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THE LION KING Triumphantly Roars Over Other Disney Re-Dos
A visually dazzling adaptation that may win over most, but not every fan of Disney’s original animated classic
Full confession: I was among the many skeptics when Disney announced that they would be tackling The Lion King as their next “live-action” project. While their past adaptations have allowed me to revisit old favorites, their overall execution has left much to be desired. Furthermore, these adaptations at least had the advantage of working with a wholly human cast of iconic characters. With the original film as a treasured memory — it was the first I remember seeing in a theater as a kid — I went into Jon Favreau’s film with uneasy anticipation.
Beginning with a shot-for-shot remake of its iconic beginning, The Lion King immediately dazzles with a fusion of CGI animals against equally incredibly realistic backgrounds. It’s a visually stunning film on all fronts, bringing the colorful beauty of the original film to life without sacrificing a crucial sense of realism. Simba, Mufasa, Scar, et al. manage to feel like tactile, living creatures with more than a few animalistic idiosyncrasies.
The Lion King soars when it most deeply reckons with translating moments meant for animation into reality — from how certain scenes play out to the film’s musical numbers. Fans of the original will most likely be delighted with how some of these latter scenes are performed with a certain degree of practicality. The Lion King’s most iconic moments especially don’t disappoint, and utilize the IMAX format for all its worth. At points I thought the film was almost wholly shot for IMAX, until clever moments of changing aspect ratios — notably a stampede sequence — further immersed my audience in the action.
That said, there are still moments where The Lion King struggles with its transition into the “real world.” One of the biggest questions I had when it came to adapting the original film was how Favreau would approach animals that could walk and talk. For the most part, these animals look and feel near-photorealistic at their best. Whenever they talk, however…that uncanny valley took more than a few moments to get across, feeling more like something out of Clutch Cargo than prime 2019 CGI. As the film progresses, the effect slowly dulls, but one can’t help but feel that this bit of magic was somehow lost in translation.
As with the best of adaptations, Jon Favreau’s direction shines most when he’s given the chance to be less than beholden to his source material. Side characters are given more of a chance to shine, and there is a standout moment, completely dialogue-free, that riffs on and truly honors the spirit of the original Lion King. It’s clear even in his diversion from the base story that Jon Favreau and company truly want to do justice to what they have, and that dedication is on full display throughout.
Favreau has also assembled a truly stacked cast for his film, including the return of James Earl Jones as Mufasa. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen are undoubtedly the standouts as Timon and Pumbaa, melding the duo’s personalities in line with their own. Their raucous improv moments definitely caused the most cackles between both the children and adults in the audience. Donald Glover and John Oliver fit pretty well, too — Glover slides into the role of Simba with the carefree ease that marks his best stand-up and musical performances, and Oliver’s Last Week Tonight persona meshes unusually well with a flustered horn-billed bird. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Florence Kasumba lend appropriate scene-chewing villainy to Scar and Shenzi, and Keegan Michael Key and Eric André provide a welcome banter-filled turn to supporting hyenas Kamari and Azizi.
Of the cast, the only person who feels unexpectedly out of place is Beyoncé. While she does portray Nala with an expected sense of regal ferocity, the aforementioned uncanny valley between the CG animals and their performers heightens whenever she’s present. Beyoncé’s clearly enjoying the role, but never fully commits to her performance. Granted, that’s a tall ask when one’s playing an animated lioness in a film where nearly nothing is real, but when the others in the cast blend in so much better in their roles, Beyoncé can’t help but stand out as one of the film’s more noticeable weak links.
For fans of the original Lion King, this version definitely does not disappoint, and at times Favreau and his team are able to build upon and improve the classic material they’ve been trusted with. For skeptics of Disney’s latest venture, some fears are confirmed in few, fleeting beats where the reach of the film’s technology exceeds its grasp. But while there are moments where the illusion rings false, The Lion King remains a roaring good time for both children and one’s inner child.
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STUBER: Uproarious Laughter in Old School Action-Comedy Package
The buddy cop comedy will never die
Eliciting gut busting laughter through all three acts, as well as glorious R-rated gore and action, Stuber is everything you could possibly dream of from a modern action-comedy.
Kumail Nanjiani is one of the most exciting names in comedy cinema right now, with a host of ensemble parts under his belt and the mega-hit The Big Sick launching him into leading man status last year. Pairing him with similarly rising star Dave Bautista, who rose to prominence as a WWE wrestler but who has parlayed that career into a robust acting resume displaying comedic chops in Guardians Of The Galaxy and dramatic range in Blade Runner 2049 (as well as some starring roles like Bushwick and Final Score)… turns out to have been a stroke of genius.
The buddy cop action-comedy formula is one of my very favorite in all of cinema history. The go-to modern example of the subgenre would be the Lethal Weapon films, which milked the dynamite chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover all the way to four highly successful films. Countless iterations of the formula have come and gone, with PG-13 and R-rated versions, with every kind of oddball pairing of leads one can imagine. There have been female-driven offerings like The Heat or The Spy Who Dumped Me, stuff that skewed more in the detective comedy direction like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Nice Guys. Examples are endless. But the formula hasn’t gone wide-release with as much 1980s action cinema influence as Stuber brings in quite some time. And the result is cinematic heaven for this action-obsessed viewer.
