1. Nadja (1994) Dir. Michael Almereyda - US
1. Dead & Buried (1981) Dir. Gary Sherman - US
Quite a large selection of mediocre titles this week, beginning with an old slasher flick from the early 80's called Dead & Buried (1981). Now, I'm aware that this film has somewhat of a cult following, but it happens to be extremely dated, laden with plot holes, and, well, a little boring. Everyone that passes through the small coastal town of Potter's Bluff ends up being murdered and later mysteriously popping up alive again---as a new resident. Our protagonist, the town sheriff, must wade through the mystery only to come up against what must be ludicrously obvious.....
I was tempted to throw Deadly Friend (1986) into the Cess Pool, however, I then realized, it wasn't the most atrocious Wes Craven film (especially after seeing Shocker, 1989). Friend concerns a teenage boy, Paul (Matthew Laborteaux) and his mother moving next door to Samantha (Kristy Swanson) and her abusive father. Paul happens to have built an intelligent robot (not altogether dissimilar from Short Circuit, 1986---Oh, Wes) that takes a shotgun blast to the head from that unfortunate looking woman that goes by the name of Anne Ramsey. At around the same time, Kristy Swanson is killed by her father. Paul inserts his robot's (named BeeBee---lord knows WHY Craven decided to have a theme song made for the movie crafted after how the robot insists on shouting out it's alliterative name) into Swanson's body and Voila! You now have a certain amount of predictable possibilities and a dull film.
I was expecting to vehemently dislike Douglas Buck's revamp of one of my favorite De Palma films, Sisters (2006). I didn't detest Buck's previous work, a compilation of three of his festival circuit short films called Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2004), but definitely didn't think he had the potential to rework an actual excellent De Palma film. And I was right, Buck's doesn't live up to the 1974 film. But that's not to say it was a throwaway effort. The latter half of the film falls to the wayside of nonsense (and also happens to be the weaker part of De Palma's original), but it's salvaged, I think, by some intriguing casting. Stephen Rea as the doctor and Chloe Sevigny as the reporter are both excellent perfromers. Buck attempts to enter the narrative by connecting these two unconnected characters from the previous film. But Buck's greatest asset is the presence of Lou Doillon, the French model and half sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg (and daughter of director Jacques Doillon and Jane Birkin) as the film's centerpiece, one half of a pair of unbalanced Siamese twins. Please watch the original first---and if you're bored, take a look at Buck's treatment.
I'm sorry to say it---but I was extremely bored with Blake Edward's landmark film, The Pink Panther (1963). I know--everyone thinks Peter Sellers is brilliant. He is, sometimes. I just found the character of Clouseau to be a bumbling fool, which he is---but that hardly is something that generally keeps my attention. It's always amusing to see a young Robert Wagner, as well. The worst part of the film, I felt, were scenes involving Claudia Cardinale as an Indian princess. And the best scenes of the film were anything involving the marvelous Capucine (including one extended sequence, which I felt was the best, involving three men in Capucine's bed room). Maybe one day I'll dare to see another Panther film, or maybe those castigated remakes starring Steve Martin.
I realize that Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984) takes the heat for some major Hitchcockian ripoffs, but that's hardly the worst thing about the film. No, the worst thing about Body Double is the plot and the male leads. I can't remember the last time I watched a film wholly wishing through the entire thing that the protagonist would fall victim the worst cinematic death possible. A man named Craig Wasson plays our male lead, duped into a murder mystery involving voyeurism and Deborah Shelton, a woman, we're led to believe, that does a ludicrous striptease with her windows open, and up close, looks like a powdered mannequin suffering from a prematurely unwrapped nose job. There's not even any sense in poking about this plot, but worthy of mention is Melanie Griffith. I know, her mom was a Hitchcock blonde, hence her presence here. But still, who thought it would be believeable to cast Griffith as a famous porn star named Holly Body? Or who just wanted a good laugh, because that's what I got from it.
Rounding out this week's top selections is the first remake (considering you don't count the silent film with John Barrymore) of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), in which 'Jekyll' is pronounced in the typical fashion. Beyond censorship obviously playing a hand in the film's somewhat watered down nature, the biggest detraction from this version is Spencer Tracy as our lead. I had to laugh because sitting down to watch it, I thought to myself that Tracy already looks kind of scary, rather like a fattened up Kirk Douglas or any of those men sufferin from the inflated looking jock-head typology. And when he's Mr. Hyde, he looks rather the same.....It's cute to see a young Lana Turner in the throwaway role as Jekyll's fiancee, however, it is a breathtaking Ingrid Bergman as the lower class barmaid, Ivy, tortured by Hyde, as a reason to see this film treatment. Also, one beautiful dream sequence where Jekyll/Hyde fantasizes being driven by two wild horses that morph into the heads of Turner and Bergman---good stuff.
Anna Lucasta (1958) is an interesting little film. A play that was meant to be a re hash of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (which was made into a wonderful film with Greta Garbo, her first speaking role), Lucasta was originally a 1949 film starring Paulette Goddard (hahaha---please see previous post concerning The Torch). The 1958 version features an all black cast, and, I must say, is quite a fabulous little picture, mostly for it's lead performance from Eartha Kitt. Also starring Sammy Davis Jr., this is Kitt's picture all the way, as a wayward woman due to her alcoholic father turning her out of the house.
There's a lot roiling under the surface of Paul Solet's feature debut of Grace, most obviously, of course, issues concerning motherhood and how, errr, transforming it can be. More intriguing than the evil dead baby that needs blood rather than milk (they are both bodily fluids) to survive, Grace straddles multiple dichotomies. Vegan vs. normal (lol), conservative vs. liberal, heterosexual vs. homosexual, and some creepy ideas about breastfeeding. Mix into this an excellent performance from Jordan Ladd and we have a cult classic on our hands. The more I think about Grace, the more I feel it deserves to have a critical essay written about it....
And the number one film this week goes to the 1932 film version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which Jekyll rhymes with steeple. Frederic March won a deserved Oscar as our conflicted protagonist, and Miriam Hopkins is excellent in the flashier role as the tortured Ivy, here a cockney hussy. This version drips with oily sexuality and the transformation into Mr. Hyde is truly hideous when March becomes a hairy little sprightly beast that truly personifies demonic. If you haven't seen this film, get yourself a copy---it's a delight, through and through.
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