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Once a film sinks into the quicksand of Public Domain, meaning the original copyright owner’s rights have expired, you can pretty much forget about ever seeing a decent copy of it again. Walmart bargain bins are chock full of 20, 30 even 100 movie collections containing pitiful transfers of poor neglected films that are essentially sold into cinematic slavery. Most companies would never bother to remaster and re-release a movie that has already flooded the market with shoddy copies. But Kino Classics does just that with 1940’s The Devil Bat , a PRC title commonly referred to as “poverty row” horror flick starring Bela Lugosi in a mad scientist revenge story. Lugosi, still quite marketable at this point in his career, plays a bitter cosmetics inventor who sold off his interest in the company and never reaped the financial rewards his partners enjoyed. His revenge comes in the form of an oversized bat trained to kill anyone wearing a special aftershave lotion. After the bizarre m...

History has lumped in 1976’s The Eagle Has Landed with a more straightforward war movies like A Bridge Too Far and Midway ; ambitious but rather boring all-star productions that were old-fashioned even when they were made. But in actuality it’s far closer to the alternative-history scenario of Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards . Hitler doesn’t die in a movie theater, but Winston Churchill does come close to eating a bullet on a veranda. With a ridiculously well-known cast (Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasance, even Larry Hagman) and just as much talent behind the camera with director John Sturges ( The Great Escape ) and screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz ( Live and Let Die ), there’s almost not enough room on the poster to fit them all in. Based on a novel by Jack Higgins, the challenge of bouncing between so many major and minor characters – not to mention their phony accents – seems too much for the film to handle initially. But as the plot develops, Th...

As decades go, the 1970s was the devil’s playground. At least…on movie screens. Beginning with Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 and continuing with The Exorcist, The Omen and dozens of pea-soup spewing imitators, ‘Ol Scratch was a busy guy right up through the Reagan era, which kicked off with his appearance in The Amityville Horror (1979) and its two sequels, Amityville 2: The Possession (1982) and Amityville 3D (1983). The latter two now premiere on blu-ray for the first time, along with the original, as part of Scream Factory’s The Amityville Horror Trilogy box set. There aren’t many defenders left to stand up for the James Brolin / Margot Kidder adaptation that caused such fuss at the time of its release. Much of the attention the film garnered was due to the “true story” angle posited by Jay Anson’s book which detailed the events that befell the Lutz family after purchasing their dream home…which just happened to be built directly on an Indian burial ground. After suffering throu...

The idea of making a sequel to Psycho would seem misguided, at best. Not to mention potentially embarrassing for all involved. But as Hollywood has proven, there’s no property that’s “untouchable”…even one with the great Alfred Hitchcock’s name attached. With the success of the slasher genre in full swing, particularly Halloween, Universal went ahead with Psycho 2 (1983) a continuation of the story of Norman Bates, now released from psychiatric care and returning home after 22 years. But is he truly “cured” or is the memory of his mother only waiting at the top of the stairs? Directed by Richard Franklin, a Hitchcock devotee and pupil, there’s an obvious – and much appreciated - intent to keep things classy. The script by Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child’s Play) is respectful and sympathetic to Norman (played again by Anthony Perkins), now almost a victim himself and persecuted by Lila Loomis for the death of her sister. Norman’s short-lived job at the local diner introduces h...

Set just a few months later, Psycho 3 (1986) picks up with Norman now a full-tilt loony once again. His fascination with a Marion Crane look-alike (Diana Scarwid) prompts an ill-fated romance that Mother disapproves of…and we all know what happens with women Mother doesn’t like. This time around, Perkin’s himself gets in the director’s chair and does a surprisingly good job. The kill sequences are a bit more modern and not afraid to show some gore. If anything works against him, it’s Perkins’ tendency to include references to the original film. That sort of wink-wink nudge-nudge stuff is exactly what you would have expected out of the first sequel and isn’t really necessary. The script by Charles Edward Pogue (who would reboot The Fly just a year later) works in enough humor and interesting characters all on its own, including a scene-stealing Jeff Fahey as a rock n’ roll drifter. Perkins seems to be aiming for the cheap seats in an attempt to boost Norman’s stature amongst new...

