31 days of horror Year 3 day 04

Meridian: Kiss of the Beast
1990
Midnight Horror Collection 8 Movie Pack

Back in 1990 the area I grew up in finally got cable. And it was really crappy cable. You got 25 channels for $50 a month. And the only premium channels that were offered was Showtime,The Movie Channel,and Disney Channel. And each of then was an extra $10. Well we got the normal package plus Showtime. Well I was already a huge Twin Peaks fan. So when looking through the monthly Showtime guide and saw a upcoming horror film starring Sherilyn Fenn I had to see it. Plus being a teenage male seeing that the movie had nudity,well I hoped it was Ms. Fenn naked.This movie was titled Kiss of the Beast. I watched and recorded it and held onto that tape for over a decade. Mainly cause I could never find Kiss of the Beast on pre-record VHS,Laserdisc or DVD. Well then we flash forward to 2000. And I look Ms. Fenn up on IMDB. And I discover that Kiss of the Beast is also known as Meridian. But the DVD was already out of print. So I tracked down a divx rip of the DVD. Well a few years later Charles Band is re-releasing a bunch of the Full Moon films on DVD. And one of them is Meridian. But it is only available in a boxed set. Which cost like $70 and the other films in the boxed set are films I have no interest in. So I didn't bother getting it. Then a few months back on one of the horror message boards I post at,a poster who goes by the name Critter-fan mentions that he has picked up for $5 a pack of 8 movies and one of them is Meridian. So for the next 6 weeks I keep checking the $5 dump bin at Walmart and never see it. So I finally give up and beginning of September ordered it off of DVD Empire for $10. I get through ordering it and the power at the house goes out cause of the bad weather. So to pass the time I go to Walmart. And what do I see sitting on the top of the $5 bin. The 8 movie pack with Meridian. So I bought it and once I got home and the power came back on I canceled my DVD Empire order.

Meridian is pretty much a more adult version of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Sherilyn Fenn and Charlie Spradling play college students who are over in eastern Europe helping restore paintings. Ms. Fenn's family owns a castle in the area so they are staying there. Well one day a traveling carnival/circus shows up and is performing in from of the castle. The two girls go watch the show then invite the performers to come have dinner with them. Well during the meal the midget,who is part of the carnival,spikes the wine. And both girls quickly start showing the effects. And we discover that the magician of the group is actually a set of identical twins. One of them takes Charlie to the couch and proceeds to have sex with her. The other twin carries Sherilyn to her bed room. And undresses her. He steps out into the hallway and trades places with his twin. The twin starts screwing Ms. Fenn. And outta nowhere this twin turns into what I believe to be a werewolf. Of course this freaks Sherilyn Fenn out.

We cut to the next day and it seems both girls have forgotten what had happened the night before. Charlie is working restoring a painting and realizes that there is another painting up the one she is working on. So she starts to slowly remove the upper layer of paint. Well we get many scenes of Ms. Fenn walking around the castle wearing long flowing dresses and lots of jewelry. And once Charlie uncovers the second painting we see that it has someone who looks like Sherilyn and the werewolf guy in it.

Now I will admit that the first few times I watched this movie,it was for the nude scenes with both Sherilyn Fenn and Charlies Spradling. But over the years I have come to enjoy the story of the movie. The werewolf looks very good , and you know this was a low budget film. Turns out the castle that most of it was shot in is a castle in Romania that Charles Band owned at the time. Meridian gets a A-.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 03

 Chaos
2005
Razor Digital Entertainment


Chaos is a 2005 film directed by David DeFalco. And starring Kevin Gage,Stephen Wozniak,Kelly K.C. Quann and Sage Stallone. This film I had heard about for many years. Cause of how disgusting it was and how it was a complete rip off of the original The Last House on the Left. But I didn't want to buy it cause it cost way more than I was willing to spend on a film that got almost completely bad reviews and something I hadn't seen yet. Well right about the time the remake of Last House on the Left hit dvd. I found the DVD of Chaos for what I considered a reasonable price. But never bothered to watch it till recently.

And what I read was right this film is an almost scene by scene rip off of Last House on the Left. A few things are changed but not that much. And it is also pretty graphic in the violence they show. This time it is 2 girls heading off to a rave held way out in the woods. When they get their they want to score some X. So they see Sage Stallone and he tells them he lives not too far away and has some X they can have. The girls are stupid and follow him. The film then follows the original Last house from that point.  After being tortured both girls manage to get away. But the group catches up with one of them. And the leader of the group,nicknamed Chaos and played by Kevin Gage,rips off her top and bra. Then using his knife cuts off her left nipple and areola. He put it into his mouth and chew it for a minute. Then forces the girl to eat it. She quickly throws it up. He then flips her over on her stomach and him and Stephen Wozniack rape her. Finally Gage stabs her multiple times in her back. The group finally catches up with the other girl. And after raping her Gage shoves his knife up her vagina. And she ends up bleeding to death.

