Early Review of 13/13/13 (2013)

REVIEW BY: Jeffrey Long

Company: The Asylum

Runtime: 87 mins

Format: Screener

Plot: For millennia, calendars have added an extra day every four years. In doing so, they violated the ancient Mayan calendar. Now we are in the 13th month of the 13th year of the new millennium, and the few who survive will have to battle a world of demons.

Review: The Asylum's been releasing a nice little unconnected trilogy each year for the past few years, of numbered titles. I'm talking about 11/11/11 during the fall of 2011, 12/12/12 during the fall of 2012, and now 13/13/13 during the fall of 2013. For the most part they're unconnected, but they kind of are related, thematically - well, at least the first two, while this one much more loosely.

See, both 11/11/11 and 12/12/12 deal with demon children. In the first it's about a boy that turns 11 on 11/11/11 and he's meant to be the anti-christ. I never did a review of that one, but it was a decent effort – great atmosphere, some creepy Omen-esque scenes, and a great climatic third act. 12/12/12 (again, I never did a review of that one) dealt with a baby being born at 12:12 on 12/12/12 and that baby is, once again, the anti-christ, only in this version it's actually demonic from the start, looking like a demon baby and knowing full well that it's a demon baby and it kills all those around it that tries to get in its way of...well, it's never really made clear. Bringing about the apocalypse? I don't know for sure cause that movie was a total and utter unintelligible mess of characters acting out of character from scene to scene, story jumping around with no logic or proper story structure to it, and a complete lack of any sort of climax or satisfying ending. It was just plain dumb.

Well 13/13/13 (a title that, sadly, took me way longer then I'm proud to admit to realize doesn't really make sense, initially) does indeed once again deal with demons (sort of. We're told they are demons on the cover art and in the synopsis on the back, but that's about all we have to go on for that), but it's not very kid-centric like the first two. Sure, there are some scenes of a kid being involved in the weird going-ons, but it's not exclusive to kids - this thing is just affecting everyone, adult and kid alike, so it kind of breaks the mold there. For good or bad (depending on the entry), I actually kind of like the idea of an annual Asylum-made anthology movie series where the movies themselves aren’t directly related, but they all share the same theme – that being child demons, and they each are titled #/#/# (insert proper year number where applicable), but each with it's own unique story, made by a different director, so it's kind of disappointing that they break away from that mold here, however in the greater scheme of things that honestly doesn't matter much because that was just my own personal pet preference and never anything that was promised.

As it turns out, the title does actually make sense within the context of the movie, for reasons that I'm sure anybody can easily guess, but just in case you can't, it deals with clocks mysteriously changing to 13:13 for no reason, and weird behavior coming over a large percentage of the population, such as squishing and eating bugs off the ground, scratching non-stop at their skin, cutting themselves, random and total uncontrollable anger overtaking everyone, which in turn leads to the hospitals filling right up and essentially the world outside turning to shit, and it doesn't take long at all after that before the world just descends into utter chaos everywhere as everyone starts becoming gleefully overly-violent crazy but almost in a zombie apocalypse kind of setting (if anyone ever saw 2007's The Signal, it's kind of similar to that movie, but without the actual signal transmission part). As it turns out, thanks to the leap years and some other mumbo jumbo they half-explained it away with, our current understanding of the calendar is wrong and we're now supposed to have a 13th month of which this is, as well as the 13th day of  said month, during, obviously, the year 2013, and that has somehow opened everyone up to this plague of rage-violence (which we're never given a why they are opened up to that), with the exception of those born on a rare leap day of which our main leading man was, although reasons why for that are also left pretty vague. Even the brief explanation we do get is delivered to us from some at-the-time random distraught character in the hospital who is also safe from being infected, although once again it's also never once explained how she actually knows all this. As you can see, pretty much nothing at all in the movie ever actually gets explained, except for the fact that we now have a 13th month due to calendar issues. That's about it for explanations. In more capable hands I could see that almost being on purpose, but the things we don't get explanations for here are very obviously just due to lazy writing and nobody that's involved ever really giving a shit.

In addition, the movie's dialog is just downright awful, with terribly-structure conversations and really awkwardly-delivered exposition all over the place, with hardly any spoken words coming across as anything even close to sounding natural. Of course it's not helped by the fact that the actors are atrocious, even by the low standards set by other Asylum titles. Yes, this is indeed a new low in the acting department and honestly it made portions of the movie that were otherwise just fine, very hard to sit through without feeling embarrassed for everyone on-screen. It wasn't helped by the fact that the number 13, whether directly related to the movie's title or not, gets thrown around way too much, being shoehorned and forced into the dialog at least once every single conversation and showing up, visually, in what seemed like every single scene. We get it, the movie's title is 13/13/13. Can we finally move on now? Nope? Ok then...

While all those things really bring the movie down quite a bit, there actually is still a bit here for fellow Asylum-Lovers to enjoy. For instance, with everyone getting angry over every little thing and loosing their minds to utter insanity, in addition to seeing all the people in the hospital that have cut themselves and done other unspeakable things to themselves, or others who have had said unspeakable things done to them (eye gouging scene for the win), there's a great sense of growing unease, especially since at that point (or any point, really) we still have no idea why any of this is happening, so we're just as in the dark as the main character. It's helped along by some truly downright creepyimagery, like our main leads walking down an abandoned hospital hallway with the walls streaked all over with blood, or a crazy person using his own blood from his own gouged stomach to write a giant 13 on the wall of a house, or any shot where we're following our main characters in the front and center focus of the camera but we can see behind them people being ripped into or torn apart or violently attacked in some other fashions, it's pretty much images directly from your nightmares realized right on the screen. Also, during parts of 12/12/12 and the entirety of Rise of the Zombies the folks at Asylum utilized this blue tinting to the screen for whatever stylistic choices, but it had yet to be used to as great effect as it is in this movie. No extra attention is drawn to it, but having this weird blue tinting actually helped add to the unnatural feel of everything, further that troubling sense of unease.

While the events of the movie unfolded around our two main characters, it also kept cutting back to these two best friends holed up inside a house, trying to keep the other crazy insane infected people out, while also totally unraveling themselves, and oddly enough these parts of the movie did not annoy me as much as I expected them to. Sure, there were times I wish the movie hadn't cut to them as it ruined the flow and momentum that had been building with our two leads, but most of their scenes were an even mix of creepy and hilarious, and it was quite interesting that I found myself wondering and worried about when these two crazed best buddies would start turning on one another. It was a side-plot that while not needed, I still actually enjoyed for the most part, although I could have done with a tad less of it.

