Elwood's Essentials #12 - Scream

Title:  Scream

Director:  Wes Craven
Released:  1996
Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore, Jamie Kennedy

Plot: One year after her mother’s murder Sidney (Campbell) finds herself wondering if there is a connection between her mother’s murder and a new spate of murders being carried out, as both Sidney and her friends soon find themselves being targeted by the killer.

Review: While it might not seem it today “Scream” is unquestionably an important horror film let alone one  which was released when horror was essentially a dead genre. The genre itself having long since sunk into cliché characterisation and plotting leaving all but the most hardcore of horror fans tuning out. However this films release came as something as a breath of fresh air to the genre as it acknowledged with almost a knowing wink the rules which had been established by the films which came before it while at the same time feeling like giving the audience something new and fresh as it toned down the violence and nudity which had been such a key element of the 80’s in exchange for genuine tension and shocks.

At the time of its release Wes Craven had like his preferred genre seemingly lost his edge as one of the original masters of horror as he floundered with attempts to revitalise “The Nightmare on Elm St.” franchise with the meta “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” to mixed reception, while his newer films such as “Vampire In Brooklyn” and “Shocker” seemed to lack the same magic of his early films which had established his name as a horror director of note. Here though he seems to have fully rediscovered his mojo as here he attempts to reinvent with some considerable success the slasher movie while at the same time giving the horror community a new icon with the “Ghostface” killer.

Right from the start Craven is keen to ensure that he keeps the audience guessing as he opens with the now legendry death of Drew Barrymore who had been marketed as being the lead character in all the promotional for the film ensuring that her death not only made for an opening which grabbed its audience by the throat especially if they hadn’t had it spoiled ahead of time, which frustratingly seemed to happen for most viewers thanks to the gory payoff. However it’s the simplicity of this opening in which Barrymore’s airhead high school student is forced to answer horror questions in an attempt to save her life as well as that of her boyfriend tied up on the porch, while the mysterious caller reminds her of horror movie conventions which he soon proceeds to play out as she finds herself unwittingly drawn into her own horror movie.
 

Sidney while on the surface might seem like another typical final girl, here she is not so much the shy and retiring virgin, as she is introduced having a heated relationship with her boyfriend Billy (Ulrich) but one which has been severely hampered by the death of her mother, leaving her emotionally unwilling to take things further despite Billy’s best attempts. Billy on the other hand is perhaps one of the big flaws here…okay lets just accept that there will be spoilers from here, but then like “The Sixth Sense” and “The Empire Strikes Back” it’s a twist is now pretty much common knowledge. That being said Billy is so obviously the killer from the first time we see him, while Ulrich’s who had been cast due to his similarity in looks to Johnny Depp and who here attempts for dark and moody instead end up coming off more psycho, let alone the fact he continues that bizarre 90’s trend of guys coming in through bedroom windows, having started with “Clarissa Explains It All” and continues here as we are left wondering why no one can seemingly use a darn door! 
 

Sidney and her friends are all interesting in their own way, while at the same time seemingly written to avoid the usual cliché archetypes (the jock, the slut etc) with perhaps Randy (Kennedy) being the exception here as the film geek and whose role other than to provide the humour quota is to fill in the gaps in the audience horror movie knowledge as he so memorably outlines the rules for surviving a horror movie at the finale party. This however is not to say that any of them are any less disposable than your usual slasher cast, it’s just they are more interesting and developed than most. Even outside of the main group we still have some great moments with Tatum’s (McGowan) dim witted police officer brother Dewey (Arquette) and driven news reporter Gale Weathers (Cox) whose luminous green suit I only somehow noticed on this recent rewatch, while leaving me wondering if this could ever have been considered a good look.
 

One of the standout elements back when the film was released was how toned down the violence was, especially compared to the splatter of the 80’s and at the same time the highly suggested scenes of violence we get here don’t leave you with the feeling that your missing something with the opening drawn out death scene undeniably more haunting to watching than had it been a splatter heavy quick kill. That being said Craven still knows when to tease the audience and when something more graphic is required such as the scene in which Billy and Stu (Lillard) take turns stabbing each other, which is shot with such an unflinching eye that the fact that Craven refuses to cut away only adds to the rawness of the scene. At the same time when it comes the death scenes themselves the film really works for maximum effect with most of them coming with a certain amount of a chasing or tormenting before the payoff. At the same time there is also a real sense of originality and even now most of them still as fresh as they did when the film was released even if Tatum getting stuck in the catflap is none the less amusing even after numerous viewings.

True this isn’t the most perfect film with the twist over whose the killer being essentially signposted with Billy coming off as more of a characture than an actual real character, with the real mystery here being why they are carrying out the killing rather than whose actually doing them, but even that doesn’t really make a huge amount of sense and is only stopped from being more of a detriment thanks to the rest of the film being such a fun and entertaining ride. Equally while the film is supposedly following the rules of a slasher, its interesting that despite emphasising the rule that if you have sex you die, Sidney only finds the empowerment to defeat the killers after she has sex with Billy, equally this is not so much of a gripe seeing how it abolishes the idea of the virginal beauty being the final girl, it was just strange to see the film establish its rules only to break them for some tasteful titillation.

While this film seems to have been written off by many horror fans due to its popularity, let alone the spot on parody of “Scary Movie” (which was also the original title for this film) which burned this film and “I know What You Did Last Summer” which left most people with more than a humorous impression of what this film was like.  However it cannot be ignored how this film would revitalise the horror genre, while inspiring a wake of imitators such as the aforementioned “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, “Urban Legend” and err “Valentine” all which would fail to capture what Craven gives us here, which even Craven himself would fail to replicate even despite “Scream 2” coming close this remains not only an important film within the horror genre, but also a reminder that the horror genre can still produce a surprise like this even when mired in cliché.

Men, Women and Children

Title:  Men, Women and Children

Director:  Jason Reitman
Released:  2014
Starring: Rosemarie DeWitt, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgot, Kaitlyn Dever, Emma Thompson, J.K Simmons, Jason Douglas, Shane Lynch, Dennis Haysbert, Phil LaMarr, Olivia Crocicchia, Elena Kampouris, Travis Tope, Tina Parker, Will Peltz, Kurt Krakowian

Plot: A group of High School Teenagers and their parents attempt to deal with their issues, with the film taking the slant of how they all choose to use the internet and technology to chase their goals and deal with their issues.

 

Review: After riding high for so long since he made his directorial debut with the sadly now underappreciated “Thank you for Smoking” aswell as the trilogy of films he made with Diablo Cody which lead to the pair affectionately calling themselves “Team Juno”. However despite the success he’s had as a director Reitman remains a director who few people would be able to name a film he directed let alone name him in their top 5 list, which is something of a shame considering how he has constantly produced entertaining and Whitty social satires and here attempts to do the same again, only to stumble at the first fence by choosing to make the internet the focus of this latest film.

The problem with choosing to make a film based around technology is that its development moves so fast that by the time the films released its already out of date. At the same time unless you’re making a film dripping in techno babble and flair you risk the audience thinking that you’re in some way talking down to them, which seems to be the main bug bare for those folks who don’t like this movie, feeling it take the luddite approach to how it views the internet and its characters use of it. That being said if you can just get your head around what feels like quite a dated approach to the internet, much like you have to get around characters not knowing how to use the internet in “Perfect Blue” there is actually a lot to enjoy here.

Opening on Don played here by Adam Sandler giving us one of his rare straight performances, as he uses his son’s computer to search for porn, while Emma Thompson’s gives her opening narration while her well-spoken British accent only adds a unintentional comedic edge to the scene much like many of the scenes in which her sporadically used narration appears throughout the film. Don’s porn use we soon discover is part of his attempts to deal with the issues in his marriage to Helen (DeWitt). The pair soon choosing to find their own solutions with Helen opting to use “Ashley Madison” while Don finds satisfaction through escort services. At the same time their son Chris (Tope) finds himself no longer able to get aroused without the extreme porn he’s long since graduated onto as the result of his long term obsession with internet porn. Elsewhere Hannah (Crocicchia) is desperate to be famous, while her mother Joan (Greer) lives her own failed dreams as an actress by now channeling through her daughter, who she takes risqué pictures off for her daughters website unaware of how the pictures are being viewed.

