In the seventies I remember watching the Martian Chronicles TV series and promising myself that one day I would read the book that the series was based on. I can recollect very little of the episodes I viewed other than a fast food restaurant on an atmospheric Martian desert and alien land yachts cruising across the horizon. To a young boy this looked like a serious brand of Science Fiction unlike the Star Wars and Buck Rodgers I was used to.
I finally read the book this year and to say it's only a short novel I really struggled to get through it. It's not what I expected at all. This is 1950's style Science Fiction with a great deal of stiff upper lip, traditional family values and lots and lots of pipe smoking. It's more a collection of connected short stories than a novel and Bradbury uses the colonisation of Mars to reflect the ills and abuses he saw in 50's American society. The stories explore religion, racism and modern warfare amongst other issues, but in an obtuse way that is neither subtle or particularly engaging.
The features of the television adaptation are all present, but jumbled in an almost surreal collage of Martian folklore. None of the individual stories are satisfying or enjoyable, but the the tale of the deserted Walter Gripp in 'The Silent Towers' is straightforward and the prolonged story of Spender in 'And the Moon be Still as Bright' is at least thought provoking. The atmosphere of the book is its strong point, with a hallucinatory quality that lets you drift in and out of Martian life never really knowing if it is reality or a dream.
It's clear to see that the book has dated considerably and as a work of modern Science Fiction it doesn't quite hold water, however at the time of publication I'm sure it was a relevant piece of work with cutting edge social comment. Read the Martian Chronicles for a history lesson of the genre and be grateful that pipe smoking has gone out of fashion. There is little wonder that the first expeditions went so badly, when the astronauts turned up puffing clouds of noxious Condor fumes over the Martians. I'm glad I've read it but honestly can't recommend it.
Mark Dacascos vs. Zombies. Is there a better pitch for a film? (Mark Dacascos vs. Zombies vs. Pigeons vs. Beardy Gingers?)
Following in the footsteps of Vincent Price, Charlton Heston and Will Smith, Dacascos takes a crack at Richard Matheson's novel 'I Am Legend'. He plays Renchard, the last man on Earth (not strictly true). He has made his house into a nice little compound with wire fence and alarms to warn him of the lurking zombies. When one breaks in, he nips out and either gives them a good kicking in the chicken nuggets or goes for the headshot. He comes up with a quality plan of blowing up the city. What kind of explosives has this man got access to? Dee-na-mee-tay (watch Hoodwinked for an explanantion) is not going to cut the mustard. C4? Not really. Let's face facts, he needs a nuke. Which he hasn't got. Instead he straps some pathetic looking parcels to numerous telegraph poles around the city. That should do the trick.
The worst thing about the opening of the film are the zombies. Their faces look like halloween masks where you can blatantly see the circular opening around the eyes. As things progress, the make-up effects get better and by the end, the zombies are passable. It's as if they shot the film in continuity and were learning as they went along. Which they possibly were.
It would be very hard for one actor to sustain a whole film and it's not too long before we get introduced to a few more characters. Vincent and Mike are obviously dodgy from the first time they appear. At least Renchard has someone human to scrap with for variety. Love interest comes in the form of Brianna, (Jennifer Lee Wiggins) a survivor who possibly carries the solution to the whole zombie crisis in her veins.
Dacascos plays the character of Renchard as a fairly emotionless fellow, which is reasonable. Living with the constant threat of zombie-flavoured death attacks must have taken a toll on his mental state. Later on, when he meets Brianna, there is some chemistry between the two of them. (Don't get your hopes up. They don't get the retort stands and bunsen burners out and start making salt. Or soap.) Only then does he start to show some emotion. Let's face facts: he's the only reason to watch it.
I Am Omega is quite entertaining for such a low budget production. It gets better as it progresses. I've never seen the Will Smith version, but I'd put big money on this being better. The best version of this is still the original book though. It would have been nice to have a slightly larger budget to fulfil the promise on the cover. And include some rabid pigeons. And beardy gingers.
4/10 evlkeith (Average rating for the season so far = 5.6)
If you like this you could also try: The Omega Man, The Last Man on Earth, I Am Legend (the book by Richard Matheson).
The blurb proclaims that this is a near perfect film, and in so many ways it is just that. The whole thing is a technical masterpiece; it's shot perfectly, the imagery is perfect, the plot, characterisation and atmosphere are all perfect. However the question needs to be asked, "Why is it not a particularly enjoyable viewing experience?"
The answer almost creates a new genre of film in its own right. This is a grimy little film. There is no hint of positivity here, no hope, no humour. Just grimy degradation, exploitation, illness and deprivation. With more guns, drugs and prostitutes it would be full on gritty, but we are even denied this level of excitement and are left with a seedy, dirty and depressing picture of real life for the Bacelona underclasses. Call it what you want; 'Grimy', 'Grime-core' or 'Grit-lite', Biutiful almost writes its own grimy checklist.
