Month: April 2020

Brainstorm (1983)

BRAINSTORM (1983)
Article 4412 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-4-2014
Directed by Douglas Trumbull
Featuring Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher
Country: USA
What it is: Science fiction drama

A team of scientists develops the technology to record human experiences and play them back to others. It’s only after a while they begin to see the darker sides of this creation. Then, one of the scientists does a recording of her own death…

I will say this much; I like this movie a lot more than I do Trumbull’s first feature film directorial effort, SILENT RUNNING. I admire that it seeks to really explore the possibilities of this technological development, and some of the imagery is quite breathtaking. The movie had a troubled history, though; Natalie Wood died before the movie had been completed, and the studio wanted to dump the project, but Trumbull insisted on continuing, and though he did get the movie completed, he was not allowed to make another feature film for a major studio. These problems might explain why, despite the movie’s ambitions, it feels curiously incomplete, jagged and not quite satisfying. Also, I’m not quite sure I like the way the movie veers into the metaphysical; the ending looks like it was trying to outdo the star gate sequence in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in terms of visual pizzazz, and though it’s quite slick and pretty to look at, it’s also rather empty. The movie tries so hard at times to be a visual feast that the characters get lost in the mix. Still, I am impressed at the ambition on display here.

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Desperate Moments (1971)

DESPERATE MOMENTS (1971)
aka Gli occhi freddi della paura, Cold Eyes of Fear
Article 4411 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-3-2014
Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Featuring Giovanna Rolli, Frank Wolff, Fernando Rey
Country: Italy / Spain
What it is: Thriller

A lawyer picks up a prostitute and brings her to his uncle’s house, only to discover an armed stranger who holds them captive. When the stranger’s boss shows up, it becomes apparent that the motive is revenge…

Is an Italian crime thriller from the seventies necessarily a giallo? I’m not sure what the exact definition of a giallo is, but I’d say this one doesn’t quite fit the mold. The first few minutes make it seem like one, but it’s a fake-out, as you’ll soon discover if you see it. Though there is a bit of mystery, it’s not a mystery in the giallo sense; we’re mostly curious as to the details surrounding the main villain’s desire for revenge. I’d say it’s more of a film noir than a giallo, one that’s attempting to say something about class and corruption in England. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; the story is a little too vague in some of its details, and it comes across as very silly when it tries to be psychological; the surreal scene where everyone’s pointing at the villain and yelling “Guilty!” is the worst moment. In fact, I find it hard to say this one is fantastically themed at all. I’m afraid this one is a false alarm.

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The Creeping Flesh (1973)

THE CREEPING FLESH (1973)
Article 4410 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-2-2014
Directed by Freddie Francis
Featuring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Lorna Heilbron
Country: UK
What it is: Horror hodgepodge

A Victorian scientist arrives in England with a skeleton from New Guinea that could revolutionize the theory of evolution. Further research convinces him that the skeleton is pure evil, and he uses it to create an inoculation against evil, which he gives to his daughter before it has been fully tested. Tragedy ensues.

Quite frankly, this is a weird one. But then, that’s also what makes it an interesting one. It certainly doesn’t summarize easily; if I were to describe it, it reminds me of a mad scientist version of HORROR EXPRESS with touches of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and THE SKULL as well as THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and a twist that you’d expect from E.C. Comics. I really don’t buy the central premise of “evil” being a scientifically-defined quality, and the plot really does rely on a massive series of coincidences, yet the ending of the movie is one of those which nullifies any criticisms of plot absurdities. So perhaps the best way to deal with this movie is to roll with the story as it unfolds, and since the movie features two mad scientists, several lunatics, skeletons in the closet, a skeleton in the lab, and a large hooded monster capable of regeneration, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Though I can’t quite call it great, it certainly is not a bore, and that’s something.

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Lesnaya pesnya (1963)

LESNAYA PESNYA (1963)
aka Song of the Forest
Article 4409 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-1-2014
Directed by Viktor Ivchenko
Featuring Raisa Nedashkovskaya, M. Sidorchuk, Pyotr Vesklyarov
Country: Soviet Union
What it is: Romantic fantasy

A water nymph falls in love with a country boy, but she finds she cannot fit into his world and loses him to another woman. Tragedy follows in its wake.

