Posts Tagged ‘Cannibals’

Road, The

Saturday, November 28th, 2009
poster

theatrical poster, copyright 2009 Dimension Films

company: Dimension Films
year: 2009
runtime: 112′
country: United States
director: John Hillcoat
cast: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee,
Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Molly Parker,
Michael K. Williams, Charlize Theron
writer: Joe Penhall, from the
novel by Cormac McCarthy
cinematography: Javier Aguirresarobe
order the novel from Amazon.com
The Road is currently in theatres in the USA

Plot: A father and son wander the blasted remnants of the United States after an unnamed cataclysm destroys civilization and most life on Earth.

It’s always unfortunate when the best word I can think of to describe a new film is “underwhelming”.  That’s not to say that John Hillcoat’s film isn’t a noble attempt at bringing the award-winning Cormac McCarthy source novel from 2006 to the screen, but I couldn’t help but feel that twinge of dissatisfaction when the end credits finally rolled.

To be fair, The Road gets plenty right.  The major success of the picture is in its depiction of the apocalyptic landscape the unidentified father and son (Mortensen and Smit-McPhee respectively) traverse.  Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Goya’s Ghosts and, it pains me to say, the latest entry in the Twilight series) captures the many locations (from Pennsylvania to the truly other-worldly Mount St. Helens, looking as much like the end of the world as it did the summer of 1980) brilliantly and allows Hillcoat to present his desolate world with a minimum of computer trickery.

As important as the cinematography is the sound design.  There is near constant noise, be it of wind, rain, or the deep rumblings of a world still in the process of tearing itself apart.  When coupled with Aguirresarobe’s images and an understated score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis the illusion is complete, and I doubt any viewer will be able to argue that The Road’s vision of the sunless gray future is anything less than unsettling.

There’s also nothing overtly wrong with The Road’s depiction of its sparse drama.  The father and son encounter a number of threats throughout, including a family who keeps people huddled like animals in their basement while slowly harvesting their limbs for food, but violence is kept to a minimum.  The high points of the story are undoubtedly the few quiet moments in which the father and son are simply allowed to be themselves, given brief respite from the dangers we know could be lurking just beyond their, and our, range of sight.

The father is understandably protective, dedicating his life to the survival of his son after his wife commits suicide, and is instinctively distrustful of anyone who crosses their path.  Aware that he is dying, the father knows that his ability to fulfill his duty is dwindling as much as their arsenal – a single pistol loaded with their last two rounds of ammunition.  He sees a glimmer of hope for the future  in the naiveté of his son, who wishes to help everyone they pass (a thief, a dying old man), but realizes the immense danger it poses in this harsh new reality.  As far the father is concerned, charity is dead.

Both Mortensen and Smit-McPhee work well in their respective roles.  Their performances are honest, and neither succumbs to the temptation to be overly dramatic.  Other characters are few and far between, and most have no lines at all.  A fine exception is Robert Duvall as an elderly man named Eli, near death and almost blind, who is invited to stay with the father and son for a night.

That so much is right with The Road makes it all the harder for me to place just what is wrong with it.  I’ve not read McCarthy’s source so I can’t speak for how faithfully it was adapted here (I know that the role of the mother is expanded considerably, albeit in flashback).  There just seems to be something missing from the equation, something that keeps all of The Road’s accomplishments from coalescing into a satisfying whole.  It’s a picture that strives hard for depth and resonance, but that rings hollow in the end.

Dimension has pushed back the release for The Road numerous times over the past year and a half, and its latest push to the 25th of this month is assumed in some circles to be an attempt at improving its Oscar potential.  Perhaps the Weinsteins are hoping for a repeat of No Country for Old Men’s earlier Academy Award success.  There is certainly some buzz surrounding the film’s release, and the theatre I screened it in was relatively packed (even at 6 in the evening the day after Thanksgiving).  The audience seemed pretty approving of the production by and large, though a group of three (out of 200 or so) did leave early on – never to return.

Don’t let the rather intangible concerns espoused above dissuade you if you’re looking forward to this one, as The Road is undeniably a good film and a fine alternative to the artless spectacles of destruction that typically populate the corners of the multiplex (sorry, no explosions here).  It just isn’t a great film, which I was perhaps unjustly expecting after the Coen brothers’ previous McCarthy adaptation.  The Road comes recommended, but keep those pesky expectations in check.

