Directed and starring John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper and written by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, Body Bags is an anthology film where a coroner and two morgue attendees tell three different stories relating to the bodies they’re analyzing. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a serial killer stalking a gas station attendee while the second entitled The Hair is about a botched hair transplant involving an alien parasite as both segments are directed by John Carpenter. The third entitled Eye is about a baseball player who receives an eye transplant unaware that it belonged to a killer that is trying to possess him as it is helmed by Tobe Hooper. Also starring Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, David Warner, Twiggy, Sheena Easton, Mark Hamill, Tom Arnold, and Debbie Harry. Body Bags is a riveting and enjoyable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.
The film is essentially a trilogy of tales told by a coroner (John Carpenter) as it play to the bodies he is examining in one scary night. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a college student who works on her very first night as a gas station attendee as she deals with strange customers as well as the presence of a serial killer on the loose. The second story entitled The Hair is about a middle-aged man dealing with baldness as he goes to a mysterious doctor about a hair transplant where everything seems to go well until he discover alien parasites in his hair. The third and final story entitled Eye is about a baseball player who loses his right eye in a car accident where he goes into surgery to get a new one as he starts to see strange things involving dead bodies and such. All of it is told in different styles where screenwriters Dan Angel and Billy Brown play up some of the suspense where The Gas Station is about an unusual first day at work while Hair is about insecurities and vanities that eventually catches up to a man. Eye is about a man desperate to go back to baseball unaware of the horror he is seeing with his new eye.
Since the first two segments and inserts are directed by John Carpenter and Eye is helmed by Tobe Hooper with Larry Sulkin providing additional work on the insert scenes. Each segment is given a different feel as both Carpenter and Hooper both provide their own idea to their segments while the inserts where Carpenter plays the coroner are presented in a comedic manner. For The Gas Station, Carpenter creates something that is more of a suspense film as it is about a college student’s first day as a gas station attendant where there are bits of humor but also moments where Carpenter plays with the suspense. Much of his compositions in that segment and The Hair are quite simple where the latter is a bit more playful as Carpenter goes for something straightforward rather than make it a big-time horror piece. The scariest segment is definitely Eye where Hooper creates something that is more conventional in terms of the horror genre but prefers to play it out slowly as it also has some more stylistic compositions including surreal moments that play into the terror. Overall, Carpenter and Hooper create a fun and thrilling anthology film about terror.
Cinematographer Gary Kibbe does excellent work with the cinematography from the colorful look of the interiors at the morgue as well as the nighttime exterior scenes for The Gas Station and Eye. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does nice work with the editing as it is stylish with its rhythmic cuts to play into the suspense for all of the segments. Production designer Daniel A. Lomino and set decorator Cloudia Rebar do fantastic work with the look of the morgue as well as the gas station interiors for The Gas Station as well as the more straightforward look of the other segments.
The makeup work of Rick Baker and Greg LaCava, with hair stylist Carolyn Elias, do amazing work for the look of the mortician as well as the look of the new eye in Eye as well as the hair in The Hair. The special effects work of Howard Jensen is terrific as it play into the look of the parasites for The Hair. Sound editor Anthony Milch does superb work with the sound as it help create some of the chilling moments of suspense in The Gas Station and Eye. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Jim Lang is wonderful with Carpenter providing some unique electronic-based pieces for The Gas Station while going for kitsch-based jazz in The Hair while Lang provides a more symphonic score for Eye.
The film’s cast is great as it features an array of cameos from horror film icons as well as pop culture icons. For the scenes set in the morgue, John Carpenter is hilarious as the mortician while Tobe Hooper and Tom Arnold are terrific in their brief roles as the morgue attendees. In The Gas Station, the cameo appearances from Wes Craven as a customer, George Buck Flower as a homeless guy, and Sam Raimi as a dead guy are fun yet the short is largely focused on Robert Carradine in a superb role as the gas station attendant who shows the new girl what to do while Alex Datcher is wonderful as the new girl Anne who is stalked by a crazed serial killer. In The Hair, the appearances of model Kim Alexis and special makeup effects creator Gregory Nicotero as people with good hair are fun to watch while Debbie Harry is a hoot as a nurse trying to help the protagonist find the right look.
