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.
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.
‘Return of the Living Dead’ is probably my favourite Zombie movie of all time quite honestly, a feverish horror comedy with an acidic punk edge, its daft, genuinely unpleasent in places and wears its strangeness on it’s sleeve. Outside of ‘Shaun of the dead’ I dont think theres finer…I’d seen posters and trailers for ‘Return of the Living Dead III’ for decades by this point, but it was always a case of ‘ships in the night’ I wasnt in the right place to catch it, or I’d miss a screening, or for the longest time it just wasnt really readily available.
But recently Vestron picked it back up for a lovely Bluray remaster which I nabbed, and after being somewhat dissapointed by ‘Return of the Living Dead II’ a while back, I figured this surely HAD to be better. and really? I wasnt dissapointed.
The film ignores Part 2…and realistically kind of ignores part 1 too! Its set in the 90s and follows a young couple Kurt and Julie. Kurts dad works int he military on a top secret project, which quickly turns out to be experiments with Trioxin gas. The aim being to create controllable, storeable zombie super soldiers with it. The couple sneak onto the base at the request of Julie and quickly stumble on the experiments. which…do not go as planned, resulting in Kurts dad being moved onto a different project in a different part of the country.
Kurt doesnt want to move and takes off with Julie to start a new life, but after a chance encounter with an oncoming truck…Well, Julie isnt going to be sneaking into any secret bases again for a while…well…not with a pulse at least.
Kurt takes her back to the base, sprays her with Trioxin and she comes back to life! but…it doesnt take long for him to realise that Julie isnt quite who she was, and when the military find out that shes now reanimated, they send out teams to try and stop her before the infection spreads.
But that plot summary really doesnt quite do justice to the film really, its a love story at its core with overtones relating to self harm, toxic relationships and trauma. Its a solidly paced work that tonally is much more serious than the original ‘Return’ but isnt so uptight to the point it cant acknowledge the absurdity of its own premise.
I think John Penney weaves and interesting script here, with characters who feel ‘OF’ the ‘RotLD’ world, while being distinctly different enough to stand on its own feet and grounding. this is less a wider character study as the original was, and a more insular, closed experience. While the first film dealt with a city wide outbreak, barely half a dozen people ultimately get infected in this one. But the infections themselves are much more powerfully dealt with. they resonate, they feel weighty. the first film could kill 100 people in a few miniutes and not have the impact the last 20 minuites of this film had.
Obviously thats only enhanced by Brian Yuzna’s direction. striking a…surprisingly somewhat mellower balance here than his other offerings (and THAT’S saying something) it doesnt have the eroticism of ‘Society’, it doesnt have the fever dream nightmarishness of ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night 4’ and it isnt as silly as ‘Bride of Reanimator’ though…having seen that this was the film Yuzna picked up right AFTER working on SNDN4 and Reanimator 2…a lot of things just clicked right now.
Its sparingly graphic for most of the runtime. its not garish or in your face in fact for most of the runtime. Instead, it prefers to save its more grotesque moments for peppered moments that hit you from out of nowhere, the zombies twisted and decaying forms are postiively hideous. and there are several ‘self mutilation’ scenes that made me honestly feel quite queasy.
Realistically; Yuzna was probably the best man for the job when it came to a ‘Return’ sequel. and I think here he does an amazing job of uniting the various cast and crew in delivering an experience thats not in amour of the original, but attempts to almost approach the subject from the inverse of the original. Which I really liked.
The cine is intense, hyper colourful, graphic and gross. Yuzna to a tee honestly, and while it IS some of the most disgusting cine i’ve seen in a long time (‘Sickly’ would be the word I’d use) I feel oddly compelled to watch it, almost like im seeing some craft in guts and gore in the same way an artist might use paint…its…hypnotic almost. and in that sense I Think its arguably brillaint.
The editing is razor, this things cut near perfect with hearty amounts of oozy wiggly B-roll to help keep things running along at a great pace. The performances are all JUST on the cusp of going full camp, but theres almost a pressured restraint to that. kind of like watching a group of people on the verge of a collective breakdown, but never QUITE tipping into it. Just…pressure cooker performances honestly. it’s tantalizing.
In fact, the only dissapointments really were the scoring…which was kind of overly generic. Not my thing at all and absolutely a step down over the originals soundtrack, and the fact that even now, due to some supply shortages, the best way generally to check this film is a nasty cropped DVD or VHS version that really doesnt do the film justice.
