John’s Horror Corner: Severed Ties (1992), a kooky mad scientist movie featuring… Oliver Reed?
MY CALL: Whimsically stupid, low budget, and pretty self-aware, this movie is for the horror-comedy bad movie connoisseur who enjoys even the dumbest fare. MORE MOVIES LIKE Severed Ties: For more kooky, effects-driven, mad scientist horror comedies that are much better, try Beyond Re-Animator (2003), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Frankenhooker (1990) and The Rejuvenator (1988). But most of all, this movie reminds me of the cheap, campy, silliness of Basket Case 2 (1990).
Something of a mad scientist momma’s boy, Harrison (Billy Morrissette; Ghoulies Go to College) spends his days researching regeneration with ferociously monstrous rubber iguanas and criminal cadavers while under surveillance by his intrusive mother Helena (Elke Sommer). With her lover and greedy consort Dr. Vaughan (Oliver Reed; Venom, The Brood, The Pit and the Pendulum), they press Harrison to produce profitable discoveries from his deceased father’s research.
After a freak accident sloppily severs his arm, Harrison uses his untested regenerative serum on himself. Only now his arm is quite different. It’s oddly strong, and it breaks off like a lizard’s tale and crawls around like the Addams Family’s Thing, tearing out a hobo religious fanatic’s eyes and whipping around its “tail.” It’s a lot like the combined body parts gag from Frankenhooker (1990). Eventually, we have several of these arm-tail creatures. They growl (somehow), communicate with hand gestures, and really like strangling people.
Recruited by a crippled homeless veteran (Garrett Morris; The Stuff), Harrison finds a sense of belonging and a new source of genetic material to hone his experiments and “breed” arm-tail monsters when he joins a conclave of underground hobos. Not sure what kind of financial trouble landed Oliver Reed in this movie. But I figure it was significant.
Needless to say, this movie is incredibly stupid. And director Damon Santostefano (Scream Greats, Fright Show) knows this. We reach the cheap, campy, silliness of Basket Case 2 (1990), but with perhaps yet less budget and a bit lower quality. But if you wanted to watch something whimsically stupid with some stop-motion and rubber monster glove gags, then this should be right up your alley.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 548: Baby Driver, Car Chases and the Color Red
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Phil discuss the 2017 action film Baby Driver. Directed by Edgar Wright and starring Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Eiza Gonzalez, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Hamm, the movie focuses on a getaway driver who listens to some very cool music. In this episode, they also talk about primary colors, car chases, and movie soundtracks. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
MY CALL: This was surprisingly not bad at all. I mean, it’s not conventionally good. But not bad! Strong recommendation for aficionados of lower budget Sci-Fi of the era. MORE MOVIES LIKE Mindwarp: For more Sci-Horror of the era, consider Screamers (1995), Nemesis (1992), Hardware (1990) and Moontrap (1989).
In the year 2037, people live virtual lives. Infinisynth is like the Total Recall (1990) vacation simulation business, but for daily life. Rebelling from the generally preferred virtual life of the future, Judy (Marta Martin) finds herself expelled from the system. After accidently taking part in the death of her mother (in both the virtual and real world apparently), she is abducted, drugged, and awakens buried alive in the apocoscape that is the outside world.
The crucified remains of other Infinisynth deniers smacks of the apocalyptic future of Cyborg (1989). And like Total Recall’s (1990) Mars, the land is populated by mutants. These hideous, cannibal mutants cruise around the badlands on tractors modified into war machines a la The Road Warrior (1981). And while I’m peppering in all the apocalyptic movie references I can, you might even notice some Steel Dawn (1987) influence in here. So yeah, this movie is highly derivative. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth our time.
Judy is rescued by our survivalist hero Stover (Bruce Campbell; Waxwork II, Escape from LA, Moontrap, Black Friday, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2), who provides our backstory exposition of how this world came to be. The delivery is surprisingly told with a very straight face. In fact, this movie seems to be rather seriously composed. But its budget is humble enough that it comes off rather hokey in scenes of horror and violence.
