Ditch Day Massacre (2013)

If you are a child of the 70's or 80's like me, you remember a time when slasher films were all the rage.  Themes connected most of them in a pretty straightforward manner.  There were usually several photogenic teens in the main cast, all grouped together by some event or holiday.  Maybe it was Prom Night, Halloween, Arbor Day, Trash Pickup Day, whatever.  The event was effectively a plot device to put the cast of teens together for an unsupervised period, during which they would drink, get wasted, and have lots of sex.  The plan was always doomed by the antagonist, usually a killer with some agenda motivated by revenge.

As time went on, the killer became the focus of the films.  The bad guy, in a way, became an anti-hero.  Audiences began to root for the bad guy, as strange as that sounds, as the villain became more colorful and more powerful with each successive film.  Consider Freddy from the Nightmare on Elm Street series.  He, along with Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers became so unstoppable that they almost contained a supernatural element.  After a while, it became almost uninteresting because of their invulnerability and the limitless ineptitude of the hapless victims.

Slashers gave way to the more recent "torture porn" genre which I have very little interest in. It's really gore for gore's sake. I'm not opposed to seeing simulated violence, especially if it serves the story. John Carpenter's The Thing is one of the grossest films ever, but it is still awesome.  There has to be a good story, at least some depth, and characterization.  Those elements can make or break a good movie.  Enter Ditch Day Massacre.

The Basic Plot (Minor Spoiler Alert...skip down if you want to avoid plot points)

Less ripoff of teen slasher flicks such as Halloween or the above-mentioned Friday series and more homage to the genre, Ditch Day Massacre provides us with a slasher movie that puts the genre on its ear in a couple of ways.  Without giving away too much, here is a basic run-down.

Jenny, a popular high-school girl with a promising future, is still tortured by an automobile accident from one year ago.  Sensing her depression, and knowing her parents are going to be out for a few convenient days, her boyfriend convinces her to ditch school and throw a party with several friends at her home.  She agrees reluctantly, and soon we have six kids getting together, drinking, and playing party games.  They are being watched by a stalker with some dark intentions.  It is revealed that the killer is a man who was involved in Jenny's accident a year ago, and he lost his family in the wreck.  Jenny was responsible, being too high to remember anything, and evidently drove away.  With her father and his corrupt partner investigating, she never had to pay for her crime, which is a major theme of the movie.  The killer is motivated by revenge for his wife and daughter, though we don't know anything about him before the accident. Maybe he was unbalanced to begin with; we simply don't know. What we do know is that he is fixated on Jenny, and we know why.

The killer, named Vick (Bill Oberst, Jr), captures Jenny's parents, and their fate is ambiguous. He shows no mercy to anyone in his way, even the innocent cougar neighbor who only wanted to flirt with him.  The police station gets a tip from a farmer about the missing dad (his vehicle is on the rural property), and the dad's partner, the mysterious Detective Mann, who has more than a few skeletons in his closet, comes to investigate.  At the villa, the kids all get drunk and split up in twos to play chess.  I'm kidding, they don't play chess, they have sex.  Anyone who has seen an 80's slasher film knows what that means.  Sex normally means you have a giant target on you.  So we've got our horny teens, a nosy neighbor, a curious jerk cop, and a back story / motivation for our killer.

While it sounds like I'm describing every slasher ever made, I'm not. I'm intentionally providing basic plot points and motifs in case you want to see this for yourself.  The writing is much more detailed than what I'm giving here, and this story has surprising depth and characterization.  There are several points that puts this film ahead of others in the genre. First...

THE CAST

Bill Oberst, Jr is "Vick".  Here, Oberst brings his considerable skill as an actor to the table. Most of the time, in this kind of movie the killer is played with either stoicism or over-the-top relish.  Additionally, the killer normally has a mask, lots of makeup, or some kind of physical deformation to flesh out the performance.  Oberst's "Vick" has none of this, save for some scarring from the accident, and Bill plays him with a wide range of emotions.  His eyes convey so much, that with very little or no dialog, the actor shows us rage, elation, remorse, and maybe even some regret showing through.  An actor with the skill to communicate so much without uttering a word deserves accolades, especially in a film where he could just phone it in like everyone else.  For a taste of how quickly he can scare the bejesus out of you in only a minute, go to FaceBook and watch Take This Lollipop.  You will see how he shows anger, hurt, and deviousness all at once.  It's a weird sensation, being impressed, and scared to death at the same time.

Bill spent at least a decade traveling the East Coast doing live theater, performing in all types, from comedy, to musicals, to historical dramas and one-man shows. His years of honing the ability to keep the audience fixed on him pays off here, as he brings a dynamic presence to what could have been just another villainous role.  He makes the viewer feel empathy, even as he commits some of the most horrifying acts.

Katy Foley does a decent job playing "Jenny". She has the job of trying to play a character that is a smart sort of goody-two-shoes without coming across as an insufferable know-it-all, which can't be easy.

Zach Silverman is "Mike", the boyfriend.  He does pretty well, given the material he has.  He comes across as a pretty normal guy for the most part, and despite being the catalyst that provokes Jenny to have the party in the first place, he does seem to care for her.

Gabriel De Santi is "Max".  He is the most likable of the teen cast, and has some of the funniest dialog.

Pandie Suicide as "Trina" is our goth girl with a wild side. She is probably the funniest character besides Max, and in the real world would probably have the greatest chance of survival. She probably puts up the best fight, next to...

Brad Potts as "Officer Mann".  Brad is your cookie-cutter a-hole detective, always yelling at and threatening subordinates.  Potts is an intimidating figure who would make a great drill sergeant.  He often plays policemen and authority figures, and with good reason. He is loud, large, and scary. He chews up and spits out every scene he is in, and is fun to watch.

The rest are all decent, turning in a performance that serves the story well.  While no one here except Brad Potts really has the strong presence to go toe-to-toe with Bill Oberst, overall they did a good job.


TECHNICAL STUFF

Makeup Effects
Josh  and Sierra Russell deserve high praise for their efforts in this.  They earn major props because the creative team opted for physical effects, rather than CGI.  The makeup and prosthetic work make this look superior to modern "A-list" films, which rely too heavily on computer effects, in my opinion.  Violence in Ditch Day is pretty extreme, and the details are there. Much of it was difficult to watch because of the high realism. Vick carries around an ax and uses it regularly to great effect, and makes use of any other tool he finds lying around as well.  In certain sequences, the killer catches victims in, shall we say, compromising positions, presenting more of a challenge to the effects team. That may sound like an odd thing to say, but think about it: an ax going into someone not wearing any clothes and sticking is hard to replicate, but the prosthetic team pulls it off.  Tom Savini would be impressed with this project.  If you don't know who Tom Savini is, then close the browser and go away. Just kidding, don't leave. Please?

There are dismemberments, people getting bashed, stabbed and gutted.  There is a nice reference to at least a couple of movies in this area, including a personal favorite, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, when a character meets his demise via a weed-eater.  Whether the reference is intentional or if I am connecting too many dots is irrelevant; I am just having fun with this movie.

Besides the physical makeup effects, the impact and shock value are aided by...

Sound Design
The sounds in horror movies, especially lower-budget indie flicks, is normally spotty at best.  Here, the mix is perfect, particularly effective in the murder scenes without going overboard.  When a character is gutted at one point, his intestines spill out, and while you don't see everything in every shot, you hear the sound of entrails splatting on the floor. It makes the scene that much more effective.

The great score by Giona Ostinelli is pitch perfect. It scares you in the "jump" scenes, and transitions perfectly from the party scenes to the scares.  During the ending sequence, when our killer gets what's coming to him, the fantastically subtle music along with Bill Oberst's amazing performance, make that scene one of the best.

Art Direction
The production design made a pretty bold choice. The first thing that I noticed about this film was the overall look.  What stands out is how bright everything is. Suburbia is reflected in whites, beige walls, and bright colors.  Were this not a scary movie, it could be a teen show like Party of Five. I know that is a dated reference, but I'm not up on those shows. Sue me.

The thing is, with the house design being so bright and cheerful, and this entire movie taking place in the day time (except the opening scene), the content is that much more shocking.  Kills are done out in the open in broad daylight, often in a cheery well-decorated room.  This makes the movie much more impactful, in my opinion, making me believe this could happen anywhere, even in my home.  In movies that take place at night in a creepy cabin, I'm thinking "OF COURSE, there's a killer there!", but because you don't expect it in upper-middle class Suburbia, it's all the more reason to be scared.



CONTENT
It should be noted that the rating was unavailable to me. This is a new film and may not have yet been reviewed by the MPAA; however, experience tells me in the US it would be likely R if not NC-17.

Gore abounds in this, which is typical for films of the genre.  Additionally, two women and a one man appear nude, so if you are offended by nudity, you should have the 'skip' button handy.  Clearly this is not a movie to put on while the kids are up!

FINAL VERDICT
Ditch Day Massacre pulls no punches and slays your perception of slashers. There is just enough familiarity to make you believe you've seen it all before, and then it slaps you in the face and hangs you up by your ankles.  Longtime fans of slasher flicks will feel like a kid again.  There are many references to classics, from Halloween to The Shining.  If you enjoy this type of movie, you'll get a serious kick out of Ditch Day Massacre.  While the grisly scenes and other content may cause you to hide your eyes occasionally, the story does not just hit you with shocking material with no point.  Morality themes surface repeatedly, including the concept that your past will always come back to find you, and everyone eventually pays for their crime.  Looking through my lens as a Christian, I am able to go along with that motif.  Viewers who are not Christians will also appreciate the karmic message.  Oberst's skill at playing villains with an emotional conflict, along with solid writing and direction place this well above other films in its category. 4/4.

Watch the Trailer Here

DIDJA KNOW?

Though there were no ghosts, paranormal activities, creepy crawlers or fanged critters called for in the script, our villain’s layer was haunted by a real entity, a ghost named Charlene.  According to the property owner “Charlene” is the reason he abandoned living in the large villa. And yes, this is a true story.  During the first location scout, the creative team including producer Megan Waters—unashamed—reached out to the spirits, begging permission to film peacefully. In turn, she promised to return the property back to its original state.  Unfortunately, this didn’t ease Charlene.  Props, car keys, tools, gear, wardrobe and set decorations repeatedly went missing and then would magically reappear.  On the final day, Charlene appeared to the producer during clean up. Charlene gazed directly at the producer and then to the house before disappearing. It was a very chilling moment for Megan as she concluded that she’s finally lost her mind.

One of their most memorable crew members was a fluffy and lovable China Chow named Leo. And like every horror movie pet, Leo liked sugar. Now, lets back up a step. All gore FX in Ditch Day Massacre were practical and executed in the lens. This was the demanded goal and vision of the creative team who wanted to make this film gush crimson goodies like the fangtastic 80’s slasher films it belovedly pays homage to.  Every cast and crew-member, at some point, ended up covered in the FX guru’s bloody concoction or stewed pig guts.  Which brings us to their set dog Leo, who liked to roll in puddles and anything else resembling wet to cool off got past the hot set signs, found a bucket of blood—set where it shouldn’t have been set—plopped down and happily rolled in our fake blood!  After which, he ran free-spiritedly through the house, across the carpet and into nicely linen decorated bedrooms. Leo was so doused that the vet—after realizing that he wasn’t mortally wounded—had to be fully shaved. As this is funny now, at the time this was a dark day on set because the owner of the house was considering shutting the production down. In addition, the silver lining in his buzz cut revealed he had what might be skin cancer. It ended up being good fortune that the horror Gods decided to play this little trick on us. The skin blemishes never would have found had he not playfully rolled in the blood.

