| 2009 viewing | ||
monday |
Four Flies on Grey Velvet / 4 mosche di velluto grigio
Gawd, the pain. Well, here it is at last, officially released on home video, transferred to DVD from the negatives in its original aspect ratio, courtesy of distributors Ryko/MYA (US) after languishing in Paramount's legal department: Dario Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet. I wish I could say it was worth the wait, but sadly this is not only a bad giallo thriller, it's a bad movie full stop. The killer is obvious (I guessed who it was, which never happens), the story telling is dull, the murders are poorly staged, and the psycho's confession is preposterous. The first 30 minutes are promising, then Argento bogs the film down with several interminable 'suspense' sequences shot mainly in darkness. Yawn-o-rama. I suppose the "four flies" conceit was fun, as was the Italian prog rock angle, and who'd have thought Bud Spencer would show up in an Argento flick? Meh. For my money, Argento matured with Deep Red, a movie so far ahead of his overrated Animal Trilogy it's not even worth discussing. Updated 13/5/2009: there's apparently about 40 seconds missing from this transfer due to print damage. "Full and uncut" indeed, you stupid MYA cunts. |
   1971 DVD |
monday |
Watchmen +
I couldn't help it – had to see it again. Wasn't even able to wait for the director's cut, which may even get a limited theatrical release. I'm weak and I'm pathetic. No doubt Rorschach would drop me down an elevator shaft and laugh. The 1:00pm session at IMAX (Melbourne Museum) was at least 60% full. Not bad with tickets going for $21.00 each. Technically, the movie looked great. Sharper than Hoyts, with slightly better black levels and gutsy digital sound. You can't beat the subwoofers at IMAX. There may have been more detail in the image (Mahattan's eyes) and richer colours, but it's difficult to be sure when you're specifically 'looking' for such things (in the audiophile arena this phenomenon is called "expectation effect"). On the other hand, simply having the image in perfect focus works wonders, too. I did notice some edge enhancement occasionally. Not sure what that means without knowing how IMAX presented the film, e.g. digital projection, answer print? The movie itself held together beautifully. Somehow it was even more emotional to me this time around. However, balance that against the scathing feedback I received from various co-workers today, who hated it. I think this one's for the day dreamers. You know who you are... |
2009 cinema IMAX censored? |
thursday |
Watchmen
Okay. It's 12:35am and I should be curled up in bed with Teddy, but I just had to punch out a cap-rev for Watchmen tonight. Some things can't wait, especially rave reviews of superb comic book adaptations like this one. Directed by Zack Snyder, who blasphemed horror fans by remaking Dawn of the Dead and then redeemed himself with his excellent adaptation of 300, Watchmen is remarkably faithful to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's dark and cynical graphic novel. Fuck The Dark Knight. Here's a more agreeable treatment of super heroes. All of the main characters from the book are rendered vividly in the movie by a cast of lesser known actors. Standouts include the memorably nosey maniac Rorschach, the immortal Dr Manhattan, and the cigar chomping Comedian. Didn't mind Miss Jupiter's daughter, either. The production values scream megabucks and the SFX are used effectively to mirror and stylise the visionary look of the comic. There's also some heavy splatter moments which threaten to saturate an already rich confection. Although the book is violent, it's not a gorefest. What's this, the rabid horrorhead calling for a bit of restraint? Well, it's all in the service of art. And Watchmen the movie manages to do the impossible: it practically reproduces the artistic triumph of the graphic novel on the big screen. Read the book, then go see this motherfucker ASAP. Or wait for the rumoured 190 minute director's cut release in July. |
2009 cinema censored? |
sunday |
My Bloody Valentine
The uncensored version of this 1980s slasher flick has been at the top of every horror fan's wish list for bloody years. I've been avoiding it since it languished in its cut form on local VHS rental. With Loinsgate (!) releasing the 3D remake in cinemas, they also decided to rush the 1981 original onto DVD with some of the missing gore reinstated via seamless branching. It's great to see those scenes where they belong, but Loinsgate could have made more of an effort to clean up the footage, as MGM did with From Beyond. The upshot is that the definitive version is yet to arrive on home video. What can the Europeans come up with? The fillum itself is an engaging genre effort that uses the completely original idea of a revenge motive centred on a calendar date, this time Valentine's Day. The violence is extremely well done, despite the lower quality of those scenes. You've got everything from a pick spike under the jaw and out of an eye, a decapitation via accidental hanging, nails in a head, forearm amputation, and other delights. From memory, I read that there are still missing gore scenes. It's quite obvious when you watch the film. Fucking MPAA...Arrgghh!!! |
