Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas
to all my readers!

It's that time of year again where I traditionally rattle on about what I've got coming on the blog over the next 12 months. Except... I looked at the last four year's worth of December 25th posts and I realised I never quite seem to get around... or more accurately... claw back enough time, to watch the things I want to watch. Or there are scheduling issues.

For instance, about four years ago I was saying I wanted to finish off my reviews of the old cinema series of The Saint movies. Well, mission accomplished, I finished them quite a few months ago... except, there's been so much other stuff which has taken priority that I still have two or three of them to actually make it onto the blog. So I do have things waiting in the wings, as it were but... new cinema releases or reviews of things which are currently a 'hot' topic tend to take priority. So there's some stuff I have to pull out, put the finishing touches to and then get up on the blog... I just haven't had time yet.

But I will so I can definitely say there's the concluding sets of reviews of the Pirates Of The Caribbean, Phantasm and, yes, The Saint movies to come over the next few months... as well as some other, rather interesting books and movies. Time permitting.

Of course, we have another promising movie year for 2019 with stuff like Avengers - Endgame and Godzilla - King Of The Monsters hitting cinemas so, yeah, I'll do my best to get all these things up. Since there's no proper Doctor Who Christmas Special this year, maybe I'll run some of them this week. Although my review of another high profile Hollywood movie should be going up some time on Boxing Day, I reckon.

And there's not much more to say here. Hope you all have some fun and if you find yourself with some downtime this year, have a go at my Annual Cryptic Movie Quiz which you can find just here.

Once again, thank you for being here and reading my teeny tiny little corner of cyberspace. I truly appreciate your taking the time to look me up. All the best to you.

NUTS4R2.

Phantasm

Sphere Pressure

Phantasm
USA 1979
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Arrow Blu Ray Zone B

When J. J. Abrams produced and directed the first of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens, the chrome look of one of the character costumes reminded him of the iconic chrome/silver ball in the Phantasm series of movies and so he named that character Captain Phasma. I’m just recounting this story by way of demonstrating how well loved and how far reaching these particular low budget horror movies are. When you watch the first one nowadays it maybe seems a bit dated but still retains its quirkiness and I think, if I were truly watching this for the first time now, then I would possibly be wondering what all the fuss was about. However, Phantasm has been with me for a not inconsiderable chunk of my life and its something I like to come back to every now and again and, this newish Blu Ray box set from Arrow Films was a good excuse to do that. Not only does it have another model sphere, smaller and closer in size to the real thing than the excellent DVD box set of some years ago, plus a little book full of photos and information... it also has the long awaited fifth movie from the end of 2016, Phantasm Ravager, making it’s UK premier here. So I was very excited for this new, restored boxed set.

My first experience with Phantasm in the UK was the TV spot used to advertise its first cinema run back in 1979, contrary to what the IMDb is now telling me in that it says this movie didn’t even get a release over here until 2016. But I clearly remember the TV spot at the time with the main teen protagonist running from one of the lethal chrome balls, flattening to the ground and letting it pass over his head. I also remember the tag line in that advert, with the voice saying at the end... “If this one doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead.” I just confirmed my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me by phoning my friend @cultofthecinema, who remembered the posters being out on the tube at the same time and I remember them front of house at my local cinema. So, yeah... sometimes the IMDB can get it very wrong.

Of course, I was only 11 years old in 1979 so it wasn’t a movie that I would have been allowed to see at the cinema. It was an 'X' movie anyway but I remember that, by then, my head was perpetually filled up with lots of science fiction stuff such as Doc Savage, the Flash Gordon serials, Doctor Who, Space 1999, Star Trek, Sinbad, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run comics (the actual movie was a 'AA' when it came out in 1976 so I was too young but, again, in addition to the comics there was the short lived TV show), Star Wars, James Bond, Battlestar Galactica and... well, you get the picture. I mention this in passing to indicate that, even though my mind was on other things, the TV advertising for this was very much a ‘thing’ and the imagery found in even those short ads was quite haunting.

