Shudder Sunday: Scream Queen- My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019)

 A bit of a caveat here as between the time I watched the Film and now, it's off Shudder (for now, at least).

What happens when you get your dream come true and it ruins your life?  Hopefully you never find out, but Mark Patton did.

In 1985, Patton was a young Actor in Hollywood trying to become a Star.

He got the Lead in a Sequel to a smash Horror hit.

What could go wrong?

Everything.

As the AIDS epidemic changed everything, he had to 'be straight' to get work.
He had to watch friends/lovers die.
He had to watch a culture where Actors were blood tested before they could get on a Show/Film.

Is it any wonder why he left Hollywood?

He fled from Hollywood, being a footnote in Horror Film History and, unfortunately, being an excuse for people to dislike Elm Street 2.

Look at all of Elm Street media- comics, games, TV etc- and see which Film is never referenced or mentioned.

It's not Elm Street 3...or 4...or 5...or 6. 
You get it.

In 2010, he was interviewed for the Never Sleep Again Documentary and people suddenly realized that he was still around.

That set him off to do the Convention circuit, punctuated by a 2019 Cast Reunion.
RIP Clu Gulager.

The one person missing was the Writer, who is the focus of Mark's (understandable) indignation.

He's spent the last few Decades going from playing coy (what subtext) to blaming Casting (read: Mark) to embracing it (it was totally my intention).

So what happens when the pair finally meet for the first time since 1985?

To find out, stream the Film (just not on Shudder atm) now.

A solid Documentary that is all about History and how we should not forget it.  In an age where Trans People are the new targets, a reminder is sadly due.  Oh no-I said a political.

Mark is a good subject as he, sadly, experienced all of the highs and lows that a documentary subject has to.  In the time since, he's gotten really sick, so hopefully things are better by the time of this writing.  Help here if you can- Fundraiser by Peter Valderrama : DONATION TO HELP MARK PATTON RECIEVE MED CARE (gofundme.com)

His story is a sad one, but he makes it as happy as possible.  He's found himself.  He's found life again in Mexico.  He has become an advocate and not a punch line.  

The Film shows you an interesting side of fandom as the candid interviews that are less positive (being nice) about him are later juxtaposed with all of the people who formed a bond with him over the Film.  Whether you like him, or the Film is pretty immaterial.

If he's considered to be a Male Scream Queen, then so be it.

A good Documentary to watch in any Month, but obviously it hits harder in Pride Month.  A strong recommendation.

Poor Bastards of Cinema: Light Blast (Part 3)

 One final Poor Bastard from Light Blast.
I'm getting my money's worth out of that $7.99, RiffTrax!

Later in the Film, they set up a money drop to pay off the bad guys (but really trap them).

It gets grabbed and a chase ensues.

Also improbable explosions.

It eventually ends when the men in the car crash into some boxes by the docks.

They get out of their car to run, which is surely a great plan!

All of the shooting and explosions gets the attention of this random Dock Worker.

The bad guy proceeds to run past him, but turns...

...and shoots the guy.

Besides being terrible as a random murder, it's also a terrible idea because it gives Estrada a clear shot to take him down.

The best part- these weren't even the bad guys!  These were just different guys who went 'let's take this money from the Police!' and got many people killed.

Random person dies at the hands of the bad guy- bad.
Random person dies at the hands of Red Herrings that served no purpose- very bad!

The moral- be as far as you can from a police shoot-out.  Did I need to tell you that?!?

Next time, a Cab Driver dares to...take notes.  Gotta die, son!  See you then...

Tubi Thursday: The Medusa Touch (1978)

 Alright, it's time for a little Spring Cleaning of my Tubi Queue.  Let's toss out some Films I've had in there since, well, the beginning.

Let's begin with...

A man- Richard Burton- is attacked in his home and killed...or is he?

As the Lead Detective starts to go, he moves, and we learn that he's alive...somehow.

The Detective- who is French due to the Film getting French Backers- talks to people that knew Burton to find out what was going on with him.

He speaks to his Therapist, which is definitely not a legal issue.

She tells tales of him...telling tales of his past.

He's in a coma and seems to have a passionate, unbelievable will to live.

Why is the Psychiatrist still worried then?

We learn through more of her Stories that Burton was obsessed with getting revenge and death seemed to follow him, from his Parents' death via car accident to a Neighbor's Wife's Suicide.

This leads to the Inspector looking up tales of Telekinesis (saying it in a funny way thanks to his accent) via supposedly old footage.

To their credit, this looks real (assuming it isn't).

She finally tells him the tale of how she saw him concentrating on a plane as it flew over the City and it crashed, seemingly at his command.

In 1978, great moment.  Post-2001, awkward as hell.

Is Burton really a powerful and vengeful telekinetic killer?
Is a nearby Church in danger?
Is he staying alive just to get revenge?

To find out, watch the Film now.

A very odd Film for many reasons.  In some regards, the Film is pretty par for the course.  Let's pull up the checklist...

1) Big Name Actor (who used to do better)
2) Vague evil
3) Useless Cop/Inspector
4) Downer, nihilistic ending

That said, the Title is very misleading.  Does he turn people to stone?  No.
Why is it called that?  At best, we get a line from the Doctor about how him looking at her made her 'freeze like stone.'

Alright.

The problem here is mostly that the Film is told about 70% in flashback/exposition.  It still builds up to the climax, but this would have worked better if we did things differently.  Maybe follow Burton as he did his deeds.

Mind you, he shot his whole part in 3 weeks, so that probably was an issue.

In spite of the confusing name and odd structure, I didn't hate this.  Speaking of things I didn't hate, that plane crash bit is done quite well.  How did they do that?

A decent, if very exposition-heavy Film.  It's a very, VERY '70s Film- for better or for worse.

Should You Bother?: Fantastic Four- Extended Edition (2005)

 A while back I looked at the Director's Cut of Daredevil and noted the improvements that came with it.

Could another Comic Book Film from that timeframe be helped in the same way?

In 2005, Fantastic Four came out in Theaters.  I saw it there.  Young me liked it.

In 2007, an Extended Edition was released before the Sequel came out.  Present day me had no idea until I found it in a Salvation Army.

Does an extra 20+ minutes make the Film better...or just longer?

Should You Bother?

The Films credits are longer and slightly cooler.  Not a big change yet.

- Other than a slight addition at Doom's Building, the next big one is that we see them wake up on the ship after the cosmic rays hit them.

Not that major, but it is better than just cutting to them back on Earth.

- On Earth, we see some flowers from the ship- brought on as samples to study- turn invisible.
This is paid off later when Reed tests the device on them...to bad results.

* 30+ minutes later *

- A key moment in the Reed-Victor-Sue dynamic was cut...for some reason.

He confronts them on a friendly dinner date, is annoyed that she wants to stay at the Tower and crushes the ring he showed her earlier.

Why cut this?  It's only 2 minutes long!

- Two short Scenes were cut that aren't major, but also aren't exactly long.

We get a RomCom moment as stuff falls and Reed & Sue end up in a pile together.

More worrisome than that is the bit where Johnny realizes that he can heat up the inside of the elevator to make ladies get partially undressed around him.

It's a long way to get to Captain America!

- The oddest bit here is a section that was CHANGED, but not cut.

In the Extended Edition, Reed tries to look 'manly' by morphing his face into that of Wolverine's.
Corporate Synergy!

In the Theatrical Cut (and the one I first saw), he turns his face into, well, Bruce Campbell's instead.

Extended

Theatrical 

- The oddest change is them cutting about 10 minutes of footage out right before the Finale.

In the Theatrical Cut, it goes from Victor suggesting that Ben check on Reed & Sue and then he does just that.

In the Extended Cut, we get ALL the footage that they cut.

