Video This Week: November 27th

By: John Thonen
Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2001

VIDEO NEWS

Fans of director Christopher Nolan's recent MEMENTO, and if you aren't you should be, will get a small dose of his intriguing style with the December, 11^th release of his earlier film, FOLLOWING. Shot for next-to-nothing, in black and white and with an unknown cast, the film presents a heavily noir influenced tale of a would-be writer who becomes fascinated with following people he doesn't know. At first, he hopes for inspiration from their lives, but soon it becomes an obsession. Needless to say, he eventually follows someone into the middle of a twisted crime. Nolan utilizes similar permutations of conventional "movie time" and plays with the basic elements of suspense by often showing the result of some action and then making us wait to see what (and why) that action was. This film makes it clear that Nolan is not likely to be a one-hit wonder.

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES

10 VIOLENT WOMEN is the latest release of one of America's most likable, eccentric and incompetent director, Ted V. Mikels. This one involves a group of beautiful women who decide to embark on a life of crime. After a few successful robberies they hit a posh jewelry store for a big score and are caught. To no one's surprise, they end up in prison with the standard issue evil warden and her lesbian crew. Naturally, several of them escape and 95 minutes is killed. The DVD Special Edition consists of a Mikels commentary and some trailers for other films of his.

8 MAN AFTER: PERFECT COLLECTION is [IMG3R]an anime adaptation of a popular Japanese comic book and cartoon series of the 1960s. The hero is a murdered private detective who is given new life again as (shades of ROBOCOP) a robotic superhero. 8 Man relies on artificial stimulants to keep him functioning, but there are other cybernetically enhanced humans who have resorted to street-grade enhancers and become "cyber-junkies" and joined the forces of evil. The tape and DVD contain all 4 episodes of what turned out to be a short-lived revival of the character.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is a classic mystery thriller from the imagination of Agatha Christie. Its story line, a group of people in a house with an unknown murderer, may seem old hat today, but this 1945 film, adapted from Christie's TEN LITTLE INDIANS, first introduced the mystery structure that later inspired several remakes, numerous Italian giallos and more than a few slasher films. Highly recommended for fans of B&W mysteries.

BABEL 2: PERFECT COLLECTION is an anime adaptation of a popular Japanese manga which presents yet another high school student who must discover his secret powers in order to defeat an evil army, this time made up of zombies. As long time readers of this column know, I'm not a big anime fan, so I haven't seen this one. However, a little web research suggests that it's not all that great, both in the area of artwork and story. Take it for whatever it's worth.

PRIMITIVE LOVE / MONDO BALORDO is [IMG4L]a double feature of offerings in what was once a very popular sub-genre, "Mondo Movies." That designation for these films, which depict outlandish but supposedly real life activities from around the world, came about from the tremendous success of 1963's MONDO CANE. MONDE CANE was a documentary of odd and bizarre events from around the world and was a huge hit. Afterwards, everybody was adding "Mondo" to their documentaries, many of which featured staged or totally fake "real life" events. MONDO BALORDO offers Boris Karloff as narrator with visits to an opium den, a transvestite bar and a Vegas beauty pageant, all of which were, apparently, shocking at the time of its 1964 release. PRIMITIVE LOVE isn't a mondo film at all, but rather a largely forgotten comedy with Jayne Mansfield as an anthropologist who has made a film on primitive sexual practices. The Special Edition label on the DVD release is earned by the inclusion of a slew of trailers for other mondo movies as well as a number of short, mondo-styled films.

WILLOW, one of those other movies from George Lucas, gets the Special Edition treatment this week. Directed by Ron Howard, the fantasy pic from 1988 stars Val Kilmer as a medieval warrior who must combat the evil sorcery of a queen with a taste for infanticide. Warwick Davis plays Kilmer's sidekick, the title character, but he has also popped up in a variety of "little person" roles over the years, not the least of which were as an Ewok in RETURN OF THE JEDI and as a leprechaun in, well, LEPRECHAUN.

THE WORM EATERS is about

the umpteenth release of this T.V. Mikels production, which is practically a mondo film itself. Mikels actually only produced this gem, which was directed by one Herb Robins, who also plays the lead, a worm farmer who likes to eat his own crops. When unscrupulous land developers try to take his land, Robins strikes back by filling the town's water supply with worms. Eventually some other worm gourmets turn into "worm people" but that's about all that happens. It's basically a sideshow geekfest as viewers watch seemingly normal people eat worms, which is apparently somebody's idea of entertainment. Mikels' commentary is the sole justification for the "Special Edition" tag on this wriggly little title.

EASTER EGG HUNT

TOMB RAIDER, which isn't worth your time or money to see no matter what the extra features, has been revealed by the ever industrious DVD REVIEW website - as containing a brief hidden goodie. It seems that if you select "Special Features" from the menu screen and then highlight "Main Menu" and press down, you'll get a flashing symbol. If you then press enter, you'll be treated to a short interview with star Angelina Jolie talking about working with her father on the film.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Check in next week for one of Lucio Fulci's last films, the greatest horror story of our time (oops, sorry, that's greatest "whore" story of our time), more dinosaurs in a lost world and the real Lord of the Rings. Be there, or be forced to kiss your ugly aunt - you know, the one with the hairy upper lip - during a holiday dinner at your cute cousin's house.

Vidiocy is our weekly Video & DVD column.