Category Archives: Kane Hodder

1974 Films, Ann Prentiss, Barbara Ruick, Bert Remsen, Comedy, Drama, Elliott Gould, George Segal, Gwen Welles, Jeff Goldblum, Kane Hodder, Robert Altman

California Split-1974

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California Split-1974

Director Robert Altman

Starring Elliott Gould, George Segal

Scott’s Review #1,493

Reviewed August 25, 2025

Grade: A-

California Split (1974) is heavily recommended for hardcore Robert Altman enthusiasts as a way of comparing his other, more well-known works with this effort.

It’s a minor film in his vast catalog, but a dissection of the very best of what the director offered the world of cinema and why cinephiles forever love him.

For novice Altman viewers, I’d start with The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), or Gosford Park (2001).

Rich with fascinating, mostly minor or even background characters, combined with overlapping, largely improvised dialogue, this is Altman’s sweet spot. The dialogue crackles with brilliance and everyday conversation, especially around the casino tables.

California Split dives headfirst into a sad and sometimes depressing world of casinos, filled with prostitutes, derelicts, robust cashouts, and shattered dreams.

Footloose and fancy free, Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) rooms with two high-class prostitutes, Barbara Miller (Ann Prentiss) and Susan Peters (Gwen Welles), and lives to gamble.

Along with his more reasonable friend Bill Denny (George Segal), Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the big payday, regardless of the ramifications or hijinks they encounter along the way.

After troubles in Los Angeles, they quickly flock to Reno, Nevada, to see if their luck changes.

While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to contend with serious setbacks like owed debts and stolen money that threaten to derail their lofty ambitions.

California Split is a minor treasure.

Good chemistry exists between Gould and Segal, and they make compelling buddies. Charlie is the yin to Bill’s yang, but Bill is the character I care about most.

Explained to be married but separated, assumed because of his gambling addiction, Segal’s character is conflicted. Unable to help himself, he is nonetheless marginally sensible and aware of his problems.

After winning an enormous payout, instead of celebrating like Charlie does, Bill is instead morose.

He shares a tender moment with Susan, but after a feeble attempt at intimacy, he suddenly bails, leaving her shattered.

While the ladies don’t get as much screen time as the men, Prentiss and Welles also have a strong connection. With lesser acting talents or lesser writing, their characters could have been dismissed as floosies without any merit, but there’s a deeper understanding.

I yearned for more backstory, especially for Susan. Wounded and starved for love, she is my favorite female character.

Characters who appear in just one scene can leave a lasting impression.

The sassy receptionist, the angry, well-dressed woman in a bar who insults Bill with homophobic slurs, the female bartender (Barbara Ruick) in Reno observing Charlie and Bill’s conversations, and the fat lady at the casino table, each is fraught with endless possibilities.

How did each reach their lot in life?

Despite the unique characters and strong chemistry amongst the leads, California Split suffers from some aimlessness.

Occasional scenes are useless and meander incessantly. When the gents engage in a game of basketball with some strangers, there’s really no point to the scene.

The final sequence is compelling but also a letdown, as there is little satisfying climax or explanation of what happens to the characters in the future.

California Split (1974) is triumphant because it proudly celebrates Altman’s unique brand of filmmaking, showing his abilities as an iconoclast in the world of cinema.

It thrives on character over plot and the nuances of human behavior over dramatic story arcs. It displays his improvisational style and his ability to draw the viewer into a seedy world quite willingly.

Though not his most outstanding work, the mere essence of Altman is prevalent, making it a measured success.

1980 Films, Dean Jagger, Horror, Independent, Independent Horror, Kane Hodder, Lewis Teague, Michael V. Gazzo, Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Sue Lyon

Alligator-1980

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Alligator-1980

Director Lewis Teague

Starring Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo

Scott’s Review #1,491

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Reviewed August 18, 2025

Grade: B-

Alligator (1980) capitalizes on the Jaws (1975) and Jaws 2 (1978) craze with a similarly themed ‘creature that attacks humans’ idea.

The film’s musical score is essentially the same as Jaws’, and it includes a copied underwater camera shot of a victim in peril trying to reach a boat.

The late-night offering is adequate, though amateurish and cheaply made, with enough stock characters to make for a comical offering, whether intentional or unintentional.

