Stacy

Stacy

Love is all you need. Hey, I don't like John Lennon, but he said so. So why am I referencing the Beatles in a review of a Japanese zombie movie? Because once I finished watching Stacy, Lennon's words seemed as if they could be a fitting overture for what stands as one of the oddest zombie movies I've ever seen.

Stacy throws a lot of exposition at the audience, and in doing so paints a weird world even for a horror movie. Around the turn of the millennium, girls between 15 to 17 worldwide started dying off, and then reanimating as flesh hungry beasts dubbed Stacies. Within a short time, the planet's population is cut in half. To retaliate, the world's governments set up Romero Repeat Kill squads, basically SWAT forces, to kill the girls again. The movie then follows two main story threads: one girl, soon to turn Stacy, befriends a young puppeteer and asks him to kill her when the time is right; the other involves a squad of Repeat Killers who recruit two youths, one of which still has unresolved feelings for a Stacy.

Okay, so maybe that doesn't sound as odd as I set it up to be. But the devil, folks, is in the details. Imagine my awe and confusion when, 15 minutes into the movie, a commercial comes on with a woman in a bunny suit selling chainsaws named Bruce Campbell's Right Hand 2. There's a group of three soon-to-be Stacies who: a) charge a fee to kill Stacies for family members who don't have it in them to do it themselves, and b) worship Drew Barrymore! Right before becoming a Stacy, a teenager goes into a state of Near Death Happiness, as if becoming walking dead is the new going to the prom. A group of Repeat killers cries as they encounter a Stacy. Oh, and there's a dream about a creepy cat puppet.

What's really intriguing about Stacy is how the movie plays off Romero's zombie saga. One soldier references Peter's famous "no more room in Hell" speech, but can't remember if it's from Dawn or Day of the Dead. There's a mad doctor in blood spattered white scrubs. There's a horde of Stacies threatening to breach a wall and make dinner of the soldiers on the other side. And there's some really gory scenes that come a little too close to George's masterpieces, including one gut ripping scene that is right out of Savini's book. Clearly, Romero's universe has influenced movies not only across decades, but across continents. But the movie's not a total rip off of the godfather of zombie films, mainly because it follows the bizarre logic I laid out in my last few paragraphs.

Perhaps what's most disturbing about Stacy is the Stacies themselves. These aren't a group of adults who've suffered untimely deaths. Instead they're school girls, teens who've barely touched life. When a few girls make fun of another girl for having a letter from what they think is her boyfriend, it hammers the message home. These girls should be worried about homework and schoolgirl crushes, not shambling and feasting on humans. And the image of them in their school girl outfits, their heads bobbling and eyes lolling, S&M balls strapped to their mouths with leather harnesses... let's just say I was severely disturbed.

If there is a major turn off for this film, it's the ending. As my Japanese films expert sister Sarah has informed me, shows from that nation tend toward unresolved finishes, sometimes leaving the American viewer to say "Huh what?" Stacy gives a little more resolution than that, but still left me wondering just what the end of the movie was all about. Perhaps the message is what confused me: all the Stacies crave is love. That they seek it out in death is a paradox I'm still pondering a week after watching the movie.

As I said in my review of Versus, Japanese horror films are a different breed from their American counterparts. The wild color palettes, pacing, and unresolved endings may turn off those not used to the style. But don't let this stop you seeing Stacy. If you view it as a much different take on the Romero zombie saga, it could almost act as a sequel in that franchise, albeit a twisted one. And don't let the whole love thing chase you off. If you dig gore, zombies and Japanese horror, this is the film for you.

--Phil Fasso

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Posted by Phil at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

28 Weeks Later (Widescreen Edition)

This disc is Region 4 and the special features (or lack thereof) may not be on DVD’s from different regions, you have been warned.

It wasn’t that long ago that the zombie movie was thrust back into the limelight, not since the days of Romero had the flesh eating villains of horror been given such notoriety. Zombie movies are my absolute favorite movies of all time (with Monster movies coming in a close 2nd) I guess I have the Resident Evil video games to thank for my love for out cannibalistic counterparts.

So along came 28 Days Later, an instant classic if ever there was one, violently bleak (aside from the off beat ending), it was a welcome breath of fresh air for our genre.

The inevitable sequel was soon announced…

28 Weeks Later kicks off kind of where 28 Days left off, with the last infected long since dead, the empty streets of London are gradually brought back to life as the United States attempts to re-populate the crippled country.

Don, a widowed husband whose wife is downed in that fucking amazing opening scene (…or so we thought!), is reunited with his son Andy, and his daughter Tammy at the rehabilitation facility outside of the abandoned city. Shit hits the fan and eventually the rage virus makes its way home (hee hee, that was in all honesty unintentional) and BAM, shit hits the fan yet again in one hell of a breakout scene. What follows is the Aliens of 28 Days Later, worthy of every tidbit of praise it has even and will ever receive, and considering how this biatch ends (I don’t know how they got there but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t cool) I eagerly await the next sequel because I can only see it getting bigger and better.

