The Blood & Bath Movie Review
Ravenous (1999, USA)
Directed by Antonia Bird
This is one of the most delightfully creepy movies I’ve ever seen. This movie is dark comedy at its finest. This movie also proves that female directors are capable of directing some pretty damn good movies, although at the moment I can’t think of another example.
Ravenous takes place in 1847. After disgracing himself during the Mexican-American war, Captain John Boyd (played by Guy Pearce) finds himself banished to a remote military outpost in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There he finds himself surrounded by some rather odd characters, although for 1847 they might have been considered perfectly normal. Everything is going fine, and then one day a man named Colqhoun (played by Robert Carlyle) shows up at the fort half starved and half frozen to death.
After nursing him back to health Colqhoun begins to tell the tale of how he got there. In the spirit of the Donner Party, Colqhoun and a group of settlers find themselves trapped by snow in the mountains and they are forced to take refuge in a cave. As supplies quickly run out, and after eating the horses, the oxen, the dogs, their shoes, and their belts, they resort to cannibalism. Colqhoun manages to go for help and he tells the soldiers that there’s still one woman left back in the cave.
And so, the soldiers are off to the rescue with Colqhoun leading the way. But things begin to take a turn for the bizarre. There are a lot of bizarre plot twists in this movie, and they will all make you go “What the hell just happened?” right up to the incredible ending.
My favorite line in this movie was when the Commanding Officer (played by Jeremy Davies) says “It's lonely being a cannibal; it's tough making friends."
Ravenous did terribly at the box office and was pretty much dismissed by critics, but take my word for it, this is a really great movie! This movie is truly destined to become a cult classic.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Fritz The Cat (1972, USA)
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi made cult movie history when he wrote and directed the first ever X-Rated cartoon in the history of Hollywood. By the modern standards of today this movie would be considered relatively tame, but for the standards of 1972 this movie created quite a sensation.
Featuring the animated artwork of Robert Crumb (who created all of those Keep On Truckin’ posters back in the ‘60s & ‘70s and actually objected to his original character of Fritz The Cat being made into a movie), Fritz The Cat tells the story of a cat, named Fritz. Fritz is one horny little devil, which is one of the reasons the movie received an X Rating. Fritz has grown weary of jamming in the park with his musician friends, and wants to become more politically involved in society. And so, Fritz ventures out into the stark reality of the times.
This movie deals heavily in the social stereotypes that America still hadn’t quite shrugged off in the early ‘70s. Issues such as the Black ghettos, drug addiction, militant anarchists, and the spirit of free love and sex dominate the plot throughout the movie. And now that I think about it, I don’t really think that America ever really completely shrugged off those problems.
But don’t judge this movie solely on its social and political comments. Fritz The Cat is a genuinely funny movie, and the vivid coloration stands out against the bleak background of the ghetto streets. There’s also some interesting musical interludes.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash (1978, USA/UK)
Directed by Eric Idle & Gary Weiss
In the movie genre known as the “Mockumentary,” The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash is clearly the undisputed champion. Eric Idle and Gary Weiss joined forces to create this wonderfully hilarious parody of The Beatles. For all you die hard Beatles fans out there that have never seen this movie… you will like this movie! The entire history of how The Beatles got together, got rich together, and broke up together is painstakingly parodied in this movie.
Neil Innes made this Mockumentary even funnier by writing parodies of The Beatles songs, and he also plays Ron Nasty, the John Lennon parody, while Eric Idle plays the Paul McCartney parody.
Cameo appearances abound in this movie. Mick Jagger and Paul Simon both appear as themselves to discuss the influences that The Rutles had on their own musical careers. Ron Wood plays a Hell’s Angel. Also appearing are George Harrison, Bianca Jagger, Michael Palin, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Lorne Michaels.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Eraserhead (1977, USA)
Directed by David Lynch
Long recognized as one of the top all-time cult films, Eraserhead is one weird movie, and I mean that in a good way. Jack Nance plays Henry Spencer, a very strange man with an equally strange hair-do. Henry lives alone in a very dreary world, which is made even more dreary by the movie being filmed in black and white.
One day Henry is invited to dinner by his ex-girlfriend, Mary. Dinner itself turns out to be even more interesting than the people gathered to eat it. Soon the reason for Henry’s invitation becomes clear, it seems his relationship with Mary has resulted in the birth of a baby, or as Mary says “The doctors aren’t sure if it is a baby.”
Henry does the honorable thing and marries Mary, and he takes her to his place to live, along with their strange looking offspring. Mary tries to be a good mother, but the baby’s non-stop mournful cries take their toll on Mary and she leaves Henry, who never seems to go to work because he’s on vacation. Henry doesn’t seem to mind. Henry is forever in a world of his own where he’s infatuated by the beautiful woman living across the hall, and the strange looking woman who appears to Henry in the radiator.
