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Dr Fulci
Reviews
They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé (2016)
The World Needs to Know about William Grefe...and this Documentary Helps Do Just That!
If there is one thing that I'm always on my soapbox about, it is learning about the horror genre, from the very beginnings to modern day. The reason is simply because we need to recognize what came before us and remember what they gave us. It helps us appreciate where we are now. So when I heard about a documentary that was being made about this lesser known Florida based filmmaker, William Grefé, needless to say, I was excited.
One of my favorites of Grefé's work is his 1965 film Sting of Death, which features a half man/half jellyfish creature, which is just a hoot. It featured such a memorable monster, my wife immortalized it on a birthday cake for me, along with the title creature from Z.A.A.T.! Grefé made other titles in the horror genre like Death Curse of Tartu (what a great title!), Mako: The Jaws of Death, Stanley, and a few more. He also didn't just work in the horror genre, but in quite a few of them, from biker movies, racing movies, and even a drug exploitation! He was making films with very little budget, but always turning out a entertaining title that made money. And now, with this new documentary, we get to hear from Grefé himself as we go through all of this films, hearing some great stories about each one of them. But it is not just him that we hear from, but plenty of other people that either worked with him on those films, like Doug Hobart, Randy Grinter, Joe Morrison, William Marquez, Chris Robinson, as well as fellow filmmakers like H.G. Lews, David F. Friedman, Fred Olen Ray, and even William Shatner himself! This 2-disc set comes with not only the documentary, but the rare, never released before film Whisky Mountain, starring Christopher George. While not a horror title, it has plenty of dark exploitation thrills to it to keep you entertained. The disc is also filled with trailers, a couple of short films (one starring Shatner), deleted scenes, and so much more.
Grefé is one of those guys that was working outside of the Hollywood system, usually working in the Florida area, and put out some very memorable and entertaining films. While most normal movie fans might turn their noses up at these kind of films, I think true connoisseurs of the exploitation field will always be pleasantly entertained. At the end of the day, isn't that what a filmmaker should be all about? One that can turn out a film within the budget, make it fun and/or exciting for the audience, and have the picture make money at the box office. Grefé showed that by using creativity and ingenuity, rather than just throwing money at it like modern Hollywood films are made, he showed how great of a genuine filmmaker he was. The shame is that there aren't too many more people out there these days, but I'm sure seeing his story in this documentary could just spark those creative juices in some young filmmaker and start them on their way.
This documentary was directed by Daniel Griffith from Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, who has created a ton of amazing features and featurettes for DVD and blu-ray releases over the years, so he really knows his way around this kind of subject matter, which he does another great job here as well. This disc comes highly recommended not only because it is entertaining, but also it is a great history lesson!
Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)
A very disappointing film. Expected a lot more from Coscarelli.
PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION (1998)
`Oblivion: 1. A forgetting or having forgotten; forgetfulness. 2. The condition or fact of being forgotten.' - WEBSTER'S NEW WORLD DICTIONARY.
That pretty much sums up the latest installment in what used to be one of the most original and creative series in the horror genre. After seeing this, I wish that I could forget it. I don't think I was ever disappointed as much as I was with this film. As much as it pains me to give this a bad review, I have to do it. I just hope the people involved can understand the disappointment here.
I was at the Fangoria show in January of 1998 in New York when the director and the major cast of the PHANTASM series were all there to promote the newest film. The little trailer that they showed even looked really good. We were told that it would let in a little light on the mystery behind the Tall Man and his origins. So when the copy of PHANTASM: OBLIVION showed up on my door, I was one excited little puppy. A puppy that soon realized what it's like to be caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
This new chapter featured some footage from the first movie that was never used. Originally I thought that would pretty cool idea for flashback sequences of events that the audience had never seen before. But the problem was that most of those scenes really didn't seem to have any point to the new film (or even the original for that matter, which maybe is why they were cut to begin with?), as if they were just simply padding. As a matter of fact, there seemed to be a lot of scenes from both parts 2 and 3 that were used in the new one. If these flashback sequences were in there for people who might not of seen any or all of the first three films, then that kind of goes against the statement that this new film was for the fans. The fans didn't need to see what happened previously, we already knew.
