Hey folks, Harry here with October 2004’s DVD Picks and Previews. I’m getting this up right in time for the first Tuesday of the month, (my deadline) and man is it a doozy. In fact, this was, in some ways, the toughest list yet, simply because I found far more titles than my fingers could bear to type about. Like the amazing Frank Tashlin directed Jerry Lewis movies hitting this month, or… maybe I should prep a “upon further inspection” review at some point in the month. Well, believe me – you have more than enough to keep you busy. Here ya go:
OCTOBER 5th, 2004
Aladdin (Special Edition Gift Set)
God I love the hell out of this flick. This was smack dab in the middle of that Disney Animation High we had that went to hell after LION KING. Of that group of films, in many ways, this is my absolute favorite. The gift set has lots of gift stuff that I adore like a special edition book, sketches, film frame and more. In addition, this is one of those billion dollar treatment discs – with deleted scenes, a missing song, PROUD OF YOUR BOY, big documentaries, games, featurettes, artwork galleries, music videos and on and on and on. For those of you that have a Disney collection, there’s no not getting this baby. It’s one of the jewels!
Classic Musicals Collection - The Cole Porter Gift Set (High Society / Kiss Me Kate / Les Girls / Broadway Melody of 1940 / Silk Stockings)
Ok – so, did you check out DE-LOVELY at theaters? Got a taste for Cole Porter, but you really want to see his music done to the “T”? Well, it doesn’t get any better than this set. All 5 of these films are jewels. Watching Eleanor Powell and Astaire hoofin’ through BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 is a completely different experience to the Ginger Rogers pairings with him, but my – can that Powell dance! Also seeing Astaire strut with Cyd Charisse’s 7 mile thighs in SILK STOCKINGS is a musical dream of NINOTCHKA. Watching Sinbad’s princess in KISS ME KATE takes some getting used to, but Kathryn Grayson’s adorable pout is enough to sway to. I’ve never seen LES GIRLS – but with Gene Kelly and Mitzi Gaynor – I’m sure it’s fun. However, the best one… HIGH SOCIETY is a blast. First you’ve got Crosby & Sinatra on either side of the most perfect woman ever, Grace Kelly. They’ve got featurettes on the making of the films, cartoons, shorts all sorts of stuff. Transfers are a dream, and like I said – the song & dance of DE-LOVELY didn’t do it for me, because these already did!
The Ed Wood Box (Glen or Glenda / Jail Bait / Bride of the Monster / Plan 9 from Outer Space / Night of the Ghouls / The Haunted World of Ed Wood)
Later this month, Disney is finally releasing the Tim Burton directed film titled ED WOOD – a flick of genius. Well, consider this the companion set for that DVD. If you get one… you should probably get these too. Now… Just for the record, I love BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. They’re often given the rather ridiculous titles of the worst movies ever made, but that’s total bullshit. Freddy Prinze shits out celluloid 5 times more unwatchable than any of this. And I’m not even saying that for the kitsch factor. The narration, the blocking… TOR JOHNSON, BELA LUGOSI, VAMPIRA… By definition the worst movie ever can’t have those actors in it, nor a plot about aliens re-animating the dead – ZOMBIE FASHION to torment the living. Hell, Paul W.S. Anderson re-used the re-animated dead thing controlled by an over-seeing power with that character in RESIDENT EVIL 2, and fucking Roland Emmerich made a whole movie based on the government re-animating the dead to fight for them. Ed Wood was a damn innovator of future big budget filmmaking. Heh. As for GLEN OR GLENDA, you may laugh, but dude… Angora feels fucking hot against your chest… and nylons make your balls feel electric. Check it out! These are the best of Ed Wood!
Fahrenheit 9/11
It’s made over $200 million world wide, and seems to have unleashed a wave of political documentaries/propaganda/infomercials that are sweeping across DVD stores everywhere. I’ve said about as much about this film as I can. What I’m anxious to check out are all the interviews – and all the new stuff that Moore has put on here, like Condoleezza Rice’s 9/11 testimony. The Arab-American comedian feature/story and all the rest. A must see for the pre-Election Day voting frenzy. Like I’ve said before, this is less of a documentary and more of a work of propaganda. As such, it wildly succeeds.
The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck
I love this film. For one, Sharon Tate is just so… alive in the film. Utterly gorgeous and yummy. The comedy is goofy to the extreme. Of course, you should probably have gathered that from the title itself. However, watching this film, you’d have no clue about Roman’s cinematic skill for something like REPULSION or CHINATOWN or THE PIANIST or ROSEMARY’S BABY. In that way, this is like his DARK STAR, if you get my meaning. And that’s a very good thing! Can’t wait to get this one.
Friday the 13th - From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (8 Movies)
Quint got this set apparently. He hasn’t told me a thing about it. He apparently watched the whole thing. But I haven’t seen his report anywhere. How about you? I hear he’s off renting TORQUE in his palatial digs in New Zealand. I’m serious. He flew to New Zealand to watch TORQUE, so he wouldn’t get beat up on general principle. I say, we don’t let him back in the country. OH… Yeah… Ok, so you get all 8 movies. 2 to a disc. Then you get an extras disc with tons of behind the scenes stuff, including Savini telling ya stuff, which means… it’s a required purchase, if you have an ounce of cool in ya. I’ve never watched all 8 of these in a row… this will allow me to live my dream with a reasonable amount of brain damage. Cool.
