As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix! The movie? 2018’s Six-Headed Shark Attack!
If you thought a shark with five heads was dangerous, just you wait until you a shark with six!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! I’ll be there tweeting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
A serial killer known as “The Avenger” is murdering blonde women in London (which, once again, proves that its better to be a redhead). And while nobody knows the identity of the Avenger, they do know that the enigmatic stranger (Ivor Novello), who has just recently rented a room at boarding house, happens to fit his description. They also know that the lodger’s landlord’s daughter happens to be a blonde…
Released in 1927, the silent The Lodger was Alfred Hitchcock’s third film but, according to the director, this was the first true “Hitchcock film.” Certainly it shows that even at the start of his career, Hitchcock’s famous obsessions were already present — the stranger accused of a crime, the blonde victims, and the link between sex and violence.
Also of note, the credited assistant director — Alma Reville — would become Alma Hitchcock shortly before The Lodger was released.
The guitar tracks in CantSpeak are actually the guitar tracks for another song, Let It Be Captured, played backwards. This was inspired by the frequent accusations that Danzig hid Satanic messages in their songs that could only be heard if you played the song backwards. I don’t hear any secret messages in CantSpeak but the guitar tracks sound good.
In this video, Glenn and the band appear to be trapped in a cast-iron stomach. It’s just another day for Danzig. Real-life monsters, like Charles Manson and Saddam Hussein, also makes cameo appearances as Danzig performs.
It’s not a particularly happy future. Many things have been declared illegal and forbidden, all in the name of the public good. Secret police roam the streets. Those who refuse to obey the system are arrested and held in dark cells. It’s all for the benefit of the people, of course. (Not me, us and all that nonsense.)
Adam Demus (Drew Garrett) is arrested for street racing and tossed into a dark cell. Adam is a rebel, though he doesn’t seem to be sure what exactly it is that he’s rebelling against. To Adam’s shock and anger, his father, Nick (Jake Head) is brought into the cell. It is quickly established that Nick used to be an abusive drunk and that he regularly beat both Adam and Adam’s mother. Adam wants nothing to do with Nick but Nick asks him to just listen to his story. Seeing as how the cell is locked, Adam doesn’t really have much choice. While Nick speaks, the government monitors everything that he says. They’re just waiting for him to say one certain thing so that they can make their move.
Nick talks about his youth and how he was once also a street racer. In the years before the new government came to power, Nick would spend every night racing against two brother, Ben and Pete. But then, one night, a terrible accident landed Ben in the hospital. Having nearly died, Ben declared himself to be a Christian and, instead of racing, he now wanted to preach. Pete wasn’t particularly happy about that. In fact, outside of their mother and the local preacher, no one was happy about that. Ben would still go to the street races but now, he would try to preach and he would go on and on about how breaking the law went against God’s will. Finally, Nick called Ben’s bluff and challenged him to a race. If Ben won the race, he would be allowed to preach and everyone would listen to him. If Nick won the race …. well, who knows? I guess Ben would just have to go to some other illegal event and try to preach there. (One can only imagine how his message would have gone down at a cockfight.) Anyway, if you’ve ever seen a faith-based film, you’ll know that this all leads to tragedy, a sudden conversion, and eventually a scene where the government declares that Christianity is now forbidden.
Due to its structure, Buying Time has an odd feel to it. Indeed, it feels like two separate movies and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the interrogation scenes were conceived and added after the scenes involving Ben and Pete. All in all, it’s a pretty heavy-handed film and Ben and Pete are not particularly likable characters. Ben is preachy. Peter is resentful. Even their mom is a bit full-of-herself. That said, I do like fast cars and I don’t care much for the government so I appreciated the film on those two levels. It’s interesting to note that, as a viewer, I never really bought Ben’s sudden conversion to Christianity but I totally believed that the government would have no problem taking away everyone’s rights. I guess that says a lot about the state of the world today.
On tonight’s episode of Circle of Fear, Susan Oliver plays the widow of a doctor who allows his hands, eyes, and vocal chords to be used in transplants. Unfortunately for her, the spirit of her dead husband is still inside of his donated body parts. Because he’s convinced that she murdered him, the dead doctor seeks an elaborate revenge on his wife.
