Category: Sci-Fi

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Jay Kamen was an assistant story editor at American International Pictures when he got a call from producer Bob Wynn. Wynn served as a producer on Cellar Dweller for Charles Band’s Empire Pictures and needed a director. Kamen made a short film that won awards at the Miami Film Festival and the Festival of Festivals in Houston. Since this would be his first feature-length film, Kamen took the job and flew out to Rome for a meeting. He met with Charles Band, who gave him a script written by Mitch Brian, who previously wrote 1987’s Night Screams. The screenplay was about a space parasite that infects the lead and quickly spreads as an allegory for AIDS. Kamen cast Rex Smith for the lead role because he was a fan of his from The Pirates of Penzance. Armed with a small budget, Kamen filmed Transformations in the Empire Studios in Rome.

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Synopsis

Wolfgang Shadduck (Rex Smith) is a smuggler floating through space when a mysterious creature invades his ship. The alien shapeshifts into a beautiful woman (Pamela Prati), who seduces him and infects him with a deadly virus. In addition, the creature damages the ship, forcing it to crash land on a nearby prison planet. Wolfgang is recovered and nursed back to health by the prison doctor Miranda (Lisa Langlois), who immediately falls for him. Meanwhile, a group of prisoners – Calihan (Christopher Neame), Antonia (Cec Verrell), and Stephens (Michael Hennessy) – hatch an escape plan. They plan on taking Wolfgang hostage and forcing him to use his ship so they can escape the prison planet. Unfortunately, the disease starts consuming Wolfgang, turning him into a sex-crazed mutant who goes on a rampage. Will Wolfgang be cured, will the prisoners successfully escape, and where did the alien come from in the first place?

Review

With Transformations, it’s a movie that will be hard to review since not much happens in its 80-minute runtime. The opening scene checks off all the boxes of low-budget science-fiction: gratuitous nudity, weird-looking creatures, and minimal set design. Once Wolfgang’s ship crashes on the prison planet, the film grinds to a halt until roughly the last half hour. The production design is surprisingly decent in this movie’s defense, considering this was towards the end of Empire Pictures. Jay Kamen does a decent job for a first-time director, though most of the camerawork is substandard. With the creature effects, John Carl Buechler’s assistant William Butler does some good work considering the limited resources. Admittedly, we don’t see the whole alien creature except for the beginning and near the movie’s end. Aside from that, there are some decently gross prosthetics and gory death scenes sprinkled throughout.

Rex Smith makes a decent lead, though he doesn’t come off as a believable space smuggler like Han Solo. Lisa Langlois is alright as the female lead, though her dialogue sounds cliche, and there’s not much chemistry with Smith. Neame and Verrell are okay, but their characters aren’t that interesting, though Hennessy seems to be trying too hard. Despite his brief scenes, Patrick Macnee takes the material seriously and gives a performance that’s too good for this movie. The prison planet could’ve offered many opportunities, but the film doesn’t do much with this setting. Additionally, not much is explained, such as where the creature who infected Wolfgang came from or its ultimate demise. Despite these questions, this is a decent throwaway sci-fi monster movie that’ll at least kill some time. Overall, Transformations is fairly forgettable but it’s still worth a watch for Empire/Full Moon completionists.

Buy Transformations from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3x0lvXc.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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After the collapse of Empire Pictures, Charles Band returned to the US and started its successor company: Full Moon Entertainment. While most of the Empire library went to other studios, Band released some under his new studio. The first three films released under this new company were Puppet Master, Meridian: Kiss of the Beast, and Shadowzone. Unfortunately, one of the films Band lost when Empire collapsed was Robot Jox, which went to Triumph Pictures. Since it took so long for Triumph to release the movie, Band decided to capitalize on it. Much like how Roger Corman made movies capitalizing on his previous successes, Band took a similar approach with this. Using much of the same crew as Stuart Gordon’s giant robot epic, Band churned out his own big robot movie. While Gordon’s movie hit theaters in November 1990, Band’s Crash and Burn arrived on video store shelves in September.

