Lifeforce is AWESOME!!!!,you kind of get the feeling that a lot of recreational drugs were involved in the production meetings,no one stopped the ensuing cinematic mayhem and it all worked so well,its the very model of what a midnight cult film should be. Darkstar was and still is a childhood favorite of mine,i was lucky enough to watch it when i was quite young so it embedded itself in my psyche,I'm pretty sure the creators of Red Dwarf said it was a major influence on them(which it obviously is)
LIFEFORCE is my pick of the litter and one of my Top Favorite Films. I've grown up watching it so much from VHS to DVD and Blu-ray and it never gets old! Great cast, great production design, awesome visuals and set pieces... and I had played the Henry Mancini soundtrack to death starting in my mid-teens when I first saw this film!
The Hidden is uniquely good because it stays with those 2 main characters and their development. As noted, particularly the homicide cop. Few sci fi flicks even now are good at that. Only the ending is kinda silly, but the rest is a classic.
I really liked the Hidden. It was a great surprise. I remember a journalist described Kyle Mc Lachlan as "eerie" and that came to mind watching the film. My favorite bits :when we find out his FBI car was a Porsche 911 and when he leans out during the car chase and empties his gun, his face expressionless oblivious to anything other than getting the alien escapee. lifeforce I mostly remember because of Mathilda May. She was close to my age at the time and I remember some guys going to see the movie with the "naked hot vampire" Steve Railsback was great in The Stuntman. That was also really entertaining...😊
Dark Star is one one of my all time favourite low budget movies. Great dialogue,beach ball alien and an existential conversation with a planet destroying bomb.What's not to like ? Plus it's a John Carpenter movie.
_Amazon Women On The Moon_ reference.👍 And _The Hidden_ rules. Along with _Highlander,_ _Manhunter,_ & _Big Trouble In Little China_ - 1986 was the year of bombs that aged into classics.
Zardoz is by far my favorite movie in the WTF sci fi category. It's one of those movies that can be endlessly analysed (as far as I can tell it's also the only movie that shows Sean Connery in a wedding dress). Altered States is also pretty far out. Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and Moontrap are cheesy 80's fun.
I loved Life Force. The scene in the helicopter when the vampire turns to blood is an amazing effect. London all lite up looked pretty cool to. I also liked The Hidden. It looks like I'll have to check out Dark Star. Keep up the videos. I always find something new.
How about the Ninth Configuration starring Stacey Keach & The Presidents Analyst starring James Coburn. Two great crazy films that will keep you on your toes with all the twists & turns. Great acting top to bottom with lots of great performances.
Oh Robo-Geisha. I watched that when my friends and I were having a bad film night. There were tears of joy running down my face. They even got me the blu-ray version of it for my birthday
Cheers for the suggestions. I remember Steve Railsback as a Vietnam vet literally running on to a movie scene being chased by police in The Stunt Man with Peter O’Toole. Railsback had a lazy gate style of jog that seemed to match his acting. I thought he did a great job of portraying Charles Manson not so much with Stunt Man but O’Toole was as always endearing. Peas love and movies Blokeout.
Really enjoyed "Fishing Naked", it wears it almost student film credentials and low budget really well. "Spring" is a holiday horror/Sci-Fi romance that works really well. "Grabbers" is great fun Irish take on the 50s Sci-Fi small community invaded genre.
I loved attack the block. It's in that classic old british tradition of inserting something very unusual in the super familiar and pedestrian setting(Dr Who, Tomorrow People, Black Mirror etc.)
Only one of the five I've seen is The Hidden. Have the DVD. Agree with your observations except re Claudia Christian. In no way is she the least of this movie (or any). She's the icing on the cake.
I love Lifeforce and will be searching out Robo-Geisha. My head is full of VHS-Sci-Fi, but it's 3:am and I can't think of a title ATM to save my life. I'll have to get back to you.
Henry Mancini really got rolling in his career writing music for films like CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THIS ISLAND EARTH and TARANTULA, so his SF/horror credentials for scoring something like LIFEFORCE were pretty solid.
@@terrytalksmovies Indeed. I was mostly commenting to the effect that Mancini was no stranger to the SF film-music world. Even so, maybe not the best fit, particularly on this film.
Bravo for this list. (Or, Brave-o, for having had the courage to watch a couple of these mad movies!) THE HIDDEN is a hidden gem (see what I....never mind). It is very well done, with some nice new nuances introduced in depicting alien behavior, and should be much more well known.
I've seen and loved 4 out of these 5 (especially _The Hidden_ 👍), so absolutely I'll have to see the fifth, Robo-Geisha. Also, Jodie Whittaker had a nose job?? My faith in humanity is ... well, totally not all affected, actually.
Great insight into sci-fi on a budget. Life Force is one of my overall favorites, though still confusing. Saw Dark Star on VHS decades ago and it was shown in "letter screen (?) so as not to compromise the film's integrity. Will look for it again. You were spot on with Attack the Block. Intrigued by Robo Geisha. Reminds me of the old Starman movies, but with production upgrades, though not necessarily screenplay efforts. Will look for Hidden as well. Thanks so much for posting.
For once on the channel I've seen most of these, pretty enjoyable all of them. Life Force looks great, I'd read somewhere it was shot on 70mm film and looked glorious on the big screen. I'm sure I saw the VHS cover for The Hidden at our library when I was a kid, it had a horrible cover with one of the aliens starting to appear out of a man's mouth. I dared myself to drift past it and steal a look every time we visited.
Your comment at about 2 mins 42... You BEAUT! NAILED it! Oh, and each movie is a 100% solid choice for people who actually care about sci-fi movies. Not a single dud.
