Watched on Saturday February 3, 2024.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/deadstream/1/
Category: Letterboxd Reviews
Munchie, 1992 – ★★★
Given that this film is considered the ‘B’ feature on Scream factories double disc bluray release of this film…and that, their ‘A’ feature was ‘Munchies’ which was horrible. I really didnt have a whole lot of faith when it came to ‘Munchie’…but y’know what? its not half bad! It’s not good! it’s CERTAINLY not GOOD. But it’s ABSOLUTELY not BAD.
The plot? A kid who’s life sucks (he’s a transfer student who has no friends, is constantly bullied, is failing at school, has a crush on a girl who doesnt know he exists and his mums dating a total weirdo loser who’s set to become his new stepdad) finds a mysterious trunk while out exploring the backwoods. and on opening it releases ‘Munchie’ a HELLSCAPE of a puppet voiced by Dom Delouise who has ancient magical powers and has existed since the dinosaur days.
Together the pair will have many adventures that’ll slowly turn the boys life around, and maybe teach him the true value of friendship along the way.
And…honestly? I didnt have a strong feeling either way on this one, the script is fine…it’s of the same ilk as ‘Howard the Duck’ or ‘Robot in the Family’. I thought it was a little slower than i’d have liked on the pacing and the humour was VERY hit or miss. I did quite like the self aware ‘dream’ flashes that happen periodically in which we see the kid being dead or attending a student couincil meeting thats pitched like ‘Miss world’ but some of the one liners are awful, and the physical comdy is hit and miss (no pun intended).
The tones actually not too bad, its a self aware family movie comedy, and thats basically what you get, i’d argue that it’s maybe aimed a little more at families with younger children rather than your older child/teen ‘family’. But given some of the utter dross that sits inside this genre of film making. This is a VERY strange, but ultimately harmless picture.
The directions a little madcap, and at times incoherent, but that only really adds to the sense of chaos that this thing brings to the table, I didnt really have any strong issues with it. I will say the creative decision behind the ‘Munchie’ design will haunt my every waking hour from now until the heat death of the planet. Quite why they went for ‘Fanged Baked Potato in a wig’ is beyond me…as was the decision to make his mouth flap about worse than the animatronic ‘Ninja Turtles’. It barely matches ANY of his dialogue and for the most part, they cut away from Munchie when he’s talking.
Cast direction however DID seem like it was fairly well communicated, everyone seemingly knows what kind of film this is, and delivers an intentionally overly corney and campy performance from start to finish, which I thought was a nice touch.
The cine, much like the direction is chaotic, inconsistent, but just about holds it together for a good chunk of the runtime. I wasnt totally won over by it, I feel like there wasnt much in the way of variations on tyhe compositional choices and the lack of a distinct colour and lighting style was a tad problematic for me. But again, i’ve seen worse…but this was a tad dissapointing.
The performances are all fairly lively, there are a few genuinely strange delivery choices that I thought were fun, and everyone feels animate, engaged in doing whatever they can to keep the thing holding peoples attention. Its fine.
The soundtracks hideous.
I think this is a fine enough family film to have on while the family is doing other things, but i’ll admit, by the 3rd act, my mind was beginning to wander a bit. had it been another 10 minutes shorter, it’d have lost ‘feature length’ runtime…but would have been better for it. An almost delerious watch in places…I’d say it might be worth catching ‘Munchie’ once…but your milage DEFINITELY may vary.
Eaten Alive!, 1980 – ★★★
Given world events at the time, it was seemingly all but inevitable that the ‘Jonestown Massacre’ would permeate into the ‘Cannibal’ genre eventually…While the events of Jonestown would be more fully realised in 1979’s ‘Guyana Cult of the Damned’ Umberto Lenzi would put his own skin into the game with 1980’s ‘Eaten Alive!’ a film that…doenst quite feel as powerful as his next Cannibal effort ‘Cannibal Ferox’ But in others feels a little more interesting.
The plot follows a young woman by the name of Sheila who’s sister has recently gone missing in the jungles, a string of ‘cobra venom’ related deaths brings the detectives to her door as they believe the abduction and the murders are in some way interconnected. And so Sheila is given the chance to fly out to her sisters last known whereabouts to try and locate her. On landing she finds a mercinary for hire by the name of Mark, who she promises a significant pay day to if he can help her find her sister.
While on their journey, their canoe capsizes and they’re rescued intot he care of…What at first seems like a fairly ordinary tribe…That is until it’s revealed that this is actually a pretty far gone religious cult who’s charismatic leader has been doping his congregation in order to manipulate them and use them how he wishes.
