Mubi Monday: The Living End (1992)

I am quite proud of myself nowadays. When I have a choice between a movie that can give me something predictable and familiar and a movie that can remind me of different lifestyles and viewpoints . . . I try to split my time between those two different kinds of art/entertainment. Okay, I spent yesterday watching Happy Gilmore 2. But today I watched The Living End, another great slice of nihilistic queer cinema from writer-director Gregg Araki. I may have some idea about what I'll get from a typical Araki movie nowadays, having seen and enjoyed a number of his other features, but his work is often quite a wild ride, and wittily transgressive.

Essentially the story of two lovers on the road, Jon (Craig Gilmore) and Luke (Mike Dytri), once our two main characters actually encounter one another and give in to the strong chemistry between them, this is also a fascinating look at how far people will go when they find something that might be worth living for . . . despite being handed what was once effectively a death sentence. Jon and Luke are both HIV-positive, and there wasn't as much knowledge or care available back in the late '80s and early '90s, when it was viewed by many ignorant homophobes as the "gay plague".

I have mentioned this before, perhaps repeatedly, but it's fascinating to see just how Araki started off so strong. While he obviously didn't have a big budget for the camerawork, audio, or even cast members, his directorial voice comes through every sequence loud and clear. Maybe that's to do with the fact that he had something to say that wasn't being represented in many other films, and those themes and conversations might also be why he's so often forgotten when it comes to discussing the influential film-makers who helped to shape the 1990s. While I may sound like someone desperate to earn some cool points after turning up late to the party, as ever, Araki is genuinely someone who should be mentioned by film fans just as much as Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, David Fincher, et al. Maybe he is, and maybe I'm just in a film fan conversation bubble that doesn't make space for him. I don't think so though, but I would very much welcome people coming along to tell me I am wrong.

The cast may not be able to deliver much range and nuance, but both Gilmore and Dytri do well enough to keep putting Araki's message across, and they convincingly pounce upon one another when giving in to their obvious urges. Mary Woronov and Johanna Went have very fun cameo roles, Darcy Marta is sweet and easy to like in her role, and Nicole Dillenberg and Bretton Vail have their small amount of screentime overshadowed by the fact that they're playing a married couple named Barbie and Ken.

Despite the praise I have piled upon Araki here I should note the rough edges that may put off some viewers. The dialogue is sometimes overcooked and reminiscent of some melodrama from a bygone age. Jon and Luke aren't just how they present themselves in the here and now, they're "lovers on the lam" rushing between moments of potential violence and their own sexual gratification. The dialogue could often be ripped from a James Dean or Montgomery Clift movie, and I'm sure that's a very deliberate choice. There's also the picture quality. You can see everything that you need to see, but let's just say that this isn't the kind of film likely to be scrubbed up and given an IMAX release any time soon.

If it wasn't clear from my tangent praising Araki in this review, The Living End is a great little film. It's crackling with an energy and relevance, certainly in relation to when it was first released. It's part of an ongoing conversation that is bigger than film, and Araki shouts his talking points at us to make up for the many who either never found their voice, never found a decent platform, or never found anyone around them to actually fully open their ears and mind to what needed to be said. 

8/10

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Blood Theatre (1984)

I wasn’t alarmed when I saw that Blood Theatre was written and directed by Rick Sloane. I wasn’t all that alarmed to see that he had also produced it. Then I saw that he was the main editor. And he did the score. And some of the visual effects. Uh oh. There may be a number of other people involved, but this is very much a Rick Sloane production.

The plot, and I am using that term in the loosest possible sense, revolves around a theatre that was once burnt down by a betrayed lover. When I say “burnt down”, however, I actually mean that it was filled with smoke and then sat empty for some time. A cinema chain buys the theatre, sending staff there to prepare it for business, and more smoke starts to appear, as well as a killer spirit.

First of all, you have to go into Blood Theatre knowing that it isn’t a straight horror. It is attempting to be a horror comedy. The comedy may not really work, but some moments come closer than others (and I did like the exasperated attitude of the cinema employees who feel harried when they have to deal with one or two customers). 

Second, you have to go into Blood Theatre knowing that it was made with what appears to be a budget so low that I would be surprised if they could even afford enough film for any second takes, which would explain a lot.

Third, and this is just an assumption, nobody onscreen here managed to use this as a starting point for a long and varied filmography. There’s a small role for Mary Woronov (an actress recognisable to genre fans), but nobody else was selected for their acting prowess. Joanna Morales, billed as Joanna Foxx, seems to have been cast for her lack of inhibition. And this is an approach that worked fairly well for Sloane in his later movies (particularly the Vice Academy movies).

If you can put up with the sheer ineptitude on display, you also get some disappointingly tame kills, some gratuitous nudity, an enjoyably daffy snippets of the films being screened in the cinema (one titled “Clown Whores Of Hollywood” - wow), an amusing turn from Rob-Roy Fletcher as Dean Murdock, the employer hoping to make a success of the new cinema purchase, and numerous bizarre audio cues, or lack thereof, that show the fast and loose approach to any actual film-making technique. There are also some cheerleaders, just to randomly . . . add some cheerleaders into the mix.

