GAS, FOOD LODGING (1992)

Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk are sisters living in a small New Mexico town where nothing ever happens.  There's no money because there's no jobs.  Their well-meaning mom works all the time as a waitress down at the truck stop, but because she works so much she's never home. The oldest girl passes all of her time with boys and the youngest watching movies down at the local movie theater.

Normal real life dramas happen: mom dates, the older girl gets fucked over by self-centered boys and the youngest searches for her father. Each of the women and the various men in their lives are well fleshed out, but I found my mind wandering during the movie. I really liked the story, but towards the end it became apparent it really wasn't going anywhere. Maybe that was the point of the movie, but I felt like the story needed a little more structure. The drama needed to be more raw. There were a few moments where I saw that flash of emotion I was looking for (the abortion argument, borrowing the $50, the kitchen arguments), but then the story would slow down again to a crawl. That's the fault of the script thought because the actors all did great jobs with what they were given, especially the three leads. I was also impressed with James Brolin's brief appearance. He really is a great actor.

I don't want to sound too negative about this movie though, I actually liked it despite its flaws and would watch it again.

DRUGSTORE GIRL (2003)

A large drugstore opens in a small town and four of the local business owners plan a revolt...until they meet Obayashi, a super-sexy drugstore employee who they all get the hots for instantly. They stalk her and learn that she plays lacrosse, so naturally they do the wise thing and start playing lacrosse themselves! And it fucking works! She finds out that they've been playing lacrosse and decides that she'll be their coach. WTF? Things snowball and before you know it they're playing other teams including a bunch of old housewives and some Native American Indians. o_O

The story is fucking wacky and makes very little sense, but yet somehow I enjoyed the movie and found it to be funny and kinda sweet. It didn't hurt either that Tanaka Rena is fucking beautiful...holy shit. I just read a few minutes ago, on IMDb, that she played in a Japanese TV version of MY SASSY GIRL!!!!! Has anybody seen this?! I need a copy!

Fun bubblegum movie. If you like silly movies then check it out.

HELL NIGHT (1981)

I have a sweet spot for HELL NIGHT.  Ever since I saw first saw it on late night cable as a kid and it scared the shit out of me. Watching it now as grown man with a hairy chest, a 15 pound dick and urine that can burn it's way through an iceberg made out of lead, HELL NIGHT seems very tame in the violence department, but it still manages to create a lot of suspense thanks to the filmmakers using the novel idea of creating characters that the viewer actually like! Unlike most slashers where the characters are so annoying they can't get killed fast enough (I'm looking at you SORORITY ROW and LAID TO REST). The entire look of the film is very pleasing with an awesome spooky mansion, excellent lighting and all of the victims dressed in old-timey clothing.

The plot: four pledges trying to get into a college fraternity have to spend the night in a vacant mansion where a family was murdered 12 years ago. Naturally, the frat dudes have set up some pranks to scare the pledges, but shit soon hits the fan when people start getting killed for realz!

Fun movie, but I would like to complain about the small number of victims. With only a total of 7 people inside the mansion there's not going to be a lot of action and that's where HELL NIGHT falls short. The suspense and buildup are great, but I would have liked it much better if there had been more people involved. It would have been awesome to see the pledges trying to turn the tables on the frat people then having the frat people and the pledges join together against the killers for the big bloodbath at the end. Just a thought. Also, some quality nudity and gore would have been nice. As it is though, HELL NIGHT if a fun lightweight 80's slasher.  Recommended for sure.

True story: I was watching this film once at a friend's house when his very young son came walking in the room.  It was towards the end where the bad guy was chasing everybody around and my friend's kid was on the verge of freaking out when I told him not to worry because that is just the Hug Monster and all he wants is a hug, but the the other people don't want a hug from him because he's so smelly.