ARMAGIDEON TIME considers the Human Bomb - who was totally a thing.

From ARMAGIDEON TIME

Created by Paul Gustavson (under the pen name of Paul Carroll), the Human Bomb was a research chemist named Roy Lincoln who was helping his pa synthesize “27-QRX” — the most powerful explosive known to man.

The compound was so destructive and volatile that the Elder Lincoln worried about what would happen if it should fall into enemy hands — so, naturally, the lab was rushed by a gaggle of Fifth Columnist goons the moment after the old man finishes is portentous speech. After the goons finish off his dad, Roy decided the best way to keep the Axis from nabbing the only sample of the formula was to eat the damn thing.

(I suppose it could’ve been worse. His dad could’ve been involved in top secret research on cat litter, broken glass, or Taco Bell food.)

This being a superhero comic, the chemical miraculously infused Roy’s body with raw explosive power. His punches could explode walls, his bare skin could disintegrate bullets, his poops could make him the most unwelcome house guest ever. Roy used his new abilities to wipe the Fifth Columnists (and his father’s mansion) off the face of the earth, vowing bloody vengeance upon whoever sent them.

Needing a means of controlling his pyrotechic powers, Roy whipped himself up a containment suit of “fibro-wax” before exploding his way up the chain of underlings in search of their Nazi paymaster. When he did finally (as in “two pages later”) encounter him, Roy’s revenge was as fittingly horrific and thankfully off-panel....

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JOHNNY LARUE'S CRANE SHOT pays tribute to the legend of Masten Thrust Jr!

From JOHNNY LARUE'S CRANE SHOT

Basically a mixture of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Toho monster movies, and the Jock Mahoney adventure THE LAND UNKNOWN for Universal-International, THE LAST DINOSAUR sends wealthy white hunter Thrust (Richard Boone), journalist Frankie Banks (Joan Van Ark), scientist Kawamoto (Tetsu Nakamura), geologist Chuck Wade (Steven Keats), and tracker Bunta (Lester Rackley) above the Arctic Circle, where they enter a tropical valley populated with dinosaurs beneath a volcano. The party becomes stranded there, and Thrust becomes obsessed with killing a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Boone, a great actor who became a television star on HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, is fascinating to watch for both the right and wrong reasons....

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JOHNNY LARUE'S CRANE SHOT visits SAVAGE BEACH!

By the time he made SAVAGE BEACH, writer/director Andy Sidaris had his perfect formula for escapist adventure down pat: gorgeous women (always nude or scantily clad), handsome guys, Hawaiian beaches and palm trees, guns, gadgets, explosions, tongue-in-cheek humor, suggestive dialogue, and a slick production that belied its low budget...

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Nathan DeHoff considers the legacy of Jack Chick...

From VOVATIA

Holy Faceless God, Jack Chick died yesterday. Hey, isn’t that the day Bishop James Ussher claimed the world began in 4004 BC? I don’t know whether modern Young Earth Creationists still accept that date, but it still seems appropriate. You’ve probably heard of his tracts, tiny comics that his followers would buy in bulk to distribute to others in hopes of converting people. Sometimes they gave the tracts out directly, and other times just left them lying around in public places. Chick, a ninety-two-year-old World War II veteran, claims he got the idea from comics given out by the Chinese Communist Party. They’ve been released since 1970, with him apparently originally doing all the art, but uncredited artists later picking up the slack. The style is quite recognizable, with strangely shaded backgrounds, kids with giant eyes, and demons that look like they belong in a children’s picture book...

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And now a GHOST BUSTERS Flashbak. No not GHOSTBUSTERS- GHOST BUSTERS!

From Saturday Morning Madness: The 5 Most Bizarre Live-Action Saturday Morning Programs of the 1970s

So, first things first: credit Filmation’s The Ghost Busters for devising first the very premise of the 1984 blockbuster of (almost) the same name. 

As is the case in Ghostbusters starring Bill Murray, The Ghost Busters involves hapless paranormal investigators who use technological means to bumble through the capture of supernatural villains. 

