Return of the Living Dead

Written and directed by Dan O'Bannon.
Starring.....Clu Culager...and other people.



Based on the idea that the original "Night of the Living Dead" was true and that the government covered it up, this amazingly fun and horific film really brings the horror of the undead to a new level with the idea that they CANNOT BE KILLED. This is a new concept in the world of the undead, not to mention the creation of the idea that zombies crave brains. We cannot forget the 'tarman', which terrified many o'children of the 80's.
This was also one of the first horror films that recognized that music played an intrugal part in the films success. The songs on the soundtrack helped to further the films reputatition.

unfortunatly, the follow up, PART 2, treats everything established in this film as poopycock.



Seriously, I consider the "Return of the Living Dead" series unsurvivable.

You cannot defeat this breed of zombie.
You just can't.



oh yeah, did i mention that everyone dies.
i love happy endings.

Jacob's Ladder

Directed by Adrian Lyne.
Starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, and Danny Aiello. (uncredited Macaulay Culkin, so don't be surprised and say hey! that's that kid.), Ving Rhames, and Jason Alexander.



Tim Robbins is a Vietnam vet suffering from hallucinations and flashbacks. What's real and what isn't?
The flashbacks are of the war and the horror that happened there. The hallucinations are of demons.
There's also a palm reader that claims that according to his lines, he's already dead. He contacts some of his old war buddies, they are experiencing the same things. Well, that's really about it, without going into detail.
Minute 1:18 begins the good stuff.



As far as the Blu Ray goes, it looks slightly better than the DVD. It's still a little grainy, though, some of it is very intentional. This is a film with a visual tone, a little grain is appropriate, but the amount on the blu ray isn't acceptable. Don't get me wrong, some of the transfered shots are great, but most of the movie is lackluster.

This was a great film for it's time.
For today, though, it's kinda boring and inneffective.

Videodrome

Written and directed by David Cronenburg.
Starring James Woods and Deborah Harry.



There is a feeling of this film being set in an alternate 1980's. The 1980's saw the boom of both cable television and the VCR. James Woods plays Max Renn, the president of a sleazy cable channel that goes out of his way to find sensational programing for his viewers. Via his video bootlegging buddy, he stumbles upon a snuff channel that depicts people being whipped, beaten, electricuted, and murdered. This is Videodrome. Believing it to merely a tv show, he seeks out the makers of this program in order to get a deal. Along the way, he introduces his new lover, Debby Harry, to the world of Videodrome and she quickly becomes obsessed with it, even pretending to go on a work assignment just to try to get on the show. Unkown to either of them is that the Videodrome is more than they ever imagined.



This is a difficult film to describe. It swims deep in the "dream within a dream" realm, fantasy versus reality lines of story telling. There are many themes brought up in this sci:fi distopia; portrayel of violence and sexuality in the media, man vs. human nature, man vs. technology, mans perception of relaity. I know there are more themes intertwined in this labrynthian film, some of which i recognize, but some I know I'm not intelligent enough to understand.



Having seen the Criterion DVD before, which looked awesome, I'm slightly disappointed in the Blu Ray transfer. It looks better than the DVD, but not as good as some of the Blu Ray transfers I've seen of films from the 30's. It's got the same features as the DVD, which is, as always good stuff from Criterion.

Suggested for??
If you like your brain being fucked with and bizarre, sometimes disturbing visuals, this is for you.



i watched it, so you don't have to.
(i'm still working on a closing tagline.)

hausu

For ages and ages I'd heard of this crazy-ass, insane japanese 'horror' film by Nobuhiko Obayashi. I'd heard that it's the most insane, caustic film ever made. Though I can't completly agree with that diagnosis, I can concure that it is, indeed, insane.


I'm not sure if this is the 'best' way to describe it, but maybe the best way 'I' can describe it....(clears throat)....
It's as though Andy Warhol made a comic-horror themed Manga into a film while he was influenced by the beach boys.....maybe??
It is one of the truly hard to define films.
Like a bizarre, surreal film.



synopsis?
why not.

A group of high school girls go off for the summer to an aunt's house. As soon as they arrive, strange things begin happening, and the girls begin to go missing. Once the the girls begin to notice that they can't find the lost ones, they think, well, maybe somethings wrong.

That encompasses the first sixty minutes, after that the film is...well, insane. Think the craziest parts of 'Evil Dead 2" but japanese, yet with the esoteric.....uhm....i'm not sure what.

