Road to Hell (2012)

Recently Albert Pyun sent me a link to screen his new film Road to Hell on YouTube.  The film is pretty much finished, and looking to be released by Lions Gate in the first quarter of 2014, so this screener was for us reviewers and whatnot to take a look at it for him to see if there were any glaring issues.  I asked him if he wanted me to write a review of it now, and he did, so here we are.  Let's see how it went.

Road to Hell is a sequel to Streets of Fire, with DTVC favorite Michael Paré reprising his role as Tom Cody.  He's headed to see his long lost love Ellen in Edge City, and finds himself on an isolated desert road.  This road he's on is Purgatory, and the Archangel Gabriel (played by Joei Fulco) is trying to save Cody's soul before the Devil can take it.  On the way, he encounters two spree killers: Caitlin and Ashley, dangerous women with their own demons.  Will he survive this meeting?  And if he does, will he find the redemption he seeks in Edge City?



I really liked this movie.  One of Pyun's best in my opinion, especially among his newer films.  It's bold and innovative, and his penchant for taking chances pays off here as well as I've ever seen it.  The film looks really nice, and he captures the liminal space aspect we want from a film taking place in purgatory.  Cynthia Curnan's story fits Albert's directing style organically, as does the score featuring longtime Pyun composer Anthony Riparetti and songs performed by The Roxy Gunn Project (with lead singer Roxy Gunn playing Cody's daughter).  And then there was Paré, who got a film worthy of one of his most iconic characters, and he nailed it completely.  It's like he never lost touch with that character after all these years, yet he still moved him forward to make him into the character Cynthia wrote for him.  On top of Paré, I really liked Joei Fulco as Gabriel, and Claire Kramer as Caitlin, plus Courtney Peldon as Ashley and Pyun mainstay Deborah Van Valkenburgh reprising her role as Cody's sister.  It's a little gory, so if you have a weak stomach you may want to be careful, but if you're looking for something different, and bloody, Road to Hell delivers.

 We've done almost all of Pyun's films here at the DTVC, and I'm not about to try to figure out where this one stands with ones like Brainsmasher or Nemesis, or really any others, because this one is so different.  I mean, I could recognize elements from films like Radioactive Dreams or Vicious Lips, and maybe the bloody, violent, dark nature of Road to Hell is what he ultimately wanted Cyborg to be; but really, what's there is Pyun's unique vision and desire to try new things and take risks, which is something you can see in a lot of his films.  And like those films, it doesn't always work-- like I thought his attempt to explore Ellen Dream's (Roxy Gunn) backstory in an interview with a local radio host didn't come off as natural, even though I liked that it had a rock n' roll feel like the rest of the film-- but more of his risks and instincts paid off here than didn't, and we were left with something that I found to be very entertaining, and a distinctly Pyun film experience.



When I told my girlfriend I was reviewing a film with Michael Paré in it, she told me that growing up she had a pin-up of him from her Teen Beat on her wall, maybe from Eddie and the Cruisers.  For the most part here at the DTVC, we've either done his DTV stuff from the 90s where he had lead parts, or his recent DTV work where he's often either the baddie or has a small cameo.  To see him here though, even as the lead in a picture that is very different from the usual action flick, was really great, and I think brought back some of that 80s heartthrob magic.  Between Pyun's direction, and Jim Hagopian and Michael Su's cinematography, they really leaned on Paré's face, and his more mature features that he has now lent themselves really well in crafting that Film Noir vibe Pyun was going for, but without him being the lead that he is, it wouldn't have come off, and he has that same leading man charisma that he had back then.  So while it's great to see him in anything, and those cameos and roles as baddies are fun, we need more films like this with him in the lead, and hopefully we'll get them.

In the lead up to this film, Pyun was telling us on his Facebook page about this new actress Joei Fulco he found and cast in this film and the upcoming Cyborg Nemesis.  I know from having seen a lot of his films that he has a great instinct for young talent, especially young women, and isn't afraid to lean on them in key scenes, so I was curious to see what he was talking about with Fulco.  I didn't have long to wait, because she starts the film off introducing us to the action, and he wasn't exaggerating about her talent.  This was a tough role he put on her, having to give us the backstory in a monologue at the beginning of the film, when all we want is some action to draw us in, she's doing it with just her voice and her face; but she did it, she read it almost like she was having a conversation with us, and it all completely worked.  If she doesn't pull that off, not only does Pyun risk us not being engaged with his film right from the start, but also the redemptive quality of Paré's Cody is totally lost on us.  Instead we're rooting for Cody because of Fulco's Gabriel, which sets the stage for the rest of the film to work.



