Once upon a time in a small town built around fishery and Salmon hatcheries is experiencing several one of a kind events. First, there is something unusual happening to the tasty Salmon fish of the coast. They are strangely in smaller schools than ever. Then, dogs begin to disappear, and are found later ripped to shreds! (I love dogs that pisses me off) When the town gets together to hold their annual Salmon harvest, a scientist for town's cannery, Dr. Susan Drake, (Ann Turkel) announces that she can make their catch bigger than ever before with the introduction of genetically introduced fish to the environment(say, in real life some years ago the genetically modified Super Salmon was introduced in Norway and later in Chile, both countries being the largest Salmon's world producers to date) Her boss, Hank Slattery, (played Vic Morrow) enthusiastically shares her point of view.
Next morning, several teens in the town disappear. Townsman Jim Hill, (played by Doug McClure) has had it, and decides to take matters on his own. After news carries of more attacks, Dr. Drake becomes concerned that the creatures responsible for the attacks are the mutated offspring of failed tests her company held earlier. With this bit of knowledge, they head out to stop the creatures from mating with human women for their species to survive! what the hell! i have never seen fish trying to mate with other none than their own species.
Innocent bystander.
Hey I'm the latest in Norwegian & Chilean Salmon production.
Not my kind of tourist escapade.
Say! i'm the elder brother of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
This is a very action-packed film, with something happening almost every five minutes or less that keeps on calling your attention all the time. Whether it's an attack, nudity, or something else, there is always action in this film of some kind. The Humanoids are very creepy and look like suitably evil creatures, despite the fact the costumes aren't that realistic per se. The long, gangly arms, the large claws, the moss growing off their back and shoulders, and the face, do their job convincing you on how disgusting these Salmon mutants can be. There is a lot of action as well, with the highlight of the film undoubtedly being the ending attack on the Salmon harvest carnival. The creatures appear in legions, over-powering the running humans and dragging them down to rape them (well women) The fact that they are also being gunned down always for tons of gore: both the creatures getting shot and the creatures attacking the humans. Several people have their throats ripped, spilling out lots of blood in sprays. The long claws are also seen ripping through flesh and bone, so that provides more gore as well. I don't see gore-hounds having any problems with this one. Even without the ending, we get abundant gore. One person has his back ripped open, revealing the bones underneath, still another has a leg amputated, and another is gutted, only without the guts piling out. The nudity is also abundant as well, featuring enough naked bodies to give any red-blooded male a dream woman for a while. This is a great movie. It has a fast pace, stuff happens all the time, and it keeps things interested with all that goes on.
The movie was also known as Monster.
Knock knock! Who's there?
Exploitation never dies!
Lisa Glaser's greatest acting moments.
So is it worth the try?
You never are bored with this film. I think that is a film's greatest compliment: it is very entertaining. Definitely check this out if you love creature films, 80's horror flicks, and Corman fans will also want to see one of his better films.
Rated NC-17: Nudity, Graphic Violence, many scenes of Rape, suggested and shown animal violence, and Language
The film was recently re-released on Blu-Ray HD format by Shout and I got a copy for yours truly and I gotta tell you every re-released movie from the "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" is worth the money by a long shot.
Blu-Ray edition.
Last but not least here's the 1980 movie trailer, which I believed was used to promote the movie on video rental stores:
SAVAGE WEEKEND is one of the most unique thrillers I have ever seen, and to find out that it was really made *before* HALLOWEEN makes it even more remarkable. I think the reason for the lukewarm comments is that the film was incorrectly marketed as a Slasher Horror outing rather than a lurid psychological drama that just happens to take a blindsided turn into Freddy Kreuger land for the climax. Very low budgeted and shot on location in what look to me like familiar Upstate NY locations, the film only has one "star" in the cast (BLADE RUNNER's William Sanderson) and he plays a dimwit, so ordinary human beings will likely be confused by the film. People with preceptive minds will find this one of the more satisfying films they've seen, regardless of genre. Think David Lynch crossed with Ma & Pa Kettle, with some insane maniac running around for a half hour killing people.
Tough fag.
Masked monster.
Opening titles.
Hillbilly.
Style.
The bad guy?
Horny lady in danger.
THE PLOT: An arrogantly rich business executive takes a vacation from the rigors of New York City by going "Upstate" to an undisclosed location where he has a summer house on a small lake in a mostly rural community. He has also hired a local n'er do well (Sanderson) to build a 30 foot schooner for him, so yes the movie is essentially about two couples who go Upstate to see a boat being built. In addition to the rich guy's ultra-sultry bought fiancée is the manager from one of his offices & his sex kittenish girlfriend, who enjoys sunbathing in the nude. I enjoyed it too, and the whole movie has a voyeuristic tone to it that will satisfy even the most jaded cult horror freak who requires exploitative nudity in their movies.
