Pre-Release Screening Room: Rage!

Rage  (Big Screen Ventures, 2010)

Before the Camera:


Rick Crawford

Audrey Walker

Jo Black-Jacob 

Spencer Conway

Anna Lodej

M.L. Maltz

Richard Topping

and
Chris Witherspoon  (the film's driving force - pun intended)
as
The Biker
 
 
 
Behind the Camera:
 
Written, Produced, Photographed, Edited, and Directed by Christopher R. Witherspoon
 
Suzanne Mitchell .... executive producer

Joe Shore .... executive producer

Darrell E. Smith .... producer

Shawn P. Smith .... producer

Cheryl Waters .... executive producer





The movie opens with Dennis Twist (Crawford), a regular guy having a regular day in regular old Portland, Oregon. He kisses his wife goodbye in the morning, chats with his neighbor about helping get a tree cut down - and drives off into the city to run some errands. But as we spend more time with him, we realize that Dennis is having a bit of a rough go at the moment. Some of what he's going through isn't his fault - he's not had much success with his writing, but it's not from lack of trying - and some of his current problems are very much his fault - he's been having an affair. He's made the decision to end the dalliance, and that's actually one of his errands. But pulling into a parking spot in the city, Dennis is momentarily distracted from the phone call he's on by a man on a motorcycle honking his horn at Dennis. Is he trying to get Dennis's attention, or is he honking for another reason? Regardless, Dennis waves him off and goes on with his day, and it is at this point that Dennis Twist's completely mundane, utterly normal, totally regular day - spirals down into violence, madness, and sheer utter horror. Dennis Twist has just met The Biker.

    As the day continues, Dennis breaks off the affair with his mistress, but it goes badly. And then The Biker turns up again, gouging a huge scratch into Dennis's car. Things escalate from there, with each man taking turns pursuing and being pursued. Then The Biker assaults Dennis in a men's room, and sabotages his brakes while he's out of the car. Now in fear for his life, Dennis now tries to simply escape the motorcycle riding madman - but it's not going to be that easy. Believing that his nemesis might be the former boyfriend of his now ex-lover out for revenge, perhaps even at her behest, Dennis seems to make his escape and heads home. But he hasn't escaped, as The Biker soon turns up at his house. And as bad as this day has been up to this point for Dennis Twist, now, thanks to The Biker - it's about to get A WHOLE LOT WORSE.

I am a big fan of Steven Spielberg's TV movie Duel, which pitted staid businessman Dennis Weaver against a crazed and almost completely unseen trucker in a big rig after Weaver cuts the truck off on the freeway. Reading about Rage and the connections it has thematically it has to the earlier movie intrigued me. What would happen if you took that creep out from behind the wheel of a semi tractor trailer - one of the largest, least maneuverable vehicles on the road - and instead put him on a motorcycle - one of the fastest, most maneuverable vehicles on the road? Rage takes that notion and runs with it. The Biker is so frightening because he can whip around on that cycle, go anywhere faster than a car, hide it out of sight, and get on foot in seconds. Intrigued by this notion, I sat down ready to enjoy Rage.

I enjoyed Rage! Firstly, it's a really nice looking movie - with gorgeous and crisp cinematography layered carefully across a beautiful 2.35:1 frame. The actors are all at least good led by Crawford coming across as likable and low key as Dennis. One of my minor quibbles with the movie is how little we see of Audrey Walker - as she proves a very solid screen presence in the last third of the movie, but I understand it would have been difficult to work her in much more without throwing off the carefully balanced cat-and-mouse game between the boys over in the city. Of course, a movie like this can live or die with the performance of the bad guy - and luckily Chris Witherspoon the actor pulls off a very driven performance as the helmeted hardass. The supporting cast has a couple of small weak spots, but the movie is smart and keeps the focus on the two antagonists so that even the less seasoned performers are adequate in the film. Everything else about the production is fine, and kudos to the script for keeping the action moving to the boiling point, and for finding a measure of intensity that gives the movie a very sharp edge - not unlike The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - not really that graphic - but it feels graphic, because it gets so raw in the climactic scenes. My only complaints about the movie - there is a scene where two extraneous characters talk about the TV movie Duel, as I guess Mr. Witherspoon's way of acknowledging the earlier movie, and owning this movie's debt to it in the borrowing of its basic plotline, but it is a little too on the nose for me, and took me out of the movie for a moment. But that was only a brief moment, and everything else about the movie worked for me.

In the end, it's a very well constructed piece of cinematic architecture - laying down a solid foundation  of character, then building on it with ever more exciting and nervewracking scenes leading up to the invasion of the Twist home, when horror becomes the new tenant, and no one who lives there will ever be the same again.

