Birthday Views

Here at The Waltz Compound there are two things that are the same year after year for my birthday. One involves me and my wife not leaving the bedroom for a few hours and the other is that I get to do what I want for the day.
Everyone was lucky that I wanted pancakes with rum soaked pears for breakfast, but after that I watched movies.
Here's what went down at The Waltz Compound;



CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD

I can still remember sitting in Eastowne 5 theater watching this as THE GATES OF HELL. I thought it was awesome except for the part where the woman lost all of her guts out of her mouth and I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom to lose my popcorn. I watch this one once in a while and it just sticks in my head. A great, weird zombie flick.



TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000

This one showed on Shock Theater when I was a kid and it scared the shit out of me! Now, I'm not sure what did it, but I suspect that the black and white photography coupled with the wild Florida swamplands did a number on my young skull. Another great flick.



SMASH CUT

This is my first time for this flick and it was funny. A little too derivative for someone who has watched every H.G. Lewis movie in the world, but it was okay. David Hess looked like he was having a good time and Sasha Grey is always nice to look at. Shes what Misty Mundae would have been if she had done hardcore. Also, she takes a horrible profile shot. She works better at a three quarters shot. Probably why she poses like that all the time in her photos. Anyway, it was fun.




THE MAN AND THE MONSTER

Thought I would watch an old episode of THE DUNGEON OF DR. DRECK a horror host show out of the Boston area hosted by my good buddy, film maker Michael Legge. From the wilds of Mexico comes a really weird flick. Kind of Jekyll and Hyde, but more of a curse than anything and it only happens when he plays the piano. The monster is kind of silly, but for the time frame this is kind of a creepy monster fest.

Justice League (1997)

I have heard about this pilot for a while. I finally decided to watch it.
Oh.My.God.
I should listened. I should have stayed away. The least I can do is warn people. Warn others before it is too late for them. Think I'm exaggerating?
Watch this;



The guy from M*A*S*H* who plays Charles Winchester as The Martian Manhunter!?! Really???
And who decided that this was the line up:
Green Lantern/Guy Gardner
Fire
Ice
Martian Manhunter
The Flash
The Atom
And any concern about following DC history? Don't worry, they didn't follow any of it! Decades of rich, imaginative storylines and they don't use much more than their names. Barry Allen as an out of work schlub? Really?
The guys all seem to be wearing the same mask in different colors. And the costumes! My God, the costumes! They are horrible. And they make all the guys look pudgy. Even Fire and Ice have costumes that look like a horrible Vegas show that no one went to.
And did I mention that it was dull? Demon dull. The kind of dull where you want to take your eyes out with a cheese grater so you can stop watching.
This is the worst kind of bad acting, no consideration for the source kind of television programming that I can at least thank my lucky stars, didn't get by the pilot.
You have been warned. Stay away!

The Astounding She Monster (1957)

This is one of those old stand bys from the era of Shock Theater. I can't tell you how many times I have seen this flick, but I can tell you that something always fascinated me about this little film. There are seven people and a dog in this film and two of the actors are in one scene! An interesting study in human nature.
I have been so fascinated with this flick that I thought I might remake it as a micro budget feature even though I hate remakes.
Then last night I watched it again.
The film still works. Sure, it was filmed in one exterior area and one set and yes you can tell it's a set. Robert Clarke tries his best with what he's given, but the plot is pretty thin to begin with. Until you reach the end and discover what this Astounding She Monster was up to. No, I'm not telling you. You either know or you need to watch the movie. It has a running time of 60 minutes. Give up one episode of that Criminal SUV show or whatever it's called. This is better than any of that tripe.
To tempt you I have included a great poster and a trailer for the film.
The Astounding She Monster is one of the best!
As for my remake, I have a better idea;
A sequel. I forced myself to stay up and watch the whole thing past my bedtime and I think I have a way to get a sequel going that might be interesting at least. Of course it could also be crap. Time will tell.

Jess Franco Clips

I am always fascinated with Jess Franco when he speaks. Now it's your turn. Click and enjoy!

Dennis Hopper is Dead!

I have always liked Dennis Hopper. If he's in a film I will go out of my way to watch it. The Last Days OF Frankie The Fly is one of my favorite movies of his. OF course I could go on and on about his films and what they meant to me, but in the end he's gone, it sucks and now we have to go through the rest of our lives without him.
What a drag, man.

