Madman (1981)

April 19th, 2019

Directed by: Joe Giannone

Written by: Joe Giannone, Gary Sales

Starring: Gaylen Ross, Tony Fish, Harriet Bass

Quote: "Lore of the campfire telling of his horror, Lost in the woods with the madman and the stars. Don't laugh at the tell, heed if you call him. The legend lives, beware the Madman Marz. The legend lives, beware the Madman Marz."

Trivia: Paul Ehlers's son Jonathan Ehlers was born during the shooting of the movie. Paul received the news that his wife was in labor while filming a scene in full Madman Marz make-up. Paul went immediately to the hospital and held his newborn son for the first time while still wearing some of his Marz make-up and overalls covered with fake blood.

Madman is a film from the early days of the slasher film heyday. While Halloween started it all, it was 1980's Friday the 13th that really taught filmmakers that an insane amount of money could be made on a small budget by having a masked person hack away at teenage kids. Following Friday the 13th came hundreds of ripoffs. Some of them better and some of them worse. Unfortunately, Madman is one of the latter. On paper, Madman has everything that should make it a solid early 80s slasher: a mythology built around the killer, secluded camp woods location, brief nudity, gruesome kills, and a dope score and theme song. However, none of it really plays on the screen. The acting is bad. The story is drawn out. The killer looks silly. There are plot points that have nothing to do with the story and only distract. I first saw this movie a dozen or so years ago and remember really wanting to like it. The intro had all the makings of a potentially great film: a black and red still screen with the great theme song playing. However, I remember nearly falling asleep during this first viewing. Luckily, this was another Joe Bob Brigg's Last Drive In movie, which gave me the perfect opportunity to rewatch it. Joe Bob (of course) goes way in depth on all the finer points of the movie. Unfortunately though, the movie is just as bad as I remember and generally I agree with Joe Bob on this one, so I'll keep this review short.

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

April 5th, 2019

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Written by: Larry Cohen

Starring: David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark

Budget: $1,200,000

Quote: "Well, I figure something fell out of one of the windows from the floor up above. Hit him. Sheared his head clean off. A shard of glass or something like that... Oh shit! Maybe his head just got loose and fell off. Look, whadda' you want from me?"

Trivia: The film that Larry Cohen was fired from before starting production on this movie was I, the Jury (1982). It cost 8 times as much as Q (1982) but only made one quarter as much at the box office.

Joe Bob Briggs and The Last Drive In are back! The second episode in his new weekly show had a double feature showing Larry Cohen's monster movie, Q: The Winged Serpent and the sexual gore fest Society. I had already seen Society, but, Q, was new to me. I am familiar with a lot of Larry Cohen's other films (God Told Me To, Blue Sunshine, The Stuff) and was excited to see another one of his films. It also helped that Joe Bob said this was the best movie ever made giving it four stars. While I liked the film, it didn't think it was all that much greater than C.H.U.D. (reviewed here), which Joe Bob ripped apart the previous week. David Carradine and Michael Moriarty played great parts, especially Moriarty (Do I hate him? Love him? Pity him?). And I liked the the cop drama parts, but the monster parts were cheesy and, for a monster film, surprisingly didn't really add to the film. I hate to disagree with our Patron Saint of movies, Mr. Briggs, but I give it two stars (maybe two and a half).

A Field In England (2013)

April 4th, 2019

Directed by: Ben Wheatley

Written by: Amy Jump

Starring: Julian Barratt, Peter Ferdinando, Richard Glover

Budget: £316,000

Quote: "Then I shall become it! I shall consume all the ill fortune which you are set to unleash. I shall chew up all the selfish scheming and ill intentions that men like you force upon men like me, and bury it in the stomach of this place!"

Trivia: The film was released on 5 July 2013 on multiple platforms simultaneously, including cinemas, home media and video on demand. It was also broadcast on Film4 on the day of its release.


