THE BLOB (1998)

Well, this was a nice bit of fun! This is the remake of the 1950's blob... I haven't seen that one yet so I can't comment on the age old question of  "Is it better than the original?" but this one was a great watch, the plot is fairly simple but the action keeps it moving along nicely!

Basically the plot revolves around a foreign object (spacecraft of some kind) that falls to earth and some sort of gelatinous ooze (the Blob) escapes and starts feeding on humans that are unfortunate enough to come across its path. The blob is translucent and feeds by acidicly dissolving and consuming whatever it attaches itself to which of course makes for some great horror effects. One by one it feeds on its prey until the whole town is cordoned off by biohazard troops, and it's up to a couple of teenagers to stop it from consuming the whole town.

Like I said fairly simple fun and it stars a very young Shawnee Smith who later went on to star in the SAW films (and Becker, Anger Management etc..) as one of the teenagers. The acting and production is quite ok, but there horror effects are pretty cool, and hold up well to this day. The fashion senses are of a distinctly 80's groove so there's plenty of mullets and hi top sneakers to keep us all amused at that glorious era of horror and fashion. While there is a little gore in this one its nothing too serious and people that may not be into horror should be able to enjoy this as well as your younger, more impressionable horror fans

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INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

Now this one, I have to admit... I'd never seen before, not this version or the original. Whilst obviously I can't comment on the original or much less the book that came before that, this is a great film in its own right that keeps your interest the whole way through, with some big names who both deliver pretty solid performances in my opinion ... It stars Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum (the Fly remake, Jurassic Park etc...) and the one and only Leonard Nimoy (Dr. Spock of Star Trek fame)  It's not too high on the gore so you could really show it to younger horror fans as well so it could be a bit of fun for the whole family, it sits halfway between horror and science fiction but should appeal to both crowds equally.

The plot itself revolves around a strange goo like substance that attaches itself to plants and grows some mighty strange flowers ... I'm not sure if its spores that attack the humans and eventually kill them or there's something I missed in the plot, but either way the plant like creature is killing off humans and growing replacements for them which it then tries to assimilate back into society. The only problem is that the humans are not the same mentally, appearing to be distant and not themselves to anyone that knows them. Its not long before the central characters Elizabeth, discovers her boy friend / fiance is not himself and enlists the help of a few friends including heath board official (Sutherland) and his friend (Goldblum) and a psychiatrist (Nimoy) who stumble on to the truth that the alien plants have started replacing humans and have to find a way to stop this before the invasion takes a hold on the human population as a whole

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say its an all time classic of either the horror or the sci-fi genre but at the end of the day it was rather enjoyable and a great way to spend a couple of hours. I would recommend it to everyone who considers themselves a horror or sci-fi fan

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XTRO (1982)

This one film that I've been waiting a long time to get my hands on, considered a cult classic I was excited to finally get my hands on a VHS copy of this bad boy! This one sits half way between sci-fi and horror and would probably appeal to both crowds.


The plot focuses in on a young boy, Tony whose dad is abducted by aliens. He's struggling to deal with it obviously and longs for the return of this dad. Meanwhile a strange alien creature is lurking in the country side attacking innocent humans and on the second occasion impregnating them with its alien embryo.

The title "Xtro" to me suggests the film was meant to cash in on the wave of publicity and interest in sci-fi garnered by Stephen Spielberg's film ET. This one however is not family viewing and more aimed at the seasoned horror fan. The gore factor is pretty high, and quite impactful especially the scene where the woman who was raped by the alien gives birth to a full sized version of Tony's missing dad!

Tony's dad is not the same as he was however this becomes apparent in a gruesome chain of events that I won't spoil for you. Regardless, it's good squeamish fun!

The film itself is quite watchable and would definitely be considered a cult classic in my books. It apparently got canned by critics at the time, but this time I'm going to have to disagree and say I think its a B Grade classic. It's well shot and keeps the viewer interested the whole way through the film. Being an English production the pommie accents dominate the film and old school 'moog' type synthesizer sounds really ad a creepy atmosphere to the proceedings.