I don’t think I came into contact with the movie itself until the late 1980s or early 1990s and it would have almost certainly been a TV print. Probably uncut but maybe not. I’ve seen this movie maybe another three or four times since then and, every time I watch this one, I am always surprised by the ‘just about hanging together’ and surreal nature of the experience. The film stars A. Michael Baldwin as the teenage Mike and the plot deals with how he and his brother Jody, played by Bill Thornbury, team up with their friend Reggie (played by Reggie Bannister) to investigate the local funeral home Morningside after their mate has died and strange, inexplicable stuff is happening around town. In fact, Mike and Jody’s friend is stabbed by The Lady In Lavender (played by Kathy Lester) in the opening sequence of the film and it’s then that we also get our first flash of a shot of one of the film’s longstanding icons.

That icon being one Angus Scrimm, who is probably best known for playing The Tall Man in all the Phantasm films and who is recognisable in costume and saying his catch line “Booooooy!” in a way transcendent from the films which made him such a famous figure in low budget horror. Scrimm died in January 2016 and his last two films were Phantasm Ravager and Dances With Werewolves. It’s always good to see Scrimm turn up in stuff unannounced (like this director’s film John Dies At The End, which I reviewed here) but it’s in this film where it all begins for him as far as being a larger than life horror personality is concerned. Seeing him strutting his way through the beautiful, vertical shapes and tones of the Morningside Funeral Home is still something special... probably more so when you’re seeing it in the context of the larger body of work that is the Phantasm series.

Phantasm is a great film and, sure, it has its other great icon the flying spheres. We only see it in two scenes in this original. The first being the scene which was used for the trailers and TV spots where Mike is being held by a guy with the sphere flying towards him... the blades come out but Mike bites through the other guys hand and wriggles out from his grasp just in time for the ball to land on the other guy’s forehead, fixing itself by its twin bayonet blades before unleashing a high powered drill to burrow into the victim’s head while a hole opens out in the back to eject the blood. One might possibly, the second time you see it, be asking yourself why such a bizarre and elaborate method of killing is required in the first place but the first time you see it, you’re probably too distracted by the novelty to care. The only other time we see the ball is in a much later scene where... oh, okay, I don’t want to give away everything.

Quite apart from these two great icons of modern horror... The Tall Man and his silver spheres... we have a movie which, in all honesty, jumps about a bit, doesn’t make a lot of sense, has tuning fork portals, shrunken slave midgets which look like Jawas (but which were conceived well before the Star Wars lookalikes made it to the screen... the film shoot was lengthy and even the principal photography took a year of weekend filming to finish), a black box of mind pain and a possibly even more painful guitar duet played by Reggie and Jody. it’s disjointed and surreal in places but, for most of the time, manages to maintain a semblance of holding itself together... although every time I get to the ‘double ending’ of the first movie, I’m reminded how this doesn’t seem to make any coherent sense and am baffled how they managed to pull off even one sequel... let alone another four.

Oh... and it’s also kind of brilliant in its own, low budget way. Conjuring up an atmosphere fairly unique to this franchise and managing to inextricably be both dated and timeless at exactly the same moment. We also have Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave’s haunting and fairly minimally spotted score which seems to be almost trying to catch the same kind of progressive and relentlessly driven tone of things like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells from The Exorcist, Goblin’s score for Suspiria and John Carpenter’s Halloween theme... although it’s a more laid back version of ‘relentlessly driven’, to be sure. And yes, I know that makes no sense but it’s also a good term for the movie itself, with it’s slow and rambly but ultimately eventful pacing... driven but also laid back.

Arrow’s new Blu Ray transfer is the best I’ve ever seen the film looking and, as it’s Arrow, you get a package with gazillions of extras on each of the five discs... not to mention a sixth bonus disc with even more extras on it. If you are into horror movies or even if you are into weird or off-key tales of science fiction, which this movie is as much as it’s a scary movie, then you should definitely check Phantasm out if you’ve never seen it before. It’s strangely addictive and it’s something you can go back and have a look at every few years and probably see something new or, at the very least, something you’ve forgotten, in it. Am really looking forward to continuing my revisitation of the Phantasm universe as I delve deeper and put my hand back into the Arrow box of fear. Keep your forks tuned.

