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"Go", from Tuna
I've talked about this
before. Among the wave of Tarentines, this is one
of the best, along with "Two Days in the
Valley", and "Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels". Makes very good use of the
circular plot device, and is tragically hip. Lots
of interesting director's commentary on the DVD. Tuna's thumbnails for this film. The Two Girls (Like Tuna, I have
no clue which is which) (1,
2)
The Strippers (I think these are identified by
name in the back issues somewhere, from the last
time we did this movie) (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7)
"The
Living Dead Girl", from Tuna
The review is entirely
Tuna's work:
La Morte Vivante (1982),
or The Living Dead Girl is one of the most
commercially successful films by Jean Rollin.
While it does contain blood, lots of nudity and a
hint at a lesbian relationship, it is not typical
Rollin. The plot is straightforward and easy to
follow, and is told in a linear fashion.
A dead girl is brought
back to life by a toxic spill, and starts eating
everyone in sight, but hates herself for it ...
"Je suis mal" (I am evil) she tells her
childhood girl friend who comes to her aid, and
becomes the hunter-gatherer. There is more blood
and gore than is usual in a Rollin film, and that
was probably the weakest part of the movie, as it
is not very convincing. The strength is the
relationship between the living dead girl and her
lifelong girl friend.
The DVD is, for a
change, very high quality and produced very nice
caps. I tried for 5 hours to identify the two
unknowns today. If anyone knows their identity,
please share the secret.
Scoop's note: Rollin's
films are usually excellent visually. He has a
good artistic eye for striking images and
landscapes. He lights his night scenes
beautifully, and he never skimps on the contrast.
If filmmaking were simply a succession of images,
Rollin would be, in my opinion, the greatest low
budget filmmaker ever, despite his overuse of the
same cliched images (castles, twin innocents,
clown make-up, etc). If only he could have gotten
rid of those Greek Tragedy acting styles with the
sweeping gestures and the broad facial
expressions, his best movies would be pretty
damned good.
Tuna's thumbnails for this film. Francois Blanchard (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10, 11) Unknown (1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9)
Unknown 2 (1,
2)
Sins
of the Night, from "Johnny Web"
Sometimes I hate
watching these Grade B erotic thrillers,
especially on VHS, which means tedious capping
and tedious watching. This one was especially bad
because they gave away the "secret". It
was supposed to be a power struggle between three
guys, but the secret was that two women were in
love with each other and were manipulating all
three of the guys. They blew this about halfway
through the movie when the good guy called up
Shelton, and she was feigning concern while
laughing with her girlfriend behind his back, so
we knew then that she wasn't really on his side
in the battle against the two evil guys. Boring!
Deborah Shelton (1,
2)
Michele Brin (1,
2,
3)
Michelle Moffett Lee Anne Beaman
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