The romantic chemistry between the two leads, Robert Forster and Robin Riker, is surprisingly genuine and sweet, which barely lifts this effort above mediocrity.

The kills are underwhelming and quickly become redundant as a leg or arm is chomped off a victim with little more than systematic style as the doomed person desperately attempts to escape being the giant alligator’s next meal.

Set in Chicago, the film follows Detective David Madison (Forster) and a reptile expert, Dr. Marisa Kendall (Riker), who team up to track an enormous, ravenous man-eating alligator flushed down the toilet years earlier as a baby.

The reptile terrorizes and attacks residents without capture after escaping from the city’s toxic sewers.

An inane explanation is provided, involving the alligator mutating to a humongous size due to feeding on animals used as test subjects for an experimental growth formula intended to increase agricultural livestock meat production.

The plot-driven story assuredly pairs David and Marisa as romantic counterparts from the get-go, so there is little doubt they will wind up together. A weak attempt at a spat between the couple is perplexing and a waste of time.

Thank goodness the actors have a decent amount of chemistry, which keeps things compelling during scenes when they traverse the metropolis trying to catch the reptilian murderer.

Marisa is well written as a self-assured, intelligent female doctor, though inexplicably, she lives with her overbearing mother. David has a mediocre backstory involving an incident in which he should have saved his partner’s life but failed to do so.

The death setups are outrageously satisfying as cookie-cutter stock characters quickly get their comeuppance. For example, the villainous Slade (Dean Jagger), an influential local tycoon responsible for the experiments, is crushed by a car flattened by the alligator.

This follows Slade’s selfish attempt to save his skin at the expense of another character, whom he locks out of his car.

Interestingly, Alligator features Jagger, an Oscar-winning actor (for 1949’s Twelve O’Clock High) and Oscar-nominated actor Michael V. Gazzo (for The Godfather Part II, 1974).

The grand finale is delicious, B-movie-style. The alligator goes on a rampage through a high-society wedding hosted at Slade’s mansion, eating a maid serving guests at the reception and killing Slade, the mayor, and Slade’s chief scientist for the hormone experiments, who was also his intended son-in-law.

The shrieking women and scrambling guests hilariously try to outrun the creature amid flying champagne glasses, wedding cakes, and delicate dining dishes.

This scene is worth the price of admission.

The rest of the experience is ludicrous, as the alligator goes unnoticed in a city of millions. He crawls down urban streets and hides in dark alleys at whim, occasionally eating a villain or two.

Like any horror film of the 1970s or 1980s, Alligator perfectly sets up a sequel, a la Alien (1979), with a spawn hatching in the sewers.

Playing more like a light comedy than a scary film, Alligator (1980) has moments of satisfaction. But most of it is an attempt to capitalize financially on an idea that has been used before, making it feel more like a ripoff movie than anything original.

1989 Films, Barbara Bingham, Gordon Currie, Horror, Jason Voorhees, Jensen Daggett, Kane Hodder, Lowest Rated Films, Martin Cummins, Peter Mark Richman, Rob Hedden, Scott Reeves, Slasher

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan-1989

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Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan-1989

Director Rob Hedden

Starring Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves

Scott’s Review #1,163

Reviewed July 21, 2021

Grade: D+

After eight installments in only nine years of the iconic horror Friday the 13th series, fans by this time know what they are in store for.

The title of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), and its accompanying cover art, offer a glimmer of originality and intrigue.

If this were 1989, I would be excited about the prospects of what this film could deliver.

Hell, the city of New York was dour and dirty in the late 1980s, filled with grit, grime, and seediness. What a perfect setup for our crazed killer, Jason, to mix and mingle with the dregs of society.

I conjured up images of Jason chasing frightened teenagers through graffiti-laced subways and X-rated peep show theaters in the Times Square district.

We get a few location shots of Times Square, but not much more.

Unfortunately for fans, only the final thirty minutes or so of the film are set in the Big Apple, and for eagle-eyed viewers, even less is filmed there.

Years later, director Rob Hedden would blame Paramount Studios for severely limiting the budget allowed for on-location filming.

The result is that Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan feels like a sham.

Okay, the film is a terrible, cheesy, poorly acted, jaggedly paced film, but on a late Saturday night, it provides some fun and comfort, along with the right mood and spirits.

