“Why don’t people take me seriously anymore?”

When I was 10 years old I took break dancing lessons at the local YMCA. My variety of moves was limited to “the wave” and “the centipede” and not much else. But I did have enough common sense to give myself the cool street name of “Electromagic.” Ok you can stop laughing now. I was like a cross between Vanilla Ice and Urkel complete with big hair and parachute pants (in case I ever had to perform an emergency sky dive.) I was poppin’ and lockin’ my way to early midlife back problems and practicing loop tracks on my Casio keyboard. I can still play a mean rendition of Chaka Khan.

Breakin’ brought back all these frightening memories of my early dancing fame. The single brain cell storyline revolves around a struggling jazz dancer, Kelly played played by Lucinda “got no groove” Dickey who hopes to make it big on Broadway someday. During the day she works at a greasy diner as a waitress, then takes evening dance classes under the tutoring of an even greasier dance instructor. One day he puts his best dirty dance moves on her. Disgusted by his creepy Swayze ways, she quits his class and storms out.

Later that day her flamboyant best friend introduces her to a couple of local street dancers named Ozone and Turbo. Ozone played by Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones and Turbo played by “Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers are showing off their super 80’s dance moves at the nearby beach. They have the ability to levitate brooms and can bust a groove but dress like blind people lost in a renaissance costume factory. Specifically watch for Ozone’s Zorro-Michael Jackson ensemble and Turbo’s karate-kid inspired outfit that would make Mr. Miyagee cry.

Seeing that Kelly has got some bad dance moves of her own, the two take her to the local dance-off where street gangs dressed as satanic French men battle with epileptic inspired moves while Ice-T rattles out some “G” rated rap. The losers are most likely to get shot in a drive-by later but Kelly still wants to join the team and help create an unholy dance revenge of terror. With her fine balletic skills and jazz hands she should fit right in.

Against their better judgment they let her join the team and give her the street title “Special K” because you’re only cool if your named after a breakfast cereal. She dances like a corn flake, at first crispy but then gets soggy in milk. Ozone begins to fall in love with her though it’s hard to tell since he seems to exhibit only two types of emotions…frustration and apathy.

Can Kelly ever fit in with a street dancer who wears cut-off shirts and shark tooth ear-rings? Can Ozone ever date someone who lacks his accessorizing skills? Kelly enlists the help of a Hollywood agent who oozes slime as he tries to get them the big break on Broadway so they just might end up dressed as extras in the community players rendition of Cats. Having a difficult time fitting in with the old rich people and finger food at a local society party, Ozone breaks up with Kelly figuring he can’t be apart of her new rich world. Soon he finds there’s a hole in his Ozone heart for her that only 2 scoops of special “K” can fill.

The big tryouts are finally upon them and they dress themselves in top hats and tuxedos. Not blending with the other hopefuls contestants who appear to be dressed in western attire including Kelly’s former dance teacher who resembles an evil Colonel Sanders. Will Turbo Ozone and Special “K” make it on Broadway? Will they ever fine clothes that match?

A great nostalgic trip to the boom-box days of break dancing. It’s definitely smells of cheese but it’s a good kind of cheese. So go check it out and get your boogie on the dance floor. Chaka Khan… Chaka Khan…

Keep an eye out for…
- Jean-Claude Van Damme as a spectator in the crowd
- dance floor epileptic seizures
- diner owners with glandular problems
- whirling guy on crutches
- gratuitous use of head bands and ankle warmers
- midget dancers in garbage cans
- ice-t “lite”
- voodoo broom levitations

“ladies and gentlemen, Electromagic has left the building……on a stretcher.”

rated 7.6 out of 10 for the movie

Check out the trailer for Breakin’

“Have you ever given thought to learning more about the church of clownology. Cotton candy is the way to enlightenment.”

I’ve wondered what marketing genius decided to combine the dining experience of eating hamburgers with the theme of clowns. Apparently back in the 50’s some marketing executives were sitting around a table smoking some weed and decided “You know what we need to get people to eat our hamburgers, a giant creepy clown in a yellow jump suit” And so McDonald’s was born. A looming ghost faced lunatic who lures children with the promise of cheap plastic toys and obesity in every bag. Nothing says family dining like fast food and circus themes. But why stop at the clown, wheres the trapeze in the kids play area? Where’s the hamburger cannon that shoots the wrapped food to your table? Oh well I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before the McDonald’s marketing guys give that a try.

In Killer Klowns from Outer Space alien mutant clowns want us for their own fast food meals. When a 80’s couple at the local makeout spot are solicited to buy waffle cones and push-up treats by some local goobers in an ice cream truck they suddenly spot a falling comet over the treetops. Instead of taking the apparent river rafting adventure from their inflated life raft they were lying on in the back of their station wagon, they head out into the woods to investigate the comet crash. Surprisingly they come across a glowing giant circus tent inhabited by deformed clowns (hence the title…otherwise it would be “Teens Discover Nothing in Woods and Leave.” What possess people to investigate things that fall from the sky? Always remember when a comet crashes in the nearby woods you run the other way!

