Categorie archief: Films

Vanishing Point

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Written by: Malcolm Hart, G. Cabrera Infante
Cast: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin

Year / Country: 1971, USA
Running Time: 94 mins.

This classic carsploitation movie really has two main characters; Kowalski and a 1970 white Dodge Challenger. That’s right, the same Dodge Challenger used by Tarantino in Death Proof. Kowalski is a born driver who has no real purpose. Except to bring the Dodge from Denver to San Francisco. He drives across Colorado, Nevada and California with the police on his tail who want to bust them for some minor felonies.

Kowalski is assisted by the DJ of a radio station named Super Soul, who provides him with police frequency info. He also entertains his listeners with a groovy rock soundtrack. Through flashbacks we learn more about the cool Kowalski. How he is a Vietnam vet, a former cop, and a professional road racer. Over the years he has lost everything, including his girlfriend. The flashbacks also offer some sort of explanation for his unexpected action at the end, though it remains mysterious.

The excellent race scenes and car stunts alone make this film worth your while. But apart from that, it offers an interesting view on existentialism. It’s about a guy who just drives and only stops to tank, buy some speed or meet the occasional strange and colorful character like an old snake catcher, a pacifist biker and two weird hitchhikers’ who want to rob him. The beautiful landscapes also help in making this a very enjoyable road trip.

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Biography: Richard C. Sarafian (1930, New York – 2013, Santa Monica) was an American screenwriter, actor and director who started his long career by directing episodes for successful western and crime series. In 1981 he produced what is probably his greatest success; The Gangster Chronicles, an emmy-winning TV series about the rise of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lanski. He also portrayed real-life gangsters Jack Dragna and Paul Castellano himself in the films Bugsy and Gotti.

Filmography (a selection): Maverick (1961, TV episode), Bronco (1961, TV episode), The Roaring 20’s (1961, TV episode), Cheyenne (1961/62, TV episodes), Terror at Black Falls (1962), Lawman (1961/62, TV episodes), The Gallant Men (1962/63, TV episodes), 77 Sunset Strip (1962/63, TV episodes), The Twilight Zone (1963, TV episode), Andy (1965)
Ben Casey (1963-65, TV episodes), The Wild Wild West (1965, TV episodes), Batman (1966, TV episodes), Jericho (1966, TV episodes), The Iron Horse (1967, TV episode), The Guns of Will Sonnett (1967, TV episodes), I Spy (1966-68, TV episodes), Gunsmoke (1965-68, TV episodes), Run Wild, Run Free (1969), Fragment of Fear (1970), Vanishing Point (1971), Man in the Wilderness (1971), Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973), The Next Man (1976), The African Queen (1977, TV), Sunburn (1979), The Gangster Chronicles (1981, TV series), The Bear (1984), Wildside (1985, TV episodes), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Street Justice (1989), Solar Crisis (1990)

Death Race 2000

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Paul Bartel
Written by: Ib Melchior (story), Robert Thom, Charles Griffith
Cast: David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov

Year / Country: 1975, USA
Running Time: 84 mins.

A future race takes place annually whereby the contestants have to kill pedestrians to score points. This is the latest gladiator-like event to please the bloodthirsty crowd.

The main character Frankenstein (Carradine) is a great anti-hero. He’s the most popular driver due to winning a number of previous editions of the race. After losing a few limbs, he has mechanical parts fitted in him that make him an even more efficient racer. With his black cape and mask he looks like a pre-Star Wars Darth Vader. His arch rival Machine Gun Joe is portrayed by a young Sylvester Stallone, who got his name by unloading his machine gun in the audience.

This cult gem from the seventies is produced by Roger Corman, king of the B-movie cheapies. The carmageddon concept works well, and you get to enjoy the characters that go by names of Nero the Hero and Herman the German. The makers obviously had a lot of fun shooting this film, and they never forgot what they were making; a funny, violent action B-movie with some inventive dialogues and situations. Watch this film and you’ll have a great time for sure!

