Race With The Devil (1975)
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Jack Starrett (replacing Lee Frost)
Starring: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, Lara Parker, R.G. Armstrong
From: 20th Century Fox
Here is a movie I’ve heard about for awhile now (I don’t remember where first) and had available for viewing for awhile also, but finally I got around to watching it just recently.
It’s a movie SO a product of its times, from the fashion, to the fact that the main vehicle is a motorhome, and other things… this is about a pair of guys involved with dirtbikes; one of them races (Fonda) and the other runs a store (Oates). Well, Oates has a fancy new motorhome, looking all 70’s and stuff. The two men and their significant others (Swit and Parker; yes, Loretta was Hot Lips on M*A*S*H) decide to embark on a much-needed trip filled with R &R, headed to Aspen, Colorado. They leave San Antonio and stay in remote locations as hey, their RV has everything they need, right? Well, one night they get drunk and they happen to see a… satanic sacrifice! There’s another trend from that decade, fear of devil worshippers and cults. They get spotted and they barely escape. From there they try to move on but they get the feeling that there are more people in the cult than they first realized…
This is a flick which combines several different genres, from horror to b-movie action to exploitation to even a car chase scene, but this one involves an RV. If you think about it the plot isn’t all that realistic, but if you check your brain at the door, you should enjoy this. It’s a movie that has some humor, but a lot of creepiness in that you don’t know who to trust, and you don’t know what will happen next. It’s suspenseful and it’s punctuated by the action stuff, especially the car chase at the end, where you see stuff blow up and some people get their comeuppance. The ending… it’s totally 70’s, too, I’ll put it that way. There was a remake planed a few years ago but it didn’t happen and who knows if it’ll ever happen. I don’t know how it’ll be if they take it out of the 70’s and they don’t have quality actors like Fonda and Oates in the lead; they’ll probably change the ending too so that would be no good, I say. Maybe it’s best if they remake something else besides this, as I don’t think you could really improve it. So, if you see it on something like Fox Movie Channel (which shows it once in a while) it may be worth checking out if you sound intrigued by it.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
College
College (2008)
5% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 39 reviews)
Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: Deb Hagan
Starring: Drake Bell, Andrew Caldwell, Kevin Covais, Haley Bennett
From: MGM
Now that I have time to do one of these, I’ll talk about a movie I saw last fall on the big screen and again on DVD a few months later (as I’m a masochist), and boy is it a turkey. I know, I know… I can see why MGM may end up going bankrupt if one of the few movies they put out the last few years was stuff as bad as this.
This was a movie that was advertised decently on channels like ESPN August of last year, so I was surprised that it did real poorly at the box office. I decided to see it on the Tuesday afternoon after it was released. Then I saw it was for good reason why it tanked at the box office; sure, I heard before I saw it that it was no good, but that’s certainly the case.
This flick is about a trio of high school seniors who visit a college and they spend a weekend there. There’s the nerdy lead, a fat crass sidekick, and a major nerd who gets picked on by the fat guy. They are no Seth, Evan, and especially not McLovin’. Now, some of the advertising was it saying that it was the ultimate movie about college, or some such nonsense. That was NOT the case, and in fact it rather blatantly ripped off of movies like Superbad and some others… in fact, let me copy and paste from a MySpace blog I wrote at the time:
I could mention a few things as to the start of September, but the only interesting thing I'll bring up now is some movie advice. I'm sure that last week many of you saw ads for College, the ridiculously generically titled movie that is just another raunchy comedy. I still went and saw it as hey, it sounded interesting, and it managed to bomb big time at the box office, coming in at FIFTEENTH place after Monday's tallies were counted up for the three days. I doubt MGM spend all that advertising money to have it not come close to making the top 10. I mean, ouch. Sure, Hamlet 2 is an even bigger bomb, but ever since I saw an ad for it way back in April I thought it looked like horseshit, so I'm amused it tanked so badly.