Here’s another movie for which I had no English subtitles or dubbing; my copy is in Russian. However, this being a fairy tale-type fantasy, it lends itself to being told visually, and along with the help of a plot description I found in “The Motion Picture Guide”, I was more or less able to follow it. It certainly has that sense of magic beauty I associate with fairy tales, and there’s plenty of fantastic content and characters. It is also, sadly, fairly slow to get going; it seems as if the entire first half of the movie deals with the romance of the two main characters, and it gets a little dull. It’s not until the nymph tries to fit in to the young man’s world that the story really gets going. It’s not as wild as some other Russian fantasies I’ve seen (JACK FROST, for instance), but I think it’s trying for a different effect; it’s something of a tear-jerker, and the ending is very bittersweet. Still, when it works, it is quite effective, and it’s nice to have been able to watch a movie in a foreign language that didn’t leave me scratching my head.

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La barca sin pescador (1964)

LA BARCA SIN PESCADOR (1964)
aka The Boat Without a Fisherman
Article 4408 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-31-2013
Directed by Josep Maria Forn
Featuring Gerard Landy, Amparo Soler Leal, Mable Karr
Country: Spain
What it is: Deal with the devil

When a shipping magnate loses his fortune in the stock market, he is offered a deal by the devil to recoup his losses if he allows a poor fisherman to fall to his death. The businessman agrees, but he finds himself haunted by his action and ends up meeting with the fisherman’s family and friends.

Here’s another movie I was only able to find in Spanish without English subtitles. Fortunately, a user comment on IMDB provided me with the general basis of the story, so I wasn’t at a total loss. However, outside of the scene where he makes the agreement, the movie doesn’t give me much visually to work with in figuring out the story, and most of it consists of people talking to each other. There are some special effects involving the Mephistopheles character, but he is used sparingly, and the movie is primarily concerned with the interactions between the other characters. As such, I have to reserve judgment on this one, though I’ve heard there’s an English translation of the stage play on which this one is based, so someday I might be able to find out more of what’s going on. Still, I do have the general impression that the movie is really no better than average.

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Adam’s Rib (1923)

ADAM’S RIB (1923)
Article 4407 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-30-3013
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Featuring Milton Sills, Elliott Dexter, Theodore Kosloff
Country: USA
What it is: Drama

The neglected housewife of a successful businessman begins receiving the attentions of the former king of Morania. The woman’s husband intends to use his business acumen to help him save his marriage, but the couple’s daughter has a plan of her own to save the marriage.

Here’s another title that ended up on my “ones that got away” list after sitting on my hunt list too long, but it finally made itself available. Though you may not notice it at first, there’s a hint of fantastic content in the plot description above; as far as I know, there is no country of Morania, so we’re in mythical kingdom territory here. On the other hand, there’s something else about the movie that gives it even greater fantastic content. At one point in the proceedings, two of the characters begin speculating on the trials and tribulations of love among the cavemen, and we get an extended sequence of caveman and cavewoman romantic antics. This bit of the movie, cute as it is in some ways, is also one of the biggest weaknesses of the movie; it brings the main story to a screeching halt, and doesn’t really add a whole lot new to the mix. As for the movie itself, it’s a drama about how a marriage is threatened by neglect, and how the attempts to fix it end up making the situation even worse. The plot is slightly far-fetched, and I found myself speculating on how easily the movie could have been done as a comedy; in fact, I found myself wondering how a change in the background music might in and of itself accomplish this task. Still, there are a few good dramatic moments, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for the daughter, who puts her reputation on the line in order to save her parent’s marriage and ends up losing the trust of the man she loves. All in all, this is an interesting drama with some good twists and turns, and I quite enjoyed it.

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Christine (1983)

CHRISTINE (1983)
Article 4406 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-29-2013
Directed by John Carpenter
Featuring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul
Country: USA
What it is: Killer car movie

A high school outcast buys a dilapidated 1958 Plymouth Fury whose former owners have suffered horrible deaths. He becomes obsessed with the car and undergoes a change of personality. Soon, some of his enemies begin dying…

I’ve not read the Stephen King novel on which this was based, but I can only assume that he must have felt very confident of his powers to take on what, to my mind, seems a very dodgy subject for a horror novel; quite frankly, a killer motor vehicle is a concept that seems more likely to net horselaughs than shivers. I do know that it’s a tribute to John Carpenter’s skill as a movie maker that the concept more or less works here. That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t have a few problems. Certain scenes seem superfluous, while I sense that certain scenes are missing; I, for one, would have liked to have seen the outcast’s change of character take place more gradually, as well as having his friends undergo more specific experiences with the car to help us feel their growing distrust of it. Still, the movie does accomplish the task of making the car scary rather than silly, and I do love the witty use of classic fifties rock ‘n’ roll music throughout the movie. Overall, I’d say this is a good John Carpenter movie; it’s not up their with his best work, but it’s decent enough.