For cinephiles, the first question one asks upon watching The Disappearance (1977) is “why haven’t I seen this…or even heard of it!” Starring Donald Sutherland, David Warner, John Hurt, David Hemmings and Christopher Plummer, the cast alone only deepens the mystery behind the film’s unceremonious shelving by an uninterested distributor which drastically recut and rescored director Stuart Cooper’s existential hitman drama…then let it languish for nearly 35 years. Labeled as too “European” for a mainstream audience, The Disappearance has made a miraculous hi-def reappearance thanks to indie label Twilight Time, whose 3000 copy limited edition premieres a startlingly beautiful 91 minute cut and the full 101 minute director’s cut on standard def. Donald Sutherland made some excellent choices in the ‘70s. Following his famous roles in M.A.S.H. and Klute , the actor chose a number of eccentric projects including Nicolas Roeg’s haunting Don’t Look Now and the best adaptation of Jack Fi...

Fed up with the studio filmmaking experience after Starman and Christine , director John Carpenter went back to his low-budget horror roots with Prince of Darkness (1987), a $3 million dollar quickie that offered him total control from beginning to end. Reuniting with actors from many of his past projects – Donald Pleasance ( Halloween, Escape from New York ), Victor Wong and Dennis Dun ( Big Trouble in Little China ) – the film offers a creatively ambitious take on the apocalypse as Satan returns to earth courtesy sub-atomic particles trapped in a jar of swirling green goo. Actually, the ideas Carpenter uses to explain the bizarre happenings at work here are darn near inexplicable. It’s all quantum mechanics, supernovas and alternate dimensions. But when spoken in a menacing tone of voice and shot with his usual menacing style, it raises goosebumps nonetheless. And despite all the technological double-talk, it really comes down to ten people trapped in a church on the wrong side...

It’s tempting to give great directors a free pass when it comes to their, shall we say, “weaker” films. John Ford, Stanley Kubrick, even the great Alfred Hitchcock had his fair share of clunkers but suffered little ill effect to his reputation in the annals of cinematic history. So shouldn’t Mario Bava get the same treatment? The maestro of gothic-giallo Italian horror films has several certified classics to his credit ( Black Sunday and Blood and Black Lace the most notable), but stretched out his career with several films that, even by his own admission, weren’t up to his high standards. As explained by historian Tom Weaver in the disc’s commentary, Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970) was a bit of a slog for Bava to complete due to the usual budget and time constraints plus intrusive producers. And it’s a bit of a slog as a viewer, too. The story – several couples on an isolated island retreat fighting over a million-dollar business deal that leads to murder – has all the ...

SyFy Channel movies have now become synonymous with cheesy Saturday night fare like Sharknado and Snowmageddon. And while there’s a certain level of enjoyment to be had scoffing at poorly rendered flying sharks devouring Tara Reid, it’d be nice to have a flip side of the coin now and then: a made-for-TV movie that actually attempts to, I don’t know, actually scare somebody! Dead Souls premiered on Chiller , another network not exactly known for being too discriminating about their schedule. But the product this time around is better than average and often superior to some recent big screen scares, if you keep your expectations in check. The film has a humdinger of an opening as a father brutally murders his wife, two kids and the family dog. Only the youngest son escapes the massacre, raised by his aunt with no knowledge of his scandalous past. But when he inherits the family estate, he returns to his birthplace and unwittingly awakens the spirits of his deceased relatives…an...

Despite arguments to the contrary, most foreign filmmakers have a deep-seated jealousy towards Hollywood and all its many resources. From a technical and financial perspective, it’s just too hard to compete head to head with the spectacle that the U.S. can put on the screen. But as computer effects have evolved, costs have dropped and it suddenly becomes feasible that a couple of Norwegian filmmakers could produce Kon Tiki (2012), the Academy Award Nominated story of Thor Heyerdahl’s insane goal to cross the Pacific on a crude raft simply to prove his scientific theory of prehistoric migration. Heyerdahl himself earned a nomination for the documentary film he made of the journey in 1947. And while that account may be historically accurate, it doesn’t have the spit and polish of directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg’s film, which recreates not only the ocean crossing with harrowingly realistic effects but the period setting and backdrops too. In short, Kon Tiki has everyth...

