Remake of Meir Zarchi's brainless ode to torture is slicker and in some ways sicker than the original. The basic story remains the same: young woman (Sarah Butler) goes to backwoods house to write a book and is set upon by a group of violent opportunistic rapists who live to regret their unsociable behavior as she picks them off one by one in revenge. The big difference here is the weird way in which our heroine begins to channel Torquemada as she creates one elaborate torture device after another to exact her retribution, becoming in the process even more depraved than her attackers. (Ms. 45 would have kissed a bullet just for this chick.) So, once again, the woman loses, and Zarchi (co-producer here) who says he once rescued a rape victim in real life, metaphorically slaps her around a little more. Followed by several sequels.
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Remake of Meir Zarchi's brainless ode to torture is slicker and in some ways sicker than the original. The basic story remains the same: young woman (Sarah Butler) goes to backwoods house to write a book and is set upon by a group of violent opportunistic rapists who live to regret their unsociable behavior as she picks them off one by one in revenge. The big difference here is the weird way in which our heroine begins to channel Torquemada as she creates one elaborate torture device after another to exact her retribution, becoming in the process even more depraved than her attackers. (Ms. 45 would have kissed a bullet just for this chick.) So, once again, the woman loses, and Zarchi (co-producer here) who says he once rescued a rape victim in real life, metaphorically slaps her around a little more. Followed by several sequels.
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++ When their little girl is abducted by malevolent spirits, the Bowen family turns to paranormal investigators to help get her back. Remake of the 1982 Steven Spielberg production manages to follow its central storyline nearly to the end, but falls short of the original in almost every other way. Much of the movie is composed of variations on scenes and ideas from the earlier film, and while some of them work, others do not. Most noticeable is the absence not of the mother's fear but of her wonder and delight for the spirit world that made the other so unique. One original idea -- that of turning the little girl's frightened brother into a hero -- simply smacks of pandering. Relentlessly updated and modernized, with flat screen TVs, cell phones, and one of those remote controlled toy drones; regrettably, diminutive medium Zelda Rubinstein is given the same treatment, being replaced by the host (Jared Harris) of a supernatural-themed reality TV show. Some of the special effects, particularly in the early going, are very good, though. With, as the Bowen family, Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, and Kennedi Clements. +1/2 Super-serious yet silly religious horror film starring Winona Ryder as a Catholic schoolteacher who moonlights as an exorcist's assistant; she gets the assignment of a lifetime when a possessed mathematician puts her on to the true-crime writer (Ben Chaplin) chosen by Satan to become the antichrist. If Satan were as stupid and weak as movies like this one would have us believe, we'd have no need for God. Poorly written (by Pierce Gardner) and ineptly directed by Kamiński (who, to take but one example, unnecessarily delays a dramatic reveal -- the writer finding proof that he has been marked -- then jump-cuts through it with the speed of an afterthought). Chaplin, however, plays his part well: that is, if the vacancy in his eyes is meant to suggest the emptiness of soul that makes him an attractive target for Satan's usurpation. With a few good, if ultimately pointless, special effects. +++1/2 Surprisingly funny gender-switch film in which a magical Indian idol swaps the identities of a bickering husband and wife (John Hubbard and Carole Landis) when their latest argument ends with them agreeing on one thing: each would rather live the life of the other. Starts out as an ordinary comedy, wisely taking its time getting to the transference so as to set up a host of later jokes and situations. None of which, let it be known, are introspective: the comedy here is strictly confined to the reversal of traditional gender roles. Its one mistake is having the characters retain their original voices, but the movie is so good-natured that this is a minor quibble. With an excellent supporting cast including Adolphe Menjou, Mary Astor, Joyce Compton, Donald Meek, and Yolande Donlan, the latter playing the couple's scorching French maid. Based on the book by Thorne Smith. +++ Entertaining gonzo Western comedy with Cleavon Little set up to fail by a corrupt politician as the first black sheriff of a small frontier town. Funny, for the most part, with a few memorably hilarious moments, such as when a black railroad gang makes their white overseers look positively childish as they trade work songs. Of course, as is to be expected in any broad comedy, the movie has its share of unappealing dead spots as well. Little, however, is personable throughout. With an ending that might have inspired the final moments of the following year's Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Also with Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn, and others. ++ Regrettably faithful