THE INTRUDER (1962)

Written by Puño Estupendo

Roger Corman has made a lot of movies in his career. As a producer, he's given many directors their start and is responsible for more than one actor to have gotten their first screen time before going on to become successful with the Hollywood A-list. But upon watching the newly released DVD of his 1962 film The Intruder, I was reminded that Roger Corman is quite a capable director in his own right.

The Intruder begins with the arrival of Adam Cramer by bus to a small southern town. While Cramer is having a talk with the elderly woman who runs the local boarding house, Corman sets up an environment that seems friendly enough at first glance, but then reveals that there's something unsettling here as well. The news of the day is that school is about to start up but there is a major development that is not sitting well with the townsfolk. For the first time, black children are going to be allowed to attend the same school as the white children. This is what Cramer has come to town for. He, and the organization he claims is backing him, feels that although this is now the law, it is far from the final word on the subject.

He starts sizing up what he's dealing with. A lot of glad-handing, some sweet talk here and there, and quick visits to the power players in town, allow Mr. Cramer to get a foothold in the community very quickly. He discovers that the most common opinion with everyone is that they don't like the thought of blacks being in the school, but it is the law and you have to respect the law.

Through his charisma and manipulation of everyone around him, Adam successfully fires the town up to the point of boiling over. From the blatantly obvious (a town-square rally where he delivers quite a speech) to secret plans behind his public persona, Cramer seems to have everything going according to plan.

William Shatner delivers a good performance here. Yes, you get some of the cliché mannerisms that people mock him for, but his take is strong and vibrant. This is a young Shatner in this movie and he's got energy bursting at the seams but it's well placed for the most part.

The auxiliary cast is a catch-22, though. Cast with actual townsfolk as much as possible, this adds to the sense of realism but also creates some stilted dialogue here and there. Still, the thing I found that had the biggest impact was how different the film felt from other movies that deal with issues of race. This isn't taking a look back at the issue; this was made while this was the issue, and it showed. Roger Corman deserves a lot of credit here. This had to be incredibly gutsy for him to have made at the time. In an interview on the disc, he reveals some of the fear he had in the town where they shot, which is why he kept some of the plot points a secret from locals for fear of being driven out of town.

Be warned that the language here is unflinching. Use of the word “nigger” is commonplace in the dialogue and is very disturbing. There's not really any other profanity in the script and that makes the racial slurs even uglier because of it, which it should be. This is the film's strong point: it deals with the ugliness head-on without any glorification or hesitation and provokes the viewer to have to deal with it.

At a running time of 83 minutes, The Intruder left me in a state of emotion I wouldn't have guessed it would have at first glance. Much more powerful than I assumed it was going to be, and Roger Corman should be very proud. This is a very fine film and it outdoes a lot of films twice its size and budget.

Criminal Minds: The Second Season

Written by Senora Bicho

Okay, I admit it. I love crime. Movies, books, TV, fiction and non-fiction. I am addicted and can’t stop myself, even when it causes me to wake in the middle of the night sure that my husband is trying to kill me. Now when it comes to crime on television, I am not usually overly selective. American Justice, 48 Hours Mystery, Law and Order, CSI (only the Vegas version though, I do draw the line somewhere), etc, etc. There is definitely more than enough out there these days to keep my DVR full.

However, Criminal Minds is an interesting diversion from the usual crime drama. This show focuses on the criminal and tracking the unidentified suspect down through profiling. The series follows the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) as they try to solve cases that involve a serial offender. The show really focuses on the absolute worst of the worst. The crimes are extremely brutal and the cases this season ranged from child pornography to the bloodiest of serial killers.

Season Two brought on a lot of challenges and personal obstacles for the BAU. Criminal Minds, as described by the executive producer, is a self-contained show in that a viewer can come in and out of the show without being lost. However, the writers do throw in “cookies” about the characters that reward regular viewers. This season brought a lot more personal information and development of the characters.

Each episode begins and ends with a quote from the likes of Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde that summarize the main issues being addressed. These quotes illustrate the intelligence of the series. The BAU is considered an elite team within the FBI and each character brings a different expertise. Jason Gideon, played by Mandy Patinkin, was the heart of the team in the first two seasons. He asked to be released at the end of season two and was replaced by Joe Mantegna for Season Three. Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) is the head of the unit. You see a bit of his family life over the course of the season and get a hint of the strain his job has on his marriage. Hotchner grounds the group and provides the rational, calm force. Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) is the brain of the team and amazingly can solve the unsolvable. Reid’s super-genius, photographic mind admittedly provides a cheat for the writers as disclosed in one the featurettes. The four other team members each play their part, from computer geek to hunky stud, but are not as dominate or engrossing as these three.

Season Two starts with the conclusion of the hunt for the Fisher King from the Season One finale. Early on in the episode, the suspect shoots one of the agents, Elle Greenway. This causes the slow destruction of her psyche and subsequent resignation midway through the season. She is then replaced by Emily Prentiss, whose admission into the group is highly suspect by Hotchner and Gideon as neither approved it. The finale of the season indicates that Prentiss was brought in due to her family connections and the favor that got her into the group is now being called on to help bring Hotchner’s career to an end.

The DVD collection offers some great special features, first and foremost being the audio commentary. Each commentary offers a wonderful collaboration that has been thoughtfully considered. Writers, actors, directors, and producers are all brought together to bring excellent insight into the episodes they narrate. There are four episodes that offer commentary tracks and I really wish they had done more.

There are three featurettes, all also well done and interesting. A spotlight of Kristen Vangsness, who plays the computer wiz on the show, is included. This is a lighthearted offering that is not very noteworthy. Last but not least, there are two deleted scenes and a gag reel. I continue to be confused by the fact that serious shows feel the need to include a stupid gag reel. They are never funny and this one is no exception.

Season Three of Criminal Minds is already underway and if you love crime drama like I do, give it a try. If after a few episodes you are hooked, then go out and buy Season Two to get caught up on what you have missed. If you are already a devoted fan of the show, this is a worthy purchase just for the special features.

The Ike & Tina Turner Story: 1960-1975

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Time Life’s Legends Of American Music series continues with a three disc boxed set of The Ike & Tina Turner Story: 1960-1975. This new collection is a good look at the music left behind in the wake of the supernova that was the career of Ike and Tina Turner. Crossing most label restrictions, Time Life is able to pull together the major hits of these magnificent performers.

The story of Ike and Tina’s life together is a well-known tale of missed opportunities, abuse and rebirth, so let me concentrate on how they met and the music at hand. For details of their life together and how bad it got see the movie What’s Love Got To Do With It or read I, Tina by Tina.

Ike was an R&B pioneer who helped give birth to Rock ‘N’ Roll with the 1951 hit “Rocket 88” by his band The Kings Of Rhythm. At the time of its release the song was credited to Ike’s sax man and vocalist on the track, Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats. With the success of the song Jackie and “his” cats ditched Ike and signed with Chess Records of Chicago leaving Ike bandless and bitter.

Meanwhile over in Nutbush, Tennessee, young Anna Mae Bullock was pushing a broom and singing songs she heard on the radio. Little did she know that in a few years time she would be singing and shouting her own brand of gritty blues and expanding the R&B sound into something new, or that her life would be turned upside-down, inside-out, and hit rock bottom before she would find the success that she truly deserved in the music world.

One night in 1957 Anna Mae hooked up with Ike and his reformed Kings Of Rhythm at an East St. Louis nightclub, when she was called on stage during intermission. Ike took notice of the young blues shouter and a few days later he was at her mother’s house asking if young Anna Mae could travel with the band. Momma agreed and at the next gig she was introduced as Little Ann. The world kept spinning and Ike kept his band active, gigging and putting out records along the way. Yet not until 1960 did Ike hit with something that would stick and put him back in the spotlight.

“A Fool In Love” put Little Ann up front and sent shockwaves through the microphone and the music world. To protect himself from Little Ann abandoning him “like the others did,” Ike made sure the single was credited to Ike & Tina Turner, so he could replace her if he needed to. Although at the time they were not married, Anna Mae Bullock, now Tina Turner, was carrying Ike’s baby.

That same song opens disc one and sets the pace for most of the ‘60s tunes. With Ike’s band thumping solid beats filled out by thick bass lines, skipping drums, a rollickin’ piano, and bluesy guitar licks bent to Hell, the hits kept on a comin’. But it is Tina’s gritty growl backed by The Ikettes that sets the sound apart.

More hits follow in the mold of Ike’s formulaic sound, which broken down in these early days of soul can be best described as New Orleans Boogie revamped and Tina-fied. “I Idolize You,” “It’s Gonna work Out Fine,” “Poor Fool,” “Tra La La La La,” and “I’m Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)” by The Ikettes are the best examples of this sound. At times it’s easy to see the influence of Brother Ray Charles and The Godfather James Brown. On “It’s Gonna Work Out” guitar hero Mickey Baker of Mickey and Sylvia (“Love Is Strange”) fame is doing male vocals not Ike.