A few years following the events of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), multiple mass murderer Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) is resurrected from the bottom of Crystal Lake after an underwater electrical fire.

After he kills a passing boat’s occupants, he stows away on a cruise ship filled with a high-school graduating class excitedly bound for New York City.

Strict Biology teacher Charles McCulloch (Peter Mark Richman) is on board with his niece, Rennie (Jensen Daggett), who has visions of Jason drowning as a child.

They temporarily escape his bloody rampage, but when Rennie and Charles reach Manhattan, Jason is hot in pursuit.

The ten million other Manhattanites are uninteresting, and Jason must kill Rennie and his cohorts.

There is an unnecessary side story about Uncle Charles pushing Rennie into Camp Crystal Lake in a sink-or-swim moment, when she first saw glimpses of Jason.

This has nothing to do with the main story, nor is it needed.

The rest of the film is exactly as one might suspect, with very few surprises. The character development, limited in slasher films like this, is extremely pitiful and uneven.

One female character is a rocker chick who clutches her electric guitar and plays it nonstop, practically during her death scene.

Other unintentionally laughable characters include a young black man who is an aspiring boxer and attempts to spar with Jason on a building’s rooftop. This proves to be a big mistake when Jason takes one punch at him and decapitates him.

The popular blonde prom queen/mean girl, Tamara (Sharlene Martin), decides to throw Rennie overboard after she catches Tamara doing drugs.

Murdering a fellow student is a better option than being caught.

Finally, the deckhand played by Alex Diakund is a carbon copy of the Crazy Ralph character from Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th: Part II (1981), even uttering the famous “You’re all doomed” line.

The stereotypes are rampant.

However, unusual for the slasher genre in 1989, diversity is evident, with African-American, Hispanic, and Asian characters. While all are supporting characters and know their purpose is to be bludgeoned, the inclusiveness is at least a slight win.

Other positives are the familiar Camp Crystal Lake setting not being completely scrapped, as the title might indicate. There is something nice and familiar with Jason: a lake, darkness, and murder.

Rob Hedden’s idea to take much of the action to an unfamiliar setting, like a metropolis, is a good one; a city is the opposite of a lake, but the studio screwed the director over royally with its limitations.

Still, a wonderful shot of Times Square can easily transport a viewer watching the film in the present back to 1989 and, if only for a minute, let them experience what life was like.

That’s worth a small something.

1988 Films, Diana Barrows, Elizabeth Kaitan, Heidi Kozak, Horror, Jason Voorhees, John Carl Buechler, Kane Hodder, Kevin Spirtas, Lar Park Lincoln, Slasher, Susan Blu, Terry Kiser, Walt Gorney

Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood-1988

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Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood-1988

Director John Carl Buechler

Starring Lar Park Lincoln, Kevin Spirtas

Scott’s Review #551

Reviewed December 19, 2016

Grade: B-

The seventh installment of the legendary Friday the 13th franchise is enjoyable, yet predictable.

Props must be awarded to the creators for at least attempting a novel idea- this time, the “final girl” is not the damsel in distress type, but rather, gives as good as she gets.

Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood (1988) is a decent offering in the horror genre and better than some of its companion films.

The main heroine is a telekinetic girl named  Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln). Via flashbacks, we learn that Tina’s father had alcoholism and abused her mother.

When Tina’s telekinesis was unlocked ten years earlier, Tina caused her father’s drowning death, conveniently at Camp Crystal Lake.

Tina has harbored deep regret ever since and is now treated by Doctor Crews (Terry Kiser). The duo- along with her mother- decides to stay at the lake where a group of partying kids takes up residence next door.

None of them has any idea who Jason Voorhees is.

The beginning and end are ridiculous even by horror standards, as the action is way over the top and too convoluted to go into, but everything else is fine.

The cast seems a bit larger than in other chapters, which is great because that means more kills. Unfortunately, many of the kills have been edited to make an R rating. (I try to watch NR horror films- no edits).

My favorite kill by far is the “sleeping bag” kill. Awesome!!

Unfortunately, the DVD version of this film is severely edited from the theatrical version.

Also, Jason looks like a true monster in this one, and that is to be applauded. Stuntman Kane Hodder would begin a successful stint as the killer, and he looks the part.

Friday the 13th: Part VII: The New Blood (1988) is a fun popcorn horror flick.