The session: "1972: Fifty Years of Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy."
All four movies in this session are from the year 1972 -- The year that brought us Richard Nixon's reelection, the ugliest baseball cards in Topps' history, and the Dow's first close above 1,000.
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Week 1: Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972)
Directed by Bob Clark
My Impressions Going In:
I had very little familiarity with this movie going in. I knew the title -- my friends and I used to snigger about it when I was in college. I don't remember the context for sure. I think one friend showed us a collection of trailers for low budget films.
A theater troupe is spending the night in a cemetery on an island off the coast of Florida. All is going well until the dead start coming to life. Horror ensues.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
In a way, CSPwDT has a split personality. The first part was too slow and boring. It did have some clever dialogue, but there just wasn't enough to hold my interest. But once the dead started coming to life, the thing really took off. From that point forward it really took off.
The only problem with the second part is that it was too derivative of Night of the Living Dead. Others accurately noted that there were some creative touches thrown in. For example, the emergence of the dead from underground was exceptionally well done here. So one could argue that the second half is a well-done homage to Night. Maybe. I am actually willing to give the movie credit for its creativity.
But there are just too many weaknesses. Aside from the aforementioned plot issue and slow beginning, the acting was atrocious.
Ratings
Me: 6
Bob-O: 8.8
Dave: 9.6
Ethan: 10
Joe: 10
No comments:
Post a Comment