MY CALL: This admirable and perhaps unparalleled vampire film brings us both the classic monster and star-crossed lover alike. Iconic horror atmosphere coupled with dark fantasy, romance and a major budget. Wow. MORE MOVIES LIKE Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Vampire movie lovers should also try Fright Night (1985), Fright Night part II (1988) and Interview with a Vampire (1994). For more gothic horror perhaps Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), The Bride (1985) or Gothic (1986). Need more dark fantasy romance in your life? Try Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (2015) and The Shape of Water (2017).
To anyone casually strolling up to this film for the first time, I’d remind you that it’s approaching 30 years old and (among a divisive crowd) it should be regarded with respect. I remain pleased with the production to this day, but some of the impressively designed sets (e.g., the altar scene when Dracula drinks the blood of the cross) may strike some as “small.” I hadn’t seen this since my college years (maybe around 2001-2003). I recall loving it and, you know what? I still do—as Dracula did Elisabeta.
The introduction to our famous monster’s origins paints suffering in Dracula’s war path to return to his love Elisabeta (Winona Ryder; Beetlejuice, Stranger Things, Heathers), with unsubtle brushstrokes reddening his berserk discovery of her death. Yell at a few priests, you go to confession. Drink the blood of Christ in an act against Christ… you forfeit your humanity.
Gary Oldman is one of the silver screen’s great treasures. Manic in Sid and Nancy (1986), terrifying in Leon: The Professional (1994), and embracing cheeky villainy in The Fifth Element (1997; podcast discussion), his range is broad and admirable. Oldman always brings his A-game, yet here things feel even a bit more intense than his oft-dire presence typically permits. Whether emotionally exploding in a cathedral imbibing the Lord’s blood in sacrilege, or questioning the fate of his love mid-blood baptisim, he is wonderful as our stylish Dracula!
Director Francis Ford Coppola’s (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) undead adaptation was ambitious. This film really went for it! It may be regarded by some as “a bit much,” but I think its atmosphere conveyed a sense appropriate for horror-fantasy. The opening scene’s religious influences, the horrific mystique of Transylvania, Jonathan’s (Keanu Reeves; Constantine, Knock Knock, The Neon Demon, John Wick) letter-narrated journey to the foreign land, the succubus-like Brides of Dracula, and Van Helsing’s (Anthony Hopkins; Westworld, The Wolfman, Silence of the Lambs) harrowing yet hammed-up accounts of Dracula’s oversea journey all pour over a sense of epic saga.
Dracula’s incredibly long robe and almost impishly unmatching shadow, blood geysers bursting from the sides of the bedroom and the Raimi-esque blood vomit, his curiously demonic coachman, the hyper-erotic illness striking its victims and turning Keanu into a sexualized blood bag for the brides of Dracula (including Monica Bellucci; The Brothers Grimm, The Brotherhood of the Wolf, Matrix: Reloaded), and Van Helsing’s garish commentary regarding the mutilation of a corpse all contribute to this incredibly stylish, star-studded and ambitious endeavor.
The wonderful make-up for Dracula’s hybrid wolf and bat forms, the skittish wall-crawling (reminiscent of 1990’s Exorcist III and 1988’s Fright Night part II), and the inclusive effort covering all of the classic folklore (e.g., mirrors, stakes, reflections, crucifixes, garlic) contribute to this admirable and perhaps unparalleled vampire film—bringing us both monster and star-crossed lover alike. This delivered a classic horror atmosphere coupled with dark fantasy, romance and a major budget. What can I say? I’m a fan.
PODCAST SIDEBAR: If you want to know more about Bram Stoker’s Dracula, check out our in-depth podcast discussion: Episode 115: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Mark did TONS of research on the film and the behind-the-scenes. You’ll walk away with forgiveness for Keanu’s accent and an appreciation for Coppola’s studio-defiant approach to this magnificent horror film.
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The MFF Podcast #126: The Shape of Water, the gill-man love story that won Best Picture
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SUMMARY: This week we discuss Guillermo del Toro’s romantic dark fantasy The Shape of Water (2017) from curious plot holes and gorgeous imagery to the beautifully flawed characters and desperate psychology of the kidnapped gill man. Among the spirited banter we address the abilities of our sympathetic “monster,” his origins and biology, how our tax dollars may be funding villains, the delicate topic of cat-eating, needless property destruction and even Stockholm Syndrome. And if you considered our creature influenced by Hellboy‘s Abe Sapien or the story to Revenge of the Creature (1955; sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon), you’re not alone.
