1979's Prophecy had been on my radar for longer than I realized, and that was mostly due to a combination of reportedly being one of the better "post-Jaws" animals-run-amuck pictures out there and from containing one hell of a list of performers. I've covered more than my fair share of flicks throughout the years that were obviously inspired by the success of Spielberg's first box office juggernaut, and though most have wielded more misses than hits, I'll never turn the chance to watch mother nature take revenge on the plague known as humanity. The plot to Prophecy can be summarized as follows: Law & Order's Robert Foxworth accepts an offer from the EPA to write about a standoff between a logging company and a Native American tribe near the Androscoggin River in Maine. His wife (played by Godfather & Rocky veteran Talia Shire) tags along and after they arrive, they come to find that both sides blame each other for the mysterious disappearances of workers and members of a rescue team. The natives are convinced that it's the work of an ancient spirit known as "Katahdin," who has returned to take revenge on those who would destroy the land, and judging by the strange discoveries that everyone finds around the area, that explanation doesn't seem so farfetched.
Before you decide to hit Google for any further information about Prophecy, I'll save you the trouble of searching for one particular tidbit: the primary antagonist of this movie is a mutated forest creature that, for all intents and purposes, looks like if the entity from John Carpenter's The Thing decided to assimilate a Grizzly Bear instead of a dog. It is one hell of a strange-looking creation, and the decision to (mostly) keep it out of sight until the final act is a wise choice. The journey to that revelation is a surprisingly compelling and brutally honest reminder that we should take better care of our lands and not be so ignorant when it comes to environmental issues (a message that will probably never be silenced). The list of performers involved in front of and behind the camera seem like they're genuinely interested in this too, and I'm be remiss not to mention the very strange casting of Armand Assante as a Native American (he's of Italian and Irish descent). Director John Frankenheimer (Birdman of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate) and writer David Seltzer (The Omen) work together in an attempt to mold this into not just another Jaws ripoff, and when things hit the fan, you might as well have superglued a Michael Myers mask onto the killer carnivore. As I did briefly mention before though, it does take a bit of time to get there so it might be in your best interest to keep a nice cup of coffee or two nearby. And some of the closeups, though featuring some pretty fair practical effects, can look very dated or downright silly.
It can border on unintentionally goofy at times, but if you're a fan of killer creature features, I'd still give Prophecy a solid recommendation. Such an odd and seemingly undiscovered (at least until recent years) gem has to be seen to be believed, and if you have access to streaming services like Amazon Prime, then you can fire this bad boy up whenever you'd like. There's also a Blu-Ray coming next month from reputable (though expensive) company Shout! Factory, so if physical media is your preferred method, then can throw in your hard-earned cash and wait a bit.
What you SHOULD wait on is finding a physical copy of 1995's Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare. When I was just entering the "double digits" era of my life, I recall seeing several spots for this on television (back when the major networks would advertise many of their exclusive "world premiere" films) and instantly telling myself that I was going to avoid it like the plague. I am not certain if it's ever been mentioned on here before or not, but among the fears that I do have is apiphobia. I can't recall any particular incident or theatrical release which instilled such fear in me, but it's something that has never gone away. Nevertheless, I have to eventually suck it up and unearth something from my past while uttering to myself such classic lines as "It's only a movie." And now that I've finished Deadly Invasion for the very first time, I can safely say that I was a real chickenshit as a kid. I'm glad that I decided not to pair this up with a prior entry (The Bees) because I would have most likely fallen asleep and forgotten everything about that superior product (probably the last time I'll type that).
