Pumpkinhead - 1988

What It Is: Weird slasher morality tale with Lance Henriksen.

Why I Watched It: The name kept coming up in horror circles and I thought it was time to see what all the fuss was.

What I Thought: Aside from the awesome performance I expected from Henriksen, Pumkinhead was quite good!

A bunch of rich city kids head to the country with their dirt bikes. When one accidentally runs down Henriksen's son, Lance calls up the ultimate force of revenge for a man slighted by another, Pumpkinhead. The demon is summoned as the facilitator of Henriksen's vengeance, but was his decision justified? The rest of the film involves a surprising number of moral questions regarding crime and punishment, slasher movie style.

Highlights: The monster, the summoning, slasher morality, and sacrifice.

Who Should See It: Horror and slasher fans.

How Soon: Anytime.

Review Dump - March 2008

I can't remember the last time I was this busy. My schedule is just full and it's been hard to find time for reviews. Without including all the boring details, here's the first ever Movie Slut Review Dump. Perhaps I'll give some or all of these titles a proper treatment someday down the road. Meanwhile, I hope you don't find the temporary change of format too offensive.














The Bank Job - 2008
What It Is: Dramatization of a real-life 1971 bank robbery.
What I Thought: A damn fine hiest film.














Hell Comes To Frogtown - 1987
What It Is: Post-apocalyptic cult film starring Rowdy Roddy.
What I Thought: Terrible enough to be pretty fun.














Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups) - 2001
What It Is: Werewolves vs. Native American martial artists, in 18th century France.
What I Thought: Ridiculous...ly awesome!














Night Hawks - 1981
What It Is: Stalone the cop chases Rutger the arsonist.
What I Thought: Good cop movie with a good villain.














Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-Hime)- 1997
What It Is: Anime about nature vs. industry/humanity.
What I Thought: One of the best Anime films ever!














Hard Boiled (Lat Sau San Taam) - 1992
What It Is: John Woo's last film before Hollywood.
What I Thought: Ranking #5 for the highest on-screen body count, what the fuck do you think? One of the greatest action films ever made!














Falling Down - 1993
What It Is: The Warriors with a shirt and tie.
What I Thought: Funny and frightening in the best possible way!














The Quest - 1996
What It Is: Van Damme and Roger Moore in a pulpy adventure flick.
What I Thought: Enjoyable when not taken seriously.














Perfect Creature - 2006
What It Is: The vampire film The Breed should've been.
What I Thought: Weak plot, gorgeous movie.











Planet Earth - 2006
What It Is: Most expensive nature show ever.
What I Thought: Best nature documentary ever!














The Beastmaster - 1982
What It Is: Classic sword and sorcery flick.
What I Thought: A little cheesy, but very very fun.














Targets - 1968
What It Is: Aging Boris Karloff vs. a psycho sniper.
What I Thought: A darkly enjoyable classic.














Doomsday - 2008
What It Is: Another Underworld/Equilibrium/Resident...
What I Thought: Just as good/bad as the movies it rips off.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song - 1971

What It Is: Melvin Van Peebles' classic indy flick that basically started the blaxploitation genre.

Why I Watched It: It's a classic piece of film history.

What I Thought: Awe inspiring.

The film, considered by many to be the origin of black film making, begins with a simple dedication: "This film is dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who have had enough of the Man."

That's exactly what Sweet Sweetback is about. Sweetback is a brother in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the white cops begin hassling him, he decides he's just not going to take it anymore. In Melvin Van Peebles' own words, it's "about a brother getting the Man's foot out of his ass."

The film was a surprisingly huge box office success and it's revenue was due almost entirely to the black community alone. Peebles put it best, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song made a zillion dollars before four white people had ever seen it." The film grossed $4,100,000 at the box office, encouraging a predominantly white Hollywood to begin paying a little more attention to black audiences.

When Van Peebles sat down to write the film, he came up with a list of things to consider. The first three were most important:

1. "No Cop Out" - He wanted to tell it like it is, without pulling punches.
2. "Must Look As Good As Anything Chuck Ever Did" - Chuck means whitey.
3. "Entertainment-Wise, a Mother Fucker" - I think he succeeded.

Watch the fucking movie! The movie is rough and raw, but also very real. Don't expect Hollywood gloss and happy endings, but take a little glance at true film history!

