I've tried to see how deep the rabbit hole goes in cinema, as well as political and sociological history. Cinema is actually a great textbook on many fields of psychology, philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, poetics, dramaturgy, satire and sexuality. It all boils down to narrative style. Tone, inflection, grammar. These are tools maybe best expressed in jazz.
Jess Franco - the director I've covered this past year - is maybe the most clear translator of his own demons and angels through an intelligent aesthetic of communist dualism and Buddhist transcendentalism. The guy so valued his freedom from censorship and commercialism and any cap on his spiritual, moral and intellectual growth that he made films "among the sinners" and castoffs that made up the Wild West that was European schlock cinema. I've used his ideology as a lens for the current climate. Did this man contribute or damage the craft of cinema?
Its hard to detect when he is simply exploiting or deconstructing a salacious subject or is fetishizing or morally engaging it. His films feature sadism, incest, hypnosis, slavery, torture and so many things that The Catholic Church branded him a Satanic figure, basically excommunicating the youngest star director from ever reaching Hollywood. So he made Z-grade films that mirrored the injustice, abuse and exploitation he suffered. He drew pictures of the dragons who slew his dream to be a knight. He sacrificed his Messianic image to battle the image of fascism that would someday enrapture world cinema's mainstream. Why? Because he was attuned, almost mystically, to the complexion of the human spirit. He had a sensitivity, a blues in him that brought together other ailing geniuses. In his collaborators and his deep cult fandom.
We ask was Jess Franco a free mason? His films make perfection depiction of not only Masonic themes, rites, symbols and stories like "generation", craftsmanship, surveillance, atonement and ascendancy, but also the feared Illuminati doppelganger image that is cultivated by their enigmatic reputation. Hypnosis, rape, sodomy, incest, pedophilia, libertine sadism, prostitution, murder, Satanism and a thousand other Illuminist references are made film to film by Franco. Was Jesus Franco a Luciferian? I've heard him say there is no singular God creator, but I never heard him disavow Man as God. I think Franco was cinema's most powerful and open occultist and warlock (or "wizard" if the term is too dark for you). Franco even claimed he was the inspiration for Yoda. Its a claim you want to believe isn't a lie. But what is the truth? Clearly he knew these groups secrets even if he never joined them.
Aesthetically his films are flawless for my enjoyment as a film-lover. But are his films moral? Certainly they are too scary, complex, offensive and demoralized for some. But does that make them less true? Does it make them "evil"? Art is probably evil in the eyes of Christians. But its not evil in the eyes of Christ. This was Jesus' point all along.
Franco depicts himself as a boogeyman to scare the ignorant and intrigue those who are teachable. And he makes no special boasts or pursuit of fame. The man practice the same humble social servitude promoted in Rudyard Kipling's poem If, the Masonic writer's ode to Freemason code.
It seems the aim of anti-Christian directors and artists (Masonic or anti-Masonic) is neither to create or be The AntiChrist but to eliminate need for Anti or Christ. To honor an open dialectic with truth and discovery not fixed in the static disintegration of dogma. Of course they are called Devils, so they must exist as private citizens. And if one falls and commits crime or dishonorable acts, they must face the same penalties as all men and women. Period. In a way, all directors are like a watchful society of enlightened artistic heroes and potential villains.
I'm not saying Jess Franco is a bad guy or a good guy. He's certainly a good artist. To my knowledge, he never did anything as wretched as Polanski or Woody Allen. After selling out his craft like a Jodorowsky, Lynch, Wells or Kubrick, he refused to stay down and became MORE prolific. He never lost sight of a positive moral message of secrecy while admitting its dangers, demons and disasters. He brought a message of magical thinking that shouldn't be bound by any one God. This is radical and blasphemous to most. But one must ask was he right or wrong? This is another Christian parallel Franco sets up in his career's narrative. It is his meta-trope.