This isnt as good as the original, but it blows ‘Part 2’ out of the water in my opinion, try and find a good quality HD copy and go in with an open mind. This isnt the comedy antics that the first film had, its a different beast. But if I had to choose between this or ‘Part 2’ as an offical sequel to the original, there’d be no contest. This in a heartbeat. its awesome.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/return-of-the-living-dead-iii/
Watched tonight as part of a larger project im working on this year. All i’ll say for now is Technically; its very proficient, but imperfect. Morally its BEYOND dubious.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/pretty-peaches/
Another watch that can be chalked up to those wild and wacky folks over at ‘Red Letter Media’ their recent coverage of this film piqued my interest, so I hopped over to Ebay (This is now long out of print) and snagged a copy while I could, mainly to see if it was as strange and wild as the guys made it out to be.
The plots…simple, but bizarre to say the least. The film follows a caring, but controlling husband called ‘Tom’ (played by ‘Asbestos Felt’…Hell of a name)Who’s currently under a lot of stress on the home front and is in the process of trying to take on a second job to support his newlywed wife Leeza (Courtney Lercara). The pressure slowly builds for Tom, who; at the same time, becomes obsessed with the idea that Leeza is cheating on him, sleeping with basically any man she happens to come into contact with. From the electrician who drops by to fix a few bits and pieces, to Toms lifelong older friend who’s already happily married and makes literally no hints at being interested in Leeza at all.
Nevertheless, it all becomes too much for Tom who, upon finding a book hidden in Leezas possessions that lists seveal sorded affairs. Goes on a titula ‘Killing Spree’ resulting in guts and gore galore.
And this one kind of put me in a difficult spot because, on the one hand, for SOV as a subgenre; This things actually quite well made. We have a consistant 3 act structure, that only *somewhat* derails at the very VERY end of the film really, pacings a little slow burn, but for SOV manages to keep things ticking over to a steadily building crescendo. and the tone is that of a jet black horror/slasher-comedy.
However. with all of the above being said, as an actual film that people will sit through…it’s kind of dull. The SOV genre runs a pretty wide gauntlet, with some films almost rivalling the studio offerings of the day…but for a LOT of features it was quite miraculous that they bothered to have the lens cap off for most of the runtime. Letalone anything GOOD being within eyeshot…and I say this as someone who has an appreciation for SOV cinema.
It’s ultra lo-fi filmaking, which means that the bar for whats considered ‘good’ in the SOV genre is MUCH lower than what would be considered ‘Good’ in the wider film ecosystem. By SOV standards ‘Killing spree’ to me? is good! But by broader film standards? it has problems.
The films very repetitious and largely relies on two things to keep the audience on board, heavy gore. and Asbestos Felt as ‘Tom’. Outside of that however, the scripts slow, plodding, we get the same beats (a guy turns up at Leezas place, they chat, Tom has a vision of them getting flirty, Tom goes and kills the guy. Rinse. Repeat) over and over again, almost all of the cast are under written, very basic and Asbestos basically upstages them at almost every turn.
The tone, while welcome, doesnt really do that much different when compared to other SOV flicks of this ilk. and the 3rd act finale comes TOTALLY out of left field with no implication that what happens WOULD even happen and felt a bit like the writer had put themselves in a corner and decided to ‘Whimsy’ his way out of a difficult situation.
The direction is viusually creative and DOES have a distinct style about it, it possesses an almost dreamlike wooziness, which I found quite appealing, and this combined with the performances is ultimately the thing that really pulls the film up from something forgettable, to something actually kind of worth checking out. Its a skeleton crew, but they manage to pull together the best aspects in order to deliver something thats unusual…but ultimately enjoyable.
Direction of the cast could best be summed up as ‘Noone was given any kind of direction other than to read their lines and not to move. Asbestos ignored these instructions because Asbestos is an unstoppable force of nature’
The cine is coherent for the most part, but let down by the edit. Shots are blocked appropriately and offer a mixed range of compositional ability. With some shots looking absolutely dire. But some genuinely looking unsettling and unpleasent. Where it hits this film is genuinely a bizarre watch. But for the most part, it does come across a little generic. While I will compliment the pinky/red lighting gel choices used throughout. I felt like a little more coherency in their application would have probably really benefitted this thing.
It is however largely letdown by the edit, which has strange hard cuts, weird transitions in places, doesnt work with the narrative appropriately and is ultimately a quite big distraction hanging over this film. There are moments where the bad editing actually accidentally creates some moments of mad genius. But these are few and far between and dont leave enough of an impact to ultimately win me over.
