Gamera Vs. Barugon / War Of The Monsters

Title: Gamera Vs. Barugon / War of the Monsters
Director: Shigeo Tanaka
Released: 1966

Staring: Kojiro Hongo, Kyôko Enami, Yuzo Hayakawa, Takuya Fujioka, Kôji Fujiyama, Akira Natsuki, Yoshiro Kitahara, Ichirô Sugai, Bontarô Miake, Jutaro Hojo

Rating: 3 / 5

Plot: A giant opal turns out to be an egg, which hatches into the monster Barugon who sets about wrecking havoc. Meanwhile Gamera is heading back to earth, having been released from his rocket prison.

Review: Now if you’ve found yourself looking at that great painted poster you might have found yourself thinking, wow this looks like quite an exciting looking movie, I mean right there on the cover we have Barugon being thrown by his tail! Well for those of us familiar with the concept of the painted movie poster (I.e: Don’t expect to see anything on the poster) you will probably not be surprised to know that, this film doesn’t have anything close to this in it, in fact it is just one of a number of misleading ideas that this film throws out there, with the most glaring being Gamera, who in all honesty seems kind of lost with his appearance here, which totals all of about 15 minutes and could easily have been edited out, making what would essentially have been a better monster movie.

Gamera for those of you not in the know is a giant fire breathing, flying turtle who in later entries in the series would become better known as being a "friend to children of the world", which is kind of surprising seeing how gory the Gamera films are as the monsters gush blood, making for an interesting contrast to the relatively blood free Godzilla movies, whose films it is almost impossible to not draw comparisons with when you look at the Gamera films. Still at this point in the series Gamera is still keen on trashing Japan, much like his fellow monsters, who he is supposed to be stopping, making it more of a Darwinian contest for territory and resources than anything resembling the monster smackdowns, which the later movies would become.

The main story involves a bunch of Jewel thieves and their quest to steal an Opel twice the size of a man’s fist, which their leader of sorts Hirta (Natsuki) a WW2 veteran hid in a cave, when he was stationed in New Guinea. Seeing how he is now unable to make the trip back to the cave, he recruits his brother Keisuke (Hongo) and his two friends, one of which being Omotura (Fujiyama) who has plans of his own for the Opel and is also the one responsible for the trouble the party encounter on their quest to retrieve the Opel, rather than them encountering a giant monster on route. It is soon pretty clear what a bastard Omotura really is, not only content to let his so called friends get killed by a giant scorpion, but also willing to bury one alive in a cave in. He is also willing to put the fate of Japan at risk, by attempting to steal the diamond lure which Karen and her fellow members of the black tribe (a tribe it would seem made up largely of blacked up Japanese actors), have supposedly used over the years to kill off Barugon’s ancestors. This storyline is interesting enough to keep the audiences attention, especially seeing how it takes up the first half of the film until Barugon hatches, when his egg is exposed to an infrared lamp’s rays, releasing a decidedly plastic looking and slime covered dinosaur.

Barugon is an interesting first opponent for Gamera, mainly because he is the first to highlight Gamera’s weakness for the cold, thanks to his extendable tongue which shoots out a freeze ray, while his back shoots out a rainbow death ray, which is certainly an interesting choice of attack, even more so when it is never explained why it has to look like a rainbow! Still due to Barugon’s freeze ray, Gamera get his ass truly handed to him within minutes of their first encounter with each other, leaving Gamera knocked out for most of the film, until he’s needed to finish off a heavily weakened Barugon at the film’s climax. It’s in this respect that this film in particular stands out from so many of the other “Kaiju” films, seeing how the military forces are actually pretty effective in their attempts to stop Barugon, which came as even more of a surprise to someone like myself he is more used to watching the military show up with impressive looking pieces of hardware, followed shortly afterwards by that said hardware exploding in a shower of pyrotechnics, which is not to say it doesn’t happen here aswell, it’s just that it actually does some real damage, than seeming like a distraction. Though this is also not to say that they don’t still manage to come up with some random ideas of solving their giant monster problem, with my personal favourite being to hang a giant diamond from a helicopter and have Barugon follow it, to the sea where he is expected to drown, which is kind of surprising seeing how he emerges from the sea to begin with, especially when you consider what a weakness water is to Barugon, who is also stopped at one point by it raining!

