Cutting Class
By Jessica Dwyer

To get into the Halloween spirit we’re heading back the vaults for this aged slice of 80’s cheese which is getting ready to be released on DVD later this month for the first time in…ever. Cutting Class was one of those flicks that popped up all over VHS in the late 80’s, early 90’s. Rip offs of earlier slasher films, it was in the vein of April Fool’s Day, Prom Night, and Return to Horror High. It’s sometimes whispered about and vaguely remembered by those chosen few who actually watched it when it was first released, before being lost to the ether. Some would say they wish it had stayed lost.
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Kindred The Embraced

By Jessica Dwyer

With approach of Halloween and the recent influx of vampire shows on TV this year, I thought I’d go back to an oldie but goodie bloodsucker series that’s available on DVD. And no, I’m not talking about Dark Shadows. Back in 1996 White Wolf, the role playing company, was running strong with its Vampire The Masquerade game. Its popularity is still pretty strong, but back then it was hitting its stride…becoming for some a way of life.

The stories and mythos were amazing and have led to many of the new popular films and takes on the vampire and werewolf legends. But back then, Fox decided to give it a go and capitalize on the new love of this form of entertainment with an hour long drama based off it called Kindred: The Embraced.
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The Sword and The Sorcerer

Back in the early and mid 80’s there was a glut of fantasy films that were produced. Many have become cult legends (like the aptly named Legend starring a gangly, young Tom Cruise) and cheesy epics like Hawk The Slayer. Many of these flicks have been forgotten on the dusty VHS shelves of yesteryear (and some of them blessedly so.) But every so often a gem will shine through and will find its way back into memory, and in the case of some onto DVD.

One such 80’s memory is The Sword and The Sorcerer. TSTS as I shall call it, was released back in 1982, the same year as Conan The Barbarian. Without the fanfare of Arnold’s epic, TSTS manages to in my eyes be more entertaining.
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The Club (1994)

The early 90’s was the time of some great Direct to Video horror. And when I say Direct to Video, I mean that lost friend VHS. Back in those days, groups like Full Moon were around and you’d get stuff that never got on the big screen that was better than most of the movies playing at your local theater. One of those little trinkets was a film called The Club that came out back 1994. I’d been out of high school for a year at that point (man…I feel old just now.) I had a movie habit, a bad one. And most of my pay went to the local video stores. That’s how I came across this one.

With not one single big name star, The Club manages to pull off a slick production and be entertaining. Harkening back to the twister endings of Tales From The Crypt and Twilight Zone, The Club tells the story of a prom night that’s cursed. The high school prom is taking place in a castle (why didn’t mine do that?) and the creepy principal Mr. Carver (played by the always awesome and underrated Kim Coates) is on the prowl.
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The Resurrected

The first thing you think of when it comes to a Lovecraft movie is Re-Animator. But there is one horrid little gem that many may have missed, and that is The Resurrected. The Resurrected is based off a short story by Lovecraft called The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. And while it moves the story to a modern setting, it stays true to the creepy that is Lovecraft.

Made back in the early 90’s and released to VHS (remember those?) The Resurrected stars John Terry (who I know as Hawk The Slayer but everyone now thinks of as “Jack’s Dad” from Lost) as private detective John March who is hired by a pretty blonde named Claire Ward (Jane Sibbett) to find out just what the hell her husband is doing now that he’s moved out of their mansion. Seems hubby is now focused on making stinky smells and gross things that ooze out of his far less glam new digs.
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Circuitry Man

The early 90’s, what an age—many a child was feeding at cable’s teat and for those of us with no life, Momma was good company. Weird semi-independent films would show up late at night on HBO and Joe Bob Briggs would be coming to The Movie Channel to bring us all a taste of the Drive In. It was in this golden time that Circuitry Man reared its shiny head. It’s a bizarre film and hard to categorize, but to be safe let’s call it Sci-Fi.

Starring Jim Metzler, who would later on be more happily remembered for L.A. Confidential, Circuitry Man tells the story of an Earth gone wrong. We’ve depleted our atmosphere to where the air is un-breathable and everyone has gone underground. Since we’ve got really nothing to do but stare at one another, people now “plug in” to a virtual experience through an outlet in the back of their necks. Sound familiar? (more…)

There’s the Spiderman 2’s, the Shrek 2’s and Pirates of the Caribbean 2’s and then there are those flicks that get lost in the depths of the two for $5 bin at Blockbuster—those movies that you may not have seen, or did and just can’t quite remember what they were called. That’s where this column comes in.

Here you’ll find a loving memorial to those films of yesteryear and maybe even last week. The flicks that were shown on late night cable and are only found in the deep, dark crevices of that one remaining shelf of VHS tapes at the video store. The ones that you might have skipped over in lieu of that last copy of You, Me, and Dupree or maybe it was that oh so tempting cover shot of Scarlett Johansson on the modern classic The Island.

In any event, you may have just missed something that, while not necessarily special, was probably far more entertaining. Here you will find a place for those less renowned gems, the forgotten children of Hollywood who Daddy just doesn’t seem to send a check to on a regular basis. Here they get that needed love and attention, if only for three or four paragraphs.