:: a world of zombies ::

:: Monday, January 26 ::

THE TENTH VICTIM (1965)

I hate reality shows. There, I said it, and I'm not one bit sorry.

Reality television is the bane of my existence. Every minute of reality television that airs lowers our society's collective IQ by at least 50 points (it must be into negative numbers by now). I do not care what happens to Paris Hilton or even know why I'm supposed to care. I don't care if the Bachelor finds true love or who the next American Idol will be or that the Richard Hatch who won Survivor isn't the one who played Apollo on Battlestar Galactica. Laughing at Anna Nicole Smith just makes me feel dirty, guilty, and depressed. And I won't even get into those horrible dating shows where horrible people with horrible haircuts and horrible clothes try to hook up to be horrible together. Or that one where the gay guys give some straight slob a fabulous gay makeover.

The thing about these shows that really confuses me is that they just keep coming, despite the fact that nearly everybody I've ever met complains about how awful they are. But somebody must be watching. Maybe it falls under the heading of 'guilty pleasure.' That's really the only thing I can think of. People complain about how horrible these shows are, yet can't look away or extricate themselves from the mire once they're in it. Which enables reality television to continue, because you can't scrape the bottom of the barrel when said barrel is, in fact, bottomless.

Elio Petri foresaw this when, in 1965, he made THE TENTH VICTIM. Actually Richard Scheckley knew it in before that when he wrote the story on which the film was based (The story was originally called 'The Seventh Victim' but the title was changed to avoid conclusion with Mark Robson's brilliant 1943 horror film of the same title. Something that sadly wouldn't need to be done today). THE TENTH VICTIM takes place in the 21st century, which seemed really far away in 1965. It's a world where comic books have become great literature, citizens are required turn their parents over to the state, and the Big Hunt is not only the most popular entertainment, but also a great technique for population control.

The rules of the Big Hunt are relatively simple. Each participant must complete 10 hunts, five as hunter and five as victim. Those who finish all ten hunts are declared 'decathletes', become national heroes, and win $1 million. Hunters and victims are chosen at random by a computer in Geneva and pitted against each other in a battle of wits that spans the entire globe. The organizers of the hunt justify legalized murder as entertainment by telling the participants that it is man's safety valve and that if the Hunt had been around when Hitler was alive, he would've joined, and WWII would never have happened. Still, all is not entirely well in the world of the Big Hunt. The Vatican disapproves, and there are greater restrictions being placed on where hunters can shoot at their victims. For instance, we're told that in Italy, where the bulk of the movie takes place, it's illegal to shoot in nurseries or some restaurants. Of course, we're also told that this is not the case in America, and somehow that's not surprising.

As the film begins, Carolyn Meredith (Ursula Andress) is on her ninth hunt, as victim. Her hunter tracks her to the Masoch Club in New York, where Carolyn does a bizarre dance act and then shoots him dead with a bullet-firing metal brassiere. She is then approaced by the Ming Tea company with a proposal to sponsor her tenth hunt by having her eliminate her final victim during a TV commercial for their product. She agrees to the contract and is off to Italy to hunt her tenth victim.

The victim this time is Marcello Poletti (the great Marcello Mastoianni), a fairly sad passionless man in a passionless world. Marcello's got a number of problems, most of them related to money and women. His ex-wife Lidia (Luce Bonifassy) takes all his earnings from the Hunt before he can get them, and his current girfriend Olga (the lovely Elsa Martinelli) wants him to marry her, but he pretends that his annullment from Lidia hasn't gone through yet to avoid doing so. He's so broke that all his furniture and comic books are repossessed and he has to rely on 20% of the profits from a sunset-worshipping cult he's formed to get by.

Carolyn approaches Marcello posing as a television reporter who wants to interview him at the Temple of Venus, where she plans on killing him in front of Ming Tea's cameras. Of course, they fall in love, eventually, after a courtship that can only be described as rocky and, well, if i told you everything that happens in this movie, there wouldn't be much point in watching it.

