Good Man in a Bad Vampiric Time

FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

An undying pleasure awaits for those who like comedy-horror done with style and wit. One of the best vampire flicks in ages, "Fright Night" is grand entertainment - rollicking good fun with an expert cast and a daintily enjoyable script.

William Ragsdale stars as Charlie Brewster, a naive high-school student who suspects that his new next-door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), is a vampire. He sees Jerry luring prostitutes and call-girls to his house, even undressing them and biting their necks! Charlie is ever the voyeur, watching these acts of violence with his trusty binoculars, and is less attentive to his girlfriend, Amy (Amanda Bearse). Of course, when Charlie reports the unholy vampiric duties in the neighborhood to the police, he is disbelieved, even by washed-up actor, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), a former host of vampire flicks. Charlie's giggling, posturing, Jack Nicholson-like friend, Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) is no help either.

There is an element of Anthony Perkins to William Ragsdale as Charlie in the way of his gestures, his frightened, sweaty face, and his aw-shucks mentality - they mirror Perkins completely. Ragsdale would have been a fitting replacement in the "Psycho" remake. The vampire, Jerry, as played by Chris Sarandon is suave, handsome, romantic, whistles "Strangers in the Night," and eats apples. He is not like any traditional vampire but he has charm, elegance, and is believably frightening at times. Jerry even has a roommate, Billy Cole (Jonathan Stark), who is not a vampire yet not entirely human either.

The camaraderie between Charlie, Amy, Evil Ed, and the older, wiser Peter Vincent is at the heart of "Fright Night" - without them, the film would be a futile exercise in gruesome special-effects. Their exchanges and witticisms make this a cut above the norm. There are the usual cliches about vampire lore, but all done with great humor. Consider the scene where Charlie seeks advice from Ed on how to destroy a vampire - Ed explains all the rules but with such relish that it seems all new and fresh. There's also a great early scene where Charlie meets Peter and tries to convince him that vampires do exist. McDowall brings a level of poignance to the scene, addressing how nobody believes in vampire movies anymore - "They prefer men in ski masks hacking up young virgins."

"Fright Night" also has its share of frightful scenes and some bloody, tongue-in-cheek special-effects. There are red-eyed wolves, female vampires with grotesquely big mouths, erotic club scenes (the dance between Sarandon and Bearse builds with sensual energy), skinless bats, hidden coffins, gallons of neon green blood, gothic houses surrounded by fog, and the usual brand of crosses, stakes, and vials of holy water. It all leads, of course, to the inevitable question of faith.

"Fright Night" becomes over-the-top towards the end and repetitious, but it is mostly a consistent balance of fright and fun. Sarandon and McDowall are perfectly cast - rising above all the horror with splendid, memorable performances. 1985 was not a bad year for comedy-horror and vice-versa. This film along with the cult classic "The Return of the Living Dead," "Critters," among others showed how much fun filmmakers could have with the genre. This show is a real treat to savor.

A World of Good

ULEE'S GOLD (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 1997)

The late 60's and early 70's were arguably the most influential and revolutionary years of personal filmmaking in history. Therefore, there must be something said for the long-lost actors of that time who are suddenly popping out now and reinventing themselves. John Travolta is the most phenomenal of the

70's artifacts because he has come back stronger and better than ever. Peter Fonda is not really an icon (unless you consider his "Easy Rider" role to be one) but for the first time in twenty years, he gives a performance of such subtlety and strength that I became deeply overwhelmed.

"Ulee's Gold" stars Fonda as Ulee Jackson, a Florida beekeeper who is trying to hold a dysfunctional family together. He is a Vietnam veteran whose wife died several years ago, and now he has two granddaughters at home, a son in jail, and his bees to take care of. Ulee's older granddaughter is a brash teenager who wants her life to be separate from their supposed family circle - she truly
hates her mother for having left them. Ulee's jailed son begs him to pick up his sick, drugged wife (Christine Dunford) in Orlando since he's hoping to be out soon to join his family. Ulee is hesitant at first because she fled from her kids and has left him to raise them - Ulee is a righteous person who has
shielded himself from others even society (not unlike his daughter-in-law). Trouble is coming his way, though, when his son's thieving partners are searching for a stash of money hidden in Ulee's bee farm.

