radioactivesound Reviews

Urban Massacre (2002)

Lame Horror story 1, Zero Budget Hip Hop, Hardcore Rap Comedy 5 - equals a 3?

[3/10 · 20 November 2022]

I saw this usually lower-priced on used DVD listings and finally got around to buying it and checking it out. Didn't realize it was a horror-Hip Hop / Hardcore Rap movie until I read about it more and then viewed it.

There are two pretty distinct elements in the film, a zero-budget horror story and a goofy movie about a Rag-Tag Hip Hop / Hardcore Rap group trying to make it big in the 90's / 2000's.

I liked the Hip Hop and Hardcore rap story as I ended up growing up with 80's and 90's rappers in my youth.

Yes, it's zero-budget for production values for the most part and parts of the plot / ending are outrageously lame even for a movie like this.

A little bit of it even felt like an urban Scooby Doo type of slapstick live-action episode which I actually liked.

The time / flow / editing is about right for the movie, I wasn't bored at least not knowing what would come next.

The horror elements are pretty bad, almost comically bad as if completely intentional and they may have been. At least some better gore and humorous points could have been inserted too then. A few are tried - to mixed results already....

Hey, the owner of a New York pizzeria plays a mafia head and his restaurant is used in the movie, can't get more zero budget then that.......

Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1973)

By No Means as bad as it's 3.0 Rating

[6/10 · 17 October 2022]

Cheap and schlocky movies can be a real drag. Especially when you watch many in a row over a few weeks before a bigger budget or more widely acclaimed film.

This film is cheap and schlocky, yet it wasn't a drag at all for me for the most part.

The film is actually quite ambitious in many ways for an early 70's cheapie.

Maybe I was in the mood for something like this, but I liked the storyline for the most part.

No, it's not very titular or gory as the title might want you to believe, but still fun in many ways.

With a psychedelic slant from some opening visuals to the synthesizer music, it was something different for a witchcraft movie which was based a bit as a straight up crime movie too.

Leslie McCrae and a couple of the other girls were nice to look at.

There's some glaring continuity errors and special effects that aren't that special.

Honey Britches (1971)

Crime, Thriller, Horror, Comedy Semi-Mess from Troma!

[5/10 · 9 October 2022]

A picked up Troma movie, shot for the drive-ins, with some editing and interjections by Fred Olen Ray, what could go wrong, LOL.....

I actually enjoyed a lot of this semi-mess of a movie made for a time long gone of the drive-in circuit.

The history of this movie may be more interesting to some than the movie itself.

Take a crime / thriller drive-in circuit movie, most likely poorly released and marketed on it's first go-around or two, add some footage of a well-known aging star you shot hoping you could re-use it, edit some synth semi-horror music in over the county / hillbilly music in a few spots and you have a horror movie called Demented Death Farm Massacre... The Movie.

There are a few moments of goofy comedy in the movie also.

Ashley Brooks was fun to look at and did a pretty good job in her role for the most part also.

Are there some weak points in the film, plot, acting, etc? Yes, but a lot of the weirdness and other points in the film that are a bit unique help it out too.

The twist and turns that start to come pretty quickly after about 45 min. Or so in and have the movie end up with an unlikely survivor at the end I happened to enjoy, maybe others didn't quite look at it that way though.

Worth a look if you like Troma, general weirdness in movies, and a trip back in the wayback machine every once in a while, to the era of drive-in cheapie movies.....

The Trees Have Eyes (2020)

Nice 80's type of throwback in some ways, updated for 2020

[6/10 · 24 July 2022]

A bit above average zombie entry from what I've seen lately pass as a zombie movie with a bit of throwback to the 80's zombie / slasher / horror movies in general.

Are there some flaws in this movie, yes, does it warrant the low 3.2 rating at the time of this writing, no, I really don't think so. Some of the dialogue, acting and audio, even special effects could have been better, but the film is pretty competent overall.

Has some definite 80's horror elements. Those pesky carefree kids camping out in the middle of nowhere without a care in the world. A gratuitous skinny-dipping nude scene, plus some other nudity, and various gore and even a number of gut-munching scenes that are for the most part well done.

The movie is shot on digital equipment most likely, so far and above a lot of shot on video travesties of the past.

The other interesting thing is that it has no title or opening credits of any kind, they kind of want you to dive right into the movie and stay there until the end, which is briefer at 75min.

It doesn't explain why there is a zombie outbreak in the woods and town like so many others and even classic zombie entries.

The focus of the movie is more so the living surviving and you won't be able to guess that well who for sure is going to make it.