While these main stories are all pretty standard, with the film suprisingly not opting for the same porn shaming angle that “Don Jon” randomly threw at its audience, this is still not a film without a misguided opinion thrown into the mix as here the paranoia aspect of internet usage is represented by Brandy’s (Dever) over-protective mother Patricia (Garner) who remotely monitors her daughters phone and internet usage, even deleting messages from her obsessed gamer boyfriend Tim (Elgot). Tim of course has his own issues like everyone else in the film as he uses an MMORPG to escape the reality of having to deal with the fallout of his parents’ divorce, which lead his to quit as the school star football player and now leaves him the constant target of his former team mates.

As I mentioned already this is a film which needs you to ignore how some of the information is presented and instead view it as more of a connecting plot device, especially when the enjoyment comes from the interactions these characters have and how each other and how their individual stories unfold. At the same time it’s a vein of natural humour which runs throughout with Reitman forgoing his usual Whitty dialogue and instead relies on the charm and performances of his cast to keep the audience’s attention. That being said we do get several darkly comedic moments such as Chris attempting to cure his impotence issues by attempting to have sex with a lubed up football.

The stories themselves are all interesting and while each one focuses on a different aspect of the internet, you never get the feeling that Reitman is trying to make any kind of major statement on the dangers of the internet or how we’ve all become slaves to it now that it has worked its way into never every aspect of our day to day lives.  I guess the closest film that I could compare this to would unfortunately be “Crash” only atleast this one does suffer from the same smugness and attempt to pull some kind of surprise revelations like the “We’ll All Racists” revelation that “Crash” tried to pull off. Instead this is a film which wears its messages in plain view and leaves it for the audience themselves to decide on where they stand on the characters actions than trying to drive home any kind of opinion we are supposed to have about any of them.

True this is far from a perfect movie while some moments such as the overly melodramatic suicide attempt by one character, while Garner’s overbearing Patricia at times come off as more of a cartoon villain than a concern parent, especially when she goes into her rant about the danger of online gaming in particular what an avatar is supposed to represent.

While this is far from Reitman’s best film to date, it is equally not as bad as it has unfairly been made out to be, though for newcomers I would recommend starting with one of his earlier films than this one.

From Beyond

Title:  From Beyond

Director:  Stuart Gordon
Released:  1986
Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree, Ted Sorel, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon

Plot: Dr. Edward Pretorius (Sorel) has created “The Resonator”, a machine which allows people to see beyond normal perceptible reality. However when the initial test run goes wrong leaving Pretorius decapitated and his assistant Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) committed to a psych ward. Now released into the custody of Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crampton) she sets out to find out more about the experiment they were running.

 

Review:  Why is it that Stuart Gordon never seems to receive the same amount of respect as his “Masters of Horror” counterparts? It’s something that has constantly confused me especially when he was responsible for giving the world “Re-Animator”. A film which in turn would become the first of his “H.P. Lovecraft” adaptations for whom he has remained a source of constant obsession for the director, with this film once again being based on a Lovecraft short story, originally published in “The Fantasy Fan” in 1934.

Shot back to back with “Dolls” in Italy and with an Italian crew as part of a cost cutting measure which Gordon has stated helped him keep the film under budget as what would have cost fifteen million dollars ended up costing around two and a half million instead. Still its a simple enough “Horrors of Science” story with “The Resonator” enables those in its field to enter into an alternative dimension and of course this being based on a Lovecraft tale means that monsters are very much the order of the day. What makes this film standout though is the approach that Gordon chooses to take with the material which is strange to say the least.
 

Opening with Crawford switching on the machine for the first time and soon discovering the first of the creatures on the other side taking the form of a flying moray eel, which almost immediately attacks him, which honestly would be enough for most folks to call it a day. However Pretorius has other ideas as he insists on a second test which soon goes horribly wrong, while more humorously incurring the wrath of their neighbour who ventures over in her rollers to shout at them some more and get her dog back which for some reason or another feels the need to run over there. What only adds to this opening is when she runs in terror from their house seemingly in slow motion, that is until you see Crawford barrelling down the stairs behind her and you realise that she’s just in fact that slow. As great as this opening is it does have the downside of essentially giving the mystery away and means that we pretty much know what the group is going to encounter when they return to the house.