Terrible, but surprisingly entertaining. 

4/10

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Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)

AKA Night Of The Dark Full Moon.

It's funny what you discover on a never-ending journey through the years of cinema. For example, I'm a HUGE fan of Halloween. It's one of my favourite movies of all time, and my favourite horror movie. But I admit, as much as I love Carpenter, that it was hugely influenced by many films to come along beforehand. People argue over the real starting point of the slasher movie subgenre, from Agatha Christie adaptations to Mario Bava's Blood And Black Lace, but there are some who quickly cite Bob Clark's work in Black Christmas as a way to undermine the classic created by Carpenter. Strange that few of those people seem to then explain that Clark MAY have been influenced by this movie, a slasher set around Christmastime (albeit without obvious decorations and seasonal details everywhere) that features a lot of POV camerawork.

Mary Woronov plays a young woman named Diane, who ends up in the middle of a very dangerous situation. It's all to do with a house that was once owned by Wilfred Butler. His grandson, Jeffrey Butler (James Patterson), is arranging to sell the house, offloading it at a bargain price, but it seems that someone, perhaps even Jeffrey himself, wants a number of people to die before the house is handed over to a different family. Diane is the daughter of Mayor Adams (Walter Abel), one of a number of people drawn to the house by the scheming killer, and she ends up teaming up with Jeffrey, despite her suspicions, while she tried to figure out exactly what is going on.

Written by Jeffrey Konvitz and Ira Teller, this is an enjoyably twisty and twisted tale that simply undoes a lot of good work by being a bit too convoluted and reliant on the backstory, a backstory revealed in the third act via a flashback that lasts for quite a while. If the writers had found a way to spread this backstory throughout the movie, instead of throwing it in there in one big lump, then things would have been greatly improved.

The cast isn't chock full of great actors, but genre fans will enjoy Woronov in a lead role. Patterson is quite good, suitably shifty and sweaty while viewers decide whether he's good or bad.

Director Theodore Gershuny keeps things dark and grimy, which is both a plus and a minus for the movie. He does well, and the film does deserve to be seen by a wider audience, but there are a lot of minor flaws that add up to detract from the overall experience.

6/10

Unfortunately, I don't know the actual quality of the disc, so try to pick this up as cheaply as possible, until it (maybe) gets special treatment one day - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Night-Bloody-DVD/dp/B00096J1KA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388174003&sr=8-2&keywords=silent+night%2C+bloody+night

The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas (1996)

Ahhhh, how I used to love The Munsters. Great personalities, lots of gags (both good and bad) and lovely design throughout from the house itself, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, to each one of the main characters. I don't know what I was expecting from this Christmas special, considering the fact that it was about 30 years after the original series and just how much the world, and my view on it, had changed in those intervening years.

Surprising as it is, The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas gets by and may please fans of the show as it pleased me. I didn't love it and I won't be rushing to rewatch it but I felt comfortable watching it and enjoying the many obvious jokes. Fred Gwynne, the original Herman Munster, is irreplaceable but Sam McMurray tries to do his best by the role.

The story is all about The Munsters getting ready for Christmas. This involves decorating their home, trying to cheer up a morose Eddie and sending out the invites to family and friends. Herman is still scaring people with his appearance, Lily (Ann Magnuson) is still rolling her eyes while keeping her family in line, Grandpa (Sandy Baron) is as troublesome as a pesky child and Marilyn (Elaine Hendrix) is the ugly duckling of the family. Then there's Eddie (Bug Hall), struggling to adjust to life away from his homeland. All of this starts to pale into insignificance, however, when Santa Claus ends up with the Munsters and in need of some serious help.

Written by Ed Ferrara and Kevin Murphy, and directed by Ian Emes, everything here is handled capably enough. I can't really say that The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas is good but it's certainly a lot better than I thought it was going to be. That's thanks to two things. First of all, the tone is quite close to the tone of the old series. Everything is silly and fun as opposed to sharp and cool. Secondly, the cast may not be able to fill the big shoes of the original players but a couple of key players - namely Sandy Baron and Elaine Hendrix - do very well while everyone else involved manages to at least acquit themselves capably enough. There's also a small role for Mary Woronov as a nosey neighbour, which is a bonus for genre fans. Mark Mitchell, Ed Gale and Arturo Gil as Santa and his two elves don't really add much fun to the proceedings but their characters add the required Christmas magic, of course, so their presence is bearable.

Not worth rushing out to buy and not even worth rushing out to watch but if you're lazing around during the Christmas holidays and this comes on TV then it's a painless time-waster that might remind you to hunt down the original series and relive some fond memories.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/The-Munsters-Scary-Little-Christmas/dp/B000V6LSNQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354228759&sr=8-1&keywords=the+munsters%27+scary+little+christmas