Blood for Dracula

I have always been fond of vampire films. One of the most unconventional vampire films of cinema history is Paul Morrissey’s Blood For Dracula. The film is also known as Andy Warhol’s Dracula despite the fact that Warhol had nothing to do with the film artistically (like most of his ventures). Unlike Paul Morrissey’s under appreciated “flesh trilogy” Blood for Dracula seems to have an actual budget and even set design. Like Morrissey’s “flesh trilogy,” Blood for Dracula is essentially an auteur piece. God bless Paul Morrissey for making two brilliant “horror comedies” in the culturally rich country of Italy.

Blood for Dracula opens with Dracula (played by a young Udo Kier) putting on some ridiculously gothic makeup. Dracula even decides that he needs to put black paint in his hair so that all those that seem him know that he is a tragic figure. After all, Dracula is a member of the archaic and dying European aristocracy. He tells people that he is “the last of his kind” while speaking in a depressing yet accepting tone. Dracula can’t even find a virgin girl for blood in the newly degenerate Italy.

The rival of Dracula is a young peasant and handyman named Mario played by the infamous Joe Dallesandro. Mario is a self proclaimed Marxist idealist who has plans of destroying both the aristocracy and petty Bourgeoisie. Mario feels that he shouldn’t have to work so that others don’t have to. Mario is firmly against the natural order of class distinction. After screwing a sluttish Bourgeoisie girl, he rants about revolution. Mario even has an “iron & sickle” hanging over his bed. Marxism has become Mario’s reasoning so that he can rape and pillage those that have more than him. Somehow this peasant learned how to read and Karl Marx has showed Mario the light. When he encounters the decaying aristocrat Dracula, contempt fills Mario’s spiteful heart. The written lies of Karl Marx has convinced Mario that he is “owed” something. This sort of mentality resulted in around 65 million people dead in the Soviet Union alone.

With Blood for Dracula, Paul Morrissey portrays the death of Europe and western civilization via classic horror story. The half civilized worker (or as Marxist’s say “proletarian”) has become the liberator of humanity. The weakening aristocracy is finally exterminated by the angry little “worker.” Out of all the anticommunist filmmakers, Paul Morrissey executes his message best. What other director could perfectly execute a satire of Marxist revolutionary mass murdering mindset? Paul Morrissey, always a minimalist, put more thought into his films than money.

Dracula suffers from the poisoning of “bad blood” various times throughout Blood for Dracula. The assumed “virgin” girls in the film have already been defiled by a worker. I doubt I will ever see a man vomit blood with such expertise and elegance as Udo Kier in Blood for Dracula. In film, Joe Dallesandro also probably gives his greatest cinematic performance. Holocaust survivor and child molester Roman Polanski also makes an appearance in Blood for Dracula as a swindling peasant. How good can a film get? Blood for Dracula is mandatory viewing for serious fans of Sinema.

-Ty E

My Name is Bruce

Bruce Campbell is loved by everyone except few. I am proud to be one of the few horror fans to despise his cameos and recycled cocky attitude, and yes, I accept hate mail. He's transversed many fields including acting in motion pictures, acting in syndicated television programs, to becoming an author making flashy quips about being in love with Richard Gere while throwing out cute jokes about being a "B actor". As much as Brucie would like to be a "B actor", his filmography and income is far too steep for such a trashy title.


Much like Kevin Smith films, My Name is Bruce opens with two counter-cultured teenagers discussing pop culture and cinema jests. Such horrible lines as "I loved Bubba Ho-Tep!" are scattered around the scripts. While the omniscient ideology of Bruce Campbell's career is fully appreciated, if I ever hear the phrase "Cave Aliens" again, I will crash my car into an elementary school. Bubba Ho-Tep was perhaps one of the worst projects in Campbell's career. Not for the acting or production values, but for how mind-numbingly boring the film was. It took me months to finish it.


Incredibly similar to Bubba Ho-Tep before it, a monster is unleashed in a shockingly similar style to that of Bubba Ho-Tep, except this Chinese god of war is explained in a country drab complete with guitars and southern yodeling. As the film progressed further, I found myself enjoying the film for what it was. Back when this film was but a mere rumor, I thought that Bruce Campbell would have found himself at arms with a deadite. I prefer the idea of the esteemed Mr. Campbell fighting the one thing that brought upon this fame. Lets face it. The only good things Bruce Campbell starred in are far from outweighing the horrible.


