Midnight Movie of the Week #157 - Night Tide

There's no better way to start the new year than with a love story. At least, that's what I might say if I was the sentimental sort. Nah, the best way to start the new year in The Mike's world would primarily involve good football and good nachos. But I didn't have those this year, which brings us back to the love story. Don't worry Mom, it's not my love story. It's a love story between a young Dennis Hopper and a mermaid.

Yes, you read that last sentence right.  A young sailor played Dennis Hopper falls in love with a sideshow mermaid in Night Tide, a brooding and mysterious melodrama from 1961.  Directed by Curtis Harrington, the film is a poetic black-and-white tale that feels a little like the original Carnival of Souls when it draws us into the quiet world of this lonely young soul. The film's setting also draws parallels to that horror classic - the love interest, Mora the Mermaid, lives in an apartment on top of a merry-go-round on the Santa Monica pier - but the tone of this film seems to be less aggressive than most horror films.  You know how the mediums in horror movies always can feel whether or not a spirit is malevolent or benevolent? This movie's the benevolent one.

Dennis Hopper wasn't quite the Dennis Hopper that movie buffs know and love yet - in fact, it would be a full TWENTY-FIVE YEARS before the role in Blue Velvet that he's probably most infamous for - and it's weird to see him as this young, normal, and (dare I say it) innocent man.  Hopper had been around, on both the big and little screen, for almost a decade (most notably appearing in two of James Dean's three films in supporting roles) when he took the lead role here, but there still isn't a lot here that would make someone guess that he would become the scenery chewing force of nature that built his Hollywood legacy. But when you look at the film as someone who knows Dennis Hopper's later works, it's easy to see why he adds to this film as the lovestruck lead. The whole film has a kind of taboo feeling to it, and it's easy to see Dennis Hopper as the guy who might be vulnerable to the bizarre.

Speaking of that bizarre plot, the film's story primarily deals with the young man's quest to determine if his love interest is our is not actually a mythical creature. As Hopper's character wanders around the film, we realize that the supporting characters seem to hold the keys to the film's mystery. They are led by the drunken captain who found Mora on a tropical island, a fortune teller who hangs out around the seaside carnival, and a mysterious woman in black who seems to haunt Mora and her new lover. The film is very meticulous as it shows us how each of these people may or may not have information on this mermaid woman, and each interaction between them and the sailor leaves us with questions about where the film will go next.

I've mostly talked around Mora instead of about her thus far, which kind of sums up her role in the film. The character is played well by Linda Lawson, who manages to give Mora the exotic beauty that is advertised at her show while also getting us to buy in to the idea that she is a tortured soul. The first hour of the film doesn't offer a lot of actions that would make us worry about Mora or her suitor, but the actress' tone of voice and dream-like manner of moving through scenes - paired with a musical score that seems to bleed drama into the film - had me caught up in their tale from the start.

The final half hour of the film ramps up the tension considerably, and it can be a little difficult to keep track of where the film is going.  The plot's developments remind a little bit of Hitchcock - there are moments that could be seen as twists on Vertigo and Psycho here - but it's also clear that Harrington wanted to ground his film in a macabre place when he references Edgar Allan Poe with an on-screen passage. The film never reaches the heights that these two legends of storytelling did - few filmmakers ever have - but the mood still makes it a unique and captivating film. I find myself unable to look away from Night Tide, and I think any patient viewer with a taste for cinematic oddities will have the same excellent problem.

FMWL Indie Spotlight - Scalene

(2011, Dir. by Zack Parker.)

Scalene promises that "the truth is just a point of view" in its advertising, a tagline that represents the film's jagged narrative.  It's a film that shows us one thing in the beginning, then works backwards to explain how we got to that point.  By bouncing from the perspective of one character to another, the film intends to create intrigue by drawing us in to what might have happened as it reveals the lives of its three main characters.

The description above is a little wordy, even for my tastes, and I never mean to get in to "rambling critic" mode so quickly.  But Scalene is a more ambitious film than a lot of the independent thrillers that come my way, and I wanted to point out the lofty aspirations of the film - before I move in to the things that bugged me endlessly about it.

The disjointed narrative follows the mother (Margo Martindale) of an invalid adult son (Adam Scarimbolo) who has been locked up for some sort of violent behavior involving his college-aged caregiver (Hanna Hall).  The film literally opens with a bang as the female leads go toe-to-toe over whatever has occurred, with Martindale assaulting Hall in her home.  The film backtracks from this point showing us how all of these characters got together, but I struggled to keep myself too interested in in their journey.

