Dead Birds (2004)DVD REVIEW

This film automatically gets points for attempting and pulling off a Civil War era setting with a budget of only $1.5-million. It seems unlikely that Dead Birds will become any kind of classic, but it’s a competently made low-budget chiller with a strong cast, some good scares, and some way cool creatures.

A gang of bank robbers dressed like Confederate soldiers makes off with a large quantity of gold. The gang’s leader William is played by Henry Thomas, best known as Elliot from E.T., and despite the beard he sports here, he doesn’t appear to have aged much in the intervening years.

During the blood-drenched bank heist William’s brother Sam, played by the equally baby-faced Patrick Fugit (star of Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous), takes a bullet to the shoulder. The thieves remain otherwise unscathed, which is more than can be said for the occupants of the bank. The gore effects are both ambitious and effective, though I’m fairly certain a civil war era pistol would not shear a man’s skull in half.

The thieves make for the old Hollister Place, an abandoned plantation where they plan to hole up for the night before making a break for Mexico. Just outside the hideout, though, a nightmarish beastie that no one can identify as human or animal attacks our anti-heroes. Once inside the house, it soon becomes clear that something evil resides there. William and Todd discover a book with an incantation for raising the dead. Sam has several spectral/demonic visitations, but are they merely a product of his infected wound? Soon, though, the others are also seeing things that just aren’t right, and the desire to hang onto the gold they’ve stolen must be balanced against the value of their own lives and perhaps even their souls.

One of the movie’s biggest assets is its cast. William’s girlfriend, the razor-wielding Annabelle, is played with pluck and homespun sex appeal by Nicki Aycox of Jeepers Creepers II fame. Isaiah Washington, currently appearing on the TV series Grey’s Anatomy plays Todd, the gang’s only African American member. Given the time period, Todd’s ethnicity adds tension to an already shaky group dynamic. Michael Shannon and Mark Boone, Jr. respectively play Clyde and Joseph who comprise a gang within the gang, and their goals are not necessarily in line with those of their compatriots.

The disk features some nice extras. Commentary buffs will rejoice at the inclusion of two audio commentary tracks, one from director Alex Turner and one from the cast and crew. There’s also a fascinating “making of” featurette in which we see members of the production staff getting drunk in hotel rooms, arguing over creature designs, and detonating 8 squibs strapped to a 90-year old man.

All in all, a nice little scare-fest that seems a little reminiscent of William Wesley’s Scarecrows (1988). Not all questions are answered, notably the meaning of the title, but this leaves a feeling of mystery even after the end credits have rolled.

Dead Bird's entry at IMDB

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The Quiet Earth (1985)COMING TO DVD

Anchor Bay is once again bringing a seemingly forgotten classic to DVD for the first time. The Quiet Earth will see release on 6/13/06. This low budget flick hails from New Zealand. Zac Hobson awakens one morning to find that he is apparently the last person on earth. Hollywood style action is eschewed in favor of characterization. Definitely worth a look, and would make a good co-feature with the Vincent Price film The Last Man on Earth.

Features include:

• Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer Sam Pillsbury
• Eight-Page Collectible Booklet
• Theatrical Trailer

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Masters of Horror: ChocolateDVD REVIEW

“Have you been in love? Really in love?”

Chocolate is directed by Mick Garris, who has made a career out of adapting the works of Stephen King for the big and small screen, including The Stand, The Shining, Sleepwalkers, and the upcoming Desperation mini-series, in which Chocolate star Henry Thomas will also be appearing. Even if Thomas were to win an Oscar next year, I suspect he would be forever known as the kid who helped E.T. Phone home. This is unfortunate, because as Thomas has proved in this latest DVD release of the Showtime Masters of Horror series, he's got talent and he can carry a leading performance just fine, thank you very much.

Chocolate is told from the perspective of a blood spattered man named Jaimie (Thomas) as he explains to the police for the umpteenth time the events that brought him to his current gore soaked state. Jaimie is a recently divorced man who is not adjusting well to living alone. He works in a laboratory where his acute senses make him a natural at developing artificial flavoring for the food industry. He wakes up one night with the distinct taste of a high quality chocolate in his mouth, despite the fact that he's been on an all salad diet for some time. As he puts it, he feels like he is tasting someone else's chocolate.

Odd sensory intrusions continue to occur. While watching his friend Wally's (the always interesting Matt Frewer of Max Headroom fame) band perform, Jaimie's hearing cuts out. Later, while driving home with Wally, Jaimie loses control of his car because he can no longer see the highway in front of him. Instead he is getting flashes of a street he has never seen before. He comes to realize that he is receiving the input of another person's senses. Before long he has his most vivid vision yet, in which he realizes it is a strikingly beautiful woman from whom he is receiving these sensory broadcasts, and that he is more in love with her than he had ever thought possible. When Jaimie witnesses an act of extreme violence through this psychic connection, he becomes determined to find and help this woman.

