Amusingly enough, The Initiation is okay enough to not need the old eyebrow-raising poster and new Blu-Ray art along with its initial promise of nubile college-age gals doing the schoolgirl witches coven experimentation thing. That’s a plot element teased more than an 80’s hairdo and tossed aside fast in favor of simpler sorority pledge antics. Boo.

Still, the film works fine as intended if you love your slasher flicks with twist reveals near the end (this one might remind you of Blood Rage), some nicely done gore FX and a solid performance by Daphne Zuniga (her first major film role after 1982’s The Dorm That Dripped Blood).

The film was shot by two different directors (Peter Crane, Larry Stewart) and is a case where the initial one did some incredible and atmospheric work but wasn’t fast enough to meet deadlines. He was replaced by a faster director who shot the bulk of the film in a TV-style format and some of the original footage was incorporated into the new stuff to give certain scenes that extra visual oomph. Hey, it all worked out in the end, so it’s all good.

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Yo. That’s a BIG ape. Apocalypse, Wow.

One of these days, some film distributor such as Mill Creek or some other spot that gathers up movies and presents them as multi-disc packages will get hold of Kong: Skull Island and re-release it with the subtitle “No, Sam Jackson… You’re NOT Gonna Get That Big Ape!”. The film is indeed a piece of work in that you certainly get your money’s worth provided you go in with your brain turned off as expected with the usual blockbuster. On the other hand, following the plot too closely will have your eyeballs rolling around in your head like greasy marbles.

This new Kong is an attempt at Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers unifying its Godzilla and King Kong franchises with a few films that will seemingly culminate in a big ol’ Kong vs Godzilla flick a few years from now. Yeah, well… good luck with that. This film isn’t perfect at all and while it’s a mess of ideas that work for the short attention span crowd, the overall impact is one where you wish Ray Harryhausen was still alive and animating just to keep the scale more manageable and fun.

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I’ll say this straight up and get it over with. Ridley Scott could learn a lot from Mario Bava’s work (although some would say with a nudge and wink he’s been there and done that previously).  Sitting through Scott’s way too tired, formulaic and practically scare-free Alien Covenant was a chore for me, but going back to Bava’s more compelling Caltiki, The Immortal Monster made for an interesting counterpoint. Sometimes, more is indeed less and exactly what’s required when it comes to horror.

Low-rent though it may look, the “collaboration” of Bava and initial director Riccardo Freda makes for quite a compact and thrilling slice of sci-fi/horror that works as a sort of H.P. Lovecraft homage with a few intentional riffs on Hammer Film’s The Quatermass Xperiment tossed in for good measure. Initially the cinematographer, Bava stepped into the director’s chair after Freda left the production.  But it seems he did everything from design some impressive (for the era) visual effects to create some amazing backdrops using collage that included ceramic planters, magazine photos and matte paintings. It’s wacky as all get out, but it works surprisingly well and to some extent, even better today.

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