From Beyond the Grave

the VHS cover is a bit more sensational than the movie itself

the VHS cover is a bit more sensational than the movie itself

It’s strange what can draw a person to a movie, or repulse them as well.  Take this movie, for example.  Put out by Amicus, who did a lot of anthology movies around the late ’60s and early ’70s (such as Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors and Tales From the Crypt), it was directed by their in-house director Kevin Connor (At the Earth’s Core, Motel Hell; tho this was his first movie for them) in workmanlike fashion without much style or flair, but enough talent to develop an entertaining movie.  What puts it over the top and makes it more enjoyable is the performances.  They lift this movie away from being a silly, mediocre early ’70s British horror quickie (of which there are plenty) and turn it into, well, maybe not quite a classic, but an enjoyable watch.
fbg7
As mentioned above, it’s an anthology, featuring 4 stories (plus a wrap around story to tie them all together).  It details what happens to several dishonest customers who come into an antique shop named Temptations Ltd, which is run by Peter Cushing, looking rather haggard and older than he really was (his wife had passed away just a year or two before filming, which was very hard on him), but charming and gentlemanly as ever (Cushing brings something extra to most any role he played, but he seemed almost born to play this role- he is perfect in it).  His performance anchors the film, but it’s complimented by several of Britain’s finest actors.
fbg6
In the first story, the always reliable David Warner fast-talks him into selling a valuable mirror very cheaply, which turns out to hold the spirit of a dangerous being who demands to be fed… with blood  This story is hampered by not having enough time to breathe and create suspense, and a pace that’s way too fast.  It’s probably the weakest story of the bunch, and even Warner can’t really save it from being a bit bland.
fbg3
The second segment is probably the best one, in which a worm of a man stuck in a loveless marriage with a shrew (played by Diana Dors, who was also in Theatre of Blood with Vincent Price) befriends a down on his luck ex-military man (a nicely restrained Donald Pleasance) selling matches on the street corner.  He steals a medal from Temptations Ltd to impress the ex-serviceman, who invites him over for tea, and to meet his daughter (played by his real life daughter Angela Pleasance).  Things are not as they seem, tho, and everyone gets what’s coming to them.
fbg4
The third story is a comedy, and a showcase for the entertainingly hammy talents of Margaret Leighton, a British theatre actress who never did much on screen.  She plays an eccentric  medium who spies a homocidal (and invisible) imp attached to the shoulder of a man who just came from ripping off Temptations Ltd for a silver snuff box, and tries to help him get rid of it.
fbg5
The last tale, like the first one, suffers from being too short and being hurried along at too fast of a pace, and involves young couple who buy an antique door that sometimes opens a doorway into another world.

The storylines themselves are rather hokey and pedestrian, but the acting is outstanding.  You end up liking a lot of these characters (or disliking some of them, as they are played to be unlikable), and wanting to see them interact with each other more.  The set dressing and production values are also very nice, and provide a great atmosphere for the stories.  Unlike rivals Hammer, Amicus didn’t soak their movies in gore and blood much, and this one is no exception- the violence and bloodletting is rather tame, and the overall feel of the whole thing is actually very quaint and charming.  I find the old time urban British setting to be a nice place to visit on screen, which makes the whole thing even more appealing.
fbg2
So, to sum it all up, From Beyond the Grave is not a masterpiece, but is a nice little charming horror anthology that would go good on a cold October night with hot chocolate and peanut butter crackers (or whatever your snack of choice might be).

Machete Kills

mk6

Last week, in my review of Argento’s Dracula 3D, I wrote: “For me, there are 3 basic levels that I can enjoy a movie on.  The first level is how good it is.  The acting, story, cinematography, direction, and originality of it.  Is it clever?  Charming?  Interesting?  Does it have anything to say?  Some movies knock several of these out of the ball park, and those are great movies.
If it fails the first level, then we drop down to the second level- does it have at least one or two of the above things done well enough that it makes up for lacking in the others?  There’s a lot of fairly bad movies that can at least craft a good atmosphere, or have a clever twist, or good comic timing; something cool about it.
Failing the above two levels, the last one is if it’s at least entertaining in some way.  Is it fun?  Over the top?  Charismatic?  Does it pack a ton of crazy shit in it to  make up for the bad story and acting?  Or is it at least so bad it’s ridiculous, and therefore fun to laugh at?”.  
Machete Kills is totally a 100% perfect example of the third level.  It has everything (except subtlety and realism)- more beheadings and machete kills than any Friday the 13th, crazy, over the top violence and characters, tough ass chics, a wild sense of humor, disembowelments, death by helicopter blade, boob guns, a laser that when you’re shot by it turns you inside out, gratuitous everything, someone getting shot about every 45 seconds, and Tom Savini.  So tho it’s not exactly a well put together cinematic cultural treasure, it’s entertaining and fun.
mk5

