This Week In Film (4/26/2021 - 5/2/2021)
April 26, 2021 - May 2, 2021
Hello readers. It's May. It's one of my favorite times of the year with the exception of Halloween month. May is my wife's birthday. I get to lavish her with gifts which is exciting. But more important, instead of us curating our films together, we watch anything of her choosing. It feels good to sit back and enjoy. We normally come up with all our lists together such as our Winter Semester list, Oscar Death Race list, 31 Days Of Horror, Valentines, or our Creepy Christmas list. The absolute cherry on top is I don't have to write about them. She's going to do the writing. As these films are her favorites or what she's in the mood for, she's calling all the shots.
In reading that, why do I always cringe with the statement, 'my wife?' It sounds like ownership and if anyone knew our relationship, they would know that nothing is further from the truth. My partner sounds better because you lose the weight of the term wife but the 'my' is still there. Partner and I sounds strange. Wife and I sounds stranger. 'The Mrs. and me' sounds too 1950s for my tastes. Her majesty is correct but not what we're going for. Even 'the wife' sounds like an accusation/obligation. I really don't have an answer. But that's not what I came here to tell you about...
This Week In Film where I create a weekly rundown of the random sh*t I watch. There’s a HIGH / LOW at the end of this entry, so if words aren't really your thing, you can scroll quickly, look at pictures, and skip to my favorite viewings of the week.
Lets begin...
OVERVIEW:
FUNNY FACE (2020)
dir: Tim Sutton
If a slow, semi-methodical, meditation on simmering violence without any cathartic release of said violence is your thing, this is a film for you. The artwork and the trailer provide a false narrative. Sutton's film looks really hip. And when it starts you find yourself getting excited to see a Nicolas Winding Refn type film without the hype of style overwhelming the story. But this film is all atmosphere. The feeling of impending doom. The feeling that violence may break out. The feeling that the two main characters will fall for each other. When the score for the film begins, you can’t help but to bob your head. The music is beautiful. And it's a good thing too, because as this is an 'atmosphere' film with a lot of filler, the music is our guiding light.
What's it about? Well, our main characters Saul (Cosmo Jarvis) and Zama (Dela Meskienyar) are lost souls wandering the city. Each has an issue with their own identity. The first time we see Zama, she's coming home from the club, and she changes from her club clothes into her hijab. We believe it is because she may get yelled at for not wearing it. However, later when we see Zama with Saul, she tries very hard to keep it on. When the two meet Zama wears her head-scarf with face covering and Saul wears a disturbing mask with a permanent smile. The two of them get to know each other wearing a mask.
We get it, and slowly their outward persona falls away. We see their faces as they fall for each other. Had the film focused on their relationship, and not abruptly added in a third element, it would have been a great lo-fi love story. Instead, we are a horse pulling a cart, and there's this carrot in front of us. No matter how far we follow the plot, we'll never get the carrot that was promised. But we will randomly cut to our business tycoon being seduced by three women while he stares at them unaffected. A full nudity sequence just to highlight how money and power has left this guy - who we don't care about - an empty shell. But hey, there is a saving grace. Remember when I told you about the music, well, Saul and Zama share a dance together to O.V. Wright's Eight Men and Four Women. And had the whole film felt like this scene, Sutter would have accomplished another great low-budget romance in the vein of Medicine for Melancholy (2008), or In Search Of A Midnight Kiss (2007). But, alas, he sought to insert an anti-capitalist message without any follow through.
dir: Bob Bralver
"I'm sure Ms. MacGuffin will show up soon." - Dean Grail
I'm pretty sure we'll never see the MacGuffin again, but that's just my opinion. Rush Week has been given the honor of last slasher film of the 80's. Can you even call it a slasher film if all the murders are committed off-screen? I guess we include the death rattle film April Fool's Day (1986), but at least Walton's film centered on fun and elaborate effects. Rush Week doesn't have time for effects as it attempts to build characters based on Animal House (1978) and Porky’s (1981). This creates an uneven film. Neither the sex comedy nor the slasher film is handled well.