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THE THING ... (1952)

The full title for this one is THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD .... .  but I've never really heard it referred to as that... so I'll call it "The Thing". It's essentially an adaptation of a short story called 'Who goes there?" from the 30's which was later done again by master horror director John Carpenter in 1982.

The plot revolves around a military operation in the north pole concerning a UFO that went down in the artic. Upon investigation the crew accidently blow up the craft but find the frozen remains of the alien nearby the site and take it back, with the intention of testing it.  However the "Thing" thaws out faster than they'd anticipated and escapes the military facility and slaughters a couple of military dogs in the snow,  but not without the dogs removing an arm off the "thing" which is taken back to be tested. Upon testing it is determined the arm belongs to a creature not of this world composed of materials closer to plant life than human flesh and blood. However the "Thing" can change shape and mimic humans which it does and then its up to the rest of the defence force personell on the base to stop the thing before it wastes them.

The movie itself is quite reasonable when considering it is a B & W feature directed in the early 50s. I have to say I found it quite enjoyable for what it is, but unfortunately it doesn't stand up against the later version done by John Carpenter (which I'd already seen) but like many movies of this era I still think its worth watching if only as a historical reference and to see how far Carpenter took the film. I should also qualify this by admitting I'm not a huge fan of science fiction and while this film was rated the best sci-fi of its year and is quite highly regarded,  I Just found it a little slow going. The film itself has very little horror, as lets face it most films of the time would have done, it also would have been cool to see the "Thing" a little more (though I guess the special FX standards of the time wouldn't have done it justice). This is by no means a bad film, I was just a little underwhelmed by it after having seen the 1982 version.

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WITCHES / DUNWICH HORROR (2009)

This is either a remake or an adaptation of the HP Lovecraft tale made into movie "The Dunwich Horror", depneding on how you look at it. I stumbled upon this film by accident at my local flea market and it fell to the bottom of my "movies to watch" pile. Months later i picked up and put it in the player and upon reading the back of the DVD cover realised the connection to Lovecraft, and wished I'd watched it as soon as I bought it, although to be fair my copy was called 'Witches' not the "Dunwich Horror" from which it is based. I make no secret of the fact I love HP Lovecrafts work, and as a young adult have read everything of his I've been able to get my hands on, and I have to say as far as I can remember this seems to follow the story well and do it great justice.

Long time HP Lovecraft slave of the Ancient Ones, Jeff Combs is 20 or so years older than the last time I saw him in the "Re-animator" films but man it was great to see him back in action. The ladies are looking sexy, tasteful and elegant (great to see after all the exploitation horror I've been watching of late) and the connection is made rather well with the Chtulu Mythos and the universe he created. Some rather genuine readings of the incantations from the necronomicom and use of the symbols (sigils) used in the hallowed tome, across the opening credits (and in film) add a real air of authenticity to proceedings.  Everthing felt natural, like the directtor himself was a fan of Lovecraft.

The plot is rather complicated but a quick synopsis is that some young lady gives birth to a child in what I recall from the Lovecraft story to be the mythical New England the town of Dunwich and she of course is destined to open the cosmic  gates through her offspring family tree of freaks most of which are human and one of which is an earthly incarnation of the ancient god "Yog Sagoth". 'The Old Ones' (a race of Ancient Deity from beyond the stars) who will bring about the end of the world. The only way to stop the Old Ones from entering our dimension is to find a complete copy of the fabled book THE NECRONOMICON which contain the incantations to open and close the inter-dimensional gates.

The movie itself is complex and not one to watch dipping in an out or in a situation where one is easily distracted.... for it does require concentration but the results are well worth it. A fantastic tale of occult supernatural horror which stimulates the mind and fires up the imagination like few other story tellers can.

