B-Movie Monday: Rambo Rip-Offs

With the 4th of July only 3days away I thought we would look at some of the more interesting rip-offs, er I mean tributes of Rambo. The quintessential misunderstood Vietnam vet character first hit the screens in First Blood and soon the shelves were full of similar heroes. Filmmakers both foreign and domestic jumped on the bandwagon. Not exactly my B-Movie cup of tea, but they are a part of the Bs too.

And if that wasn't strange enough they even made a 65 episode cartoon featuring Rambo and "The Force of Freedom"...

B-Movie Monday Is Back! (On A Tuesday...)

My blogging vacation is over!

Oh I have read plenty of your blogs, yet I must admit I just didn't have the gumption to write anything recently. But now I am coming out of my self-imposed exile slowly but surely. Here and now B.Movie Monday rises from the grave!

Here are some trailers. Gotta get back on the bike! Ciao!

B-Movie Monday: Bollywood Horror!

Hello and welcome to B-Movie Monday. Submitted for your approval today are some horror movie trailers from India. I've watched a couple of Indian horror movies, and I've found them to be interesting viewing. It is interesting how some of the movies have Western-style monsters that are fought with such things as tridents (as a symbol of Shiva). Well enjoy these views into another realm of horror...

An excellent introduction to Bollywood horror by the fine folks at Mondo Macabro:

B-Movie Monday: Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1969) - Assignment: Terror

Hey I'm back! Sorry I haven't been back with much on the blog. I got a Nook Simply Touch for Xmas and I've been loving that. :) It's a perfect e-reader for reading lots of fan fiction and rpg blog posts...

Submitted for your approval today is Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1969) - Assignment: Terror (aka Los Monstruos del Terror) featuring Michael Rennie and the late, great Paul Naschy! It's got monsters and aliens. Enjoy!

B-Movie Monday: Chistmas Mayhem

Welcome to another B-Movie Monday! With Christmas Eve only a week away, lets take a look at several trailers that have Christmas as a main theme in the mayhem.

Black Christmas is considered by many to be one of the precursors of the slasher genre. Featuring Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, and the Mighty John Saxon!

 

 I remember all the hell that was raised when this movie came out.

 

Surprisingly funny, Santa Slays tells the real origin of Santa. Featuring ex-wrestler Bill Goldberg and Robert Culp in his pajamas.




This Finnish import is worth checking out. There are some surprisingly creepy scenes in this one.

 

Everyone seems to forget that Gremlins is set during Christmas...




 Hope you're all getting your stuff done for the Holidays!

B-Movie Monday: Movie Posters!

Yeah, it's been three weeks since my last post and I've got little excuse but a spell of sickness and the dawning of the holidays. In the meantime I picked up the Primeval RPG harcover by Cubicle 7 and John Stater's Blood & Treasure Complete Game softcover from Lulu when they had a 30% coupon. More about B&T down the road. But It's Monday, and that means it's time for B-Movie Monday here at the Amazing RPG Fun Pad.

And just cause I thought I'd bust out some cool movie poster art. Cause I can. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

B-Movie Monday: Some Of My Favorite Turkeys

The hack reviewers the Medved Brothers define a Golden Turkey Award as (quoted from Wikipedia):

The book awards the fictional "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a chronically inept body of work. The book features many low-budget obscurities and exploitation films such as Rat Pfink a Boo Boo, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and the apparently lost Him. Other categories include expensive, big studio failures like The Swarm and popular films such as Jesus Christ Superstar. 

B-Movie Monday is not about this narrow look at movies. We celebrate everything that is weird and cheesy in such films. With Thanksgiving rolling around I want to celebrate some of the movies other people think are, well, turkeys...

Zombi 3 (directed by Lucio Fulci and an uncredited Bruno Mattei) has ben described as a mess, the worst Italian zombie movie of the 80s, and other things. This movie (along with Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City) has become one of my guilty favorite Italian zombie movies. Admittedly it makes no sense and you can tell that there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen. But when it's all said and done, there is a crazy energy in Zombi 3 that I have to respect. Watch the trailer and see.



 What else can be said about Plan 9 From Outer Space? Worst movie of all time? Hardly. As talentless as Ed Wood Jr may have been, the man had miles of heart and enthusiasm. From Criswell to Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson, Plan 9 is bad but it's a fun kind of bad. And to quote Mike Nelson: "What kind of monster names their kid Dudley Manlove?"


According to the Golden Turkey Awards the Worst Vegetable Movie was Attack of the Mushroom People (aka Matango). Snarkiness aside, Matango is a bleak movie about people shipwrecked on a strange island. There are mushrooms involved. Search this one out.It's a strange little gem.


Finally. here is a trailer for a movie that has been mention on the Amazing Fun Pad several times. It's hard to find now, as it has never been released on US or UK DVD that I know of. But every once in a while I'll switch on the VHS to watch this under appreciated gem. Bask in the glory that is Yor The Hunter From The Future. He's the Man!


 
News Flash! I just saw that Amazon has Yor streaming for $3 or on DVD-R for under $20! Glee!

B-Movie Monday: Shaolin and Wu Tang (1981)

In honor of the Rza's (of the Wu-Tang Clan) new martial arts movie The Man with the Iron Fists I give you Shaolin and Wu Tang (1981). This movie was directed by martial arts legend Gordon Liu (Pai Mei in Kill Bill 2. Enjoy.

B-Movie Monday: Slasher Flicks!