Bruce Campbell proves himself to be competent enough to capitalize off of his own image by making a parody of himself. Why not? As far as the reality would allow, this film is all complete bullshit. I had expected an accurate portrayal of Campbell's life shattered by the idea of a real evil, not some pseudo-biopic displaying Bruce lapping up vodka from a dog dish and courting transsexual singing prostitutes. The good news? I enjoyed My Name is Bruce thoroughly and it proved to be an enjoyable horror/comedy experience. The bad news? I still dislike Bruce Campbell's artificial persona.

-mAQ

Cloak & Dagger

*Spoilers in 5th paragraph*

Cut to a winter night in a foreign land. The key irresponsible Russian guard wanders off into the parking lot. Being a sentry is never a forgivable role for a counter-terrorist. In the frosty sky, we see a patriotic parachute deploy. This marks the arrival of a modern mustachioed warrior who stops at nothing other than to tackle the poor guard out of the sky. All this, then crippling a young lady. Meet the man known as Jack Flack; a super agent, womanizer, and professional alpha male.

Cloak & Dagger was a must for me to purchase. Not for the classic game nostalgia but thanks to the reality of it being apart of a double feature package - the counterpart being the obligatory Fred Savage/Nintendo vessel known as The Wizard. I can't help myself. I love The Wizard. It's so bad! (End The Wizard reference). While Cloak & Dagger is a swell thriller guised as a compatible family film, something sinister lurks behind the prissy rating. Something dark and recessive. What lies beneath is a level of psychological dementia with a child playing the part of a victim. Cloak & Dagger never really was a game to begin with.


Little Davey has an imaginary spy friend who's a character in his favorite role-playing game. Davey is a seeker of thrills and has an active imagination. Throughout the course of the film, you'll be thinking to yourself words like "normal" and "acceptable". Thanks to the generation of parents turning to Ritalin for their children who never met expectations, Cloak & Dagger is an attack on the malleability of a child's mind. This film is a piece of propaganda telling you that your kid is in fact, screwed beyond repair and that the mind taking control is something that is forced by parental shunning and trauma.

Director Richard Franklin isn't a sheltered fan of Hitchcock. Inspired by the master of suspense's work, Franklin helmed the needless sequel to Psycho - Psycho II. In fact, the old couple had starring roles in the original psycho including John McIntire who played Al Chambers and Jeanette Nolan who did the voice for Norma Bates. As this film being a suspense film directed towards the younger audience, I'd say that Franklin did a marvelous job at slowly shining light to the terrific terror one can feel thanks to the wonders of cinema. Individualism is cast out for the revered Atari boom. Consider this Hitchcock's ode to technology and the death to the scholarly child.



As for the multi-angled ending, one might misconstrue the endings true intention. I don't favor the idea of singling out an idea and solidifying it to be the definitive vision of said artist, but with Cloak & Dagger, it's a must. The ending summarizes with Jack Flack dying, leaving the boy with a fresh mind only to have his father seemingly die in an exploding airplane. What becomes of this is a silhouette of Jack Flack's figure changing into that of his dad. One could easily accept the PG roots and deem his father an impossibly lucky bastard but the idea of him swapping heroes at the last second and becoming a woeful orphan fits the equation so much easier. Either way, Davey will never be the same again.


Whether you notice Jack Flack attempting to coerce young Davey into slaughtering people cause it's "all apart of the game" or the undeniable rip off that is Home Alone 3, Cloak & Dagger has aged extremely well. I dearly miss able child stars. I'd trade Henry Thomas over Freddie Highmore any given dawn. Cloak & Dagger is sadistic in nature and a delicious piece of Atari product placement. While Nintendo was busy fronting the "Radical!" 80s rebel attitude, Atari was catering to the bespectacled geek era. Who knew interactive technology could inspire cultures and fashions.

-mAQ

Hollywoodland

The stories behind the real-life movers and shakers of Hollywood have always been more interesting than the actual films. Let’s face it, Hollywood has never made a lie of the fact that it is first and foremost a business. The seedy place has always attracted the most degenerate and desperate of individuals. Prostitutes, murderers, the mafia, white collar criminals, drug fiends, homosexuals, lesbians, war profiteers, communists and a whole large cast of other social parasites. Kenneth Anger’s wonderful book Hollywood Babylon I and II goes into depth on a variety of things. Hollywoodland is one of the few films to come out of Hollywood that reflects on the dark past of the ghostly streets of Sunset Boulevard.