Another interesting selection. Dark Star - absolute classic. The ending is taken from a Ray Bradbury short story called Kaleidoscope, which I didn't find out until reading the story years after I first saw the film. Steve Railsback was good as Charles Manson in a 70s TV miniseries, Helter Skelter, based on Vincent Bugliosi's book. He also played Ed Gein in a 2000 film called In the Light of the Moon, which I haven't seen. Just a thought about Attack the Block: I haven't seen it but could the "Moore" in "Moore Court" be Alan rather than Patrick?
The Hidden is amazing. It is like Dale Cooper before Dale Cooper - in my head cannon he lives and it is the same character! Commented too soon! Dark Star is also amazing, one of the best. Love the idea that they have been in space for so long they have turned into slobs, they have been far from other humans for so long that they are bored of one another, they have heard each other's stories so many times they are tired of them. The scenes in the observation booth where they are talking and not listening to each other are great.
Still looking for Lifeforce and The Hidden. Robo Geisha is in my Netflix queue. It's said that after the poor response to the black comedy of Dark Star, the filmmakers said "OK, let's see how they like being scared." and they created Alien. Attack the Block sounds awesome. I can't imagine what a sequel will be like.
I remember watching Lifeforce and The Hidden. Lifeforce was an homage to the sci-fi invasion films of the 50’s( with blood, gore and nudity). Mathilda May was 19 when she was cast as The Space Girl and she did not speak a lot of English. The reference to Quatermass And The Pit was accurate because of the scenes of chaos and destruction in London. I thought it was well done in terms of the scope. Henry Mancini composed many stock scores for Universal International’s sci-fi films, most notably the three note motif for The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Michael Kamen(from Lethal Weapon and Die Hard) composed additional music (in the U.S. version). The Hidden was a lot of fun to watch. It was fast paced, funny and it grabs the viewer and never lets go. Attack The Block was original. The aliens were pretty frightening. I have not seen Dark Star or Robo Geisha. There is a Japanese film I had seen only once called Crossfire. It’s about a young woman who has pyrokinetic abilities recruited by a strange government organization to hunt down a serial killer. Two more Japanese films. Midnight Eagle, an action film about a bomber that crashed into the Japanese mountain ranges and it carried an armed nuclear weapon onboard. Parasite Eve. Weird but sad film.
Just a nerd observation regarding your "Dark Star" clip. There's a reference to Mission Control, McMurdo Sound Antarctica which is interesting as "Antarctica Traffic Control" features in "Alien" when the Nostromo first tries to contact it's home base. Not an obvious place, you might think, for a communications centre. Dan O'Bannon's influence maybe? I think "Dark Star" and "Lifeforce" are opposite ends of the spectrum it's "art house" low budget vs "big screen" bigger budget. However, both are crazy.
I knew Jamie Roberts who played the shuttle comms officer in Lifeforce, told me a few behind the scenes stories, basically they were centred on the fact that both Steve Railsback and director Tobe Hooper were a bit looney and trying to out-mad each other.
Dark Star is the perfect movie to kick back, spark up, and drink a couple of beers while just enjoying the ride. The whole idea of a sapient planet killing bomb is too bizarre not to get a laugh.
I thoroughly enjoyed Attack the Block. I had no idea Jody Whitaker and Nick Frost were in it. Probably because I didn't know either when I watched it. Although I think I might have seen Shaun of the Dead before, but I'm not certain.
3:18 (Life Force) It should be remembered that Mancini also did the music for Tarantula (1956) so let us not put his pedestal too high. I think this was an excellent score for this rollercoaster ride of a film. When I first saw this film I thought it was part of some bigger British SciFi world as characters came in and out like you were supposed to know them and the agencies they worked in. The movie version of Downton Abbey or something. Again, thank you for introducing me to a host of films I would not have normally heard of. Good or bad, it is an education I enjoy.
I have seen 4 of them. Lifeforce: ultra fun if you can ignore the weak story line. Just shut down some of the higher brain functions and enjoy. The Hidden: better then 80% of the SciFi crap that came out since then. DarK Star: can be a pit of pain to watch at parts, but consdering the background, the movie is hilarious. Attack the block: has already a good rep from SF fans, worth watching.
Dark Star was fun, but I thought the sequence with the "alien pet" went on a little too long, it started with "This is Fun" and about two thirds of the way through it was like "Bored now". The rest, just works so well. I am one of those table top RPG nerds, But I prefer the game Traveller to D&D, it is very flexible sci fi framework, two reference movies are Dark Star and the Sean Connery film "Outland" for the feel and a lot of the looks of the setting. Lifeforce, was strange and interesting. A true VHS classic. Attack the block is on my to watch list. I remember a good buzz about The Hidden, but somehow never got wound to seeing it.
Another stellar production. Out of that 5 I've only seen Lifeforce - which is certainly one hell of a film. Those Japanese features intrigued me, I've always been quite fond of Tokusatsu. Cheers mate!
The Hidden was one of many great films that I have seen because it happened to be next on the cable channel that I had been watching and I neglected to turn off the TV. The ending was very strange. Must find Robo-Geisha streaming somewhere.
To toss in a few of my favorite suggestions: The Apple (1980) - Another Cannon/Globus project, a (deep breath) disco musical sci-fi dystopia adaptation of the Christian apocalypse. One of my all-time favorite "so bad it's good" flicks, mostly for being SO tacky that it makes Eurovision look restrained and tasteful. Zardoz (1974) - I mean, most people have heard of it, but it still needs to be seen to be believed. John Boorman at his most coked up. Rock & Rule (1983) - One of the better Heavy Metal knockoffs, with a cast that includes Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. If possible, watch the original Canadian version; substantial changes were made for the US release and mostly for the worse. The Visitor (1979) - A cheapo Italian flick that was trying to shamelessly hop onto a half-dozen film trends at once (from CE3K to The Omen) somehow managed to wrap around to being strangely artistic and creative. Space Is The Place (1974) - Crazy jazz legend Sun Ra made a movie, one of the weirdest pieces of Afrofuturism/Blacksploitation ever. Psycho Goreman (2021) - A satirical 80s throwback that's basically "What if ET, but Thanos?" with great practical puppet/gore effects.
