I just finished watching..........................

[linszoid]

Maniac?

I loved this movie just for the riff "Stop being a dick and shoot yourself!"

[losingmydignity]

I have neither the time nor energy to post much here these days but let me just say:

Lovely But Deadly is another classic 10. Hilarious (that makes two this year so far along with Velvet Smooth)

And finally got around to seeing Vacations Days which turned out unexpectedly to be the best in the teenagers series (so far?). A really great riff!

[dbsommer]

So a list of things I've watched lately

Mutant

Yep, Wings Hauser and Bo Hopkins are at it again. It's a low budget, toxic sludge makes zombies, film. It's quality and a bit longer at over an hour and a half, but really dumb, and thus really fun. Sub par acting, story, and effects always make great fodder. Nightmare at Noon is probably the better part of their duology of fighting man-made zombie movies, but it's worth owning both of them.

R.O.T.O.R

My sister and her family got to watch this over vacation and it was instantly their favorite. It should be yours too as everything about this movie is laughably bad. It is a tiny bit slow in places at the start, but even then they still mine gold out of it. And once ROTOR is on the scene, it never stops. And the movie added to my own lexicon as to this day I will tell people, 'That's demonstrably untrue'. whenever they say something that is indeed demonstrably untrue. So yeah, it's a 10/10 riff for me. Possibly my favorite of all time.

Abraxas

One of the few misses in my book. The movie is the real problem. They have an over the top character like Jesse Ventura and put him in a quiet emotionless lead role. It's like making Emo Phillips the suave guy in 50 Shades. Horrible miscasting. Add to that the movie is slow and boring, and this was a bit of a chore to watch. Even the riffs couldn't save it.

City of the Dead

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is actually a mostly fine low budget movie. Christopher Lee has his presence as always, the leading lady in the first half is solid in her role (and fine on the eyes in her lingerie, growl), it has a nice twist in the middle, and only the male leads are really lacking. The riffs are fun but the movie is solid on its own making it a rare case of being enjoyable on two levels. And last but not least:

Batman Serial Parts 1-4

I would recommend watching these spaced out over a period of time because the serials themselves are formulaic and repetitive, and thus the riffs can be too. Watching them in small doses in between movies is the way to go, then this silly series is enjoyable. But I can see why the guys only did this once. It's still fun but you have to pace yourself.

[dbsommer]

Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD

Yep, it's the other Peter Cushing one. This movie isn't bad at all if you pretend it's not The Doctor, but just an eccentric old man with a time machine. It has a good pace, the actors are solid, and holds up pretty well. Except the forced humor moments. I saw it as a kid and enjoyed it then so I do have fond memories of it. The riffs themselves are very solid since they can dust off Dr. Who references, among others. I liked it a lot.

Warriors of the Wasteland

Those wacky Italians are doing another rip off. This time it's off Mad Max, the Road Warrior. They save on set pieces by not having any. It's all shot outdoors. The fire sale of Megaforce props provided plenty of cheesy looking vehicles in the 'easy to obtain fuel' in this post apocalyptic world which lacks refineries or gas stations. Terrible perfectly coifed hairstyles abound on nicely pressed outfit of our gang of malcontents. A homicidal kid with a sling shot. Shaft using explosive shafts on the enemy, and mackin' on the ladies, as well as a female love interest who can only find pants with the front and back missing round out our cast. Very solid riffing and worth a watch, especially that Roman Reigns outfit he wears in this one.

Rock N' Roll Nightmare

This is a top 5 for me. Might even be #2 after ROTOR. Sure, it's a no budget cliche horror movie in the first 4/5 ths, but I thought the guys did a great job with the slow paced cheese. I mean there was never a part where I felt the riffs weren't keeping me riveted to it. There's so much to latch on to and they go hog wild. But of course what makes it a classic and must buy is that final act. It is the most ridiculous thing ever on this show, and arguably of all time in movie history. It's like someone else wrote it compared to the previous everything in the film. Its infamy is well-earned. And to give a tiny bit of credit, it was an original swerve, especially for something this cheap.

Buy it. Just buy it.

[Pak-Man]

Tried to pick some Rifftrax to watch this week to get into the Halloween mood with varying results.

Night of the Lepus tries its hardest to make a herd of rabbits look menacing. It fails, but I enjoyed the sorta Bert I. Gordon feel of the whole movie and the riffing was good. Not very Halloween-scary, though.

Zombie AKA I Eat Your Skin from the title sounds like it's going to be one of those super-weird artsy horror movies like Astro Zombies or Swamp of the Ravens but it turns out to be more of an old-school adventure flick that was made in the '60s and filmed in black and white anyway. An interesting movie, and a good riff, but not too creepy.

Jack-O delivers on the Halloween spirit. It's one of those R-Rated horror movies that feels like it was written for 8-year-olds, but the riffing was top-notch and it was deserving of its theatrical release.

Finally, we decided to check out Terror at Tenkiller late last night, since it promises terror right there in the title. It's a creepy little slasher flick that checks all the boxes, and it had an ending that ALMOST works except for a split-second scene at the very end that completely invalidates everything that made it work.

[The Lurker]

Terror at Tenkiller was a drag for me, not so much for the riffing (which was good), but for how dull it was. Also, I think they revealed the killer way too early.

[dbsommer]

Reefer Madness 2010

Dusted off some DVDs as well as others. In this case we have the silly cult classic describing the dangers of some drug other than the one in the title. I'll talk about the movie first. TBH, i was never wild about the 'morality tale' style of this and 'I Accuse My Parents' because while silly, it's too much of a lecture (which Hollywood is now doing again, and why I watch so few new movies). But of those types, this is so silly and over the top, it's not that much of a chore. There's a basic story in this as well. Ironically, the movie is not the main reason to get the DVD. Rather that falls to two shorts:

More Dangerous Than Dynamite. Dear lord, I had no idea washing with gasoline was a thing. But this short and the guys work together for perfection. I mean it's grade A hilarious in every way. One of their best shorts of all time. And the other
At Your Fingertips: Grasses. Yeah, those mad boys made a short about grasses. And once again the guys belt it out of the park in back to back shorts. I mean it should have been mind numbing bad, but instead they manage to make it hilarious.
There's a third one that's an aesop's fable but no one remembers which one it was.  Something about the North Pole. There's no dialogue and it's solid, but not like the first two.

So get those two damn shorts by hook or by crooks. The movie is fine too. But them shorts need to be owned.

The Galaxy Invader

Bottom budget 'movie' shot in the middle of nowhere without a single real actor, except drunk Jimmy Stewart. It's silly fare with a badly costumed alien who murderers two people in their basement in the opening, and is supposed to be sympathetic after that. But that just tells you how terrible the movie is. Clearly locals were drafted into standing in front of a camera and reading lines badly. The characters are so ill conceived and acted out there is a lot of terrible humor to milk out of this. Drunk Pa, 6 Hour Professor, and other sillies round out this inept work. The guys have stuff to work with since it's that openly awful. Solid outing that's all the hard work of the guys.

Arachnia

Yep, it's our boys from Vermont at it again. Pinewood at least has an idea of how to shoot a movie. Weirdly, I kind of like this. It's certainly not 'good' but it has some sort of bizarro charm to it. The characters are absurd, the acting subpar, yet there is a decent narrative flow and the hammy acting makes this dumb fun. It is coherent and there's no dead parts to it. Either something is happening, or the goofy acting is keeping things fun. And there is a lot of material to work with. I think this gets too easily overlooked because there is no one thing which makes it stand out (like David Carradine and a good beer belly beer). But it's also consistently good from start to finish. You should get this one.