BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA

Most cinema scholars not only cite Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 masterwork Psycho as the start of the modern horror film, but also its iconic shower scene as the beginning of a new level of acceptability of violent content in cinema. Over the next few years, violence (and gore) would escalate in genre films such as the Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter-fests Blood Feast (1963) and Color Me Blood Red (1965). By the end of the decade, George Romero’s excellent zombie-munching classic, Night of the Living Dead (1968), as well as non-horror masterpieces like Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969), left no doubt in the minds of cinemagoers that they were in a new era of in-your-face, cinematic violence and gore. As far as horror movies go, the trend continued throughout the 1970s with now legendary films such as Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left (1972), William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973), Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) and Romero’s Night of the Living Dead sequel, the ultra-gory, semi-satirical zombie masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (1978). As the 1980s began, most horror films were copying the structure of John Carpenter’s phenomenal 1978 classic, Halloween, but, due to being incapable of duplicating that film’s expertly- mounted suspense, they instead added Dawn’s grisly effects. By 1981, horror fans expected to see plenty of blood and guts on the big screen, so almost every genre film released during that time happily obliged. Not all horror movies took this approach, however. For instance, there was an Australian-made film that deviated from the current violent trend and, instead, went for more cerebral scares. That film was called The Survivor.

After miraculously walking away unscathed from a plane crash that killed almost 300 innocent passengers, 747 pilot Captain Keller (Jesus of Nazareth’s Robert Powell), in an attempt to discover exactly what caused the crash and why he was the only one to survive, joins forces with a psychic named Hobbs (Jenny Agutter from Logan’s Run and An American Werewolf in London) who strongly feels the restless spirits of the newly dead.

Directed by accomplished British actor David Hemmings (Blow-Up, Barbarella, Deep Red), The Survivor is an adaptation of a story of the same name by famed horror novelist James Herbert (whose first novel, The Rats, was also adapted into a movie; 1983’s Deadly Eyes). The supernatural chiller, which co-stars Australian actress Angela Punch-McGregor (The Island) and, in his final role, Hollywood legend Joseph Cotton (Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Shadow of a Doubt), was produced by Antony I. Ginnane (Snapshot, Dead Kids and Harlequin, which also stars Robert Powell as well as David Hemmings). The $1, 200, 000 budgeted film also features a wonderful, but unusual soundtrack by talented composer Brian May (Mad Max, Road Games and the Ginnane-produced Patrick) and contains an interesting story, powerful acting, beautiful daytime cinematography by Academy Award-winning director of photography John Seale (The English Patient), as well as impressive and somewhat frightening imagery (although, it would have benefitted from a few more creepy images, atmospheric sequences and a clearer narrative; not to mention slightly speeding up the pace).

So, was the idea to do a more psychological horror film the way to go or should the filmmakers have gone ahead and added the excessive gore that was demanded by horror audiences at the time? I have to say that, artistically, the filmmakers, without a doubt, made the right decision. It’s difficult to imagine this very suggestive movie soaked in bloody effects as the gore would seem out of place and make the film feel extremely unbalanced. However, The Survivor’s failure at the box office was mostly due to it not packing enough of a bloody punch that 1981 audiences demanded, so, in a business sense, I suppose the no-gore decision was a bad one. Still, I’m glad the decision was made. Although by no means a horror classic, The Survivor is a well-made and evocative thriller that, almost 35 years after its release, can finally be appreciated for what it is and not panned for refusing to meet audience demands of its time.

The Survivor has been released on DVD by the fine folks at Scorpion Releasing. The film is presented in its original 2:35:1 aspect ratio and, although the night scenes are a tad too dark and the film contains very minor scratching, the movie is otherwise extremely sharp and more than watchable. Special features include a humorous and informative introduction by Scorpion DVD hostess (and former WWE diva/TNA knockout) Katarina Leigh Waters as well as an interesting and eye-opening audio commentary by producer Antony I. Ginnane (moderated by Katarina) who talks about, among many other subjects, David Hemmings’ visual style and the reasons as to why the film was originally cut down prior to its release (the version here is the full 98 minute cut). The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer as well as trailers for a plethora of other great Scorpion releases such as Mortuary, The Devil Within Her, Don’t Answer the Phone and Final Exam. If you’re looking for a moody, adult and more cerebral horror film, give The Survivor a whirl.

