The Gate + Stargate = The 9th Gate

   As the World Turns  

    As this year comes to an end so comes a need to find the right film to end the year on but what film can achieve such a lofty goal? That is a question that requires reflection as I must sit and dwell on the past year and make a true and proper decision. And what a fucking miserable year it has been. 

    Though for my personal life, it has been quite well. I have a nephew now that warms the heart tremendously every time I see him. I am to become an uncle 3 more times in the upcoming year and so at the moment, I am well. The rest of the world though, what a shit state of a world we find ourselves in. Nothing seems to be going well for anyone and we, the ones getting by or scraping just, must suffer at the whim of those in power. It has been a tough year for the most part and to make a decision on the last film to write on has also been tough.

a true representation of I surviving the past year 

    Fast forward to Christmas Day 2025. I am laying in bed and scrolling through Tubi, possibly the GREATEST streaming service to exist, even though I should have been getting myself ready to go see family and presents and all that. Passing through Tubi's library, I come across a film that I haven't seen in sometime though I remember it not being all that great nor good and just rides the line of mediocre and OK. Though even with this realization, a strange sensation of nostalgia hits. 

    I make a note of it and after surviving the day and night when having to travel home then go to work on Friday and now manifesting this review on Saturday night; I watch this particular film. A film containing the only subject matter that I could latch onto to take my attention away from all this Christmas mania; The Devil.

    Now, there are a lot of films involving the devil that I could have chosen. Something along the lines of Belladonna of Sadness or This is the End but there is something about seeing that terrible poster for the Roman Polanski film The Ninth Gate that keeps me going back again and again.

these two were a close second

 

It Must Be Said 

    First and foremost; Roman Polanski is a piece of shit. Nothing I can do or say will change that fact. I just wanted to acknowledge this piece of common sense at the beginning of this review for it will at least give myself and you, dear reader, an understanding that I have never condone nor approve of his behavior. 

    I have no interest in the man and it is about time that he has essentially become persona non grata. With that being said, the following review will be of a film he has directed. I am in fact a fan of his films with Chinatown being one of my personal favorites and so maybe in the future I will speak more about these particular films in which he has directed but to discuss any more of the man himself is something I do not particularly have an interest in. Even so though; Why this film? It goes back to this singular moment in childhood. 

 

I play my trap card

    I remember as a kid, I believe around the age of 6 or 7, I was living in a sort of forced isolation. I would go to school and spend time after school out and about but when I would get home, there was only home. I lived too far from cities and neighbors to be able to just go out and the woods surrounding us were the kind that you could not trust a 5 or 6 year old to traverse through. 

    And so when the weekend came, there would be times where my mother would take my three sisters to go off and do what it was that young girls and mothers do and I was just left alone at the house. Locked inside with enough food to get through the day and satellite television to spend time with. 

    I believe that I was surfing the 500 channels when I stumbled upon the Sci-Fi Channel, now known as SyFy, and caught a specific moment in this film. 

 

c'est la vie 

It was the scene of Emmanuelle Seigner flying down the stairs and then doing like two to three frame kung-fu fighting. 

    I saw this scene and my brain processed it as: "What the fuck was that?"

    I then proceeded to watch the rest of the film. Trying to catch up as best as I could when the commercial breaks came around. Even though it didn't hit any real points of interest that I thought I had at that point, I was very much finding enjoyment in watching adults doing something adult in nature and with various mentions of the devil being thrown in as a spice but before I continue down memory lane. 

The Movie

    Dean Corso, played by a scummy looking, foreshadowing?, Johnny Depp, is a man who loves books. Even more-so, he loves to track down the rarest of books and making a profit from selling them. A mercenary whose clientele consists of the upper echelon of society who have no desire for monies but for rare one of a kind books.

    As the movie starts, he swindles out a very rare first edition of Don Quixote from a pair of uncultured siblings as their stroked out father listens in pain as Dean 'Art of the Deal' Corso takes the multiple volumes for cheap and leaves them with the idea that the remaining library they had is one worth millions upon millions.

    A complete scumbag in control but as the film goes on, he becomes a character that gets more and more out of his element. He gets hired by Boris Balkan, played by a beefy Frank Langella, to go out into the world and confirm that his copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows is authentic compared to the other 3 left in existence. A book so rare and mythical that it is supposedly a reproduction of text written by the devil himself.

 

    I like to imagine they had an opportunity to do a crossover with the Alan Parker film Angel Heart and have Louis Cyphre show up but alas it was not to be. 

    So Dean goes out into the world meeting all these devil freaks who want his copy of the book he has in his book bag and along the way he meets The Girl, played by out of this world looking Emmanuelle Seigner, who helps him solve the riddle of the book. 

    All this involving murder, secret societies, and a lonely man just wanting to befriend the devil with it accumulating to Dean Corso fumbling his way in a very Inspector Clouseau way to finally solve the mystery of the ninth gate.

    That's the basic gist of the film but back to my memory of the film. I remember watching it at this age and nearing the end, I saw the following shot.

Back to Memory Lane

   Near the end of the movie, after Dean Corso has just mercy killed Boris, he enters his late employers car and The Girl happens to be there. She seduces him and as the castle behind them burns, they start to get their freak on.

the scene in question 

    For all the obvious reasons, this scene stuck in my brain even if it was edited for TV. The scene cuts between the two characters fucking and her eyes turn green and Dean Corso essentially explodes in orgasm. 

   As Dean Corso enters the ninth gate and the credits start to roll, I sat alone and a bit scared as I truly couldn't really comprehend exactly what I just finished watching. That sex scene replaying because the sequencing of the shots, the engrossing score, and the burning castle in the background made me feel unclean. As though I was witnessing something truly forbidden and I would get in trouble if I were to share what I saw with anyone else.

The Journey to the Present 

    Now, as the years went on I would find the movie playing on television as I passively channel surf and watch whatever was on but I would tell myself that I would commit to it totally one day. As that day never came, I would then end up watching the other films from this director and those films being compared to the various other films I have seen, I then begin to create a certain amount of high expectations towards The Ninth Gate in particular.

Today     

    I watch it now and think to myself that I now understand the allure as a child but as an adult, the film pulls me in still but in something else more so than the feeling of it. If that makes sense. 

