Month: October 2019

The Adventures of Ultraman (1981)

THE ADVENTURES OF ULTRAMAN (1981)
Feature version of edited episodes of “Za Urutoraman”
Article 3848 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-16-2012
Posting Date: 2-26-2012
Directed by Nagayuki Toriumi and Takeyuki Kanda
Featuring the voices of Gary Morgan, Sean Reilly, Buck Kartalian
Country: Japan
What it is: Space opera

A military task force finds themselves faced with an invasion from an intergalactic tyrant. Can even Ultraman face such a dangerous foe… or is it possible that Ultraman may bring forth even greater help?

For some reason, this movie does not have a listing on IMDB, though its sequel (which is cut from the same cloth) is listed. When I first was able to find this movie, I was disappointed to find that the TV series was animated; I’ve seen the original series from the sixties, and for me, much of the charm came from the fact that it was live action. As I actually watched this movie, I was also surprised to discover that the story was more of a big space opera rather than a series of monster encounters, but I suspect that this was due to the fact that this movie was edited from the last four episodes of the series, which delves into Ultraman’s origins and provided a big climax to the series; if the series description on IMDB is correct, most of the series involved the usual monster antics. Only one monster appears in this movie, and it’s not until near the end of the movie. It’s limited animation anime, with lots of explosions and silly dialogue. For what it is, it’s passable enough, I suppose, but I still miss the live-action charm of the original series.

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Cruise Into Terror (1978)

CRUISE INTO TERROR (1978)
TV-Movie
Article 3847 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-15-2012
Posting Date: 2-25-2012
Directed by Bruce Kessler
Featuring Dirk Benedict, Frank Converse, John Forsythe
Country: USA
What it is: Evil incarnate at work

A ship finds itself stranded in the Gulf of Mexico near an underwater tomb built by the Egyptians many years ago… and containing a sarcophagus of terrible evil.

Well, the premise is pretty far-fetched, but that hasn’t necessarily been a stumbling block for movies of this ilk before. However, the script suffers from an appalling lack of subtlety. It’s one of those scripts where you feel the author had some interesting ideas about the various character relationships, but had no idea how to express those relationships in other than the most ham-handed ways possible. Problems like this don’t seem fatal at first, but when it persists throughout a whole movie, it does make the affair very tiresome, and the movie wears out its welcome long before it’s over. In the end, the movie is stolen by Stella Stevens, if for no other reason than that she’s very easy on the eyes. Still, this is one movie that could have been better than it is.

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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)
Article 3846 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-14-2012
Posting Date: 2-24-2012
Directed by Peter Weir
Featuring Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Country: Australia
What it is: A puzzle and a tragedy

During a picnic to a natural landmark called Hanging Rock, several girls and a governess vanish without a trace.

Is it a horror movie? If you’re expecting monsters, gore, and violence, then no, it isn’t. But if you’re expecting encounters with the inexplicable, then it is. I’ll tell you at the outset that no explanation is ever found for the disappearance of the girls and the governess, but I don’t see that as a spoiler; the movie isn’t really about the solving of a mystery, but rather it’s about how the lack of any solution impacts all those connected with the girls and the disappearance. There are hints that something unearthly has happened to them, and even if the movie doesn’t make clear exactly what has happened, there is a sense of real dread that grows out of the sexual repression of the era. That repression plays a big role in the proceedings; there are two characters who potentially might know what actually happened, but if they did, they wouldn’t be able to find a way to express it in this repressive world. It’s an art film in many ways, and it prefers subtlety and silence, but if you can respond to it, it’s a gripping and fascinating movie. It’s one of my very favorites.

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La mujer y la bestia (1959)

LA MUJER Y LA BESTIA (1959)
aka The Woman and the Beast
Article 3845 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-13-2012
Posting Date: 2-23-2012
Directed by Alfonso Corona Blake
Featuring Ana Luisa Peluffo, Carlos Cores, Ruben Rojo
Country: Mexico
What it is: Psycho killer thriller

A doctor and a nurse get involved with a series of knife killings. Could the murderer be the nurse’s insane sister who has recently escaped from an asylum?

I had to get the plot from another source since my copy of the movie was in unsubtitled Spanish; I wasn’t quite able to figure out certain details of the story without it. As is often the case, there is a lot of talk in the movie, but there are some interesting visual moments that help make the viewing process more interesting. The most interesting visual touch is that the murders all take place near the railroad, and the train has such a striking visual presence that it almost becomes a character in the story, with its belching forth of smoke and its whistle going off at crucial moments in the story. There’s at least one major plot twist that you should be able to get if you’re armed with the plot description above. Overall, the movie looks to be only average, though it does seem a little better produced than a lot of Mexican horror movies. Still, there are definite high points here.

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Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994)

CLASS OF 1999 II: THE SUBSTITUTE (1994)
Article 3844 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2012
Posting Date: 2-22-2012
Directed by Spiro Razatos
Featuring Sasha Mitchell, Caitlin Dulany, Nick Cassavetes
Country: USA
What it is: Carnage

A substitute teacher turns out to be the last remaining android of a line designed to teach in schools… and who see the students as the enemy and will stop at nothing to destroy them.

Here I take another unexpected leap into the nineties with a sequel to a movie I have yet to see. In fact, if IMDB is correct, the original (CLASS OF 1999) was a sequel to CLASS OF 1984, which I also haven’t seen. At any rate, it’s one of those movies that primarily feature three types of character; victims, people who threaten them, and the people who kill the ones that threaten the victims. There’s lots of explosions, lots of gunplay, the occasional post-kill one-liner, people who should be dead still wandering around so we can see them killed again, lots of people doing stupid things so that we can maximize the carnage, and a stupid twist ending. It’s the type of movie that makes me understand why science fiction movies are now lumped in with action movies in the stores where you can buy DVDs. I hope the earlier movies in the series have more substance than this one does.

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