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BY TODD GARBARINI

Director Robert Mandel's F/X is one of the most entertaining and compulsively watchable thrillers of 1986. I originally caught up with it on VHS and, while I was impressed with the film, the ending I found to be both hokey and frustrating, mostly due to the completely out-of-place 1982 song “Just an Illusion” by Imagination that plays over the end credits. I felt that it undermined all that preceded it. However, like William Friedkin's To Live and Die in LA (1985) and David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), F/X is a film that would only grow on me after subsequent repeated viewings. I learned to forgive the inclusion of this song as the final minutes should really be viewed as a visual pun on the film’s overall theme, which begs the question “What is real and what is fiction?”

F/X, which was released on Friday, February 7, 1986, is also sometimes known as Murder by Illusion. It gives us Rollie Tyler (played expertly by Bryan Brown) as a master special-effects movie wizard who is approached by a group of people who claim to be from the Justice Department and have a unique offer for him. They want him to stage a fake assassination of Nicholas De Franco (Jerry Orbach), a reputed mobster who is about to testify against his friends just before entering the Witness Relocation Program. Naturally, they want to give the impression that De Franco is dead before the real-life mobsters can get to him first as a contract has been put out on his life. Rollie, whose apartment is adorned with posters of Zombie (1979) and Fade to Black (1980) and effects prosthetics made for movies, is initially very hesitant, and when he refuses their offer he is told that they will now go back to his biggest competitor to do the job. He then asks them to give him 24 hours to think about it, and the carrot at the end of the proverbial stick proves to be a very strong catalyst. After setting up mobster De Franco, the fake assassination, which is similar to Michael Corleone’s hit on Virgil Sollazzo and Captain McCluskey, goes off without a hitch (the notion of the Witness Protection Program, as it is known today, is now common thanks to Goodfellas (1990) and The Sopranos (1999-2007), but back then it was virtually unheard of). Unfortunately for Rollie, the truth about what he has just done is about to be revealed to him when he is suddenly thrust into an unbelievable chain of events that he himself, despite his stature in an industry that prides itself on make-believe, probably never could have imagined.

While the film may not seem very original nearly 30 years later, it still holds up remarkably well for the material. One of the things that truly bolsters this film from its intended origins (a low-budget made-for-TV movie) is the casting. Bryan Brown is terrific as the special-effects man and Diane Venora, an actress who is seen far too little these days, is equally likable as his actress/girlfriend. Mason Adams, best known to American audiences in his role as the managing editor in TV’s Lou Grant, shines as the mastermind behind De Franco’s exodus from society. The real fireworks begin however, with the introduction of Leo McCarthy (the phenomenal Brian Dennehy), a police lieutenant who, along with his partner Mickey (Joe Grifasi), is assigned to the case. The banter between Leo and Mickey takes on a Mutt and Jeff dynamic as they try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Czechoslovakian cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek, who sadly passed away in March of 2015, does a beautiful job lensing F/X, taking what quite possibly could have been just an average “B” thriller and elevating it to a highly cinematic “A” feature. Also on board is the late veteran character actor Trey Wilson from Raising Arizona (1987) and Miss Firecracker (1989). Roscoe Orman, who played Gordon on Sesame Street, appears here in the only role that I have seen him in outside of that beloved children’s show.

F/X was filmed during the summer of 1985 and is a bit jarring to watch now due to the complete and total absence of cell phones, computer equipment that looks like it stems from the Stone Age and all of the Titanic-sized American vehicles on the road. One scene shows a car plow through a series of posters advertising Rambo: First Blood Part II, which drives home (no pun intended of course) the make-believe nature of moviemaking with its tongue-in-cheek in-joke and is also a nice nod to Brian Dennehy, who fought Rambo in that series’ first film. I cannot say enough about Bill Conti’s score which is a fully realized work, complete with an orchestra, the sort that you don’t really see much of in movies nowadays, and it fits this movie like a glove. From the film’s opening over the Orion Pictures logo to the love theme to the cat-and-mouse chase through Central Park to the spectacular car chase through Manhattan, this score can easily be enjoyed on its own merits.

