A Fistful of Gojira Part 2: Ebirah Horror of the Deep

Title: Ebirah Horror of the Deep aka Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster
Director:  Jun Fukuda
Released: 1966
Starring: Akira Takarada, Toru Wantanabe, Toru Ibuki, Choutarou Tougin, Hideo Sunazuka, Kumi Mizuno, Pair Bambi, Jun Tazaki, Akihiko Hirata, Haruo Nakajima, Yu Sekida

Plot: Ryota (Wantanabe) and his friends steal a boat belonging to bank robber, to try and find Ryota’s brother Yata (Ibuki) who is presumed to be lost at sea. However when their boat is destroyed by the giant lobster Ebirah/ Washing up on the shores of a mysterious island which is also the base of operations for terrorist organisation “The Red Bamboo” who have enslaved the natives from Infant Island to help them manufacture nuclear weapons.

Review: Arriving at a cross roads for the series, with Godzilla still yet to become the defender of Japan but no longer the monstrous threat he was in his early films but rather a monster defending his territory, this film would only be a step further (if a confused one) closer to the popular vision of Godzilla as an anthropomorphic superhero that most people have. However despite starting on this path in “Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster” this film would still find Godzilla’s intentions still in something of a confused state no doubt due to the fact that the film had originally been intended as a vehicle for King Kong under the proposed title “Operation Robinson Crusoe: King Kong vs Ebirah” in what would be his second appearance outside of the US, having four years previous been given the Kaiju treatment by Toho when he was pitted against Godzilla in there series misstep “King Kong Vs. Godzilla”. It would however be during production that last minute changes would see the film would be changed to a Godzilla film leaving Kong to return to battle Mechi-Kong in “King Kong Escapes”.

While this film might not be a favourite of many Godzilla fans, thanks largely to the horrible dub track which for certain characters seems to have been done for comedic effect (atleast that’s what I hope it was) but despite this I have always held a fondness for this film, perhaps because it was the first Godzilla film I ever saw and while at the time I might not have been aware it was part of a larger series of films, I loved watching this giant dinosaur destroying buildings and battling with an over grown shrimp and it was from here that my life long obsession with not only Godzilla but Kaiju cinema on a whole would begin.

A light hearted adventure movie at its core and it is really a sense of fun that director Fukuda brings to the series after series mainstay Ishiro Honda decided to take another break from directing the series leaving Fukuda to pick up the directing reins with this film being the first of the five films he would direct for the series. Godzilla’s presence here though is more as a supporting character than a main lead as he would become in the films which followed, the same can also be said for Mothra who spends most of the movie being worshiped by the natives of Infant island who are trying to wake her up from the coma she seems to in until she suddenly decides to wake up in time to help Ryota and his friends escape the island with the natives enslaved by the Red Bamboo. This is however not to say that Godzilla isn’t given anything to do, as he does get to have a couple of memorable brawls with Ebirah who would following this film be phased out of the Toho monster catalogue until making a surprise appearance in “Godzilla: Final Wars”. Godzilla also gets to fight a random giant condor, but I think this creature was another carry over from the original Kong plotting, much like Godzilla’s strange interest in native girl Dayo (Mizuno) and throwing boulders as memorably seen during the random game of boulder tennis Godzilla engages in with Ebirah.

Equally noteworthy about this film is the level on violence here, which while perhaps featuring none of the blood spurts of “Godzilla Vs. Gigan” or the shocking jaw snapping scene in “Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, this film does feature humans being eaten by Ebirah (to date the only monster to do this) aswell as Godzilla brutally tearing the claws off Ebirah and using them to taunt her further at the end of their battle. Unlike "Gamera" Godzilla has never been a series interested in gore and bloody brawls, outside of a few sporadic moments throughout the series and while this film features some of these moments of violence it is never to the point were it distracts from the film or stops being a Godzilla movie.

As far as Toho monsters go Ebirah is possibly one of the more outlandish, after all she is less of your typical monster design and really just a giant shrimp after all, as further confirmed by the fact that her name is derived fro the Japanese word ebi, meaning “shrimp” (thank you IMDB for that one). Despite this she is still one of the better opponents with her aquatic nature also giving us one of the rarer underwater fight scenes, while proving herself equally tasty as a brawler.

