Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Kappa Kid's Dungeon of Schlock

^^Yeah, James Brown's "Rocky IV" soundtrack song "Living in America" introduced me to that great artist.

Arguably the most infamous of the Nightmare on Elm Street films, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a strange animal. While it's a direct sequel to the first film, it pretty much throws most of the rules that are set up in Craven's work. For instance, Freddy can rip out of Jesse's body to kill people, but then Jesse is perfectly fine the next scene later and has blood all over them. Plus, Freddy is completely in the real world at one point and slicing kids up at a pool party. How did he get there? Are we to assume that all those kid are asleep at that point? Besides the weird gaps in the logic, there are actually some really impressive practical effects on the scene, especially for the aforementioned Freddy coming out of Jesse's body sequence. As many have pointed for years, the undertones of repressed homosexuality are pretty strong. Scenes of Jesse dancing very sensually to club music or leaving sex with his girlfriend to seek the help of his friend in his bedroom are pretty funny to watch now, but I'm sure they struck a chord with many gay Americans in the 80's. Plus, the climax involving Jesse's girlfriend kissing Freddy to free Jesse does seem to be symbolic of pushing Jesse back into the closet so to speak. Overall, it's a very uneven film with high ambitions thematically, but falls short in the script department.



Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I love me a good werewolf movie and The Howling is easily one of the best out there. Released in a 1981, this movie, along with An American Werewolf in London and Wolfen, really kickstarted a boom of werewolf movies that year. Joe Dante is one my favorite underrated directors and he really brings his A game with this movie. The film is dripping in bright, glowing colors from the sleazy streets downtown Los Angeles to the faint moonlight between the trees. Dante relies heavily on color to create mood and atmosphere, which reminds me a lot of Dario Argento's Suspiria. Dee Wallace is great as Karen White and brings a great sense of vulnerability to the role. However, the show is stolen by Robert Picardo as werewolf serial killer Eddie Quist. His line delivery is creepy as hell and he has a great presence on screen. The effects are top notch, especially when you consider how small the budget was. Picardo's transformation sequence is done with very few cuts or shots with poor lighting. It's a true testament to the ingenuity of well done practical effects. Give this one a watch!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Haven't watched "The Howling" for something like 20 years!

I do remember liking it, especially that stinger at the end, when the surviving werewolves are at a diner and the sexy female werewolf tells the unsuspecting cook she wants her hamburger "raw." LOL

That ending is great!

I especially love how it's completely out of tone with the dark ending just a scene before. It's a perfect example of Dante's brilliant mixing of horror and comedy.

Planet of the Vampires – (1965)



This Italian sci-fi was directed by Mario Bava, who is well known in the horror genre for influential movies such as Black Sunday and Twitch of the Death Nerve.

This film begins with the crew of the spacecraft Argos & Galliot investigating a signal of unknown origin coming from the planet Aura. There’s a familial link between the two ships to add some personal ties, with the Argo’s captain having a brother on the Galliot. That provides a quick payoff (although there would be more later) when contact with the Galliot is lost and the Argos also looks likely to crash land on Aura.

Visually, the sets of the spacecraft have the look of the sparsely furnished ships of classic 1950s sci fi movies. The uniforms of the crew would be completely lifted forty years later (if not before) to be the uniforms of the X-Men. One of the few differences is that the uniforms here have very high collars. With a title of Planet of the Vampires, I couldn’t help thinking that this would have something to do with the plot.

We’re introduced to a fairly large cast, and the identical uniforms do make a number of them seem interchangeable. It doesn’t take long to be shown why a larger number than usual is required. The Argos is pulled down to the planet’s surface, only to stabilise from the crushing gravity of the pull in the last moments, to land safely (if drained of energy).

On recovering, nearly the whole crew begin to attack each other (with a couple of quite convincing lunges included). This is where I thought those high collars would come in handy, with them having turned into vampiric creatures. But they don't and it turns out the collars are there to provide neck protection when the helmets are added for outdoor work, rather than anything supernatural. There aren’t actually any vampires in the movie. It was a title presumably chosen to capitalise on monster movies of the time.

The captain of the Argos manages to turn the tide of the sudden madness affecting his crew. They are left to try to rescue their colleagues from the Galliot, and investigate the unknown signal, on a hostile planet.

During the course of their investigations, they find a derelict alien craft with the skeletal remains of a race of giant beings. Yet, those giants aren’t the real horror on the planet.

