Movieline Online

Today the chest-bursting scene from Alien easily ranks as one of the most shocking in cinema history. And it was even more impactful when it was just released in 1979. So it’s no wonder that someone tried to build a whole film around that 90-second sequence; logic, budget and artistic integrity be damned! That sort of semi-sequel coattail riding was exactly what the Italian film industry did best, especially with horror and science fiction properties. Contamination (1980) doesn’t make any apologies for lifting the more affordable ideas from Ridley Scott’s film. It simply provides as many non-sensical bloody bodies as the budget allows. Sent out to investigate a ghost ship that turns up in New York Harbor, Lt. Tony Aris (Marino Mase) barely escapes with his life after the cargo of exploding “eggs” splatters toxic goo on the rest of the team, producing a chemical reaction that causes them to explode within seconds! Recruited by a tough lady colonel (Louise Marleau) to discover...

Yet another graduate of the unofficial Roger Corman film school, director Jack Hill is responsible for more than his share of minor classics in the exploitation genre including The Big Doll House, Foxy Brown and Switchblade Sisters . But while most of his work was predictably commercial enough to make money and appease the drive-in crowds, Spider Baby (1968) is cut from a different cloth entirely. The film introduces us to the Merrye family, whose surviving members suffer from a syndrome that mentally ages them in reverse as they approach puberty. Elizabeth and Virginia are seductively functional baby dolls while their older brother Ralph is a feeble-minded gimp…and even more dangerous inbred relatives lurk in the basement. Their caretaker, Bruno (Lon Chaney Jr. of The Wolf Man ), protects them as best he can but when distant relations and their attorney arrive with plans to inherit the family wealth, bad blood starts spilling in the Merrye household. Shot in twelve days in 196...

In the charming gutter vernacular of its main character, Kingsman: The Secret Service has piss poor timing. With the James Bond franchise riding high on a series of ever more successful adventures, one couldn’t pick a worse time to pronounce 007 a cinematic dinosaur, making way for a new generation of superspies who weren’t born into the profession. And yet the film proved there is room for more than one franchise featuring explosive gadgets, tailored suits and megalomaniacal supervillans, elements that Bond seemed too embarrassed to include in his most recent outings. One of the gentlemen agents of a super-secret, well-funded apolitical spy organization, Harry (Colin Firth) feels the exclusive club could use a facelift. So when one of his compatriots is assassinated by a quirky internet billionaire named Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), Harry proposes a lower-class kid with potential take his place alongside the other silver spoon candidates. Eggsy (Taron Egerton) also happens ...

Let’s make something clear, this isn’t a box set…but it might as well be. Because, as the saying goes, you can’t eat - or watch - just one of these Italian knock-offs. Stealing as much as the budget allows from films like The Warriors, Escape from New York and The Road Warrior , director Enzo Castellari crams the screen with as many slow-motion stunts, customized vehicles and badly dubbed New York accents as possible. We might just be looking at the pinnacle of second-generation Spaghetti sci-fi actioners from the ‘80s. What does that mean? Well, lots of unintentional humor mixed with enough impressive technical credits to make each rip-off its own animal. And it all starts with 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), set in the now-isolated borough that has been overrun by creatively costumed street gangs. Our main character, Trash (Mark Gregory), rescues the runaway daughter of a Manhattan millionaire, only to lose her once again to some rival thugs. His mission to enlist the hel...

It may very well be that, like big band music and fedora hats, the appeal of films like The Land that T ime Forgot has been relegated to a select clique of nostalgic monster movie supporters who lovingly display their collections…burdened with the knowledge that there are very few left with whom to share them. After all, the Allosaurus is obviously rubber, the Pterodactyl flies on strings and the cavemen are wearing more make-up than Lady Gaga. That the film, one of several adaptations based on the on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, is nothing but a corny adventure for kids is a given. But within that framework, it works exceedingly well, beginning as a WW1-era submarine thriller that gives Das Boot and U-571 a run for their money! One of the passengers aboard a freighter sunk by a German U-boat, Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) survives to lead a hijacking of the enemy sub. Low on fuel and water, they land on the lost continent of Caprona which is full of extinct animals and pr...

By the very nature of the medium, the written word delivers a more personal, detailed and satisfying version of the same story adapted into a film. Which is just a fancy way of restating the common expression, “The book is almost always better than the movie.” You can find a few agreed upon exceptions ( The Godfather, Jaws, 2001 ), but you’ll rarely ever hear Wolfen (1981) brought up in the same conversation. Why? Because adapting a tattered horror paperback into a Hollywood thriller isn’t the sort of accomplishment that attracts much attention. I’m here to argue otherwise. Director Michael Wadleigh’s adaptation of Whitley Strieber’s 1978 novel isn’t just a little better; it’s a massive structural improvement on every level. Sharing the central idea of an ancient race of super-intelligent wolves struggling to survive in modern New York City, the film proceeds to use little else from the story besides a few character names. Instead, Wadleigh widens the scope to take on global ...

H.G. Welles’ 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau was considered scandalous science-fiction at the time, with its titular mad scientist playing God by creating man-like mutations out of test animals through vivisection. The 1932 film adaptation, Island of Lost Souls pushed the envelope with not-so-subtle suggestions of bestiality and a sadistic streak that flaunted itself in the face of the newly minted production code. By comparison 1977’s The Island of Dr. Moreau feels like a TV-friendly version of the same shocking story…which is ironic since that’s probably where most fans first experienced the film. Burt Lancaster takes over as the obsessive scientist who turns the unexpected arrival of a shipwreck survivor, Braddock (Michael York), into an opportunity to test the legitimacy of his “manimal” creations. Introducing the young interloper to his beautiful ward (Barbara Carrera) and hired gun (Nigel Davenport), Moreau quickly comes clean about his experiments and insists Bradd...