The main plotline following Ryota and his friends trying to stop the dastardly Red Bamboo is one of the more entertaining ones and their appearance here makes a change from the usual alien plotlines. It only makes it more of shame that this would be their only appearance in the series. Still despite giving the impression of a well organised fighting force they are still surprisingly easy to fool as seen by the outlandish tactics the group use to elude them, let alone the fact that they essentially toppled by a plan formulated by the group’s resident comic relief.

True this film might have some minor plot holes, such as why Godzilla is unconscious on the island or why Mothra spends most of the film having a nap, but for newcomers this film provides the perfect starting point like so many of the films from this point in the Showa era, with its fun plotting and zero knowledge of the other films being required to enjoy it, this one is just wholesome Kaiju fun!

Next time: "Godzilla Vs. Gigan" - With the Showa era hitting its stride with an established format of pitting Godzilla against a roster of giant monsters Director Fukuda with his third film for the series while providing possibly the best tag team match to date as Godzilla and Anguirus team up to battle King Ghidorah and Gigan.

A Fistful of Gojira Part 1: Godzilla Raids Again

Title: Godzilla Raids Again

Director:  Motoyoshi Oda

Released: 1955
Starring: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Haruo Nakajima

Plot: Pilots Shoichi and Koji are scouting for schools of fish for the tuna cannery company they work for, when Koji is forced to land near Iwato Island. Here he discovers a another Godzilla in battle with another monster Anguirus, a battle which soon leads them to the shores of Osaka.

Review: With the release of the new “Godzilla” fast approaching what better time to revisit the franchise so to date and look back at the various changes the series has gone through over a staggering thirty films (including both American adaptations). So over the course of the next few reviews which make up this mini feature, I will be looking at films from the each of key eras Showa, Heisei and Millennium, in what will form an annotated overlook at the series to date.

Seeing how I’ve already reviewed the original “Godzilla” the only logical place to start this journey would be with the second film and possibly the least seen by most fans, no doubt more familiar with the films which followed in its wake. Still this film would be one of numerous firsts seeing how it marked the first appearance of my favourite Kaiju creation Anguirus who here would also have the honour of being Godzilla’s first opponent.

Despite being killed in the previous film, Godzilla’s sudden reappearance here thankfully isn’t so much ignored but side stepped, with sole reason being that it is a second Godzilla. Still despite not being the same Godzilla he still has no love for humanity here and still very much on city wrecking form, only this time more the result of his on going battle with Anguirus, who would in the later films become a long term ally, something you’d never expect considering that both monsters are shown to be following the most primal instincts and hence are solely focused on killing each other.

Picking up the directorial reigns from Ishiro Honda, Director Oda a favourite with the Toho bosses due to his reputation for being able to deliver films quickly with his usual work rate seeing him delivering seven films a year for the company, though despite directing over fifty films over the course of his career little is known of his career after 1958, with this film being the only one made to be shown outside of Japan. Like Honda, Oda here chooses a similar style of plotting as he opts to shoot the film completely straight faced, even taking a risk by killing off unexpectedly one of his popular characters. Still considering that this film was in cinemas an astounding six months after the release of the original film, even with the numerous special effects shots req, its safe to say Oda truly lived up to his reputation as a speedy director.

Sadly while the main meat of the film is shot in a similar to style to one used by Honda in the original film, the same cannot be said for the majority of the Godzilla footage which comes off more laughable than with any of the threat that he was shot with in the original. Things only get worse when it comes to the fight scenes between Godzilla and Anguirus who frequently have the same look that you could achieve by battling two action figures together. These scenes are only further hampered by them frequently looking like they have been speeded up, which to Oda’s credit was more accidental due to a camera technician accidently undercranking the camera instead of overcranking it. Kaiju special effects legend Eiji Tsuburaya actually liked the speeded up effect this created and ultimately decided to use the footage in what is certainly one of the more detrimental elements of the film.