So that’s the premise. It’s also pretty much the premise of the first half of Alien. There, a ship drawn to investigate an unknown signal from an alien planet. It suffers mechanical failures, leaving it there long enough for the plot to unfold.

Dan O’Bannon, the writer of Alien, was always pretty open about the sources for the film. If it’s your first experience of running across a film that has certain elements that have been lifted and dropped, it can be a little jaw dropping. But, in an industry where is happens constantly, his honesty was always light hearted and refreshing. I imagine this didn't go down well with a number of others who tried to conceal that they did exactly the same thing, in order to take all the credit.

But it’s not only the script of Alien where there are similarities. There are plenty of visual & audio links too. Alien looks like Planet of the Vampires with a much larger budget. Which is a huge credit to Bava. In Alien, the Nostromo comes to life as we see commands flicker across the reflection of a space helmet. The helmets are in similar key positions in Planet.

The distinctive look of the Space Jockey craft in Alien comes directly from the design of the Argos in Planet. The atmosphere and rock formations of Aura clearly resemble the hostile surface of Acheron/ LV-246 in Alien. Bava really makes the best use of his budget on the effects here. It’s a nasty looking place and you sympathise with the crew for wanting to get away as quickly as they can repower their ship. I particularly liked the clever camera angles and ship props to give the feeling that the crew were with a huge craft. Even the recorded voice of the Giants in Planet bears an uncanny similarity to the distress signal in Alien.

There are lots of little cues between the two films. It’s interesting that some of the clunkier bits of Alien are the edges of things from Planet that they didn’t quite drop in perfectly.

Extending the link between Planet and later films such as Alien (and therefore the likes of Galaxy of Terror, Aliens etc.), it also has strong connections to previous films, most noticeably the Thing from another World.

In both films we’re quickly, and as naturally as possible, introduced to a fairly large cast. Both films involve investigations of alien craft from a central location (ship/outpost) in a hostile environment. There are also similarities in the nature of some of the discoveries. While John Carpenter’s 1982 version of the Thing went back to Campbell’s 1938 story “Who Goes There?” for its source material, rather than Hawks' 1951 film, he does seem to have been quite familiar with Planet of the Vampires too.

But explaining why there is a definite need for all those crew members/ outpost scientists, takes us into the second half of Planet (and the other realted films too), where the crew discover the secrets behind their arrival and of the planet Aura.

We become much more familiar with certain of the crew as the film goes on, which is a plus. There are also a couple of twists at the end, giving it a memorable finish. Even at the finish, there’s a link to the later Alien franchise and the Thing.

In summary, this one is well worth watching in its own right and not just as an exercise to see all the influences within it. It’s well shot, with sets between classic ‘50s sci fi and classic Star Trek episodes.

It’s at its clumsiest right at the start. The script slightly loses the alien signal idea with pseudo-science and some future jargon right as we’re being introduced to the large crew. But both plot and characters become clearer.

There’s an interesting layering where there’s always something unknown to be revealed as the film progresses. These reveals are paced differently as the action can be played through a larger cast than usual, rather than having it forced through the perspective of a couple of characters.

Mario Bava wasn’t just responsible for a number of concepts behind modern horror films, but also some of the most successful sci-fi films too.

Beautifully written, thoth!

Planet of the Vampires is one of those movies I've heard a lot about, but still have yet to see. I know it was a big influence on Dan O' Bannon when he was writing Alien, so I imagine I'll like it a lot.

Aw, thanks. Sometimes I manage to figure out the settings on the random word churner.



I was the same. That's why I've not gone into the second half of the film much, as I didn't want to spoil it. It does seem to be one of those "get around to one day" films.

Having a certain gialli influence (thanks Fickles!) on this thread also helped remind me to take a look.

As an aside, if you want to post a review here, please do! I like hearing what movies you guys love since I exposes me to stuff I may have overlooked or never heard of! (I'm looking at you Dave and Fanfie! )

Great review, Thoth. I love Planet of the Vampires, Bava was a genius.



You're very welcome.



Thank you, KK. I'll contribute something soon. And I second the encouragement for Dave to post a review, too.

The crew of the Argos call Professor X to ask him which one of them is to play Cyclops.

thoth, you'll be happy to know that I gave RoTLD a second watch and I actually enjoyed it a lot more this time around!

I went in the with mindset that the characters were supposed to be over the top and I felt I was able to buy into the absurdity a lot more this time.

