The Raven (1935)

KARLOFF reads the top billing on 1935's The Raven, but Bela Lugosi is in fact the star of the show. Paired up for the second time (The Black Cat from 1934 being the first time) Universal Pictures once again puts together a horror classic, in this pre code horror film. After recently watching a Bela Lugosi documentary, I have become interested in his films, not to mention I have begun to collect the Universal Monsters Horror Classics Collection on VHS. These tapes were released in the early to mid 90's in a catalogue form. Available for $14.95 you could pick up great classics like Dracula, House of Frankentein, and today's film The Raven. I currently only posses 9 from this line of movies, but I am always on the lookout for more.

Our film begins with a woman getting into a serious car accident. We learn the woman's name is Jean Thatcher, daughter of Judge Thatcher, a prominent member of the community. With a grave outlook, the judge seeks the help of renown surgeon (now retired), Dr. Richard Vollin (Bela Lugosi). The first time we see Vollin, he is quoting Edgar Allen Poe to a guest in his home. Obviously obsessed with Poe, Vollin keeps a Raven at his desk, which he calls his talisman. After much begging, Vollin agrees to perform the delicate surgery and successfully restores Jean back to health. Time has passed and Vollin begins to have an infatuation with Jean, and believes she owes her love to him for saving her life. Judge Thatcher learns of Vollin's intentions and adamantly discourages the affair.  

It is at this point we begin to see Vollin has gone mad over Jean and begins to set a plan into action full of torture and revenge. He employs the help of a man named Edmond Bateman (Karloff), a criminal on the run, who seeks out Vollin's help to change his appearance enabling him to evade authorities. Vollin agrees, but horribly disfigures half of Bateman's face. Vollin does this to make Bateman do his bidding, by killing the judge and her current fiance. Once his bidding his complete, Vollin would fix Bateman's face. 

Vollin invites the Judge, Jean, her fiance, and a few more guests to his home for a weekend dinner party. In the still of the night Bateman abducts Judge Thatcher from his room and brings him down to Vollin's Poe like torture chamber, complete with a Pit and Pendulum to which Judge Thatcher gets attached to. It is in these moments of the film, where Bela Lugosi really steals the show. The way Lugosi uses his facial expressions and his maniacal laugh, truly make you believe that his character is purely evil. We reach the climax and as you can expect Bateman has a change of heart and tries to help the characters in distress, which leads to Bateman getting shot by Vollin, giving Jean's fiance the opportunity to lead Vollin to his demise. 

Seeing a few of Lugosi's movies as of late, I would say The Raven is the best I have seen so far. There are also close seconds, of course Dracula being one of them, but Lugosi really shines in this feature. It is unfortunate, that Karloff was given top billing in this film, not that his performance is a bad one, but nowhere near as powerful as Bela. Bela would go on to do a few more pictures with Karloff, as well as some other Universal Horror films, but nowhere near the career Karloff had. It is sad that such talent was wasted. Screen this classic when you get the chance, for one of Lugosi's best performances. 

Sharky's Machine (1981)

Now that it has been around my 4th or 5th viewing of this Burt Reynold's vehicle, I think I can finally review it proper. When I think of an early 1980's cop drama, "Sharky's Machine", continues to come to mind now again and again. In June of this year, I purchased a Sony Betamax machine. As a favor to me, a friend of mine picked it up and played back some tapes on it for me. I also asked for a dub of "Sharky's Machine". Just making sure the machine worked alone, I viewed this title a handful of times as background noise. After the second or third viewing, I began to actually sit down and take this film in.

After recently getting knocked down to vice from homicide, Tom Sharky (Reynolds), begins to monitor a vice case full of corruption. Drugs, prostitution, and murder, litters the streets of Atlanta, leading all the way up to the election of the Governor of the State. Sharky starts surveillance on a call girl Domino (Rachel Ward). As time goes by we discover a crime lord Victor (Vittorio Gassman) has been controlling Domino's life ever since she was a young girl, but now she wants out. After a botched murder attempt on her by Victor's hitman, Billy Score (Henry Silva), she goes under Sharky's protection.

As you can imagine, feelings develop and what we are given is an action packed climax that leads to one of the single greatest stunts ever put onto film. This is a gritty Burt drama that leaves you wanting more of the same after the credits roll. Luckily this was one of a multi-picture deal that Reynolds signed with Orion pictures, with a few more films throughout the 1980's that would be considered a return to form. This comes highly recommended from me. With great shots of early 80's Atlanta, and a top notch score put together by quality musicians, such as "The Tonight Show's" Doc Severinsen, "Sharky's Machine" will keep you glued to your seat, and reaching for the tape again and again after your first viewing. 

Stranger Things S1: E1: "THE VANISHING OF WILL BYERS" Recap/Review

From a content standpoint, there is nothing better than a new series popping up on the scene, right around the same time you start a blog. The series is Netflix's "Stranger Things" (2016). I've been hearing a little bit of chatter about this show and figured after one too many suggestions I would come to the party. Now I am not one to jump on the bandwagon with shows. I was late to the party with  Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Sons of Anarchy to name a few. Other than House of Cards this is more or less one of the first series, that I am going to hit the ground running with. So far I'm into it.  That being said, I will be recapping/reviewing going forward. 

We start off with a scientist booking it to an elevator, in some sort of lab type facility. Once reaching the elevator he gets in only to get taken away by something. Mind you we are getting a pretty bad ass soundtrack from this point on, with some pretty groovy synth. Flash forward to the above image and we are in a basement watching a D&D Campaign take place. The only thing that could make this scene more 80's would be if a kid was taking his rolls with a power glove on his hand. We learn the boys names are Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas. After Mike's parents make the boys call it a night, we follow Will home on his bicycle. After some mysterious circumstances Will is missing and we get the opening credit roll. 

We are then introduced to Chief Jim Hopper of Black Mass (2015) fame. We follow him in his morning routine all the way up until Will's mother played by Winona Ryder is in Hopper's office trying to find her son. Meanwhile we come back to our opening lab facility to see some goons in suits on the lookout for whatever took out their friend and a girl. Scene change and you guessed it we are in the woods looking at the girl in question. After a run in at what appears to be a diner and the owner, Benny, gives our missing girl some food and asks her a few questions after seeing a D11 mark on her arm. (She isn't talkative) This leads to Benny giving a call to social services, and when they show up they are anything but that.... We quickly learn D11 has some powers that some type of agency is after. (Or perhaps created) Search parties are out looking for Will and we learn an interesting fact about Chief Hopper. 

Flash forward and Mike and Co. take it upon themselves to look for their missing friend Will out in the woods. Back at the Byers house Ms. Byers (Ryder) receives a strange phone call that gives her a "shock" quite literally and figuratively. And we close out with Mike and Co. stumbling upon D11 in the woods. 

I quite enjoyed the first episode. Mike and his friends give me a big "Stand by Me" vibe. The group of boyhood friends uncovering something that they do not understand is a formula that tends to work, and is leading to an exciting premise of this series. The supporting cast including Winona Ryder and co. bookends the rest of the ensemble nicely and seem to have a lot of depth that I'm sure will be explored as we progress through the season. The 80's theme is a nice touch and going back to the "Stand by Me" vibe, puts me in the mindset that I am viewing something from that era. Hopefully if you have read this far, you already took the first episode in. If not, be sure to keep up as we move through the first season together.

Cheers! 

Ralph Bakshi's Lord of The Rings (1978)

Ren and Stimpy of all things led me to this title. Now you may sit and ask yourself, what is it about Ren and Stimpy that leads you to the 1978 animated feature film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of The Rings? Well.. when you get to a certain point in your viewing trends, everything you watch builds off of something that you have previously viewed. In Ren and Stimpy's case, the creator John Kricfalusi or John K. as I will continue to refer to him as, (saving me from continually checking to see if I spelled it correctly) once worked and honed his craft under the Ralph Bakshi.

I discovered Bakshi, after watching a few "Featurettes" between YouTube and my Ren and Stimpy DVD's. Bakshi is highly known in the animation world for creating some really phenomenal animated feature films. These films range anywhere from the adult classic "Fritz the Cat" (1972), all the way to the feature being discussed today and beyond. Recently I was able to obtain a copy of "Lord of The Rings" through a lot of VHS tapes my friend let me pick through this week. Also, it is worth mentioning I pulled Bakshi's "Fire and Ice" (1983) from this lot as well. 

This now brings us to our review. Running in at about 130 minutes, I took the film in over the course of two viewing sessions. This was not due to boredom, but due to having places to be. With that being said the film is honestly quite faithful to "The Fellowship of The Ring" as well as "The Two Towers". This is the two novels that the film covers, we are not given the entire trilogy in this film. For those looking for a more complete addition to this, it would not hurt to bookend this title with Rankin Bass' animated features "The Hobbit" (1977) as well as "Return of The King" (1980). I personally was impressed with the animation featured in this film, Orcs and Ring Wraiths are brought to us in stunning detail using a rotoscoping technique that seems to be featured in a good portion of Bakshi's feature animation films. 

Plot moves along similar to Peter Jackson's films, but obviously at a faster clip. After all, we are fitting two films in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Things that instantly reminded me of Jackson's "Fellowship of The Ring" (2001) was Bilbo's party in the opening minutes of the film. Lines from the book were perfectly placed between this film and Jackson's.  Gandalf and his magic is presented in a style that would bring awe, and excitement to children upon a first viewing. The film closes out following the battle at Helm's Deep. This is where the rotoscoping technique really shines, as we see swords clash in a way that could only be presented in this technique when it comes to an animated feature. Of course there is no way that this could rival Peter Jackson's version, but for 1978 we are given quite a show. 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is fond of "Lord of The Rings" whether it be in book form or Jackson's films. As a slightly abridged version of the tale, it is a great way to get your Middle Earth fix without having to sit through a day of movies. (Not that a day full of movies is ever a bad thing.) 

Enjoy! 

Welcome!

What else can you say when starting a new blog? I think it's best before we jump into anything at all, I take the time to introduce myself and what you are in store for. First of all my name is Greg. When I really think about it, I probably really started collecting films around 2007. Over the past nine years, my collection has gone from a handful of genre films on DVD, to thousands of titles. Videos in my collection range from VHS and BETA tape, to Laserdisc, DVD, and a handful of Blu-Rays. What I plan to do with this, is take you along for the ride on a journey through film finds and reviews. For the longest time people have urged me to sit down and write about my findings and opinions on different films, I've decided to finally give it a try. Even though the focus of this will more or less be Horror and Sci-Fi, I plan on reviewing whatever it is that I watch. I hope you join me on this VideoTape Roadshow!





-Greg