TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

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ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)

Director: John Carpenter

Writers: John Carpenter, Nick Castle

Producers: Larry Franco, Debra Hill

Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, John Diehl, Season Hubley, Arden Young, Frank Doubleday, Ox Baker, Buck Flower, Jamie Lee Curtis (uncredited narrator and automated voice), Joe Unger (in deleted scene) 

By 1997 the entire island of Manhattan has been sealed off and used as the dumping ground for all of the criminals in the United States of America. Once exiled in the neglected metropolis, the convicts are left to fend for themselves and are never released. When terrorists crash land the Air Force One jet in New York City, the leader of the prison city’s gangs, the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes), takes the U.S. president (Donald Pleasence) hostage. Liberty Island Security sends a recent convict, decorated former Special Forces veteran Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), on a rescue mission into New York City. If Plissken succeeds bringing out the president and an important audiocassette tape that he was carrying to a peace conference, Plissken will receive a full pardon. If Plissken fails to accomplish his mission in 24 hours, two explosive capsules injected into his neck will kill him. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

During the 1970s, director John Carpenter had helmed several well-received television movies and a couple of cult films before he made one of the most famous horror films ever with 1978’s Halloween. Although that horrific holiday favorite would become his calling card, Carpenter would continue regularly making many more feature films of various genres for the rest of the century. After Halloween, Carpenter’s Escape from New York is probably his most successful film that also has continued to be a venerable cult favorite. He has made other cult films with reputations that have grown over the years, despite lackluster profits or indifferent critical responses at the time of their release. But it seems that Carpenter hit the sweet spot for genre filmmaking with Escape from New York; it was original, offbeat, and immediately profitable. Fans loved it then and revere it now. 

The post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi film was becoming a popular genre in the 1980s. The no-holds-barred action and destruction of social norms provided the edgy thrills that tantalized the audience. Escape from New York lands neatly into that genre and was also an influence on it. 

The world of this film is not explored in any great detail. We only know that the United States is at war and the crime rate has increased enormously, which would seem to indicate that the government is not addressing the needs of the people and civilization. All that we see depicted in this future world is a militarized prison system and the prison island of Manhattan. This drastic measure of dealing with crime by offering convicts the choice of death or being abandoned for the rest of their lives in the lawless ruins of New York City is an indication of the fascism used as a last resort to maintain order. It is never mentioned what conditions and federal failures have led to this bleak state. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of this film is seeing how people behave when they are trapped in a society without rules. These convicts are left to their own devices in the neglected ruins of what was once one of the world’s grandest cities. When these criminal exiles are not preying upon each other, they indulge in entertainments that have devolved to the norms of previous centuries. A dilapidated theater has an all-male cast in drag (as in times before women were allowed to appear on the stage) dreadfully performing a musical and an old boxing ring is used for a gladiatorial combat to the death. 

What everyone remembers about this film is Snake Plissken. The fact that our criminal anti-hero is a decorated veteran of the U.S. military drives home this film’s cynical tone. Plissken is apparently as disillusioned as John Carpenter and many others were with the country after the Vietnam War and Watergate. I do not believe that Carpenter and his character Snake Plissken are making a specific political statement. Plissken never shares any feelings or philosophies; he just reacts and resents authority of any kind. 

Kurt Russell was a frequent child guest actor on many television series of the 1960s and was a popular star in pictures for Walt Disney Productions during his ten-year contract. Although he had an established career since a young age playing wholesome characters, Russell was cast against type in some made-for-television movies, such as The Deadly Tower (1975) and John Carpenter’s bio-film Elvis (1979). 

His role of Snake Plissken made everyone forget about the youth phase of Kurt Russell’s career. The timing was perfect; at age thirty Russell became a one-eyed, anti-authoritarian, ass-kicking icon. Plissken’s dialogue is terse and direct. He does not make wisecracks but still generates laughs with the disarming and confrontational nature of his comments. Best of all, Snake Plissken does not show off. His actions are as direct as his words. That is what keeps this film from falling into action movie absurdity. 

