microfame Reviews

Infestation (2009)

A VERY good movie, brushing the underside of greatness.......

[8/10 · 6 February 2013]

Disregard the poor reviews....I have seen, and own, hundreds of 'monster horror' films, and this one, which I went into with low expectations (only buying it because it was $2 at a Blockbuster closing)impressed and entertained me very much. Having a very likable lead, in the John Cusack mold, helped greatly, but the effects were more than decent, and the writing was sharp and funny. Many of these type films have cookie-cutter dialog, but I laughed out loud a few times, when the writing caught me off guard. A favorite was when Cooper tells his dad his bold plan to rescue Sara from the hive, to which his dad replies "Let me tell you a little story......YOU'RE AN IDIOT!".....that was so out of the blue, that I burst out laughing, which I don't normally do. Ray Wise's delivery of the line was just right.

So buy the film....it's cheap on Amazon. I just bought a second copy for a movie-loving friend. You could do a LOT worse.....trust me.

Phase 7 (2010)

nipping at Hollywood's heels

[8/10 · 25 February 2012]

I've lately been finding myself repeatedly impressed with foreign "horror" films, such as 'Black Water' and 'The Reef' from Australia and 'The Dead' from England, set in Africa, and to this I'll add Argentina's 'Phase 7'. I think it highlights how formulaic and risk-averse Hollywood cinema has become. When I watch foreign films with 'real' characters you can care about, I think "that's what's missing from newer American films!" And to the reviewers who complained about Pipi's violent mood swings, you've never lived with a pregnant wife or girlfriend, pal!

As a Stormtroopers of Death fan back in my youth, I was on board the moment the menu came up with S.O.D.'s signature tune chugging away. Coco and Pipi's neighbor, Horatio, is just the kind of guy you WANT living next door when the world ends. I laughed out loud when Coco has to admit he has no idea what Horatio's military hand signals mean, when they are up on the roof. These foreign films are treading on such well-worn cinematic paths, yet they seem so fresh to me. Well worth seeing. And I've been wondering since I watched Phase 7, about the young couple and the Chinese being the only survivors into the 'new world'.....could be a message there....

Tourist Trap (1979)

Where have YOU been, little movie!?

[8/10 · 3 February 2012]

It's funny.....you get to middle-age....you have amassed a huge DVD collection, heavy on horror, particularly the 50's through the 80's, and you think you have seen all the "A-list" stuff. All you're trying to do now is round out the collection with obscure "B" and "C" list films....maybe some TV movies. Then, you see "Tourist Trap", and you think 'how did I miss this film?', which could easily be discussed in the same breath with Halloween, Nightmare on Elm St. and Creepshow.

This is a great, fun, scary movie. It helps that mannequins are naturally a bit creepy, being so life-like. I recall that excellent Twilight Zone episode with Anne Francis, with the mannequins moving in the department store. Tourist Trap has a big scare scene very early on, which could have been too much, too soon, but it really worked, and set the unnerving tone that the rest of the film continues. It made me realize how long it's been since I 'jumped' because of an unexpected scene in a scary movie.

Tanya Roberts was very good in this -- much better than she was as "Sheena" a few years later. The gore is not excessive for the sake of titillation, and the tension is unrelenting. The ghastly images of the mannequin mouths dropping so far open, and the screams coming out, will stay burned in my mind for a long time to come.

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

my finger was drawn to the stop button on the remote

[1/10 · 21 January 2012]

I've been swimming in 70's nostalgia lately, reliving my childhood, and I've taken a stroll through many of the 'car chase movies' that had their day in that decade. Some I had strong memories of seeing as a child, like "Gumball Rally" and "Cannonball Run". I recently re-watched the first "Smokey and the Bandit" and it hit all the right notes -- well-paced, nice proportions of fun and action, and a fine cast. "SATB 2" was also fun viewing...a slightly weaker story, but offset by the welcome addition of Dom DeLuise. I came across the "SATB" triple-pack DVD set, and got it to consolidate shelf space on my DVD rack, and to finally see "Part 3".....

Good Heavens, this was bad, and painfully unfunny. A movie can't be filled with only supporting characters, and while Sheriff Justis' idiot son saying "Daddy, Daddy..." is funny a few times in the original, it is NOT funny in big doses throughout a whole film. Even Gleason's performance seemed forced, and some voice dubs didn't even sound like him. How could Jerry Reed go from so likable and natural in the first two films, to so crazed and annoying in the third? The writing was terrible, Colleen Camp was a complete piece of wood, and the jokes were embarrassing excuses for humor. This film proved that the fun-loving 70's were over, and the tasteless stench of the 80's is evident here in every shot. Excremental.

