Heavy metal impresario Rob Zombie exploded on the movie scene with his first feature film House of a 1000 Corpses in 2003. Already a veteran behind the camera from directing his music videos, his first film (and his second) featured a lot of “heavy metal” montage shots and utilised an almost guerrilla style of film making.

Zombie then went on to re-imagine the Halloween verse in 1 and 2. He next film, he told interviewers, would be a sort of Ken Russell directs The Shining. Far be it from me to argue with Mr Zombie’s own definition of what his film is, but I would argue that it is more like Ken Russell meets Rosemary’s Baby.

I will not go any further down that particular road as I don’t want to give anything away.

Written and directed by Zombie, The Lords of Salem stars Sherri Moon Zombie as Heidi Hawthorne. She is a local radio personality who works as part of a three person team in Salem Massachusetts, home of the infamous Salem witch trials. A wooden box is left for Heidi at the radio station’s reception desk. It contains a record by a group called The Lords.

When the record is played on the air, it affects the female listeners of the audience, causing them to have visions of the olden days in Salem. Heidi is very affected by the music (which, for the record, would never have been featured on American Bandstand) and after she’s heard the music her landlady invites her to meet two old friends.

The film was obviously shot on location in Salem as the statue of television’s Bewitched character  Samantha Stevens (aka Elizabeth Montgomery) can be seen no less that three times. It’s as if Zombie wants to remind us that this is really about “fake” witches in Salem.

Zombie’s cinematography made Samantha Stevens look a lot scarier in the film.

Besides this reminder running through the film, a lot of black and white films play in the background in a few scenes. Heidi is watching an old “cop” film (featuring that loveable old heavy Jack Elam) and later when her boyfriend/radio partner Whitey  (Jeff Daniel Phillips) is watching a film, he is watching something with Charles Laughton (better known as Captain Bligh and Quasimodo).

There is, in fact, a lot of black and white themed sets in the film and Heidi’s apartment features a lot of black and white pictures and patterns. I’m not clever enough to know what the director is aiming for with this preoccupation with this particular colour scheme, but it’s obviously a clue of what is happening in the film. Perhaps it’s yet another allusion to the “olden days?”

The character of Heidi is a good one for Sherri Moon Zombie and she adds a depth to her acting that hasn’t been seen before. The film has a lot of Zombie’s “stable” in it. Sid Haig, Michael Berryman and Ken Foree are all Zombie “regulars.” The film also boasts the legendary Dee Wallace, Judy Geeson and Meg Foster. Most of his films feature a cadre of genre stars from old horror movies.

Quinn, Wallace and Geeson, Three scary ladies.

It was nice to see Andrew Prine  after he had to step in for the late Richard Lynch due to health issues.

Zombie has hit a level of subtlety that has, till now, been missing in his films. Where he has relied on over-the-top violence, blood and gore with villains that came close to being almost cartoonish; Salem strikes a sly and almost underrated  performance from all the key players.

A quick shout out to Bruce Davison as local Author Francis Matthias. He shines in his short performance and it was a pleasure to watch him in the film.

All the actors delivered exceedingly well and although the film had a bit of an ambiguous ending (to me at least) it kept me glued to the screen until the end credits had finished.

This may not appeal to the “normal” Rob Zombie fan. If you are expecting his usual fare of Heavy Metal Horror, you’ll be disappointed. But if you are ready to see a Rob Zombie who’s learned the art of insinuation and easing his audience gradually into the horror at hand, you’ll enjoy this latest effort.

I’d have to give The Lords of Salem a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. I’ve taken the .5 off only because the ending left me a little baffled. Despite my shaving off a half point, I don’t doubt that this will become a cult favourite.

Bravo, Rob Zombie.

Rob Zombie.

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Directed by Peter Weir (The Cars that Ate Paris) and adapted for the screen by Cliff Green from the book written by Joan Lindsay. The film has the “unofficial” title of being Australia’s most loved film and it was a critic’s favourite when it opened in 1975. It has since risen to a cult favourite. The screenplay should be counted as one of the best adaptations of a book it is amazingly faithful although the ending was altered a bit.

The film got off to an inauspicious start when the actress cast as Mrs Appleyard fell ill at the last moment and Rachel Roberts agreed to step in and take over the role. Such tricks of fate can seldom be so advantageous. Roberts gave the role as the schools headmistress a sinister and cold air that was apparent in the book and that helped the adaptation seem all the more faithful.

