Since the 1930's, and perhaps before, the movie going public has been treated to their fair share of zombie flicks. Zombies that stumble, zombies that run, and zombie comedies have all come down the pike. Some are classics, many are not. This film takes another stab at the zombie genre, and turns it on its head.
A nameless zombie (Brian Shaw) seems to be enjoying his zombie existence. His zombie mate is pregnant, he has what seem to be two teenage zombie children, and the quartet live in the woods, eating whatever human flesh they happen to stumble upon. The dad zombie brings home a suicide's body, and partakes of some booze while the family feasts on the body. The other three family members become violently ill and die, obviously not seeing the radioactive warning labels that surrounded the dead person. Before expiring, zombie mom gives birth to the zombie baby. The man must now care for the newborn, killing small animals and chewing its flesh to feed his offspring. The two are on the run from a mysterious army who are killing the zombie creatures. The man sees a human woman (Kathleen Lawlor) and saves her from another set of zombies. The woman becomes a surrogate mother, and now the three begin traveling together. They don't seem to have a destination, except the woman tries not to be eaten, and the man tries not to eat her. As with most zombie films, things don't end well for all involved.
Writer/director Julian Grant has done a fantastic job with this. He also provided the shimmering black and white, or maybe more blue and white, photography, and the brisk editing. The film is devoid of spoken dialogue, except for the guttural zombie grunts, and some background voices of the zombie killers here and there. The woman cannot communicate with the zombie man, so what's the point of talking? David Findlay lays down a professional musical score that adds to the film. The makeup effects are excellent, including the zombie infant- which thankfully in no way resembles the fakery of "It's Alive!" or "The Unborn." The cast all give great performances in obviously difficult roles. Shaw is covered in gross makeup for the entire film, and Lawlor doesn't look like she just strolled out of a salon, either, but both use their facial expressions to the fullest without resulting to broad theatrical acting. The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois/Gary, Indiana/LaPorte, Indiana area, and the locations are perfect. I love old abandoned buildings and ghost towns, and Grant has found some excellent places to set his story. The screenplay itself keeps a lot under its hat, never out-and-out explaining anything, including the reason half of society turned into zombies. We do not get any back story on the two main characters, and I liked that. Grant has them living and surviving right now, no time for embarrassing fireside English lessons and "what I did before the apocalypse" speeches.
"The Defiled" will satisfy gorehounds as well as sci-fi and horror fans, and it definitely compares favorably to the work of George A. Romero and the "28...Later" films. Seek it out.
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Of the Dead (1979)
This European documentary shuns the sleazy world of mondo docs like "Faces of Death" and tries to show how different parts of the world view death. The problem is that the directors slip in sleazy mondo footage, and the unshocking footage is especially dull.
The film opens with an American preparing a body for embalming, before a very long segment in Thailand, where a family prepares to bury a dead relative. The Thai grandmother lies in a hut for three days, decomposes, and is finally buried, but not before we witness the graphic killing of four oxen. The film makers also visit Belgium, Nepal, and South Korea, juxtaposing scenes between what we would consider shocking treatment of the dead, and scenes of how Americans treat their terminally ill and dying.
The film makers rally around their point, "see, we are not all that different," and proceed to grind the viewer's face into this shallow statement for 105 minutes. Interviews with American muscular dystrophy patients who talk about how they want to be buried or cremated is followed by a Filipino revolutionary executed and dumped into a shallow grave. "Death" is a big topic to trim into a little documentary. There's no narrator or central idea, save the "we aren't so different" rigamarole, so scenes drag in between the carnage.
If you like those shockumentaries like "Faces of Death," I feel sorry for you, but not half as sorry as I am for watching this. I do not recommend the deadening dull "Of the Dead." Also known as "Des Morts."
The film opens with an American preparing a body for embalming, before a very long segment in Thailand, where a family prepares to bury a dead relative. The Thai grandmother lies in a hut for three days, decomposes, and is finally buried, but not before we witness the graphic killing of four oxen. The film makers also visit Belgium, Nepal, and South Korea, juxtaposing scenes between what we would consider shocking treatment of the dead, and scenes of how Americans treat their terminally ill and dying.
