John Allman

If you’ve ever wandered the aisles at the video store or surfed the DVR pay-per-view options and seen a bunch of movies that you’ve never heard of, chances are John has watched them. Why? He loves movies. All kinds of movies. Good, bad, so-bad-they’re good, even the truly unwatchable ones. He mostly loves horror and science-fiction and drive-in exploitation movies that most upstanding model citizens wouldn’t dare watch. Then he writes up his thoughts so you can decide - watch, don’t watch or avoid at all costs. Sometimes he even gets to talk to the cool folks who make some of your favorite films.

 Blood, Violence and Babes
Facebook icon 16x16 John Allman

Most Recent Entries
More
Monthly Archives

New Releases for Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Posted Jul 14, 2012 by John Allman

Updated Jul 14, 2012 at 02:42 PM

What’s new in stores and on video shelves this week:

Cherry Bomb
Genre: Action
Directed by: Kyle Day
Run time: 90 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: It’s not difficult to spot the films that heavily influenced director Kyle Day.

Pretty much any gritty revenge thriller from the 1970s and 1980s gets a subtle homage in “Cherry Bomb.” There are whiffs of “Death Wish,” more than a hint of “I Spit on Your Grave” and even a healthy dollop of “Ms. 45.”

But for every loving grindhouse shout-out to the drive-in pictures of the past, “Cherry Bomb” stumbles whenever it reaches for some dramatic oomph. In fact, the most frustrating aspect of this fitfully enjoyable thriller is the lack of a consistent tone.

Is it a dramatic thriller? A hard-edged, nasty slice of female empowerment? A subversive post-feminist homage to action films of yore? Or a muddled, misguided comedy?

This identity crisis is the biggest problem with “Cherry Bomb.”

Uneven moments of ridiculous levity will follow a violent gun battle. Tender moments of introspection get upended by flat jokes and amateurish performances. And don’t even hope for anything close to reality. There’s none to be found.

Raped, beaten and death wish-fueled stripper Cherry Bomb, played by B-movie actress Julin Jean, goes on a killing rampage with her brother, slaughtering entire families in broad daylight with zero ramifications. The cops keep showing up at weird places, never looking for Cherry, who shouldn’t be hard to find since she keeps returning to the likeliest of hideouts.

Still, there’s enough spunk and stylish mayhem filtered through Day’s lens to keep you watching. You can tell how hard he and the cast are trying and that desire on their part to produce a worthwhile throwback to the types of films that once populated low-rent theaters propels “Cherry Bomb” at points when you otherwise should rightly hit eject and just give up.

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Cherry Bomb is a smoking hot vixen out for revenge.
Nudity – Gratuitous
Gore – Yes
Drug use – Yes
Bad Guys/Killers – A strip club kingpin and his band of small town scumbags
Buy/Rent – Rent it
Blu-Ray Bonus Features – Audio commentary, Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending

Also Available:

American Reunion

Being Flynn

Twins of Evil

Black Limosuine

Fightville

The Flowers of War

Warehouse 13: Season 3

Margaret

Butterfly Swords

The Father Dowling Mysteries: Season Two

Freak Dance

Quill

Doctor Who: The Krotons

Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks

Adventure Time: The Complete First Season

Zoom In: Sex Apartments and True Story of a Woman in Jail: Continues

G.I. Joe: Series 2, Season 2

You’re Nobody Til Somebody Kills You

Reader Comments

Post a comment

Members:

(Requires free registration.)




Auto-login on future visits

Show my name in the online users list

Forgot your password?