Day Of The Dead - this entry is my least favorite of the Dead series, but JBB injecting some knowledge and having three of the leads on set for interviews made it an enjoyable watch. the film itself is still not good. 85% drama, 15% horror, similar to latter seasons of Walking Dead, and why i eventually bailed on watching it. bummer of a film to end the season on, but still a good episode overall.

I searched the forum, but i guess i didn’t post when i watched JBB’s airing of Demons. I really found it to be fucking dumb and pointless and kind of hated the whole shtick. Well, he opened the “Helloween” special last night with…

Demons 2 - apparently released 7 months after the first one. I like this even less than the first one. There are some amusing scenes for sure, but as a whole, it’s just not good. And man, the sound is brutal - someone is either screaming, yelling, or a demon is growling what felt like the entire time, and it’s all REALLY LOUD poor quality dubbed audio. When the screaming is a kid/baby, it’s 3x as piercing and annoying. So yeah, fuck these movies. Also, Danhausen returned as guest. I really don’t get the wrestling/horror x-over, but here we are. His shtick is old, but for some reason I don’t find him as annoying as others. Even so, it was enough. Letting Darcy “run” the films and guests etc. is not a good idea.

Night Of The Demons - I thought I had seen this, but after watching, I don't recall any of it, so I guess I missed this one. It was actually almost good. I'd definitely watch it again. Not exactly a genre highlight, but definitely a solid entry in haunted house trope films. Good effects, absolutely laughable cartoony characters, and excellent music (Bauhaus). Thumbs up here.

Halloween (1978) - not sure what exactly this was, but I'm assuming AMC decided to air the original - or rather, some TV edit version of it - and have JBB host on the network? it was kind of a different format, lots more interruptions but they were very brief. It was like watching the old school Monstervision. Anyway, even this TV edit of the OG stands up. It is a really great film, and always great to hear some obscure factoids, because at this point, JBB has done this film several times to digging up deep cuts seemed to be the objective here. Good showing.

Walking Dead: Dead City - again, I guess AMC had JBB host the first episode of this, or probably a re-airing? not sure. because it's Joe Bob, I gave this a shot. holy fuck is this show somehow even more dumb than i remember it being before i bailed many years ago. can't believe it's still on. while i originally thanked the show for bringing great - not clowny - zombies back, i now hate it for creating real zombie burn out, where now there is no point is making new zombie films. fuck you, TWD, for milking it dry. couldn't even finish this episode, mercifully succumbed to sleep. I'm now actively avoiding the only episode i have remaining, JBB does Walking Dead: Darryl Dixon. i mean, he made it to France somehow? ugh. i'm sure at some point i'll give it an attempt, but just can't stomach it. real Joe Bob can't come soon enough.

TC wrote: 01/06/21, 11:17:56 this week we had:
Train To Busan - this had been on my watchlist for some time, so i was grateful that JBB had it. holy shit was this movie great. lived up to the hype. really, really enjoyed this. just the perfect amount of everything. i had delayed watching for the exact reason JBB cited that it went under the radar - oh, zombies, been there done that. that was a mistake. this was a refreshing take on the genre. highly recommended.

Watched this again while in a hotel this week, and it reminded me that I should watch this more often. Great, great film. Seems to get better every time.

All Hallows Eve - a clever 3-part anthology film with a 4th part wrap-around narrative. as i understand it, this is essentially compiling two pre-existing Art The Clown shorts into his feature-length debut plus adding a middle part. i thought it was really well done. don't know why people drag the middle "alien" part so hard - for very little budget, it was pretty strong on tension. great preview of what Art will become. enjoyed it, one of the better anthology films in the last 10 years. looking forward to Terrifier 3.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon - as i said above, i gave up on TWD many years ago and have been happier for it. but, being an avid JBB fan, i had to watch this. well, some of it. it was the last unwatched episode in my list, and i've been avoiding it for a long time, but it was finally time, given that JBB's xmas special is right around the corner. so, i put it on. watched JBB's intro and the show through the first JBB break, but then i couldn't take it anymore. i mean, Daryl hops in a life boat somewhere off the east coast and miraculously floats - completely against prevailing currents - across the ocean to end up in Marseille, France. then, in the first 10 minutes of the show, is walking across the Roman aqueducts. that's like 600 miles away. completely retarded and utterly ridiculous. i feel bad for the people that are still fans of this show. so i just fast-forwarded through the show to only watch the Joe Bob breaks. amusing that JBB then dissected this very complaint to guest Nicotaro, who just laughed. i hate JBB hosting these episodes, as it's very abbreviated JBB - his breaks are very short and he has to do "quick hits" rather than total rants. so, this was just homework viewing. still, some JBB is better than no JBB.