There is very little humor in this movie. In fact, it seems that the whole point of the movie is to emphasize what a dark, dreary, and surreal world we all find ourselves in whenever we’re depressed. Nevertheless, this movie is recommended to anyone who’s willing to open up their minds and explore the world of truly bizarre films.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
The Worm Eaters (1977, USA)
Directed by Herb Robins
Those of you who actually read these reviews probably know by now that we have a tendency toward enjoying really bad movies. But every now and then I get a hold of a movie that leaves me saying “I actually paid money for this?” This is such a movie.
This movie had so much potential to be good, but alas, it turned out to be very bad, and not in a good way. Herb Robins wrote, directed, and starred in this C-Grade shlockbuster, so the majority of the blame is completely on him.
Where do I start? How about the theme song that plays during the opening credits? It’s a silly song, and it’s way too long, and if you have the misfortune of watching this movie up to the closing credits you get to hear the song again.
The actual story and plot gave this movie a chance to shine. The main character is Herman Umgar (played by Herb Robins). Herman is a worm-breeder, and takes loving care of his babies. Herman’s father was killed by the father of the mayor back in 1939. Now the mayor is trying to get a hold of Herman’s land so he can screw it up in the name of progress. Everybody knows that Herman has the deed that proves he owns half the town, but nobody can get Herman to admit it, and nobody can find the deed.
Herman begins slipping his special mutant worms into the town’s food for no apparent reason, and despite the obvious, nobody seems to notice. At least until it’s discovered that eating the worms causes you to turn into a worm. At this point I’d like to point out that the scenes of worm eating are way over done. While great effort is taken to prove that worms really are in the person’s mouth they never actually seem to get chewed or even bitten in half. And the scene of worms mixed with ice cream looks more like somebody just finished sucking the great one-eyed wonder worm.
Eventually, Herman is confronted by three fishermen who have also turned into worms, and they want Herman to create mutant worm-women for them to live with in peace under the red tide of the lake. This idea is just silly enough to keep the movie mildly interesting up to this point. However, the cheese factor in this movie is way over done. So much so that not even a bag of nacho chips would’ve helped save this movie. The plot spins out of control, the bad acting and excess cheese factor just gets worse and worse, and then all of a sudden the movie ends in a less than spectacular way, leaving the viewer to say “What the hell?”
This movie is so bad that it’s almost comparable to The Ice Cream Man starring Clint Howard, but that movie had a bigger budget and washed up actors.
Rating: No thumb anywhere near the butt.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Directed by Antonia Bird
This is one of the most delightfully creepy movies I’ve ever seen. This movie is dark comedy at its finest. This movie also proves that female directors are capable of directing some pretty damn good movies, although at the moment I can’t think of another example.
Ravenous takes place in 1847. After disgracing himself during the Mexican-American war, Captain John Boyd (played by Guy Pearce) finds himself banished to a remote military outpost in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There he finds himself surrounded by some rather odd characters, although for 1847 they might have been considered perfectly normal. Everything is going fine, and then one day a man named Colqhoun (played by Robert Carlyle) shows up at the fort half starved and half frozen to death.
After nursing him back to health Colqhoun begins to tell the tale of how he got there. In the spirit of the Donner Party, Colqhoun and a group of settlers find themselves trapped by snow in the mountains and they are forced to take refuge in a cave. As supplies quickly run out, and after eating the horses, the oxen, the dogs, their shoes, and their belts, they resort to cannibalism. Colqhoun manages to go for help and he tells the soldiers that there’s still one woman left back in the cave.
And so, the soldiers are off to the rescue with Colqhoun leading the way. But things begin to take a turn for the bizarre. There are a lot of bizarre plot twists in this movie, and they will all make you go “What the hell just happened?” right up to the incredible ending.
My favorite line in this movie was when the Commanding Officer (played by Jeremy Davies) says “It's lonely being a cannibal; it's tough making friends."
Ravenous did terribly at the box office and was pretty much dismissed by critics, but take my word for it, this is a really great movie! This movie is truly destined to become a cult classic.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Fritz The Cat (1972, USA)
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi made cult movie history when he wrote and directed the first ever X-Rated cartoon in the history of Hollywood. By the modern standards of today this movie would be considered relatively tame, but for the standards of 1972 this movie created quite a sensation.
Featuring the animated artwork of Robert Crumb (who created all of those Keep On Truckin’ posters back in the ‘60s & ‘70s and actually objected to his original character of Fritz The Cat being made into a movie), Fritz The Cat tells the story of a cat, named Fritz. Fritz is one horny little devil, which is one of the reasons the movie received an X Rating. Fritz has grown weary of jamming in the park with his musician friends, and wants to become more politically involved in society. And so, Fritz ventures out into the stark reality of the times.
This movie deals heavily in the social stereotypes that America still hadn’t quite shrugged off in the early ‘70s. Issues such as the Black ghettos, drug addiction, militant anarchists, and the spirit of free love and sex dominate the plot throughout the movie. And now that I think about it, I don’t really think that America ever really completely shrugged off those problems.
