Although she'll trash-talk any jerks that are rude to her or start a fight in the girls' shower with a stuck-up cheerleader, there's a soft side to Brenda (Linda Blair) -- the side that comes out when she's with her deaf sister, Heather (Linnea Quigley). Although Heather is naturally a bit isolated and shy, Brenda brings her along with the rest of her girlfriends whenever they hit the town, making sure to include her and spend time with her amid the rest of her socializing. When Heather is brutally raped on campus by a gang of angry thugs looking to get revenge for a car prank the girls played on them, Brenda's soft side hardens up, and she goes out looking to get revenge for her dear sister.

Savage Streets exists at an awkward crossroads of sincere and salacious. Cobbled together from a troubled production that saw a director and a star fired, a three-week gap in production when the finances ...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Directed in 1981 by Ivan Hall, how just a few years before had cast leading man James Ryan in his 1976 picture Karate Killer (also known as Kill Or Be Killed), Kill And Kill Again sees Ryan this time around playing a man named Steve Chase. He's the best of the best, the finest martial arts expert in the land and his abilities are known far and wide - so when Dr. Horatio Kane (John Ramsbottom) is kidnapped by a super villain named Marduk (Michael Mayer) and his daughter, Kandy Kane (Anneline Kriel - who won the Miss World pageant in 1974), wants him back, who does she turn to? Chase, of course.

There's more to this quest than just heading into Marduk's lair, saving Kane and busting a few heads though - see, Marduk has gotten his greedy hands on a serum that has turned oodles and oodles of innocent townspeople into deadly kung fu warriors, all under h...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Old-school games, old-school T&A

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: '80s sex comedies
Likes: Corinne Bohrer, Jon Gries, '80s movie nudity
Dislikes: Pointless plots
Hates: The theme song

The Story So Far...
Directed by low-budget indie auteur Greydon Clark, Joysticks is one of the lesser-known '80s teen comedies, telling the tale of Jeff Bailey and his grandfather's popular video-game arcade, which is under fire from concerned parents. But at the time, the film was rather popular in theaters, with the second biggest debut gross of its opening weekend. Liberation Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2006, but it was reportedly pulled due to rights issues, and has been out of print for ...Read the entire review

The Movies:

Continuing in their efforts to offer up editions of those old Crown International Pictures titles that are actually worth upgrading on with improved transfers and extra features, Scorpion Releasing's latest double feature, part of their Katarina's Nightmare Theater line, teams up 1980's The Hearse with the 1969 cheese-fest, Blood Of Dracula's Castle. Here's a look at what you'll find underneath that snazzy cover art...

The Hearse:

The story for our first feature follows a woman who lives in San Francisco named Jane Hardy (Trish Van Devere ) whose aunt passes away and leaves her the old home in the country that she lived in thirty years ago. What Jane doesn't realize is that her dear old aunt used to practice Satanism in the house, and the local townsfolk, who were aware of what was happening out there, are none too pleased to see a re...Read the entire review

Ator The Fighting Eagle:
There are plenty of names in the EuroSleaze movie circuit - those movies featuring sex, violence, fantastic themes, and horrible special effects - but there's no name that stands more defiantly for pure, unadulterated crap than good old Aristide Massaccesi, or as we prefer to call him, Joe D'Amato. Yet, not even the name D'Amato can encompass the sweet ineptitude that is Ator, so here, Joe credits himself as David Hills. Full of rambling fun, inane dialog, lame characters, and a complete lack of blood or boobs, this Conan The Barbarian clone will give you a nagging sugar headache.

As a child, Ator witnesses his parents killed by an evil warlord or something. Time chisels Ator into Miles O'Keefe, a big-haired piece of beefcake with a headband and leather boots. Soon enough, Ator runs into his adult stepsister Sunya, leading to this oft-quoted dialog cla...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Directed by Howard Avedis in 1983, Mortuary begins when a man is killed by an unseen assailant, his body left lifeless floating in the swimming pool in his backyard. From here, two teenage boys - Greg (David Wallace) and Jim (Curt Ayers) - sneak into a warehouse in the middle of the day where they see Jim's former boss, Hank Andrews (Christopher George), involved in some sort of s ance surrounded by women dressed in strange cloaks. Jim notes that he's seen this before at the mortuary Andrews runs, the place where he used to work. They head out but Jim gets killed out of view of Greg, who wanders around town with his girlfriend, Christie (Mary Beth McDonagh), who just so happens to be the daughter of the man killed in the opening scene. Despite protestations from her mother (Lynda Day George), Christie is certain that her father's death was not the accident that the cops s...Read the entire review

The Product:
When the history of home video is written, few will deny the impact and import of DVD. Unlike VHS, which became a product of scientifically dimishing returns (technically and aesthetically), the promise of preservation has lead many studios and distributors to take advantage of the one and done dynamic. Indeed, many believe that once they place a title on the format, they no longer have to worry about keeping the fans happy. They've more or less done their job. And while the question of added content (or the lack thereof) constantly countermands such a position, the truth is that many obscure or outright unnecessary releases benefit greatly from a collection of complementary material. Take Satan's Slave, for example. Already available in severely edited, full screen versions, this mid '70s shocker is held in high regard by devotees of its cast and its creator - director N...Read the entire review

The Movie
Every time I hear someone whine that "the book was so much better than the movie!" I want to slap them. Is it really fair to compare such different artistic mediums? Don't you have to accept that screenplays can't realistically accommodate every aspect of an entire novel, and that they should be judged separately on their own terms? It probably doesn't help that I don't actually read books (really, who has time?), but back in the day when I did, Dean Koontz novels were a frequent source of enjoyment. And while I never actually read his 1980 hit Whispers, after watching this 1990 adaptation I can undoubtedly say that...sigh...the book was without question infinitely better than the movie.

...Read the entire review

Lesser sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies featuring twist endings are often described as being "like a protracted episode of The Twilight Zone." In the case of The Survivor (1981), a supernatural thriller made in Australia but directed by and starring Brits, the Twilight Zone comparison really applies. Indeed, what's supposed to be a big twist at the end is so obvious from almost the opening scenes that it would have been surprising had the film ended any other way. It's also slow moving and generally uninvolving, though clearly made by intelligent people aiming high.

Scorpion Releasing's DVD is a good one, featuring a very sharp and clear 16:9 enhanced transfer of this Panavision production, despite a lot of dirt at the head and tail of each reel. Extras include an audio commentary with producer Tony Ginnane.

Also worth noting is that this is the complete, 99-minute version,...Read the entire review

Tough, atmospheric Alistair MacLean thriller. Scorpion Releasing (which is fast becoming one of my favorites for their dedication to releasing these cool 60s, 70s, and 80s exploitation titles) has released Puppet on a Chain, the 1972 international dope smuggling actioner from Cinerama Releasing, based on the 1969 novel of the same name, starring Sven-Bertil Taube, sexy Barbara Parkins, Alexander Knox, Patrick Allen, Vladek Sheybal, Ania Marson, and Penny Cadagli. With MacLean adapting his own novel here, Puppet on a Chain sticks close to that non-stop driving action world of sudden violence, easy death, ruthless villains, and relentless, cynical heroes that MacLean described so well in his international best-selling potboilers. A small, unsuccessful release here in the States in 1972, and infrequent airings on TV decades ago, make this widescreen Scorpion title a real find for lover...Read the entire review

Fairly impressive low-budget psychological thriller. Scorpion Releasing, which is fast making a name for itself putting out these hard-to-find vintage shockers, has released Double Exposure, the lurid 1982 slasher flick from Crown International Pictures starring Michael Callan, Joanna Pettet, James Stacy, Cleavon Little, Pamela Hensley, Seymour Cassel, Robert Tessier, and Sally Kirkland. Initially begun as an updated expansion of Callan's and director William Byron Hillman's earlier psycho-thriller from 1974, The Photographer, Double Exposure was then overhauled into its own suspenser, with surprisingly effective results. Some choice bonuses, including two commentary tracks, are extras on this Katarina's Nightmare Theater presentation (which features Double Exposure remastered in its original scope presentation for the first time on home video).

