TYTD Reviews

One of Al Lewis’s final big screen performances, ‘My Grandpa is a Vampire’, also known as ‘Moonlight’ is a big screen adaptation of a 5 part radio play and a US/New Zealand Co production…and thats…basically everything you need to know about the movie. Thanks for reading my review…

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…Oh, you want more? well…there isnt really anything else to say. The plot follow two of the most 90s kids you’ll ever meet in your life, one from New Zealand and the other from the US because…sure why not…as they travel around New Americazealand with their magic vampiric grandpa…at first the kids arnt 100% convinced he IS a vampire, but when he LITERALLY returns from the dead and explains that the vitality of the kids is all he needs to stay living and that he IS in fact a living breathing vampire…they go on a KERRAZY adventure to give the old man some new blood, while being hunted by one of the kids aunt and step-uncle who think he’s an abomination and should be destroyed.

This is the kind of movie that plays second fiddle to ‘Mac & Me’…let that set in for a moment. The script is PAINFULLY dull and is playing on kids movie architypes from well over a decade prior to this being made, the pacing is glacial, the humour is mostly completely flat, and when it isnt flat it borders the VERY innapropriate for a film predominantly involving kids.

The dialogues rubbish, the tones all over the place, trying to be funny, poingiant and thought provoking all at once. Al Lewis is LITERALLY the best thing in this movie, and he’s pretty past his ‘sell by’ at this point. Put it this way, if he wasnt in the movie, this thing would probably be a whole star lower. he isnt great, but I clung to that man through this movie like a survivor of the titanic.

The direction and cine were both a bit generic in places, but at least they bothered to experiment with coloured lighting and a few special effects shots land with a deafening thud that made me just laugh out of sheer embarrisment for all involved. Still; I’ll give it some credit, the lens caps off and someone clearly had a vision for how this thing was to look and feel. its oddly specific in that way, which is endearing.

The performances though…eesh. its a rough watch. When a ‘past his prime’ Al Lewis is the life raft in terms of acting quality in this film, you know your in for a rough time. NOONE sounds believable, moments of sadness are utterly bereft of feeling, the dialogue feels awkward and like a compromise between the NZ and US production offices. the weird combination of the two elements results in a film that feels like its two car transport trucks smashed into each other, and neither party knows their insurance details…and its raining.

Even the soundtracks painful. farting synthesizers trying their DAMNDEST to make the whole thing feel KOOKY and WILD! its horrifying…

This has got to be prime Rifftrax fodder if ever i’ve seen it, the fact they havent covered it means only one of two things…either they have too much respect for Al Lewis, or it would feel like they were punching down. I cant honestly say which one is more likely.

I wont go as far as to say it was a waste of 90 minutes, because there are some weird and funny moments VERY conservatively peppered throughout this movie, and technically, its on the level. Just…dont screen this thing near an open flame…Eesh.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/my-grandpa-is-a-vampire/

Oh how the mighty fall, and only 2 sequels into the ‘Hellraiser’ franchise we find our first solid bump in the road with ‘Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth’ a film that seemingly REALLY wanted to be a ‘Nightmare on Elm Steet’ movie, but only had the rights to Pinhead…So they made do. Apathy is the flavour of the day in this entry, as the budget comes tumbling down and Cliver Barker agreed to a nice payday to slap a ‘Presents’ credit in his name on the opening of the film, we shed pretty much any of the etheral interdimensional strangeness of the first two films in place of a fairly generic supernatural slasher film thats all gore and no substance.

The plot picks up an unknown period of time after the events of ‘Hellbound’…it’s to be assumed that its around the same amount of time as it took between sequels…so around 3-4 years. and a rancid little upstart named JP is tipped off that a hip cool and EXTREME piece of art is hanging out at one of his hip gallery spots, and that he should go and grab it as soon as possible. It turns out that this ‘unique’ piece is in fact the totem from the end of ‘Hellbound’ set in some kind of ceramic or metal, in hibernation. JP buys it to make the latest feature of his grunge inspired nightclub ‘The Boiler Room’.

JP is a bad egg all round, a womanizer, mysoginist and murderer, he runs the club like his own personal playground. and from here things are going to get twisted.

We’re then introduced to Joey, Joey is an upcoming newslady DESPERATE to get the anchorwoman spot on primetime, but forced to do the ‘local’ stories that dont matter and noone cares about. Shes reporting on a story at their local hospital when a man is rushed into the operating theater covered in chains and screaming. When the surgeons get the OR up and running the chains go taught, fly into the air and electricute everyone in the theater, before blowing up the guy.

Joey has NO idea what she just saw, but the guys friend Terri arrives just as the carnage settles down and, without a place to stay, Joey offers her a place to sleep for the night. While getting friendly, Terri reveals that her friend was screwing around with some random statue in ‘The Boiler Room’ when a chunk of it fell off, and next thing she knew he was covered in chains and bleeding all over the place. Terri roots through her bag and produces the puzzle box, still sealed.

Meanwhile back at the Boiler room, JP has just pulled a woman off the floor of his nightclub for some ‘private’ time, and on completion, he basically tells her to sod off, she gets upset AND somehow the art installations been moved into JPs bedroom, Pinhead wakes up and promptly devours the woman gaining strength off her. Pinhead manages to convince JP to bring him more souls to help him get stronger and JP agrees.

Meanwhile Joey and Terri begin to look deeper into the origins of the Totem, the puzzle box and its history, using her connections, Joey even manages to pull some interviews from Kirsty under the observation of Dr. Channard…and she figures out that, whatever that box and Totem are…they’re evil and need to be gotten rid of…leading Joey on an adventure through time and space to stop Pinhead from being awoken, and plan to send him back to hell before he brings Hell to Earth.

What can I say, its a significant step down in almost every measure. There are TWO rules when it comes to films like ‘Hellraiser’ that you need to abide in order to keep the sequels interesting and engaging:

1 – The more you share about the Cenobites, their history and how they function/live, the more interesting they are in the moment, and the less interesting they are forever more.

and 2 – The more you make the Cenobites talk, the less mysterious they are, and the more annoying they are.

The first Hellraiser had Cenobites for all of 8 minutes, they said MAYBE a paragraphs worth of lines all together, we had no idea where they came from, who they were or why they did what they did. In many ways, they actually UNDERsold on the promise. but certainly piqued curiosity.

Hellbound expanded on the Cenobites massively, introducing a whole other dimension they hail from, the concept of gods and demi gods, and while they talked more in that movie, they still kept the dialogue fairly brief and they didnt bother to overexplain anything. The first film garnered a ‘What they HELL are they?!’ response, the second film very much gave a ‘OH CRAP! THEY’RE BACK!’ response.

This film? Pinhead will NOT SHUT UP. They basically overtly tell you his entire history and how to kill him in this movie across the runtime, and anytime he’s on screen he will NOT STOP monologuing. its absurd. most of his lines sound like rejected Freddy Kruger lines. and they’ve tried to pivot the character (who, for the most part is flying solo here) into a more manipulative and callous figure, whereas previously he was malevolent, cold, quiet and waiting for the right moment to strike. I dont come to ‘Hellraiser’ films for stuff like this, and as soon as he started blathering on to JP, trying to convince him to join forces with him, I kind of knew we wernt dealing with the same calibre of the previous films.

The script itself feels like a rejected low budget 80s slasher with supernatural elements got fished out of the reject pile and had Pinhead inserted into it. The pacing is slow and plodding right up until the final 30 minutes when the production CLEARLY realised they’d only spent about $100 on the film, and so they crammed the remaining budget into stunts and explosions for the remainder of the runtime with mixed to poor results.

The tones all off in this one, we’ve shifted from two films that felt mysterious, etheral and somewhat sophisticated…to lowest common denominator sleaze and gore. It really does feel like the people behind this film watched the first two, and all they really took away from it was the sex scenes with Julia and the gore scenes…So they decided to make a movie about that. Its playing much more tongue in cheek than the last two films and MUCH more blunt and literal. Theres no metaphores here, no deeper subtext. The Cenobites here have gone from Interdimensional demonic beings who link the chain between pleasure and pain, tormenting the sick people who search them out for all eternity for the pleasure of their gods. To BDSM leather artists with a bloodplay fetish. Its sanded off any deeper meaning leaving…just a kind of boring time honestly.