Also, I would be remissed if I did not mention a little factoid that I found interesting (though I'm pretty sure I'm the only one amused by this) – one half of the main character duo for this, the female character, was played by Erin Coker who also had a role in 11/11/11, and in addition to that Jared Cohn had a cameo role here and he was also the director of 12/12/12, so it's kind of amusing that once again, these three movies indirectly tie together in unexpected ways.

By the time the credits rolled on 13/13/13, I found that I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did 11/11/11, but despite it's many issues it was still waaayyyy better then 12/12/12. Overall I can't deny it's a troubled movie, and I went back and forth quite a bit as to if I was going to land my score on a 5/10 or a 6/10, but in the end I still kind of enjoyed this nice little addition to the annual Demonic Numbers anthology, as I like to call it (11/11/11, 12/12/12, 13/13/13 and they all deal with demons, of sorts, hence the Demonic Numbers Anthology), and while it may not be the best in the so-far 'trilogy', it is the creepiest and the one that portrays a strong sense of unease and dread the best. It's just a shame that it's weighed down quite heavily by abysmal acting and downright lazy writing.

I hope they find some way to continue this next year with 14/14/14 because I'm interested in seeing where they go next with the demon ideas, but if not then 13/13/13 was still a nice capper to the Demonic Numbers Anthology, starting things a bit low-key and local in 11/11/11, opening the mayhem up a bit and leaving things off on a promise-to-come of total insanity during 12/12/12, and now ending everything in worldwide chaos and the end of the world in 13/13/13. Like I said, none of these three movies are directly related or tie in to one another in any sort of story ways, but thematically they actually play quite well from one to the next and almost fit together like pieces of some sort of awkward puzzle. If they do continue with 14/14/14 next year I have no idea what they can do and where they can take it from here, but I'm still a bit curious to find out.

5/10 rooms in the Psych Ward

Rush (2013)

Title: Rush (2013)

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara

So I’m not a big sports fan, actually, talking sports with me will result in a big ole blank stare right in your face because I know nothing! I’ll go see a boxing match every once in a while, but most of the time I don’t know who the hell is fighting till the very moment I’m seeing the fight with my friends, for me sports are more of a social thing. Same goes for basketball, football…I am a huge sports void. And yet I found myself attracted to this movie, for various reasons, one of them being that Ron Howard was behind the director’s chair and he’s always been a director that I respect and whose films I enjoy. Also, the previews made it look like a cool movie about race cars, which it was. I wasn’t even aware that the film was based on the true story behind the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1976 Formula One Racing Championship, which as it turns out, now I know a little more about.

The real life Niki Lauda and James Hunt

The film centers on these two diametrically opposed racers, one is James Hunt, who lives his life like a rock star, bedding as many ladies as he can, drinking, partying, doing drugs. Basically, Hunt is the kind of guy who wants to have his kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames. And on the other hand we have Niki Lauda, a calculating, disciplined and methodical racer who knows a lot about what makes a race car go faster. He takes only calculated risks and really thinks his way through things, while Hunt has no problems with a) having sex before a race, b) driving hung over or c) pulling off a couple of unsavory tricks in order to win the race. Who of the two will have what it takes to become the world champion? 

The marketing for RUSH makes it look like it’s going to be a James Hunt biopic. I mean what else can you think when Chris Hemsworth’s face takes up the whole poster? Immediately you think Hemsworth is going to be the center of the film, and in a way he is but in a way he isnt. You see truthfully, this is the story of two guys, Hunt and Lauda, but when we really get down to it, the movie might as well have been called ‘The Niki Lauda Story’ because in my opinion, the film has more of Lauda than Hunt. Of course this could have something to do with the fact that Lauda is still alive and served as a consultant for the film, which of course means that the memories and anecdotes are all coming from Lauda’s side of the story. But then again, it could also have something to do with the fact that of the two, Lauda was the better racer. True, Lauda had a near fatal accident in which he was almost burned alive, but everyone seems to agree, had Lauda not had that terrible accident, he would have beat Hunt who up to that point was struggling to keep up with Lauda, who was way ahead of him. In the end, it’s Lauda’s story of overcoming great personal tragedy that brings us some of the more heartfelt and interesting moments in the film.  

Hunts story is that of a playboy racer, the rock start of the racing circuit, having sex like a mad man and partying like its 1999. This is the reason why he was the peoples favorite; people liked him because of this party animal persona. In contrast, Lauda seemed like this uptight dude who took things to seriously. The film does focus on the rivalry between Lauda and Hunt, but it also shows that they had admiration for each other. The competition between the two pushed them to their limits, and while they were battling over who’d become the world champion, they also admired each other because they knew they were competent rivals. But when we compare both stories, Hunts story seems superficial when compared to Lauda’s tale of survival. After seeing the film, I liked Hunt but felt that Lauda’s the one worthy of admiration. I mean, the guy went through all that he went through and he still continued racing! Lauda was so driven that just a few weeks after his terrible accident, he put his helmet back on and kept on racing. A truly admirable feat considering the degree of burns he acquired in the accident. In that sense, Lauda’s story reminds me of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1994), where we learn how Bruce Lee overcome a horrible back injury yet went on to become a legend anyways, nothing was going to stop him. These are stories of remarkable human beings with real talent who suddenly face themselves with a potentially life destroying event. What I like about stories like these is that they portray characters whose wills were so strong, that nothing deterred their plans for living an exceptional life.

In terms of direction, the movie has a very unique look to it, emulating the look of films from the 70’s. Ron Howard puts the camera in some very interesting places on this one. When it comes to the races, they get pretty exhilarating, loved how Howard put the camera on the cars and the helmets of the racers. There’s lots of extreme close ups on this film, so you might get to feel like your right there in the car with the racers. Bottom line is , I might not love sports, but I do love movies that show how we can achieve anything if we put our minds to it, and RUSH is one of these movies. The real life aspects of the film were actually truthful this time around. By this I mean that often times films that are based on real life events take so many artistic liberties that they end up being extremely different from the “real life events” they are aiming to depict, but from what I hear, RUSH is actually pretty accurate portrayal of Hunt and Lauda’s story. So much so that Lauda himself loves it and has a approved of it: "When I saw it the first time, I was impressed. There was no Hollywood changes, or things changed a little Hollywood like. It is very accurate, and this really surprised me positively" - Niki Lauda (Carjam TV Interview, September, 2013) So at least you know you are getting the true blue story behind the whole thing, Niki Lauda gave it the okay, and considering what a stickler he is for detail, I’d take that as a good thing. And considering how I’m a stickler for good movies, I’d take my high rating as a good thing as well!  

Rating: 5 out of 5

James Hunt exploiting his playboy image

Suburbia (1983)

Title: Suburbia (1983)

Director: Penelope Spheeris

Cast: Chris Pedersen, Christina Beck, Flea

So there I was last night at a punk show, listening to a band that’s been playing for 15 years (but I’d never heard of in my life) and suddenly it dawned upon me how I’ve been following the Puerto Rican punk scene for more than 13 years; going to the shows, enjoying the energy, but never being a “punk” perse, kind of like that character in SLC Punk! (1998) played by Jason Segel, you know, the one who didn’t look punk but was the craziest of the bunch, well, I wasn’t the craziest of the bunch, but I’ve always been there, as an observer of human behavior, documenting with my video camera as much as I could. So anyways, I asked the lead singer of one of the bands what he thought punk was all about, he told me it was a mentality, then he went on about how audiences had changed, the violent mosh pits still occur, but with less frequency, audiences are not so much into hurting themselves in the mosh pit anymore. Apparently, Punk Rockers are more into listening the music and lyrics than jumping up and down like mad men, in a way, audiences are more ‘cerebral’. It was good to hear from a true punk rocker, that one thing hadn’t changed about the scene, it’s all about the mentality which is always, inevitably infused with the music. Another element remains a constant: punk rockers are outcasts of society. The ones who turn their backs on a world they don’t agree with, just like the kids in Penelope Spheeris’s seminal punk rock film Suburbia (1983).

Like SLC Punk! (1998) or The Doom Generation (1995), Suburbia is another one of these films that depicts angry, angst ridden youths rejected by the very society they despise, the atypical outcasts. Most of the time, these films take place in dilapidated neighborhoods, forgotten by society and ignored by their governments. Suburbia feels almost post-apocalyptic in nature with its rundown, abandoned  neighborhoods that feels like something out of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981). The director of this film, Penelope Spheeris, filmed the whole thing in a completely abandoned neighborhood in L.A. The neighborhood chosen for the shooting of the film had been emptied in order to make way for a freeway that was going to be built there. The place looks like a lonely ghost town filled with empty houses with broken windows and walls filled with graffiti, a lonely, ugly place to be sure, but not entirely empty. The gang of punks that we follow in this film who call themselves ‘The Rejected’or the 'TR's' for short; all live inside one of these abandoned houses, they’ve gone and made it their home. They are all running away from something in their lives, be it abusive or alcoholic parents, a dysfunctional household or simply “society as it is”. One way or another, society has kicked the TR’s in their collective asses; it is this quality that brings them together.

The film sets its bleak aura from its very first frames when we first meet this punk girl hitchhiking in the middle of the night. A car stops and gives her a ride; unfortunately they immediately get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere! This neighborhood they’ve stumbled upon isn’t a pretty place, packs of wild dogs run around the neighborhood looking for humans to munch on! And they seem to have a craving for babies because they immediately attack the ladies baby and eat him up! Seriously! That’s how this movie begins! So Suburbia grabs your attention right away, it immediately sets the mood for the kind of film you can expect; just so you know what you’re getting yourself into. The symbolism in that scene didn’t pass unnoticed for me, this is a movie about youth under attack. A film about young people who feel the world is wildly chewing them up and spitting them out. So just so you know, this isn’t going to be a sweet old tale with a happy ending, Penelope Spheeris made a film about young people striving to survive in a harsh, violent world that turns its back on them and attacks them every chance it gets. The shock continues as we discover the sorry state in which these kids live in, surrounded by roaches and rats, actually, one of the characters actually has a rat for a pet!

The Rejected are the result of a world where everything is done for them, everything is pre-packaged, prepared, there’s no joy for these kids in a world where everything is bought, especially when they have no money to buy anything with. They don’t want a job that will chain them down; they want their freedom to do whatever they want to do, when they want to do it. In this respect, I feel them. I wish I could roam around the world aimlessly, trying to have as much fun as possible (actually this is still my mentality whenever I’m not working!) but I have to eat and I have to have a roof under my head and these things don’t pay themselves. Unfortunately, the truth is that this care free lifestyle is intimately entwined with poverty. The T.R.’s want their freedom, but the price to pay for leading this lifestyle is going through life without money, which inevitably leads to stealing. One of the more memorable scenes involve the kids breaking into various suburban households raiding refrigerators and stealing from convenience stores and supermarkets. Sure this is a question of survival, but they probably also feel they are kicking “the man” squarely in the balls. You want to take away our freedom? You reject us? We take your food! If you want to create a harsh world, then its dog eat dog, only the strongest survive! 

In many ways, Suburbia feels more realistic and authentic than other punk films. One of the elements that aids the films authenticity is that with the exception of one or two actors, most of the characters are performed by real life punk rockers or band members from real bands, for example Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers plays ‘Razzle’ the dude who attempts to eat a live rat. So these are punk rockers as actors, not actors trying to portray punk rockers, which in this case, works like magic. Another asset to this punk rock anthem is that it was directed by Penelope Spheeris the director behind the celebrated documentary on the L.A. punk scene called The Decline of Western Civilization (1981). According to Spheeris, many of the situations that we see depicted in the film are based on real life events she witnessed herself in the L.A. punk scene, or are based on news articles she read. I wouldn’t doubt this to be true, from my own personal experiences; I’d say the way the punk rock lifestyle is depicted here is pretty accurate. It doesn’t glamorize the lifestyle, it shows it like it is, or at least how it was in the early 80’s in L.A. Still, I’ve found some similarities with the Puerto Rican Punk Scene, so if you’re a punk rocker, you will more than likely find some similarities with the scene in your country/area. Another positive aspect of the film is how low budget it feels. Suburbia was a Roger Corman production, a producer who’s always prided himself in producing low budget cinema; Suburbia only cost 1 million bucks to make! This low budget quality of the film fits perfectly with the subject matter, it makes everything that much darker and grittier. Finally, this is a tragic tale that focuses on the lives of a group of extremely troubled kids trying to make sense of the world they are living in, I highly recommend any punk rocker out there to check this one out! It is essential Punk Rock Cinema.

Rating: 4 out of 5  

Penelope Spheeris, setting up a scene

Destination: Outer Space (2010)

REVIEW BY: Jeffrey Long

Company: Saint Euphoria Pictures

Runtime: 95 mins

Format: DVD

Plot: During a test flight of Earth's first faster-than-light-speed rocket, an incident occurs that throws test pilot Captain Jackson halfway across the galaxy! Lost in deep space, Captain Jackson must use all his wits to find a way back to his beloved home world, but first he must deal with mysterious alien planets, robotic lifeforms, beautiful space pirates, and an evil alien Empire hell-bent on galactic domination!

Review: Destination: Outer Space is filmmaker Christpher R. Mihm's black and white throwback to classic 1950s low budget space adventure serials, along the likes of the classic The Space Adventures of Flash Gordon, with a dash of Star Wars and Star Trek tossed in for good flavor (actually, quite much more than a dash – ha!). It's following on the heels of several other similar-style movies by the same filmmaker, titles like The Monster of Phantom Lake, It Came From Another World!, Cave Women on Mars, and Terror From Beneath The Earth. If you're familiar with any of those (be it watching them yourself or just from reading my previous reviews of them), then by now you know the whole spiel here and what to expect from a Mihmiverse movie. 

After having his presence terribly missed in the previous movie, actor Josh Craig thankfully returns to the series to reprise his second character, Captain Jackson, in addition to playing a cameo of his first character and father of Captain Jackson, Professor Jackson. Destination: Outer Space acts almost like a direct sequel to Cave Women on Mars, catching us up with Captain Jackson and what's all gone on with his life since returning from the Mars Mission and the repercussions his actions at the end of that movie have had on his life (spoiler: Nothing good). Looking to redeem himself and his family name, he returns to space (after much persuasion from both his father, as played by himself once again, and his best friend, as played by M. Scott Taulman, one half of the Canoe Cops duo from Monster of Phantom Lake and It Came From Another Wold!, here playing the intelligent son of his Canoe Cop character), in order to test out an experimental spaceship, however something goes terribly wrong and he ends up lost in a far-away uncharted galaxy. With his ship broken and no way to return home, he finds himself in one Star Wars-inspired adventure after another, with some Star Trek and Lost in Space rearing their heads from time to time, along with plenty of other homages and nods, many of which I caught but some I'm sure I missed as well, and will require multiple viewings to catch them all.

 

This movie's runtime returns to the longer runtime that I normally dislike for these kinds of movies for reasons I've stated in the previous reviews. With that said, it did not bother me one iota here, seeing as how the nature of this movie actually kind of called for it. You see, with this being a homage to classic space adventure serials of the days of old, it very much feels like three separate half hour-ish episodic serials just edited together to form a continuous movie. The first chunk reintroduces us to the character of Captain Jackson and eventually gets him out into space where he ends up in a far-flung foreign galaxy and crashing onto a planet after experiencing ship troubles. The second part picks up with him wandering this planet and finding his way into a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' cantina filled with not just strange new alien lifeforms, but some hilarious returning 'faces' to fans of the Mihmiverse, both in actors as well as monstrous fellows. It's there that Jackson runs afoul of a red-headed tough-as-nails female bounty hunter that ends every sentence with 'Yes?', a character trait I initially found annoying but quickly grew to love (and then miss once the character was gone). Escaping from her ship when it comes under attack from the evil Ominai Empire, Jackson aimlessly floats through space for weeks in the escape pod, surviving off nothing but tasteless packed MRE rations. The third and final, almost double-length, portion picks up as Jackson is rescued from his fate by a box-headed robot named A.D.A.M (quite possibly the most laugh-out-loud funniest character in any of these movies yet) that introduces him to his home planet and then wishes to use Jackson's help in delivering a terrible blow to the Ominai Empire and in return offers to help him get back home to his own galaxy. 

I really don't know how much I can say about this entry in the Mihmiverse series, for the simple fact that everything is perfect. The hammy acting was the best I've seen out of this series to date, the impressive no-budget special effects and set designs did their job perfectly in making me forget they were even special effects and fake sets and that this movie was actually largely filmed in just some guy's basement, the costume designs were inspired and the perfect mix of familiar and alien, and even the larger-then-normal (out of this world, you might say!) scope of the story - just everything is top-notch excellent here and easily Christopher R. Mihm's best effort yet, taking all the things I loved about Cave Women on Mars and amplifying them even more. Sure the runtime was one of the longest yet, however it honestly felt much shorter to me because I was so easily able to get caught up in this story and the fictional world presented here. Of course it also helps that there were plenty of hilariously cheesy fight scenes, all done with great and fun-to-watch choreography, from getting tossed around by the bounty hunter's crew, or dueling with electrified baton weapons against the Ominai footsoldiers, or using a spear against the Tusken Raider-wannabe Ominai soldiers that had giant eyeballs for heads (and ending in a hilarious spear-through-the-eye scene), this movie had no shortage of Captain Kirk-inspired tussles, and they were all a blast to watch.

As with all the other movies in the Mihmiverse, this self-produced DVD is stacked right up with tons of excellent bonus content that while may be a bit less then usual, is still quality stuff all the same: We get only one Blooper Reel instead of the usual two (but it has a really good length to it and is, just like all the others, simply laugh-out-loud hilarious), a trailer for both this movie as well as other movies under the Mihmiverse banner, a Photo Gallery of tons of Behind-the-Scenes photos, an introduction to the film by Horror Host Dr. Ivan Cryptosis, and the usual informative full length Audio Commentary by Christopher R. Mihm and several of the main actors of the movie.

In classic serial nature, Destination: Outer Space ends things off on a promised note of further adventures of Captain Jackson in this 'lost galaxy', yet as the way of things with these movies, I'm willing to bet this is probably the most we'll ever see, since Christopher R. Mihm and the folks over at Saint Euphoria have done eight of these movies so far (with a ninth in the works) and none have really been true sequels to one another other then recurring characters and locations. Also, it's sad to note that to date this is Josh Craig's final appearance in the Mihmiverse series, perhaps truly being lost in another galaxy right along with his character, waiting to be rediscovered in a future movie and adventure! In all seriousness though, despite some misgivings I had in the past with one of the characters he plays, Josh Craig's overall presence in the series will surely be missed in the following movies. However on the positive side of things, I really can't think of a stronger, more bold, movie for him to go out on, then Destination: Outer Space.

Seeing as how most of the advertising for these movies come from simple word of mouth from the fans, then if you do check his stuff out and enjoy it please help get the word out there on these movies and hopefully we can snag in a few other fans that may not even realize these exist. You can order these on DVD (and even BluRay for the latest couple!) over at his official site which is filled with all sorts of other goodies as well (including a monthly newsletter in addition to a very laid back, yet fun and informative, podcast). Hell, there's even an excellent deal on right now – Buy Three Movies, Get One Free, which seeing as how there's currently eight of these titles, if you do that twice then that is the perfect way to catch up with all of them and in the end save some dough – that's how I did it!