The transfer of this film on Blu-ray is a considerable improvement over the original VHS tape which was murky and plagued by issues related to the inclusion of the Macrovision anti-copying code. The multiple laser disc releases and DVD releases were not much better, but Kino Lorber has done an admirable job of releasing the film this time around. There is some film gain apparent in the darker scenes, but nothing terribly distracting. The extras on the Blu-ray consist of an interview with director Robert Mandel (14:00) wherein he discusses the pleasure he had in making the film and how he didn’t feel qualified to helm the job due to his lack of experience directing thrillers or action films, though producer Dodi Fayed, who died in 1997 in the car crash that killed Princess Diana, felt otherwise. On the basis of Mr. Mandel’s 1983 drama Independence Day, which to this day has yet to be released by the Warner Archive, he was hired to make the characters human and real. The director comes across as affable and appreciative of those who contributed to making the film.

The Making of F/X is a featurette that also runs 14 minutes in length and was shot during the film’s production, presumably to drum up interest at the 1985 San Diego Comic Con , as actor Brown addresses the camera and makes reference to a “convention”. Behind-the-scenes documentaries and fan conventions abound today, but 30 years ago there was very little information outside of Fangoria magazine that could illustrate how special make-up effects were actually accomplished. Carl Fullerton, the special makeup supervisor who now has over 70 film credits to his name, provides his expertise to convince the audience of Rollie’s role. John Stears, who won Oscars for his work on Thunderball (1965) and Star Wars (1977), talks about the four instances that he himself was approached by reputed mobsters to do what Rollie does in the film. Apparently, these were four offers that he did refuse (sorry, couldn’t resist). Terry Rawlings, a veteran of some of Ridley Scott’s best work, is also on board as the editor and keeps the film moving along at a brisk pace with great match shots and visual and aural segues.

Rounding out the extras are theatrical trailers for F/X and the sequel from 1991, F/X 2 which, to me, looks like a Hollywood production, and is a film that I have not yet seen.

Diane Venora utters a prophetic line at the beginning of the film: “Nobody cares about making movies about people anymore. All they care about are special effects.” That seems to be true of movies more now than ever before.

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By Todd Garbarini

I have loved movies pretty much all my life. One of the most integral aspects in my overall enjoyment of a film is my impression of it through the film's advertising campaign, usually through the coming attractions trailer but mostly through the advertising artwork, primarily the movie poster. Growing up in the 1970s, I had no way of knowing anything about a film other than what was written about it in Time or Newsweek or newspapers. The movie poster art, referred to as key art in the industry, was really all I had to go on in terms of getting a feel for what the movie would be like. Each week I would eagerly await Friday’s newspaper as it showcased the advertising artwork of the new releases just coming out in a much more overt fashion that it did from Monday to Thursday. In those days, the advertising artwork was just that: it was artwork, designed, conceived and actually painted by an artist. This appears to be something that has gone by the wayside as a result of the new tools that are available to studios, such as computers and software programs like Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator, which make it very easy for just about anyone to slap together homogenized key art for DVD and Blu-ray covers. This new type of advertising art appears to have been sapped of the most important ingredient: originality.

The first two movies that I ever owned on home video were Star Wars (1977) and Poltergeist (1982). I bought these on the long defunct Capacitance Electronic Disc system (CED) which was designed and manufactured by RCA and sold from 1981 to 1986. The artwork to these two films in particular made an enormous impression on me as the oversized, LP-like format lent itself perfectly to the display of these images. Some of my all-time favorite movies, which I first saw between 1983 and 1984, sported some of the most beautiful artwork I've ever seen: Phantasm (1979), Deadly Blessing (1981), Scanners (1981)…just about anything horror-film related. With CED, you felt like you actually owned the movie and that it was yours. It was tangible and you could hold it and look at it.

