Earth Vs The Flying Saucers (1956)

I’ve been meaning to cover a classic 50’s or 60’s B movie since the year started but honestly, between the restoration work and the lockdowns I just havent found the time to really truely knuckle down and get one sorted out. That was until the Horror channel in the UK decided to run a “Sci-Fi weekender” 2 days of non stop science fiction movies, all of them pretty much classics (Either famously or infamously so) and pretty much all of them being ones I’d never seen before.

This was the first time I got to see movies like “The Giant Claw” (which honestly blew my mind and I cant BELIEVE it isnt out in the UK on DVD or Bluray) and The Incredible shrinking man. But this time I thought rather than going low. i’d try my hand at covering a RESPECTED B-movie classic (Oh I’ll never work in this town again…) and Earth Vs the Flying saucers was just the right side of campy but well made to fit the bill! While I havent covered a tremendously large amount of (what the public would deem) “good” movies on my channel. I think this is the first “Good” 50’s Bmovie I’ve covered. I was really plesently surprised by it for the most part, it’s a bit slow here and there, but my long term memory of it (I wrote the script for this episode back in April/May time) is a positive one (barring the ending)

This is another film that unfortunately doesnt seem to have an easily available release to watch in the UK outside of streaming. but if it ever does get a release I’d almost certainly look into picking it up. With that in mind I kind of realised this time around that I should probably look more into Bmovies of the 40’s to the 60’s as from experience they only ever tend to be one of 3 extremes: Out of the blue phenominal, Tray on head awful or so boring I welcome deaths sweet release…and with odds like that; why WOULDNT I wanna spin the wheel again?

There is a LOT going on in this poster. it’s dramatic, its got a nice vintage feel…but its a tad too busy for me.
by tytdreviews

The Adventures of Hercules (Hercules 2) (1985)

I’ve been known in the past to do running themes throughout the year when it comes to reviews. In 2018 I covered 4 of the original Live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movies. and while im currently working on next years episodes I have have an idea in mind that im working on (No Spoilers!) But this year? I thought i’d keep it nice and simple and cover both of Luigi Cozzi’s Hercules movies. I covered the First entry in this pairing of totally absurd movies at the very start of the year back in Season 7 and it seemed only natural in the home stretch up to the end of the year to revisit the series for it’s final 1985 outing.

im not going to beat around the bush, in my personal opinion it probably isnt as good as the original. but what elements do work in it’s favour really shine out as a great example of absolute batshit insane movie making. This was a movie that literally wasnt supposed to exist. It came about last minute as a result of Cozzi doing a quite good job on a movie that just so happened to have Lou Ferrigno on board. how many movies do you know get fully greenlit based on a days test filming for a completely different movie and a treatment that was written on the equivolent of the back of a napkin. Crazy! but! here it works fantastically. and while I dont think Hercules 2 is as good as the original movie. as a double feature? this pair work tremendously well!

The Poster is also another example of not quite being as good as the first one. but hay! it tells you pretty much everything and nothing about what your getting yourself into…so kudos on that front.

by tytdreviews

The “Hocus Pocus” (1993) Comedy Dining Experience

Happy Halloween everyone! Yes it’s late, Yes it’s nearly December. but goddamnit I have to catch up on this damn website one way or another…ANYWAY. This was the VERY LAST commentary that Me, Ben and Laura recorded together before Covid hit the UK in such a way that a full scale national lockdown was called. In fact this is a rather special recording in the sense that it was done literally the night before I was told I would be working from home for the foreseeable and only 4 days before the national lockdown was called. We spent the evening together, ate pizza, hung out, drank and laughed our asses through what was probably the last group get together we’re likely to have this year and for the forseeable.

While their are more commentaries on the way its been a bit of a trial and error process to get them done, in the interim we trialled doing these remotely with mixed results due to lack of hardware. one episode worked fine, one episode had problems and one was unusable. Between you and me, when the restrictions were at their lowest and we were allowed to meet indoors in groups of 6 or less Ben was also able to pop round to get 3 more recordings done with me which should take us up to February at least. But as a way of safeproofing the show going forward, just before the 2nd lock down kicked in 3 days ago (Thursday the 5th of November) I managed to secure a 2nd hand laptop that with a bit of TLC and some part replacements is now running better than my own work laptop and Bens now hooked up and *Touch wood* should be able to record remotely MUCH MUCH more smoothly than before.