    The first piece of this movie that I enjoy is the main character. This Dean Corso guy plays off as someone slick in the beginning when he makes that previously mentioned deal of the century but as the movie continues, he doesn't know what the fuck he is getting involved in. Getting used for pleasure, getting beat up, then ultimately becoming the chosen one from the devil to enter the ninth gate. Which is so anticlimactic. What a wet fart of an ending. 

    It's fascinating though to see a character that has the look of say a 'film-noir' type of character and fumbles his way towards the end of the mystery. Obviously The Girl is the major pushing factor since there really isn't much within the character of Dean Corso that would make him want to solve anything. I was hoping on this viewing that I would finally see something worthwhile to this character but alas, this was not to be.

     What also catches my interest to the film these days though are the following. Seeing the film all the way through has made me enjoy the music, which in itself is just absolutely gorgeous. The worthwhile part of obtaining a 2nd hand copy of the DVD for this film is the fact that I have access to an isolated score audio track which will go very far for me as just playing this soundtrack in the background as it is truly something worth its while. 

    The other part I find myself enjoying, that actually deals with the mechanics of the film, is the notion of how important books are. This whole concept of a guy getting paid a crazy amount of money to locate copies of a book and how much power this book has that people are willing to kill for it is something that strikes me now as niche and exciting. I will always find narratives revolving around books or writers as favorites and the concept of a thriller revolving around a book is a great one but its a shame that it kinda works and kinda doesn't in this film. I should probably read the novel that this is based on. Might scratch the itch there.

    It's also pretty fun to see these upper echelon types that find these books so important get their due in the worst way possible. This might just be the inner proletarian inside of me smiling and nodding as everyone gets got. Tough to say but there should be more thrillers revolving around books. Those seem like fun concepts to play around with. Maybe there already is and I just haven't been aware. Maybe I will be aware. Maybe I won't. Only time will tell.

The Final Conclusion to My Final Thoughts on the Subject at Hand which is this Movie Review 

    Now as the credits roll, I believe that I enjoyed looking for this film, though who knows how many more times I will watch this, as a way to justify or reignite those feelings that I had when I first saw those images. There was so much power in them when I was young.

    Trying to fit those fragments among the rest of the film to create what I hoped was something fantastic. To solve a mystery that ultimately did not fulfill those expectations. I do now wish after seeing this film for around the 6th or 7th time now that I liked it more. Though I do enjoy the film even though its not that good, I wish I never saw it again after that 1st time. For an opportunity to let those images live in mystery still.

Look out! Its THE FLY!

It's That Time of Year Again

    It is the beginning of another October and 74 years on, it seems to matter less and less. It's still hot as hell with temperatures sticking around in the mid 80s but nonetheless; the history of this month has been spreading itself like an infection, something akin to Gonorrhea, for all these centuries that we as sentient beings now know it subconsciously as the time when the leaves are supposed to turn colors and Satan is ready for the ultimate orgy by the time the 31st comes around.

here we go

    What also comes to mind around this time of year are horror movies. And that specific niche of movie watching freaks that never shut up about this month being THE month for horror movies to be seen. Spreading around various images of gore photos or trying to one up one another in some social media comment wall about some obscure movie with a title like KILLER FETUS RETURNS. The sight is a true revelation of the disgusting self-masturbatory phenomenon that these movie watching persons indulge in and that I myself find myself indulging in. Though I must admit that my involvement is only to an extent as I have gotten older and shittier since those Cannibal Holocaust enjoying days of my youth.

 

the twilight of youth

    So for tonight on the first of October, I searched for something to set the tone for the month. Would it be a month full of comedy a la Evil Dead 2? Of thrills a la Evil Dead? Of kills a la Army of Darkness? Searching for something worth its while lead me to finding a copy of David Cronenberg's film The Fly.

    I can't even remember the last time I saw this film nor could I really remember the last time I held this exact copy of it. Which led me to travel down the mental pathways of my brain in trying to figure out whether or not this copy of the film was actually MY copy or someone else but then that would mean I would know other fellow movie watchers to exist alongside with and I don't. I have no one. There is nothing.....but the movies. Which is pretty cool.

A True Craftsman

    Before divulging into the film, I sat and wondered about David Cronenberg. For he seems to have created this legacy as a true wunderkind when it comes to making films. His style managing to work seamlessly within any genre that he makes films in. It doesn't matter where you, the viewer, exist as a movie watcher as his films can be viewed within any span of High and Low culture. Though please recognize that my use of these denominations is just to set a sense of universality of the man's work. For there is so much on the surface on the film to grab anyone's attention but the amount of depth behind that surface is just as grand for anyone wanting to truly venture on.

    I believe that the first David Cronenberg film that I got around to watching was the 2005 film A History of Violence. Watching it at the young age of 13 and I thought it was great. What's not to love? Necks getting snapped, cunnilingus, and there's William Hurt walking around and saying Broheem al over the place. Its the best. But at 13, what the fuck did I know about movies? I wasn't a genius then. I wasn't a baby genius from the beginning I'm sorry to say. I only became one after opening my chakras to the greatest film of all time.

excited for this Criterion release

    Then as time goes on and I my genius grows, I end up spending my school nights staying up super late to record on my VCR whatever I can on late night cable and one night in particular I myself end up staying up way too late and seeing one his earlier films; 1981's Scanners. Watching a man's head EXPLODE was not what I expected but I was hooked. These psychic powered mutants running around trying to escape the man or some government/corporation force and there's Michael Ironside causing trouble in the middle of it all. Then you get that final confrontation where its a Psychic Battle that should have been an influence on Dark City if Alex Proyas knew any better but I digress. 

 

Even with William Hurt...what a disappointment

    When those credits started to roll though, the race was on to hunt down and watch what else he had to offer and man, that guy sure did make a lot of good movies. Pretty cool Horror one's but the Science Fiction movies really do tickle my fancy more. Probably the highs for me at this point are Videodrome and Eastern Promises with the low being The Brood but even that as a low point is pretty high compared to other filmmakers with such long careers. Though I must give a shout out to Spider and Crash as these showcase that even with the lowest of budgets, magic can still occur.

