B-Movie Gazette: JOHN TRAVOLTA IS A SOCIAL WORKER TRYING TO SAVE TEEN JOEY LAWRENCE FROM A HORRIBLE GANG OF DRUG DEALERS IN "CHAINS OF GOLD" (TV 1991)

B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

Greetings All - It would be cool to do a post one time called the ten most essential B-flicks, sort of a B-Movie 101 thing. If that ever happened I would have to include this sci-fi horror classic from Graydon Clark (Black Shampoo, Satan's Cheerleaders.) This one's a don't pass go and don't collect $200 folks, just see it, Or watch it again. I'm not even going to begin to explain the plot except you have these flying disc things that attach themselves to people, in this case campers on an outing and kill and feed on them. Eventually these discs are tied to an alien, a hungry alien. A forerunner to 1987's Predator sort to speak and with a flat-out goofy cast. Jack Palance and Martin Landau, say what? And looking drugged out I might add but the real surprise here is veteran character actor Larry Storch, from the '60's, a guy who knew 150 dialects and here he is in this as a boy scout leader lol. Also known as It Came Without Warning, this gem is streaming free now only on Plex. 2.75 stars/2.75

Saturday, December 4, 2021

JOHN TRAVOLTA IS A SOCIAL WORKER TRYING TO SAVE TEEN JOEY LAWRENCE FROM A HORRIBLE GANG OF DRUG DEALERS IN "CHAINS OF GOLD" (TV 1991)

Found this in a pawn shop few years back- my headline above describes the basic plot here. Interesting lineage, it was first released as a Showtime original in 1991, then given a German theatrical release and in 1997 put out straight to DVD. Somewhere in there was a VHS release or two.

It's an okay flick, fairly predictable and routine, lacking any real directorial style or panache, The bad guy's drug world is portrayed way over the top and basically ruins anything the film had going for it up to that point. There are however a few good action scenes and a great stunt where a guy goes sliding down the side of a hotel. Marilu Henner is gorgeous as always but underused and better than the material.

Call it one of those "worth one watch" for cinephiles. Hard to find, I put the only digital representation out there on Dailymotion below, enjoy. 1.5 stars/2.75