Foster on Film – Page 85 – The Film Criticism of Matthew M. Foster

Halloween (1978)

Oct 031978

Years after he killed his sister, the now grown Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and stalks babysitters.

I didn’t see Halloween in ’78. Then it was a phenomenon. It was the beginning of a new kind of film (Not really; Bay of Blood was the beginning, but everyone didn’t start copying it till Halloween). By the time I got to it, I’d seen dozens of films exactly like it. There’s no question of its importance to the Slasher sub-genre. There are however, lots and lots of questions one can ask about it.

Outside of its place in history, is it a good film? The sad answer is no. It doesn’t have a story, just a mood. It leads nowhere. Michael kills some babysitters, chases one, is killed several times, and gets up each time. He does all that because he is the personification of evil. I suppose that’s a reason. Not much of one. The other characters have little personality and behave stupidly so that they can get attacked. Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) hides in a closet so that she will be trapped. She also likes to hang around Michael’s dead body, with her back to him. This can be forgiven once, but is a bit much the second time. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence), the worst psychiatrist in the world, just mutters that Michael is evil (no wonder the Sheriff doesn’t take him seriously) and lurks in the bushes. Not everything is bad. John Carpenter has more style than most Slasher directors. The music is memorable and there are several well-crafted scenes (the best has Laurie by a door frame as Michael’s face fades in above her). But that isn’t worth 90 minutes of your time.

It was followed by Halloween 2, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Halloween: Resurrection.

Halloween, Reviews, Slashers Tagged with: One Reel

Romeo and Juliet (1978)

Oct 031978

Romeo (Patrick Ryecart) and Juliet (Rebecca Saire), the children of warring families, fall in love and secretly marry. When Tybalt (Alan Rickman), a cousin of Juliet, is killed by Romeo after he slays Romeo’s friend, Mercutio (Anthony Andrews), the… Well, you know what happens.

This stage-like presentation was the first version of Romeo and Juliet that worked for me. I’m happy to say that I’ve seen many more live and cinematic versions over the years and found a good many that have the right elements, but in 1978, this was a revelation.

Certainly, it is far from a perfect adaptation. Shot as a stage play, almost no use is made of the advantages of film. The sets are claustrophobic, the camera work simplistic, and the music repetitive. The fight scenes, which would be barely acceptable in a live performance, are embarrassing. It is also a very standard adaptation. Everything has been done many times before. There are no new insights into why the characters do what they do, and most of Shakespeare’s bawdier lines are recited as if they are normal conversation (a common flaw—making Shakespeare socially proper).

Additionally, Ryecart is an unexciting Romeo, demonstrating none of the passion the part requires. He is also too old. (See my review of three other versions of Romeo and Juliet for my thoughts on the importance of age in the play).

But with all that, it still works, due to a few fine casting choices. John Gielgud is always welcome, even in so small a roll as the Chorus, and Michael Hordern, who specialized in confused characters who somehow retain their dignity, gives depth to Capulet. Alan Rickman (who has impressed me over and over in such films as Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Dogma, and Galaxy Quest) is an intense and wonderfully oily Tybalt. I can’t think of any other performance that made me so gleeful at Tybalt’s death. Then there is Anthony Andrews as Mercutio. Mercutio is a difficult role that almost no one gets right. He should be slightly manic, the quirky high school/college clown with something to prove, but too often he just comes off as a nut. Andrews walks the line and succeeds in making him likable if still exasperating.

But successful secondary performances, no matter how superb, can’t make Romeo and Juliet sing. It is Rebecca Saire who does that. Age appropriate, she imbues Juliet with innocence, intelligence, a desire to please, and passion. She makes Juliet what she needs to be, a near-fourteen year old girl. The party scene is the best I’ve seen (well, her part of it anyway) as Juliet cautiously flirts with Romeo. She swept me into the tragedy.

A good cast can overcome all flaws in a production of Romeo and Juliet (and any Shakespearian play). With a better Romeo, this would be the definitive version.

