Movie Review: Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Originally posted 30 July 2019 on Odyssey at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/trilogy-of-terror-review

"A fun, campy TV movie oddity."

"Trilogy of Terror" is a made-for-TV anthology horror film that originally aired on ABC in 1975. While TV movies are not typically known for their quality, this particular film is enjoyably silly and even has a few mildly spooky moments. The three stories featured in the film are all based on short stories by acclaimed sci-fi/horror/fantasy writer Richard Matheson, which is a large part of why the film succeeds. Matheson wrote several episodes of "The Twilight Zone" during its original run, and the three stories in "Trilogy of Terror" all bear a strong similarity in tone and structure to that show.

The three stories, "Julie", "Millicent and Therese", and "Amelia", all feature actress Karen Black in the leading role. She is by far the strongest part of the first two segments. In "Julie", she portrays the titular character, a college professor who is being blackmailed by one of her students. Bad news for the student, because the tables quickly turn and it becomes apparent she is not merely a meek academic type. The content of this shot is dicey (there is a heavy implication of date rape), but the last five minutes shine. Black transforms from mousy teacher to vamping femme fatale. For fans of high camp acting, this film should not be missed.

The second short is the weakest by far, due to its obviously telegraphed "Twilight Zone"-esque twist. Still, Black remains the high point in her duel role as antagonistic sisters. Millicent, who looks like a schoolmarm version of the Goblin Queen from "Troll 2", believes her sister Therese is responsible for various misfortunes throughout her life. Or is there even an evil sister at all? (Three guesses what the twist is.) Black gets another opportunity to cut loose as the evil sister Therese, a comically tawdry character that embodies every "bad girl" trope imaginable, and it is truly a sight to behold.

The third short actually has the weakest of Black's performances, but overall remains the strongest of the bunch. It centers on Amelia, a woman who is terrorized by a tiny Zuni fetish doll that she bought for her anthropologist boyfriend. The doll wears a gold chain that prevents the evil spirit trapped within it from escaping, and of course, Amelia accidentally lets the chain fall off. Soon the pint-sized figurine is up and running, chasing Black around her apartment whole wielding a paring knife. This short is relatively small-scale, focusing on Amelia and the doll in a singular setting, which keeps things suitably terse and suspenseful. Unfortunately, Black does not get an opportunity to ratchet her performance into over-the-top overdrive, but the freaky little doll more than makes up for that. It skitters around, chattering like the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Tunes. The ending for this one is also the best of the three, as it is not nearly as predictable as the preceding shorts.

Sadly, there is no wraparound story in "Trilogy of Terror", no through-line to connect the stories in any way. This is likely due to the time constraints of the TV movie format, but I do wish there had been some connection to tie all three stories together other than the loose theme of "Karen Black gets repeatedly terrorized". The movie sets out with a modest goal, to string together three vaguely "Twilight Zone"-ish stories into an ABC Movie of the Week. In that regard, it accomplishes its goal. Karen Black is an incredibly fun actress and it is a treat to watch what is often a one-woman show. It may not be a horror masterwork, but it is certainly a decent way to spend 75 minutes.

Rating: 6/10

Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Originally published 30 July 2018 on Odyssey at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-marvel

"Can Paul Rudd survive this dud?"

With "Ant-Man and the Wasp", Marvel has finally recreated the experience of the comics, at least in the sense that loyal fans must begrudgingly watch a stopgap sequel in order to keep up with the main story. Marvel Comics has a storied tradition of releasing annual crossover events in which various standalone series are drawn into the fold, forcing readers to pick up issues of series they may not otherwise be interested in so that they can follow the story. Such is the case for "Ant-Man and the Wasp". I doubt anyone was clamoring for a sequel to "Ant-Man", but here we are. The only real draw is the opportunity to see how the inevitable post-credits scene will tie the characters into the events of "Avengers: Infinity War", from which Ant-Man and the Wasp were absent. While marginally better than the first "Ant-Man" film, this sequel fails to generate anything resembling genuine interest or excitement.