Finding actual laughs, repeatedly, from a situation as silly and potentially disastrous as “temporarily blinded meathead detective forces Pakistani Uber driver to solve a case with him” is somewhat of a miracle, I must admit. But virtually everything in this briskly paced 93 minute film fires on all cylinders. Director Michael Dowse has pulled off the miraculous before in Goon, a hockey comedy with so much heart and soul as to be one of the greatest hockey movies ever made. I’m unfamiliar with the brief body of work writer Tripper Clancy has put out thus far, but he’ll be on my radar now. The supporting cast in Stuber includes Mira Sorvino (!) as Bautista’s police chief, GLOW’s Betty Gilpin as Kumail’s best friend and unrequited love, The Raid’s Iko Uwais as a blonde bad guy, Jimmy Tatro (hilarious in American Vandal) as Kumail’s douchey manager, and Natalie Morales as Bautista’s daughter. There’s varying levels of opportunity for these supporting players to shine. The film’s under-utilization of Iko Uwais is perhaps its greatest sin, with a shakey cam opening fight and a neat little trick of hopping down some balconies being the only real times Uwais gets to do his thing. Sorvino is always fantastic and it’s great to see her emerging out from under the blacklisting that Harvey Weinstein apparently imposed upon her. Betty Gilpin and Jimmy Tatro probably get the best opportunities to flesh out Kumail’s Stu with several funny scenes throughout.
But this is Nanjiani and Bautista’s show, and they’re frankly fantastic together. Bautista’s Vic is every muscle-bound 1980s cop you’ve ever seen in an action movie before, only that trope is being subverted left and right by Stu and by Morales’ Nicole. It is my contention that Dave Bautista has now surpassed The Rock as the greatest acting talent to ever emerge from the WWE and it’s precisely because of his willingness to subvert expectations, be the butt of the joke, or go R-rated where the squeaky-clean Rock rarely dares go. It’s marvelous that the character growth shown in Stuber involves Vic embracing the advice of his puny new friend Stu and his artist daughter rather than Vic’s roughshod alpha male bending everyone else to his style and way of life. Stu gets some growth too as he grows in confidence throughout his hilarious life-or-death ordeal. I loved that Stu just kept trying to leave because a normal man taken hostage by his Uber passenger would do that, but the writing kept this odd couple together rather believably.
With one-liner after zinger after barbed insult landing with a much higher than average rate, Stuber is full-on hilarious. Bolstered by the fantastic chemistry between the leads, an overall fun ensemble, and some occasionally shockingly R-rated action gore, this buddy-action-comedy is good enough to breathe a little life back into the entire subgenre and I hope it lights up the box office as a result.
And I’m Out.
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BLACK MOON RISING: Genre Kings & Queen Assemble For Sci-Fi Heist [Blu Review]
Tommy Lee Jones as youthful, daring cat burglar?
The talent involved with Black Moon Rising makes it simply irresistible. With a script based on an original draft by genre legend John Carpenter, a score by Lalo Schifrin, and stars Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, Robert Vaughn, Richard Jaeckel, and even Police Academy’s Bubba Smith, there’s simply an embarrassment of riches, talent-wise, involved with this film.
It’s probably never much more than the sum of its curious parts, but ultimately does result in an enjoyable ride.
Perhaps the biggest knock against the film is that the star and the character archetype he is playing never quite gel. I adore Tommy Lee Jones and have so for decades. Black Moon Rising came earlier in his career and he’s playing this dashing, sexy, cavalier cat burglar who wears all black and drives fast cars. It’s the type of badass action hero who gets introduced by diffusing a convenience store robbery before the opening credits. You know, just like half a dozen other action heroes. Yet I just categorically have trouble accepting Jones as a youthful swashbuckler type. Maybe it’s just me, but the central casting never feels entirely right. Jones gives a perfectly solid performance, it’s just that his legend casts an imposing shadow over this outlier of a role in his career.
That said, Linda Hamilton actually acquits herself quite well and has a meatier role than your average female love interest. Jones plays Quint, a hotshot thief who’s been conscripted by the government to steal some files from a big, shady corporation. By chance he encounters the crew of the Black Moon, a prototype car that runs on hydrogen and can hit over 300 miles per hour. Stashing his stolen files in the car in a pinch, he becomes mixed up in a wider plot as Hamilton and a group of high end car thieves steal the Black Moon and dozens of other cars. It turns out Hamilton’s Nina is the tough, capable lieutenant for Robert Vaughn’s Ryland, a possessive criminal mastermind who’s built an empire out of stealing cars. Trouble is, Ryland wants to own Nina, and Nina wants out. A bit of a love… rectangle?… forms between Quint, Nina, Ryland, and that super cool car.
For a movie called Black Moon Rising, the slick-looking car at the center of it all gets very little screen time. The filmmakers were able to find a very sleek prototype vehicle and used it largely “as is” for the production. Of course, the practical car was neither capable of super high speeds or of running on hydrogen, but through movie magic it always manages to look awesome on screen. It helps that Schifrin’s futuristic electronic score pulses throughout as the car zooms around town.
Aside from the future-car elements, Black Moon Rising is largely an action-heist movie complete with assembling a crew, pouring over maps and schematics, and executing the ultimate escape. It succeeds pretty wildly in these regards. Vaughn cuts an imposing villain, we’re rooting for Nina to escape out from under his possessive clutches, and Jones cracks wise, kicks ass, and burns rubber. Director Harley Cokeliss delivers a solid film balancing lots of disparate elements and keeps them all together in a cohesive package. Schifrin’s score elevates everything a notch, as does Hamilton. And the very name of John Carpenter attached gives Black Moon Rising an air of genre royalty. It may not be a top notch entry on the resumes of most involved with it, but the film certainly benefits from having all that talent involved.
The Package
Treated with all the dignity it deserves due to all the Hollywood royalty attached, this Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release is absolutely stacked with bonus features. Kino loaded the bonus features with historians and experts who wax eloquently across a commentary track and a video essay and more. You’ll come away from this disc having a full context for the origins of the film, all the way through the production and audience reception. It’s absolutely astounding to have a film this largely forgotten by mainstream culture treated with such reverence. It’s a genre fan’s dream come true.
