Dir: Aristide Massaccesi (aka Joe D'Amato)
Notable for being the only film directed by Joe D'Amato in which he used his real name on the director's credit, this one is, in his own words, "special". It's a gothic period piece and the stunning Ewa Aulin plays a girl whose memory disappears after her horse-drawn carriage crashes in front of a rich couple's mansion. From there, the plot spins off in several directions that take in the usual D'Amato themes of necrophilia, obsession and violent death, with a little bit of "Mad Science With Klaus Kinski" thrown in for good measure. Perhaps mismarketed as some kind of giallo, this bears far more relation to dreamy, abstract pieces like "Lisa & The Devil" or "La Vampire Nue". It doesn't make a lot of sense on first viewing but there's a feeling encouraged by the film's fervour that, beneath the madness and the leaden pacing, are the seeds of a brilliant, serious vision that perhaps D'Amato never got chance to fully realise as his career became ever less adventurous. Beautifully shot and loaded with bizarre imagery, this may not be his most watchable film but it's undoubtedly his most ambitious and the one to show to non-believers who doubt his artistry. ***
Showing posts with label Mad Scientist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mad Scientist. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Far Cry (2008)
Dir: Uwe Boll
Boll's back with another video game adaptation and this one is crazier than ever. Let's see what we've got: Udo Kier plays an evil scientist who lives on a secure island off the coast of Vancouver. He passes the days genetically modifying soldiers and turning them into bulletproof Billy Corgan lookalikes, programmed to kill without mercy or prejudice. Til Schweiger plays a retired Special Ops badass who goes to the island to rescue German bodybuilding superstar Ralf Moeller from Kier's clutches. Chris Coppola plays Til's comedy fat guy sidekick who shouts "I'M THE FOOD GUY!" at every available opportunity in between choking on meatball subs and falling over a lot. Natalia Avelon wears a low-cut top and shoots about a million guys in the face. A motor-boat, a helicopter and about five jeeps explode in lingering close-up. Am I selling this to you yet? If not, you obviously don't share my love of ridiculous 80s action movies, amongst which this nicely retro little Z-Movie could nestle. Sure, it's "bad" but it's fiercely entertaining and I'm sure it never had any intention of being more. Check it. **1/2
Saturday, 9 June 2007
I, Madman (1989)
Dir: Tibor Takacs
Quirky 80s horror sees a bookstore clerk (Jenny Wright) becoming obsessed with a series of old, obscure pulp novels from a mysterious author called Malcolm Brand. The more she gets into them - most notably a graphic tale of self-mutilation called "I, Madman" - the more she notices that friends of hers are dropping dead in ways taken straight from the books. The basic idea here is not a bad one and there's one particular twist that had me going, "ooh, that's NICE!" at the screen, but it all falls apart in the final third and fails to tie up in a coherent way, instead descending into cliché and silliness. There's some cool stop-motion monster FX (what did you expect from the guy who directed "The Gate"?) and Jenny Wright looks great in nerd glasses, but the script is too sloppy to really work. **
Quirky 80s horror sees a bookstore clerk (Jenny Wright) becoming obsessed with a series of old, obscure pulp novels from a mysterious author called Malcolm Brand. The more she gets into them - most notably a graphic tale of self-mutilation called "I, Madman" - the more she notices that friends of hers are dropping dead in ways taken straight from the books. The basic idea here is not a bad one and there's one particular twist that had me going, "ooh, that's NICE!" at the screen, but it all falls apart in the final third and fails to tie up in a coherent way, instead descending into cliché and silliness. There's some cool stop-motion monster FX (what did you expect from the guy who directed "The Gate"?) and Jenny Wright looks great in nerd glasses, but the script is too sloppy to really work. **
Sunday, 20 August 2006
The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971)
Dir: Robert Fuest
Cruel and unusual classic with Vincent Price in the titular role, a mad/genius doctor hellbent for revenge upon the nine surgeons present when his wife died on the operating table. He holds them responsible and is killing them off, one by one, in the style of Biblical plagues. The tone of the movie is (very) darkly comical with a vicious streak, yet occasionally it achieves a certain sublimity. Price is haunting and eerie as Phibes, the set design is lavish, beautiful and quite unlike any other film. The imaginatively bleak ending is merely the icing on an already thoroughly original cake. An obvious precursor to "Theatre of Blood", "Se7en" and the "Saw" movies, "The Abominable Dr Phibes" is essential viewing for any genre fan. It's also the only film in which you'll hear the wonderful line, "A brass unicorn has been catapulted across a London street and impaled an eminent surgeon. Words fail me, gentlemen." ***1/2
