I have some thoughts that have been on my mind for the past couple of weeks. I thought I would open it up to the forum.

The other week I rented Lake Placid 2…I know, I should have known better…but the idea of John Schneider and Cloris Leachman being in it really sealed the deal. After barely making it through five minutes, I proceeded to watch the movie in fast forward just to satisfy my curiosity on what the alligator scenes looked like. I was pretty disappointed with the CGI effects (although, in its defense, they are probably considered very well done since they must have had a very, very low budget) and was pretty surprised by how bad the whole movie was. I wasn’t expecting a GREAT film, but I certainly wasn’t expecting…that.

I noticed that in the Special Features section on the DVD was an option to actually watch the movie like you were fast forwarding…stopping in places where a girl was topless or there was an alligator attack. I thought it was very curious that the DVD distributor had this option on the disc…I felt like they were basically saying, “Yeah, we know this movie is lousy…so we’ll just make it easier for you and fast forward to the good parts (uh…sort of).”

This got me to thinking about the market of direct-to-video/DVD movies. Who are these films made for exactly? Do these filmmakers/producers ever actually make their money back? Are these films sold first then created? Are they more popular and lucrative in other countries? I just can’t believe money is spent on some of these productions and I can’t comprehend whether or not they are actually making money. Is direct-to-video even a profitable venture?

What is the whole phenomenon of direct-to-video? I understand that (at one point) it was a way for filmmakers to release films that would never play theatrically and was a great opportunity for creative and enthusiastic people to get their work out into the marketplace without really having to deal with the studio system. But now there doesn't appear to be ANY creativity what-so-ever. Forgive me for sounding so naive...but is it all just for the buck?

And finally, I can’t really think of any GOOD (or, at the very least, entertaining) direct-to-video movies. Perhaps there were a few in the 1980s and the early 90s – any titles out there that are actually worth seeing?

You should study Roger Corman's career of the last 20 years. After he left New World and started Concorde/New Horizons, he specialized in straight-to-video releases, churning out sex thrillers based on FATAL ATTRACTION and BASIC INSTINCT, and entries in the serial killer, martial arts, and sci-fi monster genres, all peopled with relatively young has-beens (Marc Singer, William Katt, Kay Lenz, Brooke Adams, Andrew Stevens, Ray Sharkey, and, yes, John Schneider), occasional veterans (George Kennedy, Michael Moriarty, Brad Dillman, David Carradine, Robert Lansing, Richard Roundtree, William Shatner) and new discoveries (Maria Ford, Don "The Dragon" Wilson) and studded with requisite amounts of gore and nudity and action, all for the video rental market.

As with everything Corman did, there was a science to it, a strict formula, and a steady profit insured for each release, even the occasional adventurous "arty" item, like Katt Shea Ruben's STREETS, with Christina Applegate, and a love story she did about a vampire (DANCE OF THE DAMNED). Of course, Ruben had to deliver STRIPPED TO KILL II at half the cost of STRIPPED TO KILL in order to get the chance to make those. (Something like that.)

Most of the Concorde releases went straight to video--I saw many of these on the shelves at my local mom-and-pop video rental shop in the early 1990s and even rented a few--and straight to cable (Showtime used to run a lot of them). There was the occasional theatrical release. Sally Kirkland starred in IN THE HEAT OF PASSION (1992) and showed up for every showing at the one screen at the one multiplex in Manhattan where it was playing. I went one night during the week it ran and the other patrons all seemed to be her New York actor friends. I stuck around to have an amusing, friendly chat with her. She said she had to really bug Corman to get even this measly release and promotion.

More recently, just look at all the Wesley Snipes, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme releases that have gone straight to DVD. When was the last time either one of them had a theatrical release? Has it slowed them down? Just check their ever-growing IMDB filmographies to find out. Eddie Griffin, once a rising comedy star, is Seagal's sidekick in one recent production. Someone's seeing these and someone else is making money off them or they wouldn't be made. I'll confess to buying one straight-to-DVD Seagal release, IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, because it was directed by Hong Kong action great Ching Siu-tung.

Are any of these movies good? Sure, I enjoyed IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST. And there were the occasional Cormans that delivered the goods, in a modest way, like the Don "The Dragon" Wilson BLOODFIST series, esp. the prison-set BLOODFIST III, and monster movies like THE TERROR WITHIN, WATCHERS II, and THE NEST, which tended to recall the days when Corman was directing things like this himself for drive-in double features back in the 1950s. (But those were much better, of course. How could you top THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, and TEENAGE CAVEMAN?)

Most of Concorde's stuff up to and including CARNOSAUR played theatrically.

Thanks for the correction, Patrick. I forget how provincial we New Yorkers can be. Just because these movies didn't play New York (and very few did, as far as I can recall) doesn't mean they didn't play the rest of the country. But I don't know how extensive their regional releases were or what percentage of Concorde's production slate even got a theatrical release. As a company, it still represents a good case study for an examination of the straight-to-video market.

