cult film freak: October 2015

Written by James M. Tate / 10/31/2015 / No comments / body count , donald pleasence , franchise , halloween , horror , jamie lee curtis , john carpenter , pj soles , seventies , slasher

REVIEW OF THE JOHN CARPENTER ORIGINAL 'HALLOWEEN'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMdp9CBSdD0/VjPHYly_RhI/AAAAAAAApk4/dcHuQXlwS-Y/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMdp9CBSdD0/VjPHYly_RhI/AAAAAAAApk4/dcHuQXlwS-Y/s400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1978 cast: Jamie Lee Curtis and PJ Soles </u></td></tr>
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"I think it was the little tiny details that made the thing the bigger picture," PJ Soles said in a <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/06/pj-soles-on-de-palma-carpenter_12.html?fbclid=IwAR2rER-2u89LMfQI_-Lscck0jdNcTdZpAtV4VgfkQZrWIHhjN1qD7VhHqMQ">Cult Film Freak Interview</a>. And she's right on the mark – it's the subtle, haunting, timeless vibe of the original HALLOWEEN that really works.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rNiZoUKdFZ0/VjPHeOXigKI/AAAAAAAAplA/uR6dto0JHQM/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rNiZoUKdFZ0/VjPHeOXigKI/AAAAAAAAplA/uR6dto0JHQM/s320/2.png" width="168" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Totally PJ Soles</u></td></tr>
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First off, let's note that the gory Rob Zombie reboot of HALLOWEEN is more Exploitation than Horror, using a fleshed-out prologue to delve into the abused life of young Michael Myers, wherein the original quickly and effectively maneuvers within the kid's point-of-view until he does something that will, a decade later, make an autumn leafy-lawn suburban neighborhood a bad place to dwell on October 31st...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pO28r9K-5f0/W8wFJj4fZDI/AAAAAAAA6sM/yGd7ixX_P18J3F1f2yFumsa-iKOs7buiQCLcBGAs/s1600/latest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="485" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pO28r9K-5f0/W8wFJj4fZDI/AAAAAAAA6sM/yGd7ixX_P18J3F1f2yFumsa-iKOs7buiQCLcBGAs/s400/latest.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Halloween Rates: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Thus, in an implied Hitchcock fashion, using a groundbreaking smoothly gliding camera carried by a human as opposed to rolling along movie-looking dolly-tracks... giving the impression everyone is being stalked and hunted... the entire chilling experience wastes no time... HALLOWEEN is almost like a sparse kind of modern windy, empty streets Western combined with Film Noir elements, since it... despite the pot smoking and some loose sexual behavior... has a 1950's small town vibe...<br />
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In that, some of the acting can be a bit... noticeable, with the exception of friendly cop Charles Cyphers and the always-effective British character actor Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, the same name as Janet Leigh's "back with the nuts and bolts" boyfriend in PSYCHO...<br />
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And of course, the leading scream queen ingenue is Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of shower-death famous Janet, beginning a career of horror films for the next few years: while sadly, PSYCHO pigeon-holed mom into random work on the big and small screen, daughter was just getting cinematically started (both would appear in Carpenter's fantastic 1980 ghost story, THE FOG).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tagged as "The Trick is to Stay Alive"</u></td></tr>
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Paranoid as she is, and unlike her airhead girlfriends, Jamie's Laurie Strode is ultimately tough and firm, her main motivation to protect a little boy and girl from a mask-wearing "Shape" that makes HALLOWEEN really work since we only see the formidable antagonist sporadically in the daylight until he's viciously palpable at night.<br />
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And instead of picking-off a handful of teens like in countless suburban "body count" horror flicks to follow, all inspired by HALLOWEEN, there's only Nancy Loomis, PJ Soles and one boyfriend in genuine danger.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIyN_boJaFU/W8wHXmwpVTI/AAAAAAAA6sY/VPhju1FhqeoC2QJff-1XAtFgWABZ4oqLACLcBGAs/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-20%2Bat%2B9.55.29%2BPM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="414" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hIyN_boJaFU/W8wHXmwpVTI/AAAAAAAA6sY/VPhju1FhqeoC2QJff-1XAtFgWABZ4oqLACLcBGAs/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2018-10-20%2Bat%2B9.55.29%2BPM.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>PJ Soles' last phone call</u></td></tr>
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Basically, no demise is a gratuitous throwaway: every single body count counts... although more victims would have been a nice treat, which <i>would</i> occur in the entertaining 1981 sequel, continuing on the same night and bringing Michael Myers inside a somewhat busy hospital, giving him plenty of folks to haunt and slaughter. '<br />
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The ominous soundtrack is written and composed by director Carpenter (as most of us know, he scores his own projects), and like that camera, the keyboard moves things along, while the main score is reminiscent of THE EXORCIST theme... Not bad since both films wield more than just jolty shock value: HALLOWEEN has a cursed vibe built-in from the onset, making even some of the slower, awkward moments ultimately payoff since, like the roaming Dr. Loomis, the audience knows what (never <i>when</i>) is coming around the bend. Making these poor, simple teenage girls HALLOWEEN night a menacing, formidable nightmare... on-screen. "He really enjoyed the collaboration we were giving to him," PJ Soles says of Carpenter. "And we all felt like part of the team." And that aura is another thing that separates the original from the sequels. A tight, palpable, genuine unity. As everything, from living to dying, happens for a reason. Even when a lot more is expected.

body count, donald pleasence, franchise, halloween, horror, jamie lee curtis, john carpenter, pj soles, seventies, slasher

REVIEW OF THE JOHN CARPENTER ORIGINAL 'HALLOWEEN'

year: 1978 cast: Jamie Lee Curtis and PJ Soles "I think it was the little tiny details that made the thing the bigger picture,"...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/29/2015 / No comments / bela lugosi , dwight frye , horror , thirties , universal monster