It’s revealed that Sheilas sister was taken to the cult some time ago and that she’s been held largely in a drugged out state for the past few weeks. With our protagonists facing the possibility of having to take down a large, organized and heavily armed malitia protecting the cult. It may in fact be the crazed cannibals who live on the outskirts of the village who’ll help to save the gang.
The script for this ones a bit of a mixed bag, given the proximity to Jonestown, I feel it handles the ‘cult’ element fairly well…but given this is sold as a ‘cannibal film’ I feel theres a distinct lack of Cannibalism presented here.
Of course, the tropes are all here, expect PLENTY of VERY graphic animal cruelty (ugh.) lots of very fake simulated rape scenes, gore, torture, genitle mutilation…all the stuff that appears in your bog standard Cannibal flick…its just really missing the ACTUAL Cannibals…who do get a few scenes, but really arnt the central point of this feature.
And I feel that works agains the film really as, while it is refreshing to see a ‘cannibal’ movie that isnt just ‘A load of folk get lost in the jungle and slowly get hunted down by tribesmen and tortured graphically to death’ its also dissapointing that the ‘cult’ angle they replace it with is actually quite underwhelming and doesnt really offer much.
A few rape scenes, a few fight scenes and repetative shots of people drinking mind altering drugs from coconuts alongside lengthy sermons on the mount is about as interesting as it gets and it really impacts the overall pacing of the picture for me.
The film opens fairly strong, but around the mid point (when they arrive at the compound) it basically slows down quite significantly and becomes MUCH MORE about them setting the tone and atmosphere of the creepy cult. theres a lot of ‘runaround/get captured/escape/get captured again’ moments that populate the 2nd and 3rd acts, if you know much about Jonestown you’ll spot how this ends from a mile away. Its just kind of flat in that sense.
The directions a bit of a mixed bag as well, while its a coherent picture, I wouldnt say this was anywhere near as developed as ‘Cannibal Ferox’…the gore and practical effects are lacking the rawness Lenzis Later works had. its technically on the level and does show a coherent vision…But I just feel like it really struggles to bring the energy it SHOULD be bringing to the forefront.
Direction of the cast is solid, actually probably one of this films better qualities. But there are times where I feel again like the energy thats being bought into this film is the wrong kind, going more for hammy over the topness than a more real feeling for what it must be like to be in that situation. The cast hit their marks and deliver their lines fine enough. I just wish there was a little more subtlety thrown in to help give a little more contrast against the hamminess.
The cines basic, but functional. shots are a little mixed in terms of composition. It feels like Lenzis concept of ‘filming madness’ is just to basically swing the camera around like a lunatic and chop it all together in post. Colour is a little muted here but i’d say just about does the job (its certainly not a washed out picture by any sense)
I feel its the edit that really kind of lets this one down, sequences dont feel particualrly consistent or precise. It feels at times like they’ve been cut in a hurry, or maybe need another couple of passes to really get it over the line. Its not abysmal. But it feels like a workprint that had a soundtrack slapped on it in places rather than a finished product.
Speaking of soundtrack, that IS one element this film really has going for it. The scores superb! a really solid funky 70s bob intercut with…basically a score eerily similar to ‘Cannibal Holocaust’. I liked the ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ OST…and I liked this one.
I wouldnt say ‘Eaten Alive!’ was a bad movie. Far from it. But I will say that I struggled a bit with it. Its overly long and really would have benefitted from losing about 20 minutes or so. the amount of needless runarounds and padding had me clockwatching by the 3rd act and the lack of ‘edge’ and ‘rawness’ that would later be seen in films like ‘Ferox’ and ‘Holocaust’ just kind of left me wishing this film had gone just a tiny bit harder in ‘shock factor’
The ‘Cannibal’ subgenre is notoriously a mixed to poor quality area. And i’d say that ‘Eaten Alive!’ was probably one of the better offerings out there! But its far from being a peak representative of the genre. It’d probably pair up really well with ‘Cannibal Ferox’ honestly. So i’d say, if your just getting into the ‘Cannibal’ genre, this one should probably be on your list of films to check out. If you’ve seen a few but havent got to this one yet. Its one of the better ones in my opinion and may well be worth your time.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/eaten-alive-1980/
Munchies, 1987 – ★½
I have no idea realistically what I just sat through…90 minutes of a time sink hole is about as good as I’ve got when it comes to describing ‘Munchies’ a ‘family’ movie that broadly falls into the ‘Hard PG’ catagory of 80’s film making.
