THE GREEN SLIME (1968) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/9/21

 

Currently watching: THE GREEN SLIME (1968), a collaboration between Italy, Japan, and the USA, with the disparate cinematic styles of each clashing together to create a wild space opera-slash-monster movie that's both exhilaratingly strange and delightfully bad.

Some time in the future an orbiting space station detects an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Commander Jack Rankin (TV star Robert Horton, "A Man Called Shenandoah", "Wagon Train") is called out of retirement to head a team of astronauts to take off from the space station, land on the asteroid, and plant bombs that will blow it to smithereens.

The team does so in what is basically a small-scale dry run for the later epic ARMAGEDDON, but this time the astronauts bring back an unexpected souvenir from the asteroid in the form of a strange green slime which, when charged with electricity, grows into a horde of grotesque, very hostile alien creatures with pincer-tipped tentacles and one big red eye. 

 

 

Feeding upon the space station's various energy sources, the creatures grow in size and multiply rapidly until the station's inhabitants begin dying horribly one by one and end up fighting hand-to-tentacle for their very survival.

Hence, the entire second half of the film is a furious and at times incomprehensible series of frantic battle sequences splattered with red blood and green slime, as the space soldiers struggle to protect the station's medical and scientific personnel as well as other civilians.

To make matters worse, Rankin's romantic rival, Commander Vince Elliott (Richard Jaeckel, THE DIRTY DOZEN, STARMAN) chafes at having his command usurped by Rankin, with the mutual object of their affection, beautiful medical officer Dr. Lisa Benson (Luciana Paluzzi, THUNDERBALL, MUSCLE BEACH PARTY), adding fuel to the fire with her very presence.

 

 
From the film's first scenes, we're treated to an environment almost totally comprised of miniatures--cityscapes, rocket launch pads and spaceships, the rotating space station itself, etc.--which sometimes approach the quality of the usual Toho/Kaiju stuff we're used to, while at other times are markedly cheap and fake-looking.

Space station and spaceship interiors have the low-budget look of the old live-action Saturday morning sci-fi shows from Filmation such as "Space Academy" and "Jason of Star Command", and even such earlier series as "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger." On the plus side, vivid colors abound in most scenes, especially those involving the approaching asteroid, giving them a pleasing comic-book quality.

The low-rent feel of the film also shows in the artless, almost amateurish direction and camerawork, which, combined with the freaky slime-monster costumes and other slapdash special effects, make the film either an object of boredom and derision or, for bad movie lovers such as myself, a delightfully dizzying wallow in junk-movie joy.

 

Amazingly, this movie was directed by the same man, Kinji Fukasaku, who would go on to helm the spectacular sci-fi classic BATTLE ROYALE in 2000.  The consistently tense screenplay also boasts as its co-writer another familiar name--Bill Finger, who, along with Bob Kane, created the legendary comic book character, Batman.

Square-jawed and stern, Horton's Commander Rankin could almost have stepped right out of an episode of "Thunderbirds Are Go!" Jaeckle gets a rare chance to stretch his considerable acting chops in a major role, while Paluzzi has a cult appeal all her own as the woman who keeps the film's romantic triangle fired up while protecting her patients from the rampaging slime creatures.

While none of this looks or feels convincing for a second, THE GREEN SLIME is such a relentless onslaught of splashy, full-tilt space madness that one can hardly fail to enjoy it to some degree, on its own oddball terms, as an old-fashioned space opera laced with cheesy 1960s mod stylings and juvenile Monster Kid fun.

THE GREEN SLIME (1968) -- Movie Review by Porfle

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/25/21

 

I've been a bad movie lover for so long, I can sit back and enjoy movies like FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER (1965) just as much as I would CITIZEN KANE or THE SOUND OF MUSIC, whereas your average normal person might find both their gag reflex and their flight instinct activated by the very sight of it.

I pity such people their inability to watch stuff like this with the same giddy delight I felt as I ordered the DVD from Amazon, knowing that when it arrived, I would be able to immerse myself in low budget, ineptly made, but wonderfully entertaining sci-fi goodness about aliens from Mars who have come to Earth to kidnap women as breeding stock to help repopulate their atomic war-ravaged planet.

