最后的科学怪人
This 1992 Japanese film tells the story of a scientist who sets out to create the new "super Adam and Eve", humans who cannot be controlled by their emotions. Of course, the end result it not exactly what the good doctor expects.   comments from imdb:   This modern tale of an attempt to build a creature is one of the best "horror" films ever made, even if its not a horror film but something else entirely. Certainly its on my short list of all time great films.   This film was introduced to me by someone who told me "I have this film that probably one of the best films you'll ever see. It will move you and touch you and make you think, but if I told you what it is and told you how its done you will think its the stupidest thing on the face of it and you won't watch it." Intrigued I asked what did he mean, and he said, "Well its a Frankenstein story, with a very goofy sort of edge, but which uses it to its advantage." My ears perked up, and I being a trusting soul took the tape and watched it. I was blown away.   The plot concerns a mad scientist attempting to make a new Adam and Eve in the wake of a suicidal plague that is ravaging the world. Locked up in his lab his experiments go differently then either he or we expect. Some of it is silly (The bolts in the neck, the wrestling moves...), all of it is touching and thought provoking.   I can not recommend this movie enough. If you are willing to take the film on its terms and allow it to tell its story then I urge you to seek this film out and see it. This is an undiscovered gem that will stay with you forever.   15 out of 10 and then some. 10/10   Also known as "The Last Frankenstein", this is an extraordinary, impeccably produced horror film. Director Takeshi Kawamura uses Mary Shelley's novel as a mere launching pad for an exploration of subjects as diverse and fascinating as the nature of love, desire, suicide, mass hypnosis, sex, alienation and jealousy.   And though the film is dense with subtext, it is also stunningly photographed and rich in atmosphere and detail. The performances are all amazing and Kawamura's sensitive handling of the strange, delicate relationships between the characters results in an emotionally charged, angst-ridden tragedy.   The scenes of the confused, troubled monster hurtling through a fog-shrouded forest at night are memorable and striking, as is a brilliant home movie-style montage of the film's more curious characters enjoying a precious afternoon at the beach. Kawamura creates resonating visual poetry of horror and sadness barely sighted since Todd Browning's classic "Freaks".   Intelligent, emotional, tragic and real, this is an absolute gem. 9/10
金刚大战哥斯拉
哥斯拉突然從北極的冰中出現!哥斯拉擊沉核潛艇海洋號,更破壞北極的軍事基地後開始南下。同樣的時候,在太平洋製藥宣傳部,那公司為提高節目的收看率打算使用發俄島上的魔神,櫻井和古江的兩名宣傳人員便去了發俄島。他們發現島上出現的魔神就是金剛。於是把他弄暈帶到日本,不久在運送金剛的船遭日本政府攔截,但那時金剛突然從麻醉中甦醒,在運輸船上跑出來,游向日本,而且更在那須高原初次與哥斯拉對決。第1回合以哥斯拉的放射火焰取得勝利,金剛被打敗嗎?   同時自衛隊正進行「火焰攻擊大作戰」,把汽油倒入河中然後燃點著火,哥斯拉竟然沒有直接渡過河流。不過哥斯拉在高壓電流前竟不能突破,還被嚇走了。   另一方面,逃走了的金剛面對阻擋哥斯拉的電塔竟輕易被他突破,而且在發瘋地吃著美味的電流,金剛終於到達市中心,更捉了櫻井的妹妹作為人質登上國會會議廳,自衛隊便利用法羅島體細胞莓汁展開「美味果汁迷迷糊糊大作戰」莓汁從天而降,在空中爆炸灑落在金剛身上,令金剛暈倒了。   自衛隊防止金剛破壞城市,又展開「氣球輸送大作戰」,大氣球綁在金剛身上,帶著牠往富士地區,被運送到富士高原的金剛,與哥斯拉再次決鬥,哥斯拉再把金剛打倒,更放出放射火焰令森林著火。幸好有股雷暴經過,閃電擊中金剛,電流被吸進金剛身體中,令他醒來,變成超級撒亞人般。   金剛再戰哥斯拉,金剛使出雷擊拳,雙手找著哥斯拉的尾巴,然後三百六十度一轉把哥斯拉拋到另一處再戰,把熱海城徹底破壞,最後2頭怪獸更滾下山跌入海中。不久在海上只看到金剛的身影,哥斯拉被打敗了。   其實東寶為了不想得罪美國,在故事中,哥斯拉是被打敗,但為鞏固哥斯拉在日本   怪獸王的地位,卻在官網寫成平手!哥斯拉和金剛共戰3場,富士山1敗,電塔1勝,熱海城1勝。
等待方舟
Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.  Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory  n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.  What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.  On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.  One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.  Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.
*
*