Re93animator's Review Thread

Okay, okay, I'm bumping Solaris up and watching it sooner rather than later. After that I think I'll follow it up with the remake. Have you seen that? Nothing like a good comparison.

Some really good movies here. And some I don't even know,

Have to take notes. But we seem to have a very similar taste.

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Ok... I... I actually prefer the remake. *ducks* It's not as philosophically potent of course, but the atmosphere, music, setting, etc. are sooo good. It has such great ambiance. A good movie to watch while tired maybe.

I am indeed in love with your top 10.

Thanks!

Ha. I assume you're not ducking from me, because I haven't seen either, so I wouldn't know. But I will let you know what I think of both eventually. I'll give you ample warning if any ducking is required.

Come to think of it...Shouldn't I, the one yet to see a renowned classic, be ducking?

too late!

A man suddenly wakes up in a dark slimy cave. He’s covered in mud, with hair so firmly slicked back you’d think he was submerged in Gorilla Glue. He soon finds out that he’s on the cusp of gaining entry to a futuristic Go Green shelter gone awry, but he’s gotta duck some monsters on the way. For the first half, it’s sort of a sci-fi take on The Descent.

With the silent lead tiptoeing his way through a crumbling environment, hiding from enemies’ view, gradually collecting supplies, and unraveling the origin of the place through video feeds, the script seems tailored to a video game. The Helghast-looking baddies even have NPC dialogue. With slightly liberal paraphrasing: “I’m sick of walking around here.” “The faster we get this guy, the faster we can go back up.” “Watch the entrance.” “I’m gonna check this out.” Maybe this would appeal to the survival horror fans. I’m definitely a sucker for this kind of Dead Space-y stuff.

The setting is cool, but doesn’t particularly stand out among the rest of the genre. Still, I think it’d likely be the highpoint for many. It’s also filmed in color, but is so drab in appearance that much of it looks black & white. It’s cinematic emphasis on chiaroscuro without giving off any noir vibes. It’s not especially well made, but the movie does despondency well.

People criticize the hell out of this, but I think it’s cool and immersive. A tripod would’ve been nice though. Who would’ve thought that a dark, bumpy cave isn’t the best environment for a cameraman’s balance? The monsters aren’t a bastion of originality either, but the story’s intrigue and atmosphere make up for that. I don’t understand why more genre aficionados don’t like it.

Couldn't agree more. I got the Arrow deluxe box blu ray of this film and was very disappointed, but Combs can't not be good. He's just too passionate as an actor.

@re93animator, bro I should have guessed by your screen handle that you'd be my favorite. I love Stuart Gordon movies. He's like the Jon Favreau of horror. I'm queuing up a bunch of stuff here, based solely on screenshots you've provided. I don't read every review in great detail for the movies I have not seen yet, but once I see them, I will come back. Are you a filmmaker/musician? If you're not, you should be.

Thanks. I grew up on Mr. Gordon and Mr. Yuzna.

I like doing art, but don't think I'm particularly talented. I've dabbled in music for years, but am afraid to let anyone listen. It's always been my intent to go to film school. I draw stuffs too. The only thing I've felt I've been somewhat good at is writing though. I like to write at least 1000 words a day (not just movie reviews).

A reticent prisoner is extracted from confinement and dumped on another planet. His mission is not elaborated far beyond being a ‘hero.’ The new planet is a hazy mess full of desensitized characters and slightly surreal flourishes, and he soon finds that all ‘heroes’ are expected to be publicly shish-kabobbed a la Cannibal Holocaust.

If someone dropped a bomb on Peter Pan’s head, he still wouldn’t be as deadpan as our protagonist. I don’t mind though. He pulls it off well, and it fits with the narrative. He's a misanthropic straight man juxtaposed to interplanetary lunatics, and is the only one to show any defiance from authority. He lets the viewer explore the world without becoming a bother.