But don’t judge this movie solely on its social and political comments. Fritz The Cat is a genuinely funny movie, and the vivid coloration stands out against the bleak background of the ghetto streets. There’s also some interesting musical interludes.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash (1978, USA/UK)
Directed by Eric Idle & Gary Weiss
In the movie genre known as the “Mockumentary,” The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash is clearly the undisputed champion. Eric Idle and Gary Weiss joined forces to create this wonderfully hilarious parody of The Beatles. For all you die hard Beatles fans out there that have never seen this movie… you will like this movie! The entire history of how The Beatles got together, got rich together, and broke up together is painstakingly parodied in this movie.
Neil Innes made this Mockumentary even funnier by writing parodies of The Beatles songs, and he also plays Ron Nasty, the John Lennon parody, while Eric Idle plays the Paul McCartney parody.
Cameo appearances abound in this movie. Mick Jagger and Paul Simon both appear as themselves to discuss the influences that The Rutles had on their own musical careers. Ron Wood plays a Hell’s Angel. Also appearing are George Harrison, Bianca Jagger, Michael Palin, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Lorne Michaels.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
Eraserhead (1977, USA)
Directed by David Lynch
Long recognized as one of the top all-time cult films, Eraserhead is one weird movie, and I mean that in a good way. Jack Nance plays Henry Spencer, a very strange man with an equally strange hair-do. Henry lives alone in a very dreary world, which is made even more dreary by the movie being filmed in black and white.
One day Henry is invited to dinner by his ex-girlfriend, Mary. Dinner itself turns out to be even more interesting than the people gathered to eat it. Soon the reason for Henry’s invitation becomes clear, it seems his relationship with Mary has resulted in the birth of a baby, or as Mary says “The doctors aren’t sure if it is a baby.”
Henry does the honorable thing and marries Mary, and he takes her to his place to live, along with their strange looking offspring. Mary tries to be a good mother, but the baby’s non-stop mournful cries take their toll on Mary and she leaves Henry, who never seems to go to work because he’s on vacation. Henry doesn’t seem to mind. Henry is forever in a world of his own where he’s infatuated by the beautiful woman living across the hall, and the strange looking woman who appears to Henry in the radiator.
There is very little humor in this movie. In fact, it seems that the whole point of the movie is to emphasize what a dark, dreary, and surreal world we all find ourselves in whenever we’re depressed. Nevertheless, this movie is recommended to anyone who’s willing to open up their minds and explore the world of truly bizarre films.
Rating: One full thumb up the butt
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
The Worm Eaters (1977, USA)
Directed by Herb Robins
Those of you who actually read these reviews probably know by now that we have a tendency toward enjoying really bad movies. But every now and then I get a hold of a movie that leaves me saying “I actually paid money for this?” This is such a movie.
This movie had so much potential to be good, but alas, it turned out to be very bad, and not in a good way. Herb Robins wrote, directed, and starred in this C-Grade shlockbuster, so the majority of the blame is completely on him.
Where do I start? How about the theme song that plays during the opening credits? It’s a silly song, and it’s way too long, and if you have the misfortune of watching this movie up to the closing credits you get to hear the song again.
The actual story and plot gave this movie a chance to shine. The main character is Herman Umgar (played by Herb Robins). Herman is a worm-breeder, and takes loving care of his babies. Herman’s father was killed by the father of the mayor back in 1939. Now the mayor is trying to get a hold of Herman’s land so he can screw it up in the name of progress. Everybody knows that Herman has the deed that proves he owns half the town, but nobody can get Herman to admit it, and nobody can find the deed.
Herman begins slipping his special mutant worms into the town’s food for no apparent reason, and despite the obvious, nobody seems to notice. At least until it’s discovered that eating the worms causes you to turn into a worm. At this point I’d like to point out that the scenes of worm eating are way over done. While great effort is taken to prove that worms really are in the person’s mouth they never actually seem to get chewed or even bitten in half. And the scene of worms mixed with ice cream looks more like somebody just finished sucking the great one-eyed wonder worm.
Eventually, Herman is confronted by three fishermen who have also turned into worms, and they want Herman to create mutant worm-women for them to live with in peace under the red tide of the lake. This idea is just silly enough to keep the movie mildly interesting up to this point. However, the cheese factor in this movie is way over done. So much so that not even a bag of nacho chips would’ve helped save this movie. The plot spins out of control, the bad acting and excess cheese factor just gets worse and worse, and then all of a sudden the movie ends in a less than spectacular way, leaving the viewer to say “What the hell?”
This movie is so bad that it’s almost comparable to The Ice Cream Man starring Clint Howard, but that movie had a bigger budget and washed up actors.
Rating: No thumb anywhere near the butt.
Tracy (Never Had A Nickname) McCall
Head Writer,
Singer, Songwriter,
Attorney at Log
Paulie Family Productions
posted by The Paulie Family at 3:41 PM
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