Most direct to video movies are formulaic and bad.
Most theatrical releases are formulaic and bad.
There's definitely a lot of money being made in both markets; and in both cases both seem to be seriously lacking in creativity and made just for the bucks.
I think the key is just to suss out the talented filmmakers in both arenas and follow their work. If Nicole Holofcener's next film winds up going direct to video (and let's face it, a lot of great filmmakers' arthouse releases are about two screenings away from being DTV already as it is), that wouldn't make me any less excited about it, and if Troma films started getting huge theatrical releases, I'd still avoid them.
As far as how they're profitable... the trick usually is just to get into the big chains. If you can get your DVD into Blockbuster and/or Hollywood, you've just made a heap of money... especially if your film was extra low budget. And you know Blockbuster's buyers aren't actually watching all those thousands of direct to video horror and kickboxing flicks they stock every week. It's based on the cover, a two sentence description, any "names" involved, and past successes they've had with that video line. They would've bought Lake Placid 2 for the exact same reasons you rented it.

I think John has a good point in that the percentage of crappy DTV movies is no different than the percentage of crappy theatrical releases. Is LAKE PLACID 2 any worse than, say, the HALLOWEEN or BLACK CHRISTMAS remakes? Doubtful.

A major reason I like to talk about DTV films here at Mobius is that there is virtually nowhere else to learn about them. No major newspapers or magazines review them regularly, to the best of my knowledge, and only a handful of Web sites bother (and the sites that do are not all that great, IMO). Most of the DTVs I watch and write about are genre films, but there are comedies, dramas, arthouse films, all out there waiting to be discovered. However, as I said, the only way to find them is to actually stumble across them and rent them, since they arrive at video stores and Netflix with no marketing and no reviews to help a consumer out.

I still think DRIVE is one of the best American action movies of the last 20 years, and hardly anyone has heard of it, yet alone seen it, because it debuted on home video in the U.S. cut and in a pan-n-scan release. It should have led star Mark Dacascos and director Steve Wang to major studio features, but it sadly hasn't. Believe me, marketed correctly, DRIVE might have been a big theatrical grosser, it's that good.

As for, are these films profitable? Absolutely, many of them are. For instance, Seagal, Snipes and Van Damme, to name a few, are still huge stars overseas. My guess is that whatever their movies gross in North America is just gravy. You can count on these guys to release 2-3 pictures a year.

These things run in cycles though. Right now, cheapjack monster movies produced by The Asylum and the Sci-Fi Channel, to name two, appear to be very popular. 6-10 years ago, "stock footage" actioners, many made by Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski, were big. It looks like zombie movies are really knocking audiences "dead" right now, as Netflix seems to add at least one new one every week.

There are a lot of good DTV movies. FRANKENFISH is a terrific monster flick. MADE MEN with Timothy Dalton and Jim Belushi is a funny, fast actioner. Dolph Lundgren has directed three good ones over the past few years and starred in a couple more (THE PEACEKEEPER, co-starring the recently deceased Roy Scheider, has an incredible car chase). Speaking of car chases, PM Entertainment in the late '90s and early '00s released several very good action movies: LAST MAN STANDING with Jeff Wincott, EXECUTIVE TARGET with Michael Madsen, THE SILENCERS and DARK BREED with Jack Scalia (which Richard Donner shamefully ripped off for LETHAL WEAPON 4), THE SWEEPER with C. Thomas Howell, RECOIL and RAGE with Gary Daniels.

This might be a good thread in which to list some favorite DTV movies of any genre.

I'm always up for lists of this kind of stuff -- for as Marty has said, it's pretty much uncharted territory. I'm hardly the expert others are here in this area, but I can recommend in a small way INTERCEPTOR, which was a DTV sorta-ripoff of BROKEN ARROW that managed to be a lot better than the original, and BLOOD RELATIONS, a Canadian gothic that is batty in all the best kind of ways.

I'd also like to hear more about the economics of this stuff, because the more I thought about Mr. Weber's question the more curious I got. It suddenly struck me that outside of me and y'all here, I don't know anyone who's watched these things. (Well, with the major exception of Shannon Tweedish softcore epics, the whole Skinemax thing and that. Somebody could write an interesting sociological treatise on that phenomenon.)

I doubt the average Joe and Jane, for instance, are even aware that Dolph Lundgren and Van Damme are still making movies. (The average Joe and Jane in anything seem to me to be very brand loyal, not much inclined to go beyond what they know. That's not a knock against them, it's probably the dividing line between "fan" and "casual consumer" of anything, really.) So who is watching LAKE PLACID 2? Foreign markets? Does it exist only to be filler on shelves? How do they recoup their costs? How do they get funded? What's the rationale for something like LAKE PLACID 2? Etc. I think they're all pretty interesting questions.

doug

I recall wandering into a videostore here in Madrid and being startled by two Stallone films that I never heard of: one called D-TOX, the other AVENGING ANGELO. Did either of those play in American theaters? No wonder he went back to ROCKY/RAMBO...
I can't think of a SEAGAL/SNIPES/VANDAMME film that got a theatrical run here in five years... maybe they're big in Kosovo.
DRIVE was fun, as was MADE MEN, which featured a surprisingly well cast Timothy Dalton as a redneck sheriff & a tight score by the enormously underrated (IMO) Stewart Copeland.

