Cult Classic Trailer: Q: The Winged Serpent

There can never be enough love in this world for an underrated filmmaker like Larry Cohen, so excuse me while I briefly plug this release of his 1982 monster flick Q the Winged Serpent. Modern viewers may recognise his name on the screenwriting credits of films like Phone Booth and Cellular, but a few decades earlier, when Cohen was in his prime, he was cranking out one terrific B-movie after another: everything from gritty blaxploitationers (Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem) to horror gems (It's Alive, God Told Me To) to offbeat thrillers (Perfect Strangers, Special Effects).

The low budgets of his films didn't always meet his ambitions, but this rarely mattered when he could pull off genre pics with the sort of scrappy charm, economy and personality that's sorely missing from contemporary filmmaking. A fan favourite, Q, with its herky-jerky Harryhausen-style creature effects, is a perfect example of Cohen's work. Hats off again to Vendetta Films for putting it out on DVD and Blu-ray! Check out the trailer below  (taken from an old Roadshow VHS tape):

Mockbusters 101

Last Thursday Twitter went berserk over the screening of a TV movie called Sharknado in the States. I don't think it's too difficult to guess what Sharknado is about but in case you're wondering here's the trailer:
So it's basically a movie about sharks falling from the sky. And it apparently led to 5,000 tweets-per-minute during the busiest period of the tweet-storm. Many celebrities contributed the frenzy too, including Mia Farrow (!), Olivia Wilde and screenwriter Damon Lindelof.

We haven't got Sharknado in our library yet (it will probably come soon), but do carry many of these "mockbusters", most of them produced by The Asylum studio. Surprisingly these titles get rented (which is why we continue to stock 'em)....but unsurprisingly they lead to bad customer reviews, like this one of Super Shark:

I have to ask though, what do you expect when you rent a movie called Super Shark??

Anyway, Total Film just compiled a useful list of these laughable knock-offs; for the curious who've never seen a mockbuster before you can rent these ones from us:

The Day the Earth Stopped
Mega Piranha
Princess of Mars
American Warships
6 Guns
Street Racer
Titanic II
The Amityville Haunting
I Am Omega
Alien Origin
Monster
Transmorphers: Fall of Man
3 Musketeers
2012 Supernova
200 MPH
The 7 Adventures of Sinbad
The Terminators
Nazis at the Center of the Earth
Jack the Giant Killer
Allan Quartermain and the Temple of Skulls
Bikini Spring Break
Alien vs Hunter
Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies
Grimm's Snow White
Almighty Thor
Paranormal Entity
Battle of Los Angeles
Snakes on a Train
Transmorphers

Roger Corman Receives Oscar!

Fans of B-movies will be pleased to learn that director/producer Roger Corman (83-years-old but still looking well!) received an Academy Award at the Oscar Governor's Ball on Saturday night for lifetime achievement. Longtime fan Quentin Tarantino gave an affectionate, charismatic speech, and Corman alumni Jonathan Demme presented the award to the influential low-budget filmmaker. Some big faces in the audience, including Steven Spielberg, George "I Devoted My Life to Star Wars" Lucas, Ron Howard and Jack Nicholson, who all in one way or another have crossed paths with Corman. The ceremony was untelevised but you can watch footage over here. Actress Lauren Bacall and cinematographer Gordon Willis also received awards.

Trailers for a few Corman titles we stock:

A Bucket of Blood (1959)


Little Shop of Horrors (1960)


Premature Burial (1962)