27. Albert Pyun!
This ends up being a fairly simple movie for such an out-there and frankly silly premise. Tim Thomerson (Trancers) plays a policeman on another planet who, in pursuing a criminal into outer space, is somehow shrunk to 13 inches tall and becomes stranded on Earth where everyone is a giant in comparison. He's offered shelter by a mother and her son, and I have never wanted to throttle someone more than this boy, who invites half the neighborhood into his mom's apartment to gawk at Dollman's spaceship while he's actively trying to hide. Despite the movie's sci-fi trappings, the plot feels more like a western, with the hero protecting this family and their neighborhood from an oppressive group of outsiders. Jackie Earle Haley shows up here, just before he took a decade-plus break from acting, and he makes a fairly good villain, if easily disposed of (one of the movie's key problems).
28. ‘80s Horror!
DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE (1980)Trailers: Maniac, Absurd
This was another one I was dreading because of its reputation. But like They Call Her One-Eye before it, I ended up really loving it. It reminded me a lot of Maniac (1980), both for the main character and his ultimate demise. The infamous burning scene (the only time we see him do it, with clever cuts to imply all future incidents) is genuinely upsetting, and I can see why people at the time were so shocked by it. But some very smart camera work (a split prism effect) tricks you into thinking you're seeing more than you are. The killer is played by Dan Grimaldi (of The Sopranos) and he's really good at being a nice guy who (somewhat) believably is able to lure women to his home, and I love that the movie spends a lot of time dealing with his issues, especially in the scenes where he monologues at his room of corpses.
29. Sword and Sorcery!
LEGEND (1985)Trailers: Willow, Krull
I'm not sure what's wilder: seeing Tom Cruise in a movie like this, playing a role like this, or Ridley Scott directing a film like this. The story I could take or leave, but the visuals in this movie are pretty extraordinary. I don't just mean special effects, which here of course are practical, but the overall look of the film, which is beautiful. There's also some decent worldbuilding and incredible makeup work. I do wish it looked less like the entire film was shot on a sound stage. It has to have been, right? It doesn't look like any of those actors even saw an actual tree during filming. I don't really care all that much about that in general, but it does take away the sense of scope and it doesn't feel like anything that happens has much impact on the world outside this forest. But then that's the same for a whole lot of fairy tales, which is ultimately what this feels like.
30. DTV!
THINGS (1989) Trailers: Sledge Hammer, Dream Stalker
I probably could have made a distinction for this prompt between "direct to video" and "shot on video." But I'd been waiting for an excuse to circle back to this ever since I pooped out on it when it was on The Last Drive-In last season. I had to watch that version of this, so that I could get a periodic jolt back to my senses from Joe Bob Briggs's commentary. This truly feels like a movie that was shot over the weekend at a friend's house. I *think* the basic story is that this guy and his wife had been trying unsuccessfully to have a kid, then went to a doctor who was part of a demonic cult or something and performed this strange procedure on them ... which for some reason not only killed the wife but resulted in a hoard of Things infesting the guy's house? I guess? I'm glad I saw this, but I found myself longing for the competency of Ed Wood and Neil Breen. I mean, a guy disappears from frame in a jump cut, and we're told he entered the third, fourth and fifth dimensions? This is a movie that has to be seen to be believed, and not in a good way.
No comments:
Post a Comment