Episode #159: Memphis Heat

Welcome to another episode of the GGtMC!!!

This week Will and Sammy cover the documentary Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin' (2011) directed by Chad Schaffler. We also go over some feedback that was sent in some time ago, it was good to finally get to some of it.....one film but trust us, we talk for A WHILE on this one gang!!!

Direct download: Memphis_HeatRM.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

Episode #158: To Be Benjamenta

Welcome to the GGtMC!!!

This week Large William and Sammy are back together for another episode and it feels so right!!! We cover Fernando Di Leo's To Be Twenty (1978) and The Quay Brothers Institute Benjamenta (1995).

Next week we are going to try to tackle the majority of your feedback and cover a film, so thank you for being patient with the GGtMC schedule.

Direct download: To_Be_BenjamentaRM.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

The Laughing Dead (1989)

Humor is not universal. Mel Brooks once said, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." He would know. He used to be very funny. However, his statement is true on several levels. Not only is humor subjective, but it's all about the ridiculousness of others' pain. Allow me to illustrate. In college, I lived in a courtyard apartment (nothing like Melrose Place, in case you're wondering) along with a gaggle of friends from my hometown. To say we were uninhibited would be an understatement. One evening, knee deep into a half barrel, one of my cohorts decided it would be funny to tear the screen door off our apartment and smash it to pieces. He thought this was hilarious. I disagreed, but the door's destruction continued and ended with a piece of wood from the frame flying up and smacking me square in the giblets. Had someone with a video camera been around, I may have been a richer man today, exploiting my pain to the masses for their amusement. Instead, I spent a week not sitting right and cursing my pal's name. And yet, had I been bystander rather than participant, I may very well have wet myself laughing (in between bouts of asking if the victim was okay, of course). Se la vie.

Father O'Sullivan (Tim Sullivan) suffers from guilt over having relations with a nun (Wendy Webb) and knocking her up twelve years ago. Nevertheless, he takes his place as host for the annual archaeological tour of Oaxaca, stuffs his misfit assortment of nonentities and types out of Central Casting on the bus, and heads south. Along the way, they pick up the aforementioned ex-nun (Tessie) and her obnoxious, foul-mouthed son, Ivan (Patrick Roskowick). Meanwhile, Dr. Um-Tzec (S.P. Somtow) sacrifices children to prepare for the party's arrival. You see, he's the physical incarnation of the Mayan death god and he is looking to pass the mantle on to the padre so he may retire. The only thing missing is a sacrifice of a certain boy by a certain man during a certain astrological occurrence to complete the transfer.

S.P. Somtow's (aka Somtow Sucharitkul) The Laughing Dead has an interesting take on religion (and this is, I think, a movie more about religion than monsters and zombies). Essentially, there is a struggle going on between ideologies. On one side is the old religion of the Mayans and on the other is modern Christianity. But what's interesting is that the filmmakers don't favor the more popular of the two. If anything, Christianity is portrayed as weak, its disciples spiritually asthenic and prone to giving in to temptation. There is also a take on New Age mysticism that takes part in the proceedings. Wilbur (Larry Kagen) and Clarisse (Krista Keim) are first shown humming comically and playing with their crystals. Yet at the finale, it's their beliefs and trappings that have more effect on the bad guys than anything else. Consequently, the film becomes about Old versus New Age, with traditional modern religion dismissed almost in its entirety.

In that same respect, the film deals with faith, the loss thereof, and rebirth. O'Sullivan has lost all faith in God, and this makes him incapable of resisting his possession by the spirit of Um-Tzec. Of course, this all began with his weakness in regards to his sexual desires with Tessie years ago. This is then reflected in the scene where Um-Tzec's assistant (Lydia Marano) first exposes her breasts to the priest and then pulls out both her heart and his and exchanges them. It's a vivid equation of sex with death, and it further cements O'Sullivan's turning away from his religion. Tessie has already been defrocked because of her pregnancy, and she has kept their son away from O'Sullivan, so the two were not only brought together but also torn apart by their religion. Their spirituality is, for all intents and purposes, dead. It's through their trial against Um-Tzec (which incidentally also mirrors the story of Abraham from the Bible in the sense that he too was asked to sacrifice his child for faith) that they are reborn (not necessarily in a spiritual sense but certainly in a character sense and a sense of knowing what they do believe in). This is made crystal clear at the end when a character states that the Festival of the Laughing Dead is about rebirth as well as death.

Bearing in mind that this film is an extremely dry (there's very little winking at the audience), black comedy, there are still some aspects I found myself puzzled by with respect to whether they were intentional or not. First is Somtow's depiction of his characters. None of them is anything even resembling well-defined, except via stereotypes. Wilbur and Clarisse are presented as New Age dupes until the end, when they realize that karma is just a word until you act upon it. Dozois (Raymond Ridenour) is the ugly American of the group with his ridiculous afro and crude jokes. His traveling companion, then, is the more refined, cane-bearing Frost (Gregory Frost). Together, the two make quite the odd couple (get it?). You will want to strangle Ivan every second he's onscreen. And we spend half an hour or better of screentime on the bus with these people. If Somtow didn't want to flesh out the characters, he definitely should have shortened our time getting to loathe them.

On top of this, every character says whatever is on their mind to people they just met. The worst offender is Laurie (Premika Eaton), and that also goes to her acting chops (she gets the B.E.M. Award for this movie). O'Sullivan makes no bones about telling people that he has no faith and even cries out to heaven in front of perfect strangers for its restoration. I kept thinking that, since Somtow was a writer and musician prior to this stint, his inclination was to tell rather than show what the characters are going through, thus the expositional and overwrought dialogue. However, when looked at as a humorous dissection of horror films (or just melodrama in general), their tropes and motifs, you can see the comedic value of his writing. If that's what he intended. The problem is that the viewer is always left with an uncertain feeling whether they should be laughing at the film for its intentional or unintentional humor. 

The bits of humor that are intentionally comedic do work fairly well. The "giant" monsters at the end engage in what is essentially a slap fight. Our heroes have to engage Um-Tzec's undead hordes in a game of Mayan basketball. O'Sullivan puts a fist through a woman's head in an explosion of grue. A man's decapitated cranium arcs through the air and lands in a basketball net. Um-Tzec comments that he'd like to become an investment broker. But since everything else in the film is played so po-faced (or slyly un-commented-on) it leaves you up in the air. Sure, you're still laughing, but are you supposed to be? Either way, The Laughing Dead is still better than a chunk of screen door to the nards.

