A Movie A Day #102: Space Riders (1984, directed by Joe Massot)

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Since today’s episode of Twin Peaks featured Gavan O’Herlihy, I decided that today’s Movie A Day would also feature him. I nearly reviewed O’Herlihy’s best known film, Death Wish 3, but then I remembered that, at some point in the future, I am going to review all of the Death Wish films together. Instead of reviewing Death Wish 3, I watched Space Riders on YouTube.

In Space Riders, Gavan O’Herlihy plays Ron Harris, a Grand Prix motorcycle racer who is lured out of retirement (and away from Marina Sirtis, who also appeared with O’Herlihy in Death Wish 3) to join a racing team sponsored by a Japanese motorcycle company. Also on the team are Japanese racer Masao Yamashta (played by Toshiya Ito) and 2-time Grand Prix champion, Barry Sheene. Sheene plays himself and Space Riders even opens with a recreation of an accident that nearly cost Sheene his life in 1982. (In the movie, Sheene is trying to make a comeback after the accident. In real life, the accident eventually led to Sheene’s retirement from the sport.)

There is no real plot to Space Riders. It’s just one race after another, with the emphasis on the motorcycles and less on the men riding them. The racing scenes are occasionally exciting and there’s some spectacular stunt work but it is nearly impossible to tell who is on each motorcycle until the race is over and everyone takes off their helmets. There is an interesting scene where Yamashta imagines that he is being chased by a samurai on a motorcycle but that is pretty much it as far as character development is concerned. O’Herlihy does okay with the role Ron, playing one of his few good guy roles. (Even on Happy Days, the main thing that stuck out about O’Herlihy’s Chuck Cunningham was that no one liked him. After O’Herlihy left the show, Chuck was never mentioned again, leading everyone to wonder what terrible fate has befallen Richie’s older brother.)

One thing that does distinguish Space Riders is the classic 80s soundtrack. Who would have guessed that Hungry Like The Wolf would turn out to be perfect racing music? Even though it’s no On Any Sunday, Space Riders will be enjoyed by motorcycle racing enthusiasts.

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.10 “Dispute Between Brothers” (directed by Tina Rathbone)

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

The 10th episode of the 2nd season of Twin Peaks opens with a shot of Laura and Leland Palmer’s pictures on the mantle and a title card telling us that it has been three days since Leland’s death.

At the Palmer house, Mrs. Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) is preparing to bury her husband. Doctor Hayward (Warren Frost) tries to give her a shot, which she refuses. Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) assures her that Leland did not actually kill her daughter.

(It’s interesting to note that this episode was directed by Tina Rathone, whose last episode also featured a funeral.)

At Leland’s wake, the entire cast has shown up and they’ve all brought food. Nadine (Wendy Robie) is dressed like a 1950s teenager. Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) wonders if people are invited to wakes or if they just show up. Hank (Chris Mulkey) grabs all the food that he can. Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) tells Ed (Everett McGill) that James is blaming himself for everything that happened. Ed promises Donna that James will eventually come back. Speaking of coming back, Doctor Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) has finally returned from Hawaii and arrived just in time for the wake.

Cooper tells Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) that he has some vacation time coming up so he will be sticking around town for at least a few more days. The Major invites Cooper to go night fishing.

Twin Peaks’s elderly mayor, Dwayne Milford (John Boylan) throws a swing at his equally elderly brother, Dougie (Tony Jay), the owner of the town’s newspaper. As Harry and Ed pull them apart, Pete (Jack Nance) tells Cooper that Dougie and Dwayne have had a running feud for over 50 years. Cooper says he’s really going to miss Twin Peaks.

Fade to commercial.

When the show returns, Ed and Jacoby are at Twin Peaks High School and trying to talk the vice principal (Don Calfa) into admitting 35 year-old Nadine as a member of the senior class. Nadine runs into the office and tells them to hurry up because class is about to start and she wants to try out for cheerleader.

