Film Review: MONSTER FORCE ZERO

Original Title of Article: “Cosplay Goes Out of This World in MONSTER FORCE ZERO!”

Originally Published by ScreamFix

Nathan Letteer directs a new type of Cosplay in the energetic and fan friendly film Monster Force Zero which elevates Cosplay to a whole different level!  Calvin Cashill, aka A.I., (Adam Singer) and his fellow comic book creators Ammorama and Kadabra Couture (Aeon Cruz and Dalena Nguyen, respectfully) are at a convention promoting the latest issue of their Monster Force Zero comic book when they are thrust into an outer worldly competition with a fellow Cosplay group of which the price is to gain supernatural powers in order to help two aliens defeat their mortal enemy.  Ana Unaki and Igigi (Silvia Taziri and Sly Clayton, respectfully) represent two alien races that need the help of humans in order to overcome their enemies Dr. Isolanda Eeche and her Consultant (Rachel Darden and Justin Cooper, respectfully) but first they need to know who is most worthy to wield their gift of supernatural powers and help them – A.I. and Monster Force Zero or Gunns Lazer (Heath C. Heine) and his team of misfits.

 

The first half of the film is a competition between the two teams in which they are in a race to grab icons that unleash their inner powers (or the powers their Cosplay character would have if they were real).  Once they have their powers it is game on in a battle for supremacy.  When one of them loses a battle they are sent to the penalty box or “janitor’s closet.”  After A.I. and his Monster Force Zero team succeed in defeating Gunns Lazer and his team they are sent on a mission to defeat the evil Dr. Eeche but nothing is what it seems as A.I. soon learns and he realizes that he doesn’t know who to trust which may endanger the mission.

 

Monster Force Zero is a love-letter to the Cosplay community as it takes what some see as a misunderstood community and gives it weight in an entertaining and engaging way.  The visual effects are actually really well done and the style is incorporated seamlessly into the Cosplay world of the film.  Although the film seems choppy due to the fact that there are two distinct halves to the film – one dedicated to the tournament between the two Cosplay groups and the second is the actual “mission” they are set upon, this plays well with the theme of the film in which the first half is a “game” and the second half is the “adventure.”  I actually found myself really enjoying the first half of the film more than the second as I loved the “game” aspect of the film.  There are also fun additions to the second half of the film including dinosaurs and Sasquatch (the less you know beforehand the better) which keeps the film (and audience) on its toes throughout!

 

I am not a Cosplay person but I can understand the allure of that culture and this film most definitely wants audiences to be immersed in this world enough to understand it and be entertained by it.  The cast does a tremendous job selling these aspects to the audience as they all know what style of film they are in and they know how to sell it (which at times makes for a very comedic film).  The film is also about teamwork and friendship which is also hallmarks of the Cosplay community.

 

Overall, Monster Force Zero is a great and enjoyable film for both audiences invested in Cosplay and those who (still) have no idea what it even is and it will entertain and take audiences on a unique and fun ride into a different “type” of world.

Film Review: INVASION EARTH (2020)

Original Title of Article: “Aliens Vs. Addicts in Invasion Earth”

Originally Published by ScreamFix.

Invasion Earth (2020) is the type of sci-fi film that will anger sci-fi fans but may appeal to those wanting a more character driven film with small sci-fi elements.  Both will probably come away disappointed in some way.

 

Dr. Carson (David Shaw) is a renowned psychologist who deals exclusively with troubled young people.  He has published several books to the chagrin of TV show host Pearson (Jon-Paul Gates), who has made it his mission to destroy Dr. Carson’s reputation.  Carson’s latest group of subjects are the who’s who of bad habits – a heroin addict, a nymphomaniac, an anorexic, a racist, and more, whom are all being forced to enter into his months long program or suffer going to jail.  Carson’s only ally is his right-hand man Thomas (Nigel Thijs), who has a military background and handles the things that Carson is unable to do.

