Golan-Globus’s “American Ninja” from 1985 is the perfect Regan Era action movie cum franchise starter that offers up the right amount of camp and action, along with the ninja glorification that dominated the eighties. Directed well by Sam Firstenberg, “American Ninja” is the introduction of action star Michael Dudikoff whose debut is rather memorable and dynamic. Despite the fact Dudikoff has about ten lines of dialogue in the entirety of “American Ninja,” he is pretty much the ideal American action hero. He looks like James Dean, he fights like Bruce Lee, and he’s a one man army from the military like John Rambo. The icing on the cake is that his name is Joe. Joe Armstrong. Get it? He’s an American Joe with the skills of the ancient Ninja.
3 Great “Harry Potter” Fan Films to Prep for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
Pictured: The OMEN Chronicles
With “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” coming to theaters this week, some will binge watch (or read) the Harry Potter series (which in film form is just under 20 hours without breaks) while others won’t have time. That does not mean there’s nothing out there for those with less time to get hyped about going back into the magical world created by J.K. Rowling.
One quick search will give you hundreds of Harry Potter related videos and shorts that you can watch on You Tube. Of course, the quality of these varies greatly from “I can’t believe this is fan made” to “I can’t believe they’re letting people watch this” which is why we went through a ton of them to bring you some of the best ones out there.
Killjoy’s Psycho Circus (2016)
Full Moon sinks deeper in to pseudo-Troma territory by delivering another installment of “Killjoy’s Psycho Circus.” If you’re prepared for a movie that has literally no plot but spends ninety minutes advertising its product tie-ins, then you might enjoy what’s on display here. During Killjoy’s demented TV show, there’s an ad featuring the characters from “Evil Bong,” and the movie literally stops to promote the “Adam and Eve” website. They even bring on a model to talk to Killjoy to promote their products. I’ve heard of product placement before, but I’ve never seen a movie so lazy that it literally stops in its tracks to promote a product for a company.
Emilie Black At Home with Guillermo Del Toro’s Monsters
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit of a part of filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro’s horror-centric art collection. This includes everything from movie props (from his own films and others’), to paintings, to photographs, to sculptures, to storyboards, to sketches, etc, etc, etc. This small part of his collection is insane in the best of ways and any movie nerd that can should go and see it before it closes on the 27th of November.
As a proper movie (horror especially) nerd, I went and took a ton of photos. Unfortunately, it is dark in there and flash photography is not allowed to protect the art and other people’s enjoyment of it. With no further ado, here are some of my photos of the exhibit in all their dark and grainy glory!
The Trail of Dracula (2016) (DVD)
It’s funny how I know so much about Dracula and still can’t get enough of the character or the concept no matter where I turn. Intervision’s “The Trail of Dracula” is an hour long look in to the history of Dracula through the ages. There are tons of interviews and accounts from the creation of Bram Stoker’s novel, and the unauthorized adaptation called “Nosferatu,” right down to his pop culture influence in the modern age like “Vampire Hunter D” and “Castlevania.” While I would have loved a more thorough examination of the vampire legend and its various incarnations of cultures all around the world, “The Trail of Dracula” explores how Dracula eventually was crafted.
X-Rated Alley: Sin [Blu-Ray/DVD], 42nd Street Forever: Peep Show Collection Vol. 17 (DVD), 42nd Street Forever: Peep Show Collection Vol. 18 (DVD)
For consumers and collectors interested in erotica that’s both artistic and evocative, Cult Epics releases Nico B’s “Sin.”
Interview with Scream Queen and Author Carrie Keagan
I first learned about Carrie Keagan during her stint on “Attack of the Show” in the mid-aughts. As one of the hundreds of men in America smitten with the bold, funny, quick as a whip, and daring journalist, I’ve been following her career and am pleased to see Ms. Keagan is now starring in two highly anticipated upcoming horror films. Carrie Keagan has an insatiable appetite for horror movies, and is a bonafide horror geek and self-professed “Gore Whore” who can be seen playing a Burlesque dancer/zombie fighter in Staci Layne Wilson’s “Fetish Factory,” and as a bride to be turned monster in “The Fiance.”
Thanks to talented director Staci Layne Wilson, I was lucky enough to grab an interview with the very busy Carrie Keagan, who is taking on more film projects, huge television projects, and even released a memoir.