Dig This: "They bled your brother... they bled your sister... But they won't bleed me!"

Who Should See It: Blaxploitation fans, film history buffs, and anyone that wants to stick it to The Man!

How Soon: Grab the DVD when you're ready for something unusual.

Thriller - A Cruel Picture (Thriller - En Grym Film) - 1973

What It Is: The classic Swedish revenge film that inspired much of Tarantino's Kill Bill.

Why I Watched It: See Kill Bill comment above.

What I Thought: Excellent!

Thriller is an awesome revenge flick full of violence, drugs, retribution, and... surprisingly... hardcore sex.

A young girl is literally picked up off the side of the road, drugged up, hooked on heroin and forced to work as a prostitute. Her pimp makes one huge mistake and gives her a free day each week and a little spending cash. She uses that day to pick up some useful skills like driving, shooting, and hand-to-hand combat.

Why does she wish to learn these things? Let's just say her pimp isn't going to be happy when he finds out and neither will her customers.

Highlights: Sex and Violence with none of that silly Rock and Roll to get in the way!

Who Should See It: Revenge fans and cult movie buffs!

How Soon: Grab the DVD whenever, it's a great film.

Coffy - 1973

What It Is: Pam Grier's precursor to Foxy Brown.

Why I Watched It: I found out Foxy Brown was written as a sequel to Coffy so I had to check out the original.

What I Thought: I should have just stayed with Foxy Brown.

The plots of both movies are so similar that almost everything I said about Foxy Brown will apply to Coffy as well. Bottom Line: Coffy is a less sexy version of Foxy Brown with acting that is much, much worse.

Highlights: None that go above and beyond Foxy Brown.

Who Should See It: Only die hard Grier fans or blaxploitation completionists, everyone else should just watch Foxy Brown.

How Soon: The movie's not going to get any better. Might get worse though.

Foxy Brown - 1974

What It Is: The much improved follow-up to Coffy.

Why I Watched It: You can't visit blaxploitation cinema without including Pam Grier's work.

What I Thought: It was good, baby, damn good. It was an excellent example of the blaxploitation genre and a kick ass revenge movie as well!

Some official business first: Foxy Brown was directed by Jack Hill, the same guy that directed Coffy. Foxy was written as the sequel to Coffy, but at the last minute the studio decided they didn't want it to be related. So for Foxy Brown, they just changed the name of the main chick and left out mention of the nursing occupation that would have connected the films. Officially, it's not a sequel. But we all know that it totally is.

Foxy Brown is just a normal woman, until her informant boyfriend is shot and she decides to get revenge. It goes okay at first, but she's out of her league. She'll have to get tough to take down the bad guys. Shouldn't be a problem...

Pam Grier oozes a fair amount of sexy through most of the film. The music is 70's silly and the action is surprisingly intense and visceral. From a typical detective story beginning, Foxy Brown quickly sets itself apart as a violent and gritty revenge flick. And that's okay with me!

Highlights: Arch villain "Miss Katherine" is unnervingly evil, the escape from "the farm" is classic, best use of a pickle jar ever, and Pam Grier is foxy!

Who Should See It: Blaxploitation fans, Pam Grier fans, and revenge movie fans.

How Soon: Anytime!

Shaft - 1971

What It Is: One of the two movies that started it all. A quintessential blaxploitation film.

Why I Watched It: It's Black History Month, baby. You dig?

What I Thought: For an almost 40-year-old movie, Shaft has just enough action, comedy, and mystery to compete with any modern day tale about a private dick.

Things are gettin' heavy in Harlem when a bunch of mob suits move in from out of town. The cops aren't down with the jive, so they need a brotha with an ear to the streets. They need a "private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks."

With a crime boss named "Bumpy" and a male lead bedding more chicks than James Bond, what more could you want from a blaxploitation film? An award winning theme song from Isaac (fucking) Hayes, that's what! And when I say award winning, I'm talking an Oscar for Best Music: Song. That's right kids, Isaac Hayes won an Academy Award for being "a bad mother... Shut your mouth!"

In some ways, the 70's were pretty fucking cool...

Dig This: Simply AMAZING soundtrack, Richard Roundtree's performance as John Shaft is basically the mold for every badass anti-hero type since, and 'groovy boobs' with the line "close it yourself, shitty!"

