Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Waxwork II: Lost in Time

Waxwork II came bundled with Waxwork I and, thorough reviewer that I am, I watched them both. Ugh! That really wasn't necessary.

Plot: evil man creates waxwork scenes and traps people inside in order to get their souls. The details are truly forgettable but basically if he succeeds, evil rules the earth. He succeeds. Waxwork II deals with the consequences.

Oh yeah---there's time travel, too.

Bruce appears in one of the stories within Waxwork II. Look for plenty of slapstick--this is Bruce from the Evil Dead series: great timing and humor. "It's just a flesh wound." Worth renting and fast-forwarding to his scenes.

No Ted Raimi, but in that same story as Bruce, look for Counselor Troi from ST:TNG.

Eddie Presley

Bruce is seen for just a few seconds as an asylum attendant. You have to pay attention. In the second asylum scene, look carefully. Who is that other attendant next to Bruce?: Quentin Tarantino!

This was a sad but interesting character study of a burned-out Elvis impersonator, played (and written) by Duane Whitaker. I completely believed his character---it's nice when an actor is able to make you forget that they are acting. I thought his performance was strong. And although the ending is sad and it appears that Eddie does not succeed, the point of the movie seems to be that at least he tried and that counts for something---he tried to live his dream instead of staying stuck where he was financially successful but unhappy. Pay attention to the other losers in the film and notice that only Eddie picked himself up and tried again.

Ted Raimi appears and does not die horribly but is his usually goofy self. Hey, Ted!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Lunatics: A Love Story

Ain't that a great title? That's as far as I got as I couldn't find it.

Sigh.....

Ted Raimi stars in this one. I wonder if he dies horribly..........

Darkman

In which Bruce plays the "Final Shemp" (see "fake shemp")---he is the final face of Darkman in the movie. I enjoyed the dark, tortured look of Bruce's 10 seconds in the movie and found his appearance to blend smoothly with the atmosphere.

Keep comic books in mind when watching this movie. Yes, it has it's cheesy moments, but go with it. This movie is a comic book with elements of science fiction, comedy, action and love story. Frances McDormand and Liam Neeson give excellent performances. I'm also impressed by the actors who portray their characters as impersonated by Darkman.

Appearance by Ted Raimi who dies horribly. (A pattern?) I also suspect that one of the doctors in a scene is played by Ivan Raimi but am not sure as the part is not credited. (He sure looks like a Raimi---Ted is already dead and it ain't Sam.) Dan Hicks is an excellent hopping bad guy. Neal McDonough is credited as playing a dockworker but I missed him both times I watched this movie. Scott Spiegel also plays a dockworker whom I failed to identify. (He's listed that way in the credits.)

You've noticed by now in my posts that I reference many other actors than the featured one. In this case, it is because Bruce is part of a group of friends who frequently appear in or assist with each other's movies. I like that.

I enjoyed this movie enough to watch it twice this weekend. I'm only sorry that there wasn't a commentary.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Another gap....

I wasn't able to locate/watch the following which followed Intruder in the filmography:

"Generations": A soap opera.
Moontrap: Science fiction. Wahhhh! Walter Koenig was in this one, too!
Sundown--The Vampire in Retreat:
Wahhh! David Carradine was in this one, too!
Mindwarp: In which Bruce plays the lead in a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie.
Maniac Cop 2: Can you believe Netflix had Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 3 but missed this one? What the...?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Intruder

In which our hero, Bruce, portrays a cop....in the last 60 seconds of the movie. Ah, well. Dan Hick stars (Evil Dead II) as well as Sam and Ted Raimi who both die horribly.

Act 1 contains some interesting camera work. I liked the wide shot of the store front, the framing of certain creepy scenes and the use of the "manager's window". The shot from the turning doorknob's perspective gets points for originality.

Act 2 I spent peeking from between my fingers due to extremely gory deaths. (I assume this as I wasn't looking. I'm making my assumptions based on: 1) previous lingering shots on dangerous equipment in Act 1 and 2) the screaming.)