Of the much-heralded crop of ‘70s directors – Scorsese, Spielberg, and Coppola among them – to emerge from the ruins of the studio system, Brian De Palma seems the least significant by critical comparison. Perhaps because he was labeled more of an “imitator” than an “innovator”; lifting the themes, characters, music and wholesale camera movements of Alfred Hitchcock to elevate his career. Even the harshest critic couldn’t argue that De Palma’s work is technically wondrous to behold. But just as often, the material on the page couldn’t compete with what he was doing with his camera. Body Double (1984) followed the commercially successful but equally controversial Scarface (1983) which found the director in the familiar position of defending his supposed endorsement of racism, misogynism and overt on-screen violence. It was a return to the Hitchcockian thriller format that served him quite well in Dressed to Kill and Blow Out . But, perhaps as a snide sort of revenge for all that...

The most memorable war movies are those that use the military conflict as nothing more than a backdrop. Apocalypse Now, Paths of Glory, The Bridge on the River Kwai ; all war movies by definition but with more subtext than actual armed combat. Australian director Tom Jeffrey’s The Odd Angry Shot (1979) intentionally avoids most of the controversy around his country’s participation in Vietnam. It’s not a protest film, it’s not political film and – oddly enough – it’s not an angry film. It’s a coming-of-age story not unlike Oliver Stone’s Platoon , but with half the angst and twice the beer. Bill (John Jarratt) is a naïve kid shipped off into a M.A.S.H.- style barracks on the edge of the jungle, partnered up with a hodge-podge of semi-professional soldiers and newbies like himself. The film’s plot is as standard-issue as a pair of boots: some dangerous missions, a little R & R, some colorful camp hijinks and the eventual trauma of losing a friend. A little patience goes a lo...

For a movie with a title as morbid as The House of Seven Corpses ( (1974), you probably couldn’t find a more family friendly piece of horror real estate. More often that not, the film looks and feels just like similar made-for-TV product produced in the same era ( Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, etc) with a cast of past-their-prime stars and a plot not quite sensational enough for the big screen. That’s probably to be expected, since writer/ director Paul Harrison biggest claim to fame at the time were several episodes of H. R. Pufnstuf. Scary, indeed! Although House actually played theatrically, any notoriety it still has today is thanks to local late-night creature features and various home-video releases, all of which made the movie look even more low-rent that it actually is. Now debuting on a blu-ray / DVD combo thanks to Severin Films, one can finally see the movie we’d all been missing…and we haven’t been missing much. Oh, there’s so some fun to be had watching the great Jo...

Up until a decade or so ago, animation could be divided into two categories: Disney and everybody else. By its very nature, the animation process was so labor intensive and commercially risky that very few independents ever achieved notoriety besides an odd Oscar nomination now and then during a lull in the show. Ralph Bakshi is one of the rare exceptions. Fritz the Cat (1972), a lewd, crude and X-rated cartoon based on the work of R. Crumb was a bonafide sensation and a legitimate hit, which brought Bakshi to the attention of other producers quick to capitalize on his uniquely adult approach to the previously kid-friendly animation genre. Heavy Traffic, released just a year later in 1973, provided a bit more mature palette. The self-reflexive story follows a struggling cartoonist caught between his obnoxious Jewish-Italian parents and a street-smart female bartender who shows him just what kind of hard knocks it takes to survive in the city. Fully embracing the squalor that i...

Tower Block fits quite nicely into the new catch-all category I like to call inter- tainment : not quite high-concept enough for a theatrical release, but with much better production values than your average YouTube channel, the story by writer James Moran ( Severance ) has echoes of ‘70s era grit mixed with a Rod Serling-esque morality play as a sniper keeps a dozen top floor residents of a condemned tenament pinned down as revenge for refusing to assist with the investigation of a murder in their building. Die Hard meets Dirty Harry . Towering Inferno meets Twilight Zone . The film mixes and matches characters and clichés quite liberally, but is assisted by a surprisingly able cast (including Jack O’Connell who played an equally nasty teen in the British thriller Eden Lake ) and enough “what would you do” moments to keep you sticking around for what turns out to be a blandly predictable conclusion. But Tower Block proves that a simple scenario well told can be engaging even...