I mentioned above that Pyun drew a lot from Film Noir, and another genre he drew from that we've seen him go to before is the 50s and 60s dangerous women exploitation film.  I've seen other film makers try to emulate this kind of Russ Meyer film too, and miss completely.  I think because Pyun has always gone deeper than just the sex aspect, and makes his women in these films fully rounded characters, which makes it work much better; and seeing that aspect in the characters of Caitlin and Ashley is a great example.  They aren't just wild women who take their clothes off, make-out, and kill, they have motivations for their actions, and as such when they interact with Cody things are more tense and less predictable.  It's touches like that in Pyun's films that I often enjoy no matter what, but when they work really well like they did here, it's so much better.

Fans of Streets of Fire will like the music, and many songs from the original are here.  The Roxy Gunn Project does some, with Roxy Gunn playing Ellen's daughter and performing them as the soundtrack to Cody's adventure, adding to the tone of Cody's redemptive quest.  They definitely had that 80s feel that the original film had, not to mention the outfits of the band performing at the end of the film.  It's interesting when you think of films Pyun did like Radioactive Dreams and Vicious Lips which were from that time and had some of the elements of Streets of Fire, to then feel like here I'm seeing him bring elements from those films into this was really cool.  Unfortunately, the late Dan Hartman's "I Can Dream About You" didn't make an appearance.  I guess you can't have everything.



No review of an Albert Pyun film would be complete without playing our favorite game: Name the Pyun Mainstay.  We'll start with the obvious one, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, who wasn't in this so much for being a Pyun mainstay as she was reprising her role from Streets of Fire, but she's still a mainstay and needs to be included.  She has a few scenes where she's interviewed by a police interrogator about her brother, plus a flashback scene, then comes in at the end to interact with Cody.  I think fans of the first film will enjoy seeing her here.  Speaking of the police interrogator, he's voiced by none other than Norbert Weisser.  We don't see him on-screen, just hear his voice, but it's him all right, and this makes 16 films of his that he's done with Pyun that we've reviewed here.  Finally, Scott Paulin also does some voice work, playing a man who drives Paré into Edge City.  Like Weisser, we never see him on screen.  Also, his character name is Brick Bardo, keeping up Pyun's tradition of having a character with that name in his films.

As I said above, it looks like this will be out in the first quarter of next year.  For updates on it you can follow Albert Pyun on Twitter @albertpyunfilms and like him on Facebook at Albert Pyun Movies.  The movie is very unique, but I think long time Pyun and Paré fans should definitely check it out, and really anyone looking for a different and compelling film experience.  I love it when film makers take chances, and Pyun always does that; but he also has a wealth of skill and experience as a director, and all of that comes together here and really works.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253859/

Invasion aka Infection (2005)

We've had this one in the Netflix Instant queue for sometime, and often, as we were about to get to it, we'd either get our hands on an Albert Pyun film I wanted to do more, or he'd release a film that would jump this in the priority line.  But we're here now, ready to make it happen.

Invasion takes place in a small town, where a police officer, Brick Bardo (played by Pyun mainstay Scott Paulin) gets a call to help out a man doing some night fishing in a remote state park.  When he gets there, he finds a meteorite, and is also accosted by the man he's there to help, who implants a bug in his ear, Invasion of the Body Snatchers/Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn style.  As you can imagine, these bugs take control of the host, whose job it is to spread the bugs to more people.  Bardo's first victims: a couple chilling at Lover's Lane down the road.  Problem, he gets the guy, but the girl (played by Paulin's daughter, Jenny Paulin Dare (as Virginia Dare)) escapes in Bardo's vehicle.  Trapped in the park, she now has to survive long enough until help arrives.



I don't know where to go with this one.  The bulk of it is a one-take found footage film shot from a camera mounted to the police car's dash.  The camera only moves as the car moves.  We seldom see people speaking on-screen.  I thought about it like this: if Albert put a comment on the blog or sent an e-mail telling me "I'm working on this new project.  It'll be like a classic 1950s sci-fi drive-in flick, only almost the entire thing will be shot in one take from a camera on a police car dashboard, like found footage, but on another level.  Cynthia Curnan is writing, Tony Riparetti is doing the score, and I have this great new cinematographer, Jim Hagopian.  Plus, we have Scott Paulin and Norbert Weisser, and Paulin's daughter Jenny is a real talent.  I'm really excited for this."  I'd read that, and think "I can't wait to see this!", because it seems like such a good idea.  But in practice, I think it's a little too long.  A 35-minute short probably would've nailed it, because the talent is there-- including Pyun-- it's just hard to maintain a movie for over an hour in this manner.