He studied and challenged every ideology he could simply to raise questions about the human condition and any metaphysical realm of judgement beyond it. Like Lynch, he is obsessed with balancing the warring opinions on the very substance and texture of shared realism. He knows he can only express his worldview in a projection of theatrical dreams. His canvas is illuminated thought in the dark. How many learned spiritualism in film from Franco. Of course Franco followed many others with bigger names, but Jess was a gateway inside cheap populist mass media in a young technological age of movie-searching. It's such a Romantic notion of posthumous fame for a cinemist. He became the idealism of purity to the purely idealistic film fan. It's an important distinction from the other classes of notable filmmakers.
I find more and more to analyze in the deep texts of his small, quiet examples of film poetry. This is my favorite director, love him or hate me. He is simply the most advanced thinker for any class of directors. But now he is gone. And someone must try to fill his shadow.
Friday, March 16, 2018
We live in a world of conspiracies and conspiracy theories; a "post truth" world full of illusions. Our mass media entertainment has become what Baudrillard called simulacra: copies of copies of copies which have lost resemblance to their origin. The Real is now so divorced from truth and swamped in daily rumors and corporatized presentations of reality that we've collectively (and conveniently) forgotten the most prevalent, scary and corroborated theories of conspiracy to Man.
We are distracted by trivial political affiliations as to forget the real villains. Liberals blame greedy republican business men. Conservatives blame Satanic government monopolists. Neither come together to face either of these theoretical menaces or try to piece together a coherent shared idea of the mutual enemy. So before constructing a meta-narrative, lets look at the damning evidence. Films can be the most obvious mirror to our demons.
Before there was "populist paranoia" about secret society agendas, there were historical documents in cinema of our nightmare horrors.
Study the work of Orson Welles, Jess Franco, Stanley Kubrick, D.W. Griffith, David Lynch, Zack Snyder, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and many more to find these portrayals of Masonic and Anti-Masonic propagandas. And how many of our narratives are true and how many are false? Is it a perfect balance or a terrible imbalance or an inspiring and beautiful surplus of justice and global victory? The last millennium and centuries were a long-fought battle against fascism, slavery, abuse, pedophilia, rape, evil, crime and moral savagery. Its defined us to this point and created mental illness and spiritual starvation.
ARTISTS ARE OUR WITCHDOCTORS
Freemasons, Illuminists, Satanists, Deists, Romans, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists and a billion other ideologists have expounded their views to create a diverse and chaotic disorder that must find its new order not in forced mastery but a natural discovery of its evolution. What is our future? We all choose. No group of "elite" should decide for us. Democratic socialism with no national, ethnic, social or even political biases should silence the individual voice.
What we see happening in this so-called postmodern "New World Order" so far is a corporatist dogfight for media control and social engineering. We are brainwashed, not talked to. There is no discourse when our banks run our lives. They make money on our money and even more on our poverty. There's too much money for any of it to have value anymore. And its tainted with the sins of so many capitalist exploitations of business. There is no free market because free markets don't work in systems with geographic inequality. This creates the problem of colonial attempts of "Enlightenment". We end up with Manifest Destiny religious communes run by warlords who rape the planet and its people. This is McDemocracy.
Now we need a world that actually works; Not as Disneyland but as a secure and honest voice of objective reason for subjective voices. We can't silence naysayers and dreamers for pushing the status quo. Nor can we war with suppressed and oppressed voices. We need structure for a post-Structuralist world that is wounded but unable to spiritually lick its social wounds. But we must protect the socially weak from spiritual predators. The world is full of metaphysical vampires who don't need physical strength. They feast on the fear and insecurity of the strong. The illuminated thinkers serve independently as superheroes who don't need a thanks but should receive deserved and earned penance in some way. Not money or extra freedoms. The will should not be allowed to rule in anarchy. We need laws, check and balances.
