From 1968-1991, Pauline Kael reviewed movies for the New Yorker and made film criticism into an art form. As a result of her writing, people began to think more about the movies they saw, transforming entertainment into something that could become even more. She had her enemies and her fans, even today. Like Quentin Tarantino, who said, “Kael was so on the nose at times that she could sometimes change your mind about a film you may have thought was pretty good.”

Directed and written by Rob Garver, this takes the life and reviews of Kael and turns it into a movie worth watching. It’s told mainly in her own words — spoken by Sarah Jessica Parker — which are taken from interviews, private letters and published writing.

Kael had one standard. Movies shouldn’t bore her. I’d like to think that she’d enjoy the movie that came out of her life. It seems incredibly meta for me to attempt to review this, but it made me think of the way that I look at films.

The MVD DVD of this movie has extras that include interviews with Quentin Tarantino and Paul Schrader, deleted scenes and a never before released interview of Alfred Hitchcock by Pauline Kael. You can get it from MVD.

Directed by Kinji Fukasaku with screenplay by Kazuo Kasahara based on a concept by Norimichi Matsudaira, Naoyuki Sugimoto and Kyo Namura, Yakuza Graveyard is the story of Detective Kuroiwa (Tetsuya Watari, Graveyard of Honor) and his investigations into the Yamashiro and Nishida organized crime syndicates. He soon learns that his police bosses are just as corrupt as the criminals they face. They may as well be the criminals, as they are working with the Yamashiro.

Kuroiwa becomes close with Nishida executive Iwata (Tatsuo Umemiya) and soon finds himself falling in love with Matsunaga Keiko (Meiko Kaji!), the wife of an imprisoned gang member. Swearing allegiance to a criminal instead of his fellow cops and being in love with a woman used to the wrong side of the law puts Kuroiwa into a downward spiral of gun, blood and crime.

Yet how far from being a criminal is Kuroiwa? He drinks non-stop, sleeps with sex workers, embraces Western rock and roll and punches so many cops in the face. He’s as much of an outcast as the Korean characters in this film, people with a heritage that will never allow them to rise to the levels they may deserve.

How much is this movie on the side of the bad guys? I mean, the cops use Nazi truth serum at one point. Japanese yakuza films are a deep well to explore and this is a great start, all filled with frantic action, moments that transform into monochromatic psychedelia and the idea that a death bleeding out in the dirty street is the best almost any of these characters will get.

The Radiance Flms blue ray of Yakuza Graveyard looks gorgeous and comes with some amazing extras, including an appreciation by filmmaker Kazuya Shiraishi, a visual essay by critic Tom Mes on Meiko Kaji and Kinji Fukasaku’s collaborations, promotional imagery, a trailer, newly translated English subtitles, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow, a limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mika Ko on the representations of Koreans in the yakuza film and newly translated reprints of a contemporary review and writing by screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara. This is a limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings. You can get it from MVD.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since this movie came out. Now, you can get this gorgeous steel book only at Best Buy. Extras include director commentary, a making-of feature, casting footage, rehearsal footage, cast and crew interviews, a trailer and never-before-seen behind-the-scenes materials. You can order this special House of 1000 Corpses set from Best Buy. 

Taken from bluray.com

This is the first film from rock star Rob Zombie, whom I have vilified in conversations and reviews for repeatedly filming Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (with side dishes of Horror House on Highway 5 and Eaten Alive). I watched this with an open mind and hoped to be entertained. And you know, at this point, Zombie was making interesting films.

Zombie started by directing several videos for his band, White Zombie. Universal Studios then selected him to design a haunted maze for their Halloween Horror Nights. The attraction was so successful that he was credited with reviving it and began a relationship with the studio. He has previously worked on a script for a sequel to The Crow, The Crow 2037: A New World of Gods and Monsters.

Despite plans for an animated Frankenstein film, Zombie decided to turn his haunted house into an actual movie. Filmed in 2000 on the Universal Studio backlots, which gives this the same feel as the aforementioned Eaten Alive, the film was held for three years as there was concern over releasing it due to all the blood, gore, masturbation and necrophilia. Not wanting an NC-17, Universal was content to sit on the film until Zombie bought it back and sold it to Lion’s Gate, who finally released it almost three years after it had wrapped.

The film opens on October 30, 1977, as two criminals attempt to rob the gas station of Captain Spalding (Sid Haig, Spider Baby). It’s a quick intro to get us into the film’s spirit — down, dirty and scummy. Soon, Jerry (Chris Hardwick), Bill (The Office’s Rainn Wilson), Mary and Erin arrive, as they are traveling the country writing about strange roadside attractions.

