It’s been a long time but we finally got a pretty straight forward
film from Terrance Malick. It’s also a
true story about an Austrian named Franz Jagerstatter who refused to fight for
the Nazi’s during World War II and was imprisoned. I had never heard of him before but
apparently his story is well known in Catholic circles as a shining example of
never giving in to evil, even temporarily, for one’s own survival.
Jagerstatter’s stance comes at a price beyond his own life
though.His wife, Fani, and their young
children are harassed and shunned in their town of St. Radegund.Their neighbors pick fights, steal their crops,
spit on them and give them dirty ass looks.The villagers think Franz isn’t being loyal to his country or rising to
the call of duty.
The story eventually splits off into two with one thread
following Franz’s stay in prison and the other showing Fani’s life at home
without her beloved husband.Both have
it hard but Franz definitely has it worse.He’s humiliated, beaten and tortured by the Nazi guards.Meanwhile Fani has to continue to live in a
town that hates her and her kids’ guts.She also makes days long journeys to different cities pleading for her
husband’s life to indifferent bureaucrats.
Many questions are raised such as is it right to stand up
for what you believe in even if it means certain death?Is it ok to go along with the program for a
while purely to try to survive?Is it
wrong to knowingly leave your family behind for your beliefs?
These are hard fucking questions man and yea, the movie is really
sad.It’s almost nothing but tragedy after
tragedy and Jagerstatter is unshakable in his position.Like his lawyer keeps waving a piece of paper
in front of him which would get him out of prison and into the hospital as an orderly
but Franz refuses to sign.I mean it’s
no guarantee he would live to see the end of the war or that the Nazi’s would honor
the thing but it’s a glimmer of hope that he never gives a microsecond of
thought to.That’s a helluva strong
will.
Interestingly unlike Malick’s earlier WWII picture, The Thin
Red Line, this doesn’t contain any actual war footage.There’s no combat, gunfire, planes, tanks,
bombs or anything.It’s almost like the
movie itself is protesting what a war film can be or show.With all the Nazi imagery though there isn’t
any mistaking this for something other than a war picture.It’s just on a very human level with all the
machinery stripped away and it’s incredibly effective.
And of course the cinematography is absolutely stunning with
magnificent landscapes and sweeping camera movements to swim in.Malick does a few different tricks here as
well including going to a POV shot a couple of times and inserting real WWII
footage.Other than that it’s the usual
insane editing that only makes sense to a small number of people in this world.And while I’m not one of ‘em it’s still so
cool to see every so often.
August Diehl (Allied) and Valerie Pachner as Franz
and Fani do a wonderful job.They have
good chemistry when they share screen time making the turmoil that tears their lives
apart impactful.Diehl always has a
confident but worrisome expression like he knows what he’s doing is right but the
road is going to be extremely painful.Pachner’s
performance is equally impressive because Fani is apoplectic over the situation
but has to keep her shit together so she can take care of her children and
continue to advocate for Franz’s release.
Despite what I said in the opening Malick’s films are always
linear (with the exception of Tree of Life and Voyage of Time) it’s
just that they’re so damn hard to follow. This is the first since The New World (which
was about fifteen years ago) where there’s a clear narrative and you don’t have
to rack your brain trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.It’s really nice to pull back from the inner
sanctum where Knight of Cups and Song to Song reside.
I recommend this one.Beside the natural grimness that a WWII movie exudes it gives you plenty
to think about.The film pays homage to
those who kept their moral compass in the darkest of days.We usually hear about the heroes on the
battlefields who undeniably deserve our gratitude, but there’s also those who
fight evil in their own way by refusing to participate in sadistic bullshit.
A buddy was kind enough to gift me some movies from the good
folks at Vinegar Syndrome. They restore
and release bottom of the barrel type schlock across all genres but whatever
problems the films have they always tend to be entertaining. I’m glad someone is taking up this crusade
because you never know when you’ll come across a diamond in the rough or have
your imagination captured. The Syndrome
does an excellent job with their releases so if you haven’t checked them out
give ‘em a look.
Blood Beat
All the movies on this list are very low budget and I don’t
know what kind of numbers the productions were dealing with but this one and The
Suckling (which we’ll get to) feel the cheapest.A small group of actors in mainly one
location, not a ton of effects, 4:3 aspect ratio and the running time is padded
the hell out with a billion superfluous shots added to many scenes.
The story is about a demon samurai who kills people in
Wisconsin and he has a psychic connection with some of the other characters. I don’t understand (get used to that phrase
‘cause it’ll pop up a few times) the superpowers some characters possess but I
think the samurai is probably an attempt to craft a new scary slasher icon
which was an era that was just coming to a close when this was released.It takes a while to get going but once it
does the guy can’t stop killing.The
watch would be more enjoyable if the runtime wasn’t so bloated with scenes that
go on for too long (and it’s only eighty seven mins!).
Overall it’s surprisingly memorable though and the sound
design may be a strong reason why.For
the music they use a mix of up tempo classical string quartet pieces, pulsating
synth and down tempo moody synth all of which works great.The sound of wind blowing and heavy mask
breathing are used extensively as well.Some scenes play out with just the music or sound effects over the
footage which elevates the material in an interesting way.