But man, The Ghost Busters is damn weird. ### It stars past-their prime F-Troop (1965-1967) stars Larry Storch and Forest Tucker as the ghost busters, but they team with a gorilla, Tracy. And when I say gorilla, I mean a man in a gorilla suit (Bob Burns).

Why a gorilla companion? Well, why a talking chimpanzee in Filmation’s Ark II? In the Saturday morning program of the 1970s, these things just happen, I guess you could say. 

Maybe an attempt to capture the Planet of the Apes demographic? 

The Ghost Busters (1975) ran for fifteen episodes, and features cornball humor. One episode labors over the difference between a “stake” and a “steak,” in regards to vampire-hunting tools. And the theme song, as you can play in video form above, features Storch and Tucker warbling out a terrible tune.

DAY OF THE WOMAN reviews the new horror film SPRING. (I really wanna see this one.)

From DAY OF THE WOMAN

If you're not ride or die for Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, you're missing out. The duo's debut, 2013's RESOLUTION, was one of the most inventive horror films of the year. After watching their sophomore film SPRING, these two prove that they aren't one-hit wonders, and that they are bonafide film making powerhouses. SPRING follows Evan, played by the incredible Lou Taylor Pucci (EVIL DEAD, CARRIERS), retreating to Italy after the mother he's been caring for passes away. While on his trip, he meets Louise (played by the effortlessly gorgeous Nadia Hilker), and is immediately captivated. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Evan, Louise is harboring a secret that is both horrifying and dangerous.. 
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(Recommended Article) BJ Colangelo's 'UNEXPECTEDLY FEMINIST HORROR FILMS: JOHN CARPENTER'S 'THE THING' (1982)'

From DAY OF THE WOMAN

John Carpenter arguably created his masterpiece with THE THING. Although it remains within the science fiction subgenre, THE THING also falls within the same realm as a monster movie or a body-horror film. Considering the main antagonist of THE THING, is non-human and the rest of the characters are male, many people forget that THE THING is also a great example of feminism. By definition, feminism the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Emphasis on EQUALITY. The patriarchy (or a male-dominated society) doesn't just hurt women, it hurts men. John Carpenter's THE THING is an excellent film to analyze masculinity in a patriarchal society...

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If you've ever imagined Nyarlathotep as biker in a leather diaper then does Tim Knight have the film for you!

From HEROPRESS

There are shades of The Wicker Man in Curse Of The Crimson Altar - not the least of which is the presence of Christopher Lee - but what drew me initially to this film was the fact that it's essentially a very liberal reworking of HP Lovecraft's Dreams In The Witch House. 

The script by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, based on a story by Jerry Sohl, isn't particularly original (man seeking lost sibling comes into close-knit community and discovers odd things are a foot), but director Vernon Sewell doesn't let the obvious limited budget restrain his creativity. 

Curse Of The Crimson Altar is replete with interesting visuals, bizarre costumes and evocative lighting that give it - especially in the 'dream sequences' - a very particular and memorable look...

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Not only is John Kenneth Muir's article 'Déjà vu All Over Again' a fun read- it also has a picture of Robey I'd never seen before!

From FLASHBAK
Once upon a time, major TV series in America were expected to be on the air and producing new material for twenty-five to thirty weeks a year.

Sometimes, production companies fell behind in this rigorous schedule.

 Sometimes they simply ran out of money, or were budgeting for an expensive, upcoming sweeps installment, and needed a breather.

And sometimes, the producers were just rushing to put something together in anticipation of a writers or actors strike.

All such production disruptions could necessitate the creation of a terrible Frankenstein Monster: the dreaded “clips show.”

This was an episode of an otherwise beloved and entertaining series in which protagonists convened to recollect “events” in their lives, sometimes to solve a mystery or eliminate a threat. But the ploy was…transparent.

These character “memories” were visualized on screen as, literally, clips from previous episodes. The result was a rerun that wasn’t billed as one.

