30 Years Anniversary Review Of Desperado

Even if summer is my favourite period of the year i can appreciate beautiful autumn days, walking along a forest with yellow leaves falling down. If it´s raining outside i do enjoy cozy evening with a low budget horror film. I could easily mention at least 10 b horror movies that should be seen during autumn season, but let´s just talk about one title for a moment. One specific recommendation i have for you is the 2018 independent horror film Inner Ghosts from director Paul Leite. It reminds me in some ways of the Insidious franchise, especially the character Elise Rainie played by actress Lin Shaye. In the film Inner Ghosts you have a character called Helen ( Celia Williams ), she is a brain researcher who used to be a medium until the death of her daughter. At the university Helen works at her supervisor do not appreciate Helen´s methods combining science with the supernatural. Even though she recieves a warning Helen decides to train her own daughter, Elsa Williamson ( Elizabeth Bochmann ) and another young woman Rachel ( Iris Cayette ) to become psychics. Inner Ghosts may not be a original low budget horror film but have an interesting plot of training psychics and facing a demon. I have to mention the practical make up effects on the demonic creature looks good. A film worth a watch, especially if you are a fan of the Insidious franchise. Let´s go back in time to the autumn of the year 1995, it was the Swedish cinema premiere of Kevin Costner´s dystopian sci fi action film Waterwold. This turned out to be the movie so many magazines talked about, everything from the incredible high budget of this film and how difficult it was making the film with several issues during production. Waterworld turned out to flop at the box office, but there was a completely different film that actually got praised by critics and the audience as well. And that is the 1995 action film Desperado by director Robert Rodriguez, a remake of his full feature debut film El Mariachi from 1992. I did see Desperado in cinema back in the day and i realised this film turned 30 years in 2025. So i decided to do a 30 years anniversary of this film to see how i feel about it today. Is this film just as good today as it was in 1995 or have this film aged more than Donald Trumps hair piece?

El Mariachi ( Antonio Banderas ) arrives to a smaller Mexican town as rumors start to spread that El Mariachi is a guitar player who have a guitar case filled with guns. El Mariachi is looking for drug lord "Bucho" ( Joaquim de Almeida ) who runs this whole town, demanding money to protect stores. El Mariachi gets help during a shoot out in town by book store owner Carolina ( Salma Hayek ), she patches him up and go with him on his journey to face Bucho and his thugs.

It´s been quite a long time ago since i watched Desperado so i was actually looking forward to watching it again. I have to say that even though this film have turned 30 years old it looks damn good still today. No CGI effects, no AI, everything is done with practical make up effects and the action stunts are done by professional stunt men. This is something i wish we had more of in modern cinema, i want to see people punch each other and fly through the air in a old school way. We have to talk about the camera work of director Robert Rodriguez and how he capture so many beautiful scenes on camera. He finds the perfect locations for certain scenes, captures the atmosphere of chosen areas and he is really talented shooting powerful action scenes. It is really over the top in certain scenes where it feels like you are watching a comic book coming to life but that´s the whole point, this film feels like it is inspired by director Sam Raimi. If you remember how over the top the action scenes are in Sam Raimi´s classic film Darkman, i can tell you that they are even wilder scenes in Desperado to the point where it becomes hillarious. Actors Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek are the perfect cinema couple as the crazy characters El Mariachi and Carolina, and their action scenes together are very well choreographed. There are some really fun cameos in this film from actors Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi and especially the urine scene with Quentin Tarantino. Actor Danny Trejo is really cool as the Mexican assassin Navajas, using some really cool designed throwing knifes. Actor Joaquim de Almeida gives a fun performance as the main villain character Bucho. The plot of Desperado may not be anything unique or interesting, but it is the action scenes that really makes this film come to life. The more violent the film becomes it feels like watching the best Mexican opera concert ever. Director Robert Rodriquez really understood what the audience wanted when he created this film. It´s really wild, really violent and at times really funny as well. Desperado will live on into the future as one of the true 90´s classic, this is definetely a must watch for the whole family to enjoy.

Rating: DDDD

Diablo

Every Thursday my mother Lena watch the Swedish TV morning show Nyhetsmorgon on TV4 to listen to Swedish film critics talk about the cinema premiere´s of the week. After the TV morning show she always send me a text message about what films that were reviewed plus the ratings of each film. This tradition my mother started several years ago and she continues to do this. Why you might ask? Since her son is a independent film critic plus i read a lot of movie reviews, she became interested in all of this as well. So we will continue this tradition for many years ahead, while i give movie recommendations to her as well. One thing i have noticed when it comes to British film critics is how positive most of them are while they review films of action star Scott Adkins. For example if you listen to British film critic Screen Stars review of the 2018 action film The Debt Collector, you will clearly hear how much he enjoyed this film in his YouTube review. If you want to read a very positive American review of The Debt Collector i highly recommend visiting The Action Elite´s web review of this film. Have i personally seen this title? Yes i have, i actually bought a physical copy of this film from Great Britain. The plot of this film is basically focused on two characters French ( Scott Adkins ) and Sue ( Louis Mandyor ) as debt collectors travelling across America to get paid back money that people borrowed. This is actually a charming film, especially because of how good chemistry Scott Adkins and Louis Mandyor have on screen and the action scenes deliver a good time as well. Director Jesse V. Johnson ( who have directed several of Scott Adkins films in the past ) manage to combine both action and comedy in a way that reminds me of films in this genre from the 90´s. Definetely worth a watch if you just want to be entertained for a moment. Speaking of Scott Adkins one of the films he released this year called Diablo ( directed by Ernesto Diaz Espinoza, the director of the 2014 action film Redeemer ) is out on VOD on different platforms, so i just had to rent this film since i am a fan of his work. Is this an action film that proves once more that Scott Adkins is the future of action films, or is Diablo not as good as you might have hoped for?

Kris Chaney ( Scott Adkins ), a recently released ex-convict embarks on a perilous mission. He kidnaps Elsa ( Alanna De La Rossa ), daughter of Vicente ( Lucho Velasco ), a very powerful gangster leader in Colombia. This also causes more problems when Vicente´s hitman El Corvo ( Marko Zaror ) goes looking for them both. 

How many of you remember the 1973 action film Live And Let Die, the very first time legendary actor Roger Moore played British spy James Bond? All of you? I must admit i am impressed. In this classic film you have a Bond villain known as Tee Hee Johnson ( played by legendary actor Juius Harris from the 1972 blaxploitation crime drama film Super Fly ). This villain have a pincer-tipped prosphetic arm that has a claw instead of a hand. In the film Diablo you have an assassin known as El Corvo ( played by actor Marko Zaror who i recognized from the Scott Adkins film Undisputed III: Redemption ), who have a prosphetic arm with a knife, covered with a fake hand that he can remove. This character is one of the highlights of this film. He have no sympathy for anyone and communicate in brutal ways to deal with anyone standing in his way. Scott Adkins does exactly what you would expect him to do, delivering cool martial arts scenes mixed with classic VHS video violence from the past. Scott´s character Kris Chaney reminded me of John Rambo in the 5th Rambo film known as Rambo: Last Blood. In that film John travels to Mexico to rescue his daugher from trafficking, while in this film Diablo we find out hes the faher of a young woman named Elisa ( Alanna De La Rossa ) living in Colombia, trying to save her from a future filled with criminal activities. The chemistry between father and daughter characters works well and when they argue it feels natural. There are a couple of dialogue scenes between them that i enoyed as well, being a little bit more serious. Diablo is not original perhaps but if you want a really violent action movie, filled with really good looking fight scenes then you will definetely have a good time with this one. This is the kind of film that knows exactly what audience it was made for and i honestly had a good time watching Diablo. Bring out some snacks, have some cold beer ( whiskey is welcome as well ) and rent Diablo on VOD. I promise you will not be disappointed if you do.

