Once upon a time, the state of cinemas was a gritty, hilarious, violent place filled with guns, big boobs, and every kind of animal wanting to kill and/or eat your flesh. These days, everything is dumbed down to the least common denominator, but with an homage to some of those classic film genres.

Now, you can get to see exactly what that world was like with a brand new documentary delving into the eclectic mind of cinematic legend Roger Corman in Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel. Here’s the premise.

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL is a tantalizing and star-studded tribute to Roger Corman, Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director producer, and seminal influencing force in modern moviemaking over the last 60 years. Featuring interviews with Hollywood icons and cinematic luminaries, some who launched their careers within Corman’s unforgettable world of filmmaking, including Paul W.S. Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Martin Scorsese, William Shatner and Jack Nicholson, along with many others, this documentary chronicles how Corman created his cult film empire, one low-budget success at a time, capitalizing on undiscovered talent, and pushing the boundaries of independent filmmaking.

The film is set to hit select theaters on December 16th, but you can check out the very first trailer for it after the jump.

Continue Reading →

What makes a movie a classic? Is it some kind of social significance? Or, is it what the movie meant to people when it first came out? Or maybe its just fondly remembered for its amazing cheesiness and being so bad its good? I’m pretty sure Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond the Stars falls into that last category.

However, even if it happens to be made of 100% real cheese, that doesn’t stop it from also begin pretty awesome and, shall we say it, a classic. Now this film is getting the Blu-ray and DVD treatment it deserves with a super special 30th anniversary edition, soon to be released by Shout! Factory.

To begin to understand the scope of this film’s cult classic status, you have to take a look at the people involved in it. They represent some of the biggest names working in movies today. Back then, they were just a bunch of kids with an idea for a space movie.

Here’s a small list of those involved. See if you recognize any of the names: John Sayles, Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon, James Horner, Gale Anne Hurd and, of course, Roger Corman. Oh yeah, James cameron also did the special effects for the movie. He’s come a long way since then.

Click throuhg for the full info from Shout! Factory. Look for Battle Beyond the Stars in stores on June 12th. Also after the break we’ve included the original trailer for the film as well. It’s not great quality but watch it and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

Continue Reading →

Gratuitous underwater lesbian makeout sequences, severed limbs flying at the audience in 3D, and comic amounts of blood flying everywhere.  These are the elements that made Piranha 3D one of the most successful crowd pleasers last year.  Not since Snakes on a Plane have we seen a movie so terrible, yet so entertaining, that it is worth a viewing from even the most sophisticated film buffs.

How could you not make a sequel? Dimension Films just revealed that they started production on the sequel to the Roger Corman remake in Wilmington, NC.  The press release reads:

“There’s something in the water . . . again.  And this time no one is safe from the flesh eating fish as they sink their razor sharp teeth into the visitors of the best summer attraction, The Big Wet Water Park.”

John Gulager is taking the helm for this one after having directed the Feast trilogy prior to this.  A rather eclectic cast of smaller horror/thriller actors has already been announced, including Danielle Panabaker from The Crazies, Chris Zylka of My Super Psycho Sweet 16 and the upcoming The Amazing Spiderman, and, most surprisingly, David Koechner of Anchorman and other Apatow comedies.

Continue Reading →

Just in case you thought things couldn’t get more ridiculous than Sharktopus, a film about a half-shark, half-octopus that terrorizes Eric Roberts and a bunch of D-list actors, we’ve got one more for you.

In a recent interview on This Week in Horror, master of the B-movie Roger Corman announced that as a followup to his underground smash-hit Sharktopus, he’s playing monster maker once again with his newest film, Piranhaconda.

Aside from creating new species, Corman is also pitting them against one another. His recent films are also Dinocroc vs. Supergator and has expressed his plans on battling even more of his Darwin-hating concoctions.

Check out what Corman has to say about PiranhaConda after the break.

Continue Reading →

As if you needed any more reason to see Sharktopus on Blu-Ray and DVD, who doesn’t love when the master of schlocky creature cinema has as much involvement as possible. Not only did both Roger and wife  Julie Corman produce the film, but Roger himself gets the illustrious part of “beach bum” in the film.

For those who were under a non-geeky rock last year when the film debuted, here’s the synopsis:

An eight-tentacled nightmare hybrid of shark and octopus, “S-11” was created by genetic scientist Nathan Sands (Eric Roberts) as the U.S. Navy’s next super-weapon. But when its control implants are damaged during a training experiment off the Mexican coast, the beast escapes to Puerto Vallarta to sample the local fare — bikini babes, jet-skiers, and spring-breakers. With the ocean terror now out of control and seemingly invincible, a ragtag group – comprised of a hotshot mercenary, an investigative reporter, and Sand’s biomechanical engineer daughter – have come together to stop the unholy beast from turning a seaside tourist resort into the ultimate human buffet.

In this clip we have for you, we get to see Corman as the forementioned beach bum, and also get a sneak listen at the commentary recorded by both Julie and Roger.

Catch Sharktopus on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 15th.

Continue Reading →

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…again, there is one more carnivore that you have to watch out for, and that’s Roger Corman’s Dinoshark. That’s right, the monstrous and ancient Dinoshark is making it’s way to Blu-Ray and DVD.

From the Anchor Bay press release:

Born in Antarctica, Dinoshark noses his way down the warmer currents to Mexico, towards a popular vacation spot crowded with party-goers unwittingly ready to fall prey to a prehistoric eating machine.  When the killings begin, it becomes clear that no normal animal can be responsible for such savagery.

Local captain Trace McGraw (Eric Balfour – “24”, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Skyline) and marine biologist Carol (Iva Hasperger – “CSI”, “Cold Case”) seem to be the only ones convinced that the creature terrorizing their shores is something other than the expected man-eating shark.  They enlist the help of the world’s only expert on the Dinoshark (Roger Corman himself).  Together, will they be able to reel Dinoshark in?

Continue Reading →

Just when you thought Christmas was coming to an end in a few weeks, it looks like a few elves over at Anchor Bay have a surprise in store for us on March 15, as the SyFy Channel original hit film Sharktopus is getting an official release on Blu-ray and DVD.

That’s right, you get to relive those classic moments of the Sharktopus destroying landmarks, devouring sea-bound travelers, and running amok all over again in glorious 72op. From the producing team of Roger and Julie Corman, the film is the cherry on top of Corman’s ice cream Sunday of a B-movie career, becoming the highest rated SyFy original film in the channel’s history with over 2.5 million viewers back in September.

For those of you who missed it, here’s the official synopsis.

An eight-tentacled nightmare hybrid of shark and octopus, “S-11” was created by genetic scientist Nathan Sands (Eric Roberts) as the U.S. Navy’s next super-weapon. But when its control implants are damaged during a training experiment off the Mexican coast, the beast escapes to Puerto Vallarta to sample the local fare — bikini babes, jet-skiers, and spring-breakers.

Continue Reading →

On some occasions, writing a review of a film is somewhat difficult. How do you effectively communicate the intricacies of the plot or characters and how to you genuinely summarize the effect the film has on you so potential viewers reading your review can fully understand and know what they are getting into if they do attend? Fortunately, in the case of Piranha 3D, I had none of those problems.

After all, it is a film about an underwater quake which sets free hundreds of prehistoric man-eating fish who then proceed to attack and eat pretty much anything and everything they can sink their teeth into. Once the fish are loose and on their way to spoil Spring Break for the thousands of kids frolicking at Lake Victoria, AZ it’s up to an unlikely group led by the town’s Sheriff (Elisabeth Shue) and a visiting marine paleontologist (Adam Scott) to stop the deadly horde before it’s too late.

Having recently seen Joe Dante’s original Piranha and another classic Roger Corman gory campfest Humanoids from the Deep, I can say that Piranha 3D borrows heavily from both of those previous films and does deliver a campy, over the top and in your face good time. It’s not art, whatever you may consider that to be, but it does have one big thing going for it: It’s fun.

Piranha 3D doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is: a movie where a pack of fish attack a whole bunch of people and eat them which also features ample sexual situations and nudity. It definitely earns the R rating.

It starts out letting you know these fish are not to be messed with by presenting Richard Dreyfuss doing what can only be described as a parody of his character from Jaws (complete with his rendition of Irving King’s Show Me the Way to Go Home) innocently fishing on the lake.

Continue Reading →

Most of the time we take our movie watching pretty seriously here at The Flickcast. We go to film festivals or seek out the best in studio and independent films full of intricate plots, complex characters and inventive dialog. In short, we usually like our films be great and also say a little something too.

However, that doesn’t mean we want our films to be serious all the time. Enter Sharktopus. By any stretch of the imagination this particular movie probably doesn’t have much in the way of seriousness behind it nor an intricate plot, complex characters or innovative dialog. What it does have is awesome campy action and loads of fun, as you will see from the trailer for it we’ve got for you today.

The trailer, which first appeared at The Live Feed, gives us everything we need to know about the movie and tells us it demands a late night viewing in a room full of friends with popcorn (and perhaps beer) in abundance. In fact, this would make an excellent late night double feature with Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, once the latter is released. Hey, a man can dream.

Sharktopus stars Eric Roberts and Sara Malakul and is produced by Roger Corman. It airs on Syfy later this year. Check out the trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading →

If you love film and TV from the past then this post is for you. Shout Factory! will be bringing its unique line of products to San Diego for Comic-Con and we’ve got all the info about their plans for you today, courtesy of this cool press release.

Some of the highlights include appearances by Roger Corman, Julie Corman, Joe Dante, Sid Haig, Mary Woronov , Stephen Collins and Gregg Berger. Sounds like a great time to us.

Comic-Con runs from July 23-26 in San Diego, CA. Be sure to check out all the info on Shout! Factory’s presence at the show by clicking through to read the full press release.

And be sure to check back right here for more of our coverage of San Diego Comic-Con.

Continue Reading →