Five Favorites: John Carpenter

This week's "Five Favorites" focuses on John Carpenter. Carpenter is one of the very few director's to have a track record that spans over ten years of classics. Every movie that Carpenter made from 1974 to 1988 is regarded as a classic in some form. Name another director that has been able to do that.

5: Prince of Darkness (1987) This has to be John Carpenter's darkest movie. This is the first time that he has dealt with religion too. This movie was not liked by the critics at the time of it's release, but now it is regarded as one of his movies. I happen to agree.

4. The Fog (1980) After making the horror classic Halloween, Carpenter decided to tell an equally scary but different kind of story. This time his focus is a group a dead pirates out for revenge. Trust me, the movie is way better than it sounds.

3. Assault on Precinct 13 (1974) I know this isn't a horror movie, but it is one of my favorite Carpenter films. This is like an urban western. I still remember the first time I saw it. When the little girl goes to complain about her ice cream shocked the hell out of me the first time.

2. Halloween (1978) This is one of the scariest movies ever made because it is so realistic. The "pure evil" of Michael Myers has been copied countless times, but never has it been replicated, not even by Carpenter himself (see Body Bags)

1. The Thing (1982) This is one of the best alien movies ever made and is made all the better because we never see what the thing really is. The closing shot of the movie pissed a lot of people off upon its release, but it works perfectly, given what has proceeded it.

John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors and he has made a few movies that didn't make the cut. I'm pretty sure that he will show up on future lists.

New "Nightmare on Elm Street" Trailer

I will have to say that I had my doubts about this movie and it is getting horrible reviews, but damn it all to hell if I didn't think that this trailer is pretty kick ass. Take a look for yourself:

Rogue (dvd review)

The Movie ***1/2
The DVD ***1/2

I am a huge fan of monster movies. From the early Universal monsters all the way through Godzilla, I love them all. That is why it surprises me that it took me so long to watch Rogue.

The Story: A group of tourists take a boat trip through the rivers of Northern Australia. This area is known for it's crocodiles. When one of the tourists sees a flare going off in the distance, when pilot of the boat decides to go investigate.

The group stumbles into a remote area and are attacked by a huge crocodile. They lose their boat and are stuck on a tiny island. With the creature in the water and darkness falling, the group has to make it to land before their tiny mud island is engulfed by the incoming tide. Some of them die while trying to get off of the island, while the survivors have to find help.

The Skinny: Greg McLean made his directorial debut with 2005's Wolf Creek and Rogue couldn't be any different. While they both take place in Australia, the similarities end there. While Wolf Creek was down and dirty "torture porn", Rogue is a sparkling clean monster movie.

Wolf Creek was a movie about a serial killer who traps his victims and then let's them go, only to capture them again. McLean made that movie for very little money and a go as you shoot attitude and turned out a horrific horror movie. Now with Rouge, he is giving us a different side of the horror genre: the fun side.

Horror movies for the most part fall into three categories, at least for me. The first is the "horrific" horror movie. This a movie that you need to be strong in mind and stomach in order to make it through the movie. Movies like Wolf Creek and Hostel fall into this category. The second is the "fun" horror movie. This is a movie that, while trying to possibly be realistic, the movie is not out to mess with your mind or scar you for life. Most monster movies fall into this category, along with the Final Destination films. The third and final category is the "numbers" movie. This is the type of movie that is made by a "committee" of people, in order to make money. They don't care if the movie is scary or gory, just as long as the movie turns a profit, movies made "by the numbers". Movies like Darkness Falls and most horror remakes fall here.

Rogue is a "fun" horror movie. It is a movie that tries to scare you, not by horrifying you, but by making you jump and then wait in anticipation until the next jump. I love these kinds of movies because they are fun, just like the category says. While I do take in the "horrific" and "numbers" horror movies, my heart lies firmly in the "fun" category.

McLean and director of photography Will Gibson give us an Australia that many of us have never scene before. If Wolf Creek was a warning of the dangers in Australia, then Rogue is a travelogue for people to come to Australia, just stay away from the water. The movie is a beauty to look at. Every color pops off the screen and makes you want to live there.

It is this beauty that captures us. McLean takes his time, setting up the enviorment before unleashing his killer croc on us. We are given many long looks at the river all around us. This helps give us a sense of our surroundings before he starts killing people off.

McLean has said that he wanted Rogue to be more of an adventure movie than a horror movie. He is right in some regards, but I look at Rogue as a disaster movie. The movie has all the trappings of a disaster movie- the stranded group of survivors trying to get out of a situation, the man with no patience who tries to get out without thinking and gets some people killed, etc- but by adding the horror element to it McLean makes the material fresh. Sure, we get all the standard characters, but something makes the dialogue and most of the actions realistic.