Ben meets back up with Alicia and she sculpts him again.
Victor tries to get Johnny on his side by taking him in a limo.
Ben goes to a function with Alicia, but gets self-conscious and leaves (meeting Victor, as mentioned)
Johnny shows off at a bar, strikes out and people reject him, leading to character growth.

Yes, they cut ALL OF THAT.

The rest of the Film plays out the same, complete with the Sequel Bait about Doom.

Verdict: Yes. They cut so much!

If you didn't like the tone, casting, feel and overall vibe of the Film, this probably won't sway you.

That said, I like the Film- hence the reason I own both a Theatrical and Extended DVD of it- and this one is a clear improvement.

More Characterization, Plot and build-up is great.  Plus, the regular DVD has ZERO Special Features, whereas this one has those AND both Cuts together.

It kind of makes the original DVD release look kind of, well, ugly.

If you're on the fence about the Film, check out the longer Cut.  The Streaming one is Theatrical, so splurge the extra $1-4 for this one.

My Crazy Youth: The Time that Freddy Kreuger Taught Brad Pitt About... Teen Pregnancy?!?

 Since it is Robert Englund's Birthday, let's look at some Elm Street stuff.  Hell, let's do more this week- just because!

Let's begin with Freddy's Nightmares aka *deep breath* Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street- The Series.

The real nightmare is me having to write out that full Title multiple times...so I won't.

This Show featured Freddy sometimes interacting with his victims, but usually just popping up between Scenes a la The Cryptkeeper.

What about this Episode?
Let's see...

A young couple- hey look, it is Brad Pitt- run away from home because there Parents don't want them to get married.

Hit the road!

They wander around a tiny Studio Set that is lit black so you can't tell that it is a small Studio Set.

See how well it worked?

Their car breaks down and a nice couple robs them.

Is this a dream?  Dunno.
They go back and forth between them so long that I almost expect to wake up suddenly and...

Nope- still here.  Shit.

They end up at a crazy Hotel thanks to Bill Moseley.

Everything goes wrong between dream sequences and they learn that maybe they should go home.

That's a weird way to tell a lesson, but you do you, Freddy.

So we're done here, right?

Nope.  This is a 2-Part Story, instead of featuring two tales.

Now we see the Couple together in Springwood- Freddy's Town- and they have a pregnancy scare.

This leads to a bunch of Nightmare Sequences focusing on her- with Pitt popping up randomly- imagining the worst.

It's not subtle.

Her Nightmares continue until she finally wakes up in bed and checks the test.  She's not pregnant.

She jumps around on the bed to celebrate...and falls off, hitting her head and putting her in a vegetative state.

See- it's ironic, because she's a baby now...I guess.

Also Freddy didn't do that, so...huh?!?

It's a weird one, to say the least.  For folks that don't know, Pitt worked a bunch before hitting it big in the '90s.  This isn't his only Horror Film/TV appearance.  If you know the big one, you know.

The problem here is that Freddy does nothing.  Unless you assume that any Nightmare is him doing it, he's absent for the whole thing story-wise.  He does the interstitial bits- so that they could call it Freddy's Nightmares- but that's it.

Also that Title is a bit confusing thanks to lazy Grammar.  Is it the Nightmares that Freddy makes OR the Nightmares had by Freddy?  Fans want to know!

The two-part natures of this Episode is also quite odd.  They both feature the duo, but the connection is tenuous at best.  Were they from Springwood?  If so, what was the point of scaring them in Town if the first lesson was NOT TO LEAVE TOWN?!?

I still enjoyed the bits as a whole, but it definitely leaned more on the 'what is real?' schtick.  That said, there's probably a real reason to watch for many of you out there...

A weird bit of a Morality Play in a Nightmare on Elm Street tale.  It's really disjointed, but kind of fun all the same.

Very Rare Flix: Stephen King's The Boogeyman (1982)

 With Horror Fans rushing out to see a new Stephen King adaptation this weekend, let's look back at an earlier version.

In this case, there's only one...and it's not an official release.

In 1982, Stephen King sold the rights to adapt his Story for $1 (the legal requirement) to a young filmmaker.

