tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post1717011589396903021..comments2023-09-08T01:33:29.690-07:00Comments on Baker's Log: Oddball Film Report: FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1965)Rock Bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03684830823305443583noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-71944957723052439072012-01-23T14:01:48.222-08:002012-01-23T14:01:48.222-08:00Well, there's a sort of tug-o-war between stay...Well, there's a sort of tug-o-war between staying in a group or splitting up in a survival situation. On the one hand, yeah, logic would dictate doing everything together, but urgency of limited time forces multiple trips at the same time and it requires the group to break off. Believe me, it can be just as difficult for the writer of one of these things as it can be for the viewer! I'm glad you liked the movie, though, I'm pretty keen on it!<br /><br />I have mixed feelings about the 'zombie' genre. As a whole, I find the films base and disgustingly nasty, with minimal plot, badly-written characters, and so forth. The genre SHOULD work really well, though, given the high drama these tales are capable of creating. The world is quickly plunged into a fight for survival and the rules of society must be re-written to cope. The theme has worked wonderfully in films like PANIC IN YEAR ZERO. The problem is, so few of them work as well as they should because they tend to bog down at the mid-point (about the time it becomes clear that the zombies are a fact of life and there is no return to normal, after that the story isn't as gripping and the characters must be very well-written to hold your attention). The downfall-survival-rebuild structure always seems to fall flat once it reaches the third level, I'm not sure why (maybe I'm just of a mind that prefers a more upbeat ending, as I notice PANIC IN YEAR ZERO, THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, etc, tend to finish with things returning to normal after the purge, see also DAMNATION ALLEY). These things can often start with a lot of potential, and then never go anywhere. It CAN work, of course. The original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a certified classic. Japan's animated mini-series HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD was probably the best one of these I've seen! (And as a rule, I'm not big on anime.)Rock Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03684830823305443583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-5302482907403132062012-01-23T04:02:08.423-08:002012-01-23T04:02:08.423-08:00Mutant has fallen into the public domain and is up...Mutant has fallen into the public domain and is up on YouTube, I watched it last night. A very good example of the genre, most of the major points are touched.<br />There are some plot holes that bothered me. Most notably is that the core group knows there a is bad situation going on yet they continue, right up to the end, to split up. Also they sheriff does not arm Josh and Holly after their encounter with Uncle Jack, the group stops at the sheriff's office, should be plenty of guns in a "redneck" town.<br />On the other hand, killing the doctor after she explains into the tape recorder how impossible the situation is was a good way to get out of a hole the writer had dug. We as viewers don't always need to know everything to enjoy a movie.<br />My favorite scene is near the end when Josh and Holly are behind the counter at the gas station. Each one had suffered a personal loss, they both have moments were they break down and are supported by the other. A very touching scene. The pair is much stronger than the individual. Of course then they split up again. Oh well.<br />The zombie craze has fallen into parody. Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland are two great examples of handling a ridiculous premise to start with.<br />The movie 28 Days Later had a much better zombie type. Humans infected with "Rage" a rabies like disease.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17585513481000923533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-33997251985705056212012-01-22T18:00:54.665-08:002012-01-22T18:00:54.665-08:00I certainly won't oppose your last comment. No...I certainly won't oppose your last comment. Nor can I offer much defense for the majority of horror fare released in the last 20 or so years. There's a reason why I still cling to the 50's films I grew up with. It has taken adulthood to make me realize that there were actually some decent monster pictures produced in the 80's. One of the best was about human beings turned into zombie-like monsters, in fact. MUTANT, starring Bo Hopkins.Rock Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03684830823305443583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-53222033659858475662012-01-22T17:02:22.595-08:002012-01-22T17:02:22.595-08:00Dracula is a supernatural figure which puts him in...Dracula is a supernatural figure which puts him into monster territory. Voo Doo type zombies are the same. <br /> A zombie created by science is another matter all together, it's like a tomato, is it fruit or vegetable? Supernatural or scientifically animated corpse. If it's alive, doesn't that make it human again, brain damaged but alive.<br /> The modern zombie movie is a big fad right now and flesh eating is the main coarse. Creeps me out.<br /> The older movies, made by people with actual skill, had more class and went for psychological thrills as opposed to stomach churning.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17585513481000923533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-87236872591464839992012-01-22T15:20:50.747-08:002012-01-22T15:20:50.747-08:00For my young brain, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS was ...For my young brain, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS was an unofficial King Kong movie.I saw the green gargantua as a giant ape. I suppose in a way, the character pre-figures the modern zombie (working from your stand that the brown gargantua was basically human). It was a resurrected quasi-human with a dark palate and a taste for human flesh! Dracula was once-human, yet his curse was to feed on the blood of living people. Actual flesh-eating doesn't fall far from that standard, but I'll grant you it has to be handled properly to be horrifying and not just cruel or crass. It's very hard to do right, which may be why older films rarely touched on the subject.Rock Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03684830823305443583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-82768189426690687182012-01-22T15:05:35.852-08:002012-01-22T15:05:35.852-08:00In my own twisted brain it's okay for a monste...In my own twisted brain it's okay for a monster to eat a human just like it is okay for an animal to eat a human. When a human eats a human a line is crossed. I never considered the Frankenstein Monster a Monster. He is a human being brought back to life not by supernatural means but by science. Would a cardiac patient who flat lined and was then resuscitated be considered a monster. <br />I give credit to the film makers, the brown Gargantuan was such a well played intelligent, sympathetic character that I took him to be a giant hairy human. So when his brother started eating people it was a giant man doing it not a monster.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17585513481000923533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-69802566367831541652012-01-22T14:38:32.975-08:002012-01-22T14:38:32.975-08:00Giant monsters have a history of eating human bein...Giant monsters have a history of eating human beings, ranging from THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and BEGINNING OF THE END to REPTILICUS and KING KONG LIVES, thus the importance of killing the beast off by the end of the movie. (In today's subject, Baragon eats a number of innocent victims, as well as a horse and a flock of chickens!) THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS is actually a pretty good flick, and can now be seen scope thanks to a double bill DVD release with RODAN, which even offers the Japanese versions of each film for comparison. <br /><br />If it's a personal bugaboo that makes you revolted by seeing humans being eaten, I can't offer much in the way of defense. I never enjoy nasty death scenes, like the innocent people being tossed ever so causally to their deaths in 2005's KING KONG (although what made that particularly irksome was that they were also trying to make their version of Kong a sympathetic character), or Sondra having her arm engulfed by an acidic plant in KONGA, but it comes down to the purpose of such a scene. Take, for instance, THE BLOB, where the body count was necessary to the plot. In the remake, meanwhile, a lot of stuff was done just to be nasty. The green Gargantua eating the lady at the airport (a cleaning woman, I think) and spitting out her shredded clothing did serve a purpose, story-wise. It made the creature's menace more intimate, it tied back to the torn clothing of the capsized ship's crew and thus confirmed their fate, and it created suspense for the scene in which Kipp Hamilton is grabbed by the same monster, because it made the audience unsure of her survival.Rock Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03684830823305443583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638341200900683803.post-34631442201075817542012-01-22T13:16:39.786-08:002012-01-22T13:16:39.786-08:00The scene in War of the Gargantuas when the mean G...The scene in War of the Gargantuas when the mean Garantuan attacks the airport and eats the woman from the control tower really bothered me as a kid. I don't think I have ever rewatched that movie, as is I don't remember the ending. I may have left the room after that scene. I find the whole concept of giants eating people revolting and disgusting and it really affects my enjoyment of some stories in AC comics.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17585513481000923533noreply@blogger.com