This was a movie that could have been good but it didn't quite make enough sense. But as bad as Incident at Raven's Gate was, it was never dull, and it was always weird...
The plot unfolds something like this: Ex-con Eddie is helping on his brother's hydroponic farm when things start to get weird. Birds drop from the sky, people are acting strangely, and water is disappearing. In the midst of all this, Eddie and his sister-in-law are pursuing a romance. Will they discover what's at the root of all this chaos, or will they succumb to it like their unfortunate neighbors...
The sub-plots though: The movie skips around between strange subplots and most of them are never resolved. For instance, the brother's hydroponic farm's water keeps disappearing, but the reason for the disappearance is never revealed. (Though it's almost implied that aliens are responsible.)
Was it aliens?: Aside from the implications in the movie title, we couldn't tell for sure if the movie was in fact about alien encounters. If there were aliens, they weren't very consistent (some water was worth taking, some was not) and they weren't terribly interested in showing themselves. And although the main evidence that alien encounters were taking place was the towns people acting oddly, it was impossible to tell if they were being made to behave strangely by alien presence, or if they were always strange people. However, the government seemed to know what was going on! They show up during the aftermath (if those were actually supposed to be government officials that is) and it seems like their presence was supposed to indicate there were actually aliens involved.
Reasons to watch: It doesn't fail to deliver on the strange-twist front, there's some nicely gruesome moments, and it's pretty fun to yell at this one!
You might recognize:Vincent Gil (Body Melt, Mad Max). What we learned: If you want to make a movie about aliens visiting earth, you should probably explicitly mention (or show) aliens a few times...
This was a pretty straight forward 80s kids movie but it was pretty fun! Nicole Kidman was obviously interesting to watch in a role at the start of her career, but there were some other familiar faces from Ozploitation movies that were nice to see in a less gritty atmosphere. This is also an interesting departure for director Brian Trenchard-Smith, who had quite a few of our favorite Ozploitation films under his belt before this movie.
The plot unfolds something like this: A gang of criminals are planing the heist of a lifetime, but first they must obtain a box of police-issue walkie talkies. Meanwhile, some BMX-enthusiast kids are also on the look out for some quick cash after inadvertently getting their new friend (Kidman) fired from her summer job. She needs money for a new set of wheels, and her new friends have some ideas on how to get money quick. But when they find a box of expensive walkie talkies floating off a pier, their summer takes a turn for the dangerous...
Reasons to watch: Some genuinely fun new-friendship banter scenes, a couple of boys befriending a girl without making a huge deal that she is indeed a girl, some "sweet" BMX bike stunts, and the dimmest police force on the planet.
You might recognize: David Argue (Razorback), John Ley (Escape 2000, Mad Max), Bryan Marshall (The Punisher (1989)), and Nicole Kidman!
Now enjoy this supremely surreal interview with Nicole Kidman (be sure to watch it all the way to the end, you won't be sorry):
There are so many amazing Ozploitation movies out there we couldn't possibly write up every one of them, so we've got a few list posts this month, and our first has some pretty epic amazingness...
Razorback: A giant killer boar terrorizes the locals and that's not the strangest thing that happens in this movie.
The director: Razorback was Russell Mulcahy's first feature film but he drew from his background directing new wave music videos (Duran Duran, The Buggles, Human League) to make this a visually interesting film.
Wildest scene: There's a scene involving a kangaroo hunt where the filmmakers went out with licensed kangaroo hunters to gather footage, of an real kangaroo hunt. You watch a lot of actual kangaroos die in this film.
You might recognize: Judy Morris (The Cars that Ate Paris; Arkie Whiteley, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior), and John Howard (Mad Max: Fury Road, as The People Eater himself).
That movie was a book?: Apparently Razorback was indeed a novel by Peter Brennan before it was a movie.
Thirst: A young woman is abducted by a cult of what she quickly discovers are vampires running a blood farm.
Was Henry Silva actually being dangled nine stories in the air?: Yes, and he was none too happy about it, they actually took him quite a bit higher than they told him they were going to.
You might recognize: Henry Silva (Ocean's Eleven (original and remake)), Max Phipps (The Toady from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior), and David Hemmings (Deep Red).
