Mish Mash 4 (Clueless, Phantom of the Opera (1989), Kurt Russel & J.T. Walsh, 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Heat)

1.       Clueless started the fedora craze ten years before it became popular.  Christian wears one and looks just as stupid as anyone who puts one on today.  I don’t understand this fad and I wish it would stop.  Remember the trucker hat thing?  I’m not sure which one’s worse but at least people stopped wearing the trucker hats.

Anyway Clueless is a damn fine movie.  It’s very John Hughes-esque with how high school life is both funny and dramatic (relatively speaking of course, as you get older all of that shit you worried about back then seems so trivial).  The only real difference is that Hughes focused on middle class kids and Clueless centers on upper class ones.  The movie is also just as 90’s as Hughes’ were 80’s.  Good shit.

2.       The 1989 Phantom of the Opera is a straight up horror flick.  They didn’t entirely do away with singing and music but it’s mostly gone.  They cast Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Streets) as the Phantom who gives an enjoyably goofy and weird performance.  He’s a tortured composer but he also seems to enjoy cutting off people’s heads.  The makeup job on the Phantom is strange looking too.  He looks like he has a rubber face when he puts on makeup to pretend to look normal as the composer but when he takes that shit off half of his face looks like Freddy Kruger with burnt and mangled skin.

      Honestly, I’m not very interested in a straight up version of Phantom so this was perfect for my tastes.  This was a pretty fun movie that has great set and costume design and it also cuts to the chase.  I do like musicals but this sorta works as a regular horror film…sorta.  Whatever, I had a good time.

3.       Kurt Russell and J.T. Walsh have been in four movies together: Breakdown, Backdraft, Tequila Sunrise and Executive Decision.  Walsh plays a jerk in at least three of them too (haven’t seen Executive Decision in a very long time).  Man, he was the best at that kinda shit.

4.       Saw the original 3:10 to Yuma and liked it quite a bit…up until the very end.  First I just wanna say how much I love the villain in this thing.  Glenn Ford (The Big Heat, Superman) as Ben Wade is incredible.  He’s so goddamn smooth and manipulative.  You think at first that maybe he’s not such a bad guy but eventually learn that he’s pretty sinister.  That’s why the ending doesn’t make sense to me. 

*Spoilers*  Wade cooperated for most of the movie because he had several men watching over him with guns but when it comes down to just Dan there’s no reason why he should continue to.  When the two men start for the train Wade could’ve run off or his men could’ve forced the situation by confronting both of them head on instead of hiding behind buildings.  But when we find out that Wade actually wants Dan to succeed it seemed very out of character.  Now he’s an honorable man?  He feels he owes Dan because Dan saved his life earlier?  I just think the guy is too evil.  I don’t buy it.

*No more spoilers*  With that said it really is a very well crafted film.  Very play-like, a lot of tension, all character driven, emotions run high, etc.  You should see it.

5.       You know that part in Heat where Pacino talks about Ashley Judd having a “great ass”?  It’s still probably the weirdest part of the movie (but it’s also one of the best).  If you watch closely Pacino was totally about to say "big ass" but caught himself and came up with something better.  Heat is bad-fuckin’-ass, uh, I mean great-fuckin’-ass.    

The Visitor (aka Stridulum)

If you want a serious Exorcist knock off with a sci-fi twist then look no further.  You got a little brat named Katy (Paige Conner) who was born evil due to possessing some sort of genetic material passed down to her from a malicious alien.  Her mother, Barbara (Joanne Nail (Switchblade Sisters)), has the ability to birth these demonic fuckers so a secret society of aliens or alien sympathizers (it’s not clear which) get wind of this and want her to have more kids.  Lance Henriksen (Stone Cold, The Terminator) is recruited on a years long operation to woo Barbara and to try to mate.  Meanwhile Barbara isn’t aware of any of this and seems like a normal person that just happens to have this bizarre DNA inside her.

It’s a cool story even if the inspiration behind it is totally obvious.  Conner as Katy does a great job acting like such an asshole towards everyone and is able to pull off the innocent one moment tear your face off the next shift like a pro.  But she doesn’t physically change appearance like Regan does and it’s unclear if she has supernatural powers.  In the scene where we’re introduced to her she sits courtside at a basketball game and maybe triggers an explosion at the rim of the basket just as the opposing team is about to dunk to win the game.  Katy never shows off anything like this type of ability again so who knows?

Aside from the plot this is an infamous midnight movie more for the whacked out visuals and some interesting casting choices.  The film opens with what appears to be a showdown between our hero and a cloaked figure that turns out to be Katy on a barren alien planet with a swirling liquid sky, a windy snowstorm and a gigantic bright yellow sun.  Nothing is said, they only stare each other down.  Later when our hero comes to Earth (Atlanta to be specific) to setup shop he picks a skyscraper rooftop and his helpers construct rectangular silk cubes in a triangular pattern and he likes to have nighttime sessions of staring at the rooftop while runway lights and a broad green beam strobes on it and makes oscillating noises.  You know, trippy shit.

Most of the picture isn’t like that though.  It’s more about Katy causing trouble like accidentally shooting her mother in the back causing her to be paralyzed from the waist down.  There’s also a detective (Glenn Ford (The Big Heat, 3:10 to Yuma)) and our hero looking for ways to stop her from hurting more people.

And you’re probably wondering by now who is this hero guy?  Well we’ve put it off long enough.  It’s none other than acclaimed director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Key Largo, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Man Who Would Be King).  He had done plenty of acting before, probably most famously as the villain in Chinatown, but it’s still so weird to see him in a B sci-fi film.  He was 73 at the time and has wise presence but the thing is he doesn’t actually do a whole lot so they could’ve cast any number of people in the role and it would’ve turned out the same.

The other odd person to pop up is fuckin’ Sam Peckinpah (writer/director: The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia).  This one is stranger because he didn’t really do acting.  In here he only has one scene as Barbara’s husband who she goes to seeking an abortion.

The Visitor isn’t as dark as The Exorcist tone wise but there are perhaps creepier notions that it floats.  For instance at one point Barbara gets impregnated without her knowledge.  There’s also the plot point of carrying on a sham relationship with someone for over seven goddamn years (!) for the sole purpose of creating a demonic offspring.  That’s pretty abhorrent behavior if you ask me.

So as you can tell from everything I’ve tried to explain in this review the movie doesn’t convey the clearest storytelling.  There are more than a few head scratching moments.  And yea, it’s kind of a peculiar mix of shit (like the kickass instrumental funk soundtrack which I almost forgot to mention) but hey, it’s certainly entertaining and a decent time in my opinion.