The first video cassette that I ever rented was Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), which I watched on Independence Day in 1985, because it was not available on CED. I had seen the film theatrically upon its initial release, but there was something about being able to watch it on video that was enormously appealing to me. From that point on, the artwork that I saw on the cover of VHS cassettes, in particular horror movies, left me salivating in the video store aisles. After getting my driver’s license, my friends and I made innumerable trips to local and independently owned video stores to both rent movies and gaze at and admire the cover artwork of all the boxes on display. This was my generation's equivalent of going to the local drive-in and, just like the local drive-in, the independent video store, in the year 2015, is nearly extinct.

A long overdue and beautifully illustrated new coffee table book, appropriately titled VHS Video Cover Art, is now available from Schiffer Publishing. Compiled by Tom “The Dude Designs” Hodge, it showcases nearly 300 pages worth of VHS sleeve artwork from movies made in the 1980s and 1990s. The covers are derived from the British VHS releases of these films and are broken into six genres: action, comedy, horror, kids, sci-fi, and thriller. Being an admirer of these types of films, which are both cult movies and forgettable flops (of the “so bad it’s good!” variety), what is truly amazing to me is the number of films presented that I personally still have never even heard of. A lot of the titles included have artwork that is very different from the American VHS releases. Case in point: Searchers of the Voodoo Mountain (1985), which is better known in the States as Warriors of the Apocalypse. Like a lot of the schlock movie posters of films of the 1950s and 1960s, these colorful cover art were sometimes better than the actual movie they were designed to advertise. Fifty years ago, a movie poster was drawn up and the film was made on the basis of the title and the poster. I’m sure the same held true for some of these VHS titles as the availability of home video created a perfect opportunity for studios to make movies that were released directly to VHS, completely bypassing cinemas altogether.

BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA

While working at the Tromaville Health Club in 1984, goodhearted, 98lb. weakling Melvin “The Mop Boy” was tricked into wearing a pink tutu and teased unmercifully until he fell from a two-story window and landed in a vat of nuclear waste. The toxic chemicals changed little Melvin, transforming him into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. Melvin became The Toxic Avenger, the first superhero from New Jersey!

Written and Directed by the great Lloyd Kaufman (and co-directed by his partner-in-slime, Michael Herz), The Toxic Avenger, which is a thoroughly entertaining and unique combination of the superhero genre, raunchy and over-the-top comedy, as well as full-on horror movie-type gore, not only became an instant hit, but singlehandedly built Troma films (Toxie is the company’s mascot much like Spider-man is to Marvel Comics). The Toxic Avenger character became so popular that, over the years, fans were treated to Tromatic goodies such as Toxie comic books, action figures, a children’s cartoon series (Toxic Crusaders) and even a musical; not to mention three hilarious sequels (with a fourth on the way). The first sequel, also written by Kaufman, and, again, directed by Lloyd and Herz, appeared in 1989.

Thanks to Toxie’s past heroics, The Toxic Avenger Part II begins with the little people of Tromaville living in peace and harmony. That is, until the evil chemical corporation Apocalypse Inc. comes to town and blows up the local home for the blind which, incidentally, happens to be where Toxie (played by Ron Fazio and John Altamura) is working, along with his blind girlfriend, Claire (singer/musician/artist/poet/filmmaker Phoebe Legere). After Toxie mops up the floor with the corporation’s top henchman, the evil Chairman (Rick Collins from Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.) and his partner Miss Malfaire (Class of Nuke ‘Em High 2’s Lisa Gaye) devise a diabolical plan to rid Tromaville of the Toxic Avenger once and for all. They convince Toxie to travel to Tokyo in order to locate his long-lost father, Big Mac (Rikiya Yasuoka from Black Rain). Not only will Toxie’s absence allow Apocalypse Inc. to take over Tromaville hassle-free, but, while he’s in Japan, Miss Malfaire and the evil Chairman will order their Tokyo contacts to use state-of-the-art Japanese technology in order to rid Toxie of the Troma-tons within his body which not only give him his superhuman size and strength, but also act up whenever he’s in the presence of evil. Will the oblivious monster-hero figure stop the evil corporation from taking over both Tromaville and Japan or will Apocalypse Inc. reign supreme?

