Psycho II (1983)

Psycho II is, quite obviously, a sequel to Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece. Now personally I think that making a sequel to a Hitchcock movie is a seriously bad idea (just as remaking a Hitchcock movie is a seriously bad idea). The chances of falling flat on your face are just so overwhelmingly high. Nonetheless someone at Universal decided that a Psycho sequel would be a fine idea and Australian director Richard Franklin was given the assignment of directing it. It was originally intended as a TV movie but ended up getting a theatrical release (and doing well enough to lead to the making of Psycho III).

Franklin certainly nails his colours to the mast straight from the start. Psycho II not only opens with a clip from Hitchcock’s original, it opens with the famous shower scene in its entirety. Which means Franklin is really setting himself up to look foolish if he can’t deliver the goods. He certainly can’t be accused of trying to make things too easy for himself.

Psycho II takes up the story just over twenty years after the events of the first movie. Norman Bates (again played by Anthony Perkins) has been pronounced cured and released from the mental hospital in which he had been confined. Perhaps a little unwisely he’s decided to return to the Bates Motel. Even more unwisely his psychiatrist Dr Raymond (Robert Loggia) doesn’t seem to think this will be a problem.

The motel is being managed by the sleazy Warren Toomey (Dennis Franz). Norman has got himself a job in a local diner where he befriends waitress Mary (Meg Tilly). Norman isn’t exactly relaxed around women and given his incredible twitchiness plus the fact that Mary knows he’s been in a mental hospital it’s a little surprising that Mary moves into the Bates House after breaking up with her boyfriend.

Norman is pretty obviously becoming obsessed with Mary and he’s also started getting messages from his dead mother. Adding to Norman’s rapidly increasing anxiety levels is the vendetta that Warren Toomey launches against him after Norman fires him.

It’s not exactly a shock when the murders start happening. The local sheriff is however not convinced that Norman has gone back to his old habits. He’s not prepared to take any action without hard evidence and such evidence as he has is a long way from being conclusive.

Of course the murders haven’t stopped yet although the final body count is not particularly high by the standards of 80s slasher movies.

The problem for Norman is that he has no way of knowing if he’s responsible for these murders. He never did remember carrying out his original series of murders.

This movie begins very conventionally and with the kind of obviousness you expect in a TV movie. After it’s drifted along in this vein for a while Franklin clearly decides he’d better start doing something clever. If you’re going to attempt a Hitchcock sequel you’re going to have to pull off at least a couple of impressive visual set-pieces. The first murder is rather disappointing. The second though is extremely well done, and it’s in keeping with the tone of the original movie as well. On the whole Franklin does a fine job with some nice use of odd camera angles and lots of atmosphere.

Screenwriter Tom Holland faced a real problem. Anybody who had seen the first movie would already know the whole setup with Norman and his mother. A mere rerun of the same events would have been too obvious and entirely lacking in suspense. He had to find a way to keep within the framework established by the first movie whilst somehow convincing us that maybe this time events would follow a different course and that the final explanation might not be quite the same. He had to make us consider the possibility that maybe this time Norman wasn’t the killer, or then again maybe he was. This was certainly a challenge.

He meets that challenge reasonably well. The story keeps to the spirit of the original but with some completely new and startling twists. What’s perhaps most unexpected is that this movie plays fair with the viewer. The big surprise twist will surprise you but it shouldn’t since there have been numerous clues pointing in that direction. But then there’s some nice misdirection as well.

Tony Perkins is even twitchier this time around. He really goes all out with the crazy person stuff. It works because he does manage to make us feel sympathy for Norman as a man who thinks he has conquered his insanity but is now put under extreme stress - the twitchiness really is only to be expected.

Meg Tilly is pretty good. She manages to make Mary seem like the sort of girl who might well make a habit of befriending recovering serial killers. She has a certain innocence combined with an odd protectiveness towards Norman. The Norman-Mary relationship is certainly a bit strange but it’s weirdly touching and against the odds Perkins and Tilly make it seem convincing.

