Gross Movie Reviews Volume One and Two are available at:

Incredibly Strange Video

3049 West Liberty Ave.

Pitttsburgh,Pa. 15216

412-531-6430

www.incrediblystrangevideo.com

By Tim Gross

Who has time to sleep? As a movie said once “sleep… little slices of death I do loathe.”

Scorcher (DVD/Sci-fi Channel) – A Sci-fi Channel presentation that stars the man that needs no introduction, Rutger Hauer, in another end of the world film unless the government does something. Problem, the movie is 10 pounds of donkey shit and Rutger Hauer is a four star actor! I averaged it out and give the movie 1 star.

Dirty Harry (DVD) – Before the Death Wish films and Chuck Bronson, there was Clint F’N Eastwood who just about invented the anti-hero in a film with his role as a ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />San Francisco cop who doesn’t play by all the rules and pretty much kills all the bad guys. A classic film that had many rip offs and four sequels all worthy of talking about. The film is about an evil man who calls himself, Scorpio (Andrew [Hellraiser] Robinson) and sends letters to the police and media mocking them as he kills people with a high powered rifle! The film flawless and beautiful and still lots of fun to watch 36 years later! I give the movie 4 stars!

Forbidden Planet (DVD) – A science fiction film from 1956 about a scientist and his daughter who live on a planet all by themselves for the past twenty years discovering a culture of beings that were there thousands of years ago and have gone extinct. A US space crew searching for lost scientists from twenty years ago happens to find them by almost accident and find out they are far from being alone in the universe. The film is famous for three things: a) Leslie Neilson stars in the film; b) Robby the Robot (Lost in Space) is in the film; and c) the special effects for the sci-fi film were way ahead of its time. An excellent film for sci-fi fans if you never have seen it. The film has been released several times in the past few years on DVD including a 2-disc special with different artwork than the other DVDs and VHS copies. I give the film 3 ½ stars.

Them! (VHS) – Giant Fuckin ANTS in a desert from 1954! 3 ½ stars, go check it out!

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (DVD/Remake) – Where do you begin with this title? Is it a remake of the original sequel in 1985? Is it a straight sequel of the remake from two years ago and wouldn’t that make it number four? Or should the film been called “The Hills Have Eyes 3″ officially? Anyhow, the remake was a big pile of gory shit to me so I wasn’t holding out for anything good with the sequel, instead I get a film that picks right up after the remake and goes right into a kick ass, gory as fuck, straight forward horror film that goes right for your nads or taco (all depending who is reading)! This Craven produced film was a blessing in disguise of all the remake fallout from Hollywood the past several years. The film is about some National Guard members taking new generators out to a group of scientists and military men who don’t exist due to being a top secret project of getting rid of the mutants who still live in the desert where they live in abandoned mines. The area was a testing ground for the atom bomb and still under military use as Sector 16. The National Guard when arriving quickly finds out they are not alone and must fight for their lives of not being food or used mutant children. To me the film could have easily been made two years ago without the remake and could have been called “The Hills Have Eyes 3″, which horror fans were screaming to have for years but instead we got a shitty remake which filmed the first hour of the movie Gus Van Sant “Psycho” style! But anyhow Craven help redeem himself with this sequel that I consider a must watch and give 3 stars.

Nightmare (DVD-R) – The film is also called “Nightmares in a Damaged Brain” among several other names over the years as the film has the film has been bootlegged since its release in 1981. The film is a true slasher as a man who has been just released from the asylum makes a beeline for his wife to kill her. Along the way he has flashbacks of his childhood where he kills his mother who happens to be going for a ride on his daddy with an axe. Lots of blood and gore with Tom Savini as the make-up effects director are the highlights of this very downbeat slasher film. A must find for all gorehounds as I give the film 2 ½ stars.

It Came… Without Warning (DVD-R) – Martin Landau acting crazy because of aliens, Jack Palance being himself, and a young David Caruso all star in this serious film about aliens who happen to descend on a small country town to kill people of course. I give this hard to find alien invasion film 2 stars!