I have to give Pyun credit for going for it again, and I don't see this as a total failure.  I went on Netflix to see the reviews-- which can often be a harrowing experience-- and found more people that felt the way I did than I thought.  The thing is, it sounds gimmicky, and it could've been gimmicky, but Pyun isn't doing it that way.  If that were the case, he wouldn't have had the attention to detail in other areas that he did; and the work it must've taken to coordinate these scenes as he's shooting so much in one take must've been immense, plus the cinematography was not simply found footage all over the place crap, it all worked.  This was an attempt to take a new approach to movie making from an established and experienced film maker, and for me, with the talent he had, I think this could've worked over a shorter time; but there were people who not only disagreed with me, but disagreed with my misgivings and liked it more than I did.  Besides, even Citizen Kane has gotten "worst movie ever!" type reviews, so I imagine Pyun has to take those ones with a grain of salt.



One aspect of his films that I've noticed now that I've watched quite of few of them, is that he has a knack for casting really strong young actresses.  I don't know if, in the low-budget film world, too many casting directors don't give credence to female acting talent, or only focus on beauty and not talent too when they shoot, but it seems like Pyun consistently casts great young women, and leans on them for their great performances to carry his films.  We saw it here with Jenny Dare Paulin, especially one scene that required her to react for an extended period on-screen while we listened to the sounds of a violent struggle going on on the other side of her walkie-talkie.  It looked like a tough scene to act through, and she did really well.  Another thing I wanted to remark on is her outfit.  Her character had her prom that night, so she's in her prom dress, and while being modern, there's something very 1950s about it, so we can see that 1950s sci-fi movie element of the film in her that way.  These are the kinds of touches that Pyun adds to films that makes even ones like this that didn't totally work, at least work on some level.

As always, it's time to play our favorite game: name that Pyun Mainstay!  First up, we had, as mentioned above, Scott Paulin as the first sheriff.  Norbert Weisser plays the voice of an expert on the invasion/infection, which we hear from Jenny Dare's standpoint through her radio; and then he plays the deputy on-screen, though the voice of the deputy on the radio is someone else.  I remember when I first saw Weisser on-screen, I was like "hey, but his voice was...?", then I saw it in the credits.  Also, Jenny Dare Paulin was not the only mainstay offspring in the film.  Morgan Weisser, Norbert's son, played Dare Paulin's boyfriend.  He was 34 when this was made, which might explain why there were no close-ups on him playing a high schooler-- I'm 34 now, and who knows if I could play a high schooler either.



I want to finish with my own personal take on the 1950s invasion film.  For me, I came into contact with them in two ways: growing up on late-night or early morning television; and through MST3K.  With TV going almost exclusively with either new movies, or syndicated reruns of first-run programming; and with MST3K having been off the air for many years now, many people don't have the access to that kind of movie like they used to.  Sure, they know Plan 9 or whatever, but to know the genre and the type of film consistently to recognize aspects like the old guy needing help with his car, or the old townsperson who's been infected, it helps in understanding where someone like Pyun making a movie like Invasion is trying to go.  It's okay to still not like it after that-- one could make the case that MST3K makes fun of these movies because they're so bad, so why be inspired by them?-- but I think what's going on is people aren't getting what Pyun's going for, because a lot of them haven't been exposed to it, so they judge it harshly.  It's just a theory, and I could be wrong.

And with that, let's wrap this up.  This is available on Netflix Instant.  It says 80 minutes, but roughly 15 is credits, and then about five is prologue and epilogue, leaving you with an hour of one-take dashboard cam found footage.  If that sounds intriguing, I say go for it.  I will say, while it's probably not for everyone, you aren't watching a film based on a gimmick.  Pyun is really going out on a limb to try something different.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472465/

Tales of an Ancient Empire aka Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire (2009)

I was trying to think when I first saw this listed on imdb. I want to say, almost as long as the DTVC has existed, this has been listed in various forms of development with rumored cast members added and dropped and whatnot. Then we were lucky enough to have the film's director, DTVC Hall of Famer Albert Pyun, come to us for feedback on things like the introduction, and keeping us up-to-date on its status. Well, now it's finally here, on the shelves, released from Lion's Gate. Let's see how it did.

Tales of an Ancient Empire is the long awaited sequel to The Sword and the Sorcerer. It follows the heroine Princess Tanis as she searches for her half-siblings, including the rogue Kevin Sorbo; and her father, an even bigger rogue and better fighter, Michael Paré. She needs them to defeat the evil vampiress Xia, who has taken over her kingdom, Abelar. Will they prevail?



