Here Comes the Apocalypse - 60's Style

In case you're wondering if I continued working my way through my unwatched DVDs by decade - wonder no more. Because I have. But with October approaching (and therefore the 30 days of Halloween!) I'll be saving some of my reviews to post then.
I watched this MGM Midnite Movies double feature:
I wanted this set mostly so I could have a decent copy of Last Man on Earth - it's a public domain film and the other copy I had was of the 1.99 variety.

As far as Panic, it's an interesting film if you want to know how people might behave in an 'end of the world as we know it' 60's style. Milland and family have packed up their camper and are on their way out of town, when oops, nuclear bombs fall in Los Angeles. They try to return home, but when that fails, Milland slips into 'preservation mode' and goes about doing what he needs to do to protect his family. I thought this was an interesting film in that you can see what people in the 60's may have thought a nuclear war might bring as far as trying to survive and what people might have to do - and how a nice, ordinary, everyday typical 'nuclear' (!) family might have to behave in ways they never thought they would.

I liked Last Man on Earth before I bought this, and I still enjoy it. Years ago I read 'I Am Legend' when I heard that it was the inspiration for Romero's zombie films. As you probably already know, three films have been made from that book by Richard Matheson, 'Last Man', 'Omega Man' (with Chucky Heston), and 'I Am Legend'. I have seen 'Omega Man' but hardly remember it. All I really remember are these spooky lookin' folks:
And unfortunately I don't think the rest of the film is as fun as that picture might lead you to believe. I can't say for sure but I don't have any urge to go back and rewatch it - so I must have been barely entertained at best.

I did enjoy I Am Legend - out of all three films, it has the benefit of a large budget and the full Hollywood treatment complete with CGI.

But there's something about the simplicity and barrenness of Last Man on Earth with the added benefit of watching Vincent Price deal with being, well, the last man on earth. I think the film captures a certain creepy isolation that the other films don't quite have. Or at least not in the same way. Especially haunting is the scene where soldiers are tossing bodies into a huge fire pit and Price is there searching out one of his deceased loved ones - not wanting them to go into the fire - but ultimately realizing that the body has to be disposed of that way.

Once I got into the 60's, I went to another Price double feature - but I'm going to stash that review away for October. After all, no Halloween season is complete with a Price film or two. I'll continue to work my way through the 60's and beyond - but I'll probably only post every other review for now, and keep the rest until then. I'm taking the advice of other bloggers who do the same since I was unable to keep up last year.

I'll post a link to the full list of Halloween bloggers once the list is compiled. Big thanks to John Rozum for putting this together once again! Check out his fantastic blog here.

-Mother Firefly

Splinter

Since I'm on break this week and therefore subjected to the constant loud drone of construction outside my window for 12 hours a day, it's the perfect time to use my headphones and take advantage of Netflix streaming. So I decided to check out this little film -->

This is a fun little movie that goes along great with the summer season. If you're a fan of 'nature goes wild' or even zombie films, I encourage you to check this one out. For my part, it appealed to my fear of 'don't touch it or you're dead' kind of The Blob mentality. When I was a kid, the idea that if you even so much touched with one finger, you were done for, was terrifying. The same goes here - except that The Blob couldn't reanimate corpses or chase after you.

The cast is small - just four people if you don't count the reanimated corpses already infected that they encounter. There's the unfortunate couple who attempt to go camping and the other unfortunate couple on the run from the law. They cross paths - and what begins as a kind of action/thriller soon descends into an all out horror film as they find themselves defending an attack from something they don't understand (and neither do we since we never get a real explanation for this thing - but that just makes it scarier).

One interesting thing about this movie was the dynamic between the couple celebrating their anniversary. The woman was the one who knew how to drive the stick shift, who knew how to pitch a tent, while hubby was a kind of whiny nerdy science loving stereotype. At first I found it a little hard to believe that these two could really be a couple until the shit hit the fan and Mr. Biology Degree actually came in handy as far as observing and understanding how the monsters worked.

The reanimated corpses are scary and nasty looking and move in really messed up ways. My only complaint was that sometimes the movie was edited in a way that made it hard to really get a good look - I thought that the camera could have lingered longer on the corpses as they shuffled around.

The Splinter website says the movie has won multiple awards at Screamfest and other festivals - and they're certainly deserved. You can read about those here:
Splinter website
and also have a look at all the places online that it's available.

Martyrs

I have two things to say.
1) It's hot and I'm whiny; and
2) I watched a movie two weeks ago that blew my mind and I'm finally ready to say something about it.