Well sometime before they caught the second girl Sage accidentally gets killed. So the 2 guys and the girl go and seek refuge at the nearest house. Which just happens to be the second girl to be killed,parent's home. And from this point till right at the very end is exactly like Last House. At the end the cops show up and the only one of the bad guys left alive is Gage. The father has a hunting rifle pointed at him and the cops keep telling him to put the gun down. When he doesn't the older cop shots him in the head. This causes the wife to grab the older cop's backup pistol and she shots the older cop 2 or 3 times. The younger cop shots the mom,and while all this is happening Gage gets the hunting rifle and shots the younger cop. So in the end Gage is the only one to survive.

Well the movie is bad enough. But the director and the producer do a commentary. In which the director keeps calling Chaos "THE MOST BRUTAL FILM EVER MADE". Which is total bullshit. And he mentions many times all the 70s films that inspired him to make Chaos. But never once mentions Last House on the left. Then there is a very very odd special feature. It has a shirtless David Defalco walking around the LA morgue flexing and ranting about Roger Ebert. Now Defalco is a guido musclehead and I still am not really sure why this part was filmed in the LA morgue. But near the end he starts talking about how by using meth it allows demons to take control of your body. Overall it is one of the weirdest special features I have ever seen.

Now I will say the acting in the film is decent. And the gore FX are well done. But since it is a complete rip off of Last House that drops the film down a few notches. Chaos gets a F+.

31 days of Horror year 3 day 02

Gutterballs
2008
TLA releasing Unrated DVD

Before seeing this film I had heard about Ryan Nicholson on various horror message boards. It seems that he pissed off a bunch of people. Well I have always loved slashers. Mainly the ones from the 80s. And I heard that Gutterballs was a throwback to the 80s slashers so I had to see it. Rented it and loved it so much I put it on my "Must Buy" list. And just recently I found it for a price I was willing to pay.

Gutterballs is about 2 groups of late teens/young adults who go every night to a local bowling alley and after it closes they bowl. One group is made up of douche bag jocks. The other group is a nice mixture of social groups. You got two girls that dress like early 80s Madonna. One guy that has a 80's hair metal look. A guy that dresses like early Run DMC. A drag queen,and the main girl. Now while it is never said the film seems to be set in the early 80s. If it isn't all the stars are into a retro 80s look. Now with in the first 10 minutes I see why the film is unrated. The main girl ,who is wearing a very very short skirt,goes up to bowl and when she bends over you get a nice close up of her vagina. Well a fight breaks out between the jocks and the other kids and the head jock gets bruised up pretty bad. And one of the Madonna girls drops a bowling ball on his foot. Everyone leaves for the night.

But it seems that the main girl has forgotten her purse she goes looking for it. And finds it in the video arcade that is upstairs. But all the jocks are waiting on her. And they take turns raping her. But one of the jocks ,who seems to be more of a nerd than a jock,doesn't want to rape her and keeps trying to get the other guys to stop. The lead jock walks off and comes back with a bowling pin. And forces the nerdy guy to shove it into the girl's vagina. After this they leave and she is show laying in shock on top of the pool table with blood puddling up in between her legs. This scene has become well known cause of how graphic it is and how long it is. It is almost 15 minutes long and is the most graphic rape scene I have ever seen in a movie.

We cut to the next night and both groups of kids show up to bowl. The main girl is wearing these huge dark shades. And the lead jock has a cast on his foot. Plus he has brought two skanky blondes with him. Well both groups start putting their names on the automatic scoring system. And then noticed one more name has appeared. This name is BBK.  After a few frames of bowling one of the skanky blondes and a guy from the other group head to the bar to get some beers. He starts flirting with her. And she takes him into the bathroom. She takes her top off and gets him to lay down on the filthy bathroom floor. They start 69ing. But the killer sneaks into the room. He is wearing a Bowling Bag over his head. And now I see another reason why this is unrated. You clearly see the skank with the guys penis in her mouth. The Bowling Bag Killer shoves her head down and holds it till she chokes to death on the guy's penis. Then he smothers the guy with the skank's ass.

