The Mcpherson Tape Retrospective

Written by Stu Cooper     

      Have you ever seen footage of something you swore was real? Something that made you question what you were witnessing? Well if you grew up in the late 80's or 90's, you may have seen some kind of “alien” footage. It might have been an abduction, it might have been an autopsy, or it might have been...The McPherson Tape. The McPherson Tape is officially the first ever found footage film. It predates Blair Witch Project by a decade. The film is shrouded in controversy, and full of questions. In fact, it made the viewers question their own reality. Is what you see on the screen real? Part of something bigger? Thanks to an official Blu-ray release from AGFA and Bleeding Skull, we now have answers.

      The McPherson Tape is about a man recording his niece's birthday in 1983, when some bizarre events begin to happen around the family. The recording follows a family made up of 3 brothers, their wives, the niece, and the grandmother. As the recording progresses, we follow what appears to be a normal family home video of a nice dinner, some friendly heckling and gossip, nothing special. That is until the electricity goes out. The brothers go outside to investigate the cause, and that is when they witness a flash of light. The guys immediately travel into the nearby forest to investigate. What they find is something that they can barely comprehend...an alien spacecraft. After witnessing several aliens walking around the craft, the boys scurry back home to alert the family. Unfortunately for them, the aliens caught a glimpse of them and are now in pursuit. What follows is a chaotic one-take shot of the family trying to not only comprehend what is happening, but deal with incoming home invaders! Keep in mind all of this is being recorded by one of the brothers who is trying to deal with the frightening situation by documenting it.

     The film is essentially a 63 minute one-take home video. That means there no edits, no cuts, just a solid documentation of events unfolding over the course of one night. The vibe of the film is very realistic given that it's one shot and almost every conversation is made of improvised talking points. The characters begin talking over each other like a real dinner conversation, and the chemistry between them feels very natural. Since this is a found footage film, you're literally watching something that was recorded on a home video recorder in the 1980's, so the quality is not that of a large feature film but it absolutely works to the advantage of the plot. The alien nightmare that the family is experiencing is intentionally vague and low budget. If you found this on a dusty old VHS tape in someone's attic, you may actually believe this is the real deal. And with that, let's get into the REAL story behind The McPherson Tape.

      The McPherson Tape is a film made by Director and Star Dean Alioto. Alioto claims to have spent years investigating alien abduction experiences from several people in the UFO community, which inspired him to create a film about it. Since Alioto only had a budget of 6500 dollars, his only option was filming the movie on home video. His idea, as far as I know, birthed the found footage genre. Since his budget was so limited, he filmed the movie as if it was a family's home video, which would more than justify the low video quality and lack of star power. He also had no complete script, just an outline of certain beats that the film needed to hit.

     Alioto's approach is something you have to appreciate. Not only did he make a movie for 6500 dollars, but he made a convincing alien abduction found footage film with no script, and only improvised dialogue. I think a lot of it is chocked up to pure luck. The performances from the family members felt real and compassionate. The brothers in the films often riff each other and it feels like a real bond. The Grandmother nurtures the sons and seems genuinely scared and concerned when they venture out. That combined with the creepy birthday party theme and candle lit rooms, establishes a more than unsettling tone. 

     With the family members connecting, that leaves the special effects which are severely limited. This is definitely the less is more approach. The only effects in the film are the space craft and the alien costumes, both of which are shot in a grainy way that covers up the low budget. The craft was actually constructed for 750 dollars, mostly made of foam board and lights. And the alien costumes are the basic big eyed Grays that were established in early UFO culture. If you closely exam any of these effects, they certainly don't hold up, but in 1989 they are more than passable. Enough so that people continue to believe the footage is real, despite the Director making it clear it's just a film.

