Welcome to the newest installment of the Bargain Bin(ge), where I cover used DVD stores from around the country and the various movies I have plundered from them.
Earlier this week, work took me out to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. With the limited free time I had, I decided to check out some used media stores in search of DVDs.
I wound up visiting two locations of Zia Record Exchange, a chain of used media stores in the Southwestern states of Arizona and Nevada. This particular segment covers the Sahara Avenue location in Las Vegas, not far from the touristy allures of the casinos and hotels.
The first thing that stood out to me about Zia was the cool ambiance to the place. The walls and signs are all well-decorated and hip, making for a top-notch atmosphere. As the name suggests, it is primarily a record store, but the inclusion of movies is hardly an afterthought: the selection was really fantastic, and I wound up finding a number of films I haven’t been able to find anywhere else in the wild. “Weekend at Bernie’s 2” comes to mind, though the price wasn’t right for me to walk away with it. Likewise, they had copies of “God Told Me To” with Larry Cohen commentary and “Leviathan,” although both were outside of what I wanted to pay.
All of that said, I still found some good deals, and walked away with a nice stack of DVDs. If you find yourself in Las Vegas, it is worth your time to check out the selection at Zia Record Exchange if you are a fan of rare and cult films.
“Cloned” is a television movie from the early 2000s starring Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing,” “Cabin In The Woods”) and Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”). I’m a big fan of Whitford, but I haven’t seen him do much outside of his snarky, comedic comfort zone. The same goes for Perkins, who became mostly a comic relief player in “Weeds” in the later seasons. This looks to be a pretty heavy drama laced with sci-fi elements, so I’m interested to see how they work with a more somber backdrop.
I was rather delighted to find a combined copy of Larry Cohen’s sequels to the 1974 classic “It’s Alive,” partially because I have never seen copies of them before, and party because of how outlandish the premises are. Larry Cohen has a knack for finding the sweet spot between horror and comedy, and is one of my favorite b-movie directors along with Stuart Gordon for doing it so well. I’m planning to go through the whole “It’s Alive” trilogy soon, maybe in a multi-week spotlight on Larry Cohen much like I did with Gordon.
This is another Larry Cohen flick that I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of. I don’t know much about this one, apart from that it is a twisted homage to Hitchcock’s thrillers. The premise of a movie director making a film about a murder he got away with is certainly intriguing, and I’m interested to see how Cohen pulls it off. He can certainly write suspense if “Phone Booth” is any indication, so this should be an interesting watch.
I always love grabbing discount movie collections, because you always get your money’s worth in screen time at the very least. As opposed to most horror box sets composed of amateur flicks with awful effects, this action/crime set seems to be mostly built from TV movies featuring bankable stars (Ice Cube, Dennis Hopper, Forrest Whitaker, and Denzel Washington to name a few in here). The most prominent of the bunch on the box is “In Too Deep,” which was directed by Michael Rymer, who has since made a name for himself producing and directing on the hit TV shows “Hannibal” and “Battlestar: Galactica.” I’ll be interested to do more research into this lot, and see if there is some blog material in here.
“Roadie” is apparently a musical comedy starring Meat Loaf. I didn’t read any further into it than that, apart from finding out that the director, Alan Rudolph, was behind the “Breakfast of Champions” film adaptation. I’m assuming that this movie is going to be just awful, but I’m planning to buckle in for the experience.
I don’t know what this movie is, but it involves Fred Williamson, drugs, and martial arts, so I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. This may have been a mistake.
Today’s feature is a little film called “The Last Samurai.” No, not the 2003 Tom Cruise movie that we are all familiar with: the 1991 Lance Henriksen movie that no one has ever heard of.
“The Last Samurai” was directed and written by Paul Mayersburg, who is best known for writing “The Man Who Fell To Earth” and “Croupier.” “The Last Samurai” was the last of three films that he directed, but he is still active as a screenwriter, and is currently attached to an announced 2016 movie called “Killer Surreal.”
The cinematography for “The Last Samurai” was provided by Sven Persson, who worked on and off on films set in Africa since the late 1940s according to his IMDb entry. “The Last Samurai” is his last reported film work.
One of the producers of “The Last Samurai” is a man named Tony Carbone, who has no other recorded producing credits. However, he has a co-writing credit on a 2010 episode of the television series “Archer” called “Honeypot,” which is a fan favorite in the series. I’m a little curious if these are indeed the same person, and how he wound up with these credits decades apart from each other.
The special effects on “The Last Samurai” are credited to Massimo Vico, who worked on films such as “King Solomon’s Mines” and Albert Pyun’s infamous “Alien From L.A.”
The stunt coordinator for “The Last Samurai,” Scott Ateah, has gone on to work on over 200 films, including big budget productions like “Watchmen,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Slither,” and “I, Robot,” as well as infamous flicks like “The Core,” “Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2,” “The Wicker Man,” and a whole bunch of “Air Bud” movies.
The cast of “The Last Samurai” is headlined by Lance Henriksen, a veteran b-movie actor who is best known for his role as the android Bishop in “Aliens.” However, he has also been featured in movies like “The Pit and The Pendulum,” “The Mangler 2,” “Hard Target,” “Super Mario Bros.,” and more movies about Sasquatch than you might expect. John Fujioka takes the other central role, and has appeared in films like “American Ninja” and “Mortal Kombat.” The rest of the cast features John Saxon, a veteran character actor who has appeared in features like “Mitchell,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “From Dusk Til Dawn,” Arabella Holzbog of “Carnosaur 2” and Richard Linklater’s “Bad News Bears” remake, and Lisa Eilbacher of “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Leviathan,” and “10 to Midnight.”
When it comes to summarizing the story of “The Last Samurai,” I can’t possibly do any better than the back of the suspiciously-fake-looking DVD case that I paid 95 cents for:
“Japanese multimillionaire, Yasojiro Endo journeys to Africa to find the truth about a Samurai ancestor who disappeared two centuries ago and to find the true spirit of the Samurai in himself. While on a safari with mercenary Johnny, he bumps into a business acquaintance also on safari, except he is actually in the midst of a covert arms deal. Endo and Johnny are now in the way, and must reach deep within themselves and come to terms with their personal demons to summon their strength for their fight to the finish. They confront their inner selves, and both discover their true nature is that of the Samurai.”
“The Last Samurai” was initially released straight to video in Germany, and took a number of years to get distribution in the United States. As I mentioned earlier, almost no one has heard of this movie, so it clearly didn’t make a financial splash. Predictably, there is no budget information about the film available, but I have to assume that it was very, very low.
“The Last Samurai” starts with a black and white, slow motion sparring session, which is later implied to be a moment from a former life of Fujioka’s character. It doesn’t really fit with the rest of the film, and I am a little curious as to if it was filmed after the fact and edited in. The fact that it was used for at least one home video cover of the movie has me a little suspicious.
