The ABCs of Death (2012)

NIGHT 12

       "It's not my fault you got the letter 'Q.'"

The ABCs of Death (2012) is an international horror anthology film produced by The Alamo Drafthouse containing 26 separate segments from different directors all involving involving death and a letter of the alphabet.

I really like the concept of this film. It's a good idea, and it's an idea that make you go, "yeah that's cool, I think I'd like to check that out!" Unfortunately the end result isn't as good as it is on paper but It's still interesting, and I don't regret watching it at all.

There's no host or framing convention to this film, but instead at the end of each short they tell you the title of the film and the letter of the alphabet it represents. I thought this was a really clever way to present the films. And while I think some filmmakers used this better than others it gives the viewer something to focus on a look forward to as they're watching these strange, weird short films.

Some of the solidly good stories I liked include, H is for Hydro-Electric Diffusion, K is for Klutz, L is for Libido, T is for Toilet and X is for XXL.

Sadly because all the films are so uneven as a result this film is uneven. I think the only way to fix that would be to filter the films or give the flimmakers more of a specific prompt, but I can understand why they wouldn't want to do that in order to keep the filmmakers' product very pure, so the film is uneven.

The thing I didn't like about this film most was as a result of all of the films being about "death" the majority ended up being either really gross or really weird (or both!) which aren't exactly the types of horror films I enjoy watching. I felt these films over all were lacking any real good narratives and characters. Most of them are either just very basic (person kills another person) or so freaking strange that I have no idea what the meaning was. And a couple of the films are so freaking dark I almost wish I hadn't watched them. But if you like watching people (and things) die, this is definitely the film for you.

The stories I didn't care for the most were: R is for Removed, P is for Pressure, W is for WTF!, Y is for Young Buck.

The thing with asking 26 directors to make films is you're bound to get a couple good ones out of it. So at least there's that.

And a good thing about the film is the mix of stories, no two in it are that incredibly similar. And most of them are vastly different from each other. The amount of creativity you will witness in two hours is really something to marvel at.

The stories I really liked best in this film are, J is for Jidai-geki, N is for Nupitals and S is for Speed.

The ABCs of Death (2012), is cool concept. But it's kind of a hard watch. I found it kind of feels like spending all day at a short film festival. The films are that all over the place, try watching it in parts if possible!

3/5 Stars.

  Happy watching!




This review is part of my 2014 run of 13 Nights of Macabre Movies! Tune in tomorrow as I review the final film of my series this season, V/H/S (2012).

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The Vault of Horror (1973)

NIGHT 4

       "Do you think that our fears, could be some kind of warning?"

The Vault of Horror (1973), also known as Vault of Horror, Further Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Crypt II, is a British anthology film directed by Roy Ward Baker and produced by Amicus Productions. This is the sequel to Amicus' Tales from the Crypt (1972), and like that film The Vault of Horror contains five stories almost entirely taken from the pages of the long-running Tales from the Crypt EC Comics anthology.

Five men walk into an elevator, which then goes directly to the basement floor despite no one pressing it. When it opens they find a gentleman's club, and they find themselves 'trapped' there. Making the most of it they sit down and have a drink and start to talk, each man starts to talk about strange dreams they've been having recently.

The stories in Vault of Horror are all quite good, much like Tales from the Crypt they picked stories that translate well on screen. The direction in them is less good than that of the previous movie, but it is effective. I think my favorite story is the second one, "Midnight Mess" it's simple and silly and very amusing.

The acting here is not bad over all, if anything it leans on the bland if nothing else it starts to blend together but that's more to do with the casting, but more on that in a second. Sadly this is the only Amicus Horror anthology that doesn't have Peter Cushing, and it could have probably benefited from his consistently strong performances. Instead, here we have Tom Baker, (Yes, Whovians the fourth Doctor!), and while he's about as diverse as the cast gets (because his hair isn't gray?) his acting saves a story that I probably wouldn't have like otherwise!

One of the things I can't not see about this film is how it seems mildly sexist. At the very least this film should be an argument for diversity in casting, because I can't imagine a film with a cast made up of a bunch of old white men really getting that diverse of a following. I'm even a (soon to be old) white man and I felt dirty watching this!

