In lieu of something better, here are a few more quickie takes on things I watched this week:
Sex & Fury
Another entry in the bizarre 70’s Japanese exploitation subgenre of “pinky violence,” and like last week’s Girl Boss Guerilla, this one’s a winner too, only moreso. This one revolves around a lady gambler in the early 1900’s seeking retribution for father, who was slain right before her eyes when she was only a child. There’s a subplot involving British agents interested in starting another opium war, but the only real thing you’ll need to know about that is that it serves as a vehicle to introduce the other leading lady: none other than Swedish cult icon Christina Lindberg (she of “Thriller: They Call Her One-Eye” fame). Reiko Ike, who made a name for herself as the face (and body) of pinky violence delivers a great performance here, involving a swordfight in the snow (again, can you say Quentin Tarantino?) performed entirely in the buff (I doubt QT would even imagine sneaking that past the MPAA). A classic for any fan of exploitation, cult, action and it almost goes without saying: nudity.
War in Space
War in Space is a hard film to have an opinion about because it’s one of those films that you just know would have been a hell of a lot better had you see it in its proper context when it was still fairly new. To say it hasn’t aged well is a bit of a stretch, but this one can be pretty well summed up as “for genre enthusiasts only.” Those interested in the kaiju movies and many of the movies of the 60’s involving elaborate miniature cities being blown to hell will find a lot to like here, even if the pacing is pretty slow. The basic plot involves aliens from another galaxy seeking to invade Earth and claim it as their own. Of course Earth isn’t going to take this lying down and readies the dormant airship it had prepared for just such an occasion: Gohten. The ship itself and a few of the enemy ships have interesting designs and the battles they have are fairly interesting so long as you’re the kind of movie fan that won’t be too distracted by seeing the clearly-visible strings holding them aloft (and if you’ve made it to these parts of the movie, you very clearly have what it takes). By no means a classic, but by no means a turd either, War in Space is a decent way to waste an hour and a half assuming you’re a genre fan.
I Drink Your Blood
It happens a hell of a lot more than I’d like to admit. I’ll hear so many good things about a movie before going into it that I expect a fantastic experience, only to be let down by a borderline-awful flick. This was one of those times. Cult films are almost inherently a little off-kilter, but this one’s almost nonsensical to a fault. The basic gist of it involves a group of Satanic hippies invading a small town depleted to a couple dozen inhabitants by the building of a dam. But when the hippies push the citizens too far, one of the local boys decides to inject the blood of a rabid dog into their meatpies, in effect giving nearly the entire group rabies, giving them ample reason to go nuts and be more violent than ever. This sounds like it could be an interesting premise, but it isn’t. It takes too long to get rolling and the payoff isn’t that gratifying from any angle; even that of the gorehound. There have been a few comparisons between this film and George Romero’s The Crazies (which this film preceded), but if you’re only going to see one small-town-goes-nuts-and-violence-ensues cult film from the 70’s, Romero’s is the better movie. This was issued before in 2003 and was recently reissued in time for Halloween, but do yourself a favor and pick something else up instead. Some may call it a classic, but there’s hardly been a better time to point out that you can’t say “classic” without “ass.”