Reviews, Shakespeare Tagged with: Four Reels

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Oct 021978

As civilization falls, two SWAT team members (Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger), a TV journalist (Gaylen Ross), and her helicopter pilot boyfriend (David Emge), take refuge from the zombie hordes in a shopping mall.

Quick Review: This is the iconic zombie film. The modern concept of zombies was started in Night of the Living Dead, but here is where it all comes together. What was crudely done in the first film is done with finesse here. The characterizations are still weak, but much improved. The violence is extreme, often cartoon-like, and mostly committed on zombies, but when it is on humans, it is visceral. Plus, Dawn of the Dead is funny; it’s pretty dark humor, with entrails on the side, but funny. More than in the first, the zombies represent us. After death, they still shop. Their unlives are just as empty and meaningless as their lives had been. The survivors are us too, and when they are given a chance, they too fall into old meaningless habits of collecting “stuff.” Then there is the road gang. Guess who they represent?

Like many so-called horror films, you won’t be frightened by Dawn of the Dead. Sickened, maybe, but not frightened. It is an adventure film, with social commentary and gore. Enjoy.

Followed by Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead.

Back to Zombies

Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, Zombies Tagged with: Four Reels

The Big Sleep (1978)

Sep 291978

In London, General Sternwood (James Stewart) hires American expatriate detective Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) to deal with blackmail threats. However, what he really wants is for Marlowe to uncover what happened to his missing son-in-law. Marlowe finds that both the blackmail and the disappearance are tied up with Sternwood’s wild daughters, Charlotte (Sarah Miles) and Camilla (Candy Clark), a gangster named Eddie Mars (Oliver Reed), and a homosexual pornographer.

The 1946 Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall The Big Sleep is a Film Noir classic. Truly one of the great films. But it doesn’t always make a lot of sense and varies from the Raymond Chandler novel by adding a romance and obscuring all of the sex, drugs, and homosexuality that couldn’t be put onscreen at the time. This 1978 version does succeed in putting the racy bits back, and sticking close to the letter, if not the spirit, of the novel. But in putting back all those words from the book, I’d have thought that someone would have bothered to read them. Writer-director-producer Michael Winner obviously didn’t. He saw them, but had no idea what they meant.

The mistakes start with the casting of Robert Mitchum, and he is by far the best thing about the film. I enjoy listening to Mitchum’s velvety, reverberating voice, and he has an air of nonchalance that is seductive. But he’s not Marlowe. He is far too old for the role, looking tired when he should be ready for action. And Marlowe isn’t a nonchalant guy, though he can appear to be calm. He’s an aggressive man who can get wrapped up in his passions. I’m not pointing out what Marlowe is like in the novel, but rather what Winner mindlessly ported over to his screenplay. So, here’s a character who is sticking with the case long after he’s officially done because he cares, and Mitchum plays it somewhere between “I need a nap” and “I couldn’t give a damn.”

The rest of the cast is a disaster. Sternwood is a bitter man whose own failings are responsible for his twisted daughters, but he’s portrayed by Stewart in typical Stewart fashion. It’s Mister Smith goes to London. Sternwood first meets Marlowe in his hothouse where he stays for his health. But no mention is made in this version of why they are hanging out there, and with the all-American Sterwart looking only slightly down, and Mitchum appearing perfectly comfortable, I’m left wondering if any of these people knew what the scene was about.

Miles, Clark, and Reed are far worse. Charlotte Sternwood has nothing to do in this adaptation so Miles overacts for no point and then vanishes for most of the picture. Clark prances about as if she’s in a comedy about insane people and occasionally takes off her clothes. Yes, she’s topless (and bottomless, but you don’t see much in that regard), but not for that long so don’t think you’ll find anything exciting. Reed whispers his role. Did Winner tell him to do that or did he decide on his own? Either way, someone needed to approach him during filming and tell him to cut it out.

Far more is wrong than the cast. Once again, Chandler’s work has been ripped out of its time (and this time, place) and it doesn’t fit where it’s been dropped. Much like in 1969’s Marlowe, that put the detective in the summer of love, Marlowe and company are anachronistic to their surroundings. This is a hardboiled detective story with all the trimmings, and it feels silly in the late ’70s. Gone with the time and place (Chandler’s novels are quintessentially American) is the Noir style. There are no shadows or interesting camera angles to show the corruption of the world. Instead there is the same kind of cinematography I might expect on an episode of The Love Boat.

The changed time period also turns the story into a comedy. Apparently, one of the characters is selling—are you ready?—dirty books! Oh no. Wow, I can see why he has to sneak around with his hardbound “filth,” as Marlowe calls it. Then there are the tasteful nude photos of Camilla. That’s hardly the stuff of blackmail in 1978. Perhaps if she was the type of girl who attended upper class tea parties, but everyone knows she’s an uncontrollable, violent, drugged-addicted nymphomaniac.

The Big Sleep almost gets my rating, but Mitchum, though wrong for the role, still manages to slide some value into this crude affair just by speaking, though not enough to make it worth your time.

The other actors who have portrayed Philip Marlowe on the big screen are: Dick Powell in Murder My Sweet (1944), Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), Robert Montgomery in Lady in the Lake (1947), George Montgomery in The Brasher Doubloon (1947), James Garner in Marlowe (1969), and Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye (1973).

Film Noir, Reviews Tagged with: One Reel

Doctor Strange (1978)

Mar 021978

The barriers between worlds are falling as the current sorcerer supreme (John Mills) comes to the end of his time. He and his associate, Wong (Clyde Kusatsu), must find the new sorcerer, Dr. Strange (Peter Hooten) in three days. In that same amount of time, Morgan LeFay (Jessica Walter) must destroy them to allow a new age of darkness.

Yes, it was the ‘70s and Stephen Strange has a porn mustache. Get over it. It looked fine to me in 1978 when I saw this as a pilot for a series that never happened. This was the time of Marvel’s foray into television with Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk. Doctor Strange took a less juvenile route, and instead of looking like a spandex boy’s adventure, took its inspiration from Italian horror. The psychedelic trips through astral planes and the dream-running through fog are the sorts of surreal elements they were premiering. Those are horror clichés now, but were innovative in ’78. The music is reminiscent of the scores Goblin composed for a range of European monster movies around this time.

Instead of Doctor Strange being an ass as he was in the comics, it is his boss and the head nurse who are uncaring wretches. The damaged hands plot is jettisoned as well, and I’m glad to see it go. His was always a hackneyed origin and keeping to it is what held back the 2016 MCU version. This Stephen Strange has always been a good man and a lady’s man, though him being destined to be the next master of magic with zero training is a bit hackneyed too. Morgan’s obsession with getting some Strange meat is trite as well.

Hooten is functional as the lead and on par with what I would expect from a TV movie of the time. John Mills was too good an actor to be stuck in TV films, but he didn’t put in too much effort. Jessica Walter is the MVP, hamming it up just enough to make LeFay sexy and fun.

Doctor Strange is about as good as it could have been under the artistic and budgetary limitations of network TV. With the character now portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch and backed by many millions of dollars, think of this as a novelty.

Fantasy, Reviews, Superhero Tagged with: Two & 1/2 Reels

Superman (1978)

Feb 251978

The last son of Krypton is adopted by a farm family, learns about truth, justice, and the American way, and becomes the hero Superman (Christopher Reeve). By day he is Clark Kent, a bumbling reporter who is falling for the ace reporter, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Under the city, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is masterminding his evil scheme that involves nuclear weapons and real estate.

Those of us who saw Superman in 1978 often forget its failings. Ask a millennial and he won’t have any problems. The plot is a mess. The Krypton scenes are a bit silly. The Smallville segment is plodding. Lex Luther’s criminal scheme is ludicrous. And the time-reversal finale, stolen from the unfinished Superman II when they couldn’t come up with a proper ending, is cheap, emotionally empty, and doesn’t even make sense when compared to other ridicules time travel stories (if Lois’s death is undone, why isn’t Superman’s heroic deeds equally undone?). Parts are overly saccharine. Others are overly camp. Marlon Brando, after his time as an actor and before his period as a mumbling, incoherent, amorphous blob, just stands there with the warmth of a cardboard cutout. Ned Beatty’s unfunny slapstick might have fit with Adam West’s Batman, but is out of place here. Yup; by most ways of evaluating a film, Superman fails.

