And we’re back! It’s been along layoff since James and I had a chance to sit down and record a new podcast, and thanks to the wonders of memory, in this episode you’ll hear exactly why this is so. We also talk briefly about the Oscars, more specifically on the In Memorium montage that honors those who have lost their life in the past year, and we note some of the most obvious snubs from this montage, including the man we devote this episode to, writer/director Dan O’Bannon.
O’Bannon isn’t a household name, but his contributions to the Alien franchise and zombie lore alone make him as influential as anyone you are likely to find working in genre films. But then, the Academy isn’t fond of genre films, so why should they be fond of Dan O’Bannon?
So in this episode James and I tackle five of his films as our own way of honoring a man who has made movie watching just so damn enjoyable for us over the years. You may not know who he is, but you’ll be hard pressed to avoid his influences in modern film. He was an incredible talent, and film making is a lesser medium with his loss, and a whole lot less fun. But hopefully you’ll take the time to try out some of his films and finally see just what you’ve been missing.
Just in time for our upcoming High & Low (Brow) podcast that will focus on two HP Lovecraft film adaptations, there is a new documentary devoted to him being released this week. While I am a fan of Lovecraft I’ve always felt he never has seemed to have received the amount of mainstream popularity he deserves, especially compared to other horror writers. He’s always seemed to be a bit more respected by horror nerds then general audiences, which is a shame.
Part of the reason might be that his stories tend to be a bit cumbersome to the uninitiated, with their flowery prose that is not often seen, especially from more modern authors like himself. His stories have also become rather notorious in Hollywood for how difficult they are to adapt, resulting in people being less impressed with his work by proxy and with a general reluctance from the studios to adapt his works.
Lovecraft: Spreading the Madness looks to correct these oversights and misconceptions on the man and his mythos, and they do so by rolling out an impressive group purveyors of the weird and wonderous like Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Straub, Stuart Gordon, Ramsey Campbell, S.T. Joshi, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Andrew Migliore and Robert M. Price to talk about Lovecraft and his influence on horror as well as their own lives. Its an impressive group, to be sure, and I can barely contain my excitement at getting a chance to watch this film. While I won’t have time to watch this before James and I record, you can be sure within the next few weeks I will make sure to get my hands on a copy of this potentially fabulous documentary.
Great news for the next midnight movie series out at The Uptown Theatre, as one of the upcoming films is the John Carpenter classic (and arguably his best film) The Thing will be playing on December 18th at the slightly misnomer-esque 11:45 PM time slot. Why the excitement? Because prints for The Thing had only been available for reel-to-reel projectors, that is, up until now. As a brand new print has been struck for the more modern platter-style projection systems and that print will be headed our way for this midnight screening.
John Carpenter’s The Thing
Saturday, Dec. 18
Uptown Theatre
11:45 PM l $9
When I started this column my main hope was to find interesting films that I had never seen before that I could review. I hoped that I would enjoy the majority of them, but I knew that in sampling such odd fare that it was inevitable that I would eventually encounter some duds. But I also held out hope, as naive as it probably was, that since I was watching primarily experimental films, that I would enjoy at least some aspect of these movies, no matter how terrible they might happen to be. I held out that hope until now. Until Mutant. I just wish this day had never come.
Two brothers, Josh and Mike (Wings Hauser and Lee Montgomery) from somewhere hip and cosmopolitan, are heading to a small southern getaway to engage in some much needed male bonding. It seems that have become estranged for some unexplained reason and this trip to a place that they hate, and hates them they back with equal fervor, will be the perfect place to solve all of their problems. That is, until the vampire acid zombies show up and ruin everything.
I’ve been trying to slog through Mutant for close to a month now. Considering I’ve watched any number of awful films in my day just what possibly could have made Mutant so difficult to sit through? The short answer is really rather simple. Everything. It is difficult to know just where to begin describing the failures of Mutant. It is the kind of colossal disaster that could destroy companies. Funny enough, Mutant did.
I’m a big fan of both the Film Junk website and their outstanding podcast, and I am quite happy to announce that one of their contributors, Jay Cheel, has finally posted his short film Colore Non Vedenti online for all to watch. Jay is heavily influenced by John Carpenter and Italian giallo’s, so if you like either you should find plenty to like from this outstanding short horror film. That Jay can turn a simple Jell-O mold into something truly menacing is one heck of a feat.
Be sure to check out the film’s website as well, as it has multiple commentary tracks with some of the various contributors to the film and there are several video diaries as well. This first video diary is particularly great, as Jay and Roman unwittingly stumble upon the Blair Witch while trying to do a lighting test at a remote location. If only I was kidding.
Be sure to check out the film, as you won’t be disappointed.
And we’re back! It’s been along layoff since James and I had a chance to sit down and record a new podcast, and thanks to the wonders of memory, in this episode you’ll hear exactly why this is so. We also talk briefly about the Oscars, more specifically on the In Memorium montage that honors those who have lost their life in the past year, and we note some of the most obvious snubs from this montage, including the man we devote this episode to, writer/director Dan O’Bannon.
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