B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - GULAG (TV 1985)

This month B-Movie Gazette dives into the prison genre and who doesn't like a good prison flick? Gulag is an extremely well-produced TV movie originally made for HBO before wandering out to obscurity-land. David Keith is in top form as a sportscaster and while covering an event in Moscow is framed by the KGB. Unable to prove his innocence a prison escape is now inevitable, just how will he do it? Malcolm McDowell co-stars, this is a good one folks! 2.75 stars/2.75

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

DEEP INSIDE THE NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM : "STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS" (2013) & "DOWN IN SHADOWLAND" (2016)

A super low budget indie, Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors won Jury Special Prize at Deauville in 2013. In a nutshell the story is about an autistic boy who has a bad day at school and decides to wander the subway instead of go home. His mom is trying to find him. The film's got a lot going for it including heart, the way it's shot and the underground locations. However, we're never really given a clue to who the kid is, what's his character, what makes him tick. So halfway through the picture loses steam pretty quickly as it becomes just about finding some autistic kid, we lose interest in reason. Still worth one watch for fans of the NYC subways and micro budget indies. Streams free on Tubi.  1.5 stars/2.75

I was a little disappointed in this one especially being from legendary Tom Dicillo of Box Of Moonlight and Delirious brilliance. The film is basically a seven-year stretch of taking random clips of strange people and happenings while down in the subway using a small GoPro type camera. DiCillo has always had great taste in music when it comes to his soundtracks and that's present here to help lift the proceedings. The editing is also outstanding but one can only be entertained watching weird people down in the subway for so long and I struggled hard to make it through the last ten minutes of it's approximately eighty minute running time.  1.0 stars/2.75


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