Cruel and unusual classic with Vincent Price in the titular role, a mad/genius doctor hellbent for revenge upon the nine surgeons present when his wife died on the operating table. He holds them responsible and is killing them off, one by one, in the style of Biblical plagues. The tone of the movie is (very) darkly comical with a vicious streak, yet occasionally it achieves a certain sublimity. Price is haunting and eerie as Phibes, the set design is lavish, beautiful and quite unlike any other film. The imaginatively bleak ending is merely the icing on an already thoroughly original cake. An obvious precursor to "Theatre of Blood", "Se7en" and the "Saw" movies, "The Abominable Dr Phibes" is essential viewing for any genre fan. It's also the only film in which you'll hear the wonderful line, "A brass unicorn has been catapulted across a London street and impaled an eminent surgeon. Words fail me, gentlemen." ***1/2
Monday, 5 June 2006
Crimson (1973)
Dir: Juan Fortny
Some movies, especially nowadays, go out of their way to be weird or outlandish. Others, without even trying, are just genuinely weird. This old Paul Naschy turkey (recently re-released on budget DVD under the name, "The Man With The Severed Head") definitely falls into the latter category. The omnipresent hombre lobo plays a criminal who gets shot in the head by police when escaping from a heist gone wrong. The only way for his loyal gang members to save him is to blackmail a mad scientist into performing an experimental brain transplant with a rival gang leader called 'The Sadist' (whom they dispose of by shooting, before decapitating him under a train and stealing his head!). What makes "Crimson" REALLY weird though is the multitude of inappropriately surreal interludes (the 'vulcan ballet' scene in particular), the campy Russ Meyer style dialogue, the hysterically awful dubbing (everyone sounds squeaky and out of breath) and the incoherent final reel, which involves Naschy running around the countryside with what appears to be a giant nappy on his head, grunting and touching up fully clothed girls. Hilariously awful stuff and, unsurprisingly, one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite movies. EL BOMBA!
Some movies, especially nowadays, go out of their way to be weird or outlandish. Others, without even trying, are just genuinely weird. This old Paul Naschy turkey (recently re-released on budget DVD under the name, "The Man With The Severed Head") definitely falls into the latter category. The omnipresent hombre lobo plays a criminal who gets shot in the head by police when escaping from a heist gone wrong. The only way for his loyal gang members to save him is to blackmail a mad scientist into performing an experimental brain transplant with a rival gang leader called 'The Sadist' (whom they dispose of by shooting, before decapitating him under a train and stealing his head!). What makes "Crimson" REALLY weird though is the multitude of inappropriately surreal interludes (the 'vulcan ballet' scene in particular), the campy Russ Meyer style dialogue, the hysterically awful dubbing (everyone sounds squeaky and out of breath) and the incoherent final reel, which involves Naschy running around the countryside with what appears to be a giant nappy on his head, grunting and touching up fully clothed girls. Hilariously awful stuff and, unsurprisingly, one of Quentin Tarantino's favourite movies. EL BOMBA!
Monday, 17 April 2006
The Devil Bat (1940)
Dir: Jean Yarbrough
Truly ridiculous, no-budget vehicle for Bela Lugosi to camp it up as a mad scientist with a grudge. The first scene (footage that gets looped several times later on, to pad out running time) involves Lugosi in his lab, strapping on a pair of crazy goggles and laughing maniacally for about ten minutes as he makes lights flash and turns a normal size bat into a giant rubber monstrosity. He then palms off an "experimental shaving lotion" to a bunch of people he wants to kill. This, when applied to "the tender parts of their neck", attracts the Devil Bat's attention. Cue lots of poorly lit shots of the most laughably fake bat I've ever seen being launched violently at the actors by angry stage-hands. The plot is virtually non-existent and the above few sentences pretty much sum up the entire thing (although the action is frequently intercut by footage of spinning newspaper headlines, repeating exactly what's just been said in the previous scene, in case you dozed off and missed it). It's almost worth watching, just for when the police eventually catch Lugosi and ask him how he created the Devil Bat, only to be told ominously "you wouldn't understand the true nature of scientific discovery"! I mean, duh! A lot of films from this era are rightly regarded as classics, but "The Devil Bat" is not one of them. Only should be viewed by people who are still labouring under the misapprehension that Ed Wood made the worst films ever. EL BOMBA!
