Alien (1979)

 

Running Time: 112 minutes

Media: DVD

 

A few months ago, a great actor, John Hurt died from cancer at the age of 77. This was one of his earlier movies, and it seemed to be a great idea for a tribute review in dedication of him. He will be forever remembered in his varied roles, including that of the titular Elephant Man, as Ollivander in the Harry Potter series, and the War Doctor in the Doctor Who franchise. He captured our hearts and imaginations and for that I am truly grateful that he graced our lives. Rest in peace, John.

So, without further ado, we move our focus to the actual film itself, Alien, released in 1979. Star Wars – A New Hope, which released some three years earlier served as the coat tails, for which this movie pretty much ride on, with Ridley Scott clinging on to George Lucas with his interpretation of what aliens could be.

Scott paints an eerie picture of isolation, desperation and horror in this film. But how well does it pay-off?

I will tackle the one at a time… Isolation, we have a deep space towing vessel, naturally, in deep space, making its way back to earth with a huge haul of some kind of magical space ore that must be worth a motza on the profits alone. Looking back on this some 38 years since its release, it seems quite cliche to say the least. To be honest, this movie did pretty much set the trend for many well-used film cliches over the next forty or so years. The sets alone, cold, dark, dimly lit and yet, correct me if in wrong here, some look like they had been padded with leather in places (?), still give a feeling of solitude. Hell, they even throw in a freaking cat into the mix to add the "We're all alone up here, let's give it the 'Crazy Cat Lady' feel" cliche. The cat served as a semi-plot device for part of the film, kinda like how Wilson the volleyball did in Cast Away, but less convoluted. Cat does jump-scare, where's the cat, must save cat from villain, end scene with cat...

I know the tagline of "In space no one can hear you scream" was meant to send chills down your spine; I mean, come on, this was meant to be for all intents and purposes, the first space horror, right? I kinda took this a little literally. Of course not, I thought, once you're in space, there isn't sufficient atmosphere to carry sound waves, not to mention, if you're in space, you'd freeze-dry before you could get the scream out. Maybe the tagline should have been written as "In the right kind of pressurized atmospheric environment, people could probably hear you scream"...?

But I digress... It's this setting that makes the audience feel isolated, kinda depressed and trapped, that it forces them to sit and live the plot as it unfolds. You feel the cabin fever and paranoia of Veronica Cartwright's character creep inside you as crew members get cut down, one by one. It's like watching Scream in outer space, but without the crazy motive. You already feel the inevitability of Tom Skerritt's character as soon as he enters the air ducts. You know he's gonna die in there. The lovely xenomorph does the lovely jump scare and you half expect it to say "Whassup!"

Personally, I thought this scene was somewhat comical in nature, a bit like the scene in The Exorcist where Reagan does the projectile vomit bit.

Desperation seems to drive paranoia and vice versa. Parker, played by Live or Let Die actor Yaphet Kotto, seems more focused on surviving for profits' sake. I have to admit, I was surprised that he and Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) lasted as long as they did. I'll be brutally honest, I wanted Lambert to die far sooner than she did in the film.

Now, let's focus on the horror aspect of Alien. I was three when this came out, I'm forty now, so thirty-seven years of experiences to prepare me for this film and what it had in store. I was gripped on the edge of my seat for about forty or so minutes while the Face Hugger latched onto Kane's face and played tonsil hockey, only to have it die later on, and then have the tiny alien burst out Kane's chest... It kinda went all anticlimactic after that. Jump scares and things latching onto faces and aliens bursting out of chests is all very well and good. But somehow, this teensy little alien hit xenomorph puberty and grew to umpteen feet in a few hours film time... What..!? How does that f[CENSORED]king work? Ridley, you have some explaining to do, bro.

Aside from these, there's the mouth on the tongue in a mouth thing... That's the stuff nightmares are made out of... How many levels does that go?

And to be honest, if you're into something that will make you feel both in awe and disgust, google "Xenomorph Pikachu".