Gordon really works the potential of the short story (a whopping seven pages) with some interesting additions of his own, let alone bringing the story into the present day. That being said it’s the plotting of this film which were the film falls apart as how he chooses to play the story is frequently quite baffling with the opening being the major one for myself seeing how it effectively kills any mystery the film has within its opening ten minutes, so that when Crawford returns to the house / lab with Katherine we already know to an extent what they are in for. For some reason we also get an S&M element added to the story with Pretorius having his own dungeon and which seems to only have been included so that Gordon had an excuse for Katherine to dress up randomly in some sexy leather gear, when suddenly appears to be possessed. I suppose Gordon does try and balance things out by giving us Ken Foree running around in the smallest pair of pants ever.

As I’ve mentioned already, the other side which “The Resonator” opens the door to comes with a host of intresting monsters and which thanks to the work of four different special effects teams and effects created by John Carl Buechler who here comes close to besting those designed by Rob Bottin for “The Thing” which still remains the benchmark for practical effects. That being said there the effects on show here are still extremely impressive as Buechler combines practical effects with elements of stop motion all of which still look great especially with the more gooey effects.  The centrepiece here though is Pretorius who returns in a heavily mutated form and one which continues to change as the film progresses as he unleashes a variety of interesting mutated appendages. As well as Pretorius who provides a suitably demented villain we also get a giant worm thing in the basement which keeps things fun when you have Crawford and Bubba (Foree) battling it with Bubba in just those lovely underpants no less.
 

While this film might not be in the same league as “Re-Animator” its still fun enough to balance out the negatives such as the aforementioned horrible plotting which at times doesn’t seem to know which way to take the film, especially when logic and plausibility are seemingly afterthoughts here. That being said if you’re in the mood for slimy monsters and strange mutations then this one delivers in spades while making you wonder why Gordon remains so overlooked when it comes essential horror directors.

Valentine

Part of "Simplistic Reviews" Horror Time Capsule check them out!!

Title:  Valentine

Director:  Jamie Blanks
Released:  2001
Starring: David Boreanaz, Denise Richards, Marley Shelton, Hedy Burress, Jessica Cauffiel, Katherine Heigl

Plot: Five girls who rejected the school geek at the school dance now years later find themselves being targeted by a mysterious Cherub-mask wearing killer.

 

Review:  Yet another film that I’ve been meaning to watch for years only to continually get distracted by other films in the watch pile. It is also a film I remember coming out when I was in college surrounded by heavy advertisement only to suddenly disappear without it gaining any real traction with audiences it seemed.  Despite this the idea of a Cherub mask wearing killer did sound an appealing one and no doubt the reason it remained on my watch list for so long.

Opening on Valentine’s day 1988, here we see the hopeless romantic geek Jeremy going from one girl to the next asking if they want to dance, only to continually get shot down. However it appears that his luck might be in when the overweight Dorothy accepts his invitation to dance which soon leads to them making out underneath the bleachers. Sadly things don’t exactly work out for Jeremy as when the pair are spotted by the school bullies, she claims that he sexually assaulted her leading the bullies to then turn into a pack of vigilantes as they publicly strip Jeremy before preceding to beat the holy out of him while the students and teachers seemingly do nothing about this! Of course the girls meanwhile all go on to grow up to become popular and attractive, while the film seemingly insists that these girls were friends back in school, even if their childhood versions seemed to belong to different groups to each other with no indication of any of them ever being friends. It’s also really once we see the girls all grown up exactly what sort of casting decisions were made for the film, seeing how all the girls seemingly have been cast more for their looks than their acting abilities, something which soon become blatantly obvious when faced with another 70 mins of their vacant expressions ahead of you.

Despite being released in 2001, this film still appears to be aiming for the same filming style of the 90’s horror movies which followed in the wake of “Scream”  which revitalised the horror genre and generated a slew of counterparts it generated and certainly a wave of films which you’d be forgiven that this film belonged to. I was equally surprised to learn that this film was directed by Jamie Blanks who previously gave us one of the more underrated 90’s horror movies with “Urban Legend”. Sadly this film is nowhere near as good which to Blanks credit he has apologised while seemingly indicating that it was a less than smooth production for the film which also had to contend with the TV schedules of  both Katherine Heigl who was attached to “Roswell” and Boreanaz who was attached to “Angel” meaning that both actors only had a limited amount of time to shoot their scenes with Heigl in particular only having three days for her scenes which equate to little more than a fleeting appearance here as blanks gives his own spin on the classic “Scream” opening which despite having a cool kill lacks the same kind of impact.

One of the main issues the film has though is that none of the cast are particularly likable, more so when they constantly seem so self-involved and wrapped up in their own issues that it makes it impossible to form any kind of connection, let alone believe that they are as good a friends as they claim to be. At the same time every male character in the film is portrayed as being a horny sleaze ball who cares only about picking up one of the four girls. Even the detective whose supposed to investigating the killer stalking them isn’t amused from this as he randomly tries to pick up the sexually aggressive Paige (Richards) which seemingly all he does apart from making some half-baked attempts at trying to identify the masked killer. The only exception here is Boreanaz who appears as Kate’s (Shelton) boyfriend but even then his appearances throughout are so sporadic that it leaves you wondering if the was any real direction for his character other than to help setup the finale, while Boreanaz continues to prove that movies are not were his talents lie (see “The Crow: Wicked Prayer” for further proof) as most of his performance seems to revolve around him recycling his broody performance for “Angel”.

Elsewhere not even the killer is free from the many issues of this film as while the mask makes for a cool look especially when combined with his all black ensemble. What the mask also unfortunately does is to give him the impression of him having a tiny head when we see him in any full length shots, which perhaps takes away some of the threat that he could have processed had he not looked so unintentionally funny during these shots. At the same time when it comes time to do the big reveal what could have been a clever twist ends up feeling strangely clumsy thanks to the events leading up to the showdown making little sense with characters suddenly showing sides to them which feel that they were written in while filming.

What saves this film from being a complete write off those is that it contains some really inventive kills, the majority of which are shot with like an 80’s slasher, making them a strange fit for the rest of the film which is very 90’s in its style and more so when a number are far more graphic than the majority of movie deaths from this period which tended to favour the less is more approach spearheaded by “Scream”. Amongst the kills we get a nasty looking throat slit, death by bow and arrow (well he is wearing a cherub mask) with the best of course involving a hot tub and a power drill! One trick that the film does miss though is during the scene leading up to the hot tub death in which it appeared that Blanks was going to recreate the raptor attack from “Jurassic Park” and have the killers face suddenly appears out of the plants, but sadly it does happen.  Still the kills are all well-handled and no doubt the one good thing you’ll take away from this one.

A heavily  flawed film with its clunky script and unlikable characters make this far from the easiest film to sit through even if you’re just watching it for the death scenes.

Filmed In Supermarionation

Title:  Filmed In Supermarionation

Director:  Stephen La Riviere
Released:  2014

Plot: Documentary about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who developed with their production team the now iconic puppetry technique known as "Supermarionation" which would used on the now legendry cult shows he created including Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlett.

 

Review:  If you grew up in the UK chances are that you will have watched at least one show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. For myself it was an obsession with their work which began with “Stingray” with its promise that “Anything  can happen in the next half hour!” and would later be followed up by “Thunderbirds” and “Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons”. Surprisingly I never put my love for these shows in the same category as the giant monster / Kaiju movies that I was equally obsessed with and which used similar model techniques, with my attention instead being held by the fantastical stories and lifelike puppetry which made you forget you were watching a puppet show.

Clocking in at almost two hours and heavy on nostalgia value this documentary sets out to chart the history of their shows and the development of the “Supermarionation” technique from the now twee looking early projects such as “The Adventures of Twizzle” and “Torchy, the Battery Boy” through to the end of the golden period for their productions which came to a close with the likes of “Joe 90” and “The Secret Service” and in doing so ignoring his later projects  like “Space 1999” and “Space Precinct” which saw him move into live action projects which still contained elements of his miniature work. As such this does mean that this documentary isn’t a definitive history but instead a look at the key years in which Anderson and his team were perfecting their technique.
 

