PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Quatermass Xperiment 1955

The Quatermass Xperiment 1955 Based on the BBC TV production The Quatermass Experiment by Nigel Kneale, screenplay by  Richard Landau and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. Produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions. I watched the Kino Lorber Blu-ray.

Brian Donlevy plays Professor Bernard Quatermass, he's waiting for the rocket ship he launched into space to return. The ship crashes and only one man of the three man crew emerges. He's damaged and can hardly communicate with anyone. The only evidence of the other two are their still sealed spacesuits. They take the astronaut to the Rocket Group's hospital to see Doctor Briscoe and Doctor Blake. They don't know what happened to him.

The Astronaut mutates, his hand merges with a cactus, he kills the man his wife sent to get him out of the hospital. He scares his wife and goes on the run. He kills some people who cross his path, eventually he mutates so much they need to kill him. It's not a good film to recruit astronauts but there's no room in science for feelings. 

It's a pretty good film and I've seen it a few times before. The KL has two commentaries, one with Val Guest and another by Gary Gerani. There are some interviews and featurettes with Val Guest. They don't have the US version of the film, The Creeping Unknown, but they do have a featurette on the differences between the two versions. Over all a nice Blu-ray, one I plan to watch again sometime in the future.

 

Science Fiction Sunday 815

Magellan 2017 Written by Scott Baird and Rob York, directed by Rob York. An SF movie I watched on Amazon Prime.

An astronaut goes on a 10 year mission to the moons of some of the larger planets. NASA has picked up some signals from there. The astronaut picks up the transmitters and starts touching them with his bare hands. Things get a bit odd before the movie peters out.

It's rather dull and frustrating. The astronaut doesn't act very much like an astronaut. His rather cliched wife doesn't have the mental capacity to deal with his long absence. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Alien Hunt 2024 Written and directed by Aaron Mirtes. An SF film made in Tennessee. It was on Amazon Prime.

Some hunters have to deal with an alien creature that looks remarkably like the alien in Alien. It's got a so-so script that's filled with cliches, the actors are amateur, the sets and setting says low budget. I'd give this one a miss.

Friday Night Movies 1014

The Chronicles Of Riddick 2004 Written and directed by David Twohy. We watched the alternate cut of the film from the Arrow 4K Box Set. It looks very nice.

Vin Diesel is Riddick, a notorious criminal who's been hiding for five years since the events in Pitch Black. A team of bounty hunters lead by a guy called Tombs attack Riddick but get beat down. Riddick steals their ship and escape. On Helion Prime he looks up Imam, a character from Pitch Black, just as the planet gets invaded by the Necromongers. Imam is killed and Riddick escapes. The Necromongers are vicious and deadly, they capture planets and assimilate their citizens or kill them.

He's freedom is short lived, he captured and discovered to be a Furyan. He escapes again only to be captured by Tombs. He talks them into taking him to the prison on Crematoria. There Riddick is reunited with Jack from Pitch Black. Meanwhile the Necromongers are still interested in Riddick, Commander Vaako is sent to find and capture Riddick. Vaako is successful and brings Riddick before the Lord Marshall. There's a big fight and Riddick is now the head of the Necromongers. 

It's been years since I've seen the movie. For some reason it didn't do well at the box office or with the critics. I enjoyed it then and still do. Last year I bought the Blu-ray set with all three movies, still haven't watched it. I will at some point.

Jim Ripple's Robotor 1935 Based on the 1929 Ukrainian novel Iron Riot by Volodimir Vladko, screenplay by Georgly Grebnev, directed by Alexandr Andriyevsky. A Russian film set in some unknown capitalist country where the locals speak English.

Jim Ripple is a robot designer, he's trying to make robots to replace the workers on an assembly line. He thinks that robots will bring the price of goods down and destroy capitalism. Things don't go so well with that plan, the workers strike and the company uses the robots against them. Poor Jim is killed and trampled by the robots.

It's kind of interesting but rather dull at times. I wouldn't need to watch it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 812

Magma: Volcanic Disaster 2006 Screenplay by Rebecca Rian, directed by Ian Gilmour. Music by Nathan Furst, he's the son of Stephen Furst. I can't say I've seen, or heard of, the many films and TV shows he'd scored.

