88 Films DVD Review: Doctor Mordrid (1992, Charles & Albert Band)

"Man Has Ancient Enemies..."

Following on from yesterday's post we are looking at the second title 88 Films were kind enough to send for review. This time we are looking at the Band father and son co directed film, Doctor Mordrid from 1992. Once again, to spare my readers with an inept attempt at giving you the synopsis, I will lazily copy and paste the information from the 88 Films page:

"Doctor Mordrid (JEFFERY COMBS; “Re-Animator”, “From Beyond”) has been  guarding the gates to the fourth dimension for over a century and now the signs are clear; his eternal foe, Kabal (BRIAN THOMPSON; “Cobra”, “Terminator”) has crossed over and is about to carry out his threat to destroy humankind.

It’s a battle between two sorcerers with boundless powers and only one man will reign in the end."

See, I'm not too much of a lazy bum, I changed the font and everything? Shall we just move on and find out what I thought of the film?

The story is the typical "Evil has been defeated and one man is in charge of making sure Earth is safe until shit goes down and our hero must once again banish the bad guy back to the pits wherever he was banished to" one we all know and love. You aren't going to have your mind blown with the story and how it unfolds but that's not always a bad thing because why fix something that isn't broken right? I have to say I did enjoy this piece of schlock but have seen this sort of film done a lot better but also done a Hell of a lot worse. The stand out performance for me is genre icon Jeffrey Combs who is great as our protagonist. That's not to say everyone else doesn't put in a good performance, Brian Thompson is great to behold as he mostly always is and the love interest played by Yvette Nipar is solid too. All round, very well acted and doesn't dive too much in to the overly campy territory films like this usually do.

Once again, the star of the show for me is Steve Allen's fantastic stop motion animation. Just like Robot Wars, the main visual spectacle just didn't seem long enough but the miniature work was terrific. I have a real soft spot for miniature work, it's a shame computers have wrecked that for most motion pictures. I know, I'm a sucker for that sort of stuff but it genuinely fascinates me, especially when it's done like this. Aside from that, the rest of the effects are great too. 

Overall, Mordrid is a solid film but just lacks something, maybe a slightly bigger budget. In terms of cheesy sci-fi action, there's enough there for you to keep interested and if you're a fan of Jeffrey Combs you will definitely get a kick out of it. Just like the Robot Wars disc, you get a nice making of featurette, a trailer for Mordrid and various trailers for other titles (that are from what I gather the same as Robot Wars). You get some nice reversible art too which always a nice touch. 88 Films have done another good job but I would say, if you already own this title, you may want to swerve this release but if you are a fan or have never seen the film before, it's a good way to experience the film.

For more information on this film and release check out the 88 Films page. You can also find out more over on the IMDB and Wikipedia pages. 

The film will be released on the 17th February and can be pre-ordered HERE.

PDx

88 Films DVD Review: Robot Wars (1993, Albert Band)

"First there was ROBOT JOX..."

 It feels good to get back in to the groove of actually reviewing stuff up on the blog for a change. The kind folks at 88 Films sent me a few discs recently. The first of the trio of titles I am going to be looking at over these next few days is the 1993 Albert Band directed, Robot Wars. When I was quickly skipping through the titles when I first received them, this flick looked so fantastically bad that I had to watch it first. What did I think of this robotic romp in the desert? Well let me tell you bub!

Basically all you need to know about the actual story is this synopsis taken from the 88 Films website itself:

"Toward the end of the 21st Century two great powers dominated the world, a division that resulted from a 30-year war known as the War of the Hemispheres. The war came to an end with the creation of giant, indestructible mega-robots, the MRAS-2, designed for military missions and balance of power.

 Recently, the mega-robot has become a tourist attraction and is used for tours through the wasteland. While on one such tour, the MRAS-2 is attacked by an extremely violent terrorist group known as the Murdaggians. Their leader turns out to be a frequent passenger on the mega-robot, Professor B. Wa-Lee, who hijacks the MRAS-2. The only hope to stop the Murdaggians is Lane Drury, the robot's pilot. But can he do it in time..."

Yeah, that's a bit of a cop out me literally copying and pasting but it sums up the film much better than I could and lets face it, you don't really watch this sort of cheese for the story.... Right? Guys? Where are you going!?

The biggest draw to this film is obviously the giant robots kicking the living crap (or the robotic equivalent) out of each other. The practical effects and the stop motion in this film are fantastic. Sure, elitists will laugh and mock but you know what? There's actual hard work gone in to these effects, and I have the say the jerky stop motion movement of the robots is downright creepy but that's just me. Watching the making of included in the disc, it's great to see how it was all put together. Now as much as I loved these scenes, I do have a big problem... WE NEEDED MORE!!!! I could have spent the whole film focused on these action sequences because I loved them.