The actual plot itself is kind of dull too, I think there could have been an interesting grain to the plot of Joey using her journalism skills and the privilages that brings with it to uncover the puzzle box, Pinhead and the other world…kind of in an ‘Outsider lets themselves in for more than they bargained for’ way…But instead the Boiler room plotting and JP take center stage for most of the first two acts, and past the opening act, Joeys journalism skills go out the window as she just becomes a woman wandering into situations where shes given a hint on how to stop Pinhead, and then wandering out of that situation directly into ANOTHER situation and ANOTHER hint. In fact, from around the halfway point right up till about 5 minutes off the end of the film, thats all that really happens. Just Joey wandering about occasionally being fed hints. The film loses interest in its own characters by the end.

The pacing starts off a little slow, and ramps up a good steam till around the opening of the 2nd act when it starts to slow a bit and then from that point up to the end it just becomes more and more labourious till the actual finale feels less like a planned ending, and more like a set piece for trailer and promo fodder. making huge swathes of the film feel glacial. I STILL to this day think this films an hour and 45 minutes long every time I put it in…its just over an hour and a half with SUPER long end credits…

Non of the characters are particularly interesting. Joey is probably the best, and shes a solid enough lead character…but not as good as Kirsty, she spends a lot of the film being given information, rather than finding it for herself…and shes a JOURNALIST. the rest of the cast are just…not really all that great and not fun to be around. Terri is kind of fine, but I didnt really enjoy the fact she spends most of the time on camera tyring to make excuses to leave. JP is insufferable and not particularly great fun to hang around with for extended periods of time, as this film seems ADAMANT to want to do, I’ve already gone into detail about the character change for Pinhead. and the rest of the supporting characters are either SUPER dull or have one charictaristic that gets exploited till they’re gone.

Theres one scene in this whole film i’d save if I could, and its as blunt and rediculous as this movie is, but I found it funny. And thats a scene near the end of the movie when Pinhead enters a Church looking for Joey who’s sought sanctuary from a priest. The father grabs a crucifix to do the ol’ ‘Exorcist’ routine, but Pinhead melts it in his hands causing serious burns and then, with his hands welded together, he forces the priest to take communion using his own demonic flesh and blood. THAT. was VERY on the nose, but I laughed.

The direction and cine are probably the strongest element of this film, they have moments across the runtime, just little flickers here and there of creative expression, good composition or an attempt at double meaning and visual subtext…but for the most part? this feels like low budget, direct to video fodder…and the assumption is, given that both Hellraiser 1 and 2 thrived on home video, that was kind of what they were aiming for. Like; its not actively BAD…but the cheapness of the whole production really shines through with the little things, like all the nice colour grading and moody lighting getting taken away, Pinheads makeup looks significantly cheaper, the other Cenobites that appear look less intricate and cheaper looking, shots are clearly framed for 4:3 to accomodate TV broadcasts. Its a film that has MOMENTS…but its not a pretty film inherently.

Performance wise, its a bit of a mixed bag. Doug Bradley as always is fun, but the script really doesnt serve him well here. He tries his best…in lesser hands this would have been MUCH worse. Terry Farrell as Joey is fine enough leading lady material, but again, the script isnt really her friend and while she puts her ALL into trying to bring the character to life, it really just left me wishing she’d got to work with material of the same quality as the first two films. Kevin Bernhardt is wonderfully sleazy and unpleasent as JP. But this film falls into the trap of spending TOO much time with a deeply unlikable character, you want to spend enough time with them to make the audience happy when they die…But not SO much time with them they feel like they’re trapped in a lift with a fart. He’s REALLY good at being evil…to the point that he overstays his welcome. which is a testimony to his performance…but a problem in equal measure.

And the soundtrack? its a rehash of the last 2 films, but now the producers have discovered rock, grunge and metal…so we get occasional snatches of that gorgeous orchestral hellraiser score intercut with Ozzy, Motorhead and bands of that ilk. I like those bands, I think theyre great. But putting rock and grungy metal into a horror film is THE most generic thing you can do…and I just…REALLY got tired of it pretty quick…

‘Hellraiser III’ feels like the rights to a great series got put into the hands of someone whos only ever made low budget slasher movies before, and because of that, it feels like they didnt really know what to do with it…so they tried to cram a great IP into a one size fits all mold with mixed to poor results. I dont enjoy watching this entry, It has a handful of moments that I enjoy, but otherwise its just kind of dull and cheap looking. Definitely one to avoid, and if your new to the series. Start with the first two and give this one a swerve.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hellraiser-iii-hell-on-earth/

A first time watch, and a nostalgic revisit for the missus, its been 20 years since ‘Corpse Bride’ released and gained quite a fan following, at the time this film came out my affection for Tim Burton as a film maker was somewhat on the wane. As a director I think his best years to date run from ‘Frankenweinie’ in 1984 right the way through to probably Sleepy Hollow or his attempted reboot of ‘Planet of the Apes’. but by the early 2000’s it felt like a director just going through the motions. ‘Charlie and the chocolate factory’ to me had a few sparkles in it, but there was a creaking sense of self plagerism creeping into his work and style…and when ‘Corpse Bride’ hit the scene, I offhandedly wrote it off as his attempt to essentially recreate ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’ so that he could finally have something approximating it to put his own name on given the controversy around his involvement in that film and Henry Selick.

Watching it now, I dont think I was really that far off the mark, but thats not to say that there wasnt fun to be had with this.

Clocking in at a breezy hour and 17 minutes, the plot follows Victor, a nervous ‘groom to be’ in an arranged marriage to Victoria. Victors parents want the marriage to elevate them into aristocricy by proxy, and Victorias parents want the marriage because, while they retain their titles, the last of their wealth is tied up into assets, and should the wedding not go ahead as planned, it could lead to a mass sell off to pay their debts rendering them homeless and penniless to boot.

Neither Victor or Victoria have met prior to this arrangement, and the first time they do meet is mere minutes before the wedding rehersal…and they really hit it off! Unfortunatley Victor is VERY nervous and clumsy and is unable to properly complete the wedding ceremony without messing things up.

So the night before the wedding, while out in a walk in the woods, Victor practices and eventually manages to complete the ceremony, using what he thinks is an old tree branch to mimic his bride to be’s hand. Unfortunately, it turns out that this is no tree branch, its the skeletal and fossilized arm of Emily. A jilted bride who was murdered under mysterious circumstances. Victors vows has briefly ressurected her, and she assumes Victor is her Groom to be, so; she accepts his vows and the pair are wed.

But that leaves a problem, as Victoria is still to be married, and a member of the local village witnesses Victor on a bridge with a young lady, creating a rumour that he’s eloped and jilted Victoria. Enter ‘Lord Barkis’ a seemingly wealthy aristocrat, who’s heard of Victoria and her wealthy family, who begins to worm his way in with Victorias parents, eventually convincing them that HE may be a suitable replacement for Victor. Meanwhile; Victor tries to strike a balance of explaining to Emily that they cannot be wed, while also trying to keep her on side as shes really quite suffered enough.

With this being a studio stop motion production with a very distinct director at the healm, I wasnt too worried about the technical skills of this production. Its quite derivitive of ‘Nightmare before Christmas’ and in my opinion, while its technically aiming to be more impressive than it, ‘Nightmare’ for my money delivers a much more complex and intricate time. But across the board on a technical level, this is a really decently handled, if not *slightly* stale production. the colours all pop, selective use of desaturation is nice, the actual direction and animation compositions are delightful and engaging…

The cast is star studded and equally superb, It was delightful to hear Christopher Lee in a latter day role still brining a fantastic range to proceedings, and Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard E. Grant, Albert Finney and Michael Gaugh all delight with animated and vibrant performances that are largely engaging, with maybe just a hint of dryness creeping in in places.

The score itself is pretty decent, with Danny Elfman bringing more of his thing to this, though I will say some of the songs arnt quite as notable or memorable as his previous offerings up to this point, and some of the musical numbers do go on for a fair bit longer than I would have liked.

But really; its the script thats probably this films biggest problem, its a film that takes a good while to really get properly going, with the aforementioned musical numbers acting as a heavy barrier between the narrative and some kind of audience pay off. There are multiple moments in this film where the plot will JUST start to flare up, and then we’re met with a 3-5 minute uninspiring musical number that grinds everything back to a halt till they’re done.

The film sags a little in the back end of the first act and opening of the 2nd, and while the humour is good for the most part, there are moments that feel a bit lax on quality control. and theres a fair bit of idling for time in the back half of this to get it up to a releasable ‘feature’ runtime.

The pacing and act strucuturing is pretty nippy, but those padded moments dotted throughout, with the musical numbers, really do stop this from being the best that it could possibly be.

Tonally; it feels like it wants to try and capture the emotional resonance of ‘Nightmare’ and as a result comes across whiffing of ‘We have Nightmare before Christmas at home.’ Again, its not an inherently bad thing. and I did enjoy some of the jokes across this films runtime. But…yeah, it feels a little phoned in.