As if that weren't enough, NASA scientist Dr. Adam Steele (venerable actor James "Jim" Karen in an early role) and his co-worker Karen (Nancy Marshall) have just made space travel safer for humans by creating an android astronaut, whom they've named "Colonel Frank Saunders" (Robert Reilly). 

 

 

 
Right after Frank is launched into space, the Martians shoot his rocket down, leaving the horribly disfigured humanoid robot roaming the countryside killing people a la "Frankenstein."

Not only am I not making any of that stuff up, but it's even nuttier than it sounds. The head Martians are played by former Playboy Playmate and Three Stooges co-star Marilyn Hanold (as "Princess Marcuzan") and familiar face Lou Cutell (LITTLE BIG MAN, PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE) as her second-in-command Dr. Nadir, a bald, white-skinned alien with pointed ears and a high camp sense of humor that kicks in whenever he's ordered to blow something up or shoot it down.

Their bargain-basement spaceship is also populated by a gaggle of henchmen whose spacesuits, confusingly, make them look like Earth astronauts. There's also a tall, brawny alien played by the great Bruce Glover (CHINATOWN, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, WALKING TALL), recognizable even under heavy makeup in his second movie role. He also plays the fearsome space monster of the title, who will indeed meet "Frankenstein" during the film's furious climax.

 

 

 
The story begins in Florida, where, at a press conference, we're treated to the sight of Frank rather comically going freeze-frame during a press conference and having to be hustled back to the lab for repairs by Adam and Karen.

Then we're whisked off to Puerto Rico after Frank's disfiguring crash, allowing the director to shoot a lengthy montage of the two scientists riding a dinky motor scooter along scenic motorways and beachfronts to the film's sappy and rather incongruous love theme, "To Have And To Hold" by The Distant Cousins.

While the two young lovers search for their runaway robo-astronaut, the Martians terrorize the countryside kidnapping bikini-clad women from beaches and pool parties, disintegrating any men who get in their way with sunlight-reflecting ray guns like the ones used in TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

 

 

 
Also like that film, this one is surprisingly well-edited, with a gradually quickening pace that leads to a fast-moving, exciting finale that sees the Martians attacked by our air force and Frank, his rational mind now restored, going mano-a-mano with that really cool space monster.

Just as Johnny Depp claims in ED WOOD that he could construct a whole movie out of stock footage, this one goes a long way toward doing just that by using tons of the stuff for any scenes involving either the military or NASA spacecraft (including much footage from Mercury launches and orbital photography). The final five frenetic minutes or so are evidence that the film's editor was having a ball putting this thing together, and it's infectious.

Granted, the shamelessly warped FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER would fit comfortably onto any list of the worst films ever made, but that doesn't keep it from being just as much fun as a lot of "good" movies that I could name. Maybe even more fun if, like me, you're just a tiny bit warped too. 

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER -- Movie Review by Porfle

IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/19/14

Some movies can pretty much divide a roomful of people in half. That is, one half will sit in rapt attention while the other half flees the room in all possible haste to escape paralyzing, soul-crushing boredom.

IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES (1973) is one of those movies. Many viewers will find its dry, pseudo-scholarly tone, glacial pace, and static images of crumbling ruins and desolate landscapes to be the absolute opposite of entertainment.

And yet, those who used to sit fascinated week after week by every episode of the subsequent television series "In Search Of" (1976-1982, hosted by Leonard Nimoy) will most likely be riveted to the screen from beginning to end.

The open-mindedness of this film's producers and writers--which skeptics would no doubt find excessive--is what allows host/narrator Rod "Twilight Zone" Serling to pose baffling questions about ancient civilizations and then offer theories involving alien visitors from outer space and other paranormal phenomena.

Most of the now-familiar subjects are touched upon, from the mysterious lines carved into the vast Nazca plains of Peru--which Serling supposes may have been a landing field for alien aircraft--to the gigantic etchings of people and animals seen here and in England which can only be discerned from the air. Were these created for the benefit of our ancestors from the sky?

The ruins of Inca cities and other wondrous sites such as Troy and Jericho are examined for further evidence of such visitors sharing their advanced knowledge with ancient humans. Serling, along with various scientists, historians, and other experts whose credentials may or may not be impeccable, endeavors to explain why we should suspect an alien influence shaping much of our shared history as citizens of Earth.