"Ulee's Gold" is written and directed by Victor Nunez ("Ruby in Paradise"), and as long as he sticks to Ulee's loss of love and mixed feelings about his family, the film is genuinely heartbreaking. However, when the rotten thieves show up packing pistols and molesting Ulee's older granddaughter, the film
briefly stops and only barely recovers. This whole subplot is meant to show Ulee's redemption and while it isn't manipulative, sentimental or sensational, it isn't particularly engaging or interesting either. The screenplay spends too much time dealing with these lowlifes in a been-there-done-that atmosphere. The moment where Ulee kicks the thieves' gun into the pond rather than shooting them with it is a moment of pure humanity but it is too brief to resonate. The rest of the film teeters on the melodramatic whereas the tightly structured first half of the film relied on simple human observation as its tactic.

The best moments in "Ulee's Gold" are the quiet ones: Ulee extracting honey from the bees in his workshop; his delicate bedtime stories with his innocent younger granddaughter (Vanessa Zima) who is inquisitive about her mother's condition; his developing relationship with a caring nurse (Patricia
Richardson); the bitterness between Ulee and his son in the prison scenes; and even the scenes where Ulee tries to reason with the thieves claiming they've done him "a world of good."

"Ulee's Gold" is fluidly directed by Nunez, and beautifully performed especially Fonda who brings a gleam and sense of regret in his eyes that is as pure as gold (he was nominated for an Oscar). Kudos must also go to Christine Dunford (should have been nominated) who is riveting to watch as she struggles through her self-destructive, drug-induced convulsions to becoming a mature woman and responsible mother who is full of regret as well. The dichotomy between Ulee and his daughter-in-law unmistakably presents them as people analogous in their loss of love and emotions. If the film stuck to these vivid, three-dimensional characters, it would have been a masterpiece. As it is, "Ulee's Gold" is only half of a great film, and ends abruptly just as the story starts to get more interesting.

Towering Wilderness Inferno

THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

In a title that seems to echo an unmade Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western, Angelina Jolie returns to the cinema screens to imbue us with her crackling presence. Jolie crackles indeed and she burnishes the screen with a phosphorescent glow that is apropos for the action thriller dynamics of "Those Who Wish Me Dead." The film works technically as pop entertainment, has good performances and is well-made yet the characters needed more nourishment at the screenplay level.

Jolie plays Hannah Faber, a smokejumper who is mostly confined to a fire lookout tower with no bathroom. Hannah is guilt-ridden over a tragic forest fire where she failed to save some children who perished (to be fair, it seems almost an impossible rescue from the occasional flashbacks we see). Hanna's exposition is set up nicely, including her curious need to be a daredevil by parachuting while standing in the back of a speeding truck. This is the perfect kind of wild, untamed character for Jolie to play, a woman who is a little crazy yet her weakness is her PTSD. Yet "Those Who Wish Me Dead" has a curious habit of setting up supporting characters who could almost anchor this story as well. We have a forensic accountant and his son who are on the run from some fairly cold-blooded assassin brothers (exceedingly well-played by Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult). The kids' father dies quickly in a planned shootout that seems too contrived. The kid, known as Connor (Finn Little), escapes unnoticed until he runs into Hannah. She helps out the kid and wants to protect him and they stay in the tower. The assassins discover there is a liability, the kid as a witness, so they decide to literally scorch the earth searching for him by performing arson duties in the forest. Um, if the kid burns to death in that vast wilderness, how will the killers know so they can report it back to their boss? I don't look for logic in these movies but that is a hard twist to ignore, especially when you consider they ignite a wilderness fire and are still looking for the local sheriff who they believe is harboring the boy. Pardon?

The local sheriff, by the way, is Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal), who once dated Hannah, and is now married to the very pregnant wife Allison (Medina Senghore). They run a wilderness survival camp and the intimate scenes between Ethan and Allison are so good, so touching in their affection for each other that a separate movie could've been made about them. Yet the screenplay introduces characters with some measure of personality and then abandons them until it is convenient to bring them back and face certain death from these assassins. Allison ably defends herself against both and even (SPOILERS) defends Hannah and the kid so why is Hannah needed as the protector? Allison could have been the lead character yet the one who is presented as heroic is Hannah. I suppose it is more acceptable for filmmakers to have a grand inferno finale that, though unbelievable in hindsight, gives Jolie the impetus to be the savior because such actions warrant a redemption that is never fully realized.