Ultimately; ‘Corpse Bride’ to me? isnt an essential watch, but it IS a film that I would be more than happy to sit through again. For a latter day Tim Burton offering, its probably the last film i’ve seen him make that actually held up. and i’d say if you did enjoy his 90s work, this one may be worth a spin.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/corpse-bride/

One that peaked my interest after hearing several people talk about the Gold Ninja Video release, I decided to pick up Freaky Farley based on the cover and a brief trailer, and to save it for a Halloween viewing. Well; its Halloween season, so I dug it out expecting somewhat campy horror shenanigans and…its not quite that…But it does still have some stuff going for it!

The plot follows ‘Freaky Farley’ a Vouyeristic 25 year old teenager with a troubled past. When Farley was a kid, his mother left the family to head up to a log cabin in the woods that they owned, to help set it up for the annual family vacation, only for her to never return. Farleys father, devestated at the loss of his wife, became cold to Farley, setting an unreasonable ‘hole digging’ punishment for even the most minor infractions, and setting him daily tests on a radio show he hosts.

Farley isnt allowed to pursue his dreams of becoming a park ranger, nor is he allowed to even attend college. His Dad is adamant that HE will find Farley a job, and that Farley will accept it graciously and do it till the day he dies…Something Farley isnt exactly thrilled about.

Through the course of the film we follow Farley as he travels around his local town meeting strange locals and befriending some of the residents, till a chance encounter with a homeless man who talks of the ‘Trogs’ in the woods that kill and eat people, sends Farley down a rabbit hole that will lead to murder, investigation and a plan that’ll unite the city!

Now. Up front, Is ‘Freaky Farley’ a halloween movie? No. No I dont think it really is. I would personally say it was more of a Autumnal/Fall movie. Theres a background visual theme around pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns turn up a handful of times across the runtime. But noone acknowledges its Halloween, it doesnt play into the plot, and any ‘Horror’ elements are reserved really to the back third of the movie. Its probably on me for not deciding to more heavily investigate this films plot. But I thought I was diving into a film about an isolationist peeping tom who winds up befriending someone, and the pair end up getting into spooky seasonal shenanigans. It really isnt that.

What this IS, is a fairly slow paced ‘realism’ script thats uplifted by surreal line deliveries, studded with the occasional more whimsical moment and a final act that goes briefly into a world of fantasy.

For the bulk of the film, its quite remeniscent structurally to ‘Silent Night Deadly Night 2’ with Farley recounting the events that led him up to being put under psychiatric observation. Farley even comments in the film that he’s had a dozen or so doctors before the current one (which is literally a line said by Ricky in SNDN2) before essentially going a little bit ‘Troll 2’ in the final 15 minutes. And thats fine enough as a structure. But it brings with it some problems of its own.

Probably the biggest issue being that I think the film struggles really to define what it wants to be, does it want to be a campy take on the slowburn slasher genre?, does it want to be a fairly straight drama with a surreal twist at the end? or does it want to avoid the actual horror elements altogether and go more metaphorical? Its hard to say really. But it can be frustrating in trying to understand the films motives.

Thats not to say this is an unpleasent film to sit through, the pace may be a bit on the slow side, but theres plenty of fun moments here, and pretty much any scene that Matt Farley is in (Our own ‘Freaky’ Farley) is a definite highlight here, he plays the character with a sluggish physicality, but an almost pee-wee(ish) whimsy. With line deliveries astounding on occasion, its a bizarre contrast that is quite pleasent.

Unfortunately though, probably the biggest thing that hinders this production is the 2nd act. See; the film starts off fine enough, and ends in a surreal space thats maybe a little underwhelming, but it still pretty solid…But that 2nd act? is a crawl. Its the age old tale of: ‘We have to hit feature runtime, and there needs to be time before ‘Setup A’ can be resolved for it to make sense narratively…So we basically just need to make up a load of scenes of Farley running around the woods and neighbourhoods, tubing on a river, or conversations that repeat the same points over and over to artificially extend the runtime.

And like a sandbag on a hot air balloon, thats the thing that really pulls this thing down. By the end of the opening act, I felt like it had been a bit sluggish, but it had at least set up the characters, their motivations and a mystery to solve across the films runtime. But that second act just DRAGS…SO bad. till we get to the third act and the handful of crumbs we’ve been given get rolled back into everything we heard in the first act to take us into the finale. It made it INCREDIBLY difficult to get back into the 3rd act and by the time I was back on board, it was basically over. Which was a real shame.

The characters too arnt exactly the best developed in the world. This is the kind of movie where its a bit more acceptable to have blunted characters, because thats part of the narrative. But even so, we dont really get much in the way of complexity or arcs or…anything really Farley starts the film as a strange peeping tom, and by the end of it, not a whole lot has changed, and he’s basically expected to save the town and then return to his asylum. This combined with the dialogue choices which are stilted and ultra basic, often overcomplicating the dialogue rather than simplifying it to keep it as basic as possible. works in the world the film makers are intending to make, while coming across as awkward and flat more broadly…with mixed end results.

The direction is a bit rough around the edges. I believe this was the crews first time shooting on super 16mm film, and there were noted technical problems across the production period that prevented the best possible outcomes. With that in mind, this isnt half bad. Theres definitely a clear vision present here, and; as mentioned, with this being an autumnal movie, they do manage to capture the crisp orange, yellows and reds of Autumn here.

Direction of the cast is a bit flat however, cast members generally just sort of…stand around vaguely in frame, they dont really move naturalistically. Generally speaking if say, 3 cast members are hanging around in a kitchen, one may be doing dishes, one may be eating some cereal and another may have just walked in, and the conversation would take place while these activities were going on. Not in this movie! instead that same scnee would just be 3 people sat at a table with maybe a newspaper or bowl of cereal being in the shot…and they’ll just be talking at each other for the full scene, uninterrupted. Which is a bit odd to sit through honestly.

Cine isnt too sharp either, shots are wobbly, focal points are sometimes a bit off, and compositional choices range from genuinely brilliant, through to me not fully understanding what im supposed to be looking at within the frame. The sequences are cut together about as well as the footage will allow, but I really feel some more B-roll would have just pulled this one up a little more.

Performance wise, Matt Farley as ‘Freaky Farley’ is definitely the high water mark. Eccentric, manic at times and frantic. If you watch this movie for no other reason, Matts performance is the one. Especially the work he does with Kevin McGee who plays Farleys father in this film. he’s blunt, moralistic and demanding, and the two character play off each other really nicely. giving some mild ‘Carrie’ vibes to proceedings as tensions rise.

All in all? I dont really think ‘Freaky Farley’ is ‘Must see’ cinema. its a fine enough surrealist drama. and it definitely fits in nicely with an autumn schedule. But I feel like the marketing on this one oversold the ‘horror’ element a little bit, which threw me on hitting play and it took a LONG time to get back into the right headspace after that. I think on a rewatch, in the right headspace, I’ll probably like this one more. But as it stands, I just kind of came away from it thinking it was a film ‘of good moments’ but not inherently a ‘good film’ .

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/freaky-farley/

A year after ‘Hellraiser’ carved its way onto screens, 1988 would see the all but inevitable sequel ‘Hellbound: Hellraiser 2’ a film that essentially boosts and amplifies everything I enjoyed about the first film, while largely trimming the fat on everything I didnt.

The plot pretty much picks up around 12-24 hours after the events of the first ‘Hellraiser’ and Kirsty and her boyfriend have been sent to a Mental health hospital after being picked up by the cops who found the grizzly remains of the events of the first film. Both Kirsty and her partner gave matching statements claiming that Kirsties stepmother had been bringing unknowing men to the house, for her recently revived lover Frank to consume in order to regain his humanity…and that Demons from another dimension (henceforth called ‘Cenobites’…despite the first film never really calling them that…just a note…) attacked the house looking to reclaim Frank and to take Kirsty with them. Killing Julia and Frank in the process.

The cops let her boyfriend go, and thus he exits the franchise permanently, but they decide to keep a hold of Kirsty for further questioning and psychiatric assessment (double standards much) at which point she’s released into the care of Doctors Channard and Macrae. Both Doctors hear Kirsty out and decide she needs further assesment and observation. Something Kirsty heavily protests.

Its around this time, we’re also soft introduced to ‘Tiffany’ a mute girl who LOVES to solves puzzles…Im sure she wont be involved in the rest of this movie AT ALL…

Anyway…its quite quickly revealed that Channard knows more than he’s letting on, and after doing some shady backroom dealings with an informant in the local police department, he’s able to secure the bloodied mattress that Julia died on in the last movie…this conversation however is overheard by Dr. Macrae, who decides to monitor Channard, eventually breaking into his house where the REAL truth becomes apparent.