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Cannibal Mercenary

Saturday, November 21st, 2009
cover for the long-OOP English language VHS release

cover for the long-OOP English language VHS release

a.k.a. Mercenary / Employ For Die
company: unknown
year: 1983
runtime: 104′
country: Thailand
director: Hong Lu Wong
cast: Lek Songphon, Sugud Namcham,
Sormud Chiarekcheua, Chaw Mekhunkud,
Rom Rachan, Uthane Boon Ying,
Thoon Thankphrom
not available on home video in the USA

Plot: Wilson, a Thai veteran of the Vietnam War and all around master of combat, leads a group of men on a daring mission into the jungles of Vietnam to topple a dangerous drug lord and his cannibal army.

Well, that was weird.  I never thought much about just how far the short-lived cannibal craze that dominated Italian exploitation cinema in the first couple of years of the 80’s might have reached, but here is evidence that it was indeed a worldwide phenomenon.  CANNIBAL MERCENARY is an obscure yet notorious Thai actioner that does just what its title suggests – it merges the popularity of macho jungle combat pictures with the gut-munching gospels of Lenzi and Deodato.

MERCENARY doesn’t really have the gross-out factor of that which it imitates, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Most of the gnarlier effects are disgusting less for their realism than because whatever the crew used to accomplish said effects (slimy goopy something-or-other) simply looks disgusting.  The worst things ever get is when Wilson’s small company of soldiers happens upon a maggot-covered head hanging from the trees.  While the majority of the company is taken aback, one soldier grabs a handful of maggots and starts chowing down.  It’s not the first time a Thai film gag has made me do just that.

Speaking of Thai humor, this film follows in the country’s proud cinematic tradition of scatelogical jokes.  Wilson’s commandos take temporary refuge under a foot bridge and are peed on by a pair of drunken Viet Cong for their troubles.  Later three of the troop is captured by disgruntled townspeople and tied down with stakes before being peed on again.  One of the locals is obviously unhappy with just urinating on his captive and insists on squatting down to rub his crotch in their face as well.  I’m happy to say that, in stern opposition to the work of Sampote Sands, nothing in CANNIBAL MERCENARY is ever seen crapping on anything else.

Scat jokes aside, this is a relentlessly grim if utterly ludicrous action film that refuses to sink into self parody even with an army of gun-toting cannibalistic martial arts masters running, leaping, and swinging through the trees.  Lead Wilson starts the film as a messed-up vet, having lost his wife in the war and now watching his daughter slowly crippled by polio, and ends the film in even worse shape.  Watching his new brothers-in-arms die a veriety of gruesome deaths at the hands of cannibal booby traps and worse has devastating effects, and the film ends with Wilson institutionalized and utterly mad.  That his daughter is saved by money earned for his troubles and that the army recognizes him as a hero seems of little consequence when said father and hero is so obviously out of his mind.

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His fellow mercenaries receive far less in the way of characterization, and several are never really introduced at all.  What we do learn about them is in keeping with the grimness of the rest of the picture.  One is rightly tormented by his murdering of his own cheating fiance several years in the past while another does little but try to rape every woman who wanders past.  The lackeys of the drug lord fare worse if that’s possible, hanging people for fun and finding child murder an acceptable past time.  Whatever picture of humanity CANNIBAL MERCENARY may be trying to paint, it’s not a pretty one.

Action direction could best be described as kinetic.  The tag team hand-to-hand combat blends well with the over-the-top firefights, and a bit of well placed slow motion and frame-snipping certainly helps.  The level of on-screen violence is certainly at the high end, and one can expect to see toes blown off, men blown up with grenades, decapitations, dismemberments, and lots of spurting blood.  Handling of the more dramatic elements is rather bland, and the director stretches many a suspense-building moment with endless repetition of quickly cut footage.  It’s not necessarily bad, especially considering the industry and time period, but it grows quite tedious by the end of things.  The soundtrack is comprised, as were those for many a south Asian film of the time, entirely of unlicensed tracks.   Cues from Goblin’s score for ZOMBI: DAWN OF THE DEAD are frequently called upon and suit the violent action well.

There’s really not much else to say about this, other than that it was one of many films imported by Tomas Tang’s Filmark company and bastardized for increased Western appeal.  In this case CANNIBAL MERCENARY was trimmed of its gore and edited to fit a new story concerning a treasure hunt, then re-released as THE JAGUAR PROJECT.  The only legitimate English-friendly home video release for this one is a way out of print VHS from the ’80s, and a Thai VCD release under the odd title of EMPLOY FOR DIE appears to be out of print as well.  I didn’t mind this one as much as the above review may indicate, but it’s certainly not for all tastes.  Those interested should be able to find it at cinemageddon or elsewhere without much issue.

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Long Island Cannibal Massacre, The

Friday, October 30th, 2009

BOXcompany: Happy Enterprises
year: 1980
runtime: 91′
country: United States
director: Nathan Schiff
cast: John Smihula, Fred Borges,
Michael Siegal, Paul Smihula,
Richard Stone, Nancy Canberg
Order this film from Amazon.com

A pair of murderous madmen (one wearing a pillow case and goggles) butcher Long Island locals for Jack (Fred Borges) so that he might feed his family, who are suffering from a bizarre cannibal leprosy.  Inspector Cameron (John Smihula), having discovered the remains of a young woman on an isolated beach, works to track down the killers.

Nathan Schiff strikes again!  This, his second Super 8mm feature, was produced shortly after WEASELS RIP MY FLESH and continues in that effort’s tradition of blending creature-feature homage with ridiculous no-budget gore effects.  The scale is increased in some ways and pared down in others, in accordance with lessons learned during the making of WEASELS.  You won’t find any tabletop trips to Venus or desk lamps standing in for rocketships here, but rest assured that the lengtheir and more focused narrative of THE LONG ISLAND CANNIBAL MASSACRE offers up plenty of inspired insanity all the same.

As with all his productions, Schiff wears his inspirations on his sleave.  Inspector Cameron is a cop of the Dirty Harry variety, fed up with the system and itching for a chance to take his quest for justice offroad.  002A spate of gruesome homicides seem to be just what the doctor ordered, and Cameron is off the force and on his own in no time.  But this inspector has more than just a chip on his shoulder, and his character arc takes  some truly unexpected turns by the end of things.

The rest of the story, focusing on Jack and his hired serial killers, is a madcap mash-up of H. G. Lewis-esque ultra-violence and odes to the classic Roger Corman monster pictures of old.  A scene halfway through, in which one of Jack’s family dies of starvation because he’s not strong enough to fight for food, is an almost verbatim replay of one from Corman’s THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED.  The relationship between Jack and his hungry father echos that of Lee Van Cleef and the Venusian in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, though the monster’s plans here are even more twisted as he goes about the countryside raping young women so that he might raise a race of cannibal children!

As the title (and any experience with Schiff’s other work) might suggest, there’s gore to be had in spades here.  The film opens with a tour-de-force,  Jack’s hired killers attacking a young woman with a lawnmower, and doesn’t let up much from there.  The graphic imagery on display is gruesome, and the camera hovers lovingly over each of the 003gut-ripping and head-smashing setups – there’s no room for the squeamish here.  The conclusion is the best of Schiff’s career, bringing the killers, Inspector Cameron, Jack and his chainsaw-wielding monster of a dad neatly together for a grue-strewn death battle of epic proportions.

From a purely technical standpoint, THE LONG ISLAND CANNIBAL MASSACRE is a big step up from Schiff’s previous film.  Writing, photography, and editing are all improved, and the frequent action scenes are particularly well handled.  This is still an amateur effort, to be sure, but there’s something undeniably infectious about the enthusiasm of a teenager who decided one day to shoot an 8mm feature film, and did.

Never intended for any sort of widespread consumption, Image Entertainment saw fit to release THE LONG ISLAND 005CANNIBAL MASSACRE along with WEASELS RIP MY FLESH and THEY DON’T CUT THE GRASS ANYMORE to home video in February of 2004.  While not so feature-laden as those other two discs, Image’s DVD of MASSACRE is still impressive, especially for a film so obscure as this.