Frighten Brighton August 2012

Brighton, Crisp and Even

Hello all.

When I first started up this blog, just over a couple of years ago, I used to semi-regularly feature a diary column which pointed out various up and coming events that film fans, cinephiles and selective rabid mad beasties might find interesting to attend. I kind of lost my way, or at least lost interest, in doing that Fresh From The Diary kinda column after a while, mostly I think because I stopped having the financial resources to regularly attend such things. However, I have been quite regretful of late that I let that regular column slide, to be honest.

Luckily, the organisers of the Classic Horror Campaign sent me an email about their forthcoming Frighten Brighton Horror Festival and it was like a virtual, bloody poke in the eye to get these kinds of things up for people again. Now I’ve not been to any of their Frighten Brighton editions before but I do know it will be a good day out for fans of classic horror movies.

How do I know that?

Well, I have been to some of their double bill screenings at The Roxy in London and, even if the movies aren’t always some of my favourites (although they often are), I can safely say that the atmosphere created by the two co-hosts Cybershizoid and Scare Sarah is always conducive to a more than convivial atmosphere.

So there’s that plus... what’s this?

Wow. They’ve got the sultry, knowledgable, Goddess-like and sexifying Emily Booth there as a guest at the show. Someone I’ve always wanted to meet in person... although I know I would probably go “all shy” and drool on myself by accident if I were ever in the same room with her. She’s done a lot of stuff in her time and she’ll always inhabit a fond spot in my heart. She’s worth the extremely “value for money” price of admission all on her own, I suspect.

But, in addition to the gorgeous Emily, they also have a stall of horrifying merchandise from Hemlock Books (horror film books, magazines and dvds etc), some “too ghoul for school” horror prizes up for grabs and, not to forget the main event, five incredibly cool horror films which are all must sees... at least in my book. And at £5 per film or the uber-cheap all day £15 pass to all the ghoulish goings on and shivering shenanigans at the Komedia in Brighton that day... you’d be a braindead zombie not to get yourselves down to the show.

Here’s my few words about the five films they’re showing... and don’t worry, no big spoilers in here.


Mad Love 1935
This is Peter Lorre’s first US production, if memory serves me correctly, and it’s yet another adaptation of The Hands Of Orlac. Yep, that’s right, the old template story about what happens when you graft the “criminal” hands (eyes, wig, various bodily appendages, depending on which version of the story you happen to be viewing) onto the body of an innocent and they take on a sinister life of their own, so to speak.

This is a pretty special movie because, in addition to the incomparable Peter Lorre, you have the original Universal Doctor Frankenstein Colin Clive (a direct relation of the original Clive of India, who he played once in a movie) in the film and the whole, stylistic delight is directed by former Dracula cinematographer Karl Freund, who imports his direct experience of shooting early silent German Expressionism into the mix. A real visual treat with a characteristically delirious performance by Lorre. Truly not to be missed.


Cat People 1942
Next up is the equally unforgettable Cat People, directed by Jacques Tourneur under the legendary influence of his producer, Val Lewton. This film had two sequels and one official remake (not to mention a fair few, um, homages?) and it certainly deserves its reputation as a classic scare movie. It’s the movie from which the term “a bus”, meaning a scary shock or sting, was named after and the scene with the bus in this film will certainly give you a start if you’ve not seen it before... as would a similar scene in the same director and producer’s later film, The Leopard Man.

Unusual in a way in that it’s a post-Hay’s Code movie that actually involves the act of sexual intercourse as the driving factor which fuels the fear of the main protagonist Irena (played wonderfully by Simone Simon in both this and Curse Of The Cat People), with a lot of 1940s “beating around the bush” in terms of not mentioning or showing the actual act of... erm... beating around the bush. It’s visually brilliant and subtly moody, as all the RKO horror films had to be in able to compete with the larger budgeted Universal productions at the time.


