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sailorsmith
Reviews
Scream Bloody Murder (1973)
Camp classic with spills, chills, and laughs.
This is a great film on so many levels. I'm giving it a "10" and here's why: (All movies I review start with a "5" average and then I add or subtract points as needed.) +1 The opening scene where young Matthew plows down his father and has his hand severed. I knew from the get go that the dad was about to be mincemeat. However, I wasn't expecting the kid to lose a hand. And then the title pops up over Matthew screaming bloody murder. Priceless.
+1 The movie is fast paced. I found with older low budget movies that they move very slow, due to being used to our modern MTV style editing. I usually lose interest quickly in fare like this, but this held my attention to the end. Within the first few minutes of the movie, Matthew runs over his father with a plow, loses a hand, gets sent to mental hospital, gets released, murders his mom and step dad, then goes on the run and murders a newlywed couple. This all occurs within the first twenty minutes.
+1 I love Vera/Daisy, the painting hooker with a heart of gold and pocketful of sass. She reminded me a lot of Nancy Barrett, Carolyn Stoddard on Dark Shadows. In fact I thought it was her, until I looked it up here. Vera shines in every scene she is in. A shout out to Fred Holbert, who manages to make Matthew seem innocent and sweet, while at the same time portraying murderous insanity.
-2 The killing of the dog. Totally unnecessary. I'm sure the director wanted to show how crazy Matthew was, but we already know how crazy he was from the killing of the maid and the old woman.
+1 The killing of the maid and the old woman.
+1 Vera using her seductive charms on Matthew, turning him in a puddle.
+1 Matthew popping up at the front door and killing Vera. It is totally impossible for him to have got downstairs and outside that quickly, but it was unexpected and gave me a good fright.
+1 Matthew's final breakdown and stabbing himself to death with his hook hand. Classic.
So my final score is a 10. Sure this movie is trash, but it's very good trash.
I think a campy remake is in order for this one, starring Crispin Glover as Matthew and Rose McGowen or Christina Ricci as Vera.
Rolling Kansas (2003)
Good "Bad" Movie
I saw this one last night on Comedy Central. I had never heard of Rolling Kansas, so I had no expectations going into it. This is not a good movie, by any means. Poorly written and directed with a cast of so-so actors, at first I didn't know if I'd be able to watch the whole thing. However, time flew by and before I knew it I had watched the whole thing. It helps if you high.
There are a few good laughs. The actors are likable, my favorite being the gay friend. Rip Torn is a hoot, although we don't really get to know much about his character.
I'm glad I didn't pay any money to see this flick, but it was worth my time. So if there's nothing else on TV , you could do worse.
Another word of advice: if you're going somewhere to pick up some weed and you get pulled over by the police twice before you even get there, then maybe it isn't such a good idea to be hauling hundreds of pounds of weed around. Just a thought.