The sex comedy aspect and the fraternity hi-jinx are beyond depraved. I'm not using hyperbole when I say that. We've seen practical jokes going wrong when frats use corpses. This event turns Kenny Hampton into a killer hell bent on revenge in Terror Train (1980). But, at least, Kenny gets his comeuppance. Bralver decides to include the following scene which does nothing for the overall plot of the film. The frat has rented a sex worker for the night. She has willingly taken on a few clients but has decided her night is over. They talk her into one more client. She agrees and goes back into the bedroom. She straddles the client and says he's cold. We realize at the same moment that she does. She's pleasuring a corpse. Understandably, she runs out screaming. She then gets killed by the murderer. Why? There's nothing funny about this sequence. And she becomes a victim twice. For whose amusement?
I never expected a film that goes out of its way to make gay jokes against the Gamma Alpha Epsilon frat, to also include scenes of necrophilia, and a pornographer cafeteria cook. The only highlights of this film include our final girl - who needs the help of a man to conquer the killer - Pamela Ludwig. We'll always be a fan of hers as she kicked serious *ss in Over The Edge (1979). And the other highlight is Ludwig's hippy journalism teacher Greg Allman in a very weird cameo for an Allman Brother. For a film that begins with the first victim being named Judy MacGuffin, it never lived up to its one meta concept.
dir: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Trenchard-Smith, the Aussie mastermind of Turkey Shoot (1982), BMX Bandits (1983), The Quest (1986), Dead End Drive-In (1986), and Night of the Demons 2 (1994) single-handedly ruins everything we love about the Porky’s films. We are and always have been a pro Porky's house. Bob Clark's classic may appear as a misogynist sex comedy upon first viewing. However, right below the surface the film battles 1950's racism. It also reveals the Wendy Williams character as a woman who is strong in her demeanor and revels in her own agency. These elements only continue to lift the series in Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) as our heroes battle the KKK. Porky's Revenge (1985) shows what happens when Bob Clark isn't in control. The third film fails to promote any social commentary, and because of this falls flat and feels like the copycat sex comedies of the 80's such as: Screwballs (1983), Joysticks (1983), or Hot Dog The Movie (1984). But, Porky's Revenge at least utilizes the same actors from Angel Beach High School.
It's a huge jump between Porky's Revenge in 1985 and Pimpin' Pee Wee AKA Porky's 4. A lot has happened in the sub-genre of sex comedy. With the genre's resurgence with American Pie (1999) and it's official sequels or even There's Something About Mary (1998) the sex comedy began to look different from the 80's films. Here, women have all the agency. This tradition continues in these films into the 2000's. The Girl Next Door (2004) and even the Apatow sex comedies of 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) or Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) which all ridicule the male geek and champion the strong female character. But there is a darker side to these films. These are the direct-to-video counterparts using the names as brands. The most popular of these are the American Pie Presents or Band Camp films.
This is how Porky's 4 was made. A low budget attempt at a studio continuing to own the copyright to a beloved series. Sure, this film features Pee Wee, Tommy, and Meat, but they are now new actors occupying them. And yes, it acts as though the last three films are their shared memories. This is not a reboot or a remake. This is supposed to be a straight continuation of the story.
When we left the boys from Angel Beach in Porky's Revenge, they had just graduated high school. Here the boys are navigating their lives during their first college summer break. The problem is that we jump from 1955 to 2009. There is no attempt at dating anything. Cell phones are used, and the actual Porky's business is up and running again. This time he employs porn stars as prostitutes. Everything is wrong with this cheap knockoff. I'll admit I was excited, but from the exploitative re-creation of the shower scene from the original film, I knew I was in for some deep face-palming action. For cringe fetishists, you're in for a treat.
FITZCARRALDO (1982)
dir: Werner Herzog
All at once, in your first viewing of Fitzcarraldo you are overwhelmed by the Herculean effort of dragging a steamboat over a mountain. Maybe you had no idea the film was leading up to this as there is no mention while Fitz sets up his scheme. If this is the case your jaw drops due to the absurdity of the request. However, if this is not your first viewing, you realize the ultimate Sisyphean task of dragging a steamboat over a mountain. As a viewer you feel weighed down by what is going on behind the scenes to capture this journey into the jungle with a madman. You often forget that the film itself is about a man wanting to bring opera to uncivilized society and will attempt any scheme to make that a reality. He will even move a boat over a mountain. The events or schemes mean nothing by the end of the film or they mean everything as this madman gets a version of his dream to come true.
