Cinematical

• Killer B's on DVD: Rat Pfink A Boo Boo
  

  Filed under: Classics, Comedy, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  With The Dark Knight making its debut this Friday, I thought the time was right to take a look back at this jaw-dropping Batman parody from 1966. Rat Pfink A Boo Boo was the brainchild of Ray Dennis Steckler, the B-movie auteur behind The Thrill Killers, The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (the latter of which would have me muttering "cha-ching" right about now if I was paid by the word). Released in 1966, the same year the Batman TV series...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: T.V. The Movie
  

  Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  I've always felt there was something oddly compelling about public access television. Essentially, the FCC requires cable companies to provide training, equipment and air time for pretty much anyone (Wikipedia has an in-depth explanation of the practice here). I guess I just like the idea of a medium that has practically no standards. With everyones expectations set at zero, things can only improve, right?
  
  T.V. The Movie is a low budget indie that appears to have grown out of The Adam Bomb Show -- a public access program inspired by The Tom Green Show featuring interviews, comedy...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: Student Bodies
  

  Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  I first discovered this slasher satire (recently released to DVD by Legend Films) during one of its many runs on cable in the early '80s. I recall liking it at the time, but I was a college kid with a fondness for beer, so I probably watched it through a hop and barley flavored filter. There's an obvious Airplane influence, though the laughs never flow as freely and the premise runs out of steam early on. The film's nostalgia appeal is probably its biggest selling point these days, and viewers watching it for the first time will probably wonder what all...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: Blood and Sex Nightmare
  

  Filed under: Horror, Independent, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  There's a lot to be said for truth in advertising, and few people could come away from a film called Blood and Sex Nightmare (due for release on August 5 from Bloody Earth Films) with the outraged cry: "I was expecting a carefree romp with Sandra Bullock!" Yes, this one delivers on its promise of blood and sex (often at the same time), but is that enough?
  
  Amy (Julia Morizawa) has just returned to her boyfriend Nick (Andy McGuinness) after traveling to Japan for her father's funeral. Despite having been together for some time, the two have...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: Mystery Science Theater 3000 -- The Movie
  

  Filed under: Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  For a movie that's taken this long to make its bow on DVD way back onto DVD after being out of print for years, 1996's Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a disappointingly barebones disk without so much as a trailer for an extra. MST3K without extras, however, is still MST3K, and for this B-movie junkie that's something pretty special. The film was, of course, based on the then current TV show running on Comedy Central which eventually jumped over to the Sci Fi Channel where it ended its 10 season run (11 if you count "Season 0"...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: The Skull
  

  Filed under: Horror, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  I'm not certain that this DVD's release was intentionally planned to come so quickly on the heels of the latest Indiana Jones film, but this horror flick from 1965 (just out from Legend Films) does deal with skulls and stars not one, but two future denizens of the Star Wars universe (anyone recognize Grand Moff Tarkin and Count Dooku in the picture above?). I suspect it's more coincidence than anything, but there are enough elements present to make fans of classic horror utter "why, what have we here?" The Skull was directed by Freddie Francis and stars Peter Cushing and Christopher...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: Delirium
  

  Filed under: Horror, Thrillers, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  As they say (or at least they should), there's always room for giallo. No, it's not a gelatinous dessert, but an Italian film genre generally identified by its use of gory murders, mystery/police procedural elements and strong sexuality. "Giallo" is Italian for yellow, and the genre draws its name from a series of lurid murder mystery novels that sported yellow covers. Delirium (Delirio caldo), which was recently released by Blue Underground, is a modestly interesting example of the form made downright fascinating by presenting the drastically different Italian and U.S. cuts on the same disk.
  
  Starting with...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: Boarding House
  

  Filed under: Horror, Independent, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  Now here's a dubious distinction: 1982's Boarding House ("Where the rent won't kill you, but something else will"), just out from Code Red DVD claims to be the first horror film to be shot on video, and this little oddity actually played theaters for a time. If you've never seen old school video tape blown up to 35 millimeter and projected on the big screen, you would be surprised at just how hideous the final product is. I saw the Rolling Stones documentary/concert film Gimme Shelter which was transferred this way, and I was amazed how grainy and washed out...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: The Car
  

  Filed under: Horror, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  When people talk about killer vehicle movies (and they do), John Carpenter's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's Christine usually heads the list, with Maximum Overdrive and maybe even Killdozer making their way into the discussion at some point. Plus I've always suspected there was some kind of demonic motivation behind Herbie in The Love Bug. Personally, I remember seeing The Car before any of these. The TV spots tantalized me during the film's 1977 release, and I eventually caught the movie on television in the early '80s. Now we've got a brand new DVD from Universal to fill the void left...
  



• Killer B's on DVD: The Queen of Black Magic
  

  Filed under: Horror, Independent, Killer B's on DVD

  
  
  Once again, Mondo Macabro gives us a taste of what they call "the wild side of world cinema" with this Indonesian scare-fest from 1979 that streets on May 27.
  
  The wedding of a town leader's son in Indonesia is marred by what is believed to be black magic. The bride is overcome by nightmarish visions of skeletons, snakes and walking corpses and falls into a fevered state of dementia. Kohar, the groom, suspects that a woman named Murny is responsible, claiming that she loved him but he had no interest in her. What Kohar does not tell the angry...