PAPERMAG: WORD UP!

Jennifer Lynch's Twisty,Twisted Surveillance!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:17:41 -0500

Opening Friday is Surveillance. Jennifer Lynch proves more of a chip off her father’s (David Lynch) block with this twisty, twisted, psycho-killer mystery about two oddly affectionate federal officers (Bill Pullman and Julia Ormand -- both fabulous) who arrive at a police station to take over video interviews with three different witnesses to a nefarious serial killing spree. Most are lying before the camera. One is crooked policeman (Kent Harper), who used to shake down motorists after shooting out their tires with his slimy partner (French Stewart). There’s a drug-addled girl (Pell James) who conveniently colors her testimony to protect her crimes. The only one telling the truth is a small, incredibly observant young girl (Ryan Simpkins) traumatized by her family’s massacre. Right from the beginning everything is slightly off-kilter and engagingly bizarre. Give over to it and enjoy as the rug is sardonically pulled from beneath your feet. I was consistently entertained with the film’s weirdness and daring.

More Disorder In The Court: Perry Mason Season 4 On DVD!

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:06:49 -0500

It’s more disorder in the court now that Perry Mason Season 4 (Volume 1)is available on DVD. The interesting thing about this season is that William Talman, who plays the forever-losing DA Hamilton Burger, was involved in an unfortunate bust at a “nude drug party” and was fired from the show. So it’s off-putting to see different District Attorneys coming up against the crafty lawyer Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). Fortunately, Burr threatened to quit unless Talman was allowed to come back, and that ended the blacklist against the actor. It’s also a testament to how great and what a loyal friend Burr was. These first 16 from the fourth season are brimming with future stars and B-movie luminaries. Robert Redford shows up as a ne’re-do-well stepson in The Case Of The Treacherous Toupee; Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) appears in The Case Of The Larcenous Lady; Coleen Gray (The Leech Woman) stars in The Case Of The Wandering Widow); James Coburn (Our Man Flint) is in The Case Of The Envious Editor; and Whit Bissell (I Was A Teenage Werewolf) takes a turn in The Case Of The Lavender Lipstick. And those titles are fabulous. Each episode is filled with larcenous ladies, oily blackmailers, and wily murders, but they are no match against Mason and his loyal secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Private Investigator Paul Drake (William Hopper). Just the best!

Jason X 3 On DVD!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:53:56 -0500

Just in time for Father's Day -- three "Deluxe Edition" DVDs of three of the better Friday The 13th movies! And after all, Jason, the hockey-mask-wearing slasher of sexually promiscuous teens, is the Republican dad in us all. Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter was supposed to be the last in the series, and was directed with aggressive vigor by Joseph Zito. Jason has been taken to the hospital morgue, but rises to return to Camp Crystal Lake to do more damage. Crispin Glover is one of the teens and does a frenetic chicken dance that is hilarious. And ultra-cute former soap star Peter Barton has an an unfortunate encounter with Jason in the shower that is skull-crushingly great. Extras on the disc include an ending that mercifully wasn't used, commentary by the director and "slashed scenes." This is one of the better of the movies too. Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning (Paramount) was the meta-Jason film. Little Tommy, who murdered Jason in Part IV, is now a cute disturbed teen at a camp for disturbed teens. When murders start happening is Tommy taking up where Jason left off? Commentary by the director Danny Steinmann is pretty interesting about where the studio wanted this franchise to go. And an extra, The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II, is wonderful as well. Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Paramount) is the best of the Friday The 13th movies. Directed by Tom McLoughlin, Jason is resurrected from his grave, struck by lightening and is now immortal. But the director has wonderfully witty touches throughout the film -- and keeps it scary too. One kid is seen reading Sartre's No Exit in his bunk, and when Jason is going on a rampage, one kid crouched under a cot says to another kid: "So what did you want to be when you grew up?" I feel close to this film in many ways too -- because the Jason mask I have hanging in my kitchen (one of the best Christmas presents ever) is from this film!

The Jack Lemmon Collection On DVD!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:41:32 -0500

The Jack Lemmon Collection, a six DVD disc set of films featuring funnyman Jack Lemmon, is out this week. And while a lot of these films are not on par with Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, there are some real overlooked gems in here. Phffft! (1954) is about the bust-up of a marriage but it stars Judy Holiday and Kim Novak. Operation Mad Ball (1957) is a military spoof with Ernie Kovaks. The Notorious Landlady (1962) is a particular favorite, a comedy/mystery with stunning Kim Novak and Fred Astaire and a wild runaway wheelchair scene at the end. Under The Yum Yum Tree (1963) is a salacious sex comedy with Dean Jones and such great character actor comedians as Paul Lynde and Imogene Coca. And another favorite of mine is the rollicking comedy Good Neighbor Sam, (1964) which has Lemmon working as an ad man and pretending to be the husband of his wife’s (Dorothy Provine) friend (the gorgeous Romy Schneider) so she get an inheritance. With the wonderful Louis Nye, and a car race around the city disfiguring billboards, this one is a riot. There’s a great bonus disc with a documentary about the legendary screen actor hosted by his son Chris Lemmon.

