CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Rixrex]

I always enjoy locating cult-classic B-movie horror films for Halloween, and other obscure horror gems. I have a good list for this year's season. and we will be watching one or two each night until and including Halloween. Some of course are on CED, but many others are not. So I'm putting down what we're watching with my take on the film, and how it can be gotten.

Last night's trickster was The Brainiac. Also known as The Baron of Terror, it is a 1961 Mexican shock film of infamous repute. The story is one of an evil baron who tortured and murdered in the name of Satan, finally sentenced to death by burning by a tribunal in 1661, he vowes revenge from the fiery stake as a comet streaks by overhead. 300 years later the comet returns and so does the Baron who can transform at will into a hideous brain-eating demon out to get all of the descendents of the tribunal members.

This films is the stuff that gave kids real nightmares when seen on late night TV in the 60s and 70s. Adults will find it grisly enough and unsettling, if tame by modern standards. In public domain now and available on DVD easily.

Go ahead and note any B-movie shockers you will be watching that you find unusual and/or obscure. More coming tomorrow.

[Rixrex]

We watched a film called VIRUS last night. It's a 1980 Japanese produced A-budget movie with many American stars, but has B-movie sensibilities. It's really a pretty good film and usually gets coinfused with the American film called Virus from 1999. Supposedly was the most expensive Japanese film made up to that year. That's probably due to the big star cast payroll.

Anyway, the story revolves around a deadly military created virus mutation that can infiltrate other virus and cause them to multiply so fast that they cannot be stopped by known medicine and turn deadly. Turns out that the only safe people are the ones located at the various nation's Antarctic bases and it's up to them to find a cure and/or rebuild civilization.

The version we watched runs 108 mins, but I understand there's a just recently released 154 min version which is apparently the whole film as it appeared on TV as a mini-series. Will have to get that one. It's not on CED or US laserdisc, and only available on VHS or DVD. The one DVD I like is from EastWest DVD as a double feature with The Galaxy Invader. Galaxy Invader has a great byline stating this: An alien crashlands his spaceship and is hunted by drunken hillbillies.

[Rixrex]

Our B-movie last night was a CED, and one of the more rare ones, The Final Terror. Some of you likely have it, though it's not a real easy one to get.

This is a pretty well-made take on the slasher horror genre popular at the time (1983), with the added bonus of being set in an overgrown forest with a group of park rangers on a training trip of sorts. Similar to the later B-movie series, Rest Stop, but a precursor of course.

If you have it on CED, it deserves a watch. Also was not released on LD in any form, but is on VHS and Beta, and now DVD. One DVD release is under the title CARNIVORE on an East West double feature with Christmad Evil.

Hey, isn't anyone else watching anything for Halloween?

[SelectaVision420]

[Rixrex]

Okay, but does that mean you will only watch that one movie this month?

We took a break from watching videos last night because a local TV channel was showing the remake of The Blob, and we thought that would be fun to watch instead. Well, it was and it's a pretty good remake overall. Obviously neither Blob film is on CED, but both are on LD and VHS and DVD as well now. I assume everyone knows the story of The Blob, a giant amoeba on the loose.

While the remake is good enough, and better than the original in effects, I always liked watching Steve McQueen kind of walk his way through the role of the teenager who tries to tell everyone a monster is eating people up.

Some other Blob-type films that are good to watch are the British Quatermass series, The Creeping Unknown and Enemy from Space, and the other British film, X-The Unknown. Plus Mario Bava directed a very spooky Italian entry called Caltiki, the Immortal Monster.

[Rixrex]

Oh, let's not forget about the Larry Hagman satirical sequel, Beware the Blob, plus the fun-filled Japanese production, The Green Slime.

[SelectaVision420]

no, i just pick a disc of the month to put above my calendar, and i figured this month that title was appropriate i think we're gona watch i spit on your grave or hospital massacre soon our schedules are weird so we dont often get to watch movies as much as we like, but if we are free together before 20:00 we usually pop in a disc, sometimes my g/f has a disc already in mind too
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[SelectaVision420]

[Rixrex]

Yes, that's right, Larry Hagman, also JR of Dallas, directed a sequel to The Blob, both satirical and spooky, with several cameos from his actor friends. Story is that a oil pipeline worker digs up a small bit of the blob that was dumped in Alaska at the end of the original, and brings it home to the lower 48.

