Actuarial Science Movie Reviews

It disappoints me that so many reviews I have read on CARNOSAUR are so bad. So these movies aren't as good as the JURASSIC PARK movies. Well you should still stop calling them bad. I enjoyed these movie a lot. So there are corny special effects and some other shortcomings, but as a whole, this set was great. These movies weren't made on a huge budget and made to be great like JURASSIC PARK. I love JURASSIC PARK, but you still need to stop hating on CARNOSAUR. SO people, my only request is that you have on open mind about these movies and at least rent one of them. And for reference, the 2nd one is the best, followed by number 1, then number 3, although a good movie, is last. 5/5

What a great deal for these great movies. One veryone should add to their collection. Great openning menus on the dvds. Pretty good special features: Theatrical Trailers, Trailers to other movies and biograpies on the actors and creators of these films. Great dvds at a very good price. Buy them right now. Great movies!

I liked the Carnosaur films mainly because I like the low budget films they can be sometimes better or worse then other films. I like movies such as Puppet Master, and Trancers.

Carnosaur is a low budget version of Jurassic Park if you reallyw ant to get technical and while the effects and plot are not that great it is an interesting movie to say the least. I have never seen Carnosaur 3 but 1 and 2 I did see and enjoyed.

These are good if you want to see T-Rex get a little jiggy with someones insides this is for you.

Totally fails to live up to any SM expectations you may have.
Carita is an absolute honey, though.

It's a damn shame that the average American is totally ignorant of the Celtic legacy of the western world; modern pop culture and three centuries of fundamentalist Christianity have done their part in obliterating all accurate memory of our northern European roots from the minds of the masses. That's why I applaud any movie that treats the subject of Celtic antiquity, even if most of these films are a far cry from historical reality. This is certainly the case with The Viking Queen: The Celtic Britons were NOT Vikings (a later Germanic people), the druids did NOT worship Zeus (the druid character in the film invokes this Greek deity), Brythonic Celts never had the name Angus (the name of a Briton prince in the film...the name itself is Gaelic Celtic), and on and on. However, the film does make a somewhat lame attempt to depict the political turmoil in the Britain of the first century of the Common Era; the invading Roman legions never did win the undying loyalty of the entire isle of Britain and uprisings were common throughout the remaining years of the empire. That being said, the film is otherwise good cheesy fun for the non-sticklers: hot chicks, lots of violence, humorous over acting, the typical Hammer offering (and I'm not at all surprised that a movie with this subject matter was produced in Britain and not the United States). Carita's "Viking" Queen character is loosely based on the historical personage of Boudicea of the Iceni tribe, who ravaged Roman occupied Londinium during the Briton uprising against the forces of the general Paulinus. So, this is not the worst film ever made, I'm just a little disappointed that we have countless biblical and Roman celluloid epics to choose from but precious few serious films about our own ancestors;The Viking Queen is hardly serious...it reduces a dynamic period of our history into a lusty comic book farce.

Viking Queen is a low budget 60's film, with some great costumes, great dialog, and little historical accuracy.

Why did I give it a high rating? Viking Queen, is simply a hell of a lot of fun!

Carita stars as Celtic Princess, Selena, who must liberate her people, the Iceni tribe from the brutal control of the romans. Torn between her love for a roman general, and the needs to help her people, Carita dons a skimpy warrior's costume and leads her people into battle.

Historical purists steer clear of this one, but everyone else might enjoy this film. Be warned, there is a fair amount of gratuitous nudity and violence in this film, it may not be appropriate for all viewers.

Once again (I believe it happenned with the Laser disc as well).Gulliver gets released with the "Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection" label on a panned and scanned version of the film.This time it's not only digitally mastered audio and video but remastered in High Definition.If they had to remaster it anyway,why didn't they start with widescreen elements.I think Harryhausen is a master and still give the film 5 stars.This DVD however is dissapointing.The extras are for the most part on other DVD's in the collection.And if we were only getting one aspect ratio, full screen was not the one to go with.

