Halloween Spectacular V! (Non-Cannon - Episode 104)

Welcome back to our fifth Halloween Spectacular since starting Cannon Cruisers! It's been a long year since the last one, and we decided this time to finish off covering the big slasher franchises from the time period by tackling the Friday the 13th series for the first time since we started years ago.

The difference is that we decided not to start with the original movie, for reasons mentioned in the episode, but instead jumped ahead to what are regularly considered the best instalments of the series with Friday the 13th, Part IV and Friday the 13th, Part VI! For those who have seen them, you understand why. For those who don't, check out today's special!

The 1980s were a bizarre time in the saga of horror stories, and you'll see just why when you learn just how different these movies are from on another. For a series based around a slasher villain killing people, you would be surprised how inventive they got with it. And they did it four and six movies in, respectively.

That said, they are still straightforward slasher movies, so don't expect a Lifeforce or The Hidden out of them. Despite that, you would be surprised as to how ambitious they were with such a basic and tired premise. That makes them worth talking about today! Horror doesn't have to be pure throwaway and these simple, old franchise movies, of all things, show you how that can be the case.

Happy Halloween, and have a great All Saint's Day!

Friday the 13th, Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984)

Randy's Score: 3/5

JD's Score: 3/5

Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives! (1986)

Randy's Score: 3/5

JD's Score: 4/5

Up Next: Lifeforce (Revisited)!

Episode 129 - Sahara (1983)

One of the strangest misfires we've covered yet, 1983's Sahara is the sort of movie that should work just based on its out there description alone. Unfortunately, the actual viewing experience turned out to be one of the worst watches we've had in quite a long time. There is suspicious little in this film that works on any level.

It is a puzzle as to why it is such a turkey, as we go over this one to try and figure it out for ourselves. Nonetheless, we can safely say that is most definitely not recommended, even for the curious. Sahara was one of the least enjoyable films we've watched for Cannon Cruisers. Check out our episode to see why that might be.

Randy's Score: 1/5

JD's Score: 1/5

Up Next: Halloween Special!

Non-Cannon ~ Episode 103 - Extreme Prejudice (1987)

A return to the cinematic world of Walter Hill was overdue, and in this, perhaps the most overlooked film of the 1980s. Partially written by John Milius, Extreme Prejudice feels like a movie that could have been made at the time but just missed being made, except that it was. Part action, part western, part neo noir (for real, this time), this is as close to Sam Peckinpah that Walter Hill ever got. And it is as good as that sounds.

Starring such actors as Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Rip Torn, William Forsythe, and Clancy Brown, the movie is a high testosterone thrill-ride where the intensity starts from the word go and doesn't let up for its 100 minute screen time. Extreme Prejudice is everything you would hope a movie like this would be, and then some. All this, and it never finds a way to be unengaging. This is a film that gets everything that matters very, very right.

Check out the full review to see why we think Extreme Prejudice is a downright classic and very badly needs a reappraisal. It comes very highly recommended!

Randy's Score: 5/5

JD's Score: 5/5

Up Next: Sahara!

Episode 128 - Gracey Quigley (1985)

Once again, we return with a strange little movie we couldn't cover the first time around. This week we look at the oddball black comedy Grace Quigley, which is a movie that has around three different cuts (!) emphasizes different aspects of the story and themes. Unfortunately, two of those have been missing since 1985, and the main star being long gone probably means we won't be seeing it anytime soon. This may seem like a strange thing to point out, however the movie itself is strange enough that more context definitely would have helped.

That said, this film is better than its reputation suggests and it oddly enough holds up pretty well overall as kind of a last gasp from a dying era of moviemaking. All in all, we do recommend Grace Quigley. As always, check the full review to see why that is.

Randy's Score: 3/5

JD's Score: 3/5

Up Next: Extreme Prejudice!

Episode 127 - New Year's Evil (1980) [Revisited]

This week we revisited another old favorite, 1980's New Year's Evil. Much like the previous revisit, Hospital Massacre/X-Ray, this flick is one we have been thinking on off and on since our original episode on it. Just like that flick, this is a horror movie with a simple gimmick that is used throughout its entire  runtime to make it stand out from the pack. Unlike the previous movie, however, this one is much more successful in doing what it wants to doo, even if the results are still not everything they could be.

Despite that, New Year's Evil does stand out in what it wants to do, and definitely has the makings of a holiday favorite nonetheless. Even after 40 years, there is still no New Year themed chiller anywhere near as memorable as this, if there are any! Given that, and the usual Cannon weirdness, it still stands out from the crowd.

JD's Score: 3/5

Randy's Score: 3/5

Up Next: Grace Quigley!

Episode 126 - Sword of the Valiant (1984)

Welcome back! Today we return with another Cannon favorite that we had somehow missed the first time around. This time it is the 1984 Arthurian favorite, Sword of the Valiant, an adaption of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a weird attempt by Golan and Globus to essentially remake a film that had already been made by the same director!

It is hard to describe what makes this one so infamous as our experience with it is that it merely falls short of its goals, but overall it is a competent picture. Cannon has certainly made worse but they have also made better. Nonetheless, there is not a whole lot about this that is very expected or likely coming from Cannon, or anyone else, in the 1980s.

To understand what that means, check out today's episode above. This isn't the easiest movie to describe, and you'll see why.

Randy's Score: 2/5

JD's Score: 3/5

Up Next: New Year's Evil!