This was a very interesting flick that unfortunately had a very unfulfilling ending. It started a tad slow, with the first 40 minutes or so jumping in and out of flashback mode, but I think it overcame that and became something that was a cool take on the modern sword and sorcery flick, using some cool cinematic techniques, genre mixing, and giving it a more macabre edge; but that ending was, I don't know, not there. It was like a Cliff's Notes version of an ending, with a few still shots, some drawings, and a narrator telling us what happened. We watch the sword and sorcery adventure flick for the end battle, to see our hero overcome the villain, and without that it makes everything else lose its meaning. Also, despite what the cover says, this was a tale centered on the princess, played by Melissa Ordway, and to have Sorbo be the one to slay the villain (or rather, to be told it was Sorbo by the narrator) betrayed that. Even if we know roughly what's going to happen, if we'd only had something, just a little battle, I would've felt better about this, because otherwise it was pretty good.

Before I get any further in, I want to discuss the cover, because, if you've been rockin' with the DTVC for some time, you know my feelings on misleading covers, and this is one. What makes this one different, though, is that Pyun himself on his Facebook page came out against the cover because it was misleading and not the way he wanted to sell his film. I'm not saying there's a Sorbo bait and switch, but he's more the supporting character to Melissa Ordway's hero, and the other guy (Matthew Wellig) is barely in the film for two scenes, while the cover makes it look like he and Sorbo are embarking on this film-length quest together. Pyun said Lion's Gate had the say on the cover, but what I don't get is, why wouldn't they want Ordway on it with Sorbo? She's very attractive, and I imagine she'd sell more copies than Wellig, especially in the demographic that sword and sorcery caters to. You already have enough beefcake in Sorbo, why not add some beauty too, and at the same time not be so obviously misleading the consumer.



Melissa Ordway takes her place in line among the long list of Pyun female protagonists. This is the one thing that I think will frustrate people misled by the cover the most, that I, having seen over thirty of Albert's films, was very comfortable with. I've always liked how he works in very testosterone heavy genres, like action and sci-fi, and instead of sticking with the conventions, he's bucked them by casting women in the lead roles, and not making them women playing men, or women as mere objects for men to ogle, but real women as real heroines. Again, it wouldn't have been too hard to put her on the cover with Sorbo, and by not doing it, it does both Pyun and Ordway a disservice. Also, a previous Pyun protagonist, Victoria Maurette, co-stars. You may remember her from Bulletface and Left for Dead-- the latter I unfortunately haven't seen yet. It was cool to see her working with Pyun on another project, and she was as good here as she was in Bulletface, so hopefully this won't be the last of his films we see her in.

One thing that I thought was really cool about this movie was the pulp comic book feel it had. The imagery, between the actual drawings and the live action scenes, was great. A lot of the shots had the feel of a comic book frame, but in a way that retained their cinematic qualities. There were also some settings that felt like westerns, Japanese samurai films, or Hong Kong cinema. These are the things that I come to an Albert Pyun film for, to see things done that I've never seen, knowing that he's going to take risks and try something new and not play it safe. He could've just made another Hercules episode, and I think a lot of people would've been happy, but he wouldn't have, and I like and respect that. Another thing worth pointing out, the script was written by Cynthia Curnan, and the music done by Tony Riparetti, two people who have worked closely with Pyun on projects in the past. There was a symbiosis between director, music, and story because of that that enhanced the film. This wasn't just a script that was thrust on Pyun to direct, and the music wasn't just laid down as an afterthought. When you have that symbiosis, it makes the movie a little more genuine.



Okay, I know what you've all been waiting for: "tell me about everyone else in this film!" I've already mentioned Sorbo, who plays the co-hero or slightly supporting hero to Melissa Ordway. He's great in that Lee Horsley role as the brave rogue. Paré plays his father, and he's even more heroic and more of a rogue. He appears at the very beginning and the very end. The other DTVC Hall of Famer in this is Olivier Gruner, and he has a small part alongside Sasha Mitchell. Yes, that's right, I said Sasha Mitchell. When was the last time we saw him, huh? He's buffer than he was, so you may not recognize him. He's not listed on imdb as being in the film, but both he and Gruner are listed in the sequel, Red Moon. Then we have Ralf Moeller with a small part as one of the palace guards, Sarah Ann Shultz as one of Sorbo's sisters, Whitney Able as Xia, and Jennifer Siebel Newsome as the Queen of Abelar. Finally, our Pyun mainstays. Beyond Mitchell and Maurette, we had Norbert Weisser at the beginning as Xusia, Xia's dad, and Scott Paulin in a small role as Tou-Bou Bardo, a play on Pyun's classic character name, Brick Bardo. (Also, we had Morgan Weisser, Norbert's son, meaning we have the children of Pyun mainstays in Pyun films now!) Oh yeah, Lee Horsley has a one scene cameo reprising his role from the first film, which was fun to see.

