Full Moon released many excellent direct to video
movies beginning in 1989. The movies all had excellent production values and good budgets backed by Paramount. Renting a Full Moon movie was for the most part a good bet. In 1994 Full Moon produced its first turkey: The Lurking Fear. This movie lacked what most of the early Full Moon films had that made them good. It features terrible acting, writing, and production values. The HP Lovecraft tale is butchered. After this Full Moon released a mixed bag of sometimes good/sometimes bad movies until falling mostly into the post-Leprechaun joke-horror thing. Even bad early Full Moon films (like Netherworld or Seedpeople) were well made even if they were not so great, you could watch them and they were entertaining and at least looked professionally made. Lurking Fear is just terrible. It lacks what even a bad early Full Moon movie had that made it watchable. If you are looking for a "bad" movie this could fit the bill. If you are looking for a GOOD movie then pass on this one. Really terrible. Jeffrey Combs should be ashamed of the paycheck he received for this one.
Reviews
14 Reviews
The Walking Dead: World Beyond
(2020–2021)
I really like The Walking Dead shows... buuuut...
14 January 2022
This show is really bad. I liked the original TWD series (even though after Rick left it really declined in quality) and Fear The Walking Dead (which after the first few seasons became the best TWD series and still is currently) but World Beyond was so bad it was insulting. It was a slog to sit through. Poorly written. The girls seem to get their hair, eyebrows, and makeup done (professionally) daily while wandering around in the apocalyptic wasteland. This is the B Movie of the Walking Dead world. Not much makes sense and a lot of the acting is mediocre at best (esp the Huck caracter). If you want to bore yourself then sit through it. There is no real pay off bc the characters are so poorly written you don't really care if any of them survive (which was what made TWD so good). A total embarrassment.
The Body Shop
(1972)
Terrible in an amazing way
15 August 2020
Gory, boring, poorly made, sleep inducing, and laughable. This is what I thought years ago when I rented and watched Body Shop. It was difficult to sit through. It was poorly made and acted. It was incredibly stupid. My friend fell asleep while we watched it (in the middle of the day). Now most people would think this is a condemnation but no, this is a recommendation. If you want dated, cheesy, gory, stupidity this will be right up your alley. Movies like this are magical in a strange way. It was a guy who wanted to make a movie and he did his best but it came out terrible but you get some boobs and gore along the way. They just don't make stuff like this anymore. They TRY to make movies that are "bad" but modern "bad" movies are just too well made and try too hard to be like this. The guy who made this for real did the best he could to make a film... and it shows. I love that. Total trash yet totally awesome!
Mondo Cannibal
(2004 Video)
BRUNO DELIVERS!!!!!
3 November 2019
A "modern" remake of Cannibal Holocaust on a $5 budget. This is one of Bruno's more watchable features. Sure, its awful. Its cheap and sleazy and poorly dubbed. But I will be honest: this is a better Cannibal film than the disappointing big budgeted Hollywood shot Green Inferno. This is even more watchable than Make Them Die Slowly. Its pure garbage but it delivers on the gore. Bruno has many unwatchable pieces of celluloid trash but this one is up there w his very best. If you want something "good" in the traditional sense... steer clear. If you want good old shoe-string-gory-cheap-ass-trash then this is as good as it gets as far as a jungle cannibal gut-muncher goes. Its laughable as far as production values go but the gore is plentiful and you WILL be entertained!
Mindwarp
(1991)
Strange, gory, and OK
28 September 2019
A weird Fangoria-movie w horror icons Scrimm and Campbell. Scrimm is miscast but OK. Campbell is great. The story is pure nonsense. There are a lot of rubbery monster FX on hand which resemble members of GWAR. This is pretty gory and will satisfy gore-hounds. The plot is totally ludicrous and sports a totally out of place happy ending which is totally out of place the the rest of the dark and gruesome film but who cares? This is an underrated gem for trash horror enthusiasts. Totally worthy of checking out and wasting an hour and a half of your life.
Well made "Trash" Cinema
5 August 2019
Tarantino's movies are what I call "well made trash". The movies are exceptionally well made, directed, acted, etc while at the same time paying homage to trash/exploitation cinema of the 70s and 80s. This movie follows suit. It is extremely well written, acted, and directed. It is beautifully made. It is a "what if?" history-altering film which will be an issue with some and a delight to others. If the outrageous violently gory over the top ending doesn't elicit SOME reaction you don't have a pulse. I feel this is a polarizing film that people will either love or hate. Both views are understandable depending on what you wanted out of the film. You may get what you wanted and you may get nothing you wanted. Some would be better off watching the most recent Fast and Furious (which is no insult, if that's your cup of tea then kudos to you). I just hope you can at least enjoy the ending because IMO its one of the most entertaining 10 minutes of cinema in ages!
Alligator
(1980)
Best of the Jaws rips. Funny and brutal
13 July 2019
The greatest alligator-horror movie all time! This movie succeeds both as a horror film AND a comedy. The comedy is intentional and works best when at the expense of itself. The gator rules and is huge. Best scene is when it busts through the street. The police chief is a total hoot you would never see a character like him in a movie today. The ending was ripped off by CHUD a few years later (also a good movie). As far as Jaws rip off movies go this is the best and is rivaled only by GRIZZLY. If you want a fun filled movie that delivers both on the gore and laughs this is as good as it gets out of the early 80s.
Darkman
(1990)
A movie that had no audience
13 July 2019
At the time Darkman was an oddity. It was an R rated film in the superhero genre (dominated at the time by Batman) which was for kids/families. Along comes Sam Rami to make an "adult" superhero movie with horror overtones. Those of us who knew Rami was involved checked it out and at the time, I wanted it to have MORE horror and less superhero. At this point I can appreciate it for what it is and its a solid superhero movie that would fit much better today than it did at the time bc the adult audience for this genre exists today. Its a very ambitious movie for the time. Still a solid watch. The fx are adequate and the characters are top notch. The bad guys are hissable and the humor is amusing. The plot is clever and the violence and fx are solid. This is a movie worthy of rediscovery.
Crawl
(I) (2019)
Survival/Horror fun!
12 July 2019
Crawl was an enjoyable survival/horror romp. The Hurricane disaster element mixed the the alligator horror element is pulled off well and the characters are people you root for to survive (esp the dog). Its a very simple premise which is handled well. Doesn't skimp on the gore either. Its good, bloody, stupid fun if you like horror/suspense/survival type movies you should be entertained for sure.
Midsommar
(2019)
Boring, predictable, but pretty to look at (?)
4 July 2019
I went into this film with high expectations. I disliked Hereditary but this looked extremely intriguing so I figured I would give this director another shot. Turns out I actually like Hereditary more than this film. Midsommar is technically a very well made film. Well acted and the visuals are stunning. The story is one we have seen before and offers no real shock (like Hereditary did). What you think happens happens. In fact, its way lamer than you expect. The shock in the middle of the film (which was very gory) is where the film peaks and you assume something worse is coming at the climax... but it never comes. You can see whats going to happen a mile away and you think "no way thats all that will happen something INSANE is gonna happen!!" but it doesn't. The relationship dynamic between the 2 main characters was amusing but the characters were unlikable (much like the ones in Hereditary). It took far too long to reach a conclusion most in the audience had made from the minute they arrived at the colony. The movie earns a few points for weirdness (as well as xenophobia) but it falls very flat. I had very high expectations for this film and it could have been so much more. If you would like to see excellent cinematography and bright, interesting visuals you will be happy with that aspect. I am OK with artsy horror (I am a big of Argento and the like) but this was a little TOO artsy and not enough horror. Just not for me.
