This is a title I wanted to write about since I started..but never got to it-until now.

The first time I have seen this was in Romania, during a vacation(less a vacation than an adventure..but that`s a whole different universe).

Peter Weller was enough to make me shell out 50 Pfennig (it was the summer of 1996).

The admission price was that low, yes..and I took full advantage of that during my stay, watching up to three movies a day. Not always, but when there was a day without any big plans, I´d hit the theatre „downtown“.

I`ve been to Romania 12 times alltogether since 1991, shortly after the Revolution.

Their own currency was down and out, so with a little german money, you could have a hell of a good time there. I am glad I didn`t end up in a „Hostel“kind of situation, but whe had our run-ins with a few  less decent characters, that`s all I can say. But for the most part it`s been good times, and the rest- lessons in life.

But as I said, those are completely different things.

So, the name Peter Weller and the cool-looking poster persuaded me to go see it.

And it was a good decision.

(SIRIUS 6B, Year 2078) On a distant mining planet ravaged by a decade of war between the NEB and the Alliance, scientists have created the perfect weapon: a blade-wielding, self-replicating race of killing devices known as Screamers designed for one purpose only — to hunt down and destroy all enemy life forms But man’s greatest weapon has continued to evolve without any human guidance, and now it has devised a new mission: to obliterate all life. Col. Hendricksson (Peter Weller) is commander of a handful of Alliance soldiers still alive on Sirius 6B. Betrayed by his own political leaders and disgusted by the atrocities of this never-ending war, Hendricksson decides he must negotiate a separate peace with the New Economic Bloc’s decimated forces.

This is his decision, after a soldier from the NEBs arrives at the gate of their bunker, holding a tube, which contains a letter with the request for negotiations.

This is a very delicate mission, as the wasteland out there is crawling of Screamers.

And they cannot be sure what awaits them. Then suddenly  a freighter of the Alliance crashes on the planet and  the only survivor is a sniper, who confronts them with some ugly news, totally changing their evaluation of the current situation.

Hendricksson has even more reasons now to negotiate, and decides to leave for the NEB headquarter with Jefferson, the sniper.

What they will find  is worse than anything they could have imagined….

This is based on a story by Phillip K. Dick, famous for his science fiction stories.

Screenplay by Dan O`Bannon. Not bad , huh?

This movie had a 20 Million budget, which isn`t much now or in 1995.

But with a few exceptions, this looks better than the budget would suggest.

I really like the overall look of this film. It makes good use of the sites and sets.

It has a down to „earth“ feeling that only adds to the suspense. It `s  rough, used, gritty.

The guns aren`t laser guns , they are rather conventional. I think that is a nice touch in a genre that doesn`t hesitate to come up with over the top future guns or simply lasers.

I don`t wanna give away the rest of the story, although there would be plenty to write about.

The Screamers are a genuinely scary new kind of enemy and more…the story builds up to much more than just a shootèm up, it contains human drama, fear and hope. If you want, you could find aspects of Alien and Blade Runner in it, the world of the Screamers has a lot of potential and depth, much more than one would expect at first.

Peter Weller and the rest of the cast do a pretty damn good job, the film is filled with interesting characters and actors. Since I don`t wanna give away more than the intro, I must end this soon,lol.

If you haven`t seen this by now, you should. It`s highly underrated, and should be seen by any Sci-Fi Fan. This film is great science- fiction with a good amount of gore and action.

With  bigger stars and a little more money, this could have been a well-known milestone of sci-fi now. But I really don`t mind , Peter Weller is awesome in this, just saying this could have been blockbuster material.

I consider this the SPLIT SECOND for Peter Weller, meaning great role and extremely high rewatchability. Plus, both have a Sci-Fi milestone to their credit.

I must warn you, though…the sequel to this is  rather bad…..but with the first one-I think-you can`t go wrong.

Starring Lance Henriksen, Mark Rolston, Steve Antin, Michael Allen Ryder, Paul Provenza, Ben Hammer, Dominic Hoffman,Traci Lind, Dermot Mulroney, Catherine Keener, And Reggie Bannister.

Directed By Don Coscarelli.

This I have chosen mostly due to the fact that it has Lance Henriksen in it.

There aren`t much movies left in the filmography of Henriksen that I would say are worth seeing that i haven`t.  I have seen a lot of his work, even a few really bad ones, where Lance was the only good thing about it.

And i am not really dying to see his cameos in the sequels of Pumpkinhead.

But here , his role is rather big, so no excuses not to take a look at it….

The film is about a group of people from the city, who are going on a survival trip with Hank(Henriksen) as their guide and teamleader.. They are about to learn to live in and survive nature.

Most of them young adults, the only exception here is Hal(Ben Hammer), who is well beyond his 20s.

There also is a young convict along for the trip, who I belive may get parole if he does well or something..I didnt pay that much attention to that part, sorry.

But on the same plane into the wilderness of the Rockies are a bunch of  para-military dudes, who have a different view of training in the wilderness. Basically a bunch of testosterone –filled jerks, which  are led by Jake( Mark Rolston), a guy who comes across as the ultimate military psycho . They are laughing at the Survival Quest group, and its obviously only a matter of time, before they clash in the wilderness….

But it all begins pretty harmless, with Hank`s  group taking off into the beautiful mountains.

Hank teaches them not only in basic survival skills, but also to work together as a group. After a bit of teasing each other, they grow more and more into  a group that looks out for each other.

Thats the goal-to make it together, not against each other. The convict surprises with a good amount of fitness. I liked all of the characters in that group, and it really helped to like them, cuz later in the film, when the action starts, it wouldn`t have had  the same impact if you don`t. The psycho gang of militia jerks is close by, and at some point they clash into each other. Hank clears the situation, but the anymosity remains….

Soon that anymosity turns deadly…..

I dont wanna spoil the rest for you. But I wanna say that I had a little problem with the fact that these militia bullies, who all are still teens pretty much, are so easily made to shoot and kill innocent people.  But see it for yourselves. All said n done, its a well-made film with beautiful scenery, likeable characters and a story that is a bit above the average.

There are two versions, a vhs version and the dvd version, that has a different score and a different edit. The score in the VHS version was nice, but it often felt wrong, it didn`t really pay tribute to the more dangerous situations. I will look at the DVD version , too, to see what and if it changed for the better  with a different score.

If you like adventure stories and Lance Henriksen, this is a good  choice to spend 90 minutes. And its far from the overly violent films with a similar premise that came out since 2000, while still delivering a good amount of action.

Director Coscarelli is famous for his Phantasm movies, the Beastmaster films, Bubba Ho-Tep and several other  movies.

had the film been released 20 or 25 years ago.

Looks pretty damn cool, doesn`t it?

They are also offering a free download for an alternative BlueRay cover, in case you wanna give your BlueRay of DRIVE the extra kick. Click  here

After reading robotGEEKs take on it, i made myself watch it, after an exhausting day, with a few kicks in the gut. But you didnt come here to read about how my day went, did you? Since one wants to watch so many movies, so many movies waiting to be reviewed, the final decision today was this. I may watch another one after this, but not with a review in mind…yet. This is a movie, of which I knew only the cover , and little more. Had no idea it was directed by Michael Mann, and it certainly seems an odd choice for him, with all these crime-stories under his belt. But by 1982, 1983 he wasn`t yet established as the „Mann“ we know now.

After „The Thief“, he wanted to avoid another „street“movie, and went with this-THE KEEP.

During WW2, a  group of Nazis is ordered to take control of a sort of Fortess-The Keep in the romanian mountainside, next to a small village.

The caretaker warns them about this place, without getting too specific. Naturally, they don`t give much weight to the talk of an old man, and soon the evil in the keep begins to affect the intruders………

I read a few great reviews, before I began writing this, to have at least a little background info.

There is a novel on which this film is based on, and from what I read-I didn`t read the novel-

the movie contains only the bare bones of that story, leaving us without explanations for many things that happen in the film.

When the novel is as good as people say it is, then why leave out so many elements that could have made us understand it better, could have brought flesh to the skeleton of the screenplay? Only Michael Mann knows that, i`m afraid…or the studio execs…whoever had their hands in it.

