While I was a bit too young to actually grow up with the original live-action Star Trek series (1966-1969), I did happen to catch a few episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series when it was in first run on television.
 
Though I don’t quite remember any specific reactions to any specific episodes (I would’ve been roughly in the second and third grade at the time, so cut me some slack, folks), I know that I was intrigued by a good deal of what I saw.  Having enjoyed a few episodes of its predecessor in TV syndication, I was certainly hooked on the greater adventures of the Starship Enterprise, its captain, and his crew, so much so that my parents had given me a few action figures and a makeshift bridge set when they were released in toy format.  While the cartoon stuff didn’t quite hold my interest as well (I’ve struggled off-and-on throughout the years with embracing animation as much as my contemporaries), I still hung with it despite some highs and lows and even though the stories didn’t quite reach the level of greatness that William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley were given ‘in the flesh.’
 
Still, I’m a purist – meaning that I do very much love what I dub ‘Old School Trek’ – and I’ve wanted for a long time to go back and revisit these adventures when time permitted.  Thankfully, even my wifey has come to embrace these original adventures, so we picked up (via Amazon.com) the latest and greatest Blu-ray release of The Animated Series and gave the first disc a whirl.  Now that I’m older (not wiser), I still see some of the storytelling blemishes that kept me from enjoying this iteration as much as those three seasons of pure storytelling magic, but that won’t stop me from completing this rarely celebrated ‘fourth year’ of boldly going where no man had gone before …
 
(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 episode’s IMDB.com page citation:
“The Enterprise finds an ancient, abandoned starship with a malevolent entity aboard, eager to take over the Starfleet ship.”
 
There is always a risk when going boldly in a different direction, especially when it comes to balancing the needs of the many against the needs of the few … or the one.
 
For example, I can tell you that as a serious Star Trek enthusiast I’ve also picked up many of the novels that have been published over the years and read them to varying degrees of appreciation.  Though I’ve found a great number of them entertaining, there have still been a few that I’ve kinda/sorta dismissed on the grounds that the worldbuilding didn’t quite match the philosophies of the original program.  Sometimes, the characterizations have been amiss.  Other times, the dialogue and situations didn’t quite feel authentic to what I’d already come to know as Star Trek, so the adventure just didn’t leave me with the same level of identification.
 
The dirty little secret therein is that whenever a mythmaker ventures into another format – i.e. publishing – then the canvas upon which they can paint gets vastly bigger.  These scriptwriters aren’t restricted by what’s filmable on the typical budget for a television show; and – as such – they often tread into spaces bigger than life itself.  As a result, the novels do occasionally push the boundaries of what’s uniquely possible in Trek; and this, too, might end up confusing the franchise’s most ardent fans because it’s just too big, too vast, too different than what’s come before.  While it might be refreshing to raise the stakes in ways TV production couldn’t, there will always be a risk to ‘coloring outside the lines.’
 
What Star Trek: The Animated Series’ first episode showed me very clearly is that this dynamic also comes into play when transitioning from live action filming to animation.  “Beyond The Farthest Star” arguably feels like Trek as much as it doesn’t, and there’s never what I’d call a comfortable bridging of these two worlds into a seamless continuation of where audiences were when they last saw Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew.  Mind you: this isn’t a complaint.  It’s just an acknowledgement that things were not quite going to be the same.

​When the USS Enterprise is nearly pulled catastrophically into a dead star, Captain Kirk and his valiant crew save the day by achieving orbit around the celestial body only to find that there’s a derelict spacecraft that’s been trapped similarly for what appears to be an astonishing 300,000,000 years.  Venturing aboard the alien ship, they find that the vehicle had been taken over by an evil, intelligent entity that wished to use the vehicle for its own purposes (though precisely what never gets explored).  Kirk and company’s presence has fully awakened the dangerous entity; and it isn’t long before the intelligence seizes control of the Starfleet flagship.  Only the use of a suicide run is enough to scare this fog-like creature into a state wherein the Federation’s best and brightest can outsmart it, ultimately saving the day but ensnaring the entity for another eternity of isolation.
 
So …
 
The script is credited to Samuel A. Peebles, the same screenwriter who penned Star Trek’s “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the episode that ultimately served as the program’s pilot episode.  Having the storyteller’s gravitas on board for this pilot was a good idea even though he gives both this alien spacecraft and this nebulous entity a bit more substance and narrative weight than audiences had seen in franchise previously.  The derelict ship, in particular, is really vast, harkening visually in some ways to what had accomplished in 1972’s Silent Running but a bit more organic-looking.  The aesthetics between the TV show and what’s possible in animation is a bit jarring right out of the gate; and perhaps in retrospect it might’ve been a poor choice as a first episode … but, as they say, to each his own.
 
Furthermore, the adventure ends on a curious note of hopelessness.  Once the entity has been properly expelled from the Enterprise, it still manages to send out a plea through the ship’s communications systems.  Much in the same way that the insect version of Andre Delambre pitifully cries “Help me” in the climax to The Fly (1958), this creature openly weeps about the infinite loneliness it both has endured and will now enjoy for the remainder of its days; and gone is the usual optimism that fueled so much of Star Trek’s better installments.  While I’m not saying that Kirk and crew should’ve changed their course of action, “Beyond The Farthest Star” still closes on a dreadful and decidedly downbeat tone, a definite shift from the days of the original series.
 
Star Trek: The Animated Series’ “Beyond The Farthest Star” was produced by Filmation Associates and Norway Productions.  The episode is currently available for physical or digital purchase via a variety of platforms.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert, I found the provided sights-and-sounds to be exceptional from start-to-finish.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  There were no special features under consideration.
 
Recommended.
 
Although the last scene of “Beyond The Farthest Star” didn’t quite achieve the effect other Trek’s have, it was still pretty grand to see the crew of the Starship Enterprise back on active duty.  Almost everyone showed up – Walter Koenig is noticeably absent – and a good portion of this chapter has the same intellectual grounding fans had come to expect from the franchise.  If anything, the episode might push a bit too far in exploring new life and new civilizations as viewers were given a new insectoid-species and their bizarre-looking technology to embrace; but that’s still chump change knowing that the voyages of this crew were finally continuing almost as if the Federation had never incurred the wrath of network executives a few years earlier.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one for this review of Star Trek: The Animated Series’ “Beyond The Farthest Star” (S01E01) as I watched it on a Blu-ray set entirely of my own purchase.

-- EZ
​

It's been said that the addition of Horror icon Boris Karloff to any cast made even the most insane premise watchable ... and it kinda/sorta sounds like that may've been the case with The Ape.

Released on this day in the United States back in 1940, The Ape was directed by William Nigh.  As for Nigh's record, I'm familiar with it mostly because he was involved in the Mr. Wong film series of which Karloff also starred as the chief detective solving crimes wherever bad deeds were committed.  Nigh's name is also attached to such other genre entries as 1942's The Strange Case Of Doctor Rx and 1943's The Ghost And The Guest.  He may not have anything else of significant note except for the fact that I believe he had a handful of pictures wherein he directed his cast alongside a man in an ape costume ... convenient indeed since this flick was centered around one of those dangerous creatures.

As for the story?

According to information on IMDB.com, the script is tied to a stage play written by Adam Shirk.  (Shirk's name brings up a few items on the movie website but nothing quite like The Ape.)  The play shows adapted for the screen by Curt Siodmak and Richard Carroll.  While I'm not as familiar with Carroll's name, I do recognize Siodmak's.  In fact, he's got some fabulous genre credentials, including work on such projects as F.P.1 Doesn't Answer (1932), Transatlantic Tunnel (1935), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), Black Friday (1940), The Invisible Woman (1940), The Wolf Man (1941), Invisible Agent (1942), Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943), I Walked With A Zombie (1943), Son Of Dracula (1943), The Lady And The Monster (1944), House Of Frankenstein (1944), The Beast With Five Fingers (1946), Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), Bride Of The Gorilla (1951), The Magnetic Monster (1953), Riders To The Stars (1954), Creature With The Atom Brain (1955), Captain Fathom (1955), Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), Curucu - Beast Of The Amazon (1956), Tales Of Frankenstein (1958), 13 Demon Street, The Brain (1962), The Devil's Messenger (1962), Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace (1962), and Hauser's Memory (1970).  See what I mean?  An inspection of the writer's illustrious record should alone encourage folks that The Ape might be worth a passing look.

Here's the plot summary as provided by IMDB.com:
"Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage, and is terrorizing towns people."

​As for the screen talent, The Ape stars Boris Karloff's along with such others as Maris Wrixon, Gene O'Donnell, Dorothy Vaughan, Gertrude Hoffman, and Henry Hall in prominent roles.

Sadly, I don't see a great deal of information available on the project, and the overall critical assessment of it is a bit low.  On IMDB.com, the feature presently scores below 5.0 (on its 10.0 scale) with one user suggesting that Karloff's participation might be the only saving grace to the whole monkey business.

​-- EZ
​
Editor's Note:
I did a quick search over on the Information Superhighway, and it does appear that The Ape has been more fondly remembered by customers of Amazon.com; in fact, the picture has a few pretty solid user reviews.  The project did apparently have a fairly recent release from Kino Lorber (2020) -- one that includes two commentary tracks -- so I'm posting a link below should anyone be interested in heading over there and picking up a copy.  As always: buyer beware.  This isn't an endorsement ... just think of it as helpful information for those inclined.

Any child of the 1980's -- or thereabouts -- will tell you that 1984's Beverly Hills Cop was a surprise Comedy sensation that deserves all of the praise it's ever earned.

Yes, it's arguably one of the formative screen experiences for so many; and it's fueled by so many great performances.  Eddie Murphy hits one of his earliest film roles out of the park.  Judge Reinhold plays a lovable knucklehead of a cop.  And the great John Ashton shines as a grizzled law enforcement veteran whose hard ways get a makeover compliments of a brash, unorthodox detective from Detroit.

Like so many I feature in these In Memoriam segments, Ashton wasn't exactly a player in the realms of the Fantastic.  Though he may've dabbled in Horrors and Fantasies on a few occasions, he gravitated more toward conventional stuff (not that there's anything wrong with that); and that's probably what he felt and understood best.  Still, major kudos are extended to career choices that founded out his experiences, including stops to such projects as So Evil My Sister (1974), Wonder Woman, Oh God! (1977), The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984), The Twilight Zone, King Kong Lives (1986), The Tommyknockers, Fantasy Island, Reign Of The Gargoyles (2007), and My Little Baby (2019).

Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of John Ashton.

May he rest in peace.

-- EZ
​

The films of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror are homes to a great many unlikely heroes.

By that, I mean that these motion pictures often create cinematic folk heroes from the unlikeliest actors and actresses.  Why, in what other genre would the reasonably petite Fay Wray take a stand against none other than the gigantic King Kong (1933) himself?  How is it that utter doufuses (sp?) like Bill and Ted could emerge as the future saviors of the planet itself in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)?  And how else do you explain young Alex Rogan being the only hope for an entire galaxy in The Last Starfighter (1984)?  With no disrespect intended, none of these players are of the big and imposing muscular variety -- here's looking at you, Mr. Schwarzenegger -- and yet they indubitably had 'the right stuff' to rise to whatever occasion presented itself and answer the call not for fame and fortune but because Fate pointed at them and said, "It's your turn."

​Just as unlikely a hero in genre was Kris Kristofferson.  In fact, when he first started appearing in projects for screens big and small, I could've never imagined him in anything that came out in the realms of the Fantastic.  His somewhat weathered visage was perfect for Westerns -- that quintessentially American genre -- but SciFi?  Fantasy?  Or anything else?  Nah.  You couldn't convince me otherwise, in fact.  He just didn't look the part.

And yet ... in a few short years, the actor proved himself more than capable in standing up for all of mankind.  While the projects I'm specifically referring to might not be remembered for all of the ages -- 1987's Alternative History mini-series Amerika, 1989's time travel yarn Millennium, and 1998's still disrespected Marvel flick Blade -- each of them delivers a grand story peopled by real characters, among which Kristofferson shone his light.  There are a few more to his resume, and -- with respect to the news breaking this weekend of the man's passing -- I encourage everyone to head on over to IMDB.com and check out the legacy he leaves behind.

Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Kris Kristofferson.

May he rest in peace. 

-- EZ 
​

Because I’m one who isn’t necessarily frightened off by a little bit of controversy, today I’m bringing up the name of author, poet, and screenwriter Roald Dahl.
 
Yes, I realize that modern times ain’t all that they’re cracked up to be, and some of you may have been a bit aghast when not all that long ago there was a cultural movement underway – albeit reasonably briefly – to see the written texts of the author edited.  Without going into the entire social debacle, 2023 saw one publisher hiring a team of ‘sensitivity experts’ to wade through their tomes within the Dahl catalogue and change the writer’s words in order to – ahem – reflect what they felt were better, more contemporary, and socially accepted words.  Eventually, the publisher relented, offering up ‘classic editions’ which would include the author’s original text; but – let me say – we live in dark times, indeed, when a producer might think nothing of essentially rewriting some of the greatest written words in all of the English language just to make a few complainers feel better.  If Dahl’s stuff offends you, how about going elsewhere?  Why must we reengineer timeless masterpieces to reflect an era in which they weren’t even imagined?
 
In any event, I’d long known that Dahl’s imprimatur had been attached to the long-running British television anthology Tales Of The Unexpected (1979-1988), and I’d wanted to check it out.  Of course, I was aware that while its various episodes weren’t always the stuff that I’d normally cover for SciFiHistory.Net; still, many of you know that I’ll apt to do what I want anyway, so there.  In many ways, I’ve surmised that Dahl’s work was close to Horror in much the same way that many of Alfred Hitchcock’s yarns are considered such; so I can live with that ‘close enough’ association.
 
Today’s excursion: “Mrs. Bixby & The Colonel’s Coat” first aired on March 31, 1979 in the United Kingdom.  Simon Langton directed the episode which was adapted from the original Dahl short story by Ronald Harwood.  Actress Julie Harris takes center stage in the work, and she’s joined by Michael Hordern, Richard Greene, Sandra Payne, and Frederick Farley in key roles.  It’s a tale that explores love with more than a little bit of deceit, and it reminds us that just because we want something – and are willing to go to great lengths to get it – doesn’t mean that such a thing was forever destined to be our own.
 
(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 episode’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Unable to show her dentist husband Cyril the fur coat her lover has given her Mrs. Bixby pawns it and pretends that she found the ticket. She gives it to Cyril to redeem on her behalf but is taught that two can play at her game when he comes home with rather less than she expected, and she sees that his dental assistant will be warm for the winter.”
 
The heart wants what the heart wants … but what if the heart wants a fabulous mink coat?
​

Again, I find the subject of coveting – though with a few more layers – front and center in this more conventional installment of Tales Of The Unexpected.  Trapped in a somewhat loveless marriage, Mrs. Bixby (played by Julie Harris) has found that her more carnal needs can be met by a lothario who goes simply by the name of ‘The Colonel’ (Richard Greene) in lieu of her rather stodgy husband, the village dentist Cyril Bixby (Michael Hordern).  After all, when the hubby spends so much time away in the mouths of so many penurious patients, what’s a woman to do to score a bit of ‘me time?’  Oblivious to the fact that The Colonel has his own growing base of female clientele, the lady faithfully travels far from home on what she leads Cyril to believe are nursing visits to an ailing and penniless auntie.
 
Lo and behold, it would seem that Mrs. Bixby might not be the big sexual catch she thinks she is.  The Colonel has privately decided to part ways with the woman; and – to soften the blow – he gifts her a lavish mink fur coat.  Forever smitten with the man’s charms in the bedroom, she now falls head over heels in love with the garment, but how can she ever come home with such an expensive commodity?  Why, she’s convinced Cyril that her fictitious aunt is destitute, so it couldn’t possibly be from her as a means of recompense for all of the services she’s supplied.  In the taxi on the way home, lady Bixby hatches a means to an end: she’ll place the coat ‘in hock’ at a local pawnshop but tell her husband that she found the claim ticket in the cab itself.  Believing it was merely lost, she can then return to the pawnshop, retrieve the fur, and no one need ever know about The Colonel.
 
As tends to happen in melodramas studying infidelity, Coat has not one but two more surprises in store for Mrs. Bixby before it reaches its conclusion.  Without divulging anything further, I’ll leave it simply by saying that there are always hidden agendas at play in life and love.  Believing you’re the only one who has done something worthy of concealing usually is a charlatan’s first mistake; having to come to terms with the stark reality that what you perceive as being your ‘normal life’ might be far from it is the real gift that keeps on giving.
 
Tales Of The Unexpected’s “Mrs. Bixby & The Colonel’s Coat” was produced by Anglia Television.  The episode shows available via physical or digital purchase (or rental) via a variety of platforms and vendors.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert, I found the episode’s provided sights and sounds to be good from start-to-finish.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  As I viewed this via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
 
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
 
Meh.  “Mrs. Bixby’s & The Colonel’s Coat” doesn’t quite deliver anything new to the world of spousal faithlessness.  It never really says anything overt about its featured disloyalty, never quite judging any of its key players as having done anything indecent.  Because stories of this type really do leave it up to the eyes of the beholders, I think they’re easily forgotten – especially for anthology programs – because they just don’t make a significant statement or show the men and women seriously struggling with regret over an inappropriate relationship.  In fact, it ends in such a way that – at best – mind leave viewers smirking over Mrs. Bixby’s discomfit … and that’s the easy way out.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one for this review of Tales Of The Unexpected’s “Mrs. Bixby & The Colonel’s Coat” (S01E02).  I viewed this via my very own subscription to Amazon Prime Video.

-- EZ
​

It's often been said that you never really appreciate a person until they're gone.

Now, I'm not entirely certain that's true in all cases.  In fact, when it comes to screen talent, I think that we -- culturally -- go to great lengths to embrace the faces that have left some indelible impressions on us.  There are endless awards ceremonies, every single one of which has been crafted to highlight works and performances that not only inspired us in those moments but also continue to inspire us in the years ahead.  Acting might be the only institution that, perhaps, we go a bit overboard.  I don't say that as a complaint or an insult in any way: these artists have a profound gift to lifting us up when we need it most, with entertaining us in what could be our darkest hours, and encouraging us indirectly to live on another day.  This is why we honor them.

Maggie Smith's record is impressive, indeed.  Though her IMDB.com profile cites less than 100 different screen projects (that's astonishing but we've definitely seen men and women do more), her catalogue of work boasts a mind-blowing 108 different awards nominations alongside 50 big wins.  I don't need to tell you to "do the math" to realize that without a doubt such a ratio indicates that what she's been able to accomplish by inhabiting the bodies of so, so, so many vivid characters deserves a respectful nod today.  Granted, there may not have been a massive amount of stops in the realms of the Fantastic; but hers remains a resume that -- as I said above -- will continue to inspire us in perpetuity.

Alas, none of us lasts forever, and I've seen this morning that word has reached the Information Superhighway of the lady's passing.

Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Maggie Smith.

May she rest in peace.

-- EZ
​

Burner Face (2023)
Director: John Gauntt
US, 2 min
Composed by a team of 3 creatives + Midjourney AI, this trailer tells a story in less than 2 minutes. It is not a tech demo but a taste of what's possible when Culture & Code come together.
​

Set a Date (2022)
Director: Elías Balda, Cosme Mañero
Spain, 11 minutes
Thanks to a new technology, Andrés, a young policeman, discovers that he will die in 20 minutes.
​

I Am Not a Robot (2023)
Director: Victoria Warmerdam
Netherlands, 22 min
After several unsuccessful attempts to complete a Captcha, feminist Lara sets out to answer the disturbing question of whether she's a robot.
​

Meditations (2023)
Director: Adolfo Ruiz
Canada, 10 minutes
Meditations is an animated film that revolves around a psychotherapy session set in a dystopian future. By probing the inner psyche, a novel form of technology produces a therapist in the image of a lost family member.
​

Black Dragon (2022)
Director: Alexander Thompson
US, 15 min
Vietnam, 1968. A feared American colonel nicknamed “the Black Dragon” by Vietnamese locals must face his inner shadow when his platoon presents him with a captured Vietcong girl who harbors some very unusual power.
​

