One i’ve been meaning to revisit for a while, there isnt a whole lot that I can really add to the masses who really truely love ‘Battle Royale’.

Honestly, theres very little I disliked about it, the scripts razor, with a VERY bleak and dystopic tone being offset by wonderfully bleak humour, the pacings pretty solid, though the 2nd act *does* sag a little bit for me personally, It ends about as well as it can do and the characters, all 45+ of them are complex, interweaving and nuanced.

I really dont have much more to say other than I love its complexity and how naturalistic it feels in places. its rock solid.

As is the direction, as is the cine, as are the performances…In fact…if im being brutally honest; the only two things I really disliked were:

*The runtime – It is a film I feel could have been 10 minutes shorter and 10 times better for it

and

*The end credits music – Which I feel is one of the only things that dates it, after a near solid 2 hours of classical and orchestral moodiness, the end credits are a 90s R&B-ish pop track that kind of jerked me out of the vibe of the film…

Otherwise, its honestly fantastic. Other people here could put it better than I ever really could. and I’ll absolutely try not to leave it 10-15 years before watching it again…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/battle-royale/

Another one im watching for work on a bigger project, so i’ll keep it brief:

The final part of Alex De Renzys trilogy is basically almost unrecognisable from the first film. almost a remake of the 2nd film, but softened even further. Peaches 3 has a new Peaches leaving home to find ‘enlightenment’ that coincidentally can only be found through sex.

All the ‘edge’ of the first 2 films (incest, enemas, performance art lesbian gang bang rape) is nowhere to be found. This is just straight porn. VERY low budget straight porn at that, I reckon more money went on the film stock than the casts wages and sets combined.

It starts off poor, but does pick up pace around the mid point and ends in an okay enough place. But its beige. SO beige. the safest and most stable entry in the whole franchise. Its inoffensive to the point that I think i’ll probably start to forget exactly what happend before I even start a write up, less than 12 hours from now.

The subplot involving Peaches Mum and Bobby however is probably the steamiest and most erotically charged moment in the whole series. and was about as enjoyable as this thing got.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/pretty-peaches-3-the-quest/

A Dawn French number, played as a pseudo faux documentary about a group of actors attending a summer school in which they must accurately portray an iron age village for a few weeks.

Its not bad, the main source of humour seems to come from actors and actresses putting their feelings ahead of the role (a good example being when Rik Mayall’s character tells the rest of the troupe that, if they REALLY wanted to be period authentic, they’d all be having lots of sex with all the women, and proposes a rotation orgy)

Fine enough, kind of poigniant in places, subtle but the laughs are quality enough. The lack of proper gut laughs really kind of undercuts this one from being something truely hilarious, but as a work broadly speaking, its good!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/summer-school-1983/

Another solid entry from ‘The Comic Strip’ AND it predates ‘Spinal Tap’ by a few months, its a rockumentary following an up and coming heavy metal band ‘Bad News’ and all the mishaps that can befall a not *quite* famous yet rock band.

Great variety of gags, consistent humour, not AS massive a hit rate as ‘Tap’ but still very very enjoyable, and definitely worth checking out…Oh! and it was written by Ade Edmondson too…which was really quite impressive to see!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/bad-news-tour/

Solid enough parody of the french new wave movement and its various american and british offshoots. urprisingly closer to a lot of those kinds of movies than some of the ones that came out at the time! Full of fun little moments, but it does kind of run the joke well and truely into the ground well before the credits run.

Single best line in this episode is delivered by Ade Edmondson who VERY enthusiastically says ‘LETS GO CRAZY APE SHIT!’ before flipping an empty ashtray over on a table and doing literally nothing else.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-beat-generation-1983/

Wasnt feeling this one as much, It kind of felt a bit like a 28 minute improv session complete with props rather than a fully fleshed story.

It had a couple of funny moments here and there, but it was a real mess and a big chunk of the short relying on Robbie Coltrane in ‘Yellow Face’ was a turnoff…ah well…I didnt hate it, but I wont watch it again in a hurry.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/war-1983/

I grabbed Severins release of the complete ‘Comic Strip Presents…’ Over black friday having seen a smattering of them over the years and decided it might be fun to go through the whole set in order.

Kicking things off was the first entry in the series ‘Five Go Mad In Dorset’ a wonderful lampooning of ‘The Famous Five’ novels and That quintessential P.G Woodhouse era of british culture, where the men were toffs, the ladies housewives and the ginger ale arriving in lashings.