Unless you are mentally retarded you will have probably guess that I love this movie, and you would be very, very, very correct. 28 Weeks kicks ass in a major way, it’s bigger, better and badder then any horror or action flick of late.

The acting is above par, Robert Carlyle plays a double role as father (tell me you don’t feel for the guy in the opening) and infected, and let me just say, never has an infected looked as killer as Carlyle. There’s even a somewhat part for a token black guy (who DOESN’T get killed! It’s a sign of the coming apocalypse!) and he’s played by Harold Perrineu (so that’s what happened to Michael after he got off the island!).

And finally I find a movie with young actors I DON’T hate, they are Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton and I swear to god I didn’t make those names up

Oh the gore, the gore of it all. Hmm…how to describe…wet! It is bloody as all hell, each major effect is memorable. If this picture doesn’t give you a genre induced erection then you don’t deserve to be here;

A few plot holes aside, 28 Weeks Later is just as good as its predecessor, if not better, it’s just as dark and just as shocking whilst still having some subtle little statements to make if you’re paying attention. Jeremy Renner said it best; “…it’s everything the first one was, on crack.”

Okay so now we reach the special features.

Normally I don’t go into talking about the audio options on a DVD but I have to do it here because of the films soundtrack. If you have one, watch this on your 5.1 surround sound setup because if you don’t then you are depriving yourself of one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, the music in 28 Weeks is as big a part of it as the infected!

Kicking the disc off is an Audio Commentary with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (director and one quarter screenwriter) and Enrique López-Lavigne (producer and also one quarter the screenwriter…I think. There’s a screenwriter credited as E.L. Lavigne, it’s only logical people!). Anyways, the commentary is a little bland as far as being a good time to listen to, it is informative but like many Frenchmen on commentaries they just don’t have any life!!! Thankfully they knew their shit and kept it going, even cracking a joke or two here and there.

Next on the chopping board (pun intended) is the Deleted Scenes portion of the DVD, if I was hungry and this section was cake I’d starve to death! There are only two scenes here, an extended cut of the cafeteria scene at the beginning and a dream scene near the end, both have commentary by Fresnadillo and Lavigne.

Code Red: Making 28 Weeks Later is the discs meatiest behind the scenes feature, I’ve noticed that recent behind the scenes features for other movies focus on star power, to this I say NO LONGER! Code Red does look at the actors at some point but for the most part it focuses on the concepts of 28 Weeks, the story, set design and the characters themselves.

The Infected is a look at just that, the infected, who have become characters unto themselves, we get to see the process they go through to be the vicious beasts they become as well as some of the effects that go into making an infected. Watching this I couldn’t help but think of the same feature on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse DVD, guess which one was better!

Let’s face it, 28 Weeks is a masterful blend of badass action and hardcore horror, which is exactly what Getting into the Action, is about. Showing us how some of the action scenes were done because there are a lot of them. We see how the filmmakers used action not for actions sake but also as a tool to reinforce the overall frenetic feel of the film.

28 Days Later: The Aftermath: Stage 1 “DEVELOPMENT” and 28 Days Later: The Aftermath: Stage 3 “DECIMATION” are two of the adaptation/spin off comics, the first of which was already on that damned ‘Limited Collector’s Edition’, the latter is the better of the two because it’s an interesting concept akin to the prison life in John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, where two survivors are essentially playing a game of one up with each other in an infected London (too bad it was so short). I don’t have a clue where ‘Stage 2’ is however, that one has me puzzled.

Rounding off the DVD is the films bad-motherfucking-ass Theatrical Trailer.

-Danny

MOVIE: 4 out of 5

DVD: 3 out of 5

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Posted by Danny Price at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes They Come Back

SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK

This DVD/Box Set is Region 4 and the special features (or lack thereof) may not be on DVDs/Box Sets from different regions, you have been warned.

I’m writing this review at 1:26am, chances are I’ll be up long after I finish writing, chances are it’ll be the same tomorrow night, the night after that, and then the night after that, you see the reason why I stay up into the wee hours of the morning is simply because I can. Sometimes it seems that the filmmakers cranking out (Stephen King) adaptation after adaptation have the exact same mindset.

There have been so many that it’s hard to pick up a new copy of an old King novel and not see the words; “Now a major motion picture” printed across its cover. It’s at this point that I’d normally rave and rant about how director Tom McLoughlin botched up an otherwise well made and genuinely creepy story, but Sometimes They Come Back is by no means a bad movie, it’s just not a very good one.

When he was just a kid, Jim and his big brother were walking home one day when they decide to take a detour through a short rail road tunnel, movie lore clearly states that nobody can do such an act without sever repercussions so it’s not surprising that their little trip is cut short in the form of a gang of grease heads in a car, they attempt to mug the brothers, accidentally killing the older one.

A train decides to stop by and say a quick howdy-doody to them all, the grease audition rejects are killed when they realize that their keys are missing. Jim manages to survive.

