Written by Fantasma el Rey
I haven’t seen Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan in years and there is a reason. As a kid I used to fear these movies and their monster maniac killers but seen as a full-grown adult these things bring mostly laughs. Today the true horror they bring is in the fact that I spend so much time still watching them.
The plot goes thusly: a high-school senior class of late 1980s, cool kids hop on a ship christened, of all things, Lazarus and head for the glory that is New York City. Trouble starts soon as the unsuspecting ship picks up the recently resurrected from the grave Jason Voorhees, who resumes his eradication of stupid/naughty/horny teenagers and those who accompany them as they chance to pass the site of his childhood death. While on board he wastes no time in getting down to business and the hacking and slashing take on many new/fun forms.
Our two latest “good” kids are Rennie and her boyfriend Sean, a neat and clean couple who are pure of heart, which is always the key to success; I mean really, how else can they defeat an insane, superhuman killer, right? Oops, gave away the ending there. The hell with it, let’s continue. After picking off the majority of young hipsters aboard ship, the remainders decide to fight back and take the killing to the killer. Well, the kiddies get an “A” for effort but they fail for the fact that on board they can only manage to flee the now-burning ship with an angered Jason left behind and their numbers further dwindled down. Bad move, never piss off the dead ugly kid. As the last Lazarus survivors row their dingy on open water little do they know that big J has jumped in the water behind them.
After a good all-night row the beautiful Statue of Liberty is spotted and safety is presumably reached but it wouldn’t be Jason Takes Manhattan if they all lived happily ever after. Now the funny starts as we get to watch Jason run amuck on the vicious streets of the big city, killing some folks along the way who try to interfere with his sea-born hunt. Jason stalks the port docks, subway cars and tunnels, city streets, back alleys, and finally the toxic waste-soaked sewer of the city tracking down the remaining ship-goers.
But alas, poor Jason, it is not to be. As the city that houses so many sinful beings apparently feels bad for our heroes and as the sewer fills with toxic waste (as it does every night at midnight, who knew?) Jason is overwhelmed and meets his doom in a crashing, swirling rush of lethal, hazardous waste. Not only is his face melted away but his “body” is also stripped away leaving exposed the helpless child that drowned all those years ago at the bottom of Crystal Lake.
So there it is. Most of the movie and killing happen aboard ship and we get disappointingly little of New York and its native inhabitants. We do get some junkie thieves and a snap look at some “punker” kids that Jason scares off by lifting his mask and showing his face. Funny scene, perhaps the high point of this entire movie. The flick even tries to give us a bit of the beat culture N.Y. was known for; as the movie opens, we hear a DJ wax poetic in his best Allen Ginsberg about the mean streets he loves over some not-so-good ‘80s-movie pop/rock.
Taking Jason out of his element was a good idea that wasn’t fully capitalized upon but we do get some creative and laughable kills along the way. Highlights aboard ship include: fishing spear gun, hot sauna rock setting its victim on fire, harpoon, death by electric panel that also causes fire not only to victim but entire ship, and the second best kill in the movie is some stupid wannabe rocker chick getting whacked by her own guitar! Get it? Guitar = Axe. Huh, huh, clever, no? While in the city we have death by hypodermic needle, steam pipe, pipe wrench, and the best-ever Jason kill is a right hook that knocks a guy’s head clean off. Yeah, that last one is preceded by said dumb ass trying to box out Jason who has already been shot numerous times and will go on to be run over by a police car, electrified by the third rail on the subway, and gets a can of toxic waste in the face before being consumed by it.
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is a true comedy of horror. Seen twice in a lifetime is really too much unless you’re plastered and need a good laugh.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Written by Puño Estupendo
It may be overstating the obvious, but by part seven of the Friday The 13th franchise, this series' glory days were long gone. The formula that the first couple of films had helped to establish was already tired by 1988. There was only one sure way to go to reinvigorate the series: get yourself a telekinetic girl.
This Firestarter/Jason mash-up is just so godawful that I would feel completely confident in calling bullshit on anyone that tries to defend it. I do have friends that say (with a kitschy grin) that they "like that one," but I have to think that it's nostalgia from their youth painting that picture for them. If you ask these people when was the last time they actually watched it, the answer is usually "not in years". If you're a fan of The New Blood but haven't seen it in a decade or so, do yourself a favor and keep it that way. There's nothing worse than having great memories of something only to have it ruined by your current sensibilities. Seriously though, I don't even think this one makes it into the "so bad that it's good" category.
After the events of the film before it, Jason lies under the waters of Crystal Lake once again, this time with a chain around his neck, anchoring him to the bottom. Coincidentally enough, a flashback sequence shows a little girl fleeing her house, her parents arguing, and the father physically abusing the mother off camera. The girl, Tina, is crying and ends up jumping into a small boat and floats outward from their dock on...wait for it...Crystal Lake.
Y'know, it's amazing how many people actually ended up living or having vacation spots on that lake over the years.
Anyway, so Tina's dad comes out to try to tell her that everything is okay. He stands on the dock, pleading for his little girl to come back to shore. She is so upset and angry at her father that it triggers her telekinetic powers, unleashing a force that destroys the dock and kills her father in one tantrum induced swoop. Cut to years later and Tina, her mother, and her doctor are returning to the house on Crystal Lake as part of Tina's recovery. She now looks to be in the 17-22 age bracket, perfect for this franchise. What luck! She's spent years in a hospital trying to deal with her crazy powers and cope with the guilt of having bumped off her dad.
Yeah, it doesn't make sense that you would take her back to the scene of the crime until you find out that her doctor is trying to provoke her powers (which come out when she's stressed like the Hulk) for his own career. He films her with his camcorder in one scene, trying to get her to move a matchbook across the table. She can't do it until he properly upsets her, not only moving the matches, but causing them to BURST IN TO FLAME! Tina ends up finding herself out on a dock to the lake, lamenting over her dead father, when she senses a presence in the lake. Assuming it's dear ol' dad (because obviously nobody ever remembers the body count associated with this lake) she tries to resurrect him, but guess what? Guess who she resurrects instead?
Oof.
Did I really need to see a confrontation between Jason Voorhees and a telekinetic?! I know it reads like it would be shamefully stupid and yet fun, but it's not. The only thing I actually enjoyed in this was the appearance of Terry Kiser as Tina's doctor, Dr. Crews. You know Terry even if you don't think you do. He was Bernie in Weekend at Bernie's and he's appeared in so much stuff that he has the face that makes you say "Oh, that guy"! He plays an asshole so well that it kind of cracked me up.
Overall, I say skip this movie. If you're a legit horror fan, this movie has nothing for you. If you like the gore and death scenes, not much there for you either. Sure, people get killed, but it's not impressive, creative, or even particularly bloody. As for the people that like the awful movies because for some reason they think it's still funny, you're gonna strike out as well. It's bad in a bad way, nothing really funny to it other than Terry Kiser, but that's stretching it fairly thin. This is an abysmal wreck of a film from the late '80s and is best left undisturbed.
It's okay for completists to want to watch it because they want to see the entire series, but unless you fit that bill, you should just watch something else instead.
Ruby-Spears SUPERMAN
Written by Pirata Hermosa
In 1988 Ruby-Spears productions in combination with Warner Brothers released a Saturday morning cartoon to correspond with the 50th anniversary of DC Comics’ Superman character. The major difference in the series in regards to previous offerings is Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor, is no longer just a mad scientist, but instead a corrupt billionaire who held great power and influence.
The show lasted only thirteen episodes on CBS. Each episode is twenty minutes long and contains a five-minute short from the “Superman Family Album” showing small clips from Clark Kent’s life starting at his arrival on Earth to the moment he finally becomes Superman.
After viewing, it’s pretty obvious why the series only lasted for one season. It was 1988 and it felt like it was done in the ‘70s at the same time as the Super Friends. A lot of the sound effects sounded the same and they even used the same narrator.
Even the voice casting seemed particularly poor. Superman’s (Beau Weaver), voice was a little too thin but at least it was tolerable, Lois Lane (Ginny McSwain) was a little whiney, Jimmy Olsen (Mark L. Taylor) was overly childish as was his behavior throughout, and Lex Luthor (Michael Bell) was just a sniveling wimp. In the first episode “Destroy the Defendroids,” the combination of all those voices at once made it nearly unwatchable. Thankfully, the voices of Lois and Jimmy improve once the series gets going.
The good thing about the show is that the storylines are fairly decent. Granted there are a few ridiculous moments like when Lois and Jimmy are trapped in an open-air cage on a giant robot that flies up into space, yet they can breathe the entire time and somehow manage to survive re-entry as the cage becomes red hot.
It’s pretty obvious that the plots have become a little more involved than in previous incarnations, but unfortunately the “Superman Family Album” at the end of each episode really sets any progress backwards. These stories are snapshots of Clark’s past up until he becomes Superman. When they start he has just arrived and is a baby. Even then he has super powers: can fly, use heat vision and has incredible strength. You can imagine how difficult a regular baby can be, but one with super-human abilities is even worse as Clark flies around getting into all sorts of trouble at the orphanage, the grocery store, on his first day of school, and with his new baby sitter. As he grows up he learns to use his powers less and less and while still somewhat corny, they aren’t nearly as bad as when they started.
The DVD includes the original thirteen episodes and corresponding “Superman Family Album” shorts.
The lone Special Feature is “Corporation of the Corrupt: The Rise of Lexcorp,” a discussion about the new re-launch of the Superman story by John Byrne in 1986 and how Lex Luthor is now a businessman instead of a scientist because money and business became the true power in the world during the 1980s.
If you’re a huge Superman fan, you might feel like picking this up for your collection, but it most people probably won’t find it necessary.
In 1988 Ruby-Spears productions in combination with Warner Brothers released a Saturday morning cartoon to correspond with the 50th anniversary of DC Comics’ Superman character. The major difference in the series in regards to previous offerings is Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor, is no longer just a mad scientist, but instead a corrupt billionaire who held great power and influence.
The show lasted only thirteen episodes on CBS. Each episode is twenty minutes long and contains a five-minute short from the “Superman Family Album” showing small clips from Clark Kent’s life starting at his arrival on Earth to the moment he finally becomes Superman.
After viewing, it’s pretty obvious why the series only lasted for one season. It was 1988 and it felt like it was done in the ‘70s at the same time as the Super Friends. A lot of the sound effects sounded the same and they even used the same narrator.
Even the voice casting seemed particularly poor. Superman’s (Beau Weaver), voice was a little too thin but at least it was tolerable, Lois Lane (Ginny McSwain) was a little whiney, Jimmy Olsen (Mark L. Taylor) was overly childish as was his behavior throughout, and Lex Luthor (Michael Bell) was just a sniveling wimp. In the first episode “Destroy the Defendroids,” the combination of all those voices at once made it nearly unwatchable. Thankfully, the voices of Lois and Jimmy improve once the series gets going.
The good thing about the show is that the storylines are fairly decent. Granted there are a few ridiculous moments like when Lois and Jimmy are trapped in an open-air cage on a giant robot that flies up into space, yet they can breathe the entire time and somehow manage to survive re-entry as the cage becomes red hot.
It’s pretty obvious that the plots have become a little more involved than in previous incarnations, but unfortunately the “Superman Family Album” at the end of each episode really sets any progress backwards. These stories are snapshots of Clark’s past up until he becomes Superman. When they start he has just arrived and is a baby. Even then he has super powers: can fly, use heat vision and has incredible strength. You can imagine how difficult a regular baby can be, but one with super-human abilities is even worse as Clark flies around getting into all sorts of trouble at the orphanage, the grocery store, on his first day of school, and with his new baby sitter. As he grows up he learns to use his powers less and less and while still somewhat corny, they aren’t nearly as bad as when they started.
The DVD includes the original thirteen episodes and corresponding “Superman Family Album” shorts.
The lone Special Feature is “Corporation of the Corrupt: The Rise of Lexcorp,” a discussion about the new re-launch of the Superman story by John Byrne in 1986 and how Lex Luthor is now a businessman instead of a scientist because money and business became the true power in the world during the 1980s.
If you’re a huge Superman fan, you might feel like picking this up for your collection, but it most people probably won’t find it necessary.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST - 50th Anniversary Edition
Written by Musgo del Jefe
Musgo here again with his proverbial hat in his hand. Recently I attempted to put down a review for the Anniversary release of The Wizard Of Oz, one of my favorite films of all-time. Today, I’m faced with the 50th Anniversary of North by Northwest. It’s easily one of the top five films from my favorite director of all-time. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s films litter my Top 100 like signposts marking the way. Like The Wizard Of Oz, I’m challenged to say something about a film that others have written complete books and thesis over, and I have to review two-disc set that builds upon previous releases of the film.
North by Northwest came rather late to me in my Hitchcock journey. I started on this path with Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window during my high school years in the mid-'80s. It was a few years later that I first caught North by Northwest. In a year span, I saw it for the first time on the huge screen of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, watched in on VHS, and then studied it in-depth in a Hitchcock class I took that summer.
It’s amazing to watch the title sequence of the film today and think that this is considered the first use of moving type in titles. The Saul Bass opening sequence is memorable and feels like the technique must have been around for years. Even on a smaller screen, the kinetic movement of the type and the staccato score by Bernard Herrmann hint at the restlessness that will follow the viewer throughout the film.
The film was released in 1959 through MGM, and it sits squarely between Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960). These three films form an apex that the remaining six films of his career just wouldn’t reach. As the middle of those three, it’s interesting that North by Northwest (despite being a direction slightly off-center) serves as a culmination of many of Hitchcock’s common themes dating back to the 1930s with The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.
This film marks the fourth and last time that Hitchcock would work with Cary Grant as his “every man”. On the Special Features disc, there is a new documentary entitled Cary Grant: A Class Apart that gives an in-depth career profile of the actor. Comparing his work with Hitchcock against Jimmy Stewart’s is an interesting contrast. Cary and Jimmy are used in similar fashion to represent the “common man”. But Cary is a much classier version. In North by Northwest he is a Manhattan adman that must navigate through an adventure that covers many states and famous attractions. Jimmy Stewart was often a simpler man who dealt with the stress of being trapped and not able to maneuver through society. In Rear Window and Rope he doesn’t leave a single room in either film.
The plot of the film is relatively thin in depth but it’s long on action. The movie wastes no time introducing the viewer to Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) (the “O” stands for nothing) an ad exec who is mistaken for a Mr. George Kaplan and is kidnapped and questioned by some nefarious fellows. Since he cannot give them the information they think he has, the bad guys attempt to stage an accident to kill Thornhill. The failure of this act sets in motion the remaining two hours of the film. It puts the police after Thornhill and puts Thornhill on the trail of the people who did this to him. Along the way, he is thrown into a situation where it appears to the public that he has committed a murder, upping the stakes even more.
While fleeing from New York to Chicago on a train, Thornhill meets the beautiful Eve Kendall (the gorgeous Eva Marie Saint). Her ability to balance the ambiguity of her character strikes me as one of the brilliances of Hitchcock’s casting. If she is played any other way, the plot would ultimately start to fall apart at this point in the film. But while she is guiding Grant’s character along, we, as viewers, are now squarely invested in our hero and see something that he doesn’t in her. Or we think we do.
At this point, Hitchcock rightly starts to speed the events forward as if we are rushing towards a conclusion. The story that started in New York City and rushed towards Chicago rushes headlong into the countryside of Illinois. This iconic scene is just the twist that the film needs when the viewer feels like they are becoming accustomed to the pace of the film. All of a sudden, we’re in the middle of nowhere, in the open and surrounded by corn and quiet. It’s disconcerting. Even more so than it would be normally. I realized that few directors today play with pacing as much as Hitchcock. There is a tenseness in the distant sound of the crop duster that you can’t pull off if we hadn’t just come off the confining, loud train.
This journey North and Westward across America is detailed in the great documentary Destination Hitchcock left over from a 2000 DVD release. This extended making-of includes many interesting sidebars of thrown out ideas for the plot including ending in Alaska – a true North by Northwest journey.
The ending at Mount Rushmore is still fun and unexpected. The chase has a true James Bond feel to it with the ability to use recognizable locations to add legitimacy to the plot. The iconic nature of the location makes this truly an American film and adds “historical importance” to the espionage of the plot. I don’t get the same feeling at the end of Saboteur on the Statue Of Liberty.
Watching from the perspective of 50 years, the film is only dated in the Cold War undertones of the main plot. But the humor and arc of the story are still fresh and don’t feel as derivative as so many similar movies today. Few directors know how to control the pace of their films – much like a roller coaster, the viewer should feel pushed and pulled by unseen forces – unable to control what is happening, only being in control of one’s reactions.
The 50th Anniversary release looks amazing. It is the only MGM film for Hitchcock and one of their few Vistavision releases. In addition to the previously mentioned Special Features, there is a commentary with the screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a new documentary entitled The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style. This documentary provides some fresh perspective on the film from current directors including Guillermo Del Toro. There’s another new documentary entitled North by Northwest: One For The Ages that takes a look at the important innovations in the production of the film and its influences.
While many studios are cutting back on their restoration of classic films, Warner Bros. are to be commended on this release and The Wizard Of Oz release. These films are important works that still have impact on the works we see onscreen today.
North by Northwest is so much a culmination of themes and ideas of Hitchcock’s previous films but it goes beyond just being a jumble of scenes. It’s a blueprint that takes lessons learned in previous films and shows us how to use the film medium to tell a compelling story. And it’s quite a ride. It was for young Musgo sitting in the Michigan Theater in 1986 and it is today for old Musgo sitting in front of his computer.
Musgo here again with his proverbial hat in his hand. Recently I attempted to put down a review for the Anniversary release of The Wizard Of Oz, one of my favorite films of all-time. Today, I’m faced with the 50th Anniversary of North by Northwest. It’s easily one of the top five films from my favorite director of all-time. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s films litter my Top 100 like signposts marking the way. Like The Wizard Of Oz, I’m challenged to say something about a film that others have written complete books and thesis over, and I have to review two-disc set that builds upon previous releases of the film.
North by Northwest came rather late to me in my Hitchcock journey. I started on this path with Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window during my high school years in the mid-'80s. It was a few years later that I first caught North by Northwest. In a year span, I saw it for the first time on the huge screen of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, watched in on VHS, and then studied it in-depth in a Hitchcock class I took that summer.
It’s amazing to watch the title sequence of the film today and think that this is considered the first use of moving type in titles. The Saul Bass opening sequence is memorable and feels like the technique must have been around for years. Even on a smaller screen, the kinetic movement of the type and the staccato score by Bernard Herrmann hint at the restlessness that will follow the viewer throughout the film.
The film was released in 1959 through MGM, and it sits squarely between Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960). These three films form an apex that the remaining six films of his career just wouldn’t reach. As the middle of those three, it’s interesting that North by Northwest (despite being a direction slightly off-center) serves as a culmination of many of Hitchcock’s common themes dating back to the 1930s with The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.
This film marks the fourth and last time that Hitchcock would work with Cary Grant as his “every man”. On the Special Features disc, there is a new documentary entitled Cary Grant: A Class Apart that gives an in-depth career profile of the actor. Comparing his work with Hitchcock against Jimmy Stewart’s is an interesting contrast. Cary and Jimmy are used in similar fashion to represent the “common man”. But Cary is a much classier version. In North by Northwest he is a Manhattan adman that must navigate through an adventure that covers many states and famous attractions. Jimmy Stewart was often a simpler man who dealt with the stress of being trapped and not able to maneuver through society. In Rear Window and Rope he doesn’t leave a single room in either film.
The plot of the film is relatively thin in depth but it’s long on action. The movie wastes no time introducing the viewer to Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) (the “O” stands for nothing) an ad exec who is mistaken for a Mr. George Kaplan and is kidnapped and questioned by some nefarious fellows. Since he cannot give them the information they think he has, the bad guys attempt to stage an accident to kill Thornhill. The failure of this act sets in motion the remaining two hours of the film. It puts the police after Thornhill and puts Thornhill on the trail of the people who did this to him. Along the way, he is thrown into a situation where it appears to the public that he has committed a murder, upping the stakes even more.
While fleeing from New York to Chicago on a train, Thornhill meets the beautiful Eve Kendall (the gorgeous Eva Marie Saint). Her ability to balance the ambiguity of her character strikes me as one of the brilliances of Hitchcock’s casting. If she is played any other way, the plot would ultimately start to fall apart at this point in the film. But while she is guiding Grant’s character along, we, as viewers, are now squarely invested in our hero and see something that he doesn’t in her. Or we think we do.
At this point, Hitchcock rightly starts to speed the events forward as if we are rushing towards a conclusion. The story that started in New York City and rushed towards Chicago rushes headlong into the countryside of Illinois. This iconic scene is just the twist that the film needs when the viewer feels like they are becoming accustomed to the pace of the film. All of a sudden, we’re in the middle of nowhere, in the open and surrounded by corn and quiet. It’s disconcerting. Even more so than it would be normally. I realized that few directors today play with pacing as much as Hitchcock. There is a tenseness in the distant sound of the crop duster that you can’t pull off if we hadn’t just come off the confining, loud train.
This journey North and Westward across America is detailed in the great documentary Destination Hitchcock left over from a 2000 DVD release. This extended making-of includes many interesting sidebars of thrown out ideas for the plot including ending in Alaska – a true North by Northwest journey.
The ending at Mount Rushmore is still fun and unexpected. The chase has a true James Bond feel to it with the ability to use recognizable locations to add legitimacy to the plot. The iconic nature of the location makes this truly an American film and adds “historical importance” to the espionage of the plot. I don’t get the same feeling at the end of Saboteur on the Statue Of Liberty.
Watching from the perspective of 50 years, the film is only dated in the Cold War undertones of the main plot. But the humor and arc of the story are still fresh and don’t feel as derivative as so many similar movies today. Few directors know how to control the pace of their films – much like a roller coaster, the viewer should feel pushed and pulled by unseen forces – unable to control what is happening, only being in control of one’s reactions.
The 50th Anniversary release looks amazing. It is the only MGM film for Hitchcock and one of their few Vistavision releases. In addition to the previously mentioned Special Features, there is a commentary with the screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a new documentary entitled The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style. This documentary provides some fresh perspective on the film from current directors including Guillermo Del Toro. There’s another new documentary entitled North by Northwest: One For The Ages that takes a look at the important innovations in the production of the film and its influences.
While many studios are cutting back on their restoration of classic films, Warner Bros. are to be commended on this release and The Wizard Of Oz release. These films are important works that still have impact on the works we see onscreen today.
