'JEAN ROLLIN PULLS A FULCI' ZOMBIE TRIPLE DECKER! 043.- THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978, INDICATOR 4K UHD). Streaming on TUBI, PLEX, AMC+.
Following grindhouse market trends and teaming up with a producer (Claude Guedj) that could grant him access to previously unreachable filmmaking resources (cars/building exploding, elaborate Italian prosthetics/make-up, etc.), Jean Rollin pivoted hard into horror for a stretch of movies in the late 70's/early 80's. "The Grapes of Death" is Rollin's "Night of the Living Dead" except our clueless protagonist, Élisabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal), runs through several kilometers of French wine country finding other survivors instead of being trapped in a house. Industrial chemicals sprayed on locally grown grapes contaminate the wine, turning those who drink it into pus-oozing, zombie-like creatures... in theory. Once Élisabeth and local blind girl Lucien (Serge Marquand) reach the latter's hometown, the villagers look/talk/act like the crazy folks at the start of Capcom's "Resident Evil 4."
This is the first Rollin joint I've seen where there's almost no overt sexuality whatsoever. We get a few naked chicks (including "Night of the Hunted's" Brigitte Lahaie), but you can tell gore is "TGOD's" main attraction when well-endowed b@@bs have to compete with "The Beyond"-caliber gore gags (bale spears to the gut, sword decapitation after crucifixion, etc.) for attention. Things pick up a notch when Élisabeth runs into two armed guys (Paul Bisciglia's Lucas and Patrice Valota's Pierre) who can take her to see her fiancé Michel (Michel Herval). In typical Rolin fashion, though, the ending is abrupt, unsatisfying and leaves more questions than it answers. And like every other Indicator 4K release so far, the remastered transfer is so good the scariest make-up on-screen isn't the zombies. It's Marie-Georges Pascal's pancake blotches of film make-up visible during her many close-ups. Oops. 😅 4 OLD FARMERS ATTEMPTING TO R^PE THEIR HOT DAUGHTERS (out of five). 😧
044.- ZOMBIE LAKE (1981, DVD). Available to stream on HOOPLA with library subscription.
This one isn't out on 4K yet (it's coming... eventually), so I'm using a friend's borrowed DVD copy. This is one of Jean Rollin's most well-known films that more closely resembles his typical work (titillating sex/nudity galore) than "Grapes of Death." The corpses of gunned-down-during-World War II-in-French-Resistance-locals Nazi soldiers are thrown in a nearby lake, as seen during an elaborate flashback sequence (more fiery 'splosions!) told by the local mayor to a nosy reporter. In then-present day ('81), those dead Nazi soldiers come back to life and grab whoever (usually a young, pretty naked chick... or in this case a literal busload of attractive women) goes swimming in the 'Lake of the Damned.' Sandwiched between the awkward zombie attacks (washed-up green make-up on the lake dwellers) and the er@tic sex/nude scenes (no points for guessing which ones Jean directs best), there's a touching subplot about a zombie dad keeping in touch with his human daughter. I'd say Jean should have left this one for Jess Franco to direct, except the latter's own remake of "Zombie Lake" (1982's "Oasis of the Zombies") proves neither man's heart was truly into this project. 3 FAKE MUSTACHES/WIGS ON BARNYARD SEX COUPLE (out of five).
045.- THE LIVING DEAD GIRL (1982, INDICATOR 4K UHD). Available to stream on TUBI and AMC+.
A trio of toxic waste dumpers that moonlight as gr@ve robbers (what a combo!) hit gold when they stash barrels of the nasty stuff in the same vault tunnels where the bodIes of two women (mother and daughter) are buried with all their jewels. An untimely earthquake (aren't all earthquakes untimely?😏) spills the chemicals, which prompt the coRpse of young Catherine Valmont (Françoise Blanchard) to come back to life and kill the men. Mom's body is unaffected because, well, she's not a hot chick. 🤨😋 It's unclear if Catherine's super sharp, claw-like nails are enhanced by the chemicals or they were like that before. Wondering back to the nearby château she grew up in (which is up for sale and being shown to potential buyers by a h@rny real estate agent), Catherine finds things that remind her of a happy past with her sister Hélène. What a coincidence (or bad writing conceit) that grown-up Hélène (Marina Pierro) calls at that exact moment, which Catherine answers with a music box tune that sends her sister rushing back to the château. As Catherine's need to kill to feed her blood/flesh lust increases, Hélène's concern for an escape plan morphs into an enabler willing to pay the ultimate price to fulfill a childhood promise to her now-zombie sister.
While "Grapes of Death" and "Zombie Lake" were closer to horror exploitation mainstream product, I prefer it when Jean Rollin injects his own idiosyncrasies into an established genre. "The Living Dead Girl" nails everything you want/expect from a Rollin zombie flick. Plenty of nudity, but the seXuality oozed by the leads (mostly Marina Pierro, whose close-ups looking directly at the camera are er@tic as hell) is implied more than shown. Sadness creeps into the narrative as Catherine realizes the monster she's become and wants out, but Hélène's obsession with keeping zombie sister alive turn her into a bigger monster than Catherine ever was. An English-speaking tourist couple (Carina Barone and Mike Marshall) rubberneck their way into the château to try and find the truth. The ending is classic Rollin (sudden and leaving a lot unanswered), but the horror of what we know is going to happen afterwards is a heartbreaker. 4.65 STUNTMEN ON FIRE JUMPING INTO A LAKE (out of five).
