Society (1989)

Directed by Brian Yuzna. Starring Billy Warlock. IMDB Yuzna's surrealistic film is one of the best "Rich People Are Actually Monsters" movies out there.

I still have no idea what he was thinking during the truly bizarre last half hour of the movie but it's memorable and entertaining all the same.

Yuzna is probably more famous as being the producer of Re-Animator but I actually like the ones he directed, including 2005's "Beneath Still Waters" which got universally panned by the horror community. His stuff is so singularly weird and atmospheric, even if the plots are kind of whacked. A little like Argento if you think about it.

City On Fire (1987)

Directed by Ringo Lam.

Starring Chow Yun Fat.

IMDB

As already documented heavily, this film was a major inspiration for Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" but it stands on its own as a massive piece of action filmmaking with some unforgettable brutal violence and slick city atmosphere.

It seems to be just as informed by 70's Italian crime films as it is by the original source American films, but that's just my take on it.

The Terror Within (1989)

Directed by Thierry Notz.

Starring George Kennedy and Andrew Stevens.

IMDB

This is the Roger Corman-produced take on "Alien" that probably blew its entire budget on the rubber monster and one good sci-fi set.

I always seem to like movies starring George Kennedy, whether it's classic Hollywood fare like Cool Hand Luke or Canadian tax-shelter films like Death Ship.

The lack of a voice-over hurts this trailer a little (maybe they couldn't afford it!) but it's packed with some decent monster beast chaos and a respectable burning man stunt.

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The House Where Evil Dwells (1982)

Directed by Kevin Connor.

Starring Edward Albert and Susan George.

IMDB

22 years before "The Grudge"...

A great trailer for a largely forgotten film that is a sort of precursor to J-Horror mixed with a little "Shogun Assassin". The ghost effects are actually creepy and we get a spider gag that looks right out of Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond".

Susan George (Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry) co-stars in this one before devoting most of the rest of her career to television gigs. Director Kevin Connor did much the same after this but he was also responsible for the notorious slasher flick "Motel Hell" just two years previous.

I'm pretty sure this DVD is still in print from MGM if you want to track it down.

Dixie Dynamite (1976)

Directed by Lee Frost.

Starring Warren Oates, Jane Anne Johnstone and Christopher George.

IMDB

This one stars two my favourite actors in Warren Oates (Race With The Devil) and Christopher George (City Of The Living Dead).

Lee Frost has many trailers on this site already such as "Policewomen" (1974) and "The Thing With Two Heads" (1972).

Pretty good 70's road fare, especially if you like Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Vanishing Point, Smokey and the Bandit, Race With The Devil etc.

Monster Shark (1984) aka Devilfish

Directed by Lamberto Bava.

Starring Michael Sopkiw.

IMDB

One of a few legendary Jaws-rip offs from the Italians. Movies such as Enzo G. Castellari's "The Last Shark" and Bruno Mattei's "Cruel Jaws" were so slavish to the original that they actually used footage directly ripped from the blockbuster Spielberg film (and were sued because of it).

This one tries to be more coherent but it ends up being less entertaining because of it. This is a true stink bomb from the wildly uneven Lamberto Bava who was sometimes capable of great films like "Macabre" (1980) and "Demons" (1985).

This is also one of Michael Sopkiw's last films, though he has only done 5 in his whole career. Still, he's a memorable leading man, especially in Italian jungle fare like "Massacre In Dinosaur Valley" (1985) and as a Mad Max-like warrior in "2019: After The Fall Of New York" (1983).

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

Directed by Terry Marcel.

Starring Jack Palance and John Terry.

IMDB

Whoa. Total mind blow.

Palance takes his bad ass Western villain character into the Star Wars inspired Sword and Sorcery early 80's where glowing swords and Tron-like special effects meant box office gold.

Except this British helmed film was only shown in America on television and has managed to become a cult favourite thanks to it's light-hearted take on the genre and some decent F/X and set design despite a typically low budget.

Palance is great fun to watch in everything he did, whether it was Hollywood drek, Italian crime or westerns, or odd one-offs like this one.