Channard is FULLY aware of what Kirsty is on about, and has, for years, been studying the history of the Cenobites and the god ‘Leviathan’ with the hopes of discovering both the puzzle box, and the secret pleasures and lores it contains. Channing at this point also reveals that there are in fact MULTIPLE puzzle boxes, and; on recieving the mattress, he begins a ritual, sacrificing one of his own mentally ill patients to ressurect Julia who, much like Frank, requires flesh in order to regrow her body fully. Something Channard obliges in the hopes that Julia can act as a guide to the ‘hellworld’, the labarynthian dimension that the cenobites occupy.

Macrae reports this back to Kirsty, and the pair go to investigate further…Only to realise that Channard has already fully restored Julia and has brought Tiffany to the house in order to open the gates of hell fully, for an observational meeting with the Cenobites, and a terrifying exploration of the Labarynth, hoping for a chance to encounter the god Leviathan itself. Leading to Tiffany and Kirsty teaming up to attempt to close the gates, and fend off the Cenobites once more…

And, honestly; there isnt too much to say on this one. It does what all good sequels should do and esssentially takes the base of the original and expands, builds and enhances on it in almost every way. The subtle shift from a more horror/fantasy to a horror/etheral fairy tale vibe really works in this films favour, allowing it to pivot and flex more into the story it wants to tell than the first film was able to, and allowing it more scope to flesh out the Cenobites, there world and why they do what they do WITHOUT compromising the mystery. By the end of this film, you’ll feel as if you know SO much more about the Cenobites as beings, while still feeling like we’ve only really glanced a snapshot of what they REALLY are.

Obviously, the biggest and most notable enhancement between this film and the last is a seemingly HUGE cash injection into the sequel. a move that gives and takes in equal measure as it enables the film to tell a much grander story with much more striking visuals…at the cost of making the flashback footage to the first film (which this film does multiple times out of necessity) feel rickety and cheap by comparison. It also allows for additional footage to be shot, and for reshoots of scenes from the first film which land to mixed effect. When its done well, it looks amazing, when its done badly (as with one of the flashbacks to Julias wedding near the beginning) it looks laughably awful because the cast are all noticably older trying to play SIGNIFICANTLY younger versions of the characters.

The script, for me feels quite a bit tighter than the first film, bedding itself more firmly into more traditional horror settings allows for a more focussed vision which I feel is a lot more easily paletable to audiences. One of the big things I struggled with in the first film was long periods of inactivity, time where we were either having to experience repetative scenes of Julia bringing men to the house, or of the supporting cast just kind of…existing. Until we could get to another kill scene, or for the Cenobites to turn up, or for just…SOMETHING to progress the plot.

Here? its pretty much wall to wall action from start to finish, having established some base rules in the first film, it doesnt take NEARLY as long for this film to kick in with giving folks what they came to see. The cenobites are much more front and center here (they got around 8-10 minutes in the last film…Here, they’re pretty much on and off present for the bulk of the runtime). the gore is amped up even further, with moments so intense and uncomfortable that even I shy away and winced at times. and the enhanced budget allows the script to go much grander than the previous film, expanding beyond a primary house location and some ‘on location’ sequences, this film takes us to other dimensions, and multiple set spaces across the runtime.

The pacing is rock solid, with a clean 3 act structure that keeps the momentum going right up to the end, leading to a satisfying ‘jumping off’ point for audiences that finish off the story in…about as reasonable a way as it could have at this time.

The choice as well to implement a more ‘fairy tale’ oriented narrative into proceedings I think lends itself pretty well to this film. theres a definite heir of Grimms fairytales to this film, with the labarynth and more adventure based elements lending themselves nicely to the visceral gore and horror tropes.

The characters all are pretty solidly fleshed out, with our returning characters getting a nice boost in terms of further development, and the new characters, even the ones who are only on screen briefly, getting decent back stories and development pieces.

Of course, these ‘enhancements’ do come at a bit of a cost. Obviously, with the film exploring the Cenobites realm, its almost inevitable that the history of these beings would be explored a little bit more, and. A recurring issue that will plague most of the Hellraiser movies as we go on is a problem paradox, wherein, the more we learn about the Cenobites, the less interesting as beings and villains they become…But at the same time, NOT giving us any other information about them in a movie leaves audiences feeling like they’re just watching ‘more of the same’. Its a major Catch 22…

Here? I feel they get the balance about right, introducing more of a ‘lore’ and presence to the ‘Cenobites’ than they had in the first film, without telling us how Pinhead likes his eggs doing. But at the same time, I can absolutely appreciate that, even the information shared here, could be too much for some viewers, who may ultimately feel like these characters are now less interesting.

I also feel that, at times, while the fairytale tropes are welcome, they do overextend a little bit. Sometimes the film gets a little TOO heavy handed on the metaphores and symbolism, and at times it drags some of the narrative choices a little too close to a more mainstream generic horror/slasher vibe (again, something the sequels will REALLY struggle with) There are moments in this film that wouldnt have felt out of place in a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Halloween’ entry…and thats kind of a problem given these beings are supposed to be distinctly different from their slasher contemporaries.

Adding to that, that also; the script does seem to have a bit of trouble keeping track of exactly how much time has passed between the first film and this one. With Julia acting as if it’s been years if not DECADES, since she’s had wine and a cigarette…but in real terms her ressurection should have only happened a couple of days after her death. Kirst also gets some dialogue choices later on in the film that implies its been many days (7+), if not weeks since she entered the hospital. But on screen evidence would suggest its been only a few days (3-5) at most.

All these small elements, along side at least a couple of moments where the scenes ran for just a little bit longer than i’d have liked, ultimately keep me from truely and completely loving this film. Its a fine FINE movie, but the intensity of the script alongside the above tropes make it a film that I can only really watch infrequently.

As for the technical side of things? its pretty faultless. The direction is a HUGE upgrade on the first film, with a cool blue lighting aesthetic throughout and a slight redesign to the Cenobites. Tony Randel delivers an extreme and terrifying vision here that takes the concepts of the first film and more heavily applies a styalistic coat of paint to it. The film oozes unease and menace from start to finish and his work with the cast to craft the perfect line deliveries and physicalities here absolutely nails the brief for me. When I think of Hellraiser, I think of Hellbound.

Same goes for the cine, shots are masterfully crafted, cleanly planned, fantastic lighting work with some solid chiascurio and its an absolute playground of experimentation. Plenty of B-roll, and a rock solid edit bring together some cutting edge work that I sincerely may have made this the nicest looking horror film of 1988. Barring ONE small problem.

The practical effects. Now, for the most part, the practical effects here look amazing for the time, they’re gory, graphic and hyperrealistic. But theres about a handful of moments, largely relegated to the back half of the film, where the practical effects have aged TERRIBLY, and ESPECIALLY in 4k. Shots of twitching severed limbs look like they were crafted out of playdough, severed heads look overly sculpted and hollow, and one Cenobite in particular (which I wont spoil here) glides around the set spaces looking absolutely rediculous in their prosthetics. When this film hits, it hits HARD. but when it misses, it makes some low budget movies look above competent.

Performance wise, we have a packed cast, Doug Bradley builds and really hones in on Pinhead as a character here, and while his speaking appearences here are brief. It feels like he’s already more fully nailed the character than his first appearence. Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgins as Kirsty and Julia also get to build on their characters a bit more, though I do feel the process of ‘Flanderisation’ has set in a bit here, with these two characters being fully fleshed out and developed people in the first film. But here? Julias essentially just playing a villain. Any aspect of her regretting her decisions or having any kind of character depth have been greatly sanded down. And Kirsty, who was supposed to be just an ordinary 20 something girl, here gets a much more action packed makeover. a couple of hours before this film begins, she was a terrified girl fleeing demons from another dimension that she’d collectively met twice. When this film opens, shes a no nonsense hardcore badass who knows the Cenobites by name and is seemingly an authority figure on them…which is a bit odd.

Kenneth Cranham as Dr. Channard is a delightfully malevolent presence throughout the film, and is really kind of the glue that holds the film together, he’s so clearly and irredeemably evil from pretty much his first scene on screen, that watching him fall down the Cenobite rabbit hole is a delightful experience. and while there are plenty of ‘Well; What did you THINK was gonna happen?!?’ moments for his character, the film doesnt sign post these too heavily and as a result, it makes those moments all the more enjoyable.

