d only seen him rip off cocks in movies like Night of the Demon. Of course, death and nudity and all manner of ridiculousness ensures.

This was written and directed by Brian Papandrea, who also is in the movie as Maverick. He’s an actor when he’s not directing, playing Jesus Christ in Gay for Pray: The Erotic Adventures of Jesus Christ.

Your enjoyment of this will depend on the amount of skunk ape love making you enjoy. There is a market for this, after all.

You can get this from MVD.

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Wild Eye Releasing for sending this DVD our way.

This documentary tells the story of Ian Fleming, real-life spy, ladies’ man and sportsman. He was there at the real birth of MI-5 and the CIA, which gave him the background to tell the story of one of pop culture’s most beloved heroes, James Bond.

From how Fleming created Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for his son to how he fell in love with SCUBA diving, it really tells so much about the man who created Bond.

If you’re a Bond fan, you will already know much of this, such as how the man with a license to kill was named after a bird watching writer. However, if you are just learning about the universe of MI6 and SPECTRE, this is a quick watch that will get you up to speed.

You can watch this on Amazon Prime.