What with all this talk of DRIVE I went poking around overseas and found an anamorphic widescreen, uncut disc at amazon.co.uk (the Prism disc, not Contender) selling (used&new) for under a pound. With shipping, even at current exchange rates it still clocks in under $10.00.

I'm also reminded that I've got to get around to buying or renting FRANKENFISH, but that's easily available, so no hurry. Even Sci-Fi, or the guys Sci-Fi's buying their movies from get it right occasionally.

No one's mentioned MANSQUITO (aka MOSQUITOMAN), yet. Solid creature feature. And what about Full Moon? I know they're still shilling their movies (I should know, I picked up the SUBSPECIES box yesterday), but are they still producing new movies? They seem to have fallen under the radar. Maybe the nineties was their heyday.

Yeah they are. Ginerdead Man 2 is finished and set to be released next, I believe.

DTV exists for one reason only: rental stores. They are usually the 2nd or 3rd or 20th choice on the shelves when all the new releases are out. In these twilight years of the video stores, I expect to see less of these.

I've pretty much quit buying them for my stores, unless of course they interest me. I've had a request or two for AMERICAN PIEs, NATIONAL LAMPOONs, RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, and LAKE PLACID 2, but believe it or not, I usually lose money on them.

Universal is trying to make dtv viable in the sellthrough market with bigger budgets like CARLITO'S WAY: RISE TO POWER, BRING IT ON: IN IT TO WIN IT, etc., but the few that I've seen have been terrible.

There is one that my customer's are raving about. HE WAS A QUIET MAN apparently has a great performance from Christian Slater, who has been skimming the dtv world recently.


marc

D-TOX, after sitting on the shelf for awhile, got dumped into a couple dozen theaters briefly, probably for contractual purposes, before going to video. ANGELO, I don't know if it ever got into theaters, but D-TOX is not a bad movie. Not very special or original, but not a bad little mystery that wants to be both a AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and a slasher flick.

DRIVE is also available overseas in a longer Director's Cut that is about 14 minutes longer and contains the original (much better) score. I have both the Director's Cut and the U.S. version, and the Director's Cut is better.

I recently read a great article in Empire magazine about The Asylum. They are churning out "mockbusters", i.e. movies made with the sole purpose of piggy-backing on the publicity generated for major movies - SNAKES ON A TRAIN, ALIEN VS. HUNTER, etc. Like all other direct to video outfits, they are doing exactly the same that exploitation filmmakers have been doing forever - finding a niche in the market and exploiting it. While I don't follow their output, I think it is a mistake to dismiss these films just because they are cheap and don't play major theaters. Just think of the revival for all the overlooked genres and auteurs, which were once considered low-brow crap and are now being honored with special edition DVDs. Maybe most DTV is bad, but some of them might survive better than major movies of the day.

http://www.theasylum.cc/

AVH can't be any worse than AVP: R, which was DTO: Direct To Oblivion. :)

Tonight on cable, I caught the intriguing POPULATION 436, which is a direct-to-video thriller that plays it low-key somewhere between mystery and horror. Jeremy Sisto is very fine as the Everyman star. This movie is a good example of the kind of movie that would most likely be overlooked by video renters who refuse to look past TRANSFORMERS and SPIDER-MAN 3 on the New Release wall, but would likely entertain them if they gave it a chance or even were aware of its presence.

There is a lot of great information about the economics of DTV movies at yourvideostoreshelf.com. More specifically, the best info comes from the archived podcast interviews with people involved in the business. A common theme among those interviewed is that the business is in a recession and it's getting harder to make a living from it.

Marc sez:

The DTV companies that remain financially successful (according to the podcasts) are the ones that have reliable foreign buyers. This is how The Asylum, for example, is able to be a financial success... although I'm sure having reliable buyers at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video helps a lot too.

The Onion's AV Club recently started a regular feature called "Dispatches From Direct To DVD Purgatory." The most recent one reviewed HE WAS A QUIET MAN.
http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/dispatc...direct_to_dvd_5

That feature is authored by Nathan Rabin, who also does the "My Year of Flops" feature on the site, now in its second year, which occasionally uses as DTV feature as a "flop" if there was a clear intention for it to originally have been released theatrically, such as with Amy Heckerling’s recent feature I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN.
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/my_y...s_the_new_batch

It looks like Nathan is a bit of a champion for DTV releases, as he also reviewed THE NINES as a regular DVD review on the site as well.
http://www.avclub.com/content/dvds/the_nines

The most recent "Ask the AV Club" feature also goes a little bit into how DTV is where indie films go to die after they fail to get picked up by a major distributor, as well as how major studios are starting to look at DTV as a profitable release venue for cheap sequels or tie-ins to existing franchises.
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/ask_...lub_february_15

WHITE NOISE 2 actually got some favorable reviews, with most saying it's a better film than the theatrically released original. I believe that film was released theatrically in some foreign countries. I also read about a DTV movie that ties in with the GET SMART remake that will be released to stores a few weeks after GET SMART hits theaters. I imagine that some of the indie DTV studios are getting muscled out of the way in stores by these higher-profile titles.