I love this movie. It's a witty, stylish sci-fi satire that takes place in a pop-art fantasy world full of inflatabe furniture, space-age architecture, and slick mod clothing. Of course, this world may look great, but it's actually a pretty passionless world where people seem incapable of really connecting and are only concerned with satisfying their own selfish needs. Which means it's not that far from the society we've built in the actual honest-to-goodness 21st century. It looks much much cooler, though, and I really wish the future had really ended up looking like this. If only this movie featured something akin to the internet, then it would really seem prescient.

You might think that by appearing in a flashy, stylish, satirical science fiction film, Marcello Mastroianni would be slumming, and that's a reasonable assumption to make, but the film manages to address issues such as personal freedom, familial obligation, and media manipulation with surprising wit and intelligence (director Petri's other two best-known films are the creepy horror film A QUIET PLACE IN THE COUNTRY and the Oscar-winning INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION) and Marcello's performance is subtle and highly effective in conveying the disillusionment brought on by living in a world like this. And plus, in his close-cropped blonde hair, shades, and black turtleneck, he just oozes cool. As for Ursula, well, she always was more of a presence than an actress, and since she's dubbed by someone else in both the Italian and English versions, her presence is really all that matters here.

While it's not quite as extravagant as other 60s pop art spectacles like Roger Vadim's BARBARELLA or Joseph Losey's MODESTY BLAISE, THE TENTH VICTIM has a script that outdoes both of those more elaborate, expensive productions combined, and still manages to create countless memorable images like the sunset-worshipping ceremony that Marcello presides over or the roadside 'service' station where weary travellers can go for service, if you know what i mean. Late in the film, Marcello decides to set up his own corporate sponsorship deal, which involves a crocodile and its trainer, who speaks through an electronic voice box. And the crocodile's handlers wear the uniforms from Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES. It may not be quite as great as Bava's DIABOLIK as pop art movies go, but this movie isn't too far behind. And the catchy europop score by Piero Piccioni (who also scored Radley Metzger's CAMILLE 2000) is a work of loungey brilliance that you'll be humming for days. Rumor has it that the soundtrack was Andy Warhol's favorite album.

Of course, as with seemingly every movie and television series ever made, there has been been remake talk about THE TENTH VICTIM in recent years. I, for one, hope and pray that it doesn't happen, because the end result will probably drop the 'dealing with issues in a sly, classy, witty, entertaining manner' element and go straight for the 'scowling people in black leather jumping through the air while stuff blows up and pounding techno/metal plays in the background' approach. As these things do nowadays.

For a relatively obscure film, THE TENTH VICTIM has been somewhat influential. Sadly, much of its influence was on Austin Powers. The first film in that franchise which really should have been a film and nothing more pays tribute to Ursula's bullet bra as well as using the name Ming Tea. Not exactly the most dignified of legacies for a film as clever, stylish and just plain fun as this.
:: Jason Hyde 12:33 PM [+] ::
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Well its been an interesting year - I haven't checked in in a while, but Jason has done a great job entertaining both of you reading this evil thing we've done.

I'll regale you later with a recounting of the promethian knowledge I've saught, and subsequent maddness I've recieved watching movies involving former members of the Sugarcubes, but first, I've worked out the plot for a little project I like to call: Hitler Goes Bananas.

So I've been developing this idea for a long while - people like monkey movies, road trip movies, and to a lesser extent, 80's type spring break movies. But of the thousands of these movies that have been made, never ever has there been a funny monkey roadtrip movie involving both Spring Break and Hitler. That would be pure comedy, no? Of course it would be - It would be the Citizen Kane of the monkey-road trip-spring break genres. I can see it all now....

O.K. here's the scene: We find ourselves in Small College Town, perhaps in Michigan, Iowa, Wyoming, one of the Dakotas perhaps, Ohio maybe? Anyway, in Small College Town, on the campus of Obviously Fictional University (yes old OFU) we see two guys, one much like Tim Robbins' charming "Mother" character in "Fraternity Vacation" the other much like Tim Robbins' "Boe" character in Toy Soldiers. We see the two of them pulling some lame prank, as in fact always gets pulled at the beginning of movies like this. In the process we find out that the "Boe" character has been given his aunt's VW Convertible Bug (as a not to the ubiquitous Herbie of course) for the month while she is on a - I don't know - fact finding mission in Rangoon, say. That coupled with the fact that she is leaving behind a historic old maison at Popular Florida Spring Break Destination - Springbreakville, of course means only one thing - Spring Break! Yes beaches, babes, raging alcoholism, and free dwarves. No matter what time of year it is - its always time for Spring Break.

