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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 03/11/94 -- Vol. 12, No. 37
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 1R-400C
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
03/30 THE MIND PARASITES by Colin Wilson (tentative)
03/31 Hugo Nominations must be postmarked by this date
04/20 VALIS by Philip K. Dick (tentative)
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2G-432 908-957-5087 holly!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1C-523 908-834-1267 holly!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 quartet!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgpfs1!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. I got interested in science before it soured. Some of my
earliest memories were running around the Museum of Science and
Industry in Chicago and pressing buttons and seeing things happen
that I could control. I guess I was about two years old, maybe
three, and as yet I did not understand what I was seeing, but there
seemed to be power in those buttons. A three-year-old does not
have a whole lot of power. When I could start glassware tipping by
touching a button, that impressed me. Later when I started to
understand the science the sense of wonder just broadened. Sense
of wonder. I don't think that there are a lot of kids who are
getting that from science any more. I loved science museums. I
turned the astronomical exhibits into fantasies of traveling to the
stars and having adventures. The physics exhibits took me inside
the atom. Even chemistry had its own panache: supermaterials to
explore the insides of volcanos and to explore oceans. Oh, and
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rocket fuels!
And of course mathematics is the most mind-expanding of all.
Imagining orders of infinity and huge intersecting planes that
dwarf our galaxy intersecting in hyper-dimensions. The creation of
beautiful curves by manipulating a few arguments in a polynomial.
In infinite machine to be explored and find bizarre inter-
connections.
Those were the good days of science. When we needed a generation
people who knew science to compete with the Soviets and by gosh we
knew how to get kids interested in science. We need it no less
these days. But these days we do a really rotten job of teaching
kids science. I have been back to the Museum of Science and
Industry recently. And I have been to the Liberty Science Center.
And I found out what science is all about. It is about being
lectured to. It is about sitting and being told that you are doing
things wrong and you have to wise up. Or that Mommy and Daddy have
to wise up. You have to conserve, you have to stop killing
wildlife, protect those wetlands, you are polluting the world, stop
wiping out other cultures! Important messages, all, all, all. And
they have a place. Unfortunately the place they have taken is
science museums. And they have made the exploration of science
about as exciting for the young as being sent to the principal's
office. With the exception of parts of museums we saw in Arizona
and New Mexico, I am seeing very little of museums that is
capturing my imagination. The science museums I am seeing these
days get high marks for political correctness but there is no spark
of imagination. Or if there is, it is very dim. Today's science
museums would never have gotten the adolescent me interested in
science.
Actually, it isn't only science museums that brought this editorial
on. I am watching PBS's retrospective on the history of the _N_o_v_a
science program. It is hosted by that internationally-known
scientist and role model for young students, Bill Cosby. Some of
what you are seeing really is interesting sights of genuine
science. You see fiber-optic pictures of the embryos that look
like shu mai dim sum. You see the un-icing of some prehistoric
explorer prehistoric explorer. And a lot is things like how they
filmed the special effects for _I_n_d_i_a_n_a _J_o_n_e_s _a_n_d _t_h_e _T_e_m_p_l_e _o_f
_D_o_o_m. That isn't really science. And every half-hour or so, even
that is stopped dead so that they can go to a fifteen-minute pledge
break. You should be sending your money to your local PBS station.
I am sure you should. But why make this program so irritating to
watch? You get so that when you see Bill Cosby show up on the
screen, you know it is to bring the bad news of another
interruption.
Well, enjoy the standard of living you have now. The next
generation is not going to have a lot of people who got interested
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in science from museums, or from reading, or from science programs
on television, or even from schools. You may have some practical
scientists, people developing things like food-wrap, and most will
be recent immigrants, but there will not be a whole lot of people
bitten by the curiosity to learn more about the universe. Sense-
of-wonder will be relegated to wonder at the antics of rock stars.
===================================================================
2. JUMPER by Steven Gould (Tor, ISBN 0-812-52237-0, 1993 (1992c),
344pp, US$4.99) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
When I told a friend I was reading this, his response was, "It's
not alternate history; it's not literary. Why are you reading it?"
Well, even I have to have a change of pace once in a while.
_J_u_m_p_e_r is a classic adventure-type, wish-fulfillment story.