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Biography: Paul Bartel (1938, New York – 2000, New York) majored in theater arts at UCLA and studied film directing in Rome. After getting his first work experience with Roger Corman he directed a number of low budget cult films. He also worked as a writer and an actor. He died in 2000 from a heart attack.

Filmography: The Secret Cinema (1968, short), Naughty Nurse (1969, short), Private Parts (1972), Death Race 2000 (1975), Cannonball! (1976), Eating Raoul (1982), Not for Publication (1984), Lust in the Dust (1985), The Longshot (1986), Amazing Stories (1986/87, TV episodes), Shelf Life (1993), The Comic Strip Presents…(1993, TV episode), Clueless (1996, TV episode)

Cult Radar: Part 1

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon.com is glad to explore the video trenches to find that oddball treasure between the piles of crap out there. Of Course, a treasure in this context can also be a film that’s so shockingly bad it’s worth a look, or something so bizarre that cult fans just have to see it. Join us on our quest and learn what we learn. Hopefully we’ll uncover some well-hidden cult gems.

Researched by: Jeppe Kleijngeld

Stink of Flesh (USA, 2005)

Directed by: Scott Phillips
Written by: Scott Phillips
Cast: Kurly Tlapoyawa, Ross Kelly, Diva, Billy Garberina

Matool roams a zombie-infested America armed only with his fists, some large nails and a hammer. After he escapes some tight situations he gets abducted by the mysterious couple Nathan and Dexy. It turns out that Nathan likes to watch other men bang his wife while he watches. Matool takes on the job enthusiastically while zombies and other lusty survivors head towards their hide-out. Ultra low-budget sexploitation splatter film has the occasional outrageous moment, witty line and stylish kill. But too many flaws are still transparent. The acting sucks and so does the sound (despite some good use of music). And the story, though original in a way, goes ultimately nowhere. It’s a shame this flick’s great tagline: ‘how do you lead an alternative lifestyle…When everybody’s dead?’ is better than the flick itself.

Zombie Holocaust (Italy, 1980)

Directed by: Marino Girolami
Written by: Fabrizio De Angelis, Romano Scandariato
Cast: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Sherry Buchanan

Body parts go missing in a New York hospital. It quickly turns out that Moluccan cannibals are terrorizing the country. An expedition leaves for the Muluccan island Kito to investigate the case. Over there, they stumble upon a cannibalistic tribe and a bloodthirsty doctor that experiments with reviving the dead. So begins a terrible struggle for survival. Although the story isn’t really carried in a convincing way, one can see why this is a favorite among fantastic film lovers. It certainly contains enough gory action, suspense and beautiful locations to forgive it its clumsy mise-en-scène and not too great acting. If this is your thing, you should certainly check it out.

Santo Vs. the She-Wolves (Mexico, 1976)
OT: Santo vs. las lobas

Directed by: Rubén Galindo, Jaime Jiménez Pons
Written by: Jaime Jiménez Pons, Ramón Obón
Cast: Santo, Rodolfo de Anda, Gloria Mayo, Jorge Russek

The legendary Mexican wrestler Santo stars in his 48th feature film (out of 54!). Our silver masked hero takes on an army of werewolves that want to take possession of the earth and destroy all humans. To do this he has to annihilate their entire army before the night of the red moon ends. Weird and often ridiculous plot takes some fun away from this campy mix of supernatural mystery and action. Santo gets far too little chance to display his fantastic wrestling moves. Only during some matches in the beginning and a few brief action scenes towards the end he gets to show who’s the boss. Therefore, the viewer starts to wonder how tough Santo really is, a fatal flaw in a superhero movie. The acting, costumes and effects are pretty terrible, and the extremely disappointing ending deserves special mention. Reasonable DVD transfer available from Yuke Pictures, but maybe it’s better to wait for some other Santo movies to come along.