Hannibal
A truly great story – in a fairly mediocre film. Why is it on my recommends then? Well, I like it. I like it because this is all I got for this grand story. Vin Diesel keeps claiming that he’s going to make HANNIBAL and doing it in the original languages and make it the most epic thing ever, and it certainly has that type of material to work with. But here we have Victor Mature… who, because he happened to be the male lead in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID and KISS OF DEATH – well, he’ll always rule that extra 10%, even in his worst films. And this isn’t one of his worst. It’s also weird seeing Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in this. Just… weird. I like it the same way I like 300 SPARTANS, if you’ve seen that.
Horns and Halos
You know about FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – well this is not that at all. The title HORNS & HALOS refers to a phrase that the author of the book FORTUNATE SON, an unauthorized biography of Dubya, that was recalled by St. Martins and burned, due to controversy over the author having a felony in his history. That author used the phrase “Horns and Halos” in talking about how he meant to portray Bush in his book. The evil and the good… like we’re all capable of. The story of what happened to author James Hatfield, his book, his sources (including some shocking revelations about that) and what not… well, it’s disturbing. It’s a story about a man that tried to reach for legitimacy and was crushed by an awesome political machine. In many ways, it feels like a true life story of Mr. Smith daring to even mention Washington. Remember, just because it is paranoid, doesn’t mean they didn’t get them! Hehehehe… The DVD is filled to the gills with extras and deleted scenes. Amazing stuff.
The Hunger
Beautiful film. Messed up, but wonderful. Bowie, Deneuve and Sarandon feel so real as what they are in the film. Tony Scott’s direction and camera is more like an avante garde art flick, but it works for me here. Totally unlike anything else he’s done. Susan and Catherine are HOT in this! WAY HOT! The DVD is barebones, but if you’re a sucker like me, you’ll lick it up!
It's Alive
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Ok – so, did you check out DE-LOVELY at theaters? Got a taste for Cole Porter, but you really want to see his music done to the “T”? Well, it doesn’t get any better than this set. All 5 of these films are jewels. Watching Eleanor Powell and Astaire hoofin’ through BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 is a completely different experience to the Ginger Rogers pairings with him, but my – can that Powell dance! Also seeing Astaire strut with Cyd Charisse’s 7 mile thighs in SILK STOCKINGS is a musical dream of NINOTCHKA. Watching Sinbad’s princess in KISS ME KATE takes some getting used to, but Kathryn Grayson’s adorable pout is enough to sway to. I’ve never seen LES GIRLS – but with Gene Kelly and Mitzi Gaynor – I’m sure it’s fun. However, the best one… HIGH SOCIETY is a blast. First you’ve got Crosby & Sinatra on either side of the most perfect woman ever, Grace Kelly. They’ve got featurettes on the making of the films, cartoons, shorts all sorts of stuff. Transfers are a dream, and like I said – the song & dance of DE-LOVELY didn’t do it for me, because these already did!
The Ed Wood Box (Glen or Glenda / Jail Bait / Bride of the Monster / Plan 9 from Outer Space / Night of the Ghouls / The Haunted World of Ed Wood)
Later this month, Disney is finally releasing the Tim Burton directed film titled ED WOOD – a flick of genius. Well, consider this the companion set for that DVD. If you get one… you should probably get these too. Now… Just for the record, I love BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. They’re often given the rather ridiculous titles of the worst movies ever made, but that’s total bullshit. Freddy Prinze shits out celluloid 5 times more unwatchable than any of this. And I’m not even saying that for the kitsch factor. The narration, the blocking… TOR JOHNSON, BELA LUGOSI, VAMPIRA… By definition the worst movie ever can’t have those actors in it, nor a plot about aliens re-animating the dead – ZOMBIE FASHION to torment the living. Hell, Paul W.S. Anderson re-used the re-animated dead thing controlled by an over-seeing power with that character in RESIDENT EVIL 2, and fucking Roland Emmerich made a whole movie based on the government re-animating the dead to fight for them. Ed Wood was a damn innovator of future big budget filmmaking. Heh. As for GLEN OR GLENDA, you may laugh, but dude… Angora feels fucking hot against your chest… and nylons make your balls feel electric. Check it out! These are the best of Ed Wood!
Fahrenheit 9/11
It’s made over $200 million world wide, and seems to have unleashed a wave of political documentaries/propaganda/infomercials that are sweeping across DVD stores everywhere. I’ve said about as much about this film as I can. What I’m anxious to check out are all the interviews – and all the new stuff that Moore has put on here, like Condoleezza Rice’s 9/11 testimony. The Arab-American comedian feature/story and all the rest. A must see for the pre-Election Day voting frenzy. Like I’ve said before, this is less of a documentary and more of a work of propaganda. As such, it wildly succeeds.
The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck
I love this film. For one, Sharon Tate is just so… alive in the film. Utterly gorgeous and yummy. The comedy is goofy to the extreme. Of course, you should probably have gathered that from the title itself. However, watching this film, you’d have no clue about Roman’s cinematic skill for something like REPULSION or CHINATOWN or THE PIANIST or ROSEMARY’S BABY. In that way, this is like his DARK STAR, if you get my meaning. And that’s a very good thing! Can’t wait to get this one.