In a seemingly stream-of-consciousness manner, Serling whisks us from Peru to the Bermuda Triangle for a quick retelling of the famous tale of disappearing military planes, and then it's off to search for the fabled lost city of Atlantis.

Unexplained artifacts are examined as well, including human skulls that display evidence of successful brain surgery, intricately designed machines created seemingly ahead of their time, and painted or sculpted images that resemble modern-day astronauts or aircraft.

Serling follows all of this up with some NASA-related anecdotes and a tale of unexplained radio waves received from outer space, again told by guest "experts" whose reliability we must either accept or discount. More interstellar speculation wraps things up, unsurprisingly, on an inconclusive note.

The DVD from Film Chest is in full screen (4 x 3) with original mono sound. Running time is 53 minutes. No subtitles or extras. The picture quality varies between okay and "ehh" (some of the stock footage shots in particular look like somebody's home movies) but then again the "In Search Of" shows always looked like that and it never really made that much difference.

While I don't know how every diehard skeptic will react to IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES, I'm pretty sure the less patient ones would rather skip it altogether. But if you've ever entertained the notion that we've been visited and indeed colonized by aliens throughout history, you may find this documentary's earnest "what if" tone to be both intriguing and fun.

IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 10/10/2018

 

I remember watching INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (Olive Signature, 1956) on TV as a kid and being severely creeped out by it.  It's definitely a sci-fi/horror movie that kids can appreciate--creepy, atmospheric, and featuring some horrific special effects and themes.

Watching it again as an adult (as I have several times), I find the film loses none of its effectiveness and is indeed a wholly adult, mature story that develops its characters well and places them in situations that are relatable while still brimming with elements of horror and even film noir.

Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy, INNERSPACE, SLIPSTREAM) returns to his hometown of Santa Mira, California to find old high school sweetheart Becky (Dana Wynter, THE CRIMSON PIRATE, AIRPORT) back in town after many years.  Now both divorced, their reunion is sweetly romantic with a clear likelihood of growing deeper.

The trouble is, Santa Mira seems to have been hit by an epidemic of people convinced that their loved ones have been replaced by physically exact but emotionally empty duplicates. Miles and Becky are skeptical at first, until friends Jack (King Donovan) and his wife Teddy (Carolyn Jones, "The Addams Family") find a body in their house which appears to be a dormant, half-formed copy of Jack himself.

As the mystery deepens, Miles discovers a duplicate of Becky in her own cellar, placed there by what appears to be her own father.  It quickly becomes clear that the duplicates come to life and take over when the actual person goes to sleep. Trying to convince others of what is happening, they realize that many townspeople including former trusted friends and family have already been replaced.

The film's slow and subtle build-up soon gives way to growing fear as Miles and Becky don't know who to trust or confide in.  It kicks into high gear when they and friends Jack and Teddy discover giant seed pods in Jack's greenhouse which are in the process of manufacturing duplicate bodies for them all, ready to be inhabited when they go to sleep.

Special effects in this scene are flawless, the grotesque pod replicas being the result of full-body and facial casts of the actors, and Siegel stages it with impressive imagination and skill.  It's an iconic sequence that still retains every bit of its original emotional power.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS then becomes a true cinematic nightmare of hysteria and deep paranoia.  The still-human characters, struggling to stay awake, are forced to flee while almost everyone else in town conspires to stop them.

It's an alien invasion of the most insidious kind, so different from the usual spaceships and death ray stuff of the 50s that it strikes home in ways that make it uniquely unsettling, disturbing, and personal.
Director Don Siegel (DIRTY HARRY, THE SHOOTIST) does some of his absolute best work here, his seemingly simple style yielding consistently effective shots that are deftly staged yet lean and economical.

The camerawork and black-and-white photography and lighting are exquisite, giving the middle third of the film, which takes place at night, the look and feel of the most visually arresting film noir.  Carmen Dragon (father of Daryl Dragon of "Captain and Tennille" fame) offers a highly effective musical score which some think is overpowering at times but I consider a major asset in the film's emotional power.