Even the best of shows in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were not immune to the horror of the “clips show.”

Here are five examples of this unfortunate necessity, and they are all pretty terrible...

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And now the pervy perfection of that pic!

THE UNKOWN MOVIES reviews STARCHASER: THE LEGEND OF ORIN

From THE UNKNOWN MOVIES

 

By this point, you may be wondering if the movie has any original ideas of its own. Well, there are a few. For one thing, there's... um... ah... oh yeah, the fact that the events in this movie don't take place a long time ago, but in the future. Also, Star Wars didn't have a female robot that, after Dagg tinkers with the circuitry in her posterior ("You've got no right to go probing around inside of me," protests the female robot at one point), all of a sudden has the hots for her human master, eventually getting a deep kiss in the mouth from him. And Star Wars didn't contain enema references, as well as a character suggesting that the rugged space smuggler was actually having some sort of gay relationship with the youthful hero on a quest... 

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CULT MOVIE REVIEWS examines THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE...

From CULT MOVIE REVIEWS
Jonathan Drake (Eduard Franz) has devoted his life to the study of the occult. His motivation is not curiosity but fear. For more than a hundred years the men of his family have died suddenly, apparently of heart attacks, on reaching the age of sixty. Jonathan Drake knows that these have not been natural deaths. Now his elder brother Kenneth has turned sixty and Jonathan must act immediately if he is to save him. Unfortunately his studies of the occult have not provided him with an answer and he will not be able to save his brother. The question is, will he be able to save himself?

JOHNNY LARUE'S CRANE SHOT reviews HORROR EXPRESS!

From JOHNNY LARUE'S CRANE SHOT

This gory Spanish thriller marked the sixteenth time that British horror icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing appeared in the same film. It is said that HORROR EXPRESS was made because producer Bernard Gordon owned the model train and the sets built for PANCHO VILLA and needed to do something with them (the miniature effects in HORROR EXPRESS are excellent)...

FLASHBAK presents 'Matter Eater Lad: Lamest Superhero of All Time'

From FLASHBAK

David Wong's essay 'Robin Williams and Why Funny People Kill Themselves' hits so close to home that it hurts.

From CRACKED

You ever have that funny friend, the class-clown type, who one day just stopped being funny around you? Did it make you think they were depressed? Because it's far more likely that, in reality, that was the first time they were comfortable enough around you to drop the act. 

The ones who kill themselves, well, they're funny right up to the end... 

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(Recommended Article) 'The Creature Wants Our Women!' by Yeoman Lowbrow

From FLASHBAK

Whether it be giant gorilla or mutant zombie, there’s just something disconcerting about when a monster gets all hot and bothered over a human female. There’s nothing cute about a reptilian humanoid’s insatiable lust for our women. Yet, it happens again and again in old movies: these hideous creatures could care less about their own kind; but when it comes to human ladies, their attraction knows no bounds.

Of course, the Beauty & the Beast scenario has been a part of our mythology and folklore for ages. Aphrodite & Hephaestus, Persephone & Hades… we could even go back to Enkidu & Shamhat in the The Epic of Gilgamesh. More recent examples in literature: Quasimodo & Esmeralda, The Phantom of the Opera & Christine,.. we could go on all day. The trope has been so persistent because it tells a very human story: that women can redeem men, who are by nature brutish and animalistic. So, it’s only natural that this tale would transition from literature to the big screen.

So, what’s the problem? The cinematic creatures less resemble beasts in need of true love’s redemption than stalkers with a crush. Let’s take a look at a few varieties of these Creature Feature Casanovas...

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(Recommended Article) John Kenneth Muir considers 'The 4 Most Underrated David Lynch Films'

From FLASHBAK

IN many of his films, director David Lynch demonstrates an unnerving capacity to tap into surreal and disturbing dream imagery. This imagery often demands analysis or interpretation, not to mention the full engagement of the audience.