It did T E R R I B L E at the box office, but I recommend it.  I saw it at a bargain matinee, and I didn’t feel like I wasted my money.  You just have to have a good sense of humor and be in the mood for an over-the-top fun goofy violent grindhouse movie.
mk3

The story is about Machete Cortez, who fights evil, corruption, and the Mexican drug cartels every chance he gets.  When a terrorist with a nuclear bomb aims it at the White House, the President (Charlie Sheen) calls him up to go kill the terrorists.  He runs into trouble when the terrorist turns out to have a split personality (one good and one bad personality) and wires the bomb into a heart monitor that will send it off to the White House if his heart rate stops.  They also have to deal with a gang of heavily armed angry prostitutes and am assassin named El Camelion who can change his appearance almost to a supernatural degree (played by Waltor Goggins (from Predators and Django Unchained), Cuba Gooding, Jr, and Lady Gaga), before they finally meet the nefarious mind who masterminded the whole thing.

You can’t take this movie seriously, of course.  It’s along the lines of absolutely awesome movies like The Toxic Avenger and Street Trash, only a lot cleaner (and with more money and cgi, so not as cool).  It’s unbelievable and over the top and funny, and I enjoyed it (I liked it better than the first Machete, or director Robert Rodriguez’s grindhouse tribute he did with Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse, which I liked ok (mostly for the stuff before and between the movies).  It could have used a little more substance, instead of blowing from one zany action piece to another (just a nice moment here and there for it to all sink in), and was a little preachy in a couple of places (but not too bad or unwarranted), but entertaining enough for the likes of me.

mk1

It’s too bad it did so bad at the box office with all the crap out there that should be doing worse, but you know what they say.  There’s no accounting for taste…
mk2

Reptilicus (1961)

rept

Recently, I found myself in the mood to watch a giant monster movie, but not one that I had seen in recent memory.  That left out most of the Godzilla and Toho films; most of the Asian monster movies in general.  It also left out the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, King Kong, and most any American made one as well (and let’s not forget the British Gorgo, which just got reissued on blu ray several months ago).  Then I remembered when I was a kid liking an old creature feature named Reptilicus.  I couldn’t remember much about it, so I did a little searching and found it pretty easily.

Unfortunately, my childhood memories had failed me, as the best thing about Reptilicus was it’s name.  Reptilicus himself is not a bad looking monster, kind of resembling Toho’s Manda (but more snake-like), with tiny little legs and wings that he never uses (well, in the U.S. version anyway- more on that later).  Rather than using stop-motion animation or a man in a suit (like most monster movies of the time), Reptilicus was a marionette.  His body is usually hidden behind trees or houses, and he raises himself up and sways back and forth while spitting out toxic green goo (very badly dubbed onto the film) and getting shot by stock footage tanks and soldiers.
rept5

The first quarter of the movie is very talky and pretty slow moving (and contains some groan-inducing attempts at comedy mostly involving a goofy security guard (played by popular Danish comedian Dirch Passer)).
rept4
A group of miners dig up a frozen but bleeding tail from a prehistoric monster, which scientists quickly confiscate and begin to study.  When the tail (accidently) gets thawed out, it starts regenerating and quickly becomes Reptilicus, who begins making his way across Denmark causing destruction and gooey green death.  An uncharismatic and annoyingly overacting general co-ordinates mostly useless attacks against him until someone accidently says something that gives him an idea on how to take Reptilicus down involving ‘a gallon of drugs'(?).

filmed in glorious Schlock-o-rama!

filmed in glorious Schlock-o-rama!

When I was a kid I didn’t realize how Danish it was.  There were actually 2 versions of the movie made, with 2 different directors but using the same script and monster (kind of like the 2 versions of the 1931 Dracula, except with Reptilicus they used almost all the same actors as well).  The Danish version was in Danish and had a different actress playing one role, and the American version was in English and produced by schlockmasters A.I.P..  The two versions were slightly different- the Danish version had more character subplots, and Reptilicus could fly (for some reason, A.I.P. cut the flying scene out, even tho it looked about as good as anything else in the movie.  Those interested can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmurhZ0VE5I ).  The American version added (badly) the green slime he shoots out of his mouth, and a scene where he eats a man (that is animated quite humorously, reminding me a little of the monster eating the man in the Cave of Death in Monty Python and the Holy Grail).
rept2
Obviously the intent was to make a rip off of Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, however this movie does not have the charm, talent, or money that one did, so it’s been regulated to the schlock bin of monster movie history, where it belongs.  Watch it only after watching most of the much better movies I mentioned above.

