Cave Women on Mars (2008)

 Today's slice is...

'Cave Women on Mars' (2008)

IMDB describes the film as...

"It is the future. 1987. Great scientific advances have allowed mankind to achieve that which previously only existed in speculative fiction - space travel. But, on the eve of humanity's first manned mission to the red planet, no amount of speculation could adequately prepare us for the unexpected discovery of... CAVE WOME ON MARS!"

This was the 3rd film of the talented Christopher R. Mihm and starred some familiar faces to the Mihmiverse like Daniel Sjerven, Josh Craig, and Brooke Lemke.

I enjoyed this one very much! It was a space adventure about two astronauts who set their cool retro looking ship down on the planet Mars and while exploring the planet, discover warring tribes of cave women.

Once again Mihm's film is in black & white and has a real '50s B-Movie quality to it. He is certainly a master of his craft.

The movie has cheesy dialogue, a cheesy alien creature, some great references to great pop culture films and tv shows like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, The Princess Bride, and Star Trek.

The fact that this film was set on mars and had the cool retro space ship and felt much like a Star Trek away team adventure makes it my favorite of the three Mihmiverse films I've reviewed so far. The retro ship and the interior ship bridge set design and the astronaut's costumes were my favorite parts of the film.

The special effects were well done and it looks like some green screen work was even done in this film.

As always, Mihm has nailed the look of a classic '50s style B-Movie and the actors were perfect in their roles and delivering their dialogue in the best cheesiest way possible. Loved it!

You can purchase this DVD or Blu-Ray along with cool Mihmiverse artifacts at the filmmaker's website: www.sainteuphoria.com.

Stay cheesy my friends!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett

It Came from Another World (2007)

 Today's slice is...

'It Came From Another World' (2007)

Here's how the director describes his film on IMDB:

"'It Came From Another World!' chronicles the continuing adventures of everyone's favorite 'a-rockin' scientist, Professor Jackson. First introduced in 2006's "The Monster of Phantom Lake," Professor Jackson (Josh Craig) finds himself tasked yet again with saving the planet from certain doom. When Professor Jackson's colleague and best friend Dr. Frasier (Mike Mason) doesn't return from a scientific expedition in the deep woods, the Professor is sent to find and retrieve him. While searching, the Professor and Canoe Cops Sven (M. Scott Taulman) and Gustav (Mike Cook) stumble upon an enigmatic meteorite that may hold the answer to Dr. Frasier's disappearance - and something far more cataclysmic than they could ever imagine! Can our intrepid heroes unlock the secrets of the mysterious "rock from outer space" before its otherworldly power threatens not only the fate of the entire universe, but Professor Jackson's wedding plans?"

Last night I re-watched the 2nd film of director Christopher R. Mihm. What a treat! It was slower paced than the first, but it had all the cool '50s cheese that you would expect from a Mihm production. It was in black & white and the actors were fantastic and delivered their lines brilliantly with extra cheese. The special effects were well done. 

Actress Shannon McDonough who played the character Julie Ann Saint Marie was exceptional in her performance. I also really enjoyed the amount of screen time that the canoe cops got in this one. I'd like to see them in their own web series ala cliffhanger serial some day.

Another fantastic Mihmiverse film! This movie was also chocked full of references from Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Star Trek, right down to a climatic battle between the main scientist hero and an alien that has taken over the body of the scientist's friend. They fought with canoe paddles which paid homage to the Star Trek original series episode "Amok Time" where Kirk fought Spock with those metal pole weapons. Cool stuff. Big references from films 'The Wrath of Khan'' and 'Return of the Jedi.' Mihm's ability for lacing retro pop culture right into his screenplays is exceptional and the scenes are sure to bring a smile to every nerd's face. 

"It Came From Another World' (2007) is another Christopher R. Mihm hit! I loved it. Go check it out along with all his other feature films. You can purchase his DVD or Blu-Rays along with other super cool Mihmiverse artifacts at his website: www.sainteuphoria.com.

Keep it cheesy my friends!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett

The Monster of Phantom Lake (2006)

Today's slice is... 

The Monster of Phantom Lake (2006)

The IMDB description says "A mutated monster terrorizes campers in the woods of 1950s Wisconsin."

This film was written, directed, produced, filmed, edited, and much more by my friend Christopher R. Mihm.

His website says: Christopher R. Mihm is the writer, producer, and director of the films of the "Mihmiverse," a series of award-winning, loosely interlinked feature-films which pay homage to 1950s-era "drive-in cinema."
Mr. Mihm's filmmaking career began in 2006 with the release of his first retro-style film, "The Monster of Phantom Lake." Made on a nearly non-existent budget, the film went on to garner much critical acclaim, appear in numerous film festivals, win multiple awards and, to this day, continues to screen across the world."

I watched this film again this week and decided to do a review of it and help spread the word of the "Mihmiverse" films to those who haven't heard of them.

Although this film looks like a 1950s, cheesy, black and white movie... it's not. This is a modern movie shot and edited to resemble a 50s style film. Christopher R. Mihm nailed it. I like to tell people it's like someone found an old studio vault and inside there was this unreleased '50s B-movie that nobody has seen, until now. He achieved the look, feel, and style of those glorious old monster/sci-fi films of the atomic age. "The Monster of Phantom Lake" is  fun, funny, perfectly written, perfectly acted, perfectly shot, and perfectly edited... a masterpiece that pays great homage to those old films.. The music is very appropriate too. Yes, I did say the word "perfect" a lot. Sure, the acting was purposely over the top and cheesy, some of the shots might have been out of focus, and the monster costume looks super low-budget.... but when I say "perfect" I'm saying it was perfect in being what the filmmaker intended it to be. It worked!

I enjoyed the storyline. A crazy war vet is transformed into a lake monster, sort of like the origin of Swamp Thing, and terrorizes some high school graduates that are on a camping trip.

The characters were fun and there was great development to them. You actually felt for them. The filmmaker captured the clothing styles and the dialogue and slang of the era. If you were flipping channels late one night and came across this film you would think you were watching a legit '50s flick.

Mihm managed to find period vehicles for the film which greatly added to the illusion. 

He shot this movie on a video camera that allows you to shoot in 24 frames per second that gives it a film look, just what Mihm was looking for.

If you've never heard of Christopher R. Mihm or of his Mihmiverse films then you are really missing out. They are awesome and have a large cult following worldwide. He makes at least one per year and I can't wait for the annual title to come out. When I open my mailbox and find that his latest Blu Ray has arrived in my box I immediately cancel all plans I had for that evening and rush straight home to immerse myself in the retro, cheesy, beautiful journey that I know awaits.

Give his films a try. I'm sure you will like them. You can buy his DVDs, Blu Rays, and cool merchandise at his website: www.sainteuphoria.com.

If you watch one, drop us a line and let us know what you though about it.

You can also listen to the Pop Ninja Podcast episode where we interview Christopher R. Mihm about his films. Here's the link: 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1265612/9365214-the-pop-ninja-podcast-season-2-episode-34-54

Stay cheesy my friends. Until next time...

- Patrick Shawn Bennett

Macon County Line (1974)

Today's slice is...

'Macon County Line' (1974)

IMDB describes 'Macon County Line' like this: "A vengeful Southern sheriff is out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters. Low-budget film set in Georgia in 1953 and based on fact."

First I would like to point out that the statement saying "based on fact" is actually false. After test screenings of the film received feedback that the events in this completely fictitious film were too coincidental to believe, the producers decided on using a gimmick... they added the text "A True Story" at the beginning of the film. Nobody ever questioned the coincidental details again. It was just taken as fact.
The film was written (story) by Max Baer, Jr. You might remember Max as Jethro Bodine in the TV series "The Beverly Hillbillies." Max also wrote the screenplay along with Richard Compton. Max produced the film and starred in it while Compton directed.

The film takes place in 1953 and centers around two brothers, Chris and Wayne, who have a week left before shipping off to the military so they decide to take one last wild, partying road trip while they're still free men.

The film starts off in Louisiana and then moves into Mississippi where they pick up a pretty hitchhiker named Jenny. Soon the car the trio is driving breaks down in MaconCounty where they have a run in with the Sheriff, played by Max Baer, Jr.
A series of events have the brothers and Jenny  mistaken for  killers and the vengeful Sheriff is hunting them down, shooting to kill.

Wow, that Max Baer, Jr. sure is an awful actor. As hard as I tried I just couldn't see him as a hard case sheriff. I only saw goofy Jethro Bodine.

But I guess that just added to the cheese factor. He did get a little better once the action starts about an hour into the film.
Also, the southern characters in the film were portrayed as uneducated backwoods dumbasses.
I did like the actors that played the brothers and the girl. Their acting wasn't bad. Their characters were fun and interesting to listen to.
There was also a small subplot of racism in the '50s in the South that just fell flat.
This low-budget film was actually a success when it was released. A sequel, 'Return to Macon County' was rushed to theaters the very next year.

Although the sequel had little resemblance to the original and wasn't nearly as successful, it did star two actors who would later become big stars on their own, Nick Nolte and Don Johnson.

I thought 'Macon County Line' was an enjoyable film. Being set in the '50s there were cool cars, cool music and some great costumes. The gritty, dirty South feel that they captured was interesting too.


This film is a lost classic and fun to watch.

Check it out.



- Patrick Shawn Bennett

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)

Today's extra cheesy slice is...

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)

The film was written and directed by Terry Marcel (Hawk the Slayer / Jane and the Lost City.) He seems to love this genre!

With the passing of actor Richard Hatch last week I decided to review a cheesy low budget film from 1983 that Richard starred in...


Prisoners of the Lost Universe is a sci-fi/fantasy about a scientist, a contractor and a reporter that get teleported into another dimension that is ruled by a primitive warlord. The three must team up with various races & creatures from this lost universe using modern wits and medieval weaponry to defeat the evil warlord and return to their own dimension.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER BELOW...

Richard Hatch (Apollo from Battlestar Galactica) stars as Dan, the contractor handyman type of guy that accidentally gets ran off the road and has to walk to the nearest building to borrow a phone and call for help (because in the '80s people didn't have cell phones.) When he gets to the nearest building, it is a science lab where he meets up with actress Kay Lenz who stars as Carrie, the reporter that ran Dan off the road to start with. Carrie explains to Dan that a scientist she was there to interview just got zapped by a machine and sent into another dimension. Dan, thinking it's a joke begins to look around at all the scientific equipment in the lab and also gets zapped... sending both Carrie and himself into the other dimension.

This whole setup for the movie sounds like a rip-off of Flash Gordon... a rugged action man and a female reporter meet a crazy scientist and the three of them end up in another world together battling the ruler of that world in search of a way home.


When Dan, Carrie and the scientist end up in the other dimension they don't exactly find Ming the Merciless... they find Kleel, a primitive warlord that runs the entire dimension. Kleel is played by actor John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm St./Enter the Dragon.)


Much like Ming captures the scientist Zarkov and forces him to work in his science lab, Kleel captures this scientist and forces him to work in his labs making guns and explosives so that he can rule over the inhabitants of his world more deadlier than ever.

And again, much like Flash Gordon... Dan and Carrie must team up with indigenous people of the kingdom to help them overthrow the tyrant leader.

And much like Flash Gordon, Kleel imprisons Dan and takes Carrie to be his woman. Dan must escape and rescue Carrie before time runs out.

Very blatant rip-off of Flash Gordon but without the budget. Richard Hatch and John Saxon are much too good of actors to be in this production. I wonder what they were thinking.


The budget was so low that what we get is mostly people just walking around in the woods or hillside dressed in furs and/or loin cloths. It was filmed in South Africa.
To me the only interesting character was the mysterious and resourceful green man played by actor Ray Charleson. He had an interesting weapon too... it was a wooden gun that shot wooden crossbow bolts and was powered by berries from a plant that worked sort of like CO2 cartridges in a pellet gun.

Bad acting, bad special effects and super low budget makes for a fun time (in my world at least.)
I originally saw this film in the '80s on HBO. Being a kid at the time I loved the film. I had so much fun watching the different races and creatures and that gun I was talking about really intrigued me. There's a cool fight scene with Richard Hatch and some giant of a man who wields a big sword. I remember Hatch kicking this guy right in the balls as hard as he could and the sound effects just made a metallic ding sound and the giant was unaffected.
The film released theatrically in other countries but was only shown in the US on cable.

This is the perfect type of film for me to review on this blog because it indeed has "extra cheese!"
Don't bother buying the DVD because you can watch the entire movie on Youtube for free.




Until next time... enjoy those cheesy movies!


- Patrick Shawn Bennett

Chopping Mall (1986)

"Chopping Mall" (1986) was directed by Jim Wynorski and produced by Julie Corman, the wife of B-Movie mogul Roger Corman.

The film is about 4 teenage couples who hide in a mattress store in a mall until after closing so that they can make out on the beds and party. But... the mall is patrolled by 3 security robots armed with lasers and other gadgets. After an electrical storm fries the robot's circuits which turns them into killers, the teens, with no way to escape the mall, end up battling these robots for their lives.

