Fashion model Allison stumbles onto the gates of Hell when she moves into New York brownstone where her most appealing neighbor is an ancient priest who never leaves his apartment and seemingly spends all day every day spying on the neighborhood through his window. Konvitz's first novel is a painfully awkward book-length short story, filled with characters who are not only disconnected from each other but from themselves, as well as from any semblance of reality. Includes a "charming" eccentric (who is anything but), a completely incompatible boyfriend (who at first doesn't believe any of Allison's stranger stories, then for no discernible reason suddenly does), and a bitter, cigar-chomping cop (who carries a mousetrap in his pocket while engaging in witless banter with the other characters). Absolutely nothing rings true (except perhaps the author's own distaste for lesbianism). Made into a movie, co-written by Konvitz, in 1977.
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Fashion model Allison stumbles onto the gates of Hell when she moves into New York brownstone where her most appealing neighbor is an ancient priest who never leaves his apartment and seemingly spends all day every day spying on the neighborhood through his window. Konvitz's first novel is a painfully awkward book-length short story, filled with characters who are not only disconnected from each other but from themselves, as well as from any semblance of reality. Includes a "charming" eccentric (who is anything but), a completely incompatible boyfriend (who at first doesn't believe any of Allison's stranger stories, then for no discernible reason suddenly does), and a bitter, cigar-chomping cop (who carries a mousetrap in his pocket while engaging in witless banter with the other characters). Absolutely nothing rings true (except perhaps the author's own distaste for lesbianism). Made into a movie, co-written by Konvitz, in 1977.
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** Gore film with a sense of humor (which, right there, makes it an odd adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft) about a young med student (Jeffrey Combs) whose reagent for bringing the dead back to life leads to calamity when an old doctor (David Gale), now dead and with nothing left to lose, kidnaps a pretty coed whom he has always lusted after. With its mix of blood, humor, fast-paced action, and fervent performances, this film when first released was like a breath of fresh air from an industry dominated by slasher films, which may account for its overwhelmingly positive reaction from critics and audiences alike. Or it might be, instead, the film's coup de grace: Barbara Crampton, nude and spread-eagled, about to be raped by a severed head. In any case, while some of the funny bits still work and Babs is still quite attractive, the film today isn't nearly as fresh as it once was, probably because its original audience is now thirty years older. Might retain its appeal to the younger set, however. Based on Lovecraft's novella "Herbert West--Reanimator." Director Gordon, as well as both Combs and Ms. Crampton, followed this film in '86 with another Lovecraft adaptation, From Beyond. Producer Brian Yuzna directed a couple of sequels with Combs, Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, in 1990 and 2003, respectively. * Poor adaptation of A. J. Quinnell's novel -- made infinitely worse by Scott's psychotic direction -- is almost criminal waste of Denzel Washington's talent and the audience's time. John Creasy, a burnt-out counter-terrorist operative, takes a job as the bodyguard for a nine-year-old girl in Mexico City; when she is kidnapped, he vows violent revenge on everyone involved. Quinnell himself liked the picture, which in itself should be enough to give the rest of us pause. For all its blood and pyrotechnics, this is decidedly a more soft-boiled version of the story, as it turns Creasy from a man repaying a debt into a pathetic loser who claims to be fighting for a child but who in reality is merely using her as an excuse in his quest for personal redemption. It's also softer in the head: the way the movie ends, unlike the book, makes a mockery of Creasy's entire mission. After a terrible opening -- featuring Scott's heavily tricked up photography and editing -- the film settles down for awhile as little Pita (Dakota Fanning) teaches Creasy how to be human. In spite of the miscasting -- not that Fanning isn't good (she is), but she (and her mother) should have been Hispanic -- this part of the film is actually good. Beginning with the kidnapping, however, Scott's worst instincts take over and the rest is a jumbled, pretentious mess that makes momentous occasions out of "events" like opening a car door. Eight years later, director Scott committed suicide. *** Disparate group of ten people are lured to an isolated island and killed off one by one by their mysterious host who, they realize, is one