Road games: Hitch (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a hitchhiker picked up by Pat Quid (Stacy Keach). Quid's just witnessed a murder while big-rigging across Australia. Together Hitch and Quid will play a game of cat and mouse with a nomadic serial killer.
This movie is basically: Rear Window on a highway.
This is no low-budget slasher: With a budget of $1.75 million, this was the highest budget Australian film of it's time.
You might have also seen by this director: Patrick, Pchyo II, Cloak and Dagger, or F/X2.
Patrick: Since causing the death of his mother and her lover, Patrick has been in a comatose state... with his eyes wide open. Now he's fallen in love with one of the new nurses and he'll stop at nothing to have her affection.
This movie inspired: The coma scene from Kill Bill vol. 1.
The truly wild part?: This is a movie where the main character doesn't speak or blink for the entirety of the film. Who looks at that script and says "Yes! We're making that movie!"
Some of our friends felt this movie was a let down, possibly because it was hyped up too much for them to enjoy it. But, maybe because of their hyping it down, we were able to enjoy it that much more, though we might not classify it as a straight-up horror. If you watch the Babadook knowing it's a character study focusing on grief and sanity with strong horror elements, you might enjoy it as much as we did!
The plot unfolds something like this: On the way to the hospital while in labor with their first child, Amelia and her husband are involved in a car accident and Amelia is left a widowed single mother. As a result, Amelia and her son Samuel are dysfunctionally close. Samuel has problems sleeping at night and habitually wakes his mother to read to him, keeping her in a state of sleep-deprived delirium. When Samuel has his mother read him a book called The Babadook-dook-dook they discover a sinister presence creeping into their lives.
Reasons to watch: This movie nicely balances horror and psychological thriller and with it's surreal presentation, you're never sure when things are in her head, in her son's head, or are very real.
Wait, that was written and directed by a lady?: Yup!
What we learned: Sometimes to enjoy an overly hyped movie all you need is a friend to intensely dislike it first!
There's a long standing rule in the film industry; if you've had a bad experience working with someone, you lie through your teeth about how just great that person was. But while watching Not Quite Hollywood we learned that might not be the standard in Australia as filmmakers explicitly talk about Yu Wang's seething hatred of his co-workers. I've never seen so many people talk so honestly about what it was like working with a hostile star, but Wang's work on The Man from HK just scratches the surface of Wang's assholery. He's been through two divorces; one marriage ending due to domestic violence and the other he ended only after drawing out for years and finally very publicly humiliating his partner. Every article I read on him cited a different fist fight he was famous for, he just recently ended his relationship with his girlfriend 40 years his junior over her parents disapproval of the relationship, and he's the prime suspect in a murder in Taiwan that lacks enough evidence for an arrest. Knowing all these things makes watching The Man from Hong Kong strange, because you find yourself rooting for the bad guys through the whole movie. However, that doesn't change how AMAZINGLY INSANE this movie is from start to finish.
The plot unfolds something like this: A pair of Australian detectives have busted up a drug buy involving a Hong Kong drug runner (Sammo Hung) and they've called in Hong Kong Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Yu Wang) to handle the extradition. But, Inspector Leng isn't just interested in bringing a drug runner back to his home country, he want's to bring down Sydney's largest crime organization to boot. And, if he has time, maybe woo some lovely ladies, kick a ton of bad guys around, and destroy more public and private property than The Avengers. You know, whatever he can fit in a weekend.
Things to watch for: A car door almost taking out the camera and crew during an explosion. George Lazenby's frightening scene in which he is, in real life, unable to remove his flaming jacket and is burned as a result. Some insane stunts by Grant Page. A car chase that tears through a house, literally. A no-holds-barred five and a half min fight that gives the infamous They Live fight scene a run for it's money. Some fight scenes that might have had some influence on The Raid and The Raid 2.
Holy shit, is that: A really young Sammo Hung? Why yes it is.
Yup that's: Fifi and Toecutter from Mad Max as the Australian detectives on the case. (Surprisingly, this movie came out four years before the original Mad Max.)
What we learned: If your leading man hates your country, women in general, and the director especially, possibly look into a different leading man...
First clue: This month's movie is an Australian production that falls under the under the Ozploitation umbrella. Tape Freaks Presents: Mystery Movie! Theatres at Mall of America, Thursday, Aug 20th at 7:30pm, only $5!
