Rondo Hatton proved so popular as The Creeper in The Pearl of Death that Universal decided to give him his own starring vehicle. Well, technically it's his but the real lead is played by Martin Kosleck. He's the Dr Frankenstein equivalent, a selfish artist who gets so many bad reviews he decides to kill himself; however he comes across the Creeper (his version of the Frankenstein monster), befriends him and uses him to take out art critics.
That's a decent idea for a film, and it's helped by Kosleck's strong performance and Hatton's presence (greatly reduced whenever he has to say dialogue). There's also some colourful support roles with snobbish art critics, wisecracking gal reporters, cops and a macho cheesecake artist who is the leading suspect. Plus solid direction, and spirited work from Virginia Grey as the female lead. Better value than the second Hatton work, The Brute Man.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Movie review - "Blood of Dracula" (1958) **
AIP late 50s horror which means misunderstood teenagers caught up with monsters - in this case troubled boarding school student Sandra Harrison. She is tormented by some bitchy girls falls under the sway of teacher Louise Lewis who is bitter against the way men rule the world - but just in case you think this might be some surprising feminism, don't worry.... Lewis turns out to be the villain, a vampire to boot.
Herman Cohen's films were often accused of sexism and misgoyny; I used to think they had sexist and misgoynistic characters, which is not exactly the same thing - but here the allegations feel warranted. It's not very comfortable to watch, with the constant slagging off of females. It's a shame because the idea of vampires in a female boarding school isn't a bad one; there are some intriguing lesbian overtones and the drama is intense, plus camp factor of a 50s song and a detective talking about his old school friends from the Carpathian Mountains.
It follows the structure of I Was a Teenage Werewolf very closely - so does I was a Teenager Frankenstein (and Cohen's Konga was similar too).
Herman Cohen's films were often accused of sexism and misgoyny; I used to think they had sexist and misgoynistic characters, which is not exactly the same thing - but here the allegations feel warranted. It's not very comfortable to watch, with the constant slagging off of females. It's a shame because the idea of vampires in a female boarding school isn't a bad one; there are some intriguing lesbian overtones and the drama is intense, plus camp factor of a 50s song and a detective talking about his old school friends from the Carpathian Mountains.
It follows the structure of I Was a Teenage Werewolf very closely - so does I was a Teenager Frankenstein (and Cohen's Konga was similar too).
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Movie review - "The Dunwich Horror" (1970) **
Dean Stockwell was a great actor as a child (Kim), teenager (Compulsion), and adult (Blue Velvet, Quantum Leap) but here he's terrible. He plays a mysterious chap who's meant to be charismatic (the script gets characters making several references to his looks and appeal), so much so he cons undergrad Sandra Dee into lending him a copy of the Necronomicon. This is a Bad Thing, apparently, because it enables Stockwell to raise the dead or something. (Peter Fonda was meant to play the lead and he would've been better.)
There are some interesting bits: the novelty of Sandra Dee writhing orgasmically under the thrall of Stockwell; the groovy opening credits (by the same guy who did Three in the Attic); an attack on a friend of Dee's (which results in her clothes being ripped off under way-out visuals).
But there's not nearly enough. Director Dan Haller was an excellent designer for Roger Corman in those Poe films but isn't much as a director (in his defence, this is contemporary not a period story so he doesn't have that to fall back on). It badly lacks atmosphere and there simply aren't the actors to pull it off - not just Stockwell but also Lloyd Bochner and Ed Begley.
The ending hints at Rosemary's Baby but this is nowhere near that league.
There are some interesting bits: the novelty of Sandra Dee writhing orgasmically under the thrall of Stockwell; the groovy opening credits (by the same guy who did Three in the Attic); an attack on a friend of Dee's (which results in her clothes being ripped off under way-out visuals).
But there's not nearly enough. Director Dan Haller was an excellent designer for Roger Corman in those Poe films but isn't much as a director (in his defence, this is contemporary not a period story so he doesn't have that to fall back on). It badly lacks atmosphere and there simply aren't the actors to pull it off - not just Stockwell but also Lloyd Bochner and Ed Begley.
The ending hints at Rosemary's Baby but this is nowhere near that league.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Movie review - "Westworld" (1973) ***1/2
Michael Crichton's feature debut as film director has aged remarkably well due in part to the cleverness of its concept - indeed, it ranks with one of the all time great sci fi concepts, and is so good Crichton reused it in Jurassic Park and Timeline. There is also the casting of Yul Brynner, who makes a terrifying villain.
The Terminator supposedly ripped off an episode of Outer Limits but surely James Cameron also saw this film before he wrote it - the same relentless killer, played by an established star, the same POV shots of said killer, the same theme of technology overcoming humans. Cameron is a far better director than Crichton, though, whose handling is competent at best - he has his excellent screenplay, plus some fine actors (Richard Benjamin as the less brave hero, James Brolin as the tougher seeming guy who cops it early), so it doesn't matter for the most part. It's more when things go haywire that you feel a really good director could have milked the tension - the finale mostly consists of people walking down corridors with loud sound effects of people walking, and Benjamin thinking he's killed Brynner then walking away something like three times.
Also in places the action felt superfluous - like the barroom brawl. It's a shame these sequences weren't cut to free up the tight budget so the money could be spent elsewhere. Still, a fine film and one of the few decent movies made by MGM in the 1970s.
The Terminator supposedly ripped off an episode of Outer Limits but surely James Cameron also saw this film before he wrote it - the same relentless killer, played by an established star, the same POV shots of said killer, the same theme of technology overcoming humans. Cameron is a far better director than Crichton, though, whose handling is competent at best - he has his excellent screenplay, plus some fine actors (Richard Benjamin as the less brave hero, James Brolin as the tougher seeming guy who cops it early), so it doesn't matter for the most part. It's more when things go haywire that you feel a really good director could have milked the tension - the finale mostly consists of people walking down corridors with loud sound effects of people walking, and Benjamin thinking he's killed Brynner then walking away something like three times.
Also in places the action felt superfluous - like the barroom brawl. It's a shame these sequences weren't cut to free up the tight budget so the money could be spent elsewhere. Still, a fine film and one of the few decent movies made by MGM in the 1970s.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Movie review - "Soylent Green" (1973) *** (warning: spoilers)
Some good old fashioned late 60s early 70s Chuck Heston sci fi dystopia, set in a world all too relevant today - overpopulated, riddled with crime and global warming, in hock to corporate interests. There are some quaint very 70s touches, such as the clothes, furniture, TV programs - and depiction of women (in the future, women still don't have decent roles in sci fi films, apparently). Still, this is a consistently interesting film, which is unremittingly bleak.
Heston's character is a genuine anti-hero - a good enough cop, that doesn't stop him from looting the apartment of a rich man whose death he's investigating for food and other stuffs; he also seems to coerce the man's mistress (charmingly described as "furniture" and played by a very pretty Leigh Taylor Young) into bed, punches out a black mistress, investigates the case to protect his job as much as a desire for justice. He is a bad ass, too, disposing of several henchmen at the Soylent Green factory and in a shoot out later on. He takes his shirt off a lot, has a steamy shower with Taylor Young, and flashes those teeth and indignation. It's quite a complex role, a heavily flawed man, and Heston does it well.
He is out acted, however, by little Edward G Robinson in his last film - easy authority and dignity. To be fair, Robinson gets the best sequence - signing himself up to the ethenasia program to go out with some nice music and visuals; we see Eddie G's little body draped in a sheet looking so small and I don't mind admitting I choked up a bit.
This was clearly not a big budget film but the budget is used wisely (a few showy riot set pieces). The ending is annoyingly vague - I mean, I know it was the 70s but why not show us whether Heston lived or died, or was believed or not... or whether Brock Peters ended up reporting his discovery, and whether anyone cared, or what happened to the Governor (Whit Bissell). It felt so abrupt.
The final twist is very well known these days - from memory it's in the trailer. It might have been a better movie had Heston found out earlier and then we played out the ramifications of that. Anyway that's Monday morning quarterbacking.
