The Last Slumber Party [1988]

So we watched this. And while that horrible mishmash of fonts was definitely in the film, I don't know who any of those girls are. There are three girls, sure, but not them.

Overall, the plot of this sleepover slasher flick is what you would expect with a few weird adjustments. Three girls have a sleepover and three guys sneak over one by one for hanky panky. The only issue is that there is a maniac on the loose, dressed like a doctor and killing people with a tiny scalpel. The first two guy deaths are the result of the girls going off to shower before sex. Then we have a plot twist in the form of the class nerd, dressed in the same scrubs as the killer, entering the bedroom (everyone used a ladder and at no point does anyone shut the window) and doing some of the killing himself before getting offed himself. At some point it becomes clear that the girl whose house they are at, who certainly seems like The Final Girl, is not the main character and it's actually another girl. She watches everyone get killed only to wake up and have to do it all again. 

At a thin 70 minutes, this movie doesn't overstay it's welcome and it's better for it. The acting is really bad in the best way and somehow no one ever has a reasonable level of fear or surprise. Not a bad option!

Spoon Rating: 5 

Raw Force [1982]

Also known as Kung Fu Cannibals, which is actually a more accurate title but maybe kind of a spoiler. This one is another from the Bad Movie Bible that actually really delivered. Mainly, it's a win because of the absolutely insane acting. It feels almost like everyone was completely aware that the movie they are in is absurd and really went for it.

The plot revolves around a cruise ship going somewhere in the Pacific (this embark from LA and mention the South China Sea at some point). The ship has a bunch of martial artists on it who would like to go to Warrior's Island, an island for disgraced martial artists but apparently you aren't supposed to land there. The place is run by evil monks who are part of a human trafficking scene where they buy girls with jade and then eat them to gain the power to raise the dead. I'm sure that's what you would expect. The ship has plenty of debauchery on it until it is invaded by pirates looking to kidnap women. The ship is destroyed and the cast is reduced down to about eight people trapped on Warrior's Island where they must fight for their lives against monks, zombies, and the evil German leader of the trafficking operation. They win against them and leave with the words "to be continued" only for there to be no sequel.

As I mentioned, the real win here is the acting, which is insane. From the head monk steepling his fingers in evil joy, to the German guy who somehow manages to come off as an antiquated Japanese stereotype, to a clueless birthday boy about to have sex with a confessed murder, everyone is here for a good time.

Spoon Rating: 6

Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. [1998]

If you think Sam Jackson's portrayal of Nick Fury in the Marvel movies is too restrained and subtle, have I got a movie for you. Hilariously, even though Hasselhoff is the lead and he isn't known for chill, they definitely tried to balance out the cast with a bunch of scenery-munchers that are here for a good time, if not a long time. This film was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a television that never got off the ground, but at least we'll always have this.

The plot is a pretty standard good versus evil situation, specifically SHIELD versus Hydra. On the SHIELD side we have The Hoff, a woman with the most 90s makeup you could imagine and is also his love interest, a British man who speaks mostly in stereotypical slang, and another woman who can read minds but like, not well. On the Hydra side we have a psychotic blonde lady with an extensive wardrobe budget so she can dress like the villain she is, her brother she's a smidge too close to, and the frozen corpse of her dad.  Hydra wants to unite the terrorists (I'm sure there will be no ideological issues here) and release a dangerous toxin on all of New York City. SHIELD gotta stop it. They do.

While the plot is thin, the acting is aces. It's no surprise why this didn't make for a compelling potential show, but it'll make for a fun evening.

Spoon Rating: 5

REWATCH: Samurai Cop [1991]

Last Monday we rewatched the legendary Samurai Cop with Adam's nibling, Ash, and three-year-old Jade who actually did a good job of watching quietly. It's a film for kids and adults, I guess.

Read my original review here.

