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Reviews
Student Bodies (1981)
Underrated film
The film is a parody of Slasher films made in 1981. (Which was in the early days of slasher flicks and the inevitable sequelitis.) The last time I saw it on cable they rated it one star. It is much funnier than that.
The film starts with the obligatory babysitter left alone to babysit the child who is never seen. Every plot point has large arrows pointing to it to make it even more obvious. The murder weapons are beyond absurd. (The first one is a paper clip.) The killer is a guy wearing rubber boots known as the "breather" who disguises his voice by talking through a rubber chicken. The plot is ripped from the type of movies that were popular in 1981. (The first murder happens on Jamie Lee Curtis' birthday.)
If you have a choice watch the 'R' rated version. It is not for nudity or violence. It is for one gag to intentionally get an R rating. (I won't spoil it. It is my favorite gag in the film.)
If you are in the mood for something totally absurd and there is alcohol involved, it is worth an evening.
National Lampoon Television Show: Lemmings Dead in Concert (1973)
Woodstock with a Death Wish
Back when National Lampoon made records (remember those?) and had a magazine, they did a parody of Woodstock called "Lemmings". In it are some of the names that went on to become famous in Saturday Night Live and films.
This video is a recording of the stage production of the album.
Lemmings (The festival of "sex, love and death") is aout a bunch of young folk getting together to listen to music and off themselves. It is very politically incorrect humor these days. (And probably was in the 70s as well.) Everyone gets skewered. The fans, the musicians, politics, as well as the culture of the 60s.
Highlights include a Motown version of the communist manifesto, The band "Megadeath" (probably where the other band got the idea), parodies of many of the artists who played at Woodstock (including one by John Belushi), and some great quotable bits.
"Long hair... Short hair... Whats the difference once the heads blown off!"
"Power to the correct people!"
"For the benifit of those who have just paid, the Woodshuck Festival of Peace, Love and Death is now a free concert. That does not mean you can do what you want. it means you have to do as your told."
If you can find the movie or the record, get into it. Its killer stuff!
Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (1998)
They showed this at the H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival
The film is not really a documentary.
The movie was voted as the best film of the festival by a large margin. (And there were some excellent entries this year.)
As far as I am concerned this is the best Lovecraft adaptation I have ever seen.
The film is an adaptation of a number of H.P. Lovecraft's storys intercut with some very realisting looking film footage of "HPL". (Actually an actor who does a remarkable job with the part.)
The film is an exploration of Lovecraft's motivations behind the stories, why he wrote, and what he thought of his own efforts -- intertwingling with his own stories and themes. (Especially the dreamlands stories of Randolph Carter.)
All of this sounds kind of hokey, but it works. Through the Dreamlands, the film mixes modern day and Lovecraft's 20s, among others. (One scene has Lovecraft meeting a modern fan and wondering why his face is on a t-shirt.)
If you can find this playing somewhere, by all means see it! It is an impressive piece of film making.
The Goodies (1970)
One of the forgotten classics of British Comedy
The Goodies are a very funny British comedy group that grew out of a radio show called "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" (sometimes called "The Wonder Show".) The radio series also had John Cleese and a few others.
The writing for this group is always very sharp and filled with unexpected and dreadful puns.
If you can find a copy of this, rent, buy or borrow it! (That goes for any of their other movies.)
The President's Analyst (1967)
Beware of the "Altered Music" version
Because of copyright problems (probably resulting from Barry McGuire finding God) some of the music has been replaced on most copies of the home video version. This replacement REALLY spoils some of the best parts of the film. The most evident example takes place during the stalking scene in the field. The sceen was designed to keep in pace with the song being played. The replacement is at the wrong tempo and spoils the whole scene. The scene at the club when Dr. Schaffer gets nabs was missing on my copy as well.
AMC showed the film with the proper music, but without the eyeball footage and how he meets Nan.
In the uncut version, it is one of my favorite films.
Le spie vengono dal semifreddo (1966)
What were they thinking?
This is the second Dr. Goldfoot movie. What can I say about this film? It is a second rate sequel. Instead of Frankie Avalon, they got Fabian. The film was shot in Italy with a couple of goofy Italian comics. This one was played more for laughs. (Not that they got them.) Vincent Price is the ONLY reason to see this film. He has alot of gleeful fun as the evil doctor.
The final chase scene takes place in an Italian amusement park and is reminicent of an H.R. Puffinstuff episode. Lots of running around and unneccesary amusement park rides.
Fans of Austin Powers and/or Vincent Price will want to see this. Everyone else might be warned to see better films.