Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

The only controversy that really surrounds Halloween: Resurrection is whether it is the worst or second worst movie in the franchise. Occasionally, a brave soul will come out of the woodwork and admit that they “kind of” liked it, but otherwise it’s greeted with absolute disdain from the fans.  I admit, while I find the movie terrible, I am compelled to watch it every now and again, but more on that later. The main reason for the hate is that it completely negates  the ending to the previous movie, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later –which saw Laurie Strode beheading Michael Myers with an axe. Halloween: Resurrection retcons the ending of the previous film, so that instead of beheading Michael Myers, Laurie Strodie mistaken decapitated a paramedic wearing the Michael Myers mask – he pulled the old switcheroo on Laurie. Laurie, haunted by the guilt of killing an innocent man, spends the next few years in a psychiatric hospital, convinced that Michael will come for her.  When audiences heard this explanation, they let out a collective groan. It is revealed that Michael crushed the man’s larynx, so he couldn’t cry out for help.  Okay, but then, why didn’t he just take off the mask?  A policeman does so later on without any effort – so why couldn’t he?  Granted, the filmmakers needed to find away to bring Michael Myers back, but this is so stupid that it is completely insulting.  

The only thing more cringe worthy is the unceremonious death of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).  Laurie successfully snares Michael in a trap and is about to drop him to his death, when doubt begins to creep into her mind – she has to make sure that this is the right man.  She’s about to remove the mask, when Michael stabs her in the back, and then drops her to her death off the hospital roof.  Pretty pathetic!  This scene also undermines Laurie’s character arc in Halloween H20; in that movie Laurie has spent her adult life running away from her past – she fakes her death in car accident, relocates to Northern California, and changes her name to Keri Tate. After Michael has found her, and has killed a few people, Laurie chooses to stay behind and face him head on; her character becomes stronger as the movie progresses and she emerges victorious at the end.  Of course, that was until the filmmakers of Halloween: Resurrection said, “Too hell with Laurie’s character arc! Let’s have her institutionalized at the beginning!”  It was all a ruse!  

Oddly enough, the opening scene is rather superfluous to the actual movie itself; it exists solely to establish that Michael is still alive (and because Jamie Lee Curtis was contractually obliged to appear in it).  The movie could have easily opened with Sara sitting in her college lecture and no one would have batted an eye. Sure, someone in the audience might have wondered how Michael is still alive, but the filmmakers could have easily bullshitted their way through it. After all, in Halloween 4, the filmmakers made no effort in explaining how Dr. Loomis survived the explosion in Halloween II, or, for that matter, how Michael not only survived the same explosion, but also got back his eye sight (Laurie shot out his eyes in that film). 

I mentioned before that I am compelled to watch Halloween: Resurrection every once in awhile and that’s because I can easily imagine the thought process of the (original) screen writer as he typed up his script: 

This isn’t going to be your standard Halloween movie – it’s going to be a scathing satire on reality TV, man. Even though it claims to be real, it is completely fake. Well, I’m going to turn that on its head, dude. The participants are going to be on a fake reality show, only to find that the horror is real. Everything is staged, except the murder. Oh, the irony! 

Then, the screenwriter saw the actual movie and was horrified by what director Rick Rosenthal did with his concept.  The movie actually has an intriguing premise – six college students win a competition to appear on an internet reality show in which they will spend the night searching Michael Myer’s childhood home for clues that might explain homicidal tendencies. They are all equipped with head cameras and there are cameras stationed throughout the house as well; this gives the viewers the option of which point of view they want to follow.  I’ll give Halloween: Resurrection this – it accurately predicted the supernatural reality show; it was released two years before Syfy launched the TV show Ghost Hunters. Like that show, and many copycats, the characters spend most of the time scaring the living shit out of each other.  It turns out that many of the “clues” in the house have been planted by the director, Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes), who also dresses up as Michael Myers at one point to scare the contestants.  Of course, everyone remains oblivious to the fact that the REAL Michael Myers is in the house until it is too late.  

What exactly went wrong? Well, despite the interesting premise, the movie doesn’t do anything interesting with it.  The only thing Rick Rosenthal can come up with is to cut to different camera angles; the point of view seems to shift every ten seconds. This, in theory, should ratchet up the tension, but it quickly becomes a distraction, not to mention redundant, and is simply irritating. Also, it’s amazing that, given the number of cameras in the house, Michael Myers is able to glide through the house undetected. It also interesting that not once, but twice in the movie, characters manage to look away from the TV monitors at just the right (wrong) time – at the psychiatric hospital, a security guard is called away from the monitor, which allows Michael to sneak in undetected. Later on, Michael kills a crew member, with the tripod of a camera, while Nora, Freddie’s producer, makes herself a Cappuccino.  She sings and shakes her booty to a song on the radio, while making her Cappuccino, meanwhile Michael is very slowly dragging the corpse out of the house. Simply amazing! It should be noted that Rick Rosenthal also directed Halloween II, where he was content in aping John Carpenter’s style. This is not a bad thing, considering that Halloween II directly picks up where the first one left off, so at least, visually, it is consistent with the first movie.  In Halloween: Resurrection, he seems to take many of his visual cues from The Blair Witch Project; he even references the most famous moment in that movie – the close up of the girl’s eyes and nose as she apologizes to the camera.  

Then there’s the characters, oh boy, the awful, awful characters. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Sara - The poor man’s Laurie Strode. She is a fairly pretty, but socially awkward girl.  She isn’t the worst leading lady, just forgettable. It’s hard to distinguish her from all other attractive, but bland attractive women that have dominated modern horror films; the movie is set in the Midwest, yet Sara looks like she’s wandered off the set of Dawson’s Creek. Sara is, supposedly, the movie’s protagonist, but too often she gets lost in the shuffle.  Hell, she even botches her one true heroic moment; she comes after Michael with a chainsaw, but gets it tangled up in wires hanging from the garage ceiling and it dies on her. Luckily, Freddie arrives in the nick of time to save her. 

Jen – Sara’s best friend and complete smart ass. She specializes in annoying the shit out of other people, which means, her time on earth is fairly limited.

Rudy – Sara’s other friend and gourmet enthusiast. He talks about food nonstop and his good for a few laughs, but that’s about it.

