Midnight Movie of the Week #192 - The Brain That Wouldn't Die

There are a lot of genre films out there that succeed because they take a ridiculous idea far too seriously. Movies about time travel, killer animals, invaders from space, vats of liquid Satan (Prince of Darkness, represent!), and plenty of other wacky things can be great cinema when the right filmmakers and cast members are willing to believe in an unrealistic premise. Nobody, save the extremely nerdy and critical, blinks twice when an '80s kid travels to 1955 in a Delorean or when a scientist turns a preserved mosquito into an island full of dinosaurs, because the filmmakers behind these movies distract us elsewhere and don't give us time to think too much about how crazy the whole darn movie is.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die is not one of those movies. If anything, it's the exact opposite. It spends too much time making us think about what's going on - thanks to some poor pacing and a tendency to just let the characters talk about the plot instead of having them do anything - which makes it an easy target for skeptics, such as the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew that once mocked it thoroughly on television.  (In the film's defense, it's hard to have a character who is only a severed head "do anything." We'll talk more about that later though.)

If you don't know The Brain That Wouldn't Die, a drive-in stalwart that was released in 1962, it's the story of a power hungry doctor who specializes in Frankensteiny experimental medicine and the woman he loves - a woman who is beheaded in an automobile accident while he is driving erratically due to his lust to get to his science. Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on who you listen to - that same science allows our narcissistic doctor to keep that head alive, living in a few clamps and a tray of serum (or, as the MST3K guys called it, "neck juice"), while he searches for a body that he can use for a transplant. Oh, and there's a "thing" living and groaning in the closet too. You gotta wonder if that's gonna come in to play later on.

Now, most will scoff at that premise - a severed head suspended in a pan while an evil doctor hunts for a victim - but I can see a good movie inside of it. And one of the things I love most about The Brain That Wouldn't Die is that it's clear that writer/director Joseph Green believed there was a good movie in there too.  The film's script has plenty of dialogue that misses the mark or is delivered awkwardly - like the disfigured character who keeps repeating how she carries memory of her past around with her or the lab assistant who shouts things like 'You're nothing but a freak of life! And, a freak of death!" - but there are also moments in the film where the script stumbles upon slightly profound comments on science and the doctor's meddling nature.

Virginia Leith - who stars as both the full bodied girlfriend, Jan, and as "Jan in the Pan" - is given most of the opportunities to monologue about right and wrong, and she's clearly not excited to be preserved as a captive cranium. As she rants about her captivity she eventually stumbles into one of the film's more interesting arguments, discussing her "power" with the lab assistant and the creature in the closet. The empowered version of Jan, like most of the characters in the movie, spends more time talking than she does achieving, but she still seems a lot more interesting than the rest of the characters in the film. Maybe it's Leith's smoky delivery of her lines, or maybe it's just the fact that she's a severed head in a pan with fantastic eyelashes, but when she rasps "like all quantities, horror has its ultimate...and I am that" I definitely can see that Green had some good ideas up his sleeve when he made this movie.

Then again, most of the flaws - like the awkward catfight and the doctor's doomed search for a body - are the things that make The Brain That Wouldn't Die a must see piece of flawed drive-in history, and by the time that closet opens up late in the film I think most fans of pure cheese will find themselves having at least a little bit of unironic fun with this film. Those hints of something smarter in the dialogue - even throwaway lines like "The corpse is yours, do what you want to do" seem like they would get a laugh in a less serious film - and Leith's presentation of tabletop anger that keep me thinking about how perfectly imperfect the tone of The Brain That Wouldn't Die is, and that tone is what makes this film so memorable to me.

Well, it's that tone that makes it memorable....and it's also the talking severed head that's floating in neck juice that's memorable. You never really forget seeing that.

Midnight Movie of the Week #189 - Seconds

Long before Davids Cronenberg and Lynch made the bizarre their normal, Hollywood heavyweight John Frankenheimer made one of the most fascinatingly surreal genre-bending movies of all-time. The film is Seconds, released in 1966 to little fanfare and much confusion, in which an old man (John Randolph) decides to escape from his old life and use a radical medical procedure to become a young man (Rock Hudson) with a fresh young life.

The plot sounds relatively simple, like something that would be used for a 30 minute TV show like The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt (both of which did offer  episodes with similar ideas), bur Frankenheimer finds more than enough content to fill this full-length film with bizarre imagery and thought-provoking plot turns.  The film teeters on the edge a few times, and it's easy to see why some viewers lose interest in the fluid narrative of the film, but each time I see it I feel more in tune with Frankenheimer's loopy sci-fi odyssey.

The film opens with the life of Arthur Hamilton, played by Randolph, and quickly makes the viewer feel unease about this man's life without really telling us much. The camera follows him through mundane daily activities and uninteresting conversations with his aging wife, but also dangles a carrot of intrigue in front of him. Hamilton has been receiving late night phone calls from an old friend named Charlie, urging him to visit a secret medical organization which will help him start his life over. It sounds too good to be true, but Hamilton has reason to believe something is going on there, because he has known for sometime that Charlie is dead.

Hamilton makes up his mind rather quickly, which leads him to this company and leads the film into some haunting sequences which challenge the morality of his decision. Some of these are done visually, like a creepy sequence where a seemingly drugged Hamilton enters a room with a young woman in a bed, but others draw their power from the script. One of the best sequences in the film sits Hamilton in the middle of a room and lets a series of employees talk to him about the decision he's making, starting with an insurance man (who manages to say "The question of death selection may be the most important decision in your life." with a straight face) and leading to a devilish old man who seems to literally talk Hamilton into killing himself. Of course, this kind of suicide promises a second chance, but the words of this old man come off as a rather ominous sign of trouble ahead.

