Saturday Morning Massacre - Review

Saturday Morning Massacre has a simple premise. Scooby-Doo meets R-Rated horror film. It's an interesting concept that will probably resonate with any of us adults who grew up watching Scooby-Doo on Saturday Mornings. If you happened to be one of those early watchers you will recognize the plot. A group of four college age paranormal investigators go to a spooky old mansion with their dog and VW bus in tow with the goal of debunking a supposed haunting. Following some accidental drug consumption the line between reality and hallucination are blurred until events finally spiral into the promised massacre.

Our four main characters are Nancy, Gwen, Chad, Floyd and their dog Hamlet. These are of course fill-in's for Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby. The casting works relatively well here. The "Velma" and "Shaggy" characters have the right mix of believable character and cartoon based caricature. They manage to emulate the characters we expect them to be based on the influence without going over the top into cartoon land. The "Fred" and "Daphne" fill-in's are a bit more underwhelming. They don't come close enough to fitting the bill of what we expect and come off as more generic than anything. There is, however, a pretty gratuitous sex scene between these two characters for anyone that ever wanted to see Fred and Daphne get it on. Basically the casting of the lead's if 50-50. It's probably better that some characters feel more generic than caricature as it probably would have put the film too over the top. There's a good amount of comedy in here but it comes from the situation's and dialogue rather than the characters themselves.

Under the Bed - Review

Under the Bed is the new film from Steven Miller director of the recent Silent Night remake and Automaton Transfusion. Described as a "suburban nightmare" the story centers around two brothers who are being tormented by a creature living under their bed. With no one around to believe them they are forced to take matters into their own hands and face the creature before it can devour them.

I was pretty excited to check out Under the Bed as it looked to be a throwback to some of my favorite films from the 80's like Monster Squad or The Lost Boys. Unfortunately, it doesn't come close to reaching the heights of it's influences. While those films are immensely re-watchable due to their great pacing, inventive story telling and likable characters Under the Bed is lacking in almost all of these areas. The pacing is off as the story seems to retread the same territory several times without much happening to push it forward. The beginning and end move at a pretty brisk pace with some decent character development at the front of the film and some good action and special effects at the end but the middle of the film feels lost and bogged down. Once it has been established that something is living under the bed and we learn the truth behind the older brothers past there isn't much more to do.

Manborg - Review

It's Never too Late...to be a Hero

I grew up with a generation of fans who found their love of genre films through VHS. On the weekends my parents would bring me to the local video store and I would spend a fair amount of time roaming the aisles going over the various covers attempting to decide which titles I should bring home. The box art was all I had to go by. There was no internet to look up a film before I watched it and I was far too young to have access to any type of printed forums of critical review. Therefore, I had to choose wisely because if I made the wrong choice, I was stuck with it for the weekend. I had no option but to watch it and be happy with it. I couldn't stream 10 minutes and shut it off if it sucked. I would grin and bear it but usually I grew to appreciate and enjoy them. Manborg is a love letter to that era of film. To the movies that came to exist outside of Hollywood during the VHS boom of the 80's where anyone who had the resources could make a movie and distribute it.

Manborg takes place in a dystopian future where Draculon has risen from hell and conquered the world along with his evil minions. Earth has become a vast wasteland where humans are locked up and forced to do battle with demons for entertainment. The only hope for humanity lies in Manborg, a former soldier turned cyborg, and a ragtag group of human surivors consisting of a kung-fu master, an australian sharpshooter and his sister, an expert with blades. The four must team up and work together to defeat Draculon and take down his massive demon horde.