The framing story of this movie is quite boring if you've seen Tales from the Crypt, which okay yes I did watch them back to back but the films came out a year apart in their original release, so I can't imagine many people saw these movies farther apart than that! It's the SAME exact formula only done worse because there's no Crypt Keeper! It's like they set out to do something different but in the end just looked at the original and copied it point by point.

The Greatest thing about The Vault of Horror is the way the stories ramp up and with each one they get more peculiar and strange as they go on. This works super well so much so that I wasn't really feeling this movie from the beginning (you'll realize it's a rehash of Tales from the Crypt, pretty darn quickly) but as the movie went on my interest was raised with each story!

The Vault of Horror (1973) is not terrible, but I'd probably always pick watching Tales of the Crypt over it. It ends up less as a sequel and more like a rehash.

3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!



This is part of my 2014 run of 13 Nights of Macabre Movies! Tune in tomorrow as I review a different take on a tribute to the EC Comics with the original Creepshow (1982).

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The House That Dripped Blood (1970)

NIGHT 2

       "That's what's wrong with the present day horror films. There's no realism."

The House That Dripped Blood (1970), is an British anthology horror film produced by Amicus Productions. It contains four stories all involving previous tenants of a large house in the countryside who met their demise in a strange way, and the stories are connected by a framing story about a couple of police officers who are investigating the most recent death of a tenant.

Although it takes a while to understand what they're trying to do, one of the best things about this film is the interesting way it connects the stories. I have to say its definitely one of the most interesting ways I've ever seen to connect an anthology film, despite not being pulled off as good as it could have been. But there's also something to be said about a framing story that doesn't just lay its cards out in the first scene too. I do appreciate films like this where you have to get to the end to understand what is really going on.

The worst thing about this film is the stories. They're not written particularly badly, but they're almost all just so dull and uninteresting. They're all very reliant on each stories twist and almost all of them contain what we call a "Double-Shyamalan," which in its self isn't inherently bad and fits the genre well, but to see a double twist 4 times in a row gets really, really repetitive.

I also think the selection of stories is weird. Not to spoil, but the first two stories are non supernatural of nature, and the second two are. Which is weird to me because when I'm watching an anthology film I'm thinking about the common themes and tropes of the stories selected and put together. So when I watch two stories that end up being non-supernatural of nature, I'm really thrown off when the next two are? The least they could have done was switch them up so they were non-supernatural, supernatural, non... etc.

The acting in this film is also pretty terrible or dull at best. There's a couple exceptions I'll get to in a minute but otherwise they really just weigh down the already dull material. Even Christopher Lee seems like he's phoning in his acting, to the point where I couldn't figure out how his character was supposed to be feeling toward his daughter, which happens to be a major part of that story! Pretty un-excusable.

The two best things about this film are Peter Cushing and Jon Pertwee, and for two completely different reasons. Peter Cushing is the perfect counter weight to Christopher Lee. Where you can tell how much Chris Lee liked the source material based on his performance in the film, you'd never know with Peter Cushing because he really gives his all in every film I've ever seen him in! And even though I've seen him play a variety of roles, his acting in this movie is new to me, I've never seen him play a role like this and he really nails it.

Jon Pertwee on the other hand (yes Whovians, the third Doctor,) is really hamming up his role here and while I'm less familiar with his career so I'm not sure if this is intentional for this role or not, but he really sells his segment of the film. And it's also very ironic that he's playing an aging Christopher Lee-type role in a film that also stars Christopher Lee! So it's no surprise that these two actors really made the film for me and the second and fouth stories are my favorite of the bunch, easily.

The House that Dripped Blood (1970) isn't a great film, but it's probably a good stand alone example of the many Amicus Productions Horror anthologies.

3/5 Stars.

 Happy watching!




This review is part of my 2014 run of 13 Nights of Macabre Movies! Tune in tomorrow as I review one of Amicus Productions' most well know horror anthologies, Tales from the Crypt (1972).

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King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

       "King Kong can't make a monkey out of us!"

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) (キングコング対ゴジラ) is an Japanese kaiju film by Toho and directed by Ishiro Honda and is technically a direct sequel to Godzilla Raids Again (1955) and less so to King Kong (1933).

An American submarine gets caught in an inceberg that happens to be the same iceberg that Godzilla is trapped in and accidently awakens the kaiju from his slumbler. As the world becomes aware of Godzilla's reappearance, it's world leaders quickly try to figure out a solution. At the same time looking for something to boost ratings on a television program he sponsors, Mr. Tako the head of a pharmaceuticals company just confirmed the existance of King Kong on the tiny Faro Island. Tako sees this as an opportunity to stop Godzilla and boost ratings at the same time.

[Note: this review is referencing the English-dubbed, American cut of the film.]

The overall story of this film isn't bad. It's actually very similar to Mothra (1961) and shares a lot of the same themes and character moments as that film. I also enjoyed our protagonists' story/journey here, not the most original, but the characters are likable and they definitely give you something to root for.

One of the coolest things about this story is that it actually works on its own perfectly and is the sequel to Godzilla Raids Again (1955) at the same time. The last time we saw Godzilla he was defeated by firing missiles into a mountain causing the kaiju to be buried in ice, which is where we find him is this film. The genius thing about the start of this movie is that if you've never seen a Godzilla movie in your life, you can watch this movie and just assume that it's Godzilla awaking for the very first time since the Ice Age because it pretty much plays that way here.

The other good thing about this film is how very humorous it is. It's not a good film at all, but it's very watchable.

First off the English-dub for this film is absolutely terrible. Someone thought that in order to make this film more watchable we'd need to constantly cut to these TERRIBLE English inserts that were shot to explain what is happening inside the story. Guess what we don't. The inserts were clearly shot at a different time, have a much poorer production design, and are just hilariously bad.

This may also be a weird dub thing but the film introduces all of these "weird science" rules like for some reason Kong is energized when exposed to electricity, while it has the opposite effect on Godzilla...? Which doesn't make sense because I clearly remember a scene of Godzilla tearing through electric powerlines in the original Gojira (1954).

This is one of those things that is overly apparent because I recently watched the original King Kong (1933), but Kong's acting in this is terrible. The funny thing about this statement is that I thought Kong's acting was really good in the original and that was all stop-motion, where here you have an actor in a suit and it's so much worse? In the original they based the way Kong moved off of wrestlers, if these filmmakers even looked at the original (which after watching this, I'm not really sure they even did) they would have notice the distinctive way he moves! Though Godzilla's acting here is pretty bad also so maybe the movie is just a good example of why fight choreography and story boards are necessary.

Another weird thing is for some reason this Kong is narcoleptic in this film? There's at least 4 times where Kong just lays down and goes to sleep, I was fine with it once but when it kept happening I started to think that maybe Kong needs to lay off the medication.


This is the first of Toho's kaiju films where I really felt like everything here was models and guys in suits. I don't know if this production was on a swifter budget, or Ishiro Honda had made a few of these by now, so with each one he cared less and less or what? One of the things that I noticed that may have added to this was that this film has an over-reliance on models. Where many of the other kaiju films would go shoot anything they could outside against a mountain or a hill, this film is mostly indoors and anytime the characters go outside it's on a set, overall it's just lazier.

The one magnificent thing about this movie is how bad it is considering all of the things it had going for it. This is one of the first "Godzilla vs." movies. They've pitted Godzilla, their most popular kaiju, against King Kong who greatly inspired the original creators of Gojira and the entire Toho kaiju franchise. And if that wasn't enough Ishiro Honda is directing, who literally has created all the best kaiju films I've seen up to this point. Some of this is probably due to some things being lost in translation with the English dub and the American cut, (to which I can't comment because I haven't seen the original Japanese version yet...) but still.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) is not a good movie, but it is very watchable and strangely enjoyable  too.


3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





I'm tackling all or most of the early Toho Studios' Godzilla and Kaiju films in honor of the newest Godzilla (2014), check back next time as I review the fan favorite: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964).

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Dawn of the Dead (2004)

NIGHT 29

     "It's nice to see that you've all bonded through this disaster."

Dawn of the Dead (2004) is a remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978), written by James Gunn and the feature directorial debut of Zack Snyder.

Dawn of the Dead has the same premise and title of the original, but the similarities end after that. A group of survivors hole up in a shopping mall and discover no where is really safe.