Friday the 13th - From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (8 Movies)
Quint got this set apparently. He hasn’t told me a thing about it. He apparently watched the whole thing. But I haven’t seen his report anywhere. How about you? I hear he’s off renting TORQUE in his palatial digs in New Zealand. I’m serious. He flew to New Zealand to watch TORQUE, so he wouldn’t get beat up on general principle. I say, we don’t let him back in the country. OH… Yeah… Ok, so you get all 8 movies. 2 to a disc. Then you get an extras disc with tons of behind the scenes stuff, including Savini telling ya stuff, which means… it’s a required purchase, if you have an ounce of cool in ya. I’ve never watched all 8 of these in a row… this will allow me to live my dream with a reasonable amount of brain damage. Cool.
Hannibal
A truly great story – in a fairly mediocre film. Why is it on my recommends then? Well, I like it. I like it because this is all I got for this grand story. Vin Diesel keeps claiming that he’s going to make HANNIBAL and doing it in the original languages and make it the most epic thing ever, and it certainly has that type of material to work with. But here we have Victor Mature… who, because he happened to be the male lead in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID and KISS OF DEATH – well, he’ll always rule that extra 10%, even in his worst films. And this isn’t one of his worst. It’s also weird seeing Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in this. Just… weird. I like it the same way I like 300 SPARTANS, if you’ve seen that.
Horns and Halos
You know about FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – well this is not that at all. The title HORNS & HALOS refers to a phrase that the author of the book FORTUNATE SON, an unauthorized biography of Dubya, that was recalled by St. Martins and burned, due to controversy over the author having a felony in his history. That author used the phrase “Horns and Halos” in talking about how he meant to portray Bush in his book. The evil and the good… like we’re all capable of. The story of what happened to author James Hatfield, his book, his sources (including some shocking revelations about that) and what not… well, it’s disturbing. It’s a story about a man that tried to reach for legitimacy and was crushed by an awesome political machine. In many ways, it feels like a true life story of Mr. Smith daring to even mention Washington. Remember, just because it is paranoid, doesn’t mean they didn’t get them! Hehehehe… The DVD is filled to the gills with extras and deleted scenes. Amazing stuff.
The Hunger
Beautiful film. Messed up, but wonderful. Bowie, Deneuve and Sarandon feel so real as what they are in the film. Tony Scott’s direction and camera is more like an avante garde art flick, but it works for me here. Totally unlike anything else he’s done. Susan and Catherine are HOT in this! WAY HOT! The DVD is barebones, but if you’re a sucker like me, you’ll lick it up!
It's Alive
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
It’s made over $200 million world wide, and seems to have unleashed a wave of political documentaries/propaganda/infomercials that are sweeping across DVD stores everywhere. I’ve said about as much about this film as I can. What I’m anxious to check out are all the interviews – and all the new stuff that Moore has put on here, like Condoleezza Rice’s 9/11 testimony. The Arab-American comedian feature/story and all the rest. A must see for the pre-Election Day voting frenzy. Like I’ve said before, this is less of a documentary and more of a work of propaganda. As such, it wildly succeeds.
The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck
I love this film. For one, Sharon Tate is just so… alive in the film. Utterly gorgeous and yummy. The comedy is goofy to the extreme. Of course, you should probably have gathered that from the title itself. However, watching this film, you’d have no clue about Roman’s cinematic skill for something like REPULSION or CHINATOWN or THE PIANIST or ROSEMARY’S BABY. In that way, this is like his DARK STAR, if you get my meaning. And that’s a very good thing! Can’t wait to get this one.
Friday the 13th - From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (8 Movies)
Quint got this set apparently. He hasn’t told me a thing about it. He apparently watched the whole thing. But I haven’t seen his report anywhere. How about you? I hear he’s off renting TORQUE in his palatial digs in New Zealand. I’m serious. He flew to New Zealand to watch TORQUE, so he wouldn’t get beat up on general principle. I say, we don’t let him back in the country. OH… Yeah… Ok, so you get all 8 movies. 2 to a disc. Then you get an extras disc with tons of behind the scenes stuff, including Savini telling ya stuff, which means… it’s a required purchase, if you have an ounce of cool in ya. I’ve never watched all 8 of these in a row… this will allow me to live my dream with a reasonable amount of brain damage. Cool.
Hannibal
A truly great story – in a fairly mediocre film. Why is it on my recommends then? Well, I like it. I like it because this is all I got for this grand story. Vin Diesel keeps claiming that he’s going to make HANNIBAL and doing it in the original languages and make it the most epic thing ever, and it certainly has that type of material to work with. But here we have Victor Mature… who, because he happened to be the male lead in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID and KISS OF DEATH – well, he’ll always rule that extra 10%, even in his worst films. And this isn’t one of his worst. It’s also weird seeing Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in this. Just… weird. I like it the same way I like 300 SPARTANS, if you’ve seen that.
Horns and Halos
You know about FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – well this is not that at all. The title HORNS & HALOS refers to a phrase that the author of the book FORTUNATE SON, an unauthorized biography of Dubya, that was recalled by St. Martins and burned, due to controversy over the author having a felony in his history. That author used the phrase “Horns and Halos” in talking about how he meant to portray Bush in his book. The evil and the good… like we’re all capable of. The story of what happened to author James Hatfield, his book, his sources (including some shocking revelations about that) and what not… well, it’s disturbing. It’s a story about a man that tried to reach for legitimacy and was crushed by an awesome political machine. In many ways, it feels like a true life story of Mr. Smith daring to even mention Washington. Remember, just because it is paranoid, doesn’t mean they didn’t get them! Hehehehe… The DVD is filled to the gills with extras and deleted scenes. Amazing stuff.