Right now Christopher Witherspoon is working to get Rage a distribution deal; and in the meantime Rage is getting booked into several festivals and conventions across the country. If you get a chance to see it with an audience by all means do - this is the kind of movie that would work really well in a theater setting. But regardless - when Rage becomes available - check it out!


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

Short Cuts: Time's Up, Eve!

I've recently become acquainted with a filmmaker named Patrick Rea, and I just watched a cool little short film he co-wrote and directed. It's called Time's Up, Eve! It's a black and white period piece with a young woman (Sharon Wright) pursued by shadowy figures who are trying to take her most precious possession...and I don't mean her life.

Here's a link to the short over at the Vimeo site - it runs 12 minutes and change:

http://vimeo.com/15794987



Check it out!


What I liked about this flick - it was, indeed, as advertised...short. I like movies that take exactly enough time to tell their story, no more, no less. This is the kind of short that makes me wish there were more anthology shows and movies. It's beautifully shot, in gorgeous black and white, and with a visual flair of a much larger movie. The acting is fine, the direction and editing crisp. The thing I liked most about it - here's a black and white movie with an attractive blonde being chased by dark forces - and it was partially shot in Lawrence Kansas - just like another cool black and white movie with an attractive blonde being chased by dark forces - 1962's Carnival of Souls!
 

 
Well done, Mr. Rea, and everybody who had a hand in the creation of this entertaining movie!
 
 
Until next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #55!

Three Bond actors, but not one 007 movie poster in sight? Sounds like a theme week to me! Let's really get specific: two weeks of non-Bond movies starring the six feature 007s, and we'll make it movies where they play the bad guy! Now THAT's a theme!





The Avengers  (Warner Bros, 1998)

Sean Connery as Sir August de Wynter

Yeah, this movie was almost a total misfire - but it is a rare opportunity to see Sean Connery as the main villain of the piece. I kind of wish the Bond producers would have taken him up on his offer to play a 007 villain in the last few years before he retired - that would have been wild, if they could have met his price!








The Man from Hong Kong  (20th Century Fox, 1975)

George Lazenby as Jack Wilton

This is a terrific martial arts action flick, with George cast as a suave businessman type who's really head of a criminal empire - and batcrap crazy to boot. If this film should be remembered for anything at all (and it is a cool movie) you might remember its theme song Sky High, by Jigsaw - one of the catchiest pop songs of the 70's!



In fact, I'm feeling so expansive, let's get that song into this post! Here's the opening credits to this hard-to-find movie, with a little bonus Sammo Hung at the beginning:

]





Escape to Athena  (ITC Entertainment, 1979)

Roger Moore as Major Otto Hecht

Yeah, that's right. This international thriller's all star cast is led by Roger Moore as the main Nazi bad guy. Of course, he's Roger Moore, so he's not that bad. I mean the character isn't. Poor Rog is as miscast as they come. But you know what, I still think the movie Street People wins in the "Misusing Roger Moore Sweepstakes," because that 1975 movie tries to give us the man as a Sicilian street punk!





Part Two comes next week - more Bond actors! More villain roles! Until then, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Scary Potter!

The Woman in Black  (Hammer Film Productions, 2012)

Before the Camera:


Daniel Radcliffe  (The Tailor of Panama)
Ciarán Hinds  (Road to Perdition)
Janet McTeer (Songcatcher)
Shaun Dooley  (Eden Lake)
David Burke  (Mesmer)
Sophie Stuckey  (My Life in Ruins)
Misha Handley  (First movie!)
Roger Allam  (V for Vendetta)
Mary Stockley  (V for Vendetta)
and
Liz White  (TV's Life on Mars - UK)
as Jennet Humfrye




Behind the Camera:


Directed by James Watkins


Produced by Roy Lee, Simon Oakes, and 10 other assorted executive, associate, and co-producers


Written by Jane Goldman

Based on the novel by Susan Hill





Wow! All of these years of being a movie buff - and it takes until 2012 for me to see my first Hammer Film in the theater! That's right, baby! After their heyday in the 50's and 60's, petering out in the mid 70's; bouncing back on TV in the 80's - Hammer is back in movie theaters! Huzzahs all around for that;

And for their triumphant return to movie screens, what does the venerable company bring us? Is it a fast paced CG animation 3-D comedy about funny aliens who poot? Is it a Katherine Heigl romcom? How about a big effects laden gladiator picture?

No, this is Hammer, man! Of course it's a period ghost story set in England!

Damn right it is! Woohoo!

