Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Dr. Whom]

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

An experimental rocket ship crashes back to Earth. There is one survivor of the original crew, and he carries a deadly space parasite. Can Professor Bernard Quatermass stop it before it spreads?

This is a movie version of a legendary TV series of the fifties, and, as I far as I am concerned, it lives up to its reputation. One of the clever things is that, although it is technically science fiction, having rocket ships and space parasites, it is really a thriller. It is the story of a team trying to outwit and capture what is in effect a serial killer. As such it relies more on suspense than on special effect set pieces, and brings the story close to home.
It also provided the template for most of the Third Doctor's adventures, with an abrasive genius aided by a government organisation taking on unknown threats.

[M.10rda]

PRELUDE (1927):
A dapper dude falls asleep in his easy chair with a cocktail and cigarette in one hand and a copy of Poe's "Premature Burial" in the other. Predictably he has a pretty creepy dream about suffering that short story's eponymous fate. This seven-minute silent is nicely done and definitely stylistically similar to (though not quite as effective as) a major setpiece in Dreyer's VAMPYR, released 5 years later.

The highlight of PRELUDE, however, is the final shot, which - yet another potentially unnecessary SPOILER? - delivers what I automatically decided was Cinema's first jump scare. It only took me about 60 seconds to then recall I'd just seen what essentially could be termed a "jump scare" in the much-earlier MISTLETOE BOUGH (1904) a day or so previously... and of course Georges Melies was always doing shock jump-cuts of moonmen or fiends or something appearing in a puff of smoke to terrorize his characters. However, I maintain that the jump scare at the end of PRELUDE actually closely resembles the prototypical climactic jump scares from the end of CARRIE and FRIDAY THE 13TH and so on, rather than just the random jumping-from-darkness of some creeper or another to yell "booga booga", which probably was always a fixture of genre films and naturally still is.

3.5/5
I also wondered if this freaked out audiences in 1927. It had been decades since they ran screaming out of theaters from an apparently-oncoming train, but then again UN CHIEN ANDALOU prompted literal riots a couple years after PRELUDE, so I guess viewers were still pretty delicate.......

[M.10rda]

SECRETS OF A SOUL (1926):
This full-length feature from G.W. (Lisa Frankenstein's favorite) Pabst is almost mathematically a 2.5/5 but I know he meant well and was clearly a talented visual artist so I'm reviewing it here instead of in the other Board. The first half, where a stuffy older husband begins having CALIGARI-esque nightmares about his hottt younger wife, is a genuine delight full of puzzling moments in waking life and wildly stylistic, gonzo surrealism in the dream world, all of which the viewer can more or less piece together and make sense of intuitively if not explicitly... maybe just because we're alive n 2025 and not 1926 and thus (unlike the film's contemporary audience) we enjoy the benefits of deciphering 99 years of cryptic art, but I won't complain. Alas, in the second half the husband goes to a psycho-analyst to describe his dreams, and then the head-shrinker explains what every last element in the film's first half means... which, of course, kills all the joyous mysterious SECRETS of this film's SOUL.......

In his already-classic monograph on creativity Catching The Big Fish, David Lynch related the sole occasion where he visited a professional analyst. After the analyst described the professional services that he could provide to Lynch, the filmmaker asked whether it was possible that psycho-analysis could in any way inhibit Lynch's ability to create art. Commendably, the analyst acknowledged that this was entirely possible, so Lynch thanked the man and saw himself to the door. Pabst's SECRETS OF A SOUL is an excellent demonstration of what Lynch was concerned about. I know this isn't a universal opinion, but from my perspective I think great artists and storytellers should introduce provocative questions to their patrons but only answer those questions selectively and with discretion. Please serve the viewer a nourishing meal, but don't chew the food and then digest it for us!

3/5 ...Though I suppose you can just stop this film when the husband walks into the analyst's office and Live With The Mystery.

[lester1/2jr]

Clash Of The Titans (1981) - I heard some titans were having a clash so I decided to check it out. I actually saw this in the initial theatrical run. The thing I remembered most was Medusa, but I guess it's The Kraken that has lived on in popular culture. Medusa didn't disappoint the second time around. I loved especially the Medusa shadow on the wall as the first thing you see. It's like an awesome video game moment like "oh maaaaaaan".

Okay: not having Harry Hamlin talk a lot was a good idea, but he could have used some different facial expressions. Also, The mechanical owl is cool looking, but is also a pathetic R2D2 imitation. Outside of that, its a great movie with real tension, an easy to follow plot, and of course awesome claymation by Harry whats his name.

4.75/ 5

[chainsaw midget]

I watched Robotrix. 

Apparently it's considered a classic in Hong Kong. 

The set-up is basically ... Robocop.  Police officer gets killed, they rebuild her as an unstoppable robot with her human brain. 

