The Magnetic Monster is a very unique sci-fi/horror film from this era in that most of its time is spent in labs and board rooms where very important-looking men say very impressive-sounding science things while trying to figure out how to deal with the titular “monster.” The “monster” itself is also very unusual, in that it’s not really a standard sci-fi monster at all, but a radioactive element out of control– it’s not a living beast at all. In some ways, The Magnetic Monster prefigures bureaucratic “behind the scenes” films like Steven Soderbergh’s recent Contagion, focusing more on the people who have to deal with the problem that has presented itself than the reaction of the public to this danger.
Certainly, the scientific babble all sounds and looks (on chalkboards) pretty impressive, but whether or not the individual audience member will enjoy The Magnetic Monster will depend largely on their tolerance for lengthy scenes of dialogue cut with generous portions of stock footage. There are a few moments of levity that feel completely out of place (typical for films of this era), but otherwise the cast plays everything deadly seriously. It may not exactly be a lost classic, but it’s still great of MGM to give audiences a chance to see something truly unique from the golden era of American sci-fi cinema.
Make-Out with Violence (2008)
Originally published on Film Monthly 9 November 2010
The low-budget zombie movie is nothing new, but as the genre becomes more and more glutted with aspiring Romeros, it’s getting tougher to sift through the garbage and find something truly interesting. For every fun, enjoyable little indie zombie movie, there are dozens of dour, witless gorefests. So it’s something of a revelation when a genuinely unique film comes along and completely confounds expectations of what a zombie movie can be. Make-Out with Violence, a 2008 film by The Deagol Brothers that has just recently been released on DVD by Factory25, is one of those films.
The film is narrated by Beetle (Brett Miller), younger brother of Patrick (Eric Lehning) and Carol (Cody DeVos), a pair of fraternal twins. During Patrick and Carol’s senior year of high school, their friend and Beetle’s frequent babysitter Wendy (Shellie Marie Shartzer) goes missing. Months pass with no sign of Wendy, so finally her family holds a memorial service at the start of the Summer leading up to her friends’ leaving town to go to college. Patrick and Carol’s friend Rody (Jordan Lehning) puts Patrick and Carol in charge of housesitting in his stead while he takes off for adventures elsewhere, leaving directly after Wendy’s memorial service. Patrick goes home, while Carol and Beetle make a terrifying discovery: Wendy, not alive but not dead exactly, tied to a pair of trees near a small stream. They take her home and hide her in a shed in the back yard while they try to figure out what to do.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Wendy’s boyfriend Brian (Josh Duesning) starts spending more and more time with Wendy’s best friend Addy (Leah High), much to Carol’s dismay. Addy’s boarding school friend Anne Haran (Tia Shearer) pursues Carol, while Patrick holes up in Rody’s house with Wendy. As the Summer advances, Patrick’s unrequited crush becomes a dangerous obsession. He offers to help Carol win Addy’s heart with a 13-step plan, but Beetle realizes it’s only to get Carol out of the way. As Carol executes the plan, Patrick gives up more and more of his time to stay with Wendy, and as the end of the Summer draws near and the return of Rody’s family becomes imminent, something has to give.
Make-Out with Violence is not necessarily a “zombie movie.” Despite its dark subject matter, it’s frequently very funny and surprisingly touching. Beetle and Carol, particularly, are characters to whom it’s tough not to become attached. The Deagol Brothers handle the major shifts in tone from comedy to tragedy with surprising ease. The time the film spends with its characters, in circumstances both deliriously good and dangerously bad, pays off in the bleak, bittersweet finale. How else to end a film that honestly looks at the end of adolescence from the perspective of the young characters staring it down? Make-Out with Violence is something truly special, a film that deftly incorporates traits of wildly different genres while utterly ignoring the boundaries between them. This is one of the best films I’ve seen this year.
