Sugar Hill

Sugar Hill (1974)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Paul Maslansky

Starring: Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley, Betty Anne Rees, Richard Lawson

From: AIP

Happy Halloween, everyone... or at least a Happy October 31: 

It's been WAY too long since I have watched any blaxploitation so I might as well do so at this time of year and thus I came across a film that is on Prime; bizarrely, on there the opening credits are fullscreen but the rest is 1:85.1.

The plot is not a complicated piece of work: the titular Sugar Hill is a young lady who has a boyfriend, Langston; he runs a successful nightclub. A white gangster and his henchmen wish to buy the club; Langston refuses. A few minutes later, those villains beat him to death in his own parking lot. Now, this was one of several moments of unintentional hilarity: this beating not only took place while they were wearing tan pantyhose over their heads (barely obscuring their faces) but they still had on their distinctive colorful 70's outfits. Lord, there is the typically great 70's clothing you get in blaxploitation, along with the expected funky score.

Anyhow, Sugar decides to get revenge by... finding an old voodoo queen she's known for years and she resurrects Baron Samedi, who himself resurrects the undead to kill whitey. The deaths as seen on screen aren't graphic but some have rough implications. For example, one dies after being eaten by hungry hogs and another is in a coffin filled with large snakes. The actor that plays Samedi (Don Pedro Colley) is the most memorable aspect of the film, as he was an intimidating-looking dude who nonetheless had charisma and his smile when he realized some fool was about to die...

Of course the movie is on the silly side and AIP thought it was a good idea to have the swamps of Louisiana (actually filmed in Texas) to have a soundtrack as if it was in the deepest darkest jungles of Africa-it was sounds from Tarzan movies, obviously looped repeatedly-but overall this was a good time. Marki Bey was also memorable as the lead character and as I am me, I was greatly amused by one of the bad guys (only known as FABULOUS) being Mac from Night Court. As typical for a lot of blaxploitation, this was simply fun.

The Fly

The Fly (1958)

Runtime: 94 minutes

Directed by: Kurt Neumann

Starring: David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall, Kathleen Freeman

From: 20th Century Fox

Help me... help... me...

"He was searching for the truth. He almost found a great truth but for one instant, he was careless. The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world and the most dangerous".

As I saw The Fly remake last week, it only made sense to check out the original when it played on TCM last night. By modern standards there is camp value with seeing a man with a human-sized fly head and a fly appendage for a left arm. Yet even if there were some slow stretches, I was never bored and I can say this is pretty good.

The general idea is the same as in the 1986 film: a brilliant man (in this case, Andre; the movie was set and filmed in Montreal) creates a teleportation device-although it's not referred to as that in this movie-and he has more success with inanimate objects until improvements are made... he does it to himself but a fly enters the chamber so disaster happens. But, gross body horror does not happen... he just appears with a fly's head and appendage. Hilariously, it means that there's a fly with a human's head and arm; a subplot is this man's wife, son and maid attempting to catch such fly, which even before the accident had a white head.

Another change is that a decent amount of the story is told in flashback. The opening has the aftermath of Andre's gruesome death, and his wife Helene was responsible. After a half hour, the flashback is shown then we arrive at the ending. Vincent Price is the most famous cast member but he's not the lead and plus, he's not in most of the flashback footage so he is gone for long stretches. That does not sink the film as the cast as a whole is fine... although as usual, Price was the most memorable aspect. This is in Cinemascope so between the widescreen photography and the DeLuxe Color, it was a pretty movie to look at.

At least for me, the film is still solid even 60 years later.

Headshot

Headshot (2016)

Runtime: 118 minutes

Directed by: Kimo Stamboel/Timo Tjahjanto

Starring: Iko Uwais, Chelsea Islan, Sunny Pang, Very Tri Yulisman, Julie Estelle

From: Several Indonesian Companies

In this late night post, I talk about quite the martial arts extravaganza:

No wonder the IMDb plot description ends with the phrase “Violence ensues. Sweet, sweet violence.” Believe me, it does.

Yesterday I signed up to Netflix again for a month; there are plenty of reasons why I am not consistently a member. To be honest, each time I sign up again the service seems to be worse than the last time I left. Still, there is programming of interest; it won't be too long before The Night Comes for Us will be viewed... rave reviews have been seen by me. However, many of the main players did Headshot first and as I hadn't seen it before... it would not be right to not check this out first.

The plot is not too terribly complicated or original: a mysterious man washes up on the beach and he has amnesia. This is after he wakes up from a two month coma. It's not quite as preposterous as it was in Seagal's Hard to Kill, where he's in a 7 year coma and after not much effort he is once again a martial arts expert kicking ass. But like in Hard to Kill he gets to know his nurse, although here it's just friendship instead of a torrid love affair. Anyhow, a lot of people are looking to kill the guy called Ishmael (the cute nurse was reading Moby Dick, you see, and randomly gave him that name) but as Ishmael is played by the awesome SOB known as Iko Uwais, he beats up those people, usually in glorious ways.

