Stuff I've been watching lately

[Darth Tanner]

I've recently acquired a bunch of titles for my collection during the recent holiday sales. I bought a bunch of used DVDs for dirt cheap at MovieStop as well as some other places. I spent the last few weeks of 2009 watching some old favorites as well as finally catching up to one I hadn't seen yet. Here is some of what I've seen so far:

CHRISTINE - I hadn't seen this one since I saw it as a kid on HBO in the mid-80's. The movie itself still holds up pretty well IMO plus it has a great rock-n-roll soundtrack. I knew that it was based on a Stephen King novel, but I honestly didn't realize until years later that it was also directed by John Carpenter. The disc is pretty well pack featuring a commentary by Carpenter and Keith Gordon as well as a bunch of deleted scenes. The anamorphic widescreen transfer is also another plus. This film is not quite on par with Carpenter's earlier classics, but it is certainly better than his recent output. Which brings me to my next movie....

GHOSTS OF MARS - There was a great deal of discussion about this one on here when it was released back in 2001. But I missed it in the theatre and never got around to seeing it until recently. I honestly didn't find it to be as bad as everyone said, but it is definitely far from John Carpenter's best work. The movie itself is nothing more than a rehash of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and THE THING. But it does have a fun element to the proceedings and worked well enough for me probably since I had my expectations low. The most depressing thing about GHOSTS OF MARS is that it is the last movie Carpenter has made to date (the only thing he has done since then to my knowledge was an episode of "Masters of Horror"). I'm hoping he'll make a comeback soon.

NIGHT OF THE COMET - Another childhood favorite I remember watching Saturday nights on HBO. A bizarre mix of zombie and post-apocalytpic flicks with some "valley girls" thrown in. I actually found this at my public library and decided to check it out. It is a terrific disc from MGM with a nice anamorphic transfer. Sadly there are no extras aside from a trailer, but the disc can be had for pretty cheap so I'll no doubt add it to the collection at some point. I'm hoping that CITY LIMITS (another cheesy post-apocalyptic flick from the 80's that I have a fondness for) will get a DVD release someday:)

SAVAGE STREETS - BCI put out this wonderful disc over a year ago then went under a few months later, making the disc hard to find. Luckily I was able to score a copy. This is a great, sleazy revenge flick from the 80's featuring Linda Blair, John Vernon and Linnea Quigley. The disc has a great high-definition transfer along with some choice extras (including interviews with Blair and Quigley...who both still look good). Definitely worth checking out if you can find a copy, but hopefully another company will acquire this and re-release it at some point.

PIECES - Finally got the Grindhouse disc of this classic from the 80's. The only time I saw this was when I rented the dark Vestron video about 15 years ago, so it was great seeing a remastered widescreen print. I'd forgotten how cheesy some of the stuff in this movie is (the kung-fu scene out of nowhere was a riot), but it does have some really nasty gore effects plus a great cast. Haven't watched any of the extras yet, but it is another terrific effort from Grindhouse.

I also picked up a Paul Naschy box set with five movies for cheap, but haven't watched any of them yet. The only movie of his I ever saw was CRIMSON (which really left me cold) so I'm hoping to see some better ones.

[Remo D]

What movies were in the Paul Naschy set?

P.S. They're ALL better than CRIMSON (which he didn't write OR direct, and in which he had only a supporting role--top billing or not--so that one doesn't even count as a "Naschy film" in my book).

[Darth Tanner]

What movies were in the Paul Naschy set?

P.S. They're ALL better than CRIMSON (which he didn't write OR direct, and in which he had only a supporting role--top billing or not--so that one doesn't even count as a "Naschy film" in my book).

The five movies in the set are EXORCISM, BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL, HUMAN BEASTS, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB and VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES. Only two of the movies are in widescreen but the others are in full-frame (perhaps the original aspect ratio). The packaging claims that they are the "complete uncut versions" and also lists features such as alternate footage and commentary by Naschy on two of the movies. Interestingly enough, this was another BCI release. I'm not sure how widely available it is (I found it used at MovieStop) but their release of SAVAGE STREETS is really hard to find without paying high prices for it on Ebay.

Yeah I know that Naschy only had a small part in CRIMSON, but that was still the only movie I'd seen him in. As I mentioned before I was really disappointed in that one and most likely will not revisit it.

[Kimberly]

i <3 night of the comet!

[gothbat]

Nothing. I think I burned myself out with all those viewings last year! I did watch a couple of shorts from this compilation called Shameless, Tasteless: Trash Cinema from the Soviet Underground but that's really it. I was pretty disappointed initially, when I bought this I knew nothing about the film maker (Yakov Levi) and expected the shorts to be older movies but they were obviously made quite recently. That aside every one I watched so far was pretty amusing in it's own mindless kind of way. Still got a few left to watch. Some definitely made me want to watch John Waters movies, probably because that's what they were inspired by (I think one was a tribute or something too...).