Film Review: THE BLACK CAT (2007, Stuart Gordon)

Stars: 3.5 of 5.
Running Time: 58 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Jeffrey Combs.
Tag-lines: None.
Best one-liner: Anything with "Eddie" in it.

As a film, Stuart Gordon's THE BLACK CAT is a mixed bag. As a "Masters of Horror" episode, it's top-notch. THE BLACK CAT's been tackled by everyone from Argento to Fulci to Edgar Ulmer. There have been faithful adaptations, and there have been total reworkings that lose EVERYTHING except the title, and maybe an appearance by the eponymous feline (if we're lucky). How does Gordon's stack up? Pretty well.

The good: A. Jeffrey Combs. His performance is truly transformative. The man IS Poe. And it's not just the makeup and prosthetics- only fleetingly do you catch traces of the Jeffrey Combs we know and love beneath the tortured exterior.

And to think I'd just been saying that I'd love to see him play another drunk after CASTLE FREAK. B. The visuals. Gordon uses a muted color palette except for vivid blood-reds and sharp cat's eye-yellows. It looks great. C. Doing something new with the story, and making it relate to Poe's life. Though it steers hilariously close to YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES when, for example, Poe's wife calls him "Eddie." (*It must be noted that he historically answered to the nickname Eddie, but that doesn't make this any less hilarious.)

The bad: I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Stu, could ya lay off the CGI? I'm not suggesting animal cruelty for a certain eye-gouging scene or an actual victim for the axe to the head, and I understand you're under time constraints for these gigs, but surely you could've done something with a puppet or prosthetics or SOMETHING. The CGI just really takes me out of the movie, and definitely moreso than stop motion or rockin' 80's makeup FX. (*It must also be noted that there's a lot of great traditional makeup FX in this episode, it's simply these two brief examples that took me out of the episode.)

And, also, I've seen so many adaptations at this point, it's SLIGHTLY difficult for me to get it up for THE BLACK CAT these days, but this version really makes me want to, so, I'd say if this at all sounds up your alley, you'll probably enjoy it.

-Sean Gill

Flavorpill's Review of GO-GO KILLERS!

Originally posted here.



Go-Go Killers!

In the year 2019, the economy is in permanent economic downturn; the rich are richier and bitchier; New Jersey becomes "Old" thanks to global warming; and Go-Go girl gangs dance and slash through an apocalyptic Manhattan. Sean Gill's Go-Go Killers! are perfectly synchronized amazonian street toughs (the appropriately named rival gangs are the nasty Furies and the big-haired Gorgons) speaking in perfect B-movie dialogue. Likewise, the ladies' motivation for killing the rich in the name of their lycra-clad Queen is pure Grindhouse. The plot points are enough to parody, especially since the men are exploited for a change, but director/chroeographer Rachel Klein's numbers are what make Go-Go Killers! truly fun. High-heeled boots, fishnets, glitter, and surfer music mean business — and never go out of style.

– Patricia Contino

©2009. Flavorpill.

Film Review: KEOMA (1976, Enzo G. Castellari)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 105 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Franco Nero (Nero is legendary: he's worked with Fassbinder, Bunuel, Castellari, and John Huston; he's played Jesus, Valentino, Versace, Django, and Lancelot!), Woody Strode (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, SPARTACUS, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE), William Berger (VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, DJANGO 2), De Angelis (soundtrack, THE LAST SHARK), Donald O'Brian (TROLL 3: QUEST FOR THE MIGHTY SWORD, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN).
Tag-lines: None!
Best one-liner: "The world keeps going around and around. So you always end up in the same place."

Along with Sergio Corbucci's THE GREAT SILENCE, KEOMA is probably the best of the non-Leone spaghetti westerns. Enzo G. Castellari's not a mere rip-off artist; he's a true disciple of Leone's films (and of Peckinpah's), and he brings many more elements to the table: like EL TOPO, this western is mystical, philosophical, and vaguely psychedelic; like Argento's contributions to ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (and his best giallos), the myriad flashbacks have a hazy, magical quality to them that is distinctly Italian; and, unlike most second-tier spaghettis, KEOMA's characters talk about their feelings (!) and the film possesses real emotional stakes.

I shit you not; the line being spoken right here is "You never gave us the affection you gave to him... And we were your real sons!"

In the midst of all of this is a barechested, grimy, hairy, and grizzled Franco Nero- his intense blue eyes and severe demeanor anchoring the film's disparate elements.