ENGLISH VS SPANISH DRACULA: FEATURING DWIGHT FRYE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2InKJTUJUQ0/VjJTUQwXxOI/AAAAAAAApjs/HqFSKMLjUUQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2InKJTUJUQ0/VjJTUQwXxOI/AAAAAAAApjs/HqFSKMLjUUQ/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Best Version Especially thanks to Dwight Frye</u></td></tr>
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The American version of the 1931 groundbreaking classic DRACULA, directed by FREAKS legend Tod Browning, starring Bela Lugosi in the title role, is all but stolen by UNIVERSAL PICTURES madman mascot Dwight Frye, who played the "Igor" type Fritz in FRANKENSTEIN and as the scene-stealing lawyer turned bug-eating lunatic Renfield, takes the screen and runs with it, using more creativity in his expressions and movements than the somewhat despondent camera by Browning, letting the suspense unveil slowly, almost by accident, and often, alas, too lethargic does our story unveil...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lasyy8VGkl4/VjJTaPJizhI/AAAAAAAApj0/gN3RPu9CG-o/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lasyy8VGkl4/VjJTaPJizhI/AAAAAAAApj0/gN3RPu9CG-o/s320/2.png" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dwight Frye caged</td></tr>
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So sure, the original version can be, at times, ascetically bland as far as movement/direction goes, with splendid exterior paintings and dark-lit castle interiors standing on their own merit, resembling backdrops of a lavish stage-play as opposed to scenery contained within a motion picture. But what works are Bela Lugosi's spooky closeups and Dwight Frye's insanity-driven sequences... he's not a full-blown vampire, devouring insects in an insane asylum next-door to Dracula's new real estate, eventually turning into an ambiguous "rat" against his boss, providing screeching clues to the expository Van Helsing and pretty boy Jonathan Harker, all serving the main purpose to save ingenue Mina, played by Helen Chandler, one bite away from being Drac's eternal bride: Meanwhile, the darker atmosphere of the Spanish version, filmed at night after Browning's scenes were completed by day, has a more creatively maneuvered camera gliding from scene to scene; establishes the opera audience when we first enter London; includes more intriguing and clear dialogue reminiscent of the Bram Stoker source novel; adds smoke to the rising vampire's casket; and has a thirty-minute edge on fulfilling the central plot that Browning's somewhat choppy version leaves the viewer to figure later, on their own: like chasing a proverbial dragon tail in order to discover the nature of the beast...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NBMuwZiK5h0/VjJTg9eSe2I/AAAAAAAApj8/YhUpFa7piP8/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NBMuwZiK5h0/VjJTg9eSe2I/AAAAAAAApj8/YhUpFa7piP8/s320/3.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bela Lugosi with Frye</td></tr>
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But the Spanish actor in the title role, although slightly resembling the future British Christopher Lee vamp, mostly during rare dark-lit angles, seems like a hired costumed monster at a children's party... often coming across as just plain goofy. Unlike the pointed, narrow-eyed Van Helsing in the original, the Spanish scientist-slayer resembles a bland New York banker tired of his day job. And nutty sidekick Renfield, despite being a doppelganger for the not-yet-famous character-actor Timothy Carey, hams it up to such unnecessarily stage-acting buffoonery, he does the opposite of what Frye's over-the-top style accomplished in the original. Thus, Tod Browning's feature is and always will be the best of the two versions...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4uQr_wGFvc/VjJZ3GCcKdI/AAAAAAAApkM/VbtCr7ktPqI/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-29%2Bat%2B10.41.07%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4uQr_wGFvc/VjJZ3GCcKdI/AAAAAAAApkM/VbtCr7ktPqI/s400/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-29%2Bat%2B10.41.07%2BAM.png" width="173" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Literally Creepy Frye</td></tr>
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Although it should be noted, in Cult Film Freak's opinion, both versions of DRACULA pale to James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN and the follow-up, BRIDE OF... (and Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN also featuring Frye), wherein creative camerawork and intense jump cuts (that horror directors would use years later... for example, the forward-cuts toward Sissy Spacek in CARRIE when she turns and stares at John Travolta's approaching car): Whale glides his stories along like, say, an Orson Welles would a few years later, as FRANKENSTEIN is a more fleshed-out theatrical experience (even Mel Brook's spoof pays serious homage to the brilliant visual style). Either way, Browning's DRACULA remains a cultural Gothic classic, and no matter what's been said about Night beating Day, his version far exceeds its Spanish sibling, for the cast alone...<br />
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And Dwight Frye takes the prize, providing an edgy, nervous lunacy while surprisingly, Dracula himself, Lugosi, actually seems to hide his teeth/weapons, more implied and mysterious than outright terrifying... it would take years later when bloody fangs became the most important element of the timeless master of darkness whose "children" eternally howl in the night. Meanwhile, Bela's eyes are literally hypnotic, and it's believable as humans melt under his spell... as can any modern audience: You just have to let go and let it all work despite the CGI standard's we've become accustomed to. While the more fleshed-out, visually dynamic and overall superior British Hammer  Films 1958 venture, HORROR OF DRACULA, is highly recommended unlike the later Francis Ford Coppola version, which should be avoided like a garlic cross wrapped in wolfsbane.<br />
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ENGLISH VERSION: ***1/2<br />
SPANISH VERSION: **

bela lugosi, dwight frye, horror, thirties, universal monster

ENGLISH VS SPANISH DRACULA: FEATURING DWIGHT FRYE

The Best Version Especially thanks to Dwight Frye The American version of the 1931 groundbreaking classic DRACULA, directed by FREAKS le...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/28/2015 / No comments / adam roarke , creature , eco-horror , horror , lynn borden , ray milland , sam elliott

SAM ELLIOTT & RAY MILLAND IN 'FROGS' WITH LYNN BORDEN

adam roarke, creature, eco-horror, horror, lynn borden, ray milland, sam elliott

SAM ELLIOTT & RAY MILLAND IN 'FROGS' WITH LYNN BORDEN

year: 1972 cast: Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Lynn Borden rating: **** "We’d all be scared," according to the late actress Lynn B...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/25/2015 / No comments / 2015 , franchise , giancarlo esposito , patricia clarkson , road movie , sequel , teen

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X3K7Px8WiaI/Vi27HOvCj4I/AAAAAAAApjM/mbQRBx-8nE0/s1600/scorch-trials.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X3K7Px8WiaI/Vi27HOvCj4I/AAAAAAAApjM/mbQRBx-8nE0/s640/scorch-trials.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 cast: Dylan O'Brien, Patricia Clarkson, Giancarlo Esposito Director: Wes Ball</u></td></tr>
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It's difficult for adults to keep up with all these dystopian future teenage literary adaptations, from THE HUNGER GAMES to DIVERGENT to (the original) MAZE RUNNER, an action-packed version of what's usually a doomed-romance thriller. Following a chosen group of youngsters to run a dangerous course that very few can survive, what you see is what you get, including formidable robotic spiders. At the end, the kids wind up behind-the-scenes, sort of...<br />
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And now in this fairly decent, more intriguing and adventurous sequel, using the popular "learning something new every step of the way twist" element, if counting how many times the characters get painted in a corner and then escape at the very... last... second, you'd simply lose count. But what separates SCORCH TRIALS from THE MAZE RUNNER are the number of locations: Instead of just a grass field outside a collection of gigantic cement walls, there's an underground military fortress beneath a vast desert leading to distant mountains where, in-between, is a giant warehouse with gnarly human "creatures" reminiscent of those on a popular television series, a seedy rave, and other destinations – making this more of a journey than just plain exercise.<br />
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RATING: ***1/2<br />
REVIEW OF <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/09/maze-runner.html">THE MAZE RUNNER</a>

2015, franchise, giancarlo esposito, patricia clarkson, road movie, sequel, teen

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

year: 2015 cast: Dylan O'Brien, Patricia Clarkson, Giancarlo Esposito Director: Wes Ball It's difficult for adults to keep up wi...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/24/2015 / No comments / 2015 , barry levinson , bill murray , biopic , bruce willis , comedy