It is kind of a doom related movie where it ends and some more zombie fighting is probably needed, but those that are left at least have a good start and idea how to make it to somewhere even safer if they're going to......

Amityville Playhouse (2015)

Yup, it's slower, all pretty poor actors, bizarro plot points, ends abruptly....

[2/10 · 17 July 2022]

Most have said a lot of true points about this movie already.

It's one of those "so bad, it's good in some ways" movies. It moves slow a lot of times, yet wasn't extremely boring for me, but like others have said in a way not much happens still.

I still didn't really like the ending though it was not expected as much and at least a bit bizarre, different, from a lot of low budget horror in some ways.

A lot of first-time actors here and some UK actors that more so came out of retirement to do this movie, so I didn't really expect top notch acting or feel that needed to be heavily critiqued.

I did like Eva Kwok, she had a nice look and was always at odds for the most part with one of the male actors for some reason or another. She was called an airhead by Kyle a number of times early on in the movie, but seemed about as intelligent as the others.

Some things just don't make sense in the movie as it goes along. There are several to point out, for instance when the people become possessed their real bodies are left behind and the body that is presented as them looks different to the living too, that seems to contradict the other possession explanation / back story between the mayor and Victor that we are told.

What some may have missed, and this may even be a type of explanation for the Amityville II movie based on the Defeo murders is that six people must be taken, possessed, killed every year in Amityville to appease a Native American curse on the town and the townspeople know about it and "survive" under the effects of that curse from year to year.

It's clear John R Walker and some of the others are a fan of horror and also nostalgia / history of movies, so I know they put effort and thought into this film, it just maybe didn't quite turn out in the end how they thought it would even with them having so much control over it.

Hell Asylum (2002 Video)

You don't usually get much movie for $35,000!

[4/10 · 5 June 2022]

This is Danny Draven's directorial debut from what I can tell.

The other movies he's listed as directing a couple years before are edited down features put 3 to a disc that were directed by other directors in reality. I think those movies were edited down most likely for Red Box consumption / a deal Charles Band had with them at the time. This seems to be an IMDB error or credits are bad on those discs giving him directorial credit.

I liked the movie and it flowed fast enough for the most part despite being bare bones, plot and budget, OK acting, 5 female leads but no nudity, and gore effects that were pretty amateurish at times and yet other times were pretty good and effective.

Also, this was a sequel in name only to Prison of the Dead originally and is a step above that film for sure too.

It runs only 67 min. 21 seconds despite the slightly longer run time listed here. Surprisingly the DVD has a good number of extra features for this total cheapie movie versus some of the others Full Moon has released during that era and since.

The plot of 5 females picked for a reality TV show in a supposedly haunted house that was later turned into a mental asylum and had to shut down from patients actually getting worse, is not really that new of course.

It was fun seeing Estevez in a bit part, as well as not seeing much of Brinke Stevens, but she got to play a bad guy instead of victim by being a specter.

The couple cool concepts of the hooded specters and how they moved was a bit different and interesting even if they were pretty cheap. I have seen concepts like this before in another movie or two also.

There is another plot twist or two that was good to have in a total cheapie like this, not all the people end up getting offed by the specters as the movie plays out for instance.

A couple small parts by two actors as essentially AV technicians are credited as "elevator guys" which I'm not sure at all why that is, possibly just bad notes or etc. Given to the person inputting credits for the movie.....

All in all, the effort comes out as a bit below what you'd want to see in a movie like this, but it had some good moments for sure.....

Croczilla (2012)

Good Chinese Monster on the Loose flick with comedy mixed in

[6/10 · 10 April 2022]

This was a good and fun film overall.

It has plenty of humor mixed in with it throughout the film.

Not particularly gory or bloody, not even a lot of kills, but it kept suspense most of the time none-the-less.

Barbie Hsu, and the other two leads, Guo and Ding are fun and interesting since they're not actors you're familiar with.

Having a child as a central part of a monster / creature feature like this isn't new, but a bit rarer overall and that seemed to help the movie.

The CGI were good overall, but at times you were well aware that's what they were, kind of just by the nature of what they had the creature do for a film like this.

There are a few cliches, and it's apparent early on Hsu will become a love interest, but it is still fun anyway.

There is a bit of a teaser there could be a sequel to this movie as the credits roll but as of yet nothing seems to have been developed that way.

The ending does keep you guessing a bit is this going to be a Disney nicer ending or more of a demise type of ending for the creature? The only thing is how that develops seems a bit cliche, but that's how they wrote it.