Obviously this film is not in the same league as Hitchcock’s film. Having said that it stands up as a fairly interesting variation on the slasher movie theme with less gore but more intelligence than most movies of that type. Overall it’s one of the better 80s horror movies. Recommended.

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Battle Beyond the Stars, made by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1980, is Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai set in space.

The planet Akira (a nod to Kurosawa) is inhabited by a people who have renounced war and violence and they are about to discover what happens when pacifists encounter someone who hasn’t renounced war and violence. They’re about to get stomped by evil space lord Sador (John Saxon) and his army of mutants. Since they can’t defend themselves they decide they will need to hire some mercenaries to do do their fighting for them. Young Shad (Richard Thomas) is despatched to bring back any such mercenaries he can find.

It turns out to be easier than expected, space apparently being full of mercenaries. 

Since this is a remake of the American remake (The Magnificent Seven) of The Seven Samurai if you’ve seen either of those movies the plot will hold no surprises for you. Not that unoriginal plots are necessarily a major problem - it’s the style with which they’re executed that matters. This one is reasonably satisfactory in that respect. There’s plenty of action and lots of explosions.

This was part of Richard Thomas’s attempt to get away from his most famous role, John-Boy Walton in the long-running TV series The Waltons. He’s actually pretty good. 

Of the various actors portraying the assorted mercenaries the most interesting are Robert Vaughn, George Peppard and Sybil Danning. Vaughn, who was in The Magnificent Seven, is rather subdued. In fact he’s essentially reprising his role from The Magnificent Seven. 

George Peppard on the other hand has a lot of fun as a space cowboy. Sybil Danning adds the only real touch of glamour and sex as a kind of space amazon warrior type.

John Saxon’s performance, as so often, is the highlight of the movie.

The special effects are very impressive given the fairly low budget (although by Corman standards a $2 million budget was a big budget). James Cameron started out as a humble model-maker on the film but shortly before filming was set to begin a worrying discovery was made - the movie’s art director had no idea what he was doing and none of the models or sets were ready. James Cameron suddenly found himself promoted to art director and he did a remarkably good job of it. The miniatures in particular are terrific.

Shooting the movie was a somewhat fraught experience. The process of converting a lumber yard in Venice California into a studio was nowhere near to being completed plus it was an unusually wet winter and the whole studio was ankle-deep in water much of the time. 

John Sayles wrote the screenplay. He felt very strongly that it was necessary to sharply differentiate the various mercenaries and even more important to emphasis their cultural differences. In this he succeeded very well. Apart from making the movie more interesting it gave the actors more of a challenge.

Battle Beyond the Stars is a fine example of Roger Corman’s approach to film-making, based on creative penny-pinching - making a small budget go a long long way and hiring young people with talent but who have not yet made their reputations and can therefore be hired cheaply!

I saw this one on Blu-Ray and it’s one of those rare Blu-Ray releases that is really worth the money. The transfer is excellent. Shout Factory have also been generous with extras - the highlights are two audio commentaries (one of which features Roger Corman and John Sayles), a half-dour documentary on the making of the film and an interview with Richard Thomas (who remembers the movie with great fondness).

Battle Beyond the Stars is certainly a lot less boring than The Seven Samurai. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable space opera. With the possible exception of Starcrash it’s the best of the many Star Wars clones of its era.

Krull (1983)

The 1983 British-US co-production Krull seems on the surface to be an attempt to jump on the sword-and-sorcery bandwagon that was kicked off by Conan the Barbarian a year earlier. In fact it’s more a sword-and-planet than a sword-and-sorcery film and has more in common with Star Wars. As we shall see, it has a very great deal in common with Star Wars.

Krull is the latest planet to fall victim to the Slayers, led by the mysterious Beast. The Slayers are from some unknown planet (we know this because at the beginning of the movie we see the arrival of their reasonably impressive-looking spaceship that doubles as their castle). Two kings of Krull have decided, not without misgivings, to unite their kingdoms under the joint rule of their children, Colwyn (Ken Marshall) and Lyssa (Lysette Anthony). The wedding between Colwyn and Lyssa will seal the deal but the ceremony is brutally interrupted by an attack from the Slayers. The Slayers not only leave nothing but devastation behind, they also kidnap Lyssa.