I hear a lot of complaining about the De Angelis soundtrack, but it has a purpose- it's a primal ballad, full of vocal shrieks and screeches that may not always be pleasing to the ear, but they certainly go a long way toward forming the bleak, savage atmosphere. Castellari's visual sense is at its peak in this film:

we're entreated to the POV of a target as it's shot at- large holes of light tearing themselves out of the screen;

the POV of Keoma's hand as he counts off the bad guys he's about to gun down;

and majestic slow motion as men are shot, punched, and thrown by the hair, their bodies plummeting into mud-entrenched puddles and engulfed by wisps of dust and sand.

There's a few classic Castellari moments, like the line "Ya overgrown papoose!" and more odd Italian references and depictions of gratuitous pissing (see also: TROLL 2, MONSTER DOG, etc.), but for the most part, this is a very serious film.


Classic obligatory Italian pissing scene. The man pictured above literally begins pissing on command onto Woody Strode's boots.


And check out this guy! (Joshua Sinclair.) Smug assholes abound in Castellari flicks.


But toss in the stern pathos of Woody Strode (pictured above), the complex family dynamics between biological and adopted sons, and a genuine thoughtfulness throughout (which is so rare in a film of this type), and KEOMA is truly a classic. Viva Castellari!

-Sean Gill

J.B. Spins on GO-GO KILLERS!

Original posting can be found HERE.

On-Stage: Go-Go Killers

It was a time when women were women and the men were girly. Actually, that time is ten years in the future, as envisioned through the prism of 1960’s exploitation film. Inspired by the work of soft-core auteur Russ Meyer, as well as more PG-rated girl gang fare, Go-Go Killers (trailer here) is an extravaganza of dancing, fighting, and male emasculation, now running at the Sage Theater, appropriately located in Times Square, the historic home of grindhouse cinema.

Of course, Times Square is respectable now, so the halter tops and hot pants stay safely donned. Go-Go is more about dancing and attitude than that other stuff. In 2019, the Tri-State area is largely a wasteland, except for Manhattan, where real estate prices never seem to fall. The rich get richer, but one by one, they are being assassinated by roving girl gangs. (In the exploitation tradition, the politics are kept simplistic to the point of self-parody.) Marietta falls in with one such gang, the Furies, after being violently cast aside by her jealous ex-fiancé Eugene St. Ives, the petulant son of the fourth richest man in the country.

As fortune would have it, Marietta quickly has the opportunity for some payback. The Furies have a mission to take out #4, and kidnap the ineffectual son Eugene as well as Nelson, their creepy family friend, who also happens to have a place on the top 50 list. Let the class warfare man-bashing begin, and dig that crazy beat.

Logically, the biggest attraction of Go-Go is the spirited go-go dancing, choreographed by director Rachel Klein. She stages the dance numbers with a high energy, groovy “boots-were-made-for-walking” retro charm. There are also some great dancers in the surprisingly large troupe, consisting of the Furies, their rival Gorgons, and distinct Gold and Silver Go-Gos. Elizabeth Stewart is a particular standout as Electra, the leader of the Furies, who whips her pony tail menacingly around, like a medieval morning-star.

It is safe to say dramatic realism is not really Go-Go’s goal, but there are definitely some charismatic performers on-stage, particularly Stewart, Jillaine Gill, and Reagan Wilson as Electra, Godiva, and Pandora, the original Furies. Although Go-Go is really about as risqué as Chicago playing right across Times Square, it embraces the subversive spirit of Meyer’s cult classics. More Roger Corman than Russ Meyer, it might sound like a guilty pleasure, but it is really more of a groovy nostalgia trip. Good clean camp, Go-Go runs Fridays and Saturdays through May 30th.

©2009. J.B. Spins.

Film Review: VAMPIRE'S KISS (1988, Robert Bierman)

Stars: 4 of 5.
Running Time: 103 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Writer Joseph Minion (AFTER HOURS), Nicolas Cage, Jennifer Beals, Maria Conchita Alonso (THE RUNNING MAN), David Hyde-Pierce, Amy Stiller (Ben's sister), Marc Coppola (Nic Cage's brother), Elizabeth Ashley (HAPPINESS, SHIP OF FOOLS).
Tag-lines: "Seduction. Romance. Murder. The things one does for love."
Best one-liner: "I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire!"

You know, I'm not really sure where to begin. This is definitely one of those cases (see also: D.C. CAB) where I'm so perplexed that I just hand out four stars as sort of a knee-jerk reaction. Yes, I am aware Nicolas Cage is insane.

Yes, I'm aware that he CHOOSES to exhibit these affectations of insanity, unlike, say, genuinely bonkers individuals like Klaus Kinski, Gary Busey, or Werner Herzog. And, yes, I am aware that through this conscious decision, he is, in a way, MORE insane than the people I've just named. (Well, maybe not, but you see my point.)

