Tubi Thursday: Gothic (1986)

Oh boy- Ken Russell is back!

Is this a legendary Film for the right reasons...or the weird ones?

Welcome to the House of Lord Byron!

He's in exile from England for, well, lots of stuff.

He's joined by a number of people, including his sometimes girlfriend Claire, Lord Shelley, Mary Shelley and his Doctor/Writer Polidori.

It is a dark and stormy night...and they're taking, well, liquid opium.

They go a little bit crazy, especially after they read a ghost story.

In typical Russell style, it changes and gets tweaked by each reader.
Freaky stuff.

The night gets weirder as everyone gets a bit crazier and more intoxicated.

Nobody is in their right mind and the growing fear and paranoia is only making things worse.

There's also some personal drama going on between Shelley, Mary and the rest.

Things get weird.
Things get spooky.

How will this all work out?
Stream it now to find out.

This one is weird and sure has alot to say.
What that is?  Nobody can quite be sure.

There are some obvious Themes- mortality, insanity vs creativity- and some good Acting.  The positive and negative is that everyone plays this so loudly, crazily and wider than the mass of a gas giant!

Many good Actors- Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Timothy Spall- are here and they all play crazy quite well.

This Film is very chaotic and it will certainly not be for everyone.

This is a Ken Russell Film that will be beloved by his true fans and befuddling to casual fans.
If this is you, stick to other stuff.

A Film that is absolutely a must-see for Ken Russell fans.  For everyone else, give it half an hour and see how you feel.

'80s Class: The Lair of the White Worm

 Who would have ever guessed that I'd have the Space Jam Sequel to thank for me seeing this.  This is Ken Russell's adaptation of Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm.  If you don't know, the new Space Jam features a whole crew of look-alikes playing Characters from the Warner Bros Catalog.  That's why the Audience includes multiple Jokers, Pennywise, The Animaniacs and...the Nun from The Devils?!?  The last one is especially strange, since they own the Film but REFUSE to release it.  The only copies around- like mine- are from older releases.  The Film was very controversial in its day and, well, things haven't changed much in the last 4 Decades plus.  The Film is around- on Shudder, apparently- but still not Uncut.  With that in mind, I came across another Ken Russell Film on Prime and said 'Why not?'  It's weird.  Yes, it is Ken Russell, so no shock there.  Based somewhat-loosely on a Bram Stoker Tale, the Film is about a small Town, an evil woman, a man living off of his family's legacy and a monster in hiding.  The Cast is most notable for featuring Hugh Grant in an early role and featuring future Doctor Who himself Peter Capaldi.  A little Trivia for you: this and Paddington 2 are Films that feature this duo.  There's a link you didn't expect to see, I bet!  Will they save the day?  Will this Film offend?  To find out, read on...

A Scottish Visitor- Capaldi- digs us the skull of a large, ancient creature.  He's happy about it.

In the same Town, we meet Grant.  He's the descendant of a family who famously slayed 'The Great Worm.'

As he explains later, it's actually more of a Wyrm aka Dragon.

In some subtle foreshadowing, our Lead Heroine is 'chased' by the Monster at a Party celebrating the Anniversary of its slaying.

Nice.

A weird woman- Amanda Donohoe- returns to Town and is definitely up to no good.

For one thing, snakes hide around her House.  She also takes this 'Boy Scout' home and kills him.

As the Film goes on, Grant becomes more uncomfortable with his life of privilege and tries to act more heroic.

 Of course, he still stays in the Mansion with all of his stuff and Butler, so baby steps.

Our Heroines are looking for their missing Parents and one person does know where they are- Donohoe.

She's a Snake Worshipper and plans to bring the Wyrm back for revenge!

She has one of the duo under her control and uses her to get the other...

Can Capaldi learn enough about the ancient lore of the land to find out what to do to save her?

Or will our Villainess get her wish by bringing back the Wyrm for a sacrificial bite?

The creature sure looks hungry...so why don't you watch it and find out?

No 33 year old SPOILERS this time.  The End.

A weird and wacky Film.  There's no mistaking a Ken Russell Film- that's for sure.  For one thing, there are a few key Scenes involving hallucinations/visions that are very much in his style.  It has Nuns in peril, some anti-Christian imagery (there intentionally to shock, mind you) and some weird effects.  It's less of a key thing here than in The Devils, so it gets by.  It's got other wackiness, including a weird dream sequence involving Hugh Grant, a Cave and then a 747- why not?!?  The best comparison I can give to this one is that it is a British Film in the style of Twin Peaks (especially the more random Season 2).  If you like that Show (even the uneven Season 3), you'll like this one.  Seeing a young Hugh Grant in a trippy Monster Movie is fun.  The make-up work is good.  The Film has good Acting.  It has a weird, eccentric appeal.  If you like the straight-forward stuff, this is not for you.  If you like a Film that is both 'art-house' and silly, this is for you.  Looking into Films like this can be fun, but also confusing.  For instance, both Donohoe and one of the Leads (Catherine Oxenberg) both have roles in Starship Troopers 3!  The latter was also married to Casper Van Dien (appearing with him in Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf).  Doing all of this research for, well, nobody can sometimes make you just want to...

Next time, another random dive and another random Film.  See what you get next time, won't you?  Stay tuned...

Rare Flix: The Devils (1971)

It is rare and it is crazy!  Today's film is The Devils, a film made by the madman Ken Russell.  He's one of those guys that I had never seen one of his films before- in full, at least- but I knew his reputation quite well.  When I learned that this was made by Ken Russell, I kind of knew what to expect.  So what is The Devils about?  It is a lovely, family film about the Plague and religious control of the land.  The film goes for a mix of surreal and historical drama, but it is clear which side it ends up on most of the time.  Notable Cast Members include Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, who's 'credited' the experience of working on the film as having aged him four years!  He would nearly be killed on-set two years later, so its notable that he still even talked about this one at all.  Is this film Rare because of the quality of its content or because it was just trying to offend anyone remotely fond of Christianity?  To find out, read on...

I like that the film includes this footnote at the beginning about what is about to take place.  I take it with several grains of salt, but so be it.

The early part of the film is made up two clear Themes.  One- the rich (like the Cardinal) live a life of extreme luxury and debauchery.

Just to spare you any future Therapy, I will tell you that this is a guy...

While, in contrast, everyone else live with constant threat of death, starvation and pestilence.  Subtle, huh?

Reed is the lead Priest- Father Urbain Grandier- in the town and struggles with certain parts of his vows.  The main one: not having sex with this Harley Quinn-looking lady and getting her pregnant.

Redgrave's Sister is a bit crazy and repressed.  Some might say that the two are connected.

It gives the film excuses for her to act crazy and to set up bizarre visions like this...

The two stories collide when the elite want to keep exploiting the poor and Reed stands up to them.  This leads to him to him being targeted by so-called Demon Hunters and this early version of the Klan.

As Reed's Father undergoes torture and interrogation, he doesn't crack.

Considering that Reed himself only died after downing an inhuman amount of alcohol and arm-wrestling Sailors (in one night) at age 61, that's no surprise.

Things get really crazy, culminating in the Father's execution, a big explosion and the Sister pleasuring herself with a charred bone of Grandier.

His wife leaves the city, apparently wandering off into a Salvador Dali painting.  The End.

Not recommended for those who are remotely-easy to offend.  Hell, if you've ever been offended at a Catholic Priest joke, this may not be for you.  Devils is a weird sort of masterpiece.  You can see the amount of care and detail work put into it.  Every single detail seems planned out to a meticulous degree.  The question is not one of quality, it is one of taste.  Will the film offend you?  Maybe.  I was pretty tame in my Screencap selection, so bear that in mind.  For all the talk of deviant sexual activity (which there is some) and violence (which there is plenty), there is alot that you don't see here.  So much of Grandier's torture is implied (thankfully) and you can just imagine the kind of stuff that happens.  The same can be said for much of the sex, but to a lesser degree.  The film reads like weird mix of an historical account and one of those Passion Play-style shows that tries to offend.  The film pulls no punches- for better or for worse.  It is bleak.  It is dark.  It is insane.  All of this explains why the film has taken ages to get proper video releases in any format.  It took until 2010 to start seeing proper DVD releases of it and even those were not complete.  Cuts of the Film range from anywhere between 105 minutes to 117 minutes (the Restored Version).  For the record, my general source of DVDs- Netflix- doesn't carry it right now.  One upside of being known as 'someone who likes weird movies' is that people get you stuff like this.  Isn't that just 'for the Birds?'

Next up, I bide my time until I get to see Snowpiercer.  That's a good pretense to do this Chris Evans film that's already on my shelf.  Stay tuned...