Reviews from the Future

Me too... that's why its so hard for me to watch it. Taxi Driver that is. I haven't seen Rolling Thunder. Sounds pretty good. Thanks for the write up.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

I actually saw Rolling Thunder at Long Beach State at a special screening before it was released. I liked it OK, but I wasn't really all that impressed. I thought Devane was terrific and it's incredibly gritty (in every way imaginable), so I know why UF appreciates it. God, I don't think I've seen it in 30 years, so I should make an effort.

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

Fair point, I didn't really word than sentence very well. The review was written late last night, and my internet connection went down right after preventing me from doing my usual tinkering. I've since reworded it

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

Actually, Rolling Thunder is one of those films that I never finished watching. I think I got about halfway through before I had to leave it. Up to the point which I left it, I thought it was ok, but it hadn't really caught fire yet. BTW, I saw it on tv a couple of years back. I think it was on Film Four or channel 4.

That's news to me!!! I don't watch television much for obvious reasons (*whispers* because it's crap) But if you are indeed correct and it was shown on Channel 4, then maybe I should get into the habit of checking the schedules. As for Film 4, I'm poor and don't have that luxury unfortunately.

*whispers* it's on freeview - if you can spend Ł20 on a crappy freeview box. (They die after a year - but you get a fair bit of non-crap for that - BBC4 & More4 docs & films and the like ) *whisper ends*

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

Doh! well that just goes to show how out of touch I am with TV nowadays

Short Night of Glass Dolls aka Malastrana (Aldo Lado 1971) +
Cult Italian director Lado's debut feature, Short Night of Glass Dolls was orginally titled Malastrana after Mala Strana the small afluent borough of Prague where the film is set. Lado changed the title to Short Night of the Butterflies after the studio complained that Malastrana wouldn't mean anything to audiences outside Europe. Unfortunately the release coincided with Duccio Tessari's giallo The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971) and at the last miniute Lado had to change the title a second time.

The film is about an American journalist based in Prague (Gregory Moore played by Jean Sorrel) found dead in the garden of a rich estate. Or is he really dead? Throughout his examination by doctors we're made privy to Gregory's inner thoughts as it appears he's merely been paralysed in some way. Nevertheless, unable to find a heartbeat the doctors pronounce him dead and promptly send his body to the morgue. The rest of the film flashes backwards and forwards as Gregory struggles to remember how he came to be in this predicament; a series of events involving a search for his missing girlfriend Mira (Barabara Bach) and a shadowy political secret society. Can Gregory discover the truth and show some signs of life before he's buried?


Lado's deeply allegorical 'Giallo' (and I use that last word loosely) is often described as Kafkaesque, and Prague setting aside, it's not hard to see why. The disorientating nature of the narrative, combined with the underlying menace of political conspiracy and murder; not to mention the illusion of freedom with Gregory's flashbacks, offset by his imprisonment through paralysis in the present, all allude to the man's work.

Without giving too much away the film is clearly intended more as a political conspiracy thriller rather than a typical Giallo. In fact purists would be hard pressed to find any of the traditional elements associated with the genre. There's no knife wielding gloved killer, little nudity save for the ending, and no gore as the more brutal murders all take place off screen. The film is very stylish though, with excellent use of location, wonderful symbolic imagery from Lado, and some nifty editing, especially in the more surreal sequences. It's certainly an original take on the 'genre' with considerably more substance than many of it's contemporaries (which is what prompted me to buy the film in the first place) But it's the omission of some of the more traditional Giallo traits that unexpectedly lets the film down.


Short Night starts out brilliantly with an intriguing knockout premise, but soon settles into uneventful convoluted-talky-exposition with minimal characterisation; save for Jessica (the wonderful Ingrid Thulin) an old flame helping Gregory. Only during the final act when all the pieces fall into place and we're treated to a satisfyingly downbeat twist ending, does Short Night of Glass Dolls reach anything approaching the brilliance of the opening twenty minutes. Such brilliance infact, that if it wasn't for the hour of boredom that preceded it, I'd be popping this one in again for further analysis. Shame because the metaphorical nature of Lado's conclusion really does tick all the right boxes. Which is why Short Night of Glass Dolls could probably have used a knife wielding maniac running around, and a few more pairs of boobs to keep me entertained along the way. Ho-hum.

