(1980)
Dir - Peter Medak
Overall: MEH
Airing later in the same year that he delivered the exceptional haunted house film The Changeling, Peter Medak was also behind the lens for the ABC Friday Night Movie The Babysitter. A far less memorable effort in comparison of course, it is still notable as a pre-T.J. Hooker vehicle for William Shatner who is joined by a top-billed Patty Duke in the frequently repeated story of a young, wacky, home-wrecking seductress playing both sides of a slightly troubled marriage against each other. Things unfold predictably and obnoxiously as Duke's character moronically confines in Stephanie Zimbalist's clearly manipulative villainess, all while Shatner is just as much of a chump while falling for her sexual advances. Everyone eventually comes around to what is happening, but only once it is literally beating them over the head. Along the way, it seems as if key scenes are missing and the fact that the film fails to pick up any real diabolical tension until the last eight or so minutes just makes it an annoying chore of too much unrewarded dramatic irony to bare.
(1985)
Dir - William Malone
Overall: MEH
A particularly lousy, no-budget Alien knock-off of which there were many, Creature has a few attributes for genre enthusiasts to take note of at least. The second feature-length work from co-writer/director William Malone, (who had made 1980's Scared to Death and would go on to do the House on Haunted Hill remake as well as the infamous FeardotCom), it also features lousy special effects from Robert and Denis Skotak who fittingly did much better work with John Richardson on Aliens around the same time. As horrendously cheap as it is catastrophically boring, the movie is given a slight, much needed jolt when Klaus Kinski brings his always natural unwholesomeness to the proceedings about a half-hour in. Though he is delegated to a bit part, Kinski makes the most of it by chewing his scenery just enough to seem as if he was not merely sleep-walking through another paycheck as he was sometimes wont to do. There are a few other recognizable faces with Ferris Bueller's dad Lyman Ward, Bruce Dern's hot, The 'Burbs trophy wife Wendy Schael, Pee-Wee's brief love interest Diane Salinger, and Twin Peaks' Annette McCarthy. Elsewhere though, this is a typically embarrassing effort for all parties involved who have to make the most out of the limited, seventy-five cent sets and a cliche-ridden script. It certainly has discount VHS bin/"Can't believe it wasn't produced by Roger Corman"/bad movie nostalgia written all over it.
(1987)
Dir - Sam Raimi
Overall: GOOD
After his failed collaboration with the Coen brothers in 1985's Crimewave, Sam Raimi and his trusted band of cohorts scored a substantial budget from Dino De Laurentiis for Evil Dead II; much more of a remake than a proper sequel to the first installment. A beloved comedy/horror hybrid and signature work for its director, this was the movie that truly established Raimi's adrenaline-ridden, Looney Tunes with gore aesthetic that would serve him throughout the rest of his career, (just minus the gore part when it came to the Spider-Man trilogy). The film only has two modes; jacked-up ridiculousness and pin-drop quiet while waiting for more jacked-up ridiculousness. While this can be irksome at times, the set pieces are so bombastically inventive that they are impossible not to fall for. Both this and especially the original Evil Dead's production values get by on their DIY charm and Raimi plays with the concept of manically relentless demons tormenting Bruce Campbell while ravaging cinema's most famous cabin in the woods as if he has limitless resources at his disposal. Stop-motion animation, geysers of blood, animatronics, monster makeup, matte paintings; everything is thrown at the screen to garnish the ghoulish giggles. A preposterous movie by design, it is a hoot for all of its intended reasons.
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