Event Horizon - Inspiration for Gory Bastardized Remakes?

"Event Horizon" is a 1990's horror classic, but I do not even know if it is Anderson's best movie. The man operates from derivatives, so nothing is ever expected of him. But, he is the only director that you expect cool 3-D from, so there is at least a niche he is filling and thus some talent. This leaves me to ponder if that was even present with his first American non-established IP film.

In 2040, the experimental spacecraft Event Horizon traveled to the orbit of Neptune to test its gravity drive. The intention of this was to create a mini black hole that would suck space time in allowing the craft to travel to a different location instantaneously. But the intentions of the craft were not made public, so all anyone is suppose to know is that the ship was lost. So it is quite the surprise for Captain Miller and the crew of the Lewis and Clark to find out that they are suppose to salvage this craft and rescue the crew seven years later.

The crew arrives at the craft to find it in a seemingly state of deep freeze. At subzero temperatures, surely the crew is dead, but life form readings are detectable through out the ship. As the crew inspects the ship, one of them, Justin, tries to turn the power back on. When this occurs, he seems to be sucked into the gravity drive and the accompanying power surge cause a breach of the Clark's hull. To survive, the entire crew has to board the Event Horizon while they wait on repairs to the ship that got them there.

Justin is essentially spat out of the gravity drive in a catatonic state. His rescuer describes the incident to Miller, but his believability is immediately questioned by Dr. Weir. Weir is accompanying the Clark's crew since he was one of the scientist who designed the ship. Logic and physics are soon thrown out the window as other crew members, including Miller, start seeing what can only be considered hallucinations. Miller's lieutenant has a theory. This theory is that whatever the life readings are must be creating these experiences.

Once Justin awakens only to soon enter an air lock without a spacesuit to run from the darkness he saw, surviving becomes paramount to actually finding out what happened. Too bad Dr. Weir does not see it that way.

My synopsis for "Event Horizon" may have excluded the pitch for this feature: Spaceship returns from hell. With that said, going with a gothic horror approach to the premise is unique when you consider that the video game "Doom" is very similar. Horror was on a downturn in the mid 90's as we recovered from 80's slasher fatigue, so this was a brave 60 million dollar gamble on the "Mortal Kombat" director. The initial loss was 20 million, but after home release, it is surprising that there were not attempts to capitalize on the IP.

In the end, the movie ended up managing to be a hit in some form, and that tends to indicate great quality. That quality is provided by the cast and script. Anderson's direction is adequate, but there are not many set pieces that show his strengths when it comes to directing. If anything, it seems to me that the off-and-on auteur can only see in 3-D. I do not find this to be a weakness though when you take in to account how his "Resident Evil" franchise was able to have three additional sequels solely because of 3-D filmmaking's popularity. A 3-D re-release with some polished computer-generated effects would be worth telling streamers to bugger off.

I implied that the special effects are not great when it comes to the CG. They may have been great for the time, but like "Mortal Kombat", FDR/HDR does not do them any favor.

If there was one more flaw, it is the pacing. This is gothic horror on a spaceship which had been done before in the greater classic, "Alien". When you move from one scene to the next without anytime to revel in the horror of the situation, you are watching for the cool suggestive imagery of hell instead of being at the edge of your seat. This is primarily the reason that I am not going to declare this feature to be Anderson's best. I am leaning towards the first "Resident Evil".

"Silent Running": A Great Message in a Pre Space Opera World

Humans have given rabbits a run for their money in terms of breeding, but with a lack of suitable planets to colonize, how are they to come up with space for all of the people? Since deforestation never slowed down, clearing the world of vegetation and relying on synthetically constructed food, homo sapiens can survive on Earth indefinitely. It is even easier to be an Earthling because to keep up the means to create a comfortable 75-degree weather across the planet, everyone has a job. Humanity triumph over nature results in a comfort no one should reject.

Of course there was resistance to the idea of destroying all of the forests and encouraging mass extinctions in the name of progress. To address the naysayers, American Airlines Galactic Shipping have devoted a fleet of ships to maintain terrariums. Once the planet can allow for forestations, they will be transplanted back to Earth.

Be it the bottom line or just a dead soil, it is eventually determined that it is just too much work to maintain these galactic forests. The crews of these ships for the most part seem to agree, and they welcome the opportunity to nuke them all and head back home. Only one person thinks differently and determines that the beauty of nature must live on at any cost. This person is Freeman Lowell.

Lowell makes the rash decision to kill his fellow crewmates and make a run for the outer reaches of the solar system. Faking an accident to allow him to take this adventure on, he determines the vastness of space will prevent search parties and any chance for humans to finish the job of eliminating anything that is wild. The question is, can one man and a set of drone robots maintain the best parts of Earth, let alone Freeman's sanity?

