I found I, Monster at Half Price Books for 3 bucks. I almost didn't buy it, no coupon, but the possible allure of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in a movie together was enough to sway me. Especially since it was one I haven't seen before. RetroMedia put out this 1971 Amicus film in 2005 and they sure didn't spend any money fixing up their Digital Letterbox Transfer. The dvd isn't anamorphic and it looks like the source was from a vhs tape. I read on the internet that there are some other better dvds out there but I'm not sure that I would need to upgrade at this point. The movie adapts Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde and brings it forward to 1906 and the era of Sigmund Freud. Christopher Lee plays a psychologist who invents a drug that reverses the users personality. He tests it on a cat and it goes bat shit crazy. Chris has to beat it to death with a poker. Peter Cushing, Richard Hurndall and Mike Raven are members of his club. He discusses his drug with them. His first human test is a rather uptight young woman and it
brings out her naughty side. She not so subtlety seduces Chris. Sadly, no nudity. Chris tests the drug on some other patients before he pops it in his own veins. The idea is to try repeated doses to see what will happen. Nothing good if I know my horror movies. Sure enough, Christ gets a big grin on and leaves his house.
At first he's just a bit bolder but soon enough he's his own monster. It doesn't go well for Chris, or his friends, when the antidote can't keep his monster side inside anymore. Like a rabid dog he needs to be put down. The movie was originally going to be in 3D. There's a post at Black Hole Reviews that discusses the film makers attempt, and failure, to carry out shooting the film that way. It's worth a look for the Lee or Cushing fan and those of us who want to see all the horror movies out there.
I found Modus Operandi at the library and I'm wondering what made them pick it up. It's a 2009 low-low budget film from first time director Frankie Latina. It was made in Milwaukee and it took 4 years to finish. Porn Star Sasha Grey is one of the producers. She gives a spirited introduction to the movie on the dvd. She sure thought the film was something better than I thought it was. The story is about CIA agent Cashay who's depressed about his murdered wife. The man who killed her got away. Cashay walks the streets endlessly and mopes around his apartment naked as a jaybird. There is a lot of nudity in the movie and not all of it is CIA man ass. Some of it is CIA man penis. Don't worry there are plenty of pretty naked ladies to wash the shrivelled man junk from your eyes. The CIA comes calling. If Cashay comes back to work they will give him the killer of his wife. He jumps into the shower and there's a montage as Cashay gets back in shape. Now he looks like an emaciated Tom Petty but with less hair. There's been a couple of briefcases stolen from a creepy presidential candidate. They get passed around and the holders often wind up dead. Cashay eventually gets them and he finds the creepy pres candidate is a satan worshiping murderer. CIA Director Danny Trejo hands out some justice by plucking the guy's eye out and stuffing dynamite in his empty eye socket. Boom goes that scumbag presidential hopefull. Latina wrote, directed and edited the movie. He occasionally has something interesting on the screen but the script is not too good, the film stock grainy and poor quality, the story sputters along, the CGI is so-so. It's part art film and part exploitation film but neither. There's nothing much in the movie to recommend though it is almost entertaining for certain fans. It's only 76 minutes and it seems longer. Mostly because the story never seems to take off and the scenes seems to be rather randomly connected. At least there's all that nudity. Someone is giving Latina a chance to direct another movie with Danny Trejo in it. We'll check that out if it ever gets made. Maybe.
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