Why MST3K wasn't a solo act...
Brought home the new DVD of the classic anti-drug propoganda film Reefer Madness this weekend. An outfit called Legend Films took it, colorized it, and brought Mike Nelson, former host of MST3K, in to do a commentary track. Interesting idea, but I didn't think the commentary track was all that great, sort of like Mike doing his MST thing without the robots. Too much dead space between the funny stuff, and it would have been better to give Mike someone to play off of. The film itself doesn't really benefit from the colorization, though I'm not particularly big on the process myself. To me, the colors never look right, and always seem like they're slapping a pastel palette on rather then naturalistic colors.
Also watched Baba Yaga this weekend. In my previous post about the joys of Blue Underground, I said this:
Baba Yaga, also known as Kiss Me, Kill Me, is based on a comic book by legendary Italian adult comic artist Guido Crepax, and is about witches and murder and lesbianism and S&M. This one also promises eye-popping erotic extras, and we'll see about that also.
Well, it was certainly different. Blue Underground's copy turns out to be somewhat hyperbolic. Corrado Farina's adaptation of Crepax's Valentina falls into that strange zone of Eurosleaze somewhere between Hammer's early 70's attempts to be cool and the over the top, unfathomable, plotless sleazefests of Jess Franco. The plot, such as it is, concerns Valentina, a hipper-then-thou fashion photographer who becomes entangled with a mysterious witch, and falls into a nightmarish world where reality and fantasy are confusingly one. From what I could gather of a somewhat obtuse doc on Crepax that BU included on the disc, the film is actually about as close as anyone's ever going to get to putting Crepax's work on the screen. Farina's film has style to spare, and uses some interesting techniques to approximate Crepax's art style on screen, which makes up for it being somewhat light on the sleaze promised on the box. Even the "never before seen erotic outtakes" promised on the box amount to about 35 seconds of nudity and 9 minutes of nonsense that was better left on the cutting room floor. The only exception is an amusing cameo from Crepax himself, in which he suggests that he has sold out in order to make more money. Readers of Heavy Metal over the years would beg to differ. One other thing that must be mentioned is the fine score, which is a pulsating, post-Morricone pre-Goblin, jazz-postbop-rock score by Piero Umiliani, who might best be known for having written the "Mah-na, Mah-na" song that any Muppet or Benny Hill fan knows. Farina is interviewed on the disc, but does not mention why he never made another film after Baba Yaga. Too bad, that. This film is certainly near the level of Argento, and well above many of his more prolific contemporaries.
Tomorrow, Iron Chef America and Raw thoughts.
Also watched Baba Yaga this weekend. In my previous post about the joys of Blue Underground, I said this:
Baba Yaga, also known as Kiss Me, Kill Me, is based on a comic book by legendary Italian adult comic artist Guido Crepax, and is about witches and murder and lesbianism and S&M. This one also promises eye-popping erotic extras, and we'll see about that also.
Well, it was certainly different. Blue Underground's copy turns out to be somewhat hyperbolic. Corrado Farina's adaptation of Crepax's Valentina falls into that strange zone of Eurosleaze somewhere between Hammer's early 70's attempts to be cool and the over the top, unfathomable, plotless sleazefests of Jess Franco. The plot, such as it is, concerns Valentina, a hipper-then-thou fashion photographer who becomes entangled with a mysterious witch, and falls into a nightmarish world where reality and fantasy are confusingly one. From what I could gather of a somewhat obtuse doc on Crepax that BU included on the disc, the film is actually about as close as anyone's ever going to get to putting Crepax's work on the screen. Farina's film has style to spare, and uses some interesting techniques to approximate Crepax's art style on screen, which makes up for it being somewhat light on the sleaze promised on the box. Even the "never before seen erotic outtakes" promised on the box amount to about 35 seconds of nudity and 9 minutes of nonsense that was better left on the cutting room floor. The only exception is an amusing cameo from Crepax himself, in which he suggests that he has sold out in order to make more money. Readers of Heavy Metal over the years would beg to differ. One other thing that must be mentioned is the fine score, which is a pulsating, post-Morricone pre-Goblin, jazz-postbop-rock score by Piero Umiliani, who might best be known for having written the "Mah-na, Mah-na" song that any Muppet or Benny Hill fan knows. Farina is interviewed on the disc, but does not mention why he never made another film after Baba Yaga. Too bad, that. This film is certainly near the level of Argento, and well above many of his more prolific contemporaries.
Tomorrow, Iron Chef America and Raw thoughts.
posted by Jon M. at
11:39 PM
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