The circus that Kapoor (Bir Sakhuja) and Jagdish (Madan Puri) own is a money-losing proposition but if they can just capture the giant ape Otango from the jungles of Malay, all their problems will be solved. Along with Professor Sharma, Rita (Ragini), a hunter named Ajit (Ajit) and Chandu the circus clown (Randhir), they go in search of the beast but find only destruction and the laboratory of Dr. Cyclops (K. N. Singh), a maniac who has started transforming humans into gorillas.
Dr. Cyclops has a daughter, Shobha (Helen), who wants to help the outsiders survive while all the mad scientist wants to do is marry Rita, even bringing Jagdish over to his side. It seems like nearly everyone is going to have to die and most of the jungle is going to have to burn before this is all over.
Amazingly, India has more than one kaiju movie, as this was followed by Balwant B. Dave’s Gogola, which is Godzilla. As for Shikari, it somehow combines Mighty Joe Young, King Kong and Dr. Cyclops — which was produced by Kong‘s Merian C. Cooper and, like all three movies, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack– into one movie.
Dr. Cyclops is pretty awesome. He can shrink people, create a giant gorilla and has a snake pit that he loves throwing people into. He also has a mutant chained to a wall that never really gets referred to. If I had a captive mutant, you best believe I’d be bragging about it.
Amazingly, this Kong also has songs. Five of them!
No one should ever attempt to play any of the roles of Charles Bronson, because no one can stand up to that level of comparison. But if any man can, it would be Cüneyt Arkin, the dizzying battling star of many a Yeşilçam film, playing in everything from movies influenced by Star Wars (Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam), Rambo (Vahsi Kan), ninja movies (Ölüm Savasçisi AKA Death Warrior), Mad Max (Ölüme Son Adım) and the magic that is Kiliç Aslan AKA The Sword and The Claw and Lionman.
Here, he’s making Death Wish 2and if it were anyone else, I would be enraged.
Instead, I’m overwhelmed by just how right this is.
Co-directed and co-written by Arkin, who worked with Remzi Jöntürk on the filming and Mehmet Aydin on the writing, this is a down and dirty shot on video remake remix rip-off of one of Michael Winner’s most nihilistic and mean-spirited movies. It has all the beats — yes, the assault scene; yes, the daughter jumps out the window although we don’t see the gory result — and ends with Arkin using a blackjack and a knife to get the revenge that must be his.
The three punks that ruin Arkin’s life in this are the weirdest movie punks you’ve ever seen. They sport strange bushy hair, nonsensical jewelry and hang out in clubs that look like an abandoned Chess King. This movie also has some of the oddest soundtrack picks this side of Godfrey Ho with just as much concern for copyright and by that I mean absolutely zero.
From Arkin’s daughter dancing to a synth version of “Memory” from Cats and an appearance of the theme from Chariots of Fire to Michael Sambello’s “Maniac,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill,” Michael Cretu’s “Samurai,” the bad guys using “Go Home” by Stevie Wonder for their theme and, perhaps most wonderfully, a long disco bar scene set to Chrissie Hynde and UB40’s “I Got You Babe,” this movie reminds me of one of Negativland’s best lessons: Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value.
A young housekeeper named Sandra (Ilean Almaguer) has come to work for the wealthy Ash family –Kit (the main draw for many in this movie will be that Denise Richards is one of the leads ) and Preston (Richard Gunn) — who are still enduring the trial by media that has ensued when their last housekeeper mysteriously disappeared.
If you told me that director and writer Stuart Altman did this entire movie by using Chat GPT, I would be inclined to believe you. When Kit and Preston need to create a charitable group to get the heat off themselves, they call it The Foundation. First name, first pass, that’s good enough. A lot of this feels one take good enough as well, as if the big reveal was that Preston was a robot, I would be praising the acting chops of Gunn. As I am not doing so, I can spoil this for you and tell you that he’s made of wood not metal.
The thing that kept me watching was the location. This was sat the home of Robert Joshua in the Forest Glen neighborhood of Boardman as well as in the surrounding area of Youngstown, Ohio. I grew up less than half an hour away and am morbidly pleased to report that for several years in a row, Youngtown was the murder capital of the U.S.
Producer Paris Jones really knew how to sell this: “I have always been enamored by 90s thrillers, so when I was pitched the concept of The Housekeeper, a mix of all the 90s elements I love with a dash of Jordan Peele’s Get Out.” I don’t know about any connection to Get Out, but this totally would have been the kind of movie you’d settle to rent when everything was out at the video store.
