73 minutes of your life, Slayed is about the community of Harris County, AZ dealing with the trauma of a Christmas Eve massacre five years before and now, it looks like Santa is coming back to kill all over again at a water treatment plant.
Directors Mike Capozzi and Jim Klock (who wrote this) also appear as Crandle, the only survivor of the last yuletide killings and Officer Jordan, a security guard who had no idea that so many people were killed where he works. The killer gets revealed pretty early and is pretty verbose for a slasher. Also: There is no one likeable in this movie, as everyone is pretty much not feeling the holiday spirit and taking it out on one another.
There’s a lot of running around the sewer plant and if that’s how you want to spend Christmas, I can’t stop you. I mean, I like the tying people up with holiday lights, but that’s pretty much it. Yet it is the season and I hate giving lumps of coal just because I’m sick of people almost backing up into my car when I’m trying to shop. Maybe you’ll like this more than me.
Directed by Gwen Wentzler, written by Samuel A. Peeples and animated by Filmation, this was inspired by the success of Star Wars and intended to be a TV movie. When NBC saw the finished film, they turned it into the 1979 Saturday-morning animated TV-series Flash Gordon. The TV movie version is, obviously, a lot more adult and even has a moment where Ming shows that he has been giving weapons to Hitler.
Robert Ridgely plays Flash, Diane Pershing is Dale and David Opatoshu is Zarkov. This is closer to the newspaper strip, as Flash works alongside lionman King Thun (Ted Cassidy) while Ming’s (Bob Holt) daughter Princess Aura (Melendy Britt) attempts to possess Flash. They’re soon joined by Prince Barin and King Vultan of the Hawkmen to attempt to stop Ming from marrying Dale and destroying Earth.
The animation looks so much better than Filmation’s Saturday morning work, as it is rotoscoped. This is a process of animating over live action to ensure that movements appear like real people.
Mattel would make Flash, Ming, Thun, a Lizard Woman, Zarkov, a Beast Man, King Vultan, Captain Arak and a rocket ship for Flash and Ming’s shuttle. Flash’s ship was inflatable and looked like a zeppelin; it’s one of my favorite toys I ever got to play with.
This finally aired three years after the cartoon and NBC definitely aired it on the NBC Late Movie, playing on September 5 and 26, 1982. I was ten and totally watched it the whole way through both times it aired on a black and white TV on my parent’s inside porch.
The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie was a series of made-for-television films, often cartoons, that were broadcast on Saturday mornings from September 9, 1972 to November 17, 1973. Considered the ABC Movie of the Week for kids, this series was produced by several production companies like Hanna-Barbera, Filmation and Rankin/Bass and featured hour-long movies with Yogi Bear, The Brady Bunch and Lost in Space, among other popular shows. Some of these episodes were also pilots.
Over two seasons, episode aired like The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island (The Brady Kids pilot), Yogi’s Ark Lark (the pilot for Yogi’s Gang), Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (a spiritual sequel Mad Monster Party), an animated Nanny and the Professor, Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid, Oliver and the Artful Dodger, The Adventures of Robin Hoodnik, Lassie and the Spirit of Thunder Mountain (the pilot for Lassie’s Rescue Rangers), Gidget Makes the Wrong Connection, The Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park, an unsold Bewitched cartoon pilot called Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family, The Red Baron, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies, Luvast U.S.A. (a child version of Love, American Style), an animated That Girl movie by the title of That Girl in Wonderland, an unsold Lost In Space pilot, The Mini-Munsters and Nanny and the Professor and the Phantom of the Circus.
This cartoon is the first time that Steve Canyon, The Phantom, Tim Tyler and Flash Gordon would be animated. Professor Morbid Grimsby (Bob McFadden, who did nearly every voice other than the Popeye and female voices) is getting rid of the comics pages in the newspaper, working with Popeye’s enemy Brutus. The President of the U.S. gets everyone — Barney Google, Snuffy Smith, Blondie Dagwood, Beetle Bailey and characters from that strip, people from Bringing Up Father, Flash Gordon, Henry, Hi and Lois, The Katzenjammer Kids, Little Iodine, The Little King, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, The Phantom, Popeye, Prince Valiant, Quincy, Steve Canyon, Tiger and Tim Tyler — must all work to get the professor to laugh for the first time.
Directed by Lou Silverton and written by Hal Seeger and Jack Zander, this was animated by Filmation, who would go on to make the early 80s Flash Gordon adaption. It’s quick and most of the characters barely get a part, but for someone who grew up with the Sunday comics, it’s awesome to see them all appear in one movie.
Based on the Hush storyline that ran in Batman #608–619 — written by Jeph Loeb, penciled by Jim Lee, inked by Scott Williams and colored by Alex Sinclair — this starts with Batman (Jason O’Mara) battling the man who broke his back, Bane (Adam Gifford). After assisting Lady Shiva (Sachie Alessio) from securing a Lazarus Pit — the life saving devices that have kept his enemy Ra’s al Ghul alive forever — Batman’s grappling hook is shot down, leading him to crack his skull on the pavement and nearly be killed by common hoods before he’s saved by Catwoman (Jennifer Morrison), who is soon chased off by Batgirl (Peyton R. List).
