The Sci-Fi Dine-In - Orlando, FL

Never thought I would end up reviewing a restaurant on here. But my experience at the Sci-Fi Dine-In in Orlando was probably the coolest dining experience I have ever had.  It really is a monster kid and b-movie lover's dream.

The Sci-Fi Dine-In, located at Hollywood Studios, is the ultimate 1950s b-movie experience. The restaurant, as you can see from the above photo, is made to look like a drive-in theater. A wooden fence and faux-night sky surrounds the room. It is quite dark inside, to give the illusion of being outside at night. The tables, all shaped like classic cars, face a full size movie screen that shows 50s sci-fi and creature feature trailers, sci-fi themed cartoons, and the classic World of the Future Disney shorts.

Whilst dining I saw trailers for Devil Girl from Mars, the Amazing Colossal Man, Plan 9 from Outer Space, and many more. I was there for about an hour and only saw one trailer repeated.

As for the food itself, it was quite good. Though it probably could have been mashed potatoes made from ground up Jar-Jar Binks dolls and I still would have had a great time. The Dine-In serves fairly typical diner food, burgers, shakes, chicken sandwiches, salads, etc. It averages around 15 bucks per entree. Didn't have a shake, but I heard they were awesome.

Walk-Ins are welcome, though reservations are highly recommended. So if you are in Orlando make sure to hit Hollywood Studios if you are doing the theme parks. They also have the Great Movie Ride which has a scene from Alien recreated and a fantastic Clint Eastwood animatronic from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as well as some Star Wars stuff.

On the way to bathroom 

Best of the Web - The Sequel

I started this particular feature, then known as Voodooriffic Stuff on the Web, with the intention of it being an ongoing series. Well, that was 2010 and I kind of forgot about it! So here is the forgotten part II of my favorite things going on on the internet these days.

The Oak Drive-In - My favorite movie blog on the net. I like to think I have a vast knowledge of strange and obscure movies. But I've discovered many great films through the Oak Drive-In that I had never even heard of. The site also has a great style to it. Dick, the madman behind it, shares my stance on avoiding the negative focusing only on things he likes. He also is not afraid of nudity and sleaze, nor does he try present those factors as a negative. 

At the Mansion of Madness - My other favorite movie blog. The Mansion focuses on obscure Euro films. Another one that has enlightened me to some great stuff. On the recommendation of Giovanni I watched The Vampire Happening, a quirky little vampire sleaze comedy which is now one of my favorites. Like the Oak Drive-in, the Mansion is very well written and also stays away from the negative "everything sucks" school of blogging which is such a problem these days. 

Beasts in Human Skin - A site focusing on exploitation film actresses. But what makes this site really interesting is it features bio pages with great info and photos of different "Grindhouse girls". In many cases the bios go well beyond what is available on Wikipedia and the such. It hasn't been updated in a long while, but the profiles alone are well worth multiple visits. 

Flesh and Blood by Robert Tinnell and Neil Vokes

Without doing any actual math or thinking, I would say that I spend more money on comics than any other form of entertainment. Toys and DVDs coming in a close second. A portion of almost every check goes to various graphic novels. I currently collect more than I can keep up with and even then am always on the look out for new books to collect.

I ran across Flesh and Blood while lurking on Amazon. My interest was instantly peaked, being a big fan of Dan Brereton (who did the covers). So I looked into it more. I'm not one for reviews, but I do like to get a general gist of what a book is all about. And with everything I read about Flesh and Blood, the consensus was that it was a Hammer film in comic form. That further piqued my interest.

Sure enough, the reviews were dead on. Flesh and Blood is a very well-done and loving tribute to the golden age of Hammer Horror. Some of the characters even look like Hammer actors. There really isn't a lot I can say about it other than if you like Hammer  and monster mash comics, you should dig Flesh and Blood.

The story, which regular readers know I never like to reveal too much about, takes place in England (I forget the year, but probably the 1800s) and features a cast of Van Helsing, Dracula, Carmilla, Dr. Frankenstein, and more. And being a big fan of the Carmilla character, it was nice to see her in comic form.

There are three graphic novels in the series. I've only read the first, so I'm not sure if it is ongoing or has finished its run.

Something I do feel I should point out is the style of artwork. It is a bit strange for this type of book. It has a cartoony, almost Bruce Timm-like feel to it. I rather liked this, but I can understand how folks would want a more Jose Gonzalez or EC Comics style, but give it a shot. It's actually quite good.

Christmas 2014 - Monster Kid for life!

Say what you will about this day and age, it is a GREAT time to collect toys. What I would of done for that Creature and that Jabba as a young Monster Kid in the 80s.

Not only did I get several great monster toys, I also managed to finish up my Weird TV Collection. Took nearly twenty years, but was well worth it. Make sure and check out this amazing series if you haven't.

And not a Christmas gift, I recently picked up this great hardcover best of Lovecraft at Barnes and Noble. Only twenty bucks brand new and contains more stories than even the Necronamicon collection from several years back. Apparently, it is part of a Barnes and Noble hardcover classics series.

Vintage Toy Memories - The Other World

Being the Christmas season, and having bought quite a few toys this month; it's had me thinking a lot about my favorite toys from my youth. Being that most of my youth was in the 80s, I naturally look on that time the most fondly. And one of those standout toy memories was:

The Other World - One of absolute favs as a kid. I loved fantasy toys to start with. Had tons of them ranging from He-Man to Conan to little plastic figure playsets. But this early 80s toyline stood out for me even above many higher quality toylines. They were bendy for one, which made them much durable(aka able to take in the tub). They also had a ton of accessories that glowed in the dark. Always a big selling point for me. But the biggest pro for me was that The Other World had some of the coolest monsters and bad guys. In fact, they had more monsters than heroes. I even still have my Froggacuda.

                                           Froggacuda looking awesome

Another favorite of mine was the werewolf looking guy, Weapon's Master. I was always a sucker for characters like that. I especially liked werewolves. I would be willing to bet I still have Weapon's Master in storage somewhere.

                                          Weapon's Master and Skitzo 

There were so many cool figures in this line like a very large Cobra with legs and arms, some dragony things(Sharkoss and Kamaro) that rolled when you pulled them back, and of course the little minions that the main figures came with.

A big thanks to Little Weirdos for the images. There is also a great deal more info on the toyline itself over there. Check it out!

B-Movie Beach Party 2013

Having just returned from my yearly vacation, I return with several goodies I picked up while down South. As I've said, I spend almost as much time DVD and stuff hunting as I do on the beach. The selection is often better and the prices are always better. So here is some of this year's haul.

DVDs -  The first in a triple feature 6 disc set that contains the Stephen's King miniseries' The Shining, It, and Salem's Lot. All I which I really enjoyed. I grabbed this one at Wal-Mart for only 12 bucks. I would have paid that much for any of these alone.

Godzilla vs. Biollante - 5 dollars at K-Mart. I've had my eye on this one since it was released not to long ago. I'm glad I waited.

Death Comes in 3s - Another K-Mart find, this 5 dollar collection features 9 movies: Demonic Toys, Demonic Toys 2, Dollman vs Demonic Toys, Gingerdead Man 1 to 3, and Killjoy 1 to 3. I've seen these titles on plenty of other compilations, but never all together and for such a good price.

King Caesar - Yet another K-Mart find. When I was a kid I loved Caesar, probably more than Godzilla himself. It was cool to finally see an American release of this character. He doesn't stand too well, but its a small price to pay for the Caesarness.

Sleazy Florida Postcard - Maybe in my mad hunt last year, I bought them all up, cause I was only able to find this one this time around. You may not be able to tell from the image, but the first girl is very nippley. So it fits into my rigid definition of sleazy postcard.

Exploitation...at the beach

So, I spent the last week mostly lying on a Florida beach. That, or near-constant eating. But when I wasn't doing those things, I was scouring the area for DVDs. More often than not, the LA versions of certain chain stores aren't as good as those in the rest of the country. My searching paid off, for I found several little goodies.

Oversexed Rugsuckers from Mars was my first find. I had never even heard of this obscure 80s cult film until I found it for 5 bucks at a Books-A-Million. I haven't watched it yet, but it sounds quite funny and odd. 

12 Drive-In Theatre Cult Classics was my second find. This 12 movie set, which was also 5 dollars, was available at several of the K-Marts I went to. You can't beat the value if you dig 1950s sci-fi. This set contains:

The Wasp Woman
The Screaming Skull
The Killer Shrews
Frankenstein's Daughter
The Brain that Wouldn't Die
The Crawling Eye
The Giant Gila Monster
Cat Women of the Moon
Bride of the Monster
Devil Girl from Mars
Invaders from Mars
Invasion of the Animal People

Invasion of the Star Creatures/Invasion of the Bee Girls was my final find. I've been wanting to see Invasion of the Bee Girls for years now. And to find it for only 3 dollars at Big Lots was quite the find. Big Lots is a place I always check when I am back in the South. I rarely walk out without some rare or odd DVD.

5 Wacky Questions with Chuck Cirino

Chuck Cirino is a name you may have never heard, but you certainly should have. Chuck is a man who, for some unknown reason, is not a household name.  In fact, Chuck is pretty much a legend in the B-movie world. An accomplished composer; he has over 50 scores under his belt. Including such amazing films as Not of this Earth, Terror Toons, Return of Swamp Thing, and Dinosaur Island.

Not only that, Chuck was the mastermind behind one of the greatest pieces of 90s pop culture, the nationally aired Weird TV. Also, his very entertaining webshow, Weird Los Angeles, of which I am a constant viewer.


Q. What two famous, or not-so-famous, monsters that have never battled, would you like to see battle?
A. I would like to see one of Roger Corman's "Crab Monsters" battle "Alien". I think the mixture of rubber, plastic and paper mache would make a great protein shake.

Q. Harmonica(Once Upon a Time in the West) vs. Blondie(The Good, the Bad, the Ugly), who would win in a gunfight?
A. Blondie always wins, even if he doesn't have a musical instrument to play.

Q. You've been all across weird America and then some. What is the single weirdest thing you have seen?
A. That would have to be the three massive school buses I found buried nose-down in the ground somewhere in Oregon. There was no explanation for why they were there or who planted them.

Q. You are a very prolific, yet underrated composer, having recorded some amazing scores. Do you have a favorite score you have written?
A. I know this sounds clichéd, but my favorite piece of music is always the one I'm working on now. Whatever that may be.

Q. The Chuck Cirino deluxe edition action figure with Weird action grip....what accessories would it come with?
A. One full-sized star ship with full interstellar capabilities, the ultimate gourmet food synthesizer and a hot female side-kick.

Since Chuck was awesome enough to take the time to answer these questions, do be a pip and subscribe to his Youtube Channel, and then check out his Official Website.