The Hunger
Beautiful film. Messed up, but wonderful. Bowie, Deneuve and Sarandon feel so real as what they are in the film. Tony Scott’s direction and camera is more like an avante garde art flick, but it works for me here. Totally unlike anything else he’s done. Susan and Catherine are HOT in this! WAY HOT! The DVD is barebones, but if you’re a sucker like me, you’ll lick it up!
It's Alive
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Quint got this set apparently. He hasn’t told me a thing about it. He apparently watched the whole thing. But I haven’t seen his report anywhere. How about you? I hear he’s off renting TORQUE in his palatial digs in New Zealand. I’m serious. He flew to New Zealand to watch TORQUE, so he wouldn’t get beat up on general principle. I say, we don’t let him back in the country. OH… Yeah… Ok, so you get all 8 movies. 2 to a disc. Then you get an extras disc with tons of behind the scenes stuff, including Savini telling ya stuff, which means… it’s a required purchase, if you have an ounce of cool in ya. I’ve never watched all 8 of these in a row… this will allow me to live my dream with a reasonable amount of brain damage. Cool.
Hannibal
A truly great story – in a fairly mediocre film. Why is it on my recommends then? Well, I like it. I like it because this is all I got for this grand story. Vin Diesel keeps claiming that he’s going to make HANNIBAL and doing it in the original languages and make it the most epic thing ever, and it certainly has that type of material to work with. But here we have Victor Mature… who, because he happened to be the male lead in MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID and KISS OF DEATH – well, he’ll always rule that extra 10%, even in his worst films. And this isn’t one of his worst. It’s also weird seeing Terence Hill and Bud Spencer in this. Just… weird. I like it the same way I like 300 SPARTANS, if you’ve seen that.
Horns and Halos
You know about FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – well this is not that at all. The title HORNS & HALOS refers to a phrase that the author of the book FORTUNATE SON, an unauthorized biography of Dubya, that was recalled by St. Martins and burned, due to controversy over the author having a felony in his history. That author used the phrase “Horns and Halos” in talking about how he meant to portray Bush in his book. The evil and the good… like we’re all capable of. The story of what happened to author James Hatfield, his book, his sources (including some shocking revelations about that) and what not… well, it’s disturbing. It’s a story about a man that tried to reach for legitimacy and was crushed by an awesome political machine. In many ways, it feels like a true life story of Mr. Smith daring to even mention Washington. Remember, just because it is paranoid, doesn’t mean they didn’t get them! Hehehehe… The DVD is filled to the gills with extras and deleted scenes. Amazing stuff.
The Hunger
Beautiful film. Messed up, but wonderful. Bowie, Deneuve and Sarandon feel so real as what they are in the film. Tony Scott’s direction and camera is more like an avante garde art flick, but it works for me here. Totally unlike anything else he’s done. Susan and Catherine are HOT in this! WAY HOT! The DVD is barebones, but if you’re a sucker like me, you’ll lick it up!
It's Alive
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
You know about FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – well this is not that at all. The title HORNS & HALOS refers to a phrase that the author of the book FORTUNATE SON, an unauthorized biography of Dubya, that was recalled by St. Martins and burned, due to controversy over the author having a felony in his history. That author used the phrase “Horns and Halos” in talking about how he meant to portray Bush in his book. The evil and the good… like we’re all capable of. The story of what happened to author James Hatfield, his book, his sources (including some shocking revelations about that) and what not… well, it’s disturbing. It’s a story about a man that tried to reach for legitimacy and was crushed by an awesome political machine. In many ways, it feels like a true life story of Mr. Smith daring to even mention Washington. Remember, just because it is paranoid, doesn’t mean they didn’t get them! Hehehehe… The DVD is filled to the gills with extras and deleted scenes. Amazing stuff.
The Hunger
Beautiful film. Messed up, but wonderful. Bowie, Deneuve and Sarandon feel so real as what they are in the film. Tony Scott’s direction and camera is more like an avante garde art flick, but it works for me here. Totally unlike anything else he’s done. Susan and Catherine are HOT in this! WAY HOT! The DVD is barebones, but if you’re a sucker like me, you’ll lick it up!
It's Alive
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Do you know a pregnant couple? Someone expecting a baby? Someone that just had a baby? Well, buy them this! Best baby flick ever. That crazy fucked up baby arm with the claw just rules. I love it. They made two sequels (of course) but I’ll only put this one down, the others are available this month too, but IT’S ALIVE is the one. If you’re expecting… may you be as lucky as the Davis couple!
THE PENALTY
Ok, so you thought Lt. Dan from FORREST GUMP was something? That wasn’t shit. Lon Chaney did it without fey blue socks and digital removal and plates and millions of dollars of production costs. Lon Chaney did the double amputee bit, and it is astonishing to behold. The pain he went through had to be numbing. Kino knocks this disc over the big green wall! They’ve got video tour of some of Chaney’s equipment, original trailers for Chaney’s BIG CITY and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS and one of Chaney’s one-reel westerns, BY THE SUN’S RAYS!!! Plus much much more! This is a great film, with even more reasons to pick it up. Great disc!