But that aside, one thing most of us didn't expect seeing was an android, in this case, Ash, who basically blindly followed orders without a care. All crewmen were expendable. Fast forward to when Ripley, Lambert, Parker and Ash were the only crew members left, the 'android murder' scene was both scary and ridiculous at the same time. Parker managed to cut Ash's head off and was still flailing about like a headless chicken, but with what looked like semi-cooked linguine sticking out of his neck, and bleeding what looked like condensed milk... In fact, the android interrogation scene kinda looks like an orgy gone wrong. You just have to take my word for it and see the movie...

So let's cut to the chase. What did I think of Sigourney Weaver in the film? This initial performance as Ellen Ripley, I have to confess, was actually kinda wooden in places. Bearing in mind that this was her third film at that point in time, I kinda also blame Dan O'Bannon for writing her character that way. Ripley became less one-dimensional in later movies and so I fail to see why O'Bannon didn't consider any character development for Ripley within this film. I mean, she's meant to be the surviving cast member of this film, and we barely see her running away from the alien, let alone really facing up to it. More stay put, dodge, then blow it out the airlock... I don't know, it felt like it needed something to kick it up a notch. The face hugger scene was great, but once Tom Skerritt's character was on the chopping block, the film kinda followed suit. It almost feels like they were in a hurry to get to a happy-ish kind of ending and weren't afraid to make certain sacrifices to achieve that...

I'm willing to give Alien a 3½ star rating only because this was one of those watershed moments that dramatically changed the way we thought about horror and science fiction, even though it does lack in character development of the main protagonist and it rushes to the ending such that its lustre is lost on the audience. I hope to be reviewing the sequel Aliens soon, and I hope that I'll be giving it a higher rating.

World War Z

Running Time: 116 minutes

Media: Cinematic Release

The only reason I managed to get to see this was because my lovely wife is away seeing a friend of hers who just had a little boy... Me, I normally don't get time off... Wait, yes, listeners, that's right, I did say "wife"... I got married back in May and so far things are going rather swimmingly. It also explains my three month absence, so I do apologize... Things have been hectic with work and all, and so I have a number of reviews to write and little time with which to do them.

That being said, I decided to see this on a whim, seeing my wife was away and I needed some down time... and come to think of it I seriously need to find time to do yet another movie marathon... I am so itching to see six back-to-back... And who knows I may even be able to make it seven if I'm really clever... Anyway, I digress... 

Okay, World War Z... was conceptualized by Max Brooks, and yes, it is based on a novel... well, not a novel per se, but a "written oral history of the Zombie War" in a matter of speaking... I have read the novel, and it covers the geo-political, socio-economic, religious and environmental changes to society resulting from the spread of zombies and the ensuing battle for survival by the human race. That's the book. The movie, slightly different... It has Brad Pitt shooting, hacking, slicing and wrestling with zombies while at the same time out-running explosions and surviving miraculously with each turn in his quest to save humanity.

So naturally, what the book and the movie have in common is that they're both entitled "World War Z"... It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? Well, here's where we have the closest thing to a plot in this movie. Brad Pitt a former United Nations investigator (it seems his "new" job now is to make pancakes for the rest of his family), called Gerry Lane, finds himself running from a swarm of rapidly turning zombies whilst waiting in traffic with his family. Miraculously, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations manages to reach him with pretty much clear reception and offers to pick him and his family up from some high point somewhere in Philadelphia where they manage to escape even more zombies, including the newly zombified family of a Hispanic child called Tomas, whom they take with them.

Guess what? The Deputy Secretary-General wasn't doing Gerry a favor. No, he needs his help... he's supposedly the only man for the job? No, there's a virologist who is to team up with him to help find the answers. It seems the virologist has a thing for loaded weapons, as audience members will soon discover... 