This is also extraordinarily heavy on the neon trimmings. It’s almost impossible to pick out a bad frame. I bet Szulkin pisses off his neighbors on Christmas. The advantage that this has over Szulkin’s other flicks is really fun and persistently interesting content to back up the eye candy. The setting never gets old. Each location is varied and unpredictable, accompanied by a nice supply of oddballs. Here, you can vicariously visit a macabre planet and explore along with the lead. It’s what escapism is all about. The dark comedy gives it a fun quality too. Our supporting cast is constantly popping with enthusiasm over severed fingers and public impalements.

There’s a hefty dose of commentary for sure, but the absurd depiction of a future-shock authoritarian planet compliments the comic strangeness of the plotline. (Most) People idolize the criminals, and bureaucracy has skewed society’s logic, creating a bizarre class system with an illusion of freedom. I guess this wasn’t an uncommon theme from Eastern Europe at the time.

The grit and lawlessness give off a western vibe amidst a Kafka-esque society with an especially gruesome sense of humor. I could go on ascribing labels and spotlighting parallels, but this is such an original movie, doing so kind of does a disservice. There isn’t much else similar, so it’s difficult to know what any sort of common consensus would be, but this is my taste represented ladies and gents: Artsy, twisted, absurdist, hilarious, dark, and gorgeous.

I didn't go through the entire thread, but I read the last several pages. Stellar stuff, man. I love your reviewing style. Insightful, well-written, humorous (I LOL'd several times). Your personality and "voice" shine through in your writing. You watch fascinating stuff too. I admire that you have equal appreciation for the heady, "pretentious" films as well as the cheesy, campy, B-movie trash. I've added a slew of films to my watchlist in the past based on your Movie Tab posts, and I just did the same with many of the films you've reviewed in here. I haven't even heard of several of these films and it sounds like some might be obscure to the point where I may never even get a chance to watch them, but nearly all of them look/sound highly memorable. Solaris and World on a Wire placed high on my Sci-Fi ballot, so it's cool to see that you enjoyed both films even if you had a few misgivings.

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Thank you so much! I love writing about movies and it's very gratifying to read something like this. I've enjoyed your posts in the movie tab as well.

... just a warning though: the first 3 pages of this thread are crap.

The editor seemed to have been stuck in molasses, and I love it! The oddball Lynchian characters and beautiful art direction needed as much breathing room as they could get. If dark ambient were a subgenre in film, this would be an exemplar. It also has the slick 80’s throwback vibe supplemented with enough neon imagery to short-circuit a replicant, and an arpeggio-saturated synth score. I think this stuff normally seems trite in modern pop culture, but the movie whores it out enough to make it work for me.

I suppose the consensus on this is pretty negative. I can’t fault people for being averse to the monotonous style. Refn seems like one of those odd, twisted arthouse directors that I love, only he’s somehow come across a budget. He isn’t the best at the style, but I can’t help but appreciate his brass. He seems to have taken on some slightly more commercial enterprises to get his foot in the door. Now that he’s in, he’s barred it behind him.

He’s particularly vulnerable to criticism though, because he seems to continually get more self-indulgent and less self-aware as he goes along. After spamming his name in the credits, you’d think you were getting the next Kubrick. I don’t give a f*ck though, because he clearly doesn’t. I think in many cases, a selfish artist is the most honest artist. The only thing I can ask is he push it even further next time.

I love the ridiculous deadpan, I love the gradual descent into exploitation, and of course the style fits my taste like a glove. There’s a ton of inadvertent humor, but that only added to my enjoyment. Oh boy, what an ending.

Yeah, I've watched it three times but I don't really like it. Looks "great, less filling." But I can appreciate your appreciation.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

All of this also makes you wonder who thought it’d be a good idea. It’s a super risky commitment, and the prospect of it sounds more irritating than engaging, but picking out the reverse-foreshadowing clues, spotting the intentional unintentional humor in the rearranged dialogue, and uncovering the characters’ twisted history really is entertaining. It seems like the writers lobbed a golden chunk of sh*t at the wall, and were lucky enough to have it stick. Squeezing lemonade out of these far-reaching ideas shows some mad talent.