A Field in England. The movie that answers the question, what would happen if Alexandro Jodorowky made a historical movie about the English Civil War? It's incredible that the filmmakers were able to create something so vile yet beautiful and enchanting with only a relatively small budget (around $400,000 US). The film incorporates a plethora of visual and auditory effects to build the surreal hallucinatory feel of the film and like Jodorowky's movies, the film uses surrealism to tell a story. However, while Jodorowky used surrealism primarily to explore the subconscious of the individual and humanity, the filmmakers of A Field in England use surrealism to explore a historical event. Upon first viewing, the film may seem like a bizarre collection of psychedelic images and incoherent events as a four bearded guys wander around a field killing each other. However, this is one of the few times in my life that my history degree comes in handy. What this film is, is actually a fairly straightforward retelling of the First English Civil War. But if you're not a history nut like me, it's also a pretty great way to spend ninety trippy minutes.

The Stepfather (1987)

April 2nd, 2019

Directed by: Joseph Ruben

Written by: Donald E. Westlake

Starring: Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack

Quote: "Wait a minute, who am I here?" "Jerry?" "That's right. Jerry Blake. Thanks, honey."

Trivia: Director Joseph Ruben originally wanted Jerry Blake to whistle the Barbra Streisand song "The Way We Were," but the rights to the song proved to be too expensive.


The slasher movie craze began in the seventies but really amped up in the early 1980s following the release of Friday the 13th. By the time the mid- to late-eighties hit, there were literally hundreds, if not thousands of slasher movies. So the difficulty for slasher movie directors became how to continue to make successful movies in a genre so over-saturated? Some movies chose to go with the given formula and just amp up the violence or add in comedic elements (which usually fails). Others, like The Stepfather, chose to go a different route. The Stepfather adds a surprising depth to its characters while playing on an old cliche, the abusive/crazy stepfather. While it has a great performance by Terry O'Quinn and has one of the greatest openings in a slasher movie, The Stepfather leaves a lot to be desired. The first five minutes and last fifteen minutes are exciting, but unfortunately that leaves nearly seventy minutes in the middle where the film is more or less stagnant.

Us (2019)

March 25th, 2019

Directed by: Jordan Peele

Written by: Jordon Peele

Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss

Budget: $20,000,000

Quote: "hey look exactly like us. They think like us. They know where we are. We need to move and keep moving. They won't stop until they kill us... or we kill them."

Trivia: The Bible verse that continuously appears in the film (Jeremiah 11:11) reads: "Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them."


Jordan Peele has once again created an original and excited new entry into the horror genre. I cannot believe that half the comedy duo of Key & Peele (which had a really funny show on Comedy Central) has become one of the most exciting new voices in the horror genre (and soon to be science fiction as the new host of the rebooted Twilight Zone). Like his first movie Get Out, Us also looks at identity, individuality, and what it all means in the broader social context. However, Get Out leaned more towards the psychological thriller genre (despite the very bloody ending), even being classified as a comedy by the Golden Globes (which it simply is not). Instead, Us places both Peele and the movie firmly in the horror camp without any reservations. Us is bloody, intense, and thought provoking. It also boasts incredible performances by all the actors particularly Lupita Nyong'o who absolutely steals the movie. There are dozens of theories about the social and socioeconomic meanings behind the film. There is a lot of merit in these broader implications. But theories aside, the film is a bloody fun ride that never lets up as soon as it begins.

Annihilation (2018)

March 23rd, 2019

Directed by: Alex Garland

Written by: Alex Garland, James VanderMeer

Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson

Budget: $40,000,000

Quote: "Then, as a psychologist, I think you're confusing suicide with self-destruction. Almost none of us commit suicide, and almost all of us self-destruct. In some way, in some part of our lives. We drink, or we smoke, we destabilize the good job... and a happy marriage. But these aren't decisions, they're... they're impulses."

Trivia: The snake tattoo that appears on Lena's forearm is not there before she enters the Shimmer. It also appears on the arm of Anya (Gina Rodriguez), as well as on the body of the soldier killed on the wall in the building they enter. The tattoo is a symbol of a snake eating itself, which ties into the film's theme of self-destruction.