Picking up shortly before the events of "Infinity War", the movie finds Scott "Ant-Man" Lang (Paul Rudd) drawn back into the fold of superheroism just as his house arrest sentence is coming to a close. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) believe they can rescue Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the wife and mother of the Pym family, from the subatomic quantum realm. Lang's time in the quantum realm during the climax of the first "Ant-Man" has left him with a sort of psychic connection to Janet, so Hank and Hope forcibly recruit the ex-con to assist in locating her.

This being a superhero film there is, of course, a supervillain. This time the antagonist is Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a molecularly unstable baddie who is out to steal Pym's quantum technology. Aside from some interesting visual effects work with Ghost's phasing powers, she joins the large pile of forgettable MCU villains. Most of the movie is a back-and-forth as Ghost steals the technology from the protagonists and vice versa. There are additional pursuers, too, including the FBI and an evil black market tech dealer. The various parties run around in circles for the remainder of the movie, which makes little pretense of being nothing more than a series of chase scenes.

It seems like it would be pretty easy to get an audience to care about rescuing someone's family member, but the movie never gives the rescue operation any emotional weight. It feels like the Disney higher-ups felt Janet's status as a wife and mother would be enough to care whether or not she is saved. As a result, the movie strangely treats rescuing Janet Van Dyne as if she were some object to be retrieved, rather than a human being the other characters care about. This leaves a vacuum in the middle of the movie that is never filled. There's constant scurrying around in all sorts of action scenes, but it's hard to care about any of it.

"Ant-Man and the Wasp" is a dull sequel to an already dull film about a character that Marvel can't seem to make interesting. The "big things get small, small things get big" concept should be more fun than it is here. There is little in the way of ingenuity or creativity. There is nothing here that hasn't already been done in other Marvel films. I have been growing increasingly bored with Marvel's output over the past few years, and this does not make it any better. I should have just rewatched "Phase IV" instead.

Movie Review: Incredibles 2 (2018)

Originally published 29 June 2018 on Odyssey at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/incredibles-2-2018-2579585717

"Does Pixar's long-awaited sequel live up to the original?"

"Incredibles 2", the sequel to the beloved Pixar property, has finally arrived after a fourteen-year wait. One would hope that the reason for the lengthy gap between films was to ensure that the sequel lived up to the standards of the original. Unfortunately, writer/director Brad Bird takes the path of least resistance and delivers a blatant cash-grab. Like "Monsters University", "Finding Dory", and the "Cars" sequels before it, "Incredibles 2" joins the growing pile of forgettable passing diversions from Pixar.

The film picks up moments after the end of the first film, with the superpowered Parr family facing off against the subterranean villain, the Underminer. Unfortunately, the villain gets away, leaving the family in dire straits. Superheroes are still illegal, and the superhero relocation program is being shut down. This leaves the super-family with little option but to return to normal society and ignore their natural abilities. Enter the Deavor siblings (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener), a pair of billionaire industrialists who approach Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elasti-Girl (Holly Hunter), and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) with a plan to make superheroes legal again. Deavor wants to reintroduce superheroes into the spotlight in the hopes of changing public opinion, determined that Elasti-Girl is the right hero to spearhead this movement.

With Elasti-Girl out in the field, Mr. Incredible is left to take care of the kids. This leads to a bloated series of scenes that comprise a bulk of the movie, unfolding without any urgency or real sense of direction. Mr. Incredible struggles to be a stay-at-home father, and hijinks ensue. Violet is mad because a boy she has a crush on had his mind wiped (and thus any memory of her) by the government following the Underminer fight, which she blames on Mr. Incredible. Jack-Jack's powers are still unpredictable, and he is a nuisance to wrangle. Dash is just an annoying kid. These scenes lack the relatable family dynamic of the original film, feeling more like a repetitive series of "What if X character did this?" moments. Meanwhile, Elasti-Girl gets wrapped up in a case involving the mysterious Screenslaver, a villain with the power to control minds (and, presumably, give the audience seizures) using flickering hypnotic screen displays. This storyline is oddly disconnected from the parts with the rest of the Parr family, further straying from the family dynamics that made the original great.