Truly ridiculous, no-budget vehicle for Bela Lugosi to camp it up as a mad scientist with a grudge. The first scene (footage that gets looped several times later on, to pad out running time) involves Lugosi in his lab, strapping on a pair of crazy goggles and laughing maniacally for about ten minutes as he makes lights flash and turns a normal size bat into a giant rubber monstrosity. He then palms off an "experimental shaving lotion" to a bunch of people he wants to kill. This, when applied to "the tender parts of their neck", attracts the Devil Bat's attention. Cue lots of poorly lit shots of the most laughably fake bat I've ever seen being launched violently at the actors by angry stage-hands. The plot is virtually non-existent and the above few sentences pretty much sum up the entire thing (although the action is frequently intercut by footage of spinning newspaper headlines, repeating exactly what's just been said in the previous scene, in case you dozed off and missed it). It's almost worth watching, just for when the police eventually catch Lugosi and ask him how he created the Devil Bat, only to be told ominously "you wouldn't understand the true nature of scientific discovery"! I mean, duh! A lot of films from this era are rightly regarded as classics, but "The Devil Bat" is not one of them. Only should be viewed by people who are still labouring under the misapprehension that Ed Wood made the worst films ever. EL BOMBA!
Thursday, 30 March 2006
The Immortalizer (1989)
Dir: Joel Bender
A z-grade cheapo from the late 80s in which a highly skilled surgeon transplants the brains of his rich, elderly clients into the healthy young bodies of kidnapped "high-schoolers" (who all look like they're in their late-20s at least). This vaguely interesting (although scientifically ludicrous) premise is wasted on a dreary story about one such 'teen' who escapes and (stupidly) goes back into the 'clinic' to rescue his kidnapped buddies. The other trick is that every one 'teen' in ten "reacts badly" to the drugs they use for these operations and turns into some kind of flesh-eating hardbody with superhuman physical strength. This bit is never really explored beyond some gratuitous scenes of bodybuilders in bad make-up chewing on throats, but even these fleeting moments of cut-rate splatter are unconvincing and pedestrian. The whole film, from the circular screenplay all the way to the lifeless direction feels so half-assed and mediocre I can't even be bothered finishing the revi
A z-grade cheapo from the late 80s in which a highly skilled surgeon transplants the brains of his rich, elderly clients into the healthy young bodies of kidnapped "high-schoolers" (who all look like they're in their late-20s at least). This vaguely interesting (although scientifically ludicrous) premise is wasted on a dreary story about one such 'teen' who escapes and (stupidly) goes back into the 'clinic' to rescue his kidnapped buddies. The other trick is that every one 'teen' in ten "reacts badly" to the drugs they use for these operations and turns into some kind of flesh-eating hardbody with superhuman physical strength. This bit is never really explored beyond some gratuitous scenes of bodybuilders in bad make-up chewing on throats, but even these fleeting moments of cut-rate splatter are unconvincing and pedestrian. The whole film, from the circular screenplay all the way to the lifeless direction feels so half-assed and mediocre I can't even be bothered finishing the revi
Wednesday, 15 February 2006
Weasels Rip My Flesh (1979)
Dir: Nathan Schiff
This debut feature by shoestring gorehound Nathan Schiff involves radioactive weasels leaving a trail of blood of slime across the Long Island countryside. There's some kind of gibberish subplot with a mad scientist and two "Starsky and Hutch" style cops infiltrating his underground laboratory but you'll be more interested in waiting for the giant papier-maché weasel/human crossbreed to appear. The atrocious sound quality makes it sometimes difficult to keep up with this clearly very cerebral storyline but the entertaining cheapo FX and the directorial enthusiasm help keep it afloat. The giant weasels are a joy to behold so, if anything, "Weasels Rip My Flesh" probably best watched at a party with the sound turned off altogether and The Mothers of Invention album of the same name pumping on your stereo. **
This debut feature by shoestring gorehound Nathan Schiff involves radioactive weasels leaving a trail of blood of slime across the Long Island countryside. There's some kind of gibberish subplot with a mad scientist and two "Starsky and Hutch" style cops infiltrating his underground laboratory but you'll be more interested in waiting for the giant papier-maché weasel/human crossbreed to appear. The atrocious sound quality makes it sometimes difficult to keep up with this clearly very cerebral storyline but the entertaining cheapo FX and the directorial enthusiasm help keep it afloat. The giant weasels are a joy to behold so, if anything, "Weasels Rip My Flesh" probably best watched at a party with the sound turned off altogether and The Mothers of Invention album of the same name pumping on your stereo. **
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