Evils of the Night (1985)

A very strange film. A bunch of aliens, including John Carradine, are on Earth and arranging for a couple of redneck mechanics (Neville Brand and Aldo Rey) to kidnap horny teenagers on vacation and bring them to a "hospital" where the teen's blood can be drained so helping the aliens continue living.

Truthfully though the mechanics are pretty inept (they wear masks to hide their identity - though forget to take their name badges off) and their prey usually escapes... unfortunately the teenagers are even more inept at trying to make good their escapes and get re-captured. Much of the film is a rather messy and silly extended torture and attempted rape scene in the garage including some gratuitous use of power tools. Much of the rest of the film is soft core porn.

It is exploitative nonsense for sure. The film is very trashy and not very pleasant if we are to be honest. Scores high for gore and female nudity, scores low for story and coherence.

Equal Impact (1995)

Grubby and violent martial arts action. Twin brothers Dave (Joe Gates) and Josh (Jay Gates) are tough but clean tae kwan do fighters drawn into the world of gangland crime and counterfeit money. The gangsters led by Moss (Joe Estevez) are mostly cardboard bad guys except for Bobby (Krist Gerine) who knows a bit about the martial arts himself.

Luckily there is also Ray (Robert Z'dar) who at least looks like a tough guy. After several fights in alleyways and parking lots, torture scenes and some driving around, the scene is set for a final showdown in a warehouse (of course)...

The film isn't that bad though could have done with being edited. It is rather drawn out with a number of awkward pauses. The story line is pretty generic and obvious but the fight scenes are good - even if slightly ruined by the rather mismatched soundtrack which sounds like a CD of lift music on random play.

The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)

An enjoyable comedy short from W.C. Fields. A parody of Yukon melodramas where Fields plays a long suffering gold prospector in the frozen wastes. He gets hit in the face with snow a lot and his dog sled team are rather mismatched. His son Chester (George Chandler), a good for nothing who went off to the city and ended up in prison, finally comes home after finishing his sentence...

And that's it really. It is a pretty funny film that packs a lot of gags (verbal and sight) into a short running time. Highlights include the dog in the sled team who is too short to reach the ground and the high kicking Salvation Army girl.

Gun Girls (1957)

Fairly shoddy exploitation film about "teenage" girls (lets be honest they all look like they left their teenage years a long time ago) who commit crimes. Dora (Jacqueline Park) has fallen in with a bad crowd and has formed a criminal partnership with Teddy (Jeanne Ferguson). After knocking a few chumps over the heads and stealing their watches, the girls decide they need to move up a crime level and get some guns from the local fence, Joe (Timothy Farrell).

Joe meanwhile has a plan to steal the payroll at a warehouse using information gleaned from his inside gal (in more ways than one) Joy (Eve Brent). Everything doesn't go according to plan with various double crossing and criminal ineptitude. Naturally the film has to show that crime doesn't pay...

A rough film that was made on a (low) budget. Often shamelessly exploitative (when the girls get their guns, for example the camera makes a point of showing them hiding the guns up their skirts). Enjoyable enough melodrama but nothing more.

Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943)

A South Seas adventure. The owner of a brothel, Marge (Gale Sondergaard) gets mixed with two treasure hunting adventurers Mike (John Carradine) and Jack (Frank Fenton) who have the sort of "friendly" rivalry which usually results in awkward brawls. They call a truce to seek treasure.

The treasure is gold which Carruthers (Sidney Toler) has hidden away after faking the sinking of his ship. He has, in fact, tricked Mike and Jack into raising the sunken treasure for him, and then take it from them. Meanwhile a tropical storm is approaching and threatening to destroy the island...

Its an amiable enough though unexceptional film which drags at times. As the film was pretty low budget most of the "diving" scenes are obviously models. Seeing Sidney Toler not playing Charlie Chan is of course quite novel and probably the best part of the film. The final fights and the deadly storm are both pretty ridiculous. However, treated in the right way the film is enjoyable fluff.