Headshot is on the silly side but to me that does not matter too much as this does deliver on the violence. It is rather brutal and over the top but it does deliver. There's plenty of brawls, gunplay, martial arts, and all the rest. The villain (Lee) is definitely made to be pretty despicable so it is very easy to root for Ishmael against the bad guys... and girl. This is not glorious like The Raid: Redemption but I did prefer this to The Raid 2, which was pretentious, had action that was too ridiculous, did not need to be 150 minutes long and had a half-assed Asian crime story which was done much better by others. Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man were two of the preposterous elements yet I can't complain about the performers in the role... well, Julie Estelle and Very Tri Yulisman are also in Headshot and they provide two of the most memorable scenes.

There is also pretty Indonesian scenery to admire and a modern electronic score; those that enjoy such things as The Raid films and The Night Comes for Us should check this out for more of the same.

Seeding Of A Ghost

Seeding of a Ghost  (Zhong Gui) (1983)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Kuen Yeung

Starring: Norman Chu, Phillip Ko, Maria Jo, Jung Wang, Mi Tien

From: Shaw Brothers

Wild, this was: 

At least this ended with a bang.

For awhile now I've known of this infamous Shaw Brothers production; recently I tracked down the movie on DVD and this was the perfect time to see what the hub-bub was about. Well... I see it did earn its reputation. The story: a dude accidentally hits a “dark magician” with his taxi cab and the taxi driver's luck turns rotten. His wife cheats on him then she is horrifically attacked and killed by two punks. Taxi driver unwittingly asks the guy he hits for revenge, which revolves around the dead wife's corpse. Bad things then happen to the punks and the cheater, most of them gross. This includes vomiting worms, disgusting images, and then the finale... I won't reveal what happens in the finale except that obviously the filmmakers had seen a horror movie that must have come out right before they rolled production on this.

The storytelling through this is not always strong and it does take time to get going-part of it is pretty much a police procedural, which was unexpected-but once it does, things get pretty wild. Thankfully most of the effects look fine even today, and what happens in the final few minutes are good, although not legendary like the film they are blatantly ripping off. This was retroactively rated as a Category III film (the rough equivalent of an NC-17 in the United States) in Hong Kong, and for good reason. There are plenty of bloody and downright icky special effects, there are taboo moments and there is gratuitous female nudity to be seen; I mean, more than one woman is full frontal.


This movie is set in modern times (i.e. early 1980's) so among other things you see a sweet Fiat X-19 vehicle and the soundtrack occasionally has some synth action. It seems like a lot of things were thrown (and literally at one point, fireballs were used as projectiles) against the wall to see what stuck; that's what I meant by uneven storytelling. That said, the film was still an experience so for some this will be the cat's pajamas.

I Talk About 4DX

Last night I revisited It (the one from last year) and it's very good. How I experienced the film was rather unique: 

The original review from September of '17 will be left up as my opinion of the movie has not changed. You can look for that and read my thoughts from last year if you so wish. The 1990 miniseries was enjoyable but this is better. Pennywise in this film was great, albeit in a different way than it was in the miniseries. I still like all the kids in The Losers Club and their interactions with each other; there are plenty of scares and how Pennywise moves like an animal: creepy. I understand some of the criticisms but to me It felt (and feels) fresh instead of hackneyed or cliched. Hopefully next year's It: Chapter 2 is just as much of a blast.

How I was able to see the film in a different way: 4DX otherwise shows first-run movies. However, for this week, because of the season they are showing a few different horror films a day until the 1st... it's mainly recent genre efforts like It or Jigsaw. For months now there's been one at a Regal Cinemas in Orlando but as a ticket is even pricier than for an IMAX engagement, it took them having half-off prices this week for me to give this unique theatrical experience a chance.

For those unaware of 4DX, it's where you watch a film in 2D or 3D and there are various added effects. The seats move all around (including sensors in the lower back of the seat), wind blows at you from the front, the seat itself and even-a few times, at least-the sides of the auditorium, although loud machines had to kick on to achieve the effect-water falls on you (although you could press a button to turn that off), lights flashed a few times from the side... a wacky gimmick, of course it was. At times the effect could be subtle... when the kids rode their bikes, the seats attempted to simulate this-but other times you could get jostled around... no wonder there was a sign just outside the auditorium listing a number of warnings.

Only a few others were in attendance, although I have no idea what they draw for first-run movies. For me the whole experience was at times distracting yet it was not something I hated. One day in the future I'll try it out again for a new motion picture and discover if my opinion has changed.

The Fly

The Fly (1986)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: David Cronenberg

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel, George Chuvalo

From: 20^th Century Fox

Thankfully I still say that this motion picture is tremendous: 

If you're doing a dangerous scientific experiment involving yourself, perhaps don't have a baboon be the only observer on site. Then again, not doing it while drunk off of wine is another good idea. I had seen this before, although the last viewing in full was many years ago. It was something I saw bits and pieces of after the fact, but I don't even remember how long it was since I viewed The Fly from beginning to end, and this seemed like the best time to finally talk about this movie here.

To me this is just as effective as it was when it came out 32 years ago. The practical effects being excellent is a big reason why. In the end credits what had to be several dozen different people were listed as being part of the on-screen transformation of Seth Brundle to Brundlefly, and as of course it wasn't crappy CG it had not aged at all with the passage of time. What happens to that character is utterly horrifying, and plenty of frightening moments have stayed in my memory for all those years, as I am sure has happened to many others.