For starters, there's Ms. Martindale, who is certainly the central attraction of the film.  She's an actress who has shown a lot on much bigger stages - her work in the second season of TV's Justified is borderline amazing - but her work here seemed a little too far over the top for my taste.  The film aims for extreme realism - the setting and low-budget aesthetic remind me of Steven Soderbergh's experimental drama Bubble - but I couldn't shake the feeling that the actress was a little bit past the point of restraint that would have best served the film.

Though her character may be a little much for me, I can't say that Martindale wasn't interesting in the film.  The same can not be said for our other primary characters.  Hall is serviceable as the young woman charged with caring for the son, but she stands out as an actress against the members of the cast who look more at home in the "everyday" setting of the film.  On the other hand, Scarimbolo is an actor I had seen before - he had a memorable bit part in last year's Stake Land - but I did not recognize him as the affected young man.  Unfortunately, there's not a lot that stands out aside from his physical commitment to the role, and I at times wasn't sure if I was annoyed by the character because I was supposed to be or because the role was grating to view.

Scalene tries to be a lot of things, but I just couldn't find much to love about any of it. The Memento-style narrative feels forced and predictable, and the cast just doesn't feel right.  There is nothing that stands out technically (though that may be the fault of the DVD screener sent out by the distributor, which made the film look like a blurry copy of a VHS tape), and the final reveals don't inspire a lot of thought.  Scalene is a film with grand aspirations, but I felt like it missed the mark too often for me to recommend it. 

Scalene will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on July 31st, so you'll have your chance to see if I'm wrong then. If you want to learn more, check out the official site and the trailer below.

Midnight Movie of the Week #118 - The Intruder

It's probably not fair for me to lump The Intruder into the midnight movie category with the rest of the films of Roger Corman.  Heck, the director has long vocalized that he hates being known as a master of crap cinema - and here I am, ON HIS BIRTHDAY(!), lumping one of the films he's most proud of in with a bunch of silly supernatural tales and other tomfoolery based films.  But I certainly mean no disrespect to the man or his work, I simply want to talk about just how impressive The Intruder is. 

I'm not an authority on history and the civil rights movement, but I do know that The Intruder was bold enough to address racial tensions in the time of desegregation.  Though many would expect a film by Corman to sensationalize the matter - and to be honest, there are a few moments here where he does - Corman's drive to make a film that is both entertaining and important truly needs to be applauded.

The film follows a smooth talking young man in a white suit named Adam Cramer, who is played by none less than a thirty-one year old and relatively unknown (pre-Twilight Zone!) William Shatner.  He rolls into a small southern town in the middle of the civil rights movement, particularly on the eve of desegregation of schools.  Cramer, for reasons that aren't really fleshed out (that's not a bad thing), has his sights set on stopping the placement of 10 African American teenagers in the local school district, and it becomes increasingly evident that he will not stop until he has control over the whole community.

Modern audiences might not find The Intruder's methods to be groundbreaking - racial tension has been a key cog in more dramas than I can count over the last 40 years - but it's the simple approach taken by Corman and company that really wins me over.  Working on a budget that is probably 1/10th of what Paris Hilton spends at the shoe store - like usual - Corman shows once again that he can find inventive ways to tell his story and get the shots he needs.  Interviews with Shatner and Corman discuss some of the guerrilla tactics used to make the film, including the fact that the film's most racially charged shots - involving a parade of Klansters and a church bombing - were the last things filmed.  The reason? Because Corman knew that the crew could drive straight out of town and never look back - just in case.

Plenty of pop culture fanatics may seek out The Intruder because of it's lead performer, and they shouldn't be disappointed by Mr. Shatner.  He takes on the slimy role with a sinister smile, and at this stage in his career he's relatively tame compared to his later overacting.  The character needs to be someone the audience can tel is not trustworthy, and those of us who know Shatner's career should be pleased with his work here.

The Intruder still feels pretty raw due to its budget and Corman's trademark style.  Most of the cast - including the young man who becomes a victim in the final scenes and stands out wonderfully - are members of the real small town who Corman cast to keep the film feeling natural.  Very few of the people involved are trained actors by any means, which makes the production all the more frightening.

And really, that frightening tone to the film - the one that comes from our realization that these are real people and the events we see are real possibilities - is what makes The Intruder so gripping.  The fact that people like Adam Cramer (and people like the easily-manipulated townsfolk who will buy in to fear so easily) are out there should inflict more concern on the viewer than any rubber monster or giant insect Corman could have put on the screen.  This is a movie that dares to go places others wouldn't, a movie that tackles a real issue of the time, and a movie that makes a real point and leaves the viewer with real thoughts about society.  I could not believe what I was seeing when I watched The Intruder the first time, but I knew there was reality behind it.

