Delta Space Mission

This is a 1984 movie & what a wacky movie it is: 

This was probably what I should have expected from an 80’s Romanian animated sci-fi movie. Deaf Crocodile helped rescue this movie from obscurity… actually, the Romanian Film Archive & the Romanian Film Centre in conjunction w/ the label restored the movie but Crocodile released it to the West-gaining enough notoriety that the movie was on the Criterion Channel for a bit. However, today I saw it on the Eternal Family platform, where oddities like these are commonplace.

Ostensibly, the focus is on a space crew in 3084 who interact w/ a voluptuous humanoid alien w/ green-blue skin and bright red hair named Alma… a new ship (Station Delta) has a silver dodecahedron AI brain which goes haywire after developing the hots for Alma. 

What the film featured:

* Primitive yet charming colorful animation which featured watercolor backgrounds
* Kaiju-sized monsters
* Alma’s “alien dog” Tin, which I’d better describe as an alien frog, but Tin was awesome
* Many bleeps & bloops on the soundtrack, along with a prog-like synth score from Calin Ioanchimescu that was also awesome
* A human duo that had a buddy cop comedy sort of energy to them
Creative alien worlds, especially on the planet Acora
* An onslaught of robots

Some aspects you shouldn’t scrutinize too hard. That said, I was entertained by this peculiarity. It’s no Fantastic Planet nor Son of the White Mare yet the film still proved my theory that cinema behind the Iron Curtain is typically bizarre, due to environment, repression, the government, etc. Evidently, this was a spin-off from a cartoon on television-of course, no foreknowledge of that show is required to see the film. IMO, Delta Space Mission is a trippy delight.

An Angel for Satan

An Angel for Satan (Un Angelo Per Satana) (1966)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Camillo Mastrocinque

Starring: Barbara Steele, Anthony Steffen, Claudio Gora, Mario Brega, Marina Berti

From: Discobolo Film

In this special late-night posting on Letterboxd, I discuss another film watched on the Eternal Family platform; that esoteric service also has a quartet of streaming channels divided by genre. While the channels don’t tell you how far along in the movie or short you are, at least every few minutes, in the bottom right corner the name of the film and year of release are shown-especially critical for a platform full of obscurities.

The film is rather reminiscent of Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, and not solely due to both starring cult favorite Barbara Steele. The scenario of Satan: a sculptor travels to a small Italian village by a lake during the last years of the 19th century. Barbara Steele hires him to restore a statue recently pulled from the lake after 200 years, despite the protests of the superstitious village. Well, they were right in their fears; someone witchy is causing havoc, tearing the town apart. To be fair, some of those people deserved it…

Yes, the movie is not as good as 1960’s Black Sunday. That doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile, or that you wouldn’t have a good time seeing this as the back half of a double feature w/ Black Sunday during a chilly fall evening, perhaps while drinking chilled or warm apple cider. Ms. Steele was especially bewitching here; the rest of the main/supporting characters are colorful archetypes. It was a delight watching a specter ravage the town & causing so much havoc. The black and white photography was note-perfect for this Gothic tale & all the spooky happenings. Appropriate OOT acting + the atmosphere = a pretty good time.

Again, this film is rather “normal” compared to much of what’s on Eternal Family. By the end of the month, you’ll see what I’m referring to.

Behind the Door

Behind the Door (1919)

Runtime: 70 minutes

Directed by: Irvin Willat

Starring: Hobart Wadsworth, Jane Novak, James Gordon, J.P. Lockney, Wallace Beery

From: Paramount

This was a “superdrama”, indeed. I never know whether to name people I follow on Letterboxd or not; what will be revealed: one recently reviewed this film, described as the “most brutal silent” then another gave a review, also positive. As the restoration is on YouTube (more on that at the end), I couldn’t turn down this curio.

The opening is a gentleman named Oscar Krug, returning to a bucolic little Maine town… in 1925. The viewer discovers he had a taxidermy shop, long-since abandoned. He finds an old handkerchief and sighs wistfully to days of yore; except for the ending, the rest of the film is in flashback to 1917 & 1918. Krug loved a girl named Alice. Despite his status as a nice man who even assists children w/ fixing a sailboat or a doll torn apart, he experiences prejudice as it’s World War I time & he’s of German heritage--the father of Alice does not approve, especially once the United States enters the war. As least we don’t have that sort of behavior now in the States concerning someone born in the country with “a foreign-sounding” name, especially from a country that the United States has heat with…

To be serious again, a xenophobic brawl happens outside the shop, resulting in torn clothes & obvious facial bruising. Oscar gets out of town, enlisting in the Navy. Oscar and Alice secretly wed; the father throws her out. You see, he wants his early 20’s daughter to marry his chosen middle-aged guy instead of the middle-aged Oscar. Yes, unfortunate age gaps like this occurred in cinema even that long ago. Things happen, Oscar meets the evil German submarine captain Wallace Beery-recently, I discovered that this actor, often portraying villains, was likely a villain IRL; you can read his Wiki page and discover the accusations former wife Gloria Swanson made against him.

After a horrifying act, Krug is looking for revenge, and I’ll just say that Norman Bates wasn’t the first taxidermist to stun audiences in a motion picture. We are told what Krug did as an act of revenge; it’d leave audiences flabbergasted for a protagonist to do that NOW in a film. Even w/o the benefit of spoken dialogue, the pure rage from Krug was palpable. The interactions between Krug and the evil Lieutenant Brandt were the highlight. Between that and a woman’s sexual assault, people in 2026 won’t believe this was released by Paramount, but ‘tis true.

This was a compelling 70-minute journey that was restored in 2016 by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Library of Congress, and Russia’s Gosfilmofond; the latter two had different prints that were combined-even then, two scenes had to be represented by stills as no known complete print exists. Be that as it may, the restoration was of high quality. Accompanied by an appropriate score from Stephen Horne, I was happy w/ the restoration and that such a wild silent wasn’t lost to the sands of time. Flicker Alley (a great niche label I’ve mentioned on several occasions in the past) have the movie on Blu if anyone’s interested.

Silent Night (The John Woo Film)

Silent Night (2023)

60% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 125 reviews)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: John Woo

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Kid Cudi, Harold Torres, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yoko Hamamura

From: Lionsgate

A movie finally watched because I was to see it theatrically in December 2023 after returning from my annual sojourn to Kansas… no, that wasn’t when I was violently ill on the airline flight back home, that was in December 2024! Yes, I was ill two Decembers in a row. By the time I recovered in ’23, all the bad reviews were out and there was little motivation to even bother. However, it’s on Peacock-which I’m only subscribed to for the next week-and despite the reviews, it’s still John Woo.

Unfortunately, I will agree with the many that thought “Bah, humbug!” to the film. Many likely know the plot of Joel Kinnaman (w/ the improbable name BRIAN GODLOCK) losing a son to a drive-by shooting and he is shot in the throat while attempting to chase down the perpetrators, resulting in the damage to his vocal chords. Yes, that ruins his life, his relationship w/ Catalina Sandino Moreno ends, and carnage happens as he looks for revenge.

Yes, drive-by shootings are awful, killing innocent lives and many people struggle with the aftermath of tragedy. However, Rolling Thunder this isn’t in terms of revenge-o-matic films. To echo the thoughts of others, the “minimal dialogue overall & the lack of speech from the protagonist” was a hindrance. It was fine for the dissolution of the relationship between the main couple, but bad for the movie overall as it made the movie feel flat and dare I say, boring. It worked as “well” as the silent gimmick did for the lead in Mute—meaning, the gimmick didn’t work.

After the opening that’s made silly in part due to bad CG (a shame a genre legend is forced to use such devices) & some bizarre cinematic decisions-which were present throughout, e.g. the main villain’s lair and the perplexing decision to dance w/ his gal during the final act-it’s not until the second half that the crux of the action appears. It’s fine-not John Wick and not what you’d hope from the director, but the action was fine.

So were the performances; I haven’t seen much of Kinnaman, Kid Cudi, or Moreno, but they did their best with this material. I’m more familiar w/ Cudi’s movies than his music… as unfathomable as this will be to everyone, I couldn’t tell you if I’ve heard ANY of his songs! My not listening to any modern music is no lie or gimmick. Many moons ago I saw Moreno in Maria, Full of Grace; while a downbeat film, one day that needs a second visit & review as there are positive memories of the picture.

A shame that this was his first American movie since 2003’s Paycheck—that wasn’t great either yet at least was a funny, striking sort of bad. The score was good; that nor the action beats are enough for me to ever give Silent Night a recommendation.

Winter Kills

Winter Kills (1979)

Runtime: 97 confounding minutes

Directed by: William Richert

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Huston, and MANY others, albeit usually in small roles

From: AVCO Embassy

A movie watched because it’s leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month, the cast is astounding, and about time I checked out a movie I’ve known about for years. Thus, what a massive letdown this was that I didn’t find this “funny” movie really all the funny or even entertaining. “Off-putting” and “weird” are terms that I’d use, as unpopular as this opinion will be for many.

As suspected, it was “inspired” by the JFK assassination-my opinion on that case will not be discussed in public-there’s a rabbit hole I don’t want to go down nor a hornet’s nest I want to kick. Jeff Bridges is the brother of Not JFK, who was gunned down in Philadelphia on February 22, 1960 (if I’d known, the movie would have been reviewed last weekend). He learns from Joe Spinell-on his deathbed-that a second shooter killed Not JFK. Considering the cast and that the film was purported to be a comedic satire, my two main takeaways shouldn’t have been “Wow, was this weird & off-putting” and “You know, Belinda Bauer is a pretty gal.” That second point sounds like I’m a degenerate considering she had a scene of loud sex w/ Bridges then went full frontal nudity at one point. However, if you’re a degenerate who ever wanted to see an old John Huston wear a pair of bright red briefs… you’re in luck!

It's a shame I didn’t enjoy the bizarre story and didn’t laugh at most of the “humor” in a movie w/ (among others) Bridges, Bauer, Spinell, Huston, Toshiro Mifune-albeit for one scene, and what a pointless scene it was-Tomas Milian, Eli Wallach, Ralph Meeker, Sterling Hayden, and even Elizabeth Taylor for a minute. I’m glad most of you got more or even far more out of this farce than I did. To be fair, there’s an interesting score from Maurice Jarre & as the cinematography was from Vilmos Zsigmond so it looked great & featured a few stunning landscape shots.

The movie can be rented from Amazon or viewed on Tubi-as of course Tubi has the film. Hopefully any future viewer can better connect w/ Winter Kills than I did. There were some amusing moments-you probably won’t agree that a great moment was seeing Bridges drive a bright yellow Ford Pinto-so I can’t give the film a rotten rating-I was just disappointed overall. It’s the sort of movie where the troubled making-of sounds more interesting than the finished product and is worthy of a deep dive by me. Among other details, they ran out of money more than once, and the producers were drug dealers where one was murdered and the other went to prison for 40 years! Most evidently weren’t paid their full salary; Ms. Taylor was the smart one who asked for her $100,000 up-front for her cameo.

The Devonsville Terror

The Devonsville Terror (1983)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Ulli Lommel

Starring: Suzanna Love, Robert Walker, Jr., Donald Pleasence, Paul Willson, Mary Walden

From: New West Films

Wake up chat, a new streaming service just dropped… well, rather, a great service was discovered by me via an ad on Instagram, of all places. Somehow, I had never heard of Eternal Family, a platform devoted to a cornucopia of film oddities & obscurities, meaning it is perfect for my esoteric tastes. Its name is a little curious but just a cursory glance at its catalogue & its availability as a Roku app made joining the easiest decision of the month. There are films FAR more obscure than this Ulli Lommel picture available but Devonsville will give me plenty to discuss.

The film will seem modern today; it presents men (both from 1683 and 1983) as terrible. In the 17th century, an event analogous to the Salem Witch Trials occurs. Women were killed due to hysteria-one was accused of being a witch. A curse placed on the town has existed ever since. In the 20th century, a trio of new women arrive in town, including Jenny-the director’s then-wife, Suzanna Love, sporting a short, dyed hairdo that presumably would rile up a small, conservative town, at least in 1983.

