Articles about the Cult Movies

The DVD was brand new and in excellent sealed condition. It arrived quickly and I was happy with the transaction.

"October 1918" is the date for this story. German soldiers are planting explosives to destroy the advancing British soldiers when they occupy a French city. The townspeople hurriedly evacuate the town. The British are warned, they will not march into town. Instead Private Plumpick [some pun?] will be sent in to scout the town and defuse the bombs - by himself! [Believable?] Discovered by the Germans, he flees into a building for refuge and safety; it is the local insane asylum. The result of the German withdrawal is the inmates can wander freely into the deserted town and select new clothes from the abandoned homes. [This slow-paced action doesn't seem too funny to me.] Comedy is in part cultural, and attitudes change. Perhaps the humor is in suggesting the clothes make the man or woman? Or what looks like normal people are really insane underneath?

This film is certainly unusual for its time. Is it an example of "French Farce"? Were any animals hurt in making this film? [One scene shows armored cars; did they exist at that time?] The film runs on, some scenes are comic and remind me of the clowns in a circus. Will a fireworks display have unintended consequences? Will opposing soldiers fire at each other at unbelievably close range? Will the freed lunatics return to their asylum? Where are the alienists? "Oh dear, who is it now?"

I can't believe this film was successful among viewers. Did they overspend on the costumes and underspend on the story?

There is probably problems with licensing parts of the Soundtrack... One Part in particular ~ The Dead Kennedy's song playing while they are all in the Kitchen... Holiday in Cambodia. There have been lawsuits over this song between band members and Jello Biafra when Levi's wanted to use it in a commercial. Royalty payment disputes and the like. It has probably killed any chance of getting this film released on DVD.

Your level of enjoyment will probably depend on how much you appreciate Zappa and his particular brand of [...]. As a movie musical, it seems at times to be a parody of the genre while simultaneously stretching the form well beyond its normal parameters. There are a few genuinely hilarious laugh-out-loud moments, and I love the incidental orchestral music that accompanies and perfectly complements some of the scenes, but I was no fan of the Flo & Eddie era Mothers, so most of the band stuff does nothing for me. Well worth one viewing but I can't imagine wanting to see it again for a very long time: the last time I saw it was at a theatre when it was first released, 36 years ago, I believe; I could probably wait that long again.

DOLLS!!! What may have been at the time of release "shocking" dialogue is why Valley of the Dolls will live in infamy. "Well Broad-way doesn't go for booozze and pills." Helen Larson tells Neeley O'Hara at the start of their catfight in the powder room. Great fun to watch with your best Gay friends. Great extras included. Packaging is well done and comes with lobby cards.

Teenage gang member & Beethoven enthusiast Alex deLarge is betrayed by his gang of street thugs & goes to prison. A model prisoner, Alex is offered an experimental treatment developed by the government called the Ludivico treatment, which is guaranteed to cure his ultra-violent tendencies & qualify him for early release from prison.
Eager to get out of jail, Alex begins the treatment which turns out to be a form of intense aversion therapy involving nausea-inducing drugs combined with forced viewing of violent visual imagery such as films of Nazi attrocities, designed to create a negative response to violence. During the treatment, Alex is horrified that some of the graphic films he is forced to watch are accompanied by his favorite song, Beethoven's 9th Symphony & sadly realizes that along with violence, he will also end up adverse to his beloved Beethoven.
When Alex's treatment is complete, the prison arranges a formal demonstration in front of a large audience of government & medical bigwigs. Alex is lead onstage where he is unwittingly put to the test in live situations involving sex & violence. Two scenarios are presented to him: an irritating man picks a fight with him, challenging him to brawl & a provacative woman stands before him topless, as if inviting him to ravish her. Each time Alex goes to act on his natural urges he is immediately struck by a feeling of intense terror-he can't breathe & feels as if he willl vomit. Finally he is brought to his knees on the stage floor, begging pathetically for mercy. The demonstration is deemed a success & the audience claps enthusiastically...but the sound of booming applause is interrupted when the prison chaplain quickly points out that Alex's so-called aversion to violence is obviously just a Pavlovian response to the conditioning of the Ludivico therapy, the resulting abstinence, nothing but a sad mechanical (like clockwork) reaction. Nonetheless, Alex is released early from prison as promised & goes home where he seems genuinely intent on starting over fresh as a reformed criminal.. Almost immediately however, he is met with conflict. He learns that his old street-gang mates have become police officers, a job where they are free to indulge the same violent behavior they did in their gang days-only legally (an ongoing theme in the movie) & they brutalize & beat him mercilessly.
Next, Alex crosses paths with a succession of past victims from his gang days, all eager for revenge. Unable to defend himself as a result of the Ludivico, he tries to end his life, jumping from a building in despair. When he wakes up, he is in the hospital, having suffered severe injuries, including head trauma as a
result of the suicide attempt. He learns that the brutal Ludivico treatment he suffered has been deemed cruel & inhumane by government detractors & that he is being sanctified & celebrated by the press & anti-government groups. Intent on damage control, a high ranking government official visits Alex in the hospital & apologizes to him profusely for the Ludivico treatment, assuring him that the government will compensate him for all his pain & suffering by reversing the treatment & returning him to his old self, & by kicking him a cushy government job with generous pay "a good job on a good salary", if he agrees not to speak out about the Ludivico treatment.
Alex enthusiastically agrees.
The last scene implies that Alex has indeed been cured & is once again enjoying the lifestyle of violence, depravity & Beethoven, as well as a new career with the government.

