ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: In Kazuya Shiraishi’s action-packed epic, ten convicts are promised freedom in exchange for defending a small town in feudal Japan. Tasked with holding a fortress against encroaching government forces, they fight with the desperation of men with nothing to lose. But when the officials who recruited them renege on their promise, the warriors realize they’ve been used as pawns in a larger scheme. Betrayed and outnumbered, they must forge their own fate or die trying.

Director Kazuya Shiraishi finds an excellent balance of gripping period drama and violent action in his samurai vs. criminals epic 11 Rebels (11 no zokugun). The result is a superb feature that is sheer captivating entertainment.

The amount of characters is practically Shakespearean, and the cast members all acquit themselves strongly. Standouts among the leads include Takayuki Yamada as Masa, a man sentenced to death for killing the samurai who raped his wife; Taiga Nakano as local army member Washio Heishiro; and Sadao Abe as Mizoguchi Takumi, a heel army leader.

Jun’ya Ikegami’s screenplay has an interesting backstory, as it is based on a screenplay written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity; Yakuza Graveyard) in the 1960s. Ikegami’s version and Shiraishi’s realization of the source material are absolutely current cinematic takes, including the severed limbs that fly throughout the film. The historical set designs are marvelous, and cinematographer Naoya Ikeda captures everything beautifully.

Carnage, court intrigue, allegiances and betrayals: 11 Rebels has all this and more. Highly recommended for aficionados of samurai films, period dramas, and Japanese cinema in general.

11 Rebels debuted on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 10 from Well Go USA Entertainment.

No matter what happens in the rest of the world, you can rely on Mark Polonia to keep making movies with awesome posters, great titles and moments where dinosaurs fart, stock animation and footage is used, and eventually, a dinosaur poops all over someone. You might wonder, “Will these cavewomen have sex with one another?” No. There’s no time for that, as we need to be inside a cave made of plastic tarps and brown paper, decorated with marker artwork.

I will not have it any other way. Other people might look at a Polonia movie and get angry, wondering who would want to watch a microbudget movie with dumb jokes and a plot that makes 70 minutes feel like weeks, but just leave the rest of us alone. The world is a rough place; people barely can get along these days, and if I want to sit in my basement and just screen movies like this and wonder what Polonia will make next, I feel like I’m making my part of the world better.

As for the IMDB user who wrote, “Despite the title One Million BC, no babes appear in the film,” you don’t have to be so rude.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Cassady Jones (Karlee Rose) and Alexa Star (Kathryn Aboya) are about to battle for the Excelsis Fighting Championship title. Still, this fight is about more than just who the better woman is. It may be about the future of women’s MMA. As the women try to prove their fighting ability, Donna (Stephanie Jones), the president of the company, is dealing with corporate battles with shareholder  Frank (Richard Zeppieri) and PR man John (Alex Cruz). No matter who wins the fight, Scarlett (Avaah Blackwell) is waiting to take on the survivor.

The real star is the fight scenes, choreographed by Wayne Wells and Hubert Boorder. Working with director and co-writer Jaze Bordeaux, they elevate a low-budget fight movie. Sure, it’s a somewhat expected story, but when these fights feel like you’re getting grounded and pounded, you’ll forget that and just savor this movie’s gritty look and feel. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

You can watch this on Tubi.

Abby (Brandi Botkin) and her friends Jade (Erica Dodt) and Brie (Callie Kirk) were just going to a frat party in the woods at the cabin of Abby’s crush Cody (Bob Wilcox) when they ended up getting drugged. She wakes up just in time to escape whatever the men have planned and is picked up by Clare (Jamie Alvey) and Gray (Garrett Murphy), who are more than just a friendly couple. By movie fate, they’re killing machines who hunt rapists.

This starts with a somewhat boring opening and some bad acting, but if you can stay with it, it ends up being pretty interesting. It’s the first movie by director Mary Beth McAndrews and it was written by Alvey.