Spalding gives them a tour of his Museum of Monsters and Madmen, during which he relates the legend of Doctor Satan, a mad doctor who was hung by an angry mob. Before they leave, he gives them a hand-drawn map of the tree where they lynched the man.

On the way, they pick up Baby (Zombie’s muse, Sheri Moon Zombie), a hitchhiker who gets in the car moments before a tire blows out, and her half-brother Rufus (former pro wrestler Robert “Bonecrusher” Mukes) picks them up in his tow truck.

What follows is a descent into madness as the Firefly family (named after the Marx Brothers characters) takes over the film. There’s Mother Firefly (Karen Black, Trilogy of Terror), adopted brother Otis Driftwood (Bill Moseley, Chop Top from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Grampa Hugo (character actor Dennis Fimple in his last film) and the deformed giant Tiny (Matthew McGrory, a real-life giant who is also in Bubble Boy and Big Fish). The family has already kidnapped five cheerleaders and is now presenting a Halloween show to their guests, who run in fear before being taken back into the house.

The family begins to torture the four kids, including killing Bill to turn him into a merman, like something out of an old roadside sideshow and scalping Jerry (who is named after the composer of the Star Trek theme).

Meanwhile, Denise’s dad, Don and two deputies (Tom Towles from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Walton Goggins from TV’s Justified) track down the missing kids, only to be killed by the family. Then, the remaining three are dressed as rabbits and chased through a maze.

Jerry—despite being scalped—and Denise survive, only to find their way to Doctor Satan’s lair. There, he operates on Jerry and reveals that his assistant Earl is the father of the Firefly family. Denise, however, escapes again, only to be picked up by Captain Spalding, who offers to drive her to safety. She passes out, and Otis appears in the back seat. She awakens on Doctor Satan’s operating table, and that’s the end!

The footage for this film is all over the place, much like that of Natural Born Killers. That’s because Zombie filmed many of the sequences in his basement with a 16mm camera, including the opening shot of the moon.

There are moments of style here, but the film feels pretty messy. There are enough ideas to fill several films, and there is no cohesive tale to be told, but that didn’t take away my enjoyment of the film. Unlike 31, where Zombie retold this same story again, it feels like there’s promise here. There are several films that Zombie never made, like retellings of C.H.U.D. and The Blob, as well as an adaption of his comic The Nail called Tyrannosaurus Rex that would have been an homage to violent 70’s action films.

If you love his work, I can think of no better set for you to buy.

Director and writer Jack Sholder, who past on making the first movie, said of this sequel, “That’s one that I have very mixed feelings about because there are parts of it that I really like, but I think, all in all, it’s a little dumb. To tell you the truth, I haven’t seen it since I, uh, made it. When I was making it, I thought it was good. I thought a lot of it was kind of funny or clever. I definitely feel it has merit. From what I can gather, it’s one of those films that divides people. Some people don’t like it, others do. And, you know, it was also a sequel to a movie that I thought wasn’t a good movie at all. It’s a movie that I did, and I don’t regret doing. You know, there’s a lot of stuff that I think is pretty good from it. You know, like the scene from the casino I thought was pretty good. Maybe it comes off as being silly.”

I like Sholder’s films Alone in the Dark and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, so I think I gave him a pass here. Or maybe it was a half awake Saturday morning into the afternoon and I just zoned out on the couch and finally tried to relax for once.

Andrew Divoff is back as the djinn, released when a bullet breaks the gem as it sits in an art gallery. Thief Morgana Truscott (Holly Fields) escapes, leaving behind her dying boyfriend and the djinn — in human form — confesses to all the crimes so that he can build an army of souls within a prison. Meanwhile, Morgana and her ex-lover now priest Gregory (Paul Johannson) try to figure out how to stop the visions and deaths caused by the evil big bad.

By that, I mean the priest gets all sorts of occult knowledge while Morgana purifies herself by cutting off one of her fingers and then they make sweet love, but fight demons in any way you can, I guess.

I mean, this has Tiny Lister in it as a warden, so I can’t completely dislike it. Divoff is so much fun that it just keeps me watching these. That jail, by the way, is the same one from A Nightmare On Elm Street. Chained Heat‘s boiler room also belongs to this location.

You can watch this on Tubi.

It’s weird because I always wrote off this movie and here I am, in the middle of a lazy Saturday, enjoying this entire series. Did I not know that Robert Kurtzman directed this as seemingly a reel of everything that KNB could do when it came to practical effects? Did I miss out on the cast, which includes Robert Englund, Kane Hodder,Tony Todd, Joseph Pilato, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm and George “Buck” Flower? How could I miss all the Lovecraft references and an appearance by Pazuzu? The cameos by Tom Savini and Verne Troyer? Was I that turned off by the Wes Craven presents before the title? I man, John Byner is in this!