After the brief recap of the previous films, Part 4 starts up where the last one left off. As we all know, Reg was left 'hangin' at the end of Part 3, being pinned to the wall, by quite a few spheres. So how does he get out of this tight situation? The Tall Man just lets him go, saying it's not his time yet. But then throughout the rest of the movie, Reggie's life is constantly in peril from Hell Cops to the dwarfs. Sorry guys, but to me that just sounds like a big cop out, as if nobody could come up with a better idea. Then we see a s**t-load of spheres come flying around a corner with the Tall Man walking away. Normally this might have looked pretty cool, but for some reason I kept thinking of those little mini M&M's flying around.
This was supposed to be sort of an ending to the series, answering a lot of questions. Well, not only did it not really answer that much; but I have quite a few more questions and remarks after seeing this last film.
- Reg says that he's done with all of this. No more. Then says, okay. After all that Reg's been through, like he would just up and quit. And then in a blink of an eye decide otherwise.
- Mike tells Tall Man that he has a friend and that he'll find me. Then why did he leave Reg at the end of Part 3 and continue to go on his own?
- Reg and the Hell Cop - It's so obvious as to why the Hell Cop got on top of the car, just because Reggie can't get the gun out of the clamp, and he could shoot him through the roof.
- Coscarelli said that he wasn't going to put the humor that was in Part 3, since the fans didn't seem to care for it. No humor? What about the sequence with the Reggie and cop, with all the one liners? `Blow me' - `Some cops can be real assholes.'?
- Coscarelli says that he didn't rip-off the look of the dwarfs from STAR WARS, but then has the scene in part 4 with Michael walking through the rocks with the dwarfs looking at him from behind the rocks. Is this a little in-joke?
- If the Tall Man is just an alien being that had took over Jebediah Morningside's body, then why does he keep returning in the same body once that body is destroyed.
- Mike talks about going back in time to kill the Tall Man but never does. Instead tries to kill him with his homemade sphere and the car blowing up. But then another Tall Man appears, just like in the previous films. Didn't we learn anything from the previous films? Mike must not of seen part 2.
- What's up with the Civil War sequence? What did that have to do with anything? To make the point that the Tall Man has been doing this for years? That was established in the very first movie with the photo that Michael found.
As I said in the beginning of this review, it really pains me to give this movie a really bad review. This has been one of the most entertaining and original series in the genre. The first one I still a classic. I've known Reggie for a couple of years now and the fact of telling him my feelings of this film is not an easy task. So it ends up something like, `You looked great, Reg.' I just hope Reggie, and everybody else involved understands.
Il fantasma dell'opera (1998)
How the great ones have fallen.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Even with all the advance bad reviews of Argento's latest, I tried so hard to watch it with an open mind. I didn't care if the Phantom didn't wear a mask or wasn't even deformed. As long as the movie was good, such things didn't matter to me. But that wasn't the case at all.
There is so much wrong with this movie, I don't know really where to begin. The story was pretty lame. The acting was just terrible. I don't know how Asia is supposed to be regarding highly as an actress. I thought she did a terrible job in this film. The scenes where she is supposed to be singing were done very poorly. Even the actress playing the diva couldn't give the image across that she was actually singing. Julian Sands, whom I've always liked as an actor, also does a terrible job with this role. A lot of the characters either had no accent or at least couldn't keep them throughout the whole movie.
The dialog was atrocious. With such lines as `I can smell your woman scent', when the Phantom tells Christine upon one of their meetings. It looked as if it was trying to have the gothic romantic feeling that was in Francis Ford Coppola's DRACULA, except it comes across as if they're way over acting, almost making it funny, except it's just too embarrassing.
The gore, while done very well in most parts, seems to be in the film just to be there, with no real point or meaning behind it. Sergio Stivaletti once again handled the effects.
All we can do is hope that Argento pulls out of this slum and starts to produce films like he use to. At least now he's older films are now available in beautiful prints, in uncut versions.