When the two disparate stories finally intersect, it is highly implausible. The Screenslaver's true identity and motivation make little sense, and their master plan is ridiculous. They plan to keep superheroes illegal by gathering a bunch of them and mind-controlling the heroes to crash a boat. Sure, okay, I guess. If nothing else, the third act at least benefits from some creative action scenes, even if there is minimal emotional investment in anything going. Several new superheroes are introduced during the Elasti-Girl storyline, and they all get a chance to show off their powers during the final fight in a series of mildly funny setups. By the time everything wraps up neatly at the end, it becomes apparent the movie had nothing else to offer than intermittent one-note gags.

Like most Pixar sequels, "Incredibles 2" is a harmless diversion in the moment but has no long-term staying power. As is to be expected from Pixar, the film looks gorgeous. The animation in the original film has aged awkwardly, as CG animation frequently does, but the sequel is suitably fresh and bright. There may not be much of substance going on, but at least there is plenty of neat animation and a fun 1960's atmosphere to look at. This is a sequel that feels like an extended coda, never adding anything new or meaningful to the original. Pixar is resting on its laurels for easy money, but even when they phone it in the result is better than most family movies.


Rating: 6/10

Movie Review: Upgrade (2018)

Originally published 19 Jun 2018 on Odyssey at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/upgrade-movie-review-2018

"An uneven but interesting sci-fi thriller that will make you scared of your Alexa."

Finally, a movie that dares to ask the question "What if Siri was evil?". Leigh Whannell, noted alum of the "Saw" and "Insidious" franchises, takes this question seriously, skewering humanity's increasing reliance on artificial intelligence with the new sci-fi thriller "Upgrade". The film struggles with its cumbersome revenge plot, but there are plenty of interesting questions raised along the way. You may even think twice about talking to your Alexa after this.

The film takes place in the not-too-distant future, where our society has become increasingly mechanized and automated. Self-driving cars fill the highways, tabletops have touchscreen capabilities, and houses operate with AI systems. Even the Hollywood gold standard for impractical but flashy futuristic technology, the holographic computer display, makes an appearance. Humble mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green, looking distractingly like a knockoff Tom Hardy) rejects the aid of computers. He is a man who works with his hands, repairing and restoring old cars (while listening to vinyl records, naturally) for rich clients. Grey and his wife, Asha (Melanie Vallejo), deliver a refurbished muscle car to the subterranean home of the billionaire tech genius, Eron (Harrison Gilbertson). The creepy Elon Musk wannabe shows the couple his latest invention, a miraculous piece of nanotechnology known as "Stem", which can supposedly control and connect to any electronic device.

On their way home, the couple's self-driving car makes an unexpected detour into a seedy area of town. The car promptly crashes, leaving Grey and his wife at the mercy of a gang of villains. The criminals shoot Asha and Grey, leaving her dead and our protagonist quadriplegic. Enter Eron, who offers Trace a chance to walk again with the aid of Stem. One nondisclosure agreement and a top-secret surgery later, and not-Tom-Hardy is up and mobile once again. Stem is implanted into Grey's spinal cord, connecting into his nervous system and communicating with him through his eardrums. The two maintain a tenuous rapport, with Trace wary of his new A.I. companion (and as if the Tom Hardy resemblance wasn't enough, the Stem/Trace banter bears a strange resemblance to Hardy's interactions with his alien symbiote in the "Venom" trailer). Trace, now armed with the power of technology, decides to track down his attackers. The police officers of the future are not much help, even with their dystopian fleet of patrol drones monitoring everything, so vigilante justice is the only logical route for Grey and his microchip pal.

Trace proceeds to track down and, much to his chagrin, kill the people responsible for his wife's death. You see, Stem has the ability to override Grey's motor functions if granted permission. Our protagonist is better at fixing cars than fighting cyborg military veterans, so he must give himself over to the A.I.'s control in order to survive. These fight scenes are some of the stronger points of the movie, with the camera following Grey around with mechanical motion-controlled precision as Stem pilots his body. His unwillingness to engage in the violence that his body commits on autopilot is perversely funny, like some weird offspring of "John Wick" and "Idle Hands". Both the police and Eron catch on to Trace's revenge scheme, with the police wanting to apprehend the supposedly quadriplegic killer, and Eron wanting to prevent his experimental technology from being linked to murders. The race is on as Grey must outwit his pursuers and keep Stem from overstepping its control of his body.

