Corman Film Reviews

Short, pithy reviews of Roger Corman films I watched this year. * Denotes that it was my first time of watching.

Attack of the Crab Monsters*	1957	Proper Drive-In movie; 60 minutes of scientists talking boringly drab rooms with 10 minutes of hilarious crab monsters, bit of a slog.
Little Shop of Horrors	1960	Impressive feat of speed film making but the end product is paced strangely and fails to capture your attention.
Pit and the Pendulum*	1961	Eerie, atmospheric adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story. A lot of heavy lifting done by Vincent Price.
The Intruder*	1962	Worth watching, it's an unnuanced take on integration but a very interesting character study of those who opposed it.
The Wild Angels*	1966	Possibly more biting critique on biker culture than Easy Rider but it doesn't ever get above walking pace.
The Trip	1967	Very creative, edited exceptionally well. The drug trip sequences are a bit clichéd but Peter Fonda's childish enjoyment of LA is delightful.
Women in Cages*	1971	This film is brutal. Whether or not it's sexploitation it is genuinely uncomfortable and hard hitting. Makes your skin crawl.
Death Race 2000	1975	Parodic, satirical brilliance. Action set pieces played for beautiful comedy. Why is the main car dressed like a lizard? And why was David Carradine the lead?
Hollywood Boulevard*	1976	“This is not a film about the human condition. This is a film about tits and ass.”
Grand Theft Auto*	1977	The ending car stunts and destruction are almost worth the confused plot and tone in the first hour. Amazing performance by Don Steele.
Piranha	1978	A masterpiece of a monster movie, hilarious, creative, innovative. Perfection, Joe Dante is a master.
The Slumber Party Massacre*	1982	Very functional slasher film, lacks any horror or suspense but makes up for it with comedy and nudity.
Deathstalker*	1983	Swords & Sandals & Sexual Assault
Space Raiders	1984	Family friendly budget Sci-Fi. Nothing that will live long in the memory but it has heart.
Deathstalker II	1987	Awful awful acting, sets and props worthy of a primary school play but the best title drop in film history.
Carnosaur*	1993	Genuinely weird premise for a film, sadly it’s difficult to find a high quality transfer. It’s saying something about the environment, hard to tell what exactly.
Carnosaur 2	1995	Do you like Aliens? Well now you can watch Aliens with 1% of the budget, a couple of brilliant gore effects worth seeing.
Carnosaur 3: Primal Species*	1996	The opening action sequence is amazing, strong cast of characters, scenes of people being trapped under cardboard boxes are amazing.
Raptor (Carnosaur 4)*	2001	Shameless rip off re-editing into Carnosaur’s original footage. Surprisingly coherent though.
DinoShark*	2010	I tend to hate these more modern Asylum style CGI monster movies. Has just enough practical effects and 80's homages to make it bearable.
Attack of the 50 foot Cheerleader*	2012	Hard to find fault, wonky CGI, awful college sex jokes, classless and hilarious.