Tag: monster movies

Really Awful Movies: Ep 279 – Little Shop of Horrors

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A casting director’s dream of a movie, Little Shop of Horrors features Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, John Candy, and Christopher Guest.

It’s a creature feature with songs, but in this case…the creature in question is a plant, the incomparable Venus Fly Trap, Audrey II.

This is a fun one, with a showstopping scene involving a sadistic dentist (is there any other kind?)

During production, director Oz shot a lengthy ending based on the off-Broadway musical on which this 1986 production is based. However, after test audiences did not react positively to it, the ending had to be rewritten and re-shot for the theatrical release with a happier, cloyingly romantic ending. We obviously prefer the carnage.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk about pharmaceuticals, musicals, fear of dentists, horticulture, and the legacy of the late, great John Candy.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 272 – The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

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Ah, another cheap product cash-in. We love our oddball movies, and The Garbage Pail Kids Movie is certainly that.

As tonally off as any movie we’ve discussed on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we were nonetheless thrilled to visit this bizarre late eighties entry.

The plot: a kid, Dodger, is being bullied. He seeks the sagely advice of the owner of an antique shop, who also happens to have among his chachkas/wares, a garbage pail meteorite.

The proprietor warns the youngster, that while he’s working a shift, he is absolutely not to touch said trash can. But touch he does, and bam, a bunch of creatures are unleashed. Based on the toy/bubblegum cards and short-lived TV show, The Garbage Pail Kids were meant to lampoon that craze of toyland, The Cabbage Patch Kids.

Anyway, there is lots to love about this rather weird little gem. At no point in its short run time, does it not bewilder and amaze with its weird choices. There is a love interest for Dodger, who looks to be considerably older than he is, in an age-inappropriate romance (and yet the lovebirds in real life were a mere year or so apart). There are dreadful songs, weird animatronics, and more.

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Really Awful Movies: Ep 269 – Q The Winged Serpent

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A monster movie set in New York City? That’s enough to hook us in that’s for sure. With the passing of noted horror/genre director Larry Cohen, we decided to take a look at one of his lesser-known efforts with Q The Winged Serpent.

Produced and directed by Larry Cohen and starring the awesome Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, and the incredible David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree, this one is an exercise in guerrilla film-making. There doesn’t seem to be a permit to be found for some of these location shoots.

A bunch of Big Apple dwellers end up dead, their heads torn off. And NYPD detectives Carradine and Roundtree (Shaft!) are tasked to get to the bottom of it.

And Michael Moriarty is a sad-sack bank robber who’s the getaway driver for a bunch of jewel thieves. He’s the one who first gets wind of the crazy attacks and doesn’t know what to do.

Ultimately, Q is a monster movie, a throwback to those 50s creature features we’ve come to know and love. It’s got incredible location shots including Canal Street, and of course the iconic Chrysler Building. And Moriarty gets to show off some piano chops. David Carradine brings a certain charming indifference to the cop role, but hey, it’s still super fun. You’ll have fun watching this one.