There are only a few characters that are focused on, and thankfully not only are they all interesting and three dimensional, but the right people were chosen for the parts. I couldn't imagine Brundle, Veronica Quaife or the (hilariously named) Stathis Borans being played by anyone else than Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, or John Getz. All three were great in their roles, especially Goldblum... it was not so difficult imagining him in the mid 80's as a very brilliant yet very eccentric man who could actually make a teleportation device work.

You care about the leads so you feel bad when the romance between Seth and Veronica goes sour due to the nightmare transformation that Brundle goes through. Mix in a quality Howard Shore score and Cronenberg being the director-I couldn't imagine any other director of his stature at the time nailing the movie's themes and horror so well-and to me this motion picture is still great and still blood-curdling and can still shock audiences today.

Free Solo

Free Solo (2018)

 

98% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 58 reviews)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Jimmy Chin/Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Starring: This is a documentary

From: National Geographic Documentary Films

Well, this was an unexpected sequel to Solo...

Actually, Free Solo is not about Han but rather talks about free solo mountain climbing and the insane idea that an expert in that field (Alex Honnold) of being the first to scale El Capitan at Yosemite National Park in California without the aid of any equipment such as ropes, hooks or what have you. I imagine someone has already thought of this... yes, just like what James T. Kirk did in the opening act of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Only, if you slip and fall, Spock in special boots won't fly up or down to save you.

Alex has to scale 2900 feet (884 meters) of a vertical granite surface where there aren't many places to hold on and sometimes you have to be very dexterous to move from one spot to another. Needless to say, many who engage in the act of free solo climbing end up passing away as they scale tall objects where a fall is instantly fatal. While Honnold is great at what he does, everyone is concerned about this attempt-including his girlfriend-so no matter the months of meticulous notes he takes or the practice runs he does with friends and safety gear, this becoming a tragedy was an entirely plausible result.

Perhaps not surprisingly for someone who is so successful at a given field, Alex is at least a little weird. There's always the possibility that some things were exaggerated for the cameras (whether by accident or on purpose; the observer effect is always a thing when it comes to documentaries) yet I am not surprised if him being distant from his girlfriend and not being able to effectively be affectionate to his lady is the God's honest truth. He is not a D-bag, but sometimes comes off as one.

I am glad I saw this on the big screen (thank you, AMC A-List app... I am still a fan of the service, BTW) as the theatrical experience was the best way of showing how massive El Capitan is and what an insane idea it is to climb it with no aids; furthermore, there are literally acres of beautiful scenery to marvel at. This was well shot by the directors that gave us Meru... a film I need to put in my virtual queue. You get surprisingly close to Alex at some points during his climbs. In general I am glad Free Solo was not a fall off the cliff sort of experience for me, as I learned something about a topic I really knew nothing about and I now fully appreciate those daredevils who even attempt such insane feats.

Eyes Without A Face

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Georges Franju

Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Beatrice Altariba

From: Several French Companies

 

Watching this film on demand via TCM's free streaming option (if you have the right cable provider, that is) was a wise decision on my part; “poetic horror” is what this was.

What a tale that was spun here: a doctor's reckless driving results in his young adult daughter's face becoming disfigured; haunted by guilt, he attempts a face transplant to make the love of his life beautiful again. As face transplants are only now starting to become successful in the real world, you can probably guess how well this goes... and oh yeah, the donors who are providing the faces are unwilling; he has an assistant trick pretty girls into this scenario, before their visages are ruined forever.

The French were inspired by Hammer horror so some people decided to create one of their own, only of course it was more French than what they were doing in the UK. There is plenty of mood and atmosphere to go along with the Francophile style and the movie takes its time to unfurl its story. You get to know the main players before things get rolling. It was a feat that the doctor is not an entirely unsympathetic figure despite the way that he butchers innocent girls... along with experimenting on animals as a way to practice. But usually he did not have my sympathy as he committed those heinous acts. He is not all out of hope as he repeatedly attempts this procedure, damn the collateral damage done to others.

The creepiest moments were either the mask that the daughter (Christiane) wears-it is human-like but as it's frozen in one position, talk about Uncanny Valley-or one surgery becoming much more graphic than I was expecting. I understand that at the time some fainted due to that gruesome moment. The doctor and his assistant are both pretty vile in what they due for Christiane's sake; the daughter herself is easy to feel sorry for. She is trapped in the house, is traumatized by her own appearance, and isn't in love with living. In fact, you could say that she spent so much time believing all the lies to keep the dream alive... now it makes her sad and makes her mad at truth...

For years I've known of the creepy poster for the film; Eyes Without a Face is a chiller well worth seeing.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: J. Lee Thompson

Starring: Charles Bronson, John P. Ryan, Kay Lenz, Soon-Tek Oh, Perry Lopez

From: Cannon

This was a fun way for me to spend last night: 

I had not seen this in years so when it played on the El Rey Network last night, it was the perfect opportunity to revisit something that is not as insane as 3 but is still a fine slice of cheese as the film is all about what was a HUGE deal in the 1980's, that being the War on Drugs.