Rating: DDD

Rob1n

If you talk to director´s, film producers and actors what year they really struggled then i guarantee some of them will definetely mention the year of 2020. The year the pandemic started made it impossible to have normal red carpet premiere´s, cinemas were shutting down everywhere and film projects were delayed. Obviously they had to be careful so people wouldn´t get infected with Covid-19, and this also caused a lot of economical damage to new films coming out. Thankfully many films were able to have digital releases earlier than planned ( films that i was sure would get a cinema release ), so we were able to see films in our homes instead. Let´s mention one of the releases that went straight to streaming instead of cinemas and that is the 2020 historical legal drama film The Trial Of The Chicago 7 from director Aaron Sorkin. Originally planned to be released in cinemas from Paramount Pictures, the distribution rights of this film were sold to Netflix due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I did watch this film during the pandemic and it is really good. It is very interesting from a historical perspective taking place in 1968, have some really powerful acting performances from Eddie Redmayne, Frank Lagella, Michael Keaton, Mark Rylence and i was very surprised how good comedian actor Sacha Baron Cohen is in this film. I love the costume design, really good cinematography from Phedon Papapmichael and director Aaron Sorkin proved once more what a fantastic film maker he is. Definetely worth a watch on Netflix if you have not seen this one. During the pandemic some films did get some attention on physical media such as the British independent horror film The Jack In The Box from director Lawrence Fowler. A demonic clown coming out of a toy box is a fun concept and this actually worked well in this film. The demonic clown design looks really good and i enjoyed this film in general. The two sequels that followed are ok, but it´s the original film you should watch. Speaking of director Lawrence Fowler he released his latest film Rob1n during spring this year, a horror film that looks similar to films such as M3GAN or the 2019 remake of Child´s Play. Is this one of the titles that you should watch this autumn or is Rob1n a horror film that will be easily forgotten?

11-year-old Robin ( Maximillian Cherry ) is celebrating his birthday by killing the guests including his own mother. Robin is shot dead at the crime scene. 34 years later Robin´s father robotics expert Aiden ( Simon Davies ) channels the grief of losing his son into creating Rob1n, his robotic companion to keep him company in his old mansion. Aiden´s nephew Leo ( Ethan Taylor ) and his fiancé Lexi ( Leona Clarke ) travel to visit Aiden to repair their family relationship plus invite Aiden to their upcoming wedding. It is here at the mansion they are introduced to meet Rob1n, who may seem harmless until you get to know him,

While i was watching Rob1n i was reminded of the 2022 animated Netflix film Pinocchio from director Guillermo del Toro. Not that there are many similarities between these films, except for one specific detail. In the 2022 animated version woodcarver Gepetto loses his son Carlo to an aerial bombardment. Twenty years later, he uses the pine wood in Carlo´s grave to create a puppet that reminds him of his dead son. In the film Rob1n we see a more modern version of Gepetto, here known as Aiden played by actor Simon Davies who wants his dead son back through a robot that he built. This concept works well with the plot and i do think the modern twist was needed to make it work. The biggest highlight of Rob1n is without a doubt the robot itself. I think the design of the robot looks great with a different facial structure and i do enjoy seeing him kill different victims. When it comes to the human characters i personally feel that the character Aiden is the most fascinating one. What secrets of the past is he covering up? Actor Simon Davies deliver a charming gentleman performance in true classic British style. Actors Ethan Taylor and Leona Clarke have a nice chemistry on the big screen. Director Lawrence Fowler have proved in the past he is a good horror director and once more we get to see him deliver another tasteful treat with Rob1n. It may not be as good as the original The Jack In The Box film, but i still feel that Rob1n have a lot to say, especially how heavy it is griefing your dead child and the process to find a reason to go on. If you are a fan of classic horror films such as Child´s Play then it is possible you will appreciate Rob1n. A very simple constructed slasher horror film that actually works, Rob1n would be a perfect retirement home friend for me in the future.

Rating: DDD

Bogieville

Horror in so many different categories can be difficult to know what to choose , especially if you don´t know what category of horror film that you want to watch. Considering i have been watching horror films since the autumn of 1986 ( that´s when i saw my very first horror movie A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 ) i have seen so many titles and different categories that i know what i enjoy most. One category i especially enjoy is known as vampires and there are so many good films to choose between. You have classics such as the 1979 horror TV miniseries Salem´s Lot from legendary director Tobe Hooper ( the director of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ) and i have to mention the 1992 horror film Bram Stoker´s Dracula. I could easily talk about both of these titles but let´s focus on a completely different film. Some of you might have heard of the 2007 horror film 30 Days Of Night from director David Slade. If you have not seen this film it takes place in the town of Barrow, Alaska. This town is preparing for its annual period of the winter with a month-long polar night. A stranger arrives from a large ship and sabotages the town´s communications and transports. Barrow´s sheriff, Eben Oleson ( Josh Hartnett ) investigates what happened while a band of vampires, led by Marlow ( Danny Huston ) attacks and murder most of the population of Barrow. 30 Days Of Night turned out to be one of the best vampire horror films of 2007 with a really good cast, very well made practical make up effects and a powerful survival story included. Danny Huston as the vampire leader Marlow is one of his best acting performances, in my opinion. A horror film definetely worth buying on digital or physical media ( a lot of nice special features included ). Speaking of vampires i have been curious about the horror film Bogieville ever since i watched the review of this film from Geek Legion Of Doom. Is this vampire film better than i expected or is this film not worth a watch?

Small town couple Ham ( Arifin Putra ) and Jody ( Eloise Lovell Andersson ) are both out of work  and have no other option than leave town for other opportunities. They suddenly end up in a road  accident, thankfully not injured badly. While they look around the area they discover a trailer park area that they have never heard of. They are about to meet the trailer park residents, who are not your typical neighbors.

I barely read anything about this film before i watched Bogieville and i am happy that i made this decision. This is definetely a different approach in the vampire genre and i really appreciate the effort. To see a trailer park where vampires live out in the middle of nowhere, that helps the mystery of this location become more interesting. There are especially three details that i feel makes this a solid horror film and the most important detail is the practical make up effects. I have to say these vampires look much more creepy than your standard vampire design. I also feel that the vampire characters works surprisingly good in this film, especially the young vampire girl Lily ( with a solid performance from actress Poppie Jae Hughes ). The scenes where Lily get an oppurtunity to show how she function for each day, really give her character a deeper meaning. The third detail is actually the CGI effects and considering this film have a limited budget i am impressed over how good the vampire kills look. In general i would say the acting is alright, where especially caretaker Crawford ( played well by actor Jonathan Hansler ) stands out as one of the most interesting human characters. The horror scenes are quite effective thanks to the vampire cast and the conflicts between certain vampires is actually a bit fun to watch. This film is surprisingly long coming close to 1 hour and 50 minutes. For the most part it works, except in a couple of stretched out dialogue scenes between actors Arifin Putra and Eloise Lovell Andersson. At the end of the day i would say Bogieville is one of this year´s better vampire horror films. It has some minor flaws but im honestly surprised how good qualities this film have to offer fans of horror. Director Sean Cronin ( director of the wonderful drama film Our Kid ) proves with Bogieville that the vampire genre is alive with a great looking horror film. A great choice if you want to be prepared for Halloween weekend.

Rating: DDD

40 Acres

During this summer i went to visit a local farmer that i personally know for almost 20 years. I actually got to know his wife first because we worked together in health care for several years, we try to see each other now and then. Since this couple know how much i love fruit pies they have invited me to dinner for several years, and we usually have home made apple pie with apples from their own apple trees. Since it was too early for apple harvest during my visit they used other ones from a store, still tasted really good. This farmer basically grow everything from potatoes, carrots, white cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber and much more. They have lived on this farm for over 30 years and it´s really charming to visit, and one important detail that this farmer have worked hard for is to have plenty of food before winter arrives. That way they are well prepared in case their local store run out of supplies ( they don´t like Super Markets in bigger cities ), or if they need food for unexpected guests. What i love about farms such as this one is that all food is grown naturally not using any pesticide, and they make pickled vegetables as well. What if a world war breaks out or if humans were being attacked by mysterious creatures? We would need a safe location to survive, while having access to food and clean water. This scenario happened in the 2018 post-apocalyptic horror film A Quiet Place from director John Krasinski ( who plays the character Jim Halpert in the American sitcom TV series The Office ). A Quiet Place tells the story of The Abbot family who tries to survive in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind aliens. What makes this horror film unique is that these aliens can hear even the smallest sounds, which makes life very complicated while trying to survive. Really good acting from actress Emily Blunt and especially a strong performance from deaf actress Millicent Simmons. A Quiet Place is a very well made survival horror film that have a lot to say why we need to support each other in crisis. The sequel is really good and the spinoff prequel A Quiet Place: Day One is also worth a watch. One film i have really been looking forward to see is the post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres. Is this a film you need to watch this autumn or is 40 Acres doomed to fail finding a larger audience?

The world is no longer the same and society have fallen apart completely after civil war broke out.  In a farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere, a family known as The Freemans are trying to make life worth living together with a couple of survivors. Mother Hailey Freeman ( Danielle Deadwyler ) is making sure everyone is on guard for unexpected visitors, while having radio contact with another farm where her friend Augusta Taylor ( Elizabeth Saunders ) lives. Thanks to food scarcity, they have to find options just to hopefully have a sucessfull harvest. Each day they have to be prepared for cannibals trying to seize their resources.

I am a huge fan of post-apocalptic films in general so i had a feeling that 40 Acres would be something i might appreciate, i did not expect to enjoy this film as much as i do. This film is filled with redeeming qualities such as really strong acting performances, the technical level of film making from director R.T. Thorne, powerful dialogue and how effective the story is told in a psychological way. We have seen similar films in the past that reminds us of films such as The Book Of Eli or TV series The Last Of Us, however what makes 40 Acres different is the family dynamic between these characters. While the world is falling apart and hope seems to fade away, they have each other while struggling to survive. There are no monsters here like they have in A Quiet Place, instead we have human cannibal savages looking for fresh meat ( one way to survive when you are short on food supplies ). Speaking of characters we have to talk about actress Danielle Deadwyler ( who i really enjoyed in the 2021 Netflix western film The Harder They Fall, worth checking out ) as the character Hailey. I have to be honest and this is one of my favourite acting performances i have seen this year so far. Danielle manage to portrait a very broken mother who have problems trusting anyone, except for very few people in her life. You can see the pain in her beautiful eyes as she have a lot of anger issues all over her body. Truly remarkable acting performance you don´t see very often. Actor Michael Greyeyes ( who i enjoyed in the 2019 Canadian horror film Blood Quantum ) also gives a strong performance as the father figure Galen, who especially have a good chemistry with actress Danielle Deadwyler. 40 Acres is a post-apocalyptic thriller that may not be original but manage to tell a strong, emotional survival story where we truly see the importance of caring for a family in difficult times. For being the directorial full feature debut film of director R.T. Thorne i am very impressed. 40 Acres is a delightful surprise and deserves to be seen by a larger audience. Definetely a film you should be watching this autumn, no matter if you choose VOD or a physical copy.

