Evilspeak

Dir: Eric Weston

1981

****

Eric Weston’s 1981 Evilspeak was famously included in the list of infamous ‘video nasties’ that were banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s but I’ve never really known why. It has gore but nothing as bad as the other video nasties and all things considered it is actually quite commercial. Hard to believe – as the film isn’t really that old – but it was the theme of Satanism that got the film banned. I suppose the fact that Anton LaVey, the late founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan, was a great fan of the film and considered it to be very Satanic probably didn’t help. It is laughable watching it now to think that any of it could be taken seriously and I wonder whether someone involved had it banned to gain notoriety. It is a nuts film - often overlooked and a little slow to start but with a brilliant ending. During the Dark Ages, Satanic leader, Father Estaban, and his followers are approached by a church official on the shore of Spain, telling them that they are banished from Spain and denied God's grace unless they renounce Satan and their evil ways. In the present, Stanley Coopersmith (Clint Howard) is young cadet at an American military academy. He remains as a social outcast who is bullied by his classmates due to him being an orphan, and treated unfairly by his instructors who believe him to be inept at everything. When he is punished for no clear reason by cleaning the church cellar, he finds a room belonging to Father Estaban which contains books of black magic along with Estaban's diary. He then uses his computer skills to translate the book from Latin into English. The translation describes Estaban as a Satanist and the book contains rituals for performing the Black Mass along with a promise by Estaban citing "I Will Return". Waking up the late the next morning, Stanley finds his alarm clock unplugged and his clothing tied in knots, courtesy of his belligerent classmates. This causes him to be tardy for morning classes, and his teacher writes him a punishment note to be taken to the school's Colonel headmaster Kincaid's office. He is sent to the office, where he accidentally leaves the diary on the desk of the school secretary who hides it. While Stanley is being made to clean the stables as punishment, the office secretary begins to finger the jewels on the front of the diary. Trying to pry the jewels out of their settings causes the pigs in the stable to attack Stanley. Stanley returns to his dormitory room to find his belongings scattered again, and cannot find his book of black magic. He assumes that his classmates stole it, and he confronts them about the supposed theft at a local roller rink, but they deny knowledge of the book and he leaves. Stanley then goes to the school's computer lab to perform more general research on Satanism, even though his book is still missing. His allotted time in the lab runs out, and he is forced to leave with his research incomplete. Stanley then goes to the church cellar with computer equipment, stolen from the school's computer lab. He sets up the computer and runs some inquiries into the requirements for a black mass. Searching through various bottles in the cellar left by Father Estaban, he attempts to initiate a mass but the computer informs him that he is still missing crucial ingredients, namely blood and a consecrated host. He is nearly discovered by Reverend Jameson, the church's current pastor, who sends him off to the mess hall to eat dinner. After arriving at the mess hall too late for lunch, he befriends the school's good-natured cook who makes a meal for him and shows him a litter of puppies that his dog just had. Stanley takes the smallest pup for himself, names him Fred and hides him in the church cellar. Stanley steals the host from the church, and notices Estaban's portrait on the wall. Using the translation he attempts the ritual, and is suddenly attacked by his classmates wearing masks and robes. After knocking him unconscious they leave. Stanley, thinking he has successfully performed the ritual is told by his computer that the ritual was incomplete and a pentagram appears on the computer screen. Stanley accidentally wakes the drunken caretaker, Sarge, who accuses him of being a thief for stealing a crowbar. Sarge attacks Stanley, who screams for help. The computer flares to life with a red pentagram on it. An unseen force then takes Sarge's head and turns it completely around breaking his neck. Stanley then discovers a catacomb filled with decapitated skeletal remains and the crypt of Father Estaban. After hiding Sarge's body, he leaves. Meanwhile, the school's secretary attempts one last time to pry the pentagram from the black magic book she stole from Stanley. She fails, injuring her finger which bleeds. She undresses, begins to take a shower and is fatally attacked by demonically spawned boars. After watching a beauty pageant at the school's pep rally, Stanley is attacked by his classmates who tell him that if he tries to play in the big game tomorrow they'll find and kill Fred. After witnessing his beating at the hands of his classmates, the hostile and unfriendly school principal Kincaid kicks Stanley off the soccer team. After a night of drinking, Stanley's classmates make their way into Estaban's hidden room and find his computer program. They follow the instructions and kill Fred for his blood. The computer says that the blood used must be human blood so they leave. After finding Fred's mutilated body, Stanley becomes enraged. The diary appears laying on Estaban's casket. When a teacher catches Stanley in the church stealing the host, he follows him to the catacombs where he is translating the rest of the diary. Stanley pledges his life to Satan then kills his teacher on a spiked wheel and collects his blood. Unaware of the ritual being performed, Stanley's classmates, the coach, Kincaid, and Jameson are all in attendance at a service. After successfully performing the ritual, Estaban's soul then possesses Stanley's body and takes up a sword. Meanwhile, a nail from the large crucifix hanging over the church's altar is pried out by an unseen force and flies across the room and is driven into Jameson's skull. Stanley then rises from the cellar below engulfed in flames and wielding a sword. A pack of large black boars pours out of the hole in the floor, where Stanley now hovers above everyone else. He then decapitates Kincaid and his coach. His classmates try to flee from the church only to be devoured by the boars. In the catacombs, the lead bully tries to escape only to have the caretaker come back to life and remove the boy's heart while it is still beating. The church burns to the ground. It is shown that Stanley survived the attack, but after witnessing the fiery death of his classmates, he went catatonic from shock and was sentenced to Sunnydale Asylum where he remains. Stanley's true fate is revealed, as his face appears on the computer screen in the cellar with the words "I Will Return". I love that computers were also offered up as something to fear as well as Satan, technology not being what it is today back in the early 80s. It was banned until 1987 and I first saw it around two years later. At the time Gentle Ben was still enjoying re-runs on British television, so to see little Mark Wedloe being possessed and decapitating people was pretty awesome, if not a little confusing for my young and impressionable mind. It is basically a twist on the Carrie story but just a little more contrived and a little more goofy. It’s great.