Hamilton goes forth with the procedure, assisted further by a bit of blackmail that makes it impossible for him to turn back, and is reborn as Tony Wilson, who is played by Hollywood star Rock Hudson. Hudson was far from being Frankenheimer's top choice for the film, and I too have often thought of him as an actor with less range than some of his contemporaries, but Hudson certainly brings his best to this role. From day one of his new life we can tell that there are some second thoughts, and even a relationship with a young woman doesn't seem to satisfy all of his expectations about being young again. Wilson also ends up finding himself in some strange social situations that become chaotic on screen, which I've often read as a statement about dropping the seemingly introverted Hamilton into an extroverted world as Wilson. Hudson does an excellent job of showing us the unease that occurs in this character as he comes to recognize regrets about his choice, which leads the film back to the company for an unforgettably chilling final act.

From the opening titles - a montage of extreme close-up images put together by the legendary Saul Bass that reminds me of his opening titles for Vertigo - it is obvious that Frankenheimer does not want to viewer to be comfortable watching this character (or is it these characters?) and one of my favorite things about the film is that the camera always seems to be doing something I call "fishbowling" to the characters. You know how when you look at a goldfish in a bowl it either looks really far away or really close to you and huge, depending on the angle you look through the glass? Well, that's how Frankenheimer and cinematographer James Wong Howe - who would receive an Oscar nomination for the film - make Seconds look. There are a lot of shots that are far too close to the character's face, but they're offset with moments where the camera just seems to be lingering at an angle in the opposite corner of a room or hallway. The altered perspective that comes from the camera's eye adds a lot to the mysterious intrigue of the film.

Seconds tries to succeed on a lot of levels - it's a sci-fi film, it's a horror film, it's a parable about life and death - and it is at least interesting in each of these domains. When the solid lead performances (which are buoyed by supporting turns by actors like Jaws' Murray Hamilton and Will Geer as the previously mentioned Old Man) mix with the haunting visual style, the result is a film that will certainly get viewers thinking. Considering its age, Seconds seems like one of the first great cult cinema mindbenders, and it's still worth revisiting as one of the finest nightmares on film I've ever seen.

The Last Circus (or, Balada Triste de Trompeta)

(2010, Dir. by Alex de la Iglesia.)

Any reference to horror's early years - the times when Lon Chaney ruled the world and led to the era of Karloff and Lugosi - is welcome in Mike's world, but I didn't really expect a connection between these horror icons and The Last Circus, which was promoted as a bombastic onslaught of violence that might have been the Spanish answer to violent filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino.  In fact, there are some loose parallels between this film and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, both in theme and in execution, though I'm not entirely sure the similar tone was intentional.

The fact that I'm talking about Chaney and Karloff and Tarantino while talking about a flick I didn't really care to see speaks volumes about how surprised I was to find myself caught up in The Last Circus - or, as the Spanish title says, A Sad Trumpet Ballad - as it unfolded before me.  I expected it to be a film about sadistic disfigured clowns who run around with high-powered weapons - and, for the most part, it is - but that literal Spanish title is a lot more telling than the American advertisements would have you believe.

Director Alex de la Iglesias may not directly reference his contemporaries, but the opening credit montage - a montage of images that follows the events of the twentieth century and focuses heavily on war imagery - spends several moments featuring Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff and even Charles B. Middleton (and his portrayal of the diabolical Ming the Merciless in the initial Flash Gordon serials).  This isn't just a cute homage, it's a warning of things to come, because the director's story clearly draws from the tortured-soul-turned-monster themes that filled early horror films.

The plot follows the doomed existence of Javier, the son of a clown who is destined to be a "sad clown" after witnessing his father's involvement in World War II.  The father leads the first action-packed sequence - one of the countless moments in the film which feature dudes in clown makeup killing efficiently - before being imprisoned and eventually killed by a vicious general.  Before his death, he gets a chance to remind his son of his fate and the one thing that can save him - revenge.

Javier grows up and accepts his circus job as sad clown - destined to be the butt of all jokes and the recipient of much abuse - and meets the two people who seal his tortured fate.  One is the funny clown he works for - an abusive and violent drunk named Sergio - and the other is that clown's beautiful girlfriend, the circus' trapeze artist named Natalia.  Despite their vast differences, Natalia quickly becomes interested in the portly sad clown - because he's the one person who stands up to Sergio when he tells a dead baby joke.  Unfortunately, Natalia is still interested in Sergio too, due to his violent and sexual nature, which creates the conflict that carries the film.

Throughout the film, all three characters are victims in countless ways.  Both clowns end up with facial disfigurements and mental maladies, while Natalia is stuck in the middle to witness their madness.  All three characters are drawn really well, and the actors that portray them - Carlos Areces as Javier, Antonio de la Torre as Sergio, and Carolina Bang (who is a) incredibly stunning and b) despite her name, NOT a porn star) as Natalia - do a fantastic job of physically throwing themselves into the film.  The disconnect between the timid sad clown and the unhinged funny clown is tested as Javier becomes increasingly demented, but continues to be a key to the film through the impressive cliffhanger of a finale.