David Warner is excellent as Dr. Lock as the man who can help the character Richard find new hair while Sheena Easton is fantastic as Richard’s girlfriend Megan who tries to assure him that he looks fine. Stacy Keach is brilliant as Richard as a man who becomes insecure over his bald hair as he is eager to have a new look and feel happy only for things to go wrong. In Eye, the cameo appearances of Charles Napier as a baseball coach, Roger Corman as a doctor, and John Agar as the surgeon are just amazing to watch while Twiggy is terrific as Brent’s wife Cathy who becomes worried about her husband’s troubled behavior. Mark Hamill is marvelous as Brent Matthews as baseball player who loses his eye in a car accident as he gets a new eye but becomes unhinged by what he is seeing as Hamill definitely camps it up for the performance.
Body Bags is a remarkable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. It’s a fun anthology film that feature a trilogy of stories created by two masters of horror as it’s a film that is about terror at its most chilling. In the end, Body Bags is an exhilarating and fun film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.
Tobe Hooper Films: (Eggshells) - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - (Eaten Alive) - (Salem’s Lot) - (The Funhouse) - (Poltergeist) - Lifeforce - (Invaders from Mars) - (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) - (Spontaneous Combustion) - (I’m Dangerous Tonight) - (Night Terrors) - (The Mangler) - (The Apartment Complex) - (Crocodile (2000 film)) - (Toolbox Murders) - (Mortuary) - (Djinn)
John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Someone's Watching Me! - Halloween - Elvis - The Fog
- Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Escape from L.A. - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward
The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Part 1 - Part 2
© thevoid99 2016
Directed by John Carpenter and screenplay by Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Kurt Russell from characters by Carpenter and Nick Castle, Escape from L.A. is a sequel to the 1981 film Escape from New York in which Snake Plissken is asked by the President and the U.S. government to save the President’s daughter who had hijacked a plane to Los Angeles as she gives a weapon to a rebel leader. The film is another exploration into dystopian America where Los Angeles is separated by the U.S. due to an earthquake as Kurt Russell reprises his role as Snake Plissken. Also starring Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson, Georges Corraface, Michelle Forbes, Valeria Golino, Bruce Campbell, A.J. Langer, Pam Grier, and Peter Fonda. Escape from L.A. for all of its action and thrills is really just a lazy and uninspiring film from John Carpenter.
Set in 2013 just 13 years after an earthquake had destroyed much of Los Angeles and separated itself from the U.S., the film revolves around Snake Plissken being asked by the President (Cliff Robertson) to retrieve a black box carrying a weapon that can save the country from evil forces as the box had been taken by his daughter Utopia (A.J. Langer). Plissken reluctantly takes the mission due to a virus he is carrying as he has less than 10 hours to retrieve the black box as well as deal with a rebel leader who wants to take down the U.S. and its President. In some ways, it’s really the same narrative of the first film made 15 years earlier but with a different set of rules, villains, and people as the only thing that hasn’t changed is Snake Plissken himself. It’s just that the world Snake Plissken is in is a very weird one and affirmation that he really has no place in the future whether it’s in America or the rest of the world.
The film’s screenplay does play into a traditional structure where much of the first act is exposition in which plays into what happened to America since the events of the previous and what Plissken needs to do. The second act is about Plissken arriving in Los Angeles as he meets an assortment of crazed characters including a tour guide named Eddie (Steve Buscemi), a woman named Taslima (Valeria Golino) who was deported to L.A. because she was a Muslim, a transgender outlaw named Hershe (Pam Grier), and an aging surfer named Pipeline (Peter Fonda). Some of which are either affiliated with the terrorist leader Cuervo Jones (George Corraface) or against him. Yet, many of these characters really just caricatures where some just offer exposition or others are just there for laughs as it never really meshes or do anything to drive the story. Even as everyone knows that the President and his cronies are also villains because of what he wants to do and the bullshit morality that he stands for which doesn’t really make the story very engaging.