[This review refers to the unrated director's cut]

One thing this film does well is its suspense. There's plenty of sequences where characters have to avoid or dodge this film's highly a acrobatic undead. I'll admit that this adds tension, but it's almost too easy isn't it? You had to work in older zombie films to get your characters in a tight spot with enough zombies so that it was actually hard for them. But admittedly, adding the mall security guy at the beginning and making the zombies the main antagonistic threat of the film cures the slow and drawn out problems that the original had.

I like the camerawork in this film. Lots of times I don't feel there was enough meaning or thought as to why they moved the camera that way. But creative shots and playful camerawork at least adds up into something interesting to watch.

And like Romero's Dead films, this film has some really interesting characters. brought to life by really good actors. Unfortunately the film doesn't really take advantage of these good characters. I really liked Ving Rhames portrayal of the police officer who unfortunately doesn't really do anything in this film. And I enjoy our leads played by Sarah Polley and Jake Weber who for some reason fall in love by the end of the film (because they're both white maybe?). And I like the addition of scenes with the gun shop owner, Andy to this story.

The worst thing about this film is its logic! First and foremost: running zombies. There's no reason for zombies to run when you think about it, and convienetly the film doesn't give you a reason either. And these zombies don't just run, they full-on sprint, there is multiple cases in this film where zombies run far faster then they ever could have when they were alive! They also seem like they're very smart and show problem solving ability (again for no reason), there's even one point where one climbs on pipes overhead in a parking garage and jumps onto someone to attack. What the heck? Okay zombies ran in Return of the Living Dead (1985) but it was hilarious in that film, done for comedy (I loved watching a cop car pull up to the abandoned graveyard only to be suddenly mobbed by a huge bunch of zombies). In this film running zombies is done for tension and suspense and without any explanation for it, it just makes me confused. This the biggest logic problem of the film but not the only one. There's countless things in this movie that when you think about them, it really doesn't make sense. Like mall security has a holding cell, really? How did the first bunch of zombies (namely the janitor) get into the mall if it was completely locked up at the beginning of the movie? And on top of this there's lots of times where people make stupid horror movie mistakes like going to save a dog that the zombies weren't going after... or even worse going after the girl that was dumb enough to do that. Yay, mankind! This all adds up to the film pretty much being an enjoyable baseline action movie but if you actually think about anything that is happening the movie starts to fall apart. This is one film where the zombies really do want you brains... to be turned off!

The other thing this film does poorly is mess things up the previous film did well. The empathy for zombies that the original did so well is completely gone here. And the whole point of staying in the  mall in the original wasn't just provide a place where our characters could survive, it was to make some political commentary on our lives. Here the mall just becomes a place devoid of meaning. This pretty much tells me someone watched the original and didn't understand what was good about it at all.

The one thing I really love about this film is the title sequence. The clips of real life massacres and news footage of riots combined with quick zombie shots all with Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around" playing over it, works so well. It's a really amazing idea and not as horribly 'on the nose' as playing Disturbed's "Get Down with the Sickness."

Dawn of the Dead (2004) is a fine action movie if you don't think about anything in it too hard or the fact that it's a remake of a classic zombie film. Ugh.

3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




The 31 Nights of Macabre Movies are winding down now, we're done with the zombie flicks for now and gonna move on to the horror/comedy classic Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

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Vampire Hunter D (1985)

NIGHT 22

     "What a wonderful night this has been! For the first time in one hundred years I haven't been bored once!"

Vampire Hunter D (1985) [バンパイアハンターD] is a Japanese horror OVA anime based on the novella of the same name written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. This film was one of the first anime films to be released outside of Japan and still today is considered a cult classic.

Farmer, orphan and outsider Doris takes care of her brother Dan. Unfortunately for her she is courted by a nearby Aristocrat Vampire Lord, she then hires a Vampire Hunter named D to protect her and her brother Dan.

I've seen this film many times over the years but I only recently read the novella. It's very interesting to me to see how close of a direct adaptation this film actually is. There's a lot of really weird things in this film that are actually described in greater detail or explained in the book, but if you're just watching the film on it's own you'd (like the rest of America) just assume it's some more of that crazy and weird Japanese anime stuff. It's very clear after reading the novella that the creators of this film really poured over the source material in attempt to make it as truthful as possible to the original work. To the point of even just taking lots of lines of dialogue directly out of the book This doesn't always work though because some of the stuff like the "Time-Betwitching Incense," which kind of comes out of nowhere with no explanation and is a major plot point to foiling the Nobles' plans.

