Review #407: 'The Twilight People' (1973)

Successful adventurer Matt Farrell (John Ashley) is kidnapped whilst on a dive by sadistic hunter Steinman (Jan Merlin), who takes him to a mysterious island dominated by the insane Dr. Gordon (Charles Macaulay). Gordon has been doing experiments on the native locals and cross-bred them with certain animals in an attempt to create a great army, and sees Farrell as a suitable addition to his grisly bunch. After escaping with Gordon's daughter Neva (Pat Woodell) and all the human-animal hybrids, Steinman pursues them in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

As far as re-makes/re-imaginings of the hugely influential Island of Lost Souls (1932) go, The Twilight People certainly isn't the worst. Choked with massive budget limitations that naturally leads to terrible acting and worse make-up, this Grindhouse effort certainly has it's charms. It is, of course, fucking awful, but there is a bit of spirit amongst the cast, and plenty of laugh-at-the-shit-make-up moments. The creatures, which include an Antelope Man, an Ape Man, a Wolf Woman, and most hilariously, a Bat Man, are so ridiculous looking that I could scarcely believe that the actors behind them managed to keep a straight face throughout the film. It does, however, have Pam Grier as the Panther Woman (made famous by Kathleen Burke from the 1932 original), and seeing her rip her way through a number of Gordon's henchman is certainly worth your time.

But the on-the-run second half of the film repeatedly stalls and ultimately bores, as the film seems to be wind down the proceedings in order to sustain an acceptable running time. It is also quite tame as far as low-budget monster movies go, but I have to admit that it added to it's almost innocent charm. The ending, which doesn't really wrap anything up, ends abruptly when I was expecting and almost hoping for five minutes more. To summarise then, certainly worth a watch if you like your movies trashy, cheap, and easy to watch, but a meandering and ridiculous film overall. Though I would recommend a watch simply for the Bat Man, paper wings and all.


Directed by: Eddie Romero
Starring: John Ashley, Pat Woodell, Jan Merlin, Charles Macaulay
Country: Philippines/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #406: 'Madagascar' (2005)

At Central Park Zoo in New York, Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) hears about the 'wild' from some tunnelling penguins whilst celebrating his tenth birthday. Longing to see the world outside the zoo, Marty runs off to see the sights of the city. Thinking he has escaped for good, Marty's friends Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) go after him to bring him back. Mistaking their escape for a desperate plea for freedom, the humans at the zoo ship them off to Africa where a series of mishaps sees them washed up on the shore of Madagascar. The island is ran by lemur Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), who labels the newcomers as their saviours after Alex unwittingly chases off a pack of hyenas. Yet with no-one there to feed him his daily steaks, Alex finds his primal instincts begin to take over.

Running at around 82 minutes, I only really watched this film as I was tired and fancied something quick, breezy and amusing to see me off the sleep. Well, it was certainly quick and breezy. Like many other Dreamworks animation films, Madagascar finds its comedy in uninspired slapstick and pop culture references, and here is its biggest problem. While the superior Pixar produces films regularly that both children and adults can thoroughly enjoy (and includes some inspired comedy to boot), I tend not to find Dreamworks output actually funny. Here, films references include the likes of American Beauty (1999), Planet of the Apes (1968) and Chariots of Fire (1981) and come across as a lazy way of not actually writing something intelligent (all the jokes have been done before, and better).

One thing that is always up to scratch with Dreamworks is the animation. It perhaps may not be as beautiful as, say, WALL-E (2008), but Shrek (2001) was a charming mix of fairy-tale and the old-fashioned, while the big, bright colours of Kung Fu Panda (2008) evolved into something far more impressive in its sequel. But in Madagascar, the characters are blocky and charmless, and the backgrounds are often still and empty. The story of a bunch of city-animals trying to make it in the wild is ripe with possibilities, but the film remains relatively un-eventful and builds up to a blink-it-or-you'll-miss-it climax. A major disappointment given the voice talent involved, and is only worth watching for Baron Cohen's semi-improvised, self-worshipping King Julien.


Directed by: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Voices: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #405: 'Cannibal Apocalypse' (1980)

On a rescue mission in Vietnam, Norman Hopper (John Saxon) is bitten by two of his old drinking buddies Charlie (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) and Tom (Tony King) who are trapped in a pit and are feasting on the flesh of a charred Vietnamese woman when they are discovered. Back home, Norman is haunted by his memories, and has a strange urge to bite people. Charlie calls Norman after recently being released from hospital and wants to meet up, but before Norman can act, Charlie manages to kill some people and finds himself cornered and barricaded in a mall. Soon enough, more people are infected with this strange virus that seems to cause cannibalistic urges.