Bill – The most obnoxious character in the entire movie. It doesn't help that he is played by Rookie of the Year (and American Pie) star, Thomas Ian Nicholas. He is slightly nerdy, but, more importantly, a complete pervert. He constantly throws all sorts of stupid innuendos at Jen. Thankfully, he only has about ten minutes of actually screen time.

Jim – He is a horny musician with a morbid sense of humor. He spends most of his time trying to bed the attractive red head, Donna, and nearly succeeds. 

Donna – The flakiest psych major in movie history.  She spends the entire movie putting down Jim, but then, rather unexpectedly, throws herself at him in the next scene. There is literally no transition – one minute she finds him disgusting, then seconds later she wants to have sex with him. Hmmm….. I wonder if she’s going to survive the night. Her main function is to provide the gratuitous nudity (we get a brief flash of her breasts).  

Freddie – The flamboyant reality show director. He is a kung fu enthusiast and provides much of the comedy relief.  He utters the catchphrase, “Trick or treat, mother fucker!”  He is one of two characters that are given a character arc – he learns that it is wrong to sensationalize a serial killer like Michael Myers.

Nora –She has no real narrative purpose. She is just there.

Myles – Easily the best character in the entire movie. Myles is Sara’s online chat buddy; he never actually meets her and they only interact through online messaging. Though, in an alternate ending, he does show up and save Sara. In fact, it is better than the actual ending that was tacked on for the theatrical release. He is the other character that is given an arc - he goes from being a complete outsider to the life of the party (literally).  

The subplot involving Myles (his screen name is Deckard) may be the only part of the movie that actually works for me.  He is at a Halloween party, but separates himself from every one else so he can watch the broadcast, in a study room, on a big TV screen. As the movie progresses other party goers begin to trickle into the study room to watch the broadcast with him. When the bodies begin to pile up, the other party goers thinks it is all a hoax and laugh it off. Myles, on the other hand, believes the murders are real and even tries to contact the police.  When Sara is the only survivor left, she uses her Palm Pilot to contact Myles and he helps navigate her through the house, using instant messaging.  It is the one moment where Sara actually displays common sense – using modern technology to her advantage. Though, I’m still confused as to why Myles needs to change the font every time he messages Sara. 

The movie lacks a proper foil for Michael Myers; Sara is too dull and Freddie is a living cartoon. Busta Rhymes is clearly having fun with the role, but he is just silly. Laurie Strode is killed off early on and, sadly, Donald Pleasence passed away in 1995, so there’s no Dr. Loomis to liven up the proceedings.  One of the few positives you can say about Halloween: Resurrection is that it makes you appreciate Donald Pleasence’s performance in the earlier entries.  Dr. Loomis was a unique character and really is what separated the Halloween series from all the other Slasher movies

The bland cast would be forgivable if Michael Myers was scary, but that is simply not the case. In the original Halloween, there was a childlike simplicity to Michael Myers – he viewed everything as one big game; he dresses up as a ghost to trick Lynda and constantly plays dead to fool Laurie. Here, he is just another superhuman psychopath that stumbles through the scenery while butchering attractive people in gruesome ways.  The original Halloween was innovative, Halloween: Resurrection, other the hand, is pretty indistinguishable from all the other Slasher movies that were popping up in the early 2000s.  

Credits

Cast: Busta Rhymes(Freddie Harris),  Bianca Kajlich (Sara Moyer),  Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode), Brad Loree (Michael Myers), Ryan Merriman (Myles Barton), Sean Patrick Thomas (Rudy), Katee Sackhoff (Jen),  Luke Kirby (Jim), Daisy McCrackin (Donna), Thomas Ian Nicholas (Bill), Tyra Banks (Nora),  Billy Kay (Scott),  Gus Lynch (Harold), Dan Joffre (Willie), Haig Sutherland (Aron), Natassia Malthe (French Maid), Lorena Gale (Nurse Wells), Marisa Rudiak (Nurse Philips), Brent Chapman (Franklin), Kyla Labine (Teen Party Guy), Rick Rosenthal (Professor).

Director: Rick Rosenthal
Screenplay: Larry Brand, Sean Hood.
Running Time:  86 min.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is one of the most infuriating horror movies ever made! It is the classic case of a hack director (Charles B. Pierce) taking a surefire premise and some how botching it. The Town That Dreaded Sundown has the makings of a classic horror movie - a genuinely scary villain (the hooded menace known as "The Phantom Killer"), a great setting (Texarkana, 1946), and even a few strong performances to boot - and, yet, Pierce manages to undermine it every step of the way. This is characteristic of most of Pierce's works; his most famous movie, The Legend of Boggy Creek, starts off as a compelling documentary on the Fouke Monster (a Bigfoot like beast the supposedly stalks Fouke, Arkansas), but is quickly done in by ponderous narrations, an overbearing blue grass soundtrack, and truly bad acting. There is a genuinely creepy scene in which the monster attacks a family in a trailer home, but the rest of the movie is pure schlock.

Pierce must have felt that his horror movie just might be too grim for audiences, so he decided to lightened the tone by shoe horning in as much comedy relief as possible; provided by the bumbling patrolman "Spark Plug" Benson (played by Pierce).  Unfortunately, the transition from horror to comedy is completely jarring - in the blink of an eye the movie goes from genuine terror to horrible comedy. There's even a lengthy car chase scene, with goofy music on the soundtrack, that is more befitting of Smokey and the Bandit than  a horror movie. Granted, humor isn't anything new to the horror genre; the Friday the 13th series are filled with comedic moments. However, the difference between the Friday the 13th series and The Town That Dreaded Sundown is that the humor in the former feels organic to the story, whereas it comes off as being extremely forced in the latter. When you get a group of teenagers together there is always going to be a few funny moments, but it seems out of place for the Texarkana police department to be in such good spirits, considering that their town is being terrorized by a serial killer.

