Music Video of the Day: Let’s Do Rock Steady by The Bodysnatchers (1980, dir by ????)

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here, for your enjoyment, is some early 2 Tone ska.

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 3.19 “Normal People”

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night 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 Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, Jonathan and Mark help out at a halfway house.

Episode 3.19 “Normal People”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 11th, 1987)

This week, Jonathan and Mark find themselves assigned to work as handymen at a halfway house for patients who have recently been released from a mental hospital but who are still not quite ready to reenter the society. As usual, Mark is skeptical about working with anyone outside of his comfort zone but Jonathan soon shows him the error of his ways. It seems like almost every assignment was really about teaching Mark to be more tolerant of people who were different than him.

The neighbors aren’t happy about having a halfway house in their neighborhood. They vandalize the yard. They blame the patients for every little thing. When some neighborhood kids accidentally start a fire, the blame is put on a teenager at the halfway house. Jonathan encourages the patients to try to leave the house and socialize and show everyone that they are just like normal people. Jonathan also punishes one snobbish neighbor by causing her to have mishap with a stack of melons at a grocery store. I’ve noticed that, during the third season, Jonathan and the Boss seem to take an extra delight in humiliating people.

Eventually, the stupid kids start another fire, which gives one of the patients that chance to save their lives. It also reveals that the patient was not responsible for the earlier fires. Everyone comes to realize the error of the ways. Hurray!

This was a good example of how Highway to Heaven‘s earnestness often made up for scripts that were a bit obvious and heavy-handed. There’s nothing subtle about this episode but it’s still so achingly sincere in its message of tolerance that it’s hard not appreciate it. The show’s good intentions stand the test of time.

The Eric Roberts Collection: DC Down (dir by Geoff Meed)

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2023’s DC Down, Washington D.C. is hit by an earthquake!

It’s a 6.3 on the Richter scale, which means the aftershocks are going to be even worse. The Washington Monument now has a big crack on it. The Potomac is threatening to flood the city. And even worse, both the President (Sean Young) and the Vice President are trapped underneath a bunch of White House rubble. (Fortunately, the main White House is still standing and actually looks remarkably sturdy. The President and the Vice President were touring a new wing of the White House that was under construction.)

General Harris (Terry Woodbury) is determined to head up efforts to dig up the chief executive and hopefully find either her or the Vice President alive. However, Speaker of the House Terry Wilder (Eric Roberts) has other ideas. First, Wilder invokes the 25th Amendment and takes over as temporary President. Then he suggests that a militia group be brought in to search through the rubble and rescue the president. General Harris thinks that’s an odd idea but, in the end, he goes with it. Needless to say, Wilder does not have the president’s best interests at heart. For him, this earthquake is the perfect opportunity to take over. He orders the head of the militia to kill the president when she is found. Can Wilder be stopped?

(For that matter, do we want to stop Wilder? Eric Roberts seems like he would be a much more entertaining president that Sean Young.)

D.C. Down is another Asylum mockbuster, the type that I used to love to watch on the SyFy network. It’s cheap and it’s ridiculous and it’s self-aware enough to be entertaining despite all of that. You have to appreciate any film that can not only work in an earthquake and a flood but also a political coup. Add to that, Eric Roberts actually gets a few more scenes than usual in this film. I have to admit that I laughed out loud when he first appeared, casually walking up to the ruins of the White House extension as if it was just another day in the nation’s capitol. But, again, that’s a part of the charm of DIY, almost-punk rock charm of the Asylum and their mockbusters. They defy the conventional definitions of good and bad and they create a unique cinematic world all their own, in this case a world where both Sean Young and Eric Roberts can be President over the course of a day. Good for the Asylum! I hope they never stop making movies.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Music Video of the Day: Stay by Esme Emerson (2025, dir by ????)

Posted on April 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Who doesn’t love firewoks?

Enjoy!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Monsters 3.14 “Household Gods”

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing Monsters, which aired in syndication from 1988 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on YouTube.

This week, we meet a chauvinistic demon.

Episode 3.14 “Household Gods”

(Dir by Michael Warren Powell, originally aired on December 30th, 1990)

Deborah (Deborah Van Valkenburgh) is a married woman who is trying to balance her career with taking care of her baby. No matter how hard Deborah tries to keep it together, it seems like there’s just one household crisis after another and her husband (Jeffrey Ware) doesn’t appear to have any sympathy for her predicament. Deborah hires a nanny (Priscilla Shanks) who tells Deborah that her attitude has upset the Household God, a little misogynistic monster who punishes women who want a life outside of the home. Deborah is skeptical but, this being an episode of Monsters, it turns out the nanny was right. There is a messy and self-centered deity living in her house and he’s going out of his way to make her life difficult. He’s played, under a good deal of makeup, by Michael Anderson, the actor who played “The Man From Another World” on Twin Peaks.

This episode had potential. The idea that there’s a little sexist demon that is responsible for making it so difficult to balance family and career was an intriguing one and also one that was ripe for satire. Tonally, though, this episode never quite came together. This was one of those episodes that couldn’t seem to decide if it wanted to be a comedy or a horrific drama and as a result, it just kind of fell flat. Deborah Van Valkenburgh gave about as good a performance as one could, considering that the show itself often didn’t seem to know how it felt about her character and her predicament. But, for the most part, this episode was a good idea that was poorly executed.

