THE OMEN (1976), VIDEODROME (1983)

The Omen

A Couple of Horror movies I just never got around to seeing before...

I heard a lot about The Omen when it came out in 1976. I even got the book (a novelization technically). The book had pictures of the highlights of the movie, like the nanny hanging herself or the priest getting speared or the young devil child Damien looking menacingly into the camera. I also saw clips of most of these scenes on television. But I never got around to seeing the actual movie! I even saw the sequel Damien: Omen II! So The Omen is one of those movies I feel like I've seen even though I've never seen it.

So it was an interesting experience finally watching it, because of my perceived familiarity with it.

 The plot: A well-to-do couple (An ambassador and his wife) lose a baby. The father replaces the baby with an adopted baby without the mother knowing. The problem is is that the replacement child turns out to be the devil incarnate! (What parent hasn't called their unruly child Damien at some point since this movie came out?). It is interesting that the movie is set exclusively in Europe with an American couple...Anyway, weird things start happening. Damien's nanny hangs herself. Damien gets a new nanny who turns out to be in league with Damien. (Doesn't anyone check references anymore?)

Damien does all sorts of satanic things like making mommy fall off a balcony. She survives for the time being only to fall to her death out of the window of her hospital room later. The photographer played by David Warner who supplies exposition and helps dad Gregory Peck discover the truth about Damien is one plot point I didn't know about. The photographer meets with a graphic death (If Damien had the power to kill the photographer when he wasn't even in the same country, why didn't Damien just kill dad to get him out of the way and be done with the whole deal?). But dad does come back and takes Damien to sacrifice him in the local church. The police arrive and kill dad to prevent him from killing Damien. The funeral arrives for mom and dad and Damien stares blankly into the camera.

The Omen is worth seeing for horror fans. I'm not sure it would quite make my 1001 movie book, but if I was listing 100 horror movies you must see before you die, The Omen would be in there somewhere.

Videodrome

I heard about this weird movie called Videodrome when it came out in 1983 and went out with the intention of seeing it. It was playing at Phiipps Plaza in Atlanta, I believe. But I had trouble finding a parking space! So I ended up getting there late and decided not to go see it. Thirty years later I still hadn't seen it...until now.

It's the story of Max (James Woods), who runs a UHF station that shows a lot of strange shit on his channel. He gets hold of a weird pirated program called Videodrome that he plans to show on his channel. He gets involved with a psychiatrist/talk show host played by Debbie Harry that likes sex and likes to play it rough! It turns out Videodrome (the show), is even weirder than Max first thought. It is apparently shot out of Pittsburgh! And is part of a political  movement!

The movie keeps getting weirder and weirder. All that view Videodrome (the show) begin to have strange hallucinations, especially Max whose stomach turns into a VCR presumably to watch more episodes of Videodrome! The movie goes on from there to uncover a big conspiracy that finds that Videodrome is trying to ruthlessly control the hearts and minds of the viewing public...which doesn't sound so sinister when you phrase it that way.

Videodrome (the movie) is something to see if you're looking for something off the beaten path. The real star of Videodrome, (still the movie) has to be Rick Baker, whose pre-CGI special effects are scary, gross, creative and effective. Obviously, the 1001 editors thought so since it is in the 1001 book...

Like The Omen, Videodrome took me awhile to get to, but there you have it, but I don't think it's gotten any easier to find a parking space at Phipps Plaza.

ONIBABA (1964, JAPAN), HOUSE (1977, JAPAN)

Onibaba

One of the reasons I started this blog is because I saw so many videos on our library shelf that were critically acclaimed movies put out by the Criterion Collection, and I wanted a systematic way to watch them and decided to go through the 1001 list. (Didn't realize it would take me years to do it, but that's another story)

First up is the story of Onibaba (The Demon), which is set in the back county of war torn 14th century Japan. A woman and her daughter-in-law are forced through necessity of killing soldiers and selling their body plates or anything else of value on them for scrap. When a local war veteran returns and has eyes for the young woman a conflict arises between the women. 

I tried to recount the plot above of Onibaba and no description feels quite right. It is an odd film, but a beautiful one at the same time. It is also an ugly film when it shows the brutal side of human nature. The plot point with the mask is based on old Buddhist legends and gives the film a slight supernatural twist on top of everything else.

The extras: The most worthwhile extra on the Criterion Disc is the interview with Director Kaneto Shindo who (at age 91) details the use of sex in his film, setting, music, fable, war and black and white photography. It is about 20 minutes and brings a great deal to understanding what he was trying to say with this film. It's also heartening how much he appreciates the DVD medium and bringing his film to a new audience.

When I saw the the new releases for the Criterion Collection one month and a strange Japanese movie titled House was on the list, I decided to order it for the library. That was a couple of years ago and I just now got around to watching it.

