God Told Me To (1976)

Somewhat confusing maybe, and switches between more genres than you can count, but somehow its brilliant.

A number of horrific random crimes are being committed in NY, the perpetrators all saying that "God" told them to commit the crimes before they usually die themselves. Detective Nicholas (Tony Lo Blanco) thinks there is something more than meets the eye to this and begins to track down the mysterious Bernard Philips (Richard Lynch) who has been seen speaking to the perpetrators and indeed may even be directing matters.

Nicholas' investigation goes into really strange territory when it includes alien impregnation! Nicholas also begins to discover some shocking details about his own life too...

So, the film starts off like it is going to be a gritty 1970s crime story, then becomes a horror with elements of the supernatural, then sci-fi. Then the film switches back to crime with a blaxploitation-esque sub-plot about a pimp (George Patterson) who kills a cop on the take. 

Oh, there is also a sub-plot about Nicholas and the two ladies (Deborah Raffin and Sandy Dennis) in his love triangle! The story is confusing, but fast moving and multi-layered. Its great!

Sign of the Wolf (1941)

A surprisingly enjoyable film about some very clever dogs and rather unscrupulous humans.

Judy (Grace Bradley) has two performing Alsatian dogs (Smokey and [Grey] Shadow). When the two dogs fight at a dog show, causing her to miss out on a prize she decides to sell Shadow much to the dismay of Ben (Mantan Moreland). He smuggles Shadow aboard the flight back to Canada. The plane crashes in bad weather. Shadow manages to bring help to Judy and Ben in the shape of Rod (Michael Whalen). 

However, where has Smoky gone? Unfortunately, Smoky has been grabbed by two thieves who want to use the dog to steal fox fur pelts...

This is a fun little film with some good heroic dog action and a growing romance in the snow bound Canadian woods. Low budget doesn't have to mean low quality (or vice versa) after all.

The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

A dark dystrophia, that in the thirty odd years since release doesn't seem quite so far fetched any more.

We are in the near future and it's dark times. America has fallen, replaced by the religious fundamentalist Gilead (though a civil war seems to be raging so not everywhere is under Gilead's control it seems). Pollution has wiped out much of human fertility, those women who can still give birth are now a valuable commodity, not that they see any of that value themselves of course. Women like Kate (Natasha Richardson) are trained to become obedient "handmaids", basically given to rich families to bear their children for them. 

Kate is given to the Commander (Robert Duvall) and his wife Serena (Faye Dunaway). Rough unpleasant sex with religious ceremonial overtones follows. Kate also strikes up a friendship with the Commander's driver Nick (Aiden Quinn). There is more to Nick than it at first seems, indeed more to Gilead's supposedly strict religious society than it at first seems too...

The world of Gilead is monstrous, especially because of so much that goes unexplained as much as what we see. Hypocrisy and violence is of course at the centre of the society which is well portrayed here. An excellent film.

In Old Santa Fe (1934)

Singing cowboys shenanigans in a contemporary Western (as in 1930s of course).

Kentucky (Ken Maynard) is a singing cowboy who gets involved in a horse race with his performing horse Tarzan. Unfortunately, the crooked gangster Chandler (Kenneth Thomson) and his friend Tracy (Wheeler Oakman) are also in town and Kentucky ends up being framed for murder and involvement in the robbery of a stagecoach. Kentucky needs the help of his sidekick Cactus (George Hayes)...

Not a bad western at all with some good good riding, decent humour (much in the form of sharp dialogue and wisecracks) and good tunes. Interestingly, Gene Autry sang the songs and this was his screen test.

Why Must I Die? (1960)

A tense and enthralling Noir crime drama.

Lois (Terry Moore) tries to break out of her life of involvement in crime and becomes a singer in a club owned by Kenny (Phil Harvey) whom she falls in love with. However, her previous life catches up with her when old criminal accomplice Eddie (Lionel Ames) and his new moll Dottie (Debra Paget) catch up with Lois and want her help in robbing the club. The crime goes wrong and Kenny ends up gunned down. Lois gets the blame and ends up on death row. Her only hope is that Dottie admits that she committed the murder herself...

This is an excellent film, well structured and continually rising to an explosive crescendo. The film is a battle between two strong female wills and serves as a cautionary tale against capital punishment. Stylish but sleazy at the same time.

The Black Raven (1943)

A dark house mystery with a difference.

The Black Raven (George Zucco) - not his real name but the name he is known by due to his criminal activities - owns a hotel on the Canadian border. A number of people wanting to cross the border for various illegal reasons get trapped by a storm and a broken bridge and end up in the hotel. The people include an escaped convict (I Stanford Jolly), a man who robbed a bank (Horace Weatherby), a crime boss on the run and an eloped couple. The latter are rumbled when the girl's father, an important man, turns up.

When the father (Robert Middlemass) is found murdered, suspicion falls on the future son-in-law (Robert Livingstone) though the Black Raven turns out to be a criminal with a heart of gold and wants to prove the young man's innocence. When the stolen bank loot goes missing and the crime boss (Noel Madison) also ends up dead then the Sheriff (Charles Middleton) has a real mystery on his hands...

A fun if sometimes confusing film. The setting up takes ages with probably a few too many characters and the action takes place largely in the dark with various bumps and scrapes. Despite the heavy number of characters they all have time to establish themselves and the elaborate story makes sense in the end. It is what you would call a romp.

Fallout (1999)

What a great idea for a film, though the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

We are in the future (well for this film anyway, 2015 is the past now). Russia have invaded a former Soviet country (oh that sounds familiar). However, despite being from the country being invaded Federov (Frank Zagarino) is still going to command a space shuttle mission on the behalf of the Russians to the international space station (or a more advanced version which conveniently has artificial gravity). Also going on the mission is Amanda (Teri Ann Lynn) who is going to fix the space station's computer.

However, on the station things soon go wrong. Federov seizes control of the station and also a Russian nuclear attack satellite constellation. He tells Russia that they must withdraw from his homeland or he will start firing these nuclear satellites at US cities! The US responds by sending maverick pilot Hendricks (Daniel Baldwin) aboard an experimental new space ship, which has yet to make a successful flight...

The story is great though the budget and execution is unfortunately not up to the job. The acting is nearly as flimsy as some of the sets do, one of which makes Mission Control look like it's been relocated to a caravan. The action mostly consists of firing assault rifles on a space station. This does not seem the wisest thing to do to me...