Despite the limited scope of the film this is still a treat for the fans with Riviere not only assembling interviews with both Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, aswell as many of the original voice actors and production team who all have a wealth of stories to share from their experiences working on the show from the evolution of the puppets through to special effects issues such as trying to find a way to make “Supercar” go underwater it seems that there is no subject left uncovered. What would have been impressive enough is only added to further by the fact that the film is narrated and presented by Lady Penelope and Parker from “Thunderbirds” which was certainly an added fanboy bonus.
 

While this is the kind of film which will unquestionably please the established fans, especially with the wealth of classic footage on show here. At the same time its never afraid to show the darker side of the productions with Gerry Anderson in particular frequently voicing his frustrations that he was never able to make the live action productions he wanted and how he instead channelled his ideas into the projects he would become best known for producing, while the brutal fallout from the breakdown of his marriage is thankfully skipped over outside of a passing mention he gives it which seemingly is more to do with adding to the timeline than a major plot point. The rest of the team however seem to relish the chance to discuss their work helping to balance the film out and keep things light hearted and fun without you feeling that you aren’t getting the full story.
 

When it comes to the productions themselves the huge amount of footage really makes the film accessible even if you’re not familiar with any of the shows while for an established fan like myself it was great to see the shows which came before “Thunderbirds” and “Stingray” such as the western “Four Feather Falls” and the more traditional Anderson productions such as “Supercar” and “Fireball XL5” which for some reason never got the same reruns the other shows did. The downside to this of course being that I now have a bunch of shows that I now want to track down as this documentary will no doubt leave you hankering to revisit some of these shows thanks to the careful clip selection only further selling their charms while the feature length adaptation of “Thunderbirds” imaginatively titled “Thunderbirds Are Go” makes it seem a lot more surreal than I remember it being.
 

For the fans this will no doubt be the film you’ve been waiting for and even with its weighty run time and limited scope there is still plenty here to ensure that you’re not left disappointed, especially when Riviere hits all the main favourites while digging out a few surprises along the way. This is a great slice of classic cult TV while ensuring that Anderson and his teams puppet work is never forgotten.

Arena

Title:  Arena

Director:  Peter Manoogian

Released:  1989
Starring: Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Camp, Claudia Christian, Marc Alaimo, Shari Shattuck, Armin Shimerman, Michael Deak, Ken Clark

Plot: In the year 4038 an intergalactic boxing style sport simply known as “The Arena” takes place on an isolated space station. Now short order cook Steve (Satterfield) prepares to compete as the first human in 50 years to enter the contest.  

 

Review:  Back when the “Rocky” franchise was in its death throws following the abysmal “Rocky 5” there was an enduring rumour that the next film would see Rocky sent into space for some intergalactic boxing. I mean it worked for Muhammad Ali Vs. Superman so why not for the Italian stallion aswell? Thankfully this idea never happened but for those who felt it was a good idea, unsurprisingly via Charles Brand who ran with the idea for this DTV release which would be one of the last films to be distributed by his “Empire International Pictures” label a few years before it folded, with Band going on to form the now legendry “Full Moon Pictures”. Its also a film which I remember originally watching as a kid when my dad rented it for me from the video shop, based just on the fact I thought the cover was cool.

Paul Satterfield here plays the aspiring fighter Steve Armstrong who dreams of fighting in “The Arena” were humans have been essentially counted out as lesser fighters unable to compete with the more dominate races which it attracts. However after he unwittingly knocks out an arena fighter he finds himself being given a shot via Quinn (Christian) whose fighter he left unable to compete. At the same time his six armed best friend Shorty manages to land them both on the radar of the underworld boss Rogor (Alaimo) who is also the manager of the current champion Horn (Deak).

Encase its not clear already, this film honestly could not be more of a Rocky clone if it tried as here we get the underdog fighter aiming for the title and battling against the heavily stacked odds to make it. We even get a number of bizarre training sequences including one where Steve spars with a T-rex looking alien called Stitches who has tiny arms and essentially is there just to be punched by Steve. At the same time it’s also a film when there’s not a fight happening the film starts to drag.