Cooper is in his hotel room, packing. Audrey comes in, says that she’s from customer relations, and asks if his stay has been satisfactory. Audrey asks if Cooper’s just going to leave and break her heart. Cooper explains that he can’t get involved with anyone who was involved in any of his cases. Cooper explains that he once fell in love with a material witness. He was supposed to protect her but, when the attempt was made on her life, he was not prepared and she died in his arms.

At the Johnson house, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) is trying on Leo’s (Eric Da Re) suit. Bobby is going to try to convince Ben into giving him a job. Shelly (Madchen Amick) is already getting bored with her new life.

At the sheriff’s station, Harry walks into his office and finds Catherine (Piper Laurie) waiting for him.

“Hello, Harry,” Catherine says.

“Forgive me for saying so, Catherine,” Harry replies, “but aren’t you dead?”

Catherine shrugs. She explains that, after the explosion at the mill, she woke up in the woods with no knowledge of how she got there. She says that a guardian angel must have rescued her. She spent a week living in the woods, eating only tuna fish. Harry asks what made her come back. Catherine says that she ran out of tuna fish.

In the lobby, Dick (Ian Buchanan) tells Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) that he wants to talk about their “bambino.” Dick says he wants to be a father, he believes the child is his, and that he’s enrolled in parenting classes. After hiding around the corner and listening to the conversation, Andy (Harry Goaz) walks into the lobby and says that, for the sake of the baby, they should all be friends. As Andy later explains to Hawk (Michael Horse), the key to Lucy’s heart lies in “morals and manly behaviors.”

Cooper stops by Harry’s office to say goodbye. Harry gives Cooper a parting gift of a special fishing lure and a Book House Boy patch. Cooper then says goodbye to Hawk, Andy, and Lucy. However, the goodbyes are interrupted by the arrival of FBI Agent Roger Hardy (Clarence Williams III) and Preston King (Gavan O’Herlihy) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

(Long before they both appeared on Twin Peaks, Clarence Williams III and Peggy Lipton co-starred on The Mod Squad. Gavan O’Herlihy is the son of Dan O’Herlihy. Best known for playing Conal Cochran in Halloween III, Dan will join the cast of Twin Peaks in one more episode. As for Gavan, he is probably best known for playing Chuck Cunningham during the first season of Happy Days and getting shot by Charles Bronson in Death Wish II.)

Roger tells Cooper that he has been suspended from the FBI. Cooper’s raid on One-Eyed Jack’s was a violation of FBI policy because it involved crossing the border into Canada. Roger says that there are other allegations as well but they’re waiting for the evidence to arrive. Roger explains that King was involved in a sting operation to capture Jean Renault and that Cooper’s actions screwed it up. Also, the cocaine that King was using as a part of the operation disappeared after Cooper’s raid. Roger tells Cooper that he has 24 hours to assemble his defense.

At the Great Northern, Audrey helps Bobby get into Ben’s office but Ben (Richard Beymer) immediately has Bobby tossed out. Audrey saves Bobby from Ben’s goons. In order to thank her, Bobby buys Audrey an ice cream cone. “I like to lick,” Audrey says.

At Twin Peaks High School, Nadine tries out for cheerleader. Nadine now has Hulk-like super strength now, which she demonstrated by picking up a student and throwing him through the air.

Bobby calls Shelly to tell her about the meeting. While Shelly talks on the phone about how they have to put Leo in a home, Leo moves forward in his wheel chair. “He moved!” Shelly says, shocked.

At the diner, Norma (Peggy Lipton) takes the fancy table cloths off the tables and complains to Vera (Jane Greer) about a bad review that the Double R got from the mysterious travel writer, M.T. Wentz. Vivian reveals that she’s M.T. Wentz and she gave her own daughter’s diner a negative review. Vera says that she can’t violate her professional ethics.

