During a long-gone era in which a film produced for less than $30,000 could still get some form of theatrical release, The Deadly Spawn (1983) carved its mark in monster movie history.
From time to time I will venture out into the dangerous, lawless land of micro-budget cinema to see what creative filmmakers with almost no money are producing. A few such indie movies, fueled by rebellious DIY passions, have made their way in front of my eyeballs in recent months. Here's what they were and why you may want to check ‘em out. Join me as we take a walk to the wrong side of the tracks and explore the sinister underbelly of American cinema.
Recently, I revisited the brilliant film Paths Of Glory (1957), an early movie by one of the greatest filmmakers ever to have set foot on a film set, Mr. Stanley Kubrick. It was his third feature film (unless you count 1953's Fear And Desire, of which Kubrick was so ashamed, he pulled it from release and tried to bury it away forever). The headlining actor in Paths Of Glory is Kirk Douglas, who is certainly transfixing in the movie. However, Joseph Turkel, a relative "no name" in the cast, does an outstanding job of holding his own next to mega-star Douglas.
In recent weeks, I've been revisiting the old Star Trek films. The 770 word version of why I would subject myself to such can be found here. The two-word version is: Robert Wise. I'm a big fan of his films The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and The Haunting (1963). A strange pinnacle, of sorts, in the filmmaker's intriguing career is Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which I had not seen since I was a wee lad. I had been wanting to reacquaint myself with this movie so that I could perhaps find new appreciation for it as an adult, and maybe connect it to things I love about The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Haunting, and even Wise's directorial debut, the beautifully shot The Curse Of The Cat People (1944).
I will confess that I've never been a fan of any Star Trek TV series, and the movies have ranged from moderately entertaining to infuriatingly awful. I was just a bored-to-death kid when my dad started dragging me to the feature films. Since those snooze-inducing theater-going experiences, I had not viewed the early Star Trek films – until recently. I am a big fan of The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and The Haunting (1963), both directed by Robert Wise. He directed Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), so I have been desiring to reacquaint myself with this movie – which, in positive and negative ways, functions as a peak in the filmmaker's fascinating career. I'll get back to Mr. Wise in just a minute.
Professionally and personally, it's been a chaotic past several months. Things have been really rough at times, and at other times awesome - but mostly I would call life, at this moment, tumultuous. I will guess that you've been in this irritating conundrum as well – when you know you need to make important decisions, but your chaotic circumstances prevent you from thinking clearly about those decisions.
We spent the first half of this month on a location scout / fact finding mission. The expedition was not for a specific film – it was instead to evaluate my options pertaining to multiple feature film projects. The full low-down on why we made the trek is here.
We spent the first half of this month on a whirlwind location scout. Well, it was perhaps less of a location scout and more of a fact finding mission. The scout was not for a specific film – it was instead to evaluate my options pertaining to multiple feature film projects I am developing.
If you are a horror fan, you know how many fright flick remakes have been released in recent years. The machine continues to churn; there are numerous genre remakes in the works at this very moment. Last year, the remake of Jim Wynorski's Chopping Mall (1986), produced by Roger Corman, was announced. As I had not seen the film in many years, I decided to revisit it last Fall, just to see if it was as goofy as I remembered. It was.
March is going to be a busy month. When I'm in town, there will be many pre-production meetings, much writing, and the first phases of a big honkin' re-release of my movie Deadwood Park (including a cartload of awesome surprises, like a feature length documentary never before released on DVD anywhere in the world).
I thoroughly enjoy sitting down in front of a good documentary. My favorite doc subjects include the origins and evolution of life on Earth, most anything having to do with World War 2, and outer space - from the big bang to the Apollo program.
Well, fiddlesticks! My evaluation of the genre film landscape (spanning the last dozen years) now, sadly, concludes. I'm generally quite cantankerous about newfangled films, but in my efforts to be less crotchety, I'm pointing out the most impressive genre films that have been released in recent years.
