32 - Death Spa

Connection To KILLER WORKOUT - both about killings in fitness places, also in Killer Workout somebody graffiti's "Death Spa", either connection I'm happy to go with...

Two films with a similar plot is a first for this blog in watching in order, this could go against Death Spa, since I could have my overfill of health centre related death (also the setting for some of Toxic Avenger) and perhaps that has gone against my enjoyment of the film - it's not that it's bad but I've just experienced nearly 3 hours of gym/spa related carnage.

Death Spa as a supernatural edge to whilst Killer Workout didn't, Death Spa even had the alternative title Witch Bitch, some of the deaths are pretty inventive including a guy getting ripped apart by a workout machine and loose diving boards.

The film does have it's charm, it's played too straight considering the ridiculousness of the plots and the events which happen, the film as a series of deaths happening in a health spa in which the owner as to contend with, we get malfunctioning things that course harm or death and ompared To Killer Workout, the cast was better known for me - Ken Foree, Chelsea Field, and Karyn Parsons (Hilary from Fresh Prince) - Foree is enjoyable here as is Merritt Buttrick (in his final role before his young death).

The film does suffer from the old horror favourite of stupid characters doing stupid stuff and what's the deal with these 80's gyms suffering from death and it not affecting the daily custom, those are some loyal workout freaks aren't they?

Overall, I liked it, it's certainly a better made film then the other gym one but which is better as an overall package is a close call but I'll think I'll go with this for some spoiler-rific reasons..

31 - Killer Workout

Connection To DEADLY PREY - director David A. Prior and his brother, actor Ted Prior (Fritz Matthews also appears in both)

Seriously the brilliance of Deadly Prey gave me the appetite to watch something else from David A. Prior  (and his acting brother Ted) and thus I came across Killer Workout, also known by Aerobicide, a slasher movie set around a gym, which is partly an excuse for T&A methinks.

They are a few amazing things about this movie - the picture above is a scene that happens at least 4 times going back to the girls working out with close up of the butts, even after multiple deaths the business is never effected , then there's Ted Prior's occasional kung-fu outbursts and finally the primary murder weapon - a safety pin... a slightly oversized one but probably one of the least convincing murder weapons in a slasher.

Once it gets to the third death, the film get's a bit trigger happy so to speak before we know it we are on the 7th or 8th death already (and maybe more) which like I said most of these take place on the gym property and doesn't really put customers off, among these deaths there some that are more fun then others, among this though I really liked a random dream sequence that happens.

Overall, poorly acted and directed but it fits in the so bad it's good for most it's running time it's either nudity, gratitatious close-ups or murders, would be an ideal candidate for a bad movie night for somebody I would say it's not quite as fun as other slashers I have seen though.

30 - Deadly Prey

Connection To THE TOXIC AVENGER - both films feature a man getting beaten with own their severed arm.

I wrote an entry about Deadly Prey, the best piece of writing in the history of the world and like an idiot I deleted it by accident whilst the middle part of that sentence might not be true it's a shame when you took some time to write something and now it's gone and you have to go through the pain of recapturing the joy that you spoke about, here is my something of an attempt at a re-write...

Fan-fucking-tastic, that is what I would use to describe this and yes it needs the unnecessary swearing in it to help describe my joy that I have finally discovered this movie, unbeknownst to me Deadly Prey in the last few years had quietly been getting a cult following - which is impressive since it's yet to see any sort of DVD release and as 1.5 million views on a You Tube upload of the movie (this could be a number of people constantly returning to it which I wouldn't be surprised about) and even recieved a sequel - Deadliest Prey - based off of this resurgence. For somebody who hasn't seen this the question is what is the appeal of this obvious First Blood knock-off?

Well the appeal besides from being bloody awesome is the fact it's 80's direct to video brilliance - cheesy dialogue with bad performances to go with it, OTT death and action scenes and a villain so trigger happy in killing his subordinates why would anybody want to work for him...

Mike Danton (Ted Prior, the brother of the director and writer of this movie David A. Prior) is a Vietnam vet, the wrong man kidnapped whilst taking out the rubbish by a group for paid mercenaries who kidnap innocent people to use in training exercises as their prey, they capture him and literally let him go int he forest and stripped to his shorts and all oiled up, the mercenaries go after him and are all killed one by one, all in cool and inventive ways such as turning a man sideways and ramming him into a tree thus breaking his back.

The First Blood comparisons are obviously the most notable but clearly stuff like The Most Dangerous Game has had an influence in their as well, Danton is probably the great unsung action hero in movie history kicking ass for the full and extremely enjoyable 90 minutes with a bunch of awesome/bad one-liners.

The ridiculousness of everything somehow comes together, there is a stupid/unintentionally funny scene where a group of mercenaries are looking and discussing to find Denton and they walk away and Denton is hidden in the trees this would work if this was not just literally over their heads and they really should have seen him but yeah it just adds to the charm. This is certainly a film I wish I had seen sooner, but now I can say I am on the Deadly Prey band-wagon. I think the fact that this film doesn't play it tongue in cheek but rather as serious works in the film's favour, I don't think it would be quite as fun.

Overall if all direct to video movies from this time period where as fun, I'd be trying to find more in this vain but alas sadly it's a diamond among the rough, see it and fall in love with it like I did.

29 - The Toxic Avenger

Connection To SUPER - Lloyd Kaufman appeared in Super and produces, writes and co-directors (as Samuel Weil) here.

I've seen a fair bit of Troma over the years, some enjoyable, some tolerable and some a choir to get through but for some reason one of the most famous movies, perhaps it's most iconic - The Toxic Avenger - has passed me by, I mean I saw the kids cartoon series (and even own the Toxie figure) which is strange that it exists when you think about it, but I am now ready from some b-movie goodness.

Yep, I loved this - a great mix of goofy comedy and OTT gore and violence, the acting is of course b-level stuff but that just adds to the charm.

Melvin Ferd III, might just be the the most pathetic weakling in cinema history (the nerds from Revenge Of The Nerds would probably even shun him), who works as a janitor at the Tromaville Health Club where he is tormented by his customers. They grew more violent even killing a young on a bike in a hit and run, finally they trick Melvin into kissing a sheep while he's in a pink tutu (makes sense in context) and he chased around the health club by them and other customers and ends jumping out of the second story window into a vat of toxic waste that causes severe burns and disfigurement, he heads up to try and scrub it off but he turns into a deformed creature of superhuman size and of strength and thus we get the Toxic Avenger.

Even to this day some of the scenes of violence would still go be considered quite dark - mans arms in a frier, shooting a dog, the hit and run with the boy etc. - I can only imagine what people thought of this 30 years ago if I'm still commentating on it's effectiveness now, and for me it mixed it well with intentionally funny stuff, all in all there is not a second of screen time wasted on something that doesn't stand out

Overall an excellent movie, this is rightly the poster child for Troma, if you are doing a cult movie night or club I would recommend you would show this because people will eat it up and seriously future Oscar Winner Marisa Tomei pops up in the version I watched.