We’ll know the answer in a couple of days when we do a full audio test. but for now. thats the basket we’re putting all our eggs into as it’s looking unlikely we’re going to be able to meet up again until early next year at the soonest.

Anyway; I’ve gone a bit too much! here’s Hocus Pocus! we had a real blast doing this one, and we spend the majority of it talking about our old halloweens. which was really nice.

The Poster for this movies brilliant. but this promo shots most excellent too!
by tytdreviews

The “You Only Live Twice” (1967) Comedy Dining Experience

Well! once again due to a HELL of a lot of things going on in my life theres been a slight delay in getting these episodes up on the site. BUT! that ends today! as I bring you the next entry in our Bond movie marathon! this and the next episode due up shortly were both the last 2 episodes me and Ben recorded together before the first Lockdown took effect. They were recorded in very late February/Very early March time back before any social distancing was even a required thing! SO! pop on your nostalgia goggles as we head back to a simpler time. when two good friends who live and work in different parts of the same city could sit next to each other in a room and eat sweets from a shared bowl without having to hand sanitize.

This poster is just TOO much!
by tytdreviews

Creepshow (1982)

This ones been a LONG time coming. nearly 3 years in the making (I’ve wanted to do this since Season 3!) Collaboration is something I enjoy, while it’s nice to have the goals and dealines flexiable and fluid while working alone, theres something of a thrill of getting together with a person or two and hammering out something that feels like a more well rounded criticism. in the past I’ve worked with 1 or 2 people who have all been absolutely delightful. but I often wondered how far I could take working with groups of people. and Creepshow being a port mantau seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and set the high bar.

So I scoured the internet for a year or so and found 6 critics who I felt could really genuinely do this film justice. and they’ve all been absolute SAINTS in helping me pull this together, each and every one of them bought something new and interesting to the table and each and every one of them im very proud to have had the honour of working with them. while my own contributions pale in comparison to theirs, I thought it best to step back a bit to let the review really breath.

I initially wanted to make this review feel a bit like a “Special edition” comic book with different contributors all having different styles and bringing their own flavour to the party. I took their contributions and ran it through my usual editing structure and with some heavy inspirations from pop art and the 90’s CITV series “ZZZAP!” it all slowly came together.

Im not going to lie, while my written contributions were a little shorter than normal on this one. the amount of editing this took to bring to the screen was quite intense to say the least. in total the whole project took 4 and a half months to complete from initially pitching to the first contributor (The Crypt keeper) to final export and upload. This was one of the longest single edits I’ve ever had to work on with TONS of motion tracking to animate the Keeper alongside digital moves and other tricks of the trade to help animate some of the more static transitional scenes. it’s easily the edit that’s given me the most sleepless nights and it’s easily the longest single movie film review I’ve released to date!

So I’d once again just like to take the time to thank each and every one of the people who contributed to this special. I really REALLY hope you dig it:

Channel 83 (Fathers Day)

Raymond Smith (The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill)

Video Creep (Something to Tide you Over)

The Best Little Horror House in Philly (The Crate)

Ciara Selene (They’re Creeping up on you)

AND! The Crypt Keeper! played by Brent from the youtube channel Hero’s Horror’s and Cats!:

And if you wanna know how my Halloween went? Well; I was still in lockdown, I inadvertantly ended up with severe dehydration, I ate a sausage roll. drank 2 liters of water and 2 beers and spent the day working up the volition to eat ANY of the £15 worth of sweets I bought in prep for a massive marathon and I ended up eating non of it. The missus wasnt very well in the afternoon and bailed on the evening by 8pm and My playlist was as follows:

Garfields Halloween Adventure

Freaks

Young Frankenstein

I Drink your Blood

Happy Death Day

Scream

Paganini Horror

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

I never much cared for this poster. I always personally preferred the comic book style version.
by tytdreviews