Guys, I found a great bonus feature in the Indicator 4K UHD of Rollin's "The Living Dead Girl" that is NOT mentioned in the bonus features in the back of the case. When clicking 'Play Film,' there's an option to watch "Scare," the 1982 German VHS version of "TLDG" that has an alternate electronic soundtrack. Watched it last night. No censorship cuts or altered violence/gore/nude scenes. For all practical purposes its the exact same movie, only dubbed in German and in SD. Subtitles for the 4K version work on this SD cut.
It's 1:75:1 AR and clearly 240p resolution (there's grain damage of reel change spools visible during transition scenes). Since this is yet another excellent Indicator 4K transfer, watching "Scare" in SD is a great way to realize the huge jump in display technology between then (early 80's) and now. The alternate soundtrack is typical low-budget early 80's electronic music. It's passable, but dates the movie in goofy ways. Why is Catherine's music box (which had an appropriate mechanical tune) dubbed with an electronic beat? Ditto for the outdoor concert, which switches from real instruments to something out of Culture Club.😅 The English-speaking characters are dubbed in German, but we do get English subtitles for their dialogue (which we don't get in the 4K version when they're speaking English). Overall a nice treat for fans of the original, but it's in no way a replacement for the genuine article. NO NEW RATING.
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 8! 047.- THE PARTY (1968, KINO LORBER DVD). Also streaming on YOUTUBE (if you look hard enough).
1968 was a banner year for fans of the "Pink Panther" saga. Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards buried the hatchet and agreed to work together again, and a new "Inspector Clouseau" movie by MGM came out. Too bad the two weren't one and the same. 🥺😢 Released theatrically in April of '68 to boffo box office and critical acclaim, "The Party" reunites the old "PP" band together (Sellers, Edwards, composer Henry Mancini, production designer Fernando Carrere, etc.) and brings in new blood (screenwriters Frank and Tom Waldman) that'd go on to have a huge influence on future entries in the series. Growing up in El Salvador I remember "The Party" being bunched alongside the old "PP" movies whenever they played them as double bills in theaters (which is how I saw it for the first time back then). It's the only collaboration between Sellers and Edwards outside of their "Panther/Shot in the Dark" series.🫤
Sellers plays Hrundi V. Bakshi, an actor born/raised in India that's basically Clouseau with a Hindi accent and darker skin. It's a testament to Peter's comedic skills that, after the initial shock of seeing him play ethnic, you forget about it and just roll along with the premise. Hrundi wrecks a movie production to pieces (literally) and would have been run out of town if his name hadn't accidentally ended up on the list of guests to a plush Hollywood party thrown by a studio bigwig. Though Sellers contributes plenty of gags to the mayhem that eventually engulfs the posh gathering of rich white folks, other dayplayers (the waiter getting drunker, the kids that show up with a painted elephant, the John Wayne-like boisterous movie star, the band that keeps playing as foam surrounds them, etc.) get to share the spotlight. And in her own quiet way Claudine Longet steals the movie as Michele, the aspiring actress/singer that was nice to Hrundi from the start and gives the picture a bit of romantic heart. You can feel the DNA of future "Pink Panther" movies taking form here. 3.75 URINATING STATUES WITH BLONDE WIGS HOLDING A CHICKEN IN ITS CROWN (out of five).
THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE aka LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974, Jorge Grau, ENG/ESP/ITL)
Tampering with Mother Nature causes the dead to rise in this atmospheric, eerie, and surprisingly grisly internationally undead effort. The lush English countryside provides a beautiful backdrop for the gruesome goings-on, and the interruption of the serene scene by the zombies’ menacing and gut-munching helps bring the film’s ecological message home effectively. I love me some Ray Lovelock, and he’s excellent as the initially unlikable and reluctant kinda hippie anti hero. Arthur Kennedy affects an erratic English/Irish accent and devours the scenery as the fascist police inspector. Classic dialog:
-The Inspector (Arthur Kennedy): You're all the same, the lot of you, with your long hair and f@ggot clothes, drugs, sex, every sort of filth. And you hate the police. Don't you? -George (Ray Lovelock): You make it easy.
Indeed, they do. Same as it ever was…
A stepping-stone between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and the array of Euro-undead horrors of the late 70s, TLDAMM overcomes an undead pace in its opening act, picks it up in the second act with considerable carnage, and ultimately ends in a effectively nihilistic 70s manner. Recommended, especially if (like me) you’ve seen a ton of zombie flicks and are looking for a diamond in the rough.
Revolt of the Zombies (1936, dir. Victor Halperin)
I was promised a movie about Cambodian zombies, I was delivered a movie mainly about a love triangle.
Boring, melodramatic and inert. Runs 62 minutes, feels so much longer. The most enjoyable part was recognizing the shot of Bela Lugosi's eyes, lifted straight from 1932's White Zombie.
