AWSUM MOVIES: HALLOWEEN II

AWSUM MOVIES:

Surviving the Gore-fest Slasher Arena:

HALLOWEEN II

Halloween II. Take it or leave it. Like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. Personally, I loved it. When you consider the amount of crappy Halloween sequels that have been made, it is interesting to note, that this is the only sequel that still retains a large fan base compared to its successors. But lets face it, besides Part Three (which didn’t even feature Michael Myers, & was supposed to be a stand alone movie anyway), the post Halloween II sequels were all pretty bad. Nothing but low budget Tv movies shot on video, with a music score done on a cheap 80’s synthesiser. 

Even the mask they chose for Myers was terrible, if not comical - for all the wrong reasons, looking like Stan Laurels mug. (The original intense looking William Shatner mask apparently went up in flames at the end of Halloween II) .  

Gone too, are all the traces of Carpenter, bar the occasional theme tune: ill placed throughout the film.  Part 5 was equally bad and I didn’t even bother watching part Six. The only reason to watch them at all, is Donald Pleasance: who is awsum in anything he does. Unfortunately he has a terrible array of sequels to work with. H20 at least made an effort but still lacked something and I haven’t seen the Rob Zombie movies yet.

           

So, compared to the others, Halloween II is a masterpiece. And that’s saying something. Because Halloween II has a lot going for it. John Carpenter (even if he wasn’t actually directing it) was heavily involved and you can see it in the mood and cinematic feel of the piece. Ironically, he loathed the idea of doing a sequel, noted for typing up the script in a half drunk stupor and trashing the film to the press every chance he got. Halloween II’s director Rick Rosenthal, went on record saying that Carpenter ruined his interpretation of the movie, by re-filming certain Myers scenes with extensive gore. Carpenters argument was that the film (as it was), didn’t hold up too well in the Gore-fest Slasher Arena. 

Compared to its imitators, Friday the 13^th was coming up trumps with the gore and inventive deaths and teens were lapping it up. Carpenter wanted to keep up with the changing times, while Rosenthal’s direction of Halloween II was firmly stuck in the 70’s, in a by the book  thriller method: Basically emulating the style of Halloween 1 but lacking all the gore, required for a 1980’s fan base hungry for blood.  

The great thing about Halloween II is that it picks up immediately where the first movie left off and you can quite easily watch both movies back to back and feel like you are watching one long marathonic two-parter slash fest. Like some gore drenched Lord of the Rings, (in two parts), we get to see all our favourite characters return: such as Dr Loomis, Laura Strode and the sceptical Charles Cyphers as Sheriff Leigh Brackett and a cameo by Nancy Loomis as the corpse of the sheriffs dead daughter!  They even used the same William Shatner mask. Never again will a Halloween sequel posses all the elements that this movie contained, including the majority of the original film crew.

There is also a sense of 1970’s nostalgia about the film. It was made three years after the original and times were changing fast towards the slasher trend. The song Mr Sandman is used to great effect to take us back to that time, emulated by pastiche for Carpenters work while at the same time bringing us forward, with new locations and introducing new characters.

Its not a perfect movie. I get that. But a little simple editing might remove the seventh shot blooper etc but whatever. All things considered, Halloween II, while technically not a John Carpenter sequel, was never the less written and produced by him with second unit additions. All in all, despite all the rotten tomato’s,  it was an instant box office success and still to this day, is holding up well in the Gore-fest Slasher Arena. 

So for better or worse, Carpenter pushed this sequel in the right direction, which sets it on a different plain to its contemporary’s, making Halloween II a Ferrari compared to its clapped out second hand sequels. Trust me, they are so bad, you will gladly praise the gods, that Halloween II was ever made at all. 

