Seeing TEENAGE CAVEWOMEN....

The stunning poster created by Mala Mastroberte

    It was a big moment in my life, finally seeing a motion picture come to completion that I was personally involved with. As a life-long movie nut, the experience was pretty special. There was that mixture of excitement and fear anyone would feel. I finally had my name in a credit sequence, but what if the movie didn't smell too good? No need to worry about that. VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF TEENAGE CAVEWOMEN was a terrific show! The film is a hysterical spot-on homage to those Italian space operas of the 60's. 

   Those who enjoyed Josh Kennedy's earlier ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE will get a kick out of this one too. The new film is much slicker (in color and scope yet), and the scope achieved with such minimal resources is truly impressive. I'm eager to see Josh's next picture (which, if everything goes according to plan, will be another screenplay credit for myself as well)!

Captain Sullivan (Josh Kennedy) and Queen Lyna (April Gomez)

    I met Josh on Facebook, through our mutual friendship with Larry Blamire. Larry has fueled a lot of excitement for B movie fans via his films, including the immortal LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA. His films have offered a lot of encouragement to others who wish to pay tribute to the kind of films that just aren't seen anymore. Among these fans is Josh Kennedy, who poured his heart and soul into a parody of 50's B pictures he titled ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE. I saw AOTOP when Josh was kind enough to send me a screener of the film. It was crude (technically speaking, although I don't say that in detriment to the film), but it was magical.

Leslie Ann Leal as Prima, the adorable youth

   Even at 16, Josh displayed a knowledge and understanding of old genre movies that seemed to surpass even my obsessive fascinations. I knew at once, Josh is going to be a cinematic force of tsunami-like proportions when he gets to work with an actual budget. His back yard epic was something unique even among this particular brand of low-budget spoof. Josh 'got' it. He wasn't out to make fun of 50's monster movies. He really wanted to make his own films in the same genre. Lacking resources to make a 'real' movie, Josh instead delivered a comedy which both parodies and tributes the efforts of the producer-of-limited-means.  As in the best parodies, the film even provides a genuinely scary scene or two. Josh actually managed to have his cake and eat it too.

"Either our instruments were wrong or everyone lives underground..."

    Amazingly, Josh hadn't gotten a distributor for AOTOP yet. By chance (or divine intervention) I had seen an ad where New Alpha, the distributorship wing of Alpha Video for contemporary movies, was seeking product. I alerted Josh to this and ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE is now in video stores nation-wide! The film was even nominated for a Rondo Award! (Sadly, it lost to the horrible anthology film CHILLORAMA, yet another in a long line of awful projects to feature Eric Roberts -and not even in a starring role at that. Roberts is a good actor, why is it so hard for him to find work in decent films?) 

Viviana Rodriguez as Tanna, the female warrior

     Josh was also kind enough to send me a copy of his next film, CURSE OF THE INSECT WOMAN. One could already see Josh improving by leaps and bounds, and even trying for a straighter horror feel. I knew I wanted to work with this guy, and the chance presented itself through idle conversation.

Xavier Roberto Aguilar as Tony, the first mate

   Josh and I were both puzzled by FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER. How do you come up with a title so wonderful and then make a movie that falls flat? How can you make a movie about Martians abducting bikini girls, and pitting their pet monster against a modern-day 'Frankenstein' astro-robot, and it come out sorta dull? It just doesn't compute. The film should've been right up there with THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH in delivering the cheesy goods! But it wasn't. Josh and I quickly concocted our own 60's beach invasion epic, and I wrote a script for him. That project proved to be too large to tackle, so THE BEACH PARTY TERROR got put on the back burner. Soon enough, though, Josh came to me with a new idea....

Every prehistoric planet populated by beautiful women also has giant spiders

    Having just watched BARBARELLA, Josh found himself wanting to make a sexy European sci-fi epic. BARBARELLA was just about the only 60's European space opera I hadn't seen, but I jumped at the chance to write a good pulpy space opera. Better still, we could create one of those lost-civilization-of-women-on-another-planet movies that Hollywood stopped producing with the sketch comedy AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON. Unsure how comical Josh wanted to be with the project, I decided to write a straight space opera, the kind of film I'd want to see. The result was VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF TEENAGE CAVEWOMEN.

Queen Lyna and Prima confer with the earth men

    I wrote the film under circumstances that didn't allow for a page-count. The script I turned over turned out to be about half as long as it needed to be! By the time this became obvious, I was busy with other projects and couldn't devote the time to writing new scenes, although we discussed what the film needed and Josh filled in brilliantly. The finished film doesn't feel like a patch-job at all (other than where the film is SUPPOSED to feel like patch-work, of course).

   In short, the story concerns an approaching "cosmic holocaust" in the shape of two rogue planets joined together by a chain of gravity. The planets have been pushed out of their orbits and are hurtling toward Earth. One of the planets, Vigus, has a human population. Dashing young Captain Matt Sullivan and the crew of the United States space ship Astros must land on Vigus and remove the natives before an atomic missile strike blows the runaway planets out of the sky. Once there, Matt and his crew discover a civilization of teen-aged amazons....

   I provided a script that was cliched, but sincere. I wanted to see another film of this genre, and I wrote the picture I wanted to see. (Seeing the final film, I found some of my dialogue was a tad too flowery, but it seemed to add to the comedy.) Josh played the thing perfectly straight, and that is the source of much of the humor. The film is obviously supposed to be a fun adventure story, but one in which the limited production values make for some amusing elements (like prehistoric alien planets littered with tracks from bulldozers). Some of the gags are there because they seem so organic to the genre (such as a rocket that lands and the flames shooting out of it's tail vanish before the ship has completely landed).

Cassie Dean as Zora, the traitor

   Even so, the film looks much slicker than it could have. The landing rocket blends into the background plate (a real location) better than you usually see in these things, and the color is quite vibrant. Ultimately, I think Josh managed to deliver a picture that can be taken on its face value (as a cheesy sci-fi movie) or as sharp parody. The details are amazing. And like our model films, much of the finished product is the result of unexpected behind-the-camera circumstances.

Ralph Haskins intros the film and explains the science behind the picture

   Not long after finishing the script, but after Josh had started filming, I recalled that ambient noise tended to be a problem for Josh's outdoor shoots. Yet, his interior-shot footage has nice sound, and his talent at laying in music is top shelf. Since VTTPOTCW would involve so much location filming, I wondered if wind would spoil the takes. Inspiration struck, and we decided to film the picture silent and dub over it later, to further the resemblance to an Italian import. Josh jumped on this idea and embraced it. This left some footage with sync sound, but even that became a blessing, as all the scenes in question revolved around Matt's CO, Commander Mitchell. 

Ismael Rivera as Cameron Mitchell, er, Commander Mitchell

    Josh handled these scenes as if they were American-shot inserts ala Roger Corman, and they work beautifully as such. Since Josh appears in one of these scenes, it even looks like the American distributor got the original actor back to shoot for a single day! There's a scene toward the climax where Mitchell makes an appearance and you (provided you've feasted on a steady diet of such films all your life like I have) instinctively think the scene was squeezed into a perfectly normal scene transition at a later date.

In the future, communication devices will be worn on the wrist

   As to the dubbing, it seldom matches the actual lip movements of the cast. I really like a scene where one character spouts a couple of lines with a big pause between them, during which the actor continues to silently speak! Adding to the humor here is that all this was spoken in English to start with, as were many Italian films of this sort (but Italian films also tended to be shot without sync sound and the lines looped in later at the studio). The result is an American imitation of an Italian imitation of an American movie! But the imitation is sincere. Yeah, it's a comedy of sorts, but only because it isn't a comedy. It's people with more ambition than resources trying to make a science fiction epic. 

   In general, the film is well-cast. Filmed near the border in Edinburg and La Joya, Texas, the actors are mostly of obvious Mexican descent. That only adds to the flavor of the film, as they often come across as looking Italian or Spanish, with a token American lead tossed in. 

Capt. Sullivan chats with Mitchell's secretary, as played by the beauteous Gloria Salinas (who is actually one of Josh's teachers, lucky guy)

    One actor got his hair cut half-way through production, offering another fun glitch. Also adding to the fun (and in many ways grounding the film) are the Herman Stein music cues recorded for old Universal International movies. Not only is this perfect because such cues would be likely to turn up in 60's imports, but the grandness of the music gives some legitimacy to Josh's efforts.

   I have to say, I'm quite pleased to have the film as my first screen credit. Hopefully, the final cut will be on sale through New Alpha sooner than later. I'd say more about the film, but I don't wish to spoil anything for potential viewers.

Miranda Gracia, Miss Edinburg 2012, is special guest star

   Where to next? Well, after I'd seen the movie, Josh and I were discussing various aspects of it. One thing we both wanted to do was use Miranda Gracia in our next picture. Miss Gracia is 2012's Miss Edinburg, and this added some fuel to the film when Josh hired her for a small part. As the running time needed to be expanded, Josh gave Miranda a larger supporting role. Despite never having acted before, Miranda shows some real talent just waiting to escape. I found her reactions to be very natural, and her smile nothing short of adorable. I see a potential star on the rise, and Josh and I both want to help forge that talent if we can.

    I quickly drafted a script that would feature Miranda in a starring role, and the picture is set to start filming soon. Details when the time comes. For my part, the script was a complete tonal shift from VTTPOTCW. This new project, actually about the making of low-budget exploitation movies, had to be a lot sharper, script-wise. It'll be as much a test for my skills at character development as it will be for Miranda's skills as an actress. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing the final film!

Miranda Gracia, the rising star

   My sincere thanks and congratulations to every one involved in the production of VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF TEENAGE CAVEWOMEN. You've made a life-long dream of mine come true. I'm in the movies!  Josh, I'm looking forward to many more cinematic adventures together!

The crew of the Astros, Michael Morales, Josh Kennedy, and Xavier Roberto Aguilar

One of my favorite sequences, an encounter with an alien monster

Stephanie Cisneros, a lovely source of exposition

Lunar Preymate

 A new Preymate from inker Jeff Austin and myself. I think this one is my favorite so far, obviously inspired by CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON.

Figure detail, would make great 'clip art'

Betsy in Action

   A few images from Betsy the Bookwriter I happen to have scanned. The series was created by Jeff Austin and myself for Main Enterprises. Betsy's adventures can currently be seen in Main Enterprises Presents.

The very first panel of her very first story

Her second story

A more recent one, the space opera!

Ditto

Ditto.

From her second episode, the way most of them end!

A Man's World of Adventure on the 4th of July!

   Here's a little Independence Day gift for everyone! I just had to share these when I found them. I don't know who painted them, but their work is breath-taking! Enjoy!

Graphic Novel progress:

  Take a peek! Here's a panel detail inked by Ken McFarlane for the second chapter/issue of my graphic novel/mini-series project. The project is so large, in fact, that I'll have to use ten inkers (one for each issue/chapter) to have the colossus completed within the year! The problem, though, is that I've only been able to assemble half of the inkers so far. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this peek at the project as it moves forward:

Video Cheese: COUNTERFORCE (1987)

This piece was originally posted at www.jabootu.net as part of a series called Video Cheese. This version has been edited from that earlier version, and posted here by the kind permission of Mr. Ken Begg.

 

COUNTERFORCE (1987 - color)

   "Elite commando unit must protect middle eastern diplomat from forces that wish to kill him."

 

   Counterforce is sort of lame. Now, when I say that, I mean it in the real sense. It isn't good enough to really be, well, "Good," but it is decent enough that it isn't "Bad." In the end, it sits there like a middle child. There's nothing remarkable to say about it, but there's nothing particularly bad to say about it either. It has plenty of moments that are pretty good, and plenty of moments that are stupid or inept. It just lays there, a reasonably goofy, yet more or less enjoyable B action movie from the 80s.

 

   The cast is full of familiar faces. George Kennedy is the leader/liaison of a super-efficient commando unit known as Counterforce. (This rather comic booky title is never spoken in the film, but the men do wear uniforms with little "Counterforce" patches on them in one scene.) I've always been a fan of Kennedy, who has played both sides of the cinematic street, acting in great films and horrible ones in a way that could let us call him the American Michael Caine. He is probably best known as the plucky Patroni in the Airport cycle. Here, he more or less wanders in once and a while to give Counterforce their orders, although he manages to be a bigger presence than I thought he'd be. As you'd expect from a professional with as many movies under his belt as Kennedy has, George comes off well (considering he was probably just going through the motions on this one).

 

   Top Billed is George Rivero (aka Jorge Rivero). Consider this man's career. He first appeared on the screen in a Neutron (a masked wrestler of the Santo variety) movie back in 1965. The Mexican actor has since racked up 122 IMDB credits, his most famous role being that of "Frenchy" in the John Wayne classic Rio Lobo! Sadly, that high point didn't prevent him from eventually becoming the guy in Arizona Werewolf who has a different style and color of hair in every scene. Here, he's the leader of the Counterforce field team. While not spectacular or anything, he's okay here. The only problem is that whoever trained the actors to hold their guns didn't do a very good job. During the whole thing, these guys never look like a special ops team as much as they look like kids playing in the back yard with squirt guns. That group problem aside, George certainly looks the part with his muscular build and manly wavy hair.

 

   Best is familiar character actor Louis Jourdan as the diplomat Counterforce is assigned to protect. He lends his scenes such gravity that he elevates the whole film. One wonders how he felt, knowing how far Counterforce is from Gigi, although it's a step above playing Dr. Arcane in the Swamp Thing movies. Winning him a certain immortality in a high profile production, Jourdan played Kamal Khan in Octopussy, thus providing the Moore era 007 movies with one of their most commanding heavies. He plays Kasser, the democratic leader of a middle eastern republic. He has been targeted by a rebel leader/dictator played by Robert Forster (!) who escalates his attempted overthrow when the CIA fails to take the troublemaker out with a Samsonite bomb. He thinks Kasser is behind the plot and makes it known he will kill the elected leader. Counterforce is then sent in to protect Kasser, as he represents the best hope for democratic stability in the Middle East. 

 

   From there, we basically sit back and watch as the bad guys get close to Kasser and Counterforce kills them. During a speech, Kasser is shot and taken to the hospital. The bad guys try to get in there, Counterforce moves him out. Unable to get close to Kasser, the bad guys kidnap his wife and son, and Counterforce must go rescue them. Need I really spell it out beyond that? The problem is, the whole affair seems tepid. The action isn't bad stuff, its just not as engaging as it should be. Mostly, you just go through this one on autopilot. It really makes you notice how well Cannon knew their craft when it came to making action movies.

 

   The late Isaac Hayes plays the team's Big Black Guy (c) but the part is one dimensional enough that anybody could have played it. Sheer screen presence might have made the part more impressive if they had managed to get Fred "The Hammer" Williamson instead. Needless to say, this character pretty much confirms how blatantly the film steals from the recent hit show The A Team.

 

   Though modestly budgeted, they do get to include some impressive location photography in (I think) Spain, doubling as Africa. The opening sequence is the least impressive, as we watch Counterforce engage in a training mission like the one that opens License To Kill (but without the traitor in their midst, and actually a point in Counterforce's favor is the lack of a secret traitor). This is so bland and cheap it makes one nervous the following film will be a chore to endure. Because this is the 80's, the men are given those pistols with the big laser scope like we saw in The Terminator, but to show the red dots on someone and rather static red circle is superimposed over the footage! This gets more comical as we continue to see it.

 

  Also pretty farcical is the gunfight that results when Kasser is shot. A good chunk of the movie follows this pattern: Good guy starts to enter room where Bad guy is. Bad guy takes a shot, it comes close but misses. Good guy fires a couple shots back, these hit their mark. This pattern repeats itself endlessly in this scene, whether the good guys are Counterforce or Kasser's guards. Also, despite Counterforce providing security (and these guys are supposed to be the BEST), the bad guys always manage to get close enough to Kasser to almost get him. You'd think Kasser would at least rate a private floor in the hospital where Counterforce needed only to worry about the windows and elevators (but for some reason this idea escapes our heroes and Kasser is just in a normal hospital room).

 

   All in all, not bad, but not as good as one might hope.

Sadie 6 Shot makes the scene!

 The character of lady outlaw Sadie 6 Shot was developed by myself and Jeff Austin for use in Jim Main's *PPFSZT! color annual. Despite what you see, Sadie isn't a western nudist. She has a knack for finding trouble, though..... Inks/colors by Jeff Austin.

Makes it tough when an outlaw is married to a lawman!

Interrupted at the swimming hole!

(to) (move) (fast!)