Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

Roger Corman's final film, Frankenstein Unbound, is an interesting yet flawed film. In the future, Dr Buchanan is testing a new laser weapon that creates a "time slip" as a byproduct, causing him to warp back to the 19th century where he meets Dr Frankenstein and monster. The progression and pacing of the plot is a bit slow and stumbles at the end. The cast is phenomenal, with John Hurt and Raul Julia playing the leads, and the aesthetic is lush and colorful like Corman's Haunted Palace. The film dips heavily into it's B-movie roots with moments of gore and violence that are inappropriately over the top. The budget shows when it comes to non-gore special effects, relying heavily upon cheap-looking light projectors and laser effects that are cool at first, then get old. A valiant effort by Corman and a fascinating take on the Frankenstein story, but despite it's ambition and cast, Frankenstein Unbound ultimately fails to be anything more than a polished B-movie.

6/10

Strange Impersonation (1946)

A genuine B-movie from the 1940s, Strange Impersonation manages to take a pretty overused (and outlandish) revenge plot and make it interesting... then completely destroy it. The story follows a brilliant scientist who tests an anesthetic upon herself and has her face disfigured by a jealous lab assistant. Somehow, she manages to fake her own death, get plastic surgery, and begin a plot for revenge. Although they're pretty cliche now, I still find face swap stories to be pretty interesting. The two main actresses were both pretty good despite the film being a low-budget endeavor, and the direction was pretty good as well. The film is nothing particularly original, but for a good deal of the film I was entertained. What killed it for me--and the reason why I would suggest you skip the film--is the ending (spoilers ahead): It was all a dream. I should have expected it, but no matter how outlandish a plot is I hope that the movie won't resort to the ultimate cop-out like Strange Impersonation did. Disappointing.

5/10

Zardoz (1974)

Zardoz, had it been done properly, could have been entertaining and maybe even thought-provoking. As it stands, it's a failed attempt at high-concept plagued by self-indulgence, camp, and sloppiness. Sean Connery stars as Zed, an exterminator that discovers he has a purpose among the seemingly foreign "Eternals" who are forever youthful psychics. But despite their utopia, there's trouble bubbling in their society. Connery spends most of his time gallivanting around in a bright orange speedo, acting as the Eternals' experiment and slave. In terms of style, other than the miniature of Zardoz, the film seems to go the route of low budget, lo-fi "effects" which causes some laughable moments. There was a certain sloppiness to the whole thing. I thought the underlying foundation of the plot/setting was fascinating and creative, but the execution was very poor. Zardoz is a film that unfortunately hangs between quality and camp. Not good enough to be good, but not bad enough enough to be funny.

3/10

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)

Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966) is the first direct sequel to Horror of Dracula (1958), and it's an excellent one at that. Four innocent travelers get stranded by their coachman and are "invited" to stay in Castle Dracula (despite being warned not to) resulting in the resurrection of Dracula. Christopher Lee reprises his role as the Count, but this time he doesn't say a word which ratchets up the tension. Andrew Keir stars as Father Sandor, a badass vampire-killer monk with a Scottish accent. While the film has one egregiously bad moment of "holding two sticks together and calling it a crucifix," Dracula, Prince of Darkness is probably the most faithful to typical vampire rules. Garlic, crosses, sunlight, coffins with dirt in them, and running water are all present in the film. With a strong cast and good production values, Dracula, Prince of Darkness is a highly entertaining and solid thriller that should be counted among the best of the Hammer Horror films.

7/10

Heavy Metal (1981)

Chock full of impressive imagery and loaded with an epic 80s rock soundtrack, one would think Heavy Metal could do no wrong. Unfortunately, despite the ambitious animation, Heavy Metal falls flat. Told as several vignettes tied loosely together by an evil green orb, the film doesn't give itself enough time to develop characters, emotional investment, or even an overarching narrative. The framing of the vignettes didn't make any sense, and the inevitable destruction of it at the end was completely random. The creativity of the stories and settings is evident, and it was pleasant to see animation that was adult-oriented. The unfortunate byproduct of this surplus of creativity was a handful of irrelevant sequences to put the creativity on display. Another unfortunate byproduct of the film being "adult" oriented is that every woman gets naked and has sex with complete disregard for character, plot, or pacing. I know you're probably thinking "how could that be bad?" but after you've seen the first sex scene, the rest of them are the same. It just seemed like time wasted on juvenile self-indulgence.

5/10