Heston's character is a genuine anti-hero - a good enough cop, that doesn't stop him from looting the apartment of a rich man whose death he's investigating for food and other stuffs; he also seems to coerce the man's mistress (charmingly described as "furniture" and played by a very pretty Leigh Taylor Young) into bed, punches out a black mistress, investigates the case to protect his job as much as a desire for justice. He is a bad ass, too, disposing of several henchmen at the Soylent Green factory and in a shoot out later on. He takes his shirt off a lot, has a steamy shower with Taylor Young, and flashes those teeth and indignation. It's quite a complex role, a heavily flawed man, and Heston does it well.
He is out acted, however, by little Edward G Robinson in his last film - easy authority and dignity. To be fair, Robinson gets the best sequence - signing himself up to the ethenasia program to go out with some nice music and visuals; we see Eddie G's little body draped in a sheet looking so small and I don't mind admitting I choked up a bit.
This was clearly not a big budget film but the budget is used wisely (a few showy riot set pieces). The ending is annoyingly vague - I mean, I know it was the 70s but why not show us whether Heston lived or died, or was believed or not... or whether Brock Peters ended up reporting his discovery, and whether anyone cared, or what happened to the Governor (Whit Bissell). It felt so abrupt.
The final twist is very well known these days - from memory it's in the trailer. It might have been a better movie had Heston found out earlier and then we played out the ramifications of that. Anyway that's Monday morning quarterbacking.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Move review - "The Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)
This feels like they grabbed a whole lot of movies, put them in a blender and see what they came up with: Source Code, Saving Private Ryan, Starship Troopers, Groundhog Day, video games. Having said that it I enjoyed this - at least the story progressed and it did keep me guessing, Tom Cruise remains a movie star (he's aging, it's a role anyone could have played, but he's still our Cruiser), Emily Blunt is spot on as a hard arse warrior (I never would have guessed she had it in her but she's outstanding), the production values are impressive (it's one of those movies worth seeing on the big screen).
Normally I'm wary of movies set in the near future about fictitious international forces where people wear coloured berets (eg Streetfighter) and the World War Two overtones feels weird (would Europe really be entirely wiped out and yet England mostly untouched; would they really have to advertise for enlistment when the human race was under attack)... and now I'm being picky there were some logic problems (eg how did Emily Blunt know she couldn't die anymore times? How does Tom come back at the end to the earlier day), and the human race doesn't particularly seem worth saving in this movie, with its very sloppy, dimwitted army (none of the grunts in Cruiser's squad are particularly likeable).
Also some of the emotional drama felt undercooked, especially the love story between Cruise and Blunt (why not give them one night together), and the effects of dying a couple of hundred times. Still it was there, and there's plenty of action, really scary alien visitors, and standout work from Emily Blunt.
Normally I'm wary of movies set in the near future about fictitious international forces where people wear coloured berets (eg Streetfighter) and the World War Two overtones feels weird (would Europe really be entirely wiped out and yet England mostly untouched; would they really have to advertise for enlistment when the human race was under attack)... and now I'm being picky there were some logic problems (eg how did Emily Blunt know she couldn't die anymore times? How does Tom come back at the end to the earlier day), and the human race doesn't particularly seem worth saving in this movie, with its very sloppy, dimwitted army (none of the grunts in Cruiser's squad are particularly likeable).
Also some of the emotional drama felt undercooked, especially the love story between Cruise and Blunt (why not give them one night together), and the effects of dying a couple of hundred times. Still it was there, and there's plenty of action, really scary alien visitors, and standout work from Emily Blunt.
Movie review - "Jour de Fete" (The Big Day) (1949) **
Jacques Tati is supposed to be a genius and there were one or two funny moments in this but for the most part I found it very unfunny. The plot is about a rural French mailman who bludges most of the day - forever stopping to chat to people etc - then becomes worried about new fangled methods of transport making his job obsolete so goes all out to deliver his mail.
The good bits included a gag involving a cross eyed person trying to hammer a pike and some antics on the bike. For most of the part I found it too illogical, and not in a fun way but an annoying one. Uninteresting support cast, crappy colour, it dragged on and on.
The good bits included a gag involving a cross eyed person trying to hammer a pike and some antics on the bike. For most of the part I found it too illogical, and not in a fun way but an annoying one. Uninteresting support cast, crappy colour, it dragged on and on.
Movie review - "Black Sabbath" (1964) ***
Mario Bava anthology horror flick for AIP has that beautiful Bava colour with blues and reds, plus some decent stories. The first one involves a maid who pinches a ring off an old dead lady and lives to regret it (it's a little Tell Tale Heart). The second has a girl receiving scary phone calls and seeking help from a presumably lesbian friend. The last is like a minor Roger Corman Poe entry with Mark Damon as a noble visiting a castle led by Boris Karloff. It goes on for far too long and would have worked at half the length.
This was a good, solid film - maybe I would have loved it more had I watched it at a formative age.
This was a good, solid film - maybe I would have loved it more had I watched it at a formative age.
Movie review - "The Headless Ghost" (1959) *
Whenever AIP tried to cross comedy with horror the results were never that flash - this, The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. This was made in England by Herman Cohen, to be a double feature in support of Horrors of the Black Museum. It was done far too quickly and on the cheap, a sort of attempt to rip off The Ghost Goes West/The Canterville Ghost with teenagers added.
None of the three teens who go to the English castle are English - two American exchange students and a Dane, which already makes this feel weird. Clive Revill is the ghost who needs to be saved, the one vaguely familiar name in this case. The jokes are lame, the budget low, the atmosphere non existent. Some of the British character actors add some style but its hard going, even at a little over an hour.
None of the three teens who go to the English castle are English - two American exchange students and a Dane, which already makes this feel weird. Clive Revill is the ghost who needs to be saved, the one vaguely familiar name in this case. The jokes are lame, the budget low, the atmosphere non existent. Some of the British character actors add some style but its hard going, even at a little over an hour.
Sunday, June 08, 2014
Movie review - "La Strada" (1954) ***1/2
I haven't seen much Fellini - this has a tremendous reputation and I understand it was a big deal in the 50s, but I wasn't that overwhelmed. I do recognise its quality including some excellent acting - the lead three in particular - but it could be dull at times.
Anthony Quinn is a strong man who buys young, naive Giuletta Masina to help with his show. He is mean to her but she goes along with it, adds to the act and plays a trumpet (a very catchy theme tune). Matters are complicated by a trapeze artist (Richard Basehart) who delights in taunting Quinn.
The sudden outbursts of violence are very well done, the ending heartwrenching, the running time long. A clear influence on Woody Allen for Sweet and Lowdown.
Anthony Quinn is a strong man who buys young, naive Giuletta Masina to help with his show. He is mean to her but she goes along with it, adds to the act and plays a trumpet (a very catchy theme tune). Matters are complicated by a trapeze artist (Richard Basehart) who delights in taunting Quinn.
The sudden outbursts of violence are very well done, the ending heartwrenching, the running time long. A clear influence on Woody Allen for Sweet and Lowdown.
Movie review - "The Black Sleep" (1956) **1/2
An attempt to recreate the success of the classic Universal horror films of the 40s, with a regular director from that time (Reginald Le Borg) and many of the famous stars (Rathbone, Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jnr, John Carradine). It has the benefit of a 19th century setting, which makes it feel classier, and a perfectly respectable mad scientist plot - Rathbone performs brain experiments on people in order to help save his wife.
It's not a classic and could have done with a more interesting pair of juveniles, and some extra vigour in the handling - especially around the middle where it sags. But I enjoyed it - Basil Rathbone gives an expertly professional performance (he disappears for far too long in this and should have been centre stage the whole time) Akim Tamiroff is fun as always as Rathbone's assistant; Lon Chaney registers strongly as a one time doctor rendered into... well, Lon Chaney by Rathbone's experiments.