The Reef (2010)

Activate genetic and primal brain stem fear centers

[9/10 · 6 January 2012]

Might have given this 8 out of 10 normally, with Jaws being the measuring stick of a "10", but I went with 9 to somewhat offset the bewildering rankings of one star, likely given by some poor misguided souls who crave endless, video-game-looking CGI creatures alongside has-been B-list actors earning their rent money.

I've been on a shark-movie kick lately...Shark Swarm, 12 Days of Terror, Deep Blue Sea, Shark Attack in the Mediterranean, Jaws: The Revenge, and so on, and this film stands head and shoulders above those others. One reason I also picked it up was it was from the same team who did Black Water, an excellent crocodile attack movie. The Reef provided incredible tension, and unlike other killer fish movies, I found the young protagonists real and likable, which is essential to identifying with the characters and story. I contrast this to movies such as the 2010 remake of Piranha, with it's loathsome, body-shot-licking party teens, who's fate I couldn't care less about.

The Reef gave me a true sense of being up to my neck in water, with my feet dangling down into a murky 'other world'. I loved that not every little thing was explained, such as a sudden burst of tiny splashes on the surface near our cast at one point. We share the characters' sense of dreadful unknowing. The music was effective when used, but more terror-inspiring was the use of underwater muffled silence. Each time the lead guy dips under the surface with his goggles, to look around, it's just the sound of the water and bubbles, and the shots of empty blue water, stretching off in every direction....you strain your eyes with him, desperately looking for movement, a shape....anything. As visual creatures, not being able to see what's below you or coming at you is very jangling to the nerves. Even when they get to some safe rocky reef, jutting just out of the water's surface, and you think "whew", he looks underwater and the reef slopes away to a deep trench, between them and the little island, and suddenly there is danger again.

Please disregard any bad reviews. If you like fleshed-out characters, and real, stomach-tightening tension, The Reef is a great bet. I promise.

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (1965)

Movie bad.....DVD experience excellent

[8/10 · 4 May 2011]

Let's put aside reviewing "Monsters Crash the Pajama Party". I love bad movies, and picked up the DVD for that, (and due to the seeming endless list of program content), but this DVD from "Something Weird" is meant to be digested as a whole offering. I was not aware of the history of the spook shows, having been a child in the 70's, after the fad had passed on, but this DVD is a lot of fun...it leaves you to root around several spooky menus, finding tidbits and exploring for more. And for some reason, the 45 minutes of "linking trailers" and promotional title cards that would have been shown ahead of the midnight shows back in the day was fascinating to me. It really paints a picture of a different time in our culture, when clean-cut teens could be grabbed by monster-suit wearing extras in the theater, without lawsuits following, and where watching "scary" movies was fun. Made me sad I missed it all.

So, yes, "Pajama Party" is bad, but it shouldn't be looked at like a regular movie, but drunk in as part of the whole "Spook show" tribute that this DVD is....lovingly compiled by someone who also wrote a very informative booklet in the DVD. I urge any fan of old-time horror, or the 50's and 60's in general, to pick this up. Really great fun.

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Great monster effects and Henriksen cement the greatness

[8/10 · 19 February 2011]

When I read someone bashing this excellent horror film, I'm dying to know what they consider to be a GOOD monster movie. Lance's acting and Winston's creature effects elevate this film too much for any other aspect of the film to drag it down any lower than "great". I've seen all the Pumpkinhead sequels, and even with the advances in effects, the monster is never as scary as in this first film. And Lance's character rings so true and is so likable, that the audience becomes invested in the story. When his "son" dies in his arms, it punches you in the gut, and you want him to get the revenge that eventually gets out of hand. The lead girl, (a second string Linda Hamilton), and the Judge Reinhold-looking guy are OK. The witch is great. Settings very spooky. So I'm sorry, Pumpkinhead-bashers, but you're wrong this time. Please feel free to go find and watch either Alien 3000 or Carnivore, THEN tell me what a bad film really is, for you shall know....