North by Northwest is so much a culmination of themes and ideas of Hitchcock’s previous films but it goes beyond just being a jumble of scenes. It’s a blueprint that takes lessons learned in previous films and shows us how to use the film medium to tell a compelling story. And it’s quite a ride. It was for young Musgo sitting in the Michigan Theater in 1986 and it is today for old Musgo sitting in front of his computer.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2
Written by Hombre Divertido
On October 27th Warner Brothers released 316 minutes of cartoon memories from the seventies, though, not all of it is animated nor from the seventies. This new release not only contains some classics, but some you may not remember as well. It is important to remember the collection makes no reference to being the best of the seventies, and it certainly isn’t. Nonetheless, there is some interesting history here, as well as some voices to listen for.
The release contains 12 shows on two discs, but you won’t find the list of shows anywhere on the packaging. The main menu on the disk does supply the list, but can be frustrating to operate as selecting some episodes will return you to the menu unnecessarily, and selecting “Play all” excludes one episode.
The twelve shows included are: Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, the story of three mischievous bears who live in a zoo and manipulate the zoo keeper; New Adventures of Gilligan, which continues the adventures of the castaways from the sitcom of the sixties; Sea Lab 2020, a futuristic series based on an underwater community; Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, which follows the exploits of the famous detective and his children who happen to be a rock group; Shazzan, the story of two teens who travel around on a flying camel during the time of the Arabian Knights and call upon a sixty-foot Genie when they get into trouble; Yogi's Gang, which follows the classic members of the Hanna Barbera library as they travel in a flying ark and meet people who teach them important lessons; Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, which consists of stories from the two classic Warner Brothers characters; Valley of the Dinosaurs, which tells the story of a family that travels back in time and is befriended by a Neanderthal family;
Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show, which consists of stories with the classic cat and mouse and stories with the 40-foot purple ape and his canine best friend; The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, a live-action series with four costumed characters who would introduce animated series and live-action serials; Inch High Private Eye, which followed the adventures of the diminutive detective and his assistants; and The New Adventures of Batman, which continues the adventures of the caped crusader. There is certainly something in this eclectic mix for everyone, but likely they all won't be satisfying.
From a story perspective, many are quite weak, such as the Inch High Private Eye episodes where the solution to the mysteries rarely made sense to anyone other than Inch High. The animation is poor in several of the shows, most noticeably in The New Adventures of Batman. Filmation had produced superior superhero cartoons in the sixties, and though these episodes have a smoother flow to the movement, it is easy to see the lack of attention to detail in this episode as the Bat Logo on the hood of the Batmobile changes color and disappears all together.
It is the historical aspects that make this release most interesting. Batman reunites the talents of Adam West and Burt Ward for the first time since the original series. Unfortunately the series also introduces the Bat Mite character, which was nothing more than annoying. Filmation’s New Adventures of Batman aired during the same season as Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends which marked a rare occasion in television history where the adventures of the same character were being chronicled on two different networks.
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was created by Sid and Marty Kroft, and produced by Hanna Barbera. This is most interesting since this release includes Valley of the Dinosaurs, an animated series produced by Hanna Barbera that tells the story of a family on a rafting trip that gets swept into a prehistoric world. Valley premiered on the same day as Sid and Marty Kroft’s live-action series Land of the Lost, which coincidentally follows a similar story line.
The New Adventures of Gilligan reunites the original cast with the exception of Dawn Wells and Tina Louise. Jane Web would voice both the Mary Ann and Ginger characters. Sealab 2020 would be remixed to produce Sealab 2021, part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan marked the first time that the character of Charlie Chan was portrayed by an actor of Chinese decent, Key Luke.
Jodie Foster can also be heard on episodes of Amazing Chan. Along with Foster, other notable actor’s voices in this collection are Jackie Earle Haley, Ross Martin, Ann Jillian, Jay North, and classic cartoon vocal talents including Paul Winchell, Joe E. Ross, Daws Butler, John Sephenson, and Don Messick.
Not a lot of bonus material here. “The Power of Shazzan” tells the back-story of this classic cartoon. What it fails to reveal is that this series ended its original run in 1969, and thus does not belong in this collection. “Saturday Morning Wake-Up Calls” provides a brief preview of the contents of the DVD. Though it is somewhat of a waste, as it appears to be a commercial for a product already purchased, it is voiced by Casey Kasem, who was also the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo and Robin the Boy Wonder in the first animated Batman series and a legendary radio personality.
Bottom Line: The historical significance may be more than those who are looking for memories to sit back and enjoy with a bowl of cereal care about, and there are certainly better series from the decade, but Warner Brothers has put together a collection worth owning. Watching these series in small portions is just right. Having all the episodes of any of these series would only serve to remind us that all the stories of the shows we loved as kids were basically the same.
Valley of the Dinosaurs Clip From the DVD: “Such Luck”
On October 27th Warner Brothers released 316 minutes of cartoon memories from the seventies, though, not all of it is animated nor from the seventies. This new release not only contains some classics, but some you may not remember as well. It is important to remember the collection makes no reference to being the best of the seventies, and it certainly isn’t. Nonetheless, there is some interesting history here, as well as some voices to listen for.
The release contains 12 shows on two discs, but you won’t find the list of shows anywhere on the packaging. The main menu on the disk does supply the list, but can be frustrating to operate as selecting some episodes will return you to the menu unnecessarily, and selecting “Play all” excludes one episode.
The twelve shows included are: Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, the story of three mischievous bears who live in a zoo and manipulate the zoo keeper; New Adventures of Gilligan, which continues the adventures of the castaways from the sitcom of the sixties; Sea Lab 2020, a futuristic series based on an underwater community; Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, which follows the exploits of the famous detective and his children who happen to be a rock group; Shazzan, the story of two teens who travel around on a flying camel during the time of the Arabian Knights and call upon a sixty-foot Genie when they get into trouble; Yogi's Gang, which follows the classic members of the Hanna Barbera library as they travel in a flying ark and meet people who teach them important lessons; Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, which consists of stories from the two classic Warner Brothers characters; Valley of the Dinosaurs, which tells the story of a family that travels back in time and is befriended by a Neanderthal family;
Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape Show, which consists of stories with the classic cat and mouse and stories with the 40-foot purple ape and his canine best friend; The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, a live-action series with four costumed characters who would introduce animated series and live-action serials; Inch High Private Eye, which followed the adventures of the diminutive detective and his assistants; and The New Adventures of Batman, which continues the adventures of the caped crusader. There is certainly something in this eclectic mix for everyone, but likely they all won't be satisfying.
From a story perspective, many are quite weak, such as the Inch High Private Eye episodes where the solution to the mysteries rarely made sense to anyone other than Inch High. The animation is poor in several of the shows, most noticeably in The New Adventures of Batman. Filmation had produced superior superhero cartoons in the sixties, and though these episodes have a smoother flow to the movement, it is easy to see the lack of attention to detail in this episode as the Bat Logo on the hood of the Batmobile changes color and disappears all together.
It is the historical aspects that make this release most interesting. Batman reunites the talents of Adam West and Burt Ward for the first time since the original series. Unfortunately the series also introduces the Bat Mite character, which was nothing more than annoying. Filmation’s New Adventures of Batman aired during the same season as Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends which marked a rare occasion in television history where the adventures of the same character were being chronicled on two different networks.
The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was created by Sid and Marty Kroft, and produced by Hanna Barbera. This is most interesting since this release includes Valley of the Dinosaurs, an animated series produced by Hanna Barbera that tells the story of a family on a rafting trip that gets swept into a prehistoric world. Valley premiered on the same day as Sid and Marty Kroft’s live-action series Land of the Lost, which coincidentally follows a similar story line.
