Monday, December 15, 2008
The Unseen (1981) Movie Review
Code Red Dvd (a company I fully endorse) released a souped up dbl disc of this horror a couple months ago and I just picked it up on payday. I'm glad I did.
Appropriately I went through 2/3's of my life having not seen or heard of The Unseen.The Unseen quickly jumped to my "must see" list back in the late 90s, when I spied the review in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and envisioned the grandeur of Stephen Furst of a killer-feral-retarded-baby-man. I was a big fat fan of Stephen as Flounder in Animal House (natch), but moreso his work as rich asshole Harold in Midnight Madness (an all time fave), so I was just dying to see him killing some people, wreaking havoc, being a k-f-r-b-m, etc. After many roadtrips to all the mom n pop video stores near my parents' house (now all gone) I found the ultrarare vhs and got ready for the shocking, ridiculous and over the top horror movie my 20 year old brain had conjured.
I was vaguely disappointed. Although Sidney Lassick's performance stayed embedded in my brain, I was rather bummed that the titular "unseen" remains so unseen through the whole first hour of the movie. I was also let down by the lack of shocking violence I was so reliant on back in those days.
You can probably tell where I'm going with this: seeing this flick beyond it's rarity and potential for over-the-topness, The Unseen becomes something more satisfying. It's a measured and creepy "creepy house" movie that's reliant more on it's performances and what is actually "unseen." It's no classic, but it's a nice change of pace, and both Sidney Lassick and Stephen Furst really give a memorable couple of intense performances. It's also nice that in 1981 we don't get teenage axe-fodder, but 3 young professional ladies, even if they are also not really fleshed out, though I liked the dynamic of main chick Barbara Bach and her would be football hero boyfriend.
The story is simplicity itself. 3 young women go to a town to cover a news story, go to a creepy hotel/museum outside of town, meet the weird family and are stalked and murdered. Not much more to say here.
I really think that the new tranfer from Code Red is what brings Stephen Furst's work to the fore, cuz I remember barely being able to see those final scenes on the old VHS. I'm sure you know what iI'm talking about if you ever watched low budget films on VHS that have scenes in basements or in the woods at night. I haven't watched any of the extras yet (save for the interview with SF), so I can't tell you about any of those yet, but there's a bunch of stuff, and if you have any other Code Red releases, you can guess that they are gonna be thorough.
So, if you are a fan of early 80s horror cinema and don't need necessarily tons of gore, I'd highly recommend this little slab.
Appropriately I went through 2/3's of my life having not seen or heard of The Unseen.The Unseen quickly jumped to my "must see" list back in the late 90s, when I spied the review in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and envisioned the grandeur of Stephen Furst of a killer-feral-retarded-baby-man. I was a big fat fan of Stephen as Flounder in Animal House (natch), but moreso his work as rich asshole Harold in Midnight Madness (an all time fave), so I was just dying to see him killing some people, wreaking havoc, being a k-f-r-b-m, etc. After many roadtrips to all the mom n pop video stores near my parents' house (now all gone) I found the ultrarare vhs and got ready for the shocking, ridiculous and over the top horror movie my 20 year old brain had conjured.
I was vaguely disappointed. Although Sidney Lassick's performance stayed embedded in my brain, I was rather bummed that the titular "unseen" remains so unseen through the whole first hour of the movie. I was also let down by the lack of shocking violence I was so reliant on back in those days.
You can probably tell where I'm going with this: seeing this flick beyond it's rarity and potential for over-the-topness, The Unseen becomes something more satisfying. It's a measured and creepy "creepy house" movie that's reliant more on it's performances and what is actually "unseen." It's no classic, but it's a nice change of pace, and both Sidney Lassick and Stephen Furst really give a memorable couple of intense performances. It's also nice that in 1981 we don't get teenage axe-fodder, but 3 young professional ladies, even if they are also not really fleshed out, though I liked the dynamic of main chick Barbara Bach and her would be football hero boyfriend.
The story is simplicity itself. 3 young women go to a town to cover a news story, go to a creepy hotel/museum outside of town, meet the weird family and are stalked and murdered. Not much more to say here.
I really think that the new tranfer from Code Red is what brings Stephen Furst's work to the fore, cuz I remember barely being able to see those final scenes on the old VHS. I'm sure you know what iI'm talking about if you ever watched low budget films on VHS that have scenes in basements or in the woods at night. I haven't watched any of the extras yet (save for the interview with SF), so I can't tell you about any of those yet, but there's a bunch of stuff, and if you have any other Code Red releases, you can guess that they are gonna be thorough.
So, if you are a fan of early 80s horror cinema and don't need necessarily tons of gore, I'd highly recommend this little slab.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Blogs mean never having to say you're sorry...