College, though, is pretty wretched. I'm glad I only paid matinee prices to see it. It's like a low-budget ripoff of movies such as Superbad (or any other Apatow film) and Revenge of the Nerds. There were pretty blatant ripoffs of both movies (among other "homage's"), such as camera shots (and the three main guys… blatant copies of McLovin, Seth, and Evan) and a raid on a frat house that was such a steal from Nerds, they played an imitation "Mission Impossible" theme as if they went out of their way to remind people that in Nerds, the original theme to the 60's show played when the Tri Lambs (oh yeah, and they was even a reference to "The Lamda's" in College; honestly!) raided the Pi's sorority house.
Besides that, the real problem is the script. They made the character not likeable at all. Not McLovin, Not Seth, and Not Evan (that might as well be their names) are people you don't really care for and don't want to get behind and support. You know, the way they acted and how they took all that abuse from the Not Alpha Beta's when they didn't have to take it… the movie was about seeing the abuse that the dorks took in gross fashion rather than trying to be funny. I only was amused (much less laughed) at a few moments, and that was it. Not even the appearance of Verne Troyer as himself-yes, really-and the appearance of many bare boobies made things any better. So yeah, EPIC FAIL (despite the presence of the cute girls that were part of the Not Pi sorority), and what a disappointment.
While I do realize it was a Tuesday afternoon in an Orlando theater that is not the most popular, I was still surprised I was the only person in the theatre.
After seeing it again on DVD, I never want to watch it again; the unrated version does nothing to help it out. Like I said, the main problem is the script, not the actors; the lead girls were cute, which is always nice, but you hated how the characters were written, as the situation they were put in where they “had” to take a ridiculous amount of abuse from the Not Alpha Beta frat… and it was mainly because they wanted to be accepted by those loathsome characters, and then later it was because they thought that the chicks they were hooked up with would suddenly hate them because they’re still in high school… which actually does happen at first and then suddenly things are fine again. Of course. Even the ending sequence where the bad guys get their comeuppance isn’t entertaining; rather, I was left wondering how they were able to do all that in such a short amount of time. So yeah, never watch this (not even if you’re a horny guy and want to see a bunch of nudity, as you can just do the same on the Internet) and stick to the movies that they emulated instead.
I'll be back by this time next week with at least one new review.
5% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 39 reviews)
Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: Deb Hagan
Starring: Drake Bell, Andrew Caldwell, Kevin Covais, Haley Bennett
From: MGM
Now that I have time to do one of these, I’ll talk about a movie I saw last fall on the big screen and again on DVD a few months later (as I’m a masochist), and boy is it a turkey. I know, I know… I can see why MGM may end up going bankrupt if one of the few movies they put out the last few years was stuff as bad as this.
This was a movie that was advertised decently on channels like ESPN August of last year, so I was surprised that it did real poorly at the box office. I decided to see it on the Tuesday afternoon after it was released. Then I saw it was for good reason why it tanked at the box office; sure, I heard before I saw it that it was no good, but that’s certainly the case.
This flick is about a trio of high school seniors who visit a college and they spend a weekend there. There’s the nerdy lead, a fat crass sidekick, and a major nerd who gets picked on by the fat guy. They are no Seth, Evan, and especially not McLovin’. Now, some of the advertising was it saying that it was the ultimate movie about college, or some such nonsense. That was NOT the case, and in fact it rather blatantly ripped off of movies like Superbad and some others… in fact, let me copy and paste from a MySpace blog I wrote at the time:
I could mention a few things as to the start of September, but the only interesting thing I'll bring up now is some movie advice. I'm sure that last week many of you saw ads for College, the ridiculously generically titled movie that is just another raunchy comedy. I still went and saw it as hey, it sounded interesting, and it managed to bomb big time at the box office, coming in at FIFTEENTH place after Monday's tallies were counted up for the three days. I doubt MGM spend all that advertising money to have it not come close to making the top 10. I mean, ouch. Sure, Hamlet 2 is an even bigger bomb, but ever since I saw an ad for it way back in April I thought it looked like horseshit, so I'm amused it tanked so badly.
College, though, is pretty wretched. I'm glad I only paid matinee prices to see it. It's like a low-budget ripoff of movies such as Superbad (or any other Apatow film) and Revenge of the Nerds. There were pretty blatant ripoffs of both movies (among other "homage's"), such as camera shots (and the three main guys… blatant copies of McLovin, Seth, and Evan) and a raid on a frat house that was such a steal from Nerds, they played an imitation "Mission Impossible" theme as if they went out of their way to remind people that in Nerds, the original theme to the 60's show played when the Tri Lambs (oh yeah, and they was even a reference to "The Lamda's" in College; honestly!) raided the Pi's sorority house.
