(1981)
Dir - Larry Cohen
Overall: MEH
Pre-dating the somewhat similar premised Teen Wolf by four years, (except the teenage protagonist here is a football player instead of a basketball one), Larry Cohen's Full Moon High is the only bonafide comedy in his filmography. More aggressively moronic than actually funny, it has an intentional B-movie spoof vibe that is similar to John DeBello's Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and falls flat nearly half as much. Adam Arkin's lead werewolf makes lame wise-cracks as he is transforming and every other character regularly behaves in as unnatural of a manner as possible, with cartoon-level silliness going on in every scene. Being an early 80s comedy, there are several hardly subtle gay jokes of the flamboyant variety thrown in that have not aged well, but they are at least not mean spirited. Cameos by Pat Morita, Demond Wilson, Arkin's dad Alan, and even Bob Saget playing a teenager for five seconds are kind of fun to spot, plus Ed McMahon of all people seems to be enjoying himself as a bizarre, anticommunist father with a bomb shelter and a busy libido. The wolfman makeup is as lousy as the pedestrian jokes are and the rapid-fire, slice and dice pace gets a bit irksome when the entire movie consistently does everything it can to not be clever.
(1986)
Dir - John McTiernan
Overall: MEH
The debut Nomads from legendary action director John McTiernan is quite a different endeavor than his more famous movies, both in subject matter and quality. Admirably bold for his first time behind the lens, the filmmaker goes for a surreal, thriller atmosphere that unfortunately becomes incomprehensible along the way. Both Irish-born Pierce Brosnan and Australian Anna Maria Monticelli speak in French accents that are difficult to make out and ultimately not integral to the story, a story that has a nifty premise at least where one woman relives the memory of a dead man, regaining consciousness in the actual location that her mysterious visions leave off. All of this coupled with the flashy editing give it an impenetrable feel though, perhaps intentionally yet ultimately frustratingly as well. Also the supernatural components are repressed and left vague with McTiernan not seeming too interested in creating a frightening mood in the first place. The guitar heavy soundtrack is kind of cool and both Adam Ant and Mary Woronov have small, non-speaking parts as the mysterious title "spirits", but nothing else is really all that memorable.
(1987)
Dir - Jeffrey Bloom
Overall: MEH
Writer/director Jeffrey Bloom's adaptation of V.C. Andrews' novel Flowers in the Attic seems to have sincere, chilling intentions, but it ends up being merely unpleasant with occasional flourishes of accidental camp. The screenplay went through several authors before Andrews, (who had final approval), chose Bloom, having previously turned down an interpretation from Wes Craven that was naturally more graphic. Issues continued once production was properly underway as well, with Bloom leaving the project and having no involvement with the final edit. Producers also chose to shoot an entirely different ending, plus nudity and incest elements were removed to secure a less harsh rating. With such tampering in place, the movie has a disjointed feel. Louis Fletcher is set up to be an imposing, evil psycho-biddy villainess, yet her intimidating nature is presented unevenly and she all but vanishes throughout the last half of the film. The plot becomes more implausible than disturbing as things go on, (not to mention tedious), and by the time it all wrap up, the finale is predictably underwhelming. Too lightweight to be properly scary and too depressing to be melodramatically schlocky, it just falls somewhere lukewarm in the middle.
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