The Brain - hilarious seeing JBB do this film after seeing MST3K do it live a few years ago. as usual, JBB makes the film a million times better. as for the film itself, there's something "almost" about this film. it really does almost nail a good movie. it almost has a good story. while it definitely has some great practical effects... scratch that, it has one great practical effects monster (which is actually 3 different ones for size), so it almost has great practical effects. what it does have is David Gale, who is fantastic as this version of a post-Re-Animator "mad scientist" doctor. his delivery is still great here and really anchors the film. it's not as bad as you would think. the experience of seeing MST3K do it live and the experience of seeing JBB do it here, while both very different, both made me feel more generous toward the film than i would be otherwise. i'm aware of this. but i'd watch it again no problem. oh, also - given the epilogue, this is absolutely a christmas film, so go ahead and put it on for family movie night or whatever it is you do.

The Gingerdead Man - this Gary Busey vehicle is a giant shitpile of a film. it's really dumb. and this is one of the rare times where JBB didn't really enhance the film, given that his extended guest was the lead actress in this film, who is married to the director (who is 30+ years her senior) after they met on the set of this film. her personality is that of a 12 year old girl and extremely annoying. do not recommend. while i appreciate Charles Band's contributions to core, seminal Stuart Gordon/Yuzna films, i don't really get this career he's found of making terrible films on purpose. this film apparently has multiple sequels. Band is also responsible for something called the Evil Bong series, of which there are eight (!!) films, all of which star his now-wife, some of which co-star Darcy. hard pass on all of this.

Freeway - I swear I wrote about watching this long ago but can't find it, so maybe I only meant to. Regardless, I was unaware of this film for a long time until my friend told me I needed to watch it a few years ago, which I did. then JBB included it in his Valentine's day double-feature, which made it even more great. is it a "great film"? nah. but man is it fun as hell. it's essentially a modern-day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and is packed with a very well-known cast: Keifer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, a young Bokeem Woodbine, Amanda Plummer, Brooke Shields, Brittany Murphy, Dan Hedaya, and tons of other "hey, that guy" moments. Keifer plays a serial killer, Witherspoon plays a delightfully naive and overtly racist (yet with a black boyfriend?) Red Riding Hood in a world of foster homes, trailer parks, molestation, rape, and drugs. decides to leave and go find her grandmother while the "wolf" Keifer makes her life miserable. worth watching for her screaming speech at the cops alone. quite amusing. she's brash and her tone is incredibly annoying, but it's pretty hilarious seeing her do this so young in her career that has turned into her only doing high-level prestige projects. anyway, if you haven't seen it, it's certainly something, and i highly recommend watching along with JBB as he further enlightens you to the world of Freeway.

Vamp - i remember hating this film when it came out, and this viewing wasn't any kinder. i hate it less, as i feel like i get what they were going for, but it's all over the place in tone, seems to have several different endings, and the sets are way too clean to inspire the existential dread they are meant to. this movie is what happens when someone designs a good poster, gives it to a young 20-something director, and orders him to make a movie of it that must include vampires, college students, and strippers. i can only imagine the amount of cocaine that must have been consumed on set here. this movie sucks, and watching along with JBB who also clearly doesn't like it was pretty amusing. absolute highlight is the featured supporting actor Sandy Baron, whom you may know as Jack Klompus from Seinfeld. his run as the sleazy strip club vampire manager here is fucking hilarious in the context of Jack Klompus, and his eyebrows are beyond out of control.

Oh god, Freeway. That's a movie I haven't thought about in probably 25 years. I think I even still have it on DVD. One of those movies where you just shake your head and think everyone involved in it should be embarrassed.

