Dr. Gore's Funhouse.com » Science Fiction

REVIEW – High Plains Invaders

Christian Sellers — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:04:32 +0000

Castel Film has been responsible for a mixed bag of genre offerings over the last few years. Often shot on low budgets in Romania and sold to the Sci-Fi Channel (or Syfy, as it is now known), the majority of these efforts have been disappointing sequels to fledging franchises. Following on from back-to-back sequels to The Return of the Living Dead, Pumpkinhead, Anaconda and Hellraiser, their latest production is High Plains Invaders. The title gives a hint of what to expect: a pun on the Clint Eastwood western classic High Plains Drifter, blended with the alien tripods of H. G. Wells’ literary classic War of the Worlds.

1892: Avaranth is a peaceful mining community in Colorado, where former army captain-turned-train robber Sam Danville (James Marsters) faces death by hanging after being found guilty of murder. Into the town comes Rose Hilridge (Sanny van Heteren), a loudmouthed bounty hunter who boasts about how ruthless and deadly she is. Sam’s execution is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a giant robotic bug, that proceeds to rip apart the residents of the town. Escaping from his noose, Sam and a group of survivors – including Silich Cure (Angus MacInnes), a middle-aged shopkeeper; Jules Arning (Sebastian Knapp), a scientist recently arrived to view the mine and Abigail Pixley (Cindy Sampson), the local doctor and Sam’s ex-girlfriend – hide out as they attempt to formulate a plan. But it isn’t long before more of the creatures begin to turn up.

Castel Film’s recent track record of Romanian-produced science fiction and horror movies has never been very impressive, but High Plains Invaders succeeds in being both entertaining and ambitious, if somewhat derivative. Whilst Marsters may be best known as Spike in the cult shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (as well as Milton Fine in Smallville), High Plains Invaders finally gives him the chance to be the leading man in a genre picture. Not resembling his famous TV character in any way, Marsters proves to make a likable-if-reluctant hero, forced to take over as leader of the town when the useless sheriff (James Jordan) is killed.

The supporting cast ranges from impressive to annoying, with van Heteren proving to be the biggest offender: a role that seems to reference the Man With No Name, yet far less effective. Thankfully, despite the film being shot in Romania, the majority of the cast are American actors, which would make sense as the story is set in the Wild West. Yet a couple of the actors do come with strong Romanian accents (Castel have a habit of hiring local actors for American roles), which seem very out of place. Sebastian Knapp, who had previously appeared in the Hammer internet series Beyond the Rave, gives his role as the scientist an interesting edge, making the viewer unsure as to whether or not they should trust him.

To say that High Plains Invaders was shot on such a low budget, the special effects are surprisingly effective. The robot bugs are CGI but are relatively convincing, due to their metalic surfaces. They also blend in well with their western environment, which is complimented by Pierre Jodoin’s minimal cinematography. Horror fans may be interested to know that the script was written by Richard Beattie, previously known for Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil. What could have been another disappointing waste of time proves to be an enjoyable ninety minutes.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

REVIEW – Class of 1999 II: The Substitute

Christian Sellers — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:36:54 +0000

Whilst Class of 1999 was less of an official sequel and more of a continuation of themes previously explored in Class of 1984, Class of 1999 II: The Substitute would eventually appear in 1994, rounding off the loose trilogy of movies that began with a stylish and intelligent exploitation thriller and came to a conclusion with an over-the-top and shallow action flick. With resident director Mark L. Lester bowing out, the final instalment would be handed over to stuntman Spiro Razatos, whose prior work had been as a stuntman on Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, The Return of the Living Dead and the Maniac Cop series. Without any of the characters returning from Class of 1999, The Substitute hardly feels like a true sequel, aside from the inclusion of various flashbacks and references to its predecessor.

