Yes, Madman!
May 28, 2019 11:11 PM Subscribe
There’s always going to be a stack of films we’ve been meaning to get to. This column is here to make that problem worse. The Savage Stack is (was?) a series of film reviews, currently numbering 85, focusing on B-Movies and overlooked/forgotten mainstream fare. Think horror, sci-fi, cheesy action, pulp exploitation, and obscure oddities.
I only came across this series last week when I was looking at rotten tomatoes reviews for 1984's Night of the Comet (which I watched and found to be a little meh). The most recent entry is 1988's Deadbeat at Dawn (also watched this, whoboy, that is some top shelf trash cinema!) with no mention if it's on hiatus or done. Good writing though, going beyond the finished product back to how they came into existence.
Some highlights:
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) Tom Savini's splattery redux of Romero's classic zombie picture is actually quite good in its own right.
THE BURNING (1981) This '81 splatter fest is still the best summer camp slasher ever made.
BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT (1993) Taylor Hackford's gangland epic plays like the Latino ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
THE TARNISHED ANGELS (1957) Douglas Sirk's B&W Faulkner adaptation may be his crowning achievement.
92 IN THE SHADE (1975) Thomas McGuane's boozy fishing purgatory is one of the great unsung character pieces from the 70s.
SALEM’S LOT (1979) That time the director of TEXAS CHAIN SAW helmed a Stephen King TV Movie and it turned out to be genuinely terrifying.
CHUD (1984) The legendary hobosploitation/creature feature urban legend is this week's recommended viewing.
BELLY (1998) Hype WIlliams' sole feature film is a visually arresting fantasy of hip hop video ultra-violence.
DEEP COVER (1992) Larry Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum headline Bill Duke's Blaxploitation narco-capitalism action expose.
pairs nicely with these other previously featured movie review lists:
The Unseen - metafilter thread
366 Weird Movies - metafilter thread
I only came across this series last week when I was looking at rotten tomatoes reviews for 1984's Night of the Comet (which I watched and found to be a little meh). The most recent entry is 1988's Deadbeat at Dawn (also watched this, whoboy, that is some top shelf trash cinema!) with no mention if it's on hiatus or done. Good writing though, going beyond the finished product back to how they came into existence.
Some highlights:
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) Tom Savini's splattery redux of Romero's classic zombie picture is actually quite good in its own right.
THE BURNING (1981) This '81 splatter fest is still the best summer camp slasher ever made.
BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT (1993) Taylor Hackford's gangland epic plays like the Latino ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.
THE TARNISHED ANGELS (1957) Douglas Sirk's B&W Faulkner adaptation may be his crowning achievement.
92 IN THE SHADE (1975) Thomas McGuane's boozy fishing purgatory is one of the great unsung character pieces from the 70s.
SALEM’S LOT (1979) That time the director of TEXAS CHAIN SAW helmed a Stephen King TV Movie and it turned out to be genuinely terrifying.
CHUD (1984) The legendary hobosploitation/creature feature urban legend is this week's recommended viewing.
BELLY (1998) Hype WIlliams' sole feature film is a visually arresting fantasy of hip hop video ultra-violence.
DEEP COVER (1992) Larry Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum headline Bill Duke's Blaxploitation narco-capitalism action expose.
pairs nicely with these other previously featured movie review lists:
The Unseen - metafilter thread
366 Weird Movies - metafilter thread
I like the background they provide on these.
And yeah, Deadbeat at Dawn fuckin rules! "Y'mutherfuchers!"
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:31 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
And yeah, Deadbeat at Dawn fuckin rules! "Y'mutherfuchers!"
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:31 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
The early Internet hosted so many great movie review sites, like Stomp Tokyo, Cold Fusion Video Reviews, The Bad Movie Report, and many others. Many are no longer active, so it's good to see the tradition continues.
posted by Gelatin at 5:14 AM on May 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Gelatin at 5:14 AM on May 29, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yes! They used to do roundtables, too, it was a lot of fun.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:07 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:07 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
I can remember Deep Cover. It had its charms but wasnt anything special. The main thing that sticks in my mind is Jeff Goldblum chewing the scenery in a climactic scene at the end which took a lot of the gloss off it. Good enough that I'd watch it if it was on tv and I was in, but not worth seeking out.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 1:32 PM on May 29, 2019
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 1:32 PM on May 29, 2019
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posted by fairmettle at 11:27 PM on May 28, 2019 [3 favorites]