In the UK, some of the Cable/satellite channels are full of these DTDVD movies. The Sci-fi channel shows a whole host of films with titles featuring the word "Man" in them (Mosquitoman etc). D-Tox didn't get a theatrical release in the UK but shows up on Freeview channels (ie they are free if you pay £30 for a freeview box) like ITV 2 or ITV 3 all the time. Seagal and Van Damme's recent stuff turns up on these channels too.

What there is now, which didn't exist 20 years ago, is hundereds of cheapie cable channels across the world that need some form of product but can't afford Spiderman 3. This is no different to drive-in cinemas in the 1960's or 1970's.
After all, films like Carnival of Blood and Death Curse of Taru made it to the cinema back then. If these films are made cheap enough then they'll get sold somewhere.

I used to love going to the local rental store (or, when that folded, BlockBuster), to rent the latest FULL MOON title on VHS (having pretty much exhausted their back catalog). I still have a soft spot for TRANCERS, the PUPPETMASTER series, and DOCTOR MORDRED.

But when the format changed to DVD, and the model changed to emphasize home purchase over home rental, companies like FULL MOON suddenly made a lot less sense. You just don't buy many DTV titles to keep in your permanent collection. I'm surprised they, and other DTV companies, still stay in business.

I've tried renting a few, but I don't know, the thrill is gone. They just haven't had that sort of small town rep theater feel that FULL MOON had back in the day.

-- Peter

The responses about the need to fill video store shelves and certain cable channels make sense -- or at least they did back in the day. I grew up in a small town and certainly the three (!) video stores there had plenty of straight to video offerings. All Mom and Pop stuff, though. I never was a Blockbuster patron -- did they carry this kind of thing?

I do remember, back in the day when I had HBO (now I don't even have cable! Ha!) there used to be, I think it was Thursday Night, a slot devoted to just this sort of thing. I do remember they showed a lot of the BLOODSPORT movies. And maybe that was the other big consumer of these things, as Mr. Rogerson mentioned? Pay cable that needed to fill up time?

Is such the case nowadays? I'm under the impression there's less space in most pay cable's schedules for US SEALS II, though like I said, I wouldn't know. And do people rent this stuff out of Netflix? Do people even "browse" in Netflix? (I don't know, I don't belong to Netflix.)

The thing about DTV is that it's the kind of thing, when you hear about it, you think "yeah, of course, it seems obvious" -- but then you look around and it's obviously not working. I don't know, it's a really interesting subject, if you like movies. It suggests questions about the nature of the movie-going experience (ie, are DTV less successful because they don't "feel" like movies?); the relationship of structure to content (ie, did DTV succeed because shelves and cable hours needed to be filled, ultimately?) and how one builds an audience (there's obviously an attempt to "build" an audience for DTV -- how does that work? Can you do that?)

I feel like I should light a pipe and gaze soulfully into the distance at this point. :lol:

doug

PS. My holy grail of DTV movies would be the uncut BANK ROBBER, which is a pretty weak black comedy but features my favorite starlet Lisa Bonet in one of her, um, better roles. I saw this once on HBO at 1:00 am in the morning and have been pining for it ever since.

EDIT: I went back and looked at that Onion Q/A session about this. I like Rabin -- he's actually the only writer for the AV Club I really like -- but I'm not sure about his take on this. Are sequels to established movies like AMERICAN PIE and LAND BEFORE TIME really the way to establish DTV as a format? Seems like piggybacking to me. But hey, what do I know.

I think the DTV market works. Like ninety something percent of all movies made, many do not make their makers rich, of course. But with theatrical distribution becoming more and more difficult for anyone not connected to a major studio, where else does an independent filmmaker go to?
There a lot of good films, too. Mark Redfield has made an excellent Jekyll and Hyde film, as well as THE DEATH OF POE, an excellent look at Poe's final days. Yes, we're talking a niche type of film here, but still they're quite worth the look.

I think the absolute proof lies in guys like Fred Olen Ray, Jim Wynorski, and David DeCoteau, who's mining a relatively new field in genre films that seem oriented towards Gay men, to name just a few. All men who have been in the DTV business for a good 20 plus years and have done very well.

Just tune into the SciFi Channel any Saturday, from about 10am to midnight and it's wall to wall DTV type product. Here's this coming Saturday's lineup:

10am DARK BREED (Jack Scalia, Jonathan Banks)
12pm FALCON DOWN (Judd Nelson, Dale Midkiff, William Shatner, Cliff Robertson)
2pm INTERCEPTOR FORCE II (Olivier Gruner, Nigel Bennett)
4 pm STARGATE
6:30 pm PITCH BLACK
9 pm LIVING HELL (Johnathon Schaech)
11 pm ALONE IN THE DARK

Okay, there are a couple of legit theatrical titles there, but DARK BREED, FALCON DOWN, INTERCEPTOR FORCE II and LIVING HELL all sound a whole lot like DTV. There's also something called THEY ARE AMONG US at 3am starring Alison Eastwood, Bruce Boxleitner, Nana Visitor, Hunter Tylo and Corbin Bersen.