The frat guys—Cody, Travis (Zach Hurley), Brad (Deaton Gabbard) and Jacob (John Conners)—were going to roofie, assault and play the Most Dangerous Game with these girls. Too bad for them. That’s pretty much the whole movie, and if you like the idea, you’ll probably enjoy this. Just let it play out.

You can watch this on Tubi.

As this was made in my hometown of Ellwood City, just like the first one, Bigfoot the Movie, I feel like I have to watch it and/or apologize for it.

Chuck (Curt Wooton, who is Pittsburgh Dad around here, a social media character that people love), Dale (Nate Magill) and Burl (director Jared Show) are back after their last encounter with Bigfoot and have been called to a ski lodge where another creature is on the loose.

According to one of my hometown newspapers, the Beaver County Times, this has appearances by “Former Patterson Township resident Joanie Sprague (an America’s Next Top Model runner-up) makes a cameo, along with WDVE-FM morning man Bill Crawford, former WDVE star Jim Krenn, Pittsburgh standup comics Aaron Klieber and Terry Jones and former WPXI-TV news anchor Darieth Chisolm.” Those names mean a lot here. Also: I lived next to Big Beaver, which is closer than Beaver Falls.

As for that ski lodge, it’s Bill’s Valhalla- the same parking lot in Children of the Living Dead– just moments away from DJs Island, a private club for adventurous adults and Sims Lanes. As someone who started drinking when he was 12, I can also tell you that there are scenes shot at the Chewton Polish Club.

Also, Jared Show and Nathan McGill went to my school rival, Riverside, and Chuck is wearing a headband from that school. So, I have been indoctrinated since I was a child to hate that part of town with everyone in me and celebrate when it floods at least once a year and people who live there just by the name. They are the Shelbyville to Ellwood City’s Springfield, except Homer doesn’t hate Shelbyville like I was taught to absolutely despise Riverside, often by teachers, town leaders and parents.

You may watch this and think, “I thought Southwestern PA was in the north and not the south of the U.S.” As someone who grew up in Ellwood City and still comes home for the BVM — sorry, Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Holy Redeemer Church — pepperoni puffs, I want to love this and more people than five — five people, come on, Letterboxd — to see this. But man, it’s rough unless you find Yinzer accents and Iron City references funny. Bonus points for getting nebby into the dialogue.

But yeah. If you ever wanted to see where I originated, this would be the movie to watch. And if you like Yetis, well, so much the better.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Donald Farmer is still out there, still making movies, and when you call one of those efforts Bigfoot Exorcist, you know I’m going to watch.

Co-directing and writing this with Newt Wallen, Farmer gives us the adventures of Claude (Claude D. Miles), who is bitten by a Bigfoot after it is incarnated by an occult ceremony and yes, Bigfoot bites can turn you into one if we’ve learned anything from the seminal — and semenal — Bigfoot vs. D.B. Cooper.

This is the kind of movie that features a Sasquatch that resembles a gray alien or those rough drawings of the Chupacabra, and it’s great because it continually rips off arms and eats intestines, and everything looks very Spirit Store-like, yet I applaud this choice. There’s also plenty of Bigfoot baby drama, and yes, a woman at the end, Xtro-style — or a demented Mom and Dad — gives birth to a hybrid child. Spoiler? You need to see it.

Also, the girl from the new Crazy Fat Ethel, Dixie Gers, is a nun fighting the church because she wants to exorcise the monster. Jessa Flux and Kasper Meltedhair are also in this to either be mean to Claude, be nice to him or show off their breasts. You know it’s mostly the latter, right?

Bigfoot is a demon; people can have Bigfoot babies in 24 hours. This only takes an hour to tell you, and it’s filled with gore. You can hate on Wild Eye’s movies, but that just makes you a mean person. Can you just give in and celebrate movies where skunk apes lay waste to humanity and people chant Satanic stuff? Because I need more of this. I want another. Is it too much to ask to send this alien Bigfoot to Amityville?

You can watch this on Tubi.