This episode originally aired on February 23rd, 1973. It was written by Jimmy Sangster, who is best known for his work with Hammer Films.
In this 2012 Asylum production, the legendary Bigfoot is revealed to just be a big gorilla who wants to sleep for the winter. In fact, Bigfoot seems to have more in common with King Kong than the hairy, humanoid that people have been reporting seeing for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, all of the hunters and the tourists and the noise from a local music festival keep interrupting Bigfoot’s slumber. It turns out that Bigfoot is not a morning monster and tends to wake up grumpy. When Bigfoot is in a bad mood, he turns over RVs, steps on hunters, and tries to destroy Mt. Rushmore.
Concert promoter Harley Henderson (Donny Bonaduce) wants to kill Bigfoot and turn his body into a tourist attraction. Environmental activist Simon Quinn (Barry Williams) wants to not only protect Bigfoot but to also perform protest-themed folk music. Harley and Simon were once musical partners, until Simon decided that he would rather protect endangered species and Harley decided to become a businessman. Now, they hate each other and are constantly on the verge of coming to blows. Meanwhile, Sheriff Alvarez (Sherilyn Fenn) just wants to keep her town safe from the creature’s rampage. You read that right. This film is The Partridge Family vs. The Brady Bunch with Twin Peaks trying to keep the peace. If you’re wondering how The Asylum convinced Bonaduce, Williams, and Sherilyn Fenn to all appear in a low-budget film about a giant gorilla menacing South Dakota, consider that they also convinced Bruce Davison to appear in it as well. In fact, Bruce not only stars but he directed the film as well! I mean, Bonaduce and Williams were probably just happy that someone was calling them and this film was made before Twin Peak: The Return reignited Fenn’s career. Bruce Davison, however, has an Oscar nomination to his name. Of course, before one gets too snarky, it’s important to remember that actors have bill to pay, just like the rest of us. Sometimes, those bills are played by appearing in Shakespeare. Sometimes, they’re paid by appearing in Bigfoot.
Actually, no one should be ashamed about appearing in Bigfoot. Like most of the films produced by the Asylum, Bigfoot is actually a lot of fun. It’s not a film that’s meant to be taken seriously. Instead, it’s basically a parody of the big-budget giant monster movies that come out of Hollywood, complete with a tacked-on environmental subplot and an endangered national monument. Bigfoot is in on the joke. The minute that Barry Williams picks up his guitar and starts to sing an insufferable folk song, it’s obvious that this film is laughing along with us. Bigfoot was designed to be a silly film and it succeeds. When taken on its own terms, it’s hard not to enjoy it.
Finally, Alice Cooper appears in this film as himself, performing at Bonaduce’s concert. After Alice complains about the crowd size and bemoans the indignity of going from being one of the world’s biggest stars to performing at a festival in South Dakota, Bigfoot literally kicks him off the stage. Much like the film, Alice deserves some credit for be willing to poke fun at himself.
In 1947 Los Angeles, the body of 22 year-old Elizabeth Short is discovered in an empty lot. Short, who was nicknamed The Black Dahlia because she always wore black, was an aspiring actress who was violently tortured before being chopped in half. Her murder remains one of Hollywood’s most infamous unsolved crimes.
In this made-for-television movie, Ronny Cox and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. play the two detectives who are assigned to investigate Short’s murder. Though they struggle to find any clues identifying who could have killed Short, they do learn about her life and how she went from being a naïve innocent who came to Hollywood with stars in her eyes to being a hardened and cynical woman who may have been supporting herself through sex work when she was murdered. The film makes use of frequent flashbacks, in which Elizabeth Short is played by Lucie Arnaz. Her friends and acquaintances are played by familiar television faces like Henry Jones, Mercedes McCambridge, June Lockhart, Brooke Adams, Donna Mills, and Tom Bosley. Also be sure to keep an eye out for Sid Haig, playing a tattoo artist.
What Elizabeth Short went through over the course of her short time in Hollywood was probably too graphic to be put on television in the 70s but this movie still does a good job of recounting the basic facts of her life and murder. Because the film is based on fact, no one is ever arrested for Short’s murder. The only suspect is a doctor who turns out to have an alibi. The movie instead focuses on Short trying make it in Hollywood and discovering that it’s a cruel town. Lucie Arnaz was far better than I was expecting in the role of Elizabeth and brought a lot of vulnerability to the role. The film ended with a title card, asking anyone who had information about the murder of Elizabeth Short to call the LAPD. The case remains open to this day.