- Commentary Track W/ Historian Lee Gambin
- Interview W/ Director Harvey Cokeliss
- Interview W/ Producer Douglas Curtis
- Interview W/ Composer Lalo Schifrin
- Video Essay on John Carpenter by author Troy Howarth
- An archival “making of” documentary
- An alternate Hong Kong version
And I’m Out
Black Moon Rising is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics
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FURIE: Vietnam’s Veronica Ngo is a Full-On Action Queen
She will never stop
There are few cinematic thrills greater than discovering a brand new emerging talent in the action filmmaking world. One thrill that DOES top that is discovering that said talent isn’t “emerging” at all, but rather already has an awesome, time-tested body of work from which to sample and enjoy. Such was my experience in watching Veronica Ngo’s star vehicle Furie, from Vietnam. The trailer sold me on the film. A gender swapped Taken with a killer tiger mom rescuing her kidnapped daughter and punishing the captors? Absolutely sign me up. I need no further details.
Ignorant of Ngo’s previous work (and that of this filmmaking team), I watched with jaw agape as Furie dished out bone-crunching fight sequences and heart warming melodrama in equal measure. Ngo completely commanded the screen and the filmmaking was vivid and energetic. I was shocked, then, to find that Ngo played the small but pivotal role of Paige Tico (sister of Rose) in The Last Jedi! Not only that, but Ngo has prominently featured in several Vietnamese action films of note. I took the opportunity to track down a couple of those titles, namely Clash and The Rebel. That’s all it took for me to dub Ngo a full on Queen of action cinema. She gracefully dominates in four out of the four films of hers that I have seen. But Furie is the only film among them which truly stars Ngo as the central character, and she rules the screen with ferocity.
Here Ngo plays Hai, a former streetwise gangster who walked away from it all when she became a mother. Living in total rural obscurity and raising her daughter Mai (Cat Vy in a precocious performance), it’s clear that she is struggling in a variety of ways. One of Furie’s strengths is actually having the courage to not make Hai a particularly likeable lead character at first. She’s angry and does some debt collection work to make ends meet, which Mai greatly disapproves of. It’s amidst a fierce mother/daughter argument that Mai is kidnapped, an event which is random and having nothing to do with who Hai used to be. Unfortunately for the kidnappers, Hai has a special set of skills. While the Taken comparisons are apt and ripe for picking, the way Furie plays out really doesn’t feel similar to Taken at all. Where Taken’s Bryan Mills has resources and connections, Hai is a woman alone who must spring into action instantly as she witnesses her child being taken. Hai is desperate and out of practice, totally without any resources beyond her own relentless determination as a mother who happens to know how to beat some asses.
Much of the appeal of Furie is its extremely basic premise. Terminator-like mother will stop at absolutely nothing to get her daughter back from kidnappers. The thrills come from the show-stopping fight sequences and the drama is derived from the human stakes of the set up. I’m not here to tell you that Furie reinvents any wheels. It doesn’t. But it sets up and pays off an action movie that easily gets you pumping your fist and feeling emotionally invested as well.
Much of that has to do with the aforementioned action queen Veronica Ngo. But the filmmaking team is on point in Furie. It’s a good-looking movie that makes a case for a visually compelling Vietnam as a thrilling place to set a film. The Winding-Refn/John Wick-inspired colored lighting is fun. And the action is the ultimate test for something like this, which is great because it rules. The bonus features on the Blu-ray release indicate that some French action film veterans (Kefi Abrikh and Yannick Ben) handled much of the action, stunts, and fight choreography, and have made quite a calling card for themselves in the process. There are some one-on-one fights, car chases, tight-quarters melees, and even some gun battles. They’re all really top notch work that bolster a stripped down but effective story.
There’s a pure simplicity to Furie that might make it too slight for some people’s liking. I found it to be refreshing to watch a star emerge before my very eyes in Veronica Ngo and to see her emote compellingly and kick ass effectively from one scene to the next. There’s also a build up to perhaps the most exciting action set piece all the way at the end, so Furie feels well paced and balanced. This is one of the best action films of 2019.
The Package
I noted that the film looks pretty gorgeous. Vietnam is captured with vibrancy and Veronica Ngo completely owns the screen as well. In terms of bonus features, there’s a very simple behind the scenes featurette and a trailer. You can apparently watch the film in English, too, which I will never do. I highly recommend watching Furie, but the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack may not be essential to own.
And I’m Out.
Furie is available now on Blu-ray/DVD from Well Go USA
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KEOMA (1976) Blu-ray Screen Comparisons: Arrow Video vs Mill Creek’s 2012 Release
This article contains several comparisons which contrast Mill Creek Entertainment’s 2012 Blu-ray transfer with the new Arrow version. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
Arrow Video recently released Keoma on Blu-ray with a new restoration and special features. Directed by the great Enzo G. Castellari and starring Franco Nero (Django) and western legend Woody Strode, the 1976 film is a late-entry, old-fashioned spaghetti western treasure, trailing the heights of the genre’s popularity by a decade but staking a bold claim with legendary talent and a stylish and evocative approach culminating in a Christ allegory.
Keoma was previously released on Blu-ray in a double feature edition from Mill Creek Entertainment, sharing a single disc with The Grand Duel, plus trailers for both films. (Before being too critical of Mill Creek’s disc, fans should bear in mind that it was a budget release using available materials, and an excellent value, considering).
Like many aging Italian films, that older scan was a noisy, smeary affair with artificial smoothness and yellow bias. Arrow’s new edition is a definite and all-around improvement in every way, not only fixing those issues with color correction and a much cleaner 2K scan, but also fixing the print’s sometimes faded, desatured appearance and even opening up the image to fit a bit more of the frame on all sides.
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Close-ups help accentuate these differences — note in particular the difference in clarity in the textures of skin and fabric and Woody Strode’s skin tone.
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow Like any great western, Keoma is full of vistas and landscapes, and it’s here that the old scan’s faded, desaturated colors are perhaps most evident. The restoration fixes those old gray scenes with clearer images of lush greens and blue skies.