The remainder of the cast was split into well-known Australian actors and most of the children were unknown. Helen Morse, Jacki Weaver, Tom Llewellyn-Jones, and Anne-Louise Lambert were all well-known to the Australian public with Morse and Weaver being somewhat better known than the rest. Weaver seems to have enjoyed a “Barbara Windsor” type of reputation and Morse had been extremely active in television.

The film, like the book, is set in the year 1900 on St Valentine’s Day. Appleyard’s College for girls, which is a boarding school for European wealthy off-spring (and the odd Australian rich girl) are going out for a picnic at the local geographical wonder, Hanging Rock. Only one girl is left behind; because of her stubborn refusal to learn a poem she has been punished.

Also like the book, the girls and their chaperones (the French teacher and Miss McCraw) as well as the drag driver Mr Hussey all arrive at the picnic spot. Unfortunately not all of them return. Three of the girls have gone missing as well as Miss McCraw. While we know that the girls have gone exploring the rock, we never really know what happened to Miss McCraw apart from the chubby Edith’s story of seeing the teacher in her pantaloons when she alone ran down the rock full of screams and hysteria.

The class before everything goes so wrong.

The film then shows just how deeply this event has affected everyone and the resultant hysteria and shock of the Victorian inhabitants of this ancient and savage country.

Weir maintains an air of eeriness that pervades the entire film. This combined with the odd nature of Hanging Rock and the haunting (and sometimes very obtrusive) music builds a state a languorous tension that slowly builds throughout the film. The cinematography is misty and foggy, high lighting the ephemeral look of the film and the images of the missing girls, especially the otherworldly Miranda, and swans heighten the feelings of a mythical aura.

The overall feeling of the girls outing is one of impending doom. Weir’s use of slowing the frame rate as we follow the girls (and the other people at the site) movements during the picnic and later as they climb the rock on their journey into oblivion; he also uses the slower frame rate when dealing with other emotional or crucial scenes.

Like the book, the film shows the heat of the summer and the sounds. Cicada’s buzzing while heat waves shimmer over the napping girls; the rising dust from horses and the drag (carriage) and the heavy uncomfortable clothes that everyone wore in the oppressive heat. It also showed the misty appearance of Hanging Rock itself, viewed from the distance and looking like some eerie and dangerous monolith waiting for victims to come close enough for it to devour.

After finally reading Joan Lindsay’s brilliant book that the film had been made of, I searched for a copy of the film. Luckily there was a three disc Deluxe Edition for sale via Amazon and I snatched it up. It has the Director’s cut; the original theatrical cut (made from a negative as the original theatrical cut could not be found) and a disc devoted to the making of and other documentary films about the movie.

I have not seen the director’s cut yet, but I did watch the theatrical cut and watch most of the special features. These were priceless bits of interviews with the cast and crew; they also included an interview with the author Joan Lindsay. It was very interesting to find that not a lot of people were pleased with Peter Weir’s decision to re-cut the film years after it had been made.

I also noted on Amazon that a lot of folks did not like the “new” director’s cut either. I will watch it, just to see what slant Weir adds or takes away from the original. Either way, it is easy to see why this has been declared Australia’s favourite film. The film has aged well and my only complaint  was that the music was sometimes so loud that I could not easily hear the dialogue. This was actually solved by putting the subtitles on. I am sure that part of the problem lay with my laptops limited stereo capabilities though and not of the soundtrack.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a classic film that should be right at the top of “films to see before you shuffle off this mortal coil.” If you haven’t seen it, do rush out and find it, stream it, rent it, and try to get hold of the special features. It is definitely worth the time it takes to see what went on “way back then.”

Climbing to oblivion?

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Directed by David Mirkin this 1997 comedy, like fine wine, gets better with age; or repeated viewings, based on two characters developed in the stage play Ladies Room it is a lightweight delicious romp through two unfocused girls memories of high school and their first ten-year reunion.

Starring Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino the films opens with these two best friends in their everyday lives and their discovery of their upcoming ten-year high school reunion. We learn in rapid order that neither of the two girls are what could be termed successful; they are amazingly shallow for the age of 28 and they are not the sharpest tools in the shed. The other thing we learn is that they cannot, either of them, make a decision.

