Movie Reviews 94 – Maniac (1980)

I can’t figure out the hype touting this as a slasher classic. William Lustig’s movie about a psychotic man obsessed with his dead mom who goes around killing women seems to me to be as one dimensional a movie as you can get. I kept on waiting for it to be somehow different or to unique in some way. But truth be told, it was just a guy killing women. Plain, simple, open and shut case.

The late Joe Spinell (better known as the loan shark in the Rocky movies) who created the story and was also one of the script writers plays the killer who scalps his victims and places the scalps on the numerous mannequins that he keeps in his bare basement apartment. This is supposed to be some psychological masterpiece cinema, but even the luscious Caroline Munro as his last prized target cannot elevate this rather boring take on slashers. Sure there are plenty of Oedipus complex issues with the killer and some pretty dark and heavy scenes, but in the end it’s just a killer on the loose. Most of the mother issues are related simply with the killer blathering on and on to his in his delusional state.

The film does have a few redeeming qualities. For one thing the movie starts right into the action in the first minute. No slow and grand buildup. Another fine moment was seeing FX guru Tom Savini exploding a head. His own in fact. Savini is no thespian but I always enjoy seeing him for a few moments in a movie whether his head explodes or not.

This film was very controversial on its release but I believe that that was largely due to a number of aspects that were in the public’s eye at the time, one being the then recent Son of Sam serial killings going on and the sleazy putrid state of New York city at the time. In fact, seeing that New York of old was one of the things I enjoyed.

I just don’t see what all the fuss is about viewing the film today. I suspect those praising it may be doing so more out of a sense of nostalgia than pure merits of the film.

Movie Reviews 93 – Mimic: Sentinel (2003)

This one starts out with a young man peering out of his room window at the view of a building behind his house. He is constantly taking pictures of the people in and around the rear of the building and from each of the occupants in the apartments across the yard. From those pictures, he makes a collage on his own wall writing down the names of those people and assigning labels to those still unknown to him, like “The garbage man”, “Ma Bell” (an old lady always on the phone), and “The birdman” (a guy who has a bunch of birds as pets), etc.

This homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window works out pretty good in the beginning. We learn that his voyeuristic tendencies are supplemented by his teenage sister who goes out and gathers information like the real names of the people that he uses to update his ‘wall’ and that he’s also got his eye on one of the pretty young girls in the building he spies upon.

But why is he such a creepy voyeur at all? The man, you see, was one of the kids who survived the Judas plague that made all those kids sick in the first Mimic movie. He’s now a reclusive ‘bubble boy’, largely confined to his room, taking whiffs off a puffer, keeping fresh oxygen close at hand, and hyper allergic to smoke and other strong smells.

When people start disappearing he does not think much of it at first, but then he witnesses some disturbing sights in his field of view.  This leads his sister and that young woman (who also has a crush on him) to do some further investigating that will eventually unveil the truth that those nasty Judas bugs are still around.

It took awhile to settle in this movie, being so different from it’s predecessors, but I thought that it was interesting enough, albeit a bit slow. Things pick up a bit with the appearance of cult favorite Lance Henriksen in an enigmatic role but the crux remains on piecing together all the tidbits of information he gathers from the goings on in each of the apartments he spies. He is hampered by a cop who not only does not believe his recounting of the things he has seen that may shed light on the disappearances, but makes then makes matters worse by starting to date his own mother.

An oddly satisfying movie but there are a few leaps of logic that takes away from the whole. The worst part if the disappointing abrupt ending that is so ambiguous I thought they may have missed a complete reel when they cobbled this DVD together.

Movie Reviews 92 – Mimic 2 (2001)

As you can imagine, the artificially created mutant strain of roaches/creatures featured in Mimic are still alive after all. But this time the Judas bugs seem to haunt the halls of a small elementary school as much as New York’s deepest depths. But they are closer to achieving their goal of infiltrating mankind.