It’s a shame that this film doesn’t have a tighter script as there really is something here with Manoogian creating a believable “Star Wars” inspired world full of interesting character / alien designs who inhabit the station and who are brought to life via practical effects, with some elements of stop motion for some of the bigger creatures. Instead due to the hit and miss script the film is left to try and carry itself on the entertaining fight sequences with questionable results.

Satterfield is a likeable lead and here receives strong support from the rest of the cast who include cult sci-fi legend Claudia Christian who brings her usual sultry charms to this film several years before she got her breakout role on “Babylon 5”. Marc Alaimo makes for a decent if subtle villain which is hardly surprising that he chooses to play it this way when he comes with his sneaky and appropriately henchman Weezil played by the legendry character actor Armin Shimerman as well as his fighter Horn, a monosyllable monitor who seemingly can’t say anything without turning it into a brag about his abilities.
 

The fight scenes are pretty varied while at the same time are equally varied in their quality, with the setup of the arena meaning that Steve can essentially put up against any fantastical creation that Manoogian could cram into the film. What only adds to this is that while in the arena, both fighters are balanced via a handicap system so that neither fighter has an advantage over the other while also meaning that we get to see such fun scenes as Steve taking on the towering Sloth with some sense of believability, even if the matches frequently seems to be wildly one sided even with this supposed handicap in place.  The fact that the film is using practical effects though only helps these scenes as they have the sense of presence that you just don’t get with CGI effects.
 

It frustrating when the fight scenes are so fun that the scenes inbetween are frequently so tedious with Steve lusting over Rogor’s girlfriend or the unfocused direction of his character who whines about coming to the station to compete, only to turn down the shot when its offered to him. We also have him wanting to head back to Earth only again to change his mind as soon as he gets enough for a ticket. As such it drags things down and really stalls the pacing of the film, especially when it leaves you hankering for the next fight scene.

While a flaws film it’s still watchable enough to give it a casual glance even if its to say you’ve seen “Rocky in Space”!

Red State

Title:  Red State

Director:  Kevin Smith
Released:  2011
Starring: Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Nicholas Braun, Michael Parks, John Goodman

Plot: Three horny teens Travis (Angarano), Jared (Gallner) and Billy Ray (Braun) who heads out to the countryside to meet up with an older woman, who has invited them out with the prospect of casual group sex, unaware they are being lured into a trap by the local fundamentalist church, lead by the highly controversial Pastor Abin Cooper (Parks). While attempting to escape one of the boys a violent stand off between the FBI and the church is triggered, with the boys now finding themselves caught in the middle as they try to escaping the increasingly escalating situation, especially with the church members refusing to go without a fight.

 

Review: Bursting onto the independent film circuit with his debut film “Clerks”, Kevin Smith emerged as an exciting new voice in independent cinema, with Smith soon developing a reputation for films featuring clever dialogue and frequent pop culture references, though despite his early films showing great promise, he soon seemed to be selling out his writing talent for the easier laughs of dick and fart jokes with many of his fanbase seeing the controversial “Dogma” which poked fun at Catholism and Catholic Dogma as the high water mark of his talent, especially with the films which followed such as the underrated “Jersey Girl” frequently failing to hit the same levels of humour as his earlier films. An option which was seemingly reinforced as the humour seemingly started getting lazier as Smith began favouring toilet humour over clever dialogue which had made his earlier films so memorable let alone quotable to a whole generation of film fans. Now just as I had given up on Smith actually making a film comparable to his early work again, especially after seemingly hitting rock bottom with “Cop Out”, he goes and releases “Red State”, a film which is not only a radical return to form for Smith, but also a bold change in direction as it also marks Smith’s first supposed venture into the Horror genre.

“Red State” is almost like Smith returning to the same indie roots from which he first emerged, with the film being made for 4 million his lowest budget since “Chasing Amy” and it’s also without the financial or distribution assistance of the Weinsteins who have supported Smith’s career on nearly all of his films, with Smith taking up the duties of self distributing the film Stateside via travelling roadshow, before releasing the film direct to DVD, citing it a response to the costs spent by studios on advertising, yet it seems that he has changed his mind for the UK release which has saw the film being promoted via numerous TV spots and Phone Box advertising for a full cinema release.

