Reviews

One of the most wonderful and loving people I've ever had the pleasure to meet is my dear departed Aunt Kathy. A truly kind and beautiful soul. Back in the day she used to do nannying for Ivan Reitman; producer of Ghostbusters, Stripes, Heavy Metal and other such Hollywood blockbusters.

Anyway, screwing around on IMDB I discovered an Ivan Reitman directed low budget film from 1973 shot in Beaverton and staring Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin! And to make matters better; it's called Cannibal Girls!

Listen; I am very well versed in low budget 70's horror. And this movie is no different in the expected clunkiness of the plot and pisspoor nature of the special effects. Films of this era would generally compensate for these shortcomings by peppering scenes with unnecessary toplessness, a tactic that is also used here.

However, something that Cannibal Girls does have that many of its peers don't is great performances. Levey, Martin, The Reverend, the titillating cannibal girls and their victims are all great. In fact the film was shown in Spain's 1973 International Horror Film festival and Levey took home best actor along with Martin snagging best actress.

Ultimately this all boils down to a bonafide hidden gem. A slice of early 70's rural southern Ontario that isn't easily found in other films.

I'll watch the odd cooking show, no doubt. My cullinary repertoire includes Gordon Ramsay's braised lamb shanks and Jamie Oliver's Boxing Day Bread Pudding. Back in the day those Japanese Iron Chefs were a cozy Bolton night for me and Susie.

But of all the celebrity chef shows I've seen, none top (well maybe Good Eats but the ruins my point) Heston Blumenthal's "In Search of Perfection". The show focuses on making everyday meals as perfect as culinarily possible. He goes to the lengths of using brain scans to see how people react to various flavours.

It's truly great stuff and well worth the time for any foodie.

Mikey and Nicky (1976) is one of those wonderful mysteries that unravel using that clever storytelling device of starting the tale at the midpoint. We see Nicky (John Cassavetes) hiding out in a hotel room in the thrawls of a paranoid delirium and Mikey (Peter Faulk) trying to calm and help him in some way.

What ensues is a frantic zigzag across New York that takes place over the course of a single night. Each destination revealing aspects of their characters, their relationship with one another and the events that transpired to lead up to what we're seeing.

The thing that struck me most is how much of the screen Peter Faulk chews up. Some may criticize this character for being too much like Columbo or the Princess Bride grandfather. It's a fair observation; but the guy is just so damn mesmerizing. I could watch him all day.

If I was the nitpicking type I'd say a bit of a flaw is starting the third act a touch too soon. By far the most entertaining parts of the film are when the audience is engaged in trying to understand what's happening. Once everything is revealed it's a bit of an obvious race to an inevitable conclusion.

Watch it where you can find it.

8/10.

It's a cruel world for movies like An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn.

You have a young filmmaker (Jim Hosking) making stylized, unique and hilarious comedies and the audience treats him with apathy.

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is my kind romcom. A comedic cast of heavyweights like Jermaine Clement, Matt Berry, and Craig Robinson plus Aubrey Plaza channeling her inner Christina Ricci create a strong foundation of awkwardness and quirk. And that score! The relationship that Hosking has with Andrew Hung is on a level to what Lynch and Badalamenti had.

It's awesome.

But what do you get? Greasy Strangler and An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn end up being just two unnoticeable flops in a sea of franchise drivel. With seemingly no new work other than the odd TV episode coming Hosking's way. Mark my words, these films are highly regarded cult favourites of future generations.

Watch it where you can find it; 7/10.

Demonoid opens with three hooded characters engaged in mortal combat. During the mallee one of the fighters' garb is shredded, revealing a buxom bare-chested blonde. And that's where the film peaks; about two minutes in, prior to the opening credits.

The basic premise of Demonoid is that a silver miner unearths a dismembered hand that has the ability to possess its victims. Think "Thing" from the Addams family that crawls around trying to attach itself to people so it can do bad stuff. Why it does what it does is thankfully unexplained, sparing the audience any more time trying to dredge through this cheese.

The plot is meandering, the cast is stiff, the effects are cheap. This was a film that Quinton Tarantino and Roger Avery promoted as great fun and at times ingenious. I found no evidence of such claims.

Free for you on Tubi; though that's overpriced.

4/10.

I've been listening to the Video Archives podcast with Quentin Tarantino and ex-video store co-worker/friend Roger Avery. Highly recommended.

The first episode is on John Carpenter's debut film, Dark Star from 1974. A low budget comedy/sci-fi student turned feature film. The whole thing was made for $60,000. I imagine many looking at it with 2023 eyes would feel it's an overspend but doing something this ambitious with such a tight budget is almost unheard of.

The plot consists of a group of slackers on an intergalactic hunt to destroy unstable planets struggling with the malaise of the mission.

Honestly, it's actually pretty funny. Comedy ages like milk and there's enough dryness with this delivery to evoke the desired results. And Dan O'Bannon's physical comedy is just timeless. Tarantino equated it to Bruce Campbell's performance in Evil Dead II. It's not. But it's pretty darn good, especially an elevator shaft sequence.

The special effects are kinda what you'd expect from someone (very, very creative) doing a science fiction film in 1974 on a shoestring budget. Lots of clever stuff certainly, but it's impossible to not see that a key antagonist is a beach ball.

The other thing that suprised me which shouldn't have is Carpenter's musical ability. Like most his films he does the score. He does a couple of country tunes on this that are great.

Saw this on Xumo in HD for free. Tubi's also got it for free in SD.

6/10.

I hadn't heard of this franchise until last Halloween when reports of people vomiting in theatres from this obscure sequel started popping up. This led me to catch the first one on Tubi last October; the review can be seen in the archives.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag.

The good is Art the Clown. He's simply film's greatest slasher. Better than Jason, Myers, Freddie, Leatherface and whoever. Art is heads and shoulders the best.

The bad is the storyline. The first Terrifier had a "fly by the seat of your pants" aspect to it where common slasher troupes are deviated from. There was a strong sense of unpredictability. Unfortunately the sequel is the opposite, it takes a very cookie cutter 80's slasher methodology. Even worse, striving for an ambitious origin story for Art that is left unresolved.

The ugly is the gore. Particularly one scene trying to one up a famous kill in part one. Gonna be honest, i watched this eating maple cookies and milk. It's definitely extreme gore but obviously fake gore. Not theatre leaving stuff. It's great for what it is. No CGI that I could tell thankfully.

It's good. If you like slashers I'd go as far as saying must watch. I'd love to see a crossover between the Terrifier franchise and the "Sex in the City" universe.

6.5/10.

Decent flick but Slater was in full Nicholson copycat mode. And not in a good way. Standard 80's high school clique dark comedy with entertaining gags.