Cult Radar: Part 10

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

The final one?

FilmDungeon.com is glad to explore the video trenches to find that oddball treasure between the piles of crap out there. Off 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

Westworld (USA, 1973)

Directed by: Michael Crichton
Written by: Michael Crichton
Cast: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

Before the big budget HBO-series, there was the cult movie Westworld. And it’s a blast also! Delos Vacation is the vacation of the future today. Go to Roman World, Medieval World or Westworld to fuck and kill. But, as usually happens in movies about AI, robots get tired of being humanity’s servants and go rogue. The decadent will pay for their behaviour! Much like the vacation advertised by Delos, Westworld is Big Fun.

Enemy Territory (USA, 1987)

Directed by: Peter Manoogian
Written by: Stuart Kaminsky, Bobby Liddell
Cast: Gary Frank, Ray Parker Jr., Jan-Michael Vincent

An insurance agent and phone repairman get trapped at night in a massive tower building. This is the territory of the Vampires, a deadly gang. What follows is the typical ‘stalk and kill’ scenario. Unfortunately, the movie did not age well and is thus not very tense by today’s standards. The acting is also poor, so unfortunately there is not much to recommend this for.

Starship Troopers: Invasion (Japan / USA, 2012)

Directed by: Shinji Aramaki
Written by: Flint Dille (screenplay), Robert A. Heinlein (novel)
Cast (voices): Leraldo Anzaldua, Shelley Calene-Black, Luci Christian

Third sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s original sci-fi classic Starship Troopers from 1997 and this time it is animated. Want to know more? The first sequel was horrible and the second was not all that great. This one is a pretty decent made-for-DVD flick, much like Clone Wars is for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The first part is mostly marine macho bullshit, but the animated girls make it all worthwhile (all the animation is pretty well done). In the second part, the makers actually manage to add a story worth adding to this bug-infested universe. Could have done with a little more suspense and over the top gore, but it is certainly worth a look.

Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (Italy, 1988)

Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Written by: Claudio Fragasso (story), Claudio Fragasso (screenplay)
Cast: Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, Ottaviano Dell’Acqua

This masterpiece (originally called Zombi 3 in Italy) is a cash-in on Zombie Flesh Eaters/Zombi 2 which was made to profit from the zombie-rage caused by Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which was released as Zombi in Italy. Still with me? This one is about an infection on a small island caused by the military working on bacterial weapons (again). The virus causes people to eat each other. The zombies in this film are the first fast & furious zombies(*1) I’ve seen, that would later appear in films such as 28 Days Later that resurrected the genre. And some of them even talk. Not that surprising though, this was three years after Bub(*2) after all. They are killed pretty easily though. No brain impalement required. Though not as atmospheric as the original Zombie Flesh Eaters, Fulci still delivers in terms of shocks and bad taste. To be concluded by Zombie Flesh Eaters 3/Zombi 4.

*1 At least some of them are. Others are as slow and dumb as ever.
*2 Of Day of the Dead fame

Zombie Flesh Eaters 3 (Italy, 1989)

Directed by: Claudio Fragasso
Written by: Rossella Drudi, Rossella Drudi
Cast: Jeff Stryker, Candice Daly, Massimo Vanni

Whoever green-lit this dog? Exploiting the extremely capable zombie master Romero is one thing, but at least come up with a rip-off that delivers some of the goodies. The acting in this Italian piece of trash is HORRIBLE and so are the dialogues. The direction is a complete joke now that Fulci left. This distracts so much that watching it is a complete waste of time. Only for the braindead, others avoid at all costs.

Westworld

Enemy Territory

Starship Troopers: Invasion

House on the Edge of the Park (Italy, 1980)

Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Written by: Gianfranco Clerici, Vincenzo Mannino
Cast: David Hess, Annie Belle, Christian Borromeo

From the director of Cannibal Holocaust comes an early home invasion flick, very much like Funny Games. A psycho and his simpleton buddy crash a party of young folks and as the night progresses, they use (sexual) violence on them. Often quite unpleasant to watch, but the acting is pretty decent. With a nice little twist at the end.

The Cars That Ate Paris (Australia, 1974)

Directed by: Peter Weir
Written by: Peter Weir, Keith Gow, Piers Davies
Cast: John Meillon, Terry Camilleri, Kevin Miles

Ozploitation flick about the small town of Paris, where the inhabitants cause fatal car crashes to plunder the vehicles. Strange early creation of Australian director Peter Weir, who went on to make great films like The Truman Show, Fearless and Dead Poet Society. This one provides in mood and production design (low budget, but cool), but misses the finer touches that Weir displayed in his later work. A must see? No. But interesting and entertaining enough.

Space Shift (USA / UK, 1992)

Directed by: Anthony Hickox
Written by: Anthony Hickox
Cast: Zach Galligan, Monika Schnarre, Martin Kemp

This masterpiece, also known as Waxwork II: Lost in Time, is a sequel to the 1988 film, Waxwork. After dealing with evil waxwork, this time the heroes travel through time in what appears to be a horror reenactment game. They become part of stories like Frankenstein, Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The writing of this homage is not very well done. But is does feature legend Bruce Campbell in an amusing role.

Mega Force (Hong Kong / USA, 1982)

Directed by: Hal Needham
Written by: Bob Kachler, James Whittaker, Albert S. Ruddy, Hal Needham, Andre Morgan
Cast: Barry Bostwick, Michael Beck, Persis Khambatta

From the director of Smokey and the Bandit comes another hilarious eighties classic. About a phantom force, armed with the latest technology, that is called into action whenever geopolitical problems arise. The leader of the team: Ace Hunter! And the action, stunts and gadgets can compare with James Bond… almost. Worth watching if only for the soundtrack and images of the ‘MegaForce’ on their special motorcycles.

Assault on Precinct 13 (USA, 1976)

Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: John Carpenter
Cast: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer

Suspenseful early flick from great horror maestro John Carpenter. About L.A. gangs who team up to assault a nearly abandoned police station kamikaze-style. Very tense atmosphere and excellent character building. Remade in 2005 with Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Byrne, but the original is better.

House on the Edge of the Park

Space Shift

Mega Force

© FilmDungeon.com, October 2019

[Klaar voor de => “AI-revolutie”]

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Machines die slimmer zijn dan mensen. Het kan realiteit worden in de toekomst en daar zitten veel haken en ogen aan. Verschillende topexperts brengen de implicaties in kaart in de documentaire We Need To Talk About A.I.

In deze fase zijn we omringt door Narrow AI, kunstmatige intelligentie die een specifieke taak veel beter dan mensen kan uitvoeren. Bijvoorbeeld schaken, autorijden, beleggen, een vliegtuig besturen en gezichten herkennen. Deze AI is vergelijkbaar met een autistische savant. Dit is indrukwekkend, maar staat nog ver af van A.G.I.: Artificial General Intelligence. Mocht dit ooit arriveren, wat gaat er dan gebeuren? De scenario’s in films zijn meestal niet erg rooskleurig. Denk maar aan The Terminator, The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey en Ex Machina. Ook verschillende publieke figuren hebben gewaarschuwd voor de gevaren van AI, zoals Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking en Bill Gates.

Een van de gevaren is dat AGI-machines niet noodzakelijk dezelfde doelen als de mensheid nastreven: het goal alignment probleem. Bijvoorbeeld, wanneer de missie wereldvrede is, dan vindt de AI het misschien wel een goed idee om het hele menselijke ras uit te roeien. Zie bovenstaande films voor dergelijke scenario’s. De film die waarschijnlijk het meest realistische beeld geeft is 2001: A Space Odyssey. De boordcomputer HAL van het ruimteschip Discovery One besluit dat hij de missie naar Jupiter beter zonder bemanning kan uitvoeren, en probeert astronauten om zeep te helpen. Een duidelijk goal alignment probleem. Maar veel AI-experts worden boos van dit soort bangmakerij. Het is onmogelijk om ver vooruit te kijken bij technologische ontwikkelingen. We moeten gewoon bouwen, experimenteren en leren van wat er goed en fout gaat.