All in all it is an interesting entry in the Gamera series, criteria which it only just manages to scrape thorough, as I mentioned before he could have easily have been edited out of this film and just left it as a Barugon movie. Still it makes for a fun viewing while it lasts, even if the first half feels a little slow in places, meaning that the less dedicated amongst us will have no doubt switched off, long before Barugon has unleashed his first attack and in a way provides an idea of how the series could have gone, especially seeing how it is the only film without a child lead and lacking many of the Gamera trademarks which would appear in later films, which would see Gamera change from being a destructive monster into “The Guardian of the Universe”.

Welcome to Kaiju Season

Growing up my childhood was filled with vivid images of Giant monsters stopping through Tokyo and brawling for supremacy with their fellow monsters. It would be a lie if I said that it wasn't a genre which helped shaped my random film tastes and one which would lead onto a life long obsession with Asian cinema, which still continues today much like my love for those same giant monsters.

Taking that into account, it makes it all the more ironic that I actually haven't reviewed any of these films, since I started writing this blog. So allow me to correct that now, as we enter into a whole season of Kaiju films, which also as good an excuse as any to revisit some of my favourites while hunting out some of the more obscure monsters which make up this genre.

The term "Kaiju" is a Japanese word that means "Strange Beast" and is often translated as monster. Traditionally this word is used for films which are either Asian in origin, or inspired by those same movies (Cloverfield). Still I will be branching out slightly and looking at some other creations which I feel still fall into the genre such as "King Kong" (1933) who would be accepted into the genre by Toho studios (The home of Godzilla) in 1962 when he faced off against the most recognisable face in the Kaiju genre "Godzilla" in "King Kong Vs. Godzilla" which would not only make Kong five times bigger, but prove successful enough to spawn it's own sequel "King Kong Escapes" (1967) which saw Kong face his mechanical clone "Mechani-Kong".

As before when I ran "Ozploitation Month" I am also excepting submission from anyone who wants to contribute their thoughts on the genre. To take part simply send me a link to your article and I will link to your blog. All I ask in return is a small link back to this blog.

If anyone wants to also recommend any films that they feel I should look out through out this season, then please let me know.

Celebrating One Year In The Depths of DVD Hell

Wow I can barely believe that it has been a year since I started writing this blog, as part of my continuing obsession with Cult, Foreign and Obscure cinema aswell as pretty much everything in between and it’s honestly been a blast writing it, even if my output hasn’t been as constant as some of my fellow bloggers (especially with the post count currently standing around 71).

Still I’d like to thank all of the readers of this blog, for their support over the last year and for their various comments and feedback.

So to help celebrate year one here are the top ten things I have learned while writing this blog.

1) The Australian film industry is an severely overlooked source of exploitation gold, as discovered during “Ozploitation Month”, let alone the fact that it’s a genre also home to several little known Australian Kung Fu movies.

2) Killer Sharks are the best way of getting your low budget thriller seen, which in all honestly no one would have watched, had it not featured them, while no doubt jerking the audience around who are watching only because they want to see some gore, only to find themselves watching a bigger tease than Resident Evil (Shark Swarm). Also just because your film has the promise of a ropey monkey costume it doesn’t always guarantee fun times (Bride of the Gorilla)

3) There are some things that even the presence of William Shatner can’t even save especially when they contain one of the longest and most drawn out climax’s to a film ever! (The Devils Rain)

4) My childhood fears just got a whole lot more creepier thanks to the photography of Joshua Hoffine, who is no doubt also responsible for the whole bunch of new fears of everyday life I have

5) It is never a good idea to have your James Bond style leading man, being played by a man like Jimmy Wang Yu, who views women as being less than dog muck. More so when he is plucking flies from the air and eating them during the filming of romantic scenes (The Man From Hong Kong)

6) Never trust well spoken Orphans, let alone those with retro fashion tastes. (Orphan)

7) Just because you started out making a porno spoof of a popular film, it doesn’t mean that you can’t turn it film which rivals it’s source material, after all who is going to notice the phallic shaped ship, or such subtle creations like the Penisaurus (Flesh Gordon)