Act 3 starts with the reveal of the true killer and ends, unexpectedly to me, with the innocent being punished.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Maniac Cop

Bruce plays Jack Forrest, a cop falsely accused of murder who is also lookin' good in a t-shirt and jeans!

You see, there's an ENORMOUS man in a cop uniform randomly killing people. A detective (greatly played by Tom Atkins---you should recognize him) figures out that the killer is actually a cop. In true creative fashion, the press dub him "Maniac Cop". Tah-dah!

Jack Forrest is falsely accused and therefore everything he does in this movie makes him look guilty. However, with help from a friend, Jack learns the true identity of the killer. There's a car chase (yay!--check out the cars spinning out of control for no reason and, of course, the obligatory "airborne vehicle" moment) and the killer is killed.

Or is he?

I used this movie to test out Sam Raimi's rules for a (horror?) movie. (I can't accurately attribute this one. I think I heard Bruce state these in a movie commentary but can't remember where):
  1. The innocent must suffer: Maniac cop kills many, many innocent people.
  2. The guilty must be punished: Maniac cop kills the men guilty of setting him up to be killed.
  3. You must taste blood to be a man: Hmmmm. I think this took place when Jack found the police precinct littered with the dead bodies of police officers killed by the maniac cop. (He doesn't literally taste blood, but he does see it.) He stands up for himself in a more physical way-- up to this point, Jack has been just talking about his innocence. Now, he fights for it by punching one man in the face (his first act of violence in the movie) and threatening others with a gun who try to prevent him from . (No...it's not that he's violent, but rather that he is determined to prove his innocence and save lives.)

I think I've watched Evil Dead and Army of Darkness too much because every time Bruce's eyes got wide, I was expecting a scream.

7 points for spotting Sam Raimi in this one. (Uncredited)

Fans of Evil Dead 2 get 30 points for spotting Dan Hicks. (He's tough to spot.)

Sunday, September 30, 2007

"The Dead Next Door"

Bruce does voice over for the main character "Raimi". I'm learning that Bruce does a lot of production work on movies and will frequently fill in (sometimes uncredited) for voice work. I thought he did a bang-up job syncing his voice with the acting on screen.

This movie was supposedly the most expensive 16 mm film made. It's a zombie-movie. I'm not a fan of the gore, but once again the commentary (not by Bruce, but still) helped me appreciate the hard work that went into this B-movie.

Knots Landing

That's right! Bruce was in one episode in 1987 called "Say Uncle". I'm still looking for it.

"Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn"

A remake of the original that shows how far the gang has come. Bruce reprises his role as Ash who now knows how to handle the Evil Dead...but I think he's still a coward at heart.

There's lots of gems in this one: the "Laughing Room", Jake the hick, the "blood flood" (or was that in the first?) and many, many more.

I was impressed by the scene in which Ash's hand is possessed and tries to kill him. Bruce did a phenomenal job which I'm sure left him banged up and bruised--breaking plates over his own head, the self-induced back-flip and, my favorite, dragging his own unconscious body across the floor with the possessed hand.

Enjoy!

"Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except" aka "Stryker's War"

15 seconds of Bruce doing the voice of a newscaster in this independent war/horror film about a group of marines from "the 'Nam" who come across a Manson-family style cult.

Am I committed to this game or what?

Bruce does an excellent commentary along with director Josh Becker. I highly recommend any commentary by Bruce. He's educational, intelligent and hi-larious.

Sam Raimi reportedly won a newly created award for "Worst Acting by a Director". He was definitely out there. His brother, Ted, appears twice but there's no way to know one of these appearances without the help of the commentary. 20 points if you spot him once, 50 if you spot him in both roles.

"Evil Dead" fans should notice an important prop that is reused in the main character's cabin. 35 points if you spot that.

"Crimewave" aka "The XYZ Murders"

Brought to you by the Cohen brothers(writers) and Sam Raimi (director) with Bruce as "Renaldo the Heel", I'd say this is a charming movie full of slapstick, Three Stooges references, and some excellent camera work.