Well one by one most of the kids are killed off. The drag queen gets choked by having a bowling pin shoved down "her" throat. And then BBK takes out a knife and slices "her" dick in half length ways. The hair metal guy gets two sharpened bowling pins to the eyes. One of the Madonna girls gets strangled by the laces on some bowling shoes. One of the jocks goes to the ball waxing machine. And discovers that a someone has attached a screw to the bottom of the bin in which you are to place your ball. And BBK shoves his face into the bin and waxes it till all that is left is a bloody pulpy mess. Another of the jocks goes to the area where the pin setting machines are and get decapitated. The other skanky blonde gets her head crushed by two bowling balls. And the lead jock goes back to the pin setting machines to see where his friend is. And BBK shoves a sharpened bowling pin up his ass. After every kill one the scoreboards BBK gets a skull and crossbones in the next frame. Well the main girl and the nerdy guy haven't been seen for a long while. So Run DMC guy and the other Madonna girl go to look for their friend. And discover that all the exits are chained shut and the phones aren't working. When the get to the main door they see the nerdy guy chained up and dead right outside the front door.They run off and end up in a part of the alley that seems like renovations are going on. And we get a couple of nice twists to wrap the film up.

I have heard complaints about the amount of cussing in this film.And it is full of fucks and cunts. But I know back when I was that age most of my friends and I cussed almost that much. The kills are all well done. With great practical FX,no CGI at all. And most of the kids are decent actors. We get some nudity,and thankfully it isn't just during the rape scene. If I remember right only the skinnier Madonna girl doesn't show anything. The DVD has a fun commentary with Ryan Nicholson. In which he reveals some of what inspired him to make this film. Plus there is also a 40 odd minute making of Gutterballs feature that is pretty good. Gutterballs is a nice tribute/recreation of the 80s style of slasher. And I give the film a A-

31 days of Horror year 3 day 01

Dolls
1987
MGM DVD


Made back in the 80's this film ,directed by Stuart Gordon,was produced by Charles Band's Empire pictures. I had first seen it years ago when the local ABC affiliate showed it late one Saturday night. And really enjoyed it. But forgot all about it till a few years ago when MGM released it on DVD.I kept putting off buying it. But a few weeks ago I found it for a price I couldn't pass up.

We start off with a man,his new wife,and his daughter from his first marriage. Their car gets stuck in some mud so they head out to a nearby house. After knocking on the door and getting no answer they enter through a cellar door. Once inside the owners of the house,an elderly couple,find them and invite them to come have some dinner and to stay the night. During dinner they find out that the husband loves making various dolls. And 3 more people show up,2 of them are some new wave/punk rock style girls. One of whom is the lady that was in the famous  AH HA-take on me music video. The other is the man that had picked up the two girls while they were hitchhiking. Well everyone settles down for the night. And we start to see that the two hitchhikers and the stepmother aren't very good people. Well the AH HA girl starts snooping around the house for valuables to steal,and gets attacked by some of the dolls. And the story escalates from there.

The FX are all well done. They are a combo of stop motion and puppetry. The old man is played by the same guy that went on to play Toulan in the Puppet Master series of films. Now this film came out a few years before the first Puppet Master film. And you can see where Charles Band got the idea for the Puppet Master series.

I was very surprised at how well this film has held up. The acting,story,and FX don't seem dated. And really besides the outfits the two hitchhikers are wearing  this film could be set in the modern time period. The DVD is great besides a nice looking anamorphic print,you get two commentaries. One with Stuart Gordon,and the other has most of the cast. Plus you get some behind the scenes photos and some trailers. Overall it is a great DVD. Dolls get a A.

Getting ready for October

As I have done the previous few years. Everyday in October I will be watching at least one horror film and reviewing it here on the blog. Now word of warning some of the  reviews may contain spoilers. I am still trying to figure out what movies I will be watching. One thing I have tried to do each year is avoid the films that everyone has already talked about many times. So no Friday the 13ths,Nightmare on Elm Streets,or Halloweens. Hope everyone enjoys this series of reviews.

Harbinger Files 1 and 2

Harbinger Files #1 and 2
Valiant comics

This was a 2 issue limited series that Valiant published in 1994 and 1995. It was a way to give more background information on two characters from the Harbinger series.