Years later, Jim is now an English teacher with an anger problem who takes up a job teaching in a new town, his students are your typical jock fellows who want nothing more then to just sit around and gawf, things start getting kooky when Jims some of Jims students start getting killed off and replaced with very familiar looking fellows who drive a very familiar car…can you see where this is going?

I can’t believe how much potential this movie wasted, besides being unbelievably dated to the point of incoherency by today’s standards, there is so much that could have been done better, the whole idea that Jim is imagining the thing he sees could have been better explored.

Then there’s the ending…can anyone say stupid? The movie substitutes the novels darker, more ambiguous ending for a happy upbeat brotherly love ending, it’s cheesy, it’s sappy and it’s crappy.

As for the disc itself….well there’s not that much to tell, the picture quality is not spectacular, it looks like a shitty VHS transfer, hell I don’t doubt it, there’s only a 2.0 Stereo track and no special features of any shape, way or form, not so much as a trailer nor a filmography.

Waste of time, waste of space, but thank god I didn’t pay for it!

MOVIE: 2 out of 5

DVD: 0 out of 5

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Posted by Danny Price at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Saw IV (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

Ah Beth, this is what happens when I am encouraged to shit on a movie, but first…I want to play a game!

This review shall be your trap and you are its victim, to save yourself you must watch (read) as I tear the living shit out of a movie you liked.

Live or Die Beth….it does matter.

The fourth installment in what is fast becoming this generations Friday the 13th, SAW IV continues the annual tradition of gory traps, mind bending twists and sinful victims.

But wait now, the victims I speak of aren’t the ones on screen, oh no my dear readers, the sinful victims are the poor saps who went into the movie with high hopes, hopes which were raised higher then Cheech or Chong could ever get by teasers (which lived up to their names), Bousmans’ ‘infamous’ ‘double meanings’, and a slew of mouthwatering promises, their punishment…to have their hopes come crashing down hard for being stupid enough to believe the hype.

The movie opens with an autopsy of Jigsaws wrinkly corpse (ladies you can see his nads!), this is one of the few good scenes in the movie only because the effects (with a few exceptions) were fucking spectacular. Inside Jiggys’ stomach the coroner finds a wax coated cassette tape…….what you want me to tell you why it’s there? Come on people if it’s this late in the game (puns you very much) and you still aren’t clued in then maybe it’s time to call it quits.

Ahem, so then we cut to Detective Riggs and Hoffman (Murtoge couldn’t make it to this one!), you may remember these two happy characters from the 3 seconds they were in the last movie, Riggs gets the bigger roll because his resume says he played a 10 minute character in SAW II, yippee.

Essentially Riggs must go trough a series of tests which an unknown Jigsaw wannabe has been putting up all around town for him, we have a suspect of course due to a scene earlier on which came out of nowhere. If Riggs can pass his tests he will be able to save both Detective Hoffman *cough* Jigsaw Wannabe *cough*, and former LAPDs’ finest, Detective Eric Mathews, yes kiddos he is still alive, I guess Amanda didn’t have enough balls to kill the resilient son of a bitch.

Whilst all this is going on, two FBI agents whose names I cannot remember (for Christ sakes people it was hard enough keeping up with this incoherent plot without committing to memory the names of nothing characters who will probably be the main characters of the inevitable SAW V)…they have the delightful job of interrogating John ‘Jigsaw’ Kramer’s ex-girlfriend…let me tell you guys I hope I’m banging gals that good looking when I am Jiggys’ age.

With the introduction of Jiggys’ ex into the picture we get even further insight into the making of Jiggyland™, where the owner is a carpenter by day and an insanely elaborate trap making serial killer by night.

Dammit jeeves I’m ready for my twist……..so where is it?

As you should be able to tell by now I am having a hell of a fun time tearing the shit out of this movie with this review, and why shouldn’t I? After my initial reaction to seeing it (that windshield cost me $175 to repair, I kid you not) this is frigging therapy for me.

I was one of those gullible suckers who ate up every tidbit of news from the very moment they came out, but no longer am I a fan of the SAW movies, I have been reduced to having to say that I am a fan of the first three SAW movies….can you spot the difference?

*Sigh* so what made it such a let down? We may as well dive right into the deep end and get to the plot problem, oh boy were there some big ones.

Riggs must go through a series of tests to save Mathews because he has a bit of a habit of wanting to save people, I don’t know about you but it seems like Jigsaws’ radar for sinners has been knocked a little askew for this one.

Each trap, just like Jeff’s’, has the victims lives depend on decisions made by Riggs who is all the while being subliminally coaxed into living the Jiggology™ way of life, will somebody please tell me who the fuck set all this shit up? Amanda was busy kidnapping Lynn and Hoffman probably nabbed Jeff’s’ sorry ass. I am well aware that Jigsaw is always thinking of Plan As’, Bs’, Cs’ and probably Ds’ but COME ON! Oh I’ve got an original idea, maybe there’s a third apprentice! Shit I didn’t see that one coming [INSERT SARCASM HERE].