Siegel's cast is stocked with great actors, with both the leads and supporting players handling their roles with utter conviction.  Familiar character actors include Virginia Christine (THE MUMMY'S CURSE, "Mrs. Olsen" in the old Folger's coffee commercials), Jean Willes, Dabbs Greer, Larry Gates, and even future iconic director Sam Peckinpah.

Miles and Becky's flight from the "pod people" grows more frantic and desperate with each passing minute, culminating in an exhausting chase through the mountains in which the two protagonists are pursued by hundreds of human-looking alien "monsters."  Trying to make it to the main highway, they will endure a final, heartrending nightmare that is still burned into the memories of many viewers over the years.

The original ending by Siegel was abrupt, open-ended, and disheartening.  Test screenings showed it to be either confusing or just too downbeat for the audience, so the studio demanded new scenes to bookend the story. In them, Miles is desperately trying to convince skeptical psychiatrists and police of his wild story before they lock him away for good as a raving lunatic.

Many viewers still bristle at these added scenes, preferring the film to end at its most pessimstic point, and also object to a new voiceover by Miles (imposed by the studio to help clear up various plot points) which they liken to the one in BLADE RUNNER.

Personally, I feel Miles' narration gives his experiences a heightened immediacy and better draw us in to his story.  Likewise, the bookend scenes work very well for me, increasing the urgency of Miles' account and ending with a priceless moment when the truth dawns on the faces of Dr. Bassett (the great Whit Bissell at his powerful best) and "Dick Van Dyke Show" icon Richard Deacon.

Rather than offering a "happy ending" as its detractors insist, this merely sets the stage for what we can imagine will be a long, protracted, and horrific war between the humans and the invaders.

The Blu-ray from Olive Films' "Olive Signature" label (limited to 5,000 units) is a high-def digital restoration that looks better than I've ever seen it before, with a 2.00:1 aspect ratio and mono sound. Optional English subtitles are available.

Extras consist of two audio commentaries, one by film writer/historian Richard Harlan Smith and another with stars Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter and director Joe Dante.  "The Stranger in Your Lover's Eyes" is a two-part visual essay by Siegel, read by his son Kristoffer Tabori.

Featurettes include "The Fear is Real" with filmmakers Larry Cohen and Joe Dante, "I No Longer Belong: The Rise and Fall of Walter Wanger", "Sleep No More: Invasion of the Body Snatchers Revisited" featuring the film's stars and celebrity admirers, a 1985 interview with Kevin McCarthy, a look at the film's locations in the present day, and "What's In a Name?" which explores the origin of the film's title.

There's also a gallery of production documents, an essay by author and film programmer Kier-La Janisse, and the film's original theatrical trailer.

Whatever your age (this film works great for both young and old) or political persuasion (people have been interpreting its metaphorical intent however they choose since it was first released), INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS remains one of the most perfectly realized and enduringly effective horror films of the 50s or any era. 


YEAR: 1956
GENRE: SCI-FI
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH (with optional English subtitles)
LABEL: OLIVE FILMS
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 80 mins
RATING: N/R
VIDEO: 2.00:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W
AUDIO: MONO
US+CANADA
STREET: 10/16/18
CAT: OS018
UPC: 887090601801
SRP: $39.95 

OLIVE SIGNATURE FEATURES
New High-Definition digital restoration
Audio Commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
Audio Commentary by actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, and filmmaker Joe Dante
“The Stranger in Your Lover’s Eyes” – A two-part visual essay with actor and son of director Don Siegel, Kristoffer Tabori, reading from his father’s book A Siegel Film
“The Fear is Real” – Filmmakers Larry Cohen and Joe Dante on the film’s cultural significance
“I No Longer Belong: The Rise and Fall of Walter Wanger” – Film scholar and author Matthew Bernstein discusses the life and career of the film’s producer
“Sleep No More: Invasion of the Body Snatchers Revisited” – An appreciation of the film featuring actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, along with comments from film directors and fans, John Landis, Mick Garris, and Stuart Gordon
“The Fear and the Fiction: The Body Snatchers Phenomenon” – Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, along with film directors John Landis, Mick Garris and Stuart Gordon, discuss the making of the film, its place in history, and its meaning
1985 archival interview with Kevin McCarthy hosted by Tom Hatten
“Return to Santa Mira” – An exploration of the film’s locations
“What’s In a Name?” – On the film’s title
Gallery of rare documents detailing aspects of the film’s production including the never-produced opening narration to have been read by Orson Welles
Essay by author and film programmer Kier-La Janisse
Original theatrical trailer

Buy it from Olive Films

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

"STAR WARS" Death Star Finale With Countdown Music From "ALIENS" (video)

 What if the Death Star attack finale in "Star Wars"...

...had the classic James Horner countdown music from "Aliens"?

This is what it might sound like.

The Star Wars no-music segment used in this video was created as a sound editing experiment by YouTube user If Blank Directed Blank.

 

Originally posted on 4/29/21
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.
Thanks for watching!

 

"STAR WARS" Death Star Finale With Countdown Music From "ALIENS" (video)

Worst-Ever Closeup Of Sigourney Weaver In Any Alien Movie ("Aliens", 1986) (video)

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it.

Thanks for watching!

Worst-Ever Closeup Of Sigourney Weaver In Any Alien Movie ("Aliens", 1986) (video)

CURSE OF THE MAYANS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 2/28/l8

 

In the tradition of such tales as THE LOST WORLD and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, there's 2017's CURSE OF THE MAYANS, the story of yet another ill-fated group of explorers venturing into a land that time has forgotten to hunt something that ends up hunting them.

This time it's Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and the team is headed by fiercely dedicated and somewhat arrogant scientist Dr. Alan Green (Steve Wilcox) who yearns to delve farther and deeper than ever before into the mysteries of the ancient Mayans. 

Since this will involve unexplored underwater caverns in the cold, dark earth beneath age-old pyramids, Green enlists the aid of gorgeous scuba expert Danielle Noble (Carla Ortiz) to assemble and lead a crack dive team. 

Unfortunately, this team will include Danielle's flaky ex-husband, his current weed-head girlfriend, and the latest lovesick loverboy to be trapped in her spell.  They all hate Dr. Green, and they're all superstitious about the legends of evil reptilian space monsters trapped by the Mayans and just itching to break free in order to enslave and possess the human race.

Sounds like nothing could possibly go wrong, right? Well, if it didn't, this wouldn't be much of a movie, and for most of its running time CURSE OF THE MAYANS is a pretty good one. 

The best part for me is the journey into the jungle and subsequent exploration of the crumbling Mayan ruins.  The interpersonal relationships are just entertaining enough, with some smart, realistic dialogue and more than adequate acting (Ortiz and Wilcox are first-rate), and the scene in which the party encounters some really hardcore Mexican bad guys intent on raping and pillaging is even more tense than the monster stuff later on.

Director and co-writer (with Alberto Haggar) Joaquin Rodriguez has crafted a film consisting mainly of handheld camera that manages to avoid the sloppy, slapdash look we see so often, while also delivering some of the most stunningly beautiful shots of jungles and caverns that I've seen.  The underwater photography in particular is often breathtaking.

Once we get to that point, the film takes on a really claustrophobic, past-the-point-of-no-return feeling with the team blundering about in spooky underground tunnels and diving in dark scary waters.  Things of a possibly supernatural origin begin to plague the expedition as they get closer to the terrible secret the Mayans went to so much trouble to bury in the first place.

The final act gets a bit confusing--I wasn't always able to keep up with what was happening to whom, and much of it is murky and dark--but this actually helps to keep the viewer off-balance. 

Monster sightings are mostly limited to brief, shadowy flashes, which keeps us from seeing the seams and zippers, so to speak.  I was reminded of THE DESCENT during this sequence--I enjoyed the first half of that movie more than the rest as well. 

After a furious flurry of monster attacks and screaming, which I can't really go into without spoiling the story, the ending sets us up for a sequel that may or may not have you quivering in anticipation.

As for me, this one installment was enough.  But as Mattie Ross says in TRUE GRIT, "enough is as good as a feast", and CURSE OF THE MAYANS is a visual feast that also feeds my inner Monster Kid enough to tide him over till the dinner bell rings again.