And none of that matters. Superman changed everything, not only for superhero films, but for action movies in general. It was an epic; there were no A-picture superhero films before this. It was filled with top notch talent, both behind and in front of the camera (who hires Trevor Howard for a cameo?). It was (and is) beautiful. The FX are excellent, yet never dominate. But those don’t matter either. It has three elements that trump everything.

First, there is a quirky Lois Lane personified by Margot Kidder. She was cute as a bug and different. She was not a bland love interest. Love her or hate her, and I love her, you can’t ignore or forget her. She would not reach this level again.

Second, the heroic score by John Williams. Only his Star Wars music has captured the public more. It is driving, uplifting, and sells the epic nature of the film. I would rank it as one of the top ten cinematic scores of all time.

Third, and most importantly, there is Christopher Reeve. He is Superman to the point that I am not sure anyone else can ever pull off the role. An extremely good looking man with piercing eyes, Reeve blended strength with sensitivity. He charmed a generation. His charisma is unquestioned. And he had the acting chops to pull off what no one else has managed: to create a character of the icon.

The elements alone are not enough, or I’d be speaking of the great quality of Superman III. It is how you use them, and Richard Donner knew how. He made plenty of mistakes, but in the case of those three, he was a genus. With those three elements (and help from multiple award winning cinematographer Goeffrey Unsworth), Superman sucks you in—at least it sucked me in—to its wondrous world. There may be problems, but those are for later. While watching, there’s nothing but a man who can fly.

Superman was followed by Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1983), and the semi-sequel, Superman Returns (2006). The character was rebooted by Zack Snyder for Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. The first Superman theatrical feature was Superman verses the Mole-Men (1951), a pilot for the successful TV series.

Reviews, Superhero Tagged with: Four Reels

The War in Space (1977)

Dec 081977

In the future of 1988, Aliens from Venus attack the Earth. Heroic Miyoshi returns from America with a request from the UN for Prof Takigawa: finish the construction of the submarain-like spaceship Gohten. Takigawa had stopped construction either because all the good crew had left the project, or out of spite because Miyoshi blew off his daughter, Jun. She’s seems to be fine with it, now engaged to Miyoshi’s friend, Muroi. With the Earth in danger, Takigawa completes the craft and heads to Venus, with a crew including Miyoshi, Muroi, Jun, an Asian sidekick, and an American sidekick.

This is the film people are talking about when they say something is so bad it’s good. Shot in Toho-scope, the plot is ridiculous, the acting is hilarious, and the effects have an early Flash Gordon charm about them. And The War in Space wouldn’t be as much fun without the atrocious dubbing. I knew what I was in for in the first scene, when our hero is clearly talking, but we hear nothing but music. The voices never contain the emotion one would expect for the situations, but then neither do the facial expressions. I’d be surprised if the English voice actors had any idea what they were saying before they said it. Others who have heard it in Japanese have said the original voices are “better,” but sometimes better isn’t what you’re looking for, particularly when you are so far from “good.”

It is hard to believe this film came out the same year as Star Wars (except when a poor-man’s Wookie threatens the hot babe who the alien’s have forced into a cute leather outfit), and it’s best to forget that, and imagine this being an early ‘50s flick. Somehow all its many flaws are enjoyable if taken as the last hurrah for the old space serials. We have a space battle where a submarine is shooting at what seems to be a Roman galleon and neither are effected by gravity. That’s not the kind of thing I get to see in sci-fi any more.

Toho was never a first rate FX house, and that was even more the case after they’d (for a time) shut down their Godzilla franchise. Japanese companies didn’t have the budgets to compete with Hollywood. For The War in Space, footage from previous films was used whenever they thought they could get away with it, and the Gohten model is just the Atragon sub model, slightly redressed. And yes, you can see strings, and when you can’t, it’s pretty clear where they are. How much that bothers you depends on your state of mind. For a film made in only a few months, I think it looks pretty good.

