Scared to Death (1947)

A rather strange film, and not very good though notable for being the only colour film Bela Lugosi starred in. We start in the morgue with a young woman on the slab, the coroner trying to work out how she was killed. The film then goes into flashback and we find out the young woman is Laura (Molly Lamont), estranged from her husband but still living with her father-in-law Dr Van Ee (George Zucco) though seemingly in conflict with everyone.

Laura is becoming increasingly paranoid that her husband Ward (Roland Varno) is out to get her and is being slowly driven mad. She is also dead set against being blindfolded. Strange things continue to occur, including the arrival of a hypnotist (Lugosi) and his Dwarf (Angelo Rossito), Laura receives a dummy head in a box, and what is this green masked face which begins to appear in the windows?

With awkward dialogue, frequently fluffed, the film is that well made, the story is also rather cheesy and cliche with some dubious humour and characters who don't really do anything (including the Dwarf!) However, it is great fun if you like bad films. Lugosi treats the nonsense as it should be, in his own well-worn style. Though his presence in the film is a bit of a red herring. 

The film is worth persevering with, as the final twists are excellent. The film finally gets into high gear in the final few minutes after spending the preceding hour at a slow trot.

Mark of the Phoenix (1958)

Low budget and slightly baffling but a perfectly decent crime and spy drama. A secret metal that could give one side a decided advantage in the Cold War is stolen in Belgium. A highly convoluted method is used to get the metal to the East, the metal hidden in a cigarette case. However, the case ends up in the hands of American jewel thief Martin (Sheldon Lawrence).

Martin now finds himself being chased by Duser (Eric Poulmann) and his somewhat hapless gang of thugs, he also is blackmailed by East Bloc agent Vachek (Bernard Rebel) who wants to defect, and also Petra (Julia Arnall) who is keen on him. Of course the police (Anton Diffring) are also closing in...

So, the film has a rather complicated plot, which at times doesn't make 100% sense, but is a fun drama set in postwar Europe. The film is at times brutal, at other times ridiculous. The performances vary between competent to heavy stereotypes but everyone does their job to produce a decent and enjoyable film. Postwar Brussels is the real star though.

Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster (1989)

The second in the Snake Eater trilogy, Lorenzo Lamas returns as Soldier - a Vietnam Vet now cop and special forces expert. Whereas in the first film Soldier seemed to spend most of the film getting his ass kicked, in this second instalment he is a much more authentic warrior although this isn't a straightforward action movie. 

With drugs wrecking havoc and putting his friend Speedboat's (Larry B Scott) sister in hospital, Soldier begins a one man war against the drug lords. However, he is immediately shut down by the police. Pleading insanity, he is sent to a mental institution...

But getting out of the place is pretty easy for Soldier (and anyone else) and he leaves as he pleases to continue the fight, without normal weapons he improvises including making his own bombs. Soldier and Speedboat decide to go after the drugs kingpin Franco (Al Vandycruys)...

At times a brutal film, but tempered with various attempts at humour in the institution with psychiatrist Dr Pierce (Michele Scarabelli) and inmates including Harvey Atkin and Jack Blum. Most of the time the humour falls fairly flat but at least it does give the film a lighter feel and helps punctuate the violence. An enjoyable watch, quirky and ridiculous.

Blueprint for Robbery (1961)

Based on a true story (the Brinks job in 1950), this is a satisfying if unspectacular heist movie. Red Mack (Jay Barney) organises a team, including veteran safe cracker Pop (J. Pat O'Malley), to rob a security company in Boston. After several months careful planning and preparation (including one tense scene where they copy keys used at the company) the robbery is carried out and the criminals get away. Gus (Sherwood Price) agrees to keep the money for over three years until the State's Statute of Limitations expires and they'll be away free with millions of bucks...

Even though the police do not know where the money is and who was involved, this of course this is when the trouble starts for the gang. The gang can't get their hands on the loot and when Red gets arrested for another robbery things really start to go South, especially when Gus arranges a botched hit on him. The police know he is involved in something big, when he tells them what exactly it is they are shocked...

Maybe a limited film in terms of budget, it lacks spark but is a very acceptable crime film with good storytelling. Some scenes maybe would have been better off left on the cutting room floor to aid the film's pace.

Bruce's Deadly Fingers (1976)

Quality Bruceploitation action though in many ways a baffling film. Bruce Le for a change doesn't play Bruce Lee (though his character is called Bruce). Instead he is looking for Bruce Lee's book on finger king fu. Bad guy Lee Hung (Lo Lieh) is also looking for this book, and considers it more valuable than all the diamonds in the world for some reason.

But there are a couple of other guys looking for the book, quite why isn't explained. Bruce's sister (Yuan Man Tzu) is being forced to become a prostitute, scared into submission by seeing a woman tortured with a lizard. Thankfully Bruce saves her before she has to sell herself and he takes her to his friend Mina (Nora Miao) to look after. Not that Mina does a very good job as she and Bruce's sister are captured by the bad guys twice...

The other guys looking for the book turn out to be a cop (Michael Chan) and his new friend (Nik Cheung). All explained in the end then. After much muddled plotting, and random scenes, and lots of fighting (of course) the Bruce Lee book is discovered and Bruce learns finger kung fu. Unfortunately Lee Hung also gets the book and this sets the scene for a final gruesome showdown...

A clumsy film that contains a few too many strange awkward scenes (including a bizarre scene where the bad guys set a ring of gasoline on fire and begin to molest some unfortunate women in the centre of the fast approaching flames) though mid-1970s HK looks very groovy. Not a film for plot, a film for kung fu action which often is pretty decent. 

Stop Press Girl (1949)

In a sleepy little village barely touched by the modern world, young girl Jennifer (Sally Ann Howes) has a strange power, any mechanical device from a watch to a car stops working in her presence after fifteen minutes. However, she doesn't know she has this power yet. 

When she meets Roy (Nigel Buchanan) who drives a sports car and has a watch making business this strange power causes all sorts of mischief. Jennifer's uncle (James Robertson Justice), a dentist, scares Roy away when he tells him Jennifer's secret.

Jennifer decides to go to London herself, of course her powers cause mayhem. She meets Jock (Gordon Jackson), a journalist, who discovers the secret of her power but also falls in love with her...

A charming little comedy, the gimmick is stretched but the decent performances and gentle jokes will help the viewer retain interest, for at least longer than the fifteen minutes Jennifer would need to stop proceedings!

The Journey: Absolution (1997)

A very confusing film. An asteroid hits the Earth, thirty years later the world is now a frozen Hell, which seems to now consist of remote bases in the snow populated by near naked men who spend their days working out and indulging in military weirdness. Murphy (Mario Lopez) arrives at the base as a new cadet under the command of the deranged Bradley (Richard Greico), who is a man who worships Richard Nixon, smokes a lot of cigars and has a weird plan that involves torturing naked young men...

Murphy is in fact a spy, trying to find his missing comrade Lyles (Charles Mattocks) and also discover what on (frozen) Earth Bradley is doing. With the help of his friend Quintana (Nick Spano) and token female Wade (Jaime Pressly), Murphy discovers Bradley's plot to facilitate the final invasion of the Earth from another world...

This film truly is low budget sci-fi nonsense. The plot is hard to follow and doesn't make a lot of sense, the dialogue is frequently banal. A rather large proportion of the running time consists of muscular young men in their underwear, working out hard and getting sweaty - so it isn't all bad then! It is campy, ridiculous and (unintentionally) hilarious.