Wednesday, November 30: No Dolls Allowed

Speaking of Gerry Anderson, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969) is a live-action film written with his then-wife and partner, Sylvia. There are no puppets to found in this science fiction thriller, but there are some of the most convincing miniature futuristic vehicle effects of any Anderson production.

In the not-so-distant future, a planet is discovered to be sharing Earth's orbit, invisible to us because of its position directly opposite to us, on the other side of the sun. Two astronauts are sent on a mission of explorations and the unexpected happens.

This isn't the first film I've seen with this premise, but it's probably the best. It's certainly the most stylish, with beautiful sets, costumes and space-age furniture and cars. With a character work that's far more sophisticated than the Anderson's earlier kid stuff and some really interesting and eerie mood stuff, it's a shame that this film isn't regarded as more of a classic of the genre than it generally is.

 

 

Sunday, November 27: Earth vs. Everybody

A while back, master evildoer Dwiff sent me a bunch of episodes of "The New Captain Scarlet" (2005). I'm a huge Gerry Anderson fan and was excited about the new CGI series when it was announced several years back, but by the time they were available for viewing my excitement had dwindled. I just thought, "Without the puppets, how much fun can the new show be?"

A butt load, that's how much. I can't believe I waited so long to watch the show. It is simply awesome. The old Captain Scarlet was always about adventure, Supermarionation or not. And the new show delivers. The computer animation is great and the style works perfectly for a show that used to be made entirely with models and marionettes.

Nothing will ever replace the original series for me, but I just may have found a new favorite animated adventure show for the era of CGI.

Speaking of CG effects, the little lady and I took in the Steven Spielberg / Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds (2005). We both enjoyed it, thought it had some really great moments, but didn't care for the last ten minutes or the Tim Robbins portion of the film. Still, I thought it was pretty good for a Spielberg film, as long as you don't think too much about it afterwards...because then it all falls apart.

The earth also came under attack in the form of Gorath (1962), a planetoid on a collision course with the earth. The world's scientists band together (with Japan taking center stage, of course) to save the planet by using gigantic jets to push the Earth out of the way. It's not the way I would have done it, but I'm no scientist.

Being a film directed by the great Ishirô Honda, the movie of course has all kinds of neat miniatures of rockets, space stations and futuristic equipment. It's also got arguably one of Toho's worst monsters in Magma - a giant killer walrus.

Magma shows up from under the ice on the South Pole and has nothing to do with the threat to the earth. In fact he/she/it has less than of minute of screen time before being put out of action. But it just wouldn't be a Toho film without some kind of monster, I guess.

Finally, Randy Gaston has let me know that The Horror Newsletter (formerly referred to as "DeadFlix") is now at its new domain address: horrornewsletter.com. Visit if you dare.

Saturday, November 26: Home Alone

I started out the day with a film crafted especially for Saturday mornings by The Children’s Film Foundation, Egghead's Robot (1970). It's a kid's movie about this boy (called "Egghead") who uses a robot duplicate of himself to become star of his local cricket team. Well, that's the main plot, but most of the film is really about he and his sister getting chased around by the park's groundskeeper, played by Roy Kinnear. Patricia Routledge is also on hand as Egghead's mother.

Not for kids, although it does feature a some in it, is Jean Rollin's Lost in New York (1989). It's a dream-like film about a couple of little girls, who with the help of an ancient idol, a picture book, and their imaginations, transform themselves into young women and take a magical voyage to New York City.

Unfortunately, they materialize in opposite ends of town and desperately try to reach each other. Like many of Rollin's films, there isn't a traditionally structured plot here. And, of course, one of the girls has a run-in with a lesbian vampire. But the film is quite beautiful and is a bit more sophisticated and mature than some of Rollin's other more exploitive works.

The highlight of today was the inspiring Baron Prásil (1961) by Czech animator and filmmaker, Karel Zeman.