Alfred (James Garrett) and Nightwing (Sean Maher) cover for Batman as he heals from brain surgery from his childhood best friend Thomas Elliot (Maury Sterling). At the same time, a mummy-masked man has been pulling the strings from behind the scenes, controlling Catwoman and using Poison Ivy (Peyton List) to take Superman (Jerry O’Connell) off the table.
Hush uses the Joker (Jason Spisak) and Harley Quinn (Hynden Walch) to kill Elliot, while Scarecrow (Chris Cox) takes out Nightwing and kidnaps Catwoman, to whom Batman has revealed his identity of Bruce Wayne. And he starts to figure out that Hush knows the secret, too, as he puts everyone he loves in teh crosshairs, including his son Damian (Stuart Allan).
The truth? Hush is The Riddler (Geoffrey Arend), who used the Lazarus Pit to heal a brain tumor and has figure out from the memories inside it of others who have been healed that Batman and Bruce are the same. He’s kidnapped the Catwoman, who has no problem shoving him to his death, a fact that keeps her and Batman from going off to be in love.
Directed by Justin Copeland and written by Ernie Altbacker, this is a lot cleaner at the ending than the comic, which goes on to show that Hush really is Thomas Elliot.
Based on “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?” from Action Comics #775, this cartoon was written by Joe Kelly, who also wrote the original comic, which was pencilled by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, and inked by Tom Nguyen, Dexter Vines, Jim Royal, Jose Marzan, Wade Von Grawbadger and Wayne Faucher.
When the Atomic Skull (Dee Bradley Baker) destroys much of Metropolis and kills several people, Superman (George Newbern) is asked why he doesn’t kill his enemies to protect humanity. A new group of heroes, The Elite — British psychic Manchester Black (Robin Atkin Downes), electricity controlling Coldcast (Catero Colbert), the demonic Menagerie (Melissa Disney) and the magician The Hat (Andrew Kishino) — responds by killing the Atomic Skull and winning over people, saying that they are willing to do what Superman won’t.
Kelly said, “The story tackles themes that go way beyond a typical superhero story…politics, the price of power and America’s place as a force in the world are all viewed through the lens of the DC Universe. Even if fans aren’t paying close attention to these issues, they’re all over the media. You can’t escape them. So with the state of affairs being what it is, I can’t think of a better time to see Superman confront these themes…I’m a big fan of taking real world issues and working them out through our “superhero” stories—but this one goes beyond strict allegory. Like the original comic story, the film is thought provoking without being preachy and really delivers a punch.”
By the end of this, Superman proves while he is still needed, even if he has to trick The Elite into believing. that he’s as ruthless as them.
The Elite are the same as The Authority, superheroes that became popular for their debauchery and willingness to end problems with violence and murder. They would show up again with new members, including cyborg Vera Black, a second Menagerie and Bunny. This team would eventually form the Justice League Elite, led by Black as Sister Superior and team members Coldcast, Menagerie II, Manitou Raven, his wife Dawn, Green Arrow, Flash, Kasumi (Batgirl in disguise), Major Disaster and Naif al-Sheikh.
In the fourth season of Supergirl, The Elite appeared with members Manchester Black, Menagerie, the Hat and a Morae responding to Agent Liberty and the Children of Liberty’s bigotry toward aliens, as well as the Department of Extranormal Operations’ ineffectiveness against people who kill aliens.
After leaving his store, the owner (Christian Barba) saves Santa (Tim Brown) from being mugged. As he hats him back his hat, he’s sent back to medieval times where he becomes Sir Klaus of the Lord’s Star. Along with chimney sweep Black Pete (Jackson Geach), he will battle other knights such as Sir Angus (Alex Chamberlain) and Jeffrey Greenfield (Fran Rafferty) to bring peace back to the land. His main weapon? The Good News of Jesus Christ.
Directed by Robby Sparks, who wrote the script with Terry Cronin, this is probably the most religious film I’ll feature on the site this season. It’s a pretty simple story and has a quick running time, so I didn’t dislike the time that I spent with it.
In case you’re wondering, Ann Travolta, who plays a shopper in this, is John’s sister.
As a kid in the 1970s media desert that had just four channels to watch, Mad Magazine delivered the culture and R-rated movies I wouldn’t see for year, filtered through its creators, “The Usual Gang of Idiots” who created the black and white magazine. The last survivor of EC Comics, Mad was the introduction for so many people my age to cynicism and questioning everything, while also teaching us to fold the back covers of every issue, ruining their resale value.
For people younger than me, they would know that MADtv and Cartoon Network’s Madshow — as well as a never-faired Hanna-Barbera attempt — took the magazine to the cable airwaves. While the Fox TV show did have its moments, it always felt like a sub-In Living Color versus the strange, well, madness of the magazine. But in 1973, ABC was ready to pay for The Mad Magazine TV Special but there ended up a problem: no advertisers would be part of it.
That was never a problem for the magazine, which unlike National Lampoon never had advertising, but broadcast TV is another tale.