There was another "killer croc" movie made around the same time as Rogue, called Primeval. That movie was released to theaters and bombed, so Rogue was shelved and then released straight to dvd. It is a shame because Rogue contains everything that Primeval strived to achieve: beautiful cinematography, good acting, and some really good scares. Rogue should have been the one in theaters, not Primeval.

The DVD: Even though Rogue didn't go to theaters, we are given a really good DVD.

The Picture: Preserving the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, Dimension has given us a great picture. The colors are vibrant and the black levels are deep.

The Sound: The 5.1 track provided is very good, using the surrounds very wisely.

The Goodies: We are given some pretty decent extras, although they begin to become repetitive.

Commentary: Greg McLean provides a very good track, loaded with information, although some of it overlaps with the rest of the features.

The Making Of Rogue (45 min, 16x9) This is a very informative documentary. We learn that there was a crocodile in the 70's that terrorized fishermen in Austarlia. We also get some behind the scenes footage of how the movie was shot and how the special effects were done.

Welcome to the Territory: This is a set of three featurettes. The first, The Effects (17 min, 16x9) goes into more detail about how live action and CGI were blended together to make the movie more believable. The second, The Music (15 min, 16x9) gives us a look at how the music was created. The third, Northern Territory (15 min, 16x9) gives more history about where the movie was shot. All of these featurettes play like extended footage from the documentary. They should have edited it all together to give us the ultimate look at Rogue, while cutting out the bits that overlap.

The Real Rogue (3 min, 16x9) Here we get another look at the crocodile that terrorized Australia in the 70's

And finally we get the movie's Theatrical Trailer (2 min, 16x9)

Overall: Rogue is a great monster movie that, while ignored for some time by the studio, is given a lot of love on DVD.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (dvd review)

Movie 1/2*

DVD **

The Movie

Trailers for movies are sometimes misleading. Sometimes they give us exactly what we want and sometimes they convince us that a movie is going to be something that it is not. Cirque du Freak is one of the latter type of trailers.

In the trailer for Cirque we are promised laughs and a unique vision involving vampires and freaks. While we do get the vampires and the freaks we really don't get anything more than that.

The movie stars Chris Massoglia as Darren, a do-gooder kid who always gets good grades and stays out of trouble. He and his friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson) find out about a thing called Cirque du Freak and decide to check it out. The event takes place in an old abandoned theater and the freaks are on full display. We get a snake boy, a wolf man, a breaded lady, a tall man, and a host of other freaks. This is the only time in the movie where the freaks are on full display, showing what they can do.

The main attraction at the Cirque du Freak is Crepsley (a terrible John C. Riley) who carries around a spider and is a vampire. Darren is fascinated by spiders, so after the show he goes and steals Crepsley's spider. This leads to a terrible scene where the spider gets loose in the school and bites Steve. Darren goes to find Crepsley and is offered the chance to become a vampire in exchange for saving his friend's life. He accepts and his friend's life is spared.

The movie by this time is half over and we only get a glimpse of what the trailer has to promised us. Also by this time I was bored to tears because I didn't care what was going on. None of the characters are given any sort of development and we are left asking more questions than we are given answers.

The lead character has strange lisp and reminded me of Telly from the movie Kids. He is a terrible actor who gives one of the film's many bad performances. Every performance in this movie is bad, as if no one believes in this material.

The direction, by Paul Weitz, is lazy and uninteresting. It seems that Weitz just set the camera up and let the actors "act", hoping to make the movie in the editing room. Scenes go on for far to long and are so poorly shot that it is hard to tell what is going on.

Cirque du Freak is based a popular series of books. I have not read the book and I'm not sure that I want to, based on this movie. It is hard to believe that a cast that includes John C. Riley and Salma Hayek could make a movie this bad, but actors need to eat and these types of movies keep food on their tables.

The DVD: The dvd comes in a standard amary case. The cover art is poorly photoshopped and there is not disc art other than the name of the movie.

The Picture: Preserving the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the picture is good. The movie is very dark, but that is the way the film was shot.

The Sound: The 5.1 track is good, handling the film's many action scenes with ease.

The Goodies: Freak flopped at the box office so I was not expecting a lot of bonus material. What we do get is instantly forgettable.

Deleted Scenes (10 min, 4x3 widescreen) We get 20 scenes here and each one doesn't last very long. A lot of scene extensions. Nothing here would have made the movie any better.

Guide to Becoming a Vampire (20 min 16x9) This a pretty standard making-of. We get a very brief history about the books and then the standard talking head interviews. Not very interesting.