Angustia (1987)
Great & bizarre film. Don't read about it, just see it.
ANGUISH (aka ANGUSTIA) 1986
The Eyes Of The City Will Be Ours.
This twisted little film is one of those highly underrated classics. I had never bothered with this when it hit video many years ago. With Rubinstein's face plastered all over it, I figured it was some low-budget piece that was trying to tie into the POLTERGEIST market. But after it came out on DVD, and after hearing some good things about it, I decided to give it a try. It was worth it.
If you haven't heard about this movie before, you probably shouldn't read past this paragraph. And I also wouldn't recommend looking it up in any film guides, since most of them give away an interesting part of the film. Hell, don't even read the back of the video or DVD. But you should seek this film out and give it 90 minutes of your time. Don't expect a normal ilm.
* * * S P O I L E R S * * *
After about 20 minutes into the movie, you realize that it's just that, a movie that other people are watching in a darken theater. The film is called THE MOMMY as is about Rubinstein and her son Lerner, both of which are a little un-hinged. Through some type of telepathic powers, she sends her son out to kill people, and steal their eyes. She thinks that people are out to get them. She also thinks that her son is a great eye surgeon, when really he's just an orderly.
There are several points to this movie that made me enjoy it so much. First of all, the plot of the movie, the real movie that is, is very simple. Some nutcase gets a little to into a movie called THE MOMMY and starts shooting people up. There's no real explanation as to why he's doing it. That's the beauty of it. It doesn't matter why, he just is. And these poor people are all caught up into it.
During the course of the film, what is happening on the scene in THE MOMMY starts to happen in the `real life' part of the movie. Lerner ends up at a movie theater and starts to kill people there. That's when the killer shows up in the real theater. The way that the same thing is happening almost together is a really interesting concept, and is played off really well.
Another particular part that I liked, that may just be from the DVD, but during one scene where THE MOMMY is playing, you can hear the two main girls talking back and forth. With the surround sound, it comes from behind you, making it feel like you're in the theater.
For the gore fans out there, there are several gruesome scenes with eyeballs and the removal of them. There's even a brief eye surgery scene that had me twitching for a bit.
The `twist' ending, where the movie THE MOMMY and reality cross, I wouldn't consider your typical twist ending, like some would say. Up until that point, there is nothing supernatural about this film. But at the end, you start to wonder if that is what happened to the guy who started shooting up the theater in the first place.
I would highly recommend this film to anyone who is looking for something different, and enjoys those strange and weird little films.
Blood Freak (1972)
One of the weirdest films I've ever seen.
This has got to be one of the most bizarre movies that I've seen. Here's the basic plot: a young man on a motorcycle follows a young girl home after meeting on the road. Before they go into her house, she tells him that her sister is having one of her drug parties' with her friends. While she's changing clothes, her one sister tries to come on to him, and offer him drugs, to which he declines both. The first sister comes back out and then starts preaching the gospel to the her new friend and some of the members of the drug party'. Next the guy gets a job at the girl's father's turkey farm, doing odd jobs, including taste-testing some turkeys that have been experimented on. Before you know it, this guy turns into a turkey-headed monster that kills people and drinks their blood! During throughout the whole movie, a narrator breaks into to discuss and inform people of what's going on'. All the time while preaching about the evils of doing drugs and putting chemicals in your body, he's chain-smoking cigarettes!
This was made in the early 70's and on a very small budget with probably not a real actor in the whole film. The turkey-monster is literally a guy with a turkey head mask over his face. Everybody is reading his or her script, especially the narrator, who is looking down at it more than looking at the camera. Plus the drug party' is obviously what Christian's thought a drug party' really looked like back then. While strangely enough there is really no nudity, other than one quick butt shot, there is a little bit of gore, especially one scene where a man has his leg cut off at the shin on a circular saw. This is a pretty graphic and intense sequence. Where and how it got into this film, I just don't know. So if you're really looking for a really weird one, seek this one out. Was it entertaining? That depends on your definition. I just sat there throughout most of it, just amazed that it had actually gotten made. Some religious group must of gotten together to make their own horror film' to scare the youngster straight.