Making Out (2016)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 3 February 2016
There are many hardworking, prolific independent filmmakers all over the world today, but there are probably very few whose oeuvre is as varied as Henrique Couto. Working out of Ohio, Couto established a following in the independent horror scene with his films Bleeding Through and Babysitter Massacre, but in the last few years he has branched out into family holiday movies (A Bulldog for Christmas) and even made a western (Calamity Jane’s Revenge) in addition to producing more horror films as well. In 2014, Couto ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for his film Awkward Thanksgiving. Encouraged by that campaign’s success, he went back to Kickstarter in 2015 to fund a “romantic comedy” project (full disclosure: this reviewer did contribute to the campaign). It was similarly successful, and now Making Out is set to make its world premiere at the By-Jo Theatre in Germantown, Ohio on February 5th, 2016.
Charlie (Titus Young Wolverton) is a struggling screenwriter who spends more time than he probably should going to the movies alone. He meets Erin (Erin R. Ryan), an actress who Charlie and cameraman Henrique (Henrique Couto) work with on a film shoot. The two seem to have an obvious attraction, but Charlie is too self-involved to make a move. While bonding over stories of romantic disappointments, Erin presents Charlie with an idea: they can create a perfect movie-style romance for themselves by scripting their dates modeled on clichés from the movies they love. With the condition that they only make out, of course, since the situation is purely platonic. Just like in the movies, though, things don’t quite go as planned.
Much like Awkward Thanksgiving, Making Out is an R-rated take on a familiar comic genre. It’s not quite Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow territory, but Couto’s ribbing of romantic comedy conventions is more profane and much weirder than the big studio rom-coms from which it takes cues. Couto uses the independent nature of the production to make jokes movies being vetted by the MPAA would never let through (including one very inspired bit involving a biker gang member played by editor Eric Widing), but doesn’t go out of his way to make the film offensive for the sake of shock. It’s a fun tweak on familiar territory made for adults.
Couto regularly works with a number of actors who have become a reliable ensemble, and a few of them do some of their best work yet in Making Out. Erin R. Ryan has repeatedly proven herself a solid lead actress in a wide range of roles, and she’s typically great here. Geoff Burkman has a very funny small role as the owner of the movie theater where Charlie is a regular, and Joni Durian appears in a small but memorable part. Much of the rest of the cast is made up of newer faces, including Titus Young Wolverton in the lead as Charlie. Wolverton appeared in Couto’s films Scarewaves and Calamity Jane’s Revenge, but this is his first feature as a leading man. It’s tough to keep up with some of the more experienced players here, but Wolverton does his best.
Making Out is a clever, fun take on the familiar romantic-comedy formula. Couto knows how to put minimal resources to maximum use, and his ingenuity shines through again here. Both Couto and his cast seemed to be having a great time making this movie, and that passion and enthusiasm is infectious. And lest any horror fans get too nervous about Couto straying from their favorite genre, his “found footage” horror film Alone in the Ghost House will be out this Summer. In the meantime, we’ll be taking bets on what genre Couto tackles next!
Malacreanza: From the Diaries of a Broken Doll (2013)
Originally published on Daily Grindhouse 10 April 2014
Cosmotropia de Xam is back with more “arthouse horror” with his latest feature, Malacreanza: From the Diaries of a Broken Doll. This film, his follow-up to Diabolique, is touted as both “arthouse horror” and “experimental Giallo,” and while it is similar in tone to Diabolique, it is even further removed from standard narrative t
han that film. Malacreanza only features one actor on screen during its entire running time, and features imagery more traditionally associated with experimental film than narrative features.
Anna (Shivabel) wakes up, nude, near what appears to be an abandoned factory. She wanders around and hears voices that seem to control her. These voices are the only other presences in the film—other than Anna, no actors appear on-screen. The voices taunt and command, as Anna wanders from one bizarre nightmare world to the next, similarly to how the characters in Diabolique would float from one place to another, but even more abstract in both its narrative structure and visual style.
That’s where the “experimental Giallo” part comes in. Malacreanza has lengthy passages that bring to mind experimental filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage. This sensibility is represented most notably in a section of the film made up of rapid-fire frames of photographs damaged with acid, displayed one after another and set to match the pounding of the soundtrack. The soundtrack and sound design for Malacreanza is often haunting and ominous, and the film’s narrow focus on a single subject makes it a frequently hypnotic viewing experience.
However, one man’s “hypnotic” is another man’s “unwatchable,” and any viewer not ready to be completely immersed in a visual and aural experience with almost no narrative may find themselves frustrated. Even more than Diabolique, Malacreanza is an exercise in style as substance. Cosmotropia de Xam is interested in creating a very particular atmosphere above all else, and that is where Malacreanza succeeds most. There are a number of unsettling images here that will remain in your subconscious for a long while.
Malibu Beach (1978)
Originally published on Criticplanet.org
Folks, if you’ll permit me a small bit of pretension, I think it entirely appropriate in discussing Malibu Beach. In his essay “Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage,” Umberto Eco writes: “Two clichés make us laugh but a hundred clichés move us because we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion.” Malibu Beach is absolutely packed with comfortable clichés– maybe not a full hundred, but among them there’s a beach bully that gets his comeuppance, young girls who fall for party-animal boys, and a dog that steals bikinis. Probably not exactly what Eco had in mind, but they’ll do.
Anyone still here?
School’s out for the Summer, and everyone’s heading for Malibu Beach for some sun and fun. Best friends Dina (Kim Lankford) and Sally (Susan Player) meet up with good-time boys Bobby (James Daughton) and Paul (Michael Luther). Beach Cool Guy Dugan Hicks (Steve Oliver) has a date with hot high school teacher Ms. Plickett (Flora Plumb). Dugan is actually a character who also appeared in the Crown International Pictures film The Van, making Malibu Beach something of a sequel to that film. Crown International favorite Bill Adler even appears in a bit part as a “Vanner.” You’ll never believe the shocking revelation of The Owner of the Bikini-Stealing Dog, which incidentally also makes an appearance in the Crown International film The Beach Girls, further extending The Van expanded universe. Throw in a shark that would make Larry Buchanan blush, and you’ve got a full evening’s entertainment.
If it sounds like there’s not much of a storyline in Malibu Beach, that’s because there really isn’t. At all. It’s just fun, goofy stuff with plenty of cute girls and guys hanging out and partaking in mostly beach-related hijinks with some very light coming-of-age elements thrown in. There’s no way to defend Malibu Beach as high art, but it happily delivers the modest pleasures its setup promises: cool vans, hot bikinis and dim-bulb cops all present and accounted for. Booze, boobs and weed? Check. It’s all familiar in a way that’s comfortingly clichéd, and it’s a fine way to spend 96 minutes.
In case anyone’s actually made it this far, let me reiterate: bikini-stealing dog. Now go have some fun.
Malibu High (1979)
Originally published on Criticplanet.org
I’m going to be honest: I’ve been putting off writing up this review because I don’t want to seem like too much of a gushing fanboy. But time and repeated viewings have not dimmed my initial enthusiasm for the utterly insane Malibu High, and so the time has come. While watching the films made by Crown International Pictures, there are some that are enjoyable in their own right and some that are so off-kilter that they become amazing in their own way. Malibu High is one of the latter, a mishmash of 70s after-school specials and depraved crime dramas. It’s sort of like Lovely But Deadly (1981) (a white high school remake of Jack Hill’s Pam Grier vehicle Coffy), except its protagonist ends up on the wrong side of the law instead of learning karate to kill drug dealers. They’d make a fun double feature, but Malibu High is easily the more entertaining film.
Kim Bentley (Jill Lansing) is a hateful, miserable teenager. She’s the kind of girl who wakes up, rolls over to turn off the alarm, and then immediately lights up a cigarette to smoke while she desultorily dresses for school. Her mom (Phyllis Benson) berates her for smoking and dressing inappropriately while Kim looks at her breakfast for a few minutes before skulking out of the house to meet her only friend Lucy (Katie Johnson), who seems to be Kim’s friend pretty much solely because she has a car and is willing to drive Kim around wherever she wants to go. Lucy and Kim arrive at school where Kim sees her ex-boyfriend Kevin (Stuart Taylor) walking his new girlfriend Annette (Tammy Taylor) to class. Whether Kim was as sulky and bitchy before Kevin broke up with her or if that’s the reason Kevin broke up with her is not clear, but either explanation seems equally valid.
