Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula (2011)

bcvdAh that Dracula sure does get around, doesn’t he? He’s met more historical figures than Forrest Gump. In the grand tradition of “Billy the Kid vs. Dracula,” “Emmanuelle vs. Dracula” and “Batman vs. Dracula” comes the lost adventure of two of the world’s most notorious criminals and their confrontation with the lord of darkness. Timothy Friend’s horror crime thriller is in the hokey tradition of absurd battles and there hasn’t been one more absurd since Bonnie and Clyde’s meeting with the undead. Tiffany Shepis stars as Bonnie along Trent Haaga as Clyde in their efforts to thwart off rival criminals and the lawman as they travel across the country. Now down on their luck after a series of unfortunate events leave them penniless and without a car, they meet up with an old friend promising them a big job robbing a local bank.

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Species: The Awakening (2007)

saWe’re told in the first two “Species” movies that once the alien/human being begins to mature in to a woman of sexual charisma, she becomes a predatory monster. She wants to and has to pro-create. We’re also told in the sequel that the male has also the urge to breed and pro-create. So why our protagonist Miranda has no idea she’s part human and part alien until she’s told, is a major plot hole. This is of course only one part of the bigger problem in “Species: The Awakening” the final part in the “Species” series that continues to drive the film franchise from Hollywood fodder to DVD to fodder. Did no one noticed Miranda went from a child to an adult female in a day? Did she never figure out that she wasn’t given a teenage life by the lack of pictures? Why didn’t she ever ask questions about her parents?

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Species II (1998)

Species_III never actually understood the appeal of the first two “Species” film. The first film basically piggybacked on the revelation of sex bomb shell Natash Henstridge who incidentally ended up being a one note actress, and then the series inevitably fizzled out in to obscurity. Natasha Henstridge looks about as incredible as ever, and as Eve she presents a surprisingly significant change in personality and demeanor. This is a new shade of the monster where as Sil was much more “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” based around its predatorial habits, Eve is The Creature in “The Creature Walks Among Us,” still vicious but much more vulnerable and open to humanity, for better or for worse. It’s easy to buy that Sil and Eve are different entities, and Henstridge carries this career making role well and looks dynamite with shorter hair.

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Firestarter 2: Rekindled (2002)

In the start of the first decade of the millennium, television networks across the country were mining once popular properties to transform in to television series. TNT sought out “Salem’s Lot” for a series and failed. NBC sought out “Carrie” for a new series and it never blossomed in to anything, and the Scifi Channel in America provided an unofficial sequel to Drew Barrymore’s film “Firestarter” which was basically a two and a half hour television mini-series that they presumed would become a television series. And it never progressed. Which is a shame, because while “Firestarter 2” is no masterpiece much like the first, it had potential to be cult fodder, what with storylines it props up, villains it introduces and the like. I fondly remember seeing “Rekindled” when it originally appeared on television and I found it to be fairly entertaining. Nine years later, it’s still rather entertaining.

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Ernest Triple Feature DVD Set (DVD)

Hey Vern! Guess what? Ernest is on DVD again! And this time Mill Creek Entertainment is bringing us the follow up to their release of “Hey Vern!” and it’s a triple feature of three of the most questionable Ernest films ever made. Sure, to the American public they may not be classics, but to those of us who grew up with the lovable Ernest whose intentions were at least admirable, you can’t help but feel a considerable fondness and soft hearted approach toward three movies that vary vastly in style and tone. “Ernest Goes to Jail” is a definite Ernest outing that dabbles on the verge of adult humor and is much too surreal and dark for kids to actually enjoy. But on the upside there is “Ernest Scared Stupid!” a definite kids film in which Ernest must fight tree trolls with Miak that’s kind of spooky but intended as a Halloween film with some good hearted humor and Ernest’s usual sense of attire that varies from the “wacky” to the “what the hell?”

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Fight the Foot (2011)

tmnt-fight-the-footNow this is what I call a fan film. Not only does it make good use of its resources, but it manages to re-invent the lore it pays tribute to all the while pleasing the fan base behind it. “Fight the Foot” is a proposed prologue to the new universe of the Ninja Turtles, a film made by the Reserve that is supposed to be a gritty re-working of the Turtle lore while also being respectful to the legacy.

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