Redwood Massacre

When it comes to horror movies I typically go back to the 80's for my mix. Modern horror just doesn't seem to entertain me as much, or the genre has turn to supernatural horror and that's just not my jam. While every once in awhile I'll run across a modern slasher flick that captures my attention, it's rare so I was a little reluctant going into Redwood Massacre. This is a movie I yet again found on TubiTV and was able to stream for free.

Anytime you see on a horror movie poster or in the movie trailer that it's based on a true story, beware as you might as well drop your expectations at that very moment. As I browsed Tubi for a movie to watch I gotta admit that this movie poster caught my attention. Decent looking protagonist, check. Creepy looking house, check. Massacre in the name, check. I figure with the movie just clocking in under 1 1/2 hours I had nothing to lose.

How many movies have you watched (or at least heard of) where a camping trip in the woods goes awry? That's what Redwood Massacre is. A group of campers are out to party on the 20th anniversary of some gruesome murders at the scene of where it all happened. Or so the legends goes. Slowly but surely the campers start to go missing as they become the prey of a serial killer wearing a scarecrow mask.

I heard someone else refer to this as a Scottish ripoff of Friday the 13th...which I can see. Going into this movie I had no idea it was Scottish, but as soon as you meet the cast you realize it. While I give the movie a thumbs up for being different, the delivery of said actors and actresses falls flat.

In the opening scene of the movie you are introduced to the killer and lots of blood. You have no idea who this is, who he is killing or why he is killing. It's only until 20 (?) minutes into the movie before we get the backstory and this comes after meeting the main cast. The cast included your normal horror movie tropes...the boyfriend, his new girlfriend (who no one else likes), the trashy girl and the "final" girl.

Sitting around a campfire the new girlfriend expands on the legend of the Redwood murders to her fellow campers. This story is also told with cut away flashback scenes. The story goes a farmer started hearing voices and goes mad, killing his wife, daughter and son (who is never shown), but when the authorities arrive the son's grave is empty.

There were a few redeeming qualities I found in this movie.

1) The set was pretty creepy. The house that was used had a cool exterior architecture, was old and run down and the grounds were large and overgrown.
2) I thought the scarecrow mask was done well. The sewing across the eye holes and mouth made the mask look more scary than cheesy.
3) The actor that plays the killer is huge and intimidating looking. His mannerisms, the way he moved were great. At times he really did remind me of Jason Vorhees of Friday the 13th fame. His brooding size, his head quickly turning to look at the camera and his jerky movements were all spot on.

However that is about the only positive things I have to say as the negatives far out weight the positives. For starters, let's address the blood. Notice I didn't say gore because I didn't think this movie was all that gory. Well maybe one scene in the flashback story. The amount of blood used in this movie is up there, but I didn't find that to be a good thing. Now granted I've never taken an axe to a fellow human being, but the amount of blood you see flying through the air during a kill is crazy. So. much. blood. While it looked pretty authentic, it just seemed over the top. This is especially noticeable when the killer punches a few of his victims and you see buckets of blood flowing. Seriously?

The other issue that got on my last nerve was the sound made whenever the killer would pick up a bladed weapon. Whomever was in charge of the sound was having too much fun running blades against each other to create that metallic sound. It didn't matter if the killer was drawing his blade, swinging his weapon or inserting it into a victim, the same sound was used. Argh, I can't tell you how much that bugged me! I just couldn't get past it.

Of all of the movies I've streamed thus far in celebration of Halloween, this was by far the worst. What I thought was going to at least be a decent movie was just ruined by the lack of scares, flat acting, the amount of blood used and of course the over the top metallic sound used. I did see that a sequel is being made and is set to be released sometime in 2020. Why? I have no idea.

Motel Hell

Thanks once again to TubiTV, I was able to watch another 80's cult classic to celebrate the upcoming Halloween season. Motel Hell is yet another (VHS) movie I remember seeing on the shelves of my local video rental store back in my youth. Unable to watch it as a youth, I had to wait nearly 30 years before I was able to view this classic. Come on, with a tag line like "It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent Fritters", how could you not watch this? 