Deathstalker - a very wild Conan rip-off from Corman productions. i think this film has the most (attempted?) rapes i've ever seen in one film, and pretty much everyone in the film doesn't care. it's crazy. again, a wild film. good? hahaha, no. but it's definitely something to watch. felt like they wanted to start a franchise with this thing, which could have been even more hilarious. actually, if you put the amazing Poledoris score under this film instead of the cheap synth score they used, it might have been more of a contender to continue, but everything about this feels cheap. while there's a certain charm in that, i don't think it's something i want to watch again.

A Bucket Of Blood - i don't know how i hadn't seen this Corman production before. Corman also directed this '59 film, staring dick miller, barboura morris, and a young bert convy (!!). it's a pretty great satire of the beatnik generation in a horror setting. i liked it way more than i expected to. then i found out that there was actually a remake of it in 1995 directed by michael mcdonald, starring anthony michael hall, justine bateman, shadoe stevens, david cross, will ferrell, and others! that's insane, i really want to see that version, but it's not available anywhere. that has to be a riot.

Rottentail - i expected to hate this, given the reaction in the TLDI groups that i saw, but this is a loving throw-back to mid-late '80s horror flicks. lots of good kills, injected with raunchy humor, weird plot turns that come (and go) out of nowhere, etc. if people like me - "of a certain age" - approach this treating it like something you grabbed at the video store on a whim since all the marquis titles were out on a Friday night, you should be pleasantly surprised. i thought it was pretty damn good.

The Toxic Avenger - of course i had seen this before. in fact, many, many, many times before. this is one that i watched repeatedly when it came out, but haven't really watched it since. i think it still holds up, and really kicked Troma into high gear for good reason. still hilarious, and JBB's insight into it was priceless.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe - i talked about this five years ago, and reading that, still feel the same. Brian Cox is fantastic in this, and i still wish they would have gone further with what this actually was before left-turning into traditional horror, but i think i enjoyed it more this time. it's a sleeper of a film that probably deserved more than it got. JBB's insights were fantastic, i didn't know the back story into how this came into being, and really appreciated it.

Death Spa - this was one terrible film. edited by someone with ADD on coke, it's painful to watch, let alone the ridiculous "plot" and shitty "effects". sometimes JBB enjoys subjecting his audience to pure shit, i think for his own amusement. this was one of those times.

TC wrote: 09/04/24, 13:36:03 A Bucket Of Blood - i don't know how i hadn't seen this Corman production before. Corman also directed this '59 film, staring dick miller, barboura morris, and a young bert convy (!!). it's a pretty great satire of the beatnik generation in a horror setting. i liked it way more than i expected to. then i found out that there was actually a remake of it in 1995 directed by michael mcdonald, starring anthony michael hall, justine bateman, shadoe stevens, david cross, will ferrell, and others! that's insane, i really want to see that version, but it's not available anywhere. that has to be a riot.

while not directly JBB related, the remake i mentioned recently dropped on Amazon so i checked it out. if you search for the original title, you won't find it. it was re-titled The Death Artist, sadly. even so, it is a very straight remake. almost scene-for-scene, line-for-line. obviously the aesthetic and techniques are more modern and well-done, but i think the satire originally present is kind of lost in the more modern setting. while it's fascinating to see the cast that were all somehow conned into doing this, i think if it had even one more ounce of self-awareness and/or sarcasm, it would have been far more well-received. as a straight remake, it's certainly copied well, but adds nothing new. probably better to just watch the original if you want to see the film, but worth a watch just to see all those actors in these roles and settings. the entire film being led essentially by shadow stevens and AMH is pretty amazing.

Graduation Day - this is an abysmal film with an even worse soundtrack. it's so aggressively bad. even JBB couldn't salvage a recommendation from me on this one.

Donnie Darko - fantastic seeing JBB do this film, even though i very recently re-watched it. i guess maybe he did this back in the day on Monstervision? i didn't have cable back then so missed it. his analysis/commentary is spot on most of the time, and endlessly amusing even when i don't agree. i have been pretty up front with how much i like the film. JBB clearly doesn't really like it, but hey, i get it. recommend watching his version for sure.

i'm very behind on this season, but will get caught up eventually.