Actuarial Science Movie Reviews

The 1st Phibes was enjoyable enough as Vincent Price punished those Drs. whom killed his wife, each being done away with in a manner appropriate to their profession. Price seems to enjoy this type of movie, Theatre of Blood being a terrific example. The ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel, and here it is. Unfortunately.
Phibes has risen from his double coffin where he slept with his dead wife until a certain time. Upon awaking, he discovers his house destroed and a papyrus, detailing the river of life in Egypt, missing. He traces it to Robery Quarry's house and begins a series of murders to recover the papyrus. It turns out that Quarry also knows about the River of Life and is, in fact, several thousand years old and must return to the River to renew his supply of aqua vitae.
After a few more murders, Phibes and his wife journey down the river, leaving Quarry to perish beside his wife, who recoils in horror as he ages, dies, disintergrates and floats away as dust. there is probably some message there but I don't care.
Several characters reappear in the sequel, even the ones killed in the 1st movie but it's ok. The bumbling detectives add some slapstick humor and everything seems to be tongue-in-cheek.
The murders are why you watch Phibes to see what diabolical manner he thinks up to kill. The needle in the phone is okay but uninspired.
The bottle murder is good but I still don't know how he got the body in the bottle. The Scorpion is predictiable, since they're in the desert and the hawk is just stupid.
Price is his usual excellent self but doesn't seem to enjoy himself as much as he did in the 1st one.
You have to get it to see the end of Phibes and fortunately, it is the end.

The beauty of the original Dr. Phibes movie was that while the plot was fantastic and Phibe's schemes convoluted and almost impossible to pull off, there was always the sense that given a driven and malignant enough intelligence they could (emphasis on could) have happened. In other words in real life there could have been Dr. Phibes-like murders. In the second Phibes film, all pretense of reality is stripped away and the fantastic is embraced. The plot being that Phibes is racing against Robert Quarry's Biederbeck to locate the river of life in order to revive his long dead (yet remarkably perserved) wife, Regina. Whereas in the original, Phibes is merely out to avenge her 'murder' by killing the operating team that tried to save Regina's life. This is not to say this makes for a bad film, it just seems a little diminished when weighed against the original. Just how likely is that a man who can figure out how to survive years entombed with embalming fluid in his veins could not save his wife's life? And what exactly is Phibe's relationship with the conveinently ressurected Vulnavia? How is it that Phibe's tomb was never discovered but his safe was found and the house above him was completly leveled?

That being said, Dr. Phibes Rises Again is one heck of a fun, twisted movie to watch. Vincent Price is again at his campiest and the retro/deco sets are glorious to behold. Even the Egyptian sets are gorgeous and the outrageous props (like the elaborate tuba Phibes carts all the way to Egypt or his standard automated musicians) just add to the outlandish fun.

A number of the character actors from the original make appearances in this second installment including the dogged Inspector Trout and his bewildered Scottland Yard superior. Terry Thomas makes another cameo as a ocean liner booking agent (vs. his eventually bloodless Dr. Longstreet) and there is a wonderfull small appearance by Peter Cushing as an ocean liner captain.

Robert Quarry as Phibe's nemesis is as fun to watch as Price himself. Biederbeck's callous and casual egotism is almost as dehumanizing as Phibe's disregard for all those who get in his way (and many who don't). Phibe's dispatching of his victims is as vicious and mean spirited as in the original. His murder of Biederbeck's mute manservant is particularly innovative.

All in all this is a horror movie that is great fun not overly gory and outshines most of the horror films that followed it. There are plenty of humorous moments in the movie (most at the expense of the Scotland Yard detectives) to break up Phibe's sadistic scenes. The plot is somewhat plodding but lets be honest you don't watch Vincent Price horror films for Oscar quality plot elements (though the Phibes' plots are arguably more complex than say, Titanic's). You watch to see Price the horror master at work and he certainly earned his keep on this film.