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow 
Top: Old Mill Creek // Bottom: New Arrow
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
More than just a new restoration, Arrow’s new edition boasts numerous features:
• New 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
• Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
• Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
• English subtitles for both soundtracks (with a new translation for the Italian track)
• New audio commentary by spaghetti western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke
• The Ballad of Keoma, a new interview with the legendary star Franco Nero
• Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, a new interview with director Enzo G. Castellari
• Writing Keoma, a new interview with actor and writer Luigi Montefiori AKA George Eastman
• Parallel Actions, a new interview with editor Gianfranco Amicucci
• The Flying Thug, a new interview with actor Massimo Vanni
• Play as an Actor, a new interview with actor Volfango Soldati
• Keoma and the Twilight of the Spaghetti Western, a newly filmed video appreciation by the academic Austin Fisher
• An Introduction to Keoma by Alex Cox, an archival featurette with the acclaimed director
• Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
• Gallery of original promotional images from the Mike Siegel Archive
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips // booklet with new writing by Simon Abrams and Howard HughesA/V Out.
Get it at Amazon:
If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.
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SILENT HILL Screen Comparisons: Scream Factory Blows Away Sony’s 2006 Disc
One of the earliest horror films to hit Blu-ray gets a surprisingly revelatory upgrade
This article contains several comparisons which contrast Sony’s 2006 Blu-ray transfer with the new Scream Factory Collector’s Edition. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
Silent Hill was one of the earliest Blu-ray titles available, hitting soon after the format’s launch at a time when Sony’s discs were considered among the industry’s best in terms picture quality. Having watched this Blu-ray a couple times and being content with its appearance, I wasn’t expecting a big difference, if any, on a new release. I was wrong, because Scream Factory’s disc is a Silent Hill revelation.
With some transfers, there are a lot of varying factors and nuances to discuss, but with this comparison, it’s very straightforward. Scream Factory’s new presentation is sharper, brighter, and clearer. By comparison, the older disc almost looks like it’s got a milky haze that’s suddenly been cleared away — particularly noticeable in the now inkier blacks.
Though touted as director-approved, the new transfer isn’t advertised as being a new scan. Whatever the case may be, there’s clearly an improvement, and the difference in brightness and contrast (and I’m just guessing here, but seemingly an absence of artificial smoothing or DNR) provides far greater clarity.
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory Close-ups
‘“A horror movie where I don’t get killed? No, I don’t need a script. I’m in.” 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory The only drawback to the newer, better transfer is that the darker, more muted picture of the prior disc helped to conceal or neutralize some of the dodgier effects and compositing. The film is very heavy on CGI not only for nightmarish creatures but also environmental effects, and in a harsher light some of it looks more garish and artificial.
There’s also an argument that could be made that the murkier transfer rings truer to the foggy, hazy aesthetic of the games, but I believe the inherent craft of the film carries this through where applicable, without the need for reliance on hazy video.
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory 
Top: Old Sony // Bottom: New Scream Factory
Besides a new transfer, Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition also includes a second disc full of new features and interviews. Check out our Blu-ray review by Julian Singleton to read more!
Get it at Amazon:
If you enjoy reading Cinapse, purchasing items through our affiliate links can tip us with a small commission at no additional cost to you.Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.
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Two Cents Makes a New Best Friend with CHILD’S PLAY
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick:
Of all the long-running franchises to emerge from the slasher-glut of the post-Friday the 13th ’80s landscape, the Child’s Play series, starring Chucky the killer doll, may be the unlikeliest. Not only because “doll possessed by a serial killer” would seem to be a fairly limited premise, but because Child’s Play exists as a reaction to a very specific, very ’80s moment in pop culture.
The original script by Don Mancini was a fairly grim number, a jet-black satire of the growing corner of the toy industry including things like Cabbage Patch Kids, Teddy Ruxpin, and My Buddys, toys that blinked and moved and spoke. These toys weren’t designed to just be…you know…toys, but to act as friends, playmates, custodians, even surrogate parents, provided dear old mom and dad also spent the cash on all the auxiliary products that went with the dolls. Mancini’s script envisioned a doll built so realistically that it included fake blood. When young Andy Barclay mixes his own blood with the doll’s, it comes to life and begins to target and kill those people who have earned the child’s wrath.
The finished Child’s Play ended up being a good deal more playful (natch) once it passed through a number of other writers and director Tom Holland. Chucky (Brad Dourif) is a murderous creep who gets gunned down in a toy store by no-nonsense Detective Mike Norris (Chris “Humperdinck” Sarandon. Before he dies, Chucky uses a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a nearby doll, one of a popular line of ‘Good Guy’ toys. The doll ends up in the possession of hard-working single mother Karen Barclay, (Catherine Hicks) desperate for a gift for her 6-year old son Andy (Alex Vincent). No sooner has Chucky been let out of the box then he starts wreaking murderous havoc in Andy and Karen’s life.
Over 30 years later, the havoc hasn’t stopped. The Child’s Play films have continued, always with Mancini as a guiding hand as either writer, co-writer, and more recently director as well. The sequels pivoted to a more comedic bent before committing to being out-and-out absurdist comedies, climaxing (ha) in Seed of Chucky, in which Chucky spawns a gender non-conforming child, jerks off into a turkey baster, and kills both Britney Spears (played by an impersonator) and John Waters (played by John Waters). The franchise then pivoted back to horror, with Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky serving as stripped-down returns to the creepy, lo-fi aesthetics of the original. Despite this bizarre journey to absurdism and back, the Chucky films have maintained a single continuity for their duration, with Mancini as grand architect and Dourif’s maniacal voice work as the twin constants.
Due to a rights snafu, MGM retained creative control over the original Child’s Play (but not the Chucky sequels) and decided to launch a remake, despite the original series continuing in popularity. The remake, released last week, aged up Andy to a young teenager and swapped out the voodoo mythology in favor of making Chucky an AI unit run amok, replacing Dourif with Mark Hamill (the dude from The Guyver).