A string of three bizarre murders where the victims are all found faceless puts police detective Klaski (Bruno Campos) hot on the trail of the bugs, but his initial suspect is anything but. It is the cute elementary high school teacher (and world class bug expert) Remy (Alix Koromzay). This is because the teacher herself has had a string of failed romances and keeps a gallery of pictures of the men with whom she has had these romances. When some of the murdered men are also found to be in her gallery, Klaski has his prime suspect and  keeps close tabs on her for professional reasons as well as a developing personal interest.

But the fact that the men found murdered are also on Remy’s failed relationship gallery is no coincidence. It seems that the bugs have a special interest in her. Very special indeed. Although why she, above all others, was chose is never explained. The setup has most of the action taking place in the school itself, but in the off hours with Remy and two of her pupils. But there isn’t much to these battles to be especially interesting.

One of the problems with this movie is that you have to believe that a world class entomologist works as a high school teacher, much less why she is so important to the bugs at all. The one redeeming aspect of the film comes with a surprise ability of the bugs that, while hinted at, we don’t quite see coming. Not a complete yawner but at least if has a story, even with the many flaws.

Movie Reviews 91 – Mimic (1997)

I first saw this movie years ago at a get together with some friends in which we typically chose some B movie to watch and crack jokes over. The lamer, the better. But we were all a bit surprised to see that this movie had a bit more going for it than your typical low budget horror movie. Director Guillermo del Toro wasn’t yet a household name and honestly still hadn’t found his rhythm yet, but that was just around the corner and you can see the emergence of his talents here.

There is a deadly New York epidemic afflicting all the kids and scientists are trying everything to solve the puzzle when young entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) discovers that the plague is being spread by cockroaches. She and a senior partner develop a new strain of roaches, a ‘Judas’ bug, that not only kill the others, but will themselves die off after a generation, lacking the ability to reproduce.

Amid the reluctance of her one time mentor distressing over messing with nature, Susan becomes an instant celebrity and savior. Of course we soon get to the the inevitable turnaround when we find out that this new species have found a way to survive, practically a staple of Sci-Fi and Horror movies. Nothing remotely new here. But there is a twist and it’s literally a big one. The new species have not just managed to survive but they have gone to the most extreme of adaptations, specifically geared to combat their one true enemy, man himself.

The movie takes place mostly in subways, sewers and other forgotten subterranean pits under the Big Apple with lots of bugs and nastier things. Sure a lot of it is a stretch and there are plot holes aplenty, but it’s not all bad with some pretty neat effects and what can only be described as ‘squishy’ scenes. Watch shoe shiner Giancarlo Giannini as he follows the clickety-clack sounds of scattering roaches to find his autistic son who has crept into an abandoned building in search of the roaches. Only this time the roaches aren’t scattering!

Movie Reviews 90 – Children of the Damned (1964)

In Village of the Damned we were learned that the ‘event’ which led to the birth of the brainy psychic children was not an isolated event that happened only to the town of Midwich, but rather one that occurred simultaneously in a number of locations all over the world. Further, due to the circumstances, in all the other cases the children or the entire community in which they were born, had come to some sordid end.

This sequel departs from that premise altogether and focuses on six unique but isolated children displaying the prodigious qualities that sets them apart from normal kids. In this case the kids grow up alone without other children like them, but not oblivious to their own nature either. Also, unlike the original, the kids are not blonde lookalikes of one another. Rather, they are a disparate group each representing different the nationalities of where they were born.

Again contradicting the first movie we find that all these kids are recognized for their standout superiority and considered as valuable assets. So when one group of bureaucrats decide that they should be rounded up and studied, they encounter opposition from the other nations trying to keep their prodigies to themselves. And this is when the kids step up and take control over themselves. They not only manage to assemble together, but they immediately go into hiding, taking refuge in a deserted church. But they are soon found and incur the fear of mankind, finding themselves literally facing an army at their doorsteps.