The movie poster is very misleading... it makes it look like the film is straight up horror and that a humanoid style robot is chopping people into bits. This is far from what happens in this film.

Nobody gets chopped into pieces and put into shopping bags. And the robots are not humanoid looking at all.

Even the tag line from the poster "Buy or die... half off is just the beginning" has nothing to do with what happens with this film. The movie was later released on home video as "Killbots" which is a much better title for the film and the Killbots poster better told what to expect from the film.

The robots looked like the one pictured here...

They were short and had tank treads to get around on.

The heads had these big red scanners that would allow them to see and target enemies.

They also shot lasers, tranq darts, electricity and they had arms with strong clamps that could do some pretty good damage. There were three of them, each assigned a specific floor of the mall to patrol, but they were not restricted to those floors.

The teenage couples in the film were there mainly to have sex and add nudity to the film and give the robots something to kill. Lol. There was no character development and you really have no attachments to the characters whatsoever. I was rooting for the robots the whole time.

After the quick sex scenes and topless nudity the movie quickly jumps straight to the chase... literally.

The kids are immediately being chased throughout the mall by these robots.

The teens watch a robot kill their friend by shooting her with a laser causing her head to completely explode. The best kill shot of the movie!

This kill takes place right in front of the mattress store as the teens watch helplessly! The rest of the movie is the teens running and hiding from the robots and getting picked off one at a time by these machines while trying to come up with a plan to take out the robots and escape.

Lets talk a minute about the cast...

The teens were Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet / Fast Times at Ridgemont High,) Tony O'Dell (The Karate Kid, ) Russell Todd (Friday the 13th Part 2,) Karrie Emerson, Barbara Crampton (Re-animator,) Nick Segal (Breakin' 2,) Suzee Slater and John Terlesky.

Like I said earlier, no real character development and bad cheesy acting.

Overall, the film was poorly written and the special effects are very dated and the acting is horrible. But... this is the kind of flick I love. It is definitely a great film to play for your bad movie night. I'm sure you and your friends will have a great time with this one.

I have to post this shot... It's the chick's head exploding after being hit by a laser that one of the robot fires.  Just plain awesome!

Thanks for reading my review!

Talk to you soon!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett

Movies by the Slice (with extra cheese!)

Iron Eagle (1986)

Greetings fellow film nerds and enthusiasts...

This week I watched one of my favorite 80s flicks... 'Iron Eagle' which just so happens to be celebrating a 30 year anniversary this year.

A lot of people think that this movie was a Top Gun ripoff, but in fact it was filmed before Top Gun and the release was pushed until later because the distributors didn't want people to confuse it with Top Gun.


The film is about an Air Force pilot that gets shot down and held  prisoner in a middle eastern country. They sentence him to death. The U.S. can't do anything about it because they can't start a war over one man. The pilot's kid, who is somewhat of a pilot himself, decides to plan his own rescue mission with the aid of a retired Air Force colonel. They secretly "borrow" military aircrafts and all the firepower they can carry to pull off the greatest rescue mission ever attempted.
Iron Eagle has great aerial combat scenes, a great cast and an awesome 80s soundtrack.

Let's talk about the cast...

Louis Gossett, Jr. and Jason Gedrick

Originally, Emilio Esteves was going to play the lead role of Doug Masters but it ended up going to Jason Gedrick (Backdraft - 1991.) The role of the retired Air Force colonel was played by Oscar winner Louis Gusset Jr (An Officer and a Gentleman - 1982.) Actor Morgan Freeman tried out for the role too.
The downed pilot was played by Tim Thomerson (Trancers - 1984.)


People who grew up watching movies and TV in the '70s & '80s will recognize a few other cast members... Lance LeGault plays an Air Force General (he's the guy that was always chasing the A-Team around.) One of the kid's friends was actor Robbie Rist (cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch)

actor Robbie Rist

and another was Larry B. Scott (Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds.)

actor Larry B. Scott

This is a fun movie with lots of energy. The soundtrack was really jamming with music from Queen, Katrina & the Waves, George Clinton, Dio, Twisted Sister, Tina Turner and James Brown. The title song was written and performed by King Kobra.

The film spawned three sequels. Louis Gossett, Jr. was the only actor to play in all 4 films.

Nice little cheesy 80s action flick with great music and familiar faces. Check it out now!

Talk to ya soon about more gems!!

- Patrick Shawn Bennett