Triclops (2016) – movie review

 

Triclops (2016)

Directed by Brett Piper

Starring:
Matthew Crawley
Steve Diasparra
Richard Lounello
Erin Waterhouse

 

A couple of stills from this movie on Facebook caught my interest. I looked it up on Amazon and the DVD was cheap enough to take a chance. The film contains typical B-movie acting and a typical B-movie story-line, However, the stop motion animation had a 1950’s sci-fi monster film charm to it. So, I pretended the film was from the 1950s (despite being in color) and I got along fine with it. The animated creatures were numerous; some kind of horned dinosaur, a giant Venus fly trap, a few different types of giant bugs, A mutant scorpion, and a poofy giant tic looking creature. Oh yes, we also have a giant, three eyed, mutant, humanoid known as the Triclops. The effects were quite decent and smoothly filmed for a movie with a micro budget.

 

Samantha is on a search mission for her husband, an air force pilot whose plane went down in a giant meteor crater which is an off limit area like Area 51. She and her brother-in-law seek out a drunken unemployed pilot with a reputation for accepting questionable jobs. They set off, flying under radar into the ancient crater. When they land, they discover strange beasts and mutant giant insects. Samantha is kidnapped by the Triclops and the rest of the team sets out to find her. After some cat and mouse antics they eventually outsmart the 3-eyed giant and find Sam’s husband. They use a map with an alternative escape route from the crater to escape the exploding meteor within it.

 

Brett Piper, (director/producer/special fx/writer) has been doing effects for z-budget films since the 1980s. He had spent some years as FX man and editor at EI/Seductive Cinema adding minimal storylines and FX to cheap soft-core sex flicks (a real waste of his talent IMO). However, this is Brett’s, 4th or 5th recent film with a definitive direction in mind, to keep the B-movie and Creature Feature style films of the 1950’s alive by producing new films in that subgenre. He has an affinity and talent for stop-motion which puts him in a good position to do just that and in recent years his mantra seems to be giving him new recognition and a cult following.  It kind of reminds me of how Full Moon grew to popularity in the late 80s. The film’s are mostly campy fair with nostalgic effects so if that is something you would like, look up some of his films. Triclops would be a good place to start. The next film from Piper I’ll watch is going to be Queen Crab.

 

Nostalgic stop-motion is the main point of this b-movie monster-fest.

I give it 3.4 mutant monsters from far off stars out of 5 on the creature feature fun scale.

 

(note: some of these pics are screenshots and the quality is not as good as you would see in the actual film)

Parlor of Horror’s Creature Feature Reviews

Humanoids From the Deep (1980) – movie review

Humanoids From the Deep (1980) aka: Monster

Directed by Barbara Peeters
Produced by Roger Corman

Doug McClure
Ann Turkel
Vic Morrow

This is one of the better post-gothic Roger Corman films. He had a formula for his films of the 80s that harkened back to his early films, a simple plot, show some skin, reveal a terrible creature or monster, and mimic successful horror films on a low-budget. It’s a formula that allowed him to be the most prolific b-movie director and producer for many decades.

A fishing company’s attempts to cultivate bigger/better fish leads to a mutant species of man-fish hybrid living in watery caves by a seaside town. While the town plans to celebrate the new plant opening, the creatures have their own agenda, to propagate their species. They attack and rape young women at the beaches while dispensing with their boyfriends with a swipe of their nasty claws. The night of the big celebration is the night the humanoids attack to overtake the town. Pandemonium ensues!

I have to mention that the creature effects in this film were done by Rob Bottin, who within the next couple of years did both, The Howling (1981) and The Thing (1982).

It’s a fun flick with some jump scares, great monster design and plenty of gory action. It’s not to be taken too seriously but it’s played straight (not comedic) making it a favorite Corman film of the 1980’s.

 

The Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977) – Movie Review

Rare and Obscure Dinosaur films

The Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)

Directed by Junji Kurata

1977, in the shadow of Mount Fuji, lay the unspoiled land of lakes, mountains, and caves. Camps hold activities, people fish, people explore, and people get eaten by a giant Plesiosaur in the lake. Two marine biologists go out exploring on the river to investigate the legend of a sea serpent. There’s a violent attack as the monster grabs one woman out of the raft by her leg. She fights, screams, punches and kicks, hanging upside-down, her leg bleeding profusely. Meanwhile, two explorers at the base of a mountain explore some caves. They enter a big cavern and discover some giant eggs. The explorer says, “Hey look, a giant egg,” to which the egg replies, “Hey look, dinner.” Out comes this giant flying reptile which resembles a Rhamphorhynchus. (Fossils of the actual creature show it as the size of a small dog, but in this film it’s the size of a plane.) The flying reptile heads straight for the populated beach area to cause havoc and terror. Eventually the Plesiosaur and the Rhamphorhynchus fight, as a volcano erupts, an earthquake hits and the land reclaims the dinosaurs. All we’re missing is a tsunami.

The film was produced by Toei Productions (a Toho rival) that had sci-fi success earlier with The Green Slime. The two dinos in this are not men in suits but puppetronics. In the fight scene, they try to ramp up the action but the lack of control of these puppets becomes awkwardly noticeable. Some impressive scenes make up for the less aesthetic parts. The film has blood and angry gnashing of teeth, not recommended for young children. Rolling human heads, half bodies, bloody deaths, it’s a real dino-feast going on here! There are some incredibly hokey parts, too, including a Japanese country singer at a festival honoring the lake monster.

Many reviewers call this a rip-off of Jaws. I don’t agree. They may have glommed a couple of ideas from Jaws but it’s like saying any movie with a monster with teeth is a Jaws rip-off. I have an idea what the studio was aiming for. At the time, Godzilla went into the age 6-9 market catering to pre-teens (Godzilla‘s Revenge, Godzilla vs. Gigan). Gamera had already been in that market for years. So there was a void to fill – some adults may like monster movies, too. The whole film had that loose 70’s melting pot vibe exemplified by the soundtrack (jazz, disco, and country music). It was loaded with bad pseudo-science. There’s a decent enough story about a reporter and the biologists but this film would probably only be enjoyed by dinosaur enthusiasts. (Like me)

Related articles:
Creature Features – Dinosaurs Invade