If you enjoy discussions about creature features, check out Episode 47: Let’s Grab a Beer and Hunt Some Bigfoot Trolls and Episode 125: The Art of Creature Features.
For more horror podcast discussions, check out…
Episode 123: The Ritual, Swedish hiking and the Norse Jötunn
Episode 117: Event Horizon, Hellraiser in space, and wrestling Graboids
Episode 116: Happy Death Day
Episode 115: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Episode 114: Office Horror, Mayhem & The Belko Experiment
Episode 113: Elise, her Demons and the Insidious Franchise
Episode 108: The Best Horror Films of 2017
Episode 78: Carpenter vs Zombie Halloween Rematch (1981 vs 2009)
Episode 76: The Blair Witch Pod (1999-2016)
Download the pod on iTunes, PodBean, Stitcher or
LISEN TO THE POD ON BLOG TALK RADIO.
Please SUBSCRIBE, REVIEW, RATE and SHARE.
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“I wanted to right what I felt was the only wrong of Red State by scripting something with no religious or sexual politics that could grow up to be a weird little movie and not an indie film call-to-arms or a frustrated self-distribution manifesto. I just wanted to showcase Michael Parks in a fucked up story, where he could recite some Lewis Carroll and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” to some poor motherfucker sewn into a realistic walrus costume.” – Kevin Smith – 2013
Tusk is a very original film that features a kidnapped podcaster being turned into a walrus. When I first heard about Tusk I was instantly excited because I loved what Kevin Smith did with Red State and I dug that he was jumping into the horror world with reckless abandon. He came up with the idea on his podcast and you could tell he was super passionate about making the best movie possible. I remember searching for every update and being very curious as to how a movie involving a man being modified into a walrus would turn out. The end result was a very pleasant surprise and between the cinematography, set design and Michael Parks monologues, I think it is one of Smith’s best films.
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I’ve been a fan of Kevin Smith since 1995 when I watched Clerks on VHS and it blew my young mind. I loved the Star Wars references, the immense amount of profanity and the dynamic between Dante and Randall who talked about absolutely nothing (and everything) at the same time. After watching Clerks I made sure to watch, read or listen to whatever he created because I appreciated that he made his own way in Hollywood. I like Tusk so much because he went away from the View Askew universe and made something very unique and original. Making a film like Tusk is a massive gamble because it is in no way mainstream and the majority of Smith’s fandom might be disappointed because there are no Star Wars references or appearances from Jay and Silent Bob. Tusk is a weird film and even though it wasn’t especially successful or beloved by critics it should be respected because it is so damn weird.
The story revolves around a snarky blogger named Wallace (Justin Long – very game performance) who interviews disgraced internet stars and uses their viral failures to build his snarkily titled podcast The Not-See Party. Wallace’s caustic tone and bitterness are due to him being a failed standup comedian who found popularity in his mean-spirited podcasts that he records with his slightly more jovial friend Teddy (Haley Joel Osmont). Problems arise when Wallace travels to Canada and learns his latest interview subject killed himself and left him without anyone to interview. Wallace decides to stay around another day in search of an interview and unluckily finds an ad in a bathroom that offers “a lifetime of interesting stories” to anybody who is willing to travel to the middle of nowhere Manitoba to hear them.
Desperate and not wanting to waste his trip to Canada Wallace drives out to Manitoba and arrives at a secluded mansion owned by a wheelchair-bound older gentleman named Howard Howe (Michael Parks – crushing it). The introduction is about as creepy as imaginable and leads to Howard waxing poetic about being shipwrecked and saved by a walrus named “Mr. Tusk.” Wallace soon realizes his tea was drugged, and when he wakes up is strapped to a wheelchair and missing his left leg. It turns out Howard has been killing people for years and he plans on modifying Wallace’s body so it can fit inside a lifelike walrus costume so he can spend one final day with his buddy “Mr. Tusk.” Because this is a horror film, Wallace manages to momentarily get away and make a desperate call to Teddy and his girlfriend Ally (Genesis Rodriguez – so good Smith wrote her an impromptu monologue) who conveniently don’t pick up because they are having an affair. This leads to Teddy and Ally flying to Canada and teaming up with Johnny Depp (rocking a bonkers accent) to save Wallace and kill Howard.
