Reviews

First off I can't believe the amount of negative reviews from people on this film, you are all not right in the head. I'm sick and tired of you Politically correct liberals moaning about racism and violence and all that other dribble you go on about, simply don't watch Tarantino films from now on, you no what they involve, stick to your driving miss daisy or Religious crap.

Now the film itself, in my opinion the greatest work from Tarantino, he still remains the king of great films. Every single person in this movie did a fantastic job, my personal favorite being Samuel L. Jackson, he was purely amazing in this film, sinister, funny, and full of awesomeness. Christoph Waltz as usual delivers an outstanding performance. So far this the best of Tarantino's films, gonna be hard to top.

The one and only reason I watched this film was because Michael Madsen was in it, and I am a loyal fan to him, I knew that this was going to be awful as its the same director that did A COLD DAY IN HELL, also starring Madsen. I understand there is only so much you can do with a small budget, but come on please, I made a film last year for $1000 that was 10 times the quality of this, and Im still struggling to get noticed, this is insane, For the love of god when people in this movie get shot, where is the blood?? if you cant afford squibs, at least put blood in the area the person was suppose to have been shot, how hard is that. Please for the love of god Mr. Madsen keep away from this. You are so much better, you are the king in my book. But this is below you.

Like the other reviewers, I'm a bit surprised at this movie's low rating. It's not the most amazing horror movie I've ever seen, but it's good enough for a 6/10 or 7/10.

The directing is a bit uneven, but there are some quite striking visuals. The writing, while a bit clichéd, is still competent. For a movie I was expecting to be barely watchable, it was a very pleasant surprise.

I suppose the obvious comparison would be with The Keep, where a group of Nazis unearth an ancient evil, then seek to banish it, when they realize they're over their heads. This certainly isn't a pretentious movie, and it seems to have no illusions about being high art, but it is a bit heavy on the exposition and dialogue. If you have a short attention span, you might want to skip this movie, because the violence and gore aren't really as prominent as it leads you to believe ("Saw with swastikas" is not a very good description of this movie).

For a B movie, it's really quite enjoyable. Just don't go in expecting a big budget and slavish attention to detail.

Looks like it's shot on video and probably went straight to DVD, a complete waste of both. The acting is sub high school drama class. The script, particularly the dialog, is just plain awful. The scenery is all wrong- the setting is the Sierra Nevada Mountains but there's not a pine tree or snow capped peak to be seen. The time period is mid to late 1800's and books from that time period are already old. The buildings are are also already old. The continuity is a constant problem. Guns change, books change, glasses are moved, empty, full and empty again. I seriously can't believe Michael Madsen agreed to be in this train wreck. I can only assume he owed someone some serious money or this was a close family members Jr. High School film project

Charles Bronson's last theatrical film was a return to his most popular character, the vigilante killer Paul Kersey. This time Bronson gets to deal with organized crime in a most personal way.

Bronson's now back in New York and involved with fashion magnate Lesley Anne Down who has a daughter Erica Lancaster. What Bronson doesn't know is that Down was formerly married to Irish mobster Michael Parks who has a nice hammerlock on the garment industry including her own business which he uses for money laundering. He's also Lancaster's father as well.

As is the pattern of all the Death Wish movies Bronson springs into action when a woman close to him dies. Down was the fifth and final one that this happened to. Unlike previous Death Wish films though where Bronson is just capping bad guys as he finds them, he's got some very specific targets in mind.

Death Wish V: The Face of Death did not do all that great at the box office, Bronson was probably getting too old for the part and another generation of film fans had come along. That's a pity because this one was definitely better than the two Death Wish films immediately proceeding.

Favorite moment was Bronson getting to contract killer Robert Joy, the follicly challenged hit-man who Bronson cures of his dandruff.

It would have been nice had Bronson finally settled down with another wife, but I'm guessing Down was killed so that another Death Wish film might have been made that never was.

It's been a few years now that Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is been living the good life in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Geri (Jill Ireland) and his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood), who's still traumatized after the brutal rape in the past. But Carol is slowly getting better now, although she doesn't speak. When Paul gets robbed by a group of muggers by stealing his wallet, when he was taking his girlfriend and his daughter out. But Paul doesn't realized those muggers would go to his house by raping his maid (Silvana Gallardo) and waiting for him to come home. When Paul and his daughter came home, he got beat up and kidnapped his daughter. When one of those muggers raped his daughter, she escapes from them but she accidentally killed himself from jumping through a window by getting impaled by the railing below. When Paul finds out his maid has died, including his own daughter. Now Paul goes back being a vigilante in the mean streets of L.A. by night to finding these murderous, stealing, rapists thugs.