The ending is what makes this one so hard, because it left me with a "that's it?" feeling that was hard to reconcile with the rest of the film that I enjoyed. One thing that's good about this one as opposed to Pyun's other recent efforts, is that you can get it via Netflix and Red Box, so you can try it out prior to buying it (I did buy it-- no regrets though!) to see if it works for you. As a sequel to Sword and as a sword and sorcery flick that tries new things, it's really good, the ending just didn't work for me.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136688/

Deceit (1992)

The imdb date on this Albert Pyun flick is a little misleading. 1992 was when it was released in Portugal (according to them), but the film was actually shot in 1989. I've read a few different accounts of the shooting online, but the common themes of all seem to be this: it was done over three days, in 1989, after the Cyborg shoot. Let's see how it turned out.

Deceit follows Pyun mainstay Norbert Weisser as he kills himself by drinking bleach in the opening scene, only to have some mysterious force enter his body and reanimate him. After the opening credits, we're rejoined by a shaggier Weisser asking a young couple for a ride. Already in the car with the young couple is Eve, who, after Weisser reveals that's he's an "alien sex fiend" and kills the couple, Wesieer forces into an abandoned warehouse where he plans to meet his alien partner in crime, fellow Pyun mainstay Scott Paulin. It's then that the two aliens compete for Eve's affections, potentially to the detriment of their mission on Earth.



I really enjoyed the first hour of this, and while it did grind to a halt a bit in that last half-hour, it didn't totally derail it for me. It's definitely not one for everyone, but it has some classic Pyun elements that fans of his will recognize: Paulin's character is named Brick Bardo; there's some fun pseudo-existentialist philosophy, especially from a radio DJ; and we have a strong female lead, in this case Eve, who doesn't start off strong, and has many weak moments throughout, but ultimately comes through. The problem in the final third came because what had started out as some great, fast moving, entertaining dialog was winding itself out of control, plus the plot felt like it was devolving into bad slapstick, which caused me to lose interest. Overall though, this is a fun, small-scale, off-beat 80s flick, and I enjoyed it.

Of the 30-plus Pyun films I've looked at here on the DTVC, this is the hardest one to put in proper terms or describe accurately so you can get a beat on whether or not you'd like to track it down. I'm not so sure that's a bad thing though. It's good to have movies out there that aren't easily defined, that someone who hears the name Albert Pyun and thinks Cyborg and Nemesis might watch and think "what is this?" But I think if you are a fan, and you've seen some of his other stuff from this period, in particular Down Twisted, Radioactive Dreams, and Vicious Lips, and also something like Brain Smasher that he made after, a lot of this will be recognizable and make more sense.



I'm a sucker for shots like this one of the clock here. That's why I'm such a huge Ozu fan, because his movies a chock full of things like that. The lighting on the clock gives it a Metropolis look too, or really anything from the silent film era. Another shot I was a big fan of was of the car radio dial that was shown as the DJ gave his pseudo-existentialist monologues. Often shots like these come off as indulgent, but in the context of the rest of what Pyun did here, they worked.

Usually this spot is reserved in Pyun flick posts for the Pyun mainstays, but because this film only had two, Paulin and Weisser, and we've already mentioned them, I figured I'd bring up the girl who played Eve, Samantha Phillips. She's gone on to have quite a career in everything from radio, to TV, to a Penthouse spread, to lots of DTV flicks. Maybe we'll see her again on here sometime. I don't want to discuss the specifics of her performance in Deceit too much because the evolution of her character is the crux of the film, so I'll just say I enjoyed it, and leave it at that.



Finally, I'm not sure if you can see that image above, but if not, click on it and go to the image page for the full size one. I also just realized that, because it was the second of two pages of credits, and you don't have the one before it, it's like it's apropos of nothing. It's the "thank you" section, and at the bottom, there's "Jean Claude Van Damme" with the caption "Without whom this film would not have been possible." I'm not going to speculate on what that means, just figured I'd include it.

You can actually get this new from Amazon on VHS, because they have their own Amazon.com exclusive version. I think that's pretty cool. If you've already gone through some of the others in Pyun's filmography that I mentioned, and you enjoyed them, I'd give this a try. I think you'll like it.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097176/

Bulletface (2010)

This came packaged with the Director's Cut of Cyborg, an Albert Pyun double feature, so to speak; and it was one I've been wanting to review for a long time, so I was excited to finally get the opportunity. I put the date as 2010, though the film lists it in the end credits as 2007. I actually couldn't remember exactly when it was released, but when I'm in doubt, I usually go with the imdb number, which is what we have here. I'm not sure that it matters too much, but figured I'd throw that out there (and I wanted to fill out this first paragraph).

Bulletface follows Dara, a young, crooked DEA agent who is sent to a brutal Mexican prison after she protects her small-time hood younger brother from the same fate. A couple years later Steven Bauer gets her sprung for 60 hours, just long enough for her to use her SoCal underworld connections to tell him what kind of big drug deal is going down between two thought to be rival gangs. She has a secondary motive though, because her brother was murdered, so while she's working for Bauer, she's working for herself too, and with the clock ticking, she doesn't have much time for either.



After the first thirty minutes or so, when this film hits its stride, I really liked it. I'd heard a lot going in about horror and Noir-ish themes, and I saw those, but for me, it was really more a modern version of the 60s/70s exploitation film. A gritty, intense flick filled with flesh, blood, and bullets; lesbianism, mysticism, and eroticism, but in a better 2000s package. I could almost see Scott Paulin's character as Jack Palence, wearing a robe and sitting in a dining room with a shag carpet. The problem for me, though, was in that first 30 minutes, there was too much stopping and starting, between the opening credits that were spread out over 11 minutes, and more importantly, with the way the film was paused every time a new character appeared on screen so he or she could be artificially introduced by a white title on a black background that would slide onto the screen. It really hindered the flow of the film, and for me, a lot of what made Bulletface great was it's build up of momentum scene after scene, making its intensity palpable; and to kill that momentum and force us to start again-- multiple times--, meant that early on the essence of the film was lost for me. By the thirty minute mark, everyone who needed to be introduced was, so the interruptions were done with, and from there I could really get into it.

I normally call a film maker to task for artificially introducing characters, calling it lazy storytelling, but I don't think that's what Pyun was doing here. I think he was going for a pulp feel, something to layer over the exploitation theme, and in that sense it sounds like a great idea, it just might have been a case of too much, or the law of diminishing returns. Of course, this is me here, a less is more kind of guy, but I just felt, looking at the last 50-60 minutes, the whole thing moved so well and so organically, that I wish I had had that throughout. This wasn't like Machete, which was a great homage to the grindhouse flick, or Bitch Slap, which was a poor send up of 60s/70s exploitation; this was more like that exploitation style, pushed into the present, and done at a higher quality-- I just wasn't allowed to see that early on with everything else.



Bulletface continued Pyun's tradition of strong female protagonists, working again with Victoria Maurette, who was also in Left for Dead (one I haven't seen yet). She definitely had the kickass exploitation chick down, swigging JD from the bottle, and popping off lines like "I am their karma" when told she should walk away and let karma take care of the people who wronged her. The person giving her that advice was played by Francia Raisa, who, for me, had the stand out performance in the film. Her imdb bio reads like a who's-who of ABC Family Channel mainstay properties, so for her to come in and play a prostitute, and mix the tough exterior with the vulnerable interior, was really cool. I loved the chemistry she had with Maurette as well.

The most controversial aspect of the film was the prison rape scene. I thought it was necessary though, and feel that Pyun handled it in a way that wasn't gratuitous or just get to get some hot chicks naked on-screen. (I know what you're thinking: "dude, you're good with the prison rape scene, but artificially introducing characters is where you draw the line?") It wasn't one scene, it was more a series of disjointed shots, mixed and layered together, which cut any gratuitous aspect, yet kept the important part: the intensity and grittiness. Usually, here at the DTVC, the films we review use any love scene as a way to get some nude women on the screen, then the film makers turn around and try to sell us on the fact that it was "necessary for character development". Finally, after almost four years, we've found a film where it's true, because I don't think Maurette's Dara character would've had the same impact without it. (A quick note, Maurette is not nude, they use a body double.)