But what about X-tro, one of the weirdest films of the 80's? It's not usually an easy one to find, much less remember as it came and went. But it was on HBO very early on and I watched it a few times, haven't seen it since.
Hello. I share your appreciation of Hidden and Lifeforce. Hidden was one of Danny Trejo's first films. If you don't mind a suggestion, perhaps Galaxina would entertain you. Its just plain bonkers.
I haven't seen the Robo-Geisha films or Attack the Block yet, done the rest. However I have seen the Tetsuo: Iron Man and Tetsuo: Bodyhammer films, very interesting slant to cyberpunk. Shout out to other odd but interesting (even ahead of their time) movies Welcome to Blood City, Phase IV, The Last Wave, and Deathwatch.
I guess that the caption for your ending photomontage, of the ruins at Hiroshima no less, would be like the ending of the original "The Thing From Another World," "Keep watching the skies."
I caught Attack the Block one night when cannel surfing. I wasn't going to watch it initially since I thought it was going to be a gritty social realism snore. I'm glad I stayed though.
How about a review of 1980-1990s post apocalypse movies? Here's a few I'd like to hear your take on: "A Boy and His Dog," based on the Harlan Ellison short story that could arguably be called the inspiration for this entire genre. The other one I'd like to see critiqued in a meaningful way is called "Blood of Heroes." Written and directed by David Webb Peoples (before he wrote "Unforgiven," or "Blade Runner," or "Twelve Monkeys") It is a post apocalyptic "sports movie," played completely straight. The story follows a team of "Jugger" players as they travel across a barren landscape on their quest to reach what passes for the Jugger League Playoffs. The characters (played by a great cast, including Rutger Hauer and a very young Delroy Lindo.) are richly imagined and constantly surprising. Like all good science fiction, the story's premise plays like a narrow slice of a hugely imagined world.
@@terrytalksmovies Thanks. One of the things that always impressed me is despite being sci fi they're still good with little to no SFX, except for FAQ Time Travel.
Odd that Howard the Duck is so seldom mentioned. A lady of my acquaintance once remarked that this was due to plain old speciesism, if they had cast a heart throb in the lead role (instead of a duck) she reckoned its themes of confident female sexuality and empowerment and its mocking of humanity would have made it a major success among young women (in her words 'with the right guy in the role there wouldn't have been a dry seat in the house'). Another (non sci fi) film I'd like to see appear on DVD is The Upstairs Neighbour - Spoiler . . . The 'hero' a young lad living in an apartment starts to suspect his upstairs neighbour is a psycho killer, his paranoia mounts through the film until he runs out of the building to escape the guy and gets run down and killed. We never get to find out if the neighbour guy was psychotic or if it was the young lad descending into a personal psychosis. Nice.
_Lifeforce_ not sure about it, but I'm surprised that it is based on a Colin Wilson novel. He was a fascinating scifi writer (one of the few books I refuse to throw out is my copy of The Philosophers Stone). I'm guessing they botched the story or the story was just too intricate to adapt easily. Also, great description, "dehydrated Willem Dafoe". _Turbo Geisha_ sounds perfect. This hits my weak spot: anime intersecting with weird stuff. _Dark Star_ is a classic. It has a cult following, so I'm a little surprised at the implication it is obscure, or maybe I'm just getting old. Probably the latter.
Here's a couple more movies, air, a doomsday movie, with 1980s tech. Monsters, invasive species aliens invade south America. Loved the hidden, a hidden gem.
There is a 1960s British Science Fiction movie that reminds me of Lifeforce; the aliens are not naked but are all Asian for some reason. Do you remember anything like that? They were absorbing energy from a hospital to launch their space ship again . . . .
@@terrytalksmovies Damn that went to TV fast, it was on the "5 0'Clock movie in 1967 after being released in the states in 1966 and in GB in 1965 . . . ..
Nice video. Thanks. The novel "Space vampires" by Colin Wilson is very well written, in a smart way and in a sinister tone , but not cinematic at all. It could be a nice movie in other hands, but Tobe Hooper (surprise, surprise) is a mess and a miss. He might be good with psychopaths and chainsaws but science fiction isn't his thing. For me it is a testimony of a conceptual error (which is now the rule), the idea that the narrative derivation Science fiction - Horror makes them brother genres. Horror isn't my cup of tea but I love science fiction. Note: Always remembering that movies like Star Wars or Star Trek belong to the "space opera" genre not necessarily scifi.
My god I've actually seen all of these except for the Japanese ones. All classics, cult even. Makes me want to neck a few fermented vegetable juices and rewatch them.
I saw Lifeforce on the big screen, and yes, Mathilda May. I also rented Attack the Block back in 2011, but I made the mistake of watching it without subtitles. The heavy accents combined with the prodigious use of slang made it nearly impossible for me to understand anything being said. I think it qualifies as a foreign language film. Still, I managed to get enough out of the film to enjoy the characters and the truly unique aliens. Do Australians have as much trouble with some British movie dialogue as us Americans?
I felt sure that Boyega had a very promising career ahead of him after I saw _Attack the Block._ But outside of the _Star Wars_ movies (where his talent is totally wasted), I really haven't seen him in anything.