The least interesting thing about the film is its violence and carnage - which were one of the main selling points of the film in the first place - but that's not saying the brutality is a distraction from the psychological drama on screen.  These scenes of bloodshed are the ones that will remind American audiences of people like Tarantino or Rob Zombie, but I got a little distracted from the main story through them.  A mid film sequence that brings Javier back into contact with his father's killer seems especially odd as I look back at the film, as this sequence might only be remembered because it blatantly refuses to put clothes on Areces.  It's not a bad sequence in total, but when it's compared to the tragic love triangle that unfolds in the first and third acts it seems like filler.

Tragedy, not brutality, is the key word when it comes to The Last Circus for me.  Sure, you get a huge, ugly clown running around with machine guns and threatening children, but it's the dramatic turns that mimic the earliest days of horror that sold The Last Circus to me.  I'm not sure the end result is really a great film, but I put a lot more thought into this one than I expected to when i saw the first advertisements, and that alone has me excited to experience The Last Circus - or, should I say, A Sad Trumpet Ballad - again.  It's a deviously interesting little film.

Midnight Top Five - The "Modern Horror vs. Not-So-Modern Horror Double Feature" Edition

One of the great things about horror movies - and I'm trying to say this seriously - is that they're so darn repetitive.  I'm not saying remakes and sequels and not being original are good things in and of themselves.  What I am saying is that a great terror comes in many shapes and sizes.  Something that scared us as a child can still scare us as an adult - but the way it scares us or the thing about it that scares us or the intensity of the scare changes with time.  And the fact of the matter is that horror movies have been asking us to be afraid of the same things for decades, they just do it in different ways.

So, when the friends of FMWL over at Pussy Goes Grrr - a one of a kind blog that often brings the goods - introduced me to their "Juxtaposition Blogathon" (and after I looked up juxtaposition at dictionary.com to make sure I didn't say something dumb), I started thinking about just how often some of the horror movies we see these days share traits with horror movies that have come before them.  And how, a lot of the time, the older horror movies seem to have fallen by the wayside.  The result? Five unique "Double Feature" pairings that just might rock an evening in your future.

Let's get to it.

The House of The Devil & The Devil Rides Out

We start with two of my favorite movies to talk about here at FMWL, one of which was my first Midnight Movie of the Week pick and another that was a MMOTW pick soon after and might be my favorite horror film of the last decade.  There's an obvious connection that can be made due to their names (HINT: It's "The Devil"), though Old Scratch doesn't actually show up in either film.  

Despite the absence of a traditional devil, the hooks that bring the films together include big ol' houses filled with Satanists, some moon mumbo jumbo, and a fresh faced young girl (Jocelin Donahue in the latter, Nike Arrighi in the former) who is the key to completing some kind of ceremony.  A lot of people say that men have advantages over women in this world, and if it's true then it certainly seems that not being the target of a Satanist cult is one of the more posh advantages us dudes have.  Sorry ladies.  

The biggest difference between the films - besides the more than forty years that passed between them - is that one offers a tall veteran actor (Christopher Lee) as a powerhouse hero, while the other offers a tall veteran actor (Tom Noonan) as a subdued catalyst of evil.  But hey, I still love both films to death - and anyone looking for a couple of cult-based chillers could do worse than starting with these two.

Feast & The Being

I'm not sure if a lot of other people do - I rarely hear anyone talking about it - but I love the heck out of Feast.  It's a totally ridiculous and over the top gorefest that normally wouldn't even cause me to look twice, but there's something about it that just stops me every time.  It doesn't subscribe to any kind of reason, Hollywood expectations are certainly thrown out with the bath water, and it's the rare film where you really feel like any of the characters could die...except you really don't, because there's one girl who's way too hot and way to prominent in the film to die.  Pretty sure there's a graph out there that proves being high on those scales is the best way to survive a splatter flick.  If not, there should be.

It should be noted that Feast does slightly break from this with the character played by my favorite Twitter Crush, Jenny Wade. I'll let you see what I mean in the flick.

Though Feast is pretty one of a kind in its madcap lunacy, its mixture of slimy creatures and and off the beaten path setting makes me want to pair it up with another splattery flick, the barely known 1983 flick The Being.  Despite the presence of some known names - Martin Landau and Jose Ferrer show up - this small town Idaho based tale of toxic mutation is pretty forgotten these days.  Which is totally sad when you consider the fact that bearded/flannel shirted producer William Osco takes center stage while using the alias  Rexx Coltrane.  He's worth the price of admission alone.

Neither of these films will really scare you too much - though there's a fantastic scene with a toddler, and Easter Egg Hunt, and a mutant in The Being - so get ready for plenty of monster based silliness, some horrible acting, and a whole lot of splatter.  If you're prepping for a gore-based cheese movie night, these two should bring the thunder.

Rogue & Alligator

Yes, I realize that Rogue is a movie about a crocodile and Alligator is (obviously) a movie about an alligator.  Go ahead and tell me the difference, I'm gonna forget it soon (again) anyways.  The point is that these two fellas have big chompers, are greenish, and can take a man down faster than he can say "Hey, what's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?"  So you gotta pay respect.

Greg McLean's Rogue seems to teeter between getting more or less respect (based on who you talk to) than his debut feature Wolf Creek.  That's more of a statement about just how divisive that film is (I dug it, if anyone cares), but Rogue suffers from no such schism.  This is a very competent and very consistent thriller that pits man against nature, and the director does a great job of pitting folks who didn't plan on an adventure against the toothed killer.

Someone else who didn't expect to face off with a reptilian killer is the always fantastic Robert Forster, who stars in Alligator as a detective who investigates the possibility that a 36 foot gator lives in Chicago's sewers.  Since the streets of Chicago don't provide as much watery goodness as the Australian outback, Alligator is a more talkative film than Rogue, complete with a script from indie darling & Piranha/The Howling scribe John Sayles.  But both movies provide maximum teeth gnashing, and they should be good friends despite their killers' scientific differences.

Snakes on a Plane & Venom

If gators/crocs aren't your thing - I'm not sure why they wouldn't be, but whatever floats your raft, man - then perhaps you'd be more interested in some cheesy snake action.   It boggles my mind that it's been more than five years since Snakes on a Plane happened, and I'm still kind of sad that the movie has fallen through the cracks a bit in the years since its release.  I'm not exactly sure why the people who were so excited about a movie called Snakes on a Plane were so quick to turn their backs on a film that acted like it was called Snakes on a Plane, but I still think it's a ton of fun.

Some have complained that Snakes on a Plane spent too much time setting up the silly reasons for the snakes being loose on the plane, and I will give them a bit of a pass on that one.  Aside from the unstoppable Samuel L. Jackson and that lady from ER - who stand out mostly because of their experience in the spotlight - most of the people in Snakes on a Plane just aren't that interesting.  But, then again, the movie has a ton of SNAKES on a PLANE.

If you're looking for something more ambitious (just take a look at the movies mentioned on that poster!) which features more characters and less snakes, there's always the 1981 chiller Venom.  It offers only one snake - a black mamba that's super crazy - but gives us one of the best b movie casts ever.  Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Michael Gough, Sterling Hayden, and Susan George all become pawns in this tale of a kidnapping gone wrong via snake, and the film is better thanks to their presence.  In the end, Venom (like Snakes on a Plane) is a pretty silly affair - but if you put the two together you should have enough interesting characters and more than enough snakebit action to make for a fulfilling evening.

Drive Angry & Race With The Devil

In cinema, you simply can not keep a good devil down.  Earlier in this list we were worried about the houses he was in, then him riding out, and now we have two films that involve getting away from Beelzebub and his followers on the open highway.  

I've already written a biased and glowing review of Drive Angry here, but I should repeat just how fun it was to see a modern film take on such a grindhouse idea with such disregard for Hollywood expectations.  Nicolas Cage teams up with writer Todd Farmer and director Patrick Lussier to present a film that recognizes how cheesy it can be (William Fichtner's performance as "The Accountant" should prove that entirely), but the plot's usage of Satan as an omnipresent force and willingness to juxtapose what Fichtner and Cage know against a silly southern cult of "Satanists" puts Drive Angry in an interesting horror related spot.

If you want to see more reputable actors take driving around a cult landscape seem more serious, I recommend pairing Drive Angry with the 1975 hit Race With The Devil.  Though the film is most famous to me for being used in The 'Burbs and features a supremely anti-climactic ending, Race With The Devil is almost certainly what Drive Angry would have looked like 35 years ago in a RV - except that Peter Fonda and Warren Oates are running from the cult and not toward it. And if Drive Angry is a little too self aware for y'all, then Race With The Devil's super serious tone should be plenty pleasing.

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And there you have it.  10 movies for the price of five.  Maybe you don't want to watch them as double features - I suppose I could have nominated the likes of Venom and Race With the Devil as substitutes - but I hope you'll at least consider some of these films that preceded their more famous recent counterparts.  If nothing else, they should remind you that the same horrors can come at you from all sorts of different angles.

Happy viewings, Midnight Warriors!

FMWL's Best of Summer 2011 (Part One)

List time!  With the temperatures dropping and the leaves getting ready to change into their Halloween costumes, I figure it's time to stop and smell this summer's midnight roses one more time.  This is gonna be a blitz style couple of posts, as I take a gander at a lot of films - I count  25 right now, and I might think of more as I type - that made The Mike smile this summer.  Ready? Let's Go!

Best Of: The Summer Cineplex 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: What looked like a cash-in reboot at first turned out to be a fresh and original addition to the 1968 classic.  A great film in its own right, thanks to great effects, good acting from James Franco and John Lithgow, and a ridiculously well-done script.  (Read The Mike's Review)

Super 8: I saw Super 8 three times this summer, and I never was able to come up with anything to write about it.  To me, it's one of those movies that isn't worth analyzing, because I'm having too much fun with it to turn on the critical part of my mind.  J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg craft a fantastic sci-fi tale that made me feel like a kid again - which is the best you can ask for from escapist summer cinema.

X-Men: First Class: I'm a nerd about almost any movie based on a comic book, but the four X-Men movies of the '00s were a mixed bag for me.  And it's not even that I only liked some of the movies, it's more that I liked and disliked different parts of each movie.  Enter another prequel, X-Men: First Class, which tells a new tale of the young mutants, led by young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender).  The action is well done throughout the film, but it's the performances of Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence (as the shape-shifting Mystique) that really sold the film to me.  For the first time ever, I really cared about the characters in the X-Verse.

