So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 1995 (in Japan), Nemesis 2: Nebula enjoyed its general release.  Written and directed by Albert Pyun, the film starred Sue Price, Chad Stahelski, Tina Cote, and others. 

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

"It has been 73 years since Alex failed and the Humans lost the Cyborg Wars. Since then, the Humans have been enslaved. Scientists have developed a new DNA strain, which could signal the end of the Cyborgs, and they inject it into a volunteer. When the Cyborgs learn of the woman and the baby they list both for termination. To escape, she takes a stolen Cyborg ship and transports back in time to East Africa in 1980, where the mother is killed, but the baby is saved. It takes 20 years, but the Cyborg bounty hunter Nebula finally locates the girl, named Alex, and travels back in time to terminate her."

-- EZ

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2017 (in the U.S.), the good people of San Diego, California played host to the very first public screening of the DC Movies animated Batman And Harley Quinn.  Directed by Sam Liu from a story by Bruce Timm and others, the film featured the voice talents of Kevin Conroy, Melissa Rauch, Loren Lester, and others. 

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

"Batman and Nightwing are forced to team with the Joker's sometimes-girlfriend Harley Quinn to stop a global threat brought about by Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man."

-- EZ
​

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 1984 (in Japan), ​Bâsu (aka Birth) was first screened at the Tokyo Pantheon.  Directed by Shin'ya Sadamitsu from a story by Yoshinori Kanada and Junki Takegami, the animated film featured the voices of Mîna Tominaga, Kazuki Yao, Keiko Toda, and others. 

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

"Brother-and-sister heirs to a planetary kingdom face danger as they embark on a journey of self-discovery."

-- EZ

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2014 (in the U.S.), the good people of Los Angeles, California hosted the big screen theatrical debut of Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie.  Written and directed by the team of Kevin Finn and James Rolfe, the film starred Rolfe alongside Jeremy Suarez, Sarah Glendening, Bobby Reed, and others. 

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

"The AVGN must overcome his phobia of the worst video game in the world to save his fans."

-- EZ
​

A bit of film history, folks:
 
A quick search of Google.com states that filmmaker Lamberto Bava reached the height of his commercial and critical success on the Italian scene during the 1980’s; and – lo and behold – it was at this time when producers hired the storyteller to make four telefilms that would serve as the foundation for an all-new television anthology.  And why not?  Bava had just completed Demons (1985), Demons 2 (1986), and Delirium (1987) – a Horror trifecta that won over audiences and clearly established his particular style of cinematic paranoia along with immersing viewers into such dark plights imaginable.  Breaking out of the shadow of his father’s footsteps – the much-lauded Mario Bava – here the son was trying to expand the genre by both returning to basics and ratcheting up the realism.  Giving him the opportunity to continue to explore such haunts on television probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but hindsight – as they say – is always 20/20.
 
What happened was that Bava produced content that broadcasters found these four installments – The Prince Of Terror, The Man Who Wouldn’t Die, School Of Fear, and Eye Witness – a bit too shocking, a bit too graphic, and a bit too over-the-top for their regular viewing audiences.  As a consequence, the titles fell into obscurity as some do, some seeing the light of day with limited releases on home video (VHS) here and there.  Languishing as either bootlegs or choppily edited fodder, the stories were mostly forgotten except by a few who continued to champion whatever airings they could muster.  It was about as grave an oversight that’s ever happened; but now, thankfully, circumstances have changed.
 
Severin Films has once again come to filmdom’s rescue.
 
Plucking these features from obscurity, the distributor has put together High Tension: Four Films By Lamberto Bava for everyone’s consumption.  It’s a four-disc Blu-ray set – along with an accompanying CD Soundtrack reflecting these flicks and others from the greater Bava catalogue – and it’s set to hit the marketplace in late August 2025.  They’ve gracious provided me with an advance copy, so over the next few days or so I’ll be making my way through such filmic goodness, sharing my thoughts and observations on these true originals.
​

(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 young man lies in a hospital suspended between life and death. The police know nothing about him. The patient, in his rare moments of consciousness, only remembers his gang's involvement in a robbery of a rare painting, and the mysterious Madame Jacno who commissioned Fabrizio, the gang leader, to steal the work of art. But someone is still trying to kill the patient, and as his life is continually threatened, his memory slowly comes back to him...!”
 
Without getting too deep into the weeds right away, let me assure you that – on one level – it’s downright criminal that this late 80’s / early 90’s production by Bava – The Man Who Wouldn’t Die – apparently wasn’t given its due until nearly two decades later in 2007 (as per the information on IMDB.com).  Though it’s rather easy to dismiss the picture’s central story as being overexposed – mind you, we’ve all seen something like this before – there’s no escaping the fact that once this noirish thriller finds its pace in the second half that it’s technically staged and executed by the storyteller.  None of it is particularly spooky or frightening; but maybe the simple fact that – in relation to so much else the writer, director, and producer had done – it’s more than a bit … well … ordinary.
 
Criminal mastermind Fabrizio (played by Keith Van Hoven) is hired by the mysterious Madame Jaclaud (Martine Brochard) to find their way into a wealthy patron’s estate to make out with a stunning collection of artwork including paintings, statues, and the like.  The gang – their names are essentially unimportant for the most part because they’re eventually proven disposable with the exception of Giannetto (Gino Concari) – have no trouble conning their way past the iron gates; but once inside things begin to take a turn for the worst.  Smitten with a particular Renoir painting, Giannetto decides to slice it out of the frame and hide it so that he can return for it later.  Infatuated with the homeowner’s wife, the crook sneaks back into the kitchen and proceeds to rape her; before he can finish, he’s kicked in the back of the head by the husband and lapses into a near-catatonic state.
​

Enraged with this turn of events, Fabrizio shoots the owner and his wife.  Then, he orders his crew to haul their fallen comrade to the waiting hauler where they chuck him in the back amongst the spoils.  On the road out of town with police roadblocks being set up to find the criminals, Fabrizio decides that Giannetto – who seems to be fluttering between life and lifelessness – will not survive; so he commands them to strip the man naked and throw him into the forest along the side of the road.  As Giannetto broke the rules and is now incapacitated, he is no longer their responsibility; thus, they leave the man for dead.
 
As tends to happen in stories of this type (it is titled The Man Who Wouldn’t Die, after all), the criminal survives.  Once he’s found by some passing motorists, he’s taken to the nearby hospital and – in a semi-comatose state – he’s placed under surveillance by the authorities.  Gradually, his condition improves, but his circumstances are about to grow much more dire.
 
Elsewhere, Fabrizio can’t explain where the missing Renoir has gone – it had previously caught Madame Jaclaud’s eye – and now he and his surviving crew believe that Giannetto will have no choice but to cooperate with the authorities and turn on them.  It’s at this point that Man becomes a relatively conventional revenge picture with the recovering robber being pitted against his friends and criminal family.  There’s still a twist (or two) up director Bava’s sleeve – what with the script as penned by Gianfranco Clerici and Giorgio Scerbanenco – and yet there’s no escaping that the yarn evolves into one untimely demise after another.
 
Now, Man is the kind of film that even a casual viewer could nitpick to death.  Some events unfold a bit too quickly whereas others imply that there’s been a passage of time.  As I said above, the identities of the other men in the gang are, essentially, interchangeable: they even resemble one another so much I experience a bit of trouble early on figuring out just which one of them were the bedridden criminal suspect featured in the opening segment.  Furthermore, there’s very little originality involved in the manner of their respective executions: yes, they all fall one-by-one in different circumstances, but because there’s no real stakes at play – they’re all fairly meaningless creations in a reasonably predictable world – you’re never invited to much care about them nor miss them when they’re gone.
​

Additionally, Giannetto isn’t exactly the world’s noblest antagonist, either.  We’re introduced to him in that opening vignette – which really only sets the stage – and one might naively believe we’re supposed to give him a measure of sympathy.  He is bedridden, and he’s clearly being aggravated by the fact that he’s little control over his body any longer.  His stares indicate that he’s somewhat terrified about the things happening around him, so it stands to reason that some might begin to care for the patient.  Still, we flashback to what led him to this lowly state; and he’s portrayed as a braggart, a bully, a burglar, and – did you forget? – a rapist.  At this point, it’s fundamentally obvious that none of the living deserve our compassion.
 
Well …
 
Structurally, Man is about as deft as anything I’ve seen in Italian cinema and even surpasses some of flicks from here in the U.S.  Bava is a master with the camera; and he stages all of this rather simply in the first half in order to truly give way for the respective chapters of the second.  Each of the kills – while nothing elaborate or signature in any major way – manages to come to life with exceptional staging and editing.  There may be a snippet too quick here or there; but overall, the story excels at heightening the tension awaiting each of the criminal gang as they find themselves falling to some unseen assassin who knows how to make trouble disappear.
 
The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (2007) was produced by ANFRI S.r.l.  DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Severin Films.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure that the provided sights and sounds are quite good, reportedly scanned in 2K from the original camera negative and with an English language track for the first time.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  While there’s no commentary, there are two produced shorts – an interview with Bava along with another one with screenwriter Sacchetti – and both are quite good.  Surprisingly, Bava fills in a few of the blanks regarding the production; and he’s surprisingly animated about the whole shebang.
 
Recommended.
 
