Nicolas Cage headlines in Mandy, a drug-addled hallucinogenic ride in this revenge horror (?) thriller. Set in the early 80s, but filled with 70s sensibilities in sense of style and set design, Cage is Red Miller who lives out in the woods with Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough). They have a quiet life, he works is…
Tag: 80s
The Hunt for Red October (1984) – Tom Clancy
I haven’t read this book since the mid-80s when my schoolmate and friend, Michael Hay suggested I might like it. I dug into it, and for awhile there, birthdays or Christmases would bring me the latest Tom Clancy hardcover. I’ve been itching to kind of go back and see I still enjoy the stories, and…
Gotcha! (1985) – Jeff Kanew
I remember greatly enjoying Gotcha! when I rented it on video back in the day. And though it’s always been floating round in the back of my mind, I haven’t watched it since… until now. And let me tell you, this one stands up. There’s a couple of things that don’t stand the test of…
Code of Silence (1985) – Andrew Davis
Chuck Norris stars in this 1985 actioner which is arguably some of his best work. Honestly, having just gotten through it, and without sounding too harsh, that’s not saying much. He may be a great athlete and martial artist, but his acting skills still aren’t great. Originally tooled as one of the many Dirty Harry…
The Octagon (1980) – Eric Karson
Welcome to the 80s, the age of the ninja as Chuck Norris guides us through a haphazard adventure that sees him entering The Octagon! Scott James (Norris) is a world-class martial artist who is accompanied by an echoey voiceover almost everywhere he goes. He and his frenemy, A.J. (Art Hindle!) live a high roller life…
The Believers (1987) – John Schlesinger
The dirty and gritty New York of the 80s serves as the backdrop for this rough, brutal and frightening take on hoodoo and Santeria, with a script written by Mark Frost from a novel by Nicholas Conde, the story follows a police psychologist, Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) when he gets called in a horrifying case….
I Was a Teenage Slasher (2024) – Stephen Graham Jones
Simon & Schuster have been delivering a lot of great summer reads my way and Stephen Graham Jones’ latest tale, I Was a Teenage Slasher is wonderful fun. Tolly and Amber are best of friends in high school. It’s the 80s, with the best music, best movies, and best clothes, and they are content to…
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) – Blu-ray
I’ve been with the Ghostbusters since before the first movie came out, forty years ago. I remember seeing the advertising for it on the back of my comic books, I also tried writing my own version of the story before I even knew what it was or what it was about. I had a little…
How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive (2024) – Craig DiLouie
I greatly enjoyed Craig DiLouie’s Episode Thirteen, and liked how he converted the found footage genre into a novel. So when I heard that he had a new one coming out I had to get my hands on a copy. How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive came out this week, released through Orbit…
Vamp (1986) – Richard Wenk
This one has been on my list to eventually get to for quite some time, and apparently now was the time. If I’d realized how much of a comedy it was before this, I would have dug into it a while ago, Ias it ends up being a lot of fun. If silly. A.J. (Robert…
The Mind Reels 