After hysterically trying to “success themselves up” by losing weight, getting boyfriends and landing great jobs, the girls admit defeat and decide to attend the reunion with a list of lies about how rich they are.

We are treated to the girl’s high school memories and how they clung to each other as the “ultimate” misfits of the school. The flashbacks in the film are as funny as the present day events. The film is not side-splittingly funny, but, it is funny. With both Kudrow and Sorvino on top form the film could not help but be funny.

Kudrow, who sharpened her comedic skills and timing on Friends, was no surprise. The woman is a naturally gifted comic actress and this film confirms it. The real surprise to me was Sorvino. I had seen her in Mimic and The Replacement Killers, neither one of which was comedic in nature. I remember watching the film and saying, “Damn! That Mira Sorvina is funny. Who’d have thunk?” Well the casting agent, apparently.

Both the women work extremely well as a double act. It is in essence a female buddy movie.

Danny and Mel?

The stereotypes that they portray from the two girls high school days are funny and pretty much spot-on. The A list group who puts down anyone not in their sphere of specialness; the loners and socially inept (that Romy and Michele were a part of) who hover around in the background of pretty much every high school in the world; plus the other little cliques (the sports crowd, the drama crowd, et al) and the way these groups formed allegiances to pick on the loners.

The reunion itself continues to pile on the stereotypes with the school sport star running to seed and who has become an overweight alcoholic who married the lead cheerleader. The cheerleader leads a promiscuous life with everyone but her husband. The class emo (or goth) has become rich after inventing the “fast” cigarette. The A-list group all have carbon copy lives and aren’t capable of individual thought; except for the one girl who broke away and became a fashionista. The geekiest kid in school has become a multi-millionaire with his own helicopter and a case of unrequited love for the two girls.

Yes the film relies on stereotypes and a certain schmaltzy feel to the comedy elements of the film. But…but…It works; beautifully. In fact the comedic deluge is almost relentless. At no time during the film did I not sit there without at least a smile on my face. The thing I did most was chuckle and laugh. Despite the fact that the film did not garner more than 29 million dollars at the box office; the film has gone on to reach cult status with its fans.

All I can say is, “Bless you Netflix.” I stumbled over this film while trundling through the movies on offer. I am glad I did because being a huge Kudrow fan it was a pleasant surprise and Sorvino’s performance was an even more pleasant surprise. The soundtrack is hip and relevant fitting the scenes like a wry glove.

I wouldn’t give this movie a 5 star rating, but damn it, it’s at least a 4 if not 4 1/2, definitely worth popping up a bowl of popcorn; cracking open a coke and enjoying yourself till the end credits roll.

The geek gets rich and gets the girls.

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Cover via Amazon

The Crow originally started life as a 1989 graphic novel by James O’Barr. The novel was darkly Gothic and had an almost ‘punk rock’ edge to it’s already  heavy metal dressing. That O’Barr is a genius goes without saying and it was only a matter of time before someone realized that his novel needed to be brought to life on the ‘big screen.’

Using the graphic novel as a starting point, David J Schow and John Shirley co-wrote the screenplay that Alex Proyas would work from as he directed the film. The cast was of a good calibre. Brandon Lee (in pretty much his best ‘starring’ role to date as Eric Draven) Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Rochelle Davis, Bai Ling, David Patrick Kelly and Tony Todd.

Perhaps best known as the film that Brandon Lee died on (he was accidentally shot  by a ‘prop’ gun that had been handled incorrectly) the film has gone on to become a cult favourite. It is arguable as to whether the film would ever have reached the heights of popularity that it enjoys had Brandon Lee not died during the filming. I personally believe that the film would have still built a firm fan-base just because it captures O’Barr’s world so well.

Eric Draven and his fiancée Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) are just two more casualties of Detroit’s Devils Night, a night that Top Dollar (Wincott) and his gang attempt to burn and destroy as much of Detroit as possible. They also terrorise the local inhabitants in their pursuit of destruction.

On the one year anniversary of their deaths, Eric claws his way out of his grave and follows a crow (who as his talisman, makes him impregnable to pain and death) back to his and Shelly’s apartment. Once there Eric gets flashbacks of what happened that night. He puts on the make-up of a black and white harlequin and goes to exact revenge on the gang who raped and murdered his fiancée

Along the way he bumps into police Sargent Albrecht (Hudson) and street urchin Sarah (Davis) who both recognise him as the deceased Eric. As he hands out personal retribution to each gang member on his way to Top Dollar (Wincott), Dollar’s right-hand woman, Myca (Ling) discovers that Eric’s power comes from the crow. Top Dollar and Myca work out an ambush where they intend to destroy the bird and Eric.

