No matter how much I run Zombie Lake into the dirt, I can’t deny the enjoyment I got out of watching it. Its combination of schmaltzy sentimentality, surprisingly forthright sleaze, and apathetic horror movie pastiche really does add up to something fairly unique. At a time when so much cinematic product seems to stubbornly stick to the median, that’s something you just can’t take for granted. It is a movie that is not only terrible, but that, in the course of being terrible, seems to be exploring new ways of doing so. With watching it comes the thrill of seeing cinema that is boldly reaching downward toward new nadirs.

The Hand is entertaining in its way but it is clumsy. It should be a ‘shock film’. The renegade hand should be popping up all the time, in an unpredictable and gruesome fashion. But instead the film plays like a quasi psychological thriller, but all the twists are predicable and the inconsistencies become a bit annoying in the end. There is nothing new to be found here. Oliver Stone directs this film with very little flair. I know it’s one of his earlier works (it could even be his directorial debut) but there is very little style. The Hand effects are by Carlo Rambaldi and at times they are a bit clunky – the flesh doesn’t always look right, which is very noticeable when the ‘Hand’ is wrestling a real human hand.

Years ago, while living in Atlanta, my roommate Rachel and I happened across this film one rainy afternoon. We were fascinated, and I have looked for a copy of it ever since. Thanks to the Internet, I now own my very own copy of The Pit. The overall feel of this movie hooked us. It was perfect for a rainy afternoon. Director Lew Lehman somehow found the exact same film stock, lighting techniques and acting methods employed so successfully by the ABC Afterschool Specials. About a quarter through, we were wondering what lesson The Pit was trying to teach us.

As much as I love the outlandish bits, Katilon Ke Kaatil is ultimately kind of a let-down. There is too much uninteresting filler, and Zeenat is completely wasted in a do-nothing role that is beneath her talents. I have plenty of tolerance for slapdash Bollywood action films, but even I was toying with the fast forward button for part of this. And while there are plenty of films of somewhat questionable taste I may foist upon people, often starring Mithun Chakraborty, I can’t see myself doing the same with the whole of Katilon Ke Kaatil, though I will absolutely make everyone watch the Bruce Le stuff and the fight scenes with Bigfoot…err, Recha. Those are why I watched this movie, and they were worth the effort even if the rest of it really wasn’t.

1981, France. Starring Howard Vernon, Nadine Pascale, Pierre Escourrou, Annouchka, Antonio Mayans. Directed by Jean Rollin. Hey, someone once said that I review too many movies I liked, and that I should let myself loose on some films I hated and do the usual riffing and sniping expected in this post-MST3K world of movie websites. [...]

Good or bad, and I maintain that there is actually more good than bad, Enter the Ninja is a landmark film, the one that started it all, the Conan the Barbarian of ninja exploitation. Just like Conan, Enter the Ninja’s reputation is harmed by the infinite crimes that would be committed in its name, from crappy American ninja movies to guys with mullets wearing ninja pants and practicing their nunchuka skills in the park, Enter the Ninja spawned far more idiocy than it actually contains. It’s not as good as Conan by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s also not as bad as you may think if you haven’t seen it in a long time. Goofy action fun is all I need sometimes, and that’s all Enter the Ninja delivers.