On this day in 1972 (in the U.S.), the big city of Los Angeles, California played host for an exclusive theatrical premiere engagement of Ben.  Directed by Phil Karlson from a story by Stephen Gilbert and Gilbert Ralston, the film starred Lee Montgomery, Meredith Baxter, Joseph Campanella, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"A lonely boy befriends Ben, the leader of a violent swarm of killer rats."

-- EZ

On this day in 2020 (in Canada and the U.S.), Revenge Ride took off with its first release via the Information Superhighway.  Directed by Melanie Aitkenhead from a story by Timothy Durham, the film starred Serinda Swan, Diego Boneta, Jake Lockett, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"Maggie is a tough and ruthless member of the all-female Dark Moon biker gang led by the merciless Trigga. After Maggie's cousin is drugged at a party, the gang rides out for revenge."

​-- EZ
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(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters.  If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment.  If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
 
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A telepathic mutant recruits a post-World War III TV game-show warrior to lead her band of mutants to safety.”
 
Low-budgets Italian genre knock-offs – of which there are many – do tend to be somewhat myopic.  In other words, storytellers invested in recreating – for a vastly lower price – what worked in a blockbuster outing like George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977) generally only tapped one or two elements that ultimately made the source picture such a hit with audiences, sacrificing a great deal of subtext, tone, aesthetics, and characterization.  Instead, they’d capitalize as much as they could on the relative ‘shock and awe’ of the dumbed-down and less-frenetic spectacle. 
 
For example, Luigi Cozzi’s Starcrash (1978) retained Lucas’ evil Galactic Empire and the concept of space smugglers working on the fringes of legality while amping up the campy humor, robotic sidekicks, and those forever spiffy glowing laser swords.  Similarly, Enzo Castellari’s Warriors Of The Wasteland (1983) largely riffed on George Miller’s phenomenal The Road Warrior (1981) as a vehicle to talk about life after the Apocalypse but left out the overall conceit of claustrophobic isolation forcing Miller’s characters, settings, and circumstances to grow larger-and larger-and-larger-than-life against the backdrop of insurmountable desolation.  While these films might occasionally look like their respective inspirations, it doesn’t take a savvy viewer to conclude that – other than being shot on film roughly in the same era – these derivative projects remain worlds apart artistically and commercially.
 
Now what distinguishes Joe D’Amato’s Endgame (1983) – a project that arguably looks as though it was intended motor in tandem with Mad Max – from its predecessors is that the script layers perhaps too many ideas into its 98-minute run-time.  Frankly, there really wasn’t quite enough room to explore everything that gets dropped in here, from the surviving totalitarian government trying to entrance what was left of civilization through creative television programming all the way down to the various evolution (or de-volution?) of our species into freaks, fish, and more.  A stronger director and a better script (this one credited to Aldo Florio and supporting star George Eastman) could’ve given what remains some greater nuance instead of the vicarious thrills and spills of gunplay, fisticuffs, menacing stares, and car crashes.  Most likely, the producer (also D’Amato) got exactly what he was willing to invest in its making, which doesn’t appear to be all that much.  (A quick search of Google.com suggests the picture’s budget tallied up to about one million dollars.)
 
After its opening credits superimposed over nothing more than the expanding mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion, Endgame opens looking like it’s going to be reasonably similar to director Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man (which, incidentally, wouldn’t even see silver screens for a few years yet).  The city’s Security Service – a fiery S.S. is even emblazoned on their black helmets – are clearing the streets of feeding, hungry, scab-covered mutants.  The reality show Endgame is set to begin, a live action-adventure where competitors hunt one another for sport.  The game is sponsored by the self-imposed military dictators, and they use these bloody serials to placate the masses-at-large with such find-and-kill entertainment not unlike how the Romans distracted their unruly citizenry with gladiatorial arenas in days of yore.  Gameshow veteran Ron Shannon (played by Al Cliver) looks to continue an impressive run of success, but his screen nemesis Kurt Karnack (George Eastman) hopes to bring an end to his opponent’s time in the spotlight.  Shannon’s luck prevails – despite some rather lackluster throwdowns – yet rather than kill Karnack he shows the fighter mercy, sparing his life so that they may prolong their last match-up for another day.
 
While out and about in the ruins of New York being hunted, Shannon meets Lilith, a mind-reading mutant who seeks to hire the folk hero to transport her and her people – mutants all – beyond the walls of the city to a potential sanctuary far away, an act that’s a violation of the existing martial law.  Among these survivors is a young boy named Tommy (Christopher Walsh) whose powers have grown beyond mere telepathy and are now venturing into telekinesis.  This suggests that Lilith and her group believes that Tommy might be the next evolution of humans, and he’s needed to usher what’s left of the world into a better future.  Naturally, Shannon has a price; so when the woman offers him a fortune in gold (though I kept wondering where he was going to spend it) the fighter agrees.
 
