Varied Celluloid

The Plot: In the small Maine town of Salem’s Lot two strangers have recently arrived. Straker, who has moved into the large mansion on the outside of town and moved his small antiquities store on main street and Ben Mears (played by David Soul) who is a successful writer originally from Salem’s Lot who has been drawn back to the town by The Marsten House the very mansion that Straker has moved into. This house acts as a magnet for evil men, due to it’s own innate evil presence. Although he’s the only one who believes this at first, it becomes clear soon enough that Straker isn’t exactly what he claims to be. His partner “Barlow”, who has supposedly been on vacation the entire time that Straker has been in Salem’s lot still hasn’t made an appearance and now small children are beginning to come up missing. These actions replicate an incident that happened at the mansion years ago and from where it got it’s reputation. Unknown to the townspeople, but Mr. Barlow is a vampire lord and they are doomed to become his feast. Will this town succumb to the evil or Barlow or will there be anyone left to fight back?

The Review: I find myself sometimes in the middle of debates with other horror fans, about the worth of modern horror versus that of the classical taste. There are some out there who feel the need to hang onto the belief that horror in cinema is actually dead and this disturbs me to no end. When there are so many interesting films out there being made, I just can’t put my mind into such a frameset. The game has changed in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways it has changed for the better. After watching Salem’s Lot again to get in the mood for Halloween (October 2009 currently) I do have to concede that ‘creepy’ horror actually might be dead at this moment. That probably seems like a mouthful when you have stuff like “Shutter” or “Mirrors” hitting either DVD shelves or theaters every other week. These are films that really should be the direct continuum of flicks like The Omen, The Excorcist or the movie I’m talking about today: Salem’s Lot. However, something has been lost. Something is gone from the cinematic equilibrium in terms of creating intensely creepy atmosphere and moments that are visually frightening. Hollywood as well as we the audience have come to the banquet of horror cinema with the mindset of an action movie. We expect shocks a minute at this point and if we don’t get at least one grotesque scene then we actually leave disappointed.

We come for that cat that jumps out from behind the curtain. We come for that spike in the soundtrack that causes us to jump from our nerves. We watch these movies no longer with fears of leaving with nightmares or that feeling of needing to hide when we turn the lights out to go to sleep. Some of us confuse those feelings as something simply from our childhood, but after watching Salem’s Lot one more time I know that’s not the case alone. There’s a general presence with Salem’s Lot as well as those previously mentioned picture. It’s that inspired form of terror that you just don’t get today. There are movies out there that take those chances that could come off as being phony or come off as being silly, but build the audience up so much and have them so invested in the story that there’s no need to even bother with suspending disbelief. We are there in the movie with our characters and we’re there about to douse our undergarments. Those moments are so few and far in between that some of us don’t believe they even exist, but it is true but it takes a patient audience member and it’s unfortunate that most of us these days simply are not.

Although I am quite familiar with Stephen King’s writing, having read thirty or so of his novels, I have not yet read the original Salem’s Lot so I don’t have that background information to judge the film on that layer (of it being true to the original novel or not) but I have to say it certainly keeps the feel of a Stephen King book. The length and span of the movie gives it a literary feeling, by that I mean immediately after you feel as if you’ve read a novel. The details of this small town are driven into such detailed accounts that it does have that feeling of something written. This leads to possible the only one complaint I could imagine anyone having with Salem’s Lot and that would be the length of it. The fact is, it’s a made for TV movie that simply wasn’t meant to be watched in one viewing. However, at three hours in length it certainly is do-able but it takes an audience member really putting forth an effort. It’s really a shame that with all of the excess, there’s isn’t a theatrical cut out on DVD along with the original version. Really, it’s just a shame that there isn’t any kind of fully realized special edition out at this point. It makes me feel as if this is some sort of lost masterpiece, despite it already having a fairly bare bones DVD release as well as airing on television fairly often. It certainly deserves a remaster at the very least though.

Salem’s Lot is a film that horror fans might look past, due to it’s length and “made for TV” statute, but I guarantee this doesn’t feel like your run of the mill made for TV movie. With blood, truly atmospheric horror and some of the spookiest (as well as artistic) bits of gothic horror ever photographed. Chances are, if you’re not familiar with this version of the story, you’ve at least seen a few cinematic moments that were obviously inspired by it. From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to many other takes on these iconic creatures of the night, Salem’s Lot can be felt in so many other vampire films from then to now. Moments such as the ones featuring the two brothers who fly to different windows in order to lure their way inside of the homes of potential victims. Not only are these moments iconic, gothic and intense in their delivery – but they’re simply terrifying. It is everything you feared as a kid whilst looking outside the window at night and the way these scenes are shot, they’re simply nightmarish to say the least. Suspenseful and frightening, Salem’s Lot defines what horror could be.

Salem’s Lot really was THE film to show just frightening vampires actually could be. It’s really something amazing to see. With such a limited budget, it creates this dreadful atmosphere. If you were going to be jaded while watching I guess you could say that the effects work is rather simple. The corpses are bleach white with dark rings around their eyes and they wear contacts. What’s so scary about that? Let me tell you, it’s everything. The combination of the music, so dense and dark with the otherworldly performances from the standout cast it creates a completely believable world where all the horrible things we imagine in life could very well happen. Those contacts I mentioned? Some of the best and most effective prosthetic effects in any horror film. How they glow in the dark, I am not sure. I have to imagine it’s a visual effect, possibly animated, but the time period that it was made in makes you second guess everything. Regardless of how the effect was made, it is simply so effective in making these creatures more than simply actors whispering their lines. That also leads me back to the facetious comment I made in the opening paragraph. The actors actually committed to their roles here. The problem I think with modern society is simply how obtuse we have all become at the prospect of being scared by the whims of a movie. The performances here, from characters who have been changed into vampires, are so devoted to scaring the audience. They are not played over the top or as smooth talking Anne Rice vampires, the performances are subtle and relaxed. A mix between a zombie and a demon, they speak in whispers or hisses.

It’s such a creepy movie monster and leads us as the audience to really dread what might come of these innocent people that are fed to these beasts. The cinematography is owed a debt in the creation of this Salem’s Lot atmosphere. Even watched on a full screen, with no wide angles, the camera catches all and paints so many magnificent images. Small things like Straker sitting in his antique store with a skull in the foreground, while he sits back and unintentionally mimics the positioning of said skull. A really beautiful shot that is there for no other reason than a bit of artistic flourish and mood. There’s another shot where one of the vampires is found sitting in a rocking chair, eyes glowing in the dark, with most of it’s body lit from the light coming from the doorway that our character came from when stumbling upon this monster. This scene is one of the most memorable and frightening moments of the entire picture for me as it takes another one of those horrible things you know will never happen, but explores that doorway of what would happen if you opened a bedroom door only to find a creature behind it. Then, the creature doesn’t jump at you. He doesn’t attack. He simply stares at you and starts to whisper evil things. A terrifying concept! Put to the screen perfectly.

It has problems, there’s no getting past it. The TV format length does create some issues for the audience. However, no matter how you watch it (either in one night or over two), the experience remains the same. It is for my money everything I love about horror. The pacing is slow, but the characters are so well built by the time we’re full steam ahead into the vampire war that is waged later on that we feel like we know these people and we know this town. We know that what people show us on the exterior isn’t always what their real motivation is. I can’t recommend Salem’s Lot enough. If i had my way, it would be listed on every horror fan’s top ten. Like Spielberg’s Jaws, it just seems like the kind of movie that gets everything right while making us wait patiently for the delivery. If you haven’t had the experience yet, add this one to netflix, go rent it, buy it or do whatever but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by having it in your collection.

The Plot: In 1957 at a north eastern day camp for young boys and girls called Camp Crystal Lake, a young boy named Jason drowned while swimming. This caused much outrage and anger within the community, as it was the fault of the camp counselors who were off making love while the young boy met his doom. One year later however, two camp counselors were found brutally murdered in a cabin where they had wandered off to in order to make out. This caused the camp to close permanently and seemed to spell the doom for Camp Crystal Lake. Several years later however, Steve Christy has bought the camp and soon plans to re-open it. Along with Alice, the two have been renovating the camp in order to make it safe and have invited several other young people along to act as counsellors in the no doubt soon to be bustling camp. However, as everyone is getting unpacked on this Friday the 13th, strange things start to happen. As the rainy night begins to lumber along, slowly people start to come up missing. There’s a killer on the loose, but who could it be?

The Review: What is it that has made the Friday series so special? Here we are nearly thirty years after the creation of Jason Voorhees, with a total of twelve inclusions in the series counting the pairing of him (Jason) with Freddy Krueger as well as a remake. There’s also a sequel to the remake in the works and there has even been a terrible videogame made about the random wanderings of Jason Voorhees (for the NES, I’m sure most of you either played it or have seen it mentioned before). There are comic books, t-shirts, posters and tons of merchandising. Why all the interest, still to this day? Whereas the Nightmare On Elm Street series did actually have quite a few frightening moments throughout (between his wisecracks), the Friday series in my opinion never really went after the creepy scares hard and heavy. That isn’t to say that the series wasn’t intended to be “scary”, it most certainly was, but the kind of scares you find in a Friday film aren’t exactly built on moody lighting or eerie circumstances. They are packed with ‘jump’ scares and tension built from the frustration of the audience, watching these teenagers run around in a complete and utter fear driven panic. Within the early part of the Friday series, they were kept in a very Giallo-esque world where there’s more focus on the killer and the mystery surrounding him; as well as the kills, than actual attempts at being spooky or mysterious. Such moments have always been few and far between. In the case of the original Friday the 13th, this might be the closest the series ever came to actually tackling serious atmosphere and horror. This comes from the fact that, being our first time out, we really don’t know who the killer is. This mystery, as well as the great use of first person perspective camerawork through the eyes of the killer, actually makes this origin story one of the best in terms of being fairly ‘scary’ in a traditional sense. However, that doesn’t make it necessarily the best of the series. Although there’s a lot of nostalgic fun to be had when watching this originating classic, when watching a Friday film there’s always that feeling that Jason Voorhees is this impending character who all but makes the entertainment factor. The lack of Jason as an onscreen force, the killer is shown in that first person vision throughout the entire course of the film, certainly does lower its power in respect to the rest of the series. Still, it’s an underrated classic that all horror fans certainly need to get their hands on.

I think with a lot of horror fans, there’s an instinct to look back on the first Friday as something that we’ve grown up with. Especially for those in my age demographic or above. We look back on this film not as its own being, but as something that set up an entire legacy. Although in a lot of ways you might think that nostalgia might kick in and make the film appear better than it really was, I see it as very much the opposite. With the decades worth of additions to the myth of these films that follow the exploits of Jason as a character, when we go back and visit this original movie out of context to what was made at the time we see a fairly familiar slasher set of archetypes. Whereas many of us didn’t grow up watching the masses of Italian giallo pictures during our formative years, we as the same audience might go back and visit something like Stagefright (by Michelle Soavi) or A Blade In the Dark (Lamberto Bava) and see something completely new and alien to our eyes. However, you have to question how original anything can be after years of growth in any genre. The span between Mario Bava’s original gialli pictures to the later day films listed above, might make something like Twitch of the Death Nerve look almost minimal in terms of new advents that were offered. So, the amount of love and appreciation I find for this original Friday seems pretty limited amongst some hardcore fans. Personally, I’ve grown to really appreciate what Sean S. Cunningham did here and his accomplishments as a director. He took a lot from what John Carpenter pioneered in Halloween, but explored a lot of the space in between. Some might say he took what Carpenter did and simply made it a little trashier, but I think you can argue the case that what he did was take the bones of Halloween and placed them in a more realistic setting. Although the kids are still horny and out to party, they are not completely unlikeable in this first entry. In subsequent films we started to care less about the human characters and more about the fantastic ways that Jason might put an end to their lives. Here though, we still have our almost virginal leading lady and we still have the horny couples sneaking off to explore their own youthful urges. Only to find themselves spread away from the pack and easier to deal with, like a zebra leaving the herd for a lion to pounce upon. In between all of that there’s some interesting character bits that paint them with a human touch, especially in the case of Alice.

Keeping with that same Giallo formula (and I hate to keep mentioning it, as I know it makes me seem like some kind of elitist), killings play a large part in the series and this first entry really sets the bar in terms of onscreen violence. Taking up where Halloween (which was released a year earlier) left off, the level of onscreen violence is amped up to eleven. If you could say the Friday films left behind a legacy, you’d have to say they certainly brought gore into the mainstream more than just about any other horror series. Although Freddy Krueger was probably the more menacing when actually played for scares, his bodycount could never match that of the Friday series. Tom Savini’s expertly crafted effects work still doesn’t seem dated after all these many years. His simple but highly effective techniques helped put to bed the old custom of “what isn’t shown is more frightening”, then with this film and his future work throughout the eighties he would become a staple of the horror genre and one of the most well respected men in the field. The mix of believable characters and their fun, quirky performances helped to heighten the horror of their eventual demises. It’s hard to go through a review such as this one without mentioning spoilers, but I’m doing so for the younger audiences who may not have seen the godfather of the series. If you have not and you’ve somehow avoided spoilers up until this point, first of all kudos to you my friend but secondly make sure you get out there and see this film immediately. It’s a horror classic that may not rock your world in terms of extreme gore and it may not seem like the most original of all films at first; but there’s a heart and soul to this low budget effort that revitalized horror in the eighties and inspired your favorite post 1980 horror film in one way or another. I give it a four out of five. It may not be the most creative of all the films, but it does its best to creep you out and it really sets a gold standard in what a slasher really should be.

The Plot: Mimi lives in Sicily with his father, the leader and fatherhead for much of American organized crime who has been removed from the country and sent back to the old country. When Mimi sees the world starting to change, he heads to Hollywood with his fathers respects in order to tame the wild west and get his own piece of the rackets. Specifically he aims to take back the pimping game from the blacks and take control of all the bookies. However, times really have changed and the strong arm tactics of the past aren’t really in force in this day and age. Looking to bring back a bit of the old days, Mimi and his partner Jolly set off to show these new guys on the block just how dangerous a real criminal can be. However, has the world really changed and will Mimi be able to get his own piece of the pie or is he just a relic of a past no one really wants to live with?

The Review: It has been roughly a year, but ever since seeing that intro to Massacre Mafia Style (or The Executioner, as my poster art above shows) I have known that I must track this one down. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the set up is two men walk into a office building and work their way into a meeting with some guy in a wheelchair. The guy swears to do right by these two men, but they just grab him and wheel him into the bathroom. There the use an extension chord and electrocute this guy to death using urinal water. After that, they leave the office and shoot the secretary for no reason. What this turns into is a scorching three minute sequence where these two gangsters kill EVERYONE inside the building. At the moment the rampage begins, some chanting but eurphoric sounding traditional Italian music begins blaring over the soundtrack with the only audible noises being the gunshots. It’s one of those moments that come few and far in between with Exploitation cinema. It has that certain layer of “cool”, while also being incredibly ruthless and disturbing in a way. The scene is so well cut and conflicting in feelings that it can be nothing less than a work of art. The use of the music and sound effects – it shows a talent for more, and a flair for artistry. Now I won’t sit here and try and convince you that Duke Mitchell is an auteur for the ages but there’s more than just a little luck behind the brilliance of Massacre Mafia Style. This review, by all means should be me sitting here saying “Oh the action scenes were great! There’s blood everywhere! The funny one liners! Hahaha!”… but there’s a lot more at work here than first appearances would give credence. I just have to say, I’m more than a little impressed with this gem.

The story of this character ‘Mimi’ is kind of an early reflection of the Nicky Santoro character from Martin Scorceses’ Casino in my eyes. He’s that old fashioned style of ruthless gangster willing to do anything that’s necessary in order to get what he wants and when coming to a town where there are no hard men left, he lets his brutality run free reign. What’s more, he actually enjoys it. The more and more vicious he gets, the more his snarl reveals a smile. Yet at the same time this character, during the progression of the film, begins to have conflicting feelings over this hatred. There are several very well written speeches delivered by Mitchell (Mimi) in which his character denounces the violence he causes and hopes for a better future, but at the same time he’s consistently looking to take over this town with his morbid and horrifying violent practices. Without a doubt the character is a complete and utter walking contradiction, but while watching I never got the feeling that Mitchell was making this out of his own ignorance to what his character actually was. In fact, it all feels very intentional. Mitchell takes the film in areas I never would have assumed from the outset. First off, this is actually a pretty faithful attempt at a mafia story. The dialogue and terms used all seem fairly realistic, although there are terms I have never actually heard in any other mob movie so perhaps some of it could be things that Mitchell himself created. It works very well though and comes off as fairly authentic, keeping the movie from being simply a cheesy takeoff on the immensely popular Godfather series. That doesn’t mean it ISN’T a takeoff on that series, because it most assuredly is (including more than one scene directly lifted from those films) but in the context of the story and the overall mood it just works so well that you can’t help but get on board. Especially after the bodies start dropping.

There’s actually a certain amount of racism that plays out as well. As essentially all non-Sicilians are portrayed as being undeserving of the rackets game, but of course African Americans and Jewish communities are the most disparaged. There’s even a black pimp in the film that Mimi gives the nickname of “Super Spook” when he tries to show up a fellow Sicilian. How this affects you as an audience member is going to be entirely based on your ability to tolerate such things. However, I will say this, anyone going into an exploitation flick from the seventies… well, we all have to have some pretty thick skin about this sort of stuff. Granted, such things are mean spirited and hurtful to many, but the entire point for a lot of these flicks is to push the boundaries of good taste. Although such euphemisms probably weren’t as exceptionally taboo as they are now – but I’m sure they were still pretty callous in using with any feature. Although not in the best of taste, the racism does let you into the mindset of the hypocritical and often psychotic mind of this character Mimi, while also playing up the exploitation angle. Another layer to a very difficult film to pin down. Playing with all sorts of storytelling devices, Massacre Mafia Style is an exploitation flick unlike any other. While I can’t sit here an promise you that you’ll sit down at the table, watch the movie and then proclaim the brilliance of Duke Mitchell. Half the cast are made up of non-actors, probably friends of the director. If you’re a fan of exploitation cinema however, there’s just a wealth of interesting things at play in MMS. From the lowest common denominator stuff like the violence and never ending series of shootings, to the actual decent writing from Mitchell and his raspy voiceover monologues. There’s more than meets the eye with the picture is my basic point, but it still remains an incredibly grim piece of exploitation. Fitting right alongside other great pieces of work from the era such as Fight For Your Life. Debuting on DVD this month (October 2009), you can’t go wrong picking up the disc. This review is unfortunately based off of a bootleg, as has been the only real way to see the film up until now, but god knows I’m going to do my best to grab up the really awesome two disc edition being released. It’s a flick we’ve all wanted to see for ages and it’s great that it’ll soon be so readily available abd released by the family of Mitchell. To sort of summarize: gunshots galore, breasts, blood and Super Spook. Why not give this one a shot? It gets a four out of five. Although it did come close to getting a perfect score, I had to scale it back some as it does have its problems throughout. Still, it’s hard to find a more suitable flick to define the “exploitation” genre. A classic piece of grindhouse.

The Plot: Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss tells the story of a few intersecting stories over the course of one weekend. Starting on Friday, we focus on Mei and the mysterious Ako. Ako is a tomboy who likes riding her motorbike and generally messing up any one who might stand in her way. When Mei runs up and jumps on the back of her bike instructing her to drop her off at a fight, having nothing better to do: Ako abliges her. At the knife fight Mei is victorious with her all-female gang. However, the other girl gang they are fighting are sore losers and call in their boyfriends who have a gang of their own. Saving face and still getting out of there, Mei introduces Ako to the gang as well as her own boyfriend: Michio. Michio is struggling to fit into the yakuza, but has found the road wearisome. However, he might just have his ticket into the upper echelon of the group when his buddy Kerry, who is a world champion boxer, agrees to throw his fight in order for the yakuza to make money betting on the underdog. Kerry is hardheaded though and won’t just bow down so easy. What happens when everything doesn’t go as planned?







The Review: There are quite a few genres out there that I feel a degree of shame over my not having thoroughly delved into at this stage of my cult-film experience. The giallo is one, as a horror fan checking those out is kind of my duty and I’m desperately trying to rectify the situation. Another is the Pinky Violence subgenre of Japanese exploitation from the 70′s. Before this film here my only previous experience came from Female Convict Scorpion: Prisoner #701, which I liked but had maybe heard a bit too much hype going into it. So, not that it’s a bad film or anything like that – I think my expectations were so vastly different than what the actual film was that it left an odd impression on me. Since then, I really haven’t saught much out in the way of Pinky Violence. I just kept putting it off and putting it off, until I finally started dabbling back in the giallo genre. After that I figured, maybe it’s time to take on both and give myself a new course to study. So, I decided for my first foray into the wild I would start simple. I’ve heard a ton about Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, which seems to be the most popular of the series. I do own that flick as well, but still haven’t watched it. Rather than start in the middle of the series, like I did with Female Convict Scorpion, I decided to go with the first: Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss. I tell you, I’m glad that I did. Maybe everything aligned just perfect for me or maybe I finally had wiped my mind of whatever preconceived notions I might have had about this subgenre, but I absolutely ADORE Girl Boss. I was hooked in the first five minutes of the film when we’re introduced to the loner character of Ako (Akiko Wadda), who everyone mistakes for a man but is really just a tough loner chick with a serious chip on her shoulder. As she comes into frame, with full on animated FX making a circular outline around her, it is just readily apparent that this is going to be a “cool” picture; from that point on it does not let you down.

From the very beginning to the spectacular finale, Delinquent Girl Boss is a study on the definition of “cool”. From the over the top fashion to the depiction of this Japanese underbelly that is so inventive and stylish, that it simply couldn’t be real. People just aren’t this original in real life! For example you have Mei, played by the goddess of the genre Meiko Kaji, who dresses in some sort of native American looking outfit but looks just as natural holding a switchblade knife. She might also be caught sporting some massive tinted sunglasses to complete the look. She’s like a go-go dancing hipster gangster tomboy toughgirl. Such a diverse dichotomy is rare to find, but one that comes across so natural amidst her environment is just beyond impossible. The style and editing really sells Delinquent Girl Boss for me. It’s extremely fast paced for a genre flick of this variety, where usually you expect a more relaxed and intentional pace – like you would find in more arthouse fare as has been the case with much of the ‘exploitation’ fare I have experienced from Japan in the sixties and seventies. Not the case here, as the film basically grabs you by the small hairs and takes off running without giving you a moment to rest. I’ve already mentioned the little iris transition in the first moments of the film, but it’s not anything like your average iris effect (which is basically just a round ball that either gets smaller in the center of the screen, fading to black or the reverse of that going from black to the actual film image), this effect looks like some kind animated creation from construction paper or something like that. Even more outlandish is the color used, a super bright light blue that shouldn’t fit – but does! And does so well! This type of effect is duplicated in several portions of the film, where the animation is obvious but as a viewer you just sit back and say “yeah, that works” and more imporantly “holy crap, that’s cool”. Even for a movie made in 1970.

You can’t help but take a look at the eye candy on display here. Although this particular film doesn’t take part in much subjection of women as sex objects, I’m a hetero male and I can’t help but sit back and drool at the beauty of the women on display here. All class and beauty, Meiko Kaji is an obvious standout as the queen of everyone’s adoration. However, I might be crazy, but I kind of found myself drooling over Ako (Akiko Wadda), the tall drink of water tomboy who somehow fools everyone into thinking she’s a male somehow (totally outside of reality there!). Apparently Wadda is a famous figure in Japan as a singer and performer, particularly in this time and era. She even has a few scenes (as well as a song on the soundtrack) where she displays her sultry singing voice. I loved her performance here, not coming off as a singer trying her hand at acting. She really invests in her role and really comes across as one tough chick. This could be because she dwarfs over the rest of the petite girls in the cast, and looks very fine while doing it! I don’t know, just really dig her look in the film. However, there’s so much eye candy on display here you’ll get a sugar tooth… or would that be like a sugar retina? Either way, the point I’m trying to get across here is this: hot chicks doing really cool things. Does it really need to be dumbed down any further than that? Well, how about I take it back to a hopefully more academic level? The camera work in the film fluctuates between varrying styles, from handheld to magnificent crane and dolly work as it runs the gamut of just what can be done in order to continue the oozing of “cool” from the pores of the cinematic spectrum. Director Yasuharu Hasebe did an excellent job at crafting a story that was diverse in techniques but solid in it’s collection so as not to become odd. There are some great handheld shots on the streets of Tokyo that set you in the midst of this world that suddenly becomes so real, then there are the frenetic bits during the boxing match sequence that take on a similar brutal and realistic style that Scorsese managed in Raging Bull, but are certainly not in any kind of environment related to that.

The “cool” factor in the film almost seems postmodern for the actual contemporary timeframe it is set in. It all almost seems retro because of how out of the ordinary the style it is. It’s just so over the top that this seems like something that might be made in this day and age in order to “capture” a time frame, however you just have a hard time imagining fashion like this on the street! I can’t help but think of The Warriors to a degree, in terms of the fashion mostly but I have to say even in terms of the plot there’s even some degree of resemblance. Especially in the last act when our lead characters find themselves in a hot spot and are forced to sneak around Tokyo whilst in hiding. It beat The Warriors to the punch by quite a few years, but I don’t want to fool anyone into thinking that the films are identical, it’s simply an observation and more a feeling I got from the movie. Another thing I feel I should probably expound upon is the lack of sexuality used in order to promote the film. My first instinct, based upon the American system would be that perhaps famous singer Akiko Wadda wouldn’t want to be involved in anything too sleazy – but then again, she’s portraying a homosexual character here so I find that unlikely. It simply had to be a choice in the fact that there’s really very little in regards to nudity in the feature, unlike much of what else the genre has pumped out and promoted. There is one sequence that really pushes the envelope as far as sex and violence goes, in a bit where one girl has her breasts exposed (while still wearing her bra I should note) and a blowtorch taken to them. It’s a little odd within the film, but it’s another part of that over the top mixture that simply makes sense somehow. The same can be said about the Motorcycle Vs. Dune Buggy chase sequence in the lead up to the climax. We actually have both vehicles doing slaloms around poles in the subway. It’s incredibly silly, but it inspires so much fun! It grows more and more ridiculous as it goes along, with the puzzled faces of Japanese citizens looking on at the peculiar sequence taking place before them, you just can’t help but have fun with something like this!

Although it has been a while since I’ve done it, I really can’t help but give Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss a perfect rating. I won’t say everyone will get the same thing out of it that I did but I really can’t think of anything in it that I would change or didn’t enjoy. It was easily one of the easiest watches I have ever had and what I think grabs me the most is the fact that, sure, this might be an exploitation flick due to the hyperstylized presentation and some of the genre staples – but this film has a heart. There’s a brain at work here, with definite feminist overtones and female empowerment being central issues. There’s a lot of character development at work here and we grow to really enjoy the company of these people in this short amount of time. Everyone from Kerry (the boxer), Mei, Michio (Mei’s troubled boyfriend) to Ako. Each has their own very different set of issues at work and it’s so easy to get wrapped up in all of it. I can not stop recommending this one. For fans of Japanese cinema or simply exploitation film fans looking to get into the Pinky Violence genre, this is a great starting place. Take it from personal experience!

Here we are again. Thank goodness for this new laptop, as it has allowed me to actually get to watching some cult films! Woot! Also, it allows me to write! So I’m back a week later with my review for the Macaroni Combat crusade Five For Hell. Definitely a fun flick, that while it has it’s own problems now and then it’s overall a ambitious low budget actioner. Plus, there’s Klaus Kinski and John (Gianni) Garko in there! Can’t beat that!

The Plot: John Garko plays Lt. Hoffman, who has recently been put in charge of an extremely dangerous mission that will involve he and a platoon of his choosing going behind enemy lines, sneaking into a nazi fortress and gaining access to Plan K. A dangerous and important document that could very well help secure a win for the allies. He picks his ragtag team of soldiers, all with their own unique expertise and vulnerabilities. However, on the opposite side of the playing field is Hans Muehller (Klaus Kinski), a nazi officer placed in charge of watching the very same fortress that Hoffman will be attempting to break into. Muehller is a brutal leader who will acknowledge no weakness. Without his knowing, right underneath him is Helga a spy working with the Americans who will be attempting to assist Lt. Hoffman when he and his crew arrive. Which side will win in this epic battle of good versus evil?

…CONTINUE READING THE REVIEW HERE…