Besides that, the real problem is the script. They made the character not likeable at all. Not McLovin, Not Seth, and Not Evan (that might as well be their names) are people you don't really care for and don't want to get behind and support. You know, the way they acted and how they took all that abuse from the Not Alpha Beta's when they didn't have to take it… the movie was about seeing the abuse that the dorks took in gross fashion rather than trying to be funny. I only was amused (much less laughed) at a few moments, and that was it. Not even the appearance of Verne Troyer as himself-yes, really-and the appearance of many bare boobies made things any better. So yeah, EPIC FAIL (despite the presence of the cute girls that were part of the Not Pi sorority), and what a disappointment.
While I do realize it was a Tuesday afternoon in an Orlando theater that is not the most popular, I was still surprised I was the only person in the theatre.
After seeing it again on DVD, I never want to watch it again; the unrated version does nothing to help it out. Like I said, the main problem is the script, not the actors; the lead girls were cute, which is always nice, but you hated how the characters were written, as the situation they were put in where they “had” to take a ridiculous amount of abuse from the Not Alpha Beta frat… and it was mainly because they wanted to be accepted by those loathsome characters, and then later it was because they thought that the chicks they were hooked up with would suddenly hate them because they’re still in high school… which actually does happen at first and then suddenly things are fine again. Of course. Even the ending sequence where the bad guys get their comeuppance isn’t entertaining; rather, I was left wondering how they were able to do all that in such a short amount of time. So yeah, never watch this (not even if you’re a horny guy and want to see a bunch of nudity, as you can just do the same on the Internet) and stick to the movies that they emulated instead.
I'll be back by this time next week with at least one new review.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
An Addendum
I was in a rush to post my last entry, so I neglected to mention some things.
When the movie was originally released in America, its distributor was the recently mentioned American International Pictures, the low-budget entity. In their wisdom, they decided to dub the movie into “American English” rather than “Australian English”. Despite it making money elsewhere around the world, AIP didn’t do much with it in the states aside from the dubbing. I guess it’s not a surprise that shortly after this, they went out of business.
Two times in the movie there's an effect you see twice where in real time you'll briefly see eyes pop out of someone's head (as if a cartoon) right before a big moment. I read years ago in a book about how it's done naturally but I don't recall it now. Director George Miller was in the medical field originally, so I'm sure that's how he learned to do that. If you freeze it at the right time... it's an image that creeps me out, at least!
One more thing about the weirdness factor. The young child that Max and Jessie have… it’s name is Sprog. Sprog! I have no idea what kind of name that is either, and it looked to be it’s real name instead of a nickname.
But despite stuff like this, like I said before this is something I recommend. The way it’s shot, the music, the action scenes… good stuff.
When the movie was originally released in America, its distributor was the recently mentioned American International Pictures, the low-budget entity. In their wisdom, they decided to dub the movie into “American English” rather than “Australian English”. Despite it making money elsewhere around the world, AIP didn’t do much with it in the states aside from the dubbing. I guess it’s not a surprise that shortly after this, they went out of business.
Two times in the movie there's an effect you see twice where in real time you'll briefly see eyes pop out of someone's head (as if a cartoon) right before a big moment. I read years ago in a book about how it's done naturally but I don't recall it now. Director George Miller was in the medical field originally, so I'm sure that's how he learned to do that. If you freeze it at the right time... it's an image that creeps me out, at least!
One more thing about the weirdness factor. The young child that Max and Jessie have… it’s name is Sprog. Sprog! I have no idea what kind of name that is either, and it looked to be it’s real name instead of a nickname.
But despite stuff like this, like I said before this is something I recommend. The way it’s shot, the music, the action scenes… good stuff.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Mad Max
Mad Max (1979)
Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keyes-Byrne, Steve Brisley
From: Kennedy-Miller Productions
Here’s a movie that I hadn’t seen before but yet should have done so sooner than I did. This is the first in the Mad Max series-obviously-and with the recent announcement that the fourth in the series (Fury Road) is FINALLY going to be made and released in 2011 (talks of a fourth movie have been going on for more than 20 years now!), so why not talk about the first one here?
It’s a tale set “a few years from now” in a wasteland future where chaos and disorder reign, the cops were all leather outfits and as a chase passes by a small Australian town, tow trucks follow the action, knowing that they’ll end up being in use sooner or later. Max Rockatansky (Gibson; that’s quite the name) is considered the best cop when it comes to these pursuits. The movie opens with a big car chase out of the gate and the end result is Max chasing a low-level villain (a member of a biker gang) known as The Nightrider, and Nightrider crashes his car and is killed instantly. The crazy biker gang-led by The Toecutter (Keyes-Byrne)-is upset over one of their own dying and they get revenge due to that and an incident where another member gets arrested but released due to every citizen being too afraid to testify against them. They feud with each other and after some horrific incidents, Max goes on the warpath, and it’s a great thing.
The entire movie had a weird tone and vibe to it, especially with the crazy biker gang. A few times I was a little perplexed but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the flick. It overall goes with the flow of the movie and it works amongst all the action and the awesome car chases as against what he wanted to have happen, Max started to turn into the type of person that he was seeking revenge against, adding subtext to the proceedings. So, I give this a high recommendation and eventually I’ll get around to seeing the even more beloved The Road Warrior and the not so beloved Beyond Thunderdome (a.k.a. The One With Tina Turner; it’s the only one of the three that I remember seeing at least a few minutes of in the past before last night), but I don’t know when that’ll be as the rest of this month will probably be busy for me, and that goes for updating this also, but I’ll try to add one or two more before the month is over with.
Oh, and it has to be said that there’s a scene an hour in with Jessie (Samuel) where you see that she’s wearing Uggs! I kid you not. I know that they were around back then and it was an Australian invention, but I hadn’t even heard of them until a few years ago and I was never expecting to see them here. That scene has a flub as for the rest of it she has on sandals, but if you look for it you’ll see it.
Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: George Miller
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keyes-Byrne, Steve Brisley
From: Kennedy-Miller Productions
Here’s a movie that I hadn’t seen before but yet should have done so sooner than I did. This is the first in the Mad Max series-obviously-and with the recent announcement that the fourth in the series (Fury Road) is FINALLY going to be made and released in 2011 (talks of a fourth movie have been going on for more than 20 years now!), so why not talk about the first one here?
It’s a tale set “a few years from now” in a wasteland future where chaos and disorder reign, the cops were all leather outfits and as a chase passes by a small Australian town, tow trucks follow the action, knowing that they’ll end up being in use sooner or later. Max Rockatansky (Gibson; that’s quite the name) is considered the best cop when it comes to these pursuits. The movie opens with a big car chase out of the gate and the end result is Max chasing a low-level villain (a member of a biker gang) known as The Nightrider, and Nightrider crashes his car and is killed instantly. The crazy biker gang-led by The Toecutter (Keyes-Byrne)-is upset over one of their own dying and they get revenge due to that and an incident where another member gets arrested but released due to every citizen being too afraid to testify against them. They feud with each other and after some horrific incidents, Max goes on the warpath, and it’s a great thing.
The entire movie had a weird tone and vibe to it, especially with the crazy biker gang. A few times I was a little perplexed but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the flick. It overall goes with the flow of the movie and it works amongst all the action and the awesome car chases as against what he wanted to have happen, Max started to turn into the type of person that he was seeking revenge against, adding subtext to the proceedings. So, I give this a high recommendation and eventually I’ll get around to seeing the even more beloved The Road Warrior and the not so beloved Beyond Thunderdome (a.k.a. The One With Tina Turner; it’s the only one of the three that I remember seeing at least a few minutes of in the past before last night), but I don’t know when that’ll be as the rest of this month will probably be busy for me, and that goes for updating this also, but I’ll try to add one or two more before the month is over with.
