Shaun Berk's 10 Movie Recommendations- 255th Edition

Welcome to the 255th Edition of my series. This week starts the annual Horror Movie Madness contest so in the coming weeks I will have some horror, Halloween related films and some "loopholes" as I have been dubbed the King of the Loophole for watching movies unrelated to any genre but counting because they are some actor, director, producer, and so on. I know my peers in the contest would be very disappointed if I did not have any. I am now in TALK RADIO at the Muncie Civic Studio Theater where I play the caller Glenn. I will find out soon what I will be doing but I'm pretty excited.

Little Shop of Horrors (1960): Check out the year and yes this was a b-movie before it became that musical we all love today. Roger Corman directed this film which like the musical takes place in the very bad town of Skid Row where we have a struggling flower shop run by Mr. Mushnick and his employees Seymour and Audrey. Seymour then finds an unusual plant which he calls Audrey Jr. where in the musical the plant is Audrey Two. He then learns this plant is very bloodthirsty and is forced to do things he would not usually do. This one was a little more creepy and Seymour becomes a little more murderous than in the musical. Corman had this similar formula in BUCKET OF BLOOD where a shy, nerdy person resorts to horrible acts to keep their career going. Jack Nicholson has a very early role in this as a dental patient who loves the pain of the dentist. Many people, including myself prefer the musical version but credit has to be given where it is due and this movie did make it possible for your musical. It is a pretty decent b-movie.

Rollerball (1975): This is my futuristic film for the week directed by Norman Jewison. Rollerball is a very extreme sport which corporate society uses hoping to bring down the spirits in others. James Caan plays Jonathan who has been playing for a long time but too long in the eyes of the people who run it. The corporate government want him to retire but he does what he can to defy them. The game being played here seems rather similar to Roller Derby which was on the rise in this era but had many differences. This was a very interesting premise which I felt could have been executed better but the action was very entertaining and the game was so much fun the cast, extras, and stuntmen actually played it between takes.

The Baron of Arizona (1950): This is my western for the week which was directed by independent director Samuel Fuller. Vincent Price plays the real-life James Reavis who spends his life trying to buy the state of Arizona. He then finds a young girl and concocts a big story about her being connected to aristocracy who he later marries when she grows up. Fuller does a good job with this story and becomes a pretty underrated filmmaker through the years and a good western. It starts out with a few politicians talking and one of them explaining the good that came out of what Reavis did where his story starts there.

Near Dark (1987): This is my vampire movie of the week which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Adrian Pasdar plays southern boy Caleb who then meets a mysterious girl named Mae, played by Jenny Wright, who bites him. He is then abducted by a van by Mae's vampire family. They keep Caleb alive giving him a week to prove that he belongs with them. They do find that Caleb is not easy to turn as he did not develop a killer instinct and Mae gives him her blood. Lance Henrikson is their ruthless leader and Bill Paxton also co-stars as one of the vampires. Tim Thomerson and Marcie Leeds are very good as Caleb's single-father and little sister who never give up trying to find their son. Their interactions are very good and you really feel for them when they are on screen. This is Bigelow's first solo directorial effort and would go onto direct the award-winning THE HURT LOCKER. This movie was put out the same year as the other popular vampire film THE LOST BOYS but I actually ended up liking this one better. If anything, it has been unfairly overshadowed by LOST BOYS and a very underrated vampire film.

Drag Me to Hell (2009): I now bring you Sam Raimi's return to the horror genre. Allison Lohman stars as bank employee Christine who is up for possible promotion. She then is presented with an old gypsy woman named Sylvia Ganush, played by Lorna Raver, who faces foreclosure in her home and has two extensions already. Her boss leaves the decision of a third loan to Christine and she really wants that promotion so she tells her no which is probably a decision she regrets more than anything. Soon after that, Mrs. Ganush puts a curse on Christine that she will apparently die in three days. ED alum Justin Long plays her very successful and understanding boyfriend Clay. When I was recently at my dad's house, I had a discussion with my 16-year old niece who just absolutely hated this movie and as much as I love her we have never always seen eye-to-eye on these kinds of things. She felt it was rather cheesy. I found this to be a very clever entry into this dying genre. I really liked the twists and turns of the film. I really liked Lorna Raver's performance as Mrs. Ganush and thought she pulled that off very well. Obviously, some reading this will disagree and even some die-hard fans of the genre will disagree but in my not really being into horror, this kind of movie is how you get me to watch a horror film. Raimi's trademark 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 appears as Mrs. Ganush's car and has always been him his movies he directed starting with this featured directorial debut of EVIL DEAD.

