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What Happened in GLADIATOR Echoes in Eternity…and in GLADIATOR II
A remix and retcon of the original that pales in comparison
A good sequel is often tasked with a fine balancing act. Maintain enough of the elements that made the first film successful, but add in new ideas to make it fresh and impactful all over again. Gladiator II is a curious beast, where it’s strengths essentially lie in a play by play remix of the first film’s emotionally driven action set pieces, and it’s weakness lies in the clunky plot maneuvering to tee them up.
Picking up around 20 years after the event of the first film, the dream of Rome has turned into a nightmare, as twin Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) have brought cruelty and corruption to bear. Intent on solidifying their legacy, they have charged General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) to expand Rome’s borders. The latest target is the African city of Numidia, a bastion whose defense is led by an adoptive son Hanno (Paul Mescal). The cities inhabitants, including his ill-fated wife Arishat (Yuval Gonen) are unaware of his true identity as Lucius, son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and true heir to the Empire. Sequestered away after the events of the first film for his protection, lost to another continent, and now dragged back home in chains as a prisoner of war to be sold at a slave market. His festering resentment for Rome, and palpable anger is noted by local power-player Macrinus (Denzel Washington) who puts him into the gladiator pits, and soon starts to leverage his desire for revenge against Acacius as a means to stir up political chaos, and elevate his own position within the empire.
Yes, that young doe-eyed boy from the first film (played by Spencer Treat Clark) is all grown up. A rough around the edges man, whose moral code stems from his memories of the honorable acts of one Maximus Decimus Meridius (the OG, Russell Crowe). His life mirrors that of Maximus. Battle hardened from his time overseas, now losing the his love to the greed and corruptive sprawl of Rome, dragged in chains to the arena, and coming to realize that his path through the games doesn’t just take him to simple revenge, but a chance to make a difference by ridding Rome of the tyranny at its core.
The script from David Scarpa is utterly beholden to the original. Plot beats, supporting players, character motivations, set pieces, all feel recycled. In true sequel style, things are bigger for instance now instead of one Emperor, we have two. The plot elements and especially the actions sequences also replicate similar beats in the rise of Maximus in the eyes of his fellow gladiators, and the people of Rome, only now it’s Lucius. Instead of a towering man to fight, we have a towering man atop a rhino. Instead of a chariot historical reenactment with chariots in the coliseum, we have one with boats (and sharks!). The action in these set pieces is vibrant and compellingly composed, so it feels off to to nit pick these elements too much, but these grander feats lack the emotional heft of the first film. An effort to address this, and tie the film more closely to it’s predecessor comes with a retcon of Lucius’s parentage. While there’s a logic to this, the execution doesn’t just fall flat, but actually feels egregious as it only serves to sully the nobility of Maximus that was so carefully sketched out in the original. Compounding matter is the film’s conceit that the sacrifice witnessed in the first film didn’t amount to much. Maximus is mentioned in hushed tones, and the reason seems largely so they can allow the whole scenario to just play out all over again.
An element that offers some opportunity for advancement is in exploring the corruption that has started to consume the Empire from the inside, and we’re not just talking about the syphilis addled brains of one of the Emperors. The political maneuvering of Lucilla and Acacius and the rallying of senators to reclaim Rome for the people is overly simplified and dealt with in a rather blasé manner. Lucilla holding a sprig of lavender under her nose is as subtle as the film gets when pointing out the rot that festers in Rome.
Tonally, the film aims for gruff seriousness with occasional forays into melodrama. This is largely centered around the personal journey of Lucius. Mescal’s shifts from stirring leading man, to frankly spoken working class fellow are as ungainly as the rest of the film, but when settled, his allure is palpable. Pascal, usually a bright spot in any project, is a subdued presence which is appropriate for the role, but feels a misuse of his talents. Side characters and plots plunge the film into the welcome respite of good, campy fun which comes courtesy of some key performances. Quinn and Hechinger plunder some of the more notorious elements of Roman Emperors to craft an unhinged and erratic pairing. Two Brits standout in Matt Lucas (as the coliseum announcer) and Tim McInnerny (Blackadder) as the sniveling and pliable Senator Thraex. The real plaudits must be reserved for Denzel Washington who is operating on a different level to everyone else, grabbing every moment, and relishing every line, as a low level mover and shaker who exploits the situation and people involved tin an attempt to elevate himself to the highest stage in Rome.
Gladiator II is a muddled swing, but its a swing nonetheless. An attempt by Ridley Scott (who just turned 86) to revisit one of his films on a grander scale, and like in The Last Duel and Napoleon, allow him to explore ideas of power and legacy. But in this the film falters, doing a disservice to the politicking and family drama. Perhaps an extended cut (which Scott is infamous for delivering) could give a more well developed, and well rounded experience that the lopsided effort here. Many will revel in the chance to revisit Scott’s Rome, but the more discerning eye will see Gladiator II for what it is, a reworking of the first film with a updated façade. An echo of greatness, nothing more.
Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22nd
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Two Cents Goes Retro with TURBO KID
Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
Drama, Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction, Musical… cinema is filled with grand, sweeping, big tent genres. And yet, so often Cinapse’s particular brand of cinephilia dwells in the subgenres. Too numerous to list, subgenres are where the meat is really added to the bone of deep cut cinema. And one of the greatest subgenres of them all is the post-apocalyptic picture! This month we’re celebrating the release of author David J. Moore’s World Gone Wild, Restocked and Reloaded 2nd Edition: A Survivor’s Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Movies with a curated selection of some of the Cinapse team’s very favorite and most beloved post apocalypse films – all of which are highlighted in Moore’s exhaustive love letter!
The Pick: TURBO KID (2015)
This week’s selection glosses up the post-apocalyptic landscape with some 80s sheen and Nintendo aesthetics. Featuring the great Michael Ironside as the villainous Zeus, this one introduced several younger actors to the world, launching Degrassi‘s Munro Chambers into a film career and introducing the talented Canadian Laurence Leboeuf to worldwide audiences. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel for years, but other projects and some truly heinous accusations against one of the directors (see Spencer’s thoughts below for a brief explanation) have derailed the possible future installments. For now, we still have this fun, bloody action gem to enjoy.
Featured Guest
David J. Moore, Excerpt From World Gone Wild, Restocked and Reloaded 2nd Edition: A Survivor’s Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Movies
A generation after the nuclear apocalypse and a nuclear winter, the world is an irradiated wasteland, devoid of fresh water. The Kid (played by Munro Chambers) has mapped out the perimeters of the wastelands, and he gets around on his BMX bike, salvaging what he can from what he finds on his trips through the urban wastelands. Most of the outlying settlements have embraced him as a useful scavenger, and he doesn’t have any enemies. He collects old comic books and remnants of the past (Rubik’s cubes, action figures, and tattered Viewfinders), and one day he comes across an odd character indeed: a plucky, annoyingly friendly young woman named Apple (played by Laurence Leboeuf), who literally attaches herself to him so that he’ll always be within reach of her should they become separated. They quickly become friends by default, and Apple’s skills at fighting are alarmingly efficient. While they might not seem like a perfect match at first, it becomes clear that the Kid needs Apple’s company when they run into trouble with the local warlord, a despot who calls himself Zeus (played by Michael Ironside from Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone). Zeus, a sadistic overlord who rules over a pack of bike-riding raiders, is out to find the last source of fresh water, and it’s revealed that he is also the murderer of the Kid’s parents, so clearly the Kid has a score to settle with him. When, by accident, the Kid runs across a Turbo suit and a powerful Turbo glove that shoots a pulse beam that can incinerate anyone it’s aimed at, he suits up and becomes a superhero whom Zeus and his hordes will have a difficult time stopping. Along with the always-game Apple (who turns out to be an android) and a bionic-handed arm wrestler named Frederic (played by Aaron Jeffery), Turbo Kid is the last hope of the wasteland. Stunningly spot on in terms of regenerating the lost era of postnuke adventures made in the early 1980s, Turbo Kid is easily the best of the nostalgia genre pictures made in the mimic style of stuff such as Hobo with a Shotgun, Father’s Day, Kung Fury, and Manborg, all of which tried and failed miserably to re-create an essence of what made those types of movies so endearing. From the first frames to the last, Turbo Kid—which is set in a post-apocalyptic 1997—retains an innocence to it that is nearly impossible to describe unless you watch it. Despite having graphic, over- the-top violence and some unnecessary uses of profanity, the film has a kid-centric sense of adventure and wonder not easily found in today’s ultra-jaded movie market. The film clearly has a low budget, but it has a great cinematic sense of scope and innovation and a fun sense of humor. To top all that off, it has a great synth score by Le Matos that recalls the ’80s. While the film might go overboard at times with the blaringly graphic violence, this is exactly the postnuke action film that fans of the genre have been craving. From writer/directors François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, all of whom appear in the film in small roles and die on screen.