John Carpenter’s direction does have its moments in some of the action scenes and how he re-creates Los Angeles as paradise in Hell. Even as it does have some satire in the way the world is along with bits of commentary about a third-world revolution going up against the superpower that is America. Unfortunately, the script’s unwillingness to really do so much more really bogs the film down as Carpenter had to rely on humor to get some things going where it doesn’t really mesh with who Snake Plissken is. Even as there’s a lot of reliance on visual effects that don’t look great or finished as well as moments where it tries to be outrageous but ends up being very dumb. Carpenter’s approach to compositions are still potent in his approach to close-ups and medium shots but there’s scenes that don’t look good such as seeing Plissken surfing nearby or a scene where Plissken has to play basketball to survive. It’s not what he’s about as it doesn’t have the element of suspense nor any stakes that are bigger as it’s ending sort of mirrors the one in the previous film. Overall, Carpenter makes a very messy and dull film about a guy trying to retrieve a black box for some asshole dictator he doesn’t even like.
Cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe does nice work with the cinematography as much of the film was set at night where it features some unique lighting for some of the action scenes as well as play up to the look of Los Angeles. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does some fine work with the editing though it deviates from many of the conventional fast-paced cutting style that is derivative of most action films. Production designer Lawrence G. Paull, with set decorator Kathe Klopp and art director Bruce Crone, does superb work with the set design from the look of the city as well as some of the landmarks of the cities in their post-earthquake look. Costume designer Robin Michel Blush does excellent work with the costumes from the Che Guevara-inspired look of Cuervo Jones to look of the many characters that Plissken encounters in the film.
Special effects makeup designer Rick Baker does some brilliant work with the design of some of the freaks that appear in Los Angeles including those who took too much plastic surgery. Visual effects supervisors Michael Lessa and Kimberly Nelson LoCasio do terrible work with the visual effects where it looks like early 90s computer animation where things look wobbly and some of it looked unfinished as it is among one of the lowlights of the film. Sound editor John Dunn and sound designer John Pospisil do fantastic work with the sound to play up some of the sound effects and layers of sound in some of the action scenes. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Shirley Walker is alright for its mixture of electronics and rock with bits of blues to play into that sense of the old-school that Plissken is fond for while its soundtrack is a mixture of metal, alt-rock, and industrial from acts like Gravity Kills, Tool, White Zombie, Tori Amos, Sugar Ray, the Toadies, Ministry, Butthole Surfers, Stabbing Westward, Clutch, and the Deftones.
The casting by Carrie Frazier is amazing though many of the appearances of such noted cult actors like Pam Grier as an old friend of Plissken in a transgender fighter named Hershe, Bruce Campbell as a weird-looking plastic surgeon from Beverly Hills, Jeff Imada as a gang member, Robert Carradine as a skinhead, Paul Bartel as a congressman, and Leland Orser as an associate of Cuervo as they’re kind of given nothing to do as does Valeria Golino as a woman who helps Plissken to find locations in Los Angeles, Breckin Meyer as a young surfer, Michelle Forbes as an assistant chief to the police force, Stacy Keach as Commander Malloy, and Peter Fonda as the aging surfer Pipeline as they’re just used to appear and don’t do much. A.J. Langer is horrible as the President’s daughter Utopia as she doesn’t really do much for the story nor give any reason to save her as the President himself is indifferent about her. Georges Corraface is alright as Cuervo Jones as this rebel leader who wants to destroy the American dictatorship yet is also just as bad as the President.