Having dispatched of the real substitute teacher, John Bolen (Sasha Mitchell) arrives at a high school on a mission to enforce discipline on the disrespectful and uneducated students. Immediately dispensing with thugs and even the principal, who disapproved of his extreme methods, Bolen makes his way to class and begins to single out those whom he feels are disruptive and have no interest in being educated. But he soon makes the acquaintance of fellow teacher Jenna McKenzie (Caitlin Dulany), who has become the target of a gang lead by the psychotic Sanders (Gregory West), a student she is due to testify against after claiming that she saw him shoot another kid. On the trail of Dr. Forrest’s last remaining cyborg, Rick Hill (G.D. Ash) is convinced that the killer has taken the role of a teacher at the school but is unsure of its identity.

Class of 1999 II: The Substitute has a significantly lower budget than the last film and consequently feels more like a made-for-TV movie than a theatrical feature. There are no real special effects and the majority of the violence merely shows Bolen snapping the necks of his victims (something achieved merely by adding a sound effect), so those hoping for more Terminator-style robots will be disappointed. Although Lester lacked a distinct style, with both of his films looking and feeling separate from one another, The Substitute suffers from his absence, with Razatos’ direction appearing more generic and uninspired. There is little in the way of action sequences, with the paintball match that closes the movie being the highlight.

The characters are less interesting this time around, with Dulany (previously seen in Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, which would mark the Substitute as her second collaboration with Razatos) lacking the charisma that Class of 1999’s hero boasted, and her character feeling more like an afterthought. Nick Cassavetes, as her lover Emmett, offers strong support, but is let down by Hill, who fails to live up to the promise of hunter. The one standout performance, however, comes from Mitchell, who remains suitably emotionless and vacant through the movie, aside from what appears to be a sexual attraction towards Jenna. Despite his character being a ruthless killer, he plays the role with an element of innocence, refusing to allow Bolen to simply become the villain and instead making him almost likeable. It is a shame that his victims lack any kind of character development and are added purely to be killed off soon afterwards.

The script, written by b-movie regular Mark Sevi (who would later pen such ‘classics’ as Ghoulies IV and Scanner Cop II), attempts to add a few interesting ideas but is constantly weighed down by irritating one-liners, usually after Bolen has killed again. An interesting twist keeps the story from becoming too predictable, but the material is run-of-the-mill and without Mitchell’s performance it would fail to hold the viewer’s attention for a little over eighty minutes. It is amusing that baby-faced Mitchell appears younger than many of the students he is supposed to be disciplining, with the actor being a mere twenty-six when he took the role. But without support from such veterans as Roddy McDowall or Malcolm McDowell (who had appeared in the first and second movie, respectively), Mitchell is left to carry the film by himself.

For all its flaws, Class of 1999 II: The Substitute is still entertaining in a ‘guilty pleasure’ kind of way and it is fun to watch Bolen punish the obnoxious kids with his own brand of outlaw justice. Sevi at least tries to develop both Bolen’s character and his relationship with Jenna, instead of portraying him as a simple, cold-blooded killing machine. The film may lack the social commentary or depth of Class of 1984, or the fast-paced action and humour of Class of 1999, but there are far worse sequels around and at least it has a few highlights. The final reveal seems a little out of place but at least the filmmakers attempted to surprise their audience, even if they were not entirely successful. By no means a great film, or even a good one for that matter, The Substitute is still watchable.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

REVIEW – They Live

Christian Sellers — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:18:28 +0000

As the 1980s came to a close, the winning streak that John Carpenter had enjoyed for over ten years would come to an end. Having first gained critical acclaim for his studio debut Assault on Precinct 13 in 1976, he had enjoyed one phenomenal success after another, scoring at the box office with such classics as Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing and Starman. Having become disillusioned with the mainstream following his disappointing experience shooting Big Trouble in Little China in 1986, Carpenter had withdrawn from the studio system and instead decided to focus on independent productions. Following the minor success of Prince of Darkness the following year, Carpenter decided to adapt a short story by science fiction writer Ray Nelson entitled Eight O’Clock in the Morning and transformed it into the action satire They Live.

