Reviews

I was comparing these posts with another movie, "Crash And Burn", a Charles Band thing that I think went straight to cable, and video. I have always heard that some of the leftovers (props, costumes, possibly effects footage) from this film ended up in that one. The box on "Crash And Burn" proclaims "From the people that brought you "Arena" and "Robot Jox", and it does seem like it, although this film, (allegedly severely cut at the last minute to snag a lower rating) is much better, overall. Kind of Peter Watkins "The Peace Game" meets "Robotech". heh Much better direction for this one too.

--Judex.1--

I agree that the robot at the end was by far the best thing going on here. It didn't leave for a better movie, it CAME from a better movie in the first place. I've always heard that this had leftovers from "Robot Jox", a Stuart Gordon film that was pretty impressive, despite studio meddling. I believe this brief sequence here, is some of the footage that was cut in the attempt to get "Robot Jox" a PG rating, despite nudity, and abundant violence.

Excellent documentary on the original Alice Cooper BAND. Works in some amusing sidepieces, and features most of the big hits, excellently played and presented. But this was the '70's, so, in the tradition of "Myra Breckinridge" and the like, much of it has been re-edited to provide commentary by contrasting the band with old film clips. Other than the Shirley Temple footage, most of this is pretty weak, and quite distracting from the concert footage. I have heard that a version is out there that does not have all this ancillary footage, but I have never seen one. I've never seen a proper release of this, but it is found at many record shows, and all over the grey market.

--Judex.1--

I'm big on horror films, and "Jeepers Creepers" was a nice treat that seemed to come out of nowhere. When a friend offered free advance tickets, I was there in a heartbeat. This, to me, seemed like the makers either forgot, or didn't realize what made the first one so much fun. 1 had limited CGI, and achieved most of it's effects through more traditional methods, and did them quite well. This was an orgy of digital image manipulation. The first had two main characters. This has a Busload of major characters, most of whom are so badly sketched out, they leave almost no impression. The gargoyle mythology doesn't really get sketched out any better than the first one. It seems that most people weren't remembering the scant information from the first one, and were a bit more surprised than I was. By the end, it turns into a weird cross between "Tool Time" and "Red Green" with the farmer going for revenge. Don't really get any more info than we had the first time, but we hear what they already told us, over and over.I noticed that the first one apparently originally emerged from Italy, but this one appears to have sprung directly from Coppola.

Share your thoughts!

--Judex.1--

This movie holds a special place in my heart for several reasons.

1) it's pretty accurate about many things

2) if you have been in a band, the travails of "Magic" may seem familiar

3) it was filmed in Tucson, AZ. when I lived there, and 15 days of extra work paid for my move to Minnesota.

4) I actually get a closeup during the big climax. (fat guy with single tall mohawk)

I love this movie, but I don't claim it's all that good. The soap opera that passes for plot might be accurate, but it's not very well done. Some of the best scenes never made it into the movie, (another song, by another band apparently was totally cut.) It was fun to watch all the groupie chicks lining up outside Leif Garrett's dressing room every day, not to mention his frequent terrible cocaine jokes. When I moved here, it showed up on a local TV station, and the radio ads were hilarious ("They're putting their dreams on the line...for one night... in Thunder Alley")! I denied all involvement for years, but I'm past that now. Notable for a rare performance by Leif Garrett, and the only footage I know of, featuring Phoenix metal stalwarts "Surgical Steel" who manage some actual heavy metal (before the hair-metal glam took over). I can't say that it is all that well done, but Clancy Brown (before "Highlander"! nice guy too) does some nice work as a surprisingly forthright road manager.

--Judex.1--

As an american, I came to this show in an odd way. Daytime TV in L.A., back in the 70's, usually had an afternoon movie, and it was just starting about the time I got home from school. One day, they had "Dr. Who And The Daleks" on, with Peter Cushing. I loved it, and the sequel. A few years later, I discovered BBC reruns on the local PBS, and quickly settled in with Jon Pertwee for a few years. Then we moved to Kansas, and there was no Dr. Who. I read about Tom Baker, and eventually came to love him too, a few years later. PBS coverage was pretty damn spotty, but I kept up as best I could, eventually buying and trading for quite a few. I joined back up with PBS about the time Peter Davison took over, and apart from his familiarity from "All Creatures Great & Small", I liked him too. Colin Baker was a real change, but he grew into it. Rather surprised at the hostility thrown at Sylvester McCoy here, since he and "Ace" quickly became one of my favorites, barring some obnoxious bad habits they started to fall into. I even liked the Fox-TV movie, and still think Paul McGann looked more like Dr. Who on first glance, than anyone. Guess I just love Dr. Who! Hope the rumors of it coming to ABC, are true. Bought damn time! Troughton was probably the best for me, and I rank the others as follows: Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William Hartnell, Colin Baker, Peter Cushing, Paul McGann. I'm sure you'll disagree, but oh well. Cushing, and McGann lose points for their limited involvement. Far as I'm concerned, they are all great, and Dr. Who is Dr. Who! Love the music too!

--Judex.1--

This has to be the hardest Gamera film to find, in these post NAMBLA days. It does have a whole bunch of recycled footage, but since it was my introduction to the character, it didn't bother me, until I saw the films it was swiped from, later on. After I saw this a whole bunch of times on KTLA, I became a serious fan. Yeah, it's cheesy, but I didn't care, and I still don't. The dubbing was supervised by Bret Morrison, a post-Orson Welles voice of "The Shadow" on radio, and he was pretty astounded when I asked him about it at a late-70's Multiple Sclerosis fundraiser. It's good cheese, and I wouldn't be without it! Also, this and "Super Monster Gamera" (even worse, for much the same reasons) are the two Gamera films that didn't get worked over by Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Pax!

