42nd St Pete Reviews A Sci-Fi Channel Movie this is Actually Good: Vipers

Vipers 2007 from Genius Entertainment with Tara Reid, Jonathan Scarfe & Corbin Bernsen. Directed by Bill Corcran

Usually I stay far away from these Sci-Fi Channel films, but this one isn’t bad, even with the CG snakes. A bunch of genetically engineered vipers escape from a lab and wind up on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Not only are they venomous, but carnivorous as well. Several victims are eaten, bones and all.

Bernsen, who has played the mad scientist or corporate prick in a bunch of films lately, sends a team to rescue the population of the island. Of course he has a plan to destroy the place to cover up any wrong doing. Bet he misses those LA Law paychecks.

Inasmuch as I hate CG effects, these are pretty good and the gore will appease some of the most jaded gorehounds. Sometime with the made for the Sci Fi Channel stuff, you have to get the DVD as they still cut out language, nudity and extreme violence. Hint: rent it before you buy it.

42nd St Pete Reviews A Sci-Fi Channel Movie this is Actually Good: Vipers

42nd St Pete Reviews Jack Ketchum's The Lost

Lost 2008 from Anchor Bay Starring Marc Senter, Shat Astar, Alex Frost, Dee Wallace Stone & Ed Lauter. Directed by Chris Siverson.

It was about time that someone made a movie out of a Jack Ketchum novel. Jack is perhaps one of the best horror writers out there, but one who has been overshadowed for many years.

Lost is a twisted tale of a sociopath, Ray Pye, who terrorizes his small town. In the opening, Ray cold bloodily kills two girls who are camping (Misty Mundae & Ruby Laroca). One survives, but is brain dead. A detective(Michael Bowen) knows that Ray is guilty and is out to get him. Ray keeps his two companions in line with threats of violence.

Ketchum’s twisted tale of dead end, small town life is excellently done here. Rather than give up the ending, this is one that you have to see for yourself. Marc Senter gives a chilling performance as Ray Pye, a guy a lot of us knew during our high school years. These characters, in my life, always met the bad end we thought they would. This film captures the small town, dead end ambiance. All the performers are excellent and I hope to see more of Ketchum’s work translated into film. Let’s see who has the balls to do Off Season or Ladies Night.

42nd St Pete Reviews Jack Ketchum's The Lost

42nd St Pete Reviews Crap That Makes Him Want To Rip His Eyes Out: 100 Million BC, Feast 2, and Hell Ride

Some Reviews on some current stuff that is just a waste of electricity

100 Million BC 2008 Asylum Home Entertainment Starring Michael Gross, Greg Evigan, & Christopher Atkins. Directed by Louie Myman

Time travel epic with an elite team sent back in time to retrieve another team that was sent back in the 40’s . Premise is good, but the bad CG stuff kills it. Raptors attack and kill most of the rescue team. The T-Rex is red and Michael Gross looks pretty gross with his balding head covered with liver spots. Guess the budget didn’t allow for make up.

The 40’s women have 2000 style enhanced boobage, the CG stuff sucks and nobody noticed a bright red T-Rex roaming around LA at night. Christopher Atkins seems to be a fixture in these crappy films as of late.





Hell Ride 2008 from Dimension Extreme Starring David Carradine, Dennis Hopper, Larry Bishop & Vinnie Jones. Directed by Larry Bishop. Presented by Quentin Tarentino.

OK, in the Grindhouse scheme of things, biker films were low on the Richter scale. Most weren’t that good and if someone was going to write a book on that genre , it would be about 50 pages. The good ones were The Wild One, The Wild Angels, The Losers , Hells Angels ‘69 & Stone Cold. The rest pretty much sucked.

So now we get another QT presents 90 minutes worth of BS. A threadbare plot, a treasure that we never see, throat slashings, immolation's, sluts, shooting, and no freaking plot to go with them. This played for two whole days in my area before it was yanked because no one gave a shit. You would think with all the money Grindhouse lost that someone would reign QT in a bit. Hopper & Carradine seem to be there for name value as Carradine dies rather quickly. Total waste in my estimation.






Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds Starring Jenny Wade, Clu Gulager, & Diane Ayala Goldner. Directed by John Gulager. From Dimension Extreme.

I did have high hopes for this as I really liked the first one. Now this is being billed as a new “classic” horror series. Someone better look up the definition of classic because this isn’t it. Two survivors from # 1, the Bartender & Honey Pie are now holding off the CG monsters in a small town with an all girl biker gang, two midget wrestlers, and some other disposable characters. This plays out like a video game and that seems to be it’s target audience.

Some of it is funny, most of it sucks, especially the “autopsy” scene were people puke, get slimed, and get ejaculated upon. Yeah, you read right, the dead monster’s Ron Jeremy like wazoo winds up all over the cast. I could read into something here, but I won’t .Highlights are a baby getting eaten, a monster screw a cat, Clu beating the shit out of Honey Pie for running off in the first film, a dissolving old lady, and more slimy, pukey, fluids than an Annie Sprinkle porn film.

Obviously this film has an audience, but I’m not in it.

42nd St Pete Reviews Crap That Makes Him Want To Rip His Eyes Out: 100 Million BC, Feast 2, and Hell Ride

Splinter DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Splinter 2008 Directed by Toby Williams Starring Shea Whigham, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Wagner and Rachel Kerbs Released by Magnet DVD

Considering the pile of poop that is passed off for horror movies these days, this one was a real pleasure to watch. It’s a monster movie, a real goddamn monster movie with no CG, rap, or handicam nonsense. One location, four principle players, gore, shocks, and, for once, a credible storyline.

A gas station attendant is opening the place for the day when he is attacked by something furry and full of spikes. A couple is heading in that direction to camp out. Also headed in the same direction is an escaped con and his junkie girl friend. The two campers are taken hostage when the con’s car breaks down. They run over some kind of animal and blow out a tire. The animal has spikes sticking out of it like one of those sea urchins. They was also a sign by the road saying that this is a government test area.

While changing the tire, the Con gets a splinter in his finger, hence the title. The “dead” animal comes to like and the "Junkie Chic" freaks out. They arrive at the gas station to find it’s deserted. The junkie find the attendant in the rest room. He begs her to kill him. She runs back to the others, but is attacked by the attendant who “rips right through her”. The Con shoots the attendant who dies. They lock themselves in the place. The junkie seems to still be alive. The Con drags her toward the door, but she morphs into something and attacks. Her hand breaks off and gets in the place. The boyfriend, who is a biologist, sees that it feeds on blood.

He thinks it’s a fungus type parasite that uses it victims as hosts to attack others. The dead girl’s bloody corpse hammers her head into the glass door , trying to get in. It becomes a nerve racking game of cat and mouse as the creature attacks and absorbs a lady cop who shows up. The splinter in the con’s finger starts taking him over so an amputation is performed using a Stanley knife and a cinder block. I’m not going to reveal anything else as this has to be seen. A good plot, characters that you actually care about for a change, nasty effects, and overall, a great little film. I give it four stars easily.

Get the Blu-Ray and DVD of Spliner at Amazon

Splinter DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Taken DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Taken 2009 Directed by Pierre Morel Starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace

This one was a real surprise as the usually reserved Neeson is cast against type as an ex-CIA operative searching for his daughter, who is kidnapped by white slavers while vacationing in Europe. Using every dirty trick he knows to locate her, Neeson ups the violence quota by demolishing anything and anyone in his path.

Albanian white slavers(real scumbags) kidnap teenage tourists, hook them on drugs and put them in assembly line brothels. Neeson’s daughter and friend are “taken” soon after arriving in Paris. Neeson is informed that if he can’t find her in a certain amount of time, he will never see her again. Neeson outwits the law and the scumbags at every turn. Seems the head scumbags are well connected with the law. When the leader tells Neeson , that “it’s not personal, it’s business”, Neeson retorts by emptying a Glock into his twitching body.