Some folks liked it, some folks didn’t, but regardless, Mancini, Dourif, and their creative partners are still moving forward with a TV continuation of their original series, with classic Chucky set to stalk SyFy channel sometime next year.
Here’s to 30 more years of Child’s Play.
Next Week’s Pick:
We don’t know if you know this, but there’s an international holiday called “Independence Day” next Thursday? No longer remembered as an American holiday, it was globally canonized in 1996. Anyway, we’re taking a break so you have two weeks to send us your thoughts on the amazing, the spectacular, the sensational, the ultimately Academy Award winning, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, now available to stream on Netflix!
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday, July 11!
Our Guests
Chris Chipman:
It’s easy to forget that the original Child’s Play is actually played pretty serious. Charles Lee Ray (played by Grima Wormtongue himself, Brad Dourif), who voodoo-maguffins himself into a Good Guy doll, is depicted as a crass, nasty, dangerous criminal and he continues in that vein as Chucky (also voiced by Dourif). The setup and pacing of the film are tight and the deaths and puppetry on Chucky still hold up. Not having seen this film since I was very young, I was also surprised at how much it still unnerved me.
Like clowns, the idea of a kid’s doll talking on its own or being possessed by some malevolent spirit is a common fear that seems to resonate well in horror films, particularly now with films like Annabelle and the Child’s Play reboot. I saw this film when I was very young, I would say between 6–8 years old, similar to the age of Andy in the first film. There was just a way about the score, cinematography and tone of this film that REALLY got to me as a kid. The fact that this doll was supposed to be Andy’s friend and not only betrayed him but tried to kill him really spoke to me and made me take a second look at my own toys. Also, that creepy voodoo knife with the weird zig-zag on it still creeps me out today.
As an adult with a child with an Autism Spectrum Diagnosis and seeing the way children who are seen as “different” are treated now and also thinking back to the way my own brother had been treated for being autistic and nonconforming in our early private school education, the scenes with Andy just being taken away from his mother and locked up in a creepy psychiatric hospital instead of being listened to really shook me. I thought back to my brother, being treated as if he was “bad” for being different and thought of Andy, who is both being betrayed by his “friend” Chucky and left for dead by the adults who should be protecting him. I then thought about my daughter, who is being treated with such empathy and affection by doctors, specialists, school and society today.
Because of both of these experiences, I am able to look Child’s Play as both a great example (that truly holds up) of this particular brand of horror movie and also a document of the archaic way mental health, especially in children used to be handled. Great to see that in my life-time things have gotten much better. Anyway… Child’s Play… it gets WAY sillier after the second one. (@TheChippa)
Child’s Play is one of those movies that terrified me long before I was old enough to actually see it. Just the premise, combined with VHS art, was enough to overstimulate my young imagination. Looking back, the Chucky/Child’s Play franchise is easily one of the most consistently good slasher series of all time — and with this first film it hit the ground running. The animatronics aren’t as polished as they would become in later sequels, but the ‘less is more’ approach (a la Jaws or Alien) is very effective. Of course Brad Dourif is perfect as Chucky, and Chris Sarandon is a lot of fun as the no-nonsense detective. But what really makes it work is Alex Vincent as Andy — his youth heightens virtually every bit of horror and suspense. I also love the way the film diverts into a weird voodoo revenge subplot, with Chucky hunting down the people who have wronged him. Child’s Play isn’t always my first choice when picking an old school slasher, but it definitely holds up. (The remake is surprisingly good too, albeit in some very different ways — but that is another story!). (@T_Lawson)
Today is Trey’s birthday so we want to give him a special shout!
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
I dunno if this qualifies as a Hot Take or not, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that original Child’s Play is a better version of itself than the original Friday The 13th.
At least in how it creates a truly iconic horror personality and uses all the tricks in its tool chest to utmost effect. Don Mancini and Tom “Fright Night” Holland know exactly just how breezily to play the premise of “dead serial killer uses voodoo to possess a kid’s doll and then do more murders” while also crafting genuinely effective set pieces that play with the fun gimmicks afforded to “small scary thing in familiar settings.” There’s also the commendable way the cast play to the film’s strengths, and the focus on the precocious kid and harried mom being terrorized by Brad Dourif (who, predictably, owns) allows the filmmakers to dispense just enough information for the audience to understand the basics without overloading on lore or exposition.
I really can’t say enough good about how pacey and economical this thing is. Child’s Play spends exactly enough time on “Cabbage Patch Rear Window” before people other than the kid start to catch on, at which point Holland and Mancini load up every gag they can think of to put the cast through the wringer (poor Chris Sarandon damn near gets the Bruce Campbell treatment) and then just empty the clip to make sure that damn near every “wouldn’t it be cool if…?” moment gets a spotlight. Holland’s visual sensibilities are both adept at mitigating some dodgy Chucky doubles while also ratcheting up tension by holding shots with him in the background of the frame or accentuate his stillness so that final act can really go off.
Child’s Play leaves everything on the table, executing a “so crazy it just might work” premise with gusto and then literally burning through it, and however many times Chucky returns, his first outing still holds up as something special. (@BLCAgnew)
The Team
There are a couple elements that really make Child’s Play sing, above and beyond the standards of an agreeable ’80s creature feature. Number one is the design of Chucky himself. It’s nothing less than masterpiece, sitting perfectly at the intersection between ‘cute’ and ‘creepy’ so you understand why kids would desperately want the thing, while also ably building menace as it sits and watches hapless humans wandering around unawares of the danger that might spring out at any second. When Chucky comes to full life, the combination of puppetry, animatronics, and performers in costume, working with Dourif’s pre-recorded voice work, create a living, dangerous creature. The seams are visible, particularly whenever they just toss a kid or a dwarf in the costume and have them run around, but Holland is crafty enough in how he shoots and stages the Chucky scenes that it’s never a deal breaker.
