PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 1018

Corpse Mania 1981 Written by Chih-Hung Kuei and On Szeto, directed by Chih-Hung Kuei. A Chinese police procedural involving murder and necrophilia from the Shaw Brothers. We watched the new Vinegar Syndrome release.

A couple of women are murdered and then raped. They remind the cops of an old crime from several years back, turns out the rapist murder has been released from the mental home a month ago. The story uses flashback to fill in the back story. Much of the story takes place at the local brothel or the police station.The killer picks off a few of the women at the brothel. Eventually the police have a suspect and work to track him down. 

It's an average police story with a bit of action and plenty of meal worms. The print looks nice and it's not as gory as you'd think. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but not enough to buy a copy.

The Ghost Dance 1982 Written by Peter F Buffa and Robert Sutton, directed by Peter F Buffa. Another new release from Vinegar Syndrome. The Wikipedia says the film was the first slasher film to have Native American characters.

An archaeologist, Dr Foster, has excavated a Native American corpse. It turns out to cause all sorts of trouble. The local elders are upset about the desecration. The corpse was a shaman, his unearthing has given him the chance to possess the local shaman. He starts killing people around the university. Dr Foster fights him off with the help of her boyfriend. 

Sadly it's below average and rather dull at times. It's one I wouldn't need to buy for myself.

Friday Night Movies 1005

Roadkill 1989 Story by Bruce McDonald, screenplay by Don McKellar, directed by Bruce McDonald. It's the first film for both guys, they'd both go onto make a lot of films and TV episodes. We watch the movie before, it was at FNM 626 back in 2017.

Valerie Buhagiar plays Ramona, she works for a rude and greasy band promoter in Toronto, she gets sent to Sudbury to collect a band and their rental truck. The band had missed their last four dates and they can't contact them. Ramona can't drive a car so she is going to take the train. On the way to the station the stoned cabby insists he take her to Sudbury, it's only 250 miles. On the road Valerie gets separated from the cabbie leaving behind her suitcase and her money. She does find the band and learns that the singer decided to go find himself. She heads off after the singer.

Ramona has a series of adventures along the way, she meets some people, including a serial killer (Don McKellar), a hot dog vendor (he turns out to be the missing singer), and a film maker (Bruce McDonald). She even learns to drive. Ramona finds the band in Thunder Bay, she gets the singer to agree to sing and makes a deal with the manager of a pub. The band has a pretty bad show, they don't kill, in fact, just the opposite.

I thought it was pretty entertaining for the second time. I've got the Blu-ray on my Wish List. Last time we watched it the other film was a Canadian effort, the second film tonight is also a Canadian effort.

End Of The Line 2007 Written and directed by Maurice Devereaux. Shot in the subway of Montreal.

One evening religious zealots go crazy and start killing everyone. The zealots mission is to send the sinners to heaven with knives. The main characters are trapped in a subway in Montreal and they have to fight off the zealots. There's a lot of running and whimpering. A lot of people get killed on both sides.

I wasn't that impressed with the film and wouldn't need to watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 987

Scissorpenis 2018 Written and directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu.

Wow. We weren't expecting that. There needs to be some fiery retribution from the flaming skull of Paul Naschy.

Out Of Order 1984 Written by Carl Schenkel and Frank Göhre, directed by Carl Schenkel. A West German crime drama set in the stalled elevator in an office building.

Four characters enter an elevator, the oldest guy just robbed his employer for over a half million, a couple who are lovers on the wain and a younger guy who stirs up trouble between them. Rather than wait for help they get active and things go south for them quickly. Someone's gonna die.

It's alright but not something I'd need to watch again.

Friday Night Movies 986

 

Samurai Resurrection 2003 Based on a novel by Fûtarô Yamada, screenplay by Satoko Okudera, direction by Hideyuki Hirayama.

A Japanese Christian leader is killed and somehow resurrected. He resurrects other dead martial arts heroes and moves toward Edo where the Shogun is dying. He wants to take over Japan. Jubei Yagyu is working to stop him. One of the other viewers said this might be the only movie where a Yagyu is the hero.

There's plenty of fighting and the action is pretty good. The story jumps around and introduces a good number of characters. At times I was finding it hard to follow the story. There's a good bit of CGI, especially supplying scenes of a distant castle, some of it was quite good. I doubt I need a copy but it was still entertaining.