Lee Van Cleef is terrific as Police Commissioner Bob Hauk, the chief of the Liberty Island Security Control facility that admits convicts to be exiled into New York City. Van Cleef has a great presence and I could watch him verbally sparring with Russell’s Plissken for the entire film. Hauk is just as direct and unsentimental as Plissken. He is also quite ruthless in how he enlists Plissken’s cooperation.

This cast is loaded with other great names like Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, and Isaac Hayes. Players from other John Carpenter films, such as Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens, and Buck Flower, are featured in small roles. None other than Jamie Lee Curtis supplies narration to open the film and is also the automated voice at the Liberty Island prisoner admittance facility. 

While Escape from New York never preaches or teaches any lessons, it has an absolutely cynical attitude towards fascistic authority. One may try to discern a political leaning in the film, but that is probably a futile endeavor. Its only message seems to be disdain for those that would want to rule over a dysfunctional world.

TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985)

Director: William Friedkin

Writers: William Friedkin, Gerald Petievich (adapting his novel)

Producer: Irving H. Levin

Cast: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Darlanne Fluegel, Debra Feuer, John Turturro, Dean Stockwell, Michael Greene, Steve James, Robert Downey, Sr., Christopher Allport, Valentin de Vargas, Jack Hoar, Michael Chong, Michael Zand, Jackely Giroux, Jane Leeves, Donnie Williams, Earnest Hart, Jr., Gary Cole (uncredited), Jason Ronard (uncredited) 

U.S. Secret Service agent Jimmy Hart (Michael Greene) is killed two days before his retirement by Los Angeles counterfeiter Eric “Rick” Masters (Willem Dafoe). Hart’s young partner, Richie Chance (William Petersen), vows to avenge Hart by doing anything it takes to arrest Masters. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

I have almost no use for action movies anymore. I can still enjoy a vintage Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, or Chuck Norris flick. However, these days when almost anything one can imagine can be portrayed on the screen, the main focus for many films is just trying to outdo images of what has gone before. Spending more money on CGI and green screen effects never makes a script better. When all else fails, filmmakers will resort to shaky cam and fast cut editing to try fooling us into thinking something is evermore intense while neglecting good storytelling. All of this excess is a waste, because the action is usually so contrived that it becomes ridiculous. Worst of all is that the characters involved in these feats are usually interchangeable, snarky badasses trying to ape James Bond, Dirty Harry, and Rambo antics in films devoid of wit or grit. 

By the mid-1980s, I was already becoming aware of the action films’ idiotic excesses, as they were becoming a specific and generic genre. That’s why To Live and Die in L.A. was a refreshing kick in the ass. It is a neo-noir film and crime thriller that has style without larger-than-life heroics. Actually, the only character in the film that seems truly heroic is Jimmy Hart, the veteran U.S. Secret Service agent who is killed off early in the film. 

Probably the real reason that To Live and Die in L.A. flirts with the action film label is that it has a long and exciting car chase rivaling director William Friedkin’s other epic achievement of motorized mayhem in 1971’s The French Connection. There are no other action set pieces in the film; only brief foot chases and quick bursts of violence. What we witness are not superhuman feats and physics defying stunts, but rash and ruthless acts that give this film an edge. 

The two main protagonists are, as director Friedkin puts it, two sides of the same coin. Both U.S. Secret Service agent Richie Chance and counterfeiter Rick Masters are involved in risky professions that cross personal and legal boundaries. Chance seems driven not only by his one honorable sentiment of avenging his partner’s death; he gets an adrenalin rush facing danger. Masters affects a hip and avant-garde persona as a frustrated artist while making a living as a counterfeiter who must often resort to cold-blooded acts of violence. These two men are deliberate and unrepentant about how they achieve their objectives. It is probably no accident that both characters have similar first names. Ironically, the actors portraying them, William Petersen and Willem Dafoe, also have nearly identical first names. Dafoe’s actual given first name at birth was William. 

