Loose Cannons is another oddity in the buddy cop genre (I’ve been on a kick lately), a film that feels like a jigsaw puzzle made from a collage of old TV Guide movie plot blurbs. The kind of thing you’d find left behind by an insane asylum inmate escapee. That’s my exceedingly sloppy way of … Read more
When Ford Fairlane hit theaters in 1990, the Andrew Dice Clay phenomenon had already peaked. You had the MTV ban from September ’89, the MSG sellouts in February ’90, the Nora Dunn walkout from SNL in May, the protesters chanting as he took the stage, all of it contributed to the Dice explosion, and the … Read more
Predator 2 arrived in theaters for Thanksgiving 1990, and promptly got its spine ripped out at the box office, opening fourth behind the likes of Home Alone and Dances with Wolves. It’s still the series’ lowest earner. Then 20th Century Fox buried the film franchise for fifteen years. Harrigan was intended to be every hard … Read more
For a brief stretch in the late ‘80s and early ’90s, we were waist-high in billowing satin sheets, backlit blinds, and droning synths. The ‘erotic horror’ genre littered the horror shelves – but they really did deserve their own section. Somewhere between Dawn of the Dead and Witchboard, you’d find titles like Meridian, To Sleep … Read more
“You see there’s nothing to do anymore… Everything decent’s been done. All the great themes in life have been used up, turned into theme parks. So I don’t really find it exactly cheerful to be living in the middle of a totally exhausted decade where there’s nothing to look forward to and no one to … Read more
I Love You to Death arrived on Home Video today in 1990, after an April 6th theatrical release. “Monop-oly!” Lawrence Kasdan’s charismatic dark comedy about a repeatedly botched spousal homicide wasn’t exactly box-office poison, but it didn’t garner much love or critical acclaim when it first hit theatres – in spite of the built-in pulled-from-the-headlines … Read more
Meet the Hollowheads somehow just showed up in Video Stores today in 1990, after running the festival circuit in 1989. This movie actually exists. I swear. It’s set in a pseudo-50’s dystopic suburban future that also happens to be populated by tentacled monsters which serve as various household appliances… and even food. Yes, it’s real. … Read more
A very different world: Def By Temptation is a slick ultra-low budget vampire flick by writer-director-producer-former-child-actor James Bond III. It used to get a bad rap by way of the Troma association, but don’t let that fool you. This is one of those little bargain basement labours of love that Troma would occasionally catch and … Read more
Bossa Nova! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrived in Video Stores and retail on October 4th, 1990 – following a boffo March 30th theatrical release. The tape would set your parents back a cool 24.99. Turtlemania struck hard in 1990 – the phenomenon actually rivaled Batman the year before. I was just old enough to keep … Read more
When is a Creepshow movie not a Creepshow movie? When it’s based on the Tales From The Darkside TV show (1983-1988), which itself is an adaptation of the Creepshow idea into a syndicated television series. But Laurel (George A. Romero and Richard P. Rubinstein’s production company which produced the film) couldn’t secure the rights to … Read more