February 19th, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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This is a strange little film, a pacifist western with an ambiguous message. Clint Walker star of TV’s Cheyenne plays “Killer” Cain who upon release from prison after 18 years is determined to go straight and make an honest living. His reputation presedes however and unable to find decent work he’s ultimately forced to join a travelling sideshow and make money from his notorious past.
After a big opening action scene featuring a prison break that goes awry the film settles down to a more easy going pace with Walker travelling around looking for work, meeting artist Monica Alton (Anne Francis) and generally doing his best to avoid trouble. When he hooks up with Dan Ruffalo’s sideshow he takes the place of young sharpshooter Billy as the show’s main attraction. It’s here that the film really comes into it’s own as Billy, Ruffalo and Cain travel from town to town making an “honest” living. It’s Cain’s relationship with the two men that forms the cornerstone of the film.
As Ruffalo, Vincent Price steals every scene he’s in. He may be a conman but Price also brings a twisted decency to Ruffalo; he may be exploiting Cain but you get the feeling he’s also trying to help the guy. At the time price was usually seen either in his trademark horror roles or as a guest star on TV shows like Batman and this must have made a pleasant change for the criminaly underused actor.
February 19th, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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The Movie
While Hollywood plays it safe with a diet of remakes, re-imaginings and rehashes of classic horror movies it’s down to independent filmmakers to give horror fans what they really want - original, thought-provoking films that stay with you long after the credits have ended. Lance Weiler’s second feature Head Trauma is just such a beast.
The basics are simple enough. After a 20-year absence, George Walker returns to his late grandmother’s home in the hope of saving the condemned building. Late one night he finds an intruder in the house. The ensuing struggle leads to George taking a blow to the head, and that’s when the fun starts.
George begins to experience dreams full of nightmarish imagery, including a mysterious hooded figure. Soon the lines between reality and imagination start to blur as the dreams bleed through into his waking world.
To go into more detail about the plot would be to do the film a disservice; one of its pleasures is the way the story slowly unfolds, giving us bits of information that we have to unravel in much the same way George does. Almost the entire film is told from George’s perspective and this gives the viewer a front row seat as George’s psyche becomes increasingly fractured.
February 14th, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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My Bloody Valentine (1981) Region 4
An early entry in the glut of stalk ‘n’ slash films that followed the success of Friday the 13th, this ranks as one of the weakest in the subgenre, lacking not only in suspense but also in those other staples of this kind of film - sex and gore.
The pre-credits sequence features a bit of kinky sex as a miner gets it on with a hot blond down in the mine. After she fondles his air hose (no, that’s not a euphemism) he spots her heart-shaped tattoo and decides rather than get off with her he’ll just off her.
The film takes place in the mining town of Valentine’s Bluff where several years before a group of miners were trapped underground. Only one man walked away from the tragedy - Harry Warden, who survived the weeks it took to rescue him by turning cannibal. A year latter Harry went on a killing spree seeking revenge on those responsible for the accident by cutting their hearts out on Valentine’s Day. Harry was found insane and should be spending the rest of his days in a padded cell but when people start dying as the town plans its first Valentine’s Day party in twenty years, Harry seems the obvious suspect, particularly as the victims bear the marks of his trademark open heart surgery.
February 13th, 2007
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Ian W |
TV Reviews |
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Almost seven months ago, in my third post, I wrote about my disillusionment with American TV due to the current predilection for long running stories that were never allowed to reach fruition. I stopped watching US TV shows completely, going cold turkey (at the time I had a fifteen shows per week habit). But, like Michael Corleone, “Just when I thought I was out they pulled me back in”.
It’s no surprise that the series that drew me back in was NBC’s superhero show Heroes – as a long time comic book junkie, it was impossible to resist. I also tried a few of the other new series, notably Jericho, Shark and Justice. Sadly Jericho failed to make the most of its interesting premise and Shark relied too much on the star power of James Woods at the expense of original stories and interesting characters. Only Justice grabbed my attention, with its did-they-or-didn’t-they stories that kept you guessing until the very end and Victor Garber as a lawyer who made Shark look like a goldfish. Of the three, Justice was the one that got canned, go figure.
On top of the new shows I returned to some old favourites, though not quite to the level of my previous addiction. I’m currently watching seven ongoing series and trying some others when they pique my interest. So here’s what I’ve been watching in January.