“You Should Have Treated Me Right” and “Good Good Lovin’” are good samples of Ike reaching to the past for inspiration. “Should Have Treated Me Right” screams Ray and The Raylettes, while “Loving’” has Ike pumpin’ the 88s like Huey “Piano” Smith and reworking a hit from the early ‘50s. Disc one does rounds out with some hints of things to come. The retelling of “Stagger Lee And Billy,” “Two Is A Couple,” and “I’m Gonna Do All I Can (To Do Right By My Man)” are signs of the future and another push in a new direction.

The disc ends with a live version of one of the couples more revered songs, “River Deep, Mountain High” written and produced by Phil Spector. It’s a live version because due to contractual reasons the studio take is unavailable to Time Life. The song is key to the Ike and Tina story for the fact that it drove Ike crazy that he didn’t have a thing to do with its recording while Tina was becoming the obvious main attraction of the Ike & Tina Revue and moving away from his abusive ways.

Disc Two is where it’s really at; it’s late ‘69. Opening with a solid blues number “The Hunter” that has Ike bending chords every which way he can and leaving the fret board smokin’ after his solos. Track two is a moving cover of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and Tina lays it down like a woman who knows the hurt of the situation well.

“Bold Soul Sister” is solid funk that mixes James Brown’s attitude with The Meters’ grooves and Tina asserts herself as a “B.S.S.” and woman that won’t take no crap! Her personnel ball of freedom is set in motion. Gliding into track four with ease and showing that they can make any song their own, the super duo takes on The Beatles’ blues tribute “Come Together.”

The reworking continued as Tina kept listening to rock music of the day. Versions of The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” which was a staple of their live act for years, became something new and all her own. “Proud Mary” opens slow and then launches into a spicy hot swamp rock anthem, while the Stax records-sounding “Workin’ Together” and “Get Back” sound as if they could have been part of Elvis’ 1970 Vegas repertoire.

“Up In Heah,” “Sexy Ida (Part 1),” “Sweet Rhode Island Red,” and “Nutbush City Limits” are the tunes that represent the last phase of the Ike and Tina union. The guitars become heavier and more distorted, the bass drips with funk, and the drums pound out steady time as the horns jump in and out. Swirling around the whole band are keyboards and guitar chords bent too damn far, creating space-age sounds for the next stratosphere. Lending a hand on guitar for “Sexy Ida” and “Nutbush City Limit” is Marc Bolan from T.Rex.

Disc three is a live recording from 1969 when the Ike & Tina Revue where at full power and driving audiences wild with their electric high voltage stage presence. The album “In Person” has never been released on CD before making this set a true Time Life exclusive. The disc oozes with the feel of what a live show must have been like as the band mixes rock songs with solid soul senders. We get to hear The Ikettes on “Everyday People” and “There Was a Time.” Tina knocks you out with Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” and Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music.” Not to leave out her killer renditions of “Funky Street,” “Son Of A Preacher Man” and “Respect.”

A very good way to close out one hell of a boxed set and as an added bonus the 24-page booklet is filled with many interesting photos and is written once again by the extremely knowledgeable Colin Escott. There is a great photo of Ike looking at Tina on stage and he’s giving her the evil eye. It’s great and sums up their torrid relationship well. Go pick this one up, y’all; it will have you movin’ and groovin’ from start to finish.

THE FOOD OF THE GODS

Written by Tío Esqueleto

Writer, director, producer, and special effects artist, Bert I. Gordon got his start in the early, black and white days of American International Pictures. Helming such 1950s B-classics as Earth vs. The Spider and Attack Of The Puppet People, Gordon’s (“Mr. Big” as he became known) best known early works for A.I.P. were his Colossal Man pictures, The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), and War of the Colossal Beast (1958). In 1976, after 20 years of other projects for other people, Gordon returned to A.I.P., in color (yellow credits and all!) with The Food of the Gods, the first of two H.G. Wells adaptations (Empire Of The Ants would come out a year later) that would go on to be drive-in/late night TV staples. The Food of the Gods is a nature-gone-amuck tale where, once again, man’s meddling with nature has swung around to bite him in the ass, this time, with teeth, tails, beaks, and stingers.

On a remote island in Canada, Morgan (Marjoe Gortner), a football player, along with his agent, Brian (Jon Cypher), and his teammate, Davis, go hunting on horseback. Davis ends up ahead of the pack where he is ambushed by giant, two-foot wasps. When they finally catch up to him, Davis is dead, stung to death, his face swollen and unrecognizable.

