Rubber Johnny (2005)

2.5 / 5  May '11
Tagline:  N/A
Directed by:  Chris Cunningham
Written by:  Aphex Twin
Actors include:  Elvis, Percy Rutherford
Genre:  Horror, Short, Animation
Length:  6 minutes
Banned:  Nope







Review:  
Pretty underwhelming little piece about a weird looking boy with shiny eyes who babbles.  He is locked in a basement because he contorts his body into unnatural positions and he's given a little dog for company.  Be prepared for a whole lot of bending and flashy editing as well as music from Aphex Twin.  It just didn't really do anything, and the distortions wore thin rather quickly.  I guess I expected more, and i wasn't really bothered by the fact the boy was supposed to be grotesque or at least he didn't trip me out.  I think if your a fan of this specific techno horror style then you will probably like this but I'll never see it again.

Availability:  On DVD

Eraserhead (1977)

4 / 5 Mar '11
Tagline: Warning: the nightmare has not gone away
Directed by: David Lynch
Written by: David Lynch
Actors include: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allan Joseph
Genre: Horror, Drama
Length: 85 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
It's definitely something different...I'll give it that, somehow I expected it to be greater than it was. It's very much a nightmarish surrealistic film that takes place in industrial imagination land (possibly the future). Eraserhead is a strange fella, he has an angry Girlfriend who he impregnated and was forced to marry. The baby is unfortunately some sort of hideous mutant thing that cries and drives him crazy. This film definitely gave me the idea that David Lynch doesn't subscribe to the idea of regular families and children and so forth. Eraserhead is entertained by a singing cabaret lady with "moon" cheeks in the radiator which is probably the "best" part. It's filmed in black and white with unusual angles and so forth, very unlike anything else I've seen. It is a must see in the sense that it's quite influential to many other things and well it's innovative. This won't be for everyone, in fact I generally prefer a more straightforward plot but I still liked this and could appreciate it.

Availability:  On DVD

Invasion (2007)

2 / 5 Apr '10
Tagline: Do not trust anyone. Do not show emotion. Do not fall asleep.
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Written by: David Kajganich, Jack Finney
Actors include: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northham
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror,
Length: 99 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
So I made the fool decision to try to join this century by watching this film. I figured, I like the '50s and the '70s version and heck the '90s version wasn't even terrible but this was. It's odd that giving it a big budget and twisting the story around completely destroyed the picture but I think it did. Other things that didn't help matters are the actors, Daniel Craig seemed dead behind the eyes the entire time, how were we to know when/if he turned? I hate to say that I don't think Nicole Kidman was boring to watch in this too. The story here is that people are getting infected with this alien virus, but instead of turning them nearly immediately, they must sleep before it goes into effect. Also there is some sort of magical cure, which was very disappointing to say the least. Be prepared for a ton of ridiculously obvious product placement and super frustration if you decide to try to sit through this. Definitely a pathetic remake and the worst version I've seen of this story to date.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Body Snatchers (1993)

3 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: The Invasion Continues
Directed by: Abel Ferrara
Written by: Jack Finney, Raymond Cistheri
Actors include: Gabrielle Anwar, Terry Kinney, Billy Wirth
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 87 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I definitely prefer the other two versions of this tale I've seen (the '50s & the '70s) by a huge margin. This feels very '90s and it has "dear diary" overtones to the awful narration. They've also twisted this tale all around to be around a young girl and her family who moved to a new town. One day her little Brother notices that Mom's head deflates? and a new Mom appears and he yells and complains about that not being his Mom. After a while a bunch of townspeople start becoming more zombie like and personality free (oh and not to mention the loud sound they make while pointing which worked awesomely in the other two but here it seems hilarious). The actual effects that went into creating the pods and the regeneration process and stuff are well done and it's the only real reason I can think of to watch this. I really had higher expectations here, especially considering Abel Ferrara was at the helm of this picture. Not recommended unless you need to see every adaptation of this story.

Availability:  On DVD

Blind Beast (1969) aka Moju aka Warehouse

4.5 / 5 Nov '09
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Yasuzo Masumura
Written by: Rampo Edogawa, Yoshio Shirasaka
Actors include: Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku
Genre: Drama, Horror
Length: 86 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:

What a grotesquely fascinating and appaling film! It's about a blind sculpter who kidnaps a gorgeous model to pose for his newest innovation. Sculptures for the blind, yeah it doesn't make a ton of sense, but that is far from the point. Blind guy's Mom actually helps with this imprisonment (anything for Jr), and the model kicks and screams and tries to use cunning to escape. After a while she beings to co-operate and that's where things get super disturbing and freaky. This had to have been inspiration for the Guinea Pig series and several other pleasure as pain pictures. What really stands out here is actually the elaborate art studio that the model is contained in. I don't want to ruin anything but it's worth it just to see this creepy room, the set designers deserve awards seriously! As demented as this tale is there seems to be a greater message here, it's actually rather artistic and shocking at the same time. It give the viewer the feeling that we too are wound up in this insane little world and trapped in the crazy room. It's really twisted, but I'm sure those who like things twisted will fall madly for this one.

Availability:  On DVD