Alright. Now that's out of the way, we can discuss the film at hand. Written by Joseph Minion, VAMPIRE'S KISS amplifies the vague misogyny and obliterates the nuanced humor present in AFTER HOURS (also written by Minion- though basically the first half of that script is plagiarized from a Joe Frank monologue). It's a 'descent into madness' movie, and it's about as hamfisted and embarrassingly slapsticky as a film of its type could possibly be. And as the center of its whirling, lunatic universe is our boy Nic Cage, who has more than a few bats loose in his belfry. Cage eats, in one long take, a live, honest-to-goodness, water-buggin' NYC cockroach.



He psychotically recites the alphabet to make a minor point. He literally screams "Boo hoo" when he's sad. It's difficult to tell if he's playing the role as a Gordon Gecko-type evil yuppie, an English dandy, someone afflicted with Down's Syndrome, or a Keanu Reeves impersonator.

All this is combined with deeply atmospheric music, sharp cinematography, elements of George Romero's MARTIN, and Minion's overwhelming fear of females and relationships to create a work that is utterly, utterly unhinged.

It doesn't REALLY work as an existential art film OR as a piece of entertainment (a dual feat that AFTER HOURS managed), but I really have to give it points for at least succeeding at being as exasperatingly frustrated as its own protagonist. Whew!

-Sean Gill

GO-GO KILLERS! in Metro- readable version!

A link to the original scan can be found HERE. Click on the photo below for a larger view.

©2009 Metro US. By Heidi Patalano.

GO-GO KILLERS! Article in today's Metro Newspaper!

Turn to Page 16 of New York's most widely circulated free newspaper, and you'll see an article on some familiar faces and a play they call "the best of the B-movie genre." The online version is not yet up; if it does not appear soon, I will transcribe the article for those of you without access to free NYC newspapers.

GO-GO KILLERS! Interview with Sean Gill in PaperMag

GO-GO KILLERS! in Tom Murrin's Stage Notes

It’s 2009, and the country is in the initial stages (perhaps) of a potentially devastating financial crisis, there are clearly widening gaps between the haves and the have-nots, and severe global warming is on the horizon. If you were an imaginative, experienced playwright/filmmaker like Sean Gill, you might wonder what it’s going to be like 10 years from now. Well, he has, and the expert director/choreographer Rachel Klein is going to help him fulfill his apocalyptic vision; with a cast of 22, most of them strong, fierce women who dance, fight and take no prisoners. I spoke with Gill.

So, Sean, things are bad now; how bad are they going to get?
The play takes place in 2019, and by then the shit has totally hit the fan. Global warming has gone unchecked, the sea levels have risen. The rich and the super-rich have all the power and the money, and they choose only to irrigate themselves. The only organized opposition that is left are the Girl Gangs.

Ah!
And they roam the countryside, making calculated strikes against the super-rich. They're attempting to kidnap or kill everyone on the list of the country’s wealthiest citizens. The girls have chosen mythological names to convey the mythological degree of justice they wish to unleash, like The Fates, the Sirens, the Gorgons, and our heroes in the story, The Furies.

OK, so what’s going to happen?
The major conflict is when The Furies are kidnapping and killing at a high society soiree, and there’s some tension between the gangs as to who gets to do what. Every gang wants the glory to themselves. There’s competition between the predators over their prey. So there are catfights. That’s the point of departure.

That all sounds great. Is it funny?
In a sense, it’s prophetic; but yes, it’s funny and it’s meant to be so. But it’s not a parody of those movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s, nor a spoof of them. Nor is it entirely a homage to those films that I love, like Faster, Faster, Pussycat, Kill, Kill! by Russ Meyer, or Switchblade Sisters, by Jack Hill. But I love the trappings of those B- movies, and I’m using those trappings, combined with the tradition of Great American Drama, capital D, to create something which is hopefully at times funny, interesting, dramatic and ultimately, worthwhile.

Also, I wanted to say that it’s the easy route to hit someone over the head with harsh words and torment, and try to make it an experiment in cruelty, but that’s not so easy to digest over 90 minutes. It bounces off and doesn’t sink in. I’ve looked at the movies of Jack Hill and George Romero, and their idea is to butter you up with babes or zombies, but then they come at you with the zingers, like social commentary, consumerism. That’s kind of what Go-Go Killers is. It sort of whispers sweet-nothings into your ears, with hot pants and ass-shaking and lots of glitter, and it lulls you into a complacency, before it starts to tackle what I call “the fun stuff," like gender dynamics, violence, class difference, and how they relate.

The Sage Theater, 711 Seventh Ave., 2nd floor. Tickets available online only at www.smartix.com. May 8- 30, Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. $15.