Sunday, May 07, 2006

John Ellroy’s Bazaar Bizarre – 2004 documentary

     This documentary is about Bob Berdella, the serial killer of gay men in Kansas City. This is a seriously weird movie, matching its subject matter. The title was the name of a flea market booth that the killer ran, selling bone jewelry and (unbeknownst to those around him) people chili.

There’s some good gore here, and pickle for the ladies. And weird songs by some rockabilly guy I’ve never heard of. There’s no subtitles, and no commentary, but there is a making of featurette called Post Mordum. And a set of 4 deleted scenes.

This whole thing was pretty damn odd, but at least it wasn’t boring.

Three beers out of five.

Evils of the Night – 1985

     A classic baddie from the mid eighties. And another disc with no extras to speak of. No subtitles, no commentary. But BOY, what a cast!

John Carradine (whose hands are so crippled by arthritis by this time that it makes me ache just seeing them)
Julie Newmar – who proves that her campy portrayal in the Batman TV series was not intentional, but just her utter lack of talent.

And it’s got standard 80’s flick, in that it’s TOO DAMN DARK! Can’t see what the hell is going on half the time, even during internal scenes. Even the occasional boobage. <sigh> And the music will remind you just what was wrong with the 80’s. Arghhh!

The director of this classic piece of tripe (Mardi Rustam) was the Executive Producer (read, gave money to) Al Adamson’s classic Dracula vs Frankenstein. He also Produced Lash of Lust for Al. He then wrote and Produced Eaten Alive for Tobe Hooper. So he was deeply in involved in Independent, exploitation movies.

Actually, the final scene in the garage with the two girls, the boy, and the mechanic is pretty well done. Tenseful, and bloody. In fact, the whole thing is filled with some pretty decent blood and guts, ruined only by bad 80’s music.

Three beers out of five. The music took one away.