I won’t spoil the rest because it goes to places I never expected or thought would happen. All I can say is be prepared for insane fights, weird accents, and enough monologues to last a lifetime.
The production design was legit.
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Tusk is weird. Tusk is fun Tusk will annoy many people. Appreciate it for what it is because Kevin Smith embraced the dark-indie side and created an odd delight that is exactly what he wanted it to be.
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MY CALL: A possessed computer makes robot minions, evil gory zombified cyborgs and a hulking destructive juggernaut to stalk a star-studded cast on a high-tech Russian vessel. Is this movie for you? Come on, you know who you are. MORE MOVIES LIKE Virus: For more terror at sea trapped in ocean vessels, try Deep Rising (1998), Leviathan (1989), Deepstar Sixx (1989), Screamers (1995), Harbinger Down (2015) and Ghost Ship (2002). And for more late 90s sci-horror threatening mankind, go for Event Horizon (1997), Species (1995), The Arrival (1996) and The Faculty (1998)—all very entertaining—or the more recent Life (2017) and Zygote (2017; short). Need more evil robots in your life? Then get your hands on Chopping Mall (1986), Deadly Friend (1986), The Terminator (1984) and Hardware (1990).
This gory 90s thrill ride opens when a spaceship (and/or lifeform) of pure energy ravages the MIR space station and beams itself down to a Russian research vessel only to be discovered by a desperate tugboat crew-turned-ship salvers hoping to return the seemingly abandoned, dead in the water ship for riches.
OUR CREW includes Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland; The Puppet Masters, Invasion of the Body Snatchers), his engineer (William Baldwin; Sliver, Flatliners), Kit (Jamie Lee Curtis; Halloween I-II, Scream Queens, Prom Night, The Fog), Woods (Marshall Bell; A Nightmare on Elm Street Part II, Starship Troopers, Total Recall), Squeaky (Julio Oscar Mechoso; Machete Kills, Planet Terror), Hiko (Cliff Curtis; Sunshine, Fear the Walking Dead, Push, Deep Rising) and Nadia (Joanna Pacula; The Kiss, Warlock: The Armageddon).
Based on Chuck Pfarrer’s Dark Horse comic series, director John Bruno (visual effects for Terminator 2, The Abyss, AVP: Aliens vs Predator, Fright Night, Poltergeist I-II) terrorizes a film’s tugboat salvage crew while sampling his favorite moments from the Predator and Terminator and Alien franchises, The Thing (1982) and Hardware (1990). It seems that Agent Smith (The Matrix trilogy) wasn’t the only nonhuman entity to classify mankind as a virus—our energy-based alien lifeform came to the same conclusion. To expedite the extermination, it hijacked the ship’s computer and electrical system, developed several castes of robot minions to do its murderous bidding, and eventually sought human victims for spare parts to make evil macabre cyborgs appearing as much zombie as robot! Basically, we’re dealing with a very small version of SkyNet becoming self-aware and, like Agent Smith, it even bargains with a greedy malevolent human.
The special effects span a broad range hitting us in three phases (i.e., as we learn more about our monster and its capabilities) but improve notably as the film progresses. At first, we find little robotic spiders and flies clumsily clunking about while dragging extension cords in their wake. And like little transformers, they have bitty nail guns and buzz saws. This is about as silly as it sounds… but they’re cute and boast a sort of practical effects charm.
Much as The Thing (1982), human victims are overtaken as cyborgs with a (now more evil) semblance of their conscious selves. They look like chunky macabre T-800s with a dash of Borginess (Star Trek: First Contact). This portion of the special effects will please gorehounds and lend credibility to a film already boasting a better cast than ever it deserved. This weird little flick is surprisingly decent!
The final phase of the effects is a CGI-enhanced stop-motion hulking menace; a giant robot undertaking the hive mother mainframe’s most destructive or dire tasks. This thing looks awesome and moves with frightful haste. It reminds me of the MCU Hulk as it bashes through walls and rends steel barricades.