The characters in the film itself are likable (which is actually never a problem with me in films... sometimes directors don't want you to always get to know the character properly you know). I especially loved Don Michael Paul who was cheesy, funny and all round the star of the show. His interactions with Barbara Crampton were funny and cringe worthy but again, what do you expect from a Full Moon sci-fi flick from the 90's? Speaking of Barbara Crampton (...and cheesy 90's Full Moon sci-fi), unfortunately for you sleazehounds out there, there's no boobage on show... it is a PG rated film you know, sickos. Why that would ever be a problem for some of my viewers... I... erm... will never know.

Overall, the film itself was enjoyable but I am genuinely disappointed that there wasn't more emphasis on the robots battling. In terms of special features you do get the making of which is worth a watch especially if you want to learn about the special effects. You also get a trailer as well as 10 other trailers for other 88 Films titles which is a nice treat because I do appreciate a good trailer (although I don't think I will be purchasing any of Charles's lack luster trailer compilations). You also get reversible artwork which is always nice. For the price, it's a nice little investment but I wouldn't say it's for everybody. 88 Films have done another nice job with this one.

If you want to know more about this film head on over to the 88 Films page, IMDB and Wikipedia pages. The film will be released on the 17th of February and can be ordered here.

Hopefully you will join me for the next review...
You know what? If you don't, I'm going to get my giant kick ass robot scorpion!

PDx

23rd Century DVD Review: 2019: The Fall Of New York (1983, Sergio Martino)

"In The Year 2019, The Future Depends on One Man."

 I have been writing a lot recently and have been involved in other projects so once again, the blog gets neglected. Recently received some review discs so I thought I would give the blog a little more attention. Before I get in to those films however, I thought I would have a look at another title released by my favourite grey market distributor. This time we look at a title from a sub genre that I have never really been (chemically) burnt with. That is of course the post-apocalyptic genre, more specifically the European efforts from the late 70's and early 80's. The film I'm looking at today is Sergio Martino's fantastic 2019: The Fall of New York. As with most of these reviews, won't go too much in to detail with the story because I'm sure if you're reading this, this is a film you have already seen or at least heard of in great detail. If not, I don't want to ruin the film for you!

In a nutshell, the film is obviously set in the year 2019. There has been a nuclear war and as a result of this and the powers that be, it's all gone to shit. To make matters worse, there is an infection which prevents the lovely infected survivors from creating new life. Our hero played by Michael Sipkow is sent on a mission to find a fertile woman who has been reported to exist in New York. Ok, I'm not going to win a Rondo for that synopsis but there is so much happening in this film that I would be here for a week just covering the madness and mayhem. Let me just say it's kinda like Children of Men on the best acid you will take in your life with added facial hair (I'm looking at you George Eastman). What you are going to get here is a story that's fairly solid but this is a cheap exploitation cheese fest so that's going to play second fiddle to other aspects of the film.

First off, the set design is amazing in this film. The miniature sets are some of the coolest (for me anyway) I have seen. Sure, they aren't going to knock your socks off if you are one of those Hollywood types who think a film produced 90% on a multi-million dollar effects software and hardware set up is the only way to go but for people like me who aren't elitist arseholes and enjoy actual fun, you will totally dig them. The opening sequence is great. The combination of miniatures and the score provided by the De Angelis Brothers is what makes being a cult film fan so enjoyable. The costumes are your typical affair, you know, civilians wearing scraps that make them look like punks and the bad guys who look like they're wearing the early concepts of Star Wars costumes that should have been used in the actual film. Again, elitists need not comment.

What else do we have? We have cars that are decked out in tin foil and spikes, George Eastman playing as "Big Ape" who looks, well, just look at the above photo, a self sacrificing dwarf, futuristic knights on futuristic.... horses, campy laser sounds, uber violence and... No... I have said too much. You can watch this film on Youtube so if you don't have it on disc, there's no excuse for you not to watch this piece of post-apocalyptic cheesefest. The 23rd Century disc has a really nice transfer (the screen grabs I have provided do it no justice), this was a nice surprise as we know most of 23rd Century's discs are fuzzy VHS prints. You know me by now, VHS quality is never a bad thing but I did really like seeing a nice transfer. I'm not sure what the Shriek Show disc is like but if you don't want to remortgage your house picking that release up, the 23rd Century disc is a great addition to your collection... You cheap mutant bastard!