Oh, and it has to be said that there’s a scene an hour in with Jessie (Samuel) where you see that she’s wearing Uggs! I kid you not. I know that they were around back then and it was an Australian invention, but I hadn’t even heard of them until a few years ago and I was never expecting to see them here. That scene has a flub as for the rest of it she has on sandals, but if you look for it you’ll see it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Gremlins
Gremlins (1984)
Runtime: 106 minutes
Directed by: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Corey Feldman, Hoyt Axton
From: Warner Brothers/Amblin
Here is a movie that I haven’t seen in at least 20 years (no kidding) but I finally got around to seeing it… due to the theatre at Universal Studios in Orlando showing it. The past week they showed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is a “new classic” Christmas flick, but I’ve seen that enough times that I didn’t need to go out and see it. But, with this flick, seeing it on the big screen would be nice for a flick where I only remember the first few minutes and the one scene with the chair. It ended up being an old film print rather than a DVD projection, which was nice, even though the print was at times on the sketchy side. I ended up being one of four people there to see this, and of course, two of the four decide to chat with each other at random points during the screening, like a bunch of Troglodytes. That is a common occurrence for a movie at this theatre, let me tell you that much. Universal seems to be a beacon for the rudest most ignorant people. But, they left with like a half hour to go. Why, I don’t know. Then again, I can’t explain why the other person left with about 15 minutes to go; that’s right, I saw the final 15 minutes of this by myself in the big auditorium. What losers.
As for the movie, I was more familiar with the really strange sequel rather than this, but I still remembered the basic rules of the mogwai and what you’re not supposed to do with them, and I’m sure most readers will be familiar with those rules too. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this, but it was a horror comedy (a lot of the humor black in nature) that-despite some of the creepier stuff-is for most ages. I mean, it has to be for kids when you see gremlins dressed up in clothing, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and singing Christmas carols! The gremlin flashing Phoebe Cates* is something for the adults, though.
Overall, it’s a movie that I ended up enjoying. The special effects still look nice 25 years later and while some of the characters/situations were broad in nature (the “evil old lady” was just that) it was something that I shut off my brain for and I liked this tale of how creatures wreaked havoc on an idyllic small town. There were some surprising moments along the way, such as which character managed to memorably kill a few gremlins in one scene. So, if you haven’t seen this before or haven’t seen it in a long time, it’s worth it to check it out, I say. I presume that in the next few weeks Universal will continue to show Christmas-themed movies so depending on what films they show I may return back there before this year is over with.
• In the 80’s, Phoebe Cates was a babe, no doubt about it. She looked great here but her best moment was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a movie I’ve seen once before and to be honest, thought was quite overrated. However, the one scene of her in the red bikini… wow! That was clearly the highlight of the film for me.
Runtime: 106 minutes
Directed by: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Corey Feldman, Hoyt Axton
From: Warner Brothers/Amblin
Here is a movie that I haven’t seen in at least 20 years (no kidding) but I finally got around to seeing it… due to the theatre at Universal Studios in Orlando showing it. The past week they showed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is a “new classic” Christmas flick, but I’ve seen that enough times that I didn’t need to go out and see it. But, with this flick, seeing it on the big screen would be nice for a flick where I only remember the first few minutes and the one scene with the chair. It ended up being an old film print rather than a DVD projection, which was nice, even though the print was at times on the sketchy side. I ended up being one of four people there to see this, and of course, two of the four decide to chat with each other at random points during the screening, like a bunch of Troglodytes. That is a common occurrence for a movie at this theatre, let me tell you that much. Universal seems to be a beacon for the rudest most ignorant people. But, they left with like a half hour to go. Why, I don’t know. Then again, I can’t explain why the other person left with about 15 minutes to go; that’s right, I saw the final 15 minutes of this by myself in the big auditorium. What losers.
As for the movie, I was more familiar with the really strange sequel rather than this, but I still remembered the basic rules of the mogwai and what you’re not supposed to do with them, and I’m sure most readers will be familiar with those rules too. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this, but it was a horror comedy (a lot of the humor black in nature) that-despite some of the creepier stuff-is for most ages. I mean, it has to be for kids when you see gremlins dressed up in clothing, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and singing Christmas carols! The gremlin flashing Phoebe Cates* is something for the adults, though.
