All genres of suspense, terror, and horror will be reviewed by Richard Gary. His address to send preview copies supplied upon request to rbf55@msn.com.
Goldstone Writer, director, editor, director
of photography, composer: Ivan Sen Lightyear Entertainment / Screen
Australia / Archlight Films / MVD Entertainment 110
minutes, 2016 / 2018 www.lightyear.com www.mvdb2b.com
Goldstone (as opposed to Tombstone) is a small Australian town where three
cultures meet: the indigenous population, the white settlers, and the Chinese workers.
This trio is bound to cause not just sparks but raging fires. Of course, it’s
up to the police to put out those fare-ups, or is it?
Although taking place in modern times, this cop drama that relies heavily
on motifs from the original Walking Tall (1973),
this is considered by most to be a Western, and I can certainly understand why,
with the beautiful Australian Outback being the backdrop, but more on that
later. In an off-beat way, one could also say it’s a buddy movie, with the typical
trope of two people (coppers in this instance) who don’t like each other initially
learn to trust and rely on each other, even if hesitantly.
Alex Russell and Aaron Pdersen
There are a lot of powerful Aussie actors who make their presence felt
here (big country, but small film industry). The two leads are Goldstone
Sherriff and lone law enforcer, Josh (Alex Russell) and aboriginal federal
agent with a sad past and a problem with the bottle, Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen).
character was resurrected from a 2016 film that was a hit in Australia, Mystery Road, and would reappear in the
2018 mini-series, also called “Mystery Road.”
This story relies a lot on corruption and questionable behavior on
everyone’s part, even the police. But the main source of evil doing that needs
to get eradicated is big business in the form of a gold extraction company that
is bribing and killing to get land from the Aboriginal people of the area, and
who delve their hand in human trafficking for the workers in the desolate
areas.
Jacki Weaver and David Whenham
Running the whole evil gold company is Johnny (David Whenham, who played
Faramir in The Lord of the Rings
films), and his accomplice and lover, Maureen, who is the Mayor (Jacki Weaver,
of Bird Box and Silver Lining Playbook fame). Their malevolence is felt before it’s
identified to the viewer. In an extended cameo-yet-pivotal role we meet elder Jimmy
(David Gulpilili, of releases like Walkabout,
Crocodile Dundee, and Rabbit Proof
Fence). Bringing in the gravy further is a dispassionate madam, Ms. Lao
(Pei-Pei Cheng, from Crouching Tiger
Hidden Dragon) and the female lead and possible love interest, May (the
highly attractive and tall Michelle Lim Davidson).
Needless to say, the acting level is superb, and I have no qualms with
stating that. Sometimes the accents are a bit theek-ahhs-flyees, and a bit to grabble with, but it’s worth it,
even on a subtle level; for example May’s mouth quivers when she speaks, but
the Mayor’s teeth are fixed in a way like a shark ready to bite.
Michelle Lim Davidson
While this is a buddy movie offshoot, the police are among the weakest
characters as far as flip-flopping morals (the “bad guys” are just flat-out
evil with no other shades), and the trafficked women are often in peril (though
lots of determination towards a goal all the way around), there actually is
quite a gender balance as far as power goes, and that’s pretty refreshing.
There is a lot of action in the third act (i.e., the last 20 minutes or
so), and I’m happy to say the ending does not follow a formulaic conclusion;
the rest of the film is a very slow build-up to the final showdowns. For
example, considering the buddy picture aspect, these guys are barely in the
same scenes together other than the occasion, until they arm up to the nipples
with ammo.
David Gulpilili
There are a lot of gems in this film, such as the photography and
scenery. The desert looks beautiful rather than just burning sand and rock, and
wherever it is that Jay and Jimmy canoe is just stunning. Plus there are a lot
of great overhead shots I’m assuming done by a drone expert (consistent altitude
with little movement, which was impressive). Although polar opposites, director
Sen uses the desert as a character in a very similar fashion to Scorsese’s
presentation of New York City in Taxi
Driver: a forbidden wasteland that still manages to hold its beauty like a
snake about to strike.
There are a few extras here which are worth noting, all of them coming
in under two minutes and featuring interviews of the major cast and director,
describing anecdotes/motivations of the characters. These are “Detective Jay
Swan,” “Alex Russell as ‘Josh Waters’,” “Jacki Weaver as ‘The Mayor’,” “Ivan
Sen, writer, Director, Editor, Composer, DOP,” “The Corruption of Goldstone,” and
“The Indigenous People of Australia.” Thanks in part to their briefness, they were
enjoyable and easy watches. There are also two trailers for this film and two
for others.
This may have nuthin’ to do with nuthin, but there are a lot of characters with “J” names in this
film, such as Johnny, Jimmy, Jay, and Josh.
Despite the slow buildup, I can certainly understand the attention this
film has received, and it is well worth the watch if you like Westerns or gun-based
crime dramas.
Many a
year ago, I remember seeing a bumper sticker that read, “Oh, Lord, protect me
from your believers.” While this is true, I also believe a more accurate way to
phrase it might be “Oh Lord, protect me from your interpreters.”
These days
there are a lot of strange readings of the Bible’s contents, including an “every
word is truth” fanatical faction: think Westboro. Well the main character of
this tale makes them look like wusses when it comes to raining God’s punishment
on mere mortals.
Gary Cairns
The main
focus for this story is Father Vincent (Gary Cairns), who believes in the
literal word and work of punishment as described in the Old Testament. Calling
himself a Roman Catholic priest, in fact he has been defrocked by the Church
for his fanatical beliefs, fostered by a tragic series of events from his
youth, which is shown in the prologue.
In other
words, Vinnie is a psychotic serial killer feeling justified in his ways, like
Dexter, as he delivers what he believes to be God’s punishment on the wicked:
salvation through death, via gun, knife, whatever. Helping him reluctantly on
his path is his younger brother (“family sticks together”), Michael (Luke
Albright). He is relentlessly picked on by Vincent as not being as supportive
as he would like, even as he aids in chopping up the multitude of bodies.
The two
travel around a region of Mississippi called Safehaven, in a beat up old
camper, which has been turned into a traveling “confessional”; and if the Padre
does not believe you are repentant, it becomes a bit of an abattoir. Of course,
Vincent does not recognize his own foibles, including that of lust.
Trista Robinson
Meanwhile,
a sweet and squeaky voiced young thang named Mary Francis (Trista Robinson) is
on a murder streak as she is also a psychotic serial killer in her own right.
She picks up on the brothers’ vibe and manages to widdle her way into their
lives and livelihood by joining the band of blood. She has no hesitation in
ending life. She and Vincent couldn’t be more similar, not counting the
religious differences (i.e., Mary has no problem diving head first into her own
lust). And you know at some point this trio is going to explode into violence
among itself through viciousness and double dealings. In that way, it does not
disappoint.
The moral
compass of nearly all the characters is askew, as they make their way through
the mire of sin, truth and forgiveness, and lack thereof. With wicked good
lighting and angles, this is solidly atmospheric and full of gothic horrors
that would make Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte
(1964) want to order a mint julip.
There is
no shying away from the violent nature of the characters, nor their actions. It’s
no surprise that it is released by Unearthed, because there are severed body
parts a plenty, but without the surgical precision of body torture. That being
said, there are some both physical and emotionally squeamish moments
throughout, all handled beautifully by the great Marcus Koch and Cat Bernier
Sowell (more on them later). To put it in another way, the film is sheer brutality
from beginning to end, but the story keeps up with it. Never having been a fan
of violence for violence sake, I like the story to bring the intensity, rather
than the other way around. This one has both feet on the ground in that way,
and it never lets up.
Luke Albright and Gary Cairns
The extras
start with a commentary by Mark Savage and screenwriter Tom Parnell. Not only
do they discuss shot by shot, but also go beyond into motivation of characters
(in case the viewers have any question), and how they came up with the ideas.
They also talk about what it was like to physically shoot the film.
Next is a 16-minute
featurette called “The Grisly Art of Marcus Koch and Cat Bernier Sowell” which
is a series of stills as make-up and special effects are applied. Cool stuff. After
that is the 29-minute “The
Actors Speak.” Essentially it’s the main three leads individually talking about
how they got involved with the film, how good the story is, what their personal
lives were like at the time, and so forth. The three are then edited into a precise
swirl of actors (Cairns, then Robinson, followed by Albright, then Cairns,
etc.). It’s a bit long, but most of them talk at a deeper emotional level than
these things tend to be, so it was pretty interesting.
In a talk
with the co-writer, “Tom
Parnell: Beyond the Day Job,” Tom discusses how he is a lawyer in real life, but has a passion for both
writing screenplays and acting (he plays a cameo role as a Sherriff here). He
brings up how he got into the arts, and what he wants to bring to it. Good
stuff at 9 minutes. Shot at a festival, the 20-minute “Purgatory Road Q & A” with the director and Cairns, then joined
by other cast and crew. As is common with these things, the sound quality is
not that great and it keeps going in and out. Of course, as the final extra,
there are four Unearthed trailers, including for this film.
This is a
top notch film that is full of thrills and terror that is palpable by the
characters. The acting is solid, as is the writing and cinematography. It’s a
perfect storm in a positive direction.
Being a
collective can be a challenge. When more than one person chooses do to
different chapters of the same story, sometimes it works out great, sometimes
not so much. For example, Stephen King and Peter Straub switched off on
chapters for their 1983 novel, The
Talisman; while it was arguably not a critics’ choice, I actually liked it,
despite the tones of the writers being so different.
A closer
metaphor to this release is telling stories around a campfire, where everybody adds
their own part, and the next person has to continue from that point. Sure,
there are going to be some gaps in the story and a few inconsistencies, but
there is also refreshing new thoughts that take the story in ways you may not
have expected.
For this
film, it is serialized into 12 chapters, each section written and directed by a
total of 15 people. To be honest, watching it on VoD without having a DVD, I
don’t know when a chapter begins or ends, but honestly it felt mostly consistent, which is a beautiful
thing. [Note that I later realized you can find all 12
chapters on YouTube.]
The center
of the story is the titular man in the rook, or in this case, the supernatural
killer in the scarecrow outfit. He’s a Scottish guy named Gordon (Joseph
Zuchowski), brogue and all, who is killed in a jealous rage. His soul goes into
a sack-cloth garbed scarecrow thanks to a bird-like witch named Ravenna (JizabellAnat), who now controls his spirit.
Ravenna looks like she was dressed from a Halloween or party store (not a
complaint), with a bird mask, small black wings, and talons. Not for nuthin’, my
cat’s name is Ravena, who is dreaming next to me as I write this. Humorously,
the witch’s name is pronounced differently by various people (Rah-VEE-nah, RAH-veh-nah,
etc. But I digress…
The story
is interesting if sometimes hard to follow exactly, full of jealousy, rage,
revenge, supernatural noodling, ghosts, and some decent gore. This could
definitely be considered a stylized slasher film and there actually is an
extremely high body count here, with the first death being my favorite (won’t
give it away). There are no redeemable characters really other than Bobby (Eric
E. Poe) and his niece, Tori (Caroline Grant), who get caught up in the goings
on, sometimes to their extreme detriment.
The acting
is sometimes on the level of community theater (again, not a complaint), but
the same actors stay through the whole story, even if the motives of their actions
change from writer to writer, keeping the viewer in suspense more than
confusion. One character may seem good in one chapter and bad in another, and
vice-versa. This is part of the fun. For me, the most solid of the batch is Susan
Willis, who plays Deb, a housewife who is at the center of a lot of the action
and seems to have the most screen time.
What’s
also good fun (at least for me) is that the person who is the killer/scarecrow
changes quite often as souls are dumped and replaced by other dead people. This
is both WTF, and seems to work well
with the serialized story.
Sometimes
the coming backstabbing and scheming can be seen before the action, but with so many
directors and writers, there are also plenty of moments where the viewer is
guaranteed to be surprised about some turns of events.
Unlike
most of the releases these days, these actors all look like they could be your
neighbors, with realistic body types and a wide range of age groups. This made
me happy.
I’m not sure if this type of serialized story
is a one-shot idea, or will become part of a trend from Wages of Cine, but it
is an interesting concept. This go at it is quite successful, with an enjoyable
central plot and peripheral storylines that are all over the map, keeping this
viewer unsure and wanting more.
Yes, there
are moments where I was a bit baffled, but honestly, that was part of the fun
for me. Most of it is cleared up by the end, anyway (the last chapter must have
been the hardest to write and direct, bringing together all the thoughts of the
others to clean it all up for our passive end of the screen.
Directed by Kevin Bray 20 Century Fox / MGM / MVD Marquee Collection 86 minutes,
2004 / 2018 www.mvdvisual.com
I like Dwayne Johnson as an actor. He’s versatile with good chops in many
genres, including action, drama, and even his comic timing is top notch. But
this remake of the 1973 film of the same title (though the characters’ names
change here) does not star Dwayne Johnson; rather, it is wrestling superstar
The Rock. Yes, there is a difference, and it all comes down to money, i.e., who
is doing the financing.
The real Buford Pusser
This film is based also on the life of Buford Pusser (d. 1974) though
more glitzy than the original in which stoic-yet-slow-burn Joe Don Baker played
him as a man finally fed up and seeking revenge, as his town is turned into a Pottersville, if you will, and his wife
is killed by the mob. Here, The Rock plays him as Chris Vaughn, a U.S. Army
Special Forces Sergeant with combat training, who is highly skilled in the art
of killing. And he certainly does plenty of it here.
Many of the key scenes are redone from the ’73 release, which is
somewhat more accurate to Buford’s real life, but here liberties are
definitely taken (e.g., Vaughn is unmarried). Actually I don’t have a problem
with the re-vision of the original story, as that’s common practice in cinema
history. It’s the level of the amping
of testosterone in a video game world that I find, well, kinda meh. Back in Tennessee when the real
story happened, one could possibly get away with the things that Buford did,
never mind the mob. I can’t really imagine Vaughn in then-modern 2004 sneaking
out of getting jail time. All the mob had to do is donate minimal money to a
right-wing cause, and as we’ve seen in real life, people will follow blindly.
The Rock, Johnny Knoxville
See, this here version was produced by Vince McMahon, head of the
wrestling association that The Rock is affiliated with, so it’s going to amp up
the machismo and violence because they want to market their product (i.e., The
Rock). What they ended up with was a film that basically has no character, no
sense of proportion, and in which women are there to be mainly strippers and
hookers, with zero personalities. His new girlfriend (Ashley Scott) is a pole
dancer/call girl who works for the casino, and spends much of her screen time
in red bra and panties.
As in the wrestling ring, it’s essentially mano-a-mano as The Rock goes against ex-friend and now drug
dealer/casino owner Jay (seemingly perpetual villain Neal McDonough). Rounding
out the group is the “comic relief” of The Rock’s sidekick, played by the ever
annoying Johnny Knoxville.
Neal McDonough
Everyone gets the crap beaten out of them at some point or another, but
you know who will prevail in an apparently never ending string of fights
between The Rock and any number of Jay’s henchmen. And who will be the final
victor? Follow the funding.
The bonus material, which I honestly did not watch, includes subtitles,
an audio commentary by The Rock, and another one with the Director, Film Editor
and Director of Photography, a “Fight the Good Fight” stunts featurette,
deleted scenes, blooper reel, an alternate ending, a photo gallery, and the original
theatrical trailer.
I don’t mind films with fighting. The Kung Fu craze of the ‘70s and ‘80s
was fun and I still get a kick (pun not intended) out of those. Imaginative
ones like Die Hard and Fight Club prove that it can be quite
interesting, but this is just a bunch of nothing set pieces that are there to
serve the purpose of promoting a product (again, The Rock), rather than telling
a story. The film did well, financially, and helped The Rock become Dwayne
Johnson, out of the banner of the wrestling venue. So in the long run that’s a
good thing, right?