    So how does The Fly stack up with the rest of his films? Looking at the man's filmography, this looks to be him taking another step into the Hollywood system. The Dead Zone could be probably be considered the first step in him having to wheel and deal with the Hollywood studio system. Interesting to see that this movie would end up being one that Mel Brooks would produce. The gears turning in such a way that gave Cronenberg free reign to rewrite the script he didn't like, but having enough respect to have the original screenwriter receive credit as well, to make something more viable to his tastes. So what comes out of this experience? A pretty solid David Cronenberg film.

The Motion Picture in Question

    The movie kicks off quick with Seth Brundle, played by Jeff Goldblum, and Veronica, played by Geena Davis, in conversation at some lame nerd party full of scientists and soon enough he convinces her to come over to his laboratory. She checks out his cool transporter and wants to break the news regarding this amazing invention that will change mankind. Brundle tells her to cool off on the story as he still has to figure out some kinks in the system. She says tough luck but gets denied by her editor/crazy ex-boyfriend Stathis,played by a bearded John Getz, about the story but that denial ends up working out for her. Brundle wants to give her the exclusive on his whole process. She agrees and starts filming his every move as he tries to make the machine work. They test run it with a baboon that would instantly be a turn off but dead baboon or not, she starts falling for the guy.

    They hook up but she still has some problems to solve with Stathis so she leaves to end it once and for all. Brundle gets stuck with the dead monkey's brother and gets drunk enough to turn jealous. He drinks enough to get his confidence going and decides to jumps in the transporter. The machine rips into gear and he comes out the other end feeling like a million bucks but we saw that a fly was hanging out in the machine at the same time he used it. Uh Oh.

    Brundel's body starts breaking down as well as his relationship with Veronica. She finds out she's pregnant and he wants her to keep the baby even though it could be a fly baby. Flesh decaying as it all comes to a head with Veronica having to pull the trigger on breaking up with Brendal with a shotgun blast.

The Strange Afterglow of this Film

    Boy, this sure was something but nothing like what one expects from a horror movie called THE FLY. I suppose people walking into this back in the day really didn't know what to expect. A Mel Brooks produced movie and even watching the trailer beforehand doesn't leave much to the imagination. But with having seen enough horror movies to daisy chain some sense of logic regarding the images, I could theorize that it would leave people expecting a completely different movie than the one that they ended up watching.  

    It's fascinating at how still this film compared to what horror films are these days. There isn't much flash in the way the camera moves when comparing it to the other big studio Horror releases of that year like Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The only film that comes close to something similar to this that was released around the same time was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer but even that film feels for more clinical in comparison. In The Fly, there primary investment of the actual drama playing out between the characters that manages to push the ridiculous surface level story of a man becoming a fly into something genuine and horrific.    

    Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis playing it straight makes it all the worthwhile. The special effects and that ending, which I can't lie brought a tear to my eye, wouldn't be much of anything if they didn't commit to their characters like they do. Horror movies always seem to follow this strange 90 minute structure of having character development for the first 25 to 30 minutes and then the nonstop horror. Creating this facade of what can only be considered a characterization than a person. 

    This film focusing and staying with the highs and lows of this interpersonal relationships instead of the horror gives so much more weight to it all. A real sense of gravitas if I can push up my glasses with confidence. It's funny as well to see that the horror seems to be this incident that gets in the way from these two lovers being able to continue on their life together. 

    Apparently when it was released, the connection that people made with the film was the ongoing AIDS epidemic. Easy to make what with the slow decay of a man as his body begins to slowly break apart. Though Cronenberg denies it as the decay of the flesh has always been present in his films, its interesting to see that this film in particular happen to be released at a time when that comparison could be made.

    What was also interesting on watching this at 80 years old was that my brain finally clicked into place as to what makes this film fit well within the various other Cronenberg films that I have seen. The use of very slow and calculated camera movements that creates this tension that just never seems to go away.          This method lending itself to create this unrelenting tension that isn't released suddenly with a jump scare, though there is a good one near the end, or anything of the nature of a cheap thrill. Instead what it does, this slow and distinct pace that it creates, has each scene builds upon the last to instill this real strange sensation of uncertainty that follows through the films running time even though you have a good sense of what's going to happen. This style just being how he made his movies but for some reason, I only just noticed it. Maybe I am growing. 

The Final Conclusion

    David Cronenberg made something that will stand the test of time but for some reason feels undefinable in a way. Its a horror movie for the most part but that's not the interesting part. The relationships between the two main characters are far more interesting to watch as this tragedy plays out. So who is this for? People that want to something serious with a horror twist? I'm just lost at the moment I suppose for I am bewildered that this movie exists in this particular way.

    There is so much to it that showcases great craftsmanship but out of the Cronenberg movies that gets mentioned, this probably doesn't rank high on that list. Maybe its because his other films have left a greater mark? 

    I feel as though this could be the same fate that something like Naked Lunch suffers as well though the difference being that the latter is an adaptation of a literature toted masterpiece and the other is just a short story from the horror genre. 

    I might have gotten muddled in what I am trying to say but there is something so strong in this film that I haven't seen in quite some time in other films. I still have others to see but I might possibly be bold, dare I say confident, to state that this could be my favorite David Cronenberg film.

The Wonderful Journey Into The World of Mandy

    Lost Without Reason

    What state of mind was I in when I first saw this? I must have been alone during this time, late 2018 into early 2019, and for certain I was on a path of uncertainty. I still travel down this road but with just a little bit more confidence in that I know what I'm doing. At least more so than I did back then. Alone and venturing into what I love most and that is movies and suddenly something unknown catches me by surprise. For the feeling I had when viewing this film was like discovering a brand new world. A world where the line of quality that existed for the revenge film could be raised so high.

pure magic

 

    The revenge genre is plentiful but it is hardly one that requires any resemblance of high quality. The basics of the main character getting double crossed, a close relation killed, or even the goddamn dog getting whacked is enough to drive a movie all the way to finish line. Or even 4 movies.     

    When it comes to recently great revenge films its a short list but also one in which I fear is dated on my mind. Or maybe I'm just tired at the moment. One of the few recent films that sticks out in my mind as having actually pulled off having the genuine weight of revenge be present is that mid to late 2000's film Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. It probably means a lot to me since I had seen it in theaters with some friends and we were all stoked by it. I haven't watched it recently but I still remember enjoying it very much even though usage of that one fucking song is just the worst as well as the clunky story telling of the 2nd child sub story. 

Pretty Good

 Low Expectations Unfounded 

    On this night though, I must admit that expectations were not high that this film was going to be great but it had Nicolas Cage so it couldn't be all bad, right? 

    What came after that opening crawl regarding someone requesting that they be rock and rolled in their death, which was a pretty cool way to start the film, were the opening notes of the King Crimson song Starless and as the camera flew over the trees to show this vast landscape, we then see Nic Cage cutting down trees as a rough and tumble tree logger. The images and music telling this story before a word is even spoken and I become entranced. I digress though as before I go into the nitty gritty of the what the film brought, let me give a quick overview of the plot:

    Red, played by Nicolas Cage, and his girlfriend Mandy, played by Andrea Riseborough, are living life in the remote wilderness of the Shadow Mountains in the year 1983 AD but life is only good for little while as cult arrives, one with possible mystical & magical powers, to ruin the fun. The leader wants to fuck Mandy and after taking the two hostage and failing to win her over goes about in killing her. Red survives the attack and transforms into something otherworldly on his journey of revenge. 

    That's the easy peasy breakdown of someone telling someone else the story of a movie but its not the way to recommend it.

    To do a proper recommendation of this film, I'm going to have to stretch my fingers a bit as what I witnessed when the credits started to roll was something far more beautiful and transcendental than just a revenge movie. I saw a movie where the theme of love is so prevalent throughout the journey of this man seeking revenge. 

    

 The Recommendation

     For starters, there is not a single boring shot in the entire film. No matter if the pace or the actual story of the film is something you don't care for, it must be accepted that there is always something on screen to be aware and look out for. Nothing from this film feels like it came from a director that has had producers breathing down their neck to get the shots they need and not what they want. A total vision is present and the energy of each shot shifts constantly from the insane lighting that makes no logical sense but the emotional plane of existence that the film lives on justifies all of it. None of this though comes to be as powerful as it can be without the music. My god the music.

    The score to this film is just absolutely amazing. It also happens to be the last film score that Johann Johannsson went about in working on and what a haunting melancholic score it is. The range of the tracks stretch through various areas of sound to create this emotional impact for each moment it plays against. From the slow and sensual for the soft moments that will shift suddenly into this world warping industrial landscape that gives certain portions of the film such a grand scope and all of it meshing so beautifully with the psychedelic images.

just the greatest

    All of this coming together to truly put Nicolas Cage's performance on a pedestal. At this point in his career an argument can be made that he isn't doing the jobs that he should be doing. Lackluster roles in lackluster movies with a high point coming every so often like that Paul Schrader film Dog Eat Dog but overall, there is a serious lack of seriousness in the roles that he was playing at the moment. The misses are plenty while the hits are varied but here it feels like he takes a true stand that he still has the juice. 

    This is in no way to diminish the rest of the cast as Linus Roache creates such a fantastic villain as Jeremiah Sand but what Cage does with just his face and sculpting so much pathos in his raw emotion is just mesmerizing. There are two scenes specifically that have stayed with me in the recess of my brain ever since I first watched the film. As well as give me a punch in the gut every single time I give this a watch.

    The first is the scene where he wakes up after the attack of the cult. He rushes to the bathroom and finds his stashed bottle of vodka, him being sober for some time, and starts to just guzzle down the vodka. After the first chug he holds his throat as the burning sensation of the drink is too much and then he starts to scream. He drinks and screams. The screams though are so brutal with all that pain he just suffered. Just a true bare of the soul as he screams and screams before ultimately crying. No music is played as the scene goes and its just one of those scenes that make you say to yourself: Holy Shit.
    The second scene is near the end and is actually his most restrained piece of acting but its so pure. There's this beautiful song from Johann Johannson, I believe its the one I linked earlier in this love letter to this film, that plays as Red remembers the exact moment when he met Mandy.

    The setting looks to be as though he was waiting for a band to play or something and Mandy is staring at him. He takes a hit off a joint and looks up and the look that we see is the hardly ever seen love at first sight look. Everything is in those eyes and face. The vulnerability, the pain, the love, and so much more. It honestly reminded me of Charles Bronson in the greatest film of all time; Once Upon A Time in the West.     On Bronson, just the eyes are needed and I'm certain that if the film had done that shot then they would have achieved that same effect but with the whole visual explosion that happens when it shows Red's face, I'm glad they just kept the shot with his whole face in the frame. 

Powerful Potential 

    Panos Cosmotos, son of George P. Cosmotos who directed such films as the Stallone starring vehicle Cobra and Kurt Russell classic Tombstone, directs this, his 2nd time at bat, and what a visionary to pull off what he did. 

    I had a chance to view his debut film Beyond the Black Rainbow and its easy to see that there is something tangible there but it felt a bit dry. Something along the lines of knowing what he needs to pull off a movie but its a bit cool overall in the execution. Something akin to a Kubrick picture. 

    With this 2nd film though, its amazing how much more confident he is with the material at hand to be able to get this flourishing vision that just made the film rocket into another dimension. I mean the decision to place the camera where he did and to commit to those singular shots with little to no coverage. Its something truly excellent and there is high hopes that the man goes about in directing some more films before the end comes along. 

    I have heard good things from his episode from that Guillermo Del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities TV show but its been a desert since. 

And So It Goes 

    Since first viewing this so many years ago, I have seen the film again and again and I just finished viewing it last night with my girlfriend. She loves the movie and it reminds me of the various times that I have shared this film with people that I love. Friends and relatives. Their reactions also varies from the insanity that the film offers such as decapitations and chainsaw fights but the end result has always been a sense of love for the characters and the journey that occurs with the film. 
    Truly a film with so much but the underlying theme of love is so strong and so vindicated by that last moment that anyone can truly enjoy it. Though the squeamish might have more trouble than others. 

Out of a Film Festival Comes Another Biker Movie

A Film Festival Comes To Be

    I recently made my way to a film festival the other day. I write this on Sunday and this festival happened yesterday on a Saturday but I am posting this on Monday. It was the annual, I think, Severin pop up film festival where they go about in celebrating their greatness and to be fair, its well deserved. There are plenty of films that I have only come across due to this label with the biggest life changing moment was finding the director Eloy de la Iglesia whose films have become some of my most personal favorites. Especially his film Cannibal Man.

what a masterpiece 

    And so I traveled to this place and when it comes to driving into the hell hole of Los Angeles, my bowels tend to churn in anticipation the closer and closer I reach my destination. For this trip, I prepared myself. Pedialyte, Coconut Water, and Pepto-Bismal blended into the most delicious elixir to ever exist and after drinking a few cups of that, I knew I was ready. Last year though I was not ready.    