The clowns starting attacking the local town folks through elaborate puppet shows and pizza delivery scams shooting them with FisherPrice ray guns that turn them into giant balls of cotton candy goodness. They store the cotton-candified corpses on their spaceship tent for late night snacks. The cops are no help as the chief of police would rather complain to himself about teenage hooligans and eat doughnuts by the box full. He eventually ends up a hollowed out ventriloquist dummy which wasn’t much of a character switch for him. Popcorn attack guns, invisible cars and acid pie fights are just some of the weapons at the clown’s disposal but they could have just given away free tickets to the circus and made it a lot less work. Luckily Sargent Biff McChunk-Head figures out the plans of the evil clowns when his ex-girlfriend is kidnapped and turned into a giant beach ball. So he and his band of surviving dimwitted buddies infiltrate the evil circus strong hold at the local fairgrounds in their ice cream trunk to face off against clown hookers and giant mutant bozo impersonators. Yeah it’s that weird.

A fun goofy b-movie that doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. They have a hunting dog made out of a animal balloons and popcorn that turns into bobble headed clown demons so you can’t help but laugh.

Keep an eye out for…
- popcorn kung-fu
- wholesale size cotton candy
- cop ventriloquist acts
- shadow puppets shows
- redneck comet crash site investigators
- exploding ice cream trucks
- tracker balloon dogs
- kleptomaniacs clowns in drugs stores
- street cleaning parades
- acid pies to the face
- inflato-breast clown hookers
- bad 80’s sweaters

“Ronald, Krusty, Bozo… ye all ain’t got nothing on these Klown gangstas! If they did a drive-by they could fit 20 of their peeps in their pimped ride and put a cap in your chest.”

rated 8.1 out of 10 for the movie

Check out the trailer for Killer Klowns from Outer Space

“How many blondes does it take to screw in a light bulb?…just one… if they’re this freakishly tall!!”

I’ve taken quite a few autumn trips to the cider mill out in the country side. I enjoyed the hay rides and pumpkin patches, the delicious cinnamon donuts that put me into a hazed sugar comma. But I especially enjoyed the vicious squashing of thousands of helpless apples in the looming cider press. Oh so little do these apples know of their awaiting doom after being freed from the trees. But now I have a new appreciation for the ability of cider presses to not only entertain us tourists but to fight supernatural evil with extreme prejudice.

Leslie Vernon, local turtle wrangler, understands the vengeful power of cider in this great little mockumentary horror film. As a up and coming maniac killer in a world where Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers actually exist, Leslie invites a college film crew led by a Diana Sawyers wanna-be to learn the ins and outs of the killing business. He wants everything about his soon to be legend filmed. A sort of Donald Trump of slashers without the hockey-head hair.

Leslie is like the smart mouth guy you knew in high-school who was very witty and smooth with the ladies but obviously a few fries short of a happy meal. He’s also very enthusiastic about his trade profession as he introduces us to his slasher mentor Eugene, your typical truck-driver physco who likes to be buried alive in the backyard for days at a time. Eugene, played by Scott Wilson, is like the nice bartender at your local pub but this one might have some bodies hidden in the storage freezer next to the kegs.

Leslie who apparently snapped from being given such a girly name at an early age plans to murder a group of stereotypical teeenagers in a nearby abandoned apple orchard/farmhouse complete with rustic furniture and stained ceilings (how’s does a stain like that get on the ceiling anyways?) His hopes are that one of the town’s giant amazonian virgins will fight him in the orchard to the death with a weak handle tree axe or a loose fitted sledge hammer. Potentially stopping his teenage carnage buffet is Dr. Halloran, impressively over acted by Robert “Please call me Freddy” Englund along with some additional victims of the laurel and hardey camera crew.

Leslie picked a tough profession where things don’t usually end well for the employees and would have been better suited to being a stunt double for Jim Carrey or Dana Cook. Oh well he can always post a resume on monster.com if this whole professional supernatural physcopath gig doesn’t work out. I wonder if they’re unionized?

Definitely a film to check out if your a big fan of the classic slashers from the 70’s and 80’s. You won’t be disappointed and you may even learn what to do next time if you’re trapped in an abandoned farmhouse with a couple of airheads, stoners, and football jocks. Just run…run and don’t look back.

Keep an eye out for…
- midget librarians
- 7ft tall virgin amazonian blondes
- psychopaths official car “Toyota Prius”
- narcoleptic stoners
- gratuitous references to Herman Melville characters
- farmhouse kung-fu
- avon face cream of evil
- 1 pole digger to the chest
- Dr. Krueger house calls

“Yea… Yea, plants and turtles… Plants and turtles… I only keep pets I can eat.”

rated 9.2 out of 10 for the movie

Check out the trailer for Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Things have been insane this week. I’ve had several design projects that I’ve been working on and I haven’t had time to watch a good b-movie for review. Hopefully this weekend. thanks for your patience and support.

may the power of Gymkata guide you.