Go Go Gophers (1966–1968)

I'm trying to cultivate a new crop of fans

[8/10 · 29 January 2011]

I'm extra sensitive to cultural stereotypes of old. I'm always dismayed at the pre-"Josie Wales" westerns where the "bad-guy" American- Indians are merely white actors in greasepaint, and broad portrayals of Eastern-Asians is especially unacceptable. I'm thinking here of things like Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Really degrading stuff....

I only bring that up to bolster my claim that I don't find GGG particularly anti-American-Indian. I don't get the sense that the gophers are the last SURVIVING members of a tribe, merely the lone occupants of Gopher Gulch. I think that GGG properly casts the Army as being on the wrong side of things in the 'Westward expansion', and being completely idiotic and misguided. The gopher Indians are always smarter and quicker, and always win. Seems more like a vindication of history, in a tiny, cartoony way. History was commonly being challenged and re-thought in the 60's, and I think that revisionist spirit infuses the show. I'll concede that the chief's speech IS a bit stereotypical.....the voice-work overall is great though.

I was born in 1968, and enjoyed GGG (and the excellent Underdog show) quite a bit, as a child. When I saw the GGG DVD, I bought it, and it's one of my 3-year-old daughter's favorites, and one of the shows that I can watch with her, and both of us enjoy. Sometimes, when we're away from home, out somewhere, I'll ask her "What does Colonel Kit Coyote say?", to which she'll respond "Bully! Bully!", in her best, tiny-voiced imitation. That's one of those golden intersections of nostalgia and parental love that makes me smile. My daughter (and one- year-old son) WILL grow up with memories of the whole Underdog crew, even if none of their peers in school know what they are talking about.

Snowbeast (1977 TV Movie)

Enjoyment may depend on your age

[8/10 · 15 January 2011]

I wonder about the ages of some of the reviewers here who pan "Snowbeast". Are they cynical, teen-aged movie-goers, raised on the "Saw" movies and "Van Helsing"-style monster effects? Have you got no shred of sentimentality in you, man!? I was 9 when this was made, and as I've gotten older, and my nostalgia for 70's TV and movies has grown intense, a film like "Snowbeast" hits all the right notes for a warm and fuzzy viewing. The 70's fashions and mellow pacing are soothing to my mind, and it even has the occasional 'fade to black' where the commercials would have been, to transport you back to those Friday night 'movie of the week' viewings, sitting on the floor Indian-style, in front of the console TV, with a just-made Jiffy Pop. With that in mind, I'll admit that my rating IS inflated for the pure nostalgia. That aside, it is STILL a better Bigfoot film than so many of it's contemporaries, such as "Capture of Bigfoot" or the excremental "Shriek of the Mutilated". So please, those of you who aren't 40 - 50 years old, try to approach "Snowbeast" through the filter of that soft and squishy decade that was the 70's, a time that now looks so simple and uncomplicated. I'm a fan of cheesy monster movies overall, but not many of them appeal to me for multiple viewings...."Snowbeast" is one of the few I can watch over and over. Seek this movie out, if any of my above rant resonates with you.

Assignment: Outer Space (1960)

In the days when astronauts weren't screened

[3/10 · 11 September 2010]

This is part of a larger 50's movie portrayal of people shot into space who are so over-emotional and unbalanced, you wonder how they beat out all the other astronaut candidates.

I really just wanted to see if any other viewers shared my laugh-out-loud moment from the film......when the reporter punches out that other guy and the camera fast-pans over to the female lead in the doorway, who witnessed it, and she has absolutely NO EXPRESSION on her face! Not even a trace of any reaction....

This is fine as a "background movie", on a rainy weekend day when you're puttering around the house.

Carnivore (2000)

An insult to the viewer, the world and the history of film.

[1/10 · 10 April 2010]

Even thinking about this film enough to write this review is causing a burning sensation in my brain, similar to the night I forced myself to sit through it. I feel compelled to add this much-deserved one-star rating to help offset some other reviewers, (most likely the unfortunate victims of head injuries),who have given this film two or more stars. Watching this film should be considered as a torture replacement to the now frowned-upon 'water boarding'.

I thought I had found the bottom of the movie-quality well with "Alien 3000", but "Carnivore" made me realize that the penny had much further down to fall. How do you portray an effective cat-and-mouse plot in a single family house!?!? There's only one hallway upstairs, yet the characters moved around each other like they were in some inter-dimensional Tardis. And those Federal "agents" who were supposed to be funny made me want to lay my face into a deli meat slicer and turn it on. I DO invite you to watch it, since misery loves company.....