The Crow is darkly beautiful. It’s Gothic imagery reaches out to you from the screen. The inhabitants of this dark, wet and depressing world ane bigger than life and just as jaded. Everyone except for the films ‘good’ guys are in search of excitement and meaning to their lives. Cop Albrecht lost a crucial part of himself on the night that he watched Shelly Webster die, Sarah the street urchin lost her mother (figuratively)  and the only people who cared about her, Eric and Shelly.

The villains of the film are all in search of excitement via destruction and death. They inhabit this world vicariously through drugs and boredom and a certain level of insanity.

Brandon Lee as Eric Draven aka The Crow RIP

The soundtrack of the film is probably the best I’ve ever heard, including songs from The Cure (whose song Burn became the films main anthem and was not included on the soundtrack or on The Cure’s album as a sign of respect for Brandon Lee), Nine Inch Nails, among others and the overall feel of the music was like the film dark, gritty, and Gothic.

My only complaint about the film would be that actor Tony Todd could have been in the film a bit more. Just a personal preference of mine, I hasten to add and I adore the man’s work.

Overshadowed by Brandon Lee’s death, this Independent film has managed to overthrow the stigma and continues to gain in popularity. At one point it was listed as one of the top 500 films of all time (468th). Some of the actors were not so lucky. The young Rochelle Davis who performed so outstandingly as Sarah has never worked in the industry again. She was extremely close to Brandon Lee and his death affected her the most.

Brandon Lee (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Actor Michael Massee who actually discharged the pistol that killed Lee was so upset that he took a year long sabbatical from the entertainment world to get over it. When investigations regarding the incidents that led up to Lee’s death concluded, it appeared that a series of errors and misunderstandings combined with poor prop control all contributed to Lee’s death.

There was talk at one point of re-making the film with more emphasis being placed on realism and giving the film an almost documentary feel. This has apparently been shelved indefinitely as most of the main players involved with the intended re-make have dropped out of the project.

Another reason a re-make may not happen any time soon is the fact that the film has been beleaguered by several lawsuits that are still outstanding. Not only affecting the profit margins of the film but also hindering the chance of re-imagining the film.

Still, the original is just as great to watch now as it was when it was first released in 1994 and I cannot think of a better epitaph for the fine actor that Brandon Lee was becoming before his untimely death. Definitely a classic and a worthy film to have in your library.

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Tony Scott RIP

I first saw The Hunger in 1987 while I was living in Holland. I’d spied it in a local video shop that catered to the Americans stationed at the little Air Base there. I fallen in love with Catherine Deneuve after I’d seen her in the black and white Polanski film Repulsion. That was the only reason I’d picked that video to watch. That it dealt with ‘modern’ vampires and had David Bowie and Susan Sarandon in it as well, was a bonus.

Back then I didn’t know who Tony Scott was. Oh I knew of his brother Ridley. You know the story, started making award winning commercials and then made the leap to feature films. Ridley was the Midas of celluloid. While Ridley was busy setting the film world on fire, Tony was fine tuning his directorial skills on music videos and commercials.

The Hunger did not do well at the box office (although now it is a cult classic) and Tony Scott then made the iconic Tom Cruise vehicle Top Gun and he was then considered an action film auteur and that is how he made his living. I cannot refute that he was very good working in the action genre but I think he was trapped there. I loved The Hunger and that is the film I most associate with him.

The Hunger was adapted from the Whitley Strieber novel and it tells the story of the vampire Miriam (Deneuve) and her ‘partner’ John (Bowie). Miriam had ‘turned’ John and although he has vampire ‘powers’ he is inexplicably growing old. Fast. It turns out that this is the fate of all of Miriam’s lovers, she has an attic full of undead corpses who are anciently old but cannot die, John will soon join them.

John goes to see a doctor, Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) who specializes in premature ageing. John leaves before Sarah can treat him. She is horrified to see how quickly he has aged and she goes to the home that he shares with Miriam. As soon as Miriam meets Sarah it is love at first sight and John is soon relegated to the attic.

Miriam then ‘turns’ Sarah who isn’t happy with this turn of events. Sarah then decides to leave Miriam who doesn’t want her to go.

The Hunger was dark, daring, different and sensual. At that time in film-land vampires were Christopher Lee or Louis Jourdan or even Jack Palance ( as Count Yorga) et al. In those films vampires were interested in controlling you and drinking you dry. Not only is Miriam female (and nothing like the Brides of Dracula) but she loved and she got lonely. Her partners, like the unfortunate John, always had to be replaced. As her lovers aged and the blood could no longer rejuvenate them, she was sad, but pragmatic.

Miriam knew that she must find another lover to turn or she would face eternity alone.

Tony Scott’s reputation was based on his finesse with the action genre. But I will always remember him for The Hunger. His debut film was one that, even though it was slow to catch on, went on to reach iconic cult status in the film world.

I have read that he had inoperable brain cancer. When I read that, his demise made more sense. I am not sure what I would do if I received that sort of news. Scott’s decision was personal and private and I respect that.

Just as I respected him as a film maker.

Rest in peace Tony. Like so few other folks in this world, you brought a lot to the party.

We’ll miss you.

*I”d like to thank John over at WRITTEN IN BLOOD for his brilliant review of True Romance a Tony Scott film that he felt summed the man’s talent up. His article prompted me to think of my Tony Scott film. So thank you John.*

The Hunger (1983)

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Maximum Overdrive (1986)

I still remember getting quite excited when I heard that Stephen King was going to make a film adaptation of one of his own books. Well, the short story Trucks, to be exact, and I also remember thinking, “At last. An adaptation of a King book that won’t deviate wildly from the source, like Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining for example or John Carpenter‘s Christine.

Of course the pinnacle of the most laughable adaptation has to be the abysmal Salem’s Lot by Tobe Hooper.It’s still hard to believe that the same man who brought us The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so totally ‘balled up’ Salem’s Lot. I won’t go off on a tangent about the casting or the asinine decision to make Barlow look like Nosferatu.

But the winner of the all-time worst adaptation ever goes to the execrable The Lawnmower Man (1992). This film really didn’t bear even a passing resemblance to the short story it was adapted from.

When you consider the amount of adaptations that have so totally missed the mark it boggles the mind. And apart from the surprisingly good film version of  King’s novella The Mist, most of the film versions of King’s books have, in a word, sucked.

I will not get into a discussion of how ‘good’ Kubrick’s The Shining worked as a horror film. There’s no question that the film was good, but the casting alone (which worked for the film) was a polar opposite of the characters that King created. This changed the feel of the story so much that Kubrick could have changed the names of the characters and the film. Saving the studio the money spent on movie rights to the book.

I also won’t allow myself to waste time on the old argument of, “But King’s books are so cinematic! How can they be hard to transfer to film?” We all know that there are a lot of things that just don’t transfer well, character’s thoughts for instance. Perhaps the best example is from The Shining itself and those problematic hedge animals.

As for Maximum Overdrive with it’s AC/DC soundtrack and it’s slightly schlocky script, I will stand right up and say I liked it. When I found out that King was such a novice that he did things that didn’t follow cinematic rules, I loved it. Because the film still works. And yes, I know that King himself has admitted that he was so strung out on coke that he doesn’t really remember much about filming it. In answer to that I will trot out the highly popular movie ‘The Blues Brothers.’ If there was anyone out of the entire cast and crew who weren’t strung out on coke, I’ll eat my metaphorical celluloid hat.

The film looks like it sounds; bright, harsh, shiny and metallic. In fact the cinematography ‘looks’ like it was filmed in the 1970′s. I don’t know who had the final edit, but overall the film fits together well enough and it is entertaining despite what the nay-sayers will tell you.

The plot is pretty straight forward. The earth passes through the tail of an comet and all mechanical and electrical machines develop a mind of their own and turn against their makers. The results are a brilliant mixture of hilarity, (King, in a cameo at the beginning of the film, is called an asshole by an ATM machine) black humour and irony.

Stephen King, Maximum Overdrive (1986)

A group of disparate people get trapped in a truck stop  and are forced to work as slaves to the various vehicles that stop to be re-fuelled. Stalwart character actor Pat Hingle plays a suitably nasty bit of work who employs ex-cons at slave wages to increase his profit margins at the truck stop. Emilio Estevez plays the latest jail-bird who works for Hingle and who has big enough cojones to fight his opportunist boss every step of the way.