Of the 5 I've only seen Lifeforce and Dark Star. I really like them both. The most recent Sci-Fi film that I've seen is the 2014 Australian film Predestination, an adaptation of the Robert A. Heinlien short story "-All You Zombies-" A much better film than Starship Troopers, which wasn't faithful to the Heinlein novel. Carl Sagan listed "All You Zombies" as an example of how science fiction "can convey bits and pieces, hints and phrases, of knowledge unknown or inaccessible to the reader". It was written in 1958 (in just ONE day) and published in 1959. The protagonist is transgendered. It's available on DVD, blu-Ray, and Amazon Prime Video. PREDESTINATION TRAILER ruclips.net/video/-FcK_UiVV40/видео.html
life force is great ha ha it is on Netflix in the uk watched it few months back. is it Colin Wilson who wrote novels about the spider who take over the world and i seem to remember a high powered laser weapon?...the hidden great film. dark star ha ha also a classic the self opinionated missile is great. Attack the block was goodwill have to check out robo geisha.
I've seen Lifeforce, Dark Star (discussing existentialism with a smart bomb is hilarious), Attack the Block, but I'm not sure about Hidden; it seems familiar. On your suggestion I watched Robo-Geisha and Cutie Honey; I didn't like them at all. But now I'm wondering did manga inspire anime? The only Manga I can say I like is "Lone wolf and cub" cheers
@@terrytalksmovies I saw a few episodes of a TV productions of Lone Wolf (living in Brazil) but I could tell it was out of sequence and didn't make sense. I had not known about the Manga at the time, unavailable in Brazil. Later when it came out I bought them and I also bought a few while in Philadelphia. The difference was the Brazilian edition respected the Japanese layout and it was necessary to read turning the pages from left to right; the American version the pages were turned from right to left resulting in the images were reversed (like in a mirror). I've kept them because I now do woodblock printing and the Lone wolf illustrations are excellent to study. Cheers
I'm not sure why - but even though I've read multiple articles, seen the reviews, listened to the retrospectives - I've never seen Lifeforce. However I have seen Morons from Outer Space. Numerous times
"Dehydrated Willem Dafoe" made me laugh out loud. Perfect😆
OMG that space vampire movie I thought it was great back in the day❤️🐸
Lifeforce was nutty, but the line about Boris Johnson, solid gold.
Thank you. 😀
I adore Lifeforce. That movie has literally EVERYTHING!
Lifeforce is AWESOME!!!!,you kind of get the feeling that a lot of recreational drugs were involved in the production meetings,no one stopped the ensuing cinematic mayhem and it all worked so well,its the very model of what a midnight cult film should be. Darkstar was and still is a childhood favorite of mine,i was lucky enough to watch it when i was quite young so it embedded itself in my psyche,I'm pretty sure the creators of Red Dwarf said it was a major influence on them(which it obviously is)
LIFEFORCE is my pick of the litter and one of my Top Favorite Films. I've grown up watching it so much from VHS to DVD and Blu-ray and it never gets old! Great cast, great production design, awesome visuals and set pieces... and I had played the Henry Mancini soundtrack to death starting in my mid-teens when I first saw this film!
"Lifeforce" not only features my favorite Peter Firth performance, but continually wins my yearly "Best Naked Space Vampire in Films" Award.
Well said Terry. Dark Star is one of my favorite movies to this day.
Dark Star is one of my favorite films! I love showing it to people to see their reactions.
Thank you, Terry! You have again gone over a good selection of movies. The Hidden and Dark Star are two of my favorites!
Glad you like them!
The Hidden is uniquely good because it stays with those 2 main characters and their development. As noted, particularly the homicide cop. Few sci fi flicks even now are good at that. Only the ending is kinda silly, but the rest is a classic.
The Porsche V Ferrari sequence at the beginning was taught in SCAD's film studies for its editing!
I really liked the Hidden. It was a great surprise. I remember a journalist described Kyle Mc Lachlan as "eerie" and that came to mind watching the film. My favorite bits :when we find out his FBI car was a Porsche 911 and when he leans out during the car chase and empties his gun, his face expressionless oblivious to anything other than getting the alien escapee. lifeforce I mostly remember because of Mathilda May. She was close to my age at the time and I remember some guys going to see the movie with the "naked hot vampire"
Steve Railsback was great in The Stuntman. That was also really entertaining...😊
I do like The Stuntman. It suited Railsback's style and Peter O'Toole was magnificent in it.
Dark Star is one one of my all time favourite low budget movies. Great dialogue,beach ball alien and an existential conversation with a planet destroying bomb.What's not to like ? Plus it's a John Carpenter movie.
_Amazon Women On The Moon_ reference.👍
And _The Hidden_ rules. Along with _Highlander,_ _Manhunter,_ & _Big Trouble In Little China_ - 1986 was the year of bombs that aged into classics.
Agree about The Hidden, absolutely love it. Everyone is just right in their roles
Big trouble in little china and the hidden were films from 1987
Zardoz is by far my favorite movie in the WTF sci fi category. It's one of those movies that can be endlessly analysed (as far as I can tell it's also the only movie that shows Sean Connery in a wedding dress). Altered States is also pretty far out. Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and Moontrap are cheesy 80's fun.
I loved Life Force. The scene in the helicopter when the vampire turns to blood is an amazing effect. London all lite up looked pretty cool to. I also liked The Hidden. It looks like I'll have to check out Dark Star. Keep up the videos. I always find something new.
the craziest SF movie ever is Zardoz.
Great "playlist". Knocked out of the park. Thanks.
My pleasure
How about the Ninth Configuration starring Stacey Keach & The Presidents Analyst starring James Coburn. Two great crazy films that will keep you on your toes with all the twists & turns. Great acting top to bottom with lots of great performances.
