The Deadly Spawn (1983) aka Return Of The Alien's Deadly Spawn

3.5 / 5 Mar '11
Tagline: Mankind vs. the ultimate eating machine
Directed by: Douglas McKeown
Written by: Ted A. Bohus, John Dods
Actors include: Tom DeFranco, Charles George Hildebrandt, Richard Lee Porter
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 78 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
At first I thought I was in for a dud...I mean the budget is quite miniscule and the acting is shall we say weak. My mind was changed when I saw the alien monsters (erm Deadly Spawn) who actually looks pretty good what with a multitude of teeth. The excessive and hilarious gore really helped to make this a quirky likeable film as well. The plot begins with campers who discover meteor crash only to become lunch for the angry alien parasites. Soon the aliens take up residence in town nearby in a basement eating everyone in sight. It's up to a group of teens to save humanity from becoming alien chow...will they rise to the challenge? Yeah so basically plot schmott...it bears a resemblance to many better films but it's still pretty fun and has a sense of humor about it. Definitely for those who like B movies, just don't expect too much and you might just be surprised.

Availability:  On DVD

Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) aka A Trip To The Moon

4.5 / 5 Jan '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Georges Méliès
Written by: Georges Méliès
Actors include: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Length: 14 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
What a marvelously creative and well made little sci-fi film, in fact it is one of the first of it's genre. Georges Méliès is such a gifted director that I expected greatness of this film, but still I was impressed at how well he did. It's about a group of Men who wish to travel to the moon. They work with tradesmen to build what looks like a bullet (but is actually their spaceship) that gets shot out of a large cannon. The land in the eye of the moon (love the face in the moon, every detail really was seen to) and get out only to encounter a strange world of giant mushrooms and aliens. It is just so iconic and the story is very well told and easy to follow, although it is merely 14 minutes long, it's very complete. Highly imaginative and definitely recommended, a really fun little film to watch that. It's just a shame that Georges Méliès apparently didn't receive money for this film because Edison copied it and reaped the rewards.

Availability:  On DVD

Spaceballs (1987)

3.5 / 5
Tagline:  Revenge of the Schtick
Directed by:  Mel Brooks
Written by:  Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan
Actors include:  John Candy, Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis
Genre:  Comedy, Sci-Fi
Length:  96 minutes
Banned:  Nope

Review:
Now that I've seen Star Wars finally, it was time for Spaceballs as I find Mel Brooks' films usually very funny. This one wasn't one of his best but there were definitely quite a few laughs to be had, but usually silly ones and prop humour. John Candy's character "Barf" (Chewy) was probably my favorite, though Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet was hysterical on it's own. The idea here is that the evil planet Spaceball is running out of air, but Druidia (where our characters come from) has plenty of air. From there of course the evil dudes devise a plan to thieve their air, but will the good guys be able to stop them? Not all of the gags succeed but I still found this very easy to watch, and something that I'll probably even watch again. Really cute, and sci-fi fans should definitely find something to love in this one.

Availability:  On Blu-Ray & DVD

*Batteries Not Included (1987)

3.5 / 5
Tagline: Five ordinary people needed a miracle. Then one night, Faye Riley left the window open.
Directed by: Matthew Robbins
Written by: Mick Garris, Brad Bird
Actors include: Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Frank McRae
Genre: Sci-Fi, Family, Comedy
Length: 106 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is a charmingly adorable little family film that everyone should be able to appreciate. A group of folks in an apartment complex are being forced to move so that the area can be demolished, but of course they love their homes and don't want to move. The evil land developers then hire a gang to try to force the people to leave in a less than friendly manner. It seems like all hope is lost until an elderly couple leave their window open one night. See little mechanical aliens (that is pretty cute) have arrived and are ready and willing to help the tenants using their special powers. The cast are really great in this, Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn are hard to resist and the aliens are great too. I haven't seen this in many years but it still brings warm fuzzies to think about watching it, definitely recommended for most.

