Tubi Thursday: The Beast Within (1982)

 Another Cult Classic that I've somehow missed for all these years is now checked off the list.

I guess I somehow connected it and the far more famous An American Werewolf in London.

Was I wrong to wait so long?
Let's find out!

A young(ish) couple- Ronnie Cox and Bibi Besch- are out in the backwoods heading out on their honeymoon.

When their car gets stuck, Ronnie goes for help and the dog runs off.
The Wife follows, but gets attacked and...well, you can guess, by a creature.

17 years later, they have a teenage son who is experiencing severe glandular issues.

Doctors can do little, so they decide to go back to the source (the attack) for any information.

Bringing the Son was a mistake, however, as he's possessed by some sort of creature/spirit.

He kills this old dude and then is found passed out (but healthier) by a girl.

He falls for said girl and things move quickly...until they accidentally uncover a 'treasure trove' of human remains in the bog.

That's a real mood killer.

The Parents- especially Ronnie- can't come to terms with what is happening, even as the Son gets transformed yet again and kills someone on The Second Night (with convenient James Gun Title Cards).

Why does he seem to be targeting one family?

I just can't believe that I'll come back for a Sequel to The Car.

Our Hero (is he though?) is transforming against his will and a strange growth is appearing.

Hopefully it's not Malignant.

Do you see the AW in London comparisons?

We eventually get an answer from the creepy Judge who has been lurking around the whole time.

It all has to do with a guy who was left for dead, transformed into a Monster and was able to reincarnate as the boy (via the opening bit of non-consent).

Does it make sense?  Eh...

Things come full circle as the girl the Son has been wanting to get with just so happens to be out in the Forest and in the path of him.

He's fully transformed into the Titular Creature (picture a skinless chicken breast- just man sized) and, well, does what you expect.

The Son is killed, but does the reincarnation cycle continue?  The End.

We are 2 for 2 on unfortunate usage of Body Doubles here.

A bleak, if well made bit of Horror with a dash of Tennessee Williams.

This one has many things going for it.
For starters, it is rife with notable names and Character Actors.  You've got Cox, Besch, LQ Jones, Meshach Taylor and Boyce Holleman.

Secondly, the Script- by Tom Holland (not that one) builds nicely.
Third, the Direction by Philippe Mora is strong too.  He'd make an actual Werewolf Film in 1985.

That said, the Film is mostly a Series of Scenes that *eventually* tie together, so Pacing is a bit weird.  The nature of the whole thing may not be to your liking either.

Either way, it is weird, gross, oddly engaging and kinda bleak.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to tell another Incel about how I actually liked Supergirl...

A Film that has definitely earned it reputation (and a nice HD Transfer).  That said, the bleak nature of it may not be your cup of tea.

Lost in Translation: Slithis (1978)

 A Film like (Spawn of the) Slithis is bound to have some good Covers.

It seems like Germany (based on the wording) stepped up to the plate here.

This isn't Slithis.  It's...

Run, Pamela Anderson- there's a giant puppet behind you!

That or it is this fella.

Either way, this Title makes it sound like a '50s B-Movie, no?

Shudder Day: Faces of Death (2026)

Well, I've already covered the original and its most famous rip-off.

Now let's check out the Meta Sequel that was 4 Decades in the making.

This is...

A woman named Margot works as a Content Moderator at a Streaming Platform a la Tik Tok (or Tic Tac if you're Trump).

She sees a video that looks real and has odd narration.

She approves it, but it soon troubled by another one appearing the next day.

As it turns out, they are real!

A weirdo is obsessed with Internet Violence Culture and is reenacting Scenes with real people.

He targets an influencer next...

Margot investigates the videos via Reddit and is told about Faces of Death.

Luckily, her weirdo roommate has a copy of it on VHS and she soon recognizes the original versions of his reenactments.

Before you ask, I don't own the Film on VHS.

The killer takes on more victims and does his own version of yet another Faces of Death Scene.

I guess that this is a World without CNN, because there's no way that this guy showing up in a 'murder video' is not news.

Margot goes deeper and deeper.

Nobody will believe her without more evidence, so she finds some.

Unfortunately, that gets the killer looking at her!