Its touching to see Bela Lugosi in a nothing part, really - as Rathbone's mute butler (another butler role for Lugosi and he doesn't have any lines). John Carradine has a similarly small but flashier role as a crazy, plus there's Tor Johnson to add to the fun. The climax is rushed but there's some decent shocks as the two heroes go through Rathbone's basement and encounter various creepy creatures.
It's not a classic and could have done with a more interesting pair of juveniles, and some extra vigour in the handling - especially around the middle where it sags. But I enjoyed it - Basil Rathbone gives an expertly professional performance (he disappears for far too long in this and should have been centre stage the whole time) Akim Tamiroff is fun as always as Rathbone's assistant; Lon Chaney registers strongly as a one time doctor rendered into... well, Lon Chaney by Rathbone's experiments.
Its touching to see Bela Lugosi in a nothing part, really - as Rathbone's mute butler (another butler role for Lugosi and he doesn't have any lines). John Carradine has a similarly small but flashier role as a crazy, plus there's Tor Johnson to add to the fun. The climax is rushed but there's some decent shocks as the two heroes go through Rathbone's basement and encounter various creepy creatures.
Book review - "Bela Lugosi: No Traveler Returns (The Lost Years 1945 – 1951)" By Bill Kaffenberger And Gary D. Rhodes
Amazingly detailed book about Lugosi - it's hard to imagine one that could have been more exhaustively researched. It covers a sort of off period in his career - post Universal horror star and pre-Ed Wood. His career was on the slide the whole time, with the exception of a brief bump with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, so it's kind of depressing reading in many ways - work becoming scarcer, unable to find decent materia, drug addiction taking hold; his marriage must have also been in decline too, although that is not the focus of the book.
Lugosi did not make many films during this period of his career, but he worked a still of a lot in an astonishingly varied way - lots of theatre (mostly stock versions of Dracula and Arsenic and Old Lace but also some non horror plays), some radio, nightclub appearances, vaudeville turns, albums TV. The poor guy just had to work and work and work. He also had to deal with FBI surveillance (communist links - a fascinating part of the book).
Lugosi remained in high demand but in low rent parts of show biz - even today it's remarkable his name was not exploited better by some canny filmmakers. As a result he had to slug it out in the provinces - and the guy did slog it out, in show after show, gig after gig. He was getting older and more infirm but he travelled the length and breadth of the USA. He had a wonderful adventurous life but the fact is he was disappointed by the decline in his career, so reading this is still sad. Kudos though for the writers for doing it and also to draw much needed attention to the non-film aspects of Lugosi's career.
Lugosi did not make many films during this period of his career, but he worked a still of a lot in an astonishingly varied way - lots of theatre (mostly stock versions of Dracula and Arsenic and Old Lace but also some non horror plays), some radio, nightclub appearances, vaudeville turns, albums TV. The poor guy just had to work and work and work. He also had to deal with FBI surveillance (communist links - a fascinating part of the book).
Lugosi remained in high demand but in low rent parts of show biz - even today it's remarkable his name was not exploited better by some canny filmmakers. As a result he had to slug it out in the provinces - and the guy did slog it out, in show after show, gig after gig. He was getting older and more infirm but he travelled the length and breadth of the USA. He had a wonderful adventurous life but the fact is he was disappointed by the decline in his career, so reading this is still sad. Kudos though for the writers for doing it and also to draw much needed attention to the non-film aspects of Lugosi's career.
Movie review - "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" (2013) ***
Pretty good sequel, if not as funnier as the original - it also doesn't have as "fun" a story. The first movie was about a good thing happening in news history, i.e. women being allowed to anchor the news; this is about a bad thing happening in news history i.e. the dumbing down of news. The team of Ferrell and McKay often like to make sharp satirical points in their movies (something for which they never get enough credit for, I feel) - but here it's a bit depressing. (It's kind of like the two magazine war mini series in Australia - the first one was about women's sexual liberation the second one was about trash).
The satire is very strong and there are some excellent gangs. It's also got a nice "comedy of remarriage" plot between Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, and their son, plus some excellent music (mostly soft rock). And the performances are all strong, not a weak link in the bunch.