Despite this being the first time that Godzilla would get to battle a fellow monster, here it is a far cry from the more familiar monster kung fu antics we’ve come to expect from the series, as instead this is fight is much more animalistic in nature, as the two monsters charge and wrestle each other between dealing out nasty looking bites on each other. It is worth noting aswell that the fight between Godzilla and Anguirus is also one of the longest in the series and despite its more brutal nature still sees another Japanese landmark still getting destroyed in the fray as Osaka Castle suffers the same fate as the Tokyo Tower in a memorable style.

Outside of the main draw of watching Godzilla and Anguirus battling each other this film is also one of the few not to fall back on the usual plot device of “Aliens did it”, here Oda actually takes the time to develop his lead characters which sadly would be the parts of the film to suffer when the film was given its American release, were it was released as “Gigantis the Fire Monster” a butchered cut of this film which attempts to pass itself off as an original film and is really only noteworthy for the early role for George Takei who was part of the team responsible for dubbing it. Still for the completest amongst you, this cut is included on the Region 1 release allowing you to compare the two while at the same time giving you another reason to get a multiregional DVD player., even more so if like myself your based in the UK which for one reason or another has always been overlooked when it came to Godzilla releases, with only a few of the Showa and Heisei films getting a VHS release.

While it might not be on the same level as the original film, there is still enough of the styling carried over to make as an enjoyable experience, especially if your able to get past the questionable fight scenes, but these are of ultimately minor concern when watching the original cut, which honestly is the only way this film should be viewed and while the series might have taken a more fantastical direction for the films which followed, this film only further highlights how well Godzilla can work in realistic setting.

At The Earth's Core

Title: At The Earth’s Core

Director:  Kevin Connor

Released: 1976
Starring: Peter Cushing, Doug McClure, Caroline Munro, Cy Grant, Godfrey James, Keith Barron

Plot: Victorian scientist Dr. Perry (Cushing) and his assistant David (McClure) are making a test run of their drilling machine “The Iron Mole” when a freak accident throws them off course, were they invariantly discover a prehistoric world of monsters and cavemen ruled by the telepathic Mahars and their mindless Sagoth servants.
 

 

Review: Another of my childhood favourites aswell staring my hero Doug McClure whose fantastical adventures were firm favourites amongst those early cinematic experiences as McClure played rugged heroes all about seducing exotic ladies and generally punching out anything which got in his way, I mean what's not to like about that? While I might not have known his name at the time I did however know that if he was in the film then monsters and dinosaurs would soon follow, an assumption only furthered by the fact that it was only those movies of McClure that were shown over here in the UK.

Based on the novel of the same name by Edgar Rice Burroughs who is no doubt best known for creating both "Tarzan" and "John Carter of Mars" with this first book establishing the fictional hollow Earth of Pellucidar, which would be featured in a further six books with even Tarzan paying a visit to this mysterious land. Needless to say it makes for the perfect vehicle for McClure who at the time was coming in hot on the back of the success of “The Land That Time Forgot” while also finishing off the trilogy that the British production company Amicus had unintentionally created with the prior releases the aforementioned Land that Time Forgot and its sequel “The People That Time Forgot”. This time though he is teamed up to great effect with a blustering Peter Cushing who here is pretty much transferring his Doctor Who persona to a different film, which really only adds to the fun, especially when he’s so frequently hamming things up. Still despite this added bonus or distraction depending on your stand point on his performance, this film really is just business as usual for McClure especially as the film wastes almost zero time before we get out first giant monster encounter, something only added to by the raw awesomeness of McClure who is so cool he’s able to run while still smoking a cigar!

The plot itself is pretty minimalistic and generally serves to fill in the gaps between the monster action and McClure finding someone new to brawl with, which is essentially what he spend most of the film doing, as together with Cushing they form the perfect blend of brains and brawn. This is not to say that David is some square jawed thug, as he frequently proves himself capable thinking through situations especially when it comes to befriending the native human population who handily also speak perfect English despite having no contact with the surface world. Of course such things are minor concern, seeing how the main draw of McClure’s monster movies was the monster themselves with this film featuring the most varied selection from gigantic monsters through to carnivorous plants and even a fire breathing frog here they really pull out the stops with these creations, while clearly not trying to base them on any sort of known dinosaur which was always seemed to the case in the other films.

The villains here are pretty hammy to say the least with the rubbery and far from aerodynamic Mahars, who when not communicating telepathically through a migraine inducing whine, generally just sit around on their cliff top leaving their comb-over loving Sagoth servants to do all the work for them. Unsurprisingly for a bunch of guys in questionable dinosaur costumes when they do take flight it looks as you would expect like a they are flying around with the same sort of wire work you’d expect from a pantomime Peter Pan, while  by the end of the film the production team had clearly had enough of them as they look suspiciously like they have been stuffed with newspaper and just tossed off the cliff top

Shot on soundstages at Pinewood Studios it is perhaps a more limited prehistoric world, but seeing how director Connor was trying to deliver an epic on a budget its not too distracting even if the world is far from as immersive as the other McClure monster movies. However with a large amount of the action taking place in the volcano lair of the Mahar’s it doesn’t ever prove too noticeable until you start looking at the film more closely. Thankfully though Connor keeps things pretty busy on screen for you to pay too much attention to the surroundings for there is usually some monster or heated battle to enjoy and when neither of those are available he generally just parades the scantily clad future Bond girl Munro in front of the camera.

While this might have been a childhood favourite, it still holds up surprisingly well even if perhaps I am viewing it with a healthy dose of nostalgia which certainly helps when some of the creatures are more noticeably rubbery looking than they perhaps did back then. At the same time though this is still a highly entertaining romp aswell as arguably the best of the McClure’s monster movies or making a suitable double bill partner with “Yor: Hunter of the Future”.

Perfect Blue

Title: Perfect Blue

Director: Satoshi Kon

Released: 1997

Starring: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji, Masaaki Okura, Yosuke Akimoto, Yoku Shioya, Hideyuki Hori, Emi Shinohara, Masashi Ebara, Kiyoyuki Yanada, Toru Furukawa, Akio Suyama

Plot: Mima , a member of a J-pop group “CHAM!” decides to pursue a career as an actress, displeasing her fans especially her stalker Me-Mania (Okura). Now finding herself the target of threatening fax’s and mail bombs, things only get stranger when she discovers a website call “Mima’s Room” documenting her life if she was still with the band, as Mima finds her world being turned upside down as she is pushed to the brink of her own sanity.

Review: One of the great masters of Japanese animation, the career of Satoshi Kon would be tragically cut short when he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, but it would be a stunning body of work he would leave us with, if perhaps sadly also one of the most overlooked.

Here he makes his directorial debut with a Hitchcock-esq thriller and which I frequently like to use as reference point when it comes to arguing the fact that anime is more than cutsy characters, tentacle porn and schoolgirl fan service which frequently seems to the opinion shared by those not familiar with the genre outside of the parts which regularly gain mainstream exposure. True this film is not without its shocking moments with several bloody murders and a scene were Mima is forced to act out a nightclub group rape. However this is more than shock value as it also serves to mark out a snapping point for Mima and her already fragile psyche, as she soon starts questioning what is real and what is fantasy, while Kon leaves the audience to question the same things for themselves, yet resisting the urge to take the audience down a Lynch style rabbit hole.   

Based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, who also wrote the original screenplay, which Kon was unhappy with and ultimately would have the script reworked by Sadayuki Murai with Takeuchi’s permission providing that the three elements of Idol, Horror and Stalker were kept Takeuchi was happy for Kon to make any changes he liked. Interestingly this film was originally intended to be filmed as live action adaptation only for the film to be turned into a OVA when the production studio was damaged during the 95 Kobe earthquake. A live action version directed by renown pink film director Toshiki Sato  would be finally released in 2002, which reportedly is a lot closer to the source novel than this film.

A griping film throughout, the film though is a lot deeper than your usual psychological thriller, as while most thrillers would be content to just play off the mystery of “Mima’s Room”, here Kon’s focus on the changing personality from Virginal pop idol to driven actress willing to do more and more to ensure that she makes it as an actress, even if it means shattering the image her fans have on her, with her agreement to film the aforementioned rape scene only being the start of the slow reveal of her much darker side.