Just because you like ice cream and tomato sauce doesn't mean you should mix 'em together. I think that's what happened here. I couldn't imagine not liking a movie with Neil Young, Devo, Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, etc.... well, live and learn.

The pieces of this movie don't hang together well. It's like there were two different films and someone just mashed them together with no regard for whether or not they would fit. On one side we have the somewhat didactic Devo pieces, with Booji Boy in a role similar to the chorus in a Greek play; he's like a court jester, who gets away with speaking ugly truths because he's too silly to take seriously.

On the other side we have Neil Young's surreal pseudo-story. Despite some interesting snippets of dialog, no particular thread is developed far enough to inspire any real interest in the story, and no character is developed enough to make us care what happens to them. Which, in a way, is probably Young's point - the tiny events of our little lives just aren't as interesting as we think they are, and they don't matter. But that doesn't make for engaging storytelling.

But, between Devo's solid personification of doom and Young's dreamlike depiction of everyday life, there is one amazing performance which, in my opinion, redeems the movie. It's their joint rendition of "Hey Hey My My." This lengthy, frenzied, and apparently spontaneous studio session is the only honest moment in the entire movie. All the campiness, tongue-in-cheek lecturing, and coyness that candy-coats the film's depiction of our shallow, ugly civilization is put aside for a straightforward primal scream. The speeches and the dreamy videos are nice, but the wailing fury of this number is a catharsis of disgust, contempt, and disillusionment. Young and Devo work together as if in a trance, and no one seems to want to break the spell. It's genuine and moving.

I first saw this movie when I was about 14 years old (1979), back in the days when movie channels would play the same 2-3 movies over and over. I fell in love with it then and have been in love with it ever since. I even won a free ice cream cone at the Ben an Jerry's in Ithaca, NY when (in 2002) I was able to tell them the significance of Maude's tatoo. I have always told my friends that Harold and Maude is my favorite movie and that I think the best movie ever made was Life is Beautiful, by Roberto Bergnini. If you think about it, there are many parallels

If you love the Wayans brothers and their movies then you will love this one featuring their older brother Keenan. As an excop turned bounty hunter and with the help of Jada Pinkett they turn this movie into an action packed laugh riot! You have to see this movie!!

Set in contemporary suburbia, young Victor Frankenstein happily plays with his aptly named bull terrier "Sparky", when the tragic happens... the spunky pooch is hit and killed by a car. Crushed, Victor struggles to acclimate to life without him, when he receives the bright Promethian idea to re-animate Sparky after watching the science teacher demonstrate electrical muscle spasms with an "ex-frog".

He rushes home to bring his beloved canine partner back to life. Under the suspicious gaze of a neighbor, he gathers the necessary equipment from the garage, and sneaks out to the pet cemetery to disinterr the pup, anxiously awaiting the next storm to arrive, which is fortunately within a couple night's time.

Predictably, after studying through several books on the subject, he actually manages to revivify Sparky, who now resembles a patchwork puppy, bolts, scars, and all. Joyful to be reunited with eachother, all seems well until Sparky decides to run amok through the neighborhood, although most of the panic is due to the hysterical nature of a neighbor lady and a whining little girl.

When his parents realize that Sparky is actually alive again, they accept his return from the grave, welcoming him back to the family. Eventually, in a classic Hammer scene relative to the tale, the dog retreats to a windmill followed by Victor and the Frankensteins, where it is set ablaze by the frightened mob. Sparky 'justifies' himself by saving the boy, but is consumed in the inferno. Realizing that he saved the boy, everyone now seeks to resurrect Sparky again, via the combined electricity from all their automobiles with battery cables. And thus, little Victor is again reunited with his beloved friend, with a possible 'bride' to boot.

Frankenweenie is a delightful little tale about a boy and his dog which would be appreciated by Infernal Progeny and Tim Burton fantoms alike, with that pleasantly oddball twist on a classic.
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* This film, along with 'Vincent', is provided as a bonus feature on the Special Edition Nightmare Before Xmas DVD.