Nice to have a flashback to the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt in the movie also as a bit of a plot point.

Piranha (1972)

Non-Monster filled, Monster titled 70's Crime Thriller

[3/10 · 4 April 2022]

I got this on a multi-title DVD of monster movies, so it not being a monster movie was a bit surprising, but as the movie was playing I kind of realized it was going that way fairly quickly.

It's an early 70's Crime Thriller of sorts set in the jungles of Venezuela instead of the big city streets.

Besides not being the piranha-fest most people were hoping for, this crime-thriller type of movie moves too slow for most people's liking and not enough happens.

The hurried turn of events at the end is kind of lackluster and even non-realistic in how it happens in many ways.

It's kind of like the end was thrown on quickly when they realized they had enough other footage to pad the movie out to 90 mins., or they were running out of time and money. There's plenty of animal stock footage, diamond mining footage, and a pretty much pointless motorcycle race.....

The ending was kind of predictable too once there were only a few players left and some resolution of the conflict evolving was inevitable.

I wanted to like the movie more, but it just was weaker than it should have been on too many fronts, probably why it's a bargain title or thrown in on multi-title DVD's so cost of it should be around $1 or so to see it.

Totem (1999 Video)

One of the worst cheapies from Full Moon and Decoteau

[2/10 · 24 March 2022]

Apparently because of sputtering demand and profits, Full Moon really went cheap for several years in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Many productions were made for only 5 figures not even 6 and far away from 7 figures during this time.

Everything seems to be affected and suffers from these very low budgets compared to what we were used to from the early 90's.

There are 6 total actors/actresses in this movie besides a couple of zombies uncredited with only a short amount of screen time.

Many were very unknown / first timers and generally the acting under those conditions and amount of experience wasn't that bad for the most part and hardly some of the worst problems with this movie.

Some were actually a bit likable, all the actresses are cute.

The movie was apparently shot in only 4 days so it seems many shots were possibly one take and what they got out of the shot is what they got, if something was screwed up they tried quick editing or had to leave some flaws in.

The special effects and the totem creatures are very mixed from adequate to pretty poor. A couple of the supposed attacks with the totems towards the end are pretty painful to watch they are so amateur. Supposedly some gore scenes had to be trimmed down to get an R rating, but there isn't much left for blood and gore, so that seems kind of hard to believe.

Watch for the grave zombies with a grotesque / rotted face and fairly normal hands and legs for a laugh.

The movie is maybe mercifully short as it runs from beginning to start of the end credits at 61 min. With 2 min. Of that a 1958 movie called The Vikings edited in towards the end as an untimely "dream sequence". Another 7 minutes of end credits roll and you have a 68 min. Cheapie from Full Moon and David Decoteau in the can.

The Shrunken City (1998 Video)

Good Kids Entry, Paced Well, Fun Cheapie from Moonbeam

[7/10 · 14 March 2022]

A good kids entry that adults can enjoy to a point also.

Clean overall fantasy / sci-fi entry from Moonbeam.

Is it cheaper and a bit contrived at times? Absolutely, but it's paced pretty darn well for this type of film, really no boring or slow points.

The neat feature of the bad guys constantly changing their looks to stay after the kids without being discovered as aliens / outsiders is a pretty nice plot point and helps keep the story moving and fun.

It's maybe a bit contrived or cleans up nicely at the end, but it's not overly annoying I didn't think.

The two kids as the main leads should keep younger viewers interested and engaged and with the adult aliens chasing them should interest older audiences well enough.

The masks that make the aliens up as the aliens are actually recycled from Oblivion, a Full Moon series that spans two movies and was generally pretty well received.

It was a bit interesting also, seeing the Romanian backdrops and vehicles, factory they go into used in the movie, at least I thought it was fun to see.

I got this with two other Moonbeam movies in a pack for about $10 with shipping. Goobers and Night at the Magic Museum. This movie was definitely a couple steps above those two kids-oriented movies.

Song of the Vampire (2003 Video)

Nice Denice Duff effort and Vampire Entry from Full Moon / Shadow Entertainment

[8/10 · 6 March 2022]

Nice low budget Denice Duff directorial debut and competent vampire effort all around for the most part.

Geoffrey Lewis was nice to see in a low budget effort like this too, and his small part adds some well-timed comedy relief to the effort that was a bit refreshing also.

I didn't feel this overly felt like a chick-flick as some complained about. Maybe it had more of a women's touch in the overall plot, but it wasn't overtly strong or annoying, and I think anybody can easily enjoy it equally.