At One-Eyed Jack’s, Hank and Ernie (James Booth) are chasing women and acting like fools. Hank is pressuring Ernie to steal Vera’s money. Ernie says he could never do that, he’s gone straight. That’s when Hank introduces Ernie to his new employer, Jean Renault (Michael Parks). Jean is looking for someone to serve as a money launderer and Ernie agrees, bragging that he has set up deals for everyone from the Colombians to the Bolivians. Jean is pleased and introduces Ernie to his other partner, Preston King of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

That night, Harry is woken up by someone knocking on the door to his cabin. When he opens the door, Josie (Joan Chen), who was supposed to be in Seattle, stumbles in and collapses.

In the woods, Cooper and Major Briggs are camping, roasting marshmallows, and discussing right and wrong. Briggs says that it is some men’s fate to face great darkness. Briggs asks if Cooper has ever heard of the White Lodge. Cooper says he hasn’t but he looks forward to hearing more about it. Cooper then goes off to relieve himself. There is a flash of white light. “Cooper!” Briggs shouts as a hooded man appears in the woods. Cooper runs back to the camp, just to discover that Briggs has vanished.

This uneven episode finds Twin Peaks struggling to establish an identity after the conclusion of the Laura Palmer storyline. For me, the highlight was Leland’s wake, which showed Twin Peaks as a community. Nadine’s adventures in high school may be cartoonish but they hold up better than I thought they would. Finally, this was the first episode to mention that all-important White Lodge.

Tomorrow, both David Duchovny and Dan O’Herlihy join the cast in Masked Ball.

Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:

A Movie A Day #101: Swamp Thing (1982, directed by Wes Craven)

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

I have been dreading this moment for a while.

Ever since I decided that, while we are reviewing every episode of Twin Peaks, that every entry in Movie A Day would have a connection with the show, I knew that I would have to eventually review Swamp Thing. I didn’t want to because I hate Swamp Thing but, outside of his work as Leland Palmer, it is also Ray Wise’s most famous role. One of the good things about Twin Peaks is that it saved Ray Wise from being forever known as Swamp Thing.

Of course, Ray Wise does not really play Swamp Thing. He plays Alec Holland, the human scientist who is working on a formula that will allow animals and plants to thrive in extreme environments. When the evil Dr. Arcane (Louis Jourdan) sends his henchmen (including veteran bad guys David Hess and Nicholas Worth) to steal the formula, Alec gets set on fire and runs into the Louisiana bayou. When Alec emerges, he has become Swamp Thing, half-human and half-plant. He is also now played by Dick Durock. Swamp Thing must protect both bodacious Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) and streetwise swamp kid Jude (Reggie Batts) while trying to prevent Arcane from using the formula to turn himself into a werewolf and conquer the world.

Despite the easily mocked name, Swamp Thing has often been one of the best characters in the DC universe. The movie does not being to do the character justice. At the time, Wes Craven was best known for movies like Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. Swamp Thing was an attempt to show that he could direct a big-budget, studio production. Unfortunately, Craven takes a deliberately campy approach to the material, to the extent that, if not for a handful of scenes like Swamp Thing crushing David Hess’s skull, Swamp Thing could have easily been directed by Joel Schumacher during his Batman years. Just the name Swamp Thing is campy enough. There’s no need to toss in Louis Jourdan turning into a werewolf. Fans of Adrienne Barbeau will do better to rewatch Escape from New York than sit through Swamp Thing.

Fortunately, for Ray Wise, Twin Peaks came along and saved him from forever being known as Swamp Thing.

A Movie A Day #100: Satan’s Touch (1984, directed by John D. Goodell)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

She is not in this movie.

Bill Parrish (James Lawless) is an honest, midwestern grocery store owner who admonishes one of his regular customers about her shoplifting habits. When she attempts to blame the devil, Bill reminds her that we all have a duty to resist the devil’s temptations. What Bill does not realize is that not only is the Devil (Paul Davies) listening in but he also looks like a member of the Bee Gees. The Devil gets offended and decides to tempt Bill with a trip to Las Vegas. The Devil gives Bill unlimited luck when it comes to placing his bets, something that gets Bill in trouble when he hits the jackpot on a slot machine that is specifically programmed to never pay off.