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who miss the latex-bursting, neon goo-filled days of movies like Street Trash (1987) and those who say a little prayer every day in hopes that nothing like it ever gets made again. Here’s a pop quiz that will tell you which side of the fence you’re on. Do you enjoy: Necrophilia? Playing keep-away with a dismembered penis? Setting hobos on fire? If you answered yes (or even chuckled) at any of the following then you’re in the “maybe” camp. To be sure, Street Trash isn’t the most offensive movie ever made. In fact, there’s an undercurrent of playful cinematic innocence around the whole thing. But it’s interrupted by moments of bad taste that are best left to those predisposed to it. Did I mention a cop sticks a finger down his throat to vomit on top of the guy whose ass he just kicked? Well, he does. The actual story revolves around a dozen or so homeless characters fighting for their place in the local junkyard and drinkin...

For a company that specialized in period horror movies it’s odd that Hammer Films never made a Jack the Ripper picture until 1971; and then they made two of them! Both Hands of the Ripper and Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde deal with the famous serial killer in unusual ways. The latter is a gender bending twist that approaches the story from a purely fantastic perspective. Hands of the Ripper ’s “possession” angle may be no less plausible, but its psychological underpinning makes it a bit classier in approach and execution. Opening with the Ripper himself on the run from an angry mob of torch bearing citizens, his young daughter witnesses her notorious father stab her mother to death. Flash forward some years later where the orphaned girl, Anna (Angharad Rees), is now working for a medium as a conduit to the spirit world. But her past returns to haunt her. Bright light puts her in a trance-like state, opening the door to spiritual possession by the Ripper who uses her hands to ...

Directors like Mario Bava are the reason cult movie fans exist. Working under miniscule budgets with fly-by-night foreign producers who distributed the final product under a seemingly endless amount of alternative titles, often just tracking down the muddy lineage of Bava’s work is a genealogical case study unto itself. But it’s the thrill of the chase that fans enjoy most, sifting through the pseudonyms and cinematic dead-ends to unearth something truly special from a man who was 40 years ahead of his time. Black Sabbath is an anthology film (think Creepshow or the more recent V/H/S ) and begins with Boris Karloff as a Rod Serling-style host of a trio of horror tales. (Those in the know might remember Karloff hosted his own similar TV show called Thriller in the mid-‘60s…but I digress). Karloff also stars in the middle segment as The Wundalak ; sort of a vampiric zombie that kills only those they love. A fascinating combination of classic Universal horror, Hammer-style gore ...

For a while there in the ‘80s, kids stopped dreaming of being wizards, superheroes or astronauts. Thanks to pop culture, there was only one thing most 10 to 14 year-old boys aspired to be when they grew up: a ninja! The black-clad Japanese assassins were everywhere, from comic books to cartoons to their own major network TV shows. Heck, you could even find plastic throwing stars in most major supermarkets! Inappropriate? Maybe. Unlike traditional Samurai, the ninja were killing machines with no honor. Not exactly a role model. But that was exactly the appeal to pre-teen imaginations. And few films were as blatant about it as Ninja 3: The Domination (1984), a bizarre bump-in-the-road sequel to Enter the Ninja (1981) and Revenge of the Ninja (1983), a trio of barely related martial arts quickies produced by the Cannon group who specialized in fast, loose, action flicks. While Ninja 3 was laughable at the time of its release, it’s even more laughable now as a retro relic ...

By and large, werewolves always play second fiddle to vampires in movies. They’re not sexy (except maybe that Twilight guy with the abs), not seductive, can’t speak, and have serious self control issues. We’re talking about poor, tortured souls who have a lousy time each full moon then can’t even remember the good parts! That’s not the case in 1980’s The Howling , which features a communal wolf pack that can shapeshift at will…and have a great time doing it! Director Joe Dante, who would go on to great success in the ‘80s thanks to the Steven Spielberg produced Gremilns , Innerspace and Twilight Zone: The Movie , really found his groove with this down and dirty werewolf tale that skillfully jabs the California hippie movement, pays homage to past film classics and adds a few classic scenes of its own into the cinematic lexicon. Scripted by the legendary John Sayles (who also has a bit part), the fact that the story isn’t hard to second guess doesn’t detract from its enjoyment one...