At the same time Kon shows equal attention to the supporting characters who all provide their own piece of the puzzle, from Mima’s office Manger Tadokoro (Tsuji) who pushes Mima into increasingly risque situations which he convinces is for the good of her career regardless of the pressure it puts on her already fragile psyche through to the obsessed  and grotesque stalker Me-Mania who plasters his walls with images of Mima’s pop idol form which in one memorable scene even speak to him. Kon though is equally mindful of the smaller details which often prove as a result to be just as memorable, such as an actor involved in filming the rape scene apologising to Mima during a break between takes.

The animation is crisp and clean throughout, with Kon choosing to avoid the more traditional large eyed anime style, instead for a more realistic style as seen with the wide range of character designs and while it might not have the wow factor that many have come to expect thanks to the releases of Studio Ghibli this is still visually a nice anime to look at, with the movement of the characters being especially spot on as especially highlighted during the ice pick murder sequence involving a length chase around the victims apartment.

Unquestionably this would be a memorable debut film from Kon and one which he would continue to build on even if he would choose to explore other genres with the films which followed, he would thankfully return to explore the themes here further with the series “Paranoia Agent”.  On its own merits though this film really is a benchmark in Japanese animation aswell as also providing the inspiration for Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”, making it only the more of a shame that it hasn’t been given the same recognition as the likes of the legendry “Akira” or “Ghost In The Shell” and like “Wings of Honneamise” has resulted it in being missed out by the more casual anime viewers which is something of a shame, especially when it is the sort of film which serves to highlight the range of styles which Anime covers.  

Nemesis

Title: Nemesis

Director:  Albert Pyun

Released: 1992

Starring: Olivier Gruner, Tim Thomerson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Yuji Okumoto, Marjorie Monaghan, Nicolas Guest, Deborah Shelton, Merle Kennedy

Plot: Alex (Gruner) a retired cyborg police officer is pulled out of retirement to track down his former girlfriend and cyborg Jared (Monaghan) who is smuggling data to terrorist organizations plotting to assassinate government officials.

 

Review: Directed by cult favourite Albert Pyun, who to date has directed over 40 movies while earning a reputation as something of a b-movie hired gun, as if you have a movie that you need to make on a minimal budget then Pyun is your man. He was also responsible for the very first film I reviewed here “Wrecking Crew” which was also for the longest time one of the worst films I had reviewed here, an honour now currently shared between “Deaden” and “Dear God No”. For some reason though it has taken me to now to review another film from his back catalogue but then I can hardly claim that I am the biggest fan of his work, but this is another film from my childhood whose cover I remembered from my misspent hours scanning video library shelves only to never actually get around to watching it until now.

Predictably being a Pyun film, ruined buildings, cyborgs and a post-apocalyptic future are all the order of the day which always amused me about his film, especially considering how Pyun cares little for any of these themes as he stated once in an interview were he essentially cleared up this irony.

“I have really no interest in cyborgs. And I’ve never really had any intrest in post-apocalyptic stories or settings. It just seemed that those situations presented a way for me to make movies with very little money, and to explore ideas that I really wanted to explore – even if they were [controversial].

Honestly I’m not too sure what story he wanted to tell here, seeing how there is less plot development than “Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever” which really is kind of saying something, but here the film goes from one bullet riddled shootout to the next, with seemingly only explosions and scenes of Alex and his unintentional sidekick (of sorts) Max (Kennedy) frequently diving off cliffs to tie it all together.

Okay perhaps this is a little harsh as there is some William Gibson-esq musing over what it is to be human, especially on the part of Alex whose frequent injuries have left him in need of frequent cybernetic upgrades, while refusing to be labelled a mindless robot, frequently stating that eighty-six point five percent of him is still human at any given moment. I would like to believe that these cybernetic upgrades are responsible for the continually bland and emotionless performance that Gruner gives here though I would seriously doubt this is the case. Even the most basic of emotions seems to be a push for him outside of the occasional smile while memorably showing zero emotion when his dog is killed by one of his former handlers in a pretty dickish move to try and convince Alex to come back. The logic behind this move still lost on me, I mean how many times have you convinced someone to do something by killing one of their cherished pets?