Availability:  On DVD

Inseminoid (1981) aka Horror Planet

3 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Norman J. Warren
Written by: Nick Maley
Actors include: Robin Clarke, Jennifer Ashley, Stephanie Beacham
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 93 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
In many ways this is an extremely cheap and silly Alien rip-off with moderately successful actors like Stephanie Beacham, Victoria Tennant and Judy Geeson (who does a fantastic job considering the circumstances). In it's favor it does have excessive gore (yay) and alien rape and some fun deaths. It's also so ridiculous and over the top that it's laughable and entertaining on a few levels. The plot involves a female crew member getting impregnated by an alien which causes her to turn into a psycho murdering her fellow passengers who want nothing more than an abortion for her. It's surprisingly ambitious, horror fans should be pleased with the deaths and blood (I was). The creativity is lacking obviously and this is not something that everyone will enjoy, particularly if you don't have a love of camp. Still entertaining at least, but it could have been so much more.

Availability:  On DVD

The Kindred (1987)

3.5 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline:  Some things are best left unborn.
Directed by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow
Written by: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow
Actors include: David Allen Brooks, Rod Steiger, Amanda Pays
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Length: 91 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Though it starts out slower than molasses in January, it really does pick up to be quite the colorful effects movie. Really most of the ideas here were borrowed, it shared a fair bit with Alien, Island of Lost Souls and quite a few more. The plot is about an old Woman who conducted ghastly experiments using her human Son's DNA to create monstrous hybrids. When she dies she asks her Son to destroy her experiments only a pretty girl who happens to be on of his Mom's fan's is trying to save the experiments. The experiments in question are gooey and gross and well it's actually pretty amusingly done actually. They kill which also leads to a fair bit of fun when unsuspecting people are around. Considering how much I disliked it's straight-to-video qualities at first it really did get good about half way in, so keep at it because this has quite a bit to entertain.

Availability:  Not on DVD

Alien Prey (1978) aka Prey

3 / 5 July '10
Tagline: His savage hunger makes us all... Alien Prey
Directed by: Norman J. Warren
Written by: Quinn Donoghue, Max Cuff
Actors include: Barry Stokes, Sally Faulkner, Glory Annen
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror, Exploitation
Length: 85 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this is one of the stranger things I've come across (thanks to the recommendation of cosmicnoiree) though not a "successful" movie there is still something for weird film lovers to observe here. The plot (though barely explained) is about some alien creature crashing down and invading a feller's body. This feller ends up stumbling onto the doorstep of a Lesbian couple who are going through a tough time. See one of them wants to leave and experience the world (and possibly some Men instead) yet the other is desperate to hold on to her and not let her leave. They welcome this weird alien fellow into their home (for some unknown reason) and they end up dressing him up and treating him almost like some sort of toy. The thing is, the angry Lesbian has been up to her own "dangerous" activities and the roaming Lesbian doesn't quite know what do to...will she run off with the alien? It's all very absurd and pointless, I'm sure that's why many hate this. Still I couldn't help but watch and I wasn't exactly bored, a few odd developments kept this slightly above average I think.

Availability:  on DVD

District 9 (2009)

3 / 5 May '10
Tagline: You Are Not Welcome Here
Directed by: Neill Blomkamp, Peter Robert Gerber
Written by: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Actors include: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt
Genre: Sci-Fi
Length: 112 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well conceptually interesting, I'm pretty sure I get the point here and it did have a few neat moments. The thing is, it raised more questions than it bothered to answer and I found it entirely unsatisfying. The plot is about stranded aliens who are kept in a slum like area and abused by humans for the most part. The aliens look silly and are often called prawns because of the similarity, nearly comedic and they wear bras and things...erm okay? The slum area is considered District 9, and it offends people so they want to try to move it elsewhere so they are trying to evict the aliens. One fella ends up investigating some alien gadget and is sprayed in the face with goo. This causes him to transform partially into one which is where the neat effects and whatnot come into play. Not an original idea, but it's rather well done I guess and adds a point of focus (even though I didn't at all care for the actor in the role). I guess I'm just old fashioned, I'm not big into effects, I'm more of a story hound and this sort of throws us in the middle of a situation without giving us much fact. I'm sure many people will really like this but I was underwhelmed.