It is the story of a group of teenage girls named Gorgeous, Melody, Prof, Sweet, Kung Fu and Mac. (I think I got the names right.) Gorgeous's father is remarrying which has her upset. Then all the girls go on a retreat to a house that they soon discover is haunted. It's told in a very nontraditional manner. Some of the early scenes have elements of wackiness that made me wonder if this was a slapstick comedy or not. The music was interesting, but at times seemed remarkably upbeat for something that was supposed to be creating a scary mood. Once we get to the house, we do find a creepy old lady and her cat and all sorts of weird things start happening accompanied by some (intentionally) cheesy special effects. 

In some ways it's a traditional haunted house story, but in many ways it isn't. I'm not sure who the target audience for this was!

House

The extras:  Forty-five minute interview with director Nobuhiko Obayashi answers a lot of questions I had about the movie and I found it as interesting as the movie itself. Obaysahi talks about his apprenticeship in commercials, difficulty in getting the movie made despite a go-ahead from the studio, his appreciation and rejection of Japanese cinema, who the movie appeals too (Answer: pre-teens), and the how the studio actually being disappointed that the movie was a hit! Best of all is the story of a crew member that searched all day for a screw that was part of the set that the director was looking for. The reason the crew member worked so hard to find that screw, was because Obayashi was the first director ever to call him by his name despite being in the business for many years.

I've called on the Criterion Collection often during my journey through these films, and I by necessity will need to return.

LA NOTTE (1961, ITALY), L'ECLISSE (1962, ITALY), RED DESERT (1964, ITALY)

La Notte

The Michelangelo Antonio starter kit...Before I give my opinions on these films, I'm going to get some bullet points from Gerald Mast, author of my old textbook A Short History of Movies.

1. Antonioni's roots were in neorealism, but he soon deserted this style for a highly polished and stylized drama of personal sensations.

2. Antonioni blurred objective reality and buried the action within the subjective perceptions of the central character.

3. His method involves concentrating as much on the scenic environment as the people in it.

4. His use of modern architecture are metaphors for the  hollowness a character feels at a particular dramatic moment.

5. His characters feel an affinity for white walls which his they go to emphasizing that they are trapped or wall-bound.

6. He trusts visuals over words. Words can be misleading and in Antonioni's world, the characters mostly learn through encounters with the physical world.

L'Eclisse

And there's so much more that has been written on Antonioni! But the bottom line for me is how is the experience of watching them? What do you feel afterwards? They aren't necessarily about something in particular that is easy to grasp and are as good of examples as any of what people think of as European art films. La Notte is probably my favorite of the three films listed on this post. The English title of La Notte (The Night) is appropriate of a film I think of as dark and perhaps shows the dark side of the marriage of the two main characters of the film. Maybe I'm off base, who knows? There is a lot here to think about-the husband's (Marcello Mastroianni) bizarre encounter with an attractive mental patient and how he tells his wife about it..though not  quite telling the whole truth. The contrast of the couple's life with their terminally ill friend and then the party for the pretentious rich and the husband's encounter there with a young lady (Monica Vitti, who is in all of these films) that takes his fancy. But there is resolution and coming to grips with the problems in the film and ends on a more upbeat note than one might think.

L'Eclisse is even less accessible than the others. A woman (Monica Vitti) has one relationship end and quickly gets involved with a player on the stock market (Alain Delon). The wildness, unpredictability and mass of people yelling during of the stock market scenes is nicely contrasted with the scenes with the two potential lovers on the street, where they seem like the only people in the world. My first thought was that why didn't Antonioni hire more extras, but I think he might be making a point about isolation and loneliness here. L'Eclisse is as bright as La Notte is dark, but does anything get resolved? And what about that ending? I can't say I loved sitting through L'Eclisse, but the more I think about it, I may want to watch it again someday...just not today.

Red Desert

Red Desert is the only one of these films to be shot in color and Antonioni uses many vivid colorful images (the yellow poisonous smoke coming from the factory is an obvious example). Most of film uses as backdrop a huge impersonal factory and mighty ships whose strength and size is in contrast to frailness and vulnerability of the human characters, mostly in the woman Guiliani (Monica Vitti, of course) whose past bouts with mental illness aren't nearly as far in the past as she would like people to believe. I like the ending of the story which neatly brings the story full circle...

...And I've come full circle with the all the Antonioni films on the 1001 list. I do like going through some of these director's work watching several pf them back to back. I've still got enough on the list to do this a few more times with other directors, and maybe add some additional films from their respective works.

THE DEAD (1987), ROBOCOP (1987)

1987

Robocop

Robocop-One of the big movie events of 1987 for me was Paul Verhooven's Robocop, the story of a Detroit police officer who is killed (almost) and is revived as a super cyborg cop who cleans up the city. The Wikipedia article on this film points out some of the themes, "media influence, gentrification, corruption, authoritarianism, greed, privitation, capitalism, identity, dystopia and human nature." That's all true, but I would add to this list "really cool scenes where things blow up!" I still like Robocop for many of the reasons stated above after seeing it again, though I can't say the same for Robocop II. But I did like the newer Robocop from 2014. It had the basics elements of the first film, but made enough changes to make it distinctive in its own right. But I'll still go with the original if you're making me choose.