8) Abe the alien really enjoys dancing in bookshops, while his friends from Pendragon also made going to work on a Saturday a lot more entertaining

9) The Japanese Western is an under appreciated genre (Sukiyaki Western Django)

10) “Sky High” by Jigsaw is without a doubt one of catchiest records ever made, even more so than Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” which thanks to “Glee” is now pretty much stuck in my head until I hear this song. (The Man From Hong Kong)

Well that was the top ten for Year 1 and as I now enter into the second year, it already promising to be another random year, just looking at the pile of films still waiting to be looked at. I will also be launching soon into “Kaiju Season” a celebration of giant monsters destroying Japan, aswell as taking a look at the latest release from “Quirk Classics” who are releasing a prequel to the hugely popular “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” which takes the form of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls", which will be no doubt interesting to see how their first completely original release works out.
This second year will also hopefully see a series of debates between myself and various members of the horror blogging community, which is being hosted by “The Horror Bloggers Alliance” with the first debate asking the question as to whether “20 years is too soon for a remake” with my stance being squarely against the remakes, which to continue to flood the market, as studio bosses continue on their quest for easy cash.

So in the meantime thanks again for reading and supporting this blog and I hope that you continue to enjoy reading as the madness only continues.

Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins Ball

Title: Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins Ball
Director: P.J. Pesce
Released: 2010

Staring: Tom Berenger, Clayne Crawford, Tommy Flanagan, Maury Sterling, Martha Higareda, Christopher Michael Holley, Ernie Hudson, Michael Parks, Autumn Resser, Vinnie Jones

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: When Walter Reed, a wheelchair bound, desk jockey for the FBI suddenly finds himself the target of a Million Dollar hit and the assassins eager to claim it for themselves.

Review: The original “Smokin’ Aces” (2006) is without a doubt one of my all time favourite films, especially seeing how it came at a time when the whole crime genre, was once again starting to feel slightly stale only for Joe Carnahan, to breath new life into the genre, with his loud and noisy reinterpretation, which didn’t do much in terms of box office, but certainly found it’s audience once it reached DVD, so it really makes sense (in a strange random way), that the sequel would go straight to DVD.
True the original film might have not needed a sequel, but I was thankful at least that this film wasn’t some clumsy prequel and is really only a sequel in name only, with the only real link to the first film being, the return of two of the original assassins. The Chameleon like Lazlo Soot and psycho redneck Lester Tremor who once again shows up with his equally insane relatives.

As I’ve already stated this film is really a sequel in name only, but it really doesn’t stop it from being any less fun than the original, even though this latest outing is certainly working with a much smaller budget, than the original, which makes it all the more sense that Pesce would take the directorial reigns, seeing how he is a director all to familiar with the restraints of working in the direct to DVD market, with “Lost Boys 2: The Tribe” (2008) and “Sniper 3” (2004) already on his résumé, he makes for the ideal choice, especially with original director Carnahan returning only as executive producer and writer, which at least gives the proceedings a lot more legitimacy that most of these kinds of sequels receive, while clearly showing that Carnahan wasn’t quite done with the world which he created with the original and after seeing this film, I still can’t help but feel that “Smokin’ Aces 3” is a project just awaiting a studio green light.

Looking at the DVD case I did find it kind of worrying when Vinnie Jones is referred to as being a Hollywood veteran, as I’m sure it’s a title that even the most die hard of his fan base would have trouble attaching to him, especially when his recent output of the last few years has been patchy to the say the least, especially when Jones seems keen to take on pretty much any role which is offered to him. Still thankfully this is one of his better roles, even if it is basically Jones going through the Psycho killer motions, as he appears as a hitman nicknamed “The surgeon” after his bizarre love of combining brain surgery with torture. Still it would seem that his current target Walter Reed isn’t an overly appealing choice of target, especially when you consider that Jones’s character and Higareda’s, Ariella Martinez the assassin who brings a whole new meaning to the term “Kiss of Death” are really the only new faces, with the other new assasins all being members of the Tremor family, who this time round see the sole surviving Tremor from the first film Lester being joined this time by his father abusive father Fritz (Parks), his psycho sister Kaitlyn “AK-47” (Reeser) as well as his man-child younger brother Baby Boy (C. Ernst Harth), all of which being fans of the half brick to the face subtly, which made the Tremor’s such stand out characters in the original and it was fun to see the same level of anarchy brought to the sequel, after all can you think of another group of Assassins who believe in the use of exploding clowns?? Still I was kind of disappointed that we didn’t see the return of Pasquale Acosta aswell, but seeing how the whole plot is basically about the build up to a huge shoot out, in pretty much the same way that the plot of “Death Proof” (2007) is basically about the build up to it’s spectacular car chase finale, so his absence isn’t overly missed here, much like the lack of assassins which could be linked to budget restraints but thankfully because of this aforementioned direction of the plot, it really helps from making it to much of a cluster fuck, by the time we get to the night club shoot out finale.

The downside of course to being a sequel to a film, which didn’t really have a sequel in it, is of course the need that Pesce feels the need attach links to the first film, meaning that cards are once again a focus point of the film, with Reed throwing in a few card tricks while he hides out in the bunker from his would be assassins and this did honestly feel kind of unnecessary, especially when they pale in comparison to the tricks that Jeremy Pivan amused himself with thought the first film, in fact it was the snappy dialogue of the first film, which feels the most missed here, especially seeing how the majority of the dialogue rarely bares on remarkable, with the only memorable dialogue coming from the almost constant bickering of the Tremors.

All in all “Smokin Aces 2” proves to be one of the better direct to DVD sequels, of recent years and certainly is a fun ride that never outstays it’s welcome even, if it doesn’t reach the same heights of the original, it still manages to prove more than enough bang for your buck, so that by the time the dust has finally settled your far from disappointed.

The Fall

Title: The Fall
Director: Tarsem Singh
Released: 2008

Staring: Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Robin Smith, Jeetu Verma, Leo Bill, Marcus Wesley, Julian Bleach, Daniel Caltagirone

Rating: 5/ 5

Plot: Roy (Pace) an injured stuntman, forms a friendship with a young girl Alexandria (Untaru), who is recovering from a broken arm, as Roy tells her a story of five mystical hero’s and their quest to kill the oppressive governor Odious (Caltagirone). Though as the story continues the lines between reality and fantasy begin to become all the more blurred.

Review: Some times it amazes me how great films get so overlooked, films which not only challenge their audiencebut at the same time, take them on a journey of lush visuals and fantastic storytelling, as the director challange themselve to give thier audience somthing which they havn't seen before. I guess in a way the same question could also go a long way in explaining why we continue to get sequels to the Scary Movie franchise being churned out on an almost yearly basis.

“The Fall” is certainly one of these movies which sorely deserved to reach a larger audience than it did, upon it’s initial release, especially seeing how it pretty much skipped a cinematic release, suddenly turning up on DVD it would seem , making it only more of a shame, especially seeing how it is certainly a film which deserves to reach a large audience, were now instead it seems to have been left to find it’s own audience, which if there is any justice it will.

Right from the start it is clear that you are watching something special, as Singh skilfully combines slowed down black and white imagery, with his skilful use of Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, II. Allegretto” which here becomes more of a title piece to the film and certainly put it on a par with Clint Mansell’s “Summer Overture” which was most memorably used in “Requiem for a Dream” (2000). The score by Krishna Levy is the perfect accompaniment to the images on screen, not only helping to set the scene, but in some cases helping to emphasise the power of the imagery being shown to us and seems to mis-step though out, even if this sole Beethoven piece seems to dominate over the other pieces of music used thought.

Storywise it’s safe to say that it falls somewhere between the adult fairy tales of Guillermo del Toro and Caro & Jeunet, especially seeing how it contains none of the horrors of the real world, which are fused into the stories of del Toro’s work, while at the same time it doesn’t slip into the more obvious surreal world of Caro & Jeunet whose films such as “The City of lost Children” (1995) are probably best known for such a style of storytelling, instead “The Fall” sits somewhere between the two styles, especially seeing how Singh is keen to keep the two worlds he shows throughout separate, often having the bandit speaking directly at the screen as Roy, when he chooses to take us out of the world of his story.
Roy’s tale of the masked bandit and his mismatched group, is really brought to life by the imagination of Alexandria, who inserts people she see’s around her into the roles of the various characters, making it fun to try and place who each of the characters are in the real world, as she takes the descriptions Roy gives her, applying them to the people she see’s walking around the hospital, even using the x-ray technician, as the basis for how the henchmen of governor Odious look, while characters like the mystic are less obvious as to who they might be in the real world, with Singh only giving us the most subtle of clues as to their identity.