Any comments or questions please send to: GrossMovieReview@aol.com or www.myspace.com/slasherfilmfan . Also you can purchase my two horror movie review books, “Gross Movie Reviews Volume One and Two” at www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com . The book is also available at Incredibly Strange Video in Dormont, Pa. on West Liberty Ave. or try www.incrediblystrangevideo.com . You can also find other reviews from me at www.bastardsofhorror.com (when the dam website is working), www.bloodtypeonline.com , and in the movie review section of the latest Ultra Violent magazine (www.uvmagazine.com). Remember folks if you are renting from Blockbuster you are not renting from the best! Support your local independent video store! It will keep horror alive………

Scorcher (DVD/Sci-fi Channel) – A Sci-fi Channel presentation that stars the man that needs no introduction, Rutger Hauer, in another end of the world film unless the government does something. Problem, the movie is 10 pounds of donkey shit and Rutger Hauer is a four star actor! I averaged it out and give the movie 1 star.

Dirty Harry (DVD) – Before the Death Wish films and Chuck Bronson, there was Clint F’N Eastwood who just about invented the anti-hero in a film with his role as a ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />San Francisco cop who doesn’t play by all the rules and pretty much kills all the bad guys. A classic film that had many rip offs and four sequels all worthy of talking about. The film is about an evil man who calls himself, Scorpio (Andrew [Hellraiser] Robinson) and sends letters to the police and media mocking them as he kills people with a high powered rifle! The film flawless and beautiful and still lots of fun to watch 36 years later! I give the movie 4 stars!

Forbidden Planet (DVD) – A science fiction film from 1956 about a scientist and his daughter who live on a planet all by themselves for the past twenty years discovering a culture of beings that were there thousands of years ago and have gone extinct. A US space crew searching for lost scientists from twenty years ago happens to find them by almost accident and find out they are far from being alone in the universe. The film is famous for three things: a) Leslie Neilson stars in the film; b) Robby the Robot (Lost in Space) is in the film; and c) the special effects for the sci-fi film were way ahead of its time. An excellent film for sci-fi fans if you never have seen it. The film has been released several times in the past few years on DVD including a 2-disc special with different artwork than the other DVDs and VHS copies. I give the film 3 ½ stars.

Them! (VHS) – Giant Fuckin ANTS in a desert from 1954! 3 ½ stars, go check it out!

Nightmare (DVD-R) – The film is also called “Nightmares in a Damaged Brain” among several other names over the years as the film has the film has been bootlegged since its release in 1981. The film is a true slasher as a man who has been just released from the asylum makes a beeline for his wife to kill her. Along the way he has flashbacks of his childhood where he kills his mother who happens to be going for a ride on his daddy with an axe. Lots of blood and gore with Tom Savini as the make-up effects director are the highlights of this very downbeat slasher film. A must find for all gorehounds as I give the film 2 ½ stars.

It Came… Without Warning (DVD-R) – Martin Landau acting crazy because of aliens, Jack Palance being himself, and a young David Caruso all star in this serious film about aliens who happen to descend on a small country town to kill people of course. I give this hard to find alien invasion film 2 stars!

In the famous words of Chief Brody, “we need a bigger boat!” R.I.P. Roy Scheider, the film you were apart of will always scare us…

Supernaturals (VHS) – A small platoon of troops lead by the famous first lady of ‘Star Trek’ Nichelle Nichols, travel deep in the woods of the ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Deep South for training exercises. Only to come in contact with a strange woman who claims to live in the woods. As the troops travel the woods they start to notice very weird happenings besides the strange woman as they accidentally fall into an old bunker for the Confederates during the Civil War. Once the bunker is open and the troops set up for camp confederate zombies take it upon themselves to defend their land. A very dated film from the early 80s but worth finding to watch at least once, I give it 2 stars.

