One of the many movies I first saw when I was a kid that didn’t really cater to the Disney movie standards enforced on me by my parents, that incidentally enough helped nurture my love for movies, was Wes Craven’s 1986 horror romance “Deadly Friend.” For those completely unaware, “Deadly Friend” one of the least notable Wes Craven horror pictures even if it’s his most creative after “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Merging a science fiction killer robot concept with a revenge plot, director Craven tells the story of a young genius who moves to a new town to work on a project at the local college. You see this young man has a thorough understanding of the brain, and is destined for great things. Which is made apparent by his robotic sidekick BB.
Tag Archives: Revenge
Red (2008)
Brian Cox has proven himself to be one of the most underrated actors of all time. While he’s consistently a character actor who works in small often thankless roles, when he’s put on the spot with the right script, he can turn in an amazing performance. “Red” is a bleak and often somber revenge film where Cox is really able to shine on his own. What’s interesting about Jack Ketchum’s stories is that they’re relentless and often unflinching stories about the utter epitomes of human cruelty and the ability of the human to be as utterly amoral as possible, and often times the figures in his stories are either too old or too young to do anything to battle the cruelty.
Sex Hunter: Wet Target (Sekkusu hantâ: Nureta hyôteki) (1972) (DVD)
I was very disappointed to see the back of the DVD case for “Sex Hunter” compare this short Roman Porno to “Thriller: A Cruel Picture.” It’s very misleading to pair one of the greatest grindhouse revenge thrillers ever made to “Sex Hunter.” It’s an hour long endurance test in tedium and finishes with a climax that is both abrupt and incredibly unsatisfying. Granted, there’s not much to expect in the way of characters and action from a movie barely clocking in at seventy minutes, but a little blood shed wouldn’t have hurt.
Bad Boys (1983)
After “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” actor Sean Penn barely skidded the realm of being typecast and completely destroyed his break out role by taking on a new form as a dramatic actor. One of his more intense efforts is the 1983 “Bad Boys,” an underrated but excellent near masterpiece about boys on the verge of being men who don’t realize they’re about to become hardened criminals if they don’t break out of their cycles of violence soon. “Bad Boys” is a message at the core about when these young men will transform in to individuals capable of being tried as adults and when they will eventually make it in to an actual penitentiary. In the realm of “Bad Boys,” the penitentiary is the final stop for these young men, and counselor Ramon Herrerra makes a point of showing main character Mick O’Brien his environment, if he doesn’t find a way to change his fate soon.
Deadly Weapon (1989)
Allegedly Michael Miner’s “Deadly Weapon” was supposed to be a sequel to Charles Band’s notoriously awful cult riot “Laserblast.” But when Empire pictures fell, Band basically turned the sequel in to its own film. Really, “Deadly Weapon” feels so much like a remake of “Laser Blast,” and an unnecessary one at that. Like its predecessor it’s hilariously bad and filled with so much horrible editing and acting, it’s more funny than it is entertaining.
Fireball (2009)
When I read the premise for this and discovered Ian Somerhalder was starring I was a little excited. I mean Ian Somerhalder as a bad ass fire throwing villain could be excellent, especially considering he has a knack for playing sharp villains. But then I learned that he’s merely the protagonist and we’re instead given a bulky bald muscle bound man who can throw fire, and I just settled on Somerhalder playing the hero. Fair enough. In spite of being derivative and feeling like a glorified television pilot, “Fireball” is a pretty solid action thriller that teams up genre actress Lexa Doig and television mainstay Ian Somerhalder as law officials who have to chase around a fire controlling maniac through the country and find a way to stop his madness.
Waffle (2010)
This is one of the few times in my life where I’ve seen a waffle filmed on-screen and felt a twinge of disgust watching it. Director Rafael DeLeon equates the edible waffle desert with the character Wendy in his short film “Waffle,” and uses it as a symbolic way of revealing her apparent deformity that’s never quite revealed. The local high school alpha queen Dana indulges in a creepy dinner with local science genius and deformed high schooler Wendy and her mother.