Pace is on fantastic form here, moving seamlessly from the role of Roy to that of the masked bandit and even though we know that Alexandria is using him as the base for the bandit, it never feels as if you’re just watching Roy, dressed as a bandit, but rather watching Pace as a completely separate character. However as the film progresses and the lines between these two worlds begin to blur, we start seeing more and more of Roy appearing in the character of the bandit, such as his sudden addiction to morphine pills, aswell as the various touches which Alexandria adds herself to the point, were she appears as a character herself, taking on the role of the bandit’s daughter. Still as Roy becomes more suicidal his story becomes all the more darker, while certainly not going as dark as Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) which also featured an equally sudden dark turn, which might not sit well with some viewers, but it is clear that when this appears, that Roy is simply trying to break the connection which he shares with Alexandria. However it does also form some of the more gut wrenching moments of the film, as Singh takes the hatchett to his list of characters.

I suppose the main downside for myself, was with the character of Alexandria, who it is true is Romanian, but her broken English meant that it felt like half the time she was simply improvising her dialogue and really relies often on Roy, to translate to the rest of us what she actually saying. Still her cutesy performance never reaches the level of being overly saturnine sweet, thanks to Singh never allowing the camera to focus for to long on her, without tingeing the scene with some element of darkness, which appears to surround her outside of the safety of Roy’s hospital bed, such as the hypochondriac patient, who Roy shares a hospital ward with, while further driving home the idea of this film being a grown up fairy tale.

Singh who is probably best remembered for “The Cell” (2000), another equally underrated classic, which might have been more popular had it not featured Jennifer Lopez, but still managed to remain highly memorable, thanks to it’s incredible nightmarish imagery, as he took us inside the mind of a serial killer. Thankfully the six year gap since then seems to have not caused him to tone down his mindblowing imagery any less, in fact it seems to only have given him more time in which to think up more breathtaking imagery and by signing up fellow visionary film makers David Fincher & Spike Jonze who both signed as Executive producers (Singh would later provide second unit work for Fincher on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)), he has only expanded his canvas and certainly makes the most of it, seeing how the film was shot in 18 different countries, resulting in a film which is nothing short of breath taking and without a hint of CGI to be found, proving to even the most jaded amongst us, that modern film making can still be exciting and interesting, without losing its a accessibility to a mainstream audience, which we have seen over the years happening with a number of equally great foreign films, only for the language barrier to eliminate the majority of their potential audience.

I can only hope that the wait isn't so long for Singh (Or Tarsem as he's now started calling himself) to release his next film, as if his current film making reseme is anything to go off, he could certainly be a director worth watching and I can only hope that his future output remains as exciting and intresting as what we have seen so far.

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By A Thread

Title: Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By A Thread
Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
Released: 1974

Staring: Etsuko Shihomi, Tamayo Mitsukawa, Michiyo Bando, Hisayo Tanaka, Hideo Murota, Masashi Ishibashi, Kazuyuki Saito, Daikyo Rin, Yasuaki Kurata

Rating: 4 / 5

Plot: Koryu Lee (Shihomi) is back once again after her superior's daughter is kidnapped by diamond smugglers, she travels to Tokyo to rescue her, on a mission which will lead her head on to a confrontation with the dangerous Kazushige Osone (Mutota) and his trio of deadly bodyguards the Honiden Brothers (Ishibashi, Saito, Rin)