As it turns out, Margot herself was involved in this same culture.  

She had an attempt at a viral video go horribly wrong.

So, if she wants to stop the killer, it's all on her!

To find out how that goes, stream it now.

A surprisingly good META Horror Sequel.  I know- I wasn't expecting it either.

A Film like this can either be really good or really bad.  There's almost never an in-between.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare- good.
Human Centipede 2- bad!

How you feel about this one will also be informed by how you feel about Post-Modern Slasher Films.  This is close to one, albeit not one with a mystery reveal of the killer.

A Film like this could get really preachy, but they walk that line pretty well.  The Film itself has much to say, but is pretty good about not pointing a finger too much.

Seeing the promotion and trailers for this left me cold, but curious.
The final product, however, was better than I'd hoped and didn't upset me as much as I expected.

A Film that is honestly kind of good and has stuff to say.  Marketing this was never going to be easy, but, boy, did they botch it.

Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits - 'A Stitch in Time'

 Is this truly the best Episode of The Outer Limits?

This is the highest rated Episode on IMDB, with a User Rating of 8.4.

The Plot involves, as you might guess, Time Travel and a touch of casualty looping.

Let's have already gone into...

This is Season 2, Episode 1.

In the Cold Open, a woman confronts a man at his home and demands to verify his identity.
When she does, she pulls out a gun and shoots him!

This is Amanda Plummer, last seen here killing her new Husband on Tales from the Crypt.

We also follow an FBI Agent named Jamie who is celebrating (sort of) the upcoming execution of a killer who she put away.
Sadly, she put him away AFTER her best friend was killed by him.

She's working on a strange case involving 17 men killed by the same gun...across 30 years!

We soon find out the truth about what is going on.

Plummer can time travel via sort of logical nonsense and covers her tracks, wiping her clues from the crime scene in the beginning.

Afterwards, the killer on Death Row lays out *exactly* what he did before his first kill (to the day!) and she uses that info to kill him first!

This act undoes Jamie's friend's death, of course.

The strain is getting too much for her, since she retains memories of the past timeline AND the new one.  Imagine that, but 17 times over!

Jamie figures out that she is up to something and confronts her, whereupon Plummer reveals her time machine.
She's going to finally go back and save for herself from a creepy kidnapper.

Jamie can't stop her, so she follows her.

In 1976, Plummer manages to save herself and let Jamie kill the guy before he does anything terrible.

However, she can't save her CURRENT self (time travel is confusing) and her older body is left in the past.

Please ignore that Plot Point as we see that this undoes ALL of Plummer's killings (her motivation to do them taken away) and Jamie's friend is dead again.

She is sad and confronts a happier Plummer, who apparently lets her use the Machine to kill the bad guy yet again!

The End.

A really strong premise that nearly gets the focus it deserves.

This one is good- no question.
The only issue here for me is that the focus is rarely on the actual killings done by Plummer.  Seeing her do more than 2 would have been nice.

That said, there would be less time for Jamie and her Plot, so...alright.

It would also have been a fun wrinkle to actually begin with Jamie meeting with the happier Plummer and being greeted by her line 'I know you.  You're the one that saved me.'
Tell everything else in order and you have a weird, but interesting hook IMHO.

The strongest parts are where it really touches upon the difference between Justice and Vengeance, Correlation vs Causation and Do 17 wrongs make a right?

I've seen far worse Time Travel tales.
Interestingly, the Writer- Steven Barnes- wrote 3 Episodes of the Show and one was the 4th lowest rated one.  Here he is with the 1st Rated one now. 

Speaking of other Episodes, this one got a Sequel...4 Seasons later?!?

Next time, we jump to Season 5 for a tale involving Nazis.  It's sad how topical that subject is in 2026.  See you then...

Forgotten Sequels: Piranha 2- The Spawning

 Everyone has to start somewhere in any Industry.
In this case, it is James Cameron getting his first gig as a Director on today's Film- Piranha 2: The Spawning, the 1981 Sequel to the Cult Classic.

There are many caveats here, but I'll get to that.

