Still hoping to review Fury of Hercules over the weekend. Dr.Smith, Mechagodzilla and Zardoz will hopefully all be by in the next week. Also aiming to review Star Trek the Next Generation-Encounter at Farpoint and Hammer Films The man who could cheat death plus maybe a list of sort.
Take care!
When we think of Disney films we likely think of cartoons. However over the years they have knocked some some sci-fi and fantasy films with you know actual real people in them. Some of those types of films have been quite good. A number of the ones that are just average normally had some good visuals in them too because Disney of course has money to put behind their movies. Here is just a selection of posters for some of those films.
I might try to kill Darkman in a few years, but I’m nice in this movie.
1981
Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s a lot of times made for TV movies meant sappy junk that wasn’t good enough that no one would go to in the theater. However every once in a while something good would pop up. I remember watching this one on a Saturday in 1981 with my family.
Nothing to see here, just a normal day for a mail carrier.
A mentally challenger 30 something named Bubba is friends with a young girl. The girl gets hurt by a dog but Bubba rushes to her rescue. For his great deed the local rednecks chase him because they heard that Bubba killed the girl. Bubba hides inside a scarecrow outfit and oh poop I see badness a coming for him. The local yocals shoot him as he stands there in hi scarecrow suit and then place a pitchfork in his hand so he looks like he had a weapon cheat, cheat. This being the great country that it is the four killers upstanding citizens get off. Whoooohooo lets go down to the bar and celebrate. Bubba’s mom, the prosecuting lawyer and the little girl all have not to nice words or mean looks for these guys. SO that’s it, all is fine and hey no wait we need some vengeance for poor Bubba. Okay so a scarecrow starts showing in the fields of the four not so nice guys. They freak out at first but think the lawyer is toying with them. Then one then two of them get killed in strange farm accidents. Otis the ringleader of this gang thinks it’s Bubba’s mom, he goes to have words with her and accidently causes her to die. More blood on your hands, more blood! So he blows up the house to cover his tracks. Then the little girl makes him think that Bubba is still around. Otis and the dork from the garage are the only two killers left. They wonder if maybe Bubba somehow lived. They dig him up and he’s there (I guess but they don’t shoe him). Grease monkey goes nuts so Otis konks him on the head and buries him up all good and tidy. He goes to head home, but gets chased by farm equipment and gets his. Rolls the credits.
Do you think he’s dead after those 40 shots we put into him?
Stats-
Number of times some laughs about fried chicken-One time, several different people
Number of hideous polka-dotted caps worn in this film-One, but that was enough
Number of innocent pumpkins squished at the end-quite a few
A really well done film in my book. It brings the scares with very little gore and does a fine job building suspense through out. I only saw this film in 1981 and then years later about 1998 it came on TBS so I taped it, but my tape wore out. A few years ago it finally got a proper DVD release and of course I got myself a copy.
You’ve had it now, Otis!
Veggie and stars soup
three stalks celery-chopped
two carrots, peeled and either shredded or chopped
one sweet small onion chopped
one pack button mushrooms chopped or sliced
one box stelline pasta
at least one box veggie broth (or whatever meat flavor you want) you may need a second box depending on how many people you are feeding
butter or oil for sauteeing
pan for sauteeing
one large pot
colender for draining pasta
spatula, stirring spoon, ladel
seasonings-I normally go simple-sea salt, black pepper and being from Maryland I have to throw in some Old Bay.
Put water in your pot, these noodles are small so you don’t need a huge amount. Get water boiling.
Meanwhile start your oil or butter in your pan over a medium to medium/high and add veggies. Keep them stirring around with the spatula.
Add your stelline to the water, keep an on them and stir them on occasion.
Get your veggies semi-soft and remove from heat. Set pan to the side
Taste your pasta to see if they are soft enough, if so then turn off the heat, drain them in the colender and pour the pasta back into the big pan. Set on an unheated burner, add veggies, broths and seasonings. Stir it up and put it back on the burner and set it for medium high. Heat until low boil, stirring occasionally. When it’s done, remove from heat, serve and watch…
Why this film? It has star in the title so that ties it in with the food plus it’s a crazy, screwball space opera that is more fun that Star Wars. Yeah, I said it. It has spaceship, robots, laser sword fights and all kinds junk crammed in. Plot isn’t so important, but it’s just such and enjoyable ride. So sit back and enjoy the film and the food.
I do like board games I admit it. I actually wished that I scoured the thrifts stores for them more over the years. We own a lot of the regular, popular board games like Clue, Battleship, Monopoly and others. I also have these two that I got at thrifts stores when I was like in middle school which means they were only a few years old then. The Star Trek looks better than it plays. The Raiders game is a little more fun because my kids have asked to play it and they liked it. I had a game for the TV show Monster Squad when I was kid, but I think it got thrown out at some point. I look at old board games on eBay from time to time like Monster Squad, Space 1999, Buck Rogers and so on. I’ve never ordered any because even if the game is cheap the shipping never is. Oh well maybe I’ll find some of them at a thrift store some time.
I became a monster fan very early on. Although I like many monsters I discovered that there are some monsters you root for and some you don’t. Of course the writers manipulate us in those directions because they throw in parts if there us feel sorry for a monster. Oh, poor Kong he couldn’t help himself and it’s a shame he went falling to his death or poor gillman I hope he’s not dead and he comes back and terrorizes Florida, oh wait. That’s probably part of the reason why I don’t like vampire films that try to hard to romanticize the monster. This is a monster and he wants to suck your blood. Mad scientists are another one that’s hard to root for. Whether it was accidental or not you probably knew there was a chance that you would do something that would send you over the edge so I don’t feel sorry for you. However King Kong, the Gillman and others where people stumble upon them or even worse go after them then yeah I can root for them. Go monsters!
1967
A burnout pop star goes off to an isolated island to relax and get back on track. Too bad they don’t offer singing lessons there too. Going to a dull place will make you miss the rat race and come running back to it or something like that. Two neighbors there raise bees, one is the neighbor that the pop star is staying with who has a grumpy wife. The neighbor dude knows a lot about bees, but seems like a bit of a creepazoid. The grumpy wife and her dog die from bee stings.We are lead to believe it was an intentional attack and of course there wouldn’t be much of a plot if it wasn’t intentional oh yeah. So the guy whose wife died is the main suspect as the coppers are giving him the third degree and locals are giving him the stinkeye. The wig wearing pop star gets attacked too but survives to sing out of tune another day. She then packs up her many outfits and goes to stay with the nervous neighbor. Which she means she has a 50% percent chance of ending up with a loon. The local bartender’s daughter gets attacked by bees too, but she survives. People are confused by this one because…
A-she was nice and wouldn’t be a logical target
B-she was a minor character and having her get attacked wouldn’t seem to advance the plot ( not that all these movies have to contain strong plots).
So the attack must have been an accident or she wasn’t the target. Then the bees go out again and this time it’s on the guy who lost his grouchy wife and the bartender happens to be there as well. However unlike almost everyone else in the village the guy who lost is wife is kind of sharp and realizes there is some goop on his jacket (which the bartender is using as a shield) that is setting the bees off. So you know drop the jacket and it will all be okay well at least for now. They do that and now we know who the mad bee keeper or bee releaser is. So the creepy neighbor tries to kill the pop star by tossing bee attracting gunk on her, but he ends up with the gook and the killer bee attack. Everything works out for everyone else and roll the credits.
Stats-
Number of bad female wigs-I counted two in particular that were original Star Trek kind of bad as far as wigs go.
Number of times they shows the same shot of mean bees being released-At least five.
Number of fake trees that get bumped and shake like crazy-One for sure.
The negatives-The effects are not so special, actually they are very bad. The film is a little slow at times.
The positives-I thought the cast was generally goo. Including veteran character actor Michel Ripper was a good choice. I was more interested in the film as a whole than I figured I would be.
Amicus films is known for their horror anthologies but here they went for a nature gone wild film. This movie is normally panned as a horrible piece of junk. While the effects are sorely lacking I actually liked the film alright. The idea of being in an isolated area and someone manipulating bees had some merit. I may be a long but this was an okay film for me.
Yes, I am generous to a fault. However I do enjoy passing on a wonderful insult. This week it is Bumbling Cracker Barrel. Please take care and use it wisely.
Having grown up in the 70’s a number of the films that I first saw on TV via Saturday night horror hosts and on Saturday afternoons were from the 60’s. The decade saw a wide range of horror from classic monsters like vampires and werewolves to gigantic monsters as well as more psychological type tales like the ones from Hitchcock. Here’s a sampling of posters from the decade.
The other day I realized that I had a $30 Target gift card sitting around. I had won it in a contest at work back in the spring. I had hoped to use it for Christmas presents, but the holiday rolled around and what my daughter asked for had to be ordered online and what my son wanted was very cheap at Wal-mart so we got them at those places. My wife told me I should use the card to get myself a movie or show so at Target I used it to get myself season three of the Six Million Dollar man then I also got the kids a new and slightly different set of UNO cards because our set was very worn. I still had enough left to get the kids a dice game and one lunchable for each of them. So I have been watching episodes of that. I also picked up a DVD set with Hammer’s The man who could cheat death and the Deadly Bees and the Skull from Amicus. So those get added to the already too big pile of junk I need to watch.
The official website of horror author David Sodergren
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Lasers, monsters and barbarians oh, my! 