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=53993 Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:43:03 PST Rent It

The Movie:

A comedy of disaffected youth, The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker apparently got a very brief and under-publicized release in 1970 (although it did hang around long enough to get reissued under the more marquee-friendly title Pigeons). Shot in and around New York City with a cast of theatrically inclined performers, this understated story of a cynical cab driver falling for a free-spirited hippie chick seems to be the very definition of a sleeper. Even on the modest level of sleeper hit, however, the film fails to live up to its potential.

Pigeons centers around the character of Jonathan (Jordan Christopher), a world-weary college grad in his twenties who is frittering his life away driving a taxi in New York Cit...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=51525 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:56:37 PST Rent It

Humongous:
Those horror fans among us pitiable enough to have spent our teen years during the 1980s had to put up with a lot. If it weren't bad enough that the '80s was the decade that saw Freddy Kruger begin to de-claw mainstream horror with his wisecracks, the early part of that era saw a veritable tidal wave of cheap Canadian Slasher movies utterly destroy the beachheads of our minds. Note the important adjective here is 'cheap', but know full well that Canada is what put the magic in these movies. Brain destroying magic.

An extra sadly lacking from this otherwise OK DVD release is a collection of radio and TV spots for Humongous - you know the ones, boys. They always ended with the gravelly-voiced announcer spelling out the title, "H. U. M. O. N. G. O. U. S. Humongous". I swear if I didn't know how to spell it before, I had learned after the 1500th time. This chant, and the garis...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=54269 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:18:33 PST Highly Recommended

Reviewer's note: This review is based on a promotional screener disc (sans box and artwork), not a shelf-ready final product. Therefore, as per DVDTalk policy, no ratings for audio or video will be provided until a final product is received, at which time this review will be amended.

"I've made Los Angeles,
Into my hometown.
Here on the boulevard,
I've really put my roots down.
So I'll forget England's green.
I'll face life on the street.
Though it seems quite a mess,
I can make it all neat.
Oh, oh Yankee Doodle,
I love your Red, White, and Blue.
Give me a moment,
There's something I've got to do.
Forget the blazers and ties, enjoy the burgers and fries,
And let the old country fade, and welcome Mickey's parade.
And yet we're British,
Living here in L.A.."

A delicious vintage documentary. Scorpion Releasing, which i...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=53440 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:32:25 PST Recommended

The Movie:

Written and directed by Mark Rosman, who has since gone on to churn out a lot of comedies and TV work in addition to writing the recent remake of this very film entitled simply Sorority Row, this low budget slasher film from 1983 isn't even close to the best of its breed but it has a certain quirky, nostalgic charm that makes it marginally endearing to fans of the genre.

When the film begins, a woman loses her baby during childbirth. After this scene, we meet Mrs. Slater (Lois Kelso Hunt), a cranky old woman who runs a sorority house populated by a group of foxy and nubile young ladies who are planning to use the house for a big party against her will. They try to keep it a secret but when she walks in on them yapping about it while chugging booze in their pajamas, the secret is a secret no more. Unhappy with things going the way they are, she later disrupts one ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=54169 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:28:02 PST Highly Recommended

Revenge (1971), released in the U.S. under at least three different titles (Inn of the Frightened People, After Jenny Died, and Terror from Under the House), is a neat little thriller undeserving of its almost total obscurity. It starts out as a bleak revenge drama, and then changes course through several clever though not entirely unexpected plot twists before playing its strong premise through to the end. It runs out of steam a bit before it's over, but overall it's way above average for a modestly-budgeted early '70s British film. Joan Collins and James Booth, the cynical shirker from Zulu (1964), star.