Who Should See It: Fans of detective stories, cop movies, blaxploitation films, and groovy... soundtracks!

How Soon: Grab the DVD whenever you need to dig a cool cat that don't take jive from nobody!

Theme Month - February 2008!

A very good friend over at NY Diva reminded me that February is Black History Month and preceeded to offer an excellent idea.

"Why not do a blaxploitation theme for February and watch all the classics?"

I responded with a healthy "Fuck yeah!" and preceeded to scour Netflix for all the best blaxploitation classics from the '70s. I'm sure I'll throw in the usual number of new releases as well, but all my Netflicking for Feb. will be nothin' but soul. You're in for a treat kids.

After much deliberation, here's the final list of 10 films I picked for Blaxploitation Month.

Blackula, Shaft, Shaft's Big Score!, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Dolemite, Superfly, Cooley High, and The Mack.

Check back soon!

-Movie Slut

The Warriors - 1979

What It Is: A great 70's flick about a group of wayward soldiers that must fight their way home, over 100 miles of turf controlled by every other gang in the city.

Why I Watched It: It was a favorite when I was I kid and a friend raved about the new Director's Cut version.

What I Thought: The Director's Cut makes a good movie simply fucking incredible!

The Warriors is a colorful, sometimes moving, sometimes cheesy story of violence, mayhem, revenge, adventure, betrayal, blah, blah, blah. The costumes are crazy over-the-top, but that's all part of the fun. The dialogue is stiff but it lends itself to the surrealism of the whole production. The 70's soundtrack is awesome! Last but not least... the mostly deserted streets of 70's New York provide a surreal backdrop for the whole show.

The story is an adaptation of the Greek tale Anabasis by Xenophon. I didn't know this when I was a kid, but I always felt there was a certain epic quality to the film that made it so moving and enjoyable. The new DVD demonstrates this connection nicely.

Highlights: The cast, the story, the setting, the costumes, and the dialogue come together famously, but one line from a very coked up Rogue is simply unforgettable!

Who Should See It: Action fans and anyone that enjoys a good epic myth.

How Soon: As soon as possible!

The Warriors (The Ultimate Director's Cut)

Assault on Precinct 13 - 1976

What It Is: John Carpenter's second film and a classic action/horror movie.

Why I Watched It: Cause it is a flagship title in one of my favorite sub-genres, siege movies.

What I Thought: This movie holds up surprisingly well for being 30 years old. It's just as chilling, unsettling, spooky, and classic as it was originally.

Since precinct 13 is moving to a new building, only a skeleton crew is left around for the place's last night. An unexpected guest arrives and the crew soon discovers he's being hounded by the toughest street gang in L.A. The good guys have to team up with the bad or no one will make it out alive.

It's got all the best action and themes from Night of the Living Dead 'cept we leave out the zombies and substitute intelligent, cooperative, gang bangers with automatic weapons!

Highlights: Napoleon, a non-comical strong black lead, and the first death of the film proving the movie is going to take an unexpected route.

Who Should See It: Carpenter fans, action fans, and horror fans!

How Soon: Right now!

Assault on Precinct 13 (Special Edition)

Beowulf - 2007

What It Is: A new interpretation of the epic poem Beowulf in digital 3-D!

Why I Watched It: IMAX + 3-D = Awesome, + Heroic Epic = Epicly Awesome!

What I Thought: Although the film was only an 'interpretation' of the poem, it was a pretty fucking fun experience. Kids everywhere aren't going to be able to watch the film in order to skip reading the epic for English class, but it's still a crazy good movie.

I won't nitpick about the things they changed in the film. It's always going to happen, even your esteemed Peter Jackson did it! It wasn't the poem per se, but it was close enough and on a few occasions it was way more fun!

The movie was heroic ass kicking at its finest. Sure, Leonidas and his Spartans whooped some ass, but it was only a few Persians. Okay, lots of Persians. Beowulf though, he was a lone fucking monster slayer! Hell, Beowulf's dialogue alone is packed with enough testosterone that he could spend the whole movie giving Grendel a manicure and he'd still be a bad ass. I never thought it was possible for a CGI character in a film to ooze such epic confidence, but Beowulf pulls it off!

Oh yeah, the other characters and actors were good too.

