Saturday, April 30: Superman does!

In the Czech film Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966), an inventor falls asleep after reading the comicbook adventures of Jessie, a blonde bombshell who wears a pair of "anti-gravity" gloves that give her super strength. The scientist happily dreams of his own adventures with the wonder woman. Thanks to an experimental invention, Jessie follows our hero out of his dreams and into the waking world.

But Jessie isn't alone. She is pursued by her two comic strip arch-enemies, a powerful "Superman" and his cowboy sidekick. The fictitious characters turn out to be indestructible and cause mayhem throughout Prague. They don't speak the same way we do, instead of words coming from their mouths, comicbook dialogue balloons emerge and then hang in the air next to them for al to read.

The film is a chaotic adventure in a real-life dreamland. There's some great imagery, including a look at the happy visions running through a cow's head -- the real, live cow relaxing in a hammock! The film's resolution is one that I can guarantee has never been used in a film before and never will again. Satisfaction is guaranteed with this unique cinematic experience.

Lisa and I just finished watching I, Robot (2004). I liked it once I saw that the film was only "inspired" by the book by Issac Asimov and not a straightforward adaptation of the stories with Will Smith shoehorned in. We also enjoyed the amazing Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), which looks just as incredible at home as it did in the theater.



Friday, April 29: Busy Busy

Not much to report today. Lisa and I watched M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004). I think we liked it more than most people did. Back to work...

 

Wednesday, April 27: Freedom Fighters!

Okay, I don't have a lot of time tonight, so I'll be brief. Wednesday night is Movie Night at my place and the theme this evening was "Heroes of the Revolution" -- a celebration of films portraying brotherhoods of men banding together to crush tyranny.

We began with The Black Gestapo (1975). A blaxsploitation classic about an area of Watts that's been taken over by a group of honky Mafia thugs who look like they just walked out of a Swedish gay bar. A group of militant black men split off from a positive community action group and decide to take back their neighborhood.

They need organization and discipline. So, they do the obvious thing and adopt the tactics and fashion sense of the Third Reich. The Negro-Nazis quickly take back their neighborhood and then implement their own brand of Order...

Both a punchline and a movie, Hawk the Slayer (1980) is yet another cheesy sword & sorcery "epic" from the early 80's. Jack Palance stars as a Darth Vader knockoff for the Middle Ages. He's such a tyrant, that our hero Hawk must gather together a band of heroes to free the land. Team Hawk is quickly assembled: a one handed warrior, a mighty giant, a "clever" dwarf and an elf who talks like a robot for some reason.

All sorts of adventures and battles follow, all to the accompaniment of a crazily wonderful synthesizer score. You get the idea.

 

Tuesday, April 26: Young Love

I just got back from seeing Jeff Winner's touching and finely-crafted love story, Satellite (2005), at the Tribecca Film Festival.

If you're in the area, there's one more festival screening left on Friday April 29th at 4:00pm. If not, check out the film when it comes to your part of the world.

Sunday, April 24: Super Creeps

The G-men foil the diabolical plans Bela Lugosi and his giant robot as I finished up watching the final parts of The Phantom Creeps (1939).

When I lived in Los Angeles, I always thought of legendary KROQ deejay Rodney Bingenheimer as the center of the local music scene. He would breeze through clubs, seeming to know everyone worth knowing. All major acts that played in town were introduced by "Rodney on the Roq" before they took the stage. And he always had his radio show on the trend-setting KROQ, not to mention being the first thing you saw whenever you opened up a copy of Flipside.

You'd think that the man who introduced us to everyone from Bowie to Colplay had it all. But much to my surprise, his story, filmed as Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003), is somewhat heartbreaking. I don't want to be a total downer here, but the old saying "nice guys finish last" comes to mind. Bingenheimer comes off as a really sweet and positive guy, who has thanklessly introduced to tons of great music for decades and received little in return save the company of the rock stars he loves. Unfortunately, Hollywood eats sweet and positive guys for breakfast.

Still, the man's history and achievements are pretty amazing. Looking back on the history of rock, Rodney seems to be everywhere. During one particular sequence in the film, I found myself wondering "Is this really a documentary or am I watching Zelig?" Bingenheimer's got some pretty entertaining stories, as do the numerous celebrities who are interviewed for the film. If you haven't seen the, check it out. It's currently playing on Showtime.

 

Saturday, April 23: Splatterday

Buckets of blood were on hand for tonight's triple bill. My first course was Flesh for the Beast (2003), a film I've been meaning to check out since it's release a while back. It received a fair amount of press at the time, partially because of the participation of genre veterans Caroline Munro and Aldo Sambrell, and a musical score by Buckethead. Amongst all of the small-budget homages to Euro-horror that began springing up in the late 1990's, I think that this one stands out.

The acting and writing are a little stiff and silted at times, but it doesn't stop the film from delivering a few good scares. And though the story is quite familiar (a group of paranormal researchers investigating a haunted house), it's not predictable. There's tons of nudity and blood, courtesy of the succubi who inhabit the house and a handful of zombies. The latex and makeup effects don't always work, but the gore is top notch. I've seen this film on the shelves in both "R" and unrated versions. I watched the uncut DVD. I'm guessing that the R just has a little less simulated sex.

The Romero-inspired The Dead Next Door (1988) is a minor classic. It's a surprisingly moody and good-looking zombie film shot on 8mm. Executive produced by Sam Raimi, the film is a loving homage to the horror greats. Most of the characters are named after the filmmakers' horror heroes: "Commander. Carpenter", "Doctor Savini"... the main character is named after Raimi himself! This zombie film may be derivative of these masters' works, but so effectively evokes the vibe of the low-budget classics,that one can't help but sit back and enjoy. The Dead Next Door is supposed to be getting a much-deserved DVD release from Anchor Bay some time this year.

The Gore Gore Girls (1972) is one of my favorite Herschell Gordon Lewis films. It's probably the best written, with a kooky sense of humor and one of his most memorable characters -- the cool and cruel super-sleuth Abraham Gentry.

Of course, also there's the notorious meat tenderizer scene and my favorite murder flourish -- the gum bubble during the "face-lift" scene. Also included are lots of old-fashioned striptease numbers (back when they actually danced!) and special guest star, comedian Henny Youngman. Finally, a classic gore film you can watch with your grandparents!

 

Friday, April 22: Mars Attacks

I've had good luck this week with my Asian Action/Fantasy film selections. Although I really enjoyed Monday's Silver Hawk (2004) and yesterday's Moon Child (2003), tonight's choice, Sky High (2003) blows them both out of the water.

Like other films by Ryuhei Kitamura, Sky High effectively combines horror, fantasy and martial arts swordplay to tell an unpredictable, fairly intelligent (for the genre), action-packed story. Forget what I said about Moon Child yesterday, see this instead.

A film of some importance to me as a kid was Invaders from Mars (1953). It played in very heavy rotation on the channel 6 Sunday afternoon Sci-Fi Theater when I was a kid. They even used a clip of the "fishbowl alien" in the show's opening credits every week. I don't know why they showed this particular film so often, but I watched it every time.

It's the story of a kid who witnesses various people in his town (including his own parents) being abducted by aliens. When the abductees are returned, their personalities have been drastically altered, due to a control chip implanted at the base of their skulls. The kid is the only one who is aware of this and tries desperately to find an adult who will believe him.

I'm not sure why this film had such and impact on me back then. Like the kid in the movie, I had an interest in astronomy, but I don't think that was it. It may have been because at the time I was in the process of realizing that adults aren't always right and can't be trusted.

The one thing that has always stayed with me was the eerie atmosphere of the film, created by director William Cameron Menzies' choice of stark sets and artistically composed shots that made even the small town police station lobby feel alien. The image of the sandpit ridge set, the site of all of the alien abductions has haunted me all my life, as a place of awe and mystery.

Watching the film again today triggered off dozens of memories and feelings deja-vu. I wonder how many of the aesthetic choices that I've made in my life were because of this paranoid and low-budget quickie.

The current issue of FilmFax magazine has and extensive and informative cover story on Invaders from Mars and director Menzies. The film was remade by Tobe Hooper in 1986, with mixed results.

The original Invaders from Mars is currently available in a 20th Anniversary Edition from Image Entertainment. The quality of the transfer is pretty poor, but the DVD does include both the U.S. and British endings. There are arguments to be made for both versions: the U.S. version takes its time and is, for the most part, better crafted. The British ending is quick and choppy, but much less open-ended. I prefer the U.S. one, but probably just because it includes one of those many striking images that sticks in my mind to this day.

 

Thursday, April 21: Moons Over My Hammy

Nothing beats a good werewolf movie. Bad Moon (1996) isn't great, but's better than one would expect it to be. The monster looks decent and and the main protagonist is a dog named Thor! Our canine hero is the only member of Janet's (Mariel Hemingway) family who knows that Uncle Ted (Michael Pare) is a werewolf, and it's up to the loyal pooch to protect his owners. Primo, the actor who plays Thor, has a slight advantage over his co-stars in that I don't speak dog, which creates the illusion that his dialogue is much better written than that of his homo sapien counterparts. Despite a few awkward exchanges between the humans, Bad Moon is a pretty satisfying werewolf film.

Even more satisfying was watching Moon Child (2003) from Japan. It's the story of a street gang of sensitive prettyboys, one of which happens to be a vampire. Filled with great scenes of ear-shattering gunplay, this is one of the more enjoyable Asian horror/actioners I've seen in a while.

Now to those of you who are interested, my most recent film, The Off Season (2004) comes out on DVD August 16th from Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Please ask for it at your video store.

 

Wednesday, April 20: Vaccination Game

I was incredibly inspired watching Clifton Childree's one-man show, The Flew (2003). It's a 16mm B&W movie without dialogue that is almost impossible to compare to other narrative films, save perhaps Eraserhead (1977). The experimental feature was written, produced, directed, shot, animated, edited, scored and starring Childree himself -- solo. There was no crew other than Childree working alone and the only other cast members are basically background players.

Although the some of the stop-motion effects involving Childree moving around the room seem to be an amazing achievement on their own (especially since he was working alone and without a remote-controlled camera) one of the most striking things about the movie is Childree's performance as Otto, the mechanical man trapped in his existence as a target in a carnival shooting gallery. Considering that Childree had so many tasks on his plate already and how difficult it is for modern actors to perform in a silent film, the fact that this jack-of-all-trades was able to do so much and turn in a memorable performance is a testament to his great talent.

 

Monday, April 18: Pussy Galore

Hong Kong superstar Michelle Yeoh is the super hero Silver Hawk (2004) in this action film from Rumble in the Bronx (1996) director Jingle Ma. At first the film sets up to disappoint with too many slow motion effects that bog down the initial action sequence. Fortunately, as the film's light comicbook story gets moving, we get more satifying fight scenes, including one lifted straight from Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997)!

The night's beautiful & glamourous violence continued with Russ Meyer's legendary Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965). Despite being one of the most well-known and loved cult films ever, this movie is currently unavailable on DVD here in the US. I picked up a fairly decent French disc for an evening of Amazonian action.

 

Sunday, April 17: Getting some

This afternoon I took in the Spanish sci-fi/horror/comedy classic, Accion Mutante (1993). The title ("Mutant Action") refers to a group of handicapped terrorists who wage war on the vain and body-obsessed ruling class of the distant future. The film is loud, nutty and sometimes pretty gory, reminiscent of the early work of Peter Jackson. If you haven't seen Accion Mutante, I highly recommend it.

In the spirit of the season, Lisa and I watched Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa (2003) on cable, which we both enjoyed. I'm so looking forward to Zwigoff's second adaptation of a Daniel Clowes' Eightball story, Art School Confidential (2005).

Hey! The forums are open! Go in there and talk about this stuff. Sexy singles are waiting to meet YOU!

 

Wednesday, April 13: Heavy Metal Horror

I'm so sorry. I've been incredibly rude. Here I've been going on and on for months about the movies that I've been watching and I haven't let you get a single word in.

Well, I'm ready to change. I've added a set of forums to the site for all of you to shoot YOUR mouths off for now on. So click on The Lawgiver over there, choose a user name and password, and get yakking!

Tonight was Heavy Metal Horror Night at my house. Cradle of Fear (2001), or "Grab-bag of Fear" as Noah calls it, is a silly, shot-on-video feature with moments of surprisingly effective gore. It's sort of an anthology film with four stories strung together by a framing piece about an imprisoned serial killer getting revenge on those who put him away. Cradle of Filth singer and Michael Jackson impersonator, Dani Filth, plays the killer's oh-so-scary supernatural minion who prances through the night, leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. Despite Filth's presence in the movie, there is surprisingly little metal to be heard on the soundtrack.

Now if you're in to 80's hair metal, then Trick or Treat (1986) is for you. It stars Skippy from "Family Ties" (Marc Price) as a kid who plays a record backwards and brings his metal-god idol back from the dead to wreak havoc on high school bullies. Gene Simmons & Ozzy Osbourne have cameo roles in the film -- Simmons as a radio DJ named "Nuke" and Ozzy as an anti-rock minister. Rock on.

 

Sunday, April 10: Abracadabra, I sit on his knee...