The film makers rally around their point, "see, we are not all that different," and proceed to grind the viewer's face into this shallow statement for 105 minutes. Interviews with American muscular dystrophy patients who talk about how they want to be buried or cremated is followed by a Filipino revolutionary executed and dumped into a shallow grave. "Death" is a big topic to trim into a little documentary. There's no narrator or central idea, save the "we aren't so different" rigamarole, so scenes drag in between the carnage.
If you like those shockumentaries like "Faces of Death," I feel sorry for you, but not half as sorry as I am for watching this. I do not recommend the deadening dull "Of the Dead." Also known as "Des Morts."
The Desperados (1969)
This Civil War western gives an early take on a dysfunctional family, and almost works because of its incredible action scenes.
Parson Josiah Galt (Jack Palance) is the father and leader of a bunch of Confederate guerillas modeled after Quantrill's Raiders. He, his sons, and his men invade towns, stealing money, assaulting women, and burning places to the ground. In one Kansas town, eldest son David (Vince Edwards) decides the killing needs to stop. David kills one of his own men by accident during the raid, is arrested, and sentenced to death in the family-run court. With family like this, who needs in-laws? David escapes after kicking little brother Jacob's (George Maharis) butt, flees to Texas, changes his name, and lives the good life with a wife (Sylvia Syms) and son (Benjamin Edney). In Texas, only Marshal Kilpatrick (Neville Brand) knows David's secret- but Josiah's gang sets their sights on Texas and David's new hometown.
Levin's direction is very good, and his action scenes are great- especially a set-piece aboard a flaming runaway train. David Whitaker's musical score is perfect, with bombastic stuff during the action, pumping the adrenaline and setting the mood. The main problem is the two leads- Edwards as Palance's son? Palance was nine years older than Edwards, and they look the same age. Palance is awful, playing the part way over-the-top and constantly stepping into unintentionally hilarious melodramatics. Edwards is the opposite, holding the same constipated look on his face throughout the film and showing as little emotion as he possibly can. Despite some good stunts, the fact that these two are in almost every scene drags down the technical achievements. The normally reliable Brand seems at a loss.
"The Desperados" is gritty and violent, but Levin's inability to get control of his actors weighs down the action. I cannot recommend this film.
Parson Josiah Galt (Jack Palance) is the father and leader of a bunch of Confederate guerillas modeled after Quantrill's Raiders. He, his sons, and his men invade towns, stealing money, assaulting women, and burning places to the ground. In one Kansas town, eldest son David (Vince Edwards) decides the killing needs to stop. David kills one of his own men by accident during the raid, is arrested, and sentenced to death in the family-run court. With family like this, who needs in-laws? David escapes after kicking little brother Jacob's (George Maharis) butt, flees to Texas, changes his name, and lives the good life with a wife (Sylvia Syms) and son (Benjamin Edney). In Texas, only Marshal Kilpatrick (Neville Brand) knows David's secret- but Josiah's gang sets their sights on Texas and David's new hometown.
Levin's direction is very good, and his action scenes are great- especially a set-piece aboard a flaming runaway train. David Whitaker's musical score is perfect, with bombastic stuff during the action, pumping the adrenaline and setting the mood. The main problem is the two leads- Edwards as Palance's son? Palance was nine years older than Edwards, and they look the same age. Palance is awful, playing the part way over-the-top and constantly stepping into unintentionally hilarious melodramatics. Edwards is the opposite, holding the same constipated look on his face throughout the film and showing as little emotion as he possibly can. Despite some good stunts, the fact that these two are in almost every scene drags down the technical achievements. The normally reliable Brand seems at a loss.
"The Desperados" is gritty and violent, but Levin's inability to get control of his actors weighs down the action. I cannot recommend this film.
The Beguiled (1971)
Director Don Siegel, who would put Clint Eastwood in a little film called "Dirty Harry," uses the action star in a way no one had before. Together, they create a piece of Southern Gothicism that is a great Civil War film that could have been screwed up by anyone else.
Eastwood is Corporal John McBirney, a Union soldier on the run in the deep south. He is wounded and discovered by twelve year old Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin). McB, as John wants to be known, kisses Amy on the lips to keep her quiet when soldiers pass, and she takes the incident the wrong way, falling in love with him instantly. McB is dragged back to Amy's home, the Farnsworth Seminary for Young Girls, run by Miss Martha (Geraldine Page) and Miss Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman). Right away, Siegel gives us a flash of memory of Martha's, whose relationship with her brother was incestuous. As Martha does her Confederate duty, she prepares to tell friendly troops of her new prisoner. She realizes he would die in prison, and decides to nurse him back to health first before turning him in. All the females in the home are curious about this young man from New York. Hallie (Mae Mercer), the slave, realizes McB is fighting for her freedom, but does not feel obligated to return the favor. Edwina is a spinster, long scarred by the acts of her adulterous father, but finds herself attracted to McB. Doris (Darleen Carr) wants McB too, wants him handed over to the Rebels as soon as possible. Hot-to-trot Carol (Jo Ann Harris) wants McB for her very own pleasure. Amy still has feelings for him, albeit a twelve year old's crush.
Don't get me wrong, McB is no angel. Siegel gives us the verbal thoughts of the girls throughout the film, but he shows us scenes of McB lying through his teeth to impress the girls. He claims to be a Quaker, and fibs about how he receives his wounds. He also lies about how beautiful the surrounding farmland is, but thinking about the time he helped torch it. He is out for one thing- himself. His only interest is in his own pleasures, and he will do anything and say anything to get what he wants.
Despite the subject matter, Siegel does not go the exploitation route of "Mandingo." He also fights the urge to turn this into a screwball or dark comedy, something that another director may have done. Siegel gathers some impressive acting talent and lets their individual stories form a cohesive whole. The verbal flashes from each of the girls is a brilliant move without becoming too obvious, or a crutch on which to rest the emotional parts of the film. Hallie, McB, and Martha's visual thoughts are used sparingly, thank goodness. Page is great as Martha, the actress takes a number of risks that few actresses today would be game for. A dream sequence finds Martha in bed with McB and Edwina, and it was pulled off dramatically without turning into something smarmy and salacious. The fragile Hartman is wonderful as Edwina. Her character shows such raw pain, she is sometimes hard to watch.
Eastwood dedicated "Unforgiven" to both Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. Siegel is able to get Eastwood to come off as completely contemptible. The school's girls do not seem stupid or oblivious to McB's evil, they are naive and hang on this mysterious and dashing stranger's every word and move. This film shows another side of the Civil War. The battle scenes are only in flashback. The stark plantation where the film was made seems frozen in time back to the era, when the antebellum South was coming to an end. Siegel's vision seems more realistic than the pretty but still thrilling "Gone With the Wind."
"The Beguiled" deserved more praise than it found. The film is so different from what Eastwood and Siegel have done before, but the two turned this one chance into something remarkable. Followed by a remake.
Eastwood is Corporal John McBirney, a Union soldier on the run in the deep south. He is wounded and discovered by twelve year old Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin). McB, as John wants to be known, kisses Amy on the lips to keep her quiet when soldiers pass, and she takes the incident the wrong way, falling in love with him instantly. McB is dragged back to Amy's home, the Farnsworth Seminary for Young Girls, run by Miss Martha (Geraldine Page) and Miss Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman). Right away, Siegel gives us a flash of memory of Martha's, whose relationship with her brother was incestuous. As Martha does her Confederate duty, she prepares to tell friendly troops of her new prisoner. She realizes he would die in prison, and decides to nurse him back to health first before turning him in. All the females in the home are curious about this young man from New York. Hallie (Mae Mercer), the slave, realizes McB is fighting for her freedom, but does not feel obligated to return the favor. Edwina is a spinster, long scarred by the acts of her adulterous father, but finds herself attracted to McB. Doris (Darleen Carr) wants McB too, wants him handed over to the Rebels as soon as possible. Hot-to-trot Carol (Jo Ann Harris) wants McB for her very own pleasure. Amy still has feelings for him, albeit a twelve year old's crush.
Don't get me wrong, McB is no angel. Siegel gives us the verbal thoughts of the girls throughout the film, but he shows us scenes of McB lying through his teeth to impress the girls. He claims to be a Quaker, and fibs about how he receives his wounds. He also lies about how beautiful the surrounding farmland is, but thinking about the time he helped torch it. He is out for one thing- himself. His only interest is in his own pleasures, and he will do anything and say anything to get what he wants.
Despite the subject matter, Siegel does not go the exploitation route of "Mandingo." He also fights the urge to turn this into a screwball or dark comedy, something that another director may have done. Siegel gathers some impressive acting talent and lets their individual stories form a cohesive whole. The verbal flashes from each of the girls is a brilliant move without becoming too obvious, or a crutch on which to rest the emotional parts of the film. Hallie, McB, and Martha's visual thoughts are used sparingly, thank goodness. Page is great as Martha, the actress takes a number of risks that few actresses today would be game for. A dream sequence finds Martha in bed with McB and Edwina, and it was pulled off dramatically without turning into something smarmy and salacious. The fragile Hartman is wonderful as Edwina. Her character shows such raw pain, she is sometimes hard to watch.
Eastwood dedicated "Unforgiven" to both Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. Siegel is able to get Eastwood to come off as completely contemptible. The school's girls do not seem stupid or oblivious to McB's evil, they are naive and hang on this mysterious and dashing stranger's every word and move. This film shows another side of the Civil War. The battle scenes are only in flashback. The stark plantation where the film was made seems frozen in time back to the era, when the antebellum South was coming to an end. Siegel's vision seems more realistic than the pretty but still thrilling "Gone With the Wind."
"The Beguiled" deserved more praise than it found. The film is so different from what Eastwood and Siegel have done before, but the two turned this one chance into something remarkable. Followed by a remake.
Monday, September 1, 2025
Death Scenes (1989)
As Satanic priest Anton LaVey intones darkly about the carnage on this tape, I had a thought. Does one of the later entries in this series feature a picture of LaVey laid out on an autopsy table?
We are treated to scenes of crime scene photos of everything from suicide victims to murdered children, do we get the visual treat of seeing old LaVey after the coroner was done with him? Probably not. I just do not understand the pull these videos have. Real gore, real death. The tape is funniest when it blames Hollywood films for numbing this nation to the sanctity of human life, as if Wavelength Video was doing me a favor. Why did I take this from the video store then? To rant and rave about this kind of mondo garbage.
"Death Scenes" is not educational. It is not even very well done. It is garbage, appealing to the lowest common denominator of society. If your life is so empty that the thought of seeing sixty year old crime scene photos appeals to you, you might want to check the self-help book section. Good luck with your recovery.
We are treated to scenes of crime scene photos of everything from suicide victims to murdered children, do we get the visual treat of seeing old LaVey after the coroner was done with him? Probably not. I just do not understand the pull these videos have. Real gore, real death. The tape is funniest when it blames Hollywood films for numbing this nation to the sanctity of human life, as if Wavelength Video was doing me a favor. Why did I take this from the video store then? To rant and rave about this kind of mondo garbage.
"Death Scenes" is not educational. It is not even very well done. It is garbage, appealing to the lowest common denominator of society. If your life is so empty that the thought of seeing sixty year old crime scene photos appeals to you, you might want to check the self-help book section. Good luck with your recovery.
Fruit Fly (2009)
H.P. Mendoza wrote the charming "Colma: The Musical" about a trio of friends in a literal dead-end town in California. With this film, he takes the directorial reins as well, but spreads himself and the story too thin in the process.
Bethesda (L.A. Renigen) arrives in San Francisco with a performance art piece and a dream. She grew up with her adoptive parents in Maryland, then moved to the Philippines to live with her aunt. Her birth father had died, and she searched for her birth mother without success, turning her experiences into a one-woman show that she posted clips from on YouTube (fourteen hits!), and now wants to perform. She must compete for theater space with the self-absorbed Gaz (a funny Christian Cagigal), and is accepted into a house of artists: Windham (Mike Curtis) is a set decorator, runaway Jacob (Aaron Zaragoza) sleeps in the sun room, and couple Sharon (Theresa Navarro) and Karen (E.S. Park) have been an item for all of two months. Bethesda and Windham become fast friends, and Bethesda throws herself into the club scene, staggering home drunk more often than not. She tries to pursue a relationship with Gaz, as Windham also looks for love with Mark (writer/director/co-producer/editor/too many other things H.P. Mendoza). Through a series of songs and interesting plot twists, we really get invested in Bethesda's life until Mendoza pulls the rug out from underneath us.
There are no huge dance numbers in the film, which was shot guerilla-style on the streets of San Francisco (a fun DVD featurette chronicles this). The songs, written by Mendoza, are often clever and melodic, delivered with sincerity by a cast of unprofessional singers. Mark Del Lima adds some fanciful animation involving the SF skyline, which is great. It's frustrating that this entire project should have worked better than it did. Mendoza tosses in too many peripheral players. I don't use the term "supporting" because that is not their function. There is an entire cast of new friends at the club who add nothing to the plot. The same goes for Bethesda's other housemate, her aunt who calls every day, a theater owner, and the landlord. Even Mendoza's own acting role as Mark seems like an afterthought. For a ninety-four minute film, there are a lot of characters here who the viewer thinks 'I must remember who this is,' and then forgets anyway. The songs are good, I especially liked the generic club anthem that you can appreciate over the final credits, but did we really need two songs about f*g h*gs (I am not allowed to spell out the words, according to a certain giant Liberal tech company whose platform I am posting this review on- tell me again how censoring is only done on the right wing side of the aisle)? For every clever scene like the monologue about pointless monologues, we get stuck with scenes like the melodrama when Bethesda finds out about the theater space. I cannot give away too much about the ending, but I was disappointed with the way Mendoza played it. It is not an unhappy ending, or even ambiguous, but it left me cold. Reading the credits, Mendoza is all over the place. He did everything. Maybe this added to the fact that "Fruit Fly" never comes together into a cohesive story and film.
"Fruit Fly" has plenty of stylistic ingredients, but cannot find its own style. The giant cast tries, the production values are fantastic, and I realize small films like this call for the director to wear many hats, but the film is only mildly enjoyable and fitfully entertaining. Hopefully this was only a minor misstep in the talented Mendoza's film making career.
Bethesda (L.A. Renigen) arrives in San Francisco with a performance art piece and a dream. She grew up with her adoptive parents in Maryland, then moved to the Philippines to live with her aunt. Her birth father had died, and she searched for her birth mother without success, turning her experiences into a one-woman show that she posted clips from on YouTube (fourteen hits!), and now wants to perform. She must compete for theater space with the self-absorbed Gaz (a funny Christian Cagigal), and is accepted into a house of artists: Windham (Mike Curtis) is a set decorator, runaway Jacob (Aaron Zaragoza) sleeps in the sun room, and couple Sharon (Theresa Navarro) and Karen (E.S. Park) have been an item for all of two months. Bethesda and Windham become fast friends, and Bethesda throws herself into the club scene, staggering home drunk more often than not. She tries to pursue a relationship with Gaz, as Windham also looks for love with Mark (writer/director/co-producer/editor/too many other things H.P. Mendoza). Through a series of songs and interesting plot twists, we really get invested in Bethesda's life until Mendoza pulls the rug out from underneath us.
There are no huge dance numbers in the film, which was shot guerilla-style on the streets of San Francisco (a fun DVD featurette chronicles this). The songs, written by Mendoza, are often clever and melodic, delivered with sincerity by a cast of unprofessional singers. Mark Del Lima adds some fanciful animation involving the SF skyline, which is great. It's frustrating that this entire project should have worked better than it did. Mendoza tosses in too many peripheral players. I don't use the term "supporting" because that is not their function. There is an entire cast of new friends at the club who add nothing to the plot. The same goes for Bethesda's other housemate, her aunt who calls every day, a theater owner, and the landlord. Even Mendoza's own acting role as Mark seems like an afterthought. For a ninety-four minute film, there are a lot of characters here who the viewer thinks 'I must remember who this is,' and then forgets anyway. The songs are good, I especially liked the generic club anthem that you can appreciate over the final credits, but did we really need two songs about f*g h*gs (I am not allowed to spell out the words, according to a certain giant Liberal tech company whose platform I am posting this review on- tell me again how censoring is only done on the right wing side of the aisle)? For every clever scene like the monologue about pointless monologues, we get stuck with scenes like the melodrama when Bethesda finds out about the theater space. I cannot give away too much about the ending, but I was disappointed with the way Mendoza played it. It is not an unhappy ending, or even ambiguous, but it left me cold. Reading the credits, Mendoza is all over the place. He did everything. Maybe this added to the fact that "Fruit Fly" never comes together into a cohesive story and film.
"Fruit Fly" has plenty of stylistic ingredients, but cannot find its own style. The giant cast tries, the production values are fantastic, and I realize small films like this call for the director to wear many hats, but the film is only mildly enjoyable and fitfully entertaining. Hopefully this was only a minor misstep in the talented Mendoza's film making career.
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