I first saw this film in 1989 at a (sadly) now defunct grindhouse theater on New York’s famed 42^nd street. I was a bit disappointed as I felt that the sequel didn’t live up to the greatness of the original. Over 25 years later, I still feel that it doesn’t come close to the original film, but I do find it a lot more entertaining than I did back then (probably because this is the Director’s Cut and not the chopped up, R-rated version I saw on its original release). Like the first film, it’s still a wild combo of super heroics, raunchy, over-the-top comedy and excessive gore, and the movie barely stops to catch its breath during the 109-minute running time. The larger-than-life acting is a real joy to watch too. In particular, Lisa Gaye (who studied under Strasberg) and Phoebe Legere both shine in their insane roles and these two lovely ladies prove to be extremely gifted comic actors. Also, for those who enjoy seeing stars before they hit the big time, the incredibly talented Michael Jai White (Tyson, Spawn, Black Dynamite) makes his film debut as an evil, yet humorous henchman.

Although, the film runs a bit too long and isn’t as focused as the original, The Toxic Avenger Part II is loaded with enjoyably campy humor and wonderfully comic bookish situations, characters & performances as well as insane (in a good way) direction. It also contains a fun, Heavy Metal Toxie song and the classic theme of good vs. evil.

If you’re a true-blue Tromaniac, you’ll be happy to know that Lloyd Kaufman and the terrific Troma team have put together a lovely remastered, Troma-rrific HD transfer presented in its original 1:85:1 aspect ratio. The region free Blu-ray/DVD is also packed with a ton of special features (most of which have been carried over from previous releases). Along with the original theatrical trailer, we also get trailers for the remaining three Toxic Avenger films as well as several other Troma classics like Troma’s War and Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volumes 1 & 2; not to mention the featurette: The American Cinematheque Honors 40 Years of Troma, two humorous, retro features: At Home with Toxie and Toxie on Japanese T.V., a brief interview with Lisa Gaye who happily discusses her association with the fiercely independent company, a brand new introduction by the King of Troma himself, Lloyd Kaufman, as well as a retro DVD intro and, last, but certainly not least, a full-length, hilarious and informative audio commentary from writer/director Kaufman, who discusses a plethora of interesting subjects such as filming in New York, New Jersey and Tokyo as well as his many battles with the MPAA. My only complaint here is that the commentary is out of sync, as Lloyd seems to be six minutes ahead of the visuals. Other than that, it’s over four hours of toxic goodness, so if you’re a Troma fanatic, a lover of Toxie or just enjoy off-the-wall insanity, this Blu-ray is an absolute must.

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BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA

Remember the days when it seemed as if every week a new slasher film with a holiday in the title would hit movie theaters and you couldn’t wait to see it? How about waiting with baited breath to see if Eddie Murphy would appear as Buckwheat on Saturday Night Live? Or walking around the neighborhood with your boom box blasting awesome tunes from legendary groups like Blondie or The Police? Well, if you were a teenager in the 1980s, you remember these things well. You probably also remember trying to sneak into the local movie theater in order to see R-rated sex comedies like Porky’s (1982) or hanging out with your friends at the corner pizza shop and playing now classic video games such as Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. If all this talk (especially the sex comedy/video game part) is making you nostalgic for those unforgettable days of fun, then you’re gonna love 1983’s Joysticks.

With the help of his idiotic nephews Arnie (John Diehl from Stripes) and Max (Newhart’s John Voldstad), uptight businessman Joseph Rutter (the great Joe Don Baker from Walking Tall, GoldenEye and Mars Attacks!) does everything in his power to get the local video arcade shut down. However, arcade owner Jefferson Bailey (Secret Admirer’s Scott McGinnis) doesn’t plan on going out without a fight. Jefferson enlists his co-worker Eugene (Leif Green from Grease 2), his best friend McDorfus (Night Shift’s Jim Greenleaf) as well as Rutter’s rebellious daughter Patsy (Corinne Bohrer from Vice Versa) to help him thwart the reactionary businessman’s misguided plan. The battle for the arcade’s future culminates in a Super Pac-Man duel between the video game-phobic Jefferson and Rutter’s Super Pac-Man champion, King Vidiot (Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Gries).