 

Carson’s program includes taking his group to a secluded location and making them earn back their sense of worth and humanity by embracing their fears and insecurities.  This all sounds like a great lead into a drama with quirky characters that get into some shenanigans, but a dramatic comedy this is not.  Instead, this all happening while an alien invasion is going on all around them and once the aliens reveal themselves then this group of misfits must find a way to survive or escape the confines of the secluded clinic before it is too late.

 

Now, on the surface, this could be an interesting concept for a film.  Unfortunately, as written by director James Twyman, the film does not always know what type of film it wants to be.  The first two-thirds does a great job building and establishing the characters while in the background the occasional death via alien happens.  Then for no apparent reason the aliens possess one of the characters and then that character goes on a killing spree before being killed herself.  Then the aliens return to finish the job!?!  There is no real reason given why the aliens are hanging around for weeks on end while Carson’s group gets therapy nor why they would waste time possessing anyone when clearly they are shown to have the power to just zap people and objects from the comfort of space.

 

Night scenes are far too dark, but I am sure that was to hide the filming location whereas most scenes are over lit with the alien’s purple hue even when the aliens are not even around.  Most of the film starts to fall apart when there is an over reliance on trying to create the “alien menace” while characterization is sacrificed which is a shame since the film has very little suspense or surprise and it is the characters who make the first two-thirds interesting in the first place.   Often, this film feels like the low budget cousin of Signs (2002) just two decades too late.  Less is more as in this film the aliens look like something out of an S&M fetish store (or Hellraiser film) as opposed to an actual sci-fi alien film.

I am hard pressed to see how any audience will enjoy the overall film as it will leave you pondering all the missed opportunities of what it could have been instead of what it ended up as.

Film Review: THE VICTIM (2011)

The Victim (2011) is writer/director Michael Biehn’s second feature film in this capacity after The Blood Bond (2011) which was released only a few months earlier in the year.  This is odd for the actor turned director best known for his films The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), Tombstone (1993), Navy Seals (1990), and The Abyss (1989), to name a few.  This film is a borderline crime-horror film.

Miehn is a loner who lives in a cabin in the middle of the woods by the name of Kyle Limato.  He keeps to himself and wants nothing to do with anyone else until a young woman Annie (Jennifer Blanc-Biehn) shows up on his doorstep one night asking for help.  It seems that Annie watched her best friend Mary (Danielle Harris) get killed by two crooked cops who now want to silence her.  Limato takes a liking to Annie and tries to help her figure out a way to deal with the cops before it is too late.

The film relies on flashbacks to tell the story which drags the film down.  Instead of enhancing the story the flashbacks stop the film in its tracks.  Although they go a long way in allowing Harris to get plenty of screen time, the flashbacks could have been better integrated into the overall film.

The film also suffers a bland script especially in terms of dialogue and performances all over the place.  The film feels like a throwback to the late ‘80s but without the gore to over compensate for the lack of originality in the material.  This is a shame since Biehn has been a part of some amazing films, this just isn’t one of them.

FILM REVIEW: LIFEFORM (aka INVADER) (1996)

The Viking space capsule returns to Earth from its journey to Mars bringing with it something potentially dangerous in the film LIFEFORM (1996).  When the Viking lands within restricted military space Dr. Case Montgomery (Cotter Smith) brings in his most trusted colleagues Dr. Gracie Scott and NASA’s Michael Perkett (Deirdre O’Connell and Leland Oser, respectfully) to help him assess the authenticity of the capsule.  Just as Colonel Pratt (Robert Wisdom) and his men show up to take over the discovery, Montgomery and Scott learn that the capsule was carrying an alien creature that threatens the safety of them all and everyone on the planet.  The base is ordered quarantined and Montgomery & Scott have a limited time to find the alien and make sure it isn’t a threat to national security.  This is made more difficult as the alien is highly intelligent which makes finding it a problem especially when Colonel Pratt and his men have no idea the danger they have now find themselves in.