DRIVE was terrific. I can't remember whether I first heard about it here or actually saw it on HBO/Cinemax back in the day (I think the latter), but I did order the UK DVD based on Mobius opinions. A more recent one I rather enjoyed was HIGHWAYMEN with Jim Caviezel, Colm Feore and Rhona Mitra.

So did I! That's three people in this thread alone who've done it. See what kind of influence you have, Marty? :)

Hey, was I right, Bill, or was I right?

Tonight I caught the new Van Damme movie, released this week, THE SHEPHERD, directed by Isaac Florentine, who made the incredible U.S. SEALS 2 and BRIDGE OF DRAGONS. It's pretty standard action fare, nothing special, though better than most action films you'll see theatrically this year. Unfortunately, the more conventional the films, the less interesting Florentine seems to be. U.S. SEALS 2, BRIDGE OF DRAGONS, COLD HARVEST and SAVATE are very offbeat pictures with a great sense of comic-book heroics and style. THE SHEPHERD (and UNDISPUTED 2) are very serious, grim, and not much fun. Van Damme, as he has been a lot lately, is very good in the movie. I'd like to see what he could do (and Dolph Lundgren too) in a character role in a bigger picture.

BTW, let me recommend 2005's LOST as a DTV that was an unexpected treat (though this may have played a few select theaters). Dean Cain plays a Pasadena bank vice-president driving alone across the Nevada desert. He has only a few hours to reach an important destination, but his outdated road map and an outwardly stressed demeanor help him to become lost. Only his cell phone, which the anxious yuppie uses to soothe his wife and bark at an overly cheery Road-Aid operator, keeps him company. With teases early on with radio news stories about a $6.5 million California bank heist, it’s inevitable that the crooks, including Danny Trejo, will cross Cain’s path. The how’s and the why’s are deftly dangled before us in an assured manner, carefully doling out plot twists that dangerously toy with our suspension of disbelief.

I'm also looking forward to BONE DRY, a new DTV with Luke Goss and Lance Henriksen that is getting some good notices.

It looks like YOURVIDEOSTORESHELF.com is having problems. Trying to get into the main page doesn't work. If you google it, you can get into sub pages like reviews of a page for some of the podcasts, but it would seem to indicate that the site is going down...

If you have any interest in seeing BONE DRY, do not watch any trailers, as the one on the DVD gives away the entire mystery. Thankfully, I watched it after the feature, which suffers from First-Time Director Syndrome ("wheeeee, cameras are fun!"), but manages to maintain a decent level of suspense. The mystery pays off pretty well, and Henriksen is fantastic (as usual). Goss is a liability; I never believed this guy spent days in the desert, and he seems to accept his situation surprisingly well. Certainly, he's not a strong enough actor to face off against Lance Henriksen, but how many DTV-level stars are? Even better, BONE DRY could have gone the other direction and found an Everyman like Dennis Weaver in DUEL, which is an obvious influence.

So, Marty, apart from DRIVE and SIEGE AT FIREBASE GLORIA, which everyone tells me is terrif, what are your top 10 or 15 DTV recommendations? Gems that most, who don't frequent DTV, would overlook...

I’m certain John Charles and Will Wilson can compile a list more valuable than mine, but here are 25 titles I came up with off the top of my head. I could name several others, including a bunch of Fred Olen Ray’s and Jim Wynorski’s entertaining stock-footage actioners, which often come with DVD commentaries that are at least as fun as the films themselves, but here are 25 I really liked that few may have heard of.

ABOMINABLE
This may have played a few theaters, but it’s a very good Sasquatch movie by first-time director Ryan Schifrin, who recruited his dad Lalo to score it. It’s an old-fashioned creature feature with heavy dollops of gore, suspense, humor and recognizable genre veterans: Lance Henriksen, Jeffrey Combs, Paul Gleason, Dee Wallace. Matt McCoy is the star and is quite good in this REAR WINDOW-inspired horror movie.

ANTIBODY
A very low budgeted swipe of FANTASTIC VOYAGE that is clever and fun, but unfortunately doesn’t have the bucks to match its ambition. It also gives Lance Henriksen a chance to play a romantic lead…opposite Robin Givens, no less.

BLOODFIST III: FORCED TO FIGHT
The best of Roger Corman’s BLOODFIST series has a surprisingly multi-layered screenplay that attempts to address the issue of race in an exploitation-film setting, while simultaneously creating characters that have slightly more depth than most Corman movies. I don't want to give the impression that this is an art film, but there's more happening below the surface than any movie titled BLOODFIST III has the right to have. The actors appear to have realized this, since even Don “The Dragon” Wilson, never renowned for his dramatic skills or presence, appears more assured than usual. Corman remade this a year or so later as the inferior LIVE BY THE FIST with Jerry Trimble.