There are
certain people who just look like their signature roles, whether it fits their
personality or not. Sly Stallone was so popular in Rocky because he looked and sounded the part, even though he is
quite intelligent. Vincent
Schiavelli (d. 2005), the angry subway car spirit in Ghost (1990) similarly was so memorable because his face fit that
role. For Maniac, we get the
underrated Joe Spinell (d. 1989) in the portrayal of his lifetime that will
always be associated with him as a badge of honor.
Spinell plays Frank Zito, an artist
who grew up with an abusive mother, and now has issues with women in that he
feels compelled to do them brutal harm. Being schizophrenic a la Norman Bates, he hears his mother’s
voice even though she’s passed on, but normally his bicameral mind as far as we
the audience hear it, it’s his own. He argues with himself that he doesn’t want
to be doing these gruesome murders, but he comprehends it as being obliged, or to
be punished.
As for the kills, well they are so
beautifully done by Tom Savini, and so severe that Savini himself believes he
went a bit too far. Perhaps that may be somewhat true in the American market by
1981 standards, but not today’s world of torture and body mutilation releases. Savini,
who was a medic in a war zone, was familiar with how the body works in
bloodletting situations, and used that to become the top of his field of blood
and gore at that time.
A chunk of the money that was used to
make the film came from the director, who made some pretty pesos in the adult
industry, giving him the opportunity to cast extras from that genre. Some are
easily recognizable to those of that generation, such as Sharon Mitchell and Abigail
Clayton (billed as Gail Lawrence).
There are actually three stars in the
film. Of course, there’s Spinell; as the female lead is the beautiful British
actress Caroline Munro who plays a photographer, having gotten the role through
her producer husband at the time that came up with the largest chunk of backing
cash. While Munro is totally fine in the role and lovely to look at, it’s hard
to imagine her photographer character being attracted to Brooklynite and
shlubby Frank. She is so beyond his league. Of course, the discussion is
whether she is actually gay or bi-, and theirs is only a friendship to her.
The third star of the film is the
city of New York at that time, when subways were graffiti bound, the street
lights were dimmer, and the skyline was as beautiful as ever. Like Taxi Driver (1976) and They Might Be Giants (1971), the
simmering city is intricately connected to the actions and becomes its own
character.
The film has pretty much aged okay,
though in moments it feels kind of hackney as far as the story goes. The kills,
however, are as stunning today as they were back then, and for that alone is
worth the watch, especially in this restored 4K presentation, taken from a recently
uncovered 16mm original camera negative. Lustig is known for making crime films
that were on the odd side of the B-film scale, such as Vigilante (1982) and the Maniac
Cop trilogy (1988-93), but this may be his finest work, overall. He was 24
years old at the time.
This three-disc set is just loaded
with extras, which I will get to now. It is a mixture of new material and some
from a previous, non-HD re-release from 2010. The first thing I want to
talk about is the languages and captions. There are multiple languages
available: English, Spanish, French, Italian and German. Captions can be in English
SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch,
Swedish, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai, but as I only speak one
(not counting Brooklynese, in which much of the film is dripping wet), I went
for the English.
For the
first Blu-ray disc, there are two audio commentaries. The first is with producer/director William Lustig and
producer Andrew W. Garroni. It’s actually nearly perfect in that they tell
stories about the production, the actors, the distribution, the guerilla
filmmaking, and how it was a joint contribution between everyone. There is no
idle banter, it’s all relevant to the making of the film, and they keep it
going. For the second Audio Commentary, again with Producer/Director Lustig, we
get to hear Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini, Editor Lorenzo
Marinelli, and Joe Spinell's Assistant (friend) Luke Walter. There is a little
bit of repetition from the first commentary, but enough new stuff to keep it
nearly as interesting, though there are some gaps of quiet here and there. Most
importantly, though, they almost never talk over each other, giving us a chance
to hear what everyone is saying. The voices are so different (i.e., level of
New York accents) that it’s easy to identify who is who, a problem I often have
with multiple person commentaries. Besides, it was enjoyable watching Savini
talk about his head blowing up real good.
