japanesedream_72 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
japanesedream_72) wrote2005-10-18 06:14 pm
japanesedream_72) wrote2005-10-18 06:14 pm
Entry tags:
How come they never show this stuff on tv?
There’s something ultra-super-awesome about getting hard-to-find films for super-cheap, especially when those films were made by renound auteurs such as Paul Naschy & cost roughly 50 cents. Of course, when it comes to “Vengeance of the Zombies” (http://aol.imdb.com/title/tt0069165/), it seems as though somebody was paid even less than what I spent on the movie to do the write-up for the packaging:
“These two grave robbers are robbing a tomb when they get trapped inside. Then this voodoo guy shows up & brings the body to life & it kills them. The dead body’s cousin (I think) goes to this séance, then goes to a cursed house to visit this guru.”
I’ll give you a moment to stop laughing your keesters off before I continue.
They got it partly right. The film does open with a man & a woman plotting the robbing of a tomb. Despite some reluctance, the man is persuaded by the woman to plunder the grave of the daughter of a powerful family. Once inside the crypt, the woman unashamedly steals jewelry right off the corpse. Soon, however, they find themselves locked in by a shadowy figure. This masked individual (in my notes, I called him Mystery Man) executes a strange ritual in which a small wax figurine is burned. Suddenly, the corpse is revived, & does, indeed, kill the thieves.
After some slow-motion lurching by the newly-created zombie chick to some very campy 70s music, the plot resurfaces in England. Main characters Elvira (cousin of the aforementioned zombie chick) & her friend, Lawrence (a psychologist who writes books on the occult), are seen at a ceremonial gathering headed by an Indian mystic, Krishna (Naschy), of whom Elvira is a devout follower. After the ceremony, Krishna meets with Elvira & Lawrence (note the leopard sitting calmly & casually on Krishna’s table!). The guru spouts off a bit of personal/cultural history, then mentions he is leaving London to go into seclusion & meditate.
Later that night, Mystery Man shows up outside wherever it is that Elvira is staying (it may be her home, it’s never definitively established). Her dead cousin goes after her, & an older gentleman (possibly Elvira’s father, as we see a funeral a few scenes later & it’s alluded to that the deceased is her dad) is axed in the head by Mystery Man. Another man is hung by the neck in the hallway.
After the funeral, Elvira wants to go find Krishna, whom she believes can give her solace. She ends up in a town called Llangwell, where her aunt & uncle lived before moving to London following the death of her cousin. Turns out Krishna is there, too. He has bought “the devil’s house”, a place with a gruesome history of Satanism & ritual sacrifice.
What follows is a slightly disjointed, somewhat convoluted, occasionally confusing, but ultimately enjoyable film mixing Indian cultural references, zombies, voodoo, & Satanic rites, all underscoring a tale of murder, revenge, &...well, more revenge. The zombified are ghostly, slow-motion entities whose make-up stops at the neck, the homicides are plentiful & varied (one man is forced, via the figurine-burning ritual, to slit his own throat; another is hung upside-down in a meat locker & bled like a butchered animal - speaking of which, a warning to nature-lovers: a chicken gets decapitated). There’s a nifty dream sequence, even a little pseudo-eroticism thrown in for good measure (this mainly consists of kissing scenes, & one shot in which Krishna feels up his shifty-eyed assistant, Kala - clearly, these were the days before silicone), with enough double-crosses & pseudo-hook-ups to rival anything on reality tv (at least for two hours). Cheezy dubbing & that campy-yet-fun soundtrack only serve to enhance the amusement. And there’s something about Naschy himself that makes it hard to take your eyes off him (especially since, in this movie, he plays three roles).
John McCarty’s “Official Splatter Movie Guide, vol. 2” summed up “Vengeance of the Zombies” thusly: “Rare, red-drenched, & not to be missed.” Now that’s a write-up I can agree with.
