Trash Menagerie

aka  Soul Vengeance Dir. Jamaa Fanaka Welcome Home Brother Charles is a film that is unfortunately as relevant and resonant today as it was when it was released over 40 years ago. In its racial politics at least. Not so much in its sexual politics. But more on that later. It is also unfortunately a little bland, rarely giving up any exploitation goodness until the final act. The second feature of then UCLA student Jamaa Fanaka, best known for the Penitentiary trilogy, Brother Charles is a meandering and disjointed film with a few surreal artistic touches that make it a worthwhile viewing if you can temper your expectations. Brother Charles ’ opening credits play over a dark void in the middle of which is what looks like the Zuni Fetish Doll from Trilogy of Terror if it were designed by H. R. Giger. Accompanying this image is a theme of creepy dissonant horns, priming the viewer for some kind of horror or dark fantasy. However what we’re first presented wi...

Dir. Johannes Roberts Do you ever find yourself defending a movie in your own head as you’re watching it because you dearly want it to be better or more enjoyable than it actually is? It’s such a frustrating experience to watch a good movie that just shy of great, or bad movie that’s just shy of being enjoyably bad. In the case of The Strangers: Prey at Night, its a kind-of-ok, but mostly unengaging movie with a couple fun sequences, solid cinematography, and a lot of lazy writing. Now I have never seen The Strangers (2008). It never really interested me, but from what I understand it’s mostly about a whole buncha nothing happening while spooky mask people creep in the background for the benefit of the audience. So when it was announced that we’d be getting a sequel, I gave no shits until the first trailer was released featuring Tiffany’s cover of Tommy James and The Shondells’ I Think We’re Alone Now . If there’s anything I’m a sucker for, it’s slasher style carnage se...

Dir. William Fruet No Animal Attack movie will ever be as good as Jaws . This is painfully obvious, especially considering that this sub-genre is now almost exclusively relegated to the SyFy Channel. And that’s a shame. If these movies had more respect and bigger budgets they’d be able to have better effects than the low resolution gifs they use to render their bloodthirsty juggernauts. Puppets and animatronics don’t always look great, but 99 out of 100 times they’re better than the stock animations we see in these movies today. And if you combine them with with an interesting narrative hook or two, you might have a solid piece of schlock on your hands. Spasms is just this. A solid piece of schlock. It was never gonna be as good as Jaws , but Jaws doesn’t feature Oliver Reed getting into a knife fight with a giant snake. So which one is the real winner?   The plot begins in New Guinea, where indigenous peoples are performing a ceremony to conjure up a Snake demon-god...

aka Alien Prey, The Destructer Dir. Norman J. Warren What if the alien from Under the Skin walked out of that movie and into a Lifetime Original about a dysfunctional lesbian couple? And was also a handsome British man instead of Scarlett Johansson. Prey (aka Alien Prey), that’s what if. A carnivorous alien being named Kator lands in the English countryside on some sort of reconnaissance mission from his home planet and assumes the identity of an unfortunate lug called Anders. Very shortly after he is taken into the home of the naive, free-spirited Jessica and her domineering, jealousy-prone partner Josephine, who assume the man to be lost and injured. Jessica welcomes the prospect of a new man in her isolated life while Jo is immediately wary and hostile toward the stranger, because all lesbians either just a). need a good dicking, or b). hate all men entirely.  Soon Anders/Kator’s presence begins drive a wedge between the two lovers, as Jo becomes more and more angr...

I watch a lot of B-Movies. I also watch a lot of A-Movies. But mostly I watch a lot of B-Movies. And C-Movies, D-Movies, etc. And up to this point in my life I've done nothing enriching with the hours upon hours of insanity that have been etched into my brain. That's gonna change today. I'm gonna write about 'em! B-Movies are great, but usually people don't want to watch them with me. No matter how hard I try to convince them. And that makes me sad, but I understand it. For most, it's no contest between the latest blockbuster, critical darling, or classic piece of film history, and the shot-on-VHS splatterpunk waking nightmare I just pulled out of my bag and am vigorously raving about and shoving in their face. Many of these movies are offensive, incoherent, and at times hard to sit through, either due to visceral upset or complete inability to retain interest. Sometimes it's both at the same time. But what they lack in taste, sense, and solid plot structu...