BILL MURRAY IN ROCK THE KASBAH

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBGHqqHzwZw/Visf5-YaM9I/AAAAAAAApiY/fvH5asRLj-0/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RBGHqqHzwZw/Visf5-YaM9I/AAAAAAAApiY/fvH5asRLj-0/s320/1.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015</td></tr>
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Unless you go way back to the original SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, after Chevy Chase quit and the new kid took over, and follow Bill Murray's progression from background mediocrity to complete greatness, you'll discover his brilliant persona began with lounge singer Nick Winters. If you haven't seen any clips of this character, just watch MEATBALLS, STRIPES, GHOSTBUSTERS, to name just a few... And Nick's subliminally in all those: An offbeat, charming, sarcastic, lovable loser... Only in ROCK THE KASBAH, with a title taken from a Clash tune and directed by Barry Levinson, Bill's oblivious loser denies being one, but admits to always eventually quitting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6dDFM5pRAo/Visf5oVy35I/AAAAAAAApiU/oSli-QCtI8g/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J6dDFM5pRAo/Visf5oVy35I/AAAAAAAApiU/oSli-QCtI8g/s320/2.png" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Where it all began</td></tr>
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After a second wind of indie films including LOST IN TRANSLATION and almost any Wes Anderson project, Murray became a cool uncle for the millennial hipster generation, and now he's back in breezy old school form: Not that this movie's nearly as great as those aforementioned classics, but it's a personality-driven vehicle for the most part, taking Murray's desperate, low-rent music manager Richie Lanz from America to, of all places... for rushed and not very logical reasons... Afghanistan, where, after losing his flakey, reluctant "talent," winds up discovering a secret local sensation to eventually perform on a reality television show, Afghan Star, their form of American Idol.<br />
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At the very end it's noted this is a true story: And during the third act the plot shifts from Murray conning his way in and out of (never very suspenseful) trouble... often with the help of maverick soldier Bruce Willis and hooker Kate Hudson... into a determined belief that this Afghan singer, a young lady living in a country where females have little to no artistic freedom, will overcome the odds. And while the fusion of comedy and drama becomes a bit awkward, and Murray's Richie is no Nick Winters (his spontaneous sitar rendition of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" is an obvious attempt at SNL homage), John Winger or Dr. Peter Venkman, there are a few witty moments. Yet it's his genuine style of solid acting that not only makes the picture work, but should casually appease all generations of Bill Murray fans.<br />
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RATING: ***1/2

2015, barry levinson, bill murray, biopic, bruce willis, comedy

BILL MURRAY IN ROCK THE KASBAH

year: 2015 Unless you go way back to the original SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, after Chevy Chase quit and the new kid took over, and follow Bill...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/23/2015 / No comments / 2015 , horror , michael caine , vin diesel

VIN DIESEL IN THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tm5CKJbdl0s/VinWNWQBLEI/AAAAAAAApiE/uQtommS0f_g/s1600/The-Last-Witch-Hunter-2015-Movie-Poster-4K-Wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="364" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tm5CKJbdl0s/VinWNWQBLEI/AAAAAAAApiE/uQtommS0f_g/s640/The-Last-Witch-Hunter-2015-Movie-Poster-4K-Wallpaper.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 cast: Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood Director: Breck Eisner</u></td></tr>
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There's just so much CGI that kills suspense, and makes any and all evil adversaries look somewhat similar after a while. A kind of demonic dark-red vegetation growing icky tentacles, and always whispering, or hissing, or both... A cinematic villainous plague!<br />
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During this horror adventure involving modern Gothic witches considered normal since a witch hunter, Kaulder, was, long ago, granted an eternal chore to keep them from being their original nasty selves, is a moment when Michael Caine's wise old priest stares out at a New York building and sees what happened in GHOSTBUSTERS when, after the power's shut off, a mad dash of spirits rush up into the skyline: the same exact scene but with much less color.<br />
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At this point we're practically finished with a movie that never let's us know the characters well enough to either boo at or root for. Like young priest/sidekick Elijah Wood in an ultimately wasted role. The witches aren't very distinguished from each other... other than being gorgeous until some reveal their genuinely ancient, crumbling selves: And Vin Diesel's muscular tough guy seems like a legitimate witch ass kicker (he's Vin Diesel and can beat up anyone, right?) yet sporadic dreams of his wife and child in a rural medieval meadow provide a sparse backstory that anyone not familiar with whatever source THE LAST WITCH HUNTER derived will be completely in the dark, waiting for this mediocre time-filler... with a few neat battles for action flick fans to enjoy... to finally conclude. And although the first twenty minutes <i>does</i> attempt to slowly maintain itself into a story we can all follow, once the action starts, everything just sort of frantically blends together.<br />
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RATING: **1/2

2015, horror, michael caine, vin diesel

VIN DIESEL IN THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

year: 2015 cast: Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood Director: Breck Eisner There's just so much CGI that kills suspense, and mak...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/21/2015 / No comments / 2015 , horror , jack black

JACK BLACK IN GOOSEBUMPS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MhGqkfxCWvY/Vicqny70swI/AAAAAAAAphk/TB5duHcgzoE/s1600/goosebumps-movie-trailer-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MhGqkfxCWvY/Vicqny70swI/AAAAAAAAphk/TB5duHcgzoE/s640/goosebumps-movie-trailer-poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush Director: Rob Letterman</u></td></tr>
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Steven Spielberg, whose 1941 rolling rollercoaster is paid homage to, was a big Orson Welles fan, and there's a LADY FROM SHANGHAI fun house full of mirrors, which includes reflections of a Charlie McCarthy Doll: kind of like the one on Steven's rollercoaster, only "Slappy" is shrewd and nefarious, and an important cog in R.L. Stine's horror wheelhouse created for kids, immensely popular before Harry Potter monopolized young readers worldwide... But back to the subject at hand...<br />
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Jack Black has the right amount of edgy charisma as the grouchy, reclusive real life Stine – whose work comes to life when hidden manuscript pages are opened – balancing out an oddly cast "new kid in town" teenager, Zach, who doesn't look as neurotic and depressed as he constantly seems to be. Meanwhile, goofy sidekick Champ has almost the same personality, deleting any comic relief status.<br />
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Then of course there's a young beautiful ingenue... a soft, secret part of an otherwise noisy vehicle so full of grandiose special effects, the audience might eventually feel as worn out as the characters, which isn't so bad since going overboard seems intentional: paying a belated, collective tribute to the man whose literary creatures sparked a generation of Millennial nightmares in a big screen transition, more action/adventure than horror while providing thrills instead of chills.<br />
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RATING: ***

2015, horror, jack black

JACK BLACK IN GOOSEBUMPS

year: 2015 cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush Director: Rob Letterman Steven Spielberg, whose 1941 rolling rollercoaster is pa...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/19/2015 / No comments / 2015 , cold war , fifties-era , spy , steven spielberg , tom hanks

STEVE SPIELBERG DIRECTS TOM HANKS IN 'BRIDGE OF SPIES'