Tying this all together, the soundtrack is also used quite powerfully, while I do miss the moments from the first film where silence in and of itself was used to tremendous effect. I cant deny that this films score is rock solid and grows out of the first films orchestral work. Its really quite superb and really makes the film what it is.

Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 is a superb horror film that I believe actually surpasses the original, the enhanced budget really allows the film to breath easy and it takes that cash and runs with it, delivering a genuinely unsettling work that, while I cant watch all that often, I appreciate tremendously. The film itself is fairly self contained, so you can watch this one pretty much standalone if you like. and I’d honestly recommend checking this one out, whether you’ve seen the first film or not. Its very likely the peak of this franchise, and if you only get the chance to check one of them out, this one, in my opinion, would be the one.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/hellbound-hellraiser-ii/

The Halloween viewings continue and today it was my partners day to pick a movie, She chose 2009’s ‘Coreline’. A film i’d been aware of for a number of years, but just hadnt really gotten around to. The plot involves our titular ‘Coreline’ and her family as they move from Michigan to a backwater boarding house complex. Corelines feeling a bit down as things seem to be going increasingly from bad to worse. Shes had to leave all of her friends behind, her new home is shambolic and falling apart, the neighbours range from eccentric to border creepy, and her parents are increasingly becoming distant and short with her. Her only outlet in all of this is the one local kid to her ‘Wybie’ whos labelled a stalker almost immediately, and a stray cat.

Things are looking pretty boring and grey for Coreline, that is until she finds a small door in the living room of her new home thats locked. and one night, while drifting off to sleep, she’s led to the door by some strange mice who reveal a portal to another world, a colourful, fun and vibrant land featuring mirror opposites of her current friends, family and situations. Her ‘Other’ parents are loving, caring, fun and listen to her, her one stalker friend has been silenced and everyone else wants nothing more than to spend eternity with Coreline.

As the real world becomes increasingly hostile and unpleasent, she finds herself retreating to this surreal ‘other’ world more frequently, until eventually, her ‘other’ parents ask her if she’d like to stay forever. Coreline seriously considers it, until she finds out the cost of staying there forever. The loss of her eyes, to be replaced with buttons. And on refusing that. her ‘other’ parents real motives slowly begin to become apparent. As Coreline must fight to save herself, her family and learn the true meaning of love.

And what we have here, in my opinion is a very technically impressive film, with an intricate and layered plot dealing with themes of toxic relationships, neglect and ‘coming of age’…But at the same time, one that I wasnt entirely won over by.

To me? the film reminded me a bit of ‘Paperhouse’, both films deal with similar themes, tones, In many ways the plot is eerily similar. and I think that was the biggest thing that threw me about this film, is it all felt very much like something i’d seen before. That coupled with some slightly slower than hoped for pacing issues here and there and an overeliance on visual spectical, left me at times feeling a bit hollow towards the film. I dont think anything it really tries to do is bad inherently, it just all feels a little bit superficial to me at times…

The script itself is quite well written, the dialogue is nice and naturalistic, theres a great level of dark humour tonally underpinning this film that contrasts with some genuinely bleak and unsettling horror imagery, that made me pause for thought, especially given this was supposed to be a kids movie…and older kids movie I grant you…but a kids movie non the less. The horror, combined with the slightly more mature subtext themes creates an unsettling vibe to the whole film, a sort of ‘forced smile’ of a movie if you will.

The act structuring is a little wonky in my opinion, the first act is kind of slowburn, which is understandble as you need the time to warm up your audience to the surreal worldbuilding thats taking place. But at the same time, once its finished with the world building, the second act kind of just…gives way to not a whole lot, we meander in the middle slowly being breadcrumbed ideas, concepts and plot elements for the 3rd act. Which is *technically* the right thing to do, but it doesnt really DO much of anything in that 2nd act other than drop these hints every 4-5 minutes or so, with big gulfs of Coreline just wandering around woodland areas and the boarding house, reiterating older plot points.

This became problematic for me, to the point that, by the start of the 3rd act, it almost felt like I was watching a ‘Lets play’ of a point and click adventure game from the late 90s. It really feels in places like im watching video game footage for how simplistic they planned out the plotting of the act structuring. And that vibe carries into the 3rd act, but at least, mercifully brings with it a bit of action, some meat on the bone, and a finale that felt earned and winds the production down in a meaningful, if not slightly underwhelming way.

As for the art direction and cine? its explosively creative, relishing the opportunity to push the stop motion animation to the limits of the time. Brimming with creative ideas, its colourful, bright and jam packed with constantly moving backgrounds and multiple layers of depth of movement. I would argue this is beyond impressive for 2009, and it is. But for me? it almost works against the film at times, by ramming SO MUCH stuff into the frame thats colourful or movie, it creates a bit of an issue in trying to focus on what im ACTUALLY supposed to be looking at. A good example being in the opening of the film when Coreline is walking in the woods, they have a tracking shot where they frame her through a hole in the trees walking down a dirt road, but the leaves on the trees are blowing around and theres movement in the background too, meaning it took me a good couple of seconds to adjust my eyes to actually FIND Coreline in the image.

Throw in some (im assuming) unintentional frame rate judder on some of the more complex animation pieces, and again, I cannot stress enough just how over the top and incredible the animation work is here. But subtlety isnt this films strongest point, and I found some of their offerings more distracting than beneficial.

That being said, when the shots arnt overcrowded, compositional choices are delightful, the sequence building is rock solid. and the creative touches in the sequence building, and in particular how the production handles transitions was pretty incredible. I was quite the fan!

Performance wise, again its pretty faultless. I think for my money the best performers here have to be Teri Hatcher and John Hodgeman as Coralines parents. they really get a lot of duel role work here and Hatcher in particular gives a frankly terrifying performance in places REALLY bringing the sinsiter elements of the production to life. I thought she was fantastic. I also have to give some credit to French and Saunders as ‘Spink and Forcible’ two elderly thesbians with an eccentric streak. They’re essentially playing to their strength as a former double act here, but its nice to see them performing back together as, by this time, apart from very rare appearences, the two hadnt performed together in years.

Dakota Fanning as Coraline herself is just kind of…flat to me. I dont think its a bad turn, but I just feel like it comes across as a bit generic…which as a supporting cast member would have been fine. But given shes the MAIN character, kind of left me sighing a bit as we slowly tumbled through this movie with her. She emotes fine enough, she gets the lines out. I just wish thered been a bit of ‘oompf’ in the performance, because as it stands, she made Coraline just sound a bit cringey at times.

All of this however, is tied together by a wonderful score, with probably the highlights being a song or two penned by ‘THey Might be Giants’ which was always going to win me over ultimately.

I guess…as the credits rolled on this one, my train of thought was ‘well, that was kind of visually impressive, im glad i’ve seen it, I probably dont need to see this one again for a while.’ Its definitely a fine enough movie, and I can easily see why its a favourite of 2000’s alternative kids and a darling to the critics. But to me? while I was impressed visually, I wish it had just been a bit shorter and tighter. Definitely worth checking out in spite of its flaws. I think its one that, if your in the right mindset, it could become a new firm favourite.

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

A franchise that I have a rather complex relationship with, the ‘Hellraiser’ series, isnt my immediate ‘go to’ for a Horror movie fix. Its a bit too decedent and rich narratively and visually to scratch that itch in the same way your Freddys, Jasons or Michaels of the world can. No…this is a series that I only really tend to dip into when im looking for a very particular form of supernatural, intense horror, and as such, while I dont personally dislike the franchise, I find its a series I can only really take in short bursts every few years…Which is why, in my infinite wisdom, I’ve decided to watch all 11 of these over Halloween…starting with the original; 1987’s ‘Hellraiser’.

Loosely adapted from Clive Barkers ‘The Hellbound Heart’ the film is essentially treated as a bit of a ‘moment in history’ introducing audiences to the strange and unusual demons that inhabit an even MORE unusual magic puzzle box that promises the offer of ultimate pleasure…through the most anguish inducing of pains. We’re early in the game here, so no mentions of ‘Lament Configurations’ or ‘Cenobites’ here…its all very ethereal, and a lot of the narrative twists, we’re essentially just asked to roll with it.

So; in the opening we’re introduced to ‘Frank’, Frank’s just purchased the puzzlebox from a mysterious man in a cafe and, after taking it back to his dead mothers home and playing around with it for a bit, the box opens releasing interdimensional super beings of pain and pleasure, who promptly gut him with hooks, explode his body and drag him into the box into a place far worse than Hell…and its here that the main plot begins!