Hollywoodland is a “biopic” of sorts attempting to examine the mysterious death of TV Superman George Reeves. The silly and embarrassingly bad actor Ben Affleck stars as the slightly out of shape Mr. Reeves. I must say that the casting of Affleck as Reeves was indeed appropriate. Like Affleck, George Reeves seemed to be an actor that took himself far too seriously as acting goes. Affleck probably finds his biggest fan base in Kevin Smith fans whereas Reeves found his fan base with little boys. Both men seem to attract males that have a hard time finding members of the opposite sex.

An arrogant and wannabe tough guy Adrien Brody stars in Hollywoodland as Louis Simo, a somewhat of a loser private detective. I wouldn’t be surprised if Simo was a relative of sleazebag gossip columnist Walter Winchall. Simo really has nothing going for him in life but he is determined to prove that George Reeves did not commit suicide. Simo’s “brave” style of personal investigating is a result of his nothing to live for mentality. Also, Simo unsurprisingly has a soft spot for paper money. Other than receiving a few bucks here and there, Simo’s life sucks. His young son doesn’t want much to do with him and he always seems to get his ass kicked.

Hollywoodland’s strength lie in it’s unpleasant story of an over glamorized place. Many children and even adults dream of going to Hollywood where all the great American stars once stood. But when one takes a look at what Hollywood was built on and the tragedies surrounding it(such as the death of George Reeves), Hollywood loses its magic. When an ugly troll of a criminal states “he makes movies” near Hollywoodland’s conclusion, one gets a bitter feeling in their stomach. How could such an ugly man control what played on American silver screens?

I have never thought of Ben Affleck as the "cool" guy he pretends to be in movies. Like the late George Reeves, Affleck must know of his limitations as a so called “talent.” Despite Reeves’s story being told through a series of flashbacks, his character sticks out. He was a man that wanted to be much bigger than he could have ever dreamed of. It would have been no surprise if he really killed himself but many still reject this. Whether he killed himself or not, George Reeves most likely had a death wish. Hollywoodland makes it clear that he did not have much more to live for. Although a sometimes banal film, Hollywoodland at least offers the viewer something to think about.

-Ty E

Evil

Evil (To Kako) is a rare breed of horror - Greek horror. Greece hasn't seen a decent horror film since Island of Death (To my knowledge). Evil takes the very overdone (and ignorant) story of a group of survivors trapped in a zombie apocalypse (Cue the mc chris fans). What allows this film to shine aloud, more so than the fluff, is the violence, incredible characters, and effective DIY camera work including skilled editing. Think of that horrible, horrible film Automaton Transfusion, except entertaining and ambitious.


The characters are obviously the blissful creation of a hivemind AKA Yorgos Noussias. With character progression being "the geographic gradation of expression of specific characters over the range of distribution of a race or species", it's easy to notice the careful steps taken to slide in humor, tragedy, and restlessness within each scenario as seen by a specific survivor. Lovable and enticing characters each with a horrific demise, if fate should see it that way.

I once saw this film in a fantastic media shop in Philadelphia christened Long in the Tooth. I was perusing through the volumes of obscure films and I found 3 titles of interest and they were Strange Circus, The Coffin Joe trilogy, and a zombie film called Evil. Two of these were from the divine Danger After Dark collection but I wasn't chancing a blind buy, after all, Sion Sono is a name I can trust. I don't regret not purchasing it then due to the extremities and polar shifts that Coffin Joe and Strange Circus performed on me, but I always adored the DVD illustration by a Mr. Michael Bukowski. Eye-popping, colorful, and savage.


What Yorgos Noussias has distilled upon the horror market isn't a vain attempt to "recreate" another mythos that doesn't need altering. The official job of zombie recreation lied in the hands of Lucio Fulci, who has been as much of a gentleman to lay down instant classics for our starving retinas. The "zombie infection" isn't at all anything zombie like. In the opening scene, An eerie outbreak occurs from a spirit (That heavily reminds me of Ghosts of Mars) that possesses those who unleashed it.


Evil carries the foreign torch for the sub-par zombie branch of horror. This isn't the greatest accomplishment but it is an accomplishment and that is more than I could ask for. It has also been revealed that a sequel is in the works starring none other than - Wait for it - Billy Zane. After seeing Zane's underrated film The Mad, it would be a fatal understatement to not exclaim my gratitude. Evil is merciless with a shock ending that raises questions concerning the directors work on a low budget piece. I'm currently listening to Work/Death and I must say that this droning static fits the ideas of this film incredibly well. Evil comes highly recommended.