    The bowels last year churned and boiled to the point where the car I was traveling in had to pull over in order for the bowels to evacuate. Luckily my pants and underwear survived so I was able to enjoy the film festival. But into Los Angeles this year; all was well.

 

The Festival 

    The festival this year was pretty cool. There was some good movies that played along with some short films. With possibly one of my greatest movie going theater experiences that I have ever experienced was experienced on this day.

    They had played a pair of silent films back to back but instead of having some prearranged soundtrack to go along with the films, they had hired a pianist to play alongside the movie. I had never had a chance to see something like this and sitting there seeing this movie play while a man plays the piano, a strange feeling began to grow in the back of my mind that made me realize that this was a truly special moment in time.

    Although this silent film can be played again with someone else playing the piano, this moment can never be repeated with this particular crowd of movie goers. This strange mixture of performative art and a silent film on screen was something that had to be the norm back in the day before the recorded track but here was this lost art of sort that had been resurrected and in sitting through that, I couldn't believe how magical movie watching could truly be. Then my heart skipped a beat when a beautiful remastered print of Mario Bava's Bay of Blood played right after. Truly a highlight that I will cherish ever so.

 

Terrific

    In between the first two movies shown were these short 15 minute breaks and during this time I would venture out to the back of this movie theater, Brain Dead Studios, and try my best to privy the merchandise on sale but movie fans that gather for an event like this, the kind that wear worn out t-shirts of their favorite hardcore horror movie and have long flowing greasy hair even though they are balding from the front, refuse to have any kind of spacial awareness. And so, on the third trip I had to barge my way through to buy a couple movies.

    Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot money but after paying my rent, the electric, the gas, buying food, buying gas, and paying back my student loans; I had about 60 bucks to spare. Luckily, they were doing buy 3 for 50 so after negotiating with myself on what I could get the most bang for my buck I purchased the following movies:

                                                                        True Pleasure

    After the festival and striving to fight a possibly hangover today, I sat down and chose the movie that wasn't a Jess Franco joint.    

The Feature in Question

 

    To say there is a plot to Satan's Sadists would be diving into the uninteresting whereas if you view it more as a character piece then there is far more to indulge yourself in when taking this strange journey of a biker gang that truly has nothing to lose.

    The film starts off with possibly one of the most brutal openings that I've seen so far from a biker film. They pull up to some couple making out and make their presence known with some slick comment. Soon enough they start beating the guy up and knocking him out. Then they drug the woman with some LSD before each member takes a turn in raping her. Except for Firewater. Yes that is a characters name. They Finish up and put the couple back into their car, pour alcohol all over them, and then push the car off a cliff killing them both. That's how the movie fucking starts. Fucking bananas.

    The movie goes on and we see these squares traveling through the desert and there there to bring some sense of grounded reality to offset this biker madness. All these people meeting up to clash at a diner where after a quick confrontation between the gang and a Marine, the gang takes control of the situation. Some of them, including the leader Anchor, take the owner and this passing older couple to the back of the diner, which happens to be a junkyard?, where Anchor has them tied up. He then goes about raping the wife then after finding out the old guy was a cop gives this speech. This speech being one that not only hits so goddamn hard but also creates an understanding to their logos as to why these wandering maniacs are the way they are.

 

                  what a speech

    There were 2 other members that get killed in the diner by that roaming Marine, in the vein of a Johnny Rambo, who just came back from Vietnam, He and the waitress go about in making their escape with the remaining gang members chasing them down into the desert mountains.

    At this point, there's a split between the "plot" of the film with what happens next. The gang finds a trio of girls, they having shown up earlier in the film, camping out and getting rock samples. They take clear advantage of their camping supplies and then of the girls themselves. Anchors woman, Gina, has enough with Anchor paying her no attention nor caring and goes about in committing suicide. 

    Anchor and his buddy Acid stay at the camp and go about in drugging the woman and raping them before killing them. Two other members, Willie & Firewater, yes that is his name, go out on the hunt for the Marine and waitress but the Marine ends up killing Willie by tossing a rattle snake that bites him. 

    The biker gang ends up self destructing with Acid playing Russian roulette by himself and reaching that point where he shoots himself. Anchor and the racist named Firewater fight one another. Firewater winning and wanting to warn the Marine and waitress but they end up fighting to the death with Firewater getting killed by a boulder but then the final confrontation.

    Anchor shows up on his motorcycle and walks over to the two with a gun, in this real great shot of Anchor right in front of the sun and creating this golden silhouette, and starts laughing at the expression that the Marine has on his face when seeing him. A true madman as the Marine holds a switchblade and is ready to kill. Anchor fires and the Marine throws a knife, which lands impossibly, into Anchor's throat that kills him. Then the Marine comes out of nowhere to deliver the most INSANE line that I ever heard:

In Vietnam, at least I got paid when I killed people.

    Then him and the waitress drive off on Anchors motorcycle but from the looks of it, not into the city where salvation was waiting.

Way Far Out

    Out of all the biker films that I have seen in recent times, this one was special. With the lack of plot, the film is able to makes the characters stick out more and the end result achieves this real nihilistic feeling all throughout. 

    In the other films, there are at least goals for those bikers to achieve whereas here it just seems that these characters are just existing. Going from one place to another just trying to get their kicks and this movie just happens to be when it all comes to end. Leaving me to wonder how long have they been roaming this Earth and spreading their hatred for the status quo?   

    What really sold me on this movie were the two characters of Anchor and Gina. These two truly steal the movie. Russ Tamblyn playing the leader of this gang and every time this guy shows up on screen, the movie realigns itself with his silent madness. Every other moment outside of this guy on screen is bringing a grounded reality back to the movie but when he shows up, its madness. Everything he does has a sense of terror. He hardly raises his voice or anything except for the end and even then, he's laughing         

    Reportedly Russ Tamblyn rewrote and improvised all his dialogue and if that's true then he was riding a truly high creative wave. Playing it truly sinister all throughout and especially so when you realize that there is nothing for this guy to attach himself to this Earth. Ultimately carrying on this turbulent relationship he has with Motorcycle Mama Gina played by a fantastic Regina Carrol that sets her on a downward path.