2015, cold war, fifties-era, spy, steven spielberg, tom hanks

STEVE SPIELBERG DIRECTS TOM HANKS IN 'BRIDGE OF SPIES'

year: 2015 director: Steven Spielberg Starring: Tom Hanks Cold War thrillers aren't always very thrilling, and mostly rely on mellow...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/17/2015 / No comments / bruce dern , casey kasem , drive-in , exploitation , pat priest , seventies

THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kxzc1nHiHBA/ViGr72oghHI/AAAAAAAApeA/-mYfbKkY3UE/s1600/Poster_of_the_movie_The_Incredible_2-Headed_Transplant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kxzc1nHiHBA/ViGr72oghHI/AAAAAAAApeA/-mYfbKkY3UE/s320/Poster_of_the_movie_The_Incredible_2-Headed_Transplant.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">1971 camp value: ***1/2</span></td></tr>
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The strangest thing about the THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT... overshadowed by the following year's blaxploitation camp classic THE THING WITH TWO HEADS wherein football titan Rosey Grier and once Oscar-winning Ray Milland shared the larger guy's body... is that Bruce Dern, famous for playing crazy to the hilt, is, as a bonafide Mad Scientist, extremely subdued: Rarely has the actor been so calm, cool and collected.<br />
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Meanwhile, with sexy wife (and MUNSTERS babe) Pat Priest yearning for affection, Dern's Roger is just too busy trying to morph his bizarre experiment from animals to human. And everything connects in the middle from what occurred during a violent pre-credit prologue: a low-rent Warren Oates lookalike playing a psychopath is sentenced to the loony bin, eventually escapes and, after attacking the lovely blonde ingenue residing at a rural ranch/institute (our central location), he's shot, wounded and "secretly" captured by Dern and his scientist partner: thus the killer's head is transplanted onto a faithful, gigantic and sporadically reckless OF MICE AND MEN style village idiot/gardener's son, who, after dad's added to the body count, has no reason to live a normal life, so why not place a second noggin to consummate the perpetually labored, groundbreaking experiment?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ge-FZUwy2m8/ViGq-NWn4tI/AAAAAAAApd0/imRccYfE0YU/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ge-FZUwy2m8/ViGq-NWn4tI/AAAAAAAApd0/imRccYfE0YU/s320/1.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Signed by Pat Priest</td></tr>
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Here's where the film really takes off as the human creature, literally headed by the killer controlling the bodily strength of this once gentle giant, battles Nazi bikers (the toughest played by personal friend, cult actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2010/03/gary-kent-retrospective.html">Gary Kent</a>) while seeking out the kind of raging, raping and recklessly pillaging havoc that makes all things exploitation, exploitation.<br />
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And, as noted earlier, while hardly as memorable or iconic as THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (which had a corny yet genuine racial/social message), TRANSPLANT wields the kind of pointlessly awesome drive-in flavor where anything can happen; and most of it does. Added to that, our eventual savior/hero is none other than Casey Kasem as a normal (as opposed to neurotic) doctor, also providing radio voice-overs as the characters, along with the audience, are given necessary exposition between bloody bouts: Making Kasem another "two-headed" entity, only not as incredible.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1hndA1WA9Sw/ViMbCcteLHI/AAAAAAAApfY/TPZPwFKahX8/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1hndA1WA9Sw/ViMbCcteLHI/AAAAAAAApfY/TPZPwFKahX8/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screen Captures from THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2505nenNBk/ViMbCAyltFI/AAAAAAAApfU/rYNTkLsQPnA/s1600/02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2505nenNBk/ViMbCAyltFI/AAAAAAAApfU/rYNTkLsQPnA/s640/02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Includes our leading lady scream queen played by MUNSTERS Marilyn actress Pat Priest</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XybSB-xTdxQ/ViMbCkqZSOI/AAAAAAAApfg/CeHEotY84GY/s1600/03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XybSB-xTdxQ/ViMbCkqZSOI/AAAAAAAApfg/CeHEotY84GY/s640/03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the eclectic casting of Bruce Dern and the equally yet differently iconic Casey Kasem</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pWS9la-hoRY/ViMbCy9C-oI/AAAAAAAApfk/hYwi9430_g0/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="492" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pWS9la-hoRY/ViMbCy9C-oI/AAAAAAAApfk/hYwi9430_g0/s640/5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's where Cult Film Freak's friend <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/08/satans-sadists.html">Gary Kent </a>battles the 2-Headed beast run amok</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jU5KcBz0pR0/ViMbDc3rPGI/AAAAAAAApf0/YuR_hET-cJQ/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jU5KcBz0pR0/ViMbDc3rPGI/AAAAAAAApf0/YuR_hET-cJQ/s640/6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide shot of the fight between real life <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/11/the-hard-road.html">stuntman/actor Gary Kent </a>vs our titular creature creation</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_sfqtQLY5BI/ViMbDooAbYI/AAAAAAAApf4/BVUftQfyX14/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_sfqtQLY5BI/ViMbDooAbYI/AAAAAAAApf4/BVUftQfyX14/s640/7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Consider inexpensively downloading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Light-Journeys-Revolutionary-Hollywood-ebook/dp/B00C89ONOU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445166765&sr=8-1&keywords=GARY+KENT+SHADOWS">Gary Kent's autobiography</a> on Amazon's Kindle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MF4rUBXbpiE/ViMbCh__-9I/AAAAAAAApfc/gK9UvW9lY24/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MF4rUBXbpiE/ViMbCh__-9I/AAAAAAAApfc/gK9UvW9lY24/s640/22.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sorry, Shaggy, I'm all out of Scooby-Snacks... let the bitch eat Alpo."</td></tr>
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bruce dern, casey kasem, drive-in, exploitation, pat priest, seventies

THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT

1971 camp value: ***1/2 The strangest thing about the THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT... overshadowed by the following year's bla...

