“Like Capillaries Under a Microscope” - The Manipulator (1971) - Film #183

The great actor Mickey Rooney has graced a handful of horror films--including, of course, Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991); The Intruder (1975); and a 2012 movie called The Woods with which I'm unfamiliar that features Mr. Rooney, Franco Nero, Jon Polito, and Michael J. Pollard. One of his finest is The Manipulator (1971), an arthouse film about insanity and unrequited love.

Many, many of your universe's critics believe The Manipulator to be a poorly made film. For example, reviewer Ithseldy1 writes, "This movie is not only the most awful movie that I have ever seen, it makes no sense at all whatsoever!!" Reviewer very-tillotson-1 complains, "While trying to make sense of this horrible mess of a movie, I tried to understand why the once Hollywood legend, Mickey Rooney, had gotten mixed up in this atrocity?" And reviewer camcost writes, "Truthfully this film is totally hallucinogenic trash, perhaps one of the worst films I've ever watched."

Read on for details about Mickey Rooney in The Manipulator...

"Technology Doesn't Have Feelings" - Robowar (1988) - Film #182

It is probably redundant to claim that a film with Claudio Fragasso and/or Bruno Mattei in the credits is a masterpiece; those gentlemen are synonymous with the highest levels of filmmaking. Robowar (1988) is another example of their craftsmanship and their ability to take the barest hints of lesser films--in this case, The Terminator (1984), Predator (1987) and Robocop (also 1987)--and turn these ideas into far superior works of art.

Truthfully, I am getting exhausted by the failure of your universe's critics to recognize quality. Case in point: Reviewer err_42 writes, "This one is just a pain to watch....This movie is confounded by bad acting, lame dialogue, and from the looks of it, the script is only about 15 pages long!! It rarely makes any sense at any given time!...This film is rubbish!" Reviewer BandSAboutMovies writes, "On my deathbed, I will pull my family close and whisper, 'I only regret one thing. Robowar.'" And reviewer HaemovoreRex, who has the courage to admit to being a Bruno Mattei fan, writes, "Robowar is overall, a fairly bland affair. A real shame."

Not so! Please read on...