Expelled Grey Matter

The more I dig the more I find obscure movies from the 1980s.  Finding them from the 1960s and 1970s doesn't surprise me as I was either not alive yet or was too young to care about anything that wasn't Godzilla, Harryhausen or Star Wars .  The 1980s, however, are still pretty clear, and most video stores were pretty lax on what they would rent to a teenager.  As long as it didn't look like porn I was good. In truth, I think I remember seeing Vamp in the store at some point.  I certainly remember some photo, either promoting the movie or just promoting Grace Jones, with her dressed as Katrina with all the Keith Haring body paint and metal bikini.  It's a striking image.  However, there is a reason many of these movies remain obscure, and a major one is that just like exploitation films from the decades proceeding the actual film doesn't live up to the poster or box cover. Keith (Chris Makepeace) and AJ (Robert Rusler) are trying to pledge to a fraternity to...

There is a skeleton in the closet of the DC Cinematic Universe.  That should come as a surprise as so many of the movies they did release over the years were of questionable quality.  There is one, though, that that was such a failure that even the star of it had never seen it in its entirety until just a few years ago.  That is Green Lantern . Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a test pilot for Ferris Aviation.  He followed in his father's footsteps and is haunted by his dad's (Jon Tenney) death in a crash.  His flying partner, and off-and-on romantic interest, is Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who is set to take over the company from her father.  Hal has a habit of taking too many risks, and one of them ruins the company's chance for a government contract.  However, Hal's life is about to change.  When a wounded alien (Temuera Morrison) lands on Earth, the ring he carries chooses Hal to take his place.  He soon finds himself part of the Green Lant...

Natural Born Killers was one of many early scripts written by video store clerk Quentin Tarantino.  Influenced by Bonnie and Clyde  and Badlands , Tarantino repeatedly tried to get the movie made.  He never intended to direct it himself but rather to have his friend Rand Vossler do so.  After failing to get the project off the ground it was shelved and Tarantino eventually made his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs .  However, Oliver Stone took a liking to the story and bought it.  Much to Tarantino's chagrin he completely rewrote it with some help from others.  Where the original focused on journalist Wayne Gale, Stone made mass murderers Mickey and Mallory Knox the focus and presented the movie as an ultraviolent satire on how the mainstream media turns serial killers into folk heroes.  Despite its creator's dislike for what the story became, and controversy over whether or not Stone was celebrating violence rather than condemning it, Natura...

Little Red Riding Hood, in all its iterations, is a warning to young girls about going out on their own.  It is one of the most famous fairy tales long before Jacob Grimm started compiling his versions of the stories.  Although often used as an easy Halloween costume or sexy cosplay gag the relevance of the tale remains. Despite literal wolves posing a threat in medieval Europe there was always the metaphorical wolf hanging about hoping to do with what he, or in some cases she, will with a defenseless young girl when no one else is around. As with most modern retellings of such stories the girl is not as defenseless as she looks.  Grimm, who usually kept the cautionary endings intact, added the part where Red is rescued after cutting open the wolf's stomach as he swallowed her whole, while in the original things don't end so well for her.  In the 1990s it should be no surprise that things wouldn't end up so well for the wolf. Vanessa Lutz (Reese Witherspoon) is a bar...

The idea of dying repeatedly and coming back is a well-worn trope in science fiction.  Usually the way its handled is with a time loop, where everything resets at the end of the day and the person lives their life over and over until either they discover what is causing the loop or satisfy some mystical part of the universe that allows them to then continue.  Often these are quite interesting despite the proliferation of similar stories and movies.  Mickey 17 looks at a different type of situation where the person is labeled an "Expendable", meaning that they are able to be used in dangerous situations or experiments with the understanding that they will have a new body printed and their memories restored after each death.  While it sounds in some ways enticing, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) soon learns the gravity of what he signed up form. Mickey and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun) make a bad business investment using money from loan shark Darius Blank (Ian Hanmor...

Child's Play was a pretty decent hit in 1988, spawning two sequels.  Chucky became a horror icon along with Jason, Freddy and the lot, although by the third movie the story involving Charles Lee Ray constantly trying to switch his soul into Alex had pretty much played out.  Where most franchises at the time would have continued with diminishing returns in the direct-to-video market it appeared that producer and writer Don Mancini did the smart thing and ended with Child's Play 3 .   In 1998 that changed.  Child's Play 2 and Child's Play 3 had increasingly seen Chucky become more of a darkly comic character so, when the character was brought back for Bride of Chucky , the comedic aspects were emphasized.  Mancini didn't make the mistake of trying to change Chucky into a sympathetic character, but found humor by introducing his girlfriend, who sets everything in motion for yet another resurrection. Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) arranges for Chucky's (Brad Dourif...