There are some truly interesting, if not unsubtle, themes at play in "Upgrade". As technology continues its endless march of progress, it's important to consider how much control we give computer systems over our lives. Everything in this movie's vision of the future is automated or computerized in some way. Not even analog technology can save the day. In the same year that we get the mostly pro-VR "Ready Player One", "Upgrade" gives us imagery of VR addicts in a derelict building reminiscent of an opium den. It may be lunkheaded, but the messages are sufficiently alarming.

The major flaw with "Upgrade", coincidentally, is with its universe. Or, rather, the lack of focus on the universe. The story Leigh Whannell decides to tell is just not as interesting as the various things hinted at in this sci-fi setting. Grey's revenge plot gets repetitive around the time he offs the second bad guy and decreases in excitement as it becomes increasingly obvious the movie is headed for a dumb villain reveal (which, alas, it is). I was much more interested in the strange cyberpunk underworld that exists just below the cold, sleek surface of the movie's futuristic technology. Whannell is more concerned with cheap thrills, and that is totally fine. I just wish the movie had focused more on the stuff in the periphery.

Rating: 5/10

Movie Review: Deadly Prey (1987)

Originally published 18 May 2018 on Odyssey at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/retro-review-deadly-prey-1987

"A glorious B-Movie action-fest for the ages."

"Deadly Prey" is everything I want to see in a B-Movie. Second-rate genre fare works best when it can boil down its native genre to its bare essentials and run from there. For me, the best kinds of crummy/amazing movies are those that seem unreal, like a half-remembered movie watched while falling asleep in front of the TV. I find myself amazed that a movie like "Deadly Prey" exists. It seems too goofy to be true, but here it is. There is an unselfconscious air about the best B-Movies. Outings like "Deadly Prey" are either completely unaware of how schlocky they are, or they are aware but do not care. This film falls into the latter category: it feels like an attempt to cash in on the popularity of "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and other military action films of the 1980s, but it goes completely over the top while remaining oblivious to its own low-budget excess.

The story is more or less "The Most Dangerous Game" with mullets. The villainous Colonel Hogan (David Campbell) likes to train his squad of mercenaries using real people. These unfortunate souls are left in the woods to be hunted down by goons with guns. This time, Hogan's men abduct the wrong guy and the hunters become the hunted. By the wildest of coincidences, the victim this time is Mike Danton (Ted Prior), a former marine who once worked under Col. Hogan ("Know him? I trained him!" Hogan declares). Danton is dropped off in the woods wearing nothing but acid wash cutoff jeans. He begins making quick work of the mercenaries in the woods, taking down scores of men before he is finally captured and taken back to base. I can only imagine this brief pause in the action is to give the audience a breather from the glorious sight of a human G.I. Joe figure mowing down unsuspecting extras for half an hour.

The movie only stops the action briefly for the scenes at the mercenary base camp, so Hogan and Danton can swap tough-guy threats. Danton does not remain imprisoned for long, however, as he is freed by an old buddy from the Vietnam War who is conveniently working for the colonel. Even though the base camp is apparently "seventy-five miles southeast of Los Angeles" according to the movie, Danton is able to run back home in a short amount of time. Upon returning to his house, he finds that his wife has been kidnapped by Hogan's henchman. The stakes, as always seems to happen in action movies, have been made personal. Danton gears up in greasepaint and army fatigues (but still no shirt) and runs back to the woods (again, located at least seventy-five miles away) to set up booby traps. What follows is a glorious action spectacular as mercenaries continually step on Danton's jerry-rigged tripwires, triggering spike traps and cheap explosions. Danton also beats a guy to death with his own arm. You know, as you do.

The true joy of "Deadly Prey" is how juvenile and brainlessly macho it is. There are two women in the film, a henchman and Danton's wife. They exist to be Evil Female and The Victim, respectively. The rest of the movie has so much testosterone it becomes testostertwo. "Deadly Prey" is not a film that adheres to logic, it is a film of visceral lunkheaded thrills. It is a movie that will put hair on your chest, only so you can wax it off to better showcase your giant pecs. This film is a magnificent jumble of clichés and charming cheapness. This is Action with a capital A. It may not be a smart film, or even a well-made one (although there are actually some pretty striking shots here and there), but it is certainly fun. A good time is all the movie ever promises, and it delivers on that and then some.

Rating: 10/10