Movie #41: Slavegirls From Beyond Infinity

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100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!

"Slavegirls From Beyond Infinity (1987)" is a sleazy, cheesy sci-fi retelling of the classic "The Most Dangerous Game."
It is written and directed by Ken Dixon and stars Elizabeth Kaitan, Cindy Beal and Don Scribner. The story is about two ditzy blondes in bikinis who break out of a space prison and steal a spaceship only to crash land on a nearby planet where they are rescued by a host who at first seems very generous, but then it is discovered that he has a sinister game he likes to play where he turns his guests loose on the jungle planet and hunts them with a crossbow. 


     Click the box below to watch a short clip from the film. 
         I didn't include the trailer because it contains nudity.

Well, this time he picked the wrong bikini clad vixens to play his dangerous game!
Beautiful girls, robots, aliens, lasers, spaceships, and lots of cheese makes this an enjoyable flick. Well, for the guys anyway.

Bad acting, a horrible script, and cheesy costumes and effects adds to the watchability of this velveeta production. Another great film to watch at 2AM when you're so tired that you laugh at anything.




- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the planet of half-naked slave girls!

Movie #40: Creepozoids

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"Creepozoids (1987)" is a super duper low-budget turd written & directed by David DeCoteau. It stars Linnea Quigley, Ken Abraham, and Michael Aranda. A quote I read online from one viewer stated "possibly the worst movie ever made." Well, I've seen plenty worse than this one. But this is pretty awful. But I'm the kind of guy who likes these uber cheesy low-budget dung piles of movies.
This movie is supposed to take place in the future (1998) where War War III had been over for 6 years and the nukes have reduced the world to rubble and a few bands of wandering survivors are all that's left on planet Earth. Well, one of these groups stumble upon an abandoned government research lab. They set up camp inside. Just as they start to feel safe for once, they are attacked by a leftover "experiment" from the lab. This film is a rip-off of the movie Alien. 

                 Click on the box above to view the trailer.

The rubbery creature costume resembles the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. It's hiding in the giant lab facility that has lots of rooms and a basement. One twist is that when the creature kills you... you come back as a zombie. Oh, and there are giant rats in the facility that a few people have to battle. 

The no-budget effects reduce the actors to wrestling with a stuffed animal. Seriously. It's that bad. There's even a mutant baby that comes out of a creature's stomach and attacks people. 

Looks like the used a plastic baby doll and had the actors wrestle with it too.

Creepozoids is no-budget '80s horror filmmaking at it's worst (or best if you're a fan of like me.) Watch it if you dare!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the land of cheese.

Movie #39: Seed People

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"Seedpeople (1992)" is a super low-budget rip-off of the movie "Body Snatchers." It was written by Charles Band, owner of the low-budget movie cheese factory Full Moon Entertainment. He's the guy behind the Puppet Master franchise, Trancers, and Demonic Toys.
Anyhoo, it was directed by Peter Manooglan and stars Sam Hennings, Andrea Roth and Dane Witherspoon.




The plot: 
The citizens of Comet Valley are being taken over by seeds from an alien plant that has taken root there. A sheriff investigates the strange goings-on.

Click the box below to view the trailer.

A guy who studies meteors returns to Comet Valley and teams up with his ex-girlfriend to take down the town people who are no longer human. They are now crazy pod people aliens.

Why is this guy wearing a light bulb on his head? Well, pod people are allergic to ultraviolet light! This keeps them from controlling his mind and getting close to him.

The special effects on this film look like a group of 5th graders were in charge of it. The creatures were made of rubber and were sooooo fake looking. When they would chase you they would transform into tumbleweed looking balls and roll after you... sort of like on the movie Critters. This movie is over the top cheesy! It has bad effects, bad acting and a bad story. It's great to watch late on a saturday night while you're finishing off that leftover pizza. Check it out and let me know what you think.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the land of seeds and pesticides.

Movie #38: Cyborg 2

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"Cyborg 2" is a 1993 straight-to-video followup to the Jean Claude Van Damme flick "Cyborg." It has very little to do with the original other than the title and a few seconds of video clips of Van Damme from the first film, shown on a monitor that characters are watching. But this one does star a very hot and sexy 18-year-old Angelina Jolie in her first feature film. 