If you don’t remember seeing this mindless, but deliriously fun film way back when, then you probably at least recall catching the trailer on TV. Joysticks was the brainchild of independent filmmaking legend Greydon Clark (Satan’s Cheerleaders, Angel’s Brigade, Without Warning) who, while at a screening of his 1982 slasher film parody Wacko, noticed a line of kids standing in front of a video game in the lobby of the theater. Seeing how excited these kids were over playing this game, Greydon immediately thought that a video arcade would be the perfect location for a hot, new teenage sex comedy. The creative director developed his timely idea further, began filming in the fall of ’82, and by the following spring, Joysticks was the #1 movie in the country.

The humorous film is filled with solid direction, extremely loveable characters and fun performances (you may not recognize most of that incredibly talented cast by name, but trust me when I tell you that you’ll immediately recognize their faces as they’ve all gone on to do a plethora of work over the years). Joysticks also benefits from a simple and engaging story as well as contains enough laughs to fill its brief 87 minute running time. The lighthearted comedy may not be in the same league as, say, Animal House (1978) or Caddyshack (1980), and it’s far from being an accurate depiction of teenage life in the ‘80s à la Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), but it’s a harmless and highly enjoyable film. If you were around during the early ‘80s video game craze, will have you happily strolling down memory lane.

Joysticks has been released on DVD by Scorpion Releasing in a brand new 16x9 anamorphic (1.78:1) widescreen transfer and, although the film shows some scratches and the colors aren’t as vibrant as, say, Blu-ray, the movie is more than watchable and a huge improvement over the previous DVD release. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer, a very interesting and informative audio commentary with producer/director Clark who discusses many aspects of the film’s production and, also, an onscreen interview with Clark who not only talks about several films from his impressive filmography, but also details directing seasoned veterans Joe Don Baker (who also starred in Wacko and Final Justice for Clark), George Kennedy (Wacko and Clark’s The Uninvited), Jack Palance (Angel’s Brigade, Without Warning), Martin Landau (Without Warning and Clark’s second sci-fi film The Return) and Robert Englund (Clark’s Dance Macabre). Rounding out the special features are several fun 70s/80s exploitation trailers (the awesome trailer for 1981’s Kill and Kill Again is priceless) which are guaranteed to bring back memories.

Whether you’re a fan of Greydon Clark, Joe Don Baker, retro video games, ‘80s teen sex comedies or just like to sit back, veg out and feel good, Joysticks is the DVD for you.

(NOTE: Scorpion Releasing advises that this title has sold out. However, the company may do a re-pressing in the future. For now, it is available on Amazon through third party sources. Click here to order.)  

By Mark Cerulli

Thirty years after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome seemingly ended the Australian post apocalypse triptych, director George Miller is back, with a vengeance (and a much bigger budget). The result could have been an overdone, bloated production, loaded with CGI and soft on any real thrills… instead Miller has created a masterpiece that significantly raises the bar of action filmmaking.

Where to begin? From the opening sequence when Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) surveys a vast desert wasteland while eating a mutant lizard that wandered too close, you know this ain’t your daddy’s Mad Max. The film explodes from there – Max is captured by a gang of “War Boys” run by a terrifying character named Immortan Joe, his face hidden behind a ghastly breathing mask complete with teeth. Joe is played by Hugh Keys-Byrne who starred as Toe Cutter in the original Mad Max. The actor has bulked up and gone gray, but lost none of his swaggering menace. Our Max is quickly put to use as a living blood donor for an ailing warrior named Nux (Nicholas Hoult). Max’s life seems grim and short until he makes a daring escape, joining up with Furiosa (Charlize Theron) who has just committed the most unforgivable of sins – stealing from Immortan Joe. And she didn’t just drive off with treasure or gasoline, she’s taken his very future – his five alluring slave wives, one of whom is carrying his child. You can bet he’ll unleash the hounds of automotive hell to get them back!