MICHAEL FASSBENDER AS STEVE JOBS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QgyB0ZppTEk/ViIvnfmuipI/AAAAAAAApes/D2yL3599imA/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-17%2Bat%2B4.23.35%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QgyB0ZppTEk/ViIvnfmuipI/AAAAAAAApes/D2yL3599imA/s320/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-17%2Bat%2B4.23.35%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015 director: Danny Boyle</td></tr>
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What could have been titled, YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO TALK RIGHT NOW? or CAN'T WE DISCUSS THIS LATER ON? is an art-house jigsaw representation of the STEVE JOBS legacy, covering all the sketchy mere-moments before three various Product Launches: the first post-Apple II Macintosh Computer; the failed yet subliminally strategic NeXT system; and the iMAC that brought both Jobs and Apple back to life: Right before Steve hits each stage we get frantic discussions from various people including Seth Rogen's sarcastic yet bluntly serious and logically effective Steve 'Woz' Wozniak, who was Job's partner in the beginning garage days, and simply wants his groundbreaking technological importance revealed and complimented, aloud; Jeff Daniels, as former Pepsi turned Apple CEO John Scully, loathes his own stiff suit reputation; and most important of all, Jobs' unwanted daughter, Lisa, hanging around backstage, is what everything is really about. But not entirely...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9kFg39_RZ6g/ViKY1QIzZLI/AAAAAAAApfE/_GoyoW408wI/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-17%2Bat%2B11.51.47%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9kFg39_RZ6g/ViKY1QIzZLI/AAAAAAAApfE/_GoyoW408wI/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2015-10-17%2Bat%2B11.51.47%2BAM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael & Kate</td></tr>
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Kate Winslet more than deserves second tier credit as marketing executive/faithful assistant Joanna Hoffman, speaking with a partial, never-distracting accent in a thankless yet equally significant role as she gathers all Steve's concerns, sets him up with each guest/visitor, stubbornly remains an ignored moral compass and makes sure he's able to rule each show without a single hitch. The biggest catch is we never see any actual speech or demonstration that's been fervently planned: Cutting to the next level before each vignette concludes, STEVE JOBS is a hybrid of RESERVOIR DOGS (hectically discussing what's never witnessed within confined, often claustrophobic boundaries) and A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the man himself a sort of mechanical Scrooge not quite owning-up to each "ghost" – haunting him like (what often seems like) guilt-driven hallucinations. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyF_0eMGLls/ViHx9kgwdcI/AAAAAAAApeY/v2L1bybvCS8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JyF_0eMGLls/ViHx9kgwdcI/AAAAAAAApeY/v2L1bybvCS8/s320/2.jpg" width="269" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cult Film Freak's retro work station</td></tr>
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Already controversial for making Steve look like a complete scoundrel, Michael Fassbender actually plays the role with such subtle and natural finesse that might have been more dramatic, dynamic and edgy had the original choice, Christian Bale, remained on board... For in this case, the energy just sort of happens <i>around </i>Fassbender as we learn... also through creatively edited flashbacks... how Apple came about; then broke off into Mac; Jobs being fired and all that modern history jazz you can simply read about online or view in other projects <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/08/jobs-vs-pirates.html">(PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY with Noah Wyle recommended over Ashton Kutcher as JOBS)</a>...<br />
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It's during the literally last-minute problems that the man, the myth, the legend, and most of all, the resilient entrepreneur surprisingly never gets too frantic or frazzled while being perpetually cornered, and whose headstrong denial drives him, and the movie itself, past any flaws... And there <i>are </i>a few: Things get a bit stagey as we occasionally detour into Soap Opera territory. But like this old Macbook computer being used right now, it's the stuff inside the machine that causes things to flow so nicely, making one unaware what can possibly go wrong, because during each moment it all just seems... pretty alright while it's... you know... all going on.<br />
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RATING: ****

2015, biopic, danny boyle, jeff daniels, kate winslet, michael fassbender, seth rogen

MICHAEL FASSBENDER AS STEVE JOBS

year: 2015 director: Danny Boyle What could have been titled, YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO TALK RIGHT NOW? or CAN'T WE DISCUSS THIS LATER ON...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/16/2015 / 1 Comment / 2015 , horror

GUILLERMO DEL TORO DIRECTS CRIMSON PEAK

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4MDEBtJlCkE/ViCkE0smHEI/AAAAAAAApdg/FOsOugine6M/s1600/MV5BNTY2OTI5MjAyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTkzMjQ0NDE%2540._V1_UY1200_CR64%252C0%252C630%252C1200_AL_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4MDEBtJlCkE/ViCkE0smHEI/AAAAAAAApdg/FOsOugine6M/s320/MV5BNTY2OTI5MjAyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTkzMjQ0NDE%2540._V1_UY1200_CR64%252C0%252C630%252C1200_AL_.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015</td></tr>
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A classy stab at the Costume Period Piece Horror ala Hammer Films with a poisoned dash of Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS, Guillermo Del Toro's CRIMSON PEAK flows like an elegant robe worn at a fancy party where the uninvited guests are initially more intriguing than who's throwing it: But after the build-up is crashed by ghoulish creatures so bloody computer-animated and right out in the open, it's like being awakened from a suspenseful nightmare by a shrieking alarm clock.<br />
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Wraiths aside, the story itself is a creative Film Noir, taking you into the misunderstood mindset of an anti-elegant "poor rich girl" played by Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing (her fictional last name an obvious homage for Hammer's stock actor, Peter): she's a would-be author instantly smitten by a dark and slickly handsome young man from England with a lovely piano-playing sister in tow. Edith's millionaire father doesn't trust these strangers, and for very good reason: which isn't a spoiler in this review since the movie itself spoils the mysteriously ambiguous  characters far too soon...<br />
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A shame since PEAK is visually a flowing, glowing, gorgeous and artistically dynamic Victorian era endeavor but with a cover so pleasing, it's hard not to judge the flawed interior: Eventually winding up within a Gothic English mansion so aesthetically cursed, haunted and outright doomed, there's nothing left to shudder about, leaving only a convoluted backstory-plot to both unravel and eventually, like that overblown CGI, disintegrate altogether. <br />
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RATING: **1/2

2015, horror

GUILLERMO DEL TORO DIRECTS CRIMSON PEAK

year: 2015 A classy stab at the Costume Period Piece Horror ala Hammer Films with a poisoned dash of Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS, Guillerm...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/15/2015 / No comments / 2015 , fantasy , garrett hedlund , hugh jackman , prequel , remake , rooney mara

A BELATED REVIEW OF PAN

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dosJn_NLbFQ/Vh7pO9QIXVI/AAAAAAAApdM/iTfvCi7guw4/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dosJn_NLbFQ/Vh7pO9QIXVI/AAAAAAAApdM/iTfvCi7guw4/s320/11.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015</td></tr>
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A sort of PETER POTTER AND THE NEFARIOUS ORPHANAGE, with an impressive big budget fantastical aesthetic and evil nuns who run the place like hell as we're taken back to dark, ominous air raid England during World War II with our main character, a young urchin named Peter who, starting out, is normal as can be... just more curious than the other kids, all basically prisoners.<br />
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During the buildup at the orphanage, there's a mysterious fleshing-out of character and location, followed with a gust of special effects catapulted by a flying pirate ship, which looks pretty darn cool. Then something happens that epitomizes "Jumping the Shark"... <br />
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But first off, let's note that Hugh Jackman, the heartthrob actor hired to fill theater seats, is almost unrecognizable, resembling a cross between Max von Sydow's FLASH GORDON heavy Ming the Merciless and the legendary vampire Nosferatu. Any "shallow" Hugh fans will be more into Garrett Hedlund's dashing Hook, who helps set Peter free within this immense exterior purgatory called, you got it, Neverland.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJpVl55fXtY/Vh7pT-SvL0I/AAAAAAAApdU/xUSCvbtbLKQ/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJpVl55fXtY/Vh7pT-SvL0I/AAAAAAAApdU/xUSCvbtbLKQ/s1600/12.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good song in a "stupid and contagious" scene</td></tr>
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Now back to what almost ruins the entire picture: occurring as soon as Jackman's Blackbeard first shows himself to the mass of followers aboard and below his ship while all singing the lyrics to Nirvana's grunge anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit"... no joke, this really happens... killing the legitimacy of the previous scene's 1940's vibe while thwarting any notion we're now in a far away place with rules and culture all its own (The Ramones are also included on the bizarre set-list). <br />
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If you can survive modern rock lyrics replacing a deeper monologue that would/could have cemented Blackbeard as a more worthy antagonistic presence, the movie <i>does</i> improve as Peter, aided by the young handsome Hook along with Rooney Mara's lovely ingenue Tiger Lily and comic relief Smiegel, realizes he, as a possibly legitimate Pan, has the (initially clumsy) gift of flight: and might be the "chosen one" to defeat our villain, who's simply not around enough to matter.<br />
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Just like the innocent little boy turned gallantly romantic if slightly bratty teenage Anikan Skywalker from the STAR WARS prequels didn't work to logically morph a present hero into a future tyrant, the cool, suave and helpful Han Solo style Hook is much too likable for his inevitably wicked (unseen) turnout: Making the entire PAN experience rely on merely starting a franchise ball rolling that, as a vehicle on its own, gathers more moss than potential for any sort of continuation. But still, the movie does flow, exceeding Steven Spielberg's HOOK by leaps and bounds: In fact, Dustin Hoffman singing, say, a GUNS N' ROSES tune, might have actually helped that turkey.<br />
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RATING: **1/2

