Robot Monster Lives!

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Phil Hall

Has there ever been a more bizarre creature than Ro-Man, the extraterrestrial robot that looks like a gorilla wearing a diving helmet? On this episode, we learn the story behind the making of “Robot Monster” and the life of its mysterious creator, Phil Tucker, with our guest Anders Runestad, author of the book “I Cannot, Yet I Must.” We also get to discuss Tucker’s work with Lenny Bruce on the equally bizarre “Dance Hall Racket” and the stories behind his lost films “Space Jockey” and “Pachuco.”

The episode can be heard here.

Day of Reckoning (2016)

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

“Day of Reckoning” is a pseudo-biblical horror movie that teams “Doom,” “Day of the Dead,” “The Walking Dead” and the Roland Emmerich disaster pornos in to one ball of baffling entertainment. “Day of Reckoning” is teeming with potential and actually manages to be entertaining every now and then. When a mining company accidentally unearths a hibernating brood of demonic monsters, the beasts arise from their slumber to begin wreaking havoc on humanity. The monsters are a variety of winged, stampeding, anthropomorphic demons with varying degrees of appearances and habits. Sometimes they’re a random herd of monsters, and sometimes they’re scheming and planning. They can poison people to apparently turn on everyone else, and they have a thirst for human flesh. Best of all they can be taken out by dousing them with enough salt.

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Pet Fooled (2016)

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Phil Hall

Kohl Harrington’s documentary takes a harsh look at the questionable ingredients and frequently shabby quality control in today’s pet food industry. The film argues that too many dog and cat owners gets distracted with user-friendly marketing to notice that many of the canned and packaged foods being served to their pets are nutritionally dubious and fail to meet the basic dietary needs despite generous promises of being healthy. Even worse, the lack of care in the processing of these foods resulted in the poisoning deaths of pets and the uncontrollable grief of the owners that felt guilty in feeding their beloved creatures contaminated food. But it appears that no one is keeping an eye on this sector.

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The Monster (2016) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

Bryan Bertino has a talent for depicting the inexplicability of evil, first with “The Strangers,” and now with how a seemingly chaotic force of nature threatens to destroy a mother and daughter. What’s worse is that when we do meet the titular monster, it’s about to completely obliterate a relationship already on the cusp of falling to pieces. Director and writer Bertino succeeds in creating a creepy monster movie that also builds a compelling relationship that pulls us through the emotional wringer time and time again. Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballantine are an excellent pairing as Kathy and Lizzy, an estranged mother and daughter that are constantly at war with one another.

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The Trouble with Terkel (2017)

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Felix Vasquez

An animated re-release/recycling of a hit Danish animated film, “The Trouble with Terkel” was released in 2004, and rather than remake the original animated movie, this new version is re-released with a new title, and a hastily recorded American dub was slapped on to the film. There’s no update to the animation, no re-editing, or anything of the sort. 2004 feels like a whole other century ago, so it’s not surprising “The Trouble with Terkel” watches like a painfully outdated mess. It also doesn’t help that the producers kept all of the country’s background signs and whatnot. So when our characters are in the candy store buying “Sukkerfryd Slik” with “Fedt Nuder!” it’s impossible to not get pulled out of the paper thin narrative.

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