Will update the below as I get through the varieties listed in Part 1
House Foods Java Curry, Hot This is not as sweet like most Japanese curry. Nice spicyness with a mild heat. Rich very western brown gravy like flavour. I had this with sweet potato and rice and it was robust I guess is a word.
S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce. Beefy and oniony sauce, rich but not too over powering and not salty. A nice flavourful gravy to have with rice. I had this with pork mince and normal potato on rice.
S & B Tasty Hayashi Rice, Japanese Gravy Mix. Similar to the above S & B Golden, but less big and beefy and more vegetable stock-like. Milder. Had this with rice, cubed beef, sweet potato and spring onion.
House Foods Kokumaru Curry. This is an interesting one, It was quite sweet when I was cooking it, but now its on the food its very miso with a fair bit of spice and a mild heat. Probably the most heat and spice of the 4 I have tasted so far. Ate this with red capsicum, potato, eggplant and pork mice,
I haven’t made Japanese curry in a while, and got a bunch. I’ve only had this specific House brand Vermont Curry box in the below pic, and maybe the S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce? The top left box is House brand Keema curry, spicy version, its a sauce pouch and not blocks like the rest.
You can see how they are segmented into blocks/servings below. They vary quite surprisingly in total product weight and serving size. And what defines a serving?
1) House brand Keema Curry Black/Spicy – 150g, 1 serving. I believe this is one serving, you microwave/boil the pouch and pour it on rice? There’s not many instructions I can understand, though.
2) S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce. 195g, 8 blocks. Instructions say “5 – 6 x 2” in one corner.
3) House Foods Java Curry. 185g, 8 blocks. It says 9 servings on the front of the box.
4) House Foods Vermont Curry. 230g, 12 blocks 12 servings. This is like the base root note 101 of Japanese curry. “With a touch of Apple and Honey” is always confusing.
5) House Foods Kokumaru Curry. 149g, 8 blocks. Says 8 servings. Not sure what style this is meant to be. “A rich yet mild curry made with a blend of two different kinds of roux.”
6) S & B Tasty Hayashi Rice, Japanese Gravy Mix. 160g, 8 blocks. Says 8 servings. Hayashi style.
I’ve only tried maybe 2 of the above. I have had others from House and S & B brands before, though, some just the Hot or Mild versions of the above flavours. Personal experience, I thinks Japanese style curry is disgusting on noodles, like curry udon is just repulsive. If there’s deep fried crispy meat involved it can only be pork in a real decent crust else its repulsive. The weird Japanese curry sauce just messes with certain stuff the wrong way, for me. Its fine if you use it in a very simple even rudimentary curry or stew, on or with a equal or larger side of rice, the sauce being the focus. A big thing is additions to the sauce itself, and as no one in real life makes this from scratch its the shit you add personally to adapt and perfect the sauce to your taste that matters.
If you think cinnamon is too spicy then Japanese curry is not for you.
Also known as The McPherson Tape. Haven’t seen this fully in a while. I love this film. An early found footage type film, I’ve heard people have problems with it but they are obviously morons. Its fantastic. 3.5
A really fucked up Japanese gore film. IMDB says this is “about a group of Japanese scientists getting stalked and viciously butchered by a creepy-looking alien who’s wearing a trench-coat.” and I’m just going to agree with that as the subtitles sucked and its a very confusing and rather B-grade film. But its only 35mins so its fast at least. The gore is where the budget went and is really effective and gross. A 2 is kind of stretching it but then I’m also adding a .5 for the gore. 2.5
“A reporter who has had an affair with the daughter of the U.S. President is sent to Hungary. There he is bitten by a werewolf, and then gets transferred back to Washington, where he gets a job as press assistant to the President. Then bodies start turning up in D.C. . . .” – IMDB
The wolf costume is funny. Its all weird and over the top in a very 70’s kind of way. Its kind of grating.
“A preacher whose ancestors were Druids battles Satan, who has taken the form of a huge snake.”
The “huge snake” is a large cobra, maybe 3 meters long. It is possessed by Satan and can control and influence near by cobras to do its bidding. There’s a lot of snakes.
Staring Wilford Brimley and Michael Ironside. Its another TV movie. Originally broadcast without the ending to let the viewers try and solve the mystery of who the killer was. The ending was then shown at a later date.