Soulmate (2023)
Director: Richard Fenwick
UK, 15 min
Ana, a lonely computer coder, has been nurturing an illegal romance with an AI in a computer simulation for the past six months. When her company uncovers the affair, she’s forced into a desperate battle to save her precious relationship.
​

Ada (2023)
Director: Anaïs Vachez
France, 16 min
Ada, an eight-year-old girl, witnesses the ongoing tensions between her parents.One evening, a particularly heated argument breaks out.
​

Black Dragon (2022)
Director: Alexander Thompson
US, 15 min
Vietnam, 1968. A feared American colonel nicknamed “the Black Dragon” by Vietnamese locals must face his inner shadow when his platoon presents him with a captured Vietcong girl who harbors some very unusual power.
​

Soulmate (2023)
Director: Richard Fenwick
UK, 15 min
Ana, a lonely computer coder, has been nurturing an illegal romance with an AI in a computer simulation for the past six months. When her company uncovers the affair, she’s forced into a desperate battle to save her precious relationship.
​

Demon Box (2022)
Director: Sean Wainsteim
Canada, 14 min
After festival rejections, a director revises his intensely personal short film about trauma, suicide, and the Holocaust, and transforms it into a painful, blunt and funny dissection of the film and his life.
​

​Festival Passes:
If you would like more information on the event, available passes and the highlighted films, visit https://www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com/europeanpkd.  Discussions with filmmakers will follow all screenings. Schedule subject to change.

About The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:
The Philip K. Dick European Science Fiction Film Festival launched in October 2013 and has held events in Lille, France, Cologne, Germany and Łódź, Poland. Organized by those who understand the challenges and rewards of telling a unique story in an independent environment, the festival represents the deep analyses and philosophical views of internationally renowned novelist Philip K. Dick, whose work has inspired generations of writers, filmmakers and fans around the world.

Event Contact:
Jonathan Carsten, PR Manager
[email protected]

Connect with The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:
Website: https://www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com/europeanpkd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival
X: https://www.x.com/philipkdickfest
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philipkdickfest
​

​About Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. In years past, the festival has been home to the world and US premieres of PARASITE, SMILE, JOJO RABBIT, THE BLACK PHONE, JOHN WICK, FRANKENWEENIE, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, APOCALYPTO, ZOMBIELAND, RED, SPLIT, HALLOWEEN, BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE, MID 90s, and SUSPIRIA while the guest roster has included such talent as Tim Burton, Nicolas Winding-Refn, Lilly and Lana Wachowski, Bong Joon-Ho, Taika Waititi, Robert Rodriguez, Rian Johnson, Bill Murray, Keanu Reeves, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Edward Norton, Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Karl Urban, Josh Hartnett, The RZA, Dolph Lundgren, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky, Mike Judge, Karyn Kusama, M. Night Shyamalan, James McAvoy, Vince Vaughn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jonah Hill, Barbara Crampton and Jessica Harper. Fantastic Fest also features world, national, and regional premieres of new, up-and-coming genre films. Fantastic Fest has seen the acquisition of many titles, including BULLHEAD, KILL LIST, MONSTERS, KLOWN, THE FP, PENUMBRA, HERE COMES THE DEVIL, NO REST FOR THE WICKED, VANISHING WAVES, COMBAT GIRLS, I DECLARE WAR, THE PERFECTION, and TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID. Fantastic Fest is held each year at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas. Alamo Drafthouse has been named the best theater in the country by Entertainment Weekly, Wired, and TIME.

In March 2023, Fantastic Fest joined the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations) as a Competitive Specialized Feature Film Festival alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

About Alamo Drafthouse
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema was founded in 1997 as a single-screen mom and pop repertory theater in Austin, TX. Twenty-seven years later, with 41 locations and counting, Alamo Drafthouse has been called “the best theater in America” by Entertainment Weekly and “the best theater in the world” by Wired. Alamo Drafthouse has built a reputation as a movie lover’s oasis not only by combining best-in-class food and drink service with the movie-going experience, but also introducing unique programming and high-profile, star-studded special events. Alamo Drafthouse created Fantastic Fest, a world-renowned genre film festival dubbed “The Geek Telluride” by Variety featuring independents, international filmmakers, and major Hollywood studios. Alamo Drafthouse continues to expand its brand in new and exciting ways, including the American Genre Film Archive, a non-profit film archive dedicated to preserving, restoring and sharing film, and with several new theaters announced for this year and beyond.

About Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. Sony Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly-owned or joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, Sony Pictures International Productions, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional information, visit http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html 
​

There are a great many reasons why we as audiences love Horror movies.
 
For my money, however, I’ve always argued that it’s that great bit of stimulation that fuels our interest.  Our blood gets pumping over all of the screen tension.  We get mentally triggered by what we see up in the lights.  I’ve read that our brain and bodies release adrenaline to go along with the heady rush of excitement, and – albeit somewhat darkly – we’re forced to examine dire circumstances by wondering just how we might react in similar situations.  I’ve also heard that a seminal Horror experience can release endorphins that affect our mood, make us sense a bit of private euphoria at the expense of these fictional others, perhaps even making us secretly addicted to the thrill of being scared silly.  With as many pictures in the Horror library as there is, I’d even suggest that there’s a little something-something in our DNA that makes us crave these encounters.
 
