John Rozum's Blog, page 53

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5 - Movie 2

A small town in Idaho is besieged by some sort of gooey monster spawned from radioactive waste. The monster can dissolve itself into liquid and then back into a humanoid form, or something in between, based on what I was able to make sense of. It also left pools of Palm Olive or piles of lime Jello in its wake. It also kills a lot of people and is pretty hard to kill itself.

If I told you how long I've been wanting to see The Being (1983) you'd feel pity for me. Ever since seeing the tiny ad in the New York Times for it back in the Fall of 1984, when it was playing somewhere on 42nd street, I have been intrigued. Was it the tag line - "Half Man, Half Monster...Soul of an Unearthly Thing," or the fact that it "starred" Ruth Buzzi and Martin Landau (along with Jose Ferrer and Dorothy Malone)? All of the above to be honest. Why my then roommate, Steve Peros, and I never ventured out to see it remains a bewildering mystery to this day.

Well, I've now seen it and the mind boggles at the quality of talented actors convinced to be a part of this inelegantly directed nonsense, made more confounding by the sloppy editing and half-assed screenplay. The Being also has one of the most uncharismatic leading men you can find. The movie also plods along even though someone seems to get killed about every four minutes, or so.

It also has some genuinely funny moments, some of which are even intentional, such as the stoner at the drive-in being questioned by the police. I have to say that I liked the monster in this once it's finally shown in detail. For most of the movie you mostly get to see an arm, but it's freakishly long, gooey, asymmetric, one-eyed head full of needle like teeth was a welcome change from the usual men in monster suits that movies of this quality often display. It's behavior and abilities seemed to consist of whatever the filmmakers decided would be good for a scene, or whatever they had on hand, which kept you interested, simply from trying to figure out what was happening half the time.

This is one of those movies best appreciated with a group of friends and a large amount of liquor.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5 - Movie 1

What happens when you combine writing and direction by the man who wrote the screenplays for Creature from the Black Lagoon, and It Came from Outer Space with the stars of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and This Island Earth? You get crap in the form of Octaman (1971) in which vague science and made up folklore come together to deliver a monstrous humanoid octopus set upon killing off the entire cast.

Did I think this movie was going to be a gem? No. I'd caught enough of it on television years ago to know that it was going to be a turd. The screenplay, including the dialogue was earnest, yet dreadful, a problem enhanced by the film being shot mostly silent with the dialogue dubbed in later. The special effects consisting of a mutant baby octopus being pulled acrid the ground with string and an obvious man in a monster suit designed and built by Rick Baker and Doug Beswick did not impress, though Octaman himself had a bit of charm as far as obvious, inexpressive rubber suit monsters go. Sadly, the suit performer was no Doug Jones, simply walking slowly enough so as not to trip, and flapping his arms on occasion.

That said, where other movies of this budget would have done their best to show as little of the monster as possible, until the end, here you get a good look at it before the opening credits and it shows up quite often grabbing quite a bit of screen time away from the dull interactions between the generic character types.

As bad as it was, Octaman was still fairly entertaining and would be perfect on a drive-in screen, or really late at night, or on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5

They Live (1988). Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 4 - Movie 2

Seymour Krelboyne (Jonathan Haze) crossbreeds a new plant in order to impress a girl (Jackie Joseph), and his boss (Mel Welles). only to discover that what keeps it growing and thriving is blood, and the bigger it gets the more it wants.

It's been a long time since I've watched The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Roger Corman's comedy-horror famously shot in two days, featuring Jack Nicholson in a small role, and later turned into a successful off-Broadway musical, and movie version of the musical. The film is still very enjoyable, and some of the comedy still genuinely clever and funny. My daughter also found the voice of the plant (screenwriter Charles B. Griffith) to be more effective, funnier, and creepier, than the voice in the musical remake.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 4 - Movie 1

In Bluebeard (1944), John Carradine is suave and sinister as a puppeteer and painter who strangles to death the women who model for him. Edgar G. Ulmer brings some style and atmosphere to this poverty row horror-mystery, elevating it to a decent viewing experience. The featured scenes with the marionettes are pretty impressive and made me wish that this type of street entertainment was still common.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 4

The Suparplum Fairy in Cabin in the Woods (2012). Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Movie 2

Spread across the length of Manhattan and between the rich and the poor, a series of grisly murders begin to look connected by the presence of wolf hairs on the corpses of the victims. More of a thriller than an outright horror movie, Wolfen (1981) is intelligently played out, well directed, and well cast.

Like jaws, the titular creatures here, don't have a physical presence until the final minutes of the film, but haunt the film through the use of effects enhanced point of view and strong sound effects and music by James Horner representing them as they make their way through their urban hunting grounds.

There's a lot going on in this movie from political intrigue, fringe terrorist groups, Native American activism, environmentalism, the encroachment of man onto the wild, and even the use of high tech lie detection tests which mirror the vision of the wolfen.

I loved this movie when it first came out, and still find it to be a really strong, underrated movie.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Movie 1

I've never played the video game that Silent Hill (2006) was based on, so didn't know any of the established elements going into the movie. The plot is essentially a mother (Radha Mitchell) searching for her adopted daughter (Jodelle Ferland) in the ghost town, Silent Hill. Silent Hill,  evacuated because of a still burning coal fire seems to be anything but deserted. The mysterious town is gloomy with an ever falling snow of ash, periodically disrupted by a siren announcing unnatural periods of darkness which seem to invite all manner of disfigured human monstrosity to manifest. These aren't the only monsters as there is also a group of apocalyptic religious zealots who are convinced that the outside world has been destroyed, and still more secrets.

The plot is thin, essentially, like a video game in which a character explores a strange landscape and tries to make sense of all they encounter. This didn't really detract from the movie, as much as help build the weird atmosphere by not feeling compelled to explain everything. The visuals ranged from beautifully creepy to Hellraiser inspired haunted attraction. It would have been much stronger relying on more of the former and less of the latter. I found myself less involved with the characters and their fates than with what they might find around the next corner, and didn't really mind this, or find it off-putting, since I found myself intrigued enough by the world they inhabited.

Silent Hill is not a great, or particularly memorable,  movie, nor will it please everybody, but it's worth a look.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) in Planet of the Apes (1968). Cut paper.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2 - Movie 2

The Natural History Museum in Chicago receives a group of crates from one of their scientists in South America, little suspecting that one of them contains a chimera grown together from the DNA of a number of animals, representing a mythical monster named Kothoga. Kothoga likes to behead its victims in order to eat the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. The creature hides in the maze of halls and tunnels beneath the museum, striking periodically, while evading the police. The monster is not enough of a threat apparently to keep a high ticket fundraiser from taking place much to the regret of the attendees.


The Relic (1997) is a polished monster movie, with a pretty neat looking monster, a strong cast, and absolutely no soul. The story is a completely by the book formula monster movie, and most of that formula comes from Jaws, only with a tedious amount of repetitious exposition that doesn't really do anything besides take up a vast amount of screen time to suggest that these elements are what make Kothoga different from all the other monsters that star in movies exactly like this one. As I mentioned, the movie features a strong cast, and seems to simply rely on their presence to suggest that the characters are more substantial than they are.

I saw this movie when it first came out and immediately forgot it. It was only after seeing it referenced in positive terms again and again that I decided to give it a second shot. I can safely say I won't be doing that a third time.