The President's Analyst is in this video. ruclips.net/video/kt_GrjuyYxI/видео.html
I like Lifeforce too, weird though it is.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space probably fits in here too and The Stuff.
Great list
Look back through the archive. I did a retrospective on Larry Cohen movies like The Stuff. 😀
Oh Robo-Geisha. I watched that when my friends and I were having a bad film night. There were tears of joy running down my face. They even got me the blu-ray version of it for my birthday
Keep friends who do thst!
Cheers for the suggestions. I remember Steve Railsback as a Vietnam vet literally running on to a movie scene being chased by police in The Stunt Man with Peter O’Toole. Railsback had a lazy gate style of jog that seemed to match his acting. I thought he did a great job of portraying Charles Manson not so much with Stunt Man but O’Toole was as always endearing. Peas love and movies Blokeout.
I might have to rewatch The Stunt Man soon.
Really enjoyed "Fishing Naked", it wears it almost student film credentials and low budget really well. "Spring" is a holiday horror/Sci-Fi romance that works really well. "Grabbers" is great fun Irish take on the 50s Sci-Fi small community invaded genre.
Grabbers is alot of fun.
I liked Grabbers
Two things I remember from Dark Star; Pinback getting trapped in the elevator shaft and Doolittle space surfing.
It's fun and great for the budget.
Dan O'Bannon also did the computer readouts for the original 'Star Wars' (1977) - not the Death Star simulation, but all the ship readouts.
I loved attack the block. It's in that classic old british tradition of inserting something very unusual in the super familiar and pedestrian setting(Dr Who, Tomorrow People, Black Mirror etc.)
Great stuff! _Life Force_ and _Dark Star_ are the only two I’ve seen. Dark Star is a hoot and Life Force is quintessential 80s sci-fi!
All of these are now on my to watch list, Thanks TF
Only one of the five I've seen is The Hidden. Have the DVD. Agree with your observations except re Claudia Christian. In no way is she the least of this movie (or any). She's the icing on the cake.
I love Lifeforce and will be searching out Robo-Geisha. My head is full of VHS-Sci-Fi, but it's 3:am and I can't think of a title ATM to save my life. I'll have to get back to you.
Going down the rabbit hole of cheaply made modern Japanese science fiction is dangerous!
Henry Mancini really got rolling in his career writing music for films like CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THIS ISLAND EARTH and TARANTULA, so his SF/horror credentials for scoring something like LIFEFORCE were pretty solid.
It's far from his best work @RSEFX
@@terrytalksmovies Indeed. I was mostly commenting to the effect that Mancini was no stranger to the SF film-music world. Even so, maybe not the best fit, particularly on this film.
As always... Great list based on what I've seen & I'm marking the ones I've not seen as homework! Thanks Again Terry!
Glad to help
Life Force is the best live action anime ever made! 🤯🤯🤯
You asked about recent SF I liked - "Vast is the Night" & "Prospect", finally, some original writing.
Vast of Night didn't add much to the game but visually, it's striking.
Bravo for this list. (Or, Brave-o, for having had the courage to watch a couple of these mad movies!)
THE HIDDEN is a hidden gem (see what I....never mind). It is very well done, with some nice new nuances introduced in depicting alien behavior, and should be much more well known.
Agreed.
I've seen and loved 4 out of these 5 (especially _The Hidden_ 👍), so absolutely I'll have to see the fifth, Robo-Geisha.
Also, Jodie Whittaker had a nose job?? My faith in humanity is ... well, totally not all affected, actually.
Thank you for the Robo Geisha tip, looks great! I've just about every 80's flick that came to Canada.
I like Big Meat Eater.
And now I have the bombastic theme of Lifeforce bouncing around my skull for the rest of the day.
RoboGeisha is something I doubt I will ever forget, because of one single scene - the buttsword sword fight.
Buttswords Rock.
If you want more memories like that go watch Tokyo gore police :-)
Great insight into sci-fi on a budget. Life Force is one of my overall favorites, though still confusing. Saw Dark Star on VHS decades ago and it was shown in "letter screen (?) so as not to compromise the film's integrity. Will look for it again. You were spot on with Attack the Block. Intrigued by Robo Geisha. Reminds me of the old Starman movies, but with production upgrades, though not necessarily screenplay efforts. Will look for Hidden as well. Thanks so much for posting.
My pleasure.
For once on the channel I've seen most of these, pretty enjoyable all of them.
Life Force looks great, I'd read somewhere it was shot on 70mm film and looked glorious on the big screen.
I'm sure I saw the VHS cover for The Hidden at our library when I was a kid, it had a horrible cover with one of the aliens starting to appear out of a man's mouth. I dared myself to drift past it and steal a look every time we visited.
Not sure if it counts as wacky but it is smartly and darkly bent...
Altered States.
It's crazy AF.
Your comment at about 2 mins 42... You BEAUT! NAILED it!
Oh, and each movie is a 100% solid choice for people who actually care about sci-fi movies. Not a single dud.
Thanks, mate. 😉😀
Nice choices! Loved Dark Star. Attack the Block is a lotta fun, too. Life Force never got what it deserved..
Enjoyed your thoughts! TYVM!
My pleasure.
Objection your honour - Attack the Blocks aliens were not unique having appeared on the side of "Space Invader" video game cabinets since the 1970s
The space invaders ones are more like the I'd monster in Forbidden Planet.
I still can't look at Peter Firth without thinking of Here Come the Double Deckers. That's showing my age.
Low budget,but very influential.Dark Star to Red Dwarf,The hidden to X Files. I also loved Lifeforce as a kid.Long live Golan and Globus.