MVT: The special effects by John Carl Buechler. They're squishy when they should be and creepy when they should be. Even though they're definitely shoestring level, they make trudging through the rest of the film almost worthwhile.

Make or Break: If you ever wanted to know if zombies could be 'ballers, wonder no more.

Score: 6/10

The Octagon (1980)

Directed by Eric Karson.

Ninjas, terrorists, assassins, and mercenaries. Where do I start? How about with Scott James (Chuck Norris) - a retired World Karate Champion who's approached by an heiress (Karen Carlson) regarding a potential job as her bodyguard, but is subsequently lured into a dangerous situation involving terrorists who are being trained at a Ninja training camp called The Octagon by his estranged Japanese half-brother, Seikura (Tadashi Yamashita). Iconic tough-guy actor Lee Van Cleef plays McCarn - a militant rightist who leads a group of American mercenaries in a battle against terrorism, so you can bet he comes into play somehow when the shit goes down.

Once Scott realizes that there are Ninjas running around (the Ninja were thought to have been a long-forgotten thing of the past, mind you), he spends a good chunk of the movie trying to find them with hopes that he can infiltrate their training camp, but seeing as they're Ninjas after all (ie. stealth and hard to find), his search becomes complicated. That is, until he meets and teams up with a woman named Aura (Carol Bagdasarian), who actually trained at The Octagon and later deflected from the group of terrorists. Aura's an interesting character in that there weren't a lot of women being portrayed as tough, female-Rambo type characters in mainstream American cinema at the time. Considering THE OCTAGON was written by a woman, it's safe to assume that this strong female character was no accident.


Not to jump the gun or anything, but I did like THE OCTAGON a lot. However, it's not to say that the film is without flaws and mind-boggling WTF moments. First of all, one thing I never understood about the heiress character, who attempted to hire Chuck Norris as her bodyguard, is why she was a big deal in the first place. She was obviously so important that people apparently wanted her dead, or were at least willing to go out of their way to threaten her, but it turns out that she only inherited a publishing company. According to this woman, she started receiving threats because people wanted her to change certain editorial policies. Huh? I'm sure I must have missed something, but I went back a couple of times to learn more about her and still couldn't find anything. Also, actress Karen Carlson has a few scenery-chewing moments in the film which are quite amusing.


Another strange element to the film, or rather an odd trait of its lead protagonist, is that Chuck Norris's character hears voices. Well, just his own voice, but it almost comes across as this hidden psychic ability that he's tapped into. Throughout the film we hear Scott's thoughts out loud, but we hear them as these really slow whispers with some sort of creepy vocal effect added on, and sometimes his thoughts even warn him of impending danger, which we see during the film's initial Ninja attack (a WTF sequence in and of itself). But perhaps the most unusual thing about film is its structure. The plot tends to jump around on numerous occasions, which is fine and somewhat interesting in terms of how non-linear it is for a presumably accessible Action movie, but what's frustrating is how the characters are established. More often than not, someone will be introduced and you're not quite sure what it is exactly that this person does in the big scheme of things, but then it ultimately (and gradually) makes sense as the story unfolds. Don't get me wrong, I love movies that don't insult their audience's intelligence and feel the need to explain everything, but in this movie's case, it was kinda confusing at times.

As far as the eponymous Octagon, there are certain things about it that are a bit silly, but for the most part it's also quite fascinating in terms of how it looks and how it ultimately comes into play during the film's third act. And what I mean by "silly" is that the terrorists who show up there to train are the most un-Ninja group of people I've ever seen, for lack of a better term. Most of Seikura's trainees look like a bunch of hicks and ex-cons, and it becomes quite obvious not long after they're introduced that most of them don't know how to fight. Overseeing the training with Seikura and is this film's Boba Fett: a crimson-hooded Ninja named Kyo (shown on the film's poster). Played by Aussie actor/stuntman Richard Norton, Kyo is a silent character who occasionally steps out of the shadows to discipline some of the more lackluster trainees at The Octagon. In one scene, he disarms a froggy student and turns his own weapon against him in the blink of an eye. According to director Eric Karson, he slowed the footage of this scene down during production, watched it frame by frame, and was still unable to figure out how Norton did this maneuver so quickly.


Make or Break Scene: Easily the fight scene involving Richard Norton (as Kyo) and Chuck Norris towards the end of the film. Honestly, it looks a bit too choreographed at times, but nonetheless it still looks really good. One of the reasons I love this fight scene as much as I do is how long it's drawn out. Kyo is basically a "mini-boss" of sorts and another obstacle that Chuck Norris has to get through before he faces Seikura, but the scene is treated as if Norton's character were the main villain in the film. What sealed the deal was the impressive fire stunt at the end of the scene.

MVT: Chuck Norris. It's gotta be Chuck. He roundhouse-kicks Ninjas into oblivion in the film, and he also played an important role behind the scenes with the fight choreography and stunts along with his brother Aaron (who also stars a small part in the film).

Score: 6.5/10

THE OCTAGON leaves much to be desired when it comes to pacing, and, as I said earlier, it can be confusing at times and a little hard to follow, but the Ninja aspect of the film makes it unique in terms of Chuck Norris's filmography at the time, and it also provides for a great aesthetic (seriously, how could you not love Ninjas?). Ominous hooded figures running around at night and leaping out of the shadows is much more interesting than seeing a bunch of plain-clothed henchmen hopping out of pick-up trucks. If you happen to check out the Trinity Home Entertainment DVD, there's a surprisingly in-depth talking-head featurette on the making of the film, which I highly recommend checking out (after you've seen the film).

Episode #157: Just McCormickin' the Brinn Loaf

Welcome to a very special episode of the GGtMC!!!

This week, Large William and Sammy had work obligations and are both destined for HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati, so good friends of the show...Cinemasochist Justin, The Brinn from Hammicus, James McCormick from Criterion Cast and cineAWESOME and the one and only PickleLoaf from Silva and Gold stepped in to get an episode out for the Gentle-Minions!!!

They cover Night of the Running Man (1995) directed by Mark Lester and starring Andrew McCarthy and Scott Glenn.