When it comes to drawing comparisons Smith seems to be making it very clear on were he is drawing his inspiration from, seemingly setting his sights on infamous pastor Fred Phelps and the highly controversial Westboro Baptist Church, who frequently cause controversy by picketing the funerals of dead soldiers and gays, with the Phelps earning the moniker of “America’s Most Hated Family” and seeing Michael Parks giving passionate rants about the moral failings of America, it is hard to dispute that Smith has created a character who embodies the hatred of Fred Phelps, even though Smith has not openly admitted that the character is supposed to be Phelps, stating that he instead represents “A Phelp(s) like figure” aswell as that the film is about those same subjects, view points and Phelps own position taking it to the absolute extreme and turning this group of radical Christian into a bunch of gun hording and quick to anger fundamentalists. Still this did not stop Wesboro picketing the film, only to be greeted by a rival protest group comprising of Director Smith and fans who also significantly outnumbered the Wesboro group.

Despite starting out like a typical Smith esq plot and some mild toilet humour, as the boys set out in pursuit of casual sex with an older woman, it soon become alot more darker than anything we have previously seen from Smith, especially with the church members treatment of their captives, meanwhile the boys are soon pushed to the sidelines around the halfway mark with Paster Cooper and the FBI’s Special Agent Keenan (Goodman) stepping up to take over as the leads, which comes as a surprise especially after building up the three young leads, but when Goodman and Parks are responsible for the two strongest performances in the film it’s hardly detrimental, with Goodman looking to have lost alot of weight recently, but certainly none of his screen presence, as he gives a largely shouty performance here, as he tries to take control of the situation which continues to rapidly spiral out of control. Meanwhile the rest of the characters are generally given the bare bones of characterisation with the all of Cooper’s group being generally of the same mind set and mainly provide targets for the FBI agents, while the local police get slightly more attention with fun characters such as the local sheriff desperately trying to cover for his closeted homosexuality, which Pastor Cooper taunts him with to keep him under his control.

One of the main themes being examined here is the power of religion and more importantly how it can be twisted to suit one man’s crusade, a popular subject in recent years having so memorably been explored in “Martyrs” as it is here if perhaps not as so deeply especially with Smith opting for an ending slightly less biblical then original planned one which included giant armoured angels and the four horsemen of the apocalipse all putting in an appearance.

What is especially intresting here though is that Smith has clearly got over his supposed fear of directing action, having stated in previous interviews that he generally avoided it due to the amount of effort it requires to direct such scenes, which only adds to the surprise here, when essentially the second half of the film is one big shoot out sequence, which will either make or break this film for you depends on how much of an action fan you are, while also seemingly echoing the 1993 Waco Siege, while no doubt breaking the record for the largest amount of shots fired in a single movie.

Despite Smith claiming that this is a Horror movie it’s claim that is way off the mark, for despite some elements of Horror and the setup in the early half of the film, all of these element vanish as soon as it turns into a siege movie, so anyone going into this one expecting to be scared whitless are only going to be painfully disappointed as this one is essentially more of a popcorn action flick than anything even close to Horror, but then the same could said for the “Askew Universe” fans coming out expecting to see appearances by Jay and Silent Bob, as this film seemingly belongs in a whole other universe to those other films and it’s also one were even Ben Affleck or any of Smith’s usual acting troupe don’t appear, almost as if Smith is keen to prove that he can stand on his own as a director without the support of his friends.

While “Red State” is bound to isolate the more serious movie goer, who likes some substance with their movies and while certainly not a serious dissection of certain more fanatical groups, “Red State” is still a blast of a movie which if you liked what you see in the trailer, it will certainly not disappoint you and while perhaps the ending might be a bit of a letdown, the journey there is so much fun it is easy to overlook and compared to the plans for the original ending seems focused morally on ensuring that the power stays with the right group. Still if your looking for a fun night out you could do a lot worse than this, so why not switch off your brain and enjoy as this is some pure cinematic junk food for the soul!