Captain America: The First Avenger/Thor: Speaking of comic book flicks, I gotta give props to a couple of fun diversions that made me smile this summer.  Both of these films - which exist primarily to tie everything together for next summer's The Avengers - felt like what I'd expect a comic book movie to feel like.  Thor charmed mostly with its acting, led by a starmaking performance by Chris Hemsworth, while Cap's film won me over with its pulpy World War II/science fiction hybrid tone.  On their own, I find myself looking forward to revisiting each film often. (Read The Mike's Thor Review)

Best of: New Releases to DVD/Blu-Ray

Hobo With a Shotgun: To those of us who missed this film's VOD and theatrical run, it seemed impossible that this grindhouse throwback could live up to the hype.  But I quickly realized I was wrong to doubt the film, because this Hobo provides unmatched thrills and gore.  The film's mean side is complemented by a varied sense of humor that uses gross out gags and quirky characters, and the end result is what should become a true cult classic. (Read The Mike's Review)

Super: A vicious comedy that seems slightly inspired by last year's indie hit Kick-Ass, Super is another truly unique film, featuring plenty of uncomfortable and inappropriate moments (such as Juno's Ellen Page commenting on the interior of her lady parts with a choice adjective).  I wasn't wild about the movie while watching it - even though I admired the lead performance of Rainn Wilson much - but the final act really pushed the film to a powerful place.  Many kudos to James Gunn (who was also behind the raunchy recent horror Slither) for continuing to push boundaries and make us love him for it.

Drive Angry: Todd Farmer is a screenwriter cut from the same cloth as Super's Gunn; he's also unafraid to do unpopular things to win over lovers of cheese.  With Drive Angry, he gives us cheesy special effects, Amber Heard's loveliness, cool cars, good gore, sinister satanists, an over-the-top Nic Cage, AND (last but not least) a wonderfully funny comedic turn from William Fichtner.  As fun as any movie I've seen this year. (Read The Mike's Review)

Rubber: I get the complains about Rubber.  It's a completely irreverent film that doesn't really say anything or mean anything about a killer tire.  But I couldn't help feeling respect for the crazy little film, because it (and I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, I know) was unlike anything I'd ever seen.  I mean, it's a movie about a killer tire that just rolls around and makes people spontaneously combust.  I'm for that.

The Perfect Host: Just saw this flick this weekend, and had a ton of fun thanks to a sharp performance by David Hyde Pierce as a scene stealing psychopath who hosts the best dinner parties - for his victims and imaginary friends.  It's an incredibly smart thriller with some interesting twists, and great work from Hyde Pierce and Clayne Crawford.  It's a psychological winner that's worth finding.

Best of: Upgrades to Blu-Ray

Conan The Barbarian: While Jason Momoa and company were bringing Conan back to the big screen for Lionsgate, Universal had a perfect excuse to remaster and re-release Arnold Schwarzenegger's two turns as the Cimmerian.  The first film has long been a fantasy favorite of mine, and the upgraded video and audio are fantastic on blu-ray.  It's slightly disappointing that only the theatrical version of the film appears on this version - an 80 second dialogue scene in the directors cut is one of my favorite Conan moments - but that's a small concern compared to this fantastic presentation.

The Stunt Man: OK, I haven't watched my copy of this one yet - I watched the DVD shortly before its release because I was too excited to wait - but everything about it existing makes me REALLY HAPPY.  This is one of the best movies about movies ever made, featuring superb performances from Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and (most importantly) my beloved Barbara Hershey.  The images I have peeked at look great, and it's got plenty of features on the awesome flick.  If you buy one new blu this summer, I recommend this one.

Nowhere to Run: I might be the biggest fan of this cheesy Jean Claude Van Damme film, but I don't regret my love one bit.  An extremely loose reimagining of  the classic western Shane (one of my favorite films), Nowhere to Run offers Van Damme on a motorcycle, making awkward humor with a Culkin kid, facing off with Ted "Buffalo Bill" Levine, and wooing Rosanna Arquette on a farm.  It was a teenage favorite of mine, and I was tickled pink to see it looking shinier than ever - even if it is an extra-free blu-ray offering.

Cobra: One of Stallone's biggest bombs, but this excessive action film is a cult classic in its own way.  Warner's blu-ray disc gives us Marion Cobretti in all his match-chomping glory, and is incredibly crisp for a film of its age.  This certainly isn't one of the best films I've seen this summer, but the blu-ray did a great job of reminding me that there's a lot to love about '80s Stallone, even when he's in the middle of one of the silliest cop movies of the silly decade.

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I'm gonna break this post up for now.  Apologies to all my horror lovin' readers - because this summer apparently didn't grab me when it came to new horror in theaters or on home video.  Did I miss something?  Do you have favorites I skipped?  Please, for the love of everything awesome, let me know in the comments below, because this realization makes me sad.  

In the meantime, rest assured that I'll be back soon with FMWL's best indie horrors of the summer, as well as my favorite category: the best genre films I fell in love with for the first time this summer!  Be well, Midnight Warriors!

Starcrash (aka, The Adventures of Stella Star)

(1978, Dir. by Luigi Cozzi.)

OK, there's no reason to sugar coat it.  I've been lusting after Starcrash for years, and my intention was entirely to see Caroline Munro headline a spaghetti sci-fi rip-off of Star Wars.  Maligned by some as one of the worst films of all-time, the film has built enough of a cult following to earn a Blu-Ray release via the fabulous Shout Factory, who have lovingly restored many of b-movie genius Roger Corman's productions in the past couple of years.  Shout's two-disc blu package paints the film in a positive manner, with a passionate booklet essay by "Starcrash Historian" Stephen Romano - who also provides TWO separate audio commentaries on the disc.  I've never heard of Mr. Romano before tonight, but - as someone who laps up every episode of Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century and considers Flash Gordon to be one of the most amazing motion pictures ever - I can tell we're men of the same heart.

