Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Dr. Whom]

Nude on the Moon (1961)

Way back when, when we were still downloading stuff by dubious means from the internet, I got hold of a version, but that turned out to have no sound. Now, nobody watches Nude on the Moon for the dialogue, but I thought I'd experience the thing as it was intended.

This is one of those 'the title says it all' movies, much like Snakes on a Plane or The Creeping Terror (although the last one is not much of a terror, though it certainly is creeping). The whole story is beyond ridiculous, and the less said about the acting and production values the better. However, the charms of Doris Wishman and her troupe make up for a lot. It also has the silliest spacesuits in the history of SF. Still, I must admire the cast for keeping a straight face throughout the filming.

[M.10rda]

THE HANDS OF ORLAC (1924):
I skipped this for many years, figuring if you've seen at least two versions of this story (w/ one of them being MAD LOVE) you've probably seen them all. Then it occurred to me: the director (Robert Wiene) and star (Conrad Veidt) of CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI made another horror movie - why am I not watching it?!

Well, indeed you can't do it much better than the Lorre/Freund masterpiece, but this was worth watching once. Even in a more realist milieu, Wiene's impressionist sets and lighting are... impressive! And Veidt looks like he's having a really good time staggering around striking poses and regarding his hands in abject horror. At least I hope he's having a good time... it would be no fun for a method actor to play Orlac.

The plot gets a little carried away with itself and the penultimate twist, which is similar to one in MAD LOVE, really strains one's credulity. (MAD LOVE somehow gets away with this by just asking the viewer to commit to Lorre being a complete insaniac and thus throwing scientific plausibility to the wind.) But the final twist here - which seems different from other versions I've seen - is pretty clever and actually more disturbing for pulling an "Orlac was totally overreacting the whole time" switcharoo.

3.5/5 Good enough for 102 years ago!

[indianasmith]

28 YEARS LATER (2025) - I watched this the other night with my daughter and found it to be the most enjoyable of all the 28 YEARS franchise thus far.  All of England is under total quarantine, and the Infected run rampant.  One small group of survivors has formed a colony on a small island off the coast, with a causeway that is only exposed at low tide. But they still visit the mainland regularly to forage for supplies.  Enter young Spike, about 12 years old.  His father is taking him on his first foraging expedition, leaving his sick mother at home. They barely make it back from the expedition, but the boy learns that there is still a doctor living on the mainland who might can help his mother . . . and so the quest begins.  Very well done film!  4.5/5

[M.10rda]

LAST OF THE AMERICAN HOBOES (1967):
Titus Moody (aka Moede) played "Boo Boo" in R.D. Steckler's immortal RAT PFINK A BOO BOO and shows up frequently (sometimes uncredited) in all manner of low-budget flicks from the 60s and 70s. Moody also directed some shorts of his own, one narrative feature, and this 90-minute passion project that is a documentary in roughly the same way that LEGEND OF BOGGY is a documentary.

Moody, apparently self-conscious about the verity of his finished product, even opens the film with a disclaimer about the difficulty of recording useable footage and sound on hobo-relevant locations (stock cars, crowded shelters, the woods, etc) though he assures us that he has preserved the essence of his subjects' stories.  That's probably true, and lots of this footage is clearly of real "hoboes" across the US, doing their thing. There are also obvious recreations (such as of the execution of labor organizer Joe Hill). Then there's a lot of footage that blurs the line, with the easily recognizable Moody in hobo drag hiking with a rucksack and chatting with other hoboes in interviews that often seem scripted and rehearsed (or even post-dubbed). This isn't mere speculation - there are appearances by other recognizable indie actors from the era, playing hoboes... like Corman regular Bruno VeSota and RED ZONE CUBA director/star Coleman Francis... who according to some reports eventually became a hobo in real life in the early 70s, prior to his death.    Thus he's pretty convincing, anyway!

Moody edits the film in a brisk and creative way, but LOTAH is ultimately a boutique item, possibly of interest to historians and otherwise only of fans (like me) of obscure 60s movie artists. Honestly the topic and Moody's handling of it bummed me out a bit. I suppose the hobo lifestyle was celebrated because of their commitment to freedom and refusal to conform to society's expectations, or - something. Hoboes haven't vanished, however - they're still everywhere in the US - they're called "the homeless", and we just stopped celebrating them and started vilifying them on talk shows. 

3/5    The film also serves as a feature length commercial (or music video) for its soundtrack album of (mostly electric) covers of early 20th century folk songs. There's even an opening credit reminding viewers to go buy it.

[Rev. Powell]

THE PLAGUE (2025): A tween goes to a water polo themed summer camp and tries to fit in with the other boys, who make merciless fun of the weird kid by claiming he's got a contagious disease they call "the plague." A adolescence drama executed with horror movie aesthetics; the plague may be a pernicious form of same-sex cooties, but the real horror is conformity. 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

HOWLER (2025): On the eve of receiving a major award, a poet begins having visions related to a local disappearance. Extremely ambiguous microbudget arthouse movie, with some occasionally effective trippy visuals but overly theatrical acting, that proceeds more like a series of poems than a consistent narrative. 1.5/5.