10/10 rooms in the Psych Ward

SLC Punk! (1998)

Title: SLC Punk! (1998)

Director: James Merendino

Cast: Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Christopher McDonald, Devon Sawa, Jason Segel, James Duval

SLC Punk! attempts to explain what living the Punk lifestyle and being an Anarchist is all about. It takes you to the shows and the parties and the mayhem filled nights and all the stories and dramas behind them. It achieves this by having its main character -a Punk Rocker and Anarchist named Steve-O- break the fourth wall and speak directly at us, explaining to us the ins and outs of the anarchist/punk lifestyle. Kind of like the way that Ferris Bueller would show us how to “fake out parents” in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). In SLC Punk! we have Matthew Lillard, not Matthew Broderick taking us on a tour of the Punk Rock World. It deconstructs it, analyzing what’s bullshit and what isn’t, the benefits and the downsides. Just what is Punk Rock? Is it the music? Is that what drives it? Is it the clothes you wear? Your hair style? Is it just a state of mind?  

On SLC Punk! we follow Steve-O through the landscape of Salt Lake City Utah’s Punk scene. We meet his friends, we go with him to a wild and crazy punk show, we go with him to a house party, we see the drugs they take, the booze they over do and we see them not give a fuck. Basically, these are a group of kids, who say they are anarchists, who say they hate the status quo, who say they hate posers, yet their actions sometimes contradict them. Steve-O, the main character in the film, is going through an existential dilemma, and we go on the ride with the guy. He is questioning everything, even himself. He is a character who unlike 80% of humanity, is fully awake, so, what comes next?

Punks have always been portrayed as stupid, angry, and lazy. In films, they are always depicted as alcoholics, drug addicts, with nothing better to do than sniff some glue, or break a couple of windshields with a bat. Though this depiction of the punk rock might be a generalization, I have to admit that for the most part, this portrayal is dead on. I mean, I was part of the Puerto Rican Punk scene back when it was thriving, and this is pretty much how it went down. I didn’t dress like a punk, but I went to the shows, I hung out, and as I always do, I analyzed human behavior, I was a little bit like Steve-O in many ways, always observing and commenting. The   impression I got from my observations of the punk scene during the early 00’s was that most of these kids were pissed off at the world; they knew the world was upside down and they hated that fact with a passion. And so, the mentality was “fuck the world, let’s party and burn ourselves out while we’re young!” The mentality was also, no job, no money and no plans for the future, a “let the chips fall where they may” stance on life. The angry nature of punk music only fueled the anger and the discontent in the air. I get the punk scene and I understand where the anger comes from, we live in a pretty messed up world, being angry at it seems like a natural reaction. And I love the energy in these shows, I still go to them for this very same reason, I want to see people reacting to the world! At times the whole thing feels cathartic. The mosh pits, the head banging, the beer flying through the air, the screaming; sometimes these shows feel like going to the church of Punk Rock in which the lead singer preaches it like it is and the audience jumps and screams as if the Holy Spirit has possessed them! The way I see it, we need to vent out that anger and frustration, punk rock gives you away to do that because at the heart of punk rock beats with anger and rebellion. The punk scene still exists in Puerto Rico, only not as intensely as I remember it. I guess the Punks grew up, got jobs…they joined the system after all.

And that’s why I enjoyed SLC Punk! so much, it feels genuine. While the film can be seen as a homage to what being a Punk is all about (warts and all) it also criticizes the Punk lifestyle and sees many faults in it. The film goes to great lengths to identify the ‘posers’, the fakes that aren’t really punk, they just want to look cool. It also asks the question, should being angry be the only thing that you do? Or can you do more than that? What I got from the film was that yes, the punk/anarchist lifestyle is directly entwined with the music, because the music, speaks about the frustrations and concerns of the world we live in. In many ways, Punks are awake and conscious about many of the harsh realities of the world we live in, the injustices, this is where the anger stems from, which is something I like about the whole thing, these are characters that don’t like to take things for granted, they question, they fight, they protest. Matthew Lillard’s Steve-O is an angry young dude, who hates his town, hates his parents, but loves his friends, loves to party, he is basically a guy looking for happiness in a very unhappy world. But he’s going through a process. He analyzes everything; he is always being inquisitive, always questioning things. Actually, there’s this cool moment when he states “I am wide awake!” I love how he is constantly questioning himself. Why am I who I am? Where am I in life? How can I bring forth some true change to this world and how can I go about it? I like the fact that Steve-O is an individual who is a punk rocker, an anarchists, but is intelligent enough to question his own beliefs, which is something we should all stop and do at various stages of our lives.

SLC Punk! Functions in the same way that Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting(1996) does, it’s the kind of film that’s about a bunch of messed up dudes and dudettes, some do lots of drugs, some are inclined towards violence, some are crazier than others, some are gonna die, some are going to choose life, grow up and change. Because at the end of the day, no matter how punk rock you are, you’re gonna have to face the facts that you have to eat, you have to have a place to live, you have to find some sort of way to give something to society and the only way to do that is to make some money, somehow. Matthew Lillard by the way, turns in a good performance, this is probably the role for which he will be most remembered by, he comes off as likable, and there’s actually a scene where the dude got to me with his performance.  Interesting how the proposed sequel will be called Punk’s Dead. I don’t know if it will ever get made or not, but it would sure be interesting to see where these characters have gone to after all these years. Did they mature? Did they join the system? Did they end up dead in a ditch somewhere? Did they leave Punk rock behind or is it still a part of their lives? James Merendino, the director behind SLC Punk!, mentions that the sequel will have all the previous actors reprising their roles. Merendino says he owes it to the fans of SLC Punk! To do a worthy sequel, I’m looking forward to seeing where Steve-O has ended up in his post punk years.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Prophecy (1995)

REVIEW BY: Jeffrey Long

Company: Overseas FilmGroup

Runtime: 98 mins

Format: BluRay

Plot: The rebelling angel Gabriel comes to Earth to collect a soul which will end the stalemated Second War in Heaven, and only a former priest, a school teacher, and a little girl can stop him.

Review: I grew up in a pretty religious family setting, so even though I am no longer a religious person I still find myself loving movies (especially thrillers) with dark religious overtones, and out of those movies The Prophecy series (alternately named God's Army in parts of the world) is easily my favorite.

In the first movie of this long-running series, we follow a priest who has lost his Faith and turned cop and a small community school teacher as they get caught up in the middle of a Second War in Heaven, this one caused by the Arch Angel Gabriel who is jealous that God loves humans more then the Angels and he wants to make things 'As they were', and many of the angels have joined him, and a prophecy has been made about a 'dark soul' that will tip the tides of the War, so Simon (one of the good angels) finds this evil soul and hides it in the body of a little girl before he dies, and it's that girl that the main characters have to protect from Gabriel, who is trying to get his hands on that soul.

