Wednesday, December 15, 2010

SANTA CLAUS (1959)

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Cinema of the Fantastic. I've been digging through Santa's jolly gift bag of steaming shit and I've pulled out this trashy 1959 Mexican classic. Boy, what a pleasure this was to sit through.......

The plot of this ridiculous film concerns Santa Claus in space spying on children through his telescope in an inappropriate manner whilst trying to stop a devil named Pitch from implanting "evil" ideas in children's heads. Yes. The bulk of the film is built around these themes. We're treated to about 10 minutes of children from around the world singing and building toys for Santa in a presumably slave-laboured workshop. In between, there is more singing. And in several different languages. Santa's  reindeer are robots who make like Vampires should the sun fall on them. The reindeer look terrible, even for 1959 standards and to add insult to injury, they laugh. A little girl's father searches for work during the EARLY HOURS OF CHRISTMAS MORNING. The worst part? A narrator telling us exactly what we are seeing as we see it. It's like going out to a movie and having someone talk through the whole damn thing. Who wrote this piece of shit? I could film a few friends smoking joints and drinking in my garage and come out with a better film than this. I get it. It's a movie with B-production values and it's supposed to be so bad that one can enjoy it. Sadly this feeling was lost on me as I was more annoyed than entertained. And to think this film ACTUALLY won an award upon release for "best international family film".  I'd hate to see the competition.

On the plus side, some of the model sets are quite charming and the film has that B-appeal. At the very least, it is a unique film. It does contain the Christmas feel quite well, much more so than say, FRED CLAUS. But I wish that was saying much.
                                                       
SANTA CLAUS AND PITCH, THE DEMON

During the 60's and 70's, the film enjoyed quite a run on TV, becoming a Christmas classic during that period. It was shown every year. Eventually, B-movie fanatics got word of it's existence and it's become a classic for the same reason ROBOT MONSTER or PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE did. Would I reccomend the film? Yes, but only if you are high. Otherwise it's somewhat of a feat to sit through this Sci-Fi Santa film. Many will disagree but when it comes to bad Santa movies with charm, SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS beats this one out by far. Any serious movie fan however should watch this and note it as a comparison to bad films. ONE AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

VAMPYR (1932)

Sometimes, films do not seem to make much sense. They are at least decidedly metaphorical, cryptic and more often than not carry deep hidden meaning. I won't even pretend that I understand the entire concept of this film though. I don't think anyone is meant to fully understand........ Except for possibly director Carl Theodore Dreyer......


VAMPYR has a clear storyline, contrary to what many might say. The story obviously concerns a sick girl living near an old Inn in the villiage of Courtempierre. She is slowly being drained by a Vampire. Alan Grey, a student of the occult, comes to the rescue. This much is clear. The story follows a natural course. What is not clear however remains the insertion of several debatably irrelevant scenes througout the film, quite random in some areas. So it must be assumed that on some level, there is a hidden message, or theme perhaps. All we know is that the randomness that is this film must, or at least probably should, have some meaning.


Put it simply, Vampyr is about an occult student, Allen Gray, whom upon arriving at a bizarre old Inn in Courtempierre, France,  begins seeing strange things. What follows may seem like nonsense to some. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Grey comes upon a young woman dying slowly from what the audience will know, a Vampire draining her. Allen Grey must confront and destroy the vampire, which he does.

VAMPYR is known mostly for it's foggy atmosphere and a dream sequence. Both of which make the film seem like a dream. It's almost as if the film were one of Dreyer's dreams. There notoriously was something wrong with the camera lens during filming, making the footage appear foggy and Dreyer liked this. It only adds to the dreamlike atmosphere.

There is little point attempting to discuss Vampyr and it's implied horror, but it remains a film that must be mentioned, an overlooked film. I cannot do the film justice by review, it's just not one of those films. However, I can reccomend it to ANYONE. There is literally nothing else like it. FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE.