bazza-davison Reviews

Up the Elephant and Round the Castle (1983–1985)

This is quality 1980s classic fun!!!!

[6/10 · 16 January 2014]

Well,im writing this as as 37 year old nostalgic man and always had vague albeit good memories of this insane British sitcom with Jim Davidson from 1983/84/85 and for so long I wanted to see it again.Through a friend of a friend I was able to see it once again a great DVD compilation which has all 22 episodes.....WHY DO I LIKE THIS SITCOM????.....I find the cockney rhyming slang dialogue hilarious....eg: "oh my gawwwd,he's elephant's trunk...get him away from me ".......its amiably played with John Bardon (jim brennan in East enders) as Jim's dad....and Sue Nicholls from Coronation Street (Gail Platt's mother) as sexual predator neighbour Wanda Pickles :) its,surreal....bizarre its brilliant......its insane......its chocka block full of great British actors.I love this mad comedy. Its certainly better than Surgical Spirit check it out and revel in British comedy

Madman (1981)

Unsung classic has more depth than you think

[10/10 · 12 January 2010]

This movie normally gets a hard time from people who expect Hamlet or Dostoyevsky from a movie whose entire budget wouldn't cover Sandra Bullock's dry cleaning bill.Firstly may i just point out the obvious flaws.Okay,the acting isn't too hot but what more do you want from a bunch of Brooklyn accented first time actors,Othello? People who savage this movie for being cheap and poorly acted are missing out on all its merits.Joe Gianonne and Gary Sales created this movie with one goal in mind-get a distribution deal with a major company.They failed only through chance and not being in the right place at the right time.My Bloody Valentine was picked up by Paramount along with Friday 13th and is in my opinion total garbage.Madman is second only to Halloween in league of the slasher genre.Gianonne who sadly passed away in Dec.2007 was a self confessed John Carpenter fanatic and pays homage to Halloween in a number of ways the old derelict Marz house,the actual name Mad-man-Marz,which could be mistaken for sounding like Michael Myers,the camera shots of the piano and furniture,Marz emerging from the shadows etc along with references to Texas Chainsaw,The Shining and Barn of the Naked Dead.Theyr'e all there if you look.Gianonne knew his stuff behind the lens-take the scene where Marz chases Ellie through to the kitchen.Its a perfectly positioned static shot of the terrified girl trying to hide in a fridge! and Marz approaching menacingly with an axe on the other.Very inventive and slick.The lighting of the movie is fantastic too,all icy blue tones that gives the movie an creepier feel than other entries-Sleepaway Camp to name but one.The deaths are great,with decapitation by car hood a standout and the overall atmosphere of creepiness is unsettling.Kudos to Gianonne for bending the genre rules by having the lead players killed off-only Richie the troublemaker survives the carnage and it was him that started all the trouble!Dawn of the Dead star Gaylen Ross starred in this under an alias and refuses to talk about it which is a shame because it certainly has a cult following now.I recently watched the documentary on the making of Hatchet and was astounded that they didn't cite Madman as an influence on it.Oshkosh overalls?Carrying an axe?Mutilated face?In the woods? God,Victor Crowley and Madman Marz could be twins! Movie snobs avoid.Trash fans rejoice! I love this unloved horror.