My favorite bad movies are always the ones that tend to combine a “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS HAPPENING???” factor with a certain level of competence. It can’t just be a confusing mess made by cynics or overconfident nincompoops because that’s not fun. No, the fun part for me is when the filmmakers love what they’re doing and know what they’re trying to do, but still find it difficult to relay that to the rest of us.
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Streaming On: Tubi, Vudu, Apple TV, Redbox
I for one got a huge kick out of Kiah Roache-Turner’s “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead,” because while it was a huge departure from what I usually like in my zombie movies, he compensated with huge creativity and a great series of performances. In particular Bianca Bradey was a scene stealer as the zombie human hybrid Brooke. In “Apocalypse,” Kiah Roache-Turner and Tristan Roache-Turner shift the focus ever so slightly to a new series of characters. Sure they keep the integrity and novelty of “Road of the Dead” in tact, but this time we’re given a wider scope with a new series of villains and some bad ass zombie hybrids.
One of the hallmarks of M. Night Shyamalan’s films is that he seems to be a big believer in destiny and fate. Much of “Signs” was a religious thriller based around fate and destiny. With “Knock at the Cabin” he approaches the same plot elements, all while instilling much of the ambiguity he’s well known for. That works for and against “Knock at the Cabin” because while I was satisfied with his newest genre effort, I was ultimately left feeling like the finale left everything in the air, and not as neatly packed as he might have thought it was.
One of the advantages of boutique physical releases is that American audiences are able to check out films that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to before. This year, the never before officially released in the U.S. “The Son of the Stars” makes its way to American shores. The animated adventure described as a “wild mid-80s mash-up of The Empire Strikes Back, Alien and Tarzan” was directed by the creative team of Călin Cazan and Mircea Toia, and features a pretty trippy original score by synth-rock pioneer Stefan Elefteriu. I can safely say while you can see the “Star Wars” influences dripping all over it, it’s a wild experience for any animation buff.
It’s Black History Month once again, and in celebration of the month, I thought it’d be a great time to continue our saga of Great Minority Movie Heroes. With diversity becoming more prominent in modern pop culture, we’re witnessing an influx of people of color leading epic sagas, and fighting evil. I, for one, am enjoying it. Here are five more Great Minority Movie Heroes you can root for.
BOOTLEG FILES 827: “Uforia” (1985 comedy starring Cindy Williams, Fred Ward and Harry Dean Stanton).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Vimeo in unauthorized postings.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Only on VHS video.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The film is hampered by music rights clearance issues.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: There doesn’t appear to be a great rush to get this out.
When Cindy Williams passed away earlier this week, news sites and social media postings recalled her brilliance on the sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” and her early film work in features including “Travels With My Aunt,” “American Graffiti” and “The Conversation.” But far less attention was given to one of Williams’ most interesting work – a small film from the early 1980s called “Uforia” (sometimes spelled “UFOria” – it is hard to say which version is correct because the film’s opening spells the title entirely in upper case letters). “Uforia” never found the audience it deserved – and, by extension, Williams never found the big screen stardom she should have enjoyed.
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Director Brian K. Rosenthal’s “Fever” is a short but sweet spooky tale that uses a parent’s anxiety against them. He accentuates the anxiety with the introduction of a spooky creature, one that has absolute feature length potential. Fingers crossed. “Fever” does what most spooky stories do by taking a real world anxiety and completely elevates it in to a horrifying tale.