THE RIFT (aka ENDLESS DESCENT)

 

Publicity poster for The Rift (aka Endless Descent) (© J.P. Simón/Dister Group/Trimark Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 9 April 2023 was an early 1990s sci fi/monster movie entitled The Rift (aka Endless Descent).

Directed by J.P. Simón (or Juan Piquer Simón in full), and released in 1990 by Trimark Pictures, The Rift was produced by Francesca DeLaurentiis, daughter of eminent director Dino – who actually financed this movie but chose not to be publicly credited in that capacity. Although set underwater, it had originally been scripted with an Outer Space setting. Moreover, it began life as 250-page draft by Colin Wilson, author of numerous books on mysteries and the unexplained, before being rewritten by David Coleman, hired to do so by Francesca.

The Rift stars Jack Scalia and Ray Wise, with its plot focusing upon a NATO submarine rescue team who in their own vessel (named Siren II) are searching the ocean depths for a lost, earlier submarine (Siren I) and its scientists.

The team on Siren II include Wick Hayes (played by Scalia), the designer of Siren I, who is greatly disturbed to discover that various modifications appertaining to nuclear utilization had been made to its design without his prior knowledge – but that's not all.

To the profound shock of the entire Siren II team, they eventually discover that the scientists aboard Siren I had been involved in secret US governmental underwater biological warfare experiments that had gone wrong, badly wrong, creating all manner of mutated monster animals and even plants around a rift in the ocean floor, and inside a cave system close by where the experiments had taken place.

In order to cover up these highly dangerous mistakes, the government has covertly included one of its own spy agents, Robbins (Wise), in Siren II's team. Robbins's murderous mission is to ensure that once they have destroyed the mutants, Siren II's team are themselves also eliminated (except for himself), thereby eradicating all evidence of the mutants, and all observers of that evidence. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans...

The monsters are both varied and violent (and were created by Colin Arthur, who also worked on The Neverending Story). Featuring in some surprisingly gory scenes, they range from Alienesque entities with protrusible jaws and tongues (as in a gigantic starfish/sea anemone amalgam), or which impregnate human victims directly through their mouths (as in huge fly-like beasts with compound eyes), to tentacled aquatic horrors, a vast amorphous amoeboid entity that attempts to envelop the entire Siren II submarine, giant eggs containing seriously creepy semi-humanoid foetuses, and even rapidly-multiplying killer seaweed – I kid you not!

 

The gigantic Alienesque starfish/sea anemone mutant encountered inside the cave by the Siren II team, in The Rift (© J.P. Simón/Dister Group/Trimark Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

As for the humans: all of the cast provide serviceable performances (and like them we must ignore their wearing of normal diving suits at deepwater depths where the pressure would have destroyed them!), but The Rift steadfastly follows the all too familiar plot formula that is all too frequently employed in movies like this. Namely, eliminating Siren II's team members one by one, starting with those characters lowest in the cast list and steadily working its way upwards. No surprises there then. Equally, the audience becomes aware very early on in the proceedings that Robbins is not as trustworthy as he purports to be, thanks to some knowing stares and smirks by him into the camera – which is why revealing his treacherous plans here in this review cannot be considered a spoiler, because once again his eventual exposure in the film as a traitor comes as no surprise.

Such shortcomings notwithstanding, I enjoyed The Rift, most especially the scenes featuring its array of monsters, which naturally engaged my attention much more than its relatively mundane 'slaughter by numbers' treatment of the Siren II team.

Having said that, however, the actual act of viewing this movie was somewhat of a trial, resulting in my needing to watch it through twice in order to fully understand its plot. This was because the only two versions of The Rift readily available to me at that time, both of them on YouTube, had their dialogue in German and Spanish respectively, so I had to rely upon automatically-generated English subtitles. These were quite decent for the Spanish version, but atrocious for the German one (yet which, as bad luck would have it, was the version that I originally watched, and hence necessitated my rewatching the movie via the Spanish version in order to make sense of its plot).

Consequently, I vowed that if I ever saw an English-language video or DVD of this movie priced reasonably, I'd definitely add it to my collection (and watch it yet again – third time lucky!). And indeed, just a few days ago I did precisely that, purchasing an ex-rental big box video of it that I'd spotted for sale online – only to find when it arrived, however, that the tape was covered with mould! Needless to say, this necessitated its swift return, followed by a thankfully swift refund too, which I then used to purchase a second such video of it that had just been listed for sale. Happily, this one is in excellent condition, so I shall finally be able to watch The Rift in English! If when doing so I notice anything of significance that passed me by when watching the two foreign-language versions, I'll be sure to update this present review accordingly – so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, if you'd like to view a mélange of monsters appearing in The Rift, be sure to click here to view 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.