Argento’s Dracula 3D

drac
Before I watched this, I was wondering two things: 1) is it as bad as it looks (in the trailor) and as advanced word is saying; and 2) if it is that bad, will it at least be entertaining?

For me, there are 3 basic levels that I can enjoy a movie on.  The first level is how good it is.  The acting, story, cinematography, direction, and originality of it.  Is it clever?  Charming?  Interesting?  Does it have anything to say?  Some movies knock several of these out of the ball park, and those are great movies.
If it fails the first level, then we drop down to the second level- does it have at least one or two of the above things done well enough that it makes up for lacking in the others?  There’s a lot of fairly bad movies that can at least craft a good atmosphere, or have a clever twist, or good comic timing; something cool about it.
Failing the above two levels, the last one is if it’s at least entertaining in some way.  Is it fun?  Over the top?  Charismatic?  Does it pack a ton of crazy shit in it to  make up for the bad story and acting?  Or is it at least so bad it’s ridiculous, and therefore fun to laugh at?
drac3

I don’t think that Dario Argento has any movies that fall into the first catagory, but he has a lot that fall into the second one.  Even on his best movies, you can’t really question the story or think about things too much, you just have to go where his stories take you, and enjoy the ride.  Sometimes he is capable of making you want to do this, but several of his movies fall apart and are as big of a dopey mess as most of Rob Zombie’s oeuvre (tho a lot more of Argento’s fall into the third catagory- they’re silly and you can’t take them seriously, but unlike Zombie, Argento can take you on that ride and go over the top, which makes you want to go on the ride and not question or overthink things because it would ruin the fun).
drac2

So Dracula 3D definitely had the potential to be an entertaining and gory over the top ride (and the trailor certainly made it look like it might be- not good but a lot of fun).  The cast that I recognized (Asia Argento and Rutger Hauer (who was in the schlocky and over the top Hobo With a Shotgun, which was great)) have both been in a lot of good movies, and as I mentioned before, Argento can pull off an entertaining, fun (and weird) ride.
drac6

Unfortunately, it’s not as fun as the trailor made it seem; but it’s also not as bad as people are saying.  There are parts of it that are fun, and gory and over the top.  But too few.  It’s like a mash-up of Stoker’s original novel, his Dracula’s Guest story, and Dracula Has Risen From The Grave with bits of Coppola’s Dracula, Fearless Vampire Killers, and all the other Hammer Dracula films mixed in for good measure (it seems to be particularly influenced by Hammer).  It does manage to create a good atmosphere at times (he’s brought back his Susperia director of photography Luciano Tovoli, who does a great job filming shadow and light and setting a mood), and the period set pieces and costumes are good (once again kind of a Hammer feel to them with the inn and village).
drac4
There’s a decent amount of blood and violence, and it moves along at a fast pace.  That’s the good stuff.  On the other hand, it’s quite silly in places.  The CGI is barely passable to terrible.  Most of the actors overact to a high degree, and the score, tho actually really cool and kind of creepy in a couple of places, is jarring, cheesy, and distracting most of the time  (it actually sounds like a cross between the Fearless Vampire Killers score (good) and some really cheesy ’50s sci-fi alien invasion movie (bad)- I believe he might have actually copped some of the score to Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks for some of it).   The 3D is pretty much unnoticeable- I forgot it was even in 3D (except when I had to pay more).  Worst of all, it looks like a film anyone could have made (other than Argento’s obsession with insects- did you know Dracula could turn into a giant praying mantis, or a bunch of flies, or evidently most any bug he wants?  Where’s Jennifer Connelly when you need her?).
drac5
It’s not very stylized.  The story is slightly changed from the original story of Dracula, but it follows all the beats pretty closely, and doesn’t really have much to offer in the way of style and originality (he should have remade the classic tale as a giallo with Dracula as a black gloved serial killer.  Play to your strengths).

Argento just turned 73 years old, and I’m glad he’s doing more than sitting in a rest home molesting nurses.  I also am definitely not against a schlocky version of Dracula, but it needed more style and more blood and guts and charisma to compete with the true schlocky classics.  Too bad (tho it did still entertain me more than Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula)..

Frankenstein’s Army (2013)

fa8

A group of Soviet military misfits become lost in Germany near the end of the second world war.  Tho they’ve lost communications with the Red Army, they pick up a distress call from another group of fellow Soviets, and track it to a small town.  Along the way they begin to find bodies that are not normal- German soldier’s with strange bone growths and other modifications.

