Second Clue: November's Screening

Clue #2: The actual star of our film has appeared in 4 long running soap operas.

Tape Freaks Presents: November's Mystery Movie at the Trylon microcinema, Wednesday, October 5th@ 7:00pm, only $5!

****Purchase advance ticket here****

Top Billing for Ten Seconds of Screen Time: Futureworld

Westworld is a fantastic sci-fi movie, but did you know they made a sequel? According to the posters and VHS/DVD cover art, it features Yul Brynner reprising his role as the Gunslinger! And that's true, to a point. 

Yul Brynner does show up in Futureworld in a dream sequence (or flashback), comprised of 100% recycled footage from Westworld. So yes, he is in Futureworld, but if you saw the previous movie, you've already seen every scene he's in. It's a super bummer in a movie that over all isn't terrible.

Top Billing for Ten Seconds of Screen Time: Godzilla (2014)

This movie under-delivers on two star fronts, but the most unforgivable of the two might be the serious lack of Bryan Cranston in the second half of the film. 

This came out while Breaking Bad was still in full swing, so you'd think that Bryan Cranston's character [SPOILER] wouldn't be killed off in the first half of the film. But he was, and it was done in a seriously anticlimactic way.

But Cranston's wasn't the only character with abysmal screen time. In this much anticipated kaiju, with not one but two epic monster foes for Godzilla to save us from, there is hardly any Godzilla on screen. There was a gentleman behind us that literally vocalized every time it seemed like Godzilla was going show up and save the day. He would say "oh, here we go!!!" or some such excited thing. But each time the words left his mouth, the scene would cut to something completely non-Godzilla related. Every. Time. The last such set-up and disappointment was too much for him as he didn't say anything when it was clear Godzilla was going to show, but when it cut away he exasperatedly yelled "COME ON!!", and everyone in the audience was 100% with him. 

It's one thing to tease an audience, it's entirely another to tease an audience with a Godzilla movie staring Bryan Cranston only to switch it out for a movie staring Aaron Taylor-Johnson featuring a special appearance by Godzilla.

Top Billing for Ten Seconds of Screen Time: Black Eagle

Sometimes the top billed actor only gets top billing after they get famous, and Black Eagle is a great example of this. Many of the VHS and DVD covers feature Jean Claude Van Damme sharing top billing with Sho Kosugi suggesting they are the main stars of the film. In reality, Kosugi is the star, while JCVD plays the villain's main henchman. That's not to say Damme is completely absent in the film, but he's sure not the focus.

But, because this movie came out the same year as Blood Sport, the producers of the film must have decided to cash in on JCVD's new popularity. And based on the more recent releases (where Kosugi's involvement isn't even hinted at) this charlatan tactic seems to be working well for them...

But the marketing isn't the only after thought in this, mildly entertain, snooze fest. There's a scene near the end of the film, where JCVD and Kosugi face off, that seems really shoe horned in. JCVD is cut to over a long action sequence, but his actions don't seem to effect anyone until Kosugi shows up out of nowhere and the two men fight. After about 5 mins, Kosugi swan dives off a cliff face, leaving Damme to lick his wounds, and the incident is never mentioned again...

Top Billing for Ten Seconds of Screen Time: Scream

Not unlike Psycho with Janet Leigh, every trailer for Scream focused heavily on Drew Barrymore's character and she was prominently featured on all the posters. Then she was [DECADES OLD SPOILER] killed in the first ten mins of the film. 

But unlike the intentional casting choice in Psycho, Barrymore was initially cast as the lead in Scream but was later forced to take a role with less screen time due to a conflicting commitment. Though the switch in rolls was for the better, as it leaves the audience feeling that literally anything could happen after the biggest star [SAME SPOILER] is killed before the movie even starts.

Scream and Psycho were also alike in the legacies they left. Where Psycho left an abundance of sophisticated horror movies in it's wake, Scream inspired a full on resurgence of the horror/murder-mystery genre. (They share some surprisingly good sequels in their respective franchises to boot!) 

Top Billing for Ten Seconds of Screen Time: Psycho

Sometimes the bait-and-switch of billing of a star isn't to sell you on a movie that is otherwise horrible, sometimes it sets the bar for every horror movie that comes after it...

Janet Leigh was featured on all the posters for Psycho, listed in all the promotional materials, stars in the first act, and then [DECADES OLD SPOILER] is killed 20 mins into the movie. The decision to feature Leigh was likely to lull the audience into believing that nothing could happen to her character. Her star power coupled with the focus of the first act squarely on her character would have only added to the shock value of her murder. That creative decision would set the tone for countless horror movies that came after (a couple we'll touch on this month) but this movie's restraint in the gore department was a crack in the gore dam that Herschell Gordon Lewis would break open with Blood Feast only 3 years later.

First Clue: November's Screening

Clue #1: The this month's theme: Top Billing for Three Seconds of Screen Time. 

Tape Freaks Presents: November's Mystery Movie at the Trylon microcinema, Wednesday, October 5th@ 7:00pm, only $5!

****Purchase advance ticket here****