This movie really holds up, continues to boast highly entertaining effects and gore, and is supported by an outstanding cast. Even the script felt highly capable (a rarity in films like this) and I had no major criticism from the direction. No, this is no Oscar winner. But this is not a “bad movie.” It’s a pretty great sci-horror in terms of entertainment value and it deserves so much more attention.
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Super Troopers 2: A Worthy Sequel That is Loaded With Laughs
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What I love most about Super Troopers 2 is how it embraces the best bits of its 2001 predecessor and still manages to come off as fresh and fun. I was a bit worried when the movie was announced because delayed sequels to cult classics rarely work and several movies like Zoolander 2, Joe Dirt 2, Dumb & Dumber To and Blues Brothers 2000 are proof. It is really hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice because trying to replicate the charm and personality of a beloved movie can result in a shallow and unfunny experience that mimics instead of forging new ground. My fears were alleviated almost immediately as it became clear that the guys from Broken Lizard were able to slide back into their iconic characters with ease. It felt like no time had passed and I loved how the movie jumped straight into the plot without wasting any time.
Super Troopers 2 revolves around the former (thank Fred Savage) Vermont Highway Patrol members reuniting to help with the transition of a small Canadian town into America. Before they are called back into service we learn that Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) and Farva (Kevin Heffernan) are working together as construction workers while Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar) is chopping down trees as a lumberjack/arborist. Foster (Paul Soter) has married the now Chief of Police Ursula (Marisa Coughlan ) and they all seem pretty happy with their current state of affairs. They are brought back to law enforcement under the guise of a weekend fishing trip with their old captain O’Hagan (Brian Cox) who has been tasked with absorbing a small Canadian town into Vermont.
The shenanigans start almost immediately as the Vermont boys have to deal with rowdy Canadians, annoyed Mounties and a large smuggling operation that is happening in the town. Their initial introduction finds them pelted with hockey pucks and ending up on the wrong side of a beat down inside a brothel that is owned by the friendly local mayor Guy Le Franc (Rob Lowe – loving life) who isn’t a fan of becoming an uncool “American mayor.” The crew isn’t helped by the local Mounties (Will Sasso, Tyler Labine, Hayes MacArthur) who instigate a massive prank war when they coax a bear into the highway patrol office with large slabs of meat. Their introduction to the town is disastrous, but their misadventures with the locals lead them to find mysterious stashes of pills, guns and illegal contraband in which they will undoubtedly use (five types of pills for five cops) to clear their names and keep their jobs.
Rob Lowe is the best.
If you are a fan of Super Troopers you will love the callbacks to the meow, liter of cola and bear f**king jokes. I know the callbacks are straight-up fan service but since this movie was crowd-funded I see no problem with appeasing the masses with familiar bits that work. The good news is there is enough new material involving chicanery, electrocution and Mounties discussing Danny DeVito to keep the proceedings fresh and fun. I can’t think of the last time I laughed more, and even though many people describe the Broken Lizard movies as “bro film” I’ve always felt they know how to enhance a great joke and there is more nuance than it seems to their shenanigans.
If you are a fan of Super Troopers and the Broken Lizard crew you will enjoy Super Troopers 2. I totally recommend you watch it this weekend in a packed theater.
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Kevin Smith is one of my favorite filmmakers and I’ve followed his career ever since I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Clerks VHS tape (Thanks Blockbuster) when I was 13. I’ve watched all his movies (even Yoga Hosers), read his books and listened to his podcast before podcasts were a thing. I appreciate how he made his own way in the film industry and his exploits have been very influential and motivating for my writing career.
If you’ve been reading MFF for some time you know that I love writing about weird cinematic moments and doing way too much research in order to figure out how many times Michael Myers used his blinker while driving in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. I enjoy figuring out things that should never be found out, and after Smith’s recent heart attack I started rewatching his View Askew Cinematic Universe movies and I began thinking about the ideal Kevin Smith film. Is there an ideal amount of f-bombs or Star Wars references? What should Silent Bob talk about? What is the perfect budget? So, I broke down his View Askew (Featuring Jay and Silent Bob) films and brought in Rotten Tomatoes critic scores, audience score, and domestic box office numbers to make a case for the perfect Smith movie.