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Format: DVD (Single) / Digital HD
Running Time: 88 mins.
Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller
Audio: Dolby 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 (1.78:1)
Release date: March 6, 2018

CURSE OF THE MAYANS -- DVD Review by Porfle

LIQUID SKY -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/15/18

 

 

I first saw Russian director Slava Tsukerman's 1982 avant-garde cult sci-fi classic LIQUID SKY back in the early 80s when it came out on VHS looking a heck of a lot cheaper and dingier than it does on Vinegar Syndrome's richly vivid new Blu-ray/DVD combo set (scanned and fully restored in 4k from the 35mm original negative and packed with special features).

Now, the film still looks low-budget but the talent and imagination that went into transcending that budget are allowed to shine through.  The visuals are a feast of 80s proto tech and economical cinematic imagination, all day-glo and neon and glam-punk and New Wave and ugly fashion and jaded cynicism set to robotic industrial music performed on a Fairlight. 

The setting is an urban milieu where sneering androgynous scarecrows get made up as though for Halloween so that they can express derision to either clicking cameras or their fellow drugged-out dance club denizens.

Our heroine, tall blonde beauty Margaret (co-scripter Anne Carlisle, CROCODILE DUNDEE, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN), is one such model so disaffected by her lifestyle that any hint of normality now seems abrasively foreign.

Margaret is a victim not only of the lecherous men she invites back to her apartment simply because they have drugs--making her a victim also of her own flagrant self-destructiveness--but of the equally-violent, overbearing, profane, drug-pushing dyke Adrian (the great Paula Sheppard of ALICE, SWEET, ALICE) with whom she shares both a penthouse apartment and a sick, abusive relationship.

The main attraction of LIQUID SKY for me has always been Carlisle's exquisite dual-role performance as both Margaret and her nemesis, a preening male model named Jimmy with whom Margaret shares a mutual loathing.  Carlisle pulls off the feat of creating two intensely interesting and perversely compelling characters whose split-screen interactions are always utterly convincing and scintillating. 

But the weirdness really starts when tiny aliens land their spaceship on a nearby rooftop and start feeding off both the heroin-enhanced brainwaves of Margaret's visitors and also the chemical reactions caused by their orgasms, which proves lethal to them.  Thus, anyone who has sex with Margaret dies.

In this world the most appealing characters, for me anyway, are the more normal ones such as Margaret's older friend Owen, whose genuine concern for her makes him the first alien orgasm casualty, and Jimmy's indulgent single mother (to whom he is utterly dismissive except when begging for money) who lives nearby and is visited by an eccentric German scientist on the trail of the alien ship. 

It turns out her apartment window offers a fine telescope view of the tiny spaceship, giving her a chance to vainly try and seduce the man while he keeps an eye both on the ship and the lethal sexual activity going on in Margaret's apartment.  There's a mundane charm to their scenes that's a stark contrast to the infinitely stranger things going on elsewhere.

Meanwhile, our wacky nihilistic misfits continue courting death, a condition hastened by constant drug use--they live to snort and shoot up--and sexually-transmitted disease, upon which dwells much of the film's symbolism. 

Their casual cruelty to each other comes to the fore when they get together in the penthouse for one of their tacky, drug-fueled modeling shoots, during which Margaret's deadly new sexual side-effect will shock even these jaded louts of their curdled complacency in a big way.

LIQUID SKY is a low-key slice of wildlife that doesn't explode like THE FIFTH ELEMENT or mesmerize like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.  It's simply the story of an aimless New Wave waif named Margaret numbly wandering through a harsh world of hurtful people and some weird little aliens who help her by hurting them.  And watching it is like a dark but colorful carnival ride through a combination art gallery and spook house. 

TECH SPECS:Vinegar Syndrome/OCN Digital Distribution 
Genre: Cult/Science Fiction
Blu-ray/DVD Combo (2 Discs)
Original Release: 1982 Color
Rated: R
1:85:1
DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Running Time: 112 Minutes (Plus 160 Minutes Special Features)
Suggested Retail Price: $32.98
Pre-Order: April 3, 2018
Street Date:  April 24, 2018

BONUS FEATURES:

Director’s introduction and commentary track
Interviews with Tsukerman and Carlisle
Alamo Drafthouse screening Q&A with Tsukerman, Carlisle and Clive Smith (co-composer)
“Liquid Sky Revisited” (2017), a 50-minute, making-of feature
Behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage
Never-before-seen outtakes
Isolated soundtrack
Alternate opening sequence
Photo gallery
Reversible cover artwork by Derek Gabryszak
Multiple trailers
English SDH subtitles

Pre-order it at Amazon

LIQUID SKY -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 7/12/21

 

One of the best of the wave of fanciful space exploration thrillers that helped usher in the science-fiction-heavy cinema of the 1950s, FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) has been given a lush restoration and released on Blu-ray by The Film Detective along with some interesting extras.