There are several different movie posters for this movie, but some of them don't portray the movie in the best way. The poster shown above however does paint a better picture.

Motel Hell stars Rory Calhoun as farmer Vincent Smith, local proprietaire of Motel Hello. He runs the hotel with his sister, Ida (Nancy Parsons) along with their side business of selling smoked meats. People come from miles away to sample his various meats, which we see at the beginning of the movie. He's somewhat of a local celebrity, but do the people of Grainville, CA know that he is peddling cannibalism?  

I've seen a lot of horror movies and the 80's served up some of the best in my opinion. This movie however marched to the beat of it's own drum. It was odd, yet satisfyingly fun. I can't say this is a scary movie because of the main story. I'm not sure if it was meant to be tongue in cheek, but the campy story is hard to take serious. The movie isn't bloody or gory either, despite what you may think from alternate movie posters that are out there.

What I couldn't figure out initially while watching the movie was the purpose of the "secret garden". You see Vincent unlocking the vine covered gate located away from the hotel itself, looking around to make sure no one else was near by. However it's later in the film before you get to see what is in the actual garden. After Vincent would find people for his recipe, he would bury them in the ground in the garden. This didn't make sense to me, then during a later picnic scene he references his mother not having an ice chest. I'm going to assume he dug holes to put the bodies in to keep them cold/fresh while he waited for the bodies to be ready to be "prepared".

Since he left the heads above ground, he would sever their vocal chords so they wouldn't make noise. He would then place a burlap sack over their heads. At one point in the movie you see him inserting an eight track cassette into a player, assumingly to drown out any noise made by the bodies inside the garden.

Nina Axelrod plays Terry, a young girl that Vincent saves from a motorcycle accident early in the movie. His motivation to save her isn't known at first, but later you realize he had hoped he could "convert" her and bring her into the family business. Vincent's sister, Ida, is skeptical from the beginning and shows aggression towards Terry on multiple occasions. Enter the younger brother, Bruce (Paul Linke) who happens to be the town's sheriff. It's unknown if he really knows what the family business is, but he almost instantly falls head over heels for Terry.

The family dynamic is odd and much of the movie I feel revolves around the relationship between Terry and Vincent as well as Terry and Bruce. After learning of Terry and Vincent's pending wedding, he takes the news by checking up on Terry. He thinks she is being forced into marriage, only to learn this is what she wants. He takes the rejection by looking into his brother as he feels something is up. This is when he learns the secret behind the family business and becomes the knight in shining armor to eventually save our damsel in distress.

The smokehouse scenes featuring the dueling chainsaws and the bloodied pig mask is what most people think of when this movie comes up. However it plays such a small part in the overall story. I read somewhere that this scene took the longest to film and wasn't in the original script, added at the last minute. I guess they thought the inclusion of a chainsaw would help sell tickets as this movie was released a few years after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Pieces.

Overall this was a more of dark comedy than a horror movie in my book, however it was still a lot of fun and yet another 80's movie that I'm glad to mark off my list.

Transformers War for Cybertron - Kingdom: Soundwave (Core Class)

 

Kingdom is the third and final chapter to Hasbro's War for Cybertron trilogy and this series introduced a new size class, Core Class. Scale wise, these are very similar to the current "Legends" scale made popular by many 3rd party companies like Iron Factory or New Age. My first exposure to these size toys came with Optimus Prime and Vertebreak released at the very beginning of Kingdom. Now that we are close to wrapping up this trilogy, more G1 characters have been released with the latest being none other than Soundwave.

Soundwave comes packaged like all the previous Core Class figures, that on a blister card sporting the same Kingdom design that also features some stellar character artwork. The back of the packaging is rather simple with product shots of both the robot and alternate modes.