The film also has a decidedly non-P.C. streak of homophobia running right down the middle, embodied by cult movie personality Adam Hirsch, best known as the gay gunslinger Adam "Poxy" Saxon from THE GRAND DUEL, sashaying & paravanting his way through another gay baiting pseudo comic relief role that is better than the material surrounding him -- Hirsch's few scenes are mostly played for laughs, but he is excellent, and the Queer jokes actually have thematic relevance to the plot. Nobody ever said good art had to be sensitive and correct.
So the different characters gather for some relaxation involving drinking, fishing, arguing, having sex, and exploring what it is they really want from each other, the best scenes of which involve the sultry raven haired fiancée played by Marilyn Hamlin who dangerously flirts with the foreman on the farm. Their (R Rated) scene in the milk barn is absolutely riveting: I never knew that women were instinctively drawn to phallic symbols like magnets before, and this woman is like an electron in search of a good nucleus. Holy Smokes!!
And as a fellow commenter has observed, at roughly the fifty minute mark sparks start to fly as a masked, psychotic lunatic -- who's identity will be pretty obvious to folks who understand the formula by which Slashers work -- starts to hack and strangle his way through the leads. The killings are not particularly gory but strikingly staged, and the gag involving the dead electrical outlet got a belly laugh out of this "Seen It All" horror junkie. That was great, though it was only funny the first time for me but whatever. The director was bound to hit a foul ball at some point.
What they really achieved with this film was building up so much erotic and human tension that when the machete blades start swinging there is a sense of inevitability to the outcome, with a great "unlooked for hero" role or two and a wonderful ending that flatly refused to explain anything -- Just like those summer vacation urban horror legend stories that sort of starts out the film, and which lends itself so well to the locations used. Definitely a cult sleeper waiting to be rediscovered, though sadly the film is only available as prior rental VHS tapes from Paragon Home Entertainment. If you find one snap it up: Some of the action scenes actually combine widescreen takes with full frame detail shots, and the whole thing is riddled with belly laughs, deviant sex antics, "Good Hackage", abundant nudity, an amusing soundtrack, and the most effective use of electrical extension cords in a movie to establish tension that I have ever seen.
By the way this movie review was written by Steve Nyland on IMDB and pretty much sums up everything I thought about this interesting film.
Here's the full movie on youtube (censored edition no sex)
This American/Italian space adventure is completely insane and for that reason alone it's a must watch and a cult classic on its own right. The plot is very simple and easy to follow, the typical space mission for the chosen heroes, who travel through galaxies far away to save the universe (Star Wars anyone?) The special effects are colorful and eye-popping, the sets designed by some wonderful nut with an eye for that crazy psychedelic art deco-cocaine-disco futuristic fashion. The actors are completely at a loss as to how to act/react to the film they are in and I totally liked that since they seemed to be having the time of their lives filming an unbelievable script and trying to be serious while resulting into a more campy like hero type.
Fight me? or shag me?
What else can one say about a film where the best performance is delivered by David Hasselhoff (yeah the guy from Knight Rider & Baywatch) Not even the usually mesmerizing Marjo Gortner can do anything with the logic-defying lines of dialog he has to deal with.
Stella Star and her robo-buddy "Elle"
I rarely venture down the road of "so bad its good" movies but STARCRASH is mind-boggling in its cheesiness. Characters can tell the future but won't let anyone in on what is going to happen because according to the Luke Skywalker lookalike "You would have attempted to change the future...which is against the law." But, wait! there are more legendary lines such as " I wouldn't be the Emerperor of the Universe if I didn't have a few talents. Now, Imperial Spaceship--halt the flow of time!" Yeah, I bet George Lucas felt his Star Wars saga would be totally screwed by this film hahaha.
Sweet!
Joe Spinell plays the bad guy dressed as if he was some kind of un-armored, un-masked Darth Vader with the looks of somo sort of old school Vampire which to make you believe he's pure evil lets go of such lines as "By sundown I will be the most powerful man in the universe!" Some sun right? I mean being on outer space could possibly lead to having like a thousand suns so...
Special Effects.
What made this space fantasy become a B-Movie instead of becoming a part of the major league of movies of its kind?