"Those Who Wish Me Dead" is fleetingly a fair and somewhat entertaining thriller by Taylor Sheridan and Jolie strikes a deep chord yet the issue I have is that the supporting characters are just as interesting.  Maybe Jolie, Connor and the couple should've been in that 50 foot tower together and then you would have had a probing character study with the prospect of danger from the assassins and the inferno. As is, scenes often trample over each other with too little story or character definition that would otherwise have given this a major lift. I only wished for more orderly structure.

Suspense at a Heartbeat pace

 ALONE (2020)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Alone" is a chilling, unforgettable experiment in pure, realistic, unforgiving terror. It is so unforgiving that a consistent, almost human-like heartbeat plays throughout the soundtrack. The story of a woman in peril as she is chased by a killer is hardly news in the cinematic world, but its unrelenting tone and some eerie images give it more than a lift - it is one of the best thrillers of its kind in ages.

The film starts simply enough with a widow, Jessica (Jules Wilcox), who is moving away and driving to some undisclosed location with a small U-HAUL trailer. She leaves a house plant on the road and takes off from Portland, Oregon heading north. The film doesn't slow down for a second once we are introduced to a slow Jeep Cherokee driver on the road she passes. That is a big NO NO! This driver known as Man has a broken arm sling, later apologizes to her, and presumably takes off. However you can't keep a good Man down (pardon the pun) as he keeps running into her (it could almost qualify as a running gag but it is not done so repetitively). When Jessica breaks down on the road, the Man finds her, knocks her out and takes her to a very remote cabin. Just when I thought this would be a claustrophobic thriller and remain in that cabin location for the duration, "Alone" switches quickly to Jessica's wilderness survival mode with the killer on her tail. 

As aforementioned, there is nothing to distinguish "Alone" from several thousand other thrillers other than attitude, a breakneck pace and terrific performances. Credit Jules Wilcox for creating a thoroughly empathetic, strong, smart woman out of Jessica who can't get over the loss of her husband, especially when the killer keeps reminding her of his death - that is her Achilles Heel and he knows it. Marc Menchaca as the Man is, at first glance, a common, friendly, apologetic type of guy and yet his demeanor, though false, gets to you - how can someone like this look normal and perpetrate such willful violence? No motivation is ever given and none is needed. 

Director John Hyams (a journeyman TV director and son of a good director, Peter Hyams) utilizes camera movement and placement where we expect it from a thriller (some overhead shots of the woods shows how nature dwarves us), and yet it all still works on your nerves because of the forceful nature of the actors. There are some scenes that may scream implausibility but I went along with it - they all amp up the terror. "Alone is a tightly controlled, whip-paced thriller that I only wished allowed for a little psychological impact as well. No matter - a shot of a bloodshot Jessica behind a door in one heart-pounding scene and the shot of her vivid, penetrating eyes as she stares at her killer in one crucial moment will keep you awake at night. "Alone" is a first-class ride into suspense nirvana.    

Soulless video game movie

 MORTAL KOMBAT (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I have never seen a Mortal Kombat movie before nor have I played the video games and so, based on this 2021 reboot, I'd just as soon call it quits on this. I like martial-arts movies and I don't mind fantasy martial-art movies but the grandiose and consistent use of electrical charges, fire and ice emanating from one's body in this movie sets it on some hyper-fueled, hyperactive, hyper-caffeinated state of excess. Combat scenes are aplenty; if you want hand-to-hand bloody combat, you'll find it here. That is the soul of this movie, to punch and kick and stab anyone to smithereens - just don't expect to care an iota about any character on screen. 

A somewhat nifty prologue begins in Japan, 1612 where domesticity and family is shown with a serene glow. Alas, that glow fades quickly when the greatest ninja of all time, Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), is killed by rival Bi-Han (Joe Taslim). Hanzo's entire family is killed except for a baby hidden under a floorboard. Thanks to the survival of the baby who is whisked away by some mysterious stranger with glowing eyes, the Hanzo lineage extends to the present day with MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan), who loses more fights than he wins. He has a family whom he must protect from Bi-Han who has now called himself Sub-Zero (I like that moniker). Sub-Zero has a cool habit of creating ice that envelops an entire area within seconds, though don't get too close or you will be in suspended animation and die if he freezes you.  Before long, Cole is trying to evade Sub-Zero and gets help from an ally in the Special Forces who gets his arms amputated by Sub-Zero! Next we have Cole getting help from a woman in Special Forces, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), who is holding a prisoner named Kano (Josh Lawson), a captured Australian mercenary who can't stop talking! It turns out that Cole and Kano bear the red Dragon mark on their bodies which enables them specific super powers and proves the existence of Mortal Kombat (and some future tournament that we never see). There are also two parallel universes yet keeping track of all this exposition which is delivered expeditiously leaves little room for anything else in the movie.

"Mortal Kombat" is all bloody combat with knives and chains thrust either into bellies or someone's eye or used to decapitate monsters or any of the specter beings. Too much of this goes on far too repetitively. There is no respite from all the noise and incessant music score that features more electronic beats per minute than a song by the Bee Gees. The last forty minutes of the film has fight scenes galore with extreme gore (a hard R-rating has been placed here for gore and profanity-laced dialogue, both of which apparently befits the video games). But as the ending approached, I couldn't tell you much about any character. No one stands out except for Josh Lawson as Kano who is allowed to let loose and form a personality (he seems to be in on some measure of tongue-in-cheek that the movie otherwise lacks). The rest of the cast is on automaton pilot in what is essentially a soulless video game movie. Count me out from any further Mortal Kombat movies. 

Portrait of an Artist

 CRUMB (1995)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia 

On my Top Ten List of the best films of the 1990's

Review reprinted with permission by Steel Notes Magazine 

Documentaries rarely capture so vividly the essence of its subject like Terry Zwigoff’s “Crumb.” The film is a haunting, hilarious and downright disturbing portrait of the one of the most phenomenal cartoonists of the 20th century, Robert Crumb, but it also carries the insights into a dysfunctional family and how one chose art to deal with his personal demons, to escape and become functional. Crumb is the creator of classic comic strip characters such as Mr. Natural, Devil Girl and Fritz the Cat, and also the creator of famous cartoon witticisms such as “Keep on Truckin’.” But “Crumb” not only documents the artist’s work but his scary, downright abusive childhood in a family that could drive anyone nuts.

The family includes his mother, Beatrice, a former amphetamine addict (she passed away in 1997); his two brothers and his two sisters (the sisters refused to be interviewed for the film), as well as his vicious bastard of a father who died years earlier and physically and emotionally abused his children. One of Crumb’s brothers, Charles Jr. the oldest, is taking tranquilizers for his suicidal depression and still lives with his mother since he graduated high school (he committed suicide in 1992). Charles re-reads his favorite books, with a particular disdain for current authors, and is madly obsessive over comic strips. Max, the younger brother, lives in a run-down motel in San Francisco and is an artist who had a peculiar habit of pulling down women’s shorts in the street - he also sits and sleeps on a bed of nails. By comparison, Robert is relatively normal. Robert Crumb has been married twice and has one fully-grown son, Jesse, who dislikes his father’s emotional detachment. There is also a young daughter whom Crumb admits is “the only woman I’ve ever loved.” All this material fulfills the first half of the documentary - wait till you see what follows.

The second half of the film concentrates on Crumb, the cartoonist, the man and his artwork, as it explains the literal and subtle meanings behind his famous cartoons and his more recent work, most of which is shocking, perverse and frequently touches on taboo subjects. What transpires is a clear understanding of Crumb’s incredibly hostile view of women, or so it seems, even though he very much loves women (their derrieres are always large, their heads sometime monstrous or carnivorous, and yet occasionally Crumb sees the beauty of a simple portrait without any semblance of grotesque qualities). One particularly aggressive cartoon titled “A Bitchin’ Bod” (with each panel shown very clearly) shows a guy who is given a prize - a headless woman by Mr. Natural with a mannequin’s head screwed on top of her neck. The guy has sex with her and has his way with her, feeling guilty all the same until Mr. Natural pulls her head out after unscrewing the cap! Anyone with a brain can see that the comic is not misogynistic at all and such potent satire can still serve its purpose in this current climate. Then there are the stereotypes of black people shown as mammies, including Angel McSpade and who is treated like a wild animal by white people (the audience screening I attended was relatively mute and shocked by the depiction of Angel and a certain brand name for canned foods, the latter of which is hardly racist but rather a commentary on racism and how such racism is imported in advertising).

Crumb doesn’t always aim to shock - witness the eloquence and passage of time of “A Short History of America” strip which shows how a dirt road changed into an industrial street with malls, traffic lights and an abundance of electrical wires. He also draws various sketchbooks on the inner-city people he sees and the women he adored in high-school - segments such as these are easier to digest for the average moviegoer and are quite funny. Crumb also explains his fascination and attraction to Bugs Bunny, whereas his brother Charles was obsessed by the child actor Bobby Driscoll from 1950’s “Treasure Island.” We see how Robert funneled his fears and adolescent sexual fantasies into his work. With Charles, we see excerpts of his comics where there was more and more writing and gibberish and less and less drawings. 

“Crumb” is creepily, methodically fascinating and gradually becomes a disturbing film that had me hooked from the opening shots of sculptures and figurines of Crumb’s cartoon characters to the end where he moves to France with his wife, feeling no remorse for moving so far away from his mother. It is almost impossible to know how to respond to Robert Crumb himself - the film doesn’t condemn nor condone the work of the man. Despite the feeling and mood that is generated from his unhappy family and his delirious and controversial artwork, there is a general feeling of love and sympathy within him. By the end of the documentary, you’ll begin to wonder whether the man and the cartoonist are separate or one and the same. I have never forgotten “Crumb” when I first saw it in theaters in 1995 and, to this day, it is the single most penetrating and haunting document of an artist I’ve ever seen.

Genial, surprisingly charming high school teen flick

 BOOKSMART (2019)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Perhaps after seeing so many coming-of-age-last-day-of-high-school comedies and dramas (the most famous and easily the best, "American Graffiti" which I know, as I write it, that it is from the distant past), it is beyond me what more could be done with this genre unless it is made personal. That is the secret and sneaky charm of the wonderful "Booksmart," actress Olivia Wilde's directorial debut, which features two girls who are best friends and want to party the day before graduation. Nothing new in terms of story but it is the attitude and the genial humor that makes it work.

Let's be clear: this movie is not the female version of 2007's raucous "Superbad." The two high-school senior girls are not party monsters - they had spent their formative years of high school studying and not much else. The colorfully judgmental Molly (Beanie Feldstein) is the brainiac who has been accepted to Yale and has a crush on fellow student named Nick. Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), Molly's best friend who is far more reserved, is ready to spend time in Botswana for the summer (though she may be there longer), has been accepted to Columbia, and has a crush on a girl named Ryan (Victoria Ruesga) . The two main girls seem like opposites yet they have that special bond that only close friends have, and anytime a dire situation arises, the word "Malala" is uttered (sort of a surrender without question to uphold what the other one wants). 

This could have been a single night of wild parties and lots of boozing and making out with the usual stock teen characters and yet "Booksmart" aims to be more sophisticated in its approach. The educated Molly feels like everyone else in school will not get any further in their education and she is shocked to discover that many of them, who have partied, are attending Ivy League schools. Due to that sucker punch to her gut, Molly insists that she and Amy attend a party thrown by Nick (Mason Gooding) where Molly hopes her infatuation will lead somewhere. Discovering they do not know the address to the party, Molly and Amy end up at two different parties, one at an ostentatious cruise ship and another at a murder mystery-type party (the movie's only slow-to-a-dead crawl moment) hosted by their own peers. Once they finally arrive at Nick's party, the surprise is that everyone treats Molly and Amy as cool people who have finally came out of their bookworm shelves. Then there's a moment of truth that rings out in the movie that accentuates silence briefly, as if the two characters who are arguing are using hurtful words that we would rather not hear. The confrontation is between Amy and Molly and, sure, we have seen it before but I was so heartbroken by it that I wanted to tell them, "Hey, hug it out!"

The 2019 world of high-school shown in "Booksmart" is alien to me (I am a 1989 high-school graduate) yet the emotions are not, whether they are on the surface or in your face. Feldstein and Dever hold the world of "Booksmart" in their favor - they encompass it, they live in it, they breathe it and they are having a ball (at one point, they become Barbie Dolls during an acid trip). These are not girls who are depressed and are taking medication to deal the dreary hand the world has handed them. Hell, no, and that is thanks to the comical, intelligent screenplay helmed by four writers: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman. These girls would be fun to hang out with and that is the movie's brightest charm. I could have kept watching "Booksmart" and these smart girls, and been involved in their own misadventures and been hooked for another hour.