Now lets look at what's happening between takes of insanity. It's hard to know where to begin, so lets just start with the enigmatic Klaus Kinski. He was not the first or second choice for the role of Fitz, no that honor goes to Jack Nicholson and Jason Robards respectfully. Having been well versed in Kinski's behaviors, Herzog thought too much time isolated in the jungle would cause him to unravel. And we all know that Herzog's gut reaction should be adhered to. In Herzog's career he's worked with Kinski in a total of five films: Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu The Vampire (1979), Woyzeck (1979), Fitzcarraldo, and Cobra Verde (1987). As if giving himself an additional challenge, Herzog may be the only director to reign in Kinski's crazy. It always proved worth the aggravation as Kinski would go over a waterfall for the applause and just to get the shot. Their fighting on this film is legendary and was documented by Less Blank in Burden Of Dreams (1982). Kinski not only fought his director but with everyone and normally over trivial matters. To the extent that Herzog was approached by one of the natives and asked if he wanted them to kill Kinski.
To move a 365 ton steamboat over a mountain caused a lot of injuries. Their cinematographer split his hand open during filming and had it operated on in the jungle with no anesthesia. The only calming agent for the cinematographer or anyone suffering was the sex workers that were hired as production crew. This idea is said to have originated from a Catholic priest urging Herzog to hire them to cure the insanity of the jungle. A plane crashed during filming that killed four people. A logger was bit by a snake with deadly venom and he resorted to cutting off his leg with a chainsaw to prevent a cardiac arrest. Crew members and natives died of malaria. During a raid on the film camp, an indigenous tribe attacked and a man was shot in the throat with an arrow and his wife was hit in the stomach. Both victims of the attack survived after a kitchen table surgery. To what extent was all this worth it?
The steamboat moved over a mountain. The director defied nature and captured it on film. The actor went insane in the jungle but came out with another piece of fame and infinity. But that boat still sits there in the jungle rotting away as a symbol. But of what?
"We have to become humble in front of this overwhelming misery and overwhelming fornication... overwhelming growth and overwhelming lack of order. Even the stars up here in the sky look like a mess. There is no harmony in the universe." - Werner Herzog
BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1990)
dir: Brian Yuzna
Hey everybody have you heard the news? Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show S03E03 begins with Bride of Re-Animator with special guest Jeffrey Combs. The episode chronicles Combs career, and the two banter like old friends. Combs has played many characters throughout his thespian life, but the most memorable of all is Dr. Herbert West. The good doctor - as sculpted by Combs - with his reagent serum leapt off the screen in Stuart Gordon's original Re-Animator (1985) and went on to do two sequels before transcending film. Combs iteration of West continues in graphic novels such as The Chronicles of Dr. Herbert West, Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, Dr. Herbert West and Astounding Tales of Medical Malpractice, Reanimator, and Hack/Slash Featuring Dr. Herbert West. While the character comes from H.P. Lovecraft, the way the world knows West is through Jeffrey Combs' dedication to the role. Joe Bob even compliments Combs on the blasphemy it would be for someone else to take on the mantle of Dr. West.
Bride is a wonderful sequel. While it doesn't answer the biggest question of why Dan is still hanging out with West after all the sh*t he went through in the first film, it does retain its gory charm. To make the sequel an homage of classic cinema's first great sequel is meta gold. West wants to continue his research and has modified his reagent to reanimate parts. He's discovered there is consciousness in every part of the anatomy. His experiments involve a grotesque menagerie of randomized body parts stuck together and living on their own. It is an obvious tribute to the insane works created by Doctor Septimus Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein (1935). As West continues his experiments plot B and plot C begin to converge. Dan maintains a bizarre love triangle that involves Meg's heart (Barbara Crampton from the first film), new love interest Francesca, and his patient Gloria who will eventually be the head of his undead bride. And plot C that takes the long way to make an appearance involves Dr. Hill (David Gale playing only a severed head) seeking revenge against West. When all the strands braid together, the film becomes a macabre masterpiece. I would suggest Re-Animator and Bride as a perfect double feature.
