BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY (1979)
TV-Movie
Article 3718 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-4-2011
Posting Date: 10-19-2011
Directed by Daniel Haller
Featuring Gil Gerard, Pamela Hensley, Erin Gray
Country: USA
What it is: STAR WARS-inspired TV series pilot

After being frozen aboard his spaceship for 500 years, a pilot from the 20th century is revived. He finds himself embroiled in a plot by aliens to destroy the Earth, but the Earthlings of the future think he’s a spy. Can he defeat the aliens and convince the Earthlings of his sincerity?

Despite the fact that I’m primarily covering movies for my project, I seem to brush up against TV shows quite a lot, thanks to the concepts of editing TV episodes into movies or (as in this case) making movie-length pilots for the TV shows. I was expecting something fairly juvenile at first, but the opening credits take place while Buck is frozen and apparently dreaming, and his dreams largely consist of him encountering and making out with half-dressed females, a concept which made me feel the movie was a lot closer to FLESH GORDON than to STAR WARS. Well, I understand the concept of including sexy females to attract some of the older males, but, truth to tell, I found the females on display to be of the type that I would describe as sexy in the “I’ve just spent the last fifty hours with my hairdresser and cosmetician to remove any last vestige of humanity from my looks; please don’t breathe on me or you’ll lose the effect!” way that I find distinctly unsexy. The movie eventually descends into a series of double-entendres that are reminiscent of Matt Helm at his worst, and this, combined with the lousy script and the presence of one of the most obnoxious “cute” robots I’ve ever seen (I’m sure there must have been a “Dismantle Twiki” movement somewhere), I not only found this pretty painful but I wondered just who it was intended for. On the plus side, I did find it colorful. I avoided this series when it was on TV, and now I’m glad I did. Worst scene: Buck teaches the people of the future how to dance to rock and roll. Worst double entendre: I’m not going to repeat the whole thing, but the phrase “the emperor’s seat” is involved.

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970)
aka L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
Article 3713 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-29-2011
Posting Date: 10-14-2011
Directed by Dario Argento
Featuring Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno
Country: Italy / West Germany
What it is: Giallo

An American writer in Italy witnesses an attempted murder, but he becomes obsessed with the scene he witnessed because there’s something wrong that he can’t quite figure out. However, the attempted murder appears to be linked to a group of similar murders… and the writer soon finds himself being stalked by the killer. Nevertheless, he embarks on his own investigation…

This was Dario Argento’s first directorial effort, and it’s remarkably well assured; already there’s a strong sense of style, an interesting and intriguing story, and some great use of music (as well as silence). Nevertheless, I wish I had seen this one before I saw some of his other movies, largely because it felt a little too familiar; I found myself hearkening back to my viewings of FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET and DEEP RED, both of which struck me as quite similar to this one. Yet, because this movie predated both of them, I can’t really judge the movie on these terms; if anything, the latter movies built off what he started in this one, so this one must be really considered the innovator. As usual, the horror element is the psychotic killer on the loose, and, like FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET, the title won’t make any sense until you’re on the threshold of solving the mystery. There’s a bit of black comedy to add to the proceedings as well, with characters such as an addled painter and an over-cautious stool pigeon to add to the fun. It’s less bloody than some of his later movies, but it’s still quite effective.

BASKET CASE (1982)
Article 3699 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-15-2011
Posting Date: 9-30-2011
Directed by Frank Henenlotter
Featuring Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner
Country: USA
What it is: Grotesque horror comedy

A young man arrives at a seedy New York hotel with a basket. What’s in the basket is small, alive, incredibly strong, and is capable of making bloody mincemeat of doctors living in the area.

The DVD package for this movie features a quote from Rex Reed in which he describes it as the sickest movie he’s ever seen, though I’m sure that I could find a few others that would get my vote instead. Still, according to the blurb on this movie in the “Fantastic Cinema Subject Guide”, the biggest critic of the movie was the director himself, Frank Henenlotter, who apparently hated it. I can only assume that the movie didn’t match his vision of it, because, frankly, he’s got nothing to be ashamed of here. If this movie was made on as low a budget as I heard it was, then he certainly displayed the directorial chops to bring it to life; it’s certainly better than anything I’ve seen from Herschell Gordon Lewis, to whom this movie was dedicated. Yes, it’s loaded with gore and nastiness, but it’s also peppered by a strong sense of humor, makes extremely good use of its seedy locations, has an interesting array of characters, moves along at a crisp pace, and features acting which, while not always what I would call “good”, is always entertaining. I love certain touches, such as the fact that the young man tells the backstory at the time when it’s most logical for him – that is, when he’s roaring drunk. I saw this one on commercial TV years ago, and I was surprised at watching it now how little it was cut – that is, until the end of the movie when the sex angle becomes more prominent. And I have to admit that the most memorable moment for me was the demise of the father, a horrible death with a funny punch line. It’s easy for me to see why this is such a cult favorite.