This should be the mission of all men, women and children without any sanction or guidance from any "ascended" order but by mandatory membership in a society. Society comes before class, race, government system, economics or what have you. And no mind lays claim over it for any reason. Not IQ, social status, bloodline, privilege or secret weapon. The rich are not allowed to have more value than the poor. The state is not allowed to have more power than the world government. The psychopaths and actors can't get away with fooling and victimizing the innocent and meek. Justice must be served. And Karma does not decide who wins and loses. It takes the shared wisdom, the altar of knowledge to find any semblance of what is true. And that starts with having every voice be heard and every case be measured fairly. The court of morality exists outside of Masonic parliament and Builderberg meetings or choreographed press.
What is the aim of filmmaking? What is its philosophical tenants? What function does it serve beyond crass enjoyment of spiritualist materialism? Filmmaking tells us who we are at any given moment. Cinema is a pinpoint of nature's physics and stitch in the time stream. We've soared high and fallen low before, all of us. Now to fly again.
The true artists are the independent artists. The best directors are the ones who don't slave or master their craft. They simply coexist peacefully. How? By dramatizing conflict as The Big Other. This can become real world mass hystics and delusional matrixes if we don't ground it in fiction. Small opinions based in big facts, (rather than huge opinions over mass-produced facsimiles called "facts"). Knowledge must be reevaluated like the sciences, laws and metrics within it. As our minds grow, so will our shared perception. For all and not just for some. Everyone is an equal participant and producer of positive abundance. There will always be negativity created by man and by nature and by the cosmos itself, but thats not a deterrent against life. Its what composes the passionate defense of living. This is man's eternal destiny. And whether we come from a God, communicate with a God, dream a God or convene as a God (or many Gods), we are all still free to live so long as we protect the lives of everyone else by not impinging or impending on rights. We all have basic human rights that can't be removed. This is the way not of one nation but of the galactic whole.
We must celebrate our universe by exploring, understanding and respecting it by not filling it with too much trash. What do I mean? The surplus of carbon emissions from industry, toxic pollution, farming deregulations and anything making our ozone hard to breathe. How to fight it? Producing good vibrations. Its as simple as that. Be loved. Be honest. Be inspiring. Be real. Be in the know. Be in the Now. Be You. Be a work of Art.
We are distracted by trivial political affiliations as to forget the real villains. Liberals blame greedy republican business men. Conservatives blame Satanic government monopolists. Neither come together to face either of these theoretical menaces or try to piece together a coherent shared idea of the mutual enemy. So before constructing a meta-narrative, lets look at the damning evidence. Films can be the most obvious mirror to our demons.
Before there was "populist paranoia" about secret society agendas, there were historical documents in cinema of our nightmare horrors.
Study the work of Orson Welles, Jess Franco, Stanley Kubrick, D.W. Griffith, David Lynch, Zack Snyder, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and many more to find these portrayals of Masonic and Anti-Masonic propagandas. And how many of our narratives are true and how many are false? Is it a perfect balance or a terrible imbalance or an inspiring and beautiful surplus of justice and global victory? The last millennium and centuries were a long-fought battle against fascism, slavery, abuse, pedophilia, rape, evil, crime and moral savagery. Its defined us to this point and created mental illness and spiritual starvation.
ARTISTS ARE OUR WITCHDOCTORS
Freemasons, Illuminists, Satanists, Deists, Romans, Christians, Buddhists, Atheists and a billion other ideologists have expounded their views to create a diverse and chaotic disorder that must find its new order not in forced mastery but a natural discovery of its evolution. What is our future? We all choose. No group of "elite" should decide for us. Democratic socialism with no national, ethnic, social or even political biases should silence the individual voice.
What we see happening in this so-called postmodern "New World Order" so far is a corporatist dogfight for media control and social engineering. We are brainwashed, not talked to. There is no discourse when our banks run our lives. They make money on our money and even more on our poverty. There's too much money for any of it to have value anymore. And its tainted with the sins of so many capitalist exploitations of business. There is no free market because free markets don't work in systems with geographic inequality. This creates the problem of colonial attempts of "Enlightenment". We end up with Manifest Destiny religious communes run by warlords who rape the planet and its people. This is McDemocracy.