A large part of the appeal of those classic Hammer horror films lay in watching the stuffy British psyche come up against supernatural terrors that were completely contrary to all logical and scientific explanation. It was as if mummies, werewolves and vampires were more of an inconvenience to their afternoon tea than an actual threat to mankind. And Lifeforce , director Tobe Hooper’s chaotic homage to ‘70s era sci-fi Hammer excess, recaptures that feeling in spades, upping the cinematic insanity to levels that would make the Queen’s head spin. Based on Colin Wilson’s novel The Space Vampires - a title that’s a) much more explanatory and b) much more in keeping with the B-movie tone - the film ditches the original futuristic Earth setting and takes place right in 1985 at the height of Haley’s Comet mania. A multinational space shuttle mission discovers a derelict ship in the comet’s halo. Once onboard, the crew finds thousand of dead bat-like creatures and three perfectly preserv...

The term “independent film” didn’t always bring to mind Sundance-style dramas with characters having endless conversations about their sexuality. For most of the ‘70s it was just about making a buck. Drive-ins were still in full force and a producer who was quick to capitalize on a fad could put together something on the cheap and make a bundle. Producer/ director Charles B. Pierce’s The Legend of Boggy Creek did just that. Hitting just as the Bigfoot craze was taking off, the faux-documentary following one family’s search for a shaggy creature lurking in an Arkansas swamp, made over $20 million bucks and bought Pierce a career making small genre films between his regular gig as a set decorator. It was four more years before he returned to the horror genre with The Town that Dreaded Sundown . And, much as he did with Boggy Creek , Pierce used the “true story” angle to grab people’s attention. Using a dramatic narrator and meticulously noting names, dates and places, Sundown is...

Not to sound too “generational,” but let’s make something clear up front: this is not your Dad’s Die Hard . This is a cut-to-the-chase modern action movie built around a familiar title and an almost completely unfamiliar John McClane. The sooner you put away any notions of recapturing the glory of a fading franchise the more enjoyment you may be able to squeeze out of this father-son reunion between everyone’s favorite NYC cop and his estranged son joining forces to take down some Russian scumbags. Now in its fifth installment, Bruce Willis is really the only original piece in the Die Hard formula which, let’s face it, became ridiculously coincidental after the first sequel. He brings the same smirk, the swagger and the jingoistic attitude to the party; this time to save his son who, he believes, is on trial for murder in a Moscow courtroom. One extended car chase later and the two have teamed up to debate their family differences between endless burst of machine gun fire and f...

Aussie exploitation began – and pretty much peaked – with the Mad Max (1979), director George Miller’s nasty revenge drama set in a dystopian semi-future where the roads are ruled by dilinquent motorheads barely kept in check by an undermanned police force, including their top interceptor: Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson). But the worldwide phenomenon of Max’s popularity didn’t kick in until the sequel – The Road Warrior – was released in 1981, starting an avalanche of copycat apocalyptic action movies that inevitably paled in comparison. The saga concluded (for the time being) with 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , a far more family friendly blockbuster designed to capitalize on Gibson’s Hollywood star status. Although MGM was the original home video distributor for Mad Max , all three family are now gathered together on blu-ray in one steelbook case as the Mad Max Trilogy , with Thunderdome getting the hi-def treatment for the first time. Having seen what the franchise has beco...

Poliziotteschi – the Italian term for cops and robbers flicks – can be a complex affair. Not only does one have to deal with the standard mechanics of the plot (revenge, double-crosses, etc) but also the Italian legal system in general, a confusing system of judges, detectives and cops all of whom seem to be on the take. Shoot First, Die Later (1974) is remarkable not only for its above-average acting and action sequences, but for the way director Fernando Di Leo makes the whole thing accessible to an audience that might not know the difference between spaghetti and linguini. A celebrated supercop, Domenico (Luc Merenda) takes down a gang of armed robbers at breakfast, arrests a pair of gun runners around lunch and still has time to treat his high maintenance girlfriend to a nice dinner. Trouble is, Domenico is dirty. His ties to the local mob franchise give him and his partner a healthy cash supplement to their salary…in exchange for some information from time to time. But wh...

Mainstream movies almost always fall into one category or another. Surprisingly enough, the same holds true for foreign films as well. Enzo Castellari’s Cold Eyes of Fear (1971) starts off as a giallo (translation: sleazy, murder mystery), turns into a home invasion scenario only to flip genres yet again before the finale to become a political thriller. Best known for his straight-up action imports like the original Inglorious Bastards , Castellari isn’t content to let his film gather moss. Rather he constantly reinvents a new category to keep the audience on their toes. And, damn if it doesn’t work. Peter Flower (Gianni Garko) is a playboy attorney living it up in swinging London. His latest conquest is a dark-haired Italian beauty (Giovanna Ralli) who he takes back to his rich uncle’s home. Waiting inside (along with the body of a dead servant) is a nasty criminal type whose intentions aren’t quite clear but insists that no one leaves until his plan comes to its deadly frui...

Everyone behind Crimewave (1985) - from the actors to the executives to the Detroit teamsters who built the sets - is only too eager to tell you what a complete and utter failure it is. And in some respects, they’re right. But without Sam Raimi’s mismanaged follow-up to The Evil Dead , co-written by Joel and Ethan Coen (yes, that Joel and Ethan Coen) and co-starring Bruce Campbell, none of the talent behind the camera would be the creative force they are today. Not only did the experience give them a taste of just how nasty Hollywood could be, it’s a showcase for the sort of unhinged creative ambitions that most filmmaker’s are never allowed to dabble in. And as such, it’s a fascinating piece of show-off moviemaking that sows the seeds of what Raimi and the Coens would soon become. A screwball comedy that plays like a combination of the Coen’s Blood Simple and Raising Arizona (with more than a little Stooges thrown in for good measure), the movie follows the exploits of mild-man...

Despite their dominance in today’s movie theaters, Marvel Comics’ superheroes were once nothing more than a poor, pathetic lot of failed TV pilots and low-budget direct-to-video adaptations. Lou Ferrigno’s mop-topped version of The Hulk was the only thing happening for the company until Bryan Singer’s original X-Men (2000) proved that Marvel’s formula of mutant powers, social issues and complicated personal relationships could actually translate well onscreen. Up until that point, fans suffered through things like 1990’s Captain America . This wasn’t Cap’s first trip to the screen. And it’s not even his worst . Besides an early adaptation in the ‘40s, he was crammed into a pair of ill-fitting tights and forced to embarrass himself in the late ‘70s in a series of terrible TV movies. By comparison, this adaptation by director Albert Pyun ( The Sword and the Sorcerer, Cyborg ) is actually fairly classy. But it’s faced with the same challenge The First Avenger (2011) ran into: ho...

Clint Eastwood’s squint in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy established him as superstar. But Lee Van Cleef, a prolific character actor who spent most of the ‘50s and ‘60s appearing on one TV show after another (seriously, his IMDB resume looks like a substitute teacher’s schedule), enjoyed a career resurgence just by association. After playing opposite the Man With No Name in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly , Van Cleef became a hot commodity among European producers who wanted a bit of that Leone mojo…but on a budget they could afford. The Grand Duel (1972) doesn’t offer the actor much of a stretch performance-wise – his character’s clothes, dialogue and demeanor are much the same as Angel Eyes from Good, Bad & Ugly – but a nifty role reversal casts him as sage gunslinger helping an outlaw framed for murder to clear his family name. The script (by mystery specialist Ernesto Gastaldi) lifts more than a few elements from Once Upon a Time in the West ...

Wine pairings are all the rage these days. Almost every upscale restaurant has a special night where you can discover how a Pinot Noir complements a roast duck or a Sauvignon Blanc brings out the flavor in some red snapper. But the most nagging question remains: what type of wine goes best with zombies ? The Grapes of Death (1978) doesn’t answer the question directly, but it does place the blame for the zombie apocalypse squarely on the shoulders of an isolated French vineyard whose chemical pesticides have seeped into the local supply of vino. The mass consumption causes local villagers to begin to rot inside and out, turning them into sickly, seeping maniacs. Our heroine, Elisabeth, is attacked on a train by a field hand and escapes into the countryside, only to find one infected town after another. Directed by Jean Rollin – better known for his dreamy, erotic, Euro-vampire movies, The Grapes of Death is without a doubt his most accessible film. Probably because he’s work...

Pardon the redundancy, but it seems almost impossible that The Impossible didn’t garner more attention when it was released last December. Of course there was Naomi Watts’ Oscar nomination for Best Actress, which she likely would have won if not for Jennifer Lawrence. But with an award-friendly true story to lean on and some of the most incredibly realistic water-borne stunts and effects ever created on film, one is still left a little mystified as to why audiences didn’t respond. Perhaps the memory of the actual tragedy in Thailand is still too fresh in people’s minds to suffer through such an intense retelling. And director Juan Antonio Bayona’s film certainly puts you through the emotional wringer. Recreating the events that took place during the 2004 tsunami, The Impossible follows one British family as the catastrophe strikes their seaside vacation resort. Watts portrays the strong-willed mother of three boys –one rebellious pre-teen and his two younger siblings. Ewan Mc...

Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. From movies and TV shows to Facebook reunions with high-school hook-ups, the associative power of time and place in our emotionally immature brain is an awfully attractive force 15 or 20 years down the line. And although it’s hard to imagine the next generation watching Jersey Shore with fond memories, trust me, it’s gonna happen. Besides, it’s no more ridiculous than one’s affection for Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot (1969), a Japanese TV series that combines Godzilla- inspired monsters with kid-friendly espionage escapades. Built off the success of Ultraman (1967) -produced by the effects man responsible for Godzilla and his menagerie of monster pals - Johnny Sokko was based on the work of manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Not exactly a household name in America. But American International Pictures was smart enough to see that the gimmick of a young boy who can control a 50-story robot to fight off alien invaders would likely hav...

Like oldies radio stations, the popularity of Hammer horror films seem to be drifting out of favor as a new generation redefines what is to be considered “classic.” Just ask around; the ‘80s are now thought of as mainstream horror’s hey-day, the ‘70s are certifiably old, and anything beyond that is downright ancient. Don’t even bring up the black-and-white argument unless you want to lose all faith in the future of humanity. So it’s ironic that the latest Hammer to see the light of day on blu-ray was itself representative of the company’s desperate attempt to keep up with the changing times. The Vampire Lovers (1970) is an adaptation of the erotic vampire novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Despite being the first Hammer production to feature bare breasts and some lesbian interludes, it was a natural progression for the company, whose leading ladies were often in just as much jeopardy of a nip-slip as being drained of blood. The nudity here is about as tawdry as a National ...

Is there any metropolis more cinematic than NYC in the ‘70s? Grungy, dangerous and lit with a sick fluorescent glow, it seems possible to catch an STD just by standing too close to the screen. That’s the kind of New York on display in Massage Parlor Murders (1974), a rather inept serial killer story that shares a few plot points with David Fincher’s Seven yet barely delivers enough sex and violence to raise an eyebrow on network TV…let alone 42nd street. A pair of laconic cops are out to stop a killer who targets the female employees of some of New York’s seediest massage parlors, seemingly striking at random and dispatching his victims with a unique method each time. Unless they can figure out the murderer’s MO, there will be no “happy endings” for anyone this time around. Beyond the gritty postcard view of NYC circa 1974 (watch for some great movie title up on the marquees), Massage Parlor Murders doesn’t have much to offer anyone outside of exploitation film collectors. For...

The appeal of prison movies is easy to write off as some sort of testosterone-huffing time-waster with little cinematic or artistic merit. After all Jean-Claude Van Damme got sent up the river twice (in Death Warrant and In Hell ) and came out a worse actor than when he went in. But at their best, prison movies represent something more than sweaty pecs and a slow-motion roundhouse kick. Movies like Papillion and The Shawshank Redemption are about the triumph of the human spirit. And both of them owe a huge spiritual debt to director Robert Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956), a prison movie that keeps its audience caged as well. Based on the true story of Andre Devigny who escaped from Fort Montlue prison in German-occupied Lyon, France, in 1943, Bresson’s film is as meticulous in construction as its central character’s methodical attempts at freedom. Most notably, the film’s creative use of sound - both by necessity and design – limits the viewers’ sensory input to footsteps, ke...