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965)
Article 3675 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-22-2011
Posting Date: 9-6-2011
Directed by Otto Preminger
Featuring Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea
Country: UK
What it is: Mystery thriller

In England, an inspector is called in to investigate the disappearance of the daughter of a single American mother who has just moved to the country. However, when he can find no evidence for the existence of the child at all, he begins to suspect that the woman may be delusional…

Otto Preminger was an interesting if uneven director with his own set of obsessions, and at one point in this movie, I found myself pondering a certain comparison between his work and Jesus Franco’s and then was startled when the movie suddenly dropped the name of the Marquis de Sade. As a mystery, this one is really not that tricky; you’re basically given two options (the child exists or the child does not exist), and if you go with the correct option, you’ll probably sort it all out before the movie spells it out for you. The movie may seem somewhat borderline in its fantastic content; the option that the woman is delusional certainly points to the theme of madness. All I’m going to say is that madness definitely plays a big role in the proceedings before the movie winds up. If the mystery isn’t difficult, it does manage to give us some good thrills before it’s all through; in fact, this appears to be one of the better movies from Preminger’s waning period from the mid-sixties onward. The movie also features a memorable performance from Noel Coward. All in all, this one is quite satisfying.

BOOGIE WOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU IF YOU DON’T WATCH OUT (1943)
Article 3620 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-28-2011
Posting Date: 7-13-2011
Directed by Shamus Culhane
Featuring the voice of Loumell Morgan
Country: USA
What it is: Musical cartoon

Ghosts at a convention decide to update their shtick by learning to swing.

Here’s another Walter Lantz cartoon, and like yesterday’s, it probably wouldn’t get shown on TV because of a few stereotypes in the character designs. There’s no real plot to this one; it’s mostly ghosts boogieing to the title song. They also listen to the band “Spook Jones and his Creepy Crooners”, but beyond the name, there’s no real resemblance to Spike Jones and his City Slickers other than the fact they play jazz. The music is catchy and the animation is very well done. All in all, this one is quite entertaining.

THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938 (1938)
Article 3616 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-24-2011
Posting Date: 7-9-2011
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Featuring W.C. Fields, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour
Country: USA
What it is: Musical comedy revue

A ship called the S.S. Gigantic has a new-fangled electrical engine. It is in a race from New York to Cherbourg against another ship called the S.S. Colossal.

The electrical apparatus aboard the Gigantic is the science fiction content to this movie, but given the musical-comedy nature of the movie, this content (and the plot) are of minimal importance. W.C. Fields gets top billing here, and he’s fine, though this is far from his best effort; he mostly sticks to very familiar shtick. The most significant role next to Fields’s is Bob Hope’s, but, as this was only his first feature-length film, he only gets sixth billing. Except for a short war-time documentary, this would be the only time these two comedy giants would work together, but anyone hoping to see how these two would interact will be disappointed; I only noticed them together in one scene, and that’s a crowd scene that gives them no real opportunity to even acknowledge each other’s existence. Bob Hope does fine, however, as does Martha Raye as Fields’s accident-prone daughter. The only other really familiar name is that of Dorothy Lamour, who here plays Hope’s girlfriend who ends up falling for the inventor of the electric apparatus. It’s a bit of fluff overall, and, of the musical numbers, my favorite features some animation of a “ripple”; I’m not sure who is responsible for this bit, but this sequence was produced by Leon Schlesinger.

BLOOD FREAK (1972)
Article 3606 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-14-2011
Posting Date: 6-29-2011
Directed by Brad F. Ginter and Steve Hawkes
Featuring Steve Hawkes, Dana Cullivan, Heather Hughes
Country: USA
What it is: Christian anti-drug cautionary gore film

A biker takes a job as a food tester at a poultry farm where they have been using experimental drugs. This, combined with his own drug habit, causes him to turn into a blood-drinking turkey monster.