Another interesting selection. Dark Star - absolute classic. The ending is taken from a Ray Bradbury short story called Kaleidoscope, which I didn't find out until reading the story years after I first saw the film.
Steve Railsback was good as Charles Manson in a 70s TV miniseries, Helter Skelter, based on Vincent Bugliosi's book. He also played Ed Gein in a 2000 film called In the Light of the Moon, which I haven't seen.
Just a thought about Attack the Block: I haven't seen it but could the "Moore" in "Moore Court" be Alan rather than Patrick?
Could be either Moore, though thematically Patrick seems more likely to me.
Patrick M did write the odd bit of SF too, so either's possible, unless they just got Michael Moorcock's name wrong.
The Hidden is amazing. It is like Dale Cooper before Dale Cooper - in my head cannon he lives and it is the same character!
Commented too soon! Dark Star is also amazing, one of the best. Love the idea that they have been in space for so long they have turned into slobs, they have been far from other humans for so long that they are bored of one another, they have heard each other's stories so many times they are tired of them. The scenes in the observation booth where they are talking and not listening to each other are great.
Still looking for Lifeforce and The Hidden. Robo Geisha is in my Netflix queue.
It's said that after the poor response to the black comedy of Dark Star, the filmmakers said "OK, let's see how they like being scared." and they created Alien.
Attack the Block sounds awesome. I can't imagine what a sequel will be like.
I'm withhold judgment on Attack The Block 2 until I have info. I think that's only fair.
I remember watching Lifeforce and The Hidden. Lifeforce was an homage to the sci-fi invasion films of the 50’s( with blood, gore and nudity). Mathilda May was 19 when she was cast as The Space Girl and she did not speak a lot of English. The reference to Quatermass And The Pit was accurate because of the scenes of chaos and destruction in London. I thought it was well done in terms of the scope.
Henry Mancini composed many stock scores for Universal International’s sci-fi films, most notably the three note motif for The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Michael Kamen(from Lethal Weapon and Die Hard) composed additional music (in the U.S. version).
The Hidden was a lot of fun to watch. It was fast paced, funny and it grabs the viewer and never lets go.
Attack The Block was original. The aliens were pretty frightening.
I have not seen Dark Star or Robo Geisha.
There is a Japanese film I had seen only once called Crossfire. It’s about a young woman who has pyrokinetic abilities recruited by a strange government organization to hunt down a serial killer.
Two more Japanese films. Midnight Eagle, an action film about a bomber that crashed into the Japanese mountain ranges and it carried an armed nuclear weapon onboard.
Parasite Eve. Weird but sad film.
Good choices
Just a nerd observation regarding your "Dark Star" clip. There's a reference to Mission Control, McMurdo Sound Antarctica which is interesting as "Antarctica Traffic Control" features in "Alien" when the Nostromo first tries to contact it's home base. Not an obvious place, you might think, for a communications centre. Dan O'Bannon's influence maybe? I think "Dark Star" and "Lifeforce" are opposite ends of the spectrum it's "art house" low budget vs "big screen" bigger budget. However, both are crazy.
I knew Jamie Roberts who played the shuttle comms officer in Lifeforce, told me a few behind the scenes stories, basically they were centred on the fact that both Steve Railsback and director Tobe Hooper were a bit looney and trying to out-mad each other.
Railsback is a strange actor.
You fail to mention that Dark Star strongly influenced Alien. Great list btw.
Dark Star is the perfect movie to kick back, spark up, and drink a couple of beers while just enjoying the ride. The whole idea of a sapient planet killing bomb is too bizarre not to get a laugh.
I thoroughly enjoyed Attack the Block. I had no idea Jody Whitaker and Nick Frost were in it. Probably because I didn't know either when I watched it. Although I think I might have seen Shaun of the Dead before, but I'm not certain.
3:18 (Life Force) It should be remembered that Mancini also did the music for Tarantula (1956) so let us not put his pedestal too high. I think this was an excellent score for this rollercoaster ride of a film. When I first saw this film I thought it was part of some bigger British SciFi world as characters came in and out like you were supposed to know them and the agencies they worked in. The movie version of Downton Abbey or something.
Again, thank you for introducing me to a host of films I would not have normally heard of. Good or bad, it is an education I enjoy.
My pleasure. Never seen Downton Abbey. Probably won't. 😉
@@terrytalksmovies Probably not your style. Keep up all your good work.
I have seen 4 of them.
Lifeforce: ultra fun if you can ignore the weak story line. Just shut down some of the higher brain functions and enjoy.
The Hidden: better then 80% of the SciFi crap that came out since then.
DarK Star: can be a pit of pain to watch at parts, but consdering the background, the movie is hilarious.
Attack the block: has already a good rep from SF fans, worth watching.
I loved Attack the Block. SO GOOD.
Dark Star was fun, but I thought the sequence with the "alien pet" went on a little too long, it started with "This is Fun" and about two thirds of the way through it was like "Bored now". The rest, just works so well. I am one of those table top RPG nerds, But I prefer the game Traveller to D&D, it is very flexible sci fi framework, two reference movies are Dark Star and the Sean Connery film "Outland" for the feel and a lot of the looks of the setting.
Lifeforce, was strange and interesting. A true VHS classic.
Attack the block is on my to watch list. I remember a good buzz about The Hidden, but somehow never got wound to seeing it.
10:01 Also references to Frank Herbert, J G Ballard, and Douglas Adams in the street names.
I love The Hidden and Dark Star!
OK, here's a quirky SF movie: Paul, a 2011 film directed by Greg Mottola.
I found it deeply predictable and ordinary, but some people liked it.