2015, fantasy, garrett hedlund, hugh jackman, prequel, remake, rooney mara

A BELATED REVIEW OF PAN

year: 2015 A sort of PETER POTTER AND THE NEFARIOUS ORPHANAGE, with an impressive big budget fantastical aesthetic and evil nuns who run...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/11/2015 / No comments / anthony perkins , diana scarwid , franchise , henry thomas , horror , jeff fahey , robert loggia , sequel , suspense

SEQUELS OF PSYCHO WITH ANTHONY PERKINS AS NORMAN BATES

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates from 1983-1990</u></td></tr>
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On the new DVD/Blu Ray cover of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense thriller PSYCHO, you don't see Janet Leigh or Anthony Perkins anywhere, just the motel sign headlining the infamously famous spooky manor, BATES MOTEL, now the title of a popular cable series, thus bringing in a young audience to rejoin the continuing celebration of the original work... It's almost as if they unintentionally retitled the classic by that cover alone...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>The Original's 50th Anniversary Blu Ray</u></td></tr>
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But the incestuous backstory/prequel of a young Norman Bates isn't anything new... In fact, the last sequel had grown-up child actor Henry Thomas as a haunted teenager constantly berated by his hen-pecking mother, bullied by her muscular lover, hit-on by sexy girls, and he winds up doing what we learned in the first... the best.... and what's really, truly, the only PSYCHO that matters...<br />
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Although with PART IV: THE BEGINNING aside, where a married Norman Bates, played for the last time by Anthony Perkins (at that time dying of AIDS), spends most of the film calling into a radio talk show while a 1940's era flashback plays out through his shared memory "narration", the first two sequels aren't that bad, beginning with PSYCHO II and kickstarting an entirely new chapter including the surrounding town viewed clearly during daylight hours, a friendly sheriff (Hugh Gillin), a helpful shrink (Robert Loggia), and a somewhat mysterious young lady, played by Meg Tilly, who becomes a kind of little sister/ingenue while the passive, newly-released from the loony bin Norman wants to help this vulnerable young beauty actually survive, in and out of the greasy spoon diner where they work, and at the house, she even takes a shower... safely. Meanwhile, Vera Miles returns as Lila, and her last name is Loomis, not Crane...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNFoMhw9uXg/XogJluqPybI/AAAAAAABP2Y/PaTfQAicjkguZT_LCqa3y1V_B3W4XU1RACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-03%2Bat%2B9.09.35%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="953" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNFoMhw9uXg/XogJluqPybI/AAAAAAABP2Y/PaTfQAicjkguZT_LCqa3y1V_B3W4XU1RACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-03%2Bat%2B9.09.35%2BPM.jpeg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: Psycho 2 year: 1983 rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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But John Gavin's stalwart Sam Loomis, who worked with the nuts and bolts before venturing with his missing girlfriend's sister to the Bates Motel twenty-three years earlier, is dead and gone; and for worthy reason, twofold, Lila is extremely bitter... That aspect shouldn't be spoiled...<br />
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Although we <i>can</i> say that what consists of the second PSYCHO is that Norman is more or less a sympathetic victim of possible vengeance, and the suspense relies on who and what's messing with his head and <i>who else </i>could be killing several people including a stoned, sexed-up teen male caught in the famous fruit cellar and a boozing slime bag manager played by Hitchcock stylist Brian De Palma's stock actor Dennis Franz, who turned the Motel into an hourly brothel...<br />
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Thus the first half, a body count horror with effective thrills, chills, utterly painful deaths and neat camera angles – not trying too hard to compete with the original while adhering to the 1980's horror template – is pretty decent... But the second half, as so many ingredients are added to the who and the why and the how of the mind games against Norman, there's an overkill of expository dialogue and not enough slashing... Although the last fifteen minutes makes up decently for lost time and violence...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qC0nwnRfT-A/XogKNQUVzdI/AAAAAAABP2k/SDTBEyFC3kwCSQxbhT5IhWL9sViM3AXEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-03%2Bat%2B8.54.12%2BPM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1398" data-original-width="1013" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qC0nwnRfT-A/XogKNQUVzdI/AAAAAAABP2k/SDTBEyFC3kwCSQxbhT5IhWL9sViM3AXEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-03%2Bat%2B8.54.12%2BPM.jpeg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: Psycho III year: 1986 rates: ***</u></td></tr>
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Which leads to the next venture, PSYCHO III, a gritty no-nonsense exploitation flick starting with a strayed nun played by MOMMIE DEAREST ingenue Diana Scarwid, who can go overboard on occasion, fitting within a perhaps intentional 70's style drive-in vibe...<br />
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As does Jeff Fahey, king of b-movie bad guys, who really brings the proceedings to a wonderfully campy level as a muscle-car traveling musician/womanizer who winds up doing what Dennis Franz did in the last film, only under Norman's passive permission: working as a useful idiot office manager while turning the Motel into a party pad, but mostly for himself and a group of rowdy jocks and vagrant hussies, all potential victims resulting in more bloodshed as we now know who the killer is, unlike the second Mystery-based film...<br />
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And with the same actors playing the faithful Sheriff and a surly waitress, a continuation of a brand new "mother" corpse and Scarwid almost becoming Norman's first official girlfriend, PSYCHO III is a bonafide sequel/continuation of PSYCHO II and actually seems like, in itself, a second chapter to part 2 instead of a third part of an overall series, being that the original stands on its own while these "modern" ventures really started in 1983 as opposed to 1960.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-smrMNjRgfOQ/VhlWkWFSTAI/AAAAAAAApWw/lw8vpiHHH48/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-smrMNjRgfOQ/VhlWkWFSTAI/AAAAAAAApWw/lw8vpiHHH48/s320/4.jpg" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: Psycho IV year: 1990 rates: **</u></td></tr>
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We should also note that the third entry was directed by Anthony Perkins himself, using several Hitchcock angles as homage, and deservedly so... he worked closely with the man, after all, and more than helped make PSYCHO a timeless classic; wherein PSYCHO II's veteran director Richard Franklin was a "student" of Hitch...<br />
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And the only nostalgic relation in the muddled made-for-TV forth entry is the original Bernard Herrmann soundtrack used throughout, showing the young Bates and his mother while, as already mentioned, old Norman calls into that radio program, subliminally threatening to kill his wife, a doctor at the last mental institution he was locked up in, using a fancy suburban kitchen during the long phone chat before returning to the dark Motel at the 11th hour. In this case, neither the front or backstory are very intriguing despite otherwise talented director Mick Garris (THE STAND) trying his best to tie everything together. As for Henry Thomas, it feels more like he's portraying a bland memory of young Norman than the actual troubled/tortured kid who sparked the legendary outrage, while young sexy mother Olivia Hussey merely goes through the motions. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anthony Perkins in PSYCHO</u></td></tr>
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So overall, the man of the hour is Anthony Perkins, who was insanely <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2012/09/ten-outrageous-oscar-snubs-actors.html">snubbed for the Oscar nomination</a> he truly deserved back then. And throughout these eclectic sequels, he sometimes hits the right amount of bent energy but can also go awkwardly overboard... Like in part 2 where, timidly holding a butcher knife to cut Meg Tilly's sandwich, Norman tries saying the word "Cutlery" while stuttering on the letter "C" in a downright embarrassing, contrived manner... And overall, he looks a bit too old for the part; his noticeably aged face not fitting with the same tall gangly frame and creepy, man-child countenance...<br />
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But Perkins should and can be forgiven for any flawed moments within these latter episodes, and while the original needed no followups (never trust a sequel over a decade later), for a wonderful actor who was typecast and hardly taken seriously beyond the deliciously addictive killer from a classic motion picture by the greatest suspense director of all time, at least he was able to act, direct, and return to the part he was born to play when there wasn't much work otherwise i.e. Tony had something fun and familiar to do two decades after his career-making/breaking role as the one and only Norman Bates. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>with Meg Tilly</u></td></tr>
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<u>SOME TRIVIA NOT MENTIONED IN THE RETROSPECTIVE</u>: In part 2, Meg Tilly's fake name is Marie Samuels, which is what Janet Leigh's Marion Crane used to sign into the Bates Motel. Also in part 2, the Sheriff was supposedly a former deputy of John McGiver's original lawman, and knew firsthand about the previous murders. In part 4, when Norman is calling the radio show, he uses the first name Ed i.e. Ed Gein, the real life serial killer Robert Bloch based his PSYCHO novel on, which of course started everything. In the intro of Part 2, before the courtroom scene wherein Norman is freed to Vera Mile's noisy chagrin, we begin with the famous Janet Leigh murder sequence. And as Meg Tilly takes a shower later on, a few of the same angles, including the shower head's perspective, are reused.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">with Diana Scarwid</span></u></td></tr>
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In part 3, there is an angle where Diana Scarwid turns her head sideways, reminding Norman of Marion lying on the bathroom floor, eyes wide dead, which evokes his newly restored passion...<br />
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Later, Scarwid winds up fall/stumbling down the stairs, backwards, like insurance investigator Martin Balsam did in the original. In part 4, the plot disregards several previous-sequel aspects, like the new mother corpse, and director/horror genre aficionado John Landis (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON) has a cameo as a radio programmer, and is used in many Mick Garris projects including THE STAND and SLEEPWALKERS...<br />
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Also in part 4, Norman doesn't stuff birds, but has a living/breathing parakeet, chirping in a cage. And at the end, when he drives his wife to the Motel, it's during heavy rainfall, which had, like we all know, caused Janet Leigh's Marion to seek shelter from the storm. Related to this, in part 3, Scarwid is picked up by Jeff Fahey in the rain, but she winds up at the Motel following the storm. And there are myriad of famous lines uttered by Norman from the original, spread throughout all four sequels, obviously sparked by homage as opposed to lack of originality.

