Tag Archives: movie reviews

BIGFOOT (1970): BAD MOVIE REVIEW

Bigfoot 1970BIGFOOT (1970) – Bikers battle Sasquatch!This neglected landmark in Golden Turkey history unites nearly all the bad movie Mafia from the American Southwest in the 1960s and 70s and throws in Haji, Doodles Weaver and a few Mitchums for good measure.

Hell, I could swear one of the planes from Skydivers and Red Zone Cuba shows up as well. (Look at the FAA registration number)

This movie’s crowning choice in casting finds Balladeer’s Blog’s old buddy John “He’s probably even in the Zapruder Film if you look hard enough” Carradine along for the ride. Continue reading

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BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO (1957): BAD MOVIE

Bop Girl Goes CalypsoSome of my e-mailers requested that I review this movie, but I already did years ago. Here it is again for those folks who requested it, along with a reminder that you could have instant gratification for your bad movie fix if you check my Bad Movie page first and see if I’ve already reviewed the film you have in mind. Here is the link: https://glitternight.com/bad-movies/

BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO (1957) – Category: Bad, youth-oriented 1950s movie that is incredibly campy.      In the late 1950s there was a brief flurry of films implying that Rock and Roll was a dying fad. Some producers of those films were backing a musical style they felt would become “the next hot trend” in popular music, in this movie’s case, Calypso. My favorite line: “Rock and Roll is yesterday! Calypso is where the money’s at now!”

Most of the action takes place at a Continue reading

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FEVER LAKE (1997): THIS TURKEY IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS

Fever Lake 1FEVER LAKE (1997) – I like to think of this hilariously lame horror film as Twin Peaks 90210. I sometimes toy with I Was A Teenage Shining but that mock title only applies to isolated parts of Fever Lake. Overall, I think the creative team was trying for an imitation Twin Peaks vibe, especially given the time period in which it was made.

This little honey was released theatrically in Europe during 1996 but direct-to-video here in the U.S. during 1997. The credits even refer to much of the movie being shot in the town of Twin Lakes so for all I know that name might have provided spontaneous inspiration for the director or in the way of rewrites.

Fever Lake 2I’ll elaborate on that point in a bit, but for right now I’ll point out the enjoyable kitsch-casting that elevates this turkey slightly above other such dismal efforts. Corey Haim, one-half of the Haim-Feldman Colony Creature, stars as college student Albert. Saved By The Bell‘s Mario Lopez co-stars as college student Steve.

Yes, this is one of those flicks in which NONE of the top dozen or so stars play a character with a last name, except for good old Bo Hopkins the sheriff, who gets no FIRST name. Yet very, very minor characters get full names like “Bud Martin” and “Harry Kemp.” All my fellow lovers of Bad Movies have been there before.

Fever Lake serves up the usual assortment of horny students – all of whom seem fresh from Beverly Hills 90210 – staying at a creepy lakeside house provided by Corey Haim. The filmmakers actually seem to think we viewers won’t immediately realize that he’s the little boy who witnessed the murders in that house during the pre-credits flashback scene.   Continue reading

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MOTORCYCLE SQUAD (1937)

Motorcycle SquadMOTORCYCLE SQUAD (1937) – This neglected little honey is one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, biker films. Kane Richmond and Wynne Gibson star in a story about a motorcycle cop who is dishonorably discharged from the police force as part of a ruse to send him undercover.

Seems a pack of motorcycle-riding crooks are at large and our hero’s skill with a chopper makes him the ideal next recruit for their gang, all the better to bring them down from within.

With my weird sense of humor I get a huge kick out of this film’s cleaned-up 1930s version of what would become biker movie tropes in later decades. And there are moments when you’ll be half-convinced that the creative team behind the 1960s biker movie Wild Rebels based their flick on Motorcycle Squad, albeit with a drag racer infiltrating the gang instead of a cop.  Continue reading

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PRIMER (2004) – CREPE SYUZHET

primerPRIMER (2004) – HAPPY NEW YEAR and yes, I’m just childish enough to pat myself on the back for that play on words in the title of this blog post. With that out of the way I know I’m late to the game when it comes to Primer but my own skepticism about it made me keep it on the back burner in terms of priority movies to watch.

Since New Year’s Eve into the New Year is the closest any of us ever get to time travel I figured today was the perfect time to review this controversial film. Primer was made for just $7,000 (really) by Shane Carruth, who starred, wrote, directed, edited, arranged the music and pretty much did everything but wash the cars of his collaborators.