adaptation of Thomas Harris' horror novel (up until the end) is little more than glossy, well-acted torture porn, and as such set the tone for later films like Saw and Hostel. After a drug bust goes sour, FBI Agent Clarice Starling (here played by Julianne Moore -- both director Jonathan Demme and actress Jodie Foster begged off this sequel to The Silence of the Lambs) is relegated to working the dormant Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter case, but catches a break when a severely disfigured Lecter survivor's offer of a reward for information on Lecter's whereabouts rousts him out of hiding in Florence. Which is too bad, really, as the film's most engaging performance is given by Giancarlo Giannini as an Italian cop who just can't say no to three million dollars. Starling comes off slightly better here than in the novel, though that isn't saying much: with her bizarre little-girl attraction to Lecter, she still makes sexist hiring practices seem like a good idea. (Where's Will Graham when you need him?) Both gross and grotesque, with face-eating dogs, flesh-eating pigs, and a brain-eating cannibal -- and "humor" that equates Lecter's enemies with Judas and Lecter himself with Christ. +++ Based on the non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, then of The Washington Post, whose investigative reporting was instrumental in bringing the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon's administration into public view. Significantly, Jason Robards, playing the Post's executive editor, won an Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actor), while neither Robert Redford (Woodward) nor Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) was even nominated. This is because this film is strictly a reportorial yarn -- a very well made one, to be sure -- in which the two stars might as well be playing Reporter #1 and Reporter #2. It is so laser focused on uncovering the conspiracy that the conspiracy itself fails to thrill. It's a wonderful advertisement for journalism, but much less successful as a human drama. Yet on its own terms -- that is, as fodder for political and journalism junkies -- it works. ++++1/2 Director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton's follow-up to Cat People may be the best zombie movie ever made. Of course, we're talking old school zombies here. The story takes place on a small Caribbean island, where the descendants of African slaves practice voodoo. It is told by Betsy, the nurse who comes to the island to care for plantation-owner Paul Holland's ailing wife, Jessica. Jessica, we discover, lives in a semi-comatose state: though she can walk and follow simple directions, she has no will of her own. The story, written by Curt Siodmak (Donovan's Brain) and Ardel Wray, is one of surprising depth. There's the double-backstory, for instance -- of the island's history and the history of Paul and his family -- the brooding atmosphere, and the realistic detail of the voodoo rituals. Layered one atop the other, what emerges is a portrait of a family torn apart by dark forces and passions. Relatively early in the film, Betsy and Paul's brother sit down for a drink at a local bar. Their conversation is interrupted by a calypso singer (Sir Lancelot), telling the story of the Holland family. The words provide backstory, the style a Caribbean atmosphere, and the title, "Shame and Sorrow," the theme of the entire picture. A short film this may be, but it packs a lot into 69 minutes. +++ If this film didn't star Steve McQueen; if it didn't open with a silly -- but catchy -- Burt Bacharach tune (lyrics by Mack David); if it weren't just clever enough to distract us from the monster's Achilles heel by giving us another plausible reason why the Blob doesn't kill McQueen and his girlfriend when it has the chance; if its brand of nostalgia weren't so hard to come by -- you know, the honest if not the trendy kind, where kids rebel but still love their parents and siblings; and if it didn't occasionally succeed in horrifying the more helpfully imaginative members of its audience; if it weren't for these things, this slack and often awkward movie wouldn't be nearly as fun as it is. Old man unwisely pokes a meteorite, the gooey contents of which seize his hand and begin to eat him up. McQueen and his girlfriend (Aneta Corsaut, later to become one of Sheriff Andy Taylor's potential brides in The Andy Griffith Show), haul the geezer to the town doctor, unwittingly feeding it a couple more bodies, whereupon the kids decide they must warn an unbelieving town of the gelatinous monster from space. Followed 14 years later by a sequel, Beware! The Blob, directed by Larry Hagman, and remade in 1988 as a film starring Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith. ++ Adaptation of Robert Marasco's horror novel starring Karen Black and Oliver Reed, co-written by director Curtis and the co-creator of Logan's Run (William F. Nolan). Largely dull slow-mover (nobody said it was a bad adaptation) about a small family whose summer home -- a forbidding yet remarkably inexpensive mansion -- has a mind of its own. Marasco did little to illuminate the motivations of his characters (including the house) and this film does even less. With Betty Davis as Reed's elderly aunt and Burgess Meredith in a small role as co-owner of the house. Soporific. |
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