This month, I am reviewing films that have a Twin Peaks connection and that is the only reason why I am reviewing this low-budget oddity. In Satan’s Touch, the casino manager is played by Doctor Hayward himself, Warren Frost. What is interesting is that, for once, management is the hero. The manager does not hire a private detective to investigate Parrish out of spite or a desire for revenge. Instead, he is just worried that this man’s luck will cause Vegas to go bankrupt and put a lot of good people out of work.

Originally called Jackpot and made to play on the church circuit, the movie was retitled and released as a horror film in 1984. I rented a copy when I was 12 because there was a picture of an evil-looking woman with ample cleavage on the cover. As long as it has been since I saw the film, I do remember that she was nowhere in it. What I do remember is that Satan’s Touch was slow, not very interesting, and, whenever the Devil got bored, he would say, “I’m getting the Hell out of here.”

A few final notes about Warren Frost: Frost was married to the same woman from 1949 until his death earlier this year. He had three children, actress Lindsay Frost and writes Mark and Scott Frost. Mark, of course, co-created Twin Peaks while Scott also wrote for the show. If you don’t know Warren Frost from Twin Peaks, you probably know him as Mr. Ross on Seinfeld. On that show, his wife was played by his Twin Peaks co-star, Grace Zabriskie.

A Movie A Day #99: A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer (1964, directed by Richard Beymer)

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

In 1964, having starred in several movies, including West Side Story, Richard Beymer put his acting career on hold and spent the summer in Mississippi, where he was one of several activists who worked to register blacks to vote and who taught at Freedom Schools. He brought a Bolex camera with him, filmed what he saw, and later edited that footage into a 30-minute documentary called A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer.

Set to a soundtrack that is a mix of rock and roll and the blues, A Regular Bouquet is a heartfelt and often angry portrait of day-to-day life in the Jim Crow era. Over footage of black women and children working in a cotton field, a woman explains how, every year, she picks more cotton and gets paid less money for her work. There is positive and hopeful footage of young black children learning at a Freedom School but, at the same time, the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner hang over the documentary. One of the documentary’s most strongest moments is a montage of still photographs that illustrate how far the authorities were willing to go to try to stop the civil right movement from reaching Mississippi.

A Regular Bouquet is available on YouTube. If some of the footage looks familiar, that is because it has regularly been reused in other documentaries about the civil rights movement. If you only know Richard Beymer as the evil Ben Horne on Twin Peaks, A Regular Bouquet is an eye-opening movie.

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.7 “Lonely Souls” (directed by David Lynch)

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Who killed Laura Palmer?

That was the question that made Twin Peaks famous and it was also the question that proved to be the show’s undoing. It is easy to forget that each episode of Twin Peaks only covered a day in the investigation of Laura’s murder. On Twin Peaks, it only took two weeks for Cooper and Harry to solve the mystery. But, in the real world, it took David Lynch and Mark Frost seven months to finally reveal the identity of Laura’s murderer. Today, audiences take serialization for granted and even appreciate shows that take their time to tell a complex story but that was not the case in 1990. In 1990, most television dramas still featured mysteries and plots that could easily by resolved in an hour. Viewers were intrigued by Twin Peaks but, when it became apparent that neither Lynch nor Frost were in any hurry to provide a solution to its central mystery, the ratings started to fall.

Laura’s killer was finally revealed on October 10th, 1990, during the seventh episode of the second season. Mark Frost wrote the episode. David Lynch directed it. It is an episode that nobody who has seen it will ever be able to forget.

The episode starts with Harry (Michael Ontkean), Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), Cole (David Lynch), MIKE (Al Strobel), Andy (Harry Goaz), and Hawk (Michael Horse) standing in the lobby of the sheriff’s station and drinking coffee. Since Cole is nearly deaf, he politely yells at everyone before leaving.