Gerry finds that he must travel to Korea, Israel and Wales in order to find the answers. And of course, he finds he just can't get away from those damn zombies, they're everywhere, man! So in his process of running from zombies, explosions and anything else preventing him from running, it seems that he finds solace in Wales along with a research team in Cardiff, only to miraculously figure out a solution that may help sort out this nasty zombie business... 

The climax towards the end, really isn't, because, let's face it, it's so f[CENSORED]king predictable that it just had to have that Hollywood type ending... And my worst fears were founded when the scene played right before my eyes, almost schmaltzy in nature... A whole spray can of Easy Cheese has nothing on this... To add insult to injury the anti-climax is followed by a thirty or so second scene which involves a soda pop dispensing machine; and will send you cringing as you try to stifle forced laughter as the disbelief-a-meter rises, and lo, and behold, the great Messiah Brad Pitt has pretty much saved humanity.

The only other name I recognized in the cast of the film was David Morse, who barely gets a mention as a toothless weapons merchant who sold guns to people in North Korea. Total amount of screen time? About five minutes... That's about 4% of the total screen time of this film... To be honest, he was there as filler, nothing more.

J. Michael Straczynski, who also wrote 92 of the 110 episodes of Babylon 5 was responsible for the adaptation of the book to film... Did he do a good enough job? I literally have to think about this... Yes... and then No... Yes, in the sense that there is enough action and thrills to get the heart racing and the blood flowing fast enough to make you watch to the end... And no, in the sense that there are a number of points in the film which are never mentioned in the book, as well as scenes which would make a Babylon 5 episode seem more believable. I found myself shaking my head at the time-again-tested predictability of the film. It was enough to make me want to cry at times... 

I also stuck around to watch the credits... And I just have to ask... why are there so many rotoscopers in the film crew? What are they rotoscoping? The last time I heard the phrase used it was regarding the graphics required for the lightsabers in the newer (but older) Star Wars movies.

To sum it up, the make up was good for the zombies, it seemed fairly suitable given the nature of the film, but everything was taken from the book and ramped up several notches. It's like taking a Bugatti, adding a nitrous oxide booster, and then slamming on the gas pedal... yes, you get a ride, but it's one that feels too out of control, too unbelievably fast and hard to escape from. And then the anti-climax comes and it's like driving that Bugatti straight into the walls of the Hoover Dam. Alonso Duralde of The Wrap reviewed this film as well, saying, "For all its effectiveness at portraying the horror of possible human extinction, the film's actual humans are so soulless that this could just as well be the movie version of the video game Plants vs. Zombies." I couldn't agree with Duralde more, there's no real advancement or development for the characters in the story save for that of Pitt, explosion-dodger extraordinaire. If it wasn't for the heart-jumping scenes at the start, this movie would have gotten far less than what I'm prepared to give it. When it comes to recent zombie movies over the last few years, even Warm Bodies will earn far higher than this. World War Z receives 2½ stars... You know, zombies may not be real, but after seeing this... I feel like my brains been eaten anyhow...

My Name Is Bruce

I don't mind the occasional Bruce Campbell movie... Army of Darkness is one of my favorites. My Name Is Bruce, sadly, is not one of my favorites... And I'll tell you why, although the movie has its moments, they're far and few between and the movie itself is a spoof on so many levels you forget that there was meant to be a plot line.

To be honest, I'm not sure how seriously I'm meant to take this movie... I have a feeling that this was deliberately done to spoof the number of schlocky B-grade films that have starred Bruce; and to be honest, I think I may be right. Bruce intentionally take the piss out of his own movie career and throws some even crappier fake movies on top of this to really upstage it.

This movie actually reminds me of ¡The Three Amigos! in plot line in many ways:

1) There is a main antagonist who is terrorizing a town;
2) The worried townspeople take solace in the heroes (protagonists) who appear to be the heroes they need to rid themselves of the antagonist; and bring the heroes to the town;
3) The heroes believe this is all meant to be a movie or production of some sort, only to find out that it's all real and there is a possible risk of harm or death to themselves, to then back-pedal out of the town as fast as they can;
4) The heroes get a change of heart when they realize how much everyone who had faith in them now despise them, in particular a possible love interest;
5) An unusual plan is hatched with the aid of some townspeople;
6) The antagonist is vanquished, resulting in the hero regaining the trust and respect of the townspeople.

Those who have seen both of these movies will immediately see the resemblance, and possibly similar links to those of other movies...

I have to give Bruce a little credit here, he's pulled out all stops to take the piss out of himself and still get away with it... there's a few clichés here and there that seem to crop up in such spoofs and although the humor comes in hot and fast, it kinda leaves you flat towards the middle of the film. I want to give it a 1 star rating, but I'd honestly be a bit harsh by doing so. It deserves double this amount, only for the sheer courage that Bruce has found to mock himself, and still get away with something that still ranks above the average on IMDb. For thoswe playing at home, at the time of writing this review IMDb had this movie registered at 6.4 out of 10.

IT

Running Time: 181 minutes.
Media: DVD.

I never thought I would say this, but this movie still gives me the creeps after 21 years... I don't know whether it's because of the horror element, or whether Tim Curry just scares the bejeezus out of me... But Stephen King movies are designed for that one purpose, to scare the living s[CENSORED]t out of the audience; and he succeeds very well! This movie was a two-part series that was screened in the US back in 1990 over two days. The DVD came out some several years later as a double-sided disc, at a whopping 181 minutes... You actually had to flip sides half-way through...

The movie flips back and forth between two timelines of the lives of seven kids from the fictitious town of Derry in Maine. Seems Mr King has a fascination for Maine... which kinda makes sense seeing he was born in Maine so he must know the area rather well... IT is based on the novel of the same name, one of 49 he's written as of this time in 2011... A big achievement i would say in his genre of expertise, but I digress. These seven kids are taunted by the wise-cracking Pennywise the Clown, a character which is apparently just a shell for a being that awakens every 30 years to feed, and it seems that the concept of the "kid's meal" is taken a little too literally by Pennywise, who is apparently responsible for a number of murders then and even further back then.

The kids defeat him (or so they would believe back in 1960), and find out that he's come back some thirty years later, performing more kiddy murders... So we're now faced with a bunch of 40-somethings who then team up to go through the motions yet again and hopefully rid Derry of It once and for all...

I really enjoyed this film, but often felt the hairs of my neck stand up on end, and I love a good horror film that is capable of doing that! It was actually amazing to see both John Ritter and Richard Thomas in the same movie after so many years of starring side by side in the TV series The Waltons... What surprises me the most now is that Jonathan Landis, the guy who played the pre-teen Bill Denborough in the film actually committed suicide some few years back, a bit of a sad loss really. John Ritter also died some time back from heart-related issues. Tim Curry, who plays the role of Pennywise/It is outstanding and outlandish and fits so well in the part, it makes you realize how unique a talent he really is... it truly explains the reasons behind his acquiring the various other roles he has obtained in his career: Tim Curry has talent!

I would recommend this movie for anyone who wants a decent scare... they're guaranteed that with watching IT. I'm giving this 4 stars due to its great storyline, and I look forward to actually reading the novel by King. I'd give the movie 5 stars but there's a reasonable amount of disbelief that I have to take into consideration about the way some of the acting is portrayed at the start of the movie, a little hammy... but you tend to ignore it if you love movies the way I do.

Blade, Blade II and Blade: Trinity

Running Times: 120 minutes, 117 minutes and 113 minutes respectively.
Media: DVD.

I'm probably a bit crazy to see three vampire films back to back, but ask anyone who is a fan of the Twilight series of movies and they'll tell you something else.

The Blade movie trilogy does its best to work Wesley Snipes as the title character and does so rather well, but only for so long. The first movie focuses on the world of dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) Blade whose sole purpose it seems is to rid the world of vampires. Buffy Summers what the hell out... This bastard doesn't do bubble-gum horror. 

Blade in itself is a great movie and while a few scenes are clearly CGI, the movie itself is great to gain a basic grasp of the mythology behind the Marvel comic book character created in 1973. Stephen Dorff plays the ruggedly handsome Deacon Frost, Blade's nemesis in the movie, while the near immortal Kris Kristofferson plays Abraham Whistler, a kind of fatherly Van Helsing type character with a limp. This movie has a few areas which defy belief, for example; a vampire can tolerate sunlight provided they have an ample supply of high-strength sunblock.

Blade seems to have more credibility in this film than he does in the sequels, probably because of the lack of many other characters to tell the story... Wesley Snipes is a great choice for the character and I can see why the choice was made. It's a bit of a pity that he's currently serving time. I'm giving Blade 4 stars for a great film with plenty of action and the occasional blood-sucking vampire!

Okay, now for Blade II, in which Blade decides to join up (somewhat unwillingly) with what he hates the most, vampires; to hunt down an even greater threat, a mutation of vampires known as Reapers, only to find out there's a little conspiracy going on within the ranks.

The movie contains a few actors who, in retrospect are quite familiar with partaking in roles within horror-based movies... The godfather of horror, Ron Perlman, who seems to be a lot more handsome when he's playing Hellboy than when he did playing a Jewish gangster in Drive; and Tony Curran who played Markus Corvinus, the "first vampire" in the Underworld movie series.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Danny John-Jules (the guy who played Cat in the Red Dwarf) series also present, as I was a big Red Dwarf fan when I was younger, but have since not found him playing any major roles in anything. Luke Goss plays Jared Nomak, the original Reaper who is out to seek revenge for his father creating him. Goss's character is very much not necessarily an anti-hero, but more of an anti-villain... He didn't want to be the baad guy, but he.. just is... You kinda feel sorry for him in the end. The movie seems to have less distinguishable CGI, which to me is great, because you don't want to watch a movie and knowingly see CGI occurring... but the movie kinda ends a little sappily when Blade's co-hunter, Nyssa who's been bitten by Nomak wishes to "see the sun again one last time"... Blade seems to share what appears to be a quasi-intimate moment with her as she starts turning to ash as the sun rises. I've given this film 3½ stars for being able to continue the Blade franchise.

Lastly, Blade: Trinity... I think after six years the team at Marvel kinda started losing their touch with the series and decided to throw two new stars in the mix, the ever luscious Jennifer Biel, and the ever-wisecracking entity that is Ryan Reynolds. These two play Abigail Whistler and Hannibal King who are part of a vampire-fighting force known as the Nightstalkers. Their foe? Why only Count Dracula himself, who calls himself "Drake" nowadays... Guess Dracula... Drake likes to keep with the times!

The movie kinda gets a bit ridiculous at times, I'm not sure whether it's because Reynolds' jokes become a bit routine but are funny enough to keep the momentum going, or whether it's because of the somewhat hammy acting of Dominic Purcell, or the somewhat hammier acting of Parker Posey who plays one of Drake's minions, Danica Talos. I did manage to watch the film from start to end in one sitting... but I've come out of it somewhat disappointed... The movie seemed to end a lot quicker than normal, even though I was watching the extended version of the film... I guess what I can say is, that if Marvel do decide to do a reboot of the series, and that they do decide on say, Idris Elba, (of whom has expressed interest in the title role should there be a reboot), that they will have learned their lesson from this previous series... I guess this will be a matter of time as to whether this comes to fruition. I'm giving this 2½ stars due to it still being a somewhat reasonable film... but if it weren't for Jessica's good looks and Ryan's humor throughout the film, I probably would have not watched it.

Fright Night (1985)

Running Time: 106 minutes.
Media: DVD.

Would you believe I picked up this little gem of a DVD for a mere dollar at a garage sale? I was blown away when I saw this and decided to go for it!