Angelina Joli as the cyborg "Cash."

The film is directed by Michael Schroeder and stars Angelina Jolie as the Cyborg, Elias Koteas, Billy Drago, and Jack Palance.
The movie is set in the year 2074 and is about a company that is making hot sexy cyborgs who can charm and seduce their way into a relationship with politicians, presidents, heads of foreign countries... and self-detonate during sex with these individuals, killing them. 

The perfect assassins. But something goes wrong... one cyborg, Angelina Jolie, has fallen in love with a human and doesn't want to die. She flees with the human and is chased across the wasteland by a cyborg hunter, played by Billy Drago,  who the company hires to kill them.

                    Click on the box above to see the trailer

The movie has some great action scenes and fight choreography  and you can see why Angelina Jolie was destined to become a Hollywood A-list celebrity... She pulls you in with her charm and beauty. She is the best part of the film.

The whole plot and story are pretty cheesy as is a lot of the dialogue, but its still a fun movie to watch and I bet Angelina Jolie wishes she could erase it from her past. LOL. Check it out.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the land of robot love...

Movie #37: Cloud Atlas

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"Cloud Atlas" is a new movie from the Wachowski brothers who brought us "The Matrix" trilogy. Two of the storylines in the movie are sci-fi. 
This film is stuffed with A-listers like Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon. What's amazing about this film is that each actor plays multiple roles. Tom Hanks and Halle Berry each played 6 different characters. The film tells 6 different tales spread out over various time periods from the past to the distant future and tells how our souls and actions all connect like ripples through time. 

         Click on the box above to watch the extended trailer.

The makeup is remarkable! Halle Berry even plays  a white woman in one of the stories and Hugo Weaving plays a woman nurse at a retirement home.  

The special effects in the sci-fi storylines are as good as it gets too. The movie has a little bit of something for everyone... drama, romance, action, fight scenes, mystery and sci-fi. The film jumps back in forth in time so that you see about 10 minutes of one story and it jumps to the next and then cycles back to the next 10 minutes of the first story. 

Its like watching 6 thirty minute stories in 3 hours but bouncing around back and forth between stories the whole time.
The movie was well shot, well acted, and the music, fx, and makeup were terrific. I enjoyed most of the stories but found myself somewhat bored with a couple of them. 

I think the film was too fluffy, preachy, and tied neatly with a bow in the end like a packaged deal... for my taste that is. I would rather have seen a full length movie set in the futuristic asian world that one of the stories was about.
Anyway, I enjoyed watching it once and it was fun just to spot all the different roles each actor played. 

Sometimes it was difficult to pick them out under the sometimes heavy fx makeup. Check it out for yourself and let me know you thoughts.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from within the cloud...

Movie #36: The Philadelphia Experiment

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"The Philadelphia Experiment" is a sweet little sci-fi flick from 1984. It was directed by Stewart Raffill (Ice Pirates, Mac & Me) and stars Michael Pare' (Eddie and the Cruisers) and Nancy Allen (Robocop.) The film is about a top secret experiment in WWII to make ships invisible to enemy radar. The experiment works, but then something else happens... the ship disappears all together. Two of the sailors jump overboard and into a time vortex which takes them from 1943 to 1983. 

                      click the box above to see the trailer

It's basically a fish out of water story about these two sailors from the '40s being introduced to the world of the future (40 years.) They meet up with Nancy Allen who helps them run from the police and the Navy as they try to sort out what has happened to them in the experiment.

It's a cool time travel story and a movie I've been very fond of for many years.

In my opinion, Michael Pare' is a very underrated actor. I have enjoyed his performance in every role I've seen him in. 

This film spawned a sequel and has been remade this year for the Sci-fi channel. Too bad it wasn't remade with a decent budget. I would love to see it remade and done right.
Check it out.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from within the vortex.