This is one 'Talky' movie and there's not a whole lot of action to keep the pace going, however I still find myself loving this low budget romp quite a lot, and the reasons for that are many – For instance, I love the way they portray the Angels when on Earth in their human form. They look human, but there's just something...off...about them. The way they talk, the way they act and compose themselves, the way they sit perched like a bird on the edges of objects, it's all slightly off and a bit unnaturally creepy. Anyone who watches the TV show Supernatural will actually have a good idea as to what I'm talking about here, as Supernatural took a page out of this movie's book in terms of their portrayal of the Angels, especially when they were first introduced way back in Season 4. Hell, that show came complete with a group of rebelling angels that are angry that God loves the 'talking monkeys' more then them (as Gabriel refers to them as in these movies as well), and on Supernatural they were portrayed in human form pretty much exactly as they are in this movie, from the way they talk to the way they act to even the various powers they have (teleporting, bringing someone back from the dead (or near-dead in this case), knocking someone unconscious just by tapping their head, creating fire out of nothing, being able to smell humans nearby, plus many more surprises). It really does seem like Supernatural, at least in its earlier days of Seasons 4 and 5, used this movie as inspiration for their portrayal of Angels. But I've gotten a bit off point here, hahaha, bottom line is, I love the way the Angel characters were portrayed while on-screen, adding a slight unnatural air about things.

Of course it's helped by the actors who did great with their material, with Christopher Walken as Gabriel stealing the show and probably being his most memorable role for me. From his anger and frustration at the humans, to his genuine sadness over not being in God's graces anymore, to his confusion at human technology - the guy was on-point every step of the way and if nothing else, these movies are worth watching just for his portrayal of this character alone. Joining him is also a cameo by Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer himself, another shining portrayal that even though he only has about 5 minutes of total screentime, still manages to turn in one very memorable and downright creepy as hell performance. I also loved the twist of the main human characters having to go to Lucifer, the embodiment of all that is Evil, in order to beat the villain of the movie – after all, as Lucifer even says himself, if Gabriel takes over Heaven it'll just become another Hell and that's one Hell too many for the ruler of the One and Only True Hell. There's also Elias Koteas (Casey Jones from the first and third live-action Ninja Turtles movies) as the main priest-turned-cop character and Virginia Madsen (main chick from the first Candyman) as the school teacher that he teams up with to keep the little girl safe from Gabriel who pursues them across the New Mexico desert, and both of them do good enough in their roles, though nothing too stand-outish like Walken and Mortensen, and likewise Eric Stoltz as the Angel Simon does his job well, but his role here required him to be far more lowkey then some of the other roles. The only real sour point when it comes to the acting is that of the main little girl herself, as she was just downright painful to watch, especially during her scenes of being possessed by the Dark Soul that's being hidden inside of her – probably one of the worst child actors I've ever seen and it certainly brings the movie down a bit.

Also raising the movie up fairly high in my eyes is the eerie and perfectly-toned musical score, as well as the excellent background mythology. Many people may find the movie boring, as the action scenes are few and far between, and most of the movie is just talking, however, personally, I loved that talking because it was never pointless talking just to fill space in the movie – almost every scene's dialog did something to help establish the background mythology of this movie's universe in terms of the Angels and the Wars in Heaven, to the point where even now on my ompteenth re-watch, I still pick up on lines of dialog that add something new to the mythology that I never did notice before in any of the times I've watched it. So yes, while I can't fault anyone for finding the movie slow and boring, it didn't personally bother me because I just found myself getting wrapped up in all that mythology and world-building. Plus, like I said above, Walken's excellent performance is worthy of your full attention whenever he's on-screen (which is often), so if nothing else then that should keep your interest.

The parts of the movie however that I felt bogged things down a tad and the more times I re-watch it the more and more I feel like just fast-forward through, are the parts dealing with the Dark Soul itself. Sure, the idea of it is fine and I'm ok with it being the crutch of the movie's plot, but the stuff I hated was once it was put inside the little girl and she starts getting possessed by it and drawing violent pictures, speaking in the soul's voice, getting sick, and the eventual exorcism that the climax of the movie is built around, all of that stuff I could have done without and a large part of that is, as I said above, the performance of the little girl as she was just brutal to watch and sit through during those scenes, but another reason is that it kind of felt out of place with everything else going on in the movie and came across almost like they needed more stuff to pad the movie out with so they took excerpts from some unfinished script sitting in their vault and added them into this movie.

As far as religious-themed thrillers go, The Prophecy series (or the God's Army series, depending on where you live)is one of my favorites, partially because of the excellent better-then-average world-building mythology, partially because of the unique (at the time) portrayal of Angels, and partially because of the excellent and memorable performances from some of the (again, at the time) virtually unknown actors. However the little girl's acting will cause you to cringe every time she speaks, and I really can't argue with anyone who says the movie is slow because it very much is, however like I've said above, that didn't personally bother me at all because I was so into the mythology they were spewing at me during those scenes.

Looking back, it's actually kind of an enigma as to how this low-key drama/thriller movie spawned 4 sequels because it just seems so random when compared to some of the other series' that gave way to large franchises, however I'm glad that it did because the series as a whole is one I enjoy immensely and love revisiting at least once a year.

8/10 rooms in the Psych Ward

 

Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Title: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)

Director: James Wan

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey, Steve Coulter

What do you mean James Wan is no longer doing horror films? What? This guy was born for this! I was shocked to learn that Wan will not be making horror films anymore; according to Wan himself,  Insidious: Chapter 2  will be his last one. Too bad, I mean, the guy got started thanks to the horror genre with the highly successful franchise starter Saw (2004), a film that shocked me the first time I saw it. I remember I immediately saw it again; with a friend of course! I wanted others to experience that jolt to the system that the first Saw film gave me. Same with The Conjuring (2013), a horror film that I quickly recommended to as many people as possible, I mean, that was a great horror movie man! The Conjuringbrought 70s styles scares back! It brought the supernatural horror film back in a good way, not in a goofy way which is what usually happens. Sometimes I go see these supernatural films hoping to see the next The Exorcist (1973), but end up with films like the extremely crappy Lost Souls (2000).The Conjuring has been a huge hit for director James Wan, it’s still in theaters and so far it’s close to reaching the 300 million dollar mark worldwide. So, hot on the heels of The Conjuring, here comes Insidious: Chapter 2. Can James Wan deliver a double whammy of horror excellence? And why is he abandoning the horror genre?

