Forbidden World (1982)–Pretty Generic Monster Sci-Fi
I watched Forbidden World not expecting much – I wasn’t disappointed.
A generic feeling early 80’s Sci-Fi movie, this is a dark and visually muddy movie. A specialist is sent to a planet where experiments in creating a high protein food source has gone awry when the creature the scientists have created (a mutant, hybrid between human and whatever), goes rogue and starts killing and transforming the crew of the outpost.
The mature creature looks a little like an obese version of the Alien from, well.. Alien, and it’s pre-transformation looks a little like a you might see inhabiting the thermal vents of the Marianas trench. The actors are people I’ve never heard of, there’s a little bit of 80’s breast and that’s it.
I’ve seen worse, but I’ve also seen much better. This movie seems to have a little bit of a cult following. I wonder if that is due to people who saw the movie at a young and impressionable age.
Anyway, I watched it on Netflix.
Here is the trailer:
Basket Case Trilogy (1982,1990,1992)–Hilariously Ridiculous
Wow… I had never heard of the Basket Case movies until my buddy suggested we watch them about a month ago. Well, last night we finished the last of the three movies and I have to say that I was left pleasantly surprised at how much these movies entertained me.
The Basket Case movies tell the story of two Siamese, or co-joined twins, separated in childhood. One twin, Duane Bradley (played hilariously cheezily by Kevin Van Hentenryck) is a fully formed, mostly normal looking guy, but his brother, Belial, is a disgusting blob of flesh with one dangerously powerful arm and, a very strong leg and a disturbingly human face with a mouth full of jagged, dangerous teeth. Belial is a dangerous character who is understandable unbalanced. Spending most of his time in a basket (hence the name of the movies), he and Duane have a psychic bond and can communicate without words). Duane and Belial were separated against their will when children in a horrific home surgery. Now Belial and Duane are looking for revenge on the doctor’s that did the brutal operation. Belial, extracting his revenge – this little guy is a damned efficient killing machine – having killed a large number of people, gets into a scuffle and he and Duane fall out a window together. Apprehended and brought to a hospital, they both escape.
Basket Case 2 picks up where Basket Case left off – now Duane and Bradley find themselves in the home of Granny Ruth (played by Annie Ross), a woman who has taken it upon herself to provide sanctuary for horribly and bizarrely deformed people. The cast of strange creatures is interesting and funny – I thing the creature designer on this film most likely had a great time. This is a place where Belial can feel at home and not have to hide from the world. Duane, though is having a tougher time fitting in, as he feels like the outsider. That said, he manages to fall in love with Granny Ruth’s assistant, Susan (played by Heather Rattray), a seemingly normal young lady – and it seems that she loves Duane, too. Also, Belial finds love himself when he falls for a similarly mutated Eve. Soon Granny Ruth’s sanctuary is threatened by a sleazy reporter and photographer. Duane and Belial decide to organize the ragtag group of mutants into an efficient and deadly defence. After saving the day, Duane and Susan start to get it on… and Duane finds out the real reason Susan stays with Granny Ruth. Duane flips out and goes off the mental deep end (and something happens to Susan)… And the movie ends. Oh, I can’t forget to mention the weirdest love scene ever between two lumps of mutated flesh.
Basket Case 3, starts the moment Basket Case 2 ends. Duane wakes up to find himself in a straight jacket, calling out to whomever claiming that he’s all better now. Granny Ruth enters his padded cell and explains how long he’s been there and why. She also gives him some good news: he’s going to be an uncle, as Belial has impregnated Eve. Eve, being massively mutated, is starting to go into labour, and Granny Ruth is concerned that she may require medical attention. She packs up the entire group of mutants into a school bus and they take off to a sympathetic Doctor referred to as Uncle Hal. Uncle Hal has been taking care of a genius, multi-armed mutant, Little Hal. Duane, still a loose, mildly crazy loose cannon, is trying to escape at any cost. Meanwhile Eve Gives birth to a…a lot of little Belial copies, despite the fact that Belial loses it and attacks Uncle Hal (due to a flashback). Getting the attention of the Sheriff’s daughter, who he stupidly trusts, he soon finds himself behind bars, while the stupid deputy’s decided that they want to capture Belial for a reported $1,000,000 reward offered by a rag newspaper. Yeah, well that doesn’t go very well and one escapes with his life and a basket full of baby Belial looking offspring. The mutants aren’t going to stand for that, and they launch a brazen attack on the jail in order to save the babies. Things get even weirder.
Okay, these are low budget movies that leave a lot to be desired. That said, I really enjoyed them. Duane is an unbelievable silly character that while fake, is super fun to watch. Belial is such a weird character that it’s hard to find him scary, and the gallery of mutants under Granny Ruth’s roof are very… crazy. Still, I really liked these movies – they have a certain charm that is very rare in the horror genre, and if you can suspend your sense of disbelief, you might just have a good time watching these crazy movies.
Eating Raoul (1982) – Just Your Regular Good, Clean Fun Movie – About Murder for Profit and Cannibalism
I am getting old. Really I am. I just can’t believe it was 29 years since I watched this film. That’s a long time. I’m glad it was worth the wait.
1982’s quirky black comedy, Eating Raoul is a charming little film about an odd, prudish couple, Paul and Mary Bland (played by Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov) down on their luck, with a dream of someday opening a restaurant. When Paul’s cultured, if snooty attitude towards a specific wine gets him fired from his job at the liquor store, that dream seems to fade even more. That is until they accidentally kill a swinger (or two) and realize there’s big money in luring perverts to their place and killing them and taking their cash. Heck, they even get good at it.
Things start going so well that they decide to get new locks put in when they find a flyer for a discount lock service. They call the number and shortly Raoul of Raoul’s Discount Locksmith (played by Robert Beltran who later played Chikotay on Star Trek: Voyager) shows up, scans there place, cons them into new locks and leaves. Later that night, after a busy evening of bonking perverts over the head and taking their money, Raoul reappears with the express intent of robbing the Blands while they sleep. The Blands wake up and catch Raoul in their kitchen, in the process of stealing Paul’s expensive wine collection. The Blands angrily confront Raoul demanding their money back. That’s when Raoul let’s them know he knows they killed and robbed people for the money – the bodies were pretty much in plain site due to an issue with the garbage compactor. Instead of getting ugly, the mood changes quickly when Raoul offers a deal: he’ll get rid of the body and cars of the victims for a profit that they all share. Now they’re in business. Like many businesses, there’s a little back stabbing, adultery, attempted murder and eventually cannibalism.
This really is a quirky, low budget film. It’s kind of subdued and slightly abstract film, and despite the high body count, there’s absolutely no gore. That’s not a bad thing, just a weird thing. I like this film quite a bit and recommend it, though I know I’ll get a few emails saying it sucked. Too bad I l liked it.
Check out the trailer here:
Swamp Thing (1982) – 80`s Comic Book Cheeziness – But I Love It
I watched 1982’s Swamp Thing back when it was new (and I was young) and I loved it then just as I love it now.
Starring Adrienne Barbeau and Louis Jourdan, this Wes Craven movie is primarily about a scientist that develops some plant/animal hybrid formula that allows super fast regeneration of cells. An evil, bad mad scientist wants the formula and, with his henchmen, heads to the doctor’s laboratory in the swamp to take it. An accident leaves the good guy on fire when the formula gets splashed all over him – he’s assumed killed. The bad guys take the research notes (minus one book that Adrienne hides while feigning unconsciousness.
The good guy scientist, instead of being killed by the formula/fire, is actually transformed into the Swamp Thing: a giant, plant/man hybrid with enormous strength and rapid healing powers.
The rest of the film has Adrienne being captured, saved, captured, escaped…Swamp Thing captured/escaping. It’s really all very silly and low budget… But I just don’t care. This film has charm and is fun… and I got to see Adrienne Barbeau’s boobs when I was a kid and that’s something!
Hey, this is a comic book movie, so realism can be thrown to the wind. Leave your sense of credulity at the door and enjoy this silly film.
Here is the trailer:
Creepshow (1982) – Comic Book Horror From the 1980s!
1982’s Creepshow is a homage to the old 1950s E.C. comics of the same name. For years E.C. comics brought horror to the imaginations of the youth through their Creepshow comic. This movie brings that comic creepy-fun to the big screen.
George A. Romero and Stephen King bring five tales of terror to the screen with many big (at least for 1982) stars. This movies is a wild, fun ride through the horror genre with a little bit for everyone. See a jealous husband (played by Leslie Nielsen) get revenge on his wife and her lover… just to see the tables reversed soon after. Or maybe you’s rather see a hen packed husband (played by Hal Holbrook), help a friends with a sticky situation while taking care of his alcoholic, abusive wife (played by Adrienne Barbeau). Or maybe a hillbilly (played by Stephen King) that turns to a weird plant/animal after messing with a meteor that that falls in his back yard. Like I said, there’s enough for everyone here.
For younger fans of horror, I am sure this is going to come across as pretty cheezy- hey, get over it! This movie is about classic comic book horror, and if you can’t get your head around that then it just wouldn’t be for you any way. Thay said, this is a fun ride that I think you should take!
Here is the trailer:
They Call Me Bruce? (1982) – Silly Kung-Fu Fun
OK… When I was a kid growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada I remember this movie from the trailer on TV and the fact that everyone seemed to be talking about it. It seemed like this movie played forever at the local, Jasper Place Theatre. That said, this morning is the first time I’ve seen it – and it is a load of silly, Kung-Fu movie spoof fun.
Bruce is sent out, as a boy to go to the U.S of A. and find his mother who would take care of him (his Grandfather was dying when he instructed him to do so). We next see Bruce (not his real name, just what everyone calls him) working as a cook for a Mafia Boss in the U.S. The Mafia boss decides to use Bruce to deliver some cocaine to dealers in Chicago, letting Bruce believe that it`s his special Chinese flour (for use in noodles). They set him up with a driver/Mafioso to get him there and try to keep him out of prison and out of the hands of rivals. Along the way they run into various obstacles that Bruce gets them out of in silly, accidental ways.
I really don’t want to tell you the story, other than that. This is a very dumb movie, but with a load of charm. You can’t help but like Bruce, as he is a simple, dumb guy with a heavy dose of luck on his side. I say watch it if you like spook Kung-Fu movies. I do and I liked it.
Here is the trailer:
Mazes and Monsters (1982) – Tom Hanks Walks on The Nerdy Side of the Tracks
Way back in the early 1980s there was a gaming craze that was gathering popularity – Roll Playing games, and the number one game of that genre was (and still is) called Dungeons and Dragons. Like any craze that involves youths using there imagination to envision something fantastic, there were people with too much time on their hands that had to put their nose in others business and tell them that fantasy roll playing games were dangerous. Hell, they would lead to youths descending into a fantasy world in their mind and never come back. Mazes and Monsters is a movie that attempts to warn one of these evils – like the anti-drug movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
Starring one time famous Canadian actor, Chris Makepeace (of Meatballs fame) and then star of the popular sitcom Bosom Buddies, Tom Hanks – yes, that Tom Hanks. This isn’t Tom Hanks first movie, as that dubious distinction goes to the movie, He Knows You’re Alone. Still, I doubt he talks about this film much.
So, what can I say about this amazing piece of Canadian made movie obscurity? Aside from it’s terrible? Not very much, I guess.
Four friends gather together to play a popular roll playing game called Mazes and 
monsters. Pretty normal, but one of them, the misfit rich kid, played by Chris Makepeace discovers some near by caves and suggests that they take their game to the next level – Larping. What is Larping? Larping stand for Live Action Roll Playing – that’s when nerds get together and dress up as their roll playing characters and act out their roll playing game. Well that’s what they decide to do. Unfortunately the experience sends Tom Hanks’ already mentally delicate character over the edge into a world were he believes he is his character. Tom then takes off for New York to complete a fantasy quest that is in his mind – sending him into danger – Oh and he messes up a bum in an alleyway who he perceives to be a dragon – Yeah…
So, his friends have to find and save him, which of course ends in a nail biting race against time.
This movie is very silly, and has definitely not aged well. That being said, it is interesting to see Tom Hanks so early in his career – he has come a long way since then. At lease it’s easy to find the movie: it’s available in full on Youtube. Check it out if you can stomach it.
Here is a clip of Tom Hanks freaking out:
And here’s the entire movie, in all it’s cheezy glory:
