Film Reviews by MS

A late 80s italian horror production with the expected budget for the time (i.e not much) Killer Crocodile is, for the first two thirds, surprisingly dry for a movie mostly set on a river. If you can stick with it the last third is worth it however. Also, surprisingly good characterisation.

Nowhere near Sergio Martino's finest, Hands of Steel is a relatively low budget italian action thriller which doesnt pick up until near the end. There are amusing scenes in the first two thirds of the movie including several surprisingly in depth arm wrestling showdowns with some psychotic truckers, but it's the final few action scenes with their bizarre setups and characters which are the most appealing and what the movie is worth watching for.

Initially it seems they paid John Saxon to sit in a room and answer the telephone but rest assured, he is in some location shots later in the movie and the rather boring central cyborg plot has a surpringly satisfying pay off. The blu-ray also includes a good in depth interview with Sergio Martino who is refreshingly candid and upfront about his works as (excellent) exploitation cinema.

Came highly recommended but found it not quite as good as the original Godzilla series released by Critereon recently. Would recommend watching something like Ebirah Horror of the Deep or Godzilla versus Mechagodzilla or, if you are able, all of the Showa Era Godzilla movies in order (possibly skipping Godzilla returns).

Gamera Guradian of the Universe is the first a trilogy of 90s Gamera movies which have good practical and CGI special effects and, for this episode in the trilogy, a manga-like plot involving alien rocks and psychic children. Enjoyable and worth watching - this is the best of the trilogy.

Later episodes in the trilogy mostly ignore the relevance and involvement of the main characters from the seperate chapters and are less interesting.