Paul Kersey is back in Los Angeles but as he seemingly is the harbinger of death, someone else connected to him passes away. In this case it's the teen daughter of his girlfriend that dies, of a crack cocaine overdose. When a rich dude tells Paul that his daughter also died due to drugs and he wishes Kersey to become a hitman and eliminate a list of targets that are the main players in the LA drug scene... it does not take much provocation for him to go on the warpath again, and for part of the story do a half-assed version of Yojimbo as two gangs are played against one another.

The movie is pretty silly and there are some amazingly phony effects that you get to witness; that said, if you enjoy 80's action pictures of this nature, there is a good chance you'll have a good time with this. .. the same goes if you enjoyed the other movies in the series. Many sons of bitches get killed in setpieces that include a wearhouse, a skating rink and a fancy penthouse. As it was popular at the time, there were some one-liners which could be goofy-”I was makin' a sandwich”-yet were at least memorable. At least the movie ends in a memorable fashion and for something like this, I am sure I don't need to say too much to convince someone whether or not they should check this out, although Danny Trejo appears for a few minutes and what a way he goes out.

Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Taika Waititi

Starring: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne

From: Many different New Zealand companies

This won't be a popular opinion but I hope everyone can understand why I feel this way: 

I realize this will be one of those reviews where many will virulently disagree, but for me this movie wasn't all that funny... and I am someone who thinks What We Do in the Shadows is great. IMO, that is much funnier than this film, where there were a bunch of annoying characters yelling at each other and I sure as hell never warmed up to that annoying fat kid Ricky, which is a problem as he was the lead.

No matter the way that his character changes, I never enjoyed that fake gangster wannabe little bastard. Even at the very end, he was as irritating as he was when he first showed up in the middle of nowhere as the foster kid to a daffy middle-aged lady and her cantankerous husband Hector (Sam Neill), an outdoorsman (to use a New Zealand term, a Southern Man) who-understandably to me-doesn't like Ricky either. My opinion did not change even as the relationship between Ricky and Hector grew as they spend a lot of time in the woods and end up being the targets of a manhunt due to circumstances, including one plot point I thought was kind of gross and I am not sure why it was needed.

Really, if it wasn't for Neill-for once using his natural accent-I don't think I'd even rate this as average. Sure, there were a few times I laughed and the rural New Zealand areas they shot at were beautiful and the jaunty musical score was interesting, but it was Old Sam that helped keep my interest in this, whether it was his natural talents or how his character was like an audience surrogate, if the audience was only me. Yeah Hector, I do not like Ricky either; in fact, you should have thrown him into a woodchipper! That and some moments meant that this was not a movie I would call bad.

I wish I could have blissfully been charmed by this epic tale, but I really wasn't. It's been broached by me before how I feel about modern comedies and modern humor-not a lot of it tickles my funny bone. I am greatly disappointed as the previous film from the director I thought was hilarious and I just presumed it'd be more of the same here. Unfortunately...

Blood Salvage

Blood Salvage (1990)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Tucker Johnston

Starring: Danny Nelson, Lori Birdsong, Christian Hesler, Ralph Pruitt Vaughn, John Saxon

From: Paragon Arts International

What an interesting curio this proved to be, featuring several famous names... including Evander Holyfield!? Yes: 

Or: The horror film where an executive producer was EVANDER HOLYFIELD. I have known of this movie for years and even today I have no idea as to why the guy that soon after this movie came out would become the World Heavyweight Champion of boxing got involved with a low budget production such as this. He even has a cameo as himself; in one scene at a carnival his trainer at the time (Lou Duva) issues a challenge for any rube in the crowd to enter the squared circle and last a few minutes with his fighter. This sort of thing used to happen at carnivals in the real old days, where boxers and wrestlers issued grandstand challenges like that for a big sum of money and as the fighter could take care of themselves, they almost always won. A buffoon character accepts the challenge and even though The Real Deal is blindfolded, the bozo is knocked down with a blind punch.

As for the film as a whole, I had heard from a source-now known by me to be erroneous-that this was tremendously gruesome. That was not the case at all; there were only a few bloody moments. The subject matter is intense but don't expect gallons of blood to be shed. The plot: Rob Zombie redneck types who live in rural Georgia target a teenaged girl who happens to be in a wheelchair (there is a reason why she is specifically chosen); they are in the county for a beauty pageant and her dad is John Saxon; it's always a treat seeing him... as it was seeing Ray Walston for a few minutes. Those rednecks are religious types but they have perverted the word of the Lord to do some heinous things.  The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an obvious inspiration (it must not be a coincidence that their house looks like the Sawyer residence) but the reason for their butchery is different, at least.

While it was mainly for an important plot point, it was interesting to see that a girl who was physically handicapped (“due to illness”, as the movie vaguely explained) had such a big role... even if the actress playing her was able bodied. The evil family is what you'd expect: patriarch dad Jake is the ringleader, there is a mentally handicapped son named Roy and the other son Hiram, he is definitely a Rob Zombie character in that he not only looks gross, but also speaks in an incredibly vulgar manner and most of his dialogue is not fit for a review such as this.