--------------------------------------------------
Since the day I turned 13, when she rented “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for me because I’d been longing to see it, my mom has aided me in the pursuit of horror films. Within the last 3 or 4 years, I have discovered quite a few movies about which I’d previously only read. And while I’ve been able to locate Dario Argento & Paul Naschy stuff on my own (someday I will get to Lucio Fulci, I promise), it was my mom who not only turned me on to a couple of gems I hadn’t heard of (like “May” & “Ginger Snaps”), but who inadvertently dug up such classics for me as Frank Henenlotter’s “Basket Case”, & now, at long last, “Maniac” http://imdb.com/title/tt0081114/).
The late Joe Spinell - looking a bit more like Ron Jeremy here than Willie Cicci, the character he portrayed in the first two “Godfather” movies - gives a sensationally disturbing performance as Frank Zito, a thoroughly unbalanced individual with some ultra-serious mother issues. He stalks & murders people - the majority of which are female - at random. After death, the ladies are scalped, their hair & clothes used to adorn several mannequins Frank keeps in his dingy New York apartment. They - unlike his mother - will never abandon him.
Pretty Brit Caroline Munro plays Anna, a professional photographer, who piques Frank’s interest after she snaps his picture in the park. There is a genuine toss-up, it seems, between Frank’s twisted perception of the world in general (& of women, in particular), & what may be an honest attraction to Anna. She is, after all, the first woman he doesn’t hunt down & scalp within 10 minutes of meeting her.
According to the video’s liner notes, written by the film’s director, William Lustig, Spinell - the driving creative force behind the film as well as its star - researched a number of serial killers in detail, incorporating various aspects of his study into the character of Frank. Well, doing his homework paid off for Spinell...perhaps a little too well, in fact.
Author John McCarty wrote about “Maniac” in two of his books, “Splatter: Breaking the Last Taboo of the Screen”, & “The Official Splatter Movie Guide, vol. 1”. In the former, there is a chapter dedicated to special effects wizard Tom Savini, who created the film’s grisly death sequences, including one of the most spectacular cinematic demises I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. However, a mere four years after the making of “Maniac”, Savini, in an interview conducted for the book, cites the film as being the least favourite of those he’s worked on, adding, “Well, it’s just sleaze...People aren’t too fond of ‘Maniac’. They like the effects, but I would have preferred them to have been in a better showcase.” (Note to Mr. Savini: Oh yeah, like “The Ripper” was any good!) In the latter of McCarty’s aforementioned works, he writes of Savini disavowing the film, as well as noting, “Splatter fans tend to hate it also for being too ugly & depressing.” And since when have you seen a happy horror movie? If anything, the realistically gritty atmosphere of the film enhances the dreadfulness of the already unhinged Frank (who does occasionally display flashes of normality, particularly on his initial visit to Anna’s studio, & in the deleted ‘date’ scene, where he takes her to dinner) & the murders he commits. It works in the same way the heaviness of “Eraserhead” works, or the grimness of “Panic In Needle Park” works - augmenting the story in such a way that the audience is feeling as much as watching while the events unfold.
As oft-maligned as it may be, “Maniac” made it all the way to the Cannes Film Festival, & likely other parts of Europe, as well. My mom was fortunate enough to have obtained the 10th Anniversary Edition of the film, which includes the notes from Mr. Lustig (dedicating the video to Joe Spinell), the deleted scene, & footage from the sequel - in which Frank has become a Gacy-esque clown called Mr. Robbie, avenging the mistreatment of children (but which was never completed due to Spinell’s untimely death). Also included are theatrical trailers for “Maniac” - at least 15 in English (they must’ve advertised the HELL out of this thing!), plus Italian, French, & German.
In this era of largely unoriginal concepts (at least, this side of Japan) & CGI-happy visuals, “Maniac” still holds up after 25 years. The unsettling ambience it creates is palpable; the stark realism & primal hunter-vs-hunted fear generated by the murder scenes is strong enough to have you talking to the screen, urging potential victims to flee or breathing a sigh of relief when you think they’ve gotten away. The underlying psychological aspects of the main character, though vaguely explained (&, occasionally, symbolically depicted), are compelling to watch, & the film deserves a certain amount of respect for not only being one man’s unique vision, but for the strong sentiment it inspired in both fans & film-makers alike.
Horror buffs need to see this one because it’s a classic. And whether you like it or not, I guarantee you won’t soon forget it.
