testaudience.com Cinephilia ut extremus

Planet Terror

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez

A throwback to the cheaply produced exploitation films of the 1970's and early 80's, Robert Rodriguez's masterfully crafted Planet Terror offers up a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek approach to the horror genre in his half of the Grindhouse double-feature (with Quentin Tarantino).

With absurd, and often hilarious, plot twists, this melodrama is about a chemical agent that infects a rural Texas community and turns its citizens, as well as the military in possession of the chemical, into mutated cannibals. (Rodriguez, in the supplementary footage and in the director's commentary, refers to the infected as "sickos" rather than zombies.) Drawing from the premise of virtually every zombie film throughout history, an eclectic group of people in the community band together to fend off the mutated horde of gut-munchers only in Planet Terror this group is very eclectic!

Among the oddball gang, is Cherry Darling, a one-legged ex-go go dancer J.T., a scruffy, barbeque-sauce obsessed cook Dakota Block, an anesthesiologist who's hands have been thoroughly anesthetized Two psychotic, babysitting twins and the enigmatic sharpshooter, El Wray.

I have to admit that Planet Terror is a film that definitely took me by surprise. The cinematography is absolutely brilliant, with its replication of the low-key lighting arrangements and shot compositions used in most exploitation films, but it is the special details (added digitally), like the ever-present film scratches, dust, registration & weave, and hairs in the camera's gate, that sold it for me. Kudos to Rodriguez for his driving John Carpenter-esque synthesized film score as well. It is those kind of attention to details that change Planet Terror from just a movie to a full-blown experience.

Planet Terror is definitely not for the squeamish! Thanks to special effects gurus Greg Nicotero & Howard Berger, the film is a delightfully bloody romp guaranteed to make even the most hardened of gorehounds cringe! (In my opinion, some of their best visual work to date.)

I highly recommend Planet Terror for anyone who grew up on the original grindhouse films of the 70's & 80's, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Last House on the Left, or even John Carpenter's The Thing.

PLANET TERROR: <<

Reviewed by. James Kline

Stranger than Paradise

I just finished watching Jim Jarmusch’s film, Stranger than Paradise. For whatever reason, it’s Jarmusch’s work that inspired director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma) to initially become a filmmaker. In fact, Clerks is almost a direct rip-off of Jarmusch’s visual style. Stranger than Paradise received the Camera d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival when it came out, but how it received such an honor, I’ll never know. The whole film is shot only in medium & wide proscenium shots. It’s all objective. The camera never shows anything from the actors’ points of view, so it’s like watching a stage play as a member of the audience . Then there’s no second Act. The second Act of a story is typically when the conflict is introduced (at the start of the Act), and where it is escalated (at the end of the Act.) Stranger than Paradise has a premise (Act I) and a “resolve” (Act III), but no conflict whatsoever. It’s narrative structure is like vague scenes strung together with brief moments of the screen going black. (The beginning of the film has a very French New Wave feel to it, but lacks any real dramatic structure.) The lack of conflict REALLY starts to wear thin REALLY quick!

You can tell a lot of the dialogue was improvised because there were some continuity errors. In one scene the female lead buys a hat, returns to her hotel room, and then leaves again, leaving the hat behind. In the next scene, her cousin & his friend return to the hotel room, see the hat (which they’d never seen before) and remark, “That looks like Eva’s hat!” (The same actor who said ‘That looks like Eva’s hat’ then quickly tries to recover by saying, “Did she buy a hat?!” ….Pathetic!)

All in all, I’d say skip this film at all costs! I simply do not see the brilliance that both Smith and Cannes saw in it. I may, however, still give one of Jarmusch’s other films, Down By Law, a shot, only because it has the eccentric singer / actor Tom Waits in it. Unfortunately, there is no such personality to redeem this film.

JimKline gives Stranger than Paradise:

Images from Ffffound.com

Here is a little seizure inducing picture collection I whipped up with approximately 700 images from Ffffound.com.

Batman Madman Now Online

Batman Madman from Josh Dippold on Vimeo.

Above is the fan film Batman Madman, directed by James Kline. I have a hand in helping with this short film (associate producer) and a small speaking role. I believe the whole thing turned out OK for only costing $380.

Click on the link above that says "Batman Madman" to watch a slightly better and bigger version and to download the film. (Don't forget, you can also click the full screen button to watch it on every inch of your screen.)

We are the Strange

Just watched "We are the Strange" and just like the title says, it is strange. Not going to say anything about it other than I heard about it in Wired magazine, it is bizarre and is available from Netflix.

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