Like most of Ray Harryhausen's films, THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER is not a film to watch for plotting and drama. The acting is overall mediocre (the girl who plays Glumdalclitch is terrible), and the plot removes much of Swift's satirical touches that made his book so damn ingenius. It is a movie to simply entertain you, and it succeeds excellently at that. Like the reviews on the cover and booklet included in the DVD state, the two most notable features of the film are the music and special effects. Bernard Herrmann's whimsical score is one of his best, and you'll find yourself whistling the melodies for weeks afterwards. And, of course, there are the special effects; they are nothing short of astonishing. This was 1960, people, and they totally outdo some of the ... CGI plaguing the cinema these days! Diehard Harryhausen fans may be disappointed with the fact that the film is almost devoid of any stop-motion effects. However, what IS present (during the two scenes with the giant squirrel and alligator) is extremely impressive. The main effects in the film are those of miniscule and giant people, and they're some of the best special effects I've ever seen.

THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER is part of Columbia Pictures' "Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection", and like all other titles, the first-rate documentary "The Ray Harryhausen Chronicles" and the featurette "This Is Dynamation" are both included. As well, the film has digitally mastered audio and video, the latter of which has been remastered in high definition and looks brand-new.

No Ray Harryhausen DVD collection would be complete without THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, a rollicking good time complete with first-rate music and special effects.

...The 3 Worlds of Gulliver was shot in 1:37 format, which
is almost exactly 4:3 ratio (see the IMDB), so there never was
a "widescreen" version of this film. In 1960, very few films
were shot in widescreen 2:35 or 1:85. People should educate
themselves about film, instead of spreading their ignorance
on the Internet.

Shorts, tight t-shirts and funky skull caps are the uniform that will be worn for space flight in the 1970's. Actually this movie was somewhat accurate in the depiction of space flight. As seen through the eyes of people in the 50's im sure this was pretty high tech thinking. A commie spy forces a landing on the moon and the astronauts must find a way to survive for they cant get back to the space station. All in all a charming slice of cheese from a time at the hight of the cold war.

As a 1953 follow-on to the 1950 Destination Moon (see also), this work is interesting in that it features the va-va-va-voom Donna Martell as Heinlein's typically strong but ultimately submissive female lead. Not necessarily bad unless you're a feminist, I guess; still she, like other Heinlein heroines, comes across sharp as a tack compared to the rather obtuse hammer-sack jocks she's compelled to work with.

The paternal commander played by Hayden Rorke (aka Dr. Bellows in I Dream of Jeannie) is obviously a stand-in for Heinlein himself -- think of SiaSL's Jubal Harshaw in uniform -- who bizarrely shows his kink in threatening to spank his unruly female subordinate. Definitely creepy.

This work anticipates Kubrick's 2001 etc by 15 odd years, but scans like the other straightforward, stiffly acted clunky space operas typical of the time. The plot and situations are adult and so I would not recommend this movie for preteens.

