90-Minute Redbox: "VFW" a Rutger Hauer Away from Grindhouse Perfection
*Blog post started on December 30, 2020.
I do not know why I was complaining about my lack of video gaming this past year after having seven honorable movies I saw which are not going to make this list. My video game purchases are rarely made at full price ("Cyberpunk 2077" this year, "Pokemon Shield" in 2019, "Smash Bros. Ultimate" in 2018, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" in 2017, "WWE 2K16" in 2016, aside from Target "Buy 2 get 1 half off" deals, I am saving quite a bit on games. Maybe my retro purchases make up for the new game savings.). It just despairs me that I have lost another passion. Thanks 2020.
After this train wreck of a year in terms of the cinema, there is a bit of a fear that we are not going to receive much for content. Is NinetyForChill.com going to suffer do to that? It may just revert to the B-Movie archive that I may have intended it to be. If that happens, will anyone be interested in becoming a guest for "Ninety for Chill: The Pod" (Drop me russthebus07@gmail.com an email if you are interested.)?
If we want to think about more pressing matters, is this list going to suffer from me inadvertantly rushing through it when it comes to making the December 31 deadline? By me mentioning seven movies that I wish I would be able to include in the list, it seems appropriate to throw three more fun flicks in before we get to the top 10. What can I say? I love a challenge, or I am just innately make things more challenging.
How can I podcast. How can I handle two resolutions? Do I write off the daily something Buffalo meal?
2.5-Hour Double Feature - "The Velocipastor" and "It's My Party and I'll Die If I Want To"
90-Min Netflix DVD - "Silent Running" Great Message in a Pre Space Opera World
Three More Honorable Mentions
It was great to see that the director of "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter", Lee Demarbre, was still getting to make fun no-budget flicks. Sasha Grey's attachment shows that there is a market for quickly produced far fetched horror and while not a perfect script by any means, I enjoyed the fact that we still can get a feature in the vein of "Blood Feast" and "Bucket of Blood". I know we all wanted a movie about a director who has become sick of the limitations of practical effects and turns to the organs and appendages of their enemies to be documented at some point.
Anytime you bill four great names on direct-to American video feature, skepticism is well warranted ("2047: Sights of Death"). It all depends of where the financing is coming from. Thankfully, when the Thai's build the line up of Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Michael Jae White, and Ron Perlman, they know they cannot afford to mess up. I would have wished for a few more direct match ups (Dolph v. White and Jaa v. Perlman for example), but it is a solid enough story with great action. Get over the CG effects that somehow got a portion of the $9 million budget, and you will have fun.
"Edward Frog: The Movie" is something that all fans of "The Lost Boys" wanted. It is too bad that Warner Bros. was skeptical of that as they released what was essentially a poor, sexed-up remake/parody of the original with "Lost Boys: The Tribe" to test the market. If that turned you off of the franchise, rest assure the threequel recovered from it by mocking the post-"Twilight" vampire culture not the classic vampire flick and focusing on the only attachment we had to the original, The Frog Brothers.
90-Minute Red Box: "The Hunt" a Great Wind Down from "Full Gear" Weekend.
Top Ten Best 2020 Ninety-Minute (or 97 min) Film Discoveries for Chilling
This list shows me that the last year was not a total shit show. I may not have accomplished much, but at least this will be documented.
10. "The Lure" o.k.a. "Córki dancingu"(2015)
For all of us who want the true spirit of Hans Christian Andersen when it comes to "The Little Mermaid", this Polish feature delivers that along side a great Europop soundtrack and some fun horror elements and themes. How could Andersen fail to include a bisection transplant in his original story is beyond me.
It is by no means perfect, but how would you expect a horror/comedy musical about man-eating mermaids to end up. The fun music, the knowledge of subject matter, and ridiculous premise and spectacle alone is guaranteed to provide some enjoyment for all oddball cinema fans.
This is the closest to Hans Christian Andersen we have gotten since Danny Kay.
This is the intersections of "Juno" and "Gremlins". Perhaps it could have tried to stay closer to a PG-13 to serve as a great abstinence message as in "Getting laid will cost you your friends and unleash the hell spawn you so deserve to destroy humanity". I suppose since "It Follows" was a hard R, it is best to just get out all the mayhem you want. My primary complaint would be, if you are going for the R, embrace the gore.
"Snatchers" is only a few tweaks away from being a classic horror comedy, so watching the second act will be a bit frustrating. When the feature commits to laughs and gores, it makes the annoyances worth it.
It is going to take a little more work with the idea of a feature told entirely from the first person perspective, but if someone can nail it perfectly just once, I think we are looking at the future of action cinema. Why buy the PlayStation VR for "Iron Man" when you can just see the story in IMAX. Sadly, 2020 may have killed those prospects. If it is not in the theaters, the immersion is gone, and then its just a bunch on noise. Thankfully for this film, Sharlto Copley serves as a great guide which makes it more than a "Call of Duty" play through.