Originally known as Among the Ashes, this movie feels so all over the place, even in its performances. Preston comes off as both sympathetic and abusive, sometimes in the same scene and I don’t mean that to say his role is complex. It’s misguided. He has a memory room no one is allowed to go in, which should make us feel for him when the reveal happens, but he also gets a lapdance from the other housekeeper before she’s killed. In a better movie, we may care for the twists and turns and wonder who to root for. Not here.
I did like the political commercials that The Foundation made. This feels like a movie that didn’t need the housekeeper of the title and could have just focused on the married rich people and their antics. It didn’t go far enough, though, to make us think they were truly evil as all the most well-off people are. Then again, if that was the movie, we wouldn’t get the cliche lines like, “You’ve really brightened up our home.”
Also: This has one of those “whoops, ran out of time” endings, defying expectations while not surprising me in the least.
100 Days is a remake of the 1984 Indian Tamil-language mystery film Nooravathu Naal, which was also remade in 1986 as the Malayalam language movie Aayiram Kannukal.
Yet all of these movies at their heart are based on another film, the 1977 Lucio Fulci film Sette note in nero or as we know it in America, The Psychic.
Devi (Madhuri Dixit) is dealing with panic attacks and visions of accidents that have yet to occur, like her sister Rama (Moon Moon Sen) being murdered. She tries to work with her friends Sudha Mathur (Sabeeha) and Sunil (Javed Jaffrey) to deal with these portents, which come true when her sister is murdered and buried inside the wall of a mansion.
Five years later, Devi falls in love with millionaire Ram Kumar (Jackie Shroff). Sunil, who was secretly in love with her sister. They get married and move into his family mansion, the very same place that has her sister’s bones hidden inside, leading to Devi’s visions coming back. She finds the wall and tears it down, finding a skeleton with a similar necklace that she shared with Rama. Yet the cops, led by The Inspector (Shivaji Satam), refuse to believe her.
The visions don’t stop. Devi sees a murder, a magazine named Priya with a horse on its cover and a video cassette with the title 100 Days. She also starts looking into her sister’s life. It turns out that she was working on her thesis about the sculptures and temples of India, yet many of the things she had been studying have been stolen and replaced with forgeries, a crime that cost Jagmohan (Jai Kalgutkar) and Parvati (Neelam Mehra) their jobs. And now, the murders in her visions are of Parvati.
Parvati knew who killed Rama because he videotaped the murder, which he’s using for blackmail, which causes her to be killed by Jagmohan while carrying the evidence on tape, which is labeled 100 Days. She sees the cover of Priya with a horse on it and starts to see visions of herself hurt and staring into a broken mirror. And that’s when she tries to share the videotape, which she found hidden after the murder, with her husband.
On the tape, Rama is confronting Ram. Devi learns that the future father of her child — yes, she’s pregnant — comes from a family destroyed by gambling and he rebuilt their wealth through crime, working alongside Jagmohan and Parvati to smuggle the artifacts that Rama was studying. On the night that she confronted him, Jagmohan shot and killed her, framing Ram.
Near instantly, Jagmohan attacks Ram, stabbing him, and then brutalizes Devi before burying her in the same wall that once held her sister. Luckily, she has a watch that plays a song that her friend Sunil is able to hear. He fights Jagmohan while the police arrive and they save our heroine, who watches as her husband is arrested.
Directed by Partho Ghosh and written by Bhushan Banmali and Devjyoti Roy, this is a movie that makes me wonder. What would Fulci think? Would he be amused by the five musical numbers? And how wonderful is it that while Fulci once saw himself as someone who would be forgotten, his films have now been remade more than once in a country quite different than Italy.
Getting released just three days before the remake of Jumanji, this mockbuster from The Asylum is way better than their usual fare, having plenty of humor and some heart.
Back when Sarah (Jessica Chancellor, who created and stars in the Mystery Incorporated series that’s a more adult version of Scooby Doo) was a kid, her brother Jake (Brandon Root) disappeared from an arcade after playing the game Rancala. Years later, she’s opening an arcade in tribute to him along with her friends Rae (Tiana Tuttle) and Chrissy (Emily Sweet, who was in the remake of Castle Freak). As they ready for the opening, someone has already been playing Rancala and using an icon that looks like Jake. All three are sucked into the game and become near-super heroic as they look for Sarah’s lost brother.
Directed by Canyopn Price, who wrote the script with Daniel Lusko, this actually has a pretty fun story, some video game moments and a Sharknado first boss. I agree with other reviewers that this would be much better if every character the girls battle came from an Asylum movie, but that would require more thought than The Asylum gives to their films.
