The Friday the 13th Series

Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and I took the opportunity to maximise my school holidays by sitting down with a few beers to watch the entirety of the Friday the 13th slasher series. Well, the first eight films at least: I left out Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X, Freddy vs Jason and the execrable…

Introducing ccpopculture’s Ranking System

I’ve been considering introducing some kind of star ratings or rankings over here for quite a while now, but it seemed like my 300th post was a good time to roll out a ratings system for ccpopculture. Details: The ranks are, appropriately enough, on a scale from 0 to 200. At this stage it applies…

Lifeforce (1985)

I watched Lifeforce with high expectations. After all, it’s a sci-fi/horror B-movie written by the director of Return of the Living Dead, from the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and adapted from a novel called … Space Vampires. But the first hour of the film lowered those expectations dramatically. Sure, there’s a gorgeous, completely naked…

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)

I watched Return of the Living Dead Part II hoping for something on par with its gleefully fun predecessor. Let’s see how that worked out, shall we? Original Sequel     A cast filled with young adults trying very hard and some genuinely good actors, like Clu Glulager. James Karen, a lot of fun in…

Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Return of the Living Dead is the epitome of the B-movie. It’s an honest-to-goodness classic, stuffed with campy humour, cheap yet effective special effects and the first appearance of now-ubiquitous zombie movie tropes like zombies that run rather than shamble and groan “Braaaaains…” It’s full of funny moments: a young punk girl gets involved with…

The Mist (2007)

The Mist is a good movie that could have been great. The first element that lets it down was inescapable with its low budget: the special effects. The film is intended to be serious, meaningful and to capture real fear, and the acting and composition support this, but the creature special effects appear goofy and…