Morgan rides on for help, where he happens upon the remote farmhouse of a religious fanatic named Mrs. Skinner (Ida Lupino). While snooping in the barn, Morgan finds himself in a bloody battle with a menacing, eight-foot rooster that he eventually brings down with a pitchfork. A bewildered Morgan learns that Mrs. Skinner has been feeding her chickens a watery, oatmeal-like goo she found oozing from a hill in the yard. She declares it a gift from the Lord, an “answer to our prayers,” a means to get rich. Think Beverly Hillbillies meets The Twilight Zone. She collects it in mason jars, and has affectionately labeled it F.O.T.G. Morgan warns her that whatever it is, it is more than likely responsible for the bizarre stinging death of his friend, and vows he’ll be back to the island to get to the bottom of it. He rides off, ending the first act, setting us up for the rest of the picture.

Morgan and a reluctant Brian return to the island determined to get to the bottom of their friend’s mysterious death. They arrive at the Skinner farm just in time to save Bensington, a greedy businessman, who had come to make the Skinners an offer on the ooze. The same giant wasps that killed Davis are attacking him. Also with Bensington (played by television staple of the time, Ralph Meeker) is his assistant Lorna (Pamela Franklin), a bright young scientist who quickly realizes the ooze’s negative effects clearly outweigh any positives. While inside, we learn that we can add worms and rats to the list of contaminated critters that’ve gotten into the "Food of the Gods." Lots and lots of rats!

Also on the island are young lovers, Tom and Rita, who were enjoying a camping trip until their camper got stuck and broke an axel. Rita (played by Joe Dante staple, Belinda Balaski) is at least nine months pregnant, leading one to wonder why she was ever on such a trip in the first place. Teams of giant, bloodthirsty rats eventually overrun their camper. They are forced to make a run for it, eventually ending up at the Skinner farm, with Rita about to pop.

So, we have the football star and his agent, the greedy businessman and his sensible scientist assistant, the god-fearing recluse, and the pregnant couple about to go into labor, all held up in a farmhouse in the woods, about to get overrun by legions of six foot rats. Now that’s a damn fine and fun set up for an exploitation film of the highest lowest quality! I won’t tell you how it ends up, who lives and who dies, but something tells me you can probably figure it out.

The Food of the Gods is too often summed up as a bad, cheesy, movie, but it’s not. The Oscar-winner Crash (2004) is a bad, cheesy, movie. The Food of the Gods is a good, B-movie, which knowingly embraces the aforementioned knocks with its tongue placed firmly and lovingly in its cheek for all to see. Nobody was out to win an award or leave a mark in cinematic history. They were out to entertain, to freak out, possibly jump start a career or two, and first and foremost, to sell tickets to 200-plus cars filled with two to seven teenagers and young adults each, at sold out drive-in theatres across America. At a budget of about thirteen bucks, the returns were astronomical and that was the point.

All cheapness aside, the special effects are really quite impressive, contrary to what other reviewers may say. Gordon and his assistant, a young Rick Baker, created them. They are a combination of live animal, matte, effects, and forced perspective, as well as Baker’s albeit early, but still highly effective, puppets and latex. Good stuff. Clearly not a special effect, are the deaths of the live action rats. Whether shot at close range with .22 caliber bullets, or drowned, or electrocuted, many animals (just rats really) were harmed or killed during the making of this motion picture. Not so good stuff.

As with most of MGM’s Midnight Movies, The Food of the Gods comes with no special features. It contains an original mono mix, as well as a stereo mix, and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. No trailers, no extras, just a really good transfer of a really great “bad” movie. Enjoy!!

Glen Campbell: Good Times Again

Written by Fantasma el Rey

Glen Campbell: Good Times Again is seventy-five minutes of key performances from the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour, which ran on CBS from 1969 to 1972. The show spotlighted many top talents of the day and crossed all categories of music to deliver good time music to the masses.

Campbell started as a highly respected session guitarist, playing on many hit songs and for many well-known musicians and vocalists. Various artists sought his skills for their albums, ranging from Frank Sinatra and Merle Haggard to The Righteous Brothers and The Beach Boys. Campbell could play it all and did, showing off his talents every week playing with different people.

Campbell sings and plays his way through a number of his own top tunes as well on this musical trip down his memory lane. We get to hear his “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “True Grit” and “Gentle On My Mind.” He also sings a song that hits hard for many folks, the wonderful packing up and leaving of “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” It is a song that has always moved me with its story of a man finally leaving his girlfriend after many attempts. While away on the road, he ponders what her day must be like, getting ready for work, trying to call him at home, and then finally going to bed at night thinking that this may well be the real thing.