Directed by Michael Winner (Lawman, The Mechanic, The Sentinel) made an OK if unnecessary sequel to the effective "Death Wish". Which Winner also made the original film. Nearly none of the strong impact of the first movie is there. It's nearly played for unintentional laughs and it is often very silly. Bronsan looks bored here, he certainly did the role for the money. Vincent Gardenia, who was in the original as Detective Frank Ochoa is back in a supporting role. Ireland, who was real-life wife of Bronson.

Still, fans of the "Death Wish" features will find some entertainment here. The lead thugs are recognizable, especially a young Kevyn Major Howard (Best known for his supporting roles in "Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket" and "Alien Nation") and Laurence Fishburne. He gets the biggest unintentional laughter in the movie, when Fishburne tries to shield himself from a shooting with a Boombox! Charles Cyphers (Who best known in supporting roles in John Carpenter's movies like " Assault on Precient 13", "The Fog" and "Halloween") appears as The Head Orderly during the last act of the picture. Director Winner and Actor Bronson returned for the extremely stupid but entertaining "Death Wish 3". Which "Death Wish 3" is the best of the sequels. Bronson's fans will cherish this, while others won't bother

The Hollow starts on the Eve of Halloween at the small American town of Sleepy Hollow where new resident Ian Cranston (Kevin Zegers) is driving along trying to impress a local bird named Karen (Kaley Cuoco) when he has to swerve to miss the local cemetery keeper Claus Van Ripper (Stacy Keach) who then tries to convince Ian that he is an actual descendant of Ichabod Crane (just watch Tim Burton's fantastic Sleepy Hollow (1999) to find out who he is) whom escaped the ghostly Headless Horseman many decades ago, so since Ian is technically a Crane the Headless Horseman decides he will take what he can get so he intends to kill Ian as some sort of revenge. Look, just don't ask. Annoyingly for the local population of Sleepy Hollow the Headless Horseman doesn't mind killing anyone who gets in his way, cue lots of American teenagers... yawn...

Directed by Kyle Newman who according to the IMDb credits casted himself as the 'Cool High School Dude' I personally thought The Hollow was rubbish, it's as simple & straight forward as that really. The script by co-producer Hans Rodionoff who also makes a cameo appearance in the finished film as a corpse 'borrows' heavily from Burton's wonderful Sleepy Hollow which The Hollow is inferior to in every single aspect. The first thing to say is that while Burton's film was a brilliant Gothic period who dun-nit murder mystery & by comparison The Hollow is a cheap, tacky, predictable contemporary teen slasher riddled with clichés, bad character's, poor dialogue & unconvincing CGI effects. The decision to move the ahem, 'action' to modern America & populate the cast with annoying teen stereotypes says it all really, this is lazy & uninspired film-making. Add to that the fact that the first 50 odd minutes are really slow, boring & dull which they most certainly are. Apart from the basic legend of the Headless Horseman which is quite a cool concept, a nice looking cast & one or two half decent scenes The Hollow has very little going for it.

Director Newman does nothing to impress, it's competent but little else. What's up with Stacy Keach's character anyway? He seems to know absolutely everything, when the Headless Horseman appears, what his weaknesses are, that Ian is a distant relation to Crane & just about everything else. There's not much gore & what there is totally revolves around decapitated heads & headless bodies. They couldn't afford the CGI effects to make the Headless Horseman headless so they stick a pumpkin on his stump to hide the actors head which looks about twice as large as a normal head, personally I feel cheated I mean this film is supposed to be all about a ghostly Headless Horseman & there technically isn't one. In fact I think they should have renamed him to the Pumpkinhead Horseman, well it has ring to it doesn't it & it would have been a more accurate description.

With a supposed of about $900,000 which I accept isn't much The Hollow is reasonably well made but you'll have probably forgotten it within a day. Quite how (once) respected actors like Keach & Judge Reinhold end up in bottom of the barrel crap like this is anyone's guess, the teenage cast are mostly annoying although some of the birds in this are good looking especially Erica played by Shelly Bennett who gets her head chopped off.

The Hollow is a pointless film really, Tim Burton has already made the perfect Headless Horseman film with Sleepy Hollow & what's left is just your less-than-average teen slasher film that fails to entertain or impress. Not one to rush out to see...

When Jim Wynorski first announced he would be doing a new sequel for my favorite series of all time, the "Slumber Party Massacre" series, I was ecstatic. I had been waiting for a new installment for literally years. So, production began and very small bits and pieces on the shoot and the actors involved were released until the shoot wrapped. Then, the announcement of a title change. No longer would this new sequel be titled "Slumber Party Massacre IV," but "Cheerleader Massacre" instead. I was a bit disappointed, but having a different title would be a very small price to pay for a film I had waited so long to happen. I was still extremely intrigued and on the edge of my seat to see it.

Maybe a month ago, some very advanced copies of the film were released to some extremely lucky viewers, who got to see the film months before its release date. A few reviews leaked on the net and judging by them, I began to become apprehensive on Jim Wynorski's "Cheerleader Massacre."

Tonight, I got to see the film for the first time in full length and I am still scratching my head. As I read in another review, "Cheerleader Massacre" is definitely NOT a new installment in the "Slumber Party Massacre" series, but a slasher flick all on its own. And a bad one at that.

Before I get into the specifics of the film, let me first state what an enormous fan of Jim Wynorski's films I am. I always thought him to be a true camp genius, with a winner almost every time. Yes, his movies are made on shoestring budgets and don't contain the most top-notch acting around, but they're fun nonetheless. They are what they are: campy movies you watch when you want to have a good time. From "Sorority House Massacre II," to "Hard to Die," to "Chopping Mall," Jim has produced the goods on more than one occasion. One of the reasons why I was excited that this film would be his latest project.

"Cheerleader Massacre" does not (in my opinion) reflect any of the films I had seen this director/writer create in the past. Firstly, the production was extremely inexpensive and the film was actually shot on videotape, something I had never seen Jim do before. The actors were mediocre, to say the least, and the story is almost laughable. The killer is also extremely stupid and reminds you more of your cuddly old grandpa, rather than an escaped lunatic.

Of course, the film is littered with female nudity. This is a Jim Wynorski movie we're talking about, folks. But some of the boob-shots seen here almost seem like they were done for time. There is an extremely long shower scene, containing the cheerleading coach, that seems to go on forever and it greatly reflects a shower scene in Jim's "Sorority House Massacre II." The girl even bathes herself almost in the exact same way.

"Cheerleader Massacre" is also extremely clichéd, to say the least. The opening scene is literally something we've all seen in HUNDREDS of past slasher flicks. A guy and a girl making out, on the verge of consummating their relationship when...you guessed it. They're hacked to pieces.

Brinke Stevens, who I've never really considered to be a tremendous actress in the first place, also gives one of her stiffest and forced performances in her small cameo. We're talking' possible cue cards here. She recalls some incidents her character endured by the killer seen here twenty years ago to the police, while footage of the original "Slumber Party Massacre" plays. Why was footage from the original film used if it was definitely not a new "SPM"? I have no idea. There is also two explosions seen in this movie that I am almost certain were recycled from other films.

Not only does this film recycle FOOTAGE from past films, but it also recycles the scores from other films as well. Some of the music used in "Humanoids from the Deep" (which was also recycled prior for "The Coroner") can be heard throughout the entire film. There are at least two more as well that I cannot identify, but am certain have been used before.

After sitting through this film's horrendous acting, ridiculous story, non-existent gore/special effects, and camcorder-like quality, I am having some serious concerns toward Mister Wynorski's career. Has the man who delighted audiences with films in the past finally lost his niche? Only time will tell. Oh, and let's not forget his newest film. A new installment in the "Sorority House Massacre" films, now titled "Final Exam." I think I'm seeing a pattern here...