1981 DVD |
| Final Exam
Sorry, but this stalk-n-slash body count movie gets an F for fucked. Your Humble Reviewer is sure that Final Exam has a loyal following of some description, as does any fantasy, horror and SF movie ever made, as Danny Peary pointed out in Cult Movies #1. That said, Final Exam has a lot going against it. Dull plotting, boring characters (the usual mixture of jocks, sluts, virginal girls, lovable geeks, fraternity dickheads, and horny teachers), too many off screen and bloodless death scenes, virtually no humour (intentional, unintentional, or vitreous), bland direction, utterly no tension, and so forth. The US DVD from BCI boasts an anamorphic transfer, but it was copied from a release print that looks soft, has crappy shadow detail, and includes reel change marks. How novel. This was the first time in four years that I turned the sharpness up on my telly, and it worked a treat here. Final Exam was released in Aussieland on VHS rental. Somehow my instincts telling me to avoid it were correct. Watch Brad Pitt getting, like, mistreated in Cutting Class instead, 'kay? |
1981 DVD | |
saturday |
Pieces +
"Bastard! Bastard!! Bastard!!!!" Ahh, the mere mention Pieces is enough to get any self respecting gorehound salivating and mewling little animal sounds. After the obligatory full-frame budget release from a few years ago – which I bought but never watched – comes this new 2008 two-disc release from Grindhouse USA. The 16:9 transfer is excellent and the extras include long interviews with Spanish director JP Simon and actor Paul Smith (the gardener). Now, the story. Does it matter? Not when you have as much gruesome chainsaw carnage, gratuitous nudity, awful dialogue, arbitrary voice dubbing, obvious red herrings, and daft characters as Pieces has. |
1982 DVD |
| Anthropophagus: The Grim Reaper
Last year I was blown away by Joe D'Amato's twisted shocker Beyond the Darkness. Here we have the freshly minted two-disc special edition of his equally infamous Anthropophagus, a title I'd somehow managed to avoid during the tape trading frenzy of the 1980s and 1990s. A group of twenty somethings travel to a Greek island and are stalked by the resident cannibal, played with wild-eyed gusto by George Eastman aka Luigi Montefiori. Tisa Farrow, Mia Farrow's less talented sister, leads the group to an empty house where friends of hers were supposed to be living. Lots of soap opera melodrama ensues as Farrow is pursued by a young man with a Bee Gees haircut who delivers some of the nuttiest lines in splatter movie history. In fact, I had the giggles during many parts of this film, which approaches Jess Franco's output for sheer ineptitude. Unlike Franco, Joe D'Amato aka Aristide Masseccesi knows the audience also likes gore. There's a throat bite, a meat cleaver in the face, a severed head in a bucket of water (funny scene), stabbings, a foetus removed for consumption, an accidental scalping, and in the movie's climax, the eponymous cannibal gets gutted with a pick axe and then proceeds to munch on his own spilled intestines. Magical stuff. The DVD package from Media Blasters US is quite good. |
1981 DVD | |
sunday |
Contact +
Having just read a science fiction novel about first contact and currently reading another, the topic was fresh enough in my mind to prompt me to watch this perennial Toxic Waste favourite. It also looked great being played on my new Pioneer LX50 unit. |
DVD |
saturday |
Sabrina
The late Sydney Pollack directed this pathetic Cinderella romance that stars Harrison Ford (on tranquilisers) and Greg Kinear as his younger brother. Julia Ormond, as the chauffeur's daughter Sabrina, has been in love with Kinear since childhood, but it's Harrison Ford who falls for her in the process of making sure his brother marries the daughter of someone who'll ensure a billion dollar business merger goes ahead. When did Pollack know he had a dog on his hands? As with Oliver Stone's disaster Alexander, Sabrina reeks badness right from the first scene. |
TV |
tuesday |
Eaten Alive / Mangiati Vivi! +
Remember...go for the breast meat first. Ahh, what a lovely nostalgia trip it was to view Eaten Alive again after all these years. A member of the infamous Italian cannibal cycle, Umberto Lenzi's third foray into the sub-genre features a young American babe called Sheila looking for her sister in Papua New Guinea, where she's probably joined a cult. Sheila recruits scruffy adventurer Mark to guide her past hungry crocodiles and hungry cannibals to infiltrate the jungle compound, which is run by Jim Jones clone Jonas, who looks like cricketer Imran Khan in a bed sheet. Cue scenes of chanting cultists, stoned cultists, naked female cultists, a few pointless rape sequences, and escape attempts foiled by cannibals hacking open and eating the disloyal cultists. Sheila even gets a wooden dildo lubed with snake's blood (the poor reptile cops it on-camera) and