I knew it! All the time, I knew it! If Satan had to exist, he was Richard Moll the whole time. No one would ever suspect the guy from “Night Court.” Satan–correction: Mestema, is smart enough to build a world and challenge a computer whiz, but isn’t smart enough to understand the “magic machines” known as computers (such foreign tongue!). So in response, he challenges a dorky computer nerd whose over reliance on a female computer borders on creepy, to a series of trials. If the computer nerd wins the matches, I’m assuming he keeps his soul. If he loses just one trial, Satan is allowed to consume him and his aerobics instructor girlfriend Gwen. Paul the computer nerd is given a costume even Reb Brown would laugh at, and with his arm band, is allowed to fight and figures out how to control the computer hell dimension place. Whatever the hell that is.
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Before the millions of utterly atrocious rip-offs, there was the first, there was the only, there was the grand daddy of college campus comedies, there was “Animal House” Set in 1962, John Landis’ comedy masterpiece tells the tale of two new college recruits attempting to pledge to an elite fraternity. They’re basically cast aside from the elitist frat house, so they must now pledge to the worst frat on college, the Delta House to which they’re instantly accepted amidst the dysfunctional and odd array of members. But when they cause a ruckus and fail to live up the school’s academic standards, the dictatorial Dean Wormer decides to close down the house once and for all.
Bloody Homecoming (2012) (DVD)
Yet another iteration of “Slaughter High,” director Brian C. Weed’s revenge horror film attempts to be a sanctimonious message about bullying all the while lulling its audience to sleep with an illogical and goofy film about revenge and the past coming back to haunt some classmates. My only fear is the memory of this movie coming back to haunt my nightmares.
Fangasm
If people got their panties in a bind over “Big Bang Theory,” try watching the Syfy show “Fangasm.” It’s staged, well edited, and saccharine. And yet, I may keep watching anyway. But then I’m a sadist. You can really see where most of the show is set up and conveniently edited, and you really don’t have to look all that carefully. The premise is seven geeks working for Stan Lee for his Comikaze convention. Lee doesn’t even show up to greet his interns, really, but hey George Takei does. So that’s something (?). How convenient that two of the interns are humongous trekkies, right?
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Even with Marvel now owning Disney, and “The Avengers” making money hand over fist in 2012, “Agents of Shield” is still a risky spin-off. So the writers have to basically depend on lip service to “The Avengers” without depending on it wholesale. Even with the fan loyalty Joss Whedon sports with all of his series, “Agents of SHIELD” is a risky venture. They’re still third tier characters in the movies, and the last time we saw them in on TV, they were being led by David Hasselhoff and battling an evil bouncing ball. So, the series does everything it can to ensure audiences this is a Marvel universe series, without seeming similar to other shows about big agencies.
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
If you had a problem, and this problem meant the destruction of your life and reputation, and family that you hold so dear, what would you do to get rid of it for good? Though Woody Allen is a brilliant director, he’s an even better writer who knows people and how they work in reality. He knows how to compose human personality, and our own inner-desires. Allen breaks down a crime and studies it with the most human of reactions. If you’d had a lover and she threatened to destroy your life if you didn’t return her love, what would you be willing to do to make sure she didn’t talk? The ultimate question Allen observes is how far we’d go to protect ourselves.
Prince Of Darkness (1987) (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-ray]
John Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness,” the second leg in the “Apocalypse Trilogy” is a horrifying film about the apocalypse and one of the many Carpenter films where good fights evil and evil wins. Again. And again. It’s interesting that “Prince of Darkness” is almost a precursor to the found footage film boom of the mid aughts, as director John Carpenter stages a series of dream sequences void of cinematic flare. Through fuzzy hand held cameras, he manages to stage numerous horrific dream sequences signaling the coming of the anti-god, and the anti-Christ, all the while using it as a means of expressing how imminent the apocalypse is. The thirty second dream sequences are much more horrifying than most found footage films I’ve ever seen.