Only now does it occur to me... that this is one of the best credit titles that ever was!
That's right: the 1990 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake was co-executive produced by zombie legend Romero and post-Globus Cannon films impresario Menahem Golan. Brilliant!
As for the film, it's a mediocre but watchable Tom Savini-helmed retread of the original that contains a few nice flourishes (and a near-Shakespearean performance by Tony Todd of CANDYMAN fame), but in the end is the kind of disposable 80s horror that's best suited for the background of a party.
Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 95 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Director Chuck Russell (ERASER, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS), Candy Clark, Kevin Dillon, Jeffrey DeMunn (THE GREEN MILE, THE MIST, BURN AFTER READING), Bill Moseley, Jack Nance (ERASERHEAD, BLUE VELVET, TWIN PEAKS), Art LaFleur (FIELD OF DREAMS, COBRA), Donovan Leitch, Shawnee Smith (SAW, THE ISLAND), shot by Mark Irwin (VIDEODROME, SCANNERS, Wes Craven's NEW NIGHTMARE), and cast by Johanna Ray (casting director for David Lynch (1986-Present), Quentin Tarantino (1996-Present), COOL AS ICE, SHOWGIRLS, and GHOULIES),.
Tag-line: "Scream now, while there's still room to breathe."
Best one-liner: "I feel like the one-legged man in an ass kicking contest."
"The Blob's not scary. It's just red Jell-o." SCCHLERRRRP! Yeah, asscheek, you just got absorbed by the Blob. The Blob IS scary. How many times do I have to say this? It has no sense of reason. I guess you can say that about a lot of horror monsters, but the Blob is completely inscrutable. You can't even say with certainty that hunger is its motivation. Does it think? Is it even alive? Well, you don't really have time to tackle these questions when the Blob is coming. Or the Glob. Yeah, the original 50's title was THE GLOB THAT GIRDLED THE GLOBE, which is completely awesome.
Anyway, the 80's saw some of the most successful horror/sci-fi remakes ever, many of the films even eclipsing the originals (THE FLY, THE THING, CAT PEOPLE). Now, the original BLOB can't be touched, but this comes damn close. A lot of that's due to Frank Darabont's writing. He's a man (THE MIST, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, screenplay for NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3) who knows how to do creature features right.
The set-up's perfect- we get loads of well-done, condensed character development AND the Blob in the first 20 minutes; we have complete unpredictability in terms of Blob victims; there's gruesome, unnerving, Cronenbergian FX; and there are some definite emotional stakes. We got the zany Candy Clark, a cameo by Jack "Eraserhead" Nance, the underrated Jeffrey DeMunn, singer Donavan's son as an all-American jock, a bit part by Bill Moseley, and a totally be-mulleted Kevin Dillon.
And it all takes place in a 50's meets 80's Anytown, USA that has a surprisingly evocative flavor to it that's very TWILIGHT ZONE-y. It's got a very successful mildly Lovecraftian feel to it as well. I was really shocked at how well-done this film is. And the ending, which I shan't reveal here, is brilliantly set up, and I dare say gleefully nihilistic. Four stars.
Stars: 5 of 5. Running Time: 100 minutes. Notable Cast or Crew: Tom Savini's makeup (DAWN OF THE DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13th), Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams (STEPFATHER II), Bill Moseley (ARMY OF DARKNESS, CARNIVALE, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS), Jim Siedow ("Old Man" and the only returning cast member from TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 1), Lou Perryman (POLTERGEIST, THE BLUES BROTHERS), and a cameo from novelist Kinky Friedman. Produced by Golan and Globus' Cannon Films, the team that brought us everything from THE APPLE to THE DELTA FORCE to RAPPIN' to OVER THE TOP to 52 PICK-UP to BARFLY to COBRA to DEATH WISH 3 to NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA to RUNAWAY TRAIN to BREAKIN' 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO to a hundred others. Tag-lines: "After a decade of silence... The buzzz is back!" Best one-liner(s): "You have one choice, boy: sex or the saw. Sex is, well, nobody knows. But the saw, the saw is family. "
"'Nam Land!' It's what the public wants!" TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is a masterpiece, a complete reinvention of the series' low-key art film roots, and horror-comedy-drama of the highest order- an epic Gran Guignol. And indeed it even begins with a ghastly puppet show of sorts, the striking image of Leatherface atop a car, fluttering in the night wind to Oingo Boingo's "No One Lives Forever," operating a human corpse as a marionette; our post-modern grim reaper bearing a chainsaw instead of a scythe.
The TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE movies couldn't take place anywhere but Texas. And when Clu Gulager-esque, improvising machine Jim Siedow (the 'Old Man' and the only returning cast member from part 1) screams "I love this town! This town loves prime meat!" to a crowd, and the crowd responds with wildly enthusiastic cheers, you believe it, for better or worse, because it's Texas. Texas is the perfect, over-the-top stage for such a present-day American Gran Guignol. It's the only place you could set it. Other filmmakers have taken note of the locale, the style, or the flavor: this film, for all of the critical (and even fan) animosity, has helped shape the direction of modern horror, obviously persisting as a key influence on the likes of Robert Rodriguez (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, PLANET TERROR), Peter Jackson (BAD TASTE, BRAINDEAD), Rob Zombie (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS), and Quentin Tarantino (NATURAL BORN KILLERS, DEATH PROOF).
This film has it all: a fantastic, carefully chosen soundtrack featuring The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Timbuk 3, Lords of the New Church, Stewart Copland and Concrete Blonde, among others. It has a totally insane Dennis Hopper, out for revenge, kicking Leatherface in the nuts and dueling him Dark Ages-style while wielding two-chainsaws, wearing a ten-gallon hat, and screaming things like "It's the devil's playground!" and "May the Lord have mercy on our souls!" It has the lovely Caroline Williams (STEPFATHER II) totally prefiguring the Juliette Lewis-type in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN as our likable DJ heroine. It's got the wildly improvising Bill Moseley as a 'Nam vet and the possible inspiration for the title character in BEETLEJUICE.
All of this, and it still has a tremendous amount of class: the downright Lynchian crying of the old man at the chainsaw shop; the pull-in, pull-out tracking shot of Grandpa's dinner arrival that recalls a similar shot down a hotel hallway in F.W. Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH; the pathetically poignant 'Leatherface Waltz' sequence, which brings to mind Jean Cocteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; the slapstick of Grandpa's failed hammering attempts which channels Buster Keaton's ONE WEEK; and the incredible pathos you feel for all of the characters (save for the 100% psychotic Chop-Top and the two D-bag victims at the start).
There's even a peculiar impotent-chainsaw dry-humping episode that's a disturbingly bizarre and completely surreal in its exploration of unfocused childish psychosexual tension. It culminates in frustration (the sort that doggedly pulling the starter cord on an impossible chainsaw would inspire) and aimless destruction- an analysis worthy of Catherine Breillat, or at the very least, Sigmund Freud.
It's a first-rate film that didn't supply the scares (the poster parodies THE BREAKFAST CLUB for God's sakes!) or the laughs (there's too much depth for it to feel satisfying as purely a comedy) that its target audience might have liked, but it becomes something much more: one can view it as a tale of revenge with a nihilistic ending, a chaotic, visceral ourobouros connecting to the first film; or simply as top-notch entertainment that continually surprises with its boldness and artistry. Bravo, Mr. Hooper. At perhaps the partial expense of your career, you created something NEW instead of trying to retread unrepeatable ground. Five stars.