A mad scientist has put his own mind in the body of an unstoppable robot, kidnaps a Sultans son, and then ... goes around having sex and murdering prostitutes.  Lot of sex in this movie.  If you see a woman on screen, you can expect to see all her clothes off before the movie is over. 

The main character works together with her scientists creator (another hot girl), a completely robotic woman that actually does more storywise than our main character, the police officer that serves as the main character's love interest and a bunch of other comic relief cops. 

It was a pretty fun movie.  Lots of martial arts fights and nudity.  The "robot suits" you typically see when people advertise the movie don't actually show up until the very end though. 

Oh, and it's got Amy Yip in it.

[lester1/2jr]

The Possession of Michael King (2014) - I looked at a reddit forum on found footage horror and this got really good ratings. I think I won't consult that forum again. There might be an audience for it, but I'm not in it.

A film maker's wife dies and he blames a psychic she used to see for giving her bad advice. He decides to start debunking spiritualist type people and this part of the movie is actually good. He takes LSD at one, DMT at another, and generally keeps you guessing as to what's going on. The possession aspect is overwrought and confusing, though. It ends up feeling very self indulgent and film school-ish. If you like phony horror and films that draw attention to themselves rather than the story you might like it.

It would fit in pretty well among netflix's lousy instant horror offerings. Next to, say, Hereditary which it occasionally resembles, it's a bit of a turkey. Director is definitely talented but this needed a LOT more work.

2.5 /5 

[M.10rda]

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1929):
This is a wild find that deserves more attention and totally justifies my compulsive binge of silent films and early talkies. Nominally a Jules Verne adaptation, THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is more noteworthy for being:

* ...A hybrid silent/talkie (probably due to its long production time spilling over into the dawn of sound), with intertitles for most of the film but one major (expositional) scene with entirely spoken dialogue and several key spoken lines (and sync-sound FX) thereafter...

* ...A hybrid color/B+W... with some scenes in monochromes (as often happened early on) and a few parts abruptly in color, 10 years before WIZARD OF OZ.......

* ...And an early prototype for the sort of episodic action/adventure films we get Today, which are in essence no different from the old cliffhanger serials, only those were in 5-10 minute increments. A feature, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND plays out like a dozen of those episodes screened consecutively w/ no breaks - like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC et al. MYSTERIOUS ISLAND's characters encounter episodic challenges like clockwork, vis-a-vis the Spielberg/Lucas concept for the first RAIDERS: the bad guys have arrived and we must escape; we've escaped the bad guys but now we're at the bottom of the ocean and mutant sea monsters have surrounded us; we escaped the monsters momentarily but our primary sub is damaged - but if two of us can risk a trip to the emergency back-up sub, maybe we can repair this one and return to land...! Et cetera.

...None of the above items are unusual or special to my calloused brain....... except this was 1929! And I think if I'd seen MYSTERIOUS ISLAND in 1929, I'd have had the same reaction audiences had walking out of 2001, STAR WARS, JURASSIC PARK, THE MATRIX, and so on.

Lionel Barrymore, best known for playing one of Cinema's most loathsome villains in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, is the lead here - a surprisingly charismatic and likable mad scientist who comes off more as Jimmy Cagney than Doctor Rotwang. Refreshingly, the film gives him a heroic/tragic redemption arc instead of blithely letting him off the hook for setting all the mayhem in motion.

The special FX range from transparent but respectable for the era (in that you can totally figure out how they did them and you could probably do the same in a large bathtub) to legitimately impressive on occasion (the technology all looks cool and expensive), and then arcs all the way back to the kinds of rubbery monster effects that we laugh at when they appear in 50s and 60s movies. Again, those hilariously bad FX had to start somewhere. Decades earlier, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND almost makes them look credible. 

Clearly no expense was spared making this inventive blockbuster spectacle. The filmmakers had to figure out some of this stuff as they proceeded, and Cinema was the beneficiary. If you're a fan of the original KING KONG's seminal FX, or just like ancient screen mayhem, you will appreciate this one.

4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Stuff" (1985)
America has gone crazy for "The Stuff," a mysterious new low-calorie, great-tasting dessert treat. A P.I. hired by the Stuff's competition figures out that the gooey white stuff is actually a hostile parasitic organism that takes over the bodies of those who ingest it. Hilarity ensues.
Larry "It's Alive" Cohen's horror comedy has cheap special effects, d-list actors, and less-than-stellar performances, but it's still a pretty vicious satire on consumerism culture that manages to deliver the gooey goods. Underrated and worth a look.

[Dr. Whom]

Kpop Demon Hunters (2025)

I had to watch this, of course. So, there's this girl group who can banish demons with their songs. To combat them, the demon lord launches a rival boy group in order to lure away the fans. Turns out that the leader of the girl group is secretly half demon while the leader of the boy group wants to escape his demonic nature.

