DEEPWATER HORIZON -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/3/17

If you could combine the raw thrills of the old-time disaster epics like THE TOWERING INFERNO, EARTHQUAKE, and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE with a literate script and a story whose basis in fact gives it both realism and a genuine poignance--well, you'd have something.  And that something would be DEEPWATER HORIZON (2016).

The 2010 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico of the offshore drilling rig "Deepwater Horizon" is vividly depicted in this fast-paced and thoroughly engrossing film, which pays as much attention to the personal stories of its characters as it does to the dazzling and often heart-stopping action.

Mark Wahlberg plays chief engineer Mike Williams, who leaves his faithful wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and young daughter behind for a three-week stint aboard the title rig, which is actually a large, untethered ship from which a probing pipeline, the deepest ever, is drilled into the ocean floor in search of oil deposits to be harvested later.

When he and his boss, known affectionately by all as "Mister Jimmy" (Kurt Russell), find that corners are being cut and safety measures ignored by the arrogant, penny-pinching company executive Vidrine (John Malkovich), their urgent warnings are ignored. 

Naturally, disaster is imminent, and by that I mean the kind of "disaster-movie" disaster which, if done right, can keep us on the edge of our seats from the first fiery blast to the last smokey cinder.

Director Peter Berg (late of "Chicago Hope" and director of such films as FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and PATRIOTS DAY) knows exactly how to handle a movie like this, starting out with a slowly building sense of unease and gradual increase of tension as the drilling technicians are ordered to exert pressure on the submerged pipeline that we, along with our two main heroes, know it can't handle.

The fact that these characters are based on real people whom we get to know and like as they go about their daily lives gives the prospect of their imminent peril even more gravitas.  Wahlberg and Russell are experts at playing this kind of blue-collar hero, with Gina Rodriguez as rig designer Andrea and Dylan O'Brien as drilling floor worker Caleb also adept. 

On the opposite end, John Malkovich plays the coldly-calculating company man Vidrine to the fullest of his considerable abilities. Not too sure about his accent, though--I think it's supposed to be cajun but it's kind of hard to tell. Russell's real-life daughter Kate, on the other hand, seems to have done a little homework on hers.

The first half of the film is all suspense mixed with, in my case, a sort of wide-eyed awe at the vastness and complexity of this modern offshore drilling rig whose bridge resembles that of a futuristic starship. 

We're made even more uneasy when it becomes clear that the new vessel is ridden with bugs and woefully unprepared for what's to come--nothing seems to work, not even the telephones, and even worse, not even crucial alarm systems. 

When the inevitable occurs at about the halfway point, DEEPWATER HORIZON suddenly becomes one of the most mind-bogglingly epic and consistently thrilling action flicks I've seen in many years.  Everything hits the fan once the big pressure test on the pipeline goes wrong, and when this monster goes up in flames, the result is one of the most astounding and downright hellish conflagrations ever filmed.

After that, the latter half of DEEPWATER HORIZON is pure non-stop action and suspense mixed with heartrending human drama which director Berg pulls off with nary a misstep. 

Camerawork and editing are exquisite, while the SPFX, including an amazing full-scale mockup of the rig itself topped by a working heliport, are a near-flawless combination of practical and digital effects which help to engage the viewer in a thrillingly immersive experience.    

The two-disc set from Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment offers the feature film on both Blu-ray (1080P High Definition 16x9 Widescreen) and DVD (16x9 Widescreen) in addition to instructions on downloading a digital copy.  Needless to say, picture and audio quality are excellent.

Blu-ray Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD compatible), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio Optimized for Late-Night Listening, English Descriptive Audio.  DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, English Descriptive Audio. Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Blu-ray extras consist of the following featurettes:

“Beyond the Horizon” Hour-Long Five-Part Series
“Captain of the Rig: Peter Berg” Featurette
“The Fury of the Rig” SPFX Featurette
“Deepwater Surveillance” Raw Footage Featurette
“Work Like An American” Tributes

The DVD contains “The Fury of the Rig”, “Deepwater Surveillance” and "Work Like an American."

All too rarely does a movie comes along which sets out to do something amazing and then does it so well that it leaves the viewer in a state of prolonged astonishment.  DEEPWATER HORIZON does exactly that, and I would, without hesitation, call it one of the finest and most spectacular action/disaster epics that I have ever seen.

DEEPWATER HORIZON -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

GRACE KELLY COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 8/4/14

Although widely regarded as one of the leading Hollywood actresses of all time, Grace Kelly always struck me as a nice but rather unexciting presence. This is probably why I never sought her out but simply happened to see her in various movies that I was going to watch anyway, such as Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW and other such familiar titles as HIGH NOON and THE COUNTRY GIRL.

These three, in fact (out of a total of eleven), are the only Grace Kelly movies I'd seen before tucking into the 7-disc DVD set GRACE KELLY COLLECTION (2014) from Warner Home Video, which includes MOGAMBO (1953), THE BRIDGES OF TOKO-RI (1954), DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954), THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954), TO CATCH A THIEF (1955), and her final film, HIGH SOCIETY (1956). (Disc 7 contains her final interview, entitled "Princess Grace De Monaco: A Moment in Time.")



After that last filmic effort, her seemingly charmed life of rich girl turned model turned Oscar-winning actress (not to mention former Girl Scout) reached its storybook peak when she met and married Prince Rainier in 1956 and became Princess Grace of Monaco.

 

As in Hollywood, Her Royal Highness lived up to her name, exuding...well, "grace"...while giving birth to three children and being beloved by her subjects (all the while still courted in vain by Hollywood) until her tragic death in a car crash in 1982.

"I came to success very quickly," she once said, according to IMDb. "Perhaps too quickly to value its importance." While probably true, she seemed to "find herself" in her second life away from the tinsel-strewn decadence of Hollywood. But her cool beauty and elegant demeanor remain for film fans to appreciate in the movies that she left behind. Thanks to this DVD collection, I'm finally beginning to appreciate her considerably more myself.



In MOGAMBO (1953), her third film (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), Grace Kelly plays Linda Nordley, the timid, pampered wife of anthropologist Donald (Donald Sinden), with whom she has traveled to the wilds of Africa in search of gorillas to study. Their guide is a rough, uncouth big-game hunter named Vic Marswell (an aging but still great Clark Gable) who traps animals for circuses and zoos.

 

Vic is currently semi-involved with the darkly beautiful Eloise Y. Kelly (a gorgeous young Ava Gardner), a soiled-dove city gal marooned in Vic's wilderness compound after being dumped there by a duplicitious maharajah. But the arrival of the Nordleys creates a heated love triangle between Vic, Eloise, and the unhappy-in-marriage Linda--whose skittish vulnerability prompts burly Vic to become hopelessly smitten--turning their gorilla-country expedition into a jungle soap opera.

Along with the slow-moving and only mildly engaging melodrama, virtuoso director John Ford gives us plenty of breathtaking African scenery in glorious Technicolor. Authentic African tribespeople and locations lend the production an air of authenticity that helps offset the hokey "forbidden love" story, as does our simple enjoyment in watching the appealing Gable and Gardner injecting a little life into things.

Grace Kelly, meanwhile, inhabits her flighty character to a tee, which viewers will probably find either endearing or annoying. Your reaction to this remake of the 1932 Clark Gable-Jean Harlow film RED DUST may fall along similar lines. Personally, I prefer the similarly-themed Howard Hawks comedy-adventure HATARI!, but found MOGAMBO to be a passable time-waster which, thanks to Africa and Ava, looks terrific. Gable and Kelly, however, are hardly a romantic screen couple for the ages.

Director Mark Robson's THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI (1954) finds Grace in a role which barely gives her enough screen time to make an impression. She plays Nancy, the wife of fighter pilot Lt. Harry Brubaker (William Holden), currently assigned to an aircraft carrier in order to help fight the Korean War.

Nancy brings their two daughters to Tokyo to meet the carrier when it docks and give Harry a pleasant surprise, but their romantic reunion is interrupted when he must leave to rescue buddies Mickey Rooney and Earl Holliman (who saved Harry's life that very day when his jet went down in the freezing ocean) after the two helicopter jockeys land in the brig. With little to do otherwise, Grace's best moment in the film is when her family ends up bathing nude with a Japanese family (as per local custom) and the result is a charming intermingling of disparate cultures.

Grace gets second billing here but it really belongs to Fredric March as Rear Admiral Tarrant, who takes an interest in Harry since the young pilot reminds him of his son who was killed in WWII. March is excellent portraying the wisdom and compassion of an officer with the responsibility of sending Harry and his fellow pilots on a highly dangerous mission to knock out the titular target (which could hasten the end of the war) while agonizing over their possible fate.

This film was produced during that magical Hollywood era when they could still make war pictures that were stirring and patriotic (instead of cynical and downbeat) while still exploring the human side of the soldiers involved--particularly their psychology and that of their loved ones, often encompassing feelings of disillusionment and isolation, with even a little existentialism thrown in.

"Militarily, this war is a tragedy" Admiral Tarrant laments at one point, while Brubaker (nicely played by a vibrant young Holden) feels cheated that this new war has forced him to give up the life he'd begun to forge after having already served in WWII.

Rooney and Holliman, two of my favorite actors, also give solid performances as the intrepid helicopter rescuers. They figure prominently in the film's exciting conclusion which, after some tense action aboard the aircraft carrier, comes to a head during the final thrilling raid on Toko-Ri.

This sequence is loaded with incredible aerial footage and top-notch special effects (reminiscent, I thought, of the rebel fighters' attack on the Death Star in STAR WARS) and is topped by a harrowing firefight on the ground in which the lives of our heroes are in grave jeopardy. THE BRIDGES OF TOKO-RI may not be one of the all-time greatest of war films, but it's a solid, affecting effort that should remain in your memory for some time.

Grace Kelly's first association with Alfred Hitchcock came in 1954 with DIAL M FOR MURDER, adapted by Frederick Knott from his own stage play. The theatrical origins of the story are apparent since Hitchcock made little effort to hide them--indeed, he probably considered the limited locations (most of the action takes place in a single apartment) a challenge along the same lines as LIFEBOAT and ROPE.

In one of the disc's bonus featurettes, "Hitchcock and Dial M", Peter Bogdanovich relates that in directing the film Hitchcock didn't feel the need to "open it up" cinematically, fearing that this would interfere with the play's intricate construction.

And he finds enough with which to busy himself artistically to keep things visually interesting while briskly moving the dialogue-driven plot along--in particular, since the film was originally released in 3D, Hitchcock seems inspired to explore the possibilities of this novelty device without resorting to the more obvious gimmicks.

Ray Milland is at his slimy-smooth best as former tennis pro Tony Wendice, now living with wife Margot (Kelly) in a luxurius apartment in London. The arrival of an old friend from the USA, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings)--with whom Margot once had an affair--helps set into motion Tony's plan to murder Margot for her money and blame it on a blackmail scheme gone wrong.

To carry out the murder, Tony hires a cash-strapped con man named Lesgate (Anthony Dawson, who, as "Professor Dent", was famously executed by agent 007 in the first James Bond film, DR. NO). Their lengthy dialogue scene in which Tony lays out his plan in intricate detail is talky, almost static, yet Hitchcock and his able cast manage to bring the script to vivid life as we hang on every word.

The actual murder scene is executed (so to speak) with exquisite suspense, helped in no small part by Grace Kelly's outstanding performance as the frantic victim. Later, during the investigation, the introduction of a new character in the form of Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams, whom many baby-boomers will recognize as Sebastian Cabot's replacement in the TV series "Family Affair") turns DIAL M FOR MURDER into a crackerjack investigative procedural reminiscent of "Columbo" in that the actual culprit arrogantly underestimates the detective. The resulting cat-and-mouse game of wits makes this suspense thriller one to savor.

A busy year for Grace, 1954 would bring what was arguably her greatest success as an actress--namely, the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Georgie Elgin in director George Seaton's Best Picture contender THE COUNTRY GIRL. Bing Crosby snagged a Best Actor nomination as Georgie's alcoholic husband Frank. (The movie received seven nominations in all.)

William Holden's back and bursting with energy in the role of Bernie Dodd, a hot-shot Broadway director who ignores his backers' misgivings by wanting to hire the washed-up Frank for the lead role in a new musical despite his potential unreliability. After a successful audition, insecure Frank disappears when he discovers he's up for the pivotal part instead of a simple supporting role. Bernie tracks him down to convince him that he can handle it--but can he?

As Frankie's mousey wife Georgie, Grace Kelly gains extra critical cred by toning the glamour dial way down. In fact, she's probably as close to "dowdy" here as our future princess could possibly get without going full Jane Hathaway. (Bernie evens chides Georgie for trying to hard to look plain.)

Since their young son (a pre-"Lassie" Jon Provost) was killed while in Frank's care, the distraught dad has been on a downward spiral that Georgie's tried her best to stop even if it means overly protecting him to the point of being domineering, of which Bernie accuses her. When the play's early notices aren't exactly glowing and Frank starts hitting the bottle again, it becomes apparent to Bernie that Georgie's influence over her husband may have been more crucial than he suspected. Not only that, but more secrets about Frank's past come to light which convince Bernie he's got a much bigger problem on his hands than he ever imagined.

Grace not only holds her own next to both Holden and a very effective Crosby, but spars expertly with them in several emotionally-charged exchanges that really give her acting skills a workout. Any reservations I might've had about her getting by mainly on girlish good looks and an elegant charm are put to rest watching her make the most of this demanding role. One thing's for sure after the fadeout--she deserved that Oscar. THE COUNTRY GIRL skirts the line between pathos and bathos and ends up just on the right side of it with a satisfying conclusion which rewards our emotional investment in it.

Hitchcock rears his familiar head again (see if you can spot it) in TO CATCH A THIEF (1955), a smoothly sophisticated vehicle in which some of the director's favorite actors get to engage in shadowy intrigue laced with coy dialogue and wry witticisms.

The French Riviera forms a gorgeous backdrop for this tale of a reformed cat burglar, John "The Cat" Robie (Cary Grant), trying to prove his innocence after a new rash of daring jewel thefts put him under intense police suspicion. How to do that, you ask? Simple--he hangs around some of the most likely future targets at the most expensive beachfront hotel, hoping to catch the unknown thief in the act.

Not surprisingly, the most prominent potential victims turn out to be lovely playgirl Frances Stevens (our own Grace Kelly) and her mother Jessie (Jessie Royce Landis, who'd play Grant's mother in NORTH BY NORTHWEST), who is practically dripping with priceless jewelry at all times. It's not hard to guess that John and Frances will form a mutual infatuation, especially when she figures out his true identity and excitedly expresses interest in joining him in his next heist.

As a refined but irreverent heiress living the life of leisure, Kelly is as far removed from THE COUNTRY GIRL as one can get. But her seductive playgirl is cool as a champagne cocktail despite an effort by the actress to loosen up. Even in the heat of passion, she's as flawless and silky-smooth as the sumptuous frosting on a wedding cake.

Not that I mind, of course--what man wouldn't want to romance such a woman at least once in his life? And especially a man who happened to be as impossibly handsome and effortlessly suave as Cary Grant?

Indeed, in addition to the delectable mystery and giddy suspense which Hitchcock (as expected) handles like the virtuoso that he is, one of the irresistible attractions of TO CATCH A THIEF is seeing two of the most beautiful people in Hollywood history having a ticklish go at each other with postcard-pretty France as their playground. Hitchcock's having fun here, and he wants us to have fun, too. And we do.

Wrapping up both Grace Kelly's career and this DVD set in fine style is her final film, HIGH SOCIETY (1956), MGM's musical remake of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY which starred Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. The film was rushed into production since Grace was already preparing to marry Prince Rainier and leave showbiz forever, and her cinematic swan song ended up breaking box office records upon release.

As "Tracy Lord", Grace is back to being a pampered rich girl, only moreso--she's on pins and needles planning her upcoming wedding to some stiff named George Kittredge (John Lund) whom we know doesn't have a chance in hell because Tracy's cutely tomboyish li'l sister Caroline (Lydia Reed, pretty much a Virginia Weidler clone) doesn't like him and prefers Tracy's easygoing ex-husband C.K. Dexter-Haven, or "Dexter" (Bing Crosby), whom Tracy rejected because, among other negligible reasons, he chooses that awful lowbrow jazz over serious music.

One of those hyperactive romantic comedies brimming with "comic complications", HIGH SOCIETY tries so hard to be lighthearted it tends to be lightheaded at some times, and turgid at others. Bing, of course, comes off as smooth as molasses and just as thick--it's fun watching him try to be "breezy." He does have that voice, though, and we can't blame even the great Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong (he and his band serve as the story's Greek chorus) for wanting to jam along with it.

Grace, meanwhile, has that coltish quality Peter Bogdanovich was aiming for when he cast Cybill Shepherd in AT LONG LAST LOVE (although in Cybill's case the word "horsey" might be more apt), breathlessly reciting wisecracks and pithy exclamations while hitting all her marks as though running the bases. She isn't quite "funny" as much as she's simply formidable, although when things veer more toward the dramatic she handles herself with aplomb.

Helping to round out the stellar cast are Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm as correspondents for a cheap gossip rag who've been allowed to cover the wedding lest a damning story about Tracy's father Seth (Sidney Blackmer) be printed. They, too, are obviously meant to be together, so of course Frank will fall for Tracy while Celeste fends off the advances of Tracy's elderly Uncle Willie (Louis Calhern).

In turns amusing and tiresome, HIGH SOCIETY is a harmless way to pass some time in between worthwhile moments such as Bing and Grace dueting on "True Love", the hit song that earned them both gold records. The Cole Porter score itself isn't one of his most stellar achievements--the song and dance interludes seem rather shoehorned in at times--but it's kind of fun anyway. The same can be said for the film as a whole.

The title of the set's seventh disc, "Princess Grace De Monaco: A Moment in Time", is tragically ironic since she would be gone only ten short days later. Producer-director Robert Kline and journalist Pierre Salinger went to Monaco to interview the princess in her natural surroundings, encountering a still-lovely woman who seemed happy, confident, and at peace with herself.

She speaks at length and with great pride of Monaco, which she describes as "a little wedge between Italy and France that has managed to survive all the upheavals of history." Also discussed are the challenges of parenthood, the differences between American and European cultures, why monarchy can be beneficial, etc. Interestingly, Salinger dwells less upon the expected show business questions in favor of exploring Princess Grace as a person who exudes wisdom and intelligence.

As an actress, Grace Kelly often came off as such an "ice goddess" that it made her moments of warmth even more appealing. And there were more of these than I previously suspected, denoting the range and versatility of an actress who played a sheltered, sexually-naive prig in MOGAMBO, a devoted wife and mother in THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI, a two-timing spouse-slash-victim in DIAL M FOR MURDER, a plain-Jane pillar of domestic integrity in THE COUNTRY GIRL, a jet-set playgirl in TO CATCH A THIEF, and a romantically-confused heiress in HIGH SOCIETY. Warner Home Video's GRACE KELLY COLLECTION gives us all of these personas, and, like Grace Kelly herself, they're worth getting to know.

Special features:

Mogambo--theatrical trailer

The Bridges at Toko-Ri--theatrical trailer

Dial M for Murder--"Hitchcock and Dial M", "3D: A Brief History", theatrical trailer

The Country Girl--none

To Catch a Thief--commentary by Peter Bogdanovich and Laurent Bouzereau, "Writing and Casting To Catch a Thief", "The Making of To Catch a Thief", "Alfred Hitchcock and To Catch a Thief: An Appreciation", Edith Head: The Paramount Years", theatrical trailer

High Society--"Cole Porter in Hollywood: True Love", premiere newsreel, radio ads, Tex Avery cartoon ("Millionaire Droopy", 1956), trailers for this and "The Philadelphia Story", production notes (text)

Plus: thirteen colorful mini-posters and production stills and Bing Crosby's personal remembrance of Grace Kelly

Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, NTSC

Language: English

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)

Official WB Shop
Official Facebook

Street date: July 29

GRACE KELLY COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Addams Family: "Wednesday & Pugsley's Halloween Costumes" (10/24/64) (video)

 

(Originally posted on 10/23/19)

 

It's Halloween night for Wednesday and Pugsley...

...who have chosen the most frightening costumes imaginable.

They're dressed as "normal people"!

So scary are these costumes that they must recite a pre-prepared disclaimer...

"Do not be alarmed. We are only little children."


Film clips are the exclusive property of MGM

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
 

Addams Family: "Wednesday & Pugsley's Halloween Costumes" (10/24/64) (video)

GRANNY OF THE DEAD -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/7/17

With all the zombie flicks crawling out of the woodwork and trying to take a bite out of us ever since George Romero assailed us with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD way back in 1968, you'd think the genre would be nothing more than a withered, decaying corpse by now. 

But then, every once in a while a movie like GRANNY OF THE DEAD (2017) shambles along to breathe new life into it.

There's not a whole lot of exposition.  We meet a group of fun-loving youths having a reunion in an old church in the hinterlands of Wales, but barely get to know them before they're chased away by an old lady who then seems to get taken over by an unseen force and transformed into a slavering, black-eyed zombie.

Obviously some diabolical curse has descended upon this small Welsh town, because immediately all of its older people begin to get infected as well and morph into some of the most horrific, unstoppable zombies you've ever seen. 

Ed (Marcus Carroll), whom we met earlier at the church, wakes up to find his nan coming at him like a deranged spider monkey and hungering for his flesh.  Not only is she extremely frightful-looking, but she seems to have been mainlining Geritol as well.

We're barely ten minutes into GRANNY OF THE DEAD and already the full-scale zombie attack is on.  Barricaded in his room against his living-dead nan, he observes all manner of ghastliness through his window while trying to contact his friends via cell phone.

 

They, it turns out, all have similar problems with the various flesh-hungry oldsters who are either shambling, lurching around with walkers, or sprinting after them with such vigor that their prey must scramble to stay out of reach.  Some even manage to operate heavy machinery.

The gore is plentiful and the zombie action comes fast and furious.  Things really get going when Ed decides he must escape from his room and confront the zombies head on.  Meanwhile, his friends all have their hands full with touch-and-go situations of their own.

Writer-director Tudley James (SHARKNADO) handles it with a sort of anything-goes style that's consistently interesting, bombarding us with hand-held shots, Dutch angles, jittery camerawork and editing, and whatever else it takes to keep our nerves stretched taut.

These are some ugly zombies, too, and best of all, they're actually scary.  In fact, much of the film consists of nerve-jangling scenes of blood-chilling suspense that should keep you on the edge of your seat despite an undercurrent of mordant satire. 

The story is rife with a very dry, deadpan humor that's played absolutely straight (performances are excellent) and doesn't detract at all from the horror effect.  It's dark, dense, with the intertwined currents of morbid humor (I especially loved the JURASSIC PARK reference) and ghastly horror making it all the more effective.

Brimming with all-out gory goodness, GRANNY OF THE DEAD is the real deal for zombie fanatics, a living dead flick that's both exciting and full of genuine shivery scares and apocalyptic atmosphere.  I had a giddy good time watching it.


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Twitter: @Grannyofthedead

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GRANNY OF THE DEAD -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE TOM WEAVER INTERVIEW

 

[NOTE: This interview originally appeared online in October 2005.]

If you watch a lot of horror and sci-fi movies on DVD, chances are you've listened to a Tom Weaver commentary track. You may also have read some of his many celebrity interviews in magazines such as "Fangoria", "Starlog", and "Video Watchdog." He has penned several books of interest to genre fans, including ATTACK OF THE MONSTER MOVIE MAKERS, SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY FILM FLASHBACKS, and THEY FOUGHT IN THE CREATURE FEATURES.

Tom lives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, which is a pretty good place for a noted horror film historian to live. Recently he was nice enough to offer his responses to some some questions that I'm sure a lot of horror fans would like to ask.

porfle: Thanks very much for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Can you give us a preview of any current projects you may be working on?

Tom: For better or worse, my attention span has gotten so short that, to keep my enthusiasm way up, it helps to have a bunch of projects going at once, so that when one gets to be a bit of a drag, I can jump to something else. I'm still pumping out the interviews--I just did one that I really enjoyed, talking to Lee Meriwether about playing Catwoman in the old BATMAN movie. The Brunases and I are updating and slightly expanding UNIVERSAL HORRORS, and my friend Steve Kronenberg and I are doing a sequel, UNIVERSAL HORRORS--THE 1950S.

I've also just finished helping an actor named Paul Picerni--he was the hero in HOUSE OF WAX, he was the number two man on THE UNTOUCHABLES with Robert Stack--write his autobiography.

porfle: Who were your best interview subjects? Most fascinating, most cooperative, most informative, etc.

Tom: Well, I consider ALL of them cooperative--the ones who WEREN'T cooperative, didn't talk to me at all! The Donnie Dunagan [young Peter von Frankenstein in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN] interview I did last year was very well-received--he had fabulous stories, and that's certainly ONE of my favorites right now. But one that got less attention, but which I thought was just as good, was the one I did with Arch Hall Jr.
No, his movies, EEGAH and THE SADIST, don't have the number of fans SON OF FRANKENSTEIN does, but for a guy who supposedly won't GIVE interviews, I found him to be fabulously forthcoming. He answered every question--and I had SCORES of 'em!--in detail, and I don't get the impression he held ANYthing back. There was so little behind-the-scenes info "out there" about some of his movies that I really felt like the interview he gave was really something special. Well, for fans of Fairway Films, anyway!

porfle: And now I have to ask -- who was the worst?
(No names necessary, but it would be nice.)

Tom: The worst are the ones who you call up...who say, grudgingly, "Okay, okay, I'll give you an interview, call me next week." So you re-watch some of the movies and you hit the library and you prepare a list of questions, you put a lot of time into it, and then when you call back, they say, "Y'know what? I've thought about it some more, and...no thanks." Dan Haller did that to me, Bert I. Gordon, Arthur Franz--there've been a bunch, I'm afraid.

porfle: You've met a lot of celebrities associated with the genre. Who would you say was generally the nicest one? Who was the biggest jerk? (No names necessary, but...)

Tom: Well, the nicest ones are UNBELIEVABLY nice--after the interview, THEY do half of the work involved in maintaining contact and maintaining a FRIENDSHIP, even. Some have even, out of the blue, encouraged me to stay at their HOUSE whenever I come to California! Robert Shayne, who was Inspector Henderson on SUPERMAN [the TV series], was the first to make that offer, I think--I didn't take him up on it, but he was obviously sincere. Robert Clarke, THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON, and Paul Picerni were both that way too.
William Alland remembered me in his WILL, he left me a lot of his photos--which I since gave back to the family, but...wow.

A lot of them, after I've interviewed them, say, "Hey, you know who I'm friendly with? So-and-so. Do you want to interview HIM/HER?" It's amazing how one contact, one interview, will lead to another and another and another.

As for the biggest jerks ... well, Arthur Franz wasn't very nice. I'd ask him if he wanted copies of some of his horror/sci-fi movies, and he'd bark, "What would I wanna watch THAT (bleep) for??" The whole conversation was like that. Yeah, he was a real charmer!

porfle: Who do you most regret never getting the chance to interview?

Tom: Well, the "standard" answer, naturally, would be Lugosi, Karloff, Chaney Jr., etc. But the "ones that got away" that piss ME off are the ones I contacted, and said yes to an interview, and then **I** stupidly dragged my feet, and they died within a few weeks.

Every time I watch MIGHTY JOE YOUNG I remember that I called up Ben Johnson and he seemed so nice and said yes to an interview, and I blew it by diddling around. Same for Kay Aldridge from the Republic serials, and...you know what?, I'm don't even like to think about those [laughs]!

porfle: Do you recall one particular horror, fantasy, or sci-fi movie you saw as a child that first sparked your interest?

Tom: Honestly, no. I can tell you, though, that here in New York, I started watching the old horror/sci-fi stuff at a time when the real classics weren't on TV much or at all. In the mid- to late '60s, I grew up watching on TV the 1950s movies, good and bad, and the old '40s Monograms and THAT stuff. It wasn't until I was about 12, around 1970, that the GOOD stuff, the classic Universals and movies like that, started playing in New York again, after having been off TV throughout my childhood. So I have to admit, it was some good but mostly BAD movies that got me into this hobby!


porfle: Is there a genre film that is loved by fans and revered by critics, and you can't for the life of you figure out why?

Tom: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. I've probably seen it eight, ten times but except for a couple key scenes, it all goes in one eye and out the other, and I can't remember sitting here now which brother walks into the ocean at the end and which one survives!

porfle: What do you feel is the most underrated genre film ever made?

Tom: ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN. Sheer perfection!

porfle: If you could choose any previously-unfilmed novel to bring to the screen, what would it be?

Tom: I'd love to see some more of Lovecraft done. I've always been such a sucker for his stuff that even the NOT-so-good Lovecraft movie adaptations float my boat.

porfle: Which film would you totally erase from existence if you had the power to do so?

Tom: Well, about 95 percent of the horror movies made in the last 25 years could vanish off the face of the Earth and I could go to bed tonight and sleep like a baby!

porfle: You're well known for your DVD commentaries. Which one(s) did you have the most fun doing?

Tom: Well, for "fun," it would have to be the ones I did with Bob Burns for the two Creature sequels, with Lori Nelson sitting in on the REVENGE OF THE CREATURE one also. And to be doing it AT Universal, in the Henry Mancini Building -- Henry Mancini having done some of the music for those movies -- and walking distance from the sets where they were shot ... well, for a guy who grew up, and STILL lives, in Sleepy Hollow, New York, where there are farms on the other side of town ... it felt kinda strange.

porfle: Is there a film that has yet to be released on DVD that you would jump at the chance to do the commentary for?

Tom: Oh, gosh, dozens. Especially if I could drag some of the people who MADE those movies in the room with me too. I'd love to think that the early, black-and-white AIP monster movies will start coming out soon, while the guys and gals who made 'em are still with us. And THOSE I'd love to be a part of.

porfle: For those of us who have never done one, what is the process? Do you view the film on a television monitor? How much of the commentary is done in real-time?

Tom: It's done in real time until you get TOO tongue-tied, or you've screwed up and started missing some of your cues. Then you ask 'em to stop recording while you get your wits about you again. Yes, in most cases you sit in front of a TV, and you've got your script that you've written with the help of a tape of the movie with a time-code on it. Or, better yet, you're sitting there with one of the people who MADE the movie and then you don't even NEED a script, you just have a list of questions for him or her, and some general notes in front of you, and you just enjoy yourself.

porfle: There are a lot of remakes being done these days. Do any of them surpass the original films?

Tom: The only one I ever saw that I liked better than the original was the 1988 THE BLOB. Most of the rest--just about ALL of the rest, that I can think of off the top of my head, sitting here today -- I wouldn't want free DVDs of, I wouldn't know what to DO with them. Certainly not WATCH 'em again -- that'd be the LAST thing I'd ever do with 'em!


porfle: What do you feel is the general state of the horror film today?

Tom: I think I've given you clues to that a COUPLE times already [laughs]!

porfle: Are young people losing interest in the classic horror films of the past? Or will there always be an audience for them?

Tom: Yeeeeesh. I hope so, but I doubt it. When I was a kid, I was interested in "current" stuff, of course -- TV shows, movies, music -- but I also liked the older stuff on TV, and the old-time music my parents had on the radio, and so on. Today, just every young person I know -- not that I know that many, but most of the young people I know, or am exposed to, just turn up their nose at anything that isn't up-to-the-minute. And I love that they call two-year-old movies "old," and something that's like FIVE years old they call "OLD old." When they get to be older, are they going to change their ways and start sitting around watching WHITE ZOMBIE? In a word, "Pfffffffffft!!" So, yeah, I'm afraid I do have a bad feeling that, once we're gone, a lot of these movies are gonna be headed for Boot Hill.

porfle: Any subjects you haven't covered yet in book-form, but would like to?

Tom: I won't lie to ya, I'd have had more fun writing a FILMS OF LON CHANEY JR. than I did writing a FILMS OF JOHN CARRADINE. But there's a perfectly good Chaney Jr. book already out there -- and of course Lugosi and Karloff and Price have been written about to death, and VERY well. Sooooo...I got "stuck" with Carradine. But I would get a kick out of going into an alternate universe library and seeing what "my" FILMS OF LON CHANEY JR. would have been like. I bet it would have been fun to do.

porfle: If you could interview Edward D. Wood, Jr. (PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, GLEN OR GLENDA?), what would you most like to ask him?

Tom: When Richard Bojarski interviewed you, did you really go after him with a broken bottle [laughs]?

porfle: Being such an experienced interviewer, what question would you have asked yourself that I neglected to ask?

Tom: [Laughs] It's funny, I often end interviews with "What great observation, what fun story do you like to tell, and I haven't asked you to tell?" -- and the interviewee usually dries up at that point, and CAN'T give me one more. And I always think to myself, "Oh, COME on, there must be one more good one. Come on, THINK!" Well, guess what? Now you've pulled that one on ME, and I can't think of a freakin' thing!

 

THE TOM WEAVER INTERVIEW