Given the aforementioned plotline, the humor is obviously very dark. The colorful orchestral music adds a heavy dose of irony. It’s also shot in sepia. That doesn’t really correlate to the narrative or atmosphere of the movie, but it’s cool.

Spinning yourself around in a chair may not feel too disorienting while you’re doing it, but the dizziness hits you once you stop. Your brain will be scrambled after watching this. Really, it works. Profoundly. It may not be one of the most compelling movies ever made, but it’s definitely one of the most fascinating.

The movie begins with the lead being decapitated. The narrative concludes with the lead being decapitated. The end is the beginning; the beginning is the end. The entire screenplay is enacted backwards (THE. ENTIRE. SCREENPLAY. IS. ENACTED. BACKWARDS.). The black lodge-speak in Twin Peaks and jumbled screenplay of Memento seem like modest efforts compared to this. In between footage presented in rewind, the actors voice their dialogue in disorder. It makes you wonder how many brain cells were fried in the writing process.

The plotline follows a man bring executed. The man is then imprisoned and apprehended, respectively. The man takes careful precaution to compactly transport severed body parts in a suitcase. The man butchers a lady. I’d go on, but I don’t want to spoil the start.

I hope that little quip was clear enough.

Some rain drenched folks are forced to seek shelter after a night of constricting weather. Tensions between the old-fashioned house-owners and liberal youth ensue, and the estate itself seems to contain a share of secrets.

This is a genre paradigm: conveniently placed thunder cues, shadows, howling wind, shadows, eccentric old folks, shadows, a mad butler, an old Gothic-y estate, flickering shadows, candle lighting, and the occasional emphasis on a shadow or two. This is all told with James Whale’s self-aware humor, which is subtler and more sophisticated than later Hays code-era token comic relief stuff.

The house’s old inhabitants are the highlight. We’ve got Ernest Thesiger as a creepy old caretaker, and his zealous old gypsy bat sister, both fantastically overacted. We also have Karloff looking like Bigfoot Silva’s grandpappy. The credits ironically praise Karloff’s acting flexibility by pointing out his versatility in playing a mumbling, violent, heavily made-up, stiffly mobile guy that ends up disobeying his master… yep. Then there’s the (in)famous bed-ridden old man. This is a point of odd comedy and questionably intentional mystery. For some reason, ye olde man is played by a lady with fuzzy whiskers and Caligari makeup. Indeed, a few cats may have been harmed in the process of making these nice gluey fake beards.

The guests are sort of an F. Scott Fitzgerald-y cast of slightly conceited youths. They do turn out to be complex and are pretty well-developed following a heated fireplace chat. Compared to the silly early horror dialogue voiced earlier in the movie, the dialogue here adds surprising intelligence to characters that would otherwise seem vain. The movie does fall prey to the tacky ending cliché though.

The clandestine house itself is the main source of intrigue. Whether it’s haunted or houses hidden menace, it stays ambiguous almost till the end. Most of the movie feeds off of implied peril, instead of overt horror (sans drunken Karloff). This was before the Hays’ code started guzzling protein shakes, so the atmosphere and sexual innuendos aren’t too watered down. Really, out of the considerable bunch of classic horror flicks I’ve watched time and time again, this one might have my favorite atmosphere. The timeworn early 30s picture, without remastering, lends its assistance too.

Nice reviews !!

You got me interested in Happy End. Seems like an intriguing concept. I'll probly check it out , at some point.

So, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but I finally published a free website indexing most of my reviews, plus some extra stuff. Being the accumulation of so much work, I’m really proud of the effort, and hope some of you bother checking it out.

I’ll also maybe be updating it more frequently than here (… totally not because I need an excuse for people to keep visiting).

3mmusings.weebly.com

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We’ve all wondered what it’d be like to see Mad Max play violent ring toss-joust-gong-lasso-rugby with an animal skull. Apparently, this movie actually incited a now legitimate sport… yep.