Fright Night is a 26 year old movie according to the timeline now, and stars William Ragsdale as the ever paranoid vampire-phobe Charley Brewster... For those playing at home, William Ragsdale played Herman Brooks in the 3-season sitcom series Herman's Head from 1991 to 1994. According to Wikipedia, Ragsdale would have been 24 when the film was made, so the older person playing a teenager idea is nothing new (consider nearly ever member of the cast of Glee). In fact if I recall correctly, Michael J. Fox was about the same age when he started work on Back to the Future; and surprisingly Ragsdale plays the part of a teen rather well, even though he does seem to bear a slight resemblance to Finn from Glee.

The one thing that surprised me is the starring of Amanda Bearse as Amy; and while the name didn't ring any bells that immediately, her face did... Amanda was known for her recurring role as Marcy in Married... With Children... And she's actually quite cute in this film... What the hell happened to her nowadays?

It all seems to go to pot for Charley, a fan of horror films, when he accidentally spies on his next door neighbor sucking neck on an unsuspecting victim. The neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire played by Susan Sarandon's ex-husband, Chris Sarandon, then gives Charley an ultimatum, leave him be, or he'll be killed... Charley, however, prefers to keep living... so he's in deep poop... Hijinks ensue when Charley recruits the services of supposed "vampire killer" Peter Vincent, played by Roddy McDowall, with the help of his girlfriend, Amy, and Charley's best friend, "Evil Ed", who seems to have been placed there for comic relief. At this point, the Movie Madman would like to state that the director failed miserably... It seems that although Stephen Geoffreys, who plays Evil Ed, seems to have a lot of experience in movies such as this, that the addition of him to this film, ironically subtracts more appeal from the film rather than adding to it.

The movie itself starts off with more oomph than you would expect of an 80's vampire flick, but it kinda starts to plateau after about halfway... and to be honest, the acting starts to get a bit lame after that point. Be on the watch for a scene between a recently sired "Evil Ed" and Peter Vincent, as well as a similar scene where these two characters meet again later on in the movie; and you'll see my point.

The back on the DVD boasted "If you love being scared, this will be the night of your life!"... To be honest, I didn't really find this movie as frightening as claimed. The film ends in the stereotypical fashion as most vampire movies did back then, but it's kinda left me kinda disappointed as the acting becomes quite schlocky and the special effects get progressively worse. I'd be more inclined to see how the movie's remake of Fright Night that was released in August earlier this year fares in comparison... I'm giving this movie two stars for the effort, even if it wasn't a decent effort...

The Thing (2011)

Running Time: 102 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.
 
The Thing was the fourth movie in my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011. This movie actually serves as the prequel to the 1982 version of the movie which starred Kurt Russell!

I was actually quite impressed with this sci-fi/horror film, and having seen the 1982 version *ages* ago when I was much younger, this prequel kinda answered a few questions about the original; and it's also made me want to get the original and see it again!

The scene of where it all happens is in the Thule Antarctica station in winter, 1982. Put simply, the Norwegian research team there come across a spaceship underneath the ice; but also an escaped alien encased within the ice, which the team, aided by scientists played by Eric Christian Olsen and Mary Elizabeth Winstead drag back to the station. Winstead plays a very Ripley-esque character who reminds me a lot of Sigourney Weaver's well known role in Alien, whilst still resembling Winona Ryder. You may recall Winstead's portrayal of Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs The World back in 2010.

I guess everyone can figure out what happens next, the alien naturally escapes from the ice... and like in any isolation/alien film, people start getting killed off by the alien. The beautiful thing about The Thing, is that the alien has this natural gift to not only absorb other people but also imitate them... mind you these Things seem to have a knack for not staying hidden for very long... One particular scene involves one particular individual who has been imitated by one of the Things to absorb another individual, fusing with it... It was kinda disgusting actually! But very well done...

The scenes move from one to the next in quick succession and work fast enough for the audience to catch up, but leave you guessing for more as to what happens next. I thoroughly enjoyed this film but will be giving it four and a half stars as the special effects were a little unbelievable at times, even though the film has been carefully researched to incorporate a number of elements from its 1982 sequel.