My first thought after starting “The Last Samurai” was “Holy crap, this score is awful.” The theme sounds like a synthesizer replication of a middle school saxophone player warming up. The rest of the score is a mixture of ominous synthesizer tones and occasional drum beats, which gets very old quickly. The music is credited to a guy named Rene Veldsman, who only did scores for six low budget movies in his career, which is probably for the best.
I’m not sure if the problem is my DVD copy or if it is the movie itself (or a combination of the two), but the film quality here is just abysmal. to the point that it is honestly distracting whenever there are sudden movements or cuts.
Lance Henriksen portrays a mercenary in “The Last Samurai,” and has a line at one point that I am willing to bet was pulled from real life. When negotiating his pay, Henriksen nearly runs down Fujioka with a car, after which the following exchange takes place:
“You have a Japanese sense of theater”
“If I’m an actor, I want 20 grand. A day.”
I’ll admit, I got a little giggle out of that.
Speaking of which, the acting in “The Last Samurai” is a mixed bag. Lance Henriksen thankfully hams up his character, and makes his segments entertaining. He even seems to be enjoying himself with the role, which is really great to see. Fujioka makes a lot of dramatic use of a personal fan, which I think is supposed to be stately, but just looks kind of ridiculous in the context of the film. John Saxon also stands out, if for no other reason than because of his astounding miscasting as a wealthy middle eastern arms dealer. His attempts to nail down his character’s accent and just surreal coming from a second generation Italian immigrant from Brooklyn. The rest of the cast outside of those three, however, is abysmal. There is clearly a lot of use of non-actors who can barely get through a line, which makes any interactions between the actual actors and the accessory cast excruciating.
At least some of the blame for the performances has to be leveled at Mayersburg, given he both directed the feature and wrote the dialogue (which some of the actors were understandably having trouble with). His inexperience as a director almost certainly contributed to some of the problems with the movie, and I think it is safe to say the the film is better written than it is directed.
All of that said, the movie isn’t all bad. It takes way too long to get going, but the last 20 minutes of action is pretty fun, and Henriksen absolutely thrives in his role. The movie could definitely have used some more editing to help with the pacing and the extraneous character details that bog it down, especially given how long it feels at 1 hour 30 minutes. Still, there are far more tortuous film experiences out there, and this flick at least offers some redeeming moments.
As far as a recommendation goes, if you have ever wanted to see Lance Henriksen’s bare ass or watch him awkwardly play with a monkey, this is the movie for you. Outside of those niche interests, “The Last Samurai” is a bit too slow to recommend outright, though the highlights are probably worth checking out.
Today’s feature is yet another reviled and unnecessary sequel: 2002’s “American Psycho 2,” starring Mila Kunis and William Shatner.
“American Psycho 2” was directed by a fellow named Morgan J. Freeman, who has most recently served as an executive producer on the reality television show “Teen Mom.” He has also had a handful of directing credits since the early 1990s, but nothing since a few television episodes in 2010.
The screenplay for “American Psycho 2” is credited to two people: Alex Sanger and Karen Craig. Craig has another writing credit for a 2005 television movie, but outside of that neither individual has credited film writing experience.
The cinematography on “American Psycho 2” was provided by Vanja Cernjul, who has worked on acclaimed television series such as “Bored to Death,” “Nurse Jackie,” “30 Rock,” and “Orange Is The New Black,” as well as a handful of films like “Wristcutters: A Love Story.”
The “American Psycho 2” score was composed by Norman Orenstein, who has worked on the music for the “Cube” sequels, George Romero’s “Diary of the Dead,” and the “Animorphs” television series.
The producing team for “American Psycho 2” features a trio of returning producers from “American Psycho,” including an eventual president of production for Lion’s Gate in Michael Paseornek. Paseornek, along with fellow producers Chris Hanley and Christian Halsey Solomon, are the only returning elements from the original film.
The cast of “American Psycho 2” is headlined by Mila Kunis, who was in the middle of her success with “That 70s Show.” Her earlier credits included a handful of child roles in films like “Santa With Muscles” and “Piranha,” and she has of course gone on to have significant success as both a live action star (“Black Swan,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and a voice actor (“Family Guy”). The rest of the cast is pretty sparse on recognizable faces outside of William Shatner, who most know from his role as Captain Kirk in “Star Trek.” However, his lengthy career has also featured a couple of famous “Twilight Zone” episodes, a handful of memorable b-movies like “Kingdom of the Spiders,” and a whole lot of other television roles (like “T.J. Hooker”).
The story of “American Psycho 2” centers around a young college student obsessed with becoming a professional criminal profiler, who believes that becoming a Teaching Assistant under a noted professor is the key to realizing that goal. Over the course of the film, she targets and eliminates all of the perceived obstacles and rivals that stand between her and the coveted position. The tenuous connection to “American Psycho” comes in the form of her back story, which shows that, as a child, she witnessed Patrick Bateman murder her babysitter. She then killed Bateman while he was distracted and escaped the murder scene, leaving a mystery as to how Patrick Bateman came to meet his end.
The production company behind “American Psycho 2,” Lionsgate, is now regarded as one of the top “mini-major” film studios in the business, producing blockbusters like “The Hunger Games.” However, that has only been the case since about 2012. Before that, though they co-produced some larger features with other studios (such as “Hotel Rwanda” and “The Day After Tomorrow”), they primarily dealt with upper-end b-movies and horror films: “American Psycho,” “Cube,” and “Saw,” for instance.
From what I can tell, in 2002 “American Psycho” was one of the few profitable properties Lionsgate had, and the studio needed a film that could be depended on to make some money. Apparently, the producers took a screenplay and amended it to provide a tenuous connection to “American Psycho,” and went ahead with branding it as a sequel, assuming that the name recognition would equate to profits. This predictably angered the fan base of the original film on principle alone, but the ultimate product made them exponentially more livid.
The notoriously fickle and ill-tempered author of “American Psycho,” Bret Easton Ellis, has of course denounced the film as an unnecessary and shameful sequel. Even Mila Kunis is reportedly ashamed of the film, though she is certainly a much bigger star now than she was in 2002, and can afford to dissociate herself from earlier embarrassing works.
“American Psycho 2” never got a theatrical release, and went straight to home video distribution. Of course, given the annoyed fan base of the original film, the sub-par script, and the cheap production, it was not received well. The film currently holds an IMDb rating of 3.9, along with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 11% (critics) and 18% (audience), which is abysmal by all accounts.
Given the obsession with detail featured in both the book and film of “American Psycho,” it is an extra spit in the eye that this sequel is so lax in its attention to minor (and major) details. For instance, Mila Kunis’s character is called the wrong name in displayed newspaper and book features, even after her fake identity and history is exposed.