At the Great Northern, all of the guests have been led into the lobby so that MIKE can look at them and try to determine whether or not they are possessed by BOB. For some reason, half of the guests are in the Navy. MIKE does not see BOB in any of them. Ben (Richard Beymer) walks into the lobby and MIKE starts to have a seizure.

At Harold Smith’s house, Hawk arrives and discovers that the house has been trashed and that Harold has hung himself in his greenhouse.

At the Palmer house, Maddy (Sheryl Lee) is drinking coffee with Leland (Ray Wise) and Sarah (Grace Zabriskie) while Louis Armstrong’s haunting What a Beautiful World plays on the phonograph. Maddy tells them that, tomorrow, she is going to go back home. Leland and Sarah tell her that they understand and that they appreciate all of her help. This scene is shot as if from the point of view of someone (BOB?) hiding in the room and eavesdropping on the conversation.

Back at Harold’s house, Harry and Cooper are heading up the investigation into his apparent suicide. While Hawk comes across the secret diary of Laura Palmer in the debris of Harold’s house, Cooper and Harry discover a note pinned to Harold’s body. “J’ai un homme solitaire,” it reads. I’m a lonely soul.

At the Johnson House, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly (Madchen Amick) discover that, after paying bills and even with the insurance money, Shelly is only going to have $42 left over for the month. Bobby and Shelly argue while Leo (Eric Da Re) sits at the table with oatmeal on his chin. Leo suddenly starts yells. “He’s alive!” Shelly screams. “New shoes,” Leo says.

At the Great Northern, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) tells Ben that she knows all about One-Eyed Jack’s. She tells Ben that she saw him there. “Remember Prudence? I wore a little white mask.” After trying to play dumb, Ben admits that he owned One-Eyed Jack’s for five years but he denies ever encouraging Laura to work there. Audrey also gets Ben to admit that he had an affair with Laura.

“Did you kill her?” Audrey asks.

“I loved her,” Ben replies.

At the diner, Shelly tells Norma (Peggy Lipton) that she’s going to have to quit her job so that she can take care of Leo. Norma tells Shelly that it’s okay and that her job will still be there whenever Shelly is able to return. They have a sweet moment, that it is ruined when Ed (Everett McGill) and Nadine (Wendy Robie) enter the diner. Nadine still thinks that she is a teenager and Ed is supporting her delusion by telling her that her parents are in Europe and that Norma has only been working at the diner for six months.

At the Johnson house, Bobby and the other Mike (Gary Hershberger) taunt Leo. Bobby has figured out that “new shoes” refers to Leo’s boots so he and Mike rip them apart, searching for drugs. Instead, they find a small audio tape hidden under the sole.

At the sheriff’s department, Cooper goes through the shredded remains of Laura’s diary. He tells “Diane” that he has found repeated references to BOB, littered throughout the diary. Laura wrote that BOB was a friend of her father’s and, two days before death, Laura wrote, “Someday, I am going to tell the world about Ben Horne.”

At that exact moment, Audrey steps into the conference room. She tells Cooper about her conversation with her father, revealing that Ben and Laura were having an affair and that Ben owned One-Eyed Jack’s. Cooper tells her not to say a word about this to anyone and sends her home. Obviously, Cooper feels that he may have just discovered the identity of Laura’s killer. Cooper tells Harry that they need a warrant. “A warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Horne.”

That night, at the Great Northern, Ben is talking to Mr. Tojamura and happily agreeing to accept Tojamura’s proposal to invest in the Ghostwood Development. Just as Tojamura hands over a contract for Ben’s signature, Harry, Cooper, Hawk, and Andy enter the office. Harry orders Ben to come with them. He’s wanted for questioning in the murder of Laura Palmer. When Ben tells them to leave, Hawk and Andy grab him and drag him out of the office.