As Frank has a brother, ‘Larry’ who in turn has a wife and daughter Julia and Kirsty respectively. they’ve just upped sticks and moved (presumably) to the UK (its…its weird, theres more Americans in this film set in Britain than English people…again, just…roll with it) to start a new life in Larrys Mothers house, she passed away a few months ago, and other than a bit of damp and some light renovation work, Larry sees the house as a place for him and Julia to have a fresh start, while also trying to coax Kirsty to join them.

Kirsty however, isnt so keen on Julia, and has decided to get a place of her own, rather than having to put up with constant cold looks and being talked down to…so far so kitchen sink. But Julia has a secret, and that secret is about to be revealed very soon, when Larry, while helping the movers shift a matress upstairs, cuts his hand very badly and ends up bleeding all over one of the upper floors. While Julia rushes him to the hospital, its revealed that the room Larry bled in was the same room that Frank was ‘captured’ in, and the blood of his Brother manages to pull an almost entirely skeletal, and VERY gooey Frank back from the clutches of agony, and into a rather drafty upper floor room.

Later that night, Julia decides to leave their housewarming early to go to bed, and; on investigating a noise, she finds Frank in the upper floors, who demands help from her. At which point it’s revealed that shortly before Julias wedding to Larry, Frank stopped by the house and caught Julia alone. and after some…SMOLDERING moments, the pair entered into a steamy and VERY aggressive romp. In turn trapping Julia, as Frank threatened to spill the beans to Larry if she didnt remain loyal to him…Which wasnt exactly difficult, because Julia clearly fell HARD for Frank and essentially makes it clear that shes ended up trapped in a relationship with someone she doesnt really love.

Franks ask is simple, he wants Julia to go out, coax some random horny man back to the house with the promise of sex, and then when they get back, to knock him out with a hammer and let Frank ‘feast’ on the body to regrow his body back to a fully skinned form. Julia is reluctant…but Franks just…TOO alluring to resist…And eventually she gives in.

But Kirsty spots that Julias increasingly becoming distant, and one day she decides to randomly stop by the house, catching Julia and a bloody and muscle laiden Frank midway through the act of disposing of one of Julias ‘hunts’. Terrified and DEEPLY creeped out, Kirsty flees the house, taking the puzzle box with her, much to Franks terror. and after some messing around with it, Kirsty herself accidentally summons these ‘beings’ who demand her, but will settle if she can bring Frank back to them. Leading to a violent showdown.

And with this one? I feel like a lot of my thoughts on it simply boil down to personal opinion. Up front, i’ll say that the direction, cine, performances and scoring are all pretty faultless, Doug Bradley is only briefly here as ‘Pinhead’ but he essentially cements his legacy in the 8 or so minutes he’s on screen here. giving a chilling and wonderfully abstract performance that I really enjoyed. Clare Higgins as Julia is delightfully deranged, getting to work a very wide emotional range jumping from terrified, to enthralled, to disgusted, and eventually she seems to grow to love the bloodlust that comes with getting herself that bit closer to having Frank back.

Sean Chapman and Oliver Smith both play Frank here, and again a brillaint if not UTTERLY seedy performance that genuinely made my skin crawl multiple times across the runtime. and thats not to mention. Ashley Laurence, who’s simply fantastic also as Kirsty here.

No, the vast majority of my issue with this film comes with the scripting, and even then I cant fault it technically or thematically, its really more a matter of personal preference. I think the pacing is maybe just a little bit too slow boil, I feel like the scenes of Julia trying to trap men gets a little repetative and could have been shortened. I feel like, given the cenobites are front and center on ALL the promotional materials. they really dont appear all that much in the movie, they dont really get a whole lot to do, and there are absolute GULFS between them appearing and dissapearing. Im not saying that they should have been wall to wall or anything like that…But the films goal is to create mystery around these interdimensional torture beings…and I think, if anything they give us too little to really work with for me to wonder or care what they do and why.

These slower periods give way to long sections of characters not really doing all that much. and when combined with a particularly visceral gory streak that again lacks the proper context to really tie it all together. I just find it all a bit flat. Given how grand and gothic the films portrayed to be, i’ve seen this now at least 6 times, and I dont recall a single instance where I havent been bored or distracted by something else by the mid way point, and while it definitely does pick up again for the finale. theres still a lot of meandering to get there.

Add to that that, other than the ‘iconic’ lines featured in this film…the dialogue on the whole is a bit dry and uninteresting. The film tends to tell more than show, and when it does show, it shows in a disjointed way that makes it kind of hard to really get a judge of what exactly is happening.

This films been regularly sited as a great work of ‘queer cinema’ and i’ve read the reasonings for that, and while I can appreacite that angle, I just really dont see that myself here. I do see a film thats very heavily bedded into themes of processing trauma, toxic relationships and dealing with the horrors of twisting safety into nightmares. In some regards its a quality it shares with ‘Fire walk with me’. But to me? I see this film as having more homoerotic or gay coding in it than queer personally.

While the core characters are interesting, the supporting cast a bit overly dry and not particularly memorable, I always forget that Kirsty has a love interest in this film for all the actual impact he has to the plot.

Add to that a very abrupt ending, which I wont spoil here, but is kind of underwhelming considering we’re fighting interdimensional demigods capable of phasing between worlds and unleashing the worst pains and horrors known to man. Its basically a ‘magic button’ ending that just left me feeling cold, and an attempt at the very end to turn this into a semi-cyclical narrative fell flat for me.

Ultimatley; I can absolutely see and appreciate the craft that went into this movie. ‘Hellraiser’ is a very impressive film honestly, its just not really my tone or style, it has its moments which I totally get (hence the rating i’ve given) but it isnt my favourite entry in the franchise, and its not one I revisit all that often. If I were to take the objective technical ability out of my considerations for this movie, it’d probably be a 3 out fo 5…But It goes without saying really that you should probably catch this film once. But for my money, the sequel offers a much more well rounded and engaging experience.

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

Well; it’s Halloween once again, which can only mean one thing. Its another run of (at least) ’31 Movies in 31 Days’ and kicking things off I thought i’d go for a lighthearted play on ‘the classics’ AND revisit a Mel Brooks film that I havent seen in at least 3 or 4 years. 1974’s ‘Young Frankenstein’ Made around the time that Brooks was really hitting his stride with features like ‘The Producers’ and ‘Blazing Saddles’, ‘Young Frankenstein’ is a homage and parody of the Universal ‘Frankenstein’ movies. Made with absolute affection and heart.

The plot introduces us to the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fronkensteen) A well respected biological scientist in his field currently training the next generation of doctors who just cant help but ask about his families troubling past with reanimation. Freddy dismisses them and his family as a bunch of lunatics. But when an aged friend of Freddys Great Grandfather appears at the campus, clutching with him the last will and testamony of the Baron. Freddy must travel to Transylvania, and engage head on with his families work, once and for all.

I dont honestly have a whole lot to say critically about ‘Young Frankenstein’ its a work that has more than held up against the tides of time. and frankly is pretty masterful in its execution.

Probably the most notable aspect of this production is the dedication to both the accuracy and subversion of that accuracy of the first 3 ‘Frankenstein’ films. we have faithful recreations of the eastern european villages featured in those Universal classics, we have the ACTUAL lab equipment from both ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ littering the new lab. the direction mimics transitions and stylistic choices of those early Universal monster movies to a tee, and in some cases they literally 1:1 redo scenes from those first two movies, but subvert them for comedic effect in a way that only Brooks can do (see: the hermit scene from Bride of Frankenstein getting a comedic makeover here)

The script is, to me, pretty hilarious, stacked jokes from start to finish running the full range of comedy. from Slapstick to sight gags, plays on words, to double entendres, parodies, innunendo…Its all here. the tone is a perfect balance of trying to play to those darker, more bleak moments of the original films, while contrasting them with absolutely daffy comedy, creating a multi tonal film that is genuinely indering at times and sincere in its efforts. Its not here to slam the original films, more to playfully appreciat their smaller, finer details.

The act structuring is solid, and again, very in line with the original Unioversal movies…I think my only criticism, and this is pretty much the only one I have for the whole movie, is that the pacing is a little lumbering at times. It feels in places that Brooks had a few too many ideas, and as such, the quality for what got into the film, and what was cut out seemed a little more lax here than with his other films.

The quality of the humour is consistently high, but some of the gags require a bit of setup, and that adds extra time onto the run that I feel slows things down a bit too much for me. There’s usually a point somewhere around the hour mark on this where I realise theres still a LOT more to go, and I start to wonder just HOW LONG this film ACTUALLY is. Its one of those films where, to me, they could have lost 5-10 minutes and really got this thing over the line. Deciding what to cut though…THAT is the tricky metric that I havent fully firmed up on.

