A Nightmare on Elm Street stars Robert Englund (V TV miniseries and various TV shows) as the awesomely freakish Fred Kruger. Burned alive by vengeful parents, he haunts the dreams of the Elm Street children. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Tina (Amanda Wyss), Rod (Jsu Garcia) and Glen (Johnny Depp) are those hapless children, haunted ruthlessly by the slashing ghoul. One by one Fred targets them in their dreams and finishing them while they sleep. Only Nancy understands the true threat and bodaciously seeks the slumber slasher on his own ground. I hear over 500 gallons of fake blood flowed in this gnarly horror flick, and I believe it. See A Nightmare on Elm Street to find out why Fred Kruger is the man of your dreams.
The Terminator stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (Pumping Iron, Conan franchise) as... The Terminator. The Terminator is a cyborg of totally futuristic technology that nobody can possibly understand since it's from 40 years out in like the 2020's. His mission; to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, Hill Street Blues, Children of the Corn), the mother of the revolutionary leader, John Conner (not born yet). Michael Biehn (Lords of Discipline) is Kyle Reese, a revolutionary fighter sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor and her unborn baby. The Terminator is a totally awesome plethora of action, bullets, blood, plasma weapons, and heroics. Reese and Sarah are on the run, being pursued by the relentless cyborg. This game of cat and mouse continues throughout Los Angeles with plenty of chase scenes and a high body count. Keen technology takes on base humanity; But who will win? The Terminator is rated R for nude Schwarzenegger, Biehn, and Hamilton scenes and lots of swearing.
The Wild Life is a fantastic teen movie from 1984. I thought of the movie shortly after reviewing Weird Science and remembering Mitchell Smith, who plays the raspy voiced Wyatt. In The Wild Life, Smith portrays Jim Conrad a teen loner who easily identifies with a misunderstood Vietnam Veteran (Randy Quaid). In 1984, I was a teenager myself and remembered how cool Conrad’s character had seemed. He smoked, drank and cussed, all before his 16th birthday and wasn’t accountable to anyone.
Eric Stolz (Mask, Some Kind of Wonderful) plays Bill Conrad a high school grad on the way to college man. As he transitions to the collegiate life, he breaks of with his girlfriend Anita (Leah Thomson of Back to the Future, Red Dawn), gets a new apartment, and becomes interested in his younger brother Jim’s well being; all in the name of responsibility.
However, he just can’t quit best friend Tom Drake (Chris Penn of Footloose, All the Right Moves). When they rent an apartment together, it’s anything but responsible.
After remembering the movie, I tried hard to find it online, in video stores and among friends. The Wild Life is available in VHS, Laser Disk and Beta from some online sources. I found a copy to review and discovered an enjoyable flick. The reason that it is not widely available on DVD is the similar reason facing many movies being converted to DVD; licensing. So, in the name of awesomeness, Eddie Van Halen, composer of the soundtrack, please release the rights and make this movie available. If not… “it’s casual”.
Great lines include:
"It's casual"
"As soon as they see you're afraid, you're dead."
Warning: This movie may lead to more headbutting. Many learned to do so the first time it came out.