The film’s 2:1 film ratio has become legendary and decisively proved the benefits of having your cast repeatedly rehearse scenes before letting the cameras roll. Film stock ain’t cheap and anything an independent producer can do to save on it is pure gold.

primer-2Shane Carruth stars as Aaron and David Sullivan portrays Abe. The pair are engineers who – on the side – run a tech business out of Aaron’s garage. As a side effect of a project they are working on the two discover a means of time travel.

Don’t roll your eyes and assume that Primer is just another use of this well-worn concept. I made that mistake and put off watching this excellent and thought-provoking movie for far too long.

You can ignore reviews which claim the opening half of this 77 minute film is boring. Literally even the most casual exchanges of dialogue have bearing on the overall story. It’s not really a spoiler at this late date to point out that the very beginning of the film is NOT the “first run” of the events in the storyline, as a viewer discovers later. Continue reading

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NOVEMBER 2017’s BEST

Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 continues …

bellona-and-rennellNUMBER ONE – Two gods of Bellona and Rennell Islands – NGUATUPU’A AND TEPOUTU’UINGANGI – As part of my look at gods and goddesses from various Polynesian island groups.

CLICK HERE 

NUMBER TWO – THE NEW HUMANS (1909): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – CLICK HERE 

Che Guevara 2NUMBER THREE – A look at how CHE GUEVARA AND GUY FAWKES came to symbolize the opposite of what they were in real life. CLICK HERE 

NUMBER FOUR – A political tell-all about a small part of the sleaze in American politics – DONNA BRAZILE’S BOOK ON HILLARY AND DNC CORRUPTION. CLICK HERE 

NUMBER FIVE – A look at yet another American Liberal like me driven away from the Left by their cowardly hypocrisy, pompous snobbery and hilarious pretentiousness. KERI SMITH – Just CLICK HERE

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BEST BLOG POSTS OF OCTOBER 2017

Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 continues …

Rappaccini's Daughter 2NUMBER ONE – BEATRICE THE POISON WOMAN – A Halloween Season look at the beautiful but deadly hybrid woman from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s horror story Rappaccini’s Daughter. CLICK HERE  

NUMBER TWO – LATEST DEMOCRAT ATROCITY ROUNDUP – They love to lecture the rest of us for hellish situations of their own making. CLICK HERE 

Frankenstein's Army 2NUMBER THREE – FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY (2013) – A review of this look at a horror movie about a descendant of the original Dr Frankenstein. This Doctor F is reanimating custom-weaponized corpses for the Nazis during World War Two. CLICK HERE 

NUMBER FOUR – My review of ROBERT LUDLUM’S NUMBER ONE NOVEL – THE MATARESE CIRCLE. In this age of debates over globalism and the ugly influence of multi-national corporations on the political process The Matarese Circle is THE Ludlum novel to discover if you haven’t already. CLICK HERE 

Soul of Kol NikonNUMBER FIVE – THE SOUL OF KOL NIKON (1913) – My Halloween Season review of this neglected novel by female author Eleanor Farjeon. The story deals with a Changeling using his supernatural command of music to try to steal a soul for himself from a human victim. CLICK HERE 

NUMBER SIX – THE CENTENARIAN (1822) – My review of a Gothic Horror novel by Balzac himself. A Frenchman has lived for centuries through the supernatural abilities he has learned from the Rosicrucians. He serves as a veritable Puss In Boots for his descendants, using his powers to prey on anyone who gets in their way. CLICK HERE

Bourne IdentityNUMBER SEVEN – THE BOURNE IDENTITY – My review of ROBERT LUDLUM’S NUMBER TWO NOVEL, about amnesiac intelligence agent Jason Bourne. CLICK HERE  

NUMBER EIGHT – THE BLACK REAPER (1899) – My Halloween Season review of this Gothic Horror story about a black-garbed figure who springs from the corn fields, wielding a scythe to very deadly effect. CLICK HERE

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ROSE MARIE, STAR OF GHETTO BLASTER, DEAD AT 94

Rose MarieGHETTO BLASTER (1989) – Rose Marie, best known as Sally Rogers on the ancient Dick Van Dyke Show, started in movies at age 4 in 1927 billed as “Baby Rose Marie.” Legend holds she was in a Vitaphone SOUND short released as an opener for The Jazz Singer, usually credited as the first feature-length movie with sound.  

