Tag: 80s

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Sleepaway Camp, Dead Campers And A Controversial Twist Ending Make Up This 80s Slasher

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Slasher movies, love them or hate them they have given birth to some of cinema’s most iconic characters, Jason from Friday The 13th, Freddy from Nightmare On Elm Street and of course Michael Myers from Halloween.

Sleepaway Camp didn’t become a cult favourite overnight, oh no… in fact critics hated it, calling a rip off Friday the 13th, it wasn’t until later on people started appreciating it.

It also was highly controversial, its depiction of same sex relationships and the portrayal of its villain were the subject of intense controversy.

It was the 80s where of course being gay was still frowned upon, remember this was the decade of the aids epidemic which saw over eleven thousand people die from the virus.

I don’t want to get political no, I’m here to talk about Sleepaway Camp, the film follows shy introverted Angela she and her cousin Ricky attend Camp Arawak for the summer, Angela becomes the target for bullies during her stay, mainly from fellow camper Meg and camp counsellor Judy.

Things go horribly wrong from here on out, the cook Artie attempts to molest Angela and he gets a vat of boiling hot water poured on him by an unseen force, camper Kenny and his friend Mike also mock Angela, Kenny’s body is found later on having drowned, both are ruled an accident by the camps owner Mel.

Another camper Billy picks on Angela and he is later killed after being stung to death by bees, Mel the owner of the camp now starts to believe there may be a killer afoot (better late than never Mel)

Angela begins dating another fellow camper Paul, after the two kiss Judy tries seducing him, Angela finds the two kissing and Paul tries really hard to explain himself, Judy and Meg shoo him away and throw Angela in the lake, she then has sand thrown at her by a group of small children.

Later that night one of the counsellors takes a small group of children in to the woods to camp for the night, after a few wake up wanting to go back due to being scared he takes them back to the main camp, Angela then hacks the four children who threw sand at her to death.

Mel suspects that Angela’s cousin Ricky is the killer, he later on is then killed by an arrow to the neck.

We then get a look at the villain, it is none other than Angela only there is something different about her, she is in fact… a boy! *gasp* yes Angela is none other than her thought to be dead brother Peter, who supposedly died during a boating accident seen at the start of the film, this rather creepy twist was the gateway that led to the controversy that surrounded the film.

Oh yeah remember the guy who had boiling hot water poured on him? Yeah well he has some rather questionable lines in this film starting with this one “look at all young fresh chickens” quite tame but then he follows it up with this doozy “where I come from we call them baldies”

I’ll let your mind do the wandering with that line, but I will leave you with this hint, he’s not talking about the hair on the children’s heads.

It’s gross, it’s grim and it is an actual line said in this movie.

Sleepaway Camp does what it says on the tin, it has kills, some tame and some gory, it has a brilliant slasher villain, it is brilliant to say the least, there are sequels but personally stick with the first three, they are good, avoid the modern day ones they are… not so good.

The acting dare I say is… campy and very very cheesy but it doesn’t ruin the film at all, it is by far my favourite horror movie series and one I can rewatch over and over again.

It gets a 10/10 from me, definitely check the first three films out, they are well worth checking out!

As always guys… catch ya later 🙂

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Top Ten Nostalgic Movies That Remind Me Of My Childhood

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews
  • I feel like I haven’t done one of these in a while, so as you could’ve of guessed from the title this is a top ten list of those nostalgic movies that I grew up with as a child, some are old and some are in my opinion good old classics, so with out further ado let’s take a look at number ten.

    • 10: Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

    I remember owning this when good old VHS was still around, for Christmas my parents bought a Disney remastered DVD of Homeward Bound, I used to watch this film to death, every time my parents when to have a movie night bam! Homeward Bound would be in there.

    I only recently learnt that this is a remake of a sixties maybe seventies adaption of a book (yeah I didn’t know it was a book either) the film follows a golden retriever named Shadow an American bulldog named Chance and a Himalayan cat named Sassy as they try to make their way home back to their owners.

