Galaxy Express (Danny Johnson Saves the World, 2015)

Christopher R. Mihm often has a specific influence for a film. For Danny Johnson Saves the World, he was focused on creating a family adventure. It is the tale of young Danny Johnson (we’ve seen Danny in prior Mihmiverse films) who is playing a game of “hide and seek” with his friends when they run smack dab into an alien invasion of…puppets. Danny has to save his friends and little sister from the diabolical Alien Queen (and her imbecilic King). He is helped by an alien defector named Steve.

Danny Johnson Saves the World has a flashback framing device that is reminiscent of the Princess Bride and a Christmas Story as aged Danny Johnson (played by James Norgard) is telling his grandchildren a story as they wait for the Christmas Meal.

The film is a lot of fun and achieves its goal as a family film. There are action and monsters, but nothing too intense for younger viewers. The effects have that look of a 50’s family sci-fi with a neat looking robot villain and a monster called Meat (it looks like something from Dungeons and Dragons) that features more classic stop-motion animation like we saw in the Late Night Double Feature.

October 27, 2017 0

Home Repairs (The Conjuring, 2013)

Ed and Lorraine Warren are semi-famous paranormal investigators. They are devout Catholics and very serious about their work. But they were most prominent in the 70’s and 80’s. Ed actually passed away in 2006, but his wife has carried on their work. They were one of many investigators of the home of Amityville Horror fame. James Wan thought their work would make for an interesting horror film.

The Conjuring is based on the case of the Perron Family. They moved into a home in Rhode Island, only to find themselves facing something very dark. The Warrens come in to investigate and discover the family is being tormented by a demonic force, specifically the spirit of a long dead witch. Lorraine has visions of the dead, while Ed and his crew of investigators observe the house.

The Conjuring is very moody and stylized. You feel compassion for this family in the grips of true horror. The Warrens are kind and gentle with the family, but firm with the spirits of the house. Of course, the film versions of Ed and Lorraine are a bit more glamorous, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. And frankly, they seem a little less…unhinged, than the real Ed and Lorraine do in some of the video footage I have seen.

The atmosphere is truly creepy, with many scares throughout the film. But the reason it is so effective in it’s tension is how engaging all the performers are. Wan has produced a solid thriller with the Conjuring. It is interesting to see Wan move from the gore soaked slasher territory of Saw to the more spiritual based (and largely traditional) approach to horror. While the visuals are modern, they manage to evoke the old school haunted house horror films of a bygone era.

October 26, 2017 0

The Secret Invasion (The Late Night Double Feature, 2014)

Unlike prior features, the Late Night Double Feature is two ideas that Mihm had where he felt they would not necessarily carry an entire film, but he still wanted to tell. Each episode is about modern TV show length, making them very quickly paced.

In X: the Fiend from Beyond Space an intergalactic mission in 2014 is awakens from deep sleep They have brought aboard an alien corpse. Well, they assumed it was a corpse. After the alien disappears, the crew tries to locate it, but do not realize the creature is assimilating the crew one at a time.

This is kind of what you might get if Alien was made in the 50’s (Right down to the female leads taking on the alien fiend for much of the story). The story has some fun dialog (at one point, they determine the alien must be intelligent as it was wearing pants). The alien looks great with a classic sci-fi feel. X hits the ground running very quickly, wasting no time (but still finding moments to make references to classic and modern sci-fi) .

The Wall People is interesting because the idea feels very modern. Scientist Barney Collin’s wife was killed in an accident and then his son disappeared mysteriously. Eight years later Dr. Edwards and Dr. Gabriel pay him a visit. Barney is not quite…right. He has been unable to convince anyone of his theory that there is an evil inter-dimensional being that takes children from their beds through the walls of their rooms.

The film plays with questions of Barney’s sanity and reality. Is he dead? Is he on Pluto? It is very “Twilight Zone” in that nature.

This segment has some really nice stop motion action evocative of the time. Most of this tale rests on the shoulders of Doug Sidney who does a real good job of conveying Collin’s as someone struggling to save his kid but having reached the edge of his sanity.

The double feature format works real well here. Although there is an intermission between the films, it might have been fun to include one or two faux trailers (a la Grindhouse, though Mihm may have avoided this consciously specifically because of such comparisons).

October 26, 2017 0

Let’s Visit Texas, Part 8 (Leatherface, 2017)

Like 2013’s Texas Chainsaw 3D, this film sets itself within the universe of the original film. This time around, we are learning the origins of Leatherface. We meet young Jed with the creepy Sawyer clan on his birthday. As a right of passage, the family wants the young boy (eight to ten years old?) to kill a man they believe has stolen some of their pigs. It turns out Jed does not have the guts for this, at least, not yet. I mean, we know he eventually will.

Not long after, his brothers (cousins) kill a young woman, who just happens to be the daughter of the local Sheriff. They cannot prove it was murder, but the Sheriff is able to have Jed institutionalized to protect him from his family. His mother tries to visit repeatedly, but is blocked at every turn. When Jed and a couple other patients kidnap a young nurse and go on the run, things get very bloody.

The film actually sets it up so that you have no idea who Jed is. He is older, and none of the escapees are named Jed because apparently they changed his name in an attempt to disassociate him from his family. Meanwhile, there is a romance brewing between the terrified nurse and one of the patients, while others just want to kill her and go on their murder spree to Mexico.

They are tracked by the Sheriff who put Jed away, and he is seeking vengeance for his daughter. This is a prequel, so you know things won’t end well for him.

When it comes down to it, this film reveals nothing we could not put together ourselves from simply watching the first film. I mean, he grew up in an isolated and depraved family. It is not a stretch to figure out how he became a chainsaw wielding murderer.

The film also suffers the same issues as the 2013 film. It makes Leatherface incredibly sympathetic. Yeah, you get why the Sheriff is obsessed with vengeance against the Sawyer clan, but he is so cruel and and willing to bend the law, he gets other people killed. Jed was forcefully institutionalized by a cruel doctor who indulged brutal treatments and allowed guards to be rough with the prisoners. He also bends the law. Leatherface is a brutal killer and should not have the audience rooting for his success, and yet this film casts him as a victim of people who seem even more terrible than he.

What we are left with is a film that works against the purpose of giving a terrifying background to a horror icon. We do not need insight into the psychotic killer, no more than we already had and this film adds nothing of value to the canon.

October 25, 2017 0

Attack of the 60 Foot… (The Giant Spider, 2013)

There was a time when giant bug/arachnid films were the rage. And the Giant Spider brings back several characters we have met going as far back as the Terror Beneath the Earth. The titular spider is no doubt some kid’s pet that crawled into the irradiated caves that populate the Mihmiverse and got to be bigger than a tank.

The monstrous Spider works it’s way through the countryside, devouring people. A group of scientists and military work fervently to stop the creature’s rampage. Returning to the Mihmiverse for the film are Dr. Edwards (Terror From Beneath the Earth & Attack of the Moon Zombies) and Dr. Gabriel (Attack of the Moon Zombies). These are fun recurring characters because Michael Cook (Dr. Edwards) and James Norgard (Dr. Gabriel) are very entertaining. They know when to ham it up and when to dial it down. The thing that really makes any of Mihm’s films work is that the characters are largely played straight. There is not a lot of “I am trying to act badly”. Folks bring sincerity to the roles, which is where the amusement comes in. These scientists are delivering pretty weak science, yet, with real conviction.

The effects for the Giant Spider are really strong. They are, of course, a combination of green-screen and a regular sized tarantula and a model creature. The close ups of it’s face are a model (puppet?) but it is a fun “monster” version of our nightmares. The green-screen work is not seamless, nor should it be. It mimics the look of a movie era probably the best of all of the Mihmiverse films to this point.

While most of the Mihmiverse films tend to feel very distinctly 50’s, the Giant Spider kind of straddles a line between the 50’s and 60’s. Especially with the logo (the only splash of color the film) and the theme song. The theme song is very much a sixties proto-punk sound.

Christopher’s films are never overly long, but the Giant Spider is one of the shortest. And this is really in service to the film. It moves at a good pace and is pretty tight in it’s storytelling. The Giant Spider has long reigned as one of my personal favorites in the works of the Mihmiverse.

October 25, 2017 0

The Original Haunted Palace Rebuilt (House on Haunted Hill, 1999)

1999’s remake of William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill began a series of remakes of mid to late 1950’s horror films. This one keeps the core idea. An eccentric rich man and his estranged wife throw a party, offering a million dollars to whomever lives through the night.

Stephen Price is an amusement park owner with a rather disturbed relationship with his devious wife Evelyn. She wants a party thrown in the restored Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane. Years ago it was run by Dr. Vannacutt who performed ghoulish and cruel experiments. One night his patients revolted, violently killing the Dr and his staff. The Doctor’s last act was to set of a mechanism that locked down the entire facility and set it ablaze, killing all but five employees.

After dumping his wife’s party guest list for his own, Price does not notice the list changes yet again. When the guests arrive, both Stephen and Evelyn are shocked as they do not recognize them. Everyone is greeted by Pritchett, the nervous caretaker who tells everyone just how many people have died there. He wants his money and plans to leave. He refuses to stay in the asylum overnight. But he gets trapped with the confused guests: movie executive Sara, athlete Eddie, disgraced reporter Melissa and the Doctor Blackburn. Everyone has secrets and deceptions. When the planned horror get overtaken by the ghosts and demons of the fortress it becomes a battle for survival.

Geoffrey Rush does a great job as the Vincent Price inspired role of Price and his poisonous banter with with Famke Janssen’s Evelyn is every bit as biting as in the original film. This part is almost purely lifted from the original film, especially the dialog.

The changes from the original allow for surprises and while the heavy use of digital effects are somewhat dated, they do some creative things. The dark spirit that represents the house is made of human bodies intertwining to create a unique shape. Jeffrey Combs has no lines, but his diabolical doctor is effectively chilling.

The addition of the asylum backstory allows for a creepy vibe, as well as the updated addition of how the guests were selected. Chris Kattan is the primary comic relief, and I found his Pritchett to have a bit more vibrant of a personality than in the original.

The remake also manages to give the audience information a bit better than the original, relying on in story moments rather than talking heads. The film also opens with the asylum revolt, turning into an unsolved mysteries type of show (hosted by Peter Graves!) story about the devastation, which is very well done.

Overall, House On Haunted Hill is a pretty effective remake, both fun and exciting.

October 24, 2017 0

The Original Haunted Palace (House On Haunted Hill, 1959)

Eccentric and rich, Frederick Loren and his wife Annabelle invite five strangers (chosen for their unique needs or greed) to spend a night in a haunted mansion for $10,000. They arrive and are told of the various murders that have occurred in the house.

As they seem to face ghosts, eventually there is a murder, causing tensions to run high as nobody knows who they can trust and find they must wait out the night. Is the house truly haunted, as caretaker Pritchard claims? Or is it an elaborate ruse always meant to end in murder?

The opening is a bit clunky due to it devoting it’s time to two talking heads providing exposition. One of those is Pritchard, who provides the same information to everyone at the party, making his sequence wholly unnecessary.

However, once the story begins, it is full of engaging twists and turns. House on Haunted Hill suggests there are no actual ghosts, though Pritchard insists that there are.

Of course, Price, with his campy and creepy style is tremendous fun and the stand out star of the film. The film has some great and creepy visuals and some solidly unnerving moments.

October 24, 2017 0

The Haunted Palace (House of Ghosts, 2012)

A group of rich socialites is having a dinner party with a special treat. A powerful medium has been invited to put on a show, by opening a door to the great beyond. The group is confronted by the ghosts of their pasts, the dead come back to judge them for their sins.

This is the first Mihmiverse film with monsters that are not atomic/toxic waste or aliens. And it is really effective. Mihm captures those early Castle horror films (he even introduces the film recommending the audience locate their “Fear Guard” which they should have been given upon entering the theater. The black and white really helps make the most of the shadows and creating an eerie atmosphere.

As with the other films, there are ties to the Mihmiverse (the mother of the veteran from Monster of Phantom Lake is a character). One character is a director of schlocky horror films and there are several jokes that reference Mihm’s own output.

I really enjoy the film, including the twist at the end. The recurring monster is an angel of death type of demon or ghost. Its face is unchanging, but with the large bloodshot eyes and sharp teeth, the horned visage is memorable. It is visually moody but still has a wink. Again, not in mockery, but of real love for the work of William Castle.

October 24, 2017 0

Not of This Earth (Attack of the Moon Zombies, 2011)

Set in the future of Cave Women on Mars and Destination: Outer Space, Attack of the Moon Zombies takes place in the Jackson Lunar Base. A new scientist arrives and while he is being given a tour, finds a unique item…a plant. After he seems to die from exposure to spores, the inhabitants of the base move on. But while preparing for an autopsy, the young man wakes up…changed. Slowly, scientists are disappearing, being changed into the moon zombies.

It becomes a race against time as the survivors try and find a way to stop the zombies and escape.

All the films, of course, have had ties to each other. But Attack of the Moon Zombies really feels as if it ties the Mihmiverse films together. While Josh Craig appears as neither Jacksons, his Professor Jackson is mentioned (but has been upgraded to President). One character is related to the Deputy from Terror From Beneath The Earth and Dr. Edwards also returns.

The zombies look pretty good (the Mihmiverse films started to show a vast improvement in the makeup and costumes around Destination: Outer Space). One of my favorite in-jokes the film has is its naming conventions. The Captain is named Herman Frehley, but constantly demands to be called Ace. The Administrator’s last name is Ripley. But observant viewers will notice that several characters are named after the characters of the old Buck Rogers TV show.

Attack of the Moon Zombies moves at a decent pace and is a lot of fun to watch.

October 23, 2017 0

Galaxy of Terrors (Destination: Outer Space, 2010)

Captain Jackson is back! Trapped on a mysterious planet, Captain Jackson is trying to get home but gets pulled into an epic adventure. He must fight alien hordes, find a secret base that must be destroyed.

Writer and Director Christopher R. Mihm explained that he went into this film with a “what if”. What if…Ed Wood had made Star Wars?

The spaceships are obvious models and green screen work. But it feels like the limitations are less financial here and more sticking to the premise of being a fifties sci-fi b-movie.

The alien make-ups are actually quite good. Or, rather, entertaining. There are aliens with big eyeballs for heads that shoot laser beams from the eyes. There is a scene paying homage to the Star Wars cantina scene where the filmmakers clearly had a lot of fun populating the bar.

Does Destination: Outer Space answer the What If? Yeah. It feels like it came from the era, and it is a lot of fun. The film is loaded with fun references to sci-fi like Star Wars and Star Trek. The “high-tech” robot A.D.A.M. looks especially like a fifties idea of an advanced robot. The film promises more adventures with Captain Jackson in the end (with a soft cliff-hanger). We shall see if he ever returns.

October 22, 2017 0