Monster Movie of the Week: Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH
Director: Kazuki Omori
Genre: Kaiju eiga

THE MOVIE

It's strange that after all of King Ghidorah's appearances in the Showa movies, it wasn't until 1991 that there was a movie released called Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. But that certainly isn't all that's notable about this movie. GVK remains one of the least seen of the series and wasn't even released on home video until 1998, when most of the Godzilla catalogue was put out on DVD in anticipation of the American remake. GVK also features a truly loopy time travel plot and is the only movie to date to give Godzilla a real origin story (even King Ghidorah is given one, in a departure from his usual space monster origin). If that wasn't enough going on, it also is the sole appearance of Mecha King Ghidorah.


The Heisei Godzilla movies feature a relatively tight continuity, and GVK serves as a sequel to Godzilla VS Biollante. Godzilla recuperates from his brush with the giant plant monster and the anti-radioactive bacteria used against him when a strange craft appears over Japan. It turns out the craft is from the Earth's future and its occupants (two Westerners, a Japanese woman and an android) offer to help Japan eliminate Godzilla because, they warn, in the future, Japan is a desolate nuclear wasteland due to the monster's attacks. They offer to travel back to Godzilla's origins in World War II, to prevent the beast from ever being created.

These Futurians, a Japanese author, and psychic Miki Saegusa (introduced in Biollante and a mainstay of the 1990's movies) travel back to 1944 during the Pacific campaign of World War II, in which a Japanese platoon is attacked by American soldiers but rescued by a rampaging dinosaur relic, a "Godzillasaurus" and the creature that will become the King of the Monsters after being exposed to American nuclear testing. The Futurians abduct the wounded dinosaur and bring it back to the present, thus insuring that it will not become Godzilla. However, they do leave behind three golden chirping creatures in its place...

It turns out that the Futurians wanted to remove Godzilla from the equation so that their own monster, now formed into King Ghidorah could take its place and destroy Japan. In their future, Japan is the dominant country on Earth even more powerful than the U.S., China and Russia and this mission is to prevent Japan's ascendancy. Now, I'm not sure why the Japanese woman wanted to go along with it, but whatever.

However, the Godzillasaurus is mutated by a Russian nuclear sub, resulting in the creation of Godzilla, who battles and defeats both Ghidorah and the UFO. The Japanese Futurian returns from the future with a cyborg version of King Ghidorah, with which to defend Japan from Godzilla. Although, Mecha King Ghidorah fails to defeat Godzilla, it does lead him into the sea and away from Japan.

So, you can see that still-complicated summary that Godzilla VS King Ghidorah has a pretty weird and convoluted plot, which is one of the reasons that it is one of my favorite Godzilla movies. I like to think of it as the Back to the Future II of the Godzilla series. It has the best story out any movie of the series, although it is not necessarily executed very well.

GVK is also the most controversial Godzilla movie, due to the sequence that is set in World War II and features the Godzillasaurus violently attacking American troops. It is a discordant reminder that despite the often cozy post war relationship between the two countries, the US and Japan were bitter enemies at one point. It is also a little distasteful to juxtapose a fantasy monster sequence with the human loss and suffering of WWII. For this reason, it took quite a long time to release the movie in the US. However, GVK does solidify Godzilla's relationship to the war which culminates in the great 2003 movie Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack in which Godzilla is literally an embodiment of the war dead

Godzilla has always had a complicated relationship to World War II. In the original 1954 movie, his rampage is an obvious allegory for the destruction visited upon Japan by the two atomic bombs which ended the war. And while the monster's creation is almost always caused by US atomic testing, over and over again, Godzilla terrorizes Japan in a kind of cinematic self flagellation. He doesn't destroy Los Angeles or San Francisco, he makes it his mission to punish the Japanese. Going from an a brutal military power that is deeply despised in the region to a nation that was humiliatingly defeated in a rain of atomic Hellfire, to a largely peaceful prosperous people is a dizzying journey to take in a lifetime and, in their own way, the Godzilla movies document and comment on that journey.



Godzilla VS King Ghidorah came at a time of relative tension between the U.S. and Japan as it was the height of Japan's economic surge. People in the States were wary of the country's power (much the way that they are now with the growth of China). In the movies, this discomfort manifested itself with subtle and not subtle barbs toward the Japanese. In popular culture in the 1980's and 1990's the Japanese were usually depicted as drone-like businessmen working for monolithic corporations with a laser-like focus for buying everything in sight and speaking in sinister Engrish ("Whay-ah is Rutenent Liprey?). More often than not, they served as stern bosses to American characters.

Godzilla VS King Ghidorah feels like part of the other side of that conversation, with the movie's entire plot revolving around jealous foreigners attempting to thwart Japan's glorious future. The scenes in which Japanese soldiers honor the giant dinosaur that saved them from the Americans, is particularly interesting since Godzilla is a such an icon of Japanese popular culture. In a very superficial way, it is as though the Japanese were able redeem a bit of their wartime past using one of their most potent post-war symbols.


THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

We get one of the better Godzilla suits in this movie and it is a slight evolution of the Biollante version of the character. The Heisei version of the character is beloved by fans and this is one of his better looks. The Godzillasaurus, however, leaves a lot to be desired and is rather awkward. Remember, this was a few years before Jurassic Park when dinosaurs were usually realized as puppets or anamatronics.

This movie features the first appearance by Ghidorah since the 1970's and for the most part, the King looks pretty good, although the flying sequences are pretty weak. Mecha-King Ghidorah is a pretty cool creation (his whole middle neck and head are mechanical) and in the Heisei continuity, he serves as the basis for that version of Mechagodzilla.

While the monster effects in the movie are quite good, anything else is pretty awful. The android character tries really hard to be be Terminator but both the acting is awful and he is the center piece of some truly terrible special effects.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

I really like the WWII scenes for their cultural subtext and for making the connection between Godzilla and the war more explicit than it had ever been.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

As part of a two pack DVD with Godzilla VS Mothra: The Battle For Earth.

TRAILER




Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: The Lost World Jurassic Park (1997)

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Survival/Adventure

THE MOVIE

After the global phenomenon that was Jurassic Park, author Michael Crichton was pressed to write a sequel to his smash novel, on which the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie was loosely based. Crichton's sequel, "The Lost World" introduces us to Isla Sorna, or Site B, where the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park were created before being transported to John Hammond's theme park. It turns out that most of the labs and hatcheries on the park were just for show and the real dirty work of cloning dinosaurs was conducted on Site B.

"The Lost World" novel is a sequel to Crichton's book, not the Spielberg movie and and it does have an edgier tone and functions as a dark commentary on science and technology more than an as an awe-inspiring fun ride. That said, it does bring back Ian Malcolm who had been pretty much pronounced dead at the end of the "Jurassic Park" novel (after a long and rambling morphine trip). While the first book was concerned with how chaos theory predicted the collapse of the ambitious system that was Isla Nublar, "The Lost World" is preoccupied with extinction theory and the behavior of these animals which have been allowed to develop on their own for many years.

The movie adaptation is pretty loose and juxtaposes a lot of characters and relationships and even adds in some material from the first book, which was too technically difficult to achieve at the dawn of the digital age. It's a pretty light movie and has even less scientific commentary than its predecessor.

As in the book, the movie focuses on Ian Malcolm's return to the island, although this is the more cuddly Jeff Goldblum version of the character. His motivation for going back in the movie is to rescue his paleontologist girlfriend who has already gone to the island on a secret documentary exposition. He even has an annoying tween daughter who stows away in the equipment. Much like the movie's T-Rex, The Lost World is very much about showing that Ian Malcolm can be a responsible and nurturing parent and mate. Both were sort of unpleasant and roguish in the first movie, and are reformed by the end of this one. That parallel is a nice emotional throughline in the movie.

Malcolm's team is competing with a group from another wing of InGen who are there to capture dinosaurs to display in a scaled-down San Diego version of Jurassic Park. Soon both teams are forced to work together to survive the island and its ferocious inhabitants. Perhaps the most notable addition to the original story is the last act, which features a T-Rex running loose in San Diego. This bit is a nice homage to classic monster movies and even features a group of Japanese business men running for their lives.


THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

Probably one of the appealing aspects of doing this movie for someone like Spielberg (who had already won an Academy Award by this point) was to play around with his cool toys some more. Jurassic Park pushed special effects technology to the breaking point, and there were still plenty of things that they were unable to do in that movie. The Lost World, no doubt, offered the opportunity to take advantage of the advances that were made in the intervening four years and make a bigger and more spectacular movie with more dinosaurs and set pieces.