Aaannd, Attack The Block now ordered.
I guessed you were talking about Lifeforce. Seen 4 of those, liked 3 of them.
I read Space Vampires as a teenager, a few years before the movie Lifeforce came out...goofy SF movie from the '80s..." Spaced Invaders"..
4mins in and I just knew from your description the film being described would be the cult classic LIFEFORCE. Me? I'm a mind reader
Another stellar production. Out of that 5 I've only seen Lifeforce - which is certainly one hell of a film. Those Japanese features intrigued me, I've always been quite fond of Tokusatsu. Cheers mate!
The Hidden was one of many great films that I have seen because it happened to be next on the cable channel that I had been watching and I neglected to turn off the TV. The ending was very strange.
Must find Robo-Geisha streaming somewhere.
To toss in a few of my favorite suggestions:
The Apple (1980) - Another Cannon/Globus project, a (deep breath) disco musical sci-fi dystopia adaptation of the Christian apocalypse. One of my all-time favorite "so bad it's good" flicks, mostly for being SO tacky that it makes Eurovision look restrained and tasteful.
Zardoz (1974) - I mean, most people have heard of it, but it still needs to be seen to be believed. John Boorman at his most coked up.
Rock & Rule (1983) - One of the better Heavy Metal knockoffs, with a cast that includes Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. If possible, watch the original Canadian version; substantial changes were made for the US release and mostly for the worse.
The Visitor (1979) - A cheapo Italian flick that was trying to shamelessly hop onto a half-dozen film trends at once (from CE3K to The Omen) somehow managed to wrap around to being strangely artistic and creative.
Space Is The Place (1974) - Crazy jazz legend Sun Ra made a movie, one of the weirdest pieces of Afrofuturism/Blacksploitation ever.
Psycho Goreman (2021) - A satirical 80s throwback that's basically "What if ET, but Thanos?" with great practical puppet/gore effects.
Good choices though I haven't seen The Apple yet.
But what about X-tro, one of the weirdest films of the 80's? It's not usually an easy one to find, much less remember as it came and went. But it was on HBO very early on and I watched it a few times, haven't seen it since.
Hello. I share your appreciation of Hidden and Lifeforce. Hidden was one of Danny Trejo's first films. If you don't mind a suggestion, perhaps Galaxina would entertain you. Its just plain bonkers.
I'll have to check out Galaxina.
as an Aussie living in the UK you get a double thumbs up for the bojo wonder clown comment :)
Yep. Our Scotty From Marketing is no better.
I haven't seen the Robo-Geisha films or Attack the Block yet, done the rest. However I have seen the Tetsuo: Iron Man and Tetsuo: Bodyhammer films, very interesting slant to cyberpunk. Shout out to other odd but interesting (even ahead of their time) movies Welcome to Blood City, Phase IV, The Last Wave, and Deathwatch.
All great films in their own ways.
I guess that the caption for your ending photomontage, of the ruins at Hiroshima no less, would be like the ending of the original "The Thing From Another World," "Keep watching the skies."
Yep. We took the Hiroshima images in 2019.
I caught Attack the Block one night when cannel surfing. I wasn't going to watch it initially since I thought it was going to be a gritty social realism snore. I'm glad I stayed though.
Cool monsters and a few good twists of character.
I knew of 2 of these films.John Carpenter's Dark Star I knew of but have never seen and the other was Attack the Block.The rest sound interesting.
They all are.
How about a review of 1980-1990s post apocalypse movies? Here's a few I'd like to hear your take on: "A Boy and His Dog," based on the Harlan Ellison short story that could arguably be called the inspiration for this entire genre.
The other one I'd like to see critiqued in a meaningful way is called "Blood of Heroes." Written and directed by David Webb Peoples (before he wrote "Unforgiven," or "Blade Runner," or "Twelve Monkeys")
It is a post apocalyptic "sports movie," played completely straight. The story follows a team of "Jugger" players as they travel across a barren landscape on their quest to reach what passes for the Jugger League Playoffs. The characters (played by a great cast, including Rutger Hauer and a very young Delroy Lindo.) are richly imagined and constantly surprising. Like all good science fiction, the story's premise plays like a narrow slice of a hugely imagined world.
Who knows what the future will bring?
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.
Palm Springs
About Time
Primer
Good choices.
@@terrytalksmovies Thanks. One of the things that always impressed me is despite being sci fi they're still good with little to no SFX, except for FAQ Time Travel.
Odd that Howard the Duck is so seldom mentioned. A lady of my acquaintance once remarked that this was due to plain old speciesism, if they had cast a heart throb in the lead role (instead of a duck) she reckoned its themes of confident female sexuality and empowerment and its mocking of humanity would have made it a major success among young women (in her words 'with the right guy in the role there wouldn't have been a dry seat in the house'). Another (non sci fi) film I'd like to see appear on DVD is The Upstairs Neighbour - Spoiler . . .
The 'hero' a young lad living in an apartment starts to suspect his upstairs neighbour is a psycho killer, his paranoia mounts through the film until he runs out of the building to escape the guy and gets run down and killed. We never get to find out if the neighbour guy was psychotic or if it was the young lad descending into a personal psychosis. Nice.
Cool
Sooo...
Lifeforce
RoboGeisha
Hidden
Dark Star and
Attack the Block
I WANT to see Robo Geisha !!!
Go for it! Total fun.
_Lifeforce_ not sure about it, but I'm surprised that it is based on a Colin Wilson novel. He was a fascinating scifi writer (one of the few books I refuse to throw out is my copy of The Philosophers Stone). I'm guessing they botched the story or the story was just too intricate to adapt easily. Also, great description, "dehydrated Willem Dafoe".