While the first film purposely kept the real nature of the children a mystery, this movie gets a bit hokey, positing that the kids are human, but advanced by a million years based on a study of the children’s blood. How one could ascertain that is silly enough but the film goes even into sillier territory by having the kids devise a sonic wave weapon. Both the kids and bureaucrats come to some last minute fateful conclusions, but you’ll have to watch the movie to see who wins out in the end.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this sequel is vastly inferior to the first movie. It’s still cool seeing the kids using their special abilities and there is some decent drama watching the rest of the population trying to figure out what to do, but nothing like the suspense in the first movie.

Neither of the movies should be confused with yet another damned movie featuring kids with special abilities simply called “These are the Damned” (1963). What was is about kids being so damned  in movies in the early sixties? I’m especially intrigued since I count myself among them.

Movie Reviews 89 – Village of the Damned (1960)

Village of the Damned is not only one of my favorite movies, but also based on a great novel, The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham.  Growing up reading horror mags, the pictures of the “Village” kids featuring a handful of Aryan blonde boys and girls with emotionless faces and those creepy glowing white eyes was always something that made me wonder what the movie was like.  More science fiction that horror, the story begins with the English town of Midwich mysteriously ‘going to sleep’ in mid stride one summer day. Those outside the town can easily delineate the invisible ‘line’ that, once passed, renders the person unconscious. They even go so far as to paint a line on the ground while the try to figure out what is going on. Then as suddenly as the event started a few hours earlier, everyone in the town revives and slowly realizes that they had been out.

While the mystery is questioned by everyone, after a few months of normal living, the event is soon forgotten. That is until yet another mystery arises. It seems every woman of childbearing age finds themselves pregnant. At first it seems a blessing to those who found themselves infertile before, a truly magnificent miracle in fact. But on the other hand there is a disturbing string of accusations of infidelity and claims of virgin pregnancies. Needless to say, quick calculations reveal that the pregnancies coincide with the mysterious day in which the town succumbed to the unconscious mystery.

But there is much more to the pregnancies. For one, they are accelerated and the kids are born prematurely but perfectly developed. Too perfect in retrospect. The children are all prodigies and highly developed compared to ‘normal’ children. Hanging around as a unit, silent but in evident communication with one another, the most troubling aspect is that they are not only telekinetic but can assert mind control over others as if under a spell. Shunned and castigated by most of the townsfolk, they are segregated into a schoolhouse as the town tries to determine what  they really are, be it the next stage of human evolution, aliens, or just evil.

One of the aspects that heighten the tension is that the mystery origin of the kids is largely left unexplained and left to the audience to decide upon. The fact that some of the townsfolk are more open minded and try to accept the children while others vilify them presents an interesting rift that depends on how the viewer themselves see the kids. Are they simply protecting themselves and abusing their powers innocently, only being children after all? Or are they really evil and intent on world domination? It’s that wide a brush that can be argued one way or the other. Malice intent or not, one thing is clear and that is you don’t want to get on their wrong side.

Aside from the creepy children themselves putting in an admirable performance, George Sanders as one of the parents and the eventual chosen tutor is the star and standout of the movie. The final scene determining the fate of the children is riveting.  So whether you are in for the Science Fiction or for the horror, you will undoubtedly enjoy this movie.

I’ve got the 1995 remake sitting on my shelves as well and will be watching that soon. But I really can’t see it doing any better than this.

Movie Reviews 88 – The Alligator People (1959)

If you were to see only a few select scenes from the trailer or other excerpts from The Alligator People you may come to the conclusion that this is just one of those movies where the ‘monster’ in question is a guy with a goofy looking gator snout. But it really isn’t a bad movie at all and, in fact, most of the reptilian makeup and effects are decent. But even more important is the fact that there is a pretty good underlying story here set up nicely as a great mystery.