Dat kan zo zijn, maar er is wel een grote zorg die tijdig geadresseerd moet worden. Als AGI wordt ontwikkeld kan dat de machtsverhoudingen op de wereld enorm verstoren. Stel dat een dictator als Poetin, Trump of Xi als eerste AGI in handen krijgt… Ik durf er niet aan de denken. Of mogelijk even verschrikkelijk; een tech-gigant als Google of Facebook die ermee aan de haal gaat. Dit is een winner takes all contest. Degene die het als eerste krijgt zal binnen de kortste keren iedere industrie domineren. Hier moeten we afspraken over maken of het kan rampzalig uitpakken.

Maar er is ook heel veel dat AGI kan brengen. Een paar voorbeelden: tijdig de signalen herkennen van hartproblemen, kanker en suïcide. Het sterk verbeteren van verkeersveiligheid. Het laten slagen van veel meer operaties met robotchirurgie. Maar ook het mogelijk maken van een meer gelijkwaardige verdeling van welvaart binnen een vrije markt economie. En zorgen voor meer duurzaamheid en minder oorlog.

Dit klinkt idyllisch, maar een keerzijde hiervan kan weer zijn het inleveren van vrijheid. Een AI dictatorschap dus. Een tussenvorm kan zijn dat de AI als scenarioplanner fungeert die de mens alle ideale beleidsvoorstellen voorlegt. Maar de mensen blijven beslissen. We moeten hoe dan ook nadenken over hoeveel autonomie we machines geven. Dat geldt bijvoorbeeld ook voor zelfrijdende auto’s die ethische keuzes moeten maken, zoals het laten sterven van hun passagier of het inrijden op een groep kinderen. Wie beslist?

Er komt nogal wat bij kijken. En gezien de enorme revolutie die AI gaat inluiden is het niet verkeerd als hier zoveel mogelijk risicomanagement op los te laten. Alles wat er mogelijk verkeerd kan gaan moet in kaart worden gebracht en alle mogelijke maatregelen moeten worden genomen om deze risico’s in te dammen. De vuistregel van riskmanagement-expert Nassim Nicholas Taleb is hier van toepassing: ‘wat moeder natuur doet, is rigoureus totdat het tegendeel is bewezen; wat mens en wetenschap doen, is gebrekkig totdat het tegendeel is bewezen.’ We zijn gewaarschuwd.

Warrior Wisdom #2: The True Way

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Magomura Kanbei: Lord Ogami, you are an assassin. You receive money to kill. I am a hired hand, I receive money for my services. What is the way of the ‘True Warrior’ that you spoke of? And does such a warrior exist? I am prepared to stake my life in search of the answer. Once again, I request a duel.

Ogami Itto: I accept.

Magomura Kanbei: Let us begin.

The short duel begins. Kanbei manages to make a deep cut on Ogami’s back, but takes a sword through his gut himself.

Magomura Kanbei: A moment. There’s one thing I must ask you.

Ogami Itto: Speak.

Magomura Kanbei: This past year my Lord Munetada had been offered the post of Elder and was on his way to Edo. We were attacked by a mob of ronin. It was a plot by those who opposed my Lord’s promotion to Elder. We were greatly outnumbered, so in order to mount a defence our best hope lay in a bold attack. I ran forth to slay them. I fought with all my might and drove the enemy back. But the fact that I had advanced to slay them, leaving my Lord’s side, was judged undutiful and unworthy of a samurai. Before I realised it, I had become a disgrace to my clan. I was expelled. What was the way of the True Warrior? To die defending my Lord, even if it was clear that it was a hopeless cause? The Way of the Warrior, it is not about how one lives, but how one dies, surely? Lord Ogami, will you tell me? What is the True Way of the Warrior?

Ogami Itto: The True Way of the Warrior is… to live to die.

Magomura Kanbei: “To live to die”.

Ogami Itto: If I had been in your position I would certainly have attacked.

Magomura Kanbei: It heartens me to hear those words from you. Lord Ogami, would you allow a lowly being such as myself to request that you, once the Official Executioner, act as my second?

Ogami Itto: For those who know the True Way of the Warrior, rank does not exist. I shall grant your request.

Magomura Kanbei: Finally, I can die as a warrior with no regrets.

After all is done, the head smiles.

From Lone Wolf and Cub: Babycart in Hades