The crew of a international space station are about to return to earth when an explosion happens and then someone starts murdering the crew. Its very much a standard who-done-it TV murder mystery with some Cold War anti Russian sentiment thrown in. The sets and costumes remind me of the TV series V. Oh, and Michael Ironside the American captain is the murderer. 1.5
Theres some very interesting but also poorly used effects, stop motion video and miniatures, the superimposing of claymation creatures directly onto other footage, lots of smoke and coloured lights to hide elements. Its an interesting watch for all that alone, there is some real strange stuff going on. The actual story is drawn out and I’m not sure if it is meant to be a comedy or not. For how terrible it is at some points, its a 2/5 because you’re just wondering the whole time about the choices made in this films creation. A real strange one.
“A beautiful telephone operator is stalked by a murderous madman.” – IMDB
Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. A classic telephone based horror? (I hope).
Lynda Carter lives in the early 80’s which is infested with sex pests. She works at a bar that looks like Cheers, and also gets a volunteer job doing some kind of crisis hotline work. A serial killer starts calling her and admitting to murders and she needs to find out who it is. There’s a few men in her friends circle and it ends up being an associate of one of them? Its really convoluted and I just got bored and unfocused too often. Oh, it’s also a TV drama. Lynda puts in a great effort, though, plus .5 for that. 1.5/5.
The version I watched was just called The Deadly Spawn, but it seems to be also called Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn to try and cash in on the film Alien, which is just bizarre.
A meteor crashes and some young people go to inspect it. They are killed by something that was inside the meteor? Whatever it is then moves into the basement of a near by house and kills anyone who ventures down into it. A electrician who arrives to fix some fault discovers the basement is full of slug-like creatures. More people turn up, more people are killed. Some teens who I guess are the main characters turn up. Eventually they try and blow up the main large creature with a fake severed head stuffed with explosives, and succeed. People arrive to hunt the creatures. At night there is a rumbling noise near the house and huge super massive creature bursts from the earth. The end.
Really not much at all happens, people run around a house and are killed by cool looking monsters. But some of the gore effects are great and the thousands of teeth filled monsters looks fantastic. It rather sparse but enjoyable. 2.5/5.
“Nigel the Psychopath was shot on super 8 film and VHS video as an amateur production between the years of 1986 and 1989”
Super B-grade. Super low budget. IMDB says “A psychotic maniac with a gas mask lurks the local playgrounds and kills all the children in his path” and yep, that’s about it. There’s some dialogue, maybe attempts at character development and maybe a story? Its generally just footage of kids and teens hanging around and then Nigel turns up they run away or he kills some/all of them. Difficult to really call this a film in some ways. A low budget oddity from the late 80’s. Its terrible but strangely enjoyable. 2/5.
Orion Breweries – Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner, 5%ABV 350ml can. A bit of an oddity as you don’t generally see even normal Orion draft around here, let alone some special edition. Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner. Smells like a Pilsner, funky but also light fruity notes, very light bready slightly toasty and caramel malts. It’s a golden amber in colour, has a nice big tan head on pouring which disappears rather quickly, carbonation is fine. The hopping is all bittering hops, standard for a Pilsner, but they are very up front and really hang around, not really any stronger than some European Pilsner hop bitterness, but I think these may be a modern hop, not like Saaz or other Pilsner standards? As it warms, and you get adjusted to the lets say bold hopping, a light but defined malt character appears that reminds me of basically eating actual Pilsner malt grains. Its all very refined and exactly what is says on the can. This is actually pretty good. 2.5/5.
This is great. Cool sets, models, miniatures and dioramas of planets and spacecraft. Various cool special effects, too. Some of the aliens are just people painted purple, but that’s perfectly fine.
A doctor comes across a secret research project and is allowed to join it. Some of the other members are aliens working with earth scientists to fix a protective shield around their home planet as they are at war with another alien race. They travel to the good alien planet but are unable to save it and flee back to earth. Thats very basically it.
This is a great looking, well produced film, and like I have said above, the sets and effects and models are really enjoyable to see. 3/5
One of the many, many, films to star Linnea Quigley, so you have an idea what this is going to be like.
Teens have a party at an abandoned mortuary where they have a seance and release a demon or demons. The teens all go off to try and have sex and the demons trap and possess them and uses them to kill each other. A generic 80’s horror set up, there are many crazy scenes and events, and dumb quotes and hilarious moments. Most of the teens are absolute turds. Don’t get me wrong, its still complete trash, but its enjoyable trash. 2.5/5
