Reviews

The answer: "No." As if music videos, reality shows and Jerry Springer hadn't already done enough to lower middle class standards, FX has unleashed on us something we've never seen: A series featuring surly, under-groomed characters whose melodramatic, soap tedium is underscored with migraine-inducing hard rock. How refreshing.

"American Horror Story" nevertheless deserves a pat on the back. Like AMC's equally derivative "Walking Dead," it has mesmerized audiences into thinking they're actually seeing something relevant when in fact they're really not. In an era when TV has degenerated into a plethora of cooking shows, "lifestyle" programming and "Honey Boo Boo" reality, anything scripted--albeit crudely in this case--seems like an event of great importance by comparison.

Like all cable TV series, "American Horror Story" excels at taking seven minutes of whisper-thin plot and dragging it out to pad a full episode's runtime. This comes in handy if you feel like making a three course meal while it's on; you won't miss anything.

One star for its "much ado about nothing" status.

One sometimes wonders if certain programs are conceived under a lucky star...or if Hollywood executives are just paying the media to praise their dreck, knowing that an impressionable audience will believe pretty much anything the TV grapevine tells them.

"The Walking Dead" is a golden example of hype run amok. The vastly over-exposed zombie genre gets yet another overhaul as we watch an epochal re-mix of George Romero's 1968 "Night of the Living Dead." Whereas Romero's film was a landmark film that broke new ground upon its initial release, "The Walking Dead," like dozens of zombie snore-fests before it, is just another rehash of something done better, earlier, by someone else.

THRILL to 10-minutes of story dragged out and padded indefinitely to fill the time slot! CRINGE as obviously made-up actors collaborate with computer-generated gore to generate excitement the writers failed to produce! GASP as millions of viewers forget they've already seen these cliché's a thousand times and react as if the zombie genre was new and relevant! One star for its "much ado about nothing" status.

When I heard Mario Bava wrote the screenplay and that this was something of a body count giallo, I bought the DVD expecting a typically atmospheric '60s Italian film with great thrills, suspense and early gore. Maybe I expected too much.

A terrific opening title theme, "Nightmare," gets things off to an exciting start. Unfortunately, the film then bogs itself down in endless footage of squirrelly, bland females acting silly and flaky (behavior that is endearing to women but annoying to men). At long last, a few of them then endure some of the mildest, least violent and tidiest "deaths" ever seen.

This is not a brutal shocker like the earlier, "Blood and Black Lace." If anything, an irritating, bouncy humor persists throughout, leading me to suspect this was intended for the Sunday matinée crowd.

Some of the older cast members are quite good, including the aforementioned Damon. Michael Rennie shines in a later role and the school administrators are all suitably mysterious.

Not great, not bad, just so-so. While away a couple of hours with it, if you're in the right mood.

A strange phenomenon among newbie film makers is to start their careers burlesquing the thriller genre. Typically this involves much silliness, rambling plot lines and destroying the good moments with bad comedy. "She Beast" falls into this category.

Filmed in the wake of many international hits for Italy's classic horror cycle, the film's producer (whose first production this was) could have used the talented cast, lush color and widescreen format to create a creepy, drive-in classic. However, each time the film begins to succeed in this way, it derails itself with high school-esque slapstick which in all probability, no one found funny at the time but the producers.

Still, it's worth a peek for die-hard Barbara Steele and Euro-horror fans.

This is one of those movies that puzzles today's audiences. They're so jaded with mega-million dollar budgeted, hyperactive action films, they have no idea what movies were like before "Star Wars" ruined the market for drive-ins and one-screen sidewalk theaters.

"Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a personal favorite of mine. I grew up seeing it occasionally on Detroit's WKBD-TV50 Saturday night Chiller Movie Double Feature during the 1970s. It was the perfect thriller to watch late at night (in those days stores closed and people went to bed early), after a long sunny week in school and playing outside. There were no computers, cellphones, video games, cable TV or videos back then. You had three or four channels and they signed off after the news. If you were still up after 11:30pm, you felt like the last person on earth; the perfect setting in which to watch this type of picture.