The Night Of The Hunted 1980 Written and directed by Jean Rollins.

Rollin offered to make a horror movie to a producer who asked for a porn film. Same budget and he'd make in 9 days instead of 10. Jean got the nod and he made a horror film about the treatment of people who were damaged by exposure to radiation. The main symptom is loss of memory as the cells in their brains decay. The victims are housed in a guarded building and overseen by a doctor who really can't do anything for them. The government is keeping it all hush hush.

I can't say I thought it was bad but there wasn't enough story. Mostly it seemed like an excuse to get the actors out of their clothes. Despite the shagging it's not a hardcore film like many of his works were. That's only partially true. The version we saw was the original release, it has not hardcore scenes. The film didn't make much money so the producer shot new hardcore scenes to re-release the film in another market. Pornstar Brigitte Lahaie appeared in several of Rollins non-hardcore films. She does OK as one of the victims who lost her memory.

From the Rollin Wikipedia page: Rollin himself had stated that "I don't think it is a very good film and it is probably one of my worst" and that if he could remake just one of his films it would be La nuit des traquées.

In the 60s and 70s Rollin made a reputation with lot of erotic horror films that were awash with naked vampires and sexy times. He had a decent following from them, people still write glowing articles about him. They weren't popular enough to pay well so he turned to making porn. I haven't seen much by him and what I saw didn't turn me into a more serious fan.

Threads 1984

Threads 1984 Written by Barry Hines and directed by Mick Jackson. It's a British and Australian co-production. Barry wrote the novel A Kestrel For A Knave that got made into the film Kes by Ken Loach. Not a book or a film that I've been interested in but both the novel and the film are widely liked and respected. Kes failed in the US, withdrawn within days of opening. Roger Ebert wrote a 4 star review praising the film, he blames the Yorkshire accents for it being pulled.  Suddenly, I'm interested. I love a good Yorkshire accent .

It's a post apocalypse story that ends really badly for Britain. The war starts in the Middle East and turns much of Europe into a wasteland with most of the population dead. We see most of story from the town of Sheffield. We meet several locals, some die and others aren't so lucky. By the end of the movie Britain has a tiny population who only have one working VCR to keep their children occupied while they starve to death.

The movie is totally bleak but well made for the time. The editing is the star here. The film cuts back and forth between the Sheffield locals and what's going on around the country and Europe. Information is dolled out in voice overs and title cards, images flash by in short snippets. The scenes with the locals are longer.

The movie gets an 8 on the IMDb and that's with 20,000 votes. Thirty percent are an 8, I can't disagree. I really enjoyed it despite not liking a bleak sort of story very much. Of course, the Post Apoc story is an exception. I would prefer a Mad Max sort of film than  a bleak sort of drama about a couple of twenty somethings who've ruined their lives by taking the wrong drugs too often or a bleak family drama filled with anger and people staring into the distance.

There's a decent copy on YouTube, link above. The 1080p video looks pretty good. I thought it was worth a look and I think there are a few out there who might be interested. Others might like to avoid it if they don't care for bleak stories.

Friday Night Movies 981

Zerograd 1988 written by Karen Shakhnazarov and Alexander Borodyansky, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov. A Russian film that's also known as Zero City. We watched a nice Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile..

A man goes to a town to visit a manufacturer who makes back covers for the air conditioners that his company sells. He has a very surreal time and meets some odd characters, including his father. The father kills himself because the man doesn't eat some of the father's cake. Now the man is involved with a death and the police are suspecting that it was murder. They won't let him leave the area. He wanders around interacting with the locals. Much of what happens pokes fun at Russian life.

Vinegar Syndrome sells the movie and their marketing material says it's a mix of Kafka, Agatha Christie and Monty Python. I could see why they say that. Parts of it are fascinating to look at, parts are confusing and parts are rather funny. I enjoyed it for the most part, there's a bit too much staring off into the distance for my liking, but I did have some laughs. It reminds me that I was lucky not to be born in Russia. I might want to watch the movie over but I'm not planning to buy the Blu-ray.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story 2022 Screenplay by Al Yankovic and Eric Appel, directed by Eric Appel.

