Saturday, March 15, 2014

Saturday Night at the Movies 3/15/14!

Who cares what picture we see?



You would never convince me that Ted Raimi doesn't, so this will be the pick for this evening...













I have to admit I didn't get what I was expecting when I sat down in a theater in 1990 to watch Sam Raimi's (relatively) big budget superhero movie. It had been advertised as a very dark toned movie, but what I saw was a crazed burst of Raimian energy, with tongue in cheek and visual style to spare.



In other words, I was expecting Evil Dead and got Evil Dead II. Consequently I was a little...I won't say disappointed...but I definitely did not have the movie experience I was expecting.



Thankfully knowing what to expect in several subsequent viewings has brought me around - I love this movie. And since the mid 90's was a fertile period for straight to video sequels, what say we make this a...




Saturday Night at the Movies Triple Feature!







Feature two...









Four or five years after the first movie, Sam Raimi's production company geared up the first of two sequels - shot back to back to save costs. Raimi turned over the directorial reins to cinematographer Bradford May; and Liam Neeson - whose star had considerably risen after movies like Schindler's List - declined to return, and the lead acting reins were turned over to South African actor Arnold Vosloo.

Encoring villain Larry Drake takes top billing, but at least they gave Arnold "and...Arnold Vosloo as Darkman" credit.




And now a quick intermission:











And let's plunge into feature three!














I have only seen this one once - I found it the least of the movies, despite the presence of Jeff Fahey and Darlanne Fluegel as the villains. Still, I am a completist, and I'm sure it's probably better than I remember it being.


There was a one-shot one hour Darkman TV pilot made, but I've never managed to see it.



In any case, I have all three of the movies in a nice Universal Studios Franchise Pack and we could be getting this mini film festival going at any time - even tonight, if you cared to come check it out with me!






Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

1 comment:

  1. I love Darkman and I think it's an underrated classic of Raimi. Thankfully I've never seen the sequels, which I heard are not as good.

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