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Skreeeeeeeee-onk!
In the week leading up to and into G-Fest, it was expected that a few kaiju features would pass before our wondering eyes, but duty also called in the form of Severin’s recent Blu-ray releases. Not much to say except thanks to Dan Kiggins, Mark Matzke, and Tery Gallagher for Sharing the Scare.
As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.
Enjoy!
HORROR:
Baby, The (1973) d. Post, Ted (USA) (2nd viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Bloody Birthday (1981) d. Hunt, Ed (USA) (2nd viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Half Human (1958) d. Crane, Kenneth G. / Honda, Ishiro (USA/Japan) (1st viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
KAIJUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!! (BLESS YOU)
Gojira (1954) d. Honda, Ishiro (Japan) (5th viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) d. Honda, Ishiro (Japan) (6th viewing*)
Thanks to the generosity of thoughtful fellow G-Fan Mark Matzke, I was finally able to fulfill a 40-year bucket list item: seeing the original Japanese version* of this much-messed-with Toho classic. Gone are the chatty newscasters, Japanese correspondents, and dubious experts reading from children’s books, and in their place are more satirical commentaries on Japanese commercialism and capitalism. And while the monster battle ends just as it did in the widely seen Universal-International version, we unequivocally hear Godzilla roar as the film concludes(answered by Kong’s bellow), leaving us to assume that both are still alive . . . and ready to tangle again in the future.
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW (AMERICAN VERSION)***
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1971) d. Banno, Yoshimitsu (Japan) (5th viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Godzilla: Battle Royale (2014) d. Dubose, Billy (USA)
Got to watch Dubose’s nonstop monster romp on the big screen with a capacity crowd comprised of G-fans, the ideal circumstances for the film to be seen. Suffice to say, we were most entertained.
***CLICK HERE FOR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH WRITER/DIRECTOR BILLY DUBOSE***
CIVILIAN (AT WAR):
Redacted (2007) d. De Palma, Brian (USA) (1st viewing)
Goddawful preachy farce, with the supreme cinematic stylist reverting to clumsy found-footage format to tell his stunningly false presentation of a real-life rape/murder committed against Iraqi civilians by U.S. soldiers. It seems that most of the online discussion surrounding the film parses whether or not De Palma’s overtly leftist political slant should be tolerated, as opposed to just how terrible the movie is.
Southern Comfort (1981) d. Hill, Walter (USA) (7th viewing)
Oft-compared to Deliverance, though much more its own brand of survival horror and not-so-shaded commentary on the Vietnam conflict, Walter Hill’s nail-biting tale of ill-behaved National Guardsmen battling Cajuns in the Louisiana swamps is a murky, mossy, maddening masterpiece of nerve-rattling tension and ensemble acting (headed by Powers Boothe, Keith Carradine, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote, Brion James, Lewis Smith, and T.K. Carter, with only Franklyn Seales failing to measure up). Andre Lazlo's cinematography elevates the piece above its B-movie subject matter, and Ry Cooder’s haunting musical score is among my favorites ever composed. Now available on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory, with a special 30 making-of doc featuring interviews with Hill, Carradine, Coyote, Boothe, Smith, and screenwriter David Giler.
http://www.shoutfactory.com/product/southern-comfort
2014 Totals to date: 194 films, 109 1st time views, 118 horror, 23 cinema
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