BLOWBACK
Cop Mario Van Peebles chases serial killer James Remar in this effective, gory thriller shot in San Diego. The recently deceased David Groh plays Van Peebles’ boss.

BRIDGE OF DRAGONS
Director Issac Florentine mixes genres to create an alternate reality where modern weaponry clashes with '40s technology and a medieval-style government. Dolph Lundgren literally rescues a beautiful princess from an evil warlord in this action-packed fantasy with great martial arts.

DARK BREED
I have several PM Entertainment pictures on this list. This is the best one Jack Scalia made for the studio, and features two fantastic action scenes that were unashamedly ripped off by Richard Donner for LETHAL WEAPON 4.

DRIVE
As close to a rock-'em-sock-'em Hong Kong action movie that I've ever seen in an American production, DRIVE is violent, fast-moving and often witty fun. In fact, I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb when I say it may well be the greatest American martial-arts film ever made. Better than ENTER THE DRAGON? Maybe.

EXECUTIVE TARGET
If you're in the mood for a fast-paced and fun action picture with lots of exploding cars, EXECUTIVE TARGET would be a good choice. Dozens of vehicles are flipped upside down, fly through the air, burst through exploding fireballs, screech around corners, smash into each other--often in glorious slow-motion and at multiple angles. Throw in several squib-filled shootouts, some punches to the head, and a bit of alluring female pulchritude in the form of red-haired Angie Everhart (whose acting is awful), and you've got the perfect formula for a slambang action flick that hits on all cylinders. Stars Michael Madsen, Keith David and Roy Scheider (as the President of the United States) play it all agreeably tongue-in-cheek.

FRANKENFISH
Packed with a solid amount of gory, clever kills, FRANKENFISH is fun viewing and better than you would expect a movie titled FRANKENFISH to be. The performances are nothing to write home about, but it's interesting to note that the three leads are a black man, an Asian woman and a black woman.

JUDAS KISS
A stylish and odd crime thriller that borrows heavily from Jim Thompson and Quentin Tarantino, among others. Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, of all people, play Louisiana detectives (!) chasing con artist Carla Gugino and her gang.

KOMODO
KOMODO is pretty standard monster fare, highlighted by a slight ecological message that dates back at least as far as PIRANHA and its capable cast, led by the attractive TV star Jill Hennessy. What sets the film apart are its visual effects, which are surprisingly effective. Working with only a million bucks or so, the director had to pick and choose his FX shots carefully, and using a combination of animatronics, CGI and an old-fashioned man-in-a-suit, the monsters are quite realistic and worth giving KOMOBO a shot.

LIVE WIRE
LIVE WIRE should have been the film that made Pierce Brosnan a bankable star. Bolstered by a screenplay that mixes humor, domestic drama and intense setpieces well-staged by director Christian Duguay, LIVE WIRE is a surprisingly good thriller with an interesting pulpy plot.

MADE MEN
Here's a surprisingly fine thriller that received scant, if any, theatrical distribution, despite it's being produced by A-listers Richard Donner and Joel Silver. The screenplay, partially penned by SMALLVILLE creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, doesn't contain quite enough story for its 91-minute running time, but it does create plenty of colorful characters and funny dialogue between the many explosions and gun battles. It's a delightful sleeper that should please unassuming action fans who enjoy quirky characters and a good sense of humor among their exploding cars. Jim Belushi, Michael Beach and, particularly, Timothy Dalton are terrific in it.

THE PEACEKEEPER
This "DIE HARD in a missile silo" may not be completely original, but it does make an admirable attempt at a "No Nukes" message, and features a terrific car chase in which one car pursues another across a series of roofs--jumping from the top of one building to another until there's nowhere else to jump. Dolph Lundgren stars with Roy Scheider, again, as POTUS.

PHASE IV
Absorbing mystery teams Dean Cain and Brian Bosworth in an engrossing storyline with well-rounded characters and elaborate action scenes staged by top-notch stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos.

RAGE
Maybe the best of all the PM Entertainment action movies. RAGE is a series of well-staged if sometimes overlong chases, stunts, fights, crashes and explosions that stretches its ambition muscles a little more than it has to in its portrayal of the media, commenting on its current style-over-substance and sound-byte-over-truth treatment. Gary Daniels is the capable star.

THE RAGE
Look, I hate Lorenzo Lamas, but I must admit that THE RAGE is pretty good, mostly because director Sidney J. Furie stages some excellent action scenes, including an early car chase in which a van is propelled into a set of bleachers and the climactic boat chase in which one character is set on fire and then launched through the air. Gary Busey and, yes, Roy Scheider (a bad guy this time) are terrific in support of Lamas and the equally untalented Kristen Cloke.

RED SUN RISING
Probably Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s best film, it has a good cast, a higher budget, realistic sets, and sharp photography. Surprisingly for an action movie made during the 1990s, racism and xenophobia are major themes and afflict the likable characters, as well as the villains.