-mAQ

Dangerous Worry Dolls

I should have known from the title that this film wouldn't make any sense. Self-proclaimed tiny terrors have maybe a single minute collected screen time. Dangerous Worry Dolls is every bit a tribute and addition to horror as Incredibly Risky Situation 2: This Time It's Personal! Seeing as how this title randomly stemmed from the root of my mind and should be taken as a jest, the same should be said for Dangerous Worry Dolls. Calling this film out-of-touch would be a gracious compliment towards Charles Band's directing approach.


Dangerous Worry Dolls begins with a quick edited collage of mulatto women scrapping a drug dispute. From then, the film just progressively gets worst. The prison aspect slightly inflates into a sweltering side story of a transsexual sex tape rape ring bewildered by a soon-to-be counter-raped by possessed angry woman with a strap-on. So the basic cover of this film is the obnoxious PG feminist W.I.P. (Women in Prison) flick of a despicable nature, only differing due to a pitied love interest.


Full Moon used to be a brand you can trust. Over the years, this once respectable low budget horror company has slowly begun to deteriorate. The emblazoned logo was a solid guarantee for moderate acting, moderate production, but at the same time, a generically enjoyable horror film. Charles Band is a simple man of blind faith. A fossil without a fresh vision or idea. The only outsource for creativity is creating new sculptures and art prints for successful films he created decades ago. Although Troma uses Toxie as a mascot, to this day Troma still produces quality films.


In my personal opinion, I vote that Charles Band steps down as acting director and steps aside for Silvia St. Croix, who directed the hilarious sequel to The Gingerdead Man. The legacy of Full Moon is nearly all but diminished thanks to films like Dead Man's Hand and Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys. For a better Full Moon title, check out the aptly titled Prison starring a young Viggo Mortensen. Dangerous Worry Dolls is absolutely B-grade filth. There's no meaning to the occurrences and Band could care less. Don't bother.

-mAQ

Save the Green Planet!

I once attempted to review this film 2 years ago. With the subject matter at hand, I found it nearly impossible to articulate my thoughts of the emotional constant of Save the Green Planet! I set out to hopefully aid you in a quest of enlightenment. Save the Green Planet! is one of my personal favorite films. It also ushered in an era of Korean viewings which have also created a new brand of favoritism, striking almost any Korean film with a whirlwind force of appreciation.


Directors love to attempt to layer their creations with many blends of feelings and sequences furthering the intellectual and artistic capabilities of the cumulative emotions nearing the climax of the film. Judd Apatow created a new generation of raunch romantic comedies that appease both smarmy female crowds and the stoner group simultaneously. Such an invention can surely be used to better accord than making dick & fart jokes on a date with Meg Ryan or such.


Joon-Hwan Jang penned the script for Save the Green Planet! during his own psychotic stint. I find that directors who serve as a personal scribe to immerse the audience deeper into their vision. This is not only a guideline but a fact. Just as Sion Sono proved with both Suicide Club and Strange Circus, these Asian writers write material that is deranged genius. Perhaps even otherworldly. It's hard to really express the sheer amount of emotional changes you will come through while watching this for the first time. For the first time, I can honestly say I laughed, I cried, and I cringed, without it being an inane quote or word-of-mouth generic reviewing.


A crazed conspiracy theorist kidnaps the chairman of a chemical company with this deep notion that he is in fact an alien for Andromeda. He will stop at nothing to save Earth, this even includes aggressive torture sessions and many mind-melding situations culminating in the eventual deterioration of all things cerebral. Oh yeah, there's also a really adorable dog. All this plus many genre covers of Judy Garland's Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I don't know how it was managed, but I believe that Joon-Hwan Jang has himself the perfect and definitive score. The slow drone of the string section towards the tragedy scene leaves my soul shaking.


It's easy to tell that Joon-Hwan Jang was heavily inspired by the Hollywood serial thrillers as Misery and Silence of the Lambs. The eventual progression of the films events blows this film way past expectation - bordering on the insane and cosmically creative. With an ending that needs to be seen to believe, It's possible to say that this is in my top 10 list. Each character has a story and just like any good film should stress, this one will keep you guessing. Plus you never really know who the antagonist is. Save the Green Planet! is a curio indeed. A film concerning a likely savior of earth while this film being the likely savior of cinema. Touché, Joon-Hwan Jang... touché.