At this point, Endgame kinda/sorta transitions more into a futuristic Spaghetti Western than a trope-laden Science Fiction and Fantasy feature.  Shannon goes about assembling a team of individuals, each with a special skill set or attributes which might come in handy in making a crusade across the Wasteland.  It’s a fan-friendly formula similar to Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) and the American equivalent, John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960).  Joining Shannon on this quest, Ninja (screen veteran Hal Yamanouchi) brings his cunning with martial arts to the squad; and Bull (Gabriele Tinti) agrees to ‘ride shotgun’ seated atop their van-sized hauler in a machine-gun turret.  Kovack (Mario Pedone) is an absolute bear of a man, serving as the necessary muscle; and – believe it or not – even Karnack manages to squeeze himself aboard the crew once the time is right.  Basically, the Endgame competitor only wants his shot at Lilith’s promised gold fortune, but who can blame an opportunist for joining the fight?
 
Sadly, there isn’t all that much speed to Endgame’s second half as D’Amato assembles likely the slowest moving caravan of screen record.  These vehicles’ top speed appears to be in single digits, and these rebels bumble through the rather plain countryside when they should’ve been racing for their lives.  While the film sports a handful of frenzied altercations staged between Shannon’s group and the allegedly vicious Wasteland dregs, the action is poorly staged – it’s likely that most of the them were shot once with very little preparation much less rehearsal – leaving no sense of palpable tension anywhere to be found.  Engines are revved, shots are fired, and the victims aplenty fall hither and thither.  Lilith is eventually kidnapped by a mutant gang – the principal heavy is a blue-faced, scaly fish-freak who crudely barks “Look at me when I rape you!” – which essentially gives our mortal enemies Shannon and Karnack a chance to engage in a bromance-style team-up to rescue the maiden from the clutches of doom.  Trust me: it sounds more interesting than it was rendered.
 
Because Endgame’s structure feels a bit disconnected – what starts as a high stakes life-and-death bloodsport essentially morphs into a turgid road movie – D’Amato pretty much allows the action to coast from one modestly-interesting but sometimes confusing sequence to another, some on wheels but most not.  Clearly, the narrative set-up serves as a metaphor for what this ragtag band of survivors – mutants included – are enduring; and the picture works efficiently enough on that level to be entertaining if not occasionally bloated.  The chases – if you can call them that – aren’t nearly as elaborate or ambitious as anything in The Road Warrior or even Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and far too much of it feels like it was filmed in an abandoned factory (which it was).  Filmmaking’s biggest rule – you get what you pay for – is never at risk of being proven wrong.  At no point does Florio and Eastman’s script ever grow bigger than the modest weight of its ideas, though there are many; and yet – as I said above – there are threads in here which could’ve been tugged a bit to produce a stronger tapestry.
 
It’s passable enjoyment, filmed mostly in a no-passing zone.
 
Endgame (1983) was produced by Joe D’Amato.  DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been handled by the fine folks at Severin Films.
 
Recommended ... but this one is really only for fans of B-Movies, at best.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one for this review of Endgame (1983) as it springs from a home video purchase I made entirely on my own accord.

​-- EZ

On this day in 1969 (in the U.S.), that sterling mecca known as New York City, New York played host for an exclusive theatrical premiere of Eye Of The Cat.  Directed by David Lowell Rich and Alex Segal from a story by Joseph Stefano, the film starred Michael Sarrazin, Gayle Hunnicutt, Eleanor Parker, and others. 

​According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"A telepathic mutant recruits a post-World War III TV game-show warrior to lead her band of mutants to safety."

-- EZ

Folks, I just logged on to the internet for some quick work on the blog; and I was shocked to see the announcement regarding the passing of actress Daveigh Chase.  The reporting states that this 35-year-old artist passed away from complications stemming from a blood infection of some sort (that's all I'm seeing), an indeed tragic development for one so very young.

Though she'd kinda/sorta been around the block (just a bit) by that point, I essentially remember discovering what she could do with a role aboard HBO's Big Love, a Comedy/Drama centered on a polygamist and his wives.  I don't recall at what point she joined the show -- I'm pretty certain she wasn't there quite from the beginning -- but she seemed so vivacious and full of life, very much like she had her whole life ahead of her.  That's mostly why I'm shocked with this breaking story today: life can be so harsh sometimes, and none of us should ever take it for granted.

A quick glance at her IMDB.com profile shows that she served a bit of theatrical time aboard such projects as Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Charmed, Donnie Darko (2001), Touched By An Angel, Lilo & Stitch (2002), The Rats (2002), The Ring (2002), S. Darko (2006), and Jack Goes Home (2016).  As an actress, it looks as though she hadn't done anything in some time -- IMDB.com might be wrong on that front, but as it's all I've got I'm merely passing that along -- so perhaps she'd left the entertainment business behind for something of greater interest.  Still, a generation grew up knowing her as the voice of Lilo; and that should count for something.

Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Daveigh Chase.

May she rest in peace ...

​EZ

Ahhh ... there's another name from long ago that forces a quick walk down Memory Lane ...

​Back in the days of my youth, I was required to write a termpaper for a kinda/sorta college prep class (they weren't called that so much back then); and the instructor -- a bit of an oddball but good-natured to say the least -- required his students to actually focus our reports on something that was near and dear to us.  Being a bit of a film junkie even at the ripe young age, I didn't exactly have a great deal of resources available to me in a small town to research and discuss anything, say, Hollywood-specific; and, yet, I did have a stack of well-read Starlog magazines and also just about any like-minded knockoffs that hit the bookstore shelves.  For those of you who've never had the good fortune, Starlog was a genre magazine that did interviews with all the movers and shakers in Science Fiction and Fantasy back then; and I'd already dog-earred a few features about Special Effects that I'd read over and over and over again.  So ... my high school college prep termpaper was going to be about the revolution of Special Effects.

Well, arguably, Brian Johnson's name was one of the big ones from the late 1970's and early 1980's that I knew.  Fortunately, he was mentioned enough -- alongside John Dykstra for his ground-breaking techniques with the original Star Wars from 1977 and the model-making portfolio of Derek Meddings -- so I had a few individuals I could do a bit more research about in order to flesh out my ideas.  Again, it wasn't as if any of us had anything like the Internet back then, readers; so research into something that hadn't been given a great deal of reportage meant that I had to look more into what these pioneers said in interviews in order to even have a foothold with which to begin.  But the A grade I ultimately received for my effort was owed to the work of names like that of Brian Johnson, so I'm forever thankful these technicians weren't afraid to speak up when given the chance.

​Over the years, I followed his work -- along with so many others -- because even back then it was easy to see that Special Effects weren't so much a new phenomenon as they were something that would always be evolving.  As the technology and capabilities grew (and continue to grow), all of us fans really owe a debt of thanks to folks like Brian Johnson.  These craftsmen and women were tasked with making the impossible possible; and the flicks they made back then can still stand side-by-side with what's being accomplished today.

Alas, no one gets out alive; and I saw the posting on the Information Superhighway regarding the man's passing.

Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Brian Johnson.

May he rest in peace.

​-- EZ

IT'S THE YEAR 2022... PEOPLE ARE STILL THE SAME. THEY'LL DO ANYTHING TO GET WHAT THEY NEED. AND THEY NEED SOYLENT GREEN.

Across a forty-year career, Richard Fleischer directed classic movies in almost every decade he was working: from the epic swashbuckling of The Vikings, to the psychological chills of 10 Rillington Place... and, of course, Soylent Green: a dystopian science-fiction thriller with a venomous sting in its tail. In a frighteningly prescient world of overpopulation and ecological collapse, resources are scarce. While the elite live in spacious, walled-off communities eating natural food and drinking clean water, the masses live in squalor, collecting water from communal taps and eating highly processed food wafers made by the Soylent Corporation. Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow are a staple, but now there's a tastier and more nutritious option: Soylent Green.

When a member of the Soylent Corporation's board is murdered, Detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston, Ben Hur) is called in to investigate. His search for answers will lead to a shocking discovery. The final entry in a trilogy of dystopian sci-fi classics starring Charlton Heston - following Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man - Soylent Green is a devastating vision of humanity on the brink, once seen, never forgotten.
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Bonus Materials

• LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original lossless mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Archive audio commentary with director Richard Fleischer and star Leigh Taylor-Young
• Brand new audio commentary with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains
• Charlton Heston at the BFI, an archive on-stage interview with the star of Soylent Green
• Richard Fleisher at the BFl, an archive onstage interview with the director of Soylent Green
• A Look at the World of Soylent Green, a vintage featurette
• MGM's Tribute to Edward G. Robinson's 101st Film, a vintage featurette
• Theatrical trailer
• Image galleries
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
• Collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Frank Collins and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

​"The grittiness of early-70s cinema works well for this fatalistic tale."
     —Matt Brunson, Film Frenzy

"Where so many science fiction visions of the era have dated, this gritty creation of a depressed (and depressing) future recycling the junk of the past, and where assisted suicide has become simply another social option, looks all the more real."
     —Sean Axmaker, Stream on Demand
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"Its greatest attribute is not that it accurately anticipated many things about humanity's future. 'Soylent Green' stands the test of time because it does these things while slamming you right where real anxiety festers and brews . . . in your guts."
     —Matthew Rozsa, Salon.com