The film cleverly blends the best of the first three movies – snippets of Max’s personal tragedy, the hulking villain from 1982’s Road Warrior and a bit of Bartertown, resulting in a full throttle chase through the irradiated wasteland. Gradually Max and Furiousa learn to trust each other, but that’s as warm and fuzzy as the movie gets – there’s just no time for more. In fact, if Max has more than one page of dialogue in the entire film, I’d be surprised. What there IS time for, is an array of mind-bending stunts as they flee Immortan Joe’s forces, pursuing them in a fleet of devilishly souped-up vehicles. Throw in the hostile, opportunistic tribes roaming the wasteland and death is literally waiting around every curve. In terms of pacing, the director really puts the hammer down, so it’s relentless… and best of all, Miller did everything “Old School.” Real stunts, flying stuntmen, honest to gawd car crashes and glorious explosions, all played out against a white hot sky and muted red earth. (The film was shot off the grid in the Namibian desert when the Australian outback appeared too forgiving.)

While many of today’s releases can be enjoyed on DVD or any of the over the top services now available, Mad Max: Fury Road MUST be seen in a theater and with an audience. Guaranteed, there won’t be the usual multiplex hassles of conversation or texting – all eyes will be glued to the screen. (The preview audience I saw it with actually applauded various action sequences, a real rarity.)

We all love old movies and constantly lament, “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.” This time they did, and Lord Humongous would approve!

Mad Max: Fury Road Opens May 15^th from Warner Bros.

By Todd Garbarini

“The dark corners of the human mind are the deepest dark, I believe, of anything in the universe,” once said author, playwright, producer, and director Arch Oboler in describing his infamous radio plays of the 1930s and 1940s which aired on NBC under the title of Lights Out! It is no secret that some of the world's most well-known artists, everyone from author Edgar Allan Poe to film director Dario Argento, have channeled nightmarish experiences from their childhood and woven them into the very fabric of their stories and films. The late great surrealist Swiss artist Hans Rudolf Giger, known internationally as H.R. Giger, also sublimated his fears and frustrations into startling and often horrific imagery that coupled man with machinery as he explored the triptych of existence: birth, life, and death. Audiences are taken behind the scenes of this master painter in the elegiac final days of his life in the new film Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World, directed by Belinda Sallin, which opens May 15, 2015 in selected cities. Although a documentary, Passagen, was made about his work in 1972 by Fredi M. Murer, Dark Star showcases interviews with the people closest to this man who shunned the limelight and preferred to paint on his own terms.

Härr Giger passed away just after filming finished. The film does an expert job of taking us through his life as he imparts interesting anecdotes, such as showing us a skull that his father gave him as a boy, which frightened him until he found a way to overcome his fear. This skull indubitably played a huge roll in his life and work. He meets with friends and family who are lucky enough to spend their time with him. Much of the dialog is spoken in Swiss German and subtitles are provided.

Dark Star opens with placid and calm shots of the artist’s house in Zürich, Switzerland. The camera pans around the grounds and above the abode and the trees until it zeros in on the front door and, in a maneuver eerily reminiscent of Dorothy Gale’s journey from black and white into Technicolor, the door opens to reveal this dark world of surrealistic paintings. These unbelievable images, which exist in the form of finished paintings as well as macabre sculptures, date back to the 1960’s. Like most artists, images and emotions fueled Härr Giger’s work, and he had his own method of painting which incorporated air brushing while listening to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Not surprisingly, childhood experiences factored greatly as a catalyst for his disturbing imagery. A trip to the Raetian Museum in Chur, Switzerland as a young lad was particularly frightening when he saw a mummy for the first time.