RESURRECTION
Yep, it’s a SE7EN ripoff, but propelled by an absorbing screenplay, Christopher Lambert's steady performance and unusually attentive direction by Russell Mulcahy, RESURRECTION is an exciting police procedural with enough gore and suspense to please horror fans, much like SE7EN.

SO CLOSE
Although SO CLOSE is mostly brainless in its depiction of wire-heavy fight scenes and CGI smashed glass, it also flashes signs of wit. The three female leads are as effective dramatically as they are sexy, and one plot turn left me breathless in both its suddenness and its emotional weight. And, hey, the fight scenes are pretty cool too.

SPIDERS
One of a long line of "giant monster" movies by Nu Image, SPIDERS is actually pretty decent, delivering plenty of goo and destruction amid a steady stream of unobtrusive in-jokes that show no one involved is taking it too seriously. KNB's makeup effects are appropriately gruesome, while the visual effects range from acceptable, considering SPIDERS' budget, to awful.

THE SWEEPER
From its gravity-defying opening car chase on a crowded pier to a jaw-dropping freeway chase involving more exploding vehicles than a fire in a Pinto factory, THE SWEEPER delivers enough shattered glass, screeching tires, car jumps, shootouts and more to keep even the most jaded action fan's attention. This is PM Entertainment at its best and its craziest with some amazing stuntwork.

TIME SERVED
This preposterous slice of trashy dumb fun takes the basic women-in-prison premise of a sweet, innocent young woman sentenced to a lifetime of torture and degradation for a crime she didn't commit and updates for the 21st century by adding a trendy subplot involving strip clubs. This is stupid, sleazy trash that will have you laughing a lot. I don’t think it’s on DVD, which is a damn shame. Tasteless, absurd, filled with gratuitous nudity and a complete lack of logic-just like WIPs in the old days.

TRANCERS II/TRANCERS III
Tim Thomerson is great in these Full Moon sequels as “future cop” Jack Deth. Very fast, very funny, quite imaginative, and with terrific supporting casts.

U.S. SEALS 2
Although its title (the sequel has nothing to do with the original U.S. SEALS) and DVD box indicate a straight-forward macho military-style shoot-'em-up, director Isaac Florentine has concocted a preposterous thriller with enough energy and spectacular action sequences to line a year of Jerry Bruckheimer schlockfests. It's a shame to see an action movie this clever and skillfully made languishing on video store shelves instead of in theaters, where it could be appreciated by mainstream critics and audiences. The violence provides a high body count, but it's never mean-spirited, and there's something to be said for its climax, which offs its main heavy with an over-the-top gore effect more likely to draw admiring laughs than uneasy grimaces.

Thanks, Marty!

Since you mention some bad acting in these, what, in your opinion, are the best DTV performances by an actor? If you were doing your own award show?

From Marty's list, I have seen and give a second recommendation to all of these. The PM movies are especially fun if you dig car explosions.

On my own, I would also recommend:

BROWN'S REQUIEM - nice film noir featuring Michael Rooker.

Stuart Gordon's CASTLE FREAK - Hard to believe this went DTV but it did. Jeffrey Combs is excellent in this and there is some great subtext stuff going on in the movie in regards to families and monsters.

DAY OF THE BEAST - Alex De La Iglesia's second film went DTV here and is definitely worth seeing.

THE DEFENDER - another Dolph Lundgren action flick. He directed this one and I think it is one of his best in recent years.

DUST DEVIL - Richard Stanley's second film after HARDWARE is quite a gem. Went DTV after the Weinsteins held onto it for years and cut 20 minutes out. The Dark Sky set is the way to go.

FREEWAY II - Not at all connected to the original FREEWAY, but from the same director.

MANIAC COP 2 - I remember I was so crushed when I heard this was going straight to video. Siskel & Ebert actually had it as a guilty pleasure one weekend. The stunt work is fantastic.

A MURDER OF CROWS - Fun (from what I remember) thriller from Rowdy Herrington (of ROAD HOUSE fame) starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Tom Berenger.

SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER - Jeff (SQUIRM) Lieberman's great little Halloween title.

Van Damme wasteland - JCVD has had some really good movies got DTV starting with LEGIONNAIRE. Other titles worth seeing include IN HELL, WAKE OF DEATH and UNTIL DEATH.

I concur with the previous choices of DRIVE, ANTIBODY, LIVE WIRE (this played theatres in Canada), MADE MEN, THE PEACEKEEPER, SO CLOSE (which did get a tiny theatrical release), U.S. SEALS 2, CASTLE FREAK, DAY OF THE BEAST, and MANIAC COP 2, and would add the following (in no particular order). I left off older movies like DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS as they are outside the parameters discussed above.