Direct download: GGtMC157.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

Megaforce (1982)

Let's face it, to the world at large comic books were considered kiddy fare before 1986 (and to many are still considered so to this day). They were marketed specifically to children, and if you weren't below the age of fourteen and you read them, there was something wrong with you. But as far as the non-geek world is concerned, 1986 was a watershed year for comics. It's when they "grew up." The two titles responsible are familiar even to many people who have never even read a comic. They are, of course, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. Naturally, there were comic books that tackled more adult topics prior to the existence of these two books. Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy, was discovered to be a heroin addict back in the 70s. The horror and crime comics published by EC in the 50s led directly to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority (though this was spurred more by the desire of several competitors to put EC out of business and grab a larger share of the market than the offensiveness of the actual material). Let's not forget the whole underground comix scene that sprang up in the 1960s or the entire culture of Tijuana Bibles going back as far as the 1920s. 

Yet to the uninitiated (and the purveyors of pop culture in general), comics are nothing more or less than "the spandex set" (never mind the films based on comics they may have seen and probably enjoyed like Road To Perdition, A History Of Violence, or Ghost World). Going back to the serials of the 40s and 50s with Captain Marvel, Batman, the Phantom, and so on, the focus of comic books onscreen has primarily been on superheroes and their garish adventures. The stories required little in the way of sophistication since their sources were deemed largely unsophisticated themselves. This isn't to disparage these early efforts, since it's predominantly their sense of fun and innocence that made them enjoyable in the first place. And though we may view them through a campy prism today and laugh at what may have enthralled us in our youth, they still manage to do what they set out to do in the first place (i.e. entertain).

Colonel Duke Guerera (Henry Silva) and his destructive tank brigade have been a thorn in the side of General Byrne-White (Edward Mulhare) and Major Zara (Persis Khambatta) for too long. Enter Commander Ace Hunter (Barry Bostwick) and Megaforce, "a phantom army of super elite fighting men whose weapons are the most powerful science can devise." Enlisted to lure Guerera's forces across the border and secure him as a prisoner, Ace concocts an elaborate, three-tiered plan to capture his old friend (their animosity began after an allegedly stolen Zippo) and bring him to justice.

Despite the advertising surrounding it, Hal Needham's Megaforce is not a superhero movie, nor is it based on any comic book of which I'm aware(as a matter of fact, I don't think there was even a comic book adaptation of the film). Still, this is, I must say, a fun little romp and extraordinarily family friendly. I don't think there's a single curse word or fatality in the entire film (with the exception of a few stuntmen who dump their motorcycles, but they're all accounted for by the end). This is complete fantasy from start to finish. Megaforce's headquarters are located in a mountain and contain cutting and bleeding edge weapons from around the world as well as those devised by their resident dork, Professor Eggstrum (George Furth). There are holographic projections (okay, one projection, but it's a nice one), laser cannons, and motorcycles that fly. The countries involved in the plot's skirmish are fictitious, and it's impossible to tell whether they're supposed to be located in the Middle East or Central America. They're just two countries that have issues with each other.

The treatment of women in the film is, to be fair, dichotomous. Zara is an officer in her country's armed forces, so she's presented as a strong woman at first glance. However, we later find out that she's also related to a high-ranking politician, and suddenly we're not so certain that her status was gained through her own determination or via political favoritism. Zara asserts herself by insisting that she be included in the upcoming mission, so Ace and his team test her to see if she's qualified. After a lengthy sequence where she does indeed prove herself worthy, Ace let's her in on the joke; She's still not coming on the mission, but it sure was fun watching her jump through hoops (I suppose for his and his men's amusement). Naturally then, Zara is attracted to Ace. She is, after all, the only woman in the entire movie. By turns, we're shown that she's a strong, independent woman and then shown that this is still very much a man's world, and women are second fiddles. This sort of thing is nothing new in film (and probably even more prevalent at the time this was made), but here it just feels forced and contrived, as if the thought of strong female characters are in themselves a joke, but we'll humor them for a spell, and they'll not only like it but be even more attracted to the guys behind it afterward. I've never understood this attitude in popular culture.

Bostwick and Silva are both magnetic as all hell in the film. I've always regarded Bostwick as a master of comedic timing, and I've never found him less than enjoyable onscreen (he has an affability about him, I don't know). Still, the material here is hardly up to his skills, but he does manage to elevate it in several instances. Nonetheless, someone really should have stepped in with regards to his look. Between a coiffure of Hasselhoff-ian stature, Dan-Haggerty-inspired facial hair, a powder blue bandana, and a lycra jumpsuit that leaves little to the imagination, it would be hard to take him or the film totally seriously, even if it were intended as such. When I saw ads for the film in comic books at the time, I always thought he was James Brolin. My bad, but Brolin was in The Car (which I had seen), while Bostwick was in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which I hadn't). Silva fares better, costuming-wise, and the man showcases his adeptness at humor here. But when these two share the screen, their chemistry together is undeniable. They're not quite on the level of Reynolds and De Luise (also Needham mainstays), but they're a joy to watch work off each other.

Since Needham made his bones as a stuntman, it's only fitting that his films would contain a large component of stunt work and effects. Even if we discount the possibility of some of the things these machines can do, when they do them onscreen, it's almost always thrilling in a spectacle sense. Say what you will about the level of juvenilia in much of the man's work, but Needham knows how to stage and shoot action. The night raid that begins the mission is solid enough to appear in a movie of today and still captivate. Needham's films are also comprised of a lot of "guy talk." His characters are friends of the closest variety, and consequently their relationships revolve around banter and ballbreaking bred through their deep familiarity. This element reinforces the light-action feel of the film, and ultimately that's what the audience is left with – a pleasant bit of fluff that isn't out to rock any boats but instead blow them the hell up (and blow 'em up real good). Well, all right, there aren't any boats in the movie, but you get the picture.

MVT: Barry Bostwick has charisma to burn, and it's on full display here. Even though Ace pulls a few jerk moves, particularly in regards to Zara, Bostwick's performance makes him forgivable and finally likeable (though Zara's fondness for him still baffles).

Make or Break: The night raid is a terrific action setpiece, and it is executed with dynamism and a tightly-constructed energy. Good stuff.

Score: 6.5/10

DVD/Blu-Ray Picks Of The Week - 11/8/11

Sammy's Pick: THE COLLECTOR (Region 1 Blu-Ray; Sony/Image)
Go back and listen to our episode where we cover The Collector in detail to get the skinny on the Gent's thoughts but know this...The Collector is a great film, it has a fantastic performance from Terence Stamp and it is a gorgeously shot film from director William Wyler. MUST OWN here folks!!