The movie features not one, but three T-Rexes. There are two adults and one infant. Sadly, there is very little difference between the adults. It would have been nice to see a little sexual dimorphism, which was alluded to in the book. The infant is mainly seen injured and is realized by an animatronic, and later CGI. The male Rex even gets a scene which was cut from the original novel, in which a Rex attempts to snatch some people from behind a waterfall, complete with dino tongue.

The first dinos we see are a herd of Stegasaurs, including adults and juveniles. It's almost as though someone had a checklist of popular dinosaurs that didn't make it into Jurassic Park. They achieve something you didn't see in the first movie: a good medium shot of a bunch of large CGI dinosaurs. They look really great in this movie. There is even a baby, which seems like a nice nod to the baby Triceratops cut scene from the first movie.

Speaking of Trikes, we get to actually see on in motion in this movie. If you remember, the only Triceratops in Jurassic Park was the big prone one with a tummy ache. Here we get to see one go all Cretaceous on the InGen camp.

There is also a "round up" scene, straight out of The Valley of Gwangi which features lots of sauropods and hadrosaurs. There are even some dome-headed Pachycephalosaurs. There is a wonderful scene during the round up in which we follow a motorcycle as it drives under the belly of sauropod, which is one of my all time favorite dinosaur moments.

The Lost World also introduces us to Compies, which are small chicken-sized dinosaurs which travel in packs, picking off weak animals. Compies were present in Michael Crichton's first novel and even had the privilege of finishing off that version of John Hammond. Here, they have a similar scene in which they gang up on one of the the hunters brought to the island by InGen.



Jurassic Park's most memorable dinos, the Velociraptors are back and get a large action sequence in the movie's third act to themselves. The raptors chase Malcolm, and his girlfriend and daughter into an abandoned InGen facility, which has a cool Life After People vibe. There is even a follow-up to a series of shots in the kitchen scene from the first movie in which Spielberg juxtaposes human hands and raptor claws. Sadly these raptors are vanquished by a combination of their own foul tempers and tween gymnastics.



MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The dino round up is a really exciting piece of filmmaking, and probably Spielberg's whole reason for wanting to do the movie.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Widely available in many different DVD configurations. The whole trilogy is rumored to be out on BluRay in the near future.

TRAILER






Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH

Director: Joe Dante

Genre: Comedy/Horror

Country: USA

THE MOVIE

The original Gremlins was an uneasy mix of comedy, horror and holiday movie and was notable for its dark and violent moments. The sequel is more of a wacky comedy that mixes the occasional piece of sharp satire with an anarchic cartoon sensibility. It lacks much of the darkness and violence and the Capra-esque location of the original but makes up for it with its inventiveness and sheer lunacy.

This is a movie that manages to make fun of just about everything, including itself. I mean, you have to love a movie that features scene in which a pair of gremlins discover a cabinet filled with vials with labels like “ACID: Do Not Throw In Face” (being a Gremlin, he immediately throws the other’s face.) Unlike most sequels, which revere the originals, Gremlins 2 goes out of its way to mock the original movie with fun spins on Kate's dark Christmas monologue and even the illogical rules of Mogwai care ("It's always after midnight somewhere.")

Gremlins 2 continues several years after the original in which Gizmo’s elderly owner at the little Chinatown shop is in danger of being razed by millionaire and mega-developer Daniel Clamp (based on a pre-crazy Donald Trump). Gizmo escapes and is brought to a weird genetics lab in the ridiculously modern and automated Clamp Tower, coincidentally, where Billy and Kate also work, having moved to NYC to make it big. Needless to say Gizmo gets wet and wacky hijinks ensue. The Gremlins break into the genetics laboratory and all hell breaks loose. The movie has a lot of fun with all these weird mutant gremlins.

Unfortunately Gremlins 2 was not a big hit and the prospects of another entry in the series are remote. One reason speculated for the low box office of the sequel was that about seven years had passed between the two movies and “Gremlinmania” had died down. I was a kid when the first movie came out and let me tell you, kids went nuts for that movie. Those same kids were probably less interested as teens.

I should also say that I am forever regretful that I did not see this movie in the theater as it has an infamous sequence that simulates a projection breakdown and the theater's subsequent take over by gremlins, one of many funny references to the earlier movie. For a few wonderful minutes you would have believed that the projector actually was broken. This effect was recreated for both VHS and cable versions of the movie, but the cinema version is the one that would have had the audience going for the longest.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

The effects are a lot better than the first movie but the main improvement is the diversity of the gremlin designs. They don’t all look like clones of one another as they did in the original. Even the Mogwai are very distinct from one another and they start out with distinct personalities and looks. My favorite is the really adorable Daffy Mogwai. These looks even carry over to the gremlin designs, so you have about a dozen distinct "hero" gremlins that stand out from the masses.

The movie also exploits the Genetic Lab subplot and has the gremlins mutate into different forms such as the Spider Gremlin, Bat Gremlin, Veggie Gremlin, Electro-Gremlin, Brain Gremlin, and many more, even including a Tranny Gremlin, which shares a memorable moment with Robert Picardo.

SEQUELS

None planned. Although, something tells me Gremlins is ripe for a reboot.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Widely available on DVD, yet, sadly, unavailable on Bluray.

TRIVIA

The original special effects man for this movie was Chris Walas who declined to work on the sequel so that he could direct The Fly II. Make up guru Rick Baker was lured on to the project with the promise that he could make the gremlins more diverse.

The toy company NECA recently showcased a Gremlins 2-themed wave of action figures coming summer of 2011.

TRAILER



Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Creature (1998)

CREATURE (1998)

Director: Stuart Gillard

Genre: Horror/Survival/Sci-Fi

THE MOVIE

This 1998 television miniseries is perhaps better known as Peter Benchley’s Creature, itself based on Benchley’s novel White Shark and delivers some solid monster movie thrills for a TV movie. Benchley was best known as the author of Jaws and had made a career of aquatic thrillers and his later book borrows some elements of that story such as a seaside community setting with its own internal economics and politics, a shark expert tracking a man-eater and some other specific scenes and plot points.

However, the novel differs from the movie in several important ways. In the novel, the titular monster is a surgically enhanced shark man created by Nazi scientists. The movie takes this very campy premise and changes the monster to be a genetically engineered creature bred by the U.S. Navy that is a hybrid of shark, human and dolphin DNA which, while still ridiculous, is not quite as silly as a razor-toothed Nazi shark man. The movie also exchanges a Jaws-like New England setting for a south Caribbean locale. These changes make the movie better and less campy than it otherwise would have been and they make for a more interesting monster.

Also, interesting is a change in point of view for Benchley himself, who made a fortune off of the novel and movie version of Jaws, a piece of popular entertainment that framed a whole generation’s perceptions of sharks. I have a “Shark Week”-loving friend who hates Jaws with a passion because he feels it misrepresents sharks. Benchley is said to have regretted the success of his novel and its adaptation and later in his life became somewhat of a shark crusader. This point of view comes across in the protagonist of Creature. Simon Chase, who throughout the movie goes to great lengths to protect a pregnant Great White shark that has been mistakenly believed to be preying on the islanders.

Ultimately, “Creature” is surprisingly good for a TV movie, most of which are notoriously bad. It features a unique monster and some unsettling and genuinely scary moments. The movie has a somewhat Resident Evil kind of feel to it. I’m not talking about the movie but the game series, which has a rich cinematic heritage but manages to create a feel of its own that often features eerie decaying laboratories, engineered human monstrosities, and convoluted stories of corporate experimentation. Creature has a lot of those elements going for it, so if you are a fan of the Resident Evil games, you may really like Creature. The Creature itself looks like something that you would see in a Resident Evil game (Incidentally, the original Resident Evil game came out in 1998 as well and both Creature and Resident Evil seem to bear a passing thematic resemblance to The X-Files, which was still very hot at the time.)

THE MONTER/EFFECTS

While the effects in Creature leave something to be desired the monster itself is pretty cool. It is very shark like at first but it is also mammalian and has the ability to breathe air and walk around which is cool and unexpected (although I couldn’t help think of the “Land Shark” sketches that they had on Saturday Night Live in the '70's, ). When we finally get a good look at the monster we see that he is a perhaps 8 foot tall hunchbacked creature with a head that combines features of a man and a shark with long arms that end in vicious claws. Good stuff.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Recently released on DVD and available on Netflix.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

While exploring a spooky, long abandoned and partially submerged navy research station, our heroes encounter the creature that chases them through the water and plops down on dry land where he undergoes a painful transformation to an air breather.

SEQUELS

None. Although, the idea is introduced that the creature can breed with a female great white…

SEE ALSO

Jaws 1975 Deep Blue Sea 1997

Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Sharktopus (2011)

SHARKTOPUS (2011)
Directed by Declan O'Brien
Genre: Sharktopus


THE MOVIE

Okay, so I have judiciously avoided doing SyFy Original Movies on Monster Movie of the Week because, well, even I have standards. SyFy movies are usually cheapo B monster movies made with an eye towards camp. Movies like Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus and Chupacabra: Dark Skies are the monster movie equivalent of cheap porn (and likely use many of the same actors).

In the last few years, SyFy has been experimenting with splicing different deadly animals together to make the most dangerous, yet ridiculous monsters ever seen. Movies like Dinocroc and Dinoshark show the dangers of scientists and network executives toying with the natural order of things. And, while I could ignore the above movies, the monstrous combination of a shark and octopus was simply too alluring to miss. Sharktopus features the most absurd, yet compelling movie monster I have seen in a very long time.

An offer I can't refuse.

The Sharktopus monster is a product of a Navy experiment to create a combat organism...For Some Reason. When Shartopus' control collar is dislodged during it's first mission its handlers loose control of the beast, and it begins terrorizing the Mexican coast around Puerto Vallarta. Soon, there is a race to stop it between an American ex-pat and his crew and the monster's creators who want to capture it alive because, well, sharktopi ain't free. The head evil scientist is played by Eric Roberts, who's career made a loud whistling noise when he went from The Dark Knight to this movie.

THE MONSTER

So, it's a big-ass shark, but where the tail would be, are tentacles. That's Sharktopus in a nutshell. (Warning: If you encounter a Sharktopus hiding in a nutshell, run and get help.) In addition to the ridiculous/awesome creature design, Sharktopus is also able to use its tentacles to climb and grab and do all kinds of cool stuff, like come on land and mess up your day. The only thing that would have made him cooler, would be if he had little shark faces on the ends of his tentacles with which to bite people, instead of stabbing instruments. I guess someone at SyFy decided to show some restraint fairly late in the game.

Sharktopus, attempting to jump itself.

As you would expect if you have seen any of the other SyFy monster movies, the effects are not Hollywood feature quality and as you can see, Sharktopus does look a little like CGI plastic. Some people have said that the Sharktopus looks fake. Those people are missing the point. Where the effects are actually quite good is in the creatures animation. Sharktopus casts a unique and cool silhouette and its way of propelling itself forward in the water by whipping its tentacles behind it is strange and elegant. What makes this such a great movie monster is Sharktopus is literally like nothing you've ever seen.

Sharktopus came here to chew people and kick ass. And he's all out of people.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Sharktopus is available on DVD and Bluray.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

Anything involving said Sharktopus.

TRAILER




Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005)

NEGADON: THE MONSTER FROM MARS (2005)

Directed by Jun Awazu

Genre: CGI/Anime/Daikaiju eiga, short film

THE MOVIE:

Fans of kaiju movies generally don’t have a lot to look forward to. Godzilla is retired for another five to ten years, with another American remake on the way. The status of the Gamera series is not known. We tend to have to make due with movies that have some kaiju elements like The Host or Transformers, or the Korean movie D-Wars. Once in a while, we'll get a Cloverfield or Pacific Rim but most actual kaiju movies are few and far between. That’s why Negadon: The Monster from Mars is such a nice and unexpected treat.

Negadon is a twenty-five minute short film that is little more than an exercise in kaiju action. But that’s a good thing, right? Although it is a CGI movie from 2005, the film goes out of its way to present a retrofuturistic setting that would have been at home in one of Toho’s movies from the 1960’s or 1970’s.

The narrative is short and sweet. It is the future and man is exploring Mars. A ship brings back a mysterious Mars boulder, which escapes and destroys the ship over Japan, unleashing a giant floating monster, the titular Negadon. Meanwhile a scientist laments the loss of his daughter who was killed in an accident involving the giant robot he had invented. Although he swore never to reactivate the robot, he pilots it in combat against Negadon.

Something tells me Negadon may be the future of kaiju movies, which are becoming increasingly unprofitable in Japan. As CGI becomes cheaper to use we may eventually see entirely CGI Godzilla movies, which would be both bad and good. Bad because we would lose the wonderful artistry that goes into building the sets and monster suits but good because the creatures would no longer be constrained by the technology used to realize them. Either way, despite its shortness and relative obscurity, Negadon: The Monster from Mars may end up being a very important film in the history of monster movies.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS:

I’m not a fan of the Negadon design, it’s a little too complex for my tastes. It almost looks like it could have come from one of the 90’s Gamera movies. However, I do like the design of Magara, the creature featured in the two micro-movies included as extras. Magara is wonderful firebreathing throwback to the classic Toho monsters. The director Jun Awazu has a wonderful grasp of the kaiju subgenre and I would love to see what he would if let loose on a franchise like Godzilla or Gamera.

MONSTERS FEATURED:

Negadon and the giant robot.

DVD AVAILABILITY:

Can be bought easily enough online but you probably won’t be able to find it at your local video store or even on Netflix. Incidently, the DVD has a couple of nice little micro movies even more in the style of classic kaiju film.

TRAILER:




Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
facebook.com/cityofthegodsnovel

Monster Movie of the Week: Alien Resurrection (1997)

ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997)

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Genre: Action/Survival Horror/Body Horror

Country: USA

NOTES

1992’s Alien 3 is unloved here in the US but it was well appreciated and financially successful overseas and kindled talk of a fourth Alien movie. However, as many of you know, the ending of Alien 3 was, shall we say, final. It was designed as a way to close out the trilogy and to conclude the Ripley story arc in a dramatic and cathartic way. So what is a studio to do? Since your protagonist is dead, will you venture out and take the series in a new direction with brand new characters? Or will you find some cheap half-assed way to bring a dead character back?

Alien Resurrection features a clone of Ellen Ripley. And as cop-outs go, it is not quite, “It was all a dream” but it is still fairly lame. And I can’t help but feeling that it is a major diss to Alien 3, a movie that is badly flawed but has a lot more integrity than its successor. I think that the decision to do a retread movie and bring Ripley back as opposed to developing new characters and scenarios is one of the reasons that the series fizzled out and was ultimately replaced with the AVP movies and the upcoming prequel/spin-off/nothing-to-do-with-the-Alien-franchise Ridley Scott movie, Prometheus.

"Where's your precious Beetlejuice now?"

THE MOVIE

All of that being said, Alien Resurrection is not a terrible movie. In an attempt to keep the series fresh and in keeping with the franchises history of being a showcase for talented directors, the producers brought in French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, famous for his surrealist movies such as a City of Lost Children and Delicatessen. French directors were very hot back in the 1990’s with the films of Jeunet, Christopher Gans and Luc Besson finding audiences here in the states. Besson’s movies The Professional and The Fifth Element gave fresh Euro spins to well-worn American genres. No doubt the producers of the last Alien film were hoping for Jeunet to give the film a similar feel and he gives Resurrection a Gallic style and quirkiness that sometimes works but often doesn’t. Jeunet’s direction also frequently butts heads with the film’s other major raison d’etre: to recapture the ass-kicking action feel of James Cameron’s Aliens.

Alien Resurrection picks up 200 years after Alien 3 (so, The Future + 200 years) in which military scientists on a remote space station use blood samples from Ellen Ripley to clone her and the alien queen she was carrying at the end of the last movie. Um, okay. That’s same shaky science but okay. It turns out that there is some DNA crossover and this new Ripley has some alien characteristics and vice versa. The film also tries way too hard to make the Ripley clone into a badass: she fights, she shoots hoops, she says “fuck” a lot. This is one of the movies inept attempts to pander to what the producers think is the type of fan that really liked Aliens.

Alien Resurrection is rated R for frequent caressing.

Meanwhile the scientists have arranged to purchase abducted human beings in hypersleep from a group of smugglers that include a mysterious young woman named Call. This macabre storyline is the best part of the movie and makes for some cool imagery and recalls the many great Dark Horse Aliens comics of the time. The idea of these twisted scientists smuggling comatose human beings to breed aliens is dark and cool and it makes you wonder what Joss Whedon’s original Ripley-free script was like.

The smugglers dock with the station and encounter Ripley. Call sneaks into Ripley’s cell and tries to kill her revealing that she has come to prevent the aliens from being bred but is too late. Ultimately the aliens escape and Ripley must lead the dwindling group of military survivors and smugglers off the station. She is kidnapped by the Aliens and taken back to their nest (after apparently making out with one of them!?) where we learn that something is very wrong with these Aliens (this dysfunctional nest and the “mad scientist” type character seems to be a reference to the wonderful “Aliens: Labyrinth” comic). Ripley’s human DNA has infected the hive and the Queen lays prone and gives birth to a live Hybrid creature. After some additional caressing (what is up with the French?) the Ripley clone attempts to escape the doomed ship.

Sad Skeletor.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

This movie features the usual suspects. The alien drone is slightly redesigned (nothing revolutionary) in light of its newfound ability to swim. Again the color scheme is browner and more roach-like than the first two movies. The Queen is featured…well only her head actually. Unfortunately we don’t get any good Queen action in this movie and she gets bitch slapped to death, which is sad.

The “star” creature is the Hybrid, which leaves a lot to be desired, with its pasty skin, sad eyes, potbelly and nasal nub. I’ve heard rumors that the creature was originally designed with a penis (or vagina or some combination thereof) that was digitally removed in post-production. Call me a perv, but I want to see this.

The effects in this movie are somewhat marred by some shoddy CGI, which is too bad because this marks the first use of digital effects on these creatures. Unfortunately the aliens end up looking like Playstation characters in these scenes. This is especially sad because of the high special effects bar raised by the previous movies in the series.

C'est tres francais.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The Ripley clone discovers the meaning of the number “8” tattooed on her arm when she stumbles across the horrific previous seven attempts to clone her. That’s good body horror right there!

SEQUELS

Sadly, no. Although the story is continued in some comic books from Dark Horse. This movie marks the chronological end of the Alien series, although it does continue in the form of the AVP prequels and whatever Prometheus turns out to be (seriously, what is the deal with that movie?).

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

On its own or in the mammoth Alien Legacy DVD set. Or in the even more mammoth AVP set. The extras are nothing great and the extended version adds very little to the movie.

The movie was unceremoniously kicked out of the series for the “Alien Trilogy” DVD set that you can find around. What a burn. I guess that means that Alien 3 has been officially replaced as the redheaded stepchild of the series.

On Bluray, it is found in the wonderful Alien Anthology set, which, like the Legacy DVD set, features a slightly longer cut of the movie.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water...where no one can hear you scream.

MINORITY REPORT

A Latino almost survives the movie. Almost. Although the weird handicapped guy does survive.

TRIVIA

Believe it or not, Alien Resurrection is the most commercially successful of series in terms of global box office.

TRAILER





Patrick Garone
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Monster Movie of the Week: An American Werewolf in London (1981)

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

Director: John Landis

Genre: Werewolf

Country: USA/UK

THE MOVIE

Anyone who follows movies knows that studios periodically jump on certain genres or storylines which often result in two similar but competing projects released around the same time. We had Armageddon and then we had Deep Impact. We had Rob Roy and then we had Braveheart. We had Priscilla Queen of the Desert and then we had To Wong Fu. Well in 1981 we had The Howling and then we had An American Werewolf in London both released within a few weeks of each other. Either one by itself would have been a revolutionary entry into the werewolf movie genre. Both were directed by young and talented horror directors and both employed make-up gurus to handle the effects. Werewolf was worked on by SFX legend Rob Baker,

An American Werewolf in London is also distinguished from its competitor by its droll British infused sense of humor and its Hammer-esque ambiance. It also gives us a unique lupine werewolf as opposed to the simian designs of past movies or even the men-with-wolf-heads as popularized by The Howling. Landis’ movie also features some very disturbing and surreal dream sequences (such as one in which Nazi wolf ghouls attack attack the protagonist’s Jewish suburban family.)

Plotwise, AAWIL is pretty typical werewolf stuff. The film even rather sneakily references the old Wolfman movie with Lon Chaney Jr. A pair of young Americans are backpacking in rural England and make it to a mysterious village on the moors where the people in the local pub (which features a large pentagram on the wall) seem to be hiding something. The boys are attacked by an animal, one is killed (but returns in some black-humored visions later in the movie) and one survives and is taken to London for care where he hits it off with his nurse. As we all know, once you survive a werewolf attack you become one yourself.

THE MONSTER EFFECTS

Like The Howling, this movie aims to push the envelope as far as visual effects in a werewolf movie goes. It also tries to limit the number of cutaways during the transformation sequence and much is done via animatronics and practical make-up to create the films almost tortuous transformation sequence. One has to admire the great artistry and ingenuity that went in to creating a sequence like this when now all we would need to do would be to create it in a computer.

The other notable SFX or design aspect of the movie is in the final representation of the creature itself, of which you get some good looks in the latter part of the movie. AAWIL gives us a werewolf that actually looks something like a wolf (well honestly it’s a little stocky for a wolf. I think it looks more like a wolverine.) This is harkens back to pre –Cinema ideas of what a werewolf should look like. After all, the whole idea of the European werewolf was that a man would turn into an actual wolf, not some creature that looks like a hybrid of the two, as is more common in the movies.

FAVORITE SEQUENCE

The best shot in the movie is actually the very first one in which we see the creature. The werewolf is chasing a man through a subway station in the London Underground and up until this point we have only really seen cheap werewolf POV shots so we might be assuming this is one of those movies that doesn’t give you a real look at the monster. Anyway, this man has been chased through the station and stumbles upon an escalator. He falls dropping all of his things and is being carried up. Once he is at the top we get a near POV shot of his position. It is a long shot from the top of the escalator. It has a very objective feel almost like a security camera. The shot goes for a bit and then the monster simply steps into the frame. It’s fast but a great shot and very creepy.

SEQUELS

And unrelated sequel called An American Werewolf in Paris.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available.

SEE ALSO

The Howling

TRAILER

Patrick Garone
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Monster Movie of the Week: Son of Kong (1933)

SON OF KONG (1933)
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Genre: Jungle Adventure

THE MOVIE

The original King Kong is such a well-known classic that it is often surprising to people to learn that it actually had a sequel which was released later the same year. Son of Kong is nowhere near as good of a movie as its predecessor but it is an interesting artifact from a movie industry that was relatively unsophisticated when it came to marketing and building "franchises" based on popular movies. There is something almost tentative about Son of Kong, as it really is an early attempt at a sequel. It is almost as thought the filmmakers weren't sure how or if they should even be doing a follow up to the massive hit that was Kong.

In the aftermath of Kong's New York rampage, promoter Carl Denham is rightly blamed for the destruction and is being sued by numerous parties for bringing Kong to the city. Denham takes off on a business venture with Captain Englehorn. Ultimately these two returning characters hook up with a couple of new characters (including a female stowaway) and end up chasing treasure on Skull Island, the creature infested "Lost World" where they first encountered King Kong. It turns out there is another giant gorilla on the island, this time a juvenile albino and the titular Son of Kong.

After many close calls and the discovery of the lost treasure of Skull Island, our heroes escape with the help of Kong as the island collapses on itself during a violent earthquake. The son of Kong dies heroically while saving Carl Denham, in a bitterly ironic ending. Although, Kong movies are not known for their happy resolutions.

The movie is an interesting time capsule, with its references to "the war" and its pre-Cold War references to socialism. Halfway through the movie, the crew of The Venture stages a kind of worker's revolt and not only toss out their captain but his usurper as well, having decided that they were done with captains. We never find out what happens to this floating banana republic.

Carl Denham is an interesting protagonist for a movie. How much you are able to tolerate him is directly related to how much you buy into the mythology of America, which values recklessly ambitious capitalists. Back in the day, audiences might have been able to overlook the man's character flaws, but in 2011, he is a weird choice for a heroic protagonist. Before the movie even starts, he has captured and exploited a rare animal which broke loose and killed dozens of people and caused an incredible amount of property damage. At the start of this movie, he skips town to flee all of the lawsuits that he has been served with and goes seeking treasure. Finally, he causes the death of yet another giant gorilla. I mean, if anyone is the villain in this story it is Denham.


THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Little Kong is only about half the size of his dad and has white fur to distinguish him from his pop. He is also presented in a much more "comical" way than King Kong in a cloying son of Godzilla sort of way, since Son of Kong is on the whole a less serious movie than its predecessor. Little Kong is tasked with a lot of awkward physical comedy. This is especially discordant considering his fate at the end of the movie.


Despite his dorky moments, Little Kong does get into a couple of good fights with both a cave bear and some kind of quadrupedal carnivorous dinosaur. The stop motion animation is still handled by the great Willis O'Brien and is top notch. Both of these fights are well choreographed.


MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The end of the film is actually quite moving but, again, it is jarring due to the tone of much of the rest of the movie. All in all, Son of Kong doesn't really come together like it should.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

Available on DVD.

TRAILER


Patrick Garone
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twitter.com/patrickgarone
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