The Team
Spencer Brickey
Turbo Kid, for me, is one of those films that feels like returning to a different era of your life on rewatch. On that first watch, back in 2015, I was still in my early 20’s, stuck in a cramped one bedroom in a Podunk town in Connecticut, with dreams and aspirations ready to unfold when I finished my final year of college.
That Spencer was struck by the 80s stylization, impressed with the whole DIY feel, enthralled by the goopy practical gore effects, and smitten with the idea of meeting my own Manic Pixie Dream Robot. Turbo Kid felt both like a top tier love letter to the genre, while also something fresh and unique from bold new voices.
Kick ahead to 2024; I’m in my early 30’s, that was NOT my last year of college (took 2 more; got to love 7 years for a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism!), I’ve settled in Texas, and I now have a house, a wife, and a kid. Those dreams and aspirations turned into goals and long-term plans. What does middle manager Spencer think?
Still pretty good, even if time hasn’t been the biggest ally here! The DIY feel to the costumes, set dressing, effects, action set pieces, and mode of transportation still holds up, that spark of originality still very present. The gore effects are still great, and, now looking back, pretty rare in that era; 2015 was still mostly haunted house movies and the early days of the A24 trauma boon.
What definitely hasn’t held up well is that very specific sheen of “1980’s nostalgia” this is absolutely steeped in. The preceding near decade since Turbo Kid’s release has been absolutely inundated with faux ‘80s vibe media, mostly stemming from the popularity of Stranger Things. What felt cool and fresh in 2015 now feels overtrodden and borderline cringey at times.
Still, I don’t think I can ever be too harsh on this. I remember having such a positive reaction to this when it first dropped, and while that has waned in the proceeding years, that is just the curse of movies getting older; some survive the test of time, and others lose their luster. Turbo Kid and I will always have Paris (Manic Pixie Dream Robot), though.
Disclaimer: Also, getting serious for a moment, This, and everything else the filmmaker collective known as RKSS, now needs to be viewed with a certain critical lens, if really viewed at all, after the charges brought up against Francois Simard, one of the 3 directors. In the fall of 2024, Simard was charged with sexual assault on a child under the age of 16, with the two complainants being the ages of 9 and 11.
Julian Singleton
I’d heard about Turbo Kid as the scrappy post-apocalyptic indie that could for the last decade, but I was happy to seize the chance to finally give it a spin for this series. Like the warriors of its wasteland, major props have to be given to François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell for their rampant ingenuity throughout. The world of Turbo Kid feels just as fleshed out as it needs to serve the efficient story at hand, one that feels ripped from the textbook-margin doodlings of any imaginative grade-schooler. Gore and metal sparks fly, accompanied by all the quippy one-liners one can muster. Like the best of George Miller, all the backstory we need can be inferred from the trash people have turned into treasures. It’s a nonstop blast, especially considering the shoestring budget Turbo Kid’s creatives were working with.
The performances of the leads, though, are the true find of this film–especially the gentle, Amblin-esque chemistry between Munro Chambers and Laurence Leboeuf. While Apple’s incessant pep is initially grating, later revelations turn this character into a much-needed source of whimsy amidst the doom and gloom of the wasteland. Chambers’ central Kid is the action hero we all imagined we could be watching Mad Max at way, way too young, and his dedication towards that idea of comic-book heroism in the face of Cormac McCarthy-like hopelessness fuels the comedic nostalgia of Turbo Kid with essential, unabashed sincerity. Also, Aaron Jeffery’s arm-wrestling kiwi cowboy Frederick and Michael Ironside’s eyepatch-laden Zeus just flat-out rule, plucked from the Cannon films of yesteryear with all the straight-faced epicness of such peak trash cinema.
I can see myself firing up Turbo Kid alongside classics like The Road Warrior or modern ones like The Book of Eli or Furiosa, as its trio of directors manage to unexpectedly carve out a gateway film for younger viewers to enjoy the mayhem of worlds gone mad before they mature enough for far darker fare.
Justin Harlan
I love this movie! It’s genuinely one of the most fun films to come out in the past decade. For a gorehound like me, it delivers on the blood and guts. But instead of my typical horror fare, it’s a retro flavored post-apocalyptic action flick that’s delivering the viscera this time. Over-the-top blood, larger-than-life characters, and fun 80s inspired effects and visuals… what’s not to like?
Prior to prepping this week’s entries, I had no idea about the allegations against Francois Simard. RKSS has delivered some solid entertainment and it’s a shame to find out that Simard is a dirtbag. I won’t let it taint this film for me, but I sure hope that any further projects from the others do no include him in any way.
In direct opposition to Simard’s real life decisions, this film’s tone is pure joy for me. It never really drags, it bucks against the drab color palette of many films in this genre, and Apple is just a delight. Rahter than keep rambling, I’ll leave you with two short films before I wrap… the original T is for Turbo that RKSS submitted to ABCs of Death and a music video starring Apple!
CINAPSE CURATES MAD MAX RIPOFFS
Join us by contacting our team or emailing [email protected]!
11/25 – The New Barbarians
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A SIMPLE PLAN Stuns Again in Arrow’s New Release
A Simple Plan is a devilish morality play that has aged like a guilt-free conscience. I can practically feel director Sam Raimi and writer Scott Smith cackling just off-screen as they turn the screws on their characters. This movie has a black heart that pumps acid with each beat, getting darker and darker by the minute. A Simple Plan is so assured in its craft that it’s an absolute joy to go through the ringer alongside the desperate fools onscreen.
Those fools, such as it were, are played expertly by Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, and Brent Briscoe. They represent variations of desperation and watching how those variations bounce off each other and reverberate throughout the movie is one of its great joys.
The plot, befitting the film’s title, is about as clean and…straightforward as a plot can be. Three guys find a downed airplane in the woods with a duffle bag full of cash. They take the cash and brace for the attached strings to come into play. It’s a pressure cooker scenario escalated to nigh-unbearable heights the deeper the characters sink into their fates. Hank, Jacob (Thornton), Lou (Briscoe), and Sarah (Fonda) have clean, easily definable attitudes toward the money that it makes any combo of them combustible.
Take Paxton’s Hank, a milquetoast clock-puncher with dreams of upward mobility that will likely always evade him. Hank is the kind of guy who naively thinks that if he does the things he’s supposed to, then everything will work out. Except it isn’t. His wife, Sarah (Fonda), shares his delusion, but the appearance of the money gives her a clearer vision of their life and where it’s current trajectory will take them. With a baby girl to raise, Hank’s aspirations crash head-on with the bleak reality of their situation. Throughout the movie Hank is reluctantly dragged along and any time he tries to assert control over his situation he ends up leaving dead bodies in his wake. Hank’s the worst kind of sap. Despite all evidence to the contrary he thinks he’s in control.