But the real magic comes from Hicks and Vincent. The script does an exceptional job at illustrating their dynamic quickly and efficiently (none of Andy’s clothes really ‘fit’, a beautiful, uncommented on touch that highlights the economic straits the family is under) and both are among the most sympathetic victims in any horror film. Vincent, in particular, is almost too good, as the terror and trauma he expresses when Chucky turns is so convincing that Child’s Play, for the first and last time in this series, is at times genuinely upsetting. (@theTrueBrendanF)
Despite being a big horror fan who came of age in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I’ve never been one to hold the big franchises of that era as sacred cows. While I love most things A Nightmare on Elm Street, others like Halloween and Friday the 13 never meant much to me. Sadly, Child’s Play is included in this category. While I’ve always appreciated the original, I’ve never seen the sequels that I can recall and my appreciation of the original is mostly a shrug and a simple “I dig it.”
Rewatching the original film for the first time in roughly a decade or more, I feel more of the same. It’s a clever premise and a compelling story. Its brand of kindertrauma doesn’t scare as an adult the way it did as a kid, but it’s still very entertaining. While the latter films are mostly played for laughs, as far as I can tell, this film takes the premise rather seriously. And, despite enjoying a good horror-comedy, I appreciate this choice and think this film has aged quite well.(@thepaintedman)
As a kid, I had a vivid dream in which I thought I had seen my frog hand puppet (a real toy I owned) moving in my peripheral vision, so to expose him I abruptly acted as if I was going to bite his head, and he suddenly wiggled alive in my hand. When I awoke I told my sister about my dream and it distressed her so much that she didn’t want her own puppet anymore.
Similarly, I heard a playground urban legend about a Teddy Ruxpin that came to life in a child’s room at night — a quick Google search shows this telling was not an isolated phenomenon. Incidents like these are definite and irrefutable proof to me that Mancini, Holland, and company definitely tapped into something primal in children’s psyches when they created the Child’s Play concept.
Like Trey, this franchise was introduced to me at the video rental, many years before I actually viewed it. I loved perusing horror covers of movies I wasn’t allowed to watch. The first couple Child’s Play tapes were some of the most memorable images to an impressionable young mind (Chucky decapitating a Jack-O-Lantern!), and I picked up on the name “Chucky” before I knew Freddy or Jason.
As it happens, I didn’t watch Child’s Play until I was an adult, but even so it has some really effective moments of horror, in particular the moment where Catherine Hicks realizes something may actually be wrong with her child’s doll and puts it to the test by threatening violence — a scene which absolutely and immediately recalled when I did the same with my frog puppet.
As I was editing this article my 4-year-old caught a glimpse of Chucky and expressed her opinion that he looks creeeeeepy. Yes, friends, this will be a horror classic forever. (Austin Vashaw)
Next-next week’s pick:
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THE HEAD HUNTER: Micro Budget Meets Medieval Horror Fantasy
More than just a calling card for a fantastic new filmmaking team
With somewhere around 100 words spoken in the entire duration of the film, and just about as many gallons of blood spilled, The Head Hunter is the truest form of lean and mean cinema.
A nameless warrior (Christopher Rygh credited only as “Father”) goes about his solitary business of monster killing as the camera watches on. We don’t actually see very many of these monsters, mind you, as the rumored budget of The Head Hunter is somewhere around $30,000. But we do see their remains. Trophies of monsters long vanquished adorn the walls of our warrior’s home. Alone and with a score to settle, Father occupies himself with the creation of potions that heal him and prepare him for the next battle. When a distant howl is heard, he will suit up and square off against the latest creature threatening the vaguely defined kingdom our protagonist lives on the outskirts of. There’s one creature in particular that he is after: the creature that took his daughter from him. Most of the words spoken in the film are Father to himself, or Father to his long-deceased daughter. It seems his only reason for living is vengeance against the monster who claimed his daughter’s life.
Few words, less dollars, and even fewer characters do not a slight movie make, however, if the filmmaking team is creative. And man… writer/director/editor Jordan Downey and writer/producer/DP Kevin Stewart sure do make the most of the resources they have. Probably most notably, for those skeptical of a film so shockingly inexpensive: The Head Hunter looks fantastic. Our solitary hero is clad in costuming that gives The Lord Of The Rings a run for its money. And the various creature designs and overall production value are laudable. While the world feels desolate and verging on apocalyptic, it also feels vast and expansive, with many sweeping vistas and environments explored. Most of the action takes place in and around Father’s home, but even his home is well designed and integral to the survival of this totally isolated man.
Are there limitations to what can be achieved with The Head Hunter? Sure. One notices when there are so few characters, or such little dialog. And you become aware of the distinct lack of screen time given to actual monsters whilst watching a movie about a monster hunter. The “Castaway Effect” might sour some viewers on The Head Hunter, as we really just watch one guy go about his lonely existence. None of those shortcomings diminished my own personal enjoyment or investment in the film, however. The smart script both creates a world which can be brought to life on a budget, and serves an actual function for a story about isolation and the futility of vengeance. The fact that it creates its own version of a world filled with horrible medieval magic and monsters will, I believe, draw in genre fans and engage them with a true medieval horror film with stakes and emotional weight.
And the final act really does go out of its way to create some true on screen action and monster thrills to compensate for the open space it leaves your brain to paint a visual picture of the action in the first two acts. I compare the feel of the early half of the film to the much-lauded video game Shadow Of The Colossus: an almost empty world, beautiful in its abandonment, and haunted by giant inexplicable creatures. As vengeance gets within tasting distance for Father, however, the tone becomes more claustrophobic and immediate. There’s even a bit of a Basket Case vibe to the final act, which I’ll leave at that.