Thanks for that UF.

The premise sounds interesting, though obviously you thought so too (had to suffer a boring middle hour) and yet it still gets 3/5. Although I won't be rushing out to find this, I'd like to see it sometime in the future. Besides, I have a thing for Barbara Bach, so hopefully that'll ramp up my enjoyment of it anyway, whether 'they're' out or not.

The payoff is really quite brilliant HK; I'm talking Don't Look Know and Rosemary's Baby brilliant, and whilst the middle hour is rather dull by comparison the film remains watchable and visually striking. Plus I think it might actually reward a second viewing, there's alot of symbolism in there that probably went over my head but will make sense in the grand scheme of things. Overall I liked and enjoyed the film and felt it was better than average.

Re Barbara Bach, I'm afraid that as she plays the missing girlfriend her scenes are rather limited; though you do get to see her writhing around in the nude at the end.

Yeah, that was my point UF. You had to 'suffer' it and yet you still gave it 3/5, so it must be worth a look, if only for the beginning and end. That said, it's a shame that you chose to make that point by choosing two films I found quite boring and have never seen the love for (Dont' Look Now and Rosemary's Baby) but then, that's to be expected from me, isn't it?

As for Barbara Bach; well that alone sounds like a good reason for me to see it.

BTW, Zone Horror is showing Blood Feast at the moment. I know you don't have satellite, but have you ever seen Blood Feast before? I'm sure you have but, on the off chance you haven't, it really is a must see.

Hmmm why do you ask? Has this got something to do with my Blood Diner review? You sound like a mad fan of the film so if there's a discrepancy in my comments then I'd rather you tell me

Anyway to answer your question, yes I saw Blood Feast about fifteen years ago. A college friend (and fellow Dawn of the Dead obsessive) lent me a pirate copy of Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust, and Blood Feast was on the tape afterwards. I remember thinking it was complete crap at the time (just wanted zombie action) and didn't really give it my full attention save for the gore scenes; I thought Kong's flick was alot more fun.

I only asked because it was on and I thought it's the kind of thing that you might enjoy. Considering your love for this kind of thing, I was sure that you'd have heard of it, I'd forgotten about your Blood Diner review , but I just didn't know if you'd seen it. Is it crap? Of course it is, but only in the way that most of the films in this thread are. OK, it has the worst acting I've ever seen, but Christ on a bike, I love it. Check out Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs too, if you get the chance.

First off I think you've got the wrong thread; this is 'Reviews from the Future', a reputable thread that deals in quality cinema I'll have you know

Regarding Blood Feast and my viewing habits...when I saw it I was completely obsessed with gory 'effects' movies and zombies. I didn't really appreciate bad movies in an ironic way; hence me thinking it was just crap at the time. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Raimi's The Evil Dead were my benchmarks and Blood Feast was never going to cut it for me.

Do I want to see it again? sure, but it's not high on my list of priorities. I'm on a Spaghetti Western and Gialli binge at the moment (and also plan to check out some classic Poliziotteschi) . After that I want to look at some of the gritty Yakuza flicks Japan put out in the 70's, as well as anything else with Meiko Kaji in (I'm still waiting for a dvd release of Wandering Ginza Butterfly).

I don't know that I'll ever understand the love of all things Western. Sure, there are a few that I like, but it's a genre that, like fantasy, turns me off the moment it appears.

Gialli is something that I've only recently started to dig a little deeper into. It's something that I've always quite liked (back when, over here at least, they were called "Cheap, crappy, badly dubbed Italian films") but they're quite difficult to find here and even harder to find uncut as I'm sure you can attest to.

So far, I think my favourites are Alice, Sweet Alice and What Have You Done To Solange? but I saw both of those many years ago.

My grandmother could never watch a western, but that's because she lived through them. Westerns are all about freedom and the great outdoors. I guess your outdoors isn't the same as mine, but I prefer mine. Hopefully, you'll find the reality of the western at some point. I believe that every single other genre is encompassed by the western, but I'm shuttng down temporarily.