Availability:  On Blu-Ray & DVD

Leviathan (1989)

3 / 5 May '10
Tagline: Welcome to your worst nightmare, welcome to Leviathan
Directed by: George P. Cosmatos
Written by: David Webb Peoples
Actors include: Peter Weller, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Length: 98 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Pretty silly clone of just about any sci-fi film you've seen but mainly it "borrows" from Alien and The Thing From Another World [The Thing]. The cast is mainly familiar, we have Peter Weller acting like a robot though I'm quite sure he's supposed to be human...his acting style is questionable at best. Also we have Ernie Hudson, Hector Elizondo and Daniel Stern too in the roles of miners who work undersea blowing up rocks to find silver. One of the divers finds an abandoned Russian ship which he pillages. It turns out the vodka has some sort of vampiric alien virus in it that infects most of the cast. It's pretty much an eye roller for the amount of "borrowing" that goes on, really nothing is even close to original. At least they bothered with a budget for the monster and effects and so forth, it's at least watchable. It's a shame they didn't do some more editing too because it was way too long and had tons of pointless scenes. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be but it's alright for the sort of thing that it is I suppose.

Availability:  On DVD

Big Meat Eater (1982)

3.5 / 5  Apr '10
Tagline: Are you on his shopping list?
Directed by: Chris Windsor
Written by: Laurence Keane, Phil Savath
Actors include: George Dawson, Andrew Gillies, Clarence 'Big' Miller
Genre: Sci-Fi, Musical, Comedy
Length: 82 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is unlike many other musicals though I suspect the director has seen The Apple and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's got a full cast of people who can't sing a lick, and a plot that is out of this world...literally! It's extremely cheap and very uneven as a story but it has some big highlights. It's about a joyful butcher (who reminds me of Buster from Arrested Development) in need of an assistant. Enter Abdullah who happens to have problems with his anger and killing people. The gleefully ignorant Butcher hires on Abdullah who has some hilarious moments, especially when grinding meat by hand. The biggest highlight is a song that sounds like "We Didn't Start The Fire" (though it came out before) only it's filled with funny scientific jargon, I was in hysterics! There is also a plot about toy robots who are interested in the butcher shop because their meat that is dissolved in acid makes good fuel for them (balonium). If only the whole movie could have been that funny I'd have rated it a heck of a lot higher. Still fans of absurd cinema and bizarre musicals need to see this, I can't believe something this odd came out of Canada.

Availability:  On DVD

Invasion (2007)

2 / 5 Apr '10
Tagline: Do not trust anyone. Do not show emotion. Do not fall asleep.
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Written by: David Kajganich, Jack Finney
Actors include: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northham
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror,
Length: 99 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
So I made the fool decision to try to join this century by watching this film. I figured, I like the '50s and the '70s version and heck the '90s version wasn't even terrible but this was. It's odd that giving it a big budget and twisting the story around completely destroyed the picture but I think it did. Other things that didn't help matters are the actors, Daniel Craig seemed dead behind the eyes the entire time, how were we to know when/if he turned? I hate to say that I don't think Nicole Kidman was boring to watch in this too. The story here is that people are getting infected with this alien virus, but instead of turning them nearly immediately, they must sleep before it goes into effect. Also there is some sort of magical cure, which was very disappointing to say the least. Be prepared for a ton of ridiculously obvious product placement and super frustration if you decide to try to sit through this. Definitely a pathetic remake and the worst version I've seen of this story to date.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Body Snatchers (1993)

