2015 Watch List and a Happy 2016 Filled with Trash and Sleaze

The other day I came to a conclusion... I had done a crappy job of keeping track of my movie watching in 2015. Despite a strong start to catalog my wallowing in the cinesludge, somewhere around oh movie #12 I stopped updating my spreadsheet and fell into a deep sinematic funk.

But, thanks to piles of notes, social media posts and streaming services that track my activity, I was able to cobble together what is a completely incomplete snapshot of my 2015 Movie Watching. As expected, the list features numerous anthology flicks (due to the upcoming issue of ER) and documentaries (which are easy to flip on in the background while I work).

What's surprisingly missing are re-visits with old favorites like RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, DEMONS, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH and LIFEFORCE, so I clearly anticipate catching up with all of them over the coming months.

Having just pulled this list together I won't impulsively pick out a Top 10 Favorites as I often do but I will make a note to swing back around in the next week and highlight some flicks that entertained me in what was an unmotivated year.

Here's hoping your 2016 is safe, happy, healthy and filled with all the action, sleaze, gore and horror you wish!

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30 FOR 30: TROJAN WAR
A CHRISTMAS DETOUR
ALTERED STATES
AN HONEST LIAR
ATARI: GAME OVER
BACK ISSUES: THE HUSTER MAGAZINE STORY
BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM
BIG HERO 6
BLOODSPORT
BRAIN DAMAGE
CANNIBAL FEROX
CHANNEL 13
THE DAMNED: DON'T YOU WISH THAT WE WERE DEAD
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
DEADTIME STORIES
DEATH BY VHS
DIRE WOLF
DISASTER ON THE COASTLINER
ELECTRIC BOOGALOO
ELVES
ENEMIES CLOSER
THE EQUALIZER
FAST 7
FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY
FUTURE JUSTICE
GODZILLA 1985
GONE WITH THE POPE
THE GOOD DINOSAUR
GOON
HI-8
HOMEFRONT
HORROR OF PARTY BEACH
HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD
HOW TO SAVE US
INSIDE/OUT
ISIS RISING: CURSE OF THE LADY MUMMY
ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD
JACK REACHER
JOHN WICK
JUNK FOOD HORRORFEST
KRAMPUS: THE RECKONING
LIFE ITSELF
LOST SOUL
MARTIN
MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE
THE MINION
NEAR DARK
NEVER LAKE
NIGHT OF THE DEMONS
NIGHT TERRORS
NIGHTFALL
NIGHTHAWKS
THE OCTAGON
OUT OF FOCUS
PIRANHA 2: THE SPAWNING
QUARANTINE
QUARANTINE 2: TERMINAL
RAGE
RISE OF THE BLACK BAT
SCAREWAVES
SCOOBY-DOO & KISS: ROCK & ROLL MYSTERY
THE SHIEK
SHOCK VALUE
SILENT RAGE
SPECTRE
STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE
STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI
STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
SUPERSTITION
TALES FROM THE CRYPT
TERROR VISION
TORTURE GARDEN
THE UNLIVING
VAULT OF HORROR
WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU
THE WRECKING CREW
ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING

SNOW JOB (1972)

SNOW JOB (1972) features a thin, transparent plot with Olympic gold medalist Jean-Claude Killy starring as a ski instructor who cooks up a plot to steal a quarter of a million dollars from the resort where he works.

He enlists his rich girlfriend (real life wife Daniele Gaubert) and an American pal (Cliff Potts) to help with the scheme and all's well until a charming insurance investigator played by Italian cinema legend Vittorio De Sica arrives to find the stolen cash.

Director George Englund takes his time with SNOW JOB's setup and heist, showcasing the skiing skills that made Killy an international star. Unfortunately, the skier is no actor and is largely outshone by both Potts and De Sica and has surprisingly little chemistry with his wife, who would disappear from the big screen after this flick.

Working from a script by first-time scribe Jeffrey Bloom (who would go on to write and direct such 80s schlock as BLOOD BEACH and FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC), Englund somehow manages to make SNOW JOB feel both languid and rushed. Clocking in at an even 90 minutes, he crams the film's best part – Enrico Dolphi (De Sica) arriving in town to investigate the heist – into the last 15 or 20 minutes while too much time is spent watching Killy and Co. schush around the mountain to Jacques Loussier's jaunty score.

I suppose SNOW JOB is supposed to capture the same crackle as heist flicks like GRAND SLAM (1967) but Englund never creates much tension with either the robbery or its aftermath. If you've watched a couple of similar European "caper" flicks you're bound to see the twist coming from miles away. This was Killy's only dramatic role though he would make an ill-advised appearance as himself in the 1983 Jim Carrey dud COPPER MOUNTAIN, co-starring Alan Thicke and Dick Gautier.

Available via streaming on Warner Archive and Amazon, SNOW JOB is one of those obscure flicks that's itching for a proper remake.