At this point the Baldwin Brothers are an unstoppable force. Laugh all you want, these motherfuckers make great movies. Yeah there’s a lot of stinkers along the way but when they hit, watch out! Alec Baldwin is probably the most successful and talented of the four and Miami Blues drives this home. Giving one of the best performance’s of his career to a movie no one talks about. Miami Blues is the under rated film of the 90’s! No joke.
The last few years have been pretty disgraceful in the world of the ninja. No longer are they the deadliest of assassins but now are mocked openly along side pirates and wizards. The ninja is an obvious costume choice, not a deadly threat. So lets go back to the ninja glory days (the 80’s) where America was just coming accustom to the ninja lifestyle, which was ripe for exploitation.
Out of all the genres, the themes in horror run the deepest. Horror movies tap into our deepest fears, and because of this often tell the same story in different ways. Whether it’s more general concepts like being hunted down by a killer, being terrorized by a monster or being possessed by a spirit; or more specific ones like zombies, vampires, the lone hitchhiker or a body part with a life of its own. The theme of Body Parts has been rehashed many times in many ways but the 1991 film by Eric Red does it best.
Going to the theaters in 2011 is disgusting. Secret government agents, spies and lethal assassins. All that sounds cool in theory but the reality is BORING. I love a secret agent as much as the next guy but what does Jason Bourne have to lose? What pain does Liam Neeson really feel? Lets travel back to the 80’s where the enemy really hit you were it hurts, where a cops family could be slaughtered, a soldiers sister might get raped, and who knows? Even our hero could die…
Harry Moseby is a private eye stuck in the past. While he longs for the days of Sam Spade his world is slowly unraveling. He is confronted by Arlene Iverson a has been movie star who is looking for a drink, a good time and maybe her daughter while you’re at it. While Harry starts his search for Delly, Arlenes daughter, he accidentally catches his wife with another man. Instead of confronting her he breaks into the mans house, sits down and asks, “How serious is it?” This is Harry’s life and it’s about to get complicated.
What is a “cult film?” To most it’s an underrated film that cultivates a group of fans that enjoy it ironically or embrace it for it’s true genius despite mainstream ignorance. But there’s another type of cult film. The type that makes you want to start a cult. Fight Club, I Heart Huckabees, and Slacker are three that come to mind. These movies have such interesting concepts or philosophies we should literally build cults around them. The Last Big Thing is a “cult film” in the truest form of the word. The film is so interesting and thought provoking it made me want to sacrifice a virgin and drink goats blood. LETS START A CULT!
Aka Joshuu 701-go: Sasori
Women In Prison films are the thing of the past here in America. We haven’t seen one in years. For most film enthusiasts WIP means Campy. And for good reason. Most WIP movies are campy! From Chained Heat to Bad Girls Dormitory, we love the films but they are pretty damn cheesy. The genre has become so predictable there are even parody films. This is what feels so great about watching Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion. Here we have an outstanding Women In Prison film. One filled with action, story, and best of all: quality acting. FP701 may be the best Women In Prison films ever made and this is where it all started.
As you can probably guess, Body Melt is not for the ladies (unless shes a bad ass!). No, this is an over the top, gross-out snotfest of blood, guts, sperm and sweat. Something that the ladies will never understand. This is a film for the drunk, for the high, FOR THE INTELLECTUAL! So strap on your goggles and let’s get to work.
Found a great four page Fangoria article for Body Melt! Check it out here!
Acting is over rated. Did you really come to see some people PRETEND to be something other than cardboard cutouts? Fuck no! Why are you watching a movie called Nemesis? Is it because you want sappy, realistic love scenes? Or do you want robots blowing up shit in the future and naked android assassins? I’m gonna go with the naked android assassins on this one. Welcome to the world of Albert Pyun.
Fangoria did it right and gave Nemesis a great review! Check out Fangoria.com for a subscription!
To love the art of film and have appreciation of great auteur you must, above all else, be a boobie connoisseur. Boobies, the female breast, sweater puppies, the foundation of all great cinema. Here at Face Melting Films, we see the breast as the MacGuffin, if you will, for why we love film. It’s the reason we came here in the first place and even though it’s not the reason we stayed, it definitely helps! Hard To Die, one of the classic efforts of Jim Wynorski, is an exercise in the boobie movie that we have all grown to love. Cause without the boob, why else would women be in film?
As we all know, killer brain movies are a dime a dozen. We’ve all seen brains from outer space descend on a small town and a Rambo type character must swoop in to save the day. What puts “The Brain” in a different category than the hundreds of other killer brain movies is it’s a metaphor for being a teenager and the angst of being misunderstood in a brainwashed society run by television. Stupid parents and all their rules! Oh, it also has a huge fucking brain that eats naked girls!