     With the film created, the director shopped it around and received very little interest. Alioto even met with Vestron video, who was a big schlock distributor at the time, and they said it didn't even qualify as a real film. After relentlessly screening the film for distributors, it eventually found a home. The company that was distributing it even had big plans for the film. The mock up for the VHS case featured tons of quotes from huge media outlets like Rolling Stone and The New York times. Unfortunately the quotes were fake, and an attempt by the distributor to boost the credibility of the film. But before the film could start making the rounds, the distribution warehouse burnt down. During this fire, the master of the film was completely destroyed. Thankfully some copies were already sent out to a few rental places, and the director was able to source the material from those copies.

     At this point in the story, it was radio silence. The film never made it to theaters, it had very limited distribution, no master remaining, and the director thought that was the end of the story. Years later Alioto was approached by a Ufologist who asked if he had seen this supposed real found footage film making the rounds at UFO conferences and conventions. Little did he know, it was his film. Someone had edited off the credits and marketed the film as completely real. Attendees at these events were left speechless, thinking they had discovered hard evidence that aliens exist and that an entire family's turmoil was caught on film. To further the macabre nature of this story, a Lt. Colonel with 30 years of military experience swore that the film was real and the closest thing he had seen to actual UFO found footage.

     With the discovery of his film's now cult following, Alioto channeled his momentum and started connecting with TV networks about airing the footage. 90's landmarks like Unsolved Mysteries and Hard Copy approached him with offers, but all these shows wanted to market the film as completely legitimate home video. Since that wasn't the truth and he didn't want backlash, the film ended up being shown on a show called Encounters. The segment on Encounters was shown with interview clips strung throughout, with various experts weighing in on the film. Even though the show fully admitted the footage was just a movie, experts consistently believed in it's validity. Some would go as far as to claim the footage was a real home movie under the guise of a film to protect people from “knowing the truth”.

     

The momentum of the project continued to roll on, eventually becoming a TV special with Dick Clark productions and then the film was remade entirely in 1998 under the name Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County. The remake follows a similar premise, with a few special effects added. I would recommend only watching the original McPherson Tape as it is easier to believe. After the remake, things quieted down again until AGFA, Bleeding Skull, and Vinegar Syndrome decided to revisit the film and release a special blu-ray. This is actually the incarnation of the film that I viewed, which is considered “The Director's Cut”. The blu-ray also features the original “Encounters” segment, a Q and A with the Director, and commentary. It's the perfect release for anyone interested in viewing this piece of cinematic history. There is even a moment during the Q and A where the director begins arguing with an audience member about the conspiracy around the film. The audience members comes up to the stage, and is revealed to be one of the cast members. This was proof to the audience that he was not actually abducted. The two went on to explain to the audience how certain aspects of the movie were created, debunking a lot of myths about the origins of it. 

      So that's it, the story of The McPherson Tape. A film wrapped in controversy, macabre, and wonder. It's a miracle that the film even survived, so if anything just view this film as a marker in time. It's the first found footage film and it will always hold that mantle. Now the real question is, Do you believe the truth is out there? Does Dean Alioto know something we don't? Watch the film and you be the judge. I want to believe.

Checkout the trailer below: 

The MCPHERSON TAPE TRAILER

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Tammy and The T-REX Retrospective

Written by Stu Cooper

It's a tale as old as time. The popular high school cheerleader falls in love with the quarterback, they share a small embrace, then the quarterback is mauled to death by a lion and has his brain implanted into a dinosaur. Practically your community theater's take on Romeo and Juliet right? Well this is just a peak into the world of Stewart Raffill's absolutely outrageous masterpiece “Tammy and The T-Rex”.

“Tammy and The T-Rex” is a 1994 direct-to-video horror comedy written and directed by Stewart Raffill, whom you may remember from his prolific work on “Mac & Me”! It was released during a weird post-Jurassic Park boom period. This period involved gems like the DINOSAURS tv show, Carnosaur, Prehystoria, Theodore Rex, etc. America had a huge fascination with Dinosaurs at the time, which birthed many animatronic dinosaur movies. This one however is a diamond in the rough. Or mosquito in the fossilized tree sap might be more appropriate.

The movie stars Denise Richards, Paul Walker, and Terry Kiser. Richards and Walker actually made their big screen debuts in this film, unless you count Richard's minor cameo in “National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1”. Then you have Terry Kiser who had received some moderate success in films such as “Weekend At Bernies” and “Friday the 13th Part 7”. With that banger of a cast, what could go wrong? Whoops sorry, I left out the most important and subtle actor in the film...A GIGANTIC ANIMATRONIC TYRANNOSAURUS REX!

The film opens in the beautiful suburbs of California where we see two high school students falling madly in love after leering at each other a few times during some kind of gym class. This is where we meet the film's protagonists Tammy (Richards) and Michael (Walker). The film establishes their relationship by showing Michael give Tammy a flower, then he proceeds to eat the flower to get a cheap laugh. Tammy is eating this guy up and you can actually sense some genuine chemistry when you see the two giggling it up. Unfortunately for Michael he is almost immediately cock blocked by Tammy's 40 year old high school ex-boyfriend Billy, who is not only psychotic, but absolutely unhinged. Michael and psycho Billy engage in what the film refers to as a “testicular standoff” which goes on for a solid 2 minutes.

After escaping the testicular stand off, Michael unfortunately encounters the evil ex-boyfriend once again when he sneaks out to see Tammy and before he gets any action, Billy cuts him off at the pass and chases him down. This chase leads to Michael getting brutally beaten by Billy and his gang, then the film takes a completely random left turn. Billy decides to not just kill Michael, but to kidnap him and drop him off inside of a lion wildlife preserve. Needless to say, this does not end well for Michael. He is mauled by a lion and saved at the last second by a local ranger. With Michael on life support, we meet the film's antagonist Dr. Gunther Wachenstein who is in possession of a gigantic animatronic T-Rex...but he needs a fresh human brain. Since the town is apparently very small and word gets around quickly, the Doctor shows up at the hospital, fakes Michael's death, and steals his brain. And THIS is really where the masterpiece begins.

Tammy is absolutely shattered by the sudden loss of her one day boyfriend and confides in her comedic relief sidekick Byron Black. Byron is very derivative of the character HOLLYWOOD from the 80's gem “Mannequin”. The classic loud guy with loud clothes who is surrounded by redneck cops scared of his sexuality. It's pretty par for the course in cheesy small town cinema. While Tammy is coping, the evil Doctor is hard at work. And by hard at work I mean he is literally carving up Michael's brain and hooking it up to a giant robot T-Rex. To what end? No one is really sure. Global domination may take a while with arms that short, but you gotta start somewhere. After some rather gruesome operation scenes and a monologue from the completely bonkers Dr. Wachenstein, the chaos meter starts to ramp up.

Michael The T-Rex escapes the “medical facility” and begins his revenge rampage. We see the T-Rex mow through lab assistants, bodybuilders, stoners, perverts, and of course Billy's gang! This is where the film really gets to shine because we see the limited budget work it's way around the T-Rex as he is clearly moving around on a dolly and has a human puppeteer the arms and legs of the creature. The comedic timing of the violence combined with the practical effects of the kills is nothing but glorious.

After cleaning house at a high school party, Michael the T-Rex sets his eyes on his love for Tammy. Through heavy breathing phone calls and a game of charades, Michael is able to communicate to Tammy that he is a dinosaur, with her lover's brain inside of him. After this bombshell is dropped, Tammy seems to handle it pretty well. She handles it so well in fact that she decides to break into a morgue and thumb through bodies, comically offering them up to the T-Rex. Unfortunately he finds all of these options unsatisfactory. Even if he did, how would Tammy go about transferring this brain into the T-Rex? That is glossed over pretty quickly as the movie basically shrugs off anything remotely related to science. After some comedic shots of the T-Rex being driven around town in a dump trunk, the police are hot on it's tail! Literally!

