Customer Reviews

Space Age Box Set [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm glad to say that the full six episodes of this fine series are finally available, **though not on the first 1x disc edition of this release**, which is now unavailable. Seek out the re-release. There have been many documentary series done on the subject of space exploration over the years. But few have done it better or covered all bases like 'Space Age'. Producer Greg Andorfer and writer Gary Hines are to be commended for creating a series that will not date very quickly and will inspire people to look to space with fresh eyes. It was a real coup to get one of Science Fiction's leading lights to narrate and present the series. Real space uses fantasy space to take back some of its' turf! Patrick Stewart has one of the most beautiful voices in the English-speaking world. His narration is clear, enthusiastic and endlessly engaging. The writing is concise and refreshingly clear of technobabble and the use of special effects and music is slick and competent. Archive space footage from the 1950s to the 1990s are of excellent quality. And one thing is made abundantly clear: We need series like 'Space Age' to help turn mankind away from the insular, navel-gazing flat-Earth tendencies and to help focus us toward a better future. The exploration and eventual colonisation of space has been budget-strangled and hobbled by political ignorance for too long. As the first episode of this series clearly shows: MARS AWAITS!

The low budget horror genere is fill with horrible cookie cutter pictures that are pretty much good only because they are bad....Demon Summer is good for more reasons than that. The story might seem old, the camera work might not seem all that spectacular but the entertainment and laugh factor is very very high. Most people think of a horror movie as all screams. But any true horror fan knows that some of the best horror comes with tons of laughs, the more campy, the more funny, the more gorey, the better. This film provides and then some.

Demon Summer (Luke and Andrew Campbell, 2003)

After the exceptionally pleasant, and gruesome, surprise that was Midnight Skater, I figured I'd give the Campbell brothers' best-known film, Demon Summer, a shot. I was expecting bad no-budget horror, of course, having been exposed to Campbell flicks previously, but even so, the film surpassed my expectations-- and I don't mean that in a positive way. I didn't hate it as much as the IMDB crowd seem to have, but Midnight Skater this isn't.

In fact, it seems almost as if they looked at Midnight Skater and tried to do everything exactly the opposite. Where the previous film was over the top in every respect, Demon Summer almost seems restrained in everything but the gore (and even that is toned way, way down). The intentional humor is absent, let alone the unintentional humor, and no-budget mayhem does not good straight horror films make. (Judging by my recent horror film viewing, this is a lesson that a whole lot of indie horror directors need to learn, so no points off to the Campbells for it.) The story is straightforward and just keeps going, unlike the surprising complexity (and willingness to veer off into any sort of useless tangent at the drop of a hat) of Midnight Skater-- the most impressive thing about that movie, in my estimation.

I was about to write "were this a big Hollywood production, I'd say the filmmakers were trying to churn out another movie to capitalize on their first unexpected hit." Then I realized that Hollywood has nothing to do with it-- that's exactly what this feels like. I still give the Campbells a lot of respect for throwing caution (and sense) to the wind and mortgaging their souls to make cheap horror films, and I hope someday another movie as good as, or better than, Midnight Skater pops out of Speed Freak Productions. This, however, isn't it. **

There is no doubt in my mind that humans will some day walk on the surface of Mars. While it is largely inhospitable to human life, it is the planet that is closest to providing an environment like that of Earth. While it is much farther away than the moon, the presence of an atmosphere, gravity closer to that of Earth, abundant water and raw materials for building shelters means that it would probably be easier to establish a colony there than on the moon. There is also the mystery about why Mars took the development path that it did. The evidence that there was once flowing water on the surface is very strong and it appears that the Martian environment was once much more like that of Earth.
This tape, effectively narrated by Patrick Stewart, is an explanation of the difficulties of launching an expedition to Mars. There are many dangers; the long-term effects of being in interplanetary space are unknown. Solar flares could unleash deadly radiation, the lack of gravity could lead to a serious loss of bone density and muscle weakness and the psychological stresses could prove unbearable. Nevertheless, as one commentator points out, there are over 50,000 people who would volunteer to go tomorrow. Even if they were told that the odds were only 50-50 that they would survive, they would still volunteer to go.
This is a demonstration of that overpowering human urge to explore new territories and seek out new challenges.
I enjoyed watching the tape; it fires the imagination and stirs the soul of all who strive to achieve greatness. The establishment of a human colony on Mars will be a very expensive endeavor. However, when you consider how much is wasted on armaments and how human achievement unifies the human species, it will probably end up being a bargain in the long run. Also, few people realize that if all the benefits that society obtained from the Apollo mission to the moon was factored in, then the program was immensely profitable. Technological spin-offs, such as the dramatic shrinking in the size of electronic components, have paid for the program many times over. There is no reason to believe that a program to land on Mars would be any different.

This movie combines the excitement of space travel with the aw of astronomy, and the passion for space flight which fuels the search for more knowledge. The part with the astronauts are also very interesting and I would recommend this movie to any person interested in space!

this is an excellent feature from the speedfreakproductions crew! i wasn't planning on writing a review for this movie until i saw the filth in the previous review for it. this movie has a great story line, creative shots and gore and plenty of comic relief. this movie flies straight over the heads of anyone who gives it a bad review. it is low-budget horror, i mean what did you expect?! go back to your cookie-cutter regurgitated hollywood crap if you don't like this and quit complaining. i am not quite sure what the bad reviewers expected. maybe if SFP would have put in some more explosions, car chases, nudity and Ben Affleck they would have liked it more. anyways enough of my rants, this is a great movie and a must have for any fan of indie movies or aspiring filmmakers.

I guess my star rating is biased since i was in this film. If you're interested at all in other works from the speedfreaks, check them out at [...]. They just finished up another great horror flick in "The Red Skulls," which doesn't have a national distributor yet, but you can purchase from their website. Also they are in post-production on "Cordoba Nights," which is a comedy/drama in the vein of "Repo Man." Thanks for reading. Sorry about the bogus teaser.

The gore was the ONLY reason i gave this 2 stars. The acting sucked, very very low budget filming. It's like it was done with JoBlows video camera. Take some good advice and stay away from this terrible home-made movie. Trust me, i have probably seen amost every horror movie ever made since 1970, and with the exception of Zombie Island, this has got to be one of the worste i have seen.

I believe the genesis of this movie went something like this,"Hey Mom! Can Andy and I borrow the video camera? We want to make a monster movie" And with the help of the local high school drama class, that's exactly what they did. Very poorly, I might add. I'd like to see one more copy of this movie sold and that's the one I'll be offering up for sale. The one bright spot is the fairly decent demon, slash 'em up effects other than that don't bother. Sorry guys, but I call 'em as I see 'em.