It must be...I caught the better part of the flick just a couple of moments ago on the Drive-In network and it wasn't very coherent; but neither am I after enjoying a few Keith's after a hard week's work @ 4 in the morning. It was just a kaleidoscope of flesh, moonshine and hillbilly fiddling and had me laughing more often than not. Taken in as the 2nd bill of a midnight movie (deciding if I'm going to stay up for The Pigkeeper's Daughter that has just started or go to bed) it's was worth catching. Even if I fall asleep on the couch after I finish typing the satisfactory amount of lines for this IMDb entry I'm sure it will be of memories of thirsty hill folk loving that sweet mountain dew and dancing until they're hungry.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Twilight of Love
(1977)
I just don't give a damn anymore
22 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
When I saw Twilight of Love (as it was called) on the fantastic Canadian Drive-In Classics my interest was sparked because it had Pam Grier in it. Never hearing of this movie before I set my PVR to watch it later but I check here on IMDb to find out a little background but there was no plot description, reviews or home video release information. I found that all very strange considering the cult following that Grier has and because of that I ended up staying up and watching the entire thing. W/in the first couple of frames it became quite apparent why Twilight of Love hasn't been painstaking restored because the copy that Drive-In Classics was broadcasting @ times looked like someone had driven over it in their drive way (including missing frames); plus there are some things I'm pretty sure would now have heavy copyright on them like the cans of Coke and a hockey game @ the Montreal Forum that had advertisements for KISS hanging all over the place (you know if something has the KISS name on it Gene Simmons has to get paid).
As for the plot of it all ~ Richard Butler; while looking for a fresh face to top his "perfect ass" advertising campaign spots the very boyish but still occasionally sexy Dyanne and tries to pursue a professional/personal May/December romance (even it is for only one night). Dyanne likes to play a lot of teasing games but Richard being an old man has little tolerance for such bs and becomes more and more irritable until he learns to play the game himself to keep from breaking down in his mid-life crisis. The entire ordeal is mostly scored w/ a melodramatic organ which sets the groan factor fairly high that when Richard (w/ about 10-15 minutes left , still not having gotten Dyanne in the sack and stranded on an island facing possible starvation and dehydration) reflects about his purist of Dyanne and he just "didn't give a damn anymore". That's was exactly how I felt: I just didn't give a damn anymore. The casting of Pam Grier (w/ nothing really to do but hang out on the beach in a bikini during her appearance in the 2nd half) does keep Twilight of Love from becoming a complete dog but mostly for Grier completests : if you can find it.
As for the plot of it all ~ Richard Butler; while looking for a fresh face to top his "perfect ass" advertising campaign spots the very boyish but still occasionally sexy Dyanne and tries to pursue a professional/personal May/December romance (even it is for only one night). Dyanne likes to play a lot of teasing games but Richard being an old man has little tolerance for such bs and becomes more and more irritable until he learns to play the game himself to keep from breaking down in his mid-life crisis. The entire ordeal is mostly scored w/ a melodramatic organ which sets the groan factor fairly high that when Richard (w/ about 10-15 minutes left , still not having gotten Dyanne in the sack and stranded on an island facing possible starvation and dehydration) reflects about his purist of Dyanne and he just "didn't give a damn anymore". That's was exactly how I felt: I just didn't give a damn anymore. The casting of Pam Grier (w/ nothing really to do but hang out on the beach in a bikini during her appearance in the 2nd half) does keep Twilight of Love from becoming a complete dog but mostly for Grier completests : if you can find it.
Deadbeat at Dawn
(1988)
Jack Daniels and Bush Beer
18 January 2005
While watching Deadbeat @ Dawn I was having a pretty difficult time trying to put a finger on what my feelings were about this film until Keith from the Ravens (I think that's who it was) took a swig of Jack Daniels and chased it w/ a mouth full of Bush beer. I laughed gagging (not the first and definitely not the last time while watching) because that was exactly the taste that this movie was leaving in my mouth : bitter/sour and cheap but a pretty wicked buzz after awhile. Producer/writer/director/actor/editor/stunt choreographer/ special makeup effects artist Jim Van Bebber pulls off some fairly excessive stylized screen violence w/ a minuscule budget but the weakly scripted directionless performances stretches it thin. It's amateur shines through in many scenes containing dialogue and lose editing (especially in the first half) throwing off the pacing; making a fairly short film seem long in the tooth. In the end it feels like Troma w/out any zaniness
Well a little zaniness. Ninja stars and golf club beatings are pretty zany.
Almost as disappointing as finding out there's no Santa Claus
18 January 2005
The Friday the 13th series has always held a soft spot in my heart (soft enough for Jason to easily plunge a machete through). Not long after seeing parts 1, 3 and the Final Chapter @ a sleepover (still hungering to see part 2) I was stopped in my tacks by a commercial for A New Beginning; which asked me if I was still haunted by Jason Vorhees. I was and loving it / I needed to see part 5.. The problem : No one would take me; even my sister who went to the drive in to see it herself. Since she wasn't going to take her little brother to see the movie of the summer I hounded her for knowledge afterwards. How did Jason look? Was it the same cool mask? Did he kill Cory Feldman? How many people did he kill? My sister didn't have too much information except Jason wasn't the killer / the ambulance driver was. The ambulance driver!? That just couldn't be right. My sister must have been slutting it up in the backseat missing key points and was making this crap up.
