Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Wizard-8 Even when you consider the fact that at the time of this movie's release there was a 3-D craze going on, it's still hard to believe that a major Hollywood movie distributor picked up the distribution rights to this dismal 3-D movie. Where to begin? Well, for starters, the script is terrible. When it is not shamelessly ripping off elements of "Star Wars" and "The Road Warrior", its telling of its particular story feels like it starts at chapter three instead of the very beginning. As well, as the movie progresses, it brings up a number of plot elements that don't make sense even if you read the back of the DVD case as I did. A stronger script would have helped, but the movie would still have suffered in other areas as well. It's painfully clear throughout that the movie had a really low budget, and director Charles Band can't seem to generate any excitement in the action sequences. The only passable element in the entire movie is the musical score by Richard Band - though I feel I should point out that it's only adequate and nothing more, so don't even bother to track down the soundtrack album.

curiartekeen Don't know why, but in the '80s, I watched this film around 17 times, and when in Hollywood, went to the Band brothers' office to tell them they had made a cult masterpiece. They seemed really surprised that anyone liked it. After watching it several times (which you feel compelled to do for some strange reason), you start to get sucked into believing that somehow the film contains some kind of secret. The problem is that I think I needed to watch it at least 17 more times to 'get' the secret, but I could no longer find the film anywhere. Now I'm an adult, with kids, and they have carefully explained to me that I know nothing about films or hidden realities. So, either I'm an idiot for having wasted so much time watching Metal Storm so many times, or my kids should be forced to watch it 17 times so that they can reach the same level of knowledge as their mother.

Woodyanders The evil Jared-Syn (a perfectly slimy and hateful portrayal by Mike Preston) terrorizes the small desert planet of Lemuria by sucking the lifeforce out of folks with his storage crystals. It's up to heroic ranger Dogan (stolid Jeffrey Byron) to stop the foul villain. While the basic premise offers a pretty cool blend of Western and science fiction elements complete with the inevitable gunslinger showdown in the middle of a tiny mining town and a fierce tribe of Cyclopean beings standing in for your usual savage Apaches, said nifty premise is undermined by Charles Band's leaden direction, a plodding pace, Alan J. Adler's murky script, and cut-rate (not so) special effects. Despite his three day stubble and funky rock star leather pants, Byron qualifies as a decidedly insipid protagonist who fails to elicit much sympathy from the viewer. Fortunately, Byron's blandness is compensated for by nifty contributions from the always dependable Tim Thomerson as boozy, burnt-out ex-ranger Rhodes and the ever-imposing Richard Moll as tough one-eyed warrior leader Hurok. The lovely Kelly Preston as Dyana makes for a suitably plucky and fetching damsel in distress, veteran character actor Larry Pennell briefly pops up as Dyana's grizzled miner father Aix, and R. David Smith is appropriately repellent as Jared-Syn's vicious and hideously disfigured son Baal. Mac Alhberg's rough, but fairly slick widescreen cinematography makes nice occasional use of strenuous slow motion, offers a few groovy psychedelic and atmospheric smoky visual flourishes, and shoots the dusty'n'desolate locations in an effectively gritty manner. Richard Band's robust'n'rousing orchestral score works overtime to pump some energy into the generally limp proceedings. The action set pieces are competently done and reasonably exciting, but lack that extra zing to pack more of a powerful impact. A strictly passable time-waster.

lost-in-limbo Charles Band… yeah producer/director Charles Band and by that name you should know what you are going to get. Well unless it's your first taste, which if it is, 'Metalstorm' is probably not a great starting point. I wanted to like this one more, but by the end I was completely bored with only the saving grace being the performances of an amusing Tim Thomason (who definitely spiced things up) and Richard Moll dressed in make-up. This cheap b-grade post-apocalyptic Sci-fi fling wears its influences for everyone to see, but instills no personality. Aside from the western touches (and that standoff scene is actually well done), it was namely something out of 'Star Wars' and obviously 'Mad Max 2', which you could say Jeffery Byron's ranger character is easily patterned on Mel Gibson's leather-decked road warrior of those films. Nonetheless Bryon's stiff impression is no match. Also appearing with amount of interest is a very beautiful Kelly Preston, but she does quite little than titillate. Mike Preston as the head villain Jared-Syn left a lot to be desired, as I found him laughably nonsensical in a plastic sense.Although why we watch these films is for some senselessly cheap fun and lousy exchanges. The latter was right on the mark with the dialogues, however sadly I found the junky action quite lackluster and sloppy with a poorly shot desert wasteland backdrop. It feels in slow-motion (and Brand even uses that technique at times), despite the (unfocused) story keeping things moving. It has its moments (probably just not enough even with the few tripped-out visuals) and the make-up of the fancy dressed mutants are decently executed. I couldn't say the same about the dodgy special effects, which really do come to the front at the end. Richard Band's score is a clunker of sorts.I didn't find it to be completely awful by any stretch, but more so frustratingly drab and unfulfilled with only some minor flourishes and a chirpy Thomerson.