10 gallons of fake blood was mixed up on set. Husband and wife FX team Josh and Serria Russell kept their blood mix master recipe a secret. Josh Russell is also a talented singer and songwriter.  His song “An open letter to Taylor Swift” is featured in the film.

The film was shot in 17 days. 

During the final 4 days of production, the crew camped on a remote ranch property.  To keep the crew fed, a refrigerator was placed in the middle of the wilderness and plugged into the RV hook-up.  It was pretty funny to see a bright white fridge in the middle of the desolate wooded area. Cast and crew both posed with the appliance to commemorate the experience.

None of the actors partaking in the beer-chugging scene had ever shotgunned a beer. The punctured beer cans sprayed everywhere and the cast busted up laughing.  The take was used because of it’s authenticity.

LINKS

Ditch Day Massacre Web Site

Check out our interview with Bill Oberst here
For more information, check out Bill Obedrst’s resume at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2454994/

Also, check out these cool links:

www.billoberstjr.com

www.billoberstjr.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/billoberstjr

Star Crash (1979)

During the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, films set in space were truly something to behold.  There were such serials as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and countless others.  Kids marveled at their heroes, often made in the same mold as cowboys or swashbuckling heroes and pirates, only set in space.  But by the 1970's, space-themed science fiction films had devolved into a sort of dry, almost depressing genre.  With examples such as 2001: Space Oddysey, Silent Running, and THX1138, audiences often saw a future that was sterile and, well, sort of boring.  It wasn't until the writer/director of the latter film helmed Star Wars that space adventures could be fun again.  After the unquestionable success of Star Wars in 1977, production companies quickly sought ways to cash in on the popularity of the new film. Perhaps this was the dawn of the era of Mock-busters; films intended to look and sound like some already immensely popular movie, only to pull a bait-and-switch on the audience.  Following Star Wars, we were deluged with many similarly-themed movies, with varying degrees of success.  Some were so bad your eyeballs may bleed (see my review of War of the Robots for a painful example), and some were pretty good facsimiles of the original, such as Battlestar Galactica (the 1979 version by Glen Larson, not the recent reboot/remake).  Somewhere in the middle lies a modest little film from producer Roger Cormen, entitled Star Crash.

The Plot

Star Crash follows the exploits of space outlaws Stella Star and her faithful companion Akton.  Stella Star is played by Caroline Munroe, who fans of Ray Herryhausen's Golden Voyage of Sinbad will recognize.  She plays Stella with unbridled enthusiasm and gusto, kicking lots of butt and taking names. Stella could probably win in a fight with Princess Leia.  Akton is played by Marjoe Gortner, a guy whose real-life story is almost as colorful as the pseudo-jedi character he plays here, but more on that later.  In the opening sequence, we see some ship get attacked by odd red blobs in space. The exact nature of the blobs is mysterious, but is bad enough to warrant launching three escape pods. Afterward, we meet our main stars of the movie, already in trouble.

We find them in the beginning of the film trying to outrun the Space Police, who work for the Emperor of the Galaxy, played with regal presence by the awesome Christopher Plummer.  Star Wars fans take note: the Emperor is a good guy this time around.  Anyway, our smugglers are caught and sentenced to separate penal colonies. Stella decides minutes after arriving at hers that working in a prison camp sucks, and that she is going to escape.  With the aid of a few prisoners, she stages an escape, which results in the deaths of pretty much every prisoner but her, along with the guards. After this mass genocide, we see that her efforts and the deaths of countless innocent people were pretty much in vain, because she is quickly picked up by the Emperor's men, who had a change of heart and need her and Akton to retrieve his son, Prince Simon, and discover the Evil Count Zarth Arn's hidden planet and his super-weapon.
 

She is given two assistants, the guys who captured them initially.  We have the faithful robot Elle (pronounced like the letter "L"), and the bald imposing alien cop Thor.  Elle is kind of an odd character. He looks like the love child of Darth Vader and C-3PO and speaks with a cartoonish southern drawl, kind of along the lines of Yosemite Sam.  He has some of the cheesiest lines in the movie, but is at least useful, such as when Stella is marooned on a Hoth-like planet, freezing to death and Elle uses his technologies to slow her heart rate down or some nonsense. Thor becomes a traitor, and is stopped by Akton, who reveals the depth of his jedi-like powers for the first time.  Their fight scene is hilarious, although that was unintentional, I'm sure.

Our heroes track down three escape pods from the first scene and finally locate Prince Simon.  After a battle with troglodyte cave-men, Stella is rescued by Akton, who now is brandishing a strangely familiar weapon I'm going to refer to from now on as a TNL (Totally Not a Lightsaber).  Once the cave-men are dealt with, we also meet the Prince, played by a pre-Knight Rider David Hasselhoff.  Akton reveals to Stella and The Hoff that they are now on the Unknown Planet, the location of Zarth Arn's super-weapon. How he knows it is an unknown planet is not known. Anyway....

They go deeper into the caverns and locate the machines that Zarth Arn has been using to create the giant red space-blob monsters, and find that they have walked into a trap. See, if only they had also stolen Admiral Akbar from Star Wars they would have known it was a trap, but I digress.  Zarth Arn shows up with his men and two awesome stop-motion robots with swords, explains everything to them, and instead of killing them leaves them alone with the two robots. Akton battles them with his TNL, but is mortally wounded. The Hoff, sorry, Prince Fluffy-hair or whatever the crap his name is, takes up the TNL and finishes off the robots.

Then the Emperor shows up, stops the flow of time for three minutes, and rescues them from the planet, which is about to be destroyed by Zarth Arn.  Yes, I said he stopped the flow of time, and that Zarth Arn's evil plan is to destroy his own flipping planet and super-weapon. Believe it or not, this is where the story gets a little weird.

The emperor and his men launch a spectacular attack on Zarth Arn's space station, I'll call TNAD, for Totally Not a DeathStar...OK, I'll admit that joke has run its course.  At any rate, the Emperor's ship shoots missles which break through the windows of the enemy strong-hold without creating any depressurization issues, but that's not the awesome part. Men pop up out of these torpedoes and do battle with Zarth Arn's army. This movie has so much epic-ness.