Here are the movies with their Tomatometer scores (RT)
- Clerks – 88% RT
- Mallrats – 55% RT
- Chasing Amy – 88% RT
- Dogma – 67% RT
- Clerks 2 – 63% RT
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back – 53% RT
- I excluded Jersey Girl because of its PG-13 rating and Zack & Miri Make a Porno because it isn’t in the View Askew universe. Don’t ask about Cop Out.
How many F-bombs?
Characters in the View Askew Universe drop an average of 127.8 F-bombs in each movie, which isn’t terrible considering it’s only about an average of 1.1 f-bombs dropped every minute which leaves a lot of room for other Smith musings. After looking at each movie and their Tomatometer scores it appears the ideal amount of F-bombs dropped is 105. How did I come up with this number? Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma are Smith’s highest rated films so I averaged the number of f-bombs between them and came up with the answer. I agree with the final tally because Mallrats (54) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (248) went too high and too low with their usage of f*ck, so, it seems only fair that 105 F-bombs would be the perfect fit because they wouldn’t drown out all the other creative swear words.
Answer: 105 F-bombs
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How many Star Wars references?
The View Askew Universe is littered with Star Wars references that range from one-off comments to naming a movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. After sorting through all the references I noticed something very important, Kevin Smith’s Star Wars references are best when they riff on something new and fresh about the famous fantasy world. For instance, both Clerks and Chasing Amy had discussions/monologues that brought up some pretty great observations about Death Star contractors and racism. So, it seems safe to say that if another View Askew movie gets made it needs to riff on Star Wars instead of going full nerd and having Silent Bob attempting to channel the force (which I still love. Viva la Mallrats).
Answer: A unique Star Wars riff and several cheeky references.
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What should Silent Bob talk about?
Silent Bob is at his best when he is giving relationship advice. His two most iconic moments happen in Clerks and Chasing Amy when he drops either a few words of advice or unleashes a full-on monologue about a past relationship. I know Smith couldn’t have Silent Bob always dropping relationship advice, but it’s been 20-years since Chasing Amy so I think it’s time to return to the well. I’m always down for Silent Bob yelling at Jay or discussing “intellectual properties” but my favorite Silent Bob bit is in Clerks when he succinctly lets Dante know he is being an idiot (without saying it). I know it is the first time he ever talked (which makes it fresh and unexpected), but it was a very welcome comment and proved the dude was more sensitive than he acted.
Answer: Let Silent Bob give relationship advice.
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Should hockey be played?
Hockey plays a big part in Kevin Smith’s real life and cinematic universe so it naturally has to be featured in his next film. The two best moments involving hockey in the View Askew universe are featured in Clerks and Chasing Amy. The impromptu roof hockey match in Clerks was inspired and fun and ‘cross-examination’ moment in Chasing Amy worked really well because it was inter-cut with a hockey brawl that was going on in front of the characters. Most importantly, they featured actual hockey being played as opposed to Mallrats (video game hockey) and Dogma (evil hockey kids getting beat up) that feature no actual hockey sticks hitting a puck. Thus, there needs to some variation of actual hockey being played onscreen.
Answer: Yep. Hockey needs to be actually played.
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What should the budget be?
I know I keep going back to Clerks and Chasing Amy but they represent Kevin Smith at his best and have proven themselves to perfect examples of independent filmmaking. I’m thinking nowadays the best budget for a View Askew movie would be $5,000,000 because Smith can easily make the money back via VOD, Netflix, selling distributing rights overseas, or a touring roadshow (think Red State). When looking at his three View Askew movies that cost under five million at the time of release, (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Clerks 2) they all made money and were solid returns on investment. He couldn’t possibly keep the budgets as low as Clerks or Chasing Amy ($25,00, $230,000) but could totally rock a Jay and Silent Bob movie for five million.
I love how Clerks II kept it simple and used its $5 million budget well.
Answer: Somewhere around $5 million.
There you have it! We all want another View Askew movie and this unreliable data will undoubtedly inspire Smith to make Mallrats 2, Clerks 3 and Jay and Silent Bob Get Old back-to-back. You are welcome world.