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Children of the Corn (1984)

CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984)
Article 4405 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-28-2013
Directed by Fritz Kiersch
Featuring Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong
Country: USA
What it is: Killer kiddie horror

A young couple finds themselves stranded in a Nebraska town inhabited only by children who have killed all the adults in the town… and plan to sacrifice any new ones that show up.

I remember that when this first came out, the critical reaction was that this was the weakest movie based on a Stephen King work to date. I’m pretty sure that worse ones have been made since, but I do agree that it’s the weakest one I’ve seen so far. It’s not that the movie doesn’t try; with a musical score that seems to be in perpetual “This is really scary” mode and the endless close-ups of the edged weapons being carried by the murderous teens, it’s obvious that the movie is trying to put you on edge. But the script is poorly though out, and it ends up having an “everything but the kitchen sink” quality about it, with, on top of the killer kids, a burrowing monster-demon in the cornfield, human sacrifice, possession, killer plants… I get the sense it’s just trying everything and seeing what sticks. I know I stopped taking it seriously once I heard the line “He was already dead when he stumbled across the highway.” It must have worked well enough for audiences in that it did result in a slew of sequels, though I can’t help but notice it took them eight years to get around to making the first one. I personally think the movie would have worked better if it had used the innate claustrophobic quality of a cornfield to increase the tension (with the use of silence and ambient sounds instead of the musical score); as it is, I found this one pretty disappointing.

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Charlie Boy / The Thirteenth Reunion (1980)

CHARLIE BOY / THE THIRTEENTH REUNION (1980)
Article 4404 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2013
Directed by Robert Young and Peter Sasdy
Featuring Leigh Lawson, Angela Bruce, Marius Goring, Julia Foster, Dinah Sheridan, Richard Pearson
Country: UK
What it is: Two episodes of “Hammer House of Horror”

Two stories are told. In the first, a couple comes upon a fetish doll that can be used to cause the death of others. In the second, a woman reporter is assigned to do an expose on a questionable weight loss group, but uncovers a macabre plot.

This isn’t the first time I’ve covered two episodes of “Hammer House of Horror” for this series; the John Stanley guide lists a handful of them that were apparently released as VHS cassettes, though I don’t know if they were strictly edited together to make a movie. For my purposes, I just watched the two episodes in question back to back to try to recapture the experience.

The previous two episodes I saw were apparently some of the weakest ones from the series, based on the ratings at IMDB. These two are of average quality for the series, and they both have their good points as well as their weaknesses. The first one works a little too hard on contriving its central situation, but it does have a nifty final twist. The second one has a set-up which is at the very least, very unusual, and the mystery kept my attention for the first half of the episode. However, once the mystery turned to the question as to what is being done with the dead bodies, I was able to hit upon the answer long before the episode was ready to reveal it, and waiting for the other shoe to drop proved to be a bit of bore; it also doesn’t help that the very final twist in the story is one of those that is hard to care about. Still, I’ll probably end up covering a few more of these before it’s all over, so until then, I won’t make an overall assessment of the series.

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The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971)

THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS (1971)
aka Il gatto a nove code
Article 4403 by Dave Sindelar
Directed by Dario Argento
Featuring James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak
Country: Italy / France / West Germany
What it is: Suspense thriller

A blind former journalist and a newspaperman combine forces to solve a mystery about a break-in to a pharmaceutical research company in which it appears that nothing was stolen. However, when a man who knew the true motive for the break-in is murdered, they find themselves also targets of whomever wants to keep the truth hidden.

This movie is mainly a mystery/thriller. However, the pharmaceutical company is doing some research into genetic dispositions for criminal behavior, and this pushes it slightly into science fiction territory. The movie also features a serial killer and a scene involving a raid of a crypt, and these give the movie some horror content as well. That being said, this was Dario Argento’s second directorial effort, and I’d have to say this is the most disappointing of the movies of his I’ve seen to date. That’s not to say it’s bad; it isn’t, and it’s a decent movie for the most part. It is, however, overlong, somewhat padded, and there are stretches where his stylistic muse seems to desert him. According to IMDB, there’s a 90 minute cut of the movie out there, and I wonder if that one might work a little better; my print ran 111 minutes, and is a little dull. Still, it does work pretty well when things start moving towards the end.

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