Somehow this movie never played on TV in my locale (Milwaukee/Chicago) when I was a horror-crazed kid (unlike apparently every other cheap SF flick of the period). For fans of low-budget 1950s space operas this is a terrific find. Project Moonbase neatly straddles the fence between "serious" science-fact specimens such as Destination Moon or Riders to the Stars and tacky "babes in space" fare like Cat Women of the Moon or Queen of Outer Space. It shares a similar look and feel with all those films and other typical titles of the era from Astor, Allied Artists, UA, and other independents, such as Missile to the Moon, Fire Maidens of Outer Space, War of the Satellites, etc. Co-written by pioneering modern SF icon Robert Heinlein (Destination Moon, The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers) and low-budget western producer Jack Seaman, PM contains enough sober "speculative fiction"/rocketry tech stuff to satisfy hardware geeks as well as plenty of cool atomic-age design and forehead-slap-inducing sexism ("I ought to turn you over my knee and spank you") for irony-wallowing bad cinema fanatics. 'Genre' names peppering the credits include director Richard Talmadge (the silent movie star, stunt man, and 2nd unit director); Ed Wood's house cinematographer, William C. Thompson, and makeup man, Harry Thomas (unfortunately no one gets their face burned off with acid in this); former Columbia art director Jerome Pycha (Riders to the Stars, Unknown Island, Prehistoric Women), and future director (Cry Baby Killer, Twilight Zone, Lost in Space) Justus Addiss.
The year is 1970, the United States has a floating space platform, and the government is about to embark on exploration of the moon. The Russkies, who look and sound like Midwestern businessmen, find out, and decide to sabotage the operation by commandeering one of our spaceships and crashing it into the space station. To accomplish this, they infiltrate the mission with one of their 350 (!!) Exact Doubles of Prominent Scientists that they just happen to have lying around. After some talky explanations of gravitational principles by General "Pappy" Greene (Hayden Rorke, I Dream of Jeannie's Dr. Bellows), Major Bill Moore (Ross Ford), and Colonel Briteis (pronounced "bright-eyes," cringe now) played by Donna Martell (Rocky Jones: Space Ranger) are selected, along with the doubled Dr. Wernher, for the mission to observe the dark side of the moon, much to their mutual consternation. See, Maj. Moore and Col. Briteis used to be an item . . . . During these set-up scenes it seems like you're in for one of those dry Gog type of flicks, but hang in there, things start to pick up once the space flight gets underway. For some reason they scream and sweat profusely on takeoff (?!), and they all wear easily the silliest uniforms ever seen, comprised of tee shirts, short shorts, big honking belt buckles, and demure felt aviators' caps, which look cute on Ms. Martell but laughable on everyone else. Once they arrive at the space station we get a docking-with-the-space-wheel sequence, crazily angled sets, some (intentionally?) hilarious scenes of crewmembers matter-of-factly walking on ceilings and sitting on walls, and "please don't walk on the walls" signs posted in the corridors. (These scenes are strangely prescient of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey; could this be one of the dozens of SF flicks he screened while preparing his masterpiece?). Bill, Col. Briteis, and the fake Dr. Wernher take off from the station on the observation mission, Bill suspects Dr. Wernher's true identity (he's unfamiliar with the Brooklyn Dodgers!), they're eventually forced to ditch their craft on the Moon, and Bill and Wernher go EVA to set up a communications relay. Throughout all this we get lots of nicely realized spaceship and moonscape sequences, conceptually on par or better than anything in a comparably-budgeted movie, forgiving a few laughably obvious gaffes. I also love how it appears that people on the ship's view screen seem to be simply sitting behind a hole in the wall, and late-night TV junkies will fondly nostalgia-trip on the B&W "target" test pattern they occasionally display. It all climaxes (spoiler alert) with an incredible only-in-the-50s "family values" denouement wherein the downed craft is proclaimed Moonbase #1; the now-clinching Bill and Briteis are "ordered" to get married by Dr. Bellows, er, General Greene since they'll be cohabiting on the Moon until a rescue mission can be mounted; the president of the United States turns out to be a woman (!!); and Maj. Moore jumps Col. Briteis just as the closing titles fill the screen. While not as patently ludicrous as Cat Women, Fire Maidens, or Queen of Outer Space, Project Moonbase is similarly bent in its own unique way, and easily as entertaining (the 63 minutes fly by). Fans of cheap B&W 50s space epics cannot fail to be entertained. Highly recommended.
This is another in Image's generally outstanding Wade Williams Collection and doesn't fail to impress. For a movie of its poverty-stricken pedigree the print is spectacular, with excellent black level, contrast, and brightness; rich gray values and crisp shadow/highlight detail; and virtually no damage save some very light speckling and spotting. As near to pristine (as claimed on the case) as could possibly be expected. The only extras are 12 chapter stops and a lightly speckled and lined but otherwise very nice looking trailer. A bare-bones yet essential addition to the DVD library of any 1950s SF aficionado.

My friend and I like to browse the video rental stores for movies that we think would be excellent targets to poke fun at.

Sci Fighters.

What a stupid name for a movie! We just had to try this one out.

