jmsmath

I watched Hercules (1983) tonight starring Lou Ferrigno and must say, this film is perfect for this challenge. It has it all: bad acting, bad plot, some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard, bad special effects, cheap sets, bad music and actors that sometimes have accents and other times do not. I think it was played as a serious film when it was released, but now it's more of a comedy. It really needs to be seen to be believed. I guess it falls in the so bad it's good category.

terrycloth

iv seen all three before but never iback to back to back like i did the other day with violent shit trilogy all the vomit, mutilations, penis cutting, and errr nonsense def took its toll on me so i took a break later this week goes to necromantik 1/2, cannibal, red room1/2, grotesue and some rape films....maybe ill mix in some russ myers to break it up

asianxcore

I agree with you 100%. Watching the Vomit Gore Trilogy in a marathon definitely is rough. About 10-15 minutes left in Slow Torture Puke Chamber, I started to get nauseated. Fake vomit is fine but 3+ hours of what felt like non-stop puking for real was a little much.

I thought about watching Cannibal again, but I already did for last years Challenge and I felt the film was pretty boring. Though the extreme elements of it are very effective.

Looks like you and I will be the "sickos" in this Challenge

Just finished watching Nekromantik. I'm not sure why but I liked it more this time around compared to all the other times I've watched it (and thought it was boring sans the final act). That ending is pretty hilarious.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Is this really an exploitation film? I've seen art house type movies that do the same or similar things. I'm not saying it shouldn't be counted and I haven't seen them yet, although I have at least one, it really sounds like a crappy avant-garde film.

Giles

^ well... I'm not going to call out names and the specific movies, but there a few movies on people's list that I don't consider A) exploitation, B)B-moviesque or C) Drive in movie fare - but the latter opens up the field considerably since alot of movies can technically be seen in 'at the Drive-In' form.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I like the movies where you're sitting there watching and watching and something, like a bank robbery happens, and you have no idea how the movie got to that point. That's what happened to me with Death Rides A Horse yesterday.

I also learned something. I was thinking the reason I always fell asleep in my theater room while watching martial arts movies was the fault of the movie. I was watching A Fistful of Dollars a few nights ago and even though I loved it, I just started dozing off 45 minutes into it. I have the big ass papa san chairs in my theater room and it seems like 45 minutes into any movies, I'll just start dozing off since they're so comfortable. Day or night, it doesn't matter. I will start to fall asleep and if I don't get up after watching a movie and walk around a bit, I will pass out during the beginning of the next movie.

asianxcore

IMO, It's sort of a weird mix of both. The amount of gore/sexuality/vomit the films tend to revel in (and push boundaries) definitely lean it towards an Exploitation film. The way it is edited in all three films is definitely more of the Avant-Garde/Artsy background you are talking about.

I'd be glad to defend any of my choices on my list if anyone wants to speak openly about them

caligulathegod

It seems like we're 99% compliant, so I have no issues with any entries. If someone asks, I'll give my opinion, but I'm happy with any participation. It looks like we all have the general idea.

Ash Ketchum

Well, the month’s not even half-over and I’m up to 49. But I was home for 11 days straight, so I was able to up my numbers. I don’t know how long I can keep it up, unless I keep it to short movies.

I’d planned to see so many Japanese movies (Zatoichi, Lone Wolf, Sonny Chiba, Female Prisoner Scorpion, The Yakuza Papers, etc.), but I’ve been plunging into the world of Hollywood B-movies and finding some real gems. That Mill Creek Combat Classics 50-film box set is filled with great stuff. I’ve so far seen six from that set for this challenge and there’s not a loser among them. I was really impressed with two war movies set in China and starring Anna May Wong. She was quite an actress, but in her higher profile films she had to play second fiddle to established stars like Marlene Dietrich (SHANGHAI EXPRESS). Only in short low-budget films like DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (which I plan to watch for this) and the two in the Combat set, LADY FROM CHUNGKING and BOMBS OVER BURMA could she be given starring roles. Hollywood just didn’t know what to do with an Asian star.

Also on that set: BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (1940), a thoroughly absurd spy thriller that packs enough German double and triple agents into London in WWI to crowd out the civilian population. Boris Karloff plays a “French” butler at a government official's house who is, of course, never quite what he seems. A lot is packed into 60 minutes. Never plausible, but never boring. And Karloff is always amusing.

The B-westerns I’ve been seeing have all been winners. Both CALIFORNIA FRONTIER and THE RENEGADE RANGER deal with depredations against Mexican land grantees by white landgrabbers and the heroes side with the Mexicans. And the Mexicans are all played by actual Hispanic actors, not whites in brownface. Rita Hayworth (real name: Margarita Cansino) plays a Spanish landowner kicked off her land in RENEGADE RANGER (1938) and she leads a gang against the landgrabbers with the help of two Texas Rangers. This was before she was a star and she was all of 19 at the time. Great stuff.

And then today, SWAMP FIRE, starring two former Tarzans—Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe. Weissmuller even gets to fight an alligator in the Louisiana Delta in this one. This is the only film in which Weissmuller played a character other than Tarzan, Jungle Jim or himself.

And it helps that these movies are all short--usually under 70 min.

Coming up soon… HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL—with Mamie Van Doren, who’s interviewed in the latest Filmfax.