    Her performance is another highlight of the film as there is just so much there for me to empathize. All the squares in this movie and what happens to them is a bummer but what happens to her is truly tragic. For her character is one of great sadness. Of great unfulfillment. Of great melancholy. It's strange seeing a woman like this in a movie since I don't believe that there would be many directors willing to make a completely sub servant character such as this go through with such a bummer end. 

    All throughout the film, Gina is basically living for the sake of Anchor. All she wants is for Anchor to live a life that she could be a servant to which feels something akin to those woman that have a Charles Manson fixation but instead of having her be some sex slave, I'm sure he did but only after he gets through raping so many other women, Anchor treats her like shit to the point where he tells her that she isn't worth anything to him. Leaving her with nothing and so she ends up taking a motorcycle and speeding off to her death right off a cliff.

    One of the most unnerving scenes was the cross cutting of Anchor and his fellow cohort Acid go about in using the trio of drugged woman for their own pleasure up until killing them and Gina riding a motorcycle to her suicide. With this song playing that feels a bit out of place but also feels just perfect for this scene. It's really just amazing.

    Although the movie was one made with far less artistic intentions with it reportedly being made under the gun with a small budget and a lack of a script, I got a lot more out of it than I expected. So much so that I have a need to give it a rewatch soon compared to the various other biker films that I have indulged in and so I can can only come to the conclusion o:  This is the best biker film that I have seen thus far.

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

From a Bummer to a Good Time

    Only 1 Movie That Can Heal  

    Haven't been feeling too good amigos. What the ailment could be I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Maybe it's the realization of time never stopping even when my existence will have to come to a stop sometime. I can't watch movies after I die unless something worthwhile in technology can achieve this dream but alas, all technology is good for is manufacturing hardcore pornography for the degenerates out there but I digress. Been feeling a bit on the bummer side and after going through a whole day feeling like this, I decided that I needed to watch a movie but the ultimate question came soon after: What movie? 

    Jess Franco is still off the table but I did see his Film Noir Rififi in the City recently and thought that was great. Peter Strickland was still taunting me with his box-set but I couldn't commit to The Duke of Burgundy.

    So I ventured onto the TUBI streaming service in search of a Jean Claude Van Damme movie. I found a couple but what I also found was a movie from the past. Obviously it was from the past as it came out in 1992 but its also a film that was part of my personal past. A film directed by a man that I had to import his other films as no one was releasing this crazy shit on American shores. That man is John Woo and the feature presentation was Hard Boiled.

What a title card

And So

    There was recent news in the movie watching world where Shout Factory had received the rights to certain Hong Kong films that have been existing strictly in limbo. Meaning that movie fanatics can finally fulfill their life's journey of upgrading from the original round of terrible quality DVD's that came out back in the day and reach fulfillment with the promise of a 4k remaster. 

    20 years or more in the making with Hard Boiled being one of the tougher sons of bitches to get a copy of as the last great physical release of this film was by the Criterion Collection release back in the late 90's. I couldn't get a fucking copy of this movie since I was barely 10 years old and didn't know who the fuck a John Woo was.

    It would only be in the high school when I would correct this mistake but even then, I could not get hold of this expensive piece of physical media. I did manage to get copies of The Killer and Bullet in the Head from Fortune Star release though so high school wasn't all that bad but I did have to illegally download a terrible dubbed MP4 of Hard Boiled so high school wasn't all that good either. Enough small talk, lets get into this beautiful film.

 

Possible the only decent release and priciest  

The Story

    Gun running is problem number #1 in early 90's Hong Kong and Officer Tequila is on the front line in trying to stop it. The movie opening up with him playing some cool jazz then the band heads out for some tea but are actually working a stake out. Gun deal goes bad and the only solution is for the bullets to start flying. Bad guys die. Civilians die. Cops die. Its a bloodbath. One cop in particular, the cool drummer of the band, get lit up by the boss henchmen and Tequila has to live with it for the rest of the movie. He kills the guy that killed him by the end of the scene so he ain't out for revenge but instead is dealing with the melancholy.

    Funeral service kicks off but the movie flips to a casual light jazz beat as we now follow Alan, a Triad hit-man, who is introduced by going to the local library and pulling off a hit. Killing a man while he was studying and walking away without a care in the world. Except he does care. Cares enough to make a paper crane for every person he's killed but we find out about that later. He works for a gun runner by the name of Uncle Hoi and everyone celebrates the hit but soon after, Johnny Wong comes calling and wants Alan to work for him. He lost a guy and needs a replacement. A real killer. 

    Alan has to prove his loyalty by killing his Uncle in this warehouse takeover but then Tequila shows up and starts shooting. A most insane shootout happening and soon enough, the two end up working together for the rest of the film to take down Johnny Wong. Also, Mad Dog is the coolest villain with morals to be seen on the screen.

one bad ass mother fucker

 

The Man that is John Woo

     There is something special when one mentions the name because no matter the movie, there is always something tremendously enjoyable to take from it. From the Hong Kong movies to the Hollywood years and then maybe the China years and then those 1or 2 American films again. 

    I can't say that I've kept up with the work of the guy since the last thing I saw was Paycheck when it came out.

 

pretty cool movie

 

Regardless, when looking through the filmography the hits keep coming:

A Better Tomorrow 

 A Better Tomorrow II

The Killer

Bullet in the Head

Hard Target

Broken Arrow 

Face/Off

Mission: Impossible 2

Windtalkers 

Paycheck

But what makes Hard Boiled the golden child of the bunch?

    There are a few things that come to mind when realizing that this film stands the strongest against the rest of his films. The first is the most subtle but possibly the most important; Music. 

    He wasn't able to use jazz in his previous film The Killer and that movie is a bit lower on the Francis Booth scale of genius as it has a song that the main female character sings in the beginning and all throughout and it's terrible. Its the kind of song that is trying to force an emotional emotion down your through and in the scene instead of having the music naturally create this emotional tone to set the scene.  

    In this film, it starts off with a slow build up as the credits silently take up the screen alongside an off screen Officer Tequila mixing his drink and then jamming on a clarinet. Some real smooth shit that sets this opening of the cops jamming in a jazz band while the movie starts showing us the sights of early 90's Hong Kong then some more opening credits and then newspaper articles with screaming headlines setting up the rampant gun running going on. All this flowing together to set up the first scene of the tea house shoot out. 

    Throughout the rest of film, the jazz switches modes from the melancholic tones to this upbeat good time moment and then we get these far out jazz moments during the shoot out moments with this repeating sound effect going BADA DA DA DA DA DA! throughout that gets you riled up.  

just press play and you'll hear what I am saying

    Music has and will always important to all of John Woo's films with the most insane moment being the child listening to a cover of Over the Rainbow during a shoot out in Face/Off but in this film, it plays its strongest role. Just absolute perfection meshing with every scene in the film.

    What else makes this special? The relationship between Chow Yun Fat and Teresa Mo. In all John Woo films, there are always strong relationships present between the main characters characters that they have actual gravitas compared to the endless action films that teeter and totter with stock characters saying stock lines that ultimately have stock character arcs. 

    One example are the three buddies in Bullet in the Head or the two brothers and two buddies of A Better Tomorrow, and in The Killer between the killer and the cop. A lot of these relationships are so strong with their masculinity as well as soft as these characters are willing to cry over the death of one another. But this works against any notion of their being a relationship with whatever woman is on the screen but here, there is actually something of merit. 

    It's not like in the forefront of the film as the tale between the two cops is what the heart of the film is but seeing Chow Yun Fat and Teresa Mo have their little back and forth really makes a mark. There's a sense of history between the two and with the undercover cop sending flowers that makes Tequila jealous. It feels like genuine cute moments of a relationship that you never see in a John Woo film. It was refreshing to say the least. 

    Now for the coup de grâce as to what makes this movie the greatest; the last 30 to 40 minute action sequence. This is one of the first movies I remember watching where everyone in the movie shows up for this. All of the police officers seen so far throughout the film show up for this. The main bad guys and all their henchmen show up for the final sequence. Just absolutely insanity and that's why the action works so goddamn well. 

    No one is safe in this movie. Sure, the MAIN characters, for the most part, survive but everyone else is fair game. Cops are getting killed in this hospital. Bad guys are lining up the morgue. Even the civilians that are in the hospital needing help get lit up. Its an absolute frenzy as tensions rise and explode and rise then explode. Every bullet that EXPLODES into a wall or a body is keeping you on your toes in anticipation as you wait to see what the fuck is going to happen next! It's a thrill every single time the movie moves locations to that hospital sequence. Ultimately achieving an ending where all the characters reach the end of their arcs, each story line wraps up nicely, and you are left with a film that not only satisfies but leaves you feeling something that few films have achieved; Fulfillment.

    You will always hear of people comparing the shootouts in his films to these beautiful bullet ballets and other superfluous phrases such as that but in all honesty, its the absolute restraint in going about creating all these elaborate sequences that sets up the notion that every single bullet matters. Creating a feeling for the viewer to be so engrossed with the action because nothing feels wasted and everything truly matters. 

What else is there to say?

    A true high watermark to any filmmaker to have made this but to Woo, it seems to have been just another day on the job. Though his films past this aren't as strong, at least in my opinion, there is always something worth watching in them. What truly excites me more in having watched this on what seems to be the new 4k remaster of the film, is that the heart itself cannot do anything but swell in joy.

     For now there is a definitive version available for all to enjoy but what this also offers is hope for future releases of other Hong Kong films and with City on Fire seeming to be the first release to test the waters, I have already placed my order, then the future is looking pretty good for this movie watcher.

Who Better To Get The Job Done?

   War is a Hell of a Good Time

    There is an interesting thing when life has you working a regular job that gets in the way of your movie watching. You end up being tired after a long day then having to get home through all that traffic and then you have to cook yourself some dinner and then clean some dishes. Just all this shit stacking up higher and higher on a never ending to do list and then 9:30pm comes around and you realize that you still have to do laundry. So you do laundry but in this small space of time that has been created where one must wait comes opportunity and what else can come out of this opportunity but to watch a movie? So I watched a movie.

    It took a little time when it came to picking out a movie though since I have so many options to choose from. The problem of buying more movies than you can get around to watching. There is a Lucio Fulcio film by the name of The Psychic that I bought nearly a year ago that I haven't seen. There was a fire I had to deal with so cut me some slack. There are also some Jess Franco films I gotta get around to but I was planning on giving those a watch when I start working on my lesbian vampire story so no dice for tonight. Gathering dust was a Peter Strickland box set that I only managed to get through 25% of and to be honest I should have committed and watched The Duke of Burgundy but I didn't. Instead I chose a film that I could only half remember; the 1970 classic The Losers.

 

 

The Feature Presentation

    It's an exploitation film of the greatest sense. The Vietnam war rages on and the CIA brings in a biker gang of veterans to come in and conduct a rescue mission for a person that can bring peace, or something worthwhile, to end the war. Five bikers going by the name of Link Thomas, Limpy, Duke, Speed, and Dirty Denny make up the gang of The Devils Advocates that are set on completing this mission. 

    The movie mostly following their characters get involved in various situations all the while they modify some bikes for the final mission. Then the final mission happens and they succeed in the end of pulling off their assault/rescue mission though none of the gang members come back while the important intel VIP guy survived. Having nothing but disdain for the gang that saved him and could care even less about the fact they sacrificed their lives to save him.

 The 1 and Only

    Some years ago, I had written a post on this very blog about some biker movies I saw. Actually the director of this film, Jack Starrett, directed Run Angel Run! which I should re-watch as well as the awesome Warren Oates and Peter Fonda film Race with the Devil. 

Fantastic!

    Back to that previous review though, I remember one or two were good and the rest were cool with I believe only one of them being just bad. A complete misfire from beginning to end and it was the Larry Bishop joint Hell Ride. I still think about that film from time to time and can't fathom what could be done to turn it into a good movie. I don't want to talk about Larry Bishop though as I got William Smith on the mind.