The animation style is closer to an animatic, the way an ad agency would add minor moves to still drawings for pitches. To those who are blessed not to work in the field, think the 60s Marvel comic book cartoons.
Starting with a Jack Davis-drawn takedown of the auto industry — in case you wondered why advertisers weren’t part of this — this is dominated by an adaption of The Oddfather, which was written by Larry Siegel and drawn by Mort Drucker, originally appearing in Mad #155. The joy of these parodies was that it would take you forever to read them, as they were so dense with jokes both in words and buried in the visuals. Having them come to life makes it feel like you’re flying past these jokes at a few hundred miles an hour, yet just seeing Drucker’s work move is a joy.
There’s also “A Mad Peek Behind the Scenes at a Hospital,” which came from Mad #131 by Siegel and artist Al Jaffe, as well as Spy vs. Spy. But at a scant twenty-some minutes, it feels scant compared to the hours I’d spend with each issue.
Directed by animation vets Gordon Bellamy, Chris K. Ishii (who worked on the animation in Annie Hall) and Jimmy T. Murakami (who would go on to direct “Soft Landing” in Heavy Metal, Battle Beyond the Stars and When the Wind Blows, as well as animating the titles for What’s Up, Tiger Lily?), this is the kind of lost media that obsesses me.
Mad had issues when it tried to escape the printed page. Just look at Up the Academy, a movie that they promoted in every issue until it came out, bombed and then they destroyed themselves within the pages of the magazine.
After Superman, what else can you make? How about a movie about Santa? And what if he died really early in it? And what if Dudley Moore was an elf and made Christmas 2?
Directed and written by Alain Jessua, The Killing Game is a story about fantasy, the world of comic books, intersecting with our boring reality. Pierre (Jean-Pierre Cassel) and his wife Jacqueline (Claudine Auger) are collaborators on a series of popular comic books — they are drawn by a team of artists led by Guy Peellaert, who painted the cover for Bowie’s Diamond Dogs and whose painting, Frank Sinatra, which featured the headline “Frankie Goes Hollywood” which inspired the band’s name — and have been hired by a wealthy patron named Bob Neuman (Michel Duchaussoy). He wants them to transform him into a Diabolik type gentleman thief, which is quite different from his real life, where he’s controlled by his mother Genevieve (Eleonare Hirt).
Yet when we first meet Pierra and Jacqueline, they’re destitute, unable to make their bills and superfan Bob comes along at the right time, giving them an escape from the poorhouse. Bob is able to tell some wild stories about his life, yet he seems like a manchild who has barely left the house. He flies the couple to his Swiss estate and they go about recreating him in comic book form as The Killer of Neuchatel.
Auger is best known for playing Domino in Thunderball, but in my head, she’s a giallo queen of sorts, appearing in Bava’s nascent slasher A Bay of Bloodand in one of the meanest of the yellow films, Black Belly of the Tarantula. Jacqueline is a woman trapped in her marriage, her writer husband believing he has control of her, whether its through his concepts and words or by just being a traditional male role as the husband. Yet her artwork is what makes his ideas so appealing and she’s a gorgeous and intelligent woman who begins to expand her agency through flirtation with Bob, despite how potentially dangerous he is.
I loved the look and feel of this movie, arriving as a Euroart film with hints of the aforementioned giallo and some Eurospy as well. While it didn’t intend to, it reminds me of the constant battle of who created things when it comes to the Marvel method, where Stan Lee has claimed creation of everything while artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were given at the most a sentence to go by and returned with fully formed stories and pictures that Lee would put the words to. It’s difficult to say who was the voice of making the damn thing, though my visual side has always been with the artists.
This hasn’t been released in the U.S., surprisingly, and is a great find for cinephiles.
Directed by Junpei Mizusaki and with character designs by Takashi Okazaki, Batman Ninja starts with the Bat Family and all of the rogues being taken by Gorilla Grodd’s (Fred Tatasciore) Quake Engine and placed into the past, somewhere in a Japan where modern technology still exists. Batman (Roger Craig Smith) may have the Eian (Matthew Yang King) of the Bat Clan of Hida on his side, but everyone else has become a feudal lord in the two years that have passed since he was lost in time.
This places Catwoman (Grey Griffin), Nightwing (Adam Croasdell), Red Hood (Yuri Lowenthal), Robin (Yuri Lowenthal), Red Robin (Will Friedle) and Alfred (Adam Croasdell) on the side of good, along with Batman, against the Joker (Tony Hale), Harley Quinn (Tara Strong), Bane (Kenta Miyake), Two-Face (Eric Bauze), Deathstroke (Fred Tatasciore), Poison Ivy (Tara Strong) and the Penguin (Tom Kenney).
American writers Leo Chu and Eric Garcia rewrote the film from the original Japanese script that was written by Kazuki Nakashima, ultimately making two very different versions of the same film with different voice casts.
The animation is pretty crazy, giant robots and monkeys battle and this gets pretty far from the world of Gotham City, but I enjoyed it. It definitely takes chances.
This will have a sequel next year, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League.
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