Nada (Roddy Piper) arrives in Los Angeles looking for working and manages to manual labour in the ghetto, where he makes the acquaintance of Frank (Keith David). Realising that something perculiar is happening at the small church across from where he is sleeping, Nada discovers a box filled with black sunglasses. Taking a pair, he soon finds that they are designed to show the world as it really is – money, products and even the media are keeping the human race under a trance, controlled by strange alien creatures. But when they realise that Nada now knows the truth, he is hunted down like an outlaw and is forced to abduct Holly (Meg Foster), whom he wants to drive him to safety. But with the whole city after him and unsure on who he can trust, he must convince Frank to see the truth and help him free humanity from their coma.

Whilst Oliver Stone’s Wall Street almost celebrated capitalism and even boasted a ‘greed is good’ message, They Live was Carpenter’s criticism against the mindless consumerism that was engulfing America, with television and magazine adverts instructing people on how to live their lives and what useless products could improve them. As Nada looks at the world through his glasses, he discovers that dollar bills actually read ‘This is your god,’ whilst billboards and shop signs feature such statements as ‘Marry and reproduce,’ ‘Consume’ and ‘Stay asleep.’ Capitalism, Carpenter argues, is mindless control and is brainwashing the country into becoming zombies that are only obsessed with earning money, and then spending it. America under the control of President Ronald Reagan had become focused on success and financial gain, at the expense of everything and everyone else.

Using aliens as a metophor within an action-style formula had previously been used for the early 1980s TV show V, and They Live shared many similarities. Both featured a rugged hero (instead of Piper, V had Marc Singer) leading the resistence against lizard-type aliens who had put the human race under a trance and both eventually sacrificed their political edge in favour of cheap action towards the end of the story. Once again, Carpenter creates his trademark antihero, something that he had become renowned for through his collaborations with Kurt Russell. Despite being famous for his wrestling, ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper was perfectly cast as the working class hero who eventually decides to put the lives of others before his own, defeating the enemy no matter what. The enemy in this case being the American government and media, both of whom had been infiltrated by the alien race.

David, who had previously collaborated with Carpenter on the 1982 monster movie The Thing, adds charismatic macho support as his sidekick, whilst Foster (with her unusual eyes) is perfect as the untrustworthy love interest. Other genre regulars included George ‘Buck’ Flower (who, much like with Back to the Future, once again plays a vagrant) and Peter Jason, who had replaced Charles Cypher as the older Carpenter veteran. Amongst the various in jokes that Carpenter included in his screenplay (written under the alias Frank Armitage) is a television show in which the presenter is condeming the use of excessive violence in movies, citing Carpenter as one of the guilty parties. Perhaps allowing humans to watch violence as entertainment may cause them to become violent themselves and revolt against their leaders.

Fans of Carpenter often reference They Live as the filmmaker’s last great movie and mark it as the end of his golden era. The film certainly has it faults, such as the intelligence being jettisoned halfway through in favour of good old-fashioned action. This keeps the pace up but the film soon becomes clichéd and predictable, lacking the bite that the first forty or so minutes had. But there is no denying that They Live is an extremely enjoyable movie and once again demonstrated why Carpenter was so respected and popular. With suitably camp performances, a tongue firmly in cheek and enough one-liners to keep b-movie fans happy, They Live may be a guilty pleasure but the pleasure works so well.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

REVIEW – Class of 1999

Christian Sellers — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:43:58 +0000

Having shown the horrors of high school violence with his gritty exploitation flick Class of 1984, director Mark L. Lester returned with a more futuristic take on the subject matter with Class of 1999. Once again showing that the filmmakers of 1980s expected technology to have advanced considerably by the end of the century, the defenceless teachers of his predecessor have been replaced by former military robots that are programmed to discipline their students at all costs. Whilst lacking the edge that Class of 1984 had, with its prophecy of a post-Columbine America, its pseudo remake owed more of a debt for John Carpenter’s Escape from New York than Lester’s own style of filmmaking. Heavily influenced by James Cameron’s sci-fi slasher The Terminator, Class of 1999 focused more on action and special effects than social commentary and thus divided the opinions of the critics, even the ones who had supported the original.