Da Hip Hop Witch [2000]

You can tell from the title that this is going to be something special. This parody of The Blair Witch Project was made on a budget of a couple blunts and features a bunch of musicians most famously Eminem, Ja Rule (known for good films), and the "Graduation" singer Vitamin C. It does have a slight semblance of plot but mostly it consists of interviews with famous rappers who supposedly encountered The Black Witch or Hip Hop Witch. Apparently she is a beautiful woman naked under a trenchcoat but she's also evil and as Eminem tells us many times, she will stick things in your butt. The two "plots" include a group of five white kids from Framingham, MA who want to find the witch and a woman in a news office who is getting sexually harassed by the big boss while her requests to do a story on the Witch are ignored by her direct supervisor. Neither of these really goes anywhere. The real joy is in the random shots. Eminem is acting his extremely high ass off while the editor tries unsuccessfully to blur the blunt and the Bud Light. A guy on a bicycle drives around ominously shouting "she's coming!" and bringing me great joy. The camera angles are all up in people's business, probably to hide the lack of shooting permits. This movie is trying so hard to be funny, and it succeeds incorrectly: a perfect bad movie. And in spite of a track record of films about musicians having terrible sound editing, you actually could hear most of the film. Win!

Honestly, we laughed a lot. It's a solid recommend from us.

Spoon Rating: 7

Under The Cherry Moon [1986]

Another Razzie winner, this film is both starring and directed by Prince. In some ways, this makes sense. The movie is heavily based on vibes and there is definitely interest in the visuals. The film is in black-and-white and set in Nice with some distinct Casablanca ambiance in the opening scene. The costumes are all really interesting to look at and, with the exception of a lot of Prince's clothes specifically, surprisingly stylish for the 80s, a notoriously horrifying fashion decade. The sets are very beautiful and meant to evoke old money wealth. The problem is the actual substance of the film. 

The film revolves around Prince's character, Christopher, and his friend Tricky who are basically on a quest to marry rich women to get money out of them in the divorce. They set their sights on a rich girl who just turned 21 and is supposed to get a $50,000,000 trust. Over the course of the film she and Prince supposedly fall in love. I say supposedly because they have no chemistry and spend a lot of the film arguing. In the end, he gets shot for kidnapping her and she funds Tricky's desire to own an apartment complex in Miami while Prince plays music in heaven.

The film is just odd. A lot of plot explanation is dropped in conversation long after we needed it, and the dialogue is hard to follow anyway because the sound mixing is atrocious. The film is scored by Prince and the Revolution, of course, but the balance is so bad we can't hear the actors a lot of the time. And then there's just the plot in general, which is thin and unconvincing. There were some comedic music stings (which maybe weren't supposed to be funny) and some really bad acting moments, but overall it was only okay. Definitely an interesting curiosity, but you don't have to add it to your list unless you really need to hear those 80s jams.

Spoon Rating: 4

The Lonely Lady [1983]

This film was a Razzie winner in its time and it deserves that title for being so bad in such a hard to articulate way. This movie was never quite what we thought it was going to be, and those surprises got a strong reaction. Let me try to explain.

The film starts with an award show (basically the Oscars but not) where a woman is entering alone and because of this she is assumed to be no one. Flashback to her high school days when she won an award for writing and later that night is raped by a hose. Yeah, we were shocked too. The owner of the house where this happened is a famous screenwriter who goes to talk to her and this sparks up a connection. They marry. He's at minimum 35 years older than her. The marriage goes sour after a while due mainly to him being jealous of her ability after giving her a chance at writing on one of his films. She then has an affair with an actor and tries to get a script she wrote looked at. She doesn't get a deal but she does get an abortion. Then she gets a job working at a club where the club owner, who she eventually screws, offers to send out her script. He doesn't but she does get duped into having sex with a couple who she thinks will help her. Finally she gets "help" from a producer and his wife, but it seems to be a lavender marriage where she has to screw the wife to get her movie made. It does get made and she wins her Noscar for it and she uses her speech to basically admit she fucked her way to the top and it wasn't worth it. 

This film was wild. Aside from the plot, there were some incredible moments of melodrama and the surprise of her speech at the end was honestly pretty satisfying. The thing we really can't figure out though is the title. She's metaphorically lonely in the sense that she is left out to dry by everyone, but she doesn't seem to be at a loss for companionship at all. 

Also the lead actress was apparently Little Miss Muffet in Adam's childhood favorite of Mother Goose Rock n' Rhyme. Glad to know she did something else even if it was this.

Spoon Rating: 5