Monster Bites - Treading Behemoths

GODZILLA VS MOTHRA: BATTLE FOR EARTH (1993)

After Godzilla made a low-key return in 1984 the films that followed were less than restrained. Which goes without saying when they included time travel and human souls inside of mutant plants. This instalment is no exception, lifting scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and throwing a meteor collision into the story. In the past it was easy to get behind all of these shenanigans, just because there was a lot of silly laser action. But these days it's harder to be so forgiving. There are plenty of wacky new ideas, but there are also a low of old recycled ones. Mothra being on the call sheet is a big selling point, so it's easy to see why this all came about. Some of the other inclusions on the other hand are more confusing.

Horror Bites - Blood and Steel

THE MASK OF SATAN (1960)

AKA Black Sunday, since this is a story which has been given many titles over the years. To make things clear this is the one about vampires and castle crypts, not the Robert Shaw movie with the airship. Though admittedly if you want some blimp thriller action that's pretty good too. Not to be confused with the brain transplant movie Black Friday. Anyway, I digress, we can call it La maschera del demonio or Revenge of the Vampire if you prefer a more straightforward description. Whatever the title card says this is Mario Bava's first foray into the horror genre. He'd taken the reigns during production of the interesting feature I Vampiri, uncredited, this is the real debut. And what a debut it is.

HCF Review - The Cult

THE SACRED SPIRIT (2021)

To paraphrase the old legal maxim; ignorance is not an excuse. This central theme runs through The Sacred Spirit, as it explores the lives of a family facing the tragedy a missing child. Worse yet, some of them seem to embrace ignorance and would rather turn a blind eye to reality altogether. There’s a lot of talk about religion, con artists, and contacting the dead. But most of these ideas are distractions from the problems of real life. This isn’t a procedural, it’s more of an odd domestic drama. Which is an interesting angle from which to examine the subject matter. Can it still work when it throws out things like suspense, detective work, and even normal emotional responses to loss? It’s sold as a tragic-comedy but the story isn’t so easy to digest – not only because of certain parts of the story, but because of the way it’s constructed.

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Scorecard

JUNE

FILM OF THE MONTH: Speed ☆☆☆☆