Sha Chu Chong Wei (1978)

Today's movie was worth an internet research for extra info and mostly as usual movie posters pics and some screen caps to avoid myself from dealing with screencaps, but the only thing I found was that there were two movies with the same title Sha Chu Chong Wei one released in 1973 and the other, the one I'm going to explain now, released in 1978. The movie was made in Hong Kong and it was directed by Karen Yang.

Originally recorded in Mandarin one of the many let downs of the film, the dubbing issue makes the movie a little weird to watch at the very few minutes, since Asian speakers seem to be speaking faster than an English speaker would do, but as I'm saying that only happens in the beginning of the film, cause the consistency of the story behind the characters is so interesting and reminiscent of other thriller/horror films that you can totally skip the dubbing issue and once you're ok with that you have to deal with issue number 2 which is the digital transfer, due to having so many scenes filmed in doors and at night you will find the greenish color transfer a little disturbing and most of the action scenes will probably don't look so interesting as they would if the film transfer had a decent treatment. The version I'm reviewing is the one and only in existence on the DVD format, the one known as Breakout From Oppression, which comes on the 50 Drive-In Classics released by Mill Creek Entertainment some years ago.

Breakout From Oppression is a very interesting film, it's somehow right there between being a horror film wannabe and  actually, a real horror film. I wouldn't call it an exploitation film, since it's rated PG and it features no nudity and no sex, nor partial nor explicit, so no exploitation for me. Violence is an added element, we get to see an interesting  a la Mortal Kombat Fatality and plenty of other violent actions, less explicit but still decent.

So, here goes nothing:

Released from an eight-year prison stint after falsely being convicted of the the murder of her married lover, Fonda Chiu gets a new job as assistant editor of a newspaper, moves into a nice house in the country and tries to have a fresh start, vowing to keep her criminal background a secret. Everything's looking up for her socially, professionally and romantically, as she's making new friends, doing well at her job and begins dating her nice and understanding boss Simon (Alan Tam). Unfortunately, Fonda has also attracted the attention of a vengeful psycho who goes out of their way to make her life a living hell. Said nutjob is a jealous 17-year-old psycho-bitch named Sheena (Lona Chang), who works for the same newspaper as a secretary, victimizes her wheelchair-bound granny and tortures a male prisoner (the missing newspaper president) in the cellar of her home! Sheena also twists the head off her doll, kills animals (including chopping off chicken heads and hanging Fonda's pet monkey), tries to seduce Fonda's new man, beats someone to death with a flashlight, beats another guy over the head with a wrench, stabs a guy to death with a butcher knife and feeds a child a spring roll laced with broken glass! To make matters worse she's clever enough to implicate Fonda for her crimes, turning friends and coworkers against her.

The weaving of the current storyline with flashbacks is confusing at first, but the film adequately ties up all the loose ends by the end and is done with some competence. In other words, it all starts to makes sense if you hang in there long enough. The film also boasts quite a few entertainingly weird moments, such as when a shrieking monkey appears out of nowhere or when Fonda and a photographer (Jacky Lim) visit a crime scene and are suddenly attacked by some random madwoman with a butcher knife.

Perhaps the most startling thing about this film is that if it was indeed made in 1978 then a very famous slasher movie completely ripped off the ending and hasn't been called on it. Ever heard of Friday THE 13TH? ring any bells? Here we get the female lead vs. the psycho on a beach. There's an overturned canoe nearby. They fight with oars. The psycho gets on top of our heroine and starts beating her head into the ground, and finally the leading lady grabs a machete off the ground, runs up to the psycho and chops her head off (Fatality!). The shots, editing and even use of slow-motion are completely identical and Fonda is even seen floating in a canoe the next morning when the police arrive! If I had to venture a guess, I'd say the year for this film is incorrectly listed on the DVD box set and on the IMDB website, if not, boy we got ripped good.

Here a movie excerpt from the opening titles and the first few minutes:

Still looking for pictures, movie posters to add to this review, if someone has some please share.

Carrie, "if you have a taste for terror, take Carrie to the prom"

Original movie poster.

Carrie put both Sissy Spacek and John Travolta into the universe of movies, no doubt about it.

Based on the first novel published by one of my many writing masters, Mr. Stephen King and directed by Bryan de Palma this movie couldn't go wrong in 1976, and still it can't go wrong in 2011.

Before we jump into the movie storyline and review, let's remember this film is "based" on the book, some of the argument lines are not on the film as well as some of the character original names, which were changed by God knows why reasons.

