king kong lives (1986)

aka King Kong II. "She's pregnant!" Scientists discover a giant female Gorilla, ten years after King Kong has lapsed into a coma. This enables vets to bring him back from the dead, and with a blood transfusion and heart transplant, Kong looses no time in continuing the carnage, and attempt to win himself a bride. It's down to keepers Hank Mitchell & Amy Franklin (Brian Kerwin & Linda Hamilton) to stop the military from harming them. A sequel to the 1974 re-make, and with this pedigree you'd expect it to be bad, but surprisingly this has high production values and turns out ok, (if not a patch on the originals).

pumpkinhead (1988)

"He looked at me like he wanted to kill me."
When the 6 year old son of a rural storekeeper (Lance Henriksen) is accidentally killed by a biker, who subsequently prevents his friends from getting help, the boys father calls up a vengeful demon to destroy them. He soon realises his mistake, but can he call off the unstoppable beast?
Standard stalk and slash, that starts off well, then loses all sense of originality once the killings start.

dune (1984)

"The spice must flow."
In the distant future, people mine Spice, a product that can fold time, and is thus essential for space travel. This precious substance is only found on one planet, known as Dune. The politics that come with big business impacts on Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan), when his family, one of the ruling houses of the universe, are killed. Can he survive and is he in fact the prophet that can end the suffering of the planets?
Big budget film, that attempts to bring to the screen the first of the Dune novels. This it does with partial success, but suffers from some major miscasting, and an over complex script, (to follow it, it helps if you have read the book).

trick or treat (1986)

"I'm gonna nail everyone of those bastards."
Eddie Weinbauer (Marc Price) is a metalhead fan of rockstar Sammi Curr (Tony Fields). Then his world is shattered when he learns of Sammi's death. But that's not the end of Sammi, as he wants back into life, but to do so he requires a few human sacrifices to do so and guess who's in his sights?
Entertaining take on the backward masking heavy metal PMRC crusade and featuring small parts for Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne.

goliath and the vampires (1961)

aka Maciste contro il vampiro.
"Those who are responsible will pay..."
All the women in a village are kidnapped by the evil wizard Kobrak, to power his army of robots using their blood. So Goliath (Gordon Scott) sets off to save them.
A fun beefcake epic, chocked full with an evil socerer, dancing girls, a race of blue men and scheming women.

near dark (1987)

"I ain't a person anymore. I don't know what I am. I'm sick!"
Small town mid-west America and Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar), thinks he's struck lucky when he picks up Mae (Jenny Wright). She in turn takes a liking to the cow-poke and turns him, as unfortunately for him she is a vampire, and now so to is he. Whilst he's introduced to the rest of her 'family', and coming to terms with his new lifestyle, his family wonder where he's disappeared to and try and track him down.
A modern twist on the vampire story, combining the western with horror, complete with bar room brawls and a final showdown.

king kong (1976)

"There is a girl out there who might be running for her life from some gigantic turned-on ape."
A petroleum exploration unit comes across an isolated island laden with crude oil, hostile natives and an even more hostile giant gorilla. When Dwan (Jessica Lange) is kidnapped and left as sacrifice to Kong, Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) having hit it off with her, decides that no gorilla is going to come between them, even a giant one.
Twisting the tale slightly, this is a fairly faithful retelling of the original kong, with added special effects. Though this doesn't add up to a better picture, it does prove to be an entertaining adventure.

barbarella (1968)

aka Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy.
Barbarella, a 41st century government agent, is given the task of finding the missing scientist Durand Durand (Milo O'Shea), who is believed to be in Sogo, the city of night. There she finds danger, and the evil great tyrant, a lesbian queen (Anita Pallenberg). She manages to hook up with the resistance movement lead by Dildano (David Hemmings), rescues an Angel (John Philip Law) and finds real love.
Based on the popular French comic strip, this is definitely a hip and happening 60's version of our spacey future. Beautifully filmed, on enormous, exotic sets, this is a scatty, episodic and extremely silly adventure with actors from many nations giving some very quixotic performances. One you either go with and love or dismiss out of hand as all style and no substance, which is true, but I still cant help but like it!

evil dead III: army of darkness (1993)

aka Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead. Captain Supermarket. Army of Darkness.
The third of the trilogy sees Ash as an out and out hero transported back in time to fight the deadites in medieval England. But first he needs to put an end to the civil war and unite the two factions to fight their common enemy. Only then can he try and return to the present.
Like Evil Dead II, this brings yet more humour, mostly slapstick humour to the story, rather than the out and out gore of the previous. This is more of a comic-book version of the story, especially when he meets and fights the army of the dead. It starts off well, but the more comic it gets the less its appeal, and whilst still a great film, it fails to match up to the previous installments. Watch it as a comic horror and you'll love it, but if you expect another gorefest like the Evil Dead then you'll likely leave disapointed.

evil dead II (1987)

aka Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.
Ash (Bruce Campbell) takes his girlfriend to a backwoods cabin, and finding a professor's tape recorded translation of the Book of the Dead, unleashes some evil spirits. He's soon fighting his girlfriend and once she's dispatched, the spirits within himself. His hand becoming a truly original and comic creation! Then four strangers turn up including the professor's daughter. Who will survive, or will they all be 'dead by dawn'?
A sequel come remake of The Evil Dead, its an obviously slicker and more expensive affair, but retains its cheap credentials, still making use of the stop motion creatures of the first. The additions are in the character of Ash, who has developed a wickedly black humour and some great one liners. He's also developed his use of tools in defeating the deadites. This makes for a more fulfilling film than the first, which was a much more straight up horror. In this version Ash is more rounded and he's grown into the role of hero, all be it a cowardly one. It also sets us up nicely for Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness.

amityville 3d (1983)

aka Amityville III: The Demon. Amityville: The Demon.
A skeptical investigative journalist buys the infamous Amityville House, then finds that being an unbeliever doesn't stop the household problems.
The film slowly unveils the demons within the house, in an entertaining way. Managing to just about hold my attention. The 3D effects are ok, sometimes enhancing the look and feel, other times intruding. All in all nothing exceptional, but like most 3D films worth seeing once for the novelty value.

danger diabolik (1968)

A fine example of a comic book adaption by Mario Bava. Staring John Philip Law as Diabolik, and Terry Thomas as a hapless government minister. 1968 will never look so good in any other film.