Now we need a world that actually works; Not as Disneyland but as a secure and honest voice of objective reason for subjective voices. We can't silence naysayers and dreamers for pushing the status quo. Nor can we war with suppressed and oppressed voices. We need structure for a post-Structuralist world that is wounded but unable to spiritually lick its social wounds. But we must protect the socially weak from spiritual predators. The world is full of metaphysical vampires who don't need physical strength. They feast on the fear and insecurity of the strong. The illuminated thinkers serve independently as superheroes who don't need a thanks but should receive deserved and earned penance in some way. Not money or extra freedoms. The will should not be allowed to rule in anarchy. We need laws, check and balances.
This should be the mission of all men, women and children without any sanction or guidance from any "ascended" order but by mandatory membership in a society. Society comes before class, race, government system, economics or what have you. And no mind lays claim over it for any reason. Not IQ, social status, bloodline, privilege or secret weapon. The rich are not allowed to have more value than the poor. The state is not allowed to have more power than the world government. The psychopaths and actors can't get away with fooling and victimizing the innocent and meek. Justice must be served. And Karma does not decide who wins and loses. It takes the shared wisdom, the altar of knowledge to find any semblance of what is true. And that starts with having every voice be heard and every case be measured fairly. The court of morality exists outside of Masonic parliament and Builderberg meetings or choreographed press.
What is the aim of filmmaking? What is its philosophical tenants? What function does it serve beyond crass enjoyment of spiritualist materialism? Filmmaking tells us who we are at any given moment. Cinema is a pinpoint of nature's physics and stitch in the time stream. We've soared high and fallen low before, all of us. Now to fly again.
The true artists are the independent artists. The best directors are the ones who don't slave or master their craft. They simply coexist peacefully. How? By dramatizing conflict as The Big Other. This can become real world mass hystics and delusional matrixes if we don't ground it in fiction. Small opinions based in big facts, (rather than huge opinions over mass-produced facsimiles called "facts"). Knowledge must be reevaluated like the sciences, laws and metrics within it. As our minds grow, so will our shared perception. For all and not just for some. Everyone is an equal participant and producer of positive abundance. There will always be negativity created by man and by nature and by the cosmos itself, but thats not a deterrent against life. Its what composes the passionate defense of living. This is man's eternal destiny. And whether we come from a God, communicate with a God, dream a God or convene as a God (or many Gods), we are all still free to live so long as we protect the lives of everyone else by not impinging or impending on rights. We all have basic human rights that can't be removed. This is the way not of one nation but of the galactic whole.
We must celebrate our universe by exploring, understanding and respecting it by not filling it with too much trash. What do I mean? The surplus of carbon emissions from industry, toxic pollution, farming deregulations and anything making our ozone hard to breathe. How to fight it? Producing good vibrations. Its as simple as that. Be loved. Be honest. Be inspiring. Be real. Be in the know. Be in the Now. Be You. Be a work of Art.
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Case for Zack Snyder
I watched half of Batman v Superman (the 3 hour director's cut) because I can't remember if Zack Snyder is a good director or not. He's a very wise stylist. One of the most visual directors, but the morals are weak. There isn't much method to his aesthetic and he hasn't grown all that much as a storyteller. He reminds me of Jess Franco if Franco sold out and became a millionaire marketing puppet and rightwing government propagandist.
I've found a few decent articles arguing that Snyder is a pro-fascist director. I think its quite the opposite. By applying a "Triumph of the Will"/"Fountainhead"/"Birth of a Nation" lens of disturbing nostalgic Americana, he calls attention to the problematic elements in his subjects, much like Franco used the fascism of Spain as villainy in his own films. The stilted melodramatic dialogue, unrealistic abstracted action and torturous tone of tragedy are intentional and meaningful. Snyder's films have been called "rightwing" merely for playing and analysing imagery and ideology and showing sympathy for modern working class paranoia in the post-9/11 West. His version of Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead exploit racism, Nazism, fascism sexism, etc. But he never condones it. Its exploitation for subversive and transgressive motives. His films are pro-America but not nationalist, white culturally but not white supremacist. He takes a very balanced, neutral, communist stance on nearly every level.
