in memoriam: Tobe Hooper
Warning: contains space boobs and space butt, although no space junk
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A classic cheesy sci fi flick that Iâd forgotten about!!
Itâs been interesting seeing all of the memoriam articles, which universally announced his death as âDirector of Texas Chainsaw Massacreâ. Not a single one I saw even pretended to call him the director of Poltergeist anymore, even though it was such a bigger film. I guess his role on that has been generally decided on.
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How long can I let my mind moulder in this place?
Wherever I turn, wherever I happen to look,
I see the black ruins of my life, here,
where Iâve spent so many years, wasted them, destroyed them totally.
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These, in their youtube variants, were posted over at the other place. Iâm not certain if the posters involved were seriously recommending these or not, but Iâm certainly willing to. If not exactly highbrow, the phrase âbush shotâ is dropped several times, they certainly qualify as scholarly, covering most of the major works, from Dreyerâs Vampyr to Almereydaâs Nadja, and even tracing the sub-genre back to Samuel Taylor Coleridgeâs little known âChristabel.â (They missed Persona, though.)
Later podcasts feature appraisals of the films of Andrzej ZuĹawski, Elio Petri, and MiklĂłs JancsĂł, look at the Art Giallo, and focus on the books, Nightmare USA and Immoral Tales.
Joe Bob says check it out.
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Do.
Gods and Monsters is astonishingly good. Serious quality art.
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Finally, A Return to Reason!
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2001: A Space Odyssey - A Look Behind the Future, a 1966 promotional short.
More than a bit stiff and completely fails to prepare one for Kubrickâs film, but the faith in space migration, Hollywood, and just capitalism in general is touching.
And, if youâd like a double feature, might I suggest?
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Havenât watched the video yet but is arthur c clarke pretending to be a chef or a painter?
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Heâs apparently in some sort of clean room. Clarke and the narrator often seem to be under the impression that these props are actually going to be used in outer space.
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Very funny backstage (and on stage) farce. Nothing about circumcisions thoughâŚ
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They told Clarke he really was in outer space, and he totally bought it!
Burrrrnnn!
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For me, Valerian was dull until Rihanna came on. Sheâs really great for about ten minutes but they promptly kill her and the movie goes back to being pretty but dull.
I wanted it to be the next Fifth Element but instead it ⌠wasnât. 
It felt kind of like someone crossed JJVerse Star Trek with the second half of the first Captain America movie.
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I kinda didnât like the stuff with Rihanna. I thought the opening scene was the best, and the Big Market thing was kind of fun. The main problem was just the wooden and unlikeable main characters though.
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âSpirits surround us on every side - they have driven me from hearth and home, from wife and child.â
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Official Blade Runner anime short, Olmos briefly returns as Gaff. There is some beautiful work.
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Thanks, Iâm glad I got to watch this before the link was removed. Apparently itâs a Crunchyroll exclusive (for now) but Iâm sure itâll keep popping up in viewable formats.
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Cuadecuc, vampir
Pere Portabellaâs behind-the-scenes documentary about the filming of Jesus Francoâs Count Dracula.
At least itâs ostensibly a documentary. For the most part, Portabella contrives to simply tell his own version of Dracula, shooting from around corners because the âbestâ camera position has been taken by the official productionâs cameras. I wasnât too enthused with Count Dracula when I saw it many years ago, but Cuadecuc has been made great by stripping Francoâs film down, no color, no sound, (an avant-garde score has been overlaid, seguing from strange rumblings, street sounds, opera, and lush muzak) and really no strict adherence to narrative, although anyone familiar with the story can easily figure out where they are.
Even the parts that should break the spell, the genuine behind-the-scenes footage, often merely enhance the effect. Seeing someone run through the woods with a smoke machine prior to a take, or spinning cobwebs over the reclining vampires, feels like part of some obscure occult ritual.
For added topicality, supposedly the film functions as a protest against General Francoâs Spain. Exactly how is unclear to me, although itâs worth mentioning that âcuadecucâ is not Spanish, but actually Catalan, a language which was at that time banned in Spain.
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Saw them in reverse order as I saw Kingsman 2 in the theater. I just got done with Kingsman now.
Both are wonderful over the top comic book super spy fun. Excellent action scenes crazy gadgets and villains who are truly mad.
Definitely worth a DVD rental fee.
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I apologize for being so very late to this particular party⌠not that you guys would have particularly missed my contributions or anything (I know you guys like me fine, but I also am the first to admit that Iâm never to be taken all that seriously), but more that Iâm responding to months-old posts.
Huh? I think you give cable TV and VHS a bit too much credit. Not for cult movies in general, where youâre absolutely spot-on, but for Casablanca in particular. That movie was never hard to find. You didnât have to go to Harvard to see it at the screenings theyâve held annually during finals for the past sixty years. It was on regular, broadcast TV, like, all the time. I peeked at the movieâs Wikipedia page to make sure.
By 1977, Casablanca was the most frequently broadcast film on American television.
Cable and VHS (and Betamax, for that matter) didnât have much market penetration in â77. I am not convinced that something thatâs been so widely popular for so very long (and never endured a period of obscurity or particular unfashionableness) can really qualify as a cult film. Casablanca was, by 1955, the third most financially successful of Warner Brosâ wartime movies. I do believe it mainstreamed itself.
Next Iâll defend Fury Road, after I put the kids to bed. 
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