I’m drawn to films like this with their own production mythology surrounding them. Oh, there’s a $30K fantasy film out there that’s actually awesome? I’m going to have to seek that out. So I was probably a mark for this all along. But The Head Hunter is more than just a calling card or a gimmick. It marks the genuine arrival of Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart (not to mention their entire team who composed music and did production design and built gore effects, etc) as filmmakers to keep an eye on. And it also completely works as a narrative divorced from the knowledge of its humble origins. It’s gorgeous, it’s mean, it’s smart, and it pulls zero punches as a hard fantasy tale.
The Package
True to its scrappy origins, The Head Hunter is only available on DVD and VOD, so no high def physical media option is available. I’m personally thrilled to own this DVD and while The Head Hunter probably looks even more fantastic in high def, it still looks pretty stunning in standard. There aren’t any special features to speak of on this DVD release either, but the filmmaking team asserts that there are many behind the scenes materials that may someday get to see the light of day. Support this film with a DVD purchase or a VOD download, I say. If a grassroots fanbase emerges, we’ll likely get to see a lot more material on how they accomplished this feat, and perhaps they’ll get a chance to create something new for us as well.
And I’m Out.
The Head Hunter is now available on DVD and Digital directly from the official website.
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SILENT HILL: Shout Factory Resurrects the Best Video Game Adaptation [Blu Review]
![SILENT HILL: Shout Factory Resurrects the Best Video Game Adaptation [Blu Review]](https://i0.wp.com/cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/1YLs4erMeYOOX57xFD3Hbbg.png?resize=1140%2C641&ssl=1)
Shout Factory invites you to disappear into their new 2-Disc Special Edition
Christophe Gans’ film version of Konami’s Silent Hill franchise is a rarity when it comes to video game adaptations: it preserves the spirit and visual style of the original source material while attempting (to varied success) to translate hours’ worth of gameplay into a coherent, single-film story.
More than a decade since the film’s release — and eventual demise of the video game series — Shout Factory’s new Blu-ray does a fantastic job of positioning Silent Hill as a horror classic on its own terms. With a treasure trove of new and archival special features, Shout Factory recontextualizes Silent Hill as one of those rare examples of creative freedom given to a project that wasn’t just a big-budget adaption of a video game franchise, but a horror film that’s just as heavy on atmosphere as much as it is on grotesque shocks.
THE FILM
After little Sharon is plagued with nightmares fixated on her birthplace of Silent Hill, her adopted mother Rose decides to take Sharon to the long-abandoned West Virginia town in search of a cure. After a roadside accident causes Sharon to go missing outside of town, Rose must search the foggy streets of Silent Hill for her daughter and the answers to her mysterious past. But something else lurks in the darkness of Silent Hill — a nightmarish world of monsters and metal that’s out to claim Rose and Sharon for good.
Much like the video game series it’s based upon, Christophe Gans’ Silent Hill is an otherworldly blend of horror styles — from David Lynch’s dread-laden atmosphere to the body horror of David Cronenberg. Like a feverish hallucination, the rationale behind Silent Hill’s creatures and hellish setting is only explained so far — creating a frightening amount of unpredictability to a relatively straightforward story.
There’s much to love about Silent Hill on a purely visual level — while he realized his audience’s potential unfamiliarity with the material (only 150 copies of the game were released in his native France), Gans fiendishly dedicated himself to bringing the world of Silent Hill to life. Props, set designs, and even camera movements are directly lifted from what was already a heavily-cinematic video game, and the film’s soundtrack is more often than not a “greatest hits” of game composer Akira Yamaoka’s series-spanning work (with some delightfully demonic additions by co-composer Jeff Danna). While the end result may disorient audiences unused to the original series, and some moments bear the stilted dialogue and coincidental scenework of lesser video-game adaptations, Christophe Gans’ film remains an undeniably visceral and terrifying film, immersing the audience in a uniquely nightmarish world that runs on its own perverse dream logic.
It’s also clear that Gans does his best to create a practical world that his actors can react to, and as a result brings out some of their best work. Radha Mitchell and Laurie Holden are effective horror protagonists, screaming and shooting their way through setpiece after setpiece without losing sight of their characters’ emotional drive. Equal spotlight is given to some of my favorite character actors as well, from Kim Coates to Deborah Kara Unger, and even pre-Game of Thrones Sean Bean. The standout, though, is Alice Krige’s Christabella, who takes what could be a cartoonish villain and imbues her with a disturbingly evocative zealotry, a cult leader whose sole method of survival relies on the utmost dedication to their wicked beliefs.
THE TRANSFER
Shout Factory presents Silent Hill via an approved HD master working in collaboration with Director Christophe Gans. Contrast and black levels are sharp and the details of the film’s laborious production and creature designs are well-preserved. It’s revealed in the special features that the film was shot on both digital and film — a relative novelty back in 2006 — and the two styles blend remarkably well in this presentation.
Audio options include both DTS-HD Master 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. Akira Yamaoka and Jeff Danna’s score truly shines in these mixes, as well as a dynamic, hallucinatory sound design full of rusty metal and ambient echoes. Both tracks serve well to heighten the dread Gans and cinematographer Dan Laustsen’s visual style builds throughout. English SDH subtitles are also included for the feature, while the film’s special features go unsubtitled.
THE EXTRAS
Shout Factory has put together an impressive release, gathering almost five hours’ worth of special features. Included are new interviews with cast and crew as well as archival featurettes from US and international releases. It would have been nice to see interviews with stars Radha Mitchell, Alice Krige, or even Silent Hill’s iconic composer Akira Yamaoka. However, the talent involved here talk at length about the film’s rigorous production with an extensive amount of insight, making this release a significant upgrade from previous releases.
Packaging features a reversible slipcover of the film’s original theatrical poster and newly-designed art by illustrator Devon Whitehead featuring the film’s myriad nightmarish monsters.
DISC ONE
- Audio Commentary: Justin Beahm moderates a feature-length conversation with Silent Hill Cinematographer Dan Laustsen, delving into the challenges of adapting the visual style of the video games in a coherent cinematic fashion, easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans, and other technical aspects used to bring the chaotic world of Silent Hill to life.
- Theatrical Trailer: Silent Hill’s US trailer.
DISC TWO
- Interview with Director Christophe Gans: The Blu-ray’s most impressive highlight is this 3-part, 72-minute conversation with Silent Hill’s director Christophe Gans. Gans discusses how he got into horror filmmaking with Necronomicon, his first foray into Japanese-to-English adaptations with 1995’s Crying Freeman, and ultimately how his success with Brotherhood of the Wolf led into his pursuit of the Silent Hill film rights. Over a decade since the film’s release, Gans is refreshingly candid about his experiences fighting to retain the videogame’s nightmarish atmosphere and dream logic, as well as the film’s reception by fans both abroad and in his home country of France.
- A Tale Of Two Jodelles: Jodelle Ferland (Sharon), now an adult, reflects on her unconventional upbringing as a child actress and her memories working on a graphic horror film as a 10-year-old kid. Ferland shares fun anecdotes like sneaking into Radha Mitchell’s trailer to play the Silent Hill games in between takes, as well as surprising cosplayers who don’t recognize the grown-up actress at video game conventions.
- Dance of the Pyramid: Roberto Campanella discusses how he drew upon his career as a professional dancer in Rome to create the visceral movement styles of Silent Hill’s creatures, as well as his experience playing the Janitor and fan-favorite Pyramid Head.
- Interview with Paul Jones: In this two-part, 50-minute interview, special effects makeup designer Paul Jones discusses how his fascination with practical effects began as a kid with early rubber-monster movies. Jones continues into varied anecdotes from his long-storied film career, the complex and frequently frustrating makeup process involved in creating Silent Hill’s creatures, and what he learned and improved upon for the sequel, Silent Hill: Revelation.
- Path of Darkness — Making “Silent Hill:” This six-part in-depth look into Silent Hill’s production was sadly removed from the initial Sony Blu-ray release of the film, and has thankfully been restored for Shout Factory’s release. A few shots also provide tantalizing glimpses into the production of scenes eventually removed (and remain unseen) from the final cut.
- “On Set” and “Around the Film” Vintage Featurettes: Twenty minutes of featurettes are ported over from the equally-extensive French release of the film.
- Photo Gallery and Poster Gallery: Production stills and marketing materials from the film.
While both the film and video game series may have met their ends by the time of this review, Shout Factory’s new Blu-ray resurrects Silent Hill for a new generation of horror fans just in time for a well-deserved and overdue reappraisal.
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ESCAPE PLAN: THE EXTRACTORS: More International Business Venture Than Movie
Some stars shine, but film fizzles
Having given Escape Plan 2: Hades a pretty gentle pass in my review, I find myself in the odd position of having to say that Escape Plan 3 isn’t a very good movie, but it’s substantially better than part 2… which hasn’t aged well in my memory.
It’s easy to see why the two films were shot back to back, as they’re both more of an investment exercise than a genuine film. I don’t say this as someone who’s unaware of the tropes of direct to video filmmaking. In fact, I’m a bit of a connoisseur of this type of cinema. The problem that often arises in this subgenre of lower budget direct to video films is when the motivation for making them feels more like an attempt to wring a few bucks out of an intellectual property that may have JUST a little life left in it. Sometimes you get an inspired filmmaker who attacks the project with something to prove and takes the limitations of the budget and wrings gold from it. Other times you get Escape Plan 2 and 3. Watching these movies is somewhat of an exercise in watching contractual negotiations play out on the small screen rather than watching a cohesive screenplay flow through three acts.
Here in The Extractors, Stallone’s Ray Breslin again plays somewhat of a supporting character in his own franchise. Most of the plot actually revolves around a dismissed security guard named Shen Lo (Max Zhang of Ip Man: Master Z fame) who seeks to redeem himself by rescuing his former charge and the love of his life, Chinese business mogul Daya (Melise). It just so happens that Daya has been kidnapped by the son of Breslin’s former business partner (Devon Sawa as Lester Clark, Jr), so therefore Ray and Shen’s heroic journeys are tied together in taking down the bad guy. Again, Breslin’s team shows up in the form of 50 Cent (given top billing on the cover with barely a few minutes of screen time), Jamie King (an unfortunately thankless role), and Dave Bautista (who gets to show up, kick ass, and walk away with nary a character trait in sight).
Max Zhang actually comes out of this film looking like the star that he proved himself to be in Master Z. And believe it or not longtime Stallone collaborator and director of this project John Herzfeld directs the martial arts sequences well, pulling back the camera and allowing Zhang to work his magic. There are a few standout moments that allow Zhang to make a more formidable leading man than the previous Breslin protege Asian character who was the lead in the second film. Devon Sawa also comes away from this film unscathed, absolutely making the most of a villain that should not have been very interesting. The movie ties in to the first one as Sawa’s character plays the son of Vincent D’Onofrio’s character in the first movie. Sawa is quite brutal, and The Extractors does earn its R-rating. Bautista gets a couple of gun battles that are the highlight of the show (but also in the trailer), and fights his own real-life stunt double at one point as well. Stallone doesn’t appear to be phoning this movie in, per se, but he really doesn’t feel like the lead at all either. He gets to dish out some sweet revenge on the bad guy, so I guess that’s something.
Unfortunately, in the end Escape Plan: The Extractors feels more like a collection of decent action beats and a showcase for a few actors while simply being a paycheck for a few others. It’s competent enough in comparison to its predecessor, and will probably play well on the international (and Redbox) market as it was designed to do. But one does miss the theatrical grade thrills of the first film, which I actually found to be a blast. Only the barest of essentials really tie these sequels to that Stallone/Schwarzenegger team up film that had some real style and fun to it. Only Stallone and Bautista completists or huge fans of Asian action cinema need pay The Extractors any heed.
And I’m Out.
Escape Plan: The Extractors is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on July 2nd from Lionsgate.