anthony perkins, diana scarwid, franchise, henry thomas, horror, jeff fahey, robert loggia, sequel, suspense

SEQUELS OF PSYCHO WITH ANTHONY PERKINS AS NORMAN BATES

Anthony Perkins returns as Norman Bates from 1983-1990 On the new DVD/Blu Ray cover of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense thriller ...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/09/2015 / No comments / ben kingsley , biopic , caper , joseph gordon-levitt , robert zemeckis , sport , thriller

ROBERT ZEMECKIS DIRECTS THE WALK

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015</td></tr>
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There's a point in THE WALK, based on an autobiography turned into a popular documentary MAN ON WIRE about tight-rope extraordinaire Philippe Petit, played by a super skinny and hyperactive Joseph Gordon-Levitt, where his group of eclectic cronies... planning to help get a wire across one tower to the other from the newly-constructed New York World Trade Center... frantically discuss how crazy and obsessed Petit has become. And without the main man present, there's a feeling of being stuck in a vacuum... It's as if these side-characters (including a love interest) mean nothing; and frankly, they don't.<br />
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For better or worse, WALK is a one man show, and Frenchman Philippe makes plenty of excuses to speak English, much too obviously catering to an American audience, even when in France where his hobby turned vocation begins: reluctantly coached by a moody Ben Kingsley. The language explanations and distracting fourth wall narration aside, this big budget project is filmed with creative precision by director Robert Zemeckis. And yet, by the time the title becomes literal, and the wiry stroll begins high above New York, we're centered so closely on the nervous, balancing Petit, there aren't enough reactions of the people far down below, who, realistically speaking, could only see the walk... followed by some last-minute, stomach-turning tricks... with a pair of binoculars or a high power telescope: they have nose-bleed seats, in reverse.<br />
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Everything really comes down to the intensity of Gordon-Levitt, provided a role he can sink his heart, soul, and tons and tons of dialogue into. Unfortunately, the director's energy often goes against that of his leading man: while we know the wire-walk is a really big deal, and a genuinely miraculous feat, there lacks both the awe as a spectator while the 3D (which Zemeckis reels in) isn't very impressive... unless you're afraid of heights. The film does get extremely high in a somewhat suspenseful manner. But we don't come down to Earth enough to fully connect with the importance of being up there – or all the meticulous trouble to pull off the stunt in the first place. Have these ragtag outcasts stealing a cache of penthouse diamonds (or whatever), and there wouldn't be any difference, stylistically, of your typical "impossible caper" motif: think TOWER HEIST with a tightrope.<br />
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RATING: **1/2

ben kingsley, biopic, caper, joseph gordon-levitt, robert zemeckis, sport, thriller

ROBERT ZEMECKIS DIRECTS THE WALK

year: 2015 There's a point in THE WALK, based on an autobiography turned into a popular documentary MAN ON WIRE about tight-rope ext...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/08/2015 / No comments / 2015 , disaster , emily watson , jake gyllenhaal , jason clarke , john hawkes , keira knightley , michael kelly , robin wright , sport , thriller