On the plus side Max comes with a Lorri Petty / Tank Girl style personality which never really gets any chance to shine and instead just comes off constantly skittish while providing enough personality to cover for both of them. Elsewhere the villians all bizarrely have a faux German accents while generally spending the film chasing after Alex and Max and shooting up the scenery. Sadly one of the worst aspects of the film is how underused Cary-Hirouki Tagawa is as his appearance is really more of a cameo, while more interesting one of his rarer non villainous roles and considering that he manages to act everyone else off the screen with his handful of scenes only makes me wish that Pyun had found a way to expand his role.

So what does this film have going for it? Well action, action and more action is essentially the order of the day, with everyone seemingly being armed to the teeth even an doddering old granny pulls out a pistol at one point!  Needless to say the film doesn’t waste any time getting to the first of the numerous shoot-outs as right from the off Alex is involved in a fierce shoot out, with Pyun  choosing like John Woo to have his characters rarely reload and even when they do it is only after they have fired off countless rounds. More amusingly though is that despite frequently being only a few metres from each other no one ever seems to be able to hit the broadside of a barn door and seeing how everyone is seemingly a cyborg (something which seemingly doesn’t improve anyone’s ability to aim) when someone does get hit it is usually in a hail of sparks which is visually pretty fun to watch.

While Gruner might be lacking as an actor, he does however make up for it in the action scenes with his character being changed from the originally proposed violent street urchin to Gruner’s cyborg cop as part of a production deal between Pyun and production executive Ash Shah who were keen to use the former Kickboxing champion in one of their projects with this film with Pyun in return being allowed free reign to make the movie he want and by the looks of things he really took that ball and ran with it. Surprisingly despite Gruner’s kickboxing background he only gets a chance to actually show off these skills on a couple of occasions as Pyun instead opts to have his Gruner demonstrate his gun handling skills instead which thankfully also works in Gruner’s favour as he handles himself well during the action sequences including a scene where he memorably machine guns his way though the floors of a hotel which would be memorably reworked in “Underworld” to similar effect, with the other memorable sequence involving him brawling with a generic villain while sliding down a muddy ramp and it really is in these scenes that the film really does shine and no doubt would have made this possibly my favourite movie had I watched it when I first discovered it, when the action scenes mattered more than the rest of the film.

Far from my favourite viewing experience as of late, yet like so many of Pyun's films I can't help but feel that the film was in many ways close to something, only to lose it along the way. Still if you like sparky firefights and explosions with minimal plotting then this could be the film for you. Now I just have to see were the series goes next seeing how this film spawn an additional three films, so don't be surprised if this isn't my last venture into the series.

Elwood's Essential's #8: Requiem For A Dream

Title: Requiem For A Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Released: 2000

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Mark Margolis, Keith David, Seasn Gullette, Hubert Selby, Jr.

Plot: Charting four Coney Island residents and their pursuit of their own vision of happiness, only to soon find their individual addictions leading them into a nightmarish downward spiral.

 

Review: I first saw this film back when I was in college, which is also really where I first seriously started studying film. It was around this same time that having turned 18 I spent most of that birthday joining every video library I could to further my cinematic tastes, beyond the films I was taping off late night TV let alone my already established lusts for Godzilla and Asian cinema which I’d been steadily building on since I first figured out how to use my parents video player. It was amongst these early jaunts into less mainstream cinema that I came across this film which I think I rented along with Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” in what would certainly turnout to be an eye opening double bill.

Since that original viewing though this film has always held a strange fascination with me a power which has yet to wain even after numerous viewings. At the same time this power that the film holds is very much a double edged sword as this film is easily one of the most grim films I have in my collection, so much so that I tend to view it once a year, while it usually takes the remainder of the year to get over the experience. Still with this being “Aprilofsky” I knew that it was kind of inevitable that at some point this month I would inevitably find myself revisiting it.