Stover and Judy are captured and brought to the mutants’ subterranean lair, which is largely a mining operation for human “artifacts” like car parts and kitchen appliances. These Morlocks are led by the Seer (Angus Scrimm; Phantasm I-V, Chopping Mall, Subspecies), a messiah from another world who brings the mutants hope.
For such an odd, cheaper movie, the efforts on the blood and gore are pretty good even if the action is quite clumsy. We wander into mutant babies, threats of incest, cult leaders, leech-like aquatic parasites, and cannibalism.
Honestly, I thought this would be bad. Really bad. But bad it is not. In fact, brushing aside the visually obvious budgetary limitations, I’d say this movie is decently composed. So if you can appreciate lower budget 80s-90s Sci-Fi, I’d recommend this.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Dr. Giggles (1992), a wonderfully funny “medical horror” loaded with cheesy one-liners.
MY CALL: This movie is solid! It’s silly without becoming annoying, very funny with excellent pacing, and it holds up shockingly well. I think I enjoyed it as much in 2024 as I did in 1993, when I saw it via Columbia House VHS Club (for those of you old enough to remember that infomercial deal). MORE MOVIES LIKE Dr. Giggles: For more cheeky “medical horror” movies, consider Re-Animator (1985), Fresh (2022), The Dentist (1996), The Dentist 2 (1998) and Excision (2012).
Folks, welcome to bonkers 90s horror solid gold! This zany flick opens with graphic non-consensual heart surgery in front of an insane asylum audience, severed limb seduction gags, and a criminally insane genius (Larry Drake; Darkman I-II, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Tales from the Crypt) with an unnerving giggle and a propensity for issuing forceful medical care. Having just escaped his mental health facility, Dr. Giggles returns to his childhood home to live out his dream of being the doctor he promised his father he’d become.
A high schooler with a serious heart condition, Jennifer (Holly Marie Combs) is navigating pressure from her boyfriend, the recent loss of her mother, and dealing with her dad’s (Cliff De Young; The Hunger, The Craft) new girlfriend (Michelle Johnson; Waxwork, Death Becomes Her). Jennifer and her teenage friends (including Zoe Trilling; The Borrower, Night of the Demons 2, Leprechaun 3) are the unwilling patients to be in this medical horror comedy.
For the first 30 minutes, the death scenes are more about the dying than the killing, since Giggles employs sneaky injections (e.g., Doug E. Doug; Eight Legged Freaks) and poison-swapped pills to do some of his dirty work. And although no great spectacle, I enjoyed the nose examination death scene—although it was hardly a death scene and more of just a giggle-worthy gag paired with a silly line. The “take your temperature” death scene gag was likewise simple, but done with feisty execution and another eye-rollingly silly one-liner. The stomach pump scene playfully follows suit, although a tad more conceptually gross.
For the later half of the first hour, the deaths may not be much to talk about on their own. Yet Giggles will assuredly deliver a laughs as he works his way through Jennifer’s friends, one horny teenager at a time. And just like Freddy, Giggles has a special one-liner for everyone, thematic to the kill—a prime example of how style can compensate for a lack of substance. Clearly, Larry Drake had fun with the role, as did the writers and the director. And that’s what makes this movie work so well. Director and co-writer Manny Coto (Monsters, Tales from the Crypt, American Horror Stories) did an excellent job!
Of course, there was at least one great big gore gag: the morgue birth scene! And hold on, the movie gets yet gorier and more wild as it progresses into the third act. Graphic self-surgery, a vein-popping blood pressure-cuff choke-out, a dash of electrocution and latex-worked face mutilation, and a wild finale death scene with the cheesiest line yet of the entire movie!
Whereas the deaths start out less impressive from a purely visual stance, the delivery and villain-driven build up are always pleasurably proficient. When Giggles is on screen, you feel his anticipation and black comic drive. And you never wait more than a few minutes watching this movie before building anticipation to the next Giggle. Truly this movie’s greatest strength is its pacing and its star character.
Share this post:
The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 547: Something in the Dirt, Benson and Moorhead and Quartz
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Zanandi (@ZaNandi on X) discuss the 2022 science fiction film Something in the Dirt. Directed by and starring Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Resolution, Spring, The Endless, Synchronic), the movie focuses on what happens when two polar opposites investigate some supernatural shenanigans happening in their apartment complex. In this episode, they also talk about floating quartz, sleeveless t-shirts and the filmographies of Benson and Moorhead.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
Bad Movie Tuesday: 976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor (1991), a completely squandered sequel that offers viewers a lot for mockery.