THE ALIEN FACTOR (1977) VS. NIGHTBEAST (1982)

Okay, I admit to being a huge fan of Don Dohler flicks. My favorite would have to be FIEND (1980). The unique thing about these two films both written and directed by Dohler is that they are the same movie. Sort of.
THE ALIEN FACTOR deals with a spaceship that crashes on its way back to it's home planet with some zoological specimens onboard. Three of them and they are vicious. The small town that they land near is screwed from the get go.
NIGHTBEAST deals with an alien crashing here and laying waste to the local populace. Why? My guess is he was just being a dick.
In THE ALIEN FACTOR we get this mysterious guy who helps the townspeople out. In NIGHTBEAST the townsfolk are on their own.
Of the two productions NIGHTBEAST seems the more professional, polished film.
That's why THE ALIEN FACTOR is the better flick. See, we get three monsters all with cool designs. There are a lot of people in this flick and you can tell they were all working their asses off to get the flick done. Everything about this movie screams amateur, but you can see the love on every frame. Why Dohler thought it was necessary to remake this flick is beyond me. The monster from NIGHTBEAST looks as if it was carved from chocolate and it just came across as lame. We knew why the other monsters were attacking in THE ALIEN FACTOR, they were just beasts. The asshole monster in NIGHTBEAST has a gun and is purposely disintegrating the townsfolk.
A lot of the movies' plot and actors are identical. With NIGHTBEAST Dohler thought it was necessary to adult the film with two different naked women and the sheriff unfortunately getting naked as well. Not a good thing. There is profanity and some of the shoot outs just seem to go on forever.
THE ALIEN FACTOR is fun, exciting and it doesn't matter who's in the room because this is a pretty family friendly monster flick. A flashback to the good old days.
It is always a pleasure to see Dick Dyszel in a flick and he's in both of these as the same character and gets killed both times. The lovely Eleanor Herman is also in both and I think she shows her assets, both of them, to better effect in NIGHTBEAST, but even those aren't enough to make this a better flick.
In the end THE ALIEN FACTOR has that level of cheesy fun that plays well anytime. Filled with multiple monsters and a bizarre plot that has been copied a myriad of times, THE ALIEN FACTOR wins this battle.

ICE FROM THE SUN (1999)

I have known about this flick for some time and recently decided to watch the beast. Not bad, eleven years after it came out. I wish it had been sooner.
Let's run down the flick, shall we?
It seems there was this sorcerer who decided to manufacture his own alternate reality. He used ice from the sun, hence the title, to encase his reality in six layers of unbreakable ice. This will keep him safe from the servants of Heaven and Hell, both of who want to get in there and wipe him from existence. The sorcerer has an apprentice and they extract six people at random times to torture and kill in their own reality. The bonus, for them, is that the souls of their victims are unable to leave that plane of reality so they can make them do their bidding in torturing future victims.
Anyway, this last round of victims something went wrong. The head guy decided to torment his apprentice by making one of the new victims his apprentice. The new guy was getting ready to kill the last victim when the original apprentice stepped in and blew him away allowing the victim to escape the realm.
Because of that the angels and demons are able to stop a woman who has committed suicide and send her to the alternate plane to defeat the apprentice who has slain his master.
at the same time a new batch of victims has arrived and is getting ready to be tortured.
Did you get all of that? Can you believe that someone even wrote that down let alone decided to make a Super 8mm film of it?
Sounds pretty heavy, doesn't it. Well, kind of, but it's Eric Stanze so he knows how to do what he's doing.
My favorite part of the whole thing is that it was shot on Super 8mm. It gives it such a great film look that so many new films lack. The storyline is interesting as you watch these new victims try in vain to survive. Stanze is also very good at the gore effects so true gore fans will not be disappointed.
And yes there's nudity. But this time it's different. The nudity in every instance is an integral part of the story. It wouldn't work in a clothed situation. I applaud Mr. Stanze for that one.
And then there's the number one reason to watch this flick. Sure, it might have bizarre imagery and original ideas for a horror film, but the soundtrack is amazing. Not the music that's played, but the dense layer of sound that permeates every frame of this film. And at two hours long you might think that this is a little long, but every frame is really essential to what he's trying to do here.
Watch it, you won't be sorry. I promise.
And why isn't Eric Stanze more famous by now?