The DVD is packed full of music and current commentary by Glen on what he thought about the person he was performing with. Linda Ronstadt, Bobbie Gentry, Anne Murray, and Cher represent the women that Glen could so easily duet with on tunes such as “Carolina In My Mind” (Ronstadt), “Let It Be Me” (Gentry), and two songs by the legendary Bob Dylan, “All I Really Want To Do” (Cher) and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (Murray). “Don’t Think Twice” is an awesome example of how Glen, with some help, can turn a song into his own. Campbell’s work with Bobbie Gentry spawned a few albums and from the first line sung it’s easy to hear why. His sweet high pitched pining plays perfectly off of her solid lower range country girl voice.

On the other good foot we have Campbell picking fantastically along side musical icons the likes of Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Rick Nelson. It’s cool to see him get down and perform solid country tunes with Cash (“Folsom Prison Blues”) and Nelson (“Hello Walls”). It is also very nice to see him with Brother Ray on “Cryin’ Time,” another solid country sender. Campbell proves once again that he can cover all bases by playing with the younger Rick Nelson as they jam through “Louisiana Man,” simply great. Rick is one of my all-time favorites and this appearance is during his country-rock years, pushing forward and breaking away from his teen rocker image.

Campbell’s show had a tendency to lean towards the lighthearted side of life, many of his performances on the show where done in comical fashion. Such as him singing as a dump truck of flowers rains down upon him or in some good skits with the Smother Brothers. Some of the tunes have that “AM Gold” feel to them; soft, breezy, light sounds of the day. B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” is a good example.

Also on the DVD is an additional 15 minutes of interviews with Campbell giving more of his thoughts on the folks that he had on his show. Telling stories of how these friendships came to be and why they are so important. He has many stories to tell, like how he got the role in True Grit through John Wayne’s daughter’s love for his television show and how time passed and he saw Willie Nelson when his hair was long and he had become the outlaw we know him as today.

Glen Campbell: Good Times Again is a fun look back at a moment in the man’s career when he was on top of the world and on the cutting edge of breaking down musical dividers. Worth the time and viewing for those who may have missed the special when it was aired on PBS sometime in September.

John Fogerty: Revival

Written by El Conquistadorko

Back in the 1960s, John Fogerty and his band Creedence Clearwater Revival churned out an incredible series of swampy blues and folk songs so convincingly rootsy that a lot of people still think the band hailed from somewhere in the deep south. Of course, the band was actually part of San Francisco’s psychedelic rock movement and none of its members had even been south of the Mason Dixon Line when they got famous. But what made Creedence truly genius was John Fogerty’s epic lyrics. In anthems like “Effigy,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” — Fogerty captured the turbulence sweeping America without once singing the words “Vietnam,” “Richard Nixon,” or “flower power.”

Oh what a difference four decades makes. Now, 40 years after the Summer of Love, Fogerty has released his best solo album to date, a straight-forward collection of electric blues and rockabilly-inspired tunes that sounds a lot like Creedence in its heyday. A lot of Revival sounds like pure nostalgia. “Lookin’ out across this town/ kinda makes me wonder how/ all the things that made us great/ got left so far behind,” Fogerty sings in “Gunslinger.” A few songs later, in a song called — groan — “Summer of Love,” Fogerty seems to be trying to say something important about the decade that shook the world, but it’s not clear what. “It was the Summer of Love/ so many people on the move/ flower children lookin’ for the truth/ will they find it or just excuse.”

Huh? Just excuse what? Fogerty never really explains, and instead moves on to more current events in songs like “Long Dark Night.” “Georgie’s in the jungle/ knockin’ on the door/ come to get your children/ wants to have a war.” The rest of the song references Hurricane Katrina — “Brownie’s in the outhouse/ Katrina’s on the line/ Gulf is a disaster/ but Georgie says its fine” — and rips on Bush’s cabinet — “Rummie’s in the kitchen/ messin’ with the pans/ Dickie’s in the back/ stealin’ everything he can.”

Things don’t get a whole lot better on “I Can’t Take it No More,” the album’s closing track. “You know you lied about the casualties/ you know you lied about the WMDs/ you know you lied about the detainees/ all over this world,” Fogerty wails. “Your daddy wrote a check and there you are/ another Fortunate Son.”

It’s hard to disagree with Fogerty’s politics and the music’s pretty damn good, but what America needs now are artists like Fogerty was 40 years ago, folks who can write a good tune and come up with lyrics that reflect the crazy shit that’s happening today, instead of trying to be cute and sounding like an intern at MoveOn.org.

The closest he comes to doing this is on “Don’t You Wish it Was True,” the album’s first song. “I dreamed I walked in Heaven/ just the other night/ there was so much beauty/ so much light/ don’t you wish it was true.” Yes, we do. We just wish the rest of Revival was more like this, and less like John Fogerty trying so hard to be like John Fogerty.

