4,000th Post Celebration!!!: Dream Deceivers (The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest)

After all these Posts, I still find new areas to cover.  

This is Dream Deceivers, a 1991/2 Documentary about a Court Case.  Yeah, no Zombies or Aliens in this one.  In its place, human tragedy and the desire to get an easy explanation for it.  This is a less 'fun' Review than normal.  I have range- I can do this!  

This is a semi-famous Documentary, although its subject matter is fairly forgotten these days.  It's all about a sad event in 1985 and the repercussions of it in a Court Room.  It's an interesting slice of history and a Documentary that wasn't exactly a big box-office hit.  

To celebrate a new milestone for the site, it's important to do different things and this is pretty different.  Well, unless you count that Slender Man Doc I covered at one point.  As I teased, it does also relate to another Anniversary post from long, long ago.  

To end the teasing and get with the interesting sadness, read on...

This Film begins with a human tragedy.  It also gets pretty close to straight up showing you the aftermath of a death scene, so I'll just use this Screen Cap.

These deaths lead to a Trial nearly 5 years later in Reno, Nevada.  

The Families want Judas Priest to pay for the deaths (for no good reason).

Priest- as the Defendants- claim that they made no attempts to put 'subliminal messaging' in their Songs and point out the many, many issues that actually led to the two suicide attempts.

It's really weird to see Rob Halford out of the leather, no?

The Doc switches focus between the Families, Priest and people in town for the Trial.

Big shout out to the guy on the left for the very deep sign.

Here's a tricky thing to discuss...

So the Movie takes place in 1990 during the Trial.  They intercut bits with James Vance, the young man who survived his suicide attempt.

The problem: he died in 1988 (due to most likely a more successful suicide attempt) and the Film wants that to be a 'surprise stinger' at the end.  Why?

Speaking of James, seeing him in his condition- you can Google it if you really want to see it- is tragic.  There is no other word for it.

The Film shows snippets of the testimony.  It varies from the Family admitting problems they tried to hide to Experts trying to prove 'back-masking' on the Record.

This poor Judge would have made a great Meme Face if this was released in 2019.

The parts with the 'metal heads' in Town is actually deeper than you might think and a nice distraction from, you know, all the talk of death.

Ultimately, the Case was settled in favor of Priest, although done in a way that left the door open for more Trials.  

Thankfully, they never came.  The End.

Considering the subject matter, I think I made it through without saying anything stupid.  

This is an interesting Film, but it's also a bit of a mine field.  If I sound like I'm mocking the family, I'm an asshole.  If I sound like I'm agreeing with them, I'm 'pro-censorship.'  Neither one of those is really true, mind you- it would just sound that way.  

The Doc has been accused of not being objective.  I don't really see that.  

They seem to do their best to show you all of the evidence.  You hear from both sides.  You don't get much on the idea of 'back-masking' from outside of the Court Room, so maybe that's an oversight.  Again- I don't see the issue that many do.  The Story is a sad, but interesting one.  When bad things happen, there must be a reason.  When we can't accept that reason, what are we left with?  It's obvious how I feel about this case by now, no?  

The Doc is a pretty interesting one as, again, this story has kind of been lost to time in recent memory.  I will warn you that seeing the tragic state of James Vance may be too much for many of you.  There's a reason I blurred it (also to not feel like I'm exploiting a victim of tragic violence) both times I featured it.  

Yes, footage from this Film ended up in Traces of Death, the 2nd tier knock-off of Faces of Death (made when it became an underground sensation).  That Film- aside from just being awful- seemed to use a worse master version of the Footage.  

To note, this Film was shot on Video for Public Television...and still looks miles better than the other footage...

Next time, something less about real life and hopefully lighter.  Knowing me, it could be just about anything.  Stay tuned...

'70s Trash?: I Eat Your Skin (1964/1971)

Wait- is this '60s Trash or '70s Trash?  

Today's Film is I Eat Your Skin, a 1971 Film with a big caveat.  

Remember I Drink Your Blood?  Really?  I just wrote about it last Article!  

Anyhow, this Film was the 2nd half of a Double-Feature.  Now here's the catch- this Film was actually made in 1964.  

Brought to you by the Director of The Horror of Party Beach, this was made...but not sold.  

Yeah, nobody cared. 

Smash cut to 1971 and the Studio distributing Blood needed something for the Marquee.  It was time to retitle this stinker and give it a first/second chance!  

The Plot involves Zombies, a place called Voodoo Island and, of course, a Writer researching a Book.  One of these things is not like the other! 