The New Adventures of Gilligan reunites the original cast with the exception of Dawn Wells and Tina Louise. Jane Web would voice both the Mary Ann and Ginger characters. Sealab 2020 would be remixed to produce Sealab 2021, part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan marked the first time that the character of Charlie Chan was portrayed by an actor of Chinese decent, Key Luke.
Jodie Foster can also be heard on episodes of Amazing Chan. Along with Foster, other notable actor’s voices in this collection are Jackie Earle Haley, Ross Martin, Ann Jillian, Jay North, and classic cartoon vocal talents including Paul Winchell, Joe E. Ross, Daws Butler, John Sephenson, and Don Messick.
Not a lot of bonus material here. “The Power of Shazzan” tells the back-story of this classic cartoon. What it fails to reveal is that this series ended its original run in 1969, and thus does not belong in this collection. “Saturday Morning Wake-Up Calls” provides a brief preview of the contents of the DVD. Though it is somewhat of a waste, as it appears to be a commercial for a product already purchased, it is voiced by Casey Kasem, who was also the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo and Robin the Boy Wonder in the first animated Batman series and a legendary radio personality.
Bottom Line: The historical significance may be more than those who are looking for memories to sit back and enjoy with a bowl of cereal care about, and there are certainly better series from the decade, but Warner Brothers has put together a collection worth owning. Watching these series in small portions is just right. Having all the episodes of any of these series would only serve to remind us that all the stories of the shows we loved as kids were basically the same.
Valley of the Dinosaurs Clip From the DVD: “Such Luck”
Monday, November 09, 2009
MONSTERS, INC. (Blu-ray)
Written by Senora Bicho
Released in November 2001, Monsters, Inc. was the fourth feature-length feature film by Pixar Animation Studios. While it was a commercial and critical success, I didn’t think it was as entertaining for adults when compared to the previous films. I haven’t seen it since the theatrical release and was curious to see if I might enjoy it more this time around with the Blu-ray release.
The inhabitants of the city Monstropolis rely on the screams of children as its source of power. Monsters, Inc. provides the city’s energy through its scream-processing factory. James P. “Sully” Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) are the top scare team at the factory. Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) is Sully’s rival determined to take over the top position. In order to obtain the screams, the monsters enter into teleportation doors that lead into a child’s bedroom. One night after business hours, Sully stumbles upon a door that hasn’t been properly stored away. While investigating the door, he inadvertently brings a child into the monster world. Children are considered toxic to monsters so as soon as the breach is discovered the city goes on high alert. Sully and Mike soon discover that the child is not toxic after all and realize it is up to them to protect her while attempting to get her home.
Both the video and audio presentations are amazing. Presented in 1080p and an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the film is awash in brilliant, vibrant colors from the trees’ autumn colors to the entire spectrum of rainbow represented by the cast of characters. It’s very impressive the creative team went to the trouble of adding patches of purple on his bluish-turquoise hair, which is flawlessly rendered, as are all the textures in the film. From common walls to the monsters’ various skin types, they are all clear and realistic.
The jazz score under the opening credits immediately prepares the viewer for how good the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 experience will be. Each instrument (clarinet, trumpet, piano, drums) is distinct and the bass thumps out the subwoofer. The directionality well positions the characters and items as they move about the scene. The dialogue is understandable no matter how wild the action gets, and the climatic door-storage chase sequence gets very wild.
The Blu-ray release includes all-new bonus material. “Filmmakers’ Round Table” provides behind-the-scenes information and anecdotes from some of the filmmakers. “Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek: Building Monstropolis in Japan” offers a look at the new attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. “Roz 100-Door Challenge” is a triva game aimed at younger viewers who wish to try and apply for a job at Monsters, Inc. There is also an audio commentary by director Pete Docter, co-director Lee Unkrich, screenwriter Andrew Stanton and executive producer John Lasseter. However, these features alone do not create a compelling reason to buy the Blu-ray combo pack.
The original bonus material contained in the first DVD release is also provided. “For the Birds” is an Academy Award-winning short. “Mike’s New Car” is an Academy Award-nominated short. “Humans Only” contains information on Pixar and highlights the process of making the film from concept to completion. “Monsters Only” focuses on the company Monsters, Inc. and its staff. The set also comes with a standard DVD that includes the film and the original bonus material while a fourth disc provides a digital copy of the film.
As it turned out I happened to watch Pixar’s newest release Up over the same weekend as watching Monsters, Inc. There was no comparison on my mind; Up is a much more sophisticated, interesting, and thoughtful film designed for the entire family to enjoy. Monsters, Inc. is intended for a younger viewer with a simpler, shallower story based more on action. There is an attempt to address the real world issue of energy but it only touches the surface. While the characters are fun to watch and the its look is as good as any other Pixar film, it leaves something to be desired when compared to the other great films the studio has produced.
Released in November 2001, Monsters, Inc. was the fourth feature-length feature film by Pixar Animation Studios. While it was a commercial and critical success, I didn’t think it was as entertaining for adults when compared to the previous films. I haven’t seen it since the theatrical release and was curious to see if I might enjoy it more this time around with the Blu-ray release.
The inhabitants of the city Monstropolis rely on the screams of children as its source of power. Monsters, Inc. provides the city’s energy through its scream-processing factory. James P. “Sully” Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) are the top scare team at the factory. Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi) is Sully’s rival determined to take over the top position. In order to obtain the screams, the monsters enter into teleportation doors that lead into a child’s bedroom. One night after business hours, Sully stumbles upon a door that hasn’t been properly stored away. While investigating the door, he inadvertently brings a child into the monster world. Children are considered toxic to monsters so as soon as the breach is discovered the city goes on high alert. Sully and Mike soon discover that the child is not toxic after all and realize it is up to them to protect her while attempting to get her home.
Both the video and audio presentations are amazing. Presented in 1080p and an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the film is awash in brilliant, vibrant colors from the trees’ autumn colors to the entire spectrum of rainbow represented by the cast of characters. It’s very impressive the creative team went to the trouble of adding patches of purple on his bluish-turquoise hair, which is flawlessly rendered, as are all the textures in the film. From common walls to the monsters’ various skin types, they are all clear and realistic.
The jazz score under the opening credits immediately prepares the viewer for how good the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 experience will be. Each instrument (clarinet, trumpet, piano, drums) is distinct and the bass thumps out the subwoofer. The directionality well positions the characters and items as they move about the scene. The dialogue is understandable no matter how wild the action gets, and the climatic door-storage chase sequence gets very wild.
The Blu-ray release includes all-new bonus material. “Filmmakers’ Round Table” provides behind-the-scenes information and anecdotes from some of the filmmakers. “Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek: Building Monstropolis in Japan” offers a look at the new attraction at Tokyo Disneyland. “Roz 100-Door Challenge” is a triva game aimed at younger viewers who wish to try and apply for a job at Monsters, Inc. There is also an audio commentary by director Pete Docter, co-director Lee Unkrich, screenwriter Andrew Stanton and executive producer John Lasseter. However, these features alone do not create a compelling reason to buy the Blu-ray combo pack.
The original bonus material contained in the first DVD release is also provided. “For the Birds” is an Academy Award-winning short. “Mike’s New Car” is an Academy Award-nominated short. “Humans Only” contains information on Pixar and highlights the process of making the film from concept to completion. “Monsters Only” focuses on the company Monsters, Inc. and its staff. The set also comes with a standard DVD that includes the film and the original bonus material while a fourth disc provides a digital copy of the film.
As it turned out I happened to watch Pixar’s newest release Up over the same weekend as watching Monsters, Inc. There was no comparison on my mind; Up is a much more sophisticated, interesting, and thoughtful film designed for the entire family to enjoy. Monsters, Inc. is intended for a younger viewer with a simpler, shallower story based more on action. There is an attempt to address the real world issue of energy but it only touches the surface. While the characters are fun to watch and the its look is as good as any other Pixar film, it leaves something to be desired when compared to the other great films the studio has produced.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Monty Python - Almost The Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut)
Written by Pirata Hermosa
Forty years ago five highly educated Brits and an American lampoon artist came together to form one of the world’s funniest comedy troops. And to commemorate that union, a three-DVD set was released containing a six-part documentary ranging from their meager beginnings through their height of popularity up until present day.
Monty Python is such a huge name in comedy that everybody has already formed an opinion on their comedy. They either get it, or they don’t. If you’re one of those who get it, then you will enjoy this piece of Python history.
Being that it’s six hours worth of material, you really get a sense of what it was like behind the scenes. With all of the silliness going on, it’s a true learning experience as you discover that they are all college educated and honed their comedic skills at places such as Oxford.
There are also many pieces of interesting trivia that would satisfy and Python fan. John Cleese was embarrassed by his celebrity. Graham Chapman was an alcoholic who could barely remember his lines and nobody realized it. And some huge names in rock ‘n' roll (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, George Harrison) helped finance The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian.
The documentary is very interesting, but at the same time it comes across very sterile. Each person is interviewed against a black background and by themselves. There is never a moment when they are all together, which leaves a huge nagging question in the back of your mind. Why aren’t they together? They talk fondly of one another but not being in the same room makes you wonder if there are some issues keeping them apart.
Even so, there is enough sketch material scattered throughout the interviews that it keeps your attention and breaks up what could have developed into monotony. There is also a smattering of celebrity commentary throughout as such people like Seth Green, Bruce Dickinson, Dan Aykroyd, Simon Pegg, and several others comment on how important and influential their comedy was.
Disc 1 is divided into three parts.
- “The Not-So-Interesting Beginnings” which explores how they started off as young men in college, started working for the BBC, and eventually managed to start Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
- “The Much Funnier Second Episode” discusses the first season and brings in other current comedians to discuss the impact the show had on them and society as a whole.
- “And Now, The Personal Sordid Bits” shows how their success also brought down upon them the intervention of the BBC censors and how after their second season John Cleese wanted to leave.
Disc 2 is also divided into three parts
- “The Ultimate Holy Grail Episode” is a complete overview of how they wrote, directed and funded the film
- “Lust For Glory!” was the original name for the film that became The Life of Brian, and in this segment you see how the film was made.
- “Finally! The Last Episode (Ever) (for Now…)” as Monty Python gets ready to film The Meaning of Life, they are splintering apart and going their separate ways. The final segment also deals with the loss of Graham Chapman and his death from cancer at the age of 48.
Disc 3 contains a number of their classic sketches: “The Dead Parrot,” “The Spanish Inquisition,” “Fish Slapping Dance,” “Ministry of Silly Walks,” “The Lumberjack Song,” “The Cheese Shop,” and “SPAM.” It also includes extended interviews from the five surviving members and all the extras that were cut out of the documentary.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Hammer Glamour by Marcus Hearn
Written by Fantasma el Rey
Based in the United Kingdom, Hammer Film Productions has long been known for their Gothic horror movies, often re-imagining the 1930s Universal Monsters to much success. Movie fans in general will be familiar with Hammer for some reason, be it through their brand of horror, film noir, sci-fi or Raquel Welch’s pre-historic bikini. Throughout their long history Hammer has been known for their lovely women stars and co-stars, affectionately known as the Hammer Glamour. Now author Marcus Hearn has put together one hell of an introduction to the hotties of the Hammer world and titled his book simply Hammer Glamour.
This hardcover coffee-table book is packed with 160 pages of gorgeous women in provocative poses on great movie sets as they invite fans from all over the world into the Hammer house of horrors. Hearn does a magnificent job in his brief introduction giving a quick history of Hammer Film Productions. The book provides good overviews of the ladies’ careers before and after their Hammer days. The stars are alphabetized and given a page, sometimes two, of info to go along with their awesome photos.
The beauties are given a full page of one of their best shots as well as two or three smaller pics that fill out the info page. The bright color and stunning black and white photos allow the ladies and their wonderful costumes to live again. Most photos were taken on location or on the wonderful sets Hammer created. Also included is a list of the Hammer films they appeared in, making for another great reference for Hammer films to see.
The beauties that Hammer Films used throughout the years are all here including the above-mentioned Raquel Welch along with Ursula Andress, Eva Bartok, Vera Day, Suzan Farmer, Barbara Payton, Stefanie Powers, Janette Scott, Barbara Shelly, and a very young Nastassja Kinski to name but a few of the over fifty profiles featured. Besides Welch’s steaming shot on hot rocks there are absolutely fabulous photos of Yutte Stensgaard in a very Marilyn Monroe-like pose on red satin sheets (here shot on a vampire’s bed), Caroline Munro in thigh-high black boots as a vampire vixen, and Valerie Leon in a black bikini/lingerie piece that’s just incredible. There’s a lot of that by the way: bikini, lingerie, low cut, cleavage shots, and tons of high boots and hemlines. Some of these starlet’s names are simply alluring as is the case with Olinka Berova, Carita, Ingrid Pitt, Catherine Von Schell, and Victoria Vetri; these names have flair and roll of the tongue.
Marcus Hearn delivers a fascinating look through his photo selections and interesting sketches of the women and people tangled in the Hammer web. Hammer Glamour is a must for Hammer film fans as well those interested in beauties of the silver screen, pin-up girls, and overall knock-out photos of hot women in timeless poses. Never mind the $29.95 price tag. Pick it up for the hotties and cherish it for the bits of movie history and gossip it provides.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
THE WILLIAM CASTLE FILM COLLECTION
Written by Fantasma el Rey
William Castle, "the master of ballyhoo" knew what people wanted and how to hook them into buying a ticket. A wizard sideshow barker from the old school that filled seats and made a profit from his low budget horror films. He had a knack for finding the gimmick and pitching the hell out of it. This new five-DVD set offers eight gems, originally released by Columbia Pictures in the late '50s and early '60s, each running at a "fun" time of about 90 minutes. So join me, if you dare, as I take a peek at The William Castle Film Collection.
Castle's films didn't make a fortune but they made enough that the studio kept bringing him back to do more of what he did best: low-budget, gimmicky, spook movies. Hitting with Macabre and House On Haunted Hill in '58 and '59 Columbia brought him in to produce and direct. The films here aren't in chronological order but their placement does make sense in an odd way.
Disc one pairs 13 Frightened Girls (1963) and 13 Ghost (1960). Girls is a laughable look at the spy world as a young daughter of an international diplomat secretly, and unbeknown to daddy, gets involved with his intricate affairs. While getting chased by "Reds", she narrowly avoids death, capture, and becoming too entangled in the web of deceit that is being a secret agent. She also has 12 friends that attend the same Swiss boarding school to help her along the way, thus the title.
13 Ghost is a standard haunted house story, inherited by an unknowing family somehow related to the recently deceased that promised "13 times the thrills! 13 times the chills! 13 times the fun!" The gimmick here, 'cause Castle nearly always had one, was his use of "Illusion-O," a handheld piece of cardboard that had two transparent colored strips that would be used at the proper time. One was blue, to see the ghosts, the other red if you didn't want to see the ghosts, mostly pointless as the ghost would appear no matter what.