 

A cave-exploring team member of Siren II ready to bite the dust at the hands – and fangs – of another monstrous mutant, in The Rift (© J.P. Simón/Dister Group/Trimark Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

HANCOCK

 

Publicity still for Hancock (© Peter Berg/Columbia Pictures/Relativity Media/Overbrook Entertainment/Weed Road ictures/Forward Pass/Blue Light/Sony Pictures Releasing – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use Basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 13 April 2023, my movie watch was the comedy/drama super-hero film Hancock, directed by Peter Berg, released in 2008 by Sony Pictures, and starring Will Smith as its title character.

Hancock (full name John Hancock, but mostly addressed only by his surname) is an alcoholic washed-up super-hero who spends much of his time slumped on public benches in Los Angeles sleeping off his latest hangover. And when he does attempt to fight crime, he does so in such a rambunctious manner amid his perpetual drunken stupor that he generally wreaks more havoc than the criminals do!

Not surprisingly, therefore, Hancock is not popular among the populace, or loved by LA's official law upholders. Then one day, albeit more by luck than likelihood, he saves the life of a public relations man named Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman). Profoundly grateful, Ray vows to overhaul Hancock's bad behaviour and exceedingly poor public profile, so that he is loved and valued by everyone for the super-hero he truly is – even if that means Hancock voluntarily surrendering himself for a period of incarceration in jail to atone for his anarchic actions and make people appreciate him when during his absence the city crime rate escalates. Does this sound like a winning plan to you when Hancock is involved? No, me neither!

Strangely, however, and irrespective of the decidedly bizarre modus operandi involved, this well-intentioned plan meets with a decidedly unenthusiastic, underwhelming response from Ray's wife Mary (Charlize Theron), And for good reason – not only does she have super powers too, but which she has steadfastly kept hidden from Ray, their young son Aaron (Jae Head), and everyone else, she also happens to be Hancock's wife too, and for far longer than she has been Ray's. In fact, she has been married to Hancock for more than two millennia, because she and he are 3,000-year-old super-beings who never age.

Of course, Ray knows nothing of this astonishing (not to mention technically bigamous!) situation, but neither does Hancock. For it turns out that after being attacked 80 years earlier while defending Mary from muggers, he woke up in hospital with amnesia and has no memory whatsoever of his life, including anyone in it, prior to that incident. He even assumes (wrongly, obviously) that his super powers are somehow the result of having suffered head injuries during the attack.

And as if this surreal scenario were not complicated enough already, the closer that super-beings like Mary and Hancock become to each other, as they inevitably do when married, the more mortal and therefore vulnerable to physical injury and death they become. This is how Hancock came to be injured by the muggers, and why Mary did not renew their relationship afterwards – she knew that his recovery and ongoing survival depended upon distance between them being maintained.

Moreover, back in the present day but unbeknownst to both of them, vengeful villain Kenneth 'Red' Parker Jr (Eddie Marsan), who holds a serious grudge against Hancock for chopping off one of his hands to prevent him blowing up a large group of hostages during a failed bank robbery attempt, is hot on their trail. Assisted by his team of henchmen, Red intends to destroy Hancock (especially) and Mary, as they are the last two super-beings still alive on Earth, all others having died long ago. This could – and does – get nasty, very nasty...

Hancock is a very enjoyable fantasy movie, especially the first half, which is solid comedy, but its mood becomes increasingly darker in the second half once Mary's true nature and her relationship to Hancock emerge, with the climax being decidedly grim – and not in a fairy tale way either! (Apparently, the original screenplay was even darker, and contained more violence and adult language. but its tone was lightened considerably during subsequent revisions in order for it to be given a cinema rating that would make it accessible to a wider audience; it finally received a PG-13 rating after earlier pre-release showings had twice received an R.)

Throughout it all, however, Smith portrays Hancock very effectively as a likeable if somewhat lost soul pushed by Ray into reluctantly seeking redemption, with the audience willing him to succeed thanks to an empathic performance by Smith that is the key to this movie's success.