In what is probably the film's most iconic scene, we see Tammy riding on the back of Michael The T-Rex as a beautiful sunset cascades behind them. This shot was used for most of the trailers and box-art. It's easily the coolest shot in the film. But the beauty is quickly shut down after Tammy hides Michael in a farmhouse, and the police corner the creature. Before the police have a chance to access the situation, the maniacal Dr. Wachenstein and his sexy assistant decide to have a chat with the T-Rex and try to appeal to his sensibilities. Spoiler alert: It doesn't work. Soon after the final confrontation with the Doc, the cops proceed to gun down the T-Rex and he plops over in a blaze of animatronic immobile glory. In an Academy award winning performance Denise Richards weeps over the lifeless robot body of her lover. It's seemingly all over for Michael...or so we think.

In the film's final moments we are treated to a striptease. It's not just any striptease, but Tammy dancing in lingerie for a camera that is attached to a brain. Not just any brain, it's Michael's brain! The logistics of a camcorder hooked up to a brain aside, this is probably the most sensual scene in the movie. As the credits begin to roll, one can't help but think what now? Does Tammy live her entire life in love with a RCA camcorder brain voiced by Paul Walker? Will she find another animatronic animal for him to inhabit? The sequel possibilities were endless, but sadly unrealized.

“Tammy and The T-Rex” is lightning in a bottle when it comes to B movie schlock. My first exposure to the film was actually on USA's UP ALL NIGHT Hosted by Rhonda Shear. For some reason they showed the now famous “gore cut” of the film and not the family friendly cut that was released on VHS. Vinegar Syndrome released a Blu-ray and 4k release of the film in 2019, which features over 10 minutes of added gore. The original release of the film was a bare bones VHS designed to look like a family film, which it's certainly not. The film itself actually has a pretty fun backstory, as it was mainly created solely because the director had access to a robotic T-Rex on loan from a friend for three weeks. The director decided to write an entire film around it, and so began the birth of this cinematic gem. Oh and that beautiful shot of Tammy riding the T-Rex under a cascading sunset? That was actually a gigantic fire in the hillsides of California. People probably died, but is there a more noble sacrifice than that? I don't think so. Do yourself a favor and track this film down. It was difficult to find for almost a decade, but thanks to Vinegar Syndrome and the Director, it saw a re-release in theaters and home video. It is also currently available on Hulu and Shudder! This is the perfect way to spend 90 minutes. Just tune in, drop out, and enjoy watching a Tyrannosaurus Rex use a payphone.

31 Days of Monster Mania: Day 18: Demon Knight

Written by Stu Cooper

It's time to meet up with one of my favorite characters in horror history, The Cryptkeeper! Last year I talked about some of my favorite "Tales From The Crypt" episodes but this year I'm going to address some of the feature films that the series created. The first "Tales From The Crypt" feature was known as "Demon Knight". The script was originally written almost 2 years before the show had even started, but it had been bounced around by multiple directors, never truly finding a home until Joel Silver got it. The film was initially supposed to be part of a Three-Part trilogy, but the other scripts weren't strong enough. "Demon Knight" was the only one out of the original 3 to get made. The other two proposed were called "Body Count" and "Dead Easy". Those two never made it to production and instead they made "Bordello of Blood" and "Ritual" as the follow-ups. The film was directed by Ernest Dickerson and released in January 1995, though the original intention was to release the film Halloween of 1994. The film stars William Sadler, Billy Zane, and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film also co-stars horror familiar Dick Miller, and Thomas Hayden Church.

"Demon Knight" tells the story of a man on the run from a demon. The demon wants an item that the man has in his possession, and he will do anything to obtain it. The film starts off with "The Collector" played by Billy Zane chasing a man named Brayker (Sadler). The two are involved in a high speed chase on the freeway which leads to a massive car crash. Brayker barely escapes with his life, while "The Collector" walks away with ease. Brayker goes to the nearest building he can find which happens to be a old crusty hotel full of colorful low-life individuals. The apprehensive hotel staff let Brayker stay there. This is when we are introduced to Jeryline (Pinkett) who is the rude degraded assistant at the hotel. She is apparently stuck there having to scrub the floors and clean up the beds (even after the prostitute is done with them). The film focuses heavily on Brayker, but also on the Jeryline character. Brayker joins some of the locals for dinner and that is when the hotel staff begin to suspect something is up with the guy. Soon after "The Collector" gathers the help of the police and tells them Brayker stole a very expensive item from him, and he aims to get it back.