24
“Day 6: 6am-12am”
February 12th, 2007
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Ian W |
Monthly Comics Update |
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Forthcoming titles:
Doctor Fate gets a new ongoing title by legendary comic creators Steve Gerber and Paul Gulacy that spins out of The Helmet of Fate mini series. Gerber or Gulacy alone would be enough to get my attention but together this becomes an essential purchase. On sale April 18. Anticipation factor: 8
Madman Atomic Comics marks the return of Mike Allred’s creation and it starts with what could be the end of the Madman universe! Then again this being issue 1 it probably won’t be. On sale April 4. Anticipation factor: 7
Final Girl sees David Hutchinson bring the slasher film to comics as a group of young girls find themselves in a town under siege by killers. Not just any killers but Freddy/Jason won’t stay dead even when you shoot/stab/cut them into little pieces style killers. And to add to the fun you get to vote online to decide who will survive. On sale April. Anticipation factor: 7
Nova gets a new ongoing series in the wake of Annihilation and while that title failed to impress I’ll be picking this up as I have fond memories of the original series. Here’s hoping that writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and artist Sean Chen can recapture the spirit of that title. On sale April 11. Anticipation factor: 7
Runaways 25 sees a new creative team take over the title. Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan will take the group in a new direction both figuratively and literally as they head for New York. On sale April 4. Anticipation factor: 8
February 11th, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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The Wild Bunch meets The Dirty Dozen was probably how the studio execs were sold on this revenge western. A simple story - rancher John Benedict’s family are murdered and he recruits a group of convicts from a Mexican prison to make them pay - is enlivened by William Holden’s performance as the obsessed rancher.
After a quick introduction showing us his idyllic home life it’s not long before Benedict’s entire family are butchered my raiding Comancheros. He only takes enough time to bury them before riding off in pursuit of the bad guys, first with a posse and then, when they turn back after the trail leads into Texas, going on solo. Realising he’s going to need a little help he breaks a group of disparate felons out of prison and enlists their at first reluctant, assistance.
Holden is reunited with his Wild Bunch co-star Ernest Borgnine but unlike that classic, Borgnine is used here mostly for comic relief. Woody Strode as the one honest man in the bunch is as underused as Borgnine, in fact only Holden’s part has any real depth to it and that has more to do with his ability as an actor rather than the quality of the script.
February 8th, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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Watchers (1988) Region 2
Corey Haim out acted by a dog shock! Come to think of it Corey Haim out acts a dog would have been more of a surprise. Haim plays the teenage hero in this adaptation of the Dean R. Koontz bestseller. When he finds a lost dog he takes it home with him little suspecting the mutt has escaped from a secret research lab or that it’s probably more intelligent than he is. It was part of an experiment to create the perfect killing machine, the dog itself acting as a lure to draw another genetically engineered creature to its victim and that other creature is free as well and looking to carve itself a little Haim sandwich.
While the novel this is based on had an equally silly premise it was still able to craft some effective moments most notably the climax which manages to elicit the reader’s sympathy for the “bad” beastie. There’s none of that here, everything is black and white. With the best moments of the novel excised this has been turned into a simple boy and his dog tale albeit with horror/SF slant. Nothing wrong with that per se, I’ve enjoyed many a shaggy dog story but then they never starred Cory Haim. He’s all 80’s hair and zero acting ability, I really wasn’t kidding about the dog having superior thespian abilities.
February 2nd, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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Two years after Clint Eastwood made A Fistful of Dollars in Italy Audie Murphy went to Spain to make this revenge western but while Clint helped to reinvent the genre for the modern era Murphy was still playing the conventional cowboy hero complete with white hat.
It’s a simple story - Jess Carlin (Murphy) returns to the town he was driven out of by Luke Starr (a past his prime Broderick Crawford) when he hears that his brother has been killed in a gunfight, I bet you already guessed that Crawford’s the man who killed him, right? Throw in a little romance with Kit O’Neal (Spanish actress Diana Lorys) a lady Crawford also has his eye on (the dirty old man) and that’s about it for the plot.
I’ve always liked Audie Murphy but he was never the greatest actor in the world and rarely got the chance to break out of the western hero stereotype, The Quiet American and No Name on the Bullet being rare exceptions. Here, with just two films left before his untimely death, he seems to have accepted his lot and gives a workmanlike performance as Jess Carlin.
Crawford on the other hand was an Oscar nominated actor but by this stage of his career (he was in his mid 50’s) he couldn’t convince as a fast gun let alone as a romantic rival to Murphy. He’s clearly only there for the money and possibly some Spanish sunshine and sleepwalks through most of the film.
February 1st, 2007
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Ian W |
DVD Reviews |
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Spiders (2000) Region 2
When you’re dealing with giant spider movies you can be pretty sure you’re in for some cheese, the question is will it be tasty cheddar or stinky gorgonzola. Well in the case of Spiders it’s definitely the latter.
What we have here is an attempt to merge Alien with Arachnophobia, with a secret government experiment to combine extraterrestrial and spider DNA. A dim-witted reporter and her equally intellectually challenged crew stumble on to the scheme and end up trapped in a secret base with the hybrid spider.
The DVD sleeve says this is from the FX team who created From Dusk Till Dawn, Spawn and Wishmaster. That may be so but here they are responsible for some of the worst CGI effects I’ve ever seen. It’s bad enough when the film stays in the confined space of the base but when things head outside for the over the top climax with a spider of King Kong sized proportions, it’s so bad it’s not even funny.
Ineptly directed by Gary Jones, a man whose career highlight was working on the Xena and Hercules TV series, this was a real chore to sit through. Lead actress Lana Parrilla is a familiar face having had recurring roles in 24, NYPD Blue and Boomtown but here, with everything working against her, she’s not up to the task of saving a very bad movie, still even Sigourney Weaver couldn’t have salvaged this one.