I've often heard of some of these Core Class figures referred to as "Mini Masterpieces" and while I understand that term being thrown around, let's hold our horses a bit. The level of detail, articulation and paint applications on Soundwave here is very impressive. In a lot of ways this figure does look like a smaller version of it's Masterpiece version, more so than a smaller version of the G1 toy. 

Thanks to the ball joints in the arms, hips and feet, you have a great deal of range of motion of the limbs. The sculpting is fantastic, from the iconic head sculpt down to the cassette buttons on his waist...this looks like the version of Soundwave that I grew up with.

With a figure this small I wouldn't have been surprised if the cassette door didn't open, but thankfully the designers were able to keep this feature Soundwave is known for a part of the figure. A very small, non-transformable version if Laserbeak is included. The front side of the cassette features silver and red paint while the back is unpainted. Small touches like the cassette really help bring out the charm of the mold.

Soundwave never had a difficult transformation (at least in this form) and this figure is no different. In fact I was surprised at how close the transformation steps were to the original G1 toy. Now of course some liberties had to be taken, such as the feet and the weapon storage, but overall it's a very easy and straightforward transformation process. As you can see from the rear of the cassette recorder, Soundwave's weapons no longer fit inside the battery compartment. They now peg into the sides of the arms...which works in terms of practicality, but aesthetically doesn't look that great.

Overall I found this toy to be a lot of fun. I have always loved the old "basic" scale made popular by Beast Wars and subsequent lines, so it's nice to see this size still kicking. As of this post, the next series, Legacy, will be coming soon and it's already been leaked that the Core Class size will continue on. Now as great as this figure is, finding him at retail can and will be tough. If you ever have the opportunity to pick up Soundwave grab him...I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

 

Matchbox Monday: 2020 074/100 International WorkStar Brushfire Truck

From the 2020 series, the International WorkStar Brushfire Truck is part of the MBX Mountain subseries.

This casting originated in 2010, but in 2014 the metal body and plastic chassis was replaced with a plastic body and metal chassis...assumingly to help cut costs. While I like die-cast metal vehicles, sometimes the change to plastic has it's benefits. In this case I find the body to be more detailed. The metal chassis still gives the truck some of the much needed heft.

The body is made using two different pieces - gray for the lower half and red for the upper half. All of the paint apps have been applied to the sides, including Los Angeles emblems on the door. While this look good, it does take away from the opportunity for the addition of much needed paint apps on the front grill. The plain gray grill looks very drab, but I understand the limitations on a $1 mold. The windshield and the light bar are cast in a light translucent blue and looks good against the red. The wheels feature a red chrome against the large off road tires.

I think I still prefer a more traditional fire truck, but the kid in me would love the larger, chunkier version like this one. This is the first time this mold has been used since it was featured in a 5 pack in 2018 and the 11th release overall.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #020/100 MBX Garbage King

From the 2020 series, the MBX Garbage King is part of the MBX City subseries.

This is an original Matchbox casting that goes back to 2008 and was used until 2012. The casting returned in 2019 with some slight changes. The cab was now a separate piece, before it was integrated into the body of the garbage truck. The back of the truck no longer opens either, which is a little but of a bummer.

I believe the truck is based on a real world International garbage truck, but I could be wrong. For a basic model the truck has a lot of detail going on. The die-cast white cab may be a little non-descript, but the garbage portion, which is cast in a dark blue, is chocked full of design and paint apps. On each side is a MBX City Waste Services logo along with the city crest and a large recycling symbol. There are also some red/white caution reflector strips along the back and bottom of the truck. Look closely and you'll also see some small orange lights and even a fire extinguisher painted on. All of this sits on a gray die-cast metal frame which helps give the truck a little heft.

If I was still a kid playing with cars in the downstairs living room of the split level house I grew up in, I'd absolutely adore this truck. If you're going to have a city, I mean you're going to need city services like a garbage truck and this new version of the MBX Garbage King fills that role quite nicely.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #081/100 Sonora Shredder

From the 2020 series, the Sonora Shredder is part of the MBX Mountain subseries.

