Movie Ad Mat Explosion

I was there, at Hoyts Burwood Drive-in, to see this double.

It was my virgin screening of Argento's flick and I sure had a great time. Will always remember the underwater cavern sequence (directed and shot by Bava, some scribes say).

Richard Pearce's Heartland ('79) featured an amazing Rip Torn performance. A prairie survival tale with a rich script, it bowled me over with its subtlety (which sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it?)

Pearce also directed the searing medical drama Threshold ('81), with Donald Sutherland, and the Richards Gere actioner No Mercy ('86). Country ('84) is another of his achievements.

Melbourne's The 69 Adult Cinema was a rebadged commercial venue.

I suspect Pro Ball Hookers was a retitling of the '79 Jack Mathew's Pro Ball Cheerleaders with Candida Royalle, Lisa de Leeuw, Suzanna Nero, and Jennifer West. Since cheerleading, a very American tradition, is foreign to Aussie audiences, the change is understandable.

Was the producer (Mathews also) arrested? I can't find any evidence of that.

Pro Ball Cheerleaders was a Debbie Does Dallas clone, only it was much better.

Very worthwhile triple that I begged and pleaded with my parents to see.

I came off worse than a biker's moll.

I've always been partial to Frank Laloggia's Fear No Evil ('81), one of the artier horror flicks of the period.

But let's be frank about Final Exam ('81 also), a slasher (?) I actually saw at a Detroit cinema (the Showcase Sterling Heights). It is an appalling piece of excruciatingly boring fecal matter.

It boggled my mind recently reading new reviews of the film after it was released on DVD. Some pundits actually founds merit in it. Trouble was, their arguments held no water. It's easily one of the worst films ever made. Just because a film is out on DVD doesn't mean it's good.

I lined up for the first session of this film at the Adams in downtown Detroit. The cinema's vibe was scarier than the movie.

The book is so much better, but it (the film) is not terrible.

Another classic Adams screening for me. During the "Piss your pants!" sequence in Last House, a semi-drunk guy got up and pissed in the corner beside the screen. The smell began wafting through the musky darkness five minutes later. You never forget fun times like that.

An early example of PG-13 horror before PG-13 existed. Very light-on horror flick with almost no violence.

I enjoyed the first Penitentiary almost thirty years ago, but I saw it again recently and thought Leon Isaac Kennedy's appalling performance murdered every dramatic moment.

I drove down to the Adams to see Slammer actually, a Bruce Davison film, directed by Robert Young, originally titled Short Eyes ('77). In prison, "short eyes" used to be a term for "child molester".

Davison is thrown in the clink for a crime against a child, but he's determined to prove his innocence.

Based on a play by Miguel Pinero, who spent time in prison. The film did well upon its release and is well worth catching today.

This ad mat for Downstairs Upstairs, a parody of the British Upstairs Downstairs TV show, does not distinguish it from its mostly shoddy ilk. The film was a terrific XXX'er with a great Kay Parker performance and an authentic plot. Some bizarre sexuality, too, with a half-pinter.

One of my favorite comedies of all time.

Bill Forsythe followed up with Local Hero, Comfort and Joy, and Housekeeping, his first American outing (and a disappointment).

His first film was That Sinking Feeling with Robert Buchanan, the actor who played 'Andy' in Gregory's Girl. It was/still is a classic.

I find both films to be models of understatement and comedy so unforced, it makes one of the hardest things to do in the world (make people laugh) look like a cinch.

A poor sequel, Gregory's Two Girls, appeared in '99.

Saw Xtro and Tony Scott's debut feature, The Hunger, on the same afternoon in Detroit.

I liked The Hunger much more, but I respected the crazy audacity of Xtro. The scene in which the woman gives birth to an adult male deserves mention. The woman deserved a month of rest and stitches.

Fantastic screenplay adaptation of his own play by Howard Pinter.

Betrayal tells the shattering story of a marital break-up in reverse.

It's a superb drama.

Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley are in top form.

The decision to tell the tale in reverse adds such tragic weight to every scene.