Then there’s the choice of Jigsaws’ heir, okay we always knew there was going to be a new apprentice (YOU’RE FIRED…sorry, couldn’t help it) but did it seriously have to be the guy that people had been suspecting since day one? And the fact that they ripped of their own franchise had me confused to high hell. I do remember Darren saying in an interview that they were going to try and bring back elements from the first three, I didn’t expect him to carbon copy them, the ending is the same as SAW, the more-is-more attitude is SAW II and the main plot is SAW III, was there anything left over to be called SAW IV?

Yes actually there was! The insight into Jigsaws long lost past was actually quite interesting, the reason for this can be boiled down to Tobin Bells’ acting, which is still exceptional.

While we are on the subject of acting, Lyriq Bent is almost as charismatic as a cardboard cut out standee, Costa Mandylor was better in Dr. Chopper for Christ sake (wow now that was harsh), and as for the two FBI agents…meh. You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even out act a dead body!

At the very least they could have had a good twist ending but even that was missing, instead we get a neutered down rehash of past endings, the only good thing about it was Mathews death, despite being a rip off at least that was shocking to watch (Somebody’s been watching Final Destination 3).

Holy shit its Jeff! Oh wait, no that’s just the second twist ending, the fact that SAW IV is actually taking place at the same time as SAW III would have been cool if the whole misleading timeline hadn’t already been done (and much better for that matter) in SAW II.

Where’s my sandwich board when I need it, I’m going to start a protest. Darren you promised us stuff and unlike the troops in Iraq, you backed out…why?

You promised us SAW IV…when? This isn’t SAW IV, this is SAW 3 ½!

You promised us the biggest twist ending in the entire SAW series…where?

Are you honestly expecting people to be shocked at the revelation that the guy who played a man whose wife was a chiropractor who committed suicide because she couldn’t cure a patients’ back ache? (That was in Dr. Chopper by the way)

The best that you could hope for is some good gore but even that was made null and void, yes there is the autopsy (which was actually pretty kick ass) but it’s the traps we’re looking at and yes they are violent but honestly there isn’t much else to them, the hair trap was cringe inducing but other then that they were so damn weak it’s not funny, we don’t see half the bloodletting because we get more shaky cam action and I’m not even going to go there (check out my Halloween and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem reviews if you want my opinion on that fucking filmmaking technique).

I should wrap this up because if I keep going it’ll be SAW V time when you finish reading this, but damn it there’s so much more I could say that I feel like I’m short changing you all by finishing here.

Plot holes, bad plot, bad twist, bad characters, bad gore, bad…everything killed this movie, I am well aware that there are people who liked it (Beth I’m looking at you) but why is it that the majority of them didn’t like either SAW or SAW III but did like SAW II? The only other one which opted to use violence over plot! Is SAW IV the lazy man/ woman’s SAW? Hopefully I’ll like it better when it comes out on DVD, but I doubt it.

I hoped it was over, but I was wrong because now they’re making SAW V.

Live or Die? Give me the fucking gun. BAM I made my choice.

- Danny

MOVIE: 2 out of 5

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Posted by Danny Price at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The Host (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

This DVD is Region 4 and the special features (or lack thereof) may not be on DVDs from different regions, you have been warned.

Growing up I used to watch monster movies, whether they were old or new, black or white, as long as it had some kind of creature going buck wild in it I was there.

They come in two basic flavors; the ‘Nature run amok’ variety which usually consists of some sort of real animal that’s decided to go on a violent killing spree, normally on a town or a group of people, think Jaws, think Anaconda, think Komodo, think Arachnophobia, hell even The Birds and Jurassic Park could be tucked in there somewhere.

Then there’s the second variety, this one sees a genetically engineered or otherwise mutated animal of sorts go on a bloody rampage, Eight Legged Freaks, Cemetery Gates, and Frankenfish spring to mind, but I’d be committing monster movie blasphemy if I didn’t mention the mother of all monster movies, the crème de la crème, the one that started it all, Godzilla.

The Host is quite possibly one of, if not, the best foreign monster movie ever made since the days of the giant lizards legendary rampage.

Dangerous chemicals carelessly dumped down a drain end up in the nearby river system they mutate a fish (I assume) into a big ass fish with lots of tails, lots of mouths, lots of arms and one hell of a digestive system.

It doesn’t take long before the creature makes its way onto land, taking a number of victims in one of the coolest monster attack scenes ever committed to film.

The Korean government quarantines those present, including the family of a little girl taken in the attack. Gang-du, his brother, sister and their father are determined to find her and kill the creature responsible.

The beauty of The Host is that it’s much more then your average monster movie, whilst the creature does play a huge roll, it is the family that pushes the plot, their struggle to find their loved one in the midst of an attack, all the while being hunted by everyone else.

The Host is a strange blend of monster movie, mixed with family drama and more then a little slapstick comedy thrown in for flavor.

So onto the DVD itself, I hope you aren’t busy!

The first disc contains a slew of trailers including three Korean trailers for The Host, the US trailer and the UK trailer, also included are trailers for other movies released under the Eastern Eye brand; Shadowless Sword, The Myth, Exiled and Godzilla: Final Wars (damn it, I missed that one on TV the other night).

