Teen Wolf Director's Commentary - Rod Daniel (1942-2016)

I was surprised and saddened to learn that Teen Wolf director Rod Daniel died April 16, 2016. I had not heard of this bad news until today. Apparently he died of complications from Parkinson's disease, which is the same disease from which Teen Wolf star Michael J. Fox suffers.

Daniel had retired as a movie director and became a photographer.

Something else I didn't realize is that Daniel's two sons coaxed him into recording a commentary track for Teen Wolf. You can listen to it and download it by clicking the link below. You'll have to have your own copy of the movie to watch while you listen. You can still listen to the commentary without simultaneously watching the film. However, there are several, very long stretches of silence that will make it a bit boring without the movie playing.

Incidentally, Daniel does talk briefly about the exposed extra in Teen Wolf whom some viewers think was a man but evidence clearly shows it was a female extra. I don't know how closely Daniel examined the scene though, since he mentions a guy at the end mooning the camera. I guess he and I have a different definition of mooning.

Teen Wolf Director's Commentary 

Hit play on the mp3 file right when you see the MGM Lion fade out in the opening of the movie.

Teen Wolf has always been a childhood favourite of mine and I've watched it countless times.

Thanks, Rod. Rest in peace.

Instruments of Evil (review)

Instruments of Evil movie poster

Instruments of Evil (IoE) is a low-budget, horror/comedy, anthology movie shot in Saskatchewan without the aid of that province's film tax credit, which was cancelled in 2012.

In other words, don't expect great special effects or elaborate, detailed sets. The cast and crew had to make do with limited resources.

However, that does not mean that Instruments of Evil is without charm.

I've always said that a movie can be bad but it should never be boring. Bad movies can still be entertaining and IoE passes that test mainly on the strength of its humour, music, and amusing characters. The budget may have been limited but the humour was not.

The plot revolves around a viking warrior known as the Dark Viking (Huw Evans) who must track down and destroy some musical demons that were created by the god Loki. Who the hell needs The Avengers when you have the Dark Viking with a forkin' sweet sword? Sorry Thor, but your hammer just won't cut it.

Here's how the movie is officially described:

Created in the ancient mists of time by the Viking god Loki, four musical demons have left carnage and horror in their wake as they’ve travelled through the centuries, using the vibrations of music as a conduit across time and space. Now, as the harmonic horrors attempt to reunite and bring about the end of the world, can a cop, a hooker, and a warrior from the past defeat these evil spirits before the music stops ... forever

The hub of IoE takes place in a small police station, where Sgt. Savage (Rich Belhumeur) and his  constables are busy taking inventory of their evidence items, some of which are possessed by evil, unbeknownst to them. As they sort through each item, one of them recounts the grisly tale in which it was involved. Three of them involve musical instruments and are featured in its own story.

ThanksKilling

ThanksKilling

If you like your movies with tongue-in-beak humour, then ThanksKilling is the one for you. If you are not a fan of intentionally-bad movies or ones that are self-aware, you might want to skip this dinner.

The star of this movie is a fowl-mouthed, homicidal, hand puppet turkey with a penchant for bad puns that rival Arnold Schwarzenegger's lines as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin. That should give you some indication of where to set the bar for your expectations.

Despite the fact that Turkie (voiced by writer/director Jordan Downey) is made of rubber, it gives one of the better performances in the movie when you compare it to the wooden acting of the two actresses/non actresses playing the college girls, Ali and Kristen. The guys do a slightly better job with one of them overdoing it as Ryan Francis overacts the hell out of his character, Darren the nerd.

What makes this movie really worth the watch is the interaction between Turkie and Sheriff Roud, who is played by Chuck Lamb aka Dead Body Guy. One scene that takes place in the kitchen of the sheriff's house will have you laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation as Sheriff Roud is fooled by Turkie's cheap disguise. The banter between Turkie and the sheriff is priceless. Lamb steals the movie in my opinion. This scenario is repeated when Turkie "borrows" the sheriff's face-mask and unconvincingly impersonates him yet fools Kristen and her friends into believing he's Sheriff Roud. It's so preposterous, I couldn't help but laugh.

This movie was made with an extremely low budget ($3,500) and it shows. Don't expect any great special effects, elaborate sets or even adequate lighting or makeup. I don't even think any of the actors got paid. Despite its minuscule budget, it does manage to succeed in some areas and was able to make me laugh several times. For what its worth, I enjoyed it for the most part.

So if you're looking for something different to watch during the Thanksgiving holiday, skip your umpteeth viewing of Planes, Trains and Automobiles and have yourself a nice big helping of Turkie in ThanksKilling. Watch it on Hulu or popcornflix.com

Superbman: The Other Movie

Superbman: The Other Movie poster

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a parody!

Clark Cant apparently can leap over tall women in a single bound but the Kraptonian Cant seem to get a definite DVD release date for Superbman: The Other Movie.

Dealing with red tape seems to be his Kraptonite.

You don't need x-ray vision to see that the film's title is an obvious play on the Richard Donner directed Superman: The Movie. It's no coincidence that it's also the movie that is spoofed.

On February 21, 1981, SUPERBMAN premiered in the auditorium at Cal State Long Beach. What started out as a simple student film in 1978 evolved into a much more ambitious project.



According to the official website, it was originally intended to be a ten minute trailer without a plot. However, as opportunities presented themselves, the filmmakers decided that there was potential for something greater so a script was written adding characters and a plot, extending the film to 30 minutes.

If you were not around in the early eighties or didn't attend science fiction or comic conventions, chances are you haven't seen this film. It's currently not available for purchase or viewing but an announcement at the end of the trailer states that it's "Coming soon on DVD." However, that trailer was produced in 2008 and the DVD has yet to be released.

Speaking of the trailer, you can get a sense of what type of humour they were shooting for. Being a superhero spoof, you might think the 1966 Batman TV series and movie would be the obvious choice for a template to use but the humour in SUPERBMAN seems to be more in line with that of Spaceballs, which is really funny. Of course that movie wouldn't come out until 1987.

Notice some of the big names these students were able to convince to take part in their humble little film. The most impressive of these is none other than the first actor to play Superman on screen, Kirk Alyn, who plays Pa Cant. Alyn played the "Man of Steel" in the 1948 film serial Superman.

Another notable name is Alvy Moore, who plays Perry Blight, editor-in-chief of The Daily Comet newspaper. Moore is probably remembered most as Hank Kimball, the scatterbrained county agent on Green Acres. He still makes me laugh watching reruns on Antenna TV.

Coincidentally, Gary Owens who is Antenna TV's promotional announcer is also the narrator of Superbman. Owens is famous for being the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In as well as providing the voices of several cartoon characters. Among some of the more well-known characters he voiced were Roger Ramjet, Space Ghost, Blue Falcon and Powdered Toast Man.



Bob Burns also makes an appearance as Tracy the Gorilla who was "trained" by Burns on The Ghost Busters live action TV show from 1975-76. He's also an archivist and historian of movie props and costumes which he keeps in his basement that has gained cult status and notoriety as Bob's Basement.




On low budget films which in almost every case is what student films are basically, it's not unusual for those involved to have more than one job. Often, the actors on screen are also pulling double or triple duty as part of the crew or production team. Such was the case for Vern Dietsche, who not only portrayed a Kraptonian Elder in Superbman but was also the movie's producer as well as the editor and assistant director. He was also part of the supporting cast in The Wizard of Speed and Time and was an uncredited Enterprise crew member in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He seems to be attracted to movies which describe what they are in the title. Know what I mean, Vern?

Nowadays, Dietsche is busy chasing aliens and making videos as UFO Bob. Hold on... Clark Cant was an alien! Coincidence? I wonder.



I posed the question to Vern (aka UFO Bob) about the status of an impending DVD release of Superbman. Unfortunately, the news did not sound overly optimistic.

@MovieVigilante Sorry, but there are some issue yet to be resolved. I want it out by summer, but no guarantee. We'll see.
— UFO Bob (@UFOBob1) April 16, 2014

Could the nefarious Rex Ruthor be behind the DVD's delay? Only Vern knows for sure.

