Reviews (15)

Consistent mid-80s sci-fi with a great score.
"Runaway"

This is the archetypal "average" movie. Whilst not expertly handled by director Crichton (yes, Michael Crichton), Runaway at least succeeds in being reasonably interesting and very watchable. It's one of those movies that succeeds in being very enjoyable without actually being that good; there is something very comfortable about the tone of the whole film. Whilst most of the set-pieces could have been more tightly edited and paced, there is an undeniable consistency in the visuals throughout. And note has to be made of Gene Simmons (yes, from Kiss), who makes a convincing bad guy, and the subtle but workable chemistry between Tom Selleck and the glammed-down Cynthia Rhodes.

The film boasts an impressive electronic score by the legendary Jerry Goldsmith, done in the same year as his beautiful work on Ridley Scott's Legend, at which time Goldsmith was in the process of moving over to synthesizers. The closing theme, which plays out as Selleck and Rhodes kiss under showers of sparks, is exhiliarating.

The DVD is unremarkable, with a fairly good transfer and sound if nothing in the way of extras (unless you're still counting trailers).

Underated Movie
Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) is a sergeant on the runaway squad - a police squad dedicated to robots. Ramsay and his new partner (Cynthia Rhodes) track down an electronics genious named Charles Luther (Gene Simmons) who has programed robots to kill. After the murders of two electronic engineers Ramsay discovers Luther has stolen a new weapon and plans to sell it to the highest bidder.

Its hard to believe this movie is sixteen years old. I like all the actors in this movie and have seen it several times and it still is not boring. The only problems i have with it is that the dvd does not have many options on it and there are two very cheesy scenes at the begining.

Gene Simmons plays a fantastic bad guy!
When I am watching a 1984 sci-fi movie, I am not expecting to see an oscar calibur portrail full of twists and turns. Some may call it predictible, but myself I feel that the story flowed and made sense. Too many times have I seen a movie wher its certainly unpredictable because the plot climax comes out of nowhere. Tom Sellek plays the part well and is very believeable as a hardened and some what cynical cop. Gene Simmons in one of his only noteworthy film performances takes his KISS type persona and plays the evil genius well. I for one enjoyed this movie alot, and unlike Blade Runner didn't find myself watching it 5 times to understand the very shallow story line. If you are looking for a believeable near future story, pick this up.

What's wrong with this picture? NOTHING!
Poor Tom Selleck. I swear everybody loves him but he never gets a hit movie. This happens to be a very good SciFi movie. I know since there are not many I don't own. Not to mention you have a good director and great music. Add in a cool evil Vectrocon doctor played by Gene "Kiss" Simmons with killer insect like robots and you have a winner.

Selleck plays Sgt. Jack Ramsey, a cop that polices runaway robots. Since most of them are fairly harmless house units it starts out a bit comical. But as the story develops with a Vectrocon secretary played by Kirstie Alley finding out about killer robots. Add in some incredible heat seeking signature bullets that can turn corners and the tension mounts.

The DVD includes some extras including Bios on the stars. The picture and sound quality are sharp. Well worth owning on DVD, especially for fans of Tom Selleck.

GOOD START TO GENE SIMMONS'S ACTING CAREER
THIS MOVIE IS ABOUT A COMPUTER COP (SELLECK) WHO GETS INVOLVED IN A VILLAN'S (SIMMONS) PLANS WITH ALTERING ROBOTS CONTROLS TO KILL PEOPLE, AND THE VILLAN LUTHER (SIMMONS) TRIES TO KILL THE COP (SELLECK) SO HE DOESN'T GET CAUGHT. HERE IS GENE SIMMONS FIRST ACTING ROLE AND DOES A HELL OF A GOOD JOB DOING IT. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Great "B" movie!!
Pro Wrestling's "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes his second film appearence in this silly but fun Sci-Fi adventure. Roddy is one of the last fertile men left on a post-appockolyiptic earth. He is captured by an all fremale scince group who forcew Roddy to impregnate all the fertile wild women they come across, and while not in action, roddy is forced to wear an explosive coddle belt (to prevent him from escaping). Guess what happens if Roddy (Hell) gets farther away than a specified distance to the Science group's van? One of the important women to the science group is captured and held in Frogtown (a town full of half human/ half amphibian mutants), and now Mr. Hell must penitrate the main group of mutants to save her. Actually, this movie is a lot more entertaining than it sounds. As expected, it is a low budget sterling flick, but it's vastly entertaining in it's action and humor. If you've nevver seen this film, it's worth seeing at least once. If you liked "They Live", Roddy's other film, buy this one. It's an underground classic!

Frogs just want to have fun
This is just another post-apocalypse movie, more of a mad Max or mad Maxine. The frog people are just not pretty faces. Other parts of their body are more versatile. There is no way that Roddy Piper (Sam Hell) can compete so he appeals to their sense of humanity. Propagation is implied throughout the movie. There are even a few sweaty scenes and no one stays in the car.
Roddy did a much better job in "They Live."

This is a combination of "John Goldfarb Please Come Home" and "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988)" ASIN: 6305078599

Go get 'em, Roddy!
Meet Sam Hell. Life for this poor guy has never been the same after the world fell apart. Before the apocalypse wiped out most of humanity, Hell was just another bloke trying to make it with the ladies. After the end of the world, he suddenly found himself in great demand. Why? Sam Hell has the unique distinction of being one of the only-if not the only-men on the planet capable of fathering children. This ability is a big deal in a world where fertility is a highly prized commodity for both men and women. Radiation rendered most of the lads and lasses incapable of bearing children, so if the human race is to once again thrive and eventually rebuild the planet, the right man must meet the right women. Besides, our side needs more children so they can raise good little soldiers to continue fighting the Russians (or whoever it was who turned America into a desert). Fortunately for this barren world, and for lovers of low budget trash cinema, Sam Hell just happens to be former wrestler turned actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. I can sleep better at nights knowing Piper made more films before and after his memorable turn in Carpenter's "They Live."

Hell's adventure begins when a group of scientists working for something called Med Tech (or some such thing) save his life from a sadistic soldier, a Captain Devlin (William Smith), bent on killing the fertile fool. It seems Sammy impregnated this guy's daughter and attempted to mosey on down the road, something the soldier finds reprehensible. As part of the bargain for rescuing Hell from an early demise, Med Tech insists that he sign on to a most peculiar mission. He must rescue a bevy of fertile women from the clutches of humanoid frogs. Just in case Sam attempts to run away from his duties, the scientists saddle the hapless dupe with a rather painful looking chastity belt that will explode should he attempt to remove the device or flee. Heading off to Frogtown with a sexy scientist and a punk rock looking bodyguard, Hell and company spend most of their time schlepping around the desert making crotch jokes. Predictably, his two female companions hit on him, the chastity belt inflicts pain on several occasions, and the trio picks up a ratty looking girl in the desert. If you're not laughing so hard by this point that your sides hurt, you can keep watching for more hijinks as Sam and his gang stroll into Frogtown.

From the moment Hell walks into a bar inhabited by numerous mutated frogs, the film takes on a weirdness and utter ridiculousness I have rarely witnessed in any other movie. There's a vivacious frog stripper with eyes for male humans, a sadistic thug frog who seeks to do humans harm, and Rory Calhoun as an elderly miner named Looney Tunes. Lots of chase scenes, "exotic" dancing, and explosions follow as Hell attempts to free the women and fulfill his contract. Tricking human sized frog creatures bent on controlling the human race is never easy, but Piper and the rest of the cast sure give it the old freshman try. The movie tries hard to have a twist ending, but by the time Count Sodom and his cronies arrive on the scene I began to divorce myself mentally from the proceedings. Regrettably, the man called Sodom shows up at the end of the film, meaning I actually paid attention for most of the movie. It's not that "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is a bad B budget film; rather, the problems I had with the picture seemed to revolve around the fact that I watched it while I was awake. My bad.

It's easy, too easy in fact, to bash this movie for its cheesy production values, ridiculous eighties haircuts, and ludicrous plot. It takes a hardy soul indeed to overlook the myriad flaws in this film. I found the experience more bearable when I concentrated on the familiar actors and actresses parading across the screen. You've got Sandahl Bergman, of "Conan the Barbarian" fame, playing the role of Spangle, the sexy scientist charged with guarding Sam Hell on the trip to Frogtown. William Smith plays the dual roles of Captain Devlin and Count Sodom with his usual gravel voiced charm. Don't spend too much time scratching your head over the appearance of Rory Calhoun as the oddball Looney Tunes. This actor, whose career stretched back into the Golden Age of Hollywood, was apparently willing to take any role as he entered the 1970s and 1980s. He's probably best known to B movie lovers as the grinning Farmer Vincent in "Motel Hell." His appearance here is ample proof that earning a paycheck in the movie business beats working a real job any day. Really, the only redeeming quality of "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is Roddy Piper in the lead role of Sam Hell. Piper isn't a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but there is always something fun about watching him tackle a part. He's much, much better in "They Live," of course, but his presence helps this movie immeasurably. Piper's ability to keep a straight face here should win him some sort of award.

Amazingly, the picture quality of this DVD is quite good. It's even in widescreen. The only extras are a trailer and a commentary track from the director and writer. Why they didn't let Piper make a few remarks is a mystery and a sad omission. Seriously, most fans of cheap science fiction will want to give this one a watch if for no other reason than to see giant frogs with human attributes pummel Piper senseless. Watch it as a double feature with "They Live."

Good cult movie
HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN is a little seen gem. After nuclear war, almost every man on the planet is impotent and frogs have grown to human size. One of these frogs, Commander Toty, has kidnapped some fertile women because of their value to humans. Sam Hell (Rowdy Roddy Piper) has the highest sperm count of any man on the planet and he is called in to save the women from Frogtown and get them pregnant. The DVD of this film is good, but doesn't have nearly enough extras. The trailer, production notes booklet and commentary (by Donald G. Jackson and Randall Frakes) are good but this release could've been helped by more extra material.

Babes, Mutants and Action in the Future
Roddy Piper (wrestler and star of They Live) is back in another science fiction thriller. This time it is the future and very few men are fertile. Roddy leaves pregnant women wherever he goes. Because of this, Med-Tech wants him to help with the repopulation of the country so that they can carry on the war that created the mess.

But no sooner does Hellman (piper) sign on the dotted line than he is railroaded into an attempt to rescue a group of fertile women from the mutants of Frogtown.

What follows is a pretty good film although it is obvious that the budget was not huge. The acting is pretty good and Piper appears more boyish and less sharp-edged than he does in They Live. I particularly liked the frog mutant playing at Sydney Greenstreet's The Fatman. The only thing I did miss was that there was no great one-liner from Piper. He had one of the great lines of all time in They Live.

Sure it's campy and low budget but it is also very fun. ... Read more

Description

A lesbian hires a male escort to hire and then dump her former lover, in the hope that the lover will then be driven back into her arms.The situation becomes complicated when the escort and the lover fall in love. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Sharing lives
Unexpecting: This movie relates the story of my life: two woman deeply in love, loving each other differently. One lives with the memory of a loss by watching movies recorded when they were living together. THe other loving her friend through her heart, but having an affair with her friends room mate, and in love with this guy. The ending is...

One of The '90s Top Films
Very touching, very surprising. This is a strikingly original character study with stellar performances by Baldwin and Sherilyn Fenn, but the always intriguing Kelly Lynch steals the movie with her portrayal of a young gay woman with a brave heart of gold. Get two hankies, two buckets of popcorn and two good friends and you'll love it.

Not for me
Based on Amazon's customer reviews I went out and rented this movie. I had to struggle to stay awake. While the performances were indeed good, the story felt forced and false. The best thing about this movie was Sherilyn Fenn's eyes.

Lynch Is A Revelation
Performance by underappreciated Lynch is her best since "Drugstore Cowboy." This is one of the finest films of the '90s.