I could bore you with the Cast, but...meh.  It's important to note that this Film came out AFTER Night of the Living Dead, but is very much a Pre-Romero Zombie Film.  

Is that the fastest that a Film has looked anachronistic or what?!?  This is silly.  This is dumb.  Is this good fun?  

To find out, read on...

 An Author is just chilling down in Miami between Novels.  Since he's a 1960s Hero, he does the usual to keep busy.

Trying to get him to write, his Publisher/Friend decides to take him to Voodoo Island.  I'd make that face too.

To the Film's rare credit, they do lampshade this via the Author...but go all the same.

The Island has some beautiful women, a lovely Jungle and, oh yeah, Zombies.

This is clearly the Director of Party Beach's thing- giving his monsters goofy eyes.

 They meet the important locals (from left to right): the Scientist, the Police Chief and the Scientist's Daughter.

The only young Blonde on this Island- you're in trouble, lady!

The Zombies make their big move at the behest of 'Daddy' (The Zombie Master).  On the plus side, they have more than just the one guy to play a Zombie.

On the negative side, the other ones look even worse!

As it turns out, a man is making the Scientist create the Zombies to, of course, conquer the World. 

Naturally, they try to sacrifice the girl (who's no longer a virgin) and the wife. 

Our Heroes escape and the destruction of the lab leads to this bad paper mache model...I mean the Island...to explode.

Forget all about those dead people, the evil man and the world domination plan- he has a new book to enjoy the profits from.  The End.

A goofy mess of a Film that I can't help but kind of love.  

This is a Film out of time.  How many Films sit unsold for 7 years?  The most recent case would maybe be All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and that's a far more complicated mess.  

That had more to do with selling the rights to a Studio that then went bankrupt (and then some).  

In this case, the Film was just so silly that nobody cared.  Did it deserve this fate?  Yes and no.  It's certainly no worse than many Films from that time- especially by that Director!  That said, it was definitely a bit out-of-date even in 1964.  

Supposedly, the inspiration for this was James Bond.  No, really.
To be fair, Goldfinger would use Hotel Fountainbleau as a location in the same Year. 

 It is mostly one of those late '30s to early '40s Zombie Films (like White Zombie or I Walked with a Zombie).  That said, you can see the influence from Bond with the silly Plot involving world domination.  

Strangely enough, Bond himself would sort-of get to a similar place after this Film's delayed release with Live and Let Die (my favorite Bond Film ever). 
Basically, the Film is dumb, silly and dated even when you consider that it was released 48 years ago and made 55 years ago!  

That said, it's so silly that it's kind of fun.  It's a good-bad kind of thing that works for me like a lesser Ed Wood Film (like Bride of the Monster).  If you like cheese, check this out.  

Don't let the implied-graphic nature of the Title fool you- this is tame AF.  It was also made in Miami (and Key Biscane), so it has a local connection for me...

Next up, I celebrate another Anniversary with a Film very different than anything I've done.  It also features a strange connection to a Film from a previous Anniversary Review.  Stay tuned...

'70s Trash: I Drink Your Blood (1971)

One man's trash could be another man's treasure.  Today's Film is I Drink Your Blood, a 1971 Cult Classic restored on Video in recent years.  Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first- it's not about Vampires.  There is no blood drinking at all.  The Title was changed from something accurate-but-innocuous like Phobia to the one you see purely for marketing purposes.  If you grew up watching sleaze in the '70s, you probably saw the Double-Bill of I Eat Your Skin and I Drink Your Blood.  I guess I need to watch that one too, don't I?  So if there's no blood drinking, what is the Film actually about?  Well, I won't give it all away just yet, but here are the key points: Satanists, Hippies, Murder, Dismemberment and infection.  This is another one of those 'Bad Movies With Good Locations' (like Doom Asylum's actual abandoned Asylum!).  In this case, it is a legit-abandoned Town in Upstate New York.  They could run around and do whatever there- within reason.  This one is all sorts of trashy and I kind of like it. To find out if you will too, read on...

A young woman witnesses a Satanic Ritual and gets beat up.  They don't kill her, because...um, Plot.

The Town is nearly-abandoned, save for a few families and the people doing Construction for a Dam.

They sure won't be important later.

The group comes into Town, aided by the fact that the girl hasn't IDed them yet.  She will soon.

Grandpa finds out the truth and goes to scare the group off, but ends up getting assaulted.  Since that terrible plan failed, the Grandson has an even more terrible one...

1) Kill a Rabid Dog
2) Bake Dog's meat into Pies
3) Trick Satanists into eating Pies, giving them Rabies.

Shockingly, the act of making a crazed group of killers even more insane DOESN'T end well.

