Cheeseball Cinema: Death Spa (1989)

So, the other day I realized that I still had one more film left to watch from the VHSPS  (VHS Preservation Society) collection that I had for Cheeseball Cinema. So, I decided what better time than now to cover the film Death Spa for Cheeseball Cinema. The film stars William Bumiller (Boat Trip) as Starbody Health Spa owner Michael Evans who seems to have it all from the hot girlfriend and the most happening spa in Hollywood. Unfortunately for him, things start to go wrong at his spa when his girlfriend Laura (Brenda Bakke) has an accident in the club that almost cost her life. The accident causes a downward spiral as it seems that something sinister won’t stop until everyone dies inside the club as accident after accident begins to happen. The film also stars Merritt Butrick (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan) as David, Robert Lipton (As The World Turns) as Tom, Alexa Hamilton (Three For The Road) as Priscilla Wayne, Ken Foree (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III) as Marvin, Chelsea Field (Masters Of The Universe) as Darla, Shari Shattuck (On Deadly Ground) as Catherine, Tane McClure (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas) as Vicky, Rosalind Cash (The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8TH Universe) as SGT. Stone, and the film was directed by Michael Fischa (My Mom’s A Werewolf). 

One thing is for sire when it comes to this film is that there is plenty of T&A and some ridiculous 80’s outfits like some awful shoulder pads that Ken Foree has on to make him look tougher. The confusing thing about the film at times is that there is two different scenarios playing out in the same film and it’s a little annoying. You have the scenario that quite possibly that his dead wife is coming back to haunt him so she is causing some accidents to happen. The other scenario is that his lawyer is trying to sabotage the place so that he can buy it for cheap. Here’s the thing with that, if you wanted that to be a subplot then you should have the film be about that instead of the other major plot twist that we get as well. The one thing I will say is that the film had some decent star power to it and that story wasn’t that bad. The film was actually pretty decent considering it was made by the same people behind the Faces Of Death franchise. One of the appealing things to me was the kills as some of them were pretty unique like the girl who is melted by acid that comes out of the sprinkler system or the exploding heads. There is some corny kills like the cartoonish fish that kills a man and plenty more. The film has a little bit of an identity crisis, but it’s at least entertaining for the most part. Check it out for yourself through VHSPS or by finding it online. On a scale of one being close to an A-List Hollywood film and five being the cheesiest film of all time, I would have to give this one an 2.8 for a final grade.

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Super Sunday: Judge Dredd (1995)

For today’s comic book/superhero movie of the week for Super Sunday, we are travelling overseas to England for the 1995 film adaptation of Judge Dredd by Rebellion Developments. The 1995 film stars Sylvester Stalone (Cobra) as the title character Judge Dredd in this film that takes us to a future time where the police are the judge, jury, and executioners. You see by 2080, too much of the Earth has become inhabitable with most of the citizens living in these mega cities that have populations over 500 million in capacity. To control these cities, they created a law enforcement called Judges and they controlled how things are done. Unfortunately for Dredd, someone on the council decides to frame the officer with the help of a ghost named Rico (Armand Assante) in order to further his master plan. You see Rico isn’t a literal ghost, just someone that is off the grid and he has plans of his own once he was set free and now it’s up to Dredd to correct all the wrongs. The film also stars Diane Lane (Man Of Steel) as Judge Hershey, Rob Schneider (Grown Ups) as Fergee, Jürgen Prochnow (Beverly Hills Cop 2) as Judge Griffin, Max von Sydow (Shutter Island) as Chief Justice Fargo, Joan Chen (On Deadly Ground) as Dr. Ilsa, Balthazar Getty (Lord Of The Flies) as Cadet Olmeyer, Christopher Adamson (Les Misérables) as Mean Machine, James Remar (The Warriors) as Block Warlord, and the film was directed by Danny Cannon (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer).

This version of Judge Dredd was typical looking of any film from the 90’s where the sets were out of this world and quite frankly a little campy. Its amazing when you watch this film and Demolition Man, the sets are almost identical to each other where the future looks dark, and the buildings of the future are a little out of this world along with the costumes. What can be said about Sylvester Stallone’s performance in this film other than the fact that it was a typical performance from the 80’s action hero. One thing is for sure and that is that Armand Assante played the perfect villain in this film as he was everything that our hero was not, but no one knows our hero better than Rico. You’re probably wondering which film was better? The 1995 version of Judge Dredd or the 2012 version Dredd with Karl Urban? Each version served it’s purpose, but Stallone’s is a more humanized version where he actually takes his helmet off in the film and the acting was good. The 2012 version obviously has the better special effects because technology is more updated, but I did enjoy this film a lot especially since I thought Rob Schneider being the comedic relief wasn’t necessarily needed in the film and Diane Lane was terrific as usual. I am going to give the film a B- for a final grade.