Still, the danger of exploring addiction is that – in a general sense – it takes more of the delicate substance to produce that singular ‘high’ in perpetuity.  What worked yesterday grows a bit stale, so we ingest just a little bit more, turning our intake into things that might be grimmer if not bloodier.  This is why storytellers often experiment – especially in the Horror genre – with newer and stranger stimuluses: the usual beheading has been – if you’ll pardon the expression – ‘done to death,’ so they seek out bold strategies to push the limit.  The same can’t be said for Drama, Comedy, or even my beloved Science Fiction; but Horror filmmakers are always on the lookout for the most macabre additions they can deliver to a field of endless possibilities.
 
So perhaps every generation or so, mythmakers go back to the well of inspiration hoping to dredge up something that hasn’t been either seen before or – much more likely – hasn’t been seen in some time.  This is how I felt about Inbred (2011), an adequate chiller that takes a page out of such haunts as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), or Dead Alive (1992) by pouring buckets and buckets of gore into a central story about the descent into a literal nightmare.  While the film might differ in ways thematically, it still focuses on ramping up its bizarre imagery with every opportunity, never stopping to even suspect it might be going to excesses.   While some who love Horror worship at this trough, I usually want a bit more than oddball characters to steady the rocky road.
 
(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 …)
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From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Four young offenders and their care workers visit the remote Yorkshire village of Mortlake, which prides on keeping itself to itself. A minor incident with locals rapidly escalates into a blood-soaked, deliriously warped nightmare.”
 
Viewers looking for any measure of complexity are likely going to be widely disappointed with Inbred.
 
Written by the team of Alex Chandon (who also directs) and Paul Shrimpton, the flick is little more than an excuse to experiment with torture porn.  Setting a husband/wife team of social workers and their collection of foster children in a rural community to kinda/sorta ‘renew their collective energies,’ the story then has these nonconformists clashing violently with some authentic dissenters: it’s suggested that this tribe of mild yet bloodthirsty mutants are descended from patients locked away in local insane asylums that were eventually forsaken by government and society, so they’ve been reproducing one bad seed after another.  To entertain themselves, they abduct anyone remotely normal who ventures into the area, forcing them to die in increasingly theatrical spectacles rendered out in their own ghoulish circus big-top.
 
Jeff (played by James Doherty) and Kate (Jo Hartley) headline as the foster couple.  This small cadre of rambunctious teens (James Burrows, Terry Haywood, Chris Waller, and Nadine Mulkerrin) aren’t really all that violent or aggressive, though there are strong hints at the usual resentment of authority or the usual territorial issues that go with misdirected anger.  After banding together to clean-up the weekend retreat home that Jeff has rented for the excursion in the country, they head into town for a night at the local pub; and this is their first exposure to the odd cast of players who comprise the local populace.  Unkempt appearances and broken teeth aside, it’s pretty clear that these inhabitants are about as far from normal as one might expect, even though the affable barkeep Jim (Seamus O’Neill) insists all is well.
 
The next day, the makeshift family heads out to a railway graveyard – an open field packed with abandoned old rail cars whose parts and pieces can be reclaimed by civic-minded volunteers – and this is where ‘the fun’ begins.  After a few of the local ruffians try to have their way with Sam (Nadine Mulkerrin), Jeff steps in and is seriously injured when he falls amidst some wreckage and severs an artery in his leg.  Quickly, the family haul him by wheelbarrow into town, hoping that someone can call for assistance, only to find Jim ready, willing, and able to lop Jeff’s head off with a meat cleaver in order to ease the man’s suffering.
 
From here, Inbred descends into a veritable hellscape.  It turns out that these locals entertain themselves by torturing tourists to death in a circus-like venue, and this family of six has only just begun to assess a measure of what true pain is.  With his mug buried under blackface (for no specific reason I’m aware of), Jim serves as the ringmaster over the bloodiest sideshow thinkable, his audience of misshapen townies clapping with stones to their delight.  It doesn’t last all that long, fortunately, as escape and pursuit always come into play in features of this type, with the feisty Kate doing all she can to keep her makeshift family safe and sound for as long as Fate allows.
 
Plot points aside, Inbred is static otherwise.
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Frankly, it’s the kind of premise where one typically knows what’s in store – when you know, you know – and it never varies from the path that’s been trod before.  Subsequent kills serve only to ramp up the bloodiness, and the family – ever shrinking in numbers – still tries to make their last stands though with increasingly foolish methodology.  When it comes to victims, Horror has never been known for showcasing the best and the brightest – yes, Inbred keeps up the tradition of fugitives making stupid ideas and paying the consequences for their ignorance.  As such, the film revels in dispatching them one by one in foreseeable style.  The audience is meant to delight in their respective demises almost as much as the inbred – that’s what it’s all about, after all – and the flick even manages to completely blow the whole ‘Final Girl’ theory into bloody bits and pieces in the last reel.
 
As a one-off experience, Inbred is good enough to entertain, but I don’t think it has much reusability.  Back in the days of the home video explosion, it likely would’ve been one of those popular rentals that found life owed mostly to positive word-of-mouth from fans who crave this strong measure of depravity.  I’m not sure that phenomenon exists any longer, and yet I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it garnered a respectable cult following.  As I said in my preamble, it feels similar enough to features that have gone on and outlived its initial screening runs; but the lack of any true originality might hold it back from securing anything greater than the sum of its body parts.
 