The film is not as dirty or grimy or nasty as you'd expect from the premise. It has some real weird moments but I wouldn't have minded more carnage either; what effects you do see mostly look good considering the low budget. Still, at least I can say this film is OK; that is no shame considering this is random regional horror. There are darkly humorous moments throughout-for example, the evil family has a pet alligator that roams the ground-and thankfully much of it was not distracting or annoying. Maybe one day this will come out on Blu; the movie can be watched for free on Prime if you're a member but it is in fullscreen and was obviously shot at 1.85:1... a few scenes have the boom mic OBVIOUSLY appear. Plenty of people here have this rated a little higher than me so this is why I mentioned the idea of this getting a proper release one day.

Halloween (The 2018 Movie)

Halloween (2018)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/halloween_2018

82% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 160 reviews)

Runtime: 106 minutes

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Haluk Bilginer, Will Patton

From: Universal/Miramax (under new ownership, of course)/Blumhouse

Well, this was better than H20, but that's not a high bar to jump over, IMO... I liked this new Halloween more than loved it:

The fact that there are plenty on Letterboxd who also felt at least a little underwhelmed by this movie made me feel not a total outlier because of this not knocking my socks off like it has for a number of people. The original is still a classic and in fact I saw that yesterday afternoon before viewing this; I don't need to do another review for that as I am happy with the one posted by me back in 2015. It's still a great film; my expectations were in check but I could not avoid all of the reviews, including those by people followed on various forms of social media.

The trailers revealed quite a lot (too much, IMO) so I imagine from that alone people are familiar with the general plot, or how this version of the timeline only recognizes the original film and thus Myers is once again a pure unstoppable force of evil who only went after Laurie Strode because she dropped off the key to the abandoned Myers house (leaving it under the mat) and Michael happened to be in it at the time and he became obsessed with killing her, with her friends becoming collateral damage... the big plot twist of II never happened and that's for the best. The Shape of course ends up back in Haddonfield and he slaughters random people he comes across; how he and Laurie meet each other again I had a big issue with but spoilers, so I won't explain what it is or why it did not work for me.

I can't complain about Jamie Lee Curtis or her performance as a Laurie that was traumatized by what happened 40 years ago so she became obsessed, at the expense of her family and thus there are big problems with her, her daughter and granddaughter. I can't complain about the cast in general and it's always nice seeing Judy Greer but Curtis was the shining light here. There were some memorable kills but the movie did remember that Myers-at least in the original-was not about offing victims in creative ways, although you do get to witness some gruesome moments here.

While there are some pretty suspenseful scenes and quality moments, this is not really all that scary and even though the Halloween holiday milieu is captured well, this is lacking in the mood and atmosphere that the original had in spades. Then, there's the humor... as I've had to say too often in the past few years, this had too much of it and only a small amount was actually funny. As I've mentioned before, “modern comedy” is just lost on me, for the most part. The laughs you get in the OG Halloween are not only more amusing to me, but also way more organic. Wait until you hear a pair of police officers have the most inane conversation about lunch. Even those that rate this movie highly did not like everything about the plot, especially objecting to a particular moment that comes out of nowhere and is just nonsensical. I was not a fan of the moment in question either; there had to be a better way to get all the pieces in the right places for the finale, and at times what an overblown finale it is.

This is one of the better movies in the franchise, but only because too many of them were only OK or worse. I understand how this would work like gangbusters for many people... several occasions the crowd I saw this with loudly applauded after big moments. There was enough to where I can say that this was fine, yet I was hoping for more as with the main plot points, this could have been something that I thought was great instead of something that I'll likely forever believe was a missed opportunity.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Rouben Mamoulian

Starring: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes

From: Paramount

You may not have heard of this Pre-Code horror film before... but it is well worth seeing, says I: 

As sometimes happens, this viewing came about due to a messageboard discussion, and the person who put this over did a good job so I paid for the streaming rental on Amazon and it was a wise selection on my part.

The first act is not a horror film at all; it sets up the story and shows how Dr. Jekyll (pronounced “Jeekyll” but I understand that is the proper way to say it, at least according to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson story) is a wise doctor in Victorian era London who is willing to help the poor and crippled. I will safely presume everyone is familiar with the general story so I don't need to dwell on how the good doctor believes everyone has two sides so he creates a potion that releases the evil Mr. Hyde. Well, in this film Hyde does not only act like an animalistic brute, but also looks like one; still effective dissolve effects show the transformations and Hyde resembles an ape. Late in the film you see he hops and moves around like one too.

Jekyll has a love interest named Muriel but her military father wishes they wait a few more months until they marry. Considering that you find out they hadn't been engaged for long... the wait is understandable, even if they have to wait to live together. There's also a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks named Ivy who the Dr. meets and Hyde quite fancies. Their relationship is especially disturbing in these modern times as it's an abusive one and Hyde possesses her. In 2018 when it comes to horror elements, their pairing and how she is terrified of him and he revels in her fear... it is rather effective and as this is Pre-Code, that means the toxic relationship is not filtered.

The film has nice sets that create the appropriate mood and there's are such visual treats as some split screen action and a few minutes which include what had to be a novel idea at the time-first person perspective from the viewpoint of Jekyll-but it is Frederic March as the leads who is the true highlight. He even won the Academy Award for the performance, shared with Wallace Beery for his role as the lead in the original The Champ. This is a rather dynamic early horror film well worth seeing.

