I have to be honest; im totally in the dark as to why this film is as unknown as it is. This is a genuinely funny movie. Hardly a comedy classic mind; we arnt talking a “Clerks” or “Spinal tap” but I’d argue its most definately in the same class as the likes of “Best on show” or “A Mighty Wind”. this is a mockumentary following a schlock movie director planning one last big movie and Stiller absolutley OWNS this movie. he’s one of the funniest parts of this.
It may be forgotten but it’s quality shines through…it may be a bit muddled as to whether it wants to be a straight comedy movie or a mockumentary but I love it all the same. A totally underrated classic that I found for 50p in a charity shop. I do not regret this decision. when you look at forgotten and obscure media you’re more often than not in for a bad time I find. but every so often you’ll land on a cult classic in the making like this and it makes all the “Phantom from space” style movies more than worth it.
(My favourite parody film in this is probably “Christ for the Defense”)
This was the first David Lynch film I chose to review on my channel and I chose it for a couple of reasons, first and formost I’m a massive fan of Lynch’s work (In particular all his works in “Twin Peaks”, Blue Velvet and Inland Empire…even if that last one is a bit overly long) his style is so unusual and tonally interesting it’s quite literally like walking into a dream/nightmare over which you have no control. Things just happen in Lynch’s films. they happen because things dont have to have a reason, life doesnt necissarily have a purpose and we’re all here just trying to give our lives a function till we expire. (A bit dark but yeh).
Lynch Straddles the line between Mainstream cinema and experimental video art and while he’s never quite been fully accepted into the mainstream. It could be argued that by many he is seen as the ambassador for experimental film to “Normal people” a wayward guide showing that the hard rules of storytelling and film making arnt actually as solid as first thought.
This subversive nature was what drew me into film making in the first place and what attracted me to video art ultimately…Eraserhead to me could be seen as the Catalyst that led me to where I am today so ultimately im very grateful to the “Lynch’s” of the world and we desperately need more subversive creative types in these modern turbulant times.
I also chose Eraserhead because; well. it’s a just plain weird experimental film. and when I think of Art house and experimental cinema my mind instantly flicks to anything from the chicken baby to the lady in the radiator to that surreal and mesmorising shot that is the films poster. The Red Triangle as a format exists to cover the kind of films that I cant do on TYTD. more extreme horror movies, Video nasties, erotic cinema, art house films. Stuff that I just wouldnt feel like I was doing justice placing it next to the likes of “Ring of Terror” or “Let’s ruin Dads day” and Eraserhead definitely deserves being in my “Red Triangle” series. This is another one that I kind of feel a bit mixed about in terms of my review. I feel like I didnt really fully nail down why I love this film in this review. I dunno; I just kind of feel like I maybe could have said more…so I may end up revisiting this one again in future…But yeh! for now; enjoy! and I’ll be looking to do more Lynch in future!
(One dose of nightmare fuel and insecurity about parenthood comin’ riiiiiight up!)
Largely for completionists sake; I thought it best to share this post here. This was an opinion piece I wrote a short while ago about how the format you choose to present your film in can be detrimental to how well/poorly it is recieved by an Audience. whether you choose to present it in HD, VHS, DVD hell even laser disc quality. the medium will effect the film differently each time. whether you need that pin point precise sharpness or maybe you wish to use the fuzz that VHS can offer to your advantage as a direction. I believe that choosing your format should be as important as shot compisition or the way the film is edited. (I also use this piece as a way to put across my genuine love of all things VHS so do prepare to see me wax lyrical about the joys of it)
(Ever since I optimised my editing desk to include a HD to SD to VHS converter deck I really must say that cutting stuff like this has been a breeze!)
This was one of the biggest fake out’s I think i’ve had on my channel to date. I picked this movie up expecting basically a very straight laced Kung-fu movie. And in many ways I think in its original dub this film probably was a lot more straight played than the english dubbed version is. Popping the disc in however I felt like the floor had dropped out from under me. It became very clear very quickly that all the mysticism, philosphy and general profoundness found in the original dub had been completely binned in favour of funny voice acting and playing the film down. Im not saying that this film was intended to be completely without humour; there are moments here that defiantely have that vibe both physically and in the dub. But here it makes “On the Busses” look like “The Kings Speech” rediculously over the top but one I can ultimately reccommend in terms of just how weird tonally it is.
(My only regret is that the character “Fatty the Kung-fu Yorkshireman” never made it into another movie #Sadtimes)
I’ve seen my fair share of Hammer films in my time. Though I always feel like I could have seen more. Take “Quatermass and the pit” (Renamed Five Million Years to Earth for US audiences) for example. its a brilliantly shot and wonderfully performed piece that I’ve seen both on the big screen and in the comfort of my own home. combined with Hammers more horror inspired movies there should be little reason for me to watch any other studios movies at all! and yet I always seem to forget the Hammer films. I really should do more of them…
(How this film and “The Web of Fear” havent been mashed up yet at this point frankly astounds me…)
Otherwise known as “Taimu abanchûru: Zecchô 5-byô mae”; “Time Adventure: Five Seconds to Climax!” was the very first episode of “The Red Triangle” A show I came up with in order to differentiate your common or garden horror, sci-fi, action, adventure or kids movie with the more extreme forms of cinema. stuff like “Video Nasties”, Art house films, experimental cinema, Erotic films…That kind of stuff. I borrowed the title from a semi-famous run of boundary pushing films that comprised 1986’s “Red triangle season” so called because just before anything raunchy or racy would appear on screen a red triangle would flash up warning people to set there recorders running. in the case of my channel these were films that were either much more mature in there attitude or were distinctly not safe for work. This erotic sci-fi black comedy (With elements of a thriller in there somewhere) I felt would be the perfect candidate to open this series as it sets quite a clean line. Its also to date one of the shortest reviews I’ve written and much like “The Dragon Lives again” I do feel like I really could have said/done more with this film really.
(I like how tongue in cheek this film can be at times…its got a very unusual tone about it)
Y’know…I have a tremendous soft spot for Vincent price. I always struggle as to whether I prefer him or Christopher lee…on the one hand Vincents been in some of my all time favourite horror films…but Lee has a presence on screen thats quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before. But I digress…
This! is the last man on earth! one of Vincent Prices finer and also more underrated performances! based on the Novel “I am Legend” he gives an absolutely wonderful turn here as Dr. Robert Morgan. Personally I always preferred his later work in the 70’s but I have a real fondness for this film. Its a shame its only available in the UK in such poor quality…
(My favourite bit in this movie is the one I choose to showcase in the clips. Its so strangely powerful)
Well it’s usually good with these things to start at the beginning! and starting my youtube channel off all that time ago was this movie: 1977’s “The Dragon Lives again” also known as “The Deadly Hands of Kung fu”. I love this movie. like; I both love it and im In love with it. its my favourite martial arts film of all time just for how surreal and bizarre it is. Though the only downside of this being my first review is that because its the first one I didnt really get my style down properly. I talk too fast and I dont feel I said everything I could say about this awesome movie. consider this a pilot episode. I’ll need to revisit it at some point in the future but for now please enjoy one of the strangest (And most copyright infringiest!) movies I’ve ever seen…
TYTD Reviews 