Oh yeah!!
Did I mention the piano playing severed fingers?????



uhm.

think on it...
pray on it...

that's what they say right?

doctor mordrid

For several years now I'd been on a fervent, if not contradictorally lazy, search for a long lost small film made by Full Moon, the people that brought us "Puppet Master" and "Gingerbread Man".  The other day I mentioned it to an acquaintance of mine who shares such high standards in film making and to my surprise, he had a copy. This film is long out of print and he had a copy. He "lent" me a copy and I watched it that night.
That amazingly not in print film is "Doctor Mordrid".


"Doctor Mordrid" began production as a movie version of the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Marvel pulled out and left Full Moon with a full script without a main character. Full Moon sucked it up and changed his name and whatever copyrighted characters and/or things they had to. The result of what would typicaly be a trainwreck, is pretty damned good.



To say the least, if this was a made for tv movie in the early '90's, it'd be remembered as awesome. A major highlight of the climax is the fighting dinosaur skeletons. Pretty damned sweet.

And yes, that is the incomprable, amazing, dynamic, should be way more famous, and should have an oscar already, master actor Jeffrey Combs.

If you know him, you know him from "Re-animator", or "The Frighteners", or perhaps even some Star Trek Enterprise, or maybe in his awesome roll in "Abominable".

thanks for reading.(the three of you that did).

three films i watched on jan. 18

#1---the first and best of the films i watched on the eighteenth of january was "nightwatch".

not the russian special effects laden sci-fi action movie, but the 1997 remake of the 1994 danish film by ole bornedal, who also directs the english language remake produced and co-rewriten/translated by stephen soderbergh.
starring-ewen mcgregor, nick nolte, patricia arquette, josh brolin, and featuring lauren graham.

i was really surprised that this film held up so well. i first watched it on vhs back in 1998 and thought it was pretty good. it has aged well, with a fresh faced ewen in a starring role as a law student whose friend, brolin, starts pushing his own limits in order to feel something again. mcgegor gets a 'night' job as a 'watch'man in a creepy hospital(?) of sorts. during the opening credits, nolte's detective character is introduced through the tv news as he investigates the latest victim of a serial killer. he reapears when that latest victim is brought to the morgue where mcgregor just began working.

it's difficult to share more story without giving to much away.
long story short, you should watch this.
the dvd could use a remastering. i'd love to see a criterion double of both versions.

#2----the second movie, "the vampire's kiss."

starring a young nicolas cage when he was going through his nasal voice phase; moonstruck, peggy sue got married, ....i'm sure there's another one.
directed by robert bierman.

cage is a big time 80's book.....something, he works in the publishing industry.  it's unclear what pushes him over the edge, is it the pressure he's under at work? is he unhappy with his 'different girl every night' lifestyle?
maybe that he wacthes "nosferatu" the night after a bat flies into his appartment? i suppose it's the combination of all of the above.

he begins acting erratically; eating roaches, chasing secretaries into the ladies room, and of course coming to the realization that he is, in fact, a vampire.

there are some really neat, interesting scenes in this film, especially towards the end. however, if you don't like "art" films, stay away from this. though, this is one of the movies i point to when i (rarely) defend nic cage as a good actor.

#3----third movie, "the good thief".


starring nick nolte, some french people, and a ukranian[?] girl.
written and directed by neil jordan.  [yes, the great neil jordan]

i first heard of this movie when i was trying to find out if jordan's "the butcher boy" was on dvd. i then sought it out, watched it, and enjoyed it. that was about 7 years ago. upon rewatching it, it is another film that holds up. it's not amazing, but it's very good with very good performances by everyone.

nolte is a heroine addicted "retired" thief living in france. well, i can't really give to much away. it's a fun little caper film with a fun little group of associates. nolte plans the ultimate hiest, or two, or three, or none at all? it's easily a better film than any of the "ocean's #" films, maybe not as ambitous as they are, but better.

i guess that's about it for tonight.
i apologize for my format of writing, but i've never did too good in english class.

movies>365 introduction

i am paul.
this is my movie blog.
for the year of 2011, i'm going to attempt to watch at least 365 movies.
hopefully i'll get to a few more.

once i get these things started, they very well may be a little out of order.
i've certainly watched at least 10 movies so far this year, that's about a 2/3 for the year, but i may post something i'd just watched before i get to the movies i watched last week.
once i get caught up with january, i'll most likely be able to keep things in order.

a good question is, what was the first movie i watched this year???
that's gonna take some thinking.

i hope this is fun for all of us.