Onto the second disc and we get the meat of this hearty little package.

The Making of The Host has seven parts, the first ‘Making of with Bong Joon-Ho’ is the director talking about the films origins, where he came up with the concepts etc. ‘Storyboards’ are a collection of storyboards pieced together with sounds to oshow how the scenes are meant to play out. ‘Direction of Bong Joon-Ho’ is a bit of a brown nosed piece where cast and crew talk about their beloved director.

‘Memories of the Sewer’, like the last part only replacing the directors name with that of the sewer they shot in and instead of happy thoughts there are those of distain and vileness, tapeworms, diseases and rats…sounds fun.

‘Film Departments’ is a bit misleading as it’s mainly about the set design, it’s kept short and sweet. ‘Physical Special Effects’ looks at the effects of The Host which were done practically (duh), stunts and such are covered. The last on is ‘Sound Effects’….they cast someone to voice the monsters noises? Only in Korea!

‘Host in Australia’ consists of two parts, the first ‘Interview with Director Bong Joon-Ho’ is just that, an interview (I assume conducted in the land downunder) where Joon-Ho talks about his career as a filmmaker, having only made three so far, how he got into it and the general questions about the making of The Host.

The second part is ‘Q&A at Melbourne Premiere’, again it’s fairly easy to guess what it’s about, it’s a 20 minute Q&A with Joon-Ho, interesting stuff but man is the quality crap, it sounds like it was recorded on a mobile phone!

There’s a six part feature on ‘The Creature’ which looks at everything from the concept of the creature to the various designs and different looks it had, the animatronics and CGI used to bring it to like. For some reason there’s a gag reel included which is mostly bit and pieces of the Orphanage special effects guys screwing around with the creature animations.

‘The Crew’ is a three part feature on the crew behind The Host, ‘The Staff’ is a very strange…something, lets just say it’d satisfy even Tarantino’s foot fetish.

‘Production Team’, sees the guys being the camera talking about their roles on the film and the experiences of set life (at least for those who were on set).

‘Kevin’s Korean Life’ is a somewhat documentary of Kevin Rafferty, the visual effects supervisor, who was a none Korean crew member living the Korean way of life.

We get a look at the characters of The Host (possibly the most important part of the movie itself) via yet another three part feature, ‘Casting Tapes’ looks more at the casting of the children rather then the more central roles, ‘Character’s’ makes up for the last part by being centered around the adult family members and the actors/actresses playing them. ‘Training the Actors’ goes behind the scenes at the training process some of the actors had to go through to get ready for the movie, archery and firearms training, do you realize that movies made in the west wouldn’t even bother! You don’t see Lindsay Lohan practicing to play a slut…oh wait a minute.

Are we there yet?

Well almost, we’ve reached the Deleted Scenes section of the disc, a bit more then 20 minutes of them too be exact, there’s nothing too important here, in fact some of the scenes don’t seem to even fit anywhere in the movie itself!

‘Saying Goodbye to The Host’ is a touching little piece featuring those responsible for the film talking about how much fun it was making the film and how they feel about being involved in what really is a great movie.

We’ve reach the bottom of Santa’s sack (no not that one) and we’re given a Still Gallery as a parting gift, Production Stills, Concept Art and Animatics ahoy.

Finally we have a DVD release which deserves the title ‘SPECIAL EDITION’ not only a great film but a great DVD to go with it.

There just isn’t any more that you could ask for…come to think of it, a commentary would have been nice! But then again, after all the material we’ve been given there isn’t much left to be told so screw it, I am happy to add this to my ever growing collection.

MOVIE: 4 out of 5

DVD: 5 out of 5

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Posted by Danny Price at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legend (Ultimate Edition)

After watching the enchanting fairy tale Stardust the other night, my sister and I compared it with a well-loved fantasy, The Princess Bride. After debating which of the two was a better fairy tale, I told her "My favorite fairy tale movie will always be Legend." Though Stardust and Princess Bride are happier fare, they lack the dark fantasy of Ridley Scott's mid-80s story of demons and unicorns.

Legend's premise is simple: a teenage woodsman falls in love with a princess. In order to impress her, he shows her the secret dwelling place of the last two unicorns. Refusing to heed his advice, she touches one of the unicorns. This allows the demons of the world to submerge the forest into a wintry nightmare. The hero then must band together with a motley assortment of misfits and save the planet from eternal darkness.

Okay, I know you're supposed to root for the hero to save the princess and the planet. But every time I watch this movie, I cheer for the bad guys to win. And not without reason. The heroes are a bunch of fey wimps; their attempts at comedy are atrocious, and their mere appearances make them hard for me to back. Tom Cruise is totally miscast as the young woodsman. He's too short, and doesn't come across as macho at all. Instead, he seems like he lucks his way to victory at every turn. Matched up against Cruise and company are an impressive gang of monsters. Their appearances are loathsome, their personalities even uglier. These minions stop at nothing to corrupt and destroy. And then there's the matter of Lord Darkness.