After being introduced to a cast of misfits such as the disgruntled Postman (Charles Fleischer), the local prostitute (Brenda Bakke), the hotel Manager Irene (CCH Pounder) and many more, we get a true sense of the tone of this film. It's very slapstick in it's nature, but balances the slapstick with brutality. We get to know each of the guests in the hotel in some way or another. The postman goes on depressive rants, the prostitute shows she wants love but can't find it, Jeryline shows she wants an adventurous life. They each have some type of wish or hope.

When "The Collector" arrives at the hotel in search of Brayker, he uses the hopes and dreams of each individual against them. The Collector disposes of the police once he locates Brayker and the story escalates rather quickly from that point on. He makes it clear to the inhabitants of the hotel that Brayker possesses some type of antique key that he needs, and he is willing to grant any desire to obtain it. We find out through a series of conversations between Brayker and the hotel people that he is a chosen guardian. He is the guardian of the key. The key he is guarding actually contains the blood of Christ. It doesn't get anymore serious than that. I'd like to see somebody bring that thing into the Pawn Stars shop! The key seems to contain a semi-infinite amount of blood as long as it's in a guardian's hands. The blood can be used to created locked gates on property. If you put the blood on a doorway, it essentially blocks that doorway from allowing any demons inside. Brayker uses this to protect himself and the hotel people from The Collector.

The Collector quickly grows frustrated with the situation and decides to create an army of demons to patrol the hotel and take control of the key. The movie then turns into a zombie survival type situation where everyone is stuck inside the hotel, fighting for their lives against these bizarre demons. The demons themselves look a bit like the crypt keeper, which makes you wonder if they are somehow related to him. That unfortunately is never elaborated on. To provide some levity in the movie, The Collector is actually quite the goofball. Billy Zane plays the part perfectly. He balances a sense of demonic evil with a goofy comedian like persona. He often dances around and makes jokes, while threatening the lives of the humans. He also possesses the power to cause hallucinations, which can lead to possessing or manipulating humans into doing his bidding. He can make the humans see their deepest darkest desires, and he offers them a chance to grant that wish. Of course like any Faust or Devil character, he is full of shit. Any human that falls for his manipulation is doomed. It's up to those with strong will power to defeat The Collector.

Through out the film we are given some background on Brayker and the key that he has in his possession. We find out that this key contains the blood of christ from his actual crucifixion and the demons were actually present for that moment. The war for good and evil has been waged ever since. If the demons get a hold of the key, they will win the war and essentially conquer humanity. Brayker is one of many in a long line of guardians that have existed since the time of Jesus. He is actually ready to pass on the key to a new guardian, which is where Jada Pinkett comes in. I'm not a huge fan of her, so the fact that she is the next guardian in line didn't do much for me. Her acting is pretty bland, and her character is really obnoxious. You will find yourself wondering what makes her special enough to carry such a heavy burden.

I don't want to spoil the end result for you, but I will say the film is full of action and classic Faust story telling. It's one part zombie movie and one part "Bedazzled". The supporting characters also provide a lot of fun dialogue, and most of them are good actors. Thomas Hayden Church is always good in whatever he does, and Brenda Bakke is incredibly sexy in her role. William Sadler does a good job playing the role of Brayken and at this point he was actually a "Tales From The Crypt" veteran. He had appeared in a couple episodes, and even appears as The Crypt Keeper's mummified friend in "Bordello of Blood". Sadler is a quality actor and it shows. Billy Zane is the perfect counter for Sadler's serious attitude.

