My Review Of Roger Corman’s Forbidden World (1982)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

If you ever wondered what Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) would be like if it was a cheesy exploitation B-movie produced by the legendary king of B-movies named Roger Corman, then you’re in luck because 1982’s Forbidden World is the cult classic for you that’s totally worth checking out.

Forbidden World’s existence was clearly meant to come off as a low-budget mockbuster imitation of Alien from 1979, in the exact same manner that many sharksploitation features were made after the success & popularity of 1975’s Jaws (or even just imitators of Jaws in general that used a different animal as the main threat overall), and while Forbidden World does give off the first impression of being a sleezy campy copy of Ridley Scott’s Alien, it still somehow manages to ironically be an unintentionally good sci fi horror movie all in thanks due to its charming elements of being able to strongly appeal to fans of cult cinema in an amusing & fun way that is in no way boring whatsoever.

Despite the film’s low-budget, a majority of the special effects in Forbidden World are actually very good as the monster does look threatening enough to be taken seriously as something to be genuinely scared of, and many of the blood & gore scenes are very graphic but in an impressive fashion, which is something I must kindly make very clear before I ever forget to explain in this review is that because of the movie’s moments of bloody violence, and sex & nudity, it’s best to be viewed only if you are 18 years old and above.

The acting is also surprisingly decent considering this is an exploitation B-movie, and while I liked seeing Dawn Dunlap in the film, there were times in which I was kind of annoyed by her screaming & yelling whenever her character was terrified, but it made sense based on the context of the scenes that caused her to react in such a way.

Since Forbidden World is suppose to take place on a outer-worldly planet, the set designs of the film perfectly match that very well since it is science fiction after all, but a downside to that I must nitpick is that the space station the characters primarily are seen in is cheap-looking for the most part as the walls on the hallway are obviously made from egg cartons, and fast food box containers.

The official Region A Blu-Ray release of Forbidden World (1982), put out by Shout Factory through their “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” line, is a wonderful home video release as the picture quality of the movie is great, and the interviews included in the special features are worth taking a look at also, with there also being a fantastic documentary about the making of the film I truly recommend watching if you want to get this home video release of Roger Corman’s Forbidden World. I actually almost forgot to point out that this Blu-Ray release also contains the unrated director’s cut version simply titled “Mutant”, so that too is worth checking out as well thanks to the awesome release by Shout Factory.

Forbidden World is an honest guilty pleasure of mine that I always find myself watching multiple times, for it does a fantastic job at keeping me entertained by how much of a schlock production it is that imitates 1979’s Alien in a fun style that makes it rightfully deserving of it being a cult classic that has to be seen to be believed.

I’m going to give Roger Corman’s Forbidden World (1982) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

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My Review Of Robowar (1988)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

In the exact same manner, fashion, and style as Shocking Dark released a year later in 1989, Bruno Mattei’s Robowar from 1988 is a mockbuster that this time is a low-budget imitation of the first Predator film from 1987, and it even goes as far as to sprinkle in an idea & concept lifted from the first Robocop movie also from the year 1987 too as well, even if it is minor for Robowar copies elements from Predator the most more so then it does Robocop to be fair (although there’s actually a ton of differences that make Robowar stand-out from those two, even if that really isn’t saying much since it’s a mockbuster of them after all).

Thankfully for this review, I was finally able see Robowar in the USA due to the fact that Severin Films had put it out on home video in 2019 in an official Region Free DVD & Blu-Ray release that is a 4k remaster scan from the original camera negative, and I’ve also been incredibly lucky to have gotten myself a copy of the limited edition Blu-Ray release of the movie on Amazon, which as far as the Blu-Ray release of the film is concerned, the video quality is very impressive to look at considering Robowar most likely had never gotten such a transfer before since it wasn’t available to watch in the United States Of America for such a long time until the year 2019 at last by Severin Films as already mentioned.

Just like Shocking Dark (1989) in that despite it also being a mockbuster made as a complete cash-grab which also rips off other more well-known & popular works of cinema that obviously have higher budgets put into them, Robowar too is yet another so bad its good guilty pleasure (at least in my own humble opinion anyways) from the mindset of Bruno Mattei, that truly is entertaining to sit through despite its imperfections, with one of the major reasons being that the actions scenes in Robowar are amusingly fun to watch, the effects & production values are surprisingly competent even if still not the best things ever put onto film, and the overall soundtrack is general is that of nice 1980s epic cheese that fits the tone well in this movie.

While the characters aren’t particularly all that memorable, the acting is serviceable based on the material all of the actors & actresses are given to work with, and I must mention before I ever forget to do so is that Robowar was filmed in The Philippines in order to be set in a jungle as a means to copy 1987’s Predator, and the cinematography, camera work, and lighting are most definitely top-notch aspects in this mockbuster. The design of the antagonistic threat that is the malfunctioning killer robot may not be the best, but it still isn’t the worst, and it does deliver some unique kill scenes even if it is meant to simply just be a Predator (1987) knock-off.

To wrap up this review, 1988’s Robowar by Bruno Mattei is ironically a spectacular film to watch, all in thanks to the movie’s charm of not taking itself too seriously, and it is worth seeing in order to better understand how the early years of making mockbusters was like in the old days of cinema.

I’m giving Robowar (1988) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest, and Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

My Review Of Shocking Dark (1989)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Before I begin with my review of Shocking Dark (1989), I first want to explain who Bruno Mattei is, and what mockbusters are, because I feel it’ll help in giving context on all that’s needed to know about Shocking Dark, to better help fully understand its existence considering it’s a movie I know not a lot of people are even aware of is even real despite what I will saying for this review of the film. Bruno Mattei was an Italian film-maker known for making a ton of exploitation B-movies (including mockbusters) who sadly passed away in 2007, and a mockbuster is essentially a film that is a low-budget imitator that’s made to jump on the bandwagon in an attempt to make a financial profit off of a much more well-known, and successful movie a mockbuster happens to be imitating (even if it’s solely an imitation of the genre alone that the other film has).

