I enjoy most of Dario Argento's work but this is definitely one of my favorites. This marks Argento's return to the giallo mystery that he popularized with "Deep Red" and "Cat O Nine Tails" and is probably Argento's best attempt at this genre. Style oozes from every shot in "Tenebre" from the opening sequence to the much talked of 'pan over the house' shot to the many clever and bloody murder sequences. Anthony Franciosa stars as Peter Neal, a successful American author who has come to Rome to promote his new book which is titled "Tenebre". Around the same time as Peter's arrival, people begin to die in the same ways that are described in Neal's book eventually targeting Neal himself. He naturally feels uneasy about this so he launches a personal investigation into the murders. As with most Argento movies, the viewer feels as though the director has spent hours coming up with each shot to give us a thoroughly stylistic and entertaining experience while never becoming predictable. It is not very often where you can be truly enthralled with where the camera is taking you and letting it be your eyes. It is a technique that many directors would like to have but that few can master. Dario Argento is one of the masters. Check this flick out in its recently re-released letterboxed format available on DVD and tape. The music is by Claudio Simonetti and Goblin and John Saxon co-stars. The movie was previously released in a butchered version entitled "Unsane".
Sometimes I don't even want to review stuff like this that is so obvious and has been reviewed so many times but if you are one of the few people out there who have not seen this, what are you waiting for? This is the story of the last day of school in 1976 and the party that ensues that night. Sort of like a "Can't Hardly Wait" for the 70's. This was director Richard Linklater's follow up to his cult hit "Slacker" as is his best film in my opinion. Stars include a who's who of hot young talent (much like George Lucas' "American Graffitti") that includes Jason London, Rory Cochrane ("Empire Records"), Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg ("Saving Private Ryan"), Matthew McConaughey, Nicky Katt ("Suburbia"), Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich ("The Fifth Element"), and Joey Lauren Adams ("Chasing Amy"). Linklater and the cast manage to recreate the 70's with the cool music, attitude, and feel of a lost time that many of us miss. Everything from the school halls to the pool halls brings back a time where things were very different from what they are now and although there are still the jock assholes and the bitchy girls and the tough guys who always have to prove their manhood, it still looked like a lot of fun. Of all the movies that have tried to capture the decade by showing a slice of life in everyday American adolescence life, this one does it best.
I have been curious about this one since its release last year but I could not afford the hefty price tag. Finally, a video store in town had the sense to add this to their inventory and I had a chance to rent it. For those who don't know it, this is Italian legend Mario Bava's 'lost' film. It was made in 1974 but shelved until now for financial reasons. Almost 20 years after Bava's death, star Lea Lander dusted off the negative and restored this film for a special DVD release. "Rabid Dogs" is the tale of some armed robbers who pull off a robbery but botch up the getaway. They take a hostage (Lander) and commandeer a car driven by a man (Riccardo Cucciolla) and a sick child. Ninety percent of the film takes place in the car and this builds up suspense and claustrophobia as the action takes place over a few hours (it is basically real time). I thought this was really good and was happy that it was not the "Last House On The Left" type exploitation that I was expecting but was rather a very well done 70's Italian crime thriller that very much deserves the release it finally got. One of the bad guys is played by Luigi Montefiori who some of you will know as Joe D'Amato regular George Eastman who was in such films as "Anthropophagous (The Grim Reaper)" and "Erotic Nights Of The Living Dead" as well as a couple of the Laura Gemser "Emmanuelle" movies. I don't know why this DVD is so expensive in Canada but I hope that you can find this movie somewhere because it is worth checking out.
