QUICK REVIEWS
These are some brief reviews of some movies I have watched since the last
update. The first title is my "pick of the batch". For in-depth
reviews of other movies, check out the reviews page.
- Josh
Wattstax (1973)
I don’t know if I have ever enjoyed a music film as much as
I enjoyed Wattstax. While on the surface it seems like this is a
concert film based on a huge 1972 concert 
in the L.A. Coliseum to commemorate
the Watts rebellion that occurred in 1965,
this is actually
a film that celebrates black culture in the 1970’s. I am sad that I did not even know this film
existed until it was re-released in 2003.
The black culture in the 70’s is an area of American history that I am
particularly interested in and aside from the movies and music of the time,
there is not a huge amount that documents the culture properly. I think that this film nails it as in
addition to a number of great tunes, we are also given
a glimpse into the lives of the people of the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles through candid
interviews and some great footage of the area at the time. The concert gives a perfect opportunity to
capture an era and an event in a near-perfect way. From the opening montage through comedic
commentary from Richard Pryor to an incredibly inspirational opening speech
from Jesse Jackson, this film is absolutely amazing. As far as the music went, we are given a
variety of performances from groups on the great Stax
Records with some of the standouts being The Bar-Kays
commanding the stage, Rance Allen, Rufus Thomas, and
of course Isaac Hayes. There was also a
performance from Johnnie Taylor in a club that was a lot of fun and an amazing
rendition of “Peace Be Still” from The Emotions in a storefront church. This is an important film in that it shows
how people can come together and how unity is important to society. It makes me sad that I couldn’t even fathom a
concert being this meaningful in today’s day and age and even sadder that if
you sat down a theatre full of people under thirty to see this movie, barely
any of them would be inspired at all. I
watched this movie three times over a couple of days and I think it is an important
document of not only a number of music styles that are being forgotten but also
about a state of mind that we are losing sight of no matter what colour we are. Look
for Ted Lange from “The Love Boat” as one of the interviewees, a quick clip of
Melvin Van Peebles on stage, and an even quicker clip of Ossie
Davis in the crowd.
Day of
the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
If this was just a standard direct to video movie done by people
who actually wanted to make a zombie movie, I may have been able to look past
its many weaknesses but the fact that this is a blatant cash grab exploiting
the name of Romero’s classic makes this flick one of the worst “sequels” to
have ever graced my TV screen. This is a
terrible bastardization of a classic that should be avoided at all costs to
prevent this type of travesty from happening again in the future. Directors Ana Clavell
and James Dudelson seemingly have no concept of what
they have done by trying to follow in Romero’s footsteps and also seem to not
give a damn. A virus breaks out in a
mental institution transforming a group of patients into zombies with a taste
for flesh. I found this to be a somewhat
interesting choice but the characters are fairly unlikable which results over
and hour and a half of pointless chatter and attempted character development
that is hampered by poor writing and acting.
Even when things got going with the gutmunching,
I felt like I was turning into a zombie watching the mental patients change
both mentally and physically. As for the
Romero connection, the script does not even attempt to tie into the original
film and the zombies act different by running around and talking. This worked in Return of the Living Dead but when you are trying to make a sequel
to a Romero film, you should at least make an effort to stay consistent. This movie feels like it was made not by fans
of the genre but by some producers with a product on their hands that is easily
marketable thanks to an already established name. It is like a spoiled boss’s son taking over a
business but not bothering to learn the business before doing so. If all you are going to do is go through the
motions without learning the ropes, you are destined to fail. It looks like the same group is also going to
tarnish the name of Creepshow
in the same manner. There should be a
law against this.