There's no criticism of the actors and Javier Bardem (Vicky Christina Barcelona) in particular is stunningly downbeat and depressing. Parcel him up in a world of immigrant workers, disease, marital problems, guilt, lawlessness and bizarrely, clairvoyancy(!), and you have a deeply disturbing 141 minutes ahead of you.
The start and the ending are fantastically weird, it's the two hours in-between that almost make you lose the will to live. It has something in common with other grimy offerings like Sex Party & Lies, Y Tu Mama Tambein and Amoros Peros, but takes the whole genre down to a new level of hopelessness. The best gritty films add a sprinkling of hope to proceedings (City of God), but Inarritu ignores this convention and we are left looking into the abyss. Only watch if your world looks rosy, because a couple of hours later it will certainly have a darker tinge. 9/10 for technical.
1/10 for enjoyment. Doccortex
If you like this you could also try: Butterfly's Tongue, The Sea Inside, The Secret in Their Eyes.
A young evlkeith in training (age 8) was given a book for Christmas. It was a horror book. It was filled with stills from all manner of horror films, in particular the Universal monster films and Hammer Horrors. One particular image stuck in my mind of a man with a bandaged head and a large sutured scar running right down the middle of his body. My little underdeveloped mind dreamt of this forbidden film, filled with terrifying sights like this.
You may have guessed that the film in question is The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. What you might not have guessed is that when I was a very little baby evlkeith they were filming this just down the road in the Peak District near Sheffield. I could have gone and been a baby zombie extra. But for a film with this title it didn't actually get that close to Manchester. Or to its morgue.
Title pickiness aside this is a pleasant surprise considering some of the other low quality zombie efforts from around that time. You can tell that Jorge Grau has thought carefully about his film. He refers to ecological disasters, is particularly irreverent towards the police and put a lot of effort into the sound design and music. Shame he didn't put more thought into cutting a distinctly dubious shot comparing a young girl with Down's Syndrome to a leering zombie face.
George (Ray Lovelock) is a cheeky cockney fellow who runs a swanky art shop. He soon runs into Edna (Christina Galbo). Well, rather she runs into his bike. They embark on a journey to Windemere for various reasons but some naughty zombies have different ideas. The first of many iconic zombies we meet is Guthrie (Fernando Hilbeck) who drowned and died until he was dead. Another interesting move by the director was to constantly shoot Guthrie wet as if the zombies are permanently stuck in their moment of death. Things then go increasingly downhill for our two chums with them being accused of committing the zombie perpetrated murders by the slightly over zealous police Sergeant (Arthur Kennedy).
One aspect that lets down the slightly more intelligent feel of this film is the dubbing. It is more like Eurotrash. Ray Lovelock has a particularly unfortunate cockney accent and sounds similar to Eric Idle. Being a Spanish/Italian co-production it seems doubtful that there was ever an undubbed version. To be kind you could say that it adds an air of frivolity to counteract some of the more gruesome goings on.
The gore now is a tad on the tame side but the entrail eating was probably too much for Mary Whitehouse at the time. (It got on the illustrious Video Nasty list, perversely guaranteeing that everyone wanted to see it.) As with some other zombie films of this era (Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror and Nightmare City) the director included a scene of breast reduction surgery performed by a zombie. Not entirely pleasant.
It's worth watching, if only for the memorable zombies. Given that the make-up is nearly non-existent, they are still hold up well against the current crop of zombies. Throw in a couple of comedy scientists and a bizarre streaker incident, and an entertaining time post-pub on a Friday night is ensured. 6/10 evlkeith (Average rating for the season so far = 5.8)
If you like this you could also try: Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror, Zombie Flesh Eaters, City of the Living Dead.
I watched this due to it making an appearance on a list of the ten most gruelling films (sorry, I can't remember the exact page to link to it) and despite not being particularly gruelling, it's a good film.
Hayley Stark (a pre-Juno Ellen Page who interestingly enough was born in Halifax) is a fourteen year old girl who meets a trustworthy fellow in a chat room. She agrees to meet him. And meet him she does. He turns out to be the thirty-two year old Jeff Kohlver (Patrick Wilson). At this point alarm bells should be ringing at a rather loud volume. Ah, no, it's alright. He's clean shaven, well dressed, handsome and doesn't smell of rancid lard. Phew. Not a paedo, then. She agrees to go back to his house...
The film pretty much revolves around just these two characters - with a smattering of bit parts as variety - so they had better be good actors. No worries. It's Ellen Page. She's great. She's in the same category as Natalie Portman and Émilie Dequenne. She can make any film watchable and entertaining. Except maybe Inception. But in that, her powers were negated by a general level of boredom. And okay, maybe she didn't swing it for X-Men: The Last Stand, where she was cancelled out by Vinnie Jones. But even if a film was crammed with the aforementioned actresses plus Nathan Fillion, Jackie Chan and Mark Dacascos, Vinnie Jones would still bring the film down to the direst of levels. Suffice to say, Ellen Page is brilliant in this. And Patrick Wilson is not too shabby either.