Well, don't get me wrong! it's an entertaining film, but as a typical low budget production we get to find out that there are stop-motion giant monsters, psychedelic blobs of red light that attack people for no reason,a robot who begins the film speaking normally and then about 15 minutes in starts talking in a southern accent, and later goes back to a robotronic voice, Christmas tree lights playing their part as stars, some weapon called The Doom Machine and a central non-performance from the lovely beauty but blank Caroline Munro, she of the stilted delivery and mis-matched eye-lines.
The Emperor's son, Skywalker wannabe and awesome Stella Star.
I would surrender immediately to such weapons.
Obi Wan never told you what happened....ooops! wrong movie!
Deep Space.
Spanish promotional poster.
So, if you are looking for a rousing sci fi adventure with narrative coherence, decent special effects,and good acting, watch Star Wars; but if you're in the mood for an interesting knock-off, watch STARCRASH. You certainly won't forget it soon specially for Caroline Munro incredibly hot tight body...
Last but not least as usual the great movie trailer for such a piece of art:
Blu-Ray edition comes with a DVD filled with special features.
B-movie lovers of drive-ins, old school horror flicks, parodies & exploitation will certainly dig this 1978 classic produced, Fortunately, or unfortunately, by the legendary Roger Corman who, as we all movie freaks should know, sat out in Hollywood for three or four decades making low budget a la exploitation style films. He also tried to cash in on every movie fad in those days current blockbuster cinema. You see, Roger had a dream to take an idea and make a profitable picture out of it that would entertain the masses. The problem was that someone else invariably had the idea first. A good example of this is Mr. George Lucas's "Star Wars" which allowed not only Corman but thousands of film directors to create their own space fantasy version slightly based on the original idea. Corman had its own space fantasy adventures with movies like "StarCrash", "Galaxy of Terror" & "Forbidden World" to name a few. There wasn't anything Corman couldn't do with someone else's idea. Perhaps the best example is today's flick "Piranha," a 1978 ripoff of Spielberg's "Jaws." This film made our man a lot of money, which allowed him to make even more spectacular ripoffs for years to come.
The good guys, Hermit boy and Pry Eye blonde.
Remains left by the now free captive Piranhas.
The not so mad scientist soon to be judged by its own creations.
The movie begins with a couple of kids breaking into some sort of abandoned fish hatchery for an evening erotic swim. "Something" in the water kills them good. Se We then see an insurance investigator named Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) heading out to discover what happened to these two unfortunate night swimmers. She rather quickly hooks up with flanneled hermit Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) who lives in a cabin down by the river. Somehow or other Maggie convinces Paul to come with her to look for the missing teens, and that leads way to the abandoned fish hatchery. Sure enough they soon discover that something sinister has been going on there under the aegis of Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy). How do we find out about this? Because there's lots of nasty looking scientific stuff lying around all over the place. Anyway, Hoak eventually lets our two heroes in on a little secret: the government hired him to develop a breed of piranha as part of some biological weapons program.
A man and its noble destiny.
Scientists & the Military make up for a mean combination.
Luckily this girl's afraid of the water.
Summer camp gone wrong.
Fatality!
The real big deal begins right after our two heroes drain the fish hatchery pool to find the missing teenagers, inevitably causing the hatched piranha breed have to escape through the water to feed off on a full-scale assault on the human race. A few locals fall prey first, but the real threat is the summer camp and an aquatic park downriver. Just to ratchet up the emotional element of the film a bit, we also learn that Paul's daughter is currently attending the summer camp! Oh boy! It's a race against time as Paul and Maggie set out with Dr. Hoak in tow to stop the madness. As for the folks at the camp and the park, they haven't a clue as to what's coming for them. The only concern at the camp is Mr. Dumont (Paul Bartel), a guy who takes great joy in ordering kids into the water and snooping on the foxy female counselors. At the water park, the owner plans on making a bundle on opening day and that's their only concern. You can now predict mayhem it's on its way for sure. Screaming, blood red water, and a lot of victims thrashing around on the beach in agonies. The swarms of piranha zipping through the water look so like the pieces of plastic they are that it's tough not to snicker. It's even worse when we see them up close chattering away on an exposed leg or belly but I guess that's something that will not scare away a good B movie fan anyways.
Exploitation was the thing of the 70's so here.
Janie Squire in her little acting role.
A movie poster variant.
At the same time, I did find a lot to like about the film. Seeing veteran horror actress Barbara Steele popping up from time to time as a government scientist named Dr. Mengers was a nice surprise, although she's largely wasted in the role. Kevin McCarthy plays frazzled well, and the script requires him to morph into a sniveling wimp for most of his screen time. Heck, we even see Richard Deacon (Mel from "The Dick Van Dyke Show") in a small role as Maggie's boss. Can't beat that. The talent behind the camera is moderately impressive too considering the budget. Joe Dante directed this flick, and John Sayles wrote the script. Both men went on to greater success, Dante with "Gremlins" and Sayles with "Eight Men Out," "The Howling," and several other mainstream movies.