--Judex.1--

Legendary turkish remake of "The Exorcist" is really a hoot. The little girl who gets possessed looks amazingly like Linda Blair, the christian references are severely toned down, (though not quite completely replaced by Islamic counterparts), and they do about what one would expect in such a production. Technical aspects are amazingly minimal, although that isn't really unusual for such Turkish productions. There is a bit of atmosphere and menace to this production, but the cheesy effects work against it. Very rare, I guess, but it should turn up any day now. I suppose it would help if I spoke Turkish, but this is still a mindboggling ride. heh

--Judex.1--

Seems like this is a little muddled. AIP-TV needed some truly inexpensive features to pad out a syndication package, and Buchanan ended up with the job. Reports vary, but they apparently used scripts that were "readily available", with the following results:

It Conquered The World - Zontar, The Thing From Venus

Invasion Of The Saucer Men - The Eye Creatures

Pajama Party - Mars Needs Women The She Creature - Creature Of Destruction

The Day The World Ended - In The Year 2889

Pretty mindbending to experience these, when unprepared. I was dozing in and out of "Zontar" the first time, and I woke up thinking I had dreamt most of it.

I'll have to accept the common thought that much was filmed around Dallas, but I have to say that it sure looks like Bronson Canyon much of the time...heh

--Judex.1--

Despite what the title may suggest, and a few winking references to "Black Sunday/Mask Of Satan", this is much closer to the "Demons" films than anything else. Evil possesses a location, and spreads by infecting people who carry it with them. This one is probably better than "The Ogre", (often referenced as "Demons 3", despite not having any real demons), but it pales next to Soavi's "The Chuch" (planned as "Demons 4", once upon a time). I've only seen it from spanish TV, but, it was subtitled. Despite generational loss from the subtitling, the Video Search Of Miami print is probably the best for those who want it in english. Fun, but not necessarily important. Beware the wrath of "Anibas", who indulges in one of the silliest name games since Hammer went crazy with the whole "Carmilla-Mircalla-Millarca" thing in their "Carmilla" adaptations.

Possibly Bava's most influential color film, they've been quoting this one for decades! Fellini recommended Bava to the producers of "Histoires Extrordinaire" because of it, (They wanted the Fellini name, leading to "Toby Dammit", which was suspected to have been co-directed by Bava for years because of the haunting little girl similarities), saw an anti-drug commercial that repeats one scene, there is a little girl Demon at the end of "The Last Temptation Of Christ", various little girl in white dress movies that bear an influence ("Witch Story" comes to mind first), it was quoted to some degree in much David Lynch starting with "Twin Peaks, etc.. It might seem a little tame and/or dull to some, but this has hypnotized me for years. Gotta love all that colored smoke!

Is that actual english dialogue from the film that you are quoting? Every print of this that I have seen, is in Turkish with no subtitles. I suppose it's been getting so much attention, that many have thought of translating it, and making it more readily available. I thought maybe someone already had. The funniest "Star Wars" knockoff to date, and worth seeing at least once.

Wow. I hadn't thought about this one in a while. I was all excited when I heard this one was coming. since the original 2 Flint films were long-time favorites. Well, Ray Danton gives it a good shot, but the movie doesn't seem to know what made the Flint films different from the Bond/Bond wannabes that infested theatres for years. Because of this, this movie imitates all the other clones, and misses the style, and whimsy of the first. Too bad, Danton was an old hand at this sort of thing, after "Secret Agent Super Dragon", and even the lead role in the french comic adaptation, "Lucky The Inscrutable", (directed by Jess Franco). The script just doesn't really work, and past a zippy opening, the film doesn't do much either. A lost opportunity, now best swept out of the way.

Rather surprised not to see "Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn" listed as a Larry Buchanan movie, or mentioned here. "GSM" is the sequel Buchanan mainly edited together in 1989. Two actresses are credited for the title role, Misty Rowe as "Norma Jean Baker", and Paula Lane as "Marilyn Munroe". The big problem is that all Misty's scenes are from the first film, (I vaguely recall some possible redubbing of scenes, but it has been years), and there isn't a whole lot of credible resemblance between the actresses. While "Goodbye, Norma Jean" showed a bit of flair, reminiscent of Buchanan's "Art" film, "Strawberries Need Rain", I'm afraid that this overblown cut-and-paste job, is definitely the work of the man who gave us "Zontar, The Thing From Venus". It kind of started the whole trend of "sequels that use as little new footage as possible", later a hallmark of the dreadful "Silent Night, Deadly Night" series. Over half of "Goodbye, Norma Jean" gets repeated here, and not even the filmstocks match. As often happens with his work, Buchanan was both ahead, and behind, the times simultaneously.

--Judex.1--

Peter Watkins "Privelege" pretends to be a documentary about a fictional rock star, "Steven Shorter". Paul Jones (singer for Manfred Mann in the early, "Doo Wah Diddy"/"Quinn The Eskimo" days), struggles to deal with his personal problems, amidst violent live shows,and assorted political conspiracies that attempt to manipulate and control him. Some pretty reasonable music, (the christian rock group made up of young robed monks, is an odd highlight!), including a visually stunning climactic performance of "Jerusalem", will make you wonder why this film isn't better known in America. Hard to find, but worth the search.