Unsurprisingly, I found myself immediately enthralled by Starcrash when I finally rolled the film tonight.  And it wasn't just because of Ms. Munro.  Now, I will admit that her wide eyes and thin outfits definitely helped the film out - I could easily consider the film to be Flash Gordon's sexy older sister - but the film's frantic energy as it barrels out of control toward its silly plot did more than enough to hold my attention captive.  It wasn't until about halfway through the film that I realized that I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the film's plot; I was too wrapped up in the strange characters and settings that kept popping up during the adventures of Munro's Stella Star.

Though Munro is certainly the Sun in Starcrash's galaxy, the stars that rotate around her do their parts to make the film a blast.  Marjoe Gortner - a former child evangelist who starred in The Food of the Gods - gets top billing as Stella's co-explorer Akton, but his acting definitely plays second fiddle to his strange orange perm hairdo.  (I'm unsure why, but I could see Gortner's character succeeding as a "Buddy the Elf" type character in a land of Oompa Loompas.)  A young David Hasselhoff shows up late in the film to challenge Gortner for the Puffy Haircut Championship of the World, and both men get to do battle using weapons that could only be described as... well, lightsabers.  Also adding to the madness are Joe Spinell (who would star with Munro again in Maniac and The Last Horror Film) as the cape-wearing Count who's behind the evil plan (whatever it is), and Christopher Plummer (getting paid a ton of money for 1-3 days work) as the Emperor of this haunted galaxy.

As Stella Star and her robo-friend Elle (played by Munro's real-life husband) jump across a series of stars, they run into a slew of opponents which include, but are not limited to:

• Troglodytes,
• Amazon women,
• A giant robo-knight with a sword (and what look like nipple rings),
• Skeleton-robots called Golems,
• A bald and green fellow called Thor.

Needless to say, there's a lot to smile about in Starcrash's ridiculous journey.  But just when you think it's all silliness, the film takes some oddly respectable turns.  Most notable is the musical score - from five time Oscar winner John Barry - which gives the film a big-time sci-fi epic feel.  Plummer's appearances to explain plot points also add credibility, because he's the kind of actor who could make a phone book sound thrilling.  What he's saying makes no sense, but he sells it beautifully.

I'm probably not going to remember those things as much as I'll remember Munro, of course.  The images of her fighting off nymphs, hanging upside down over a fire, or flying through space with a fishbowl over her head are all I really need.  I'm probably going to revisit this one often on their merits alone.  But when I do jump back into the film, I'm ecstatic to say that I'll probably start remembering the other things I loved about Starcrash.  That's a major victory, because what I thought might only be a cheesy diversion definitely looks like it could become a go-to piece of trashy b-movie magic in my collection.  If you have any love for this kind of ridiculous sci-fi epic, Starcrash is a must see.

(Random Note: The title of this film in the Philippines was Star Battle Encounters.  I guess Wars was taken.) 

(Final Note: The second disc of the blu-package - which is also full of deleted and alternate scenes and featurettes - includes a near 75 minute interview with present day Munro.  I don't often say Cougar, but in this case....MEOW!)

Midnight Movie of the Week #35 - Death Proof

Back in the Spring of 2007, I initially struggled with what my true feelings were for Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.  Presented as the b-side feature in Grindhouse, the throwback collaboration between QT and long-time friend Robert Rodriguez, the film seemed out of place after the non-stop cheesefest that was Planet Terror and the batch of fake trailers that surrounded it.

It had been easy for me to see some of the film's charm when Grindhouse hit on that April night, but it just simply wasn't clicking then.  At that moment, I looked at Death Proof the same way I would look at a fabulous Mexican restaurant right after I'd spent three hours downing burgers and dogs at a 4th of July cookout.  It's a completely different brand than what it was packaged with, and I simply didn't have the energy to care at the time.

But something kind of amazing happened when I got the film alone later that year...I kinda loved it.

 Death Proof - in a roundabout way - focuses on the character of Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell.  Putting Kurt Russell in your movie is about the easiest way to catch The Mike's eye (I almost went to that Dreamer movie about a horse just for Kurt!), and he doesn't disappoint as Tarantino's unhinged stunt driver.  Thou shalt not doubt Kurt is one of The Mike Commandments, so I knew that would happen.  But I wasn't prepared for what else the film had to offer.

A majority of the film focuses on the groups of young women who become Stuntman Mike's prey, which is where the film caught me off guard.  I should have known a little better - half of Tarantino's films are scenes where characters sit around a table drinking beverages and yammering about cool stuff - but the hectic nature of Rodriguez' preceding film had clouded my judgment.  As I looked at the film later, I realized that these scenes were quite a bit more interesting than I'd realized.  Particularly enjoyable is the discussion that opens the film's second half (or, Grindhouse's fourth quarter) in which '70s car chase movies become the topic.

While Planet Terror embraced horror conventions thoroughly, this film sits squarely on the ledge of the horror genre, seeminlgy unsure of if it really wants to step inside and join the party.  Stuntman Mike is built up as a likeable character before his "turn", and when he does become menacing the effect is doubled by Russell's ability to fill the role.  But when you step aside from the fact that there's a menacing fellow, there aren't many horror movie trappings here.  The film is more indicative of those "gearhead" films of the '70s - where the cars were the stars - than any horror films of the era. It definitely doesn't matchup with Planet Terror in this regard, as that film plays more like something Lucio Fulci would have thrown up on the screen at the time.