Otherwise, this is a solid work, and the affection for the series is clear throughout, with the cast of Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Terri Garr as Freddy, I-gor and Inga are superb, hitting every single cue with absolute relish and clearly having an absolutely terrific time in doing so. I honestly cant imagine this film being half as engaging or enjoyable without them.

Thats not to forget Peter Boyle as ‘The Creature’ who is just a masterclass on physical comedy, making every 4th wall break an absolutely laugh riot. He’s perfectly cast here…Nor should we forget the supporting cast, who are equally daffy and fun. They bring with them a kind of palpable energy that shows that everyone involved knew the exact tone to hit to maximise the humour of the production.

Throw in an exquisite score from John Morris, who perfectly captures that ‘Universal’ vibe of 30s and 40s Horror seamlessly, giving the film one final Jolt to make it extra special!

I have a real soft spot for ‘Young Frankenstein’ and while it may not be my all time favourite Mel Brooks film. Its absolutley up there as a classic, and PERFECT lighthearted Halloween viewing for those who want to kick the season off with a laugh, over a scream!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/young-frankenstein/1/

I was late to the party when it came to ‘Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.’ In part because it didnt really get a release in the UK (a VERY small print run of VHS tapes in the early to mid 90s was pretty much the beginning and end of it until 2024, when Radience films finally released the film in the UK in HD and on disc for the first time). While i’d been aware of the film since the mid 2000’s, I didnt ACTUALLY get to sit down and watch it till mid 2022 via Tromas own ‘in house’ release on bluray which a friend VERY kindly sent my way.

But recently Vinegar Syndrome and Troma signed a mutual deal in which Vinegar Syndrome gain access to most of Tromas back catalogue to remaster in 4k and release in shiny shiny new packaging with a raft of new and archival extras…and I absolutely loved Kabukiman the last time I caught it, so I grabbed it during a sale this year, and with Halloween getting dangerously close, I decided to rev up the 4k player and see if the Boutique labels could manage, what the studios could not.

The plot follows detective Harry Griswold, one of the best cops in the NYPD, as he gets caught up in life changing events. When he misses a date with a fellow officer, Harry decides to go to his local Kabuki theater which is having an award winning run. Unbenownst to Harry, behind the scenes a great battle is shaping up, as an elderly man and his grandaughter warn of a great evil approaching. The plan, is for the old man to transfer ‘the power of ‘Kabukiman’ to a young protoge.

However; before that can happen our young man is killed by a gang of thugs hell bent on realising the prophecy that will lead to the rise of the great evil one. midway through the performance of the play, that same gang storm the stage, killing the old man and most of the theater goers. Harry steps in and manages to stave off a TOTAL blood bath, but the old man is hit, and in his final moments, transfers the power of ‘Kabukiman’ to Harry.

Leading Harry to undergo a bizzare transformation into the one and only ‘Sgt. Kabukiman’ a champion against evil with razor point fans, exploding sushi and arrow tipped chopsticks! Harry isnt quite sure whats happening to him as he slowly morphs in and out of his Kabuki alter-ego, but Grandaughter ‘Lotus’ is on hand to whip Harry into shape ready for his ultimate destiny of defeating the prophecy once and for all!

And, of all the Troma films i’ve seen, this one kind of fascinates me the most, a co-funded production between Troma and games company ‘Namco’ ‘Sgt. Kabukiman’ is a bit of an odd duck in the sense that there was a little bit of disharmony between Troma founders Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman.

The president of Namco, when discussing the tone and vibes for the film, instigated that he would very much still like to have the wild and crazy vibes that Troma were known for like ‘The Toxic Avenger’ but the he believed that the amount of offensive content and violence should be toned down. Not eradicated you understand…but rather, that the whimsy and surrealism should be the front foot of this venture, and that any violence shouldnt really exceed a PG-13 rating. Around this time Troma were in early development of ‘The Toxic Crusaders’ and the mindset from Herz perspective was that Troma was beginning to umbrella a little bit into a more accessable studio, where there could, in theory, be a film to suit any age or preference. And Sgt. Kabukiman having that same degree of ‘Troma-mania’ but targeted more at a YA audience could be the thing to help open the gates to the next generation of Troma fan.

Lloyd Kaufman disagreed, reckoning that the film should be R-rated and boundary/taste pushing because thats what people come to Troma for. In the end, after much discussion, two cuts of the film were produced, a ‘PG-13 cut’ that toned down the violence and played up the comedy, and a ‘Directors Cut’ that was R-rated and had a harder gorier, oozier edge to it. In the end, the PG-13 cut was what made it into cinemas, but subsiquent releases on home video would default to ‘The Directors Cut’. Which is the version I watched tonight.

All in all, I still love it as much, if not moreso than I did when I first watched it. The script moves at a bullet pace, the tone is perfectly balanced between giving the audience an ACTUAL story and 3 act narrative, while also feeling like at any moment the whole production could just derail into absolute farce comedy.

The act structuring itself is reasonably balanced, I feel like the Directors cut lets the film breath just a little more, but im still not 100% convinced the added gore and violence improves the film any more than the PG-13 cut.

The characters are all pretty well developed, and this would mark one of the final Troma movies to ACTUALLY BOTHER to give the characters a well rounded character backstory and arc. With most Troma movies after this devolving into single goal characters incoherently screaming for 90 minutes.

I really appreciated the fact this was a multi-plot narrative with some nice pathos moments contrasting the bizarre and whimsical comedy elements. Tonally, its a comedy with action elements through and through, and I for one really appreciated the playfulness of this film. Whereas a lot of Troma movies put their hand firmly on your shoulder before shoving you into the haunted house. This film feels like a much friendlier approach, welcoming the audience into the world of Troma with open arms and gradually warming them up to the bizarreness, rather than throwing them into the deep end. I think if you have a friend who’s never seen a Troma movie before, this one or maybe the new ‘Toxic Avenger’ may well be the best avanue to start things off.

The direction, for Troma is pretty great, clear thought went into the sequence building Kaufman clearly had a vision he wanted to realise here, and I feel like he largely achieves what he sets out to do, with only a handful of duff moments (Which…again, for Troma, is pretty remarkable) Direction of the cast is also A-grade with over the top choreography and effects work complementing some nice set space work, mild improvisation and choice line deliveries. Kaufmans an old hand at this style of film making, and I think ‘Sgt. Kabukiman’ is probably his most compitent work in terms of the budget intersecting the vision.

The cine on the new 4k release is nothing short of remarkable, a layer of grime, dirt and nicotine has been scraped off the 35mm print for this release and its as vibrant and gorgeous as ever, while this upgrade does only further highlight the cheaper aspects of the production, I was on the whole really impressed with just how sharp the image was on this release and how wonderful the composition and sequence building across the scenes looked and felt. Its a pretty solid work with incredible colour work and some nice lighting set ups. Let down a bit by a somewhat rushed feeling edit in terms of cutting styles…its a nitpick, but ultimately it did pull the film down a little bit for me.

Performance wise Rick Gianasi as Harry/Kabukiman is just incredible. I really liked the duel role play, and this is the one and only time they really give that nice duality. Harry is a bit blunt, charismatic, at times a bit comedic, but a largely cool headed man being dragged into the insane world of cosmic rituals, eternal evils and Kabuki theater. and across the runtime we see him lose his cool several times and eventually relax into the world of the supernatural.

As Kabukiman, he duel weilds being ABSOLUTELY insane, explosive, acrobatic and unstoppable, with occasionally snapping briefly back into Harry’s personality. Which was a nice twist and only added to the total feeling of ‘unknowing’ as to what the hell was going to happen next.

Susan Byun as ‘Lotus’ is also delightful, getting some wonderfully dry humour in places and really being given a good range to work with across the runtime. I dont think her performance is particularly amazing, but again, for Troma? she might as well have won the academy award that year. Bill Weeden, is for me a bit of a loose link here, he plays our villain for the piece, and while I dont think he plays a bad guy particularly badly…I think the type of baddie he’s being asked to play here, plays a little bit against what his acting style is. Personally; his turn here wasnt for me. I didnt think he was bad, I just think we needed a cooler, stonier presence for the character of ‘Reginald Stewart’ and Bill just doesnt really have that energy.

Add to this the Soundtrack which is a bit of a game of two halves. the rockier music such as the theme tune or tracks containing an actual band with vocals? are probably some of my all time favourite Troma music pieces of all time. I STILL listen to the ‘Theme from Sgt. Kabukiman’ pretty regularly years on from my first time spinning it, its legitimately a great little hair rock track that plays on music from Madam butterfly, and the band sessions all rework the music of puchini and other classical pieces to great effect in my opinion.