Now I know these Snyder attacks are totally Disney/Marvel propagandists who call themselves fans, so Snyder's work represents a mirror of our recent resistance to corporatist, colluding conspiracy for capitalist gain. "Batman is a vigilante, Superman is a messiah". Totally. This was set in stone before Snyder was even born. And correctly, Snyder honors the tradition of their origins by keeping them old school liberal champions who are pro-state but not of the state. Superman as a journalist seeks truth, justice, blah-de-blah. He lives a modest middle class life and polices THE WORLD equally. But Snyder recognizes the fascism and elitism inherent in Superman's totalitarian-level power. He even shows us Superman as the ultimate threat, a God-like ruler executing humanity's last hope, represented in Batman. Batman comes off like an obsessed, terrified, scarred, alienated sadist. Thats what the character would be in reality. But his hardcore moralism to use his bourgeois status to protect both classes makes him a powerful ally to Superman... and also a threat. Batman, working in his own jurisdiction, has too much power and not enough socialism. Batman is shown killing in dubious moments, falling victim to a crazy Lex Luthor-created conspiracy theory to kill Superman and basically coming up short in his quest to do what's right. Snyder clearly favors the working class alien pacifist Superman over the violent macho anarchist-capitalist extremism in Batman. Snyder is firmly a liberal director and spreading as liberal a message as you will find within mainstream Hollywood "high concept" franchise pictures.
So why was the media so against him? Why are fanboys and fangirls so anti-Snyder and pro-Marvel? I don't think they are. Since BVS, DC's comics have soared and fans have a newfound serious respect for the characters as mythic icons and political archetypes. The failure of BVS's sequel Justice League can't be a determiner of anything as it suffered from both a terrible distribution deal (certainly rigged by Marvel) and then forcing their spy Joss Whedon to replace Snyder as director. Its a blatant infowar. Disney is pushing a neo-conservative/neo-liberal corporate takeover of Hollywood and news media. Time-Warner is targeted heavily in this push towards the extinction of freedom of speech.
Warners knows why JL sucked and so does DC: because Snyder is being silenced by the Elite. Snyder seems canned from the DC franchise. Maybe not a bad thing. It was probably too conservative and not populist enough to really maximize his influence positively. I mean, half of previous Batman and Superman films were pretty lame. But he needed to make a strong run with these successful canons to cement a place in film history.
Zack Snyder is not at a level where I would call him one of the greatest directors ever, but he's certainly among the strongest of the last generation. As the most anti-Oscar and most "for the people", he can never earn the respect of elitist critics, fans and industry insiders. But no one can dispute the incendiary recognition or passionate debate over his name. And that is way more important to an individual film-goer than, I dunno, an IMDB rating (bleck!)
I've found a few decent articles arguing that Snyder is a pro-fascist director. I think its quite the opposite. By applying a "Triumph of the Will"/"Fountainhead"/"Birth of a Nation" lens of disturbing nostalgic Americana, he calls attention to the problematic elements in his subjects, much like Franco used the fascism of Spain as villainy in his own films. The stilted melodramatic dialogue, unrealistic abstracted action and torturous tone of tragedy are intentional and meaningful. Snyder's films have been called "rightwing" merely for playing and analysing imagery and ideology and showing sympathy for modern working class paranoia in the post-9/11 West. His version of Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead exploit racism, Nazism, fascism sexism, etc. But he never condones it. Its exploitation for subversive and transgressive motives. His films are pro-America but not nationalist, white culturally but not white supremacist. He takes a very balanced, neutral, communist stance on nearly every level.
