Episode 09 - Lunch Meat/The Sacrament

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Charter Entertainment

Why does one decide to collect something? What is it about one particular brand or look that draws us to act like Ash Ketchum with a duffel bag full of Pokeballs? I'm sure there's some asinine psychiatrist opinion about how we were raised, but I honestly think who gives a shit. Some like baseball cards, some comics. Some records and others with embossed presidential faces on a doily. Regardless this is a post about my journey to collect all the releases from Charter Entertainment.

Charter was a subsidiary of Nelson Entertainment, who was later purchased by New Line Cinema.... Who was later purc
hased by Warner Brothers. My first experience with Charter was Brian Trenchard-Smith's The Quest. My father had seen the movie one random day on TV, and had found a copy for me to see when I was about 8. At the time my VHS collecting consisted primarily of Godzilla, Universal Monsters and big bug movies from the '50s, but this Australian set film captured my imagination.

It wasn't until 2008 when I then saw my next Charter which would be the Larry Cohen oddball God Told Me To. Then I came across the John Stamos/Gene Simmons tour de force Never Too Young to Die, and my love of this company grew. After I started coming across different titles while hunting in the wild, I decided to "Get the whole set".

I had no clue how many titles Charter released. Through websites like VHSplatter, Critic Online and VHS Collector I was able to amass a large amount of the product IDs and titles. However, these sites still don't list every title. I have found a few that these sites don't list, and that has begun my quest collect, watch and review every Charter film. I don't know for sure how many titles that is, but as of now I've counted upwards 117 titles. The IDs I've collected so far go up to "90237, which is the Harvey Keitel thriller Blindside.

Below is the catalog I've setup so far. If you have a Charter that you're looking to pass off please let me know!

Catalog Number Title 9001 Kiss of the Spider Woman 9002 Zulu 9003 Rabbit Test 9004 Star Crash 9005 Time Walker 9006 The Plague Dogs 9007 The Baltimore Bullet 9008 Ten Little Indians 9009 Foxtrot 90010 Sidewinder 1 90011 The Mack 90012 Scalpel 90013 Came a Hot Friday 90014 A Man, a Woman and a Bank 90015 Diamonds 90016 Blackout 90017 Black Oak Conspiracy 90018 Nashville Girl 90019 Night Flight From Moscow 90020 Journey Through Rosebud 90021 TNT Jackson 90022 Paddy 90023 The Final Comedown 90025 Hog Wild 90026 City on Fire 90027 Follow That Car 90028 The Young Nurses 90029 This Time I'll Make You Rich 90030 The Steagle 90031 Crimewave 90032 Smoke Bites the Dust 90033 Lucky Luciano 90035 Call Him Mr. Shatter 90036 Jock' Petersen 90037 Summer School Teachers 90038 The Student Nurses 90039 Emanon 90040 Road to Salina 90043 God Told Me To 90045 Outside Chance 90046 Never Too Young to Die 90047 Blonde in Black Leather 90048 Street Girls 90049 The Tigress 90050 Woman Hunt 90051 Women in Cages 90054 The Manitou 90055 Picture Mommy Dead 90056 Murder Mansion 90058 Scream of the Demon Lover 90060 The Ski Bum 90063 The End of August 90069 Love By Appointment 90070 The Nightcomers 90078 Macho Callahan 90079 A Man Called Adam 90080 Thumb Tripping 90081 The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World 90083 Horror Rises from the Tomb 90084 Baby Love 90085 J.C. 90086 Fury of the Wolfman 90096 The Quest 90097 Savage 90098 Marciano 90099 The Comeback Kid 90100 The Jericho Mile 90101 She's in the Army Now 90102 Attica 90103 Make Me An Offer 90104 Pray TV 90105 Hot Rod 90106 Bombs Away! 90107 Dingaka 90108 The Dirt Bike Kid 90109 Trouble in Mind 90111 Bluebeard 90113 A Nice Girl Like Me 90115 Walk into Hell 90117 Catch as Catch Can 90119 Interval 90120 The Passionate Thief 90122 Robbery 90123 Shoot Loud, Louder… I Don't Understand 90124 Caper of the Golden Bulls 90125 Seaside Swingers 90128 The Spy With the Cold Nose 90129 Three Bullets for a Long Gun 90132 The Sporting Club 90133 Mother & Daughter: The Loving War 90134 Wonders of Aladdin 90135 Darktown Strutters 90138 Road Games 90139 Cross Country 90140 Fair Game 90141 Private Duty Nurses 90142 The Cat 90146 A Bullet for the General 90149 The Terrornauts 90153 Red Headed Stranger 90155 The Swimming Pool 90156 GIT! 90160 Hatchet for a Honeymoon 90165 Talion 90169 A Time for Miracles 90171 Octavia 90173 What Comes Around 90174 To Love Again 90178 Jane Austen in Manhattan 90179 A Dream of Passion 90198 The Salamander 90199 Bridge to Nowhere 90200 Keeping Track 90203 Rolling Vengeance 90204 Working Girls 90205 Messaline vs the Son of Hercules 90206 The Danger Zone 90207 Impure Thoughts 90208 Strangers in the City 90209 Ghost Fever 90211 Toby McTeague 90213 The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules 90214 Burke & Wills 90216 I Was a Tennage Zombie 90218 Dark Age 90221 Slaughterhouse 90223 Supergrass 90224 Living on Tokyo Time 90227 Stacking 90229 Around the World in 80 Ways 90234 I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing 90235 Scenes from the Goldmine 90236 Playing Away 90237 Blindside

Episode 08 - Warrior of the Lost World (1983)

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Episode 07 - Mcpherson Tape/WNUF Halloween Special

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Episode 06 - Demons/Demons 2

        Episode 06 - Demons/Demons 2








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Scare-A-Con

Coolidge Corner Theater

Popcorn (1991)

Long gone are the days of the gimmick film where seats buzzed, and when ghosts and monsters roamed the aisles. The amazing William Castle, who entertained audiences with such greats as House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts, believed he could provide thrills outside of the silver screen. Rigging the theater with all sorts of proprietary gags made Castle a name to be recognized. With almost every other week a 3D film being released into theaters nowadays it's a little hard to think that a film in 3D was a rare treat.