Also: Bai Ling is in this for approximately three minutes.
It’s pretty wild when you think about the cultural relevancy of Bewitched.
Yes, I said it.
Airing from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972 on ABC, the show has been in syndication ever since as well as shown all over the world, which inspired remake TV series in Argentina (Hechizada), Japan (Okusama wa majo or My Wife Is a Witch), India (Meri Biwi Wonderful), Russia (Моя любимая ведьма or My Favorite Witch) and even a UK pilot as late as 2008. That’s not even getting into the spinoffs, reboots and inspired shows, like WandaVision, which detailed the Scarlet Witch trying to fit into the sitcom suburbs of her grief or the crossover with The Flintstones in 1966.
Maybe that’s because there’s something just under the surface here, like the sardonic narration by José Ferrer or the fact that it was one of the few shows of its era to deal with interracial marriage. And in 1964, Betty Friedan wrote “Television and the Feminine Mystique” for TV Guide. While she called out so many shows that made women out to be “simplistic, manipulative and insecure household drudges whose time was spent dreaming of love and plotting revenge on their husbands,” she saw Samantha, the lead character of Bewitched, as one that broke the stereotype while both playing into and subverting said preconceived notions. She literally wrote that the characters of Samantha and Endora broke new ground in the depiction of women on television.
There are 254 episodes of the show, but for some, that would not be enough. Or perhaps their country didn’t get to see the show and the idea was universal. And in Turkey, the show was really popular.
Popular enough to get a movie.
The Turkish version of Bewitched, directed by Ertem Göreç and written by Halit Aysan, has Filiz Akin playing Selma, our heroine, and she already stands out with her platinum tresses. At just 56 minutes, this is around three episodes in length of the show, but I still find it both amusing and empowering that another society could take and remix, remake and yes, rip-off something that came from another country and make it their own.
After all, Bewitched did the same thing with the 1947 movie I Married A Witch, right?
In case you wondered, the title translates as Adventures of the Sweet Witch. Much like the show, Selma marries Fikret (Ugur Say), who makes her promise to never do magic again. Why would he ask that of her? Why would he subvert the very nature of who she is? And how can she keep loving him when he can’t allow her to be her truest self?
In 1992, The Advocate asked Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery if the show was an allegory for homosexuality. She responded, “Don’t think that didn’t enter our minds at the time. We talked about it on the set — certainly not in production meetings — that this was about people not being allowed to be what they really are. If you think about it, Bewitched is about repression in general and all the frustration and trouble it can cause.”
Unlike many countries around it, women in Turkey are free to dress how they want, go where they want, drive and work. However, around 40% of Turkish women have suffered domestic violence at some point in their lives, which is higher than Europe and America, while femicide also remains a major issue, as well as an increase in rights violations against women — as late as last year! — and arrests of women who protested.
While a silly bit of fluff, Bewitched and its inspirations have a truth inside them, hidden just as Samantha — or Selma — hit her powers. That’s universal in any language.
There has been a Laemmle in the movie business since there’s been a movie business. Carl Laemmle started Universal Pictures and his nephews Max and Kurt started the Laemmle theater chain.
Decades later, we have this film, the story of a beloved Arthouse Cinema chain in Los Angeles with an astounding legacy. Over four generations, Laemmle’s have dedicated themselves to supporting, innovating, and elevating the art of filmmaking. Popularizing independent films, documentary films, and their filmmakers, the Laemmle Theatres’ impact on Hollywood and world cinema cannot be overstated. Filmed over 2+ years, Only in Theaters chronicles the Laemmle family, their business, and their determination to survive. But in a changing world, this is also a story about the future of cinema.
Filmed over two years, Only in Theaters is about this family, their business and their determination to survive. Maybe it’s about the future of cinema and how we’ll see movies in the future. Hopefully, that will be in movie houses. Directed by Raphael Sbarge, this has appearances by Ava DuVernay, Cameron Crowe, Allison Anders and Leonard Maltin.
I really felt for Greg Laemmle in this. He had so much to consider and felt that he was close to solving it before COVID-19. Yet in spite of all he and his theaters have endured, he seems to endure.
I always think about those lucky enough to live in Austin, New York or Los Angeles and the theaters they have to support. The closest theater to us is at least half an hour away. While I consume so many movies a day, it’s rare that I actually see them on anything other than a TV or laptop. This movie made me want to change that, even if I have to get away from my comfortable home.
Lost In The 80s is the first in a series of releases preserving media thought lost, pulled from the brink of extinction by Terror Vision.