Links:
Amazon
Blu-Ray.com Review
High-Def Digest Review

Aaron's Pick: BLUE VELVET - 25th Anniversary (Region 1 Blu-Ray; MGM/20th Century Fox)
It's been proven that David Lynch is simply not for everyone, but BLUE VELVET is one of his most accessible films despite still being pretty fucking weird, and in my opinion it's without a doubt a classic of American cinema. The late great Dennis Hopper turns in one of his most memorable performances in BLUE VELVET as Frank Booth - one of the scariest and most psychotic villains to ever grace the screen.

Links:
Amazon
Blu-Ray.com Review

Bonus #35: Interview with Danny Peary

Welcome to another episode of the GGtMC!!!

This week Rupert presents an interview from 2010 with one of his big-time cinematic heroes, Mr. Danny Peary. Danny is the writer of many fantastic film books including Cult Movies 1, 2, & 3, Cult Movie Stars, Alternate Oscars and the amazing Guide for the Film Fanatic. Rupe credits Peary with truly turning the tide of his taste in films at a younger age and influencing him to want to study film in college. He still refers to Peary's books regularly(they contain a lifetime's worth of movie recs). All his books come with a big recommend from us here at the GGTMC. Check them out! (he has also written many books about baseball which are also worth looking at too)

Direct download: IntDPRM.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

The Flesh Eaters (1964)

Necrotizing fasciitis is some truly scary shit. Essentially it's an infection that rots away your flesh (hence the nickname "flesh-eating bacteria"). What it actually does is annihilates skin and meat through the release of toxins into a particular area and then spreads if not treated. While most people who contract this heinous (you can read that "high-anus" if you wish, I know I do) have some pre-existing condition (i.e. diabetes, immunosuppression, and so on), sometimes it affects people who are, by all accounts, in good health. This is, I think, what terrifies most people about the illness, that they are not necessarily out of harm's way just by being healthy. Now, I'm not sure if Arnold Drake, the writer of Jack Curtis's
The Flesh Eaters, had ever heard of necrotizing fasciitis or not, but the premise makes for a cracking good pulp horror film.

Aboard a luxury boat, Fred (Ira Lewis) and Ann (the beautiful Barbara Wilson) engage in some light grabassery. But when Fred steals Ann's top and jumps overboard with it, Ann is forced to follow for the sake of her, um, modesty. Within seconds the water seethes and smokes, and Ann comes up with handfuls of blood (read: Bosco). The bathing beauty is overcome and goes back under for good. Meanwhile, grounded seaplane pilot, Grant (Byron Sanders), is hired by souse actress, Laura Winters (Rita Morley), via her assistant, Jan (Barbara Wilkin), to fly them to Provincetown. Needless to say, the flight has some hiccups, and Grant is forced to land in the ocean just off a small, seemingly-deserted island. Also needless to say, the island is indeed inhabited by the shifty-eyed, Teutonic-toned scientist and amateur Udo Kier impersonator, Professor Bartell (Martin Kosleck). When Ann's fully-intact skeleton washes up on the shore stripped of all flesh, our hapless travelers quickly savvy to the fact that there's something in the water which would love to make a meal of them.

This is first and foremost an exploitation movie, and that fact becomes readily apparent within the first couple of minutes. Both Fred and the camera ogle Ann as she sunbathes, and once her top is stolen, we're treated to lingering moments focusing on her bikini-bottomed-only back. When Ann is attacked, there's not just a trace of blood for effect. No, her hands are loaded with dark, viscous life's blood. The name of the game here is flesh and blood, and, while there's no explicit nudity, the filmmakers come up with all sorts of reasons to display their actresses' pulchritude. Jan has to strip off her shirt to bind Grant's leg. Later, she struts around in her bikini, because her clothes are wet or dirty or something (frankly, the reasoning is moot). Laura flounces about in the sort of tops that gave horny men the inspiration for both torpedoes and the 1959 Dodge Royal Lancer (the name itself a double entendre). She also sports some semi-opaque black tights that would make Ann Margaret blush.

On the sanguinary end of the equation, the film is fairly graphic in its depiction of violence. When Grant accidentally dips his calf into the infested water while saving Laura from her own stupidity, the chunky after effects are dwelt on at length. And when Bartell digs into the meat with a knife to extract the feasting flesh eaters from Grant's leg, the camera does not turn away. Later, a character is eaten from the inside out, and that chocolate syrup-y blood gushes out past their entwined fingers. As the film reaches its bonkers ending, blood itself plays an integral part. 

Herschell Gordon Lewis's seminal Blood Feast had come out one year prior to Curtis's film, and was heralded as the first gore movie. The Flesh Eaters was (if I'm not mistaken) written about three years prior to Lewis's opus and isn't quite up to the Grand Guignol levels of splatter struck by Feast, but it certainly has its mind on the same things. And while both films have an unmistakable veneer of sleaze about them, in my opinion Curtis's is a little more shudder-inducing. The reason is because it was shot in black and white. While Lewis's opus was touted as "more grisly than ever in BLOOD COLOR," it's the verisimilitude afforded Curtis's film by the monochromatic film stock that has a greater impact. It feels like an old newsreel, and the (mostly) flat lighting helps emphasize this aspect.

Writer Drake is best known amongst geeks for his comic book work. He co-created some of the more offbeat characters of the 1960s (and that's saying something, when Jimmy Olsen was engaging in shenanigans with and/or getting engaged to gorillas almost constantly). Most famous are the Doom Patrol and Deadman, but my favorite was always Stanley and His Monster (the reasoning should be apparent if you read my War In Space review). I don't know if Mr. Drake was ever involved with the sort of low brow/high adventure magazines that littered newsstands of the time ("Man's Conquest," "Man's Adventure," ad infinitum), but this film is suffused with those same pulp trappings. Our hero is lantern-jawed, always willing to stick his neck out for a dame, and leery of shady, foreign-accented strangers and hippies. There are sadistic overtones prevalent throughout, and there are even direct references made to Nazi experiments. The beauty is that the filmmakers don't try to disguise any of this as anything other than what it is. It's like a "sweat mag" at twenty-four frames per second.