The other major flaw of the movie is that it really lacks a strong central character; Ben Johnson is a fine actor and delivers a solid performance as Texas Ranger, J.D. Morales, but the character is too distant for an audience to truly empathize with, and is off screen for long portions of the movie; he first appears at about the thirty minute mark of the movie.  Deputy Norman Ramsey (Andrew Prine) is, theoretically,  the movie's protagonist, but he lacks a personality and, essentially, gets shoved into the background once Morales enter the picture.  The most sympathetic character is Helen Reed, played by Dawn Wells of Gilligan's Island fame, where she played the "All American" Mary Ann. Reed is an average woman (she is first seen grocery shopping) that finds herself the target of a crazed killer; it's a truly terrifying scene. She is shot twice by the Phantom Killer, but manages to crawl out of her house and into a cornfield - this one of the movie's few effective scenes. The killer stalks Helen through the cornfield and we are genuinely afraid for her, hoping she will make it out alive. We breathe a sigh of relief when she finds refuge in a neighbor's house. It's an effective performance by Wells (effectively playing on her "All American Girl" image), but her role amounts to nothing more than a cameo - she has about, roughly, ten minutes of screen time.

There are a few scary moments in the movie; the aforementioned cornfield scene and, most notably, an extreme tense moment when the killer ties a pocket knife to a woman's trombone and then  "plays" her to death.

These are genuinely haunting moments, but Pierces diffuses the tension by cutting to a shot of "Spark Plug" Benson bumbling his way through scenery. In the hands of a more gifted filmmaker, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, might have been a classic, but with Charles B. Pierce at the helm, it is simply mediocre.

Credits

Cast: Ben Johnson (Captain J.D. Morales), Andrew Prine (Deputy Norman Ramsey), Dawn Wells (Helen Reed), Charles B. Pierce (Patrolman A.C. "Spark Plug" Benson), Jimmy Clem (Sgt. Mal Griffin), Jim Citty (Police Chief R.J. Sullivan), Robert Aquino (Sheriff Otis Baker), Cindy Butler (Peggy Loomis), Christine Ellsworth (Linda Mae Jenkins), Earl E. Smith (Dr. Kress), Steve Lyons (Roy Allen), Bud Davis (The Phantom Killer).

Director: Charles B. Pierce.
Screenplay: Earl E. Smith
Running Time: 90 min.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)

WARNING: This review has nothing but SPOILERS in it! So, if you haven’t seen the cinematic atrocity that is I Still Know What You Last Summer, then I suggest you skip the review altogether. On the other hand, if you have seen, or really don’t care, then please read on. 

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is one of the most ridiculous sequels in the Slasher genre, which is saying quite a lot.  It is so bad that it makes the first movie look like an absolute masterpiece. What ever flaws I Know What You Did Last Summer had, it was at least a serviceable horror film with solid performances from Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and a few scares to boot. There was at least an attempt by the filmmakers to build suspense and give the characters an arc; the sequel tosses all of that out the window and replaces it with a higher body count and a horribly contrived script.  The first film was riding on the coattails of Scream; when Wes Craven’s self aware horror film became a huge hit at the box office, and with critics, it led to an entire spawn of copy cats, I Know What You Last Summer being one of them. The other connection that the first film had with Scream is they shared the same screenwriter, Kevin Williamson.  The movie proved to be a hit at the box office, if not with the critics, and domestically grossed $72 million against a $17 million budget; a sequel was only inevitable. It certainly didn’t hurt that I Know What You Did Last Summer left itself open for second movie.

In an interview for Cinefantastique (December 1998), one of the producers, Stokely Chaffin,  plays down the slasher element and laughably attempts to sell it as a psychological thriller,
 “Plus there is a thread of surreal weaving in and out of the story. Is what seems to be happening really happening? How much of what is going on is a projection of Julie’s emotional state?”
This might be true if many of the scare scenes were shot from Julie’s point of view, but this is not the case, and too often the audience is tipped off to the reality of the situation.  There is a fairly silly scene in a night club where Julie sees Ben Willis, the killer, standing by the  railing on the second floor, staring at her. This could be dismissed as a hallucination, except that a second later Julie is in the foreground facing the camera when, suddenly, Ben Willis’ shadow materializes in the background.

 Of course, this begs the question, “How does a middle aged man wearing a slicker not call attention to himself in a night club?”  In the first film the slicker made sense as it was set in a fishing community and practically every other citizen wore one.  In the sequel, it is baffling as to why Ben Willis would still don it, considering that it has no practically purpose - his identity is well known to Julie, so it is not like he is trying to retain his anonymity.

Also, Ben Willis’ master plan is overly complicated and makes no sense; Julie and her roommate, Karla, receive a phone call from a local radio station and will win an all expense paid vacation to the Bahamas, over the 4^th of July weekend, if they can name the capital of Brazil. They, wrongly, guess Rio de Janeiro, but the deejay says they are correct and sends them the tickets. Of course, this turns out to be an elaborate ruse by Ben Willis to spring his trap on the unsuspecting Julie.  Think about that for a minute – Ben Willis’ gives Julie and friends an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas just so he can exact his revenge on her!  Couldn’t he have just snuck into her dorm room and bumped her off there?  Where is he getting the money to fund such a scheme?  What if Julie had other plans and couldn’t go on the trip? It is an extremely flimsy framework to hang your horror film on. It even makes less sense once it is revealed that Will Benson, the dreamy boy that has eyes for Julie, is, in fact, Ben Willis’ son (“Benson. Get it? Ben’s son!”), and has been in on the ruse from the get go – he supplied the voice of the obnoxious deejay.

In the same Cinefantastique article, director Danny Cannon explains, “The idea of a residence being menacing has been a pet project of mine for a long time, because I’ve always been fascinated by the haunted house idea. I wanted to stay away from the typical haunted house, though. You know the kind I’m talking about: some gothic monstrosity with the turrets and gloomy clouds constantly overhead. I had to try something different.” 

 Unfortunately, for Cannon and company, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is essentially your average slasher movie, complete with a thunderstorm, set on a tropical island; there is absolutely nothing that differentiates it from previous efforts.  If Cannon wanted to make a “haunted house” type movie, then why have the plot be so needlessly complicated? Instead of Julie and friends “winning” a trip to the Bahamas, why not have Will invite his friends to spend the weekend at his house?   While Julie has no romantic interest in Will, she does regard him as a FRIEND (the true horror to any male watching the film), so it isn't a stretch to believe that she would be willing to go along, especially after her fight with Ray.