You have to have seen the first film, "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", to really understand the "good" doctor's madness in his quest to find the river of life in Egypt. Phibes is totally dedicated to restoring life to his beloved wife, Victoria. So dedicated that he kills people who get in his way. In the first film he murders a lot of doctors and in this one he kills archeologists who are working for Biederbeck {he's played by Robert Quarry, the man who AIP was secretly planning to become their new horror star because Vincent was getting old and AIP felt that audience would turn away from an old man}. Biederbeck has a secret and he too is kept alive with serum but unlike Dr. Phibes, Biederbeck wants to find the youth river for himself. Phibes finds this apalling and he tricks Biederbeck into giving him back a key that unlocks the gate blocking the river of youth (it's in the bottom of a pyramid and resembles more like a stream than a river). Phibes paddles himself and the dead Victoria through the gates of life as Biederbeck slumps over watching the two sail off. Biederbeck's wife says something like "it's not the end of the world" and then we see Biederbeck turn into his true 110 year old self! The police force are once again on hand for comic relief (Inspector Trout and his superior are hilarious). This sequel is just as great as the 1971 original.

Fiend Without a Face was made when the military budgets were unknown to the public, news reels showed threat of nuclear war, fear of radio activity peaked, and the pinnacle of post-war sci-fi genre. Thus, the 50s was a time when pseudo-science and CNS-vampires could strike fear in an audience. Presently, Fiend Without a Face can be seen as a feeble attempt to give the audience a shaky yawn. Nevertheless, it is a film historical monument of past times when the unknown was unknown to the audience and it offers some amusing moments.

Forget the title, "Fiend Without a Face" is the one with the brain monsters. That is all you have to tell people for them to go, "Oh, yes! That movie! I remember that movie!" This 1958 British horror film might not be beloved, but is certainly memorable because of the stop-motion animation that is used to have the monster, which look like big brains with horns and a spinal chord tail that they use to move around and strangle their victims (these must have been partially responsible for inspiring the face-huggers from the "Alien" series). This is also one of the goriest films of that decade, which was probably a way of covering up for the fact that you had actors screaming and writhing in pain with a big fake brain monster taped to their heads sucking out their brains.

Our tale is set at an American military base in Canada (interesting to see a British film play about American-Canadian tensions like this). The locals start dropping dead, screaming in horror, and the thinking is that it has to have something to do with the base, maybe that "atomic radar" thing they are working on, but probably just some sort of psychotic American G.I. (and this years before Vietnam, please note). But Major Jeff Cummings (Marshall Thompson), second in command at the base, has his suspicions about Professor Walgate (Kynaston Reeves), a retired expert in psychic phenomenon. But a visit to the Professor's house reveals one of those great experiments gone horribly wrong that we so often find at the heart of films like this one.

The title "Fiend Without a Face" comes because for most of the movie the monsters are invisible (Steven Spielberg used this same approach with more success in "Jaws" and in both cases the rationale was more special effects problems that artistic sensibilities). I am not arguing this is a great horror film, but for a B-movie it does try to deliver for the final act. Yes, the killer mutant brains being invisible is problematic (a polite way of saying stupid, boys and girls), but there is something inherently appealing about the little killers once they pop up and starting hopping around in their cute little feeding frenzy. You can also have fun trying to figure out what there are more of in this film: horror movie clichés or killer brains (okay, clichés is the correct answer, but have fun counting both anyhow).

This movie scared the hell out of me when I was at home one day watching tv by myself as a young boy! At the same time, I was too compelled to see the outcome to change the channel. Could have sworn the fiends were in the house with me! At any rate, Criterion done a fine job, as always, on the release. The price is a little steep, but the picture is a whole lot cleaner than the old VHS copy I owned, and the sound is really clear. There are some real nice extras, also.

Horror movies of the 50s provide a rich vein for critics to explore the meanings of such often bandied about terms as 'great', 'awful', 'bad', and 'good.' Critics like to point at movies such as THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS and say on one hand that it is a 'bad' movie, but on the other immediately qualify the 'bad' with a fuzzily defined 'good.' When critics do that, they suggest that the subjective use of terms normally used to indicate quality or lack of it are not mutually exclusive.

