Here are some reviews of some films I have seen in the last week. Watch more weird movies, its good for your brain to watch more than just super hero flicks.
Hiruko the Goblin (1991)
This movie was awesome.
Shinya Tsukamoto, the director of Tetsuo the Iron Man, follows up his indy cult film classic with a bigger budget studio film based on a Manga. This one is more straightforward than Tetsuo but its still a batshit crazy horror movie that is totally out there.
A disgraced archaeologist travels to a small Japanese village where he uncovers a school that is built over the gates of hell. He and two cohorts open the tomb they find and accidentally release the demon named Hiruko on he world. Great stop motion effects and a weird factor turned up to 10 make this movie worth checking out for fans of Japanese horror.
City of Women (1980)
A dream like fantasy movie about the rise of feminists and one man's encounter with a commune type contingent of them after the train he is on stalls and he gets off and he follows a mysterious woman into the forest. Although it angered some feminists at the time, City of women isn't anti women by any means. It's deeply satirical look at women's lib and gender relations staring a somewhat bemused looking Marcello Mastroianni.
Just as Mastroianni is about to score with two with two women at once his wife materializes and brings him into an imaginary well lit womb where he sees all his past loves and is put before a tribunal for his actions. This movie is about a guy who doesn't really understand women and has just seen them as a sort of mystery and could not be more befuddled by their feelings of mistreatment by men.
Its not just feminists that get parodied though. At one point the protagonist tries to escape and he meets an aging super stud caricature of a man, complete with gold medallions, who is basically public enemy number one in this strange surreal feminist controlled world.
Fellini made some of greatest movies of all time, this one was pretty late in his career (he was 60 when it was made) but is still worth checking out. He was the king of surrealism and he never lost that style. Worth seeing for fans of this director, though few people will put it in their top 3 Fellini films. It's my top 10 though.
Schlock (1973)
John Landis may be best known for classic films like the Blues Brothers and American Werewolf in London but even he had to start somewhere, and he started with 1973's Shlock. A parody of the 1950's monster movies and caveman horror flicks like Trog, Shlock is a fun movie. A prehistoric apeman is on the loose in California and falls in love with a blind girl. He also plays piano and gives TV interviews. And he is on a killing spree. Site gags galore, this is actually petty funny. If you have seen Kentucky Fried Movie you will be familiar with Landis sense of humor. I liked it.
Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)
I caught a screening of this 1994 cheese fest last weekend, it stars young versions of Denise Richards and Paul Walker. Walker dies and has his brain implanted in an animatronic Tyrannosaurus who still continues to love his girl, even without his body. This version contains extra blood and guts cut out of the original film, I think they were aiming for a teen comedy audience and didn't want to limit the film's potential by getting a an R rating back in 1994. The special effects are not bad. Anyway the footage was found and put back in and is screening around the world as the "gore cut" and is available on a new blu ray / DVD here
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Thanks for reading, have a great weekend