(1973)
Dir - Alan Rudolph/Gerald Cormier
Overall: MEH
A desert "women in captivity" bit of unabashed exploitation, Terror Circus, (Nightmare Circus, The Barn of the Naked Dead), is equal parts sluggish, ugly, and implausible. A debate as far as who was in the director's chair has raged since the movie's release, with the general conceit being that Alan Rudolph took over from screenwriter Gerald Cormier, though pseudonyms may have been utilized as well. In any event, the movie itself is nothing to write home about, having Andrew Prine playing an underwritten psychopath who way too easily kidnaps, psychologically tortures, physically abuses, and murders a barn full of women in a deranged charade of putting a circus together because his mother died or his dad was mean or whatever. This mild mix of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ruralness, Last House on the Left sadism, and Psycho mama's boy villain inception is half-baked at best, merely throwing early various sleaze elements from more lauded films into something that makes no attempts at exploring any of them. The movie fails to commit to its garish ideas, with only a few nasty and violent scenes, as well as a complete lack of nudity that could easily frustrate those that were hooked in on one of its three marketed titles.
(1977)
Dir - Stuart Hagmann
Overall: WOOF
The last movie from television director Stuart Hagmann, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo also continues screenwriter Guerdon Trueblood's career with bug-infested, made-for-TV genre films. Even more horrendously listless than usual for dopey genre movies that were churned out on the cheap for small screen consumption, Trueblood seems to be swinging for the fences in trying to come up with anything compelling to add to the tired formula. The entire first act is dedicated to Tom Atkins and Howard Hesseman smuggling coffee, (and inadvertently, spiders), out of South America, only to crash land in a field to allow for the real lack of a captivating plot to get underway. Emergency response officials, civilians, and more pilots then try to figure out what brought the plane down, what kind of arachnids they are dealing with, (turns out they are banana spiders and not tarantulas at all), how they can be stopped, and some stuff about oranges and alcohol which is so insultingly boring as to cause a stroke for the viewer. It all concludes with what can fairly be described as the most anti-climactic and unexciting finale in the history of motion pictures, where the spiders are hypnotized by wasp noises and then slowly, (again, slowly), removed from a factory before the power malfunctions and a couple of people who are not at all in danger can slowly, (again, slowly), be led to safety.
Dir - Stuart Hagmann
Overall: WOOF
The last movie from television director Stuart Hagmann, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo also continues screenwriter Guerdon Trueblood's career with bug-infested, made-for-TV genre films. Even more horrendously listless than usual for dopey genre movies that were churned out on the cheap for small screen consumption, Trueblood seems to be swinging for the fences in trying to come up with anything compelling to add to the tired formula. The entire first act is dedicated to Tom Atkins and Howard Hesseman smuggling coffee, (and inadvertently, spiders), out of South America, only to crash land in a field to allow for the real lack of a captivating plot to get underway. Emergency response officials, civilians, and more pilots then try to figure out what brought the plane down, what kind of arachnids they are dealing with, (turns out they are banana spiders and not tarantulas at all), how they can be stopped, and some stuff about oranges and alcohol which is so insultingly boring as to cause a stroke for the viewer. It all concludes with what can fairly be described as the most anti-climactic and unexciting finale in the history of motion pictures, where the spiders are hypnotized by wasp noises and then slowly, (again, slowly), removed from a factory before the power malfunctions and a couple of people who are not at all in danger can slowly, (again, slowly), be led to safety.
(1979)
Dir - Nicholas Meyer
Overall: GOOD
Screenwriter-turned director Nicholas Meyers's adaptation of Karl Alexander's novel Time After Time, (which was still in its preparation phase during the film's production), is a clever companion piece to the well-respected 1960 film The Time Machine, pitting H.G. Wells against Jack the Ripper which is to say Malcom McDowell against David Warner. The two English thespians make a wonderful pair of dueling time travelers, each venturing from 1893 London to contemporary San Francisco, with Wells discovering the identity of the famous and never-caught serial killer of his day, tracking him several decades in the future and all with the aforementioned machine that the author conceived of. It is an effective angle to have Wells' optimistic hopes for mankind be dashed away by a late 70s American where violence seems to be more readily accepted and nurturing for the Ripper to thrive, but most of the fun comes out of the reliable performances, fish-out-of-water high-jinks, and an adorable romance between McDowell and Mary Steenburgen. Meyer handles the material with brisk ease, keeping enough humor, suspense, and creativity coming without much cinematic flair, all of which forgives some unconvincing special effects early on.
No comments:
Post a Comment