In 1994, it got a VHS release as part of the Nightshift Collection (as both Shorts were based on Stories from the Book of the same name).

To see what someone did with little money and alot of initiative, read on...

A nervous man wanders into the bathroom and finds a dead body.

It's his son!

Two hours later, he's interrogated by Police about it.

They question him about the time gap (in the Story, he went to a Diner to recover his wits) and he doesn't have a great answer.

For the rest of the Film (it is around 20 minutes in total), he is talking to a Therapist about 2 weeks later.

His family is seemingly cursed, having already lost 2 young children to 'crib death' and other such accidents that make the cop suspicious.

Their eldest Son can't sleep and has to be calmed down.

As time goes on, things get weirder and more dreamlike.

He explains that kid keeps crying out about the Boogeyman in the nights leading up to the incident.

He's understandably frazzled and begins to think that our childhood fears might be more real than we thought.

He's told to come see the Doctor later in the week, talking to the Receptionist on the way out.

She's not there, however, so he goes back...and finds the Doctor in the Closet.

It (sort of) pulls off the face of the Doctor as a mask (remember, no Budget) and things flash before the guy dies.  Dun dun dun!

The End.

A decent attempt, really just held back by the usual culprit- money.  Admittedly, I am watching a VHS rip (as there is no DVD one), so that doesn't help too.

The idea here is certainly strong.  I can see both why it bears an adaptation AND why it hasn't gotten one until now.

To put it simply, it deals with kids being killed.  It doesn't revel in it or use it for exploitation, but it is still a sore subject for many.  Kill 20 people- no problem.  Kill one kid- riots!

This one seems to be a pretty straight adaptation- so probably no need for a Fiction vs. Fiction- and covers all of the same story beats.  The Ending is not executed all that well, to be honest.

It's kind of a shame, but oh well.  Seeing how much this adaptation coming out differs from the original Story, I'm hoping that they still get to do something similar.

For Horror Fans in general, there's not much to see here.  For fans of rare Films and the like, it's worth a look at about 20 minutes long.

I guess we'll see how the new one ends up.

Tubi Thursday: The Night Eats the World (2018)

 After dissecting the hell out of its many Posters, I should check out the Film.

That was a bad idea...but it was MY bad idea...dammit.

A man goes to see his newly-ex-girlfriend at their old Apartment to get his stuff.

He keeps bugging her during a party until he locks himself in a room and falls asleep.

He wakes up in the morning to hear some weird noises and see the place empty...save for lots of blood.

Oh shit- Zombies!

Don't get too scared- he now has to spend the rest of the Film just kind of hanging out and trying not to go crazy.

He's even got his own Swiss Army Man (or is he Ed?).

So we get to watch him do some smart things- like try to make companionship-, some familiar things- buckets on the roof of the building to collect rainwater- and some really stupid things- like shoot first and ask questions never.

To find out how this Film ends, stream the Film now.

Not a meal, but a night snack.  Oh right- it's French.

If you want to see an Amuse Bouche in Film form, this is it.  Now just imagine that someone served this as your Entree and expected you to like it.

There's a good idea here- to an extent.

The idea that this guy has to adapt to life trapped in this Building- fine. 
The fact that he does this alone (save for one bit)- less fine. 
The fact that nothing really happens in 90 minutes- not good.

I guess this kind of thing is a European idea, as I watched a German Film in 2011 that is quite similar.  That one sucked too.

This could have worked.  Instead, I found myself yearning for something more interesting...

A slow, ponderous Film that feels like you took the first 20-30 minutes of a Film and made it the whole thing.  There's so little progression that it is just hard to care.

'90s Fun: The Shadow (1994)

 Wow, this takes me back to my childhood.  I last saw this Film in Theaters (possibly on Cable later too).

This is 1994's The Shadow, a Comic Book Film that is barely mentioned.  After Batman revived the Genre in Cinemas, others were soon to follow.  This one was also aided by Dick Tracy, another Film I have on the DVD pile to revisit.