The most unfortunate thing about following the book too closely is the film doesn't actually feel like the characters are struggling though most of it. It really just like the characters are going through the motions as they follow the events from the book. For example, I don't buy the parts where D is trying to teach Dan to be a man at all. There's definitely something lost in the translation to the screen. And this is something I noticed before I ever read the book!

The film changes some of the characters from the book, for far worse. I really have always disliked the Rei Ginsei character. I think he's kind of a stupid character and a dumb villain. But then you read the book your realize he was actually kind of really cool, but in order to simplify the story they completely altered his character! One of the coolest things about the book is it's just not black and white, Good vs. Evil there's a lot of "gray parties" involved to the conflict! I also disliked the changes to the Count's daughter, Ramica. I understand they were trying to make her closer to D's character and show a way that D could live if he chose to do so. But the romantic interest between them in the novel worked perfectly I don't see any reason to change it.

Like lots of early Japanese anime films this one is overly sexual and violently graphic. Characters have breasts just fly out for really no reason, and multiple characters explode in a spay of guts and blood. Of course this is one of the things that set Japanese animation apart from the rest of the world's animation so I can't really hate on it too much.

I love the world of Vampire Hunter D, what other series beautifully blends the western, horror and sci-fi genres? Yes, a lot of this credit is due to the novels and the imagination of Hideyuki Kikuchi, but also this film does a great job at interpreting this world and bringing it to the screen with its own creativity and imagination. I love the scenes inside the Count's castle with all the crazy looking creatures and monsters in D's way, and although the costumes are very 80s', you must admit they're very original. The film also has a nice way of taking time to show you the world (especially early on in the film) and really let you take it all in, and lets you breathe in and marvel at the world rather than quickly moving on like most films would.

I can highly recommend the book, because it's really good on its own and will help you understand a lot of the random stuff that you're not going to understand and kind of just happens in this film if you watch the film cold. But be warned it will also make you dislike a lot of the changes they made in adapting the story.

It's easy to see why Vampire Hunter D (1985) was such a popular introduction to Japanese anime. Even today it's weird, interesting and yet very cool. It's kind of a double edged sword with reading the novella though.

3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




Tomorrow on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies we'll look at the loose sequel to this film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000).

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The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

"The Chinese have a saying, 'dangerous men will meet in our streets' and so it was."

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) is a loving tribute to the martial arts and kung fu films of the 70s, this is the premiere directorial (and dream) project of RZA leader of popular rap group The Wu-Tang Clan, he writes directs and stars in this film. The film follows three different kung fu heroes who must team up to stop the traitorous Silver Wolf and his friends from stealing a large amount of gold.

This movie is packed with references to old Shaw Brothers films, so if you’re a fan of that stuff this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. And they are all incorporated well enough and convincingly that they meld well with this story and I don’t think any of them really seemed out of place to me.

Another strong point of this film is each of the characters seemed really “epic.” This is a rather standard practice in the old kung fu films, each character needs a really epic introduction and seem very powerful and menacing. This film does a very good job at replicating this and each of the characters RZA creates not only seem strong and powerful and unique but I feel like for the most part they could fit right along with all the crazy characters from kung fu films in the 70s.

Unfortunately I felt the “world” of The Man with the Iron Fists was a bit confused. It seems like standard China from any martial arts film (wacky or otherwise) but the Blacksmith character (played by RZA) is in it for some reason. He doesn’t act, dress or talk like the other characters in the world. Eventually why he's there is explained but for the first half of the film all you get is “he’s not from around here.” Russel Crow’s character gets a decent enough introduction (though another world nitpick, how come Lucy Liu speaks Chinese originally (subtitled!) and then switches to English? Doesn’t everyone speak "English for Chinese" or does everyone in this mystical China actually speak English for some reason? The biggest problem with this is no one would notice or think twice if you just kept it all in English, but having some parts subtitled just makes it confusing and calls attention to it! But overall it felt like it was really weird that this world is basically typical Ancient China from numerous kung fu films but then there’s one black dude and a couple white dudes that really stick out, no one seems to know why they're there, and no one seems to think anything weird of it. I think if I was presenting this story I would have gone for a more diversified world, where all these different “cultures” are living together in one place (you know like a fantasy story allows). Like I said, they do get around to explaing how the Blacksmith got there and his backstory which I was okay with but the big wrestler guy Brass Body is left as an anomaly, and his power’s never explained either for that matter… how did he get his tattoos and nose piercing when it seems like he can’t control it (his "power" seems like a reflex) but I guess I'm just being nitpicky wanting to know what's the deal with one of the main villains who isn't anything like any of the other characters?