    There’s a certain scene in this film that still to this day I cannot watch and that is when Sassy slips and falls in to the water and gets swept away by the current, still at 25 years of age I cannot and will not watch that scene still to this day.

    9: The Never Ending Story

    Unlike the sequels this is the film of the 80s, I was six maybe seven when my dad showed me this film and ever since then I fell in love with it, the film follows a little boy named Bastian who loves to read books, he also gets bullied by three other boys, he “borrows” a book from a grumpy old bookstore owner and thus begins his journey to the land of Fantasia which is being overrun by a evil entity known only as The Nothing.

    In Fantasia a boy named Atreyu must save the Childlike Empress from dying by searching for a cure all while avoiding a wolf like creature named g’mork.

    A little trivia for you now, the film was slated by the author Micheal Ende who wrote the book, much like Stephen King’s hatred of Stanley Kubrick’s adaption of The Shining Micheal Ende sued its director Wolfgang Pietersen for destroying the source material from which the film was based on, Ende eventually lost the court case and nothing come from it, the film was released in nineteen eighty four to critical acclaim.

    8: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

    A New Hope kicked off my love for all things Star Wars but it’s Empire Strikes Back that makes it on to the list, mainly because of that infamous twist in with Darth Vader reveals that Luke is his father.

    I remember watching that specific part then running to my mum and dad who were in the middle of cooking dinner all while feeding my younger sister who was I believe three maybe two, I remember running in to the kitchen and yelling “Darth Vader is Luke’s daddy!!!!” My mum and dad looked at each other and said to me “did you see it coming?” I said “no I didn’t how is that possible” bearing in mind this is before Revenge Of The Sith came out so this must of been at least 2001-02.

    Every time I watch this movie I’m drawn back to that time so this film holds a very very special place in my heart, also look online for various other children reacting to that very very famous scene some are very very very adorable indeed and melt your heart.

    7: Romeo And Juliet (1996)

    I was 12 years old when I first discovered Baz Lurhman, specifically I was in year eight all the way back in 2008, we were learning about Shakespeare we handpicked a selection of his plays, our English teacher chose this particular to appeal to the boys and also to the girls as well, it appealed to the boys because of the guns and car chases and very rapidly shot action sequences and quick camera cuts (a Baz Lurhman signature style of cinematography)

    I actually enjoyed this film so much that I actually asked my English teacher if I could borrow the video (it was 08 and VHS was still around) anyway she let me borrow it and my journey in to Baz Lurhman films began, so a massive thank you to my English teacher back at school for broadening my horizons.

    6: Every Single Rugrats Movie That Came Out

    Being a kid of the 2000s you either grew up with one or two cartoons, Rugrats or Spongebob, the latter came out when I was six and after watching the first episode air I immediately fell in love and still to this day quote lines from the show very very often, back when I was a kid I felt like Spongebob carefree and happy, nowadays I can relate to squidward on a level that I can’t even comprehend!

    Still the Rugrats holds a special place in my heart, I owned every single film they released on VHS and on DVD, I still to this day despise Angelica, she was one of those cartoon characters that I detested with a passion.

    I can remember going to the cinema to see the first Rugrats movie, I also went cinema to see Rugrats In Paris, heck I even went to see Rugrats Go Wild where they crossed over with the Wild Thornberries (seeing that on the big screen was like seeing the avengers for the first time)

    5 Homeward Bound 2: Lost In San Francisco

    Yep I also had this on VHS as well and like the first Homeward Bound I fell in love with it, sure it’s not grand and epic like the first one but still it’s Homeward Bound come on, it follows the formula as what the first one did, animals get lost and they try to find their way back to their owners.

    Thankfully there’s no waterfalls in this one so I had no trouble watching this film in its entirety.

    4 Free Willy

    That opening scene, that opening score woah I am transported back to when I was little growing up, I was around seven maybe eight when I discovered this movie, this film got me into killer whales they are such fascinating creatures, very very intelligent as well, I believe my uncle showed me this movie one summer, still it’s a nostalgic emotional ride every time that opening scene plays.