"Silent Running" is a beautifully shot film with a lead character who is explored extremely well for a feature with a 89-minute runtime. For a viewer like me who has only seen Bruce Dern portray cranky, borderline evil old men, it was quite refreshing to see him portray a character that we sympathize with. But, if you want that cranky nature, he is still portraying someone who wants you to stay off his grass.

The set design and outer space scenes look marvelous. It made me wonder why it took Hollywood another five years before we got "Star Wars". I would dare say the special effects still hold up to George Lucas's original trilogy's standards. This film was from a time where science fiction was primarily there to teach us,  and with the Joan Baez soundtrack, you could not justify that this space film to warrant dog fights.

There only being one character to focus on and relate to, the film does not need extra special effect sequences. You see Lowell as a crusader who knows there is no going back to what he was suppose to be. The film is about him accepting that and how we need to be more willing to prevent a so called dystopia/utopia that require no effort. Its story nearly pulls at every emotion, and you leave feeling exhilarated going on such a thorough and brief journey.

I have long needed to give "Logan's Run" a thorough rewatch. "Silent Running" left me feeling like I had just watched the most important pre-"Star Wars" science fiction feature of the 1970's. To go and claim that it is without rewatching "Run" would be irresponsible.

I thought this would give me a reason to also rewatch "Rollerball", but their is a sense of that feature being grounded in a more relatable reality. Douglass Trumbull's directorial debut takes you to another world that you are glad to visit and hope will never become a reality. Who does not want to chase someone down in roller skates to knock them out with a studded glove? I can live with corporations ruling everything. I cannot live without trees.

2001 Maniacs: Setting Back Southern Relations...in an Ideal Way

Roger Ebert is not on television anymore, so the only film expert (in 2010) I consistently follow is Chris Gore. He is Ebert-like in ways when it comes to inexplicable taste. How Ebert applauded the "Lara Croft" films, Gore is willing to show respect to the obscene.

Nothing wrong with the obscene, but it places you in the niche critic genre. As long as the Criterion Collection exists, your expert title may be inappropriate if you are recommending "Suicide Girls Must Die (which I did follow up on and was not disappointed.)." With that title, I wonder who is the real expert is, Gore or I.

But, when you are trying to find one hundred DVD rentals to critique (This review's draft was written in 2010.), you need some guidance. With a recommendation of the 2010 release "2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams", surely the prior film had to be worthwhile enough to warrant a sequel. Let us hope that sequel was not director Tim Sullivan's "Evil Dead 2" (A remake of the original meant to surpass it).

Tecumseh Sherman's devastation of the South have left generations of bitterness toward all Yankees. In Georgia, the town of Pleasant Valley seems to be the only folk who tolerate and even celebrate Northerners. So when eight spring breakers end up taking a detour into this town, they cannot resist the near royal treatment. They are to be the guests of honor at the Guts and Glory Festival. The townsfolk insist that stay till the barbecue finale, but one-by-one, the kids go missing, leaving them to wonder what their role truly is.

"2001 Maniacs" is a simple slasher with a decent sense of humor, but may have had too much budget for its own good. It would have had a little more charm as a z-budget feature, but with Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger obligations being done, I can see the wisdom in paying him the extra dough for name recognition.

There are some murders that require the extra finances, but this is not suppose to be a "great" film. I would have loved cheap effects and regular people (amateur actors) carrying this script. The script is something the viewer cannot claim to be high brow. Its pacing has some hiccups, but it is smart enough on how to make a generic story worthwhile, and makes sure every decadent thing needed for a gore-based comedy is present.

It is also encouraging that the film pulls no punches on the Southern stereotypes. The gore is great, but what may be truly offensive is how far they go in bad mouthing red necks. Fortunately, this film is clever enough to effectively use it as story elements.

These notes were originally written 11 years ago, so I had not seen "Tucker and Dale vs Evil". With that said, I did see the obnoxious "2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams", so maybe my conclusion is still valid.

Finding a smart horror movie about rednecks can be a task, but "2001 Maniacs" fits that bill. This low-budget feature maybe a bit too glossy for its own good, but its spirit remains intact. It is a gem for an insensitive, liberal gore hound.

"Absolon" and "The Ballad of Vinnie Jones"

I guess there are films that feature Vinnie Jones that I do not want to see. This is my latest discovery thanks to a month (Summer 2009) of trying to dedicate more time to renting instead of buying DVDs.

"Bog Body (Legend of the Bog)" seems to be too Syfy Original for my taste (With a pre-WWE Sheamus in the film, I thought it was a fair assumption. It was not that ridiculous), and "Strike" starring Tara Reid must be wretched. You cannot bill Reid and expect a film to work. It only took E! one season to figure that out. The point is, unlike "X-Men: The Last Stand", "Hell Ride" and "Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins Ball", Vinnie's presence has no chance of making these films worthwhile.

The lack of any Vinnie-tastic flair in the new releases leaves me going through the two-for-one dollar section at Family Video to find something interesting. Who knew Christopher Lambert has a movie that started with the Letter A? Sorry, I must have blocked "Adrenalin" from my mind. Come on. I cannot be the only one to think the "Species" chick was going to have a career outside of the series?

I still approach "Absolon" with some discretion. Lou Diamond Philips is no Ice Tea (Albert Pyun's "Mean Guns") and Canadian sci-fi is always an iffy investment (David Cronenberg's "Shivers" and "The Brood", regardless of opinion, can attest to that statement.) All it took was the director of my favorite Bond film, (and nudity from that film's Bond girl) to buy a 25 cent VHS copy of "Point Men" starring Lambert. That investment worked out, so I should have a little fate in the premier "Highlander".

And, you cannot say no to Ron Perlman. I have tried.

I did end up renting "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" and I sat through "Rats" on USA. You cannot mock those decisons if you are patient with Bruce Campbell, so how can this decision backfire? Christopher Lambert plus another above Bruce-lister should equal cinematic joy. "Absolon" fits the equation and fifty cents seemed like a fair price.

In 2010 (take that 2012), a virus wiped out five billion people and led to the collapse of all the economies around the world. No cure for NDS (neural degeneration syndrome) could be found, but a drug called Absolon was developed which would allow for individuals to live a normal life with the disease.

Absolon also led to a currency to revive economies. People are paid in time. If one runs out of time, they no longer get the drug, so poverty becomes a death sentence.

The man who discovered NDS and Absolon was murdered and his research stolen. Det. Scott (Lambert) is assigned the case. When he discovers that the victim had found a cure for the virus, he becomes the target of the World Justice Department. To make matters worse, the victim's lab assistant had inoculated him with the first half of the cure's formula. If he wants to save himself, and the world, he must find the other half of the cure in the next three days.

Writer Brad Mirman has had some good ideas, but they are not enough to produce a great final project. It seems a bit criminal that his final drafts get put on film. I say that because the scripts for "Absolon" and two other Christopher Lambert films he wrote could make for some great B-movies.

With the frequency of bad flicks, it seems like we cannot hold the music video director who take on his projects back. Mirman may just be trying to give them a break into a new format. This is a pretty scary concept. To believe there is someone out there who wonders, "What would Russell McCauly do?", I would prefer not.

And when I said some good ideas earlier, that means a premise for a film. After that, his desperation attacks all five senses with poor attempts at plot twists and ripping off lines from other Lambert films in an effort to get his trademarked laughs in to the script to make up for the lack of any effort to lighten the mood.

Speaking of ripping off Lambert's "Highlander" legacy, Director David Barto grabs a fight scene from one of them. That fight scene is the elderly McLeod versus the punks from "Highlander 2". To his credit, he knew how to recreate it on the cheap. Until the climatic one-on-one battle with Lou Diamond Phillips, that is the complaint one can have with the direction. This serves as an indication that Barto does not have the patience to direct a film since his background is storyboard artistry.

I might have to pop "Blade II" into the DVD player before I can say he was not trying. The disc may have some of his boards hidden with the bonus material. It would distress me to find out that he is not into delivering detail to his work. But when the future only means fluorescent hair highlights for the girls in "Absolon", why would we think otherwise.

As for the direction of the climax, it only seems that he was so focused on showing us how very small elements will determine the outcome, and thus loses track of the simple punch, punch, trip, nut shot action. If we had learned anything from the days of 80's action, continuity can be ignored for the sake of enjoyment.

If there is one thing that is good about "Absolon" is that the script does not challenge any of the actors. Phillips can be the hip Chicano, Perlman can be the just pick one of his memorable roles of the oughts (Hellboy, Reinhardt from "Blade II", his sniper from "Enemy at the Gate") and not even put in a whole day on set, and Lambert is Lambert.

The only person who has difficulty with their role is Kelly Brook as the English Dr. Claire Whittaker. It may have been that she was too young for the role (i.e. Denise Richards as Christmas Jones in "007: The World is Not Enough"), but she does not deliver any dialogue with conviction. Just because Ron, Chris and Lou do not have to, does not mean you are excused.

Then, she did have to do a love scene with a man she is half the age of. This was when I finally got pissed at the rental. You got to be at least an A-lister to get away with that. Sorry Christopher, I got to finally call bullshit.

"Absolon lacks the heart and script to overcome its disease. Christopher Lambert and Ron Perlman did not let me down with their efforts, just their decision making. That goes for anyone who decided to drag something out of a script that is only as good as its outline.