"Ms. 45" (1981) is New-Yawkuh Abel Ferrara's second feature film, following "The Driller Killer." Despite knowing a lot about this movie for quite awhile, I'd never actually seen it. The plot centers on a mute seamstress who is raped twice in a day. Through her own despondence and other events, she ends up becoming a mostly indiscriminate serial killer of men.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this film. It's very, very well-directed, uses its low budget well, and the lead actress (who has her own tragic story; Google "Zoë Lund") is completely riveting. Some of the supporting performances are a little lacking, but none of them really do the movie any harm. And the band playing at the party cracked me up, as someone evidently thinks a trumpet sounds like a saxophone. You'll see what I mean. Yes, there are two rape scenes at the outset, but they don't last long and are necessary to set the whole plot in motion. Five stars for this one. It won't be leaving my mind anytime soon.
Drafthouse Films has put out a nice Blu-ray of this, with some interesting special features, not least of which is a tribute film from Zoë Lund's widower husband. Her sad demise does weigh on the legacy of the film, a bit like John Kennedy Toole's over "A Confederacy of Dunces."
"The Black Sleep" is an independent production from 1956, with a bevy of classic horror personalities in it: Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Tor Johnson, and a year before he perished, Bela Lugosi. Frankly, I didn't know Lugosi had any roles outside of Ed Wood's movies at this time. And, by the looks of him, and considering remarks made during Tom Weaver's commentary track, maybe he shouldn't have. He does look almost comatose most of the time. Very sad. At least his character doesn't have to do much.
But back to the movie, which I found surprisingly entertaining. If you can buy the opening 20 minutes of the movie, you'll enjoy it all....mad scientist trying to get his wife out of complete catatonia and rescuing a fellow doctor from the gallows to assist. John Carradine doesn't appear until the last 20 minutes, but when he makes his entrance....oh, yeah! Classic crazy Carradine. Lon Chaney, Jr. plays a former doctor, "Munro," who is now called "Mungo," due to his reduced mental state. I thought everyone was saying "Mongo," which made me wonder if the "Blazing Saddles" writing team had watched this before writing that script.
I wasn't expecting much when starting this film....mainly wanting to see it for the classic cast....but I was happy with it overall. The Blu-ray contained an informative, if sometimes harshly-worded (escpecially about Lugosi) commentary from Tom Weaver. No trailer is online for this one. Waaaah....
"Straight Outta Compton." My wife, being almost ten years younger than I am and a fan of N.W.A's music, wanted to see this one. I have to admit I did, too. I don't know much about them or rap in general, but I was willing to delve in. Glad I did. Great film. I haven't been wanting to see bio-pics lately, preferring instead to watch documentaries about actual people, but this film was mostly excellent. Only one scene that turns a bit hokey in the middle pulled me out of it for a minute, and that didn't last long.
Jason Mitchell, who plays Eazy-E, is a standout performer in it, as is Paul Giamatti as their manager. Ice Cube's son plays Ice Cube, and at first, I thought he was a pretty limited actor. But then after watching Ice Cube interviewed in a special feature, I remembered that Ice Cube's face is fairly limited in its movement. Maybe IC, Jr. was just "in character." (I did think of Mario van Peebles playing his dad, Melvin, in "Baaaadasss," the story of the making of "Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song.")
I don't need to embed a trailer of "SOC," do I? Good, because there is a ton of material online for the film, and I didn't feel like sifting through it.
And finally, "The Children," a British horror film from 2008. This is one of the best horror efforts of the 2000s first decade, a decade pretty lean on good horror.....excepting the Asian market, of course. "The Children" is a fairly taut 84 minutes, and none of it is wasted. The setup works well, there are only a few characters, and I thought it was a fairly original premise. Ambiguous, too, which I like. You don't have to know why they act that way....just that they do. That's what makes it horrific. And I really liked the end. Really liked it. May have seen it coming, but.....
Could not find a trailer for this one online, either. Oh, and by the way, there are several other films out there called "The Children." Make sure you get the one from 2008.
Yay, four winners!! Time to practice drumming.....
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