    3: Harry Potter (Every single One)

    Yes every single Harry Potter film I have been to see at the cinema, I was six when the Philosophers Stone came out and I was sixteen when The Deathly Hallows Part two came out, for ten years I’ve grown up with the wizarding world of Harry Potter and they still stand the test of time to this day and age, and yes these are the films that age like a fine wine.

    2: The Lord Of The Rings Franchise

    Yes, I was in primary school when these films came out, I had all the PS2 games that went with them, I had all the dvds all the posters and action figures, basically I was a die hard Lord Of The Rings fan and so were three of my classmates, we used to play it out in the playground (I was always gimli on account of my small physique) still to this day I hate my two mates for making me that guy.

    1: Every Single Disney Movie Ever Made

    You name it I’ve watched it, there isn’t a single Disney movie that I haven’t seen ever!!! You could say I’m a die hard Disney fan and I’m not afraid to admit it but I am, there’s just something magical about tuning in to a good old fashioned Disney movie, The Lion King still stands as one of the greatest Disney movies ever made, the soundtrack is amazing the songs are catchy as hell, and yes all you guys reading this I enjoyed Frozen, just let it go! (See what I did there) anyway, Disney still stands the test of time, most of their films have been adapted in to live action remakes and stage shows and yet they still bring us touching emotional movies still do this day.

    So there you have it, my top ten list of nostalgic movies that remind me of my childhood, what movies make you feel nostalgic, let me know, are you Disney buff or a nineteen eighties buff, I would love to know what movies remind you of your childhood.

    As always guys catch ya later:)

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    The Day After… Unsettling, Depressing and Quite Frankly Really Thought Provoking

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    “I do not know with what weapons world war three will be fought, but world war four will be fought sticks and stones” a famous quote said in 1949 by Albert Einstein, “we cannot have another world war, war is the wrong term, we should ban the word World War Three and say instead apocalypse or holocaust” Golo Mann a famous German historian.

    The threat of nuclear war is terrifying in anyone’s eyes, a child’s eyes an old mans even little children like toddlers who watch the news with their parents and ask them questions like “what is a nuclear bomb” my eleven year old brother come up to me and said how deadly is a nuclear bomb, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that if one fell right here where we live it wouldn’t just be catastrophic no, it would deadly, how can you say that to an eleven year old.

    The Day After is possibly one of the most important TV movies of the 1980s so much so that broadcasters had to warn viewers because of the depiction of what nuclear bomb can do to a human being (don’t google whatever you do) the film is 126 minutes long and by the time it’s ended your sitting there in silence as the credits roll wondering “good god almighty”

    The detail that has gone in to this movie is amazing, however the depiction of the nuclear bombs detonating over Kansas is deeply unsettling, we see the elderly burn and die why my god we even see children be exposed to the nuclear bomb, the final scene is heartbreaking and gut wrenching as one of the characters sends out an emergency distress call by saying “is there anybody out there, anyone at all” we’re then met with static and the film cuts to black.

    Like I said The Day After is one of the most important movies out there today, especially in today’s day and age where America has a president who antagonises a ruthless North Korean dictator by stating that his nuclear launch button is bigger than his, scary times indeed.

    The Day After gets a 10/10 for its relatively realistic depiction of how a nuclear fallout looks, oh little disclaimer don’t get attached to a character because there is quite a lot of unexpected deaths you’ve been warned.

    Give this film a watch but for the love of god don’t watch this with children present for god sake, as always guys until next time catch ya later 🙂

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    Basket Case…. It’s Good But It’s Not Quite Carling

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    I love cheesy 70s and 80s horror, films like Sleepaway Camp, you know them sort of movies, those films are good but their not up there with the big boys which makes them enjoyable, because their different they don’t have the same horror tropes we see in today’s horror movies, sure their gory and they have the same shock value but I love the cheesy visual effects, films like Altered States, great film but really bad visual effects, Eraserhead great David Lynch film but cheesy visual effects.

