Showing posts with label Neville Brand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neville Brand. Show all posts

Saturday, December 20, 2014

FIRE (1977)

Showing up on network TV less than six month after Irwin Allen's previous disaster outing, FLOOD, FIRE tells the story of a forest fire caused by a work crew prisoner (Neville Brand) looking to make a cover for an escape attempt.  Soon, the fire is totally out of control and not only does it threaten Vera Miles' hotel and Ernest Borgnine's lumber mill, but also an entire nearby town.  So now it's up to Borgnine to drive all over the joint in his big truck wrecking into shit and saving everybody.

I liked FIRE quite a bit.  It was a big improvement over the lackluster FLOOD...the pace was quick, the acting much improved (the highlights being Miles and Borgnine), the special effects were better, impressive cast (Vera Miles, Ernest Borgnine, Lloyd Nolan, Alex Cord, Neville Brand, Eric Estrada, Patty Duke), the action scenes much more exciting, plus it just looked better. 

Younger audiences would probably fall asleep, but it you have a soft spot of older TV movies then you should definitely check out FIRE.  Recommended.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

EATEN ALIVE (1977)

What a bizarre movie.  Instead of doing the logical thing and following up THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE with a cash-in sequel (who knows, maybe there was an legal issue) TCM director/producer/writer/composer Tobe Hooper, writer Kim Henkel and main actress Marilyn Burns created this almost fever dream-like story of an old coot (Neville Brand) running a hotel near a swamp.  Despite the fact that the hotel is completely dilapidated, there's no road nearby and the owner is clearly insane the place still gets a steady stream of customers...whom, the owner, kills about as quickly as they show up and then feeds to his huge crocodile.  It makes no sense at all.

Still, there's something about EATEN ALIVE that you can't take your eyes off of it.  It's just so strange that it's more fascinating than it is entertaining.  Over-the-top acting by an whole cast of weird characters, sudden unexpected spurts of violence, gritty camerawork that reminded me at moments of TCM, eternal nighttime, two surprisingly nice topless scenes, strange set design, fake as hell looking crocodile, Marilyn Burns underused (she should have had a bigger role), lots of fog (at one point - 1:19:53 - I swear Neville does the Leatherface dance, but there's so much fog it's hard to tell), old timey country music playing almost non-stop, surreal colours, Freddy Krueger topless.

Not horrible, but not good either.  Just strange.