Frankie Teardrop | 4th September 2013 10:09 AM | XTRO - Had forgotten just how weird this one gets. Feels like lots of fragments of other films which were popular at the time, but somehow manages to become its own enticingly strange whole without sacrificing a basic level of incoherence... in other words, I loved it. It feels quite sleazy too, without really being all that explicit. Most of 'Xtro's power comes from its images, several of which are still with me days after viewing, although bizarrely, despite the plethora of toys come to life and mutant eggs, the shot that I keep returning to in my head is a juxtaposition involving a stiletto'd foot and an old skool beer tankard. That made an impact.
GALAXY OF TERROR - Another good 'Alien' rip-off which doesn't quite reach the heights of 'Xtro' or the sometimes hated (but I adore it) 'Inseminoid', although it's in pretty much the same orbit in the sense that it isn't simply a degraded copy of the original - it adds something strange to the mix. 'Strange' in this instance could either be sex assault by oversized space maggot, pseudo mystical rite-de-passage courtesy of 'The Master' and the eighties visual effect he has to put up with in place of a head, or creepy Grace Zabriskie and her eerily piranha-like face. It sometimes takes me a while to get into because there's quite a lot of walking around in tunnels etc, but alongside this is plenty of space gore and bad taste moments, some nice windswept atmosphere and that "we ARE taking this seriously, folks" vibe of the best ludicrous sci-fi exploitation. Plus, Zalman King's weird stare.
NIGHT OF THE SEAGULLS - Great title, almost as good as 'The Grapes of Death'. It's an entry (the last one, I think) in Amando De Ossorio's Blind Dead series and possibly my favourite, although I do tend to prefer his other horror fantasies such as 'The Loreley's Grasp' and even 'Demon Witch Child'. It has intriguingly Lovecraftian undertones, with a sea deity statue presiding over a cult of isolated villagers, a great psychedelic / demonic soundtrack, some nice windswept atmosphere (again) and a really murky, oppressive locale in the form of a goth village which looks positively Bruegelian. It's always good to see those Templars riding in slow motion. It does feel a bit ponderous in places and there were points when I found my attention wandering a bit, but instances of slight leadenness are made up for by the claustrophobic atmosphere and shots of crabs creeping towards dead bodies. |