Handcuffed but defiant, Ben is taken to the station and deposited in a holding cell. As Harry and Cooper watch Ben being led off, the Log Lady (Catherine Coulson) appears behind them.

“We don’t know what will happen or when,” the Log Lady says, “but there are owls in the Roadhouse.”

At the Martell house, Mr. Tojamura meets with Pete (Jack Nance) and it is revealed, just as Lisa Marie predicted three episodes ago, that Mr. Tojamura is actually Catherine (Piper Laurie) in disguise!

At this point, there’s only 15 minutes left in this episode. These 15 minutes are some of the most intense in the history of television. Suffused in dread and danger, these 15 minutes constitute David Lynch at his absolute best.

At the Palmer house, Sarah crawls down the stairs, in the throes of another vision. Lying on the floor, Sarah sees a white horse standing in the middle of the living room. The horse vanishes and Sarah passes out. Suddenly, Leland is standing in the living room, staring at himself in the mirror. He ignores Sarah.

At this point, everyone watching the show says, “Oh shit, something terrible is going to happen.”

At the Roadhouse, Julee Cruise sings an upbeat song. Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) meets with James (James Marshall). Donna is feeling guilty over Harold’s suicide. James says that it wasn’t anyone’s fault. He says that Harold was a sick man.

“Everybody’s hurt inside,” James said and I’d make the obvious REM joke but, right now, I’m too worried about what is about to happen at the Palmer house.

Cooper, Harry, and the Log Lady step into the Roadhouse, searching for the owls. They grab a table and watch Julee Cruise.

“Tell your heart, don’t let me die,” Julee sings.

There’s a shot of the dead Harold Smith (Lenny von Dohlen) bartending. It’s such a quick shot that I had to go back and make sure that it was actually him.

Suddenly, everyone but Cooper freezes. Julee Cruise disappears. The Giant stands on stage and looks directly out at Cooper.

“It is happening again,” the Giant says.

Everyone watching the show says, “Oh, shit!”

At the Palmer house, Leland stares at himself in the mirror but — HOLY SHIT! — it is BOB (Frank Silva) who he sees reflected back at him. Leland smiles. His face turns into the laughing BOB and then transforms back into smiling Leland.

Leland looks towards the front door. He reaches into his suit and pulls out rubber gloves.

Maddy runs downstairs, shouting that it smells like something’s burning. She sees Sarah lying on the floor and Leland staring at her. Leland turns into BOB and then turns back into Leland. Maddy runs screaming from the room and Leland chases after her.

The next four minutes of this episode, in which Maddy is murdered by Leland/BOB, are among the most nightmarish that I have ever seen. Even by the standards of 2017, it is a shocking scene and I can only imagine how people in 1990 reacted. While attacking and killing Maddy, Leland and Bob constantly switch places. Leland sobs while Bob laughs. While Maddy struggles to breathe, Leland holds her body and dances in a circle with her. “Laura,” he moans. The BOB who Laura wrote was molesting her was never a friend of her father. Instead, BOB was her father. Even though I knew it was coming and what was going to happen, rewatching this scene for this recap still left me feeling emotionally drained.

Sheryl Lee, Frank Silva, and Ray Wise are all amazing in this scene. Three version of this scene were filmed. One featured BOB chasing Maddy while another featured Leland attacking her. The final scene was created by editing those two scenes together. The third version, which was filmed just as a decoy, featured Ben attacking Maddy. According to David Lynch, Richard Beymer was relieved to later discover that he was not actually playing the murderer but Ray Wise was very upset by both what he had to do in the scene and the revelation that Leland had been a child molester.

After killing her by smashing her into a picture frame, Leland places an O underneath Maddy’s fingernail.

At the Roadhouse, the Giant still stares at Cooper. Finally, he vanishes. Julee Cruise is back and singing a much more somber song.

