Class of 1984 (1982), Funland (1987), Hell of the Living Dead (1984), Blow Out (1981), Kickboxer (1989), Stagefright (1989)

This is a grim, nasty, brutish little movie - but still super interesting. As a quick side note, it's also Michael J. Fox's first role (!). The idea is that a new teacher comes to a scummy inner city school plagued by gangs and crime. He decides to try and stand up for what's right (does this ever end well in the 80s?). The local gang doesn't like this. They actually rape his wife (!!!). This causes the teacher to snap... he heads to school on the night of a big event, and begins murdering the punks one by one until finally he murders the leader and sends him crashing to the auditorium stage during the big event. It's insane. Still, this is well made and one of the better revenge fantasies of the era. Just be warned: it's VERY bleak. Some extremely unlikable characters here. 

The cover alone is pretty amazing, isn't it? Clown with a gun, over a roller coaster logo? This is a pretty predictable one... amusement park is taken over by the mob, fores longtime clown, clown snaps, goes beserk. Kills mafia stooge. Takes back theme park... takes OVER theme park. 

Yes, it's ultra low budget. But it's also pretty harmless. The mafia sections are extremely poorly written by someone who thought they were very clever because they saw The Godfather once. The clown is played by David Lander (Squiggy on Laverne and Shirley), and the original theme park owner is William Windom (the doctor on Murder She Wrote). I can't recommend it, but it's not awful either. 

Oh boy... another Italian zombie movie. Joy. Some of the worst dubbing you will EVER see is in this movie. 

*mouth moves ... several seconds later, English speech comes out, not even close to matching* 

Worst effects, too. Just... atrocious. This is zero budget, zero effort. This was never an OK movie. Just forget it exists and move on.

Ahh... a good movie. Finally! This is a De Palma movie about a sound engineer who possibly witnesses a murder... or was it an accident? Travolta and Allen are fantastic, as are John Lithgow and Denniz Franz.. and basically everyone involved here. Very tense movie, built up organically. Great Hitchcockian plot that resists the typical Hollywood ending - in fact, the ending is so bleakly ironic that it hurt the film upon release, via word of mouth. And it's easy to see why, but it's a great ending anyway. Classical DePalma. Highly recommended. 

I saw this as a kid and, predictably, worshiped Van Damme. He is very impressive in one of his defining movies - kicking, punching, more kicking, righting wrongs, doing the splits, all at a fever pitch of emotion. For young boys, this is intoxicating stuff. For anyone else, it's probably boring neanderthal fighting crap. But the seed was planted, and I still love this movie. Van Damme's brother is crippled by an evil fighter, and it's up to little brother Van Damme to get revenge. And get it he does! WITH SO MANY KICKS. Highly recommended, with the aforementioned caveats. 

Eh, another slasher pic, this time from late in the decade. But nothing has been learned: it's the same old tropes and cliches. This one is a cast of actors locked into a big house with a killer. Anyone reading that can predict the entire rest of the movie. There are a few nice touches early on... but nothing to go out of your way for. It's Italian, and the dubbing is terrible.