Personally, my biggest issue with this movie is how poorly it lived up to its potential as a film. The forced changes to the script to make the film into an “American Psycho” sequel ruined what could have been an interesting young adult-focused serial killer movie with a rewrite or two. I didn’t even think the performances were completely awful, which is a major criticism I have seen of film time and time again. Shatner probably wasn’t the best casting, but I am willing to bet he was the biggest name that the production could get for the money that they paid. After all, this was movie that was engineered (poorly) to profit, which means they wanted bang for their buck. At the time, I have to assume that both Kunis and Shatner came pretty cheap, but were still recognizable enough to market. With a little more attention, money, and time, I think the nugget of a story beneath “American Psycho 2” could have been turned into something at least palatable.
Overall, even if you can divorce the film from “American Psycho” to look at it on its standalone merits, you can tell that it was rushed and made for cheap. It is a film that was never allowed to properly incubate, the the consequence is a sub-par product. It should be looked at as a cautionary tale of what happens when studio interests and producers are allowed to run wild without the checks and balances of an artistic force passionate for the project. Films take a delicate mixture of elements to work, and when the balances are thrown off, things go wrong. “American Psycho 2” is on the opposite end of the spectrum of passion projects, where the artist is unchecked by reason (movies like “Slipstream,”“Glitter,” or “Battlefield: Earth”). Basically, this is an example of a “no-passion” project, where the studio and production logic went unchecked by dedication or artistic merit.
It should probably go without saying, but this isn’t a recommendation from me, outside of a quasi-academic curiosity. Unless you are a huge fan of Kunis or Shatner and want to take a trip through their respective filmographies, this is pretty skippable. If you are a fan of “American Psycho” and want to get angry enough to raise your blood pressure, give it a shot. As far as memorable moments go, there is a creative death by condom, so that may be worth giving a look.
Today’s feature was actually a significant financial success, which moviegoers of 1995 should be embarrassed about now. Here is arguably the least of Michael Crichton film adaptations, “Congo.”
“Congo” was directed by Frank Marshall, a prolific producer with over 100 credits (including “Back to the Future” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) whose directing roles before “Congo” included “Alive” and “Arachnophobia.”
“Congo” is loosely based on a best-selling novel by Michael Crichton, who has done his fair share of screen writing and directing on top of writing countless treasured books like “Jurassic Park” and “The Andromeda Strain.” However, the screenplay for “Congo” was written by John Patrick Shanley, an Academy Award winning writer who was behind “Moonstruck” and “Doubt.” Reportedly, Shanley didn’t read the source material, and wrote the screenplay more or less based on a simple synopsis of the story.
The cinematography for “Congo” was provided by Allen Daviau, who was Steven Spielberg’s go-to director of photography earlier in his career, giving him credits on films like “Amblin,” “The Color Purple,” “E.T.,” and “Empire of the Sun.” He also provided cinematography for “Van Helsing,” another film I have covered here on the blog.
The music for “Congo” was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, who worked on scores for films like “Supergirl,” “Mulan,” “Alien,” “Small Soldiers,” and “Gremlins,” among countless others.
Stan Winston was brought in to create the gorillas for “Congo,” specifically because of his impressive work on “Jurassic Park.” In fact, without his abilities showcased in “Jurassic Park,” “Congo” would likely have stayed in production limbo indefinitely, until effects could catch up enough to effectively replicate gorillas.
“Congo” features a pretty deep cast of actors, including Joe Don Baker (“Mitchell,”“Final Justice,”“Leonard Part 6”) Dylan Walsh (“Nip/Tuck”), Laura Linney (“The Truman Show”), Ernie Hudson (“Ghostbusters”), and Tim Curry (“It,” “Clue,” “McHale’s Navy”). Beloved b-movie actor Bruce Campbell (“Evil Dead”) also makes a brief appearance in the opening of the movie, and absolutely kills it with his trademark charm before being dispatched by angry gorillas.
The complicated story behind “Congo” involves a number of plots that converge in an expedition into the jungles of the Congo. A team of scientists is seeking to reintroduce a gorilla into the wild, while a number of other parties piggy-back on the operation in search of diamonds, a mythical monument, and a missing loved one. As you would expect, things quickly go awry for the team.
Famous singer Jimmy Buffett appears briefly in the movie, portraying a pilot. Buffett is actually a trained pilot in real life, which I suppose qualified him for the role.
The diamonds used in the production are actually quartz crystals called Herkimer Diamonds, which were the only believable and large enough stones available for the movie. They are very rare, and are only found in specific areas of New York. The crystal at the end of the film that is thrown away was reportedly actually lost, and is presumably still out there somewhere.
“Congo” has a long production history, extending to before the novel was even published in 1980. The success and technical breakthroughs of “Jurassic Park” gave the incentive to get it off the ground, as previously there wasn’t enough confidence in the effects available to portray the apes. Unfortunately, the effects still weren’t advanced enough to handle portraying apes, due to the difficulties in replicating hair. So, ultimately, gorilla suits and models were used anyway.
“Congo” had a box office total of over $150 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $50 million, primarily because of the significant promotion of the film and the lingering hype over “Jurassic Park,” which was fanned by the advertising campaign which drew intentional comparisons between the two films. “Congo” was ultimately the #16 movie of 1995, coming ahead of critically lauded movies like “Braveheart,” “Heat,” “12 Monkeys,” and “Casino.”
The reception for the movie, however, was not so good. “Congo” currently has an IMDb score of 5.0, as well as Rotten Tomatoes rating of 22% (critics) and 29% (audience), making for a very poor reception across the board.
The ape suits clearly don’t match the impressive effects work in “Jurassic Park,” and have aged very poorly. However, there clearly weren’t any other viable options at the time for creating the apes. Realistically, the only thing that could have been done was to just shelve the movie, which would mean losing out on the coat-tails of “Jurassic Park,” which was the prime catalyst for the production to start with. So, I can excuse the ape suits here, at least from a production standpoint. Regardless, this is probably the most disappointing major creature work by Stan Winston outside of “Lake Placid.”
“Congo” features a number of over-the-top accents which struck me as entirely unnecessary. Tim Curry is by far the worst offender, but his faux-Romanian accent is at least entertaining and hammy. Ernie Hudson puts on a bit of an English accent that is also a bit amusing, but perhaps even more unnecessary for his character than Curry’s near-offensive Romanian.
A number of the criticisms I have seen of “Congo” point out the apparently implied romance between Dylan Walsh and Amy the gorilla, which I think was intentional on some level. Both Amy and Walsh’s character were supposed to be sympathetic, and their bond was central to the story. However, particularly at the end of the film, it seemed like they pushed the relationship a bit too far and overt, and it just didn’t come off as well as hoped. Honestly, I think this is at least partly due to how Walsh played the character. I would be shocked if Campbell (who was also up for the role) wouldn’t have played the relationship as more brotherly or parental in comparison to Walsh’s teary-eyed romantic vibe.