Colwyn survives but is sunk in despair. It is up to an Old Wise Man, Ynyr (Freddie Jones), to try to convince him that he must Fulfill His Destiny (yes this movie has a Prophecy) and that he can overcome the Slayers. Or at least, he has a better chance of doing that than anyone else. To do all this he will need a potent weapon that will serve as an equally potent symbol - the semi-legendary Glaive.

Colwyn will need to recruit an army. Since the Slayers are supposedly an almost invincible military force you’d think he’d need a real army but he decides a dozen thieves and cut-throats will be enough. In fact the Slayers prove to be typical movie bad guys (a bit like the Imperial Stormtroopers in Star Wars) - while they can easily overcome a disciplined army defending  a strong fortfification they turn out to be utterly useless when pitted against a disorganised rabble in the open - even when they’ve managed to ambush that rabble!

The big challenge for Colwyn will be to find the Black Fortress so he can destroy the Beast. The Black Fortress doesn’t stay in the one spot for more than a day. Only the blind seer can tell where it will be and first they have to find him. The usual adventures and complications ensue.

Director Peter Yates had an interesting if uneven career. His filmography includes the action classic Bullitt (1968) so his ability to direct exciting action sequences was never in doubt.

With Derek Meddings in charge of the visual effects you’d expect this movie to impress in this area, and generally speaking those expectations are fulfilled. Meddings had done the special effects for most of the 1960s Gerry Anderson television shows as well as for the Bond films of the 70s. 

The miniatures are excellent, the sets look splendidly weird and most of the special effects stand up pretty well today.

Ken Marshall is a pretty decent action hero. Lyssette Anthony looks kind of ethereal and kind of sensual and mischievous all at the same time. She’s not required to do much acting but she’s fine. Alun Armstrong does well as Torquil, erstwhile leader of Colwyn’s bandit army. David Battley isn’t too irritating as the comic relief in competent magician. Bernard Bresslaw’s height (he was 6 ft 7 in) landed him the role of the Cyclops. Freddie Jones however got the plum role and does a very competent job, being careful not to make Ynyr too loveable or too gratingly wise.

If it sounds like Krull is just a collection of fantasy clichés strung together that’s because that’s exactly what it is. We have a Prophecy, a Hero With a Destiny, a Beautiful Princess in need of rescuing, a Magical Talisman, a Quest, a Wise Good Magician, a Blind Seer  and even a harmless incompetent magician to serve as Court Jester. We have an Evil Dark Lord well supplied with minions. There’s hardly a single fantasy cliché that isn’t here.

It doesn’t matter. It’s all done with energy and enthusiasm and style, the story moves along at a brisk pace, the action sequences deliver the goods and the visuals are terrific. If anything the predictability of the plot is an asset. It’s like a fairy tale where knowing what is going to happen adds to the enjoyment. 

While the basic plot outline is predictable the details add some interest. The scenes with the Widow of the Web are very well done. Krull adds nothing new to the genre but it’s consistently entertaining and always great fun. Highly recommended.

Outland (1981)

Outland is a 1981 British science fiction film, only it isn’t a science fiction film. It’s a western. A western in space. That’s an idea that has been done quite a number of times but Outland is about as pure an example of the concept as you’re likely to see.

Marshal William O’Niel (Sean Connery) is the newly arrived chief of security at a mining project on Io, one of the moons of Jupiter. It really shouldn’t be a terribly demanding job for a lawman, the main law enforcement tasks being dealing with drunken brawls. The miners are a tough lot but there’s not a great deal of scope for criminal activity. For one thing, there’s nothing much worth stealing.

There have been a couple of odd incidents. A miner thought he was being attacked by giant spiders and in his panic tore his space suit, resulting in his death. Another miner decided to wander into a no-atmosphere zone without his pressure suit, resulting in a very messy death.

