Sci-Fi Saturday - This Time It's War

ALIENS (1986)

'These people are DEAD Burke! Don't you have any idea what you have done here?!! Well, I'm gonna make sure they nail you right to the wall for this! You're not gonna sleaze your way out of this one! Right to the wall!'

The production of Aliens sounds like a horror story all by itself. A battle between people from either side of the Atlantic over things like work schedules and tea breaks. It's an unprofessional nightmare which should never been allowed to happen but the culture clash was real, and this lack of respect for film makers trying to make a sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 classic created a lot of problems. It's said they even refused to watch a private screening of The Terminator to see they weren't being pushed around by a complete fraud. The original DOP was fired because he refused to the right way. James Remar, cast as Hicks, was let go because of drug problems. There was even friction between the two Jims Cameron and Horner when music wasn't written on schedule. So it has to be asked; when the results are this good can this be considered a true story of art through adversity?

Horror Bites - Hail Hypno Toad

WEIRD WEEKEND DOUBLE FEATURE

Time for a quick catch up with our old friend Takashi Miike with a look at Yakuza Apocalypse and an long over due viewing of The Happiness of the Katakuris. Because two viewings back to back are better than one. A variety of deranged pleasures can be found in both of these releases from a director whose work is often as unhinged as it is diverse. But how else to describe both a vampire gangster movie, and a family drama involving a series of unfortunate deaths which is also a musical? I can only try to describe some of the madness you can expect to find here, but I'll give it my best shot. Some things just have to be seen to believed.

 

HCF Review - Young Hearts

FIRST LOVE (2019)

Takashi Miike can be quite... eclectic, and in recent years his output has included several manga adaptions and kids TV shows. But here he goes back to basics with a story about gangsters, call girls and corrupt cops. But is this really a love story? Does it have something for long term fans and newcomers alike? In some ways these things are true. It certainly contains a lot of bizarre imagery without ever being too nightmarish, and it certainly has a story about a naive young couple brought together by a series of coincidences. But overall the result is a perfect gateway movie into his more extreme projects, which is interesting to see unfold after he's made over one hundred films.

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Horror Bites - Reptilian Complex

CRAWL (2019)

So this is a movie about alligators. They eat people and wreak havoc for about ninety minutes, and that's basically the movie. In a way this is the whole review since the material speaks for itself; there's no filler, the small cast of stock characters do their jobs well, and there are no attempts to make this a parody like dozens of embarrassing straight to video creature features. It's grisly and satisfying and in general it looks pretty good from a production design perspective. But best of all it never outstays its welcome and despite the unlikely premise it never becomes too silly. Since we're here though I guess I'll delve deeper into this quagmire and examine just why this is all so effective.

Scorecard

FEBRUARY

FILM OF THE MONTH Only Yesterday ☆☆☆☆