NEXT OF KIN (1982)
dir: Tony Williams
Hey everybody have you heard the news? Joe Bob's Last Drive-In Show S03E03 closes out the night with Next Of Kin (1982). Joe Bob told us at the beginning that Quentin Tarantino is quoted as saying this is his favorite Australian film. It is hard to believe because in the documentary Not Quite Hollywood, Tarantino raves about... every oz-ploitation film of the 70s and 80s. He even dons a terrible Australian accent for his cameo in Django Unchained (2012). For him to choose Next of Kin is astounding. Since VHS, bootleg, and re-release I've tried to watch this film numerous times. I've always cut it off within the first 15 minutes. But if Joe Bob says, "Check it out," then that's what we have to do.
Okay, the first 15 minutes has come and gone. I'm feeling the same way I did all those other times. I want to reach for my phone and scroll mindlessly, but I don't. I'm looking at the camera work. The way scenes are lit. Attempting to piece together the mystery. If I can be a fan of Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) and Walkabout (1971), I will sit this one through. And I'm glad I did. There's something odd about the elderly home that Linda has inherited from her mother. There are figures standing in windows and doorways. There are patients drowning in tubs. Linda's is reliving trauma from her youth, but we don't know the trauma. We wonder if Linda is going mad. She reads her mother's diaries and it sounds as though her mother experienced similar events. You have so many questions swirling around, and you feel as though you've given all the patience you have for this film. Then bang. The film becomes more than you hoped it would be. From the first 15 minutes you would never dream the film would end with an explosion and multiple murders. But it does, and you're compensation for sitting through an hour of dull sleuthing are a few panic inducing sequences - one right after another.
PRACTICAL MAGIC (1998)
dir: Griffin Dunne
Post written by: Katie Huhn
“There are some things I know for certain: always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can.”
Hello all! I’m the wife Shaun always talks about, and it’s my Birthday Movies Month, in which we watch all the movies I love. And the movies that helped shape me into the cinephile I am today. Practical Magic was one of my favorites growing up, and my love for it endures. It’s part of the 90s witch boom, along with The Witches (1990), The Craft (1996), and Hocus Pocus (1993). While the other three show witches using and benefiting from dark magic, Practical Magic gives us natural witches in the Owens sisters, times two. They make potions and tinctures from herbs they grow in their garden, cast spells for the spurned and lonely, rely on crystals and stones for grounding and warding off evil, and they’re power is intrinsically tied to each other. Part of my fondness for this film are the bonds shared between generations of women. This was my youth. It was how I grew up with my older sister, my single mother, and my mother’s sister. Two generations of sisters supporting each other and weathering life’s storms together, just like the Owenses. I can always suffer a few sh*tty 90s love songs for the bonds of sisterhood. Luckily, the cheesiest of 90's pop fare are mixed in with tried and true classics like Harry Nilsson's "Lime In The Coconut," Joni Mitchell's "Case Of You," and Elvis Presley's "Always On My Mind." But even these songs suffer unnecessary montages. But it's for the love of sisterhood, midnight margaritas, and witches... amirite?
dir: Franco Prosperi
First I would like to include IMDB's top synopsis: The water supply for a large city zoo becomes contaminated with PCP, and the animals go crazy and get loose. That one sentence containing 20 words tells you everything you need to know about this film. Now you don't know there's PCP in the water until the final act. As if anyone actually cares what the inciting event was. But we do get a nice drawn out scene of discovery. It sure is Phencyclidine. You mean PCP. Yeah. You can shoot it, snort it, smoke it, and eat it. But what's it doing in the water supply? Who cares? We are hear for nature vs. man in a battle to the death.