That's good to hear you enjoyed it. I was definitely used to seeing lots of over the top teens by the time I saw this one, so they seemed normal to me

Inferno (1980)



This Dario Argento directed horror revolves around a book titled The Three Mothers, a girl in New York who searches for the truth behind it, and her brother in Rome to whom she writes.

The film is comfortable enough in itself to let the first five minutes involve nothing more than having our leading lady, Rose, read a book, write a letter and go to post it.

The book is the Three Mothers, providing us with the framework of the film as well as a link to Argento’s previous Suspiria. The book tells of an architect/ alchemist who created three buildings to house the three mothers. Houses from which they would bring pain, tears, and darkness to the world.

The letter is to Rose’s brother, telling him of her fears that she is perhaps living in one of the buildings. This will bring in the brother, Mark, later on.

The posting of the letter lets us see the building in question, establishing it as a centrepiece that you’ll see in a number of gialli. It also introduces us to the reluctant bookseller next door, who sold Rose the book, and to provide her with a chance to investigate further.

Those investigations lead us to the building’s basement. From the first moment of the film, the lighting looks excellent. Colour themes and shadow run throughout the length of the picture. There’s a red theme used later that I’m not a huge fan of, but that’s mainly because it’s a bit bold and obvious compared to the lighter ones used earlier on.

The easy paced pan of the camera as Rose leaves her building is the first indication of the craft of the cinematography and editing.

From the unexpected whole immersion in the environment Rose finds in the basement to the smaller things such as overhead voices and subtly introduced everyday fears, Inferno really strives to provide an experience to trigger all the senses.

Weather fluctuates, distinctive smells are experienced and pains from the prolonged and gruesome to the sharp and quick are felt. All are seen with the use of some impressive camera work. It’s never jarring, never showy and often very innovative. The lovely locations and sets are filled with accumulated clutter. Lots of visual stimulation from the bookshop to the library.

Combined, the technical aspects of the film really make it a pleasure to watch.

There’s often the habit of having set pieces in this sort of film that can lead to some lovely scenes, but also to a failure of connection between them. Having the plot focus on the book early on, provides something to hang the set pieces onto, preventing it from meandering too much.

There is a device that would be the basis for a whole film if made by a US equivalent. Here, it’s just a moody backprop. It looks lovely but they get wrong on purpose just so they can amplify the effect.

The movie does sag a bit in the final third. A character is introduced to provide a link between the information Rose has and her brother, who has been asked by Rose to come to her aid.

It’s not that we don’t get some nice scenes with this character. In fact, her involvement leads to the fleshing out of a couple of other characters. But her, and their, involvement in the film at that stage robs it of a lot of pace. The plot could have been pushed forward in a number of other ways and their subplots could have been resolved earlier.

The horrors are, as usual for Argento, well ahead of their time. There’s the slasher movie, before there were slasher movies. There’s the sensory, rarely done better than these films. And there’s the phobic, homing in on specific fears. These are technical fails (no CGI in those days) but a bit of imagination is all that’s required.

In summary, this is one I’d definitely recommend. It showcases a number of the strengths of this genre, while mostly overcoming a few of the weaknesses.

It clearly has a higher budget (20th Century Fox at the start) and is a technical progression over previous work.

I reviewed Inferno for IMDB about ten years ago.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080923/reviews?filter=chrono;filter=chrono;start=50

It's clear Thoth and I did not quite see eye-to-eye on the film:

I'm not as versed in Italian horror cinema as others here, but I feel that Fulci was as good a place to start as any, especially since I wasn't going to watch anything with actual animals being killed (*cough Deodato cough* ). I found Zombie (or Zombi 2) to be a very solid entry into the 80's zombie movie subgenre. The mixing of Caribbean voodoo into the mythos was clever twist, especially considering that this was originally going to be a sequel to Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The effects are also top notch, especially for the iconic zombie vs shark fight underwater. I also liked the scenes of zombies rising from there graves, because you really get a sense of decay from the visuals, such as the empty eye sockets and worms crawling over them. Fabio Frizzi's score is also fantastic, combining Universal monster-esque gothic tones with 80's John Carpenter snynthesizer melodies. It fits the movie perfectly and really enhances the atmosphere. The gore effects are very well done and I would NOT recommend watching this if you are squeamish, especially with eyeballs.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Agreed 100%, KK.

The shorter, faster-paced European cut of Romero's Dawn of the Dead (a.k.a. Zombi 1), with a new score by Goblin, is also a must-see.

