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

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

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