Another cannibal/zombie cash-in that was riding the wave caused by Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), Cannibal Apocalypse attempts to blend the two horror sub-genre's but ends up being a bit of a mess. I never thought I would say this, but there is too little cannibalism, and certainly no apocalypse. There are brief moments of horror surrounded by long moments of police procedural and our flesh-hungry heroes running through sewers. The one saving grace is John Saxon, recognisable from many B-movie turd-fests, he provides a welcome familiar American face in this mainly Italian production from horror and western 'legend' Antonio Margheriti. Yet the film is entertaining enough to waste 90 minutes of your life on, and thankfully avoids being as unpleasant as other cannibal entries such as Cannibal Ferox (1981 - also starring Radice).


Directed by: Antonio Margheriti
Starring: John Saxon, Elizabeth Turner, Giovanni Lombardo Radice
Country: Italy/Spain

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #404: 'Iron Sky' (2012)

Every once in a while a film is released with such a ludicrous premise that I simply have to watch it, and Iron Sky is very much one of these films. In basic terms, the film's main idea revolves around the discovery that the Nazi's had settled on the dark side of the moon after their defeat in 1945, and are preparing to invade the earth to once again rule the planet, and bring the superior Aryan race back into total dominance. It is one of those premises that intrigued me, but I had no pretensions that the film would be very good. This became apparent when the reviews began emerging, and they were not completely favourable. I would like to redress the balance of this with my review.

The film is a co-production with Finland, Germany and Australia, and therefore has no American influence (well, in terms of it thankfully lacking that obvious gung-ho attitude you might find in similar special effects films such as Independence Day (1996)), which gives the films comedic elements a directness which is openly mocking of American foreign policy. The president of the United States (an obvious Sarah Palin  avatar) has sent a black man into space in a bid to get re-elected (her campaign poster reads: "Black to Space: Yes She Can"), but he is caught by the moon Nazi's, "albinised" (i.e. turned white), and sent back to earth with an officer to see the president. I'm not going to lay out the entire narrative here, as it is not necessary. I will simply state that the Nazi's eventually invade - much to the delight of the President, as a war president is surely to be re-elected.

This focus on the ridiculous nature of American politics and their views of, well, everything but themselves, brings the film it's often very funny comedy. For example, towards the end, the earth's nations gather in a Dr Strangelove-style war room, and release their space probes (America's is named the USS George W. Bush) and reveal the hidden weapons. This causes problems as each nation (except for Finland) stated that they were not armed stations, but "Sarah Palin" states that the world simply expects this from America, but she sees it as shameful that any other nation should have such capabilities.

The production design at times (particularly in the moon's settlement) look similar to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), but considering the relatively low budget, the effects are pretty good. Some of the acting is atrocious, but forgivable. But overall the satire most certainly make this a unique entry into the invasion film, and it is wonderful to see a film tackle America's war mongering attitudes in something other than a Michael Moore documentary. And no European genre film would be complete without a role for the ubiquitous Udo Kier as the moons own Fuhrer. I was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed this pseudo-throw-away film. Recommended for anyone who finds American politics as ludicrous as this films premise.


Directed by: Timo Vuorensola
Starring: Julia Dietze, Christopher Kirby, Götz Otto, Peta Sergeant, Udo Kier
Country: Finland/Germany/Australia

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy

Review #403: 'Way Down East' (1920)

Anna (Lillian Gish), is a poor country girl who arrives at her rich auntie's mansion to ask for money. The spoiled, womanising Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman), is bored with seducing upper-class girls and becomes infatuated by Anna. Seeing that she a moral, God-fearing woman, Lennox proposes to her and arranges a sham marriage. Anna becomes pregnant, only for Lennox to reveal his scheme and kick her out, and Anna's baby dies. Lost and emotionally damaged, Anna wanders to a nearby farm, ran by Squire Bartlett (Burr McIntosh) and his scripture-quoting wife Mother (Kate Bruce). Squire's son David (Richard Barthelmess) falls for Anna, only for Lennox to show up lusting after another girl.

It's hard for me to bring myself to criticise and evaluate a work of D.W. Griffith. As questionable as his political and racial views were, he is one of cinema's true innovators, and even here, back in 1920, he employs an early Technicolor process and an eye for epic cinema. Yet the film hasn't dated well at all, and the religious and moral preaching, and the over-use of title cards, makes the film ridiculously old-fashioned and tedious. This is Griffith's ode to the idea that God created one woman for every man, and states it is a story of women everywhere, who suffer at the hands of men's selfish womanising. It's quite hard to swallow morality lessons from the man that made The Birth of a Nation (1915), a film that glamorised the Ku Klux Klan, and made black people out to be nothing more than loutish animals.

