Category: Science fiction

Really Awful Movies: Ep 275 – Making Contact

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On this week’s podcast, a young boy mourns the death of his father in…Making Contact, aka, Joey.

Then, under the covers and with a flashlight, he’s caught (no, not that!) communicating with the spirit world. His mother walks in, and notices that young Joey is babbling on as if pops was still on this terrestrial sphere, instead of being worm food.

Soon, the local school bullies start tormenting Joey, and he retreats to his bedroom, where a ventriloquist dummy starts communicating with the kid. And the dummy is possessed by some malevolent force (or something). This one is super confusing. For reasons unexplained, Joey suddenly develops telekinetic powers and moves glasses of milk across his dinner table.

Why? Don’t ask us, we’re just humble weird film aficionados. Maybe direct all inquiries Roland Emmerich’s way. He’s the director, whose take on American suburban culture is decidedly…off-base?

Making Contact (Joey) is another oddball film, of the kind we love to discuss. We encourage fans of the Really Awful Movies Podcast to watch the film in advance, and join us for (what we hope is) a lively discussion about this bizarre effort.

And be sure to subscribe and let us know what you think about the show. Also, if you could leave some friendly, positive comments on our iTunes page, we’d appreciate it.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 267 – Attack of the Giant Leeches

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What a title! For that reason alone, it’s worth checking out Attack of the Giant Leeches. This is a Corman production, but not Roger. No, it’s the other Corman brother (from the same mother). And that’s Gene Corman.

Rising from the depths of hell, to kill and conquer. And all because of NASA space launches from Florida? Well, that certainly counts as a unique deus ex machina.

A game warden is tasked to figure out what’s going on as several of the Everglades townsfolk go missing.

And the local saloon owner is involved in a tempestuous relationship with his wife, Liz. She cheats on him with one of the bar flies, why? To pad the running, an already spare 61 minutes or so.

But what mmore do you need? You got nature run amok blood sucking creatures.

There’s not much too this flick. It’s a 1950s creature feature. So that means threadbare craptacular effects and some cornball acting and the rest…is well worth watching.

Join us for this episode of the podcast and subscribe!

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 253 – Mexican Santa Claus

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Mexican Santa Claus as it’s known colloquially (sometimes known as Santa Claus vs. the Devil) is a  wild and woolly 1959 Mexican fantasy Christmas sci-fi film directed by Rene Cardona and co-written with Adolfo Torres Portillo.

The Cuban-born Cardona was a hugely influential figure in the so-called Golden Age of Mexican Cinema (but of course, fellows like us know him for the stupendous, Night of the Bloody Apes – the title of the 1972 English language version of the 1969 Mexican horror film La Horripilante bestia humana)

In this film, Santa Claus, our merry old elf, works in outer space (on the moon, actually) and does battle with a demon sent to Earth by Lucifer to ruin Christmas by “making all the children of the Earth do evil.”

Here, Santa has a weird silver palatial abode that’s not unlike Dr Phibes’ lair. He spies on children with a variety of implements that capture voice, sound, visuals, etc.

He really DOES know when you’re naughty or nice, sleeping or awake, etc.

Instead of Mrs Claus, Santa’s associate is Merlin the Magician, complete with conical hat and a bunch of soporifics and invisibility potions. What? And instead of elves toiling away year-round, building toys in some North Pole factory, Santa has enlisted the help of a bunch of kids “of all colors and creeds,” to work for him, and who wear the most ethnically stereotypical garb imaginable.

Mexican Santa Claus was lampooned on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 but we knew about it years ago, through the fantastic Suspect Video. We miss that as a physical bricks and mortar store, but luckily it lives on to provide you with all your obscure blu-ray and DVD needs.

Join us as we are full of the holiday spirit, and Christmas cheer. And what better way to celebrate the holidays than with this oddball south of the border, uh….classic?

And be sure to subscribe to the Really Awful Movies Podcast, and to pick up a copy of our book, Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons.