The early 1990s brought the work of writer/director Mel Brooks to a new audience, and the audience wasn't exactly thrilled to see Mel Brooks. There was 1991's "Life Stinks," which was entirely sold as a Mel Brooks experience, dying a quick death at the box office. And his return to parody cinema, 1993's "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," managed to collect cult appreciation over time, but not initial multiplex interest. 1995's "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" was intended to be Brooks's grand return to the pantsing of horror movies, connected to 1974's "Young Frankenstein," one of his highest grossing endeavors and most beloved creative efforts. It was an uphill battle for the helmer, who attempts to have fun with vampire fever conjured by Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and the endurance of the 1931 Bela Lugosi chiller, adding his increasingly tired Brooks-isms along the way. "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" might've been more energized if it was produced in the 1970s, but over two decades after "Young Frankenstein," the whole thing just lays there on the screen, fighting for funny business that never arrives. The Brooks touch is gone from this one, though he certainly tries to revive long dormant genre magic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Charlton Heston portraying an aging NFL quarterback is pretty fantastic casting, with the intense actor a perfect fit for a hotheaded character getting too old for the game. Heston is terrific in 1969's "Number One," which offers him an interesting dramatic challenge, tasked with bringing to life a fairly unpleasant human being going through a universal psychological experience, portraying a football hero facing the end of his career, his marriage, and possibly his male appeal. The screenplay (by David Moessinger) tries to work into the folds of such self-esteem issues, and director Tom Gries doesn't avoid a few painful behavioral realities involved in this position of doubt. "Number One" could use a tighter edit, but it offers some interesting ideas on denial and fear, with Heston trying to give the part some real grittiness while fighting a few melodramatic elements in the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director William Malone was ordered to create a knock-off of "Alien" with 1985's "Creature," and that's exactly what he delivers with the horror picture. However, he's not permitted a sizable budget, going the Roger Corman route of tight spaces and limited locations with the endeavor. Malone doesn't have the resources to generate something extraordinary, but he manages to manufacture a reasonably compelling monster movie with "Creature," which provides impressive set design and performances for such a small-scale production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dario Argento delivered fantastic horror and mystery movies in the 1970s and '80s, but the 1990s were tough on the director. 1993's "Trauma" is arguably where his creative decline began, trying to get something disturbing going with a chiller concerning a black gloved killer using a garroting machine to help collect heads for a mysterious reason, co-writing a screenplay that's searching for ways to be an odd whodunit. There's a large number of ideas and different tones swirling around "Trauma," but Argento's instincts aren't sharp this time around, coming off unsure with what he wants to do with the endeavor, which has the capacity to be unspeakably brutal or uncomfortably romantic, but remains mostly muddled. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1991's "Steel and Lace" hopes to offer a more dramatic side to exploitation entertainment, mixing some serious emotion with the pure thrill of revenge cinema. It's an uneven blend of the real and unreal, but director Ernest Farino doesn't blink when it comes to the wilder aspects of the journey, making sure scenes of comeuppance register with full bloodshed. "Steel and Lace" deals with some intense situations concerning sexual assault and the failure of the justice system, offering just enough texture to help the production get past cheap thrills, elevating the material beyond simplistic acts of bodily harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Billy Blanks is perhaps best known as the creator of Tae Bo, a workout program that became a staple of infomercial programming throughout the 1990s. Blanks made a fortune in the business, but he also wanted to be a movie star, offering his martial arts skills to writer/director T.J. Scott. The result was 1993's "TC 2000," which positioned Blanks as the big new thing on the action cinema scene, using his physical presence to keep up with Scott's refreshingly berserk pacing, which has some form of fighting or chasing happening every few minutes in the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The story of "New York Ninja" is remarkable. Director/star John Liu elected to bring his martial arts mastery to America in 1984, looking to capitalize on the growing hunger for ninja product during the decade. He was handed a small budget and a limited crew, setting out to create an action bonanza in the big city. However, things didn't go as planned, and cash ran out, leaving the mostly shot feature on a shelf for decades, abandoned by its creator. In 2020, Vinegar Syndrome got their hands on film cans, launching a mission to make sense of silent footage shot 36 years ago. Instead of trying to decode Liu's original vision (an impossible task), the company decided to create an updated version of "New York Ninja" using dubbing and editorial puzzling, emerging with a celebration of Liu's cinematic enthusiasm, reviving 1984 butt-kicking for 2021 audiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Brett Leonard elected to transform a Stephen King short story about unholy lawn service into a study of virtual reality, creating a minor hit for New Line Cinema with 1992's "The Lawnmower Man." It was R-rated entertainment that offered an exotic look at impossible technology for multiplex audiences, luring them in with strange CGI creations and mild thriller elements. Leonard was trying to make something distinctly sci-fi yet somewhat prescient, tapping into the rise of the "cyberpunk" subculture that would eventually become a Hollywood obsession for a good chunk of the 1990s. "The Lawnmower Man" surprised everyone by making money, and New Line wasn't about to give up on a potential franchise. Of course, they didn't stick with Leonard, instead putting their box office hopes into the hands of writer/director Farhad Mann, who helmed the pilot episode of "Max Headroom" and, well, "Return to Two Moon Junction." Leonard isn't much of a moviemaker, but Mann completely botches the world-building of the first effort, delivering "Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War" (also titled "Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace"), which transforms the dangers and desires of the original picture into terrible kiddie entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1992's "Death Ring" is a fairly routine riff on the "The Most Dangerous Game" premise, but for those who grew up during the age of the video store, the picture has a certain notoriety, participating in the practice of misleading marketing to help attract some attention to bottom shelf viewing options. The cover art blasted actor billing in bold: "NORRIS. MCQUEEN. SWAYZE." Such last names conjured dreams of a pre-"Expendables" romp with a few of cinema's most sandpapery leading men. Alas, it was merely a ruse to secure a rental, with unsuspecting folks soon forced to watch a film starring Chad MCQUEEN, Mike NORRIS, and Don SWAYZE. It's a significant comedown from the real deal, but the sons and brother manage to deliver some entertainment with "Death Ring," which is really The Mike Norris Show, taking a story credit and the leading man role to showcase his presence as an actor hero, kicking and punching his way through a basic but diverting B-movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Ticks" is a 1993 production looking to restore a little old-fashioned fun into the killer bug subgenre, taking the already dangerous ways of the miniature arachnids and boosting the fear factor by making them oversized and out for more than just blood. Director Tony Randel ("Hellbound: Hellraiser II") has a simple job, tasked with creating a suitable screen nightmare with a potentially goofy premise, and he gets halfway there, overseeing some truly impressive special effects and stop-motion animation for a low-budget endeavor. Screenwriter Brent V. Friedman doesn't share the same enthusiasm, conjuring a tepid story about wayward youth and the guardians trying to care for them, also adding some "Deliverance"-lite touches with cartoonish rural enemies, which doesn't make much room for the central menace. "Ticks" is enjoyable, but it's also frustrating to watch, with the material working hard on a dramatic approach when the film itself is begging for more straightforward killer tick action. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been several attempts to explore the experience of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple throughout many forms of media. 1979's "Guyana: Cult of the Damned" is one of the first offerings of dramatic exploration, entering theaters less than a year after the mass suicide event in Jonestown. Speed appears to be the goal of the production, with noted B-movie manufacturer Rene Cardona Jr. trying to cash-in on a horrific situation with his endeavor, aiming to provide a horror show for those curious about the ghastly situation involving Jones and the creation of his cult, which he worked to build up, ultimately leading them to their deaths in 1978. However, instead of pushing extra hard to generate a satisfying understanding of manipulation and mental deterioration, Cardona Jr. generates tepid exploitation instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985's "Devil Story" entered production with a best of intentions, but director Bernard Launois was quickly overwhelmed by the demands of low- budget filmmaking. His attempt at something resembling a ghost story evolved (or stumbled) into an offering of dream logic, with the finished movie heading everywhere at once, becoming the French equivalent of an Ed Wood movie, but with a higher concentration on weirdness. "Devil Story" is bizarre work, with Launois almost proud of his nonsensical ways, delivering a nutso celebration of genre events, repetition, and gore, laboring to find some way to make audiences submit to his half-baked tale of death and animal agitation. And there's a mummy in here for some reason. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com