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ALIEN APOCALYPSE (2005)

One of horror legend Bruce Campbell's lesser known works. Its a Sci-Fi film firmly rooted in the B Grade Category. It isn't a bad film perse but can't tell if it was serious attempt at science fiction or a parody of the old alien films. (as the aliens look really cheap and fake)

The film centres around a small team of astronauts led by Dr. Hood (Campbell) who were sent on a 40 year space probe mission and on their return to Earth find the planet taken over by insect like aliens. Again It's not that bad a movie ... actually it's quite watchable.... But it makes me wonder why Bruce Campbell agreed to be in the film as I'm sure he could have been doing better things. Even though he did seem to vanish for a while after Evil Dead 3.

Anyway, back to the film... after landing back on Earth the team find themselves promptly captured by the alien overlords that have since taken over Earth to harvest the planet for its wood, to send back their own planet (its apparantly rare on their planet to get wood) . Hood and one of his team manage to escape the alien labour camp and flee to the hills where they meet a few of the last remaining free humans and hatch a plan to free Earth from the space insects.

While its far from being a masterpiece, aside from a few dumb moments it's actually quite watchable and the violence / gore factor is pretty low, so you can watch it with children who are partial to a bit of low level horror

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PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)

This was once described as the "Worst film ever made" ..... It's definately not the greatest film ever made but in my humble opinion far from the worst... In fact it has a certain charm about it.

Shot on black and white film in the 50's the plot revolves around aliens who are digging up graves and reanimating the dead in an attempt to destroy humankind before said humans stumble across the technology to build a weapon so powerful it could destroy the galaxy and of course our alien friends with it.

The special effects are pretty cheesy stuff really, wait till you see the saucers obviously suspended by fishing wire and the dialogue is a little hammy but like I said before this does add to the charm and and maybe a sense of innocence about the film that movies made nowadays rarely have

For those that can put the low grade special effects aside,  this is actually a pretty cool watch and does raise some moral issues particularly relevant in the 1950's with the advent of nuclear technology and the looming spectre of a world war

Anyway we manage to find it on youtube for your viewing pleasure!

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STARSHIP TROOPERS

I know this movie has been widely panned by critics, but I have to say I really liked it.... brought to you by Paul Verhoveen who was responsible for ROBOCOP this has  similarly dark feel to the not too distant future.

The film itself is set in a future where an alien like arachnid / bug race has waged war on Earth. Dutiful citizens are being rallied to join the fight against the bugs known as "Klendethu". Amongst the students at the military academy the fight are Johnny, the good looking but not too smart student who gets sent off to his almost certain death to fight in the infantry, his girlfriend Carmen who scored much better grades in the academy and gets to pilot a starship and (incredibly cute) third wheel Diz who has the hots for Johnny bad...

Some great special effects and alien creatures make this film look incredibly authentic and the "blood and guts" factor is nothing to be sneezed at. Some reasonable star power in Neil Patrick Harris and Denise Richards also adds to the films credibility

Overall I think its a great bit of fun and I do think if one is prepared to look deeper into the film there's a little (not too much) to think about. But also it is a great film to sit back and turn the brain off to and just enjoy the guts and violence that comes with an intergalactic conflict of this magnitude. The aliens look magnificent and the action scenes are fluid and never hammed up....

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SPECIES (1995)

This film is not too bad really. I wouldn't call it an all time classic of either the sci-fi or horror genre but its a solid watch and quite entertaining from start to finish, despite the panning it got at the hands of serious movie critics

The film follows the "growing pains" of a young female of the extra-terrestrial variety (human and alien DNA spliced) who is bred and studied on earth. Of course the team of scientists can't contain said alien visitor due to her superhuman strength and abilities and she absconds from the care of the government facility she was contained in. Her alien DNA transforms her body into that of a VERY attractive young woman (who can't seem to keep her clothes on) who goes on the hunt for males to mate with and then destroy. Very saucy stuff indeed :)

Some of the horror effects seem a little dated by modern standards, but it doesn't take away too much from the film and of course the aliens are designed by none other than HR Gieger (who was responsible for the aliens in the Aliens series of movies) so its visually pretty cool. Overall my real complaint with this movie is that it could have been much better with a little more of a budget behind it more maybe just a bit more time spent on the special effects

There is unfortunately no decent rips of this on you tube but it is available for rent on there, or better yet it shouldn't be too hard to track down in second hand haunts and flea markets.