The film may have suffered severe cuts, not sure ..but Mann has a history of making longer movies…there are deleted scenes and an alternative ending that I know of….

The circumstances of making a film are often very telling and make making ofs so interesting.(If there only was one for this…could shed some light).

I mean real making ofs, not the 5 minute treatments they show you on tv…

Back to the film experience…I liked the visuals very much, inside the keep, …thats where the good visuals take place, mostly. With a few exceptions. Visually, ist 50/50..its not like you get 90 minutes of stunning visuals.

The first scene with the evil thing that „rescues“ the daughter of Dr. Cuza looks really cool.

And later, when it shows itself without all the smoke to Dr. Cuza, it looks rather impressive. I would have added a bit more slime or blood or oil to the muscle make-up, but thats just me.

The killings of certain nazi soldiers worked well, even without blood n guts. Reminded me a bit of Raiders of the lost Ark or something.

But there is no denying, that it is an uneven film, the acting is atrocious at times, gets better as the timecode moves along…It wouldn`t have hurt to hear them speak actual german and romanian, instead we get all kinds of accents. Prochnow is a decent actor, but speaking english isnt exactly his strength. He can act better , when he is allowed to speak in his native tongue, which is german. But  in the more dramatic scenes, he did rather well.

Ian McKellen as Dr. Cuza , I felt he had his good moments when he transformed into his younger version, after meeting with the evil thing lurking in the keep. I believe, the acting of all the big names in here was hampered by the lines they were given. Sometimes I thought it felt and sounded like pretentious theatre or something. Very weird and akward. Nothing you would expect in a „normal film, but I guess it wasn`t meant to be a normal film.

I think the idea behind it was more than just that. A lot of the film has dream-like qualities, and that isn`t something I would set up for a normal movie . I am sure there was more to it, in the mind of Mann (but I don`t know).

What kind of film is this , anyway? Ist not horror per-se, ist not sci-fi…ist something weird, a bit of everything.

Sadly, it seems like Mann isn`t to fond of his own work, and may not be willing to assist in understanding his film better, bringing it to DVD and Blue-Ray,which I think would be well-deserved-whatever you think of the film-there `s tons of garbage on DVD and BlueRay, and this didn`t get a decent release(save for the Laserdisc) , almost 30 years after the fact?

I just finished watching it, and I can say, despite all the little things that work against it, it is worth seeing, and it left some kind of impression on me. I am sure, would I have seen it at a younger  age, it probably would`ve found its way into my dreams because of the visuals and the overall good VS evil story, something that works way better for kids than adults.

Should we touch a bit more on the negatives I found?

I thought the rape scene was totally unnecessary, as was the sex scene between  Scott Glenn and Alberta Watson.What makes you have sex in the middle of a potential Armageddon? Weird. I liked Alberta Watson in this, big eyes, great face, but just as all the others , punished with bad , weird dialogue. Scott Glenn I thought, looked  like Schwarzenegger in certain scenes of THE TERMINATOR…I´m sure you know what I mean. I prefer my Scott Glenn a bit older.

The score by Tangerine Dream felt often out of place, though sometimes it worked. But certainly a weird choice , one of many.  Most of all, a bit more background for all of the main characters would`ve helped.

I guess, reading the novel could either make you like this film more, or dismiss it for all its lacking , compared to it. Depends, I guess.

An experiment for  the viewer, as much as for Mann, who after this stuck with „street“ films, films about men in a men`s world. But thank you for trying, anyway….it wasn`t wasted time…flawed, yes, but worth seeing still.

One more proof to my theory, that a director and the script make the movie, and the actors, as good as they might be, can only do so much. They are the chessmen, but to win, you need the player to guide them.

I was lucky to have watched this in Widescreen, fullframe cannot do this any justice.

The fact that there is no DVD or Blue-Ray of this ..shakes head…..

UPDATE: something I found on Wiki about the extended cut/ending….