This is an original Matchbox casting and as a result seemed to hang around on the pegs in 2020 longer than it's licensed brethren that shared the same case assortment. First released back in 2017 in a matte black with gray interior back and an orange tint to the windows , this is the 4th version of the casting. Gone is the matt black, replaced with a metalflake orange. The interior (and as a result the "cargo") is a white plastic. The windows have been given a light blue tint, which works well against the orange specifically. The die-cast metal body sits on a gray plastic frame that has been raised to accomodate for the larger than normal wheels used. These wheels feature a thin silver chrome band around the 6 spoke black wheels. The "cargo" if you will in the back of the truck really needs some paint apps, but those were spent on the sides of the truck. A Matchbox team racing #5 adorns the doors with some sponsors tampographed over the rear fenders. The back of the truck contains a big chunk of white plastic with a spare tire molded in. 

I'm a sucker for pick up trucks and while this one isn't a favorite casting released, I do like the orange and blue window combination. In my opinion pulling off a good off road racing truck can be a tough feat, but the Matchbox designers have done a good job with this one.

Convert-A-Bots: Porsche

Trying to find information on this series of transforming toys by Village Toys hasn't been easy, nor has finding packaged samples. I picked up "Porsche" several years back, but just recently got around to opening the toy for review purposes.

The packing overall was in OK condition. The blister card is rather flimsy and the blister bubble was brittle...perhaps partly due to it's age (circa 1983) and combination of cheap plastic used? The front uses artwork of a generic robot that appears to be the same regardless of the character. The back is just basically a cross sell for other toys under the Village Toys umbrella.

I'm not sure I noticed this until I pulled the toy out of it's packaging, but there is some yellowing to the right side. This of course isn't uncommon for 1980's white plastic, but still a bummer none the less. If you are familiar with Gobots or any other similar transforming toy of this size, you (kind of) know what you're getting. Made mostly of plastic, surprisingly there are bits of diecast metal as well. I can't tell if the tires are a hard rubber or just black plastic, but the rear wheels are a little wonky on mine thanks to the wheel pegs (or is it the chrome wheels?). 

Transformation is pretty straight forward. Lift the car hood on the back of the robot, covering the robot face. Straighten the arms and press them in towards the body. Push the legs together and up into the body.

The overall quality is OK at best so I wasn't even going to try to peel these 30+ year old stickers. I'm not sure how well they would have adhered to the toy when it was new so I wasn't going to take the chance. Remember when toys had trademarked logos like this?

I can only recommend these Convert-A-Bots to diehard collectors. The 80's were a interesting time period of transforming toys and I'm not sure where I'd rank these, but they are interesting none the less.

Transformers R.E.D. Series: Optimus Prime

Hasbro is not shy to try something different...even if different has been done before. What am I talking about? The new R.E.D. Series of Transformers. Robot Enhanced Design. If you're a log time fan of the series you may remember Action Masters from the original G1 series...or if you were a fan of what Takara was doing with the franchise over in Japan you may remember the S.F.C. series.

Either way, both Action Masters and S.F.C. figures were non-transformable action figures. You would think Transformers that don't actually transform would be boring or that people wouldn't care for them...and while there are some that could care less these toys do have their fans.

In June of 2020 Hasbro announced the new R.E.D. series of 6 inch non-transformable figures with Optimus Prime and Megatron being in the first wave. The first images that were solicited looked good enough to get me excited (at least for Prime), but it seemed as if it took an eternity before I would see these at local retail. I picked up both Prime and Megatron a good while ago and have been sitting on them. I wasn't sure I was even going to bother with them, but my curiosity got the best of me and I opened Prime.

Starting with the Transformers War for Cybertron Siege series, the packaging for deluxe size figures would be a trapezoid like window box. This packaging design was carried over to the R.E.D. series. The front right side of the box features a slanted corner and some beautiful original artwork. The back of the box features better poses than I could pull off, showing just how articulated the figure is.

