(1980)
Dir - Ken Russell
Overall: GOOD
Arguably the best realized, thoroughly tripped-out work in Ken Russell's career, (yet still gleefully ridiculous at times), is his adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky's novel Altered States. Scientifically researched and written for the screen by Chayefsky himself, (though he ultimately used the alias Sidney Aaron after having a falling out with Russell), it is incredibly dialog dense and the entire cast burns through their psychoanalytical lines at an almost challenging rate. Russell balances the primarily wordy script with elaborate hallucination scenes that are almost comical in their intensity. Even without all the heavy-handed philosophical themes about the discovery of the self through the search for "god" and the embracing of primordial man, the film is visually engrossing. Performance wise, it is universally strong, particularly William Hurt in his movie debut as a deeply troubled, egocentric psychopathologist who is hell-bent on breaking through increasingly dangerous barriers to prove his theories. Blair Brown as his hopelessly in love biological anthropologist wife deserves as much praise and the same also goes for the superb make-up effects by Dick Smith.
(1984)
Dir - Lloyd Kaufman/Michael Herz
Overall: GOOD
Though Troma Entertainment had been making and distributing sleazed-out B-movies for ten years, The Toxic Avenger was the entry that truly set the template for decades of trash to follow. Troma co-founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz initially set out to revitalize what they oddly heard was a dead horror genre, but the juvenile superhero movie from hell is less horrific and more splattery cartoon stupidity. Deliberately cheap yes, but gore-wise it is actually rather impressive with liquefied body parts and solid transformation make-up looking as good as any respectable, violent monster movie from the era. The knowingly ridiculous touches take up the most prime real estate though. Racial, overweight, handicapped and homosexual stereotypes are made fun of with reckless abandon, the dialog and performances are purposely awful, nudity is everywhere, the soundtrack is made up mostly of pop, funk, and rock music with lyrics, and children, animals, and the elderly are either brutally murdered, beaten, threatened with firearms, or prostituted. It is a benchmark of bad taste and on-the-nose-moronic filmmaking if ever such a thing existed.
(1988)
Dir - Anthony Hickox
Overall: MEH
Films like Waxwork, (the debut from genre filmmaker Anthony Hickox), thrive more on their goofy shortcomings than fall apart because of them. This is in large part due to writer/director Hickox setting up the campy, comedic tone right from the get-go, allowing things like embarrassing dialog, ham-bone acting, underwritten characters, and logical gaps to be not only forgivable, but rather welcome. The cast of familiar faces includes Zach Galligan, David Warner, Deborah Foreman, and Dana Ashbrook, all of whom seem to be taking the proceedings as seriously as they deserve. Sadly, the direction is highly rushed as well as awkward at times and the film is never as funny as it tries to be. Things work out rather enjoyably though when a number of horror cliches are lovingly basked in. This primarily comes down to the premise which though absurd, allows for a handful of amusing scenes involving werewolves, vampires, mummies, zombies, and even Marquis de Sade since why not? It is silly stuff, though appropriately so.
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