In the extended version of the film, the otherworldly stranger falls for a long time through the abyss of the keep’s lower caves, waking up later on the lowest level of the keep. He notices he can see his reflection in a puddle of water, showing that – presumably due to the death of the demon with whom he was mystically linked – he has become an ordinary mortal man, instead of dying as he had predicted. He is identified by Eva Cuza as Glaeken “Trismegistus” (Greek for “Thrice Greatest”, or possibly ‘three-fold King’ or ‘three-crowned King’ [Hermes Trismegistus]) in an easily-overlooked line (the demon too is named in the scene). After his fall, Eva comes to him, and he is now free to live out the rest of his natural span with the woman who rescued him.

Seems like there are even more than just one different ending,  the versions shown on tv have extra footage…

one I have found on youtube..there may be even more.. but there was lots of stuff  left out or uncompleted.

Update 2: I just read somewhere that Mann had a 200 minutes or so version..that explains the mess, I guess. Too much story for a film that got castrated to 90 minutes running time. Too bad, as a tv mini series, who knows…it could have become a much bigger thing. But I guess for that , it would also have been the wrong era.

Thats all fine..a really hilariously bad swedish action film…

but the most awesome, jawdropping part came, when i watched the german trailer for it..

I just came across  the site of the guy who made the trailer for the distributor..his first few trailers were  lame, they said..so he made another one..they asked for something that totally hits home..and well..what he presented then, was this..totally ridiculous, but they loved it….funny how the industry works, eh?..and there you are sitting, thinking they would be all serious about their movies…

Im really sorry for all readers, who arent able to understand german…its so jawdroppingly funny, its hard to put into words…

So at least I tried to translate it for you guys..to get an idea of just how ridiculous this trailer is…

The breathless, very convincing voice of the german guy who lent his voice for this , speaking those lines..its just too much.. well-known in germany as one of the most ridiculous trailers ever, I felt you deserve at least to get the translation.

So here it goes…german, and then the english translation..with the trailer…

Der Ninja ….kennt keine Furcht… der Ninja kennt keine Zweifel…der Ninja kennt nur die MissionNinja in geheimer Mission….er ist fleischgewordene Kampfkunst in Perfektion…ein Meister der Tarnung und Täuschung…Das letzte Bollwerk der Menscheit gegen die Schrecken des Kommunismus…das ist Ninja..in geheimer Mission…. Das letz­te Boll­werk der Mensch­heit gegen die Schre­cken des Kom­mu­nis­mus.  Ge­wis­sen­lo­se KGB-Agen­ten ver­gnü­gen sich mit per­ver­sen Fol­ter­ex­pe­ri­men­ten. Hier zeigt die So­wjet­uni­on ihre häss­li­che Frat­ze. Nur ein Mann wagt es, sich dem roten Ab­schaum in den Weg zu stel­len, nur einer kann dort hart durchgreifen, wo  sonst jeder internatinale Gerichtshof versagt. Wenn der Ter­mi­na­tor ein Russe wäre, hätte er keine Chan­ce gegen Ninja. Er mäht seine Fein­de nie­der, wie Un­kraut im Gar­ten der Frei­heit. Gna­den­lo­se Nin­ja-Ac­tion für eine bes­se­re Welt. Pa­trio­ten ent­schei­den sich für ‚Ninja in ge­hei­mer Mis­si­on‘“:

The ninja…knows no fear… The ninja knows no doubt The ninja only knows his mission.

Ninja on confidential mission   He embodies martial arts in perfection

A master of camouflage and deception(Oh RYLY?)-black ninja in white snow..

The last bastion of mankind against the horror of communism

Ruthless KGB agents amuse themselves with perverted torture experiments

Here, the Soviet Union shows its ugly grimace  Only one man dares to confront the red scum

Only one man takes drastic action, when elsewhere every other international

court of law fails.

If the terminator would be russian, he would have no chance against.. ninja. (on confidential mission) He mows down his enemies like grass in the garden of freedom… Merciless ninja –action for a better world… Patriots decide to watch ..ninja…on confidential mission..(of course=lol…)

Haven`t seen this in ages.

Probably cuz I have seen it a number of times back in the 90s, when I was merely starting my collecting habit and started sucking up action cinema. It kinda started with Van Damme, Stallone and Schwarzenegger, the biggest and best known actionstars at the time. Expanding further into the martial arts world and the Cyborg genre, that became popular in the 80s.

