THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (1979). Sprawling and chaotic like most of their best music is this fan documentary of The Who, with lots of TV appearances, videos, Concert appearances (Highlights being from Woodstock and Monterey Pop), interviews and general mayhem, mostly from Keith Moon who would be dead several months before the film opened.
Moon was an absolutely amazing drummer (Check him out on "I Can't Explain","Sparks", "Young Man Blues") whose frantic lifestyle aged him. "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" show him giving it his all, but clearly struggling and looking much older than the young 30 He was at the time, May 1978, a few months before his passing. But one can say, He truly lived like everyday would be his last and some hilarious moments involving him . Overloaded flash powder in his drum in the first song, his manic behavior on the Russell Harty show, clips with Ringo Starr, playing "Barbara Ann" at a group rehearsal and his reaction involving Pete Townshend's story of seeing his Doctor.
Loaded with music with "Roadrunner/My Generation Blues", "See Me, Feel Me", "Success Story", "Shout and Shimmy" and the astounding "A Quick One While He's Away" standing out. ****

The Legend
 

I finally got to see "The Legend" with Tom Cruise and Tim Curry, a movie I always wanted to see, but never got the chance to, until now, and it was definitely about time! That one is amazing and timeless! Both Tom Cruise and Tim Curry nailed their roles perfectly in that one! I also like how they made the forest look real and believeable with real woods, real props, real costumes, real horses playing the unicorns, real make-up, real scenery, and nothing CGI. It just looks and feels more convincing and believeable than today's CGI fx filled movies, especially the cheap fx that are obviously added to the picture or the over done/over used ones. There may be plenty of good fantasy films from more recent years, but most of them can not compare with this timeless classic IMO. ::cool::

Love this movie and has a great soundtrack.

I’m sure Tom Cruise doesn’t share your feelings.

I'm surprised He didn't brood and cry, like He does in many of his films::wink::

NAME OF THE ROSE (1986). Although not wholly successful, this "Sherlock Holmes in the Monastery" has great atmosphere and amazing sets as Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater investigate the mysterious series of Monk deaths and the numerous obstacles involved in doing so. The monks in here are truly grotesque, with the great Ron Perelman standing out as a demented hunchback. Things get more involved with the arrival of the Inquisition ...F Murray Abraham is completely loathsome in his cruelty.
Film truly shows the squalor and desperation involved in just staying alive in the 14th century, especially by "The Girl" (Valentina Vargas, who looks a lot like Jennifer Connelly). Her pivotal scene with Slater is extremely explicit , bordering on XXX territory.. amazing it wasn't cut or trimmed. ***

Dirty Harry, 1971. 10/10

Director: Don Siegel

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ZealousHai...restricted.gif

A GREAT film!!!!!!!!

THE DEAD ZONE (1983). Very restrained film by David Cronenberg (ie, very little Goo) that I feel is the most faithful to the Stephen King novel, one of my favorites by him. Great cast and Christopher Walken is wonderful as the likable average Joe, who gets dwelt a rotten hand of cards by fate. Came out the same year as CHRISTINE and CUJO and they are pretty good as well. ****

Evil Dead
 

I also got to look back at the original Evil Dead, and that is even more fun and amazing than I remember it. It is definitely the best of them all, out of the sequels, its prequel, and the remake in my opinion. I would rate that one up with the original Night Of The Living Dead, the original Day Of The Dead, the original Crazies, the original Creepshow, Lucio Fulci's Zombie, and the Blind Dead series. ::devil::

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970). Wasn't wild about this, but another look recently and has improved with age with a fantastic Church set and Linda Hayden was pretty good, although I might have used the Spade on her Dad twice::big grin::...what a Hypocrite He is! Have read that Hammer was sick of Chris Lee griping about the direction the series was going in and wanting more money (which, Truth to tell, He did deserve more), so figured they would start a new series with Ralph Bates. However, Warner Brothers, who distributed the films in the States, demanded Chris be in it. How galled Carreras must have been and Chris really doesn't look happy to be there.
Probably the last film in the series to continue the saga and am mystified as to what happens in the end. Is Chris overcome by the Forces of Good after being in the Church for at least a couple of days or is there something else? **1.2

Hands down my favorite Hammer movie, and, my favorite Dracula movie

My Bloody Valentine
 

I was a bit late for looking back at the original "My Bloody Valentine" this year, but it's better late than never. That's another one of those great timeless classic slasher films that just never gets old to me. I'd rate it right up with the original Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare On Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Hills Have Eyes series, and definitely NOT the remakes. ::danger::