The story, based on the 1983 novel, opens in the early 1900's with a horrific event involving three little girls having a tea party with their dollies. After this day ends badly for the young trio, the story moves to young law clerk Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who's not been doing well since being left to raise his young son after the passing of his wife. His employer gives him one last chance to hang on to his job: he is to travel to the tiny and remote village of Crythin Gifford to wrap up the estate of the late Alice Drabow, whose Eel Marsh House is soon to be sold since she has gone on to the Great Beyond. Saying goodbye to his young son Joseph and leaving him in the care of his nanny, Arthur packs up and takes off on the train.
    Arriving in the village, the low key but affable Arthur is quickly shown the door by nearly everyone he meets. As he presses on with his assignment despite this brusqueness-bordering-on-the-rude, Arthur notices the village has a strange feel about it - and the children who live there don't come out to play much - instead they just stare at him through closed windows. Out at the old Eel Marsh House, Arthur finds the joint about as appealing as its name; layered in cobwebs and dust, and full of heavy black shadows that beat up what little light comes in the place and send it packing. Arthur tries to get to work, but then the strange noises begin in other parts of the house. And who is the mysterious figure he sees at a distance in the house and on the grounds?
    The mystery will deepen, and involves not only those three girls from the opening scene, but other children who came to bad ends in the village of Crythin Gifford. Eventually Arthur will begin to uncover a story of a particular lost child and the rage that loss has invoked...even from beyond the grave. Arthur's presence has brought back the Woman in Black, and now no one is safe...especially the children...including even his own young Joseph... due to come visit with his nanny in a few days...



Candlelight - the preferred method of illumination for all serious ghost hunters.

I usually avoid PG-13 horror movies, as they tend to annoy me with their tepidness. Examples like Darkness Falls, They, and Shark Night 3-D have all given PG-13 horror a bad name. But as it turns out, that is a fine rating for a period ghost story that goes more for shocks than blood or gore - though there is blood. Oh yes there is. This is a very entertaining flick, with lots of well mounted jump scares, and a great feeling of dread throughout. It does harken back to the Hammer Films of yore - which just makes it all the better to me - though I'd have loved a quick cameo from Christopher Lee to really tie it to the old days - still, that's a quibble. It's still much like a Kiss of the Vampire, or even Horror of Dracula - where an outsider travels to a remote village and finds it awash in evil. Impressively mounted, with gray and dreary skies adding to the ominous tone throughout, and well directed by Watkins (Eden Lake), this one works well, still finding some very intense moments even without the R rating. I love the setting of the Eel Marsh house - out on a spit of land as if it's in exile, and in forced isolation for several hours each day thanks to the tides washing out the road leading to it. The cast is solid - with Radcliffe a fine lead, just squeezing by as a young father probably a couple of years older than the actor who plays him. The rest of the cast are also up to the game, with a special shout out to Liz White - impossibly adorable as Annie on the UK Life on Mars series - and anything but here as the beleagured Jennet.      In the end, if you like movies like The Sixth Sense, that weave some suprises and shocks in while telling a real story - then you'll probably have a good time with this. If you can only find your horror kicks with the extreme side of the genre - like A Serbian Story or Human Centipede 2 - this one is probably not for you. But everyone else - I think this is a safe bet, so check it out!






Let's Get Out of Here ?

I thought I might have heard it during the fire scene - but more research is needed.








Eye Candy ?

Nobody in the movie qualifies for the list as they appear in the movie - but I'm not missing a chance to bestow Eye Candy status on Liz White!

Welcome to the list, Liz White!

Buddha Man's Capsule Review

Buddha Man says: "The Woman in Black shows J.K. Rowling
at her darkest yet, which I quite like, though I did miss Ron
and Hermione. But go see it!"

Well, even Mr. Gold Head can get a little confused on the details. While I try to explain it to him, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!

Saturday Night at the Movies 2/4/12!

Who cares what picture we see?

Let's suppose for the sake of argument that George Gaynes does - then I think we'd be very, very sorry if we didn't pick this one:

If you were reading this blog last April, you may have seen my "P" post in the A-Z Blogging Challenge. If not, take one guess what it stood for? Or, go take a look at it here. I love this movie series dearly, despite losing a girlfriend the night I took her to see this in the theater the night it premiered. Yep, I was dumped at the classy fast food joint I took her to after the movie. Say...you don't suppose there's a connection...? Nahh, what am I thinking?

Anyway, this one is definitely in the video vault on DVD, and can be our movie of choice to watch, say, tonight! If you decide to come by, that is!


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

Dr. Buddha Man!

Buddha Man is back, and the golden boy is getting even less verbose!

Now he wants his column to feature really brief reviews of three movies. He also wants to jump on the Bond Wagon this year by using his names mixed with the 007 movie titles. Who am I to argue with such a renowned cinema personage?





Not the worst, not the best...middle ground, you might say...