The two promptly get packed and head off on the road for Florida (America's Wang) and Spring Break. Along the way the pair spot a hitchhiking Chimpanzee, who they promptly pick up. And the three run afoul of some inexplicably creepy and outwardly evil men in suits - as a bit of foreshadowing, and some bewhite-hatted fraternity bozos, in case we need another sub-plot latter on... The three make tier way down to Florida, Boe Driving, Mother long since having fallen asleep and handing over the map, and navigating duties to the Chimp (who as it turns out has a lousy sense of direction). They wind through some swampy stereotypic backwoods, obviously lost, until they come apon a forgotten old maison which Boe mistakes as his aunts (it has been years).

The three go in, and find that the place may be old and forgotten, but its also posh, huge, and right on the outskirts of Springbreakville. They tool around in the house for a while, noticing a large room with some old machinery in it, what looks like a control panel and a wicker-doored closet which they open revealing a huge cryogenic chamber. Inside that chamber is an older Austrian Man with a funny moustache, and an odd haircut. The chimp reanimates the man after a series of mishaps that involve unexplained baloney, an errant lizard, and a tiki statue. The man's gruff mannerisms, loud German monologues, and propensity for evil quickly reveal that he is, in fact, Hitler. Hitler only ever speaks German (unsubtitled), but the guys always seem to get the gist of what he's saying - likewise he can understand their English.

Next of course comes the montage scene where the guys get Hitler made over to bad 80's music. And the Quartet heads off to Springbreakville for some good old fashioned debauchery. However when they get there, something seems, wrong. The denizens of the town are suspicious, the people there are not really partying, well not in any way befitting Spring Break anyway.

We quickly learn of the fiendish plot by the evil and creepy suit men to dispose of Spring Break once and for all. Our heros take action, which gives us a few more montage scenes set to 80's music, a few hilarious monkey-centric scenes, and of course the big "executing the plan scene, wherein everything goes wrong, one of their lives is in peril, Hitler ends up saving their bacon, and the 4 prevail...

Of course now there is a large gathering where the governor of Florida flys in via helicopter to thank the 4, and present them with a giant oversized key. Thank you he says to mother, who shoots back with "Its an honor governor, but don't thank me, I wouldn't have been able to do it without my friends, and, and Hitler! Yes of all of us, you should really thank Hitler, Hitler saved Spring Break.

A tight shot on Hitler who simply demands "now einen PARTY! schnell!", the crowd cheers, music swells up, everyone magically has drinks, and Hitler does a stage dive as the end credits come up.
:: das firegod 7:01 AM [+] ::
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THE HUMAN LEAGUE - VERY BEST OF DVD

I can still vividly remember my first exposure to the Human League when I first saw their 'Don't You Want Me?' video on MTV way back in 1981. Everything about that video seemed so incredibly right that it literally changed my life. The group's measured, detached cool, singer Phil Oakey with his pale face, slicked-back hair and black suit, that ALIEN poster on the wall, the references to film and filmmaking, and last, but not least, the fact that the music was created entirely with synthesizers made it seem like it was coming from another world. Of course, since I was watching it in Peru, Indiana, it's pretty safe to say that it was coming from another world. Seeing that video, along with hearing Devo for the first time, was one of the defining moments in my life of musical appreciation.

Little did I know then, but the Human League already had a long and impressive history before 'Don't You Want Me?' exploded worldwide, turning them into bonafide pop stars and almost single-handedly making it okay to like synthesizer music made by guys in makeup in America. The Human League were born in the gray industrial town of Sheffield in the north of England, also home to Cabaret Voltaire, with whom the early incarnation of the band had much in common. Originally calling themselves the Future, the band (which also included Martyn Ware, Ian Marsh and 'director of visuals' Adrian Wright at the time) was influenced equally by Kraftwerk, Donna Summer, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Walter/Wendy Carlos, and a steady diet of science fiction movies and television. Their first album, 1979's Reproduction may well be my favorite album of all time, with a prescience matched only by John Foxx's contemporary Metamatic. Around this time, the band was declared the 'future of music' by no less than David Bowie, while John Lydon dismissed them as 'trendy hippies.' Equally brilliant and ahead of their time were early Human League releases Dignity of Labour and Travelogue. But all good things must end, and the original configuration of the Human League called it quits in 1980. Ware and Marsh formed Heaven 17, while Oakey recruited a couple of schoolgirls (Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall) he saw dancing in a club and continued on to fame, fortune, inevitable fall from grace, and eventual comeback with the Human League. All of which can be witnessed by watching the band's new VERY BEST OF DVD. If you can track it down.