Digital film making, CGI, and special effects in general have come a long way. And Beowulf is the best of the lot!

Highlights: Angelina Jolie being sexy despite not even being present, Brendan Gleeson being the best friend a hero could ever have, really good use of 3-D, and the raw epic awesome that is the hero Beowulf!

Who Should See It: Anyone that digs good CGI, good hero myths, or just good fun!

How Soon: NOW! If you don't see this movie in digital 3-D at an IMAX theater, you're sort of missing the whole point. Waiting to watch it on your little TV at home would just be stupid. And I would cry for your appalling lack of judgment.

The Omega Man - 1971

What It Is: An old Heston film based on the 1954 book I Am Legend.

Why I Watched It: I was intrigued by the upcoming Will Smith picture and decided to do a little research.

What I Thought: I don't know if it was the production value, the plot, or Heston himself, but the movie felt so much like Planet of the Apes it was ridiculous!

It was weird in that unquantifiable 70s sci-fi way. It had a good concept, but would be so much better (and possibly easier to connect with) if it was reproduced now.

I'm glad their doing just that.

Highlights: Um... the face that they're remaking it?

Who Should See It: Hard-core Heston fans and NRA card holders.

How Soon: I'd just wait a few weeks for the Will Smith version. It looks good!

The Killing - 1956

What It Is: Much to my surprise, turns out Stanley Kubrik's first film was a noir crime drama. Who would have thought?

Why I Watched It: Stanley Kubrik.

What I Thought: Often disappointed by the first films of other excellent directors, I honestly wasn't expecting much.

Kubrik didn't disappoint. Not only was The Killing a perfect example of film-noir, but this particular crime story still holds its own against modern greats like Reservoir Dogs and The Usual Suspects. The Killing even features a fractured timeline at the end to heighten suspense!

The movie revolves around criminal Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) and his plans to rob a horse racing track. We see him plotting the 'job', recruiting his help, and skillfully executing his plan. Until, of course, the job goes horribly wrong.

Highlights: Sterling Hayden's excellent criminal mastermind, the broken chronology at the film's end, and watching the plan unfold.

Who Should See It: Fans of Kubrik, classic Hollywood, crime movies, and film-noir.

How Soon: Next time you're in the mood for a good heist movie!

The Baron of Arizona - 1950

What It Is: A Vincent Price classic based on the little known true story of a con man that attempted to steal Arizona in the late 1800s.

Why I Watched It: I love con movies!

What I Thought: Vincent Price was incredible and the story of the "Baron" was so preposterous I couldn't take my eyes off the screen!

Anyone that doesn't know the Baron's story should definitely check it out. That dude had some balls!

Highlights: An outrageous plot made even more outrageous by being true!

Who Should See It: Old movie fans, Vincent Price fans, and anyone wanting to learn one of the weirder stories in US history.

How Soon: Save it for an evening of educational nostalgia.

Commando - 1985

What It Is: Perhaps the quintessential Arnold action film.

Why I Watched It: It had been far too long since I'd seen Arnold dispatch hordes of nameless enemies without breaking a sweat.

What I Thought: Commando was just as good as it was when I was a kid!

Commando features Arnold at his biggest, cheesiest, and bronziest. It's everything you want from a classic action movie. I love the new wave of stylish action we're getting from films like Shoot 'Em Up, Kill Bill, and The Matrix, but some times you want a movie with less style and more... bad ass! Commando has it in spades. There's just nothing else that needs said.

Highlights: Incredible one-liners, lots of killing, a good villain fight, and just so much Arnoldy goodness!

Who Should See It: Arnold fans and action fans everywhere!

How Soon: If you've never seen it, see it now! If you have seen it, see it again!

Commando (Director's Cut)

Hellraiser - 1987

What It Is: The first in a long series of Hellraiser brand S&M horror movies.

Why I Watched It: The movie has spawned 7 sequels and has a remake in the works, it must have done something right.

What I Thought: It was gory but in that over-the-top style that uses far too many buckets of red paint. It lacked the visceral realism of movies like High Tension or Saw.

The story followed the traditional arc of every Hellraiser movie (person seeks pleasure, finds box that promises to bring pleasure, box brings demons instead, pleasure plus pain equals bloodshed and person's death), but followed up with an interesting addition. The man killed by "Pinhead" escaped and tempts his lover into bringing him back to life by murdering innocents. Each innocent brings him closer to normality, but they have to hurry because Pinhead is on his tail.

