Anthony Penya Movies
- 1980
- R
This gory, scary low-budget shocker from the Roger Corman stable concerns the battle over a salmon cannery in a Pacific Northwest town. Genetically treated salmon escape the plant and are eaten by coelacanths, who mutate into humanoid monsters with giant craniums and sharp claws. The creatures begin attacking teen couples, killing the boys and mating with the girls (in some pretty graphic monster-rape scenes). Eventually, a bunch of them create total pandemonium at the annual salmon festival. Barbara Peeters directs with flair, Rob Bottin's effects are nauseatingly effective, and the cast is good, especially Vic Morrow as a racist fisherman and Doug McClure as the stalwart hero. An uncompromising shockfest with enough gratuitous blood and nudity to keep fans happy, the film features an Alien-inspired shock ending which still makes viewers jump today. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, (more)
- 1982
- PG
A crack military team led by pilot Ace Hunter (Barry Bostwick) is called in to save democracy in a small nation threatened by tyranny. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Bostwick, Persis Khambatta, (more)
- 1983
- R
The real world once more takes a back seat to a caricature of itself as the same Florida high-school teens who grossed profits in Porky's by grossing out, have to band together to stop their Shakespeare festival (!!) from being cancelled, due to a crusading, right-wing reverend's attack on the bard's "lewd" content. The reverend is joined by Miss Balbricker(Nancy Parsons) the girls' gym teacher and also the Ku Klux Klan who object to Romeo being played by an Indian. These unlikely allies come up against the libido-laden teens who strip the Ku Klux Klanners and send them running through town naked. Similar styles of revenge are taken to handle Miss Balbrick and the right-wing reverend -- apparently all's well that ends well at the box office. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, (more)
Directed by former Starsky and Hutch TV star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn satirized American entertainment, mocking pro wrestling, game shows, and law-and-order reality programming. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop in the totalitarian America of 2019, framed for massacring rioting civilians during a famine. After escaping from jail, Richards tries to prove his innocence, but his efforts are thwarted at every turn by a regime in need of a scapegoat. Richards is captured along with an innocent civilian, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), and they are forced to participate in a violent game show called "The Running Man," hosted by the unctuous Damon Killian (Richard Dawson). The object of the game for Richards and Mendez: obtain freedom by staying alive against a gauntlet of skillful assassins like "Subzero" (Prof. Toru Tanaka) and "Captain Freedom" (Jesse Ventura), each armed with unique weapons like razor-sharp hockey sticks and chainsaws. With the help of some fellow "contestants," Richards is able to tap into government computers and prove his innocence. The Running Man was very loosely based on a short story by Stephen King, who wrote it under the name Richard Bachman. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, (more)
In this light, standard comedy about four sailors (D.W. Brown, Peter Ellenstein, Patrick Houser and Chip McAllister) out for a fun weekend in Los Angeles, the men have several misadventures in Watts, at Venice Beach, and at a strip bar before they start to meet a few women who actually find them interesting. The former gang member (McAllister) meets an jazzercise instructor, the class clown (Brown) meets his distaff parallel, the nerd (Ellenstein) meets a thinking young woman, and the sports hero (Houser) meets his counterpart. The fun and interest lie in the telling, and so most of the time is spent on the way to the final pairing off. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.W. Brown, Peter Ellenstein, (more)
