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By  Will, on November 22, 2011, 5:20 am  Crash! (1977)
AKA Akaza, the God of Vengeance, Draculas Todesrennen [Dracula's Death Race], Death Ride
Starring José Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson, Leslie Parrish, John Carradine, Jerome Guardino
Directed by Charles Band
Expectations: High, I need some more giant 70s explosions courtesy of Charles Band.
So last week I was pretty sorely disappointed with Full Moon’s latest offering, Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt, leading me to plumb the depths of Charles Band’s filmography in search of something sure to wet my whistle. I found it right at the beginning of the list in Crash!, a movie promising more car action than I would know what to do with. Perfect timing after my disappointment with the lack of said action in this summer’s Drive. While Crash! isn’t quite as exciting as the poster makes it out to be, it is a barrel four-barreled good time, with more crashes and explosions than you’d ever expect a low-budget film from 1977 to sport.
The plot isn’t the strong suit here, but as Crash! is Charles Band’s second directorial effort and earliest surviving film (his first film Last Foxtrot in Burbank is a sex comedy forever lost to the sands of time, perhaps for the better), it is interesting as foreshadowing for his later career path. I expected this to be nothing more than a rollicking car crash movie, but it’s actually a horror film about a driverless, killer car and a woman doing her best to avoid being killed by her invalid husband. The woman picks up a small, primitive idol at the swap meet and somehow it inhabits her car and starts driving around, blowing up other cars. I’m not sure exactly what happened, nor do I care, the explosions are great and the car stunts are spectacular, hitting notes that The Blues Brothers would echo a few years later.
Continue reading Crash! (1977) →
By Will, on August 16, 2011, 5:20 am  Straw Dogs (1971)
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchison, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett, Robert Keegan, Peter Arne, Cherina Schaer, Colin Welland, David Warner
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Expectations: High. I’m very excited to see this.
Having just read The Siege at Trencher’s Farm, I was thoroughly excited to watch Straw Dogs for the first time. It’s a very well-regarded film of Sam Peckinpah’s and one that is always mentioned when talking about his best work. I knew going in that the film diverged quite a bit from the book, but I had no idea just how off the rails it got. Instead of the taut, thrilling tale that the book tells, Straw Dogs is mostly a very boring and meandering film, and one that simply does not do the book justice.
David Sumner and his wife Amy have temporarily moved to the English countryside of Amy’s youth so that David can finish his mathematics book. He’s working on some deep shit and needs the peace and quiet to sort out his thoughts. A few of the able-bodied townsmen, including one of Amy’s old flames, are building the couple a garage and clearing out the rat infestation in the old farmhouse. Tensions run high between David and Amy because David is focusing all his time on his work when she would rather have that focus pointed squarely on her.
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By Will, on July 29, 2011, 5:20 am  Four Flies on Grey Velvet [4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio] (1971)
Starring Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bud Spencer, Francine Racette, Calisto Calisti, Marisa Fabbri, Fabrizio Moroni, Oreste Lionello, Aldo Bufo Landi
Directed by Dario Argento
Expectations: Low, I’ve heard this one is bad, but there’s also a lot of “it’s not so bad” reviews out there.
I’ve been putting this one off for a while, and after watching it, now I know why. Sometimes you just get a feeling about something. Simply put, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is fucking boring. It is a suspense film with virtually no suspense, which as we all know, is a complete waste of time. I simply can’t imagine anyone finding this film very interesting, but a quick glance at the IMDB user reviews shows me otherwise. Whatever floats your boat.
Roberto is a musician in a rockin’ band, but he’s being stalked by the classic Giallo baddie, a strange dude in a trench coat and dark glasses. Roberto turns the tables and stalks the stalker into an opera house, where the dude pulls a knife and a scuffle ensues. The musician leaves a murderer, but not before someone wearing a baby mask in the balcony takes a few scandalous photographs and runs off. Now the hunted-turned-hunter Roberto becomes the prey once again as he finds himself in a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse with this mysterious photographer. The game is afoot.
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By  Uncle Jasper, on December 16, 2010, 8:25 am  Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power [Kung Fu Contra as Bonecas] (1975)
Starring Adriano Stuart, Dionísio Azevedo, Maurício do Valle, Nadir Fernandes, Edgard Franco, Célia Froes, David Neto, Armando Paschoallin, Helena Ramos
Directed by Adriano Stuart
Wow. So it’s really come to this? Going into Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power I knew two things. One… it is infeasible that this film could possibly live up to its legendary title, and two, there is no way a lack of subtitles would keep me from reviewing a film titled Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power. Talk of this extremely rare and elusive movie had been kicked around for years in cult film circles, gaining an almost mythic status along the way. Every now and then, some rabid fan would dish out a sketchy eyewitness account about spotting it in some dingy Brazilian flea market or something, while others doubted its existence altogether. Indeed, Bruce Lee vs. Gay Power became chalked up as a product of obscure lore, much like a Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster, a mystery that perhaps would never be solved.
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By Uncle Jasper, on December 13, 2010, 6:11 am  Executioners from Shaolin [洪熙官] (1977)
Starring Chen Kuan-Tai, Lily Li Li-Li, Lo Lieh, Wong Yu, Kong Do, Cheng Hong-Yip, Gordon Liu Chia-Hui
Directed by Lau Kar-Leung
Another month, another film from the Shaw Bros Shaolin cycle… Except this time we have Shaw’s other prolific director at the helm. While many associate the Shaolin cycle with Chang Cheh, Lau Kar-Leung inherited the mantle in this stellar 1977 effort, which further chronicles the life of Chinese folk hero Hung Si-Kwan, played as usual by the magnificent Chen Kuan-Tai. But this film differs greatly from the concise, historical-based efforts of Chang Cheh, who placed the focus on patriotism and brotherhood against the occupying Manchu forces. Lau Kar-Leung, ever the cinematic ambassador of Chinese martial arts, instead shifts the focus to Hung Si-Kwan’s development of his renowned style, Hung Gar kung fu.
Let’s face it. Lau Kar-Leung made films for kung fu nerds. (This review will also be geared towards that crowd, so don’t feel too bad if a lot of this technical / historical gibberish leaves you scratching your head.) Don’t get me wrong, the classic revenge tale that this film tells can be appreciated by even your most casual movie fan, but to really reap the benefits of what Executioners has to offer it helps to understand some of the finer points of kung fu styles and martial technique. Hung Gar is comprised of both tiger and crane techniques. The tiger being a powerful external style based primarily on brute strength while the crane relies more on deft movements and pinpoint accuracy. Executioners from Shaolin tells what I’m assuming is a mostly fictional tale of how the tiger and crane styles became united under one banner.
Continue reading Uncle Jasper reviews: Executioners from Shaolin (1977) →
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