shoved up her Burnley Tunnel, albeit off screen. Even worse is the dialogue. "Do you like rock?" Sheila asks Mark, who responds, "I like whisky!" J&B of course. However, before you've recovered, Lenzi assaults us with yet more footage of live animals being sliced open or fighting each other to the death. The part where a fully conscious monkey is swallowed head first by a python is particularly grueling to watch. In the last reel, the mayhem includes cultists committing mass suicide as two of our fleeing heroines are stripped nude and eaten by savages. Add to all that a prologue in which three Westerners are slain with darts dipped in cobra venom, scenes copy-pasted from other cannibal epics, one bit inspired by The Deer Hunter (arm wrestling above sharp blades), and a suitably groovy music score (also partly recycled), and you've got a superb night of quality entertainment. The uncut Media Blasters DVD looks to be transferred from a grainy print that's been processed with noise reduction. |
1980 DVD uncensored |
monday |
Serpico
Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino: what a combination. Also cool is the criminally cheap price of $9.00 plus shrapnel for the local DVD from Big Dubbya. Serpico was an honest New York cop who had principles and ideals. The shame is that his corrupt co-workers didn't even allow him to be straight – such is human nature. Although a touch self-conscious, Pacino gives a powerhouse performance, fresh from playing a straight man turned gangster in The Godfather. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1974, but missed out. One has to wonder who else was up for the gong that year, and for doing what? Anyway, the second series of Underbelly aired tonight. I didn't suffer too much by watching Serpico instead. Lastly, I reckon the jive party sequence here inspired the rave scene in The Matrix Reloaded. Shot for shot, virtually identical. |
1973 DVD |
sunday |
Seinfeld: Seasons 1-2
Well. I had only seen a handful of these early episodes on Australian TV. Were the others ever broadcast in Brisbane? I have my doubts. Rough as they are and only obliquely amusing, seeing the pilot and subsequent clunky episodes was fascinating. Extras include nano interviews with cast and crew for each episode, commentary tracks for selected episodes, and a one hour documentary about the origins of Seinfeld. Also included are two clips of Jerry S. on The Jimmy Carson Show, and one of Michael Richards on Jay Leno. All episodes were transferred full frame in the 4:3 aspect ratio. |
1989 DVD |
saturday |
Red Dragon
Warning: remake alert, remake alert. In 1982, Thomas Harris scared the crap out of Stephen King and millions of other readers with his crime thriller Red Dragon. Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat) filmed it as Manhunter in his effective, stylish, though kind of blah movie. And it did not have Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, but Brian Cox (X-Men II). On balance, this remake is the slightly better adaptation. Besides Hopkins, it's got Ted Tally on screenplay duties (Tally wrote Silence of the Lambs) and an interesting supporting cast that includes Phil Seymore Hoffman. What holds it back is the miscasting of Edward Norton as Will Graham. His reedy voice, computer geek body, and ridiculous blond hair are out of place, and no match for William Petersen's haunted performance in the original movie. Otherwise this is an okay night's viewing and not at all painful for those familiar with the material, or with Brett Ratner's other directing credits. |
2002 DVD |
monday |
The Devil Wears Prada
It was OK, I suppose. The story is utterly predictable. Being based on a novel, the movie could have had more meat in the plot and character departments. Perhaps it was dumbed down on its journey to the silver screen? Anne Hathaway, with her enormous manga cartoon eyes and mouth, was quite good as the sell-out rookie journalist who gets a personal assistant job at Runway magazine for platinum beeotch Meryl Streep. As editor-in-chief of said haute couture periodical, Ms. Streep hams it up to portray another cartoony persona. Objectively, The Devil Wears Prada is worth a weak seven out of ten, but it's been marked down because it should have been much better. Think Zoolander crossed with Cashmere Mafia. Update: reviews of the novel were scathing. No surprise there. |
2006 TV |
saturday |
Manufactured Landscapes
I had expected an art film that showed blasted industrial landscapes. Yes, there is a lot of that kind of stuff. However, Manufactured Landscapes is first and foremost a documentary about an artist called Edward Byrtynsky who showed blasted industrial landscapes in his photographs. Which means there's too much padding and not enough haunting imagery. Much of the documentary also takes place in China, a country that certainly has its share of industrial marvels, but we only see tantalising glimpses. So, I dunno. If Byrtynsky had made this film instead of someone else, it would have been better. Then again, photographers such as Bernd and Hilda Becher produce more interesting work in this field, in my humble opinion. The minimalist 'noise' music score was fine, and the supplemental features include several brief interviews and (superfluous) deleted footage. |
