The Brain (1988)

Released on video, sometime in December of 1988 in the US...

Filmed entirely in Canada.

The story: Jim is a smart teen but he also likes to have fun by causing mischief.

When Jim gets caught for a prank he pulls at school, his parents are advised that he must go to the local psychological institute for evaluation...

There, Jim is subject to some really strange brain wave tests conducted by the infamous, local TV show host/evangelist type Dr. Blakely.

The point is to get Jim to conform to another way of thinking.

But instead of the desired result, the tests only enlighten Jim about what's really going on.

The townspeople are being brainwashed by an alien-like brain whose intention is to take over the world, one clueless follower at a time...

Stars Susannah Hoffman, David Gale, Tom Bresnahan, Cynthia Preston, George Buza, Christine Kossak, Bret Pearson, Bernice Quiggin, Justine Campbell, Robert King, Kenneth McGregor, Vinetta Strombergs, Richard Gira, Wendy Springate, Harry Booker, Peter Read, Steve Mousseau, Garry Bron

Directed by Ed Hunt

Rated R
SCIFI/HORROR/MYSTERY

"Joe Bob says, 'Check it out...'"

News from Home (1976)

Released July 11, 1989, in the US...

Filmed entirely in New York.

The story:  Young Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman has left her home and family in Brussels for a new life in New York City.

There she captures places and people on a regular day and night basis.

Chantal writes letters to her mother and while we watch the scenes she so lovingly films, she reads us the letters her mother sends her.

Stars (voice) Chantal Akerman

Directed by (& story written) Chantal Akerman

Not Rated

French w/English subtitles

DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY

Female Trouble ; John Waters' (1974)

Released October 11th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Maryland.

The story: Teenaged Dawn Davenport is spoiled rotten.

She believes she knows everything and always just does what she wants.

When she doesn't get what she asked for from her parents on Christmas day, she hits the road.

That's when her real problems start.

A year later, Dawn is on her own and has a baby.

She tries many different things to make ends meet.

Finally, she lands a job at a local beauty salon.

Still eager to be the center of attention and get whatever she wants, Dawn soon marries.

But it's a big mistake.

Her daughter is still young and quite the horrible example of a child.

Nothing seems to go right for Dawn but that doesn't get her down.

After all that she's been through, she gets the job from her beauty salon bosses to be a model for women criminals...

Stars Divine, Cookie Mueller, Susan Walsh, Margie Skidmore, Berenica Cipcus , Betty Woods, Roland Hertz, Ramsey McClean, Michael Potter, Edith Massey, Ed Peranio, Paul Swift, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, George Figgs, George Hulse 

Directed by (& story written) John Waters

Rated NC17

DARK COMEDY/FANTASY 

I Love You , Now Die :The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter , parts 1 - 2 (2019)

Made for HBO, airing July 9th in the US.

Filmed in Massachusetts.

The story: In 2012, Naples, Florida, 17- year-old Conrad Roy lll of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts was introduced by his aunt to 16 -year-old Michelle Carter of Plainville, Massachusetts while visiting with their relatives on vacation.

The two teens quickly took a liking to each other and began bonding.

Both Conrad and Michelle had been battling demons of social anxiety and depression and being medicated for them which made the two even closer.

They spoke about what was on their minds mostly through text messages after they returned home and realized they lived only 35 miles away from each other.

When Conrad began really struggling with his depression he grew more and more suicidal.

While Michelle believed in Conrad's pain she also believed she was closest to him and was helping him the only way she thought she could.

Conrad eventually took his depression to a whole other level when he committed suicide on July 13, 2014, in a KMart parking lot in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.

It seemed to Michelle in a way that she had done the right thing by encouraging her friend to take his depression to the ultimate level.

But the people who loved and cared about Conrad saw things otherwise.

Stars Peter Breggin, Joseph Cataldo, Michelle Carter, Sam Boardman, Jesse Barron, Marin Cogan, H Conradroy, Emily Bazelon, Glenn Cudmore, Dana Curham, Lexie Eblan, Maryclare Flynn, Tom Gammell, Anne Glowinski, Becki Maki, Scott Gordon, Carolyn Mcgonagle, Bob McGovern 

Directed by Erin Lee Carr

Rated TVMA

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY/DOCUMENTARY/SERIES

Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)

Released November 10th in the US.

Filmed entirely in New York.

The story: Emily is a pre-teen who mostly keeps to herself.

Her mom works a lot and leaves Emily in the care of her uncle Casey, who she also doesn't have much in common with.

When Casey takes Emily to see the animals in a magical, traveling animal rescue she makes friends with a small red pup named Clifford.

Emily wants Clifford but knows she cannot have him.

Later that evening, Emily finds that Clifford actually made his way to her house.

Now she has to keep him.

Although, within hours it becomes out of the question to hide Clifford, considering he has tripled in size...

When Emily and Casey are trying to hide Clifford, he escapes into the streets of New York.

That's when the head of a genetics company plots to capture Clifford for his work and experiments.

Stars Darby Camp, Sienna Guillory, Jack Whitehall, Izaac Wang, John Cleese, Tony Hale, David Allan Grier, Horatio Sanz, Paul Rodriquez, Russell Peters, Keith Ewell, Bear Allen Blaine, Ty Jones

Directed by Walt Becker

Rated PG
FAMILY/ADVENTURE/FANTASY

Stillwater (2021)

Released July 30th in the US.

Filmed in Oklahoma and France.

The story: Bill is an oil rig worker in Oklahoma looking for work.

Five years ago Bill's daughter Allison, had been going to school in France, where she was living with her girlfriend.

Now she is serving a 9-year sentence for killing said girlfriend.

Allison claims she is innocent of the crime and Bill believes her.

When he visits her she gives him a note for her lawyer, a note that she believes will prove her innocence.

But when her lawyer refuses to do the work to look for the real person responsible for the crime, Bill takes it upon himself to do the looking.

Stars Matt Damon , Deanna Dunagan , Abigail Breslin  , Anne LeNy , William Nadylam ,Camille Cottin , Lilou Siauvaud , Idir Azougli , Moussa Maaskri , Isabelle Tanakil , Naidra Ayadi , Pierre Piacentino

Directed by Tom McCarthy 

Rated R
MYSTERY

Hogzilla (2014)

Released on video, December 15th in the US. 

Filmed entirely in Florida.

Loosely based on truths.
The story: Five years ago, Andy was hunting in the woods with his son Robbie.

When Bobby disappeared, due to the wild hog living in the woods, everyone believed Andy killed him and buried his son out in the woods.

Now, Andy lives in the woods, looking to one day track down that killer hog and destroy it.

Present-day, a group of tabloid news location scouts have located the area where Andy now resides.

They are also looking for the infamous killer hog to help get the story on it.

Just when it seems that things couldn't get any worse, a hurricane blows in, trapping the crew.

But what they don't realize is that being stranded is the least of their worries.

Stars Zachary Dubale, Joe Bloom, Wade White, William A Butland, Justin Kane, Tomey Sellers, Meredith Martin, Joey Malone, John Pagnam 

Directed by Diane Jacques

Not Rated

HISTORY/HORROR

Gate 2 : The Trespassers (1990)

Released February 28, 1992, in the US.

Filmed in Canada.

The story: It's been five years since Glen found the door to hell in his backyard.

Glen has since moved away but the house still remains.

For the last two years, Glen's friend Terry who lives next door hasn't been able to stop staring at the house.

Terry believes they did everything all wrong and he has finally figured out what to do to summons the minions back the right way.

Terry returns to the house to summons the demons but some neighborhood bullies - Moe, John, and Liz, decide to join him.

Moe and John believe it's all stupid until the summonsing actually works.

But John freaks and kills the one that shows up.

Terry takes it home, but not before making his wish.

A few nights later, Terry learns that the dead minion has been heeled and has escaped from the jar he put it in.

But this time around he knows how to handle the situation.

He needs the minions' energy to help his father and it seems to be helping.

Although after hanging out with Liz, and her wishing for a bunch of things that aren't necessary, even though Terry explained not to, things go in a bad direction.

Stars Louis Tripp, Simon Reynolds, Pamela Adlon, James Villemaire, Neil Munro, James Kidnie, Irene Panzer, Larry OBrey , Gerry Mendicino, Elva Mai Hoover, Mark Saunders, Edward Leefe, Layne Coleman, Anita Olenick, Carl Kraines, Andrea Ladanyi, Todd Postlethwaite

Directed by Tibor Takacs

Rated R
SEQUEL/SCI-FI/HORROR

"Chicks, man. Who needs demons when you got chicks...."

Swarmed (2005)

Made for the SciFi channel, airing  May 2nd in the US.

Filmed entirely in Canada.

The story: In a laboratory, a scientist is working on a pesticide to further benefit bug sprays that eliminate yellowjackets and wasps.

Although not normally a threat, the bugs do cause havoc in their own way.

The last result of the study for the night kills off a handful of yellowjackets but leaves two alive, although aggressive.

Later that evening, a janitor at the lab is attacked and killed by those two surviving yellowjackets.

While the police are investigating, the scientist shows up and is questioned.

He finds one of the two yellowjackets which attacked but is completely unsure where the second one went...

But it didn't go far.

Its next victim happens to be the local coroner, who was handling the body of the janitor.

This causes a lot of confusion due to the percentage of people being allergic to wasps and yellowjackets being very low and rare.

When the help of a bug exterminator is called in at a local home due to an extreme amount of yellowjacket infestation, he gets his pesticide from the very laboratory where the experiments are being done.

The real problem is, the scientist isn't done with his experiments and had no idea that the pesticide has made the treated yellowjackets even more aggressive than planned.

This causes a world of harm to the local people of the small town just in time for its annual BBQ Burger Cook-Off celebration, mostly due to yellowjackets and wasps being attracted to meat.

Stars Michael Shanks, John Baktis, Maria Brooks, Tim Thomerson, Christopher Bondy, Ellen Dubin, Carol Alt, Claudio Masciulli, Booth Savage, Bill Lake, Richard Chevolleau, Jonathan Malen, Balazs Koos, David Eisner, Samantha Weinstein, Scott Wickware, Lorry Ayers, Mazin Elsadig

Directed by Paul Ziller

Rated PG13

SCIFI/HORROR

"Insects don't have emotions."

Don't Make Waves (1967)

Released June 9th in the US.

Filmed in South Carolina and California.

The story: Carlo has just arrived in Malibu for his vacation.

While eating a sandwich on a cliff overlooking the ocean he witnesses a woman painting who then loses her painting over the cliff.

In a huff, the woman quickly packs it up and jumps in her car to leave, but soon finds her car entangled with Carlos'.

Then she lights his car on fire accidentally by throwing a match at it.

When she finally realizes she is actually responsible for burning up Carlos' car, she invites him back to her house, so she can get her insurance information.

Unfortunately, her insurance information is tangled up with her boyfriend, married businessman Rod.

Rod refuses to help with the insurance and suggests that his mistress Laura throw Carlos out, which she does.

Left on the beach for the evening, Carlo wakes up to so much going on.

By chance, he meets and becomes obsessed with beach babe, skydiver Malibu, who rescues him from drowning when he is bonked on the head by two surfers.

Laura still wants to help Carlo with his car but Rod won't budge.

Carlo learns Rod is married so to rattle him, he goes to Rod's business to confront him.

After meeting Rod's wife who happens to show up, Carlo decides he wants everything Rod has and more, starting with him taking over Rod's business.

Stars Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale , Ann Elder,  Robert Webber, Sharon Tate, David Drapper , Joanna Barnes, Mort Sahl, Dub Taylor, Chester Yorton, Reg Lewis, Marc London, Douglas Henderson, Sarah Selby, Mary Grace Canfield, Julie Payne, Edgar Bergen, Breena Howard

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

Not Rated

COMEDY

Stage Fright ; Alfred Hitchock's (1950)

Released April 15th in the US.

Filmed entirely in London.

The story: Married actress Charlotte has been having an affair with Jonathan.

When she comes to him one day claiming to have killed her husband, Jonathan is desperate to help in any way he can.

Charlotte asks that he return to her house for a change of clothing, due to her dress having blood on it.

While at the house, Jonathan is seen.

Now Jonathan is on the run from the police.

Frantic, Jonathan calls in the help of old friend Eve, who is studying to become an actress.

He wants to stay at Eve's father's house by the ocean and Eve agrees.

Soon Eve begins thinking that Charlotte is actually trying to frame Jonathan for the murder of her husband.

So considering Eve is in love with Jonathan, although he doesn't know it ,  she uses her clever acting skills to get to the bottom of the situation.

Stars Richard Todd, Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, Kay Walsh, Michael Wilding, Alastair Sim, Sybil Thorndike, Miles Malleson, Hector MacGregor, Joyce Grenfell, Patricia Hitchcock, Andre Morell

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Not Rated

B&W

MYSTERY

"Oh, I like strange men."

Shallow Grave (1994)

Released February 10, 1995, in the US.

Filmed in Scotland and England.

The story: Juliet, Alex, and David are three friends sharing an apartment.

They are currently looking for a roommate but they have to like the person who applies.

After sending quite a few applicants on their way, Juliet meets and likes writer Hugo for the room.

They all agree and Hugo quickly moves in.

But on his first night there, he dies.

Before they can call in the police, Alex finds a large suitcase under Hugo's bed containing a very large amount of cash.

This causes the three to pass on calling in the police.

Stars  Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Colin McCredie, Gary Lewis, Jean Marie Coffey, Victoria Nairn, Keith Allen, Peter Mullan, Leonard OMailey, Ken Stott, Victor Eadie

Directed by Danny Boyle

Rated R
THRILLER/MYSTERY

Slaughterhouse (1987)

Released August 28th in the US.

Filmed in California and Oregon.
The story: Lester Bacon and his mute, personal hygiene dysfunctional son Buddy own and run the local slaughterhouse.

But business isn't what it used to be, and they cannot keep up with the payments.

When the higher-ups decide that considering the slaughterhouse is going into foreclosure, they are going to buy it, Lester and Buddy arent happy.

They have a personal vendetta against those people and want them dead.

When Buddy gets confused and starts murdering people just for being on the property, his dad Lester believes, considering nothing can be done about the accidental murders, they should just continue taking out everyone who seems to get in their way until they can get to the town sheriff, who they feel is mostly responsible for their woes.

Stars Don Barrett, Joe B Barton, Sherri Leigh, Bill Brinsfield, Jason Collier, Dave Fogel, Jeff Grossi, Hank Gum, Linda Harris, Jane Higginson, William Houck, Donna Stevens, Erich Schwartz

Directed by (& story written) Rick Roessler

Rated R
HORROR