There are worse things than behind-the-times effects, questionable acting, and general silliness. There is boredom, and that’s not a failing in The War in Space. Everything is lightning quick. There’s no time wasted on dwelling on anything. Zip, bang, and we’re on to the next scene. And you know how annoying it is for characters to throw tantrums, whine, or otherwise act unpleasantly when all you want to see is them blowing stuff up? No problem here. Nothing phases these folks. Best friend dies? It happens. Family massacred? Yeah, that was a bummer, but that was a scene ago. Aliens in the house trying to kill me? Unfortunate, but not worth getting up off of the couch for. Sure, their calm demeanors are’t realistic, but then this is a film with a green guy wearing a silver centurion outfit threatening to destroy the galaxy, so realism isn’t a goal. Besides, is all the whining in other films realistic (I’m looking at you Luke)? You won’t get to know these characters, but they also won’t get on your nerves.

The War in Space is a cotton candy confection of absurdity. It’s bad, but it’s bad in all the right ways. Yes, you’ll be laughing at it, instead of with it, but you’ll be laughing.

Reviews, Science Fiction, Space Opera Tagged with: Two Reels

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Nov 231977

It all started here. It was all new. I’d never seen anything like this before and it was breathtaking. The first scene, with the rebel ship flying overhead followed by the star destroyer, is amazing and has never been equaled. Star Wars took old stories and myths and icons, tossed them into a sandy blender, and came up with something new. It isn’t perfect. The acting is…rough, and the dialog is rougher. Luke is an annoying git and the emotional states of the characters don’t hold up under inspection. But all is forgiven here. The later films don’t get a pass on their weaknesses, but being first counts. No one had seen a lightsaber before and they’ve never been as good. The Death Star was incredible (Death Stars 2 & 3 were not). Darth Vader was a forceful and scary villain; simply due to familiarity, he could never manage this again. Star Wars is exciting and beautiful and opens up alien worlds and a galaxy far, far away. It could only be done once, and once is enough.

Reviews, Science Fiction, Space Opera Tagged with: Five Reels

The People That Time Forgot (1977)

Oct 081977

Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne), outspoken newswoman Lady Charlotte Cunningham (Sarah Douglas), drunken comic relief mechanic Hogan (Shane Rimmer), and excentric scientist Dr. Edwin Norfolk (Thorley Walters) hitch a ride with the British navy to rescue Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure), who was stuck on a dinosaur-filled lost continent at the end of The Land that Time Forgot. They immediately run into a cave girl (Dana Gillespie) who knows the scoop on Tyler, so they rush to meet a vicious tribe of Japanese samurai (I’m not making this up), ready to beat the bad guys while avoiding being thrown into the volcano.

Well, Dana Gillespie looks hot in her cleavage-baring cave girl outfit. And I’ve always found Sarah Douglas (Superman II, Conan the Destroyer, Gryphon) appealing. That’s not a trivial statement. That’s about all this sequel has to offer. It’s more entertaining than its predecessor, but rising above the level of a bad Doug McClure movie isn’t much of a recommendation.

The star this time around is Patrick Wayne, The Duke’s son. He has all of his father’s acting talent with none of the charisma. A plain wooden slab is more expressive, and would be every bit as believable as an action hero. He has to shoot at some very fake dinosaurs, run through an inordinate amount of pyrotechnics, fight some guys dressed in Japanese theater masks, and say mean things to the bratty newspaper woman (yes children, we call that sexual tension).

OK, I’m being too harsh. I’m the wrong audience. This is fine entertainment for ten-year-old boys. It isn’t boring, and if your experience level is low enough, you might not recognize every character from twenty other films or be able to predict each moment. Ajor the cave girl has the right amount of family friendly sex-appeal for pre-pubescent boys, and the gore-free violence shouldn’t upset any mothers checking on what their children are watching. And I’m betting that at ten, I might have found it cool that the evil tribesmen have wall hangings of Frank Frazetta paintings next to their sacrificial alter.