The impoverished industrial underground is a much bleaker post-apocalyptic setting than you’d expect from an otherwise campy premise. Well done. It’s additionally juxtaposed with a bizarre, hedonistic upper class. We’re also given Mad Max-y villains a la No Escape and Waterworld. Meaning: a set of over the top louts surrounded by the most token extras a couple of bucks and a sandwich can buy.

The costumes and ramshackle pseudo-tribal sets work too, but the makeup crew might’ve been watching too much Star Trek. The juggers are weathered, leathery-faced ruffians, but they can occasionally come across as undeveloped Klingons and/or pig faced lepers. If they had cigars, they might even be inclined to share with Steve McQueen.

I saw this years ago, but don’t remember much apart from loving it. It certainly appealed more to my teenage mind at the time, still riding that Mad Max II high. It’s a pretty fun movie that goes out of its way to be ‘badass,’ consequently subjecting itself to action clichés. I typically find this stuff groan-inducing in modern action flicks, but when it’s accompanied by 80s grit, violence, and Rutger Hauer, it can be worth a look. It may take itself a tad too seriously though, and the extended version does drag a bit.


Takeaways:
In downtrodden post-apocalyptic future, instrument of choice is accordion. Oompah=brutality.

The juggers engage in harsh battle, not just whacking each other with maniacally devised weapons, but also hurling malicious trash talk at each other, such as “I’m gonna hurt your leg.” Clearly not a movie for kids.

Rutger Hauer’s pastimes seem to include picking scabs, studying American Gladiator footage, and standing in shadows while watching his teammates fornicate.

Wrestlers get cauliflower ears, juggers get cauliflower foreheads.

This man’s right eyelid has just embarked on a tumultuous facial migration, bravely going where no un-melted eyelid has gone before:

Side note: This is popularly known as The Blood of Heroes, but the version I reviewed was technically the extended one called Salute of the Jugger.

Alphaville is essentially a satirical noir city. Given the narrative, the characters are mandatorily deadpan. The movie’s ‘villain’ is a raspy supercomputer with an over-the-top belching cadence. The bells and bombast also make this one of my favorite scores, overplayed as it is. This all seems to poke fun at noir clichés by turning them up to 11. I still feel like the humor is pretty nuanced though. With so much monotony, anything that stands out as odd or human might be funny. After shooting that borderline comic action finale, they had to know what they were doing.

Of course, Godard likes experimenting with camera stuff, so we get some random inverted color shots. As a generic old photoshop feature, these may have lost their charm. Alphaville also progressively brightens as the movie goes on. Maybe the increasing brightness is supposed to signify the lead’s growing dissident enthusiasm, or maybe a cigar is just a cigar. There’s plenty more symbolism that went over my head too! The world is mostly pedestrian and minimal, with sci-fi set pieces few and far between, and an artificial intelligence that seems to be a telephone switchboard connected to a burping oven.

Entering Alphaville from a distant outer society, our lead (Lemmy Caution) is huuuge dick (not in the private eye sense). He hilariously pushes people around, hurls insults, and assumes lesser intelligence of all around him. Even though he’s trying to salvage the human element of Alphaville, he, perhaps contradictorily, has no respect for mindless conformists. Also, Eddie Constantine’s smoke-weathered cheeks can’t be beat.

The deadpan exists for a reason. Alphaville is sort of a French 1984 with a computerized big brother; the society forbids overt displays of emotion, and its citizens are brainwashed slaves to an omnipresent tech monarch (it’s not nearly as cyberpunk as I make it sound). Throughout the movie, Monsieur Caution tries to conceal his social views and conducts his business without much evident expression. His dialogue must subtly make him out to be an idealist.

I expect most people know what to expect. It almost jokingly picks up pace in the end, but it’s mostly dreary. It’s Godard. He’s one of the kings of hit & miss. This hit the right notes with me. It doesn’t come across quite as pretentious as some of his other stuff either.