That's exactly what I love about them.

Yeah I sort of found westerns not that long ago. I'd seen them so many times over the years and never been interested, and then one day I happened to pick up The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and it was like a switch in my brain had been flicked. All of a sudden I couldn't get enough.

Originally posted in Movie Tab II 04-03-2009.



Red Sun (Terence Young 1971) +
I just had to see this after Mark posted it on 'Baker's Dozen' a couple of weeks back. The prospect of Toshirō Mifune (The Seven Samurai) teaming up with Charles Bronson (The Magnificent Seven a remake of the former) was too good to pass up; hence me ordering a copy on Amazon the same day.

What I got was an entertaining culture-clash western with Bronson's bandit Link double crossed and left for dead by his roguish partner Gauche (Le Samourai himself Alain Delon) after a train robbery. Initially there to steal a gold shipment the gang's attention subsequently becomes drawn to a car transporting the Japanese ambassador, and a priceless katana sword he intends as a gift for the president. Naturally Gauche steals it forcing the diplomat to send his one remaining samurai guard Kuroda (Mifune) to give chase aided by the captured (and very reluctant) Link...

This was a lot of fun with the two eminently likable leads forming a charming chemistry as the usual buddy/east-meets-west shenanigans played out. Nice use of locations from Young (particularly the cornfield sequence) and some decent action scenes including a fantastic fight between Kuroda and an indian armed with a spear, made this well worthwhile. There were some minor issues, like the underuse of Delon's amusingly slimy Gauche, and the rather pointless inclusion of Ursula Andress as his love interest. Overall though I found Red Sun to be good solid (if unremarkable) fun, and well worth seeing if only to hear Mifune speak in English. I wonder where they got the idea for Shanghai Noon from? hmmm...



The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci 1968) +
Wow! this was something really special...I've recently decided to go on a Spaghetti western binge, because besides Sergio Leone's films like his 'dollars' trilogy (1964-66), Once Upon A Time in the West (1968), and A Fistfull of Dynamite (1971); I've only really seen Sergio Corbucci's cult hit Django (1966), and Giulio Petroni's Death Rides a Horse (1967). Considering how much I love all those films it seemed odd to me that I've never really explored the genre further. Cue some feverish research (I googled 'top twenty Spaghetti westerns') and this is the film that nearly always features as one of the very best.

The Great Silence differs from the other Spaghettis I've seen in that the action takes place in snowy mountain locales rather than the usual Mexican border towns. Loosely based on historical events the story revolves around 'Silence' (Jean-Louis Trintignant) a mute gunslinger who always draws his gun (a 'Broomhandle' Mauser) in self defense. Feared for his lightening speed Silence defends wanted bandits from ruthless bounty killers who'd rather take a man dead than alive regardless of his crime. Most notorious of these is Loco (Klaus Kinski) who openly admits to always killing his quarry safe in the knowledge that it's 'all within the law'. When he kills a black man wanted on petty charges however, the man's widow, Pauline (the lovely Vonetta McGee) asks Silence to kill Loco in revenge. This takes him to the aptly named town of Snow Hill where a new Sheriff vows to usher in changes for the better, and a corrupt figure from Silence's past is in league with the bounty killers...

Despite having some familiar sounding 'revenge' plot elements, The Great Silence is actually a deep and complex western. For one thing the lines between good and bad are rather blurred to say the least; are the bounty killers really that bad? after all they're providing a public service by exterminating the bandits. Is Silence such a clear cut good guy? he goads men into drawing first so he can kill them and defends wanted criminals. It's these questions combined with Corbucci's gritty style, and the beautifully shot snow scapes contrasted with flashes of blood soaked violence, that make The Great Silence such an affecting film. Throw into the mix a racy interracial love scene between Silence and Pauline and you really get the sense that back in 1968 Corbucci was taking some big risks. Another major plus is the presence of Klaus Kinski clearly tailor made for the role of Loco. I watched the dubbed English track (just couldn't bring myself to watch a western in Italian) and whilst it detracted slightly from the film, Kinski's body language and considerable screen presence ensured the character carried a beguiling roguish charm, leaving me in further indecision over who to root for. Then there's the downbeat ending...I've seen some unhappy endings in my time but none of them compare to the finale here. It's both shattering and exhilarating at the same time as Corbucci rips up the rule book, forgoing comic book sentimentality in favor of harsh reality. Set all this to Morricone's haunting score and the resultant film is further justification for seeking more of these out. Brilliant.