LIFEFORM is a fun science fiction film in the tradition of CREATURE (1985) and CRITTERS (1986) and the monster holds up fairly well even today.  Although it gets repetitive at sometimes and characters react in that “horror film” way, it’s charm is in the fact that it tries so hard to make the science in the film so believable.

The film is written and directed by Mark H. Baker and this is his sole directing credit although I am surprised that he didn’t continue to direct given that this wasn’t an entirely un-entertaining of a film.  

FILM REVIEW: WAVELENGTH (1983)

Bobby and Iris (Robert Carradine and Cherie Currie, respectfully) have stumbled across a government secret in the film WAVELENGTH (1983).  While exploring a seemingly abandoned property the two find themselves in an underground government lab where the military are experimenting on being from another world whom are being kept in a cryogenic state.  Soon, Iris realizes that the aliens are communicating to her through telepathy which makes her very important to the military and their experiment.  Now Bobby & Iris find themselves entangled in a mystery and government experiment until she realizes that they have to help the aliens escape before they all become victims of the government’s ultimate agenda.

Coming one year after E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL and one year before STARMAN, this is a film that marries the two concepts together but on a much lower budget.  This film features childlike aliens that want to go home but have psychic power.

Carradine does an admiral job as the boyfriend to Currie and has always been a dependable actor un genre films although this film doesn’t really give him too much to play with.  Currie also does a serviceable job but both actors can only do so much with the material.  The film is written and directed by Mike Gray, who oddly enough would only direct episodes of the short-lived television show STARMAN.

“Rants & Ravings About Horror” - Week 3

Week 3: “The Horror Franchise”

There is no other genre that relies as heavily on the franchise and/or sequel like horror films do.  The history of the genre is littered with franchises such as Universal Studios original Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Mummy.   Sequels carried on the studio’s legacy with the characters and gave audiences more adventures and stories of their favorite monsters.  When Hammer Studios took up the mantle in the ‘60s and ‘70s they crafted new and colorful stories with these same monsters whetting the appetites of eager horror fans.  Then of course all bets were off in the ‘80s and ‘90s as the slasher boom became the poster-child for franchise as numerous horror franchises were born and transformed the way in which studios marketed and sold horror films which continues (unfortunately) to this day.

I mention this because the horror franchise is one of the reasons most of us love horror or were first introduced to it.  One of my earliest obsessions was the Halloween franchise.  I was a huge Michael Myers fan from the beginning and growing up I watched all the films religiously every year (which is one of the reasons why I can no longer watch the films).  My other favorite was the Child’s Play films, which I still watch to this day.  It’s been wenty-five years and the franchise is still going strong mainly because writer (and now director) Don Mancini has been there since the beginning allowing the franchise to change and evolve with each new generation.   

Other more important franchises include A Nightmare on Elm Street, Resident Evil, Friday the 13^th, Hellraiser, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, the Hannibal Lector films, Saw, The Evil Dead, Final Destination, Aliens, Predator, Paranormal Activity, Jaws, Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror, The Omen, The Exorcist, Puppet Masters, Ginger Snaps, Subspecies, Cube, Hatchet, Feast, The Grudge, Psycho, Phantasm, V/H/S, Candyman, The Prophecy, and Return of the Living Dead, to name a small few.  The less important or more cult franchises include Basket Case, Prom Night, The Howling, Critters, Ghoulies, The Re-Animator, House, Creepshow, Pumpkinhead, The Crow, The Mangler, Children of the Corn, Watchers, Mirror, Mirror, The Stepford Wives, Hostel, Cabin Fever,  Leprechaun, and Silent Night, Deadly Night, to name a few (too).  In addition to these, there are the failed franchises which only made it to a second film such as C.H.U.D., 976-Evil, 30 Days of Night, The Gate, Alligator, the first remake of King Kong films, The Gate, Demons, The Collector/The Collection, Pet Semetary, Salem’s Lot, Trilogy of Terror, The Last Exorcism, Piranha, Mirrors, Willard/Ben, An American Werewolf in London/Paris, The Descent, Witchboard,  Night of the Demons, Fright Night (both original and remakes), American Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, The Blair Witch Project, The Ring (although a new sequel is in pre-pre-production), and Carrie, to name a few.