COUNT DRACULA (1977). In my opinion, the most faithful version of the Bram Stoker novel, although there are differences (Arthur and Quincy are merged into one person and Mina/Lucy are sisters instead of friends) and there are occasional overly stodgy moments. But all quibbling aside, the BBC deserves kudos for taking what is a very long, involved story (probably, the only way to really do it justice would be multiple entries like LORD OF THE RINGS) and doing a decent job. Louis Jourdan is almost too refined to do the Count justice, but some great moments involving him, particularly his mode of travel while at the castle.
Supporting cast very good with Frank Finlay standing out as Van Helsing, Judi Bowker very appealing as Mina and Susan Penhaligon runs with the role of Lucy and let's not forget the truly creepy moments involving Dracula's brides::EEK!:: ***1/2

Alice, Sweet Alice aka Communion or Holy Terror (1976), directed by Alfred Sole.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2.

April Fool's Day
 

I was not nearly as late with my yearly look back at the original April Fool's Day, which is also always fun to look back on. That's another good entertaining classic 1980s slasher film with plenty of good scary kill scenes that turn out to be just as equally funny when revealed how they were faked. There are also plenty of humorous prank scenes when regular pranks get pulled on random characters in different scenes, along with plenty of good humor and dialogue to keep the movie interesting and entertaining in between scenes where something either funny or scary happens. It also has the good classic 1980s charm and appeal that the original Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, and Nightmare On Elm Street have. ::cool::

World Beyond
 

I also looked back at "World Beyond," a made for TV horror film that originally aired back in January 1978. It is about a man who was temporarily killed in a motorcycle accident before being brought back to life by the machines in the hospital, only to have gained the ability to have the dead contact him for help when needed. In his case, he had a the ghost of a recently killed man telling him to go to Logan's Island to save his sister from a golem or mud monster he had created to have the experiment go wrong and out of control. The golem or mud monster is a strong and smart creature who knows how to trap people on the island and strong enough to pull boats out of the water, punch holes in their bottoms to where they can not travel anymore, also knowing to avoid its weaknesses and what could harm it. There is a scene where they are able to dislocate the mud monster's hand when it tries to get into the house before slamming the door on it, only to have the dislocated hand come to life, along with a funny scene when the main character goes down the cellar stairs, looking for the dislocated hand, only to have the hand waiting in the shadows on one of the steps, grabbing his ankle, making him fall down the stairs. It is overall some scary stuff, especially for a made for TV movie on a limited budget. I would rate this one up with the original Trilogy Of Terror, Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, Don't Go In The House, and the like. ::cool::

ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1974). The merits (or Demerits) for his outrageously bad film have not been exaggerated. While I agree with critic Danny Peary (His CULT MOVIES books are great) that the brutality looks staged, there is a truly sleazy sadism prevalent throughout. In the waning days of WW2, ultra bodacious Dyanne Thorne (who's not bad here, to be honest) spends her days proving that women can endure pain better for future soldiers (these scenes are pretty nasty) while spending her nights trying to find a male prisoner who can satisfy her hyper sexuality. Invariably, the poor guy can't cut the mustard, so his mustard is cut the following morning. New Prisoner arrivals include one guy whose sexual stamina (He's American, natch) satisfies Ilsa enough to let him live which eventually leads to her downfall.
Interestingly, the film was shot within nine days on the long cancelled HOGAN HEROES's set which was given to the crew to use as it meant the sets would be destroyed at no cost to the HH network. Also, Dyanne (who passed on a few months ago and was in a couple of Star Trek episodes) was recruited last minute as original star Phyllis Davis, who had no problem with the nudity (see TERMINAL ISLANd or SWEET SUGAR) objected to a scene where Ilsa fulfills the wish of a visiting Nazi official; indeed even Dyanne didn't like this, but was trouper enough to do it.
Not good by any means, but campy enough to check out. **

Nightmare on Elm Street 3-Dream Warriors. I'm going through the series this week.

What'd you think of Nightmare on Elm Street 2? It's kind of an outlier, not written by Craven, none of the original characters, besides Kruger.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985). Haven't watched this in forever and still think it's a GREAT film....good story, some cool grue, neat zombies and still genuinely funny. Really like James Karen and Clu Gulagher, but think more kudos should be given to Miguel Nunez, who has some great lines ("Man...what a hideous UGLY place!" to "Help Me bar the door...You Stupid Fuckers!"). Accordingly, Linnea Quigley really is good in here, although paying more attention, noticed that for all her her talk of how she would want to die, looks less than thrilled when it happens the way she described it. ****