Disc one finished with seven theatrical
trailers, nine TV spots and four radio spots. Disc two is broken down into
three categories starting with Featurettes, most of which are from the 2010
rerelease, though some are brand new. It begins with the 19 minute “Maniac Outtakes.” The footage is not
only of interest, but is overdubbed by a commentary by director Lustig. I like
seeing the old footage of New York, such as 42nd Street. Following is “Returning
to the Scene of the Crime with William Lustig.” For 8 minutes, Lustig discusses
the differences between the shoot locations in 1979 and now. The videos comparing
of then and now shots is fascinating.
“Anna and the Killer with Caroline
Munro,” covers her career from before Maniac
and into the film in 13 minutes. “The Death Dealer with Tom Savini,” is an interview
with the Special Make-Up Effects Artist, who has always been a great conversationalist,
so his stories are fun for the entire 12 minutes. “Dark Notes with Jay
Chattaway” discusses composing of the eerie, yet beautiful background music for
12 minutes.
I was looking forward to the 11
minute “Maniac Men - Interview with Songwriters Michael Sembello and Dennis
Matkosky,” who are questioned by Lustig. The rumor had been going around that
the song “Maniac” from Flashdance was
originally supposed to be in Maniac, with
different lyrics {“He’s a maniac… / And he’ll nail your cat to the door”), as
Sembello was a horror fan. This lively interview clears it up once and for all.
The star of Maniac, Spinell(d. 1989),was known as a party animal, even being married to a porn star for
a while, appearing in major films like The
Godfather and Rocky, but he was
also a horror fan. Naturally, there should be a featurette documentary on his life,
as there is here with “The Joe Spinell Story.” This is a special production
from 2001 that covers Spinelli’s life and has lots of good stories told by some
heavy hitters, such as Jason Miller (d. 2001), Robert Forester, and of course
the director of Maniac, Lustig. For
49 minutes, we are regaled on what it was like to know Spinell, and depending
on the period of his too brief life and how inebriated he was as the time, it
could be heaven or hell.
The last featurette in this section
is an 8-minute “Mr. Robbie: Maniac 2
Promo Reel.” This was supposed to be a sequel to the first Maniac with a different director, but was not completed due to
Spinell’s death at age 52. It’s grainy but looks a bit wack, though the gore
looks good.
In the publicity section, there’s
“Paul Wunder,” an 18 minute radio interview with Lustig, Spinell and Munro on
WBAI-NY. The sound quality varies widely, but still interesting. Then “William
Lustig on ‘Movie Madness,’” a cable access show in black and white that’s a bit
more interesting as various people phone in and ask some wild questions for 47
minutes. I miss Manhattan Cable Access, and this is a good reason why. Lasting
about 1 minute we see a brief interview with “Joe Spinell at Cannes.” What’s
more fun is the 13-minute “Joe Spinell on ‘The Joe Franklin Show’,” in 1981. If
you grew up in New York and watched Franklin, you know what you’re dealing
with. Franklin (d. 2015) is a cult figure that bands like the Ramones and the
Dictators hung out with as well as Broadway actors, ventriloquists and
psychics.
“Caroline Munro TV Interview” is with
NBC New York’s Chuck Scarborough and the awful Katie Kelly (worst film reviewer
ever; d. 2018) in New York at 3 minutes. Of course, next up is “Barf Bag Review
Policy,” Kelly’s on-air review of Maniac.
Man, this woman is terrible at her job, and not just because she pans the
film. She generally had really bad taste, and in 2 minutes she disses the film
and says absolutely nothing. The 23 minute “Grindhouse Film Festival Q&A,”
which was shot recently enough to mention the Elliot Spitzer scandal, features
Lustig, producer Garroni and actress/doctor Sharon Mitchell. They discuss the
film (duh) and working with Spinell. Good stuff. This section ends with a 120+ Still
and Poster Gallery of film shots, behind the scenes, and, well, posters.