-mAQ

Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom

Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom was Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last work before his murder by a male prostitute. The circumstances surrounding Pasolini’s death are dubious and make one wonder if Salò had anything to do with artistic genius’s disappearance from the world forever. The film is based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade. Pasolini adapted the novel for the fascist period in Europe during the 1940s. Through explicit and almost unbearable imagery, Pasolini gets his point across about the degradation of the human body by the fascist state.

The title Salò is taken after the fascist state that Pasolini’s brother Guido was killed at in an ambush during the second World War. The significance of the title alone makes one wonder if Pasolini ever got over the death of his brother. I also believe that it would be fair to say that Pasolini believed fascism to be the main culprit in his brother’s death. Salò is a film that presents human beings as merely objects for manipulation and torture for by the fascist state. Like those young individuals featured in Salò, Pasolini must have felt his own brother was worthlessly sacrificed for the fascist state.

A theme prevalent throughout Salò is the destruction of the family so that the state can take ownership over the individual. One girl in the film cries for her own death as she prefers the conclusion of her life over being deflowered by fascists. Her mother was killed trying to save her and she no longer wants to go on living. A fascist leader merely laughs at her and tells her that her suffering only makes him happier. The United States government has also done a great job destroying the American family. Shabbos Goy puppet and president Barack Obama intends to further the dissolution of the American family with his new “Zero to Five” big brother plan. The point of this plan is to indoctrinate child at birth with lies about “tolerance” and “altruism” so that they don’t have to wait till kindergarten. After all, the gate keepers don’t want children learning about individualism or respect for self. That would be against international banking and neo-Bolshevik interests.

The young people that are raped and tortured in Salò are objects of the state and can do nothing about it. The fascist leaders are obsessed with “deflowering” their young victims as they want to officially taint them. What good are slaves if they haven’t had their morale broken first? The fascist leaders do what they do because they desire power. They desire power due to their inability for sexual release as demonstrated by their many acts of perversity. Whatever sexual act they engage in, they are never fulfilled. This forces the leaders to get more deranged with sexual desire until their victims are left dead.

Rumor has it that Adolf Hitler enjoyed being peed on by his young niece Geli Raubal. Whether this is true or not is questionable, but one of the fascist leaders featured in Salò surely enjoys it. Also the fascist leaders featured in the film take upon themselves to dress in drag before they have a gourmet buffet of shit. It is arguable that Nazi leader Hermann Göring was a transvestite. Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels made no lie about his annoyance by Göring’s effeminate behavior in is his 1945 diaries. Pier Paolo Pasolini makes it clear that the archetypical fascist was not someone that was into traditional sexual activities.

Of course, being a homosexual, Pier Paolo Pasolini was also not into ordinary sex. One fascist leader in Salò states, “The act of the sodomite signifies the death of the human species.” Pasolini was not a man that hid his thoughts in matters even if they conflicted with who he was. The sodomite fascist leaders make it clear in Salò that they will defile and destroy all beautiful human beings. Incapable of reproducing, they do the opposite and destroy. Another sinister looking fascist that goes by the title “the president” states, “when one prefers men, it is difficult to change one’s perspective. The difference between a boy and a girl is enormous. We cannot consider one that is obviously inferior.” Hence, the idea of the aesthetically pleasing Aryan superman.

All victims featured in Salò also become conspirators amongst one another in the fascist state. Out of fear and desperation, each individual caught committing a “crime” against the state confesses another victim’s crime. After a girl is found with a photograph of a boy by a fascist leader she cowardly tells on two girls that engage in lesbianism. The two lesbian girls tell on a fascist guard who practices miscegenation with a Negro servant girl. Like many loyal fascists, the race defiler salutes his murderers to the very end. The fascist state has completely destroyed all forms of individualism.

Although the Bolsheviks (and their international proteges) were clearly responsible for more suffering than any group in human history, the fascist world of Salò metaphorically champions the sadistic Marxist world. Pier Paolo Pasolini, an Italian communist, never made any lie when criticizing Marxism so naturally fascism was an easy target for the late director. Salò is a work so graphic and morally depraved that it encourages the viewer to be completely demoralized by it’s conclusion. None of the sex featured in Salò is erotic nor are any of the deaths “cool.” Salò ends with the fascist leaders watching torture via binoculars inside a comfy mansion room. This scene emphasizes the sick voyeurism the viewer engages in safely through their private television set. The viewers have disassociated themselves from the horrors of the film just as many fascist (and allies) leaders did during the second World War.

