Topic: Movies of the '80s Marathon

[addicted2dvd]

Title: Night Train to Terror
Year: 1985
Director: Jay Schlossberg-Cohen (The Night Train Sequences and Additional Scenes)
             John Carr (The Case of Harry BillingsJohn Carr & The Case of Gretta Connors)
             Tom McGowan, Greg Tallas, Phillip Marshak (The Case of Claire Hansen)
Rating: R
Length: 93 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: N/A

Stars:
The Night Train Sequences and Additional Scenes:
Barbara Wyler
Jamie Scoggin
Tony Giorgio
Ferdy Mayne
The Case of Harry Billings:
John Philip Law
Richard Moll (Credited as Charles Moll)
Eva Hesse
The Case of Gretta Connors:
J. Martin Sellers
Meredith Haze
Rick Barnes
The Case of Claire Hansen:
Cameron Mitchell
Marc Lawrence
Faith Clift
Richard Moll (Credited as Charles Moll)

Plot:
Three chilling tales of terror are presented to you by your hosts "God" and "Satan" as they travel the rails on a train to nowhere, discussing the fate of the featured characters in each story. The first story features a car accident victim who must assist the physicians treating him in getting body parts from beautiful women. The second story has a man who falls in love with a woman and is then forced to participate in some Russian Roulette games. The final story centers on a man tracking down a Nazi war criminal who may be more than he appears to be.

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:
An anthology horror from the '80s that I somehow missed? How is that possible? I have always been a horror fan and Anthologies was always a favorite of mine. But yet somehow this is one I never seen before today. This movie is from that 100 movie boxset I recently got. I went into this one expecting to not be thrilled with it... as a quick look around the net on it beforehand showed it to be a pretty bad stinker. While I have seen worse... this one is pretty bad. First of all... story wise. In this case I enjoyed the wraparound story with God and the Devil bargaining with each other for the souls of the people in the stories to be more entertaining then the stories themselves. If I had to pick one... I would say the second (of the 3) stories was my favorite. The acting as well as the dialog definitely needed some work. The special effects wasn't worth much either. Whenever they showed some sort of creature they used claymation animation. One was for some sort of monstrous insect and the other for a demon. I came to expect a terrible transfer and sound from this 100 movie boxset. But in this case it definitely could have been worse. I mean it was bad... but it was certainly watchable. It felt like a decent VHS print after being viewed a couple dozen times. And that is actually better then some of them after glancing at a couple of the DVDs in this set.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[Jimmy]

Pete this one isn't a real anthology in the first place. They took a couple of film already made and re-edited them for this (wich probably had more or less as a result a lot of non-sense). I've seen only one of the complete films use in this and I've to agree the acting was awfull (not to say annoying...) in it. But the concept of the movie was kind of original and interesting (but badly render on the screen).

My old review of Cataclysm the film they used for the last story

[addicted2dvd]

they made it from 3 separate movies!?!  Now that is just plain lazy! 

[addicted2dvd]

Toon Time!

Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos is an American  animated television series from the 1980s. It originally aired in 1986 as a syndicated five episode mini-series. It was created by and starred Chuck Norris as himself, and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. This fictionalized version of Norris is a United States government operative with a team of "radically diverse" warriors. The team includes Pepper, a technology expert and mechanic; Reed, Chuck's young apprentice and Pepper's brother; Kimo, a samurai; Tabe, a sumo champion; and Too Much, a young ward. Together, they fight against The Claw and his right-hand man, Super Ninja.

The series follows the framing device of Mr. T's animated series (also a Ruby-Spears production): At the beginning of each episode, a live action segment with Norris, usually at a gym or martial arts studio, is shown to explain what is going on. At the end of each episode, Norris narrates a moral lesson for the audience to learn.

Deadly Dolphin
Season 1 - Episode 1
Chuck Norris and his comrades are helping a scientist test some equipment that would permit people to convert water into oxygen in order to let people breathe underwater. However, when The Claw sends some of his men to kidnap the scientist in order to break into Sealab, Chuck Norris must divide his team in order to rescue the scientist and defend Sealab, as if The Claw gains control of Sealab, he will gain control of all the world’s oceans and he could wreck unspeakable havoc onto the world. 

My Thoughts:
When I first read that this show was going to be included in the DVD set I really couldn't remember it at all. But as soon as I saw the intro on Youtube it came flooding back so yes I now remember watching this one. I think the main reason I didn't remember it is because it only lasted five episodes. Kind of strange to add something to a "Best of" dvd release when the show only lasted 5 episodes. But it is listed as just a miniseries so...

Watching it again today I found it to be an entertaining little action story. I could have done without the live-action Chuck Norris at the beginning and the end of the episode as it really did nothing but to remind you that the cartoon was geared more towards kids then adults. But the toon itself was entertaining. Knowing it only lasted for 5 episodes... it would have to be pretty cheap for me to buy a DVD release of the entire series. But I would if they released it cheap enough.