The rather weary and cynical company physician, Dr Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), assures O’Niel that these incidents are the kinds of things that happen in a place like this. It’s an environment that combines boredom with stress and loneliness and a sense of isolation so it’s inevitable that occasionally someone will crack up and do something crazy or stupid or self-destructive or try to kill themselves. Both incidents seem to be clear cases of suicide. Marshal O’Niel concedes that this is a very plausible explanation although he decides it might be worthwhile to do a little digging in the outpost’s history.

The results of this digging are, as Dr Lazarus has to admit, a little puzzling. In the past six months there have been twenty-four such incidents, compared to just two in the previous six months.

O’Niel is now determined to do some fairly thorough digging and he finds evidence of drug dealing (in a very dangerous drug indeed) and corruption on a massive scale. What he has discovered is going to be potentially very inconvenient for some powerful people, and potentially very dangerous for Marshal O’Niel. He’s going to need some allies but it soon becomes obvious that he isn’t going to find any. He’s a marked man and he’s on his own and hired killers are after him.

Peter Hyams’ screenplay is more or less a straight by-the-numbers western plot. It’s the classic western tale of the new lawman trying to clean up a corrupt town and finding himself up against a crooked rancher, with hired guns on their way in the stage coach to kill him and with the townsfolk too frightened or too apathetic to stand by the lawman. And he can’t even trust his own deputies to support him. Making the setting a mining operation on one of the moons of Jupiter instead of a frontier town in the Old West makes no difference to the story at all.

In some ways this is probably the point - to take a stock-standard western plot and give it a science fiction setting.

The characters are also stock-standard western characters and again this may well be deliberate.

Peter Hyams also directed and in this capacity proves himself to be quite competent. While there are no surprises (we know the identity of the bad guys from the start and we basically know how the plot will play out) he does build the tension quite effectively. The action scenes are reasonably well handled although the movie lacks the spectacular action set-pieces that science fiction fans tend to like.

Visually it’s quite impressive. The mining outpost has a grungy, seedy, slightly sleazy and very industrial look to it. The miniatures work is fine and the sets are excellent and they’re convincing. You won’t have any trouble believing this this is what a mining operation on Io might well look like. The costumes are equally convincing - these people look the way miners in space could be expected to look.

And guys in space suits armed with shotguns are a nice touch.

Sean Connery is less flamboyant than usual but this suits the mood of the picture and he still has charisma to burn. I wasn’t quite so sold on Peter Boyle as Sheppard, the chief bad guy - his character doesn’t quite have the necessary menace or the smoothness (or the brains) and really doesn’t seem formidable enough.

The most interesting thing about this movie is its very old-fashioned feel. It wears its old-fashioned values on its sleeve. There is corruption and betrayal but (unlike so many movies of its era) it doesn’t wallow in cynicism and nihilism. There are clearly defined good guys and bad guys. There’s no moral ambiguity. O’Niel is an old school hero. He might not be the smartest or the most efficient cop in the solar system but he’s honest and he knows his duty and he intends to do what he has to do, regardless of the price he might have to pay. His marriage has problems but that’s not because he’s not a devoted family man. The problems are simply the result of being a cop and being posted from one lousy mining outpost to another. He actually does his best to be a good husband and father. This is a movie in which the characters have to choose between right and wrong and the movie makes it clear that if you want to be able to live with yourself it’s wise to choose right rather than wrong.

Outland gets a decent anamorphic transfer on DVD, with at least a few token extras.

Outland is enjoyable enough. The action sequences aren’t wildly exciting but they’re competent and the movie has a nicely grungy look and feel. It’s basically High Noon in space. Maybe not quite top rank but still recommended.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

John Carpenter has had a very up-and-down career as a director, or at least it has been very up-and-down in commercial terms. Big Trouble in Little China, an over-the-top action adventure romp, was certainly a commercial low point. Like so many of his commercial failures it has attracted a loyal cult following.

Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a truck driver. He finds himself propelled into a world of black magic and mayhem when the fiancée of his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) is snatched at San Francisco Airport by a Chinese gang.

Jack has the kind of experience that Alice had after going down that rabbit hole. Suddenly he’s in a bizarre world beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown, a world of monsters, magic and sorcery. This world is dominated by David Lo Pan (James Hong), an evil sorcerer who as a result of a curse has been trapped in a strange undead incorporeal state for more than two thousand years. To escape the curse he needs to marry a girl with green eyes. Wang Chi’s girlfriend happens to have green eyes. But there is another girl with green eyes, Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), who also has green eyes and she’s mixed up in this situation as well.

Jack doesn’t understand any of this but he’s the kind of guy who never runs away from a fight.

Things get stranger and stranger. There is a whole world beneath Chinatown, a world in which an epic battle between good and evil must be played out. Warring Chinese gangs fighting it out in the streets with machine-guns are one thing but beneath Chinatown black magic is by far the bigger threat.

What follows is a great deal of very entertaining mayhem. The movie opens at a brisk pace and that pacing never falters for a moment. The action is continuous and it’s executed with a great deal of flair and imagination.

The big twist is that Jack Burton thinks he is the hero but he isn’t. He’s the sidekick. Wang Chi is the hero. Wang Chi knows what’s going on; Jack doesn’t have a clue. It’s not that Jack is stupid. Maybe he’s not a intellectual giant but he’s not a fool. He’s simply completely out of his depth. He tries his best to play the hero but it doesn’t really work. 

Not that Wang Chi isn’t grateful for Jack’s help. Jack might not have much experience battling evil sorcerers but he’s brave and he’s loyal. He’s the ideal sidekick in fact. Of course Jack still thinks he’s the actual hero.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this movie is that every member of the cast understands the type of movie this is. They all understand what Carpenter is trying to do. And they all produce exactly the right kinds of performances. The performances are slightly tongue-in-cheek, but not in a sneering or condescending way.

Kurt Russell is quite superb. He has the square-jawed action hero persona which contrasts delightfully with Jack’s total unawareness of his own inadequacies. He’s funny but he never allows his performance to descend into outright parody. We might be amused by Jack but we never despise him. Wang Chi never despises him either - he appreciates the fact that Jack is risking his life in order to fight beside him against Lo Pan.

Dennis Dun is terrific also. Wang Chi is very capable but he’s no superman and he would never be foolish enough to do anything this brave except that he has to save his fiancée and he intends to save her.

Kim Cattrall is delightful. She’s no shrinking violet, she’s quite feisty but she’s not a clichéd kickass action heroine. She’s pretty terrified but she’s determined not to give up. Cattrall is funny too and she combines superbly with Kurt Russell. James Hong is an absolutely splendid villain. He’s thoroughly evil but perhaps just a tiny bit tragic. Victor Wong is wonderfully amusing as the tour bus driver Egg Shen who knows a bit more about fighting black magic than you might expect from a tour bus drive.

The action set-pieces are crazy and spectacular. Carpenter was clearly pretty familiar with Hong Kong action movies and captures the feel of that genre perfectly whilst still giving the movie his own distinctive signature.

The Region B Blu-Ray includes an audio commentary by Carpenter and Kurt Russell which is almost as much fun as the movie. They’re obviously great friends and they obviously had a blast making the movie and their enthusiasm for it is infectious. They get very chatty but there’s plenty of fascinating background on the movie as well. The Blu-Ray looks magnificent. 

John Carpenter is a director who has never really achieved either the commercial success or the recognition he deserves. That’s possibly because rather than playing safe he chose to do idiosyncratic movies like this one. It’s easy to see why Big Trouble in Little China bombed at the box office. In 1986 studio executives would have had no idea how to market such a movie and mainstream critics would have been bamboozled by it. It appears that the studio solved the problem by not promoting the movie at all.

In spite of this Big Trouble in Little China is enormous fun. Highly recommended.

