Change Your Image
rob_h
Reviews
The Severed Arm (1973)
Not that bad!
I found this browsing Netflix instant streaming. Some of the dialogue is bad but verges on camp. (For example, the doctor saying to his wife about her choice of reading, "Psycho Lovers? Just drop the "psycho" and get to the lovin'!") The acting is acceptable to me; I love that the doctor's wife tries to obscure her Australian accent but can't. The electronic music score is fantastic. Those who like old analog synthesizer scores in horror movies will be reminded of the score for Shock Waves. (But that score seems mostly to be composed, whereas the one for The Severed Arm seems largely improvised in several layers of overdubbing.)
I wasn't expecting the plot twist at the end, and that makes the movie fun for me to watch over and over again. The last 6 or 7 minutes is really entertaining, and it's funny, too. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes B- movie horror.
Beastly Boyz (2006)
Mysterious, erotic, and yet somehow dumb
Beware: Spoilers.
I've always enjoyed David DeCoteau's films. They have an appealing formula that turns on a superficial and vaguely supernatural plot usually involving a group of guys, one of whom is innocent and nice and gets seduced (or nearly so) into evil by another guy. (Of course, all the guys are young and ripped.) There's usually a girl or two, and inevitably she gets involved in some kind of elaborate quasi-orgy scene with the innocent guy, the evil guy, and his flunkies. (During this scene the flunkies help the good guy undress and then watch him make out with the girl while they watch and touch themselves.) Sometimes shots are replayed in slow or fast motion. David DeC claims that he makes his films for girls and keeps everything suggestive, even the violence, for a teen audience.
This time around, a guy's twin sister has been brutally murdered and he avenges her death. We don't know why she's killed. There's almost no dialogue. The main character works out and rubs a knife on his body. Then he magically finds each of the killers, spends a long time looking at them and sometimes rubbing the knife on them, then kills them. We never really see any stabbing, but we do get to see long, long sequences where he runs the knife over the other guys' bodies. (The one I'm watching now feels like it's been on for 10 minutes.) Did I mention there's hardly any dialogue? The whole film kind of reminds me of Derek Jarman's The Angelic Conversation. Kind of a more commodified version. Worth a look or two.
Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch (1985)
It's good to be bad
I can sympathize with the various people who have written about how bad this movie is. Most people probably know that it made it into Roger Ebert's _I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie_. I agree there are a lot of painful things to endure. The lame 80s band gets annoying after a while. And the werewolf orgy is pretty ridiculous, as is the final showdown between Lee and Danning. I have to say, though, that I love the closing montage with the repeated images of Danning stripping--one followed by Christopher Lee looking very interested. But the extras look like they're having a good time. And gosh, I've seen this movie about 10 times now and it never is so boring I can't finish it. I can't say that about a lot of movies that I try to watch even once! _Howling II_ is a camp-a-licious little treat!
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Huh?
I've seen this film twice. It is one of the dullest pictures ever made. It moves at a snail's pace. It grinds laboriously to an unfortunate conclusion. How someone can find it riveting and fast-moving is totally beyond my comprehension. I will agree that the performers are good and they seem totally committed to the project. In particular, Arthur Miller almost makes me care about the situation. But ultimately the sterile set, the lack of music, and the unrelieved slow pace makes this film an incredible bore for me.
My time is better spent elsewhere; youre will be too, I'm sure.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Huh?
I've seen this film twice. It is one of the dullest pictures ever made. It moves at a snail's pace. It grinds laboriously to an unfortunate conclusion. How someone can find it riveting and fast-moving is totally beyond my comprehension. I will agree that the performers are good and they seem totally committed to the project. In particular, Arthur Miller almost makes me care about the situation. But ultimately the sterile set, the lack of music, and the unrelieved slow pace makes this film an incredible bore for me.
My time is better spent elsewhere; youre will be too, I'm sure.