I'm sticking with Hammer today. A medicine professor from London investigates a recent series of mysterious deaths in a Cornish village with the help of his former student. Little by little, they start to realize that there may be serious voodoo shenanigans at play. The movie, light on zombie action, but heavy on spooky atmosphere, can feel a bit quaint today, but I'm sure came across as quite violent and shocking in its pre-Romero day. It definitely peaks with a one-two punch of a shovel decapitation scene, and a terrific nightmare sequence of the undead rising from their graves. As Hammer's only foray into zombies, it is well worth your time.
I picked this one as well! Suffering from a long-lasting zombie fatigue, I thought I could at the very least vibe with the Hammer atmosphere (which I very much did!)
OG Night of the Living Dead zombie Bill Hinzman takes the reins of his own undead thriller 20 years later with mild success. While I enjoyed myself throughout, I feel like it would be disingenuous to call it a good movie.
A group of friends on a Halloween hayride encounter the living dead, leading to a weird hybrid of a zombie movie and a slasher movie. There’s lots of inventive gore and extremely gratuitous nudity (if the zombies ate clothes instead of flesh they’d likely starve quickly here), but the pace is sluggish (for a less than 90 minute movie this thing has more endings than The Return of the King) and to call the acting amateurish would be an insult to amateurs the world over. That being said, I can’t deny I enjoyed it. It feels like it would be right at home at one of Joe Bob Briggs’s Drive-in Jamborees.
Once you realize the point of the movie is to let Bill Hinzman touch boobs, it’s somehow more honest and enjoyable. His wife was right there on set as a producer of!
#Alive (2020, Netflix) A young man is stranded in his 8th floor Korean apartment at the start of the zombie apocalypse. He does not have a particular set of skills, but he is lucky and plucky. I appreciated the laser focus on one man’s zombie experience. There is not an ounce of snark or ironic detachment. It tells a particular zombie story and tells it well.
Pang (Billy Chong), a skilled martial artist, lands a local thug, Lu Dai, in jail after foiling a robbery. Upon his release, a vengeful Lu Dai hires a bumbling Taoist priest named Wu Lung to animate a small army of zombies to take down Pang.
Lu Dai is killed by his own trap, and his ghost haunts the priest, demanding to be resurrected. The priest attempts to put Lu Dai’s spirit into the corpse of a recently deceased serial killer, Kwan Wei Long. Because the killer is so evil, he returns as a powerful, free-willed vampire.
After Pang’s father — the man who trained him brutally all of his life to be a killing machine — dies, the priest tries to use his body to host Lu Dai’s spirit. The ritual is interrupted, resulting in the thug and the father sharing control of the body, forcing Pang to battle his own father’s reanimated corpse while also fighting the vampire.
You may dislike this for being incredibly cheap and for its erratic subtitle translations, such as calling corpses “salted fish.” Not me. I loved it.
Chong (born Chuang Chen Li) had an extensive career in both Hong Kong and Indonesia. Some of his other notable martial arts films include Jade Claw, A Hard Way to Die, Kung Fu Executioner, A Fistful of Talons and Kung Fu Beyond the Grave. Later in his career, he became a major household name in Indonesia, where he wrote, directed, and starred in several popular television series, including Deru Debu and Sapu Jagad.
Why do I love it? It has the balls to rip off Morricone’s Exorcist II: The Heretic score, has someone kick a man’s head clean off his body, and a vampire bad guy who not only comes out to the Bond theme but also has hands on fire. How did they do that effect? They set a man’s hands on fire, that’s how.
Oh yeah — director Shan Hua also made Portrait In Crystal, Bloody Parrot, Dynamo and Inframan. He knew what he was doing.
HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES (1974) I usually start these posts with a one-sentence plot summary, but I have no idea what this movie’s plot is. There’s a bunch of models, there’s a ghost ship full of ghouls out at sea, there’s some creep keeping a woman hostage… I don’t know what the heck is going on. This movie has neither a Wikipedia page nor an IMDb page (at least none I can find), so I’m on my own. It’s certainly sleazy, which we want for #Junesploitation, and the shots of the ghost ship look cool. But there’s really nothing else I can recommend here.
30 days of fan films, day 8: SECRETS OF THE TEMPLE (2022) Sometime after Episode III, a group of surviving Jedi come out of hiding to find an ancient Jedi temple before the Empire does. On the plus side, the costumes are all excellent, and the many lightsaber fights are nicely staged. The acting has that flat yet wholly sincere quality that we like in our shlock. On the down side, the dialogue is all about the Force and destiny and whatnot, feeling dry and repetitive. The script could’ve used a scoundrel or two to liven things up. And two hours and ten minutes is a pretty big ask for a fan film. I don’t know. I appreciate the effort.
I'd say this is, at best, loosely connected with the original masterpiece RotLD in that it involves the 2-4-5 Trioxin base zombies. In this case i was surprised to see it was directed by Brian Yuzna (Has there been a Yuzna day on previous junesploitations? i think so.). Its aligned more with the trope of Pet Semetery or Frankenhooker wherein the protagonist looses his girlfriend and uses the trioxin to reanimate her. All does not go well. Enjoyable enough romantic zombie flick.
They're not just zombies. They're NAZI zombies. The movie is really great, but there is some crazy intense gore in this one. You might want to have a drink to take the edge off before you watch.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985): According to the opening card, this is a true event. Crazy world we live in 🤣😜 This was my first time watch, I bought the 4k a couple of months ago after talking with a friend and telling me it was one of his favorites. And yeah, it's an awesome movie. Are the sequels worth it?
Yes... and no? 🤔 You've already seen the best of the three by a large margin, and the one worth owning in 4K. 😎 "Part ll" is more broadly comedic and the gore effects aren't as elaborate or creative... but it's still a good time if you lower your expectations. Also Tom Mathews and James Karen (Freddy and Frank in the first movie) return as different characters, and their chemistry still works... just not as good as before. "III" is more serious and l remember liking it (especially its ballsy ending) but haven't had the urge to rewatch in the years since. YMMV but every movie in the series is worth at least one viewing, even if only the first is worth the 4K tax. 😁
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001, dir. Takashi Miike)
If you haven't seen this Japanese musical live-action and claymation surreal horror-comedy, it's about a family who starts running a remote guesthouse whose guests perish and must be buried away to avoid bad publicity. Dare I say it's not weird enough? The one zombie scene was indeed fun, as were a few other pieces. But it could definitely use more of the claymation!
Watched this last year, needed a zombie change-of-pace, and definitely got it! Miike tosses in everything AND the kitchen sink, and by and large it works. A fun and unique flick.
I think I have only seen the OG once, and this was a first time watch for me of the remake. Picked up some 4k steelbook director's cut nonsense. Which is what I watched, so I have no idea how it compares to the theatrical cut. For most of the viewing, I was "ok, not sure this needed to be remade in color with better zombie effects". I did dig the OZ switch from black and white to color. But I did think the last 20 minutes paid off for the remake. Not spoilering anything. Tony Todd was great. Didn 't even know he was in it.
Treasure of the Dead AKA Oasis of the Zombies(1982 Dir Jesus Franco)
There are a lot of zombie movies. A lot. I chose an older one. I chose terribly wrong. If I watch a worse movie this month, I will be shocked and saddened. The movie did provide my favorite line of Junesploitation so far "Quick, get some gas and bottles, and we'll make Molotov cocktails like we used to do in school"
Their time in school probably would have made a better movie than attack of the desert oatmeal faced nazi zombies or whatever the fuck I just watched was called.
Between this and Snowpiercer, it seems like South Koreans have a pretty bleak view of train travel. It took me too long to finally see this, and it's as good as everybody says it is. Promises zombies on a train and delivers zombies on a train.
See earlier review for an excellent summary. I'll just add part of the Kanopy description (how I watched the film).
"Blanchard's performance was so intense, so extreme in its confused appetite, revulsion, and glee, the take was nearly interrupted out of concern for the actress's mental health. It's one of the most emotionally incendiary finales in horror film history."
OMG.....not only is your comment a great riff on the band...but look at the review JUST above yours!?! Living Dead Girl is a huge Rob Zombie track! CRAZY TIMING!!!
A movie that gets compared to DEAD HEAT. (I have not watched that one yet.) When a Hong Kong supercop is killed by a gang of bank robbers, a series of events reanimates his corpse. On the hunt for the robbers and dealing with his wife's pregnancy, his life only gets more complicated as a dead man. Hong Kong filmmakers liked to mix comedy with action, and that is very much the case here. The Blue Jean Monster gets very goofy. A fun watch.
Shaun of the Dead (2004) This film has everything: a social subtext for some terrific satire, ingenious and believable gore effects, two great Queen songs on the soundtrack, an English pub they should have franchised when the film was released, a mix of laughs and scares that is hard to achieve, great performances, and an unexpected bit of heart. There it is, lying in the street!
'JEAN ROLLIN PULLS A FULCI' ZOMBIE TRIPLE DECKER!
ReplyDelete043.- THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978, INDICATOR 4K UHD). Streaming on TUBI, PLEX, AMC+.
Following grindhouse market trends and teaming up with a producer (Claude Guedj) that could grant him access to previously unreachable filmmaking resources (cars/building exploding, elaborate Italian prosthetics/make-up, etc.), Jean Rollin pivoted hard into horror for a stretch of movies in the late 70's/early 80's. "The Grapes of Death" is Rollin's "Night of the Living Dead" except our clueless protagonist, Élisabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal), runs through several kilometers of French wine country finding other survivors instead of being trapped in a house. Industrial chemicals sprayed on locally grown grapes contaminate the wine, turning those who drink it into pus-oozing, zombie-like creatures... in theory. Once Élisabeth and local blind girl Lucien (Serge Marquand) reach the latter's hometown, the villagers look/talk/act like the crazy folks at the start of Capcom's "Resident Evil 4."
This is the first Rollin joint I've seen where there's almost no overt sexuality whatsoever. We get a few naked chicks (including "Night of the Hunted's" Brigitte Lahaie), but you can tell gore is "TGOD's" main attraction when well-endowed b@@bs have to compete with "The Beyond"-caliber gore gags (bale spears to the gut, sword decapitation after crucifixion, etc.) for attention. Things pick up a notch when Élisabeth runs into two armed guys (Paul Bisciglia's Lucas and Patrice Valota's Pierre) who can take her to see her fiancé Michel (Michel Herval). In typical Rolin fashion, though, the ending is abrupt, unsatisfying and leaves more questions than it answers. And like every other Indicator 4K release so far, the remastered transfer is so good the scariest make-up on-screen isn't the zombies. It's Marie-Georges Pascal's pancake blotches of film make-up visible during her many close-ups. Oops. 😅 4 OLD FARMERS ATTEMPTING TO R^PE THEIR HOT DAUGHTERS (out of five). 😧
Been on my stack of to-watch discs for a long time. And i work with grapes! Might bust this out for a free day.
DeleteYou work as a winemaker? What other job is there involving grapes besides feeding them to Bruce Campbell (Blow.)? 😁😇
Delete044.- ZOMBIE LAKE (1981, DVD). Available to stream on HOOPLA with library subscription.
ReplyDeleteThis one isn't out on 4K yet (it's coming... eventually), so I'm using a friend's borrowed DVD copy. This is one of Jean Rollin's most well-known films that more closely resembles his typical work (titillating sex/nudity galore) than "Grapes of Death." The corpses of gunned-down-during-World War II-in-French-Resistance-locals Nazi soldiers are thrown in a nearby lake, as seen during an elaborate flashback sequence (more fiery 'splosions!) told by the local mayor to a nosy reporter. In then-present day ('81), those dead Nazi soldiers come back to life and grab whoever (usually a young, pretty naked chick... or in this case a literal busload of attractive women) goes swimming in the 'Lake of the Damned.' Sandwiched between the awkward zombie attacks (washed-up green make-up on the lake dwellers) and the er@tic sex/nude scenes (no points for guessing which ones Jean directs best), there's a touching subplot about a zombie dad keeping in touch with his human daughter. I'd say Jean should have left this one for Jess Franco to direct, except the latter's own remake of "Zombie Lake" (1982's "Oasis of the Zombies") proves neither man's heart was truly into this project. 3 FAKE MUSTACHES/WIGS ON BARNYARD SEX COUPLE (out of five).
045.- THE LIVING DEAD GIRL (1982, INDICATOR 4K UHD). Available to stream on TUBI and AMC+.
ReplyDeleteA trio of toxic waste dumpers that moonlight as gr@ve robbers (what a combo!) hit gold when they stash barrels of the nasty stuff in the same vault tunnels where the bodIes of two women (mother and daughter) are buried with all their jewels. An untimely earthquake (aren't all earthquakes untimely?😏) spills the chemicals, which prompt the coRpse of young Catherine Valmont (Françoise Blanchard) to come back to life and kill the men. Mom's body is unaffected because, well, she's not a hot chick. 🤨😋 It's unclear if Catherine's super sharp, claw-like nails are enhanced by the chemicals or they were like that before. Wondering back to the nearby château she grew up in (which is up for sale and being shown to potential buyers by a h@rny real estate agent), Catherine finds things that remind her of a happy past with her sister Hélène. What a coincidence (or bad writing conceit) that grown-up Hélène (Marina Pierro) calls at that exact moment, which Catherine answers with a music box tune that sends her sister rushing back to the château. As Catherine's need to kill to feed her blood/flesh lust increases, Hélène's concern for an escape plan morphs into an enabler willing to pay the ultimate price to fulfill a childhood promise to her now-zombie sister.
While "Grapes of Death" and "Zombie Lake" were closer to horror exploitation mainstream product, I prefer it when Jean Rollin injects his own idiosyncrasies into an established genre. "The Living Dead Girl" nails everything you want/expect from a Rollin zombie flick. Plenty of nudity, but the seXuality oozed by the leads (mostly Marina Pierro, whose close-ups looking directly at the camera are er@tic as hell) is implied more than shown. Sadness creeps into the narrative as Catherine realizes the monster she's become and wants out, but Hélène's obsession with keeping zombie sister alive turn her into a bigger monster than Catherine ever was. An English-speaking tourist couple (Carina Barone and Mike Marshall) rubberneck their way into the château to try and find the truth. The ending is classic Rollin (sudden and leaving a lot unanswered), but the horror of what we know is going to happen afterwards is a heartbreaker. 4.65 STUNTMEN ON FIRE JUMPING INTO A LAKE (out of five).
046.- SCARE (1982, GERMAN VHS, INDICATOR 4K UHD).
DeleteGuys, I found a great bonus feature in the Indicator 4K UHD of Rollin's "The Living Dead Girl" that is NOT mentioned in the bonus features in the back of the case. When clicking 'Play Film,' there's an option to watch "Scare," the 1982 German VHS version of "TLDG" that has an alternate electronic soundtrack. Watched it last night. No censorship cuts or altered violence/gore/nude scenes. For all practical purposes its the exact same movie, only dubbed in German and in SD. Subtitles for the 4K version work on this SD cut.