WITCHFINDER GENERAL

Written by Fantasma el Rey

For Vincent Price’s 75th role we see him as Matthew Hopkins in 1968’s Witchfinder General, directed by Michael Reeves and based on the historical novel by Ronald Bassett. It is a tale of horror in the sense that for the most part these events did take place and people like Hopkins did exist.

Hopkins roams the countryside in Cromwell-era England searching for witches and doing God’s work by condemning them to death after torturing them into confessions of guilt. In reality these women and men (mostly young women) are innocent and a confession can be a murmur just before they pass out from blood loss. The accused are brought before Hopkins after he’s been paid by the town folk to basically exterminate the people that they find annoying or troublesome. After Hopkins enjoys carnal pleasures with the accused young women, they are tortured, mostly by Hopkins assistant, who likes to watch and hear their screams, and then hung. Amidst the chaos of civil war, Hopkins slips under the radar of the authorities and plays off the fears and religious beliefs of the common man to mask his sadist fetishes.

Hopkins’ reign of terror begins to unravel after he tortures and abuses a young woman whose soldier husband vows to avenge his wife’s honor. From there, we have scenes of Hopkins in various towns and villages doing his best to rid the world of the “foul ungodliness in women kind.” Now that along with the whole torture/sex thing says to me that Hopkins had a bad run with women throughout his life. Maybe his mother abused him or he is a bastard son of many possible men. Perhaps his wife left him or became the town doorknob. Who knows such things? All I know is that we have a wonderful vehicle for Vincent Price to prove once more that he is the greatest ghoul, well maybe second or third, or tied for first with Lugosi and Karloff.

The last ten minutes or so is where this cult classic is best. Throughout we get to see torture, hangings, and chicks being burned alive, but here in the final moments we get to see the end of a madman and the creation of two more. Unlike the historical Matthew Hopkins, who passed peacefully in his own bed, our ghoulish hero dies beautifully at the end of an ax, hacked to pieces by the soldier.

In the soldier’s pursuit, he loses himself and goes insane with revenge while his wife goes bananas after the whole ordeal of lies, torture, and death. The film closes with her screams of insanity ringing in our ears like the bells of a grand cathedral ringing though out the countryside.

This low-budget English classic was also released in the U.S. as Edger Allen Poe’s The Conqueror Worm but has nothing to with the Poe poem. Figuring that American audiences would be more willing to see a Poe adaptation than some British flick an additional intro was added to the film, some voice work by Price reading Poe I imagine, and that was it. Whatever you call it though it is a fun movie to watch and as a DVD extra there is a half hour look at the film, "Witchfinder General: Michael Reeves Horror Classic," which is insightful and just as entertaining.

Witchfinder General isn’t the greatest horror/thriller there is, but with the days getting shorter and the nights becoming longer it’s a good film for those late nights when the moon is shining bright and your groovy ghoulie girly is in your arms. Remember, ghoulies, it’s only make believe…or is it?

THE TV SET

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

For full disclosure, I have to say that when I initially heard the title, The TV Set, I thought (and hoped) that I might be getting something along the lines of the brilliant, The Groove Tube (1974). Just as The Groove Tube used short sketches, interspersed with commercials to satirize TV and the popular culture of the day, I thought maybe I'd get a cutting edge comic piece similar to that. And then the opening credits rolled.

As the title card announced, this is "the story of a pilot." Considering that our lead character Mike (David Duchovny) has a pregnant wife (Justine Bateman), this movie could've been about the "birth" of a TV show. But that potential subplot along with many others gets held at arms length as the movie progresses. That may be part of the problem with this film. It's not the sum of its parts.

At its heart, this is the story of Mike, a writer, trying to get his dream project produced and on the network schedule. The writer and director, Jake Kasdan, was a writer on one of the more brilliant shows of the past decade, Freaks and Geeks, a show ultimately cancelled despite critical acclaim. His insider knowledge of the workings of the industry can either help the arc of the film or really bog it down. How will Mike maintain his vision? Will he have to change along the way?

We start at the final casting call for the lead actor and actress of the show. Mike wants TJ Goldman (get it - Gold / Man) as his lead character Rob. TJ has a "cutting edge" beard just like Mike. Zach Harper (Fran Kranz) isn't given a chance by Mike. But Zach is given the part by the Network President (Sigourney Weaver) because of his emotion. TJ is all surface, no emotion. The scene with both actors performing the same scene is not played for the full humor - the network execs do overreact to Zach's performance but differences could've been exaggerated more and then it wouldn't have to be explained to us in the next scene.

Once Zach is cast as Rob and Laurel (Lindsay Sloane) is cast as Amanda, we have our premise set and the movie feels like it can officially begin at 16 minutes in. I like the potential of the filming of a TV show within a movie. You have so many items to play off of each other, thematically. You have the plot of the show, The Wexler Chronicles (lawyer returns home after his brother's suicide and falls in love), you have the interaction of the same actors outside of the TV show (each character playing two roles essentially), and the interactions happening around the people making the show. It's ripe for comedy and most recently it was done for a movie within a movie in For Your Consideration. Once the filming starts here, it's hard not to compare the two films. Sixteen minutes in and just as we start to shoot the show, the network wants to change the premise. They don't want the brother to commit suicide. And this starts the ultimate question of the film - where do you "hold your ground" on your dream?

Act 2 starts as the filming of the pilot episode begins. Much like For Your Consideration, the interior show (here The Wexler Chronicles and there Home For Purim) isn't very good but the actors take it seriously. That's always the key for humor and these scenes are absurd and humorous. As the actors in the pilot fall in love, it looks like we have a budding romance between the same actors outside of the show. The dichotomy of these scenes is clever but not well fleshed out. Zach is a hard character to read. This "emotional" character at the beginning seemed full of youthful pep and enthusiasm. Once the show starts filming, he seems to turn inexplicably manipulative and self obsessed.

By Act 3, we're getting closer to the "birth" of the show. Mike's back problems are getting worse from the stress and his wife is getting closer to giving birth (she's eight months pregnant as the testing process approaches). We've also got a subplot of the Head of Primetime Programming, Richard McAlister (Ioan Gruffudd aka Mr. Fantastic). He is from England and is really pushing Mike's vision of The Wexler Chronicles. He is also having marriage problems and his wife is threatening to take their child and move back to the U.K. This drama keeps popping up out of nowhere every 15 minutes and taking away from the core story. It really feels forced and like padding to the story. The drama of losing a wife and kids is too heavy on the scale next to making a TV show and really does a disservice to this film.

Ultimately, Mike realizes that this show, like life isn't always how your original vision started "but you make it work." That's a great theme. Much like Home For Purim is changed in For Your Consideration, so The Wexler Chronicles is changed to Call Me Crazy along with other changes. Call me crazy but there's a lot of potential here. If the story concentrated more on Mike and his wife and the actors in the TV show and less on Richard and the comedic subplots of Lenny (Weaver's character), that lesson, "but you make it work," would carry some weight. Richard gives an impassioned speech about returning to "scripted stories" and a "smart show." This movie, like The Wexler Chronicles has a vision. It has good writing, great acting, and some truly funny scenes. However when it's all over you don't come away from the film feeling that it worked.

The film does leave you laughing. The two funniest scenes show that Jake Kasdan should be making the next The Groove Tube and they're buried at the end of the film. The first is the Promo Reel for Call Me Crazy that combines every TV cliché that NBC has ever put into a trailer for one of their new shows (and this one includes fart jokes too!). The second is a scene from the network's other success, a reality show called Slut Wars hosted by Seth Green. Trust me, there's a movie that really satirizes TV that's ripe to be made.

DVD EXTRAS. Double commentaries highlight the DVD release. Most interesting of the two is Jake Kasdan and Freaks and Geeks executive producer, Judd Apatow, talking about the genesis of this movie and other anecdotes about the TV industry. If only this movie had tied up all it's lose themes the way an episode of Freaks and Geeks was able to in 60 minutes. I'm afraid they were taking Lenny's advice - "Original scares me a little. You don't want to be too original."

The Lost World (Special Edition) - 1960 & 1925 versions

Written by Hombre Divertido

Irwin Allen’s 1960 production of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World is not the prize in this package. Mr. Allen’s production is actually outdone by the 1925 silent version directed by Harry Hoyt that is included in this two-disc set.

Though it can be challenging to watch a silent film, and with the music in this one being so heavy-handed, it does become distracting, but if you can appreciate what was accomplished over eighty years ago, you can’t help but find this effort endearing.

It is in the story and character development where it surpasses the efforts of the 1960 version. The actors of the silent era were far more expressive and relied on more action and depth of story to entertain and enthrall their audiences. This production also contains special effects that were groundbreaking (Pun intended.) for their time.

Unfortunately the same could not be said for the special effects in the 1960 endeavor. The Lost World, which had lost the race to the theatre by six months to Journey to the Center of the Earth, utilized virtually the same type of special effects to display its prehistoric creatures.

The 1960 outing is also quite formulaic in its storytelling and the characters are one-dimensional. Jill St. John as the heroine gives an amazingly trite performance, and Fernando Lamas and Jay Novello, though talented, should clearly be wearing red shirts. The rest of the cast including David Hedison, Michael Rennie, and the legendary Claude Raines give adequate performances, but Professor Challenger as portrayed by Raines does not seem as out of control as when portrayed by Wallace Beery in 1925.

The extras here are interesting. The deleted scenes from the 1925 version contain only shots of the creatures. The story of how this film was reassembled is quite interesting. Lots of photos and marketing material from the 1960 version including the original trailer, and a page-by-page layout of the comic book rendition of the film.

Recommendation: Though the 1960 version may be too simple for some, and the silent-era version just too taxing for someone looking for brain candy, together they do make for an interesting few hours. It allows for a history lesson on how cinematic storytelling has changed, for better or worse. Good family fare for a rainy day.

Two and a Half Men - The Complete First Season

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

First, let's tap the brakes a little on what makes a successful comedy. Two and a Half Men is currently celebrating the start of its Fifth Season and the start of what will be a very profitable syndication run. But let's not confuse this with Seinfeld or M*A*S*H. Two and a Half Men is not a failure, it can rightly say that it's been the top-rated comedy the past couple years. Arrested Development could never come close to the numbers that this show draws. A typical summer repeat of the show draws almost 11 million viewers, making it a Top-Ten show in repeats! What draws everyone?

This isn't the type of show that needs to be deconstructed or have the subtleties pointed out. Like many succesful sit-coms, the premise is easily summed up. In most cases (Three's Company or Gilligan's Island for example) the premise can be summarized in the theme song or opening credits. The outline for this show is so simple they don't even bother because it's summed up in the title. Heavy-drinking, sexually active, jingle-writing musician, Charlie (Charlie Sheen) lives in his beach house in Malibu. His exactly opposite brother, Alan (Jon Cryer) is thrown out by his wife and comes to live with Charlie, bringing his 10-year-old son, Jake (Angus T. Jones) with him.

In the first few minutes of the "Pilot", we're already reminded of a slew of other sit-coms. The Odd Couple with an additional kid comes to mind first. Second, I couldn't help but notice that the apartment appears to be a slightly updated version of Laverne & Shirley's apartment from when they moved to California. And the laugh track. The laugh track is overwhelming. I guess the traditional sit-com has become the non-traditional with shows like Scrubs, The Office and 30 Rock gaining popularity. The laugh track here is painful and really takes away from most of the funny sarcasm.

The cast is filled out with Rose (Melanie Lynskey - Heavenly Creatures) as Charlie's stalker neighbor. Her role is like that of other wacky neighbors including Lenny & Squiggy and Kramer that make comedically timed entrances. Judith (Marin Hinkle) is Alan's ex-wife that may or may not be a lesbian, leading to the potential of gay humor every time she's in a scene (Will & Grace). Evelyn Harper (Holland Taylor) is the boy's mother and Jake's grandmother. These are the show's ingredients: ultra male, feminine male, cute-but-troublemaker boy, stalker/funny neighbor, gay/not gay ex-wife, and domineering mother. These ingredients can be mixed and matched into clever combinations.

The concept is simple and yet the amount of plots that can be developed from these basics is impressive. Take the "If I Can't Write" episode. It plays up the relationship of Charlie and Alan as a "couple" with Alan's feminine attention to house cleaning to comedic ends. When it's left up to Charlie to "clean up" Jake, the tables are turned and he learns to appreciate the hard work that Alan does. I believe I saw that episode of The Brady Bunch also. In "The Last Thing You Want" Charlie learns "responsibility" by going to Jake's soccer game. Both Alan and Charlie end up on "dates" with their opposites: Charlie gets the "good" girl and Alan gets the MILFs. With the roles reversed, both learn to see the world from the other's point of view. But like the rules of a sitcom, everything is returned to the way it started by the end of the episode.

I actually found it fun to follow the different combinations of characters. But this is the First Season; I'm not sure how you keep that going without inserting more characters in future seasons. The pedigree is impressive. You've got actors who've been in successful films, not TV retreads. And yet, it's rarely funny or satisfying. Starting with the second episode, the episode titles were quotes from that episode. Like an appearance of Hitchcock in one of his films, I was often distracted (maybe even entertained) waiting to hear the quote instead of following the plot.

The best parts of the First Season are when the two lead actors step out of their "world". In "Go East On Sunset" there's a clever "Taxicab Confessions" nod and in "Twenty-Five Little Pre-Pubers" there's a great skit with Jake's class combining Charlie's jingles with Jake's class play on the Industrial Revolution.

This isn't one of those discs with an overwhelming amount of extras like Lost, Heroes or The Office. There's a solid "Featurette" on the show and a Gag Reel with Outtakes.