Umberto Lenzi's Eaten Alive
 

This one begins in Niagara Falls and New York City with a lone young foreign guy stalking random individuals, waiting for the right moments, before blowing poison darts at them through a straw, killing them instantly, only to end up getting run over and killed by a truck when attempting to escape the police on foot on the streets of New York City. The guy turns out to be from a would be cult who believes to be finding salvation by returning to nature out in the heart of a Far Eastern jungle under a man named Jonas, who previously fled NYC when wanted on different counts of different charges. It also turns a lady's missing sister is now a part of that cult, and went to the jungle with them. The lady travels to that part of the country, meets up with a trained fighter and survivalist as they attempt to find her sister and where this cult, and especially Jonas, currently are. This one really goes all out with the old school done right artsy and gory extreme classic horror. It has a graphic scene of a large and long anaconda catching and devouring a wild monkey, another graphic scene of another anaconda catching and devouring another not so large snake, and a canoe with people being attacked by large alligators. That last one had three survivors, only because one had a gun, using most of his bullets to shoot and kill of the alligators, but they then had to fight off and outrun different groups of different cannibals in order to avoid getting killed after that. There are also plenty of graphic scenes with the cannibals catching other people before cutting off body parts, then eating the raw body parts while sucking the fresh blood at the same time. This one is definitely a lot more extreme than the average horror film, and is not for the faint of heart. It is overall well done with everything looking real, well developed characters, good plot, and story line. There is also good drama and dialogue, developing most of the main characters, along with plenty of great scenery and good background. Those into Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Roman Polanski, and the like would most likely enjoy the cult classics from this director like this one, "Eyeball," and "The Rat, The Fist, and The Cynic." ::danger::

It holds a special place with me because it was the first NOES movie I watched as a kid. I think of it as good cheesy fun & nothing more. The pool scene is stupid. I like it more than 4 & 5 though tbh. My favorites would be 1 & 3.

TRICK OR TREAT 1986

A hapless teenage misfit inadvertently brings an evil rock star back to life.

I watched this yesterday and while I know I've commented on it before, think it's good enough to pass on more love. I think for the low budget He had, Director Sole does a first rate job here and feel this is one creepy film and certainly a damning view on organized religion. Some truly shocking scenes and some truly odd characters, particularly the annoying Aunt and especially MR Alphonso! Got more appreciation while listening to the commentary and while searching the web, found more interesting trivia, such as Linda Miller (The Mom) was the daughter of Jackie Gleason and married to Jason Miller (THE EXORCIST) and Jason Patric (THE LOST BOYS) is their son. Paula Shepard, creepy as the possibly psychotic 12 year old was actually in college when she made this. Mr Alphonso in real life was a bouncer in a Gay Bar and used to hang around cemeteries dressed as a priest and after consoling a visitor, would accept a "Donation for the Church"::shocked:: and while it has nothing really to do with the film, the red haired Policewoman was the chatty waitress in FRIDAY, THE 13th. ****

Friday The 13th

Friday The 13th Part 2

Good stuff indeed. With a creepy atmosphere, not in the least due to the score. Definetily worth a rewatch.

DRACULA AD 1972 (1972). An awful title (had heard DRACULA TODAY had been considered, which works better), DAD doesn't seem to get much love at all, moving from the Gothic milieu to noisy modern day life and there's a lot of conjecture that not having the Count interact in less inhibited/conformist times is a missed opportunity...perhaps.
I do know I really liked this back in Junior High when I saw it...Chris AND Peter together in a Dracula since in forever, Dracula has some good lines, a kick ass opening sequence, some decent blood and two of the smokinnest actresses at the time; Caroline Munro and Stephanie Beacham::love::. Sure it was unintentional, but it appears that three of the men in the film are copping a cheap feel from SB (her Boyfriend trying to subdue her in the Cavern Club, Peter putting the Cross on her in the Church and Chris taking it off) or maybe it's just the goofy pre teen in Me::embarrassment::::embarrassment::

While it still can't compare to the earlier triumphs, I enjoyed this quite a bit and remembered a Skywald magazine (PSYCHO-??) that had movie reviews and declared there there was no great anything in the film, but "...it's just ENTERTAINING. And in a world full of phony Boring movies, it makes for a delightful change of pace." ***

ROCTOBER BLOOD 1986

Utter shite.

Friday The 13th Part 3

What'd ya think, Bama? I saw this for the first time a couple years ago. I thought it was fairly well made. Didn't see it in 3d of course.

Agreed.

Shock Waves (1977), directed by Ken Wiederhorn.

