We reached 1,000 reviews this month so I’ve been working on the ebook for it. As a result, this got away from me. Sorry!

As you can see, there wasn’t too much that I considered essential viewing. You should definitely watch The Old Dark House because it’s a classic and it’s also a lot of fun. Repo Man probably falls into the classic category at this point. Invasion of the Saucer Men is just a fun and silly film. Braid is one that stays with you. That’s quite an intense one. Look for it.

Most of the rest is pretty good. In particular, the two Bad News Bears films are always worth a look. They are both equally good. I saw I Was a Teenage Werewolf when I was a kid. My opinion hasn’t changed much. It’s not as much fun as it ought to be. It could be that I just don’t much like Landon in the lead. Or it could be that I never much care for these kinds of films.

Magic is surprisingly good. It’s no Devil Doll but what is? The Night of the Hunter is visually delightful. The two Pet Sematary films are fine. I have the recent remake sitting around here waiting to watch. Santo vs las Mujeres Vampiro was fun enough but you can do better in a Santo film.

I might have to rethink Troll. that was a lot of fun!

November 2021 Films

1. The Bad News Bears (1976)
2. Bad News Bears (2005)
3. Braid (2018)
4. Con Air (1997)
5. The Devil’s Rain (1975)
6. The Food of the Gods (1976)
7. Highway to Hell (1992)
8. I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
9. Innerspace (1987)
10. Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
11. The Longest Yard (1974)
12. Magic (1978)
13. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
14. The Old Dark House (1932)
15. One Dark Night (1983)
16. Pet Sematary (1989)
17. Pet Sematary Two (1992)
18. Repo Man (1984)
19. Santo vs las Mujeres Vampiro (1962)
20. Space Truckers (1996)
21. Troll (1986)
22. Venom (1981)
23. Waterworld (1995)

See you next month!

I didn’t do much this month because I’ve been putting together the Short Takes on Great Films: Capsule Reviews of Lesser-Known Films. Or whatever the final title is. This will be version 1.0. The idea is to correct the error of Michael J Weldon, who I quietly curse every time I guess wrong and open the wrong of his two books. Anyway, I did write about a few films.

The main thing to note here is that The Night of the Virgin is a fantastic horror-comedy out of Spain. Yet more evidence that this is a golden age of international horror. It does have a couple of gag-inducing scenes. But if I can make it through them, anyone can.

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is, of course, a classic. And I think everyone should watch it just for Clint Howard. But at this time, it isn’t essential viewing. It is, however, a whole lot of fun.

And then we get to the Tremors franchise. I just loved the first four films. Not that they are essential viewing either. They are just silly horror-comedies. But they are irresistible. And I’d encourage everyone to watch them. In fact, I think the second, third, and fourth films are better than the first!

The problem comes with Tremors 5. The whole franchise is under new ownership and the films become typical action films. Sure, there’s comedy! But it’s of the one-liner variety that we know so well of dozens of forgettable action films of the past. All the charm is gone.

Stop at the fourth film. You’ll be glad you did!

December 2021 Films

1. The Night of the Virgin (2016)
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
3. Tremors (1990)
4. Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)
5. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001)
6. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)
7. Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015)
8. Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)

See you next month!