Monthly Media Recap - July 2020

With this whole Corona thing, the unimaginable has happened.

I've actually caught up on all the shows I normally record!

Streaming

Schitt's Creek (Netflix) - Little late to the party on this one but I'm so glad I got around to it! I've been a Eugene Levy fan since SCTV and he really is just getting better with age. The show itself is pretty simple but the characters make it shine. Just waiting for the final season to come to streaming.

Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix) - I didn't watch the original a whole lot but I'm finding out true crime may be a favorite thing for me. There's only a handful of episodes right now but I really hope there will be more. Each episode is devoted to a single mystery. If the first one doesn't hook you, I don't know what will. And how did they manage to make the theme even spookier??

Warrior Nun (Netflix) - Based on the comic Warrior Nun Areala, a teenage girl awakes from death with a religious artifact embedded in her, making her the new chosen one. It's a little supernatural, a little superhero, plus you've got kick ass nuns battling demons! What more could you want? A second season, that's what!

Locke & Key (Netflix) - Yet another comic I haven't read turned series. It has the wonder of an 80s kids adventure movie but with a touch of dark fantasy to it. I guess it's sort of like Stranger Things but modern instead of in the 80s. If you're reading this, you should check it out.

Movies

Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999, Pluto TV)

Picking up from last month’s “Finish the Franchise.” I'm not going to even get into this. It was a terrible way to leave the series. Doesn't seem like they were interested in keeping continuity and Candyman seems to have the hots for his descendant. I mean, she is a former Playboy centerfold and Baywatch babe, but ew. Hopefully the reboot will return him to horror icon status.

Rating: 2/10

Mayhem (2017, Shudder)

A building full of workers is forced to quarantine when a virus that causes you to lose impulse control breaks out. It’s like Office Space but instead of a printer, the disgruntled employees bloodily battle their way up floors to get revenge on the big cheese. Steven Yuen is great here and you’ll be rooting for him if you’ve ever had “one of those days” at work. Plus, it's directed by Joe Lynch!

Rating: 7/10

Nekrotronic (2018, Shudder)

Take the Ghostbusters, give them better tech and exorcist super powers, toss in a bit of cyberpunk because the demons they’re fighting are using a Pokémon-like phone app to turn people into Evil Dead. The mish-mash-up is a lot to process but I had a lot of fun with it! I think it’s be great as a series and/or a comic. It's from the same Aussie's that did Wyrmwood which I also liked a lot.

Rating: 7/10

Child's Play (2019, Amazon Prime)

I didn't like the look of this from the first trailer and my opinion hasn't changed now that I've seen it. I actually didn't mind the idea of turning Chucky into a home assistant gone rogue but the script needs to go to the returns department. Also, whoever approved his design needs to be fired. Yes, they succeeded in making him look creepy but it's not the good kind of creepy.

Rating: 4/10

Baby Driver (2017)

Oh. My. God. I LOVE this movie!! Everything about this flick is on point and brimming with style. Not just the music but the sound design and the visuals.*chef kiss* I was hooked on the opening credits sequence alone. I wish Edgar Wright had been allowed to make his version of Ant-Man.

Rating: 9/10

Blade Squad (aka Inline Cops, 1998)

Sorry I could only find a German trailer but it should give you an idea just how 90s EXTREEEEEME this wants to be. It was made in '98 but it feels like something made in the mid-80s that was trying to be futuristic. I don't know how anyone involved could take this seriously: Police on inline skates with rocket boost backpacks. Oh yeah, they operate out of the back of a seriously modified garbage truck. It's not quite "so bad it's good" but it's close! The drama is SO over the top. I blame this one totally on Kevin at Masked Library for making me aware of it.

Rating: 3/10

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future (1985, YouTube. Watch it above!)

This is the original UK TV special that provides Max's origin story. It was reshot and became the pilot episode for the 1987 ABC TV series so if you're familiar with that, this isn't much different. The show was insanely ahead of its time in the 80s but would fit perfectly in today's cyber scene. If you're only familiar with Max as a talking head, check this out!

Rating: 8/10

Month

New: 7  Rewatch: 2

Year to Date

New: 40  Rewatch: 2

Spook Show 2 Trading Cards

Way back in 2012(!) I backed a fantastic Kickstarter for a trading card set from Monsterwax based on the classic Spook Shows of yesteryear. They just recently returned to Kickstart a second series.

You can see my review of the first series here.

If you're a rare species that's reading my blog and doesn't know what a Spook Show is, I'll let them lay it out for you.

The Ghost Shows of the 1930s-1960s operated much like traveling haunted houses-- but were presented live on a stage using macabre magic! They featured professional magicians (or "Ghost Masters") who would drive across the country and rent theaters during off-hours (usually after midnight). There, they would perform all sorts of ghastly magic and gruesome illusions. Audiences might witness a bloody decapitation, or watch a volunteer get placed into a  trance and have their arm amputated with a buzz saw. A beautiful assistant could climb into a wicker basket and get run through with numerous swords or spikes. Another might be cremated and her smoldering skeleton would still be squirming as the oven lid was opened. A random volunteer could have the skin from their face removed, then have their skull extracted and floated about the stage as the audience looked on in shock.

There was no limit to the imagination or horror of Spook Shows. The climax was the infamous "black out", when the theater was plunged into complete darkness and flooded with floating ghosts and other spiritual manifestations. A horror film immediately followed, but in some instances, many in the audience had already fled the theatre in panic! (Sorry, no refunds!) But the memories never left those who witnessed these spook-tacular events. The craze was so popular, it made numerous magicians rich-- and pitted some of them against each other in cut-throat feuds for better dates and larger territories.

They have some really fun rewards lined up.

If you pledge as little as $2 you get a Death Curse to fill out and destroy your enemies!

At $4, you get the Death Curse and a real ghost!

Starting at $18, you can get the full base set of cards.

$28 gets the base set plus some chase cards and $50 gets you the complete base set, all chase cards, a sketch, an autograph, and more, including a zombie servant!

Check out the whole thing on Kickstarter. 

They're well over the goal with 6 days left to back.

Funny thing is I kinda glossed over the photos when I backed the project and when I went back to make this post, I noticed all the photos they have for the series 1 cards (red background) are the photos I took when I made my post about those cards! I'm having my ghost lawyer contact them.

Marvel Battleworld Game by Funko

Wow it seems like forever ago that I posted about any new toys. Let's see...that was...back in May with the Imperial Probe Droid figure. It's not like I'm not popping into stores to see what's up but it's definitely not as often and not as fun. It's more of a challenge to pick something up on a whim these days due to the longer check out lines. But I did spot the latest game from Funko a couple weeks ago and had to check it out.