Red Balloons (It, 1990)

Stephen Kings has had many stories brought to the screen with varying success. In 1990 he had a good year. We saw the release of Misery and the birth of the “Stephen King Mini-Series Event” on ABC.

The film begins with a young girl being attacked and killed. We the audience, of course, know it is Pennywise…but while the police are doing their work, Mike Hanlon, Local Librarian, shows up. He finds a picture from his past, and he knows it is time to bring all his friends back home to make good on a promise.

As Mike calls each friend, they seem almost confused as to who Mike is, but we get treated to extended flashbacks to their childhoods thirty years prior.

The kids discovered an evil that feed in the town every thirty years. They believed they were able to defeat the creature, but promised to return home if the creature ever came back. And now that it has, the now grown group of friends return to Derry to try and destroy it forever. Of course, Pennywise tries to prey on their fears and use as many tricks to stop them as he can. but they refuse to back down and run away.

The cast is pretty solid. John Ritter is Ben, former fat kid Ben who is now a hard drinking and partying architect. Annette O’Toole is grown up Bev who married a man as abusive as her father. Harry Anderson is a little over the top hamming it up as comedian Richie Tozier (young Ritchie is played by Seth Green). Really, the whole cast is pretty good.

Of course, what really make the mini-series memorable is the performance of Tim Curry as Pennywise. It is a highly memorable turn and a highlight of Curry’s career.

Veteran horror director Tommy Lee Wallace does pretty good with his budget. He makes sure to focus on the skills of his stars to sell the intensity of moments. And that is a good thing. Why?

Probably the biggest sore spot for It is it’s visual effects. Some are good low budget effects. And you do not forget look of Pennywise. But the creature design for the final battle of the film is…uh,.. disappointing.

It is a bit more successful than many of the film adaptions of King’s horror work because it has room to breathe. It is carried more by it’s performances than anything else. And while some of it can feel almost hokey today, it still is a fun watch.

September 10, 2017 0

Mighty Mutatin’ Machine (The Thing, 1982)

Hot on the heels of Escape From New York, Carpenter and Russell worked together on the Thing. A film based on the short story “Who Goes There” (which had been adapted previously as The Thing From Another World).

Focusing on a research team in a remote arctic location, this story of paranoia is highly effective. The team is attacked by a pair of Norwegians. When they go visit the base, they find the remains of some major mayhem. They also find some bizarre corpses and video evidence of something discovered within the ice.

What they do not realize, until it is to late is that the Norwegians were not attacking them…they were after something else…something protected by our American team.

And what they discover is an alien lifeform that can mimic any life form it encounters. And that is when it really gets interesting. Who can you trust? Who is human and who is not? Carpenter uses this to fuel a paranoid and exciting story full of twists and turns. Kurt Russell’s helicopter pilot becomes a defacto leader, much to the annoyance of Garry (Donald Moffat) and Childs (Keith David).

The cast is excellent. It is hard to go wrong with guys like Keith David and Kurt Russell, but the entire cast are top notch in their performances. The film is full of tense moments that lead up to shocking moments. The shocks are courtesy of FX guru rob Bottin and his crew. The transformations are bizarre and gruesome in the best way possible. This film is a benchmark of effects achievement, and it is a great selling point for practical effects.

John Carpenter’s The Thing is an absolute sci-fi and horror classic and one of Carpenter’s best films.

This month, Shout!Factory has released an all new Blu-Ray of the film. The Two disc Special Edition has a very nice 2K scan, resulting in an excellent picture. The packaging has lush new cover art. It also has the Drew Struzan original on the reverse side.

The special features are are numerous and about as comprehensive as a package is eve be. There is a brand new interview with Carpenter by director Mick Garris. Another new feature is the Men of Outpost 31 which features interviews with several cast members (though, no Kurt Russell). Both of these offer new and entertaining insights to the film. They also included the Terror Takes Shape, a 90 minute making of film from the original DVD. It was left off the previous Blu-Ray.

The set also includes vintage featurettes, audio commentaries (a new one with Director of Photography Dean Cundey), outtakes and one of the more surprising inclusions the Network broadcast version of the film.

This is a set worth having in one’s collection. It is filled to the brim with features to explore the history and design of the film. Shout!Factory has done a stellar job here.

October 10, 2016 0

Science Gone Mad Part 1 (My Science Project, 1985)

1985 was a big year for Teen Science Nerd films. I will be reviewing the three films over the next three days. Today, we start with director John Betuel’s My Science Project. Betuel wrote the classic Sci-Fi film the Last Starfighter and he wrote this film, which would give one real hope.

The cast is a combination of well known (Dennis Hopper, Richard Masur and Barry Corbin) combined with “up and Comers” (Danielle Von Zerneck, John Stockwell and Fisher Stevens). The plot is simple. The film opens a few decades before the film actually takes place. An alien ship is shot down. The military opts to have everything destroyed. Jump ahead to 1985 and we meet high school student Michael Harlan (who has gone on to direct films such as Blue Crush, Into the Blue and Turistas) and his buddy Vince (Played by Fake Indian Fisher Stevens). His science teacher Bob, an aging hippie pining for the 60’s played appropriately by Dennis Hopper, is after him about his science project. He needs to pass science class. He is not scientifically inclined, rather more mechanical. He is a car guy. After his girlfriend and he break up over an article in Cosmo, he is asked out by nerd Ellie (Danielle von Zerneck). Begged, really.

Michael takes her on a date, but it is really a cover so he can go through a military junkyard for a makeshift science project. He finds a glowing orb that he takes with him. Long story short, it is a battery that bends time and space. It starts to suck power, reaching out for more and more powerful sources.

John, Ellie, Vince and additional nerd Sherman (Raphael Sbarge) try and stop the orb from ultimately destroying space and time as we know it. The film is pretty messy, and it does not make a whole lot of sense. Unlike the tightly scripted The Last Starfighter, My Science Project seems to be wandering around trying to figure out where it is going. Dennis Hopper’s Bob is fairly entertaining, but he gets removed from the story about a third of the way in and does not reappear until the end of the story.

The film has big ideas, but nothing solid really materializes, making the film largely average and forgettable.

February 17, 2016 0