Speaking of which, I think “Congo” really suffers from not having enough Bruce Campbell or Joe Don Baker in the story. Both men have powerful presences and personalities, and steal every moment they are on screen. At the very least, having either of them on the main expedition would have made the film more entertaining to watch.
I can’t very well not mention the diamond-powered “communication lasers” at the center of the plot. It obviously sounds fancy, interesting, and potentially insidious, but it just doesn’t make any sense. How exactly are lasers to be used for communication? Also, why are the lasers solely used as weapons when they are supposedly for “communications”? Was that intentional, and the purpose was to develop new military technology all along? It just isn’t clear.
This isn’t exactly a criticism as much as an observation, but the face in the lost city definitely reminded me of Olmec from the TV game show “Legend of the Hidden Temple.” Of course two stone faces are going to look similar, but just take a look for yourself:
Overall, “Congo” is a pretty dull movie that is only somewhat redeemed by a handful of over-the-top performances. It isn’t good enough to be “Jurassic Park” and isn’t incompetent or goofy enough to be “Anaconda,” and exists in an uncomfortable limbo space in between the two. Realistically, it shouldn’t have been made when it was, and the quality was a costly casualty of a rushed cash-in on the back of “Jurassic Park.” I can still recommend this movie on the strengths of Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Joe Don Baker, and the power of nostalgia, but I would be lying if I said making a drinking game of this flick wouldn’t make the experience much easier.
Welcome to the latest installment of the Bargain Bin(ge), where I cover used DVD stores from around the country and the various movies I have plundered from them. This past weekend, I took a trip down to New Orleans: one of the most unique and interesting cities in the United States. Of course, I managed to take some time to dig into a couple of local used media spots between enjoying the cajun food and the sights.
The Louisiana Music Factory is a used media shop on the edge of New Orleans’s French Quarter, sitting on the extreme end of the increasingly popular Frenchman Street. As the name suggests, LMF is primarily a record store, and also has a little stage for live music. That said, it does have a little DVD section that I decided to peruse.
LMF is a cool spot with an interesting ambiance, and shouldn’t be missed if you find yourself in the French Quarter. It is worth the short hike down Decatur. However, you shouldn’t be going for the movies: this is a pure record store, and that’s what you should spend your time digging into here. Unfortunately, records aren’t easy to pack in carry-ons, so I was out of luck. Regardless, I wound up tilling up a couple of worthy DVD finds there.
Caddyshack II
Frankly, this is a movie that absolutely shouldn’t exist. Caddyshack II is a truly reviled sequel that suffered immensely from behind the scenes tensions during the early days of the production. Chevy Chase is the only returning cast member, and he only rarely appears. Rodney Dangerfield backed out before filming, Harold Ramis wanted as little to do with it as possible, and notorious hair-stylist turned producer Jon Peters had a heavy hand in making sure the movie got made in spite of every omen that it shouldn’t be. It is often said that there is nothing worse than bad comedy, but the sheer amount of trivia behind this disaster has me curious to give it a watch.
Sister Street Fighter
Here is a little spinoff that I actually had no idea existed:Sister Street Fighter. I don’t typically cover martial arts movies, but I’ve had my eye on the Sonny Chiba “Streetfighter” series for a while now (not to be confused with the JCVD video game adaptation). “Sister Street Fighter” is apparently a parallel story to “Street Fighter,” and briefly features Chiba. I’m expecting some extreme b-movie violence, and hopefully an enjoyable watch here. Expect a review on this flick sooner or later on the blog.
Welcome to the latest installment of the Bargain Bin(ge), where I cover used DVD stores from around the country and the various movies I have plundered from them. This past weekend, I took a trip down to New Orleans: one of the most unique and interesting cities in the United States. Of course, I managed to take some time to dig into a couple of local used media spots between enjoying the cajun food and the sights.
First up is an old haunt of mine from my college days at Tulane University: The Mushroom.
The Mushroom is sort of an all-purpose alternative interest center: part head shop, part record store, part eclectic emporium. It sits on the corner of Tulane University’s campus, on the second floor of a building that houses both a college bar and one of the most delicious crepe restaurants in the country. Of course, the Mushroom also boasts a significant used DVD section, which I have spent a lot of time digging in over the years.
The most distinctive aspect of The Mushroom, much like New Orleans itself, is the atmosphere. Just check out some of the art on the exterior walls:
Did I mention it is also a head shop? In any case, I love the unique flair of the place, both on the inside and the outside. The DVD section is specifically surrounded by t-shirts branded with classic horror and sci-fi movies, which is a nice touch. I picked up a Godzilla shirt there a couple of years ago that I absolutely love, and I was tempted to dig through to find another one. Maybe next time. The DVD prices in The Mushroom could be a bit better. However, I came out with 5 dvds (6 movies) for about 15 dollars, which isn’t too bad. The biggest problem is that they usually know when they have something rare or obscure, and they mark them up accordingly. You aren’t going to find any steals here in general, but you will almost certainly find something interesting.
Shocker / The People Under The Stairs
So, on to the movies I picked up at The Mushroom. First, there is a Wes Craven double feature of “Shocker” and “The People Under The Stairs.” Neither of these are exactly considered highlights in Craven’s career, but they both have fan followings for sure. Also, I haven’t seen either of them, nor did I have copies of them previously. I recently missed a screening of “The People Under The Stairs” at Gateway Film Center, so I’m going to specifically look forward to giving that a watch.
Iron Eagle
The next find is a bit of a forgotten flick, mostly because of how overshadowed it was by a better film with a similar concept. Years before “Volcano” vs “Dante’s Peak” and “Armageddon” vs “Deep Impact,” there was “Top Gun” vs “Iron Eagle.” I think that this is the first time I have run across a DVD copy of this film, and this is another one I haven’t seen before. I might do a back to back of this and “Top Gun” as a sort of retrospective comparison. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to do that with “Catch-22” and “M.A.S.H” too. Keep your eyes peeled.
How To Make A Monster
Here is a movie I considered early on as a possibility for Killer Robot Week, but I knocked it out partially because I couldn’t find a copy. So, I was understandably pretty surprised to find a copy of it in the wild. “How To Make A Monster” is a television movie from 2001 that surprisingly features effects work from the legendary creature creator Stan Winston, who certainly had no business working on TV that late into his legendary career. I’ll be interested to see if there is some reason for his involvement, but I’ll save that for a proper review. What is more important to note is that this is a television movie from 2001 about a killer video game, so it is bound to have awful CGI and dated references to controversy over violence in video games. Sounds like a good time to me! The writer/director, George Huang, also did the movie “Swimming With Sharks,” which is basically “Entourage” without the central cast or comedic elements (so, better). It features Kevin Spacey as the intensely abusive and reprehensible super-agent character, and you can just feel how much Piven pulled his character of Gold from the performance. I haven’t seen it in a few years, but I liked it on the initial watch.