I had a lot of fun with this one, the humours a little bit dated at this point, but in some ways that kind of enhances the comedy with this ITSELF being a lampooning of the dated opinions of the early 1900’s

Not a gut buster in my opinion, but still a very funny special. It had a decent hit rate and as a parody, its loving, but acidic. definitely one to watch if you enjoy shows like ‘The Young ones’, ‘Blackadder’ or ‘Not the Nine o Clock News’.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/five-go-mad-in-dorset/

A late night endeavour for me as a friend was doing a rewatch and with a title like ‘Bloodsucking pharaohs in Pittsburgh’ how could I NOT take the opportunity to indulge?

Unfortunately, the title is a little bit misleading. as is…well the whole film really…

For a starters, the advertising for this movie is quite misleading…you look at the title of the movie and the first impression is its going to be some kind of ‘killer mummy’/’vampire’ flick…maybe a slightly Troma-esq picture thats ultra gory, ultra sleazy and a little bit ‘Street Trashy’…The film isnt like that at all…it has odd moments here and there…but this is actually a rather grounded production that probably shares more in common with ‘Seven’ than it does ‘The Toxic Avenger’…and when I say that, im NOT saying ‘Its as good as ‘Seven’…’ Im saying that tonally its a lot slower and more serious than the title would have you believe.

The film is VERY loosely inspired by ‘Blood Feast’ and when I say very loosely I mean, the film is about 2 detectives hunting for a serial killer who’s removing peoples organs. and then suddenly about 50 minutes into this 80(ish) minute film, they drop a CRAP ton of lore about Egyptian sacrifices…but they do so in a nondescript way…

In fact, thats probably this films biggest problem, its SO non comittal in anything it wants to do. As mentioned the Egyptian symbolism (barring a very throwaway moment in the opening 5-10 minutes) is entirely neglected until the 3rd act, when its unceremoniously dumped on the audience with no real explanations or reasoning. They dont explain why the specific organs stolen are significant, they dont really explain exactly WHY they’re needed or what collecting them is ultimately going to do.

This is billed as a ‘Horror Comedy’ which is *technically* true. there is some moments of horror and some pretty funny comedy moments. But films that weild duel genres generally work best when they unify the two (bringing comedy into a horrible moment, or offsetting a comedy moment with some awful horror) and they work even better when theres a dominant genre in the mix…so a horror comedy thats leading with horror will pepper its scares with comedy moments, and vice versa.

This film treats them both equally, and keeps them pretty far apart from each other. Meaning the comedy never manages to bed in enough that audience members feel confident in it BEING comedy, and horror fans get a double whammy as the comedy downplays the suspense of the horror, AND due to the producer taking a pair of scissors to the film, all of Tom Savinis wonderfully gory work has been trunkated or removed to secure an R rating.

It script is slow boil, it has its moments, but it feels like, because the film failed to pick a lane, it doesnt really know what to do with itself for most of the runtime. It brings in a load of supporting characters who have nothing to do with the main plot of the film really other than giving the film makers opportunities to pad the runtime. The tones uneven, and as mentioned the act structuring is a bit of a mess because the first act is basically a detective slasher thriller peppered with comedic moments, the first half of the second act ramps things up a little, but not much. and then the second half of the 2nd act swerves violently into an Egyptian sacrifice subplot.

The direction, cine and performances are all fine. like…literally the base level required to make the film feel somewhat professional…I wish I had more to say on it…but honestly its just passably good. Nothing special, it just does the job on all counts. The soundtracks unmemorable…

I dunno…This thing just smacks to me of being an unfinished or rushed production that had a sloppy base that resulted in a sloppy movie. Im kind of glad i’ve seen it for reference, but if this was ‘inspired by Blood Feast’ there are other, better ‘Inspired by Blood feast’ movies out there such as ‘Mardi Gras Massacre’ and ‘Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers’ This? This is something i’ll probably not watch again.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/bloodsucking-pharaohs-in-pittsburgh/

Watched this one as part of a broader project im working on.