Seventeen-year-old Davy Rice discovers one day that he has the
ability to "jump" (teleport). (In a nod to Alfred Bester's _T_h_e
_S_t_a_r_s _M_y _D_e_s_t_i_n_a_t_i_o_n, he discovers this when he first jumps
accidentally to avoid a beating. Gould credits Bester and other
authors in his acknowledgement.) After experimenting a bit, Rice
discovers he can jump at will, but only to places he can visualize.
(Now you know who buys all those one-way tickets!) At first he
uses this power somewhat frivolously, but then turns it to more
serious purpose.
One can't demand too much realism from what is essentially an
adolescent power fantasy (could he really outsmart _e_v_e_r_y_o_n_e in the
CIA?), and if you turn off your objections to such details you can
have a lot of fun with this book. My one caveat is that although
this description makes _J_u_m_p_e_r sound like a juvenile/young adult
novel, there are scenes of violence, and abuse is an on-going
theme. With that warning, I recommend this book.
===================================================================
3. WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: _W_h_a_t'_s _E_a_t_i_n_g _G_i_l_b_e_r_t _G_r_a_p_e is a
delicate story which combines pathos and humor and
which manages to avoid cliche while saying something
about unsung nobility. Johnny Depp plays the modern
equivalent of a Capra-esque hero. Rating: +2 (-4 to
+4)
The American film industry has the capital resources to attract
some of the best international directors to make what are
essentially American films. Often these directors see the U.S.
through the eyes of an outsider, and let the viewer see his own
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country with a fresh perspective. It is this sort of freshness
that directors like Louis Malle bring to films like _A_t_l_a_n_t_i_c _C_i_t_y.
Lasse Hallstrom, who made the charming _M_y _L_i_f_e _a_s _a _D_o_g about one
character with low self-esteem, now has made an American film with
an older, but similar character. In filming Peter Hedges
screenplay based on Hedges's own novel he gives us his view of a
very small American town and a sort of people who rarely are
depicted in films.
The setting is the fly-speck town is Endora, Iowa (though _W_h_a_t'_s
_E_a_t_i_n_g _G_i_l_b_e_r_t _G_r_a_p_e was actually shot in Texas). A major town
event occurs each year when the local Airstream Trailer club drives
a convoy of the aluminum campers past the town. Gilbert Grape
(Johnny Depp) always brings his mentally retarded younger brother
Arnie (Oscar-nominated Leonardo DiCaprio) to watch the campers go
by. Arnie is usually a real handful--nearly 18, he is a wild
animal requiring constant attention. Among Arnie's distressing
habits is climbing the town's water tower from which he needs to be
rescued by the police. Gilbert has had to control Arnie and be the
de facto father of the family since his own father committed
suicide many years earlier. Gilbert's mother is hyper-obese--in
the range of 500 pounds--and she too needs more care than she is
able to give.
Gilbert himself is an unassuming man, a clerk at a tiny grocery
that is dying from the competition of a huge supermarket nearby.
Like a George Bailey in _I_t'_s _a _W_o_n_d_e_r_f_u_l _L_i_f_e, he is without
realizing it the person on whom many depend and whom few seem to
appreciate. Everyone seems to rely on him and take him for
granted. On top of that he lets himself be used in an affair with
a bored and unstable housewife (a thankless role for Mary
Steenburgen). With the constant need to corral his brother, avoid
the husband of the Steenburgen character, handle a sister jealous
of attention given to Arnie, protect his mother from embarrassment
by doing things like secretly reinforce the floor weakened by her
weight, Gilbert gets little pleasure from life. Enter Becky
(Juliette Lewis of _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r and _H_u_s_b_a_n_d_s _a_n_d _W_i_v_e_s) who is
temporarily stranded in Endora when her grandmother's camper has
engine trouble. Becky has a friendly but worldly nature that
allows her to see the nobility in Gilbert that others overlook.
While the ending is a false step, the rest of the film more than
compensates.
_W_h_a_t'_s _E_a_t_i_n_g _G_i_l_b_e_r_t _G_r_a_p_e is a story that could easily have been
mishandled by making Gilbert too sugary noble, but Hedges and
Hallstrom create characters of depth and resonance. And he is able
to get some impressive performances, especially from DiCaprio. In
his films Depp has been a sort of modern James Dean who gets some
sympathy from the audience playing hurt and confused people. But
Depp's acting has never been the high point of any of his films.
Here, at least, he is better than usual and creates a character
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with some credibility. But even better is DiCaprio whose
retardation is so well portrayed my wife was unsure if perhaps
DiCaprio himself isn't actually retarded. (Though some thought
tells one it is extremely unlikely.) Darlene Cates, in her first
performance gives real humanity to the obese Momma.
_W_h_a_t'_s _E_a_t_i_n_g _G_i_l_b_e_r_t _G_r_a_p_e reminds one of settings like those of
_T_e_n_d_e_r _M_e_r_c_i_e_s and characters out of Capra. I give it a +2 on the
-4 to +4 scale.
===================================================================
4. THE CHASE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule review: _T_h_e _C_h_a_s_e is satire of chase films
that takes some funny knocks at TV-news, but
otherwise offers little. The film works neither as
an action film nor as a comedy. THE CHASE manages
to drag even at a short 87 minutes. Rating: low 0
(-4 to +4).
Adam Rifkin is back in the driver seat for his third film. Rifkin
directed the film _N_e_v_e_r _o_n _T_u_e_s_d_a_y (which I'm sorry I haven't seen)
and the surrealist comedy _T_h_e _D_a_r_k _B_a_c_k_w_a_r_d (which I'm sorry I did
see). He is back with _T_h_e _C_h_a_s_e. Rifkin's talent is improving at
high speed--faster, in fact, then the chase in _T_h_e _C_h_a_s_e. His
latest does not have an incredibly greasy-looking Judd Nelson with
a third arm growing out of his back and does not leave the audience
with something akin to flu symptoms. So Rifkin is showing real
signs of improvement. Just not enough.
The plot of _T_h_e _C_h_a_s_e is little more than the title might suggest.
Charlie Sheen plays Jack Hammond, a man running from the police but
spotted by them at a convenience store. To escape he takes as
hostage Natalie Voss (played by Kristy Swanson) and flees only to
be chased by the law and several live-tv-news teams all the way to
the Mexican border. Along the way he gets to know his hostage who
turns out to be the daughter of the "Californian Donald Trump,"
Dalton Voss (Ray Wise). Some of the film's satirical edge, in fact
most of what works, is aimed at the news team and the absurd risks
they take for ratings, chasing along with--and often ahead of--the
police anxious to beat the competition to a story.
This film is appears to want to be a madcap satire of a particular
type of film, much as _A_i_r_p_l_a_n_e was for a different sub-genre, but
in this case neither the humor nor the action carries film. The
humor is all on a fairly lukewarm level that is sometimes helped
but more often hindered by Sheen's deadpan serious delivery. There
are chuckles, but they are often miles apart. The action scenes
are often mechanical and punctuated with overly familiar-looking
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stunt crashes. The premise seems to be that we are watching a
high-speed chase, but we never get much of a sense of speed. We
see the two leads talking with the rear-projection showing the
police cars following them, but you rarely have the feel that the
speed gets over the speed limit. Sheen is just not attentive
enough to the road and the scenery does not seem to go by all that
fast. That may seem like a picayune point, but it gets in the way
of the storytelling. We do see some of the requisite explosions
and carnage--both fairly mechanical--but it doesn't seem clear
exactly why for the speeds shown.
Sheen's acting is flat and dry throughout in a film in which there
was little real acting required. Kristy Swanson, who played the
title roles in _D_e_a_d_l_y _F_r_i_e_n_d and _B_u_f_f_y _t_h_e _V_a_m_p_i_r_e _S_l_a_y_e_r competes
with Sheen to see who can more underplay a role. Trying his hand
at acting is rock musician Henry Rollins as one of the pursuing
policemen who seems more interested in impressing an interviewer
riding along with him than in actually capturing Hammond.
This is a comedy whose engine seems unwilling to turn over and
which never manages to get all its sparkplugs to fire. I give it a
low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
===================================================================
5. Neglected Fantasy and Science Fiction Films (film comment by
Mark R. Leeper):
One of the things I like to do occasionally in my film reviews is
to make reference to some very good film that I doubt most of my
readers have heard of and that I would like to call some attention
to. There are a lot of decent films, and a handful of very good
ones, that at this point may exist only in the film libraries of
obscure television stations, and when these few prints disappear
the films will be gone. I would like to generate some interest in
four of these films, if not to help save them, at least to alert
people that if you do get a chance to see these films, it is a rare
chance and you should give them a try.