Jacob is a downtrodden loser, a man with no prospects. He’s also the most honorable and tragic character in the movie. Thornton’s performance is full of empathy for this guy who has been looked down upon for a long time. It’s a cruel twist of fate (and Smith’s ingenious plotting) that he’s the one who finds the money in the first place. Lou is purely motivated by greed. He has no long term plans and wants what’s his immediately. From the moment the money is found Hank, Sarah, and Lou’s brains are working overtime to get the money ASAP. Poor Jacob is a pawn in their game and in so far over his head. When he tries to go along with the others, all he ends up doing is making things worse.
That’s the rub. The idea of a better tomorrow is an illusion to these people. They just won’t know it until it’s too late. Smith’s story, both in novel form and onscreen, is perfectly calibrated. Every time a character has a clear idea of what their next move is, it’s immediately wrecked by consequences they were too short-sighted to spot. Going out to check on the fallen plan? Didn’t account for the sheriff to be there. Blackmail someone to get the upper hand? They’ll pull a shotgun on you. The cruelest reveal comes at the end, when it becomes abundantly clear (if it wasn’t already) that no one was ever going to get away with the money.
A Simple Plan is a tremendous thriller with a nasty sense of humor. The mix of darkness and laughs makes Sam Raimi a perfect fit as director. He keeps the film drop becoming a depressing slog, while giving it enough of an edge to linger. It’s part of what makes the movie hold up so well all these years later. And now the film has a release worthy of its quality courtesy of Arrow’s new 4KUHD and Blu-ray set. There are a few fun features looking back on the film and a host of previously available supplements, but the film itself is the star here.
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DRAG ME TO HELL is Unleashed on 4K-UHD from Shout! Factory
Sam Rami’s devilish slice of horror gleefully puts Alison Lohman through the wringer
Drag Me to Hell is a relentless endeavor that is unabashedly fun and mean spirited in equal measure. A moralistic tale involving young bank clerk Christine Brown (Alison Lohman). A woman striving to impress her boss while in search of promotion, who takes a particularly hard line with an old lady (an impressively game Lorna Raver) who visits the bank, looking to stop her home from being repossessed. Turning her down escalates into a dramatic situation, resulting in the scorned woman casting a gypsy curse upon Christine. In the days that follow, strange occurrences plague her, and before long she has no option but to consult a fortuneteller. They determine that the Lamia, a demon from Hell, is stalking her, and that she has only 3 days to break the curse before he takes her soul to hell.
There’s a gleefully cruel tone at play here, one that encircles an act of judgement upon this girl. Christine is presented as a decent person, one dealing with her own issues, an eating disorder notably. She’s a girl used to shame who lays the same on a frail old lady – a betrayal of her own morals. She’s a sympathetic soul still capable of cruelty to advance her own career with an act that damns her fate, one stemming from the credit crisis of the time that caused many to lose their homes. The film dedicates itself to her psychological and physical torture. There’s some disturbing imagery, some goofy, practical effects that still hold up (and some CGI that doesn’t). It still adds up to a rollicking piece of horror comedy.
Lohman elicits plenty of empathy for her plight, despite that singular moment that sets the film in motion. The film rides entirely on her, and she’s more than up to the challenge. Lorna Raver too makes the most of her limited screen-time, nailing the switch from helpless old lady to vengeful gypsy. Really though, Drag Me to Hell is a showcase for Raimi’s signature flair — his weaving camera, immersive direction, not to mention putting a lead through an abhorrent, gooey, experience. It’s easy to forget how effectively he can switch between the light and the dark, the silly and the shocking. It’s a talent he showed with Evil Dead, made a giant leap with Evil Dead II, and here shows a similar step up again. Sure, in between he’s shown glimpses of such tonal shifts, the surgical sequence in Spider-Man 2 notably, but with Drag Me to Hell he embraced it with gusto, channeling his Evil Dead vibes into something more colorful and playful, but no less relentless. Raimi delivers an ending that some may find surprising, others will certainly hate, but many will embrace for how it fits with the gleeful cruelty of the rest of the film, a morality play about sacrificing your values, and simple decency, in favor of personal gain, and the damnation that follows.
The Package
The big selling point here is the all new 4K scan and transfer, one approved by director Sam Raimi And editor Bob Murawski. It’s very nicely done, and certainly a step up from the previous Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory, which itself was a very polished effort. Detail and depth of image impresses. Saturated colors pop well against dense and deep blacks. Grain is pretty minimal, with a clean and consistent image throughout. This is a three disc release, the first a 4K disc presenting both theatrical and unrated versions, and two Blu-rays each containing one of the two versions of the film, with a series of extra features spread over the two discs:
- NEW “Pardon My Curse: Making Drag Me To Hell” — Extensive Behind-The-Scenes Documentary Featuring New And Archival Interviews With Co-Writer/Producer Ivan Raimi, Actors Alison Lohman, Dileep Rao And Lorna Raver, Director Of Photography Peter Deming, Production Designer Steve Saklad, Artist Christian Cordella, Make-Up Effects Designer Greg Nicotero, Editor Bob Murawski, Composer Christopher Young, And More!: Running around 115 minutes, this is a superb documentary that draws from talent on both sides of the camera to cover the film’s inception, production, release, and legacy. There are some key people missing, which is a shame, but to get a new featurette like this put together year later is an admirable achievement
- “To Hell And Back” – Interview With Actress Alison Lohman: Running just over 12 minutes, a new interview with the lead, sharing some fun and interesting details about working with Raimi, script changes, and the use of practical effects during production.
- “Curses” – Interview With Actress Lorna Raver: A rather fun discussion with Mrs. Ganush herself.
- “Hitting All The Right Notes” – Interview With Composer Christopher Young: Horror films often rely on the score and sound design to be really effective at ratcheting up the tension, so it’s nice to see an extra deal with the contributions of the films composer.
- Production Video Diaries Featuring Behind-The-Scenes Footage And Interviews With Sam Raimi, Actors Alison Lohman And Justin Long, And More: A nice featurette that immerses the viewer in the production side of the film, with some good interview footage too.
- Vintage Interviews: Clips from the film’s press tour. Similar information to that contained in the production diaries.
- Theatrical Trailer, TV Spots, & Image Gallery
The differences in the two editions is down to a few frames and sequences running a little longer, pushing a bit more into queasy. blood-soaked, squeamish moments. The adds only add up to a few seconds extra footage, but they do give the unrated version of the film a bit more of an edge.
The Bottom Line
Drag Me to Hell is unabashedly fun. A film where horror elements are rooted in gross physicality, and its mean spirit is tempered by lashings of black comedy. Perfectly blending Sam Raimi’s talents. Shout! Factory has put together a great release, one that delivers a quality 4K transfer with a nice selection of legacy extra features and the added bonus on a new documentary that celebrates the legacy of the Lamia.
Drag Me to Hell is available via Shout! Factory on 4K-UHD now
Also available, exclusively on Shoutfactory.com, is a Drag Me To Hell [Collector’s Edition] release that includes 2 exclusive posters and an exclusive slipcover featuring never-before-seen art by the late Famous Monsters of Filmland artist, Basil Gogos!
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All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror Vol. 2 Unboxing
Severin Films has been killing the blu-ray box set game as far as I am concerned. Not only are they releasing these lavishly produced highly curated collections of obscure films, but they are also putting in the work to really give comprehensive and academic context on the importance of these films. This started for me with the precursor to this set All The Haunts Be Ours, which came with a four hour documentary on folk horror. So not only did you have 19 films, but you had a 4 hour seminar by Kier-La Janisse the curator of the set and some of the most knowledgeable in the space.
They then released the Black Emanuelle set that contained 23 films and really recontextualized this series and invested me in these weird films, in a way I hadn’t been before. Next up was the Bruceploitation set that contained not only 14 films, including some deep-cut rarities, but another completely encompassing doc on the sub-genre to prep those before digging in.
Now Severin and Kier-La Janisse are returning to folk horror, with All The Haunts Be Ours: Vol. 2 – 24 more films, from 18 countries along with some original films produced just for this set and a 252 page hardback book as well. Severin was kind enough to send a copy over and since these sets aren’t cheap, I recorded an unboxing to show you just what’s included in the physical packaging. Check out a full rundown of the special features below the video.
DISC 1:
TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST (SEAN HOGAN, UK/USA, 2023)
PSYCHOMANIA (DON SHARP, UK, 1973)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST
- Audio Commentary With Director Sean Hogan And Co-Producers Paul Goodwin And Nicholas Harwood
- On The Lych Way – Corpse Road Chronicler Dr. Stuart Dunn Discusses The Pathways Of The Dead
- Trailer
Short Films
- WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA
- Audio Commentary For WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA With Director Sean Hogan And Co-Producers Paul Goodwin And Nicholas Harwood
- EPK For WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA
- OUR SELVES UNKNOWN
FEATURE SPECS FOR TO FIRE YOU COME AT LAST
- Runtime: 45 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.9:1
- Audio: English Stereo
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR PSYCHOMANIA
- Introduction By Film Historian Chris Alexander
- Audio Commentary With Maria J. Pérez Cuervo, Founding Editor Of Hellebore Magazine
- Stone Warnings – Dr. Diane A. Rodgers On Stone Circles And Standing Stones In Film And Television
- Return Of The Living Dead – Interviews With Actors Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Denis Gilmore, Roy Holder And Rocky Taylor
- The Sound Of PSYCHOMANIA – Interview With Soundtrack Composer John Cameron
- Riding Free – Interview With “Riding Free” Singer Harvey Andrews
- Theatrical Trailer
FEATURE SPECS FOR PSYCHOMANIA
- Runtime: 91 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Audio: English Mono
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 2:
THE ENCHANTED (CARTER LORD, USA, 1984)
WHO FEARS THE DEVIL (JOHN NEWLAND, USA, 1972)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE ENCHANTED
- Audio Commentary With Director Carter Lord And Camera Assistant Richard Grange, Moderated By Filmmaker/Author Kier-La Janisse
- Audio Commentary With Chesya Burke, Author Of Let’s Play White, And Sheree Renée Thomas, Author Of Nine Bar Blues
- A Magical Place – Interview With Composer Phil Sawyer
- Hole In The Wall – Character Notes By Screenwriter Charné Porter
- Trailer
Short Film
- SWIMMER
FEATURE SPECS FOR THE ENCHANTED
- Runtime: 90 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Audio: English Mono
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR WHO FEARS THE DEVIL
- THE LEGEND OF HILLBILLY JOHN Alternate Opening Introduced By Actor Severn Darden
- Audio Commentary With Television Historian Amanda Reyes
- Crumble Will The Feet Of Clay – Interview With Producer Barney Rosenzweig
- Silver Strings – Interview With Actor/Musician Hedges Capers
- Manly Of The Mountains – Author David Drake Remembers Manly Wade Wellman
- Occult Appalachia – Occult Historian Mitch Horowitz On The Arcane Texts Of Wellman’s John The Balladeer Stories
- Theatrical Trailer
FEATURE SPECS FOR WHO FEARS THE DEVIL
- Runtime: 98 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Audio: English Mono
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 3:
THE WHITE REINDEER (ERIK BLOMBERG, FINLAND, 1952)
EDGE OF THE KNIFE (GWAAI EDENSHAW & HELEN HAIG-BROWN, CANADA, 2018)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE WHITE REINDEER
- The Projection Booth Episode On THE WHITE REINDEER Hosted By Mike White And Featuring Kat Ellinger, Author of Daughters Of Darkness, And Talk Without Rhythm‘s El Goro
Short Films
- A WITCH DRUM
- THE NIGHTSIDE OF THE SKY
- WITH THE REINDEER
FEATURE SPECS FOR THE WHITE REINDEER
- Runtime: 68 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Audio: Finnish Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR EDGE OF THE KNIFE
- Audio Commentary With Directors Gwaai Edenshaw And Helen Haig-Brown
- RETAKE – Making The World’s First Haida-Language Feature Film
Short Films
- HAIDA CARVER
- NALUJUK NIGHT
FEATURE SPECS FOR EDGE OF THE KNIFE
- Runtime: 101 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Audio: Haida 5.1, Haida Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 4:
BORN OF FIRE (JAMIL DEHLAVI, UK, 1987)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR BORN OF FIRE
- Igniting The Fire – Interview With Director Jamil Dehlavi
- The Silent One Speaks – Archival Interview With Actor Nabil Shaban
- Between The Sacred And The Profane – Archival Lecture On The Cinematic World Of Jamil Dehlavi By Dr. Ali Nobil Ahmad
- The Djinn Revisited – Director Dalia Al Kury Examines The Role Of The Djinn In Contemporary Arab Culture
- BORN OF FIRE And The Roots Of Pakistani Horror – Interview With Scholar Syeda Momina Masood
- Trailer
Short Films
- TOWERS OF SILENCE
- QÂF
FEATURE SPECS FOR BORN OF FIRE
- Runtime: 84 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Audio: English Mono
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 5:
IO ISLAND (KIM KI-YOUNG, SOUTH KOREA, 1977)
SCALES (SHAHAD AMEEN, SAUDI ARABIA, 2019)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR IO ISLAND
- Audio Commentary With Archivist And Korean Film Historian Ariel Schudson
- Shaman’s Eyes – Dr. Hyunseon Lee On Shamanism In Korean Visual Culture
Short Film
- THE PRESENT
FEATURE SPECS FOR IO ISLAND
- Runtime: 112 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Audio: Korean Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR SCALES
- Telling Our Stories – A Conversation With Director Shahad Ameen And Producer Rula Nasser, Moderated By Filmmaker/Author Kier-La Janisse
- Trailer
Short Film
- KINDIL
FEATURE SPECS FOR SCALES
- Runtime: 76 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Audio: Arabic 5.1 Surround
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 6:
BAKENEKO: A VENGEFUL SPIRIT (YOSHIHIRO ISHIKAWA, JAPAN, 1968)
NANG NAK (NONZEE NIMIBUTR, THAILAND, 1999)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR BAKENEKO: A VENGEFUL SPIRIT
- Audio Commentary With Jasper Sharp, Author Of Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History Of Japanese Sex Cinema
- Scratched – A History Of The Japanese Ghost Cat
- The Vampire Cat – The Classic Folk Tale Read By Tomoko Komura With Original Music By Timothy Fife
- Trailer
Short Film
- MAN-EATER MOUNTAIN
FEATURE SPECS FOR BAKENEKO: A VENGEFUL SPIRIT
- Runtime: 87 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Audio: Japanese Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR NANG NAK
- Audio Commentary With Mattie Do, Director Of THE LONG WALK, And Asian Gothic Scholar Katarzyna Ancuta
- Love And Impermanence: NANG NAK And The Rebirth Of Thai Cinema – Interview With Director Nonzee Nimibutr
- Trailer
FEATURE SPECS FOR NANG NAK
- Runtime: 101 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Audio: Thai 5.1, Thai Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A
DISC 7:
SUNDELBOLONG (SISWORO GAUTAMA PUTRA, INDONESIA, 1981)
SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC BLU-RAY (DAVID GREGORY, USA, 2024)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR SUNDELBOLONG
- Hantu Retribution – Female Ghosts Of The Malay Archipelago
Short Film
- WHITE SONG
FEATURE SPECS FOR SUNDELBOLONG
- Runtime: 106 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Audio: Indonesian Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC
- A Conversation With Director/Co-Producer David Gregory And Co-Producer Ekky Imanjaya
- Trailer