PDx

Ultimate Cinemageddon #2

Here it is a little earlier than usual (which is strange for me). The response I had from Part 1 was actually very overwhelming. I'm really happy with this new direction I am going in. I love teh experimentation involved. Sure I'm just using my iMovie software but it gets the job done. I'm not trying to be a superstar DJ (that phase is over) or anything like that but I can see the satisfaction those guys get when the beats blend and all that jazz. Although I was extremely happy with the first installment, I felt it was a little rough round the edges and some tracks went on for too long. Hopefully I think you will agree that this installment, although still flawed is a much more tighter production.

Before I forget, I would like to say that things have changed up a little bit. I won't be providing a folder like I did last time with all the individual, unmixed tracks. It takes up way too much space on my Dropbox account and I refuse to pay for a file hosting site (well, I can't afford it in all honesty) so if anyone hears a song in any of the mixes from now on, drop me a line and I will do my best to get them sent over to you. Another thing is, this installment is a bit longer and has much more treats so expect the project to change a lot as I progress and experiment.

One last thing and I will be doing a post on this here soon, but go over to check out the amazing project that is The Book. If you are a fan of Italian cinema then you are going to cream your pants when you read that. Also don't forget to check out their indiegogo page where you can contribute and receive some lovely treats for helping. Like I said, I will be going in to much detail soon but if you feel like it, you can check out a video made here.

But wait! I lied! There's one more thing I swear! I just passed 30,000 views on the blog. I know some of you guys may snigger because you get that traffic on a daily basis but man, thank you so much. Never thought anyone would interested in my crappy creative exploits, modest aren't I? What? You want your music now? Ok then...



PDx

Ultimate Cinemageddon #1

On this day I have some sad news. The Mondo Squallido Official Soundtrack series has come to an end. 10 volumes of cinematic bliss seemed to be a great cut off spot. I felt it was a great number to finish... Oh wait.... Just received a memo... Oh right... OK....

Where episode 10 ends, episode 1 of my new Ultimate Cinemageddon begins. It's essantially the same formula; 23 tracks comprised of music, excerpts and trailers to some of cinema's greatest (and sleaziest) moments. There is one big twist aside from a name change and a blurry logo however, it comes in both an unmixed and mixed form.

That's right, I have evolved a tiny bit and thanks to my video editing software (I need to get proper software at some time) I can now experiment. OK, superstar DJ's won't need to sleep with one eye open but I'm actually proud at how episode came out (especially considering it only took me an hour). Hopefully as the episodes go on, there will be a lot more experimentation and the creases will be ironed out.

Of course, to cut down on file sizes, the mixed version will be available through my Soundcloud page to download or listen at your pleasure. The unmixed version will be available directly from the blog. I think whenever a new episode is available, the unmixed files of the previous episodes will be deleted but the mixes will stay up for as long as possible.

Anyway, I'm going to stop waffling and give you the goods. One thing I am also doing differently from now on is not wasting your time giving a description of each track. My fingers hate me after every post!

Ultimate Cinemageddon #1 Mix:

UNMIXED FOLDER

PDx

Back Page Oddities: French Connection

Hello everyone!

Once again, it has been so long since my last post and the compilation series was on hold for a while but I am finally back. I could have told you in a quick post but no, I'm an ignorant bugger so I didn't do that. It's been quite hectic here at Mondo Squallido HQ recently. I won't bore you with the details but hopefully, will be posting on a much more regular scale than usual and there will be a new compilation soon! Anyway, today I thought I would throw up a small post that entertained me at least and I thought I would share with you all!

I recently finished the fantastic The French Connection from Robin Moore. I adore the film and had to read the book that spawned the movie (kinda). I ordered it from Amazon a few months a go and it was advertised with the cover of the film poster. Usually books that have spawned films annoy me when they use imagery from the movie on the cover but with the poster artwork of the film being so iconic, I didn't mind too much. To my surprise, when I received my book, after recovering from the STRONG smell of damp and old book, I find it had different artwork and was actually an edition from 1971 that was released just before the film.

You're probably thinking "Yeah that's all well and good Pete but why are you wasting my time?"
Well, once I finished the book I noticed the advertisements in the back of the book including the double page spread for a book called Cop! by L. H. Whittemore and man does it sound like a grindhouse era film that I wish they made (someone probably did come to think of it!). I have to source this book because it sounds amazing. I mean look at the advert, it starts with Cop! repeated and then BOOM! Tell me ya'll didn't read that in a smooth, Jim Brown style voice! I just love the simplicity of this and quirkiness of things like this in general. If you haven't already I invite you to check out my Wank Rag Swag to see what I'm really talking about.