I used to think that Charles Band had the coolest ideas. The "Puppetmaster" and "Oblivion" films that Full Moon Entertainment released were very creative and fun. This was one of Mr. Band's first ideas and although the thought of putting together many of our favorite fairy tale characters in a soft core musical may sound appealing, I didn't find this as entertaining as I thought it would be. I can't exactly put my finger on what went wrong but it seemed to be trying too hard to have too many things going on and couldn't seen to accept the fact that it was a sexploitation movie. The premise is that a prince (Don Sparks) needs to find a princess and procreate but he can't get it up for the many women he has tried. He sets out on a quest for his lost love and in the process of looking for her runs into Little Bo Peep (Angela Aames) and eventually winds up at a brothel run by the woman who lives in the shoe. Lots of sex antics ensue in the shoe but our fair prince still can't seem to screw. I was pretty bored and thankful for the short running time and will say that if you want to see something in this genre, stick to the Harry Novak stuff. The other big feature about "Fairy Tales" is that it contains the first screen appearance of a young scream queen named Linnea Quigley (she plays Sleeping Beauty). An offshoot from this film is called "Auditions" and it contains the supposed real auditions for "Fairy Tales".
This one brought back some memories as I saw this on TV when I was a kid. Dirk Benedict (Starbuck from "Battlestar Galactica" and Face from "The A-Team") starts as David, a college student who is recruited by Dr. Stone (Strother Martin) to be his personal assistant. Stone is a scientist who deals with snakes and snake venom. He is also a little crazy and wants to create a race of snake people who will rule the world when man has destroyed himself. David is unaware of the danger as he is making a play for Stone's daughter (Heather Menzies). You may recognize Ms. Menzies as she played Louisa Von Trapp in "The Sound Of Music". I thought this movie was quite enjoyable as there are a lot of snakes and the notice at the beginning of the film made it a lot more interesting as we were told the the snakes were all real and that the actors were actually interacting with them. There was also a stereotypical dumb jock, a "snake man", a cool looking King cobra, a mongoose, some b-movie cheesiness, and some decent make-up effects. Give it a try if you are looking to see an older monster movie that keeps that 50's type feel and makes it work in the 70's.
Halloween H20 : 20 Years Later (1998)
Suckered yet again by the sequel/reunion monster, I managed to waste away another 90 minutes of my life by watching another bad, predictable, unscary "horror" movie. It's 20 years after Michael Myers and Laurie Strode had their first battle while she was babysitting. Laurie supposedly died elsewhere in the series but no, she is alive with a son. The son and his friends are simply potential victims for Michael as are any other supporting characters. Frankly, this movie sucked and I would never give something like this a remotely good review unless it really stood out but this one was so predictable and full of cliches that I was feeling cheated throughout. The "hip young cast" that the box promotes are wasted with Josh Hartnett ("The Faculty"), Michelle Williams ("Dawson's Creek"), Adam Hann-Byrd ("The Ice Storm"), and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe ("Nash Bridges") being underwritten and treated as mere victims which led to no suspense as I didn't know anything about these people. Jamie Lee Curtis seems to wish that she was included under the "hip young cast" umbrella as she is swearing and trying to be cool throughout rather than acting like the twenty year older Laurie Strode that she is supposed to be. It was as though Jamie Lee thought that she was supposed to play P.J. Soles' character of Lynda in 20 years rather than Laurie. It was really too bad that this movie turned out this way because it could have been interesting and it did have a good cast who had nothing to do. It was just a boring mess though and I guess Hollywood (or maybe the fans) will never learn. Hollywood will keep exploiting the fact that the fans (especially in this genre) are always filled with hope that "this sequel may be different". I'll keep seeing them and keep being disappointed. I think I'll give up on the Halloween series and lay Michael Myers to rest for good. I hope that Hollywood does the same. It wasn't supposed to be like this, John.
This one turned out to be way better than I was expecting. "Alligator" is an example of classic low budget horror filmmaking that manages to work without drowning in b-movie cliches. This is probably due to fact that it was written by John Sayles and partly due to the fact that Robert Forster in the starring role could make it believable. At the beginning of the film, a little girl is at an alligator wrestling contest and after she sees a wrestler get attacked, she decides that she wants a pet gator. Her father inexplicably flushes the alligator down the toilet and it hangs out in the sewer system for 20 years gradually mutating as biological test animals are dumped in the sewer when their use is gone. The alligator has fed on these bodies (and chemicals) and has grown to be really big and about to terrorize the city. Robert Forster is the only person who has seen the gator and it is up to him and the grown up little girl from the beginning (now an alligator expert) to put an end to the gator's reign of terror. I really liked this as a genre piece as they seemed to take time making the alligator look good and director Lewis Teague seems to understand that the alligator is the star of the show and that is what people want to see. If you can find "Alligator" and are a fan of genetic mutation monster movies, check it out.
Here's something different. A movie is made about a chocolate sale in an all boy's school that is a drama and is a really good drama at that. Ilan Mitchell-Smith ("The Wild Life", "Weird Science") stars as Jerry, the new kid with a past. Jerry is approached by the frat-like Vigils who call on students to pull pranks or dares. Jerry is instructed to refuse to take part in the chocolate sale for seven days which for this school is a really big deal. The headmaster is freaking out because he spent the money that they need to make, and soon the Vigils are freaking out as well because Jerry continues to refuse to sell the chocolates even after the seventh day. This causes other students to look up to Jerry and he becomes a folk hero of sorts at the school. Believe me, I know the plot sounds really lame but this is an excellent film from a writing, directing, and acting standpoint. All performances are excellent with special mention to Wally Ward as Archie, the intelligence behind the Vigils, John Glover ("Meet The Hollowheads") as the overzealous headmaster, and Smith as the troubled Jerry. Expertly written and directed by first time director Keith Gordon (Arnie from "Christine"), I recommend this to anyone who has ever just not wanted to fit in. Co-stars include Jenny Wright ("Near Dark") and Bud Cort ("Harold and Maude") in small roles.
Robert
Forster has been making quite the string of quality flicks in his career and
this is yet another fine addition to his resume (and helps to bury that embarrassing
"Psycho" remake credit).
Forster is part of an excellent ensemble cast that are all within the
vicinity of a radio station where DJ Taj Mahal has to pull an all night shift.
He plays some great music and is unknowingly the link between a number of
people who will all meet up by the end of the film.
Forster is a lonely truck driver named Odell, Kevin Pollak ("Usual
Suspects") is a bitter clown named Wit Roy, Penelope Ann Miller ("The
Relic") is Wit's spinny girlfriend, Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks")
is a bitchy career woman, Meat Loaf is Taj's stress puppy station manager, Lois
Red Elk is a native woman who is driving her grandmother to the coast to die,
and David Paymer is a Bible-quoting God-fearing serial killer.
Together they make an engaging group to watch who each have their own
great scenes and great moments of dialogue.
Pollak's "saddest story he ever heard" is also one of the
saddest stories I have ever heard as well.
I have heard a few complaints about the violence in this film but I
didn't think it was that bad. Director J.S. Cardone also directed "Shadowzone"
for Full Moon.
I always thought that this was another lesbian vampire movie like the classic Jose Larrez film "Vampyres". This was a mistaken assumption as "Daughters of Darkness" is a take on the legend of Elizabeth Bathory, the Countess who drank and bathed in the blood of virgins to gain eternal youth. In this film there are no blood baths and no virgins but the character of Bathory arrives at a hotel with her beautiful companion. Also staying at the hotel is a newlywed couple on the way to meet the groom's "mother". Things begin to get weird as the groom begins to take on a different personality whenever he is around the countess and there is a string of blood draining murders taking place in the surrounding areas. This film had a really unsettling atmosphere that was nice to feel as this doesn't happen all the time. I must also acknowledge the abundance of excellent shots courtesy of director Harry Kumel and cinematographer Edward Van Der Enden. Stuff like this makes me happy as many of the setups were obviously well thought out and took advantage of the beautiful interiors and exteriors that the locations provided. They also allowed the actors to act as the editing was evenly paced with many shots lingering for just the right amount of time before cutting. There were also a number of inventive death scenes that could give Dario Argento a run for his money. Needless to say, I like "Daughters of Darkness" a lot and hope that you do too. By the way, stick to the recent re-release of this movie as it is uncut and letterboxed from Anchor Bay.
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