The film's effects are hit-or-miss quality-wise, but they always achieve the desired result. The miniature flesh eaters were rendered apparently by scratching directly on the film's emulsion. When we later see them a bit bigger, they're obviously rubber-flappingly fake, but their bulbous, alien appearance is truly creepy. Bartell's "solar battery" is clearly constructed of large sheets of construction paper over plywood, but it seems to belong here. The roiling water inhabited by the creatures is a simple dry-ice effect, but it works. 

The thing that holds the film together, though, is the writing. The story is built on very basic, clear-cut conflicts. Even though, the characters themselves could never be accused of being well-rounded, they all inhabit their archetypal roles to the letter. Meek Jan must stand up to her browbeating boss. Laura drinks out of depression and her need to be the constant center of attention. Grant has to protect his female companions from threats human and inhuman. Bartell messes in God's dominion out of greed. This is not high art, nor is it needlessly complex. Like The Ramones' modus operandi of two or three chords stripped down to the bone and executed like a musical blitzkrieg, The Flesh Eaters is a straight-ahead gore/horror movie that is all the better for its total lack of frills and pretense.

MVT: Arnold Drake takes the MVT on this one. His imaginative, traditional storytelling skills set and maintain a fun, satisfying tone throughout the film.

Make or Break: The prologue scene with Fred and Ann is the "Make." It contains everything great about this movie in just a few minutes. From T&A to gore, horror to mystery, this is a tight set-up to a truly gratifying monster movie.

Score: 7.75/10

Episode #156: Seven Beauties on Main Street

Welcome to another episode of the show you have come to love...The GGtMC!!!

This week our show is programmed by listener Tyler for his donation to the Program for Japan initiative and he chose Seven Beauties (1975) directed by Lina Wertmuller and The Shop on Main Street (1965) directed by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos. We want to thank Tyler for his selections and thanks for the donation!!!

Direct download: Seven_Beauties_on_Main_StreetRM.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

DVD/Blu-Ray Picks Of The Week - 11/1/11

Sammy's Pick: COPLAND (Region 1 Blu-Ray; Miramax/Lionsgate)
I am picking this up on Blu because A. I think the film is pretty great and B. I wanna see De Niro's porno-stache in HD. All kidding aside, Copland was bally-hooed because Sly put on 30 or 50 lbs for his role in the film and it was his return to "real" acting or something but the truth is, the film has a great cast filled with heavy hitters. Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta (great in this film), Robert Patrick (another porno-stash)...its just packed and the script is solid. It has some flaws but for fans of modern westerns this film is a MUST OWN!!!

Links:
Amazon
Blu-Ray.com Review

Aaron's Pick: MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED (Region 1 DVD; Dark Sky/MPI)
I haven't seen it yet, but this documentary about Filipino exploitation movies looks to be a good time. It's directed by the same guy who did the excellent NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD documentary and features talking-head segments with the likes of Roger Corman, Brian Trenchard-Smith, and John Landis (always a great interviewee to watch) to name a few. I hear it's not as good as NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, but I'm sure it's still an informative and interesting watch for fans of obscure and absurd exploitation cinema.

Links:
Amazon
Diabolik DVD

Episode #155: The Baby's Room Near Dark

Welcome to the GGtMC!!!

This week we cobbled together an episode that should just be called an All-Star Who's Who of podcasting show because we brought the Thunder!!!

Sammy and The Brinn from Hammicus Podcast cover The Baby's Room (2006) directed by Alex de la Iglesia and Large William is joined by DeadleDolls Emily from Girls on Film Radio and GleeKast, Miles, Beef and Katie from ShowShow and Jake McLargeHuge from the Podcast without Honor or Humanity for a review of Near Dark (1987) directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

THAT is a podcast chock full of podcasting stars folks!!!

Direct download: The_Babys_Room_Near_Dark.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

Adios!!!

The Other Hell (1980)

In the early to mid 1980s there existed a widespread (at least in my area) state of satanic panic. Rumors abounded about kids being abducted (they had to be virgins and have blue eyes, so I was half-safe) by Satanists driving around in a dark blue van. Consequently, any blue vans in town were avoided, especially if spotted after dark. The Proctor and Gamble logo was accused of being symbolic of the company's concealed, satanic intent. It was posited that the band KISS's name was actually an anagram for "Knights In Satan's Service." 

Anyway, my friends and I used to play out in the woods, riding our bikes, shooting BB guns, what-have-you. One day, we came across a dilapidated pole building. Spray-painted throughout on the walls were what we took for Satanic symbols (pentagrams, trip-sixes, etcetera). In a corner of the building was a dead deer, its head smashed under a large rock. On seeing this, we all started getting pretty freaked out. And then we heard a deep angry voice exclaim the words, "Get out!" Turning, we saw a man standing outside the building. At his side was a very large German Shepherd. We didn't need any more coercion. We ran for it. In retrospect, one has to question; was this disused building a hangout/ritual site for Satanists? Were kidnapping devil worshippers cruising the streets looking for children to steal? Probably not, but uncertainty and the unknowable can breed fear, and we were young enough to be scared.

The Other Hell (aka Guardian Of Hell, aka L'altro inferno) starts with a nun lost in some seriously creepy catacombs (it looks much like those in Guanajuato, but I don't recall gleaning an actual location from the narrative). She eventually makes her way to Sister Assunta's (Paola Montenero) embalming morgue/laboratory (?) which is lit like a Mario Bava film. A half-naked nun lies on the table, and Assunta delivers a zealous screed about the improprieties of the deceased nun and how sin starts with the genitals, which she then cuts into. Father Inardo (Andrea Aureli), an old-school priest arrives to re-consecrate the convent and drive out the Devil, whom the nuns, to a person, believe is alive and well and actively causing havoc in their midst. But when Sister Rosaria (Susan Forget) breaks out in stigmata and goes off the deep end, the church decides to send in young priest, Valerio (Carlo De Mejo), who believes that all the eerie occurrences can be explained away with science and psychology. Meanwhile, a mysterious, masked nun (Francesca Carmeno) prowls the convent with her pet cat. Father Valerio digs deeper and begins to find that Satan may, in fact, not dwell only in the hearts and minds of men.

As a nunsploitation film, there is a pervasive sense of sleaze to be found here, but it doesn't feel as grimy as other movies in the subgenre. The only nudity is with the dead nun at the start. The nuns themselves all come off as touched-in-the-head, and when they're not glaring forebodingly, they're ranting like maniacs. But the film seems more interested in the "is-it-supernatural-or-not?" aspects of the plot.