There is much to pan in TBFPA: the cheesy special effects, John Agar's hammy acting, a script not believable even by the slovenly standards of the 50s, and the sexist idea that earth women are desired by offworld species. But what is it that separates moves like this one from others that offer nothing but an itch in the brain that vanishes the moment that the concluding credits begin to roll? I suggest that TBFPA is a perfect example of the movie that brings the audience to the very precipice of the gulf that separates momentary fun from a shocking statement that life in our universe and life in a movie exist only to cause pain to the viewer. Dirctor Nathan Juran presents the viewer with the premise that earth is being invaded by two aliens, a bad one (Gor) and a good one (Val). Gor lodges himself in the brain of a human, John Agar, who is clearly meant to represent mortal Everyman, exactly the outwardly handsome but inwardly ungiving sort that Shirley Temple did marry in real life. Val lodges himself in a dog so as to monitor the progress of the invasion. In a wacky sort of way, TBFPA prefigures a similar concept of good cop bad alien later to appear in I COME IN PEACE. Val successfully foils the invasion by causing a freed John Agar to defeat Gor, who is now able to bob about grinning evilly on some noticeably swinging wires. Despite the presence of all the shortcomings noted above, TBFPA has the sense not to cross the line that separates fun from a churning in the stomach that inevitably arises when any film disrespects both itself and the audience. Monstrosities like CALIGULA or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE work only on crossing this line to exile the audience for the duration of the movie into a world of torment whose only purpose is to remind its captive audience that the power to harm is infinitely preferable than the power to heal. Good-bad films like TBFPA eternally serve to remind us that the enjoyment of any movie is a function of its staying only on the side of a cinematic chasm that has basic respect for human life and dignity.

When I was a kid, John Agar's glazed over radioactive eyes and the floating transparent brain of the film's title really gave me the willies, I tell ya. This is still a wonderful silly movie that benefits from being short, with the monster introduced early on. Agar is good, contorting himself in pain pretty convincingly as the monster enters and leaves his body, and he's got the megalomanical laugh down pat. The special effects are primitive, especially when the alien monster is forced to assume his real shape and reveals himself to be a rubber blob bouncing around on a wire, but heck, you were expecting Industrial Light and Magic, maybe? Everything is low budget: small cast, stock footage, a nuclear research lab with no equipment, and a set that consists of the desert and someone's suburban home. And what other film mentions the "fissure of Rolando"? The extras on the DVD are virtually non-existent, consisting only of chapter search and the theatrical trailer. Biographical info of the performers, especially the supporting cast, would have been welcome. If you like sci fi B-movies, this certainly fits the bill perfectly. The transfer to DVD is excellent.

"Nice guy" John Agar is transformed into a lecherous, nasty man, thanks to aliens from outer space. There's nothing really scary or shocking about this movie; I think it's really for John Agar fans, like me. There are some real tedious moments in it, as well. But is is fun to see his demented, grinning face when the alien takes over. And a German Shepherd saves the day!

Okay, but for better John Agar films, I reccommend "The Mole People", "Hand of Death" & "Tarantula."

This sequel is much better than the original "Carnosaur". Part 2 has some fine special effects & exciting chills.
The plot is about a group of technicians who attempt to restore power at a top mining facility... The best in the series.

I loved this movie.I say that why did he made it short. he should make it 299 minites. when i was 10 years old i saw it.i saw the first one that was not relly good. the dinosaurs are great. they should make carnosaur 4. too bad they stop making carnosaur. thats all

I would give this great movie a rating of R For some Strong horror violence and gore and some language. There is only two gorey scenes, when the women is torn apart by a raptor. The raptor ripes her arm off and ripe opens her chest. Another scene is when the T-Rex is out and picks up a guy by his head and soon enough the head ripes off. Great gore. The close up scenes of the T-Rex are the same scenes from the first one. All they did was take that scene and stick it on the tape after. If you look closely when the T-Rex is suffering the groung is dirt and should be floor. All they did was take the scene from the first one. Awesome movie though. There is no breast, 2 gorey scenes, some swearing and lots of fun.