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The MFF Podcast #125: The Art of Creature Features
You can download the pod on Itunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or LISTEN TO THE POD ON BLOG TALK RADIO.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back and we are talking about 80 years worth of creature features. I recently wrote an article about creature features for Rotten Tomatoes and I took on the Herculean task (it was awesome) of rewatching 36 movies to figure out if the amount of screen time a creature receives affects the Tomatometer score. After watching so many movies and researching the genre I learned a lot about monster movies and realized that showing the monster less isn’t always better. If you are into movie monsters you will love every second of this podcast because we talk about a lot of creatures.
You need to watch A Quiet Place in a theater (don’t buy popcorn).
As always, we answer random listener questions and discuss how the creature from The Relic was able to fit into a bathroom stall. If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the pod!
You can download the pod on Itunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or LISTEN TO THE POD ON BLOG TALK RADIO.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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What I love about A Quiet Place is how director John Krasinski and writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck desperately wanted to make something new and refreshing within the horror genre. There are familiar elements (when are there not?), but there is so much new material that it felt like a true original brought forth by people who wanted to blend three-dimensional characters with deadly monsters. The 97% Tomatometer score is warranted and so is the massive $50 million it pulled in on its opening weekend. A Quiet Place will hopefully be a trendsetter that inspires talented filmmakers and A-list talent (E.G. Emily Blunt) to create some new monsters.
A Quiet Place revolves around a family doing their best to survive in the months after a massive alien attack ravaged the earth. We learn early on that the creatures hate noise and it leads to an opening scene that expertly breaks down the families daily life and leads to the death of a child that is heavily foreshadowed (and shown in the trailer). The four remaining family members are the parents Lee (John Krasinski), and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and their kids Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Noah (Marcus Abbot). They live in a secluded farmhouse that has been retrofitted to protect against sound with painted footprints to avoid creaky wooden floors and white lines on top of soft earth to avoid leaf crunches and snapped twigs. Being that A Quiet Place is a horror film Krasinski added some extra layers to make sure terror will be unavoidable in the future. The extra elements are wise additions as the mother Evelyn is at least eight months pregnant, and the daughter Regan is deaf which helps because it means the family knows sign-language but hurts because she can’t hear any approaching monsters.
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Between the blind monsters, pregnant wife, and a deaf child the tension is raised to insane lengths which leads to Signs-esque jumps and Spielberg’s War of the Worlds alien mayhem (on a much smaller scale). The cool thing is none of the tension-bait feels gratuitous because of the performances and well-staged set pieces that feature deadly corn, strategic nails, and flooded safe rooms. It also helps that the actors are top-notch and lead by a stellar Emily Blunt who pulls off a virtuoso moment of acting when she has to simultaneously pretend to give birth AND be scared out of her mind because of a looming alien. Also, I loved that Krasinski cast deaf-actress Millicent Simmonds to play the daughter because there is an authenticity to her performance that wouldn’t have felt genuine in another person’s performance.
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Between A Quiet Place, Hush and Don’t Breathe there have been some solid “don’t speak” horror movies that have risen above the genre via good scripts, inventive (and nasty) set pieces and committed performances. I think the art of “silence” in horror isn’t explored enough and I love how A Quiet Place flourishes in its silence.
Watch A Quiet Place and embrace the new monsters.
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MY CALL: Guillermo del Toro’s heartwarming, Oscar-sweeping film depicting a relationship between a mute woman and a fish man captured in the Amazon. If that sentence doesn’t win you over, I’m not sure what will. MOVIES LIKE The Shape of Water: Above all, I’d say Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), followed by Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) for more of del Toro’s dark fantasy and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) to return to the unofficial root of it all.
Richard Jenkins gently narrates an overview of this unlikely love story as our senses are dazzled by surreal aquatic dreamscapes surrounding Elisa (Sally Hawkins; Godzilla, Never Let Me Go). Very kind, mute and meek, Elisa tends to her friendly neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins; The Cabin in the Woods, Let Me In, Bone Tomahawk) and works nights cleaning in a research facility with Zelda (Octavia Spencer; Halloween II, Drag Me to Hell). Their respective character dynamics are outstanding.
