Of course, in countless Cold War B-movies the aliens (or blobs, or bugs, or whatever) stood in for the Soviets and their monolithic, thought-free, totalitarian society. Here, at a moment when the likelihood that we'll eventually see spaceships has already been established, the Lead Commie herself (Cate Blanchett) offers a chilling vision of Soviet hegemony that sounds awfully similar to what the aliens offered in films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!!) Once Crystal-Skullworld has been breached, however, the aliens' cave markings reveal them to have been something like pro-Western humanists, and the oval-brained beings themselves prove none too interested in helping Cate fulfill her Stalinist prophesy. But then, Stephen almost always has a soft spot for his aliens (WotW notwithstanding).

(I also find it interesting that the mythical artifacts finally revealed at the ends of these Indy flicks so often turn out to be bad-guy Dustbusters, but that's another story.)

Of course, in countless Cold War B-movies the aliens (or blobs, or bugs, or whatever) stood in for the Soviets and their monolithic, thought-free, totalitarian society. Here, at a moment when the likelihood that we'll eventually see spaceships has already been established, the Lead Commie herself (Cate Blanchett) offers a chilling vision of Soviet hegemony that sounds awfully similar to what the aliens offered in films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!!) Once Crystal-Skullworld has been breached, however, the aliens' cave markings reveal them to have been something like pro-Western humanists, and the oval-brained beings themselves prove none too interested in helping Cate fulfill her Stalinist prophesy. But then, Stephen almost always has a soft spot for his aliens (WotW notwithstanding).

(I also find it interesting that the mythical artifacts finally revealed at the ends of these Indy flicks so often turn out to be bad-guy Dustbusters, but that's another story.)

[I saw his FROM BEYOND followup, DOLLS, at a Chicago grindhouse. It's a more child-like tale and the bloodthirsty audience hated it. It was a while till I saw another one of his movies, which got harder to find in cinemas as the multiplex model dug in. 1993's FORTRESS got a decent release.]

Folks, Hall & Oates is just the tip of the iceberg where Mr. Cummings' questionable taste is concerned. I promise to spill all if you make one of my entries No. 1.

[Trouble is, Jon remembers everything about our college youth, and I can't recall what I had for lunch yesterday. So he'll have to do the actual writing. But I know there has to be other skeletons in his musical closet.]

And by the way, Bob, you'll never, NEVER get past the Worst #1s of the '80s!!! It ain't gonna happen–certainly not with some mangy list of summer films, especially now that the summer movie season is half-over at the end of May. Besides, we built this website on rock and roll!!!

(Really, you're just going to have to come up with a goofier list. Top 10 body-part extractions in an indie horror film…top 10 sexual manipulations of a re-animated severed head…you know, something that says “quality” and “integrity.”)