The same elderly waiter (Hank Worden) from the Great Northern approaches Cooper’s table. “I’m so sorry,” he says.

Sitting at the bar, the previously unseen Bobby starts to cry. At her table, Donna starts to cry. On stage, Julee Cruise cries. Everyone knows that it has happened again, even if they do not know what it is.

Cooper stares into the distance as the scene fades into a shot of the red drapes.

It has been nearly 27 years since this episode was originally broadcast. It is Twin Peaks at both its best and most disturbing.

Tomorrow, Lisa will review the 8th episode of season 2, Drive With A Dead Girl.

Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:

A Movie A Day #98: Crime Zone (1989, directed by Luis Llosa)

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Welcome to the future. To quote Leonard Cohen, it is murder.

The police state of Soleil is engaged in perpetual war with the nation of Frodan. In Soleil, being rich means living a life of carefree decadence while the poor struggle to survive from day to day. Criminals are routinely executed on live TV and the government forces women to work as prostitutes, servicing only the rich and powerful. When Bone (Peter Nelson) and Helen (Sherilyn Fenn) meet, they break the law by falling in love. Desperate to escape to the legendary paradise of Frodan, Bone and Helen accept an offer from the mysterious Jason (David Carradine). If Bone and Helen agree to commit a series of crimes, Jason will help them escape Soleil. Bone and Helen soon become the two most wanted criminals in Soleil but Jason may not be what he seems.

David Carrdine’s performance is typically strange and Crime Zone has a few interesting ideas but the main reason to see the movie is because of the performance of a pre-Twin Peaks Sherilyn Fenn. As Helen, Sherilyn Fenn is sexy, tough, and always better than the material that she was given to work with.

Executive produced by Roger Corman, Crime Zone was an ambitious project that did not have the budget necessary to reach the heights of Blade Runner, Mad Max, A Clockwork Orange, or any of the other dystopian science fiction films that it tried to rip off. Crime Zone was filmed, on location, in Peru but that mostly for a budgetary reasons. Since almost the entire movie was shot on cramped and dark sound stages, it could have just as easily been filmed in West Baltimore. To its credit, Crime Zone has more on its mind than a lot of the movies that Corman executive produced in the 1980s but the main reason to see it will always be Sherilyn Fenn.

Netflix Review: Mystery Science Theater 3000 11.1 “Reptilicus”

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

I grew up loving Mystery Science Theater 3000. Since my favorite was always Tom Servo, it never mattered to me whether Joel or Mike was the host. Even after the show went off the air, it was always nice to know that I could say, “How much Keeffe is in this movie?” and at least one person would know that the correct answer would always be “Miles O’Keeffe.”

When I first heard about the Kickstarter campaign to bring back Mystery Science Theater 3000, I was worried. As someone who owns all of the Rhino DVDs, along with The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Colossal Episode Guide and several VHS copies of the original broadcasts on both Comedy Central and SyFy, I was happy to see that there was still life in the show. At the same time, I was worried that a possibly inferior reboot might ruin some of my favorite childhood memories.

I just finished watching the first episode of the Netflix MST3K and there is no need for alarm or concern. My childhood will survive. While it wasn’t perfect, it was still more than good enough. It may not have ranked up with the classic episodes of MST3K but it’s at least as good as the one where Pearl forced Mike and the Bots to watch the Russian version of Hamlet.

Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt were great as the new Mads. I appreciated the return of the invention exchange and that the show still had the same deliberately cheap look that we all know and love from the original. With Tom Servo, Crow, and Gypsy all being voiced by new actors, it’s going to take a while to get used to the new crew on the Satellite of Love but, by the end of the episode, both Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn had settled into their roles of Tom and Crow. Considering that it was his first episode and that it is still strange to see someone other than Joel or Mike hanging out with the bots, Jonah Ray did a commendable job as the new host, bringing a laid back vibe to the role that was very reminiscent of the Joel years. (That’s not surprising, considering that the revival is largely Joel’s baby.) Tom being able to fly and Gypsy now being suspended from the ceiling are things that sound like they should not have worked but they did. My one real complaint is that, without the Netflix captioning, it is often difficult to tell the difference between Jonah’s voice and Tom’s.