Maybe the events didn't really happen - there's a Twilight Zone feel to the film, thanks to the adaptation by author Charles Beaumont (who wrote plenty of TZ episodes) - but the history books are full of incidents that did happen based on these same fears.  Corman may be known as a master of escapism, but his work on The Intruder deserves to be applauded alongside the most relevant films of this era.

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 Movie of the Week #100 - Bonnie's Kids

From the obscure corners of the 1970s comes Bonnie's Kids, an exploitation drama that has been ignored by most people who aren't named Quentin Tarantino.  Directed by Arthur Marks, who's probably most known for blaxploitation flicks Friday Foster and Detroit 9000, the film follows the adventures and misfortunes of Myra and Ellie, the daughters of the now deceased Bonnie who are left to face the world together.

The opening scenes make it perfectly clear that the girls' strength lies primarily in their attitude and their appearance.  The elder sister, Ellie, is a waitress who does her best to fend off the advances of every male in town despite her skimpy work outfit.  Myra, who struggles with the condition known as "being a teenager", seems too innocent to even notice her physical gifts as the film opens.  As she dries herself off after a bath with the window wide open, one of her stepfather's friends remarks with redneck sincerity that "there oughta be a law against that".  In his words, a body like that can be a deadly weapon.

Which makes it really dangerous when a "body like that" possesses a shotgun.

Immediately after that astute observation by a character we'll never see again, drunken step-father Charley decides that Myra's sexuality means that he can throw himself upon her.  Ellie returns home just in time, unloading both barrels of her stepfather's shotgun into his chest.  Since "justifiable homicide" wasn't a term that exists in this case, Ellie and Myra dump the body and quickly head out of town (as shown in the title screen above), escaping to the big city where they can stay with their rich Uncle Ben (who's not related to Spider-Man....I think).

Myra literally has them eating out her hands.

The differences between Myra and Ellie are established pretty easily.  Ellie is very comfortable flaunting her body, taking a modeling position in Uncle Ben's agency, while Myra seems content to hang out on her Uncle's ranch where she can hang out with his young trophy wife (a gorgeous redhead who leads Myra into one of the film's sleazier twists) and have a romping relationship with a young man.  At the same time, Ellie agrees to help her Uncle out by delivering a package, which sets the film's noirish plot spiraling into plenty of conflicts.  Double Indemnity, which is considered by many to be the Alpha noir, is referenced by one of the film's more blunt characters; a not-so-sly nod to the pulpy tales that inspired writer/director Marks.

Cardboard Ex Machina.

Speaking of pulp, Uncle Ben is in business with two well-dressed and brutally efficient criminals, whose purpose is clearly to intercept the package and stop anyone who tries to get in its way.  The deadly duo is played by The Godfather's Alex Rocco and former Green Bay Packer running back Timothy Brown, and this pair of white-and-black "business associates" who are searching for a suitcase should clue most viewers in on why I mentioned Quentin Tarantino in the opening paragraph.

We didn't discuss foot massages in the '70s.

Though its effect on Pulp Fiction may draw some viewers (I only learned of the film while reading about films that influenced Tarantino), viewers of the film will find much more to respect about Marks' film, primarily due to the actresses who play Ellie and Myra.  Seventeen year-old Robin Mattson - who went on to a long career in soap opera television - is perfectly cast as Myra, and the ease with which she wavers between innocence and rage should connect with any viewer who's ever had to deal with an angry teenage girl.  When Mattson is allowed to let her anger out she shouts and shakes and grits her teeth, all effectively, which leads to some memorable outbursts.  Most notable is definitely the final confrontation between her and her "kinda Aunt" played by Lenore Stevens, a vicious scene that ends with a bang and helps cement how dangerous Myra can be.

I really don't understand the purpose of the fluffy bikini.

And then there is Ellie.  Oh my.  Ellie is played by one of my favorite beauties of the '70s - Tiffany Bolling.  A graduate of Playboy magazine, Bolling would go on to assist William Shatner in the all-too-awesome Kingdom of the Spiders and to stare down the maniacal killer of The Centerfold Girls.  But her turn as Ellie puts most B-movie roles to shame, allowing her to heat up the screen with her blonde hair and long legs while she manipulates the men with ease.  Unlike her younger sister, Ellie understands the weapon of a body that she possesses and tries to use it wisely - which settles her firmly into the classic role of the femme fatale.  The men that surround her - primarily the ones played by Steve Sandor and Max "Grandpa Fred from Sixteen Candles" Showalter - quickly follow the lead of whatever she says, and it's easy to understand why when we see how she acts around men.  