Hmmmmm. Then there is all that senseless bickering, and every tribesman on the continent learning English from Tyler, and wasting all the bullets shooting in the air, and… Yeah, ten might be a bit too old. I’ve got it. This should be a nice way for a reasonably young father to spend a Saturday afternoon with his five-year-old. Doing the bonding thing. Five should be young enough to miss the plot holes, and daddy can ogle Ajor.

McClure starred in the similar productions: The Land That Time Forgot (1975), At the Earth’s Core (1976), and Warlords of Atlantis (1978).

Patrick Wayne was Sinbad in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).

Thorley Walters has appeared in The Hammer Horror features: The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), and Vampire Circus (1972). He also acted in the Post-War British Comedies: Blue Murder at St. Trinian’s (1957), Happy Is the Bride (1958), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), Don’t Panic Chaps! (1959), A French Mistress (1960), The Pure Hell of St. Trinian’s (1960), Two Way Stretch (1960), Invasion Quartet (1961), Heavens Above! (1963).

Giant Monsters, Reviews Tagged with: One & 1/2 Reels

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)

Oct 081977

Andrew Braddock (Michael York) is shipwrecked on an island controlled by scientist Dr. Moreau (Burt Lancaster) and his mercenary, Montgomery (Nigel Davenport). Braddock is horrified to discover that Moreau is experimenting on animals, attempting to turn them into humans. His beastmen are controlled by religious devotion to Moreau, and the threat of the House of Pain. Braddock hopes to escape with the only other human, the mysterious Maria (Barbara Carrera).

While The Island of Dr. Moreau is often taken as another “do not meddle in the affairs of God” story, that interpretation misses the point. H.G. Wells (the author of the novel for those of you who haven’t read it) was an atheist, and not one to care about any god’s affairs. He jokingly called the book a little blasphemy of his youth. He didn’t make Moreau a man who has sinned by trying to act like God; Moreau is God. Wells was criticizing the church and the notion of our divine creation by making an island Eden, with God creating man on it. And, much like in our real world, religion has imposed an inappropriate set of rules on the populous.

Of the three official movie versions, and the two or more unofficial ones, the 1977 The Island of Dr. Moreau comes closest to Wells’ intensions. Moreau isn’t an evil sadist, nor a bizarre blimp. He’s the absolute master, above judgment by others. His concern is only in creating man in his image. Montgomery tells Braddock when he wakes that the island is Eden. Moreau dies and ascends to heaven, but religion informs the beastmen that he is still watching them (you’ll have to watch the film to make sense of that sentence). There’s even an Eve.

While thematically the film works, it commits the worst sin of cinema. It’s dull. Slow and plodding, it spends more time on showing the local flora than on the plot. A half hour could be trimmed without harming the story, which is sad in a 99 minute film.

The actors don’t help the pacing. Both York and Lancaster put a great deal of effort into precise diction (Th-e-y EEE-nun-Ci-ate eeeach wor-d ex-act-ly). I would have preferred believable characterizations, but that wasn’t their choice. York also strives for new levels of overacting, and that’s when he’s fully human; he isn’t any more extreme when his animal side is released since he didn’t leave himself any room for wilder acting. The poor man isn’t helped by a crudely written character. I should identify with him as he discovers the horrors of the island, but he’s rude, suspicious (before he has a reason to be), and loud.

The creature makeup isn’t bad for ’77, but that doesn’t mean it holds up for close-ups and under bright light. Too often, the fierce beastmen look like the old hermit who moaned, “It’s” at the start of each Monty Python episode.

To avoid the charge of bestiality (a claim that kept the earlier The Island of Lost Souls banned in England for 30 years), the subject of Maria’s creation is avoided, leaving open the possibility that she’s a human girl that Moreau brought with him. Of course that plays havoc with the theme and makes her presence on the island inexplicable.

Theme is important for any film, but on its own, it doesn’t make a watchable film.

Other versions include The Island of Lost Souls (1932), Terror is a Man (1959), The Twilight People (1973), and The Island of Dr Moreau (1996).

