So it’s been just over 2 years since I last watched an American Ninja movie (The American Ninja 2: The Confrontation) and I’ve finally taken the plunge and decided to give another one another go. my review probably wont surprise anyone who’s already seen these movies, but to newcomers all I can say is I hope you like this one!
Whenever I think of the American Ninja series of films I am chronically reminded of my own failings as a critic. I started on 2! Who starts reviewing a series on the 2nd one!? thats a bit like eating the bread and leaving the filling of a sandwhich! Its something Im hoping to correct at some point in future…I mean…technically I’ve reviewed the Bollywood version of the first American Ninja movie With “Commando” (No not that one) So I suppose im not utterly shameful…I dont know…anyway! here’s AN3BH…I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…
I speak at the start of this review about how VHS covers are sometimes misleading and I really believe that this is the case here. I made a mental note when I first saw this tape in amongst the haul to talk about it at the next possible convenience because I really thought I was getting into a Horror/Gialo-esq movie. maybe something like “The New York Ripper” or “Deep Red” but the reality is this film couldnt really be further from these types of movies. Honestly? I dont really know exactly where to put it in terms of genre…Thriller is about the closest I can assign it…but that implies this film has some kind of suspense when in reality I’ve had more suspensful botty coughs.
Considering the director is well known for exploitation and sexploitation cinema I really was expecting more from this movie…as it stands the cover is probably the best thing about this movie.
This was also the last script I wrote and recorded before I took my hiatus and as such is also the last script I wrote in 2018…which is a bit mad really considering we’re now at the tale end of June 2019 and it’s only just coming out. Still it marks the end of that year officially over here. and as such I feel this is a rather special occasion!
(That cover really is impressive mind…I just wish they’d made the film as good…)
As Usual when it comes to obscure movies that havent been released on DVD or Bluray that equally have awesome covers. I took a look online for 1986’s “If Looks Could Kill” and while I found some variant covers and a couple of foreign releases I couldnt find this specific cover online in anything close to resembling decent resolution. So in order to help do my bit for the preservation of the arts. I present here a 3k scan of my VHS cover for the UK release of “If Looks Could Kill” Enjoy:
Bollywood, had never really been a genre that is explored before…let alone the world of weird and unusual bollywood films. Luckily thanks to a regular viewer Waz I landed with this particular film…and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I think the only thing that genuinely put me off this film was the length and the total whiplash of tonal changes that happened throughout it’s over 2 hour run time…I still stand by the idea that realistically you could cut this down to a more than reasonable 40-60 minute short feature and have all the weird and wonderfulness crystallized rather than spread out in the way it’s presented here.
Based on what was here I think I’d like to explore bollywood a bit further, though I’d absolutely have to see some shorter films if I was going to commit!
To those of you who are unaware I often work to a schedule in producing reviews, it takes roughly 2 weeks to produce 1-2 episodes of my show from initial viewing to final sign off. As I rule i’ve always tried to keep a pretty decent buffer between the last film watched and the latest upload (Usually about 6 – 8 episodes worth) but occasionally I like a challenge and the second half of the B-movie hall of fame was exactly that. while there wernt any intrinsically bad films on this list. Just finding the time to fit them all in with a looming deadline was absolutely one of the quickest turnarounds I’ve ever done on a video upload.
not only did this one contain some of my favorite B-movies to be seen during the challenge but it also offered up some genuinely good oddities that I hadnt heard of before. While im not 100% sure when the next BMHOF challenge will be; I really hope that im up and ready again to take it on!
(I can wholeheartedly recommend “Cherry 2000” seriously…go and check it out…it’s great!)
Well…this ones over half an hour long…I really dont know what else you’d like me to say about this movie in all honesty!
It was an absolute pleasure working with Alex on this project, the guy has a real passion for all things Gerry Anderson and I genuinely hope I get the opportunity to work with the man again in future (We are currently planning some other events in future) and I learned so much about British Science fiction that i’d never known before.
I’ve always personally been way more into my Stingray and Joe 90 than my thunderbirds related stuff. but to be able to sit down as an adult and actually apreciate these for what they were. great little pieces of science fiction was really a great experience to have. and one that i’ll hopefully be able to experience again sooner rather than later.
I may well cover more of these TV movies in future (they’re all available on VHS at this point) the biggest issue is simply finding them and not having to cut an arm off in order to pay for them!
But yes. Enjoy this for what it is…a pretty decent little TV movie thats maybe a little dated! and I’ll see you all next week for the big Halloween celebrations!
(The VHS cover isnt all that inspiring in honesty…but once again I made a Hi-res capture because noone else has ever bothered to seemingly)
I’ve always been reluctant to do “Multi film” reviews…I suppose it’s because I like the detail that longer form reviews offer and that it lets me add a bit more of a personal touch to the movie im talking about to go in depth and talk at length about my own personal feelings about the film i’ve selected.
However, when I was contacted by Joel to take part in the B-movie hall of fame over on the movieforums.com (A message board I can highly recommend) I kind of felt compelled to do this. in part because I thought it would be fun to try and write without notes for a change (Every review I do is heavily noted…I currently have 7 books worth!) and also because it meant that editing these could be a bit more creative and fun.
It was nice being able to check out movies I’d not seen before and especially films that i’d have probably have skipped had they not been on this list…hell 2 of my new favourite movies ever I’ve found while doing this challenge alone!
So far Im really enjoying it in all honesty and I cant wait to get round to watching the remaining 6 sooner rather than later (Though I’ll be honest; time is most definitely working against me these days…there’ll be more info in an upcoming Blog I have planned…if I ever find the time)
With October bringing in Halloween it’ll be a little while before Part 2 of this makes it’s appearence though theres some absolute classics on the list yet to watch so do keep an eye out in November when it should go live!
