Kicking off a little something I’m calling…
In which I review as many of my cherished old VHS tapes as I can bear. Given the high number of Maria Ford, David Carradine, and Cirio Santiago films this is going to entail, things should be interesting. The fun begins with…
DEATHSPORT
In 1975, exploitation film master Roger Corman produced one of his very best films. Combining a wicked sense of campy humor, a healthy dose of violence, and an angry satirical edge, Death Race 2000 was the best things to bear Corman’s name since Corman himself was directing cool horror films based on Edgar Allan Poe stories for AIP. Always keen to make a buck, Corman immediately set about creating another vehicle-based futuristic fling. He would do his best to make people think it was related in some way to Death Race 2000 by calling the new film Deathsport and casting David Carradine in the lead. But the similarities end there, and while Death Race 2000 is a genuinely good, enjoyable, and even smart film, Deathsport is an incompetent piece of junk. Predictably, I do not own Death Race 2000 and have only seen it once. I do, however, own Deathsport in two different formats now and have watched it at least half a dozen times.
#1 by lyzard on September 2, 2008 - 7:15 pm
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My first reaction to your review is, “Ewwwww!!!! His AREA!!!!!”
My second is to ask whether you actually had the guts to discard your tapes after copying them? That’s where I got stuck: I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so they’re still taking up about a quarter of my study. I’ve grown retrospectively attached to their crumpled, rolling previews and that clear brittle plastic that they used used use to hold the tape in those honking big boxes. Just can’t let them go….
While I don’t own Ultra Warrior, the other day I did pick up a $2.00 copy of Good Against Evil with Dack Rambo and Kim Cattrall*. Neither of us having seen it, my brother and I had an enjoyably hazy semi-drunk debate about which was which. (*Of course, when the film was made, it starred Elyssa Davelos.)
#2 by KeithA on September 2, 2008 - 8:07 pm
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You know, I didn’t feel guilty until I put in the one of Carradine jumping cheeks-first through a hole in the wall. That one was ALMOST too much, even for me. Almost.
I sold some of my taps when I was over, gave some to friends, and still own several. No matter how many times I back it up, I just can’t bring myself to part with that oversized Treasure of the Four Crowns tape.
#3 by lyzard on September 2, 2008 - 8:17 pm
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My most treasured one is my Video Nasties era copy of House By The Cemetery, where they made them take the smear of blood off the knife.
#4 by Ed on September 2, 2008 - 8:36 pm
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Fantastic stuff, Keith. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of tapes but I fondly remember one tape ion which I recorded Gunmen with Christopher Lambert and Mario van Peebles. It’s seriously one of the best crappy action films I’ve ever seen.
As for VHS I’m not parting with, I’m hanging onto my copy of The Horror Show with Lance Henriksen and Brion James for two main reasons. First off, I may end up getting a dvd/vcr combo at some point and secondly, I want to keep others from feeling the pain that film caused me.
#5 by Gentle Benj on September 2, 2008 - 10:45 pm
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Dang, it must be Thirsty Tuesday on the B-Masters blog. Bring your own typos! 😀
I’m just jealous because I’m sober.
#6 by Gentle Benj on September 2, 2008 - 10:45 pm
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PS: I’m referring to the comments, not your review, Keith.
#7 by Joshua on September 3, 2008 - 7:08 am
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Dare one even wander into the minefield of dissecting a film where nuns in bikinis roller skate across a post-apocalyptic wasteland and fight a rubber puppet?
This sounds like the best movie ever made.
#8 by KeithA on September 3, 2008 - 12:55 pm
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You’ll be finding out later this week.
#9 by Rel on September 3, 2008 - 2:33 pm
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Oh, I’m looking forward to the success of this project! Maybe it will remind me of the titles of some of those tapes I wish I’d bought for 50p each from the local video shop, before I went there one day and was startled to find Police tape across the door.
Something in the charred remnants of my moral core tells me I probably shouldn’t ask, but – “around the world”?
#10 by Nathan Shumate on September 3, 2008 - 9:38 pm
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I’d just like to note for the record (though I don’t expect anyone to believe me) that when I review a month’s worth of VHS tapes not yet available on DVD next spring, I didn’t get the idea from Keith.
#11 by KeithA on September 4, 2008 - 9:18 am
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Ahhhh! Nathan is one again using his Mormon Mabuse Mesmerism powers to manipulate me!
#12 by Nathan Shumate on September 4, 2008 - 9:50 am
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Don’t flatter yourself. You are neither British nor female.
#13 by magiesmith on February 11, 2022 - 1:34 am
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I actually liked DEATHSPORT. It seemed to me to be groping towards something that the el cheapo production values prevented it from achieving. The same basic plot could be the basis of a much better movie.