Maniac Cop (1988)

I don't find it all that shocking that William Lustig has been out of the film directing biz for over 20 years now, seeing as how he so completely made his mark with his (non-porno) debut, "Maniac". It's one that I won't hesitate to call my absolute favorite slasher film of all time and nothing Bill has done since could stack up to the raw, depraved excellence of that masterpiece, mainly because it's obvious that Joe Spinell was the driving force behind the film's greatness. On AND off screen. "Maniac Cop" - a movie that I've had on the 'to watch' back burner for a long time - just came across as stagnant slasher tripe to me...

A shadow-shrouded lunatic in a police uniform is making his way around the mean streets of the Big Apple after dark, murdering innocent people at random. None other than Detective Tom Atkins is on the case as city residents are beginning to lose their trust in the 'boys in blue', not knowing if they're being confronted by the sadist cop. Officer Bruce Campbell ends up taking the rap when his wife is killed after catching him screwing around on her, so it's left up to him and his mistress to uncover who the sinister pig is and why he's prowling the grungy streets with such an insatiable bloodlust...

The initial concept is decent enough, but it's just that not much is done with it. It plays out like your run-of-the-mill 80s slasher fare, just without any real energy or interesting ideas to go along with a relatively cool looking killer. The mystery aspect surrounding him is eventually spoiled heavily with too much emphasis on the 'maniac cop's' back-story and a bit of a cornball ending. What I found actually worked with "Maniac Cop" was definitely the urban cesspool, pre-Giuliani New York City 'vibe' that we saw in 1980s, "Maniac". That shit always works - making you almost wish New York was that fucked up again just for the sake of urban-set cinema. Still, I didn't find much all that 'stand out' with "Maniac Cop" as a whole. Unmemorable kills, bland structure and dull plot.

The Jaguar Project (1983)

Damn, this is straight-up MY kind of war flick! "The Jaguar Project" (aka. "Cannibal Mercenary" - aka. "The Mercenary" - aka. "The Jungle Killers") - is pretty much beginning-to-end badassedness that goes above and beyond in offering up the 'exploitation' goods without much else getting in the way, aside from a little copious back-story here and there...

A soldier - all tweaked out on PTSD and with a Polio-stricken daughter - is hired on as a mercenary with a $500,000 incentive to lead a team of men into the jungles of Vietnam to locate a girl and take out an army of cannibal Viet Congs. Along the way, they're faced with a dick-chopping female spy, some baby-faced freako slope and his gang of golden showers assholes, some firecracker torture, among other such arduous obstacles.

There's not much I can think to fault this one for. It's just an all-around strong and entertaining trashfest with enough violence and gore to maintain one's interest. Not just a heads up - there are apparently several versions of this movie floating around, notably another known cut in which a subplot involving white people hunting for a Buddha artifact is spliced in and much of the "good stuff" is removed. The one I'm reviewing here is - what I can only assume to be - the fully intact version, clocking in at about 104 minutes. It's the one you want. I have not seen the other, more Westernized version, but I hear it's dog shit. You want some fun Thai action then you gotta give this little gem a spin!

Midnight Blue (1979)

"Midnight Blue" is a pretty superfluous 'exploitation' flick that's basically a tamed down knock-off of another very mediocre Italian 'rape/revenge' movie, "Last House on the Beach". Actually, I feel like I would need a side-by-side comparison just to see if they're not the same fucking movie!

Three female athletes are dropped off for the weekend at a swanky villa on the beach when a trio of escaped convicts just happen to show up for a dip. The girls foolishly decide to let the guys stay there with them since "they seem nice enough" and shit only goes south when they see some mugshots in the local paper. From there, the ladies have to defend themselves for the weekend as the guys wait for their criminal head honcho to show up (kinda like a shitty "Reservoir Dogs"...)...