MY CALL: The best feature of this movie is our ability to laugh at its stupidity. There’s a teleporting murderer in a leisure suit, a dominatrix occultist store keeper, a strip club that serves lunch, and hardly any mention of that horrorscope 900 number after which the movie is named. This adds up to a crap movie, but a solid Bad Movie Tuesday submission. MORE MOVIES LIKE 976-EVIL 2: Well, the original 976-EVIL (1988) was WAY better than this sequel! Maybe it would be more fair to say that the original was actually “good,” whereas this sequel is anything but.
Director Jim Wynorski (The Haunting of Morella, Chopping Mall, Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans) likes nudity. He’s actually directed numerous adult films. So, it should come as no surprise that at 0:01:01—yes, the 61st second of the movie’s running time—there is a shower scene. But before you talk yourself out of watching this, I’ll remind you he also gave us the solid gold campy 80s classic Chopping Mall (1986). Back to the shower scene… she dries off, encounters a weirdo in the girls’ locker room, and runs screaming down the school halls with her hardly-covered breasts bouncing frantically. Keeping it classy, Jim? Still, the death scene that followed was decent. Like ‘proper 80s-90s horror quality death scene’ decent.
Oh, boy. Five minutes later we are reintroduced to Spike (Patrick O’Bryan; 976-EVIL). When we last saw Spike, he was sending his demon-infused brother to Hell in the abyssal fissure that opened in their front yard in part 1. Now… he’s strolling into the Mad Dog Inn strip club in broad daylight. Extra classy. I guess this is where a lot of you might pull the rip-cord and parachute safely away from this film. At this point, I’d stop defending our director. My Chopping Mall (1986) leeway only extends so far and now even I’m regretting this movie selection.
So here we are, those of you who dare to brave this Bad Movie Tuesday, wading into the stagnant waters of this sequel. And no, sadly this sequel did not bring back the demon-possessed Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys; 976-EVIL, Fright Night, The Chair) to return as our deliciously evil bad guy. No. Instead we get some guy who called the 976-EVIL horrorscope number. He gains the ability to astrally project himself to function as a demon lacky for the 976 evil hotline. This character is weakly written, weakly played, is a bit of a gross pedophile, and doesn’t do anything interesting… at all… like throughout the entire movie.
Moreover, the death scenes weren’t great. The cold open kill was decent. And the exploding truck death was pretty cool, I guess. But the extra long, extra boring possessed car sequence is awful. You’d hope that a cool cameo of Brigitte Nielsen running an occult store would lead somewhere fun… but it doesn’t. Nothing in this movie is particularly enjoyable. Except for mocking it, of course!
Hmmm… how to close. Well, why bother? After all, this movie hardly bothered to close strong. The ending was total dog shit. Some finale! Really, this entire movie is dog shit. Can that just be my rating?
The best feature of this movie is its mockability. From the teleporting, semi-undead murderer in his leisure suit to the dominatrix-attired 6’1” occult store keeper to the strip club lunch stop and, oh yeah, wasn’t there supposed to be a stronger plot tie to this horrorscope 900 number!?! Our homicidal astral projector basically calls the 976 number in the beginning of the movie and then becomes a kill-slave to a demonic force. He may as well have just bought a cursed piece of jewelry at an antique shop—as so many horror movies can begin. I guess the writer couldn’t be troubled to properly link the plot to the movie’s namesake theme. Yup. This all makes for a crap movie, but a solid Bad Movie Tuesday submission.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993), a squandered sequel to the solid 80s classic “Ouija horror.”
MY CALL: This sequel will leave fans of Witchboard (1986) disappointed. This may not be unwatchable by any means, but it’s not good either. MORE MOVIES LIKE Witchboard 2: Witchboard (1986) was actually a good movie; whereas this sequel is not. For more quality “Ouija horror”, I’d skip Ouija (2014) altogether and go right to Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016).