 

All That Is Man

    There is a certain charisma that can be seen in an instant when it comes to an actor. You see Charles Bronson and say 'I see you amigo.' or if you see Franco Nero you'd think 'I believe you amigo.' When I see William Smith, that same feeling instantly comes to be whenever he walks into frame.

    In all honesty, he doesn't give much of a performance here since he is just so cool to begin with. Containing an aura seen here that one can see easily in the Mickey Rourke's early films except if you see Bill Smith in any of his later films, you can easily see that he still got it compared to Rourke's later movies. Except The Wrestler which can be considered Mickey Rourke's true swan song. 

    Case in proof is his small role in Conan the Barbarian. You watch him play as Conan's father who in the beginning moments of the film breaks down an entire belief system to young Conan. And in listening to him saying this monologue with such conviction and gravitas, it sets the tone for what the movie could have been. This absolute brutal revenge story of a child growing to be a goddamn barbarian but ultimately this falters as the film is just fantastic until the moment when Arnold speaks that lamentation speech which then follows is a clumsy story that doesn't do much of anything but in that speech, the world was limitless.

Just the Best

 

William Smith  was one of those actors that if you knew then you were cool. He gave it his all when starring in far too many low budget films and its a shame that he never a real opportunity to showcase his skills as being just a cool dude. Nonetheless, what he has left behind as his career is something truly worth watching. 

 

If you want to know more about the guy then you should check out his website. It's still up and running! https://www.williamsmith.us/index.shtml 

 

The Overall Film

    You know, I wouldn't call myself an expert in biker films nor would I put myself as a war movie expert but as far as films dealing with a biker gang going to fight in the Vietnam war, I could call myself an expert off of this 1 film.

    Watching this for the second time in a long time, I remember very little of it. There were some key parts in my brain but the overall mood was not within reach of my memories. There is a true ebb and flow where some members of the gang, Sleepy and Dirty Denny, are shown getting themselves into mischief. The two of them hanging out with prostitutes and fighting dudes for most of their screen time. 

    Then you get the love story side with Limpy and Duke dealing with the power of love with this suicide mission hanging over there head. Limpy hooking up with a woman that has a GI baby already and Duke most likely only coming back to Vietnam just to find the love of his life. The two of having the same goal of wanting to bring them back to the United States.

    Link, the leader of the gang, is just going through the motions. Doing his own thing but not enough of one where he does anything remarkable for the first part of the film but starts to liven up when the assault commences.

    In all honesty, there is no real motivation in the movie for these dudes to be going on this mission. As seen in various other movies dealing with men being sent on a suicide mission like The Dirty Dozen or The Devils 8 where there's a set up as to who they are and what they gotta do. With a small budget like this movie, there ain't not time for a set up. Low budget and shot in the Philippines to substitute Vietnam. The true blue Roger Corman route of bigger visuals on a small budget. 

 Can't Forget The G.O.D Men on a Mission Movie

    We got these bikers showing up and they got shit to do. I personally like to think that the real reason that these veterans came back is that they had nothing better to do state side except for Duke who came back for love. But the other guys, they were bored out of their minds back in the USA. Getting shitted on by the public and just traveling down the endless highways on their choppers trying to find meaning until they get the chance to come back for a suicide mission. Though this is all speculation and more effort on the viewer having to connect the dots than the film doing the work.

    Even with the lack of plot or those other machinations that keep a movie going, I truly enjoyed just watching these characters exist. None of them are paint by number cliches when it comes to these movies, remember I am an expert on biker war films, and even though they all seem like thundering assholes when they first show up; I fell for the stories they ended up getting involved with. Even Dirty Denny, played by wild man Houston Savage, who just runs around screaming racial epitaphs and beating up anyone and everyone. 

 

Absolute Nut

    What was really interesting watching this is was the sense of impromptu physicality to each scene. I don't know how else to explain it but nothing that these characters do in this film feels stiff. There's a natural rhythm to them existing where it seems like they just are in the scene and not playing the scene. It brings a real energy to the movie that kept me engaged to keep watching.

    The movie running without a plot for some time until the last 20 to 25 minutes of the film which turns it from something cool to something pretty great. The bikers managed to build themselves some modified Yamaha's with machine guns as well as a 3 wheeler with a mortar launcher and pull off the assault to this guarded village to rescue some important guy. 

This guy just bleh

    This guy they gotta save has to be the weakest part of the movie. He's just some dude with some murky reason as to why he needed to be rescued where he rambles about how he could end the war with China and blah blah blah. If they just tweaked this guy to be something more then I think the ending of this would have fucking hit. I mean really fucking hit. Making the bikers getting knocked off one by one feel much more of a downer than what it is now. 

    Duke gets it first before the assault and sets up the tone of hopelessness for the rest of the film to follow. He tries to ride off with his girlfriend into the Vietnam sunset but they cross a Vietcong booby trapped bridge that launches them into the water below. The Vietcong stand on the bridge and shoot him and his girl down but Duke, played by Adam Roarke, gives the greatest face of despair and the shot itself is just so fantastic. The sun shining on the water and its all in slow motion while looking as though they zoomed in optically in post production to create this real strange visual of him center stage. Just such an amazing shot right when he catches all these bullets and bites the big road rash.

    That's another thing about this fucking movie. There are just some really fantastic shots done out in nature where the guys are just existing. There's a certain mood and in the future I would like to pull all these shots together and make a montage of vibes. Obviously because I'm an old man I would have to play Nightcall by Kavinsky when putting a song to the images but I digress.

Bill Smith Just Pulling It Off With Ease 

    So Duke gets killed and then Dirty Denny gets killed in the assault leaving the remaining three members to get caught but they make their escape only to end up dying. Limpy gets killed due to an accident with the 3 wheeler that actually almost killed the actor Paul Koslo. Then Link Thomas gets killed going after the VIP then Sleepy gets killed when he tries to get revenge and kill the VIP by getting shot by an American soldier.

    The title song of The Losers starts playing with everyone who got killed throughout the movie being shown in these small windows. The entire moment giving us the audience to have to come to the conclusion that war itself is the loser. Or something like that.

The Verdict Starring Francis Booth

    Look, this ain't masterpiece theater. This is a exploitation film that has pieces of conversations that will make your eyes pop out of your head. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this film immensely from start to finish that I will wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone needing something that feels antiquated with a rusty edge.