On the down side, it's very long (almost two hours) and feels it; there are too many characters, some of whom feel entirely superfluous (why didn't they combine Meagan Good and Dylan Baker's characters) or ill-defined (Megan Good starts off tough, then is sort of evil, then sort of good). Steve Carrell gets a great romance with Kristen Wiig and Josh Lawson is an effective villain as a Junior Rupert Murdoch, but there's no subplot for Paul Rudd and David Koechner, which is a shame (it would have only taken an extra scene or two). And after a while all the cameos stop being fun and start being annoying.
The satire is very strong and there are some excellent gangs. It's also got a nice "comedy of remarriage" plot between Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, and their son, plus some excellent music (mostly soft rock). And the performances are all strong, not a weak link in the bunch.
On the down side, it's very long (almost two hours) and feels it; there are too many characters, some of whom feel entirely superfluous (why didn't they combine Meagan Good and Dylan Baker's characters) or ill-defined (Megan Good starts off tough, then is sort of evil, then sort of good). Steve Carrell gets a great romance with Kristen Wiig and Josh Lawson is an effective villain as a Junior Rupert Murdoch, but there's no subplot for Paul Rudd and David Koechner, which is a shame (it would have only taken an extra scene or two). And after a while all the cameos stop being fun and start being annoying.
Thursday, June 05, 2014
Movie review - "House of the Long Shadows" (1983) **
In the 50s, 60s or even 70s, a cast of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine would have been a dream. By 1983 though everyone was getting on except Lee - Cushing, Price and Carradine seem half dead. Still it's great to see them all together - and with Richard Todd thrown in for free.
The actual star of the movie is Desi Arnaz Jnr giving a very TV performance (there is such a thing - see this movie if you don't believe me) as the writer who accepts a bet for $20,000 that he can't write a novel overnight. He goes to Baldpate Inn - and by now film buffs will recognise this is a version of the much filmed Seven Keys to Baldpate.
It's not a terribly faithful version - it does start off that way but then becomes about four old codgers and Arnaz hanging around, wondering about a deep dark secret in the past. There's a crazy old kid locked in an attic, a squabbling married couple turns up at the end (mainly for the girl to get changed into her underwear at then get killed), a few gory murders to perk things up. Julie Peasgood is terrible as the main girl.
It begins strongly, wobbles about a third of the way in and never recovers. The ending feels hollow.
The actual star of the movie is Desi Arnaz Jnr giving a very TV performance (there is such a thing - see this movie if you don't believe me) as the writer who accepts a bet for $20,000 that he can't write a novel overnight. He goes to Baldpate Inn - and by now film buffs will recognise this is a version of the much filmed Seven Keys to Baldpate.
It's not a terribly faithful version - it does start off that way but then becomes about four old codgers and Arnaz hanging around, wondering about a deep dark secret in the past. There's a crazy old kid locked in an attic, a squabbling married couple turns up at the end (mainly for the girl to get changed into her underwear at then get killed), a few gory murders to perk things up. Julie Peasgood is terrible as the main girl.
It begins strongly, wobbles about a third of the way in and never recovers. The ending feels hollow.
TV review - "Bunheads" (2012) ***1/2
Heaps of fun - bright, witty, with some terrific performances and an exciting new TV star in Sutton Foster. And yet I can see why it didn't rate. This is after the event of course but it lacks focus - The Gilmore Girls had a solid center of family but this is spread out: Michelle has a tenuous connection to the town and the people; yes she's the daughter in law of Fanny but not really; she mentors the girls but not really; the girls need Fanny but not really. It feels hollow at the core - it was as if she needed to grow up there or have a step daughter or something. Maybe after another season this would have mattered less.
Still, some knock out moments (such as the dance to the They Might Be Giants Song), superb acting, good dance numbers and genuine warmth.
Still, some knock out moments (such as the dance to the They Might Be Giants Song), superb acting, good dance numbers and genuine warmth.
Book review - "Charmed Lives: A Family Romance" by Michael Korda (1979)
Alex Korda is one of the most improbably glamorous figures of the British film industry: a Hungarian Jew who worked his way up to become a pillar (or at least important cog) of the British establishment, hopping from country to country, film to film, leaving behind a genuinely impressive body of work an a decent pile of cash despite suffering a bunch of reversals (broken heart, revolution, World Wars, the Holocaust).
Michael Korda has a great view as his nephew - the tantrums, talent, intrigue. Most fascinating is his view of Alex's last marriage with a flirtatious younger woman who seemed more than a little interested in Michael Korda. This book really makes Alex Korda seem like a three dimensional person and is a lot of fun. The bit at the end where he goes to the 56 Hungarian Revolution feels tacked on.
Michael Korda has a great view as his nephew - the tantrums, talent, intrigue. Most fascinating is his view of Alex's last marriage with a flirtatious younger woman who seemed more than a little interested in Michael Korda. This book really makes Alex Korda seem like a three dimensional person and is a lot of fun. The bit at the end where he goes to the 56 Hungarian Revolution feels tacked on.
Movie review - "Reptilicus" (1961) **
Very junky but an impossible film to dislike - I mean a Danish film about a killer reptile. Who couldn't love it? Danish miners (I had no idea there were such things but there you go) dig up the creature, it gets taken to Cophenhagen, awakes and goes on a rampage.
Lots of fun things - Danish actors speaking slowly, all the Danes on bikes, Reptilicus running riot through various Copenhagen landmarks (my favourites: the attack at the beach and where the extras run off the draw bridge), scientists and the military squabbling. It's in colour so the locations are used to good advantage.
Lots of fun things - Danish actors speaking slowly, all the Danes on bikes, Reptilicus running riot through various Copenhagen landmarks (my favourites: the attack at the beach and where the extras run off the draw bridge), scientists and the military squabbling. It's in colour so the locations are used to good advantage.
Movie review - "Canopy" (2013) **
An impressive technical achievement in many ways - low budget but with ambitious, a decent central idea, some nice photography and sound, plus Khan Chittenden doing good work in the lead. But it's really a short film: 10 minutes of story stretched out to feature length. The pilot has been shot down, he runs through the forest for over an hour. He ducks behind trees, runs into a Chinese guy and hangs out with him, flashes back. It gets on the nerves.
It's a shame there couldn't have been a twist somewhere along the line - people talking to each other, maybe a girl, a sequence where he has to get some food, something. There's not even a bit where he kills a Japanese.
It's a shame there couldn't have been a twist somewhere along the line - people talking to each other, maybe a girl, a sequence where he has to get some food, something. There's not even a bit where he kills a Japanese.
Movie review - "Earth vs the Spider" (1958) **1/2
Fun Bert I Gordon movie about some teenagers who discover a giant spider living in a cave. Unusually for an AIP teen film the hero is actually a teacher - their local science teacher. However there is still plenty of teen action (the heroine is looking for her father, who has become spider food) and scenes with adults (esp the sheriff) not believing those crazy kids.
The effects aren't as good as Tarantula but they pass and it gives good value - the spider in a cave, attacking teens at a dance, scenes of adults blowing it up with explosives and DDT. There's also some cute in jokes with characters talking about going to see Attack of the Puppet People.
The effects aren't as good as Tarantula but they pass and it gives good value - the spider in a cave, attacking teens at a dance, scenes of adults blowing it up with explosives and DDT. There's also some cute in jokes with characters talking about going to see Attack of the Puppet People.
Monday, June 02, 2014
Movie review - "The Uncanny" (1977) **
I remember watching a trailer for this when I was a kid and it scared me - a cat screaming at the camera - but eventually catching the movie, it's not very spooky. Unless of course you're terrified of cats. They are the uniting feature of this horror anthology which was co produced by Milton Subotsky, who had a lot of success making such movies for Amicus.
This isn't an Amicus work but it shares many similarities: three stories plus a connecting one, all star cast, washed out 70s colour, a final story more comedic than others. Peter Cushing and Ray Milland are in the bridging segments, as a writer and publisher respectively.