FEATURE SPECS FOR SUZZANNA: THE QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC
- Runtime: 88 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Audio: Indonesian Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 8:
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (JURAJ HERZ, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, 1978)
THE NINTH HEART (JURAJ HERZ, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, 1979)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
- Audio Commentary With Film Historian Michael Brooke
- Archival Interviews With Director Juraj Herz And Actors Vlastimil Harapes And Zdena Studenková
Short Film
- FRANTIŠEK HRUBÍN
FEATURE SPECS FOR BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
- Runtime: 91 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
- Audio: Czech Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE NINTH HEART
- Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness
- The Uncanny Valley Of The Dolls – The History And Liminality Of Dolls, Puppets And Mannequins
- The Curious Case Of Juraj Herz And The Švankmajers – Video Essay By Czech Film Programmer Cerise Howard
FEATURE SPECS FOR THE NINTH HEART
- Runtime: 92 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Audio: Czech Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 9:
DEMON (MARCIN WRONA, POLAND, 2015)
NOVEMBER (RAINER SARNET, ESTONIA/POLAND/NETHERLANDS, 2017)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR DEMON
- Introduction By Slavic Horror Scholar Dr. Agnieszka Jeżyk
- Audio Commentary With Film Historian Daniel Bird And Film Critic/Actress Manuela Lazić
- In The Shadow Of The Dybbuk – Video Essay By Peter Bebergal, Author Of Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story Of The Technological Quest For The Supernatural, And Filmmaker Stephen Broomer
- Trailer
Short Film
- DIBBUK
FEATURE SPECS FOR DEMON
- Runtime: 94 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Audio: Polish 5.1 Surround, Polish Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR NOVEMBER
- The Supernatural Lore Of NOVEMBER – Archival Video Essay With Film Critic John DeFore
- Kratt Test Footage
- Theatrical Trailer
Short Films
- BOUNDARY
- JOURNEY THROUGH SETOMAA
- MIDVINTERBLOT
FEATURE SPECS FOR NOVEMBER
- Runtime: 115 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Audio: Estonian, German And Italian 5.1 Surround
Estonian, German And Italian Stereo
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 10:
LITAN (JEAN-PIERRE MOCKY, FRANCE, 1982)
BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING (CHRISTIANE CEGAVSKE, USA, 2006)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR LITAN
- Audio Commentary With Film Historian Frank Lafond
- Un Tournage LITAN – Archival Making-Of Made For Antenne 2
- Jean-Pierre Mocky, Un Drôle D’Oiseau – 1982 Episode Of Temps X
FEATURE SPECS FOR LITAN
- Runtime: 88 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Audio: French Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING
- Introduction By Director Christiane Cegavske
- 2021 Indie Scream Online Film Festival Q&A With Christiane Cegavske
- Production Stills And Concept Illustrations
- Trailer
- Trailer For SEED IN THE SAND, Cegavske’s Work-In-Progress
FEATURE SPECS FOR BLOOD TEA AND RED STRING
- Runtime: 70 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Audio: English Stereo
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 11:
NAZARENO CRUZ AND THE WOLF (LEONARDO FAVIO, ARGENTINA, 1975)
AKELARRE (PEDRO OLEA, SPAIN, 1984)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR NAZARENO CRUZ AND THE WOLF
- Audio Commentary With Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Director Of HERE COMES THE DEVIL, And Nicanor Loreti, Director Of PUNTO ROJO
Short Film
- LOVE FROM MOTHER ONLY
- Audio Commentary For LOVE FROM MOTHER ONLY With Director Dennison Ramalho
FEATURE SPECS FOR NAZARENO CRUZ AND THE WOLF
- Runtime: 88 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Audio: Spanish Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR AKELARRE
- The Realistic Inquisition – Interview With Director Pedro Olea
- Empowered Woman – Interview With Actress Silvia Munt
- Playing The Villain – Interview With Actor Iñaki Miramón
- Invoking The Akelarre – Dr. Antonio Lázaro-Reboll, Author Of Spanish Horror Film, On The Basque Witch Trials
FEATURE SPECS FOR AKELARRE
- Runtime: 97 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Audio: Spanish Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 12:
FROM THE OLD EARTH (WIL AARON, WALES, 1981)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR FROM THE OLD EARTH BLU-RAY
- Introduction To FROM THE OLD EARTH By Musician Gruff Rhys
- Getting A Head In North Wales – Interview With Director Wil Aaron
- FROM THE OLD EARTH By The Book – Welsh Folklore And O’R DDAEAR HEN
- A Sword In The Battle Of Language – Welsh Film Scholar Dr. Kate Woodward On The Welsh Film Board
Short Films
- Introduction To BLOOD ON THE STARS By Gruff Rhys
- BLOOD ON THE STARS
- Reunion Hotel – BLOOD ON THE STARS Cast Reunion From Gwesty Aduniad
- THE WYRM OF BWLCH PEN BARRAS
FEATURE SPECS FOR FROM THE OLD EARTH BLU-RAY
- Runtime: 46 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Audio: Welsh Mono
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A/B/C
DISC 13:
THE CITY OF THE DEAD (JOHN LLEWELLYN MOXEY, UK, 1960)
THE RITES OF MAY (MIKE DE LEON, PHILIPPINES, 1976)SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE CITY OF THE DEAD
- Introduction By Kay Lynch, Director Of The Salem Horror Fest
- Audio Commentary With Film Historians Kim Newman And Barry Forshaw
- Archival Audio Commentary With Film Historian Jonathan Rigby
- Archival Audio Commentary With Actor Christopher Lee
- Archival Audio Commentary With Director John Llewellyn Moxey
- Sir Christopher Lee Remembers THE CITY OF THE DEAD
- Archival Interview With John Llewellyn Moxey
- Archival Interview With Actress Venetia Stevenson
- Burn Witch, Burn! A Tribute To John Llewellyn Moxey – Video Essay By TV Historian Amanda Reyes And Filmmaker Chris O’Neill
- Trailer
FEATURE SPECS FOR THE CITY OF THE DEAD
- Runtime: 78 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Audio: English Mono
- Closed Captions: English SDH
- Region: A/B/C
SPECIAL FEATURES FOR THE RITES OF MAY
- Audio Commentary With Filipino Film Historian Andrew Leavold
- ITIM: AN EXPLORATION IN CINEMA – Archival Documentary
- Portrayal Of Guilt – Filipino Film Scholar Anne Frances N. Sangil On The Darkness Of THE RITES OF MAY
FEATURE SPECS FOR THE RITES OF MAY
Region: A/B/C
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Tagalog Mono
Subtitles: English
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WICKED: Not just a Flawless Adaptation, but a Poignant American Metaphor
While it’s been a rough year for blockbusters, I’ve been quietly biding my time for the release of one of my most anticipated films this year, Wicked. This is thanks to not only my love of the Broadway spectacle, but its director Jon Chu who helmed the charming and criminally underrated Jem and the Holograms film, I defend to this day – it’s good damnit!! He also did a little film called Crazy Rich Asians which he no doubt leveraged into the ability to craft a super faithful and very practical (ie:expensive) take, that goes back to the source for a bit of added relevancy.
Wicked has the director stepping back into the realm of the musical, with an adaptation that is a hybrid of sorts, being a somewhat loyal take on the show, which was in itself a rather loose adaptation of the 1995 book that promised the “true” story of the events behind the classic, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. That tome was an unofficial sequel to the original Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (LFba – Get it?), capitalizing on the fact that the book fell into the public domain, think Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey. While the Wicked source is probably closer to NC-17 than PG, the Musical took the basic concepts and characters for the stage, thus crafting one of the biggest musical phenomenons to hit Broadway since Phantom.
For those unfamiliar, Wicked is the prequel to The Wizard of Oz but from the Wicked Witch’s perspective. The musical chose to lose most of the political and spicy bits and really hone in on the story of an outsider, the young, and very green, future Wicked Witch – Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who thanks to her gift of magic becomes a student at Shiz university in Oz. It’s a very sympathetic take that follows her as she strikes up an unlikely friendship with the mega popular and uncharacteristically kind hearted, Galinda (Ariana Grande). While this story basically occupies the first act of the musical and this first film, it’s how their friendship solidifies and takes a fateful turn thanks to an audience with the Wizard of Oz, that fuels the second half. Sadly, we will have to wait a year to experience that half, but on the good side, it’s already in the can.
While that friendship is the heart and soul of this tragic masterwork, Chu has borrowed from the book a thread about the animals of Oz who can not only talk, but once upon a time were equals to the land’s two legged inhabitants. The subplot has the animals stripped of their rights and caged, which causes them to lose their power of speech, and their magic if you will. While this on the nose metaphor is there to deliver some extra weight to Elphaba’s eventual turn. The overarching implications of Oz’s loss of innocence, magic, and idealism appears to be a rather poignant metaphor for America before and post the Trump presidency. A land of milk and honey stripped of magic and freedom, while taking away the voice (ie:voting) away from those who don’t fit in.
This is combined with some stirring performances. While I’ve been a longtime fan of Cynthia Erivo, since I was blown away by her turn opposite Ben Mendelsohn in The Outsider, it’s Ariana Grande that completely caught me off guard. While Cynthia’s Elphaba is the picture of measured quiet control, it’s Grande’s seemingly effortless and bubbly Galinda that gives the film an unexpected heart and joy. She’s charged with only winning Elphaba over, but wins the entire audience over in the process. This also comes from scenes that often feel improvised in their spontaneous and comedic energy that happen within the controlled confines of its musical numbers. Chu also thankfully doesn’t commit the cardinal sin of the prestige broadway adaptation of attempting to shoehorn an original song for awards consideration, he instead remains true, even paying homage to the stage’s original Elphaba and Galinda in spectacular fashion.
This also transpires against practical stages and sets that allow a kind of lighting that feels warm and natural further cementing the fantastic in reality. The look also feels part homage to its big screen classic sequel, that feels almost alien to today’s more dreary or orange hued cinematic landscape. This is coupled with sound design that encapsulates the songs into the sound mix in a way that felt more natural than some, where it feels like the song was just cut and pasted into the film’s timeline. It’s obvious Chu was a fan, because he not only understood the assignment, he used nearly every cinematic tool he had to accomplish what is a perfect adaptation and will no doubt be the template going forward. Packed with dozens of easter eggs and call backs the equivalent to a Marvel film for theater kids.
While this is still technically half of a whole, it’s easy to see where Chu is going and I couldn’t be happier or more excited. He’s taken the property that is so familiar to some, and injected some new life and relevance into its story of the lonely outsider, using Elphaba’s story to echo his own personal story of a man whose family immigrated to this nation, that was once a magical land and has since lost that spark. Of course it is also a completely flawless adaptation of the source, that is immaculately cast and will no doubt go on to be a classic, but it’s that subtext that really calls back to the original intent of the show as a little bit of magic for those who are “different”, opening the conversation to those that need it right now more than ever.
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WICKED Is the Anti-Fascist Fable We Need Right Now
The timing of the musical blockbuster couldn’t possibly be intentional, but it feels very necessary.
Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu The opening of Wicked starts with its foot on the gas. The new musical film from director John Chu and the long-awaited film adaptation of the Broadway sensation wastes no time throwing you into its world: the iconic hat of the Wicked Witch of the West, flying monkeys running amok, the familiar silhouettes of Dorothy and her compatriots skipping back to the Emerald city. It all creates an overwhelming start as the interlude soars, and we focus in on Munchkinland, where we are informed that indeed no one mourns the wicked. By the time Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) shows up, we have been transported into the Oz of our shared childhood, weaponizing the technicolor visuals of the MGM classic. Though the burning of an effigy of the witch is a surprisingly darker touch.
The film then proceeds to spend the next two hours unraveling the expectations and assumptions that opening thrusts you into. The nature of evil, and who determines what is and isn’t “wicked”, are upended. The fairy tale, ideal vision of Oz we grew up with is picked at, all through the eyes of an outcast who can see clearly what precisely is happening on the margins of other’s vision.
Wicked has always had a political edge to it, though less pronounced in the musical adaptation than Gregory Maguire’s original novels. But those elements feel like they come screaming to the forefront with 2024 eyes, especially in the march towards 2025 and political uncertainties in America. Put more bluntly, Wicked is unapologetically anti-fascist in it’s perspective and storytelling. It uses the margins of a familiar story to poke at pesky little elements of the story we know, to tell a story buried underneath. Namely, it rejects the idea that people are simply evil for evil’s sake, and perhaps casting someone as a “wicked witch” might suggest something about the one doing the labeling.The core of the story follows the story of two women: Glinda, starry eyed and upwardly mobile, and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), whose green skin has caused her to be ostracized and feared her entire life. Both become students at Shiz University, where Elphaba’s magical abilities catch the attention of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and becomes her pupil. This causes a rift between Elphaba and Glinda, which isn’t helped by them becoming roommates. But their complicated relationship takes twists and turns throughout the story.
Ariana Grande is Glinda in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu
In addition to their studies however, both women become increasingly aware of strange injustices that are happening. Namely, more and more Animals have been losing their positions in society, going through treatments that cause them to lose their literal ability to speak. In one scene, there is a terrifying revelation that the Ozian government has come up with a new invention: the cage.Between both the treatment of Elphaba and the Animals of Oz, there is a clear metaphor here: otherness will not be tolerated and must be silenced, sometimes quite literally. Elphaba is able to escape her otherness due to her preferential position, but her experiences give her an inherent sympathy to other wrongs she sees. A major theme throughout the film is various character’s perspectives shifting and growing as their awareness grows. Oppression operates best when citizens are compliant and unaware.
These themes never overwhelm the narrative however; there are a major piece of a much richer tapestry, which mixes fantasy, comedy, and of course stunning musical numbers. Chu, who started making literal dance films and then moved onto romantic musicals, has finely crafted the art of making a modern cinematic film at this point, blending kinetic camera movements, expertly timed cuts and large-scale dance numbers that get across the impressive nature of the pure physical movement of his cast. One scene in a library at Shiz with rotating bookshelves is a dizzying and mesmerizing sequence that dazzles at its pure coordination and spectacle. It all leads to Chu’s best film to date, bringing the full brunt of his talents as a filmmaker to create a cinematic marvel.
The film’s cast are no slouches either. Both Erivo and Grande give fully realized and lived-in performances as the two leads, impressively so given the expectations placed on their shoulders. There is no small amount of apprehension around Wicked from long-time fans of the stage production; rest assured that the material is in the hands of people who clearly care about the story they are telling and have the appropriate mixture of emotional weight and fun silliness necessary to make the tone work. (Anecdotally, my wife, one of those skeptical Wicked fans, loved it.)
Fans of the Broadway show will also be pleased to learn that all the classic songs are retained as well (not surprising seeing how they give each act of the play it’s own film,) and the cast give them rousing, soaring renditions. Fan favorites “Popular” and of course the soaring “Defying Gravity” are their typical scene stealers, but each song is given new performances that honor the original while infused with cinematic energy by Erivo, Grande and others.