Halloween II

Dir: Rick Rosenthal

1981

***

John Carpenter and Debra Hill had no interest in making a sequel as they believed the original Halloween was a standalone movie. When the studio offered him to write the script and pay them more money (Carpenter states that to this day he saw very little earnings from the success of the original movie) he took the job so he could earn back what he believes was his owed pay. However, the script was not forming out as well as he thought, and he has personally stated that the only thing helping him through the screenplay process was a six pack of Budweiser every day which led to what he believes an inferior script and bad choices in the movie's story. Personally I thought the film was fine, sure it wasn’t needed but it was still very much appreciated. Carpenter and Hill had originally considered setting the sequel a few years after the events of Halloween. They planned to have Myers track Laurie Strode to her new home in a high-rise apartment building – which would have been brilliant – but the setting was later changed to Haddonfield Hospital. Producers Irwin Yablans and Moustapha Akkad wanted the story to continue exactly from where it ended in the first film, leading to a few headaches in the continuity department. For starters, the mask had suffered from being under Hill’s bed for several years, it had cracked and was yellow from nicotine stains. Jamie Lee Curtis had cut her hair short and everyone was just that little bit older. Still, Yablans and Akkad threw a lot of money at it after making a huge profit on the first film. Carpenter however refused to direct. He had originally approached Tommy Lee Wallace, the art director from the original Halloween, to take the helm. Carpenter told one interviewer, "I had made that film once and I really didn't want to do it again." Wallace excepted as he had his own thoughts about where to proceed with the sequel, and was excited by the project, however Carpenter eventually determined that this film would pick up directly from where the original left off. Despite some disappointment in this story direction, Wallace maintained his interest and was still set to direct, with his name even appearing as director in a 1980 trade ad released by Filmways Pictures. When Carpenter finished the script and presented it to Wallace, he was extremely disappointed to discover the intention to make the film as bloody and violent as the original's imitators, which had used such conventions to ensure their success. When it was realized that he had no choice but to include these elements in the film, Wallace withdrew from the project (although he return to direct the sequel). After Wallace left, Carpenter chose Rick Rosenthal, a relatively unknown and inexperienced director whose previous credits included episodes of the television series Secrets of Midland Heights. In an interview Carpenter explained that Rosenthal was chosen because "he did a terrific short called Toyer. It was full of suspense and tension and terrific performances.” There was discussion of filming Halloween II in 3-D; Hill said, "We investigated a number of 3-D processes ... but they were far too expensive for this particular project. Also, most of the projects we do involve a lot of night shooting - evil lurks at night. It's hard to do that in 3-D.” The story continues in much the same vein as the first film but without any of the mystery. At the end of the last film Michael Myers is shot and falls off a balcony. Taking shelter to recover from his injuries, Michael steals a kitchen knife from the home of an elderly couple, and kills a teenage girl living next door. Laurie Strode, who narrowly survived being killed by Michael earlier in the night, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, while psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, continues his pursuit of Michael. While with Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Loomis spots and chases after teenager Ben Tramer, who he mistakes for Michael as an oncoming police car suddenly crashes into Ben and a van which explodes, killing him in the process. Sheriff Brackett receives news of the death of his daughter, Annie. Blaming Loomis for her death, Sheriff Brackett goes home to tell his wife about it, leaving Deputy Gary Hunt in charge to help Loomis. At the hospital, paramedic Jimmy develops romantic feelings for Laurie, much to the chagrin of head nurse Virginia Alves. The real Michael discovers Laurie's location via the radio, due to the news of the murders reaching the media, and makes his way to the hospital. Once there, he cuts the phone lines, and disables the cars. Security guard Mr. Garrett goes downstairs to fix the power in the basement, and is killed with a hammer claw to his skull. Paramedic Budd Scarlotti is strangled, while Nurse Karen is scalded to death in the hospital's hydrotherapy tub. Meanwhile, Janet hurries off to find Dr. Mixter, only to find him dead with a needle jammed into his eye. Before she can flee, Michael kills her with a syringe. Jimmy and Nurse Jill Franco search the hospital for Laurie, who is trying to evade Michael; Jimmy finds Alves' corpse, and slips in a pool of blood on the floor, losing consciousness. Elsewhere, Loomis is informed that Michael broke into the local elementary school. As he investigates, Loomis's colleague, Marion Chambers, and U.S. Marshall Terence Gummell come to escort Loomis back to Smith's Grove on the governor's orders. Along the way, Marion tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's sister, but that information was kept secret for her safety. With the realization that Michael is after Laurie, Loomis orders Gummell to drive back to Haddonfield. Just after finding Laurie, Jill is killed by a scalpel-wielding Michael, who then pursues Laurie through the hospital. Laurie escapes to the parking lot, and hides in Jimmy's car. Regaining consciousness, Jimmy exits the hospital, and gets in the car to seek help, but he falls unconscious on the steering wheel horn because of his injuries, alerting Michael to their location. Loomis, Marion, and Gummell reach the hospital just in time to save Laurie. Loomis shoots Michael five more times. As Marion attempts to contact the police, Michael kills Gummell, and chases Loomis and Laurie into an operating room. Michael stabs Loomis in the stomach, wounding him, but Laurie shoots Michael in the eyes, blinding him. Loomis and Laurie fill the room with ether and oxygen gas. Loomis orders Laurie to run and sacrifices himself by igniting the gas, which blows up the operating room with him and Michael inside, immolating them both in the fire. Michael, engulfed in flames, stumbles out of the room before finally falling dead. Early the next morning, Laurie is put in an ambulance and driven to safety, having visions of Michael's burning body in her mind. I have to confess that, while I like the film overall, I didn’t think much of the ending. I thought that, if you have to make another film then keep the story going, it didn’t seem right to kill off both Michael and Dr. Loomis. I clearly wasn’t alone though, as both characters came back several times over. It was great that Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence came back and I thought Dick Warlock was good as ‘The Shape’. To get the role of Michael Myers, Warlock revealed that as he passed by a room, the Michael Myers mask was on a table. He put the mask on and walked into Rick Rosenthal's office and stood there. After Rosenthal continuously asked him who he was and he didn't reply, he took off the mask and asked if he could play Myers. For me Lance Guest was the great supporting actor of the film, thanks to his performance here director Tommy Lee Wallace cast him in the brilliant The Last Starfighter. It is what it is, not the best entry in the series but certainly not the worst. At least it had both Curtis and Pleasence but sadly it would be the last time they would appear together in the franchise.

