Change Your Image
jhelppi
Reviews
Forbidden Zone (1980)
ribald classic
Filmed in the single sound stage at the old Gotham Studios West (since demolished) on Santa Monica Boulevard at Van Ness Avenue in Hollywood, "Forbidden Zone" wrapped principal photography in November 1977 and premiéred at the Filmex film festival in January 1980. As an example of independent cinema it's in a class by itself, an opinion I would hold even if I weren't part of the cast in my big screen début, an unbilled cameo as a frantic student: "C'mon, Squeezit, we're gonna be late for class!" I screened it for some friends at an Easter gathering, and it still has the power to delight and appall, often simultaneously. With a full spectrum from delicacy to coarseness, "Forbidden Zone" is a true original that earns the title cult classic.
Shrunken Heads (1994)
I left my head in Haiti
Real life contains enough reality. "Shrunken Heads" is gloriously fake, a frothy cocktail of Haitian voodoo, teen romance, and a butch lesbian crime boss whose pompadour is a special effect in itself. At their best, movies ease us into a dreamlike state with its own logic. This film creates a world in which the sight of flying shrunken heads hell-bent on revenge makes perfectly delightful sense.
Modern Vampires (1998)
a new twist on familiar themes
Director Richard Elfman has taken the familiar themes of the vampire movie and has approached them from a skewed perspective in "Modern Vampires." The urban hipster Los Angeles setting couldn't be farther from Transylvania, and the old Universal Pictures bloodsucker flicks never exposed so much firm young female flesh - boobs, that is. Natasha Gregson Wagner and Casper Van Dien provide eye candy and show off their ability to memorize and recite short segments of dialog. There are a few familiar faces from television, and an all too short appearance by Udo Kier. But the picture belongs to Rod Steiger. He's one of the great ham actors, and he certainly doesn't hold back here. "Modern Vampires" is worth seeing if only for the scene stealing of Oscar © winner Steiger.