Movie #35: The Final Countdown

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"The Final Countdown" is a sci-fi flick from 1980 directed by Don Taylor. It has an impressive list of actors... Kirk Douglass, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O'Neal, Charles Durning, and Lloyd Kaufman (yes, Lloyd Kaufman who makes all those cheesy low-budget Troma films like the Toxic Avenger. He not only played a naval officer in the movie, he was a producer on it as well.)

This movie is about the aircraft carrier "The U.S.S. Nimitz." It enters a strange storm and is sent back in time to arrive just hours before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. The commander of the Nimitz, Kirk Douglass, must make a hard choice... to use the mighty firepower (102 modern jet fighters and the ship's armament) to destroy the Japanese fleet and prevent the invasion of Pearl Harbor and possibly saving all the lives lost in WWII, or to do nothing and let history run its course so that nothing in the modern timeline will be changed ala the "butterfly effect."

                click on the box above to watch the trailer

This is a super cool movie that I enjoyed very much when it came out in the 80s. It's a little dated but is still fun to watch. The cast is incredible! The story really gives you something to think about. I recommend that you watch this one. A pretty good sci-fi flick!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from a life raft somewhere in the Pacific. Oh, and from the past too.

Movie #34: Small Soldiers

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"Small Soldiers" is a sci-fi gem from 1998 directed by Joe Dante (director of Gremlins & Gremlins 2.) It stars some big names, mainly a teenage Kirstin Dunst, the late great Phil Heartman (Saturday Night Live,) David Cross (Arrested Development, Alvin and the Chipmunks,) Denis Leary, Kevin Dunn (Transformers 1-3,)  Robert Picardo (Star Trek Voyager,) as well as some top names for the voices of the Small Soldiers such as Tommy Lee Jones,

Frank Langella, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, Bruce Dern, George Kennedy, Clint Walker, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Christina Ricci. WOW! That's an incredible list of talent. This movie is a must see just for that.

The story is about a new toy line that is being developed and the toy company mogul demands that the toys be able to do something extraordinary... so, the designers install military missile guidance chips in them. The chips make the dolls basically come to life. 

The military commando dolls, led by Major Chip Hazzard (Tommy Lee Jones) are programmed to seek out and destroy the villain dolls, known as Gorgomites, let by Archer (Frank Langella.) Anyway, these toys now learn and are super intelligent. They adapt and create weapons and take down anyone who gets in their way. A kid whose dad owns a toy store gets involved as he tries to protect Archer and the Gorgamites from the crazed soldiers. There's tons of explosions and firepower as these toys tear up the neighborhood in their epic battle.

                   Click on the box above to view the trailer

This is an awesome film. It has great actors, great action, a great story, and pretty amazing CGI for the '90s. What kid didn't wish his G.I. Joe's were alive and could go on adventures with them. This is a great family film thats fun for everyone.
I don't have anything negative to say about this movie. It's available on DVD and Netflix. Go watch it. You won't be disappointed.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the top shelf at the toy store.

Movie #33: Puppet Master X

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"Puppet Master X: Axis Rising" is the latest entry into the Puppet Master franchise from Full Moon Features. Directed by Charles Band, this sci-fi/horror film is set during WWII and picks up where Puppet Master 9 left off. The story is about Nazis hiding out in the U.S. using a kidnapped Austrian scientist to conduct experiments on re-animating the dead in hopes of creating a super Nazi Soldier that can't be killed. Well, he might not be able to do that, but the scientist stumbles upon the secret of Andre' Tulon and replicates the serum used to animate the puppets. He creates evil Nazi puppets for his captors.

                Click on the box above to watch the trailer.

All of the original puppets, except Torch,  are back in this installment. We are also introduced to 4 new puppets created by the captured scientist... Bombshell, Weremacht, Kamakazi and Blitzkrieg. 

My favorites of the Tulon' puppets have always been Six-shooter and Blade. Like most Full Moon Features movies, the budget is low, the acting isn't that great, the effects are cheesy and the story looks like it was written last night. But that's all good things, right? 

I love it when they set these Puppet Master films in the '40s and they battle the Nazis. This is a good installment and I hope they keep cranking them out.
Check it out!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from my new puppet body.

