Whovian

In general, I tend to appreciate low-budget films. Either I admire them for being creative within limited resources, or I laugh at them for utterly failing to accomplish their goals. Thus, I went into this film at least expecting to be mildly amused. Unfortunately, the movie falls into the most unwatchable category of film: the failed comedy. The script isn't much to begin with, and the cast is very weak; combine these two things with inconsistent, hard-to-understand fake accents, and you have an unwatchable mess. Since the whole thing is supposed to be funny, the viewer can't even have the luxury of laughing at it for falling short of its ambitions. Unless you enjoy cringing, I'd recommend looking elsewhere for entertainment.

I just watched this movie, and despite (or perhaps because of) my low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. While there's certainly nothing brilliant here in terms of plot or acting, a lot of work and creativity went into the special effects. Not every effect works, but the ones that came out right are quite nice-looking. Fans of stop-motion animation should definitely check this out; early stop-motion effects in the film are pretty crude, but as the film progresses, the animation keeps getting better and better. At the end... well, just see for yourself.

Last summer I picked up a copy of Geoffrey Household's novel, DANCE OF THE DWARFS. I had recently taped the film on late-night TV and figured someday it would be interesting to compare the two versions of the work. I have now read the book and watched the film, and I must say that a comparison is difficult; if I hadn't known from the credits that the book had inspired the movie, I'd have thought the few vague similarities between the works were pure coincidence! The novel is written in the form of an agricultural researcher's journal and, while it has its flaws, manages to be suspenseful and to introduce some interesting ideas. The film, on the other hand, is a painfully unthrilling adventure movie reminiscent in many ways of the unfortunate 1985 remake of KING SOLOMON'S MINES. The most tragic difference between the book and the film is that the interesting and graceful creatures of the novel have been replaced here by guys jumping around in rubber suits. The novel wasn't that great, but it didn't deserve this horrible treatment.

This film is pretty much what you'd expect from an Alien rip-off starring Linnea Quigley. It makes little sense, has some gratuitous sex and violence, and ultimately isn't very satisfying. The effects, acting, and script are all quite bad, and the film has few redeeming features. Nonetheless, it can be kind of fun in a mind-numbing way, and there are two or three scenes where the creature effects don't look completely awful. These minor saving graces don't help much, however; this film should only be watched in emergency monster movie shortages.

This is really quite an awful movie, but there are a number of moments when it is so awful you can't help but laugh. See the badly animated green laser eyes! See the car which explodes before hitting the ground! Hear the man explain to his wife that the accident at work occurred when a crane "came out of nowhere!" I definitely recommend this film if you like bad movies.

I'm quite a fan of the horror/comedy genre, but I found this film rather disappointing. There are a few laughs, and the make-up effects are very impressive, but overall this just isn't nearly as entertaining as Evil Dead II, or (strangely enough) Return of the Living Dead II. The film is not without merit, but it didn't seem to me to be the classic that so many claim it is.

This film is a quite entertaining horror anthology film (along the lines of Tales from the Crypt) written by Robert Bloch (author of Psycho). It's good fun for horror fans and has an excellent cast. The movie should also be required viewing for Doctor Who fans since Jon Pertwee (the third Doctor) has an amusing role as a rude and obnoxious horror star!

Unfortunately, this film is not worth wasting time on. Despite a good cast and the occasional humorous moment, the film is almost unwatchable due to its slow pace and familiar plot. Watch an X-Files episode instead.

Although the video box for many copies of this film claims it is about people turned inside out, this is a total lie. In fact, apart from the opening segment, the film isn't even a horror movie. With its sunken treasure, legions of fish people, and mad scientists, it's a lot more like a Doug McClure adventure movie. Obviously, this film is no work of art, but it's kind of fun to watch... Just be warned that the beginning is quite gory.

Ever since Kevin Williamson somehow managed to create a fairly entertaining script (for Scream), he has been ripping himself off and doing the same thing again and again. Unfortunately, he seems to do a worse job with each successive rewrite. This film, a tribute/parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, seems to support this descending quality trend; it fails in almost every area. First of all, the pacing is awful; what was tense the first time this plot was done is simply boring now. Secondly, the "clever" references to the novels of Robert Heinlein and Jack Finney suggest very strongly that Williamson has never read the books...or even the Cliff's notes! In fact, the only really redeeming feature of the film is a fairly nifty monster at the end. Wait till this comes out on video, then use your fast forward button liberally.

Poor Donald Pleasence! He's been in a lot of really awful films, and this is one of the worst. He was known for putting in good performances even when handed a bad script, but in this disaster, he doesn't even try. In addition to the apathy of the cast, the scriptwriter obviously didn't care too much since this film makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There are fissures bursting open at random, men running around in Creature from the Black Lagoon costumes, a gratuitous song, a mysterious dagger, lots of tunnels, but no logic.

Mutator is a rather disappointing entry in the mutant monster on the loose genre. The creatures appear to be bipedal, muscular, slime-dripping cat creatures, but they're never shown very clearly. The only notable thing about this film is that one of its characters is (coincidentally) named Kevin Murphy, appropriate since Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo is voiced by an actor sharing that name.

I am a big fan of monster movies, and Alien rip-offs usually entertain me. Galaxy of Terror has always looked promising, but now that I have seen it, I have to say it's not really worth the time. It's more of a gore film than a monster movie, and apart from a few seconds of decent stop-motion, the creatures in the film aren't particularly interesting. The gore, I might add, is not much more convincing. Skip this one unless you're really bored.

I normally hate post-apocalyptic science fiction, but I'll make an exception for Mindwarp. Despite gratuitous gore and a cast with some weak members, the film manages to be entertaining. Good use is made of a low budget, and an intriguing (if ugly) world is created. If you're a science fiction fan, this movie should be at least a little more satisfying than most genre entries.