All the volcanoes are blowing off in a big orgy of destruction. Some scientists have a plan to bomb the Earth with nukes to stop the lava flow. It works, the world is saved.

It's all bog standard stuff you've seen before, it's got a poor script, plenty of cliches, subpar CGI, so-so acting and not much of anything going for it. Don't watch it. If you do want to hurt yourself the movie is on YouTube, link above.

Post Impact 2004 Written by Torsen Dewi and Christoph Schrewe, directed by Christoph Schrewe. A German American production with Dean Cain. I saw this on Amazon Prime, amongst all the free with membership crap.

A giant comet is headed for Earth, a scientist uses a secret space ray gun to cut the comet in half. It's only partly effective, the larger half the comet veered off into space but the smaller half of the comet crashes into Russia. Citizens are urged to evacuate Europe. Dean is forced out of Berlin but his wife and child get left behind. Things go bad in the northern hemisphere, millions die, cities are blanketed with huge drifts of snow. Dean can't get back to Berlin, he doesn't know if his family are still alive.

Dean gets a chance to go back to Berlin, he finds his family died. A madman has taken control of the secret space laser. He wants money and power. The team shots the crap out of that guy. They use the space laser to fix Europe and the world is saved.

It's pretty much the same as the other one, all cliches and low production values. The CGI is a low rez wash of grey and dirty white. Over all the movie isn't that good. I wouldn't recommend it. Don't bother unless you have a desire to watch all the SF movies you can find. It's a sickness, I know from experience, at least I have a blog to complain about the films, perhaps someone else will be saved. I did have the opportunity to fast forward through some of the dull bits. You wouldn't be surprised how many there were. I did think Dean looked good in a beard. That is all.

Science Fiction Sunday 811

Doors 2021 Written by Chris White, Saman Kesh, Ed Hobbs and Jeff Desom, directed by Saman Kesh, Jeff Desom and Dugan O'Neal. An American anthology film. Chris White wrote Portals in 2019, another film about strange doors that appear on the Earth. Chris mostly works as a producer, I can't say I've seen any of his producing efforts but I have heard of V/H/S Viral, The ABCs Of Death and Vlog.

Aliens leave doors on Earth and the humans figure out that they are all about. Millions of people disappear into them, some return but they're affected by their experience. We follow some people about as they encounter a door.

It's got a decent hook but the execution is a bit weak. The four segments don't really have much connection and there isn't really a framing story. Characters also do some stupid stuff when confronted with the door. We do find out why the aliens are there but it's a bit vague. I liked it but only gave it a 4 on the IMDb. I wouldn't need to see it again. You can check out both of these movies on YouTube, link in title.

Restart The Earth 2021 Written by Zhenzhao Lin and Shengfan Zhang, directed by Zhenzhao Lin. A Chinese disaster movie.

Plants have been tampered with by humans to grow faster and they have taken over the world. They are strangling the environment and vast swathes of humanity are dead. The remaining governments have organized an attack on the plants with some sort of device. We follow one group of Chinese soldiers and a couple of civilians as they try to get to the deployment point. 

There's a series of disaster set pieces, giving plenty of opportunity to sacrifice someone so the other characters can weep and wail. The plant CGI is about average. The dubbing not so much. I wouldn't need to re-watch this one again.

Science Fiction Sunday 810

Project Gemini 2022 Written by Natalia Lebedeva and Dmitry Zhigalov, directed by Serik Beyseu. A Russian SF film that was filmed in 2016 but not released until 2022.

The Earth is dying and the humans have sent a ship to another planet to terraform it for colonists. The human's are using alien tech that they found in a cave on Earth. The alien tech jumps the ship to another planet. Trouble is, it's not the planet they planned to terraform. They set up the device anyway and it starts terraforming the place. Trouble is, the settings are wrong for humans. There's a lot of tension in the crew while they try to figure out what's going on and what to do. On top of that a strange energy beast has popped out of the alien device. People start dying and things get pretty hectic for a while. It's got a bit of a positive ending.

It a good looking film, the space ship and effects are decent. The story is where it goes off for me. How easily the human's were fooled by the alien tech. The script has the crew make irrational choices when things go wrong. They turn on each other every quickly. Oh, well, wish it was better but it saves me from bothering with it again.

Aniara 2018 Based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, screenplay and direction by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. A Swedish and Danish production.

A spaceship transporting Earthlings to Mars launches from the Moon's orbit. The ship is the Aniara, before it travels too far it has a  collision with some space junk. That causes the Captain to dump the damaged nuclear reactor. They're stuck in space with no way to return home on their own. The Captain says there's a chance they can slingshot around some large body and be rescued when they get to Mars. They've got power from the backup supply and the food machine will make food for years and years.

A time goes by there's no slingshot and things are getting tough for the hundreds of passengers. The main character runs a room where an AI with brain probing powers helps keep the human's from going mad. The demand is high and the poor AI blows itself up. The death count rises as the months pass. Cults form and things get worse and worse. It doesn't end well for the people but it was nice to see that the ship was still traveling through space nearly 6 million years in the future. That's reliable.

It was keeping my interest to the end but I don't think I'll bother with it again. It's rather dire and depressing.

Science Fiction Sunday 809

Eolomea 1972 Written by Willi Brückner, directed by Hermann Zschoche. An East German - Soviet - Bulgarian science fiction film.

Disappearing spaceships from the space station Margot have caused the authorities to shut down launching more ships. Professor Maria Scholl goes to investigate, she finds out there's a secret plan to steal some ships and run off to the planet Eolomea.

I enjoyed the movie, it has a decent script and cast, the sets look fine and modern.

Signale Ein Weltraumabenteuer 1970 Written by Gottfried Kolditz and Claus-Ulrich Wiesner, directed by Gottfried Kolditz. A German - Polish science fiction film.

Commander Veikko leads a rescue mission to the damaged spaceship Ikaros. They have a bit of an adventure, and rescue some survivors.

I liked the sets and space stuff. The script is a bit dull, there are long stretches of sitting and yakking. It gets more interesting when they get to the Ikaros. I enjoyed it well enough, it's certainly better than a lot of the newer SF films that I see on Amazon Prime. I might even watch it again but I doubt that's going to happen. I watched it on YouTube, link above.

Science Fiction Sunday 807

Outpost 11 2013 Written and directed by Anthony Woodley. I saw this on Amazon Prime (free with membership), it's also on Tube.

The movie is set in a dreary alternate Earth, England is fighting a second war with Russia. That's sounds interesting but all we see is three guys going doolally in an arctic outpost. The men are there to pass on messages from outpost to outpost and gather any Russian messages. There's a commander, a corporal and a private. The commander is moderately decent, the corporal is a royal prick and the private is scared. The private is especially scared of the Omega Machine, the outposts source of power. We're not really told why.

One day the red warning light goes off and they receive a coded message from HQ. The message says to Abandon All Hope. The code reads initiate plan 9 but the corporal tells the other two the message says more news coming. The private finds the code and they play Plan 9's tape. The commander makes a trip to the next outpost only to find them all dead. Their day logs tell of Russian psychotropic drugs that have driven the staff crazy. They killed themselves. Things go about the same back at Outpost 11. 

Why everyone always makes there dreary bleak SF stories I'm not sure. Probably cheap to make. Slap up some cheap sets, plaster on some bleak paint, fill the script with moans and kill everyone off. Not one I enjoyed that much, wouldn't want to watch it again.

Cargo 2009 Written by Arnold Bucher, Ivan Engler and Patrik Steinmann, directed by Ivan Engler and Ralph Etter. I watched this on Amazon Prime where they said the movie is German and came out in 2012, in the real world it was made in Switzerland in 2009. It's their first SF feature film.

Another dreary SF tale of the future. The Earth is ruined and everyone lives in space stations or the planet Rhea. A crew is assembled to take another ship to a space station. It costs a lot of money to migrate to Rhea, a woman signs on for an 8 year voyage to earn her passage there. Things go badly with the flight and we learn all is not as it is said to be. The movie ends with the crew destroying the lie and leaving the station.

I found it unengaging and wouldn't want to watch it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 806

Dark Asset 2023 Written by Michael Winnick and Terri Fraley-Teruel, directed by Michael Winnick.