Inbred (2011) was produced by New Flesh Films and Split Second Films.  DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Warner Archive.  As for the technical specifications?  While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the provided sights-and-sounds were exceptional most of the time: given that the story winds up flirting with torture sequences and quick kills in spots, there are some small effects sequences that are a bit obvious.  Such is life … and death, I’m told.  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  Well, I couldn’t get the disc I was provided to even access a main menu, so I’m believing that there isn’t a one on here.  While something extra would’ve been nice, I’m also not that sure I would’ve spent a great deal of time with it.
 
Recommended, but …
 
With as good a vicarious and visceral experience that Inbred (2011) occasionally turns out to be, the film still can’t effectively shake the fact that all involved – the cast and crew – maximized their efforts around creating a cult film for a niche audience.  Everything in here feels as if it was intentionally crafted to exploit whatever ‘gratuitous for gratuitous’ sake’ development to exceed everyone’s expectations.  As a result, it does limp into predictability in its last reel – especially when characters just start making dumber and dumber and dumber decisions in their bids to defend themselves – and never quite recovers.  There’s no doubt a certain crowd will embrace its sheer lunacy but that’s assuming they ever find it.  The Horror marketplace isn’t exactly slim pickings, you know.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Warner Archive provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Inbred (2011) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review.  Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

-- EZ
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There’s no denying that beauty comes with an incredibly high price tag.
 
Looks – or general attractiveness – is a subject I don’t much cover ‘round these parts, mostly because I don’t attach a whole lot of meaning to it as a concept.  I’ve always been more of a story person, and whoever gets cast in the big or small roles has never been something I’ve put much thought into.  For example, I’m not one to go gaga over the next Brad Pitt project much less the upcoming major motion picture next in line for Margot Robbie: as I said, my schtick has always been to focus more on the ideas being presented and just what I’m supposed to make of it all.  Pretty faces come and go far too fast for me to associate anything substantially to them; and Hollywood has proven that it’s a mill that’ll churn out the next Brad, Margot, and whoever is pleasing to the eye as soon as they can.
 
But it is one of the big rules in Hollywood that a pretty face or a flattering figure speaks volumes to what any studio perceives could be a lucrative bottom line; and – as such – those key players in Tinseltown have continued to push the boundaries in ways too many to fathom.  Indeed, there’s no other place on the entire planet that has made beauty the central pursuit of so, so, so many.  After all, good-looking people are more successful, no?  Good-looking people make the world go round.  Every one of us – at one time or another – has relied on his or her good looks – if not prayed for them – to open a door to a job, a career, or even a significant other of our choice.  Beauty sells, and everyone is buying.
 
As good as it is (and it is very good), 2024’s The Substance will be remembered as a cautionary fable about being extremely careful what you seek in an industry that is only skin deep.  Written and directed by French sensation Coralie Fargeat, it’s a story that we’ve honestly seen before but perhaps not at the same degree of viciousness directed specifically at the entertainment industry, the very people who have profited off allure since the camera’s invention.  It stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley as ‘two halves of the same whole’ (don’t fret – it’ll make sense) along with screen veteran Dennis Quaid in a key role.  Still, the real stars here might be the gifted craftspeople who make it about as bloody, chaotic, and horrific as any surreal Satire with a Science Fiction edge could ever possibly be.
 
It's a veritable feast for the eyes … but with beauty as its foundation should you have expected anything less?
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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 minor hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
 
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.”
 
There are a great many truisms that collide within the framework of The Substance, and it’s these various collisions that make the film work on its many levels.
 
For example, one need not be a marquee screen idol to understand the value of keeping one’s looks in some good shape.  As aging takes its toll, we’re cautioned to eat better, to exercise a bit more, and to generally take better care of ourselves.  I’ve heard it said that our bodies is the only real vehicle we get in this wild ride of life, so it becomes increasingly important to insure that we’re doing everything possible to make it last.  Despite the best efforts of scientists, we still have no access to trade-in models.
 
Also, success has always been a key motivator in just about any professional or personal pursuit.  Of course, we always want to do well – to give it our all and see some return for our investments – but nothing replaces the absolute euphoria that goes hand-in-hand with achieving a big win, am I right?  Closing that big sale, penning a particularly effective movie review (and seeing it widely read), or seeing one’s child walk up to home plate and hit a homerun produces a rush of excitement unlike anything else in life … well, with perhaps sex being the only exception.  Doing good feeds our self-esteem, and doing exceptional helps us open doors to even greater successes.
 