Movie #32: The Faculty

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"The Faculty" (1998) is an underrated sci-fi film directed by Robert Rodriguez that contains a who's who cast of some of the top hollywood youth of the day and some other great actors, including: Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek, Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Christopher McDonald, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart,  and Usher. (see what I mean!)

The story is about an alien invasion where some type of amphibious, replicating, alien parasite starts taking over bodies of the faculty of a high school and then the faculty begins putting the alien parasites into the students, slowly taking over the town. A group of high schoolers figure out what is going on and try to fight back and stop the invasion before the aliens take over the world. 

                   Click on the box above to view the trailer.

Lots of star power packed into this flick which I sum up as "The Body Snatchers meets The Breakfast Club." The acting is very, very good by all that are involved. This is a sometimes overlooked masterpiece from director Robert Rodriguez. The special effects were pretty awesome too for the time period that experimented with CGI. 

One of the most chilling scenes in the movie is when a student comes across the football team all standing on the field looking up into the sky as it rains down on them and alien antennae are sticking out of their eyes and faces, soaking up the rain. The movie has a few twists and turns, like in "The Thing" where you don't know who is still human and who is now an alien. I found it very suspenseful at times. It's a great, fun, sci-fi flick. I hadn't seen it since it had originally played in theaters in '98 and it was great to revisit it. A modern classic! Check it out!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the teacher's lounge. Or am I an alien broadcasting from the teacher's lounge?

Movie #31: The Man From Planet X

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100 Sci-Fi movies in 100 days!

"The Man From Planet X" is a 1951 sci-fi movie directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and stars Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, and Raymond Bond.
The movie is about a mysterious planet that is headed very close to the Earth. An American reporter heads to a small Scottish Island to investigate the experiment that a scientist is working on that ties in to this mysterious planet. Once there, they discover a spaceship in the foggy moors that belongs to an alien scout sent ahead from the approaching planet to plan an invasion. The alien scout has a ray on his ship that can hypnotize humans and then he can control them like puppets. But this alien isn't any match for Scotland Yard! That's right.

                    Click the box above to view the trailer

The film looks very good... the black and white images are very sharp and contain great contrast. The acting is good too. The plot isn't so bad except for how one scientist learns to communicate with the alien... through geometry "the universal language." Yea. If I ever confront an alien I'm going to jot down some geometry on a note pad and show it to him and see if he understands that I'm asking him "what are you doing on our planet?" It worked in this movie!

The alien costume was done cheesily well and the alien mask/makeup was very strange. I have never seen another alien depicted in such a manner.
The sets were very small and the whole film was contained in just a few locations. The fog hid a lot of its' shortcomings. Not much more that I can say about this movie. I enjoyed it, but it's not one I would watch often.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from the foggy moors of a Scottish Island.

Movie #30: Looper

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** NO SPOILERS**
Today I saw "Looper" which is in theaters now. It was directed by Rian Johnson and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt.
Here's the plot without any spoilers (it's what you can see on the trailer.)
The year is 2042. The story is about a hit man (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) who kills people who are sent back by criminals 30 years in the future. Apparently in the future, it's too hard to get away with murder and hide a body, so this way the person in the future just disappears with no trace. These hit men are called Loopers.

                     click the box above to watch the trailer

The Looper (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

Anyhoo... Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the best looper. Excellent at his job. A monkey is thrown in the wrench when he finds out that one of the people he must assassinate is himself from 30 years in the future (played by Bruce Willis.) 

The Loop (Bruce Willis)

So, somehow Bruce Willis gets away and now both of them are hunted men and they have to find out together how to fix this mess.

I can't say too much without giving details away, so I will just say that I though it was a fantastic film. Great story, great action, great special effects, and great acting.

Emily Blunt

The only thing that I was iffy about was the heavy makeup that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in to make him resemble Bruce Willis. I could see a resemblance a couple of times in certain angles or facial expressions, but for the most part I didn't get it. I didn't think it looked like Willis that much to go through all that trouble.

Go see it. It's a great flick.

- Patrick Shawn Bennett
Broadcasting from 30 years in the past.

xxx