Sometimes science fiction and horror are a perfect pairing. The almost endless expansion of possibilities and cerebral qualities that science fiction provides compliments the bleak, sinister, and macabre elements of human existence that horror highlights. H.P. Lovecraft capitalized on this nearly a century ago and filmmakers have been capitalizing on this since, from Kubrick's 2001 to Event Horizon. Annihilation is one of the newest entries into the "Science Fiction Horror" subgenre and while it was a box office flop that left many critics disappointed, I personally loved the film and felt it was both a uniquely beautiful film and had an engaging story. Beyond the highly celebrated visual effects, the film is also able to capture humanity on the micro and macro levels. The film is part exploration of the inner turmoils that a group of women live with and part inquiry into the frailty of the human species as a whole. Well acted, well directed, and uncompromising, Annihilation is a movie that forces the viewer to question both existence and reality.

Life After Beth (2014)

March 18th, 2019

Directed by: Jeff Baena

Written by: Jeff Baena

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly

Budget: $2,400,000

Quote: "No. No. How could I be... how could I be dead if I'm alive? You can't be both things Zach. You can either be dead or alive, and I'm alive."

Trivia: Nick Offerman can be heard narrating the documentary on Machu Pichu in the beginning of the film. One of the several ties to Aubrey's role in Parks and Recreation.



Oh man, remember My Boyfriend's Back? That movie from the early nineties? The one where the guy stages a fake bank robbery to impress the hot chick at school but it backfires and he is actually killed but returns from the dead nonetheless to take her to prom, and hilarity ensures as he tries to manage his sexual attraction with his cannibalistic urges. Life After Beth is like that movie, except without the funny moments, likable characters, or narrative arc. The movie is not a complete waste, it offers great performances by Molly Shannon and John C. Reilly. It also adds its own touches to zombie mythology and has a couple of good gory moments. It just seems very unfocused which left me feeling, "what's the point?" With so many zombie movies out there, this one is not necessary viewing.

Brain Damage (1988)

March 17th, 2019

Directed by: Frank Henenlotter

Written by: Frank Henenlotter

Starring: Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry

Budget: $900,000

Quote: "Then don't worry about it. You don't need to worry about anything ever again. I'll do all your thinking for you. Just put me on the back off your neck, and everything will be fine."

Trivia: During the fellatio scene the crew walked out of the production refusing to work on the scene. A similar incident happened during the shooting of Basket Case (1982).



My friend Andy told me about this flick a few months ago when we were heading to L.A. to see Nick Cave (show was awesome... but that's another story... I'm trying to avoid going off on tangents). I thought he was talking about Brain Dead (the one with Bill Pullman) which has a similar plot. No, he assured me, it's by the guy who did Basket Case. He said something about how it's about a parasite that causes people to hallucinate while it eats people's brains. He also said it was fucked up. Both of Andy's synopses are correct. The movie is fucked up.... particularly the fellatio scene... but I'll get to that later. The movie is the love child of Frank Henenlotter, the guy who brought us the Basket Case movies and Frankenhooker. True to his 42nd Street Grindhouse roots, Henenlotter delivers another bizarre and gore-filled movie. It is weird, violent, trippy, disgusting, and heartfelt. It is a brutal warning about drug addiction while simultaneously being a good movie to get high to (if that's you thing).

Dolemite (1975)

February 11th, 2019

Director: D'Urville Martin

Writer: Jerry Jones and Rudy Ray Moore

Starring: Rudy Ray Moore, Jerry Jones, D'Urville Martin

Budget: $100,000

Quote: "I got your boy hanging. You no-business, born-insecure, junkyard motherfucker!"

Trivia: At one point, the New York Times called the film as the "Citizen Kane" of Blaxploitation (Black Exploitation films).


Dolemite. Dolemite. Where do I begin? Dolemite is the blaxploitation classic. Bar none. Shaft and Super Fly might have had more success (thanks largely to the soundtracks by Issac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield no doubt), but Dolemite was the movie that really took the pimp-turned-vigilante idea and really ran with it. By the time Dolemite came out in 1975, the blaxploitation film genre was already in full swing having begun in 1971 with Sweet Sweetback's Baadassssss Song (a movie I'm looking forward to reviewing soon). Sweet Sweetback and the blaxploitation films that followed generally have a nearly all black cast, black heroes (usually criminals turned vigilantes), funk soundtracks, and heavy use of violence and sex. Dolemite takes all these elements and dives in head first.