Very interesting
This movie wasnt very predictable at all!!! All of a sudden the plot shifted and left you in suspense. It is a good movie in the romance dept. ... Read more

Amazon.com

How many films from the 1980s can you find starring the original Riddler, Frank Gorshin, plus Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher and a pre-fame Robin Wright (now Robin Wright Penn)? Oh, yeah... and Joey Travolta. A mundane parody of street life and the criminal underworld in Los Angeles, Hollywood Vice Squad finds parallel stories simultaneously probing the haunts of hookers, child pornographers, and drug dealers. Director Penelope Spheeris (Wayne's World) constructs a tongue-in-cheek homage to John Ford's The Searchers in the tale of a mom (Trish Van Devere) who goes looking for her daughter (Wright), a call girl within the stable of an evil crime lord (Gorshin). Meanwhile, several dedicated cops are trying to get the goods on Gorshin's character, and a policewoman (Fisher) intends to bring down a child pornographer. Spheeris, typically, has her eye trained on a vibrant street and pop culture while also having fun with its excesses. Not everything in Hollywood Vice Squad hits the mark, but whatever works is attributable to Spheeris's glossy-trashy sensibility. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Great "B" movie!!
Pro Wrestling's "Rowdy" Roddy Piper makes his second film appearence in this silly but fun Sci-Fi adventure. Roddy is one of the last fertile men left on a post-appockolyiptic earth. He is captured by an all fremale scince group who forcew Roddy to impregnate all the fertile wild women they come across, and while not in action, roddy is forced to wear an explosive coddle belt (to prevent him from escaping). Guess what happens if Roddy (Hell) gets farther away than a specified distance to the Science group's van? One of the important women to the science group is captured and held in Frogtown (a town full of half human/ half amphibian mutants), and now Mr. Hell must penitrate the main group of mutants to save her. Actually, this movie is a lot more entertaining than it sounds. As expected, it is a low budget sterling flick, but it's vastly entertaining in it's action and humor. If you've nevver seen this film, it's worth seeing at least once. If you liked "They Live", Roddy's other film, buy this one. It's an underground classic!

Frogs just want to have fun
This is just another post-apocalypse movie, more of a mad Max or mad Maxine. The frog people are just not pretty faces. Other parts of their body are more versatile. There is no way that Roddy Piper (Sam Hell) can compete so he appeals to their sense of humanity. Propagation is implied throughout the movie. There are even a few sweaty scenes and no one stays in the car.
Roddy did a much better job in "They Live."

This is a combination of "John Goldfarb Please Come Home" and "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1988)" ASIN: 6305078599

Go get 'em, Roddy!
Meet Sam Hell. Life for this poor guy has never been the same after the world fell apart. Before the apocalypse wiped out most of humanity, Hell was just another bloke trying to make it with the ladies. After the end of the world, he suddenly found himself in great demand. Why? Sam Hell has the unique distinction of being one of the only-if not the only-men on the planet capable of fathering children. This ability is a big deal in a world where fertility is a highly prized commodity for both men and women. Radiation rendered most of the lads and lasses incapable of bearing children, so if the human race is to once again thrive and eventually rebuild the planet, the right man must meet the right women. Besides, our side needs more children so they can raise good little soldiers to continue fighting the Russians (or whoever it was who turned America into a desert). Fortunately for this barren world, and for lovers of low budget trash cinema, Sam Hell just happens to be former wrestler turned actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. I can sleep better at nights knowing Piper made more films before and after his memorable turn in Carpenter's "They Live."

Hell's adventure begins when a group of scientists working for something called Med Tech (or some such thing) save his life from a sadistic soldier, a Captain Devlin (William Smith), bent on killing the fertile fool. It seems Sammy impregnated this guy's daughter and attempted to mosey on down the road, something the soldier finds reprehensible. As part of the bargain for rescuing Hell from an early demise, Med Tech insists that he sign on to a most peculiar mission. He must rescue a bevy of fertile women from the clutches of humanoid frogs. Just in case Sam attempts to run away from his duties, the scientists saddle the hapless dupe with a rather painful looking chastity belt that will explode should he attempt to remove the device or flee. Heading off to Frogtown with a sexy scientist and a punk rock looking bodyguard, Hell and company spend most of their time schlepping around the desert making crotch jokes. Predictably, his two female companions hit on him, the chastity belt inflicts pain on several occasions, and the trio picks up a ratty looking girl in the desert. If you're not laughing so hard by this point that your sides hurt, you can keep watching for more hijinks as Sam and his gang stroll into Frogtown.

From the moment Hell walks into a bar inhabited by numerous mutated frogs, the film takes on a weirdness and utter ridiculousness I have rarely witnessed in any other movie. There's a vivacious frog stripper with eyes for male humans, a sadistic thug frog who seeks to do humans harm, and Rory Calhoun as an elderly miner named Looney Tunes. Lots of chase scenes, "exotic" dancing, and explosions follow as Hell attempts to free the women and fulfill his contract. Tricking human sized frog creatures bent on controlling the human race is never easy, but Piper and the rest of the cast sure give it the old freshman try. The movie tries hard to have a twist ending, but by the time Count Sodom and his cronies arrive on the scene I began to divorce myself mentally from the proceedings. Regrettably, the man called Sodom shows up at the end of the film, meaning I actually paid attention for most of the movie. It's not that "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is a bad B budget film; rather, the problems I had with the picture seemed to revolve around the fact that I watched it while I was awake. My bad.

It's easy, too easy in fact, to bash this movie for its cheesy production values, ridiculous eighties haircuts, and ludicrous plot. It takes a hardy soul indeed to overlook the myriad flaws in this film. I found the experience more bearable when I concentrated on the familiar actors and actresses parading across the screen. You've got Sandahl Bergman, of "Conan the Barbarian" fame, playing the role of Spangle, the sexy scientist charged with guarding Sam Hell on the trip to Frogtown. William Smith plays the dual roles of Captain Devlin and Count Sodom with his usual gravel voiced charm. Don't spend too much time scratching your head over the appearance of Rory Calhoun as the oddball Looney Tunes. This actor, whose career stretched back into the Golden Age of Hollywood, was apparently willing to take any role as he entered the 1970s and 1980s. He's probably best known to B movie lovers as the grinning Farmer Vincent in "Motel Hell." His appearance here is ample proof that earning a paycheck in the movie business beats working a real job any day. Really, the only redeeming quality of "Hell Comes to Frogtown" is Roddy Piper in the lead role of Sam Hell. Piper isn't a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but there is always something fun about watching him tackle a part. He's much, much better in "They Live," of course, but his presence helps this movie immeasurably. Piper's ability to keep a straight face here should win him some sort of award.

Amazingly, the picture quality of this DVD is quite good. It's even in widescreen. The only extras are a trailer and a commentary track from the director and writer. Why they didn't let Piper make a few remarks is a mystery and a sad omission. Seriously, most fans of cheap science fiction will want to give this one a watch if for no other reason than to see giant frogs with human attributes pummel Piper senseless. Watch it as a double feature with "They Live."

Good cult movie
HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN is a little seen gem. After nuclear war, almost every man on the planet is impotent and frogs have grown to human size. One of these frogs, Commander Toty, has kidnapped some fertile women because of their value to humans. Sam Hell (Rowdy Roddy Piper) has the highest sperm count of any man on the planet and he is called in to save the women from Frogtown and get them pregnant. The DVD of this film is good, but doesn't have nearly enough extras. The trailer, production notes booklet and commentary (by Donald G. Jackson and Randall Frakes) are good but this release could've been helped by more extra material.

Babes, Mutants and Action in the Future
Roddy Piper (wrestler and star of They Live) is back in another science fiction thriller. This time it is the future and very few men are fertile. Roddy leaves pregnant women wherever he goes. Because of this, Med-Tech wants him to help with the repopulation of the country so that they can carry on the war that created the mess.

But no sooner does Hellman (piper) sign on the dotted line than he is railroaded into an attempt to rescue a group of fertile women from the mutants of Frogtown.

What follows is a pretty good film although it is obvious that the budget was not huge. The acting is pretty good and Piper appears more boyish and less sharp-edged than he does in They Live. I particularly liked the frog mutant playing at Sydney Greenstreet's The Fatman. The only thing I did miss was that there was no great one-liner from Piper. He had one of the great lines of all time in They Live.

Sure it's campy and low budget but it is also very fun. ... Read more