Here's the original movie trailer plus the "Piranha 3D" re-make trailer in case you feel you have enough bucks to waste.
So here's the lame remake trailer:
By the way, "Piranha" has been re-released to shiny HD Blu-Ray format as a part of the newly restored Roger Corman's Cult Classics collection.
Classics gone HD.
See you some time soon for another great B-Movie review!
Beast With a Gun (a.k.a La Belva Col Mitra, Mad Dog & Mad Dog Killer) is another excellent example of the italian police thriller cult sub-genre. The film is quite a lot nastier than most of the Italian crime films around, and some times it feels like it could righteously fit into the exploitation cult genre. Naturally, there's the usual array of fistfights, shootouts and car chases; but here we've also get to see some rapes (light stuff nothing too literal this movie is not I Spit on Your Grave) and scenes of knife injuries - among other stuff. So La Belva Col Mitra might not be for everyone's taste, but I think most people would agree that the nasty action certainly gives the film a bit more of flavor.
The film begins with the runaway of three nasty convicts. Their leader is a man named Nanni Vitali, and their first port of call after escaping from jail is killing the dirty scumbag that rat them out on the fuzz. However, when they catch up with him; Nanni gets interested in his girlfriend, and proceeds to rape her behind the trees before killing the snitch. He also wants the girl to help them pull off a robbery; and she's ok with helping them, but not before telling the police all about it of course.
Original movie titles, my copy says "Mad Dog"
Mr. Bad guy.
The main bad character is absolutely spot on with his role as the bad to the bones criminal at the centre of the tale, and every moment he's on screen is completely gripping. He is joined by Marisa Mell, who provides the eye candy in style! Richard Harrison rounds off the central cast with the tough and experienced cop role and like his co-stars - plays it well.
Realism obviously wasn't big on director Sergio Grieco's priority list, however, as the film features numerous instances that don't make a lot of sense - the scene that springs to mind instantly is the one where Giuliana is shot in the leg...and then instantly diagnoses it all by herself as 'not serious' and barely bats an eyelid! funny!
Innocent bystander?
Not so innocent now right?
At first she suffered, but then she liked it! mother of God!
Tell me about it!
Most of Marisa Mell pictures are in nude format.
Now, let's check the strongest points in this Italian Police Thriller:
- The Vicious Nanni. Nanni Vitali is one of those vicious, brutal, sadistic type characters that are necessary for this kind of film to work. The things he is capable of doing can be at times shocking. The ferocious way he beats-up the gas attendant for no real purpose at all is the perfect example. He's the kind of character you wouldn't want to run into in real life.
- Marisa Mell. Marisa Mell is another of those European actresses who may not have been much of a thespian, but she has a certain screen presence that's undeniable. It's too bad the decision was made to ignore her character for the final third of the movie.
Police hero Italian style.
It's crime time!
Now let's check the weakest points of the film according to yours truly:
- Unbelievable Plot Points. While I could write about several instances where the movie stretches credibility, I'll limit these comments to two. First, no real police would bungle a heist set-up as bad as the police in this film. They have inside information. They know where and when the robbery is to take place. They have their own people poising as factory workers. Yet two people are killed and the robbers make off with a van full of hostages. Second, while scouting the vast Italian countryside, the police just happen to select and climb the very electric pole that will give them a clear view of the killers' hideout. How lucky can you be!
- Originality. Beast with a Gun is a fairly standard Italian police thriller that offers very little in the way of innovation. It's all routine, run-of-the-mill, seen-it-before type stuff. A little more creativity would have gone a long way to making it a good film of its type.
In the end, if you're a fan of this kind of film, you probably won't see anything you haven't seen before. But what is presented is generally well done with some very nice accompanying music. And, Marisa Mell makes the whole thing worthwhile for me.
Kidnapped sister.
Don't kill me!
By the Way...
Do you remember the scene in Jackie Brown with Robert DeNiro and Bridget Fonda watching TV and then Samuel Jackson walks in and goes: "Is that Rutger Hauer?" and Fonda replies: "No, it's Helmut Berger."?
alright gotta set the table and make some tea for my wife, you know real life is really important.
This movie can be found on DVD on the 50 Drive-In Movie Classics box set released by MillCreek Entertainment originally in 2006, but a 2010 re-relase of the same exact box set is available.