...but I do feel some self-annoyance that I haven't been keeping up so much (in depth stylee) with this here thingamajigger. Of course I've been too busy with other shit, but more of a blockade to posting is nagging sense of "nothing to say" that weighs down of me sometimes. In fact, this feeling is the main reason that it took me so long to start Trashcanland. I certainly have large stretches when you can't get me to shut up about a thousand different things, but lately I've just been absorbing, absorbing, absorbing. Now I'm trying to get over the blog-block.
My pal Mike G does some great reviews of trash movies over at http://fermentedfilm.blogspot.com, and a recent review of Don't Panic brought some thoughts to the fore that have been simmering in me for a while. Mike is relatively favorable in his look at this Mexican horror film from the Crypt of Terror box set, but he doesn't mention the two scenes that made it such a favorite for me this year. Firstly, there's a montage of the two teen stars on a date together: They eat ice cream and hang out and get balloons. Later the boy who is the subject of all the horror gets frustrated and quarterassedly tears up his room. Now, I'm not suggesting that Mike didn't also love that stuff, but it brings to mind the fact that over the last couple of years I've become much more interested in the stuff surrounding the horror in horror movies. In the past I had to see all the Italian and Japanese gore films "with that infamous scene where....," but now what I really seek out is scenes of dancing, fake bands, shopping/date/whatever montages. I mean, I've always liked this in T&A movies, but it's crossed over into my most intense filmic interest.
I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons for this is that me and my buddy George started DJing some 80s nights which I made video projections for. The videos consisted mostly of vintage commercials, music videos and lots of these kind of scenes from obscure movies. Hunting for me of these made it so it was worth sitting through some terrible bore, just to add another slumberparty sequence to my collage tapes. Now my mind is always seeking, compiling shit in my mind. And we haven't done one of these nights in months, so what the hell am I doing?
I'm also looking out for good fashion. Just watched Jess Franco's Bloody Moon a couple of weeks ago and loved it. But when I'm thinking about it now, I get more images of that one chick's sweatshirt/miniskirt with Grace Jones on it, or the gal in the full jungle ensemble. Hey, there's also a great beheading and some exquisitely bad dialogue, but give me some hot chicks in ridiculous clothes and I'm all set.
Just seeking out that perfect world I guess.
My pal Mike G does some great reviews of trash movies over at http://fermentedfilm.blogspot.com, and a recent review of Don't Panic brought some thoughts to the fore that have been simmering in me for a while. Mike is relatively favorable in his look at this Mexican horror film from the Crypt of Terror box set, but he doesn't mention the two scenes that made it such a favorite for me this year. Firstly, there's a montage of the two teen stars on a date together: They eat ice cream and hang out and get balloons. Later the boy who is the subject of all the horror gets frustrated and quarterassedly tears up his room. Now, I'm not suggesting that Mike didn't also love that stuff, but it brings to mind the fact that over the last couple of years I've become much more interested in the stuff surrounding the horror in horror movies. In the past I had to see all the Italian and Japanese gore films "with that infamous scene where....," but now what I really seek out is scenes of dancing, fake bands, shopping/date/whatever montages. I mean, I've always liked this in T&A movies, but it's crossed over into my most intense filmic interest.
I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons for this is that me and my buddy George started DJing some 80s nights which I made video projections for. The videos consisted mostly of vintage commercials, music videos and lots of these kind of scenes from obscure movies. Hunting for me of these made it so it was worth sitting through some terrible bore, just to add another slumberparty sequence to my collage tapes. Now my mind is always seeking, compiling shit in my mind. And we haven't done one of these nights in months, so what the hell am I doing?
I'm also looking out for good fashion. Just watched Jess Franco's Bloody Moon a couple of weeks ago and loved it. But when I'm thinking about it now, I get more images of that one chick's sweatshirt/miniskirt with Grace Jones on it, or the gal in the full jungle ensemble. Hey, there's also a great beheading and some exquisitely bad dialogue, but give me some hot chicks in ridiculous clothes and I'm all set.
Just seeking out that perfect world I guess.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Watching Cable @ my Parents house movie reviews
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
I love to watch John C. Reily on screen. One of my favorite modern actors. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, particularly anything with nudity or the Beatles. Though a lot of this is merely "pleasant." If JCR wasn't in every scene, it would be approaching "waste of time."
Hard Candy
Anti-pedophile movie where the underage vengemaster acts "clever." Imagine "clever" as the most overeager, fakemature theater geek from your high school...so yeah, kinda grating. But then torture and mind games kick in. Sort of uncomfortable how the 14 year old (played by a 17 year old) is shot in a lush, big doe eyed, sexualized way. Also weird how she looks a lot like an old flame. And yeah, actually old: late 20's. Regardless, I can appreciate most movies that put audiences through the ringer, and "deal frankly with controvertial issues."
Watched two movies with the word "hard" in the title.
Why am I writing this?
Why am I watching "Saved by the Bell: the College Years' at 7:30 AM?
I love to watch John C. Reily on screen. One of my favorite modern actors. Some of the jokes are pretty funny, particularly anything with nudity or the Beatles. Though a lot of this is merely "pleasant." If JCR wasn't in every scene, it would be approaching "waste of time."
Hard Candy
Anti-pedophile movie where the underage vengemaster acts "clever." Imagine "clever" as the most overeager, fakemature theater geek from your high school...so yeah, kinda grating. But then torture and mind games kick in. Sort of uncomfortable how the 14 year old (played by a 17 year old) is shot in a lush, big doe eyed, sexualized way. Also weird how she looks a lot like an old flame. And yeah, actually old: late 20's. Regardless, I can appreciate most movies that put audiences through the ringer, and "deal frankly with controvertial issues."
Watched two movies with the word "hard" in the title.
Why am I writing this?
Why am I watching "Saved by the Bell: the College Years' at 7:30 AM?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Fangsgiving
Anyhow, I went on the youtube to try and find that Stop and Shop commercial that used to play every year 'round this time where the li'l boy comes upon his families thanksgiving dinner and reads a poem about what he is thankful for. His family looks on in heartwarmthed adoration and Stop and Shop wishes us a happy holiday. I couldn't find it, but I always think about it this time of year and how it inspired me one year. I was probably 8 or 9, around the same age as the commercial kid is supposed to be, saw the commercial for the umpteenth time, decided that I was gonna say my own poem (I was gonna wing it) and hope for similar love from my elders. Got up my courage, tried to quiet the holiday chatter...unsuccessfully. My dad: "Dan! Sit down and be quiet and just eat." And I did, red in the face. I knew then that they all loved me a lot, quietly. My family had always been quiet, till little Lizzy developped that sass mouth. I guess I'm still quiet, less so now that I'll have a couple of beers with the family.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Can it really be true!?
Big movie news for giallo/Argento fans!
According to www.dvddrive-in.com Four Flies on Grey Velvet is coming out on DVD on Febuary 24th!!!!! That's the ultra-elusive, never released on US video giallo immediately following Cat O' Nine Tails...it's also not one of those grey market releases that has ubiqitous either, I've actually never seen it cuz I've been holding out for a complete print with a good transfer. Anyone who saw the American version of Deep Red knows why I would choose to wait. Dario's films lose A LOT when the mise en scene is compromised at all, and they are illogical enough already that if anything is cut out at all then the plot is rendered totally useless.
Man, I'll tell ya, it's only things like this release that I'm willing to buy new out of store as opposed to waiting around for it to turn up used. Yee haw! Nerd-based economy!
According to www.dvddrive-in.com Four Flies on Grey Velvet is coming out on DVD on Febuary 24th!!!!! That's the ultra-elusive, never released on US video giallo immediately following Cat O' Nine Tails...it's also not one of those grey market releases that has ubiqitous either, I've actually never seen it cuz I've been holding out for a complete print with a good transfer. Anyone who saw the American version of Deep Red knows why I would choose to wait. Dario's films lose A LOT when the mise en scene is compromised at all, and they are illogical enough already that if anything is cut out at all then the plot is rendered totally useless.
Man, I'll tell ya, it's only things like this release that I'm willing to buy new out of store as opposed to waiting around for it to turn up used. Yee haw! Nerd-based economy!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I can make up any excuse to celebrate!
Hey y'all,
work has been crazy and life has been crazy, so I'm a little brainfried.
So in lieu of a void, here's a little quick mention of an important birthday.
Tommorow marks the ten year anniversary of the release (in Japan) of what I consider to be the greatest videogame of all time...The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
I don't know what to say about the game, except that everytime I think about my time with it, it gives me the warm feeling of love. If you know me, it's saying a lot that I would toprank a game from the era when videogaming turned to shit, but this game, Mario 64 and Starfox 64 shined through the darkness. And yes, I know that I'm Nintendo biased, but I think it's smart to be loyal to a company that creates the greatest things ever...nawmean?
Quick Recap:
Metroid
Zelda
Mario
Donkey Kong
Kid Icarus
Probably not planning on getting/playing a Gamecube or Wii anytime soon though.
work has been crazy and life has been crazy, so I'm a little brainfried.
So in lieu of a void, here's a little quick mention of an important birthday.
Tommorow marks the ten year anniversary of the release (in Japan) of what I consider to be the greatest videogame of all time...The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
I don't know what to say about the game, except that everytime I think about my time with it, it gives me the warm feeling of love. If you know me, it's saying a lot that I would toprank a game from the era when videogaming turned to shit, but this game, Mario 64 and Starfox 64 shined through the darkness. And yes, I know that I'm Nintendo biased, but I think it's smart to be loyal to a company that creates the greatest things ever...nawmean?
Quick Recap:
Metroid
Zelda
Mario
Donkey Kong
Kid Icarus
Probably not planning on getting/playing a Gamecube or Wii anytime soon though.
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