It truly mystifies me how there could possibly be any good review of this film. I read the book, became engrossed in it for days, and enjoyed it immensely. It kept me thinking for a full year afterwards. If you've had a similar experience with the book, be prepared for absolute and total disappointment with the film. It will entirely pollute that part of your mind that the book developes so delicately and will leave you feeling deeply frustrated and disappointed. Worse still though, if you see the film before reading the book, you will be driven from the subject entirely, too repulsed to give the book a chance, not to mention the topic in general. The 'visitors' themselves represent a new low in film effects, and appear to be, at best, discount inflatable puppets motivated by discarded animatronics. In total, I feel an urgent sense that this film does a terrible disservice to Whitley Streiber, shifting the story of his experience from a place of thoughtful contemplation into the realm of the comically yet absolutely disregardable. Trust me, stay away, unless you enjoy pressing the fastforward button on your remote with desperate intensity.

DREADFUL DVD AND SOUND ....[shame!] BUT AN ABSOLUTELY 'MUST HAVE'.

WALKEN IS SUPERB AS THE MULTIFRACTURED HERO .....quite a tour-de-force and this one is very very chilling since you're [the watcher] never quite sure whether we're in Kansas or not. Last year's "Signs" brushes along similar lines - except this one is invasive ...... did they or didn't they ... and are they here or not????

DYNAMITE CAST includes the special Lindsay Crouse as Spouse, and Frances Sternhagen as the very perplexed psyc.

"Dreamcatcher" is another clone ... but this one [if it can] makes more sense.

WELL WORTH HAVING ..... those chilly New York night time shots and that cabin [sister dwelling to Amityville .......]

NOW, just click your Alien ....... there's no place like .....?

{Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" makes a terif. double-bill - something different, but also very creepy ~ then there's "The Comfort of Strangers" ..... another Walken triumph!]

A story well told and well acted. I am very curious why some portions of the movie were clipped out of the DVD verions, which I bought recently. In 1991, when I first saw the movie, there were scenes with hybrid humans seen. But the DVD version I bought is missing this and who knows what else.

It truly mystifies me how there could possibly be any good review of this film. I read the book, became engrossed in it for days, and enjoyed it immensely. It kept me thinking for a full year afterwards. If you've had a similar experience with the book, be prepared for absolute and total disappointment with the film. It will entirely pollute that part of your mind that the book developes so delicately and will leave you feeling deeply frustrated and disappointed. Worse still though, if you see the film before reading the book, you will be driven from the subject entirely, too repulsed to give the book a chance, not to mention the topic in general. The 'visitors' themselves represent a new low in film effects, and appear to be, at best, discount inflatable puppets motivated by discarded animatronics. In total, I feel an urgent sense that this film does a terrible disservice to Whitley Streiber, shifting the story of his experience from a place of thoughtful contemplation into the realm of the comically yet absolutely disregardable. Trust me, stay away, unless you enjoy pressing the fastforward button on your remote with desperate intensity.

DREADFUL DVD AND SOUND ....[shame!] BUT AN ABSOLUTELY 'MUST HAVE'.

WALKEN IS SUPERB AS THE MULTIFRACTURED HERO .....quite a tour-de-force and this one is very very chilling since you're [the watcher] never quite sure whether we're in Kansas or not. Last year's "Signs" brushes along similar lines - except this one is invasive ...... did they or didn't they ... and are they here or not????

DYNAMITE CAST includes the special Lindsay Crouse as Spouse, and Frances Sternhagen as the very perplexed psyc.

"Dreamcatcher" is another clone ... but this one [if it can] makes more sense.

WELL WORTH HAVING ..... those chilly New York night time shots and that cabin [sister dwelling to Amityville .......]

NOW, just click your Alien ....... there's no place like .....?

{Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" makes a terif. double-bill - something different, but also very creepy ~ then there's "The Comfort of Strangers" ..... another Walken triumph!]

A story well told and well acted. I am very curious why some portions of the movie were clipped out of the DVD verions, which I bought recently. In 1991, when I first saw the movie, there were scenes with hybrid humans seen. But the DVD version I bought is missing this and who knows what else.

Ah, the 'other' Ross Hagen motorcycle movie. Reading his bio on IMDb it says at one time he ran an acting school...oh bruther! Well, while Hellcats was certainly prime for the Mystie treatment, a better one to watch is Sidehackers, another Ross Hagen/motorcycle epic.

Ross is a some sort of law enforcement agent who goes undercover to infiltrate a goofy biker gang after his brother is killed. For some strange reason, Ross teams up with his murdered brothers' girlfriend to achieve this. I will admit that after awhile, I just stopped trying to figure out what was going on in the movie, and just focused on the humor provided by Joel and the 'bots. I did notice a lot of dancing (cough, cough), beer swilling, and general activities you would associate with a psuedo 60's hippie biker gang. Probably the funniest part in the movie for me was when the leader of the biker gang is challenged to a race by the leader of another biker gang. We're treated to about five minutes of watching the people watching the race. I mean, we don't even get to see the race, only hear the reving of engines as the riders supposedly race around. I'm not sure why they couldn't have included some footage of the actual race, being that this is a movie that's heavy on the whole motorcycle thing, but whatever...it wouldn't have made the movie any better.

While this isn't my favorite episode, it's still really funny and worth getting if you're a fan. Not a lot of extras on this one except the trailer and the flipside of the disc has the un-mystiefied version of the movie.

Until I discovered MST3K I'd never even seen a "B" movie "biker" picture, but the writers and cast of MST3K always seem to be at their best when making fun of these low-budget stories about sociopaths and societal drop-outs. I was overjoyed when I found out that Hellcats would be offered on DVD as this and the other season 2 gem, "Wild Rebels" are to me among the very best MST3K episodes ever. The stupidity of the characters and dialogue is funny all on its own, but the cast of MST3K raise the humor level many notches and never let up on the poor direction, acting or plot for a second. They even manage to make the music in this film fun and you'll be humming "the bike song" after the closing credits.

One cinematic footnote regards a misidentification I believe of the film's director, Bob Slatzer, who is actually the stockier fellow of the two main "gangsters" and not the thinner one pointed out by Joel and the 'Bots during the picture. I discovered this when I saw Bob Slatzer interviewed in a documentary about Marilyn Monroe. But, this minor error does nothing to diminish the quality and quantity of the humor in this episode, which is so dense with jokes that you'll catch something new each time you watch it. Buy this now!

If you're like me, and i think many people are, you got in to mst3k too late. you caught it on it's switch to sci-fi, and feel like you missed out on the comedy central episodes which old school fans love so much.

well first of all let me say that i now have every single episode of mst3k, and i claim categorically that the sci-fi era is better. but the comedy central episodes (which are the only ones that are available on dvd) are still great, and hellcats is a good one to check out in your effort to discover the older era of mst3k.

hellcats was aired early in the second season, and is one of the first episodes that is truly hilarious (season 1 was not as funny as later seasons, i hate to say). the skits in this episode are flashbacks, clip-show-style, to skits from earlier episodes, so they provide a nice smorgasbord of mst3k humor. the movie is bad and the music is funny, which we all know makes for great riffing from joel and the bots.

so sit back and enjoy "hellcats, careening down the street..."

p.s, if you're confused by all the ross hagen/"chili peppers burn my gut" references in this episode, check out "sidehackers" which is available in the mst3k collection vol. 3 boxed dvd set.

The big name characters must have needed a quick buck. This is one of the worst SciFi movies I've ever seen. The lighting is horrible, the dialog stilted, the story worn out. One star is too much. Don't waste even the postage.

Roger Corman's biggest budget financed film (although still small by industry standards). A strong cast, decent script and a level of humor (including a female spaceship with breasts) blend into a very nice whole. This is not Oscar material, but it does have its merits.

The Akira of the planet Akir (nice plug), are a pacifistic society. They have just been targeted by an interstellar warlord. Their only hope is to hire mercenaries, but they have no money.

The rest of the film is closer to The Magnificent Seven that Akira Kurosawa's original, but it works. If you know either film, you will have some idea of how the rest goes.

This new DVD has some trailers and two different commentaries. There is also a huge still gallery accessible by playing a trivia game.

A fun little film. I am glad it has made it to DVD.

Jumping on the "Star Wars" bandwagon, Roger Cormen crafted this "epic" tale of a young "Jedi"...whoops, wrong film...star pilot trying to defeat the tyrannical ruler of an invading species. Featuring a cast of former "hunks" (George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, and John Saxon), an "ageless" TV favorite (star Richard Thomas), venerable character actors (Jeff Corey and Sam Jaffe), and the well-endowed B-movie queen Sybil Danning, the movie is just a load of witty fun, compliments to writer John Sayles.

Of course, the special effects pale in comparison to Lucas's film, but that's part of the appeal.

It's eons away from a "best of" list but it shows what one can do with a little cash and a ton of ingenuity.

this one is so called "widescreen." There is another DVD which has the number B000055XLV also available here on Amazon, which is fullscreen so you can really watch and enjoy this wonderful movie. Buy that version instead, and the price is much cheaper to boot!

This version, the Gemstone DVD--not the more recent MGM one--is fullscreen so you can really see and enjoy the movie. Contrary to the reviews below, it is truly great, and at a much better price. It is too bad that the director's interview, etc. are on the MGM DVD, but that one is so called "widescreen" only, and therefore should not be bought or supported. Buy and watch this excellent fullscreen version of a truly wonderful film.

Having bought the UAV release of this movie and being disappointed in the playback, I was thrilled to see a major label like MGM has picked up this gem of a movie and released it rrecently on DVD. The picture is crystal clear, and the sound is great. This is how this movie should have been released on DVD in the first place. There are no noise lines or pixeling in the MGM version. There is just vibrant colour and clarity. Parts of the movie show graininess, but that is not the fault of the DVD, it's just the film used, plus this movie is from 1984, so there wasn't digital filming at that time. I am very happy to finally get this movie that has been properly transferred onto DVD. This disc features a running audio commentary from John Sayles, plus an interview with him too. If you were not happy with the UAV version of this movie, I strongly recommend picking up the MGM release, because the movie looks how it should look on DVD and that's great!

this one is so called "widescreen." There is another DVD which has the number B000055XLV also available here on Amazon, which is fullscreen so you can really watch and enjoy this wonderful movie. Buy that version instead, and the price is much cheaper to boot!

This version, the Gemstone DVD--not the more recent MGM one--is fullscreen so you can really see and enjoy the movie. Contrary to the reviews below, it is truly great, and at a much better price. It is too bad that the director's interview, etc. are on the MGM DVD, but that one is so called "widescreen" only, and therefore should not be bought or supported. Buy and watch this excellent fullscreen version of a truly wonderful film.

Having bought the UAV release of this movie and being disappointed in the playback, I was thrilled to see a major label like MGM has picked up this gem of a movie and released it rrecently on DVD. The picture is crystal clear, and the sound is great. This is how this movie should have been released on DVD in the first place. There are no noise lines or pixeling in the MGM version. There is just vibrant colour and clarity. Parts of the movie show graininess, but that is not the fault of the DVD, it's just the film used, plus this movie is from 1984, so there wasn't digital filming at that time. I am very happy to finally get this movie that has been properly transferred onto DVD. This disc features a running audio commentary from John Sayles, plus an interview with him too. If you were not happy with the UAV version of this movie, I strongly recommend picking up the MGM release, because the movie looks how it should look on DVD and that's great!