Chopping Mall
Blu-ray
Director: Jim Wynorski
Screenwriter: Jim Wynorski, Steve Mitchell
Cast: Kelli Maroney, Tony O’Dell, John Terlesky, Russell Todd, Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Dick Miller
Distributor: Lionsgate
Rated R | 95 Minutes
Release Date: September 27, 2016

“Where shopping can cost you an arm and a leg.”

Exploitation filmmaker Jim Wynorski has given us so many classic films. The Return of Swamp Thing, Scream Queen Hot Tub Party, 976-Evil II, Ghoulies IV, Sorceress, The Bare Wench Project, The Witches of Breastwick, Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre – the list goes on and on. Of the 100+ movies the writer-director has made, however, his finest accomplishment is 1986’s Chopping Mall.

Starring Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Night of the Comet) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Chopping Mall is the epic story of eight teenagers trapped in a state-of-the-art shopping mall, pursued by homicidal security droids, also known as Killbots. As the robots pick off the frisky teenagers with their high-powered lasers, the survivors break into a sporting goods store (“Peckinpah’s”) to secure weapons. Armed with rifles, propane tanks, and golf carts, the denim-clad kids wage war on the murder-bots with Park Plaza Mall serving as their battlefield.

Not Of This Earth
Netflix Streaming
DVD
Directed by Jim Wynorski
Starring Traci Lords, Arthur Roberts, Ace Mask, Becky LeBeau
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Originally Released: May 13, 1988

Heading for a change of pace in our weekly Netflix Streaming Review, this week we take a look at the cheesiness and campiness of the classic and cult B-Grade sci-fi flick, Not Of This Earth. The film has the distinct fame for being Traci Lords‘ first “serious” mainstream acting vehicle after her first few adult film flings. The movie is a flashback to an era of filmmaking when B-Grade flicks had their own culture and fan following, when it was acceptable and almost mandatory to include a bad story with bad acting, but special effects and lots of boobs. That is the way of things when it comes to movies like Not Of This Earth.

First off, this movie is totally campy, cheesy, and ill budgeted – it’s best to be aware of these elements before going into viewing it. In fact, it is so stuck in the 1980s, it has a nude tittie shot followed by awful keyboard-induced music within the first five minutes of the film – it’s so seamlessly done and indicative of the era that it puts both Flesh Gordon movies to shame. But that’s what these movies were all about both back in the day and in this day looking at it in retrospective.

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Thriller: The Complete Series for only $55.99 (that’s 63% off the list price of $149.98).

Note, this sale is only for today, Sunday October 17, 2010 until midnight PST, while supplies last.

This 14-disc box set contains all all 67 episodes of this horror series hosted by horror legend Boris Karloff, which aired on NBC from 1960 to 1962. The episodes are all uncut and remastered, and this set contains lots of bonus features, including new audio commentaries.

The series, which told tales of the macabre, had such guest stars as William Shatner, Leslie Nielson, Rip Torn, and Richard Chamberlain.

For those of you who love horror and suspense, Thriller is known as “as one of the most frightening programs ever broadcast on television” even today. Plus, Karloff — who is well known for his roles as iconic monsters Frankenstein and The Mummy, appears in five episodes of the series.

The Return of Swamp Thing, the 1989 Jim Wynorski-direct film starring Heather Locklear and Dick Durock, is now online to watch for FREE for residents of the United States.

You can watch the full-length feature film here below.

The Return of Swamp Thing, which also stars Louis Jourdan and Sarah Douglas, is based on the DC/Vertigo comic book series Swamp Thing and is the sequel to Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing film.

Make no mistake, this movie is pure 80s cheesy goodness, but one thing it succeeds in is making you sympathetic to the Swamp Thing (Durock), a scientist who was transformed into a creature after a horrible lab experiment. And for the typical ’80s man-in-monster-suit, I think the Swamp Thing looks pretty good (the same can’t be said about the other fail experiment victims also roaming the swamps).

I absolutely love the American Pie franchise, especially since it stars one of my favorite comedic actors ever, Mr. Eugene Levy.

After the original R-rated trilogy movies were released in theaters, the franchise shifted to the direct-to-DVD market with their American Pie Presents line. Now, coming out on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on December 22, 2009 is the latest installment, American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, available in both Rated and Unrated versions.

CraveOnline has both the standard and uncensored trailers for the film, which sees Levy’s return as the wannabe insightful dad Noah Levenstein, along with a story about three high school virgins who find a “legendary guide to seduction” at their school library. Unfortunately, it’s missing a few pages, which leads the sex-obsessed boys on a crazy journey to lose their virginity and reconstruct this sexual “Bible.”

Apparently, the Book of Love has a bunch of celebrity cameos, like Bret Michaels and one that totally caught my eye — C. Thomas Howell, my first celebrity crush! Now I’m really curious what he’ll be doing in the film.

See below for synopsis, casting, and DVD/Blu-ray details.