It's 1:75:1 AR and clearly 240p resolution (there's grain damage of reel change spools visible during transition scenes). Since this is yet another excellent Indicator 4K transfer, watching "Scare" in SD is a great way to realize the huge jump in display technology between then (early 80's) and now. The alternate soundtrack is typical low-budget early 80's electronic music. It's passable, but dates the movie in goofy ways. Why is Catherine's music box (which had an appropriate mechanical tune) dubbed with an electronic beat? Ditto for the outdoor concert, which switches from real instruments to something out of Culture Club.😅 The English-speaking characters are dubbed in German, but we do get English subtitles for their dialogue (which we don't get in the 4K version when they're speaking English). Overall a nice treat for fans of the original, but it's in no way a replacement for the genuine article. NO NEW RATING.
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 8!
ReplyDelete047.- THE PARTY (1968, KINO LORBER DVD). Also streaming on YOUTUBE (if you look hard enough).
1968 was a banner year for fans of the "Pink Panther" saga. Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards buried the hatchet and agreed to work together again, and a new "Inspector Clouseau" movie by MGM came out. Too bad the two weren't one and the same. 🥺😢 Released theatrically in April of '68 to boffo box office and critical acclaim, "The Party" reunites the old "PP" band together (Sellers, Edwards, composer Henry Mancini, production designer Fernando Carrere, etc.) and brings in new blood (screenwriters Frank and Tom Waldman) that'd go on to have a huge influence on future entries in the series. Growing up in El Salvador I remember "The Party" being bunched alongside the old "PP" movies whenever they played them as double bills in theaters (which is how I saw it for the first time back then). It's the only collaboration between Sellers and Edwards outside of their "Panther/Shot in the Dark" series.🫤
Sellers plays Hrundi V. Bakshi, an actor born/raised in India that's basically Clouseau with a Hindi accent and darker skin. It's a testament to Peter's comedic skills that, after the initial shock of seeing him play ethnic, you forget about it and just roll along with the premise. Hrundi wrecks a movie production to pieces (literally) and would have been run out of town if his name hadn't accidentally ended up on the list of guests to a plush Hollywood party thrown by a studio bigwig. Though Sellers contributes plenty of gags to the mayhem that eventually engulfs the posh gathering of rich white folks, other dayplayers (the waiter getting drunker, the kids that show up with a painted elephant, the John Wayne-like boisterous movie star, the band that keeps playing as foam surrounds them, etc.) get to share the spotlight. And in her own quiet way Claudine Longet steals the movie as Michele, the aspiring actress/singer that was nice to Hrundi from the start and gives the picture a bit of romantic heart. You can feel the DNA of future "Pink Panther" movies taking form here. 3.75 URINATING STATUES WITH BLONDE WIGS HOLDING A CHICKEN IN ITS CROWN (out of five).
28 Years Later (2025, dir. Danny Boyle)
ReplyDeleteThis is gonna make one helluva double feature with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE aka LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974, Jorge Grau, ENG/ESP/ITL)
ReplyDeleteTampering with Mother Nature causes the dead to rise in this atmospheric, eerie, and surprisingly grisly internationally undead effort. The lush English countryside provides a beautiful backdrop for the gruesome goings-on, and the interruption of the serene scene by the zombies’ menacing and gut-munching helps bring the film’s ecological message home effectively. I love me some Ray Lovelock, and he’s excellent as the initially unlikable and reluctant kinda hippie anti hero. Arthur Kennedy affects an erratic English/Irish accent and devours the scenery as the fascist police inspector. Classic dialog:
-The Inspector (Arthur Kennedy): You're all the same, the lot of you, with your long hair and f@ggot clothes, drugs, sex, every sort of filth. And you hate the police. Don't you?
-George (Ray Lovelock): You make it easy.
Indeed, they do. Same as it ever was…
A stepping-stone between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and the array of Euro-undead horrors of the late 70s, TLDAMM overcomes an undead pace in its opening act, picks it up in the second act with considerable carnage, and ultimately ends in a effectively nihilistic 70s manner. Recommended, especially if (like me) you’ve seen a ton of zombie flicks and are looking for a diamond in the rough.
Revolt of the Zombies (1936, dir. Victor Halperin)
ReplyDeleteI was promised a movie about Cambodian zombies, I was delivered a movie mainly about a love triangle.
Boring, melodramatic and inert. Runs 62 minutes, feels so much longer. The most enjoyable part was recognizing the shot of Bela Lugosi's eyes, lifted straight from 1932's White Zombie.
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
ReplyDeleteI'm sticking with Hammer today. A medicine professor from London investigates a recent series of mysterious deaths in a Cornish village with the help of his former student. Little by little, they start to realize that there may be serious voodoo shenanigans at play. The movie, light on zombie action, but heavy on spooky atmosphere, can feel a bit quaint today, but I'm sure came across as quite violent and shocking in its pre-Romero day. It definitely peaks with a one-two punch of a shovel decapitation scene, and a terrific nightmare sequence of the undead rising from their graves. As Hammer's only foray into zombies, it is well worth your time.