I had some trouble with the sound quality, so I recommend using the subtitles. In my case, this added extra humor as I don't think the subtitles were written by a native English speaker.

Don't forget to watch the background, especially in the home of the burglar alarm company owner (whose name escapes me). What's that on a shelf near the door? A set-up? Could be!

Bruce plays a cheap womanizer complete with slicked-back hair. 10 points to the first person to spot Ted Raimi (Sam's brother) in his 5 second role.

Next time: "Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except"

"Going Back"

NOT a horror movie. I know.....I don't know what to make of that either but I am quite curious: Bruce plays Brice (nice) who, with a high school friend, spends the summer in the country where he finds the father-figure he's been missing and also.....love. (I'm cribbing from Amazon's editorial review found here.) Yes, Bruce does more than scream....he can do drama!

It's not available on Netflix yet but IS through Amazon. And now I ask myself, how committed am I to this game I'm playing? $20 + shipping & handling committed? We'll see.


psst: If my family is reading this, it's on my Amazon wishlist!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

From "Oedipus Rex" to "The Evil Dead":

The first movie in Bruce's (can I call you Bruce?) repertoire that I was able to get was "The Evil Dead", but there were a few shorts made before that one. I should point out that I rely heavily on IMDB for movie listings. Bruce Campbell's website does provide an alphabetical listing of his movies but I am...well..."too lazy" to manually search for movies by date.

So.....according to IMDB, Bruce's first movie is listed as "Oedipus Rex" a student film directed by Josh Becker. Next is "It's Murder", a short directed by Sam Raimi. This was followed by "Within the Woods" which, if I remember correctly, was filmed to help raise money for the making of "The Evil Dead". Then there's "Shemp Eats the Moon" and "Torro. Torro. Torro!" If anyone knows where I can get these, please let me know.

I actually did not start this particular edition of "The Collected Works..." with "The Evil Dead" as I had already seen it numerous times, own a copy and have watched all the extras including the commentary, so I gave myself a pass. This movie gained more...um...depth after reading "The Evil Dead Companion" and learning the great amount of work that went into this movie. I learned a great deal (though I'm still no expert and barely qualify as an amateur) about sound, cameras, lighting, etc.

Synopsis: Bruce places "Ash" a timid man who, with his friends, unleashes the powers of darkness on the world. Everyone dies but him. Do I smell a sequel?

The Story So Far...

Years ago, I met someone who had developed an interesting game: he would pick an artist he admired and then spend the year studying everything he could about them. By the end of the year, he was an amateur expert.

Three years ago, while on a Christian Bale movie binge, a friend pointed out that his first movie was Empire of the Sun, filmed when he was very young. That was when I had the idea to create my own game: to study how an actor develops by watching all their films in chronological order.

Watching all of Bale's movies that I could find took me 9 months. I started with "Empire of the Sun" in September of 2005 and ended with "Batman Begins" in May of 2006 watching everything in between that I could find. In September of 2006, I followed Emily Thompson (who had appeared in 2 films with Bale), starting with "Breaking the Waves" (from which I learned about the "Dogma 95" school of film-making) through to "Separate Lies".

At some point, I hope to give a brief review of those movies here. That's what this blog is intended for, really---to help me remember all the movies I've seen with a brief blurb about them.

This year, I chose Bruce Campbell, a B-movie actor I have come to admire for his intelligence, humor and dedication to his craft. Reading his books and listening to his commentaries have increased my appreciation for the work that goes into movies of all qualities. I get a lot more out of movies because of him. Thanks!

I make up the rules to this game as I go along. For example, I fast forwarded through most of "Pocahontas", pausing only for the scenes Bale voiced. (I just couldn't take it.) However, I did make myself watch some uggos---just for the continuity. Some films I loved so much I had already seen 4 or 5 times, not counting watching the commentary (e.g. "Equilibrium") so I gave them a pass in the interest of time.

Enjoy!