Mad Scientists, Mad Scientists, Reviews Tagged with: One Reel

The Sentinel (1977)

Oct 061977

Alison Parker (Cristina Raines), a model with a suicidal past, moves into an apartment building secretly owned by the Catholic Church. She begins having visions and fainting spells, and her strange new neighbors, including a reclusive, blind priest (John Carradine), a cheerful old man who loves his cat (Burgess Meredith), and two overly-forward lesbians (Sylvia Miles and Beverly D’Angelo), aren’t helping.

Belonging to the Rosemary’s Baby school of filmmaking, The Sentinel is a slight religious horror tale, told slowly. It too follows a somewhat timid woman, surrounded by Satanic forces she hardly notices at first. It also tries that same blend of horror and eccentric characters. Also like Rosemary’s Baby, the climatic secret is no secret at all. I knew what was intended for Alison just a few moments into the film, just as I did with Rosemary (maybe they need to find less relevant titles for these films).

Director Michael Winner uses the same skill he demonstrated in the Death Wish series, with bland lighting and flat images. He does little better with his cast, who overact, except for Raines, who is beautiful, but little able to show believable grief or pain.

The surprise is that such a pedestrian effort should sport such an impressive cast. It’s a combination of old Hollywood on their way down, and the stars of the future. The supporting players include Burgess Meredith, Eva Gardner, José Ferrer, Sylvia Miles, Eli Wallach, John Carradine, Martin Balsam, Christopher Walkin, Chris Sarandon, Beverly D’Angelo, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Goldblum. They aren’t at their best, but it’s fun waiting for the next famous actor to appear.

It’s nice to find a bit of horror in my horror movies. Too bad The Sentinel is completely devoid of it. Three scenes try to unsettle the viewer, but none succeed. The silliest is the attempt at shock where D’Angelo’s lesbian masturbates in front of Alison. In theory that could do the trick, but the clothed squirming is neither sexy nor perverse, just childish. Winner tries for scares with the zombie of Alison’s father, but the make-up effects fail and it ends up comical. The last, and most famous has the hordes of Hell wandering the halls. About half the “devils” are people with actual deformities. This raised the ire of those who think the deformed shouldn’t have the right to get jobs. The problem wasn’t a moral one with hiring the disabled, but simply that there isn’t anything frightening about them. Winner was attempting to bring back the feeling of Tod Browning’s 1932 Freaks, but forgot that the freaks were sympathetic characters, and the horror came from the humans.

Playing off of the success of many better films, The Sentinel has a mildly interesting premise and little else.

Christian Mythos, Reviews

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Oct 051977

Father Lamont (Richard Burton), investigating the death of Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), questions Regan (Linda Blair) who is under the care of Dr. Tuskin (Louise Fletcher). Using Tuskin’s telepathic, hypnosis machine, Lamont has visions of a demon and healer in Africa and is convinced that there is a connection to Regan who is still in danger.

Yes, this is a film where the psychologist has a telepathic, hypnosis machine. Just plug yourself in to it and you can see other people’s dreams. You also see any demons that might have possessed them and those demons can grab your heart, so I suppose that’s why the machines haven’t caught on.

The plot of Exorcist II flops around with mind reading, healing children, grumpy cardinals, an invisible locust demon, and incoherent psychiatry before it finally decides on a story. It seems that there are good grasshoppers who can avoid becoming evil locusts…ummm, I mean good people who can hold off the coming demons (or something like that; it’s not that clear), and Regan is one of them. Demons really want to get rid of these good people before they breed and make the whole human race good (or something like that; it’s not clear either). I suppose there’s something of an interesting idea there, but it’s lost in all the African villages, locusts, and religious tirades. If you have been looking for a film where Richard Burton starts every conversation with “the evil demons within…!!!” and runs into James Earl Jones in a grasshopper suit, grab this film; it’s safe to say there won’t be another.

John Boorman is a talented director, which can be seen even in Exorcist II, with beautiful shots (such as when Regan steps to the ledge of the building). But he had no vision of where the story should go and no control on his actors. Exorcist II: The Heretic is often called the worst sequel in film history. That’s an overstatement, but it gives you the right expectations.

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Christian Mythos, Demons, Reviews Tagged with: One Reel

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