The very day she moves into her new apartment in the city, Paige (Ami Dolenz; Ticks, Pumpkinhead II, Children of the Night) stumbles across a Ouija board and, of course, uses it immediately to talk to whatever entity from the “other side” is there… and she makes contact with a spirit called Susan.
Right away, the writing and acting is a distinct step below the original Witchboard (1986)—which was really good! This sequel may not measure up, but at least it’s not overly hokey. Our haunting comes with a lot of “ghost’s eye view” POV shots and poltergeisty telekinesis. Thankfully, this spirit kills the sexually harassing handyman. Unthankfully, it’s not in very cinematically showy fashion. Yup, another movie with lame death scenes—and this was the “better” death scene of the movie.
Paige comes to find that her undead roommate may not be who she claims to be, and the cheap effects continue. A shattered mirror is the special effects highlight of the first 50 minutes of this movie. Still, and I mean this, it could be a lot worse. It’s surprisingly watchable given how lame it is in the effects department. A bit boring, but not awful.
Like any weak sequel, this movie re-explains all the “Ouija rules” and is essentially a re-hashing of the previous plot. Overall, it would be fair to say it’s pretty lame. The possession at the end amounts to nothing interesting, nothing shocking, and nothing fun. Maybe one “okay” swing of a pick-ax transpires, if I’m forced to pick a highlight. And how do we defeat evil? Destroy the Ouija board? Barf!
Not gonna’ lie. I’m somewhat baffled that this was made by the same writer and director (Kevin Tenney; Night of the Demons, Witchboard, The Cellar) that did part 1. What happened? Part 1 was great. And then Tenney went on to do Night of the Demons (1988), which was awesome. But then he returns to do this sequel and the movie is… crap. It may not be unwatchable. But comparing these two movies (part 1 and 2) feels like comparing a worthy horrorsmith to a clumsy student filmmaker with no vision.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: Suitable Flesh (2023), a body-swapping Lovecraftian adaptation that is a bit more mature than its 80s counterparts.
MY CALL: Folks, I love all things Lovecraftian from the wild adaptations of the 80s to more contemporary releases… and I really liked this movie. Gory, intense, boundary-pushing and insidious, it seems to capture the best of the 80s and the 2020s. MORE MOVIES LIKE Suitable Flesh: For more recent Lovecraft-adapted fare, consider Dagon (2001), Dreams in the Witch-House (2005), Cold Skin (2017) and The Color Out of Space (2019). For some clearly Lovecraft-inspired movies, move on to The Shrine (2010), Black Mountain Side (2014), Harbinger Down (2015), Baskin (2015), The Void (2016), The Beach House (2019), The Superdeep (2020) and Glorious (2022).
Dr. Beth Derby (Heather Graham; Scream 2, Blessed, From Hell) finds herself a patient in the Psych Ward of the Miskatonic Medical School, under the care of her friend and colleague Dr. Daniella Upton (Barbara Crampton; Re-Animator, From Beyond, You’re Next, Chopping Mall, We Are Still Here). From her padded room, Beth narrates the story that led her there…
It all began when she met college student Asa (Judah Lewis; The Babysitter, Summer of ‘84), a troubled young man tortured by a fear of his father and a recent out of body experience. His father (Bruce Davison; Lords of Salem, Insidious: The Last Key) is unwell, unfriendly, and studies an esoteric text with macabre illustrations enabling him to utter an incantation and possess the body of another against their will.
The body-swapping lunacy kicks into high gear during a carnal sex scene that transitions into a most brutal murder with an incredibly bloody and visceral-sounding decapitation. Ten or so rapid, brutally rough, trachea-grating cuts hastily and sloppily sever the victim’s head and, I gotta’ say, I am digging this! I loved the bloody mess of it all so much. There are only two really gory scenes in the entire film—both are well-executed, spectacularly bloody, rather mean, gruesome and awesome. The second scene (actually a long sequence) involves a brutal fall, incredibly mean vehicular manslaughter, loads of stabbing, and it even continues rolling into an autopsy and then beyond. This mangled body is an amazing macabre sight, and we see a lot of it.