Scanners

Dir: David Cronenberg

1981

****

David Cronenberg once called Scanners the most frustrating film he'd ever made. The film was rushed through production - filming had to begin without a finished script and to end within two months so that the financing would qualify as a tax write-off, forcing Cronenberg to write and shoot at the same time. I can’t help but think Cronenberg borrowed heavily from William S. Burroughs' 1959 novel 'Naked Lunch' which contains a chapter concerning "Senders" - a hostile organization of telepaths bent on world domination. A clear literary inspiration for this film. Cronenberg would of course later direct a film version of Naked Lunch just over a decade later. Cronenberg also cited difficulty with and antagonism between the leads, particularly Patrick McGoohan and Jennifer O'Neill. I would argue that Scanner is more ‘dark sci-fi’ than it is horror but the famous scene of a man’s head exploding is horror at its finest. Private security firm ConSec plans to showcase a powerful new potential weapon. Known as scanners, they are psychics with powers including telepathy/mind-control, empathy, biopathy, cyberpathy/technopathy, and psychokinesis/telekinesis. However, when ConSec's scanner demonstrates his powers, the volunteer - Revok (Michael Ironside – in one of the best performances of his career) - turns out to be a more powerful scanner, who causes the ConSec scanner's head to explode, via hydrostatic shock from biopathically-increased blood pressure. When ConSec officials attempt to take Revok into custody, he kills them and escapes. Stung by this embarrassing experience, ConSec security head Braedon Keller (Lawrence Dane),  advocates shutting down ConSec's scanner research program. Program head Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan) disagrees, saying the assassination and escape demonstrate scanning's potential. Ruth attributes the operation to Revok, who (according to Ruth) has his own underground network of scanners competing with ConSec's program. Ruth argues that ConSec should recruit scanners to their cause to infiltrate and bring down Revok's group. Dr. Ruth brings in scanner Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), a homeless social outcast driven mad by his undisciplined power, and injects him with ephemerol, which temporarily inhibits his scanning ability and restores his sanity. When Vale's mind is clear, Ruth asks for his help, explaining that Vale is a scanner and Revok is killing all scanners who refuse to join him. Under Ruth's guidance, Vale learns to control his scanning abilities. Unknown to Dr. Ruth, ConSec's security head, Keller works for Revok as a spy. Revok learns of Ruth's infiltration plan, and dispatches assassins to follow Vale as he visits an unaffiliated scanner named Benjamin Pierce, who may know Revok's whereabouts. Revok's assassins brutally shoot Pierce to death. Enraged, Vale uses his telepathic power to kill some of the assassins. As Pierce dies, Vale reads from his mind a name - Kim Obrist (Jennifer O'Neill). Vale tracks down Obrist, who has formed a telepathic alliance with a group of other scanners in opposition to Revok's group. Vale attends a meeting, but Revok's assassins strike again; only Vale and Obrist survive. Scanning an assassin, Vale learns of a drug company, which he then infiltrates. He finds large quantities of ephemerol are being distributed under a computer program called "Ripe", run by Revok himself through ConSec. Vale and Obrist return to ConSec, where Ruth suggests Vale cyberpathically-scan the computer system to learn more about the Ripe program. Meanwhile, Keller attacks Obrist and kills Dr. Ruth while Vale and Obrist flee the ConSec building. Vale cyberpathically accesses the computer network through a telephone booth and pulls ephemerol shipment information. When Keller discovers this, he orders the computer system shut down while Vale is scanning it; Keller hopes to harm or kill Vale by doing so. The plan backfires and the computer explodes, killing Keller and leaving Vale and Obrist unharmed. They visit a doctor on the list of ephemerol recipients, where Obrist discovers a pregnant woman's fetus has scanned her. Vale realizes ephemerol also causes fetuses to become scanners when administered to pregnant women. Obrist and Vale are ambushed by Revok and his men and abducted. Revok reveals to Vale ephemerol was originally developed by Dr. Ruth as a tranquilizer for pregnant women: Ruth learned about the drug's side-effect by providing it to his wife during her pregnancies; Revok reveals that he and Vale are actually brothers and Dr. Ruth was their father. Because their mother received the highest dose of ephemerol, Revok and Vale are the most powerful scanners. By mass-distributing ephemerol to unwitting doctors, who prescribe it to their pregnant patients, Revok plans to create a new generation of scanners to take over the world, which he will control. Revok asks Vale to join him, but Vale refuses. The two have a final telepathic battle against one another, Revok declaring that he'll 'suck you dry' if Vale won't side with him. Instead, while Vale's body is incinerated, his mind takes over Revok's body to save himself. Obrist enters the room to find Vale's charred body on the floor. She hears Vale's voice coming from the corner of the room. In the corner is Revok, with his head scar gone and his eyes replaced with Vale's eyes. He faces Obrist and announces in Vale's voice, "We've won." The ending is very clever, while the story incorporates Naked Lunch and the well known real life thalidomide scandal of the 1950s, the ending is ominous as to whether the conclusion is a good thing or the beginning of something far worse than what Revok imagined. It’s a great sci-fi thriller with a clever idea and some great performances but it is ‘that’ scene that really makes the film. Special effects artist Dick Smith (The Exorcist) produced the effect for the exploding head scene by filling a latex head of the actor with dog food, leftover lunch, fake blood and rabbit livers, and shooting it from behind with a 12-gauge shotgun. It is the scene everyone remembers and one of the all time greats within the horror genre – even though Scanners isn’t quite a horror. I think that is the only criticism I have with it. While I like a good thriller, the film soon became about the special effects and the anticipation of another head-bursting attack, although I am glad this wasn’t overdone. I do love the way it was filmed though, it’s one of those grainy early 80s shockers that I’d seen for years on the top shelf of my video shop as a child and it didn’t disappoint when I was finally old enough to rent it. Not Cronenberg’s best, but it certainly got me into the directors work.

Under the Rainbow

Dir: Steve Rash

1981

****

Nominated for two Razzie Awards, one for Worst Musical Score and Worst Supporting Actor, 1981’s Under the Rainbow failed miserably at the box office. Leading actors Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher both declared it at the time as the worst film either had ever worked on, as did many of the supporting actors. Audiences hated it and critics hated it. I on the other hand rather enjoyed it and I have to say I see it as more than a guilty pleasure, I think there is a lot to love about it. Chase had only been in a handful of films by then and Fisher had only been in four; Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Shampoo and The Blues Brothers – so yeah, it was the worst film out of those five – but both stars would go on to star in much worse films than this. The story is quite clever and the best kind of silly as it is based on a humourous rumour of real events. While filming The Wizard of Oz in 1938, the little people that played the Munchkins all stayed at the Culver Hotel where it is said – but unconfirmed – they partied hard, trashing the place and swinging from the chandeliers, full on success and champagne. The movie is actually filmed in what was the Culver Hotel and begins in the same way that Wizard of Oz does with all the main characters starting out in a refuge and hostel for a community of the destitute, homeless and unemployed somewhere in Kansas. A little person by the name of Diminutive Rollo Sweet enters the hostel (which is next to the bus station) with dreams of making it to Hollywood. He falls of the roof while trying to fix the television areal and his dream becomes the film. In the dream he fixes the areal and the announcer introduces a broadcast by the President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It speaks of Hitler's invasion of Germany's neighbors and the scene cuts to the Führer who is instructing his diminutive but aggressive secret agent Otto Kriegling on his latest mission. Otto is to go to California, to a certain hotel, to meet up with an agent of the Emperor from Tokyo, whom he will recognise because he will be Japanese and wearing a white suit. The latter will recognize Otto because of his height – he is 3 feet 9 inches tall. In addition, the Japanese agent will utter to Otto as a secret password "The pearl is in the river", which will prove he is the man to whom Otto must hand over a secret map of America's military defense system. Otto departs, confident that nothing can go wrong with these arrangements. However, when he arrives at the hotel, he is soon shocked to realise that the other guests are made up of one-hundred and fifty little people (all around 3 feet 9 inches tall), their studio assistant played by Carrie Fisher, and a Japanese Amateur Photography Society group who wear white suits as a form of uniform. Meanwhile, Bruce Thorpe (Chevy Chase) is there to meet an Austrian royal duke (Joseph Maher) who has enjoyed the protection of Inspector Collins of Scotland Yard. Thorpe is with the US Secret Service and is to continue personal protection for the Duke and Duchess. He quickly discovers that the Duke lives in permanent dread of assassination, although Thorpe tries to assure him that the likelihood of this being attempted in America is slight. To forestall this, the Duke continually dons a series of childish disguises. His other preoccupation in life is preserving his wife's companion, a dog which she calls Strudl. Fortunately the Duchess has extremely poor eyesight, but refuses to wear her spectacles, so that she believes that almost any dog of roughly the right size and coloring is her beloved pet. The Duke tells Thorpe that a dozen of these animals have already died in one way or another without her noticing and this continues throughout the film. It’s a comedy of errors and a beautifully inventive one in my opinion. Some of the jokes could be seen as offensive but personally I don’t see it and I don’t think you need a thick skin to see the funny side. Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher are brilliant opposite one another, and the supporting cast is strong. It’s the sort of the few silly comedies that I could watch with my parents and it really is beyond me how it has been so unfairly dismissed. The comedy performances are really tight and I thought the direction was good too, dreamlike as it was meant to be. Steve Rash made some ace films in the 80s, all underrated pleasures and even though this was one of the few films Fred Bauer and Pat Bradley wrote, its incredibly clever and one would have thought they would have been busy and in demand ever since. I think age has been kind to Under The Rainbow, it’s not perfect but it is full of charm and it made me laugh consistently. It made me like Chevy Chase again and love Carrie Fisher even more (if that is even possible). It is important to remember that the Razzies have nominated great films such as Cruising, The Jazz Singer and Saturn 3 in the past and nominated Stanley Kubrick as worst director for The Shining.

Skokie

Dir: Herbert Wise

1981

****

I really like Skokie. It’s a made-for-television drama that used to be repeated quite a bit in the 90s and even though I’d already seen it – quite a few times, I always found myself watching it again. It’s that perfect ‘off work sick’ film but of course, it’s far more important than all that. Skokie explores a very serious issue, the problem is that it wanders into melodrama and often the performances are a little too much. Maybe that’s why I like it but it does help the message. Based on the real life NSPA Controversy of Skokie, Illinois, which involved the National Socialist Party of America, the film retells the history of the event through the eyes of a few key players. In 1977 and 1978, Illinois Nazis of the National Socialist Party of America (derived from the American Nazi Party) attempted to demonstrate their political existence with a march in Skokie, far from their headquarters on Chicago's south side. Originally, the NSPA had planned a political rally in Marquette Park in Chicago; however the Chicago authorities thwarted these plans, first, by requiring the NSPA post an onerous public-safety-insurance bond, then, by banning all political demonstrations in Marquette Park. Seeking another free-speech political venue, the NSPA chose to march on Skokie. Given the many Holocaust survivors living in Skokie, the village's government thought the Nazi march would be politically provocative and socially disruptive, and refused the NSPA its permission to hold the event. The NSPA appealed that decision, and the American Civil Liberties Union interceded on their behalf, in the case of the National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie. An Illinois appeals court raised the injunction issued by a Cook County Circuit Court judge, ruling that the presence of the swastika, the Nazi emblem, would constitute deliberate provocation of the people of Skokie. However, the Court also ruled that Skokie's attorneys had failed to prove that either the Nazi uniform or their printed materials, which it was alleged that the Nazis intended to distribute, would incite violence. The NSPA members are portrayed a little ridiculously in the film, they are indeed ridiculous people that should be mocked but in terms of real drama I think they could have come across more hateful, as that is what they’re full of (among other things). This was all satirized to great effect in The Blues Brothers, released the previous year. What the film does successfully however is mix real and fictional characters and events, including fictionalizing aspects of some of the main characters. The American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Herb Lewisohn (played brilliantly by John Rubinstein) is fictional, apparently based on attorney (and later law professor) David A. Goldberger who argued the case in real life, While ACLU national lawyer Aryeh Neier (played by Stephen D. Newman) is a real person. Holocaust survivor and main character Max Feldman (played by the wonderful Danny Kaye) is fictional, while Holocaust survivor Sol Goldstein (played by David Hurst) is a real person. Eli Wallach and Carl Reiner are great as Moderate leaders of the local Jewish community and John Rubinstein, Stephen D. Newman, Ed Flanders and Brian Dennehy are all great in their respective roles but this is Danny Kaye’s film from start to finish. As the leaders of the Jewish community ask that people ignore the neo-Nazis - the strategy being that they put forward a "quarantine", isolating the meeting by totally ignoring the neo-Nazi presence and refusing to be provoked. Max Feldman, a Holocaust survivor , understands the logic behind the Jewish community refusing to acknowledge the rally and thus refusing to feed the media any publicity but he also remembers that he was told to ignore the Nazis nearly 40 years ago in Germany, and before he knew it he was in a concentration camp. This time he will take action, and he is ready to shed blood if necessary. Led by Max, most members of the community agree to protest, leaving the audience to decide which was the best method of protest in this sorry scenario. It has its faults but I would argue that this is an example of classic made-for-television greatness and Kaye’s final performance (only his second in a serious role) is of great credit to him.

Thief

Dir: Michael Mann

1981

*****

I whole-heartedly believe that the 1970s was and is the best decade when it comes to film. The 1980s comes close, but Michael Mann’s feature film debut Thief is a 70s film in the 80s but features the best of both decades. It is probably Mann’s best film to date, with Manhunter and The Keep close behind (I like Heat a lot but always thought LA Takedown was actually better). Thief is James Cann’s favorite film of his own (just behind The Godfather) and I would argue that it represents the last of a certain sort of thriller and the beginning of a new era. It is similar to the great crime thrillers of the 1970s but it also has something refreshingly updated about it, manly thanks to the characters, performances and its somewhat neo-noir existential stylings. Mann made Caan research everything he could about being a thief and hired several ex-safe crackers as advicers, many of whom ended up with parts in the film. The safe that Cann’s character Frank drills into in the beginning sequence was a real safe that the film production team bought for $100,000 and Cann actually learned how to drill into it and does so in one take. Cann got into character thanks to his research and after that the film almost wrote itself. The story is based on Frank Hohimer’s 1975 novel The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar, but Caan based his character on John Santucci, who had been recently paroled for burglary and was hired as technical adviser, as well as playing corrupt cop Detective Urizzi. Caan avoided as direct impersonation, as he felt it would be too comedic given his exuberant personality, and the role became something of a challenge with Caan later admitting "I like to be emotionally available, but this guy is available to nothing."  Personally think it’s one of his greatest performances. The café scene between Caan and Tuesday Weld is now considered a classic and is one of my personal favorites of all time. It’s a magical moment that keeps you second guessing and totally convinces the viewer they are watching something real. Weld’s tears were real and Caan has since admitted it is the best piece of acting he’s ever done and is proud of the most. I love how technical the film is and how precise everything is without losing any charm or magic. I also love how upside-down it is, what with having a real life criminal play a detective and two police officers play criminals (Nick Nickeas was an ex-Chicago cop and Dennis Farina was still serving at the time of filming). It looks amazing throughout, thanks to Mann’s vision and his ability to convince the producers to pay for things most producers would refuse to pay for (a real safe, a real drill, a sixty-thousand gallon water truck to keep the streets constantly wet and a real house to explode – although it wasn’t meant to fully explode, far too much dynamite was used in error). The soundtrack also has a huge part to play in the overall sleek feel of the film. The brilliant Tangerine Dream supplied a dreamy synth score that worked perfectly with the mood, tone and overall feel of the production. It is sublime and horribly underrated. Mann had made great TV for a number of years before his move in to feature films and his first few are outstanding. I’m not sure what happened really, but much as I’m sure people will tell me it is Heat, I personally think Thief is Mann’s true masterpiece.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part I

Dir: Penelope Spheeris

1981

****

1981’s The Decline of Western Civilization Part I is Penelope Spheeris’s first film in a now notorious trilogy that explores three musical sub-cultures that were largely ignored by the mainstream press at the time of each film’s release. Spheeris’s films capture exactly what was happening at the time and record some phenomenal sets from many a long-gone band before they became either giants in the music world or by-gone legends. Some of the venues are also now regarded as sacred ground, many of them now closed for decades. A documentary made today about the Los Angeles punk scene would look very different, with interviews from people who were there repeating their now, half remembered memories of drink and drug fuelled nights at gigs. Most probably can’t remember, some memories are blurred and romanticised and quite a few of them are dead. The Decline of Western Civilization Part I was the here and now, it’s all there for an audience to see, exciting for those interested in the punk world in 1981 and fascinating now for those interested in where a movement once shone. Los Angeles wasn’t the birthplace of punk and punk itself had begun a few years earlier, much of punks history is disputed by those who followed different bands, I know punk fans who are so knowledgeable about the music, bands and movement that they put most wine connoisseurs to shame when it comes to waxing lyrical and general snobbery. Punk represents different things to different people, your mum and dad may think punks were all safety pins and huge green mohicans but that isn’t really the case. You have your London postcard punk and you have your real punk, American punk and British and European punk being different beasts. This film isn’t the history of punk, it was a fly on the wall documentary capturing the performance of the bands and the views of the audience. Spheeris lets the film be what it wants to be, she obviously needed everyone on camera to give permission for their faces to be seen and that was difficult enough, with each band lambasting the request as if they were made to against their will. I love punk, but I love the punk I know. I’m fascinated by it but much of it has become romanticized. Punks hated hippies, mainly because they sold out but all these years later many of the more successful punks have done exactly the same. Punk was the last inventive youth revolution, there hasn’t been one since. Punk deconstructed everything, so now everything is possible. Punk pioneers are seen as social heroes, so it is important sometimes to watch films like The Decline of Western Civilization Part I again, and realise that much of it was fluke, serendipity and that many of the punk pioneers were not very nice kids. It’s a warts and all documentary, great music and a bunch of 1950s kids either rebelling against their white picket fence upbringing or coming from broken homes and heading down a downward spiral. There are loads of posers and wannabes but there are also genuine broken kids who have lost all care. Highlights for me were seeing the live performances from Black Flag and Circle Jerks. I quite like Alice Bag Band too and watching Fear taunt and insult the audience is still amazing all these years later. I think watching Germs is the film’s real poignant scene. Germs lead singer adorned the films poster, their performance is just a slur as lead singer Darby Crash is barely able to stand. He was dead from suicide by heroin overdose before the film was released. It is a raw and powerful capture of history, as all documentaries should be.

The Burning

Dir: Tony Maylam

1981

****

The Burning might seem like a Friday the 13^th slasher rip-off but actually that isn’t the case and there is a lot more to it than that. I would argue that, apart from Friday the 13^th’s excellent last scene, that The Burning is slightly more entertaining. The similarities between both films are suspicious but there is proof that the script was submitted for copyright before Friday the 13^th was released. The truth is that by 1980 the slasher film business was starting to lag after a surge of entries since the release of the genre’s daddy – 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Many ideas were similar to those that came before but this was mainly down to the scripts being based on the same stories. The Burning, Friday the 13^th and 1982’s Madman were all based on the Cropsy story that the film makers all heard around summer campfires in the 60s and 70s. It was a well-known story in certain parts of America and it lent itself brilliantly to the slasher genre, so it was pure coincidence these films all had similar plots and characters. The Burning was the one film that stuck to the original the closest and when the makers of Madman got wind of it they re-wrote most of the script accordingly, knowing they had been beaten to it. Many thought The Burning was just a cheap copy of Friday the 13^th and when it was released at the same time as Friday the 13^th Part 2, the horror audience stuck with a name they knew. The Burning was re-released with a different poster a year later which boosted sales and in certain areas the name was changed, which was a classic trick in the horror film industry. It’s an above average slasher film, made loads better by the inclusion of horror legend Tom Savini and rock legend Rick Wakeman. Savini actually worked on the make-up effects for Friday the 13^th but decided not to return for its sequel as he couldn’t work out how Jason would now by the murderer – indeed it didn’t make sense and he preferred the script to The Burning anyway. All good horror films have a good soundtrack and director Tony Maylam was friends with Yes’s Rick Wakeman who agreed to score the film for a fee. The keyboard wizard accepted a small fee instead of royalties as he thought the film would bomb, however the film was the biggest selling horror in Japan and he would now be much richer than he is, had he taken the percentage. If The Burning had been released before Friday the 13^th then we’d have a dozen Cropsy sequels, rather than loads of Jason films, which I don’t know is a good thing or not, but it still had the right impact and thankfully made money for the right people, as the important Miramax Films was born. The Burning was written by Tony Maylam, Brad Grey, Peter Lawrence and the Weinstein brothers, while Maylam and Lawrence didn’t go on to much else (apart from Thundercats, which I have proper respect for), Grey went on to become chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and the Weinsteins have gone on to become the kings of Hollywood. I think The Burning works better than most 80s teen slashers because the kids felt real. The cast all wore their own clothes and brought their own character to the roles. There was the geeky one and the sort of bully but all in all they were normal teenagers, rather than crafted stereotypes. The cast included Holly Hunter, Fisher Stevens and Jason Alexander in their feature debuts, indeed, it seems that The Burning was good for everyone’s career. The horror sub-genre was flooded, it still is but there has been and always will be an audience that loves them. The late 70s and early 80s is something of a golden era, while some of the early slashers are quite nasty, there is something innocent about film’s like the Burning, as they are really just ghost stories, rather than disturbing social pieces such a Maniac. However, Tom Savini is the king of gore and many of the violent scenes are convincing and it’s not surprising that The Burning made the ‘Video Nasty’ list, which is now quite a badge of honour for a classic horror film. I remember back in the late 80s when I became somewhat obsessed with horror films, that the VHS copy was like gold. When the film was accidentally released uncut on video in the United Kingdom by Thorn-EMI, the tape was liable for seizure and prosecution under the Obscene Publications act and pretty much every school playground had at least one kid who said they had one, generally ‘given’ to them by an uncle. They now go for heaps of money on-line, if you can find one. Overall the film is much like many of the other slashers of the day, it’s not amazing but I liked the cast, the music is great and it has Tom Savini. Cropsey himself is a fairly average villain but there is something decidedly under-doggish about him that I quite like, with the humble garden shears being almost noble when it comes to serial killer weapon of choice. Without wanting to sound like a weirdo, The Burning has a ‘fun’ element that other slashers don’t, or at least didn’t have properly until Friday the 13^th Part 3. Who doesn’t love a video nasty?

Friday the 13th Part II

Dir: Steve Miner

1981

**

Friday the 13th Part II is a direct sequel to the first and although it is essentially a completely different film, it is also exactly the same, minus a really good twist. This is the first time we start to see the Jason Voorhees everyone recognizes although he hasn't yet adopted the famous hockey mask he's known for. It's got it's moments and the fact that the more annoying characters get the better, more gory deaths was appreciated but it never really builds on what was started in the first film. The producers said at the time that this story wasn't so much of a direct sequel, instead, it built on the superstition created in the first film. In this sense, it's actually a remake of the first, much like Evil Dead II touches on events of the first film and then takes it in a different direction. Friday the 13th Part II however, leaves the situation exactly where it began. It's a slasher still and the murderer is someone different but it's no whodunnit and the killings aren't as exciting as the first and Jason's appearances are far too predictable to make you jump out of your seat. The scenes involving severed heads is quality horror but everything else is a little bland and underwhelming.

True Confessions

Dir: Ulu Grosbard

1981

****

The big selling point and buzz that surrounded Ulu Grosbard's 1981 crime-drama True Confessions was due to the teaming of Hollywood favorites Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, who were both at the top of their games at the time. It ended up being a box office flop and if I'm being honest, while Duvall has a far more entertaining role, De Niro doesn't really bring much to his character. However, it's a pretty solid crime drama that incorporates the infamous and still unsolved real life murder of Elizabeth Short, otherwise known as the Black Dahlia murder, and the biblical story of Cain and Able. Duvall and De Niro play brothers, Duvall an ex-bag man criminal turned hard-hosed detective and De Niro his brother, a monsignor whose religious duties bring him close to church patrons of a questionable nature. Both men are chalk and cheese, friendly with each other but never really seeing eye to eye. Both actors play off each other well in the scenes they are in together, these scenes being the strongest parts of the film by far. De Niro never really convinced me he was an authentic priest (he has since though in 1996's Sleepers) while Duvall is quite thrilling in an uncompromising and rather unpredictably intense performance. Great support comes from Charles Durning, Kenneth McMillan and Burgess Meredith and the overall direction is suitably sleek and stylish. My big criticism is that very little of the story involves the Black Dahlia case and when it does it is largely fictional but then this really isn't what the film is about. The performances, pace and subtle symbolism more than makes up for it anyway and the conclusion is brilliantly executed. A stylish tale of redemption and devotion, criminally overlooked and worthy of far more praise than it received on release.

The Evil Dead
Dir: Sam Raimi
1981
*****
Sam Raimi's 1981 The Evil Dead is a horror masterpiece and is King of the video nasties. It's is also a masterclass in independent film making, how to and how not to make your own film. Raimi and childhood friend Bruce Campbell had made a few Super 8 films together as kids and after becoming interested in the horror genre, they decided to make a short (Within the Woods) and plug it to the studios with the idea of getting funding for a feature length version. It was a clever move that somehow paid off. The shoot took over a year to complete and was grueling for all involved. Raimi had borrowed money from everyone he knew and the cast and crew were made up of mostly friends and family. The making of the film is covered amusingly in Bruce Campbell's brilliant autobiography; If Chins Could Kill. He recounts the endless days of shooting in the cold, the intentional pain Raimi put the acts through in order to get the right 'horror' reactions and the grueling daily make-up rituals that would include sticking contact lenses with the thickness of tupperware in his eyes. It's fair to say that the lack of budget made Raimi into a creative director. Steadicams were expensive, so Raimi invented the 'Shaky-cam'. He used crew as stand ins when the main actors were busy doing other things, referring to them as 'Shemps', a technique he would continue in pretty much every film he's made since. The unique use of sound really makes the film stand out among other horror films, Raimi being influenced by the experimentation going on by Brian De Palma for his film Blow Out in the sound studio they were both using. The editing is also phenomenal. A young Joel Coen was working at the editing production studio at the time and after working on the film he and Raimi became good friends, Raimi being the influence for him to get his debut Blood Simple made. Raimi, Campbell and the Coens would join forces once more for the brilliant but highly underrated Crimewave. All of the unique and creative components Raimi brought to the film made it a true original and after horror master Stephen King gave it positive reviews, New Line Cinema decided to give it a go a distribute it, to much success. Its notoriety made it a cult hit in a very short time. It's originality and perfection in capturing pure terror resonated with audiences and it has been regarded as one of cinema's greatest horrors since.

For Your Eyes Only
Dir: John Glen
1981
***
For Your Eyes Only, the twelfth Bond film of the series is based on two of the short stories that make up the eighth 007 book from Ian Flemming. The stories chosen; For Your Eyes Only and Risico are combined while the remaining short stories; From A View To A Kill, Quantum of Solace and The Hildebrand Rarity were later developed into films of their own (The Hildebrand Rarity formed part of the Licence to Kill story). After Moonraker's fantastical plot peaked believability, producers were keen to bring Bond down to earth so to speak and return the franchise to the original style of Ian Flemming's novels. John Glen was offered the role of director after working on previous Bond pictures at he accepted and was quick to change the Bond films for then on. I loved the over the top Bonds of the 70's but it was right to steer the franchise down a more classical direction, the idea that Bond would rely less on gadgets and more on his wits. This was symbolically represented in the famous scene whereby Bond's Lotus is blown up and he has to rely on his driving skills in a Citroen 2CV. The film is much more of a thriller than the previous Roger Moore Bonds had been and the performances and writing (particularly the character development) was far more impressive. Glen was also quoted as saying ..we wanted to make the new film more of a thriller than a romp, without losing sight of what made Bond famous - its humour" but in this respect I'm not sure he did as great a job as he could. Highlights for me were the performances from Moore, Topol (one of my absolute favorite actors) and one time Bond contender Julian Glover. The story was a little slow and somewhat uninteresting, especially compared to the previous films. It was a thriller but it wasn't thrilling. As for the humour, For Your Eyes Only contains one of the most horrible scenes of the whole franchise. Whoever wrote the scene whereby Margret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, flirts with Bond over the phone while thanking him for what he's done, shouldn't work in film again. This, and the obvious dig at Kevin McClory (who owned the rights to the Ernst Stavro Blofeld character) that saw an unnamed but obvious Blofeld character dropped down a large chimney was a symbolically 'funny' scene gone too far. It was a little too arrogant, as if the franchise had never made a mistake in the past and had made a really exciting film (which it really hadn't). A good film but overall the first Bond film I was disappointed by. It has moments of greatness but also far too many slow and rather dull bits. It also marks the first Bond film there Bernard Lee's M is absent. Sadly, Lee died before filming but his character was not replaced out of respect. Another new chapter for the world's favorite spy but it certainly got better for John Glen and indeed the fans.