In essence, it feels like the film makers saw the success of ‘Gremlins’ and ‘Ghoulies’ and went ‘We’ll have some of that!…But we dont wanna really do too much!’ Because thats all this is. The opening act introduces us to a father and son who are exploring some old Incan ruins when they stumble across (what is presumably) the last of an alien civilisation. The father, delighted by this, shoves the little alien in a canvas bag and takes it back to the US to be investigated more, as he believes its proof that Machu Picchu was the central hub of operations for a radio beacon for Alien life.
The creatures gain the nickname ‘Munchies’ from the fact they love eating junk food, and later find a taste for beer and cigarettes. Theres some shenanigans around the house, and then its revealed that the ‘Munchies’ can multiply.
At the same time, a neighbour from across the street spots one of the lil guys, catches it and takes it back to his house for his son to keep an eye on…only, it escapes, meets up with the other alien and…basically from that point onwards the rest of the film is just a road trip/chase sequence for 80 something minutes.
Occasionally broken up with awful comedy set pieces, bad puns or poor physical comedy.
Its so hard not to look at this thing and just…IMMEDIATELY see how hollow it is as a venture…how easy it is to spot out as a cash in attempt on that particular subgenre of the times. the script basically has about 15 minutes of actual plot, which it spreads SO thinly…its unreal.
I dont even really know who this film would be for these days. its targeted as a family film, but it has sex, smoking and booze in it alongside a few curse words, adults wont watch it because its tryinfg too hard to be a kids film. I only watched it because Im ill and couldnt handle anything more complex than a base level childrens comedy movie…and even I wasnt happy with how this turned out.
The direction is basic, functional and nothing else, the cine is drab and fairly lifeless…the set design is about as good as it gets, with crazy colourful ‘peewee’s playhouse’ inspired costumes and set designs…the performances are all over the top manic and aggressively unpleasent to sit through.
Everyones trying to play it cool, but in a really goofy way that gets offputting VERY quickly. its all WAY too much honestly. The design for the ‘Munchies’ is ugly, unpleasent and they look bizarrely stiff in a way that really struggles to bring ANY kind of life into them.
And thats not to mention the soundtrack which is GRATINGLY comedic. its really trying all it can to scream ‘THIS IS A FAMILY COMEDY!’ while forgetting that being a family comedy means more than just slapstick and pulling funny faces…there has to be a REASON this is all happening…
I didnt care for this one. The nicest thing I can say about it, is that it’d probably be right at home as the B-feature to ‘Hobgoblins’…and THAT is not a compliment.
Flesh for Frankenstein, 1973 – ★★★★
I’ve been ill for the past few days, and todays my first day off work, so what better way to cope with drowning in your own bodily fluids than with a rowsing rewatch of ‘Flesh For Frankenstein’ (Also known as; ‘Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein’.
And what a deligtfully campy, over the top and strange viewing experience this is, perfect for someone in a flu-ish state to just be consumed by.
The plot is a bit of a twist on the Mary Shelly Classic, its as much a family drama as it is a horror film, In this iteration Baron Frankenstein is already well underway in his experiments to create life, but this time, his plans are all the more grand. Rather than just trying to bring to life his own man made being, instead, in this iteration, he intends to create a man AND a woman at the same time, and corral them into procreating, birthing a race of supermen who’ll take over the world and repopulate it with genetically enhanced undead models.
As the film opens his female subject is nearing completion and his male iteration is just missing a head. A problem thats fixed shortly therafter when a couple of working class travellers stop by the castle looking for work. One of them ends up joining the castles staff…the other ends up in a rather incapacitated condition.
The subplot while all of these shenanigans are going on is more family drama oriented. as Frankensteins wife (who is also his sister…) is deeply unhappy with her current life arrangement of essentially being left almost entirely alone in the castle all day, and having to deal with her offspring inbetween periods of solitude…So she begins an affair with the new member of staff.
And this creates a strange but deligtful textured work, as we flip flop between the baron conducting BIZARRE gory and graphic experiments (filled with lashings of blood, nudity and gall bladder fucking) and the Other plot line thats actually a pretty standard pressure cooker family piece about peoples needs and desires…of course, the two films themes overlap eventually leading to a particularly grand and campy finale. This really is pretty much a good time for all!
And I mean that! the script is light, zippy and really doesnt overstay its 90(ish) minute welcome. its got rock solid pacing, it dances the line between campy comedy and genuinely bizarre horror really well. It sticks the landing. The characters are all fairly well rounded, have depth and subtleties that are ABSOLUTELY blown out of proportions by the deliveries. I can honestly say you wont see another film quite like this one…Well…not till ‘Blood for Dracula’ at least…
The direction is rich, creative and gorgeous with some delightfully demented sequences realised quite wonderfully. The cast have seemingly all been very clearly briefed on what tone to work with and had the parameters of the films needs explained to them. Which is excellent as they seem to have been given fairly free control to work within those frameworks and deliver on it ten fold.