I usually don't watch "The Making of (insert movie title)" featurettes before actually watching the movies themselves but since it might be a while before an official DVD release, I can't wait that long. If you're a little more patient and don't want to spoil any of the movie magic then just don't watch it. For all others, enjoy The Making of Superbman: The Other Movie.


Vern Dietsche & Dave Teubner Interview, April 18, 2012

I first found out about SUPERBMAN when I listened to an episode of The Projection Booth podcast, something I listen to on a regular basis. In it, Dietsche and director Dave Teubner are interviewed about how writer Jon Ginn came up with the idea for the script, how they got the big name stars to appear and some of the problems they had to overcome in order to complete the film.

Treevenge (2008 short film)

"Ever thought about how bad it would suck to be a tree during the Christmas season? This wildly bloody and ingeniously insane short from HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN filmmakers Jason Eisener and Rob Cotterill shines light on the forgotten victims of the holidays. Prepare to have your Yuletides yacked!"

-Mitch Davis

AWARDS:

-Honorable Mention (for Shorts) @ Sundance Film Festival
-2008 International Watch List
-Audience Award for Best Short Film @ New York City Horror Film Fest
-Best Local Film @ The Coast Magazine (Halifax)
-Audience Award for Best Short Film @ Toronto After Dark Festival
-Audience Award for Best Short Film @ Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal, QC)
-Best Editing @ Atlantic Film Festival (Halifax, NS)
-Best Short Film @ Fantastic Fest Online (Austin, TX)
-Audience Award for Best Short Film @ San Francisco Independent Film Festival
-Rue Morgue Magazine - Best Short Film
-Boston Underground Film Festival - Best of the Fest Short Film
-A Night of Horror Film Fest - Best SPFX (Sydney, Oz)
-RINCON Film Fest - Best Fright Night Film (Puerto Rico)

http://jasoneisener.tumblr.com/

Treevenge gif courtesy of  www.treevenge.com

Treevenge is a dish best served cold, preferably on a snowy Christmas morning. At least, that's what the trees in this short film seem to think.

From Hobo With a Shotgun director, Jason Eisner, comes this yuletide tale of an x-mas tree killing spree.  Apparently they don't take too kindly to being chopped down every holiday season and ultimately ending up in a wood chipper. With a major woodchip on their shoulders, the trees look to put an end to this tree torture by launching a surprise attack on the humans that ends in a bloody massacre. Warning: Even babies aren't safe from the carnage.

You might want to consider getting an artificial tree after watching this.

Fans of the Trailer Park Boys will recognize Jonathan Torrens & Sarah Dunsworth who play a married couple with two children.

Verdict: This horror/comedy is just treemendous fun without the tree sap that usually drips from holiday movies.

This movie is part of my Ho Ho Horror! Advent Calendar movie list. To see the whole list, click on the link.

Plot Twists

I recently discovered this great comic by Dan Markowitz. As the name suggests, the comic illustrates plot twists not just from movies, but also life in general. Be sure to check out the rest of his archive for some laughs and show him some support.

Hey Guy! Wanna See an 'Undergrads' Movie?

Rocko, Nitz, Gimpy & Cal may have a movie in their future

When last we saw the gang from Undergrads, it was at the end of its freshman year at State U & Teckerson Tech. As the guys looked forward to sophomore year, Rocko had plans for the click to live together in a house. However, those plans quickly unraveled. Cal decided he wanted to continue living in the dorms and become an RA. Gimpy planned to live on an abandoned, offshore, anti-aircraft deck with his minion, Mump. Meanwhile, Nitz was unsure if he would be returning to college.

If you need a refresher course on the final episode, here it is.



The episode ends with the words, 2880 HOURS UNTIL SOPHOMORE YEAR.

Twelve years later, fans of the show are still waiting for sophomore year because Undergrads was cancelled after a single season of 13 episodes. We never find out what becomes of the guys. We never find out if Nitz and Kimmy Burton start dating or if Jessie and him hook up. Heck, let's not rule out a threesome. We never get any closure.

All of that maybe about to change.