Predator 2
When it comes to sequels failing to live up to the potential of their concepts, “Predator 2” has to be towards the top of that list. Moving the stealthy alien hunter from the jungle into an urban environment sounds like a winner, but then again, so did the idea of combining Predators and Xenomorphs on screen. I haven’t seen this flick in years, but I don’t recall hating it when I saw it years ago. I was just…disappointed. I’ll be interested to see what this movie is like for me now, because it has been at least a decade since I last saw it.
Virtual Assassin
Here a flick I don’t actually know anything about: “Virtual Assassin”or “CyberJack.” From what I can tell, it is a “Die Hard” knock-off with a sci-fi, high-tech twist. The director, Robert Lee, primarily works as an assistant director, and has been in the crew of such flicks as Uwe Boll’s masterpieces “House of the Dead” and “Alone in the Dark.” The film stars Michael Dudikoff, who is best known as Cannon’s “American Ninja.” He’s had one hell of a b-movie career, and his presence was enough to sell me on giving this thing a shot.
Today, I’ll be covering one of the most infamous superhero films of all time: 1984’s “Supergirl.”
“Supergirl” was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who is best known for directing “Jaws 2,” as well as a number of television shows in recent years (including episodes of “Supernatural” and “Bones”). The script for “Supergirl” was written by David Odell, who also wrote the screenplays for “Masters of the Universe” and “The Dark Crystal.” His writing career on films understandably didn’t survive the 1980s.
The cinematography on “Supergirl” was provided by Alan Hume, who racked up over 100 cinematography credits over his career. His works include “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Octopussy,” “A View To A Kill,” and “Return of the Jedi.”
The effects team for “Supergirl” included Alan Barnard (“Krull,” “Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade”), Peter Biggs (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”), Brian Warner (“Superman,” “Hudson Hawk,” “Alien 3”), Ken Morris (“Willow,” “A View To A Kill”), Peter Dawson (“Gymkata,” “Batman,” “Full Metal Jacket”), Michael Dunleavy (“Event Horizon,” “Gladiator,” “Aliens”), and Ron Cartwright (“Space Truckers”).
The score for “Supergirl” was conducted and composed by Jerry Goldsmith, who created over 250 film compositions over his career, including scores for “The 13th Warrior,” “Small Soldiers,” “Mulan,” “Gremlins,” “Congo,” “The ‘Burbs,” “First Blood,” “Alien,” “Poltergeist,” and “Logan’s Run.”
“Supergirl” features an impressively deep cast, headlined by newcomer Helen Slater in the lead role. The accessory cast includes such notables as Faye Dunaway, Peter O’Toole, Mia Farrow, Brenda Vaccaro, Peter Cook, and Marc McClure (reprising his role as Jimmy Olsen from the “Superman” movies).
The story of “Supergirl” follows the hero as she leaves her home in search of a mysterious lost energy source, which she tracks down to Earth. While hunting it down, she has to learn how to adapt to human customs and blend in with the world.
“Supergirl” is, in fact, canonical with the famous “Superman” series of films starring Christopher Reeves, and iterations of the screenplay intended for him to appear as Superman in either a cameo or supporting role.
With DC recently relaunching a combined cinematic universe, it may just be a matter of time before Supergirl gets another chance at a big screen adaptation. Currently, there is a CBS television series being created around the character, which may or may not ultimately tie in to the cinematic universe.
Helen Slater made a number of appearances on the hit television adaptation of the Superman story called “Smallville,” in which she played Superman’s mother, a nod to her earlier role as a Kryptonian in “Supergirl.”
Interestingly, two distinct cuts of “Supergirl” exist. One is an “international” director’s cut that only premiered on home video years after the movie’s release, while the other is a significantly trimmed version that was theatrically released by TriStar after Warner Brothers shelved it.
The casting pool for the character of Supergirl apparently included notables such as Melanie Griffith and Brooke Shields, which makes it all the more impressive (and perplexing) that it ultimately went to an unknown name. Likewise, the character of Selena was pitched to Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Goldie Hawn before it was ultimately (and infamously) taken on by Faye Dunaway.
The screenplay for “Supergirl” reportedly had to go through a good number of rewrites, each with drastic story differences around the inclusion and exclusion of specific characters. One of the producers (Alyssa Cartagena) was apparently so unhappy with the script’s final form and the production as a whole that she was ultimately dismissed from the film, which was probably better for her in the long run anyway.
The original theatrical poster for “Supergirl” famously (and hilariously) features the Statue of Liberty in the background, holding her torch in the wrong hand. Of course, that is the sort of attention to detail you can expect from one of the worst regarded films of the 1980s.
The character of Supergirl was created in 1959 by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and is an immensely popular character in the DC universe. Much like Superman, she is a surviving Kryptonian who is given similar powers to Superman while on Earth. Unlike her film version, however, she has developed a good deal of depth over the years, and has gone through a number of reboots and character shifts.
The reception to the “Supergirl” movie was incredibly negative, and the film was nominated for two Golden Raspberries for Faye Dunaway and Peter O’Toole’s performances as the worst of the year. The movie currently holds Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 7% (critic) and 26% (audience), as well as an IMDb score of 4.3.
“Supergirl” had a lifetime gross of just over $14 million in its theatrical run. However, the budget was estimated at $35 million for the picture, making it a significant financial failure when all was said and done.
The biggest problem with “Supergirl” by a significant margin is the writing. The dialogue, the plot, and the characters are all just awful, and it is frankly amazing that this was the product that resulted after five re-writes. Particularly, all of the women come off as excessively simplistic and infantile, specifically Dunaway’s Selena and Supergirl herself. I’m not sure if the characters were intended to be funny, but the way they are written just doesn’t work at all. As much as Dunaway was disparaged for her work in “Supergirl,” she actually seemed like a strong point for me, if for no other reason than she put some intensity and passion into the ridiculous role.
Overall, “Supergirl” suffers a lot not just from the writing and acting, but also from some incredibly slow pacing, which is a problem that can kill any film that would otherwise be entertaining. The highlights of the film are probably worth looking up, but in general it is far too slow to be an entertaining watch. Faye Dunaway is about the only saving grace to the film, and her absence is notable when she isn’t on screen.
For bad movie lovers, “Supergirl” is probably worth giving a shot for the experience of it, and for the highlight moments. However, general audiences probably won’t want to hang around for the whole trainwreck, and could very well doze off somewhere in the second act.