Apparently the "Zombi" series goes up to Zombi 7, but none of the movies are related at all, kind of like The Howling franchise.

I was just reading an interview with Gino De Rossi. He did some uncredited work on Zombi 2 (not to be confused with Giannetto De Rossi who is credited with work on the movie). Gino did a fair bit of work with Fulci, including the House by the Cemetery reviewed earlier, and City of the Living Dead which I don't think I got round to yet.

He comes across as a nice guy. Looks back with a cringe at Cannibal Ferox snake thing. But what stays with me is the things he made possible, effects wise, on really limited budgets.

He also worked on Pirhana 2, as did James Cameron who, of course, directed the sequel to Alien, written by Dan O'Bannon who was involved in Return of the Living Dead above.

And Return of The Living Dead was an unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead, whose sequel, Dawn of the Dead, had it's own line of unofficial sequels, starting with Zombi/Zombie 2!

Ins't the cycle of schlock beautiful?

I had said I'd do a review in this thread...

...it's coming...

...very...

...very...

...soon.

(It's gonna be Argento's "Tenebre")

Look forward to it Fickles.

I might give it a rewatch too. I've got Critters, City of the Dead (I get the feeling I watched it, but just didn't post a review) and another Italian one kicking around.

TENEBRE (1982)

Directed by Dario Argento

Back on his European home turf after his unhappy experience making 1980's "Inferno" in America with major-studio funding, Argento rebounded artistically in spectacular fashion. While I still believe 1977's "Suspiria" to be his true masterpiece, "Tenebre" ranks a very close second on my list. And then only because Argento seems to be trying to work outside of his hyper-stylized comfort zone. In this story of a novelist specializing in murder mysteries whose life becomes a nightmarish replica of a scenario he might have devised himself, the director's limitations as both a writer and a director of actors are brutally exposed: the plot is full of improbabilities and is nearly done in by an over-gimmicky climax, while the cast (headed by Tony Franciosa and including genre veteran John Saxon, as well as Argento regular Daria Nicolodi) turn in almost uniformly wooden performances. The exception is a cast member who has no dialogue at all: Eva Robins, a European LGBT icon who claims to have been born male but developed female secondary characteristics at puberty; to have her playing an evil seductress in the killer's silent flashbacks is brilliantly subversive casting. For subversion ultimately seems to be the intent of the movie: the extensive use of point-of-view Steadicam photography implicates the viewer as a voyeur; the deliberate over-lighting makes everything look impossibly shiny, pristine and antiseptic, creating a hyper-real visual style enhanced further by a limited color palette of blues, whites, greys, and blacks -- punctuated, of course, by the bright red of the murder victims' blood. More to the point, Argento was born into show business (his father was a film producer, his mother was a fashion model), and he appears to have (perhaps unconsciously) tapped into the gradual blurring of the borders between society and showbiz. To have done that way back in the early 80s is an amazing exercise in predicting the future. That, in my opinion, is why this is a transcendent movie despite the hair, costumes and music being very much of their time. Fashions come and go, but society -- with its pathologies and repressed psychoses -- stays frighteningly constant. And that's the scariest thing of all.

John Carpenter is one of my idols, but I'll be the first to admit that he kind of...lost his mind after 1994, for lack of a better word. His films just didn;t have the same creative flare that they used to and his gradual critical failure led to his eventual retirement in 2011. However, I do think that Escape from L.A. does have its moments and is closest to Carpenter in his prime. Kurt Russell is back as the ass-kicing Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and embodies the film noir meets spaghetti western mash up that makes the character so much fun. While some criticized the movie for being too derivative of the first film, I find that Carpenter's satire of his own movie works wonderfully. Characters like Pam Grier as a transgender gang leader and Bruce Campbell as psychopathic Beverly Hills plastic surgeon are too insane to not love and laugh along with. The CGI effects are terrible even for the time, but I can overlook them since Carpenter had nearly 4 months of production shaved off by the studio and he was forced to put the film out without final edits. The ending is also damn near perfect. "Welcome to the human race" has got to be one of the best ending one-liners in cinematic history!

Rating: 3/5 stars

TBH, and I hope you don't take offense, KK, but I've never understood the appeal of most of John Carpenter's movies (having said that, I do think his 1982 remake of "The Thing" is as underrated as the original is overrated, and there's only one Carpenter movie that I outright hate: "Vampires.")