When they get to the town, they discover that it is mostly deserted, but occupied by a madman and his hideous creations- men stitched with machinery to make war creatures for the final battle raging across Europe.
fa5

I liked this movie quite a bit, however there are two caveats to my joy in it (and one that might be a deal breaker to some people).  Let’s get the big one out of the way- this is a first person found footage type of film, and furthermore it’s supposed to take place in World War II, so if you don’t like the found footage style of filming, or cannot suspend your disbelief enough to accept that the means to make a found footage film in those days is possible, you probably won’t get into the movie.  Tho the found footage trend has become tiresome, there are enough good movies out there that use that format to not make me disregard completely every movie that is released in that style.  And tho I’d like to see Frankenstein’s Army filmed in a straight filmmaking style, this actually works pretty well.

The second caveat is that it starts out a bit underwhelming with a fairly slow build up and  characters that are (mostly) unlikable and hard to sympathize with, as well as trying to film war scenes on an obviously threadbare budget,
fa

But all of that ceases to matter much when it gets good (about 35 minutes in).  After they reach the village and the shit starts hitting the fan, I found myself quite enjoying the steampunk-esque monsters (with great, unique designs and all practical FX) and mad scientist descendent of the original Dr. Frankenstein (played brilliantly by Karel Roden (who I only know from a few Guillermo del Toro movies)).
fa4
I’ve always liked stories where a group comes across the carnage left by  (or left of) a previous group, and has to piece together what happened to them.  This one has this in spades- not only do they have to figure out what happened to the Soviet group who sent out the distress call, they also have to figure out what happened to most of the townspeople, and the rest of their own group (once they get separated).  It’s cool seeing people who were previously friendly return as monsters.
fa6

I guess the only other quibble I’d have is that it turns very first person shooter video game looking near the end, when the cameraman is exploring the doctor’s base.  Running down hallways and around corners until he come across a monster, who inevitably throws it’s arms up and howls and starts chasing him.  But I still quite enjoyed this overall, and the make up and designs are outstanding.  I guess I’m just a sucker for a good monster and creepy set dressing (and practical/ non-CGI effects).
fa3

It just came out on DVD (I don’t think it ever went to any theaters), so it shouldn’t cost much to check out.  It’s definitely worth a look.

Final Asian Movie Month Movie: The Grandmaster (2013)

Well, Asian Movie Month (and a few days) is over.  Hopefully you enjoyed it.  I didn’t review as many films as I planned to, but I did hit on 5 of the most archetypal types of film in Asian cinema.  We started Asian Movie Month with the 30th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death, and ended it with the domestic release of the big budget film about his kung fu master and trainer Yip Man, The Grandmaster.  During that time, Guillermo del Toro released his tribute to Asian cinema Pacific Rim (which was big and very entertaining), Marvel released their story about Wolverine’s Japanese adventures The Wolverine (which was much better than X-Men Origins- Wolverine), and I ended it by taking in The Grandmaster.  There’s been at least 5 films about Yip Man of varying degrees of accuracy (probably the most accurate (but still somewhat loosely based) is the first Ip Man movie from 2008 that featured his son Ip Chun in it, and as a consultant), but this one is the newest (released to ‘select’ theatres this weekend, and should be more widely released soon), and probably the biggest production of the story.  

grand1

I’ll have to start off this review by saying that director Kar Wai Wong wrote and directed one of the most boring movies I’ve ever sat through.  In The Mood For Love (which he put out in 2000) was incredibly critically acclaimed (I’ve never read a bad review of it), but it was a real slog.  The only thing that kept me from falling asleep was the awesome cinematography, and a few interesting scenes that were hauntingly beautiful.  His skill at creating mood and atmosphere were apparent even in a movie that made me want to slip into a coma.  The only other movie by him I’ve seen is Chungking Explress (1994) which Quinton Tarantino loved so much he cut a deal with Miramax to release it widely.  It is also a love story (yet a bit more exciting).

So, you might surmise that Wong likes love stories.  Or, to be more exact, stories of love lost and aching (both In The Mood For Love and Chungking Express had a lot of that in them).  He also likes to film in the rain.  The Grandmaster has a bit of all of this- I haven’t seen all of the other Ip Man movies out, but The Grandmaster has a strong underlying theme of ‘love that could have been’ taking a back seat to rage and revenge, and the sad fact and outcome of such choices.

It also has some damn fine kung fu.  I’ve become increasingly annoyed and impatient with ‘shaky cam’ action scenes of late- it is ok in some movies, but now it seems to be the norm and a tactic used by directors to avoid filming a coherent or well done action scene.  I enjoyed the recent movie Elysium, except for the annoying action scenes which looked like a bunch of people jumping around and grunting while someone shakes the camera.  The Grandmaster has none of this.  The action scenes are filmed with a cold eye and micro precision, which I enjoyed immensely.
grand4