This film is almost too truthful to the old kung fu films (similarly to Tarantino’s Jackie Brown), in that the plot is WAY too complicated. First off there’s way too many characters, it’d be fine to have three separate heroes but then there’s a ton of different villains and all of their partners/allies/henchmen (did bronze Lion actually end up doing anything?) and all the other (supposedly) good guys that the villains kill. This is all way too convoluted and could have been done a lot simpler. The film starts with a good 15 minutes of pure backstory exposition recited in voice over!! I feel like RZA though he’d only get once chance at this so he wanted to make it as epic as possible, but did he really think he’d be able to do a 4 hour film or something?!

On top of all that it seemed to me like a lot of the specific plot points could have been done better: we’re meant to think it’s a horrible thing that the Blacksmith lost his arms, but he’s was already planning on quitting the life and leaving with his girl for the entire first half of the movie! This weakens the effect of an iron worker losing his ability to work big time! Also there’s a point near the end where we’re supposed to feel sorry (and it’s set up to be very dramatic) for these whores who are being abused and taken over by bad guys who are hiding out in their place (whores in distress). But first thing, THEY’RE WHORES and second Russel Crow’s character’s introduction was doing that same exact thing, abusing whores! Probably worse! And yet he's a good guy! There’s lots of things like that in this movie that just don’t seem that well thought out.

The camera work in this film bothered me. I mean if RZA’s cinematographer watched any of the old kung fu films he would know that usually the camera is usually pulled out very far so that you can see the entire kung fu actions, you do push in for specific punches and dramatic moments but for the most part the camera shows the full body. Not this film. Anytime someone fights the camera is pushed in to a medium close shot (torso length) so you really have no idea of the full stance/punch/attack the character is doing. This seems like something you’d do if the actors didn’t actually know how to use marital arts, but RZA trained for 1-2 hours a day over 2 months in Hung Ga style to prepare for the role, and he hired a bunch of seasoned Chinese martial artist actors so one would assume most everyone knew how to do their art (except apparently the cinematographer!) Also the bad camera work adds to this but the film has very bad geography and this is something I feel like the old kung fu films were really good at. In this film people’s places in the scene are constantly moving in relation to the shot and scenery for no reason in this film. Granted this isn’t something that’s easy to do and a common mistake for a first time director, but this just adds to the list of things that lead me to believe the cinematographer didn’t know what he was doing.

And the last point I want to bring up is that I feel like the film didn’t have any clue what kind of tone it was supposed to be. A lot of the old kung fu films have a very witty and silly tone to them, but still achieve very dramatic moments. This film looks like a comedy from the script level (there’s lots of wordplay jokes and puns/put-down that are all very humorous, on top of humorous events written into the film) yet the lead RZA acts like he’s trying to win an Oscar! Now, more likely than anything else, RZA probably just isn’t a good actor but he’s also the writer and director, so he’s gotta make sure the whole thing works together! AND he's working across from this guy Byron Mann who’s playing Silver Lion, the main antagonist who's constantly hamming it up and playing the role in silliest way possible! Byron seems to know what type of movie this is, why doesn’t RZA?!

I gotta say that this film has an amazing soundtrack, this is something RZA is really good at putting together (also check out Kill Bill Volume 1 and Blade: Trinity) Supposedly RZA asked Quentin Tarantino to do the soundtrack for this film because he thought he’d be too busy writing/directing/acting (and because he did it for Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1) but after reading the script?? Tarantino refused and said that he felt RZA himselft should do it. I think this was an excellent decision. RZA is very talented at developing an original soundtrack that mixes old and new together wonderfully and still really fits the tone of the film. I mean who knew rap goes together with kung fu so well? (probably the guy who started a rap group called Wu-Tang Clan haha).

Also I think RZA was really good at coming up with all the different fighting styles and weapons in this film, they’re all pretty original and unique but very creative and really fit the tone and style of those old 70s kung fu films.

Man with the Iron Fists (2012) is a great tribute to the old Shaw Brothers and other kung fu films form the 70s and a great experiment in mixing the old and new but suffers from a convoluted story and plot that could have been a hell of a lot simpler. Now supposedly this film was cut down from a 4 hour first cut(!), so if RZA eventually releases a directors cut that’s somewhere in the 2 hour range I might give this film another look and a second review. 3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





This is the "unoffical" lead-in to next month here at The Good, The Bad and The Magnificent, which I have planned as a Tribute to Tarantino in honor of Quentin's most recent release Django Unchained (2012), so check back tomorrow and all month for more Tarantino-ish goodness!



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The Red Spectacles (1987)

"Not even rumors get through this town."

The Red Spectacles (紅い眼鏡) (1987) is the first live action film directed by acclaimed anime director Mamoru Oshii. This is film begins a trilogy of feature films including StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (1991) and Jin-Roh (1999) which together are known as the Kerberos Saga, though chronologically this film is the last of the trilogy.

The Red Spectacles takes place in an Orwellian dystopia where there once was a heavily armed elite police unit known as the Kerberos (after Hades' Cerberus) but due to a violent public act this group was dismantled and shut down. This film follows Koichi who refused to disarm and quit the Kerberos and (with two friends) decided to make an attempt at fleeing the country. Koichi ends up having to leave his friends behind but makes a promise with them to regroup and meet again, this film takes place three years later as Koichi has returned to Japan to look for his friends.

The "good" in this movie revolves around Mamoru Oshii. He was already a well known anime director before this point having a crucial part in the creation of the anime for Urusei Yatsura and Patlabor. But this film is his first attempt at directing a live action film, and although there's some shots I felt were oddly framed and little things he tried to do that weren't as successful, for the most part the direction in the film is really great. He does a lot of really creative things that aren't typical with the standard Hollywood way of making films, and that kind of creativity is the kind of thing I really enjoy watching in a film.

Also like many other of Oshii's works the film is loaded with lots of nods to literature and stories from not only across time but across the world. The film also asks some really deep psychological questions, this is something that Oshii becomes really well known for. And best of all I really enjoyed how well all of these higher concepts were integrated into the story of the film, it's not easy fitting lines from Shakespeare relevantly into a story, but he does it really well.

The film's pretty low budget so the action sequences are creative but still don't seem that realistic, but the film doesn't have too much of that so it really didn't bother me too much. The main problem I have with this film is the comedy. This film is loaded with lots of wacky Japanese slapstick humor that really seems out of place with the rest of the very serious, dystopian tone of the film. I think Oshii probably saw Brazil (1985) a few years earlier and decided to mimic that, but Brazil although very cooky in it's own way, does it a lot better than this film.

And adding a lot to the humor of this film is Shigeru Chiba who plays the lead, Koichi. Chiba has the "hammiest" acting I've seen in a movie in a long time! He's trying to play this stoic hero character but in the goofiest way possible and it really doesn't work for me. But Chiba's not the only one, most of the entire cast acts very strangely. I think this surprisingly works for most of the enemies in the "cat gang" pretty well, very similarly to A Clockwork Orange (1971), but I was not surprised when after watching the movie, I looked up the cast and found they were all anime voice actors Oshii had worked with on previous projects. This film was pretty the entire cast's first time acting in live action.

I'm not going to spoil the ending but it seems worth noting that the ending has a possibility of making you question why you watched the film at all, but I personally found the journey to get there was worth it more so than not.

The magnificent thing about this film is how effectively they create a dystopian setting on a very low budget: few locations, a lot conveyed through acting and story and small props and even the monotone color of the picture really help set the mood of this world. This would be a great film to review if you were intending on creating a dystopian type movie on a small budget.

The Red Spectacles (1987) is a great first live action film, and a wonderful dystopian mindfuck. I think it shows a lot of Mamoru Oshii's potential and with this film he created a world that is very interesting, so much so that it's no question why this film spawned a manga and other films and things that also take place in this world. 3/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





Check back everyday this week as I will continue to review more of acclaimed Japanese director Mamooru Oshii's works.

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