The acting jewel in the crown though is Lisa Simpson herself, Yeardley Smith. Smith’s distinctive voice and her diminutive stature has always been a comic attribute and her performance in Overdrive is both comic and a little touching.

The film did pretty good upon it’s release, although arguably it was  probably down to the fact that ‘maestro of horror’ King was the helmsman of it. But the film is darkly humorous. It is more interesting to note that even the original author had to deviate a bit from his own ‘cinematic’ short story.

Although the film garnered two Razzie award nominations for worst actor (Estevez) and worst director, King did a pretty good job, coked out or not. It would be interesting to see how a King directed film would fare now since he’s conquered all his personal demons. King himself has stated that he wouldn’t mind trying it (directing) again.

Like I said, I love the film. Just the novelty value of it being a  ”King does King” vehicle (if you’ll pardon the pun) makes it special and worth a look. If you manage to catch it on late night television or stumble across it in a sale bin at your local DVD store give it a try. It will at least make you chuckle and might even make you think a little about machines and their effect on us.

I will happily admit that it’s the only time that a ‘Green Goblin’ outside of the Spiderman universe kind of freaked me out. I still think the HAPpY ToYZ truck is a little scary, how about you?

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

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With Oldboy (Oldeuboi) about to get the “Hollywood” re-make treatment I decided it was time to talk about what I thought about the original film. Directed by Chan-wook Park as part two of his ‘Vengeance Trilogy‘ (the first being Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the last being Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Oldboy is based on the Japanese manga written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya.  It stars Min-sik Choi (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, The Quiet Family), Hye-jeong Kang (Three… Extremes, Battle Ground 625) and Ji-tae Yu (Into the Mirror, Lady Vengeance) as the three main protagonists.

At the beginning of the film  Oh Dae-su (Min-sik Choi) is in a police station. He has been arrested for being drunk and disorderly. He is still drunk. In the first few minutes of the film Oh Dae-su is angry, funny, forlorn, indignant and showing off the angel wings he has bought his daughter. We can see that despite his drunken state Oh Dae-Su is the Korean “Every-man” who loves to talk, have fun and loves his family.

After he is released from the police station, he stops to call his wife and tell her he is on his way home. As his wife answers the phone, Oh Dae-Su is rendered unconscious and wakes up in a hotel room. This hotel room will be his home and prison for the next fifteen years.

Oh Dae-Su’s only contact with the outside world is the television in his room. He learns by watching the television that his wife has been murdered (he is the main suspect) and that his daughter has been given to foster parents. At first Oh Dae-Su begs to the unseen person who delivers his meals to him through a slot in the door. He then starts hallucinating and attempts suicide.

He attempts to keep track of time by marking scratches on the wall. He also starts ‘shadow boxing’ and punching his wall to toughen his fists. He starts digging a hole in the wall to escape.

Oh Dae-Su is completely reliant on the television, It is his friend, teacher and lover; at one point he masturbates to the young women he sees on the television. Watching him in his room, we can see that his sanity has been stretched to it’s limits.

Just as Oh Dae-su is about to escape, he is knocked out with gas. He awakens on a roof in a huge steamer trunk. He has been given a mobile phone (cell phone) a new suit and some money. He is now desperate to find out who imprisoned him for fifteen years and why. His ultimate goal is revenge.

The first thing Oh Dae-Su does when he gets off the roof is to enter a sushi resturant. He tells the sushi chef, Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang) that he wants to eat something alive. She serves him live octopus. Immdiately after eating the octopus Oh Dae-Su passes out. Mi-do takes him to her apartment to look after him.

When he awakens, Oh Dae-Su tells Mi-do his story and she decides to help him. In one of the funniest scenes in the film, Oh Dae-Su, who is desperate for sex breaks into the bathroom while Mi-do is on the toilet. She had just previously told him not to ‘try anything’ and she backs this up by beating Oh Dae-su until he gives up.

Later she explains that even though she has been among people she too has been alone. The two wind up becoming lovers and Oh Dae-Su tells her to pray for a younger lover next time since he is so mucholder than she is.