2006 DVD |
sunday |
Se7en +
Continuing the trembles left over from Long Weekend for 2009, here is a dark Toxic Waste favourite from director David Fincher. Exquisitely shot and featuring gritty, nuanced performances from Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gweneth Paltrow (with wry comic relief from R. Lee Ermey and John McGinley), Se7en held up well after a gap of several years since the last lounge room screening. |
1995 DVD |
friday |
Long Weekend
It was indeed a long weekend when I watched this spooky and disturbing Australian fright flick from the 1970s. Written and directed by two mavericks of various genre projects, Everett de Roche and Colin Eggelston respectively, Long Weekend inserts a young married couple into a beachside camping area surrounded by fauna that wants to harm them...or worse. I was impressed by how effectively the dramatic tensions between the arguing protagonists became overshadowed by the mounting supernatural (?) assault of the local wildlife. If Alfred Hitchcock had set The Birds Down Under in 1977, he may well have come up with a movie resembling Long Weekend. The film is available on DVD in Australia and the USA. |
1978 DVD |
| 2008 viewing | ||
sunday |
Naked +
It does seem that actor David Thewlis could be responsible for coming up with most, if not all, of the philosophical rants in Naked. This makes me think whether he and the other cast members who contributed improvised dialogue should share the writing credit with Mike Leigh? Hmmm... |
1993 DVD |
sunday |
The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith
What a fucken great movie by Fred Schepsi. I'm surprised it's not mentioned more often when people talk about Australian cinema classics. Could it be that the subject matter and themes hit too close to home, even in our 'enlightened' society? The film follows the true story of two Aboriginal brothers who go on a killing spree after enduring abuse at the hands of white farmers. Schepsi and novelist Thomas Kenneally paint this tragedy in shades of grey, letting the viewer decide what the mitigating circumstances might have been. Besides its thought-provoking content, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith is also an action film with confronting moments of violence – more than I had expected. Fans of Aussie cinema need to grab the two-disc DVD release from Umbrella. It includes a fine commentary from Schepsi and about two hours of engaging extras. I hope that Schepsi's later Evil Angels receives similar treatment. |
1978 DVD |
tuesday |
Someone Like You
All righty. This is how you make a decent romantic comedy. Confident professional gal Ashley Judd works at a television studio. She despises the chauvinism of hunky rake Eddie (Hugh Jackman) and falls for a SNAG newcomer, played by Greg Kinear. Of course, things become complicated, and a few twists are delivered by the end of the story, with the requisite misunderstandings and self-realisations. Et cetera. While the final pairing happens too neatly, Someone Like You was smarter than recent examples of this genre that have played at Toxic Towers. And it was laugh-out-loud funny in several places; for example, when Eddie nails a blanket to his apartment wall to cover a dirty big hole. |
TV |
saturday |
The Woodsman
An austere and intelligent examination of paedophilia that stars Kevin Bacon as a convicted sex offender who just finished a 12-year sentence for you-know-what. Bacon gives a jittery and believable performance. He's well supported by Kyra Sedgwick and Mos Def, to name two cast members. The Woodsman was broadcast as part of SBS's American Indie movie festival. A brave choice. |
2004 TV |
| Lord of the Rings: Return of the King +
Seeing bits of this on television inspired me to revisit not just the movie itself, but the DVD making-of documentaries as well – all 3.5 hours of them. I've also been reading more of the book, which has been collecting dust on my bedroom bookshelf for a couple of years now. Yes, the prose still sucks, but like poor Frodo, I will not give up. |
2003 DVD | |
| Clash of the Titans +
I was one of those kids who liked any film that featured monsters and mythical creatures. Hence, back in the day, a film like Clash of the Titans was a totally enchanting experience. Today I suspected that it might be a chore and a bore to watch, which is why I never bought the this title on DVD. But did it have some latent quirkiness? Today's TV broadcast was a good chance to find out that it does not, in fact, have one milligram of quirk. The fabulous Medusa sequence near the end is probably worth enduring what comes before it. Only just. Ray Harryhausen's effects are always a joy to behold. It's a pity to see them used in, not so much a bad film, as a dull one. |
TV | |
saturday |
Lucker the Necrophagus