The first story is the best, with Susan Penhalgion as a murderous maid being attacked by a bunch of cats. The second one has some bad acting Canadian kids squabble over a cat, with a seance thrown in for good measure. The third is set in old time Hollywood, with Donald Pleasance in a wig and Samantha Egger as actors. John Vernon is also in the cast.
This isn't very good - not that scary, or well made. It does have novelty factor as well as a strong cast.
This isn't an Amicus work but it shares many similarities: three stories plus a connecting one, all star cast, washed out 70s colour, a final story more comedic than others. Peter Cushing and Ray Milland are in the bridging segments, as a writer and publisher respectively.
The first story is the best, with Susan Penhalgion as a murderous maid being attacked by a bunch of cats. The second one has some bad acting Canadian kids squabble over a cat, with a seance thrown in for good measure. The third is set in old time Hollywood, with Donald Pleasance in a wig and Samantha Egger as actors. John Vernon is also in the cast.
This isn't very good - not that scary, or well made. It does have novelty factor as well as a strong cast.
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Movie review - "What the Butler Saw" (1950) **
Hammer were best known for their horrors and thrillers but they also made a surprising amount of comedies - such as this obscure 1950 movie. It actually has an OK idea, a sort of sequel to The Admirable Crichton - a noble and his butler return to England after ten years on a tropical island, only to find they've been accompanied by an island princess who is hot for the butler. Now, Kenneth More made films with worse plots but this is weighed down by inadequate casting.
If anyone out there is a massive fan of Edward Rigby (aristocrat) or Henry Mollison (butler) I apologise but I found neither up to the task. They also introduce the male love interest - a reporter - way too late (40 mins in). It really needed colour and some first rate comic talent, like More, or Margaret Rutherford or Alistair Sim. As it is, it's got the B team. It passes the time, and worse films have been made.
If anyone out there is a massive fan of Edward Rigby (aristocrat) or Henry Mollison (butler) I apologise but I found neither up to the task. They also introduce the male love interest - a reporter - way too late (40 mins in). It really needed colour and some first rate comic talent, like More, or Margaret Rutherford or Alistair Sim. As it is, it's got the B team. It passes the time, and worse films have been made.
Movie review - "Horrors of the Black Museum" (1959) ***
Stylish horror movie, a co production between the UK's Anglo-Amalgamated and AIP (this was the latter's first movie in colour). It's got a decent central idea - a series of murders are being committed involving unusual methods eg binoculars with spikes, guillontine, electrocution, brain transfer serum (I think) - and crime writer Michael Gough seems all too interested in them.
The photography and colour are excellent, as is the production design - British horror films from this period really had it over the Yanks. There is also some stylish acting from Gough (no Vincent Price or Orson Welles, both of whom were considered then had to be ruled out as too expensive, but decent work) and Geoffrey Keene, and a logical enough script.
Like a lot of Herman Cohen productions, many of the characters are misogynist, there's some trampy women who get their comeuppance (one of those slutty girls from movies of the period who dance provocatively on their own to jukeboxes in bars) and bad acting teenagers. Shirley Anne Field is one of the teenagers - she's very pretty but also very ordinary (she later become good). Graham Curnow (brainwashed killer) and June Cunningham (tramp) are also very bad.
US prints have a 13 minute prologue where this man hypnotises the audience, which is corny but also kind of cool.
The photography and colour are excellent, as is the production design - British horror films from this period really had it over the Yanks. There is also some stylish acting from Gough (no Vincent Price or Orson Welles, both of whom were considered then had to be ruled out as too expensive, but decent work) and Geoffrey Keene, and a logical enough script.
Like a lot of Herman Cohen productions, many of the characters are misogynist, there's some trampy women who get their comeuppance (one of those slutty girls from movies of the period who dance provocatively on their own to jukeboxes in bars) and bad acting teenagers. Shirley Anne Field is one of the teenagers - she's very pretty but also very ordinary (she later become good). Graham Curnow (brainwashed killer) and June Cunningham (tramp) are also very bad.
US prints have a 13 minute prologue where this man hypnotises the audience, which is corny but also kind of cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)