This episode had me guessing all the way through. Henry Thomas gives a very believable performance as a lonely man who wants desperately to love again. A few more questions might have been answered regarding Jaimie's psychic flashes, but they are not absolutely necessary. This is easily the least horrific episode I've seen so far, making Chocolate seem more like a Twilight Zone episode than a horror film. Overall, though, a solid entertaining episode whose chocolaty goodness is helping to get the bad taste of Incident On and Off a Mountain Road out of my mouth.

Masters of Horror: Chocolate's entry at IMDB
Masters of Horror Official Website

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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...

...to John Shaft, the toughest mother of them all.

Masters of Horror: Incident on and off a Mountain Road DVD REVIEW

"I believe anything can happen to anyone, anywhere at anytime."

This latest DVD release from the Showtime Masters of Horror series is directed by Don Coscarelli who gave us the horror classic Phantasm, two rather decent Phantasm sequels, and one pretty bad one. He's also responsible for Beastmaster which, while a boxoffice disappointment proved to be a monster hit on cable in the 1980s. Most recently Coscarelli directed the very clever Bubba Ho Tep, starring Bruce Campbell as a geriatric Elvis Presley. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, like Bubba Ho Tep is based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, probably one of the greatest living writers of short horror fiction. Unfortunately this episode does not live up to the collective resume of these two great talents.

A young woman named Ellen (Bree Turner) is driving down a secluded country road lost in her own thoughts. She reaches to change the radio station, taking her eyes from the road just long enough not to notice another car stopped in front of her. The two cars collide and Ellen is knocked unconscious. When she wakes up she follows a bloody trail from the other car that leads to an embankment. She calls out into the darkness and soon sees someone climbing up the steep grade toward her. A monstrously tall man emerges from the darkness. His face is grotesque and pale, his teeth are made of steel, and he's dragging an injured young woman, presumably the occupant of the other car. Ellen takes off into the woods, leaving a series of traps for Moon Face (John DeSantis), as her pursuer is called, before eventually being captured and taken back back to the man-monster's home. The bevy of eyeless corpses decorating the house give Ellen an idea of what is in store for her, and she must call on all her resourcefulness if she is to survive.

The story is peppered with flashbacks of Ellen's life with her survivalist husband Bruce (Ethan Embry). We see the two meet and fall in love, and over the course of their life together Bruce trains her to protect herself, though she never lives up to his expectations. This is where the film starts to fail. Right from their first date Ellen seems completely smitten with Bruce, though it's not clear why. His knee-jerk cynicism and pessimistic view of the world would seem to be a turn off, but her coquettish smile never wavers. The scene in which Bruce proclaims that he hates the rain, but Ellen frolics about in it like a child seems particularly forced, feeling like a page from a Harlequin Romance. The relationship that is so important to the story never never comes together believably.

Further weakening the story are Bruce's trite survivalist axioms that accompany Ellen's flashbacks. The line “When everything else fails you try anything,” is delivered as if this is some brilliant observation that has evaded most people.

Overall the episode is marred by a sense of deja vu. The psychotic killer redneck, stranded motorist, and corpses used as furniture and lawn ornaments will make you think you've seen this film before, although the first time around it was called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Angus Scrimm, who played the Tall Man in Coscarelli's Phantasm films, plays Buddy, a demented old man also being held captive by Moon Face, and there are also some truly shocking bits, not least of which is a creative use of a mummified baby. Neither is enough to make the episode worthwhile.

I'm hoping this is just a sophomore slump for the first season of Masters of Horror, as the John Carpenter and Stuart Gordon episodes were quite good. Check back here in a little while for my review of Mick Garris's Chocolate.

Masters of Horror: Chocolate's entry at IMDB
Masters of Horror Official Website

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George Lutz, Dead at 59

According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, George Lutz, patriarch of the beleagured family portrayed in The Amityville Horror, has died at the age of 59.

I first read Jay Anson's book The Amityville Horror in 1978. In the 1970s it was not uncommon to find media reports of supposed paranormal and psychic phenomenon, and since I was 15 years old when I read the book I had the naivete to be at least partially convinced of the book's truthfulness. Were I to read it today I would not be so easily swayed, but truth or fiction this is one scary book. The 1979 film version starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder was a disappointment, inexplicably leaving out some of the book's scariest moments and embellishing the allegedly true story with new elements (the slime dripping walls of 112 Ocean Avenue, for example, were replaced with bleeding walls).

Many have challenged the Lutz family's claims that they were the victims of supernatural activity (Wikipedia has an excellent article on the entire Amityville phenomenon), but Lutz always insisted that it was no hoax.

The Fresh Prince is Legend

According to this article on the Vh1 website, Will Smith is scheduled to play the lead in a new film adaptation of Richard Matheson's apocalyptic vampire novel I Am Legend. The book has been adapted before as The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price and The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston, and served as an unofficial inspiration for George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. There is also a very good graphic novel version of the story.

I greet this news with a certain uneasiness. This could be a great film, but I'm having nightmares of Smith turning Matheson's tortured hero Robert Neville into the wisecracking hipster we've seen in Independence Day, the Men in Black films, and to a somewhat lesser degree in I, Robot. I don't mean to sell Smith short. I think he's a talented actor with a lot of screen presence, and though I haven't seen Ali, I've heard good things about his Oscar-nominated performance. It's just that he's played the tough guy jokester character so many times, one has to wonder if he plans to do it again.