Here are Bolling and Showalter, more than 10 years before Long Duk Dong.

One of the most telling scenes in the film comes early on, when Uncle Ben discusses Ellie's modeling career - while looking at very nude photos of his niece - and a smirking Ellie replies to repeated suggestions from him with a monotone "I'll do anything that you say".  The distracted male doesn't quite know what he's up against, and the smirk on Bolling's face quietly tells the viewer that she's got more control over he situation than her Uncle thinks.  Other males in the film are more vocally caught up in Ellie's charms, with my favorite moment possible coming when Sandor's character proclaims that Ellie has "the bitchinest legs I've ever seen".

They definitely aren't bad legs.

Bonnie's Kids sounds kind of sleazy - and it is kind of sleazy, to be fair - but there's something about this drive-in version of a pulp noir novel that elevates the material above simple exploitation fare.  As far as dramas go, It's a movie that exists somewhere in the area between The Maltese Falcon and Showgirls. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I like the balance that Marks' film strikes between classic crime story and sleazy sex movie.  Plus, there's really not much sex in it at all.  You don't need the sex when you imply as much sex as Tiffany Bolling does.

This is not Tiffany Bolling, but it is implied sex.

Bonnie's Kids probably wasn't the best thing to play at a grindhouse in the '70s, but I feel like it's criminally underrepresented in the discussion of cult cinema.  This is an artistic movie with some great visuals, some terrific performances, and a nice little stamp on pop culture of the future.  And it's got Tiffany Bolling, and if she can't melt your defenses then I'm not sure there's hope for you.  Bonnie's Kids has everything from calculated hitmen to lesbian accusations to pet rats to the Grandpa from Sixteen Candles (pretty sure I mentioned him already, but it needs repeated), and when you add that all to everything else I love about it, it leaves me proclaiming it to be a total blast.

FMWL Indie Spotlight - Crestfallen

(2011, Dir. by Jeremiah Kipp.)

For a few years now, I've known a young man by the name of Russ Penning.  Like, the I know him in real life kind of known.  So when Russ came to me one day and said "Hey, I wrote this script and I'm producing a short film based on it", I was more than a bit surprised.  I'm not saying I expected less of Mr. Penning, but you never really expect people you know to be behind an actual film production, especially if you live in Iowa. Russ, undeterred by the challenges around him, did write that script and did produce that short. Now it, entitled Crestfallen, sits before me. 

Deneen Melody stars in the near 6 minute short, which is directed by Jeremiah Kipp and shot by Dominick Sivilli, who were the driving forces behind another popular indie short, Contact, last year.  Here, the trio take control of Mr. Penning's story, which focuses on a young woman who is contemplating suicide...after cutting her wrist.  Oops.

Ms. Melody is the entire focus of the dialogue free film, and her generally clothes-free performance is certainly a brave one.  She does a fine job of showing emotions without speaking, and it was very easy to pick up on her dilemma through her expressions and eye work.  I'm a sucker for silent cinema, and Ms. Melody's work here didn't disappoint.

Kipp and Sivilli definitely control the film, and their ability to tell the full story without words is also an achievement.  Contact was also a film that was more about what is felt than what is spoken, so it's easy to see why they were a good choice to handle this material.  The lighting and framing, particularly in the bathroom where the here and now events of the film take place, is very effective; giving the dramatic film a unsettling and creepy feel to the viewer.

Crestfallen is certainly not going to be a crowd pleaser with its serious look at depression and suicide, and I have to admit I was a little grateful it didn't run longer than the 6 minutes I saw.  I'm sure there's a story that could be told around the scenes we see here, of course, but these few minutes are all about presenting an intense, bleak vision that will keep the viewer thinking about the value of life.

Going back to where I began, I have to say - from the most unbiased perspective that I can - that I'm awfully proud of Russ for making Crestfallen happen.  It takes a ton of guts to go forth and make a vision come true, but he never wavered as he worked toward seeing his film through.  It's rare that I can really say that a film has achieved what it set out to do, but it's obvious to me that he knew what kind of talents he needed to tell his story and found the perfect cast and crew to bring it to life.  As a friend, I'm ecstatic to see that the film came together.

As a lover of cinema, I'm even happier to say that Crestfallen is an impressive dramatic work.  Melody, Kipp, Sivilli, and the rest of the cast and crew have done a great job here, and I look forward to seeing where Crestfallen goes from here. 

If you'd like to watch the film's journey too - and eventually, watch the film itself - keep an eye on Crestfallen's Facebook page for further updates!