The two then play detective to figure out where Oh Dae-Su was kept captive. As he was fed Chinese dumplings for fifteen years from a Blue Dragon restaurant  they go around to every Blue Dragon where Oh Dae-Su samples the dumplings. Once he finds the dumplings he figures out where he was kept prisoner. He tricks his way in and tortures his old warden until he tell him who locked him up.

Oh Dae-Su then has to fight his way out of the hotel against an army of thugs. Armed only with a hammer and his fists he makes his way out of the hotel and onto the street.

Now that he knows who his captor was, Woo-jin Lee (Ji-tae Yu), he finds that Lee wants him to figure out why he was incarcerated. Oh Dae-Su learns that he and his captor went to the same school and that Lee was having incestuous sex with his own sister. Oh Dae-Su sees them at it and tells his best friend, just as he (Oh Dae-Su) is leaving the school for good, with the warning that he should not tell anyone. His best friend of course tells everyone and Lee’s sister kills herself.

I’ve spent a lot of time setting up the main plot of the film. But I haven’t talked about what I think of as the film’s “set pieces.” It is the set pieces that have made this film’s popularity grow and make an impression on everyone who has seen it.

Set piece number one is that long, violent and punishing corridor fight scene. It is a true show-stopper. It was done in one take, over a three day time span. You can tell that the actors and stuntmen are exhausted. Some of the “half-hearted” punches and kicks that are clear misses are due to the tiredness of the players instead of poor choreography.

Set piece number two is the scene where Oh Dae-Su cuts off his tongue. At the end of the film, he does this in order to pay his “debt” to Lee for inadvertently causing Lee’s sister to kill her self. He is also doing it in a last ditch attempt to save Mi-do from finding out that he, Oh Dae-Su is her father.

The whole theme of the film is two-fold, vengence (obviously) and incest. It really comes as no surprise that this won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and that Quentin Tarantino lavished so much praise on the film.

Oldboy is a Korean crowd pleaser. It helped open the door for Korean films to the rest of the world. In my opinion Chan-wook Park’s other films in his vengeance trilogy were better. Oldboy for all it’s colour and complex plot, was a bit choppy at the end. His other two films Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance were tighter and more neatly tied up at the end of each respective film.

Still Oldboy has shot to the top of the list of ‘must see’ Korean films and rightfully so. It is as good a place as any to start in regards to Korean cinema and certainly will not disappoint the novice Korean film fan.

I love Korean cinema and adore Min-sik Choi as an actor. I would have to say that as of this moment, I think South Korea outshines the rest of the world with their film making. I am probably a little prejudicial in this claim as I think that Korea has two of the best directors in the world right now in Chan-wook Park and Jee-woon Kim.

I will of course watch the re-make. I am a huge fan of Spike Lee’s work and I think that Josh Brolin is one of the best actors in the business. It will be interesting to see what Mr Lee does with his version of the story.

If I had to give it a rating, I’d have to say a 3.5 out of 4 stars.  Watch it and you’ll see why Chan-wook Park is the film critic’s darling.

English: Park Chan-wook at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Firefly had a good solid fan base and characters that appealed to the audience. The show played well and the whole first season set up what should have been season two and beyond. The question has to be asked. Did Joss piss off Fox in some obscure way? Or was Fox annoyed that Firefly wasn’t another Buffy? We will never know.

That Whedon has a good track record on television is a matter of fact. You cannot have two programs that run for years and have an almost rabidly faithful fan base without having done something right. Of course you cannot talk about early cancellations without mentioning Dollhouse (2009). Fox called the shots on Joss’s next television baby and their guidance doomed the show to a quick death. By following Fox’s guidelines Joss took too long to build up the show and started losing the viewing wars before the show could build up steam.

But with Dollhouse, Joss was able to give fans of the show a bit of closure. The second season was allowed to finish and so finished the story. Perhaps not to a very satisfactory conclusion, but it was a conclusion of sorts, not like the hasty death of Firefly.

I won’t waste time going into the plot and characters of Firefly. If you have stopped to read this article you will already be familiar with the verse as presented on television.

Serenity is just Firefly grown up. Despite the small budget, the film feels bigger, more expansive and more dangerous than the tv show. All the show’s regulars are there. It felt a little like a class reunion. All the familiar folks are here, just a little older and perhaps not any wiser but their performances have aged like a fine wine.