The basis for the movie's conflict comes in the form of intellectualism versus spiritualism, and this is embodied not in the affected nuns, but in the priest characters. Inardo believes that Satan is a real being who can interact freely with the real world to spread his evil. Valerio is the champion of psychology and believes that there is no evil that is not created solely through human means. Of course, there is an answer to the mystery, and let's just say that neither priest ends up very happy with the truth they find. 

So, then, does the film itself come down on the side of the physical or the metaphysical? My take is it's a bit of both, actually. The acts of sacrilege portrayed throughout can be seen as a true challenge to religion and faith, but the depiction of religious characters can also be seen as taking shots at an easy target. If you've ever been around priests and nuns for any lengthy period of time (I attended parochial school for nine years, myself), you would know that while they can come off as odd in their devotion, they're certainly (well, mostly) not as insane as they are often shown in movies like this one.

While the setting of the film inherently invites theological debate (and any "serious" discussion about this movie and those like it springs more from the religious trappings or the beliefs of the people doing the discussing and not anything intrinsic to the plot or characters), much of the horrific imagery is based on the idea of shock and transgression. A burnt head turns up in the tabernacle where the host wafers are kept. A nun's mouth bleeds when she takes a host wafer in her mouth. A bible spontaneously combusts. This is all meant to be jolting to the audience, this idea that religious items are treated not only with disdain but they can be actively harmful to a person. This leads into the notion of mass hysteria that the film touches on. The nuns of the convent are so convinced that their place is a dwelling for Satan, they stage a bonfire in the courtyard and fling items onto the conflagration in an obviously misguided effort to divest themselves of evil. It's an interesting comment on how large groups of people can act irrationally when faced with the unexplainable and alludes to the infamous witch trials of the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

The most interesting facet of the film to me, though, is the mystery of the masked nun and her cat. She's shown lying in a room festooned with hanging, naked dolls, and her appearance when wearing her habit is reminiscent of the killer from Bava's early giallo, Blood And Black Lace. While she appears at almost every instance of violence in the film, the viewer is left with the dilemma of whether or not she plays a direct part in them. When her secret is finally revealed, it's at once plausible and fantastical. The climax plays dramatically, and there is considerable tension, even pathos created. And then, it goes straight over the top. Afterward, there's a baffling epilogue which feels like it was written strictly for exposition (or the production ran out of money) and one last shock. Sartre is quoted as saying, "Hell is other people." Perhaps that was what director Bruno Mattei was going for with this film?

Mattei (credited here as Stefan Oblowsky) has always been considered something of a hack in Italian cinema. His movies are usually blatant rip-offs of popular films (egregiously so, even among Italian filmmakers), and The Other Hell is no exception. There are influences from Carrie, The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and even fellow Italian Lucio Fulci's Zombie. One thing is certain; you cannot accuse the man of not trying to please everyone. Mattei's movies, while never achieving greatness, are almost never (but not always) less than enjoyable, albeit workmanlike. Still, there's enough to keep one's attention here and provide a quick-paced ninety minutes for your delectation. 

MVT: Bruno Mattei, while not displaying a tremendous amount of style, does do an admirable job of creating a sense of atmosphere appropriate to the material. This is where films like this one succeed, uneasy impressions rather than overt scares. But there is enough grisly substance to keep exploitation fans happy, too.

Make Or Break: The first sighting of the masked nun creates a nice twist and foreshadows that there may be something more going on under the surface. It's unexpected and a great image.

Score: 6.5/10

DVD/Blu-Ray Picks Of The Week - 10/25/11

Samurai's Pick: ATTACK THE BLOCK (Region 1 Blu-Ray & DVD; Sony)
This is one of the best and most fun filled films of 2011. I had an absolute blast watching this film and this is a MUST BUY!!! The interaction between the characters, the simple and effective creature design....probably in my top 10 for the year. TRUST.

Also guys, it should be said...this week is FREAKIN PACKED with choices...Island of Lost Souls Criterion, Serbian Film, Winnie the Pooh (which I am also buying), City of Life and Death, Shaolin, Dazed and Confused Criterion Blu, The Conversation on Blu and Rare Exports.....FUCK ME...I'm broke

Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray and DVD
Blu-Ray.com Review
High-Def Digest Review

Large William's Pick: CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH (Region 1 Blu-Ray & DVD; Kino)
We've all seen powerful films that show us the senselessness and tragedy that befalls all involved in War. How humans forget a little thing called humanity. The destruction at times of all that is good and pure, and how war isn't the noble, patriotic endeavor that we've been told time and time again.

Chuan Lu's City of Life and Death, simply put,, is the best made, most powerful anti-war film I've ever bared witness to. It chronicles the "Rape of Nanking", Japan's brutal 1937 occupation of the Chinese capital. There are things in this film that simply left my jaw agape. Things that I couldn't believe I was seeing. Things that brought tears to my eyes. What was and is most impressive about Lu's film, is that it never sensationalizes the atrocities, never throws s black hat dastardly villain's greatest hits package at you. Everything feels documentary-like, yet still incredibly cinematic. 2 years ago, this film was 3rd on my top 10 of the year, ahead of another little war film, far more based in fantasy, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It is an absolute buy..

Kisses,
Will

Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray and DVD
Blu-Ray.com Review

Aaron's Pick: ZOMBIE: 2-Disc Ultimate Edition (Region 1 DVD/Blu-Ray; Blue Underground)
Just in time for Halloween, Lucio Fulci's splatter classic is now available for the first time on Blu-Ray, and in a 2-disc edition from Blue Underground jam-packed with extra features no less, although I'm not exactly sure how the supplemental material in this differs from the previous Shriek Show 2-disc version (I'm sure they're different, but I haven't been able to verify it myself). Personally, this is my favorite of Fulci's horror movies, and in my opinion easily one of the best films that the late Italian director ever made. It's an obviously flawed film in spots, but very effective as a horror movie. Highly recommended.

Links:
Amazon DVD and Blu-Ray
Diabolik DVD and Blu-Ray
Blu-Ray.com Review

Episode #154: Hisss-O-Mania

Welcome to another episode of the GGtMC!!!