Short Circuit 2

Short Circuit 2 (1988)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: Kenneth Johnson

Starring: Fisher Stevens, Michael McKean, Cynthia Gibb, Jack Weston, Dee McCafferty

From: TriStar

Go with me on this journey as for one more night I continued down the path of rewatching films from my youth:

Let me kick your balls into outer space by talking about another revisit to my youth; last night I saw something I saw a few times when I was a kid but it has to be a VERY long time since I saw the film in full. It's been even longer since I've seen the first Short Circuit; hopefully no one thinks of me as a craphead for preferring the sequel to the original. It may take a long while but eventually I'll see the OG Short Circuit for a review.

It is no wonder that plenty of kids around my age enjoyed the film, considering that some juvenile things happen and the lead is a cute and funny sentient robot who calls himself Johnny Five. He, his co-creator Ben and a huckster named Fred end up in New York City, which is a boon for Five as he loves acquiring input, and he has “megabytes of storage.” He wishes to be treated the same as a human being but naturally most strangers just don't understand and unfortunately his naivete causes him to trust some sleazy people who wish to use him for nefarious purposes.

There are a few very silly moments, perhaps Ben did not need a romantic interest (even if it was Cynthia Gibb) and the film is long at almost two hours; yet I was still entertained... as I did when I was a young boy, I felt bad for Johnny Five as he was not accepted by most of society and there was also a specific moment or two that I imagine was a tearjerker for many kids back in the day. Michael McKean was fine as Fred, who may be as rotten a character as you first think. Fisher Stevens as Ben... yeah, by modern standards it is not a good look. The character is supposed to be from India and Stevens is a white dude doing a stereotypical act. It was not so heinous to me that it ruins the film but then again I am a Caucasian man and if anyone from India is offended to a grievous degree, I get it.

I am not sure what Hispanics will think of the minor characters known as the Los Locos gang as they also play up stereotypes there. Yet to me they were yet another example of a 1980's movie gang that in no way reflects an actual inner-city gang from any time period. I will presume that there never have been too many that have a catchphrase and actually say it out loud. Anyhow, at least for me I still enjoy the film, problematic lead human character aside.

Flight Of The Navigator

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Randal Kleiser

Starring: Joey Cramer, Cliff De Young, Veronica Cartwright, Sarah Jessica Parker, the voice of Paul Reubens, even if he billed himself as PAUL MALL in the film

From: Disney, although they made this with a Norwegian company

What a blast from the past this was: 

I was not expecting Turner Classic Movies to allow me to see a film I saw a few times as a kid, but here we go. A few times a year TCM devotes an evening to showing old movies, shorts and cartoons from Disney, and last night was one of those nights. 

I presume that many people around my age (late 30's) watched Navigator as a kid and were big fans. Seeing this as an adult, the first half is more impressive than the back half, which was not how I felt back then. Now, I realize that it is a rather terrifying scenario to be knocked out for what seems like a few hours in 1978 after falling into a ravine but somehow it is 8 years later and you have not aged a day... oh and there is mysterious alien data in your brain. Not even Sarah Jessica Parker with 80's hair will help you feel better about the scenario, where you are confused by how things are different now and you are understandably baffled by a Blancmange music video.

The second half of the movie becomes sillier as you find out all this is because of a spaceship that took our lead David back in '78, and he boards the ship and discovers it is sentient. Their interactions become goofy after a mind meld and the ship (nicknamed Max) acts and talks like Pee Wee Herman, because... it was voiced by Paul Reubens, who billed himself as Paul Mall in the credits. The film meanders around a lot during this section before reaching its conclusion.

Despite the silliness, overall I'll say this is fine. I don't know if it's nostalgia talking or not, but that's how I feel. Speaking of that, in 2018 how 80's the movie is really shines through: the synth score from Alan Silvestri and a sweet Miami Vice t-shirt are two shining examples there. It was a relief finding this film to still be watchable with my modern eyes. Not to end this on a downer, but only a few hours ago I discovered that Joey Cramer (who played David-real name Deleriyes Joe Cramer) was unfortunately a typical child actor in that as an adult he was screwed up... as in, developing a drug problem and getting arrested. Well, in this case he robbed a bank a few years ago! Of course he went to prison and him being sentenced is the latest news I can find, but hopefully Cramer can turn his life around.

Fangs

Fangs (Anyab) (1981)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Mohammed Shebl

Starring: Ali El Haggar, Mona Gabr, Ahmed Adaweyah, Hassan Al Imam, Talat Zein

From: Heck if I know

One thing I did not mention in my review of this bizarre curio: there are vampires who wear Ziggy Stardust-esque makeup! This phrase does not sound as strange in context:

Would you believe this is an Egyptian version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, except that the villains are vampires... and there is a DISCO soundtrack? I swear, this is not a fib. I've known of this film for awhile now and all that time it's been available for viewing on archive.org; about time I finally sat down and watched this. Turns out, it was not a painful sit or insufferable, but there is a bizarre stretch...

The general idea is the same: the movie's version of Brad and Janet (known here as Ali and Mona) are a young couple who break down in the middle of nowhere and end up in a mansion which is full of vampires-and also a hunchback-and the head of the clan is... Dracula! No, he is not a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania, as at least in the early 80's Egypt had stringent censorship laws so that couldn't be done. Still, he fancies Mona and he gives her sex looks; I will presume that Drac is at least not overtly queer as he still has DISCO PARTIES nightly in his home and lives with his minions, so in my canon he swings both ways.