“These two grave robbers are robbing a tomb when they get trapped inside. Then this voodoo guy shows up & brings the body to life & it kills them. The dead body’s cousin (I think) goes to this séance, then goes to a cursed house to visit this guru.”
I’ll give you a moment to stop laughing your keesters off before I continue.
They got it partly right. The film does open with a man & a woman plotting the robbing of a tomb. Despite some reluctance, the man is persuaded by the woman to plunder the grave of the daughter of a powerful family. Once inside the crypt, the woman unashamedly steals jewelry right off the corpse. Soon, however, they find themselves locked in by a shadowy figure. This masked individual (in my notes, I called him Mystery Man) executes a strange ritual in which a small wax figurine is burned. Suddenly, the corpse is revived, & does, indeed, kill the thieves.
After some slow-motion lurching by the newly-created zombie chick to some very campy 70s music, the plot resurfaces in England. Main characters Elvira (cousin of the aforementioned zombie chick) & her friend, Lawrence (a psychologist who writes books on the occult), are seen at a ceremonial gathering headed by an Indian mystic, Krishna (Naschy), of whom Elvira is a devout follower. After the ceremony, Krishna meets with Elvira & Lawrence (note the leopard sitting calmly & casually on Krishna’s table!). The guru spouts off a bit of personal/cultural history, then mentions he is leaving London to go into seclusion & meditate.
Later that night, Mystery Man shows up outside wherever it is that Elvira is staying (it may be her home, it’s never definitively established). Her dead cousin goes after her, & an older gentleman (possibly Elvira’s father, as we see a funeral a few scenes later & it’s alluded to that the deceased is her dad) is axed in the head by Mystery Man. Another man is hung by the neck in the hallway.
After the funeral, Elvira wants to go find Krishna, whom she believes can give her solace. She ends up in a town called Llangwell, where her aunt & uncle lived before moving to London following the death of her cousin. Turns out Krishna is there, too. He has bought “the devil’s house”, a place with a gruesome history of Satanism & ritual sacrifice.
What follows is a slightly disjointed, somewhat convoluted, occasionally confusing, but ultimately enjoyable film mixing Indian cultural references, zombies, voodoo, & Satanic rites, all underscoring a tale of murder, revenge, &...well, more revenge. The zombified are ghostly, slow-motion entities whose make-up stops at the neck, the homicides are plentiful & varied (one man is forced, via the figurine-burning ritual, to slit his own throat; another is hung upside-down in a meat locker & bled like a butchered animal - speaking of which, a warning to nature-lovers: a chicken gets decapitated). There’s a nifty dream sequence, even a little pseudo-eroticism thrown in for good measure (this mainly consists of kissing scenes, & one shot in which Krishna feels up his shifty-eyed assistant, Kala - clearly, these were the days before silicone), with enough double-crosses & pseudo-hook-ups to rival anything on reality tv (at least for two hours). Cheezy dubbing & that campy-yet-fun soundtrack only serve to enhance the amusement. And there’s something about Naschy himself that makes it hard to take your eyes off him (especially since, in this movie, he plays three roles).
John McCarty’s “Official Splatter Movie Guide, vol. 2” summed up “Vengeance of the Zombies” thusly: “Rare, red-drenched, & not to be missed.” Now that’s a write-up I can agree with.
--------------------------------------------------
Since the day I turned 13, when she rented “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for me because I’d been longing to see it, my mom has aided me in the pursuit of horror films. Within the last 3 or 4 years, I have discovered quite a few movies about which I’d previously only read. And while I’ve been able to locate Dario Argento & Paul Naschy stuff on my own (someday I will get to Lucio Fulci, I promise), it was my mom who not only turned me on to a couple of gems I hadn’t heard of (like “May” & “Ginger Snaps”), but who inadvertently dug up such classics for me as Frank Henenlotter’s “Basket Case”, & now, at long last, “Maniac” http://imdb.com/title/tt0081114/).