Unfortunately for us this movie wasn't all that bad. The beginning was very weird, though. Prisoners are placed on the moon in a Lunar prison. The movie shows two prisoners standing at a table with power tools--apparently prisoners do labor of some sort--when suddenly they start attacking each other with saws. Prisoner A--Adriann Dunn (why does he have a girl's name?) kills prisoner B and then tries to make it look like an accident. Then, for some stupid, unknown reason he takes a screwdriver and stabs himself in the arm. But oh, apparently prisoner B isn't dead yet and some weird tentacle thing springs out and attacks Dunn's arm.

Watch out for this scene where the detective is asking this nurse where someone is. The nurse says "BEHIND you." But then the detective turns to his RIGHT, because that's where the guy is.

And I can't believe that it takes the good guys forever to realize that all it takes is a Bic lighter to destroy the methane-breathing menace. There are so many ways that they could have made this movie funnier.

"Mommy, that man has a potty mouth." or they could have tried to thwart the methane menace with air freshener. So many possibilities.

But like I say, the movie's not that bad. Worth a rental, no more.

If anyone is swayed by the almost funny title of "Sci-Fighters," then they are wrong in not seeing this film. Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays a very good part in Cameron, a part not unlike his character in "They Live", another cult favorite of mine.

This film is for anyone who likes futuristic adventures like "Screamers", "Blade Runner," or "RoboCop". It has some of the best visual effects in a film with the backgrounds and the fight scenes. Although you can see where they dubbed some of the foul language in the establishing scenes, it is a good film for the cult film arcives.

Veteran character actor Billy Drago (Delta Force 2) gives one of his most frightening lead performances in "Sci-Fighters". He plays Adrian Dunn, a convict infected with an alien virus. His character has the usual psychotic behavior that Mr. Drago has perfected in past portrayals. But he also has a mutating virus that adds even more menace to his character. Roddy Piper (Jungleground) is good as the "regular guy" detective on Dunn's trail. Jane Heitmeyer (Face the Evil) plays the doctor trying to cure the virus and gets caught up in Dunn's sexual fantasies. The movie has a good storyline and acting, lots of action, special effects and wastes no time getting into the story. Though low-budget, it delivers more than most. This is a must have for Mr. Drago fans and those loving sci-fi.

'Alien blood' was a bitter disappointment for me. This movie is just bad, bad, bad. Now I generally like B horror movies but not this one.
As soon as I saw it was filmed in England my heart sunk.
It's starts off with some nice vistas of the English countryside and I'm thinking ok this might be cool. Then the pain begins.
The characters in the first 15 minutes of the movie don't talk. I guess we are to assume they communicate by telepathy but it comes off really awkward.
Next thing you know the scene changes to a house full of vampires.What? Lesbian vampires at that. Don't get excited.
English women are not pretty. Not in this movie anyway.
I can't even begin to explain the rest since I fast forwarded through it. This enabled me to quickly assertain there was nothing more to look forward to.
The gore was extremely weak and cheesey beyond words.
Worst of all there was no humor. If there was, I didn't get it.
I would have gotten more pleasure from that 10 American dollars I spent on this movie if I would have rolled the bill up and shoved it in my eye.
THERE ARE NO ALIENS IN THIS MOVIE!!!
If you have the urge to dispell my criticism and buy this movie please send me the 10 dollars instead and I will send you my VHS copy of 'Crossroads'with Britney Spears.
That way we both come out ahead.

Genius, what more can be said. A budget equivelant to the pocket money I recived as a child yet spent with more panache! Acting that is camp, scary and engrossing. The lead vampire will be seen again, of that I have no doubt.

I am not usually a 'splatter/horror movie' fan, but I found this film unusual and totally engrossing. Shot with great elan and some gorgeous camerawork in the beautiful English Lake District, ALIEN BLOOD combines elements of sci-fi, horror, action movie and thriller to make an intriguing and VERY fast-moving story. In fact it is so fast you have to keep your wits about you, which is perhaps the reason why the viewer who found the film 'confusing' was confused! Director JON SORENSON gets five stars from me for this bold venture: more power to his elbow and I look forward to his next movie. Let's hope it comes soon.

A GOOD STORY WITH A VERY BAD DARK TRANSFER LOOKS LIKE OFF A VHS
TAPE, DEFINITELY NOT A DIGITAL TRANSFER. STAY CLEAR OF THIS
DVD.

Zombie flicks have been my favorite movies ever since I saw "Night of the Living Dead" on Creature Features as a kid. Since then I've searched for other cool zombie flicks to see, like many other people have done. Well "Mutant" is one of those cool gems that has quiety slipped past people. I actually saw it the same day I saw "Day of the Dead" (one of my favorites) and still thought it was really good. The story takes a while to unfold but the pay off is sweet zombie action! For any fan of the zombie genre that hasn't seen "Mutant" do yourself a favor and buy this movie. It's worthy!

Whatever you do, do not be fooled by the title like I was. I bought this movie expecting it to be a cheap Roger Corman like mutant monster movie. It's not. Mutant actually is more like a thinly disquised zombie film with zombie movie story elements and clinches abound. My two favorite horror movies of all time are Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, and Mutant very much resembles Night with survivors in a small town trying to escape hords of zombies before the fall as their next victems. Some scenes are filmed a little too dark, consealing the scary monster makeup, but that's forgivable. Mutant actually turned out to be a very scary film that will please fans of zombie films such as Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead, and definatly deserves more attention than it gets. They really should release Mutant under its alternate title Night Shadows to clear the confusion on what the film is about.

This sci-fi thriller follows one of the classic mystery-thriller storylines: a group of strangers is brought together in a remote location and then begin to die one by one. In this case, the "strangers" are military prisoners who have accepted a highly dangerous mission in lieu of execution, the "remote location" is an enemy fueling station, and the deaths are grisly murders which seem to have been committed by something as much beast as human. Who is doing the killing? And why? And why aren't there any enemy soldiers at this supposedly important base?

Terry Farrell plays the major in command of the unit, with Parker Stevenson as her #2 -- and the first person to start to figure out what's wrong. Corey Feldman and Rick Springfield are also featured. Each of them does a nice job with their part -- not that they've been given a lot to work with.

I'm a sci-fi fan, but I'm not into thrillers or space-military movies. I wouldn't give this movie more than one or two stars if I wasn't also a Parker Stevenson fan -- and reviews I've seen here and elsewhere lead me to suspect that unless you're a fan of Farrell, Stevenson, Feldman or Sprigfield you probably won't want to invest much time or money on this film.

Interesting how 4 reviews are split right down the middle. The thing to understand about movies like these is that they can't afford the studio special effects and production values. Good B-movies are made by their story and script and this one crackles. I saw it on the same weekend that "Species 2" came out and I felt this one -- done on a shoestring budget -- was much better. A fun, fast moving space mystery.

Thrilling, delightful B-movie which defies the limitations of its budget to create an unforgettable viewing experience.

There are two DVD releases of BRIDE OF THE GORILLA - is there any difference in print quality between them???

Ah, if only the movie was a much fun as the tagline. "Bride of the Gorilla" is more of a psychological horror story than you might expect. Raymond Burr, still in his hey day as a stock villain, is Barney Chavez, the foreman who introduces the owner of a South American plantation (Paul Cavanaugh) to a poisonous snake so he can marry the beautiful window Dina (Barbara Payton, the most famous actress to come out of Cloquet, Minnesota before Jessica Lange). However, the local witch woman knows the truth and hits Barney with a drug-aided voodoo curse that makes him roam the jungle at night as a gorilla. Not that gorilla's are indigenous to South America, but why be picky? There are lots of African animals in this film, courtesy of the stock footage that abounds in this low budget film.

This 1951 film is written and directed by Curt Siodmak. "Bride of the Gorilla" was his first American film as a director after one film in pre-war Germany, but his name was really made in both countries as a screenwriter. On this side of the ocean Siodmak did the screenplays for "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman," "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" and "Creature with the Atom Brain." However, there really is not much of a story here, which is this film's biggest problem. The big question is whether Barney is really turning into a gorilla or does he only think he is turning into a gorilla? Burr is more than competent in his role and the only real reason to watch "Bride of the Gorilla," but the rest of the cast are little better than the stock footage, although Lon Chaney, Jr. and Woody Strode have bit parts.

Jungle plantation foreman Barney Chavez (Raymond Burr) allows a poisonous snake to bite his boss so he can marry the boss's wife Dina (Barbara Payton). This angers the housemaid who wanted Barney for herself so she goes to the wizened old crone who supervises the house and who witnessed the murder. The old woman concocts a hoo-doo potion from a mysterious and illegal shrub and begins slipping it to Barney along with a curse that he will become an animal of the jungle. On Barney's and Dina's wedding day, the curse goes into effect. Barney takes to the jungle at night as a gorilla leaving Dina perplexed at his behavior. Soon animals and humans alike are found ripped to shreds. Police chief Lon Chaney Jr. suspects native superstitions are true about a "beast that walks like a man" and that Barney killed his boss and warns Dina. But she loves Barney no matter what and sets out to confront him herself. This is pure campy hokum and great fun to watch. Eons away from "Bride and the Beast" and played relatively straight, the film introduces Payton as Dina in a strapless cocktail dress and sexy ankle strap shoes dancing to Latin music. So you know right from the start that this is heading for the twilight zone of bad movie heaven. And since you know the title, you wouldn't have it any other way. The acting is just barely above par and Curt Siodmak's direction keeps things moving smoothly despite low budget restrictions. The print from Image is decent enough and the sound is fine. So for a cheesy early 50's flick about a man turning into a gorilla from a jungle curse and the woman who loves him anyway, this ain't bad.

pretty cheesy movie even though it is very old. not to bad if you like old classics.

Missile to the Moon is basically a remake of Cat Women of the Moon (even reusing that giant spider) and just as much el cheapo fun as that film. I love the school-play-quality sets and props, amateurish acting, laughable dialogue, etc., (in short, everything you want in a Bad Film). For some reason the Moon Queen has ancient Mayan art hanging on her wall! (Attention Graham Hancock.) And those clumsy rock creatures are some of the most underrated 50s "monsters" (for originality if nothing else). Let's be honest here though: this is not a lunatic mess like Plan 9 or The Creeping Terror. It suffers from a bit too much technical competence to really achieve "warp" factor, yet remains a solid 70 minutes for crummy movie enthusiasts.
The DVD presentation is quite a bit above average for this type of movie. First, despite some minor speckling and a few damaged frames here and there, the print used is spectacular: good tonal scale, nice and sharp, clear sound. Overall, much better than one would expect. (In some scenes you can even see the creases on the backdrops.) There is no trailer included (unusual for Image), although you do get chapter stops and a special bonus "photo gallery" of dozens of someone's behind-the-scenes shots taken on and around the set, including many stills (some in color) of the "Moon Maidens" posing alluringly. Not exactly "the special edition," but a nice, atypical bonus for a set like this. C-movie nerds, grab this, you won't be disappointed. One star less than perfect 'cause no trailer and the (very minor) speckling and print damage.

This is a classic in the "so bad it's good" canon. Almost every aspect of this film is poorly realized, and it thereby has a kind of sub-genre "purity" about it. The special effects are far from acceptable under any other circumstances. Costumes are a camp spectacular, especially those of the Moon Women and their "Lido" with her ludicrous head gear. Monsters consist of the (very slowly) walking rocks and that giant spider with visible wires who got a lot of work in the late 50s as the inhabitant of many caves and planets.

Best of all, though, is the acting. Every cast member, without exception, is inept. Even handsome Gary Clarke, who later showed he had talent, is awful here. But the Anti-Oscar surely must go to Cathy Downs for her brilliant portrayal of an Earth woman among Lunar rivals. As they lead her to her doom in the jaws of the giant spider, she cries out: "No! Don't!"

See this movie for a truckload-o-laughs.