I was getting ready to go to bed early this morning/late last night, when I got sucked into watching ContentFilm's Love Object (2003) on cable. It's the old "ventriloquist dummy is controlling my life and forcing me to do bad things" scenario, except this time instead of a dummy, we get a high-end sex doll.

What drew me in was the two lead actors' (Desmond Harrington & Melissa Sagemiller) performances in the earlier scenes of the film, when their characters are still innocent and sympathetic. Of course, that purity all goes to hell as the story takes the traditional turn toward obsession, embarrassment and death. Udo Kier has a nice supporting role as a nosey neighbor.

Nothing is better on a Sunday morning than breakfast while watching a Ray Harryhausen film. This morning it was Harryhausen's masterpiece, Jason and the Argonauts (1963) that was served up. Incredible effects aside, it's a great film, thanks to director Don Chaffey and great supporting performances by Nigel Green as Hercules and one of my favorite character actors, Patrick Troughton, as Phineas the blind prophet.

I also took in the first six chapters of the Universal serial, The Phantom Creeps (1939). Bela Lugosi stars as a mad scientist making all sorts of trouble for the authorities using various inventions. These include an invisibility belt, a towering robot and little mechanical spiders that explode -- sending the victim into a state of suspended animation. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, a practice that predates TV's "24" by more than sixty years.

 

Friday, April 8: Vampires & Robots

The Invasion of the Vampires (1963) is a strong sequel to the Mexican vampire film, The Bloody Vampire (1962). Imagine the rich gothic setting of a Hammer film combined with the dreamlike atmosphere of a horror film from Spain or Italy and you get the picture. As with all of those movies, the silly fake bats are the big minus with this film and they diffuse more than one crucial scene here. Just try thinking of them as piniatas that strike back.

It's been at least two decades since I saw it last, but The Black Hole (1979) is a lot better than I remember it being. I guess at the time it was released, we were all expecting another Star Wars, which it isn't. It's more of a cross between Forbidden Planet (1956) and a disaster movie. There are TONS of robots in it (always a plus) and some really neat sets and futuristic props. The only problem with the film is that it's mostly a very well-done set up for a vague and anti-climactic ending. If you're looking for this film, I recommend getting the more recent Disney DVD rather than the bare bones release from Anchor Bay. It has everything the AB disc had, plus a nice making-of featurette.

 

Thursday, April 7: Too Many Teardrops...

From the folks who brought you Godzilla, comes The Mysterians (1957), finally available on domestic DVD. It's a Japanese 1950's science fiction classic with all kinds of laser rays, flying saucers and aliens wearing colorful space suits.

The story centers around the arrival of an army of refugees from a nearby demolished planet, now known as an asteroid belt. The passive-aggressive aliens turn full on aggressive when the earthlings don't immediately give them what they want -- a little land and some of our women!

The defining image of the film is that of the mole-ish giant robot called Mogera. The robot makes a spectacular entrance early in the film, followed by a spectacular battle. Then except for a quick glimpse at the end of the film, we never see the creature again. It's a bit of a let down. Mogera is a truly unusual and cool-looking robot creature. It's a crying shame that we would never see it again until the underrated Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla in 1994.

 

Wednesday, April 6: Sucking in Three Dimensions

My memory is on the blink today, but a while back I read an interview with George Romero (I believe) where he said something to the effect of, 'It's an accepted fact in Hollywood that not everyone can direct a comedy, but for some reason everyone thinks they can direct horror'.

Tonight was 3-D Movie Night at the house and The Park (2003) is the perfect example of what the Dean of the Dead was talking about. I'm a big fan of director Andrew Lau's fancy-pants effects films. He's the best when it comes to big-budget (for Hong Kong) CGI-laden fantasy & action films. But just because you dump a bunch of skulls, spooky children and creepy clowns into a movie with a bunch of teenagers, it doesn't mean that it's automatically horrifying. A bowl of Count Chocula is scarier than this movie. Beyond the fear factor, the movie is just a dull, generic mess. Simply awful.

I knew going into it that the film was reputed to not be very good. The reason we were watching it was for the 3-D. Well, only a few sequences in the film are in 3-D, and the effects simply don't work. The red and blue fields on the DVD are placed too far apart, causing no stereoscopic images and a look as muddy as the film's plot. You know I always try to say something good about all of the films here, but in this case, I can't. Stay away from this movie at all costs. I mean it.

Our second feature was a tried and true favorite of mine, The Mask (1961). I had this movie on my recommendations list last February. Like The Park, only portions of the film are in 3-D. Unlike The Park, the effects in this film actually work!

The non-3-D parts of the film look like they were shot over a weekend. But the poor lighting, amateurish cinematography and jarring editing actually add to the surreal atmosphere of the film. The 3-D parts are all fantasy/dream sequences (you put on your 3-D glasses whenever a character puts on the film's magical mask) show a that little more effort was made. Or maybe they're just so bizarre, one doesn't notice or care about the flaws. Thanks to The Mask, everyone left with a much sweeter taste in their mouths.

 

Tuesday, April 5: Science Gone Wild

Based on an Italian comic book character Satanik (1968) is the story of a disfigured older woman who drinks a formula that makes her young and beautiful. She then takes her newfound sex appeal and uses it to con rich criminals out of their fortunes and kills anyone who gets in her way. Every once in a while the serum wears off and the woman returns to her haggard state, until she gets another gulp of serum. It's not entirely a "Jeckyl & Hyde" situation, as the woman murdered the scientist who created the formula before she ever drank it! She's "Hyde" in either form. The only thing weighing on her mind throughout the film is getting more cash and not getting caught. Nice Lady.

A collage of original super-8 & video footage combined with tons of public domain material, stock footage, educational films, cartoons, training films, cult movies and TV shows, Spectres of the Spectrum (1999), crams a lot of information into 90 minutes. In a nutshell, the film is a history of man's work with electromagnetism. Some of the information is fact, some is conspiracy theory and some is part of a framing story of a father and daughter fighting the multinational media conglomerate that has taken control over world in 2007.

The film is pretty dense, smart and usually clever. It only disappoints when it gets a little too goofy or a performance in the original material falls flat. My first reaction to watching it was that maybe I should watch it again, perhaps with the director's commentary, as there is a lot in this film to take in. I'll probably do just that later this week. Stay tuned...

 

Saturday, April 2: Silent but Deadly

Although the greater and better part of the story in the Russian silent film Aelita (1924) takes place in 1922 Moscow, its the sequences that take place on the planet Mars that are the most impressive. The sets seem enormous and look like nothing on Earth. Even more outlandish are the costumes from the exotic headdresses and framework pantaloons of the Martian royalty to the cube-shaped heads of their slave workers. Dozens of extras, all decked-out in otherworldly garb, add to the lavishness of the scenes on the alien planet.

Like I said, the majority of the film takes place on Earth. But the terrestrial plotline is far more engaging than the story unfolding on Mars, so the viewer isn't just waiting for the next fantastic sequence. It's a really good film, though some may find the moments of heavy-handed socialist propaganda to be a bit much. I didn't.

Lisa had an exhausting day, so she went to bed early (for a Saturday). I was in the mood for a classic midnight movie, so I popped in Ted V. Mikels' cult classic The Astro-Zombies (1969) with John Carradine and mega-vixen Tura Satana.

Friday, April 1: Better Than Robocop 3!

You don't need to waste your time at my crappy little web site reading about wide-release films like Sin City (2005), so I'll be brief: I loved this movie! Frank Miller is one of my favorite comics creators. This film truly is his graphic novels come to life. I hope this movie is a huge hit, as I and every other fanboy pray that we'll see Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns brought to the big screen in this same true-to-the-source fashion.

It's the first of the month, so here is the new list of general recommendations:

The copy on the back of the Blood Freak (1972) DVD from Something Weird Video says it all: "The world's only turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus-gore film!" This was the first DVD I ever bought on the day it was released.

The 55-minute Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001) is a hyper-kinetic low-tech sci-fi film in the Tetsuo (1988) vein from director Sogo Ishii. It's loud, action-packed, rock-n-roll craziness.

Why isn't John Waters' second mainstream film Cry-Baby (1990) on DVD yet? It's got Johnny Depp in it for Christ's sake! This underrated film is a ton of fun. Willem Dafoe's appearance alone is worth the price of a rental.

Dellamorte Dellamore (1994), AKA Cemetery Man, is one of my favorite Italian horror films. It's quirky, smart, stylish and the plot actually makes sense! Rupert Everett does a really nice job as the title character, a reluctant zombie-killer.

Speaking of Italian horror, my second favorite Mario Bava film (the first is the classic Black Sunday) is Planet of the Vampires (1965). It's one of the maestro's best-looking films, and that's saying a lot. This science fiction film has influenced many others, from Alien to X-men. It moves a bit slow for a lot of people, but is a real feast for the eyes.

 

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