Reviews

I must admit that I did not see this film until around 1995, when the film was already 23 years old.

I have never read Faust, or even had an understanding of his works, but that did not lessen the pure escapist joy I had watching this film. The theme music stays with me to this day, and I have only seen the film ONCE! That's right, saw the film ONCE 15 years ago, and I can still hum the theme song, even with the campy 70's chorus...

Burton is solid as always - not quite up there with "Where Eagles Dare", but certainly watchable. Ustinov and Bridges (and Taylor) do a decent enough job in keeping up.

This film is a (very) rare gem, I have only seen it on television ONCE, and I have never seen it on VHS or disc. This film has achieved cult status with myself, mainly due to the fact that I saw it once only, and watched it with my wise-cracking comedian brother. Whenever we need to make a hippie in-joke, we'll start singing the theme tune.

A film so strange (not Eraserhead strange, but odd and out-of-place) that it rightly deserves a cult-film status. I gave it a 7 rating, but this may have been as low as 4 if I had been subjected to repeated viewings... like "It's a Beautiful Life"! Enjoy it if you can ever find it...

I had seen the VHS video cover and DVD cover before, and even on one occasion flipped it over to scan through the synopsis, but it *sounded* like a 'straight to video' flop, so I never gave it another thought.

Until...

A close friend of mine with very similar cinematic taste, insisted (more like yelled and screamed at me for not having the commonsense to have seen it already) I watch it.

I must say that the first time I watched the film, I was in that confused/thoughtful state for a good few hours after, trying to piece together what I had just seen. On repeated viewings (and there have been a few), some things become clearer, while others become even more confusing.

The simple fact is, that Richard Kelly at his first time up at bat, has succeeded at making a very thought provoking science fiction/drama/thriller/comedy/coming-of-age movie, and one that will be watched and discussed for a good time to come.

If you are looking for some mental stimulation, and the odd shock or surprise, and don't mind thinking about and discussing films well after their conclusion, then you will absolutely adore this movie.

If you are looking for Halloween XVII, then you will be sadly disappointed.