Stevieboy666

A mixed crew of military personnel and civilians onboard a deep US underwater sea base find themselves in grave danger when they disturb a huge crustacean monster. I first watched this way back when it was released on VHS, now well over 30 years later I have just watched it for the second time. I recall liking it somewhat the first time, sadly upon re-watching I was not so impressed. It takes over an hour for the creature to first appear on screen, at 10 metres in length it's big but we only get to see the ugly head part, and it is not very impressive. A big problem with the film is its fairly uninteresting characters spouting lots of boring dialogue, it really drags for the first hour. When the action kicks in it is reasonably entertaining and the tension amongst the remaining crew ramps up. On the gore front a diver gets ripped in half, another guy explodes when he takes an escape pod to the surface, but that's about all. The movie was directed by Sean S Cunningham, who made one of my all time favourite films, "Friday the 13th" (1980). Anyone familiar with that slasher classic will know the famous jump scare at the end, here he sort of recreates it, only far less effectively (the two sole survivors were very predictable too). Harry Manfredini, who worked on many of the "Friday" movies, supplies the score. To its credit the film uses metric measurements instead of imperial, therefore it was not dumbed-down for American audiences. I had been looking forward to revisiting this underwater action/sci-fi/horror but unfortunately it turned out to be just a mediocre B-movie.

"Worst pool party ever!" When her wealthy parents go away redhead Blair invites her equally spoilt socialite girlfriends around to her nice house for afternoon drinks by the pool but a couple of uninvited guys turn up, as does a maniac intent on spoiling the fun. Very low budget horror comedy that is also an homage to 1980's slasher movies, for example the opening credits feature some very 80's looking computer graphics and the soundtrack has synth music that was commonly used back then. When I bought this on DVD I was hardly expecting to see a great film and the reality is that it isn't good, but likewise it isn't terrible either. By far the best thing are the kills, the unknown killer uses different tools (axe, saw, claw hammer, electrical drill, etc) for each victim. They are gory, plentiful and inventive (and thankfully not CGI). Much of the acting is terrible though I did like Kristin Noel McKusik as Blair. One of the uninvited guys is a bloke with a receding hairline, moustache and looks like he's 30 odd, he is present for "comedy" value but his constant talk of sex and masturbation soon becomes tiresome. The identity of both the killer and the obligatory Final Girl are very obvious though there is a twist. The film is set during the summer but was actually shot during apparently freezing winter weather in Nevada, credit to the them as I'd have never have know this had I not watched the extras (which are more entertaining than the movie itself!). The cover promises hot girls (check) and nudity, there is some of the latter but I had hoped for more. The party in the title isn't exactly what I'd call a party, just a few drinks by the pool, corpses can be seen blinking and breathing, and the film crew are reflected in glass at least once. Drew Marvick, who wrote and directed the movie, has an obvious passion for the horror genre and as a fellow horror fan I can only commend him for making this film. The movie could have been better but I expect that I will watch it again in the future and am happy with my purchase.

"You witch, you beautiful evil witch!" Rick (Robert Alda) keeps dreaming about an unknown sensual blonde woman (the gorgeous Linda Christian), he even tells his fiance Donna about it. An unknown force guides him to a doll shop owned by Frank (Neil Hamilton) where he finds dolls that look like both the woman, who turns out to be a witch called Bianca, and his fiance. He later meets Bianca, she tells him that she has been using "thought projection" in order to seduce him, she introduces him to the cult of Gamba, "the Great Devil God" (I've never heard of him!), of which Frank is the High Executioner. I had not seen this one before, it's no classic but I did enjoy it. Shot in 1959 the opening credits are accompanied by some catchy groovy music. Further cool points for Rick looking very suave, smoking and drinking throughout, plus some bongo drums and exotic dancing at Gamba's temple. My favourite thing about this quite obscure indie flick is seeing Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon in the classic 1960's "Batman" TV series, which I happen to be revisiting, as a devil priest. Pure Satanic cinematic gold! Legendary make-up artist Jack Pierce worked on the movie but the low budget is obvious - a model car goes over a cliff, obvious stock footage of a burning building is used, etc. The running time of 71 minutes passes quickly, the plot is easy to follow, the characters are engaging and overall I found it to be an enjoyable slice of hokum.