Combining stop-motion, rotoscope and other forms of animation with puppets, paper cutouts and live action, it tells the tales of the legendary Baron Munchausen. The famous teller of tall tales meets a modern day astronaut on the moon and brings the space man down to earth to show him his version of the world. It's a world filled with giant animals, mythical beasts and great wars -- all of which factor in the fantastic adventures of the sometimes-bumbling nobleman.

Once again, there's not a lot of plot here, just a series of adventures. But the world that Zeman has created is so wonderfully stunning, that it's more than enough to follow along with the mad baron from one surreal escapade to the next.

 

 

Friday, November 25: Turkey-Free

I was damn excited when my Phantasm Sphere: The Complete Collection DVD set showed up today. It's the coolest packaged set I've ever seen, courtesy of Anchor Bay UK. The set contains all four of the Phantasm films as well as a bonus disc, neatly packed inside of one of the Tall Man's killer spheres. A dream come true.

The 2nd and 3rd film have never been released in the US. They and the fourth film all have brand-new commentary tracks by various combinations of Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister and A. Michael Baldwin (I believe the original film has the same commentary track as its previous release).

Although I'm looking forward watching the films along side the voices of their creators in the near future, it was the bonus disc that I eagerly popped in the player tonight. There are all kinds of neat featurettes on here, but the real highlight is the new full-length documentary Phantasmagoria (2005), which covers the making of the entire film series.

Speaking of Angus, I was channel surfing and ran across his guest appearance (alongside Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson) on the episode "Season of the Skull" of the cartoon series, "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!” It was this year's Halloween show and featured homages to several horror films, including The Evil Dead (1981), The Wicker Man (1973) and, of course, Phantasm (1979).

My Doctor Who bender continued tonight and into Friday as I watched "Robot" (1974), The Five Doctors (1983) and Comic Relief: Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999), starring Rowan Atkinson, and several other familiar folks, as the Doctor(s).

On Friday night, the old lady and I watched Napoleon Dynamite (2004) on cable. This was followed by Tobe Hooper's entry into the Masters Of Horror series that showed that they can't all be winners. Oh well.

 

 

Tuesday, November 22: Si Si

Late last spring, my pal Laree L. began asking me on an almost weekly basis, "Have you ever seen this film called Señor Robot?"

"No. You asked me that last week, and I don't know what the hell you're talking about." I’d reply.

Which was true, I searched around trying to find this movie. Never bothering to ask my friend anything about the film beyond the title, I imagined it to be some sort of Mexican fantasy picture from the late 1960's with a man in a metal suit playing some sort of mechanical detective or something. I never found this "Señor Robot".

After months of Laree’s questioning, it finally dawned on me.

"Wait a minute, are you talking about the American film, The Strange Case of Señor Computer (2000)?" I asked my friend.

"Oh, yeah. That's what it's called." Laree answered.

Jerk.

Anyway, I watched it this evening. It’s a wonderful no-budget film about a robot named IKE, how he gains personal awareness and who the women are who influence him. The movie mixes both emotional substance and humor; I actually laughed out loud a couple of times while watching it.

Left to his own devices by his depressed alcoholic creator, IKE abandons the life of performing mathematical computations that he was created for in favor of one filled with poetry, television, credit cards and phone sex. The robot becomes much cooler and well rounded that it's creator, as it begins to grow what could almost be described as a soul.

The Strange Case of Señor Computer embraces it's tiny budget and takes it so much farther than anyone in Hollywood could with a thousand times the budget AND Jude Law.

And the robot's pretty cool as well.

 

 

Monday, November 21: Robot Dreams

I've been pretty wrapped up in post-production of our robot movie, now re-titled as simply Automatons (2006) (pronounced o-'tä-m&-t&nz). For inspiration, I've been watching a lot of old Doctor Who episodes, the most notable being "The Tenth Planet" (1966), "The Robots of Death" (1977), "The Caves of Androzani" (1984) and the Dimensions in Time (1993) special.

My enthusiasm for revisiting the classic BBC show has also been fueled by the hype surrounding the upcoming premiere of new series' second season on Christmas Day. This year, we get yet another new doctor, played by David Tennant, new versions of the evil Cybermen and the return of favorite companions, Sarah Jane Smith and K9. You can watch a special preview of the first episode here in the dreaded RealPlayer format.

I haven't watched any films lately and I'm a couple of weeks behind on the Masters Of Horror series. But the little lady and I did take in the last three episodes of Joe Ahearne’s "Ultraviolet" (1998). the other night.

A more movie-centric report will come in a day or two; in the meantime you can download a free PDF issue of the new DeadFlix magazine, The Horror Newsletter, here. It features an interview with yours truly on the making of The Off Season (2004). A print version of The Horror Newsletter is slated for release in January.

Monday, November 14: Hate the Living, Love the Dead

I finally got a DVD of the final version of Glenn McQuaid's short film, The Resurrection Apprentice (2005), out of the director. Starring Larry Fessenden and Daniel Manche, it's a remarkably well-done homage to Hammer horror, wrapped up in a nice tidy 12-minute package. See it if you get the chance.

After that tasty little appetizer, I dug into the main course for the evening, The Blind Warrior (1986). This fantasy-action film from Indonesia follows the formula of many Hong Kong martial arts movies: A brutal warlord terrorizes a small village until a wandering (blind) warrior comes along and saves the day.

This film's hero is especially cool, as he carries a little monkey around with him. I'm not sure if it's a seeing-eye monkey or some other kind of helper money, because it doesn't do much. But it has a name (which I can neither pronounce nor remember) and does NOT get killed in the film

Just about everyone else gets it though, and in some really brutal ways: beheading, chopped in tow, ripped in half the long way and more. There's also some fantasy fireball and elemental fighting for all of you 10th level magic users.

All of this takes place in the second half of the film, which is far more lively than the first, but worth the wait..

Addendum: I forgot to mention that on Saturday I watched the 151-minute extended version of Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004). Not that anyone cares, but I like to be thorough here.

 

 

Tuesday, November 8: Venus is for Lovers

"Omega" is the name of the little robot in the Polish/German co-production, The Silent Star (1960). You may have seen the American, hacked-up, pro-US version, First Spaceship on Venus (1962) on various public domain DVDs or being made fun of on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The original version, based on the book "The Astronauts" by "Solaris" author, Stanislaw Lem, is about a multi-national team that fly to Venus in order to discover intelligent life. The US has only one representative on board (In the American version, there are several, including the captain) and he joins the group under the protests of his countrymen. The bombing of Hiroshima is brought up several times as something that Americans take great pride in, while the other nationals are portrayed reveling in their more peaceful scientific achievements.

There's no real plot here, other than the voyage itself, but there's plenty to look at. The new DVD version that I watched is from a beautiful print that shows off all of the colorful set design and breathtaking effects that were shortchanged by all previous cheapie versions.

Today I picked up the Cult Classics Series 2 action figure of the Tall Man from Phantasm. I'm thrilled that a Phantasm figure finally exists, but have to admit that it looks less like Angus and more like Richard Nixon.

 

Sunday, November 6: Devils & Robots

It was Halloween leftovers on Friday, as my better half and I watched the not-great-but-far-better-than-it-should-have-been, House of Wax (2005). I've been avoiding this film because of my affection for the Vincent Price original, but finally broke down, as it's a remake in name and theme only.

I'm far from being a fan of Elisha Cuthbert or Paris Hilton, but found them, and the remaining cast of some dudes, completely inoffensive. The first half of the film drags a little, but once it breaks the bonds of its formulaic plot, the movie almost becomes something special. The last twenty minutes are fairly amazing, thanks to the director's commitment to using as many practical effects as possible to create a true house of wax.

Saturday was all about the new Mondo Macbro DVD release of The Deathless Devil (1973). Yet another Turkish masked hero adventure, this film is loosely based on the Republic serial, The Mysterious Doctor Satan (1940) with elements of Batman and James Bond thrown in for good measure.

Like the old series, the Turkish film has a villain named Dr. Satan who has his own robot, but this movie has a bit more sex & violence than the original. Our hero is Copperhead, a masked crime fighter with prowess both in the field of battle and in the boudoir. Lucky for our hero, his girlfriend doesn't seem to mind him getting it on with the bad girls.