Well, the descendants of the past don’t like that the new women are “liberated.” In both time periods, the males are awful pigs so I am confident that everyone (especially those that identify as female) will be quite delighted when the dumb 1980’s males are punished. At least the characters portrayed by Robert Walker, Jr. (he looked a lot like his dad) and Donald Pleasence weren’t vile… well, perhaps Ol’ Donald as a doctor shouldn’t have asked Jenny to take her shirt off as he took her blood pressure then did a session of hypnosis… otherwise, there’s little complaint w/ his character.

As Bill Rebane was a producer and they filmed in his home territory of Northern Wisconsin, some may be shocked that this movie was intriguing & worthwhile. It may help some with the foreknowledge that deaths aren’t sprinkled throughout and viewers should be patient for the finish, which does deliver. The pacing felt appropriate for a film set in a tiny rural town out in the woods; there are quite a few establishing shots which displayed the area-no complaints as not only did the pastoral beauty of the area charm me, the remoteness of the area was established-important for when the events of the final act occurred.

Various themes were addressed: the sins of the past, not learning from the past, the isolation of the town resulting in outdated viewpoints, etc. Considering the feminist themes, no surprise that Ms. Love was one of the credited screenwriters. As I theorized during my review of The Boogeyman last fall, perhaps it was his divorcing of Love (to echo the comment of a Letterboxd mutual, Not Daisy Edgar-Jones) in 1987 was why his career devolved so badly the past few decades.

The Devonsville Terror was an intriguing early 80’s horror picture which was different from the norm, not peppered with death throughout but rather saved death (and the few gory bits) to the conclusion, while covering a topic unique for the era. This was a pleasant surprise & a reason why I’m not only happy to view films from regional genre filmmakers (as a diamond could be found among the rough), but that Eternal Family is a streaming platform available for people that have tastes as esoteric as me. Expect some reviews of bizarre cinema in March.

Welfare

This is a 1975 documentary from a famed director who recently passed away: 

A belated RIP to Frederick Wiseman; he passed away a week and a half ago at the age of 96. I’ve known of him for years-I “tracked down” 2013’s At Berkeley not so long after its release. That was a 4 hour (!) documentary covering seemingly every aspect of the University of Cal-Berkeley, a prestigious school. It was a great example of his filmmaking style: lengthy documentaries filmed passively with no narrator or text but rather the footage selected, the editing, and the order help present a facet of American life through the people shown on screen. It was a passive fly-on-the-wall style which served him well for decades.

Due to their length and the requirement of tracking them down via “less than ethical means” for streaming, despite my desire to see more from Wiseman and my having “acquired” more than one of his films in my physical collection, the only other movie I’d seen from him was 1970’s Hospital, only 83 minutes yet still a nice time capsule of life in a run-down New York City infirmary.

Before I discuss Welfare the film, I of course must mention that my opinion on the American welfare system will NOT be discussed here-while not the hottest topic of contention among those in the United States the past decade or so, it’s still a hot-button issue. Instead, I’ll note that at least during the time of filming-in a New York City welfare office, the system was a real quagmire, full of confrontation and arguments between those employees & the welfare recipients. It’s only fate that made me born into a family that never required welfare and thus I’m ignorant to the process or how difficult it is for those that necessitate assistance.

The implication-presumably understood by many seeing this-is that the system is a real bureaucracy, full of red tape and a runaround w/ people going around in circles. Perhaps the term “Kafkaesque” is used too often; however, IMO that word is incredibly apt to describe the film. As at least one mutual noted, one of the workers comes off poorly, yelling & arguing with multiple people during the conclusion of the documentary as those multiple people had reached their breaking point at the same time, same place.

It’s exercises in frustration featuring many different ethnicities, including (unfortunately) a white war veteran blatantly racist-to the faces of Black people. Those are two LONG, uncomfortable scenes. There is also discussion of religion in one scene; this is one of several conversations shown between people that (at least according to appearance) are wildly different from one another yet that isn’t a hindrance to their discussions.

I don’t remember where or when I heard this statement, but at least one person noted that you can’t fully understand America & its people until you see more than one Frederick Wiseman film. There are regrets in not seeing more from him before his passing; on the other side of the coin, more people than before on Letterboxd that are followers-currently, just over 5,400!-can read about a filmmaker that I fear will forever demand more attention than he’ll ever receive.