Of course, there are a lot of obscure films that are showing up on
videotape today, many of them very poorly-made films, and it is
ironic that some terrific films are being over-looked, but in each
case I think I can understand why some producer would think the
film would not sell well on tape. There are three science fiction
films and one horror film. However, none of the film has special
effects. Particularly for science fiction, people have come to
expect visual effects. I guess they feel that if they do not
really enjoy the story then at least there will be something
interesting to watch. These films are just actors in front of a
camera, perhaps with a very rudimentary make-up effect thrown in
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(but very little). Three of the films are in black and white and
unfortunately that is also considered to be a strike against a
film. I still recommend these films highly to watch for.
_T_h_e _M_i_n_d _B_e_n_d_e_r_s (1962) (directed by Basil Dearden)
This film combines Cold War thriller elements with science fiction
and a compelling human story. A scientist working on sensory
deprivation commits suicide and is discovered to have been passing
secrets to the Soviets. Was he to blame or could his mind have
been twisted while under the influence of the sensory deprivation
tank? The government decides to experiment to find out. Another
scientist working in the same field (played by Dirk Bogarde) is
very devoted to his wife and family. Can they change that in his
personality while he is in the tank? This film is well-acted,
enthralling, and atmospheric.
_U_n_e_a_r_t_h_l_y _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r (1963) (directed by John Kirsh)
A secret project is working on space exploration right in the heart
of London. The approach to exploration is a novel one. Rather
than sending the whole human into space, they are working on a sort
of technological out-of-body experience. Project your mind to
another planet and there have it take on physical form ... invasion
by mental projection. The rub is that scientists on the project
are being killed in some mysterious way involving super-high
energy. And the wives of some of the scientists seem to have no
background that project security can trace. The script is tense
and the acting is quite good, with a cast that includes John
Neville (_A _S_t_u_d_y _i_n _t_e_r_r_o_r, _T_h_e _A_d_v_e_n_t_u_r_e_s _o_f _B_a_r_o_n _M_u_n_c_h_a_u_s_e_n) and
Jean Marsh (_U_p_s_t_a_i_r_s, _D_o_w_n_s_t_a_i_r_s). (This film is so obscure that
Leonard Maltin's usually very complete _M_o_v_i_e _a_n_d _V_i_d_e_o _G_u_i_d_e
overlooks it.)
_D_a_r_k _I_n_t_r_u_d_e_r (1965) (directed by Harvey Hart)
This film is only 59 minutes long and originally was intended as a
television pilot, but was released to theaters to play with films
such as William Castle's _I _S_a_w _W_h_a_t _Y_o_u _D_i_d--which it far out-
classed. Leslie Nielson plays a detective in late 19th Century San
Francisco whose foppish appearance hides a man very knowledgeable
and adept in matters of the occult and the supernatural. A series
of unsolved murders and a friend's blackout spells may be connected
and have some occult significance. Mark Richman and Werner
Klemperer also star. The latter, best known as the gullible
commandant from _H_o_g_a_n'_s _H_e_r_o_e_s, does a terrific job in a sinister
role.
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_Q_u_e_s_t _f_o_r _L_o_v_e (1971) (directed by Ralph Thomas)
This film is loosely adapted from the short story "Random Quest" by
John Wyndham. Colin Trafford (played by Tom Bell) is a leading
scientist at Britain Imperial Physical Institute when one of his
experiments goes wrong. Suddenly he finds himself in a parallel
London in a parallel Britain that has not been to war since the
Great War in the early part of the century. Trafford here is not a
physicist, but a popular playwright. He is also now married to a
beautiful woman (played by Joan Collins) whose life he has made
miserable with his selfish ways and his philandering. Can Colin
convince the world he is the playwright while convincing his new
wife that he is different? Then there are plot complications that
lead to a fast-paced climax across parallel worlds. Denholm Elliot
also stars in the story which is part science fiction adventure and
part love story.
Of these four films only the last is in color. At present, the
only one available on video, _U_n_e_a_r_t_h_l_y _S_t_r_a_n_g_e_r, is offered only by
a tiny specialty house, Sinister Cinema. Of the four, only _Q_u_e_s_t
_f_o_r _L_o_v_e has played on New York area television in the last fifteen
years. I would much like to get my hands on copies of _T_h_e _M_i_n_d
_B_e_n_d_e_r_s or _D_a_r_k _I_n_t_r_u_d_e_r.
_A_d_d_e_n_d_u_m _f_o_r _B_O_S_K_O_N_E _3_1: _A_d_d_i_t_i_o_n_a_l _F_i_l_m_s _t_o _L_o_o_k _F_o_r
_F_a_u_s_t (1926)
Director F. W. Murnau is better known for _N_o_s_f_e_r_a_t_u, but there is a
lot of good visual fantasy in this film version of the famous play
by Goethe. There is a terrific image of the Devil spreading his
cape over a village, and many other visual surprises throughout.
_T_h_e _M_a_n _W_h_o _L_a_u_g_h_s (1928)
The story could be better, but Conrad Veidt is terrific in the role
of a man whose face is carved into a huge involuntary grin. Veidt
conveys a full range of emotions through his eyes alone. The
grinning Veidt was the visual inspiration for Batman's foe The
Joker.
_T_h_e _D_y_b_b_u_k (1939)
At times this is very slow but also at times a very effective
horror film. This was a low-budget film done in Yiddish. The
"Dance of Death" scene had become an eerie classic. The story
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deals with a man's soul returning from the dead to possess the
woman he loved.
_T_h_e _S_e_v_e_n_t_h _V_i_c_t_i_m (1943)
Other Val Lewton films get more attention but this film is blacker
and bleaker than anything every done in film noir. This is a solid
mood piece that stands above Lewton's other films. A woman
searching for her sister runs afoul of murder and Satanists.
_N_i_g_h_t _o_f _t_h_e _D_e_m_o_n (a.k.a. _C_u_r_s_e _o_f _t_h_e _D_e_m_o_n) (1957)
This film has gotten some attention because of an allusion in a
song in the _R_o_c_k_y _H_o_r_r_o_r _P_i_c_t_u_r_e _S_h_o_w but it is rarely seen. That
is a pity because it is quite a nice little supernatural thriller.
It suffers a little from showing the audience too much too soon,
but it still is suspenseful and well-written.
_N_i_g_h_t _o_f _t_h_e _E_a_g_l_e (a.k.a. _B_u_r_n, _W_i_t_c_h, _B_u_r_n) (1962)
When Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont co-write a screenplay
based on a novel by Fritz Lieber, you just naturally expect a good
thriller. This story about an empirical college professor
discovering that his wife and several other professors' wives
around him are actually witches is very well-produced.
_D_e_v_i_l _D_o_l_l (1963)
This is a wildly uneven film, but it has many very good moments.
There have been several attempts to do the stories of ventriloquist
dummies who have lives of their own. This is the most intriguing
treatment of the theme. For once the secret of the dummy is not a
let-down.
_C_r_a_c_k _i_n _t_h_e _W_o_r_l_d (1965)
The first and last ideas of this film are pretty silly, but in
between this is a fairly exciting super-disaster film. Some of the
visuals are spectacular. There is also some complexity to the
characters.
_Q_u_a_t_e_r_m_a_s_s _a_n_d _t_h_e _P_i_t (a.k.a. _F_i_v_e _M_i_l_l_i_o_n _Y_e_a_r_s _t_o _E_a_r_t_h) (1968)
This film is finally getting a cult following and some recognition.
It is much better known in Britain. The model of what a science
thriller should be, it unfolds like a science fiction detective
story uncovering a discovery that has greater and greater
implications about the nature of mankind. This is one of the great
idea films of science fiction cinema.
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_T_h_e _D_e_v_i_l _R_i_d_e_s _O_u_t (a.k.a. _T_h_e _D_e_v_i_l'_s _B_r_i_d_e) (1968)
Richard Matheson's adaptation of the black magic novel by Dennis
Wheatley takes a science fiction-like approach to Satanism. It is
fast-paced and at times fairly intelligent. Also worth seeing is
Hammer Films' other adaptation of Wheatley black magic, _T_o _t_h_e
_D_e_v_i_l _a _D_a_u_g_h_t_e_r.
_W_i_t_c_h_f_i_n_d_e_r _G_e_n_e_r_a_l (a.k.a. _C_o_n_q_u_e_r_o_r _W_o_r_m) (1968)
A vital and well-made historical fringe-horror film about one of
the great villians of English history, Matthew Hopkins. Even
Vincent Price does a reasonable acting job. The original musical
score is actually quite beautiful, though there is a version with
an entirely different and much less enjoyable score.
_S_a_t_a_n'_s _S_k_i_n (a.k.a. _B_l_o_o_d _o_n _S_a_t_a_n'_s _C_l_a_w) (1970)
In some ways an imitation of the style of _W_i_t_c_h_f_i_n_d_e_r _G_e_n_e_r_a_l. A
17th Century English ploughman turns up the remains of a demon and
the artifact exerts satanic influence on the children of the
region. This is a very atmospheric film with an authentic
historical feel.
_C_o_u_n_t _Y_o_r_g_a, _V_a_m_p_i_r_e (1973)
This low-budget horror film redefined the concept of the vampire.
As a reaction to the staid, hypnotic, and slow vampires of British
horror films, this film makes most vampires fast moving predatory
deadly animals who hunt in packs. At the time this was pretty
scary stuff and the film still has a lot of its impact.
_P_h_a_s_e _I_V (1974)
Two mutually alien intelligences in the beginnings of a serious
war. It is really more about how each side collects information
about the other and uses its physical differences against the
other. Ants somehow develop a gestalt mind and prepare to make
themselves the masters of the world. Visually very impressive with
direction by visual artist Saul Bass (best known for creating
striking title sequences for other directors' films). There is
also some terrific insect photography.
_W_h_o? (1974)
This fairly accurate adaptation of Algis Budrys' novel had film
stock problems (!) and could not be released to theaters. That is
a genuine pity. Cold War story of its near future has a scientist
important to military defense in a bad accident. The East Germans
get ahold of him and return him to the West more prosthetic than
living matter. Now the problem is, how do you prove that he is who
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he says he is?
_T_h_e _L_a_s_t _W_a_v_e (1977)
Australian Peter Weir build his reputation on this strange,
mystical film about a lawyer who finds he might be the fulfillment
of an Aboriginal prophecy. Images of nature out of balance and an
intriguing story make this story a real spellbinder. This is a
hard film to pigeon-hole and the intelligence of the writing never
flags.
_D_r_a_g_o_n_s_l_a_y_e_r (1981)
Lots of films try to do Medieval high fantasy, but this is probably
the best. With the death of a great magician, his young apprentice
must see if he has mastered enough of his master's art to destroy a
terrific dragon who is ravaging the countryside. There are lots of
nice touches in the script and the dragon is the best ever created
on film.
_K_n_i_g_h_t_r_i_d_e_r_s (1981)
George Romero says he got this out of his system and never has to
make another film like _K_n_i_g_h_t_r_i_d_e_r_s. What a pity! This was one of
the best films of its year. Superficially this is the story of a
traveling Renaissance Fair that features jousts on motorcycles.
But it has some terrific characters and a theme of the struggle
between integrity and commercialism and between idealism and
practicality. And late in the film the viewer realizes that the
film has also been doing something else all along.
_L_i_f_e_f_o_r_c_e (1981)
Very few fans are willing to look beyond the naked woman and the
zombies to see what is one of the most bizarre and audacious
concepts for any science fiction film. Vampires, we learn, are
really beings that leak lifeforce into the atmosphere like a tire
with a slow leak leaks air. They must replenish the force
regularly or they die. Much as we put bacteria into milk to
multiply and make yogurt or cheese, some huge, incomprehensible,
amoral, alien race seeds earth with vampires. The numbers of these
numbers will increase exponentially, leaking more and more
lifeforce into the environment so the aliens can vacuum it up.
_A _C_h_i_n_e_s_e _G_h_o_s_t _S_t_o_r_y (1987)
Hong Kong is making their own horror film movement for their own
audience. There films are fast-paced, usually liberally laced with
comedy and martial arts, but also having some interesting horror
concepts. No one such film is all that terrific (at least among
the films I have seen so far) but some are astonishing and full of
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unexpected touches. Look for the _C_h_i_n_e_s_e _G_h_o_s_t _S_t_o_r_y films, _W_i_c_k_e_d
_C_i_t_y, and _M_r. _V_a_m_p_i_r_e (which must have a different name in China
since it is really about Chinese "Hopping Ghosts").
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
leeper@mtgzfs3.att.com
The greatest burden in the world is superstition,
not only of ceremonies in the church but of
imaginary and scarecrow sins at home.
-- John Milton