This week the Gents are joined by the guys from the Entrails from the Skeleton Closet podcast and James McCormick from The Criterion cast and cineAwesome to cover some very different but equally strange cinematic fare.

Large William and the guys from Entrails from the Skeleton Closet review Psychomania (1973) directed by Don Sharp and James and Sammy review Hisss (2010) directed by Jennifer Lynch.

This is a beefy and fun episode and we thank the guys for coming on for some podcasting fun!!!

Direct download: Hissss-O-ManiaRM.mp3

Emails to midnitecinema@gmail.com

Voicemails to 206-666-5207

No feedback again this week, we will get to it when we can folks, please don't hesitate to send as much as you please!!!

Terror Beneath The Sea (1966)

Pencil erasers are not that much fun, are they? They're generally pink or white, soft or hard as a rock, and they either do their assigned task (i.e. Erase pencil marks) or smear graphite everywhere and tear through your paper. Yet, there was a time I can recall when erasers (or, let's face it, toys disguised as erasers) were pretty damned fun for monster kids and sci fi fans. In the early 80s, a company called Diener Industries introduced the youth of America to their "Space Creatures" line of "pencil erasers." They were about two or three inches high, various colors (sometimes pink but never white, if memory serves) and looked to be based on some great low budget genre creations. The ones I recall having were a yellow amphibian based on the monster from Destination Inner Space, a beefcake version of The Fly, and a naked alien from I Married A Monster From Outer Space. I also recall having a Medusa and a couple of very soft (and chewy, might I add) robots, as well as a few dinosaurs. Though I didn't own one, there was also a bald alien with gills on his face. According to the "Neato Coolville" blog, he was inspired by an episode of "The Outer Limits" TV series. The fishmen in Terror Beneath The Sea (aka Kaitei daisensô) also bear a striking resemblance. Maybe it's something around the mouth?

A group of doctors and reporters are gathered on a submarine for a demonstration of the Navy's latest homing torpedo, the Bloodhound. Firing upon an unmanned target sub, Ken (Sonny Chiba), Jenny (Peggy Neal), and even Commander Brown (Franz Gruber) notice a badly-matted-in figure dive away from the sub seconds before the torpedo strikes. Their interest piqued, Ken and Jenny go skin-diving to investigate a bit further, and Jenny gets attacked by and snaps a photo of a fishman. When the authorities (read: Commander Brown) are incredulous, the duo go back down and discover a hidden underwater cavern. Attacked by fishmen, they are subdued and brought before the evil Dr. Moore (Erik Neilson). He reveals his plan to take over the world and rule it from under the sea and turn people into fishmen (actually "water cyborgs") to serve under him. And now kindly, old Professor Howard (Andrew Hughes) has also been captured. The trio has to escape and take down the mad scientist before Commander Brown and Captain Bob (Steve Queens) blow his hidden lair to smithereens.

After the massive success of the first four "James Bond" movies, every studio wanted its own superspy/espionage thriller or some variation thereupon. While many of the movies that came out were not even close to matching the quality of the Bond series, a lot of them successfully incorporated the most prevalent (read: exploitable) aspects in their bid for a piece of the box office pie. Arguably the easiest of these aspects to plug into a film is the outré villain, and Dr. Moore certainly fits the mold. He is always seen with sunglasses on, as if he's either hiding some hideous secret (a la the Bond villain's propensity to be less than machine but more than man) or he's just too cool to not wear them. His "utopian" civilization prototype/lair is completely sterile and functional. The only noticeable splashes of color are on a map of the world in the main control room. Other than that, it's whites, blacks, grays, and some powder blues. The suggestion is that under Moore's leadership, the world would be drab, devoid of variety and the oddball asymmetries that actually make life interesting.

This extends, then, to the water cyborgs/fishmen/process men/etc. They are created from humans but they are homogenized. Each one looks exactly like the others (with the obvious limitations of the FX budget and actors' body types), and their minds are blank memory banks with information fed into them. The controls for the fishmen are simplicity themselves. A knob is turned to "Fight" or "Work" or whatever one-word, blanket phrase an automaton would need to be effective. Of course, this sort of thing could only exist in a sci fi film of this era, and I'm sure that even then, it was probably quite risible. Further, and perhaps most horrifying, the water cyborgs are completely gender neutral. So, never mind losing the basest desire for sex. You couldn't do it, even if you tried. The transformation process is done partly surgically, and as with any procedure like this, it immediately calls to mind the idea of vivisection and surgical ethics. This is not explored at any great length in the film (and let's be perfectly clear, no one involved with this production is out to do anything other than entertain), but I find it intriguing, nonetheless.

The special effects and makeup effects are strictly functional, and they rarely achieve (or seem to have any desire to achieve) a sense of verisimilitude. The underwater shots are obviously shot dry, and the models all move with that iron-stiff non-deviation that hampers much miniature model work, particularly from this time period. The fishmen costumes are interesting but not for very long. The creatures look mildly cross-eyed, though I can't say whether that's just how they were filmed or how they were actually constructed. Either way, the suits were never intended to actually go underwater (and if they were, they weren't built to do much while submerged). In the scene where Jenny is attacked while scuba-diving, the film cuts from Jenny (very much underwater) to a medium closeup of a fishman (very much not underwater) against a black background. Then, as it strikes, the amphibi-man is now matted in, ruining the shot's perspective. Yet it's enjoyable as all hell, and when the cyborgs start sporting guns, you'll find you no longer care how threadbare their appearance is.

It's also a tad disheartening the level of padding that this film has in it. Ken and Jenny go scuba diving not once, but twice. Each time, we're treated to lengthy, sub-Cousteau-ian shots of underwater non-wonders. When the process for creating the water cyborgs is explained to our protagonists, it is displayed onscreen in the minutest detail. And while the transformation shots are effective (Jenny looks like she may actually vomit), they go on for far too long and much of the operation could have been elided. I can only assume that, since the film was geared towards kids, the filmmakers couldn't take for granted that their target audience would get what was happening one hundred percent without showing them. Also, this is the kind of shit kids love. However, for a seventy-nine minute movie, this extraneous stuff eats up a bit too much runtime. I think this is both the greatest attraction and biggest deficiency of the film. The story itself is so pared down that it can't make feature length, but the padding used to get it there is largely (but not all) the stuff the audience wants (action and monsters). It's nothing to get overly-enthusiastic over, but as a fast, popcorn movie, Terror Beneath The Sea goes down nicely. 