Overall "Demon Knight" is a fun and entertaining horror movie. I find myself watching the film often, and I never get sick of it. It has a great cast, an interesting story, and a truly kick ass soundtrack. I'd actually recommend picking up the soundtrack by itself. It features a lot of good rap and even some Henry Rollins. Out of the three "Tales from the Crypt" films that were released, this one is by far the best. If you want a spooky story with a little bit of humor, this is an excellent choice.

31 Days of Monster Mania: Day 4: The Craft

Written by Stu Cooper

It's Day 4 of Film Enigma's Monster Mania and things are about to get real! Real Wicca that is! Today's entry is about the 1996 film “The Craft”. If you grew up in the 1990's then you most likely remember the surge of horror that took place from 1995 to 2000, in which we saw tons of teen angst horror like “Scream”, “Disturbing Behavior”, “Urban Legends”, “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, and “Phantoms”. Okay...so maybe not everybody saw that last one, but you get the point. “The Craft” hit theaters in May of 1996 and has been remembered ever since. I'm going to dive into the film and talk about why so many of us Generation X kids remember this movie, and if you haven't seen it, maybe you will give it a chance.

“The Craft” is a suspenseful film that revolves around a group of high school girls that are exploring the powers of witchcraft. The film features Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Rachel True, also future 90's slasher stars Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich. The main character is a troubled teen named Sarah (Robin Tunney) who has moved into a new city with her father and when she arrives at her new school she immediately grabs the attention of 3 fellow students who sense that there is more to Sarah than meets the eye. The three girls consist of a timid bookworm named Bonnie (Neve Campbell), a swimmer named Rochelle (Rachel True), and Nancy (Fairuza Balk) who acts as a Gothic leader to the group of girls. The girls have formed their own coven but they realize they need a fourth witch to complete their group, and that is where the new girl Sarah comes in.

Sarah is befriended by the group and starts spending a lot of time with them. You quickly pick up on the fact that these girls are quite rebellious and may not be the best candidates for mystical powers. Nancy in particular is quite unstable but thankfully the others in the group seem to just be along for the ride and don't quite share Nancy's insanity. The coven convinces Sarah to join after catching her using her powers. Since Sarah has quite a troubled past, she goes a long with It and seems happy to be a part of a group, despite not practicing witchcraft as much as the others. It's not long until the girls begin playing with spells that create trouble and this leads to more lust for power within the group. The leader Nancy becomes obsessed with summoning a god named Manon, while Bonnie uses her powers to cure a terrible skin condition she has, and Rochelle uses her power to exact revenge on a school bully. Sarah, who I'll refer to as “The Good Witch” seems apprehensive about using her powers to serve herself, but gives in to peer pressure and casts a love spell on a high school football player (Skeet Ulrich).

The spells and lust for power begin to corrupt the members of the group, except for Sarah. The others start to show personality changes and continue to add spells to their lists, never being truly fulfilled with the power they already have. Sarah stays true to her morals tho and begins distancing herself from the activities of the coven, realizing that they are using magic for the wrong reasons. This is where the main conflict of the film comes from. Nancy has basically brainwashed the coven at this point, which leads to the coven inflicting all sorts of pain and chaos on fellow students. Sarah “The Good Witch” becomes a target once she vows to no longer be involved. It then becomes Sarah vs. The Coven. Without spoiling the rest of the film, I will say that this conflict leads to some pretty spooky scenes and a Good vs. Bad witch fight between Sarah and Nancy that is quite unforgettable.

“The Craft” is a memorable film for several reasons. The film features a young cast with lots of talent. Fairuza Balk as “Nancy” shines as the villain and the scenes where she lets loose are incredibly unsettling. It may have something to do with the fact that the actress actually does practice Wicca in real life, and she truly believed in a lot of the things her character was doing. If you've seen her in “American History X” then you are probably familiar with how insane and creepy she can be. Robin Tunney does a good job as the lead Sarah, tho she has a wig on the entire film because she shaved her head for the film “Empire Records” and had not yet grown it back. So you may get a bit distracted by her odd hairline. She does a good job playing the innocent girl who gets mixed up with the wrong crowd. Neve Campbell, Rachel True, and Skeet Ulrich all do a good job in their supporting roles.

