THE DANMAN CAN

F.W. Murnau 's Nosferatu (1922) is an influential and iconic picture that still manages to captivate with its images and emotions. It's my favorite silent movie and one of my Top 100 Films . It's a 5-star film. The version we watched tonight at  Weirdo Wednesday  (to celebrate WW500 !) was...something (hence the 2.5-star rating I'm awarding it). Clearly it was one of the many (many) DVDs of the film that was cheaply put together due to the copyright status . The soundtrack was wildly (and hilariously) anachronistic (and shrill , holy shit!), there were (amusingly bad) spliced-in shots and intertitles, and many scenes were shortened or missing (I'm not even sure what the runtime was). All that said, it was a fun way to view the picture with the WW crowd and felt oddly appropriate (though I do hope first-time viewers of the film will revisit it and seek out better versions  to watch if they do). 

"It's classified, ice cream man. It's classified." Ice Cream Man (1995) is not a very, very, very good film, but it is a happy, happy, happy good time. Recommended for fans of  Jack Frost  (1997) [ review ],  Uncle Sam (1996) [ review ], and  The Tripper (2006) [ review ].

To celebrate his centennial, I decided to watch the only  Mel Brooks  movie that I hadn't seen, 1991's Life Stinks .  Trading Places (1983) [ review ] took a similar idea and did it much better.  LS is an uneven film with underdeveloped ideas and characters. It's easy to see why it's his least regarded picture, but there are some good, funny (if non sequituresque) bits in it regardless, and Lesley Ann Warren is charming. Mel Brooks Films Ranked

Lucio Fulci 's penultimate film, Voices From Beyond (1991), is a supernatural familial murder mystery melodrama featuring occasional trademark macabre/surreal imagery (and good cinematography), amusing dialogue and situations, plenty of random nudity, and a solid score by  Stelvio Cipriani . If you'd like to hear me and my  Weirdo Wednesday Podcast  cohosts talk Fulci you can do so  here . Lucio Fulci Feature Films Ranked

Cutting Class (1989) is a tame, goofy, incredibly random, and hilarious slasher. A lot of fun with a game audience. "I'm the custodian of your fucking destiny."

I'd seen  Lucio Fulci 's Demonia (1990) before, more than 20 years ago, but I didn't remember much about it. I can see why—other than a few memorable gore scenes (one in particular is quite gnarly), the film is slow-moving and mostly mediocre. With more care put into the production, this one could have been great, but, as it is, it's clumsy, the acting isn't great, and the score is chintzy. Lucio Fulci Feature Films Ranked

"Medusa will always lead you to my kingdom." A truly bizarre, hilarious, schizophrenic, and sexually charged adaptation. It feels like  Argento  is channeling  Gilliam  and  Jeunet  &  Caro  here. Overall, one of Dario's weaker films, filled with some pretty goofy imagery and poor CGI, though the cinematography is nice and honestly its more gonzo elements are part of its charm. The Phantom Of The Opera (1998) has other enjoyable aspects as well—including the lead performances by Julian Sands and Asia Argento , fun gore gags, and a good  Ennio Morricone  score. Dario Argento Films   Ranked Top 20 Directors

"Look, Ma! I'm a Picasso!" "Gosh. I only axed you for a smoke." "Well, it ain't fucking Frosty!"

There is definitely some fun to be had in this update and I appreciate that it did its best to set itself apart from the 1984  original  [ review ] (other than the obvious but expected callbacks), but it leaned too hard on the Dexter angle and did that whole going-for-gravitas-while-also-eating-its-exploitation-cake thing that a lot of modern horror films attempt and don't quite nail.

Horny low budget barbarian bullshit. Not terribly good but still pretty fun and occasionally very funny. Sword and sorcery? More like Swiss and Sartori. Deathstalker  Franchise Films Ranked

Dario Argento 's The Card Player (2003) is not a very good film, but it's kind of hilarious at times because it's ridiculous (e.g.,There is a dude just filming everything that happens at a police station. Why? Never explained). This was my second time watching TCP and I think I liked it even less, but I'm keeping the same star rating that I gave it previously.  Vinegar Syndrome 's 4K UHD looks really nice though and I'm a Dario completist, so I had to pick it up. Dario Argento Films   Ranked Top 20 Directors Giallo Feature Films   Ranked

Mac And Me   (1988) is an infamous box office bomb-cum-cult sensation. This really is a "so bad it's good" type of affair. Outside of the doofy-looking aliens, the production values are actually quite high. I've seen worse acting and it's cool that a boy with an actual physical disablement ( Jade Calegory ) was cast as the wheelchair-bound lead, Eric.  Stewart Raffill 's direction is solid but better suited to more intentionally campy material like  The Ice Pirates  (1984) and   Tammy And The T-Rex  (1994) ( review ).  Nick McLean  was DP on movies like  The Goonies   (1985) ( review ) and  Spaceballs  (1987) ( blogpost ) and it shows—the cinematography is one of the strongest parts of the film, on a technical level.  Alan Silvestri 's score is also quite good, though he seems to borrow from his own material for films such as  Back To The Future   (1985) ( review ) and  Predator   (1987) ( review ). So ...

Softcore crime sexploitation comedy shenanigans with a weak plot and tepid action, Girls Without Shame (aka Schoolgirl Hitchhikers ) (1973) is nevertheless a  Jean Rollin  film (definitely my least favorite of his that I've seen so far), so it's entertaining and has lots of vibrant colors. Jean Rollin Feature Films Ranked

Occasionally funny and featuring impressive gore effects, Jeremy Saulnier 's Murder Party (2007) is a clear labor of love. Tonally, it's drastically different from Saulnier's other films (which is a good thing) and overall it didn't quite work for me, but I appreciate its low budget scrappiness. Jeremy Saulnier Feature Films Ranked

Rock 'N' Roll Forever (1991) follows the same formula as the first film ( review ), is nowhere near as cool, and it's cheesy as hell, but it has a bizarre, goofy charm. Deborah Brock Feature Films Ranked