Reviews: Creature Features!
Wow, have I been watching a lot of movies recently! Here are some brief thoughts!
Piranha—the debt to Jaws is obvious, and acknowledged at the beginning with someone playing the Jaws video game on screen, but this is like what if the first half of Jaws were the whole movie? So instead of a lengthy hunt sequence, we just have more and more people put in the path of the swarming genetically enhanced Piranhas, and this movie has the courage to put literally anyone in danger and kill them. Packed with great character actors like Keenan Wynn and Dick Miller, and featuring a movie-stealing performance from Paul Bartel as an evil camp director. Absolutely top-notch, with script co-written by John Sayles and direction from Joe Dante.
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein— A re-watch, but this is a stone classic. Not just Frankenstein, but also Dracula and the Wolf Man are on board, and Abbot and Costello are very funny. It’s fun to watch this and see how Scooby-Doo and pretty much every other horror comedy took cues from this. Farcical and very funny!
Abbot and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde— A strange movie in that it’s really mostly a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story (featuring Boris Karloff!) with Abbot and Costello on board for comic relief including one fantastic sequence where Costello is transformed into…well, I won’t spoil it. Not as funny as Meet Frankenstein, but still an entertaining movie!
Grizzly II: Revenge—Of course, countless movies feature disposable horny teens who die in the first five minutes of the movie, but how many movies have the crazy good fortune to cast future stars in those roles? Just this one, apparently, with George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen being horny and dying early. Someone clearly shot a new opening to give these three top billing in the credits, and it’s fun to watch their inevitable deaths. Sadly, the movie goes rapidly downhill after this, and even the fantastically and possibly unintentionally comic performance of John Rhys-Davies as some kind of 19th century French Canadian trapper inexplicably roaming a National Park in 1982, complete with fringed jacket, can’t save it. Didn’t finish.
Zombeavers— I love when a movie understands the assignment. If you’re turning on a movie about horny college students being attacked by ravenous undead beavers, you have certain expectations. I’m happy to report that they are all met. You want laughs? Horrible creature effects? Gore? This movie has you covered. Also wonderful comic sequence featuring Bill Burr and John Mayer to open the movie/kick off the zombie beaver outbreak. An hour and seventeen minutes very well spent.