As mentioned throughout this review, Asbestos Felt is really the only cast member worth talking about in terms of performances. He’s nuts. He plays an overly aggressive, over the top, highly animated madman. Half the time im convinced his improvving his lines, half the time Im genuinely worried for the onsite cast and crew. He really throws his all into this giving a manic performance that dances the line between terrifying and hilarious. and I LOVED it for that.
And the soundtrack? It sounds like ‘Things’ (1989) for the most part, ultra cheap and cheesy 80s synth scoring, I dont think it suits the film personally. But its better than silence…
Ultimately; ‘Killing Spree’ is SOV’s answer to ‘Maniac’…I didnt much care for ‘Maniac’ and I ultimately wasnt 100% won over by this. But I could appreciate what it was trying to do, Asbestos Felt is a genuinely menacing presence throughout which did manage to hold my attention and the script and direction…while a little slow and generic, had just enough going on that I didnt regret watching this. If your getting into the SOV subgenre, this is as good a place to start as any…its not the best the genre has to offer…but it isnt the worst. Its just a fairly good example of ‘slashers’ on video.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/killing-spree/
Watched on Wednesday January 3, 2024.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world/1/
The absolute definition of a ‘Background Movie’, ‘New Years Evil’ is a slasher that, AT BEST, could be described as 40% rock concert film and 60% middle of the road slasher fare. The fact that this takes place on ‘New Years Eve/Day’ and features a killer who can only commit his crimes when he hears a ‘New Years Eve’ countdown is about as original and unique as this picture gets.
Thats literally the plot by the way, It’s New years eve, and we follow a young woman whos the TV host for this universes version of ‘New Years ‘Rockin Eve’ as she hangs around on stage and behind the scenes of a live broadcast, when all of a sudden, a killer (who…we’re told up front IS the killer, in a move that removes ALL suspense from the rest of the picture) begins calling into the shows hotline to torment the host. Using a recording from the live broadcast as his ‘trigger’ to go on an early new year rampage.
The first 30-40 minutes of this takes place during the live broadcast and basically cuts between live music performances and our killer on the prowl…with the two plot lines occasionally overlapping by way of the calls into the show to confirm another kill.
The remainder of the film is an ultra basic and inoffensive slasher picture that, barring the last 10 minutes or so, which WERE relatively interesting. Could best be described as beige.
The change in plot presentation to a more traditional slasher around the mid way of the 2nd act really was a bit off putting for me, it felt like 2 films had been unceremoniously ‘smooshed’ toghether. The pacing is a bit stop/start, theres not really much going on with the characters, tonally its a bit all over the place, feeling a bit like ‘Terror Train’ at times, but not comitting to the stronger kills that ‘Terror Train’ gets away with. It’s just very very generic for the most part, which, isnt the worst thing in the world…but by the midway point, i’d pretty much lost interest in the thing when I realised that it was basically just doing the whole ‘MTV’ new years eve party thing and that…if I wanted that vibe, I could just run up youtube for that kind of cheesy goodness…
The cine and direction are both pretty middle of the road too, theres no real creative flare…nothing here that sets it apart from the dozens of other slashers that started to flood the industry at this time. The ‘New Year’ angle is quite literally all this thing has going for it in terms of set dressing and creative direction and cine. Outside of that its a pretty bland experience truthfully.
The editing is fine, but pedestrian too. We have safe cuts, a not unreasonable amount of B-roll…but theres no creative zeal really here barring the last 10 minutes or so and for the most part…this really isnt anything you havent seen before in ANY proto slasher or slasher flick 1978 – 1983.
The cast are fairly generic, with not a whole lot of depth or complexity, our killers motives are non descript for the most part and what he does give away isnt anything remarkable or memorable.
Honestly, the score is about as memorable as this thing gets…and even then, its not amazing stuff…its all music that sounds like hits from that era but as ‘soundalike’ recordings.
When I say this is a ‘Background’ movie. I guess what im trying to say is, if you were having a ‘New Years Eve’ party and you had a half decent sound system, you could put this film on in the background in place of a ‘greatest hits’ album or a spotify playlist and it’d pretty much do the job of being half decent background fodder to your party. Guests could hang around for the pretty solid retro 80s soundtrack and maybe get more invested as the film gets into its 3rd (and best) act.
It’s not something I could imagine someone intently watching for it’s subtleties and intricacies. Its really not that kind of movie. If it’s the season (the main reason I’m watching it now) Then i’d say it makes a quite neat little seasonal movie…But its really nothing special and I absolutely wouldnt make time to check it out. Its fine…but thats about it.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/new-years-evil/
