Originally I was very upset at the notion of a “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” back in 2003 when it was announced. The original is so perfect as is, it’s tough to think that someone would try to top it. Thankfully the remake didn’t top it, and after watching it I realized my antipathy toward it was pointless because “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is one of the many genre classics that’s been unofficially remade almost a dozen times already. So what’s the big deal? And as much as I enjoyed the sequels, they also couldn’t quite top the original film. And Tobe Hooper was behind the second film, oddly enough.
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
“My friend, you have seen this incident, based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that it didn’t happen?” And then with startling dramatic gleam, our babbling narrator Criswell declares, “Perhaps, on your way home, someone will pass you in the dark, and you will never know it… for they will be from outer space!” Only this sort of sheer nonsense could come from the one and only “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” one of the absolute best films ever made. It’s a film that is so bad you can barely look away throughout its run time. Films of this ilk like “Reefer Madness” and “Robot Monster” must be appreciated in the same vein.
Holliston: Season 2, Episode 1
You could reasonably make the assertion that I’ve rooted for “Holliston” to stink. And you wouldn’t be that far off. I didn’t root for it to stink, but I was never an ardent supporter of it from out the gates because I simply had nothing to gain from it. “Holliston” is still a vanity project and is still a bit odd, but thankfully the show has gotten better.
“Holliston” is working for the horror fans and focusing on being a sitcom for horror geeks. So there are horror references aplenty, including an opening scene that’s gory and funny. I couldn’t believe I found myself giggling through most of the season premiere of season two where as most of season one left me waiting for the episodes to end mercifully.
V/H/S 2 (2013)
Like the first “V/H/S,” the sequel to the acclaimed anthology surely won’t re-invent the wheel, but it still manages to be a very good horror film with a killer series of stories. Meshing the found footage sub-genre with the anthology film. “V/H/S 2” learns from the mistakes of the first film by reducing the number of stories and lengthening them for more exposition. There are still inherent flaws and plot holes injected in to this sequel, but for this outing there’s a better sense of coherency, and a lot less filler. Rather than the more confusing premises from the first film, this time around the four stories are much easier to follow. To wit, they’re much more entertaining.
Meta: The Culture of IPL (2013)
Director Adam Evans pulls together a very entertaining and informative documentary on a subject long overdue for a documentary: Gaming tournaments. There have been many documentaries about gaming in general, but very few have tackled the inherent emotion and intense training that go behind tournaments. Not to mention there’s almost nothing about the dynamics of team gaming. Director Adam Evans explores that facet that is shockingly compelling, and helps identify gaming as something more than a hobby. Especially with $100,000 dollars on the line for the winning teams.
Vanessa Del Rio: Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior (2007)
Vanessa Del Rio has slept with a lot of guys. And girls. And she was a prostitute. And you know what? She’s not ashamed of her past. Not a single bit. You have to admire her for that.
And to top it off, she’s not vehemently opposed to sleeping with you if it tickles her fancy either. That’s the general point of “Fifty Years of Slightly Slutty Behavior,” the notion that Vanessa Del Rio has slept with a lot of men and is not ashamed to admit that she’s loved every minute of it. While most porn stars in her age have all but renounced their pasts and forgotten their roots, she’s still the ravishingly down to Earth porn vixen who remembers every fuck and is not afraid to mention in detail most of her escapades.
Barbarella (1968)
Jane Fonda is at her sheer sexiest starring in this psychedelic science fiction flick based on the comic book, as Barbarella an astronaut from Earth who is sent to Sogo to look for the missing scientist Durand Durand. From the opening scenes where Barbarella is floating undressing from her space suit during craftily placed title sequences, you know you’re in for something out of this world. Let the innuendos and softcore porn fly! Watch Jane Fonda flirt, watch Jane Fonda strip, watch Jane Fonda be raped by a music machine as Durand Durand strums it along.