[addicted2dvd]

Title: The Monster Squad: Two-Disc 20th Anniversary Edition
Year: 1987
Director: Fred Dekker
Rating: PG-13
Length: 82 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
André Gower
Robbie Kiger
Stephen Macht
Duncan Regehr
Tom Noonan
Brent Chalem

Plot:
You know who to call when you have ghosts, but who do you call about monsters? Whether it's a bat in your belfry or a mummy in your microwave, THE MONSTER SQUAD ain't afraid of no ghouls!

Count Dracula has until midnight to retrieve an ancient amulet that will give him final control over the delicate balance between good and evil in the world. To help him, the creepy count calls on some old friends: the weird Wolfman, grotesque Gill-Man, mildewed Mummy and freaky Frankenstein. As the ghoulish group gets closer to the amulet, it's up to THE MONSTER SQUAD, headquartered in the local tree house, to pool its questionable resources and stop the monster mayhem!

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Bonus Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Interviews
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
This is the 4th time I watched Moster Squad since I bought it almost 3 years ago. It is an old favorite of mine. Always good for a few laughs... the lines "the Wolfman has nards!" and "Well there is Steve but he doesn't count!" gets me laughing every time I watch this movie. I like how they have all the classic monsters in this movie. They made the story fun and interesting at the same time. This movie would make a good introduction for kids that are curios about horror movies. If by chance you never seen this movie I would definitely recommend it to all.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Yes Jimmy... you can replace the other 2 reviews with this one! 

[addicted2dvd]

Toon Time!

The Flintstone Kids was a 30-minute animated television series spin-off of The Flintstones which followed the adventures of Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty  as children with their pet Dino.

It aired from 1986 to 1988 on ABC, and was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series contained a total of 75 half-hour episodes, with 24 of them consisting of the "main" segment, The Flintstone Kids. The series also contained three additional segments:

    * Flintstone Funnies
    * Captain Caveman and Son
    * Dino's Dilemmas

The Bad News Brontos
Season 1 - Episode 5
Fred and the gang try to turn around the fortunes of their losing baseball team with a game against their fierce rivals.

My Thoughts:
While I liked The Flintstones... I was never that much for The Flintstone Kids... I remember that I used to just deal with this series only to watch the segments of Captain Caveman and Son... as I always enjoyed Captain Caveman back in the day. The Bad News Brontos is one of the main segments. It was entertaining enough... but still not something I feel like I can get into much.

[Dragonfire]

I remember watching Flintstone Kids.  Don't think it was ever one of my favorites, but I did watch it.

[Najemikon]

Pete, some of your images are merely "Angelfire" place holders...

[addicted2dvd]

Title: The Entity
Year: 1981
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Rating: R
Length: 125 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles:

Stars:
Barbara Hershey
Ron Silver
David Labiosa
George Coe
Margaret Blye
Jacqueline Brookes

Plot:
Oscar®-nominee Barbara Hershey (PORTRAIT OF A LADY, BEACHES) stars as Carla Moran, a hard-working single mother until the night she is raped in her bedroom by someone – or something – that she cannot see. Despite skeptical psychiatrists, she is repeatedly attacked in her car, in the bath, and in front of her children. Could this be a case of hysteria, a manifestation of childhood sexual trauma, or something even more horrific? Now with a group of daring parapsychologists, Carla will attempt an unthinkable experiment: to seduce, trap and ultimately capture the depraved spectral fury that is THE ENTITY.

Ron Silver (CHICAGO HOPE, ALI) co-stars in this supernatural shocker directed by Sidney J. Furie (IRON EAGLE, THE IPCRESS FILE) from a screenplay by Frank De Felitta (AUDREY ROSE), based on his best-selling novel.

Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
DVD-ROM Content

My Thoughts:
This is an old favorite of mine when it comes to ghost movies. At the end of this movie there is a big paragraph or so talking about how this movie is based on a true story. I don't know if the events this movie was based on was debunked or not. I would say that this movie held up well for me.... though I did find it a little slower (and longer) then what I remembered. But over all enjoyed it quite a bit.... worth watching.

My Rating:
Out of a Possible 5

[addicted2dvd]

Pete, some of your images are merely "Angelfire" place holders...

That figures.. I will have to go through them and move the images to another host.

[Jimmy]

Try this one Pete, unless you want to post unsafe picture (read nudity). It does a good job for me.

http://imagefra.me/

[addicted2dvd]

Thanks Jimmy

[Alien Redrum]

I liked House on the Edge of the Park (which you have marked as not seen yet).

It's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a big fan of David Hess, and he's nutty as hell in it.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

[addicted2dvd]

will keep it in mind when I come back to this.  I watch my movies mostly on weekends. And this weekend I already have it taken with the Birthday stuff.