Cold Hearts (1999)
Holds up after many viewings
Maybe I like WB-style shows. This film holds up very well, particularly for the dramatic storyline (which I thought rang very true) and the dynamite performances by Ryan, Johnson, and Floyd. Jon Huertas was brilliant as the gay nonvampire friend--too bad that they had to delete some of his scenes. Beautiful music. A real gem which I have seen many, many times and never tire of.
Music with Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television by Robert Ashley (1974)
A must see
Ashley's idea of "opera for television" alternates interviews and performances--both kinds of segments last under an hour. Remarkably insightful, the disarmingly informal quality of the interviews is sometimes complicated by odd cinematography (closeups of Philip Glass's hands contrasted with Ashley's, one memorable example). To the student of "new American music" in the mid-seventies, "Music with Roots in the Aether" is indispensable.
Baraka (1992)
Pretentious drivel.
_Baraka_ is a foolish rehash of _Koyaanisqatsi_ with a dull, neutral, worldbeat soundtrack and emotionally manipulative images of man's abuse of the environment. Because its politics are so obvious, the film moves away from the graceful art with which _Koyaanisqatsi_ conveyed the same message and into tiresome, preachy hyperbole. What's more, the images presented of other cultures are exploitative since they make no attempt to explain their meaning or significance to the Western audiences for whom the film is so clearly intended. Without imparting knowledge or real understanding of other cultures on our planet, the experience of world culture that _Baraka_ provides is little more than a taste of exoticism--the world as a Disney amusement park--which we can forget about easily as we listen to our top 40 hits during out next workout at Bally's. I am so negative because I cannot _believe_ the self-righteous and self-congratulatory tone of all of the other reviews!!!!!
Kindred: The Embraced (1996)
A slick vampire series
OK, maybe C. Thomas Howell is a little melodramatic, but this series was a good and (generally) well-acted modern vampire tale. I wasn't watching television, I guess, when it originally aired. But I rented it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it so much that I bought it on DVD a short time ago. The set has two DVDs and is in 5.1--pretty stripped down in terms of extras (i.e., there aren't any). Still, it's worth a look. Mark Frankel and Patrick Bauchau are excellent in their roles.
Dracula (1974)
A great version of the classic tale.
Leave it to a film class student to come up with a ridiculous, negative review (see below)! The Dan Curtis _Dracula_ was the first version to add the variation of the long-lost love angle to the traditional vampire story. Curtis's variation seems to have worked; it's showed up in several other later versions. What's more, the adaptation of Stoker's novel "feels" right and is very faithful to the original. Jack Palance, far from looking constipated (see review below), brings an eerie ambiguity to the film with his odd expressions--is he in pain? Is he sad about what he does? We don't know, and that makes the film worth seeing again and again. As in Curtis's well-known series _Dark Shadows_, the suspenseful music (by the marvelous Robert Cobert) is made to tell a great deal of the story. And as always, the music fits the images like a glove. The supporting actors are _all_ fabulous--I'm a big fan of Nigel Davenport. And now that the film is available on DVD, one has a greater sense for Curtis's grand visual style. In short, this _Dracula_'s a keeper, one of the really great versions of Bram Stoker's wonderful novel.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968)
Marvelous! Curtis does it again!
I remember seeing this one split up over two late nights on ABC in the early 1970s. I was mesmerized and excited; I've longed to see the film again and recently got my chance! As soon as I found out it was available on DVD I bought it. Lots to be nostalgic about here: for instance, that wonderful videotape quality of the visuals (even more vivid now that the thing is out on DVD). Jack Palance hams it up as Hyde: a friend who saw the movie with me said he looked like a muppet during the scene at Tessie's music hall! But his Dr. Jekyll is a brilliant character, full of the best kind of noble suffering that a great tragic hero endures. I loved every minute of it. And Robert Cobert's music--all of which was originally used for the great _Dark Shadows_ series--is more haunting than ever. Any fan of _Dark Shadows_ will love this _Jekyll and Hyde_; and any horror fan should enjoy seeing it, too!