Carrie starts off at a gym locker room, where we find out how much the other kids hate Carrie visually stating the high amounts of bullying students must have gone through back in the day, and that's why Carrie's story remains so fresh until today, due to the unfortunate shocking reality  leaded by thousands of stories  of suicide & murder of students around the globe, students which didn't have Carrie's supernatural abilities.  Soon after the opening credits we find out that Carrie has some powers. Like in other Stephen King book-movies, the supernatural aspect is only minor compared to the rest of the story, but it comes into play at the end. Carrie's mom (Piper Laurie) is an over-protective religious zealot who makes The Royal Tenenbaums seem normal. So Carrie tries to cope with her horrible life, but it's getting tougher and tougher.

Another movie poster.

Carrie's soon to be only concerned friend.

Sissy Spaceck's beauty is almost divine like.

Billy Nolan the bad guy.

Chris Hargenson. A real bitch.

Spacek is exceptional as Carrie, and I now know why she was nominated for Best Actress. Her emotions are real, not some fake tear drops that make us think she's sad. Either she has great motivation, or she's one of the best actresses of the century (or both!). Laurie was equally good as her mother who locks Carrie up in a closet everytime she thinks that Carrie has sinned. This movie wouldn't be half of what it was if the acting wasn't so great. When Carrie was sad, you were sad. When the other kids ridiculed her, you felt like you wanted to kill the kids. When she smiled, you smiled. Emotions that raw couldn't come from just any movie.

If you know me, I'm a stickler for character developement. Carrie didn't take much time, but from the opening scene you knew about Carrie and her weakness. So are the secondary characters; they're nicely developed even if their role isn't that major. Travolta had a miniscule role, but he was fine in it; it led to Grease and Saturday Night Fever.

Catholic punishment was a thing in the film.

William Katt failed to be Luke Skywalker but he made it to Carrie.

Piper Laurie as the religiously insane mother.

The prom scene has got to be one of the most memorable scenes from a horror movie. That red tint is awesome; it's like a premonition. In fact, the movie is full of premonition: the red tint, the freaky looking voodoo doll, "They're all going to laugh at you." I'm assuming that director Brian De Palma meant to put that in, so it just isn't about some supernatural powers, it's also about foreshadowing. Also, I dig that camera movement during the dancing.

Sissy Spacek in  the prom with the Greatest American Hero, yikes!

Die as a Christian!

Blood on thy hands.

Deadly blue eyes.

Crucifixion time!

Swine Blood bucket bath.

The blood and gore wasn't held back, but they just put in what was necessary. De Palma obviously used some horror tricks from Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho, mainly the music cue whenever Carrie is using her telepathy. Also, her school, Bates High, is another Psycho reference.

Exploitation was still a thing to consider in the 70's.

The exploitation opening titles.

Opening titles, nude school girls exploitation.

Carrie was also very creepy. It wasn't a thrill-a-minute, but at the ending, that was Scary with a capital S. The last ten or twenty minutes were scare-inducing for sure. That last jump scene in the dream...wow! It's still jumping at me. If there was one complaint I had to do about the movie, it's that it took too much time to get to main scene and the prom went on a little too long, but other than that it's a first class horrror/thriller that any horror buff needs to see.

This movie is definitely a classic meant for every movie freak out there, and even for us Stephen King's reader the movie is quite a deal. Add to that a wonderful soundtrack composed in its entirety by Pino Donnagio plus a couple of sung tracks by the wonderful voice of Katie Irving and you got one of the greatest horror films ever made, although it's a big budget movie it feels as it was an exploitation with the elements that made a movie a cult movie, you know some nudity, blood, action, good lines and a 70's style music score.

I happen to own the DVD released by MGM some years ago and both image and sound are pristine, besides it features interviews with the cast and a booklet describing the film production.

Definitely a must have for any Stephen King fan, or for any 70's horror movies fan and exploitation lovers.

Here's the movie trailer:

Stephen king, the man himself talking about his first book, the break through, Carrie!

Black Hooker/Jive Turkey

A few weeks ago I had the chance to start watching some exploitation films that were categorized as blaxploitation since most of the actors and stories depicted black people.

The first one I watched had this very catchy title Black Hooker which made me think it would be a sex movie with black girls all over the place, and in a way my thoughts were kinda right.

Movie poster.

Black Hooker is a film about the life of a blonde bastard who's being taken care of by her christian grandparents in a very poor house in the countryside. The movie is set apparently on the late 30's to 40's (Dresses and cars gave me that feeling)

The story at first looks quite promising with the background music and the high class movie titles it really feels as a good film until of course you realize it's a B-movie and one  of the worst B-Movies I have ever seen.

Why? oh well, there are thousands of answers but I'll settle for the big ones.

First, actors can't act! with the exception of bastard's grandma and that's it. Second, the drama storyline makes no sense most of the times, little blonde bastard going to the city to make a living, looking for her hooker mom and crap! the ending is quite bizarre.

Third, there are some exploitation scenes, but they don't look interesting at all. Black hooker says this funny line in one of her sex job scenes: "behold my black magnifiscence" or something like that.