There is a rather odd turn where for twenty minutes (!) the Fangs version of The Criminologist explains to Dracula that there are bloodsuckers in Egypt, and they are those filthy capitalists that rip off the common folk. This is demonstrated in various sketches with the three leads where they play different characters and they show that there are a-hole doctors, plumbers, taxi cab drivers, and others that gouge poor people of their money and they are the true vampires; I am not making any of this up. I am not sure why all that time was spent flogging this point until it becomes a dead horse but at least it demonstrates that apparently Egypt was a crappy place to live in back then.

Plus, I was amused by the musical covers during that section. Most of the soundtrack is either some well-known classical music or a disco score that was catchy. The songs that are sung in this horror musical are not bad nor is the staging of them. Then there are the covers of such tunes as the James Bond Theme and the themes to the like of The Pink Panther, Jaws, For a Few Dollars More, A Clockwork Orange and for some reason, The Munsters! Again, I cannot explain why this was done.

Director Mohammed Shebl obviously must also have been a fan of Hammer horror as he tries to add atmosphere with plenty of fog that is in the mansion itself. I realized quickly that he loved RHPS with how he recreated it here with the limitations of budget and the country he lived in; hell, at one point a vampire puts on a RHPS t-shirt. There are visual flourishes throughout and some funny sight-gags; the 1960's Batman TV show was another obvious inspiration.

Director Shebl passed away in late '96 so he did not live to see this unexpectedly receive some notoriety in the West these past few years, to the point that it played last year at Fantastic Fest. I wonder what he would have thought of that twist. I am glad it is easy for something so odd to be tracked down and watched by anyone who is genuinely curious about such a thing as Egyptian Rocky Horror.

First Man

First Man (2018)

88% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 270 reviews)

Runtime: 138 minutes

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Pablo Schreiber, Jason Clarke

From: Universal/Dreamworks

Fly me to the moon...

For a film where you already know what the ultimate outcome is, this is an incredibly compelling journey with great acting and some brutally intense moments. I can admit that I've been interested in space since I was a little kid so perhaps I am a little biased here but I found this movie to be great, even if the focus was on a stoic figure who often did not say a hell of a lot. Plenty of acting had to be done without the benefit of speech and as Ryan Gosling is a natural at that, I thought he was tremendous as the lead.

First Man spans a lot of material in a two hour and eighteen minute motion picture as you see NASA go through the various steps in attempting to have Americans land on the moon first before those damned Soviets do, from the perspective of not only Neil Armstrong but also his family. There are plenty of books and documentaries that go more in-depth on this arduous journey to allow Apollo 11 to occur but this is a nice summary of all the challenges that occur and how it results in a lot of strain on the family lives of those in NASA; at least with Neil, he was often focused on work at the expense of being around his family. He is a loving dad and all and yet he became preoccupied with this goal. Claire Foy was also great as Neil's wife and among other things she had to tell him to avoid the difficult task of telling their kids that he may not make it back home from the unprecedented mission. A big reason for this is due to tragedy that happens to the family in the first act; it was one of a few tearjerker moments but this was the most important one due to how it affected him for the rest of the picture.

I was not worried if this would be a well-made film, and of course it was between the musical cues and soundtrack & the cinematography that made much of the film appear as if it was made in the 70's; the cast was uniformly fine but Gosling and Foy were the true highlights. As I alluded to, there are some intense moments; to echo something I heard a few days ago, you don't always need monsters & aliens to make outer space terrifying as hell. When things suddenly go wrong, it becomes edge of your seat entertainment where you may grab tightly onto the armrests of the auditorium seats.

I get why some have felt underwhelmed by this picture; thankfully for my tastes this was not the case and it was an inspiring tale which demonstrates how it was such a difficult task to have someone land on the moon and why it was a monumental achievement in human history. Also, you learn that apparently Buzz Aldrin was a loose cannon who was unfiltered and uttered statements out loud he probably shouldn't have. Considering that in the past decade he punched some toolbag who confronted him and said he believed in the moon landing hoax theory... I'll presume that is how Buzz actually is.

The Swarm

The Swarm (1978)

Runtime: I saw the 155 minute extended cut

Directed by: Irwin Allen

Starring: Again, WAY too many to list

From: Warner Bros.

Yes, this movie unBEElievably bad... and plus, wasps are the real enemy anyhow: 

This was not only a bee movie, but also a B-movie... and a pretty bad one at that. To clarify, I saw the 155 minute extended cut, which is the far easier version to find these days. I did not watch the recent Blu release from Warner Archive but instead watched it in standard definition via a streaming rental from Amazon Video.

For years I had heard this was a stinker and yet it wasn't until the new Blu release was referenced elsewhere that I was finally brave enough to see how poor this was, and indeed it is no surprise the combination of this and When Time Ran Out not only ruined Irwin Allen's career but stopped the disaster genre dead in its tracks for years. I can't give it an extremely low rating as there are moments of tremendous comedy-unfortunately for the film it was unintended as this was played deadly serious-but much of the movie is so... damn... boring.