Yet the film does display Griffith's film-making ability, especially in the famous climax that shows David rescuing  an unconscious Anna from an ice flood. It even holds up today, with the lack of CGI effects or actors on wires making it even more impressive, and it's all captured beautifully by Billy Bitzer and Hendrik Sartov's cinematography. And Gish, one of the most successful and hard-working actresses in film history (and one of the few survivors of the death of the silent era) is exceptional. Her timid Anna is beaten down at every turn by the amoral upper classes, who, in Griffith's eyes, are defying God with their whoring and luxurious, indulgent lives. Yet overall, at 145 minutes, the film drags, especially when Griffith shifts his concentration on various supporting sub-plots, that play out like intrusive and uninteresting vignettes. Certainly worth seeing for some fine technical work and the captivating Gish, but not a film I can see myself needing to watch again.


Directed by: D.W. Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Lowell Sherman, Burr McIntosh
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #402: 'My Name Is Bruce' (2007)

In the small town of Goldlick, four horny goth teenagers trash an old graveyard, which is the resting place of a hundred Chinese labourers who died in a mining accident years before. As a result, they awaken the Chinese god Guan-Di (James Peck), who instantly starts hacking them up. B-movie and Bruce Campbell worshipper Jeff (Taylor Sharpe) manages to escape. Meanwhile, Bruce Campbell is finishing low-budget film Cave Alien 2 when he is kidnapped from his trailer by Jeff, who takes him to Goldlick to help fight off Guan-Di. Thinking it's a birthday present from his hapless agent Mills (Ted Raimi), he plays along and tries it on with Jeff's mother Kelly (Grace Thorsen), until, that is, he realises the killer is real.

I really wanted to like this movie. I'm a huge fan of Campbell and the Evil Dead (1981-1992) films, and it's an interesting idea to have the actor playing a fictionalised version of himself in a horror setting, a genre he is certainly no stranger to. But as loveable as Campbell is (here he directs as well as taking the lead role), the film falls flat on its face, and it is as bad as you could ever imagine it to be. Campbell's inexperience as a director is the main problem, with the film never finding a pace or a tone it is comfortable with, and I couldn't quite figure out what audience he was aiming for. It's too childish for adults, too tame for horror fans, and too outright unfunny to appeal to comedy fans.

It is first and foremost a comedy, with Campbell portraying himself as way over-the-hill, complete with run-down trailer, recent divorce, and alcohol problem. It is an amusing performance, but the script is just too damn awful to serve him justice. Add that to the mix of racial stereotypes, homophobic jokes (they're only acceptable if they're funny!), juvenile slapstick, and needle-slipping-off-the-record sound effects, the film ends up being about as funny as contracting AIDS. And I still can't understand why the townsfolk would employ Bruce Campbell, who they know is just an actor, to fight off a god. Reading some other reviews on IMDb by fellow Bruce Campbell fans, it would seem other people actually like this film. The Greatest Chin in Movies can literally do anything and still be worshipped.


Directed by: Bruce Campbell
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Grace Thorsen, Taylor Sharpe, Ted Raimi
Country: USA

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #401: 'Take Shelter' (2011)

Curtis (Michael Shannon) is suffering from apocalyptic nightmares that foresees a huge storm encroaching the area. He also dreams of his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and his dead daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart) trying to harm him, along with his best friend and work colleague Dewart (Shea Whigham). Fearing his visions are true, Curtis starts to build a huge underground shelter in his yard, taking out a massive loan he can't afford and borrowing work equipment from his job. Knowing that his mother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, Curtis and the dedicated Samantha worry that he is in fact losing his mind, as his behaviour becomes more unpredictable and erratic.

Working on two levels, Take Shelter works both as a character drama that creates a realistic and slightly disturbing portrayal of mental disease, and as an apocalyptic thriller. America is known as one of the most paranoid and high-anxiety countries in the world, with areas of near-fanatical religious and political beliefs, high gun crime, the threat of terrorism, and most recently, financial gloom with the recession. Curtis seems to embody these fears. His nightmares don't reveal too much about what he thinks may happen - there's a storm, murderous attacks by his loved ones, a petrol-like substance falling from the sky - so he is essentially terrified of the unknown. Like Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011), the film is very much the thinking-man's vision of the apocalypse, and rather than action scenes and cities being destroyed in CGI, it is the psychological meltdown of its protagonist that it is more interested in.

If he were younger and better-looking, Michael Shannon would have been a superstar years ago. Instead, he is seen all too little on the big screen, and is currently stealing HBO's Boardwalk Empire as religious fanatic FBI agent Val Alden. Here, he even betters his Oscar-nominated 5-minute cameo in the criminally underrated Revolutionary Road (2008), giving a towering performance as a man slowly tearing himself apart. Chastain and Whigham (also star of Boardwalk Empire) offer admirable support as the supportive wife and best friend respectively. Although the climax is somewhat predictable, it has power nonetheless, thanks to Jeff Nichols' unfussy direction and the fact that the journey there is so riveting. One of the most overlooked films of 2011.


Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie