E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA

E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA (THE BEYOND, SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH) (1981)
IT
Directed by Lucio Fulci

CAST:
Catriona MacColl (as Katherine MacColl) - Liza Merril
David Warbeck - Dr. John McCabe
Cinzia Monreale (as Sarah Keller) - Emily

PLOT:
     A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural accidents, she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.

 
REVIEW:
     I first heard of this movie when I heard about the list of Video Nasties, a list from the Director of  Public Prosecution (DPP) of England, which is a list of movies that were banned from playing in England that started in 1983. The act that made this possible was the Obscene Publications Act, which defined obscenity as that which may "tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it". This definition is of course open to wide interpretation. Due to this 72 films in all appeared on the list. Since then I've been trying to watch all the movies on the list and I'm slowly making headway with it. The Beyond also has the added bonus of being watched due to it's considered a Mythos movies so it was an easy choice to watch and review.

     Let me start out by saying that the acting in this will not win anyone any awards (nor did it when it came out). Some of the acting is so flat it seems as if the actors are reading cue cards half the time. The rest of the time the actors are are either overacting so badly, or actually doing a decent job. While most of the time this would make me completely despise a movie but in The Beyond it just helps the movie. David Warbeck as Dr. John McCabe is the best actor in the film as he seems the most comfortable in delivering his lines as well as acting so damn calm considering what all is happening to him. Katherine MacColl as Liza Merril isn't quite as good as Warbeck but they both stand out from the rest of the cast. The rest of the cast is actually fun to watch as they stare death in the face with a blank face and say nothing. The others in this so overact at the smallest scare that it to is fun to watch at the unbelievable emotions showing, or lack there of.

     Part of the fun with this film is the story but it is also the films weakest point. Some are going to disagree with me on this but there are questions raised during the movie that had no answers. One of them being is why was the Schweick murdered at the beginning of the film? What did he do that caused over fifteen people to come after him with so much hatred? Another problem is when did Emily die at the start of the film because they showed her at the hotel when the towns people went to get Schweick yet that was it. While still on the subject of Emily, how was she able to come back since she mentioned she escaped from her fate. The biggest flaw with the film is Dr McCabe's inability to understand that after shooting multiple zombies in random body parts and them not falling over but head shots puts them down just to go back to body shots is just dumb.  I know that these are nit picky things but these are the things that always got me with this film. That's not to say the entire story is bad though. I loved that the background of the hotel is not told except for it was built on one of the seven door ways to Hell. The supernatural happenings are never fully explained which leaves it up to the viewer to decide for themselves how these are occurring or what set the events in the film off.

     Director Lucio Fulci, even with all the major flaws in the film, still has created something that sticks with you, which is why the film has a cult following. Some of the stand out scenes include the slow death of the hotel caretaker from a nail in the back of the head due to the expectation of the death we the viewer know is coming, just not when. One of my favorites is the spider attack even though you can tell most of them are fake, it is just the freak out factor of it and the slow march of them toward their victim, who sees them coming but can't move or even scream. The shot composition of some scenes are just beautiful in places as some of them are just striking in the visual element and colors used. With all the flaws present, The Beyond is still fun to watch and even listen to with the terrible overdubs. The reason why this film has survived to be a cult classic isn't because of the flaws but because of the mood that is created throughout the film thanks in part to the direction and timing of scenes by Fulci. This is a must watch if you haven't been able to see yet.

BEST DEATH:
     The handgun that becomes a hand-cannon to one poor girls head.

BEST LINE:
     And you will face the sea of darkness, and all therein that may be explored.

FUN FACTS:
     The Book Of Eibon', featured prominently throughout the film, is the creation of American pulp fiction author, poet and fine artist Clark Ashton Smith and is a recurring text associated with the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos" cycle of literature. The book, which deals with various arcane subjects including the resurrection of the dead, demonic magic, parallel dimensions and other black magic subjects is alleged to have been imparted to the infamous necromancer Eibon by the ancient devil-god Tsathoggua in a remote prehistoric epoch.

     During the final scene in the Beyond's abyss, the sand-covered bodies lying on the ground were actually stark naked street derelicts, who were "paid" in alcohol.

     The zombie rampage was done at the insistence of the film's German distributors whose movie market was going through a zombie craze. Fulci agreed to rewrite his film, adding zombies and completely rewriting the film's final act to include a shoot-out between the main characters and a zombie horde at a local hospital. Despite these revisions, the final product is considered by many fans to be one of Fulci's best films and has even been praised for its oneiric incoherence.

     Fulci's original outline for The Beyond was of a non-linear haunted house story with the only solid plot element being that of a woman moving into a hotel built on one of the seven gates of hell (another such gate is depicted in City of the Living Dead). This original story focused on the dead leaving hell and entering the hotel with little outside of the ensuing carnage to link the scenes together.

     The Beyond is the second film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy along with City Of The Living Dead and The House By The Cemetery.

H.P. LOVECRAFT'S THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME

H.P. LOVECRAFT'S THE SHADOW OUT OF TIME (2012)
SE
Directed by Richard Svenssonand and Daniel Lenneér

CAST:
John Hutch - Narrator
Ake Rosen- Nathaniel Peaslee

PLOT:
      Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee fears he is losing his mind when he unaccountably sees strange vistas of other worlds and of the Yithian library city.

REVIEW:
     While I get short films sent to me from directors, a lot of times I have to actively search for films that I want to review, or to find something that catches my attention. The only problem with this is once I find something sometimes it bites me in the ass and turns out to be terrible, just take the last review I did for example. Yet with short films, they have a limited time to get the story across as fast and concise as possible. So with that in mind what did I make of this short.

      There's something special when a film takes source material and doesn't change to much of it. This is specially true with this short film. There is a simplicity to the film as everything is narrated so nothing is truly lost in giving lines to other actors. The narration by John Hutch is spot on and has just enough helplessness to it that you feel for the lead character Nathaniel Peaslee. As the story goes on Hutch's narration becomes more desperate in just the right places, but never goes completely overboard with it. The actor who portrays Peaslee on screen is Ake Rosen does a fairly decent job of trying to show the emotions of a man who for all intents and purposes lost his mind only to regain it and and to find out that he lost everything. The one thing that bothered me more than anything about Rosen's acting is some of his walking scenes as you can tell it's almost pantomimed and seems out of place. Except  for this Rosen does just fine in his role.

     The two directors, Richard Svenssonand and David Lenneer, actually do a decent job of bringing a more otherworldly tale to film, though it is not without its flaws. While Svenssonand's direction of the live action parts are not bad for the most parts, except for some of the walking scenes as I mentioned earlier. Lenneer animated sequences are the real downfall of this though. The claymation style Yith thankfully have very fluid animation and always in constant motion. The S'gg'ha is designed well also, with a look that sticks out from the rest of the creatures. The rest of Lenneer's work unfortunately doesn't hold up as well with the life and death fight between the Yithians and polypous creatures being the worst of the animated sequences as it seems as if the polypous creatures are in a constant fart attack and the electrical energy weapons of the Yith just seems as if  they didn't truly know what to do with the weapons as well as the entire scene. Even with all the flaws, The Shadow Out Of Time is a decent mythos film that keeps your attention through all the trouble with it, as well as stays true to the source material.

BEST LINE:
     From the short story:
     "Assuming that I was sane and awake, my experience on that night was such as has befallen no man before. It was, moreover, a frightful confirmation of all I had sought to dismiss as myth and dream."

FUN FACTS:
     Richard Svenssonand directed the live action parts of the film.

     Daniel Lenneér directed the animated sequences in the film.

THE MIST

THE MIST (STEPHEN KING'S THE MIST) (2007)
US
Directed by Frank Darabont

CAST:
Thomas Jane - David Drayton
Marcia Gay Harden - Mrs. Carmody
Laurie Holden - Amanda Dunfrey

PLOT:
     A military experiment goes wrong and unleashes creatures upon a small town where a group of people hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives from the monsters outside, as well as from the inside.

REVIEW:
     Last year I was going to review this but my copy of the film wouldn't play in my DVD player so I decided to wait till this year. With that I was able to get the black and white version of the film which director Frank Darabont wanted to put out but the studios said no to. Well, now that I have the black and white version and the Darabont's true vision of the film how can I not review it this month in honor of H.P. Lovecraft's birthday.

     As a word of warning, there will be spoilers in this review. You have been warned!