The set design is almost drably paletted, but so enriched by aquatic blues and greens that disperse themselves across the walls and wardrobes to the lighting itself. And beautifully complementing this dark modern fairy tale is a twinkling score that spurs curiosity and fantasy. Elegant it is, but sexuality veils this tale, along with imagery of water and Elisa’s own desires. Everything remains tactful and necessary with the nudity, for example, never feeling dirty… just human, vulnerable, sensual.
Our villain is Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon; Take Shelter, Bug), the man who brought the creature from the Amazon—making this something of a contemporized retelling of Revenge of the Creature (1955), which chronicles the capture, study and escape of the amphibious Creature from the Black Lagoon. But written (in part) and directed by contemporary horror visionary Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy 1-2, Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, Pacific Rim, Mimic) and with the creature-characterizing skill of Doug Jones (Ouija: Origin of Evil, Hellboy 1-2) combining Hellboy’s (2004) Abe Sapien and The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), it is a swallowable stretch recrafting it into a love story. Speaking of which, watch out for the paralleled use of eggs and classical music to broker friendship and then wonder if this isn’t simultaneously presenting the warm-hearted Abe Sapien’s origin story.
Our creature’s design is interesting, and his abilities aren’t fully explained. He’s clearly more monstrous (at least, not yet civilized or educated) than Abe, a tad more fantastic (rather than sci-fi in nature), and occasional animalistic (e.g., the cat-eating scene). We have just enough blood to feel dire, but nothing skirting the boundaries we’d expect from an R-rated creature flick. Like the nudity and sexuality, the blood and violence are executed appropriately for this genre-crossing theme.
This R-rated romantic dark fantasy is nothing less than enchanting. Relationships throughout the film are flawed but oh so real, and seeing Elisa communicate with the creature is warming.
If you aren’t convinced and need a second opinion, check out Mark’s review.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Creature Below (2016, aka The Dark Below), a British tentacle monster movie that makes an effort.
MY CALL: A perfectly serviceable bad movie that really tries to be good, and fails. Nothing special here. You won’t miss anything if you just move on. (also released as The Dark Below). MOVIES LIKE The Creature Below: For more tentacle monster movies, please consider The Boogens (1981), The Strangeness (1985), The Kindred (1987), Wicked City (1987), Deep Rising (1998), Dagon (2001), Hellboy (2004), Slither (2006), BioSlime (2010), Grabbers (2012), Night of the Tentacles (2013), Harbinger Down (2015), The Void (2016) and Life (2017).
During a deep-sea dive in a prototype diving suit, a young scientist (Anna Dawson; 1921) encounters a strange new species. But what will stand out most to viewers has nothing to do with the premise, but the ScyFy Channel movie-of-the-week CGI that predominates the opening scenes. It was so cheap I was tempted to simply stop watching. But I persisted…
After blacking out during the dive, Olive recovers an egg that was—unbeknownst to her—hidden in her suit. Of course, this cephalopod hatches and is a mix of somewhat monstrous and somewhat cute. It spews ink and smoky clouds, looks like a Boogen octopus, and… wait for it… has a taste for human blood. What’s more, Olive seems to have some sort of empathic link to the creature, and has adopted some of its traits (e.g., aversion to bright light). Sadly, this doesn’t lead us where I expected (i.e., Bite).
Olive recoils from her normal life and tends to her creature like her own baby—or, obsession. Things take a predictable turn as Olive needs to feed her monstrous dependent, and much as in Little Shop of Horrors (1988), Let the Right One In (2002) or Hellraiser (1987), victims are lured in to feed the beast.
The non-CGI effects are weak, but make an effort towards gory fare. The rubber monster’s tentacles bend as no natural creature’s limbs would (i.e., like a rubber toy monster) and its movement is realized as tentacles being dragged across the floor. But it’s honestly better than it sounds. Still, not good either.
I feel like everyone involved tried hard to take this seriously and make this film the best it could be… which isn’t awesome. But that’s okay. I really didn’t think it was awful, certainly not unwatchable, but the trailer was much more promising than the actual product. The acting was fine, the writing wasn’t bad (except for the very incorrect view that new species result in fame or riches LOL), and the fledgling director did well enough that I’d be interested in the next project.
All in all, this was a serviceable bad movie with a premise and conclusion that skirt’s Lovecraftian notions of Cthulhu.
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