"Hardcore Henry" is not the happy medium between game and story, but it lays the groundwork for great filmmaking. At the very least, it is the blue print for good video game to cinema adaptations. It is all about IP, right?
This is the middle ground between Troma productions and Marvel Studios. James Gunn humor is constantly present in this body horror feature. The cast is excellent and nearly perfect with every line reading and leaves you wishing that Nathan Fillon and Elizabeth Banks would get their own Marvel franchises.
If you are trying to introduce someone to horror who swears they have a sturdy their stomach is, "Slither" is the perfect flick. The humor will keep any audience involved while shocking non-genre and amusing the gore hounds. It is almost sad that this cannot cause the damage that "Gremlins" did to 80s' kids.
Another successful feature with a great ensemble cast. If you needed a more realistic version of "The Expendables", "V.F.W." is your ideal picture. It has the feel of a John Carpenter feature and gives you some great grindhouse moments. I think it should have leaned further into the exploitation vibes and humor, but when the story is told right, you do not get too demanding of a product.
"VFW" is aware that it is putting great and always competent actors in a place where there charms can carry the ridiculous. This allows everyone an in when it comes to watching this film. After they are in, be it gore, nostalgia, or action, everyone will find something great and should leave happy.
The Doorman - Die Hard with Girl Power and a Norwegian Knock Off Bill Burr
Every horror sub-genre needs a feature to subvert it, and "Feast" does it for man-eating monsters. I have yet to dive into the "Scream" franchise, but with the disappointment that surrounded the third, this may have been the last great horror comedy until "Tucker and Dale vs Evil". You love its awareness and how it plays towards the growing video game audience. The gore and, more importantly, the unrelenting surprises amuse, and the cast knows to lean into the humor to make this work. If only they did not try to get overly ambitious with the sequels on a lesser budget. A conclusion was not necessary.
Dunstan and Melton understand that horror (slasher) films can no longer be taken too seriously which allows "Feast" to be a brilliant horror comedy. This might defeat the intention of the concept of "Saw" (explains the just watchable nature of IV and VII), but as long as they never lose their ability to destroy the standards of the genre in the most clever way possible, they might be the most important horror writers of a generation.
I think this is definitely the most rewatchable title on this list and the most fun you can get from an unromantic vampiric tale ever. It features an iconic ensemble (Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, and Jenette Goldstein arrive fresh of "Aliens".) cast and slaps the audience across the face with the fact that murdering people for food is not sexy despite our two leads' charisma. The universe it creates could use further exploring, so it may suffer from its close ended story.
Great direction, story, soundtrack and ensemble cast make "Near Dark" the most under appreicated vampire films of the past 40 years. It is a great early entry in the filmography of Kathryn Bigelow, and it demonstrates her understanding of what she is filming.
This subtle sci-fi classic deserves a lot more attention than it has received. It is a brilliant space adventure with a great message, and to add to its perfection, it throws in a borderline psychotic but incredibly likable Bruce Dern. The droids are a great basis for all robots to follow after it. If it is lacking anything for space opera fans, it is space battles which is not why you are watching it. The lack of action is probably why this satirical critique on capitalism and environmental justice needs more eyes on it.
I thought this would give me a reason to also rewatch "Rollerball", but their is a sense of that feature being grounded in a more relatable reality. Douglass Trumbull's directorial debut takes you to another world that you are glad to visit and hope will never become a reality. Who does not want to chase someone down in roller skates to knock them out with a studded glove? I can live with corporations ruling everything. I cannot live without trees.
It is a pity that the current climate wants to avoid politics at nearly all costs. The Left wants to applaud being on the right side and just cover their ears when someone says they are not. The Right only wants to have their egos massaged, so they turn to Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax. If you cannot understand or dislike satire (which I think is 50% to 60% of the population), your appreciation of the film is unlikely. This is sad because it displays both sides very well while still leaning to the side that is right. "The Hunt" is one of the few times where having only unlikable characters works out.
As a straight satire, I had as much fun watching "The Hunt" as I did "Doctor Strangelove". If a director of Kubrick's skill had directed this, it would be a modern masterpiece. But we all like looking over Da Vinci's sketches, so give this a view.
"Videodrome" still makes viewers question the impact that visual content has on them and consider what the limits should or should not be. It is an expression of a dream that the audience has to be brave enough to indulge.
It is not David Cronenberg's best narrative, but it is his story and more importantly his visuals. This feature is still very relevant today as it explores the boundaries and questionable wants of members of society and how they expect someone or something to satisfy them. The expectation of that rewards is the basis of their insanity and the transformation that follows. Excellent body horror and a brilliant performance from James Woods (That is beyond appropriate since art has proven to imitate art.) makes this a must see. Long live the new flesh.
"Me and My Mates vs. The Zombie Apocalypse" - A Mostly Positive "Oi, Oi, Oi"
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