Blog Archives
Graphic Horror: Dr. Giggles
Dr. Giggles 1992
It’s tough for me to decide which of the two recent films I watched are better: Virus or Dr. Giggles. I think I would give the edge to Virus, only slightly due to some of the innovative special effects. Dr. Giggles is very much just a standard psychopath killer horror movie overloaded with as many doctor puns as they could fit in. The most entertaining part of the film was picking out actors that I recognized from their later work, like Larry Drake who went on to play Durant in Darkman, Holly Marie Combs who played the sister no one remembers from Charmed, Doug E. Doug from Cool Runnings, and Glenn Quinn from Angel. It’s filled with plenty of horror tropes, some weird doctor-like contraptions, and not really much else in the way of plot or scares. It was produced in part by Dark Horse Entertainment and also had a tie-in two part comic book that came out right around the same time as the film.
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Graphic Horror: Virus
Virus 1999
Moving my way down in quality for this year’s Graphic Horror before hitting the planned high point at the end comes this lovely gem that came out the same year as the Matrix but with a wholly different interpretation of special effects. It actually started its life as a movie script, but was considered to be too special effects intensive at the time and so it was first made into a comic book from Dark Horse. John Bruno was cutting his teeth working on special effects under James Cameron before getting this film as a director, and unfortunately it really shows that he was more of a special effects guy than a full director. There are many issues with this film, but the special effects work really is not one of them. While there are a couple name actors with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland, they are definitely not bringing their A games. It’s a horror film with a small cast that doesn’t know whether it wants to be a slow burn thriller, a gore fest, or a survival action film, and the blending of these genres do not work very well at all. It has some fun moments here and there, but for the most part, it’s a rather boring slog-fest.
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Graphic Horror: Whiteout
Whiteout 2009
Kicking off this month in Graphic Horror is a film that I hadn’t really heard about before making my superhero and comic book movie list. It came out in 2009 and starred Kate Beckinsale playing a US Marshall in Antarctica. The movie isn’t so much a horror movie, but it’s definitely a thriller. There’s a murder plot, paranoia, and lots and lots of snow. The mystery unfolds in a generally satisfying, but ultimately predictable way, and the film stretches the incredulity of life in Antarctica on the verge of winter. It’s not anywhere near a bad movie, but it’s definitely a forgettable one which makes me realize that it’s not that surprising that I had never heard of it before now.
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Abar: The First Black Superman
Abar: The First Black Superman 1977
The first year of running this site, I wanted to do something for Black History Month and so I covered all of the Black superhero movies that I could find, and there weren’t very many. After running this site for a couple more years, I have gotten a large enough list that there are a couple more obscure Black superhero movies that I can still cover. Unfortunately I hit a snag when I couldn’t find a ready copy of Up, Up, and Away, a Disney Channel original movie. But I was able to find one for this film, Abar: The First Black Superman. I didn’t know a whole lot about this film aside from the fact that it was a low budget, blaxploitation flick that had very little with the traditional Superman. It was a lot more preachy than I expected, and the superpowered elements of the story don’t show up until the last thirty minutes. But those thirty minutes made the movie worth it through its complete incredulity.
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Book Nights: The Heart Does Not Grow Back
The Heart Does Not Grow Back
by Fred Venturini
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a book on here, mainly because I don’t seek out what I perceive to be a very small subgenre of fiction outside of comic books. It doesn’t help that my past experiences have been bad to mediocre, but I’m never one to turn down something for free so I accepted the offer to review another piece of superhero fiction. The brief description had me interested, it seemed like there were some horror elements and it wouldn’t be a straightforward superhero origin story. What I ended up with was a superhero story that was one of the most original takes on a superhero that I have ever seen, on screen or off. It’s got coming of age elements to it, and the main character is someone who I could relate to probably more than I should care to admit to. It also has some well written moments of tension during some horrifying and gruesome moments that feel all too real. It’s a fairly short novel, and while I expected to take a couple weeks to read through it, I managed to finish it in less than a week.