Scorpion Releasing's DVD is, regrettably, 4:3 matted widescreen and not 16:9 enhanced, though on widescreen TVs the 1.66:1 image formats reasonably well to 1.78:1. The feature can be watched with or without the "Katarina's Nightmare Theater" bumpers. The host, ac...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=54122 Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:43:48 PST Recommended

Reviewer's note: This review is based on a promotional screener (sans box or artwork) not a final, shelf-ready disc. Therefore, as is the policy here at DVDTalk, audio or video elements won't be rated until we receive a finished product. The review will be amended at that time.

Mid-level junk...but it gets the job done. Scorpion Releasing has another Katarina's Nightmare Theater double-feature for you, showcasing the, um...barely marginal in 70s U.K. horror: the original uncut The Devil's Men from 1976 (known here in the States in a truncated version called Land of the Minotaur), starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, and 1978's gory British giallo-wannabe, Terror, from cult director Norman J. Warren. Separately, these two low-budget affairs aren't particularly distinguished (Terror does have its moments), but as a double-fea...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=51503 Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:16:04 PST Rent It

A mildly diverting U.K. supernatural horror mystery...but that's all. Scorpion Releasing has released Nothing But the Night (known here in the States sometimes as The Resurrection Syndicate), the 1972 U.K. chiller starring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Diana Dors, Keith Barron, and Georgia Brown. Long unavailable except for numerous VHS knock-offs and a Region 2 release in Japan, Scorpion's clean-looking disc should please Lee/Cushing completists and those horror/supernatural genre fans dedicated to seeing everything that came out of England from that particular time period. But a "lost classic" Nothing But the Night certainly is not; its few, few pleasures come mostly from satisfying one's curiosity about this long-discussed title. Some trailers for this Katarina's Nightmare Theater edition, but they won't decide a buy for you.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=51511 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:51:00 PST Recommended

Filmed entirely on location in Montreal, The Pyx (1973) is not easily categorized. Chiefly a policier/mystery-thriller, toward the end it incorporates horror film elements. Ads for the film (see below) offered few clues: "The Pyx - See it ... find out what it means!" Its screenplay has an unusual structure, and it moves like Canadian maple syrup. But at a time when the horror genre was spiraling downward into cheap, crass exploitation, The Pyx is intelligent, well acted, and though graphically violent and sexually frank, it's anything but exploitative.

For this reason, it's mighty odd to find this title hosted by "former WWE Dvia [sic] and current TNA Knockout" Katarina Leigh Waters, a Vampira/Elvira-type hosting "Katarina's Nightmare Theater." Waters's segments aren't really offensive, fortunately, certainly less so than most campy horror movie shows of this type, and viewers t...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=52059 Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:25:10 PST Recommended

The Movie:

Andy (Angel Aranda of Mario Bava's Planet Of The Vampires) and his slightly pregnant pretty young wife Anna (the lovely Sandra Alberti) seem like a nice, normal couple who just want to get out of the city and take a week's vacation but can't quite figure out what to do with their time. The grab their German shepherd, Blackie, toss him in the car, and drive around Madrid in hopes of clearing their collective head and just enjoying some time together.

Things are going just fine for the couple until a car pulls up beside them. The window of the cars rolls down and a man named Bruno and his wife Thelma call Andy over, explaining that Bruno went to school with him years back. Andy can't quite place Bruno but he and his lovely lady friend are always up for making new friends and so when Bruno invites them back to his place to reminisce and guzzle back some fine red wine. T...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=52762 Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:13:44 PDT Recommended

"You've become a hunter...with nothing to hunt."

Deliberate, off-beat Canadian Western, based on a true story. Scorpion Releasing, which has a knack for getting out quirky, forgotten titles, has released 1974's Alan Thunder...although in the attorneys-approved credit list on the back of the DVD case, the movie is referred to as the more macho Dan Candy's Law. Starring Canadian-born Donald Sutherland as a Mountie who'll never get his man, Alien Thunder also features Chief Dan George, Kevin McCarthy, and Gordon Tootoosis, battling each other in the inhospitable wastelands of Northern Saskatchewan. A new HD anamorphic widescreen master from the original camera negatives is touted here for this interesting Western.

The ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=50561 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:18:34 PDT Rent It

The Movie:

Inspired by the 1960 film Where The Boys Are, Hy Averback's Where The Boys Are '84 (which was originally meant to be titled Where The Boys Are Now) was produced by Allan Carr, an openly gay man who, according to the liner notes, personally picked the male cast members for this film - that might explain why they're frequently running around in Speedos. Regardless, Carr hit the jackpot when he bankrolled the film adaptation of the hit play Grease, but later proved lightning doesn't strike twice when he produced a string of stinkers including Grease 2, Can't Stop The Music and this film.

The movie follows four coeds - Jennie (Lisa Hartman), Carole (Lorna Luft), Sandra (Wendy Schaal), and Laurie (Lynn-Holly Johnson) - who pile into a Cadillac and head to Fort Lauderdale for Spring Break. Each of these girls has their own reasons for th...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=50565 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 11:14:49 PDT Highly Recommended

The Movie:

One of the seemingly endless chain of rip offs of The Exorcist that were churned out during the mid-seventies, 1975's The Devil Within Her (renamed by AIP for American release - the original UK title was I Don't Want To Be Born) stars Joan Collins as a woman named Lisa who gives birth to a big, strong baby boy that she and her Italian husband, Gino (played by Ralph Bates), name Nicholas. Everything seems fine at first, though Dr. Finch (Donald Pleasance) notes that he's one of the biggest babies he's ever seen - but erratic behavior soon becomes the order of the day as the infant scratches his mother across the face when she tries to hold him.

Our loving couple take their baby home and soon his strange behavior becomes more frequent. They hire a babysitter for him (Janet Key) but before you know it, young Nicholas has punched her so hard she's fallen i...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=50563 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:08:00 PDT Recommended

The Movie:

Originally issued by Code Red when they were distributed by BCI a few years ago, Jimmy Huston's 1981 slasher Final Exam is back on DVD once again thanks to Scorpion Releasing who are using the title to help launch their Katarina's Nightmare Theater line.

The film begins with a pair of college students making out in a car only to get sliced and diced by an unseen maniac. From here we cut to the campus of Lanier College where students are hustling and bustling all over the place because, as the title implies, it's Final Exam time. First and foremost is an effeminate nerdy guy named Radish (Joel S. Rice) who gets word of the killing and assumes the worse is yet to come. Radish has some sort of serial killer paranoia going on and is evidently fixated on the dark side of humanity. This means he's the first to freak out when a bunch of frat boys show up in a van d...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=46179 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:35:49 PDT Recommended

The Movie:

'If Shaft Cant' Do It And The Hammer Won't, Then Super Spook Will!' - so says the tagline of the first ever blaxploitation parody made in 1972, long before Black Dynamite or I'm Gonna Get You Sucka were even gleams in their respective creators minds. Directed by Anthony Major and shot by a crew using equipment that they managed to borrow for a week, this mostly improvised picture was released to theaters running just under ninety minutes but arrives here in a lengthier director's cut for the first time.

When our story begins, a woman (Virginia Fields) working for a mob protection racket makes her rounds through Harlem and collects her money only to be robbed by a hood named Hi-Ho (Bill Jay) in Central Park later that same day. She tries to scare him off by pretending to know karate but he makes it away with her loot, much to the dismay of her daughter (Marce...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=48936 Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:41:05 PDT Recommended

A real curio, I Want what I Want* (1972) is a modest but sincere drama about an unhappy man coming to terms with his sexuality and making the awkward/liberating transition to a new female identity. Anne Heywood, a British actress known for taking on challenging, controversial roles, plays the movie's protagonist, Roy, as Roy slowly becomes Wendy.

The movie is both a product of its time and a cinematic aberration. It probably could not have been made at all had the British film industry not been in such dire financial straights in the early-1970s. At the time, virtually the only movies making money were explicit, saucy cinematic romps like Confessions of a Window Cleaner. I Want what I Want's subject matter probably appealed to financiers expecting a lurid exploitation film and may have been surprised and disappointed the end result wasn't anything like that at all. Though rated ...Read the entire review

]]>