In short, you either follow Lynch willingly down the rabbit hole of visual symbolism, or you do so kicking and screaming.

If you choose the latter trajectory, then you likely reject his bizarre phantasms as either “nonsense” or merely as “meaningless.” If you choose the former route, you may find his bizarre films something akin to a mind-altering experience…and also deeply meaningful.

With such thoughts in mind, my selections for the four most underrated Lynch film experiences are those in which the narrative elements involve dreams, or the movies function as waking dreams themselves.

My choices (in chronological order) are as follows...

To read his choices click here

CULT MOVIE REVIEWS is itching to review YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP

From CULT MOVIE REVIEWS

Yongary, Monster from the Deep was South Korea’s 1967 attempt to climb aboard the Japanese monster movie bandwagon. In fact it was a co-production with Japan’s Toei Studio. It’s not a very good movie but if you’re in the right mood it’s kind of fun...

Yongary dancing was one of the more surreal moments in cinema...

BEHIND THE COUCH has an excellent review for CITADEL…

From BEHIND THE COUCH

Right from the get-go, with its depictions of an all-too-real council estate in Glasgow, having long fallen into decline and become a shadowy place of dereliction and menace, writer/director Foy establishes an atmosphere of dread and creepy tension. With its opening scene, in which Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) watches helplessly as a group of hooded youths attack his pregnant wife, unable to do anything as he’s stuck in the rickety lift of the tower block where they live, Foy ratchets up the tension good and tight. And rarely lets go. Effortlessly playing on contemporary social fears and anxieties, such as the breakdown of community, the failure of welfare systems set up to help the vulnerable, and the increasing threat from hoodlum culture, Citadel is a dark and taut horror, but one that is, for the most part anyway, grounded in a sense of reality...

The HOUSE OF SELF-INDULGENCE ruminates over that timeless classic THE TOXIC AVENGER.

Am I crazy or are the first fifteen minutes of The Toxic Avenger the greatest fifteen minutes ever to be captured on film? What's that? Oh, I am crazy. Whew, that's a relief. For a second there, I thought I had just witnessed something truly spectacular. Hold on, it's coming back to me. Let me set the scene. A fitness club in New Jersey, scratch that, a health club in new Jersey (watching a film a second time really helps when it comes to remembering minor details). A virtual cornucopia of tight bodies poured into leotards thrusting and heaving to the song "Body Talk" by Sandy Farina. If you head down to the pool area of said health club, you'll see hot chicks in bikinis for as far as the eye can see. Don't look now, but a toothy blonde is soaking her already moist vagina in a swimming pool adjacent hot tub. A leggy brunette in a shirt-dress with the word "Whaaam!" written on it in a comic book-friendly font (I think the word "wham" may have only contained two a's, but I decided to add an extra one for dramatic effect) is sauntering through the locker room with a leggy aplomb. Did I mention there are headbands-a-plenty? No? Well, it looks like I just did. Watch, as a toothy blonde in Pony International apparel takes a break from playing racquetball to plan and conceive the event that will change Tromaville forever with her scumbag friends. (Whoa, "scumbag"?!? How do you know they're scumbags? The film is, like you said, still in its infancy as far as running time goes.) Trust me, they're scumbags. Actually, it's all about perspective. If you think purposefully running over little kids with your car is behaviour worthy of the scumbag moniker, than you might want to call them that. If, however, you don't think it's worthy, you might think I was a tad hasty in my harsh judgment of them...
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(Recommended Article) 'One Hundred Years Of Weird Fear'

From BUZZFEED
Here we have the one hand correctly contextualizing Lovecraft within a society that was founded on and thrives on racism, while the other hand is shocked that such an overt racist could endure in the collective imagination. The subtext here is, “anyway, moving on to brighter topics.” Meanwhile, the only modern myths that have captivated the imagination of millions of white readers have been crouched in white supremacy. The “in spite of” phrase is a myopic, ahistorical fallacy. The Cthulhu Mythos endures not in spite of Lovecraft’s racism but because of it....