of them. One of the best-selling books of all time, its genius lies in combining the premise with murders that follow the lyrics of a well-known children’s rhyme. That, and Christie’s scrupulous integrity. What it lacks is atmosphere or humor: it’s clever, but it isn’t emotionally engaging. Rated as a novel; add an extra star if you’re just interested in the puzzle. *** Liberal, mild-mannered New Yorker (Charles Bronson) turns vigilante after an assault on his wife and daughter leaves the former dead and the latter in a catatonic state, becoming in the process a public hero and a police headache. Less restrained and more exciting than the Brian Garfield book on which it is based, but also somewhat less believable as a result. Still, this is satisfying escapism for anyone who is concerned about violent crime or who believes that self-defense is the answer. Includes a brilliant bit of adaptation (the screenplay was written by Wendell Mayes) that much improves an important trip to Tucson, where the city and a business client (smartly played by Stuart Margolin) put the finishing touches on the vigilante's psychological turn toward retribution. Followed by four sequels. **** Imperfect yet superior thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill as a married couple who take to the sea to heal after the death of their only child, finding their own lives threatened when they take aboard the sole survivor (Billy Zane) from a derelict schooner. Sort of the big-budget Hollywood version of Roman Polanski's low-key Knife in the Water and, in its own way, just as good. Expertly directed, with a few nicely evocative moments amid all the suspenseful action, and well acted by all. Does, however, include a regrettable denouement. Based on the book by Charles Williams. ** Less than thrilling account of spacefarer Olof Carlsen battling alien energy vampires who can move from one body to another. After an early encounter with one such creature, in the body of a beautiful woman, Carlsen finds himself psychically linked to her, with new powers of his own to drain the energy of others as well as read their minds, using his abilities principally to cheat on his wife. Perhaps it's not as bad as all that, but this is a slow-mover that talks a good game -- linking criminality (particularly in the sexual arena) to vampirism -- but fails to demonstrate it with any meaningful action. The book, says Wilson, is "indebted" to A. E. van Vogt's short story "Asylum." Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directed the adaptation in 1985 as Lifeforce. ** Giant prehistoric shark — a 60-foot, 20-ton megalodon — inadvertently lured from its feeding grounds deep in the Mariana Trench, eats innocents and idiots alike, while a small band of marine lovers try to capture it. One teenage boy, after witnessing the gruesome death of a rival surfer, asks a suddenly available beach bunny for a date. An Author’s Note assures us of considerable research, then recommends a single book, on great whites. Superficial and largely puerile. * Low-budget, poorly made horror film vaguely inspired by Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring about two young women who are kidnapped and brutalized by a group of thugs and eventually murdered, after which the thugs seek temporary lodging in the home of one of the girls' parents who, discovering their crimes, seek bloody revenge. Too amateurish to generate much excitement (Craven clearly learned nothing of character development or how to create audience empathy from Bergman's film) and too dumb to provoke anger (far too many examples to list), this film is ultimately distasteful yet quickly forgotten. Praised, however, by Roger Ebert, who never reviewed The Virgin Spring, but could scarcely have given it a higher rating if he had. This edition includes soundless footage as a "bonus," expanding (not surprisingly) on the rape and torture of the girls. Remade, much more successfully, in 2009. *** Disappointingly episodic western loosely based on the outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid). Parts of it work marvelously well -- especially a long sequence during which Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) are tracked by a group of lawmen with almost super-human powers of pursuit -- but that's the problem: it's a piecemeal effort without any overriding theme or story, other than a couple of guys on the run. Katharine Ross plays Sundance's girlfriend who also has a thing for Butch (accounting for the famous bicycle sequence featuring B. J. Thomas singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"), but again it leads nowhere. (A later musical interlude, this one featuring a lot of bah-buh-dum lyrics by The Swingtones is much less successful.) Great chemistry between Newman and Redford, however. In all, a could-have-been that later was, in another George Roy Hill film, The Sting. |
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