Now I know these Snyder attacks are totally Disney/Marvel propagandists who call themselves fans, so Snyder's work represents a mirror of our recent resistance to corporatist, colluding conspiracy for capitalist gain. "Batman is a vigilante, Superman is a messiah". Totally. This was set in stone before Snyder was even born. And correctly, Snyder honors the tradition of their origins by keeping them old school liberal champions who are pro-state but not of the state. Superman as a journalist seeks truth, justice, blah-de-blah. He lives a modest middle class life and polices THE WORLD equally. But Snyder recognizes the fascism and elitism inherent in Superman's totalitarian-level power. He even shows us Superman as the ultimate threat, a God-like ruler executing humanity's last hope, represented in Batman. Batman comes off like an obsessed, terrified, scarred, alienated sadist. Thats what the character would be in reality. But his hardcore moralism to use his bourgeois status to protect both classes makes him a powerful ally to Superman... and also a threat. Batman, working in his own jurisdiction, has too much power and not enough socialism. Batman is shown killing in dubious moments, falling victim to a crazy Lex Luthor-created conspiracy theory to kill Superman and basically coming up short in his quest to do what's right. Snyder clearly favors the working class alien pacifist Superman over the violent macho anarchist-capitalist extremism in Batman. Snyder is firmly a liberal director and spreading as liberal a message as you will find within mainstream Hollywood "high concept" franchise pictures.
So why was the media so against him? Why are fanboys and fangirls so anti-Snyder and pro-Marvel? I don't think they are. Since BVS, DC's comics have soared and fans have a newfound serious respect for the characters as mythic icons and political archetypes. The failure of BVS's sequel Justice League can't be a determiner of anything as it suffered from both a terrible distribution deal (certainly rigged by Marvel) and then forcing their spy Joss Whedon to replace Snyder as director. Its a blatant infowar. Disney is pushing a neo-conservative/neo-liberal corporate takeover of Hollywood and news media. Time-Warner is targeted heavily in this push towards the extinction of freedom of speech.
Warners knows why JL sucked and so does DC: because Snyder is being silenced by the Elite. Snyder seems canned from the DC franchise. Maybe not a bad thing. It was probably too conservative and not populist enough to really maximize his influence positively. I mean, half of previous Batman and Superman films were pretty lame. But he needed to make a strong run with these successful canons to cement a place in film history.
Zack Snyder is not at a level where I would call him one of the greatest directors ever, but he's certainly among the strongest of the last generation. As the most anti-Oscar and most "for the people", he can never earn the respect of elitist critics, fans and industry insiders. But no one can dispute the incendiary recognition or passionate debate over his name. And that is way more important to an individual film-goer than, I dunno, an IMDB rating (bleck!)
Friday, March 2, 2018
Black Moon 1975 / The Strange Case if Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne 1981 / Messiah of Evil 1973 / Bloodsucking Freaks 1976 / The Devils 1971
"Black Moon" is a Dadaist dream about a young girl who is fleeing a war between men & women. She seeks solace in a dreary country farm occupied by an old woman who knows everything about her and an incestuous mute brother & sister. The film is full of abstract episodes that are probably clever statements on female sexual maturity a'la Alice in Wonderland, but I didn't recognize them. Overall, the experience is rather grating. Its studiously composed but the film feels pretentious with its abundance of cruelty to animal actors, boring metaphors and faux-educational exploitation of its extremely young actress' sexuality. Its worth a watch because it is so unique and its frequently entertaining, but its no lost gem. My impression of director Louis Malle is a wannabe Godard/Bunuel without much originality or talent.
Walerian Borowczyk is much more impressive with his loose adaptation of a classic horror novel. He brings so much voyeuristic intensity and expressive technique to what has to be a minuscule period piece production. The film is a rare accomplishment in balancing erotic and horror tension so well. This is truly one of the most sensual and glossy films of its period (or any period) but it has a grisly urgency. It walks that fine line between art and exploitation beautifully. Seek this movie out.
Messiah of Evil is a film by the couple who wrote Temple of Doom & Howard the Duck for George Lucas. Its a post-hippie horror "feature" about a young woman in a spooky seaside town of zombies. Its freakishly similar to Franco's Virgin Among the Living Dead but they were released the same year (but, Virgin was shot in '71). Its a decent snapshot of a time and generation but its not effective on scares or mood beyond some stylish lighting and minimalist staging. It feels like an arty cash-in on drive-in films without any respect for its audience. Its determined to show off its own intelligence, but there isn't much. To its credit, the film features production design by Jack Fisk, husband of Sissy Spacek and lifelong friend of David Lynch. There is actually a HUGE impression of Twin Peaks in the setting of this story, so its memorable and important for that.
Bloodsucking Freaks could be the best film Troma ever released, alongside The Toxic Avenger and maybe The Last Horror Film. Like those movies, it is a lurid portrait of NY independent filmmaking from a bygone era of sleaze, art and political dissidence. This is the most extreme of its kind, a satire about white slavery full of cannibalism, torture, murder and brainwashing. A decade ago, this film made me queasy to watch. Now I appreciate the immense intelligence and bravery in pulling off such a disturbing but complex little exploitation. A film like this is looking to make a statement more than a profit.
I finally watched Ken Russell's The Devils. Besides maybe a snippet of Tommy, this is my first film by popular British cult director. Wow. What a brilliant technical director and stylist he is. His camera is so alive and magnetized by every action on the screen. There isn't one lazy performance or dull scene or false moment in this classic story of religious persecution and moral corruption. The story itself is a great and bold attack on Catholicism, but it avoids tempting melodrama or bland tragedy by setting us up with so many laughs and spectacles. Russell's film has a broad irony that had to be a game-changer then. He really reflects the Mod sensibility of his generation and marries it with the most classic but unsuspecting narrative tropes. And its more than just a bunch of clever tricks. It moves you and haunts you.
Walerian Borowczyk is much more impressive with his loose adaptation of a classic horror novel. He brings so much voyeuristic intensity and expressive technique to what has to be a minuscule period piece production. The film is a rare accomplishment in balancing erotic and horror tension so well. This is truly one of the most sensual and glossy films of its period (or any period) but it has a grisly urgency. It walks that fine line between art and exploitation beautifully. Seek this movie out.
Messiah of Evil is a film by the couple who wrote Temple of Doom & Howard the Duck for George Lucas. Its a post-hippie horror "feature" about a young woman in a spooky seaside town of zombies. Its freakishly similar to Franco's Virgin Among the Living Dead but they were released the same year (but, Virgin was shot in '71). Its a decent snapshot of a time and generation but its not effective on scares or mood beyond some stylish lighting and minimalist staging. It feels like an arty cash-in on drive-in films without any respect for its audience. Its determined to show off its own intelligence, but there isn't much. To its credit, the film features production design by Jack Fisk, husband of Sissy Spacek and lifelong friend of David Lynch. There is actually a HUGE impression of Twin Peaks in the setting of this story, so its memorable and important for that.
Bloodsucking Freaks could be the best film Troma ever released, alongside The Toxic Avenger and maybe The Last Horror Film. Like those movies, it is a lurid portrait of NY independent filmmaking from a bygone era of sleaze, art and political dissidence. This is the most extreme of its kind, a satire about white slavery full of cannibalism, torture, murder and brainwashing. A decade ago, this film made me queasy to watch. Now I appreciate the immense intelligence and bravery in pulling off such a disturbing but complex little exploitation. A film like this is looking to make a statement more than a profit.
I finally watched Ken Russell's The Devils. Besides maybe a snippet of Tommy, this is my first film by popular British cult director. Wow. What a brilliant technical director and stylist he is. His camera is so alive and magnetized by every action on the screen. There isn't one lazy performance or dull scene or false moment in this classic story of religious persecution and moral corruption. The story itself is a great and bold attack on Catholicism, but it avoids tempting melodrama or bland tragedy by setting us up with so many laughs and spectacles. Russell's film has a broad irony that had to be a game-changer then. He really reflects the Mod sensibility of his generation and marries it with the most classic but unsuspecting narrative tropes. And its more than just a bunch of clever tricks. It moves you and haunts you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)