Because The Substance – for the most part – obsesses over such concepts that everyone can relate to, the film rather easily hits that ball out of the park.  No matter what your lot in life is, I suspect you can identify with Elisabeth Sparkle’s coming to terms with her fading glory even though she attaches so much of it to her sex appeal.  Yes, that’s debatably the business she’s in as a morning fitness enthusiast who puts her viewing audiences through their sweaty paces for a major television network; but that core association between her (as a character) and us (as her audience) remains applicable despite a bit of glamorization of a lifestyle few of us will live to experience.
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While behind the wheel of her car, Elisabeth is distracted momentarily by one of her billboards being ripped down; and she finds herself in an accident requiring medical attention.  In the hospital and emotionally exhausted, she eventually breaks down in tears, leaving her attending physician to exit stage left because he’s not apt to deal with a crying woman.  However, the attending male nurse politely suggests – after a cursory exam of her back – that she could be a good candidate for something unsaid.  After she leaves the building, she discovers a flash drive in her coat pocket along with a note that simply reads: “This saved my life.”
 
On the drive, Elisabeth discovers an advertisement for something called the Substance, a chemical that apparently offers the opportunity for – ahem – another you.  Initially, she dismisses it, but it isn’t long before her nagging frustration gets the better of her, and she calls to place an order.  A day or two later, she receives a key card that opens the door to a secret place in the bad part of town.  Inside, she matches her card to a safety deposit box that contains her very first treatment for this unheard-of science.
 
There’s a bit more to the program, but I’ll stop there for fear of spoiling too many of the discoveries waiting for your time with The Substance.  It’s a slow-burning delight – a bit fat in a few spots – but that’s probably as Fargeat intended.  As often happens with parables of this type, there are rules that must be followed – often severely – in order for the formula to work (that pumpkin’s not always going to be a carriage, especially not after midnight, Cinderella); and there’s always a breakdown of procedure that opens doors to the darkest, wildest destinations.  Yes, that definitely happens here, and it’s pretty damn glorious.  Just as temporal dynamics suggest that there can’t be two of you occupying the same space without the resulting galactic catastrophe, the same moral of the story comes into play in the film’s second half when Sue (Margaret Qualley) – Elisabeth’s somewhat young doppelganger – decides she needs a bit more ‘me time’ in defiance of the prescribed doctrine.   Needless to say, neither lady emerges quite the same as they were when they went into this bold agreement; and viewers are encouraged to buckle up for a finish that’s spills more blood than any single body could ever retain.
 
Now, this isn’t to say that I was completely won over by The Substance.
 
As a message film, it isn’t as if this premise hasn’t been probed before.  A good many storytellers have sounded off on our cultural obsession with perfection (or the pursuit of it), though I will say I’ve rarely experienced one with as much gore.  (Seriously, there are buckets and buckets and buckets of blood once it starts flowing, along with some amazing costuming and prosthetic work that hasn’t been industry used in ages.)  Many in the media have christened the story as a Body Horror – a unique subset of the genre that focuses on grotesque violations to the human body or whatever creature is at the center of the tale – and that’s unarguably true.  But far more of the picture works thematically as a biting but still somewhat conventional satire, and on that front it’s a vastly stronger and far more relevant effort.
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Also, in the first half of the film, there are sequences that just don’t resonate as strongly with me as perhaps they’ve done with others (i.e. Dennis Quaid – as an overtly misogynistic studio executive – delivers a great performance but it borders a bit too closely to outright parody at times).  They’re often amplified with curious sound choices and uncharacteristic or oddly framed close-ups, and it’s all meant to rather lazily amplify the director’s condemnation of bad behavior, beauty versus ugliness, or the general lack of social norms.  Again, this has been done before elsewhere, and I found it growing tiresome quickly.  Sadly (and in typical Hollywood fashion), Fargeat denies her lead females any positive male roles models while rather shamelessly allowing Elisabeth and Sue to literally beat each other up.  In doing so, the film eliminates any culpability whatsoever on the phenomenon of females contributing to proliferation of unhealthy body stereotypes, and I think that’s an oversight.
 
Honestly, on this topic, I think there’s plenty of blame to go around … yet I’m not convinced that Fargeat would agree.
 
The Substance (2024) was produced by Blacksmith, Film France, and Working Title Films.  A quick search of Google.com indicates that the film is playing theatrical across the United States.  As for the technical specifications?  Wow.  I don’t say this lightly, but – even though I’m no trained video expert – I thought this flick looked damn phenomenal from start-to-finish.  It’s the kind of production that deserves to be studied – maybe even looked at casually by general audiences – because there’s something worth noticing in arguably every sequence if not every frame.  (I know, I know: that might be a bit of hyperbole, but it’s one of those rare cinematic experiences that doesn’t come along every day, so take it for how I’ve intended.)  Lastly, if you’re looking for special features?  Alas, I viewed this one via streaming; as such, there were no special features under consideration.
 
Highly recommended.
 
Mind you: I don’t often agree with my ‘cultural betters,’ largely because I don’t always see the world in the same fashion they do … but I’d be a fool to argue against the remarkable visual palate that is so much of The Substance (2024).  As a didactic drama, it’s highly accessible to just about anyone, whether it be the messages about just what the pursuit of beauty costs, how elusive the Fountain of Youth remains, or how vile a society is that makes any gender go to such lengths to highlight attractiveness.  Though I think Fargeat’s indictment was a bit soft on the individuals involved – Elisabeth Sparkle took the first step down this dark spiral, regardless of the narrative framing – The Substance is a rare spectacle that accomplishes far more than most films ever conceive.
 
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Working Title Films provided me with complimentary streaming access to The Substance (2024) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review.  Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

-- EZ
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