Stinker Madness - The Podcast for Bad Movie Lovers

Running Scared - Retreat Annoyed

The greatest question posed by man since 1986 is "what the heck do people see in this pile?" It's like working next to a construction site. Its like a toaster that always burns your bread. Its like a script that tries to make the leads the two most annoying people on the planet and succeeds. Running Scared sucks.
Imagine yourself living in the universe as Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal's characters. Worse yet, imagine having to work with them. They're worse then Lumberg. Each and every Monday would be a compounding hell, when you the entire department is called in for the morning brief and you can't get through it because these two are trying to be funny throughout the whole thing. Keyword - "trying".
The "jokes" are constant - yes, but not only are they not funny - they aren't even jokes. It's the classic trick that crappy comedians pull on the unwitting - make goofy voices and talk really fast and constantly. Those are clearly jokes, right? Wrong. I mean look at this:
"Excuse me, we're from Noisebusters. Do you know where the Menudo concert is?"
THAT'S funny? It's nonsense! It doesn't even make sense in the context of any of its own premises!
Running Scared is a loud, constant annoyance and the sooner mankind realizes that it's a travesty, the sooner we can move on as a society.

The Lost Empire - The Worst Infinity Gauntlet Ever

It's got a random gorilla, a laser "unit", eyebrows that change from shot to shot, a trio of tough ladies, possible ninjas and a dubious plot to build the Infinity Gauntlet so you know this must be a Jim Wynorski movie. Bring on the chesty women!
If you've ever seen a Jim Wynorski film, you know of two things to expect: the left boob and the right boob. This one is no different. It's just a silly budget movie with a fairly standard plot (a trio of chesty ladies team-up to destroy an evil plot to take over the world) but that's where the convention ends. Things get pretty loosey goosey with regard to its own script as Jim runs roughshod with his own project. It's glorious.
This is not a tight ship that's being ran here. And it was never supposed to be. This project was intended to lose money as a tax write-off for a movie theater owner. But Jim just can't help himself and made one of his most fun films. There's errors and mistakes everywhere including very strange and cryptic ad-libbing that couldn't be reshot due to time constraints and location limitations. There's bad props and terrible costumes. There's strange sequences that don't fit into anything leaving the viewer having to try and make sense of all the nonsense.
Arguably, it's one of Wynorski's "best" films as it's got all the hallmarks of his usual fodder but without the expertise that he garnered as his career progressed. It should not be missed by any fan of Stinker Madness's film selection.

2018 SMABFA Awards

The hottest awards for bad films in 2018 are here and the winners are all set. Listen to the 2018 SMABFA Podcast and check out all the nominees and winners below.
Best bad actor -
Dwayne - Rampage
Toby Kebbell - Hurricane Heist
Eric Johnson - 50 Shades
Trevante Rhodes - Predator
Shaq - Show Dogs
Gerard Butler - Hunter Killer
Jeffery Dean Morgan - Rampage
Jamie Foxx - Robin Hood
Jackson Rathbone - Samson 
Tom Jayne - Predator - WINNER
Hugo Weaving - Mortal Engines
Jake Lacey - Rampage
Tom Jayne - AXL
Worst bad actor -
Taylor James - Samson
Dwayne - Skyscraper
Bruce Willis - Death Wish
Taron Edgerton - Robin Hood
John Boyega - Pacific Rim: Uprising - WINNER
Will Arnett - Show Dogs
Jason Clarke - Winchester
Toby Kebbell - Hurricane Heist
Jackson Rathborne - Samson
Alex MacNichol - AXL
Best bad actress - 
Julia Goldani Telles - Slenderman
Maggie Grace - Hurricane Heist
Olivia Munn - Predator 
Dakota Johnson - 50 Shades - WINNER
Natasha Lyonne - Show Dogs
Helen Mirren - Winchester
BDH - Jurrassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Joey King - Slender-Man
Malen Akerman - Rampage
Melissa Bologna - Hurricane Heist
Jahae - Mortal Engines
Worst bad actress -
Helen Mirren - Winchester
Alicia Vankender - Tomb Raider - WINNER
Eve Hewson - Robin Hood
Neve Campbell - Skyscraper
Lindsey Wagner - Samson
Olivia Munn - Predator
Hera Hilmar - Mortal Engines
Becky G - AXL
Elizabeth Shue - Death Wish
Best bad movie -
Predator
Rampage
Hurricane Heist
Fifty Shades Freed
Mortal Engines
Hunter Killer
Slender-Man
Worst bad movie -
Robin Hood
AXL
Samson
Tomb Raider
Winchester
Pacific Rim: Uprising
Mortal Engines
Skyscraper
Winchester
Slender-Man
Death Wish
Riffer - 
Mortal Engines - WINNER
50 Shades
Rampage
Slender-Man
Hurricane Heist
Winchester
Samson
AXL
Hunter Killer

Short Circuit - Our childhood actually sucked

There's a really good reason that this film disappeared from cable networks and the cultural lexicon. Take an heavy level of racism, add a cavalcade of annoying characters and jokes then sprinkle all that on top of inane plot and you've got yourself a monster bud movie.
We'll give this movie one thing - the animatronics and puppeteering are great. That's it. Everything surrounding the work of the grips, best boys and effects team stink. Guttenburg is groan-inducing, Sheedy is baffling, Stevens is offensive and Johnny 5 needs to take a long drive off a short pier. Even for a "kids" movie it's just so damned annoying. Like dogs barking while you're trying to sleep.
Skip this turd.

Theodore Rex - Careers going extinct in real-time

In a futuristic world, an evil billionaire recreates the dinosaurs (making them small, have normal arms, and recovering carnivores) and then hatches a villainous plan to wipe out all life on Earth, creating a utopia of dinos and humans - so just like the current status in the movie. WTF is this POS?
Theodore Rex is insufferable. At no point in its incoherent rambling is a modicum of enjoyment to be had. It's baffling yet it hurts your brain. It's fast-paced, yet nothing is moving the plot forward. It's got incredibly bad production design, but what happens in the foreground is so painful that you can't mind everything in the background. The acting is awful, the costumes are amateur, the "jokes" are "huh"-inducing. Yet all that takes a back seat to how atrocious the screenplay is. This falls into the "we are talking like you, Earth human. All your base are belong to us!" category of writing. 
While it's one of the biggest POS in history, it's just too insufferable to recommend. We absolutely hated it and just wanted it to end. It's truly one of the bottom 3 movies we've reviewed on the show. Stay away, all.

Picasso Trigger - More boobs but less Abilene

Andy Sidaris once again dials the nonsense up to about 50 and matches that number with topless women. This time the LETHAL team has to deal with some internal double-crossing or triple-crossing, we're very confused on how many crossings happen here. 
We've seen that a lot of the reviews online for the 4th film in the LETHAL collection (this one proves that Seven is part of the franchise) that this one isn't good. There's no giant snake gimic, not as crazy stunts, and a much crappier version of the Malibu Express. Those points are all correct however, this is still a great time and as far as we can see has only one extreme drawback - the continuing degradation of the Abilene's in quality. Travis Abilene is the worst. He's just scummy. The actor belongs on the bad guy team - not among the coolest guys of all time. He stinks.
Picasso Trigger is a lot more complex than the previous three films with a very convoluted plot and that may have been a major shift in how Andy and Arlene made their booby-movies. There may have been too much to get hung-up on and that may have distracted everyone from the formula that worked so well in the previous three. We'll see if the Sidaris ship corrects itself in Savage Beach. 
With that disclaimer, Picasso Trigger is still a do and one of the best riffers you can pick up.

Who Killed Captain Alex? - Also, who was Captain Alex?

From Wakaliwood comes Uganda's first action movie! This is Uganda! Yeah Yeah Yeah Okay! Commandos! Tiger Mafia! Tiger Mafia Commandos! VJ Emmie on the mic! So yeah, we make fun of it.
Who Killed Captain Alex is one of the cleverly disguised as crap, but actually smarter b-movies we've reviewed on the show. We found the plot to be fairly conventional while watching the movie until the last 3 frames and we released that we had been duped. This was no common hyper-budget action movie. Nothing out of Vietnam, Philippines, or Mexico writes like this. Its absolutely riffing on the entire genre in the vain of The OP, Turbo-Kid, and Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter. The hook is so subtle despite it being the title of the damn movie.
Nothing looks as good as Who Killed Captain Alex does....on a $200 budget. The film-makers REALLY stretched their budget and that is completely part of its charm. Admiring their costumes, props (especially the guns that they craft from found-materials) and the sets is all part of the experience and puts a small on the face of anyone who has tried to make their own budget movie.
The VERY best part of enjoying CA is how much fun everyone involved is having. Its clear that underneath any acting face is a giant grin. Everyone is having a blast at making this movie and it's well deserved that its now seen across the globe. Fantastic.
We have 1 warning - VJ Emmie (the Video Hall riffer that runs throughout the film) is a little tough to take at first, but by the end of the movie, you learn the experience wouldn't be the same without him. 
Thanks Wakaliwood!