Based on the book by Hubert Selby, Jr. (who also makes a cameo as a laughing prison guard) the film follows the three intertwining stories of low level drug dealers Harry (Leto) and his best friend Tyrone (Wayans), Harry’s girlfriend and aspiring fashion designer Marion (Connelly) and Sara, Harry’s TV addled mother who dreams of being on television. For of you familiar with Selby, Jr.’s bleak world outlook you will no doubt already know that nothing is going to end up well for this foursome, but it is the journey they each take towards an inevitable downward spiral which Aronofsky perfectly captures and draws you in with, so that by the time you realise the path the characters are on, you are already too drawn into the story to turn back.

Arguably Aronofsky’s strongest film, I know that personally I was glad that I started with this film, rather than with his black and white debut “Pi” which gave the indication that it felt it was smarter than it was, while confusing things further with mathematical theory and mantra style repetition of its lead characters childhood recollection which only made it harder film to follow. Here though he would challenge those who didn’t get his debut as he perfects his use of repetition while heavily working his bag of visual tricks which includes the extensive use of quick cuts which total over 2,000 which only comes into perspective when you consider that most films only contain between 600 to 700 cuts.

The casting here really is spot on while equally risky at the time of the film’s release with Connelly being best known for most us for playing Sarah in “Labyrinth”, Leto aswell was better known for playing a teen heartthrob on “My So Called Life” despite having the snot beaten out of him as Angelface in “Fight Club” while Wayans was (and still is) known for his comedic roles with this film marking one of rare dramatic roles. It should be equally noted that the cast were equally brave for signing up for the film, after all this is hardly a film were any of the characters are going to walk away unscathed by the end credits, a fact which certainly didn’t escape Burstyn who was reportedly horrified by the script and only accepted the role after she saw Aronofsky’s debut “Pi”. Personally I would have placed money on her only wanting to further distance herself from the film, but guess like so many of you that she saw something in that film which I didn’t.

Needless to say each of the cast fully embody their individual characters, fully committing to their roles which was always going to be an essential element to the film as we find ourselves truly caring what happens to these characters, hoping that they will eventually find a way out of their downward spiral. I mean can you think of a time were you have been left feeling unclean and strangely horrified watching a gratuitous sex scene? Even with our drug dealing duo who are slowly being destroyed by a combination of their own habit and a drug dealer turf war drying out their supply chain you still want to see come out of this ordeal relatively unscathed. The most crushing though is the slowly deteriating mental state of Sara who loneliness is only broken up by the self help infomercial which seemingly plays on a continuous loop  and her dream of fitting in her red dress. It really is a tour-de-force performance that Burstyn brings to the role and who through the help of prosthetics and fat suits takes on one of the most startling transformations over the course of the film especially when she is a nervous shell to start with it is utterly heart breaking to see her slow decline over the course of the film as her diet pill abuse only becomes increasingly worse and her grip on reality continues to weaken.

The supporting cast are equally great here, while at the same time never to the point were they distract our attention away from the main foursome. At the same time when it comes to Christopher McDonald and Keith David, they are on such memorable form, that now I instantly associated themselves as being either being a power house self-help guru (McDonald) or a charming drug dealer / pimp (David). These characters though are not there to offer false salvation, but rather existing to simply provide the final push.

Another key element of the film is the killer combination of Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet whose soundtrack really adds a whole new level to the film and even though the “Lux Aeterna” has been overused on countless film trailers, Video games, talent shows and essentially any other event looking for a memorable piece of music. This of course is only one of the memorable tracks on the soundtrack as it perfectly frames numerous moments of the film from drug haze euphoria the playful days of summers, while taking on a more frantic and nightmarish qualities as the characters suffer through withdrawal and ultimately hit their individual rock bottoms.  The soundtrack here though truly highlights how powerful an effect it can be when the soundtrack is working in perfect conjunction with the images on screen.

An unquestionably powerful film, yet not the sort of film you pick up as a casual watch and like "Schindler's list" it is best approached with some pre-warning and a stack of cartoons to help you deal with the aftermath, as this one is unquestionably brutal. At the same time it marked Aronofsky out as major talent on the indie film making scene an while he has yet to top this high bench mark he set for the films to come, it served as a taste of what would follow. 

