Post by james on Sept 14, 2010 13:52:19 GMT -5
Some of my favorite episodes of Better in the Dark are the Obscure Horrors episodes, and this was no exception.
I first learned of Shanks from reading Glenn Kay's indespensible book Zombie Movies (which I can't recommend highly enough). Kay didn't overly like the film aside from a few scenes, but he described as an interesting oddity, which sounds about right. Derrick, you are correct - the actors playing Shanks' sister-in-law and her husband are fellow mimes (Tsilla Chelton and Phillipe Clay). Also, the leader of the bikers is Larry (son of Joey) Bishop, who appeard in a few 60s biker movies and has had a recent career boost courtesy of Quentin Tarantino. And man, you are also right, Derrick about that final fight scene at the top of Old Walker's mansion. It's incredibly obvious that Bishop is no danger of falling from the roof, except the script calls for it, so he sort of jumps. Never mind that, no matter how skilled Shanks is in controlling the bodies, I still find it pretty implausible that they could take out a bunch of bikers.
I think the first half of the film, with its fairy-tale/horror sensibility, is much better then the second. The appearance of the bikers seems really arbitrary. One of their own is killed in an accident, so they bring his body into a nearby house? And the door isn't locked? The only way I can sensibly understand this plot is to see it as William Castle's dismissal of the type of exploitation film (the 60s biekr movies) that pushed his gentler kind of exploitation film out of the market.
By the way - Shanks has never been released on VHS or DVD. The only way you can see it (legally) is through TCM Underground's broadcasts.
Regarding Strange Invaders - it's a very fun movie that I've watched a few times (I own it on DVD), but I haven't seen Strange Behavior, so I couldn't tell you if it's a sequel or if those characters from the earlier film appear in it.
Tom, from your description, it does sound like the two films have some similarities. The premise of Strange Invaders is that aliens are arriving on Earth (specifically, a small town in the midwest), but their only knowledge of life on the planet comes from 50's television. The movie was made and set in 1982, so the idea is it takes so long for television waves to reach the aliens' home planet that by that year, they're only getting Earth television up through the 50s. So these various aliens are running around this small town, but they're all dressed up anachronistically and they look like stock characters from 50s movies. It's both a serious horror film and a spoof, and there are plenty of references to 50's science fiction films. Kenneth Tobey from the original The Thing is even in the cast. It's fun to see Paul LeMat in an atypical role as a nerdy scientist. And for the trivia books, this was the first film to use an R.E.M. song, "1,000,000" (for all of five seconds).
I think people put up films on YouTube just to make them available for people, when the owner of the copyright isn't interested in doing so. Also, I completely agree with Desmond Reddick that the best horror films being made these days are non-American. Watch the Spanish film The Orphanage if you haven't already.
James
I first learned of Shanks from reading Glenn Kay's indespensible book Zombie Movies (which I can't recommend highly enough). Kay didn't overly like the film aside from a few scenes, but he described as an interesting oddity, which sounds about right. Derrick, you are correct - the actors playing Shanks' sister-in-law and her husband are fellow mimes (Tsilla Chelton and Phillipe Clay). Also, the leader of the bikers is Larry (son of Joey) Bishop, who appeard in a few 60s biker movies and has had a recent career boost courtesy of Quentin Tarantino. And man, you are also right, Derrick about that final fight scene at the top of Old Walker's mansion. It's incredibly obvious that Bishop is no danger of falling from the roof, except the script calls for it, so he sort of jumps. Never mind that, no matter how skilled Shanks is in controlling the bodies, I still find it pretty implausible that they could take out a bunch of bikers.
I think the first half of the film, with its fairy-tale/horror sensibility, is much better then the second. The appearance of the bikers seems really arbitrary. One of their own is killed in an accident, so they bring his body into a nearby house? And the door isn't locked? The only way I can sensibly understand this plot is to see it as William Castle's dismissal of the type of exploitation film (the 60s biekr movies) that pushed his gentler kind of exploitation film out of the market.
By the way - Shanks has never been released on VHS or DVD. The only way you can see it (legally) is through TCM Underground's broadcasts.
Regarding Strange Invaders - it's a very fun movie that I've watched a few times (I own it on DVD), but I haven't seen Strange Behavior, so I couldn't tell you if it's a sequel or if those characters from the earlier film appear in it.
Tom, from your description, it does sound like the two films have some similarities. The premise of Strange Invaders is that aliens are arriving on Earth (specifically, a small town in the midwest), but their only knowledge of life on the planet comes from 50's television. The movie was made and set in 1982, so the idea is it takes so long for television waves to reach the aliens' home planet that by that year, they're only getting Earth television up through the 50s. So these various aliens are running around this small town, but they're all dressed up anachronistically and they look like stock characters from 50s movies. It's both a serious horror film and a spoof, and there are plenty of references to 50's science fiction films. Kenneth Tobey from the original The Thing is even in the cast. It's fun to see Paul LeMat in an atypical role as a nerdy scientist. And for the trivia books, this was the first film to use an R.E.M. song, "1,000,000" (for all of five seconds).
I think people put up films on YouTube just to make them available for people, when the owner of the copyright isn't interested in doing so. Also, I completely agree with Desmond Reddick that the best horror films being made these days are non-American. Watch the Spanish film The Orphanage if you haven't already.
James