It all starts when a newlywed couple on a train on their honeymoon get a wire message. Almost instantly the husband gets off the train at the next stop and purposely and inexplicably abandons his new wife (Beverly Garland). We then cut to a scene years later where the wife is living serenely and employed in a doctor’s office without a case in the world.

The entire story is wrapped around a psychiatrist whose just accidentally uncovered the woman’s tale which he recorded as she was being analyzed subconsciously to test some equipment of his. But she knows nothing of her past much less anything about a husband who disappeared on their honeymoon. As far as she is concerned there is absolutely nothing wrong in her life. So the doctor is faced with the dilemma of telling her her own history which she has put in the back of her mind or  the incredible tale he just heard her uttered under hypnosis. So troubled is the psychiatrist that he plays the recording to another doctor and it is thus that the movie unfolds the story of The Alligator People.

It seems the girl was quite persistent following the disappearance of her husband and in fact kept the search on for years until she traced some old army records of his which led her to the only clue of his past, an address at a remote southern estate. But the occupants insists they know nothing of this man she is seeking. But some of the strange ongoings eventually lead to the sordid truth about her husband who is in fact still alive and the scientific experiments going on at the premises.

You can easily figure out the the husband was subject to some of this experimentation but the story is nicely drawn out as to how he was involved how why he departed on his on the that night oh so long ago. Solid acting and solid suspense makes me wonder why this movie does not have a better following. It even features Lon Chaney Jr. in a dusty role of a nasty keeper at the estate.

Oh and that goofy mask makes its appearance pretty much near the end of the movie. Never said the movie was perfect.

Movie Reviews 87 – Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

When it comes to classic Kung Fu movies I sometimes feel that it is I who is the ‘grasshopper’ trying to find his way. I vaguely remember a long time ago someone telling me about some crazy head chopping armament used in a few Kung Fu movies but never saw one myself until now. Master of the Flying Guillotine is a treat of 70’s Kung Fu madness that will leave you wanting more.

First a little history. The ‘Master’ of the flying guillotine in this case is a blind old man living atop a desolate mountain. But he is not the ‘good guy’ here and is in fact a remnant of a group of brutal fighters supporting the current Ching dynasty by killing of prior Ming dynasty loyalists. When two of his pupils are killed by a ‘one armed’ fighter he sets off to kill all ‘one armed’ fighters to avenge his pupils. Apparently, he already knew there would be more than just a single ‘one armed’ fighter!

We soon learn from clips from an earlier movie that this is a sequel from the ‘One-Armed Boxer’ series (and whose original title is “The One-Armed Boxer vs The Flying Guillotine) with Jimmy Wang Yu in the title role and who also wrote and directed both films.  I’ll skip some of the storyline and get to the meat of the movie when yet another evil master fighter himself wants to get this ‘one armed’ fighter and decides to hold an open fighting  tournament in order to lure him out. These fights are to the death and the arena sees a parade of martial artists, each exhibiting either a unique fighting implement, fighting styles, or even a physical characteristic. I don’t want to describe all the fights in the movie as that is part of the enjoyment but I will say to watch for the long armed Asian who plays a prominent role in the movie as a whole. The finale has the Master of the Flying Guillotine himself in the arena and he fights everyone in sight. Who will prevail?

The scene with an exorcist-like rotating head will make your own head spin, but that is just a sample of the many insanely contrived sequences throughout the entire movie. And once again we learn where Quentin Tarantino picks up his nostalgic cues as we hear a variant of “Battle Without Honor or Humanity”  (Tomoyasu Hotei) from the Kill Bill Part 1 score whenever we see the Master enter a scene. (To be honest, that track is credited as being an original 2001 composition, so Hotei probably ripped off the essence of the melody from whoever scored this movie).

My one sore point with the DVD was that the dubbed master used was incomplete so on several occasions the movie drops into subtitles and an asian soundtrack. Hardly a distraction, I was just glad they tried to keep the story intact.

Now it seems I have a few more “One-Armed Boxer” movies to look out for.  And only then will it be “Time for me to leave”.