Today’s b-movie feature is “Dollman,” the story of a stranded renegade cop from space who barely measures a foot tall on Earth.
“Dollman” was directed by b-movie legend Albert Pyun, who has been behind films like “Cyborg,” “Captain America,” “Alien From L.A.,” and “The Sword and The Sorcerer” over his 30+ year directing career.
The screenplay for “Dollman” is credited to Chris Roghair, who has no other acknowledged writing credits. The story is credited to Charles Band himself, who ran Full Moon Pictures, the outfit which produced the film. There were a couple of other hands involved in the writing that didn’t received formal credit on the film, namely David Padian (“Puppet Master II”) and Ed Naha (“Dolls,” “Troll,” “C.H.U.D. II”).
The cinematography for “Dollman” was provided by George Mooradian, who also worked on features such as “Bats,” “Omega Doom,” and “The Hitcher II.”
The effects team on “Dollman” included Bill Sturgeon (“Videodrome,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Aliens,” “The Frighteners”), Logan Frazee (“Blade Runner,” “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory,” “Heat,” “Mystery Men”) Mike Smithson (“Thor,” “Avatar,” “Teen Wolf Too”) Garrett Immel (“Drag Me To Hell,” “Scream,” “Sin City”) James Belohovik (“Evil Dead II,” “The Thing,” “Robot Jox”), and Roger Borelli (“Men In Black,” “Darkman,” “Army of Darkness”).
The music for “Dollman” was provided by Anthony Riparetti, who has contributed scores for other Albert Pyun movies such as “Alien From L.A.” and “Knights.”
The cast of “Dollman” is headlined by Tim Thomerson (“Trancers,” “Fade to Black”) and Jackie Earl Haley (“Watchmen”), with the supporting cast being rounded out by Kamala Lopez (“I Heart Huckabees”), Frank Collison (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “The Village”) and Nicholas Guest (“Trading Places”).
The story of “Dollman” follows a renegade space policeman as he pursues an alien criminal to Earth, where the two of them only measure a foot tall. They are then forced to find a way off of the planet while surviving life in the gang-dominated Bronx and battling each other.
“Dollman” received a sequel via a crossover with another Full Moon Features franchise, “Demonic Toys.” “Dollman vs The Demonic Toys,” as it was creatively titled, was directed by Charles Band and is widely disliked even by fans of his work.
Interestingly, “Doll Man” is an actual super hero who currently exists within the D.C. canon, though he is best known for in his golden age form published by Quality Comics. He was interestingly the first shrinking comic book hero, predating more well known characters like “Ant Man.” Full Moon’s “Dollman” also had its own limited run in comics published by Eternity, which produced series based on a number of the production’s features.
I wasn’t able to find any information about the budget or financial gains of the film, but I assume that the budget was significantly low given the production company. I would be shocked if it didn’t ultimately turn a profit of some kind. The movie has a bit of a cult following, but isn’t widely beloved: it currently has an IMDb rating of 5.8, and a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 37%.
Most reviews I have seen of “Dollman” admit that, despite its cheesiness, it certainly has some entertainment value to it for fans of b-movies. I can’t help but agree: it isn’t fantastic by any means, but there are plenty of things to enjoy in “Dollman” if you can accept it for the minimal (ha) production that it is.
The special effects throughout “Dollman” are really a mixed bag. I loved the work that was done to the environments to make characters appear small, and the over-the-top squibs kind of work, but the rest of the effects just don’t cut it. That said, the squibs are more than enough to enjoy for bad movie fans.
I will say that the sets and production design in “Dollman” are ok, and definitely distinguish Earth and the alien world. However, the lighting and shots make things very difficult to see, particularly in the early segments on the alien planet. It pretty much offsets the creative details of the world when you can’t see them on screen.
One of the key draws of “Dollman” is definitely the super gun, which essentially makes up for the character’s small size. The effects of it are absolutely ridiculous and it is beyond overpowered, but it certainly is fun to watch. I will note that the guns design and Dollman’s personality make it pretty transparent that his character is basically Dirty Harry in a sci-fi setting, but that is hardly something to complain about.
The writing and acting throughout the movie is pretty awful, but Tim Thomerson definitely stands out as a highlight. He manages to make some otherwise cringe-worthy one-liners and puns work for his bad-ass character, which is no small feat.
Overall, “Dollman” isn’t a great movie, and doesn’t quite deserve classification among the elite “good-bad” features out there either. It certainly has entertaining moments that give it value, but it isn’t an essential watch if you ask me. If you are a fan of Full Moon or Albert Pyun, you will probably enjoy it, but average audiences might not be as enthusiastic about the feature.
Today’s feature is “Howard the Duck,” one of the most infamous and perplexing failures in Hollywood history, and also the first cinematic adaptation from the Marvel universe.
Howard the Duck was directed and co-written by William Huyck, who famously wrote “American Graffiti” and “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.” He only had four directing credits, of which “Howard the Duck” was his largest production (and, notably, his last).
Huyck wrote “Howard the Duck” alongside his wife and frequent writing partner Gloria Katz, who also served as a producer on the movie. The story is very loosely based on the beloved Marvel comic series created by Steve Gerber, with drastic changes to the tone and characters.
The music on “Howard the Duck” was provided by John Barry, with the original songs written by Thomas Dolby. Barry is best known for working on a number of the James Bond movies, as well as assorted films like “Starcrash,” “The Cotton Club,” and “Midnight Cowboy.” Dolby is best known for the hit “She Blinded Me With Science!”, but also worked on a number of films such as “We’re Back!” and “FernGully.”
The cinematography on “Howard the Duck” was provided by Academy Award nominee Richard H. Kline, who worked on science fiction films such as “The Andromeda Strain,” “Soylent Green,” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and accrued over 55 cinematography credits over his career.
“Howard the Duck” is famously associated with George Lucas, who served as executive producer on the film. It is unclear exactly how much input he had on the creative decisions on the production, but most of the blame for the film has been leveled at him regardless.
The cast of “Howard the Duck” features Lea Thompson (“Back to the Future”), Jeffrey Jones (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”), and Tim Robbins (“The Shawshank Redeption”), as well as Chip Zien as the voice of Howard.
Interestingly, “Howard the Duck” produced a lot of alternate casting rumors for most of the major roles. Reportedly, people such as Paula Abdul, Kim Basinger, Jodi Benson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lori Singer and Tori Amos were all considered for the role of Beverly before it ultimately went to Lea Thompson. Likewise, the voice work casting field for Howard included names such as Rob Paulsen, John Cusack, and Martin Short. Most hilariously of all in my opinion is the fact that Jay Leno was considered for the role of Phil, which went to Tim Robbins. I can only imagine how awful that could have been, given what “Collision Course” was like a few years later.