Kolobos

Title: Kolobos

Director: Daniel Liatowitsch, David Todd Ocvirk

Released: 1999

Starring: Amy Weber, Donny Terranova, Nichole Pelerine, John Fairlie, Promise LaMarco, Llia Volok

Plot: Five strangers are brought together to spend three months living in a Big Brother style house under the pretence of being part of an anthropology-related experimental film. However soon it becomes clear that not everything is what it seems.

Review: One of those films I have been meaning to watch for the longest time, only to get delayed by other titles taking priority on the viewing pile but more largely because it has hardly the most memorable of titles. Title aside this equally not the most talked about movie out there, with almost minimal reviews and while it might not quite be on the same obscure levels as "The Long Lunch" it is certainly under the radar. Now while 1999 might have been an incredible year for cinema, I can sadly report that now having finally watched this film that this was not one of the better ones to come out that year.

The sole film to be directed by the Swiss duo, before following it with individual features which saw Liatowitsch directing the MMRPG documentary “Avatars Offline” while Ocvirk wrote the DTV zombie movie “Last Rites” both then disappearing from the movie making scene altogether. This film would also invariantly be a forerunner to the more remembered “My Little Eye” which essentially gave us the same film while perhaps taking a more unique approach by being shot from the perspective of the surveillance camera, while here directors Liatowitsch and Ocvirk opt for a more traditional route as the house setup serves more as a reason to bring the characters together than anything else.

Frustratingly the first hour of this film is pretty solid, with the group all being introduced via selection of audition tapes as we meet failing stand up and self-convinced funny man Tom (Terranova), struggling b-movie horror actress Erica (Pelerine), college drop-out Gary (Fairlie) and fast food worker Tina (LaMarco). This group are also joined by artist Kyra (Weber) who is looking to move on from her recent time spent in a halfway house for her increasingly dark visions which she channels into her artwork. All of the main cast are likeable in their roles even if there are a few moments were some of the cast overplay their part, yet at the same time it is hard to not place these moment equally on clunky dialogue. It is equally interesting that this group of fame hungry wannabe’s all looking for their ten minutes of fame would get just that by appearing in this film as none of them would go on to do anything else following its release, with the exception of Weber who fittingly plays the group outsider. Weber perfectly portrays Kyra who spends most of the film unable to tell if Faceless is real or one of her visions, much less if she is responsible for what is happening in the house.

A relatively short film at 90 mins, but boy did that last half hour drag which is even more surprising considering how the tension is slowly cranked up in the first hour, with ghostly visions of a faceless figure around the house, let alone a hand creeping out from under the bed. However once it hits the one hour mark the film suddenly hits a downward spiral from which it never recovers as the house turns into a deadly funhouse of booby traps as the group find themselves being picked off one by one by the faceless killer known simply as Faceless (Volok).

While the final thirty minutes are pretty formulaic I really can’t fault the film makers originality here, which when it comes to the death scenes it really has in spades with the detached head turned into a mirror ball being a particular highlight. Still from flying buzzsaws to an acid shower the death scenes really do for the most part deliver, while an antler impalement feels overly familiar to the infamous splinter sequence from “Zombie Flesh Eaters”. Each of the deaths are handled well even with the limited budget, with the buzzsaw death being especially memorable partly becomes it comes out of nowhere and secondary because of how the victim is left to writhe while the rest of the group believably freak the hell out.

Frustratingly during the final half hour the film dissolves into a standard stalk and slash format and while the deaths might be oozing in originality, there is a sense that the film is being rushed towards its conclusion (not that it moves any quicker trust me) with death scenes becoming increasingly sloppy or rushed. This of course brings me to my next issue and that’s with the ending which makes absolutely no sense as if you’re like myself you find yourself bouncing between two different ideas of what it all means, while also with the sneaking suspicion that the film makers are trying to be smarter than their script allows, much like opting to call the film “Kolobos” (the German word for mutilated) over its alternative and more fitting title “Haunted House”.

Irritating for how it throws away a promising setup, this is one worth more a curious rental than being actively sought and while the duo never choose to follow it up, it remains a tantalising prospect of what they could have achievd with perhaps alittle more focus and a tighter script.