Director: Rick Bota
Testing the limits of our friendship, Mark asked me to review Hellraiser: Deader. The film was based (loosely, very loosely) on a horror script written by his friend Neal Marshall Stevens. This script was not intended to be a Hellraiser film. Needless to say, liberties were taken. I was even given the original script to compare with the final product, but I have decided to wait until after doing this review to read it. Any film, good or bad, must stand on its own, and does this one ever fall. . . HARD!
Confession time, the Hellraiser films have always left me cold. The first one, directed by creator Clive Barker, could be appreciated for its occasional atmospheric moment. The second film, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 started strongly with the necrophilia being quite a surprise in 1988, but became a confusing mess in the second half (yet, nothing compared to Deader). I now come to Hellraiser: Deader after not seeing the four films (are they breeding them like Howling wolves?) that preceded it and with an eighth film, also by “auter” Bota, now in video stores. Like any entry of a series not euthanized before reaching this many films, Hellraiser: Deader has tossed continuity (and the viewer’s caution) to the wind. Whatever Stevens originally wrote has been gutted and skinned like Frank (Sean Chapman) from the first film and then grafted onto the Hellraiser brand name.
At this point, I should vainly try to describe the plot, but this task will more than likely result in a headache. Hellraiser: Deader has something to do with reporter Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer) being sent to Bucharest which as the film reminds us repeatedly is in Romania, “where all European kids looking for a good time head” (so do cheapass filmmakers). There is a snuff tape sent to the newspaper’s office (complete with horizontal pans across the viewer’s eyes right out of the Japanese film Evil Dead Trap). There are the requisite European goths (punk men; lesbian women). There is a Jim Jones style cult leader who looks like the drummer for a Green Day cover band and appears to be raising the dead. Somewhere in there pinhead (Doug Bradley) shows up to try to explain the plot. I got to give Bradley credit. He gives impressive line readings even when he is forced to say the worst horse manure imaginable, too bad he is in the film less than ten minutes.
As for the rest? Just add in some “is it a dream or is it reality?” nonsense, late 80s Cinema blue lighting, one homemade video snuff tape with rather complex edits, and the result is pretty much an incomprehensible motion picture. I do not believe that a story is necessarily the most important aspect of a horror film. Horror can often work effectively on images alone (see Suspiria), but there is always a thin line between nightmarish and ineptitude. Hellraiser: Deader drunkenly speeds across that line while flaunting pedestrian direction incapable of summoning up so much as one scare, one jump, even one halfhearted “boo.” Someone please retire the Hellraiser series before every future horror script becomes a way for Doug Bradley to make his house payment that month.
Director: Howard Hughes/ Howard Hawks James Whale
The two best films that Hollywood ever made about the day to day lives of pilots are now out on DVD (no, not Top Gun). The first, chronologically, is a tough World War One movie and the second focuses on pilots risking their lives for lesser glories, the mail, a pretty girl*s smile, and the thrill of the flight.
Thanks to The Aviator released last year, Hell*s Angels is due for rediscovery. It is every bit the picture of spectacle that Scorsese*s recent biography of Howard Hughes made it out to be. Featuring some of the best aerial photography put on film and a showman*s idea of bigger always being better, Hell*s Angels is entertainment for the eye. With dog fights galore and a bombing zeppelin, who cares about the story?
For the record, the film focuses on two brothers, one honest, faithful, and brave, the other a good time joe, who throws off all responsibility. As the film opens the two brothers are vacationing in Germany and Roy Rutledge (James Hall) has gotten himself in trouble with a German officer*s wife and now the husband is demanding satisfaction. Roy skips town and his brother, Monte (Ben Lyon), is left to fight the honorable duel. When World War One is declared, both brothers enlist in the air corps (Monte for patriotism, Roy for a girl). Monte finds himself having to cover his brother*s flights since Roy is too scared to go up. Along the way, a love triangle develops with Helen (Jean Harlow).
Hell*s Angels does provide a few surprises along the way. There are certainly more twists than in Pearl Harbor. Being an early talkie, Hell*s Angels has some interesting stylistics. There is tinting during the battle with the zeppelin and some primitive technicolor during a ballroom scene. Of course, the acting is a bit flat, the characters are strictly one dimensional, and coincidences come fast and furious. Still, the film becomes more cynical as it goes along and the ending is more downbeat that one might think. Nevertheless, one watches Hell*s Angels for the aerial shots. This is a film that walks, talks, and leaps style circa 1931.
Only Angels Have Wings is another film about style, but this one*s rewards are for the ear. If Hell*s Angels stressed the visual, Only Angels Have Wings provides aural delights. When a pilot dies in a crash, the hard-bitten boss Joe sums him up without an ounce of charity: "He wasn*t any good."
Set on a small island, Only Angels Have Wings plunges the viewer into the life of mail pilots running for a small outfit ran by the good-natured Dutchy (Sid Ruman) and the cynical, womanizing Joe (Cary Grant). The outfit has lost a pilot a month for the last three months. Into this world comes Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) a stopped over chorus girl who sees something in Joe that makes her stay on even if he refuses to show that he cares for her. She hangs around anyway making the acquaintance of the pilots and mechanics like Sparks (Victor Kilian), Les (Allyn Joslyn), and the older sage Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell). She learns that Joe was once hurt by a woman and has since lost the ability to love anything but flying and the Kid. Time passes and one more pilot, Bat MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess), shows up. MacPherson has a shady past and is now married to Judy (Rita Hayworth), the very same woman that broke Joe*s heart.
What we have here is Howard Hawks at his best. We are watching people, mostly male, in a secluded area under pressure. Living is defined by the group and the outcast must earn the respect of said group. Hawks is considered one of the best fimmakers to come from Hollywood. Despite the accolades, I run half and half on the guy, finding many of his films overlong and anti-climatic (Red River, for example). Only Angels Have Wings balances its hard-bitten drama with comical touches and the perfect amount of romanticism. I would place it second only to Bringing Up Baby in the Hawks cannon.
The film*s greatest strength is its cast. When the film first began, I thought Cary Grant was miscast. He seemed too light, too much a comedian, to play Joe. I thought someone like Gary Cooper or Humphrey Bogart would have been better. By the ending, I was won over completely. Barthelmess, Joslyn, Ruman, and Kilian provide support in the best tradition of the character actor. The standout is Thomas Mitchell as the Kid. He is the emotional glue of the story. The actresses are fine too, but this, like most of Hawks* movies, is a movie for guys who like movies.
Oddly enough, one of the weaker elements in Only Angels Have Wings is the aerial scenes. They are tense enough, but the tension comes strictly from the actors. Hawks seems not to care as much about the spectacle, which is fine. That is why we have Hell*s Angels, it provides all the spectacle. Then, watch Only Angels Have Wings; it provides the drama. This double feature will provide all the testosterone for the week.
"I*m hard to get Joe. . . you have to ask me."
[ "Sideways" | "Distance" | "Stone Reader" | "Kill Bill" | A.I. Artifial Intelligence | "Eureka" | "Memento" | "The Night is Young" | "Element of Crime" | "Requiem for a Dream" | "Wonder Boys" | "Conan the Barbarian" | "Amarcord" | "The Decalogue" ]
** All Film Reviews are by John Dodd (A.K.A. Crazy John). John is a graduate of Western Illinois University with a Master's Degree in English. He is a writer, reviewer, and a total film junkie. In his own words, "I'll watch anything once." John's goal is to have one of his plays performed in New York City and to review films for Variety. He also has two available spec screenplays. If you have any questions or comments or would like to contact John about his plays or screenplays, send them to jrd_73@yahoo.com .
Mark's Screenwriting Page