Between the ages of 13 and 18, filmmaker Joe Zaso made four movies with his family and friends. On foot, by mail and by phone the young director marketed his creations to area video stores, earning shelf space among commercial studio tapes. Once rental stores fell by the wayside, Zaso’s movies were relegated to tape trading and bootleg circles where their legend continued to grow…
After more than 30 years in relative obscurity, these movies — Screambook, Screambook II, Maligno and It’s Only A Movie — are making their worldwide physical media debut from Terror Vision!
If you’re a fan of DIY and SOV fare, these films are for you, serving up ambitious regional cinema that inspires and delights with its boundary-free storytelling. Loaded with insightful commentaries and interviews, Lost In the 80s is an adventure in creative exploration and a throwback to the pioneering days of movies made at home. These 4 films are transferred from the original master tapes from Zaso’s personal archive. Quality is rough but enjoyment will be maximized.
Screambook (1984 – 80 mins): This is Joe Zaso’s first feature film and a shameless homage to Creepshow which was Joe’s favorite movie at the time. An a bickering middle-aged couple explores a comic book called Screambook. Its five gruesome tales of horror include vengeful families, monster teachers, monster students, evil toys come to life and even the wrath of a thousand worms (actually 40 pounds of spaghetti).
Screambook II (1985 – 74 mins): More tales to be found in the comic book known as Screambook as we begin in a video shop with a very odd desk clerk. The four weird and wild tales offer monster cats, vengeful spouses, adultering and avenging couples, a birthday party that goes supernaturally wild, and the backroom horrors of an undertaker.
Maligno (1986 – 93 mins): Think Phenomena meets Eyes of Laura Marsby way of an ABC Afterschool Special! This teen-made giallo follows young Susan Galligan as she enrolls in a new school and before long, she discovers numerous girls from the school have been disappearing without a trace. She begins to fear the worst because as it happens but Susan is mysteriously clairvoyant and her murderous “visions” set her on a path to solve a horrific mystery.
It’s Only A Movie (1989 – 100 mins): The first possession musical and a grab bag of everything, BUT the kitchen sink. A movie crew sets up shop at the mysterious and supposedly empty estate of Bosco Manor. But soon, they discover they’re not alone as demonic doings and musical numbers splash onto the scene in this epic which Variety called, “…well-meaning.”
Special features include commentary with Joe for all 4 films, interviews with Zaso, Tim Frey, the cast and crew, It’s Only A Moviein black and white, isolated scores and newly created captions.
I think Joe is one of the most interesting people around — check out the interview we did — and I can’t wait for this. You can buy it from Terror Vision or get it direct from Joe, who will autograph it for you!
I’ve really been getting into the Unsung Horrors podcast and was overjoyed to discover a remake remix rip-off movie that I never knew about. Even better, it’s based on one of my favorite movies: The Living Dead at Manchester MorgueAKA No Profanar el Sueño de los Muertos (Don’t Disturb the Sleep of the Dead), Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, The Living Dead, Breakfast at Manchester Morgue and Don’t Open the Window.
Kang Myeong — the George Meaning of this movie — gets a ride from Soo-ji — Edna Simmonds — on his way to a seminar on the environment while she’s traveling to check up on her sister Jyun-ji. — Katie — and her husband Yeong-tae Jeong — Martin — only to learn that he’s dead.
Well, not for long.
One of Kang Myeong’s American teachers is now working at a supersonic transmitter that is removing insects in a more humane way, but it’s also animating the nerves of the newly dead. We learn this when the town drunk — who has been dead for several days — attacks Soo-Ji.
What’s different here is that nearly everyone has had their sharp edges smoothed off. Kang Myerong is never as mean to Soo-Ji as Geroge was to Edna, but then again, he isn’t as gorgeous as Ray Lovelock. But otherwise — up until three-quarters of the way through this movie — this is the same movie that you know and love under so many titles. It’s also missing the gore and when a movie is known for just how upsetting its moments of violence are, that’s a pretty big loss.
The other thing you might miss is that the cops come around a lot faster and the head officer is in no way as much of a real cop as Arthur Kennedy was.
Yet what makes up for this is just how weird it is that we have an alternative reality version of this movie and that the zombies are basically all painted silver, which is again in contrast to the very realistic dead bodies that populated Jorge Grau’s horror masterpiece. It attempts to make up for this with shocking photos of actual birth defects, as the movie goes further than its inspiration by stating that the machine is turning new babies into monsters.
Another title for this South Korean zombie xerox is Strange Dead Bodies, which is a fabulous alternative and one that would get me into the theater (or, you know, in front of my TV).
You can watch this on the Korean Film Archive YouTube channel.
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