Next section is “Controversy.” I knew
this was going to be fun and shrill, and I will comment more on that near the
end of the review. It is broken down into sections, the first being “Los
Angeles,” where we see newscasts against the film in 1981 on “Channel 7 News”
(Ann Martin), “Channel 11 News” (Judi Bloom), and “NBC Tomorrow Coast to Coast”
(Rona Barrett).
For “Chicago,” we see a newscast by
Gene Siskel (d. 1999) on CBS News. He hated the movie, so what he says is no surprise,
referring to it as part of a “women in danger films.” In “Philadelphia,” there
are reports from Channel 10 News, two from Channel 3 News, and Channel 6 Action
News. Under the banner of the “Newsbeat” television show, we have “Violent
Movies” (13 minutes) and “Movie Violence” (21 minutes; the titles made me
laugh), which discusses the “effect” of violence in films on its audience.
The next two actually took me by surprise
as we watch Al Goldstein (d. 2013) rant and rave against violent films and
mutilates a sex doll on his cable access show, “Midnight Blue.” I thought he
was a First Amendment proponent, and the fact that Maniac has porn actresses throughout should have been a positive
for him, considering the nature of the show. Last in this section is titled “Gallery
of Outrage,” which shows pull-out quotes from reviews that are, well let’s say
unfavorable. This includes a letter from the film board of the Philippines,
turning it down for distribution.
The last two bonuses are big ones.
First there is a full CD of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jay
Chattaway. Lastly, there is a nicely written and designed thick booklet with a new
essay by Michael Gingold, former Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria Magazine.
There have been a lot of charges of
sexism against Maniac, as Zito is
what is now called an incel, and
strikes back at women who he identifies with his malevolent deceased mother.
But some of the most violent kills in the film, which include garrotting and a
shot gun shooting, are done to men, as well.
Either way, the film was considered
quite successful for an indie release. Its budget was estimated at $350,000,
and earned more than $6 million in the US, alone. The fact that it’s still
being rereleased almost 40 years later shows its power. And with literally
hours of extras, this one is of particular interest; yes, I sat through all of
it; it took about a week.
The Puppet Monster Massacre Written, puppeteerd, edited, executive produced, and directed by Dustin Mills MVD Visual, 2010/2011 70 minutes, USD $14.95 MVDvisual.com
There is a sub-sub-genre of puppet-charactered horror and exploitation films that goes back a few years. Some titles include Mad Monster Party (okay, that one was rated G), Peter Jackson’s early Meet the Feebles, parts of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (reviewed in an earlier blog), the all-out hardcore Let My Puppets Come, and now this new splatterfest. These are hardly Puppetoons you would show along with Frosty the Snowman to the kiddies.
With tongue in cheek (and hand in felt) writ large, Dustin Mills does an homage to the early plethora of cheesy video-era horror flicks; this one takes place in 1985. Some of the puppets, which look similar in style to the Henson variety, were created by Dustin’s mother, with varied and imaginative looks. It’s not just the gore (of which there is plenty, some of it CGI splatter), the nudity or the sex, it’s the writing that that truly makes this something worth seeking out...other than the novelty of an all puppet exploitation film, of course.
The central theme is that the evil scientist Dr. Wolfgang Wagner (voiced by Steve Rimpieri) and his sidekick penguin, Mr. Squiggums (aka, the comic relief), has built himself a monster parasite that he plans to feed through inviting some town teens to come stay at his house under the premise that if they spend the night, they get… one million dollars.
The first teen (and main character) is Charlie (Ethan Holey), who is afraid of his own shadow, especially compared to his apparently loony World War II hero grandpa (supposedly, grandpa kicked Adolph in his Hitlers…actually – and I doubt this would make Final Jeopardy – the German leader actually only had one testicle, FYI); shame Grandpa (Bart Flynn) couldn’t have been in the movie more as he is so much fun (the crusty and vulgar old man film stereotype that Alan Arkin has embodied so well), though he is actually in the film just the right amount for the story. However, Charlie wants to restore the family honor by reopening the family dollar store (what, you’re looking for sense in a horror puppet movie? What is wrong with you?).