There isn't much of a story to Deadly Invasion other than "killer bees invade California and decide to terrorize a bunch of respected actors who should know better than to star in this." Much like Prophecy, the most noteworthy aspect of this motion picture is the list of who is involved rather than the quality of the film itself. For starters, we have Robert Hays from Airplane, Nancy Stafford of Matlock fame, Gina Phillips from Jeepers Creepers, and Ryan Phillippe (rocking shitty facial hair that he thankfully got rid of before starring in Cruel Intentions and I Know What You Did Last Summer years later). Dennis Christopher of Stephen King's It (the 90s one) fame also pops in for a criminally short appearance as a bee expert that is so comical you would swear it's a character on Comedy Bang! Bang! The cherry on top was the discovery of Rockne S. O'Bannon as director, and though I know that most filmmakers have the occasional blemish on their resume, the fact that they managed to wrangle the creator of Alien Nation (and later Farscape) into this mess is utterly shocking to me. All of that talent can't save what is ultimately a movie that doesn't seem intent on embracing the camp of mid-90s home video/made for tv schlockiness despite the fact that all of the tools to do so are at their disposal. Hell, the movie opens with the message "The following could be a true story" after what is essentially a rundown on the insects that feels akin to one of those "World's *blankiest* *blanks*" shows. C'mon guys, just go for it.
It's far from one of the worst movies on this year's Unseen Terror, but I found Deadly Invasion to be more unnecessarily boring than entertaining, though it's obviously going to depend on whether or not you watch it with a crowd or by myself. If you aren't shouting "NOT THE BEES!" just yet, then you can easily find this on YouTube. Normally I would advertise and encourage buying a physical copy if you're into this type of thing, but seeing as the price of the DVD averages between $80-150, you're better off saving your money for literally anything else. Heck, I'm sure you can recreate this entire feature with that amount of money.
…….not encouraging that mind you.
I'm a sucker for any newer shark-related flicks to add to my queue, but realized that over the course of nine years, the selection to choose from was dwindling. Luckily Amazon Prime has their fair share of low budget trash on there, so Planet of the Sharks became one of the later additions to this year's marathon. The good news is that with such a blunt, matter of fact title I don't feel like a full plot synopsis is necessary (Waterworld meets Planet of the Apes). The bad news is that almost immediately hitting play, I saw the words "A SyFy Original Picture" and "The Asylum" appear within the span of five seconds.
As I've explained before in the past, I've never been a fan of the Asylum and I doubt that will be changing anytime soon. Planet of the Sharks takes a ludicrously stupid concept and instead of going full cheese with it, they attempt to tell this story with a lot of sincerity. Couple that with CGI that is atrocious (even by Asylum's standards themselves) and long stretches where nothing interesting happens and you've a shockingly dull picture that was honestly starting to put me to sleep when I had it on. The only positive comes in the form of one woman who takes part in an awkwardly-performed tribal dance being used to intimidate the sharks, but she's gone before the first act comes to a close. I'm honestly embarrassed and ashamed that this took up one spot in my marathon when there are so many other pictures that deserve to be recognized for at least giving a shit. Don't seek this out. Let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Well, seeing as we're still on a nature-run-amuck kick (which is likely to end after day 24's review is posted below), let's see if I can find something that will get the taste of Deadly Invasion and Planet of the Sharks out of my mouth, shall we?
God bless Australia. They have a knack for producing absolute insane bursts of cinematic violence while also ensuring that tourism will never be a problem so long as these flicks find distribution around the world. Released to theaters in its native country back in 2016, it took a few years for Boar to make its way over here, and thankfully it's landed firmly in the hands of streaming service Shudder, who as I'm slowly discovering this year, is just the absolute best. The story for Boar is fairly basic, with a family traversing Australia before running into trouble in the form of a massive pig from the outback. Plot-wise, this isn't breaking any new ground, but unlike a lot of its other companions in the genre, you do get a chance to genuinely care for some of this cast. It certainly helps that one of our early protagonists is portrayed by Australian cult favorite John Jarratt (Wolf Creek) who is 100% invested in what is ostensibly a thriller about humankind fighting against a massive, wild boar. Concept-wise, a lot of the savvier horror fans will notice the similarities to a similar flick titled Razorback. The cinematography is fairly decent, and every performer brings enough spunk to their roles (some shorter than others). It does lack the psychedelic flair of the aforementioned movie, but does make up for any atmosphere by throwing a plate full of gore and dismemberment your way. There is a good abundance of practical effects being used in Boar, though there are the occasional moments where it slips into CGI that looks noticeably unfinished. There's also a big "fake out" that occurs once you hit the halfway point and I was getting a little flustered by that.