In this very early film role, William Petersen is really fine as our “hero.” His Richie Chance probably approaches his job as a macho challenge that gives him the same sense of satisfaction as his bungee jumping off of a bridge. Initially, we are probably going to think such a gung-ho attitude makes him someone to admire. We can also empathize with his payback agenda against Rick Masters, even if Chance steps over the legal line to try nailing him. However, Chance already has a history of ruthless behavior. He has been using parolee Ruth Lanier (Darlanne Fluegel) sexually and as his informant. If she does not cooperate, he will get her parole revoked. Frankly, U.S. Secret Service agent Richie Chance is an asshole. 

Another standout performer here who was also about to achieve stardom is Willem Dafoe. His hip and cold-blooded counterfeiter, Rick Masters, is one of my favorite villains. When dealing with anyone in his illegal line of business, he is utterly deadpan. Masters doesn’t raise his voice, even in the most violent situations, and he will savor the moment with an irreverent comment before pulling the trigger. His motivations are never explained, yet we see his artistic endeavors that he seems conflicted about. Masters might be trying to purge some inner turmoil though his art, but it is the technical application of his talents making counterfeit money that fulfill his comfortable and unconventional lifestyle. 

 

John Pankow, as Chance’s new partner, John Vukovich, gives us the clearest indication of just how extreme and out of control these situations have become. He wants to be a by-the-book agent, while still being loyal to his partner. Like Chance, he feels a need to prove himself, if only because he comes from a family of policemen. In a world full of sociopaths and users, Vukovich is being tested and incredibly stressed. He reminds us of the very real physical and legal dangers involved in his career and his association with his reckless, fellow agent. 

Friedkin made a deliberate choice to depict the seamy side of Los Angeles. We spend our time in taverns, a strip club, prison, warehouses, small apartments, and the streets of East L.A. The poshest accommodations shown are those of counterfeiter Rick Masters and the sleazy lawyers (Dean Stockwell and Christopher Allport) that he associates with. (Who says crime does not pay?) Striking shots of sunrises and the catchy, synthesized soundtrack by Wang Chung (Jack Hues and Nick Feldman) compliment the mood of this environment perfectly. All of this seems bleak and a bit surreal. Such an atmosphere suits the attitudes in a film that Friedkin says is about a counterfeit world; the money and the relationships in this neo-noir tale are fake. 

Despite the stylistic trappings of the film, it always rings true. No one is portrayed as infallible and pure. The main protagonists, Chance and Masters, are polar opposites in temperament. But aside from Agent Chance’s noble goal of bringing his partner’s killer to justice, he can be just as unpleasant as the criminal Masters. Director Friedkin stated that he was depicting the very thin line between law enforcers and lawbreakers. 

This film is distinguished by its authenticity. The co-screenwriter and author of the original novel, Gerald Petievich, was actually an agent of the U.S. Secret Service. In an early scene, we see the creation of Rick Masters’ funny money; courtesy of the ex-con counterfeiter that the film employed to show us all how it is done. Unfortunately, a kid of the film’s prop master tried to pass one of the phony bills at a store, which resulted in the real U.S. Secret Service hassling director Friedkin and his poor prop master. 

To Live and Die in L.A. is an unsentimental reflection of ’80s attitude. Duty and machismo is shown to be as shallow as greed and fashion. The film plays the flip side of the crime thriller by refusing to romanticize the motives or abilities of its protagonists. It does so with a sense of style and ends on a nihilistic and almost mystic note. That makes this movie far more memorable than any of the era’s typical macho fantasies about saving the day with bullets, explosions, and wisecracks.

RE-ANIMATOR (1985), aka H.P. LOVECRAFT'S RE-ANIMATOR

Director: Stuart Gordon

Writers: Dennis Paoli, William J. Norris, Stuart Gordon, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s serialized story “Herbert West—Reanimator”

Producer: Brian Yuzna

Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Peter Kent, Ian Patrick Williams, Al Berry, Gerry Black, Craig Reed, Bunny Summers, Barbara Pieters, Velvet Bebois, Lawrence Lowe, Robert Holcombe, Mike Filloon, Jack Draheim, Robert Pitzele, Annyce Holzman, Derek Pendleton, Gene Scherer, James Ellis, James Earl Cathay, (and uncredited cast) Kim Deitch, Greg Robbins, John Forker 

In Arkham, Massachusetts, Miskatonic Medical School student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) accepts newly transferred student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) as a roommate in his rented house. The intense West is obsessed with his own medical research and believes that the dead can be restored to life. West has developed a serum to reanimate dead tissue and involves Dan in his increasingly dangerous experiments. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Chicago, Illinois native Stuart Gordon had a background in theatre. First at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then back in Chicago with the Organic Theater Company that he founded, Gordon directed and produced controversial and confrontational plays. When he decided to make a film, horror was not only the genre most marketable for beginning filmmakers; it was also the genre that would allow director Gordon to keep pushing boundaries. 

Gordon had first considered making his Lovecraft adaptation a production for the stage, then as a series of episodes for television, and finally as a feature film. Gordon found the perfect ally in producer Brian Yuzna, who was also a fan of horror and the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Yuzna convinced Gordon to shoot the film in Hollywood and arranged the distribution deal. The initial scripts for the television series proposal were pared down into a concise feature film screenplay with more outrageous ideas added. 

Lovecraft’s writings were usually concept-driven and concerned with creating an atmosphere of awe and dread. Many of his tales dealt with the terror of man’s insignificance in a universe full of other beings and forces beyond our power to understand or control. Lovecraft’s stories did not dwell on their characters’ relationships. The protagonists of Lovecraft’s stories were usually driven only by an obsessive goal or an unearthly influence. Like the film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, movies based on Lovecraft’s work usually needed his plots to be elaborated upon with additional characters, if one believes that movie plots should be character driven. 

While Re-Animator is not much more faithful to the prose it is based on than many other Lovecraft adaptations, it seems to have one of the best reputations of all Lovecraft-based films. Lovecraft’s serialized story, “Herbert West—Reanimator,” was written to be published in six parts, each of which needed to have a climax. It was more frantic than some other Lovecraft works, while having a less cosmic and a more grisly spectacle to it. As such, this lesser known Lovecraft yarn lends itself to the excesses of a mid-eighties fright flick. Stuart Gordon’s film takes the basic premise from Lovecraft’s tale and runs wild with it. 

Re-Animator is that exploitation rarity that gives the horror buffs all they are craving while still being surprisingly well received critically. Along with the gore and sex, there is a demented sense of fun to be found in the performances and the escalating madness of situations getting further and further out of control. The horror and humor are perfectly balanced so that the film never lapses into spoof territory. It keeps delivering the shocks while the performances keep us involved and amused. 

The story works so well because there is always a sense of intimacy to the horror. Aside from a few establishing shots, the action all takes place in a handful of interior locations. We have time to settle into this environment and with the small cast of main characters clashing with each other. Yet things never really seem to slow down and relax. Everything further bonds us with the characters or lays out the goals and values they have which cause most of the conflict. There is never a sense of the story marking time. It also seems like there is no limit to how much further the horror and chaos can go. 

Jeffrey Combs became a horror film immortal with his insolent and probably mad medical student, Herbert West. This character’s wit and sociopathy never fail to make me smile. He strikes me as the 1980s American answer to Peter Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein of the British Gothic horror classics from Hammer Films. West’s single-minded devotion to restoring the life of the dead spurs him on ever further into greater risk-taking and mishaps. Combs’ performance is a joy to watch for any horror fan. 

The hapless hero that we identify with is Bruce Abbott’s Dan Cain. He seems like a decent sort just trying to make it through medical school and get on with his life. Dan provides a measuring stick of normalcy against which to gauge the recklessness of his ruthless roommate, Herbert West. Unfortunately, Dan is just a bit too enamored of West’s medical achievement and gets entangled in the complications created by West’s experiments. 

Another important aspect of Abbott’s performance is that his Dan Cain is traumatized by the horrors he encounters in the story. This was deliberate on director Gordon’s part. He stated that his audience would not be frightened if his characters weren’t. This is an important technique that maintains Re-Animator’s delicate balance between humor and horror. Too many films of many genres forget to honestly depict how normal people would behave in dire situations. 

Like Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton also became a legend in the horror genre for her role in Re-Animator. She would join Combs in more Stuart Gordon-directed horror films. As Gordon has stated, Crampton was a real trooper going above and beyond the call of duty providing this film its sex appeal. It doesn’t hurt that she is also a fine actress going through an entire range of extreme emotions while always remaining likable and relatable. 

With beautiful Barbara Crampton as Dan Cain’s co-ed girlfriend, Megan Halsey, some could envy Dan too much to have sympathy for him. However, we really learn to like both of these simply drawn characters during the few intimate moments we get to spend with them. That means that the rest of the morbid and madcap time, we care about them, which really sets up a touching, ironic, and unsettling payoff. 

I remembered Robert Sampson best for his appearance in “The Mutant,” an episode of the great, sci-fi, television series The Outer Limits (1963-65). Sampson was an experienced actor guest-starring in a multitude of television programs for three decades by the time he was cast as the dean of Miskatonic Medical School, Alan Halsey. Although Sampson had a supporting role in Italian director Lucio Fulci’s typically very moist horror film City of the Living Dead (1980), here he becomes a key player in the gruesome goings-on. At first, his character of Megan’s conservative and dignified father seems like the establishment type just meant to complicate things for our young couple. He really ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and unwittingly helps the cause of mad science. 

If anyone in this cast seemed custom-made for the horror genre, it was David Gale. With his angular features, deep voice, and piercing gaze, he projects authority, intelligence, and evil effortlessly. His ambitious and underhanded Miskatonic professor, neurosurgeon Dr. Carl Hill, is yet another unprincipled proponent of mad science. Hill’s supercilious pupil, Herbert West, almost has us empathizing with him, but it does not take long before the not-so-good doctor reveals his loathsome nature. Dr. Hill’s shenanigans with Megan Halsey are Re-Animator’s most notorious highlight. 

There you have it: the five characters that push around this gory gurney called Re-Animator. Aside from some bit parts in this film, everyone else is dead, which could mean that they have a lot more to do, courtesy of Herbert West and his hypos of reagent serum. 

Re-Animator was a surprise hit at the Cannes Film festival, winning a Special Prize. When presenting the film for theatrical release in the US, director Gordon thought that getting the R rating was possible, but the MPAA had become less permissive in recent years and would have gutted the barely feature length film. Producer Brian Yuzna and Gordon made the gutsy decision to release the film unrated. This earned Re-Animator a bit of notoriety, while the critics still noticed the craft and wit of a film pushing its genre limits. Cuts were made to the film to get an R rating for another theatrical release the following year. That R-rated version included some previously deleted footage to add to the less gory cut’s runtime. Re-Animator found its greatest success on home videotape releases that usually used the unrated version. Fortunately, producer Yuzna was able to secure the rights again to get Re-Animator restored in all of its unrated, gory glory for 21st-century DVD releases. 

Due to this success of what Stuart Gordon considered a blessed production, he continued to direct and write more films. While he would dabble in other subject matter, Gordon would often return to the genre he is most associated with. If Gordon had never made another film after his first, he would still be a revered horror filmmaker. His Re-Animator is a cult film that has become a classic.