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Kingsman: The Secret Service
Kingsman: The Secret Service
When I think about the latest superhero film from writer/director Matthew Vaughn, one thing that comes to mind in an odd sort of way is predictability. And the reason why I say that it comes to mind in an odd sort of way is not that the film follows an extremely stereotypical plot. Instead, it sets itself apart from several of the traditional spy movie tropes by pointing them out, and as soon as it does that it somehow becomes predictable in which ways it will then follow the spy movie trope as well as which ways it will subvert them. But what Matthew Vaughn is able to do is to craft a film that is still enjoyable regardless of whether or not you can tell what’s coming next. After Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class, there are a lot of things that Vaughn knows how to do right, and they all seem to come together in Kingsman along wrapped in a James Bond style super spy wrapper.
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The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 2015
Next up on the kids movies agenda is the second foray into the theatrical realm for a certain animated sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. Similar to last year’s Birdman (and this is one of the only places that will ever compare those two movies) it is a stretch to call this a “superhero movie” as the aquatic tee-am mates only take on their superhero roles for about ten minutes out of the entire movie. I can’t say that I’m a regular watcher of the Spongebob cartoon and haven’t actually watched it in years, but I am a sucker for the psychadelic, pun-filled, non-sequitur show. What other show is going to have a reference to the creepy twins in the Shining during a trip inside Spongebob’s cotton candy and rainbow filled brain? Underneath the trippy animation and occasional bathroom humor lies a smartly written tale featuring a Greek Chorus of seagulls, Antonio Banderas hamming it up as Burger Beard, Bikini Bottom turning into a Mad Max-like post apocalyptic wasteland, a supreme being dolphin named Bubbles, and plenty of laughs throughout.
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Lego Justice League vs. Bizarro League
Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League 2015
Starting my unintentional batch of superhero movies intended for younger audiences with the latest home video Lego movie release. There’s been a small handful of these Lego home video releases, though many of them are extremely short. Even this one clocks in at just under an hour. If you’re familiar with the Lego brand of entertainment outside of just the Lego movie then you know that it is generally filled with a large number of rapid fire gags and jokes and Bizarro League is no different. It is a bit of a misnomer though, as the entire “vs” aspect of the movie is over within just a few minutes and instead the two groups spend most of their time working together to fight Darkseid. It’s by no means a great film that you should go seek out immediately, but if you have kids of your own, this is a great way to spend an hour together and I bet you will spend quite a bit of it laughing your minifig head off. There’s even a bit of a message buried under all the laughs.
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Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis 2015
And right onto the first new release of the year. This seems like it’s one of the first follow ups in the DC Animation home video releases as it almost directly follows last year’s Justice League: War. Even though Son of Batman was also part of DC’s New 52 continuity, that movie felt much more self-contained where this really felt like a sequel, especially when I did revisit War shortly before watching Throne of Atlantis. While Aquaman is often the butt of many jokes, he is actually a popular and powerful member of the Justice League and long since deserving of his own movie. There are a few jokes tossed at the king of the sea’s expense, but for the most part it’s a typical origin story with a very similar tone and feel to War, with a few of the same voice cast returning along with some new and familiar voices like Rosario Dawson who got upgraded from Artemis in the Wonder Woman movie to Wonder Woman herself, and Nathan Fillion returning to voice Green Lantern. I thought it was a decent sequel to War, but if there’s one aspect of superhero movies I have had my fill of, it’s origin stories and this didn’t really do anything different or interesting to set it apart from any of the dozens of other origin stories I’ve seen already.
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Squid Man
Squid Man 2014
Finally, my quest to watch all of the films released in 2014 (that I know of) is finished with Squid Man. Even though it is yet another one of those questionable release dates. It was completed in 2012, ran the festival circuit for a couple years, and was released online early this year. It’s a low budget comedy/drama about the life of a third rate superhero down on his luck. Even though most of the comedy in the film is low-key and situational, the characters are quite fascinating and relatable with just enough fantasy thrown in to remind you that you are watching a superhero movie in a world full of superheroes. There’s a few special effects, a couple fights, but it’s mostly just the life of Squid Man when he’s not out fighting crime. And at the start of the film, he’s not doing much of anything besides drinking at the bar with his friend.
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 