I really enjoyed this one for starters,, John Schneider did a wonderful job with the material that he was given,, i was disappointed in Daryl Hannah though,, i thought that Armand Assante did a great job as the bad guy in the movie, F. Murray Abraham didn't have enough screen time in this.. the plot was great i thought,, here you have a real estate developer trying to basically buy up the whole entire fishing community, although be it very unscroupulus in his ways, dumping illegal toxins into the bay, therefore making all the fish die off , so the community goes basically bankrupt, but in the process the chemicals do something to the sharks and mess up their brain waves, turning them basically from docile,, to manhunters,, and they eventually start to swarm on the community of Full Moon Bay,, i think this was a great TV movie, and i know many of you won't agree with me,, but i just don't care.

"What I might enjoy more is video of the USA Network/SciFi execs and the 'pro' wrestlers getting eaten by a few real sharks so that we didn't have to watch them **OR** crap like this anymore."

Well, you could change the channel....

"(yes, I know sharks are really mammals)"

Actually, sharks are NOT mammals: they are fish that bear live young, in most species.

I'll be watching "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" tonight("Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" is on opposite "Malibu Shark Attack"). Debbie Gibson AND Lorenzo Lamas? Must-watch TV!

To my surprise, this actually turned out to be a rather amusing B-Movie. The characters, handsome cop, brainy female scientist, unpleasant young lawyer, taciturn Vietnam vet (how many Vietnam vets in the movies are ever eloquent conversationalists?) and superstitious Voodoo lady are so much cut-out cardboard, but the actors make the best with what they have to work with. Even the fish look like they are enjoying themselves.

There is the odd witty line, some great low-key action sequences and the Frankenfish themselves are great - chewing up most of the cast with great gusto and not without some excellent black humour.

There are some genuine surprises and a couple of unexpected deaths amid the usual B-Movie clichés. There's plenty of gore and plenty of fun. Not a bad way to spend an idle hour or so.

Liam Neeson was great in this movie. At times I was reminded of John McClane and Jason Bourne characters, but with more seriousness & focus. As happens with many films of this genre, you have to suspend your belief somewhat as this quasi-superhero appears bulletproof!

Some intermittent subtitles could have fleshed out the bad guys characters a little, making them less one dimensional without detracting from the suspense, while keeping the audience in the loop.

A miscast Maggie Grace tried to downplay her age without success. Watching her run was reminiscent of a baby giraffe taking it's first steps. There are many younger actresses out there who can play the ingénue more convincingly.

The violence can be gruesome and the sex-trade scenes sickening. But overall, this movie delivers and is well worth watching.

Another laughably lame and senseless low-budget sci-fi TV presentation… but actually its kind of amusing… kind of… in a passably undemanding way. Am I being soft? I don't know why they come up with these titles. Yes there's a komodo. And yes there's a cobra. However what's the deal with 'versus' in between? Sure they do come to blows… in only two sequences (one recapping an incident and the other being the dodgy climax) and quite boring exchanges I might add. The get-up is the same old routine of a scientific experiment getting out of hand on a secluded island (no dinosaurs about), and some innocent bystanders (environmentalists hoping to expose animal testing) getting caught up in it. This sees a komodo dragon and cobra becoming massive in statue with the government soon wanting to destroy any sort of the evidence (including witnesses) of its existence by blowing up the island. So this leaves the survivors racing against time to find a way off. The prominent staples existed of awful video game CGI, hack script, few dingy sets (although the tropical island setting was easy on the eyes), throwaway characters (but I found the performances faired up), lifelessly tacky thrills (which for some reason kept using the same repetitive shot of the victim just standing there in terror… which implied I'm waiting, please eat me now, I'm not going anywhere and eventually they were swallowed whole… well almost as it seemed to always take a second gulp to finish them off or just save the hassle by stupidly squashing them) and a very hysterical edge with some sort of wretch message amongst the acts of survival. Director Jim Wynorski seems to be on cruise control throughout. Michael Paré has fun with his gruff dialogues and Michelle Borth added much needed sparks. Renee Talbert is there to pout a lot, quite successfully too.

Ice Spiders is set in the Lost Mountain skiing resort in Logan County in Utah where hotshot skier Dan 'Dash' Dashiell (Patrick Muldoon) works as a ski instructor, local ranger Rick Dickerson (K. Danor Gerald) ask's Dash for help in searching for two missing hunter's on a nearby mountain range which Dash dutifully agrees to. They find one of the hunters dead, horribly mutilated & the other cocooned in what looks like Spider's silk. Then they are attacked a giant genetically created Spider that has escaped from a nearby Government laboratory, with six deadly giant Spider's on the loose in total no-one is safe as it's up to ex-marine & all round hero Dash to go way beyond the call of duty to save the day...