MVT: Chiba showcases the charisma that would later catapult him into the cult cinema pantheon. The hand-to-hand fights are not monstrously exciting or well-choreographed, but the man throws himself completely into everything he does, and he is the main attraction every time he's onscreen.

Make or Break: The "Make" is when the first water cyborg pops up sporting a gun. It gives the film's finale a different flavor than similar climaxes like Island Of Dr. Moreau. Plus, it looks super-cool.

Score: 6/10

DVD/Blu-Ray Picks Of The Week - 10/18/11

Large William's Pick: THE LAST CIRCUS (Region 1 DVD & Blu-Ray; Magnet/Magnolia)
Alex De Iglesia's latest film was at tiff last year and sadly, I was not able to swing seeing it, but was happy to hear from some friends that it was excellent. Incredibly strong visually and with a scathing absurdist commentary of fascist Spain and human nature in general. This is a film that will look absolutely STUNNING in blu as De Iglesia has a strong command of imagery and a sublime visual flair. Equal parts grotesque and beautiful. Don't miss this one gang, or you just might be the one playing the sad trumpet*rim shot*

besos,
William

Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray and DVD
Blu-Ray.com Review

Sammy's Pick: KURONEKO (Region 1 DVD & Blu-Ray; Criterion)
We all know about Kurosawa and Ozu....but one of the hidden, or at least less talked about . talents from Japan is Kaneto Shindo. Shindo was born in 1912 and is still working today, he directed Postcard in 2010!!! That's 98 years old folks!!! I am personally not a big fan of ghost stories, they just don't scare me and sometimes if the mood and tone aren't spot on I find myself bored and uninterested. Shindo directed this film and Onibaba, two of my favorite Japanese films of all time and two very solid, and similar, ghost stories. He was also one of the pioneers of feminism in films and sexuality...educate yourself on his work...film buffs should adore!!!

Links:
Amazon Blu-Ray and DVD
Diabolik DVD and Blu-Ray

Aaron's Pick: ENTER THE NINJA (DVDR; MGM MOD)
This actually came out last week, but due to a shameful oversight on my part, I'm recommending it this week.

Anyway...

Franco Nero plays a fucking NINJA in this! Done.

Links:
Amazon
Amazon Instant Watch
Diabolik DVD

Ninja (2009)

Directed by Isaac Florentine.

The sensei of a Japanese dojo is on the verge of picking a replacement to take over training, and the frontrunners are his two top students: Masazuka (Tsuyoshi Ihara) and Casey (Scott Adkins) - the latter being a token white guy who sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a bunch of Japanese folks. Without going into too much detail, Masazuka turns bad and eventually assumes the role of a rogue ninja who works as an assassin for a criminal organization. Masazuka later makes his presence known to the sensei, vowing to get revenge for his banishment from the school. The story moves to New York City, which is where Casey and a few other students are instructed by the sensei to transport a chest of sacred weapons for safe-keeping. Masazuka hunts Casey down, the hooded footsoldiers of the criminal organization get involved, and it's not long before the film explodes with action set-pieces, ninja shenanigans, and insane fight sequences that spill into subways, back alleys, and even a police station.

I'm not too familiar with Scott Adkins, but I understand he's becoming somewhat of a star in the straight-to-DVD action market. I saw him in a horror movie called STAG NIGHT a while back but didn't think much of him because of his limited screen time. Now after seeing NINJA, I still don't think much of him... not as an actor anyway. Adkins could probably give Jason Statham a run for his money if he had charisma, but at least he's got everything else down: dude can fight (or at least pretend to fight) and he's built like a brick shit-house.


One thing of note is the criminal organization I mentioned earlier. When you first see them, they look like a Satanic cult in the midst of an initiation ceremony, which is being conducted by the group's leader. Everyone in the room is wearing robes and hoods, and there are symbols of unknown meaning on the walls. In a perfect world there would have been a supernatural twist to the proceedings, but it wasn't the case. Still though, it at least provides an interesting aesthetic when we do see these guys pop in the film. The group's leader seems to be some sort of small-scale wannabe Illuminati figure, and the uniform look of his henchmen provide a subtle but cool gang aesthetic that wouldn't feel too out of place in a modern-day version of THE WARRIORS.


I was initially a little disappointed by the somewhat low-budget look of the film and especially the cheesy logo that pops up during the opening credits (and again when the movie's over), but NINJA ultimately proves to be a surprisingly stylish affair with interesting camera work. Whoever shot the fight scenes (which are all extremely well-choreographed and performed) and later edited them really did a great job of capturing and pacing the action, respectively. A female character assumes the damsel in distress role at a certain point, with, of course, Scott Adkins playing the knight in shining armor and following a familiar path when it comes to action/adventure cinema, but even that aspect of the film is well done. It should be noted that the damsel in distress character holds her own for the most part, even participating in one of the film's better fight sequences (see: Make or Break Scene) and creatively using a crutch as a weapon.


It's been said plenty of times before, but every good hero needs a villain. While Masazuka isn't the most despicable or memorable antagonist I've ever seen, he's still a great contrast to Casey's character. Masazuka is sort of like the wrestling heel who gets "cheap heat"; he may not necessarily seem like a bad guy, but some of his actions automatically make him a villain by default. In Japanese culture, however, some of his actions would undoubtedly make him an undesirable person because of the amount of disrespect he shows and how he spits in the face of honor and tradition, whereas in American culture he could easily be seen as an anti-hero. However you wanna look at Masazuka, one thing can not be denied: he's a bad-ass. Like an ideal ninja, he's stealth and kills without much effort.


Make or Break Scene: The train sequence. It's the first full-blown, over the top fight sequence in the film. There are a few moments of bad-assery leading up to it, but we only get them in bits and pieces, whereas it felt like the train sequence really kicked everything into gear and set the momentum for the rest of the film.

MVT: The fight choreographer, Akihiro Noguchi.

Score: 6.75/10


True story: As soon as this movie was over, I added a ludicrous amount of ninja movies to my Netflix queue. I had enough fun watching NINJA that I developed a sudden interest in ninja films that will most likely be short-lived due to my lackluster attention span. The key word with this film is "fun". If you lower your standards and avoid going into this with a critical mindset, I can't see any reason why you wouldn't at least be impressed with the great stunts and the relentless pacing of the fight sequences.