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
I love this film – and I have this here – not as a recommendation – but as a warning to fellow ROTLD2 fans. Warners’ has totally fucked up the soundtrack to the film. Different music, crazed sound effects that don’t belong. I’m not sure what the fuck happened here, but this sucks ass. Different music. I’m sure they lost the rights to the original music or had music rights issues and didn’t want to re-up the rights for DVD usage, CHEAP BASTARDS! Fuck this. Get it only if you must.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
If you were one of the lucky folks that had this film playing in limited release at a theater near you, I hope you got to see it. Here ya have a deluxe super edition release of the film. Lots of extras, great Struzan artwork, the soundtrack, a booklet and one helluva great movie. Personally – I love both of Darabont’s follow up features – but I’m a rank sentimentalist commie pinko type I’m told, so maybe that’s my problem. It’s nice to have this title given the treatment it so deserves.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Soledad Miranda. Who? Oh come on, Soledad Miranda, the top ranked gal according to peter meter rankings while watch Franco’s films. You may remember her from VAMPYROS LESBOS, and as much as I adore that bit of Eurocult cinema, this is the one I love even more. From Embryo experimentation to serial killing and seducing. Soledad is on a mission of revenge in this film, and she’s gonna get the job done. It isn’t quite the exploitation masterpiece that last month’s THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE was, but what is? Great music!
TANNER ’88 – Criterion Collection
Oh – Here’s a treat. What happens when you put Altman and Garry Trudeau together and they play in a world of politics? This film dares to be a mockumentary that was shot during the 88 presidential campaign – where Altman and Trudeau created a fake candidate, but put him on the trail like a real one. This was meant for TV – and here all the steps have been brought together and wow, this is a great great great disc to get! Trudeau writing… Altman directing… real media and candidates in the mix… what a trip!
THE THREE FACES OF EVE
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
This is classic Joanne Woodward performance. And one of the better multiple personality films ever made. Made back in the 50’s with that sort of aesthetic going for it, which personally… I love. Some people laugh at this sort of thing, but folks… imagine the horror of actually being stuck at the beginnings of modern treatments for psychological disorders of this type. When it was still unrecognized by most people as even being a condition. Joanne’s performance is electrifying here. Great melodrama.
VAMPYROS LESBOS
Wow, another Jesus Franco flick… and not just any of his 200+ films, but VAMPYROS LESBOS – the mack-daddy of em all. The full cup of scorching hot, Soledad Miranda, stars as Nadina – a vampiress with a taste for female blood, and instead of just timing her visits for the pleasure and convenience and safety of her victims, at a rate of visiting once a month, she just out and out seduces and sucks them dry. As the gay robot would say, “How Wude!” Other than lovely lesbian activity, the key to this film being one of Franco’s best is the score. This score is piping hot. You might have heard some samples via JACKIE BROWN’s soundtrack, but here’s the full on original and it is absolutely not to be missed! Once again, I have to repeat, Soledad Miranda is yummy to the last drop in this. Wonderful cult film, a must for any serious cult film fetishist!
THE WAR ROOM
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Yet another great political documentary, and really – for politically conscious cinephiles, there’s never enough, comes this “GREAT” one. Watching Carville & Stephanopoulos run Clinton’s “War Room” through the 92 Presidential campaign is a fascinating look at modern politics. I’d LOVE to see a similar doc with the same level of access focusing on what Karl Rove does, but he’s a bit too Miss Gulch for that to be allowed, my pretties.
OCTOBER 12th, 2004
BETTY BLUE (Unrated Director’s Cut)
A fantastic film. A chance to own the 185 minute Director’s Cut is something too good to possibly pass up. A story of a gorgeous gal (Beatrice Dalle) that isn’t entirely playing with a full deck and how her belief in a regular fella elevates him into being so much more than he was ever capable of before. Wonderful story. I especially am fond of Dominque Pinon’s drug dealer in the film. But then Pinon has been a bright spot in French Cinema forever it seems. The first of two great French flicks in this column.
BUSH’S BRAIN
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Based on the Novel of the same name, this documentary is essentially – a visual translation of that book. Personally, I was a little disappointed with it, simply because having read the book, there’s really no reason to make this doc, other than to reach people that seem to have problems picking up a book. However, I love the title – I just wish that Karl Rove had allowed or granted interviews with the filmmakers – or that a full documentary focusing upon the mysterious Mr Rove with his consent, but not his control, would be made. He’s probably the most powerful enigma of the last 4 years.
DAMN YANKEES
Now here we go! If you’ve been a fan of Ray Walston’s, but never seen him in DAMN YANKEES than this is a MAJOR treat for you. I love this musical. Bob Fosse’s mambo will never be forgotten! This is one of those musicals that I can definitely imagine being re-made, though I just love this version so much, that it’d tick me off to see it done. Nice transfer on the print, though no real extras. This is one to get, just because the movie rocks!
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Ah, another Political Documentary. This one with incredible production values. Heh. I love the sub-genre of Liberal Science Fiction Cautionary Tales – stuff like SILENT RUNNING, PLANET OF THE APES, THE TIME MACHINE, METROPOLIS and so on. They’re usually born out of a liberal issue, like… take today’s story out of The San Francisco Gate regarding the military developing a bomb like 20 BILLIONS times more powerful than a Nuclear Warhead. Think about that. What the fuck for? I suppose it could come in handy if Mars starts hurdling our way, but damn! With this film, it was probably Bush pulling out of Kyoto – and not joining the World Community in dealing with Global Warming, “hell, that’s what air conditioners are for!” The result is a beautifully cinematic sci-fi vision of doom. Cool. Very Cool. I just wish on the extras that they had wild feeds so we could just hear the radio and news broadcasts that were in the film, without distraction. Those things were hilarious!