This starts as great as a movie can. That’s because that’s Angus Scrimm reading the intro, which is about how djinn promise three wishes but if that third wish is granted, they unleash their demonic kind on Earth. That’s what nearly happens when one djinn (Andrew Divoff) destroys the kingdom of a Persian emperor before a sorcerer named Zoroaster (Ari Barak) imprisons him in a red gem,

Back in modern time, Raymond Beaumont (Englund) watches as a drunk dockworker (Pilato) crushes his assistant (Ted Raimi) and smashes a statue. The gem escapes and finds its way to an auction house and the eyes of Nick Merritt (Chris Lemmon) and Alexandra “Alex” Amberson (Tammy Lauren) to sell. As soon as an expert tries to study it, it explodes and unleashes the djinn.

The djinn has a goofy sense of humor in the best of ways, killing people as they make wishes, like the woman who wants to look young forever, so she becomes a mannquein. Or the security guard (Hodder) who says, “I’d like to see you go through me” that is turned into stained glass and shattered. He’s literally Alanis Ironic, don’t you think?

You can watch this on Tubi.

Shot at the same time as the second Darkman movie, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die is directed again by Bradford May and written by Michael Colleary and Mike Webb, who also wrote Face/Off. I wonder if all the synthetic skin masks that Dr. Peyton Westlake (Arnold Vosloo) wears as Darkman inspired that movie?

This movie also has a Cannon-style reason for its order, as it was shot as the second movie and the return of Durant was to be the third film. That makes way more sense.

Our hero is helped by Dr. Bridget Thorne (Darlanne Fluegel, The Eyes of Laura Mars), who helps stabilize his formula. However, she’s also the mistress of his new enemy, Peter Rooker (Jeff Fahey), who works with the doctor to treat Darkman like a lab rat, all so he can gain superhuman strength.

Then, well, Darkman uses his skin to superhumanly cuck his enemy, spending time with his neglected wife Angela (Roxann Dawson) and daughter Jenny, even going to see her school play. This all culminates in the bad guy abducting and threatening his own family before his Darkman-assisted death, Jenny’s face is burnt in the ensuing fire, so our hero gives the last of his new skin to her and he’s back in the darkness, never to know love.

A fourth movie — and that still promised Fox series — never happened. Vosloo claimed he would never do an effects-heavy role again and hey, he went back on that and was in The Mummy and played another face-swapping character, Zartan, in the first G.I. Joe movie.

Pocket Books also published four more Darkman books — The Hangman, The Price of Fear, The Gods of Hell and In the Face of Death — while Marvel published a movie adaption and a six-issue miniseries sequel. In 2006, Dynamite Entertainment published a crossover between Ash from Evil Dead and Darkman.

Ah, the 90s. A time when Blockbuster Video had enough power that it could ask Universal for a sequel to Darkman, which did well at theaters. But not well enough for a theatrical sequel. Renaissance Pictures was trying to sell Fox on a series, bringing back Larry Drake as bad guy Robert G. Durant. They passed and what was filmed ended up the first of two direct-to-video sequels.

Half of the budget for the Darkman sequels came from Universal’s television division, while the rest came from its home video division. This is also how The Birds II and Psycho IV were made.

In 1998, Sam Raimi’s Renaissance Pictures — now Raimi Pictures — was producing tons of stuff, like M.A.N.T.I.S. (the series Fox did buy), American Gothic, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. They also made Hard Target, which is where Arnold Vosloo was found to take over the lead. Another of their regulars, Renee O’Connor — who played Deianeira on Hercules and Gabrielle on Xena — also is in this.

Peyton Westlake is still Darkman, stealing from the criminals he fights and using the money to pay for his synthetic skin experiments while Durant awakens from a coma and goes right back into crime, breaking Dr. Alfred Hathaway (Lawrence Dane) out of prison. Now he’s selling particle beam weapons on the black market. His need for more energy to make these weapons causes him to kill Westlake’s new skin creation partner, Dr. David Brinkman (Jesse Collins), and Darkman instantly knows his enemy has come back when he notices that the dead scientist is missing a finger. Durant follows that evil up by killing off a reporter, Jill Randall (Kim Delaney) that Darkman had grown to respect.

Now, our hero must save the sister of Hathaway (O’Connor) from Durant and get his revenge.

Bradford May was the director of photography of The Monster Squad and spent a lot of his directing career in TV. His work here is good, but he’s also following Sam Raimi. The script was written by Robert Eisele, Lawrence Hertzog (who wrote a few of the Hart to Hart TV movies) and Steven McKay (Assault On Devil’s Island, Hard to Kill). Again, it’s fine, but following the original is a hard act.