The movie starts off with a kung fu fight in the rain (of course) between Ip and a bunch of other fighters, with reflections on his early training by master Chan Wah-Shun.  Tony Leung, who also played the lead in In The Mood For love (as well as one of the leads in Chungking Express), and was in a ton of other Hong Kong films (Butterfly Sword, Hero, Infernal Affairs, Hard Boiled, etc.) plays Ip Man with dignity and a restrained ferocity and grace.
When Gong Yutian, a retired martial arts master from the north arrives, he announces that the south needs it’s own master (he’s already appointed a man, Ma San, as master of the north).  Ip Man decides to take the challenge, and (after being tested by the other southern masters) takes on Gong Yutian on an exchange of philosophical ideas.  Gong Yutian declares Ip Man the winner, however his daughter Gong Er (played by super star Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rush Hour 2, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, etc.) is unhappy with this outcome and challenges and defeats Ip Man in a battle in which whoever breaks a piece of furniture during the battle loses.  They part with mutual respect (and become pen pals).
grand2
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man’s family falls on very rough times, and Ma San becomes a traitor and kills Gong Yutian.  His final wish is that Gong Er be happy and not seek revenge, however this is a kung fu movie, so you know what happens next.

This movie was released in China in January as a 130 minute opus, however the U.S. version is chopped down to 108 minutes (not sure what we lost, but some of it does seem a little rushed, and needs a little more time to breathe).  Evidently ultra-perfectionist Kar Wai Wong spent over a year editing it, so I can only imagine what he thought of this cut.
It was cool to see Meng Lo (the Toad in The Five Deadly Venoms) in a small cameo (he was also in Ip Man 2: Legend Of The Grandmaster), and as artsy and restrained as it was, good to see some kung fu on the big screen again.  It was as beautiful and visually sumptuous as I expected, a cinemaphiles wet dream.  Every frame a work of art.  Now I want to see some trashy, old school ’70s kung fu theatre type of stuff on the big screen.  Bring it on!
grand3

Asian Movie Month Movie #5: Jack and the Beanstalk (1974)

Note: Asian Movie Month began on July 19, the 30th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death, and will end on August 23, the U.S. release date of the new movie The Grandmaster (aka Yi dai Zong Shi), the mytholized story of the Ip Man (for which there are already two Hong Kong produced movies- Ip Man (2008) and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010)) about the man who taught Bruce Lee how to fight.  Yes I know that’s a little longer than a month, but Asian Movie Month (and 4 days) doesn’t sound as catchy.

jack4

I realized that I haven’t done any Asian animation for Asian Movie Month, which is insane since that’s what whole slews of people are into about Asian culture- the anime!  I’ve been into anime since I was a kid, but really got into it back in the early ’90s, when you had to trade video tapes through the mail with people to get much of anything.  It was mostly ultra-violent stuff and hentai that was traded, stuff such as Demon City Shinjuku, Urotsukidoji, Violence Jack, Fist of the North Star, Devil Man,, etc. (and you quite often received the same movie under several different titles.  I have Wicked City under about 4 different names, but when you see a movie called Supernatural Beastie City on someone’s trade list, you just have to take the chance that it’s one you haven’t seen).
In most of the other Asian Movie Month movies, I’ve done ones that were not very obscure- most of them are pretty easily found and have been seen by most any Asian movie aficionados, but are good entry level movies for casual viewers.
With the anime I’m going a little different and more obscure, to a Japanese telling of Jack and the Beanstalk that tried incredibly hard to be charming and Disney-like, but is actually pretty creepy and offputting.
jack5

Jakku To Mame No Ki is the Japanese title, and starts off with young Jack and his dog Crosby being awakened by his mildly emotionally abusive Mother to get up and do the chores on their farm.  After some high spirited morning choring and adventures, he encounters a creepy looking obese bearded man with an eyepatch that most people would immediately identify as a sexual predator, but who Jack happily talks to because he is playing a weird, upbeat little new waveish ditty on an organ that looks like a giant typewriter.  He talks Jack into trading his horrified cow for a bag of magic beans, and howls out a terrifying laugh after Jack walks off.  Luckily the scene fades before we can see what he does with poor Bessie.

"I'll take your cow and your childhood!"

“I’ll take your cow and your childhood!”

Back home his mother verbally abuses him some more while beating the crap out of him and throws the beans out the window.
Overnight they sprout into giant Cthulhu-like tendrils that explode into the sky while a shrill voiced siren shrieks out a song on the soundtrack.  Down the beanstalk comes a mouse dressed like a princess who is attacked and almost eaten by a vicious owl, but makes it to Jack, who decides to climb up the beanstalk to see where the mouse princess came from.
At the top he finds a castle inhabited by a spaced out (obviously over medicated) young lady named Princess Margret, who tells him her parents were killed by an evil witch.  She then sings an incredibly bright and cheerful song called “No One’s Happier Than I” while floating around on clouds, her drugged out looking serene face and monotone singing voice capturing the perfect feel of someone slowly o.d.ing on Prozac and horse tranquilizers.  She is so happy because she will soon be married to her beautiful Prince Tulip.  It’s worth mentioning at this point that all of the scenes and people from the Earth in this are animated in a more Western style, while all of the people who live in the clouds are more Japanese anime looking.