The GINGER SNAPS trilogy (though the first two played theatrically here in Canada)

DAGON (Stuart Gordon)

PEACEMAKER (a ripoff of THE HIDDEN that's almost every bit as good)

THE RUSSIAN SPECIALIST (Lundgren)

KILL ZONE (aka SPL)

RED LINE (Chad McQueen)

CRASH DIVE (Michael Dudikoff)

FRANK RIVA: THE MAN WHO CAME FROM NOWHERE, FRANK RIVA: THE CROSS AND STAR and FRANK RIVA: THE LAST OF THE TRIO (three French TV movies starring Alain Delon released on DVD in Canada)

SIXTEEN TONGUES

MEAN GUNS (Yes, the Albert Pyun film. I enjoyed its off-kilter atmosphere and sense of absurdity -- an action movie with mambo!)

THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE (Fun horror spoof that anticipates SCREAM)

LAST MAN STANDING (Jeff Wincott)

WEREWOLF HUNTER: THE LEGEND OF ROMASANTA

SPECIAL FORCES (Isaac Florentine)

KING OF THE ANTS (Stuart Gordon)

DOG SOLDIERS (Neal Marshall)

TREMORS II: AFTERSHOCKS

TREMORS IV: THE LEGEND BEGINS

CHAIN OF COMMAND (2000)

VIRTUAL SEDUCTION (Jeff Fahey)

BRUISER (George A. Romero)

There are plenty more.

Frankenfish was extremely enjoyable. I found this in a Blockbuster bargain bin and couldn't resist.

I also have a question; was the DTV Man-Thing a Sci-Fi channel flick?

Man-Thing wasn't originally designed that way, it just ended up there when the people in charge got a look at it!

And I was with you there, John, until you included BRUISER...

Hmmm... they just updated the site last month or so, so maybe the problems are related to the site. Hope it gets up again soon.

Some time ago there was another thread of DTV recommendations, so anyone who's willing to slog through the back pages of the forum will be able to get some more suggestions.

A DTV gem that Kim Greene recommended in that thread was LAST TO SURRENDER with Rowdy Roddy Piper. It's got some good action scenes, but what really makes it work is Piper's surprisingly good comic timing. If you like light comedy and explosions you'll definitely want to pick this one up.

And I was with you there, John, until you included BRUISER...

I would have been more satisfied spending $12 to see BRUISER on the big screen than DIARY OF THE DEAD.

I haven't caught DIARY OF THE DEAD, so I can't comment on it, but I couldn't find a single thing to like about BRUISER, and I'm a huge Romero fan... Well, Tom Atkins, maybe, but I like him in anything...

But, to each his own. I'm curious, though, what did you like about the movie?

I haven't actually seen BRUISER for several years, so I can't be too specific. While not one of Romero's best works, I felt it was a fairly good continuation of the social commentary he likes to work into his movies, and the shock sequenes weren't bad.

Here are a few other DTVs worth viewing:

MARTIAL OUTLAW (Jeff Wincott)
CYBER BANDITS
DEATH MACHINE
BLOODFIST IV & V
SHADOW HUNTER
CYBER TRACKER 2
RING OF FIRE
T-FORCE
STEEL FRONTIER
AMERICAN YAKUZA
TOUGH AND DEADLY
BACK IN ACTION
JUNGLEGROUND
SCI-FIGHTERS
RELENTLESS III & IV
MEN OF WAR (Lundgren)
THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

Wholeheartedly agree on this one! It came out the same year as I COME IN PEACE and has virtually the same plot. Plus, you have some great stunt work and Robert Forster as the lead.

The last time I posted the Sci-Fi Channel Saturday lineup, one of the films [DARK BREED] made both Marty and WilliamW's list. So here's this Saturday's lineup. Anything we should set the DVR for?

9:00am - ANDROID APOCALYPSE [Scott Bairstow, Joseph Lawrence]
11:00am - A.I. ASSAULT [Joe Lando, Michael Dorn, Alexandra Paul, Bill Mumy, Robert Picardo]
1:00pm - JOHN CARPENTER PRESENTS: VAMPIRES: LOS MUERTOS [Jon Bon Jovi, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Diego Luna]
3:00pm - FROM DUSK TIL DAWN 2: TEXAS BLOOD MONEY [Bruce Campbell, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Robert Patrick, Bo Hopkins, Danny Trejo; directed by Bruce and Sam Raimi's childhood pal Scott Spiegel]
5:00pm - FROM DUSK TIL DAWN 3: THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER [Michael Parks, Sonia Braga, Rebecca Gayheart, Orlando Jones, Danny Trejo]
7:00pm - IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
9:00pm - JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS
11:00pm - HAUNTED PRISON [Jake Busey, Stacy Keach, Danny Trejo (again)]
1:00am - PENNY DREADFUL [Mimi Rogers]
3:00am - PROJECT VIPER [Theresa Russell, Patrick Muldoon, Tim Thomerson, Curtis Armstrong]

Sunday has a whole 'nother DTV lineup, including WATCHERS II, WATCHERS III, WATCHERS REBORN, KING OF THE LOST WORLD, HYBRID and ROTTWEILER. They do try to maintain a theme at least for part of the day.