The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Now, what to do here? A film that combines four of my favorite, among others, genre's of films: Musical,  Horror, Comedy(parody), and Cult. Starting out on the West End, The Rocky Horror show was met well with praise by audiences and critics alike. So in the mind of the writer, this meant it was inevitable to make a film adaption.
 

 It parodies the hammer horror franchise, namely Frankenstein, and gives it a musical twist. Now the acting can range from over the top to hokey. Starting off with the criminologist(yeah that's his name) telling the story of of two lovers, Brad and Janet(I was surprised they could get a song out of even these names) and how they come to meet Dr Frank-N-Furter( "Very Funny hahaha") and his crew of misfits. Now, when you see this movie, ten minutes in you will start to think "pretty standard movie", don't let it fool you. By the half-mark you will be asking What? Why? and...No I think that's it. After a couple of music numbers, we are introduced to Rocky, a creation of Frank-n-Furter, who has no lines apart from singing. We have an all star cast(sort of) including Tim Curry(if you replace two letters becomes Jim Carry) as our sweet transvestite doctor, Susan Sarandon as our Heroine, Richard O'Brian as Riff-Raff, Meatloaf can you believe it as Eddie, etc, etc.

So what do I like. I love the song's. That is the movies saving point. Seriously, they are so damn catchy. Who knew a song about a transvestite or a song about science fiction plot-hole fixers would be as memorable as the characters on screen. Like Alex DeLarge, Tim Curry should have gotten an award for this memorable portrayal. In fact so memorable it is that Tim got tired of being remembered for that one role that he got a tan, put on weight and became plain. He eventually opened up to the premise of rocky horror. I tend to agree with critic Robert Ebert, he makes the film, because he is having the most fun. That can be said for the other's including Richard and Susan, but Barry Bostwick I feel is just a bit out of place. It also has that B-Movie feel to it, as though the set was hastily put together at the last minute.

As for my dislike, I find the film too surreal and bizarre for my taste, while at the same time being on par with the surrealness of the other films I have reviewed.
I know the traditions of this movie, some are do-able like toasting the happy couple(literally bring toast) while others are kind of hard to do, like dress up as one of the characters.
Overall, I find it a fun romp, I like the song's Tim is a lot of fun and  the culture around it I can respect. Nothing else to say but lets do the time warp and watch it again!!!   

Script Fix

Here is something I haven't done in a while, fixing a Film, good or bad, by replacing and/or removing elements that have not been working in favor of the film in question. Today as a special treat I will script fix one of the most infamous films of all time, "Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace".

To tell the truth, it isn't really a bad film, just some ideas didn't work in their favor. So let us begin.

1. Replace a ten year old Anikin Skywalker with a sixteen year old. Instead of being a mothers boy, he could be a rebel or a loner who does not conform much. When I was younger I saw the animated "Star wars clone wars" television show. In it, not only was there brilliant story arcs and jaw dropping action sequences, but a complete BADASS of Anikin. He hunts, he scavenges, he leads and his relationship to Padme is much more tender, but we will get to that in a moment.
2.  Jar-Jar Binks removal from the film. I do not think I am doing this movie any disfavor. He served little to no purpose to the plot, other than to provide comedy relief(Yes I know). In fact the who Gungan army battle serves very little other than drawing the fire away from the city. He has since created the Meme "Jar-jar binks of the movie", meaning incredibly annoying or serving no purpose. 
3. Padme having a better story line. I was confused seeing this the first time, as to what position of power Padme held. She should be made an ambassador for Naboo rather than a Queen and senator and ambassador. This opens her up to more responsibility as well as simplicity in her role. Also what the hell was up with that robot voice. 
4. If we do have a climax it should only be the final battle between Darth Maul and Obi-wan and Qui-gon. Darth Maul should have been given more of a backstory and more dialog. His presence and quietness makes him intimidating, but he does not match up to the mysteriousness of Darth Sidious or the evil of Darth Vader. 
5. Our understanding of the force is lessened due to science babble of mediclorians. This is what confuses me about Anikins training. If he has more Mediclorians than Yoda, then surely that is enough to train him. But he might bring about the rise of the dark side or balance of the force. In that case train him to be a Jedi, if not the Sith will get their hand on a Jedi with more power than Yoda.If you have the prophecy, then use it.

The Re-Animator

The Re-Animator, just the title alone symbolizes something incredible. Based upon the novel by HP Lovecraft, it tells the story of a University student, Dan Cain(Bruce Abbot), his girlfriend Megan(Barbara Crampton), daughter of Dean Dr. Halsey and Herbert West(Jeffrey Combs), the re-animator. Beginning in the more ambiguous Switzerland location, see's West injecting his Professor with what looks like a bottle of glow stick liquid, but I will let this slide seeing how cool it is in the syringe. After bringing back to life his Professor, much to the horror of his fellow employee's. After a few months, we meet our Hero, Dan, who is a medical student and fiance to the Deans daughter Megan. After an uncomfortable introduction and West moving in we are bombarded by a whole array of weird and wonderful special effects. Immediately you see the seventies tint in the color of the film, as though someone rubbed a thin layer of Vaseline on the lens. Not a bad look, it gives it a more nostalgic feel.

I loved Jeffrey Combs(of The New Batman Adventures fame) in this role. You can tell just by looking at him he was born for the role. He looked the part, acted the part, but most of all he sounded the part. He came off as Egotistical, paranoid, eccentric and sometimes a bit of a lunatic. Dan is a bit of the every-man, like Zack Morris from "Saved by the bell", he gets away with anything and is the favorite of many. Megan has little character despite being the dean's daughter and dating this discount Zack Morris. As for the villain, it is kind of unexpected but at the same time you'd look at this person and say, "yeah, I wouldn't trust him". 

As for the cult following, I see where it comes from. The film has a sort of camp feel to it, as though it knows it's premise is good, but the execution is goofy in the same style as Child's play. The practical effects are good, but you can tell how they are done. there are some disgusting scene's of decapitation and mutilation, providing some much needed gore. The Pseudo-science of West's formula is not exactly accurate, Rocky Horror however combined both electricity(lightning) and chemistry to create life, so maybe they could have thought it out how to make a new Zombie. There is not a lot of character development, but as a fun, horror flick, you can let it slide. I should have thought that the writer of the Cthulhu mythos would write something as crazy as this. Admittedly according to the book, Dan and West meet and over the coarse of a few years they begin to develop the formula.and see what it can do. So I might have preferred that.

Overall I thought it was a good film, although I wish there was more character development and a longer running time probably wouldn't have hurt, but if you like gore, creative pseudo-science and Jeffrey Combs then this film is for you.

****

Premise: *
Acting:Sub par 1/2

Effects: *
Script:1/2

Director: *