Imagine, if you will, that Herschell Gordon Lewis became a born-again Christian, and decided to use his skills as a gore movie director to make a horror-film update of REEFER MADNESS. I’d heard about this movie for years, and when I got a copy, I held off watching it until it popped up on my hunt list, so I could handle it properly. It’s cheap, amateurish, quite awful, demented, but not quite the laugh riot of some of my favorite bad movies. The only time it gets truly offensive is when it decides to slaughter a turkey onscreen for shock effect. It has one of those endings that will make you want to throw something at your TV screen, but, given the type of movie it is, I’m not surprised it ended the way it does. Still, there are a couple of side comments I want to make about this one. For one, I admire at least that the movie doesn’t restrict its drug criticism to just the illegal variety; after all, the experimental drugs used on the turkeys also shoulder part of the blame. And, if you bear the above comment in mind, then the scene where the movie’s chain-smoking narrator breaks into a coughing fit is not near as impenetrable as some of the comments I’ve heard make it out to be, especially if you’re actually paying attention to what he’s saying.

THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974)
Article 3605 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-13-2011
Posting Date: 6-28-2011
Directed by Paul Annett
Featuring Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark
Country: UK
What it is: Werewolf mystery

A millionaire invites several people over to his estate for the weekend, one of which he believes to be a werewolf, though he’s not sure which one. His aim: to hunt and catch the werewolf.

For the second day in a row, I’m watching an Amicus movie featuring Peter Cushing, and, like the framing story in ASYLUM, this one also revolves around the mystery of trying to pick out a specific person from among a group of people. It’s kind of a cross between THE WOLF MAN, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, and an old dark house mystery, with a William Castle-like gimmick thrown in for good measure. In general, Amicus’s anthologies were superior to their non-anthologies, and this one is fairly weak in spots; the pacing is a bit turgid at times, and for those of you hoping to pick out clues as to who the werewolf is, all I can say is that the movie doesn’t really give you any good clues and when the “werewolf break” comes, you’ll just have to make a wild guess. There are some decent twists at the end, and the cast (which also includes Charles Gray and Anton Diffring) give it their best shot, but for the most part, this is fairly ordinary.

THE BALCONY (1963)
Article 3567 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-28-2011
Posting Date: 5-21-2011
Directed by Joseph Strick
Featuring Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant
Country: USA
What it is: Strange drama/comedy

During a violent revolution, a brothel that caters to men wishing to role-play their erotic fantasies remains open. When the chief of police shows up as the only surviving authority figure of the revolution, he hatches a plot to restore order by using the costumes and acting skills of the residents and customers of the brothel…

This movie was listed as a fantasy by “The Motion Picture Guide”, hence its inclusion in this series. I’ve noticed that on occasion the book will classify as a fantasy a movie that deals with fantasy and illusion, even if the movie doesn’t strictly fall into the genre, and such is the case here. The movie was based on a play by Jean Genet, and I’m really not surprised that there are political subtexts here; what does surprise me is that the movie was made in the USA, which is perhaps one of the last countries where I’d expect this story to make it to film, though reportedly much of the language from the original play was cleaned up. I’m tempted to call this a “reality vs illusion” movie, but truth to tell, I think the movie is actually saying that there is no reality at all; the people essentially are acting out the roles of their costumes, even to the point that they sometimes believe they actually are in the roles they pretend to be in. Despite the serious subject matter, I found quite a bit of humor in the proceedings, especially during a pompous and ridiculous speech made by Peter Falk’s Chief of Police. The movie also features Leonard Nimoy as a rebel leader who fantasizes about being the Chief of Police, and Jeff Corey, a gasman who wants to be a bishop. I ended up enjoying this movie much more than I thought I would, but I’d suggest anyone trying it to remain patient during the first thirty minutes or so; the plot doesn’t really start moving until Peter Falk shows up. Still, genre-wise, it really doesn’t qualify.

BODY MELT (1993)
Article 3514 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-4-2011
Posting Date: 3-29-2011
Directed by Philip Brophy
Featuring Gerard Kennedy, Andrew Daddo, Ian Smith
Country: Australia
What it is: Gore comedy

A health spa has developed a drug with gruesome side effects that eventually results in the body self-destructing… and it’s using the residents of a suburban neighborhood as its guinea pigs.

My DVD of this movie says in its promotional blurb that it features special effects from the people who gave you DEAD ALIVE and MATRIX: RELOADED; this should give you an idea of what the movie is going to emphasize. The plot is a muddled mess, but I suspect that didn’t matter to anyone; the main goal of the movie is to have as much gross-out body-parts exploding footage as it can fit into its 80 minute running time. It’s also supposed to be a comic satire about suburbia, but I didn’t laugh once, and if it actually has something to say about the subject of suburban life, it gets lost in the gore. It’s probably a cult favorite of some kind, but I can’t help but notice that it was the last directorial effort from Philip Brophy. For gorehounds only.