It was fun to watch for its pivotal place in the evolution of the Horror film, but I think it's purpose has been better served by more recent fair.

Highlights: Gooey special effects galore!

Who Should See It: Horror buffs.

How Soon: Save it for a late Saturday night rental.

Scaramouche - 1952

What It Is: A classic swashbuckling tale of love and revenge.

Why I Watched It: Scaramouche reportedly contained an "epic sword duel over 6 minutes long!"

What I Thought: It was surprisingly good. It more than entertained me and my roommate and we don't typically get excited about vintage Hollywood.

The story involves revenge and romance in pre-revolution France. I was reminded of The Count of Monte Cristo, but in all the best ways. The love story is fun in that old-fashioned kind of way, but the fencing in the movie really shines!

Highlights: Decent story, funny scenes involving the comedy troop, and an above par sword duel ranging through 5 different sets!

Who Should See It: Classic movie buffs and swashbuckler fans.

How Soon: Whenever.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka - 1988

What It Is: The first (and best) of the Wayans movies, a decent spoof of Blaxploitation cinema from the '70s.

Why I Watched It: It's a classic spoof movie from a time before "spoof" instantly brought shivers along with thoughts of "Scary Movie 19".

What I Thought: It's old and it's cheesy, but it's still pretty good. I like it much better than the newer "Don't be a Menace to Society while... [etc, etc]".

Keenan Wayans plays the star of the movie, an up and coming black hero. He does okay, but the real fun of the movie are classic stars like Isaac Hayes, Steve James, and Bernie Casey. Some of the gags are weak for today's standards, but the most of the film's jabs at 70's blaxploitation are pretty inspired.

Highlights: Heroic theme music, overprotective mothers, Isaac Hayes, and FlyGuy!

Who Should See It: Fans of blaxploitation cinema or *gulp* the Wayans clan.

How Soon: Netflix it when you get a second.

Felicity - 1979

What It Is: An Australian sexploitation flick about one girl's sexual awakening.

Why I Watched It: Grindhouse turned me on to grindhouse cinema, my explorations led me to a few of the "classics".

What I Thought: After choosing the movie on a bit of a lark, I was surprised that Felicity was actually a decent piece of erotica. The fact that the movie still arouses it's targeted emotions some 30 years later is pretty fucking impressive! Felicity is an above average softcore film with a refreshingly plausible storyline.

The girls are pretty despite some outdated fashion and some unruly standards of pubic hair maintenance. Of course, these are my own standards so you may disagree completely. All in all, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you pick up Felicity for a fun softcore romp.

Highlights: Felicity and Me Ling going to the bathhouse was very sexy, the plot makes sense, Me Ling was hot, and Felicity's English accent was a treat throughout!

Who Should See It: Anybody interested in "classic" softcore, sexploitation, or grindhouse.

How Soon: Felicity seems to be immune to the passage of time. Its still fulfilling its purpose even 30 years later. I'm thinking you can wait as long as you like!

A Fistfull of Dollars (Per un Pugno di Dollari) - 1964

What It Is: The first movie in the classic Clint Eastwood / Sergio Leone trilogy of westerns.

Why I Watched It: I'd never seen it and it's such a classic!

What I Thought: If you didn't know, A Fistful of Dollars is Leone's adaptation of Kurosawa's Yojimbo. The original is still my favorite version of the story, although this one wasn't bad at all.

Clint Eastwood's portrayal of the, now iconic, "man with no name" was more than enough reason to make me glad I watched the movie. It's easy to see how the character spawned two sequels and a bit of film legend.

Other than Eastwood, nothing about the movie specifically stands out for me. It was good, but I felt so familiar with the story that the plot itself didn't hold anything new for me. I've seen Yojimbo several times and I've seen the newer adaptation, Last Man Standing, of the film quite a few times as well.

Highlights: Eastwood's "Man With No Name"!

Who Should See It: Western fans, Eastwood fans, and other film buffs. As for the story itself, I highly suggest you see Yojimbo instead.

How Soon: It's over 40 years old already, I don't think it's going anywhere.

The Man with No Name Trilogy