Tour du Freak (18 min 16x9) This featurette seems like it was made as a promotional featurette to sell the movie to exhibitors. We get a visit to the main set and again we get the talking heads. This is mildly interesting.

Overall: Dealing with a bad script, terrible acting, and lazy direction Cirque du Freak has no chance of being remembered five years from now. Given the poor reception at the box office, I doubt that we are going to get another one.

The New Horror Handbook (book review)

I am always weary when I read a book about movies. I hate when they get the dates wrong or if they present information as fact and you know it to be the otherwise. That is why The New Horror Handbook is so refreshing. It is written by someone who KNOWS and loves horror movies.

The book begins with a definition of what "new horror" is, and then gets right to the point. The first chapter is about Eli Roth, who the author likens to Lenny Bruce. Many people do not like Eli Roth- I think that his movies are well-made, but no very good- but the author makes it very clear that he is a fan and he is not ashamed of it.

That was one of the biggest things that I learned from this book, not to be ashamed. Throughout the book, the author covers topics and people that a lot of horror fans simply do not like. But the author makes his case for each and every thing that he says here. He makes his case and moves on. While we might not agree with everything that he says-Repo! The Genetic Opera has more than "one or two catchy tunes"- we can see his point. We like the things we like and shouldn't care what others have to say about it.

Other movies covered in this book are:

-the Saw movies

-Cube
-the Ginger Snaps trilogy
-and many more.

This book is not chronological text about new horror movies, but a more focused look and some of the best. The author even takes a look at the smaller names in horror and even devotes a whole chapter to the horror magazine Rue Morgue.

I really dug this book. I had a really hard tie putting it down. The book is incredibly well written and well researched. This should be required reading for any horror fan.

The Collector Coming to DVD and Blu-ray

Vivendi has announced The Collector for release on dvd and blu-ray on April, 6th. As you know I have been given early access to the DVD and you can find the review here.

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (blu-ray review)

Movie ****

Blu-ray ***1/2

Troma has been around for more than thirty-five years and they are one of the only studios (yes, I consider them a studio) that hasn't changed what they are about. Sure, they have changed with the times, if they hadn't then they would have gone under a long time ago. But they are the only studio that actually listens to their fans. This is what makes them successful. So it comes with great joy that I can tell that, with Poultrygeist, Troma is sticking to what they do best: entertain and offend.

The story of Poultrygeist is very simple. A fast food restaurant has built their building on an ancient Tromahawk burial ground. Even though they are told this they do not care because it's all about making the money. This, of course, is a bad mistake as the people who are eating the food are being turned into chicken zombies. Yes, I said chicken zombies. Anyway, it is up to our hero, Arby, to save the day.

That is the plot in a nutshell. Of course, there is a lot more going on, but Troma tries to keep their plots simple. No one is going to argue that, but what Troma is good at is giving us honest satire masked by the plot of a horror movie. The biggest target, in this and many other Troma movies, is big corporations. Troma has a big problem with corporations taking everything from us and turning us into drones and this movie is not exception.

While taking on big corporations, Poultrygeist also has the aim set at racism, stereotyping, terrorism enviormentalists, and of course, greed. Troma has always been about the little guy and they go to great lengths to appease to the people who have been screwed by the system. I love Troma satire even though it isn't very subtle.

You can also tell that a lot of hard work and passion went into this project. In the early to mid-90's Troma had hit a creative wall. Their output wasn't very good, but here and in Citizen Toxie you can see that they have gotten past that wall and are back on track.

Poultrygeist also features some of Troma's best production values. The restaurant always feels like a real restaurant- they shot the movie in a closed down McDonald's- so they get some real bang for their buck. Also Poultrygeist doesn't have a micro budget feel to it. Some of their older movies had a guerrilla feel to them, but here the movie looks and feels like a Hollywood movie. That's not a slight against Troma, but goes to show how much they have grown.

This is also the first time that Troma has done a musical. (Cannibal! doesn't count as they didn't make that movie, they were just the distributors) The songs are pretty catchy and song with enthusiasm, but they don't really add anything to the movie. You can take them out and still have a great movie, but they are welcome and keep the spirit of Troma alive.

As always, Troma movies are gory and Poultrygeist doesn't disappoint. The make-up for the chicken zombies is very well done and some of the other effects are pretty effective. Resident tromite Joe Fleishaker probably gets the worst death in the movie. I would describe it to you, but you have to see it for yourself.

In the end, Poultrygeist is a great Troma movie. I would go so far as to say that this is their best movie since the original Toxic Avenger. Poultrygeist is filled with everything a Troma fan could want and a little more.

The Blu-ray: Poultrygeist comes to us in a standard blu-ray case with very attractive artwork. There is not insert, but there artwork on the inside of the case.

The Picture ***
Preserving the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, this is a pretty nice 1080p transfer overall. Comparing it to the dvd, this appears to be the same transfer. This is good and bad news. The good is the black levels are deep and the transfer has a film quality to, no DNR applied. The bad is that there are a few instances where there are blemishes on the print. They go by pretty fast and are hardly noticeable. Having seen the movie in theaters, I can say that this transfer is very close to what I saw in the theater and I am very impressed with this transfer.

The Sound ***
Troma has given us the same 2.0 mono sound that was found on the DVD. It's kinds of weird though, as I found this soundtrack clearer and more distinct then it's DVD counterpart. Still it would have been nice to have a 5.1 mix, but give Troma time and they will deliver.

The Goodies ****
Troma has always been good at giving fans the best when it comes to special features and the Poultrygeist blu-ray doesn't disappoint. They even throw in some blu-ray exclusives to sweeten the pot. All of the special features- except for the introduction are presented in standard definition.

Introduction by Lloyd Kaufman (blu-ray exclusive) 5min This is the first thing plays before the movie (obviously) but this is a new introduction to the film. Lloyd, in his own funny way, explains the difference between blu-ray (or in Tromaville, brown-ray) and dvd. This is a very funny introduction and should be viewed at least once.

Audio Commentary #1- This commentary track features Lloyd Kaufman and writer Gabe Friedman. This commentary is more technical than the other commentary, but the two seem to be having fun talking about the movie and it's rocky road to release.

Audio Commentary #2 (blu-ray exclusive)
This commentary features stars Jason Yachanin and Kate Graham and is a pretty good track. The actors were recorded separately and sometimes their info overlaps, but it is a pretty good track so this is something that can be overlooked. Yachanin dominates the track.

Poultry in Motion 82 min
This is a fly on the wall documentary that has become a staple on Troma dvds. We see everything about the production and the doc doesn't hold back in showing how Lloyd directs. This is a fascinating documentary.

Chewing the Fat With Joe Fleishaker blu-ray exclusive) 3 min
Shot during the shooting of the introduction to the blu-ray, this little interview shows just how fat and immobile Fleishaker has become over the years. This is actually the saddest thing on the disc.

Poultrygeist NYC Premiere 10 min
This featurette was shot at the New York premiere of Poultrygeist. We get the cast and crew's reaction to the movie that they bled for.

Designing the Monsters 8 min
This featurette shows the monster designers not really showing how they designed the monsters, but having trouble getting the muscle suit out of the mold.

Recording the Songs 6 min
The title says it all. It shows the cast recording the songs that are sang in the movie. More musicals need to have a special feature like this as it shows how much hard work actually goes into making these songs work.

Filming the Meat Grinder 4 min
This is just an alternate take of what is shown in the documentary.

Rooftop Reshoot 6 min
This featurette focuses on a reshoot that Lloyd did so that he could have Debbie Rochon in the movie. It is incredible to see how they shot this one shot then to see how it is flawlessly integrated into the movie.

Joe Fleishaker Gets a Head Mold 9 min
The title of this featurette is pretty self-explainatory, but we learn how a head mold is made. Very informative.

Chicken Ass 5 min
This is a short film about a disease known as, you guessed it, chicken ass. The short is one note and not very good.

Cellu-Lloyd Closet- This is a section with a series of featurettes.

-Make Your Own Damn Omelette 2 min This is a commercial for the Make Your Own Damn Movie box set.
-Blow Me...Away: Shooting the ACB Explosion Sequence 14m
Here we are given a look at how Troma made the restaurant blow up at the end of the movie, without really blowing it up.
-Make Your Own Damn Sound Design 23m
Troma has always been known for the aggressive soundtracks. They use a lot of ADR to create new jokes and atmosphere. Here we are given a look at how much work goes into creating their soundtracks

Deleted Scenes: Here we find four deleted scenes. 8 min

-Ron Jeremy's Alternate "Happy Ending"
-Charlotte Kaufman's Death Scene
-Time Bomb!
-The Humus S-U-I-C-I-D-E song

Theatrical Trailer

Lovely Scenes from Bergman's The Virgin Spring
This is the promo reel shown to exhibitors to spread awareness for the movie.

2 Music Videos, and trailers for The Hanging Woman, Toxic Avenger, and Combat Shock round out the special features.


Overall: Troma has entered the high-def game with a very impressive debut. The picture and sound are both top notch and the bonus features are outstanding (they even threw in some blu-ray exclusive special features). If Troma keeps this up (and I know they will) then they will be one of the leading independent companies releasing movies on blu-ray.