VHS and Betamax You Have Recently Rented

[Devon Malcolm]

Forgotten Island

Well this was fantastic. Probably Dreamworks' best animated film to date. Same co-director as The Croods 2 and Puss in Boots, and I love both of those but this was even better. Same absolutely mental pace but never tiring with it. Funny and emotional without being obnoxious about it, and the voice work is spot on. Dave Franco as a were-dog the unexpected highlight. The Never Tear Us Apart montage scene is an instant classic. Delighted to have dragged myself away from Mario Wonder to see it.

Pressure

The WWII meteorology film is good, no really! No big surprises here but well acted by all (even Brendan Fraser, who I've never got outside The Mummy films) and destined to be a dad film classic. I was the only one in so even better.

Spider Island

There was a time when Christopher Smith was on course to become one of the best horror directors in the world (remember when I used to bully you all into watching Triangle) - but that time has long since passed. Takes a lot for me to not enjoy a monster movie like this but it's just not good. You do get to see Tim McInnerny lick a toad but just watch Sting or Infested instead.

Evil Dead Burn

I suppose it was only a matter of time before this franchise tackled TRAUMA. The previous one wasn't very good, this is quite shit. Just tiresome brutality with no break and an amazingly stupid post-credits scene. Stop making these now.

Handsome Guys

Korean loose remake of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Just as funny, even stupider. Loses marks for no Katrina Bowden, gets them back with Gong Seung-yeon. Really enjoyed this.

Queens of the Dead

Disappointed in this. Directed by George Romero's daughter but doesn't contain anywhere near enough horror or danger. Katy O'Brien and Jack Haven (<3) are ace but just watch Slay instead if you want a good drag queen horror-comedy.

Slugs

Superbly disgusting horror film about a mutant slug invasion of an American town. Some awesome practical effects in this. Reminded me of The Blob (remake) in all good ways. What a great double-bill that would be.

The Devil Rides Out

One of Hammer's best. Christopher Lee as a good guy for once, some lovely cheesy effects, never stops being a great time. One of the best folk horrors.

Maniac Cop / Maniac Cop 2

William Lustig and Larry Cohen was a match made in B-movie heaven. Both these are still great, especially the first one. I'm conflicted on Matt Cordell killing all these cops while also being a cop, though. We never did get the Refn remake, did we. Thank fuck.

The Exorcist III

This is so fucking good. Deserves to be regarded as a classic in its own right rather than as 'the good Exorcist sequel'. Can confirm *that* scene is still one of the scariest ever created.

Haunted School

Awesome Japanese kids horror film about some kids trapped in, well, a haunted school. Lovely effects, always quite mental, surprised it was never remade in America. If you can find it you won't regret it.

[gmoney]

Fire in the Sky

Interesting alien abduction movie that whiffs the ending completely. I didn't realise until after I watched it that it was based on someone's memoir of their claim they were abducted, which sort of explains why it fizzles out. The scenes on the space ship are genuinely excellent though, and it's a really well shot film.

R.O.T.O.R

There are millions of low budget, terrible rip off films out there, but only a few (Samurai Cop, Miami Connection) have that magic fascinating watchability where every scene your wondering why any choice was made, and what shite is coming up next. This belongs in that family. This is a Robocop/Terminator knock off which was apparently first written as a comedy but then attempted to be turned into something more serious. The remnants of jokes in the script are by far the least funny thing about it. 

Cry-Baby

Love John Walters, loved this film. Johnny Depp is in it, which is a bummer these days, but it's just wall to wall fun otherwise. 

Edited 53 minutes ago by gmoney

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Just on the way back from seeing Street Fighter and gotta say it’s the absolute definition of a popcorn flick, it’s not as corny as the 90s movie, though there’s a couple of nods to that and the action scenes are well done if a little CG heavy

As for the actors well David Dastmalchian is superb as Bison, Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji are perfectly cast as Ken and Ryu and Jason Momoa steals the scene as Blanka in the same way he did as Lobo in Supergirl over the summer

Cody is ok as Guile, certainly better than JCVD was, but doesn’t really play that big a part, Roman phones it in as Akuma as most of his appearances come in the anime flashbacks and Goto only appears for one fight scene as Honda

Its a solid 7/10 and I’ll be down for a sequel for sure

[SaitoRyo]

@Devon Malcolm Might need to revisit Exorcist III. I remember thinking a lot of it, but it's been years and years. And @gmoney did you check out Fire in the Sky based on my recent watching? I really, really liked it and the ending didn't really stick out as bad to me personally. It had already built up a lot of goodwill with me by that point, mind. 

Anyway...

Special Effects

A egomaniacal film director kills a budding starlet and then makes a movie about it, casting her estranged husband in the lead role.

A very strange and interesting film, this, directed by Larry Cohen. Sort of like a giallo with a bit of the De Palmas about it. Some incredibly vibrant colours and great set design. Script's not all that and the performances vary, but I was intrigued throughout and I love anything that captures gritty 80s New York. I'd call it 'good trash'.

[gmoney]

7 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

 And @gmoney did you check out Fire in the Sky based on my recent watching? I really, really liked it and the ending didn't really stick out as bad to me personally. It had already built up a lot of goodwill with me by that point, mind. 

I didn't actually remember your review (don't take that personally, I remember almost nothing, ever), it's actually coming up on a move podcast I listen to (shout out Action Boyz). I just felt for what they had built up it was very flat, but I do rate the movie highly overall.