A company's secret project creates augmented humans for spy programs. Robert Patrick is the chips creator. He's ruthless and so is his staff. The guy in the upper right on the poster is the newest of the augmented agents.  After he's activated he goes rogue and escapes. He meets a woman in a bar and tells her about the project and what happened to the augmented folk. Some of the story is told in flashbacks. There's plenty of fighting and murder.

It's watchable and looks fairly decent. I thought the story was below average and gave it a 4 on the IMDb. Of course, I'm thinking the secret program plot is a tired one. I enjoyed some of it but it's not going to be something I would rewatch.

Final Voyage 2019 Written and directed by Marcel Barion. A German film that was estimated to cost €20,000. It looks fairly decent for that money.

Two men escape prison on a  dusty wind blown planet. They escape the planet in an old spaceship and pick a preprogrammed route to take them to another planet. Most of the movie takes place in a claustrophobic space ship, there's hardly any light and the men are grimy and sweaty. They barely talk and there's hardly anything going on. It goes on a long time and I was getting tired of them. 

Eventually they come to a planet which doesn't look very inviting. One guy goes to see what's up and disappears. The other guy sets the ship for another destination and heads off into space. The movie ends there.

I thought it was watchable but not that enjoyable. I learned that sometimes prison is a fine place to live. Not something I would watch again. Just too long and slow. Both of these are on Amazon Prime right now.

Friday Night Movies 1004

Reptilicus 1961 Written by Ib Melchior and  Sidney W Pink, directed by Poul Bang. We watched the new Blu-ray of the Danish version of Reptilicus. The English and Danish versions of the film were shot at the same time with the same cast and crew. Pink directed the English version for AIP, when he delivered a poor film, Melchior made changes. Pink was so upset he sued AIP but after seeing the finished version he dropped the charges. Pink is not noted for his direction, he's more a producer.

Miners are drilling for copper in Lapland, they find a frozen dinosaur tail and bring that to Denmark's Aquarium in Copenhagen. Scientist put the tail in a big freezer but it accidentally gets thawed out. Poor Peter will pay deadly for falling asleep later in the film. Surprisingly the tail doesn't start to rot, it starts to regrow a whole Reptilicus. That's the name the head scientist gives the creature, he compares it's regrowth to the starfish.

There's not much going on while the creature is regrowing. The head scientist's daughter falls for the tall and moody miner, the head scientist's other daughter falls for the gruff American general. There's a goofy janitor for some comic relief, he sings a song to some kids in a park. The main characters are either at the Aquarium or gallivanting around Denmark. At one point they visit the Trivoli Gardens and hear a song.

When the tail regenerates it becomes a whole creature and breaks out of it's holding cell. During it's rampages around Denmark, many die. They're fighting a creature with the ability to regrown from a single bit of flesh. That makes it dangerous to use explosives to kill it. Eventually they figure out what to do. The beast is knocked out and the head scientist says he'll dispose of it. They leave us with an open door for a sequel. Sadly, there's never been one.

The Danish version hadn't been released in the US before this Vinegar Syndrome release. It's quite a bit longer, 94 mins instead of 81 mins, and Reptilicus flies. The monster is a puppet, he's not the greatest but Denmark isn't famous for it's giant monster movies. A lot of reviews of both versions sure don't care for the monster. At least he doesn't spit green slime in the Danish version, that green slime was so fake looking in the English version. The Danish version is nicely restored, it looks and sounds great. We were all a bit excited to see this version. Most of us have seen this movie more than a couple of times. The Danish version is definitely more of a movie than the English version. It's still not a great film but it's fun to watch. I had fun watching it and would want to get my own copy to rewatch.

Intrepidos Punks 1988 Writers Tomás Fuentes, Roberto Marroquin and Ulises Pérez Aquirre. A Mexican bikers vs cops film.

Bikers break their leader out of jail and start a crime spree. Two cops are on their tail. The cops get a bit of help but they keep getting beat down. When the bikers aren't robbing and raping they're taking drug and having orgies. There's plenty of driving about and fighting. Both would be less dull if they had managed to edit the film better, it drags way more than it should. The car chase is unambitious. The biker gang has it's own theme, a lackluster song at best, sadly it's repeated Ad infinitum. Not one I'm going to pick up for myself. I was glad to have seen it but only in the I've seen another movie way, yay for me.