THEM! 1954
After Cat People we have my personal pick for best, or at least most fun without laughing, of this batch with THEM! Although I expect the audience will be doing a lot of laughing at this one too. Especially when the authorities are puzzled over why something large and ferocious has been after big stockpiles of sugar!

It’s no secret that this movie involves early atomic bomb scare, mutated, giant ants and, frankly, it’s a absolute classic example, and one of the better made, of that interesting little sub-genre. Starring James Whitmore, who I always see as a kind of poor man’s Spencer Tracey, and Edmund Gwenn, who I always think of as a poor man’s Leo G. Carroll (Carrol appeared in the giant Tarantula movie a year later), it’s probably the best “giant anything” movie ever made, I reckon.

Fans of ALIENS should see some similarities as the movie starts off with the authorities finding an orphaned, unspeaking little girl who has survived an attack by... something. And further similarities like seeking out the giant insect’s nest and battling them with flame throwers. I’m not, of course, suggesting Jimmy Cameron actively stole anything from this film... but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this movie was already in his blood when he made the sequel to A L I E N. I’m sure it’s just an “homage” guys and gals!

Also, look out for the casting in a “blink and you’ll miss him” scene featuring a young Leonard Nimoy as a radio operator. You see? It would be totally illogical for you to miss out on this movie!


The Plague Of The Zombies 1966
The giant ants are followed by a Cornish army of the undead in the Hammer classic, The Plague Of The Zombies. It’s been popularly believed and repeated over the years that George A. Romero’s classic Night Of the Living Dead was the first movie to feature an undead creature rising up from out of the earth. Well prepare to put paid to that modern myth when you see the very same thing happen in a movie which pre-dates Romero’s by two years (actually I believe the first time this was seen in a film was in one of the 1940s Universal Mummy sequels.. but can’t remember which one off hand).

This is a pretty good, atmospheric Hammer Horror and, even if it wasn’t, it’s got Jacqueline (My names Servalan, I’ll be your dominatrix for this series of Blakes 7) Pearce and the wonderful, “whoop every time you spot him in a Hammer movie”, Michael Ripper in it. What’s not to like?


Phantasm 1979
And then, to finish up the day, they have the first of director Don Coscarelli’s four (and counting, five is in the works now, apparently) Phantasm films. If you’ve not seen this before, you’ll think you’ve been smoking something funny all day by the time you get halfway in. Phantasm is actually a really interesting and, definitely, warped film. I still remember the 1979 TV spots of this from when I was a kid. It’s got a really great and unique atmosphere going for it and, apart from all the on screen weirdness, it’s got two great pieces of horror iconography on show too.

Yeah, that’s right. Two. It’s not that often you associate classic horror icons with 1970s cinema but Phantasm is the one which will change your mind.

For starters, you’ve got those wicked, flying killer balls which fly onto your forehead, sticking into you by the two strikingly ornamental blades, before a little drill pops out the front and drills into your skull, jettisoning the associated blood from the back of the ball in a quite ostentatious manner. One of the great horror moments of the 70s.

Added to which you have the irreplaceable Angus Scrimm as... da, da, daaaaa... The Tall Man. Seriously, another horror icon! Partially modelled by the actor on Boris Karloff’s turn in the first Universal Frankenstein movie, the character is a huge visual presence in the history of the modern horror film and has appeared, always played by Scrimm, in all the sequels to date. It just wouldn’t be Phantasm without The Tall Man in attendance.


So there you have it. Five great movies, merchandise and the stimulating presence of the legendary Emily Booth. Get yourselves there people!

Frighten Brighton takes place at noon on the 11th  August at Komedia in Brighton with more details on how to book a ticket at these three links...

http://komediabrighton.ticketsolve.com/shows/126525115/events

http://frightenbrighton.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/horror-by-the-sea/

https://www.facebook.com/events/290663814344396/

Frighten Brighton. The ball is back!