This may be a lot of horror franchises but this is still just a small sampling.  The reason why so many sequels were produced (many more ill-conceived) is because horror films have always been big business for studios - low cost and big profits.  Even though many of the sequels went straight to video (video was booming in the ‘80s and ‘90s and also contributed to the proliferation of the horror franchise) there were always franchises that remained on the big screen and endured because audiences couldn’t get enough of them no matter how mundane and repetitive the sequels got.  

Films that killed franchises or “jumped the shark” were plentiful and took the franchise into ludicrous territory alienating even die-hard fans.  Films like Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Return of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (aka Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation), C.H.U.D. 2: Bud for C.H.U.D., The Stepford Husbands, Hellraiser: Revelations, Jaws: The Revenge, Candyman: Day of the Dead, The Rage: Carrie 2, Look What Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, Piranha 3DD, King Kong Lives, Critters 4: In Space, Leprechaun: Back 2 the Hood, American Psycho 2, and Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, to name a few.

The horror film and most importantly the horror fan relish the continuing adventures of their favorite monsters.  It is rare that a franchise hinges on a heroine.  The names Pinhead, Chucky, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Candyman, Norman Bates, Hannibal Lector, Leatherface, Jigsaw, The Tall Man, Herbert West, Damian, Fred Kruger, and Ghostface are what draw audiences in from one film to the next regardless of the quality of each subsequent film.  I love the Child’s Play films because I’m a fan of Chucky (and I’ve even read the novelizations and comics as well).  I watch the Alien films because I love the aliens and how they change from film to film (and likewise I’ve read many of the books and comics as well).   The villains are the draw for these films as any fan can attest. 

Franchises are an important way for us fans to continue to enjoy some of our most (in)famous icons.  As long as we continue to watch and support these films then studios will continue to produce then.  This is not always a great thing as we’ve come to realize as sequels usually lose their punch and become more sanitized.  Not every film in a franchise can be gold.  Sometimes we have to settle for bronze but isn’t that better than having nothing at all?

Movie review: 51 (2011)

Area 51 is probably one of the most famous locations in the world because of its association with UFOs and alien enthusiasts but now all will be revealed to the public.  This is the plot of 51 (2011) in which a reporter and TV personality are allowed full access to area 51 in order to finally dispel the rumors once and for all.  Bruce Boxleitner is Col. Martin who is in charge of escorting the civilians into the complex but everything does not go as planned as an alien shape shifter held in the underground secret labs of the already secret labs escapes and releases an even deadlier predatory alien and its offspring.  The aliens create havoc allowing the shape shifter to proceed with its ulterior motives all the while Col. Martin and his charges try to find a way out of the complex while not trying to be killed by the predatory aliens or allowing any of the aliens free to the outside world.

 

Along for the chaos is Sgt. Hannah (Rachel Miner) and her fellow soldier and friend Shoes Schumacher (Jason London) who are also trying to kill the predatory aliens before they get killed themselves.  The film is fun, gory and entertaining from beginning to end and works because the characters take their situation seriously despite the fact that it is an alien film.  London is hilarious from beginning to end and he has great chemistry with Miner.  The creature FX is extremely good and convincing for such a low budget film.  This film will appease horror fans.

51 is one of those rare low budget sci-fi-horror hybrid films that actually work and it continues to surprise up until the end.  The film is written by Lucy Mukerjee with story by Kenny Yakkel and is directed by Jason Connery.  They do an excellent job with the film creating one of the few low budget indie gems out there of this kind.