"Cyclops" the Big Bus

When I see something like this...

It reminds me of this.



OK, so one is a real-life RV and the other is an over-sized movie prop but I think maybe the makers of the eleMMent Palazzo were inspired by "Cyclops" from The Big Bus. I think if you read on, you'll agree, there are too many similarities to be coincidence.

CYCLOPS

• the bus is nicknamed "Cyclops" because of a single large headlight prominent at the front
• the RV has a large circular windshield, resembling an eye 

SPEED

• the bus "breaks the wind barrier" breaking wind at over 90 mph
• the RV is capable of a speed of 93 mph

LOUNGE

• the bus has a piano lounge
• the RV has a lounge with a fireplace

ROOF

• the bus has an observation dome
• the RV has a pop-up terrace

TRAVEL

• the bus travels non-stop from New York to Denver
• the RV could probably do the same excluding the non-stop part

PRICE

• The bus cost $500,000 in 1975 which converts today to $2,164,916.36 
• The RV is priced at approximately $3,000,000.00 

Dinner 'n' a Movie: The Return of Mother's Pizza

Mother's new 2013 logo for its restaurant

A couple of years ago, while browsing the internet, I found out that Mother's Pizza (formally Mother's Pizza Parlour & Spaghetti House) was being revived. This is after having gone out of business in the early '90's. At its peak, the popular restaurant chain had approximately 120 locations across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. I was excited by this news because as a young boy, my parents took me and my brothers and sisters to Mother's several times. We'd always order a large pizza but their menu had a lot more to offer. For a beverage, I would always have a large root beer in a giant mug. Sometimes I would have a root beer float. The waitresses were dressed in red and white checked aprons which matched the tablecloths. They also wore bonnets. The throwback uniforms were in keeping with the old-fashioned decor of the restaurant. Everywhere you would look, there were reminders of days gone by. The walls were filled with vintage black and white photographs. The restaurant also had swinging parlour-style doors, antique-style chairs and Tiffany lamps. The whole atmosphere was warm and cozy. Mother's went to great lengths to make you feel at home. They even had their own pie wagon!

What does all this have to do with movies, you ask? As it turns out, quite a bit. As a matter of fact, Mother's Pizza is partly responsible for my love of silent movies. Although I didn't know it at the time, it was the start of my film fanaticism. Let me elaborate.

The famous Mother's waitress uniform and pizza pedestal

In addition to the great food it would serve, Mother's showed black & white, silent movies for the patrons to watch. Dinner and a movie! Most of these were short films, many of them from the great comic actors of the silent film era. As a young kid, I got to see Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and the Keystone Cops all perform their brand of slapstick humour. I would always laugh as they would do pratfalls and be amazed when they were running on top of rail cars or hanging out of windows of high-rise buildings.  There might have been some early Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy shorts shown also. The average film would probably run fifteen to twenty minutes in length so there was always time to watch at least a couple of them during each visit. I can't quite remember if full length features were ever shown. In any case, once the meal was finished and the bill was paid, every kid was allowed to pick out a free sucker out of a basket next to the cash register, if I recall correctly. It didn't get any better than that!

A few years later, one by one, Mother's restaurants began to close and the memories began to fade away with them.

Fast forward to the present and you'll find that Mother's Pizza is back in business.

We. Are. Open. WE ARE OPEN! Welcome back to Mother's, everyone! #MothersIsBack
— Mother's Pizza(@Mothers_Pizza) April 1, 2013

Before any of you skeptics out there zero in on the suspicious date of that tweet, let me assure you it's not an April Fool joke. The first restaurant did indeed open on April 1st in Hamilton, Ontario, where it all began.

Teen Wolf: Ri-dickless Rumour

Teen Flasher?

It's time to file my first report on a cinematic crime in which a specific behaviour must be beaten up. I mean beaten up real good! Today's entry involves the urban legend concerning the movie, Teen Wolf. A lot of simpletons have been spreading this rumour like peanut butter on bread and its time I took the law into my own hands and crammed some facts down their virtual throats.

I think you'll find all you need to know in my report.