I picked this one as well! Suffering from a long-lasting zombie fatigue, I thought I could at the very least vibe with the Hammer atmosphere (which I very much did!)
DeleteFlesh Eater
ReplyDeleteOG Night of the Living Dead zombie Bill Hinzman takes the reins of his own undead thriller 20 years later with mild success. While I enjoyed myself throughout, I feel like it would be disingenuous to call it a good movie.
A group of friends on a Halloween hayride encounter the living dead, leading to a weird hybrid of a zombie movie and a slasher movie. There’s lots of inventive gore and extremely gratuitous nudity (if the zombies ate clothes instead of flesh they’d likely starve quickly here), but the pace is sluggish (for a less than 90 minute movie this thing has more endings than The Return of the King) and to call the acting amateurish would be an insult to amateurs the world over. That being said, I can’t deny I enjoyed it. It feels like it would be right at home at one of Joe Bob Briggs’s Drive-in Jamborees.
Once you realize the point of the movie is to let Bill Hinzman touch boobs, it’s somehow more honest and enjoyable. His wife was right there on set as a producer of!
Delete"More endings than Return of the King"! Hahaha, sounds like my last relationship 😂
DeleteDay of the Dead (1985)
ReplyDeleteProbably my new fave old school zombie movie. The "special makeup efx" in this movie alone are enough to crown Tom Savini the king of all time!
#Alive (2020, Netflix)
ReplyDeleteA young man is stranded in his 8th floor Korean apartment at the start of the zombie apocalypse. He does not have a particular set of skills, but he is lucky and plucky. I appreciated the laser focus on one man’s zombie experience. There is not an ounce of snark or ironic detachment. It tells a particular zombie story and tells it well.
Kung Fu Zombie (1981)
ReplyDeletePang (Billy Chong), a skilled martial artist, lands a local thug, Lu Dai, in jail after foiling a robbery. Upon his release, a vengeful Lu Dai hires a bumbling Taoist priest named Wu Lung to animate a small army of zombies to take down Pang.
Lu Dai is killed by his own trap, and his ghost haunts the priest, demanding to be resurrected. The priest attempts to put Lu Dai’s spirit into the corpse of a recently deceased serial killer, Kwan Wei Long. Because the killer is so evil, he returns as a powerful, free-willed vampire.
After Pang’s father — the man who trained him brutally all of his life to be a killing machine — dies, the priest tries to use his body to host Lu Dai’s spirit. The ritual is interrupted, resulting in the thug and the father sharing control of the body, forcing Pang to battle his own father’s reanimated corpse while also fighting the vampire.
You may dislike this for being incredibly cheap and for its erratic subtitle translations, such as calling corpses “salted fish.” Not me. I loved it.
Chong (born Chuang Chen Li) had an extensive career in both Hong Kong and Indonesia. Some of his other notable martial arts films include Jade Claw, A Hard Way to Die, Kung Fu Executioner, A Fistful of Talons and Kung Fu Beyond the Grave. Later in his career, he became a major household name in Indonesia, where he wrote, directed, and starred in several popular television series, including Deru Debu and Sapu Jagad.
Why do I love it? It has the balls to rip off Morricone’s Exorcist II: The Heretic score, has someone kick a man’s head clean off his body, and a vampire bad guy who not only comes out to the Bond theme but also has hands on fire. How did they do that effect? They set a man’s hands on fire, that’s how.
Oh yeah — director Shan Hua also made Portrait In Crystal, Bloody Parrot, Dynamo and Inframan. He knew what he was doing.
HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES (1974)
ReplyDeleteI usually start these posts with a one-sentence plot summary, but I have no idea what this movie’s plot is. There’s a bunch of models, there’s a ghost ship full of ghouls out at sea, there’s some creep keeping a woman hostage… I don’t know what the heck is going on. This movie has neither a Wikipedia page nor an IMDb page (at least none I can find), so I’m on my own. It’s certainly sleazy, which we want for #Junesploitation, and the shots of the ghost ship look cool. But there’s really nothing else I can recommend here.
30 days of fan films, day 8: SECRETS OF THE TEMPLE (2022)
Sometime after Episode III, a group of surviving Jedi come out of hiding to find an ancient Jedi temple before the Empire does. On the plus side, the costumes are all excellent, and the many lightsaber fights are nicely staged. The acting has that flat yet wholly sincere quality that we like in our shlock. On the down side, the dialogue is all about the Force and destiny and whatnot, feeling dry and repetitive. The script could’ve used a scoundrel or two to liven things up. And two hours and ten minutes is a pretty big ask for a fan film. I don’t know. I appreciate the effort.
GRAVE ROBBERS (1988) dir. Straw Weisman
ReplyDeleteaka DEAD MATE
Not a lot of zombie action, but it has one of the most whack-a-do endings I’ve ever seen.
“Oh thank god, a domestic V-8.”
“No more one night stands in hell!”
Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
ReplyDeleteI'd say this is, at best, loosely connected with the original masterpiece RotLD in that it involves the 2-4-5 Trioxin base zombies. In this case i was surprised to see it was directed by Brian Yuzna (Has there been a Yuzna day on previous junesploitations? i think so.). Its aligned more with the trope of Pet Semetery or Frankenhooker wherein the protagonist looses his girlfriend and uses the trioxin to reanimate her. All does not go well. Enjoyable enough romantic zombie flick.
Dead Snow (2009)
ReplyDeleteThey're not just zombies. They're NAZI zombies. The movie is really great, but there is some crazy intense gore in this one. You might want to have a drink to take the edge off before you watch.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985): According to the opening card, this is a true event. Crazy world we live in 🤣😜 This was my first time watch, I bought the 4k a couple of months ago after talking with a friend and telling me it was one of his favorites. And yeah, it's an awesome movie. Are the sequels worth it?
ReplyDeleteYes... and no? 🤔 You've already seen the best of the three by a large margin, and the one worth owning in 4K. 😎 "Part ll" is more broadly comedic and the gore effects aren't as elaborate or creative... but it's still a good time if you lower your expectations. Also Tom Mathews and James Karen (Freddy and Frank in the first movie) return as different characters, and their chemistry still works... just not as good as before. "III" is more serious and l remember liking it (especially its ballsy ending) but haven't had the urge to rewatch in the years since. YMMV but every movie in the series is worth at least one viewing, even if only the first is worth the 4K tax. 😁
DeleteI'll keep an eye out for the sequels. Luckily, they're not in 4k, so i won't be tempted to pay 'the tax'.
DeleteThose are the ones you want to stream first, buy physical afterward if you like 'em. 🤠
DeleteIt's like you don't know me at all 🤣😜
DeleteAnyway, the sequel blurays seems mostly OOP, so there's a different 'tax' on them, which I won't pay 😎
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001, dir. Takashi Miike)
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen this Japanese musical live-action and claymation surreal horror-comedy, it's about a family who starts running a remote guesthouse whose guests perish and must be buried away to avoid bad publicity. Dare I say it's not weird enough? The one zombie scene was indeed fun, as were a few other pieces. But it could definitely use more of the claymation!
Watched this last year, needed a zombie change-of-pace, and definitely got it! Miike tosses in everything AND the kitchen sink, and by and large it works. A fun and unique flick.
DeleteNight of the Living Dead (1990, dir. T. Savini)
ReplyDeleteI think I have only seen the OG once, and this was a first time watch for me of the remake. Picked up some 4k steelbook director's cut nonsense. Which is what I watched, so I have no idea how it compares to the theatrical cut. For most of the viewing, I was "ok, not sure this needed to be remade in color with better zombie effects". I did dig the OZ switch from black and white to color. But I did think the last 20 minutes paid off for the remake. Not spoilering anything. Tony Todd was great. Didn 't even know he was in it.
Watching for George Romero day!
DeleteTreasure of the Dead AKA Oasis of the Zombies(1982 Dir Jesus Franco)
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of zombie movies. A lot. I chose an older one. I chose terribly wrong. If I watch a worse movie this month, I will be shocked and saddened. The movie did provide my favorite line of Junesploitation so far
"Quick, get some gas and bottles, and we'll make Molotov cocktails like we used to do in school"
Their time in school probably would have made a better movie than attack of the desert oatmeal faced nazi zombies or whatever the fuck I just watched was called.
Train to Busan (2016)
ReplyDeleteBetween this and Snowpiercer, it seems like South Koreans have a pretty bleak view of train travel. It took me too long to finally see this, and it's as good as everybody says it is. Promises zombies on a train and delivers zombies on a train.
ReplyDeleteThe Living Dead Girl (1982)
See earlier review for an excellent summary. I'll just add part of the Kanopy description (how I watched the film).
"Blanchard's performance was so intense, so extreme in its confused appetite, revulsion, and glee, the take was nearly interrupted out of concern for the actress's mental health. It's one of the most emotionally incendiary finales in horror film history."
Naturally I HAD to watch.
White Zombie (1932) dir. Victor Halperin
ReplyDeleteHow do you make a White Zombie movie and not cast Sheri Moon Zombie?!
OMG.....not only is your comment a great riff on the band...but look at the review JUST above yours!?! Living Dead Girl is a huge Rob Zombie track! CRAZY TIMING!!!
DeleteReturn of the Living Dead (85)
ReplyDeleteNot enough Linnea Quig... Oh. 10/10. No notes.
THE BLUE JEAN MONSTER (1991)
ReplyDeleteA movie that gets compared to DEAD HEAT. (I have not watched that one yet.) When a Hong Kong supercop is killed by a gang of bank robbers, a series of events reanimates his corpse. On the hunt for the robbers and dealing with his wife's pregnancy, his life only gets more complicated as a dead man. Hong Kong filmmakers liked to mix comedy with action, and that is very much the case here. The Blue Jean Monster gets very goofy. A fun watch.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
ReplyDeleteThis film has everything: a social subtext for some terrific satire, ingenious and believable gore effects, two great Queen songs on the soundtrack, an English pub they should have franchised when the film was released, a mix of laughs and scares that is hard to achieve, great performances, and an unexpected bit of heart.
There it is, lying in the street!