Tremors (franchise)

Is anybody here a particularly massive fan of the Tremors franchise? I saw the first one, and some of the second one, on some channel yesterday. Possibly SyFy. Anyway, I just started thinking about how Burt Gummer is sort of the Ash of the Tremors franchise. He's a fairly regular guy who just has so much attitude and gumption (and firepower) that he can prevail, while others perish gruesomely.

I'm contemplating binge-watching as many Tremors movies as I can find for free. I wouldn't do it in the next month or so, probably, because I have a whole bunch of family things coming up soon. But, hopefuly later this summer, or not too long after that, I guess.

Does anyone have a favorite Tremors movie?? I'm not even sure how many of them I have actually seen. The first one, of course, and most of the second one. After that... I may have watched a few scenes from various movies, over the years, just accidentally while channel surfing. I can't say for sure.

Anyway, yeah... if anyone has any thoughts on the franchise as a whole, or whatever, please share.

Avenging Angelo 2002

What the fuck was this? BAD Stallone! Bad!

I don't even know what to say about this movie. It's a romance that isn't charming. It's a comedy that isn't funny. It's an action movie that's boring as hell.

I'm glad I never blind-bought this, otherwise I'd have to avenge myself.

#Review

2023 Viewings

This is for anyone who wants to keep a log of their viewings/ratings every month so please feel free to add yours.

The links for the previous 6 years viewings are here if anyone still needs to access them for reference:

2022: https://trashepics.com/post/30/43/
2021: https://trashepics.com/post/30/37/
2020: https://trashepics.com/post/30/31/
2019: https://trashepics.com/post/30/9/
2018: https://trashepics.com/post/30/5/
2017: https://trashepics.com/post/9/97/

Murphy's Law 1986

Charles Bronson is a cop trying to catch a serial killer with the reluctant help of a dyke he hates. Yeah, he uses that as an insult, but of course, he gradually grows fond of her.

There's a bit of a clusterfuck aspect going on in which the killer is doing their own thing, but the cops are also trying to catch Bronson, accused of some wrongdoing or another.

What I liked about it is that it was mean-spirited. They killed without discrimination here. The movie is comparable to 10 to Midnight, also directed by frequent Bronson collaborator J. Lee Thompson. Pretty interesting filmography from that guy.

Charles Bronson is the coolest. I should make him my avatar.

#Review

Spider-Verse 2

Miles misses Gwen, who now works for Spider-Man 2099. After his parents nag him about his life choices, Miles & Gwen's paths cross once again, and Miles must stop a universe from getting destroyed. However, he recklessly opts to save a single person over an entire planet. He also finds out he has a nemesis who has some portal and reality-hopping abilities. Can he be stopped? Just when you think you're about to find out... TO BE CONTINUED!

Suffice to say, the movie is inconclusive. He doesn't really get to complete an arc and nothing is resolved, therefore I can't have a strong opinion on it. Don't you hate that? We get some good backstories for our characters though. We also get some a few decent cameos and references to various canon: the MCU, the Venom movies, the Raimi movies, the Garfield movies, and just about every SM inbetween. So it's there if you want it.

#Review

Schwarzenegger is FUBAR

Netflix, 8 episodes, ~45 min each. Arnold is a spy who finds out his daughter is also a spy. They argue a lot before eventually reconciling and making a good team. You've probably seen this plot before.

Now when you mention "Arnold" and "spy", one will inevitably compare it to True Lies, which is a fucking great movie. You may have it in the back of your mind, but one of the best references... is an appearance by Tom Arnold.

The cast is decent. Arnold's T6 co-star Gabriel Luna is in this, and Arnold's character's ex-wife is played by "Alotta Fagina" Fabiana Udenio. The daughter character has trouble deciding whether to bang the funny buff co-worker Travis Van Winkle, or marry her nerdy lame boyfriend Jay Baruchel. Seriously?

In the end, it's an okay enough show. I got a few laughs out of it, and Arnold is always fantastic. He's a 75 year old playing a 65 year old. I think it's great that these old guys like Stallone and De Niro can still play tough guys. I'm fairly certain one punch from Arnold could kill me.

Watch it or don't. I did, and my life wasn't changed, though I was mildly amused. I'm not sure if they said the F word, come to think of it. They merely insinuate it with the title for all I can remember. It wasn't very violent, either. And now Arnold has been hired by Netflix with some made up sounding title "Chief Action Officer". I wonder what that means.

#Review

MANDY (2018) is utterly fantastic

"You owe me an apology. That was the worst movie I've ever seen in my life . . . and it's not even close." Those were the words I heard uttered from a dude in front of me, who had also seen MANDY. The man looked rather normal, so you could assume that his reaction was the result of an amazing film that is not for normal people. And you would be correct in that assumption.

MANDY (2018) - Taking place in 1983, a lumberjack (Nicolas Cage) lives in a secluded cabin in the woods. His artist girlfriend Mandy spends her days reading fantasy paperbacks. Then one day, she catches the eye of a crazed cult leader, who conjures a group of motorcycle-riding demons to kidnap her.

Panos Cosmatos is one of the most interesting directors working today. One reason for this is because virtually every frame in his films is gorgeous to look at. He truly has an imaginary handling of color and light, which creates a vibrant and visually arresting viewing experience. The dark ambient score by Johann Johannsson is intense and helps to produce a disturbing, otherworldly atmosphere. The plot is simplistic and the characters are not exactly deep, but I did enjoy the interaction between them, which is crafted very nicely and is far more engaging than most films with this premise. There is some gory violence and a touch of "B-movie" madness to boot. Casting is spot on, with Cage, Linus Roache (as the cult leader), and Andrea Riseborough (as Mandy) being stand-outs.

When compared to Cosmatos' first film BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW, MANDY has a more conventional narrative that may be more accessible for some. It's still damn weird though, and not for normal people. I HIGHLY recommend this, and it gets a physical/streaming release on October 30th.

You Might Get Lost (Yeah, no shit)



I'm a pretty big time travel movie fan. Always have been. Even a bad one, I often find at least a little fascinating. Lucky for me as I recently came across one that's not great. However, it was anything but boring. It's like a Butterfly Effect type deal, but not as creative. British film about this poor excuse for a wife/mother. A woman sleeps around on her husband, stays out every night, drinking and getting it on with a co-worker, without a care in the world. Just an irresponsible, selfish person, this woman. Her husband is quickly losing patience, however her young son is far more forgiving. One day, after being late picking her up son from school again, the two of them get in a wreck on the way home. As Arlene was stopped at a red light, she dropped her phone on the floor board, and as she reaches to pick it up, she accidentally takes her foot off the brake. The car rolls into traffic, causing a wreck as well as the death of her son.

A totally avoidable accident, but honestly, it could have happened to anyone. However, this incident is treated like the result of Arlene's history of being an irresponsible piece of shit, but it really isn't. However, this doesn't stop her husband from leaving her, pretty much sending her straight to rock bottom. But what's weird is how random people this woman runs into in public are furious with her and have no problem expressing it. They're all like "Oh, you're that woman who accidentally caused her son's death, aren't you?" Well, fuck you, cunt! I hope you rot in hell!" One woman even walks up to her in a store and spits in her face. People acting like it was their own child that was killed, or that this woman is some known child murderer who somehow got off. It feels like the poor woman is one step away from being tarred, feathered and ran out of town. I'm not entirely sure what's going on here.

What's the solution to all this, you ask? Well, time travel, of course! Arlene is offered a second chance by the Endeavour Institute who can make time travel possible, but for a hefty price. Basically, they give Arlene a pill which kills her but allows her to wake up on her desired date with all memories in tact and a chance to do things differenctly. So, it doesn't take much effort to make sure the wreck doesn't happen. However, Arlene is so grateful to get her old life back, she immediately decides to change once and for all and become the wife and mother her family deserves.

One problem: Arlene uncontrollably kills a bunch of people. First, she stabs her ex-lover in the eye when he tries to convince her to keep their fling going, then, after burying him in the backyard, she strangles her father to death. Unfortunately, he was the only one she had to confide in about all of this. Arlene decides she must get in touch with the Endeavour guy who originally approached her so she can travel back in time again. He says "fuck off", but gets himself killed after Arlene accidentally pushes him down some concrete stairs. Before this happens, he explains to her that she's been reliving memories that no longer exist and it's messing with her brain, which is a really flimsy excuse for why she's been murdering people. Arlene steals the card key from her latest victim and uses it to get into the Endeavour building so she can steal another pill and die again.

Awakened once again and now faced with two sets of memories as well as the current reality. Arlene wisely takes a little vacation in an attempt to not hurt anyone while all of her memories hopefully get straightened out. And they supposedly will as soon as Arlene can make it to the point in time she originally time traveled. She does pretty good this time around as her biggest mistake is strangling a dog to death. That is, until she makes it back home. Let's just say it ain't pretty. And there will certainly be a need for more time travel.

Back To The Future, this is not, however, You Might Get Lost is still a fairly watchable little movie. Especially if you just dig time travel, and maybe not mind a bleak premise. The tone of regret and sorrow offers some extra layers and substance. Although at times, it almost felt like someone really wanted this to be part horror and decided to wedge in these uncontrollable murders to make it so. While funny, this ultimately felt a bit out of place for the particular story. A story that could easily draw you in either way, but an all around inept movie with seemingly not much thinking outside of the box. Mostly for time travel enthusiasts. And maybe for those who like to laugh at dumb movies. 5/10



#Review

The Third Saturday in October part V, and part I...