     I have to start out by talking about the actors, like that's any surprise, because it will be easier to do the rest of the review after I put my thoughts down about the acting. Thomas Jane for the most part did a great job as famous artist David Drayton. Jane though has the distinction of being the actor that overplayed his role as well, with one scene sticking out the most as the shining example of this. The scene is at the end of the film after he's the only surviving member of his group and as he lets out a scream, it's just off. It just seems like Jane was trying to hard to show despair. Once was forgivable, yet  it happens again at the very end of the film as well and it brings you out of the film. Thankfully this was at the end so it's not as bad as if it happened half way through. The one stand out performance in the film is from Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody. If there was ever a villain created in literature or film that you as the viewer truly hate, it is this character. Harden knows just the right way to put her lines or how to phrase a sentence to bring her character to life in ways that is horrendous yet at the same time all too human.

     Albeit The Mist is a monster film, this aspect of it takes a back seat to the drama and dilemmas that happen concerning the characters because of them though. It can be said this is a character study more than anything else and a powerful one at that, one that runs through most of Stephen Kings novels. As in what happens when you put ordinary people in situations that are out of the ordinary. The Mist  does this amazingly as it shows the worst in people and what they are capable of once their set sanity is besieged. What comes as no surprise is that some people will use this to further their own personnel beliefs no matter who it hurts. Yet there will be people who try to keep doing what is right no matter what and how the two factions will always be in conflict. The factions that form around David Drayton and Mrs. Carmody are the perfect examples of this as Mrs. Carmody keeps using religion as a reason for everything that is going on and that everyone should follow the Bible and everything it says to protect them. Even when her zealousness infects others and makes all of her believers that follow her sayings into a cult of Jim Jones or Charles Manson like proportions, including killing in the name of God and using fear to induce terror,  they see nothing wrong with what they are doing. This comes as a shock to those that are more level headed as they are able to see and view the oncoming destruction from this as the group that forms around David Drayton does and their struggle to escape a situation worse than what is happening out in the world.

     Director Frank Darabont does an amazing job creating a film that pulls no punches and doesn't go for the happy go lucky ending most films in the genre go for. He understands that good doesn't always win out, and all to often those that are evil will get the upper hand and keep it. Darabont uses the the setting of the film, a town surrounded by mist to his advantage. An example of this is when the bigger creatures show up they are shrouded in mist which in return has the viewer fill in the missing pieces with their imagination which is always worse than what can be shown on screen as I mentioned before in another review. The creatures that are shown are creepy and disgusting thanks to their design and what it most unsettling about them is that they have eyes that are black pinpoints, which shows that they are behaving as animals do, which is to mate and eat. They are animalistic in the truest sense, brutal, efficient, and have no reasoning capability whatsoever.  The Mist got a lot of hate for the ending of the film, but I for one loved how it ended as it shows that every choice made always has a consequence from the small to the unfortunate. More than anything else the film shows that the thing to be most afraid of is the human animal as everything else compared to it seems lite in its wake. 

BEST DEATH:
     Well, she did want blood for her God!

BEST LINE:
    As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?

FUN FACTS:
     In addition to the Gunslinger painting at the beginning of the film, the movie shares another connection with other Stephen King works. The line, "My life for you", spoken by Mrs. Carmody in the film, (although not in the novella), originally appeared in the novel, The Stand, as spoken by Donald Merwin Elbert, (the Trashcan Man), first in his dreams, and then later in person, to Randall Flagg, (the Dark Man or the Walkin' Dude). The line later appeared as dialogue between other villainous characters and subsequent incarnations of Randall Flagg, such as Walter o'Dim in the Dark Tower series novels, and Flagg, in The Eyes of the Dragon.

     Frank Darabont agreed to make the film with Dimension only under the condition that no matter what, they wouldn't change the scripted ending. They agreed.

     Amanda has an empty six-shot revolver and two full speed-loaders in her purse. This means there are twelve rounds of ammunition for the revolver. During the course of the movie, exactly twelve rounds are fired before the revolver is out of ammunition.

     According to Cinefex magazine, there is a favorite scene near the end of the book that was not in the script. In the scene, David Dreyton and the others with him in the vehicle, witness something. Darabont originally had excised this scene from his script. However, several of the people working with the special effects company CafeFX, convinced him to put it back into the film.Which I'm happy Darabont did put it back in.

PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS (2012)
US
Directed by Ridley Scott

CAST:
Noomi Rapace - Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender - David
Charlize Theron - Meredith Vickers

PLOT:
     A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

REVIEW:
     I usually start my reviews with random thoughts and such, yet with this one I decided to put down a quote from H.P. Lovecraft instead as it says everything quite perfectly about the Alien franchise including this one,

    

"The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain -- a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the dæmons of unplumbed space."
― H. P. Lovecraft, 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'

      While everyone is saying how much the film is stolen by Michael Fassbender as David, I'll get to him in a second, Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw to me is the best actor in the film. Rapace's character will no doubt be compared to Ripley as both are strong female leads in a hopeless situation. The reason why I'm saying this is plain and simple the film is about her and the faith she has then loses. Rapace adds a softness to the character that all the other characters are lacking. This doesn't mean that she is the weakest character, in fact this adds a humanity to her that saves her life at one point in the movie.  Michael Fassbender's David is the quirkiest character in the film as we the viewers can tell that he is always thinking, or processing if you want, of the other characters and what makes them different and what motivates their actions. There is a childlike quality to David that Fassbender adds to the role that almost makes you feel betrayed after watching some of David's actions he takes against the crew. These actions aren't out of cruelty or revenge, but out of more curiosity and wonderment at what would happen and his questioning of his own role among humanity. Charlize Theron's Meredith Vickers was the one true question mark out of all the characters as she is mostly always seen standing away from everyone and tries to keep the entire crew at arms length. The reason for this is explained later on in the film and up until a certain point the viewers may think that Vickers is actually a second android next to David, though you find out that she is in fact human and a very weak one at that as she seems to lose composure whenever her authority is threatened or a order is disobeyed. Despite Vickers' icy exterior inside she is severely insecure and is trying to overcompensate for that fact.

     I will admit that before I saw Prometheus that I read a couple of reviews. One thing I've noticed about them is that they either loved the movie or hated it. So much so in fact that the two sides have broken down to name calling on some boards. And do not doubt that you will either love the movie or hate it as there really is no in-between when it comes to this. This has to do with that the fact that the movie asks you to think, which is almost a unheard of these days. It asks us to get the notion of God out of our heads and in it's place to put in a notion that takes hold throughout the film. What if we were made by another alien race. Would you be willing to have all that you hold true, that wall that we built, knocked down to truly know the truth. These are lofty questions that most everyone can understand and it is these questions that are the foundations of the story to Prometheus. On the flip side is the mythology aspect of Prometheus. The one where the Gods become pissed at the titan Prometheus and punish him for giving fire to the humans. For giving them knowledge. What is not widely known is that by giving humans knowledge, it is this knowledge that helped mankind stop their own destruction from the Gods.  The knowledge being sought in this is why did, as Elizabeth Shaw puts them, the Engineers create humans. For what purpose. Yet by the end of the film this question has changed to why are they, the Engineers, trying to destroy us. Did we overstep our bounds by learning and asking to much? While not all the answers are giving in the film some are answered. Another interesting story point that is brought up in the film is that the planet the crew find the Engineers on turns out to be a staging point, or to put it more simply, a military installation. The one bad aspect of this is that how they came to this conclusion or found out is not giving. This is more than likely from a cut scene that explains how they found out. This is the only real slight I found with the film. Ridley Scott set the film up this way for a reason and I can't thank him enough for making a film that is smart and doesn't take the idiot route that most do.

      Director Ridley Scott has done something that I thought really wasn't possible after so many years of bad movies that had the xenomorphs in them and that is to make the alien films mean something again, while creating something completely new with something that could be just as deadly and potentially more dangerous with the Engineers, or as they are more well known as the race that is the Space Jockeys. The film is beautifully shot with a even hand that doesn't pull away from a shot. When what action there is happens the camera doesn't pull away from it, try to hide or make the camera shake to make it seems like there is more going on than there really is. What we are seeing is what is happening, nothing more or less. Prometheus is more about the tension and the unknown. Most of what is happening cannot be explained, and that makes the film more powerful. As we are there as an observer only, not everything is explained and I think that is what makes most people hate the film. There are stand out scenes that are amazing to watch and see and I'm not going to go into those scenes as to go into it will ruin it. What I will say is that if you can watch it in 3D, do so. While a lot of the films that are using the format to make things pop out on the screen or for a quick jolt to the audience, Scott does something different. Scott uses the format to help the film and not for thrill, but to enhance what is shown and help add depth to what is being seen. The reason for this is that this is not a small movie, in fact Prometheus is a far reaching film that has ideas that pushes the audience and what is being seen has to match it as well. And the visuals do. What also helps with this is the use of as much in-camera effects as possible. Prometheus is a film that will with time become more accepted such as a lot of Ridley Scott's other works have become. But to me this film is a classic already as it pushes boundaries and ideas and isn't afraid to leave it up to the viewer to think for theirself.

BEST DEATH:
      Fifield's melting doom.

BEST LINE:
     You know what this place is? Hell.

FUN FACTS:
     Designer and artist H.R. Giger, who worked on the original design of the Xenomorph Alien, was brought in to assist in reverse-engineering the design of the Aliens in the film.

     Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski convinced Ridley Scott that it would be possible to shoot the film in 3D with the same ease and efficiency of typical filming. 3D company 3ality Technica provided some of the rigs and equipment to facilitate 3D filming, and trained the film's crew in their proper operation. Since 3D films need high lighting levels on set, the traditional dark shadowy atmosphere of the Alien films was added in post-production through grading processes, while the 3D equipment will be based on post Avatar technology. Supposedly the first quarter of the film was finished filming when the decision to film it in full 3D was agreed upon causing the shot scenes to be re-shot in 3D.

     During production Ridley Scott kept the use of computer-generated imagery as low as possible, using CGI mainly in space scenes; Scott recalled advice VFXpert Douglas Trumbull gave him on the set of Blade Runner: "If you can do it live, do it live", and also claimed that practical VFX was more cost-effective than digital VFX. And in my opinion look better as well.

     Ridley Scott and James Cameron both were working on a sequel to Alien franchise in 2002 together that would explore the engineered origin of the aliens in the film series, when both dropped out due to Fox's greenlighting of Alien Vs. Predator. Cameron was very vocal about the potential of the cross-over ruining both franchises and wanted nothing to do with Fox's influence on any Alien sequel do to it.

     According to Ridley Scott, the film's plot was inspired by Erich von Daniken's writings about ancient astronauts: "Both NASA and the Vatican agree that it is almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today, without there being a little help along the way. That's what we're looking at: we are talking about gods and engineers, engineers of space. Were the Aliens designed as a form of biological warfare, or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"

ALIEN

ALIEN (1979)
US/UK
Directed by Ridley Scott

CAST:
Tom Skerritt - Dallas
Sigourney Weaver - Ripley
Veronica Cartwright - Lambert

PLOT:
     A deep space mining vessel receives a strange beacon signal from a uninhabited planet.

REVIEW:
     This is the first review that is the lead up to Prometheus as I wanted to do something special with the film. So I thought why not do reviews for Alien and Aliens before the review for the prequel. I'll admit that Alien wasn't the first one of these I watched due to when I was about nine years old I was unlucky enough to see a book at a library in Martinsville, Virginia. Now this book, from what I remember of it, reminds me now of the modern day making of books that the bigger films have out right now. Now just to give you a clue as to my film viewing at that moment in time, I was treated to a Conan the Barbarian and The Sword and the Sorcerer double feature in a empty movie theater with my dad and the projectionist when I was eight years old. Which was awesome by the way! Now this book had images from the chestburster scene which freaked me out and scared me from watching the film for about five plus years. I said I was unlucky yet in reality that images staid with me throughout my childhood as I wanted to see what was going on. How is what I saw possible I always thought after seeing those pictures. Now when I think about Alien, well, I'll let the review really tell you what I think below.

     This is a review for the director's cut of the film.

     Thirty three years after it's initial release Alien has lost none of it's impact. In the week leading up to the release of Prometheus I decided to review the main Alien movies to re-acquaint myself with the universe LV-426 inhabits. The production design on Alien still leaves me in awe as you do not see sets that are built like that anymore. Where no level of detail is overlooked. To actually working steampipes, to the bunk area for the crew that each had their own look. Yet the main reason why the sets are so impressive for Alien is due to that the alien could be hiding anywhere in most of the places shown. The reason why I'm going into the set design first is because the Nostromo is and of itself a whole other character in the film. Another design that the film was known for was for the alien itself, as the alien is a nightmare made real and viewable. If only for seconds at a time. It wasn't designed to be shown in a lot of light and be out in the open. The main design property of it was to be hidden and barely be shown.  A lot of the reasoning behind this is that it's a old film psychological trick. The less you show something, except for in quick flashes of it,  in return makes the audience use their imagination more which most of the time is always worse that what can possible be shown. I know I've mentioned that in previous reviews, but it is true and will always be true as the viewer cannot help but to fill in the gaps that are missing.

     The cast in Alien was also well put together, baring one exception and that being Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. I'm not saying she did poorly in the role, it's just that her performance doesn't stack up with the rest of the more veteran cast members who have had more experience in front of the camera. Part of the problem is that some of the emotions she tries to show are the exact opposite of what she is trying to portray for the situations she is in. Yaphet Kotto as Parker sticks out the most as the smart ass engineer who always has something to complain about no matter how trivial it may be. His character also adds what humor there is in the script due to his bad attitude which helps lighten the almost complete somberness of the film. The most level headed of the characters in the movie was Dallas, who was played by Tom Skerritt. After his on screen death it almost seems as if controlled chaos takes over on the ship. One thing that sticks out the most with the actors is that their characters seem to not like each other and they cannot wait to be done with their mission as any real person would be as they are doing a job and just want to be done with it. The reason for this is that no one really liked each other in the cast and crew and that translated onto the screen, which just made the characters seem more real and believable.

     While the film has a deliberate pace, it does drag in spots. It's not always a bad thing for this to happen in films, it's this one slight that is the most detrimental to Alien. I will probably get some disagreement on this but it is true. There are scenes where nothing is happening except shots on the crew milling about and doing there own thing. The good thing about these scenes is that it helps to establish the crew and their personalities as each one is their person. Even Ash who we find out later is an android is shown doing very human things and having quirks about him. It's the little things like this that help establish the world we are invited into for over two hours. While the film didn't really do anything new as it used pre-existing staples from movies, what it did do is use what was around to create it's own place in the film world and create a new film genre.  It also created as whole universe for people to play in as if Alien was a sandbox movie and a launching ground for others to go crazy in. Alien as a film is starting to show it's age but it's that age that makes the film hold up today still. There are no quick cuts, the shots are set and the scenes are let out to play the way they should. As natural as possible. Another interesting thing about the film to me is that it can be put into the Mythos category of films. That is the alien is really of unknown origins and that it  can be seen as having been asleep for a long time and as guardians for something unknown but at the same time something that feels old and is unexplainable. Alien is almost a perfect film and still stands out above almost all films made today.

BEST DEATH:
     Kane's final meal surprise.

BEST LINES:
     Ripley, for God's sake, this is the first time that we've encountered a species like this. It has to go back. All sorts of tests have to be made.
     Ash, are you kidding? This thing bled acid. Who knows what it's gonna do when it's dead?
     I think it's safe to assume it isn't a zombie.

FUN FACTS:
     The blue laser lights that were used in the alien ship's egg chamber were borrowed from the band The Who, who were testing out the lasers for their stage show in the soundstage next door.

     The space jockey prop was 26 feet tall.

     The original cut of the film ran 3 hours and 12 minutes.

     In a preview of the bonus feature menus for the "Alien Legacy" box set posted to USENET, the bio for Dallas had him as being born female and Lambert as being born male, suggesting gender reassignment before the events in the film. Negative fan reaction prompted this to be changed before production of the DVDs.

     The rumor that the cast, except for John Hurt, did not know what would happen during the chestburster scene is partly true. The scene had been explained for them, but they did not know specifics such as real animal innards were being used. For instance, Veronica Cartwright did not expect to be sprayed with blood. This was done to help the actors show true revolt and fear.

THE LAST LOVECRAFT: RELIC OF CTHULHU

THE LAST LOVECRAFT: RELIC OF CTHULHU (2010)
US
Directed by Henry Saine

CAST:
Kyle Davis - Jeff
Devin McGinn - Charlie
Barak Hardley - Paul

PLOT:
     Jeff is giving a ancient artifact and told he's last of the Lovecraft family line and that he has to protect the relic at all cost.

REVIEW:
     I must admit something straight out. I love H.P. Lovecraft and his stories. I even love most stories based on his Cthulhu Mythos, also known as the Lovecraft Mythos.  While the Mythos is more of a background setting more than anything else which Lovecraft left open on purpose to let other people play around in, to put it simply, is the coming of the Old Ones by their human followers to help them reclaim Earth and remove humanity from it, though there is more to it than just that. Most movies that are based on the Mythos that I've seen so far are just average to tell the truth but yet interesting due to where the director tries to goes with the story. The reason for that is the Mythos is so wide ranging usually the only thing that connects these movies and stories together is the Old Ones themselves or variances of them. I try to watch as many of these movies as possible, even when I know the movie will be a complete piece of shit. I do this trying to find those rare gems of movies that are amazing and capture the feel of the original stories. Anyway, when I found out that there was another Mythos movie coming out I was filled with hope, but yet trepidation at the same time for what this film might hold as I watched it.

     It's nice to see a movie not take itself seriously sometimes and try not to be more than what it is. This movie knows it's place and doesn't try to go above it. The first time you meet the main characters they're working in an office where they're the misfits of the staff considering one plays with action figures and the other doesn't understand he's being hit on, hard, by a co-worker even if she shot him with a gun. So with that the movie already starts off saying the main characters are not heroes and pretty much clueless. Kyle Davis who plays Jeff , the last descendant of Lovecraft, is the straight man of the whole cast and I must say he does a decent job in the role, even though he really doesn't have any of the truly great lines in the movie, as he's the one member of the group that really doesn't believe the whole experience is truly happening until the halfway point in the film. Devin McGinn on the other hand, who plays Charlie, who also wrote the script, is just fun to watch as you can actually tell he is having enjoying himself through the entire run time of the movie. Not only does he have the best lines of dialogue, but he also the greater portion of one liners. The whole cast can easily be seen enjoying themselves throughout even when speaking lines that would make higher paid actors roll their eyes at the thought of doing it, but they believe in what they're making and in return the movie is better for it.

     The movie does have problems though as some of the lines between Jeff and Charlie gets old and runs for to long. The story on the other hand is basically a played out version of other movies of its kind as the main character is a nobody, finds out he's a descendant of someone famous, goes through trials, then finally becomes a hero. Thankfully with this movie most of the journey has enough comedic bits throughout the whole that it helps rather than hinders while also helping get past the slower parts. Another problem is some of the special and practical effects throughout the film. The deep ones are actually quite well done but lack any movement in the face and you can't tell the difference between any of them unfortunately, but at least the mouth works on them so that helps. As for the Star Spawn, that was the one true thing about the movie I really didn't like at all as it seemed like the makeup effects artist just didn't know what to do so he took slim jims and pasted them on a guys face and spray painted the whole thing red. Then there is the CG. I don't know how many times I've said this but get the coloring corrected with what is on screen as most of the time it's only a shade off and take off the translucent effect and you actually might be amazed at what happens.

     It should be noted if that you don't know anything about Lovecraft and his literary work you will be lost even though the movie does try to explain who is who and what is what and why but it just glances over it and misses a lot of the true points of the stories where these creatures come from. For those that have read these works and know about them, you should be quite amused with what is happening in the film as well as the sight gags as even the t-shirts that some of the characters wear are referencing Mythos creatures. This is a comedy and doesn't try to hide that fact one bit. In fact the movie and the actors relish it, as can be seen by the chemistry on screen and the way they play off each other so well. I should also note that Paul, played by  Barak Hardley, is just a hilarious to watch as the overly geeky inept punching bag for everyone in the movie who just wants to be accepted by Jeff and Charlie, even though he had both his arms broken by Jeff when they were in school and he still thinks the world of them. So if you're looking for a fun semi-light hearted movie for all geeks and nerds (I'm one), this movie is for you.


BEST DEATH:
     Ear to ear cleaning by tentacle.

BEST LINE:
     Every time a foghorn blows, another twisted mer-being get's it's fins.    

FUN FACTS:
     Devin McGinn who plays Charlie also wrote the story for the movie as well as produced and edited.

     The film had it's premiere at the 2010 Slamdance film festival.

     Watch for the ode to Masters Of The Universe's horde creature Leech toward the beginning of the movie.