The first time I ever saw Legend, I was enthralled with Darkness; to this day, he's still my favorite monster. Rob Bottin's special makeup effects took average guy Tim Curry and transformed him into the most devilish creature ever to hit the screen. 13 feet tall at the horns, with a low, booming voice, Darkness personifies evil better than anyone this side of Damien. As this is a fairy tale, I expected him to lose the first time I saw the movie. But every time I watch it, I still hope at the end that he'll win out and cast the world into eternal shadow.

Aside from its heroes, Legend has some serious flaws. It plods along at times; all the really good action takes place in the last half hour or so. Also, some of the dialogue is really hokey, and it veers too much toward comedy at times; given the film's darker tone, the jokes are out of place. And then there's the whole matter of the U.S. version... Read on.

Universal did not mince words when they named this the Ultimate Edition. First and foremost, this edition offers both the U.S. theatrical cut, the version I grew up with on television, and also the "Never Before Seen" Director's cut. Apparently, Ridley Scott went to a test screening of the film and was swayed by some pot smoking viewers. This test run convinced him to make massive changes on the film. The first alteration, and arguably most drastic, was tossing out a score by Jerry Goldsmith, one of the most revered movie composers of the last 40 years. In its place, he inserted a synth-driven track by Tangerine Dream. To say this was a bad move is like saying that Frankenstein's monster is a little ugly. The new score was heinous, and has received derision from fans of the film for more than 20 years. Perhaps worse, Scott cut the film from 113 minutes to 90, and with it made some changes that he thought would jazz it up. Having watched the Director's cut, I can't help but wonder if he was the one smoking pot when he decided to alter it. Take the audience's first look at Darkness. In the American version, he's seated in a chair, green lit, within the first 10 minutes of the film. Because he's inert, his devilish appearance has no real shock. In the Director's cut, the audience only sees him from the back in this earlier shot. So when he makes his first full-faced appearance stepping out of a mirror, the audience sees him for the first time just as Mia Sara's princess does. The shock value is well worth the wait. Between the music and the additional scenes, the Director's cut is far superior to the truncated U.S. version.

As a bonus on Disc One, Scott gives an excellent audio commentary on the Director's cut. Though he makes some of the same comments later on Disc Two's documentary, here he's able to flesh them out as the movie plays. He covers just about everything a fan of the film could hope for, including how Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast provided the initial spark for the film's conception. This was a troubled film to make, and Scott directly addresses the issues that made it so. I may not always like Scott's movies (in truth, I think he's a more than a little overrated), but I thoroughly enjoyed his intellectual discussion of Legend.

Disc Two is further proof that Universal pulled out all the stops with this Ultimate Edition. The best feature is the 51 minute documentary "Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend." I don't think I've ever seen a DVD documentary include more people involved with the film, and this is definitely a case of "more is better." Just about everyone from the screenwriter to Scott to various actors in the film to Bottin are represented. There's only one major player missing: Tom Cruise. I was a Cruise hater long before anybody else hopped on the train, but I can see why fans of the movie would be upset, even if I'm not. The people that are interviewed deliver a picture that is fully fraught and well rounded. I think the only way I could've gotten a more complete picture of the film's creation would be if I had been on set for it.

It doesn't end there, folks. For those who are into punishment, you can watch the U.S. version with the isolated Tangerine Dream score. There are two lost scenes: an alternate opening, and a recreation of a woods dance pieced together with dialogue over stills. Though I'm glad these scenes never made it to the film, they're interesting to look at. There are also three sets of storyboards, the last of which includes an alternate ending. I dig these; it's always interesting to see how they differ from the final product. There are photo galleries which include publicity stills and continuity shots (the latter are more interesting, if only for the film geek's entertainment). There's also a DVD Rom script to screen feature, but I generally don't bother with those. Four TV commercials, two trailers, production notes and bios for the cast and crew round out the package nicely. And don't forget to take a peek at the Brian Ferry video for "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" The song ran over the end credits of the U.S. version; the video acts as a time capsule of just how cheesy the 1980s were.

Upon a little further pondering, I realized that both Princess Bride and Stardust are better made movies than Legend. But Scott's film houses my all-time favorite monster, and surrounds him with some sinister underlings. For this reason solely, I will always hold Lord Darkness' story as the most triumphant fairy tale ever put to film.

--Phil Fasso

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Posted by Phil at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Deathdream

Bob Clark's career is an interesting study in contrast. Before he went off to set the template for teen sex comedies with Porky's and deliver to the world a Christmas staple with A Christmas Story, he and Alan Ormsby collaborated on two horror flicks. The first, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, is a talky excuse for a zombie flick that really only picks up in the last 20 minutes or so. The second was a zombie flick of an altogether different sort, the politically charged Deathdream.

Andy is an American soldier in Vietnam. The film's first scene depicts his death in the war. Shift to an all-American family dinner with Andy's parents and sister. Mid-meal, they receive word of Andy's death. His mother makes a wish that Andy would come home. And Andy fulfills the wish, with some dark consequences for those in his hometown.