(Above) Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) (Below) Carnival of Souls (1962)

Insidious: Chapter 2 picks up exactly where the previous film left off, with the Lambert family recovering from the events that took place in the first film in which Josh, the dad of the family, had an out of body experience and actually visited the afterlife in order to find his sons spirit, which was lingering somewhere in "the other side" or "the further" as they call it in these films. Problem is that apparently, when Josh and his son came back, they didn’t come back alone, an evil entity came back with them and now it haunts the Lamberts! It's seems evil spirits just don't want to leave this family alone! What does the entity want with this family and will they ever lead a normal life again?

James Wan is awesome as a horror director, and it’s a real pity he doesn’t want to continue doing horror.  He says he doesn’t want to be pigeon holed into making only one type of film. He mentions that Hollywood loves to put you in a box, and if the box they put you in is the horror box, then that’s all you’ll ever be. But Wan wants to break with that, he wants to do all types of films, not just horror. Which is understandable, I mean, sure, every horror director eventually branches out and decides to venture in other directions, even the most hardcore of horror directors does a film that has nothing to do with horror. I mean, look at George Romero’s Knightriders (1981), Wes Craven’s Music from the Heart (1999) or Stuart Gordon’s The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998). Hey, for further proof just look at Sam Raimi who was at one time one of the most popular horror directors and what is he now? He’s gone mainstream Hollywood for Christ’s sake! Horror films have always been a breeding ground for great directors. Many of today’s best directors started out with a horror film, just look at Oliver Stone’s The Hand (1981) if you don’t believe me. So Wan’s move doesn’t surprise; he is currently shooting Fast and Furious 7 (2014). Of course directing a huge summer movie like Fast and Furious 7 is a tempting thing for Wan. I mean, here’s a guy who started making independent horror films and now he’s been given the opportunity to direct a summer blockbuster, with a budget many times over the micro budgets he was used to working with. Of course he’ll take the opportunity, it’s a smart move economically and career wise, but trust me; he’ll be back! They always come back to horror! Just look at Sam Raimi’s who returned from his horror hiatus to direct Drag Me to Hell (2009). So let’s hope that we haven’t seen the last of James Wan’s incursions into the horror genre.

The thing about Insidious: Chapter 2 is that after seeing Dead Silence (2007), Insidious and The Conjuring (2013), this fourth supernatural horror film from James Wan feels just a tad repetitive. I mean, there are only so many scenes of doors slamming by themselves that I can take before I feel like I’m watching the same film over and over again. With Insidious: Chapter 2, you definitely get the feeling that we’re walking on familiar ground, sadly, it falls on repetition. Wan has a couple of things he finds scary one of them is spooky looking dolls, which is a motif that pops up in all of his horror films, even as far back as Saw. He also finds old ladies scary, he went over this in Dead Silence (2007) which was about this old lady ventriloquist and again, there was a spooky old lady ghost demon thing in Insidious (2010), and yet again in Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). So all of Wan’s supernatural horror films have a similarity to them, they kind of feel like they exist in the same universe or something. But my first impression with Insidious: Chapter 2  was  that Wan and his writing partner Leigh Whannell are running out of ideas. Apparenty, The Conjuring was the apex of Wan’s explorations in supernatural horror, Insidious Chapter 2 feels like one supernatural horror film too many. He should have taken a stab at some other type of horror film. Don’t forget boys and girls, horror films are not composed of supernatural horror alone.

Another element that makes you feel Wan is walking on tired ground is that Insidious: Chapter 2feels like a mix between The Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982), weird thing is that the same can be said for Wan’s three previous horror films, they all draw from the same two films. Let’s see in Poltergeist characters have to venture to the afterlife to rescue family members…in Poltergeist we got a funny, nice old lady clairvoyant who helps the family. In Poltergeist we have these supernatural investigator types exploring everything…the similarities are there. Then we have the whole “dad turns evil” scenario that was so effectively used in The Amityville Horror and The Shinning (1980), by the way, there’s a couple of nudges to Kubrick’s classic here as well. Some moments also reminded me of Carnival of Souls (1962), especially those scenes with the ghosts and "the further". So what we have here ladies and gents is Wan and Whannell drawing from the same movies they’ve been drawing inspiration from since the first Insidious.   

Still, even though it feels a bit repetitive, I say Insidious Chapter 2 is not a bad horror film at all. It has some genuinely creepy moments in it, some really well thought out scares. I gotta give it to Wan again, he sure knows how to construct a suspense filled moment, he knows how to build that tension. Also, there’s a cool spooky story in there to hold the whole film together. This time around, Wan amps up the comedic relief by way of the two paranormal investigators. The way this film ends, you kind of get the feeling that these two geeky guys are going to branch off into their own series of films, ala Ghostbusters (1984). I wouldn’t mind at all, I’m actually one of the guys that’s dying to see that Ghostbusters film that doesn’t seem to want to ever take off. The comedic relief on Insidious: Chapter 2 might be welcomed by some as a means to release some tension, but for those of us who like our hardcore, dreadfully dreadful horror vibe, well, these comedic elements might feel out of place. Still, I don’t think your enjoyment of this film will be hindered by the mild comedy. Final word: kudos to Wan for making a horror film that creeps up on you with a mere 5 million bucks! This film is making such a profit that it’s not even funny! Oren Peli (the films producer)sure knows the formula for success and he’s using it: make  a quality low budget film (keword: quality) and people will back it. Not only that, since you didn’t spend all that much, you’ll get your investment back! It’s a win-win situation! So anyhow’s my people, Insidious Chapter 2 is a solid piece of supernatural horror. Now if only we could all collectively convince Wan not to “retire from horror!”

Rating:  3 1/2 out of 5  

     

Terror From Beneath The Earth (2009)

REVIEW BY: Jeffrey Long

Company: Saint Euphoria Pictures

Runtime: 69 mins

Format: DVD

Plot: Along with the sheriff and small-town farmer Stan Johnson, Dr. Vincent Edwards and his assistant mount a rescue party into the extensive and dangerous Wisawa Caves for a couple of missing children, and they quickly come to the realization that if the caves don't get them, whatever unseen terror lurking in the shadows just might, as after years of underground atomic testing, one of the animals living within the Wisawa cave system has undergone a radical and unimaginably horrible transformation!

Review: Following on from The Monster of Phantom Lake, It Came From Another World!, and Cave Women on Mars, Terror From Beneath The Earth is the fourth movie in the long-lasting low budget Mihmiverse series of fun black and white 1950s Drive-In B-Movie tributes. After jumping into the then-Future of 1987 (from the point of view of how it may have been thought-up as being like from back in the 1950s) in Cave Women on Mars, we return back to the 'present' of the 1950s for this next mostly-stand-alone entry, though sadly lacking any returning characters save for one short cameo.

