Hey nineties brats, do you remember the running man? You know what I’m talking about, that dance that’s a mixture of running in place and the moonwalk sans the motion? Well, that’s what I was doing when I received this from Warner. The running man. I thought I’d forgotten how to, but apparently not. “Spaced” finally comes to DVD in the US bringing with it a slew of extras, and some of the funniest comedy in a sitcom that took many years to get to the states.
Like every bit of film and music today, Ryan Nicholson’s “Gutterballs” is steeped heavily in the eighties with his slasher setting down in the decade while even the score and soundtrack take from it with shameless glee. And while normally that may be enough reason for me to dislike it, I found that his nostalgic placement made sense in the long run and only added to the camp. Nicholson’s slasher wants to be from the time where slashers were common cinematic fare, but sadly it’s just more of a wish than a reality.
Rake me over the coals all you want, but up until today, I have never seen “Re-Animator.” Shocked? You probably are. But the legendary horror film that’s managed to spawn comic books, video games, sequels, fan fiction, and even cross overs with other horror icons (Cassie Hack, baby!) has just evaded me all of my life. When I was a kid I was not allowed to see this, and as a young adult I found it difficult to track it down. It’s just one of those film classics that I could never really get a hold of and watch. Watching “Re-Animator,” I can see what every horror geek raves about because even at over twenty years old, Stuart Gordon’s gory sickening classic hasn’t aged much at all.
Ginger: All play and no work makes Ginger a swinging chick.
Painted like a television show “The Abductors” is probably one of the dumbest attempts at a franchise I’ve ever seen. Beginning on a very dark note involving sexual slavery and kidnap, director Don Schain then suddenly drops into light comedy with Ginger and her boss acting as a James Bond and M partnership with subtle flirting, and some goofy dialogue that’s written in short hand and makes for some awfully laughable preamble to Ginger’s next adventure. Ginger this time is on the track of a sexual slavery crime ring, a group of vicious men who steal women off the streets, destroy their property and force them into acting as sexual escorts for millionaires at the threat of torture. Ginger in all her swinging metropolitan allure is called in to investigate and penetrate this syndicate with hopes of rescuing a girl. After all, it’s women’s lib, and Ginger is about to kick some manimal ass.
Jay Lee tries his damndest to take porn star retiree (how long will that last?) Jenna Jameson and posits her as the next B movie scream queen a la Linnea Quigley or Debbie Rochon and I have to set it straight that Jameson will not be the next anything in horror. Any and all attempts to gain some sense of pop culture standing, beyond being a famous porn star have been fruitless and quixotic (her comic proved that). However, as a person who was excited about and interested in seeing “Zombie Strippers!” Jameson isn’t that bad here and that’s because Lee doesn’t ask much from her beyond name recognition.
Arbie: I’ll believe in the supernatural when I see it, talking sandwich.
So I sat down at my chair, popped in the movie and sat prepared to watch another shit fest from Troma. I’m somewhat of an anti-Troma pusher, so I was not looking forward to this. And my eventual reactions were a varying degree of disgust, horror, disbelief, and amusement. I laughed. And I laughed a lot. I’d even go so far to say that “Poultrygeist” is quite excellent. It’s something of a demented twist that it took Native American chicken zombies to finally get me to like a Troma movie, and trust me I had no intention of enjoying “Poultrygeist,” so much. But from the ridiculous opening to the horribly catchy musical numbers, Lloyd Kaufman has created a very memorable bit of horror comedy that may just lure more anti-Troma individuals like me.
With the morbid sense of humor Mark Millar puts on the page with “Kick Ass,” and his propensity for punishing Dave Lizewski at every turn for generally being a complete moron worthy of an early grave, I think this series will finally end with someone shooting Dave in the face and killing him in that stupid costume. And damn it if he doesn’t deserve every thing he gets for being such a brainless imbecile. Sorry, people but Millar’s writing sucks me in so much, I just want to call Dave a stupid whipper snapper and smack him with my cane. I want to kick his ass, as it were.