The left side of the box features a long window that shows the included accessories. These accessories include two different sets of hands, an Energon axe, Prime's rifle and the Matrix of Leadership. All of these look really nice and are a welcome inclusion.

These images of Prime are straight out of the package. Immediately I felt the soft plastic that was used, especially for the smokestacks on the arms and even the small antenna used on Prime's head. The figure itself looks great, very close the iconic 80's animation model. The colors are spot on, though some may prefer the thighs and waist to be a shade of gray over white. The chest windows are translucent blue and you can see parts of the cavity where the Matrix sits. The Autobot emblem on this shoulder is raised, something that I was not expecting.

The chest windows are hinged on the outer edges, allowing the panels to open up to reveal the Matrix of Leadership. I don't care how many times this feature may have been used on previous versions of Prime, I'll take this feature every time. Knowing Hasbro's track record for repainting figures, I highly expect we'll eventually get a "sleep mode" version in black/gray. This will allow for re-creating that somber scene in the original 1986 animated movie that brought guys like myself to tears.

The default hands that come on the figure are your traditional closed fists, but included are a pair of pointing hands and open hands. These are interchangeable using a 5 mm peg and are fairly easy to switch out. The iconic orange Energon axe works the same way as a fist and can be plugged into to either arm.

With the gimmick if you will being the design of the robot, it makes since that the figures are highly detailed and articulated. Where liberties may have to be taken to account for the transformation of the figure which compromises the look of the robot mode, this obviously isn't a worry for the designers. As such Prime looks fantastic in whatever pose you put him in. Prime features your now standard articulation for a 6 inch action figure. Personally I love the addition of the ankle pivots, however I still have a hard time getting past how large his feet look.

If I didn't have an Optimus Prime collection I'm really not sure if I would have pulled the trigger on this figure. It looks really nice on it's own and even blends in OK with modern Transformers figures. It's scale may not make everyone happy, but scale and Transformers have always had a tumultuous relationship!

I really can't see myself picking up any future R.E.D. Series figures, but I am glad to see what they are doing with the line. The Arcee figure from the Prime series looks fantastic, much nicer than any transforming version would ever look, as does the Beast Wars Cheetor. Certain characters will lend themselves better to this series than others so I'm curious to see where the line goes. In the end though this series just isn't for me, but of course your mileage may vary.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #029/100 Audi R8

 

From the 2020 series, the Audi R8 is part of the MBX City subseries.

I believe this based off the 2007 model of the Audi R8. Based on the LeMans Quattro concept, this Audi is set to compete with the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini. Equipped with a 5.0-litre V10 engine capable of producing 450 horsepower, the R8 can go 0-62 in 4.60 seconds.

This supercar comes in dark gray. Paint apps can be found on the head lights and grill along with the rear tail lights and license plate. The windshield and rear window are cast in a clear plastic blue, notice the side windows are down. The trimmed interior is cast in black plastic. The wheels feature 10 spokes and are painted black, the tires have a thin silver chrome lining. While I'm not that familiar with Audi in general, or this model I have to say this is a beautiful vehicle. I'm on the fence of whether this one has a place in my collection or not.

This casting debuted in 2007 and this release is the 12th use of this mold.

Matchbox Monday: 2020 #050/100 '69 BMW 2002

From the 2020 series, the '69 BMW 2002 is part of the MBX Highway subseries.

BMW rolled out the 2000 series in 1968 and until 1975 when it was discontinued. It was meant as an entry level BMW and would prove to be a highly successful model for the company/

This classic vehicle comes in a soft blue color.  Paint apps can be found on the head lights and grill along with the rear tail lights and license plate. The windshield are cast in translucent blue, notice the front side windows are down. The interior is cast in a off white plastic, while the front/rear bumpers are a soft gray plastic. I'm not particularly fond of the simple wheel design, but it fits the style/age of the vehicle I assume.

This casting debuted in 2019. This is the 3rd use of this mold.