Interestingly, during the decade or so that the original script for Hancock (or John Hancock or Tonight, He Comes – to cite this movie's two previously-suggested titles) had been  doing the rounds in Hollywood, several other prominent actors had been considered for its title character. They include the likes of Ben Affleck, Dave Chappelle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio, but personally I can't imagine any of them – immensely talented performers though they all are – creating the truly captivating character that Hancock is under the acting auspices of Smith.

Also worth noting is that ever since Hancock was released in 2008 and became a big earner, plans have been floating around for a sequel, to star Smith and Theron reprising their roles (both having announced their willingness to return), and with a third super-being character to be added to the mix. As yet, however, no formal commitment to produce such a film has been made.

If you're interested in watching a very different super-hero movie from the more traditional types, be sure to click here to view an official Hancock trailer to get a feel for what to expect. And speaking of atypical super-heroes – click here to read my Shuker In MovieLand review of Brightburn, here to read my review of Howard the Duck, and both here and here to read my reviews of the Deadpool movies.

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.

 

Official UK DVD for Hancock (© Peter Berg/Columbia Pictures/Relativity Media/Overbrook Entertainment/Weed Road ictures/Forward Pass/Blue Light/Sony Pictures Releasing – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use Basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM

Video front cover for Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (© Héctor Olivera/Roger Corman/Concorde Pictures/Juno Media/Medusa Home Videos – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Last night I returned to my collection of big box ex-rental videos to watch an absolute classic, staple movie from the era of 1980s video rental shops – Wizards of the Lost Kingdom.

Directed by Héctor Olivera under the auspices of Roger Corman during a run of 10 movies that Corman producd in Argentina during the 1980s, and released in 1985 by Concorde Pictures, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom is a swords and sorcery movie that packs into 90 minutes virtually every S&S meme and motif that you can shake a sword at – and then some – albeit with wildly differing degrees of success. (Worth noting, incidentally, is that its original cut was only 58 minutes long, so to pad it out Corman incorporated excerpts from some of his earlier S&S movies, such as Battle Beyond The Stars, Sorceress, and Deathstalker!)

So: virtuous king of a faraway land cruelly betrayed by his haughty queen and slain by his evil supercilious wizardly vizier – check. Youthful rightful heir to the throne forced to flee to escape vizier's clutches – check. Said youthful rightful heir championed by a laconic rebel adventurer armed with a ready supply of quips as well as a hefty sword – check. A motley assortment of monsters, especially of the actors wearing monster masks kind – check. Villainous but inane henchmen who perform more pratfalls and double-takes than Peter Glaze on Crackerjack (an allusion specially for British TV viewers of a certain age to enjoy!) – check. A vertically-challenged comic-relief character (in this instance a hobgoblin) – check. A giant furry friend of the youthful heir (in this instance an albino wookie, or something like that!) – check. And so on.

The plot is both formulaic and episodic. His name notwithstanding, evil wizard and erstwhile king's counselor Shurka (Thom Christopher) does not shirk from killing his noble monarch King Tylor (Augusto Larreta) in order to seize the throne of Axeholme, with the approval of his lover Udea (Barbara Stock), Tylor's traitorous queen. All Shurka needs now to gain absolute power is the magical ring owned by Tylor's good wizard Wulfrik (Edgardo Moreira) – but before he has chance to claim the ring, Wulfrik magics it away to safety with his teenage son Simon (Vidal Peterson) and Simon's huge hirsute companion Gulfax (Moreira again, but now in a white wookie-lite suit) – or so Wulfrik thinks.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the ring falls off Simon's finger at the precise moment that he and Gulfax are teleported out of Tylor's royal castle, the ring falling into the open jaws of a stone pantheresque statue in the castle's throne room where it remains hidden throughout almost the entire movie from the array of servants sent by Shurka to locate it.

Simon and Gulfax, meanwhile, find themselves lost in a forest far beyond the castle, but soon encounter a rugged rogue adventurer modestly (and alliteratively) known as Kor the Conqueror (Bo Svenson). Kor agrees to assist Simon in his goal to return to the castle and avenge the death of his father (whom Shurka has also slain) as well as that of the king, and rescue the king's teenage daughter Princess Aura, whom Shurka has imprisoned but secretly plans to marry, thereby betraying Queen Udea just like she betrayed the king.

The remainder of the movie sees Kor, Simon, and Gulfax fighting a succession of monsters, some serving as henchmen of Shurka, others serving simply as plot devices to keep the movie's momentum from slumping. So we have an alluring maiden named Acrasia (Maria Socas) who bewitches young Simon with her womanly wiles and a flagon of wine before turning into a hideous gigantic insect ready to devour him before he comes to his senses and dispatches her. Whether still inebriated or not I'm not sure, but no sooner has Simon escaped from Acrasia's deadly embrace than he comes up with the bright idea of resurrecting some long-deceased warriors to fight alongside him and Kor, only for the resulting zombies to attack them instead, before being persuaded to return to their earthly resting places.

Then we have a trio of louche lizardmen hassling a poor little hobgoblin named Hurla (Michael Fontaine) until Kor steps in and rids him of his reptilian aggressors, after which a grateful Hurla promises to utilize his magic powers in assisting their quest to defeat Shurka. There is also the charmingly-named Suicide Cave through which Simon and Kor have to pass (Gulfax having wisely sat out this particular challenge by remaining with Hurla), in which they are harassed by a succession of semi-transparent howling ghosts that fly at them from all directions.

And did I mention the rainbow-engendering mermaid-like naiad, the magic-spitting winged lion (which, disappointingly, is nothing remotely as impressive as its image on its video's front cover shown above would have you believe), or the warrior cyclops who captures Kor to ensure that he keeps an earlier promise to marry the cyclops's hideous sister or else be eaten alive? Like I said earlier, the storyline is very episodic, but at least there's never a dull moment!

Thanks to the naiad, Simon, Kor, Gulfax, and Hurla finally reach the castle, just in time to prevent Shurka from forcing Aura to marry him, and Simon retrieves the lost ring from one of Shurka's minions who had just that moment spotted it in the jaws of the stone panther. There then follows the obligatory battle to the death between good wizard Simon and evil wizard Shurka, in which Shurka is obviously destroyed (this is after all a PG-rated movie aimed at a youth audience), Simon is made king, and Kor departs for adventures new elsewhere. The end. (Except that a sequel, imaginatively entitled Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II, was released in 1989, but this did not feature any of the original film's cast or crew.)

Made at a time when CGI was not so much in its infancy as still a cinematic embryo, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom relies extensively upon what in comparison were the very primitive albeit sometimes quite effective special effects available back then – with the notable exception of the winged lion, that is…

Throughout its brief appearance after having been summoned by Simon in a dream, this intriguing entity remains resolutely motionless while suspended in the sky, only its head and mouth moving slightly and its expanded wings fluttering a little. And no, regardless of what the movie video's spectacular front cover artwork depicts so vividly, nobody gets to ride on its back either – due to that winged lion artwork apparently having derived directly from the Dungeons & Dragons board-game box's artwork!

Equally ambiguous is this film's title, bearing in mind that the kingdom isn't lost – usurped yes, but not actually lost. What is lost, at least for most of the movie, is the magical ring that the two rival, regal wizards – Shurka and Simon – are both intent upon possessing. So perhaps a more apt title for it would have been Lords of the Ring – then again, I have the distinct feeling that something like this may have already been used in some capacity…

As a fantasy movie for the more youthful audience, I feel sure that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom would satisfy just as successfully as the many classic Sinbad and Thief of Baghdad-themed films have done for decades of Saturday morning TV viewing – which is why I am puzzled never once in almost 40 years since its original mid-1980s release to have seen it included in any listings for the main UK terrestrial TV channels. So unless it was hired from a video rental shop, or subsequently purchased as a sell-thru video or DVD, this means that generations of pre-internet/streaming youngsters never had the chance to see this engaging family movie, which is a great shame.

Happily, however, at least at the time of posting this present review online here at Shuker In MovieLand, I'm happy to confirm that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom can be viewed free of charge in its entirety on YouTube by clicking here. Or if you'd prefer a taster of what to expect first, please click here to view an official trailer for it.

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.

 

BUSTED UP (aka KILLING TOWN)

 

Front cover and spine of my official ex-rental big box Medusa VHS videocassette of Busted Up (aka Killing Town) (© Conrad E. Palmisano/Rose & Ruby/Medusa Home Videos – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Some movie DVDs and videos have been watched by me almost as soon as I've bought them, whereas various others have lingered unwatched for longer – sometimes much longer. In the case of the movie under review here today, I've owned it in ex-rental big box video format for over 30 years without ever having viewed it – until recently, that is, when I finally got around to doing so. And the title of this long-neglected movie? Busted Up (also released retitled as Killing Town).

Directed by Conrad E. Palmisano, co-produced and written by Damian Lee (who loosely based it upon his own real-life experiences as a bare knuckle boxer in Peru before becoming involved in film-making), and released in 1986 by Rose & Ruby, Busted Up has as its central character one Earl Bird (played by Paul Coufos). Earl is a former jailbird but now a totally reformed and rehabilitated local hero, who not only owns with his best buddy Angie (Stan Shaw) a much-loved gym in the heart of their downtown backstreet neighbourhood (in an unnamed American urban location) but also is a very skilled boxer, of both the gloved and the bare knuckle variety.

Furthermore, Earl is a single parent to his young daughter Sara after girlfriend Simone (Irene Cara) walked out on them, seeking fame and fortune as a singer in the bright lights. However, that didn't work out, so now she is back, singing in sleazy bars instead, and intent upon reclaiming Sara. But this is far from being Earl's only problem needing to be dealt with by him.

Local mobster Irving Drayton (Tony Rosato) has been hired by some seriously unscrupulous real-estate wheeler-dealers to purchase all the properties in Earl's neighbourhood, so that they can be flattened and a shiny new complex built in their stead, and to do whatever it takes to rid these properties of their tenants and owners if they won't sell and move out quickly and quietly.

But after Earl and Angie refuse to sell the gym, and made swiftly aware of Earl's fighting prowess when he readily beats up all of his heavies into abject submission, Drayton offers Earl a serious challenge instead.

One of Earl's friends had reluctantly sold to Drayton the greengrocer store that he and his father before him had owned and worked in all their lives. So the deal proposed is that Earl fights a champion hand-picked by Drayton. If Earl loses, Drayton keeps the greengrocer store and also takes the gym, but if Earl wins he keeps the gym and also takes back his friend's store. There is one other condition, however – in addition to the businesses, Earl and Drayton must each put up a cash prize of $25,000.

That is not a problem for Drayton, because this is the sum that the wheeler-dealers have paid him in advance for his services. But as Earl and Angie do not have that kind of money going spare, it means that Earl will have to raise it by entering bare knuckle bouts in the hopes of winning it. But in so doing, he risks injuring himself before the bout with Drayton's champion (something that Drayton is counting upon happening).

And speaking of his champion: Drayton calls upon the services of a feral man-mountain just released from jail on parole, a certain Tony Tenera (Gord Judges), who just so happens to nurture a blind, unfettered hatred for Earl following a ferocious physical confrontation when they were in jail together. So this will be a grudge match in every sense.

After reconciling with Simone, and finally accumulating the necessary $25,000 without doing damage to himself, Earl is all set for the big fight with Tenera. Then, that same day, he is tricked into a back-alley confrontation with Drayton's entire gang of thugs who beat him up so badly with iron bars that it seems unlikely he will be in a fit state even to tackle Tenera that evening, let alone emerge triumphant. Thanks to Angie's skills in recuperative treatment, however, Earl enters the ring and prepares to do battle, but will his still-weakened state let him down, or will he rise like a resurrected Rocky phoenix and demolish Tenera, saving the day for himself, for the gym, and for all his friends in the neighbourhood? Take a wild guess!

Busted Up is a somewhat formulaic but nonetheless very watchable underdog-comes-good sport-themed action movie, with a very likeable character in Earl whom you readily root for throughout the film, plus an unequivocally (and literally!) no-punches-pulled performance from Coufos playing him. Although Cara is top-billed in the movie's opening credits (and second-billed in the closing ones, oddly), as Simone she plays little more than a supporting character (though she does get to sing some songs), with Coufos's Earl, Shaw's Angie, Rosato's Drayton, and Frank Pellegrino's Nicky (providing some much-needed comedy relief among all the blood and beatings as a longstanding yet less than trustworthy friend of Earl and Angie) sharing the principal acting honours.

So, was Busted Up worth its 30-year wait to be watched by me? Bearing in mind that it's from a film genre – sport – that I rarely watch (martial arts excepted), and that I only bought it on the strength of its two lead stars, Coufos and Cara, I think so, yes. It engaged my attention, made me care about the good guys, and wish bad things upon the bad guys – what more can you ask for from an action movie?

If you'd like to view an official Busted Up trailer on YouTube, be sure to click here. Moreover, at the time of my posting this review of it on Shuker In MovieLand, you can watch this entire film free of charge on YouTube by clicking here – so be sure to take the opportunity to do so while you can.

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.