I wanted to finish with a couple quick comments on some of the film techniques. This shot of Steve Bauer here is my favorite kind, framed by various elements, almost giving a split screen effect. What's interesting is how Pyun uses the actual split screen, and again I think he's going for that pulp feel, but then will switch back to something like this or a more traditional Film Noir-ish wide shot, often in the same scenes. It's a great juxtaposition. The other thing we had was the split-second freeze frame. That had me wondering if maybe that doesn't work in the age of streaming video, because as an effect, it felt more like a slow Internet connection-- you know that frustration that comes from buffering. Maybe it's just me, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

As of right now, this is either available as the bare bones film packaged with the Cyborg DC, or you can get it as it's own package with the commentary and a copy of Left for Dead. Both can only be purchased through Albert Pyun Movies and Curnan Pictures, and you can contact them at curnanpictures@gmail.com. It would be cool if these new films from Pyun could end up on Netflix Watch Instantly, because I've seen some films from other low budget companies and distributors on there, and I think it would get them more exposure. Just a thought. Final verdict: I really liked it, and I'll be honest, in that first thirty minutes or so, I didn't see that happening, and was wondering what this review was going to look like; but then it more than redeemed itself, and gave me something that I really enjoyed.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878654/

Knights (1993)

This is an Albert Pyun flick that I've been meaning to get to for a while, but for one reason or another it's always been pushed back. Well, it will be pushed back no more, it's time to bake this cake. Also, our friend Mr. Kenner at Movies in the Attic reviewed this as part of his Albert Pyun Fest, if you want to check that out. (By the way man, I hotlinked your cover image. Hope you're not mad at me...)

Knights takes place in an undetermined spot in the future, after the apocalypse, in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. As humans are trying to pick up the pieces, they're having problems with some super powerful cyborgs, led by Lance Henriksen, that need their blood to sustain their systems. All hope looks to be lost, until Kris Kristofferson shows up, a cyborg created to kill these other cyborgs. On his way to exterminate them, he saves Nea, a girl squatting with one of the tribes, and he teaches her how to fight against the cyborgs. Together, they look to defeat this scourge on humanity.



I had a lot of fun with this one. Sure, there are nits to pick about it I guess, especially if one were taking it too seriously, but as far as I could tell, this was meant to be a fun ride. It had a heavy stable of actors, from DTVC Hall of Famer Gary Daniels, to major Pyun mainstays like Tim Thomerson and Vincent Klyn (though both in small parts), in addition to the stars I already mentioned. Plus, there was the gorgeous scenery of the national park, which Pyun spared no expense in delivering to us in all its glory-- essentially allowing it to be a character on its own. Maybe the fight scenes weren't what you'd want, especially because it seemed like he went more for Japanese samurai film style fight scenes over the Hong Kong actioner, which worked for me, but might not have for some others. Also, the whole deal with Kathy Long fighting with Kristofferson's torso tied to her back might have been too silly for a lot of tastes, though again, not mine. Hey, if you're in it to have fun, it doesn't get much better than Knights.

Gary Daniels is Lance Henriksen's right hand man. He does have some good fights, so it's not as bad as the smaller roles we've seen him in-- especially lately-- but he's by no means a main star. This is not one of those moments though where I'm going to complain about the size of his role, because I think it worked perfectly here. He wasn't going to be the main baddie over Henriksen, and Pyun's getting Kristofferson was way too big a coup not to have him as the hero. Plus, Kristoferson gave the film that Western element, that, when combined with the setting, made for a really great aesthetic. It should also be pointed out that in 1993, when this was made, Daniels didn't have many starring roles to his credit, so considering his status at the time, this was the perfect sized part for him.



Another move Pyun made in this film that really worked for me was the shifting of the protagonist, having the girl, played by kickboxer Kathy Long, take over. Again, if you're picking nits, you'd complain that it's impossible that she'd learn enough martial arts in four weeks to be able to take down all the guys and cyborgs that she does. My answer to you would be "you're okay with the cyborgs that need human blood to feed, but a girl learning martial arts in four weeks is what you're stuck on?" One of the things I've always loved about Albert Pyun's work is his consistency in trying new things and rethinking the old standards, and a big one is in casting women as heroic leads. He's doing from the director's and screenwriter's chairs what Cynthia Rothrock is doing from the actor's. His films may not always work-- and not work for myriad reasons that don't always have to do with the idea of the film itself-- but at least we know he's trying to new things, which is a lot more than we can say about a lot of other people we check out on here.

Tim Thomerson versus Lance Henriksen. I know, I've never considered it before, but this film raised the question... okay, I raised the question, after seeing the movie. Anyway, Tim Thomerson had a small part in the beginning, and then that's it for him, but it had me thinking, what if? Now, I'm not taking anything away from Lance Henriksen's performance in Knights, because he was excellent as the slightly goofy, slightly gross, yet very evil baddie, I'm just putting it out there, who makes the better baddie overall? Or rather, who makes the better DTV star? I'm calling it a tie for the sake of political correctness, but by all means, weigh in and let me know... hell, am I crazy for even asking?