Gentle and handsome Prince Tulip

Gentle and handsome Prince Tulip

Princess Margret takes Jack into the castle to meet Madame Hecuba, Prince Tulip’s “sweet and beautiful” mother, who turns out to be a creepy evil ice crone who force feeds him drugged soup and tries to eat him.  She is interrupted by her son, Prince Tulip, who turns out to be a giant who looks like a cross between 1980s Bruce Dickinson and an ogre.  He smells Jack and wants to eat him as well, but the mice had teamed up with Crosby to help him escape, where he finds the castle’s treasure room, including a hen that lays golden eggs and a talking harp.  He brings a bunch of the treasure home to his grouchy mother, and sings a happy song.  But Crosby sings a mournful, Sinatra-esque song about the moon in a bizarre scene interspaced with Jack’s happy song (Crosby hasn’t said a word up to this point, and can’t talk after the song is over).  Jack decides he should go back up to help the Princess and the mice.

As the movie moves closer to it’s denouement, it becomes more crazed and dark, including a weird wedding scene featuring paper cut out attendees given life with black magic and not one but two creepy wedding songs, an almost Looney Tunes like chase scene (with a punk rock (for 1974) song that I think is sung by the same shrieky voiced woman who sang the beanstalk growing song), and at least one disturbing death scene (for a cartoon).

The music in this is very eclectic, ranging from Lynch-eaque jazzy bits to ’70s disco-tinged funky rhythms and psychedellic scenes and noises.  The whole thing plays out like a fever dream, and I wouldn’t doubt if Jack was actually abducted and sexually violated and murdered by the bean guy and the whole thing from the point they met on is his mind’s way of dealing with it (to create an alternate reality).  The movie’s bittersweet and charming but creepy feel will haunt you long after you’ve seen it, and you might wake up in the middle of the night with “No One Is Happier Than I” stuck in your head.  It’s truly the most depressing sounding song about happiness you’ll hear.  Sometimes, when I’m at my lowest points of depression and hopelessness, the song crawls up out of my subconscious and begins repeating in my head.
jack3
Click if you dare

The funny thing is that I get the feeling that the people making it were trying to make a charming, funny, happy Disney-esque children’s fantasy movie and made a haunting, offbeat hodgepodge of different styles of music, mood, and animation instead.  If you’re looking for something different than the usual anime, this might just do the trick.

You can find it for big bucks on Amazon, and I think you can find it in parts on youtube (a quick look found part 1 and 5, so the rest are probably on there).

Asian Movie Month Movie #4: Infra-Man

247620_4026327652906_1545788559_n

Infra-Man (international title Super Infra-Man) is probably the best tokusatsu movie that I’ve seen.  Released in 1975, it’s loaded to the brim with goofy monsters, kung fu fighting, sci fi gizmos, and a bug-eyed crimson cyborg Superhero; it’s the Citizen Kane of tokusatsu  movies.

Wicked Dragon Mom and her skull faced henchmen

Wicked Dragon Mom and her skull faced henchmen

The Princess of a legion of evil mutants unexpectedly arrives out of the blue and attacks Earth, causing earthquakes, fire and destruction.  She then calls for the humans to surrender to her, so she can rule the world.  Little does she know that the brilliant professor Liu, who works for some sort of scientific brigade of researchers who know kung fu, has been developing a way to turn a man into a cyborg superhero with advanced strength, speed, energy, x-ray vision, and weapons.

Infra-Man rips off Ultraman's signature move

Infra-Man rips off Ultraman’s signature move

Whip wielding (and humorously dubbed) Wicked Dragon Mom calls upon her mutant monsters (including the imaginatively named Giant Flying Lizard, Giant Beetle Monster, and (my favorite) the shaggy haired wild Laser Horn Monster (you can tell the people who named these monsters in English just weren’t really into it, tho they did step out of their uninspired drudgery with the unusually enthusiastically named Emperor Of Doom, who shoots a torrent of fire out of his mouth and has a big, red Pringles guy mustache (they should have named him Fire Breathing Mustache Monster)) to help her defeat the benevolent scientists, sending the Driller Beast to kidnap one of them for brainwashing, and the Octopus Mutant to attack their base.
Meanwhile, the Professor has shown Rayma, one of his most heroic disciples, the Infra-Man program.  Rayma very excitedly volunteers to become Infra-Man (even tho it is horribly painful and he might die).