Gorgeous Gothic Horror: Nightmare Castle On DVD!

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:45:42 -0500

Nightmare Castle (also known as The Faceless Monster), a gorgeous gothic 1965 Italian horror film by Mario Caiano, starring the reigning scream queen at the time, saucer-eyed beauty Barbara Steele, is out on DVD this week. After a deranged scientist finds his wife in an embrace with the groomsman in the greenhouse, he chains them in the basement and goes on to torture and kill them. Then he marries his wife’s sister (Barbara Steele in a blonde wig), a mentally fragile woman, and proceeds to drive her mad so he can steal her money. But the ghosts of the lovers he killed come back for fiery revenge. Filmed in luminous black and white by cinematographer Enzo Barboni with a lush score by Ennio Morricone, this is one of Barbara Steele’s best chillers from this period, and the restoration on DVD is fabulous. As extras, there’s a charming interview with the director (while his playful cat chews and licks his hand), and a fabulous half hour interview with Steele, who charmingly relates walking away from a Hollywood career and fleeing an Elvis Presley movie to go live in Rome, where she worked with Federico Fellini, Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda and others. Her stories are sensational, and she still looks extraordinary.

R.I.P. Ho Meng Hua

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:38:45 -0500

Just heard of the passing of Hong Kong director Ho Meng Hua, who directed such exploitation classics as Black Magic (1975), Black Magic 2 (1976), Oily Maniac (1976) and my favorite, the fabulously nutty King Kong rip-off The Mighty Peking Man (1977). For a great tribute to him, click here.

Get Ready for an Asian Invasion. The New York Asian Film Festival Is Coming Soon!

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:59:00 -0500

Here's a great trailer for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival (June 19-July 5). Sponsored by Subway Cinema, all screenings will take place at the IFC Center and The Japan Society. This looks wild and great and I cannot wait!

My Bloody Valentine 3D pops on DVD

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:14:00 -0500

Still need another fix of 3D after seeing UP!? And you can't wait until James Cameron's Avatar? Well, then buy (or rent) the My Bloody Valentine 3D (Lionsgate) DVD. This 2009 remake was a blast. Directed by Patrick Lussier, it was a great throwback to the slasher film, which is about a town terrorized by a killer dressed in a miner's outfit and throwing around a pickax. The cast was cute too -- Jaime King, Jensen Ackles, Kerr Smith -- the murders were wild and gory. And most of all, it was a lot of fun. There's one scene with a nude woman running through a motel parking lot that is priceless. However, what's great about the DVD is that it still works even off the big screen. It comes with four pairs of glasses (smart), the 3D images really pop on your TV set and you don't get too much of a headache afterward. And now I just heard that Japanese horror director Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On) is coming out with his own 3D fright film called The Shock Labyrinth. Keep those 3D movies coming!!!

R.I.P. Don Edmonds!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:59:00 -0500

Just heard the sad news that Don Edmonds (1937-2009), director of the notorious Ilsa She Wolf of the SS and Ilsa Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, passed away. The first Ilsa, a sleazy exploitation film shot on the old Hogan's Heroes set was a mind-boggling wallow in sexploitation and violence. I had the good fortune of meeting the star of the film, Dyanne Thorne, at a Chiller convention and she was absolutely lovely. But I'll never forget seeing the first Ilsa film in a theater -- it was shocking and offensive and fabulous. Ahh memories. Check out this picture of Dennis with Ilsa's Dyanne Thorne.

It's Double the Garrel Goodness With Philippe Garrel X 2 On DVD

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:14:00 -0500

Out on DVD is Philippe Garrel X 2 (Zeitgeist Films), which features two films by the French auteur director Philippe Garrel. I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar (1991) is Garrel's poetic musing on his turbulent 10-year relationship with singer/icon Nico (who appeared in many of the director's films of the 1970s), but you might not be able to tell when watching this film. Benoit Regent plays Gerard, and Johann ter Steege plays Marianne (aka Nico), who keeps popping up into Gerard's life like a bad penny. They share heroin consumption and an obsessive tangled love for one another, which colors Gerard's relationships until he settles down and fathers a child. But the film is frustratingly obtuse and lyrical rather than illuminating in many ways. Emergency Kisses (1999) is about a director (played by Garrel) who informs his family he is about to make a film about his life -- except he is hiring an actress to play his wife, which understandably hurts and upsets his real wife. Ironically, Garrel's family in the film is his real family -- including his beautiful young son and future star Louis Garrel. To top it off, there is also an extraordinary French television documentary on Philippe Garrel included on this DVD, which provides as nice bonus.

Before Melrose Place There Was Peyton Place...