The Sound of Horror  (Europix Consolidated Corporation, 1966)




From the looks of this victim, the sound of horror might be a squishy
tearing sound...


Treasure hunters blasting a cave somewhere in the Greek mountains inadvertently release a fast moving dinosaur who proceeds to turn the expedition into his own all-you-can-eat buffet. The really tricky part is - the beastie - though incredibly noisy -  is invisible!

This one is now supposedly in the public domain, and turns up in several of those 50 movie pack DVD box sets. I finally saw it from one of those, having never seen it as a kid - and it's not bad. The first 50 minutes or so are a little slow, but not murderously so. Once the creature, er, doesn't appear, the movie is really pretty cool. I like the idea of the invisible monster, which in the end is cheaper, but more effective than whatever special effect these guys might have used to show the thing. Give this one a try - especially in a group where the slow spots can be chatted over!




Unhinged  (Anavisio Productions, 1982)



Does your hatchet lose its flavor in her forehead overnight?


Three young women off to a jazz festival have a car accident. They find refuge in the spooky old mansion owned by a nasty old woman and her strange daughter. Eventually, some guy starts offing the women, and all clues seem to point to the gardener - as the deaths are caused by gardening tools, and he appears to be the only guy around for miles. But we've seen too many of these movies to fall for that one, right?

This flick rather inexplicably fell onto Great Britain's Video Nasty list and was hard to see for decades, unless you tracked down a VHS copy released here in the US after the hoopla overseas. That's how I first saw it, by the by, though much later. Its legend grew in the intervening time until people imagined it must be wall to wall gore in nearly every frame of the film. Finally, there was a DVD release a few years ago - with actual special features and everything (although the "comedy commentary" doesn't do much for anyone involved, including you if you listen to it). The movie is incredibly low budget, not particularly well directed, indifferently acted, and features a script padded to the point of ridiculousness. But you know what? The movie still has 'something.' The murder scenes are also not much, in terms of graphic nastiness, at least, despite the movie's long standing reputation, yet they still pack a small punch. And there's an atmosphere about the movie; a sense of dread and of inescapable destiny; and an ending that while maybe not the surprise the filmmakers were hoping for, is sufficiently demented and off putting that it sticks with you. Those factors make me almost recommend it. If you're almost intrigued, then check it out!






Now that's more like it!







Silent Rage  (Columbia Pictures, 1982)



In this scene, a guy in a white truck tries to speed by Chuck Norris and Stephen Furst, but
comes to an abrupt stop when his bumper meets Chuck's foot.


Another early Chuck Norris picture, this one sends him over into horror territory a bit. A psychotic loon (Brian Libby) takes to chopping up people with an axe, until he is stopped by Sheriff Norris, who is forced to kill the guy - yes, he looks at him hard. However, in some really bad luck, three doctors over at the hospital have been experimenting with wild new techniques of restoring life and making the human body more resilient to damage. If only they had a dead subject to try out their theories on... Sure enough, the guy makes an amazing recovery from dying, and now gussied up into a super psycho, he hits the streets again. Can even some devastating roundhouse kicks stop...the Silent Rage?


This one is purt'near a must see - it is chock full of Chuck Norris badassitry, and features a pretty solid supporting cast with Ron Silver, Toni Kalem, and Stephen Furst for comedy relief. What more could you possibly be looking for?



And that completes our time together. Until next we meet, always remember...no one likes a tattletale.

Maniacal Movie Poster Monday #54!

King Solomon's Mines  (Cannon, 1985)

Ah! Some blissfully awful 80's cheese here - this is Cannon's answer to Indiana Jones - which they didn't get out until after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The high quality of the movie extends all the way to the poster - look how everyone on it looks like themselves - except for poor ol' Sharon Stone...









Old Dracula  (American International, 1975)

Filmed in England as Vampira the previous year, this rather tepid comedy was grabbed up by AIP and had this title slapped on to make North American audiences think it might be a sequel to Young Frankenstein. I don't think it did all that well, which is why 1975's Legend of the Werewolf was not brought over in 1976 and given the title "Middle Aged Wolfman."








Glen or Glenda?  (Screen Classics II, 1953)

Ed Wood's heartfelt expose of life as a transvestite has been perceived as a "so bad it's good" masterpiece for decades. And it can certainly still be enjoyed that way. But more and more people reviewing this movie are finding that maybe, just maybe, Ed knew a little more about what he was doing than people have given him credit for. To these reviewers, Ed's use of stock footage and symbolism, and his casting of Bela Lugosi as a representation of some higher power are actually positives and the movie can be seen as having many deep layers worthy of study. Regardless of which way you think of this movie, I think we can all agree on one thing:

Ed Wood made a spectacularly unattractive woman.



Sorry, Ed.



Until next time we meet, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here.