Deathdream is noticeable for a few things. It is one of the first anti-Vietnam War movies, and acts as the exact opposite of a John Wayne movie (after all, Wayne never came home in any of his myriad war movies and started to rot). It's also an anti-drug movie, as Andy must inject blood to maintain his normal appearance and ward off the aforementioned rot. But is it effective in delivering either message? Ehh, marginally. The Deer Hunter or Platoon, this movie certainly is not. Instead, its approach to delivering the message harkens back to the EC comics of the 1950s, with zombified Andy decaying on screen between fixes. Andy's appearance is creepy, and as the film progresses, he devolves further with each transformation.

Perhaps Deathdream works best as an exposé of the dysfunctional family. The film suggests that this family had serious problems before Andy left for the war, and his return has caused them to resurface. Though initially pleased with Andy's return, Andy's father is suspicious of his son's movements and often reacts angrily at both his son and wife. Andy's mother is so self-deluded by her son's return that she fails to believe he could do any wrong. Caught between them, Andy broods in a rocking chair with the lights out between explosions; his short fuse ignites both when the annoying mailman stops in for lunch and when some neighborhood kids ask him about the war. And its important to NOTE: Andy's violence led to real-life animal abuse; during a scene where Andy kills the family dog, that's no puppet; the actor tossed a real dog. Animal lovers may want to avoid this movie.

For a film that's solidly all right, Deathdream sports a nice array of special features. Most prominent are the two audio commentaries. Alan Ormsby and Bob Clark sat for separate tracks with a moderator. Of the two, Ormsby's track is the better. He gives insight into his script and some of the choices made for the film. Unfortunately, the moderator draws him off on tangents sometimes. Does Ormsby really need to discuss his other films, or, oddly enough, Lord of the Rings here? But even with these flaws, Clark's track is by far worse. He goes silent for long periods of time, and mumbles for most of it. The information he gives isn't thrilling; although he does try to take credit for the whole storyline of John Carpenter's Halloween!

The film also offers a few other extras. This was Tom Savini's first film job, and his 11 minute discussion of the film's makeup effects is interesting, if only to see how he got his start. Actor Richard Backus, Andy himself, gives some interesting insight of his involvement, as well as that of some others. Listen for his mention of actor John Marley's interesting take on the film's real focus. There's an alternate ending that's not worth watching, as it doesn't add much. There's also an alternate opening with a different title; yes, Deathdream is a member of the Horror Movie Relocation Program, and apparently has about 67 different titles. A trailer and some stills round out the extras.

Bob Clark would go on to his greatest success with another movie about a dysfunctional family, but Deathdream is a much darker work than his holiday effort. Unfortunately, Deathdream is not nearly as good a work as A Christmas Story, and I only recommend it for those hardcore zombie fans.

--Phil Fasso

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Posted by Phil at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The American Nightmare - A Celebration of Films from Hollywood's Golden Age of Fright

Art is often a reflection of the collective consciousness of the times in which it is created. The country groans as a result of atrocities; the artists capture that groan in a creative form. In his superb documentary, Adam Simon posits that a number of crucial horror movies speak not merely of monsters and victims, but of the horrible unconscious of the United States. Welcome to the American Nightmare.

The main technique that Simon uses to engage his audience is nothing short of brilliant: intercutting footage of real life upheaval with that from seminal horror movies. Then mingle audio from actual news reports and dialogue from the films, and lay it over the intercut footage. Suddenly, the movie footage becomes all the more real, and the real footage all the more horrifying. Witness, for example, when a the redneck sheriff from Night of the Living Dead suggests to "beat 'em or burn 'em" and the last part of the line overlaps a fighter plane dropping napalm on a village. Or two scenes from The Crazies of machine gun toting soldiers in biohazard masks, that wrap around a scene where real soldiers, armed and dressed the same, stop an ordinary woman's car; the transition is almost seamless. From the very first seconds, this documentary had me by the throat, and would not let go until its very end.

Another powerful ploy of Simon's is the people he chose to interview. These fall into two categories: horror's most respected filmmakers (Romero, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven and Cronenberg all represent), and university scholars. It's one thing to hear George Romero discuss the politics behind Night of the Living Dead. When Professor Adam Lowenstein of the University of Pittsburgh discusses how the film evokes thoughts of real life lynchings and struggles of race, it validates Romero's statements; combined, the two become more mighty than either would have been if stated separately. Here's John Carpenter apologizing for killing the sexual revolution with Halloween. Following immediately, Professor Carol Clover comments on the Puritanical aims of horror movies that kill teens engaged in sex. Again, each of these shows how the horrors are real, and the realities horrible.

Perhaps the documentary's only drawback is the inclusion of interviews with John Landis. He's the only director not represented by a film. Instead, he's solely commenting on the genius of others. He comes across as a fanboy, preening over the genius of Romero and Hooper, instead of standing on his own merits. Everything else in The American Nightmare is spot on.