He keeps it in his freezer, but the wife accidentally lets it thaw out, and it first swallows up a housefly that lands on it, then on to a cat, and so on and so on. Robert Walker Jr takes the role of the Steve McQueen-like teen.

[Rixrex]

We decided to get out all of our Bigfoot movies and give them a watch this week. There is one CED bigfoot movie which we will save for the weekend.

So last night we took out the grade Z movie, The Curse of Bigfoot, which itself is as interesting as the plot of the movie. Originally filmed by two brothers from Ontario, CA, on a tiny budget around 1959-60 under the title of Teenagers vs The Thing, this was never released theatrically, but a B&W version made it to videotape eventually. Basically a short, maybe 60 min, film about the discovery by a student archeology field trip of a dormant creature within an Indian burial cavern. It's taken back to the cabin and left under a blanket. The creature revives and goes on a rampage, not unlike The Thing of the classic movie, until it is brought down by a collaborative effort.

In the 1970s, because the film was pretty short and the creature was pretty hairy, due to that being the cheapest way to present it, the brothers relized that they could add a expository story about Bigfoot sightings in the area, and weave in this film through a flashback narrative from one of the original cast members. They did this and changed the creature to a Bigfoot, which did work out okay just by luck, and then released it as Curse of Bigfoot in 1976.

It's a great load of fun, basically like watching well-done family home movies of a bigfoot on the loose.

[slatton86]

Going to watch Carrie in the next 24 hours. I also have The Birds, The Exorcist, and The Omen 1 and 2 all CED. I watched Rose Red the other night but that was VHS. My wife won't watch these with me, she has nightmares and wakes me up all hours of the night, lol.

[Rixrex]

Took a one day break from Bigfoot movies because the TV had a film on called 7 DAYS TO DIE, which we had never seen before. It was okay, but nothing to get too excited about. Story involves a couple who lose a child and move away from the city to an old spooky 3 story house that has a bad history of which they are not told. Turns out many bodies are buried near the house.

Doesn't it sound like something you've already seen? It combines elements of Burnt Offerings with Poltergeist and Amityville Horror, plus The Shining. Not very original and really not worth paying for, but it was a free broadcast.

Tonight we resume Bigfoot series with the most notorious and infamous Bigfoot movie made, The Night of the Demon, from 1980.

[SelectaVision420]

[slatton86]

I've seen 7 Days before. Your right it is nothing special but is hard to turn off the first time you see it. Its actually kind of funny in a cheesy way.

[Rixrex]

We watched a double feature yesterday.

NIGHT OF THE DEMON, the nasty 1980 Bigfoot film that has a well-deserved reputation. In this one, Bigfoot is actually a demon from Hell. A group of students and a professor (again!), are off to locate the legendary Bigfoot, who is believed responsible for vicious attacks on unwary hikers. Well, it's all true, the attacks are vicious and gory as the poor group learns firsthand. If you get this, it must be the uncut DVD version, not the VHS or bootleg DVD that had much gore trimmed. For a film from 1980, it's pretty modern with it's depiction of grisly murders.

Also watched CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER. An Italian excursion into science fiction-horror about a blob-like creature found in a Mexican underground ruin that lives on radiation and dissolved persons. A piece of it is brought back to the city, and when radioactive a comet passes by, the beast grows and splits into more and more of the same, like a single celled germ multiplying. Spooky and atmospheric from the father of the Giallo Horror film, Mario Bava.

[SelectaVision420]

tonite we are gona watch "dressed to kill" and if it wasn't macabre enough, this disc has the sticker tag from a mortuary/ embalmer on it! creepy!


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[slatton86]

You should call and ask if they still carry CED's, lol
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[SelectaVision420]

i wonder if it was a way to make side money...
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[Rixrex]

We had to take a short break due to going on a trip to the in-laws over the weekend, but made up lost time by catching both THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK and RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK yesterday, the last two in the Bigfoot series we were watching.