Acting: tick. Directing: tick. Ish. Most of the film is thoroughly engrossing. By the end of it, I had two major needs: a cup of tea - I like a nice cup of tea - and also, I was desperate for a Peters and Lee. This is just one of those films that demands being watched in one sitting. My only problem with the direction were a couple of action shots where the irritating style brought me crashing out of the experience. They jarred badly with the rest of the film.
The writing definitely gets a tick. Brian Nelson has done a cracking job of not telling us what to think (helped by the general absence of music). For the majority of the time, it's unclear who you're supposed to be rooting for. There are quite a few line from early scenes that resonate later. Some are remarked upon and just push against that border of insulting intelligence but others are left well alone, allowing the viewer to have that moment of realisation without it being pointed out. Good ending, too.
So, why is it supposedly so gruelling? It's virtually gore free. But it does become really tense at times and veers into extreme squirmy territory. Gentlemen: prepare to cross those legs. After watching Martyrs and Antichrist this feels like gruel-lite with 50% less gruel. I wasn't expecting much from Hard Candy but I was pleasantly surprised. This gains my Seal of Approval. Tick. 7/10 evlkeith
If you like this you could also try: Juno, The Tracey Fragments, Antichrist.
Probably the most famous of all zombie films, Dawn of the Dead is widely regarded as a classic. Fair enough, really.
George A. Romero got the original idea for the film because some of his buddies owned a shopping mall. The idea of zombies and shopping went so well together, he wrote a script about it. The theme is not put across subtly, it's rammed down your throat until it comes out of your bum-hole covered in solid gravy. But the message is as relevant, if not more relevant now. Consumerism has surely grown so much larger since the seventies. My mum used to make my trousers. Who does that now? All it needs to bring it bang up-to-date are a few scenes where we see gormless zombies staring at pictures of cute dogs on their mobile phones as they wander around the shops.
The story is possibly familiar to most people, even those who haven't seen the film, so I'll keep this brief. Two SWAT team members Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott H. Reiniger) join forces with TV executive Fran (Gaylen Ross) and traffic reporter Stephen (David Emge). They head off in Stephen's helicopter and eventually come across a shopping mall that's overrun by zombies. Taking advantage of the situation they hole up in the mall and partake in some retail therapy.
Considering the inexperience of most of the actors (Gaylen Ross in particular hadn't acted before) the acting is surprisingly good. Fran for the most part is pretty miserable (and rightly so) but when she learns how to fly the helicopter and smiles she lights up the screen, and from that moment on you want her to survive. I won't give anything away but one of the actors has the best zombie walk in any zombie film. The inclusion of a gun hung on a finger is inspired.
Dawn of the Dead is fairly comic book in tone, helped along greatly by the colour of the blood. The red stuff flows from the very start when the SWAT team go into a local tenement and continues right up to the end. Tom Savini still moans about the bright red hue of the blood even now. It would look better with darker blood but it wouldn't have eased its passing through the censor's snipping mitts. Savini's effects still look pretty nifty even now (after watching Centurion recently, seeing real blood squirting out of wounds rather than CGI is a very welcome sight). The two signature effects have to be the exploding head and the machete in head incident. Both are effective thirty five years on from when they were originally filmed.
Strangely my favourite scenes are the television interviews with experts on the zombie outbreak. They give the film a very bleak and realistic feel.
There are three different versions of the film on my Arrow Films Blu-ray. The Theatrical Cut and Director's Cut are pretty similar, apart from the score (The Theatrical Cut is actually Romero's favourite). The Argento Cut (Dario helped to finance the film with the proviso that he could edit the film for non-English speaking countries) is substantially different in the way it feels. It is a lot pacier and has the full-on Goblin score. The helicopter zombie is also missing, maybe due to pacing, or maybe because it looks a bit ropey in a Frankensteiny fashion. It's also a little gorier. The UK censors had a dim view of the Dario version and wanted to cut about thirty minutes. Perversely, when the longer theatrical cut was submitted, Jim Ferman only wanted to cut about five due to better characterisation and clearer motivations. If you've never seen Dawn of the Dead before the best order would probably be the Theatrical Cut first, then the Argento Cut and finally the Director's Cut. If you want to find out about the differences in detail go to http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=177418.
Dawn of the Dead is a very influential film and for once, a very good film too. It is one of those films that you should probably see at least once in your lifetime (if not more) but it's still not my favourite zombie film. It feels a little slow in places and I can't say that I've ever been that keen on the pie fight. Also, I still haven't made my mind up about the climactic music that sounds more like the Battle of the Planets theme tune. I prefer the Fulci offerings inspired by this very film. As for the remake, I'll come to that soon... 8/10 evlkeith (Average rating for the season so far = 5.8)
If you like this you could also try: Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (2004).
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