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The second crop of movies…

Oct. 5th Sweeny Todd

After some puzzling about how an American musical with an American star ended up on BBC America I jumped on board (There are some Brits in it. And they count anything with an accent on that channel, even if it’s fake).

Grand Guignol. Plenty of blood splashing artistically. It’s sing-able, and it has Johnny Depp. What’s not to like? Not quite as haunting as the original, or as eerie as the recording of the recent Broadway revival. But good enough.

Oct. 6th The Last Man on Earth

A testament to my obsession with Vincent Price, I picked this up when the movie I am Legend came out a while back. Last Man is the first of three movies of that story, and although it is a low on budget and high on cheese, it is much better than the Will Smith movie.

But man, is it depressing. I know I watched this movie when I was a kid, and it bounced right off me. But this time, the stark black and white images of corpses and desolation got under my skin. The fact that it is an Italian co-production went over my head when I was younger. But now, it seems dark and foreign, and worth the dollar or two I paid for the DVD.

I am not exactly scared, but kind of creeped out, and wondering if I can stand a month of this.

Oct. 7th Psychomania

This was playing on TCM late at night, and I hit record.

#2 asked why.

I said “British biker zombies.”

He agreed that there was no way I could not record it. It was waiting for me in the list, and I needed a palate cleanser.

It started out being simply awful. A 70’s biker gang riding in a slow and orderly fashion through standing stones. This is the most polite gang I have ever seen. It also has the worst fashion sense. Their helmets have stylized death’s head visors that make them look like bugs. “The Living Dead” is on the back of their leathers, but the lettering is pink.

It is the height of mod. It looks like someone involved saw A Clockwork Orange, and thought they could make a movie just like that.

They were mistaken.

There is demonic toad worship. A mother offering her baby as a gift to Satan while wearing white gloves and a fetching hat. A biker funeral where the corpse is buried, bike and all, in a hole that is not deep enough to cover him while a folk musician plays guitar and evil bikers make daisy chains.

And when the corpse rises from the dead, the first thing he does is call his mother. And gas up his bike. Because apparently, even dead bikers still rely on fossil fuels.

At first I was yawning. But after about 15 minutes, my jaw dropped in awe and stayed down for the rest of the movie.

Bring on another movie. I am back in the game.