This is a movie that is definitely one of a kind. It's a unique blend of horror and comedy with bizarre cast, some really colorful characters,great sets and lots of special effects. To give a small taste of how weird this movie is you need not look any further than the cast list: Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, John candy as two characters (one being a woman), a cameo from a very young Tupac Shakur (as a backup singer in the Digital Underground), and Dan Akroyd as three different characters in tons of heavy makeup. Dan Akroyd wrote, directed produced, and starred in this film as a 100 year old puritanical judge, and two morbidly obese redneck babies. The movie contains a spooky house full of booby traps and junk everywhere (think History channel's Hoarders), weird gadgets (including a train that delivers food and shoots pickles), and a deadly rollercoaster death machine called "Mister Bonestripper" that even has its own theme song. Other than what I just described of the film, it's plot can be very difficult
to describe due to its constant shift in mood, tone, and genre at times, so I will not try describe the plot here any further. I will add however that this film is essentially a Tim Burton comedy version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How anybody thought any of this movie up on their own, let alone combined it all is a feat in and of itself. The even more amazing accomplishment is that somehow somebody green-lit Dan Akroyd's bat-shit insane story and gave it a large hollywood budget. The movie was a huge box office flop on its initial release and indeed it is hard to call this film a "good" movie. There are a lot of hollywood cliches here in the form of forced romances, actors playing racial stereotypes, some overly annoying characters and other factors make the film indeed less than perfect. That being said though I have seen this movie three different times and watched it with four different people and have yet to find people (who already enjoy weird and unusual movies) that did not have fun while watching this. The movie's feel is so unique and it's such an oddity that it's uniqueness seems to be redeeming enough so that you can overlook its cheesiness and at times terrible jokes or gags. If you enjoy the weird and unusual, cult movies, or any of the film's stars, I recommend Nothing But Trouble, and I think this movie is ripe enough for a comeback as a cult classic. I give it 4/5. You can watch the trailerhere. P.S. someone please help me turn this amazing still of dan akroyd eating a hot dog into a gif or meme, thank you.
I had high hopes for this one because I'm a huge fan of The Monster Squad (1987) and Night of the Creeps was the first film for the Monster Squad's director Fred Dekker (House[1986], Robocop 3[1993]). Night of the Creeps is a wonderful cross genre film, with parts of it fitting into Sci-fi, horror, comedy, action, romance, slasher, and everything in between. Night of the creeps is one part tribute to 50s Sci-Fi B films, one part teen scream (horror movie that appeals to teens), one part parasitic alien film, one part detective film, and one part crazy Animal House-esque comedy. With all those areas to cover it would be fairly easy to mess up in any one of them or have the film not feel like a whole, but Dekker wrote a phenomenal screenplay for the film and never at any point do the films different genre components take away from the strength of the plot or the film as a whole. This is as classic as 80s movies get, the movie has all the classic 80s sterotypes but at the same time it has so many things most 80s movies, or movies in general for that matter, don't have. The film's highlights include a wonderful wise cracking character who happens to be crippled (you don't so many disabled people in movies in general and this film creates a wonderful character who's strong despite his affliction), great catchy phrases from the detective character (every time he answers a phone or acknowledges someone he says "Thrill Me!"), killing zombies with Flame Throwers, explosions, lawn mowers and more, puppet aliens, great special effects and wonderful Animal House inspired Frat antics. The plot is that parasitic aliens have gotten lose into town the night of the college's formal dance, there's a lot more to it than that but it's best to just see it. Sure there were some parts where the acting is poor or some lines that make no sense (such as the detective shouting "it's Miller time!" while killing a zombie), but overall the screenplay is absolutely wonderful, and so are the actors. The special effects were made by some of the soon to be greatest make-up and special effects artists in Hollywood. Everyone usually raves about the actor Tom Atkins and his performance as the hard boiled detective in this movie, and while I love his character and his dialogue, I don't think it's a role that couldn't have been pulled
off just as well by another actor, though this is probably his best loved role. This film is a huge cult classic and ultimately was denied success in its time like so many genre bending films because people didn't know how to market it. The film is also insanely quotable with my favorite line being the one that is echoed in the poster up there: "I've got good news and bad news girls, the good news is your dates are here" "What's the bad news?" "They're dead." The film has endured over the years because of its intense cult following, and we can only hope that they will keep it around for as long as films can be accessed on one format or another. I give it a 5/5. The movie is featured in Rue Morgue Magazine's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need to See book, and you can watch the trailer below:
Predating most of the 80s classic teen comedies (John Hughes films included) was this unique film. The film is about people in the L.A. area of California who are all getting ready to watch the arrival of comet fly overhead one night, but then due to unforeseen forces (radiation or possibly some alien bacteria) all who were exposed to the comet were either immediately vaporized, or turned into zombies (those who were in a house as opposed to watching the comet outside). At first it seems only two teenage valley girls (both sisters) survived unharmed (all those who were behind steel structures remained unaffected) and all of L.A. is now their playground. The film is unique not only in its plot but also with its characters and their interactions with each other. The girls' father is in the Military Special Ops forces, and apparently he did weapon and combat training with each of them from a