1989’s Shocking Dark, easily without any doubt fits well into the category of it being a mockbuster due to the fact that it heavily copies from both of James Cameron’s Aliens (1986 & 1991 in regards to the “Special Edition” version), and Terminator (1984), to the point that even going as far as to being marketed under the title known simply as “Terminator 2” in it’s original release in Italy as a means to trick audiences thinking it was an actual sequel to the first Terminator, even though it really isn’t (which is kind of ironic seeing how the real official Terminator 2 made by James Cameron would come out in 1991).

As a result of the obvious legal reasons, Brunto Mattei’s Shocking Dark was unable to get an official release in the United States Of America from a copyright concerns point of view, but thankfully in the year 2018, Severin Films was able to finally get it officially distributed and put out in the USA on DVD & Blu-Ray at last with it also being an official Region Free home video release digitally remastered in 2k, and while this movie does heavily copy both Terminator, and Aliens, Shocking Dark is a film that is still (surprisingly) able to be a highly entertaining guilty pleasure from beginning until the end, and I say such without being sarcastic in the slightest.

Shocking Dark really does achieve the impossible in that it’s a mockbuster that manages in being enjoyably cheesy despite all of its poor qualities that range from the mediocre acting, average effects, absurd logic (or the lack of logic thereof if you wanna go as far as to describe it that way), and the blatant lack of originally with the premise, story, plot, and characters since all of it it basically a low-budget version of both Aliens, and Terminator.

The only nitpick I have to say about Shocking Dark is that the creatures the characters encounter are often obscured from the camera which at times makes it impossible to fully see them, and I’m not sure why that is the case. I can only assume it was a budgetary reason, but I strongly doubt that was the main reason. Also, there seems to be a lack of subtitles for when watching the film in a different language based on my knowledge with the Severin Films DVD I have of the movie.

In regards to old-school mockbusters from the 1980s is concerned, Bruno Mattei succeeded in making Shocking Dark one of the greatest ones ever made in the ironic sense at least in that it truly is so bad its good, and the 2k transfer scan in the official DVD release of it by Severin Films is visually appeasing to look at (which does help in the viewing experience of seeing Shocking Dark in all of its schlock-filled glory).

I give Shocking Dark (1989) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

Stay tuned as my very next review after this one is none other but another mockbuster Bruno Mattei made that was released a year earlier than Shocking Dark, which is the 1988 low-budget knock-off of Predator (1987) called “Robowar” (and yes, it very much does exist).

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest & Instagram if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/

My Review Of Gappa: The Triphibian Monsters (1967)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Gappa: The Triphibian Monsters is a 1967 Japanese tokusatsu giant monster kaiju film from Nikkatsu, and while it certainly isn’t an awful movie by any means, Gappa is still a very uninspired & unoriginal product that just ends up being an average entry in the kaiju genre.

To my very best of knowledge, Gappa was suppose to be a parody or satire of the kaiju genre, but then it become a more straight forward serious production for reasons unknown to me, and the last minute change clearly shows in the final product as there is a lot of tropes & elements from other kaiju movies that make Gappa stick out like a sore thumb.

The most noticeable concept Gappa borrows is that of a giant monster appearing in a human civilization, which ends up causing havoc in order to look for something missing that was taken away (as seen in both Gorgo, and Mothra), and while it is true that it is a standard trope in these type of films, Gappa just feels it was trying to cash-in that kind of element without much new to offer in order for it be unique in anyway.

The best parts of Gappa however, are that the special effects & suitmation are actually quite decent as far as late 1960s monster movies is concerned (even if some of the sets do seem noticeable, and the green screen used sometimes can be very obvious), the acting in both the Japanese & English versions is good enough for what it is, and the music in both versions is tolerable despite not being the most memorable out there (definitely nowhere close to the great scores & soundtracks made by the legendary Akira Ifukube).

As just mentioned, I did see both the original Japanese version, and then the English dub of this film since they are both featured in the official Region A Blu-Ray release by Media Blasters under their Tokyo Shock banner, and both movies felt the exact same to me when watching them, but I did notice that the English Dub’s soundtrack is somewhat different to the one that’s in the Japanese one, but other than that, they are both the exact same even if spoken in different languages.

Speaking of Media Blaster’s Blu-Ray release of Gappa on home video, the subtitles are very solid as I never saw any issues with how they were presented for this release as I was able to read them well enough when seeing the movie in Japanese, and the HD (high definition) transfer of the film looks phenomenal as many earlier releases prior to this one looked very grainy, and almost damaged to the point of being completely unwatchable. So if you are a huge fan of the Kaiju genre like me who wants to add this home video Blu-Ray release by Media Blasters to your physical media collection, then this is the best one to get that I can easily recommend based on how amazing the picture quality looks.

Gappa is not a particularly great movie in the sense that it very much does come off as an attempt to cash-grab on the popularity & success of other Kaiju movies during that decade & time period (making it a mockbuster in a way sort of), but it is still a competently-made film that I can at least say that if you are interested in checking it out for yourself, then by all means go right ahead as it’s honestly just okay, and I do say that with all sincerity.

I’m giving Gappa: The Triphibian Monsters 3/5 Stars!

If you would like to do so, please be sure to support me on Patreon as it’ll mean a lot to me, and please do follow me on Pinterest, and Instagram too as well if you are interested in doing so: https://www.patreon.com/EugeneAlejandroThe4th, https://www.pinterest.com/gene98159796/_created/, and https://www.instagram.com/eugenealejandroauthor/