There is a highly sex-driven component to all this, and Beth’s husband Edward (Johnathon Schaech; Quarantine, Flight 7500, Prom Night) certainly seems to enjoy the ride. Sometimes the sex is just for the sake of evil lust, but at one point it facilitates a bodily possession. I guess just like how the body-swapping alien in The Hidden (1987) liked red sports cars, this demon likes… well… yeah.
Director Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2, Chillerama, Mayhem, Creepshow series) should be our new go-to Lovecraft director—at least, for the less high-brow fare. Adapted from the H. P. Lovecraft story “The Thing on the Doorstep” by writer Dennis Paoli (Dagon, From Beyond, Re-Animator, Meridian), I also hope this film spurs more projects for this writing-directing duo. Because this was good. Really good. Although not as wild as the Lovecraftian adaptations of the 80s (e.g., Re-Animator, From Beyond), this brings a more mature spin to the occasionally off-the-wall concepts of those movies while still retaining juuuuust enough over-the-topness to remain titillating. We need more movies like this!
Share this post:
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and David Cross (@ItsMeDavidCross on X) talk about Maestro, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, Past Lives, Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, The Holdovers, American Fiction and Barbie. In this episode, they also rank the 10 nominees and talk about which film will win Best Picture.
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Share this post:
John’s Horror Corner: 976-EVIL (1988), a campy and feisty, Freddy-inspired horrorscope.
MY CALL: This is one of those horror movies that has the mildly zany flavor and style of a NOES sequel (like NOES 3-5-ish). Maybe that’s your taste. It’s certainly mine. MORE MOVIES LIKE 976-EVIL: I’d actually recommend against moving on to the very inferior 976-Evil II (1991). Instead, I’d suggest The Horror Show (1989), Prom Night II (1987) and Prison (1987) for more NOES sequel-like horror. Since this is more about the effects of the call and less about the calls themselves, I’ll not be suggesting One Missed Call (2003, 2008), The Ring (2002), Unfriended (2015).
Two high schoolers living in the religious household of their aunt, Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys; Fright Night, The Chair) and his cousin Spike (Patrick O’Bryan; 976-EVIL II) seek excitement and freedom. Spike calls in on a magazine ad for his “horrorscope”—976-EVIL. A raspy voice (Robert Picardo; Legend, The Howling) narrates what sounds like any old horoscope with a dash of ominousness. But when Spike doesn’t act as his horrorscope suggests, he receives taunting calls from random payphones. Zany things swiftly ensue, including raining fish which is investigated by Modern Miracle magazine reporter (Jim Metzler; Waxwork II, Children of the Corn III).
Eventually Hoax finds the magazine ad and calls for his own horrorscope which leads him to his crush, who happens to be Spike’s girlfriend Suzie (Lezlie Deane; Freddy’s Dead, Girlfriend from Hell). Hoax goes all in, performing a Satanic ritual to win her over after she rejects him. Succumbing to the infernal influence, Hoax begins to lose his hair, breaks out in a rash, and grows some really gnarly claws.
From the cold open death scene, the horror stunts and shenanigans kick off adequately. Victims burn in telephone booth hellfire, get facially impaled with shards of shattered glass, and some cats eat their owner’s mangled body.
Director Robert Englund (Freddy’s Nightmares, Killer Pad) injects NOES nightmare sequence flavor into many scenes of this movie. Once Hoax begins his change, the effects get more interesting as he becomes more demonic in appearance, wild personality, and gains supernatural power. We don’t see things on screen that we’d like (e.g., gory moments and kills), but even the aftermath is somewhat pleasing. Hoax is hokey in a silly “Sequel Krueger” kinda’ way that works, and it begs some forgiveness for the gore that we are denied. By the end, Hoax looks like a rock’n roll demon elf and his house turns into a gateway to an icy Hell.
You know, the death scenes are generally on the weaker side (since we mostly just see the aftermath and not the on-screen death). But the gore and monster make-up effects are swell in precisely that 80s nostalgic way that I enjoy, even if a bit lower budget than I prefer, and the story and characters worked well for me, too. This was a pretty fun re-watch. Strongly recommended to fans of 80s horror, Freddy Krueger and the somewhat wacky NOES sequels.
Movies, Films & Flix 