Dark Breed (1996)

Delving further into the world of PM Entertainment productions was a highlight for me of 2023, a repository for direct-to-video B-grade action schlock from the 1980s and 1990s, where they put the money on the screen with the amount of explosions featured, cars flipped on the streets and stunt-people flung through the air. My compulsion for more 90s cyberpunk action led me to PM Entertainment greats like T-Force and Hologram Man, and there’s something wonderful when PM Entertainment meets sci-fi. There’s a 1990s TV look to these movies and they often feel like an X-Files episode just with a higher budget for explosions and stunt-work, and this is the case for Dark Breed (1996), which is basically a photocopy mash-up of Aliens, Species and Predator 2.

A crew of astronauts (all with large American flags emblazoned on the backs of their jumpsuits) crash-land back on Earth after a mission in outer space, and are immediately hunted by the military. Something has contaminated the astronauts, and as evidenced by the cheap reptile eye contact lenses they give the actors, whatever it is ain’t local! It’s up to former astronaut military man Jack Scalia to save the day, stop an alien invasion of Earth as well as a government conspiracy to harvest the alien eggs for biological weapons. Oh yeah, and Scalia’s ex-wife (Donna W. Scott) was one of the astronauts(!) and she’s possessed by one of the good aliens thankfully! While this is a pretty stock plot with all the cliches, Dark Breed is an enjoyable time, especially with the fun action sequences. The first act has a night-time freeway truck chase including a helicopter and a fist-fight in a model home being carried by a truck. Then, later at the end of the second act is a daytime car chase where Jack Scalia winds up being pulled along the roads on broken satellite dish tied to the back of a van – definitely a case of the stunt team working backwards to ensure that stunt is in the movie whether it makes sense or not! You’ve also got casual use of rocket launchers, giant meca-machine guns with harnesses, gooey green alien eggs and reptilian creatures grabbing people in dripping warehouses. Oh, and even a wino played by George Buck Flower, king of the movie winos!

Most notable star in the cast is the great character actor Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul) as the leader of the astronauts, with half of his scenes distorting his voice to make him sound more alien (and he would have been a perfect guest star on The X-Files). This is the third PM Entertainment movie with Scalia as the hero and I like his slick-haired, tough-guy persona, and he always meets the material with a serious energy; he’s not checked out or looking down at this trash genre fare. There’s a bit of (unintentionally) funny dialogue and weird digressions like when our hero’s ex-wife now possessed by a good alien meets him at a diner and does a variation of the Five Easy Pieces scene when she can’t order a pizza for breakfast. Directed by Richard Pepin who is responsible for most of the PM Entertainment I’ve seen at this point.

Available to stream on Tubi (US). Recommended.

The Silencers (1996)

PM Entertainment had some spare fedoras and trenchcoats, and a HR Giger jumpsuit, and decided to make a sci-fi action movie called The Silencers (1996), which feels like a 90 minute X Files episode where every 20 minutes Mulder and Scully leap in slow motion from a massive explosion, the type that turns the background into a wall of flames. Beginning with a 1950s era Close Encounters scenario where a family in a farmhouse are visited by a cattle-stealing UFO, and then warned off by “The Silencers” aka the Men In Black, guys in hats and trenchcoats who also have dark eyes. Twist – the men warning people to forget about aliens are actually aliens!

Flash forward to the 1990s and rugged Secret Service agent Jack Scalia becomes aware of their existence when a US senator he is protecting becomes targeted for assassination by the Silencers. Even for a moderately budgeted movie destined for direct-to-video and looking like a TV episode, PM Entertainment productions always surprise with the amount of location shooting, and flipping of cars on the streets and wild stunt-work and multiple explosions; I’m sure it’s also a product of a by-gone era where moderate productions had scope for achieving impactful verisimilitude rather than immediately using CGI. There’s a very compelling, jaw-dropping and quite hectic action sequence in the middle of the movie where a tanker transporting top secret cargo is chased down the wrong way part of the freeway, with Scalia jumping from car to truck and back again, which already feels quite masterful before a helicopter (with a dude hanging from the landing gear firing a machine gun) is thrown into the mix. It’s also halfway through the movie before its true form reveals itself – with Scalia doing an odd-couple buddy-cop routine with a good guy alien (Dennis Christopher) called Comdor and wearing the HR Giger get-up. Comdor has been sent to protect Earth from the alien race working with the US government and acting as “the Silencers”. It’s Alien Nation, it’s The Hidden, it’s Dark Angel/I Come In Peace. It is the vibe!