Fri, 29 May 2009 09:13:26 -0500

I've been having the best time watching the first 31 episodes of Peyton Place, the groundbreaking 1964 nighttime soap opera, based on the notorious novel by Grace Metalious. The TV series begins with a man's voice saying "This is the continuing story of Peyton Place..." over a picture of a church steeple, and we are immediately plunged into the hotbed of secrets in the New England town. The widow Constance MacKenzie (Dorothy Malone) has a secret she's keeping from her aspiring writer daughter Allison (Mia Farrow), while bad rich boy Rodney Harrington (Ryan O'Neal) has caught his father messing around with his secretary, who just happens to be the mother of his girlfriend Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins). And there's a new doctor in town, Dr. Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson), with secrets of his own. I was obsessed with this show which ran two nights a week on ABC and was wildly popular. It made superstars of Farrow, O'Neal and Parkins, and set the way for Dynasty, Melrose Place and other nighttime melodramas. This is only part one -- the next batch is out in July and already I'm salivating....

Pontypool at IFC Midnight Movies!

Thu, 28 May 2009 09:00:15 -0500

Opening Friday at Cinema Village (22 E. 12th St.), part of IFC Films' Midnight Movie series (and also available via Movies On Demand), is Pontypool. In this fascinating apocalyptic chiller a Cowboy-hat-wearing, weather-beaten, hard-drinking radio talk show host Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie (who’s just sensational) is settling down to do his morning broadcast from a small desolate snowbound radio station in Pontypool, Ontario. His two female staffers Sydney (Lisa Houle) and Laurel (Georgina Reilly) keep getting conflicting outside reports of weird riots and disturbances with hordes of people repeating words until they get increasingly more and more violent, and as the reports intensify the terror draws near the station. Director Bruce McDonald’s film (based on a novel by Tony Burgess) is an absurdist nightmare, but it’s also about the power of words, where all manners of vocabulary can be weapons and shrapnel.

Fritz Lang's "Bizarre But Fascinating" Manhunt On DVD!

Wed, 27 May 2009 08:31:35 -0500

You have to check out this new DVD release of Manhunt, a rare 1941 Fritz Lang film with a wild premise. Walter Pidgeon plays Captain Thorndike, a British big game hunter who, for sport, decides to hunt down Adolf Hitler. In the beginning of the film he even has the German leader in his sights -- until he is caught by the Nazis. He is ultimately able to escape, only to find enemy agents on every corner looking for him on his return to London. He enlists the help of a prostitute (played by Joan Bennett with a hideous cockney accent) and tries to wriggle free of the tightening clutches of the Nazis (George Sanders and John Carradine among them). Basically a propaganda thriller, Manhunt has a lot of trademark Lang, like shadowy streets, paranoia and even a doomed love interest -- when Pidgeon leans in for one kiss with Bennett on a fog-shrouded bridge he is thwarted. This is a truly bizarre but fascinating film. The documentary on the making of the movie is invaluable, explaining its importance in rescuing Lang’s career in Hollywood and how it began a great partnership with the beautiful and alluring Bennett, whom Lang went on to make three more films with, two of them masterpieces of film noir: The Woman In The Window and Scarlet Street.

Long Live Exploding Wonder Bread: Zabriskie Point On DVD!

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:09:51 -0500

Long live exploding Wonder Bread! Zabriskie Point is out on DVD! I may be the sole person thrilled about the DVD release of this 1970 counterculture bomb by the Italian maestro of alienation, Michelangelo Antonioni (Blow Up). With a screenplay assisted by Sam Shepard among others, and a score by Pink Floyd, on paper this sounds promising. Antonioni hired two beautiful non-actors for the leads, Daria Halprin and Mark Frechette (who was spotted and hired for screaming on a streetcorner in Boston). In the movie Frechette plays an angry young man who is mistaken to have killed a cop during a student riot. He steals a plane and playfully dive-bombs over a car in the desert driven by Halprin, who is driving to Phoenix for her businessman boss (Rod Taylor). They make love in the desert (along with members of Joseph Chaiken’s NY Open Theater troop in a love-in dream sequence). They split up. He flies back home and gets shot by the police. She goes to Rod Taylor’s massive house built on the side of a mountain and then drives off and watches as the house blows up. And does that cliffside house blow up -- repeatedly with slow-motion shots of TVs, refrigerators and deck furniture flying through the air. My favorite shot is the airborne loaf of Wonder Bread (which I took a picture off the TV I love it so much).

Wise Blood On DVD!

Mon, 25 May 2009 10:37:35 -0500

Wise Blood, a stunning film version of Flannery O’Connor’s first novel directed by the great John Huston, is out on DVD. This 1979 movie may actually be one of my favorite films of all time. Brad Dourif brings a feral intensity to his performance as Hazel Motes, just released from the army who comes back home to the Bible-belt south and stands on street corners angrily preaching from his personal gospel: The Church Without Christ. He tangles with a blind preacher (Harry Dean Stanton), his randy daughter (Amy Wright) and a weird young man, Enoch Emory (outstanding Dan Shor), who is obsessed with a small shrunken mummy in a local museum. Motes's journey towards some kind of truth (and martyrdom) echoes the marvelous weirdness of Flannery O’Connor’s universe. The performances are first-rate, the script by Benedict and Michael Fitzgerald is terrific, and Huston’s direction is off-kilter, strange and darkly funny. The disc looks beautiful, and during one of the utterly fascinating interviews Fitzgerald relates how O’Connor wrote a great deal of Wise Blood at his family house, and altered her tale when his father read her his translation of Oedipus Rex.