That Al Jolson feature film kicked off the slow but inevitable end of the Silent Film Era but Rose Marie was still going by Baby Rose Marie until 1934. This legend of the big and small screens gets the usual affectionate Balladeer’s Blog sendoff with a look at one of her worst and most bizarre cinematic appearances – Ghetto Blaster.

IMDb screw-ups strike again as they mistakenly have the much younger actress Rosemarie (one word) listed in the credits for this film in which Rose Marie portrayed Helen, the mother of Richard Hatch’s character Travis. 

Ghetto BlasterI’ll start the review-proper for Ghetto Blaster by pointing out that you should buy this film for the  Battlestar Galactica (Original Series) fan in your life. Richard Hatch from that show tries to portray the kind of grim and relentless inner city vigilante made iconic by Charles Bronson in Death Wish.

Given Hatch’s generally pleasant and inoffensive demeanor this is roughly similar to having Ned Flanders star as Dirty Harry but is twice as funny. Travis (Hatch) returns to his old neighborhood after being away for years. He’s disgusted to see how much the place has changed for the worse. Continue reading

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BAD MOVIES WITH A NEW YEAR’S THEME

Here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s look at bad movies with a New Year’s Eve theme. As usual, full-length reviews of these films can be found on my Bad Movie page.

AKA Time Warp

AKA Time Warp

BLOODY NEW YEAR (1987) – Also released under the title Time Warp but it’s grisly enough for the more explicit title. A handful of British boaters who are fleeing a family of soccer hooligans (no, really) wind up on an island with a deserted hotel that’s been decorated for a New Year’s Eve party since the 1950s.

This Norman J Warren film stars nobody and borrows heavily from Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead in terms of its imitation “Deadites” and its POV tracking shots. It also features a killer who emerges from a movie being watched, a monster who climbs out of a tablecloth, homicidal kitchen utensils, indoor snowfall, laughing shrubbery and living walls.

All the chaos is being caused by hapless souls who have been trapped in limbo for decades and will do anything to get out or to drag others into their hellish undead existence with them.

Bloody New Year is a neglected bad movie classic that has all the Continue reading

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SEPTEMBER 2017’s BEST BLOG POSTS

More from Balladeer’s Blog’s Best of 2017 …

MantisNUMBER ONE – With superheroes practically taking over pop culture it should come as no surprise that my look at Marvel Comics’ character Mantis was a huge hit.

For the links to every chapter of my examination of the Celestial Madonna Saga during Mantis’ time with the Avengers – 1973-1975 – click HERE 

corporate fascist Mark Zuckerberg

CORPORATE FASCIST MARK “SKIPPY” ZUCKERBERG

 

 

NUMBER TWO – In second place for September was this look at the way Democrats are trying to use their corporate fascist allies to police everyone.

At all times. Everywhere. With draconian punishments for expressing opinions that Left-Wing Archie Bunkers disagree with.

For DEMOCRATS LOVE CORPORATE FASCISM just click right HERE 

Laura Palmer wrapped in plasticNUMBER THREE – David Lynch’s excellent Twin Peaks returned for 18 more episodes that continued the story from the original 1990-1991 series, the 1992 film Fire Walk With Me and 2014’s The Missing Pieces.

 

As a courtesy for potential fans of Twin Peaks who are put off by the way a lot of people claim it “makes no sense” I gave the most basic look at the horror/ sci fi concepts at play in the show. For TWIN PEAKS IN B-MOVIE TERMS click HERE  

Freedom of expression amnesty internationalNUMBER FOUR – The American Left has come to love censorship as much as the religious right always did.

Past works of art are examined to see if they “offend” the hypersensitive fascists of “the academic world” (LMAO).  

The blog post titled DEMOCRATS HATE ART AND LITERATURE covered that HERE

chancellor manuscript 2NUMBER FIVE – Balladeer’s Blog was examining various espionage novels by Robert Ludlum, the man behind the Jason Bourne books.

I reviewed his very relevant novel The Chancellor Manuscript, which dealt with J Edgar Hoover, the FBI and abuse of intelligence-gathering by BOTH the political right AND political left.   

To read ROBERT LUDLUM’S TOP SEVEN NOVELS: NUMBER FOUR click HERE  

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