Sadly, all the good guys die despite the totally awesome human torpedo plan.  So in a last bid for success, the Emperor reveals that Stella has one last chance to save the day by flying a friggin' city into Zarth Arn's space station. It might have proven helpful to know that was an option sooner, lest your men might live, there, Mister Emperor. Who cares, this movie is awesome, and not to be pondered or ruined by things like logic. Stella saved the day, makes out some with the Hoff, and the movie ends. Wow. OK, there's lots to talk about with this one, so pay attention. There will be a test.

Visuals

One thing this movie has going for it is the visual quality. No, it's not up to Star Wars standards obviously, but it has a tremendous visual style that makes it fun to watch.  Everything available for the day was used. You have bluescreen work, matte paintings, stop motion, models, and more. I'm not simply praising the technical level, but the artistic level. Space shots are unique, with multi-colored stars all around.  A viewer on one forum described this approach by saying in this movie, "Space looks like Christmas," and since I can't describe it any better, I'll steal that statement.

Stop-motion characters abound in this film, from the freaky squid-tentacled thing that sentences our heroes to labor camp, the giant female robot guard (complete with giant metal breasts), to the two robot swordsmen who battle our heroes in the end.  The movie is not only copying, but paying loving homage to the stop-motion film of Harryhausen, to include the Sinbad franchise and others.  If some parts of the movie were amateurish, at least the stop-motion effects were well-conceived and tediously crafted.

Dogfights in space are not bad. The movie gets credit from me for the camera work here. Most films of the era depicted ships from the side only, and have the background plate with stars moving quickly past. Here, the backgrounds are mostly stationary, and ships move toward the viewer at a forced perspective angle, fly overhead, and even bank and turn as they would in much bigger productions.  Lots of model work is used, and blown up with sadistic glee in Star Crash. While some shots were directly copied from the Death Star Run in Star Wars, I think of it as more of a tip of the hat than a direct ripoff.

Sets and costumes are intricate and beautifully crafted as well.  Simply put, this is a gorgeous movie to watch.  The color palette, the set design, and overall look put this Star Wars Knockoff above the rest.

Acting

I give praise to Christopher Plummer because he is grandiose in everything he does. He has played Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, a Klingon general in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, and many other memorable roles.  He delivers even the most bizarre dialog in this film with the strong presence and eloquent sincerity that he brings every role, and keeps this film from slipping into self-aware goofiness.  David Hasselhoff is not in this enough to really say too much about. He did alright, playing a heroic character without being too hammy or trying to steal scenes.  Caroline Munroe is pretty good in this, although she is not really required to show much range.  Her character is sort of a blend of Han Solo and Princess Leia. The producers of the film wanted her to wear less and less, but to keep the film marketable, the production company thankfully kept her clothed.

She is pretty, and it is always nice to see characters that show you can be nice-looking and tough, and not need a man to save her. The only complaint with her, acting-wise, is how she seems so darn happy all the time. Everyone goes around with a huge grin in fact. Akton, Zarth Arn, Stella...the only ones who do not are Plummer, who is always focused and serious, and the silly southern-talking robot.  The tone of the movie is just so dog-gone light everyone seems to be having a good time, which you will, too. Keep Star Crash handy for when you are in a bad mood. It will perk you up.

Akton is played with flamboyant energy by the great Marjoe Gortner. Marjoe seemed awfully familiar to me, so I did some research on him and turned up a documentary from the 1970's in which he shows film makers a behind-the-scenes look at traveling evangelicals.  The documentary is highly unsympathetic to people in this trade, focusing on the types who are only in it for the money, making no distinction between seedy fakes and those who genuinely want to share God's love.  It was on this circuit that Gortner honed his stage presence and his ability to keep the interest of anyone watching him. It shows in his performance in Star Crash, as you'll find yourself almost transfixed on him whenever he is on-screen. He is a dynamic presence who commands your attention at all times.  It's a pity he didn't go on and do more movies and television than he did.

Distribution

When this was released in the United States, everyone re-dubbed their lines.  This is not uncommon for a variety of reasons. Many older films were shot without sound, and had to be mixed later. Sometimes, a film is shot with sound, but conditions keep the actors from being clear, so loop recording happens later as well. Everyone dubbed their own lines except Munroe, who producers did not want to spend the money on to fly her to America.  Instead, all of her dialog is recorded by Candy Clark, who was Marjoe Gortner's wife at the time.  Subsequently, on occasion, Stella exclaims things with a slight American Southern twang.

The film is available on DVD as part of Roger Cormen's Cult Classics, sometimes packaged with Battle Beyond the Stars, an inferior Star Wars clone.  This one is highly recommended for lovers of B-Movie sci-fi fare, and may whet your appetite for badly-directed space films until J.J. Abrams finishes the new Star Wars film. Final rating: Four out of four-a perfect blend of science fiction, cheese, and sincerity.

Ninja III: the Domination (1984)

Quick! Who do you think of when you think Ninja films of the 80’s?

If you said Sho Kosugi, you get a gold ninja star! I would also accept Cannon Films, Golan-Globus Productions, or Sam Firstenberg.

Lost? Read on, Grass-hopper…

OK, if you didn’t follow that reference, that’s why I’m here, I’m going to educate you- because I am a giver. My doctor says I’m a carrier, but I digress.  In the 1980’s there was a tremendous surge of ninja films in the United States. Bruce Lee was gone, Chuck Norris was growing in popularity, and martial arts were not quite mainstream.  Yeah, there were karate schools in most major cities. Still, something about the martial arts was still exotic and mysterious.  Then, the Decade of Decadence suddenly exploded with far-fetched action films featuring the seemingly superhuman warrior; the ninja.