Saturn 3 (1980)

In the 1970s British television mogul Lord Lew Grade made the ill-fated decision to move into feature films. Grade had demonstrated an uncanny instinct for what would work for television audiences but he clearly had little understanding of the film industry. Saturn 3, released in 1980, was one of the many misfires that resulted.

In fact Saturn 3 is not all that bad. It’s biggest problem was timing. In 1980 sci-fi audiences expected action and spectacle in the Star Wars mould. Saturn 3 is more in the style of odd quirky early to mid 70s sci-fi films like Colossus: The Forbin Project, Westworld and Demon Seed and like those films it deals with technology run amok.

The story unfolds at a food research establishment on the third moon of Saturn. The station was set up to help provide food for the starving millions on Earth (this being the 70s  there has to be a reference to the 70s obsession with overpopulation). Why exactly growing food on the third moon of Saturn would help feed people on Earth is never explained.

There are only two people on Saturn 3, Adam (Kirk Douglas) and Alex (Farrah Fawcett) and they appear to be more interested in their bedroom romps than in doing any actual research. They are however thoroughly enjoying themselves. Or at least they were, until Captain Benson (Harvey Keitel) arrived.

Benson has been sent to get the research moving along, mainly by constructing and then programming a robot named Hector. Benson in fact was never supposed to be sent on this mission - he’d washed out of the training program due to his all too evident craziness. Benson murdered the man who was supposed to be sent and took his place.

It’s soon obvious that Benson is more interested in bedding Alex than in food research. Alex however is not interested. 

Meanwhile Benson presses ahead with the programming of Hector. This is accomplished by “direct input” - essentially Benson’s personality is imprinted on the robot. Given that Benson is a sex-crazed murderer this has unfortunate consequences. Soon Hector is a crazy, and as sex-obsessed, as Benson.

As you would expect Hector eventually run amok and Adam and Alex spend a great deal of time being chased by the insane killer robot.

The personnel behind this movie provide a few surprises. Novelist Martin Amis, not exactly noted for his science fiction, wrote the screenplay from a story by John Barry. Barry was supposed to direct but he had a falling-out with star Kirk Douglas and in any case he died fairly early on in the film’s troubled production history. Producer Stanley Donen ended up directing the movie. Donen of course was famous as a director of musicals although he also did some terrific lightweight thriller/romances in the early 60s (such as Charade and Arabesque).

Donen’s background in musicals is undoubtedly responsible for some of this movie’s odder (and more interesting) visual moments. The early scenes on the giant space station as Captain Benson’s spacecraft is being prepared for launch are choreographed exactly as if Donen had been making a big-budget 1950s musical. Surprisingly enough this works quite well and it certainly establishes a suitably quirky tone.

Kirk Douglas was one of the great Hollywood hams who could never see a piece of scenery without chewing it. This stood him in good stead when he turned to low-budget genre movies in the 70s. His acting isn’t exactly good but it works. On the other hand it has to be said that his nude scenes are not exactly a plus! Farrah Fawcett was obviously selected for her role purely for her ability to add some glamour but she’s perfectly adequate. Harvey Keitel is good although he might have been better had the decision not been made to get Roy Dotrice to dub his dialogue.  The result is a bit disorienting but since he’s playing a complete nutjob it could be argued that it adds to the impression that Benson is not playing with a full deck. These three have to carry the entire film, there being virtually no other characters at all, and they do so quite effectively.

The special effects are of mixed quality. Some of the scenes of spacecraft in flight are very crude. The robot however is fairly impressive. The sets are terrific in an outlandish 1970s way. On the whole the movie is visually original and quite interesting.

Saturn 3 was a box-office bomb and quickly gained a reputation as a spectacularly bad movie. This is a little unfair. It has its flaws but it’s consistently entertaining and slightly unusual.

I watched the movie on an old non-anamorphic DVD edition but it’s recently been released   in a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack by Shout! Factory. Since much of the appeal of the movie derives from its visuals it’s probably worth picking it up on Blu-Ray. 

Saturn 3 is by no means a great movie but it’s oddly enjoyable. Recommended.