In this movie, Daniel Sjerven returns from Cave Women on Mars, though obviously playing a brand new character since this movie takes place long before that one does. Here, he plays the grief-stricken single father of two children who went missing while playing around in an unexplored and off-limits underground cave system. He plays the role of worried father well enough, from loosing his temper in the police station over their inability to do their jobs properly, to running off on his own without really thinking about it into the darkness of the caves when he thinks he has a lead on his kids, to taking charge and battling the monster of the movie when doing so means saving the lives of his children, the guy's acting ability is never once in question. Unfortunately, the role is really rather one-note and not nearly as interesting or fun as his campy Bruce Campbell-esque space explorer in the previous movie. Also joining him in returning from some of the previous movies is Mike Cook (one half of the Canoe Cops duo), also playing a brand new character, Dr. Vincent Edwards who, along with his female assistant, is exploring the cave system for research and gets caught up with helping hunt down this creature, despite his objections to do so. Much like with the other characters in this movie, he generally plays it pretty straight for the most part and, in all honesty, the character here is kind of forgettable.

Which is one of my main complaints here – most of the characters in this movie are just bland and boring, especially when compared to the quirky folks that dominated all three of the previous movies. That's not to say any of the actors are specifically bad, but when it comes to how the characters are written, unlike the other movies so far, they're played up to be pretty straight and serious here in comparison, and not quite so campy or quirky, which in turn, looses some of the appeal. Sure, there are still quite a few funny bits scattered around (the scene where Daniel Sjerven comes face to face with the monster for the first time and just stares it down and then tells it that it stinks is one of my favorite parts), but compared to the previous movies this one is played more straight then I'm used to with these. In point of fact (and I know this is a total contradiction to what I've said in the previous reviews), but I actually kind of, sort of, miss the character of Professor Jackson. Sure, I find that character annoying as all hell and I was ready to tear my hair out by the end of the first couple movies, but his unique style of character really could have benefited this movie. I know I've dogged on that character in all previous reviews, but I feel he's kind of like that one ex everyone has that you can't stand and you find so unbelievably annoying that you break up with them...only to end up missing those very things about them when they're not around, that you previously found annoying. Plus Josh Craig, whether playing Professor Jackson, Captain Jackson, or someone entirely new, is always entertaining to watch and his presence here (being the first Mihmiverse movie without him) is sorely missed. Sure, we do get a cameo appearance of his girlfriend (now wife) from It Came From Another World!, now pregnant with their baby who will go on to become Captain Jackson from Cave Women on Mars (lost yet?), and she doesnamedrop Professor Jackson, but I was never really a big fan of her character anyway, and it still feels like something is missing by not having Josh Craig make an appearance himself.

I also wasn't a big fan of the creature design for the mutant killer bat monster either. I know 'bad' is part of the joke with all of these, but after the 'excellent' and ambitious effects for Cave Women on Mars, the lack of something truly terrifying for the mutant bat monster was a bit of a let-down. Actually, in all honesty, I think I actually like the bucket-headed Algae Monster and the bulging-eyed alien body-controller of the first two movies better then this thing here. The idea of the creature is fine, and I loved its ability to paralyze it's victims first, only to drag them back to its bone-covered lair to eat later, but the design of it was where I felt the ball was dropped a bit.

Now don't misunderstand me here, it may sound like I didn't like the movie at all, and while I do honestly feel it's the weakest of the series thus-far, there is still lots to like for fans of the Mihmiverse. For instance, I liked the idea of the movie quite a bit, with it having the entire thing take place in underground cave systems (minus a couple scenes in the police station), and I really enjoyed the actual cave system set itself. It looked like it may have been Paper Mâché or something like that, but it worked great and looked excellent, coming across like almost a real cave system and not just a couple corners of somebody's basement. It also reminded me quite a bit of sets for low budget Egyptian tombs in classic Mummy movies, which then had me kind of longing for a Mihmiverse Mummy movie. Perhaps as a previous adventure of Dr. Vincent Edwards, maybe? He seems like the type that would have gone on an Egyptian Mummy Adventure, though maybe as someone who refuses to believe the 'mumbo jumbo' of the curse and tries to (with difficulty) come up with scientific explanations for the wrapped dead walking again. Just tossing around some ideas here!

The movie's strongest aspect I found though, was that it surprisingly raised some interesting thought-provoking questions of morality and responsibility. We created this monster by man's own doing (admittedly, by accident and without our knowledge via polluting the Earth with excess Atomic testings), however is it really our place to make this new species go extinct? Even knowing that it's killed people and could continue to kill? I liked the questions this movie raised via it's characters and their actions, and it ended up coming across as quite a bit deeper then you would expect a movie like this to get, and if there was one interesting thing that was done with the otherwise forgettable characters of this entry, it was seeing where each of them fell in their opinions on that. In addition, the final climax between Man and Monster and how it was defeated was probably one of the more thrilling climaxes in the series so far and literally had me on the edge of my seat.

Continuing the trend put forth with the releases of the previous three movies, this self-produced DVD is stacked right up with tons of excellent bonus content. For this title we have only one Blooper Reel instead of two (but it has a really good length to it and is, just like all the others, simply laugh-out-loud hilarious), a trailer for the movie, a featurette on the creation and evolution of the bat monster costume, a Photo Gallery of tons of Behind-the-Scenes photos, an introduction to the film by Horror Host Dr. Ivan Cryptosis (making a return after being missing from the previous movie), and the usual informative full length Audio Commentary by Christopher R. Mihm and lead actor Daniel Sjerven.

I wish I liked this one as much as I did the others, especially since it's clear the people behind it put in just as much effort as they always do (that's obvious from just the set design work and excellent acting alone, not to mention the work put into making the actual creature suit, even if it wasn't my favorite of the designs), but overall Terror From Beneath The Earth just didn't jive with me quite like the rest in the Mihmiverse have so far. In the end, it's still well-worth checking out if you're a fan of the series, but if you're looking for a gateway movie to break into the Mihmiverse world, I probably wouldn't recommend this one as your first foray.

Seeing as how most of the advertising for this guy and his movies come from simple word of mouth from the fans, then if you do check his stuff out and enjoy it please help get the word out there on these movies and hopefully we can snag in a few other fans that may not even realize these exist. You can order these on DVD (and even BluRay for the latest couple!) over at his official site which is filled with all sorts of other goodies as well (including a monthly newsletter in addition to a very laid back, yet fun and informative, podcast). Hell, there's even an excellent deal on right now – Buy Three Movies, Get One Free, which seeing as how there's currently eight of these titles, if you do that twice then that is the perfect way to catch up with all of them and in the end save some dough!

6/10 rooms in the Psych Ward