The story of “Howard the Duck” centers around a humanoid duck from a parallel dimension, who is pulled into our world by a science experiment gone wrong. The plot follows Howard as he tries to adapt to Earth, and looks for a way to get back to his home planet.
The source material for “Howard the Duck” has a famously tumultuous history. After being created by Steve Gerber, Disney went after Marvel comics about the character, alleging that Howard was too similar to Donald Duck. After a character redesign to smooth over the issue and a critically lauded run, further lengthy fights ensued between Gerber and Marvel over ownership of the character after he was unceremoniously fired, and the comic cancelled. This fight resulted in a lawsuit over the film’s production, as well as passive blows in the pages of Gerber’s later comics.
The character of Howard the Duck famously appeared in a cameo at the end of the hit “Guardians of the Galaxy,” establishing Howard as a member of the modern Marvel cinematic universe.
Reportedly, the duck suit used for Howard cost the production nearly $2 million alone, on an estimated total budget of $37 million. It was operated by a a number of different actors throughout the production, though it is primarily credited to Ed Gale, who received his first acting credit for the movie.
“Howard the Duck” was ultimately nominated for seven Golden Raspberries (Razzies), which are handed out to the perceived worst films of the year. It wound up winning four, including a tie with Prince’s “Under the Cherry Moon” for Worst Picture.
Amazingly, the failure of “Howard the Duck” ultimately played an important part in the origin of Pixar. After the construction of Skywalker Ranch, Lucas was relying on “Howard the Duck” to be a significant hit to cover the cost of the project. After the movie failed to profit significantly, Lucas wound up near bankruptcy, and sold Industrial Light and Magic’s animation studio to Steve Jobs, which laid the core foundation for Pixar.
It has been reported that famed directorJohn Landis nearly took the job of helming “Howard the Duck,” but ultimately turned it down due to the inclusion of a car chase with police, citing the similarities to his earlier film “The Blues Brothers.” He wound up directing the successful comedy “Three Amigos!” in 1986 instead.
“Howard the Duck” features a number of Wilhelm screams, which is a stock sound effect that George Lucas is particularly fond of using in his movies. If you are not familiar with it by name, you have almost certainly heard it countless times before in movies without realizing it.
“Howard the Duck” managed to gross over $37 million in total worldwide in its theatrical run, but on a budget of $37 million, only barely making back the money put into it (and dramatically failing to meet expectations). Interestingly, most of the theatrical money came from overseas markets, and was considered a massive failure domestically. Interestingly, it also went by the alternate title of “Howard: A New Breed of Hero” for the Australian and UK releases, which significantly toned down the duck imagery for the promotional materials.
Reception for “Howard the Duck” was understandably negative, though it has gained some loyal fans over the years. It currently holds an IMDb rating of 4.5, along with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 14% (critic) and 39% (audience).
Of all of the negative reviews of “Howard the Duck” that I have seen, none have failed to mention that absurd overuse of puns throughout the film. Puns are of course a staple in action movies, but never so frequently or egregiously as they are used here. I assume their use was intentional and meant to be a running gag, but it just doesn’t work in the way that it was intended.
The effects work has been mocked to some degree in reviews that I have seen of the film, but I actually thought it all looked ok for the time, even the duck suit. The monsters certainly haven’t aged well, but the makeup work holds up impressively well in my opinion.
The reactions from the characters in the film to outlandish situations are never understandable or believable, which is something that I think was supposed to be funny. For instance, the public reactions to Howard, an anthropomorphic duck, are all over the board. Some assume he is a child in a suit, others think he is a Pet, while one bright fellow assumes he is a ventriloquist’s dummy. Likewise, Jeffrey Jones’s dramatic possession isn’t treated by observers in any sort of understandable fashion. One character thinks he is an evangelical preacher, while others seem to assume he is just suffering from a lack of coffee. At the very least, I expected someone to appear concerned before it got to the point that he was firing lightning out of his eyes and glowing.
For all of the issues with “Howard the Duck,” there are a few moments of genuine humor, though few and far between. I particularly enjoyed the line “I hate violence! You have to go in there and beat them up!”, which reminded me of the War Room from “Dr. Strangelove,” which is the only way one should ever mention “Howard the Duck” and Stanley Kubrick in the same breath.
Among the many infamous aspects of “Howard the Duck,” the musical ending might be the most memorable. It has become immortalized for not only the theme song, but also for Howard’s inexplicable guitar work. Interestingly, the singing for the sequence is actually done by Lea Thompson and the backup actors. It was apparently deemed good enough to not justify dubbing over.
One of the biggest issues with “Howard the Duck” is the clear confusion with who the audience for the film was supposed to be. The movie retains some of the profanity and adult humor from the source material, but plays like a kids movie and was ultimately (somehow) rated PG. Richard Corless of TIME magazine wrote in his review: “The movie is too scuzzy to beguile children, too infantile to appeal to adults,” which perfectly captures the core problem with the film. Similarly, Gene Siskel wrote in his review simply “who was this stupid film made for?” The reception and tone of “Howard the Duck” reminded me quite a bit of “Hudson Hawk,” another high profile critical failure from Hollywood that I covered recently. Both movies share a sense of humor, which hybridizes a cartoonish style with adult content, which failed to resonate with audiences in both instances.
Fans of the original comic series were of course disappointed with the way Howard was ultimately written in the film, feeling that he was portrayed much softer and more tame than he should have been. On the flip side, many found that the toned-down perversity that remained in the script were too risque for general audiences, meaning that it failed to satisfy either population. It makes the movie a sort of cautionary tale of why you should have an audience in mind for a film, rather than trying to please everyone: more often than not, the result is disappointment. The only reason it makes sense to me, and what the logic behind the decision probably was, is tied directly to the budget. Clearly, there were hopes that “Howard” would prove to be a cash cow, and a PG rating means that more people would be able to buy tickets, and more theaters would be interested in booking it. Of course, that plan didn’t quite pan out as hoped.
This slipped into a PG movie
“Howard the Duck” doesn’t get a strong recommendation from me, primarily because of how dull the movie gets at points. The only reason I kind of have to recommend it is because of how engrained it is in popular culture as a Hollywood failure, but that certainly doesn’t count for nothing. “Howard the Duck” is probably one of the most recognizable Hollywood failures of all time, and that makes it essential watching for bad movie fans without any doubt. For people not interested in the background of the film and its context, however, there are far more entertaining movies to dig up out there.
Next up is one of the most loathed horror sequels in history: 1994’s “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” which was later retitled “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” for home video release.
“The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was written and directed by Kim Henkel, who co-wrote the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” with Tobe Hooper, who is notably absent from involvement with this film.
The cinematography on “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was provided by Levie Isaacks, who has worked on films such as “Leprechaun”and “The Dentist.”