I've seen this film twice and I like it because of its gruesome mystery elements and stylish camerawork. Adding something to the trivia you provided, I've heard that Alfred Sole began his career doing adult films, such as Deep Sleep (1972) which actually isn't unusual as some other well-known horror makers also started that way (e.g. Wes Craven)... but this production was a reason why Sole was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and this event was kinda influential to creation of Alice, Sweet Alice. Not saying it was a revenge but makes sense why Sole wanted this to be entitled Communion.

I was really surprised when I found out that Paula Sheppard was 18-19 years old during the shoot because on the screen she looks like a child. However, the most grotesque character is Alphonso DeNoble (you mentioned him) who also appeared in two other low-budget horrors, Blood Sucking Freaks (1976) and Night of the Zombies (1981).

It's okay.

Friday The 13th the final chapter

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 1987

A teen-age girl band is terrorized by a driller killer.

I didnt mind it.

Friday The 13th Part 5 a new beginning

Galaxy of Terror -

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...9,1000_AL_.jpg

I finally watched Galaxy of Terror. I didn't know what to expect of the movie. I just knew James Cameron worked on it in his early days. I actually thought one of the characters in the movie was named Cameron until I checked wiki and his name is Cabren. Perhaps it was just late because many times I thought they were saying Cameron.

Anyway, there are many other notable actors that I didn't expect in the movie too. Some horror fans will recognize. I think I heard mixed feelings about Galaxy of Terror. But also that the movie influenced Aliens. And it does look like Aliens at times with the corridors and some of the shots. There are some fantastic paintings in the movie including a shot inside a pyramid that reminded me of Forbidden Planet. Even some of the events are similar to Aliens. The opening also reminded me a bit of Night of the Creeps. But what surprised me the most about the movie was that it wasn't that bad. It's not the best and far from Aliens. However, most of all I thought the movie felt like a live action version of a comic story that you might come across in Heavy Metal magazine. One of those really out there space stories with explorers going to unknown planets, having all kinds of problems arise, lots of violence, scenes that you would think would only be in a comic, and an ending that you would look forward to a conclusion in the next issue.

That poster image should tell you the kind of movie you will receive. But the poster is like a producer just told an artist to draw a scene without seeing the movie as the imagery is wrong. I bet Rockin Jelly Bean could come up with a really wild poster for Galaxy of Terror. This Friday the 13th homage is tame,

https://conents-jp.multilingualcart....oods_320_1.jpg

compared to many of their posters here.

https://expressobeans.com/public/search.php?artist=2947

But I found this poster as well. Which is probably way too good for the quality of the movie. Galaxy of Terror calls for a dark and wild poster hinting at the craziness you'll see on screen.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b...4800_s_4_2.jpg

But from this poster I did finally find a good alternate Nightmare on Elm Street poster with some of the main characters.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b...4102_s_4_2.jpg

Both of these posters have color variants. I know I'm getting one of these Nightmare on Elm Street posters. There is room for improvement such as maybe a few more characters and some notable scenes. But overall the feel of the poster with the characters is what I'm looking for.

Back to Galaxy of Terror, there are elements of a really good movie in here. I love the Captain of the ship. She's hilarious. She has a line early on that cracked me up and I would probably use the bathroom on myself if a pilot behaved like that to me in that scene. There is also a great line the Commander says to the pretty blonde lady. Sadly if an older guy said that to a woman today it might be seen as unwanted sexual advances or some other nonsense.

If you like violent deaths you'll be pleased with this movie. It doesn't let up on any of the crew. And that first poster image is a tease to what's in the movie. Apparently it's not just trees that can act crazy in horror movies.

I do think that looking at the movie, you can definitely see the talent behind the production. I saw James Cameron's name as a 2nd director as well. I would bet that a remake with a female hero would be a lot better. Also cleaning up the story a bit too. Although I did notice some things on a second watch & listen. But in the end the movie's conclusion didn't do much for me. And I enjoy about the first 1/2 to 3/4 of the movie the most. But I would take a modern sequel.

While watching Galaxy of Terror (1981), my first thought was "ALIEN". The movie was produced by Roger Corman and it was also his second film on which James Cameron worked as a crewman. Cameron's film techniques were quite innovative at that time, I guess.

Surely, Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, was an inspiration for Galaxy of Terror. It's quite noticeable. James Cameron later directed the sequel of Alien, Aliens (1986) which looks like Galaxy of Terror in some ways - as you said.
The movie is old-school and bizarre. I especially remember one scene - something 'maggot-like' raping a woman. It was gross, weird and somewhat surreal. I don't know why I have that particular scene in mind, perhaps because of all its oddity...

It's a graphic S-F flick. I also had the feeling as if I was watching a real version of a comic book. The whole movie definitely has something cartoon about it.