Directed by Tibor Takács this is yet another 'Creature Feature' Sci-Fi Channel original that is far from original & is pretty standard stuff from start to finish. The script features everything any seasoned 'Creature Feature' lover would expect, there's the young teenage cast, the all American hero who has to overcome some sort of fear to save the day, genetically created creatures of some sort developed for military purposes, bad CGI computer effects, an isolated location for the Spider's to attack & the human cast to get stuck in, a corrupt scientist who only cares about the experiment & not human life, a military presence & of course a love interest for the lead hero. It's all here in abundance. Ice Spiders is far from the worst of it's kind that I have seen, it's still not a particularly good film by any stretch of the imagination but I did enjoy it to a certain extent more than I thought I would. The pace is good & from the opening Spider attack scene right through to the end the film never slows down & I can't say I was bored although what I was more than aware that what I was watching was still pretty average stuff. The character's are alright & aren't as annoying as usual, the plot is fairly standard stuff & it's clear not much thought went into other than to hang the basic 'genetically creature giant creature on the loose' plot around & there's a few amusing scenes here if your in the right mood I suppose. The dialogue is of often unintentionally funny & the film doesn't seem to take itself too seriously & while I would hesitate to describe Ice Spiders as a good film I certainly don't think it's a terrible one either.

There is no build up to the revelation of the Spider's in Ice Spiders & one is seen in it's full CGI glory within the first three minutes, the cheap looking CGI computer effects range from the strictly average to the absolutely awful. There's no real build up of tension to any of the attack scenes either so the film lacks any scares or any atmosphere & the entire thing takes place during the day which makes things easy to see but setting a horror film about giant Spider's in broad daylight cuts down the options for suspense sequences & as such the film lacks any. There's some minor gore here, someone is seen ripped in half, there are a few mutilated bodies, some blood splatter & some mutilated animal bodies too.

With a supposed budget of about $2,000,000 the production values are alright, the mountain wilderness scenery is nice enough to look at & poor CGI computer effects apart it's reasonably well made. The acting is mostly poor from people who look like they don't want to be there, Patrick Muldoon in particular looks to be putting zero effort into things. Even though Vanessa Williams was forty three when she shot Ice Spiders she looks about nineteen in it.

Ice Spiders is a slightly better than usual Sci-Fi Channel 'Creature Feature' although that in itself isn't saying much & is certainly no recommendation. Not bad for it's type but since it's type is usually so awful it's still nothing worth busting a gut to see.

If you're looking for a new film franchise to rival the likes of Jaws and Predator, then keep looking. This ain't gonna win an Oscar. But that doesn't mean it's bad. The story is of a film crew shooting surfers, eh, surfing with sharks. What they don't know is that a dirty big Croc is also under the sea.

The actors are all unknown to me, but they are all actually pretty good. The 2 surf bum main characters especially could have their own show. But the real star is the Croc. Probably some of the worst special effects I've yet seen, though the head and jaws looked cool when it was on land.

As always with a low budget horror film, there's a couple of topless scenes, couple of sex scenes and plenty of tight tops and cleavage. Which is no bad thing in my book.

I won't ruin the ending, but I nearly cried it was so funny.

To sum up, stone cold sober analysis of this flick won't reveal it to be a Citizen Kane, but then that isn't what the film is trying to achieve. With a 6 pack in you though, it's highly enjoyable. - 4/5

I know what budget constraints these guys had in doing this film, and to see the end product, Ace Cruz and Pauly D really pulled it off.

Who doesn't want $100 mil to put a movie together- but when you are a film maker with a script, and a passion to tell the world about your message, you do what you can do with the resources that you have.

I don't know how they were able to get Michael Madsen and the other well known names with the budget that they had, but they did it and their parts played out well.

The scenes were varied and vibrant- it was neat for me to see the mountains and they played right into the story line.

The message I got from the movie was that it's OK to let go of one's fear and anger, and I witnessed the transformation of several characters along the way.

Neat movie, great actors, beautiful backdrop, and a nostalgic ode to Rabun County, Georgia. Good job guys !!!