Detroit 9000 (USA, 1973)

Directed by: Arthur Marks
Written by: Orville H. Hampton
Cast: Hari Rhodes, Alex Rocco, Vonetta McGee

Quentin Tarantino is never shy to lend his name to exploitation film presentations. This flick was recently released under the Rolling Thunder Pictures label, just like The Mighty Peking Man and Switchblade Sisters. Tarantino’s name is all over the cover, so it can profit from the buzz around Grindhouse. One can easily see why he likes this. It’s a pretty gripping cop-drama that contains sex, a blaxploitation message, plenty of shootings, and a funky soundtrack. The characters are not really compelling, except Alex Rocco’s cynical detective Danny Bassett. There’s a little too much yakking about black and white issues, but it is still a pretty entertaining viewing. The twisty ending is also a nice touch.

War of the Monsters (Japan, 1966)
OT: Daikaijû kettô: Gamera tai Barugon

Directed by: Shigeo Tanaka
Written by: Nisan Takahashi
Cast: Kojiro Howgo, Kyoto Enami, Yuzo Hayakawa

This second installment in the Gamera series sees three treasure hunters find an opal that turns out to be the egg of monster Baragon. I was hoping for some inventive special effects but ended up very bored and disappointed. First I had to sit through forty minutes of sleep-inducing build-up. Then the action arrived in the form of two men dressed in ludicrous monster-suits fight each other around terrible looking scale models. Gamera (a ‘huge’ turtle) gets defeated within five minutes, so we are forced to watch Baragon (a dinosaur of sorts) roam around, looking stupid for another forty-five minutes. I thought the movie was black and white, until I noticed a blue ray (no pun intended). That’s how great the DVD-release from Alpha Video is. No redeeming qualities at all which makes this a complete piece of garbage.

Zombie Holocaust

 

The Beyond

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

OT: E tu vivrai nel terrore – L’aldilà

Director: Lucio Fulci
Written by: Dardano Sacchetti, Giorgio Mariuzzo, Lucio Fulci
Cast: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale, Al Cliver

Year / Country: 1981, Italy
Running Time: 87 mins.

Liza moves into an old hotel in Louisiana, which, according to the occult book Eibon, has been built on one of the seven gates to hell. During the renovation strange events start to occur and it doesn’t take long before the undead roam all over the hotel. Liza and other survivors fight the evil with frantic efforts.

The original version of The Beyond wasn’t received well by Fulci fans in 1981. Somehow much of the gore had been cut out. Fulci fan Quentin Tarantino dug up the original print and got it released in theaters in 1998. Now the gore is back big time.

Some nasty highlights include a crucifixion, a bunch of spiders ripping apart a face, an eyeball torn out of a socket and an exploding head. It would be almost comical if it wasn’t so disgusting. Some great compositions, make-up effects and creepy music carry this flick above the average zombie-romp.

As for acting, story and suspense: oh well, it’s a Fulci film. For suspense watch Argento. Fulci is all about the gore. And he delivers with this one. The ending is also neat. So if you’re up for it, check out the DVD and enter hell with Italian shock master Lucio Fulci.

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Biography: Lucio Fulci (1927, Rome – 1996, Rome) originally studied medicine but quickly turned to filmmaking instead. He started his film career with directing comedies, musicals and spaghetti westerns. Later he turned to Italian shock horror films and made a name for himself as the goriest director ever. His international career came off the ground in 1979 when he directed Zombi 2, an unofficial sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which had been released in Italy under the title Zombies. Fulci died from diabetes in 1996.

Filmography (a selection): The Thieves (1959), The Jukebox Kids (1959), Getting Away with It the Italian Way (1962), The Strange Type (1963), The Maniacs (1964), 002 Operation Moon (1965), How We Stole the Atomic Bomb (1967), The Conspiracy of Torture (1969), A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971), Don’t Torture Donald Duck (1972), White Fang (1973), Challenge to White Fang (1974), Four of the Apocalypse (1975), Silver Saddle (1978), Zombi 2 (1979), City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981), The New York Ripper (1982), Evil Eye (1982), The New Gladiators (1984), Dangerous Obsession (1986), Zombi 3 (1988), Demonia (1990), Door to Silence (1991)