Viewings: July 2022

It's a good thing July's heatwave didn't last too long, since it became unbearable watching films during the hot nights.

Shinichi Fukazawa's ultra low budget Evil Dead and Evil Dead II rip-off Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell is this month's favourite discovery. Way too entertaining to get all mad over its ubiquitous biting. The cartoonish splatter violence, the crude stop-motion animation scenes, and the nonsensical use of a generic nineties club soundtrack all contribute to oodles of fun throughout its ridiculous short run time of just sixty-two minutes.

Also enjoyed a wave of unseen Spaghetti Westerns; particularly, Carlo Lizzani's Requiescant and Sergio Corbucci's The Specialists. 

No new releases bowled me over in the same way like previous months, but Alex Garland's Men and Yûgo Sakamoto's Baby Assassins were the closest alternatives.

 

Film:

Sting of Death (William Grefé, 1966)*

Professionals for a Massacre (Nando Cicero, 1967)*

Requiescant (Carlo Lizzani, 1967)*

Trusting is Good… Shooting is Better (Osvaldo Civirani, 1968)*

The Specialists (Sergio Corbucci, 1969)*

Hey Amigo… Rest in Peace! (Paolo Bianchini, 1970)*

La casa de las muertas vivientes (Alfonzo Balcázar, 1972)*

Theatre of Blood (Douglas Hickox, 1973)

Bucktown (Arthur Marks, 1975)*

Turkey Shoot (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1982)

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (Shinichi Fukazawa, 1995 / 2012)*

Uncle Sam (William Lustig, 1996)*

Night Vision (Gill Bettman, 1997)*

CQ (Roman Coppola, 2001)*

State Property (Abdul Malik Abbott, 2002)*

State Property 2 (Damon Dash, 2005)*

Silent Hill (Christophe Gans, 2006)

Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)

Verotika (Glenn Danzig, 2019)*

Baby Assassins (Yûgo Sakamoto, 2022)*

The Black Phone (Scott Derrickson, 2022)*

Death Hunt (Neil Mackay, 2022)*

Frank & Penelope (Sean Patrick Flanery, 2022)*

The Gray Man (Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, 2022)*

Men (Alex Garland, 2022)*

Moloch (Nico van den Brink, 2022)*

 

Televison:

Hip-Hop's Open Secret: Tim Westwood (Ruth Evans & Chi Chi Izundu, 2022)*

The Boys - Season 3 (Eric Kripke, 2022)*

Neighbours - Episode 18903 (Reg Watson, 2022)*

 

First time viewings*

 

Dada Debaser Notes

• We lost some titans this month. Rest in peace James Caan, Tony Sirico, Paul Sorvino, David Warner, Bernard Cribbins and Nichelle Nichols.
  
• In theory, a bloke in a wet suit with a bin bag for a head terrorising teens should be a slam dunk for my tastes, but the only notable element regarding Sting of Death is that ska song sung by Neil Sedaka.
  
• The Black Phone doesn't really hold up the longer I think about it. Way too much seventies nostalgia propping up what's essentially a very basic and mediocre film.
  
• In a just world, Michael Jai White should have been a big time Hollywood superstar after Black Dynamite.
• Although it's still pretty wild, Bucktown isn't as outlandish as some of Fred Williamson's other movies, but I loved the plot for this film the most. Too bad it took close to thirty years since the titular rap song in finally checking it out.
  
• Took around fifteen minutes before my brain zoned out while watching The Gray Man. Creatively bankrupt in every way.
  
• Dame Dash's feet fetish was bizarrely the most consistent character trait in both State Property movies. Cool seeing all those Rocafella artist on screen during their hay day.
• Prediction: After seeing her in Frank & Penelope, Caylee Cowan will be the next Ana de Armas. She deserves a spot in the daisy dukes hall of fame.
  
• Glenn Danzig's Verotika is the worst horror anthology since Cradle of Fear (2001), which is a phenomenal feat as I've seen some truly awful ones since then. Should have read this review of it on IMDb first.
• Didn't mind the focus on drama over action in Baby Assassins since it managed to blend its Odd Couple meets Nikita concept effectively. Just wish it didn't feel like it was produced for the Japanese equivalent of E4, or something.

 

 

EDIT: Added Nichelle Nichols to the RIP list. FFS, July won't quit!