Perhaps it was the changing tastes of the movie-going public that brought the end to theater gimmicks, but there are two great examples of tribute to the lost art form. The first being Joe Dante's overlooked period piece Matinee, with an outstanding performance by John Goodman in tribute to the late Castle. The other film that tips its hat to Mr. Castle is the offbeat slasher film, Popcorn.

Popcorn revolves around Maggie, an aspiring screenwriter attending UC Berkley, who keeps having vivid nightmares which she fuels to write her script. While attending class, Maggie's film teacher Mr. Davis tells them they need to get some funds for their department, or risk being shut down. So Mr. Davis enlists the help Dr. Mnesyne, who is a film historian, to re-create the lost art of the gimmick with such thrills as 3D, Shock-O-Scope and Odorama. The goal is to have an all-night horrorthon to raise money for their program.  As the event starts, Maggie starts to learn that her nightmares are repressed memories from her childhood, and it appears that her past has a deadly way of catching up with her.

As a fan of both 80's slashers and 50's Science Fiction, Popcorn is, well... a real treat as a genre fan. It's hard to look at the film as one cohesive story as there are two films going on here, both of which highly entertaining. The kills are all different and rather inventive, and while some of the actors may not be what you'd consider "A-List" (with the exception of the ever lovely Dee Wallace) they suite the film just fine. My favorite moments are the films within the film, serving as the go-between to the slasher stuff. This is just personal preference as the slasher story is handled really well for a film of this type.

Popcorn is a film that pays homage to the long gone B-Movies of the 50's and 60's while keeping modern day audiences appeased with a by-the-numbers slasher sub-plot. Popcorn isn't a film that will be known for re-inventing the genre, but it's a fun look at a bygone era of film making. With a well crafted sub-plot and an energetic script, Popcorn is a film that will entertain those looking for laughs as well as violence.

Popcorn is out of print on DVD, but available from Elite Entertainment. Synapse is supposed to release a special edition Blu-Ray this October, but I haven't heard any updates as of yet.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Trash Bags

Popcorn IMDB

Popcorn Amazon

Popcorn Wiki

Episode 05 - Shreck/The Great Alligator

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The Trash Pack: Contest 08/06/14 to 09/26/14

\I've been spotty with keeping reviews and the podcast up to date, but I do appreciate anyone who has taken the time to listen to an episode, read a review or even share my work with someone else. That's why I'd like to show some appreciation to one lucky reader. I've been teasing the thought of a contest on our Facebook page for sometime now, and here's the deal:

In order to win over 30 DVDs, 30 VHS, a few action figures, comics and more you'll have to comment below with the name of your favorite video store, existing or not. The only other rule is you have to like our Facebook page. It's that simple! This contest will run until Friday, September 26th. I'll then collect all entries, and figure out a winner at random!

Now, these are all the DVDs that will be included, but more VHS will be added once I find some stuff I highly enjoyed, or a couple of more obscurer titles. Right now there's a stack of Punisher mags I have included, but I'll be putting some more horror comics in.

Make sure to like our Facebook page to stay up-to-date on any additions to the Trash Pack contest!

Thanks for reading!

*New Additions 08/26/2014*

We're a month away from the contest ending, so I've added some more stuff to the pack. Here are detailed images of all that is included!

Death Nurse (1987)

I've seen and reviewed my share of ridiculous films throughout my time on this earth, but I find that when watching a film shot-on-video (SOV) I tend to be more relaxed with my feelings. While I will always say The Abomination is a wretched film, there is a lot of entertainment to be had with the right inebriation. There's a certain chunk of salt one has to swallow to enjoy these films, and more often than not they're poorly made and convoluted.

At the Shady Palms nursing home, Nurse Edith and her brother Doctor Gordon take care of their patients. They give them beds, offer food, and unnecessary surgery and murder. While more patients are brought in for their "exquisite" care, Edith and Gordon take turns either performing surgery or suffocating, stabbing. Soon though they find themselves with more corpses than they can handle. What are a murderous brother and sister to do?

Death Nurse is a pretty baffling movie. At the staggering 57 minute run time you are thrown into one of the most weirdly edited, shot and acted films ever. Again, that's not saying it's bad, but, well... It's bad. In an enjoyable way, but you're scratching your head as to why most of these decisions were made. Long shots of actors doing nothing. Dream sequences that are never explained, also these sequences were taken from the film Criminally Insane, so they obviously needed the padding.

The acting from Priscilla Alden is spot-on with its awfulness. It's wooden and no awards will be given for her performance, but it's endearing. The "production value" of the film was that of probably one weekend, the director's family/friends, 5 VHS tapes, a Panasonic camcorder and two VCRs for editing. It's cheap and it shows, but it's never serious and allows for organic laughs with the dark humor while everything else in the movie provides the unintentional chuckles.

Death Nurse isn't going to win any awards, but it's a movie to throw on with a group of friends. It's under an hour of your life, and most of us paid to sit through Avatar. That shit was like 3 hours. You could watch Death Nurse, Death Nurse 2 and two episodes of the Simpsons in that time frame and be more entertained that tree sex bullshit.

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 Trash Bags

Death Nurse is available from Slasher // Video, but it is limited to 1,000 units.

Episode 04 - 3:15 (1986)

 

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