THE REN & STIMPY SHOW Uncut (Seasons 1 & 2)
This includes the banned, “Man’s Best Friend” episode which isn’t allowed on TV. Bastards. You’ve got audio commentaries, featurette about the creation of this madness – and over 30 episodes running 418 minutes of gross gooey goodness. How can you say “No” to Spumco?
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT Gift Set – (That’s Entertainment 1,2&3)
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Ok, if you’re a musical fetishist like me, these films are crack. A hodge podge of the greatest musical numbers of all time, hosted by the greats that danced them. Now – why get this giftset? Well, for one… You get all 3 THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT films. However, only available through the Giftset is a Bonus DVD called “THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: TREASURES FROM THE VAULT” with 5 hours of goodies! Suh-Weeeet! Here you get a healthy dose of dream material and toe-tapping fun. This was the dream of Hollywood!
OCTOBER 19th, 2004
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Not a great film, it totally ignores the realities about Alexander’s background and history, but this is more about Richard Burton… and for one, a blonde Richard Burton is just officially BIZARRE. Two, Fredric March is pretty great in this, as is Peter Cushing. The spectacle isn’t what it should be, and the meat of Alexander’s story was just “not appropriate” at the time this film was made. It’ll be fascinating to compare this to Oliver Stone’s film. That will definitely be stocked with the juicier bits of Alexander’s existence.
CONQUEST OF SPACE
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
One of the first serious flicks regarding space. Of course, by the sad realities of today (X –games aside), watching the dreams of Chesley Bonestell and George Pal move on screen is a fantasy as much as science fiction. I love that we have space stations, but I want a space wheel up there. And cool needle point rockets that gleam in the night sky. It also has the third best disposal of a dead body in space scene in film history behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. A must have for Pal – fans. I just recently acquired George Pal’s original Director’s Chair from an auction. It’s so cool to look at that chair and imagine the genius that came from the man whose name adorns the leather back brace. Too cool.
Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)
The greatest full body movie monster design in film history. The Gillman is absolutely king. These Universal sets are just the best deals out there for film geeks. The cost is essentially the price of just CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the extras are not just the documentary about the making of the film (which rules btw), but the second and third film. I, easily, would’ve paid double their asking price, but love that I don’t have to. I only wish they’d gone through the process of digitally restoring these prints minus any flaws in their negatives. Universal Pictures is a great studio because of these films and these titles deserve the same sort of treatment that Disney affords SNOW WHITE or PINNOCHIO. As for the films – The first Creature film is one of my favorite movies. I have it in 16mm, and the scene of the Gillman and Julie Adams swimming is a masterpiece of filmmaking. If you ever get a chance to see it in the original 3D – it’s even more jaw dropping. One, Julie is Jennifer Connelly hot. Two, the Gillman isn’t a man in a suit, nor is he an animated confection. For me, the Gillman lives somewhere in the Amazon, agreed to make this first film, but then felt short changed when he didn’t get “the white woman” and refused to sign on for the sequels, which was when the Man In Suit came in. Cuz – Watching that Creature swim is the greatest monster anything in film history. The motion of his swimming, the underwater photography is startling and frightening. The subsequent two films are fun, I like them, but they just do not capture the magic of the first. Though Clint Eastwood is a gas to see in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE!
D.A.R.Y.L.
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
It’s that NEVERENDING STORY kid as a Robot – and it rules! D.A.R.Y.L. is great entertainment for families, and a film that’s got a lot of nostalgia going for it. Watching D.A.R.Y.L. play video games is kinda way geeky cool, and the film is much better than most of the non-animated ‘family’ films of the day. While I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near as great as SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, it’s a nice film in league with FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR and slightly less cool than EXPLORERS! The DVD is fairly barebones.
ED WOOD
FINALLY! My favorite Johnny Depp film of all time (so far) is finally out! The sheer effervescence of his Ed is amazing in the film. He’s strange, but totally ok with that. As played here, the character is the Patron Saint for the “off,” that is people with dreams, fetishes and the rather normal love of angora. Angora rules. Along with NORTH BY NORTHWEST, this is Martin Landau’s greatest work on-screen. How he elevates the dialogue of Ed Wood’s to something magnificent… it’s the dream of what Ed Wood perhaps hoped for or deluded himself into thinking he was getting. The film is also a bit of a triumph for anyone that makes low budget films. I mean, really…. Ed was using egg cartons, and look… Tim Burton made a movie about him! How cool is that? Lots of extras on this DVD like Depp’s hosting a behind the scenes look… Burton and Landau’s commentary – My dream for Depp’s in-character commentary is alas not here. Sniffle. Great disc and it will be mine!
EXPLORERS
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Bliss! The dream of building your own spaceship in the backyard and going on a Spaceman Spiff like adventure… well… HOW COOL! This is one of those, too good for the mainstream flicks, that Dante unfortunately is sometimes cursed with making. A great film that never had that magic marketing campaign that should have launched it into the stratosphere. River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke and Jason Presson all rule in this movie, and the wild aliens they meet… GREAT! This is a dear film that not nearly enough people seem to worship like me. However, when I showed it at my Saturday Morning Kid’s Club on film, the audience went wild for it… so the film definitely works on audiences – it just never got them to buy tickets in the first place.