This is a Sequel made in Italy by a man named Ovidio G. Assonitis.  And yes, that is his real last name.
He Produced many Films that only true connoisseurs of foreign nonsense have seen and sometimes love like Beyond the Door, Tentacles and The Iron Warrior.

In this case, he needed an American name on his Sequel (to a Film that he didn't make) and ultimately settled on James Cameron, fresh off working on Roger Corman's Productions.

The Plot involves those damn Piranhas back for more in a Plot that actually mirrors some future Jurassic Park Films.  

Is this Euro Trash with an American Title?  To find out, read on...

My version has a different Subtitle.

A Cold Open (literally) has a Couple diving down to have sex in a shipwreck.  Take note, Kash Patel!
They die.

The nearby Island is full of Tourists and overseen by a single Sheriff/Law Figure- Lance Henriksen.

There's a Jaws-like Mayor figure in the form of the Resort Owner.

He does all of the usual stuff you'd expect.

Our Heroine- who would reunite with Cameron for Titanic- is the Diving Instructor/Tour Guide.

She's this Film's Hooper, but she's also the ex-Wife of Henriksen (this Film's Brody).
As a bonus, their Son is in peril for the climax, giving us a taste of Jaws 2.

While this is officially directed by Cameron, he only claims credit for 2 Scenes.  

In the first one, the guy who kept hitting on 'Hooper' goes with her to check out the body of a victim.

They used a real Morgue btw!

They are chased off by a Local Worker, who sticks around with the corpse uncovered long enough for one of the Piranha to fly out of an open wound!

We later learn from the guy above that they were crossbred with a bunch of other species as some sort of military weapon (or something), but escaped.

Yes, this is oddly similar to Jurassic World in that regard.

One of the Fishermen- Gabby- finds his son killed by one of the Piranhas.

He plans revenge, using the dynamite that he and the son were fishing with when Lance first met them.

That night, all of the warnings are ignored and the beach is opened...but at night.

The Tourists act out a ritual where they march to the Sea...and the Piranhas fly at them, killing many!

Gabby shows up after the survivors are behind a door and plans his revenge...only to be killed instantly.

My...arc...was pointless.

The Son and a girl he likes snuck away earlier, setting up the Jaws 2 bit I mentioned.

In the other bit that Cameron Directed, Lance finds them in his Helicopter and, instead of landing, jumps out and it explodes.

Helicopters famously explode upon contact with water.

They take a boat to get away as 'Hooper' and the guy try to set up bombs made by Gabby to blow up the eggs in the wreck.

The guy is killed by the fish- as Story Law demands- and they save the day via a giant explosion.

The End (until the 1995 Remake).

A pretty forgettable 'Sequel,' save for a few minutes throughout.

This one was supposedly going to try and get Kevin McCarthy to make a Cameo as his Piranha character and die off.  That never happened.

What we're left with is a Film that very, very much feels like an Italian Monster Movie.
It has all of the benchmarks, including much superfluous nudity and sleazy people.

There is also LOTS of stuff ripped off of/inspired by Jaws, which is pretty damn common in Italian Cinema between 1976 and 1996.

The FX work also led to what made the Face Huggers in Cameron's Aliens, so some good came of this.

I'd love to say more about this being a 'hidden gem' or something, but...nah.
It has some moments, at least.

Speaking of moments, now is the right one to bring this back...

Next time, Roger Moore is back in his (arguably) most maligned Bond Film.  Is this Sci-Fi premise too much for the Series?  Stay tuned...

Tubi Thursday: Slithis (1978)

 To Spawn or not to Spawn- that is a question.

The Title Card says Spawn of the Slithis.  Every single Poster and DVD says Slithis.

Regardless, here's a '70s Alien Monster Movie that I have somehow not reviewed yet!

A pair of kids are playing frisbee by the Canal in Venice, California.

For no good reason (unless the Film ran short), they both run to the edge in Snyder-style slow motion and find two dead dogs.

They are never seen again.

Some unseen creature with Monster POV that looks like they put a coke bottle on a camera kills a Couple, after they argue about wearing a bathrobe.

This Film is Rated PG.

Our Hero is a High School Journalism Teacher who decides to work the case.  He looks like a young Steve Guttenberg.