Cody Culp (Bradley Gregg) has served his time in a juvenile prison and is released back into society on the understanding that he attends school and does not violate his parole. The gangs have taken over the streets and rule areas known as Fire Free Zones, where police have no authority and are not allowed to enter. One school located in such a ghetto is Kennedy High School and its principal, Miles Langford (Malcolm McDowell), has joined forces with the Department of Educational Defence to combat violent behaviour amongst his students. Crazed scientist Dr. Forrest (Stacy Keach) has commissioned three cyborgs to join the faculty and bring the school up to scratch. But Cody soon realizes that all is not what they seem when the teachers begin to issue out capital punishment on the students, forcing him to team up with Langford’s own daughter (Tracy Lin) to stop the bloodshed.

It is immediately apparent that Class of 1999 is nothing like its predecessor. Whilst Class of 1984 was a stylish and engaging drama with moments of shocking violence, Lester’s ‘re-imagining’ takes the b-movie route and sacrifices character and plausibility in favour of action and humour. This is not to say that Class of 1999 is not entertaining, if nothing else it knows how to have fun, but those wishing for something as deep as stylish as its predecessor will be somewhat disappointed. Whereas the previous film had punk sensibilities, this movie boasts some truly awful ’80s mullets, some of which are peroxide white and come with ridiculous eyeballs to match. The power of Class of 1984 was that as the years have gone by the film has become more relevant, but here this is simply mindless action.

Gregg is very engaging in the lead role and comes across much like Stephen Dorff. He was clearly an important part of the production as he also had a hand in the writing, costume and production design and even hairstyles. Whilst he may not seem familiar to many viewers, he had previously portrayed Eyeball Chambers in Stand by Me and Phillip (the one who was turned into a puppet) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. He carries the movie well and is the only well developed character, which helps to keep the viewer from taking the side of the teachers, as the remaining students for the most part are obnoxious and generic. Lin is also likeable but is given little to do aside from run around with Gregg and scream at the appropriate moment.

The supporting cast is made up of a host of b-movie favourites that add a camp charm to the film. These include McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Cat People) and Keach (La montagna del dio cannibale/Mountain of the Cannibal God), whilst the cyborgs themselves are played with style by Patrick Kilpatrick (The Toxic Avenger), John P. Ryan (Best of the Best) and blaxploitation queen Pam Grier (Coffy, Foxy Brown). The special effects are surprisingly effective, particularly with the climax lifted straight from The Terminator. Despite being somewhat derivative, the action never slows down and Gregg proves to be a competent hero, whilst Kilpatrick is on top form as the most menacing of the teachers.

When compared to its predecessor, Class of 1999 is a disappointment. But as a stand-alone movie, it is ridiculous and camp enough to remain entertaining throughout and boasts enough gunfights and explosions to keep action fans entertained. There are some interesting touches to the script that may cause a smirk (such as the kitchen cupboards of the cyborgs’ home stocking nothing but WD-40) and the android effects serve their purpose for what is basically a low budget b-movie. It is a shame that Gregg failed to find major success later in his career as is clearly a talented actor, but no doubt bad career choices may have played a part in that. Regardless, Class of 1999 is unoriginal, preposterous and shallow, and if Class of 1984 had been Lester’s Escape from New York then this was his Escape from L.A.: loud, crass and irritating. But, much like that movie, this is fun nonetheless.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post

REVIEW – Dark Star

Christian Sellers — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:13:04 +0000

With filmmaker Dan O’Bannon having passed away a few days ago, now would be a suitable time to look back on his career and review some of the highlights. First on the list is Dark Star, a bizarre science fiction comedy that parodied Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Devised with fellow student John Carpenter whilst studying at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, Dark Star was initially intended to have been a forty-minute piece that, with additional funding from producer Jack H. Harris, was extended to feature length, taking several years to complete. Due to the limited budget, the principals were forced to undertake several duties: with O’Bannon also working on production design and editing, as well as taking one of the lead roles, whilst Carpenter produced, directed and composed the score (this would prepare him for the multitasking that he would do throughout his career).