Mischief
(1985)
Although there were a number of 80’s teen comedies that took
place in the 50’s, I think that this film is often overlooked. That’s too bad because this is one of the
more enjoyable comedies of it’s time. We
have seen this type of plot before where a somewhat nerdy guy befriends the
resident cool guy/new kind in town and is able to overcome his social
handicaps. This difference here is that
our hero Jonathan (Doug McKeon) never loses himself in the process and
maintains his slightly awkward personality throughout the film. This is different because even though he is
able to build some confidence, we can still see that this slightly nerdy guy
doesn’t turn into an arrogant ass as so often happens in movies like this. Throughout the film, we see Jonathan’s antics
as he attempts to score with the girl of his dreams (Kelly Preston) while Gene
the cool guy (Chris Nash) attempts to score with the girlfriend (Catherine Mary
Stewart) of the token jock. The result
is a relatively innocent movie that is a pleasure to watch and concentrates
more on the characters than fart jokes.
That said, this film is also known for having a rare full-frontal nude
scene from Preston that is up there with the
Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times At Ridgemont High as one of
the better examples of nakedness in the 80’s.
Look for Terry O’Quinn from TV’s “Lost” as Gene’s dad and Jami Gertz (The Lost Boys)
as a nerdy chick that has a crush on Jonathan.
Doug McKeon’s career kind of fizzled out after this film. One last note, if you are going to pick up
the DVD, the cover has been edited for some reason. The old poster had McKeon holding a pair of
panties but this has been Photoshopped out for some
reason. A minor gripe but it will
certainly piss off completists like myself.
Rock
‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
When
I was a teenager, I sure wanted to hook up with a girl like Riff Randell. She was
such a cool chick as she rebelled against the system, always seemed to have a
good time, and she worshipped the Ramones. As I am now older, I can see that Riff would
have been pretty fun to party with but her
Ramones-obsession, she probably
would not have made the best girlfriend.
Fantasies aside, she is still fun to watch at it is easy to see why Riff
is such a great character and why she is enjoying cult status years later. P.J. Soles stars as Riff, the self-proclaimed
“Ramones biggest fan” who wants to get her songs to Joey and the boys. The only thing standing in her way is the new
high school principal, Miss Togar (the perfectly cast Mary Woronov), who is as
conservative as they come. A number of
familiar faces are also present to help Riff in her plight including Vincent
Van Patten (Hell Night), Dey Young (Strange Invaders), Clint Howard (Ron’s
brother), and cult favorite Paul Bartel.
Under normal circumstances, this would probably have been just another
high school romp but the fact that the main focus on this movie sets it apart
from other flicks. When you add in a
concert with the Ramones performing five songs as well as giving Joey, Dee Dee,
Johnny, and Marky speaking parts and you have a recipe for a unique rock and
roll film that manages to maintain it’s cool and not become a dated and kitschy
promo vehicle such as Kiss Meets The
Phantom Of The Park or Can’t Stop The
Music. While it would probably help
to be a Ramones fan, Rock and Roll High
School stands on it’s own as a curious blend of music video and innocent
comedy that it still fun to watch all these years later. It is hard to believe that Soles was 29 when
she shot this. Director Allan Arkush
co-directed Hollywood Boulevard with Joe
Dante. This was shot by Dean Cundey who
shot most of John Carpenter’s classic work among many other things. Look for popular DJ Don Steele as the disc
jockey (you may also remember Steele from Death
Race 2000).
