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TIT

'It Hits The Fan!' [DVD + Digital]
(Jeff Fahey, Kari Wuhrer, Gigi Edgley, Rhett Giles, et al / 2-DVD + Digital / NR / 2019 / Mill Creek Entertainment)

Overview: All hell is breaking loose with this catastrophic quartet of disaster movies. The end of times has never been so much fun!

DVD Verdict: First up is 'Tornado Warning' (2012, originally titled 'Alien Tornado') starring: Jeff Fahey (TV's Lost), Kari Wuhrer (Anaconda), Stacey Asaro (Hot Tub Time Machine 2), and Willard Pugh (RoboCop 2). Extraterrestrials appear as destructive "electrical tornadoes" on Earth and for my money there were a lot of entertaining things in this movie; as well as a few interesting cast and crew members.

For starters, Jeff Burr is best remembered for Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and it was good seeing him back making a movie. He handles the material a lot better than most of these SyFy movies and I thought he at least kept the thing moving. Oh, and it was also great seeing Jeff Fahey on the small screen.

Then we get 'Judgement Day' (2010, originally titled 'Quantum Apocalypse') starring: Gigi Edgley (TV's Farscape), Rhett Giles (Frankenstein Reborn), Stephanie Jacobsen (Alex Cross), and Randy Mulkey (The Lincoln Lawyer). A rogue space anomaly is discovered approaching Earth, and it is up to the world's top scientists to stop it from destroying the planet.

In the city of Parish, the Major Ben Marshall lives with his autistic brother Terry, his son Leo, his daughter Samantha and his second wife Lynne.

When a comet changes its route and collides on Earth, the scientists discover that an anomaly is the cause and they bring two geniuses to join their team in the research.

They find that the anomaly is a gravitational vacuum indeed and mankind is doomed to annihilation. But Terry convinces his brother Ben to drive him to Houston to save the planet.

Sadly, 'Judgement Day' doesn't have the charm it's B-movie cast should have brought to the party and is one of SyFy's many, many, many, many meteor apocalypse films - and when you've seen one you've officially seen them all, sorry!

Next up is 'Chrome Angels' (2009, originally titled 'Cyborg Conquest') starring: Stacey Dash (Clueless), Paul Le Mat (American Graffiti), Eliza Swenson (TV's The Witches of Oz), and Frida Farrell (Apartment 407). A female biker gang finds themselves pitted against bomb-laden cyborgs in this high-octane, gun-wielding, motorcycle racing action flick.

In a film that brings back the cyborgs - unlike 'Terminator: Salvation' did around this time - the cast is lead by Stacey Dash and Paul LeMat and a pretty decent job they both do too.

Combined with a rather heart-felt role by Richard Lynch they all come together to make the most of an unusual plot that actually plays out logically come the end!

Oh, and if you squint you can make out the visages of Rhett Giles and Griff Furst (Leigh Scott buddies with big reputations within the B-movie business) in disguise as no-good bar folks!

Paul LeMat (American Graffiti) is back as a evil genius robot maker and I must admit that Leigh Scott has matured in his craft; based on this, of course.

So, and summing it all up: We get a slew of motorbikes, a lot of cheesy cyborg battles, a shed load of down-the-blouse shots from all the actresses, and (without giving too much away) maybe even a resurrection or two!

Lastly we get 'Ghouls' (2008) starring: William Atherton (Die Hard), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Kristen Renton (TV's Sons of Anarchy), and James DeBello (Detroit Rock City).

A college student returns with her father to his home country only to discover her family holds a dark secret that involves her.

The average movie-watcher's terrible horror film usually equates to a decent watch from my perspective. And more often than not, even the ones that are truly atrocious have moderate to exceptional comedic value. I'm afraid such cannot be said for 'Ghouls'!

It's biggest and most obvious flaw is the terrible plot. We know there are ghouls who are trying to reclaim something or another, and in doing so cross the plane from the spiritual world into the physical world. Beyond that, I'm not really quite sure what was taking place, or why.

Speaking of that, I'm also a little confused as to what exactly was left to be accomplished for these ghouls as far as crossing over into the physical world, seeing as they actually feed on people's flesh, and can (somehow) be mortally wounded by gunshots and grenade blasts. Can't really get much more physical than that!

James DeBello is not a bad actor. No, he's really not. This was just not a role meant for him I guess. He was great in 'Detroit Rock City' as a goof ball stoner. He was even good in 'Cabin Fever' because even though that was a serious role, the film had its comedic elements; and his character was a huge part of that.

He was just flat here. No emotional range at all. It was pretty rough to watch actually. Except that part on the horse and carriage where he grunted a lot. That was really funny.

The ghouls themselves were actually kind of cool to look at. That's about all that can be said for the film as far as positives. It is evident they had SOME budget to work with.

The ghouls themselves weren't a total embarrassment. Effects otherwise were well above SyFy original-type standards. Other than that, this was pretty god awful boring, sorry! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

www.MillCreekEnt.com





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