Sky High (2005): This is my live-action Disney film which uses the formula that was very successful in their animated film THE INCREDIBLES and expands pretty well into this live-action film. Michael Angarano plays Will Stronghold, the son of his very famous superhero parents Commander, played by Kurt Russell, and Jetstream, played by Kelly Preston. He finds there is a lot to live up to but is not sure if he has superpowers. He is then accepted to the secret school of the title where he and his friend Layla, played by Danielle Panabaker, learn how to use the superpowers given. In this school, there are two types of people, you have the heroes and then the sidekicks. He seems very destined to remain a sidekick all his life but then slowly begins to learn his powers and that it takes more than powers to become a hero. BRISCO COUNTY alum Bruce Campbell, NEWSRADIO alum Dave Foley, WONDER WOMAN alum Lynda Carter, Cloris Leachman all co-star. This was a very good look at a segregated school where obviously "sidekicks" are looked-down upon where this movie kind of teaches acceptance. This was also a very fun film and while I referenced THE INCREDIBLES, I do not see it as a rip-off.

Servant of Mankind (1940): This is my short film for the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. This is actually a really good nine-minute history lesson which features the accomplishments of Thomas Edison starting with the great light bulb who only expanded there until his death. This was a very good nine minutes and it might still be available on On-Demand but not sure.

Single White Female (1992): I figure this is another good way to kick off October. I will say that this movie holds its place in history for being the first movie to be watched on the Netflix app on my ipod touch. Bridget Fonda stars as Allie who is leaving her boyfriend, played by Steven Weber, after he has an affair. She then moves to an apartment and becomes lonely so she decides to look into getting a roommate. She interviews many and should have probably chosen one of them before she decides to take in Hedy, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. They become friends but Allie slowly sees that Hedy is not who she seems to be especially after she decides to get back with her boyfriend. Hedy becomes more and more jealous of Allie leading to a violent climax between the two. Both of these actresses are people I never recognize unless I see their name in the credits. Maybe because they change their looks a lot. This movie is not without flaws but I believe the two work pretty well together and is a good one to watch with friends on a bored day.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920): Now I bring you the silent version of the classic good and evil story written by Robert Louis Stevenson. John Barrymore stars as the title characters where most know that Dr. Henry Jekyll is a good man who wants to prove that everybody has the side of good and evil and then show that evil can be eliminated. He is not able to get anyone for his experiments so he does it himself becoming the murderous Mr. Hyde who gains more and more control of the personalities. I thought they did a pretty good job on the transition of Jekyll to Hyde and vice versa. John Barrymore did a pretty good job in this film and yes, he is the grandfather of Drew Barrymore which is a big acting family where even John is a second generation actor as his father Maurice was a theater actor.

The Toxic Avenger (1984): I end this week with some Troma films directed by Lloyd Kaufman. We first have a janitor named Melvin who works at the health club. He is treated very unkindly due to his nerdy looks and many other things. Some of these people pull a prank that goes a little too far when he falls into a toxic bucket. When he gets out, the title character is born and decides to fight evil very violently. If you're looking for some great story, great acting, witty dialogue, this is not it but if you can get a few friends together, I think you'll all have a lot of fun. This was followed by three sequels. It in many ways defines the phrase "so bad it's good" but it's really "so bad, it's great". He also finds a cute blind girl who fall in love together so I suppose in some ways this could be considered a chick flick. I see this is about to be remade and I really don't see a remake working towards this cult classic.

Well, that is it for this week, stay tuned for next week where we will see the week one results of Horror Movie Madness and see where I fall. Much of my selections will be ones regarding the contest. So far I have the werewolf genre, Julia Styles, and many others.