Burlesque - a 10 on mediocrity!

A mediocre talent finds inspiration in an over-the-hill mentor and in doing so makes a nightclub successful. So Xanadu...right? Actually, it's also Chicago, Moulin Rouge and Coyote Ugly. Thanks Troy from Goonies!
Let's face it, gang. Burlesque is about 30 minutes too long and suffers from the typical drag of poorly thought out projects - there's too many subplots and no main plot. While most of them are just meh, one subplot is insufferable - the romance. What's her name Aquafina falls in love with her (seriously gay) roommate/coworker. And their relationship is like watching paint dry, then become acid and fly into your face. It is intolerably uninteresting until it causes you physical pain.
The songs don't fit the theme (they are pop hits, not the cabaret/vaudeville that fits with burlesque dancing). The dancing is pretty bland. The costumes are about as burlesque as a road stop strip joint and they are too few anyways. I can't understand why the signing/dancing movie fan would ever like this. I'd be pissed. It's like Batman Returns - a Batman movie with no Batman.
There's nothing here for anyone. Steer clear.
Streaming Do's and Don'ts
Robotrix - Amazon Prime
Nightmare Weekend - Amazon Prime
Attack of the Puppet People w/ Rifftrax - Amazon Prime

Batman & Robin - It's the children's fault

After years of steering well clear of one of the most notoriously bad movies of all time, we finally tackle the most butt and crotch heavy superhero movie ever made. Clooney brings the turtle-neck and somehow manages to not push Robin and Bat-Girl off the rooftops. Is it possible this isn't the torture-fest we expected?
In short - yes! It isn't the torture-fest we expected. We actually had quite a bit of fun with this turd. Don't take us incorrectly, this is a travesty, but after 22 years its inching itself into the "so bad its good" category. There's just so much wrong with it that really the only thing holding it back is Robin & Batgirl who are painfully annoying. If the movie had just been Clooney blowing it and Schwaz just hamming it up, it might be in the hall of fame.
Unfortunately, you are stuck with the corporate toys of Robin & Batgirl.
The pacing here is good, so you're not stuck wallowing in boredom. The set-pieces are ridiculous. The writing is over-the-top hammy. The acting is terribly entertaining. The makeup, the costumes, the hair all are laughably terrible. All that adds up to being hated by all at it's release but now makes for a great laugh.
Go back and do this one over - it's not epic, but it definitely can start to be enjoyed for it's crumminess.

Angels' Brigade - Or is it Revenge?

A super-elite team of hot ladies formulate to take down all of the drugs in the US. Instead they get a high school teacher kidnapped, a teenager shot and possibly killed, ruin a man's salesman career, and watch a man get eaten by a dog all so they can take down roving tampon salesman. Seven From Heaven indeed!
Man, when you line up movies from the late 70s this is strikes all the bells. A hot van with rockets, machine guns and a dirt bike with machine guns on it in the back - check. Busty ladies with no bras kicking ass - check. Drunk Peter Lawford - check. A winded Jack Palance chasing Darby Hinton over patios - check. Explosions, explosions, explosions - check! So why isn't this in the top 10 greatest bad movies ever?
Well...a its PG...weirdly. The opening shootout is like a GI JOE episode; hot lead is flying everywhere but not one person manages to get shot or sploded. There's little left to the imagination with the chests due to very loose shirts and no bras, but there is 0 nudity. Then there's plenty of "comedy" foley work when people jump or punch guys. A little live-action cartooning that we all hate so much. Why did they choose to shoot for PG in a drive-thru movie? The PGness doesn't fit and drops it down a couple stars for sure.
Then there is 2 absolutely unnecessary and boring scenes that account for about 20 minutes (the Nazis and the beach scene). Those are eyeroll-heavy and unfortunate.
Outside of those factors, this thing is hot trash. For its problems, there is a ton more good here to make up for them. It's faults keep it out of the greatest bad movies ever, but it's strengths would have got it in the discussion at least. So this is a must-do from us.