Fourth, the original title was Street Sisters, and we see no sisters in the film at all!

The only good scene with lots of drama is when Grandpa has sex on the barnyard with blonde bastard's fiancee, and not because of the sex but because of the dialogue in which grandpa says how capable he is of letting her know Jesus and all of his life through a mere sexual act. Something that for today's standards feels quite real considering the high amounts of scandals the Catholic church is facing around the globe.

I rate this movie 0 stars out of 5 stars. Thank god it came as part of a 50 movies pack or else I would have regreted buying this crap for the rest of my life.

Here are some minutes from the beginning of the film since I found no trailer on the web:

Movie number 2 I watched was way more promising since it was about the everlasting battle for owning the streets of Harlem. A giant battle between black mobsters and italian mobsters known as Jive Turkey (haha funny)

Bad motherfucka.

Movie poster.

Basically a film about mobsters fighting for their who's your daddy status all the time. It has plenty of action, some shagging (even a Priest gets some haha) and plenty of blood as well.

In addition to all the modern cars on the street, everyone in the movie keeps making declarative statements that it is 1956, as in "You know, this is 1956!" Also, all the white men have 70s haircuts and sideburns. The mayor would have been considered a bum, a beatnik or a surfer in 1956. Perhaps a missing subplot about a time machine wasn't fully explored. I don't know why they just didn't make it take place in present day except that the film is supposed to be based on a true story--In 1956!

If you are into blaxploitation, it's not a bad story--the main characters do their best considering the mangled plot, but Serene's secret wasn't much of a secret--if you can't figure it out right away you aren't paying attention even though it's 1956. 

Tranny Fattale.

The other odd thing (among many odd things) is how this movie ends. It's a real WTF moment. Saying there are loose ends would be an understatement--Especially for 1956.

It's available on the "50 Drive-In Movie Classics" collection. At about 50 cents a movie, I can't complain. It's low budget but has some nudity and some cartoon-like violence. This also appears to be the only movie in this pack that takes place in 1956. 

Here's a movie excerpt for your taste

See you some time soon with hopefully greater movies and greater driven-by reviews.

Forbidden World

Original movie poster.

Where else can you find Alien's wise little cousin (understands English and controls computers) starring a space horror thrilller? but wait! there's more! where else can you find gorgeous girls doing what they know best? you got it!!

Forbidden World (AKA Mutant) is the perfect blend for space horror lovers, b-movies cult fans and of course exploitation freaks as yours truly.

Considered by many an Alien rip-off I would prefer to call this flick an inspired by Ridley Scott's original idea with some enhanced features such as the cheesy mutant thing plus the huge amounts of naked girls for no significant reason (exploitation Sr.)

Forbidden World is set sometime in the distant future as an unnamed galaxy is on the brink of massive death, due to starvation. To solve the feeding issue an answer is being developed on a planet called Xarbia a team of genetic scientists have tried to create a new form of food that grows at an incredible rate. Unfortunately their tampering with the genetic code; splicing of DNA has resulted in a living bizarre experiment identified as Subject 20 which has already destroyed a science laboratory, killed a few animals and turned into a cocoon of some kind while it evolves. The incident called for immediate measures, so enter company troubleshooter Commander Mike Colby (played by Jesse Vint) who is quickly deployed to the scene to literally clean up the mess.

Once on Xarbia Colby meets with head scientist Dr. Gordon Hauser (played by Linden Chiles) & his assistant Barbara Glaser (Played by June Chadwick) who fill him in. Colby wants to destroy Subject 20 before it moves from its cocoon like state, while on the other hand Hauser wants to save "his" research. Soon the decision becomes irrelevant as subject 20 hatches anyway & kills a crew-member named Jimmy, now with a slimy genetic mutant with lots of sharp teeth & powerful tentacles slithering around no one is safe as the mutant monster thinks of humans as its natural feeding source.  

  

Space Mad Scientists.

Space Gory Action.

The Mutant factor.

The Exploitation Factor.

This classic rip off was directed by Allan Holzman. Forbidden World is a decent enough Alien tribute, the way the alien looks, the way it goes through different stages of appearance plus the overall look & feel of the film will evidently remind you of Ridley Scott's original space monster. The storyline doesn't set it's sights too high, basically it's about some slimy alien running around a space station feeding on the crew, adding plenty of exploitation scenes and pretty much that's it. The film takes itself 100% seriously which works fairly well although some of the scientific lines are somewhat lame and hard to believe  & evidently becomes just a little confusing.

The filmmakers obviously had exploitation on their minds as the movie features a decent amount of nudity, slime & blood which is more than convenient for these kinds of movies. I Wouldn't state that this flick is close    to be considered as a  masterpiece since the storyline tends to be very slow at times (just like Alien was) and dull at other times but I think it doesn't try to be anything other than a B movie trying to rip-off a sci-fi classic.


Technically this flick is just fine, the production design has dated the film badly & the sets remind of guess what? yes! Alien. The special effects on the creature are average at best although the gore effects are actually very good.  The acting? well it's a B-Movie!

Dawn Dunlap moment 1.

Dawn Dunlap moment 2.

Dawn Dunlap moment 3.

Dawn Dunlap moment 3.

Dawn Dunlap moment 4.

So, here's the movie trailer released in Germany:

The international movie trailer:

And last but not least the Blu-Ray cover which is the one I own.

Roger Corman's Cult Classics on Blu-Ray kick ass!

Galaxy of Terror

Original movie poster.

Galaxy of Terror brings us the story of a rescue mission trying to reach contact with a spacecraft that landed on a planet called Morganthus & has not been heard from since. The spaceship Rebus takes off & within what seems like minutes arrives at Morganthus where they are drawn to the planet surface by some sort of magnetic field unknown force. Commander Ilvar (played by Bernard Behrens), Captain Trantor (Grace Zabriskie), the cook Kore (Ray Walson) & an engineer named Ranger (Robert Englund, yes Freddy!) remain aboard the Rebus as an exploration party is dispatched. First in command Baelon (Zalman King), Cabren (Edward Albert), a female telepathic Alluma (Erin Moran), Dameia (Taaffe O'Connell), Quuhod (Sid Haig) & a rookie named Cos (Jack Blessing) make their way to the crashed spacecraft. Inside as they discover the bodies of the previous crew Cos becomes very scared & sees a strange alien like spider creature which kills him. Back on Rebus they decide to investigate a strange area of landscape which their instruments cannot scan. Upon arrival they discover a large organic looking pyramid type alien structure, they decide to investigate. It's not long before more start to die in various gruesome ways...  

A collage offering you a wide vision of what the movie has in store for you.

The heroic crew.

Special Effects are quite appealing for a B Movie.

Co-written & directed by Bruce D. Clark I actually thought Galaxy of Terror was a much better film than I was expecting. The script by Clark & Marc Siegler is often referred to as an Alien (1979) rip off & while it obvious rides on the commercial success of Alien it tries to stand out a little more than a generic 'alien on the loose' cash in, it actually has little in common with Alien besides being set in outer space. Galaxy of Terror has some nice ideas especially the pyramid which has the power to turn one's imagination & fears into one's deadliest enemy. Unfortunately more often than not director Bruce just uses this idea to kill people off in gory ways, I felt more could have been done with the idea than just use it to conjure up a few rubber monsters. One more complaint I have with Galaxy of Terror is that there are far too many pointless scenes of people walking around doing nothing in particular. The characters aren't that well developed & predictably clichéd but we know enough about each of them to get by & at least no one got on my nerves even if their silly sounding futuristic names did! Technically Galaxy of Terror is surprisingly impressive & I'm pretty certain that has a lot to do with a young James Cameron who as the production designer works miracles on what must have been a low budget. The Morganthus landscape looks good while the alien pyramid & it's interiors look particularly impressive. I suppose the spacecraft sets look a little dated at times with the old fashioned flip switches used to operate things & some very dated looking computer graphics on it's monitors, but again given the budget their decent enough. The special optical effects less so, some look alright while others look poor although none really stand out either way except the guy with a red blur where his face should be which is accomplished with an awful super-imposed special effect. The deaths are cool & quite graphic, a slither of glass embeds itself in someone's arm & starts to travel upwards under their skin which results in them cutting their own arm off, there's plenty of alien tentacles & things sticking in people, a scene where a woman gets wrapped in blue alien vines & as they constrict she explodes, someone loses all their facial skin & the absolute showstopper of a sequence when Taaffe O'Connell is raped by a giant maggot alien creature which you have to see to believe. The cast has some familiar genre faces amongst it, Robert Englund & Sid Haig stand out. For what it is the acting is OK but nothing Oscar worthy. Generally speaking I found Galaxy of Terror a more than acceptable way to spend 80 odd minutes, it moves along at a fair pace & certainly isn't dull. Definitely worth a watch for enquiring Sci-Fi & horror fans. 

Don't forget about exploitation! here's Taaffe O'Conell.

Space monster rape.

Covered by a huge amount of Alien cum.

The scene itself.

Alien Cum covered girl.

Apple & Microsoft wish to have this kind of human friendly technology.

hey kids! remember this Roger Corman classic has been re-released on its original aspect ratio on shiny Blu-Ray format filled with plenty of extras (on a DVD extra disc) on a deluxe box with an extra booklet and a double side cover.

Blu Ray latest edition.

Here's the movie trailer:

See you some time soon!