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Synopsis

In 2035, the powerful corporation Unicom is controlling the world after a massive economic collapse. Most of the earth is desert, and massive “thermal storms” caused by a depleted ozone layer are a daily hazard. A Unicom agent named Tyson (Paul Ganus) is delivering some freon to one of the last remaining TV broadcast stations. He meets the station manager Lathan Hooks (Ralph Waite), who instantly distrusts Tyson due to his resentment towards Unicom. Tyson also meets Lathan’s granddaughter Arren (Megan Ward), schoolteacher Parice (Eva LaRue), and technician Quinn (Bill Moseley). Unfortunately, Tyson has to stay the night at the station due to a thermal storm, trapping everyone else inside. To make matters worse, Unicom sent a “synthoid” to kill the station manager and anyone who gets in its way. Who is this mysterious killer, and who will be left alive to fight off the assailant?

Review

While not one of the better early Full Moon titles, Crash and Burn is a pretty entertaining mash-ups of genres. At its core, it’s a slasher film with a cyborg, a cross between Friday the 13th and The Terminator. What makes it stand out is its post-apocalyptic setting and how an economic collapse causes it, which is unique. You can tell that this was when Full Moon had extra capital through Paramount, given the production values. Despite its low budget, the set design and visual effects are surprisingly effective, though it helps they had talented artists. Future Oscar winner Greg Cannom, who also worked on Vicious Lips, Cherry 2000, and Meridian, designed the makeup effects. Empire/Full Moon regular David Allen handled the stop-motion alongside Chris Endicott, who later managed visual effects on Avengers: Endgame. It shows that a talented crew can compensate for a meager budget.

On top of having a sweet mullet, Paul Ganus makes for a decent leading man and has plenty of charisma. Future Full Moon regular Megan Ward is fun as the young Arren and has tons of charm to spare. Cult actor Bill Moseley easily steals the show, especially when he goes full Nicolas Cage in the second act. Jack McGee is appropriately gross and slimy as the movie’s Rush Limbaugh stand-in, and he works as the comic relief. Ralph Waite brings some class to the production and Eva LaRue has decent chemistry with Ganus. While not exceptional, Band’s direction works, using low lighting and shadows to create an effective mood. Despite teasing some giant robot action, we only get five minutes worth towards the end of the movie. Overall, Crash and Burn isn’t quite as good as later Full Moon productions, but it’s a decent ninety-minute watch.

Buy Crash and Burn from:

• Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RVjc2v.
• Full Moon Horror: https://www.fullmoonhorror.com/products/crash-and-burn-blu-ray?ref=filmnerd.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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Where to watch Crash and Burn (1990)

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]While hardly a household name, writer/director John Hayes certainly had an oddly fascinating career spanning several decades. His first claim to fame was writing the Oscar-nominated short film The Kiss by future TV director Everett Chambers. Throughout the 60s and 70s, Hayes became known for directing various low-budget drive-in exploitation films of varying genres. His movies included titles like The Farmer’s Other Daughter, The Cut-Throats, Garden of the Dead, and Jailbait Babysitter. Around this time, Charles Band started getting into film production and even dabbled in directing movies. His first film was Last Foxtrot in Burbank, followed by Crash!, which Hayes worked on as a sound mixer. Through his connections with producer Irwin Yablans, Band got Hayes to direct a sci-fi film capitalizing on the disaster craze. With a small budget and some fading genre actors, John Hayes’ End of the World hit theaters in August 1977.

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Synopsis

NASA Professor Andrew Boran (Kirk Scott) starts noticing strange radio signals coming from space that carry a foreboding message. Andrew soon learns that the transmissions are coming from Earth, so he and his wife Sylvia (Sue Lyon) investigate. It turns out that the signals are a warning about a series of natural disasters about to hit Earth. During their investigation, Andrew and Sylvia find themselves kidnapped by aliens disguised as a priest and some nuns. The leader Zindar, disguised as Father Pergado (Christopher Lee), explains that Earth has become a hotbed of diseases. They plan on destroying the planet through a series of natural disasters and force Andrew to steal a Variance Crystal. To do this, Andrew must infiltrate the very same lab he works for and betray humanity to save his wife. Will our heroes survive, and will the aliens bring about the end of the world?