There were definitely some weaknesses to the film here and there but for what was admitted to being a low-budget effort, a lot seems to have been done with little.

There are a couple questions in the direction of the plot as it goes along involving the ex-husband after Victoria being a bit contrived at one or two points for sure.

Some of the other additions of a bit of humor just timed right or at the right amount and some of the other likable cast members like Duff, Lewis, Horan, O'connor, and even some of the others make the film easily above average and worth a look.

It has been retitled and is currently on release as Vampire Resurrection and can still be ordered directly from Full Moon Direct as of this writing which is how I got it.

Amityville: No Escape (2016)

Strong start, weak finish, Julia Gomez was fun to watch

[4/10 · 27 February 2022]

This movie started strong enough and had some good, legitimate scares, for some reason some of the paranormal activity angles get to me a bit even if I know it's only a movie. Unlike what most slasher movies have ever devolved to nowadays with usually no scares.

This had a few good paranormal activity type moments with Julia Gomez. She was fun to watch and annoying as hell to an extent at the same time. Her aerobic workout bits were a bit comical besides a bit sexy also.

The more present day storyline was fine but not necessarily as strong, had some good mixed elements though none the less, and you didn't have a clue what was going to happen.

Those looking for gore will be disappointed as there really wasn't any, but the movie threw in some quick nudity bits right in the beginning of the film as a kind of quick tease I guess.

The ending of both storylines seemed hurried and incomplete for me. Like they ran out of money or time or both to complete the movie more how as envisioned. The 1997 storyline was more disappointing as the ending didn't make the most sense at all as it was unexplained exactly what happened even though they tried to show you.

It was refreshing they tried to tie both storylines to Amityville and the famous house unlike some of the other recent "Amityville" movies that don't do that at all or very well.

The DVD had a short movie called the Christmas Presence again with Julia Gomez that was kind of cool and kind of had a shock ending too.

The Amityville Moon (2021)

Pretty good modern werewolf movie on a micro-budget

[6/10 · 14 February 2022]

I liked this micro / low budget movie as average to above that.

Those looking for some connection to the classic Amityville franchise may be disappointed as it's set in Amityville, NY and that is about the end of the connection.

Going on from there though, this movie is fun enough and moves along well enough.

Sure some parts are weaker and some things are maybe a bit unexplained or are convenient, but this is a low budget movie, not some blockbuster.

Interestingly Cody Nicole Cameron is probably the most well-known actress in the movie and for some reason they forgot her in both the opening and closing credits, I even went back and checked, may have forgotten somebody else too.

A werewolf is in a half-way house for women picking off a few of the girls each month, month after month apparently.

For some reason, the police are finally called that a couple more have "run away" this month.

A detective with some behavior problems is assigned to find them and the problems seem to mount as the werewolf becomes more out of control.

Pretty good werewolf effects and I read some complaints that the werewolf wasn't on the screen enough, but I've seen much more scant movies than this by far.

Gore effects aren't the greatest maybe, but not that horrible either and are passable enough.

You could do much worse for a quickie werewolf movie fix.

The director did two other Amityville titles with a setting of Amityville, NY as the connection. I've seen Amityville Uprising and it is definitely not as good.

The Face at the Window (1939)

Good Todd Slaughter Vehicle, Wish Marjorie Taylor, little seen actress was in more

[6/10 · 6 February 2022]

A good Todd Slaughter Vehicle for the era.

The effects and production were within range for this era, but a bit weaker easily by today's standards.

Marjorie Taylor was attractive and had nice eyes, even in Black and White it was great to see her every time she was on screen.

A horror / thriller / mystery type film where not everything is known or figured out until the end.

It may be a bit harder to hear the UK slang and accents of the era at times, but otherwise an enjoyable short show.

A few things don't make the most sense in the plot as the story goes on, some things are convenient, but believable for the most part.

With a bit of mad scientist and possible supernatural forces mixed into this straight-forward killer on the loose thriller, you could do worse than this old film.

Stitches (2001 Video)

Cute low budget horror, more unique story, give it a chance

[8/10 · 22 January 2022]

This is a cute low budget horror movie with a great script and well directed, interestingly by a first time director, who hasn't directed again.

The script is simple but great and there are some neat twists and plays on demon powers and tricks throughout it you won't see at all or in many other films.

Don't expect lots of gore or effects, very low budget movie and they explain in the "making of" it was cheapened even more regarding effects before shooting began.

It paces along well, I didn't feel it dragged or was boring at any point like some did.

