The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review
Scientific Experiments Amok refers to scientific experiments that take place outside mainstream science. Mad Scientist cinema is littered with these – scientists of dubious sanity or ruthless morality who operate in isolation in mansions or Gothic castles, creating experiments that almost always have catastrophic results, producing monsters or mutations that inevitably go amok.
Mad Science cinema died away by the mid-1950s as movie scientists became the engineers of the Space Age and the heroes fighting Atomic Monsters. Thereafter, Mad Science Cinema continued in a different form, what we might call Illicit Science cinema.
Amok and Illicit Science Cinema usually achieves the same results as Mad Scientist films do but is conducted with less Gothic focus. It offers the approximation of real scientific process (if not exactly anything that could be considered peer-reviewed) and takes place in modern laboratories. The threat is less the scientist’s sanity than unforeseen side effects and accidents made by well-intentioned individuals or due to the ruthlessness of corporate or military overlords.
It should also be noted that many Superhero and Super-Villain origin stories also result from illicit scientific experiments or accidents.
An impressive line-up of genre names came together for this big event mini-series that sets out to offer a conclusive explanation for the Bermuda Triangle in a plot that juggles an entertaining stew of wild ideas involving timewarps, alternate timelines and government cover-ups
Less well known adaptation of the Frankenstein story that can arguably be considered the most faithful of all the film versions
Produced by Roger Corman back when the idea of Virtual Reality was new and fascinated with the erotic possibilities. Jeff Fahey tests out a VR system and becomes lost in it after creating a simulation of his late girlfriend
Film where scientists creates an an atom-sized black hole that has the potential to destroy the Earth
Dean R. Koontz adaptation in which Corey Haim adopts an unusually intelligent dog unaware it is part of a genetically engineered killing machine. Produced by Roger Corman who spun out a series of sequels.
Despite the title, this South Korean film is less a werewolf story than it is a love story about a feral child. The film seems overburdened by the need to pitch the film to the teen demographic and play the violins and heartstrings as a Twilight wannabe
Don’t be fooled by the witch part of the title, this is actually a South Korean film about psychic powers. This follows the path of a standard psychic powers film about the gifted on the run a la The Fury and Firestarter before an ending that turns the genre on its head
The Witch: Part 1 – Subversion was an impressive South Korean psychic powers film. This is Part 2
Amid the vast horde of low-budget zombie films of the 00s, this Norwegian effort in 3D emerges as possibly the worst. It has no discernible plot, while the gore only consists of cheap digital overlays that looks like Monty Python cutout animation
Xtro was cheesily ridiculous Alien copy. This is a sequel that bears nothing in common with the original beyond the title. In between the two films, we had Aliens so there is now a plot about soldiers hunting the creature with biiig guns. Nothing bad, just an uninspired rehash of the standard Alien copy
Belgian film that starts out as a blackly funny work about a cut-price East European hospital before seguing into a zombie film
Takashi Miike makes a sequel to his earlier superhero film filled with his typically eccentric touches
A fairly typical entry in the gonzo killer shark fad. The filmmakers have clearly had a title idea that they were able to sell but not too many ideas how to make it work. Director Misty Talley offers a sufficiently tongue-in-cheek approach to overcome most shortcomings
The title gives the impression this is intended as a zombie film take on the action film Olympus Has Fallen. The confusion you have in watching is that this is actually a film about a girl with psychic powers on the run. Brief zombie scenes turn up later in the show to justify the title but feel that they have strayed in from another film.