A very Happy Easter to you and yours! God bless!

HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN!

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." -Jesus, the Christ, John 5:24

Cool publicity still for KING KONG ESCAPES

A Quick Look: CURSE OF BIGFOOT (1976 - color)

   CURSE OF BIGFOOT was a regional curiosity filmed in 1963 which found new life as a television staple in 1976 when a new block of footage (actually concerning bigfoot) was inserted between the titles and the film proper. The original film concerned a prehistoric mummy unearthed by a group of students while searching for Indian artifacts. As one would expect, the monster contained inside the wrappings is very much alive and is soon on a murderous rampage (however peripherally said rampage is depicted). The film's history is clouded and obscure, but my belief is that the CURSE OF BIGFOOT title was on the original hour-long movie, to capitalize on the recent hoopla concerning Bigfoot. This title made it prime candidate for re-release in the bigfoot-happy 70's, with some new footage to expand it's runtime to full feature length. This new footage was mostly a lecture on mythological monsters given to a class of students awaiting the arrival of one of the characters from the original film -though this character's ramblings about psychological scars left by the incident in '63 remain divorced from the original footage. This cobbled-together quasi-movie saw frequent play on UHF television into the early 80's. The original version of the film also made the rounds on a black and white VHS as "Teenagers Battle The Thing" which sounds entirely like an 80's video title. Meanwhile, the film saw at least one theatrical release in '76, as Sinister Cinema unearthed a gorgeous 35mm print (so crisp and clear that I could now confirm the original copyright was indeed 1963). Lovers of obscure genre fare are urged to purchase this release from Sinister Cinema, and do so quickly as the company has lost much of it's customer base and may close it's doors. The above image is from the rather rougher TV print that's been circulating for decades. Fun stuff. Not great or anything, but fun in the way that only a regional 60's monster movie can be.

 http://www.sinistercinema.com/product.asp?specific=53783

KONGA stuff

A Quick Look: CHUPACABRA VS THE ALAMO (2013 - color)

    The laughably titled CHUPACABRA VS THE ALAMO was one of those movies made for The Sci-Fi Channel, or SYFY as it's come to be. It was almost entirely on the casting of Erik Estrada (who of course rides a motorcycle) that I even gave this one a shot, though I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Both spectacularly goofy and spectacularly decent, the film tells of a huge swarm of tiny-but-powerful, blood-thirsty, rabid wild dogs* invading San Antonio, where a DEA agent, his wayward son, and a gang of drug dealers must take up arms and are ultimately sieged inside the historic monument to American independence. At times very silly, but at other times quite solid, counter to my natural expectations. Ultimately, a rather enjoyable little B picture. Estrada in particular comes off great, and the script is largely quite good -though the mass-attack scenes and the whole climax are downright farcical. In the end, though, it comes off like a 70's B picture that doesn't take itself too seriously, so you might find it worth a look. 

(*Back in the 90's, the mythical Chupacabra was described as a short, clawed, quasi-humanoid bat-like creature with bulging eyes. It has since been changed to accompany reports of mange-ridden coyotes and wild dogs. The creatures in this film, rendered in typically awful CGI, look like mutant chihuahuas.)

A Quick Look: SPACE JAM (1996 - color)

  SPACE JAM is a movie which I admit underwhelmed me when I first saw it (likely because I've never been a sports guy). A fresh screening proved the film better than I remembered, and I found myself laughing quite a bit in this weird tale of NBA superstar Michael Jordan recruited by the Looney Tunes to help them win a basketball game against invaders from space who want to enslave the cartoon stars and force them to work at an intergalactic amusement park. There are complications due to Jordan's recent retirement from basketball to pursue a career playing baseball, and the invaders have stolen the talents of several NBA giants! This was seemingly Jordan's bid to become an actor, and he does rather well here. Though playing himself, he comes off smooth and demonstrates the rare ability to interact with animated characters in a naturalistic fashion. The technical abilities of the effects crew are also quite impressive, and cartoon animation and live action blend without having too jarring an effect on the eye. The number of NBA personalities involved would likely mean a lot more to someone who followed the game in the 90's, but most of them indeed prove themselves solid entertainers. With so many notable WB characters being male, the studio introduces a new female character in the shape of Lola Bunny. Though she has a bit of a cult following in her own right, she follows the lead of Bugs Bunny's other romantic interests and largely dropped from sight after her first appearance (which was really quite minimal, pre-release publicity aside -though she did wash back into the comic books I understand). For whatever reason, the universe of the Looney Tunes cartoons is apparently at the center of the Earth (making one wonder if other studios are supposed to have similar colonies embedded under the ground). Those who felt the animated characters served mainly as set dressing for a Michael Jordan movie would get a better showing from them in LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION some years later. Though I loved that one, it fizzled out at the box office. Back to SPACE JAM, though, I must admit I found it highly entertaining this time. A fan of the characters could do worse for an evening's entertainment. That said, one reason the film is largely disdained is that it represents the studio's attempt to give the beloved Looney Tunes a more modern edge. Reportedly, Chuck Jones despised the film, claiming that his version of Bugs Bunny would never beg for help!

A Quick Look: THE TIME TRAVELERS (1964 - color)

   THE TIME TRAVELERS is one of my favorites. A team of technicians working on a screen capable of viewing other points in time discover the screen is in fact a doorway and find themselves stranded in a distant future where human life is almost extinct. I love everything about this picture: the cast, the performances, the color, the sets, the costumes, the music, the dialog, just wonderful. Granted the film takes several breaks to demonstrate various stage illusions as scientific inventions, but even these are rather charming. Look for Famous Monsters creator Forry Ackerman in one of his film cameos. Remade/reworked a couple years later as JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME (with Scott Brady and Anthony Eisley, and a bit part from a young Lyle Waggner). The two productions shared some of the same crew, including the script girl! Large swaths of dialog were repeated, though it manages to be it's own movie.