Child's Play
(2019)
NOT a "remake" more like a gory Goosebumps episode
3 July 2019
I am a big fan of the original Childs Play movies. I esp like Childs Play 2 (its very nostalgic for me from when I was a kid). I did not know what to expect from this "remake". Watching it in the theater felt very strange. This movie has something about it that is just really really weird. I felt a vibe almost like an episode of Goosebumps from this movie more than anything... a Goosebumps episode that over gory And cruel. If you want a movie that resembles ANYTHING like the original Childs Play movies you will be sorely disappointed. If you can get past that what you will get is a serviceable modern tale of AI gone wrong. Its stupid, gory, and like I said, pretty strange. Its like if Slappy from Goosebumps was a robot and explicit gore was added. Thats what you can expect. If thats your cup of tea you should enjoy this for what it is. If not then you will be sad. Childs Play 2 still rules!
Monsters GREAT the rest not so much...
25 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
As a life-long Godzilla fan I must say first and foremost I LOVED the monsters in this film. IMO these are the ultimate versions of these monsters and I can ask for no improvement. They looked and acted exactly like I wanted them to and cannot ask fo anything more in that dept. They were all beautifully detailed and as menacing/powerful as I ever wanted them to be. In that dept the movie gets a 1000/10. The rest of the film... not so much. The human characters are laughable. The dialogue also laughable. The plot... not so good. But we came here to see the monsters and in that aspect the film excels but the other aspects are a miserable failure. I would rather see awesome monsters than anything else, but a little better plot and less awful characters would have made this the greatest (monster) film ever made. I feel Kong Skull Island was a superior overall film with far better actors, characters, and plot. That film also had humor that actually worked. I am looking forward to the Godzilla vs Kong film but don't understand how Kong will match up w Godzilla after pretty much being defeated by Samuel L Jackson and 3 other soldiers. But back to the monsters from King Of The Monsters: Mothra was beautiful and tougher than I expected. She did all the stuff I would want Mothra to do (but I would have liked to see the larval stage in combat). Rodan also was everything I wanted him to be. Ghidorah was more than I expected and was equally beautiful and menacing at the same time. The Ghidorah sounds/shrieks were excellent and I felt chills everytime it was on screen. Truly one of the greatest monsters ever to grace the screen. Godzilla was great as well and seemed more mobile than the last film. I gave a 7/10 bc the monster aspect of the film was so awesome and overall Godzilla movies are more monster than anything. If you want an overall great film you will be disappointed. If you want to see the ultimate versions of the greatest monsters of all time and not much more you will be very pleased.
Turkey Shoot
(1982)
As good as a bad movie gets!!!
18 March 2019
This is all out trash-heap entertainment!!! It mixes The Most Dangerous Game with a gory post-apocalypse type horror movie AND Death Wish 3!!! There are bazookas, exploding arrows, hot babes, severed limbs, an all-out war, and a mutant WOLF (or is it ape) MAN!!! If you are not entertained by this one you are not alive. Mindless fun at it's very best! Dont take yourself too seriously and enjoy one of the best hidden gems for what it is: mindless, gory, trashy FUN!
The Predator
(2018)
FUN! Don't expect the original and you will be A-OK
15 September 2018
I am a lifelong Predator fan and believe he original is one of the best movies ever made. I went into this expecting little after reading the reviews where ppl hated it. Most of these people wanted a remake of the original. That is not what this movie is. This was a fun romp. Fred Dekker was involved in creating this (he brought us Monster Squad and Night Of The Creeps... which were both classic horror/comedies from the 80s) so the humor was no surprise. The gore/body count was ample too. The thing that made this even more enjoyable imo was the characters were great. I wanted them to survrive and felt the main characters were not just kill-fodder and the lead character dudna great job. Sure the cgi wasnt the best and the ending (the last 5 minutes after the movie is wrapped up) was pretty stupid but that didnt take away from what I felt was a fun time. If you want the original just keep watching that. I liked this and will watch again. You can do much worse with your time. Dont take everything so seriosuly. Its a movie about aliens!!!
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