    Basket Case falls in to that category I mean I enjoyed it, it was good, thanks to thedevilsdvdbin for suggesting this film, go check out their blog they review some pretty good movies, anyway Basket Case was enjoyable, the effects were sub par and the story line is your bog standard revenge plot, conjoined twins get separated at birth against their will, and plot to get back at the doctor that performed the operation.

    What I mean it’s good but not quite Carling is that well, I did enjoy it I really did, but I thought that it was over really fast, the run time of around 90 minutes flies by, this is one of those movies where if your in a rush and your going out and you want a quick movie to watch then Basket Case is the type of movie, I mentioned David Lynch in the first paragraph well this film reminds you of a David Lynch type movie, I’m guessing that the Basket Case’s director drew some sort of inspiration from the Blue Velvet director (that’s another brilliant film definitely check that out)

    I give Basket Case a solid 8/10 it’s great just over really really quick in my opinion, again thanks to thedevilsdvdbin for suggesting this to me, this is going on my favourite films of all time list but as always guys catch ya later 🙂

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    Ready Player One, One Of The Greatest Films I Have Seen At The Cinema Ever!

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    That’s a pretty bold statement to make if I do say so myself, but it’s true Ready Player One is possibly one of Spielberg’s best work yet, again another pretty bold statement to make, but it’s decidedly true.

    Based on the book by Ernest Cline Ready Player One follows the story of Wade Watts, a teenage boy living in Ohio in the near future, the town he lives in is chock full of trailers piled high on top of one another, to escape the real world people use virtual reality headsets to go to a place called The Oasis, when the creator of The Oasis dies, he sets out a challenge to all Oasis players… find three keys, simple enough but no other player has found the three keys.

    The first key is hidden in the form of a massive race through a simulated New York City, cue the first lot of hidden Easter eggs for you guys to find, you have The Delorean which Wade uses in the race, the light motorcycle from Tron and of course King Kong and the T Rex from Jurassic Park… yeah where else are you gonna see King Kong and the T Rex in the same movie.

    Basically the whole movie is chock full of Easter eggs for you to hunt and find, there’s one part halfway through the film the characters go through a simulation of the Stanley Kubrick movie The Shining…. uh huh yep original soundtrack as well including the song that plays at the end of The Shining. Ready Player One is one of the greatest times I had at the cinema, everybody was pointing at the screen recognising every Easter egg, oh shout out to the guy who ruined part of the film by standing up and yelling “oh hell no their in The Shining, screw this shit” and then proceeded to run out of the cinema flailing his arms about like a headless chicken, hats off to you dude.

    Do yourself a favour go and watch Ready Player One it’s possibly the most fun you’ll have watching a film, oh and read the book as well, there’s so many more Easter eggs in the book as well, plus there’s rumours of a sequel as well with even more Easter eggs packed in too. Ready Player One gets a 10/10 from me, anyway guys until next time catch ya later.

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    IT, Probably One Of The Best Adaptions To A Stephen King Novel Ever

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    As I’ve said before I love book to film adaptions, however in my Dark Tower review there are some books that need special attention when adapting them in to a film, IT does just that and is by far a definite achievement by adapting the infamous novel in to one of the most scariest films we have seen this year.

    For those who are unfamiliar with the story of IT let me tell you, IT is about a clown who every twenty seven years comes to Derry in Maine to kidnap children, a group of kids nicknamed the losers club go out and destroy the clown, only for it to come back 27 years later when they are adults, and that’s IT, the film is so terrifyingly scary that I found myself watching through my fingers at some scenes, however this isn’t your average horror movie no, it has some absolutely amazing comedic moments especially from the young cast, the banter between them is amazing, the insults are just hilarious, my favourite insult has to be when a member of the losers club peeks in to Eddie’s medicine cabinet and says “hey Eddie are these birth control pills” to which Eddie replies “yeah those are for your sister” trust me there’s plenty more where that come from during the two hour run time.