The late Joe Spinell - looking a bit more like Ron Jeremy here than Willie Cicci, the character he portrayed in the first two “Godfather” movies - gives a sensationally disturbing performance as Frank Zito, a thoroughly unbalanced individual with some ultra-serious mother issues. He stalks & murders people - the majority of which are female - at random. After death, the ladies are scalped, their hair & clothes used to adorn several mannequins Frank keeps in his dingy New York apartment. They - unlike his mother - will never abandon him.
Pretty Brit Caroline Munro plays Anna, a professional photographer, who piques Frank’s interest after she snaps his picture in the park. There is a genuine toss-up, it seems, between Frank’s twisted perception of the world in general (& of women, in particular), & what may be an honest attraction to Anna. She is, after all, the first woman he doesn’t hunt down & scalp within 10 minutes of meeting her.
According to the video’s liner notes, written by the film’s director, William Lustig, Spinell - the driving creative force behind the film as well as its star - researched a number of serial killers in detail, incorporating various aspects of his study into the character of Frank. Well, doing his homework paid off for Spinell...perhaps a little too well, in fact.
Author John McCarty wrote about “Maniac” in two of his books, “Splatter: Breaking the Last Taboo of the Screen”, & “The Official Splatter Movie Guide, vol. 1”. In the former, there is a chapter dedicated to special effects wizard Tom Savini, who created the film’s grisly death sequences, including one of the most spectacular cinematic demises I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. However, a mere four years after the making of “Maniac”, Savini, in an interview conducted for the book, cites the film as being the least favourite of those he’s worked on, adding, “Well, it’s just sleaze...People aren’t too fond of ‘Maniac’. They like the effects, but I would have preferred them to have been in a better showcase.” (Note to Mr. Savini: Oh yeah, like “The Ripper” was any good!) In the latter of McCarty’s aforementioned works, he writes of Savini disavowing the film, as well as noting, “Splatter fans tend to hate it also for being too ugly & depressing.” And since when have you seen a happy horror movie? If anything, the realistically gritty atmosphere of the film enhances the dreadfulness of the already unhinged Frank (who does occasionally display flashes of normality, particularly on his initial visit to Anna’s studio, & in the deleted ‘date’ scene, where he takes her to dinner) & the murders he commits. It works in the same way the heaviness of “Eraserhead” works, or the grimness of “Panic In Needle Park” works - augmenting the story in such a way that the audience is feeling as much as watching while the events unfold.
As oft-maligned as it may be, “Maniac” made it all the way to the Cannes Film Festival, & likely other parts of Europe, as well. My mom was fortunate enough to have obtained the 10th Anniversary Edition of the film, which includes the notes from Mr. Lustig (dedicating the video to Joe Spinell), the deleted scene, & footage from the sequel - in which Frank has become a Gacy-esque clown called Mr. Robbie, avenging the mistreatment of children (but which was never completed due to Spinell’s untimely death). Also included are theatrical trailers for “Maniac” - at least 15 in English (they must’ve advertised the HELL out of this thing!), plus Italian, French, & German.
In this era of largely unoriginal concepts (at least, this side of Japan) & CGI-happy visuals, “Maniac” still holds up after 25 years. The unsettling ambience it creates is palpable; the stark realism & primal hunter-vs-hunted fear generated by the murder scenes is strong enough to have you talking to the screen, urging potential victims to flee or breathing a sigh of relief when you think they’ve gotten away. The underlying psychological aspects of the main character, though vaguely explained (&, occasionally, symbolically depicted), are compelling to watch, & the film deserves a certain amount of respect for not only being one man’s unique vision, but for the strong sentiment it inspired in both fans & film-makers alike.
Horror buffs need to see this one because it’s a classic. And whether you like it or not, I guarantee you won’t soon forget it.
no subject
Wow. There's cheap, and then there's cheap. I hate to say it, but do you think the DVDs are 100% legal?
no subject
no subject
Because TV sucks, I guess.
((((((((((((MONDO KAMO-CHAN HUGS)))))))))))))))))
no subject
((((((((((((MONDO KAMO-CHAN HUGS)))))))))))))))))
no subject
no subject
Hey, if you ever meet Savini again, you gotta ask him for me why he doesn't like that film.
no subject