Originally posted in movie tab II 06-03-2009.



God Told Me To (Larry Cohen 1976) +
This is a really intriguing B-movie with Tony Lo Bianco playing a police detective (Lt. Nicholas) investigating a spate of motiveless killings across New York. Beginning with a sniper picking off pedestrians from a water tower, we witness similar unprovoked attacks on the public - including the young Andy Kaufman shooting up a police parade - in each case the perpetrator stating that God told me to. Soon detective Nicholas is knee deep in bodies, police cover ups, an alien abduction plot, and dope dealing gangsters from Harlem; all whilst battling it out with a hermaphroditic Christ like figure with powers of mind control!!!



This is the usual Cohen hotchpotch of outlandishly fun ideas executed in a somewhat muddled, slapdash manner. I like Larry Cohen's films a lot (the eight I've seen anyway) but have to confess that his films often look rushed and unfinished. God Told Me To is no exception with ragged editing, and a confusing narrative style that sometimes appears to be missing entire scenes of exposition. That doesn't mean it's worthless though, not a chance, Cohen always gets great performances from his leads and Tony Lo Bianco is suitably intense here. The film whilst a little incoherent is still interesting enough to make for compelling viewing and has some very effective scenes of horror and suspense. Not least of these is Bianco's pool hall encounter with a group of black hoods in Harlem, and a knife attack sequence on a stairway that harks back to Hitchcock's Psycho. Some of the low budget effects are also very inventive making this something of a rough diamond for fans of B-movies. Cool.



Bone (Larry Cohen 1972) +
This is Cohen's little seen debut feature which flopped terribly on it's initial release -- the studio couldn't find a target audience and tried to market it as Blaxploitation; when that failed they re-titled it Housewife and put it on the drive-in circuit to a similar disinterested response. Ironically Bone is probably one of Cohen's best films, it's certainly the most coherent in terms of editing and narrative that I've seen. The film is actually a smart black comedy/satire of social, racial and class stereo-types that features three exceptional performances from Yaphet Kotto, Joyce Van Patten and Andrew Duggan.

Bone is set in the rich suburb of Beverly Hills beginning with Bill (Duggan) a middle aged materialistic car dealer, and his bored wife Bernadette (Van Patten) sunbathing by their pool. From nowhere a young black man (Kotto) appears and proceeds to remove a dead rat stuck in the pool drain. Introducing himself as Bone he soon makes it clear that he intends to rob the couple and threatens to rape Bernadette if they don't cooperate. Whilst rifling through Bill's business papers however Bone uncovers evidence of secret bank accounts and legal documents that infuriates Bernadette. Finding no money Bone sends Bill into town on his own to make a withdrawal from the bank, assuring him that Bernadette will be raped and killed should he not return. With Bill gone, and his wife furious Bone actually ends up seducing her and agrees to help plot a revenge...

I can see why Bone would have been an extremely hard sell back in 1972. For one thing the film doesn't fit neatly into any particular genre, it's certainly not exploitation or 'blaxplotation' (as the picture above might lead you to believe) it's neither a straight comedy or a thriller either. It is extremely witty and entertaining though, and has a deliciously dark satirical edge that sucks you right in. Kotto and Van Patten in particular are sensational with sparks really flying in the films standout scene; Bone's threat of rape and eventual seduction of Bernadette. The film also takes intelligent swipes at shallow nouveau riche lifestyles, advertising, gender roles and of course racial stereo-types. It's intelligent, witty, charming, disturbing, very hip, and has a great often psychedelic soundtrack. Bone deserves rediscovery and also serves as a perfect example of what a great filmmaker Larry Cohen could have been, instead of just a good one.