Actuarial Science Movie Reviews

This is a good value DVD with three films instead of the usual one! All are in full screen and only 'Creature' has a Dolby Digital mix. The picture quality on all three films is pretty rough but watchable and better than any video version you are likley to have. The extras are talent bios which which are better than nothing.

Creature: This one has the highest production values and is basically a rip off of Alien and Night of the Living Dead. The acting and script are pretty good but I found it all a bit boring to be honest!
Track of the Moon Beast: Oh dear, this film is pretty lame in all departments from the totally shocking special effects on the meteor to the terrible acting of the female lead. Man she is really kak. But the whole thing has a sweet little charm which makes it just entertaining for fans of kitsch.
Snowbeast: This is the one I bought this DVD for. I remember seeing this as a kid and it still kicks! Basically imagine the plot of Jaws translated to a ski resort and a shark replaced by a man in a yeti suit and your there. With great music, decent acting and a pretty good script it's the pick of the bunch. (although the colour on the DVD is pretty messed up in places)2 of the three stars in my rating for this DVD come for Snowbeast alone!
This DVD is definately worth a look for fans of low budget rip-off cinema like me, but if you are a multiplex popcorn muncher who likes your production values high then you better give it a miss.

I love the movie Day of the Triffids. This second release brought the movie out in letterbox the way the movie was filmed which is way better. But the quality is not that great. The colour is washed out and it does not look like a new transfer or remastered like the write up says. It is a pricey DVD for the quality of this movie and not being a well known company that put it out. There is also cheapy ad's before the movie starts.
But it is good to have it wide screen at least.

The fifth entry in the showa (1960s - 1980s gamera films) Gamera series, Gamera vs. Viras (Destroy all Planets as it was released in the US) is a most enjoyable, although juvenille film.

In the movie, two prank-loving boy scouts are kidnapped by aliens looking to take over the world. Gamera attempts a rescue, only to be put under the Virian's (the aliens) control and forced to attack Japan. The two boys find a way to put an end to the Virian's mind control and escape. The Virans, in a last-ditch effort, fuse together into a gigantic, silver squid monster. Can Gamera defeat Viras and save the earth? (well, i can't give away the ending, now can I?)

The quality of the print used is subpar, presenting a slightly faded picture and several scratches. However, the film is still completely enjoyable in this form and could be a lot worse . . . trust me. The audio is generally clear and crisp, showing little problems.

The DVD itself has little to show. The menus are still images, with no music. There is however a picture gallery and a chapter index.

As a hardcore kaiju (japanese monster movies) fan, I strongly recommend this DVD, even though its not in the best possible quality.

An extremly high-tech computer virus terrorizes a community by turning electrical devices into weapons with a mind of their own. If you've seen and enjoyed movies like "Pulse" and "Ghost in the Machine" then you should enjoy this one.

Heavy Gear is a CGI animated show, derived from a videogame of the same name, about the adventures of young mechanic who gets to realize his dream of becoming a robot warrior.

While the graphics and animation are extremely well done, the show is clearly targeted at a fairly young audience (8-13). Older viewers expecting a show with the sophistication of Starship Troopers will be disappointed. Each episode is more or less a 1/2 hour CGI movie that feels like a video game session (put a bunch of robots in an arena and fight it out with a bare semblance of a plot).

This movie starts out with a cool battle between a shark and an octopus. It's like watching one of Jaques Cousteau's home movies! This seems to go on forever, until the actual story begins. John Carradine sends a group of four explorers into the depths of the ocean in a goofy looking diving-bell. They somehow end up in an underwater cave system. The biggest hunk of the "film" is taken up by our heroes wandering around through the world's dullest maze. They run into some guy who's been trapped in the caves for fourteen years; and is as crazy as a bedbug! He's also the most interesting thing about the movie! I kept hoping that some rubber spider or giant crab would attack someone, but alas, no such luck! Just lots of walking, talking, and occasional lunacy from the freaky hermit guy. Of course, a way is found to save everyone, but by that time I was numb. I still recommend it though, because I like to torture myself with ultra-schlock...

Lt. Sean Lambert (Olivier Gruner) and his team of mercenaries (Glenn Plummer, William Zabka) are deployed to investigate the crash of a squadron of F117's in Mexico. Sean, his team, and a couple scientists sent by the Air Force go to investigate the crash of the F117 to find a alien spacecraft instead. They must track and destroy an alien that defies physics.

The movie has pretty good special effects, the alien is done very well. The F117's also look pretty sharp, except for the fact that F117's aren't used for dogfighting. There are also some pretty nice explosions to go along with the alien.

Overall though, the movie fails to live up to expectations. You leave thinking you just watched a cheap ripoff of the Predator or Independence Day. However, all is not wasted as Olivier Gruner has some pretty nice fighting scenes which aren't bad at all. The movie could have been so much more with the actors that were employed. If you pick-up the DVD version, don't expect to see anything but some Bloopers after the credits roll

In spite of the obviously psychedelic packaging for this film, The Mind Benders is marginally science fiction. Instead, this is a drama with SF trappings. The story of a scientist, Dr. Longman, played by Dirk Bogarde, who comes to believe that the suicide of a colleague was caused by prolonged exposure in a sensory deprivation tank, he is forced to prove his theory by a British intelligence agent and undergo the same treatment himself.

The agent is convinced that Longman's colleague was a spy and engages in some subtle brainwashing of Longman after he's spent eight hours in the tank. While the opening half hour is definitely gripping--including Longman's harrowing experience in the tank--the final two thirds of the film is sorely disappointing for science fiction fans--or even for those who are expecting a substantial buildup focused on the theme.

The development after the first 30 minutes or so is pretty weak, centering on Longman's relationship with his wife which has been put to the test, and is a real letdown. Although Dirk Bogarde and Mary Ure as his wife are more than competent actors, the film runs out of steam long before its happy ending.

The real value of this film, as indicated in the liner notes of the DVD, is that it is a precursor to Altered States and The Manchurian Candidate. For completists who want whatever film they can find about brainwashing, this is a must. For anyone else, it's really not great. A far better vehicle for Dirk Bogarde fans, also available on DVD, is The Servant.

The release of this greatly enjoyable Kaiju film is compromised by a poor DVD release. Badly cropped, detroying the widescreen composition and a lackluster transfer make for a dissapointing DVD experience. Too bad, since this fantasy film, with great action and wonderful stylized effects deserved much better. Shame on ADV for blowing it.

Packaged in a nice black-lacquered wooden storage case, this DVD collection includes the movies "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: Crash of the Moons" from 1954, the 1959 classic "The Killer Shrews," 1954's "Killers from Space", starring Peter Graves, and "Phantom from Space" from 1953.

You may have enjoyed a couple of these films when they were made fun of on "Mystery Science Theater 3000"; if not, then you've probably never heard of any of them. In any case, either you enjoy this sort of low-brow entertainment or you don't, and I doubt that anything I say here will convince you otherwise. Look up these movies in your favorite movie guide for more details, you may find them listed in the category of "so bad that they're good".