Legend of Boggy Creek is that great B-movie sleeper from 1972, from local Arkansas filmmaker Charles B Pierce, and also filmed in Arkansas. Done in a quasi-documentary style about the "Foulke Monster", a Bigfoot type creature, later imitated by many others, it is one of the first films to feature this style, now called docu-drama. Atmospheric and full of B-movie styles, it is an enjoyable feature. Available on VHS and DVD.

Return to Boggy Creek is the one that is available on CED. It's not a docudrama, but instead tells the story of a Mom and kids lost in the Boggy Creek area, who are aided by the "monster" who is really not intent on scaring and killing people after all. Great to watch if just to see lovely Dawn Wells, Mary Ann of Gilligan's Island. IMO, Mary Ann was the better one compared to Ginger, even if equal in looks, because she had the likable personality, both in the show's character and in reality.

There's plenty more Bigfoot films out there, but we are going to move on to something else starting tonight. What are you watching?

[SelectaVision420]

cliche as it might be tonite we're gona watch christine
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[Rixrex]

Watched two pretty obscure B-movie horror movies from the past decade that are both pretty good films. You can easily get them on DVD.

THE EVIL BEHIND YOU, 2006, IMDB states this: Abducted couples are victims of medical experiments that mutate their minds with supernatural abilities. As their mental capacities increase, so does the danger from something evil that is not of flesh and blood. Something else seems to be in the room with them. The longer they stay, the "more real" it appears to become.

I found this to be a good B-movie in every sense of what that means, although it lacks that professional slickness of a studio production. Plus it is a bit preachy at times and has a specific viewpoint on religion. But that shouldn't cause you to enjoy it any less.

THE ST FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT, 2000, is a cash-in of Blair Witch Project, like many good B-movies are such, as five college students trying to be ghost hunters spend a night in a haunted mansion. Many surreal and spooky things take place and are captured on video. The film is done in a documentary style and it's been said that often something frightening would occur on camera that the acting talent did not know about beforehand, so their responses are pretty realistic. Director Ted Nicolaou has done several shock films for Full Moon, including the Subspecies series and the great cult film, TerrorVision.

I'd recommend both of these for B-movie fans.

[Rixrex]

Okay, so on the last night of Halloween B-movie viewing, Halloween night, we decided to go with some of the lesser know B-movies from the Lippert Production Co. This is the production company that brought forth such well-known B favorites as The Lost Continent, Rocketship-XM, and the original Ghost Ship from 1953.

They have two really fine, but lesser know entries in the genre that we watched last night. I'd recommend both to any B-movie fan.

THE UNKNOWN WORLD, 1951, which is my favorite film based upon Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, complete with the giant inner earth ocean. The film modernizes the story, but it's done in a way that the Verne fan won't mind, and the gigantic earth-drilling machine looks like a Verne contraption anyway. The trips down through the caverns are well done and spooky. This one's in public domain and easy to get.

THE JUNGLE, 1952, a rather rare film to see but recently released on DVD with King Dinosaur. In this one, there's reports of giant beasts that come out of the mountains of Northern India and wipe out villages. An investigator, a hunter and a lovely princess head the expedition to find out what's going on, and they get the surprise of a lifetime. I won't give away the nature of the monsters, but will say this is probably the first film depiction of these giant creatures and it's pretty good for a fifties movie. A lot of fun.

[SelectaVision420]

dang you dont mess around when it comes to movie night huh? lol
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[Rixrex]

Yeah, I guess not. And what we wached last month barely scratched the surfacce of all the great and good fun B-movies that are out there.

You have to give some special consideration to those films that have practically no budget, mostly no-name talent or only one known name in the group, and effects done on a shoestring, yet somehow succeed where big budget A grade Hollywood films may not.

There's actually quite a few good B-movies on CED, horror and non-horror, and I suppose some of that is due to less expensive licensing fees and some due to them being sleeper hits, or a combination of the two.