Initially, The Man Who Wouldn’t Die feels a bit like two separate storylines mashed into one – a heist picture mixed in with a fairly standard revenge story – so I can understand how those who’ve seen it might deem it a bit forgettable against the rest of Bava’s library.  I’ll not argue the contrary, but I will insist that the second half is so damn particularly efficient that it could be used as a subject of study for budding, young filmmakers who want to learn how to both structure and edit smaller sequences of their completed wholes.  Of course, there are hints of the blood and gore that inhabits so much else that the director did; but – as I said – this is much closer to your basic crime story – a neo-noir – than anything else.  As I have a fondness for stories in that vein, this one definitely struck a chord with me.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Severin Films provided me with a physical Blu-ray of The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (aka L'uomo che non voleva morire) (2007) as part of their High Tension: Four Films By Lamberto Bava release by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review.  This contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

-- EZ
​

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2015 (in Canada), audiences of the Fantasia International Film Festival were the very first folks in the world to see a theatrical screening of Extinction.  Written (in part) and directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas, the film starred Matthew Fox, Jeffrey Donovan, Quinn McColgan, and others. 

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

"And suddenly, overnight, the world came to a halt. Two men, two survivors, one kid, and hatred that separates them. A place forgotten by everyone, including the creatures that inhabit the Earth... until now."

-- EZ

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2008 (in Canada), Repo! The Genetic Opera enjoyed its first theatrical screening ever when it was played for audiences of the Fantasia Film Festival.  Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a story by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, the film starred Paul Sorvino, Anthony Head, Alexa PenaVega, and others.  According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"A worldwide epidemic encourages a biotech company to launch an organ-financing program similar in nature to a standard car loan. The repossession clause is a killer, however."

For the record:
To the film's credit, Repo! The Genetic Opera earned a wee bit of praise from a screening on the film festival circuit.

Post script observation:
Now, I didn't mention this in SciFiHistory.Net's official posting for Repo! -- which does appear on the July 18th Citation Page -- but "actress" Paris Hilton earned a bit of notoriety for her work in the film.  In fact, she was -- ahem -- reviled so much for her work in the picture that the 2009 Razzie Awards sent her home that evening with the coveted trophy for 'Worst Supporting Actress.'

That honor alone might seem a bit trivial ... but -- as can happen -- it gets worse.  The very next year, the 2010 Razzie Awards gifted the young celebrity with their 'Worst Actress Of The Decade' specifically honoring her contribution to filmdom in this flick as well as 2005's House Of Wax (remake) and 2008's The Hottie & The Nottie.

Ouch.  That's gonna leave a mark!

-- EZ

So many movies ... so little time ...

On this day in 2017 (in the U.S.), Bonejangles enjoyed its only release of record -- according to IMDB.com -- with a U.S. internet release.  Directed by Brett DeJager from a story by Keith Melcher, the film starred Reggie Bannister, Elissa Dowling, Julia Cavanaugh, and others.  According to our friends at IMDB.com, here's the plot summary:

"While transporting serial killer Bonejangles, police officers break down in a town plagued by demonic zombies. To survive the night and save the town, they must release Bonejangles to help fight the curse, risking an even greater threat."

-- EZ
​

Generally speaking, I don't post a good deal of theatrical trailers or coming attractions on the MainPage of SciFiHistory.Net.

Now, this isn't because I don't want to or I don't like them.  I've often warned readers to not get all that excited about them because -- in many instances -- the masterminds who compose a trailer aren't necessarily 'on the inside' to what the full story is going to be.  (I know, I know, but hear me out.)  My point is that trailers are made to both generate interest and sell tickets well in advance, so I usually apply the same critical eye to them that I do to completed films.  That's just how I'm wired, folks, so don't hate.

Furthermore, I've found that when I do post a handful of them in succession (or roughly close to one another in a week or two), then I'm inundated with emails from studios and independents wanting me to post theirs as well.  In some cases, these forthcoming pictures don't have anything to do with the realms of the Fantastic, so I politely decline.  In other cases, I let them know that -- as a practice -- I only post promotional material at the request of folks I have an established relationship with: if they'd like to purchase a post, then I offer them a chance to do so (and, again, trust me when I say that my blog is far more affordable than are most).  At this point, they decline.  Far too many "professionals" expect work on their behalf to be done for free; and that's just not how I roll.  I'm flexible, but I'm not stupid.

In any event ...

I did see the new trailer drop this morning for TRON: Ares, and I wanted to share it for the readership.  The TRON franchise is one near and dear to me.  I enjoy the first film -- having seen it in theaters back in the day, my fondness for it is probably more nostalgic than anything else -- and I loved TRON: Legacy though I understand it kinda/sorta missed the mark with so many.  Sadly, that TRON: Uprising TV show (animated) was a little half-baked -- never really had a coherent central thread from what I recall -- so I'm not surprised it gained little traction.  Just about the time when you think TRON is over and done with, the folks at Disney have ponied up yet one more chapter.  Think what you will, but I have respect for returning to the well of inspiration if you've something different to offer ... and this definitely looks like that may be the case.

Trailer is below.  You know you like to watch.

-- EZ
​