The last scene of the movie only expose how ridiculous Ben Willis’ master plan was all along;  he rather easily sneaks into Julie and Ray’s house (some how having survived being shot EIGHT times), hides under their bed, and drags Julie underneath before she has time to react.  Why didn’t he do that in the first place? He could have saved himself a lot of time, money, and effort. Not to mention, there would have been a significantly smaller body count.  Many people have interpreted this ending as a being a dream, but I highly doubt that as it is clearly set up that Ben Willis is physically in the house;  the camera lingers over a track of muddy boot prints that Julie some how fails to notice.  Plus, someone closes the bathroom door while Ray is brushing his teeth.

I must admit that I loathe this ending, as well as similar endings in other horror films.  The original Halloween had an open ending, but that was genuinely creepy; the thought that Michael Myers is still out there is scary.  He could strike at any minute.  The ending to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, however, is silly and just a cheap shock – it’s the equivalent to being started at a haunted attraction when a teenager in zombie make up jumps out from behind the bushes. It may get a jump out of you, but it has no real lingering effect.  Were the filmmakers setting up a third Last Summer movie?  Jennifer Love Hewitt, in her interview with Cinefantastique, seems to suggest this,

“The ending of the film is something I don’t believe anybody is going to be laughing at, though. It’s a real shocker. Depending on how well I STILL KNOW does at the box office, there just maybe a third film in the series – maybe I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER AGAIN.”   Sadly, there was indeed a third film in the series, the direct to video, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, though Hewitt was not involved with that movie.  Good for her!  

The first film benefited from its rather simple premise; a group of friends, after a night of partying on the beach, accidentally run over a pedestrian and, fearing the repercussions it might have on their futures, dump the body in the ocean, promising each other never to talk about it again.  A year later, Julie, reluctantly returns to her hometown after finishing her freshman year of college and receives a letter that reads, “I know what you did last summer.”  The rest of the film concerns the efforts of Julie and friends to find out the identity of their stalker before it is too late.  It is a movie that is not without its flaws, but it is slickly made that it is easy to overlook them.  I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, on the other hand, is so absurd that you will either find it funny or extremely irritating.  I belong in the former category.

Ben Willis also has some incredible foresight; in order for his scheme to work, he must get Ray, Julie’s blue collar boyfriend, out of the way.  Julie initially invites Ray to go on the Bahama trip, in hopes that they can patch up their relationship. At first, Ray is absolutely against it, slightly peeved that Julie was so quick in turning down his offer to come back home on the fourth, but having no qualms in going to the Bahamas with her friends.  However, his best friend/comedy sidekick, Dave, tells him to lighten up, and convinces Ray to drive up and surprise Julie.  The two of them get in Ray’s truck, and, after a “hilarious” sing a long to White Snake’s “Here I Go Again,” come across a body lying on the side of the road. Ray pulls over to investigate, much to the displeasure of Dave.  Sadly, Dave’s apprehension proves to be correct as it turns out to be one big trap. The body is really a mannequin and Ben Willis takes no time in disposing of Dave. He then gets in the pick up truck and runs Ray off the road. Ray survives the ordeal and ends up in the hospital.  Again, it is incredibly uncanny that Ben Willis knew which route Ray and Dave were going to take.  What would he have done if Ray had not changed his mind? Did Ben Willis set up this trap knowing Ray would come this way or did he just assume it? What if he set up this trap and Ray never came? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?  What if someone else happen to pull over before Ray?  It is a scene that offers up more questions than answers. 

In this movie’s defense, this kind of scene springs up in practically every Slasher movie. The most famous being the canoe scene in The Burning. In that movie, a group of camp counselors on a raft come across a supposedly abandoned canoe in the lake and paddle over to retrieve it.  They get closer and closer, and suddenly the killer, Cropsey, springs up from the canoe and kills them with a pair of garden shears.  After this viewing this scene, I kept asking the following questions: How long was Cropsey in that canoe?  How did it not tip over when he sprang up to surprise the counselors? What if the people on the raft said, “To hell with the canoe,” and kept on padding?  However, the difference between The Burning and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is that in 1981 this scene was genuinely surprising and blindsided many people in the audience, but by 1998 it had become a cliché.

I personally theorize that Ben Willis is really a fallen super hero, it would explain not only his incredibly foresight, but his amazing regenerative powers as well.  Throughout the course of the two movies the following happens to be Ben Willis:

1)      He is run over by a car at a high speed and then dumped into the ocean.

2)      His hand right hand gets lopped off and once again he is dumped into the ocean.

3)      He is shot EIGHT times by Julie, falls into an open plot in the rain, and slowly gets consumed by mud.

Yet, not only does he survive these ordeals, but has a speedy recover each time.  There is no hint that he is supernatural entity, therefore he must be a mutant; one of Charles Xavier’s pupils that turned bad and made it his goal to torment humankind. It explains so much!  Also, if Willis’ main beef is against Julie, then why does he bump off the entire hotel staff?  What does he hope to gain? After all, the entire point of his plan was to get back at Julie, so there is absolutely no reason for him to be taking his wrath out on everyone else. 

Jennifer Love Hewitt was a rather effective heroine in the first movie, however, in the sequel her performance is far more pronounced; it often feels like she’s doing a parody of her character in the first film. She does a lot of screaming, shouting, and is very high strung through out; there are very few subtleties in her acting. In the first film, there is this brief moment when Julie is being hit on the geeky Max (Johnny Galecki) and while she puts on a friendly demeanor, you can tell she is uncomfortable simply by her body language, and by the look she gives Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar).  Julie is a goody two shoes and it is simply not in her character to tell anyone off, no matter how annoying that person might be.  The whole point is that the character actually gets stronger as the movie progresses, whereas in the sequel, she pretty much remains paranoid and angry; there is no room for character development. 

Freddie Prinze, Jr. was rather ill served by both of the Last Summer movies; in the first movie he is a red herring and the audience is misled into believe that he had in part in writing the letters.  In the sequel, his role is reduced to that of an extended cameo – the movie occasionally cuts back to Ray as he scrounges the resources that will take him to Julie; he pawns the engagement ring he bought Julie for a gun and manages to commandeer a boat. His total screen time adds up to a little over ten minutes.  The only reason Ray is in the sequel is to provide the gun that Julie uses on Ben Willis at the end, otherwise, he is a fairly useless character.

Though as pointless as Ray is, he is not nearly as inept as Julie’s best friend, Karla, played by popular singer, and Moesha star, Brandy.  The characters two defining characteristics are that she is sassy and a complete enabler; she encourages Julie to cheat on Ray with Will. Brandy does the best she can with the material that is given her, but there is very little for her to do, except scream and offer up a few quips.

I like Mekhi Phifer as, Karla’s constantly befuddled boyfriend, Tyrell. He is a perfect audience surrogate - he shifts from sheer disbelief to complete frustration at all the nonsense that is going on right in front of his eyes.  You’re not the only one, Tyrell!  He is also given the best line in the entire movie, “All I know this is the worst vacation of my life. I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m fucking horny, and I aint seen one goddamn psycho killer.”

Matthew Settle is appropriately bland in the early scenes, but once Will Benson's true identity is established, the limitations of his acting are cruel exposed; he sports a Cheshire Cat grin, does a lot of shouting, and offers up a few quips. It is  reminiscent of Timothy Olyphant's performance in Scream 2; the only difference being that Olyphant has a much greater screen presence.

There are few other flourishes that I like, particularly Jeffrey Comb’s offbeat performance as the uptight hotel manager – his awkward exchanges will Julie and friends are easily the highlights of the movie.

Muse Watson is a genuinely creepy villain and has great screen presence, unfortunately, his screen time is limited to the last minutes.  Jack Black has an amusing cameo as a stoner pool boy, who, when he’s about to meet his untimely end, tells Willis, “Don’t do that!”  The opening, in which Julie goes into a confessional and discloses her sins to a priest, is genuinely unnerving and fairly well played by Hewitt.  A nice sense of dread hangs over the proceedings, unfortunately, the filmmakers ruin it when it is revealed that the priest is really Ben Willis and that, in a not surprising twist, the whole thing was a nightmare.  Unfortunately, the bad greatly outweighs the good and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, despite what  its director and producer claims, is your quintessential Slasher movie with very few surprises and even less scares.

Credits

Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt (Julie), Freddie Prinze, Jr. (Ray), Brandy Norwood (Karla), Mekhi Phifer (Tyrell), Muse Watson (Ben Willis), Jeffrey Combs (Mr. Brooks), Matthew Settle (Will), Bill Cobbs (Estes), Jennifer Esposito (Nancy), John Hawkes (Dave), Jack Black (Titus – uncredited), Benjamin Brown (Darick).

Director: Danny Cannon
Screenplay: Trey Callaway.
Running Time: 100 min.

She's All That (1999)

She’s All That is a movie that I’ve been reluctant to write about, because I have covered the teen genre several other times. What else is there really to say?  However, She’s All That is a movie I MUST write about for it almost epitomizes everything I love (and loathe) about the genre; it is the quintessential teen comedy. It was also one of the most profitable teen movies, domestically grossing $63 million on a $10 million budget.  She’s All That came out during my Freshmen year at UW-Milwaukee, and after having seen the trailer, I remember thinking, “Wow! This movie looks f---in’ AWFUL!”  Yet, when it came out to rent on video, I decided to watch it, rationalizing that it might be unintentionally hilarious, but to my complete shock, I actually enjoyed the movie.  Granted, I went in with extremely low expectations, so the mere fact that it wasn’t the worst thing ever was genuinely surprising.  

The basic plot to She’s All That is that after his girlfriend has dumped him for an obnoxious reality star, Brock Hudson, she met on spring break, Zack Stiler (the big man on campus) claims that she is expendable and that any girl could take her place. His friend, Dean, disagrees and challenges Zack to a bet on whether he can transform any random girl into the Prom Queen.  After scanning over a few candidates, Dean chooses Laney Boggs; supposedly, the most unpopular girl in school. Why? Because she wears glasses, overalls, and loves art!  Zack is naturally horrified at this selection, but a bet is a bet, and he presses on.  This is the most ridiculous moment in She’s All That, because Rachael Leigh Cook, even with glasses and overalls, is still a very attractive women;  the filmmakers put almost no effort in deglamorizing her, probably out of fear that if they made her too nerdy audiences would bolt for the exits. 

GASP! THE UNSPEAKABLE HORROR! 

Couldn't they have at least give her acne? Or put duct tape on her glasses? ANYTHING! Laney Bogg is the hottest nerd in cinema history! Granted, the teen genre is saturated with gorgeous “unattractive” women, but in the case of She’s All That it is extremely ludicrous.  This scene is mercilessly mocked in Not Another Teen Movie (another guilty pleasure), where the very sight of Janey (the Laney surrogate), in her overalls and glasses, makes Jake and friends sick to their stomachs.  

Laney, at first, views Zack with utter contempt, but he eventually wins her over and, much to the surprise of no one in the audience, the two of them fall in love.  Will true love conquer all? Will Dean, in an act of jealously, try to sabotage the budding romance between Laney and Zack? Will Zack’s ex, Taylor, try to get back together with him after Brock proves to be a cad? Will all these story threads be resolved at the school dance? The answer to all these questions is an unequivocal ………YES!!!

It is surprising that I like She’s All That, given all of its flaws. The direction of the movie is on the level of a television sitcom. This isn't too surprising given that the director, Robert Iscove, began his career directing TV sitcoms, and would later helm the infamous box office bomb, From Justin To Kelly.  There are a few clever directorial flashes scattered throughout the film, like Zack having a nightmare that he's on The Real World with Brock, while Laney and Taylor start talking trash about him. The most eye popping moment occurs when Taylor tells Zack about how she met Brock during spring break;  the two of them are sitting on a bench outside of the high school. The film then cuts to a close up of Taylor as begins the story, then the camera pans over to reveal an outdoor pool and bunch of spring breakers partying. It's a nice transition from the present to the past without resorting to usual cinematic trickery of dissolves or wavy effects. Sadly, these moments prove to be the exception rather than rule.

The script itself is an updated version of the George Bernard Shaw classic Pygmalion.  Of course, She’s All That was not the only comedy to transpose a classic story into a high school setting, this was fairly common trend in the teen genre; Clueless was an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, 1O Things I Hate About You was a thinly disguised The Taming of the Shrew, and She’s The Man gave Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night an unnecessary face lift.  She’s All That also steals heavily from the John Hughes classic Pretty in Pink; the leads, like in that film, come from the opposite sides of the tracks. Zack belongs to the upper crust of society, his father is a doctor, while Laney‘s father is a pool cleaner and the family struggles to get by. The script was written by R. Lee Fleming, Jr., who would later pen the screenplay to Get Over It, which features the novel twist of having the protagonist’s girlfriend dump him for………an obnoxious member of the boy band, The Swingtown Lads.  Where do you get these brilliant ideas, Fleming?  It should also be noted that Get Over It is centered around a high school musical production of the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  WHOA! Fleming covered all the bases in the film.  There is, however, an especially funny scene where Zack agrees to meet Laney at an art center and finds himself having to endure a piece of performance art that consists of two midgets in leotards and a guy in a speedo uttering all sorts of nonsense, while Electronica music plays in the background. The look of shock on Zack's face is absolute priceless.

While Fleming’s script to She’s All That is strictly by the numbers,it does gets a lot of mileage out of its overqualified cast.  The name Freddie Prinze, Jr. often elicits derision when brought up in a conversation, but he is immensely charming in the role of Zack Siler. Zack, as played by Prinze, is a guy that has made a living coasting on his charismatic personality to the point that he believes his own hype; he is simply incapable of doing any wrong.  His ego takes a hit when his girlfriend unceremoniously dumps him and, to add insult to injury, he is initially rebuked by Laney. He has surrounded himself with enablers and suck ups that Laney turns out to be a breath of fresh air; she has no preconceived notions of him, and, as a result, this allows Zack to be his genuine self when he is around her.  If there is a flaw in Prinze’s performance, it is that someone as intelligent as Zack would never allow himself to be suckered into accepting Dean’s bet. Zack is a rather considerate guy, despite being a popular jock, that it seems rather uncharacteristic of him to use someone just so to prove a point. Then again, even the most intelligent person is often reduced to an irrational state after a painful break up.  It is a shame that after this movie came out, Freddie Prinze, Jr. seemed fairly content on playing the same type of role over and over again to the point that it devolved into self parody; the nadir of his career being the dreadful suspense-comedy Head Over Heels.  

  

Rachael Leigh Cook gives it her all despite all the contrivances the script constantly throws her way. It is revealed that Laney had a tough childhood (her mother died when he was young) and she wears a masks of complete indifference, never allowing anyone to get close, out of fear that they will eventually hurt her. Keith Phipps, in his review for The Onion, described Cook as being “unappealing” in this film, but I think that can largely be blamed on Fleming's writing - Laney is very high strung and devoid of any humor. When Zack comments on how beautiful the ocean looks, Laney rants about how polluted it is. However, in fairness to Fleming, this is a crucial part of her character arc, Laney starts off as being a very aloof and sheltered individual, but through Zack's influence begins to open up and develop a sense of humor; it's fitting that the final shot of the movie is a close up of her laughing. Cook gives a believable performance and manages to breathe life into a pretty underwritten character.  The main flaw in the writing is that Laney shows almost no awkwardness in her transition from being a socially inept nerd to the new campus hottie. It also complete betrays the character by having her go the prom with a complete tool like Dean (whom she doesn't like), but agrees to anyways, solely because the script demands it.  How else can Zack fully express his love for Laney and Dean get his just comeuppance? 

Is this the same girl? It can't be! SHE'S HOT!!!! 

Naturally, the movie has to find a way to separate the lovers before they can be lovingly reunited at the movie's end. In this case, Dean tells Laney about the bet and Zack confirms it. This pisses her off and she storms out of the room. Zack makes multiple attempts at calling her, but she refuses to take any of his phone calls. This portion of the movie irritates the living hell out of me! It's a problem that could easily be resolved in minutes if Laney would just allow Zack explain. Unfortunately, it is drawn out to the point of tedium. The audience knows Laney and Zack are going to end up together, but the movie still has a half hour to go, so they must delay the inevitable some how. "Hey, let's have Laney go to the dance with Dean!" Again, it should be noted that Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook do an admirable job with the material they have been given.

The late Paul Walker was a fairly limited actor, but he’s perfectly cast as the douche bag Dean. Dean is such a phony that Walker’s bland performance is actually beneficial to the film; the audience is supposed to hate Dean. A more accomplished actor might have given a more nuanced performance, but Walker is incapable of such depth, hence we despise Dean from the very get go. He is a guy that we love to hate.  Ditto for Jodi Lyn O' Keefe as Zack's bitchy ex, Taylor Vaughan.

She's All That is loaded with talent in the supporting cast, many of whom went on to bigger and better things:

Matthew Lillard is funny as the narcissistic reality star, Brock Hudson. Lillard is one of those actors that you will find either hilarious or absolutely insufferable; I belong to the former camp myself.  He is always amusing, whether it's watching reruns of himself on television on commenting, or doing a spastic dance at a party. Despite his prominent billing in the credits, Lillard has very little screen time, but he is fairly energetic and livens up the scenes he is in.

Elden Henson as Laney's nerdy best, Jesse, is fun too watch as well. In a nice turn, Jesse instantly takes a liking to Zack and even encourages Laney to go on a date him. In most teen comedies, the nerdy best friend is secretly in love with the leading lady and is usually resentful of anyone that he deems a threat. Hell, Stephen King even used this trope in his novel (and teleplay) The Stand.  In She's All That, Jesse and Laney are just friends and he only wants to see her happy.  He even manages to hook up with Zack's sister, Mackenzie (Anna Paquin), at the end. Not bad at all!
Then again, Jesse is also responsible for one of most infuriating moments in the film - while in the rest room, he over hears Dean boasting to his pals about how he is going to rob Laney of her virginity; he has paid $300 for a motel room.  After hearing this, Jesse tells Mackenzie and then they proceed to tell Zack. My question is - WHY DOESN'T HE TELL LANEY?  Given the fact that they have been best friends their entire lives, it would be logical to assume that Laney would believe Jesse. There simply no reason for her to doubt him! Jesse interrupts Zack while he's in the middle of giving his prom king acceptance speech and it takes him at least a minute to get Zack's attention!  Damn you R. Lee Fleming Jr. and your terrible screen writing!

Dulé Hill is likable as Preston. He is the voice of reason in Zack's group of friends; when Dean and Zack make the bet, he is the one that is questioning the whole thing. He is nice to Laney and invites her to play a game of volleyball, and is openly disgusted when Dean does his premature boasting in the rest room. In fact, Preston straight out tells Dean that Laney would never sleep with a guy like him.

Gabrielle Union has a couple of nice moments as Katie, Taylor's friend and Prestons' girlfriend. Katie is interesting, because despite being of Taylor's best friends, she takes an instant liking to Laney. She is especially impressed at how Laney, a wallflower, is able to handle herself among the popular crowd. When Laney accepts Preston's invitation to play volleyball, Katie moved by the gesture also agrees to join in. It is also Katie that nominates Laney for Prom Queen. It's nice departure from the usual popular girl stereotype found in teen comedies - vapid, selfish, and extremely bitchy. Granted, Taylor does a nice job living up to those on her very own.

Anna Paquin as Mackenizie. I almost think Paquin would have been a better choice for the role of Laney, because of her unconventionally pretty look.  She certainly would have been more believable in the earlier scenes, when Laney is a full fledged nerd.  As it is, Paquin is given the thankless role of Zack's sympathetic sister, Mackenzie. She is a likable enough, but it's obvious the reason she was cast was to bring an air of respectability to the movie; she is an Oscar winner, after all.

Clea Duvall is an actress that constantly pops up in movies; you may not know her name, but you definitely recognize her face. She is all too convincing as Laney's arty, morbid classmate Misty. She even suggest that Laney should think about committing suicide, because most artists were not appreciated until after they had died.  Misty gets her just comeuppance when Laney stumbles upon her throwing up in the toilet at a party. Laney initially looks after her, but Misty makes an extremely bitchy comment before passing out on the floor.  Laney then takes the opportunity to make her face up like that of a clown.

Kevin Pollak is funny and genuinely moving as Laney sometimes oblivious, but always compassionate father. He is always a joy to watch, whether it's guessing at the answers on Jeopardy and always getting them wrong, or giving his daughter a heart to heart talk.  It's a nice role for Pollak and he manages to bring some levity to the proceedings when the film most desperately needs it.

She's All That isn't world shattering cinema, but it is an entertaining movie. It doesn't have any high aspirations, it just merely wants to entertain a teenage audience for ninety minute and does so rather admirably. Hell, it certainly says a lot about the movie that I can still enjoy it in my thirties; that's usually not the case when it comes to these types of films.  While it may not be the most original teen comedy, it's probably one of the better ones to come out of the 90s, thanks to its likable and talented cast. It's also features of one of the most catchy songs of all time, "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer.

Credits
Cast:  Freddie Prinze, Jr. (Zack Siler), Rachael Leigh Cook (Laney Boggs), Matthew Lillard (Brock Hudson), Paul Walker (Dean Sampson), Jodi Lyn O’ Keefe (Taylor Vaughan), Anna Paquin (Mackenzie Siler),  Kevin Pollak (Wayne Boggs), Elden Henson (Jesse Jackson), Kieran Culkin (Simon Boggs), Gabrielle Union (Katie), Dulé Hill (Preston), Clea Duvall (Misty), Tamara Mello (Chandler), Usher Raymond (Campus D.J.),  Debbi Morgan (Ms. Rousseau), Tim Matheson (Harlan Siler) Lil’ Kim (Alex), Chris Owen (Derek Funkhouser Rutley), Alexis Arquette (Mitch), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Girl in Cafeteria).

Director: Robert Iscove
Screenplay: R. Lee Fleming, Jr.

Running Time:  95 min.

Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

Humanoids from the Deep is absolute garbage. It is completely unapologetic for what it is that you will either find it absolutely repugnant, or be greatly amused by it. If you have a weak stomach, then this is definitely not the movie for you.  The plot centers around half man, half fish mutations that terrorize a small fishing community; their M.O. is to kill the men and rape the women. It is, essentially, a sleazier version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon; the humanoids act out what the Gill Man could only imagine. Logically speaking, the storyline makes absolutely no sense, but this is a Roger Corman production, therefore, he had to find a way to shoe horn in gratuitous sex and violence some how. The director, Barbara Peeters, and co-star, Ann Turkel, publicly disowned the movie after witnessing all the additions (nudity and violence) Corman had ordered.

In fact, it is fairly easy to differentiate between the footage shot by Peeters and the footage that was added during post production; in one truly bizarre scene, a couple are camping out on the beach in a tent. It turns out that the male is a ventriloquist and is speaking to his curvaceous girlfriend through his dummy, throwing all sorts of terrible puns her way ("Would you like to see my wood?")  The girlfriend is completely turned on by this and sheds all her clothes, but before they can engage in some sweet whoopee, a humanoid tears through the tent, kills the ventriloquist, and rapes the poor woman.  There are even a few odd cutaway shots of the dummy reacting to the all the mayhem.

What the hell? This was an obvious addition; these characters don't appear in any of the previous scenes, nor does the movie provide us with the follow up. There is no scene in which the main character, Jim Hill, and Dr. Susan Drake stumbles upon their remains, nor do any of the townsfolk inquire about their whereabouts. 

Here are a just a few observations I made about Humanoids from the Deep, both good and bad (SPOILERS):

1) The first death in the movie is a young boy, Jackie; who happens to fall into the water while trying to help his father reel in (what they believe to be) a fish. This directly recalls the death of  young boy, Alex Kinter, in Jaw. However, the difference between the two is that Alex's death in Jaws had a narrative function while Jackie's death is purely for shock value; it doesn't drive the story in any way and is quickly forgotten about.

2)  Humanoids from the Deep seems to take a lot of its cues from Halloween, especially in the use of the POV shot. There are a whole bunch of these scattered throughout the film. The POV shot is first utilized in the film to show that someone/something is spying on the vacuous blonde, Perry Larson (clad in a negligee). This leads to a false scare (one of many); Perry is startled by a noise from outside and goes to investigate (she grabs a two pronged fork for protection), JUST THEN....her boyfriend, Jerry, jumps into the frame. Jerry must have ninja training, because he is able to sneak up behind her without making a noise.  This gag gets repeated later on in the movie, when Perry and Jerry are playing around in the water, and Jerry disappears underneath the waves. Has he been pulled under by the humanoids? Perry begins to worry, but just then he springs up from the water.  Of course, anyone familiar with horror films knows that practical jokers, like Jerry, never make it to the end; after having his cheap laugh, Jerry is grabbed by a humanoid and has half his face torn off. It is a truly grisly end. Perry tries to run for help, but to no avail. However, she survives this traumatic ordeal and is later revealed to be pregnant.

3) The movie's main subplot concerns the building of a cannery in the town that will, supposedly, bring about more jobs to the community. This is greeted with enthusiasm by most of the locals, except Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena), a Native American, who feels that the cannery is not only a violation of nature, but a treaty that was signed between his people and the white man years ago. He threatens to take legal action on the matter, which doesn't sit well with local fisherman, Hank Slattery (Vic Morrow), and his cronies. Hank tries to strong arm Johnny into changing his mind; even going so far as throwing a Molotov cocktail at Johnny's house. Naturally, it's only a matter of time before Hank meets his comeuppance at the claws of a humanoid. NOPE! In any interesting twist, Hank not only survives the blood fest, but actually redeems himself as well; he risks his life to save a little girl that is in peril. It looks like he's going to come to a bloody end, when a humanoid grabs his ankle and he is saved.....by Johnny Eagle.  In most movies, Hank would prove himself a coward and abandon the little girl, instead he behaves in a rather honorable manner. It's interesting that an exploitation film would actually take the time to give its main (human) villain a character arc.

4) I don't know what it is, but I find Doug McClure to be an extremely likable actor. He is rather credible as Jim Hill,  a local fisherman who is desperately trying to find a solution to the problem at hand. His sincere, straight forward performance gives this movie a huge boost; if Humanoids of the Deep were made today, it would be done in a tongue in cheek manner, with the cast constantly mugging it up for the cameras (see Sharknado). Sure, Humanoids from the Deep has an incredibly ridiculous premise, but having a pro like McClure brings an air of credibility to the proceedings.
McClure was a fixture in cheesy 1970s science fiction movies, appearing in such titles like The Land That Time Forgot, Warlords of Atlantis, and At The Earth's Core. Though, to people in my generation, he is probably best known for his portrayal as Kyle Applegate, the dimwitted mayor, in the TV show, Out of this World. 

5) The town is holding its annual carnival on the docks and prominently on display is the local beauty queen, Miss Salmon (clad in a bikini), who is accompanied by an annoying radio announcer. The movie constantly keeps cutting to Miss Salmon throughout all the chaos that ensues at the end (the humanoids bust out from under the docks and start attacking the townspeople) that we naturally assume she is a goner, especially when she loses her bikini top while being cornered by one of the monsters. Yet, once again, the movie defies our expectations by having Miss Salmon hurl bricks at the creature's head;  she not only inflicts significant damage on the monster, but escapes as well. It should also noted that Miss Salmon is played by Linda Shayne, who went on to write and co-star in 1983 sex comedy Screwballs. 

6) Humanoids from the Deep has often been labeled misogynistic by critics and its original director. This criticism is quite understandably given the nudity on display and the whole "raping the woman" subplot. While it's interesting to see Miss Salmon using her wits to escape the clutches of the title monster, the scene could still be construed as sexist given the fact that she is topless, which leads to a lot of bouncing while fighting off the creature. It's not exactly a ringing endorsement for feminism! Yet, the film's detractors (there are plenty) often overlook the scene that follows, for it completely subverts the horror conventions of the time.
Jim's wife, Carol, is all alone in the house with their baby, when one of the humanoids appears outside the living room window. Carol grabs the baby and hides it in a safe place; the closet. The only weapon she has at her disposal is a butcher's knife. The monster smashes through the front door and corners Carol in the kitchen.  This type of of scene has been played out many times, even in non-horror movies, and we naturally expect Jim to arrive just in the nick of time to save Carol. In John Carpenter's Halloween, Dr. Loomis arrives just in the nick of time to save Laurie from the death grip of Michael Myers, so it's only a given Jim will barge in the house and blast the monsters into a million pieces.  However, this doesn't happen!  It looks like it is curtains for Carol, when she grabs a bottle of dish soap and squirts it in the monster's eyes. This temporarily blinds the monster and Carol wastes no time hacking it to pieces with the knife. It's an interesting scene, because Carol is an average woman using her intelligence to take down a much stronger foe. Again, if Humanoids were made today, there would  be a scene that establishes Carol as being a complete bad ass, hence her taking down one of the monsters wouldn't be a surprise. Carol, on the other hand, is a house wife protecting her child from an outside menace; she uses whatever is at her disposal to take down the slimy intruder. This moment is even more surprising given the fact that Carol isn't even the main female in the story; that would be Dr. Susan Drake. 

7) My favorite moment in the movie is when townspeople realize that they greatly outnumber the humanoids and begin to turn the tables on their tormentors; in a long, high angle shot, we are shown a humanoid surrounded by group of burly men. After a moment hesitation, they gang up on the monster and kick the living crap out of it. It's a rather amusing moment. It must be said that, for a low budget movie, the make up effects, by Rob Bottin, are extremely well done. The humanoids are genuinely scary at times, especially when they are kept in the shadows.  Rob Bottin would go onto bigger and better things like The Howling and The Thing. 
.

The term "acquired taste" was invented for movies like Humanoids for the Deep. It's really hard to defend a movie like this, but then again, the movie never asks for a defense, it is what it is. It's a cheap piece of exploitation that exists solely to make a quick buck; it has absolutely zero artistic pretenses. It's the cinematic equivalent of junk food, particularly Doritos - it's not good for you and can often make you sick, but it's addictive nonetheless.




Credits
Cast: Doug McClure (Jim Hill), Ann Turkel (Dr. Susan Drake), Vic Morrow (Hank Slattery), Cindy Weintraub (Carol Hill), Anthony Pena (Johnny Eagle), Denise Galik  (Linda Beale), Lynn Theel (Peggy Larson), Meegan King (Jerry Potter), Breckin Costin (Deke Jensen), Linda Shayne (Susan - Miss Salmon), Greg Travis (Mike Michaels), Lisa Glaser (Becky), David Strassman (Billy), Don Maxwell (Dickie Moore), Bruce Monette (Jack Potter).

Director: Barbara Peeters
Screenplay: William Martin (Frederick James).  Story by Frank Arnold & Martin B. Cohen.
Running Time: 80 minutes.