Disc two's Homicidal (1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964) are dominated by strong stories and the glue that is gore. Homicidal is an obvious "homage" to Hitchcock's Psycho with certain scenes filmed very much the same way. Our lead gal is a hot blond and our creepy male lead is an oddball with something not quite right about him. The twist at the end and the actual showing of stabbings put this one just over the Psycho edge. The gimmick is the "fright break" 45 seconds before the climax of the film which allowed folks to leave and get their money back but they had to hangout in the "coward's corner" for the remainder of the picture.
Apparently told to hold the gimmicks for Strait-Jacket, Castle went out and found something even better, Joan Crawford. After seeing What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? Castle had to create his own and hired Psycho author Robert Bloch to cook up a story that featured the aging Crawford. She plays an older women returning home to her daughter after being locked up for 20 years in an asylum for hacking up her husband and his lover with an axe. Upon her return, more folks begin to get whacked and who is to blame? That's right ol' Miss Crawford or is she? This one is enjoyable all the way to its twisted, axe-swinging end.
On disc three we venture into The Old Dark House (1963) and meet Mr. Sardonicus (1961). As the title implies, The Old Dark House is about just that and not much else. An American car salesman in England gets involved with a family of kooks in an old, rundown mansion and is almost killed as he investigates who is bumping off the others. Tom Poston (from TV's Newhart) makes this spooky comedy enjoyable but overall this one is passable.
Mr. Sardonicus takes us back to England, this time in a gothic tale set in 1880s London and is the story of a once decent fellow, Baron Sardonicus, forced to do ghoulish deeds. His face hideously frozen in a bizarre smile (very reminiscent of The Man Who Laughs), he attempts to pressure a talented doctor into restoring his good looks or suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, Sardonicus tortures young girls from the village with leeches and other devices as he gets his jollies and hides his true face behind a mask. A good film that finds Castle reaching back to the past and putting us in a setting much like the Universal monsters roamed. The gimmick here is The Punishment Poll, a card given to the crowd with thumbs up or down to decide the fate of Mr. Sardonicus. Castle appears and makes the tally himself.
Disc four is all comedy, intended or not, with The Tingler and Zotz! Tingler is a dumb movie with an outrageous plot that somehow Vincent Price gets to work. A lobster-like creature lives in the human spinal cord and is only active during fright but by screaming it's stopped and can no longer do harm. Price, a doctor, captures one. It gets lose in a theater and runs amuck leading to the gimmick of Percepto. Some seats where rigged to vibrate at a key moment in the film and gave the audience a "scream" or a giggle. Price and the really bad creature make this dumb flick fun.
Zotz! tells of an absentminded professor (Tom Poston) who comes across an ancient coin with magical powers. He tries to tell his fellow staff members, who laugh at him, and the government, who laugh as well. But they stop laughing when the "reds" show up and kidnap our hero who uses the power of the coin to thwart their efforts. He and the coin return safe and sound. It's an all-right comedy with some funny moments when watched at social gathering. Those who went to see this got a "magic" coin; tales tell it did nothing.
Finally there is a bonus disc with the documentary Spin Tingler! The William Castle Story featuring interviews from many people who knew or where influenced by Castle, including his daughter Terry, John Waters, Roger Corman, John Landis, and Joe Dante. We get a further look at Castle's adventures in life, movies, and what made him tick, his wife and family. The special feature on the documentary is a cool audio commentary by producer/director Jeffrey Schwarz and Terry. It's a great look at the life of a man who directed many films of all genres and could turn nothing into something.
The featurettes on the four other discs are pulled directly from this documentary and edited to focus on a specific film and/or gimmick. Along with those featurettes are other making-of pieces, vintage promo shorts, alternate opening sequences, and a bunch of original trailers. The set also includes two good episodes from the Castle-produced TV series Ghost Story (1972-73). So hurry, hurry, step on out and get your copy to enjoy and witness the ghoulish glory that is The William Castle Film Collection.
William Castle, "the master of ballyhoo" knew what people wanted and how to hook them into buying a ticket. A wizard sideshow barker from the old school that filled seats and made a profit from his low budget horror films. He had a knack for finding the gimmick and pitching the hell out of it. This new five-DVD set offers eight gems, originally released by Columbia Pictures in the late '50s and early '60s, each running at a "fun" time of about 90 minutes. So join me, if you dare, as I take a peek at The William Castle Film Collection.
Castle's films didn't make a fortune but they made enough that the studio kept bringing him back to do more of what he did best: low-budget, gimmicky, spook movies. Hitting with Macabre and House On Haunted Hill in '58 and '59 Columbia brought him in to produce and direct. The films here aren't in chronological order but their placement does make sense in an odd way.
Disc one pairs 13 Frightened Girls (1963) and 13 Ghost (1960). Girls is a laughable look at the spy world as a young daughter of an international diplomat secretly, and unbeknown to daddy, gets involved with his intricate affairs. While getting chased by "Reds", she narrowly avoids death, capture, and becoming too entangled in the web of deceit that is being a secret agent. She also has 12 friends that attend the same Swiss boarding school to help her along the way, thus the title.
13 Ghost is a standard haunted house story, inherited by an unknowing family somehow related to the recently deceased that promised "13 times the thrills! 13 times the chills! 13 times the fun!" The gimmick here, 'cause Castle nearly always had one, was his use of "Illusion-O," a handheld piece of cardboard that had two transparent colored strips that would be used at the proper time. One was blue, to see the ghosts, the other red if you didn't want to see the ghosts, mostly pointless as the ghost would appear no matter what.
Disc two's Homicidal (1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964) are dominated by strong stories and the glue that is gore. Homicidal is an obvious "homage" to Hitchcock's Psycho with certain scenes filmed very much the same way. Our lead gal is a hot blond and our creepy male lead is an oddball with something not quite right about him. The twist at the end and the actual showing of stabbings put this one just over the Psycho edge. The gimmick is the "fright break" 45 seconds before the climax of the film which allowed folks to leave and get their money back but they had to hangout in the "coward's corner" for the remainder of the picture.
Apparently told to hold the gimmicks for Strait-Jacket, Castle went out and found something even better, Joan Crawford. After seeing What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? Castle had to create his own and hired Psycho author Robert Bloch to cook up a story that featured the aging Crawford. She plays an older women returning home to her daughter after being locked up for 20 years in an asylum for hacking up her husband and his lover with an axe. Upon her return, more folks begin to get whacked and who is to blame? That's right ol' Miss Crawford or is she? This one is enjoyable all the way to its twisted, axe-swinging end.
On disc three we venture into The Old Dark House (1963) and meet Mr. Sardonicus (1961). As the title implies, The Old Dark House is about just that and not much else. An American car salesman in England gets involved with a family of kooks in an old, rundown mansion and is almost killed as he investigates who is bumping off the others. Tom Poston (from TV's Newhart) makes this spooky comedy enjoyable but overall this one is passable.
Mr. Sardonicus takes us back to England, this time in a gothic tale set in 1880s London and is the story of a once decent fellow, Baron Sardonicus, forced to do ghoulish deeds. His face hideously frozen in a bizarre smile (very reminiscent of The Man Who Laughs), he attempts to pressure a talented doctor into restoring his good looks or suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, Sardonicus tortures young girls from the village with leeches and other devices as he gets his jollies and hides his true face behind a mask. A good film that finds Castle reaching back to the past and putting us in a setting much like the Universal monsters roamed. The gimmick here is The Punishment Poll, a card given to the crowd with thumbs up or down to decide the fate of Mr. Sardonicus. Castle appears and makes the tally himself.