The cast list is as follows:

Nathan Fillion as Mal

Gina Torres as Zoe

Alan Tudyk as Wash

Morena Baccarin as Inara

Adam Baldwin as Jayne

Jewel Staite as Kaylee

Sean Maher as Simon

Summer Glau as River

Ron Glass as Shepard Derrial Book

Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Operative

David Krumholtz as Mr Universe

The film opens with the rescue of River by her brother Simon. We find out that what we are watching is security footage of the River’s escape and the man watching the footage is the scary “The Operative” a deadly government man tasked to bring River back.

The rest of the film is the crew of Serenity trying to stay one step ahead of The Operative. There are brilliant scenes in the movie. The “I swallowed a bug.” scene aka “All right, let’s be bad guys.” This opening ensemble piece shows the group dynamic and introduces us to Reaver’s, bloodthirsty man-monsters who torture, rape, and kill everyone they come in contact with.

I won’t go too much into the film as there might just be someone out there who hasn’t heard of Browncoats, Firefly, or Reavers. But I will mention my second favourite scene in the film.

The crew of Serenity land and disembark on a planet. The whole crew is upset because Simon and River are going to leave. Mal and Jayne go to deal with their fences. River goes to watch a televised commercial for fruity oat bars. She sees something in the commercial that prompts her to murmur the word, Miranda.

The second she says the word, the ninety pound girl proceeds to kick every conceivable ass in the bar. She incapacitates Jayne and is in a ‘Mexican Stand off’  with Mal, when Simon saves the day.

This entire scene is a show stopper. The choreography for this fight scene (designed to show just how dangerous River is) is balletic and beautiful. It takes my breath every time I see it.

Of course, later in the film, we see why River is so deadly.

Even if you are not a Firefly fan and need some sort of closure, watch this film. I actually saw Serenity before I watched the television show. It is the best example of why Joss is boss and why he was the only choice to helm the Avenger’s Assemble film.

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Wishmaster (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Made in 1997 and directed by Robert Kurtzman (this was his second feature film) Wishmaster is a fun frolic of a horror film. With a cast list that reads like a “who’s who of horror” it’s easy to see why it did so well at the box office.

Promoted as a “Wes Craven Presents” film, it definitely fits into the Wes ‘we are not worthy’ Craven style of horror film.

Now about that cast list.

Robert Englund as Raymond Beaumont
Kane Hodder as Merritt’s Guard
Reggie Bannister as a pharmacist
Tony Todd as Johnny Valentine
Ted Raimi as Ed Finney
Angus Scrimm as Narrator
Joseph Pilato as Mickey Torelli
Andrew Divoff as The Djinn/Nathaniel Demerest
Tammy Lauren as Alexandra Amberson
Chris Lemmon as Nick Merritt

With the obvious exceptions of Tammy Lauren and Chris Lemmon (Jack Lemmon’s son and he sounds just like dad) all the names on the above list are horror film ‘alumni’ and well recognised by film fans.

Peter Atkins who wrote the film, named some of his characters after real-life writers in the horror and fantasy genres.

The plot is about an evil Djinn, aka genie, who inhabits a jewel. This jewel is appropriated by Chris Lemmon’s Auction house and while being appraised by the lab enable the Djinn to escape and wreck havoc on the world. The sting in the tale of this “genie” movie is that the Djin are the original form of the ‘helpful’ genie.

Narrator Angus Scrimm tells us at the beginning of the film that the Djinn equal fear. What he does not tell us is that the Djinn have a wicked sense of humour. Played with evil relish by Andrew Divoff, the Djinn obviously enjoys granting wishes, even when the “wisher” doesn’t intend to wish for anything.

Some of the FX are a little dated but the intent is still there and the film works in spite of it. It is a brilliantly funny film and well worth the time spent watching it. Some of the things the Djinn does reeks of irony. There is a moment in the film where a door man tells the Djinn that if he wants in the building, he’ll have to go through him. The Djinn with an evil laugh and a grin turns the man into part of a glass door so he can do just that. Wicked fun.

Wishmaster was made for an estimated budget of five million dollars and grossed three times that in box office sales. It was popular enough that it spawned a total of three sequels, finally ending after Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. 

Despite the popularity of the original, it is easier to find copies of the sequels that it is to  find Wishmaster itself.

I would definitely recommend this to any horror film fan. Hell, it’s worth a look to just watch Chris Lemmon who is definitely a slice off the old peel.

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