There are many famous faces in the cast (everyone from Olivia de Havilland and Henry Fonda to Patty Duke Astin (as she was known then), Bradford Dillman, Slim Pickens and Richard Widmark, but it don't matter much unless you want to see all these stars made to look foolish or have to spout poor dialogue. Time is wasted on such things as which old man will take de Havilland as his girlfriend, and it's all corny and it don't really matter in the long run. Then there is the ludicrous plot where entomologist Michael Caine is somehow granted all power by the United States government and has impunity... or how killer bees that apparently can eat through plastic don't go through hazmat suits... or someone can blackmail a General into entry on a military base, or different people hallucinate a giant bee after they are attacked separately.

Of course, there is the glaring issue that no bee ever acts the way they do here, killer or not. They don't go after helicopters or attack people in a nuclear power plant. All that killer bees are were products of genetic engineering gone wrong and they are more aggressive than the typical honeybee. Only like two people a year are killed by their attacks and their venom is not incredibly potent either. Plenty is scientifically inaccurate; at least an important truth was mentioned in that the typical bee is incredibly important to Earth due to all the pollinating it does-the issue to colony collapse disorder and other issues resulting in their populations declining has far worse catastrophic effects for this world than killer bees-although I am not sure how seriously audiences would treat that message considering it was delivered by Caine in one of his many epic moments of yelling.

Lord, Caine in this film... it's one of his paycheck roles. He at times comes across as a loon, he usually dresses either in a sort of leisure suit or turtleneck, and his work vehicle is actually a 70's Ford van that is pretty much a shaggin' wagon where you expect shag carpeting in the back. Then there is the finale and the portentous dialogue he has to deliver; that finale is incredible in many different ways. It was overwrought and it's great how the plan to destroy the villains results in an environmental catastrophe when the lead spent so much time stressing how he does not wish to harm the environment or its ecosystem. What a stupid film this is!

The rating not being even lower is due to the laughs that do happen amongst all the ennui, along with the usually good effects, there being some moments of mild terror (and the movie is not afraid to show children being killed by the bees) and a fine score from Jerry Goldsmith. But this is not enough for me to say that this does not deserve the reputation as a turkey that this has had for the past four decades now.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Runtime: I saw the version on the Criterion Blu release that is 197 minutes long; no that is not a misprint

Directed by: Stanley Kramer

Starring: WAY too many to list

From: MGM

I saw this on Wednesday night after taking a break from movies on Tuesday. I was glad I saw the over 3 hour cut for the first time: 

NOTE: The version of the movie I saw was the 197 minute cut from the 2014 Criterion release; this is as close to the roadshow version as can be possible; some scenes had to be done with still shots as only the audio and not the film is still around. Other inserted footage was from a variety of sources, including about 20 seconds that had white kanji subtitles. It was my first time viewing this 197 minute cut.

What an absurd movie this is. I mean, even in the shorter theatrical cut it was over 2 ½ hours longer and when it went out for roadshow engagements the length was almost an hour longer. As I've heard people say, most comedies should be 90 minutes or shorter and personally, the ones we get in these modern times should follow that rule and also cut out all the dumb improv s*** that ruins jokes and makes the overall product too long. Anyway... this is an epic length comedy shot in Cinerama, although by this point it did not mean the three screen deal but instead the term was used for motion pictures shot in Super Panavision at 2.76:1.

The premise is simple enough: Jimmy Durante is driving on a windy California road like his hair is on fire; he crashes and before literally kicking the bucket before he kicks the bucket, he tells some random motorists who stop & try to help him the location of a lot of money, only it is the location of a park and the exact location was left vague. From there is a mad scramble to find the loot, and the amount of chaos and havoc is insane. Also insane is all the comedic talent that appears in the film, whether in bit parts or substantial roles. No way could I list them all here but the variety is tremendous: people who were around since the silent/vaudeville era like Milton Berle, Buster Keaton, and The Three Stooges... those from the 30's like Joe E. Brown and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson... those that were popular at the time like Don Knotts, Buddy Hackett and Sid Caesar... and those that would later become more famous, like Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk and Norman Fell. There was even a Broadway legend in Ethel Merman, who provided arguably the most memorable character in the picture and was the butt of the final punchline. Of course some of the cast I wish would have appeared for more than just a few seconds but that's just personal preference.

I do understand how this wouldn't be for all tastes; a lot of it is slapstick/physical humor and there is plenty of yelling and screaming from the substantial cast; even for me, at times it was an exhausting three hours plus. Even then, I enjoy this picture because it is constantly over the top with all the slapstick and the calamities the main players stumble into... there are plenty of highlights, from a plane flight gone wrong and getting stuck in a basement to Winters destroying a gas station and discovering that Berle and Terry-Thomas made for a hell of a comedic duo. There's also plenty of big stunts, fistfights, car chases, etc.

A common complaint is that director Stanley Kramer was not great at comedy and it's true; this definitely is not in his wheelhouse. Yet for me it doesn't ruin the picture and at least the film is otherwise well-shot and he was able to juggle many different balls in the air with this large cast and all the big moments that happen and none of those balls dropped to the ground. In the future I'll look at the special features but I can say that the picture and sound on the Blu were great, so it was the expected quality job from Criterion, and if you want to see this beloved movie in its full form, it is a purchase I highly recommend making.