However, at the same time the incidental music, appears to have all been handled in house, and its vaguely asian sounding cheap farty synth whomps. it works from time to time…more during the comedy elements than anything else…But quite often when the synth music landed, it landed with a squeltch. I wasnt a fan.

Altogether though? I think ‘Sgt. Kabukiman’ is probably my second favourite Troma movie of all time, only just behind the original ‘Toxic Avenger’. Its upbeat, more whimsy driven over shock or gore, the direction and cine are some of the best Tromas ever had, as are the performances. The scripts rock solid, its sincerely funny and barring a few dud tracks, the scores pretty incredible too!

Its actually kind of wild to me that they didnt nurture and develop Kabukiman into a franchise of his own…This first film does an incredible job of parodying the ‘origin story’ film that the superhero genre is well known for, and not only did they not really build on that past this movie, they actually went in the OPPOSITE direction, essentially reducing Kabukiman to an ‘anyone can play him’ bit character who turns up in other Troma movies for occasional cameos…and most bizarrely of all, as an occasional host for Tromas youtube channel. with his new backstory being that after this film, he gave up crimefighting, got married, lost everything in a divorce, became an alcoholic and fought a rape case against him. They could have been 3-5 films deep into Kabukiman lore right now…and instead they took probably their most viable other franchise to Toxie and squandered it into oblivion…insane…its actually insane to me…

But I digress, go watch ‘Sgt. Kabukiman’ its REAAAAAAALLLY good!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/sgt-kabukiman-nypd/1/

I hadnt heard of ‘DC Cab’ until a recent splurge on one of kino Lobors sales, the Bluray cover of Mr. T angrily flailing the door of a taxi cab with a wasteland depiction of Washington just in front of him set expectations that I was going to be getting myself into a rollocking riot of a movie. And with Joel Schumacher on writing and direction (given he’d done ‘Car Wash’ less than 10 years prior) I was expecting something a little extra…Something the film unfortunately fails to deliver…

The plot of the film follows Albert, a country boy who’s headed to DC to meet up with friends and co-workers of his recently deceased Father. Alberts arrived with a mission, to carry on his fathers legacy in working for ‘DC Cabs’ He has images of a noble fleet of clean and vibrant cabs and friendly cabbies. But is almost immediately bought down to earth when he finds that the cab company itself is a ramshackled, threadbear and barely surviving business with Cabbies that have largely, seemingly escaped from prison or an asylum.

A friend of Alberts dad (and the cab companies owner) takes Albert in and helps to show him the ropes of the cab company, and while Alberts on the way up, we’re treated to a montage of ‘Wacky Shenanigans’ involving Mr. T, The Barbarian Brothers, Bill Maher and Gary Busey, alongside the rest of the cabbies in the fleet, while also introducing us to rival company, the ultra squeeky looking ‘Emerald Cabs’. Things seem on the up and up, when Albert finally gets his Hack license and meets the girl of his dreams, but when a lost violin winds up in the back of one of the cabbies cars, and a HUGE cash reward is mentioned, it leads to mutiny, theft and Albert and some kids being kidnapped! leading the Cabbies to mount a rescue mission to get one of their rank back, or lose their ranks all together!

Again, given the marketing for this film, I was under the impression it was going to be a screwball slapstick comedy ala ‘Meatballs’ with Mr. T in a prominent role as a Cabbie getting into misadventures. But he’s largely playing a background character here, he has some dialogue, and but he’s mainly there to occasionally smash things up and to make up the background numbers, with the main plot largely revolving around Albert. Which was kind of the begining of this films downfall for me.

The script itself is fairly pedestrian, the first half of the movie is largely just vignettes with the Cabbies getting into mishaps with rival cab companies and the local law. With the Violin subplot slowly bubbling away in the background until the 2nd act, when it basically consumes the entire act, which; on the one hand was nice because the disjointed comedy sketches were beginning to wear a bit thin, but on the other hand, because they have to cram what SHOULD Have been a first act setup into the entirity of the 2nd act, it means theres very little room for the comedy to continue, and what comedy is presented is very much a damp squib.

This leads to the 3rd act which is almost entirely centered around Alberts kidnapping, and the comedy does kind of come back, with some of the bigger laughs of the movie being found in the back end of this thing…But its all a bit too little too late, and the slowness of the second act, combined with a TON of padding in the 3rd, left me just feeling a bit exhausted by this movie. There’s only so long I can focus on a film, especially a comedy movie, before I have to accept that it probably isnt for me, and that tipping point happened somewhere in the 3rd act, making it almost impossible for it to pull it back for me.

Comedy is of course subjective, and while im sure plenty of people will enjoy the humour of this one…It just felt like a poor mans ‘Meatballs’ to me…Like a poor copy paste attempt at recapturing the lightning in a bottle of ‘Car Wash’ but about 7 years too late. its reliant on T&A and racial slurs to keep the audience on board for most of the opening half, and even the more slapstick moments are pretty weak. I stifled a laugh once…maybe twice across this whole thing. Which, given its a comedy movie…is pretty dire. I dont even think I cracked a smile past that.

I think the biggest problem the script has is that it confuses characters shouting things, as funny. The vast majority of the film just has out characters freaking out and screaming their lines…and for some people…thats enough. But not for me. I just found it frustrating and tiring to watch, Not helped either that the dialogues a bit muffled, meaning I had to watch with subtitles to ensure I ACTUALLY GOT the jokes.

The characters arnt really all that well developed. Most of them could best be described as ‘Muscle bound meatheads’ and thats kind of their entire schtick…Think the jocks from ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ and your not a million miles off…and the characters who DID manage to stand out, were either standing out for the wrong reasons (see Gary Buseys character dropping hard R’s like it was the 19th century again, or Charlie Barnett essentially just leaning into stereotyping and giving a poor mans Eddie murphy impression) It just felt like non of these characters, other than Albert had any real sense of depth, and even Albert doesnt get THAT much development, with most of his arc being around getting his license (which he achieves around the mid point of the 2nd act) and in trying to win the heart of a young lady who works at the diner…which isnt really resolved or closed by the movies end…as he gets sidelined for most of the 3rd act.

The film basically feels like it could be supercut into a really nice trailer, something that could get people through the door. But if the best the film has is a 60-90 second sizzle reel of jokes, its going to make the 99 minute runtime basically insufferable.

The issues with the film however do pretty much begin and end with the script (I appreciate thats a pretty big problem to have mind) the direction and cine are both studio grade and pretty sharp. Bizarrely the film opens with some really nice experimentation on shot composition and lighting. the set spaces look great…and then past that opening 10 minutes it just…collapses, into a somewhat overly comfortable state where it never really grows past just…doing the basics of a studio comedy of this era. the directions fine, cast direction especially given theres usually 10-20 cast members in a shot at any one time and they all seem to be moving or doing something, which is solid. It meets the basics, it opens strong…it just never gets better than that intro.

Performances are fine enough, Mr T is very much underplayed here as Samson, given he’s prominently featured in the marketing, he IS in the movie for a good chunk of the runtime. He just, doesnt get to say or do much…The Barbarian brothers get more to do than him, and they’re largely mute! Adam Baldwin as Albert is pretty solid in his role, starting off as a shy guy and slowly opening up into a more well rounded character as he’s brought into the wonderful world of Cabbie life. Charlie Bennet pretty much throws his entire weight behind his role as ‘Tyrone’ practically exploding on screen at every opportunity…and it would be amiss of me not to mention Gary Buseys….frankly…unsettling performance here as Dell. He feels like a jack in the box on screen, giving a somewhat demented stare to the cast or camera most of the time and just…unloading the most HEINOUS dialogue I’ve heard in a film in a good while….bizarre.

The biggest pull for this movie? and the sole reason I think it was worth it being made, was the soundtrack, which is a collaboration of Georgio Moroder and Irene Cara. It sounds great! power packed synth pop at its finest, very 80s, very cool, one i’d love to get my hands on on Vinyl…This is pretty much the best thing about this movie.

‘DC Cabs’ is pretty middle of the road, and hasnt really aged all that well in my opinion, it may look and sound pretty solid. But a comedy lives and dies by its material…and the comedy here, just…isnt really very good to me. I imagine if you caught this growing up, that you’ll almost certainly have a nostalgia for it. But coming to this in 2025 with fresh eyes? I just found it a bit overly basic, flat and it had me clenching my jaw in a few places. Not one I could really recommend honestly…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dc-cab/