I've been curious about Lucker since reading about it in an issue of Mondo Gore. A Flemish production made for $30,000, the movie details the exploits of John Lucker, a weird psychopath with a bent for necrophilia. There's some unintentional humour as the socially retarded John stalks women and throws tantrums, all while wearing aviator sunglasses. The lingering kill scenes (mainly stabbings) would be more graphic if the movie had been transferred from better source material. Instead, Synapse presents what looks like a bad VHS dupe on their US DVD. At least it was in 16:9 format, as advertised. Since the director was involved, one can only assume a better print doesn't exist. |
1985 DVD |
| Gestapo's Last Orgy / L'Ultima orgia del III Reich
This oddball Nazisploitation flick just doesn't make the grade. At times I was bored enough to engage the fast forward button, something this videophile only does as a last resort. The staples of the sub-genre are present, but the whole production is so poorly executed that any impact is undermined. The most risque scene involves an unconscious female prisoner being laid out on the dinner table and cooked in cognac after the partying SS officers decide that eating Jews is a groovy idea, although one officer gags and leaves the room. If the movie was any good, this Zionist sympathiser would have had his penis fed into a meat grinder in the next scene. The uncut DVD from Exploitation Digital is not anamorphic, despite what the cover says, which makes Gestapo's Last Orgy a disappointing package all round. Or maybe I'm getting jaded? Nahhhh... |
1977 DVD | |
thursday |
The Godfather Part II +
Shit, talk about wiping out your whole evening. Even with PAL's 4% speed-up, The Godfather Part II runs for 190+ minutes. Listening to Coppola's audio commentary, I learned that this film contains story content from Mario Puzo's original novel, as well as bits made up by Coppola that show what happened after the first film ended. It all blends seamlessly, with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro carrying both narratives. This is filmmaking as art. I won't be buying and watching Part III, which still exists in its censored form. |
1976 DVD |
sunday |
The Godfather +
I watched the restored print transferred to DVD and Blu-ray recently. It's still an outstanding piece of cinema, even if the jumps in time are more obvious and jarring to me these days. The violence stands up well, though, heh heh heh... |
1972 DVD |
saturday |
Full Metal Jacket +
Broadcast in full frame (open matte) by SBS, which was disappointing given that the latest DVD has a 16:9 transfer. Ditto The Shining. |
1987 TV |
sunday |
2001: A Space Odyssey +
The first broadcast title for SBS's Kubrick Week marathon. I certainly approve, given this is currently my favourite movie. From the looks of the image quality, SBS used the most recent HD digital transfer, although I only received it in standard definition PAL (720 pixels by 576) via RGB. |
1968 TV |
saturday |
Ben-Hur +
Awww, how sweet...the two leper whores got cured when JC went up to heaven. Well, holy Moses, it has been decades since I watched this sprawling exemplar of the biblical epic. Surprisingly it still moves along at a good clip, even with TV commercials drawing it out to a mighty length of four hours – that's one sixth of the entire day, people. The transfer broadcast was recently minted, but sadly not in its original aspect ratio, hence the meticulous compositions suffered. |
TV |
sunday |
Who the #!*% is Jackson Pollack?
A 70 minute documentary on ABC 2 about an old female truck driver who buys a painting in a thrift shop for $5.00 and learns that it could be an original Jackson Pollack worth $50 million. Small hitch: there's no provenance (trace of ownership). In her favour: a fingerprint on the back of the canvas that matches two confirmed Pollack prints. As yet, she has refused to sell the painting, despite an offer of $9 million from a Saudi buyer. And more: every art expert has said it's not a Pollack. Your heart breaks. |
TV |
saturday |
Halloween +
I was out socialising massively on Halloween night in the city and then for an ex-flatmate's birthday, so I had to see this Johnny Carpenter classic a day late. Minor revelation: the scares still get me. Donald Pleasance is also hilarious to watch as the cranky psychiatrist. |
1978 DVD |
monday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
The Blob +
Despite some decent special effects and brief gore scenes, I was bored this time out, especially when the film morphs from horror mode to action adventure mode. What the hell happened to Kevin Dillon after this? |
1988 DVD |
| Prince of Darkness +
Here's a movie I never really paid attention to much in the past. Therefore it was great to down a cup of coffee and be totally alert during this quirky John Carpenter treatment of the well-worn story about Satan trying to set hoof upon the Earth – downtown Los Angeles to be exact, heh heh. The quantum physics angle is used cleverly here. It's just a pity that the third act descends a bit too much into the usual zombie/bodily possession shenanigans. But overall Prince of Darkness is a worthy member of the Carpenter canon. Schmaltz and all. |
1987 DVD | |
sunday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer +
This is one of those disturbing horror films that isn't fucking around. Henry transcends its micro-budget with a raw, in-your-face approach to the subject matter, which was loosely inspired by the infamous Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole killing spree in America. John McNaughton will probably never top Henry, although I wouldn't mind seeing the uncensored version of The Borrower one day. |
1986 DVD |
| The Beast Within
A bizarre yet fun creature feature from Australian director Philipe Mora, the man who ruined The Howling franchise. He shows a modicum of talent with The Beast Within, the tale of a normal 17 year old bloke who gradually turns into a giant cicada. As you do. |
1981 DVD | |
| The Funhouse +
"Are you...mad enough?" A twisted little body count movie from Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre) that's also self-reflexive. For once, the highlights of this at-first-glance prosaic fright flick are not the death scenes, which are violent but not bloody, but instead other quirky aspects that stick in your mind, like the shoddy magician who performs a magic act called "The Impaler", and the hypnotic verbal enticements of the side-show carnies (all played by the same actor). Good stuff, albeit a tad disturbing. |
1981 DVD | |
saturday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
Hellbound: Hellraiser II +
Time has not been kind to this sequel. All involved pretty much admit that it sucks runny eggs, and that it could have been much better. This viewer agrees. Next time, assuming there is a next time, I'll have to be well and truly liquored up to enjoy this mess. Let's not even mention the other sequels in this franchise... |
1988 DVD |
| Hellraiser +
This highpoint of 1980s horror was conceived and directed by UK author Clive Barker, whose The Damnation Game and Books of Blood I'd already read and enjoyed immensely in my teens. Hellraiser itself was based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart. The film still works today. It's still in its MPAA-censored form and will only be restored to its original length if the cut footage is found and Clive agrees to do it. You see, he now prefers this tamer version. Jesus fucking wept, indeed! Be that as it may, Clive, Hellraiser's status will remain as CFDUSTD here at Toxic Waste. Watch out for the film adaptation of The Midnight Meat Train soon. Of much less interest is the impending Hellraiser remake. Groan. |
1987 DVD censored | |
thursday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
The Dead Pit +
A perfect example of having the right ingredients and resources, but fumbling the ball. The reason is Brett Leonard, an American filmmaker who could never quite tell a story properly. He always fucked it up somehow. Anyway, The Dead Pit betrays its Re-Animator influences as it plods to its inevitable zombies on the loose climax. There's at least 10 minutes of padding here that deserve FF treatment. Collectors will want to upgrade their Aussie VHS ex-rentals of The Dead Pit with the new unrated US DVD. As far as I know, the local tape was uncut anyway. |
1989 DVD |
| Scarecrows +
After putting up with this film on VHS (Very Hazy System) 20 years ago, I can only just now say that I've seen the whole bloody movie. MGM's new US DVD is crisp and in widescreen, making the brief gore scenes all the more graphic and impactful. The story? Army grunts have stolen a few million bux and are using a hijacked plane as the getaway vehicle. Before long, they find themselves stuck on a farm at night, being stalked and chopped up by re-animated scarecrows. It's no classic, but it does rise above other body-count titles of this ilk. |
1988 DVD | |
wednesday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
The Stuff
Believe it or not, I never watched the local VHS rental of The Stuff. In fact, I've never seen Q the Winged Serpent, It's Alive 1-3 or God Told Me To either. The Stuff is a fun social satire on consumerism and death by consumption that may have influenced Street Trash (1987). |
1985 DVD |
| Body of Lies
The new Ridley Scott is engaging mainstream fare. It was based on a novel, so there's more plot than usual for a Ridley Scott production. That doesn't mean that horrendously over-used device of kidnapping the hero's love interest to provide motivation in the third act for stupid behaviour is not used here. It is, and painfully. The first two thirds of the story are solid. It also cannot avoid comparisons with Syriana, which featured George Clooney also suffering finger damage under torture. At least Hoyts had the image in focus. Watch out for Vince Colosimo in chav gear in a supporting role. He makes white joggers and tracky dacks look good on film. Body of Lies apparently bombed at the US box office. |
2008 cinema | |
monday 1980s USA Slasherthon |
Alone in the Dark
Review pending. |
1981 DVD |
sunday |
Satan's Baby Doll
Review pending. |
1982 DVD |
| La Settima Donna
Review pending. |
1978 DVD | |