Cordero has just knocked on the door of your home. He’s here to take your roommate Beth on a date. While Beth gets ready, your job is to check Cordero out. Have a conversation with him. Find out what he’s planning to do on the date. Maybe ask him about his family or his plans for school. You could even ask to see pictures of his dog if you want. Find out all that you feel you need to know about Cordero because, towards the end of the game, you’re going to have to make a big decision. And that decision will effect not only how Cordero views you but also your relationship with Beth.
With the exception of the final few moments of the game, Kiss of Beth is a conversation simulator. At the start of the game, it seems like you are just being an overprotective friend but, as things progress, it becomes obvious that there is more to your relationship with Beth than just friendship. There are two potential endings, a good one and a bad one. I’ve discovered that it’s a lot easier to get the bad one than the good one.
Kiss of Beth can be played in less than 15 minutes and, because of the number of choices and the multiple endings, it’s a game that can be replayed several times. After you finish the game the first time and learn the true nature of your relationship with Beth, you’ll be surprised when you play the game a second time and see that all the clues were right there for you to see.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
Season two of City Guys continues as Chris gets a roommate and Jamal gets a gun!
Roll with the city guys….
Episode 2.3 “The Roommate”
(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on September 26th, 1998)
After getting into a fight with his mother, El-Train leaves his house and ends up staying with Chris at the latter’s Park Avenue Penthouse. It’s just as dumb as it sounds. El-Train turns out to be a well-intentioned but terrible roommate but at least we get to see Chris’s penthouse once again. Chris’s parents are nowhere to be seen but the butler and the maid make return appearances.
In between trying to get El-Train to move back in with his mom, Chris and Jamal work on a report about the history of New York City. Jamal says that it should be an easy report for them because, “We’re city guys!” The audience cheers and you can practically hear the little voices saying, “Oh my God! That’s the title of the show!”
In yet another subplot, Al convinces Dawn and Cassidy to pose for some pictures that he wants to sell to a magazine. In past episodes, there’s no way that Dawn and Cassidy would have allowed Al to photograph them but, for the purposes this episode, it was convenient to make them less sensible. (Of course, as another example of City Guys struggle to maintain continuity, this episode also overlooks the fact that Cassidy already is a model.) For some reason, a newspaper buys the photographs and puts Dawn and Cassidy’s heads onto the bodies of pregnant women. The audience loves it but Dawn and Cassidy are less amused.
Anyway, this was a fairly silly episode but Steven Daniel’s performance as El-Train continued to be one of the show’s highlights. As the episode ends, El-Train stands at the front of a classroom and prepares to give his report on the history of “Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love! …. starring Tom Hanks….”
Episode 2.4 “Jamal Got His Gun”
(Directed by Frank Bonner, originally aired on October 3rd, 1998)
After getting robbed and having a gun pointed at his face while closing up the diner, Jamal illegally purchases a gun and then accidentally shoots his father!
Damn! City Guys got dark!
Of course, this being City Guys, there’s a silly subplot to balance out all of the dramatic stuff. Cassidy ends up being pursued by a wealthy exchange student from a fictional Middle Eastern country. Cassidy worries that she’ll be taken to the desert and she’ll have to deal with getting dry skin. Once again, CityGuys was all about tolerance, unless you were from a country other than the U.S.
But back to the gun plot, I have to give a lot of credit to Wesley Jonathan and, returning in the role of Jamal’s father, Ivory Ocean. Both of them give strong performances in this episode and the scene where Jamal freaks out after realizing that he nearly killed his father is far more powerful than anyone would expect from a show that aired alongside Hang Time and Saved By The Bell: The New Class. Fortunately, the bullet only grazes Jamal’s father and Jamal just gets probation. I guess he can add the additional community service hours to however many hours he had left for the whole Fake ID thing. Between community service, working at the restaurant, and running the school radio station, does Jamal have any free time? Poor guy.
If you thought a shark with five heads was dangerous, just you wait until you a shark with six!
Through the Shattered Lens 