But it feels important that as we barrel towards a troubled new administration, amongst a political environment where disinformation runs rampant and those in power wish to rewrite history to better fit the image of their new leader’s greatness, a major blockbuster, with all its glitz and bubbly entertainment, doesn’t shy away from these themes. Who gets to write history is a major theme in the film, and also one in our lives. Wicked demands that we pay attention, and not allow creature comforts to blind us to oppression happening directly before us.
It asks us to question the stories we have heard. Because often times the world is far more complicated than simple fairy tales. -
Don’t Miss the Epic Indian Supernatural Chiller TUMBBAD as it Hits US Screens
Originally released in 2018, the Hindi-language folk horror film Tumbbad is a masterfully skin-crawling supernatural thriller that’s both spookily entertaining and a thoughtful critique of the corruptive influence of unchecked avarice.
Written and directed by Rahi Anil Barve, the cult favorite has just made a record-setting re-release in its native India, with producer and star Sohum Shah confirming that he’s working on a sequel. In the wake of its reignited success, the film is now hitting US screens.
Haunted by terrifying childhood events that scarred and formed him, Vinayak (Sohum Shah) breaks a promise to his mother and by returning 15 years later to his ancestral home of Tumbbad – a village said to have been punished for its worship of the evil god Hastar, cursed with a ceaseless rain. He’s the inheritor of a sprawling, decrepit castle, which passed on to his family upon the death of their lord, and determined to find the treasure which has long been rumored to be hidden within – a treasure whose promise has already shaped and twisted his family for the last two generations.
It’s a gorgeously shot film, with exquisite production design and locations for both Vinayak’s childhood shack – which looks like something right out of a fairy tale – and the decaying fortress which houses a terrifying secret within its foreboding walls. The castle’s interiors are impressively grand, but become tight and claustrophobic as you enter into their hidden subterranean chambers.
Vinayak does indeed find the treasure of Tumbbad and becomes a wealthy man, but there’s more to his secret than is immediately apparent. To outside observers it seems he only can only excavate a couple of gold coins at a time, and it’s fascinating when the chilling truth of Tumbbad is not only revealed, but how it shapes Vinayak and his family, especially his eldest son Pandurang whom he trains to become his helper.
It’s not hard to see why Tumbbad has become a beloved horror film. It’s oppressively moody and immediately and unreservedly grounded in the supernatural right from the start. I don’t want to give too much away, but I need to be clear that this is a monster movie, with terrific visual effects for the creature and his lair.
But beyond the stunning entertainment of its horror, it’s also a sobering descent into the heart of greed, and how its influence warps Vinayak and his family across generations, stealing their joy and leading to a desperate conclusion.
This film is spectacular, and if it were it a 2024 film it would be headed for my top 10 list for the year. I truly hope it gets a physical release in the US. But as it currently has no home video or streaming distribution (despite being six years old), I definitely advise to check this out theatrically if you have the opportunity. It’s likely to have a short run so if this review has piqued your interest at all, seek it out immediately. In my experience with Indian films, it’s very hard to anticipate when or if you’ll have the opportunity to view this at home. (Even the smash hit RRR is impossible to find in its native Telugu, two years after its initial release).
A/V Out
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It’s Grim Up North, in Neil Marshall’s DOOMSDAY [Two Cents]
![It’s Grim Up North, in Neil Marshall’s DOOMSDAY [Two Cents]](https://i0.wp.com/cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/image-20.png?resize=1140%2C753&ssl=1)
Scotland finally gets devolution thanks to a rampant virus and a corrupt British government
Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to [email protected].
Drama, Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction, Musical… cinema is filled with grand, sweeping, big tent genres. And yet, so often Cinapse’s particular brand of cinephilia dwells in the subgenres. Too numerous to list, subgenres are where the meat is really added to the bone of deep cut cinema. And one of the greatest subgenres of them all is the post-apocalyptic picture! This month we’re celebrating the release of author David J. Moore’s World Gone Wild, Restocked and Reloaded 2nd Edition: A Survivor’s Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Movies with a curated selection of some of the Cinapse team’s very favorite and most beloved post apocalypse films – all of which are highlighted in Moore’s exhaustive love letter!
The Pick: DOOMSDAY (2008)
Featured Guests
Watching Neil Marshall’s Doomsday is like revisiting the best post-apocalypse movies from the eighties. You know he loves Escape from New York and The Road Warrior. Doomsday even has the same font on the title scene as EFNY, and his story is a virtual scene-for-scene homage to that film, while still being completely original. The story starts with a devastating virus (called the Reaper virus) ripping through the United Kingdom like an angel of death. The continent is split in half (England / Scotland) by a wall not unlike the borders which the Roman Empire once instated. The infected half are left to die off, and the rest of England’s population are put in boroughs and tenements to account for the lack of space. Thirty years after the viral apocalypse, the Reaper virus returns to England, and the government sends a team into the dead zone to find survivors of the last plague: it seems that those individuals who’ve survived in the northern half are immune, and therefore have blood which can be used to devise a cure. The team is led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), and like the character she was modeled from (Snake Plisskin) she has only one eye and a bad attitude (but she wears the patch only on occasion). When the team arrives in the “no fly zone,” they are seized by a tribe of savages, the survivors of the last plague. From this point on in the movie, there is hardly a moment to catch your breath. The character named Sol in the film is basically Lord Humungous and Wez combined from The Road Warrior, and he’s a good crazy villain. His Siouxsie-Sioux look-alike girlfriend, Viper, is a great cinematic creation, a perfect foil for Mitra’s tough-girl character. The final road chase obviously recalls the stuff in the Mad Max series. Marshall looks like he had a ball filming it. There’s great stuff here. Check out some of the details in this movie. Even the spray paint on the cars and walls is interesting to look at. The action scenes are a tad bit disjointed and filmed too close to the action and are cut too quickly, but repeated viewings smooth things out a bit. Rhona Mitra is great, and it’s nice to see her in the center of a big picture; she makes an excellent heroine. The supporting cast is all top-notch: with Bob Hoskins as a good guy and Malcom McDowell as Kane, an ostracized doctor, and a king of sorts of a medieval castle. The John Carpenter-sounding score by Tyler Bates is a great addition to a most enjoyable (and extremely gory) movie.
Spencer Brickey, a screenwriter with a focus on action, horror, and dark comedies.
From the outside, Doomsday is clearly meant to be an Escape From New York riff (The one-eyed “president of what?” badass, the walled city, even the font!), but, either accidentally or on purpose, it instead is a near perfect homage to the era of Italo-exploitation, or as I’ve always had fun calling it, Italoshlock.
For about 30 years, from the early ‘70s and petering out in the late ‘90s, almost no one was better at putting out exploitation films than Italy. Didn’t matter the genre or the plotline or the tastefulness; if it was popular in the States, the Italians would make a hundred copies or more of ‘em. Filmmakers with names like Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato, Bruno Mattei, and Sergio Martino would put out films cheap and quick; they’d pick up a few cues from whatever they were ripping off (Desert warlords, zombies, kung-fu, Vietnam), and then usually add gallons of blood and gratuitous nudity. These films were always hodgepodges of whatever was cool at the time, and were meant to be played to zonked out audiences at dollar theaters on 42nd street.
This same type of “kitchen sink” approach to storytelling is exactly what Doomsday ends is. Like a play on the old saying ,“If you don’t like the genre, wait 15 minutes!”. Doomsday opens as a zombie film, before becoming an Escape From New York riff, before becoming a Mad Max riff, an Excalibur riff for a hot second, before landing back at Mad Max in the climax, respectively. The constantly bounces between storylines (and tones) makes it impossible to nail down where Doomsday is going next.
Which, to be honest, isn’t a strength here. Italoshlock is a bit of a hit-and-miss genre; holds true here. Doomsday is more interested in the set dressings of its constantly changing world than on the actual characters that inhabit it. Everything and everyone is so one-note, there’s really no world to actual dig into, even if it does show you a dozen different ones.