-Ty E

Taken

Bare with me here. Taken (2009) is an action/revenge film in such vain of neo-classics as Death Sentence, but this time it stars Liam Neeson who plays a fluidly flat character who still manages to be creative with the kills and action. The plot essentially follows the barren yet populated philosophy that women are stupid and get themselves in heaps of trouble. Such is the plot and motivator for Taken. Liam Neeson's daughter is kidnapped by dirty Albanians into trafficking. This film was taken from a September release to a January date. Such is the woes of Hollywood. Judging from the visceral and bodily damage, one could guess that the screenwriter is Luc Besson.


Such an exciting action film can only be directed by Pierre Morel, the director of politico-parkour film District B13. The same bloodless physical violence hits France yet again, this time with more nut shots and broken limbs than before. The dirty, filthy Albanian people have been cinematically mongrelized into greedy sexual dictators working in unison towards a better and more sexual France. Yet again, a film has exaggerated Eastern horrors worse than others (mainly for drug induced sexual extremes and female slavery), this time playing on the fact that Albania was known for its relentless violence during its prehistory.

Liam Neeson's role in the film can feel as if he is re-enacting one of the eccentric quirky characters from Steve Martin's Pink Panther, though I must admit I haven't been quite generous in giving the film the credit it deserves. His daughter, acted by Maggie Grace (of bitch Lost fame) accidentally (whoops!) winds up in an esteemed trafficking environment where she ends up getting doped on narcotics and sold to ethnic bankers. A true misogynist work of immeasurable genius. Taken makes sure you cannot find any other excuse but to blame the naive and slutty friend couplet that winds up in this situation from, surprise, being slutty.


Taken has not taken much space up on Soiled Sinema. The film is short, sweet, and infinitely piquant as a whole. It retains some emotional leverage against the misanthropist (especially misogynist) in you. The acting can be a sufferable sacrifice for Eastern European horror served at a high velocity. You like action? Liam Neeson breaks some miserable Frenchman's nose every 10 minutes. You ratio that up and it equals a film not as good as the revenge encore Death Sentence, but still pretty damn good. Now if only Dick Masterson played the inexorable ex-CIA lead.

Other women that fuck shit up.

-mAQ

Rumble Fish

Rumble Fish was Francis Ford Coppola’s big attempt at being artsy fartsy. The film was shot in black-and-white and has a spacey feeling which Coppola intentionally employed. With Rumble Fish, Coppola even dabbles in surrealism, dream sequences, and “heavenly” camera angles. From beginning to end, Rumble Fish feels as if you’re floating in and out of the film. Although flawed, Rumble Fish is one of Coppola’s greatest artistic achievements.

Matt Dillon stars in Rumble Fish as a young gang leader named Rusty James who can’t live up to his legendary brother’s reputation. Rusty James is a male bimbo that just can’t help but incriminate himself as an incompetent moron and impulsive fuck up. His brother, The Motorcycle Boy (played by a calm and collected Mickey Rourke) demands respect merely by making his presence known. Rusty James claims that he will one day be like Motorcycle Boy but fails to even come close to understanding his own brother in even the most general way. At best, Rusty James can only admire his brother and he knows this.


Rumble Fish follows in the footsteps of East of Eden, another film that takes a look at two brothers that don’t seem to share any of the same blood. But unlike East of Eden, both brothers featured in Rumble Fish are involved in crimes as for them it is the norm. This is not strange as years pass in the United States crime and gangs become more glamorous as result of America‘s leaders being subversive culture distorter's. The pairs of brothers in East of Eden and Rumble Fish also share something very importantly in common in that their mother has abandoned their family. Also in both films, each brother responded to this maternal disappearance in a completely different way thus resulting in opposing personalities. Rumble Fish is a fine update of “different brothers of the same mother (and broken father).”

Rumble Fish suffers from an annoying soundtrack of goofy sound effects that get in the way of the film’s important dialogue. The Police drummer Stewart Copeland had a new invention at that time called a “Musync” which never should have been invented. Thankfully, this little contraption hasn’t been utilized in films often. The unfortunate problem with “experiments” is they often result in unexpected failure. Stewart Copeland failed.