_Turbo Geisha_ sounds perfect. This hits my weak spot: anime intersecting with weird stuff.
_Dark Star_ is a classic. It has a cult following, so I'm a little surprised at the implication it is obscure, or maybe I'm just getting old. Probably the latter.
Here's a couple more movies, air, a doomsday movie, with 1980s tech. Monsters, invasive species aliens invade south America. Loved the hidden, a hidden gem.
Good choices there.
Most delicious :-)
And yes, the worst Movie is Boris, trying to sort two things simultaneously !
That would be a great idea for Aardmore. "Wallace and Grommit vs. The Thing From Whitehall!"
There is a 1960s British Science Fiction movie that reminds me of Lifeforce; the aliens are not naked but are all Asian for some reason. Do you remember anything like that? They were absorbing energy from a hospital to launch their space ship again . . . .
Invasion, with Edward Judd.
@@terrytalksmovies Thank you. I saw it in 1968 on TV and no one has ever heard of anything like this.
@@terrytalksmovies Damn that went to TV fast, it was on the "5 0'Clock movie in 1967 after being released in the states in 1966 and in GB in 1965 . . . ..
Seen them all except the Geisha one (never heard of it). Think I liked The Hidden the best.
Robo-Geisha is fun if you can track it down.
Nice video. Thanks. The novel "Space vampires" by Colin Wilson is very well written, in a smart way and in a sinister tone , but not cinematic at all. It could be a nice movie in other hands, but Tobe Hooper (surprise, surprise) is a mess and a miss. He might be good with psychopaths and chainsaws but science fiction isn't his thing. For me it is a testimony of a conceptual error (which is now the rule), the idea that the narrative derivation Science fiction - Horror makes them brother genres. Horror isn't my cup of tea but I love science fiction. Note: Always remembering that movies like Star Wars or Star Trek belong to the "space opera" genre not necessarily scifi.
My god I've actually seen all of these except for the Japanese ones.
All classics, cult even.
Makes me want to neck a few fermented vegetable juices and rewatch them.
Go for it! What's the worst that could go wrong?
Quite enjoy these sort of films. Try Heartbeeps/Galaxy Lords/ Space truckers and the truly awful Saga of a Crew.
I once did a convention panel with the producer of Space Truckers. Nice guy.
I saw Lifeforce on the big screen, and yes, Mathilda May.
I also rented Attack the Block back in 2011, but I made the mistake of watching it without subtitles. The heavy accents combined with the prodigious use of slang made it nearly impossible for me to understand anything being said. I think it qualifies as a foreign language film. Still, I managed to get enough out of the film to enjoy the characters and the truly unique aliens.
Do Australians have as much trouble with some British movie dialogue as us Americans?
No problem with English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh accents. The more accents you hear, the better you tune your ears.
I never saw any of these. I hope see them soon.
Go for it. Should be a groovy ride.
So right about the CGI heavy movies Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was ruined by to much CGI
I felt sure that Boyega had a very promising career ahead of him after I saw _Attack the Block._ But outside of the _Star Wars_ movies (where his talent is totally wasted), I really haven't seen him in anything.
Yep SW did piss away an opportunity with John Boyega but he's still young. Hope his career becomes whatever he wants it to be.
Of the 5 I've only seen Lifeforce and Dark Star. I really like them both. The most recent Sci-Fi film that I've seen is the 2014 Australian film Predestination, an adaptation of the Robert A. Heinlien short story "-All You Zombies-" A much better film than Starship Troopers, which wasn't faithful to the Heinlein novel.
Carl Sagan listed "All You Zombies" as an example of how science fiction "can convey bits and pieces, hints and phrases, of knowledge unknown or inaccessible to the reader". It was written in 1958 (in just ONE day) and published in 1959. The protagonist is transgendered. It's available on DVD, blu-Ray, and Amazon Prime Video.
PREDESTINATION TRAILER
ruclips.net/video/-FcK_UiVV40/видео.html
I have it on blu-ray. There's another Heinlein adaptation in my next video, too.
@@terrytalksmovies GREAT! I can't wait to see which film it is. I own Predestination on DVD and Amazon Prime Video (HD version).
@@cessnaace Cool. The video will be out Wednesday, my time.
life force is great ha ha it is on Netflix in the uk watched it few months back. is it Colin Wilson who wrote novels about the spider who take over the world and i seem to remember a high powered laser weapon?...the hidden great film. dark star ha ha also a classic the self opinionated missile is great. Attack the block was goodwill have to check out robo geisha.
Robo Geisha is awesome! :-D
I've seen Lifeforce, Dark Star (discussing existentialism with a smart bomb is hilarious), Attack the Block, but I'm not sure about Hidden; it seems familiar. On your suggestion I watched Robo-Geisha and Cutie Honey; I didn't like them at all. But now I'm wondering did manga inspire anime? The only Manga I can say I like is "Lone wolf and cub"
cheers
Manga did inspire anime. The live action Lone Wolf and Cub are great, too.
@@terrytalksmovies I saw a few episodes of a TV productions of Lone Wolf (living in Brazil) but I could tell it was out of sequence and didn't make sense. I had not known about the Manga at the time, unavailable in Brazil. Later when it came out I bought them and I also bought a few while in Philadelphia. The difference was the Brazilian edition respected the Japanese layout and it was necessary to read turning the pages from left to right; the American version the pages were turned from right to left resulting in the images were reversed (like in a mirror). I've kept them because I now do woodblock printing and the Lone wolf illustrations are excellent to study.
Cheers
I'm not sure why - but even though I've read multiple articles, seen the reviews, listened to the retrospectives - I've never seen Lifeforce.
However I have seen Morons from Outer Space. Numerous times