Troma and Full Moon films
 

I know these two studios have made some of the worst films in history. But i have no idea why so many of these pictures hold a special place in my heart. I got into full moon when i was 15(1991), i rented Puppet Master 1&2. Again i know none of these films are classic cinema. Though i did like the PM films. Even the really lame ones like Shrunken Heads, The Creeps, Hideous,Demonic Toys,Dollman, and the trancer films are kinda a guilty pleasure for me.
I just got into troma. I've been wanting to watch something from them since i found out that they are the ones that picked up Canniibal the Musical(after seeing the dvd anyway) So after reading reviews from dvdtalk's G. Noel Gross, i rented Toxic Avenger. It was great and i couldn't believe i waited almost 20 years to see it. I rented KabiukiMan (whatever the name of the movie is) tonight.
I was just wondering if any one else had these guilty pleasures. It would just make me feell better i guess.

Class of Nuke'em High.

At least that's the one I think I saw. I remember a scene where some kids were misbehaving in class and the teacher tore her top off to reveal--double turret machine guns!

I'd probably pick up the Tox-box. I remember loving Toxie 3 as a kid and of course, the Toxic Crusaders cartoon. I can't say much for part 2 since I've never seen it.

I recently had the displeasure of watching two Full moon videos back to back. Lemme tell you, these movies are a testament to the pile of crap that Full Moon is. RetroPuppet master is possible the worst movie I have ever seen. If you ever go into film for a living, watch it to see what NOT to do.

The Dead hate the Living was another one. It really wasn't that bad but every shot in it screamed "Low Budget concieved and shot in 2 weeks!". You can see that they probably had a budget of 10,000 and made a killing in video sales.

Which brings me to a final point, these guys give Direct to Video it's bad name.

First three Puppet Masters were pretty good for low budgies. Hopefully they will someday get a cheapo release. The Subspecies series wasn't bad either. Pit & the Pendulum was good as well. Don't remember much else in their catalog that I liked...

Yeah, Subspecies and Puppet Masters weren't that bad. Most of Full Moon's movies were corny and low budget, but I always enjoyed watching the making-of features at the end of the movies. One of the worst ones was Invisible: Chronicles of Benjamin Knight. Thought it sounded interesting enough (I'm a sucker for invisible people movies), but it stunk. Whatever happened to Full Moon movies? Weren't they a division of Paramount?

Tromeo & Juliet anyone? Man, that was weird. For some reason, I always get a bad taste in my mouth from watching Troma movies. The way the films are made are surreal. It's like watching a Barney episode and then going in and bashing everyone's head in. It's just all too bright and cheery for such bloody movies.

A few of their releases are tolerable, but in general both companies kinda piss me off, as most of thes elow budget schlockmakers do. I forgive them for low budgets and whatnot, but creativity is free. Evil Dead was made for $150,000 and Halloween for $350,000... so they can't hide behind their low budget as an excuse.

You know, a long long time ago, Troma used to make undeniably bad movies, but they were reasonably straight. Somewhere about they time they became popular in the cult movie scene, they started to go for the out-and-out camp. Toxie would throw a guy and they'd dub in a comedy slide whistle - stuff like that. It was if they were going "wink, wink - aren't WE clever. Hey kids! It's CAMP!"

Ever since that point, they've sucked. The only good film from after that period was Tromeo and Juliet.

Some of the Tromas I've seen and mostly enjoyed are
Cannibal!
Surf Nazis Must Die
Class of Nuke'em High [these three are my favorites]
Sgt Kabukiman NYPD [kinda]
Bloodsucking Freaks [this one is definitely for the grossout]
Troma's War [a little over the top, but actually had a plot and a good feeling about it]
Monsters in the Closet [rated PG, I think--about, well, monsters in the closet]


Some of their stuff, especially more recent, does seem to just go for the gross-out factor, and like ElKabong said, they seem to have lost their 'innocence' sometime in the last few years, but their stuff is still like nothing Hollywood puts out [although if that's a good thing or a bad thing, remains to be seen.]

I know what you mean about Full Moon movies. I rent every one I see. I was also pretty happy when they started having the Full Moon movie night on... I think it was Sci-Fi. I never got to watch them, though, and I don't think they are doing it any more. Anyway, they are pretty campy and that is why I enjoy them.

Troma, though, isn't my taste. At least from the two I have seen: Bloodsucking Freaks and Beware! Children At Play.

I like Mothers Day quite a bit. But with most Troma stuff I agree with El-Kabong about the knowingly playing down to the audience.

Bloodsucking Freaks isn't really a Troma film. They just acquired it. For what it is, it's one of the best. It doesn't cheat the viewer, if that's what you want to see.

If you want to see the ultimate Troma film, you have to see Terror Firmer. It's quite possibly the grossest, stupidest film ever made. In other words, if you like Troma, check it out. If you hate Troma, run, don't walk, away from it.

The first three Puppet Master movies were great. Four and five were alright. I never saw Curse of the Puppet Masterand Retro Puppet Master is pure crap.

I know Sci-fi channel is showing some full moon pictures next week. It looked like one a night at for a few nights. I think it starts next thursday. There showing ragdoll, shurkenheads, and then the following monday there showing Vampire Journals(which i really liked).
I forgot to mention Pit and the Pendulum. I rented that because i got into a huge Stuart Gordon and Jeffery Combs kick after Re-Animator came out on Laserdisc.
I'm thinking about renting Tromeo and Juliet tonight.

off the subject but is Necromantik1&2 worth a rental, i've heard a lot about them but haven't had the guts to check them out yet.

RE: the point about camp

Definitely. You can't create camp. It just happens.

I always felt the third Tox movie was kind of weak. Considering that the original rough cut of Toxic Avenger 2 was long, Troma then decided instead of throwing a *****load of footage to the cutting room divide the movie into half and release the second half as Toxic Avenger 3. Needless to say, there's only one scene that goes OTT and gory, the rest of the movie lags due to extended scenes of Toxie dueling with the devil (the overacting by the extras in the crowd scenes are classic and far funnier than the actual movie)

Has anyone seen Toxic Avenger 4, been meaning to rent it.

Yeah i just rented it last night. I liked it,it wasn't as good as the first one but it was really good. It has a really good doc on it too that shows that it apparently sucks to work on a Troma film. Kaufman seems like a very stressed out individual.

Didn't they do the Trancers series. I kinda liked the first couple.

I don't think full moon was around yet for the first Trancer film but they did do the sequels.

The only one i've ever seen is Cannibal The Musical. But that was only because it was by Trey Parker & Matt Stone. I watched some previews for the other troma movies and they looked pretty lame. I also couldn't stand the "president of troma" or whatever giving us all these stupid introductions.

Yeah, Troma does seem to TRY and be something you can't really TRY to be. But this is all giving me a headache...

Re: Troma and Full Moon films
 

I prefer the full moon movies to the troma. troma always seems like they make their movies for $1.50. Full moon (especially the early stuff) has some production values. Their series' have declined but the stuff from the 90s and earlier are great. Full moon streaming has a lot of them available too.

Re: Troma and Full Moon films
 

Full Moon definitely has the "sequel half-comprised of previous films' footage" formula down.