Month: January 2016

Really Awful Movies: Ep 80 – Cobra

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Everybody must get Stalloned.

Cobra.

One word, one syllable, one inimitable action hero.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the George Cosmatos 1986 shoot-em-up.

There’s a hostage situation in the City of Angels. Who you gonna call? A member of an elite LAPD unit known as “Zombie Squad,” and it’s lead by this badass to the right.

Turns out, there’s an elusive group behind a rash of crimes affecting the city. It’s an Illuminati-type association called New Order (not to be confused with the occasionally dour Manchester synth rock band nor the WCW wrestling faction New World Order).

Crimes are pinned on one the Night Stalker and a witness is put in Cobra’s protection.

A Dirty Harry by way of Cannon films (Golan and Globus produced this one), this Sly and Brigitte Nielsen action flick is dark, daffy, goofy, violent and well worth checking out.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 79 – The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

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We dip into German expressionism on the podcast this week, and we take a look at the classic, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

It’s a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is frequently considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema. And who are we to argue?

The film tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. Caligari features a dark and sinister visual style, with pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in odd angles, and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets.

The 1920 silent movie is outside our primary mandate of covering horror and genre film “from the 1960s to today,” as the tagline of the Really Awful Movies Podcast says. However, it’s vital to understand the current context of horror by casting our gaze back at this marvel. Its influence has carried on through the work of Tim Burton, Bergman and countless others.

The tale of the oddball hypnotist (or somnambulist) is just as eerie and vital today as it was in its day.

For more, check out: www.reallyawfulmovies.com

Really Awful Movies: Ep 78 – Roar

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“I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter. … ‘Cause I am the champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar. … You’re gonna hear me roar!”

Katy Perry

Roar is UNREAL. It is completely and utterly BATSHIT. Do yourself a favor and see this ASAP, as nothing’s been made like it since, nor ever will be again for ethical reasons.

Roar is a film about Hank, a guy who lives on what can only be described as a predatory cat compound on the African Savannah.

It stars then-married Tippi Hedren (The Birds) and Noel Marshall, as well as their real-life family, daughter Melanie Griffith and sons John and Jerry.

This film was a very dangerous, dangerous vanity piece…and really has to be seen to be believed. Rarely has such commitment been shown to a film in the face of such real-life dangers.

Keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times as we get down and dirty with jungle cats in Roar.

Find more reviews www.reallyawfulmovies.com.