BELATED REVIEW OF EVEREST

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2015 Score: **1/2</u></td></tr>
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With an exception of Jason Clarke as Rob Hall, who made climbing up Mount Everest a hardcore vacation trend for intrepid tourists, there are a collection of famous and/or talented actors hidden by hefty beards and not having much to do with the plot: for example, Jake Gyllenhaal blends into the background consisting of several camps at each level of the arduous climb.<br />
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One of the more memorable supporting roles is Josh Brolin, who, in many films as of late, has played a sort of jerky antagonist: other than being blunt and not as tough as he talks, wearing a (sign of the times) DOLE/KEMP campaign T-shirt, and being proudly/loudly from Texas, he's a surprisingly humble guy with worried wife Robin Wright brooding at home (her HOUSE OF CARDS co-star Michael Kelly is also on board). Meanwhile, Clarke's Hall has his own phoned-in spouse; yet another famous actor (actress) hidden in a small role: Enter Keira Knightly, pregnant and also fretting about her husband's occupational peril, especially when, upon reaching the crest of the mountain, a deadly storm ensues, taking over the third act of this real life biopic with gorgeous exterior locations while the humans get lost in the mix... In fact, most of the time, with parkas almost completely obscuring already bearded faces, it's difficult to know who or who's not in serious trouble: making EVEREST a "modern" ALIVE, which was a popular 90's bio flick about a group of athletes who crashed on a snowy mountain and had to survive by cannibalism, all much easier to distinguish and, pun intended, more fleshed-out while EVEREST lacks palpable suspense or memorable characters put into serious jeopardy when we're really, truly supposed to care about their turnout: which is the most important aspect of any "disaster" film, other than an "all star cast" which, as already noted, is pretty much wasted here.

2015, disaster, emily watson, jake gyllenhaal, jason clarke, john hawkes, keira knightley, michael kelly, robin wright, sport, thriller

BELATED REVIEW OF EVEREST

year: 2015 Score: **1/2 With an exception of Jason Clarke as Rob Hall, who made climbing up Mount Everest a hardcore vacation trend for ...

Written by James M. Tate / 10/07/2015 / No comments / christina applegate , eighties , exploitation , fritz weaver , gretchen corbett , horror , jaws-clone , john mccurry , nancy priddy , norman lloyd , snake

GRETCHEN CORBETT IN 'JAWS OF SATAN' W/ CHRISTINA APPLEGATE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cnstSUv3ncY/XrqSEDfapxI/AAAAAAABTTE/M7irpPxEyX8KIXDvjdl2Z8C-jK5_QlNgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/satan1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="197" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cnstSUv3ncY/XrqSEDfapxI/AAAAAAABTTE/M7irpPxEyX8KIXDvjdl2Z8C-jK5_QlNgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/satan1.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 1981 rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr>
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Strange when you know a movie by one name, adorning the posters, video cases and disc covers, but another title displays on the actual opening credits... usually fitting a lot more. One example is THE SILENT FLUTE verses CIRCLE OF IRON: the first centers on what the film is about while the other sounds a lot cooler. But in this particular case, banking on the Steven Spielberg shark blockbuster, morphing KING COBRA into JAWS OF SATAN, is actually a better fit...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gretchen Corbett</u></td></tr>
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The titular serpent <i>is</i> The Devil seeking Gothic revenge on a priest. Yet we mostly center on Gretchen Corbett’s Dr. Maggie Sheridan, investigating a series of snake bites taking place in a small town where Fritz Weaver’s Father Tom Farrow, ironically aided (with great chemistry) by new age spiritualist Diana Douglas, resides...<br />
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Called in from the big city is snake expert Jon Korkes as Dr. John Hendricks, a standard leading man/expository scientist in this low-budget horror flick balancing the creature feature genre of SSSSSSS, the taut melodrama of VENOM, and your typical exploitation body count fare…<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate</u></td></tr>
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The best parts involve the latter: from random townsfolk to policemen to the token vulnerable child, played by a very young Christina Applegate resembling the following year's cute blond POLTERGEIST hands-on television starlet, Heather O'Rourke. When the slithering antagonist appears within various interiors and exteriors, from a train to a post-funeral cemetery, the suspense level is palpable, and although mostly implied, each strike is violently effective.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiD8C91rxdE/XrqU27nhbdI/AAAAAAABTT4/XT3JPTN3gko5LZJFl5RgIorxEz1lcugdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-12%2Bat%2B5.12.51%2BAM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="848" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiD8C91rxdE/XrqU27nhbdI/AAAAAAABTT4/XT3JPTN3gko5LZJFl5RgIorxEz1lcugdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-05-12%2Bat%2B5.12.51%2BAM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Pretty neat Gothic artwork for King Cobara aka Jaws of Satan</u></td></tr>
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What makes just about any drive-in type of b-movie shine, and has been their staple for years, are veteran actors selling the goods, not only guiding the story but making a farfetched premise legitimate and believable...<br />
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Herein Weaver (star of a TWILIGHT ZONE and one day co-star of the best CREEPSHOW episode, THE CRATE) and future ST ELSEWHERE doc/former Alfred Hitchcock heavy Norman Lloyd take THE OMEN and especially EXORCIST template... a relatively younger, faith-doubting priest relying on an older priest for wisdom and logic... Stressing the mysterious origin and agenda of the snake: revenge dating back thousands of years.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate in King Cobra aka JAWS OF SATAN</u></td></tr>
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Meanwhile, an abandoned sub-plot involving the town's greedy Mayor covering up for a Dog Race Track mirrors Murray Hamilton keeping the lethal beaches open in JAWS (Dick Miller in PIRANHA, Dean Jagger in ALLIGATOR): putting financial gain over people's lives.<br />
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Yet you can take away all the cheap peripheral distractions and simply enjoy the snake (snakes, actually, since the King Cobra oversees the lesser snakes doing the actual killings) going to town, literally. And at one point, the glass separating one character from the Cobra is totally visible, but hey, the same thing happened in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. So there! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate as Kim Perry in King Cobra aka JAWS OF SATAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate stares down Diana Douglas besides real & fictional mom Nancy Priddy in JAWS OF SATAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate stares down Diana Douglas besides real & fictional mom Nancy Priddy in JAWS OF SATAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate as Kim Perry in JAWS OF SATAN w/ Bob Hannah</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Christina Applegate as Kim Perry in King Cobra aka JAWS OF SATAN</u></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Larger picture of Christina Applegate facing the titular snake in JAWS OF DEATH aka King Cobra</u></td></tr>
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christina applegate, eighties, exploitation, fritz weaver, gretchen corbett, horror, jaws-clone, john mccurry, nancy priddy, norman lloyd, snake

GRETCHEN CORBETT IN 'JAWS OF SATAN' W/ CHRISTINA APPLEGATE

year: 1981 rating: ***1/2 Strange when you know a movie by one name, adorning the posters, video cases and disc covers, but another titl...

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