3 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: The Invasion Continues
Directed by: Abel Ferrara
Written by: Jack Finney, Raymond Cistheri
Actors include: Gabrielle Anwar, Terry Kinney, Billy Wirth
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 87 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I definitely prefer the other two versions of this tale I've seen (the '50s & the '70s) by a huge margin. This feels very '90s and it has "dear diary" overtones to the awful narration. They've also twisted this tale all around to be around a young girl and her family who moved to a new town. One day her little Brother notices that Mom's head deflates? and a new Mom appears and he yells and complains about that not being his Mom. After a while a bunch of townspeople start becoming more zombie like and personality free (oh and not to mention the loud sound they make while pointing which worked awesomely in the other two but here it seems hilarious). The actual effects that went into creating the pods and the regeneration process and stuff are well done and it's the only real reason I can think of to watch this. I really had higher expectations here, especially considering Abel Ferrara was at the helm of this picture. Not recommended unless you need to see every adaptation of this story.

Availability:  On DVD

Dark Star (1974)

3.5 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline: What would you be like after 20 years aboard DARK STAR the spaced-out spaceship. The ultimate cosmic comedy!
Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: John Carpenter, Dan O'Bannon
Actors include: Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dre Pahich
Genre: Comedy, Sci-Fi
Length: 83 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap...no I'm not a chicken, just shocked by how amateurish this film looks. At the same time, that is the reason the film is so hilarious! It started out as a short film project for John Carpenter that was added onto to make a full-length film and on that level it's pretty awesome what he accomplished. It's about four spacemen (and their dead Captain who can be unfrozen to ask questions to) who are on a mission to destroy unstable planets to colonize them. As they come close to finishing their mission new trouble appears in the form of an alien (beach ball) that is hysterical! It bounces about and "fights" them and really the alien is the star of the show and worth all of the talking that comes before it. They also have to try to talk a bomb out of exploding by asking it ponderous questions, talk about your strange mission! Really quite a funny film but if you go into it expecting any sort of fright or thrill you are barking up the wrong tree...this is pure silliness.

Availability:  On DVD

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

4.5 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline:  A robot and a man . . . hold the world spellbound with new and startling powers from another planet!
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Edmund H. North, Harry Bates
Actors include: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller
Length: 92 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Although certainly heavy handed and riddled with morality it's still a fascinating science fiction classic. I think what makes it so special (and frightening) is that it feels like this is the way it would play out in reality unfortunately. Right off the hop we are informed of a UFO flying overhead which quickly lands on earth. Everyone gathers to see the alien (who likes just like a Man) and a Robot who come out of the spacecraft. The Man proclaims he brings peace but of course our lousy people shoot at him and he starts to get a more realistic portrayal of what is wrong with earth. See the Man is able to infiltrate society and befriends a nice Mother and young Boy who help him on his quest. He wishes for our Nations to unite for the news they have brought us, but when they learn of our reluctance to join hands the mood is changed. The Robot looks particularly cool as does the spacecraft although rather simply designed they are very effective. The characters are compelling and it's a very easy film to watch to say the least. I do think there are better early science fiction films but this one should appeal to a wider audience as it really does make a great point. Definitely worth your time no matter what kind of films you like!

Availability:  On DVD and Blu-Ray

The War Of The Worlds (1953)

4.5 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline: Amazing! terrifying! The most savage spectacle of all time!
Directed by: Byron Hasking
Written by: H.G. Wells, Barré Lyndon
Actors include: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Length: 84 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This was one heck of an exciting alien invasion flick. The effects were actually amazing especially when one considers this was 1953! It's no wonder they won an Oscar for the effects work. From the city being destroyed to the actual aliens, it's all really effective and exciting. The idea is that an alien ship has landed (they look sorta like swans), and people are trying to greet them in peace...the only trouble is these aliens aren't exactly friendly. It's a non-stop fast paced destructive masterpiece, stuff being blown up and action galore! I was actually surprised this was in color (as I'd always assumed it was black and white) but it's very vivid, the actors do a good job in this and it's full of tension and thrills. I've never seen the remake but I probably would after this, definitely one of the best science fiction films I've seen.

Availability:  On DVD