What does he find out?

Well, a soil sample is given to this John Landis-looking guy.

He tells our Hero that it contains a substance called Slithis, stuff made by nuclear radiation and gunk.

That's where the Title comes from and why the Title Card makes more sense, as the creature was exposed to said substance.

They speak to this Scientist- who was also exposed to some stuff- about how to prove the existence of the substance.

This sets him on a path to hire a boat, which will pay off later.

Another night finally gives us a proper glimpse of the titular creature as it stalks a Hobo.

It... looks like if H.R. Giger created the Ninja Turtles.
It looks like those drawings of the dinosaur-Human Hybrids from the planned Jurassic Park 4.

It looks...ugly.

The Film has a put of a problem focusing, so it spends a good 5-10 minutes following this couple driving to a boat and eventually being killed.

Our Heroes can't get help from the Cops, so they try to catch the creature.

The Captain and our Hero finally slay the beast, the former saying that the beast should be returned to the Ocean.

As they do so, it comes back to life and the Film ends on a bleak freeze frame.

People were depressed in the '70s and they made it your problem!

It's not bad, but it's not great.

Positives first...
The Film has a unique look with its regional Venice, California Setting.
The creature looks appropriately freaky.
I enjoy a Giallo-style Hero who wants to solve the case because he simply hates teaching.

The negatives are pretty notable too though.

Pacing is an issue, as some Scenes are really drawn out.
One in particular features constant cuts to our Hero reacting and, well, he's not the most dynamic guy.

I legit do not get why they spend a whole section of the Film (which is just under 90 minutes) on this random couple, their ride home, the romance and then the creature attack.

Aside from that, there's the bones of a really good Movie here that, like others, could do with a Remake.  Why Remake the good ones, when there are so many Films like this?

A decent enough Film at moments, but it definitely has pacing issues.  A tighter, more focused Remake would honestly be great.

Streaming Standard: X-Men '97- Season 2's Premiere Episodes

 We're back in the '90s!

The Show is back for another Season after a long delay.  Fittingly, this delay led to 3 Episodes about Time Travel coming out first!

I'll keep this as SPOILER-free as possible, but I do have to reference the Ending of Season 1.

Let's get out first taste of...

This Season's Villain is Apocalypse!

Hey, it's the tease of Wolverine and The X-Men finally paying off after over a Decade!

The Team is split up in Time and Space by a mysterious force.

In Episode 1, we see the group in the far Future as they see the now-adolescent Cable and try to guide him towards his destiny.

Episode 2 takes us back to the Present (of the Show) and follows those left behind.

Sunspot and Jubilee are recruited by Cable as part of his new X-Force.

They discover that a different team is also acting in the X-Men's absence...

X-Factor!

Last seen in Cold Comfort, the Team is working to capture all of the Mutants that they can find and rounding them up for 'their safety.'

I thought I could trust you, Strong Guy!

In the final Episode of the release, we see the team that was sent back to the Past.

They are teamed up with a pre-evil (well, mostly) Apocalypse as Magneto tries to rewrite history by getting him on their side.

Sadly, the slew of Star Trek: TNG Voice Actors are in the way!

To find out how it goes, Stream the Episodes now (before Episode 4 drops)!

A strong batch of Episode that makes up for all of the wait!

Obviously, many things happened behind the Scenes that likely delayed things.  Even so, we have good content to enjoy.

Episode 1 is a fun reintroduction to everyone and gives off real Terminator vibes.

Episode 2 is a good example of a Side Story and let us see many, many Cameos.  Just Google it and you'll see.

Episode 3 is the first of a 2-Parter, so don't expect everything to be settled.  It's still a great use of the Characters.

The pairings have mostly paid off quite well, from Rogue and Nightcrawler bonding to Jubilee butting heads with Cable.
We don't see any of the sort-of flirting with Morph and Wolverine here, but there's time (if it is continuing).

This Season really has a nice chance to breathe with this setup and I'm hopeful that it continues that way.

As always, people love to make Fake AI Trailer Images.  This one is from November!

We'll see if any of it comes true.

I'll likely cover the remaining Episodes in batches, but time will tell.  For now, enjoy the '90s!