I don’t know why I never got around to seeing the THE CROW sequel from the director of SIX-STRING SAMURAI. Always was curious. Still took me 19 years. Lance Mungia’s THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER, just like the previous one, was meant for theaters, but I think it only played somewhere around here? Wiki(dprayer)pedia says its theatrical run was only in Seattle and only for one week, and I do remember seeing an ad for it and being confused, but I was thinking it was in Eastern Washington. Anyway, I didn’t go.
Two Halloweens ago we discussed Tobe Hooper’s first masterpiece. This is his second. He didn’t even want to direct it at first, sort of got pushed into it, but damn did he rally. In many ways THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is the Tobe Hooperest movie ever made.
I don’t blame you if you’re skeptical during the opening scene where two obnoxious “senior boys at Wheeler High” calling themselves “Buzz and Rick the Prick” drunkenly drive a Porsche, fire guns, and harass the K-OKLA request line until they receive a drive-by chainsawing on a bridge that must’ve been built by the same people who made that endless runway from the climactic chase in FURIOUS 6. (read the rest of this shit…)
I gotta confess coming to this one from a place of cinematic ignorance. I’ve seen the original Godard movie, but I don’t remember jack shit about it. I thought it was pretty good, I believe. That’s about all I got. Still, I’m sure less people could tell you anything about the remake than everything about the original. So this makes me smart. (read the rest of this shit…)
These last couple weeks have been tough on my mental facilities. I reviewed that great new “ULTIMATE” edition of the original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, I also revisited parts 3 and 4 in that original series, then on Thursday I reviewed the new prequel to the remake. So by that point I’d studied and written about pretty much every angle to the whole Texas Chainsaw deal. You’d think I’d be done with it by now, but there is one final chapter: the one spinoff of the original movie that achieves its own level of True Greatness. I am talking about Tobe Hooper’s 1986 sequel, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2. It’s been available on DVD for a couple years in a bare bones edition (get it, that is a pun because of all the skeletons they have) but Tuesday it comes out in a much deserved special edition with new commentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
Sean on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: “I think the Jim Phelps thing brings it back full circle. There was a rumor of a Paramount+ series. Would…” May 30, 21:28
Adam C aka TaumpyTearrs on Bastard Swordsman: “Oh man, good thing they all had distinctive hair or accessories for everyone watching that version! The version I found…” May 30, 21:19
rainman on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: “Yeah I guess so, but I thought it was overdone. Or poorly acted. I dunno. The submarine captain however felt…” May 30, 19:16
VERN on Presence: “Was there a reason? Were you facing the TV?” May 30, 16:26
rainman on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: “I have seem the original MI a few times, it was hard to avoid back 30 years ago, but otherwise…” May 30, 15:25
Lorin on Presence: “Vern, sorry but that is exactly how my family (dad, mom, brother, sister) sat at dinner my entire childhood.” May 30, 13:01
VERN on Bastard Swordsman: “Oh, the DVD I watched didn’t subtitle the chyrons, so they didn’t help me.” May 30, 07:42
Franchise Fred on Presence: “I want to see a version of this movie that’s all behind the scenes angles of Soderbergh running around the…” May 30, 00:42
pegsman on Bastard Swordsman: “Vern, you do a great job of describing the plot, but after watching a bunch of the Shaw movies (and…” May 29, 23:24
Adam C aka TaumpyTearrs on Bastard Swordsman: “Hell yeah, this movie whips ass! Thanks again to Majestyk for the rec, this is one of my favorite movies…” May 29, 20:58
JeffG on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: “I have found the discourse around this one interesting, because I have heard everything from “worst in the franchise” to…” May 29, 12:41
Hammer Time on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: “Re: Editing – my takeaway is that we need to adopt more specific film language for what is happening in…” May 29, 05:41
Two Halloweens ago we discussed Tobe Hooper’s first masterpiece. This is his second. He didn’t even want to direct it at first, sort of got pushed into it, but damn did he rally. In many ways THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 is the Tobe Hooperest movie ever made.
Boys, boys, boys–