The cine is a delight as well, Vinegar Syndromes (semi) recent 4k release of this film scrapes off 50 years of mould revealing rich texture and colour to the picture image and JUST the right amount of film grain to allow the film to breath with its own personality, without feeling *too* seedy. Shots are excellently composed and the sequences all flow very naturalistically.
I think I spotted maybe a couple of slight issues on the editing front (shots cutting too early basically) But…when the rest of the film is like THIS!? Im willing to kind of overlook that a little bit.
The main selling point for this is the performances, with Udo Kier REVELLING in the role of the incestuous melodramatic Baron Frankenstein. Its an awful position to be in as a fan of cult cinema, because whenever he performs he brings SUCH a hammy bombasticism to proceedings. I keep being reminded of the fact that this is what Tommy Weisau would be like if he was good.
Udo is sublime here, EASILY the most watchable member of the cast and almost worth the price of admission alone, not to be outdone however, the other cast members too really bring a good balance of camp and melodrama to proceedings. leaving a film thats eccentric with out being aggressively in your face about it.
And the scoring! my god! its gorgeous! a wonderful arrangement, it suits the films tone perfectly and is used to great effect. I loved it.
‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ is a genuine delight to watch, but one that I feel you may have to be in a specific mindset to really truely appreciate. Next time I catch this (when im not dying on my arse) I’ll be sure to try the 3D version…as I can only BEGIN to imagine how THAT shapes up.
Definitely recommended. This was one of my favourite ‘First time watches’ of 2022…and I still think its amazing. Dont sleep on this one.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/flesh-for-frankenstein/1/
Funseekers, 1988 – ★★½
The final episode of the final season of ‘The Comic Strip’ to be shown on Channel 4 is messy to say the least. Chiefly because it seems to be brimming with utter contempt, so much so that it doesn’t know exactly who to turn it on.
It’s essentially a 50 minute multi thread story following a group of holiday makers on a club 18-30 called ‘The funseekers’ and predominantly its a lambasting of the way British people behave abroad, particularly on these cheap package holidays to Spain and the canary Isles.
The British are notorious for binge drinking, disorderly conduct and being yobbish when abroad, and this film shows that side of things in absolute unflinching detail…only it also seems to continue the trend of punching down on the working class, foreigners…basically anyone who’s put in front of the lens is shown to be pathetic and awful.
But the issue is, it isn’t PORTRAYING the lifestyle as awful. It shows the ups and downs, but it makes it out to be some kind of great big fun game that people can relate to fondly.
EVERYONE in this thing is awful, there’s not ONE salvageable character here. And the ending. To modern or progressive eyes is frankly just depressing.
A real downer to end ‘the channel 4 years’ on…if you ever wondered why Europe treat the UK with contempt. This film will show you why…
Didn’t You Kill My Brother?, 1988 – ★★★½
An Alexi Sayle penned and led story of two brothers sperated by greed and socialism. Previously both criminals (the story seems to be a ribbing on the Kray twins) it follows one half of the duo as they take on a VERY restrictive educational role in a local school, where he introduces socialist ideas to a despondent classroom.
I actually quite liked this one, I thought it balanced reasonable drama, with some thought provoking sequences and wasn’t afraid to be a bit silly as well.
Tonally solid and decently paced. Sayles duel performance as both of the brothers is excellent and the story has a rather satisfying (if not open) ending that I really quite enjoyed.
Not the absolute best of ‘The Comic Strip’ but one I could easily see myself revisiting.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/didnt-you-kill-my-brother/
The Yob, 1988 – ★
Hey, did you know the remake of ‘The Fly’ came out in 1986? Well, if you didn’t, ‘The Comic Strip’ sure as hell is going to remind you of it…TWO YEARS after the fact.
Landing with a wet limp squelch onto television screens in 1988, ‘The Yob’ has one joke and that is to parody ‘The Fly’ but instead of a scientist and a Fly getting mixed up, it’s a yuppie and a yob.
That’s it. That’s the whole hour long episode. And it’s unappealing in almost every sense of the word. Nauseating direction, irritating scoring, bad performances. Jokes that fail consistently and border on the homophobic and full on tip into the sexist and classist.
Someone turns up dressed as a nazi in black face at one point…its boring. A waste of an hour and arguably the worst of the comic strip…if it wasn’t for a literal handful of interesting cine choices. This would be down at a half star.
I’m not a fan of Keith Allen, and I’m not a fan of punching down. This does both.
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