His tumultuous relationship with actress and model Li Tobler, whom he was with from 1966 until 1975, figures prominently in many of the works that populate his Necronomicon books. Härr Giger, enfeebled and walking with a cautious gait, speaks eloquently about the loss of Frau Tobler who shot herself at age 27 after suffering for years from severe depression.

Following this tragedy, Härr Giger’s work caught the attention of film director Ridley Scott, who was in the midst of pre-production on 20^th Century Fox’s Alien (1979), who was by his own admission bowled over by the creations he saw in Necronomicon. These images provided the basis for the titular monster, and it was this blockbuster science fiction film franchise that catapulted an unassuming Giger to superstardom and into the public consciousness for all-time. The set design is known for its heavy emphasis on sexual imagery. His then-wife, Mia Bonzanigo, was there to see him win the Oscar for Alien.

Härr Giger’s widow, Carmen Maria Giger, expatiates on her late husband’s sense of perception and his masterful melding of human anatomy and machines. By his own admission, one of his paintings came about due to a trip he had on LSD.

Despite his fragile state, Härr Giger still managed to make it to public appearances when museums mounted exhibitions of his work, such as the Lentos Art Museum in Austria. The droves of fans who flocked to see him came from all sorts of backgrounds, and many of them possessed tattoos of his artwork that covered their arms, legs, and backs.

The film leaves the viewer with an interesting overview of an artist who succeeded in what he set out to do, and was complacent in himself and his work.

“HEIL RICHARD!”

By Raymond Benson

William Shakespeare’s Richard III, one of the playwright’s earlier efforts, is generally classified as one of the great history plays, but it’s also considered one of the better tragedies. It’s also among the bard’s bloodier and nastier pieces of work. After all, the protagonist is the villain—and oh, what a villain Richard III, the deformed and power-mad king of England who ruled the land for a couple of turbulent years in the mid-1480s, truly is. Throughout the course of the story, he manages to murder or give the order to murder nearly the entire supporting cast.

The play has been filmed before, most notably by Laurence Olivier in 1955, but director Richard Loncraine’s 1995 film production, based on the stage production by the Royal National Theatre, takes the story into a very different universe. It’s always risky to mess with Shakespeare’s temporal settings, but this particular experiment works like gangbusters.

Imagine an alternate fascist England in the late 1930s/early 1940s, in which the story takes place within something similar to the world of a Nazi propaganda film, namely The Triumph of the Will, which documented Hitler’s rise to power. Here, Richard III, superbly embodied by Ian McKellen (who was also a producer of the film) is a Nazi-like dictator, complete with a Nazi-like uniform, SS-like henchmen, and a WW2-era military to serve his wishes. British landmarks are easily recognizable in the picture, and the Oscar-nominated art direction and costumes brilliantly legitimize the brave concept. If anything, Richard III is a sumptuous visual feast.

That said, I believe this is a Shakespearean adaptation that is accessible to general audiences. Those familiar with the play will enjoy what the filmmakers did with the piece, and those who can’t stand Shakespeare will probably find themselves totally engrossed. The all-star cast is terrific—Annette Bening, Robert Downey, Jr., Jim Broadbent, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Nigel Hawthorne, and a who’s-who of other British supporting players join McKellen, who dominates the film with a bravura performance. They all manage to properly deliver the Shakespearean dialogue with clarity; when the acting is spot-on in Shakespeare, it’s not difficult to comprehend the meaning behind the language.

Better yet, the running time is less than two hours—screenwriters Loncraine and McKellan cleverly cut the piece (which is the second longest play Shakespeare wrote) into a tight, fast-moving spectacle of villainous treachery. McKellen’s breaking of the fourth wall to address the audience adds to the nudge-nudge, wink-wink factor that gives the film its irony. There is humor, to be sure, and one of the better laughs is how the line “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” is employed.

Twilight Time’s new limited edition Blu-ray is a delight. The transfer is above average, with sharp images and bold colors. Extras include an isolated music and effects track and the theatrical trailer.

Shakespeare fans will certainly want to pick up this one, and it’s a good bet that most cinema buffs will appreciate the thriller aspects, the acting, and the exquisite look of the inspired and daring re-invention of the play.

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