I don’t know why I never got around to seeing the THE CROW sequel from the director of SIX-STRING SAMURAI. Always was curious. Still took me 19 years. Lance Mungia’s THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER, just like the previous one, was meant for theaters, but I think it only played somewhere around here? Wiki(dprayer)pedia says its theatrical run was only in Seattle and only for one week, and I do remember seeing an ad for it and being confused, but I was thinking it was in Eastern Washington. Anyway, I didn’t go.
Two Halloweens ago we discussed Tobe Hooper’s first masterpiece. This is his second. He didn’t even want to direct it at first, sort of got pushed into it, but damn did he rally. In many ways THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is the Tobe Hooperest movie ever made.
I don’t blame you if you’re skeptical during the opening scene where two obnoxious “senior boys at Wheeler High” calling themselves “Buzz and Rick the Prick” drunkenly drive a Porsche, fire guns, and harass the K-OKLA request line until they receive a drive-by chainsawing on a bridge that must’ve been built by the same people who made that endless runway from the climactic chase in FURIOUS 6. (read the rest of this shit…)
I gotta confess coming to this one from a place of cinematic ignorance. I’ve seen the original Godard movie, but I don’t remember jack shit about it. I thought it was pretty good, I believe. That’s about all I got. Still, I’m sure less people could tell you anything about the remake than everything about the original. So this makes me smart. (read the rest of this shit…)
These last couple weeks have been tough on my mental facilities. I reviewed that great new “ULTIMATE” edition of the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, I also revisited parts 3 and 4 in that original series, then on Thursday I reviewed the new prequel to the remake. So by that point I’d studied and written about pretty much every angle to the whole Texas Chainsaw deal. You’d think I’d be done with it by now, but there is one final chapter: the one spinoff of the original movie that achieves its own level of True Greatness. I am talking about Tobe Hooper’s 1986 sequel, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. It’s been available on DVD for a couple years in a bare bones edition (get it, that is a pun because of all the skeletons they have) but Tuesday it comes out in a much deserved special edition with new commentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Kaplan on MaXXXine: “It felt like it was a bit too much for the “mother is mothering” type fans, because there really wasn’t…” Jul 9, 21:26
KayKay on Beverly Hills Cop II: “Muh: I’d be the 1st to admit BHC2 definitely lacks the freshness of the 1st, which situates it comfortably in…” Jul 9, 17:11
J on The Running Man: “When I watched this as a child, I wondered if Captain Freedom’s protest about the past “sport of fight and…” Jul 9, 16:06
Kaplan on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “Funny to note that this is probably the last time, between political correctness and fear of offending China, that a…” Jul 9, 15:49
Kyle on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “Also The Shadow telling the henchman guy “Next time you can be on top” after falling to his death in…” Jul 9, 15:24
Kyle on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “Really glad to read appreciation of this movie. Although The Rocketeer is maybe the best of the post Batman’89 adventure/comic…” Jul 9, 15:21
The Cosh on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “Guess I’ve never been any good at telling what wound be a hit. Me and my pal saw this at…” Jul 9, 15:11
Muh on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “The problem is not much except for the look goes beyond Basic Movie 101. It’s all so standard and dull…and…” Jul 9, 09:32
Muh on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “This movie is not very good, but some of the style is nice and I wish it worked. Post-Batman was…” Jul 9, 09:30
Skani on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “I just re-watched this for the first time since it’s initial video release. Although I don’t think it overcomes its…” Jul 9, 08:15
Bill Reed on The Shadow (30th anniversary revisit): “This was always my least favorite of this era’s old-timey pulp superhero-y movies, but that didn’t stop me from reading…” Jul 9, 07:40