VIDEO REVIEW: Mahakaal

VIDEO REVIEW: Return of the Living Dead 3

ANTI-SNOB THEATER: Demolition Man

*Anti-Snob Theater: Focusing on Movies Which I Think Have Been Unfairly Judged and Disregarded by the Cinema Masses. They Are Not Necessarily the Greatest Films in the World, But They Have a Fun Factor That Can't Be Ignored. Proceed With an Open Mind and Soak Up the Ridiculous Fun!

Demolition Man

Director: Marco Brambilla

Year 1993

Demolition Man is an insanely fun flick which mixes comedy and action into a futuristic setting, and just goes hog wild with it. Featuring a stellar cast and an unrelenting tongue and cheek wit, the film dabbles in the absurd in the most entertaining of ways. Bridging the gap between over the top violence and comic relief, this unusual sci-fi picture is a sure joy to witness, even if it isn't anything else but fun action fluff. If you don't like it then what appears to be your boggle?

The film follows 20^th century super cop John Spartan as he is wrongfully imprisoned and frozen in cryo-sleep, only to be unthawed in the year 2032 in order to take down the master criminal Simon Phoenix, the man you put him away. As a man out of time, Spartan must come to grips with the massive changes that the world has gone through, while also getting to grips that his arch enemy is out on the streets, maiming and killing as he goes. With the help of an intrepid police officer named Lenina Huxley, John Spartan closes in on Phoenix, but unexpectedly stumbles across a sinister conspiracy in this seemingly perfect brave new world.

Sylvester Stallone takes on the role of John Spartan, the Demolition Man, a one man army who always takes down the bad guys. Stallone is, well Stallone, in this over the top hero role and he's nothing but outstanding as he kicks ass and takes names. His fish out of water scenario is hilarious, and the filmmakers and Stallone make great efforts in capitalizing on this particular angle. Stallone himself works wonders with the material, riffing off of the rest of the cast as he plays the “neanderthal” cop to perfection. His reactions to the outrageous changes that have taken place over the last thirty nine years are classic and the comedic timing in which he possesses in these situations is absolute entertainment. If there was ever a role tailor made for Stallone, then this would be it. He absolutely nails the part and sets the tone for the rest of the cast.

As for the role of Simon Phoenix, Spartan's arch enemy, the honors go to the remarkably on point Wesley Snipes. In this film he is in his element, as his super-charged smart ass remarks and athletic ability are constantly on display. I've never been too ecstatic over Snipes previous roles, though there are some classics in there, but with Simon Phoenix, he is remarkably charismatic and deliciously evil to boot. Plus it doesn't hurt that he looks like he is having the time of his life throwing people through glass windows and basically setting a fire under the film. There is just something engaging about watching a character like Phoenix run rampant throughout a cinema world that has no means of stopping him and Snipes doesn't waste the opportunity in generating a great deal of energy to the cinematic proceedings. The pairing of Snipes and Stallone is a match made in action heaven and the two actors really show how charismatic and appealing they can be.

As for the rest of the cast, Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary are exceptionally entertaining as Lenina Huxley and Edgar Friendly, while supporting characters like Nigel Hawthorne and Benjamin Bratt take great efforts to fill out the rest of the world. Nigel Hawthorne particularly gives a nefarious performance as the leader of the new world Dr. Raymond Cocteau and he proves to be an especially gifted prick among movie villains. Out of all of these actors though, Sandra Bullock stands out as the most endearing of the bunch. Her innocent portrayal as the 20^th Century obsessed Officer Huxley adds a cute addition to the film. I've never really been a fan of Bullock, but she nails the comedy on this front, while also dishing out some pretty sweet action moments.

Aside from the great characters of the film, the real asset of the production is the overall tone and atmosphere of Demolition Man. The balance between comedy and action is spot on, and the idea of a future society where violence and crime are obsolete, is just too interesting not to delve into. Added onto that the inclusion to drop two super violent people into the mix and allow them to do battle is icing on this truly irresistible cake. In the end, the most appealing thing to me is that the film is just plain fun. From beginning to end, it never loses its sense of humor and it never takes itself too seriously, as it showcases interesting characters against a plethora of entertaining action. Honestly that's all that I ask for in a fun movie night.

Demolition Man is a remarkably overlooked action film, which seems to have been written off by the masses as a stupid Stallone starring vehicle. To me, it's the silly fun that makes it so damn appealing. It's a film that knows what it wants to be and fully embraces it, plunging us into a world that is beyond belief, all the while allowing us to just play around in its absurdity. Sylvester Stallone nails it out of the park while Wesley Snipes gives one of the most entertaining performances of his career, showcasing that both actors have impeccable screen chemistry with each other.

The film is not one that is daring and unpredictable, but one that is energized to the max, focusing on entertaining its audience no matter how wild or strange it gets. It knows what it is and it wears its heart on its sleeve and to me that is one of its most endearing qualities. As action packed science fiction comedies go, you'd be hard pressed to not see the appeal in this one. It may have been overlooked and cast into obscurity, but for me it is a production that always makes me smile. Come hell or high water, when Demolition Man is on the old boob tube, my ass is on the couch laughing it all up. Don't be a snob and give this one a go. You just might be surprised. Demolition Man is.....

Don't dis the beret dude!

Simon's got his eye on you... or someones.

Futuristic Staring Contest.... GO!

You buy old what, motherfucker?

Lenina... You're freaking me out again.

Duck Face!

Quit laughing and tell the man what the three sea shells are! I want to know!

Looks like someone is a fan of Mad Max.

So are we going to have sex or what?

Looks like Mr. Friendly isn't so friendly after all.

Wesley Snipes was a huge fan of Beetlejuice. Otho!

The beret is on. It's time to kick some ass!

Beam me up Simon... you jerk!

Time to go home and have some sex! Woohooo!

REVIEW: Return of the Living Dead 3

Return of the Living Dead 3

Director: Brian Yuzna

Year 1993

Return of the Living Dead 3 is a surprisingly serious sequel to the long standing zombie horror/comedy series of the same name. Intimately approached, yet still chock full of gory goodness, this third installment goes for the jugular in both its horrific content and emotional story arch. In its daring attempts to change the sub-genre and the series, Return of the Living Dead 3 marks an astonishingly different take which greatly benefits the overall quality of this morbid tale. Like a Romeo and Juliet story set in hell, this zombie flick has one seriously infectious bite.

The film follows two young lovers named Curt Reynolds and Julie Walker, who being typical bored teenagers, decide to cause some trouble and break in to a military base where Curt's father is stationed. Once inside, they witness a number of horrible experiments that the government is testing, including reanimating dead bodies by the use of the deadly gas 2-4-5 Trioxen. Disgusted and freaked out, the couple decide to slip out of the complex before being seen. Unfortunately, later that night Curt has a fight with his father which results in Curt and Julie speeding off into the night on Curt's motorcycle and consequently getting into a horrible accident. Curt is banged up in the crash but Julie dies on impact, forcing Curt to do the unthinkable and head back to the military base and use the 2-4-5 Trioxen gas on Julie to bring her back to life. What follows is a love story that is truly dark, disturbing and impossibly entertaining.

Melinda Clarke takes on the role of Julie Walker, the beautiful rebellious teenager who suddenly becomes an undead, yet still very sexy zombie. Clarke is astounding as the troubled character and she puts all she has into the role. She's mesmerizing, disturbing, and highly addictive, and her performance literally steals the show from the rest of the cast members. In emphatic tone, Clarke commands such a great deal of screen presence that you find yourself sympathizing with her character and all of the horrible things she goes through within the run time of the film. It's amazing, the sheer range that Clarke has to convey as her character regresses into a savage state of mind, but she pulls it off with flying colors.

Paired up with Melinda Clarke is J. Trevor Edmond, as he takes on the role of Curt Reynolds the desperate hero of the piece. Against Clarke's performance, Curt doesn't tend to stand out, but be that as it may he does an excellent job with the role and makes for a believable hero. Much like Clarke's demanding character, Edmond has a great deal to do over the course of the film as the reluctant Curt. His sole purpose in the story is to keep his girlfriend somewhat alive and to stop her from regressing into a violent walking corpse, yet as the film moves along you can see that matters only get worse for our hero. Edmond's determined portrayal is quite endearing, and like Clarke, he handles the physical portions of the film with ease. Combined, J. Trevor Edmond and Melinda Clarke are an astounding team, and a great asset to the film.

As for the decision to take the film series into more dark and desperate territory, I'm all for it. The switching of sub-genres is a tricky thing, but in this case the end result is more than worth it. Though the tonal focus of the movie is steered towards a horror/romance/sci-fi hybrid, there is still a vague tongue and cheek attitude to the production. It may not be as over the top and in your face as the original The Return of the Living Dead, or especially the second entry Return of the Living Dead Part 2, but it's there in the expressive characters and out of control situations that come into play within the movie's twisted narrative. It might come to a shock to some viewers hoping to rekindle the magic of the original, but if you approach it with an open mind, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the film's ultimately dark vision.

Speaking of dark visions, Return of the Living Dead 3 is rather ballsy in this particular department. The gore is in ample supply, spouting from cracked skulls and severed limbs, while spilling out for all to see. If there is one thing that this entry carried over from the rest of the series, it is that they kept the blood lust intact. As before the zombies are viscous and they are proned to let the red stuff fly at the drop of a hat. All of the gory details are expertly crafted by the effects team and you can tell that they are having a blast showcasing every special effects trick in the book. This also carries over to Melinda Clarke's grotesque and alluring transformation into a sort of S and M zombie dominatrix, with her extraordinarily abundant piercings, including impaled shards of glass and rusty metallic objects. It's a hardcore flick with an interesting take on the Romeo and Juliet plot line, but it is one that you shouldn't be disappointed with as long as you keep an open mind and take in the truly awesome original zombie story.

Return of the Living Dead 3 is a sequel that genuinely makes a hard left in veering from the series original course, but one that finds its own ground to tread on and wreak havoc in. Surprisingly heartfelt and extremely sadistic, this unique gem opts to rewrite the cliched Shakespearean romance plot by adding its own twisted flair and outrageous cast of characters.

Melinda Clarke simply owns this film, from beginning to end, as she portrays one of the most sympathetic heroines in all of the horror genre. You can tell that she put all of herself in this role and that kind of commitment does not go unnoticed. Through pain and determination, she created a role for the ages and for that I can't praise her enough. J. Trevor Edmond also gives a great effort as Clarke's partner in crime and he carries the rest of the film with an outstanding sense of vigor. Toppled with the gore, the totally bleak tone and the tremendous atmosphere, Return of the Living Dead 3 is a surprisingly brutal horror hybrid that isn't afraid to shy away from the norm in order to tell its most compelling story. Simply put, this film is.....

Zombies with braces! What will they come up with next?

God Damn You're Sexy!

Son.... I didn't order a knuckle sandwich.

Can you guys at home believe this crazy shit? A zombie girlfriend!

What the hell did you just say about my friend's beautiful mustache?

Finger-licking good!

Where the hell did the backseat-Asian-driver come from?

You sir disgust me! Use a fork you savage!

You besmirched my mustache for the last time!

Riverman hates it when you stare at him with puppy dog eyes.

How about I shoot you right where your mustache should be?

That's right... Take a good look at that mustache honey.

So high-fives are out then?

Peek a boo you fucks you!

Zombie Battle Staring Contest..... GO!

How about a nice zombie back rub?

Hey Riverman! Screw You!

Hey Pop.... Don't let your knuckle sandwich get cold.

REVIEW: Drag

Drag

Director: Mark Pavia

Year 1993

Drag is a unique and creepy short film that brings an original twist to the zombie genre. A lone woman named Victoria, wanders the countryside in search of something, as of yet, unknown to the audience. Armed with a single shotgun and her wits, she battles her way through the zombie infested wasteland of what once was, until she unsuspectingly finds what she's looking for. Fresh meat. Now her biggest problem is how to drag this newfound prize back to her undead lover, who she has chained up at their homestead, so that he may sustain some sort of existence in-spite of his slowly decaying body. Directed by Mark Pavia in his first directorial effort, the film exists in a world that is bled of life and lost in a haze that soaks through to all four corners of the decrepit frame.  

Victoria contemplates life during one of her many close-ups.

Pavia's choice of drenching the entire film in a surreal canvas of sepia is spellbinding. Through this technique, we're given the visually appealing aesthetics of black and white photographic images combined with the dreamlike qualities of a smog filled nightmarish world. The look of the film is outstanding and really makes for an interesting and vibrant piece. I found myself just lost in the haze, appreciating every nook and cranny of this film. Some of the compositions are just outstanding and they really lend a great deal of added atmosphere to the film. It really is a visual feast that begs for multiple viewings and that's something I can really appreciate.

I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more.

The story also approaches the material with great respect to the genre and to the idea of switching up the formula a bit. It's a very mysterious narrative, where we are not quite sure what our main character Victoria is really all about or what her intentions are. I love the ambiguity of the beginning half of the film, where you're trying to figure out why she is so obsessed with keeping her recently killed body so intact and zombie free. I enjoyed the playful nature of this reveal and how it slowly begins to expose itself to the audience. It's not something that is spelled out for you and it is only really given away in short and vague morsels that nudge you in the right direction. I appreciated the subtlety of the story and the slow pace in which Pavia chose to go about in order to tackle the material.

Man, I am so sick of plowing these fields!

The music is also top notch, rely on a bevy of long drawn out strings and mournfully filled moaning sounds that provide a perfect soundscape for a zombie apocalypse. The slow and plodding soundtrack really amplifies the despair of the picture and gives a great look into this desperate and lonely world. It's all gloom and doom as Victoria venture across the haggard landscape both during her hunt and throughout her trek back home. The majority of this short film is bathed in a collection of prolonged compositions that mimic the slow nature of the undead antagonists' decrepit movements. It fits the film well and compliments the array of death that is shown up on the screen.

What a creep.

The zombies are also well done for this being such a low budget short in all. These are the old school zombies, the ones that move at a snails pace. There foreboding and ghastly manifestations are a real treat for vintage zombie lovers and ones that take a great deal of inspiration from Romero's iconic mold. The budget may have been a meager $17,000, but the end result is well beyond those restrictions. The actors portraying the walking corpses do an excellent job of putting the fear into the audience, allowing us to be sucked up into the story. There's also some great and nasty moments in the film, like a short finger chomping scene and a few choice kills by the talented main heroine Victoria. After analyzing this short film, I found that there's a lot to love about this small gem of a movie and when you factor in the cost of the whole production, you find yourself appreciating it just a little bit more for accomplishing so much with so little.

Nothing like the sight of a chick with a shotgun.

My last respects and acknowledgments go out to the actress that plays the role of Victoria. Ellie Cahill plays an intriguing and entertaining heroine, one that is quite unorthodox and highly original. She is tough and capable, but she also has a gentler side to her that we see later on in the closing moments of the film. In the short span of the story, we come to find many facets of her character. She's a survivor and has done countless of ghastly things before the opening of the film in order to sustain some shred of existence. We see the wear it has caused on her through her malevolent actions and we witness the horrors that she must inflict on other survivors in order for her to retain a miniscule thread of sanity. It's a complicated role but one that is handled with complete competence by Cahill. I only wish that she had gone on to star in other roles, because she reminds me of another scream queen legend, Ashley Laurence from the Hellraiser series. Both seem to be able to carry a film on their own and do it with an air of ease. Well done Ellie Cahill. Well done.

I highly recommend not going in the dark basement.

Drag is simply a wonderful piece of work by the then budding efforts of Mark Pavia. The atmosphere is spot on, lent in major part by the amazing efforts of the haunting soundtrack and the overbearing visual color palate. The story has just enough portions of the familiar and the absolute appropriate amount of fresh ingredients that it makes for a very interesting tale indeed.

I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this short film and the only thing I can complain about is that I wish it was a full length feature film and that I could somehow obtain a hard copy of this lost gem. I enjoyed every minute of its 35 minute run time and I can't wait to revisit this twisted film again. I highly recommend this film to the zombie lovers of the world. You won't be disappointed. 

4 out of 5 stars         An Amazing Zombie Gem!