Random Film of the Week: Race With the Devil

 

race with the devilAmazingly enough, other than an announcement back in 2005 that seems to have never happened, no one has thought of remaking this rather cool 1975 horror flick that had some really interesting casting and a few genuinely scary bits.

Two couples on a road trip through Texas in their new RV accidentally come across a coven of devil worshipers performing a human sacrifice. They’re seen, but manage to escape with some effort, making their way to a small town where they let the local lawman in on what they’ve seen. Of course, the shady sheriff turns out to be one of the satanists (eek!), and the four end up high-tailing it away, but not before swiping some evidence to present to the police in a larger, more populated city.

This leads to a much longer and more action-packed chase (that camper sure takes a beating here) that may have influenced Mad Max series director George Miller to some extent (at least, to my pointy head). Anyway, I won’t spoil the ending at all here, but let’s just say it’s a nice jolt and in a way, fitting. At a brisk 88 minutes, the solid direction, tight editing and nicely realistic performances from the leads (Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker) makes this a memorable popcorn flick, especially if teamed up with a similarly-themed flick such as Steven Speilberg’s influential TV movie, Duel (look for the longer European release for that one).

Random Film of the Week: Runaway Train

runaway trainIf memory serves me correctly, 1985 was a pretty lousy year for me, but I did get to see Runaway Train at the movies and that made up for a lot. This surprise hit about two convicts who bust out of a maximum security prison in the middle of a massive winter storm and wind up aboard the titular transport chased by a very determined warden, manged to nab Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations for John Voight and Eric Roberts respectively.

Director Andrei Konchalovsky, adapting a never-produced screenplay by Akira Kurosawa, made a powerful action movie that was thought-provoking, intensely striking in every aspect and still a wild ride of a viewing experience. You’ll truly feel the freezing cold environment presented in the film from beginning to end, so break out a nice warm blanket and curl up on the couch – it’s going to be a hell of a ride…

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Random Film of the Week: Circle Jerks: My Career As A Jerk

To date, the best documentary on the “punk” music scene has been (and probably always will be) Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization. Although long out of print on VHS and not available on a commercially released DVD or Blu-Ray, those fortunate enough to have seen it in theaters, on cable back when it had a brief run there or via other means can probably point out moments and performances that were raw and amazing as they captured the urgency and sometimes distressing lives of the bands and fans while examining how media and the authorities dealt with a scene they couldn’t understand. One of the few bans to survive this tumultuous time and make it into the 90’s and beyond was Circle Jerks, and director David Markey (“1991: The Year Punk Broke”, “The Slog Movie”) chronicles the band’s history in an excellent new documentary, Circle Jerks: My Career As A Jerk., available on September 25 from MVD Entertainment Group. It’s a must-see for anyone at all interested in rock history as it evolved and morphed into new forms of music during the 80’s and 90’s.

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Random Film of the Week: Don’t Look in the Basement

This crazy, low budget 1973 indie horror flick was a big part of my childhood because it seemed to always be on WOR here in New York as one of the late-night horror movies they showed on Saturday nights, and for some reason (even despite it freaking me out all the time), I’d sit through it fascinated by the insanity taking place. In fact, the film takes places at a mental institution gone way off the rails thanks to its rather unorthodox means of treatment. You get two murders right off the bat, a pretty but rather dopey new nurse arriving on the scene who’s a bit slow on the uptake as to what’s going on, a bunch of patients with some rather unusual quirks and it all wraps up with a nicely gory finale and probably the most disturbing end credit sequences you’ll see in a genre flick.