This isn't bad as such, but it is completely by the numbers. The songs of the boy group are catchy, though, and the girl group had support from Twice, with one song being performed by Jihyo, Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung, so there is that. The style of animation doesn't much for me, but it has it fans.

What suprises me the most is that everybody seems to like this. To me, this falls into the same category of 'competent but uninspired' as The Electric State. Yet, there people were falling over themselves to criticise it as heralding the end of civilisation as we know it. Perhaps Kpop Demon Hunters gets a pass because there are no big names/big budget attached to it? Or is it because the source material is viewed differently?

[Rev. Powell]

I mentioned that in the "invent a bad movie" title thread, lol. I imagine everyone likes it because (besides a few curious people like you) only fans of the bands involved are watching it.

[M.10rda]

I think THE STUFF is one of Cohen's best films and (once you digest it a little, heh heh) its odd tone and pace really grows on you. I would only take issue w/ the comment about "D-list cast" - it stars the late great Michael Moriarty, a messed-up person but a tremendous actor who gives a rare and lovely comedic performance. Will and Justin on "The Important Cinema Club" compared Moriarty's job in THE STUFF to a Bill Murray role, and I think that's a good allusion. Moriarty strolls though this bizarre horror movie utterly unflappable, except for the moment he meets Garrett Morris' "Famous Amos" character and shouts "You're Chocolate Chip Charlie!!!" like he's 8 years old. I love THE STUFF.

I started a review of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957), then my internet froze up and I lost it. First-time viewing and the most impressive thing is seeing how much the Coen Bros learned from and were influenced by this film. Of course it's co-written by the guy who was the inspiration for BARTON FINK, Clifford Odets. There's a ton of SSOS' DNA in BARTON, MILLER'S CROSSING, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, and of course HUDSUCKER PROXY, as well as others. One of the members of Steve Dallas' jazz band in SSOS is even a dead-ringer for Michael Stuhlbarg's character from A SERIOUS MAN. SSOS is a good movie but a great film history lesson!

[FatFreddysCat]

"Cartoon Carnival" (2021)
Film scholars and animation historians look back at the earliest animated cartoons created during the silent-film era, featuring such mostly-forgotten characters as Bosko, Mutt & Jeff, and Gertie the Dinosaur, created by pioneers like Winsor ("Little Nemo") McCay, J.R. Bray, and even the young Walt Disney, all of whom were basically inventing the art of animation as they went along. A cool documentary for fans of cartoon obscurities.

[Dr. Whom]

I mentioned that in the "invent a bad movie" title thread, lol. I imagine everyone likes it because (besides a few curious people like you) only fans of the bands involved are watching it.

Indeed you did. Netlix had been pestering me with it and when I saw you post, I decided to give it a go. Strangely enough, it has a good Rotten Tomatoes score, and a glowing review in Variety. Again, it is not bad and the perfect thing to watch if you happen to have a niece who is into Kpop (it is a very girly movie). But it is so by the numbers.

[Rev. Powell]

KRYPTIC (2024): A shy woman encounters a mysterious cryptid in the Canadian wilderness, which causes either amnesia or an identity shift. An unfocused surrealist horror that loses the audience in a long, meandering second act that sends the heroine on a road trip where she encounters a series of mildly quirky but basically uninteresting characters. 2/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Deep Web (2015) - Bill and Ted's anarchist drug underworld cyber adventure. Alex Winter wrote and produced and Keanu Reeves narrates this documentary about the dark net, mainly about the rise and fall of Silk Road. One thing I remember about the roll out of this doc was Winters talking about how he minimized talking about bitcoin because he didn't think it was very interesting or relevant. I'm sure he is regretting that decision now. There is some mention of it as the currency of choice, but not much else.

It's kind of hard to reconcile Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht's Austrian economics-fed idealistic anarchism (probably a Ron Paul guy) with Silk Road's main function as a place for people to buy hard drugs. One interesting perspective was from a Baltimore police chief, whose city is overrun with drug violence. Maybe it actually would be better if people could simply buy drugs off the internet and there were no $ incentive for gangs or shootings. Of course, you'd still have desperate addicts, but it would likely make the drug universe smaller.

I remember reading somewhere that somewhere around 7 % of the population is apt to indulge in drug use more or less regardless of policies. That's probably not totally accurate, but besides being a court case movie it brings up these other things.

I don't have a Tor browser so I'd never seen any of the websites before. I imagine it must be time for a sequel to this.

4.5/ 5

I used to follow Ulbricht while he was in prison on twitter. In his occasional tweets, he seemed like a normal guy in a place for much rougher and scarier people. Trump pardoned him, apparently baffled that that was all the libertarians wanted.