It has plenty of twists in the way you think the story is going to go and this is in a confined setting of a boarding house, it isn't a very expansive story or setting.

Give it a chance, it wraps up fairly competently and you could definitely do a lot worse than so much out there.

How many other demons disguised as an old lady horror movies are out there to begin with?

Abominable (2020)

A few minutes of competent gore in search of a Yeti movie

[1/10 · 21 January 2022]

The only competent thing in this movie is the few minutes of gore during some of the kills by the Yeti. Best I've seen in some time for this type of movie.

Yeti suit looks like a flame retardant suit with some fake fur glued on here and there.

Nothing else about the movie is sensical.

A recovery team maybe military or paramilitary or private? Don't have matching uniforms, more ragtag, is sent into remote area to recover magical plant that grows in freezing conditions but possibly has medical relevance.

If private why do they have automatic weapons?

Apparently dropped off in the area set in about present day, but have to put down beacons quite far apart in different teams to triangulate off of to get picked up before a storm comes?

They don't have GPS in 2020? GPS doesn't work in snowstorms?

Like I said makes no sense except for the group to split up so they can be attacked one by one or in groups of 2 by the Yeti.

The ending is even more nonsensical if you make it that far.

Oddly in the end credits it says to watch for a sequel Mummy: the Return or something like that. As if they even copied the credits off of some other project they had going on. Maybe they made the credits before the movie and wanted to do a Mummy movie at first.

Petrified (2006 Video)

Everything mostly a miss for this Band outing

[3/10 · 13 January 2022]

Pretty much everything thrown up at the screen for this one was a miss.

The problem is the bare bones plot, direction, and effects that did make it up on the screen.

The movie minus opening and closing credits runs about less than an hour.

That's how little is there.

An alien mummy which is all it is ever explained as is quickly re-animated when an artifacts collector is killed and bleeds on it. A hand from another alien or etc. Mummy also is revived but it is never explained how.

The mummy then goes into a nearby unguarded and unstaffed nymphomaniac clinic where there are barely any nymphos and causes havoc there for the rest of the scant movie.

A federal investigator also seeks refuge in the clinic who ends up battling the mummy along with a female trying to break her sister out of it.

The effects, kills, pacing, how the mummy is warded off at times and then defeated are all 3rd rate even for a low budget movie.

Just mostly a miss on everything. Maybe it should be comforting it was so short.

The one thing Band mostly tried to sell for the movie is that he gave everybody an executive producer credit that bought $100 or more of merchandise at a stop on his Roadshow tour in 2005. That unfortunately doesn't make a movie any better in any way for the viewer.....

The Demon Within (2009)

I wanted to like this film

[3/10 · 4 January 2022]

I really wanted to like this film but it just kind of devolved into another messy, dream maybe, supernatural maybe, serial killer mish mash with some very unbelievable scenes that keep the story going.

The first 50 minutes or so has some bizarre scenes to kick the theme of the film off, but very unlikely, unbelievable situation or two.

Sophie Austin is the main character of the film supposedly easily seduced by a demon character when her and her newlywed husband car breaks down.

So for about 50 minutes she is ordered to kill various people or pick somebody to kill to apparently gain strength as a demon herself.

Then there is a prolonged, dark close-up talking sequence that runs at least 7-10 min. Between Sophie's character and the dark haired demon.

The film then shifts and picks up steam for the last almost 40 min. Of film but also becomes more unbelievable, weird, and non sensical as she enters a night club and does a few more kills from there. Runs into a male character at night, then the same character by chance the next day or two who somehow "scares" her though she seemed in complete control up until that point. The weirdness continues for a few short scenes the last 10-15 as the film goes into it's climax and is a bit of a let down all around.

They could have done a bit more besides trying to throw the story all around and all over the place and leave you kind of wanting more and being disappointed at the same time. Maybe it would have been a bit more cliche then, but hopefully a bit more resolved and fulfilling also.

Corona Zombies (2020 Video)

Was hoping for something a bit better

[2/10 · 16 December 2021]

Maybe because of the fear of having actors together this concept of dubbing and using parts of other films came into play.

Consists of about 45 minutes of Hell of the Living dead redubbed, 5-7 minutes of past Full Moon film from 2012 Zombies Vs. Strippers, a Corona related news clip or two and 7 minutes or so of new footage and credits.

Was hoping for something better, the ending of this mish-mash was pretty non eventful and non-sensical too is what was most disappointing.

Still was happy I checked it out and the remastered footage of Hell of the Living Dead which I probably hadn't seen in about 30 plus years was nostalgic also.