It happens.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 5.24 “Isaac Gets Physical/She Brought Her Mom Along/Cold Feet”

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986! The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, horror royalty boards the Love Boat!

Episode 5.24 “Isaac Gets Physical/She Brought Her Mother Along/Cold Feet”

(Dir by Bob Sweeney, originally aired on March 20th, 1982)

For this week, and this week only, there’s a new member of the Love Boat crew. Charlene Glover (Shirley Hemphill) is a nurse who has been sent to give every member of the crew a physical in order to make sure that it’s safe for them to work on a cruise ship. Isaac panics because he has high blood pressure and he worries that he’s going to lose his job as a result. This would seem like a good opportunity for the show to share some tips on what to do if you suffer from high blood pressure but instead, the whole storyline is a smitten Charlene chasing Isaac and Isaac trying to change his medical records. It was a bit mean-spirited since most of the laughs came from the idea of Isaac having to get romantic with someone who was overweight in order to keep his job.

(That said, take your blood pressure seriously, everyone. My Dad had high blood pressure his entire life and it was not easy for him.)

Speaking of mean-spirited, Carter Randall (Richard Dean Anderson) is engaged to marry Muffy (Linda Blair …. yes, that Linda Blair) but he’s getting cold feet. So, he starts leaving her messages and making phone calls to her in which he speaks with a fake Southern accent. There are three Texans on the boat and Carter is pretending to be one of them, hoping that Muffy will fall in love with this imaginary person and then break off their marriage …. WHAT A JERK! And yet, somehow, this plan causes Carter to realize how much he does love Muffy and Muffy is totally forgiving when the truth comes out. Seriously, that’s not the Linda Blair that we all know from such classic films as Savage Streets and Chained Heat! What the heck, Linda?

(I should also mention that Carter’s attempt at a Texas accent was terrible. In fact, none of the actors playing the Texans had a convincing accent. For shame, Love Boat, for shame!)

Finally, Millicent (Betsy Palmer) boards the boat with her daughter, Debbie (Connie Needham). Debbie introduces Millicent to her boyfriend and it turns out that Debbie’s dating some guy who is at least twenty years old than her. In fact, Ted (Gene Barry) is so old that he used to date Millicent! Wow, creepy! Anyway, Millicent and Ted realize that they’re still in love so sorry, Debbie. Ted even says he fell in love with Debbie because she reminded him of Millicent. Somehow, Debbie learns all of this without jumping overboard.

As a horror fan, I enjoyed this episode. Gene Barry was in War of the Worlds. Linda Blair was in The Exorcist. Betsy Palmer was the original Mrs. Voorhies. They really should have aired this episode in October. The stories were terrible but I simply can’t resist an episode that featured this much horror royalty.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Raptor (dir by Jim Wynorski)

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2001’s Raptor, Eric Roberts stars as Jim Tanner, the sheriff of a small desert town. When the locals start turning up all shredded to heck, Sheriff Tanner suspects that maybe it was an animal attack. When the sheriff’s daughter (Lorissa McComas) witnesses one of the attacks and goes into a coma as a result, Tanner is determined to get justice, even if it means working with his ex-girlfriend, Barbara (Melissa Brasselle).

It turns out that it’s neither coyotes nor bears that are attacking the folks in the desert. Instead, it’s a bunch of dinosaurs that have been brought back into existence by Dr. Hyde (Corbin Bernsen, wearing a beret), a mad scientist who has a laboratory in a secret government installation. When the army realizes that there’s a bunch of mini-dinosaurs roaming the desert, they send in a special taskforce to take care of the problem.

It’s a pretty simple movie and no one in the cast, Roberts included, really seems to be taking it all that seriously. There a few scenes where Corbin Bernsen looks like he’s about to break out laughing at some of his dialogue. Director Jim Wynorski keeps the action moving and tosses in plenty of blood and a little nudity. If you’ve ever seen any of the other films that Wynorski directed for producer Roger Corman, you’ll know what to expect from Raptor.

The dinosaurs are cute. They’re all obviously puppets and there’s a lot of scenes of them moving quickly through the desert with an intense look in their eyes. Apparently, almost all of the dinosaur footage was lifted from the first three Carnosaur films, which perhaps explains why the film suddenly goes from being about Sheriff Tanner trying to protect his town from the dinosaurs to being about a bunch of soldiers hunting for the dinosaurs in Dr. Hyde’s underground lab. It’s cheap but it’s kind of fun, a timewaster that no one should take seriously.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Song of the Day: Theme From Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini & His Orchestra

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day is one that will hopefully help me get a little bit more focused on getting things done. Either that, or it will inspire me to go out and drive really fast. I’ll find out soon enough!

Scenes That I Love: The Ending of Breathless

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today would have been the 92nd birthday of international screen icon, Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Belmondo spent the majority of his career in France, where he was one of the early faces of the New Wave and also a prominent action star, famed for doing his own very dangerous stunts. In America, he was best-known for his starring turn in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. In Breathless, Belmondo was the perfect existential outlaw, living life day-by-day and obviously doomed but still so incredibly magnetic and stylish.

In tribute to Belmondo, today’s scene that I love is the final moments of Breathless, with Belmondo and Jean Seberg.