Rayma being transformed into Infra-Man

Rayma being transformed into Infra-Man

The base is attacked by the Octopus Mutant, which disrupts Rayma’s transformation into Infra-Man, so he’s not as powerful as he would be if he completed the transformation, but more than enough to defeat the Octopus Mutant.

The Octopus Mutant

The Octopus Mutant

Wicked Dragon Mom sends her skull-faced football helmeted henchmen ( who whoop like flying monkeys) with the Drill Beast to kidnap the Professor’s daughter and demands he surrender himself to her.  Can Infra-Man save the professor and his daughter and defeat the evil Wicked Dragon Mom and her monsters? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.

The Drill Beast escorts the Professor to Wicked Dragon Mom's headquarters

The Drill Beast escorts the Professor to Wicked Dragon Mom’s headquarters

Infra-Man was the first superhero movie out of China, and was produced by the Shaw brothers (of course).  The story is fun and interesting and fairly sophisticated for this sort of thing (Roger Ebert even called it “classy and slick”), and the direction and acting is competent (the hero Rayma is played by Danny Lee, who went on to star in a lot of John Woo’s films including The Killer and City On Fire (which Tarantino ripped off for Reservoir Dogs).  An actor named Kin Lung Hung plays the tough sergeant of the Science headquarters, who is very good at kung fu.  Hung changed his name to Bruce Le later, and appeared in many kung fu Brucesploitation movies of the ’70s and early ’80s).

Infra-Man fights the Giant Beetle Monster

Infra-Man fights the Giant Beetle Monster

The monsters are quite goofy and entertaining, but also very imaginative looking.  A lot of tokusatsu  is rendered almost senseless by an incomprehensible plot, bad editing and a hyperactive pace and tone (which a lot of people like), but Infra-Man is more kaiju-esque in that it has a slower, more straight forward plot and everything is played seriously (except the monsters, but a lot of that is the English dub).  The music is also delightful- that old school ’70s analog Moog keyboard driven sci fi sound.  Gotta love it.  If you’re only going to watch one vintage cyborg superhero vs monsters movie, this should be the one.  It’s very charming and a lot of fun…
view the trailor HERE (note: this movie came out at the height of the popularity of the television show The Six Million Dollar Man, so the trailor trys to capitalize on that).

the Iron Fists Robots are the last monsters Infra-Man has to face

the Iron Fists Robots are the last monsters Infra-Man has to face…

 

Asian Movie Month Movie #3: Matango (Attack of the Mushroom People)

Asian Movie Month on PMT kicked off on Saturday July 19 (the 30th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death)  with my article on G-Fan magazine.  Besides the anniversary of Lee’s death (who was actually born in the U.S. and moved to Hong Kong, then back to the U.S.), Guillermo del Toro’s magnificent tribute to Asian cinema Pacific Rim was also released that weekend.  Now here is movie #3 in our look at Asian cinema, a movie which came out 50 years ago today…

Matango 1

Matango (also known as Attack of the Mushroom People and Fungus of Terror) was directed by Ishirô Honda, the Godfather of Kaiju films (he directed most of the Japanese Godzilla films, as well as Rodan, Mothra, The Mysterians, Varan The Unbelieveable, Frankenstein Conquers the World, and many more).  As a matter of fact, he made it in between making King Kong Vs. Godzilla and Atragon (which featured the giant serpent Manda who would later appear in Destroy All Monsters, which he also directed), and recycled a lot of music and sound effects from his Godzilla movies.

The story is not much of a monster movie though; indeed it’s actually a psychological thriller along the lines of Lord of the Flies.  It is very slow moving, there’s almost no action or kung fu, the monsters don’t appear until the very end, and a lot of kaiju fans will become bored before the halfway mark (even I found it a bit dull in places, and I like a lot of slow movies).  However it still features some excellent cinematography and weirdly atmospheric/ otherworldly set designs (reminding me a little of At the Earth’s Core, which came out over 10 years later), and managed to hold my interest throughout.
Matango 4

It starts out in Japan where a group of doctors are speaking to a man who is being held in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.  He tells them he is not crazy, but he has a crazy story to tell…
He was part of a day trip taken on a yacht into the Pacific ocean with 4 other passengers and 2 crew members (there was a writer, a singer, a professor and his student, a rich businessman (who owns the yacht) and the skipper and his first mate).