GHOSTS OF EDENDALE
Sort of a haunted Stepford style community in Hollywood that lives on what was once the estate of Tom Mix. This is a low budget indie horror flick that kinda sorta works. Not outstanding, but definitely neat. Could’ve been a good episode of AMAZING STORIES – but feels a tad stretched here. I was sucked in by the artwork on the dvd, and frankly…there’s a lot of that style coolness throughout the film, it just isn’t very high quality over all in terms of story or character. If you like low budget indie horror, it’s definitely worth a look.
GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Oddly a very non-political documentary, that is hyper-political due to when it is coming out. This is currently in limited release in theaters and just follows his Vietnam and protest career, not his congressional work. Watching this documentary 4 days before the debate made me pretty confident in Kerry’s ability to slamdunk that debate. Nice to see that the man’s ability to coherently and passionately speak is every bit as on tap today as it was in the 70’s.
HELLBOY: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Giftset)
If you’re a big enough geek to want the Director’s Cut of HELLBOY – then you should probably just go the rest of the way and get this version with the cool SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLE packaged in. I mean, it’s cool! As someone happy to own the Right hand of Doom and the cool as hell big ass gun. I’m a HELLBOY geek. That being said, I haven’t seen this cut of the film finished out. When I went to Prague a million years ago as Guillermo was finishing the last 10 minutes of the film – I saw his cut at that point, and some very strong scenes were cut from that version to the theatrical cut we saw released in theaters last March. I can’t wait to see this dvd though, a damn fine Halloween flick.
INTERMEZZO
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
The film that brought Ingrid Bergman to the screen and began our love affair with her that continued on through CASABLANCA, GASLIGHT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS and so on. She’s intoxicating in this film. So young and beautiful, the amazing thing is she actually became more beautiful as time goes by, but you must remember this, her first English film, a remake of her own Swedish classic of the same title. Leslie Howard and her are great in this film, that is patently romantic – with all the appropriate tears.
The Invisible Man - The Legacy Collection (The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man's Revenge)
THE INVISIBLE MAN is my favorite Universal Monster film. Claude Rains’ performance is electrifying. As I watched this on dvd the other night I was just stunned at what director James Whale was able to pull off with this film. And in the Documentary making of – you’ll probably be amazed at how they did it. It is quite amazing. The other Invisible films are tragically nowhere near the brilliance of Whale’s – though each has it’s high marks. I like Vincent Price in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. INVISIBLE AGENT is just cool – it’s like an old Timely Comic brought to life, with Peter Lorre as a Japanese SpyMaster in a small role that kinda made my whole day. INVISIBLE WOMAN is cute, and the last film, INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE has some amazing effects work, and I love what is done with the “Dog” plotline. A fantastic set!
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
This is one of my favorite films of 2004. It’s like the evil Amelie, that is still all about love. Imagine if Audrey had more malice than whimsy in her heart – and she had her match, who was as cruel and determined as she. This is their tale of daring love. Absolutely magical. Along with BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, this is just heaven for those of us in complicated love. I can not possibly recommend this perverse treat high enough. I LOVE IT!
The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse)
Upon watching the documentary on this set, I can say… Guillermo Del Toro is the Mexican Karl Freund. He’s obsessed with atmosphere, the arcane and the obscene and strikes a similar form as Karl. Heh. Never had a mental picture of Karl before this documentary. If nothing else, that’s reason to get this set. HOWEVER- Watching Rick Baker geek out about Jack Pierce is pretty magnificent! The first film, Karloff’s THE MUMMY is stunning on multiple levels. The make-up and performance from Karloff is exquisite. Zita Johann is so hot as Anckesen-Amon! YUM-MEEE! However, that MUMMY movie is a stand alone. Really – the series doesn’t properly get started till THE MUMMY’S HAND – with that film and Tom Tyler as Kharis, the Mummy… You didn’t have a series and a pervasive narrative thread. When they burnt up that scroll in the first one, that kinda killed off the Mummy. But here, we reinvent the reanimation of the dead through an elixar of life brought on through Tanna Leaves. Tanna Leaves rule! Also we’ve got George Zucco as the High Priest of Karnak – a sacred cult destined to guard the tombs and the secret that Kharis is cursed to protect for all times. Also, Peggy Moran is too cute as the trick shooting daughter of a magician/investor into the expedition played by Cecil Kellaway. Then in MUMMY’S TOMB – Kharis comes back to life, to basically kill all the fools from the first film. But – and this was the shock as I watched MUMMY’S GHOST, which I realized as I was watching… that I somehow haven’t seen since I was a child, but THE MUMMY’S GHOST is the best mummy for one simple reason. The monster wins. I think… I’m not sure, but this is the only film in the genre of “Monster Got The Girl” where the monster got to keep the girl and go unlive happily ever after in a swamp! THIS KICKS UNHOLY ASS! I LOVE IT! And the girl he keeps…. YUMMY! A hot Egyptian girl with white streaks in her hair and a Frazetta-esque body type. Way to go Kharis! The last one, MUMMY’S CURSE – it rules simply because of the whole Louisiana swamp culture storyline. Of the actual series of Universal Monster films, this one is best at telling a coherent continuing storyline. Awesome series!
PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
I have never seen this, but now I will.
