Saturday, June 3, 2006

The Devil Came From Akasava – 1970

     Well, here’s another movie I have no idea why I’m watching. The DVD only has a German language soundtrack with English subtitles. And it appears to be a german giallo, which I didn’t know there even were any. (And I’m staying away from Gaillos, just because I’ve got too many movies to watch already. You gotta cut out something!)

The leading lady here is Soledad Miranda, billed as Susann Korda, who died shortly after making this movie. You should remember her from Vampyros Lesbos and Eugene de Sage, both by Jessie Franco.

You gotta love this groovy 70’s soundtrack. Alas, there are no extras here at all. Still, even though the plot is really hard to follow, the soundtrack and the great Soledad Miranda make this a watcher.

Three beers out of five.

Magic – 1978

     It’s obvious from watching this that Anthony Hopkins was going to go on to be a great actor. He does an outstanding job selling his character here. I remember seeing this movie at the theater, and it bothering me as a 19 year old lad. I never saw it on VHS, so it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. I was very curious how this flick would hold up over time.

Let me clear that up right away. This movie holds up fantasically. Its dark in ways that will surprise you. It gets under your skin, and that’s mostly because Fats is so creepy looking, and Anythony Hopkins plays a very convincing nut-job. As I said, he really sells it as a guy with real problems, an unhealthy dependency on a ventriloquist dummy. This is powerful stuff, with a great ending that doesn’t ruin or cheapen the movie.

There is, alas, no commentary on this disc, but it is subtitles, so that’s good. There are two really good extras on this disc. The first is a featurette called “Fats and Friends” that’s basically the history of ventriloquism and a behinds the scenes interview with the guy who actually controlled the puppet, Dennis Alwood. This was fascinating stuff. Secondly (both in quality and interest) is an interview with Cinematographer, Victor J. Kemper.

Four beers out of five.