We begin in, "Some city in Northern Europe," the title card reads. We cut between water, aqueducts, a city, and a sign for the zoo. Back and forth and back again. It would have been less redundant with credits, but they chose to insert them after their long montage of water, city, and zoo imagery. I'd like to share my notes. They are spoilery, but it doesn't matter. They may entice you to witness this for yourself. The following notes are unedited and directly from my first viewing of this film:
The first victims are eaten by rats while having sex in a car. Elephants break through a brick wall which causes an electrical pole to fall and thus cuts the power and allows all the animals their freedom. Men are mauled by cheetahs. The police attempt hosing the rat infestation but when it doesn't work they bring in a flamethrower. We get to see them burning live rats - little running rodents with flames dancing from their backs. Holy sh*t, that was disturbing. A blind man is killed by his seeing-eye dog. I wonder where they got the idea for that kill. An elephant strangles a man with its trunk, steps on its victim, and causes multiple vehicular accidents. Cheetah vs. beetle. A woman trying to flee from a cheetah in a Volkswagen beetle. Our leading man shouts, "She's not crazy, she's being chased by a cheetah!” The elephants are back, and they're on the runway at an airport. Elephants vs. airplanes. While all the kids at school drink the fountain water, one child says, "No thanks I'll have a Coke." This will come into play later. A tiger breaks into a subway car, kills two people, and we see our leading actress running around the tunnel in high heels. There's a polar bear in the dance school. A couple of hyenas and lions enter a slaughterhouse buffet. There's a running of the bulls that leads to cows crashing into every business and storefront in their path. Our leading actress has a moment of hubris that I'm sure will bite back, "It's like the end of a nightmare." I assure you it is not the end, you haven't had to deal with PCP kids yet. Yeah, I was right about those kids.
ATTACK OF THE DEMONS (2019)
dir: Eric Power
Do you remember when South Park would go all out for their Halloween episodes? There was Hell on Earth 2006, Sons Of Witches, Korn's Groovy Ghost Pirate Mystery (the Scooby-Doo parody), and one of the earliest and best Pinkeye (the zombie one with Chef doing Thriller). Eric Power takes from the beauty of these beloved episodes and makes a feature length cutout animation horror film in the vein of South Park. Power, though from Austin, TX decided to base the film in Colorodo and we wonder if this was an obvious tribute to Trey Parker and Matt Stone? Regardless, he's created a really fun horror animation film with construction paper, stop motion, and gooey pink stuff. We follow our three lead characters: the movie nerd, the music nerd, and the game nerd as they converge on a small mountain town during their annual Halloween festival. This year someone has found the primordial ooze in the mines and decided to resurrect an ancient world-ending demon. There's always that one guy crashing the party to bring everyone down.
Once infected, you can spew or bleed to infect others. So it spreads quickly and in a blink of an eye the town is overrun with demons. There's an awesome homage that occurs early on. At the music festival everyone is there to see a punk horror band that's famous, but the band that goes on before them is Metropol. This is an obvious wink at the theater that becomes a demon nest in Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento's Demons (1986). There is also a Fangoria scattered among our movie nerds things. The ooze can be spread to animals as well as humans. The group finds shelter at the gamer nerd's uncle's cabin. He is a survivalist and an insane person. In the stronghold they meet up with a demonologist who has the key to destroying the monsters. It is everything a horror fan or animation fan could want. The amount of cut-out layering that went into Power's creation is astonishing. While some of the voice acting brings down the overall film, the plot, the creativity, the gore, and the music all make the experience worthwhile.
Best viewing of the week. There were a few first viewings that blew me away this week. My first viewing of Next Of Kin and it didn't disappoint. Attack of the Demons was way too fun. The same can be said for a new cult favorite, Wild Beasts. But my favorite viewing of the week has to go to Herzog and Kinski teaming up to show utter insanity in a an adventure of futility.
HIGH: FITZCARRALDO
Worst viewing of the week. Funny Face, Rush Week, and Porky's 4 were pretty horrible. Choosing just one is difficult, but I think I'm going to go with Funny Face because the trailer set your expectations on something that was never going to happen. Obviously, it is the issue of the distributor. But on some level, the filmmaker was creating a film about a character on the verge of breaking. Michael Douglas in Falling Down or the penultimate Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. You can't create a broken character and give them redemption prior to their bloodletting.
LOW: FUNNY FACE
TV CORNER:
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