Critters (1986)

Surprisingly good

[7/10 · 20 March 2010]

I've been buying used horror and sci-fi DVD's up the wazoo lately, they're so cheap, and I like the kinda cheesy 70's and 80's stuff....I had gotten Gremlins recently and watched it, and was it was pretty blah. I then picked up Critters, expecting worse, but was caught off-guard by how good it was. How did I miss this one in the 80's, when I was a teen? The creature effects are decent, it doesn't seem dated, (except for a couple hairstyles and the posters in the kid's room), and the family characters are well-rounded and likable. Those "kid heroes" in movies usually annoy me, but not here at all -- he's great.

And I thought it was funny, in these earlier reviews, that "Tenthousandtatoos" listed a little Critter dialogue exchange that I thought was great and made me laugh out loud, it was so unexpected--when the one Critter gets blasted by the shotgun, to which the other just exclaims "F*ck!!!"

The sickening sweet overtones of Gremlins just haven't dated as well as Critters' tongue-in-cheek feel. I urge anyone unsure of whether to seek out Critters to do so. It far surpasses what it could have been in lesser hands. Time has been kinder to this film than many like it...

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Praise for this film makes my jaw drop

[2/10 · 10 March 2010]

I love horror, "A" and "B"....and even "C" grade, but I can never seem to see what other fans find in many of these Italian films. "House by the Cemetery" fails for me mostly because of the unbelievable reactions of the victims. I don't believe that anyone, regardless of their state of shock and/or fear, patiently remains frozen still while some monster saws back- and-forth on their neck with a knife. Our reptilian brain- stem alone would cause SOME bodily reaction. Perhaps every victim in the film was suicidal, and welcomed death. I can't care about characters who seem to have no normal, human motivation. Am I to believe that the child, Bob, would actually venture BACK into the basement, after he had seen someone decapitated there just recently? Even a child with a single-digit IQ would avoid a return trip, just acting on animal instinct.

You may say "It's a horror film...monsters are fictitious. Just suspend your disbelief!", but I would say to you, that an audience has to identify with a character, to care about them. The story can be as fantastical as possible, but the characters have to be believable, or it all doesn't matter. On the whole, Italian horror films remind me of the "horror" stories my friends and I would write in the 5th grade, after we had seen Halloween and Friday the 13th. We'd all be embarrassed of those stories now, as adults, but Italian filmmakers seem to take these juvenile ideas, and characters without a hint of reality about them, and make films "as-is".....or they did anyhow, in the 70's and 80's...

Why two stars instead of one here...? I thought the "monster" doctor at the end was pretty creepy looking, but it was too little, too late, to save this movies about ridiculous, unbelievable people, acting and reacting in ridiculous and unbelievable ways....

Shatter Dead (1994)

a thing about extras

[3/10 · 3 March 2010]

As many other reviewers here stated, there were some worthwhile concepts in this film, but the execution really held it back. I think it verifies the importance of good actors, to get viewers to "buy-in". Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" was a very low budget film, but it's truly great, in some measure due to the excellent lead actors. When acting is as stiff and wooden as in "Shatter Dead", it has the effect of ruining the illusion of the movie over and over, taking you out of the story.

But I wonder if anyone else, like me, watched the behind the scenes and blooper extras and wished they had liked the movie more? I've found that often with bad movies. It does humanize the actors and creators a bit, doesn't it? Especially for me here, when Scooter was talking through some of the bloopers with the "Howard Stern/Fartman" guy, and there was a sudden close-up of the actor's mouth saying "Fire!", which, as Scooter says, and any Star Trek fan knows, is that great shot of Kirk's mouth as he surprises Khan with a phaser barrage..."Alright Khan.....here it comes." I myself quote that little line with fan- friends, so that made me feel some kinship with Scooter, no matter how much his film kinda fails.

Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

spider bites to spider rights

[7/10 · 27 February 2010]

This film DID satisfy my current nostalgic craving for all things 70's, a decade when I, as a 2 to 12 year old, devoured TV-movies like this and "Ants" with abandon. Two things I feel compelled to mention...

1) I love Shatner as Captain Kirk. Huge fan of Trek. But here, he comes off kind of oily and lecherous when he pours on the charm......odd.