The yacht runs into a storm that snaps the mast and sends it adrift until they reach an island, seemingly uninhabited.  They see no animal or avian life on the island (they notice that birds actually avoid flying over it), but it has a lot of plants and particularly an abundance of fungus and mushrooms.  There are signs that there was previously human life on the island- they find some man-made pools, and eventually run across a derelict ship washed up on shore.  Upon exploring it they discover that it was a research vessel that was involved in some kind of nuclear testing in the ocean, and it is covered in fungus and mold.  They also discover in the ship’s log that the mushrooms might be dangerous to eat.
Matango 3
As their food grows scarce, they begin to turn on each other and some become paranoid and  unreasonable.  Eventually they discover that they are not the only beings on the island after all, and that eating the mushrooms doesn’t kill you, it changes you.  A creepier fate than starvation or death awaits them…
Matango 2

Tho it’s not at all the fun monster movie the title may conjure images of, it’s still worth a watch (particularly if you like psychological thriller type movies); and when the monsters finally do show up they look pretty awesome.  Every main actor in this except for Hiroshi Tachikawa (who plays the treacherous mystery writer, and is an Akira Kurosawa regular) have been in multiple Godzilla (and other kaiju) movies (including a bunch of the newer ones), and most of them are still making movies now (50 years later).

Matango was never released to the theatres in America, but was a television mainstay on sci fi theatre matinee type of shows in the ’70s (under the Attack of the Mushroom People title).  It was very difficult to find for years, but it was released on DVD in 2005 by Media Blasters.  Unfortunately,  I believe that is now out of print.

This is an AWESOME 3 pack, but unfortunately, it's out of print as well...

This is an AWESOME 3 pack that included Matango, but you guessed it- it’s out of print as well…

Asian Movie Month Movie #2: Xie Mo (aka The Devil)

xm1

Made in Taiwan and released in 1981 (as The Devil in the U.S.- it actually had a small oversized box video release.  Don’t confuse it with the Shyamalan produced U.S. thriller that came out a few years ago) this was probably one of the best of the Chinese bug puking movies (such as Centipede HorrorDevil Fetus, etc.).

The story is about a wealthy Chinese family and a stranger who enters their lives.  The father runs a very successful hotel which is managed by his nerdy nephew (who’s name is Achoo), and their bellboy is a standard issue (in Asian sci fi movies) annoying little twerp with a squeaky voice named Ding Dong.  Achoo and Ding Dong.  All they need is someone named Mr. Cool and it’ll be MST3K gold.  Did I mention there’s a beautiful, single daughter (named “Shirley”) that hangs around as well?  Unto this mix comes a handsome stranger named Mr. Cool (just kidding- his name is actually Mr. Ku, tho it sounds like Mr. Cool every time someone says it), who begins charming innocent Shirley with some alternately ridiculous and aggressive come-on lines and actions that would get someone a restraining order nowadays.  Ding Dong, enamoured with him, fools Shirley into going on a date with him, and then they’re getting married (?).
At this point, you might be wondering where the bug puking comes in.  During all of this, some other men show up at the hotel on occasion looking for a bad man named Chao Chin Tsing and causing problems.  Achoo mutters under his breath to each of them “I’ll get you someday” then they are afflicted with boils and start puking worms and centipedes and green goo until their stomachs burst.  One of them is also burned alive, but not before accusing Ku of being Chao Chin Tsing and cheating his sister.  Oh, there’s also a gore faced female ghost that hangs around and terrorizes people, who got her face bashed in on the first scene of the movie.  Somewhere in there is also a scene where a benevolent witch slices a guy open and pulls worms, maggots, snakes, and leeches out of his torso to save him.  And a meat cleaver murder.  And even some ghost fu.
xm

Is Ku the evil Chao Chin Tsing?  Is Achoo killing people who annoy him with black magic?  Will Ding Dong ever stop talking?  We don’t care because the dubbing and dialogue is terrible (in a good way), the director throws around snakes and worms like rice at a wedding, and you never know what kind of goofy thing will happen next.  Unrestrained and entertaining, it’s worth noting that the fact that things are so different over there (family life and obligations and honor and beliefs, especially over 30 years ago) that it makes things seem even more wacky.  Censorship was so tough that they could not show anyone kissing in their movies (all the scenes of Ku and Shirley making out are done slightly off camera, like gore in a PG-13 horror movie; tho the disembowelment and bug puking is shown with a cold eye and no turning away at all).  Ghosts and vengeance were a way of life (evidently they still are- I just read a story about a woman in China who got stuck between two buildings, and her calls for help were ignored for hours because people thought she was a ghost) so the comical reactions of people to the ghost isn’t really hyperbole.  The whole movie is pretty amusing, and worth a look if you can find it (I had to find it through underground VHS trading back in the early ’90s (“Ok- I’ll record you a copy  of Buio Omega and Make Them Die Slowly if you’ll send  me a recording of Xie Mo and Trap Them and Kill Them“,  Though you often got the same movie under several different names, it was still like finding buried treasure)).

xm3

UPDATE: OK, evidently someone has just recently uploaded the whole damn thing to youtbe.  Good for them!:
Xie Mo on youtube