Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet
Cheezy Movies / Sunset Entertainment / MVD Entertainment
97 minutes, 1990 / 2018
www.cheezyflicks.com
www.mvdvisual.com
In a long prologue that can practically be construed as an entire Act I,
we meet a couple in 1955 who are involved in a secret experiment having to do
with nuclear test explosions. The end result is their son Sam (Brad Dourif, who
has been the voice of devil doll Chucky in every Child’s Play franchise film to date), now 35 years old and a bit of
a loner with anger issues. That being said, he does have an ex-wife, Rachel
(Dey Young, who will forever be Kate Rambeau of 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School to this Ramones nerd), and a present girlfriend, the lovely Lisa
(Cynthia Bain).
Along with the human monstrosity
that is our beleaguered hero, the forces of science around him are out for
blood. The film is as much about technology as it is about the callous effects
on the human body. Atomic power plants and radiation are key (the Three Mile
Island accident happened a decade before, in 1979), but this is most exemplified
for its period by the use of the telephone, with a wonderful and huge see-through
home phone owned by Lisa, to a scene with Sam on a payphone to a DJ at a call-in
psychic radio show that seems to be right out of David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981); this also leads to one
of the best comic moments in the film, as well.
Images from the Internet
Spontaneous Combustion
Written and directed by Tobe HooperCheezy Movies / Sunset Entertainment / MVD Entertainment
97 minutes, 1990 / 2018
www.cheezyflicks.com
www.mvdvisual.com
While it’s true his career had sort of petered out over the decades from
the 1970s in the Millennium into shlock, there can be no denying that director
Tobe Hooper (d. 2017) has had his moment to shine with the likes of big budget
films such as Poltergiest (1982) and Invaders From Mars (1986), but what
makes him part of the innovative pantheon of directors that fanboys/-girls like
myself drool over is his early, seminal indie work, specifically the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
This film was released during his transitory period when he was
beginning his slide to more television than film, his glory days mostly behind
him. Sadly it shows in the production. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fun film
with some definite WTF moments to
keep the viewer on their toes, but yeah, in hindsight, you can almost see the
decline coming.
Brad Dourif and Cynthia Bain |
But something strange
has been happening to our stringy haired hero: flames are shooting out of his
arm, people are not-so spontaneously combusting, and Sam’s fears of people out
to get him are starting to go beyond the mere paranoia phase. The tighter the
noose gets, the more explosive Sam becomes.
One of the aspects of
this power is that as seldom applied on other films is that as Sam uses it in
his wake of vengeance, it also causes harm to him both physically and mentally as
his body sears bit by bit. Of course, this leads to some nice effects that are
both digital and practical. Before long, Sam is virtually unrecognizable as the
skin begins to bake away. Feel the burn!
Dey Young |
As did John Landis in An American Werewolf in London (1981), Hooper
throws in some subtle wink-wink-nod-nod moments. Included here are that all the
hearths have a raging fire going, even though the story takes place in August, and
that the Ink Spots song “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” plays on the
soundtrack, among others.
What’s more noticeable,
though, are the head scratchers. For example, Sam’s parents died when he was
newly born, yet he seems to remember a song his mom used to sing to him. There
are a number of plot holes like that, but I don’t want to give too much away, because
if you’re like me, while that can be frustrating, on the other hand it also
amuses me to make note of them.
Beyond the horror of atomic energy, electrical impulses and especially
blow-torch level fires from body orifices and digits, this is also a decent spy
thriller with both double and triple crosses, filled with lots of red herrings
to throw the viewer of the scent. I mean, in some cases you’ll see it coming
pretty early on, but in others, you may get a few surprises. A big surprise on
this Blu-ray release is that the only extras are chapters and some trailers.
This is certainly not a brilliant film and can be quite silly in spots, this
was a child of the VHS boom when all
cards and videos were on the table in a market where there were video stores practically
on every corner, with an audience that did not have 500 channels on which to
choose.
Spontaneous Combustion is
certainly a child of its times, and fortunately, there is a strong nostalgia
for these cheesy films. Hell, the company that reissued this is called Cheezy
Movies, fer cryin’ out loud. There certainly is a reason why there is a
resurgence of the releases from this period, in the same way people look back
at gratuitously goofy fun like Gilligan’s
Island and Happy Days.
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