I literally had to take some time out to let this movie roll around in my head a while to decide what I wanted to say about it. Which is about a third of the time it took for me to get the nerve up to watch it. It sat at the top of my Netflix list for about six weeks listed as available. I lost track of the number of times I moved it from the number one spot to a somewhat safer placing a little further down the line. I'd heard so much about this movie yet I somehow (thankfully) managed to avoid hearing TOO much. Finally I decided I better watch it because the hosts (and call in guests) of my favorite horror radio show, Deadpit.com, were talking so much about it that I was afraid I'd end up hearing the whole plotline before I finally sat down to watch it.

What I knew about the movie was that torture was among the main themes of the movie. What I kept hearing was how horrifying and difficult to watch it was. But - what I also kept hearing was that it was worth it, and that it was possibly the best horror film of the year. Plus - it was also French - and if you're any kind of horror fan whatsoever, you've got to be somewhat aware that France has been kicking out some pretty intense (but fantastic) horror movies in the last few years. While we in the good old USA, home of Hollywood, tend to either get Saw sequels or remakes of movies that were actually good. Or we get lame crap like The Unborn, The Haunting of Sarah What'sHerFace, or The Orphan.

So I tend to either rewatch my favorites or search out independent or foreign horror movies when I hear about them on the grapevine. I again give a shout out to Deadpit, because as a grad student I don't always have time to keep up on the latest, but I always have time to listen to their show while I do mindless (but necessary) tasks like cooking dinner and doing laundry. I just want to take a moment of silence to give thanks for the internet, mp3 players, and podcasting.

There.

So between Rue Morgue, Deadpit, and my brother (here's his review) this movie was definitely on my radar. So I finally left it in the number one spot and it came. And then I took a week to watch it.

Part of my trepidation concerned another French film that I think is just about one of the most frightening films I've ever seen, called Inside. I lost track of the number of times I either swore or covered my eyes, or both. I recently watched it again with a friend (who asked me before hand if the warnings on the box really lived up to their promise - and wholeheartedly agreed afterwards that they did) and I had just as much trouble and turmoil watching it the second time as the first. So based on my experience of Inside, and everything I heard going in, I was scared as hell to watch it.

Now - I am a true horror film fanatic. I've been watching horror films since my preschool years. I love them all from the silents to the Universal classics to Hammer to exploitation to the slasher films of the 80's. I'm constantly searching out new things from the 30's to the 80's looking for films I may have missed. Unfortunately with that many films behind me, I'm also somewhat jaded, as we true horror fans tend to me. I'm lucky if I blink fast during the 'scary' parts. The most I can hope for is maybe some well done makeup effects or some memorable imagery. I don't ever watch horror films anymore expecting to be scared.

That is until French people started all this nonsense. It started (for me) with a free pass to see a preview of High Tension a few years ago. If you haven't seen High Tension, bookmark this page, turn off your computer, and go watch it. Now. I'll wait.

I had no idea that a movie could still put me on the edge of my seat - literally. I usually rewatch my old favorites with a bit of nostalgia recalling how those movies made me feel when I was a kid watching them for the first time. I've never EVER seen a movie in at least the last ten years that put me firmly and squarely back in my pre-teenage self and made me remember what it was like to watch those movies for the first time. AND a female protagonist to boot. It was a gift from the horror movie gods.

I'll save my reviews of the other French films I've seen for another post - I have a couple others lined up to watch in the next week - and get back to Martyrs. I've said often enough before that you don't need to give me ALL the answers. In fact, I prefer to leave a movie with a mystery or two to ponder in my head. Having said that, there's a fine line between leaving purposeful gaps and creating a stink pile of nonsense that lacks any kind of real logic at its center. (See- Haunting of Molly Hoo-Ha)

I also do NOT enjoy watching movies that contain violence merely for violence's sake. I quit watching the Saw franchise after part 3 when halfway through the movie I felt queasy and kind of, well, dirty inside. Another movie that illustrates this phenomenon perfectly to me is the Australian film Wolf Creek. I went to the theater to see it and honestly just wanted to walk out. I felt like the three characters had no other purpose in the film other than to be maimed and tortured. It was literally a movie where three young people run into a bad man, and he kills them painfully and slowly. And that's the entire film. The End.

I realize that there is an audience for films like Saw (obviously- they still make a mint) and Wolf Creek. And that's perfectly fine with me - I applaud and encourage people to make any kind of film that they choose to. But if you're going to graphically maim and dismember people in front of my eyes, you need to give me more than that to get me to watch your movie. You've got to make your story compelling enough that I'm willing to watch those images. In other words, take me somewhere and make me feel something other than wanting to throw up and take a shower.