Review

Despite his reverence, the late Sir Christopher Lee is no stranger to starring in movies he later came to regret. For example, he apologized to director Joe Dante for starring in The Howling II, the sequel to Dante’s werewolf classic. I mention this because Lee famously called End of the World one of the worst movies he ever starred in. Honestly, having just seen the film, it’s not hard to see why Lee would prefer people not to remember it. Even by 1970s Charles Band standards, this is an absolute mess of half-baked ideas, flat direction, and dull execution. Acting-wise, everyone seems to be either bored or confused as to what exactly is supposed to be happening. Sue Lyon, who was pretty good in Crash!, comes off demure and somewhat bland here. It doesn’t help that Kirk Scott, as her husband, acts as stiff as a board.

That said, even if he did not want to be there, Christopher Lee seems to be at least trying. He is always the consummate professional, and he delivers his lines with eloquence and grace that’s too good for this movie. Unfortunately, Lee disappears for much of the runtime until roughly halfway through despite his prominent billing. The rest of the film is padded out with boring dialogue scenes, endless driving scenes, and many walking scenes. John Hayes’ direction feels flat, not helped by many outdoor scenes being so darkly lit that you can’t see. Every so often, there’s an explosion, but don’t expect the same level of explosiveness as Laserblast. Ultimately, this movie commits the biggest sin in cinema: it’s boring, which is honestly worse than just being terrible. Overall, unless you’re a die-hard Christopher Lee fan, End of the World is best left forgotten.

Buy End of the World from:

• Amazon: https://amzn.to/42T6LdG.
• Full Moon Horror: https://www.fullmoonhorror.com/products/end-of-the-world-blu-ray?ref=filmnerd.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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After making a name for himself in theatre, Clive Barker wanted to shift his focus towards becoming a writer. While writing the short stories that would make up Books of Blood, Barker met up-and-coming filmmaker George Pavlou. The two met at a dinner party, where they discussed their shared interest and passion for the film industry. Pavlou wanted to direct, and Barker wanted to write, so the two decided to collaborate on a project together. Barker wrote a screenplay of mobsters versus monsters that included science-fiction, film noir, and horror elements. Unfortunately, the studio had promised their financiers more of a pop-rock-infused tale and was uncomfortable with the horror themes. The studio demanded rewrites that essentially stripped the film of anything horror-related, which led to Barker disowning the project. Initially released in the UK as Underworld in 1985, Empire Pictures released it in the US as Transmutations in 1986.

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Synopsis

After underground mutants kidnap high-class prostitute Nicole (Nicola Cowper), the Docklands Mafia hires their best man to find her. Said man is Roy Bain (Larry Lamb), a private investigator who has since retired. He’s convinced by mob boss Hugo Motherskille (Steven Berkoff) to rescue her, given Bain’s past relationship with her. Meanwhile, the mutants abducted Nicole uses her as a bargaining chip for an antidote to the drug “Whiteman.” Created by Dr. Savary (Denholm Elliot), the drug is known to expand the mind and cause deformities. However, Nicole is a rare case in that she’s remained physically normal despite having taken Whiteman consistently. As Bain continues his search, he eventually finds the mutants and Nicole, and he helps them take on Savary. Unfortunately, Motherskille is working with Savary, so Bain betrays his former employer to protect the mutants and Nicole. It’s mobsters versus monsters in the London underworld!