Seriously, the Maginot Line worked better than your plan, kid!

Most of the group starts to kill people, while some find other things to do.  One of the women finds the Construction Crew and basically acts out a '70s Porn Film with them (mostly off-camera).

This, of course, infects them all, making a bigger horde of pseudo-Zombies/Infected.

The gang kills many- Poor Bastards of Cinema to come- and only have two weaknesses- Water and, well, Death.

While this Film wants this to be serious, hosing down a yelling man is always funny!

The group is eventually killed and that's where *most* Prints end.  This Version has the complete Ending (with extra Film Grain).

During the last attack, the main Woman was bitten and kills the Sheriff.

Unrelated to that, the kid tries to confess to his actions, but the Police won't listen.  Did...did this inspire American Psycho?!?  The End.

A dumb, trashy Film that is kind of fun if you embrace the insanity.  Think about what happens in this Film.  A Satanic Cult of Hippies is given Rabies from infected Meat Pies and turn into Killers.  If this didn't inspire 28 Days Later, then nothing did!  The whole thing goes from 'Satanists are Evil' to 'Rabies Makes You Act Like A Zombie' over the course of an hour.  It goes from having a small group of obvious villains to a bunch of 'Zombies' chasing people around with knives.  If you just stop and think about what has happened during the 2nd Act of this while you're watching it, it's mind-boggling!  That's not to say that it doesn't have a sort of crazy charm.  It has lots of fake blood, silly Acting (especially from the infected) and some good use of props.  One poor guy gets decapitated and his 'head' is shown as a prize by one infected.  He seems so proud of it!  It's like the one henchman in Samurai Cop who practically fondles his gun the whole time during his Scene- he loves it!  It's definitely not a good Film- just in case you got that impression.  Everything about it looks cheap, other than the location (as noted above- it's great!).  They all seem to embrace the silly premise and take it 100% seriously.  How did Troma not learn this lesson?!?  If you actually look at a Title like this and go 'I'm curious enough to see this,' you'll probably like it.  It's by no means perfect, but it is gloriously-dumb and insane.  It also previewed the face that most unsuspecting people make when they leave a Theater showing Midsommar...

Next time, I might as well cover the other half of the double-bill.  It's actual Zombies this time, so...better?  Stay tuned...

Immediate Response: Spider-Man- Far From Home

After not seeing on my Birthday weekend, I made up for lost time and saw it tonight.  Here we go...

The Good

- The Film looks great.  It has multiple locations and makes the most of them.
- It is really funny and genuine, a balance that Marvel seems to get far more than DC.
- Mysterio and his arc is played well.  I wasn't surprised by the reveal, but they do as much as they can to make him seem like a good person.  Plus the way his name is created is genius.
- Without SPOILing anything, the twists and turns are nice.  They commit to a couple of important ones by the time the final Credits roll too.

The Bad

- The Movie has a hard time getting past Iron Man.  I get it, but...I'm ready to move on.  You?
- I'm not quite sure how the Ending quite makes sense, but that's all I can say without SPOILERS.

If you liked the previous Film, this is a great follow-up.  It has a few tricks up its sleeve, even if its biggest one isn't super-surprising.

DCE-Hulu: Swamp Thing- 'Drive All Night'

A bit of a technical snafu delayed this one, so let me make up for lost time...

The girl at the center of the outbreak is now staying with Sunderland (for his own bad reasons).  Unfortunately for her, an angry spirit is still hanging around the House Ju-On-style.

Moping about the Swamp, our Lead discovers that he can see memories by touching certain trees.  Those include his own (below) and one involving Abby that he has to decipher.

The would-be Blue Demon discovers that trying to leave Marais is still a no-go.

The evil Doctor working Sunderland discovers samples in Alec's Lab and now knows that something strange exists in his logic-run World.

What is the secret of the flashback that Alec saw?  Will it help or harm the ones he cares about?

To find out, stream the Show while you can.  By all accounts, DC Universe may be something completely different in 2020!

More good Episodes- even if I now know that I'm halfway done with them.  Mind you, I've watched the first 9 Episodes of The Tick Season 2, but won't watch the last one for a while.  In this case, I'm just committed to enjoying it until it ends.  This time, we get mysteries going back to the 1st Episode finally getting answered.  Why did Mrs. Sunderland freak out so much about Abby?  Well, now we know- mostly.  Naturally, one mystery being answered leads to another one!  Beyond that, we get continuations of other Stories.  We also get a mystery man that may be important for later.  Will he or is this more of a could-have-been tease?  I'll wait and see.  Everything that worked so far continues to work.  I continue to be curious about the mysteries that they are teasing.  The Show continues to be good and I'll try to enjoy what little I'm going to get.  Thanks, HBO Max.  I may sound like a broken record, but...holy crap, look how much work they put into this Suit!

Next time, things get more intense for our hero and more secrets will be revealed.  It's vague, but so am I.  See you then...

Rare Flix: The Wonderful Land of Oz

A quick 'Thank you' and 'Damn you!' to Rifftrax for this.  This is 1969's The Wonderful Land of Oz.  When we last left Barry Mahon, he had moved from WWII Pilot to Director for Errol Flynn.  When the latter died in 1959, Mahon kept up working, making such 'classics' as Nudes, Inc, Bunny Yeager's Nude Camera and, confusingly enough, Censored.  The Films aren't *actually* Porn, but also kind of are.  Think of Porn as French and Mahon's Nudies as Portuguese.  When people started to want actual Porn, Mahon changed Genres- Ed Wood just took his place.  After directing a dozen Films about topless women, the natural thing to do is...an Oz Film.  Sure, sure.  As noted two Reviews back, the Oz Rights are a bit tricky.  He was able to cheaply do a later Book, but couldn't use stuff made up for the Films (like the Ruby Slippers).  To get the Film made, he had to scrounge up a hefty $50,000 for the Production (and $90,000 to get it distributed).  To get a Cast, he didn't go far- specifically, his own House!  He cast his son Channy Mahon as 'Tip' and got his Wife to the be Script Supervisor.  The rest of the Cast is made up of relative newcomers and unknowns.  I'm sure that being in this helped them break out, right?  Well, one of them was a Character Actor and another worked in the Make-Up Department for stuff like Ghostbusters 2 and Saturday Night Live.  So, yeah...it didn't.  The Plot is *fairly* accurate to the Book and touches upon similar stuff we saw in Return to Oz.  It's also considered to be the worst Oz Film by many, so maybe authenticity only takes you so far.  I only watched this due to the Rifftrax release, so I might as well turn this into a Review and complete the 'trilogy'...

Tipp lives in Oz with Mombi the Witch (who doesn't steal heads or work with the Nome King).

Hating his existence there, he makes a Pumpkinhead to scare the Witch.  She, instead, brings it to life and he gets out of there that night.

He also, confusingly, sings a song about how he wants to be a Boy.  This is because she had threatened to turn him into a Statue FROM A BOY earlier.  Makes sense?

On their trip to Oz, Tipp and Pumpkinhead get separated.  The latter goes on without him- for no good reason- and makes it there.

Boy, does it sure look cheap as hell.

Tipp, meanwhile, finds an army of young women- dressed like Majorettes- who plan to take over the City (now ruled by Scarecrow).

Making Plots about your Children being forcibly-marched- that's the Barry Mahon way!

Skipping ahead, the ladies take over and our Heroes- along with the Tin Woodman and The Wogglebug- are trapped in the Throne Room.

They make the Gump and fly to the Good Witch, who proves to be an Ex Machina for this whole Story.  She makes the ladies leave and reveals the truth about Tipp...

He's actually the transformed version of Ozma, the true Ruler of Oz.  They proceed to undo the transformation, never bothering to ask how 'Tipp' feels about it.

She is back on the Throne and the ancillary Characters hang around, as we see the ladies march away sadly as the Film ends.

A delightfully-bad Movie.  If you have seen either version of Santa Claus and The Ice Cream Bunny, you know what to expect from a Mahon Fairy Tale.  This is more of the same- just longer!  The cheap Sets.  The bad Songs.  The bad Acting.  Hell, one of the Actors here is in Jack and the Beanstalk!  I almost don't believe that they spent $50,000 on this.  It barely looks better than a High School Play.  Poor Channy Mahon clearly didn't want to be an Actor and it shows.  He's just not good, bad Script or not.  He only really Acted this one time, so the proof is in the pudding.  The Songs are also not good here, not helped by stuff like the Singers not having good range.  Poor Channy- again- has to sing when he's not ready or trained for it!  The Costumes look pretty bad for the most part and this seems to be the only real Film to show the Wogglebug.  Oh well- you don't get an iconic look like the Scarecrow or Tin Man!  If you're a fan of 'so bad its good' Films, this one just squeaks by.  It's so inept that you have to laugh.  That said, Rifftrax also has a version- again, the one I watched- and its probably the best way to approach this.  As a final presentation, here's a Poster for the Film that...promises that it will be Live!

Next time, a break from Oz and/or Politics.  Instead, it involves evil Hippies and lots of blood.  Stay tuned...