Image presents THE LONG ISLAND CANNIBAL MASSACRE in its original full-screen aspect ratio in an interlaced transfer.  The footage still looks very rough at times, exhibiting scratches and speckles that have been inherent in the source since it was first edited together.  But once one looks beyond the aesthetic limitations of a 29 year old feature shot on 8mm reversal film things don’t seem so bad.  There has been a good deal of color correction work, and I doubt the image could be improved drastically beyond this without an extensive (and expensive) restoration effort behind it.  The audio fares quite well, with dialogue and stock music cues carrying through quite nicely.  Some alterations were made to the score along the way to account for unlicensed music, but the new tracks merge well with the rest.

Supplements include interviews with writer / producer / director Schiff as well as his chief cast members, Fred Borges and John Smihula.  Smihula practically carries the film, playing a cop, a killer, a mutant, and Borges’ monster dad!  Also 007included is a feature commentary track with Schiff that brings the production information available here into full-on overkill mode.  Trailers for all three of the Image-released Schiff films are to be found as well, though there are no shorts made available here as they were with the other two DVDs.

The collected works of Nathan Schiff are certainly an acquired taste, and one I’ve railed against in the past.  But as with everything else, opinions change.  THE LONG ISLAND CANNIBAL MASSACRE is a grim sort of cornball insanity and I don’t mind saying that I enjoyed every minute of it – and what a title!  Recommended.

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Lost on Adventure Island – XXX

Monday, October 5th, 2009

a.k.a. King Dong / Supersimian XXX
company: Hendriethfilm Ltd.
year: 1985
runtime: 57′ / 33′
 country: United States
director: Yancey Hendrieth
cast: Crystal Holland, Chaz St. Peters,
Dee Hendrieth, Felicia Fox, Mikhael
Visit the official website or
order the family-friendly edit of
this film from Amazon.com

Young Anna [Crystal Holland] has issues with her mother.  Big issues.  When the recently divorced matriarch announces her intentions to take an extended trip to the Mediterranean, sans her daughter, Anna decides to take a trip of her own – sailing into the uncharted waters of the South Pacific.  Left at the helm for a few seconds while the boat’s owner Alex [St. Peters] goes below deck to fetch their horny co-travelers to relieve them for the night, Anna promptly smashes the vessel into a battleship.  The next morning finds Alex and Anna stranded on an island populated by prehistoric monsters, and worse . . .

014The two run afoul of a cannibal tribe and, in their flight from danger, wind up in the clutches of a population of Amazons.  Alex finds himself locked up for dinosaur food while Anna is adopted into the tribe.  But alas, those pesky cannibals are afoot again!  No sooner has Anna stepped into her new Amazonian garb than she is kidnapped and tied to a stake in the cannibal village.

Luckily for Anna, Alex has evaded death and dismemberment at the hands [teeth?] of a Tyrannosaurus thanks to the cunning intervention of his new friend Buddy the Gorilla [played by Hendrieth himself] and his mother, a Kong-sized ape Alex dubs Super Simian.  Alex and his cohorts make quick work of the cannibal village, with Super Simian smashing both it and most of its inhabitants to bits.  But just as Alex is about to rescue Anna he is speared through the back – Anna faints and, upon awakening, finds herself in a hospital bed with her mother at her side.  Confused as to whether her ordeal was real or imagined, Anna nevertheless promises to stay at home from then on, and the credits roll.

This independent production is definitely on the strange side [as I indicated in my earlier article, which was based solely on a viewing of the new family-friendly edit of the film], with a strange history to match.  Intended as a fanciful amateur homage to the special effects films of Ray Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien [ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. and KING KONG in particular], LOST ON ADVENTURE ISLAND would eventually find itself graced with pornographic sex scenes and marketed briefly on home video as adults-only entertainment under various titles like KING DONG and SUPERSIMIAN XXX.

013Writer / director Yancey Hendrieth claims to have had no input in regards to the pornographic material and, having now seen the adults-only cut of the film, I’m still inclined to believe him.  While it’s obvious that the original feature had a more mature bent than the revised version he currently sells through outlets like Amazon.com and Filmbaby [Alex and Anna's co-travelers are a rather horny pair, for example, though they never have sex on screen], all of the hardcore sex looks impossibly cheap and suspiciously out of place.  One rather lengthy sex scene is actually divided into two parts, with the latter playing earlier in the film than the former.  There are two hardcore scenes featuring the main cast – one in which Alex must impregnate three chained Amazons, the other a lesbian trist between Anna and one of her Amazon captors – both of which are filmed on the same sets as the scenes that bookend them.  Whoever decided on shooting the adults-only material obviously did so at or around the time the rest of the filmw as produced.

Draggy as it can get during the sexy parts, the pornographic cut of LOST ON ADVENTURE ISLAND definitely bests the newer no-sex version in regards to its editing.  In his effort to relieve his picture of all things indecent, Hendrieth succeeded only in making a mess of it.  The longer version actually has some dramatic impetus and, regardless of the derivative nature of the story and general lack of talent shared by the entire cast, manages to be mildly entertaining at times.  It’s unfortunate that Hendrieth didn’t opt to excise the unnecessary hardcore bits, which do untold damage to the pacing, and just leave the rest of the film as it was.

016The only real draw, regardless of which cut you see, is the accomplished [if not entirely successful] special effects production.  The three-man technical team of L. B. Carvelo, Keith Finkelstein, and David Dane manage some impressive stop motion shots of a plesiosaur as well as some imaginative layered matte work depicting the more fantastical aspects of the island [the Amazons' palace, a grove of Easter Island-like statues].  There’s also a neat life-sized Super Simian hand, a nod to the uber-expensive hydraulic arms constructed for Dino de Laurentiis super-budgeted KING KONG remake from 1976.  The stop motion armature of Super Simian fares worse than the rest, with its animation seeming shoddy in comparison to the rest of what’s on display.

The only official DVD release of LOST ON ADVENTURE ISLAND that is available at present is of Hendrieth’s 33 minute re-cut.  It looks about as good as its half-and-half 16mm / SOV  mastered-on-VHS origins would indicate – soft and artifacty with unnatural color and iffy contrast.  Audio fares about as well, with considerable background hiss noticeable throughout.  The authoring is, in a word, pathetic – there were no supplements on the disc I received.  The retail price tag is high given the content – around $15 before shipping.  Given the issues with the encoding and paltryness of content, it’s impossible for me to recommend a purchase.

018I didn’t find either cut of LOST ON ADVENTURE ISLAND to be a particularly appealing affair, the brief special effects moments aside.  It is what it is – an amateur effort with amateur talent and amateur production values.  Your mileage will undoubtedly vary, but I can’t recommend.

_________________

An interesting side-note:  The 1991 video-documentary HOLLYWOOD DINOSAURS features the plesiosaur sequence from LOST ON ADVENTURE ISLAND with one noteable alteration – Chaz St. Peters and Crystal Holland have both been replaced with footage of unidentified actors in mismatched locations.  Those with keen eyes will notice a blip in the editing, which reveals a few frames of the original cast hastily making their way off the left edge of the frame.

This review is part of the October Monster Mayhem roundtable:
BANNER

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Cannibal Terror

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Eurocine [1981] 94′
country: France / Spain
director: ALAIN DERUELLE [as Allan W. Steeve]
cast: SILVIA SOLAR, GERARD LEMAIRE,
cast: PAMELA STANFORD, OLIVIER MATHOT
Order this film from AMAZON.COM

Umberto Lenzi may not have contributed much of class to the world of cinema, but he does have the fine distinction of having jump started the cannibal craze that ran from the late 70’s through the 80’s. His 1972 film THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER may have been more of an adventurous romance than an out and out gut-muncher, but the cannibal-oriented moments are what interested audiences then and keep them watching today. Ruggero Deodato’s superior survival picture ULTIMO MONDO CANNIBALE [1977] would only solidify the market for the sub-genre, with his grittier CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST taking it to its ultimate extreme in late 1979. By the time Lenzi’s own rip-off of the sub-genre he began [1980's EATEN ALIVE] entered cinemas, the cannibal film had already fallen into a steady qualitative decline.

But with that decline in quality came a surge in quantity, and the years following 1980 saw the release of more cannibal films than the entire decade before it. Most of them were awful, and some went well beyond. Working strictly at the ‘indefensibly horrible’ end of the spectrum was French exploitation outfit Eurocine, a favorite tramping ground of Jess Franco at the time. CANNIBAL TERROR is the third in a trio of no-budget sub-genre efforts from the company, and the only one not to be directed by Franco.

(more…)

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