The movie was Reptilicus. As a badly dubbed Danish monster movie, it was the perfect “experiment” with which to start off the new MST3K. Everyone, even Gypsy, got a few good jokes in at the film’s expense. Among my favorites:

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and it’s this movie.” — Crow

“Now, you’re Mr. Filing Cabinet.” — Gypsy, after one of the film’s scientists placed his hat on a filing cabinet.

“The Danish Army, cheaper than extras and less busy.” — Tom

“Reptilicus Returns in Reptilicus 2: 2 Fast 2 Danish.” — Jonah

The show’s best joke came during a host segment, when Crow and Tom asked Jonah to explain how every country has a monster “preferably in rap.” The chorus of “Every country has a monster/They’re afraid of in their nation/Every monster has a country/Yeah, a station they call home” stayed with me long after the song ended.

Finally, I was happy to see the return of viewer mail segment. It is nice to know that, in 2017, eight year-olds are still drawing pictures of Tom and Crow on the Satellite of Love.

If you are like me and you were worried that a new Mystery Science 3000 would destroy your childhood, don’t worry. MST3K is back and, so far, it’s pretty good.

You’ve Watched The Trailer. Now check out this new Last Jedi poster from Lucasfilm!

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Along with a trailer, Lucasfilm released a new poster for The Last Jedi earlier today. It’s half Luke and half Kylo Ren with Rey firmly in the middle, assuming the stance of a warrior.

Should we read into anything about how her light saber starts out as blue before turning red towards the top? Some say that red is the color of the dark side so what should we make of the entire poster being tinted crimson? Has Luke gone over to the dark side or are we just reading too much into a poster?

A Movie A Day #97: Dracula’s Widow (1988, directed by Chistopher Coppola)

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Since we are looking at and reviewing each and every episode of Twin Peaks, every movie-a-day this month has a Twin Peaks connection. Today’s entry, Dracula’s Widow, stars Lenny von Dohlen, who played reclusive shut-in Harold Smith on Twin Peaks.

Von Dohlen plays Raymond, the nerdy owner of a Los Angeles wax museum. When he receives six antique chests from Romania, he does not realize that one of them contains, Vanessa (Sylvia Kristel). Vanessa is a vampire and soon, she is killing the usual collection of perverts, muggers, and occultists. She also bites Raymond and turns him into her Renfield. Under her influence, Raymond even dumps his girlfriend, Jenny Harker (Rachel Jones).

However, Vanessa is not just a vampire. Vanessa is the wife of Dracula, himself. When she demands that Raymond take her to her husband, Raymond tells her that Dracula was killed nearly a hundred years ago by Prof. Van Helsing. (How did Vanessa not already know this?) Vanessa hunts down and kills Van Helsing’s grandson (Stefan Schnabel) but this brings both her and Raymond to the attention of Inspector Lannon (Josef Sommer).

In the 1990s, Dracula’s Widow was a late night HBO mainstay and it still has a cult following. I could sit here and count out all the ways that Dracula’s Widow does not make any sense but I’ve got a deadline. For all of this low-budget movie’s flaws, Dracula’s Widow is saved by the sexy presence of Sylvia Kristel and the atmosphere that can only be provided by neon lighting and a fog machine. Josef Sommer’s hard-boiled narration, in which he refers to Los Angeles as being Tinsel Town, is another highlight. As for Lenny von Dohlen, his performance as Raymond feels like a dry run for his turn as Harold Smith.

Dracula’s Widow was the directorial debut by Christopher Coppola, whose uncle Francis would later make Bram Stoker’s Dracula and whose brother, Nicolas Cage, ate a cockroach while making Vampire’s Kiss.