p e n g u i n d e v i l

A slasher in the classic vein of 25 years back, Haute Tension is dragged down with none of the overblown corny stuff they make horror movies out of these days. This is a very nicely bloody film: well used blood, convincing and some really strong “yuck!” scenes. It’s a by-the-book slasher film like they made in the golden years: girls (as required, one of maybe loose morals, one not) off on a fun trip, singing all the way… Then stalked by a crazed killer. It’s got all the goods of the classics, only it looks much better than those oldies. Good cinematography, good story, probably fairly tense (if you’re not too jaded at this point… sigh…), great special effects (good gore, not like the silly overdone stuff I’ve complained about before), and a really nice, dark and vibrant color palette. Highly recommended for anyone into slasher films, but not such a purist that they only watch films that look like they were shot in super-8 over a weekend.

haute tension 01:11:37

I also finally watched The Mouse that Roared. Another fun “multiple Sellers” 60’s romp. Not the most brilliant comedy, sort of in the vein of Casino Royale, but not as overdone or corny. I’ve had the book as long as I could remember and it’s always been in my mind to watch the film. I just hadn’t got around to it. I think that seeing Lolita brought it back to mind, so watch it I did. It was a fun silly Peter Sellers romp, not too slapsticky, even with some tense moments! What I found most enjoyable though, were the graphics for the cut scenes. The storms while crossing the Atlantic were quite nice. I should have capped some before sending the disc back so you all could have seen them.

I felt like I must have seen it, due to it’s cult classic status but, upon watching… No. I most certainly hadn’t seen this film before. It is one thing to be influenced by a film but the opening scene of Battle Beyond the Stars seems to be just a bad re-shoot of the Star Wars opening sequence. After that, it becomes a fascinating rendition of a 1950’s Sci-Fi film but made 30 years later. Time is about the only thing changed in this one, the effects certainly stuck to the old methods. Starring John Boy Walton (that last name makes me cringe now) behind the wheel of Nell, the ship (the first busty space ship I’ve seen & when her engines start, they make a distinctly Star Trek sound). But I shouldn’t get started on features that remind me of other films, I wouldn’t know when to stop (okay, there were “inspired by” Willy Wonka, Logan’s Run and Alien, among others…). Bad plot, bad effects, terrible “jerky” robots, bad acting, strange casting filled with b-movie stars (hard as this is to say about someone who went on to star in The A-Team but, “Cowboy” may be the low point of George Peppard’s career). Bad, but not in any of the good ways.

Following this up with another Sci-fi movie probably was a bad idea. I was in too critical a mood so everything looked corny. But I sat down for Supernova. After taking a little break well into it and then coming back made me to believe that I might like it more a second time through. Not that it was particularly good, It is very much too dramatic and the scene that’s a copy of my least favorite scene in Aliens was annoying (did I mention it was too dramatic? Soo dramatic in some scenes that I felt like I must have accidentally missed the previous 10 minutes). It had a strange cast: Angela Basset, James Spader (who I haven’t liked in anything except Stargate), a terribly underused Robert Forster and Lou Diamond (what the? Where’d he come from?). It was probably the nakedest sci-fi movie I’ve seen (well, since Cosmic Cheerleaders, if that counts) but they also throw in a “jerky” robot, like the above film (didn’t that dance go out of style back around the time that Gallager did?) and the lame Hollywood ending… Man, who writes those?