Hot Picks

- There's No Such Thing as Zombies 2020

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- 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

- Android Re-Enactment 2011

- Night Call 2024

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Weird Science

USA 1985
produced by
Joel Silver for Universal
directed by John Hughes
starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, Bill Paxton, Suzanne Snyder, Judie Aronson, Robert Downey jr, Robert Rusler, Vernon Wells, Britt Leach, Barbara Lang, Michael Berryman, Ivor Barry, Ann Coyle, Suzy J. Kellems, John Kapelos, Fred D. Scott, Vince Townsend jr, Chino 'Fats' Williams, Jill Whitlow, Theodocia Goodrich, Wallace Langham, Johnny Timko, Mikul Robins, Darren Harris, Renee Props, Michael Cramer, Todd Hoffman, D'Mitch Davis, Mary Steelsmith, Robin Frohman, Alison Carole Lowe, Kym Malin, Jennifer Balgobin, Jeff Jensen, Prince Hughes, Rick LeFevour, Rock A. Walker, Joe Gieb, Kevin Thompson, Doug MacHugh, Pamela Gordon
screenplay by John Hughes, based on the story Made of the Future by Al Feldstein, published in EC Comics' Weird Science, music by Ira Newborn, title song by Oingo Boingo, special visual effects by R/Greenberg Associates

review by
Mike Haberfelner

15 year old Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are pretty much the nerds of their school, and thus the constant victim of bullies Ian (Robert Downey jr) and Max (Robert Rusler). However, they'd love to be part of the in-crowd, would love to be the life of every party and have really hot girlfriends. And since Wyatt has one of these new-fangled computers, they - after watching the classic Bride of Frankenstein - decide to create themselves the perfect woman, which by a series of freak accidents (paired with a total neglect of all computer science) actually works out fine, and the boys are left with beautiful Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), who is of course totally devoted to them and has magical powers to fulfill all their wishes, but she also has a mind of her own, and her top priority is to give the boys the self confidence they lack. So she lets herself be seen with them to give them attention, then behind their back she organizes a huge party at Wyatt's house when his parents are gone for the weekend. Of course, the party gets out of hand, Gary and Wyatt really don't feel up to what's going on, Ian and Max get the hots for Lisa, our heroes fall in love with Ian and Max's girlfriends Deb (Suzanne Snyder) and Hilly (Judie Aronson). Then the boys want to create a second Lisa for Ian and Max, but create a rocket instead (because that's how computers work, obviously) ... and ultimately Lisa realizes it's hopeless if she doesn't step in to help the boys to get what they've hoped for (Deb and Hilly), so she has a gang of mutant bikers (Vernon Wells, Michael Berryman, Jennifer Balgobin, Jeff Jensen) attack the party and puts it in the boys' hands to save the day ...

Bill Paxton turns in a rather hilarious performance as Wyatt's brother.

 

Now I have to admit up front I'm not John Hughes' biggest fan, and haven't been in the 1980s when he released his (in lack of a better word) iconic teen comedies, and I actually was among his peer audience ... but this one is fun, at least retrospectively speaking. Sure, the "science fiction" of the film is as far fetched as can be and has really to do more with the world of magicians and genies than anything known about IT - but it's fun to see how Hughes plays with the tropes of the genre he has used time and again on the canvas of a genre a bit alien to him. And frankly, not all does work out great, but in its best moments, Weird Science is lots of fun, and even in its worst a pleasant trip down nostalgia lane, with early performances by Robert Downey jr and Bill Paxton being an extra sales point from today's point of view.

So no masterpiece perhaps - but lots of fun!

 

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 Weird Science
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 Weird Science 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!!!