Dark Star is a deep space vessel that travels through uncharted areas of the galaxy and destroys unstable planets to allow mankind to colonise other solar systems. Having been away from Earth from many years, the crew consist of four young astronauts: Sgt. Pinback (O’Bannon), who spends his time attempting to tame an alien that they have decided to keep as a pet; Lt. Doolittle (Brian Narelle), a surfer who has been forced to take over the ship after the accidental death of their commander; Talby (Dre Pahich), who has become distant from the others and prefers to remain alone, looking out at the stars; and Boiler (Cal Kuniholm). But after an asteroid storm causes the systems to malfunction, Bomb No. 20 (which has been designed with artificial intelligence) becomes convinced that it should explode and so Doolittle heads out of the ship to attempt to reason with it. Meanwhile, Pinback tries to keep the mischievous alien under control before it causes havoc on the ship.

It is immediately apparent when watching Dark Star just how limited the budget must have been. The sets are basic, the special effects (those of the space ship) are amateur at best and the alien is obviously a beach ball with hands attached. Yet somehow these all work in its favour and make the movie all the more enjoyable. After all, this was clearly intended to be a comedy, even if moments do touch upon themes such as philosophy. Although the movie may lack the visual style of Carpenter’s later work, it was evident even in 1974 that he was a talented filmmaker. The screenplay, written by both Carpenter and O’Bannon, is filled with inspired moments and humorous dialogue (‘Don’t give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up’) and the performances are entertaining enough for the viewer to forgive any of its shortcomings.

In the role of Pinback, O’Bannon showed his talent for comedy, particularly during the sequence in which he attempts to catch the alien, only to almost fall down an elevator shaft. As he tries to climb to safety, the alien taunts him, eventually causing him to fall. Whilst in a horror movie this scene may have been rather tense, here it is played purely for laughs, as O’Bannon is forced to look terrified as he acts against a large ball. Another memorable sequence is the climax, in which Doolittle attempts to reason with the bomb by convincing it that the data it has received instructing it to detonate is false, prompting the bomb to state that what he is saying could also be false. Philosophy between a human and a bomb must be a first and this is an interesting pun on the Bowman and HAL 9000 conflict in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Dark Star would begin the professional relationship between Carpenter and many of his regular collaborators, including Tommy Lee Wallace and Nick Castle (who had in fact previously worked with Carpenter on the Academy Award-winning short The Resurrection of Broncho Billy in 1970), whilst the movie would also pave the way for O’Bannon’s subsequent success, Alien. There are several aspects to Dark Star which would reappear in his more successful venture; including an alien loose on board a spaceship, the crew consisting of working class or ‘ordinary’ civil servants and even a computer called Mother. An additional link between this and Alien is Ron Cobb, who would create the special effects on both movies. O’Bannon would also work on Dark Star’s effects, which would later lead to similar duties on the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars.

Although primitive and perhaps a little too long, Dark Star is a hilarious and enjoyable romp that demonstrated both Carpenter and O’Bannon’s sense of humour, something they would both become renowned for with Escape from New York and The Return of the Living Dead, respectively. Narelle and O’Bannon are given the best roles, with each character having some kind of purpose to the plot, whilst Kuniholm in particular is given little to do. Those who hate science fiction movies that boast crude special effects may not be impressed, but fans of Red Dwarf and any other space-orientated comedies will find plenty to enjoy. Thirty-five years on and Dark Star is still a fun and quotable movie that more than deserves it cult status.

Share on Facebook

Tweet This Post