VOD Review: De Palma (2016)

"A great look inside the mind of a master filmmaker."

Hitchcock, Carpenter, Romero, Craven, Cronenberg, Argento, Fulci, Bava. Those are the names that come to mind when we think of directors that not only influenced the Horror Genre, but actually created it.

You can add names like Raimi, Hooper, Dante, Miike, and Coscarelli to that list, and they'd belong, but if you do, you had better not forget about Brian De Palma.

De Palma made a few Horror Films, but he's far more famous for his more mainstream efforts like Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, and Mission: Impossible.

For us though, he's the guy that gave us the Giallo-esque, sexually-charged Dressed to Kill; the Rocky Horror-like oddity of Phantom of the Paradise; and the sleazy exploitation of Body Double. And of course as Horror fans, Carrie holds a special place in our hearts, as does The Fury.

The man can do any Genre, but he knows how to construct a Thriller better than just about anyone else. Visually, he uses split-screen, forced perspective, 360 degree pans, and crazy long tracking shots to tell his stories. He understands timing and rhythm better than most, and his work, for better or worse, has a unique feel all its own.  

He's Hollywood Royalty, but he's most definitely the black sheep of the family.

De Palma is a documentary that features the famed director sitting in front of a camera and talking about his career for nearly two hours. From his early days making Indie flicks with a pre-fame Robert De Niro, all the way through his latest effort (as of the shooting of this Doc), Passion, De Palma talks candidly about his ups and downs (both personal and professionally), and the rigors of the Hollywood Machine.

It's a pretty simple set-up, but it's all compelling as hell. 

"FUCK HOLLYWOOD."

As Documentaries go, De Palma is about as entertaining as it gets.

I've been massive fan of De Palma's since I saw Scarface when I was a wee lad, and throughout the years, his movies grabbed me in a special way. It was great to hear the man talk about how hard it was to make those movies in such a candid and easy-gong way. He seems like a nice guy that you'd want to have some beers with, which makes me love his movies even more.

He talks about how Orson Welles couldn't remember his lines to save his life; he also talks about how Robert De Niro refused to learn his lines on The Untouchables, and what a pain in the ass that was to deal with; he talks about how Cliff Robertson was an asshole, and tried to sabotage a co-star; he talks about his father cheating on his mother, and how that played into Dressed to Kill; he shared a story about Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox that makes me view Casualties of War, and how far Penn will go with his method acting, in a different light.

Directors Noah Bumbach and Jake Paltrow give De Palma free reign with his words, but they keep it all tight on the editing and pacing front. I never once wanted to fast-forward, and when it was all over, I wanted to hear more of Brian De Palma's stories. I just know he's got more.

LIKE A BOSS.

• "After The French Connection, there are no car chases."
• "The thing about teaching filmmaking is that most of them (students) aren't going to go anywhere. If you have a career it's a miracle"
• "You're battling a very difficult system (Hollywood), and all the values of that system are the opposite of what goes into making original, good movies."
• "It's all an X to me. "
• "Holy Mackerel!"

MASTER FILMMAKER.

If you love movies, and especially Brian De Palma's movies, then this Doc is one hell of a way to spend two hours. Definitely give this one a rent.

A

De Palma is available now on VOD, and hits Blu-ray & DVD on September 13th.

Here are some scenes from some of De Palma's best movies.

Blu-ray Review: Terror in the Aisles (1984)

"As movies about movie clips go, this it the best one ever."

The version of Terror in the Aisles that we watched is the HD version included as a bonus feature on the Halloween II Blu-ray by Universal.

I tell you this because the Halloween II disc can be had for under $10, while the Terror in the Aisles  standalone DVD is almost $20; and it obviously looks better in HD.

I've since upgraded to the far superior Scream Factory version of Halloween II, but I kept the old one because it has Terror in the Aisles on it. 

Genre stars Donald Pleasance and Nancy Allen sit in a theater filled with terrified moviegoers, and show them, and us, a bunch of clips of Horror, Thriller, and Sci-Fi flicks from the dawn of film through the 80's.

It's basically an 80's mix-tape, in Horror movie form. 

"I HATE TO HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS, BUT YOUR POPCORN IS HAUNTED."

I remember my Mom taking me and fellow THC member, Machine, to see this at the theater when we were kids. We loved what we saw, and of course we acted all tough about it like kids do, because nothing scared us. Later that night, as we sat up playing Stratego, or whatever the fuck we kids did back in the 80's for fun, we about shit our pants when the paperboy threw the Sunday paper against my door. The movie apparently did scare us, and made us stay up all night.

That closing scene that builds and builds and ends with Leatherface slamming that metal door scared us to death.

Terror in the Aisles is nothing more than clips of older Horror & Suspense flicks edited together to illustrate what scares us, and how filmmakers take advantage of those fears to make us see their movies. It's all done in a really fun way, with plenty of quick-cut editing that actually makes it play rather intense at times, even though it's just a Documentary.

It was obviously thrown together to capitalize of the massive Horror boom that was happening in the mid-80's, and that make it feels like something that you'd find in a time capsule or something, like a brief snippet of a time gone by, but man is it a fun one.

SHE'S SO INTENSE.

Terror in the Aisles offers up some of the best moments from dozens of movies from years gone by, like Halloween; Friday the 13th; Scanners; Texas Chainsaw, The Exorcist, An American Werewolf in London; When a Stranger Calls; it even highlights some excellent "Non-Horror" movies like Nighthawks, The Marathon Man, and Vice Squad, that have stuck with us ever since.

The only thing that really sucks about this movie is that it shows a ton of spoiler-y scenes, reveals, and even endings of the movies that it covers. That's fine for us, but for someone who hasn't seen some of the older gems covered within, it could ruin it for them. 

"STOP TALKING AND LET US WATCH THE DAMN MOVIE, DONALD!"

 Lots of blood and gore in this one. It's like a highlight reel of kill scenes.

YEP. PLENTY GORY.

There's a section of the movie that focuses on sex in Horror films, so, nudity! Most of it is in quick flashes, though.

MAN WE LOVED THE 80'S.

Donald Pleasance was awesome, and Nancy Allen was 80's hot.

80'S HOT, WE SAY!

For us, Terror in the Aisles is a piece of our childhoods that always makes us smile from ear to ear. As a Documentary (re. clip show), it's not perfect, but it's one that will capture the imagination of just about any Horror fan, especially younger ones who are just beginning to discover their love for all things terrifying.

The fact that it comes as a bonus feature on a Halloween II disc that costs less that $10 makes is a must own for us. Which is why we do.

B+

Here are some of the ladies that populate this horrific clip-stravaganza, most of whom are considered to be classic Scream Queens.

DVD Review: Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellraiser II (2015)

Leviathan covers the making of Hellraiser 1 & II in painstaking detail, giving fans nearly 8 hours of interviews from key cast & crew, all of whom recall just what it took to bring these classic films to life. We're not not sure why Clive Barker and Ashely Laurence weren't interviewed for this one, as they are both conspicuous by their absence, but just about everyone else of note is here waxing poetic about their experiences, including our favorite, Doug Bradley.

WELL SAID, DOUG.

As great as Leviathan was at times, our main issue with the Doc is that is seemed to wander and drag a bit in places. They didn't use a ton of images or clips to accentuate the interviews, so this Doc is mostly people talking... which is how it's supposed to be, because it's a Documentary. The problem is though that the focus seemed to be off at times, jumping back and forth, and back and forth again between people, covering each "section" of info ad nauseam. At times, it even felt as if the movie had moved on to the next topic, only to go back to a previous one.

With most Docs, what you see on-screen is culled from hours and hours of interviews and footage, with the best and most relevant bits edited into a streamlined presentation. With Leviathan, it honestly felt like the director used every bit of the footage that he shot to make the whole thing longer, in an effort to make it seem more comprehensive and exhaustive. Instead, it ends up being far more exhausting than anything else.

There's a lot of good stuff to be had here, it's just buried in so much repetition and filler that it ends up being too much and too unfocused to fully enjoy.

THIS GUY WAS COOL. WHOEVER HE WAS.

With its nearly 8 hr. runtime, this Doc would have been much better served by either being heavily trimmed, or to at least have covered the rest of the films in the series as well. For us, the first two Helllraiser movies are obviously the best, but we also like parts 3 & 4, and as long as both parts of this Doc ran, it could have, and maybe even should have, covered all of the films in the series, even if the latter ones were less-than-stellar. In that respect, Leviathan pales in comparison to other, better Horror Docs, like Crystal Lake Memories or Never Sleep Again.

IT'S ALWAYS GOOD SEEING ANDREW ROBINSON THOUGH.

Or in this case, the DVD...

Leviathan is presented in three separate parts, each on its own disc:

• Disc 1: The Story of Hellraiser is approx. 4 hours 37 minutes
• Disc 2: The Story of Hellbound is approx. 3 hours 19 minutes
• Disc 3: Bonus Features is approx. 3 hours
• Leviathan is a Region Free (0) DVD. It is a UK manufactured import and is set as PAL

Special Features include:

• Channard: The Mind is a Labyrinth.
• The Toymaker: Inside the Lament Configuration with Simon Sayce.
• Hooks, Chains and Cenobites: The Story of Image Animation.
• Cenobites: In Conversation with Butterball and Chatterer.
• The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy with Paul Kane.
• Hellraiser: The Unreleased Themes of Coil with Stephen Thrower.
• The Hellraiser Legacy with Gary J. Tunnicliffe.
• Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III.

SUCH SWEET SUFFERING.

Clocking in at around a whopping 11 hours (including Special Features), Leviathan is a Doc that is tries its best to follow in the footsteps of A+ efforts like Crystal Lake Memories, Never Sleep Again, or More Brains, but falls short. Don't get us wrong, both parts of this movie, and it's bonus features, were a compelling watch, but as huge fans of Hellraiser and all things Clive Barker, we wanted there to be more good stuff, and in a shorter runtime.

As it stands, this is a Must See for hardcore Hellraiser fans only.

C+

Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellraiser II is available now as an import DVD.

Ashley Laurence, Imogen Boorman, and Claire Higgins.