Review: Released the same year as the original “Sister Street Fighter” (1974) this sequel to the fun original film, sees the return of not only leading lady Shihomi, but also director Yamaguchi, who this time round manages to restrain his vision slightly, meaning that this sequel is slightly less insane than the original, but thankfully still remains the same sense of fun.
Despite the format being toned down slightly for this second entry, a lot still remains the same, as we are treated to yet another showcase of Lee’s martial arts prowess, once again set to a funk soundtrack, as the title credits roll before once again being reintroduced to the stereotypical Hong Kong title music, which it would seem has also survived from the original film. Still it mere seconds before we are thrown into the first fight scene and it’s comforting to see the same huge lettering exploding onto the screen whenever a new fighter is introduced, which despite being kind of cheesy really helps to keep things from getting overly serious, which honestly I’m not sure that these movies could even be accused of being in the first place. After all how seriously can you take a movie which not only has a mad doctor with questionable sanitary practices, which include him spitting vodka across recent surgical incisions, who also has a transvestite assistant with razor sharp fingernails, which is really nothing compared to the first introduction to Osone’s “Danger Room” which pretty much consists of Ninjas and his other assorted henchmen, putting themselves through various training regimes, while dressed in a black, which I can only really guess is Yamaguchi’s way of pointing out that these are the bad guys, while driving home the point even further by setting the whole scene to Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”, which it has to be said comes across perhaps slightly more comedic than what was no doubt originally intended, much like the idea of Ninja’s running around in black Ninja gear, during broad daylight only to never be seen again after they sole appearance during a train yard brawl. Still it also has to be said that the idea of using the bottoms of attractive models to smuggle diamonds is certainly a new one.

Shihomi now comes across more settled into her title role, even though she was impressive to begin with and thanks to the combination of having gained more screen fighting experience and the stylised direction of Yamaguchi she looks better than ever, whether using her fists or feet which this time now show a much stronger follow through than before, or while dealing out punishment with one the numerous weapons at her disposal, with the highlight once again being another demonstration of her nunchaku skill, which it’s true is a weapon that it is hard to shake it’s association with the legendry Bruce Lee, but here Shihomi shows great accuracy with what is certainly not an easy weapon to use, let alone show being used effectively on screen, as numerous films has shown in the past and thankfully a pitfall that she manages to avoid.
Sadly Shihomi’s mentor Sonny Chiba does not make a return here, despite his appearance in the first film being basically a glorified cameo appearance, but his absence is filled quite suitably by Kurata, who earned his screen credits appearing in numourous Chinese Boxer movies such as “The King Boxer” (1971) and is more than capable of taking Chiba’s place as he appears here as the freelance brawler Shunsuke, a character not so far removed from Chiba’s Terry character in the original street fighter movies.. It is also certainly an interesting choice, especially seeing how Kurata’s fighting style is a lot more frenzied, fast kicking style than Chiba’s powerhouse style, but here Yamaguchi makes full advantage of showing it off when given a chance, including a sequence during the finale which see’s a bare-chested Kurata taking on multiple opponents single, which under less skilful direction could have been seen as exploiting the Bruce Lee style, but thankfully Kurata brings enough raw skill of his own to make this scene not so exploitive, as was seen in so many of the Bruce-ploitation movies which would appear in the years following Lee’s tragic death, such as “The clones of Bruce Lee” (1977).
Thankfully this time round Lee finds herself up against slightly tougher opponents, especially with the three Honiden Brothers, who in many ways reminded me of the masters of death from “Babycart at the River Styx” (1972), with Ishibashi once again on great form as the Sai welding front man of the brothers and his appearance here is once again not wasted, especially as this time around he proves to be a much more challenging opponent and free of the burden of being followed around by wicker basket wearing henchmen, as his character Inubashiri was back in the original film, which really kind of removes any sort of threatening presence you might have when your opponent is more distracted by what you your henchmen wearing.

Gore wise nothing has been taken away here, especially seeing how the first film was filled with so many memorable sequences and here it is the same again, with highlights including eyeballs being skewered, an armpit being stabbed and a severed scalpel welding arm, which is still buried in another victim, which all add to the fun especially when the violence of these scenes is so dramatically over the top.

“Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By A Thread” is a great addition to the series and although it might turn down certain aspects of the original and at times have some overly shaky camera work, it is still a fun film to watch, especially when all expectations are left at the door.
True some Kung Fu elitists would prefer to write it off for its sleazy grindhouse style and continuous use of cheesy sound effects, but thanks to Yamaguchi’s direction it remains a run ride throughout and certainly worth watching if you were a fan of the original, as you will not be disappointed.