Now I know some people might point out that I watch all kinds of films with violence and gore that have absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. And I don't think that every horror movie needs a social statement. Sometimes it's just pure fun. Sometimes gore and violence are tongue in cheek. For instance, I don't take the Friday the 13th or Halloween films seriously at all. To me they're our generation's version of Grimm's fairy tales. Fairy tales contained warnings imbedded within them. If you're naughty, the witch will get you. Friday the 13th has the same message. Do drugs, have premarital sex, and Jason will get you. Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers are all just different versions of the Boogeyman.

Back to Martyrs - so I went into this film with all kinds of trepidation. Hell, even the director provides an intro in which he says that you might hate him after you watch the film. But overall - I have to say that the film was less hard for me to watch (going by the total number of times I literally covered my eyes - once - vs about a half dozen for Inside) than I thought it was going to be. I pretty much attribute this to all the warnings I had going in. It is NOT a pretty film. It is violent and graphic and bloody and there are all sorts of things being done to women in this film that you probably never wanted to imagine.

I don't really even want to get into a plot synopsis - it wouldn't be difficult to find one if you're really interested. I think the less you know about this movie, the more you'll get out of it. I will say however, that it's almost like three films in one - it literally has acts that unfold one after the other - and with every act you slip deeper and deeper into depravity. Instead, if anything I've said has made you curious, take a deep breath, rent it, and hold on. Oh - and probably don't eat dinner while you watch this, either.

I don't think this film is for everyone. It's one of the most twisted things I have ever seen in my life. But it also made me think - and it kept me thinking long after the movie was over. Unfortunately I can't really explain any of that without giving away some major plot points - but suffice it to say I really do feel that this is a film that goes beyond its harsh images to be provocative and to leave its imprint on your mind. And it wasn't the torture scenes that I kept coming back to as I thought of it - it was more character motivation, plot, just the whole general depravity of what was going on in the film. I'm not dying to watch it again - but I'd definitely add it to my collection and someday, I"ll be brave enough to watch it again.

Coming to DVD in October

To watch trailers go here

House of 1,000 Corpses Living Dead Dolls

One Last Blast from the 50's

I found this in the big sale on Amazon last year, and I bought it because it fit my criteria:

-it looked all kinds of stupid

- and it was under five bucks.

We have a scientist who gets exposed to radiation -
and everything seems to be okay until he goes out in the sun. Then he turns all kind of ugly.

This is classic 50's fun - science gone wrong, a goofy monster suit, and lots of girls screaming. Although don't think too hard about the plot - after all, if the dude just STAYED IN THE DANG HOUSE ALREADY, he wouldn't have his little monster problem.



Good times.

Update: If you're so inclined, you can watch the entire movie on Youtube courtesy of Image Entertainment.

Link

Science Fiction Double Feature

This double feature is courtesy of the Midnite Movies People.
Phantom is from 1955 and Beast is from 1958.
Both clock in under 80 minutes.
Yay for short attention span friendly fare!




Pay attention to the pretty posters....because unfortunately they're the best thing about both of these movies.

Phantom: I tried hard with this movie, believe me, I did. I even started it over twice.
But I just couldn't get into it. At first I thought it was going to be kick ass when I saw this in the first five minutes.



Yippee! Underwater rubber monster suits - and in the first five minutes! But unfortuntately the rest of the film doesn't hold up to the cheesiness. There's a scientist, and his daughter, and a cop, and radioactive material in the ocean, that the scientist somehow made the monster to protect. As you can imagine, that plan does't work so well. It all ends with dynamite and a big boom and that's that.

Beast: Again, not the best film - but definitely more interesting than Phantom. For one thing, the characters and their relationships are definitely unusual for the time. We have mom, dad, and their teenage daughter living on a failing farm. Dad feels like a fuck up and is sure that wifey agrees; Mom is a real biotch and even admits she's 'not easy to live with' and takes her frustrations out on the hired mute help. Daughter just wants everyone to be happy and doesn't understand why they're not. Oh and it's her bday.

We have some weird air disturbance, which everyone thinks is a low flying plane that went over emitting a terrible noise, and first animals and then people start acting homicidal. Turns out it's not a plane but this dude, who comes off in the movie like he's about six inches tall.

Sorry for the bad capture - every scene of the alien is superimposed by a big dumb eye.

And how do the one million eyes come into play? Because in the beginning of the film the alien does a menacing voice over letting us know he will be keeping an eye on every move we make....thus the one million eyes bit. Because i guess we'll feel like he has a million eyes. Ooookay. Based on the easy way the family dispose of him in the end, a million eyes is not such a big deal after all.

So not scared,
Mother Firefly