AWSUM MOVIES: Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150ad

AWSUM MOVIES: 

Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150ad

This film, (in terms of 60’s Dalek mania), was the crème de la crème of  Dr Who. It took the best bits of the Tv episode (The Dalek Invasion of Earth) and made it into a solid war time action movie for the big screen and more importantly: it was in colour. This was the ultimate Dalek Movie: Coupled with its prequel (Dr Who and the Daleks), these two Dalek films took Ray Cusicks brilliant Dalek design to a whole new level and turned mono chromed ping pong ball eared Tv Daleks (with vertically challenged fenders) into lavishly colourful movie stars with glamorous beaker cup ears and fender equivalents of glam rock platform boots. These were bad ass mothers. Shit they even gave them claws. It so impressed me as a child, that I felt compelled to even write a novel about it!

STIRLING DALEK PERFORMANCES 

And who can forget such sterling performances from Robert Jewel as the saucer commander (the Red Dalek) battling for screen time with the Gold Dalek? Sod Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins,  they were simply there for background. When it came to Daleks, this was gripping drama: Certainly the Gold Dalek seemed in charge of the whole shebang but anyone with one eye could see that the Red Dalek was the real star of the show. If anything, he was cold as they come and ambitious: just awaiting for his opportunities to climb the Kaled career ladder – who knows what might have happened if he had successfully pulled off piloting Earth like a giant space ship: Saucer Commander today, Dalek Supreme tomorrow. Throughout the film The Red Dalek proves his metal. Literally.

Point 1: Show ‘em whos boss. When a wannabe escapee is finally cornered (after running around the saucer landing area a few times) the Red Dalek pulls no punches and exterminates him personally. 

Point 2: Set your enemy’s traps: Just when Dr Who thinks he as the upper hand and escapes from his prison cell on the Dalek saucer, the Red Dalek is waiting for him and promptly marches him off for robotising: the equivalent of being a compliant zombie. 

Point 3: Hold your ground. During the rebel attack on the Dalek Saucer, his nervous subordinate wants to bail, (during all important robotising duties) but fuck no, the Red Dalek hung in there, determined to give Dr Who the full Vidal Sassoon robotising treatment and when the robotising room was overrun with pesky rebels, he took a tactical retreat, more concerned with directing the drones to crush the rebellion. And where was the Gold Dalek this whole time? Upstairs somewhere, probably watching Tv. 

Finally Point 4: Take no shit from anyone. Even when the Gold Dalek finally emerges (half way through the movie) and starts ordering the Red Dalek about, he is unperturbed. Reddy is as cool as a kaled Kucumber, even when Goldy gets het up about exterminating Dr Who in the Mine control centre (via execution squad) Reddy totally blanks Goldy. Whatever. And as for the black Dalek? (Blacky). No contest, he can hold his own with the best of them. He has more gold bling than Mr T. (No racism intended).

TRICKY STUNTS 

In reality Ozzy Dalek operator Robert Jewell, most likely played all the parts of Daleks doing any ‘acting’. Consider the shot of the gold Dalek manoeuvring down the corkscrew ramp that runs around the Mine Operations room. A tricky stunt, that required him to say ‘Prepare to position capsule’ while rolling down a curvy ramp without any safety railings. 

Then Goldy is seen ranting at the red Dalek about killing Dr Who (these prisoners are to be exterminated) which was also probably performed  by Jewell, as it’s the only time we’re given any hint at Dalek conflict between Goldy and Reddy.  Much like the Green Cross Code man/Darth Vader actor Dave Prowse suffered, Robert Jewells thick Australian accent kinda got in the way of his Dalek performances, so its understandable that his voice was replaced with something a bit more ...Dalek’y.

And who can forget the awsum performance by the submarine Dalek rising from London's famous River Thames? The first Dalek we get to see and it’s a fantastic moment because A: it’s the coolest Dalek intro ever and B: Dr Who is completely mind boggled. You can see the cogs going round in the old codgers face. WTF? Not only are Daleks actually here on Earth but they can swim as well.

AWSUM FLYING SAUCER MODEL 

Then there’s the awsum Dalek technology that they bring with them to invade Earth with: Check out that amazing Dalek saucer with its rotating decks, that lands in Slone square. Where the hell is that model now? There simply isn’t anything else like it. 