2) I'm not a PETA activist, but I was really struck by how many spiders were stomped, run over, burned, boiled and mangled in this film. I'm sure, in the 70's, this would not have stood out to anyone, but in this age of special effects, where they'll show you in the extra features how they make a fake tarantula, and what brand tarter sauce they put in it for an effective "squishing" scene, it really jumped out at me. I felt kind of bad, to be honest....MANY spiders were hurt in the making of this film!

Otherwise, a very good 70's "creature" film, best watched alongside "Day of the Animals" or "Frogs", for a fine double-feature.

Aliens (1986)

a movie that worked twice

[9/10 · 24 February 2010]

When I see 800+ reviews, I think "do I have anything to add here"? I haven't read every review here, but I DID want to share how my experience of this film changed over time. I will preface it by stating that I had recently purchased the wonderful 'director's cut' of the film. The theatrical release would only rate an 8 out of 10, but Cameron's re-edited version is a solid 9.

I found it interesting that when I saw Aliens in the theater, in my late teens, I loved it for a straight-forward action film. When I watched it again now, as the father of a toddler and a newborn, and with the scene of Ripley discovering her daughter had died put back in (can't believe they ever cut this crucial element), it suddenly had an incredible new depth. Ripley's discovery of Newt, and the strength of parental love, gave new meaning to everything Ripley (and the Queen alien) did. The action and humor were still there, still great, but now there was so much more....a whole movie within a movie. Anyone who poo-poos Newt as a plot device to the story is likely childless, I would guess.

One more aside...one reviewer mentioned that the QWERTY keyboards probably wouldn't be around in the future. I have to add to that all the smoking early on. Probably something taken for granted in 1986, it now seems like cigarette smoking may become extinct in a few decades....

"Maybe you're not up on current events, pal, but we just got our asses kicked!!!"

My Lucky Stars (1985)

weak by comparison

[5/10 · 6 February 2010]

For someone who loves the "three brothers" in the outstanding "Dragons Forever", or the also excellent "Wheels on Meals", "My Lucky Stars" was a poor offering. The fight scenes at the end, particularly Jackie's unique and exciting romp through the "haunted house", account for four of my five-star rating. The vast stretch of "humor" in the middle is comprised of some Chinese-nuanced gags, inaccessible to my Western senses, and a load of truly imbecilic slapstick, most of it so juvenile and embarrassing that I had to eventually begin fast-forward searching, to get to some decent action. I can only recommend the first 10 minutes, and the last 20.....

Breaker! Breaker! (1977)

I can't go back........

[2/10 · 3 February 2010]

Saw this used DVD cheap, and got it for a chuckle. I had recently also found "The Octagon" on DVD and bought that one to reminisce, having seen it in the theatre as a pre-teen, and loving it at the time. The problem now with "going back" to these American karate films, is that I've since then seen so many Hong Kong and Thai action films, in which the fight scenes are long, fast and jaw-dropping. I'm thinking particularly of fights like Jackie and Benny "The Jet" at the end of "Dragons Forever", or Tony Jaa's circular-stairwell fight from "The Protector". The Hollywood kung-fu offerings are just not "filmed right", and even make someone of certified skill, such as Chuck, look awkward at times. And what's worse than a fight going into slow motion? Then you know it looked crappy at normal speed, so they slowed it down for effect. It really highlights how ridiculous an opponent looks as they stand and just WAIT to get kicked in the chest.

Poor Chuck, he just has no intensity in this film, nor does he project any righteous menace. Compare that to his former co-star Bruce Lee, who had charm and attitude to burn. When Bruce would square off against some opponent(s) you could nearly see the air around him crackling with what was about to happen. In "Breaker, Breaker" Chuck seemed to accidentally be kicking people, with complete nonchalance. When the judge comes to see him in jail, and sentence him to death, Chuck is staring off with a sad look, and I thought "OK...he's doing that 'third eye' focus thing and is going to grab the judge by the throat and get out of this", but he does nothing except look up with a doe-eyed stare. Terrible. And while the DVD case gives you hope, listing a run time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, it's actually 1 hour, 25 minutes, so there's 20 more minutes of viewing pain.

For great fight action, go watch Jackie Chan in the first "Police Story"....the fight in the shopping mall at the end is pure gold......