SCTV, VOL 2
When I didn’t put a link up for the first SCTV set you people screamed at me, so here ya go. SCTV! Woo Hoo! It ain’t no STRANGE BREW, I’ll give ya that. Heh. This 5 dvd set is packed with Nine 90-minute episodes from the fourth season, Over 90 minutes of special features including new & unreleased material, Commentaries by Dave Thomas, Dick Blasucci, writer John McAndrew, Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara, Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions, Remembers, Pt. 2, The SCTV Writers, The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers,SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards and more.
THE TOM & JERRY Spotlight Collection, The Premiere Volume
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Ok – Now this is one of the discs that I’m most excited about. Not just because I get to hear more Jerry Beck commentary about toons I love, but getting 40 restored and remastered TOM & JERRY cartoons from the absolute top period in which they were made… PLUS – about 50 minutes of documentary behind the scenes material, plus excerpts from ANCHORS AWEIGH and DANGEROUS WHEN WET! Now this is something worth overpaying for – 322 minutes of toontastic joy – and it’s cheap!
The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection (Salvador / Platoon / Wall Street / Talk Radio / Born on the Fourth of July / JFK Director's Cut / The Doors / Heaven and Earth / Natural Born Killers / Nixon / U-Turn / Any Given Sunday Director's Cut)
14 DVDs – an amazing career of films. I’m too tired to chat about all these movies, they’re great, with the exception of HEAVEN AND EARTH, NIXON, U-TURN and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. Those are merely good to excellent. By my count there’s 7 brilliant works on this set. Films filled with scenes we all love. There’s a couple of new Docs on this set, but I don’t have the set to look at, so I can’t really give you details. Sorry.
VAN HELSING
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Yeah, I got it on the list. What ya gonna do about it? It’s obscene caffeine and sugar dosed monster fun. I re-watched it the other day and sure… I want the 3 vampiress’ naked for the whole film making out and sucking blood out of each others’… um, necks, yeah. BUT – ya know what, that’s why I got VAMPYROS LESBOS on this list this month. I got that taken care of! Heh. None of the docs and behind the scenes really go into the detail level I would want, but for most, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
WACKY RACES: The Complete Series
I love this series of toons. I used to get so mad when I’d wake up too late on Saturday morning and miss a race. I kept rooting for the “bad guys” and the team with Dynomutt and the hillbilly version of Scooby. This is like DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, but for Hanna-Barbara characters, but a new one every week. Now why don’t they turn this into a feature live action film? Heh.
OCTOBER 26th, 2004
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
THE CHINA SYNDROME (Special Edition)
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Don’t know what’s special about this Special Edition, but hopefully they go into the whole eerie timing and placing of the film and its poitics after the incident at Three Mile Island. This was the first film I remember Michael Douglas from. I saw this as a kid being brainwashed by hippie parents to fear Nuclear Energy, but I didn’t see Douglas’ earlier films till I found them on my own. But this movie scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it still does today. With the new angle of terrorism possibly targeting a facility like this to engineer a china syndrome… well, that’s what makes this film everybit as important as it ever was.
THE CONTROL ROOM
This doc is about Al-Jazeera’s reporting upon the current Iraq war and the U.S. Think you’re pissed about the Iraq war, wait’ll you get a load of this. Here, you’ll see all the stuff from the war that isn’t through the sanitized war department. This is where you see civilians tormented and killed by our troops. This is not a pretty film, and it shows the horrors of war. The film will shake any viewer that watches it. Incredibly powerful.
DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED Remake
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Ok – the reason to get this version of the film, is you get better extras on top of additional gore. The part where they demonstrate all the various ways they used to blow zombies heads off… well, it’s gore-iffic! The extended cut of the film is also, frankly, just a better film too. It’ll never replace the original, and I still wish it was just called ANYTHING else but the title it has. Oh well.
FORGOTTEN SILVER
This is a great and hard hitting documentary made by Peter Jackson. One of the things I love about Peter is his sense of film history. With this film, he introduced to the world a filmmaking pioneer named Colin MacKenzie, and he managed to use all the power of Weta to restore some of Colin’s films for inclusion today. Unfortunately, what isn’t on this dvd, is the entire silent masterpiece, SALOME by Colin MacKenzie. However, those that attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 3 will never forget getting to see SALOME from beginning to end as the surprise last film of the festival, and as far as I know… that is still the only public screening of MacKenzie’s biblical epic! It’s Peter Jackson’s ability to give back that sets him a part from most filmmakers. This is truly a great and important film documentary!
KILLER NUN
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
MARK OF THE DEVIL
I own original theatrical Barf Bags that were handed out in advance of screening of this film upon release. This film is the film to watch with your sickest friends this Halloween! The disc is loaded with extras, like an interview with Udo Keir – and as someone that has been molested by Udo in person, I have to say – he rules! The film is filled with sadistic nudity, cruel torture and gore. This is all about cleansing those found to be witches and man, this film pulls out the intestines of satan just to make sure. What a way to end this month’s list!
Till next month with Spider-Man 2 and a New Looney Tunes Collection, this is Harry signing out…
Click Here To Visit Harry’s September 2004 DVD Picks & Previews!!!!
Outstanding Nunsploitation film! There’s nothing more stirring than watching the sick sins of sisters of the cloth unleashed! This one stars Anita Ekberg and was BANNED in the UK!!! Blue Underground does another killer job on an obscenely good piece of exploitation! Also – Anita’s lesbian nun lover is excruciatingly hot! Don’t wear the tight pants when watching this, you’ll be in pain.