Is it a great movie? Nope, and in fact, it hardly scrapes above lousy in every aspect, I’d say. What works in its favor however, is the general tone of unease and creepiness that hits you over the head right from the start. You know something bad is going to happen right away and other than a few boring patches, the film delivers on much of what its opening moments promise. These days it’s a public domain film, so yup, you can watch it in its entirety above. I’d doubt this will ever reach the remake status some cult genre classics have gotten, but even as raw and weird as it is, it still manages to be freaky enough where it counts. OK, then – that’s a really short and simple movie post this for week, as I’m working on a bunch of other stuff.  But it’s all good, as now you can go make a big bowl of popcorn, grab a beverage and watch yourself a pretty silly but scary slice of the 70’s…

Addendum: Oops – it looks as if someone may remake this after all at some point Oh well, i still think the original will be better just because it has its crude charms working for it, warts and all…

Random Film of the Week: Dark Passage

1947 seems to have been a year for some interesting (albeit not entirely successful) experiments by Hollywood movie makers using a subjective camera (or first-person viewpoint) to tell a story.  Movie audiences got a pair of dramas in the form of actor-turned-director Robert Montgomery’s Lady in the Lake, (shot a year earlier, but released in ’47) based on the popular Raymond Chandler novel and Dark Passage, Delmer Daves’ adaptation of a terminally so-so David Goodis novel.  I was going to do this column on the former film at first, but a coin toss brings you Bogie and Bacall in the more interesting, but tremendously flawed film. Don’t get me wrong here – both movies have their issues, but both are worth viewing for a few reasons including their unique use of POV storytelling. That and you have to go with a film that doesn’t show the face of its lead for about an hour, but works in some lovely shots of a San Francisco that’s long gone thanks to “progress” in transportation and probably even earthquake proofing…

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Random Film of the Week: Outland

Outland was and is one of those films that never quite got the recognition it deserved and yes, still deserves. “Was” in terms of its at the time quietly groundbreaking visual effects and initially successful (but eventually disappointing) run at the box office back in 1981, and “Is” for the fact that it’s suffered through some pretty lousy transitions to home video over the years.

The recent (and thankfully, mostly excellent) Blu-Ray release makes up for the terrible DVDs from 1997 and the much better (but still not quite perfect) 2007 DVD reissue from a few years back, but for some reason, the “making of” feature found on the DVD is missing in action on the Blu-Ray version. OK, “Who didn’t want to pay whom for what  and why?” I have to ask (nicely, though… nicely).

It’s almost as if Warner Bros. Home Video is just getting the film out as a bare minimum budget release with as little bells and whistles as possible (and a terribly misleading tagline on the cover art) just to get it out of the way and move on. Granted, the film isn’t as “important” to the sci-fi genre as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was (a film that’s gotten a few major VHS and disc releases over the yers including some impressive collector’s editions). But it sure deserves a hell of a lot better preservation job than to be dumped into stores with zero fanfare and no other special features than a trailer and director’s commentary.

(Thanks, 0Lostboy0!)

Hell, I remember the film getting a pretty rousing reception when it was introduced at the comic book and sci-fi convention I went to here in NYC over 30 years ago…

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Random Film of the Week: Attack!

(thanks, Ray Acton!) 

attackAs far as war movies go, Robert Aldrich’s 1956 film, Attack! isn’t the predictable, lavishly produced jingoistic, rubber-stamped by the military rah-rah fest glorifying World War II as a unifying fight against the Axis where everyone on our side is perfectly portrayed as a sterling citizen soldier of upstanding moral fiber with one or two likable quirks. Instead, it’s a gripping slice of drama that pulls no punches as it details the breakdown in command of a whittled down unit of soldiers under the command of a cowardly captain (portrayed perfectly by Eddie Albert) and how another officer tries to bring a moral center back to the men before it’s too late.

According to a few sources, Aldrich didn’t get the usual assistance from the Department of Defense when making the film and in fact, had to make do with shooting the entire thing in just over a month using borrowed, bought or rented military gear including two tanks (that military purists will note were badly disguised as German Panzers). Despite this, it’s a powerful, must-see film that’s on par with Sam Fuller’s The Steel Helmet, or Kubrick’s Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket as one of the best films in the genre.