One thing you may notice if you revisit the film is that it has a lot of parallels with the film “Mean Girls”. I'm not sure if the writer of “Mean Girls” drew any influence from this film, but it does seem almost identical in some parts, minus the comedic tone. The one negative I will say is that the 90's tone of the film does make the film feel a bit dated. There are some pretty outrageous wardrobes, but the music is top notch and gives you a great 90's horror feel. If you are a fan of 90's horror/suspense, you can't go wrong with this one. I would put “The Craft” above films like “Urban Legend” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” because it's less by-the-numbers horror and tells a story that you don't see too often.

Just to add a little extra spook factor to the film, the cast reported having some serious issues during the film, possibly because of the subject matter and the fact that they used REAL spells. During the scene where the coven is on the beach trying to summon Manon, the cast said that bats swarmed them and caused the candles to blow out, the ocean waves got more aggressive, and the crew actually lost power. So add “The Craft” to films like “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist” that caused real life fear and drama amongst the cast and crew. I will also note that while the spells that the characters used were real, the writers made sure to change a few details so that people would not be encouraged to practice potentially dangerous spells. Again blurring the lines between entertainment and reality. I would encourage horror fans to revisit this film, and if you haven't seen it at all it's actually available on Netflix this month. It's the perfect film for the Halloween season.

Happy Easter: Don't Eat The Gum Basket

Written by Stu Cooper

I wanted to take the time to wish you all a Happy 4/20 and a Happy Easter! Earlier this year I received a special Easter basket from a company called "Don't Eat The Gum". This company specializes in a very unique kind of gift basket. The gift baskets are made up of a mix of vintage/current nerdy items. These things usually consist of trading cards and various nerd accessories. The focus of the basket usually revolves around trading cards from the 70's and 80's that included bubble gum. Thus the name "Don't Eat the Gum". If you are a fan of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, then there is something in these sets for you.

If you are a fan of nerd culture as much as I am, you will absolutely love these sets. There is nothing like it. I'm actually surprised local comic book stores haven't thought of this idea already. Also the pricing is very fair considering how much it costs to put together and ship. Here is a picture of another one I got as well, just so you can see the different types:

For more information on "Don't Eat the Gum" please visit:

Don't Eat The Gum on Facebook

Film Enigma is now officially on Facebook!

Written by Stu Cooper

I figured it was time to get with the times and create an official facebook page for FILM ENIGMA. I will be posting extra content on the page such as discussion topics, pictures, and videos. I will also use the page as a community and place for fellow cinemaphiles to converse. I actually encourage those who love film, television, comics, pop culture, etc. to head on over to the page and contribute! The more conversation, the better. I will also use the page to post all of the new updates to the blog, so you can keep up with Film Enigma in your daily feed. Please Like, Share, Comment, and Enjoy!

Youtube Gem: Addam's Family Groove

When it comes to "The Addams Family" there are a few things I remember...the films, the pinball machine, the crappy home console games, the cartoon, and THE MC HAMMER SONG! I have fond memories of renting "The Addams Family" with my family and when the credits hit (or after the credits) they show the MC HAMMER - "Addams Family Groove" music video, which is pretty awesome and worthy of a 90's soundtrack. I guarantee you'll have this one stuck in your head for a couple hours.

What to Watch: MMPR: POWER REBORN

Something I'm going to try and do more on the site is bring up projects that need attention. I believe with the invention of webisodes and streaming media, the possibilities for new user created content is boundless. One new project I recently discovered was a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fan film entitled "Power Reborn". The trailer for the fan film is already out and there is a kickstarter campaign currently funding the project. It looks like the first episode is due out this fall, and depending on the success of that and future kickstarter funds, we may get more. The trailer looks very promising and after looking at the project, it appears we may have a pretty interesting fan film on our hands. It kind of reminds me of what is being done with Mortal Kombat and the "Legacy" series on YouTube. Check out the trailer for yourself below. I'll also provide links to the Power Reborn pages, so you can show your support if you enjoy it!