It's incredibly easy to sit here and point out the disconnect I felt with Death Proof while my mind was being manipulated by the horror genre, but nowadays it's also easy for me to point out the things I love about Death Proof as a standalone film.  The pace of the film allows each major character to gain a bit of depth, and Tarantino's camera lingers patiently as they move through the film.  As is always the case with Tarantino, the soundtrack accentuates the mood perfectly, and offers plenty of funky beats.  The car scenes and stunts are most impressive, and are an example of Tarantino succeeding in an arena of film that had rarely been seen in his repertoire before.

Though Stuntman Mike is at the wheel, Death Proof is driven by the characters who may become his victims.  Rose McGowan, Vanessa Ferlito, and stuntwoman-turned-star Zoe Bell are the most interesting characters, though side players like Jordan Ladd and Tracie Thoms also get a few moments to shine.  The film is Tarantino's most dialogue driven work this side of Jackie Brown, and the actresses - for the most part - manage to become characters that the viewer has some interest in.  There are a couple of token victims thrown in to the film - one character seems to appear in a car without having been in the rest of the film - but the characters we're introduced to are well-written and the execution of the characters (no pun intended) carries more weight than many horror films could dream of.

Death Proof is subdued in comparison to the rest of that Grindhouse experience, and even a bit tame compared to most horror films.  Regardless, Tarantino's film is always interesting to me these days, and Russell's sick character still manages to get under my skin at times.  I underestimated it grossly when we first met, and I'm willing to make it up to Death Proof.  I'm incredibly fond of the film these days, and think it just might have a longer shelf-life than anyone - including myself - ever expected.

Midnight Top Five - Why Hasn't That Clockwork Orange Movie Been Mentioned in FMWL's '70s Cult Project?

When FMWL's '70s Cult Project began as a simple discussion on a social networking site, one of the first films that came up when I asked others for the most essential cult films of the 1970s was Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.  I must admit, I'd have never thought to consider this film on my own.  The reason for that, as awful as it is to admit, is because I hadn't ever gotten around to seeing that movie.

You hopefully noticed the past tense in that past statement, because tonight I - finally - resolved that issue.  While I admit that Kubrick just isn't entirely my thing (not to cut on the guy, who had immense talent...I'm just a Hitchcock guy...this heart's not big enough for both of 'em), I was taken by the nightmarish qualities of this one and found myself enthralled for most of the film's second half.  And yet, at the end of the day, I wondered...why aren't we listing this among the cult movies of that decade?  To answer, let's take a look at five factors I've come up with.

(By the way, I have to admit that this is one of those few movies that I've intentionally avoided reading about throughout my career as a film fan.  I wanted to go into it fresh, and I definitely achieved that.  So I apologize if anything I say here is a bit obtuse. I am completely a Clockwork N00B.)

The Director - I don't think I'm breaking new ground when I call Stanley Kubrick one of the most respected, lauded, and loved directors in cinematic history.  And there aren't many who initially connect that with the "cult" film scene.  Like some of the most popular '70s films - Taxi Driver comes to mind - the director's name and long-term reputation has lifted this one out of that conversation.

The Beethoven - I don't know, maybe I'm wrong on this one.  But Kubrick's use of Ludwig Von as a plot point seems to give the film some instant credibility.  Plus there's the Singin' in the Rain bits added in later, too.  To some, the use of such lauded mainstream music could be seen as a subversion, which moves the film more toward a cult audience, and I get that.  But it still reminded me of the "big time" forces behind the movie, particularly the fact that studio giant Warner Bros. was behind this whole thing the whole time.

The Cast - Or perhaps the lack thereof.  While Malcolm McDowell has become a minor cult figure over the decades, A Clockwork Orange has a cast that pales in comparison to many of the cult classics of this decade.  I have to wonder - what if Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, or Peter Cushing were added to this cast?  Would it have more of a cult following?  I think it probably would.  Without any of the beloved B-Movie A-Listers of the era, Kubrick's film again slips into a different conversation.

The Competition - The easiest argument to make in regard to most bloggers disregarding Kubrick's film in this discussion is the one in favor of the films it's competing with it.  This is a near two-and-a-half hour film that's an event to watch, while the '70s are full of 80-100 minute audience pleasers with similar amounts of violence, sleaze, dystopia, and sex.  A Clockwork Orange does play like an essential film, but it doesn't seem like the film a rabid fanbase would pick as their fallback favorite when there are so many other options.

The Reputation - OK, maybe this point is a sum-up of what I've discussed so far.  But the fact remains.  A Clockwork Orange might have been viewed as a cult sensation when it debuted, but its legend has grown exponentially during the past 40 years.  Like Taxi Driver or the unstoppable force known as Star Wars, this is simply a film whose influence and presence in the story of cinema grew too big for the cult label.  While the cult shoe might fit Kubrick's film's plot, the final product is expected to wear something a bit more classy these days.  It's a cinematic rags to riches story.  That's not a bad thing (it's a fantastic film that's worthy of the praise it receives), and I can understand and respect these reasons for fans of genre cinema to slip away from it and into some less known favorites. 

Did I miss your reasons for feeling the same way?  If so, you know where to comment!  Meanwhile, at The Mike Cave, I'm gonna ponder this one further.  Be well, my droogs.

'70s Cult Project: Part Two - To The Devil a Switchblade Sister Who Dreaded Sundown with a Kansas City Bomber

Wait, what?  I know, I know.  Quickie review posts are so lame.  But I've been watching way too many "cult" flicks from the '70s lately to give them each their own review.  So, let's move forward with some capsule reviews of the flicks I've been making sweet love to lately.

(Ok, maybe there was no sweet love making. But they're at least flicks I've been watching lately.)