I wish I could write a longer description of why you should check out Boar, but I'm very tired. If you're searching for something shockingly bloody and gory or searching for a great "midnight movie," then you may be luck here. Personally I hope we get a physical copy available to watch sooner than later, but in the mean time, you can check that area to see if it might be hiding in there.
Tomorrow, I'm doing double duty, but that doesn't mean you want someone to harass him. So I'll leave it at that and promise that I'll come back with a vengeance!
I'm a sucker for any newer shark-related flicks to add to my queue, but realized that over the course of nine years, the selection to choose from was dwindling. Luckily Amazon Prime has their fair share of low budget trash on there, so Planet of the Sharks became one of the later additions to this year's marathon. The good news is that with such a blunt, matter of fact title I don't feel like a full plot synopsis is necessary (Waterworld meets Planet of the Apes). The bad news is that almost immediately hitting play, I saw the words "A SyFy Original Picture" and "The Asylum" appear within the span of five seconds.
As I've explained before in the past, I've never been a fan of the Asylum and I doubt that will be changing anytime soon. Planet of the Sharks takes a ludicrously stupid concept and instead of going full cheese with it, they attempt to tell this story with a lot of sincerity. Couple that with CGI that is atrocious (even by Asylum's standards themselves) and long stretches where nothing interesting happens and you've a shockingly dull picture that was honestly starting to put me to sleep when I had it on. The only positive comes in the form of one woman who takes part in an awkwardly-performed tribal dance being used to intimidate the sharks, but she's gone before the first act comes to a close. I'm honestly embarrassed and ashamed that this took up one spot in my marathon when there are so many other pictures that deserve to be recognized for at least giving a shit. Don't seek this out. Let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Well, seeing as we're still on a nature-run-amuck kick (which is likely to end after day 24's review is posted below), let's see if I can find something that will get the taste of Deadly Invasion and Planet of the Sharks out of my mouth, shall we?
God bless Australia. They have a knack for producing absolute insane bursts of cinematic violence while also ensuring that tourism will never be a problem so long as these flicks find distribution around the world. Released to theaters in its native country back in 2016, it took a few years for Boar to make its way over here, and thankfully it's landed firmly in the hands of streaming service Shudder, who as I'm slowly discovering this year, is just the absolute best. The story for Boar is fairly basic, with a family traversing Australia before running into trouble in the form of a massive pig from the outback. Plot-wise, this isn't breaking any new ground, but unlike a lot of its other companions in the genre, you do get a chance to genuinely care for some of this cast. It certainly helps that one of our early protagonists is portrayed by Australian cult favorite John Jarratt (Wolf Creek) who is 100% invested in what is ostensibly a thriller about humankind fighting against a massive, wild boar. Concept-wise, a lot of the savvier horror fans will notice the similarities to a similar flick titled Razorback. The cinematography is fairly decent, and every performer brings enough spunk to their roles (some shorter than others). It does lack the psychedelic flair of the aforementioned movie, but does make up for any atmosphere by throwing a plate full of gore and dismemberment your way. There is a good abundance of practical effects being used in Boar, though there are the occasional moments where it slips into CGI that looks noticeably unfinished. There's also a big "fake out" that occurs once you hit the halfway point and I was getting a little flustered by that.
I wish I could write a longer description of why you should check out Boar, but I'm very tired. If you're searching for something shockingly bloody and gory or searching for a great "midnight movie," then you may be luck here. Personally I hope we get a physical copy available to watch sooner than later, but in the mean time, you can check that area to see if it might be hiding in there.
Tomorrow, I'm doing double duty, but that doesn't mean you want someone to harass him. So I'll leave it at that and promise that I'll come back with a vengeance!
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