Rumble Fish features a variety of new (for that time) and old actors. One of my favorite performances, although limited in scenes, is by the legendary Dennis Hopper. Hopper plays the drunken and mentally unstable father of the brothers featured in Rumble Fish. Father Hopper realizes the great tragic quality that is Motorcycle Boy as he takes after his mother. Rusty James seems to take after no one and Daddy knows this. Rusty James is the black sheep of the family that only wants to fit in. His brother and father know it’s a lost cause. Rumble Fish is one of the more complex Hollywood “family affairs” that deserves viewing.

-Ty E

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

The Wayans brother/brothers have created another parody classic in the guise of a blaxploitation spoof. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is essentially a post-blaxploitation flick. But not in such familiar territory that Master P. once tried to dominate with his horrible film aptly titled Black Supaman. Exhibit A: Notice the Supaman. Surely these ebonic syllables must be a dramatic representation of the urban roots. With the words "Git" and "Sucka", The Wayans Brothers have already snagged half of the black population in as a potential audiences.

To first dissect the blaxploitation genre is your first step. One must realize that blaxploitation is a mongrelized stab at film noir aimed towards the Negro kind. If some sort of dramatized action/female empowerment attempt were to be made cinematically to lure in the young black kids, it would be an exercised notion to expunge all the nihilistic attitude in the black actors. The same femme-fatale with guns shtick still stands, but prostitution and black widowing are on two sides of the female spectrum. Blaxploitation manages to parody not only the film noir genre, but also its own niche. It's purely race entertainment. One might even become "more white" while watching these films. Same to say as most of Wu-Tang Clan's demographic has suddenly turned paler.


The Wayans Brothers successfully make a mockery of black entertainment in this endeavor. This is definitely a film which humor requires preemptive training. Shaft, Superfly, and Black Caesar are but a few of the films ruthlessly spoofed in this prequel of sorts to Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. After all is said and done, what is created is a successful comedy but lacking a gross appreciation for the genre itself. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka can be seen as a hateful film.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka can be dubbed a racial Rorschach. Depending on which precise films you've seen or examined, each joke can be seen in an incredibly different insight. Your expectations are still practically mince meat for the horde of slapstick jokes that line up one after another. When I first heard of this film, I couldn't believe my eyes. What I expected was a classic and smooth action film, but as soon as I say the Wayans name, I knew some sacred things were soon to be crushed. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka is a fresh comedy but to some it might be stale. Please take the time to also notice a toned down Truck character from Isaac Hayes.

-mAQ

The One Year Anniversary Message from the SS

American media, especially electronic media, has always been a forbidden place for those with a different worldview. If you never liked Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, or MTV, you are immediately seen as suspect by the gate keepers of thought control. Modern universities have become psychological gulags where even the most slight differing of opinions is seen as criminal. Those that preach tolerance are always the least tolerant. However, technology has always had a way of doing things that it’s maker never intended to. Stanley Kubrick knew it when he directed 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The internet is a form of media that has presented a problem for those who seek to mold minds into cattle lines. Individuals on both sides of our so called “two party system” are already calling for censorship. The H.R. 1955 Violent Radicalization & Homegrown “Terrorism” Prevention Act of 2007 is on it’s way to silence the voices of those individuals that actually value their “right of free speech.” But why censor voices when there is nothing to hide? The recently deceased author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quickly realized the dangers of being vocal in a place that values serfdom as his masterpiece The Gulag Archipelago demonstrates.

At Soiled Sinema, we value freedom of speech and research. We also value the challenging of contemporary norms, mores, and history. Soiled Sinema is a blog dedicated to those cinema fans that aren’t afraid to look at modern film and film history critically. Soiled Sinema is also a place that attempts to note films that are taboo, under appreciated, over appreciated, or have never seen the light of day. We only ask that the serious and sometimes not so serious fan of cinema at least seriously consider what we have to say. With our blog, the writers of Soiled Sinema have taken risks to deliver forbidden knowledge, subversive speculation, critical analysis, and taboo art.

Soiled Sinema has just passed it's first year of existence. We regret nothing that we have written, nor will we ever. Soiled Sinema is here to stay and only plans to grow. Italian poet, intellectual, film director and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini was a man that truly did what he felt. He may have died for his masterpiece Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom, but he never cowered to accepted public opinion. Neither did Jean Cocteau, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, or even Lucio Fulci(at least from what I know). Out of respect to our favorite filmmakers, we at Soiled Sinema will continue to write our personal honest opinions and research on the art of cinema. After one year of existence, we owe our fans(and haters) a big THANK YOU!