Cliff Robertson is pretty good as the President as a man of morality who wants to clean up the country but is also quite ruthless in maintaining his rule as he is given a lifetime term. Steve Buscemi is fantastic as a tour guide named Eddie who is kind of a sleazy guy that is in it for himself and whoever that can give him money where he is the only guy that is able to bring some humor to the film. Finally, there’s Kurt Russell in a brilliant performance as Snake Plissken as this renegade soldier who is forced to take part in a mission to retrieve a weapon in a black box as he copes with illness and other things in a world he doesn’t relate to as Russell is the only thing in the film that works.
While it features a strong performance from Kurt Russell and some exciting action scenes, Escape from L.A. is just a very disappointing and lazy film from John Carpenter. It’s a film that tries to update its predecessor for the 90s but doesn’t do enough to stand out from the original while it is hampered by some bad humor and awful visual effects. In the end, Escape from L.A. is just a bad film from John Carpenter.
John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Halloween - Someone’s Watching Me! - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - Body Bags - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward
The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Pt. 1 - Pt. 2
© thevoid99 2015
Directed by Alexander Payne and written by Bob Nelson, Nebraska is the story about an old man who believes he has just won a million dollars as he goes on a road trip to Nebraska with his son to claim the money. The film plays into Payne’s fascination with American families and their dysfunctions where a father and son try to bond through this road trip to Nebraska. Starring Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, Bob Odenkirk, Mary Louise Wilson, Missy Doty, and Rance Howard. Nebraska is a rich and rapturous film from Alexander Payne.
The film is a simple story about an old man from Billings, Montana who is convinced he just won a million dollars and has to go to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim that money. While his wife and sons are convinced that it’s untrue, one of the sons decides to drive his father to Lincoln where they would stop at the old man’s old hometown of Hawthorne to meet with family. Upon the news that Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) has won a million dollars, families and old friends are eager to get a share of whatever money Woody owed them. Though the film is partially a road-film about an old man getting some money, it is really about a young man trying to give his father a chance to live out this fantasy as he is unaware that it could be a scam.
Bob Nelson’s screenplay explores the mind of this old man who has lived a decent life but his marriage to his wife Kate (June Squibb) has been rocky and he’s succumbing to age. The letter he receives from Lincoln, Nebraska has him wanting to get something that he believes is his yet walking from Montana to Nebraska has people convinced he’s lost his mind. While Woody’s eldest son Ross (Bob Odenkirk) is convinced that his father should be at a home, Ross’ younger brother David (Will Forte) thinks the only way for his father to face reality is by going to Lincoln and to make him face the truth about the prize. In stopping at Hawthorne where they live with some relatives, David learns more about his parents and his father where he meets an old friend of his father named Ed (Stacy Keach) who learns about Woody’s winnings.
While it is a light-hearted drama, there is a lot of humor that is prevalent through the film as much of it comes from Kate who is annoyed by her husband’s actions as she would travel to Hawthorne in the second act as her comments and action bring much of the film’s humor. Still, it is a study about the relationship between father and son as despite some of David’s resentment towards his father over his alcoholism and not really being there very much. He still wants to help his dad where he learns a lot about him and why people are after him for money as if Woody owed them something as he is considered a celebrity in his hometown. The third act isn’t about Kate, David, and Ross defending Woody but also realize the danger of getting a million dollars where all Woody wanted with his winnings are a new truck and a new compressor. It does play into the fact that money can’t fix or buy everything yet a guy like Woody can still be rich without all of those things.
Alexander Payne’s direction is mesmerizing in not just the way he tells the story in a black-and-white photography style to recall some of the films of the 1970s. It’s also a film that takes place in a world as unique as the American Midwest where much of the film takes place in Nebraska as well as Billings, Montana and parts of South Dakota and Wyoming. It’s a world that may seem disconnected a bit from the major cities of the east and west coast yet it is still one that is fascinating. By shooting in actual small towns like Hawthorne, Nebraska and the city of Lincoln, Payne is able to use lingering wide shots of these landscapes and location to give something that really feels Americana where it is a place that sort of feels lost yet is rooted by these old school ideas. Notably as locals hang around in bars and watch football games where it’s a world that is pretty simple.