Taken has its roots firmly planted in grindhouse exploitation. The crowd cheered Neeson as he cuts his way though an army of villains and bureaucrats. One of the better scenes has Neeson drive two iron spikes through the guy who kidnapped his daughter thighs and then attach jumper cables to them. He zaps him a few time then, after he gets what he wants, turns the juice on full blast and leaves the guy cooking. Neeson is a one man wrecking crew as he leaves a body count worthy of Charles Bronson. A must see.

You can get the the Blu-Ray and Regular DVD of Taken from Amazon.

Taken DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle Starring Laura Gemser , Annie Belle, Al Cliver, and Gabriele Tinti. Directed by Bunello Rondi. Released by Severin Films.

Also known as Emmanuelle in Egypt, this rather obscure entry in the Black Emmanuelle series has Laura Gemser being called Laura, her real name. She is a world class model with an abusive photographer(real life husband, Tinti). He forces her to pose with a dead dog in the stinking desert. They go to mansion and meet some weird people, including a crazy holy man(Al Cliver).

Another trip to out in the desert finds some recently dead bodies. He wants Laura to pose with them. She does, but the short haired, Anne Belle, gets a little pissed off. Eventually so does Laura and is chased across the desert and raped by her photographer. The two are constantly telling each other to go fuck themselves or calling each other pieces of shit. Makes you wonder about their off screen relationship. Laura runs away with Anne for some fun after she balks at posing on a huge pile of camel dung.

This film is very strange. One of the classy white women gets drunk and is raped by two Arabs in the desert. She is found by Anne, who tells her she doesn’t need men. Some of the film is in English, some parts, obviously restored, are in Italian. Laura flips out at a party. The Holy Man seduces Anne, who says she is leaving with him. Then changes her mind and wanders away with Laura as they both get naked and ‘fini” scrawls across the screen.

A bit too confusing and contrived for me, but Laura looks great, naked, half naked, or fully clothed. That is the reason for getting this DVD, if you’re a Laura Gemser fan, you want it, actually you need it and that’s the bottom line.

You can get Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle from HK Flix

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.543345/aid.85597/qx/details.htm

Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

The Story of Prunella DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Story of Prunella 1982 Directed by Phil Prince, Starring Geoge Payne, Ron Jeremy, Ambrosia Fox, Niko, Dennis Christopher & Cher Champagne. Part of the Avon 7 Collection from After Hours.

Where most of your 1980s adult film directors stroked your libido with a velvet glove, Phil Prince stoked it with a fist wrapped in barbed wire. Phil made the nastiest films in porn history. While his output of films was small as compared to his contemporaries, Phil’s brand of erotica was soul corroding.

Story of Prunella is a well crafted descent into psycho sadism thanks to the acting talents of George Payne. Early on , Payne turns a prostitute (Cheri Champagne) into a disciple. Payne and two other lowlifes escape from prison and are met by Cheri who forgot to bring an escape vehicle. Cheri plays dead to trick a motorist into stopping. The vehicle that does stop contains the warden’s wife and daughter.

They force the women to take them to a bridal shower planned for Prunella. The three men and the woman sexual abuse and torment all of the women for an extended period of time. Hot on the trail of the foursome is detective Paul (Ron Jeremy), Prunella’s husband to be. Some of this may be hard for a first time viewer to watch. If your not familiar with Avon’s product, this ride may be too rough for some viewers, but Avon wasn't meant for everyone.

Payne’s tour de force performance is completely unhinged. He virtually destroys Prunella’s mind with his brutal rape and the filth that he spews out at her during the degrading rape may appall some viewers. Prince, a lot of his detractors said, took it too far. This may have been adult films climatic moment, as no one today, except our friends in Europe, would have the balls to go where Phil did.