I know books nowadays still have adverts for other books but it's just so boring and dull to me. Just when I thought that was it, I turn to the final page and discover this. The mail order page. Once again, big deal right? Where else will you see book titles like The Voyeur and amazing titles like And To My Nephew Albert I Leave The Island What I Won Off Fatty Hagan In A Poker Game? I have no idea if it's a good book or not but Fatty Hagan losing and island for only 25p sounds like a winner to me! Yes indeed it does!

Anyway ladies and gentlemen, that's it. That's the BIG return from your uncle Peter! Like I said, it tickled my borrowed nostalgia nerve so I thought I would share with you all!

Until the next time, thank you for sticking with me and my unorganised (but well shaped) arse!

PDx

Picking Yer' Brain #2: Carter Stevens

Well it sure has been a long time since the first Picking Yer' Brain back in March! Big thanks to the kind words I received from my readers and new faces. This installment we are talking to another hero of mine from the world of cinema. I first met today's guest a year or so a go through a Youtube I made about one of his films. That film was Punk Rock, which is one of my (if not my) all time favourite classic adult films. I was showing off the r rated version of the film I had just received (which by the way, is a great version of the film too) and he was kind enough to message me asking if I would be interested in having a full uncut copy, a week or so later I receive a 3 disc set of some of his films. It's one of the nicest things to happen to me and I am really happy to welcome Carter Stevens who is about to have his brain picked about fond memories, library music, Wade Nichols and social networking amongst other things!

...

You have a great filmography. Are there any films that stand out as personal favourites?

That is like asking which of your children do you love the most. Each of my films has something about it that rings a bell with me every time I think about it. Pleasure Palace for instance has a dolly shot in it that was the first time we ever had the budget to rent a real dolly. Up until then we used to use a wheelchair and a hand held camera for dolly shots. Punk Rock we did two versions. The second one had all the sex cut out and an hour's worth of extra plot, a gun fight and live Punk Rock music we shot at Max's Kansas City. Teenage twins wasn't a great film but it had a real set of twins for the first time in adult films. (plus it made more money that all my other films which warms my memory of the film.) Lickity Split was the first film I wrote the script for by myself. As I say each film has something that makes it stand out favorably in my memory.

Music is always top notch in your films, especially Punk Rock. How important was the music and process of picking the music for your pictures?

Unlike a lot of other adult filmmakers who were working at the low budget end of the business I bought and paid for all the music in my Carter Stevens films. Of course it was library music so some of the music I chose also wound up in non adult projects as well. The most recognizable was the piece of music that wound up being the theme for "The People's Court" TV show. I was also lucky on a couple of projects like Lickity Split where I managed to buy cheap an original piece of music for the theme. In several projects I was lucky enough to get permission from a talented singer/songwriter named Chinga Chavens who became a friend and not only gave me permission to use all his music in my films for free (his first album was called Country Porn so it fit right into our genre) and he even wrote a tune called Jailbait which was inspired by my film of the same name.

One of my favourite actors / performers is Wade Nichols. What was he like? Any interesting stories?

Wade (whose real name was Dennis Posa and who went on to a legit career on TV and even recorded a disco album under the name Dennis Parker) was a Great guy. He was actually totally gay but would work "Straight for pay". I worked with him many times on my films and on other peoples films that I also worked on. He was NEVER less than a professional no matter what the film. Personally he was a sweet person. When he was playing Derick Mallory on EDGE OF NIGHT my preteen daughter got a crush on him. I told him about it and he wrote her a warm 2 page letter and sent her a half dozen autographed 8x10 which wound up all over her bedroom walls.

Of course you worked with many other greats. Are there any stars or crew members that you never managed to work with but wanted to?

Radley Metzger

Social media such as Facebook and events like Cinema Wasteland have connected fans and personalities from the golden age of adult films. How has it been meeting fans old and new and also getting back in touch with old friends from the business that you may have thought you'd lost touch with?

The internet is such a boon to old friendships. I'm back in touch with friends from so many parts of my life that would have been impossible before Facebook. Jeannie Silver and I hadn't talked in over 20 years and now we are in touch on a regular basis. But it is more than just the adult business this is true about. I have a friend who is a well known Science Fiction author who 30 years ago lived in Binghamton, NY and now lives in Australia and we are more in touch now. Every week that goes by I run across more and more old friends from the early days of porn. Some of them have passed away now but we managed to get back in touch before their passing and it was great to be able to say goodbye before they passed. As to fans it is ALWAYS a thrill to be asked for your autograph. Don't forget when we were making these films we were outlaws, now we are recognized (at least by some) as serious filmmakers.

...

A massive thank you to Carter for taking the time to answer some questions. If you are interested in checking out some of his filmography you can buy DVDs from the following stores:

Diabolik DVD
Alternative Cinema

PDx