^Ridiculous movie. Also known as THE COMPUTER KILLERS. Hahr some reason, that box art reminds me of this movie I watched a long time ago called DOCTOR GORE (aka THE BODY SHOP)... my old VHS copy had like a 7 minute intro with H.G. Lewis talking about how he just loooooooooooved DOCTOR GORE haha. I thought it was such a ridiculous thing to have before a film, H.G. Lewis just sitting around talking about how he loves DOCTOR GORE, completely straight-faced (though he tells the audience they probably won't like it haha), and then it ended up being one of the worst films ever made. But, uh, HORROR HOSPITAL is kinda fun, isn't it? Funny movie.
I watched SUICIDE KINGS just now. Wow, what a lame movie! The ENTIRE MOVIE is Christopher Walken in a wheelchair (so, it's one of like 3 movies he's in where he doesn't dance -- d'oh!) and everyone in the movie just acts stupid as hell. It has that kid from Roseanne bitching about his dad, it has JAY MOHR holding a gun trying to look tough. Only good parts have Dennis Leary doing "crime lord henchman" stuff. As good as PULP FICTION was (and don't get me wrong, it was very good), it seemed to inspire some of the worst films ever, all these self-referential movies with cut-aways/flashbacks (like the scenes here with Chris Walken in a stupid wig killing a guy who he let keep his ring in a previous shot, for no reason) and trying to do a "clever spin" on the crime genre and whatnot. What kills this movie, and makes it like a 3/10, is Howard Shore's score. This whole thing has these really fucking melodramatic soundtrack. It made no sense. Like, the movie came off as a lame comedy, but we're supposed to be sympathetic to Walken's gangster ass, who kills his neighbors for no reason and feeds their bodies to some dogs? Nothing is ever explained, the "twist ending" is lame, it has that fat cop from Everybody Love Raymond, Romano's brother or whatever. Just a lame cast, with a bunch of tv actors inside a big mansion. Walken is hilarious to watch as usual, the whole film should have been him and Leary talking to each other. But yeah, remember when all these crime movies came out, some lame as hell (like DESTINY TURNS ON THE RADIO and WHITE SANDS and 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY and PLAYING GOD) and some pretty cool (CITY OF INDUSTRY and THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD and so on).
Anyway I keep remembering films I watched this week... I saw:
KAZA-HANNA - 9/10
TYPHOON CLUB - 8/10
SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN - 5/10
All 3 by the same director. All 3 cool for completely different reasons (though Sailor Suit was a bit boring in spots, it has a good cult following so might be of some interest to y'all). I highly reccomend KAZA-HANA above all else, very effective and effecting film. You know, it was this director's last film before he died, so there's always that eeriness (also see: EYES WIDE SHUT by Kubrick), the whole thing is about alcoholism and loss and loneliness, pretty typical Japanese cinematic themes (what I find humorous is how "wacky" Japanese comedies and so on can be, and then how quiet and lonely Japanese dramas are; it's like there's no in-between, just one extreme or the other. It's either LOVE EXPOSURE and ELECTRIC DRAGON 80000V and HAUSU or, you know, PALE FLOWER and AUGUST IN THE WATER and RITUAL and stuff -- love it). I guess alcoholism is pretty rampant there? I've noticed looooooots of alcoholics in my Japanese dramas. Interesting. Anyway, I think the most consistently well made cinema comes from Japan (which reminds me, are there any Japanese slasher films? Besides EVIL DEAD TRAP, I can't think of any! Err, I haven't seen em, but aren't the UP ALL NIGHT films Japanese slashers? I know some pinku films are almost slashers Anyway, just imagine some, like, hardcore J-giallo, that'd be tough as fuck). You know, you have to be patient sometimes but truely the best cinema in the world is in Japan, and other places in Asia.