Most ninja films that were popular in America featured the Japanese actor Sho Kosugi.  He began his remarkable career in Asia, doubling for actors in many low-budget quickies and perfecting fight choreography before making his mark in the U.S. in several Cannon films.  He embraced the stereotype to the fullest, un-apologetically playing the same type of character each time: the mysterious ninja master, sometimes the good guy, sometimes the villain, but always intimidating and purely awesome.  His fight choreography is typically marked with high-energy acrobatics, flashy kicks, and exotic weaponry. We didn’t know what a ninja was, but he must have been one. Every kid I knew in the mid-80’s owned throwing stars or nunchuks because of Kosugi.

He is most notably remembered for the Ninja trilogy, produced by the Israeli cousins who ruled low-budget Hollywood flicks throughout the eighties, Menahem Golan and Yorem Globus.  Their Cannon Films group had a fool-proof business model built around a simple philosophy: any picture could be made for under $1 million with little-known actors and turn a profit.  The Ninja trilogy was Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and today’s entry Ninja III: The Domination.  The three films all featured Kosugi in a starring role, though they were all unrelated stories.  Each time he played a different character.

In Ninja III, Cannon tried something that hadn’t really been done.  They combined the “possession” horror-movie genre with the ninja genre, with a little bit of dance-movie genre thrown in for good measure.  It was an odd mix to be sure, but fans of each genre were sure to have something for them.  I’ll discuss the film’s specific plot points next, so if you are thinking of checking out the movie on Netflix or YouTube and don’t like spoilers, I suggest you skip the next section, and skip down to the final paragraph…

Ok, here’s your spoiler alert. Consider yourself warned.

How are they not shooting each other?

The film opens on a golf course, where a random rich white guy is attacked and subsequently killed by a mysterious ninja warrior.  Fans of ninja might roll their eyes, as we commonly associate the warriors with stealth, often hiding in the shadows, wearing black, and keeping a generally low profile.  Not this ninja.  He is bold, bad, and seems to want to be seen and feared. He blatantly kills the random yuppie dude out in the open, even slicing up his girlfriend, as well as a plethora of security guys.  He quickly draws the attention of the entire police force, and hacks up most of them, too.  All this over-the-top action takes up the opening 20 minutes of the film, and includes some amazing stunts. It is possibly the greatest movie opening ever.

Tiger regretted hiring his new caddie.

Finally, four of the cops surround the bad guy, shooting him until he throws down a smoke-bomb and mysteriously vanishes. They spread out to look for the assassin, and we discover that he was there the whole time, buried under the sand. He climbs out, and, dying, he gets away and comes across a woman who is a phone company worker, out climbing poles and checking lines.  She tries to help him, noting he is gravely injured. She can’t understand his Japanese babbling, and just before he dies, he gives her his sword.

She takes the sword home, and we later learn it has magic powers, possibly even possessed by the ninja.  Our leading lady, Christie, is played by Lucinda Dickey, who gained fame in dancing movies like Breakin’ as well as Breakin’ 2: Electric Bogaloo.  In those films, she caught the attention of director Sam Firstenberg (as well as millions of love-struck teenage boys), who also directed this film as well as many other ninja films.  Her dancing style fused ballet with hip-hop, which in the early eighties hadn't been seen before.  Not a trained martial artist, her natural athleticism made it possible for her to do most of her own stunts in Ninja III.  Back to the story.

One of the cops who question her after the cop massacre, Billy Secord, follows her around everywhere.  Were he not a good-looking guy, she’d probably say more like he stalks her everywhere.  He shows up at her other job, teaching aerobics in what can only be described as the sleaziest gym ever.  Some creepy guys form the gym follow our heroin outside after class and try to rape her. The group of people just stands idly by doing nothing, which includes officer Secord. Gee, if there were only a law enforcement guy around who could stop these bullies from trying to rape Lucinda Dickey. Oh, well.  As the guys advance on her, she suddenly explodes on them with some amazing karate moves. She makes quick work of the four guys, easily dispatching them, no thanks to creepy-stalker-cop-guy, who watches the whole thing unfold.

Soon, Secord keeps hitting on her while she constantly deflects his creepy advances.  About this time, I’m thinking, “finally-a movie with a strong female lead…something which shows girls you can be strong and sexy, but not need a man”.  Then, as Secord finally gives up, and angrily tells her to get out…she gives in to him. And thus, the women’s movement comes to a grinding halt, leading us to a scene that I guess is supposed to be romantic, but is kind of yucky. She pours V8 juice on herself, which he is supposed to lick off. I don’t know if they were going for a 9 and ½ Weeks vibe or what, but…it was a fail.  Thankfully, the scene cuts away before it devolves any further into soft-core porn.

Christie also begins to succumb to the spirit in the ninja sword, which takes over her body from time to time, sending her out on a quest to find the cops who killed the ninja in the opening.  Every time Christie sees one of the cops out-and-about, she has a flashback of the assassin being shot hundreds of times by the cops, and she quickly runs away, changes into the ninja outfit and hunts the cop down. This pattern occurs several times, and the scenes are laughable.  Lucinda Dickey handles the choreography pretty well, but it’s still difficult to accept that she has super-strength and is able to easily overpower larger men, trained to use guns, but hey-this is only a movie…I’ll suspend some disbelief. 

Finally. The movie's half over, and I "Sho" up.

About the same time in the story, Secord takes Christie to see a Japanese exorcist, played by the great James Hong, from Big Trouble in Little China, as well as about 900 billion other movies requiring an old Asian guy who doesn't mind stereotypes.  He discovers Christie is possessed by an ancient ninja spirit, and that he can’t help her, because, well, “only a ninja can stop a ninja”. Speaking of ninjas, finally Sho Kosugi (you know, the star of the movie) shows up.

He meets some monks, and promptly begins his secret mission to steal back the body of the assassin.  After bringing the body to the temple, he gets after Christie who is in full ninja-mode.  They have a battle that goes from a cemetery to an old warehouse.  The cops arrive and capture Kosugi, and I guess they assume he is the assassin they are looking for. Christie escapes, and Kosugi instructs Secord to bring Christie to the old temple, where he will meet them later. Kosugi then easily escapes the cops and meets them at the temple.  There, they begin the rites to free Christie of the spirit, send the spirit to its old body, and finally we get the showdown we've been waiting for.  The two ninja duking it out, taking the battle through the temple, around some cliffs, and down a steep hill. 

The action is typical Kosugi, fantastic and high-energy.  His acrobatics are not quite on the level of Jackie Chan, but fans of Chan will still appreciate the choreography and stunts.  The evil ninja is played by David Chung, himself an accomplished martial artist.  The fight never reaches the awesomeness that we get in Kosugi’s second entry Revenge of the Ninja, which I will be reviewing at a later time.  Still the battle is exciting, if a little shorter than I felt it should be.  There is plenty of supernatural mayhem, including smoke-bombs, mass hypnotism, and in the movies greatest what-the-crap moment, a ninja drilling into the ground to create an earthquake. You read that correctly.  That alone was worth the price of admission.

The Verdict:

Fans of ninja films will not be disappointed by this one.  There is plenty of action, chases, and stunts to keep even the shortest attention-span movie watchers engaged.  I did not care much for the love story, but will admit that at least this movie was progressive enough that the hero is the girl, and she doesn't need saving by the guy.  Compared to Twilight, this message is much better.  I get the very real sense during this movie that Christie doesn't really need Secord to fulfill her sense of self-worth.  She keeps him around simply because she wants to.  I like that.

None of the characters are really well fleshed-out. Kosugi’s character is your typical ninja good-guy, who is motivated to capture and destroy the evil ninja because he raided his village and cut his eye in a brief cliché-flashback, explaining the eye-patch. That is the extent of his development.

We know absolutely nothing about the evil ninja, other than some gibberish about how he is an ancient warrior, possibly possessed by an old evil spirit.  It is not explained if the ninja himself is just another guy with a spirit that goes from person to person, or he is the spirit.  And we never know why he killed rich white yuppie-guy in the beginning.  We only know he is evil; that is enough.

Secord is likable enough, I guess.  When he is not leering at Christie, he does manage to come off as a pretty cool guy who does care about her, though the relationship developed pretty quickly, even in “movie-time”.  He is not your typical action hero-type who saves the girl. She is pretty tough in this, and at one point in the story almost kills him while he cowers on the floor in a scene where she is being possessed and is trying to fight off the demon’s power.

Lucinda Dickey’s Christie character is tough, sometimes cynical, and strong-willed.  She is just strong enough that she doesn't come across as “butch”, holding onto just enough feminine vulnerability that she manages to walk the line and not be just an action hero, or a damsel-in-distress.  That says a lot about her as an actress who was so much more than an amazing dancer /performer.

This movie is a good, solid action movie that will take you back to B-movie exploitation films of the 70's and 80's. While it is not exactly a cinematic achievement in storytelling or special effects, it does what it does well.  I am a tremendous fan of the ninja genre, and love campy films.  While the movie did mix martial arts, horror, and action, it didn't really go very far in any of those directions.  Unfortunately, it left the film feeling a bit muddled, as though it were suffering an identity crisis.  The formula of mixing horror and martial arts wouldn't be tried again until a few years later with Chuck Norris's Silent Rage (another movie I'll have to review on this site, though I'm having trouble associating Norris with B-movies). I found the viewing experience of this awesome chop-socky 80's flick akin to eating Chinese food; it was satisfying, but an hour later I wanted more.

~Dax

Final Score: 2 out of 4

The Van Damme / Sho Kosugi Connection:

Nope, totally not looking gay

Lucinda Dickey also worked for Sam Firstenberg on Breakin', which featured an extra you might recognize: a young pre-cocaine Jean-Claude Van Damme dancing like a freak in the background.  JCVD made his mark originally in France in the dancing film Rue Barber and showcased his dancing talent before being known as a karate guy. After his rise to fame with Bloodsport he was criminally under-used when he made his only movie with Sho Kosugi called Black Eagle.

More Useless Trivia

Christie has an arcade game in her apartment called Bouncer (More info on Bouncer here). The game was quite rare, and difficult to locate. It is sort of obscure and difficult to find any information on.  In fact, the game was so rare it wasn't officially released.  It was expensive to mass-produce, and had the unfortunate timing of coming out when laser-disc games were all the rage. The game's hardware used a new tech called Real-Image Processing, ironically known as R.I.P.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

King Kong vs. Godzilla is without a doubt the most entertaining and commercially successful (adjusted for inflation) of all the Godzilla films. What Sci-Fi plot could be better than pitting Godzilla against Willis O’Brien’s creation? It’s a great monster movie that really hit the money-making accelerator in the Toho franchise and propelled Godzilla into stardom. The film also presents audiences the both monsters in color for the first time.Following this movie, sequel after sequel would be made each year as a result.

     Godzilla was last seen buried on an island covered in ice. At some point between films, a chunk of glacier drifts out to see. As the film begins, Godzilla breaks free after a submarine crashes into the iceberg. Shortly after, the angry dinosaur destroys the sub and levels a military base. The suit design is once again revamped: the three sets of fins are replaced with one row, the torso is much bulkier, and the head is much narrower, giving him an alligator look. Overall, Godzilla looks more reptile-like than previously. Because the film’s mood is lighter than before, his roar is given the more familiar high-pitch, and the fangs are removed. He’s more “kid-friendly” in that sense, even though the monster is still villainous. Kong, on the other hand, is nothing similar to the 1933 version, which is in stop-motion. Here, he is a guy in a clumsy and very fake looking rubber suit, with a mouth that does not move when he roars.

     There’s a scene where Kong battles a giant octopus, which in fact is a real specimen Toho used for production. It’s not a spectacular scene, especially when Kong throws the rocks at it. You can tell the forced perspective animal is nowhere near the rocks as they are seemingly thrown across it, rather than actually making contact.

     But for the most part, the monster scenes are entertaining. Following his raid on the military base, Godzilla falls into a massive hole filled with dynamite by the Japanese army. For a B-Movie, the scene is done well, and adds to the aura of Godzilla’s invincibility. Continuity is erratic though, considering Godzilla is depicted as fearing electricity. In the original film, he rips through the electrical defenses in Tokyo without a problem. Although one should remember these are two different monsters; the original died in 1954.

     While the movie is in no way true to the 1933 film, it does uphold Kong’s interest in women, as he carries around a woman across Tokyo. Kong is also increased in size, from about 30 feet tall to Godzilla’s size. And for some reason he absorbs electricity, in contrast to Godzilla. This is never explained or elaborated. That detail is completely unnecessary and irrelevant to the plot, and makes no sense in any way.

     The final monster battle is amazing, and is certainly the highlight of the film. And because the film is more comical than the previous, it contains quite a bit of humor. Kong throws a rock at Godzilla, which he bats with his tail back at Kong. Godzilla claps his hands together tauntingly in the fight, something he never did before or after the movie. And Kong’s arm length changes constantly from long to short, depending on the scene. Both monsters land hard blows on one another, and the fights carries them into the ocean, from which only Kong resurfaces. A rumor persisted that in the Japanese version it was Godzilla, but it was false. The only difference is that instead of just hearing Kong’s roar in the credits, you hear both monsters roar.

     While this movie is great in the way of monster battles and city-crushing, the human aspect is horrible. Either each of the actors overacts or under acts in all the scenes. The drug company CEO, despite being the film’s chief antagonist, is a silly and obnoxious character. In one particular scene he’s wearing a safari outfit, although he was never in the jungle and is on a ship in the middle of the ocean. There’s also a subplot about a woman searching for her fiancé and getting pinned down in Godzilla’s attack on the train. The whole scene fails to move the plot anywhere. It doesn’t get Godzilla and Kong any closer to confronting each other, nor does it present the military with any solution to stopping the beasts. The scene appears to have been just “thrown” in there.

Allow me to lay out my personal bias towards this movie. It was the first Godzilla movie I’d ever seen, and the first one I owned on VHS. Here’s the cover.

I can’t explain how excited I was to find this movie. It was really glorifying for a seven year old boy. Despite the sometimes horrific acting and cheap special effects, King Kong vs. Godzilla is a fantastically thrilling film. There’s no sadness or real drama in the way of war or politics. If you’re looking for pure escapism for an hour and a half, this is the movie for you!  Four out of four.
~Seth

DIDJA KNOW?

• This film marks the first time either Godzilla or King Kong were filmed in color or widescreen
• Ishiro Honda considered going with stop-motion monsters, a la Willis O'Brien's Kong, but due to budget concerns the idea was scrapped in favor of the standard guys-in-suits
• This film also features the Davy Crockett, a portable nuclear missile launcher built by the United States, which was supposed to be Top Secret. No word if Snowden was around at that time...

SHATNADO!

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Following the success of Godzilla, Toho set out to build on its success with a sequel: Godzilla Raids Again. On its own, this film is fun and entertaining, but it lacks the top quality of the original masterpiece. While Godzilla’s image of an atomic threat is still present in this film, the gravely feel of a post-world war climate is gone. Also, half of the camera shots of Godzilla in the film look like cheap hand puppets. And the puppet doesn't look anything like the face on the monster suit! And the face of the suit has a slight grin, giving the monster a less threatening appearance. The deep roar is kept from the original film, as is the overall suit impression.

     What makes this film so unique is that it is the first to feature a one on one monster battle, thus laying the groundwork for the rest of the series. Godzilla’s nemesis is called Anguirus, a mutated Ankylosaurus that too was awoke from nuclear testing. As a result, they fight first on an island, then carry it to Osaka. Again, half of the close-ups of the fight are two hand puppets grappling with each other, so it can be disappointing for some fans looking for a great battle. But it’s still entertaining, and the fight’s conclusion boosts Godzilla’s image as a powerful threat.

     The golden moment of the film is the military’s unique attack on Godzilla, as its jets fire missiles at an icy mountain wall, causing avalanches to bury him. What’s amazing is that the military actually prevails, and the beast is buried. This conclusion also provides viewers with continuity, for this is precisely where they find Godzilla in the next film. But we will get to that in the next review.

Overall, Godzilla Raids Again is a transitional film. It carries the serious gravity of the original Godzilla, but also gives audiences a first glimpse of the cheap monster fights and model sets that the series is so renowned for. With that said, it doesn't deserve the negativity it gets from critics. It’s an old fashioned 50’s monster movie. It’s not supposed to be overly serious or saddening. The film is just good Saturday night fun. I give it 3 out of 4 stars! 

~Seth

Didja Know?

• This is George Takei (of Star Trek fame)'s first film project. 
• Although special effects director Eiji Tsuburya wanted the fights filmed in slow motion, the camera crank operator misunderstood and under-cranked instead of over-cranking. The resulting faster fight scenes won Tsuburya over, and they kept it in the final version.
• Unaware of Godzilla's impending runaway popularity, American producer Paul Schreibman inexplicably changed Godzilla's name to "Gigantis" for the American print!

Battle Beyond The Sun (1959) aka. Nebo Zovyot (Russia)

The late 1950's represented something of a cross-roads in human history. The US was past World War 2, rock and roll began to surface, and a new dawn in scientific discovery was just around the corner.  Now that the world had defeated the Nazis, there would be a new threat to peace: The Atomic Age. This was due in no small part to the race to be the first country to explore space.  The first moon landing would not be complete until 1969 (that is, unless you are part of the conspiracy movement who believes we were never there, but that's another blog).  President Kennedy challenged the U.S. to be the nation leading the way to this new frontier of scientific achievement. While we were told that the advancement of knowledge was the endgame, make no mistake: It was about defense.  And at the moment, the Russians were whipping our tails. 

I really will get to the movie; bear with me :-)

In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, officially kicking off the Space Race.  The same year, they also launched Sputnik 2, the first spacecraft with a living animal on board, the ill-fated dog Laika.  I've said before that B-movies, and in particular science fiction B-movies, often reflect cultural and social issues that people don't like to discuss.  For some reason, against the backdrop of space and set in the future, the issues are much more palpable. Film makers give the best social commentary, a fact still true today. I would make the case, for example, that Bryan Singer's X-Men is just as much about gay rights as it is a series about mutants fighting the bad guys, but I digress.

Enter Battle Beyond the Sun.  This Russian-made science fiction movie came out in 1959 in the U.S.S.R. and was brought to America in 1964.  The story is about two superpowers racing to the planet Mars. The two political factions presented to us are separated by hemispheres.  They go by the very creative North Hemis, and South Hemis.  The North Hemis sent a team of astronauts to their space station to prepare for the first flight to Mars. While there, they notice another ship coming in. They identify it as a South Hemis ship, which is in need of repair.  The two astronauts get permission to land, and we learn that their ship is in a state of disrepair.  The North Hemis scientists decide that science is above politics, and they help them repair the ship.  While there the South Hemis scientists learn that their political adversaries might be the first to get to Mars, and national pride takes over.

They decide to take their ship out despite the fact it's not 100% ready for the flight. They choose to take the risk of certain death in order to be the first team to Mars.  Naturally, they experience difficulty, discovering that their boosters are inadequate to counter the sun's gravitational pull.  It is up to the South Hemis team to rescue them.  They do manage to extract them from their doomed ship, and they all try to make it to Mars. They do, sort of, by landing on a moon or planetoid orbiting the Red Planet, but lack the fuel to make it to Mars itself.  Still, the scenes on the rocky moon are the best in the film. The sets are large, atmospheric, and moody.  The scene that sticks out in my mind the most is the one in which the men watch the horizon as Mars rises, much like we would watch the sun come up here, except they are right next to Mars, so the planet is large and overwhelming. For a movie from the late 1950's, the scene is well-done, and for a geek like me, kind of moving.

They also discover two monsters (one shaped like a giant space vagina and the other sort of phallic looking) on the moon which battle each other, but from what I can tell, were not a threat to the humans.  There was also a sub-plot about them needing a fuel ship to come and deliver rocket fuel which crashes on the surface.  One of the astronauts ventures out by himself and is critically injured somehow.  The plot here, believe it or not, gets a little weird.  He dies, but one of the scientists speaks of how he "gave his life up for them".  The print of the movie that I observed is missing some scenes, so it is never clear what the guy did to save the crew, or how they miraculously now have fuel to get back home, despite it being established that the fuel ship crashed and was useless to them.  Anyway, they return home to a glorious heroes welcome, roll credits.  OK. Grab a glass of wine and get comfortable, I have lots to say about this one.

The first thing I noticed about Battle Beyond the Sun is the pace of the movie.  Today, we like our movies with quick, stylized cuts and a fast beat with the dialog.  This movie will absolutely try your patience if you are part of the MTV generation who enjoy fast pacing.  They absolutely take their time to deliver dialog and exposition. The scenes which involve the NASA-like commander have a woman talking on the radio at a very slow, deliberate pace.  Another odd thing to Americans now would be the uncomfortable distance between the male leads.  Today, especially in America, we have a very solid concept of personal space. You stay in your space, this is my space, don't come near my freaking space.  In this movie, everyone seems like they are inches away from each other, especially during emotional scenes.  Also, there are several instances of older mentor types talking to their younger counterparts.  During these segments, you see things like the younger guy sitting, while the older father-figure type seems to hover over them in an uncomfortable way.

This will make American viewers today a little uncomfortable.  There is no need to be though, as it's a cultural thing.  In much of Eastern Europe, it is acceptable to invade someone's space like that, showing trust and friendship.  Another interesting thing about this story that struck me is how the protagonists place science above nationalism.  This seems counter intuitive for the time, given the condition of the U.S.-Soviet space race.  The idea that they could work together with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts was highly progressive.  It makes you wonder what we could have achieved in the 1950's and 1960's had the superpowers shared everything.  Maybe we really would have a base at Mars by now, who knows?

From a technical standpoint, the movie is full of very large holes.  They perform space walks out on their ships without flying out into space.  There is no explanation, not even a mention of magnetic boots.  They make the trip to mars very quickly, without so much as a nap.  They do earn points for detail, however.  The space station, rocket interiors, and the space command headquarters are all large and  very believable.  Lots of techno-babble at least makes them sound like they know what they are doing, and given the probable lack of common knowledge about space in 1959, it likely seemed pretty advanced. 

Special effects range from pretty decent to very good.  Unfortunately, to show rockets flying they always rely on the sideways still of the ship with stars flying by quickly shots. Every single shot is a profile like that; no views of a rocket flying toward or away from the viewer.  The set of the Martian moon is pretty amazing.  The monsters are okay, but I can't really credit the original makers as that was tacked-on for the American release.

The editing for this film in the version I saw was very heavy-handed.  A character would be talking, and in mid-sentence the movie would jump to the next scene.  Entire scenes are missing, making for a sometimes-awkward plot.  As I said previously, the pace is very different from what most people are used to.  About the most popular example of something similarly-paced is 2001: Space Odyssey.  While that film was superior in other ways, it had a similar slow beat to it.

Overall, it was a decent movie experience.  I enjoyed it for its themes, and, uh, well...I like the themes of cooperative exploration and sacrifice.  Visuals are above average for 1950's space fare, the music was wonderfully eerie and mysterious, and the  acting was pretty good. I rate it two out of four.

DIDJA KNOW?

Thomas Colchart was credited with creating the two space monsters for the American release.  Colchart has another professional name: Francis Ford Coppola.