After waiting in doubt for several months A New Beginning came out on video confirming my disappoint. Jason wasn't the killer immediately making me hate this movie. This was a hard pill to swallow but after 20 years/ 6 more sequels part 5 isn't the personal worst in the series (Jason X you still get the credit) and is actually laughably tolerable due to some redneck styled scripting (from crazy Ethel to love songs in the outhouse) and the girlish screams of Shavar Ross but still disappointing @ it's core.
After waiting in doubt for several months A New Beginning came out on video confirming my disappoint. Jason wasn't the killer immediately making me hate this movie. This was a hard pill to swallow but after 20 years/ 6 more sequels part 5 isn't the personal worst in the series (Jason X you still get the credit) and is actually laughably tolerable due to some redneck styled scripting (from crazy Ethel to love songs in the outhouse) and the girlish screams of Shavar Ross but still disappointing @ it's core.
Piranha
(1978)
Pirahna attacks are enough to drive a man to drink
11 January 2005
Not great but not bad. After Spielberg set the standard w/ Jaws this entry in the water killer genre is pretty weak but does have a couple of readable qualities mostly found in the alcoholic antics of Bradford Dillman @ the beginning of the film and some hardcore piranha munching that happens later in this hungry little fish story. Why Dillman didn't keep his cantine of liquid courage for when he was battling the blood thirty beasts is beyond me. Even his daughter was walking around w/ it briefly; she knew that such moments of terror required some of Daddy's little helper. I guess that Jack Daniels can't even help you escape the Piranha.
Beautifully Bad
29 December 2004
Upon originally rental of Silent Night Deadly Night 2 a friend of mine and I were warned by the video clerk (which caught both us off guard since it's something that had never happened to either of us before and hasn't happened since) not to rent it; that people said it was really really bad. Needless to say we didn't heed her warning and rented SNDN 2. When we got the tape home we debated about even watching it. Maybe the video clerk was right and we should save ourselves the agony / it wasn't too late. Finally giving in (even mumbling through the FBI warning)we prepared for 88 minutes of torture.
To her credit the video clerk was right ~ SNDN 2 was bad but it's beautifully bad and it's tongue is so deep in it's cheek that it's pure hilarity. Half of the movie a recap of the original SNDN (I had never seen SNDN @ this time so it didn't bother me and still doesn't) The new footage is 100% camp gold. Boom mics and movie crews (which have been clean up on DVD) drop openly into shots. Eric Freeman's eyebrows and nostrils chew up every frame they're in and his over the top delivery makes brilliant catch phrases out of something as simple as 'RED CAR' and 'GARABAGE DAY' (I still imitate him when putting out my trash.) W/ this one viewing this movie became a personal favourite and take it in just about every Xmas since (and occasionally throughout the year / I did originally see it in July)
To her credit the video clerk was right ~ SNDN 2 was bad but it's beautifully bad and it's tongue is so deep in it's cheek that it's pure hilarity. Half of the movie a recap of the original SNDN (I had never seen SNDN @ this time so it didn't bother me and still doesn't) The new footage is 100% camp gold. Boom mics and movie crews (which have been clean up on DVD) drop openly into shots. Eric Freeman's eyebrows and nostrils chew up every frame they're in and his over the top delivery makes brilliant catch phrases out of something as simple as 'RED CAR' and 'GARABAGE DAY' (I still imitate him when putting out my trash.) W/ this one viewing this movie became a personal favourite and take it in just about every Xmas since (and occasionally throughout the year / I did originally see it in July)
Silent Night, Deadly Night
(1984)
Christmas Eve is the Scariest Damn Night of the Year
21 December 2004
Billy is a small boy traveling home w/ his mother/father and baby brother on Xmas eve but not before stopping to see Grandpa @ the Utah mental facility. Grandpa appears to be an invalid but when left alone w/ Billy warns him that Santa Claus punishes those who have been naughty through the year. Young impressionable Billy takes the old man's warning seriously and even tells his mother later that Santa will punish her for being naughty for speaking bad about the elderly. As fate would have it, on their travels home a man dressed as Santa (who had previously knocked over a liquor store) shoots Billy's father and accosts and slits his mother's throat while Billy runs and hides witnessing the malicious events. W/ his parent dead Billy (and his brother) are taken to an orphanage where Christmas continues to be a troublesome holiday for him. The head of the order of Nun's, the strap welding Mother Superior, disciplines Billy for his picture of a Santa and Reindeer butchering, having a natural curiosity towards sex, and punching out old Saint Nick when forced to sit on his knee. So over about 13 years Billy received a first hand lesson in punishment until he got a job @ the local toy store. He was doing just fine until he's required to dress up as Santa Claus during the holiday season. Haunted by the tragedy of his parents Billy goes off the deep end taking on the roll of Santa Claus punishing all of those who are naughty.
Unfortunately when this movie first came out there was a lot of stink (including picketers that caused the premature closing) about the subject matter of a killer Santa Claus. I personally don't share the same opinion and find this to be fun Holiday flix that is best enjoyed w/ some eggnog or other holiday spirit.
Unfortunately when this movie first came out there was a lot of stink (including picketers that caused the premature closing) about the subject matter of a killer Santa Claus. I personally don't share the same opinion and find this to be fun Holiday flix that is best enjoyed w/ some eggnog or other holiday spirit.
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