Facebook: MMPR

Twitter: MMPR

OFFICIAL SITE: MMPR

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Debut on NICK "Rise Of The Turtles"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) Episode One: "The Rise Of The Turtles"
Written by Stuart Cooper
Starring: Sean Astin, Jason Biggs, Rob Paulsen

Anyone reading this who knows me in real life will know that I’m a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. I grew up during the time period when TMNT was at its absolute peak. I have fond memories of wondering around the isles at Toys R’ Us mystified by the endless stream of Turtles related toys and vehicles! Christmas 1991 I actually received the ninja turtle’s sewer base, the pizza shooter vehicle, and several action figures from the show. It was probably one of my most memorable Christmas’s ever. I also remember renting the VHS tapes of the episodes over and over and over again. So it’s no mystery that I love Ninja Turtles. But now that I’m an adult and my imagination has diminished a bit, could I still enjoy a new TMNT related product? The answer is yes. This past week NICK debuted their new incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I had been hearing about this new show for several months but hadn’t seen much footage. I saw the toys at my local Wal-Mart recently and was pretty impressed with what I saw (aside from Krang which we will get to). I basically went into this debut blind with low expectations, and I finished the viewing impressed. The show debuted in a one hour feature called “Rise of the Turtles”. The story would closely follow some ideas set up in the original series except slightly altered. Let’s dive right into it shall we!

The show begins with showing us each turtle practicing their skills in their underground sewer headquarters. The movements of the characters are very quick, and the animation is very smooth and colorful. The style of the turtles is definitely kiddy and kind of reminds me of that “Chibi” Japanese style animation where the characters heads get real big and their bodies stay the same. Takes some getting used to, but I understand there is no sense in redoing the show unless you make some changes. The turtles are voiced by some pretty notable celebrities…Sean Astin voices Raphael, Jason Biggs voices Leonardo, Greg Cipes plays Michelangelo and Rob Paulsen from THE ORIGINAL TMNT returns except this time he voices Donatello instead of Raphael. Pretty funny that he voices a different character this time around. Why wouldn’t you just recast him in the same role? Does it really make that much of a difference? These voice choices end up being pretty good and maintain those lovable turtle voices we all enjoy.

Splinter and April O’Neil are then introduced and while Splinter is pretty similar to his previous incarnations, April O’Neil appears to be a young teenage girl and not a reporter (at least that they’ve shown so far). It was also made clear that one of the turtles had the hots for April. This is something that was teased in the movies and older shows but never really addressed. I’m not sure how I feel about a martial artist radiation filled turtle wanting to be with a teenage girl…will be interesting to see if they follow up on that. The enemy in the episode comes in the form of zombified humans that appear to be under control of “The Krang”, notice I said the Krang and not just Krang…it’s because there is apparently an entire army of Krangs this time as oppose to one giant menacing Krang. This was really the only complaint I had. Krang in this version appears to be a race of robots with living beings inside their stomachs. While I realize the original came from a planet of other Krangs, they were never really villains in the series. This is fine I suppose, but I’ll be interested to see if they reveal some type of Master/leader Krang. The turtles basically spend the entire episode investigating these Krang beings and eventually we are shown a brief glimpse of Shredder who resembles Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat) quite a bit. I’m pretty interested to see the turtles square off against him.

Overall I think the new show has promise. The turtles are still the goofy joke cracking heroes they were before, but this incarnation seems to offer a bit more serious aspect (I said A BIT, so don’t get too excited). What I’m referring to is one particular scene where the turtles capture a thug and threaten to torture him by pouring ooze on his face and turning him into a monster. I thought that was something the old cheesy turtles would have never done. So there is certainly a difference. The animation is smooth, the voices are spot on, and the original content is still ingrained. I think if you are a TMNT fan at heart you will enjoy the show and give it a chance. Oh and the new theme song is actually pretty catchy!