Sincerely,
Ty E and mAQ

Mago

Much like how I'd like to open this review up to a blitzing world view on violence in the media, Mago greets you with the same sentiment although infinitely more visceral. Enter a dark street road. The camera slowly pans down until you hear a cacophony of chirps and ribbits. You see thousands of frogs littering the road in a very condensed formation. Human feet begin slowly approaching. Had you heard about the descriptive notoriety and flak this film has been hit with, you can predict what happens next.


Feet begin stepping through and on our amphibian friends resulting in a sickening squishing sound. Next come the bicycles, then to the cars, then to the tank treads. The evolution of technology directly attributes to the increasing danger of the possibility of an environmental genocide. You will watch in shock & awe as frogs are slaughtered for the sake of "art" and a "message" to society. The same hypocritical effect could be done if Al Gore decided to slash a polar bears throat and claim Global Warming was the villain. Thankfully, they saved the worst for first so for the faint of heart, tread carefully.


Mago is the title of the film and the elusive goddess hinted at towards the incoherent plot, but is also based upon a character in many Oriental religions, mainly Taoism. The film takes the creationist theory and adds a feminine and more divine touch to it, embodying all aspects of Gaia into 12 female spirits, who tend to become suicidal she-bitches after we humans are done with their forsaken planet. You will watch muddy Korean women sobbing in a wasteland of pollution holding dying birds to her bosom. It's quite a depressive feat seeing as how the "Water Spirit" eventually dies in the very pollution that kills her brethren.

The average chauvinist might take immediate disgust to this film upon baring some of the fleshed mythos of Mago. Instead of the "weaker female" succumbing to the heart of temptation, the male is the one who steals the forbidden red grapes. As a resulting action, all the males turn primal, raping, killing, beating, and screaming to their hearts consent. Mago fits the religious context of the bible as much as it would had Ann Coulter authored the Old Testament stuffed with Betty Crocker recipes and endless Sally Fields re-runs.

Mago presents human realization synchronizing with the heartbeat of nature fluidly at best. The film is a message to all technology enthusiasts. I can imagine the director filming this stock on certified recycled 35mm film stock. "Give up your primitive bodies and disperse your soul into information." is the basic message of one of the more esteemed chapters showing a bald unnamed Korean male drowning in the static screen of his computer monitor. After seeing stock footage of bombs going off, this film is certainly made with post-Hiroshima in mind. The environmental apocalypse is nigh!


What novelties make Mago a bit too much to swallow? Perhaps it's the wacky J-Pop musical cues that use death as choreography that blister on the scenes. Listening to the Korean equivalent to Kylie Minogue during a scene of pigs getting brutally massacred is not on my list of to-do's. One such reviewer went as far as to call Mago a "low budget art film", then began claiming how this "Art film" totally sucks because the film doesn't have a Hollywood look to it. I began to become intrigued with critical reception to Mago. Much to my dismay, I found that everyone claims that Mago is a film that had no impact whatsoever on them. It's safe to say that they perhaps had nightmares from this film. I'd personally rather a low budget art production made with callow soul and furious sexuality as opposed to huge budget Hollywood "quirkfests". I'm looking at you Wes Anderson and Diablo Cody.

Mago might have broken a record with the staggering amount of nude actors/actresses appearing in the film. The total tally rounds up to about 825 people appearing fabric-less in this huge Korean production. This truly is "an allegorical poem of environmental destruction." The word "pretentious" is whored and handed out constantly. Before I get a chance to appreciate wonderful visual poetry, from left field comes the inability to fully understand ones personal work. Know that Mago has more deep-seated meaning and philosophy than such over-heralded films such as Begotten.

The rebirth of the female sexuality has never been as stunningly filmed as demonstrated here. The sacrifice of thousands of wildlife souls is done in vain. While the conveyed message is brutal and nerve-wracking, the animal cruelty is needless. They might as well have directed a sequel to Godzilla vs. Hedorah. I'm sure that charts & graphs wouldn't have the same effect, but I cannot stop suffering for those poor frog creatures in the opening scene. Mago is definitely recommended for people of tolerance, but comes with fore-warning.

-mAQ