Review

Whether you call it Underworld or Transmutations, this film had the potential to be good only to waste it all. The concept of mobsters versus monsters offers many creative ideas, but this movie has almost none on display. Given Barker’s future work, it makes me wonder what his original script was like compared to the mess we got. The cast has huge names like Denholm Elliot, Steven Berkoff, Miranda Richardson, and Ingrid Pitt, but the film wastes them. Elliot and Berkoff, in particular, give off that sense of “I’m only doing this just for the extra money.” Larry Lamb tries to come off as a relaxed and rugged detective, but he lacks the charisma of Tim Thomerson. Then again, Trancers knew what it wanted to be and stuck with it instead of missing any of its personality. Honestly, this film is almost as bad as the later Trancers sequels.

If there are any positives here, I will say that the production design has a decent 80s punk look. It probably helps that their art director was Len Huntingford, who worked on the Oscar-winning 1981 film, Chariots of Fire. The makeup effects, while certainly cheap-looking, help the movie stand out with all the different mutant designs shown. Also, the score by the band Freur has some solid tracks, though much of it is instantly forgettable. George Pavlou doesn’t inject anything special in his direction and shoots the film with a bland style. Though the widely available version is 88 minutes long, the version released in the US is 15 minutes longer. Honestly, I can’t imagine if those extra 15 minutes would’ve improved the overall quality of this forgettable mess. Overall, Transmutations is what happens when a good idea is compromised and stripped of what made it special.

Buy Transmutations from Amazon: https://amzn.to/40wUaMu.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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Where to watch Transmutations (1985)

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]After the release of Trancers 5: Sudden Deth, things were not getting much better for Full Moon Features. In 1995, the company ended its deal with Paramount and turned to fellow independent studio Kushner & Locke for financing. While they were able to stay afloat, the budgets they had weren’t nearly the amount they had in the past. To make matters worse, Kushner & Locke were having their own financial problems and filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Around this time, low-budget filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter moved from Ohio to California to further advance his career. Thanks to his connection with David DeCoteau, he entered a partnership with Charles Band to produce more economical films. C. Courtney Joyner, writer/director of Trancers III: Deth Lives, wrote a script for a potential TV series. When that didn’t happen, the script was reworked and made into 2002’s Trancers 6: Life After Deth.

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Synopsis

In Old Los Angeles 2022, Josephine Forrest (Zette Sullivan) has her body taken over by her time-traveling father Jack Deth. Turns out a member of the council saw footage of her being killed, which would erase Jack from existence. Now in his daughter’s body, Jack/Jo has to investigate what leads to her almost getting killed. Josephine’s boss Mr. Castle (Ben Bar) and his assistant Shauna Wilder (Jennifer Capo) have found a powerful meteorite. Using the meteorite, they’re taking junkies and runaways off the streets and turning them into Trancers to assassinate high-level targets. Jo decides to infiltrate the group taken by Shauna to take down their Trancer operation and save the future. With help from their superior Jennings (Jennifer Cantrell), Jo gears up to hunt down some new Trancers. It’s up to our favorite time-traveling future cop to stop the Trancers and save his daughter while in her body!

Review

Since the original 1984 film, the series has had its peaks and valleys but has remained relatively consistent. The first was a solid sci-fi/action film, and the second relied more on comedy but was still fun. The third film was easily the best since the first film, while 4 and 5 were massive letdowns. That being said, I think it’s safe to say that Trancers 6: Life After Deth is the worst one. While it’s admirable they were able to make it for only $60,000, maybe they shouldn’t have made this. This series has generally been mid to low budget, but they’ve usually had enough to fully realize their ideas. I usually champion films that try to make the most of their budgets, but this film needed more money. Even by Full Moon standards, this film is shockingly cheap, though it’s more depressing than charming.

It doesn’t help either that the acting is about on par with a SciFi Channel original movie. Zette Sullivan is clearly trying to emulate Tim Thomerson’s performance, but no one can do Tim Thomerson like Tim Thomerson. We only see him in stock footage from the previous films, and it makes you wish he had come back. Jennifer Capo might as well have been eating drywall given all the scenery-chewing she’s doing here she’s so over-the-top. Jennifer Cantrell is supposed to fill in the McNulty role from the first two films, but it falls flat. Full Moon has always been known for having cheesy-looking effects, but the low-tier CGI used here is embarrassing. On top of all that, this film commits the biggest sin that a film can commit: it’s boring. Overall, Trancers 6: Life After Deth is a disappointing conclusion to such a promising series.