I've never been to Arches National Park before. We almost went while I was out in Colorado, but we spent too much time getting to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and it was just too far away to get there and back to where we wanted to go. As far as Knights goes, Pyun takes full advantage of this beautiful scenery. He plays with the space in a way that I was critical of him for not doing in Mean Guns with that film's prison setting. He really made it into another character, the way someone like Woody Allen makes New York City into one of his film's characters. It just added another layer of depth that made the movie that much more enjoyable-- though I'm a bit of an outdoors buff, so I might be unique in that assertion.

As far as I can tell, this movie is VHS or bust, so if you can get it, I'd go for it. Don't spend too much, but $5 is a good price. This is just a lot of fun set in a beautiful location with a lot of names you recognize. Ain't nothing to get mad at here.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107333/

Captain America (1990)

In looking up information on imdb for this film, I discovered there are two Captain America movies from 1979 that were made for TV and starred Reb Brown. For those of you who don't know that name, Reb Brown played the hero in Space Mutiny. "Wow" is all I can say. How did that one get by me? I guess even a connoisseur of bad films misses a few here and there.

The 1990 Captain America doesn't have Reb Brown, but instead JD Salinger's son Matt. Taking some liberties with the original story, Red Skull is Italian, and the person who invents the super soldier serum is an Italian woman. She comes to America after her process is usurped to make the Red Skull, and she teams up with Michael Nouri and Bill Mumy in the US Army to turn Mr. Salinger into the Star Spangled Sentinel. He doesn't have much time to train, and is bested by the Skull, who straps him a la silly serial film to a bomb aimed at Washington DC. Right before it hits the White House, Ol' Cap changes its course, but not before a young boy sees him do it and is inspired to grow up and become Ronny Cox. Instead of creating a corporation in Detroit that creates murderous robots and hiring the dad from That 70s Show as his hatchet man to kill Miguel Ferrer, he becomes a nice, environmentally friendly president. This upsets the Red Skull, so he kidnaps him, and it's up to our hero to save him. Also has Darren McGavin and Ned Beatty.



Word on the street is there's a new Cap being made in the mold of these new millennium Marvel movies. If it's like Spiderman or X-Men, it might be all right. On the other hand, we have a whole bunch of misses to consider too. I don't get why these films take themselves so seriously. They're comic book movies, and comic books are by nature silly. Instead of wasting the cash to ruin another Marvel character on the big screen, why not just re-release this in 2010 for it's 20th anniversary. It'd be better than Ben Affleck speaking in breathy tones.

Don't get me wrong, this film is bad. Director Albert Pyun really outdid himself here. Why the Red Skull is Italian is beyond me. He also looks less like the Red Skull, and more like the Thing from the new Fantastic Four movies. In the very beginning he looks like the Red Skull, it's just the 45 years later that he looks different. I don't know whose idea that was, but it should've been nixed from the jump.

I had trouble with their cast as the president. Ronny Cox is always a bad guy to me. I know some of you out there may know him from Stargate: Whatever, but to me he's the bad guy in Robocop and countless other films. Casting a president is a very big deal. Many bad films just mail it in and go for Roy Scheider, and I can't argue with that approach. It takes an inspired film maker like a Dolph Lundgren to cast Jerry Springer as the leader of the free world.



Matt Salinger wasn't bad as Cap, but the film itself used him poorly. He was often running away, which makes no sense when you consider he's Captain America. If he has the stones to take out the Red Skull, why's he running from some Italian dude with a ponytail riding a scooter? The new movie should just be this movie with less Cap fleeing in fear. They'd have a hit on their hands.

Ned Beatty is great in this, as he is in everything. He should've been the president, come to think of it. The Red Skull could've caught him and told him he was going to make him squeal like a pig, boy. It would've been sweet. With Ned Beatty still alive, this is another wrong the next film could make right. Maybe have him reprise his role from The Rockford Files. I don't know why film makers don't think of things like that, but they need to start concentrating more on their target audience.



For anyone who hasn't seen this, it's a must watch. It's one of those seminal bad action films that's turned into a rite of passage for all bad movie watchers. It's kind of difficult to find, with it only existing on VHS; and with the new movie coming out, I fear the film industry will try to Stalinize it's existence like they did with Dolph's Punisher after the Jane/Travolta sack-of-asscrack was released. If you can get your hands on it, though, it's well worth whatever you pay for it. Okay, maybe only if you don't pay too much...

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103923/