(Seriously go watch “The Child” and “Jack Frost” if you’ve never seen them before…Great stuff!)
Im afraid this is another film where I dont really have a terrific amount to say post-viewing…in fact thats the main reason that im so late in actually posting this to the site. I really struggled to think of what to say about this film that I dont already cover in the review itself…its a terrifically goofy little dinosaur movie and im still stunned that someone as prolific as Roger Corman would have gone anywhere near this thing…
But! here we are. and yes. quite frankly im as confused as you are. My recommendation? Go and watch the film first and then come and see my review. I do talk at length about some of the more spoilery elements of this film in this review and I feel it may do the movie more justice to approach it blind. So yeh…go watch this! it’s genuinely one of the stranger movies I’ve seen this year so far.
Season 5 Episode 1! and this is the final season of 2018! yep! this one will take us right the way up to the end of the year. It comes with a massive pro and a massive con in the sense that this is the season where both everything is pretty much scheduled and planned well well in advance. But at the same time because everything is scheduled in so early it means effectively for 2-3 months of this season I’m almost totally inflexible in terms of just adding films in to review.
This is because of both Halloween and Christmas both of which take up about 4-5 weeks worth of episode slots leaving September (Which is a 3 week runner this year) and November (Which admittedly has 5 weeks in it…but 3 of those have had to be scheduled as well due to conflicts in the last season and ongoing projects)
It means that while im very grateful that I can sit here in September and tell you exactly what episodes are going to be running pretty much right the way up to the end of the year. it can get a little bit boring because I know everything that’s coming up and equally I know I cant really deviate from that schedule because seasonal capitalising and all that…
Luckily September is a very flexible very free month! and i’ve decided to do 3 very different style films while I have the chance! So kicking things off Here’s “Kiss meet the Phantom of the Park” a 1978 made for TV movie that genuinely bewilders me even now. Why did they bother making it?…I mean I know they had their comic persona’s but even then who sat down with the band and managed to convince them that this would be a good idea? they surely must be a genius of their field.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down to watch the sort of spiritual follow up to this movie “Scooby doo and Kiss: a Rock and Roll Mystery” and somehow one of two things happened…firstly they somehow managed to outweird this movie…I really dont know how…but they did. And secondly…THEY SET THE THING BACK IN A THEME PARK!…Why!?…Why did they think this would work again!? apart from (And this is the only reasoning I can ascertain) the idea that parents who grew up with “Phantom of the park” will be like “Oh hey!! yeahhhhh!!!!!”…
This isnt the greatest film in the world…hell this isnt even really a mediocre picture…but I think the review will put it into better words than I can type here.
(All the other posters are inferior. THIS. This is the coolest poster Kiss have ever been involved in…It says nothing about the film…but it doesnt need to…it’s awesome.)
It’s collaboration time again! this time with a good friend of mine Raymond. This has been many months in the making we wern’t entirely sure of the best format to present this one in. I like Raymonds video style. he always finds a very entertaining angle to his reviews and he’s arguably one of the most thorough critics in his field when it comes to finding out info.
In the end we settled that I would give way on my channel to him and vice versa for me! as a result this weeks episode is a majority Raymond based episode! it’s a corker and im very proud that the months of scripting and working we did together finally came together and paid off.
Over on Raymonds youtube channel you will find a review for 1993’s Terminator woman in which I had the pleasure of turning up (I’ll be posting that one on here as well seperately) but in the mean time here is arguably one of the strangest movies I’ve spoken about in a while.
With this video we finally draw a close on season 4. it’s been the longest season to date and while making it I had my doubts…though looking back. im kind of happy I went the way I did with this one…next week will pretty much be quiet so Join us in September for the first episode of Season 5! which will take us right up to the end of the year!
(This is technically a part 2 of 2 I’d advise you go and watch “Terminator woman’s” review first also this is a fairly meh poster…its too busy and blocky)
A second article in one day!? yes I am spoiling you all! So! I’ve cocked up basically…when I plan my seasons I always try and do 3 TYTD episodes followed by a red triangle. This is for a couple of reasons. First and foremost is that their are more TYTD style films in the world than their are Red triangle ones. Red triangle episodes also take much longer to produce than TYTD episodes due to the amount of information that goes into them. And generally? I quite like keeping the red triangle episodes as once a month episodes purely because it’s like a nice little treat for the end of the month.
This month however I messed up. I’ve had a lot of work on my plate both in my personal life and behind the scenes on the channel and as a result I misread my schedules and ended up with 1 episode too many in this season…I usually try and aim for 18…though based on my current counting it’s now closer to 19 if not 20…rest assured next week their will be an “As scheduled” red triangle episode but in the mean time here’s one more TYTD episode to keep you going.
This ones a bit of an oddity…apparently it’s a quite rare film to own on video tape…it was part of the haul I secured a number of months ago and honestly? It’s very unmemorable. I dont want to come across as egotistical or vein in any sense but honestly? I’d say if you’ve watched this review of the film you’ve pretty much seen everything worth seeing from the movie. it’s not at all memorable and when I need to free up some space in a few months time I’ll most likely end up flogging this one…it’s about as much fun as a quite tame kung-fu movie can be…meh..this film is meh…
(the label on my VHS copy of this keeps falling off and the spindles that are supposed to hold the tape inside the carton artn snug enough to hold it…as a result doing the “Packaging shot” for this episode was a total nightmare…with either the label falling off while on the turntable, Or the whole tape falling out of the carton and taking the box with it as they hurtle towards the ground…cracking fun I can assure you.)
TYTD Reviews 