Buy Trancers 6: Life After Deth from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3F0dCZO.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]By 1993, Full Moon Features was on a roll and had some of their biggest successes in their history. In addition to starting up many popular franchises, Full Moon launched Moonbeam Entertainment, a line of kids’ sci-fi/fantasy films. 1993 alone saw the release of Bloodstone: Subspecies II, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, and Puppet Master 4 among others. They also had plenty of other movies in production, but many of them wouldn’t see a release until after 1993. While Charles Band oversaw the films as a producer, he only directed a few, oftentimes with his father Albert Band. Though credited as co-directors on Doctor Mordrid, Albert basically filled in for Charles since he was busy running the company. For their 1993 follow-up to 1989’s Robot Jox, it was originally a father-son project before Albert had to take over. Robot Wars was released direct-to-video in April 1993.

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Synopsis

In the year 2041, Earth has been divided into two factions: the North Hemi and the Eastern Alliance. With their declining economy, the North Hemi is making a deal to manufacture defensive robots for the Eastern Alliance. Dubbed “mini-megs”, they’re smaller versions of “mega-robots”, giant military robots now used for civilian transport, including the Mega-Robotic Assault System-2. Also known as the MRAS-2, the robot is piloted by Captain Drake (Don Michael Paul) and copilot Stumpy (James Staley). During a run, they’re attacked by terrorists called “Centros”, and Drake is ordered to attack by Chief Rooney (Peter Haskell). Rooney wants to impress Eastern Alliance General Wa-Lee (Danny Kamekona) and his aide Chou-Sing (Yuji Okumoto) to negotiate the deal. Meanwhile, Dr. Leda Fanning (Barbara Crampton) and her reporter friend Annie (Lisa Rinna) suspect that there’s more going on. Soon, Drake and Stumpy join and discover something sinister being planned.

Review

While not as action-packed as Robot Jox, Robot Wars is still a fairly entertaining low-budget sci-fi film that’s also short. Like Stuart Gordon’s film, one of the highlights here is the stop-motion animation by the late great David Allen. Admittedly, there are only two robots in the whole movie, and they don’t do much, but the stop-motion is impressive. While it may seem archaic by today’s standards, there’s a realness to them that can’t be replicated with CGI. Plot-wise, it shares some similarities with Stuart Gordon’s film, namely the opposing factions that are essentially East vs West. For a film that’s roughly 70 minutes in length, there’s a surprising amount of world-building that adds to the story. It almost makes you wish that they’d build on it further, but it’s more window dressing than anything else. Then again, Full Moon’s not really known for its deep stories.

Don Michael Paul makes for a fun lead, playing it as ridiculously cocky and arrogant as possible. Barbara Crampton has some decent chemistry with him, though their love story feels shoehorned in considering she initially hates him. It’s interesting to see Danny Kamekona play a bad guy considering his role in Robot Jox, where he was good. Though she isn’t given much to do, Lisa Rinna is incredibly gorgeous and makes for a good sidekick to Crampton. Additionally, some of the blue screen work is very noticeable and sticks out in a bad way. Also, there’s a sequence involving a 90s-style ghost town that’s clearly there so they wouldn’t have to build sets. Still, many of these points are mute since this is meant purely to show stop-motion robots fighting, which it delivers. Overall, Robot Wars is a fun movie that’s perfect for a Saturday afternoon.

Buy Robot Wars from

• Amazon: https://amzn.to/453dvXP.
• Full Moon Horror: https://www.fullmoonhorror.com/products/robot-wars-blu-ray?ref=filmnerd.

Disclosure: The above link is an affiliate link, which means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

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