With surprisingly good production values for a Monogram Picture (the studio best known for its lurid 1940s Bela Lugosi chillers), it still retains an endearingly corny B-movie atmosphere.

In such a setting, a historic expedition to Mars can still be manned by a team composed of stuffy old scientists, a brainy woman for whom science is a poor substitute for domestic bliss, her pipe-smoking mentor who is oblivious to her love for him, and a cocky reporter (Cameron Mitchell, THE KLANSMAN, THE SILENT SCREAM, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS) along for the ride who ends up the third corner in their love triangle.

 

One can hardly fault the story for getting so much wrong about space exploration since so little was known about it in 1951. Still, it's amusing when the crew must have the concept of a shower of meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere as "shooting stars" explained to them, and certain members are so dourly pessimistic about the mission's success that one crewmember refers to the ship as his "coffin."

Fans of this sort of entertainment will enjoy the ride from Earth to Mars (in the same spaceship interior left over from ROCKETSHIP XM, according to IMDb), including a thrilling crash landing brought off with obvious yet impressive model work.

Once on Mars, the crew encounter a race of intelligent men and women who live in a vast underground complex composed largely of colorful matte paintings that recall the best illustrations from science-fiction pulp magazines of the era, whose wildly imaginative stories seem to have provided much inspiration for this one. 

 

 

With the seemingly kindly Martian leader Ikron (Morris Ankrum, ROCKETSHIP XM) promising to help the Earth people repair their ship for takeoff, Dr. Barker (Arthur Franz, THE CAINE MUTINY, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS) and his crew soon discover Ikron's more dastardly intent--to take over their repaired spacecraft and use it to escape the dying planet and conquer Earth.  

It's here that the film's star, Marguerite Chapman (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN), finally appears as Alita, a Martian woman assigned to help Dr. Barker (and arouse the jealousy of the Earth woman in the bargain). After discovering Ikron's plan, she will side with the Earth people and aid in their attempted escape.

Again, production values during the Mars scenes are quite lovely in a pulp sci-fi kind of way, helped in large part by the use of Cinecolor. Costumes are attractive as well, with Marguerite Chapman an absolute knockout in her micro-mini uniform (Dr. Barker's lovelorn assistant Carol gets one too) and even Morris Ankrum looking spiffy in his stately Mars garb.

Societal norms of the time will either amuse or annoy various viewers (Carol regards Mars' domestic conveniences as "a heaven for women"), although the female characters are all noteworthy for their above-average intelligence.  

 

The film is aided immeasurably by the smoothly capable direction of Lesley Selander, one of the most prolific directors of all time who helmed most of the "Hopalong Cassidy" series as well as countless other westerns, while also venturing into other genres (THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST).

The Blu-ray from The Film Detective is restored via a 4K transfer sourced from the original 35mm Cinecolor separation negatives.  Bonus features consist of two new documentary shorts, "Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers" and "Interstellar Travelogues: Cinema's First Space Race", an audio commentary by author/film historian Justin Humphreys, and a full-color insert booklet with essay, "Mars at the Movies" by award-winning author Don Stradley.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Despite a rather abrupt ending, FLIGHT TO MARS pays off with a final sequence that is exciting and suspenseful. The whole thing's as corny as can be at times, but that just adds to what amounts to one of the most absorbing and enjoyable space exploration yarns of the 1950s.




FLIGHT TO MARS

The Film Detective
Genre: Science-Fiction, Fantasy
Original Release: 1951 (Color)
Not Rated
Running Time: 72 Minutes
Language: English
Subtitles: English & Spanish
SRP: $24.95 (Blu-ray) / $19.95 (DVD)
Discs: 1
Release Date: July 20, 2021 (Pre-order now)
UPC Code:  760137572985 (Blu-ray) / 760137572893 (DVD)
Catalog #:  FBR1011 (Blu-ray) / FD1011 (DVD)

FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/19/17

 

There are at least two kinds of sci-fi movies that I love.  One is the slam-bang space opera with explosions in space, spaceships having dogfights in space, and/or space monsters destroying the world before returning to outer space.  These are awesome and I wouldn't dream of looking down my nose at them because they're just so much dumb fun.