Overall, it’s a movie that I ended up enjoying. The special effects still look nice 25 years later and while some of the characters/situations were broad in nature (the “evil old lady” was just that) it was something that I shut off my brain for and I liked this tale of how creatures wreaked havoc on an idyllic small town. There were some surprising moments along the way, such as which character managed to memorably kill a few gremlins in one scene. So, if you haven’t seen this before or haven’t seen it in a long time, it’s worth it to check it out, I say. I presume that in the next few weeks Universal will continue to show Christmas-themed movies so depending on what films they show I may return back there before this year is over with.
• In the 80’s, Phoebe Cates was a babe, no doubt about it. She looked great here but her best moment was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a movie I’ve seen once before and to be honest, thought was quite overrated. However, the one scene of her in the red bikini… wow! That was clearly the highlight of the film for me.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Freaks
Freaks (1932)
Runtime: 64 minutes
Directed by: Tod Browning
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, and a wide variety of circus performers (“freaks”)
From: MGM
First off, an apology for not posting but a small amount of entries the past few weeks. My schedule has just prevented me from seeing too many flicks. I was hoping to write about a movie appropriate for Veteran’s Day but I doubt that’ll happen, unless I have time to watch the appropriate flick within the next few days and just post that a few days late. Instead, a review of a movie that I’ve seen a few times, including the latest time, when it followed up something I taped on Turner Classic Movies (that movie I taped isn’t even worth mentioning, or reviewing on here for that matter) while I was sleeping.
This is a one of a kind film and I am surprised it ever got made; you certainly couldn’t make it in this day and age without a huge shitstorm of controversy. Then again, after a test screening for this film before it was released in 1932, there was shitstorm then and that’s why the flick was cut from around 90 minutes to only 64, and that footage is lost forever, sad to say.
The thing is, this film is genuinely considered by most people (including me) to be very good to great; it’s true, despite the truncated nature. It’s about a traveling circus that has a sideshow of “freaks”, and the oddities did come from real life sideshows, and they’re one of a kind. There are several stories presented but the main one is how a male midget is in a love triangle with a female midget and a normal-sized lady. However, the latter is actually in love with him only for his money and she’s in the plot with a strongman that’s her actual lover. The freaks find out about the plot and… I don’t want to give anything else away but the final few minutes features several images that you’ll never forget; I mean, even amongst a unique film like this, those images stand out.
As it's in public domain, you can actually watch the movie for free on your computer on Google Video; it can be viewed here. If you're an fan of odd cinema this is a must but more casual fans may like it too. By this time next week I should have at least one thing new posted here.
Runtime: 64 minutes
Directed by: Tod Browning
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, and a wide variety of circus performers (“freaks”)
From: MGM
First off, an apology for not posting but a small amount of entries the past few weeks. My schedule has just prevented me from seeing too many flicks. I was hoping to write about a movie appropriate for Veteran’s Day but I doubt that’ll happen, unless I have time to watch the appropriate flick within the next few days and just post that a few days late. Instead, a review of a movie that I’ve seen a few times, including the latest time, when it followed up something I taped on Turner Classic Movies (that movie I taped isn’t even worth mentioning, or reviewing on here for that matter) while I was sleeping.
This is a one of a kind film and I am surprised it ever got made; you certainly couldn’t make it in this day and age without a huge shitstorm of controversy. Then again, after a test screening for this film before it was released in 1932, there was shitstorm then and that’s why the flick was cut from around 90 minutes to only 64, and that footage is lost forever, sad to say.
The thing is, this film is genuinely considered by most people (including me) to be very good to great; it’s true, despite the truncated nature. It’s about a traveling circus that has a sideshow of “freaks”, and the oddities did come from real life sideshows, and they’re one of a kind. There are several stories presented but the main one is how a male midget is in a love triangle with a female midget and a normal-sized lady. However, the latter is actually in love with him only for his money and she’s in the plot with a strongman that’s her actual lover. The freaks find out about the plot and… I don’t want to give anything else away but the final few minutes features several images that you’ll never forget; I mean, even amongst a unique film like this, those images stand out.
