I don’t buy many DVDs anymore thanks to Blu-rays and 4k UHDs, but when I do, it’s because I really want the movie, and DVD is the only format on which it is available. As was the case with these three that I recently added to my movie collection.
METAMORPHOSIS: THE ALIEN FACTOR (1990)
Unfathomable that I missed this one at a time when I had HBO and was working at a mom-and-pop video store, but here we are. But after catching it on cable on a snowy Saturday afternoon this past winter like it was 1990 all over again, I had to add it to my movie collection.
This is a sci-fi/horror flick with gore and creature practical effects. While totally formulaic based on its era of origin (mutant creature gets loose in some sort of contained scientific environment), it is a treat for those looking for something to bring on the nostalgia feels.
Experiments with alien matter from space go horribly wrong in a lab. You’d think the scientists would learn to be more careful once they have cages full of mutant animals, but no. One of the researchers is bitten and begins a gruesome good metamorphosis into a nasty creature.
Meanwhile, his grown daughter comes looking for him since he never came home the night before. Little does she know her younger sister has followed her there. Little do any of them know that monster daddy has escaped and is killing lab faculty left and right.
There’s a classic chest burst, attack tentacles, spitball leech thingies, smaller mutant creatures running around, research baddies thwarting the main girls, hilarious fights, both between humans and between monster and humans, and a final battle to get the creature into a machine of some sort to give it a good jolt, with perfectly cheesy electrical effects.
To top it all off, we get to see the dad naked when he’s not in monster form, and the closing credits song, “Baby You’ve Changed” by Peter M. Stoller, is possibly one of the best unknown, unreleased 80s soundtrack songs ever.
OFFICE UPRISING (2018)
I accidentally learned this movie exists because the hubby and I are on an Alan Ritchson kick and trying to check out as many of his action flicks as we can. He isn’t as beefy here as he is in his show Reacher, and he’s also not in the film much, but I wish he was, because he nails his office dude bro role.
Anyway, the movie has several familiar faces, was nowhere to be found streaming, and is only available on DVD, so I blind bought it due to the fact that it’s probably going to become a rare film to find. Glad I own it, because it fricking rocks.
Our main dude works at a weapons factory, so there are plenty of jabs at gun nuts and conservative nationalism mindsets. There are also plenty of guns around to use as defense when an energy drink the company sells begins turning all the office employees into crazies. Awesome!
For starters, we get some typical office movie shtick and banter. Then, poking fun at corporate culture, we see our main dude not even noticing that there are dead coworkers all around him as he makes his way to his cubicle in the morning.
However, he very quickly discovers that those still alive have become running, jumping, infected crazies! The film delivers just the kind of fun characters, comedy, action, and violence needed to keep the pace moving at a fast clip.
Jane Levy of the Evil Dead remake appears as the main guy’s love interest, and Zachary Levi is his asshole boss. Kind of sux, because Levi is really good in the role, probably because he’s an asshole in real life.
Along with all the excitement, action, and kick-ass fight scenes as the main characters try to escape the office building alive, there are even clashing teams of crazies within the company, showing how vowing loyalty to a corporation is psychotic.
This is definitely a goodie for a watch party…especially if you invite your coworkers and serve energy drinks.
ICK (2024)
In the tradition of movies like Slither, The Faculty, and Night of the Creeps, Ick is fricking awesome! I accidentally stumbled on the trailer on YouTube, and since it’s not available to stream anywhere, I had to buy the Canadian DVD release because it wasn’t released anywhere else on any format. What the hell?
Ick gives us what’s been missing in movies these days—nostalgia for 20 years ago. It begins in “2000 something”, but you will be catapulted back to the exact time by the awesome soundtrack, which includes the likes of The All-American Rejects, Good Charlotte, The Killers, Hoobastank, Yellowcard, Fountains of Wayne, Paramore, Creed, Blink-182, and Plain White T’s. This is the new millennium throwback wave we haven’t gotten to ride in film.
It also stars Brandon Routh of Dylan Dog. The high school opener has him and Mena Suvari de-aged and dressed in early 2000s style. Here is the film’s one big flaw. The two are dating, and he’s a high school football star…until a small “ick” tentacle pops out of the ground during a game, which ends up leaving Brandon in a leg brace for life, ruining his chances of getting out of his town.
The backstory could have just had him breaking his leg simply from playing the game, because introducing the ick so early is just weird. When we flash forward to modern times, the town has actually been infiltrated by ick, which is an ugly, invasive plant the locals have just come to live with. Why would they be so surprised when the ick finally begins turning on them and possessing them, transforming them into zombies? This same thing could have happened if a meteor had landed on earth and released the ick in classic sci-fi creature feature fashion, making its sudden appearance an actual surprise to the town.’
Instead, Brandon, whose high school sweetheart dumped him after his football career ended, has been studying the ick, and is the one who suspects it’s taking over. His motive for the rest of the movie becomes to convince everyone the ick is dangerous and to rescue his ex’s teen daughter when the ick crashes a pool party.
The film is pure creature feature fun, with zombified people and ick tentacles growing everywhere. There’s a funny queer jab at JK Rowling, along with some jabs at small town conservative conspiracy theories. Best of all, when the military rolls into town to save the day (which always ruins a horror movie for me), the locals force them to leave so the prom won’t be canceled. Awesome.
Naturally, the prom is where the boss battle with the quickly growing ick kicks off. The final act is a total blast as Brandon teams up with some teens to kill the ick once and for all.