AWSUM FILM SETS 
And then there’s of course the accompanying full size Dalek saucer film set, (filmed at Shepperton Studios), complete with a huge exit ramp, flood lights and massive girder like landing legs. It’s an enormous set, probably fifty feet across that dominated the entire area of studio H. Lets also not forget the impressive Dalek Mine Operations centre: with its fantastic metallic green ramps and control panels and two tier layout, complete with a glowing bomb shaft (that leads of course, to the Earths metallic core)  and one big red bomb. Nothing short of brilliant.

Documentation however on these brilliant sets and props, is thin on the ground: as typical of films of this era, credits were only given to department heads, rather than to everyone involved. Thus nobody seems to know who designed and who made the original 5ft Dalek saucer (altho a fella named Dave Brian made a pretty impressive replica) or wether that original prop still exists. There’s also very little info on the Dalek saucer film set or the mine operations set. These impressive film sets would have put James Bond set designer Ken Adams to shame. Who designed these Dalek sets? Who built them? I guess we’ll never know. But somebody does…


AWSUM FILM SCORE 

The music to Invasion Earth is of a typical 60's orchestral arrangement, with swing flavours, all of which is notably lead by the piano genius of Bill Mcguffie, London's leading pianist, which explains some of the Bach pieces that occasionally creep into the mix. Mainly this and Fague for thought .
Mcguffie made great use of this orchestra, to emulate some great soundscapes throughout the film. Notably the desolation of London in the future as well as the raid on the Dalek saucer and  memorable Roboman theme tune, which one really misses when you see the Tv version.


NOT EVERYONES CUP OF TEA 

Of course there’s plenty wrong with the movie: I still cringe at the comedy Roboman scene (and how the ending of the film didn’t cause a total fucking paradox, is beyond me) plus a whole bunch of other bloopers in the movie that could have been avoided. So yeah, I can see why such gaping plot holes as these, compelled critics to pan it so ferociously but this was not about pleasing film critics, it was about pleasing kids and in that respect it was like the Dalek equivalent of watching Star Wars. 




GRANDE FINALE 

Never the less, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 ad had a great story, interesting characters (Daleks) and a pretty good plot: Why? (Asks Doctor Who) are they invading the Earth for anyway? And what is there major weakness? Rest assured the good Doctor soon finds out and hatches a rather ingenious plan that exploits the Daleks weakness for the tremendous dangers that the Earths magnetic core poses towards them. 

Much like the ending of  War of the Worlds,  the Daleks ultimately are defeated in one foul swoop (by Earths magnetic forces) and all Robomen are instantly restored back to normality. Friken Awsum!

As a fan of all things Daleks, this one film put me in Dalek heaven, although, that really sounds so wrong. But what is it about this movie? I must have seen it, like a hundred times. When people say they’ve seen a movie like a hundred times, they are exaggerating. I mean, as a kid, I had seen this film literally over a hundred times, until I actually wore out my VHS cassette tape. But for all fans of dodgy sci-fi, it is a must see. I even forced several ex girlfriends to watch it. And they actually enjoyed it.

The movie is packed full of action: Marvel as a Dalek sentry is slung fifty feet down the exit ramp of the Dalek saucer and explodes. Behold as they crush the rebellion with their vicious fly spray guns. Wow yourself as wheelchair bound Dortman champions the infirm, as he grenades and flattens Daleks (and himself) with falling masonry. 





Cheer as rebels plough through a Dalek blockade with a pie van, smashing Daleks left and right. 

Wow at Daleks crumpling like empty beer cans under the Earths magnetic force, crash through walls and get sucked down mine shafts. 

Then brace yourself for the Grande finale as the Dalek Saucer itself threatens to crash through the fourth wall and take you with it. 

It’s the ultimate Dalek trip. Oh. If only they made this movie in 3D!  