They have to stop a Stargate portal from delivering an inter-dimensional invading army, and the only way to do that is with lots of gunplay that reflects the growing HK cinema influence on American action cinema. Scalia and Christopher are good fun in their roles, and it’s a wacky, entertaining flick. You’ve got Clarence Williams III as a General, a scene in a UFO Convention, and some Windows 95 computer graphics for the portal effects. Definitely the type of flick you used to get in a ten dollar 50 pack of unknown movies, but now you can watch free on a YouTube rip. Directed by Richard Pepin (who helmed the other PM Entertainment joints I’ve seen, Cyber Tracker and T-Force). Recommended.

T-Force (1994)

T-Force (1994) is right in the pocket of 1990s VHS-era sci-fi action movie trash that I’m into, particularly anything with a cyberpunk element. PM Entertainment productions seem to have a lot of video covers where the hero – in this case Jack Scalia as a cop named Jack Floyd – holds up a gun as big as their head. It’s a true blessing how many of these flicks have been uploaded onto YouTube to watch for free.

The first 20 minutes of T-Force is another Die Hard rip-off where Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2, Commando) leads a gang of armed terrorists into a Los Angeles corporate building and says stuff like “Good to see you, Mr. Ambassador.” Then our hero cop Scalia rolls up in an open-top cool-guy vintage convertible, and assists a team of government approved Universal Soldier type “cybernauts” called “Terminal Force” who sweep in to save the day. Unfortunately when a few hostages are taken out in the crossfire, the cyborgs are set for “retirement.” Except they decide to turn rogue, talking about “self-preservation” and that the “law is corrupt.” Scalia is given the Blade Runner assignment to hunt them down, and also overcomes his Alien Nation style prejudice against robots by being partnered with the one cyborg – Cain (Bobby Johnston) – who upholds the law (and can rock some faded denim jeans).

A grab-bag of popular sci-fi action movie clichés with enough explosions, 90s ponytails, and Terminator-style cyborg-claw SFX to make it a fun time. Also, contains wacky bits of business such as an exotic dancer needing a battery recharged in the middle of their act, or the hunted cyborgs finding a porno mag in the deserted factory they’re hiding out in and decide to give “procreating” a try (cue sax solo). Recommended, if you’re into VHS action movie trash.

Fear City (1984)

I was hooked on Fear City’s (1984) opening credits with its lurid red-coloured titles, New York neon, and strip club montage, all pumping to Joe Delia and David Johansen’s song ‘New York Doll.’ Abel Ferrara directed this film, which feels like a 1940s film noir melodrama but coated in Times Square Eighties Sleaze. Filtering the paranoia of the Summer Of Sam into a slasher format, a deranged killer with a love of martial arts is targeting night club dancers. Once you figure out that the climax will eventually be a street fight between the high kicking psycho and strip dancer agent/ex-boxer (Tom Berenger), the rest of the narrative feels like they’re just marking time until then (and the fight itself is a little bit underwhelming) . There is some attempt at a love story with ex-addict performer (Melanie Griffith), intrigue with a suspicious cop (Billy Dee Williams), and the mafia wanting to keep the streets clean. The main attraction of Fear City is really its atmosphere and milieu, which carries on the vision of New York City popularised in Taxi Driver, Death Wish and The Warriors as a nightmare urban landscape. A more commercialised version of Ferrara’s genre work at that point, though lacking the depth of theme and meaning in his career with King Of New York onward. Also stars Rae Dawn Chong, Maria Conchita Alonzo, Jack Scalia and Michael V Gazzo. Written by regular Ferrara collaborator Nicholas St John. Available to stream on Kanopy and Mubi. Recommended.