The DVD comes with a Phil Prince Documentary. The documentary was interesting, but it seems that no one really knows much about Phil and what happened to him. Bill Landis (of Sleaziod Express) claimed that he shot an associate and was put back in jail. This has been proven inaccurate. Just watching Phil in the documentary makes you realize he may be a little off. Sources have said that Phil admired the work of Andy Milligan and other low budget film makers and tried to emulate them. Phil wanted to make movies. In Prunella, he succeeded. The plot is decent, though you can see a Last House on the Left influence. The players could actually act, which made all the degradation that more believable. Off the women, none were raving beauties, which also added to the back alley ambiance and realism of Prunella. The men all looked the part of degenerate thugs. Anyone wandering into the Avon 7 back in the day, thinking this was your typical sit down and enjoy it kind of a film, quickly had their libido flatlined.

Of course, a lot of viewers flocked to these films. Men who reviled in the degradation of women, were repeat viewers. From a historical aspect, this was one of the films singled out by the dreaded Meese Commission as the "most vile and violent examples of mob controlled pornography". Poor George Payne was put in the uncomfortable position of having to testify before that commission.

This release is only the tip of the Avon 7/After Hours iceberg. Check out the trailers, all of them are coming soon. These are taken off original prints that made the rounds of the Avon Grindhouses back in the day.

You can buy The Story of Prunella from Amazon and help support this website.

The Story of Prunella DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade DVD Review by 42nd St Pete

Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade 1978 Directed by Joe D’Amato Starring Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti and Ely Galleani DVD released by Severin Films.

I always said that Joe D’Amato was one of the best when it came to erotic films , either hard or softcore. Joe was a master at this genre, yet totally sleazy with other genres. Joe had a long collaboration with Laura Gemser, one of the most sensual women in the history of exploitation and grindhouse. Gemser’s exotic looks and smoldering sensuality gave all us 70’s grindhouse junkies fantasies. She made the character she played, Emanuelle, an extension of her personality.

This was their last Emanuelle film together. The film starts out in Africa as Emanulle and her assistant are looking to expose a mobster who is hiding out. She arranges for her and her assistant to be introduced to the gentleman. She has a camera hidden in her zippo lighter. Lots of very hot sex scenes occur before the job is done.

She catches wind of a prostitution ring run by her real life husband, Gabriele Tinti. We see an auction in New York as young girls, with hairy armpits, are auctioned off. One girl, who is supposed to be a “16 year old virgin” has more hair under her arms than I have left on my head. Just think of brillo pads. The girls parade in and do a strip before the potential buyers. They are very calm for girls being sold as sex slaves.

Anyway after a lot more sex, Emanuelle agrees to work in a high end brothel in San Diego. She befriends a cross dresser and they plan an escape. They are cornered by thugs and we are treated to a tranny kung fu fight until he/she gets killed and Emanuelle has sex with multiple men at once. The ring is exposed, Emanuelle gets her story and this film got lost for a good many years.

Grainy 10^th generation bootlegs made the rounds of the convention circuits until Severin Films got a complete print from a private European collector. It most likely came from one of my customers on Ebay. Anyway this print is beautiful, a must for any D’Amato/ Gemser fan. It showcases Joe’s strengths as a director of erotica and Laura Gemser clothed or naked is breathtaking. If it’s skin you’re looking for, it’s all right here, three ways, girl on girl, the afore mentioned multiple partner love making session, and hot, & hairy Euro chics. The ‘plot” is just a framing device to showcase Laura. There were many hot women in grindhouse films in the 70’s. You had Pam Grier, Angel Thompkins, Christina Lindberg, Tiffany Bolling, Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith, and others, but to a lot of us, Laura Gemser was our Queen of Exploitation Cinema. Kudos to Severin Films for unearthing this lost gem.

Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade DVD Review by 42nd St Pete