A highly fictional version of Al's life. I thought some of it was hilarious, other parts less so. It started off strong but I though the last third was sort of weak. I liked Daniel Radcliffe as Al and I liked seeing Toby Huss as Al's father. Some might remember Toby from The Adventures Of Pete & Pete where he played Artie: The Strongest Man In The World.

Mostly it was fun and I got a few laughs out of it. Someone gave me the DVD and I plan to listen to the commentary on that at some point.

Friday Night Movies 936

Violent Night 2022 Written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, directed by Tommy Wirkola. Tommy is the director behind the Dead Snow and Dead Snow 2. Pat and Josh are the writers behind the Sonic The Hedgehog series, they also wrote, directed and produced Hey, Stop Stabbing Me!

Santa getting drunk in a bar, he's a bit tired of Christmas and no one believes in him much. Back at work he stops on the mansion of the Lightstone family only to run into a robbery. The caterers are really robbers, they want the $300,000,000 in the vault. They kill the guards and staff and take the family hostage.

Santa stumbles on the gang and it unleashes his ancient warrior. He takes a beating but smashes and bashes his way through the baddies in the end. The little girl who believes in him restores him. Back to work.

It's easily as violent as it is funny. Good script for those that like this sort of thing. Nice cast with David Harbour and John Leguizamo standing out. I'd want to watch it again sometime.

Poison For The Fairies 1986 Story, screenplay and direction by Carlos Enrique Taboada. A Mexican film that's called Veneno para las hadas at home.

Flavia starts at a new school, she makes a friend of Veronica. Sadly Veronica is an evil little girl who thinks she's a witch. Her activities get more and more violent and Flavia has to break off their friendship in the worst way...for Veronica.

We watched the new Vinegar Snydrome Blu-ray set. It looked pretty good and sounded fine. It's a bit dull in the third act but heats up at the end. I don't know that I'd need to see it again. You can try downloading the copy at RareLust but it's a huge file.

Mazes And Monsters 1982

Mazes And Monsters 1982 Based on the novel of the same name by Rona Jaffe, screenplay by Tom Lazarus, directed by Steven Hilliard Stern.

A TV movie about the dangers of role playing games. It's based on a poorly reported real incident about a guy who played Dungeons and Dragons, he disappeared and the media blamed the game. He was just suicidal and didn't get any help, he succeeded on his third try.

Tom Hanks plays a college student who has a psychotic breakdown during a game of Mazes and Monsters played in a cavern. He comes to believe he is his character. He nearly jumps off one of the Twin Towers but his friends arrive just in time to save him.

I didn't care for it much and wouldn't want to watch it again. It is a good reminder that people should stay out of caverns that aren't set up for visitors.

Kapone Oi Ni Naku 1985 Capone Cries A Lot

Kapone Oi Ni Naku is a 1985 Japanese film that's also known as Capone Cries A Lot. It's based on a novel by Sueyuki Kajiyama, the script is by Takeo Kimura and Atsushi Yamatoya, the director is Seijun Suzuki.

I'm a fan of Suzuki's films, I especially like his yakuza crime films of the 1950s and 1960s. It was Tokyo Drifter and Branded To Kill that first drew me to Suzuki. Both films star Joe Shishido who's a favorite actor of mine. Both films have been in the Criterion collection for a long time.

Suzuki has a bit of a backstory, he worked for Nikkatsu from 1956 to 1967. It was Branded To Kill that got him fired from the company, he sued and they blacklisted him for 10 years. In 1971 Nikkatsu changed to producing pink films, violent and sexy films, that kept them going until 1993 when they filed for bankruptcy. They did leave behind some interesting Yakuza films and some of them are turning up on home video. I've little any interest in their pink films though I have seen a few.

The studio had been at odds with Suzuki for a couple of years, they claimed his films were too over the top and surreal. Some say, the last two films he made for Nikkatsu, Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter, are  masterpieces. They're certainly something to watch.

Kapone Oi Ni Naku is certainly something to watch but it hasn't got the impact that either BTK or TD have. KONN is set in the 1920s, the story starts in Japan and then moves to San Francisco. A singer travels to America seeking his fortune.

It's pretty slow moving. It's a comedy but I didn't find it all that humorous. There are plenty of interesting locations and sets.

I'd seen that cave in some other Japanese movie I had seen recently. Others might find the enjoy the story more than me. There's a link to the movie on YouTube in the title at the top of the post.