CRIME REPORT
 

• Crime: claiming an extra in Teen Wolf exposes his Peen Wolf in bleacher celebration scene 
• Offender(s): countless gullible morons on the world wide web 
• Enablers: Family Guy, KFAN FM 100.3 
• Punishment: a lifetime sentence of watching former U.S. Vice President Cheney's C-Span interview on a loop since they really want to see a dick

There are a lot of lemmings in this world. By that, I mean there are a lot of people who will take the word of a cartoon character as gospel and follow it over the edge of a cliff.  I'm referring to The Family Guy episode, Something, Something Darkside in which the Yoda character says "there was a guy in the end in the back of the stands with his dick out". This is in reference to a popular myth about the movie, Teen Wolf. Those who bask in ignorance love to point out that there's a male extra in one scene of the film where he exposes his penis. Some even say that he masturbates. None of it is true.



I've got news for Family Guy fanatics. IT'S A FICTIONAL TV SHOW! Not to mention a cartoon one at that. It's not meant to be taken at face value, sheeple. When the Yoda character utters that line, it's art imitating life. In other words, Family Guy is just mocking how these absurd rumours get started and spread around recklessly from one dolt to another.

You may be wondering how I know that this is a myth. Perhaps it's because a peen is nowhere to be seen. This might have to do with the fact that the movie extra in question is a girl, not a guy, so subtract one penis. Why are her pants unbuttoned and her zipper down? That I can't answer. What I can say is that the young blonde-haired woman seems to be caught off guard and quickly tries to zip up, realizing her white panties are visible but nothing more.

The Running Tunnel

Film Junk Presents...'The Running Tunnel' from Jay Cheel on Vimeo.

'The Running Tunnel' tells the tale of a sad group of friends whose lack luster Halloween party forces them to entertain themselves by retelling the tale of the running tunnel. Little did they know, IT WOULD CHANGE THEM FOREVER. Visit www.filmjunk.com for more videos.

The Running Tunnel

The Culprits
Jay Cheel...director
Reed Farrington...Gerry
Greg Gaspari... Greg
Sean Dwyer...Danny Richmond
Roman Pizzacalla...Roman
Matt Riamondo...Matt
Angela Klassen...Party Girl #1

Gerry: The Star Trek fan

What happens when a group of friends has some time to kill and one of them happens to be a movie director? They make a silly short video, of course!


Director Jay Cheel and a few of his friends decided that shooting a short, spooky story would make a great Halloween treat to the regular listeners of the Film Junk podcast which Cheel, Sean Dwyer and Greg Gaspari co-host.

Matt: The Giggler

The Running Tunnel is an homage to movies like The Ring where something evil happens to someone seven days after a particular experience. In The Ring, it was watching a videotape. In this case, a person is cursed when running through a short tunnel whereupon the victim is visited by a ghoulish harbinger after seven days, who delivers him to his or her fate.

Roman: The Runner

This is an enjoyable little Halloween video and not meant to be taken seriously. Heck, even some of the bloopers are left in. For that reason, it's hard to beat these guys up for their efforts since none of them are pros with the exception of Cheel and this was intended simply to be a "weekend" project.

Cheel's talents as a director are evident, even here. The choices for lighting, camera angles and closeups all look great. Reed Farrington (aka Gerry) who is a familiar face in several of Cheel's projects, once again makes an appearance here and doesn't disappoint with his quirky nature and Shatner-like delivery.

Greg: The Starship fan

Greg turns out to be the best actor of the bunch showing he's perfectly willing to commit to his role and character. His singing along to a Starship song when we don't actually hear the band, is priceless.

I'm not sure what became of Angela Klassen, who's listed in the opening and closing credits as Party Girl #1. Whether her scenes were cut from the movie or even shot at all, there's no sign of any girl in this video, which is a shame because the party is a real sausage fest! You'd think this was John Carpenter's The Thing.

Sean: The Mask

Also note that Roman Pizzacalla's last name is misspelled in the closing credits and Sean Dwyer is credited as playing Danny Richmond even though his character's name is never mentioned. Inside joke, I guess.


Happy Halloween!