Publicity
poster for The Giant Claw (© Fred F.
Sears/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly
non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
Here are another half-dozen mini-reviews of
science fiction and fantasy movies that I've watched of late, or very late!
Another
two publicity posters for The Giant Claw
(© Fred F. Sears/Clover Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a
strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
THE GIANT CLAW
On 19 July 2023, after a mere 64 years
since first showing my face in this weird world of ours, I finally watched (in
the shape of a very decent colorized version) that classic 'so bad that it's
good' 1957 monster movie The Giant Claw,
directed (and also narrated) by Fred F. Sears, and released by Columbia
Pictures. To be fair, the actual storyline (gigantic alien bird from an
antimatter galaxy attacks and destroys numerous military aircraft over North
America) and acting (lead star was Jeff Morrow, as civil aeronautical engineer
Mitch MacAfee) are decent enough for a 1950s B-movie of this genre. Instead,
the problem lies almost entirely with its metaphorical elephant in the drawing
room or, to be more literal, its giant bird in the skyline! Owner of this
movie's titular talon(s), the bargain-basement model bird utilised is not just
fowl but foul – it resembles the kind of tawdry, rubber-necked, bent-beaked
ultra-cheapo 'prize' that you might find yourself taking home (or dropping into
the nearest garbage bin) after successfully shooting a series of floating plastic
ducks at a downtown funfair! Once it makes its first appearance, any hope of
taking the movie even remotely seriously thereafter is entirely lost, its mad
glazed gaze staring into the camera through a pair of enormous white ping-pong
ball-like eyes, and its scrawny plumage recalling an irredeemably clapped-out
feather duster! In other words, The Giant
Claw is precisely the kind of monstrously crazy creature feature that I
just had to review here in my movie blog, especially as I'd previously read so
much about it (Morrow confessed in an interview, for instance, that he had
crept incognito into a cinema screening this film at its premiere and was so
ashamed at the laughter and jeers that arose from the audience each time that
the bird appeared on screen that he lost no time in creeping back out in case
someone recognised him!; and Ray Harryhausen had originally been selected to
create the bird but the movie's budget was so low that they had to use a
cut-price alternative model creator in Mexico City instead). And now, finally,
I've actually viewed it in all its horrendous glory. A total turkey that's
strictly for the birds? Please click here to watch an official trailer for
this movie on YouTube and decide for yourselves! Or click here
if you'd like to watch free of charge on YouTube the entire colorized movie version
that I watched on there.
A
couple of publicity posters for The
Hidden (© Jack Sholder/Heron Communications, Inc./Mega Entertainment/New
Line Cinema – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for
educational/review purposes only)
THE HIDDEN
On
25 October 2024, I finally watched a classic 1980s sci fi movie that I'd long
intended to see – The Hidden.
Directed by Jack Sholder and released in 1987 by New Line Cinema, it's all
about an evil half-insect/half-slug alien that physically occupies a human host
to make him/her do its violent will, thereby turning its victim into a
homicidal killer before exiting when the host is killed by police etc, and then
surreptitiously entering a new human host. Its ultimate goal is to enter and
control the next President of the USA, but on its trail is an indefatigable
alien law enforcer in the human guise of fake FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher (played
by Kyle MacLachlan), assisted by cynical LAPD cop Detective Tom Beck (Michael
Nouri), who for much of the film has no idea what on Earth (literally!) is
happening. He is particularly perplexed as to why hitherto law-abiding citizens
are abruptly turning into mass murderers, until Gallagher eventually has no
option but to tell him the jaw-dropping truth. The Hidden is a very tense, thrilling movie that kept me on the edge
of my seat throughout, thereby fully justifying this claim as made in one of
its posters included here, culminating in a literally explosive climax that at
long last publicly exposes the alien villain in its revolting true form to an
astonished, horrified human audience, followed by a most unexpected but very
moving, touching finale. Highly recommended!! A follow-up film, The Hidden II, was released in 1993, in
which it is revealed that the bug/slug alien from the original movie had
secretly laid some eggs before being killed, and these are now beginning to
hatch – uh-oh… I'll have to seek out this sequel and watch it at some stage.
Meanwhile, please click here to watch an official trailer for
the original movie on YouTube.
A
publicity poster and an official VHS video of Curse of the Crystal Eye (© John Tornatore/New Horizons –
reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for
educational/review purposes only)
CURSE OF THE
CRYSTAL EYE
My movie watch on 27 March 2024 was Curse of the Crystal Eye. Directed by
Joe Tornatore and released in 1991 by New Horizons, this is one of a seemingly
countless number of action/adventure movies spawned by other studios in the
wake of Paramount's immensely-successful Indiana Jones blockbusters, in which a
rebel character seeks ancient treasure and faces untold life-threatening
challenges during his daring quest. In this particular offering, the rebel in
question is ex-mercenary Luke Ward (played by Jameson Parker), who is gifted a
sizeable priceless crystal that acts as an eye to guide him and his
romantic-interest sidekick, namely diplomat's daughter Vickie Philips (Cynthia
Payne in her final big-screen role), to the fabled long-hidden treasure of none
other than Arabian Nights thief-leader Ali Baba. And guess what? Before you can
say "Open Sesame", he and Vickie plus their back-up team of brawny
mercenaries duly find the cave in which the ancient temple containing the
treasure is concealed – but this is just the beginning, as the cave does not
relinquish its splendorous contents quite so easily. Nor are they alone and
unchallenged in their mission to relieve the cave of said contents... Curse of the Crystal Eye is an innocuous
and mildly entertaining but instantly-forgettable adventure flick that passes
90 minutes' worth of time during a rainy spring afternoon or chilly winter
evening, but signally lacks the much-vaunted fiery dragons promised in its
publicity material. Shucks! Please click here to watch an official trailer for
this movie on YouTube, or click here to watch the entire movie on there,
free of charge..
French publicity poster for Pitch Black plus this movie's alien
life-form the bioraptor (© David Twohy/Grammercy Pictures/Interscope
Communications/Universal Pictures –
reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review
purposes only)
PITCH BLACK
On 11
August 2024, I
watched the sci fi movie Pitch Black,
directed by David Twohy and released in 2000 by Universal Pictures. Pitch Black is the first entry in the Chronicles
of Riddick film franchise, and it stars Vin Diesel as dangerous, taciturn, and
thoroughly enigmatic criminal Richard Riddick. He is one of several passengers
to survive the crash-landing of their space-craft on a mysterious desert planet
seemingly devoid of all life forms – until an eclipse blocks out its suns. Then
the terrifying bioraptors emerge from their caves – very large winged horrors
that slaughter most of the passengers as they bid desperately to survive these
nocturnal nightmares. A reluctant Riddick decides to help the other passengers,
equipped as he is with specially-modified eyes that now possess perfect night
vision – very useful during an eclipse where darkness brings forth monstrous
entities of the murderous kind, Mercifully, however, these killer creatures are
physically wounded by bright light, so the passengers strive frantically to
equip themselves with any kind of light source (even capturing tiny
bioluminescent creatures inside transparent glass jars to use as living
lanterns – these creatures are actually the bioraptors' larvae), and pray that
the eclipse will only be of short duration. The bioraptors are superbly
designed, totally alien in form, and are seen clearly enough (even in dark
scenes), frequently enough, and long enough for my interest to be maintained
throughout. So much so, in fact, that I now intend to watch the other three
entries (one of which is actually an animated featurette) presently in this
series, with a fifth due out in 2025. Very enjoyable. Please click here
to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.
Three
publicity posters for Synchronic (© Justin
Benson/Aaron Moorhead/XYZ Films/Patriot Pictures/Rustic Films/Well Go USA
Entertainment - – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis
for educational/review purposes only)
SYNCHRONIC
My movie watch on 8 May 2024 was the sci
fi thriller Synchronic. Directed by
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Benson also wrote and co-produced it), and
released in 2019 by Well Go USA Entertainment, it stars Anthony Mackie and
Jamie Dornan as New Orleans paramedics Steve and Dennis. They are also best
friends, and are dealing with a series of grisly deaths linked to a mysterious
new designer drug after which this movie is named. When Dennis's teenage
daughter Brianna vanishes without trace, however, Steve learns from the drug's
guilt-ridden creator its top-secret but shocking unexpected side-effect.
Whereas adults with a calcified pineal gland who take a tablet of Synchronic can
visualise the past and appear in it as ghost-like entities that can be injured
or even killed there but physically remain in the present, youngsters with a
non-calcified pineal who take a tablet are bodily transported into the past,
and without a second tablet they are stuck there, forever! Steve has recently
learnt that he has a pineal cancer, which has prevented his pineal gland from
calcifying – and so, unlike most adults, if he takes a Synchronic tablet he can
actually visit the past physically. Consequently, he uses a stash of tablets to
search for Brianna in the past, but will be find her before his stash runs out,
especially as Synchronic's creator has meanwhile bought up every available
supply of it and destroyed them all before committing suicide? The film would
have been interesting were it not so remorselessly bleak, and dark – in every
sense. Not only was it overwhelmingly depressing, but also it seemed to have
been shot almost entirely at night, filling the screen with shadows and near
pitch-black vistas for far too much of its 102-minute running time. Even when
Steve visited the past it was almost always at night. Did the studio forget to
pay their electricity bill, I wonder? Synchronic
offers an unusual premise, certainly, and provides a very poignant ending, but
overall it was far too depressing for my tastes. Please click here
to watch an official trailer for this movie on YouTube.
Two
publicity posters for The Wonderful World
of the Brothers Grimm (© Henry Levin/George Pal/George Pal
Productions/Avernus Productions/MGM – reproduced here on a strictly
non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM
On 12 April 2024, I sought out and, after
owning it for many years, finally watched my sell-thru video of the classic 1960s
fantasy movie The Wonderful World of the
Brothers Grimm, which was co-directed by Henry Levin and George Pal (with
Pal also producing it), and also extensively featured marionettes created by
Pal for the fairytale segments. Filmed in spectacular curved-screen Cinerama, and
released in 1962 by MGM, it is basically a largely imaginary, highly
romanticised history of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the two 19th-Century German
brothers who famously collected and chronicled many of their homeland's
traditional folktales. In the present movie, however, only Wilhelm (played by
Laurence Harvey) is portrayed in this way, with Jacob (Karlheinz Böhm) presented
as a highbrow law scholar who initially has neither time nor patience for his
brother's fairytales, but is eventually won over to his cause, helping Wilhelm
with his collating and preserving of them in published book form. Interspersed
between the film's biographical storyline are three of their collected
fairytales – 'The Dancing Princess' (a constricted version of 'The 12 Dancing
Princesses'), 'The Cobbler and the Elves', and 'The Singing Bone', the latter
two featuring some wonderful Pal puppetry/stop-motion animation, especially the
dragon in 'The Singing Bone', and all three of them are sumptuously staged. A
host of famous names also appear, including Russ Tamblyn, Barbara Eden, Jim
Backus, Terry-Thomas, Claire Bloom, Martita Hunt, and Yvette Mimieux. This is a
delightful movie very reminiscent in execution and whimsical treatment of its
two sibling subjects' lives of the 1952 movie musical Hans Christian Andersen with regard to its own titular storyteller
(played by Danny Kaye). Grimm by name but certainly not grim by nature, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
is definitely a fun-filled, thoroughly enchanting film for all the family to
enjoy. Please click here to watch an official trailer for
this movie on YouTube.
Finally:
to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand
blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a
direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a
complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
George
Pal's stop-motion dragon model from The
Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (© Henry Levin/George Pal/George Pal
Productions/Avernus Productions/MGM – reproduced here on a strictly
non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)