Doomsday suffers what many of these types of films do; A director, Neil Marshall, who is infatuated with the genre fare of his youth, looking to make a mix-matched “love letter”. But, all he’s really done is make a Xerox of a Xerox. Only the Italians have figured out how to make it work, and I’m pretty sure the secret is hidden within the Vatican’s Vaults.
The Team
Look, I love Doomsday. I saw it in theaters as a nerd who already actively loved the films of Neil Marshall, the films of John Carpenter, etc. I didn’t revisit the film for this edition of Two Cents so I’ll keep this brief and in dialog with my former self, who wrote a piece about Doomsday being less than the sum of its inspirations. Look, former self, it may be true that Doomsday doesn’t reach the high highs of Snake Plissken and wouldn’t exist at all without the inspirations that came before it. Former me also needs to chill out and just have a rip-roaring time at the movies with a gorgeous and tough lead in Rhona Mitra and top tier character actors like Malcolm McDowell and Bob Hoskins running around?! I’m not sure what I wanted back then but my fond memories of this film have long outlasted whatever state I was in at that time.
I watched Doomsday with my wife back when it came out. I remembered liking it but never felt the urge to dive back in. She remembered some of the gorier and most twisted moments with the cannibals and wrote it off completely.
So, this week I dove back into it at the request of the Two Cents crew and it was a mixed bag for me, though more good than bad.
The good? Bob Hoskins is in it. The heroine is a badass. The gory moments definitely deliver. And, the final car chase is fantastic George Miller-esque fun.
The bad? There’s nowhere near enough Bob Hoskins in it. The early bits are a bit plodding. And I wouldn’t mind more of those gory moments.
The story didn’t always work for me, but once it got cranking, the visuals were strong. And, in a film like this, that matters most I think. But, I wanted to highlight something I doubt most here will: the soundtrack. The score from the great Tyler Bates, combined with fantastic pop, new wave, and punk music of the 70s through the late 90s, was a perfect backdrop for the film. For me, I think it was the biggest highlight and I fully expect that a few of the tracks will be stuck in my head for the remainder of the week… and then some.
You can imagine the conversation. Someone poses the idea “what if we needed Hadrian’s Wall again?“. Built around 1900 years ago, an architectural feat of the Roman Empire that marked one of the frontiers of it’s territory, as well as a useful means to keep those pesky Scottish savages at bay. In Doomsday, a modern rebuild is required thanks to the Reaper virus, an outbreak in Scotland turning people into rabid monsters. The solution of the British government, a 60ft tall rebuild of the wall and lethal military force to hold the line against the remaining infected, and the survivors who choose a more primal way of surviving. 30 years after this callous move, an isolated case of the Reaper virus resurfaces in London, prompting a foray North of the wall the track down a missing virologist and his research, which might be the only thing preventing the rest of the country being thrown back into the dark ages.
In spirit, its “what if Escape from New York, but Scotland”, but Neil Marshall’s genre predilections are cast further afield with Doomsday roiling out of a chop-shop with parts from Mad Max, 28 Days Later, The Warriors, The Hills Have Eyes, Apocalypse Now, and more. It’s a fun mix, even if the end product lacks the focus and impact of Marshall’s better regarded features Dog Soldiers and The Descent. But where else do you see a horsebound knight take on an armored soldier, or an agent wielding a high tech eyeball targeting system up against a horde of spike wielding savages. It’s the the near-future going toe-to-toe with a savage, feudal state. The Brits handle period pieces better than most so the film looks great, and we also get a bit of regional gravitas with appearances from Malcom McDowell and Bob Hoskins, and a breakout turn from Rhona Mitra. After making her name in the UK as the original live action model of gaming icon Lara Croft, she went on to a number of supporting roles in tv and film, before landing a one-two punch in Doomsday and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. She certainly does herself no harm as the woman at the middle of it all, driven by a personal motive and of course a bit of a chip on her shoulder.
Its gnarly (and just the right amount of silly) fare, but there is more here if you know what to look for. A scrutiny of the callous decision (and worldwide condemnation) of the UK turning its back on a swath of its populace, opens up into a broader commentary on that North/South divide. One that swirls around social class and economic and investment. One might also spot a broad swipe at Scotland and the ever persisting sentiment of devolution. Superficial to be sure, but they only add to the ‘what if…’ of it all. Adding to the grim undercurrent of Marshall’s messy genre mashup.
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RED ONE Offers a Hollow Imitation of Better Movies
The latest action-comedy from Dwayne Johnson and Jake Kasdan brings very little to the table but leftover scraps.
Santa movies are really movies about faith. That doesn’t necessarily mean faith in God, though sometimes movies will slot Santa in as a replacement for the divine. On a larger level though, they are movies about the ability to believe in something unseen, the magic of kindness and charity. Santa is often a stand-in for the very idea that good things can happen, despite how crusty this world can seem.
To be charitable, Red One does have one interesting thought on its mind: why would Santa have faith in us? Early in the film, Dwayne Johnson’s Callum Drift, the head security for the real Santa Claus (JK Simmons), submits his resignation and expresses his own doubts about the whole gift-giving operation. After all, for the first time in history, more people are on the naughty list than the nice list. It is hard to not see this point reflected in the shadow of the past week. Callum admits that he is jaded about the inherent goodness in people, which makes his ability to work for the jolly embodiment of Christmas cheer increasingly impossible.
To be less charitable, this is maybe the only unique thing to pull out of Red One, a deeply unoriginal movie that constantly feels like a cheap knock off of not just one but several other more ambitious films. From Men in Black to Ant Man, the movie constantly can’t help but remind you of the kind of lighthearted fun it is trying to be in better forms. Add on the deadweight of being a Dwayne Johnson vehicle, itself a known quantity at this point, and it’s a film that has flashes of being an enjoyable if disposable piece of entertainment that is weighed down by the constant nagging feeling you have heard this song before.
The film centers around the two-hander of Dwayne Johnson’s jaded Cal, and his unwitting partner Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans, trying his best), a hacker who unwittingly led to the kidnapping of Santa Claus two days before Christmas Eve. Jack is dragged into the world of MORA (the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), a secret organization responsible protecting the world from supernatural forces. If Callum’s ELF (Enforcement Logistics and Fortification, in one of the lazier backronyms in recent memory) is part of MORA or merely a cooperative organization is unclear. In fact, a lot of the world building in Red One is fairly cast off, giving rudimentary explanations that it then rushes past to get to the action.
The problem is most of that action fluctuates between boring and unintelligible. For a family friendlyish (the film is PG-13, but mostly for some tough guy language) action-comedy, it is a bummer that the action is the weakest link for the movie, and the comedy is not far behind. Also Johnson and Evans chemistry is non-existent, and other than JK Simmons as Santa and Kristofer Hivju as Krampus (here imagined as Santa’s estranged brother), most of the extended cast feels very “here-for-the-paycheck.” Lucy Liu as the head of MORA is especially egregious, especially when compared to comparable performances like Rip Torn in Men In Black.
It isn’t like those involved aren’t capable of better work. Director Jake Kasdan has made good material before, in this genre, with this lead actor in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. But the goalposts for what they seek to make this time around seem lower, potentially due to a lack of commitment from the star-producer or a belief that their high concept is so clearly broad appeal they don’t have to try as hard.
For all these reasons, it is hard to not see Red One as a deeply cynical movie. It provides an ersatz stab at several earlier, more successful films, but also tries to pull at the central idea of “you believe in the goodness of people, right?” It has little regard for the intelligence, emotional or otherwise, of its audience. By providing shallow, shrugging For being a Santa movie, the end result is a fairly hollow, faithless endeavor.