Issue #1 starts off right after issue #3 of Solar. Harada and Solar are in a jumbo jet. The jet ends up crashing out in a heavily wooded snowy area. And Harada is the only survivor. He is found by a man that lives in the woods. And this guy brings Harada back to his cabin and starts nursing him back to health. While this is happening Harada tells the guy his life story. We find out how Harada became the president of the Harbinger Foundation. Well near the end of the comic Harada sees that a helicopter is coming to get him. So he kills the man that has been taking care of him. This issue is written by Fred Pierce and Bob Layton. And Dave Cockrum does the pencils with Gonzalo Mayo doing the inking work. The art work doesn't look much like the work Cockrum did on the X-men. And if I hadn't read his name on the first page I would have never been able to tell he was the penciler. Over all this was a fun and informative comic. Harbinger Files #1 gets a B+.

Issue #2 is all about a new character who is named The Harbinger. We get to see him being trained by Harada and the Harbinger Foundation. But you can sense that The Harbinger wants to rebel against Harada. All through the issue we are given small clues to the identity of The Harbinger. Now I read this issue way after I had read the entire run of The Visitor. And in that series The Harbinger's true identity is revealed. And I bet if you read this issue after reading the first 25 issues of the Harbinger comic,you should have no trouble guessing who The Harbinger is. The story is written by Jesse Berdinka and Fred Pierce. The pencils are by John Ross and the inks are by  Mike DeCarlo. Now compared to the first issue ,this one is severely lacking. I have never really cared for The Harbinger character. And this issue didn't make me care for him. Harbinger Files #2 gets a C-.

Some good podcasts

I listen to a bunch of podcasts. So here is a list divided up into genres.

Comic Book Podcasts

Comic geek speak,Jamie's essentials,Comics with and without pulp,Murd's time bubble and Comics in Motion'
www.comicgeekspeak.com

Only the Valiant
www.onlythevaliant.com

The geek savants-Warning this show can be very vulgar and sleazy
www.thegeeksavants.com

Star Joes-covers comics and toys. Mainly focused on GI Joe,Transformers and Star Wars
www.starjoes.com

Horror/exploitation/cult movie podcasts

Profondo Cinema-covers horror/cult/exploitation and sleazy films
www.profondocinema.com

Night of the living podcast-horror podcast that covers movies,tv shows,novels,comics and even horror related porn
www.NOTLP.com

Deadpit Horror talk radio-Warning these two guys can get very vulgar and are not PC at all
www.deadpit.com

Wrestling podcasts

Colt Cabana's Art of wrestling podcast-Each week Colt interviews a different wrestler
www.welovecolt.com 

Wrestlecrap Radio-Comedic look at pro wrestling.Sadly it can be months between new episodes.
www.wrestlecrap.com

Iron Man/X-O Manowar Heavy Metal Marvel Edition

Iron Man/X-O Manowar Heavy Metal Marvel edition

This is the second part of the Iron Man and X-O crossover. We start with a group of Iron Man villains being led by one of the members of HARD Corps. But  the Avengers show up. And the team has long time members like Crystal,Quicksilver and Captain America. Plus  Rai,Solar and some lady called Windstorm. I have no idea who Windstorm is. Maybe she was in the Harbinger series. And I haven't read much from that series. Well all of the sudden during the battle reality starts shifting and then we see all the heroes and villains fading out.

We cut to a ship way out in the ocean and Armin Zola and some wizard guy are trying to find all the scattered pieces of the cosmic cube. It seems that this merged reality is going to implode unless someone can put the cosmic cube back together.

We next jump back to the dark ages and Aric is being chased by Romans. He hides in a cave. And finds a briefcase. This case contains the Iron Man armor and Aric puts it on. We go back to modern time and Tony Stark is a young kid and his dad is showing him an alien egg that SHIELD has lent to him. The elder Stark is suppose to find out how to make the egg hatch. Well Tony gets near it,and the X-O Manowar armor jumps out and attaches itself to Tony.

We jump ahead a few years I think and X-O and Iron Man are working together to get the last piece of the cosmic cube. They find it ,but have to fight off the Masters of Evil and some Spider-Aliens. But they triumph over the villains and head off to the ship when Zola is.

They arrive on the ship and through a very complicated way manage to get the entire Cosmic Cube. And then use it to change reality back to the way it is suppose to be.

This issue was written by Fabian Nicieza. With Tom Grindberg doing the pencils and the team of Bill Anderson,Al Milgrom and Larry Mahlstedt doing the inking. Now first off I haven't read the first part of this 2 part crossover. But besides the fun of seeing Valiant heroes teaming up with Marvel heroes,this comic is very lame. Iron Man/X-O Manowar Heavy Metal Marvel edition gets a D-.