As it's in public domain, you can actually watch the movie for free on your computer on Google Video; it can be viewed here. If you're an fan of odd cinema this is a must but more casual fans may like it too. By this time next week I should have at least one thing new posted here.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Food of the Gods
The Food of the Gods (1976)
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Bert I. Gordon
Starring: Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Ida Lupino
From: American International Pictures
Finally, I’ve returned and here’s a rather odd film to talk about. It’s a low-budget film in the mid 70’s from AIP, a studio legendary for making low-budget B-movies back from the mid 50’s to 1980 and had guys like Roger Corman working for them, producing fare for the drive-in circuit, amongst other places. Director Gordon spent much of his career working with AIP, and did films with “rear projection” special effects where regular people/items were made to look much larger than they actually are. I saw this more than 10 years ago back during the brief time that I had some HBO channels*. Yeah, this was on an HBO channel, because they had absolutely nothing else to show.
The movie-which was “based on a portion” of the novel of the same title by H.G. Wells; it’s true) takes place on a random island in British Columbia (and that British Columbia scenery is scenic, if nothing else) and concerns a rural religious family (with Lupino, whom we see here much more than her ill-fated husband; Ida was slumming here as she had been acting since the mid 30’s and appeared in renowned movies with the likes of Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, and even Humphrey Bogart) who finds a mysterious substance that causes rapid growth to the animals that consume it. So, it’s man vs. nature in what must be PETA’s wet dream as you see giant animals run wild, kill people, and cause destruction to Lupino, some random tourists on that island, and some members of a football team, including Gortner.
The special effects are what they are and in current times you can at least laugh at them but what makes this movie not good (despite a message of ecology and being nice to the environment) is that the story is pretty laughable and doesn’t make much sense. I mean, how haven’t the giant animals migrated off the island, especially, you know, the giant wasps? And, the climax doesn’t really make much sense at all, especially with how it was filmed and portrayed. Some parts of it PETA wouldn’t like, that’s for sure.
So, it’s not too boring of a movie so you can get entertainment out of it and laugh at the flick, but it’s definitely not something worth trying to look for on DVD. If you see it on TV somewhere and want to laugh at something, then maybe so.
• I saw it this latest time on THIStv, available on certain cable packages as part of digital; it’s usually in the HD channel area, even though the channel broadcasts standard definition stuff.
By the end of the weekend I hope to have at least one new review up.
Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Bert I. Gordon
Starring: Marjoe Gortner, Pamela Franklin, Ralph Meeker, Ida Lupino
From: American International Pictures
Finally, I’ve returned and here’s a rather odd film to talk about. It’s a low-budget film in the mid 70’s from AIP, a studio legendary for making low-budget B-movies back from the mid 50’s to 1980 and had guys like Roger Corman working for them, producing fare for the drive-in circuit, amongst other places. Director Gordon spent much of his career working with AIP, and did films with “rear projection” special effects where regular people/items were made to look much larger than they actually are. I saw this more than 10 years ago back during the brief time that I had some HBO channels*. Yeah, this was on an HBO channel, because they had absolutely nothing else to show.
The movie-which was “based on a portion” of the novel of the same title by H.G. Wells; it’s true) takes place on a random island in British Columbia (and that British Columbia scenery is scenic, if nothing else) and concerns a rural religious family (with Lupino, whom we see here much more than her ill-fated husband; Ida was slumming here as she had been acting since the mid 30’s and appeared in renowned movies with the likes of Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, and even Humphrey Bogart) who finds a mysterious substance that causes rapid growth to the animals that consume it. So, it’s man vs. nature in what must be PETA’s wet dream as you see giant animals run wild, kill people, and cause destruction to Lupino, some random tourists on that island, and some members of a football team, including Gortner.
The special effects are what they are and in current times you can at least laugh at them but what makes this movie not good (despite a message of ecology and being nice to the environment) is that the story is pretty laughable and doesn’t make much sense. I mean, how haven’t the giant animals migrated off the island, especially, you know, the giant wasps? And, the climax doesn’t really make much sense at all, especially with how it was filmed and portrayed. Some parts of it PETA wouldn’t like, that’s for sure.
So, it’s not too boring of a movie so you can get entertainment out of it and laugh at the flick, but it’s definitely not something worth trying to look for on DVD. If you see it on TV somewhere and want to laugh at something, then maybe so.
• I saw it this latest time on THIStv, available on certain cable packages as part of digital; it’s usually in the HD channel area, even though the channel broadcasts standard definition stuff.
By the end of the weekend I hope to have at least one new review up.
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