Rating: DDDD

Morgan: Killer Doll

Toy stores, parents worst nightmare right before Christmas. Perhaps not for all parents but we all know how wild families can become in there. Personally i don´t like toy stores right before Christmas but it´s not because of the children. It´s more about all the stressful people, the same Christmas hits playing in the speakers and people complaining about things that feels unnecessary. All of this combined makes me appreciate toy stores online, at least if you want to make Christmas shopping a bit more simple. I don´t mind physical toy stores in general, it´s just before holidays i try to avoid them. One thing i do appreciate though is creepy dolls in horror films, no matter if we are talking about classic franchises such as Child´s Play or Puppet Master. Both of these franchises have some great films, but then you have doll horror movies that never had any sequels and is still appreciated by horror fans worldwide. A perfect example of this is the 1991 horror film known as Dolly Dearest. Directed by Maria Lease ( who is the script supervisor for the classic legal thriller drama TV series The Practice, who i watched on TV for several years ) this film tells the story of married couple Marilyn Wade ( Denise Crosby ), Elliot Wade ( Sam Bottoms ) and their two children. Elliot is the new CEO of a doll factory. It turns out that this doll factory lies next to a Sanzian grave and the dolls become possessed by an old, evil spirit. Even if Dolly Dearest is nowhere near as good as the Child´s Play films, this is still a enjoyable doll horror film if you appreciate low budget releases. I recommend the blu ray release of Dolly Dearest from Vinegar Syndrome if you are curious about checking this film out. You may have heard of the independent film production and distribution company The Asylum, who is of course known for releasing low budget films. I decided to watch their summer release Morgan: Killer Doll, perhaps because the title sounded like something i might appreciate. Is this one of the better horror films released by The Asylum or should you watch one of the Puppet Master movies instead?

Darcy ( Bix Krieger ) have been abused physically and mentally for many years by her father, until she finally had enough and kill him one day while she is being abused. Darcy´s best friend Astrid invites her to her birthday party but some of her guests bully Darcy for her odd personality. Darcy leave the birthday party very upset while Astrid´s birthday card reveal that Darcy is in love with Astrid. The birthday gift is a doll that Darcy personally made. Humiliated and feeling worthless, Darcy see Astrid one final time before turning herself on fire with gasoline. Astrid feel a lot of guilt not being able to stop Darcy from taking her life. But something strange is  happening with the doll Morgan she was given as a birthday gift. It seems to be alive as if Darcy´s spirit is still around, or is there something else inside the doll´s body?

I have seen a lot of films distributed by The Asylum over the years and i know these are films made on a limited budget, and im perfectly fine with that. When it comes to Morgan: Killer Doll this film actually surprised me in a positive way since you get a sense that this film might be inspired by the 1976 horror classic Carrie. In that film we saw legendary actress Sissy Spacek play the extremely bullied high school student Carrie Fischer. In the film Morgan: Killer Doll you have a character known as Darcy, also an abused young woman who is bullied as well. This is definetely the most interesting character in this film and actress Bix Krieger ( who fans of the V/H/S/ anthology horror franchise might recognize her in the film V/H/S/Beyond ) deliver the strongest acting performance as the character Darcy. It´s hard not to feel sorry for this young woman, from all the mental and physical abuse by her own father and Bix Krieger manage to portrait this broken woman in a realistic way. I also enjoy the performance Shelby Wright as the character Astrid, the only friend Darcy have since childhood. Legendary actor Michael Paré deliver a solid performance as Astrid´s father John. Now, what about the doll Morgan? It looks alright i guess, but i do think the face of Morgan could have looked more creepy. The killing scenes with the doll Morgan are surprisingly brutal considering that this is a The Asylum produced film and i appreciate a more brutal approach in this genre. There is a really surprise twist towards the end i did not see coming, that worked well with the plot. On the negative side some bad CGI effects that could have been improved. Director Jose Prendes ( who directed the entertaining low budget film Headless Horseman ) proves with Morgan: Killer Doll that you can actually make doll horror movies effective with the right atmosphere and characters. Worth a watch, especially if you appreciate independent horror films just like me.

Rating:  DDD