This and Demon Wind are the two I would recommend out
of the five here if you’re willing to subject yourself to less than spectacular
but still oddly charming filmmaking.
Demon Wind
A group of friends travel out to a cabin in the middle of
nowhere to discover what happened to the protagonist’s grandparents many years
ago.When they arrive they find they
can’t leave and must battle zombie demon creatures that will turn you into one if
they so much as scratch you.
I immediately pegged this piece for exactly what it is, an Evil
Dead wannabe.It actually does a
decent job of replicating that formula with a good amount of nice makeup
effects and a relentless ratcheting up of dire circumstances.It really feels like there’s no escape from
the hell these folks stumbled into.I
don’t understand the ending at all though where the hero transforms into some
conehead looking guy.
Whatever, kinda fun but ultimately I don’t know how often
(if ever) I’m really going to revisit this when The Evil Dead is sooooo
much better and there are two of ‘em (yea I know, Army of Darkness, but
it’s pretty different than its predecessors and I’ve always categorized it in
my mind as sort of a standalone anyway).Also, not a great title.
Night Train to Terror
Board the night train where you’ll find an anthology picture
featuring three tales.God (Ferdy Mayne
(The Fearless Vampire Killers)) and Lucifer (Tony Giorgio (The
Godfather)) are riding together in a compartment and they fight over the
souls of the people in the stories.In
the other cars there’s a rockin’ band with dancers kickin’ it to a bluesy tune
that has sort of a throwback 50’s vibe.Connection?Not a clue.
The first segment is about a guy who gets recruited by a team
of doctors to lure female victims to their hospital so they can dismember them
and sell their body parts. The second
involves a group of people who engage in games of Russian roulette except they
use creative methods like letting a gigantic fucking deadly flying insect loose
in the room to see who it stings or lying underneath a swinging wrecking ball
to see who it’ll land on and smash.And
the third episode features Satan (or Satan’s assistant?) disguised as a human
who hangs out around LA, kills anyone who attempts to discover his secret and looks
for slimeballs to enlist in his evil army.
All the descriptions above aren’t entirely accurate though
because there are a million weird details that I’m not gonna bother with.Figures because apparently each story was
their own individual abandoned film that was edited down to about twenty mins.It certainly feels that way.
So despite the fact that there’s plenty going on all the
time it’s marred by constant bewilderment.Each section is hard to follow and it only gets worse as the movie
progresses.The film’s difficult to
enjoy as a result in spite of the intriguing story ideas.
Psycho Cop Returns
I’m gonna say right up front that I have not seen Psycho
Cop so I could’ve made a big mistake.Oh well, can’t do anything about it now.
For Psycho Cop Returns it seems they were going for a
Die Hard parody of sorts with the plot involving douchbags throwing a
bachelor party after hours in their high rise office building.Who the hell does that?They invite strippers, guzzle booze and
generally act like jackasses all while the psycho cop picks them off one by one
in the empty skyscraper.They play up
the comedy which isn’t a very successful blend of corny jokes and cringy frat
house humor. Unfortunately the deaths
aren’t all that creative or hard hitting either but again, it’s supposed to be
part comedy.
However, the biggest problem with the movie is they don’t take
advantage of the cop angle nearly enough.He’s just a crazy person in a police officer uniform committing standard
slasher activities.He slings a lot of cop
puns but he doesn’t abuse his authority to commit crimes Bad Lieutenant
style.The only effort he makes is when
he fools his victims for a moment into thinking he’s a legit cop who’s there to
rescue them but soon after he reveals his true intentions.
By far the best part is the opening credits.It’s a fast cutting montage of the psycho cop’s
squad car filled to the brim with various body parts and there are pentagrams
and “666” written in blood everywhere (I forgot to mention he’s also a
Satanist) while a screeching guitar track blasts.It’s pretty fuckin’ awesome.
Lastly, the film has a weird ending (spoilers) where
they recreated the Rodney King beating except with the roles reversed.A bar full of people witness the psycho cop
beating up a woman so they come to her rescue and pound the shit outta that
dude with blunt instruments while someone films.Commentary on the times.
The Suckling
Among this set The Suckling is the worst one which is
too bad because it probably has the best title.It’s about an aborted fetus that gets flushed down the toilet and grows
into a mutant killer by way of toxic waste exposure in the sewer.The thing enacts its revenge on the abortion
clinic/brothel by tearing everyone inside limb from limb.
This one’s definitely the sleaziest entry with all the
gruesome abortion stuff and the horrible way the prostitutes are treated.It also has the worst acting, dialogue and
creature effects.The full sized monster
suit actually doesn’t look half bad but everything else is very cheaply done.
I’m not sure what else to say except I don’t understand the
beginning with one of the characters dreaming (maybe?) of getting drugged and
having her throat slit.I don’t get how
that ties in.Also, there are a few
incredibly annoying characters that last almost the entire run so that was
grating.
I dunno, it’s a creature slasher picture that’s not
fantastic with an unpleasant concept at its core.