The special effects on the film were provided by a handful of folks, including J.M. Logan (“The Dentist,” “I Know Who Killed Me”) and Andy Cockrum (“Sin City: A Dame To Kill For,” “Spy Kids 2”).
The cast of “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” features a number of familiar faces, not the least of which are Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger, who both appear before they saw significant success. Robert Jacks takes over in the famous role of Leatherface, and was the fourth person to play the character in as many movies. He had very little experience as an actor, appearing only briefly in Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” a handful of years earlier. Unfortunately, this was his last acting credit, as he died in 2001 at the age of 41. Interestingly, he also composed the music for the film.
The story of “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” centers around a handful of high school students who become stranded in rural Texas. As you would expect, they wind up on the wrong side of an eccentric family of sinister killers, who begin hunting them down one by one.
“The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” received two limited theatrical releases in 1995 and 1997, barely grossing $180,000 combined. The budget was low (estimated around $600,000), but the very low gross and limited release was undoubtedly a disappointment. Reception to the film was incredibly negative: it currently holds an 18% audience score and a 17% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 3.0 rating on IMDb.
Criticisms of the movie often mention the performances as one of the key issues, particularly on the part of McConaughey. Personally, I thought that his performance teetered precariously between being genuinely intense and astoundingly hammy, but I thought that it kind of worked for the character. Renee Zellweger, on the other hand, is just kind of awful. Then again, all of the actors had to deal with the writing on this movie, which was at best incomprehensible.
I think that a lot of criticisms of this movie make a bit too much fuss over Leatherface, or at least for the wrong reasons. He certainly isn’t intimidating in this movie, which was a serious misstep, but I didn’t think that it had anything to do with the fact that he was in drag. He could easily still have been intimidating regardless of the wardrobe: the problem was with the character’s writing, which had his spending most of his screen-time cowering and wailing.
I saw an interesting argument online that “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is an early example of ‘meta-horror,’ in the same vein of “Cabin In The Woods” or “Scream.” There are a handful of lines early on that seem excessively prescient, but I didn’t think that it went much beyond that. Even the Illuminati twist doesn’t quite go far enough for ‘meta-horror’ case to hold much water for me. Interestingly, “Return” did release in the same year as Wes Craven’s “New Nightmare,” which could be considered the first ‘meta-horror’ film.
There are notably a lot of attempts to repeat shots from the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in “Return,” which clearly rubbed many faithful fans in the wrong way. The story also ties into the original film loosely with the final shot, despite seemingly discounting the rest of the franchise’s history and continuity. Worse yet, the film lacks the artistic and tense cinematography of the original, coming off as a very cheap (if not bankrupt) knock-off of what is a treasured classic in the minds of many.
For reasons I am not entirely clear on, “Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” drifts by design into the realm of comedy on more than one occasion. There are plenty of horror movies out there that have pulled this off effectively, but the “Texas Chainsaw” franchise has never been among them, which makes the movie all the more perplexing.
The ending of this movie is very strange, to say the least, and is probably the most complained about element of the film. Every major horror franchise seems to have at least one chapter that the world agrees to forget, for one reason or another. Remember Jason being a demon? Or Michael Myers being the result of an occult curse? Well, I’ll admit the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Slaughter family being involved with the Illuminati is weirder than those two examples, but still, I think that the point stands: “The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is the black sheep of this franchise, and they all have at least one.
Overall, “Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was ill-conceived and poorly executed, resulting in a thoroughly baffling film experience. However, I think that it is also totally worth watching, particularly for bad movie fans. For no other reason, it is worth seeing McConaughey’s thoroughly over-the-top performance to appreciate just how far the guy has come since the dawn of his career.
Reviews/Trivia of B-Movies, Bad Movies, and Cult Movies.
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I wound up visiting two locations of Zia Record Exchange, a chain of used media stores in the Southwestern states of Arizona and Nevada. This particular segment covers the Sahara Avenue location in Las Vegas, not far from the touristy allures of the casinos and hotels.
The first thing that stood out to me about Zia was the cool ambiance to the place. The walls and signs are all well-decorated and hip, making for a top-notch atmosphere. As the name suggests, it is primarily a record store, but the inclusion of movies is hardly an afterthought: the selection was really fantastic, and I wound up finding a number of films I haven’t been able to find anywhere else in the wild. “Weekend at Bernie’s 2” comes to mind, though the price wasn’t right for me to walk away with it. Likewise, they had copies of “God Told Me To” with Larry Cohen commentary and “Leviathan,” although both were outside of what I wanted to pay.
“Cloned” is a television movie from the early 2000s starring Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing,” “Cabin In The Woods”) and Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”). I’m a big fan of Whitford, but I haven’t seen him do much outside of his snarky, comedic comfort zone. The same goes for Perkins, who became mostly a comic relief player in “Weeds” in the later seasons. This looks to be a pretty heavy drama laced with sci-fi elements, so I’m interested to see how they work with a more somber backdrop.
I was rather delighted to find a combined copy of Larry Cohen’s sequels to the 1974 classic “It’s Alive,” partially because I have never seen copies of them before, and party because of how outlandish the premises are. Larry Cohen has a knack for finding the sweet spot between horror and comedy, and is one of my favorite b-movie directors along with Stuart Gordon for doing it so well. I’m planning to go through the whole “It’s Alive” trilogy soon, maybe in a multi-week spotlight on Larry Cohen much like I did with Gordon.
This is another Larry Cohen flick that I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of. I don’t know much about this one, apart from that it is a twisted homage to Hitchcock’s thrillers. The premise of a movie director making a film about a murder he got away with is certainly intriguing, and I’m interested to see how Cohen pulls it off. He can certainly write suspense if “Phone Booth” is any indication, so this should be an interesting watch.
I always love grabbing discount movie collections, because you always get your money’s worth in screen time at the very least. As opposed to most horror box sets composed of amateur flicks with awful effects, this action/crime set seems to be mostly built from TV movies featuring bankable stars (Ice Cube, Dennis Hopper, Forrest Whitaker, and Denzel Washington to name a few in here). The most prominent of the bunch on the box is “In Too Deep,” which was directed by Michael Rymer, who has since made a name for himself producing and directing on the hit TV shows “Hannibal” and “Battlestar: Galactica.” I’ll be interested to do more research into this lot, and see if there is some blog material in here.
“Roadie” is apparently a musical comedy starring Meat Loaf. I didn’t read any further into it than that, apart from finding out that the director, Alan Rudolph, was behind the “Breakfast of Champions” film adaptation. I’m assuming that this movie is going to be just awful, but I’m planning to buckle in for the experience.
I don’t know what this movie is, but it involves Fred Williamson, drugs, and martial arts, so I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. This may have been a mistake.
Misan[trope]y 