I piled several treats in to today, starting with the pairing of two of Go Nagai's classic characters in their first big screen outing in Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman (1973). During a battle with some other giant robots, Mazinger Z accidentally revives Devilman's nemesis, Silene. Soon she is joined by all of the demons in hell as they join forces with Mazinger villain, Dr. Hell, to destroy our heroes and take over the world.

Although, its only about 45 minutes long, this is one of my favorite anime films. I just wish that Devilman spent a little less time getting his tail kicked and a did a little more to pull his weight alongside the more popular Mazinger Z.

Yet another robot is featured in Voyage to the End of the Universe (1963), the American International release of the Czech film, Ikarie XB 1. Constantly compared to both Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey, this slow and cerebral space opera has elements of both.

It tells the story of a long-term trip across the galaxy and how the large group of space explorers deals with the isolation and other obstacles that are put before them as they try to reach a faraway planet, much like their own. Stylistic elements reminiscent of THX-1138 are also present in this offbeat and visually enthralling sci-fi tale.

This evening the little lady and enjoyed a couple more episodes of "Ultraviolet" (1998), followed by Stuart Gordon's entry in the Masters of Horror series, "Dreams In the Witch-House". Although a tad uneven, it's unnerving and frightening. It's easily the best thing this director's done in years. It's nice to see the scare-masters rising to the occasion. Next week: Tobe Hooper!

 

Thursday, November 3: And So It Goes...

So ends October and the month of horror. I ended up watching a few more than the promised 31 scary movies last month as well as a few others that were outside of the horror genre. I haven't seen anything since then, except for the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith on DVD and there's no need to report on that.

On to November, and the list of movies that you should be checking out this month:

Cannibal Man (1972) isn't about a cannibal at all. It's the story of a reluctant serial killer who disposes the bodies of his victims at the slaughterhouse where he works. This slow-paced, atmospheric movie from Spain's premier gay film director, Eloy de la Iglesia, isn't as gory or as exploitative as the title would suggest. It's a fascinating character study of a man boxed into a corner with no one to turn to.

Be warned however: as was often the case in exploitation films from this period, there is actual slaughterhouse footage featured in the movie.

I usually recommend feature-length films here, but this month I'm demanding that you watch the 10-part serial, Les Vampires (1915). It’s a beautifully eerie crime adventure focusing on the title characters, a gang of super-thieves plaguing Paris. See it, as there are few things more visually striking than a grainy image of a woman in silent film-era make-up slinking around in a black cat suit.

In Irma Vep (1996), Maggie Cheung plays herself -- an actress cast to play the lead in a modern re-make of Les Vampires. The production is a disaster as things fall apart with Cheung stuck in the middle and losing her mind. This fractured and talky film is probably more for those of you with a lot of patience. Of course, if you made it for the near-400 minute running time of the source material, this little film should be a breeze.

Getting far away from the artsy crap and into the world popcorn fun, we come to The Phantom (1996). It's by far one of the best post-Batman super hero films of the 1990's. Based on cartoonist Lee Falk's famous hero, the film features Billy Zane in the purple tights and Treat Williams as his nemesis. Both men give excellent tongue-in-cheek performances, keeping with the film's 1930's-era adventure flick spirit. And let's not forget the cameo by Patrick McGoohan! The film's theatrical release was killed by its heavy-handed "extreme" advertising campaign ("Slam Evil" indeed). But thankfully The Phantom is readily available on DVD. So give it another shot.

Not so fun is Douglas Buck's disturbing collection of shorts, Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2004). Showing suburban life at its ugliest, this anthology starts with the infamous "Cutting Moments", a gruesome shock to the system. "Home" is the low-key domestic monster of the set. The final piece, "Prologue", is the longest and most thoughtful piece that brings it all home with a slow-motion kick to the stomach. It all just goes to show that good movies and "feel good" movies are worlds apart.

Enjoy.