Troll Hunter

OK, I admit if: I am a huge sucker for the “found footage” genre even when it dated back to it’s early beginnings with “The Blair Witch Project.” This little production, “Troll Hunter,” made in the cold areas of Norway is a great example of fantastic film making.

The story: A team of young film-makers trail an older man who they suspect may have killed a wild bear (which is against the law). However, after he takes them reluctantly into his confidence, he is revealed to be a special agent known as a “Troll Hunter.” So, yes, children, all the stories you have heard about these monsters are true except something (later to be discovered as rabies) is driving the trolls out into public view

The team continues to follow him into the frozen regions of the country where they find a large angry troll. The hunter attempts to kill him but at the same time a group of “black vans” congregate around the film crew and they and their footage ends there.  But to what end?

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There are some interesting points to this film as they stick to the legends about trolls. One of the filming party is discovered to be a Christian because a troll chasing them can smell his blood. Trolls can indeed be turned into stone by daylight or by ultra-violet light displayed by the hunter’s car. One of the filming crew was bitten by a troll and starts to display troll-like symptoms.  

A very interesting film, even for the photography of a landscape that you may never see in your lifetime and whose plot will set your mind to thinking.

ATRAGON

 

“Atragon,” one of my most favorite films of all time, really resonated with me (and still does) maybe in part because I’m an Air Force Brat. While I never served in the military, I could say that I did second-hand as my father, an Air Force Lt. Colonel, was assigned to various USAF bases across the south over the course of my childhood, finally settling down at MacDill AFB in Tampa, FL.

I’m sure anyone reading this knows the story, but I will give you a small capsule summary: The ancient but super-tech country of the undersea Mu Empire wages war against the Earth with super submarines and other high-tech forces. The world’s last hope resides with a former Japanese naval captain who has built a submarine that can win the war against Mu, but due to his patriotism, he will only use his sub—Atragon—to defend Japan and nothing more. Finally, his estranged daughter (very typical in military families, I know) convinces him that the whole world and not just Japan needs his help. And with the super-sonic flying submarine with an absolute zero cannon, he destroys the Mu Empire.

The musical score by Akira Ifubuke is outstanding. While the moral of the film is that extreme patriotism can blind you, the act of rising up and helping those in need is a strong one. I’ve always been a big believer of second chances; a chance to change things for the better with determination and grit and I would always hum the Atragon main theme to motivate me in my personal challenges.

The film features a lot of Toho contract players and features outstanding special effects. While really not necessary, the movie was the debut of Manda, a sea and land-going small-armed serpent monster who later appeared in “Destroy All Monsters,” minus his serpent “eyebrows” and “moustache” which I suppose was frozen off by the Zero Cannon.

Maybe times seen on Fright Night “Creature Feature” and “Fright Theater,” the film is still as powerful now as it was then on DVD.  The film is based on a novel called “Kantei Gunkan” (or “Undersea Battleship”). The main attraction of the novel (and the film) is the featured drill point of the submarine which allows it to ground its way underground to attach the Mu Empire. You can also see this characterization in the anime called “Super Atragon.”

Technorati Tags: Atragon,Tsuburaya,submarine,Manda,Kanei,Gunkan,undersea,battleship,Toho,Akira,Ifubeke,war,zero cannon,Mu,Empire

Curse of the Faceless Man

This film has a place in my personal history. When I was about 8 years old living in Tampa Bay, FL, Channel 13 WTCT had “Fright Theater” on Friday nights at 11:30 PM. Already interested in monster movies and such, I decided to brave the dark hours of the night and stay up to watch the show. The movie was “Curse of the Faceless Man,” and after the first 5 to 10 minutes, I was scared enough to run back to my room and hop into bed. I remember the scene of the Faceless Man’s hand crawling through the sand and my sister (10 years older than I) saying to me, “Jimmy, are you sure you want to

Technorati Tags: Curse,Faceless,Man,Fright,Theater,WTVT,Pompeii,monster,lava,creature,buried,alive

watch this?” Nope, I wasn’t ready yet.*

Fast forward 40 years when I was able to get the film on DVD and I was very surprised how much more of a “rampaging monster” movie this was. The “monster” is a lava-encrusted survivor of Pompeii who comes to life when a certain relic is in his presence. Richard Anderson—who would go on to star in “Forbidden Planet” and in the “6 Million Dollar Man”—is the hero in the flick.

I also suppose that the quality of the re-mastered DVD disc also swept away a lot of assumptions I had prior to seeing this film. It’s a very entertaining film and the climax of the Faceless Man burning and dissolving away in the beach surf is very memorable.

* It wasn’t until I was 10 years old that I had mustered the courage and the determination to watch movies on “Fright Theater” as well as early-morning sci-fi films on Saturday morning. It was those beginnings that I became an avid monster movie fan.

Island of the Burning Doomed (or Damned?)

Technorati Tags: Hammer,Christopher,Lee,Peter,Cushing,Janet,Merrow,Burning,Damned,Doomed,Big Heat,English,Island

The next DVD I watched was “Island of the Burning Doomed” aka “Island of the Burning Damned” aka “Night of the Big Heat.” The film was produced by a company called “Planet Productions” (which also produced “Island of Terror”) but it all seems to be the same people who were working at Hammer and Amicus. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker and Hammer actors Chris Lee, Peter Cushing, Jane Merrow and other familiar faces are featured.

The story involves an invasion of an English island by aliens who emit super-high temperatures and who cremate most of the cast members. The aliens are trying to raise the temperature of the island to create a beachhead to invade the rest of the world. They are defeated when it begins raining and water kills them all. I bet they didn’t plan on that.

The film is more of a soap opera with the interactions of the cast. You have Jane Merrow as a fem fatale playing a “Fatal Attraction” character to a married writer who runs a pub on the island. Then Chris Lee plays the mysterious Dr. Hanson investigating the aliens while Peter Cushing is the local island medical doctor. The movie was made during the winter and was bitter cold during production so the cast certainly brings out all the stops to show that they are “burning up” in the oppressive “heat.” Very convincing!

However, when the aliens are finally revealed, it’s a big let down. Chris Lee was quoted as saying (paraphrasing) that there is this big build-up…and then the monsters are these giant glowing, slow-moving poached eggs which he found totally ridiculous and said so to the producers.

Not a perfect film, but it’s a chance to see Cushing/Lee working again with a number of Hammer film contract players in new roles.

Movie Review: Frankenstein Conquers The World

Technorati Tags: Frankenstein,Godzilla,Toho,Baragon,giant monster,kaiju,Honda,Inoshiro,Nick Adams,Kumi Mizuno,Gamera,Conquers the World,Gargantuas

I don't expect anyone to read these blog posts, but I wanted to write them down for my own enjoyment and maybe posterity. Someone may stumble upon them. I am going to review and comment on films in my large library of DVDs of sci-fi, horror and cult titles. I've been collecting movies that I enjoy and recently getting them on DVD (and even converting some of them myself to digital) and phase out all the VHS titles. So I decided to just start at the beginning of the shelves of DVDs--none of which are grouped into any particular order, with the exception of my old skool Doctor Who DVDs (sorted by Doctor). So the first one I watched last night was "Frankenstein Conquers The World."

This film has always been a favorite of mine. I first saw it in a drive-in in the early 1970s,* right after “Destroy All Monsters.” Despite it’s somber and low-key beginning with a flue playing the main theme song by Akira Ifubuke, it’s incredible finish showing a giant Frankenstein throwing around Baragon is an amazing transition over 90-some odd minutes!

The story essentially is that the Frankenstein monster’s heart is shipped to Hiroshima, Japan—on the same day the city is nuked by the US. Despite the devastation, a small “child” is seen in the ruins of the city for years. Since the monster’s heart is immortal, it absorbed radiation and was able to re-generate itself into a full human being. (There is some speculations from reviewers that a child ate the heart and then began to grow into Frankenstein, but that would not explain why the being is Caucasian and not Japanese) Then, in 1960, the “boy” (now more like a teenager) is captured by a research center headed by Dr. Bowen (Nick Adams) where he continues to grow and grow…and grow! He breaks out and runs to the mountains to try and live in peace but the military keeps after him. At the same time, another monster, a prehistoric subterranean monster called “Baragon,” appears in select locations eating people, chickens, horses—you name it. Never seen during the day, people blame Frankenstein for the killings.

Finally, the two monsters meet up for a classic death battle in the mountains; a thinking human monster versus a huge laser-breathing dinosaur.

Like most Japanese films imported to the US, there were some changes made, under the supervision or both Toho and American producer Harry Saperstein.  Nick Adams and Kumi Muzino have a great on-screen relationship that it’s easy to see that Adams was enjoying his experience on the set. There were a few edits made in their dinner date and the trip out to the beach to keep it more platonic. The big difference is in the endings. While Frankenstein kills Baragon and then sinks into the ground during an earthquake, the Japanese version features a giant octopus crawling out of a crevasse, grabbing Frankenstein into the ocean and drowning him (which sets up the semi-sequel, “War of the Gargantuas” – kind of)

There was also a strange edit made in the American version. When Frankenstein peeks in to see Mizuno in her apartment, he reacts when he hears the police sirens and tosses a lamp post into their path, destroying the car. It’s rather obvious that this was filmed somewhere else and it is NOT the same actor in the Japanese version. The scenes are similar, but instead of the slowed down crash of the police car, it’s highly-revved up and the car just jeers off the street. Very strange, but the needs for the edit are unknown.

You see a lot of the familiar Toho contract players in this film and Adams really brings a sense of sympathy to the victims of Hiroshima in his character of Dr. Bowen, trying to help those who are still suffering from the effects of radiation.

Despite the corny title of “Conquering the World” with Adams holding a machine gun in the US ads (which never happens), I highly recommend this film but keep in mind the era of which it is placed. I wonder also how much or how did Toho secure the rights of the “Frankenstein Monster” from Universal? The name “Frankenstein” is public domain, but if your creation is going to have a flat head like Karloff’s, that’s Universal’s copyright.

* My mom drove me to the drive-in since I was too young to drive and there were usually these giant Japanese monster film fests held every 6 months or so. We arrived just in time to watch the climactic battle between King Ghidorah and the Earth Monsters from “Destroy All Monsters.” I remember very fondly that my mom laughed out loud when Minya blew a smoke ring around one of Ghidorah’s necks. Then she snoozed the time away while I watched this film, “Reptilicus” and another monster film. She passed away in the summer of 2012 and I will always be grateful she took the time to take me to watch these movies at the old drive-in.