Kansas City Bomber (1972, Dir. by Jerrold Freedman.)

There are some really obvious reasons to love a movie in which Raquel Welch wears the outfit you see in that poster (there is soooo no good reason for the zipper to be that low, and I love that about it) while skating and fighting.  Plus one of my favorite fellows, Piranha/Invasion of the Body Snatchers/UHF star Kevin McCarthy co-stars as the snaky owner of the roller derby team which Welch dominates (which, in the interest of full disclosure, is in Portland - not Kansas City).

But really, I kinda love Kansas City Bomber's brand of cheese.  It's got overly dramatic subplots which include, but are not limited to: an overly aggressive yet simple minded and sweet brute, a "this town's not big enough for both of us" feud, and a commentary on the sensibilities of living on a teammate's houseboat while the owner makes the moves on you.  Oh, and it all starts with Welch facing off with an overweight, mullet-sporting woman in a "match-race" that turns into a fist fight.  Yeah, really.  Let me reiterate -  If you ever wanted a movie where Raquel Welch fights a fat woman with a mullet on skates, this one's totally for you.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976, Dir. by Charles B. Pierce.) 


Despite its rather modest reputation (I honestly only knew about it because of that one line of dialogue in Scream), I had really high hopes for this one.  So, I must admit, I was slightly disappointed when I saw the final product.  It was just one of those things that could just never really live up to that pedestal that the gnomes inside my mind had placed it on.


That said, I liked this movie.  At times it felt like I was watching a feature length re-enactment from Unsolved Mysteries (narrator Vern Stierman deserved an Oscar, or something), which - to me -  is a good thing.  Ben Johnson chews up the scenery as the police officer leading the charge against this bagheaded killer, and it was nice to see Gilligan's Island babe Dawn Wells (Side note: I'd still pick Ginger.  I mean, how could you not pick Ginger?  I've never understood that.  Mary Anne is nice.  Ginger is to hotness as The Blob is to blobness.) show up as one of the victims.  


The most interesting thing about The Town That Dreaded Sundown is most certainly its connection to the slasher films that would follow in its footsteps in the decade that followed.  The killer's image certainly draws comparisons to Jason's look in Friday the 13th Part 2, and there are some weird and inventive moments (I do not understand the purpose of that trombone scene, except that it's awesome) that remind of films like The Prowler or Graduation Day.  One of the final attacks, involving a window surprise, will stick with me for a long, long time.  


It's sad that the whole thing just doesn't seem to click thanks to some pacing issues and some weird attempts at humor (what was the deal with Keystone Cops wannabes in the '70s?).  But it's really good at times, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

Switchblade Sisters (aka, The Jezebels) (1975, Dir. by Jack Hill.)


There are many dilemmas in a man's life.  One of the most difficult of these is the dilemma that occurs when a badass female lead character in a film is both a) cute and b) grating.  Thus is the case with Robbie Lee, who stars in Switchblade Sisters as the hard-nosed leader of "The Dagger Debs", Lace.  Luckily, she's challenged by a street smart babe in short shorts named Maggie (Joanne Nail) who is both a) cute and b) NOT grating.  Plus, she's backed up by an eye patch wearing pal, adequately named Patch (Monica Gayle).  (Personally, I was most interested in the tortured "fat" girl of the gang, Donut, played by the saucy-named Kitty Bruce.)


Attractiveness of alleged teen gang members aside, Switchblade Sisters offered a large dose of '70s cheese, complete with a ton of cool music and clothes.  But Ms. Lee's whiny voice and temper tantrums kind of drove me crazy at times.  Hill had made better bad babe movies in the '70s (Coffy and Foxy Brown come to mind) with the assistance of THE Pamela Grier.  While Switchblade Sisters is fun most of the time, it never clicked like those movies did for me.  And Lee's whinnies will keep me away from revisiting this one for a while, as sad as that sounds.

To The Devil A Daughter (1976, Dir. by Peter Sykes.)


These movies keep getting worse as this post goes on.  Tragic, really, because considering how much I love Hammer's adaptation of The Devil Rides Out (totally the most underrated horror film of all-time, I kid you not) by Dennis Wheatley, I was hoping this adaptation wasn't going to be as bad as its reputation.  For those who don't know, To The Devil a Daughter was - until their recent revival - the last film produced by the legendary Hammer studios. 


The film starts, shockingly with Christopher Lee - Dracula himself - wearing the robe of a priest.  I must admit, I checked my pulse.  Alas, it turns out Lee's priest is involved in "the black arts", and he ends up feuding with an author (Richard Widmark, totally slumming it) over the fate of a young girl (16 year old Nastassja Kinski, who goes full frontal anyway).  The film also features Indiana Jones' Denholm Elliott and Honor Blackman, which makes it one of the few films I've ever seen that features both full frontal nudity and Pussy Galore.


And, despite all that...it's terribly boring.  Where The Devil Rides Out had cheesiness and campy performances, this one has Widmark and Lee blabbering on and on about the demon Astaroth and some silly scenes in which winds come out of nowhere.  Yes, deadly winds inside a church.  Boo hoo, not scary.  I'm so glad Hammer came back, because if this had been their final hour, I might have just cried a lot.


So....that's where I'm at in the '70s Cult Project after a very eventful weekend.  Will any of these movies make my list of The Most Essential Cult Films of the 1970s?  Will my list be able to stand up to the awesome lists posted recently by bloggers from all corners of the cyber-globe?  Stay tuned to FMWL all week for these answers, and more!