Those who aren't fans of horror tend to shun it as a bastard son of "real" literature and film. To them, it is a low art that they can dismiss as merely being gory and silly, or even worse, senseless. But The American Nightmare proves that horror can be just as substantial, just as high an art form, as more respected genres. With its breathtaking approach from its opening moments, the documentary states that horror movies are a reflection of the times, and have something to say. They may say it more aggressively than other genres, but they should never be waved aside and forgotten. For fans who understand the validity of horror, this film is a must-see.

-Phil Fasso

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Posted by Phil at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Resident Evil - Extinction (Widescreen Special Edition)

Once again this is one of those cases where I wasn't a big fan of this films predecessors, however, of all the Resident Evil movies, I'd have to say Extinction is the best. In my opinion all three films are too action filled to really be called horror films and it feels more like a movie adapted from a comic book rather than a video game (which in my opinion is the greatest line of video games you can buy) and in Extinction it strays away from the game completely, but this is justified in the directors commentary.

The T-virus escapes Raccoon City and over-runs the world, effecting animal and plant life along with nearly all humans, leaving the planet barren of anything but dry dirt and sand. Traveling through these deserted wastelands in search of food, water and ammo is a mobile unit consisting of about thirty to forty people and headed up by Clair Redfield (Ali Larter), Carlos (Oded Fehr), and the returning, funny guy from Nemesis...L.J., played by Mike Epps. Alice (Milla Jovovich) fallows the unit of travelers but never gets too close, fearing she may endanger them as a result of the umbrella corporations experiments on her, as well as her growing telepathic powers. Most of the film is done in daylight to oppose the ever cliche' of all horror films taking place at night. The objective for all the characters in this movie, just to stay alive and make it to a safe place.

The special effects in this movie are really impressive. The zombie crows as well as the infected humans look AMAZING! Alices' roll is a little over the top and down right cheesy at times but the film is still worth watching. Another huge production horror film that was meant for the masses and delivered exactly what was expected as far as entertainment.

Extra Features:
It was strange but I actually liked the film more before I watched it with the commentary on. Although they explain a lot about all three films, they also point out all of their mistakes, and now every time I watch it, that's all I see. It's not too insightful as the film itself doesn't have much insight but it's still a good feature if you really wanna know a bit about why they made all three films the way they did.

Deleted Scenes
It was odd because I remembered seeing almost all the deleted scenes in the film. There are a couple that involve experimenting with the zombies that weren't in the final cut but they are short and not really much to look at.

Unearthing Extinction: The making of
This is probably the coolest special feature, although it's not great, it was neat to see how they did the explosions and create the miniature Las Vegas. Plus, it shows how they made those AMAZING zombies.

Resident Evil: Degeneration
This is the preview for the C.G. Resident Evil film, it's about 30seconds long and doesn't show that much as far as whether or not that movie will rock...you're better off looking it up online.

Beth Puttkammer

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Posted by Beth at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Directed by Toshifumi Takizawa and Hisaya Takabayashi

Written by Hisaya Takabayashi and Masatoshi Kimura

            Blue Remains is another film in a long line of post Apocalyptic stories that basically narrows down the salvation of the human race to one or two beings. In the case of this film, it is pretty much four people, but you spend the majority of the film thinking it is one.

            The story begins with the introduction of Amamiku, a teenage girl who has been brought up by an A.I. spaceship and a robot. She has never seen a human being and has no idea if there are any others left on the planet. She also is aware that she has a single mission to resurrect the world with the seeds left to her by her parents. You notice almost immediately the hurky jerky animation that has been used to craft this feature. The images are very mechanical looking and the motion is very unnatural. The film was made in 2000, so age really should not have been an excuse. Not when there are films like Resident Evil that include characters that people swore they knew in real life. No, this looked more like a video game that was being controlled by someone who was not familiar with the game. Upon watching the film you also notice that anything that is not either water or a person is extremely geometric. The ships are triangular and there are a lot of circles used in the creation of the visuals. It looks like some of the films you see about animatics and the structuring layers used to build animation, but have not been finished.

            The entire film takes place under water and this also betrays one of the biggest plot flaws. They emphasize how poisoned and irradiated the water is, but then there is tons of sea life in the majority of the shots. While I understand that not all life will be eradicated, I am fairly sure that life would not be abundant. From this point though is where the story becomes very X-men meets The Matrix. Basically you have a small group of beings that have been mutated and are now trying to take over the world. They have control of the most advanced machines and they feel that all life that they deem below them should be wiped out. Glyptofane is the leader and most savage of the creatures that look like the aliens from Mars Attacks! fused with the brain from City Of Lost Children.  He sends his army of robot ships after Amamiku and a small sub of humans she meets through a robot dolphin they use for reconnaissance. This scene is by far the epic crescendo of the film, but will instantly remind you of The Matrix with the little drone machines attacking the sub that holds the few remaining human beings. This battle leads up to Amamiku finding the “sacred area”, the one location on the planet that she must plant her seeds and try and save the world. Once the “sacred area” is found though, visually all I could think of was “V’ger” from Star Trek with its chaotic surroundings and peaceful interior.

Posted by Myk at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)