There's really nothing new about modern filmmakers trying to recreate the feel of the horror films of the past. However, I haven't seen anything done quite the same way as The Third Saturday in October. Many people who grew up in the 80s or 90s, and rented a lot of horror movies, or watched them on TV, probably originally saw a lot of the big franchises out of order. Maybe the video store didn't carry the all of them, or a sequel was just what was playing on TV that night. The filmmakers here have recreated that experience by releasing part I and part V simultaneously, with the intention that you watch part V first.

Yeah, it's pretty gimmicky, but I'm a sucker for a good gimmick. Part I is supposed to be from 1980, while part V is from 1994. They got the feeling of those time periods down pretty damn good, if you ask me. Unfortunately, you do see a drop of CGI here and there, but the effects are mostly practical, and look pretty good, considering the obviously very low budgets.

After his execution, unstoppable killer Jakkariah Harding goes on a killing rampage in a small Alabama town, but only ever strikes on the third Saturday of October, which also happens to be the same day the local college football team always play against their main rival. In my research I found that this annual rivalry is very real. As such, in both movies, the plot kind of revolves around the main characters getting together to watch football. A somewhat inordinate amount of time is spent showing people watch football on TV. That's something I would have definitely shortened from the movies. However, I still did enjoy them quite a bit. They were faithful to the time period, and didn't stray too far into parody. They were mostly pretty earnest. If this was a real series of movies from the time period, it would probably be considered a c-tier slasher series. Nothing that remarkable, but still fun and collectable nonetheless.

Texas Frightmare Weekend 2023

I've been doing this con since 2012, with the exception of 2020. I hope I can get another chance to meet Tom Atkins and Ken Foree. But this year is different. It's at the end of the month instead of the beginning, and it's no longer at the Hyatt Regency in DFW, but the Irving Convention Center rather. I think the issue was crowd size, so the 'convention' center was probably more adequate.

I feel they were a little understaffed in the entry protocols though. No onebody knew where they were going, so my party of five cut in front of a lot of people. There was a huge line for will-wall, too. Those poor suckers are probably still there. A mere QR code can change that obscene wait time?


When I meet any of these badass celebrities, I never have anything specific I care to say to them. I just like get an autograph. That little contact with something a bit more grandeur than myself. Those cult film actors.


It was a cool guest list too, but I already met some of them, so I was focused on the ones I haven't met. Yet. This year's haul of encounters includes:

Amie Donald, who played the main doll in M3gan. Her pricing was low, and she was very nice. I hope she comes back for the sequel.

Grant Cramer, the main guy from Killer Klowns from Outer Space. It's a B-classic. Nice guy. There were a lot of other crew from the movie, but I only felt the need to meet one.

Andrew Divoff, the evil asshole genie in Wishmaster 1 & 2. @der believes I made him sad with my queries. He had ideas for Wishmaster 3 that were discarded and thus factored into his separation with the franchise. 3 and 4 dick suck without him. Also, Spielberg is a dick for undermining his worth and not giving his character any weight in Indiana Jones 4, thus reducing him to an extra basically. It is kind of insulting, don't you think? This guy is cool though.

Bill Zebub. I never saw any of his movies, but for $20, my party received two signed copies of Dick Shark on dvd. Pretty sweet deal based on that title alone.

Ray Wise. I wanted to amuse him with my preferred topic of... FDR: American Badass. The greatest WW2 presidential werewolf movie of all time. He's the man, in many classics.

Sheryl Lee, who was (not) the main character in Twin Peaks. She's in there somewhere though, as a main character with minimal screentime. Lynchian genius we all suppose? Very sweet lady. I had her sign that famous living room photo of high school Laura Palmer. I put all my pictures in a binder, but I might frame that one.

Harry Goaz, who played the goofy deputy in Twin Peaks. Quicker than his character Andy Brennan, which is probably a good thing, even though I really only know him for that one role. An almost stupid role. I asked him his thoughts on Wally Brando, and he wasn't aware of the significance of Michael Cera, seemingly amused by Wally's single-take scene.

Zach Galligan. Waxwork is the tits, but he's petty cool either way. My annual convention accomplice and I watched him in a mildly amusing recent Halloween anthology called Bad Candy.


I think it's weird that there's always problems figuring out where lines start and end. Lots of merch there, but that's not my thing. Lots of good looking women and fun cosplay. I try not to linger too long, because those event rooms can get claustrophobic. I think John Carpenter had his own floor or something. I didn't even catch a glimpse of him. Standing in line sounds exhausting.

Pretty good experience overall, but I forgot to meet Andrew Robinson. Hellraiser is classic, but oh well. And now, I'm going to raise some hell... by taking a nap.