Steven Segal came onto the scene, just shortly after Van Damme, both found their audience. Who was better, Van Damme or Segal..that was the question back then, and it sure spawned one or two heated arguments. I really don`t wanna get into that,lol. As I said, they both found their audience and in both cases, their earlier films are the better ones.

So today I gave it a spin again..the mood just fit for a balls to the wall action movie. The fact that I have just purchased a beautiful VHS of it may have triggered that idea, too.

In Above the Law, he got tough; In Hard to Kill, he got even; Now the man with the short fuse is… Marked For Death

The plot is just as simple and straight as in his earlier movies…basically he crosses paths with some Jamaican druglord and he and his family get MARKED FOR DEATH. Here the Voodoo part comes in…something , that I felt, played out to little effect after all.

As the tough guy that he is, he won`t just sit there crying, he goes after Screwface and his gang. The fights are all great, he gets to knock and choke out a lot of Jamaican thugs. The first guy he is putting down, though…nobody else but Danny Trejo. Now he is a hero of his own, with Machete part 2 around the corner…

Well, what can I say about this film…its straight, the fights are plenty and brutal, the film has a few great co-stars like Keith David, Joanna Pacula, Danielle Harris and Kevin Dunn. A perfect 90 minutes actioner. I guess after 20 years its allowed to give away the spoiler that Screwface has got a double or brother…that way you get two showdowns in one movie. I also liked Segals car,a 1973 Ford Mustang..beautiful car…when it got crushed, it kinda hurt.

I m not a big fan of the Jamaican accent, but Segal shut them up quickly, so its all good.

This is the Segal I like..

Dwight H. Little also made Halloween 4 and RAPID FIRE with Brandon Lee.

Just so happens, that I`ve been over to a friends house to inspect his collection of movie related memorabilia, something we both haven`t done in ..a few years…While I have sold all my stuff at one point, he kept pretty much all of it, and has a stunning collection of “STUFF”.

So here the reason for the post: A nice promo standee for SNIPER with Tom Berenger…complete with leaves n all…

Ok, I posted about some of this already, before they actually arrived…now they are here, at least a few of them-still more to come. For now its these …

Cabal-Clive Barker german VHS…I bought it originally for Jason, but wasnt happy with the condition..bought another one, which luckily looked a bit better, this has some tear on the front cover and doesnt close so well anymore. But I will watch it soon, for sure.

FULL ECLIPSE- with Mario Van Peebles and Bruce Payne…did a review on this and couldn`t resist to buy it again. The cover is just too cool, a really nice clamshell from marketing film, with glued on cover.

The Thing-german VHS…the clamshell was a bit torn, so I replaced it for the time beeing with another one, but the inlay is a bit too big for it…hope I can find me some extra clamshells to do this film justice.

Never too young to die-German VHS, with John Stamos , Vanity and Gene “KISS” Simmons.

And last, but not least…Hongkong 97, or THE LAST CHANCE-by Albert Pyun…with Robert Patrick and Brion James.

Love the sticker on the cassette, sadly that wasnt done for all VHS.

More to come soon..I have some really cool ones coming in…

The german title is PACO -Kampfmachine des Todes  (fighting machine of death-yeah we always tend to choose the most stupid titles possible,lol). There are other DVDs of this movie out  there, this one stands out for the artwork and the fact that they seem to be very limited editions ( even if Im not sure if the numbers 111 and 222 mean the number of DVDs printed).

I couldn`t find a homepage for this Label X-CESS, seems to be a very small one. I have no experience with or knowledge about those labels, and all the stuff about rights and so on…

With a price of  25 Euros, they are rather expensive.

But I really wanted to post this for the covers, more than anything else.

This has two different variations:

and another one…

this looks more like the old german VHS title:

This DVD contains the german and english audio.

Originaltitel:
Hands of Steel aka Atomic Cyborg
Ton/Sprache:
DD 2.0: Deutsch, Englisch
Bild:
1,85:1 (16:9)
Laufzeit:
94 min
Jahr/Land:
1986 Italien
Extras:
- Deutscher Trailer
- Englischer Trailer
- Artworks

Limited 222
Label: X-Cess

Seen over at www.filmundo.de