Unseen Evil 2 (2004 Video)

all we reviewers should form a support group for the psychological damage this film caused us

[1/10 · 9 January 2010]

I think the other reviewers covered much of the excremental content of this film, but I didn't see mention of the ridiculous shots of Lorenzo and the other guy "inside" the helicopter cockpit, which made Ed Wood's "Plan 9" airplane cockpit look good by comparison. As to the multiple and varied CGI images of the "alien", it was as if someone made a bunch of test effects for the film, and they decided to use every bit of it somewhere in the movie. It all proves that as long as the DVD cover art and write up are good, you can cram 90 minutes of any filler onto a disc. I only paid $2 for it, at one of those "overstock" type stores, so it didn't financially hurt me, and I KNEW it probably wouldn't be great, but I didn't imagine it could be so brutally bad......really, nearly unbearably, awful. Only those of you here on IMDb who have seen it will know about the severity of the pain I'm describing.....

The Thing from Another World (1951)

I have nothing to add but have to add something

[10/10 · 6 January 2010]

With 187 reviews already here, I'm only writing because I think this movie is worth applauding over and over......Just watched it again last Sunday, as it blizzarded out here in upstate New York. I try to save my repeat "Thing" viewings for these snowy winter days, when it puts you in that "arctic" frame of mind.

We can analyze every frame of "The Thing", and pore over the dialogue and directing style endlessly, but the simple fact is that once this movie ends, I could watch it again immediately, every time. I DON'T, of course, but I could. Only "Them!" comes close to challenging this film for the crown of 'greatest 50's sci-fi/monster movie', in my opinion, although I also tip my hat to "Day the Earth Stood Still", "War of the Worlds" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

Uh-oh.....all this talking about it makes me want to go watch it again...I'd better end with one of my favorite exchanges...

"Scotty...did you get your picture?"

"No! You were in the way and the door wasn't open long enough."

"You want me to open it again?"

"NO!"

Shriek of the Mutilated (1974)

So bad that it's......still pretty bad.

[2/10 · 2 January 2010]

I love shlocky horror and sci-fi, especially from the 50's, 60's and 70's, so I had picked this up on DVD. A lot of my favorite movies are "so bad they're good", but that scale is on a circle, and I've discovered that some bad movies shoot past "good" and end up back into "really bad". This movie is almost unwatchable, and sorely needs an MST3K or Rifftrax treatment to help you through it.

For anyone looking for a good-bad Yeti movie, I heartily recommend the made-for-TV "Snowbeast", which I picked up on DVD at a dollar store. That plays like a Cannes Film Festival winner, next to "Shriek..." And for something newer, and great, see "Abominable". For heaven's sake, see anything first, before hurting yourself with "Shriek of the Mutilated". You'll never get those 90 minutes of your life back, you know....

Abominable (2006)

There should be more stars here.......

[8/10 · 2 December 2009]

Five out of 10 overall!? Shameful. I bought this DVD expecting "good bad" but it's just "good", if you like monster movies. It won me over quickly, in the opening scene with the farmer and his wife, after they see the creature in the wood-line, book it back to the house, shut and lock the door and then pause there....and the creature DOESN'T shove it's arm through the door window and grab them, as per every other film usually. One of the most overused clichés thus avoided, the movie only went up from there. Our leading man, Preston, is genuine and likable, and as such, we'll follow him and the story anywhere. All the cast are above average....

One can definitely tell a movie made by someone who loves the genre, versus someone churning out a quickie movie as a business move. It's a monster-movie-lover's film made by a monster-movie-lover. The monster is not overshown too quickly, there are funny in-joke lines that pay tribute to other great movies, and there are wonderful, tangible, "foam and hair creatures", who have a real presence on screen rarely matched by computerized monsters. Lalo's score is great, the poster art is great......I think it's great.

So there.

Rawhead Rex (1986)

No "Dog Soldiers", but worth seeing......

[7/10 · 21 November 2009]

Though not without faults, this movie has some damned effective moments. Particularly chilling was the scene of the family driving away from the Rawhead-plagued village, and them seeing "something" large in a field, through a break in the brush and stone walls. When they stop the van, and begin backing up to "check it out", it's a classic "Don't do it!" moment. Of course, it's a fake scare, but then something bad does come to pass...

In this day of everything being put out on cheap DVD, it's frustrating that this movie is not in production. I'm sure there's money to be made on a DVD re-release. They put out the god-awful Alien 3000, which makes Rawhead look like Oscar material.....