I’ll keep it brief for now; To me? it’s the inverse of ‘Pretty Peaches’ The script is WAY more solid and less morally dubious (albeit it missing a lot of the rawness and bite of the original) But technically, this things bordering on the beige. Not a whole lot of interesting camera work, kind of dull direction, sound work is better than the original, but on the whole its just kind of by the numbers…

Was this Jamie Gillis’s strangest role?..it could very well be.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/pretty-peaches-2/

Other than the occasional reference in US sitcoms, I had ZERO experience of ‘Pufnstuf’ before tonight, when I decided to finally check out the motion picture. Which is seemingly some kind of 96 minute ‘condensed reimagining’ of the original NBC 1969 tv series. Honestly the internets being a bit confusing about this one, its either a remake of the TV series for the big screen, or its some kind of ‘Grand finale’ for the tv series…or its both…or its neither…I honestly dont know.

What I do know is that this thing is positively demented and makes ‘Batman ’66’ look like the shipping forecast. a BEWILDERING watch, ‘Pufnstuf’ follows Jimmie, a kid who’s kicked out of band practice for running late and manages to manifest a magic talking flute who takes him to a magic talking boat who takes him to a mysterious magic island known simply as ‘Living Island’ a place where literally EVERYTHING on the island, no matter how big or small, is alive.

We’re introduced to the mayor of Living Island, Pufnstuf. a potato shaped dragon of a creature in cowboy boots. alongside the many MANY other slightly terrifying residents of the island. We’re also introduced to ‘Witchiepoo’ a nefarious witch with evil animal henchmen, who spots Jimmies magic flute and wants it as a gift for the ‘Boss Witch’

What follows essentially is a back and forth between Puf, Jimmie and Witchiepoo to try and secure the magic flute, with Jimmie and Puf wanting it to have a nice life on living Island and Withchie…well outside of a gift, her intentions for the flute arnt really made all that clear.

I made the mistake of having a couple beers before going into this. I didnt realise it would go *quite* as hard as it did in terms of psychedilia and just…TOTAL bizarrness. not ONE MINUTE goes by without SOMETHING totally unusual and odd happening. the script feels like an automatic writing experiment, the pacing is seizure inducing, the tone is unbridled glee. I dread to think what contents would have left my stomach had this been screened in a theatre because the total manic energy this thing weilds would be enough to put Richard Simmons into a coma.

Its camp as christmas, the characters are all utterly hamtastic, written on a basic level but with a slight self awareness as a nod and a wink to the adults who got dragged to a screening. This thing was MADE. MADE! for nerodivergent people. its nothing but utter sensory bombardment for 90 minutes. Some may see it as an assault on the senses, but I found a rather bewildered calm broke over me as I just sat smirking at whatever it was happening on my screen.

The direction is painfully unique. delightfully unique. scarily unique. Sid and Marty Kroftt were clearly creative individuals, because I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I have NEVER seen anything quite like this. its grand. feels very handmade, has precision detail. It was clearly a labour of love on the part of the cast and crew.

Same goes for the cine, somewhere between ‘The Monkees’ tv show and ‘The Banana Splits’ this thing sits perfectly. its a cacaughany of lights, colour and experimental composition. You could literally project this at an acid rave and noone would bat an eyelid…and thats the problem, because this is a kids film.

The editing is seizure inducing. they went for INTENSE 60’s freakout editing. its full of jumpcuts, crash zooms, at one point the whole edit briefly tilts out into a block colour void before tilting back in. theres stock footage tinted acid colours, sequences sometimes feel like they were run through a blender…and again, in any other film i’d be holding it accountable for its actions…NOT THIS ONE. Because clearly the path of linear thought and reality based action left the rails about 8 minutes into this thing and never came back.

Im a firm believer in the idea that some of the best art is achieved by finding the fringe of your comfort zone, taking one step beyond that fringe and then knowing the ‘true’ scope of your limits. and this film does that in SPADES. it relishes the opportunity to just…be different. Which, given this is a musical (oh yeh…this films a musical too ontop of all the randomness) that features a showstopping song from Mama Cass entitled ‘Different’ which is literally all ABOUT being different…I feel they knew they were working with something special here.

The cast are 80% puppets, they do a great job…for puppets. the human cast are rock solid too camping it up to the Nth degree and not caring about ANYTHING other than the weird world they’d build.

The soundtracks awesome. Its full of earworm hits with nice meanings. This things just a total trip. I got half an hour in to it and fell in love. The only issue I honestly have with it is the same one I have with 80% of films. That it could have been 15 minutes or so shorter and all the better for it. It ends JUST as it starts to overstay its welcome and I would have liked to have been left wanting more.

Still! if you enjoyed movies like ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ or ‘Carnival Magic’ or ‘Head’ This thing…man, y’gotta SEE this thing.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/pufnstuf/