Payne’s usage of close-ups and medium shots for the characters showcase much of the growing sense of loneliness that Woody is feeling as he returns to his hometown where he deals with the fact that some things have changed and some things haven’t. The close-ups that Payne uses showcase not just the lack of time that Woody has but also his grizzled determination to get what he thinks he deserves for all of his hard work and generosity towards his friends and family. While Payne balances much of these moments with humor and some light-hearted drama, he also creates something that is very touching where it is a family that manages to bond through this adventure no matter how dysfunctional they are. Overall, Payne creates a very sensational and fascinating film about an old man trying to claim something and regain the love he seemed to have lost from his family.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael does amazing work with the film‘s black-and-white cinematography where he creates a very classical look to many of the film‘s daytime interior and exterior locations along with some rich lighting for some of the film‘s nighttime exterior scenes. Editor Kevin Tent does brilliant work with the film‘s editing as it‘s stylized with its use of transition wipes, dissolves, and fade-outs to play with the film‘s dramatic structure and humor. Production designer J. Dennis Washington, with set decorator Fontaine Beauchamp Hebb and art director Sandy Veneziano, does excellent work with some of the film‘s set pieces such as the bars that Woody and David go to as well as the house of the relatives they stay at.
Costume designer Wendy Chuck does terrific work with the clothes as it‘s mostly casual where it‘s mostly sweaters, sweat-shirts, jeans, and such to play into that world of the American Midwest. Sound designer Frank Gaeta does superb work with the sound from the atmosphere that goes inside the relatives home to the calmness of the road. The film’s music by Mark Orton is just fantastic for its folk-based score with its usage of low-key acoustic instruments, violins, and trumpets to play into some of the film’s melancholia while its soundtrack consists of rock, pop, and country music that is played in the background.
The casting by John Jackson is incredible for the ensemble that is created as it includes some small yet notable appearances from Missy Doty as David’s ex-girlfriend, Angela McEwan as a former girlfriend of Woody’s, Devin Ratray and Tim Driscoll as David’s dim-witted cousins, Mary Louise Wilson as Woody’s sister-in-law, and Rance Howard in a sort of silent performance as Woody’s brother Ray. Stacy Keach is excellent as Woody’s old friend/former business partner Ed Pegram who is happy to see Woody while he hopes to get some of the money that Woody had owed him many years ago. Bob Odenkirk is wonderful as Woody’s eldest son Ross who is the success of the family who reluctantly goes to Hawthorne where he finds himself trying to defend his father.
June Squibb is absolutely fantastic as Woody’s wife Kate as this woman who seems to had enough of her husband and his eccentricities while defending him and saying many things that are quite shocking as well as some of her activities that she does. Will Forte is amazing as Woody’s youngest son David as he tries to understand what his dad is doing while using the road trip as a way to get to know him while learning about some of the dark secrets in his family forcing him to stand up for his father. Finally, there’s Bruce Dern in a tremendous performance as Woody Grant as this cantankerous and senile old man who thinks he had just won a million dollar as he is determined to go to Nebraska to claim it. It’s a performance that is funny at times but also a bit sad knowing that Woody is sort of losing his mind and there’s people around him wanting to take advantage of him as it’s a truly magnificent performance for Bruce Dern.
Nebraska is a phenomenal film from Alexander Payne that features a remarkable performance from Bruce Dern. Thanks to its amazing supporting cast that includes Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, and Stacy Keach along with a brilliant score and Phedon Papamichael’s superb cinematography. The film is definitely one of Payne’s finest films in not just explore the beauty of the American Midwest but also how a dysfunctional family come together to help their patriarch get what he thinks is his. In the end, Nebraska is a spectacular film from Alexander Payne.
Alexander Payne Films: Citizen Ruth - Election - About Schmidt - Sideways - Paris Je T'aime-14th Arrondissment - The Descendants - (Downsizing) - The Holdovers - (Tracy Flick Can't Win) - The Auteurs #5: Alexander Payne
© thevoid99 2013