This isn't gonna end well: The Night Owl from Stage Fright

Welcome Back to B-Movie Monday! Today is a collection of slasher flick trailers. I must admit that slasher movies are not my cup of tea. I much more prefer a good supernatural or weird thriller rather than basic hack and slash. But I recently picked up Deep 7's Shriek X, the new expanded XPG version of their 1PG rpg Shriek. Plus I've been flipping through my PDF of Spectrum Games Slasher Flick too. (I did have a thought of using their Cartoon Action Hour Season 2 rules for grindhouse movies and call it Drive-In Exploitation Grindhouse.) So here we go...

Dario Argento's lost giallo.



A masterful deconstruction of  slasher cliches: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.



Saw this one on Chiller network. Not a bad one.



Another Italian classic and worth seeking out: Michele Soavi's Stage Fright (aka Deliria and Stage Fright: Aquarius). Death is beautiful in this one.



Two slashers go to war: The OK Freddy vs. Jason

And as a bonus, my favorite slasher movie credit music ever, "The Ballad of Harry Warden" from My Bloody Valentine (1981)

B-Movie Monday: Horror VHS Cover Art

Here is a video complilation of some of the best horror VHS box art that came out since the 80s. I wish that half of the videos out today had as good the art. Sure sometimes the movie had no relation to the cover, but you roll your dice, you take your chances... And for an amazing collection of VHS covers of all genres, check out the fine folks at VHS Wasteland.

B-Movie Monday: Gargoyles (1972)

One of my favorite horror movies when I was a youngster, I first saw Gargoyles when they played in on the Milwaukee version of Shock Theater in the early 80's. Easily one of the best horror TV movies outside of The Night Stalker, Gargoyles is an interesting take on the Gargoyle myth. This movie features the Mighty Bernie Casey as the Gargoyle and the first onscreen work of legendary special effects artist Stan Winston.
And like many b-movies of the era you may find the ending open for sequels. Like maybe, I don't know, perhaps a RPG campaign...

B-Movie Monday

Long day.  Got some spaghetti western trailers for you...

B-Movie Monday: Sword Fight Between The Dimensions From Waxwork II: Lost In Time

One of my favorite B-movies of the 90s was  Waxwork II: Lost In Time, Anthony Hickox's 1992 sequel to his amazingly fun movie Waxwork (1988). The main concepts was that the main characters Mark (Zach Galligan) and Sarah (Monika Schnarre) are trapped in another dimension called Cartagra, with gates between  various movie tribute realities. Wikipedia describes Cartagra as:

... another dimension consisting of stories that have become realities (including homages to Frankenstein, The Haunting, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dr. Jekyll, Alien, Godzilla, Jack the Ripper, Nosferatu, and Dawn of the Dead). According to exposition later given by Sir Wilfred in the form of a raven, these worlds comprise "God's video game," where God and the devil battle over the fate of the world, each victory being reflected in events occurring in the real world. When Mark or Sarah appear in each reality they take on the persona of characters in those stories, sometimes having their personalities and memories taken over by those characters until they regain their senses.

Not only is this a great campaign idea for an adventurous horror campaign, but it has one of my favorite scenes of 90s B-Movie fun: a six minute sword fight between Mark and the evil Lord Scarabis (the late Alexander Godunov) through multiple movie dimensions. The dialogue is in Italian, but the visuals need no translation

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B-Movie Monday: H. P. L. Hullabaloo!

Today is the 122nd birthday of the Old Gent of Providence himself, H.P. Lovecraft. I thought it would be fitting to present some of of B-Movie visions of his work. No doubt Lovecraft would be horrified by these movies, but they are an exploitation --I mean celebration of his cosmic vision.

Eclipsed by Reanimator, From Beyond was a sick squishy adaptation of the short story. Some of the scenes in this movie still make me wince.



The Shunned House is a film by Italian director Ivan Zuccon. The narrative of the film includes elements from "The Music of Erich Zann", "Dreams in the Witch House" and the title story. Admittedly a bloody mess, but there are some effective visions of time folding in on itself.



Beyond the Dunwich Horror is best described as a blend of Lovecraft and Italian Horror. This modern day adaptation by Richard Griffiths is low budgeted but fun. Eyes take a beating in this one.

 

 The H. P Lovecraft Collection is a series dedicated to adaptions of Lovecraft's stories. There are some real gems in these collections and some interesting interpretations of the master's work.

B-Movie Monday: Messiah of Evil (1973)

Welcome to B-Movie Monday! Presenting today Messiah of Evil (aka Dead People), an underrated classic from 1973. A very weird and dreamlike picture, there are some striking scenes in this one. Great inspiration for a twist on the average "rise of the zombies" scenarios.

B-Movie Monday: The Green Slime (1968)

I've been sloppy on the B-Movie Mondays. No More!






Here's the USA/Italy/Japan classic from 1968: The Green Slime (Japanese title Gamma 3: Operation Outer Space!)  Google Video  has the entire movie online for viewing. I love the monster design, and Luciana Paluzzi is gorgeous.


 

B-Movie Monday: Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979)

Big McLargehuge...I mean Reb Brown as Captain America

With The Avengers kicking ass in the theaters I thought it would be fun to visit another man that played Captain America: the one, the only, Reb Brown! Okay, the character has a different history than the real Captain America but it still is fun in that cheesy TV movie sort of way. Actually, it's not a great movie but I've seen worse. And the person responsible for that will pay, oh yes...

I digress.

 Here, fresh from YouTube, is Captain America II: Death Too Soon, in it's entirety. Featuring Reb Brown, Christopher Lee, and the lovely Connie Selleca.

 

B-Movie Monday

I'm back with the Master of the Flying Guillotine!

B-Movie Monday

Because Luchadors in Suits Makes Sense in A B-Movie World

B-Movie Monday: Houses of Horror!