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.

28 - Super

Connection To BEAUTY SHOP - Kevin Bacon, who was going to be one of the connections sooner or later wasn't he?

Super, was one of 3 films came out around the same time that dealt with people who had no superpowers whatsoever deciding to become "heroes", the other two films where Defendor (getting there first in 2009), Kick-Ass - Kick-Ass being the best known of the bunch (and the only based on a comic) is the one the other two compare it too, people can potentially be disappointed though because neither have the big-ness about them as both are small budget in comparison. Super, though for my money is the best of the three and like Chloé Moretz in the Kick-Ass movies as an ace in it's hole of it's own and that's the one and only Ms. Ellen Page.

Make no mistake the film around her is great (as are other performances) but this movie belongs to Page,

The film has a fantastic animated opening featuring all the main characters and tells the story of Frank (Rainn Wilson), whose narration tells you he only as two good memories in his life - marrying his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler) and helping a police officer catch a robber because of directing him where to go. He draws them in crayon and hangs them on his wall. Sarah, a recovering addict leaves Frank for Jacques (Kevin Bacon) who gets her hooked on the drugs again. Frank has a vision which he is touched by the hand of a good, and meets the Holy Avenger (a great cameo from Nathan Fillion) - who is a superhero from a public access how and is told he as chosen for a special purpose - and that is to become a superhero, he goes to a comic book store for inspiration and meets Libby (Page) who though he says he's creating a new comic book character sort of sees through it, he then creates a superhero costume and takes up the name of The Crimson Bolt.

His weapon of choice is mostly a pipe wrench and he begins to fight crime to various rule breakers from the major (child molesters) to the by comparison minor (somebody who cuts in line) and becomes a media sensation.

The film is very enjoyable from start to finish, Libby ends up becoming involved when wounded he goes to hers for help and she ends up becoming his sidekick (Boltie) and the cast is great - Wilson plays Frank so well that we don't completely think he's a loony when he has the visions and ends up being a superhero and Tyler, though not given much to do. Bacon the villain of the piece plays it excellently charismatic who sees The Crimson Bolt/Frank more of a nuisance at times then his arch-nemesis but like I said the film belongs to Page who is such a brilliant ball of energy that the film shines most brightly when she's on screen - crazy but still as the Page cuteness about her that I fancied her despite how dangerous she would clearly be if she was real.

I'd say the film is the darkest of the three real life superhero movies from the same time, it seems the smallest production (though the budget between this and Defendor I imagine are the closest), but after the inevitable shoot out ending it finishes on a nice note...

Overall I absolutely loved this, it might have a bit a sour taste for some people to truly love it like I do but anybody willing to give it a chance will be pleasantly surprised.

27 - Beauty Shop

Connection To THE BABYSITTER - Alicia Silverstone

The spin-off movie as never really looked like it's took off - films that are not necessarily sequels but feature one or more characters in another situation - Daredevil had Elektra, both of which are considered by the majority underwhelming movies, The Wolverine movies from X-Men are of of mixed opinion and stuff like The Marvel Avengers Universe and to a lesser extent the Kevin Smith View Askew is trickier when it comes to saying what is a spin-off of what, there's obviously a lot of spin-off movies I've left off but the lack of successes in the one's that did happen means some great supporting movie characters through cinema history haven't had the chance to have their day in the limelight.

Beauty Shop is the spin-off or (the sequel) to the two Barber Shop films, both of which starred Ice Cube with Queen Latifah co-starring in the second one, before writing this up I had not seen any of the three, so I am not sure how good this will be (or even how it stands in relation quality otherwise to the other two).

Queen Latifah whose a good screen presence is somebody I would never buy/rent a film because they was in it and hear she plays a beauty shop employee under the management of Jorge (Kevin Bacon) who after a dispute end up quitting as launching her own rival beauty shop and ends up taking the other salon workers and customers with her, that's kind of the plot really - it's one of those films that decides to spend time with it's characters rather then have a proper plot.

There was times I smiled and even laughed at some moments in the film, a lot of the characters are enjoyable, Kevin Bacon particularly is enjoyable even if he's playing a flamboyant foreign stereotype (I hear the character will be joining 2 Broke Girls soon...) as are Alfre Woodard, Alicia Silverstone (still looking pretty) and some of the more minor characters - there's also some familar faces as customers including Andie MacDowell and Mena Suvari who fit in good with the cast.

Overall a likable film that may be about 10-15 minutes too long, the characters are all good enough that's it's enough of a pleasure spending time with them.

26 - The Babysitter

Connection To THE CABLE GUY - George Segal.

Adolescent Confession Time #1 - I remember watching this in bits and pieces (probably seeing it all) in the 90s in what I call for me personally - The Puberty Years - hoping to catch some Alicia Silverstone breast, the internet hadn't really come to my town properly at that point to be be to log on and tell me Silverstone does not show any boob during the course of the movie (despite there being a scene with her in the bath), so yeah my memory of The Babysitter is that it's underwhelming because I wanted me some Cher Horowitz skin!

Anyway, my memory of it that it was called a thriller but I couldn't really remember anything thriller about it, and yeah it's a series of males fantasizing about the babysitter - the father of the kids she's babysitting, her boyfriend and his bad boy friend - it wouldn't be out of line to say all these fantasies are a few notches even below soft core, which is perhaps the way the film should have gone, which I guess could have mean't losing Silverstone for more prudish reasons and the other actors such as George Segal because they don't want to be linked to something a bit more soft core but all that's left is tame.

So from one point of view, Silverstone is well cast, because you can easily see her as this object of affection for these pervs but it's a film that lacks any real bite, the entire film is basically just when it might get cut like out of the fantasy or lets cut away to another character.

Overall, a disappointing experience that would probably not have got noticed if it wasn't released in the same year (1995) as Clueless, I wouldn't recommend it because it's mostly a limp affair.