And…I gotta work in SHOGUN ASSASSIN now that I’ve seen the two LONE WOLF AND CUB movies that it was compiled from.

nezumi

I'm glad somebody said it. There needs to be a discussion about revising the rules, so participants' choices and lists are closer to the spirit of the challenge. I understand that we''re trying to be inclusive and encourage participation, but I don't think that it's working out that way. It's a challenge. Let's make it challenging.

RKillgore

Just posted my Star Trek themed run of seven movies featuring the principle cast. Looked for Majel Barrett and found a few applicable titles, but nothing available. I thought of wrapping it up with Star Trek V (dismal sequel and a RT rating of 21%, maybe close enough to wildcard) but I couldn't do that to myself yet.

The highlight was Impulse with William Shatner.

Giles

again, I'm not going to be specific, but there seem to be some very blatant acclaimed commercial horror films, arthouse fare (and I wonder why I couldn't include 'Enter the Void' and not wild card it) a well received musical and a big budget $100,000,000 action film (with high IMDB/RT score) that seem to have slid into several lists - I think if the word 'Cult' was included in the challenge title, I wouldn't have a problem with the films listed, but a few films I really don't see how we let them slide

Gobear

I will be happy to defend any of the films on my list.

I'll be specific. Looking around people's lists, the only films that made me scratch my head were The Mighty Ducks (for reals?); Vincent Minnelli's Cabin in the Sky, which could be excused as a raceploitation flick; and Starship Troopers, which stars Caspar Van Dien from the Actors Safe List, although IMO that would work better for the July Sci-Fi challenge.

In any event, we all have Wild Card blanks that can be filled with anything, including The Mighty Ducks (?!?!), so there's really zero reason to question anybody's choices.

On the positive side, if you want to see who's doing it right, check out Dimension X's list--he really gets the spirit of the challenge.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I think wildcards are meant more for borderline items and not meant to be used as Free Parking or the center spot on a bingo card.

Giles

^ but hardly anyone is using the wildcards when they should be. And I for one am not so hot on the 'safe lists' which just because someone is mentioned that they are automatically able to list any movie they are in: let's say for example, Peter Cushing, oh well then let me add 'Star Wars Episode 4 - come on? really?? I'm all up for anyone people including any movies that they feel want to include in their list, but if there's debate, well then make it a wild card - plain and simple.

Gobear

It could be an age thing--some folks possibly didn't grow up in the drive-in era, so they would not necessarily grok what an exploitation/ B-movie/ drive-in flick is meant to be.

I'd also say the arthouse/ exploitation line is not as fine as some claim. There are several Criterion titles that fit perfectly in this challenge: Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, Equinox, the entire Monsters & Madmen box, and Blast of Silence, to name a few. Criterion is an arthouse line, but these are clearly exploitation titles.

If there remain any questions about a film's eligibility for this challenge, just ask yourself, "Would I have watched this in a sleazy 42nd St. grindhouse/ Texas drive-in in the early 70s?, " or even better, "Has Quentin Tarantino ever cited this film as one of his inspirations?"

Giles

true... hence why I just watched 'City of the Living Dead' (aka 'Gates of Hell') - where he lifts a scene from it and used in 'Kill Bill'

llandros

I just ran back over my list and really couldn't see anything that stood out as not being acceptable in the challenge. If anyone sees anything there and doesn't think it belongs, PLEASE say something or at least PM me to let me know. I really don't want to list something that is not challenge-worthy and I won't get offended in the least if you let me know!

With that said, I am enjoying myself with some pretty terrible movies! I think that is the most important thing for me. Plus, trying to go with ALL 1st time viewings which keeps things pretty fresh. I hope everyone else is having a good time as well.

Giles

I don't remember Cyborg being that bad although I wish the extreme violence that got clipped for it's R-rating were restored for the home video release. Nor The Keep which I thought when I saw it in the theatre was quite good, although I've heard the book is even better than the film version. Planet of the Vampires is actually one of Bava's best films IMO and was the inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien - there's nothing flawed about the movie if you ask me (but of course I'm biased toward's anything Bava made).

You've reminded me I have to watch Robocop 3 - a film I've been trying to avoid and not taint my overall impression of the Robocop trilogy.

asianxcore

I assume you went through all the lists? That's fine with me

As everyone (including myself) has said, if anyone has a particular issue with anyone's list just PM them. I'd hate for this Challenge to turn into endless pages of people calling out other people.

Giles

like the Horror Challenge where fist fights and near banning occur with random abandonment

Mondo Kane

Just for Female Chauvinists alone

If there's 1 downside I've had with this year's challenge, it's that I wasn't able to recommend another oddity for Giles (In league with last year's Electronic Lover) but, ironically, I plan on watching Smoke & Flesh late tonight (Which features Natara. One of the co-stars of E-Lover) But no nude dancing this time around

Giles

yeah! ... you've let me down this year.

davidh777

I admit there are a couple films I either listed (Running Scared) or was considering (The Boondock Saints) that I didn't ask about, and I didn't figure anyone would look that closely at my list. Wrong!

Just quoting caligula's earlier evaluation of Cabin in the Sky.

Mondo Kane

Well, entry #25 of my list......

Only problem is that netflix doesn't carry that SWV triple-feature (Had to blind-buy it) but I'll put it this way, I'll never look at hair-whipping the same way again.