There's a few 'steamy' sex scenes early on, but overall, this one is pretty 'light' as far as rape material goes. The guys in this are pretty mellow for the most part, and not all that cruel to our hapless captives. So, in that token, it's not all that engrossing of an 'exploit' movie and just moved along too slow for my liking, overall. Check out "House on the Edge of the Park" or "Night Train Murders" if you're looking for some truly primo films of this rapey ilk. I'd classify "Midnight Blue" as an obscure dud...

A Gun for Jennifer (1997)

You can typically count on a strong 'air' of feminism in a given 'rape/revenge' flick. That usually coincides with the whole 'revenge' portion, obviously. However, "A Gun for Jennifer" takes the man-hating element a few steps further to the point where I couldn't help but see some legit resentment for men emerge...

A young woman flees her abusive home life in Ohio to start over in New York City where she's almost immediately assaulted by a couple street thugs. While attempting to mug and possibly rape her, a gang of armed, masked women show up to save the day. They brutally murder the attackers and offer the new girl a place to stay. Turns out, they're a gang of vigilantes who target known rapists and chauvinist pervs around the city - usually castrating them before gleefully murdering them. At the same time, they're running a strip club which offers them ample opportunity to settle the score with their drunk, grabby male patrons. There's also a couple detectives on the case - one of which is a ball-busting feminist, herself, who can't help but agree with what the alpha-babe, prick-slicing posse is doing.

"A Gun for Jennifer" is a decent enough 'exploitation' flick, undoubtedly an homage to "Rape Squad" - aka. "Act of Vengeance". Could've been a little more graphic with the dick-cutting scenes and maybe tried to condense the run-time by nixing a few of the slower scenes, but it's still a mildly entertaining and aggressive low-budget 'girl power'/punk movie, overall.

The Boneyard (1991)

"The Boneyard" is a pretty damn entertaining indie creature flick once you get past a relatively slow-paced start. Almost seems like it could've been a straight-up serious horror up until about the last third when shit just gets crazier and crazier with demon poodles and Mr. Roper with a ponytail...

A retired, emotionally scarred psychic is coaxed out of retirement by a desperate homicide detective when a trio of supposed child corpses are discovered in an apprehended man's mortuary. It appears he held them captive there, claiming he was being controlled by otherworldly evil beings conjured in some kind of Asian ritual. When the psychic and detective head to a coroner's facility to investigate the bodies, the three evil little fuckers spring to life and run amok, devouring and spreading their contagious demonism to the terrified survivors.

This one interestingly blurs that line between silly, Peter Jackson-inspired stuff and straight-up horror, what with the creepy little flesh eating demons which, I'll say, came across as actually really effective and nasty at times, juxtaposed with the sillier, more over-the-top 'sight gag' type shit around the third act. Like a Phyllis Diller monster. Also Norman Fell is this. Not to insinuate that these qualities are BAD. Hell no! In all, "The Boneyard" is a hidden gem of 90s horror and a fun watch. If you're into "Evil Dead" and "Return of the Living Dead", I'd say you'll get a kick out of it.

Edmund Kemper Part 1: La Mort De Ma Vie (2001)

So here we got some French SOV gore flick that doesn't really delve into anything all that interesting or 'shocking', even though it clearly was attempting that. At times it almost appears to be going for an "August Underground" type of 'snuff' motif, but from what I could tell it's just a shitty VHS transfer.

The movie is pretty much made up of a guy seen cannibalizing, dismembering, and eating the pussy of a rotted corpse of a woman while occasionally leaving his home/dungeon of necro-defilement and killing random people along jogging paths. These particular scenes are ridiculous, but some of the death metal soundtrack helps it along...

The effects might have been okay, but something tells me they weren't. You can't really tell because the worn out VHS grain covers a lot and the "corpse" is so dark that it just looks like a silhouette. It's not a long movie, but shit still tends to drag on painfully long at times, like a scene of our "hero" stitching the corpses mouth shut while reciting poorly written 'crazy guy' dialog - via voice-over - and a particularly indulgent scene where he cooks and eats one of her rotted breasts. I guess there are two more of these "Edmund Kemper" movies, although I can't say I'm interested in seeking them out after this underwhelming effort.