Later, after seeing Kevin and Annette having fun at a school dance, Kim convinces Lucy to ditch the party and go home so they can drink whatever happens to be in Lucy’s parents’ liquor cabinet. Before that, Kim stops off to buy some weed from sleazy dealer Tony (Alex Mann), who suggests that Kim would do well to join him in a business partnership– namely, hooking. Kim turns him down, but after a long night of drinking and bitching about everything in her life, Kim devises a plan that will allow her to not only turn around her middling academic career, but provide her with money to buy even more inappropriate clothes and a car so she can finally ditch that square Lucy. She shows up at school the next day with a skirt so short it’s almost a hat, and meets up with Tony that night to accept his business proposal. Nobody’s going to push Kim Bentley around anymore, at least not without paying for the privilege first!
Soon enough, Kim’s GPA improves drastically (except for her English class, taught by a woman) and hooking out of the back of Tony’s kidnapper van proves to be reasonably lucrative. Kim suggests one evening that maybe Tony should re-evaluate their deal and maybe give her 40 percent instead of 30, a suggestion met with a quick pimp-slap from Tony. Unfortunately for him, word of Kim’s outstanding sexual talent is out and she is approached by Lance (Garth Howard), a representative of some much more, shall we say, organized interests. Lance’s people want Kim to work for them, and after thinking it over a little (and a bit more rough treatment from Tony), Kim agrees to take her career in prostitution to the next level. Before she knows it, she’s getting free cocaine and even makes enough to buy a sweet new ride, all apparently without her mother noticing that she’s basically moved out of the house.
Things take a surprisingly positive turn for Kim after she accidentally kills a rough client. Lance realizes that Kim has a kind of soulless, heartless quality that would make her a good assassin. Kim is hesitant at first– it’s always stressful starting a new job– but soon finds contract killing suits her perfectly. In a few short months, Kim has gone from dead-eyed, angry, miserable, failing student to dead-eyed, angry, possibly less miserable passing student with a full-time job having sex and killing people for money. What’s not to love about that? Her new life provides her all the money she could ever need or want and Lance is a kind and thoughtful boyfriend/pimp. The only thing that could possibly make her life better is a way of dealing with those loose ends she left back in high school, the boyfriend who dumped her and his spoiled brat girlf
riend Annette. The gods smile on Kim once again, as her “last job” as assassin is none other than Annette’s father. But can Kim go through with it? Can she finally put the past behind her, murder her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s dad and just be happy as a high-paid prostitute?
Malibu High is one of those rare cinematic treats that features so many weird things in one movie that it all adds up to magic. Jill Lansing is hilariously surly and hateful as Kim, and it’s honestly hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Kim’s interactions with her boyfriend/pimp Lance are amazing, the two of them acting like a perfectly normal, happy couple. Lance, although presumably more evil than greaseball Tony, comes across as a much more pleasant and decent person, even while offering underage Kim cocaine and handguns. As in any good exploitation film, Malibu High makes Kim’s life of crime look like a lot of fun, only to turn the tables at the very end and suggest that maybe quitting school to become a hooker and contract killer isn’t such a good idea after all. The costuming and dialogue are priceless, and the effect of all these things put together is a film that could only have been made in the 70s, although Kim’s relentless pursuit of financial success would allow her to fit right in with the Reagan 80s. Maybe if Malibu High had been made a few years later, she would have gotten a happy ending.
Man, Woman, and the Wall (2006)
Originally published on Film Monthly 2 June 2008
I am a fan of cinema from all over the world, and especially Japanese and Asian films. Part of this is a fascination with cultures that are totally different from my own in many respects. This clash leads to some films that provide insight into the values and daily lives of people in other cultures, while other films gleefully shatter taboos Western cinema won’t touch. Somewhere in between these lies Masashi Yamamoto’s Man, Woman, and the Wall. This is a film where the basic setup, in the hands of a Western filmmaker, would likely translate into a suspense thriller, but in Japan, it’s a mostly sedate character study with splashes of romantic comedy and explicit sex.
The Unrepentant Cinephile Page 44
