SCI-FI September!

[MrBarlow]

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder. 2008.

Johnny Rico returns to the war against the bugs, this time on a search and rescue of the latest Sky Marshall and a small crew that have crash landed on a alien planet. We get Casper Van Dien returning as Rico who is now a Colonel and still asking his troops if they want to live forever, just a pity they didn't bring back some of the old cast for this. This was a bit more entertaining than the the second one with some added in humour but not one to take seriously.

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Archnoquake. 2012.

A earthquake opens up a hole in New Orleans and allows a new breed of spiders to wreck havoc.

Was it bad that I couldn't remember seeing this and as the film went on it all came back to me. Edward Furlong plays the coach of a female school baseball team and father who gets caught up in the small infestation and doesn't turn out to be the hero. Made for t.v. so it has nothing going for it, the effects are laughable as is the acting but it passed 90 minutes away.

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[MrBarlow]

Xtro. 1982.

Xtro is not a bad little sci-fi horror movie in my opinion. While it suffers from bad, wooden acting and a sometimes incoherent plot the film is generally well thought out and capably directed by Harry Bromley Davenport. The film offers plenty of strange atmosphere and lots of cheap but effective special effects.The gore is suitably nasty and the birth scene is truly memorable, certainly took Ridley Scott's Alien as a influence.

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[MrBarlow]

The Island Of Dr. Moreau. 1977.

Michael York plays the sole survivor of a shipwreck, and comes across a Island led by Burt Lancaster and henchman Nigel Davenport. Lancaster's thesis on body gene splicing made him a laughing stock and conducts his experiments on a Island inhabited with animals.

H.G. Wells novel comes to life a second time after the 1933 film Island Of Lost Souls. I do find it hard to focus on this film and easily forgetting the 1996 remake. The acting in this is great with Burt being the mad doctor who can turn humans to animals. York's character can be a bit of annoying constantly asking what's going on every few minutes. Barbara Carrera does turn up the sex appeal on this as the female lead who slowly turns to a animal. I actually enjoyed this more today than what I have done in the past.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Wraith (1986)

A cracking combination of supernatural science fiction revenge thriller and teen car movie ala American Graffiti.

Starring a pre fame Charlie Sheen as a ghostly avenging angel in a souped up black Dodge Turbo Interceptor who battles a gang of scuzzy Californian car race fiends led by nasty Nick Cassavetes, who are basically highwaymen stealing cars of people in 'fixed' road races.

This is well directed by Mike Marvin, with the road race sequences nicely staged. Sheen isn't in the film that much - he's mostly seen as in kind of alien motor racing gear with an awesome helmet, a bit like a futuristic Stig - but Cassavetes is suitably horrible. Meanwhile the rest of the cast is topped up by familiar names like Randy Quaid, Clint Howard and Sherilyn Fenn who in her red bikini is worth the price of the Blu-ray alone. Meanwhile the likes of Billy Idol, Motley Crue and Ozzy Osbourne populate the fantastic soundtrack.

Some may find this a bit cheesy but i absolutely love it. It's eighties retro chic come to life via Blu-ray

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Bumblebee (2018)

A prequel to the first Michael Bay Transformers film from 2007 in which Optimus Prime sends robot scout B-127 to earth to establish a base where the Autobots can regroup following their trouncing at the hands of the Decepticons.

Arriving in 1987 and badly injured it becomes a 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle before meeting strung out teen Charlie ( Hailee Steinfeld) and the two become friends when she gives the Autobot the name Bumblebee. Meanwhile the Decepticons send two of their own to Earth, who also take human vehicle form, with the aim of killing Bumblebee.

I wasn't that keen on the original 2007 film. Even seen on Blu-ray on a larger screen after picking it up for free recently i still thought the Transformer battle scenes were a jumbled up mess and i couldn't tell who was who or what the hell was going on thanks to quickfire editing and Bay's camera in far too close to the action. I've avoided the other four sequels like the plague since. This however is a totally different deal with Bay handing directing duties over to Travis Knight.

Bumblebee is an altogether better experience, at least for me. There's a lot of character building and bonding and the script plays out so you genuinely feel for the Autobot who appears to have human expressions. Much of this bonding is helped by a great performance from Steinfeld as the troubled teen who has a fantastic wardrobe of band t-shirts from the eighties including a Motorhead one which i own currently and certainly wasn't around in the late 80's.

I was intrigued to see Steven Spielberg was an exec producer on this. It's as if the script writers decided they wanted more a Spielberg produced movie with a bit of heart such as Real Steel and Super 8 (both 2011) rather than a crash bang wallop Michael Bay film and it's all the better for it.

[MrBarlow]

Spaceballs. 1987.

The cast is a superior one with the highlights including Joan Rivers as 'Dot Matrix' and the lovably goofy John Candy playing a half-man, half-dog. Rick Moranis really shines though in his best role as Dark Helmet, Bill Pullman as the hero Lone Star, Daphne Zuniga as the spoilt Druish princess also watch out for Mel Brooks's double cast as the President of Spaceball City with a strange hand/arm gesture and wise man Yogurt.

Most fun thing about the movie is Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet who is the complete opposite in every way of the ultimate bad guy from the entire universe; Darth Vader, especially in size, big glasses and the Schwartz light sabre battle. I found it comical back in the day and still find this comical now.

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May The Schwartz Be With You!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Outer Touch (1979)

Probably best known by it's US title Spaced Out, Outer Touch is Norman J Warren's stab at a sex comedy starring Barry Stokes and Glory Annen who both starred in Warren's sci-fi horror Prey (1977)

It's a silly romp about nympho disco aliens (females obviously) who kidnap a group of people from a London park in order to experiment on them. It's all pretty tame stuff to be honest and comes across as a Carry On film mixed with Devil Girl From Mars with a few moments seemingly ripped straight out of Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD.

[MrBarlow]

Tarantula. 1955.

This is a classic example of a 1950s science runs amuck movie. It's a fairly simple movie and plot with all the characteristics of a sci fi, horror movie from the 50s. Nothing very special or unique about it but the film is still a lot of fun to watch. It's has the excitement and dramatic scenes that would have made this awesome to see in the cinema back in the day as long as you don't take it seriously.

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Unseen Movie 109

Star Odyssey. 1979.

Earth is attacked by by a space villain and his robots.

Is there anything that the Italians can't rip off and try to pass as a classic? But that's what makes it so great! Hokey dialog, corny special effects and cardboard sets, along with some of the dingiest background music. I got no idea if it's the acting or the severe bad dubbing that made this more hysterical than what it should be. Sat on a bus watching this on my phone and I was trying my best not to laugh out loud.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Trollenberg Terror (1958)

A cloud formation mysteriously hovers around the peak of Mount Trollenberg, high in the Swiss Alps. Unbeknown to the guests of a remote skiing lodge, something from the clouds interior starts to kill unwary climbers. A UN investigator played by Forrest Tucker is drawn into the mystery along with two sisters who have a mind reading stage act.

A classic alien invasion monster movie. Whilst clearly a science fiction film, The Crawling Eye as it is otherwise known, is also a horror film. From the remote, timeless mountain lodge locations to the unknown horrors lurking in the mists, and the desperate bunch of people attempting to survive. The Crawling Eye owes much to classic Hammer sci-fi / horror films of the time such as the Quatermass series, X - The Unknown, and probably because of the mountainous locations and the casting of Forrest Tucker, The Abominable Snowman. In fact the creatures themselves owe a lot to the great sci-fi horror author HP Lovecraft with their tentacled octopus like appearance.

It would be easy to criticize the film for its effects but i really like them, the model work is very good and i think the creatures are iconic creations making The Trollenberg Terror one of those films that are great to curl up in a cosy place to watch, the perfect feel good / feel warm movie that will never tax your brain yet is always great to relax with. Especially on a lazy afternoon or in my case a cold Autumn night.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Ghosts of Mars (2001)

John Carpenter's second reinterpretation of Rio Bravo following 1976's Assault on Precinct 13, but this time he takes the action to what is essentially a western ghost town on a Martian landscape populated by over enthusiastic Marilyn Manson fans.

The story is a well trodden affair in which the law (Natasha Henstridge, Pam Grier, Jason Statham) have to team up with bad old Ice Cube and his bunch of cons in a bid to survive the night.

I know this isn't classic Carpenter but i really like Ghosts of Mars. It's a tight pacy affair with good dialogue and razor sharp action. It's also early in Statham's career and he's nowhere near top billing (Henstridge and Ice Cube are the leads). How times have changed.

Ghosts of Mars has been a film i've returned to a lot over the years and it's combination of science fiction and full on horror made it required viewing in a month in which i'm largely starving myself of the horror genre as October looms.