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

Sunday, May 22, 2022

SAMUEL L JACKSON IS A "CLEANER" (2007) - NOT THE KIND THAT WEARS AN APRON, THE KIND THAT CLEANS UP CRIME SCENES

 

From the director of Die Hard 2 comes this tidy little thriller about a crime scene cleaner who slowly starts to realize he's becoming part of a cover-up. The first portion of the movie sets up our characters showing Tom cleaning up at his various crime scenes, he's a single dad with a teenage daughter. One day he does a job at a mansion and leaves his key by accident. When he goes back the next day to retrieve it, the owner of the house (Eva Mendes) seems to know nothing about the clean-up job and claims nothing ever happened at the house. This puts the plot in motion which also involves, yep, a couple of corrupt cops. Played excellently by Ed Harris and Luis Guzman. 

The film has a very slight but tangible noir feeling about it and the production design is quite nice, the vibe of the film feeling like the clean-ups themselves - quick, precise, and wrapped up. I like Ed Harris a lot here. While he can certainly carry a whole film on his own he always seems to be better in those bit parts. Guzman has more lines than normal for him but is excellent as always. All in all, it's a good little thriller, in my opinion, deserving of higher ratings than most reviews. Cleaner streams on Netflix, Fubu and VOD. 3.0 stars/5

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B-MOVIE GAZETTE RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars - Only awarded to the precious few.
4 Stars - Excellent, see by all means.
3 Stars - Very Good, you should like.
2 Stars - Fair, like a frozen dinner.
1 Star - Poor, like a spoiled dinner.

ALL B-MOVIES, DRIVE-IN MOVIES AND TV MOVIES HAVE A MAX AWARD OF 2.75 STARS.