Silent
Night, Deadly Night (1984)
In all my years as a horror fan, I have not been able to
bring myself to watch any of the Santa slasher movies. This has always been a strange sub-genre that
seemed a little unnecessary to me perhaps because I am still a child at
heart. Robert Brian Wilson stars as
Billy, a teenager who was traumatized by a killer dressed in a Santa suit who
killed his parents in front of him on a cold winter’s road when he was a
child. Ten years later, Billy is working
in a toy store and beginning to have a normal life (as is shown in an extended
cheesy montage). When the regular Santa
calls in sick, Billy is chosen to fill in as the jolly red one and have the
little kids sit on his lap. This
triggers the childhood trauma and causes Billy to go batty and became an
axe-wielding murderer. What follows is
fairly standard slasher fare as Billy disposes of those who have been naughty
in a variety of ways including stabbing, strangling, and decapitation. We also get the infamous Linnea Quigley death
scene where her topless body is impaled on a pair of antlers after a lengthy
nude scene. This was the main reason I
checked this one out and for this scene alone the movie was worth the price of
admission. The back story as to the
killer’s motivation was more fleshed out than many slasher movies and the
killer was suitably crazy although his continual utterance of the word “punish”
was a little silly. We also get some
brief nude scenes from Cannonball Run
babe Tara Buckman and Toni Nero (Commando
Squad). This film was plagued with
controversy upon its release as it came under fire from a group of American
mothers who objected to the content. The
result was that the movie was pulled from release and bombed at the box
office. Thanks to the wonders of the
video boom, the movie became a success on VHS and eventually spawned four
sequels. Director Charles Sellier has a
strange filmography which includes bible movies and kids movies in addition to
a couple of horror flicks.
Bite
Me! (2004)
This was a nice change of pace in the new age of b-movies as
it felt like a throwback to the days when b-movies were fun and silly. Many of today’s so-called scream queens lack
the charm that some of the greats like Linnea Quigley
and Brinke Stevens has and are merely bodies to fill
a lesbian or gore sequence. I have to
say that Misty Mundae was a prime example of this up
until I saw this film. In many of her
Seduction Cinema romps, you can see that Mundae has a
certain charisma but I have not seen this unleashed until I came across this
film. I think that director Brett Piper
has brought out a side of Misty and the other girls that we have not seen
before and that gives hope to the thought that the traditional scream queen may
not, in fact, be dead. Mundae plays one of three strippers who are bored with
their jobs and going through the motions.
Things pick up considerably for them when their boss receives a shipment
of some weed that happens to contains some nasty
looking beetles that proceed to wreak havoc by biting people and sucking their
blood. Soon a dim-witted exterminator
and a manic government agent are involved and mayhem ensures that bring back
the fun-loving atmosphere of Fred Olen Ray and Jim Wynorski’s
glory days. Bugs die, boobs bounce, a
bartender fights and becomes a lesbian, a car crashes, and Misty battles an animatronic bug inside a huge dinosaur sculpture like the
ones in Pee-Wee’s
Big Adventure. This is just a fun
and quick-paced good time that I wish was being made more often these
days. Co-stars include Caitlin Ross as a
pothead stripper, Erika Smith as the token ditz, Syvianne
Chebance as the ass-kicking bartender, Rob Monkiewicz as the exterminator, and Julian Wells as an evil
woman who wants to take over the club and calls someone ‘pusnuts’.
Creep (2004)
Just when I thought it was going to be a write-off year for
the genre, I 
happened to rent this flick.
I am sure glad I did because I thought that this was hands down the best
genre movie of the year. Franka Potente
(Run Lola Run) stars as Kate, a socialite
who is
late for a party where she is planning to meet George Clooney. Kate falls asleep in the Charing
Cross subway station while waiting for the train and awakens to
find the station abandoned and the doors locked. While searching for a way out, Kate discovers
that she is not alone. With the help of
some homeless people, Kate tries to find a way out of the station before she is
killed by a monster that lives in the labyrinth of tunnels below London’s streets. This was an extremely effective little
fast-paced chiller with the nooks and crannies of the subway and sewer system
providing numerous interesting locations for our heroes to get themselves in
trouble. Add to that a nasty looking
creature (done with practical effects) and you have a return to old-school
style of horror filmmaking complete with gore, scares, and a survival instinct
that is missing from many of today’s heroines.
It was cool to see an established cool actress like Potente working on a
horror film and taking it seriously. This
performance and that of Jimmy the homeless guy really sold the movie for
me. It is getting rarer and rarer that
we are treated to a movie like this and we should embrace them when we get
them. Obviously, due to the location, we
are reminded of Gary Sherman’s Raw Meat
but I found Creep to be a better
film. The creature was played by Sean
Harris who played Joy Division’s Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People.
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