The film sets a nightmarish tone immediately with its moody, creepy score and grim B&W cinematography. Yes, it's a low-budget independent film produced by people mostly just starting out. Given that it was most of the production's first screen credit, it is outstanding.

Despite the comedy relief stripper scenes, the film was one of the more violent, gory and shocking at the time and for years that followed. Everyone's stomach turned over at the arm tearing out scene and my mother used to excuse herself from the room at that point, she found it so disturbing.

Like Abbott & Costello before them--and MST3K after them--the Medved brothers ruined films like this by burlesquing them in their 1980 book, "The Golden Turkey Awards." This and the post- "Star Wars" culture have doomed these movies to an eternity of sneering contempt from a younger audience weened on endless laser blasts, propane explosions and hyperactive CGI effects.

Happily, I got to see and enjoy "Brain That Wouldn't Die" while it was still considered relevant. Every kid on the block used to know and love this movie--and I was one of them.

Before the jaded, post "Star Wars" audiences took over, there were "B" films, independent films and foreign films all playing at those comfortable neighborhood theaters and drive-ins. "The Hypnotic Eye" is one of the best.

Featuring crisp, moody black and white cinematography, a wonderful main title theme and excellent performances from its cast, this offbeat thriller was somewhat influenced by the popularity of quality detective series, like "Naked City," appearing on television at the time. "The Hypnotic Eye" combines a solid mystery story with hard-hitting horror effects for a chilling and satisfying ride.

This was one of the first movies I can recall seeing as a child, as a re-run on TV. I was drawn in by its atmosphere and attractive cast. The end seemed very exciting to me and over 40 years later, I can still enjoy it through adult eyes.

Younger audiences, desensitized by the vulgarity of the post-modern world, its drug culture, hippies and bombastic films will be completely unable to understand this film. However, in the context of the era in which it was produced--1960--it is impactful and entertaining.

If you're over 45 and haven't seen it, check it out.

From the movie industry's beginnings and up through 1977, it was okay--even SOP--to make and watch "little movies." Occasionally a big budget, all-star affair would be produced, such as the biblical spectacles of the '50s or disaster films of the '70s, but "little movies" were the norm.

Then "Star Wars" came along. Overnight, it wasn't okay for a picture to be anything less than a 50-million dollar, effects-filled extravaganza. I was in high school at the time and remember this phenomenon well. The mega-blockbuster-only culture in film making persists to the present day.

For audiences too young to remember the pre-1977 world, movies like "The Devil's Hand" are little more than a source of ridicule. No laser blasts? No propane explosions? No skyscrapers with thousands of windows blowing out simultaneously? Well, then it's garbage.

Happily, I do recall the pre-1977 film world and loved the intimacy and offbeat nature of its modest movies. "The Devil's Hand" is one of them.

The story is set among a modern-day, urban cult of devil worshipers and their interesting powers (making quick money, obtaining the lover of their choice, etc.). Unwitting Rick (Robert Alda) is drawn into their shady circle by an elite member of the cult (Linda Christian). Although his life with them becomes supremely comfortable, their merciless practices and lethal vindictiveness makes him realize no one in their realm is safe.

The film's strength is in its late-night atmosphere. It was produced in 1961, an attractive moment in US history. Everything looks great: the characters, their apartments, their cars and even the ceremonial back room. The music is befittingly mysterious and dreamy with the notable exception of the wonderful main-title theme by Baker Knight and the Knightmares. This rock 'n' roll number was recorded specifically for the film at the dawn of the twist craze and it charted at #37 on San Fransisco's hot 100 in August of 1961.

I remember how "The Devil's Hand" turned up regularly on Detroit's "Scream Theater" Friday nights at 11:30pm during the late '70s and early '80s. I loved it then and I love it now--it's a gem.