The disc opens with the Human League mk1's brilliant 'Circus of Death,' a song about murderous drug addicted clowns rampaging across England that manages to reference Hawaii Five-O along the way. Basically a live performance video, it's one of the relatively few filmed documents of what an early Human League show would've been like. With slides of everything from WAR OF THE WORLDS to CARRIE to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE projected behind the band, it's not difficult to imagine the impact of seeing something so strange and futuristic must have had on audiences of the time. Up next is another live early live clip for 'Empire State Human,' a song about, well, being really really big. It's basically the same format as the 'Circus of Death' clip, but with slides of Doctor Who (Tom Baker model, of course), Peter Falk as Columbo, Adam West as Batman, the Kennedy family (as well as the Addams Family), and Tony Curtis, among others, cementing the Human League's reputation as a great geek band with impeccable references.

Then its on to pop stardom with the three videos from their groundbreaking Dare album. First is 'Love Action,' which opens with an homage to THE GRADUATE. Then there is 'Open Your Heart,' which is actually pretty terrible, with a plethora of goofy 80s video effects that have not aged well at all. The Dare era is rounded off, of course, by 'Don't You Want Me?' and even though its an edited version that's presented on the DVD, it's still just as impressive as it was in 1981.

Not too surprisingly, the band had a notoriously difficult time coming up with a proper follow-up to Dare, and so they released a couple of stand-alone singles while working on the next album. First of these is 'Mirror Man,' another catchy, albeit somewhat downbeat, pop gem that features the first appearance of a non-synthesized sound (a bass guitar, to be precise) on a Human League record. The video is fairly enjoyable, with Oakey appearing as a sort of ghost who only exists in the mirror until he 'beams down' to join the band at the end. Overall, though, it's a bit drab, and not especially memorable, except for the repeated speedboat crash footage. '(Keep Feeling) Fascination,' however, is a great video for an obscenely catchy song, with the band playing in a completely grey room (even their instruments are grey) within a house in the red 'you are here' dot on a map. The moment where a boy kicks his ball into the dot only to have it, and his clothes when he chases after it, change from white to red is pretty priceless. The band does, however, look a bit like the rouge truck ran over them, then backed up and did the job again.

The long-awaited follow-up to Dare finally materialized in the form of Hysteria, the release of which was heralded by the single 'The Lebanon.' This has always been a controversial song in the band's catalogue, both for its use of electric guitar and the famously derided lyric 'where there used to be some shops, is where the snipers sometimes hide.' Personally, I've always loved this song. The guitar part isn't too intrusive, and rather like the work of John McGeogh (Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees). As for the infamous lyric, well, it's a bit goofy, but it's the sort of charming goofiness that can only come from the most well-meaning form of sincerity, and as such, I'm quite fond of it. The video's okay, basically a live clip, with a fairly gooney audience that appears to be borrowed from one of Falco's videos. It's here, though, that Oakey begins sporting a dreadful mullet/stubble combo that sticks around for the next few videos. It's not pretty, especially when combined with eyeliner and lipstick.

Then it's on to 'Life on Your Own,' a song that I really used to dislike but which has actually quite grown on me, although why it was chosen as a single is beyond me, as it's a fairly low-key, downbeat affair. The video's great, though, referencing THE OMEGA MAN so well that you expect Oakey to start shooting at hordes of albino mutants in monk robes at any time. Shame he doesn't, though.

Diverging briefly from Hysteria is the 'Together in Electric Dreams' video, actually a collaboration between Oakey and Giorgio Moroder for the film ELECTRIC DREAMS, in which a computer falls in love with Virginia Madsen. It's a nice song, but the video's dominated a bit too much by footage from the movie for my tastes. Geeks will be amused by Oakey's Judge Death T-shirt, though, and there's a cameo from Moroder himself. 'Louise' is the last of the Hysteria videos, as well as the end of the mullet. It's a nice-looking video, with great black-and-white photography, but the song's always left me bit cold. It's not terrible, but it's not particularly striking either.

After Hysteria failed to repeat the success of Dare, the Human League traveled to America to work with the Jam and Lewis production and songwriting team, and the result was Crash, an album that's actually rather like a crash. It's not pretty, often depressing, yet somehow you can't look away. Actually, in all fairness, the first single 'Human' is pretty good for what it is. Of course, what it is is a sappy synth ballad. But it's probably the CITIZEN KANE of sappy synth ballads, and it did give them their biggest hit since Dare. The video's nice, too, with lots of water, no mullet, and positively ginormous earrings on the ladies. The less said about 'I Need Your Loving' the better. It's a nightmare of terrible fashion, worse music, and dubious rapping from Oakey. In other words, a textbook example of what usually happens when a perfectly fine British group comes to America to make a record. The last Crash video is for 'Love is All That Matters' and it's basically a compilation of clips from the band's earlier clips.

Things start to improve with 1990's 'Heart Like a Wheel' which is a pleasant enough update of the classic Human League sound, and a pretty nice video to boot. Things go downhill again, though, with 'Soundtrack to a Generation' which demonstrates why the rest of the Romantic? album was pretty disappointing. Susan and Joanne are tarted up and flashy, in a Hollywood kind of way, Oakey looks like he could be fronting the Cult, and the whole song has a flat and listess quality to it. And having the girls shout 'Holy cow!' throughout doesn't help much.

Luckily 1995's critically admired album Octopus restored much of the League's fading dignity, as the video for the pure pop wonder 'Tell Me When' testifies. The group looks invigorated, stylish, and younger, and they sound more committed than they had in years, probably because they finally got back to doing what they do best, crafting memorable, catchy pop songs from purely electronic sources. The second single 'One Man in My Heart' is a nice ballad showcase for Susan, and the video's awfully pretty, although after watching it, I'm pretty sure I could go make a capuccino. Curiously, the third Octopus video, 'Filling Up with Heaven' is missing from the disc.

Which brings us up to 2001 and 'All I Ever Wanted' from the most recent Human League Album Secrets, and their dignity is fully restored. Minimal, cold music mixing with a catchy chorus and terrific singing, this song's a highlight of the best album they've done since Dare, an album that mixes several Travelogue style instrumentals in with the pop. It's better than anything any of the League's contemporaries have been doing recently (especially Gary Numan and his recent goth metal direction), and the video's really excellent, with the band walking through futuristic white sets while singing the song. Shame nobody bought the album, though.

The disc is rounded off with a nice selection of extras, including four Dare-era Top of the Pops appearances, including one for 'Don't You Want Me?' that ends with the band covered in silly string. There's also two 1995 performances from Jools Holland's show, including a particularly impressive one for 1990's 'The Stars Are Going Out,' which may be the most underrated Human League song ever. There's a nice lengthy interview that will only appeal to the most dedicated fans, but they shouldn't miss it, particularly to see Oakey come off as the nicest, most self-deprecating man in music. And to hear the band's charming Sheffield accents

Toss in some features for your PC, the most amazingly clear and loud sound I've ever heard on a music DVD, and this disc really becomes a must. It can be a bit of a trial to find it in stores, though, but it's definitely worth the effort.

For more information on the Human League, I highly recommend visiting http://www.league-online.com/, which has up-to-date information, reviews, images, and a whole lot more, and http://blindyouth.co.uk/, which is absolutely the best collection of information on the band's early pre-Dare days that's ever likely to exist.

And if you want to see a great animation of Davros falling in love with Stephen Hawking to a robot voice cover of 'Together in Electric Dreams' visit http://www2.b3ta.com/hawking/

:: Jason Hyde 3:54 PM [+] ::
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yeah, i know...it's been a long while since anything was posted here...so over the next few days, i'll be adding some more movie reviews, and maybe even some music reviews for both of the people out there who care...


:: Jason Hyde 1:35 PM [+] ::
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