“Black Roses” (1988) - Since it's inception Rock and Roll music has always been associated with the devil. From selling souls at a crossroads, to satanic messages played backwards on records, the so called 'Rocksploitation' subgenre is nothing new. As with most entries in that rather specific subgenre, this movie centers around a band with evil demonic powers. This one specifically is made of demons who can hypnotize 30 year old 'teenagers' who listen to them. Once under the bands control the youth begin doing evil, eventually killing their parents.

As far as demon bands in movies go this one is pretty lame. The lead singer has hilarious big hair and weird leather bondage tops while the band pretty much only play power ballads. The whole movie would have be a lot better if the band was lead by Jon Mikl Thor, but honestly I would say that about most of these kind of movies. The movie is still worth checking out, mind you just keep your expectations in check and bring some friends to laugh alongside you. Sopranos fan should also not this movie is the debut of Vincent 'Big Pussy' Pastore as a homophobic father.

3 / 5 Burnt Kernels with Butter

https://youtu.be/qCpEfb4UlBM?si=GlRATxaMppY15hkr

"Horror of the Blood Monsters" (aka "Blood Creatures from the Prehistoric Planet", "Creatures of the Prehistoric Planet", "Space Mission of the Prehistoric Planet", "Space Mission to the Lost Planet", "Vampire Men of the Lost Planet", "Flesh Creatures of the Red Planet", "The Flesh Creatures") (1970) - This many named monstrosity was directed by Florida's own "King of Schlock" Al Adamson. Best known for his prolific output of low-budget drive-in exploitation, along with more than a few softcore films, Al knew how to make a movie cheap. He used those skills well when he repurposing footage from a 1956 Filipino film titled; "Kahariang bato" about waring cavemen for much of this movies runtime. The rest of the movie was made of short scenes of John Carradine and a few other American actors pretending to be astronauts or vampires.

Beyond the obvious narrative issues, the biggest problem Adamson faced when stitching this movie together was that the Filipino footage was all in black and white. To get around this issue Adamson came up with the rather novel idea of coloring all the footage that was suppose to take place on the vampire cavemen's planet with various gels and then have a character explain it as some form of light radiation. This gives the film a unique, if disjointed, colorful visual style all it's own but might give you a headache so beware. Future Oscar winning director of photography for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) Vilmos Zsigmond worked on the film so you can blame (or thank) him if you so desire.

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Full of interesting images bathed in primary colors, vintage low budget spaceship effects (including beakers full of colorful liquid and space cigarettes), and even being filmed in the iconic Bronson Canyon this movie is a big memorable mess. Beyond containing large amounts of the previously mentioned "Kahariang bato" (1956) it also features clips from "One Million B.C." (1940), "Unknown Island" (1948), "Robot Monster" (1953), and "The Wizard of Mars" (1965) further adding to the chaos. With that said Adamson does a decent job roping everything together, especially given what little he had to work with. If you're in the mood to see something different check this out as it's just weird enough to make it worth it. For those who do, keep an eye out for Adamson himself as he has a small role as a vampire in an early scene.

4 / 5 Burnt Kernels with Free Refills

https://youtu.be/WxAwDlnrq1o?si=m9e1axBpF6WA8ycj

thought the physical stuff in Sick of Myself would be what stuck with me. nope. it's how badly signe needs to control the explanation of what she's doing.

there's something extra miserable about watching someone try to steer a convo when you can already feel the room slipping. she doesn't just want attention. she wants attention with the right caption attached.

that's what makes it funny for me, and also why i can't just rec it to everyone. the joke keeps going way past where i'd normally want the scene to let someone escape.

not saying i relate to her choices lol. i mean the tiny impulse under them, the "please don't let these people decide what i look like" thing. that's recognizable before the movie takes it somewhere way darker. did the social cringe get you more than the body horror? or am I understanding how rough the body horror is.

Is it funnier with the original script or does the dub add that little something extra? I know I could watch it twice but...

It's a flex moment in the movie with satisfying plot twist