The Plot involves a man who fights crime using mental powers and just generally acting like a dick.  He drives them crazy and then beats them.  When his arch rival comes to America, can he stop him?  When he meets someone who can match him, what are his chances?

The Film is notably made by Russell Mulcahy, the Director most famous for Highlander.  It Stars Alec Baldwin, an Actor who I like, but sure makes it hard for some people to do the same.

Is this one-and-done a forgotten classic or a '90s relic?  To find out, read on...

A man- Alec Baldwin- is a criminal in, let's just say Asia and make it simple.

He's confronted by a Mystic who teaches him a better way to live.

Seven years later (isn't that how long Bruce Wayne was gone in Batman Begins?), he returns as The Shadow.

He can make himself invisible to the naked eye via telepathy, is sneaky and packs a pair of big, chrome guns.

Yes, watching Aled Baldwin shoot people is a bit awkward to watch now.  Thanks for asking.

A strange artifact arrives at the Museum (ran by the Dad from ALF!) and opens to reveal Shiwan Khan.

He has the same powers as our Hero, so I guess I have to retroactively add this Film to the list of Mirror Image Villains from my Morbius Review.  BRB.

As a bonus, he claims to be the last descendant of Genghis Khan.

According to modern genealogy, he has *does math* 3-5 MILLION of them today.  Oops.

We get a pair of Scenes where Baldwin hangs out with his Dad- Jonathan Winters- who is the Police Commissioner and against The Shadow.

They don't amount to anything in the long run.  Maybe it was a Sequel setup thing.

This does introduce Penelope Ann Miller as the Love Interest though.

The guy he saved in the 2nd Scene agreed to help The Shadow whenever he could be called upon.

He calls in that favor- while the guy thinks that Baldwin is another helper and not The Shadow- to diagram a coin he found left behind by Khan.

It turns out to be bronzium that could be mixed with beryllium, so I guess they can fix the engine from Galaxy Quest.

That or make an atomic bomb.

He romances Miller, but the problem is that she seems to have a latent, untrained mental ability.

He tries to use his powers on her, but it has no effect.

Is this love?

Despite our hero's best efforts, he can't find Khan's lair and he uses his Scientist to make a bomb.

He's so evil that Tim Curry works for him and not the other way around!

There's Tim now...and he just jumped out the window...

He eventually realizes that Khan has used his powers to hide AN ENTIRE BUILDING from everyone in the City.  I just hope that no planes fly by it...

He takes out the goons and ends up in a Hall of Mirrors.

This was apparently going to be a big sequence that would call back to (and show) Lamont's dark past...but an Earthquake wrecked the set before they shot it.

He conquers Chekhov's Living Dagger and sends a shard of glass into Khan's head.

He ends up in a mental hospital and learns that his powers are gone, due to part of his frontal lobe being removed.

Our Hero vows to keep up the fight...but that wasn't ever made.  The End.

An enjoyable Film, even if many parts of it feel familiar.  In many ways, this is like when I finally watched the original 'Ghost in the Shell' and it can seem 'derivative.' 
That's because so many people have copied it over the years- it's not the Film's fault.

That's a similar issue here as The Shadow was a Character created back in 1930.  Batman debuted in 1939.  So just bear that in mind.

The premise is pretty silly when you think about it- an evil Khan plans to nuke NYC- and the Film doesn't lean into it.  It's just a Pulp Story.  There are no jokes about how odd the story is like you would probably get now.

Baldwin is quite enjoyable here, as is pretty much everyone.  The obviously fake beard the villain has is a bit distracting though.  Curry shines in his small role, as does Sir Ian McKellen.  Yes, he's in this (see below).

On its own, the Film is an enjoyable romp.  It's not perfect, but it does have some great people in small, but notable roles.  Here are two examples...

Here's James Hong AND Al Leong- in the same shot, no less!

***

...and yes, that is Ian McKellen too.

Next up, a special look at the Extended Edition of yet another Superhero Film.  Will it be an improvement or not?  Stay tuned...