The other kind of sci-fi movie I love is the kind that's good because it's just so much smart fun.  Movies such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, DEEP IMPACT, and CONTACT.  I love them because they present scintillating scenarios and ideas which are often both illuminating and, in the best cases, mind-expanding.  And they explore these things in relation to how they would affect humanity in the really-real world. 

With ARRIVAL (2016), you get all that in addition to the kind of intensely emotional situations that can only exist in science fiction.

Upon the arrival of 12 massive egg-shaped spaceships which park themselves over various locations around the world, linguistics expert Louise Banks (Amy Adams, THE MASTER, SUNSHINE CLEANING, STILL STANDING) is pressed into service by the government to help establish contact with the aliens, an experience that will dovetail in ways she can't yet imagine with the tragic death of her daughter Hannah, whom we see in fleeting flashbacks. 

Director Denis Villeneuve turns this into a gorgeously-photographed dreamlike journey for her and us in which we're never really able to recover from the disorienting unreality of the situation. 

The hard-edged military protocol of the base camp adjoining one of the ships (embodied by Forest Whitaker's no-nonsense "Colonel Weber") and all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that's thrown around only serve to make Louise's entry into the mysterious craft and her attempts to communicate with its ultra-strange occupants seems even more breathlessly surreal.

Memories of her daughter keep haunting her throughout the experience, visions which are seemingly unstuck in time as Louise is drawn into the aliens' non-linear concept of past, present, and future.  Scenes of her inside the cavernous spaceship, interacting with her otherworldly counterparts on an increasingly emotional level, are among the most compelling and thought-provoking of any I've seen in any sci-fi film.

In addition to this ARRIVAL deals in a fascinating way with the catastrophic effects such an event would have on humanity on a global scale.  Much of this is conveyed by news reports of violent societal upheaval (without, for once, a bunch of CNN personalities playing themselves badly) and the growing paranoia of various government leaders who are inching toward war against the outworlders. 

The juxtaposition between the genuine desire for peaceful understanding and empathy shown by Louise and her science-expert cohort Ian (Jeremy Renner, "Hawkeye" in the AVENGERS movies) and the increasingly hostile attitude displayed by Earth's military leaders is jarring.

It also leads to some of the film's most suspenseful and disturbing moments, especially when a mutinous faction within Colonel Weber's own ranks devises a plot to sabotage the ship.

But despite the dramatic urgency of this global countdown to interplanetary war, much of the story is devoted to diligent cerebral research and detective work along with Louise's own intense emotional journey through the whole experience and how profoundly it changes her life. 

Amy Adams is a joy to watch as she fully inhabits the role of the pensive yet passionate Louise, with Jeremy Renner providing capable support as Ian.  Forest Whitaker (THE MARSH, PAWN, CATCH .44, HURRICANE SEASON), of course, is pretty much a national treasure by now and can do no wrong.

SPFX are as fine as modern CGI can devise, but it's the full-scale ship interior that's most impressive.  I won't go into the appearance of the aliens or the nature of their written language, which both Louise and Ian struggle mightily to make sense of, but both are sufficiently bizarre.  All other aspects of the production are first-rate. 

The Blu-ray from Paramount Home Media Distribution is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo in English, French, and Spanish and subtitles in English.  Also included is a download code for a digital HD copy.  Bonus features consist of lengthy featurettes (over 80 minutes total) including "Xenolinguistics: Understanding 'Arrival'", "Acoustic Signature: The Sound Design", "Eternal Recurrence: The Score", "Nonlinear Thinking: The Editing Process", and "Principles of Time, Memory, and Language."

ARRIVAL is slow and thoughtful, but continuously fascinating--it never lags or loses interest for those serious sci-fi lovers who are truly along for the ride.  And the ending delivers the kind of thought-provoking yet deeply emotional payoff that should leave them contemplating certain mysteries of life, love, and the universe for some time to come.  



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ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle