Wednesday, August 3, 2016

THE NIGHT PORTER (1974)

Twelve years after the end of World War II, a woman is shocked to discover that the front desk clerk at the hotel she is staying at in Vienna is same guy who used to torture and rape her at a Nazi prison camp. The audience wouldn't be surprised if she went all MS .45 on this dude and shot his dick off then stabbed him in his mutilated crotch with a pair of rusty scissors, but no, instead she retreats back to her room and smiles as she fondly remembering their sadomasochistic relationship and how he presented her the decapitated head of another prisoner she didn't like.  Yeah, these two are both batshit crazy...and completely fascinating.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing solely on their bizarre sexual relationship, the film detours off into a boring tangent about his Nazi war crime buddies.  Nobody cares.  That shit's boring.  I want to know more about the psychological relationship between this two psychopaths.  How old was she when she entered the camp?  Did she have these perverse desires before she met this guy?  Was she into torturing animals?  Was she a virgin?  What was his youth like?  Did she hurt herself like ol' girl in THE PIANO TEACHER?  How did their relationship develop?  How were they split up?  How did he escape?  Why, if she was truly into this sort of perversion, did she end up marrying such a boring guy?  Is this an example of Stockholm Syndrome?  If so, what's up with the fact that 12 years has gone by and she's still mega horny for this guy?

There's tons of interesting directions this film could have went, but sadly, instead of delving deeper into the connection between these two lost souls, THE NIGHT PORTER simply fizzles out and you spent the last 30 minutes bored out of your mind.  Nice photography, strong performances by the two leads, very mild nudity, zero violence.

THE NIGHT PORTER is worth watching, but ultimately it's just an intriguing idea that never even comes close to reaching it's full potential.  Somebody with talent should remake it.

NSFW artwork

Monday, August 1, 2016

V (1983)

"You always said it couldn't happen here. Then one day we woke up and we were living in a Fascist state."

Originally broadcast as a two-night event (May 1st & 2nd, 1983) on NBC, V tells the story of how suddenly 50 massive spaceships show up and start hovering above major cities all around the Earth.  Who are these aliens?  What do they look like?  Are they friendly?  Are they here to kill us?  Are they here to pitch the idea for a crossover movie called STOMP THE YARD VS. TREMORS?  Nobody knows!  Eventually, they reveal themselves (they look just like humans) and their intentions (they simply what to trade knowledge in exchange for some common chemicals and minerals).  Everybody lives happily ever after.  The End.

Or maybe not.  It turns out that after acting like they come in peace and weaseling their way onto our good side, the visitors are actually here for sinister reasons.  Duh!  And, of course, by the time anybody begins to suspect that these pushy visitors are actually evil they've already taken over everything: the military, the police, the media, factories, etc.  They even have their own youth organization full of snitches.  So now it's up to random groups of freedom fighters to save humanity.  Sadly, the main events in V only take place around Los Angeles and the rest of the world is unaccounted for.

Yeah, the story is preposterous, too vague and nowhere near as dark as I would like, but V is still a very entertaining three hours.  If you've never seen it and have even just the slightest interest in 1980's culture, then you should check it out.  Good acting by a strong cast, dated special effects that somehow still hold up, compelling story, Freddy Krueger as an alien, quick pace and that scene.  You know the one.

Part 2 - V: The Final Battle (1984)

Freddy Krueger is an alien?!

Is that a member of the film crew off to the left?