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Americans are slowly going insane. The high expectations of a rock star lifestyle and the unbearable pressures of the fastest moving culture in human history are too much for us as “evolved” humans. No one can keep up. We pretend to have it under control, to be adults, but this is the lie that moves our society and some people past the limits of sanity. Natural Enemies is the exploration of a family man and a successful writer who, through an unsuccessful marriage, contemplates the murder of his entire family.
Funny enough Fangoria gave The Brain a very negative review in issue 85. I think the film works better with some perspective.
I also found an interview with the FX supervisor, Mark Williams in Fangoria 96 who worked on a lot of stuff including It’s Alive 2, Syngenor, Invaders From Mars, Return to Salem’s Lot and Lords of the Deep. Unfortunately he only talks briefly about The Brain.
If you are like me (and you’re probably not) you haven’t really gotten into the Italian films of the 70’s and 80’s. You prefer the crazy colors and goofy costumes of American movies and have a hard time with the drab colors and the pale, uninteresting looking people. I’m going to state, for the record, I was wrong. Dead wrong. Big Guns is a story of revenge in the mafia and without the crazy colors and wacky bad guys the film grabs your attention and reels you in to the world of a hit man on the run.
Few horror franchises are successful enough to make it past the 4th installment. Even fewer reach the double digits. Friday the 13th made it to 12, Halloween made it to 10, and both Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street dropped out at 9 (so far). Few people realize how close the Amityville franchise is on this list. Since the remake, 9 Amityville films have been made (not counting Bloodbath at the House of Death, a Amityville spoof). While most people shrug off sequels, one strange thing stands out about this list. Each franchise held their own (ignoring the remakes) and created a bounty of quality sequels. You can pop in any volume of Nightmare on Elm Street (again, besides the remake) and you will be entertained and surprised! Well Amityville 1992 falls right in these footsteps. With some first class horror movie acting and a genuinely scary story, It’s About Time still stands as my favorite in the series, and it’s number SIX!
I just found a great article on pinball machines designed after horror movies! Check it out straight from Fangoria #140!
Found this in Fangoria 127. The article focuses mostly on Glickenhaus hiring his kid as the main role but it has some great on set pictures so I thought I’d put it up!
Aka Alien Visitor
There are a few films that I’ve seen in my life that almost do not classify as films. Yes, they are over 60 minutes, yes they are filmed using a camera based on a screenplay and yes you watch them in a theater, but there’s something about certain avant-garde or experimental films that break boundaries and makes certain choices where your experience watching the film was so unlike your experience with any other that the word “movie” doesn’t really work any more. While Epsilon is far from a perfect film and definitely doesn’t melt your face, it does give you a new experience. It gives you this experience because Epsilon isn’t about a story but more about putting the viewer through a journey and expressing concepts.
Unlike most gambling movies, God Of Gamblers does not address the addiction of gambling. It does not revel the dirty underside to casinos either. Most of all there are no plies of money floating down on a couple making love in slow motion. No, God Of Gamblers is something entirely different. With a fantastic mix of comedy, martial arts and high stakes poker, God Of Gamblers set itself apart from all other gambling movies in a way only Hong Kong can do.
When talking about a complicated film, one of the go to metaphors always seems to be Chess. Because Chess is so involved and you must be ten steps ahead of your opponent, many seem to think this is relatable. I’ve always felt it to be annoying and pretentious. Although many films are similar to Chess, the metaphor is way overused. And although I hate the metaphor, it is so perfectly fitting for The Silent Partner it’s almost unavoidable. The film moves in a clockwork way with so many twists and turns the viewer feels that he is a part of the game, always trying to keep up with the other players. In a time like today where mysteries and suspense stories are operating on a third grade level, The Silent Partner is a lightning bolt of energy and intricacy that will leave your head spinning.
A road movie on drugs, or is it a drug movie on the road? Dream With The Fishes defies convention and throws us in the mix. Categorizing this film would be a mistake. Part Drugstore Cowboy and part Rivers Edge, the film is a heroin dream of reality and how we perceive it.
What is your perfect movie? Think about it. Would it involve an orgy scene with Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Jessica Simpson? Do you want Kevin Baccon on a hover board fighting aliens? How about Justin Bieber being anally rapped by Yaphet Kotto? In my mind The Seventh Curse is what I would picture. Indiana Jones fighting Alien mixed with Evil Dead 2 and sprinkle in some awesome kung fu and a hostage negotiation scene. Really, in a world of Jenifer Aniston movies, what more can you ask for?
This movie was not created in our universe. In the great wormhole of 1993 a few films fell through and a few were merged. Slaughter Of The Innocents was originally a made for TV drama about a kid and his father called Innocent Prayer. However when it fell through the wormhole it was mixed with a serial killer film called Voodoo Slaughter. The result is a Disneyland of exploitation cinema and bad acting that will melt your face.