Days of Darkness (DVD) – A zombie plague has hit all the major cities and people are scrambling to hide, fight, or die… The story takes place mostly in an old army complex at the top of a mountain that is secluded and handful of people from all parts of humanity hole up there and try to decide to fight with their 14 bullets they have left a shotgun, leave and make a run for it, or try and figure out what the hell is actually going on. What makes this film different from most recent zombie films is it isn’t your usually “shoot them in the head” kind of the zombie films. The zombies seemed to be controlled by aliens who attack the males and make their dicks fall off only to replace it with their own reproductive organs and they use females to help kill off the population. The film comes off as a very low budget “Day of the Dead” meets “Night of the Creeps” sort of. What it comes down to is great idea, great script, but just not enough funds to possibly make the film what it could be, as one character drives off and nothing is said about the character for the rest of the film. I’ll be honest I didn’t like the movie even though it has a good share of blood, but wish it had a bigger budget because this film could have been better for how different it is as I give it 2 stars.

Legend of the Werewolf (VHS) – Peter Cushing stars in this mid 70s film set in London about a boy who was once raised by wolves and travels to London after killing his handlers to work at an old zoo where he soon understands he changes when the moon gets full. But with the victims beginning to lead back to him he is sure to get caught by the officer played by Peter Cushing. I give the film 2 ½ stars.

Bone Eater (DVD/Sci-fi Channel) – Gil Gerard (Buck Rodgers) and William Katt (House) make appearances in this horrible movie about an ancient Indian burial ground that has been disturbed and the Indian spirits are killing everyone until they can find all their bones. I give it a ½ star for just having Buck Rodgers and The Greatest American Hero in the same film.

My Science Project (DVD) – Another great 80s teenager film that spews what the 80s were all about but with a little spice this time around, and the spice is “science fiction”. John Stockwell known for his role as Keith Gordon’s best friend in “Christine” is in dire need of a science project or his teacher, hippie Dennis Hopper is going to fail him. So John Stockwell’s character drives out to an old army airfield looking for an old motor or something he could fix and clean up since he is a car person. He finds something and takes it to school to clean up but only to find out that it transports himself and his best friend Fisher Stevens into the future two hours. They take it to Dennis Hopper and turn it on and then it can’t be stopped as it rips a time warp in the high school that leads to the past, present, and future! Movie is dated but doesn’t loose how much fun it is to watch and enjoy as not only do you get hippie Dennis Hopper but look for a quick appearance by Michael Berryman as “Mutant 1″… I give this great movie, but a DVD with no extras 4 stars.

Midnight (DVD) – Most likely John Russo’s best effort after NOTLD and before he went completely insane making “Children of the Living Dead”! But the film revolves a teenager who is almost raped by her drunken father and runs away to be picked up by two fellows who are traveling to Florida. Well, they stopped in a nearby rural town to camp for the night and the two men are tortured and killed and the girl is capture by a family of strange cultists that believe Satan will bring back their mother if they sacrifice three women to him. The film can be brutal and raw at times with it being a very well produced independent dark horror film. An independent film that puts most horror films about the occult to shame and a must have for any horror fan’s collection as I give it 3 stars.

The Horror Show (VHS) – No, it is not “House III” aka the slasher film that starred Brion James as Max Jenky! It’s a 100 minute documentary hosted by the late great Anthony Perkins who takes you for a ride through Universal Studios horror and monster movie clips from the 20’s through the late 70s as the film was made in 1979. You know about the films of course like any other horror movie fan but it’s a fun and interesting film to watch as Anthony Perkins drives you through clips of every horror movie made by Universal Studios at that time. I give it 3 ½ stars.

Dark Sky is one of the best when it comes to restoration of older, hard to find titles of the genre and the Fest is honored to be working with them this season.

Check out their website by clicking on the banner below.

http://www.darkskyfilms.com/http://www.darkskyfilms.com/