Also invited is Gwen (Jessica Daniels), the hoodie-wearing girl Charlie has been in love with since kindergarten and is now his best/only friend, but is afraid to ask out. We all know where that relationship is heading (some cliché’s remain true), if you’ve ever seen any of a thousand Sixteen Candles kinds of flicks. She comes across smarter, braver and more logical than him, but remains unassuming.
Third is Raimi (an obvious tribute, voiced by Mills), an Elmo-colored film geek/freak who talks in quotes and references. He is buck-toothed, has what I’m assuming are pimples (though they could be blotches; they move from one side of his face to another in different scenes), and has a Wolowitz kind of relationship with his mother (also unseen here). Actually, his oversexed, under-experienced annoying nature is also similar to the Big Bang Theory character, but is hardly a rip-off.
The fourth invitee is a bald tough guy named Iggy (of course) with a too-thick Cockney accent and lots of piercings, who is obviously monster fodder (ah, but will he have a comeuppance? Or is that a comeupuppetance?). Iggy (also Bart Flynn) brings his uninvited gothic, mohawked girlfriend, Mona (portrayed by Mills’ real-life girlfriend, Erica Kisseberth; also the voice of Raimi’s mom), who supplies the “nudity” in a couple of occasions. She is tough as nails and has more than a larcenous streak to her.
The five show up at the Rocky Horror-inspired house, turrets and all, of course on a rainy Friday night. Plot-wise, what happens from then is highly clichéd, but there are moments of lunacy equivalent to the Bugs Bunny cartoon where a horse is walking in the middle of the air who states, as Bugs flies by in Superman style, “A rabbit? Up here?” There are bunny farts (actually there are a lot of farts from numerous characters) and, well, isn’t bunny farts enough? But there is more.
It’s all very amusing, and I can understand why this won the 2011 Motor City Nightmares Film Festival’s Best Animal Film award. In the end credits, Mills lists some who inspired him to make films, such as Guilliamo Del Toro (imagination), Kevin Smith (zippy dialog and lower-level humor situations; even in Smith’s best film, Dogma, there’s a shit demon, or “poopy-boy,” as Muse/Selma Hyack calls it), Robert Rodriguez (action pacing and editing; his Planet Terror is a joy to watch for that), the aforementioned Peter Jackson (certainly not for his Lord of the Rings work, but rather his also excellent early films), and Jim Henson (well, that’s kinda obvious, doncha think?). Bugs Bunny (hey, bunnies run through the film, so why not this review?) and/or Scooby Doo can be added in such scenes as when Raimi and the monster duck around each other in varied directions.
There are two commentaries, one by Mills alone, and one by him and assistant director Brandon Salkil. While Mills mentions that he feels the one both of them is better, in actuality, they are both excellent. In either/or, he details how the film cost $3500 (for copyrights, camera, computer, software, felt), and goes on to explain that “An average day of filming was two Jackasses [Mills and Salkil] in my living room with a green screen and bunch of puppets.” Two of the characters are portrayed by professional (i.e., as Mills explains, they’ve done it for money before) voice actors: Rimperi and Flynn; they emailed in their readings, and Mills has never actually met them at the time of the commentary).
Mills goes on to explain why he made the film, his plans for the future, scene by scene his finest and least favorite (a certain CGI shot) moments, and the experience as a whole. He does a better job than most in keeping in the moment on both tracks, which is appreciative as so many other commentaries are wastes of time (including by one of his inspirations, Kevin Smith). There are also two short examples of monster styles that were not used, the second not too bad.
You really have to be of a certain type to like this kind of film, and I’m fortunate that I am, because I had a lot of fun watching the whole she-bang, and listening to all of the two commentaries. Whether there is a sequel or not (there is a typical ‘80s-style hint of it at the end), I hope these guys keep going. Texas Puppet Massacre? Last Puppet on the Left? Night of the Puppet Dead? Puppetzilla (Mills mentions that he has a thing for giant monster films)? It! Puppet From Beyond Space? The Puppet of Gore? Incredibly Strange Puppets Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Marionettes? Okay, I’ll stop now while you order this film…