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Random Film of the Week: Invasion of the Saucermen

(thanks, historycomestolife!)
 

invasion of the saucer-men
 

Despite its super low budget, eager cast of hokey actors and rather brief running time, this 1957 mix of sci-fi and comedy manages to work quite well thanks to a solid sense of humor and effectively scary use of special effects in one memorable sequence. That the film purports to be “A true story of a flying saucer” right at the beginning is the first in a long string of eyeball-rolling chuckles it hits you with.

After a teen couple out on a late night make-out session run over an alien with their car, they’re soon caught up as murder suspects once the remaining big-headed, bug-eyed, and short of stature creatures replace the body of their comrade with a human they’ve eliminated. Given that the aliens kill with finger needles that inject pure alcohol into their victims (ouch, *hic!*), it’s initially easy to see the couple’s alibi easily shot down by the cops.

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Random Film of the Week: The Trouble With Harry

 

Even though the film did poorly when it was initially released in 1955, Alfred Hitchcock’s droll black comedy is still the best “What do we do with the body?” move I’ve ever seen. Forget junk like those Weekend at Bernie’s films (which are definitely stealing from this classic) – this one is the real deal and if you’re in the right mood, about as good as it gets. The tale of a bunch of offbeat residents in a tiny, quirky Vermont village who all think they’re responsible for the titular character is consistently amusing, well acted and never grim (considering its subject matter). The casting is prefect all around, but I’d say it’s Shirley MacLaine and a young Jerry Mathers who steal the show, playing a mother and son who are closest to poor Harry, but his demise doesn’t affect them like you think it would.

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Random Film of the Week: Rocketship X-M

(Thanks, SciFiBMovieGuy!)

Rocketship X-MAmusingly enough, that movie poster on the left calls Rocketship X-M a story about man’s “conquest of space”, but spoiler alert: it’s not quite that triumphant a voyage at all. Yeah, man makes it into space in that fancy silver craft, but if there’s a conquest here, it’s presented in a pretty stark manner that’s not conducive to anything resembling a “happy” ending. That said, this one’s yet another highly recommended classic that’s worth a look if you’ve never seen it before and yes indeed, it’s worth grabbing a few sci-fi loving friends to take along for the ride. Pack that space ice cream, some popcorn and maybe a clean hanky, but leave your thinking cap on that bedpost, buddy…

While the actual “science” in this low-budget 1950 sci-fi flick isn’t exactly realistic and indeed, laughable (hey, we didn’t send a man into space until over a decade later), this is still a pretty powerful film that manages to be memorable for a few reasons. Granted, it was rushed to theaters to beat out the superior (in every technical aspect, at least) Destination Moon, but the anti-nuke/anti-war message presented makes this gem resonate a bit more than George Pal’s classic (which can be seen as the 2001: A Space Odyssey of its time thanks to all that attention to detail). What works in this little film (shot over 18 days for under $100,000) is the script (from an uncredited Dalton Trumbo – look him up if you don’t know who he is) that adds an interesting layer of sentimentality to the characters. Oh, and the acting is first-rate as well all around.

Of course, you’ll probably be too busy rooting for the crew of the X-M to get out of the rather crappy situation they’ve found themselves in after their moon rocket ends up going WAY off course (as in not scientifically possible) rather than look to deeply for hidden messages. Then again, that excellent Ferde Grofe score plus the decent acting are compelling enough reason to sit down and enjoy this one for what it is. In other words, flush the insulting (but yes, quite amusing) Mystery Science Theater 3000 version and watch the original movie instead. Some films deserve to be better remembered for what they were back when they were released and not someone’s bastardized joke-book version that pays no respect to something that tried to bring a certain er, gravity to a formerly not so serious genre.

Yeah, it’s a short review, but this is one of those films that just needs to be seen more and talked about afterward. Enjoy the trip and as the old saying goes: be nice to the people you meet on the way up – you’re going to meet (most of) the same ones on the way back down…

-GW