My hope is that the dark tone of the novel will survive the translation to film, and that Smith and director Francis Lawrence won't feel the need to pepper the story with humor because some focus group said it wasn't funny enough. If you haven't read the novel (and you should) this is one bleak and horrifying tale. Regardless of who plays the lead, I can't imagine a big budget Hollywood film using the novel's ending, but I think going in the other direction would severely compromise the film.

I Am Legend is slated for release in 2007.

Digital Longing

The other day as I was lamenting the lack of a decent Region 1 DVD version of Grave of the Vampire, I got to thinking about other pieces from my collection that remain trapped in the analog dimension. Here are a two great horror films for which I feel the need for DVD.

Nosferatu in Venice (1988)
A gorgeous and haunting film which ironically stars the hideous and haunting Klaus Kinski. This is a kind of, sort of, but not really sequel to Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre. Christopher Plummer—in a role that anticipates his far less notable performance as Van Helsing in Dracula 2000—plays Professor Paris Catalano, a man who has devoted his life to ridding the world of vampires. He is summoned to a home in Venice where he takes part in a séance that awakens a powerful vampire known as The Nosferatu (Kinski). Donald Pleasance also stars as an ineffectual clergyman. This film has some original notions, suggesting that the condition of vampirism can be brought on simply by committing evil acts, rather than being spread like a virus. The backdrop of decaying Venetian buildings sets a somber tone, bolstered by a top notch score and a great cast which also includes the beautiful Barbara De Rossi.

The copy I own was purchased at a convention in the mid 1990's, and is a gray market dupe of a Japanese laser disc, though it appears to be a few generations removed from the source. The film is letterboxed, with a well-dubbed English soundtrack and Japanese subtitles. The tape has had tracking issues from day one, and while the image quality is passable, this movie deserves to be shown in pristine condition. I've seen some Region 0 copies available on Ebay, but I'm not sure if these are dupes or imports.

Island of Terror (1966)
Two words, horror fans: Peter Cushing. The man automatically elevated the status of any film just by showing up for work. Two more words: Terence Fisher. This is the same director who gave us Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein, and far too many other Hammer flicks to mention here.

A small island off the coast of Ireland is beset by bizarre silicon-based creatures that are the accidental result of an attempt to cure cancer. The creatures, dubbed silicates, consume bone from any animal or person that crosses their path. Two doctors, played by Cushing and Edward Judd, star of the also excellent Day the Earth Caught Fire, come to investigate but find themselves trapped along with the country folk native to the island. Carole Gray is likable, if sometimes gratingly in need of rescue as Judd's romantic interest. Niall MacGinnis, one of the stars of Curse of the Demon, plays one of the islanders. The interesting script, tight pacing, and cast make up for the Dr. Who level special effects.

Island of Terror was released on VHS in fullscreen format by MCA/Universal in the mid 1990's and is currently out of print. There has been an official DVD release in Europe, but not here in the States. I've seen fullscreen Region 0 DVD's available on Ebay, and I suspect these are dubs of the MCA/Universal tape.

Just When I Thought I Was Over the Whole Zombie Thing...

Between Return of the Living Dead 4 and Zombie Honeymoon I really thought I was tapped out on this whole zombie thing. Both films left me with a feeling that the sub-genre had run its course. How many zombie films have we seen since 2004's Dawn of the Dead proved that flesh eating fiends could make for big box office? Time to move on, I thought.

Now I've come across the latest promotional footage for Worst Case Scenario. This has been online for several months, but I'm just seeing it now, so presumably it will be new to some of you as well. I saw the original trailer back in 2004 and, while it looked very cool, the film had not been shot yet. Unfortunately that is still the case, but this new footage will grab the darkside of your imagination just the same. Yeah, these are zombies, but it looks like a whole new take on the walking dead. It reminds me a bit of Shockwaves, but there's more to it than that. Check out the production's website for the latest news and the original trailer.

Source Book for Grave of the Vampire

This has been covered in the comments section of my Grave of the Vampire review, but I'm hoping it will get more attention as its own post.

JimTex said...
Considering that this was based on a novel by David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos"(!), who also co-wrote the screenplay, wouldn't a remake be in order? I hate the spate of remakes nowadays, but this film is one of those that just seems ripe for it.

My response...
Since writing that review I've searched the internet for any reference to the David Chase novel The Still Life. Other than a mention at the IMDB, and a few other reviews that I suspect have gotten that info from the IMDB, I can find neither hyde nor hair of this book. I checked with Curt over at Groovy Age of Horror and he's found nothing on it either. Combined with the fact that no reference is made to this book in the film's credits, I'm starting to wonder if this book ever existed, or if it's just a factual error at IMDB that has given birth to a minor urban legend.

How about it? Anybody out there have information on David Chase's The Still Life? Anybody know how I can check the with the Library of Congress on this?