DALEKS VS MEKONS 

My little doodle of what the poster for the third Dalek Movie might have looked like. 

Then again, if only they had made the third one! Dam! Daleks vs Mekons! Ray Cusicks other popular design was the spherical robots called Mechanoids or Mekons. They only ever appeared in one Dr Who episode but kids went wild at the sight of them battling Daleks and talks were underway to perhaps make the third Dalek movie based on this episode.  But it didn't seem to pan out that way, when critics panned the second Dalek movie. 

It is a shame no more Dalek movies were ever made. Imagine! There could have been a whole series, much like had been done with Fu Man Chu films (at least five Hammer movies came out of that idea). I mean, just look at all those Godzilla movies: Tons of em! The film producers could have made a least one more Dalek movie but alas, they got cold feet, after returns weren’t so great and Dalek Mania was on the wane. Still, when the chips are down, and all is said and done: girl friends come and go but Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150ad,  is forever. Amen.

THE LEGACY OF THE DALEK MOVIES  
Wether you love or hate them, both Dalek films, for better or worse, achieved at least one thing: and that was to show what the Tv series could potentially look like, with some actual money thrown at it. Beard rubbing purists would probably argue that the end all be all, is the script and everything else is merely incidental but ultimately bad presentation was always the downfall of Dr Who, which lead to its cancellation in the 1980s. But then came along Russell T Davis and the rest is history.

And that history is now yours and mine. The return of Dr Who in the 21st Century,  has seen it awarded with no less than 8 BAFTAs  for its contributions to television, whilst heralded as the flagship show of the BBC. This is undoubtably due, (in no small part) to the contributions of them Dalek movies, way back in the 1960s. A small nod to which is signified, by the movie look of the new series, such as its various props: including the Tv version Daleks and even the Tardis. Notably, Peter Capaldi's costumes have a very similar look at times, to that of Peter Cushing's and the Tardis interiors, (though not directly copied), have been inspired because of the diverse tangent that the Dalek films went from the Tv series.  

All in all, we have a lot to be grateful for because of this film and its prequel. Without them, I doubt the new series would have re-surfaced with any longevity and Dr Who without Daleks, is like eating chips without salt, or tea without milk or Starsky without Hutch, or...well you get the idea. 

PS: If you too liked this movie, (or even this article), you can check out my novel of the film here. 

AWSUM SERIALS: Battlestar Galactica

AWSUM SERIALS: 

A whole lotta Fracking going on:
THE

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 
REMAKE

Ok, ok. Remakes come and go. We’re up to our asses in Batman, Superman and Spiderman remakes and interstellar operas. Nevertheless, the remake of BSG  was more than just another sci-fi remake series – it was an event. It was many things to many people: space drama, space soap even, coupled with action and lashings of space battles.

Perhaps the secret of its success lay in the balance between nostalgia for the original series and offering something new. To some, these new aspects were perhaps a little too jarring. I myself, initially found it difficult to adjust to the new look Cylons and heavily CGI’d special effects. Coupled with hot Cylon chicks. But it won me over eventually. Mainly because the hot Cylon chicks could actually act and well, lets face it, there was plenty of sex. In fact every member of  Battle Star Galactica got laid. And perhaps that was the whole point. As the Cylons became more human so their desires became also. This aspect became a fascinating keystone plot point that held the series together and made it so compelling. After all, without it, we would be left with a rather dreary version of the ‘The West Wing’ in space with the odd Cylon Centurion here and there, blandly saying ‘By your Command’.

So introducing sex into the series in a very realistic way, was actually a very smart move. If only they had done that with Space 1999 or Blakes 7. Both of which severely needed something to bring them to life. Ironically Star Trek probably had more sex in it than all these series combined. We never saw it but they were certainly doing it. Spock, Kirk and McCoy basically shagged their way through the universe at warp speed. Leaving Dr Who fumbling with a sonic screwdriver oblivious to the affections of various sexy assistants. Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9 were just as guilty and don’t get me started with Star Gate.

In a way, BSG showed us what could be done with a good solid script and somehow actually carried us from beginning to end without the show being cancelled. Which is much more than I can say about its predecessor. The original series, as great as it was, was also heavily flawed in the script and fracking department. Their were some great stories but it was clearly aimed at children and its content reflects this in the way it approached the common themes of sex and violence and relationships.

Baltar in the original series was, by comparison – terrible. A one dimensional character bent on being well, just evil and nothing else. Like some panto-villain, he was obviously unlikable and had no story arc whatsoever. He was just bad from the get go. His only function was to give the monotone Cylons a clearer voice. Gaius Baltar on the other hand, was a totally different kettle of fish altogether. 

Acting genius James Callis played the character as a victim, a complicated mess of a man with many hidden depths and we the audience sympathised with him. It wasn’t his fault that mankind was obliterated! He was just in love with Caprica 6. In fact, Gaius has more sex in the series than all the colonials and Cylons combined. His multi-layered character changes more times than hot dinners, from traitor, to Doctor of Galactica, to President of the Colonies, to prisoner and criminal, to Messiah and soldier and finally (ironically) a farmer. He is also the devil incarnate. Of all the characters in the series, his alone goes through a myriad of changes, as he struggles to find his one true path. For us, the audience, we root for him all the way: hoping that he will (eventually) do the right thing.  

And that is BSG’s one true strength, its actors are superb. Edward James Olmos is no Lorne Green and we don’t want him to be. Again he could never fill the shoes of his predecessor. He has instead forged his own path. Making a far more complex character than Lorne Greens could ever be. If anything, he is the bi-polar opposite. A raving drunk, covered in vomit, model ship parts and white paint. A ticking bomb, with a love hate relationship with his CO, often brawling together when all else fails. But he is also a rock solid commander. A father figure and natural leader, who gets to sleep with his subordinates and eventually pairs up with the president of the colonies.   

Michael Hogan as said CO, is just as complex. His portrayal of Saul Tigh is as different to his predecessor as you can possibly get. We’re in a whole other universe. A stubborn drunk, married to a nightmare of a wife. Bain of the fleet. A washed up commander waiting for retirement, who’s only friend in the world is Adama. A Cylon hating racist who ironically turns out to be a Cylon. Which is hilarious. He then goes on to frack Caprica 6 and has an abortion. A particular plot point that is essential towards the end of series four. Sex is a fundamental part of the series. It teaches the Cylons about procreation. Particularly when their Resurrection  Hubs are all blown to bits. They must learn to have baby’s the old fashioned way. Which takes some practice.

Second to Baltar in the Sex Olympics, is Katee Sackhoff as Star Buck. She is perhaps the only actress who emulates her predecessor in any way. You can see echoes of Dirk Benedict in her performance, the way she smiles, holds a cigar etc. But she also makes the character her own. By making Starbuck a woman, she is by proxy supposed to behave like one but Sackhoff does anything but. She drinks Apollo under the table, kicks everybody’s ass at the card table and regularly fracks her way through the crew. Even the word Frack is heavily used in the series, even more so than in the original and it actually makes most scenes where it is used quite intense.

There are so many levels to the new series that the original could never have but on the other hand, we couldn’t have one without the other. Perhaps what made the original so popular was its amazing special effects, model work and iconic Cylon design, coupled with a great music score by Stu Philips, famous for many Glen A Larson serials including Buck Rogers and Knight Rider. Where it fell flat is in the scripting and story-arching, leading to some terrible dumbed down kiddie episodes (time traveling Nazis?) in its final season and by the time they finally reached Earth nobody really gave a frack.  

The new series may not have had a grand explosion for its opening credits

or Partick McNee narrating it but what it did have was good old fashioned solid scripts and awsum acting, coupled with a frack load of sex and a healthy respect for its origins. BSG has cemented itself now in the hearts and minds as the ultimate soap opera in space and we the people applaud it for its innovative approach. So say we all.