John Huston's The Dead

The Dead-A movie from 1987 where nothing blows up (except for emotions) is John Huston's The Dead, based on a James Joyce story (Robocop is not based on a James Joyce story). You've really got to use the non-Robocop side of your brain to watch The Dead. It has the ring of those Merchant-Ivory films and is a pretty good emotional drama, if you're in the mood for it. If you aren't, just watch Robocop again.

It's not quite like any other John Huston I can remember. But is there a typical John Huston film? From a career that went The Maltese Falcon to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to The Asphalt Jungle to The Man Who Would Be King to Wise Blood, The Dead represents the last act from one of the most significant directors of the 20th century. 

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Robocop and The Dead both made the list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, but most movies from that year didn't make the cut. Here are twenty from 1987 that I've seen that didn't quite make have the stuff to make the list.

1. Ishtar
Let's update the old Hope and Crosby road picture film with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty and even get Elaine May to direct! It's a sure hit right? Wrong. You can't remember 1987 movies without thinking of Ishtar, whose very title brings about memories of a Hollywood mega-bomb. But to tell you the truth, I didn't think Ishtar was all that bad. It's amusing, Hoffman is good and the Paul Williams songs are funny. Maybe time for a re-evalutation? Some people seem to like Heaven's Gate now, after all!

C'mon! Give Ishtar another chance!

2. Amazon Women on the Moon, Three Men and a Baby, 
Police Academy 4, The Bedroom Window
In 1987, we just couldn't get enough of Steve Guttenberg, could we?

3. Barfly
I had a friend who really liked to watch this movie in a state of inebriation. And I have to agree, this Charles Bukowski semi-autobiography is a great drunk movie!

4. Beverly Hills Cop II
How to do a sequel essentially making the same movie as the first one all over again, just not as well.

5.Black Widow
Theresa Russell in Black Widow is on the short list of sexiest female leads in film history. She's to die for, which may have even been the tagline of the film. If not, it should have been.

Theresa Russell is The Black Widow

6. Cry Freedom
Little surprised that this Richard Attenborough film about apartheid in South Africa isn't on the 1001 list.

7. Dirty Dancing
Not necessarily a personal favorite, but I might include this on the 1001 list just for it's enduring popularity.

8. Dragnet
Feature film version of the classic television series is notable mostly for Dan Akyroyd's spot on Jack Webb impression throughout the movie. And who among us hasn't referred to an innocent young woman as "the virgin, Connie Swayle" at one time or another?" Or maybe that's just me.
   

9. Ernest Goes to Camp
I'm having second thoughts on whether or not I actually saw Ernest Goes to Camp. I know I saw a couple of the Ernest movies...I'll have to give this some more thought whether or not this was one of them.

10. The Stepfather
Long before he played John Locke on Lost, Terry O'Quinn played in this low budget horror/thriller about a stepfather who resolves disputes within his family by knocking them off and starting a new one! Everyone has there own definition of family values, I guess.

Terry O' Quinn contemplating the pros and cons of
family counseling in The Stepfather

11.  House of Games
Lots of plot twists and turns in this David Mamet film. I admit this was one time I did see the final plot twist coming.

12. Planes, Trains  and Automobiles, Roxanne
A good year for Steve Martin.

13. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
I thought this was a pretty good entry in the series, but by the same token what is the point in having a bad guy that you can't kill no matter what you do him?

14. Overboard
I have never seen this Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell from beginning to end. However, TBS has shown this so much over the years, I think I've pretty much seen it all in parts. Overboard was on so much over the years, it got to be a running joke in my house.

15. Harry and the Hendersons
Who the heck knew Bigfoot was just so darned cute? Thanks for creating those sad eyes, Rick Baker.

That cuddly Bigfoot in
Harry and the Hendersons

16. The Principal
Jim Belushi is the ass kickin' baseball bat wielding motorcycle ridin' head of the school!

17. Predator
The original Predator is pretty good from what I remember as this invisible and unstoppable force that battles future governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura.

18. September
Thinking about some of the Woody Allen movies from this period...I kind of get this one mixed up with Another Woman...and what was Alice about again?

19. Assassination/Death Wish 4 The Crackdown
Speaking of September...the films of Charlie Bronson at this point were showing a little wear (And I'm being kind here) as he was reaching the September of his years. But we'll always have Once Upon a Time in the West.

20. The Witches of Eastwick
I remember going to see this movie at the Lefont Plaza theater in Atlanta when it came out. But the thing I remember most about it is the guy sitting in front of me. Every time Cher would appear in a scene, he would gasp as if he had seen the most amazing sight he had ever witnessed! And during the scene where Cher is dressed up for a night on the town, the guy gasped and applauded at the same time as I was sure pretty sure he almost fell out of his seat! At this point, I thought the poor guy might pass out in the sheer ecstasy and have a Chergasm! This was pre-Moonstruck, but I really should have slapped him and said, "Snap out of it!"

The woman who needs no introduction in
The Witches of Eastwick