Comics I have read this year so far

Over at the Comic Geek Speak forum a bunch of people are keeping a list of all the comics,trades,hardcovers and OGNs they read each month.

January 2011

TPBs/Hardcovers/Graphic Novels Read-6

Bone all in one edition
Crossgen Forge vol 1
Crossgen Edge vol 2
Crisis on infinite earths
Infinite crisis
Showcase presents Dial H for hero

Singles Read-38

Yeah 1-8
Squadron Supreme 1-12 Gruenwald mini-only the kinda plain art keeps it from being perfect comic.
Uncanny X-men 140-150
Avengers Annual 10- worst thing I have read this year
Sigil 21,22I am really really enjoying this space opera comic.
Impluse plus 1 First time I have ever read a comic with Impluse and it wasn't bad
Justice League of America Vol 1 issue 228 fun comic that has John Jozz beating up Aquaman.
Fantastic Four 2575
Sectaurs 1 was expecting this to be bad and it was better than I expected.

February

Trades/hardcovers Read-4


Essential Marvel two in one volume 1 Reread this today to kill time till the mail passed. While not the best of the series 2 in 1 never had a truly bad issue.

Blackest Night hardcover This was the first Green Lantern I have read since the mid 90s. And I had no trouble following along with the story.

Project Superpowers TPB volume 1 Read this in floppie,but I found the trade for cheap.

Savage Sword of Conan Archives volume 3

Singles Read-4

Next Issue Project Fantastic Comics 24  The last story keeps it from a perfect comic.

World's Unknown 6-Killdozer adaptation
Sleepwalker 1-horrible horrible comic

Darkhawk 22

March

Trades/Hardcovers Read-3

JLA Crisis of Conscience

Old Man Logan- Heard all the hype about this series for almost 2 years now. So I finally sat down and read the entire thing today. What a great and fun comic. I was hooked as soon as the spider-mobile showed up. And now I really hope someday we get a sequel to it.

Walking Dead volume 9 -  As always this was great,but I hate how quick Walking dead reads. I opened the trade and about 20 minutes later I was finished.


Singles Read-101

The Boys 19-29 - I have fallen way behind on this series and now trying to catch up.
Wolverine the origin 1-6 - Not that impressed with the story but the art was good.
1602 1-8
Skull Kill Krew 1 and 2
Doom 2099 2,3
Excalibur -This was the prestige format book that came out before the series.
Excalibur Mojo Mayhem- Art Adams artwork=Amazing. Plus I got it for a quarter.
Black Hole 1
Chaos Effect Epilogue 2
The Ferret Vol 2 3,6
Man of war Vol 2 3,7,8
Married with chldren Bud Bundy,Fanboy in paradise
Married with Children Buck's Tale 1
MWC Kelly goes to Kollege 1,2
MWC Lotto Fever 1
MWC Quantum Quartet The big wrap up -  Been looking for this issue for years.
The Ray vol 2 1-4
The Good Guys 1-4 -  The first couple of issues have crappy art,but the story is fun.
Prudence & Caution 2
Bloodfire 6-9 -  The artwork is horrible,but the story ideas are interesting.
Geomancer 7,8
Magnus Robot Fighter 41,48,49,50,52,54
The Outcast 1  Worst thing I have read so far from Valiant.
Psi Lords 2,3,8,10
Punx 1 - so bad I couldn't even finish it.
Rai 17,21,23,28.
Secret Weapons 7,13,15,16,21
X-O manowar 36,39,41,50-x,61
Starslayer the director's cut 1-3
Magnus robot fighter Acclaim comics 2,3,4,5,8-15,17,18
Ninjak Vol 2 2-4

April


Trades/hardcovers Read-1

Shadowman -  This reprints the first few issues of the the first volume of Shadowman.Plus you get some always amazing Steve Ditko artwork.



Singles Read-8

Asylum 7 -  This was an anthology series put out by Liefelds Maximum Press.
Avengers 51  This is the series after the whole Heroes Return debacle.
Battlestar Galactica Journey's End 3
Scavengers 0,6,7 - Published by Triumphant comics. This is actually a good series. Only drawback is the art.
Shadowman Vol 1 32,42

MAY

Trades/hardbacksRead-11

Witchblade 10,11
Bat Manga
Essential X-men 3,4
Walking Dead volume 10
Witch
Heavy Water
Endangered
Headache
Black Smith

SinglesRead-41
Rescue Rangers/Darkwing Duck FCBD flip book
Captain America/Thor
2000 AD FCBD
Atomic Robo FCBD
The Tick FCBD
Bloodshot volume 1 0-7
Bongo Free for all 2011 edition
Curse of the Weird 2-4 - Great series that reprints pre-code atlas/Marvel stuff.Lots of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby artwork. Worth tracking down.
Dark Horse Presents 14
Deathmate Blue
Deathmate Red
Deathmate epilogue
Good Girl Comics 17
The Groo Chronicles 2
Groo the Wander 4,8,9,10,20,44,46,50,56,110
Gumby 3d 4
Monster Menace 1-4 - Reprints a bunch of the Marvel Giant monsters stories. Lots of Kirby and Ditko artwork. Another one worth tracking down.
Mr Monster Attacks 1
Mr Monsters's 3D Horror 1
Mr Monster's Hi Shock Schlock 1
Mr Monster's Horror 1
Vengeance of Vampirella 3,12,16,17,18,23
Vengeance of Vampirella Mystery Walk 0

June

SinglesRead-19

Crazyman vol 1 1-3
Crazyman Vol 2 1-4
Bombast
Nightglider
Captain Glory
Satan's Six 1-4
Secret City Saga 0-4

August

Trades,Hardcovers,and Graphic NovelsRead-1

Heartburst and other Pleasures-Reprints the Heartburst graphic novel and some shorts

SinglesRead-51

Bloodshot 11-32
Vistor vs the Valiant universe 1,2
The Vistor 1-13
Hard Corps 1-7
Young Zen Intergalactic Ninja 1,2
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 0-B/W issue
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 0-Color issue
Zen Intergalactic Ninja The Alternity Saga 1,2,3
Zen Intergalactic Ninja The Hunted 1,2

September

Issues Read-65

1984 #5
1994 #16
The Rook #14
Best of 2000 AD monthly #10
Spider-Man Magazine #1
Spider-Man Magazine #2
Spider-Man Magazine #3
Spider-Man Magazine #4
Wolverine and the X-men Magazine #1
Wolverine and the X-men Magazine #2
The Tick Big Halloween Special 2000
Armorines Volume 1 #1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12
Chaos Effect Epilogue 1
DC presents Batman #1
Super Maximun Excitement #3-Great mini comic from Robin Bougie and another artist
Dear Mr Bougie #2-Fun collection of Robin Bougie artwork
Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20-this is the Valiant series
Ninjak Volume 1 #0,00,1,2,8,10,18
Psi-Lords 2,3,8,10
The Second Life of Dr Mirage 1,16
Secret Weapons 1,2,3,4,7,11

Trades/Hardcovers Read-6

Batman Hush volume 1-Heard the hype on this for a few years. And got both Volumes as X-mas presents.
Batman Hush volume 2-Great artwork from Jim lee but the Jeph Loeb story reads like bad fan fiction or something a ADD 13 year old came up with in study hall.
Mad for Decades-amazing collection of the best Mad stuff from the 50's,60's,70's,80's and 90's.
Essential Marvel Horror volume 2
Yeah-Great series that most people never read. Great collection with two flaws. It is reprinted in black and white. And they didn't reprint the letter pages which were connected the the stories.
The Tick the complete Edlund- I have read issues 1-12 before. But never issue 13 and was surprised with how good it was.

Unholy Rollers

Unholy Rollers

This is Roger Corman's cash in on the whole 70's Roller Derby craze. The story I have heard is Corman heard about a big budget Roller Derby coming out that was starring Raquel Welch. And he quickly started making this film.

Starring the late ,and also gorgeous,Claudia Jennings. Unholy Rollers is the tale of a roller derby team the Avengers. Claudia starts off working at a cat food company. She is working in the canning department. But is tired of being sexually harassed by her Col Sanders looking boss. So one night the harassment gets to be too much and she quits. She goes home and informs her roommate about this. And the next day she goes out trying to find a job. Well she ends up trying out for the local roller derby team. And is one of the three people chosen. The team manager chooses her cause of her good looks plus she seems to have an idea about showmanship. She is sent off to see the derby league doctor. And he is super sleazy. Plus he comes off as a total quack. Well the night of her first game she gets put out on the track to replace an injured player. And she is an instant hit with the fans. The rest of the film deals with her trying to fit in with her teammates. And the trials and tribulations of her life.

Now I saw this film on DVD. But the DVD is a rip of the old VHS release. As far as I know this hasn't been released on a region 1 DVD yet. Maybe Shout Factory,who is currently releasing lots of the Corman stuff,will someday put this under rated film out. Unholy Rollers get a B.