    The scares are impressive as is Pennywise, who is played incredibly well by Bill Skarsgard, he actually gives Tim Curry a run for his money, Pennywise in this film is probably the best thing about this movie as is the talented young cast, the film stars Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough the leader of the losers club, Finn Wolfhard as Richie Tozier the comedic one of the group, Chosen Jacobs as Mike Hanlon, Jack Dylan Grazer as hypochondriac Eddie Kasbrak and Wyatt Oleff as Stan Uris, trust me this cast is amazing to watch, you can tell they enjoyed making the film.

    All in all IT is one of the most faithful adaptions of a Stephen King book I have seen in a long time, almost makes me forget we had a Dark Tower release but hey that’s just me, oh for those who suffer from coulrophobia for the love of god stay away from this film, anyway IT is an amazing, scary if not terrifying and faithful movie adaption, now I ask you a question with the amount of Stephen King novels we are seeing getting adapted what book would you like to see get the big screen adaption, for me I would love to see a Misery or even a Cujo remake, what do want to see adapted let me know I’m quite interested to hear, but until next time guys catch ya later.

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    Drive, A Throwback Like No Other

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    Indie films are amazing, I remember the first indie film I watched was a Wes Anderson movie, Drive is nothing like a Wes Anderson movie but it’s still an amazing film, from the soundtrack to the amazing cinematography drive is probably one of the best films to come out of 2011.

    Drive stars Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver and stunt driver who ends up falling for this girl, now I’m gonna stop and say this is not a chick flick no… this is an action packed car chasing with chick flick elements thrown in, now I’m gonna be honest this film is slow and there’s not a lot of dialogue but don’t let that throw you off because the car chases are like nothing you have ever seen, especially the opening scene, think Baby Driver only with an 80s synth track going along with it, theres another thing, soundtrack is amazing it’s like a good old 80s thriller and loved what the director has done with this film.

    Now let’s talk about the acting, Ryan Gosling is fantastic in this and so is Bryan Cranston as well speaking of which I cannot wait for Blade Runner 2049 to come out which also stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford reprising his role as Deckard, but that’s a review for another day, now where was I, oh yeah drive is a fantastic movie and will definitely watch again, it’s action packed with an amazing storyline, action and stunts as well, trust me the getaway scenes are just something else.

    Final rating 10/10 it’s an amazing film to come out of the 2010s, have you seen drive? let me know what you thought of it, did you like it or did you hate it? But until next time guys catch ya later.

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    Beyond The Black Rainbow… Trippy Nothing Else Just Trippy

    Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

    Wow, wow, wow, wow… this film is just wow! Visually amazing the soundtrack is a proper 80s throwback the plot is a little hard to follow at some points, but don’t worry about the plot with this one, this is a film where you can sit back relax and let the visuals take you on a weird acid like trip without the acid.

    Clocking in at around two hours the plot starts with a classic 80s throwback and cinematography that’s straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I can’t tell you much about the plot because it’s quite a tricky one to tell, but really you shouldn’t watch it for the plot it’s more of a visual experience, and boy this film has some amazing visuals right from the off, from the bright white room where a young girl is staying, to a glowing white pyramid in the middle of a dark and dimly lit room, now I’m not gonna lie the film is slow, like really really slow, this is the sort of film that you have to watch when you have absolutely nothing to do, oh and probably watch it in a quiet room where there’s no distractions, while I’m at it don’t watch it if anyone you know is epileptic… trust me not a good idea. The acting is impressive (trust me you will hate the therapist/psychiatrist guy)

    All in all Beyond The Black Rainbow is a visually impressive slow burner of a film and a right proper throwback to the sci-fi movies of the seventies and eighties final rating 10/10 for the amazing visual hypnotic journey you take.

    Oh by the way this film was requested by a user who goes by the name warriornonoba shout out to him/her for recommending this fantastic film one of my new favourites at the moment, so as always guys catch ya later 🙂

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