Schlock (1973)

The first film from director John Landis, Schlock is a comedic creature feature that shows a creature causing problems in a small town. Known as "The Banana Killer", it turns out that the creature is the missing link, aka Schlock.

Riffing on King Kong, and many other classic creature features, Schlock is a slim plot used as a hanger for an array of jokes, most of them pretty terrible (even by my standards). After a first half that shows Schlock scaring a variety of people, but not necessarily wanting to deliberately harm anyone, the second half feels like something much more familiar, with the creature taking an interest in a lovely young blind woman named Mindy Binerman (Eliza Roberts, billed as Eliza Garrett). It's not going to end well, surely.

There's some fun to be had here, and you have to admire Landis for throwing it together (while he also stars in the main role), but there's also plenty here to keep you from forgetting that you're watching the first film from someone who has an approach you could never categorise as subtle. It's a case of everything being thrown at the wall to see what sticks, but with Landis at the helm it's hard to say whether that is "first film syndrome" or just his own standard approach.

The best gags reference films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Blob (which the characters watch within the film), and you also get the start of the "See You Next Wednesday" trademark, of course, but the many moments that aren't referencing specific movies often end up falling flat. Watch Schlock discover the joys of a concession stand in a cinema. Watch people talk to one another in a way that just feels like the sentences have been constructed to lead to some lame punchlines. Roll your eyes at the final shot of the film (okay, that's not actually a gag that falls flat, it's just very predictable and poorly executed).

None of the cast do great work. Although Landis wanders around and tries to do his best apeman impression, the sheer obviousness of it being a man in a pretty bad ape suit undermines every one of his scenes, despite the bad ape suit most likely being a big part of the joke. Roberts is okay, and at least gets to have a decent part in the finale, and Charle Villiers is allowed to act protective towards her, playing her boyfriend, Cal. I'll also mention Saul Kahan, playing Detective Sgt.Wino, but I'm not singling anyone else out.

It's fortunate that Landis would do much better with his next parody film, The Kentucky Fried Movie. This one may have been his first, and is also notable for being the first credited special effects gig for Rick Baker, but it's also arguably his worst. For completists only.

3/10

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