Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention but what is the Bloodstone supposed to do, anyway? The entire first film of “Subspecies” revolves around the sacred macguffin called the Bloodstone. Allegedly it’s supposed to drip the blood of the saints but then what? Does that grant the vampire god-like abilities? Isn’t that a bit redundant considering a vampire is already near invincible? Does it allow them to walk during the day? Does it make them holy or something? I could never quite figure out what if anything the bloodstone was for. “Subspecies” in spite of its inherent narrative faults and logic gaps is a time when Full Moon was trying to deliver us quality entertainment.
Tag Archives: Romance
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
As a fictional character, Zorro is the original superhero. He inspired Batman, The Shadow, and the like, a masked man with a dark persona who uses his wits and wily cunning to win battles in a world where evil men rule. Zorro is a man whose entire origin resembles Bruce Wayne, The Batman. An aristocrat by day, Don Diego is a playboy who lives in the period era of California who hobnobs with yuppies of his ilk and authorities. By night he’s a masked man with a faithful servant who wields swords and weaponry alike to fight crime and take on bandits and warlords of all kinds.
Frankenhooker (1990) [Blu-Ray]
I liken “Frankenhooker” very much to the classic “Re-Animator.” That is if “Re-Animator” were conceived by a mentally deranged chimpanzee. Even as a dark horror comedy “Frankenhooker” is a film that has to be taken with a grain of salt. It’s so monumentally moronic and ridiculous that I couldn’t believe what I was seeing most of the time. Of course going in to a film named “Frankenhooker” you’re not going to get high art, but Frank Henenlotter takes viewer expectations and drags it in to the mud with a shit eating grin. “Frankenhooker” is yet another take on “Frankenstein” with a bit of a Lovecraft twist that really is never as creative as it thinks it is.
House Party 3 (1994)
You can tell that “House Party 3” is pretty much where Kid and Play are on the way out, pop culture wise. It seems while New Line Cinema funded their first two films, they drastically cut the budget for this third entry in to the series. And it shows big time. It looks dated. Even more dated than the first one. The photography is hazy, the camera work is amateur, there is an obscene amount of close ups on character faces, and the comedy is nowhere to be found. There isn’t a single laugh to be had here. And the slapstick escapist tone is all but missing.
House Party 2 (1991)
Kid has had a tough road ahead of him. In the original “House Party” we learn his mom died, and when we meet him in the sequel his father has died too. This is obviously to coincide with the death of comedian Robin Harris who played Kid’s father in the original, and it’s sad he couldn’t present us with a funny performance for this sequel. He was hilarious in the original, and a great foil for Kid. This time around Kid is living with Play, now an orphan, and is on his way to college. This is a great addition to Kid’s back story and adds some real emotional anchor to the film, because Kid is now pressured to live up to his dad’s legacy and achieve an education that his dad was so desperate for him to accomplish.
House Party (1990)
Kid n Play originally began their careers as rap rivals, and you can sense a lot of that rivalry in their performances as Kid and Play in “House Party.” Much of that interplay of two rappers pitted against each other is carried over, even though the film establishes them as best friends. Very often “House Party” involves Kid and Play making a move on the same girl, and competing for attention not only for their friends, but from pretty much everyone they come across. Because of that “House Party” is a bonafide party film that is quite the entertaining guilty pleasure, if you’re willing to re-visit the early nineties. Born from the remnants of the eighties, “House Party” is a film that’s awfully dated but still very fun and equally funny to sit through.
The Man With the Iron Fists (2012)
It’s disheartening to see that deep down, composer and hip hop artist RZA is just another filmmaker who wants to be Quentin Tarantino. It’s not a surprise to fuel the funding for “The Man with the Iron Fists,” he teams up with another popular Tarantino wannabe Eli Roth, to make a film that desperately wants to be “Kill Bill.” Tarantino can often border on obnoxious with his films, so for wannabes to keep popping up delivering relentlessly obnoxious throwbacks feels like a waste of time and resources. I assume RZA and writer Eli Roth imagined this being shown in double bills with the “Kill Bill” series or, at least “Grindhouse.” RZA displays all the hallmarks of a man anxious to be considered in the realm of Quentin Tarantino’s wonderful chop socky tribute “Kill Bill.”