THE DEADLY TOWER (1975)

[Update 07/08/2021: Need to redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

Fresh off his touching portrayal of the Strongest Man in the World in THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD, Kurt Russell takes a dark turn in this made-for-television version of Charles Whitman's August 1, 1966 shooting rampage in Austin, Texas where he got his blast on and killed 16 people and wounded 32.

Kurt plays a satisfying Whitman, but as with a lot of these 70's TV movies THE DEADLY TOWER is very straightforward. Also, it's too tame for the subject matter. The film opens with Kurt reading a book about guns and looking very troubled. Afterwards, he kills his mother and his wife (both offscreen). Then it's on to the gun store and finally the tower where he quickly sets up shop and starts blasting. Eventually the cops make their way to the top and kill him. The End.

It was an entertaining watch, but I would never want to see it again. The main reason I rented it was to see Kurt Russell play a bad guy, but 95% of the time he never spoke or even showed any emotion. Skip it.

Fun Fact: I live in Austin and I have no fucking clue where this building is.

AMERICAN PIE 2 (2001)

Trying to follow up something as funny as the original AMERICAN PIE is a huge task, but I think they did a pretty good job. It's not better than the original, but there's some very funny parts, the character development feels natural and best of all Nadia is back!

All of the main characters are have returned and they're finishing up their first year of college. They rent a summer house on the lake to party and take up a house painting gig to help pay the rent. Jim finds out that Nadia is coming at the end of summer for a dick appointment. Nervous that he might be bad in bed, he asks the only woman he's ever been with (Willow) to train him on how to be an awesome lover. That's the main story, but of course Stifler gets into all kinds of sexual adventures, Jim gets into sexual misadventures and Finch gets into Stifler's mom.

There's nothing life-changing going on. Just a fun film with some enjoyable characters, which is more than I can say about the boring Part 3.

Part 1 - American Pie (1999)
Part 3 - American Wedding (2003)
Part 4 - American Reunion (2013)

SCREAM 4 (2011)

Eleven years of peaceful life for Sidney Prescott comes to a sudden end when, on the 15th anniversary of the original Woodsboro murders, two high school students are stabbed to death. Evidence is found in Sidney's car and suddenly she's a suspect. Deputy Dewey, now Sheriff Dewey, isn't falling for this bullshit and starts a full investigation. His wife, investigative reporter Gale Weathers, is heading up her own investigation and even enlists the help of some high school students/film nerds who talk too much.

As usual, various unimportant characters are stabbed to death and in the end, lots of running around and talking nonstop culminate in the killer revealing himself/herself/themselves and then lecturing the Final Girl until I start yelling "Hurry the fuck up!" at the TV . Thing is, despite the overload of cultural references (I'm sure those Facebook and Twitter comments will make about as much sense in 40 years as "rabbit test" does right now) and annoying characters I liked this movie better than the two previous sequels, but then again that's not saying much. Entertaining watch, but I was really disappointed in how this movie was just another rehash of the original. I was really hoping that in the last decade they could have at least written something fresh that would shock the audience. But I guess not.

Zero tits, moderate blood, SHAWN OF THE DEAD on TV, minor gore, slow pace.  Same shit, different decade.

Part 1 - Scream (1996)
Part 2 - Scream 2 (1997)
Part 3 - Scream 4 (2000)
Part 5 - Scream (2022)
Part 6 - Scream VI (2023)