Disc four is all comedy, intended or not, with The Tingler and Zotz! Tingler is a dumb movie with an outrageous plot that somehow Vincent Price gets to work. A lobster-like creature lives in the human spinal cord and is only active during fright but by screaming it's stopped and can no longer do harm. Price, a doctor, captures one. It gets lose in a theater and runs amuck leading to the gimmick of Percepto. Some seats where rigged to vibrate at a key moment in the film and gave the audience a "scream" or a giggle. Price and the really bad creature make this dumb flick fun.
Zotz! tells of an absentminded professor (Tom Poston) who comes across an ancient coin with magical powers. He tries to tell his fellow staff members, who laugh at him, and the government, who laugh as well. But they stop laughing when the "reds" show up and kidnap our hero who uses the power of the coin to thwart their efforts. He and the coin return safe and sound. It's an all-right comedy with some funny moments when watched at social gathering. Those who went to see this got a "magic" coin; tales tell it did nothing.
Finally there is a bonus disc with the documentary Spin Tingler! The William Castle Story featuring interviews from many people who knew or where influenced by Castle, including his daughter Terry, John Waters, Roger Corman, John Landis, and Joe Dante. We get a further look at Castle's adventures in life, movies, and what made him tick, his wife and family. The special feature on the documentary is a cool audio commentary by producer/director Jeffrey Schwarz and Terry. It's a great look at the life of a man who directed many films of all genres and could turn nothing into something.
The featurettes on the four other discs are pulled directly from this documentary and edited to focus on a specific film and/or gimmick. Along with those featurettes are other making-of pieces, vintage promo shorts, alternate opening sequences, and a bunch of original trailers. The set also includes two good episodes from the Castle-produced TV series Ghost Story (1972-73). So hurry, hurry, step on out and get your copy to enjoy and witness the ghoulish glory that is The William Castle Film Collection.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
GENESIS II
Written by Pirata Hermosa
In 1973 writer/producer Gene Roddenberry with the help of director John Llewellyn Moxey introduced another view of the future to the public in the shape of a made-for-TV movie. In 2009, Warner Brothers has made it available as part of their Archive Collection, and as common with the collection there are no special features.
People familiar with Roddenberry through his famous creation Star Trek know that he has a very optimistic look into the future of mankind. In Genesis II you can see sparks of that hope for the future, but it’s quite a bit darker.
The year is 1979 and NASA scientist, Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord), has come across a major breakthrough. Long-distance space travel has always been a hurdle for astronauts. In order for them to explore the vast expanse of space they needed a way to keep from dying of old age before they reached their destination. But Dylan has found the answer and has been able to successfully place lab rats in suspended animation for 10 years while the rats age only one day.
Once a discovery has been thoroughly tested, the next step is to test it on a human subject. That volunteer is none other than Dylan himself. Just moments after entering suspended animation, an earthquake strikes the underground facility in Carlsbad Canyon, burying the entire facility and leaving him trapped inside the pressure chamber.
Expecting to only be asleep for a few days, Dylan awakens in the year 2133 when a group of people called the PAX discover the hidden chamber and revive him from his long sleep. While he slowly recovers from the effects of his 154-year slumber, Dylan learns that there have been a lot of changes to the world. The planet has been devastated by nuclear war and only a handful of human settlements remain.
In order to help with his rehabilitation and teach him about the ways of the new world, the PAX make a huge mistake by assigning Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) to be his caretaker. She may have voluntarily joined the PAX, but she is actually a spy sent by the Tyranians, a group of mutated humans that live near the ancient city of Phoenix.
After poisoning Dylan’s mind against the PAX, Lyra-a takes him to meet her people. At first the Tyranian society seems to be one of culture, comfort and luxury, but it doesn’t take long for Dylan to see that they rule with an iron fist and have subjugated regular humans to work as slaves. And when he finds out that the true reason he was brought there is to fix their failing nuclear reactor he organizes a slave rebellion.
The premise of the story is an interesting concept, but it really fails due to the limited format of a 74-minute TV movie. There is not nearly enough time for the audience to become acquainted with the new world and connect with all of the different characters to form any type of attachment. The most obvious example of the rushed plotline comes at the end when Dylan stays behind to save his friends from capture, but then manages to escape, return to the PAX, and destroy the reactor in about a minute. Even a strategically placed commercial break wouldn’t be able to slow down the pacing. It feels like an entire chapter is missing.
For Roddenberry fans it’s a nice addition to your collection. Not only does it give you a glimpse into other concepts the creator of Star Trek had, but there are a number of interesting production techniques they both share. The font used on the cover and in the credits is exactly the same, automatic doors make a familiar whooshing sound, the Tyranian stim weapons sound like a phaser on overload, and the background music has that same futuristic tone that leaves you feeling like Captain Kirk could stroll in at any moment.
In 1973 writer/producer Gene Roddenberry with the help of director John Llewellyn Moxey introduced another view of the future to the public in the shape of a made-for-TV movie. In 2009, Warner Brothers has made it available as part of their Archive Collection, and as common with the collection there are no special features.
People familiar with Roddenberry through his famous creation Star Trek know that he has a very optimistic look into the future of mankind. In Genesis II you can see sparks of that hope for the future, but it’s quite a bit darker.
The year is 1979 and NASA scientist, Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord), has come across a major breakthrough. Long-distance space travel has always been a hurdle for astronauts. In order for them to explore the vast expanse of space they needed a way to keep from dying of old age before they reached their destination. But Dylan has found the answer and has been able to successfully place lab rats in suspended animation for 10 years while the rats age only one day.
Once a discovery has been thoroughly tested, the next step is to test it on a human subject. That volunteer is none other than Dylan himself. Just moments after entering suspended animation, an earthquake strikes the underground facility in Carlsbad Canyon, burying the entire facility and leaving him trapped inside the pressure chamber.
Expecting to only be asleep for a few days, Dylan awakens in the year 2133 when a group of people called the PAX discover the hidden chamber and revive him from his long sleep. While he slowly recovers from the effects of his 154-year slumber, Dylan learns that there have been a lot of changes to the world. The planet has been devastated by nuclear war and only a handful of human settlements remain.
In order to help with his rehabilitation and teach him about the ways of the new world, the PAX make a huge mistake by assigning Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) to be his caretaker. She may have voluntarily joined the PAX, but she is actually a spy sent by the Tyranians, a group of mutated humans that live near the ancient city of Phoenix.
After poisoning Dylan’s mind against the PAX, Lyra-a takes him to meet her people. At first the Tyranian society seems to be one of culture, comfort and luxury, but it doesn’t take long for Dylan to see that they rule with an iron fist and have subjugated regular humans to work as slaves. And when he finds out that the true reason he was brought there is to fix their failing nuclear reactor he organizes a slave rebellion.
The premise of the story is an interesting concept, but it really fails due to the limited format of a 74-minute TV movie. There is not nearly enough time for the audience to become acquainted with the new world and connect with all of the different characters to form any type of attachment. The most obvious example of the rushed plotline comes at the end when Dylan stays behind to save his friends from capture, but then manages to escape, return to the PAX, and destroy the reactor in about a minute. Even a strategically placed commercial break wouldn’t be able to slow down the pacing. It feels like an entire chapter is missing.
For Roddenberry fans it’s a nice addition to your collection. Not only does it give you a glimpse into other concepts the creator of Star Trek had, but there are a number of interesting production techniques they both share. The font used on the cover and in the credits is exactly the same, automatic doors make a familiar whooshing sound, the Tyranian stim weapons sound like a phaser on overload, and the background music has that same futuristic tone that leaves you feeling like Captain Kirk could stroll in at any moment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)