very young age, so though they are typical 80s teenagers in many ways, they are different because they know their weapons and prefer Uzies, also the older sister is really into/good at video games, and nerdy things like Superman. The film is advertised as a comedy but I didn't find it that funny at all actually, (except for my favorite line of the movie: "I'm not crazy! I just don't give a fuck!") but it was still fun and enjoyable because of how unique and different it is. The movie has a very fitting 80s soundtrack and the highlight of the film (or at least most famous scene) is when the girls go on a shopping spree at an abandoned mall. As interesting as the movie was it never really built to a proper climax in my opinion and it just kind of ended without any kind of (or at least very little) resolution. I still liked it though and recommend it if you dig 80s movies, zombie movies, post-apocalyptic movies, horror comedies, or teen movies in general. The movie is now available on Instant Streaming on Netflix, or you can also find the full movie in decent quality on YouTube here. I give it a 4.25/5, and you can view the trailer below:
Just watched this one last night. This is another one that I've been meaning to watch for forever, but just never got around to it, but I finally got around to it and it's well worth a watch. For those of you that aren't familiar with this movie's premise, here it is: Bruce Campbell plays an elderly Elvis (the real one who switched lives with an impersonator back in the 70s) living in a nursing home in texas with a black man who's convinced he's JFK (Ossie Davis), and their nursing home and its residents are under attack by an ancient mummy, and Elvis and black JFK have to save the day (that is quite possibly one of the craziest sentences I've ever written). If you are a sane intelligent human being, chances are you read that synopsis and said "oh my god, that sounds crazy," for some of you it should make sense though if I told you the movie was directed by Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, John Dies at the End (2012). For those of you who don't know the insanity that is Don Coscarelli let me explain/describe the other movies he's best known for: Phantasm (1979) is the story of a boy and a disgruntled Ice cream man battling a demonic/alien mortician named "the tall man" and a metal flying orb with blades on it that drills through peoples skulls, and John Dies at the End (2012) (which I previously reviewed) is about two college aged men who take a mysterious drug called "soy sauce" and become paranormal interdimensional warriors. So this film fits perfectly into Coscarelli's usual brand
of craziness. Bruce Campbell is hilarious and very believable as an elderly Elvis who regrets switching identities with an impersonator so he could escape fame and start over, he misses Priscilla, Lisa Marie, and the fame. But with the arrival of the mummy wreaking havoc on the Shady Oaks rest home he has found a new reason to live; to save the shady oaks residents. The chemistry between Cambpell and Ossie Davis is perfect and the movie is laugh out loud funny. It's also great to see Campbell in another role after Army of Darkness (1992) where he can call everybody "baby" and be "the king" again. The movie is relatively low budget (like most of coscarelli's movies) but the makeup and special effects are effective. Also make no mistake, though this is a definite comedy, it is a horror movie, a horror-comedy, the creepy atmosphere in the old folks home at night is very well done. The humor is pretty vulgar, that's just a head's up in case vulgar humor's not your thing. There are also lots of great lines like " I hate to tell you this Jack, but Kennedy wasn't black." "I know that, they dyed me this color!" If you're a fan of wacky movies, or horror movies/horror comedies, I highly recommend this one. Also if you like either Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) or The Big Lebowski (1998) this one has a similar wacky feel to it. I give it a 4.5/5; This film is available to be streamed on Netflix, and it is also available through Xfinity OnDemand with Comcast. For some reason Blogger won't let me upload the trailer I want as a youtube clip so I'll put the link to the better version of the trailers for it here.
This is the newest film by director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, Bubba Ho-tep [features Bruce Campbell as an elderly Elvis battling a mummy in a nursing home for crying out loud!], and Beastmaster). It is a wacky non linear film (what Coscarelli film isn't wacky?) that features Dave and John, two college dropouts who are also interdimensional paranormal warriors. This movie is like a cross between Buckaroo Banzai, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Ghostbusters. The plot is super confusing and don't even worry about understanding it because this film is purely enjoyable because of its weirdness alone, as well as its humor, the acting is good but this isn't a movie you watch for the acting, the heroes battle a monster made entirely out of deli meats and has an uncooked chicken for a head!
(that is not the main villain of the film though) This one has Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown as its biggest name actors, and spoiler John doesn't die at the end. Who would have thunk this craziness didn't just come from the mind of Coscarelli, it was a book first, and a web-serial even before that. Genre wise this movie is a mix between sci-fi horror comedy and action. I'll say this I thought it was good, I didn't love it, but if it was a new TV show I would totally watch it, (I don't like most new TV shows) it would be like a wackier more indie version of Supernatural. It's almost too wacky for me though, I give it a 4/5, view the trailer below:
Not much to say about this one, it was ok but I don't see why it had 3 sequels. Special effects were good but there are better 80s creature horror comedies out there like Gremlins (1984). I give it a 3-3.5/5 (trivia: Leonardo Dicaprio's first movie was Critters 3). Trailer is below:
