Hot Picks

- There's No Such Thing as Zombies 2020

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Lost Cos 2023

- Sound of the Surf 2022

- The Stillness 2025

- Frankie Freako 2024

- The Texas Witch 2025

- Cannibal Mukbang 2023

- Bleeding 2024

- No Choice 2025

- Nahual 2025

- Bitter Souls 2025

- A Very Long Carriage Ride 2025

- The Matriarch 2024

- Oxy Morons 2025

- Ed Kemper 2025

- Piglet 2025

- Walter, Grace & the Submarine 2024

- Midnight in Phoenix 2025

- Dorothea 2025

- Mauler 2025

- Consecration 2023

- The Death of Snow White 2025

- Franklin 2025

- ApoKalypse 2025

- Live and Die in East LA 2023

- A Season for Love 2025

- The Arkansas Pigman Massacre 2025

- Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness 2012

- The Darkside of Society 2023

- Jackknife 2024

- Family Property 2: More Blood 2025

- Feral Female 2025

- Amongst the Wolves 2024

- Autumn 2023

- Bob Trevino Likes It 2024

- A Hard Place 2025

- Finding Nicole 2025

- Juliet & Romeo 2025

- Off the Line 2024

- First Moon 2025

- Healing Towers 2025

- Final Recovery 2025

- Greater Than 2014

- Self Driver 2024

- Primal Games 2025

- Grumpy 2023

- Swing Bout 2024

- Dalia and the Red Book 2024

- Project MKGEXE 2025

- Two to One 2024

- Left One Alive 2025

- Burgermen 2020

- Conspiracy of Fear 2025

- The Haunting of Heather Black 2025

- The Caller 2025

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Red Rover

Canada 2018
produced by
Duane Murray, Shane Belcourt, Michelle John, Chad Williams (executive), Mike MacMillan (executive) for The Story Attic
directed by Shane Belcourt
starring Kristian Bruun, Cara Gee, Meghan Heffern, Morgan David Jones, Joshua Peace, Anna Hopkins, Sugith Varughese, Laura Wilson, Amanda Armagon, Richard Lee, Helen Johns, Cody Don Reader, Ryan MacDonald, Oscar Matthews, Glenn Brooks Slaughter, Sonia Van Meter
written by Duane Murray, Shane Belcourt, music by Anthony William Wallace

review by
Mike Haberfelner

When Damon (Kristian Bruun) gets fired from his job as a geologist for doing exactly nothing wrong, it's just a particularly bad day in a bad life - bad life inasmuch as he's still sharing his house with his ex Beatrice (Meghan Heffern), living in the basement, and constantly hears (or even sees) her having sex with her buff new boyfriend Mark (Morgan David Jones). So when he's combing the beach that day with a metal detector and runs into a girl in a spacesuit, Phoebe (Cara Gee), who hands him a flyer that promotes the new Mars program, that's actually the highlight of his day already, just because Phoebe is nice to him - and he seriously thinks about applying for the program, even if the choosing program for the first Mars explorers seems more like a reality TV show than anything else. But the Mars program promises to leave earth with just three fellow earthlings for the red planet to never return - which seems to be just what the doctor has ordered. But when Damon tries to make his application video, he realises he's crap at promoting himself - which is when he runs into Phoebe again, and she agrees to help him make a hip video that's sure to win over audiences. In the course of this, the two get really close, which ends in them having sex ... and then Phoebe just takes off, and when Damon finally manages to track her down, she doesn't want to have anything to do with him anymore - which leaves Damon shattered ... and also stranded in a way, because without her help he'll never be able to finish his application - until he receives a call from the Mars program congratulating him for passing the first test, as obviously Phoebe has sent off the video without his knowledge. So Damon's called in and passes all subsequent tests with flying colours - but the closer he (figuratively) gets to Mars, the less sure he is if there isn't something that might hold him back ...

 

Now I'm the first to admit that in general I'm not the biggest fan of modern romantic comedies, as many of them are too formulaic and too sugar-coated - but this one gets it right: Basically, while the film's premise - a chance to travel to Mars - seems to be a bit far-fetched for its time, it works bloody well as a metaphor for the movie's main character's state of mind, as does Phoebe being dressed almost exclusively in a spacesuit for the first half of the film - and both also works to make Red Rover more quirky than your usual genre fair, and gives the main characters a certain kind of eccentricity that's never exploited just for the cheap effect but treated with respect. And in that light, even most of the supporting characters (with exceptions) come across as genuine and not just caricatures. And a subtle directorial effort really helps to ground the film, as do very natural central performances. In all, even if you don't like romantic comedies as a genre, you'll probably enjoy this one.

 

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dick Turpin

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kamen Rider

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Red Rover
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Red Rover here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!