Reviews

Reeves and Mortimer are an acquired taste - their zaniness is a love it or hate it style of comedy. One can see influences of early Steve Martin in their comedy, and nowhere is the Reeves and Mortimer format more engaging and exhilarating than in this raw and stagy sketch-show.

"Vic Reeves Big Night Out" was a wild and weird stand-up extravaganza that had been developed since the mid eighties by Reeves and his comedy partner Bob Mortimer, which they performed at various clubs, stages and performance houses. Finally, in 1990, they recorded their well honed act for a video release. This recording is now available on DVD as "The Original Vic Reeves Big Night Out".

But that's enough about the background and development; how is the actual show? Well, I will say this: you will either hate it or love it. There is no doubting that some of the humor in this show is simply not funny - even fans of parody and silly humor won't find it funny. Vic and Bob essentially try to throw all their early comedic skill at the wall to see what sticks. Most does.

The viewers will overlook the few unfunny moments simply because there are many scenes which are filled with truly imaginative comedic ideas - the creation of Les is a masterwork on the team's part; his appearance assuring a laugh in every episode. Other highlights include Graham Lister, the hopeless and talentless talent try-out, Mr. Wobbly-Hand, and Vic and Bob's live singing of "Summer of '75", which Reeves recorded with more lyrics on his 1991 comedy album "I Will Cure You".

Some of the most famous characters, however, such as The Man With The Stick, fall flat and their bits make you wonder why their scenes were not cut out of the whole act altogether. Nonetheless, "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" is a great show that reminds us you don't need obscenity to be funny. And, of course, each episode ends on a great musical note with Vic singing "Oh! Mr.Songwriter", using his undeniable singing ability to the maximum.

In Mario Bava's macabre monochrome masterpiece, Italian "scream queen" Barbara Steele plays dual roles as both vampire and victim.

Vengeful Princess Asa (Steele) is burnt at the stake with her lover Javutich (Arturo Dominici) for vampirism and witchcraft. Two centuries later, she is resurrected and she wreaks revenge on her current descendents Princess Katia (Steele, again!) and her father Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani).

The intricate plot - taken from Nikolai Gogol's famous Russian ghost story The Vij - plays second fiddle to the stunning visuals and nightmarish atmosphere. Bava uses all his skill as a cinematographer to ensure that every scene is packed with as much Gothic poetry as possible (particularly well-done is the sequence in which Javutich rises from his grave and travels through the dark woods on his spectral black coach).

Aside from being one of the most beautiful horror films of all time, Black Sunday was also particularly censor-upsetting, and the infamous opening sequence - in which a spiked mask is hammered onto the face of a screaming witch - is potent enough to shock audiences even today.

Released at the peak of the European cannibal craze, "Cannibal Apocalypse" remains one of the unlikeliest of all horror films. It's director, Antonio Margheriti, was previously known for lavish costume dramas and the fact that he made this gory shocker (banned as one of the infamous "video nasties") was a refreshing change of tack for him.

Beginning with a flashback set in the Vietnam War, we see Norman Hopper (genre veteran John Saxon) get bitten by a fellow soldier, who is infected with a disease that leaves the victim with cannibalistic tendencies. That same man calls up Hopper a few years later, now in Atlanta, and tells him about how he has given in to his flesh-eating urges, and how he has further spread the virus via biting a woman. Hopper then does the same and soon joins the cannibalistic army in wreaking bloody mayhem in the city.

The film offers nothing new in terms of ideas and the whole tale seems to be cobbled together from the more famous films in the zombie/cannibal sub-genres. The finale - set in a department store - more than gives away what the film's major influence was.

Steve Martin, in his early days, was perhaps the funniest American comedian in the world. His sensational 70's stand-up work, much of which is unavailable now, were some of the greatest pieces in stand-up history. Happily, this collection of Martin pieces, taken from his time at "Saturday Night Live", is a fine DVD compilation of Martin at his surreal best.

Opening with a hilarious monologue in which Martin plays the banjo, sticks an arrow through his head, jumps maniacally, and tries to suck a stool into his lungs using a straw, it soon becomes clear that you will get your money's worth.

The video "Steve Martin-Live!", which contains rare footage from his seminal 70's shows, is sadly unreleased on DVD, but this package more than makes up for that loss by providing not only around half an hour of stand up but also truly classic Steve Martin sketches, which although seem dated compared to his stand-up monologues, still manage to pack in more than a few laughs.

Get this DVD and see Steve Martin at his wild and crazy best!

While some may despise the wackiness of Harry Hill, there is no denying that he is a comedian of great skill. His stand-up appearances on shows such as the 90's version of 'Saturday Live' were outstanding and his zaniness seemed like a breath of fresh air amidst the political comedy that reigned supreme.

His feature-length live shows too captured the warmth of his persona (a particularly funny performance was 1995's "Harry Hill Live") but this show, his most recent, while good in parts, is not Hill at his best.

Don't get me wrong; it was funny in parts - a particularly joyous moment being the ending. It's just that there were not enough laughs to make the performance a classic of contemporary stand-up. Personally, I feel his earlier work, some of which is viewable on Youtube, is a better testimony to the zany skill of this stellar stand-up.

For this masterpiece, director John Landis updates every werewolf cliché in the book and makes the film wholly original by adding Rick Baker's masterful special effects and his own superb sense of humour to the mix. The result is the greatest wolfman movie of all time.

David Naughton and Griffin Dunne are two American college students backpacking on the English moors. They are attacked by a ferocious werewolf (which we, cleverly, only get glimpses of) and Dunne is slashed to death. Naughton survives, wakes up in a London hospital three weeks later and discovers he was bitten by the werewolf that night. Then, in a sudden shift from dark horror to gruesome comedy, Naughton is repeatedly visited by Dunne's rotting corpse, who tells him to commit suicide to stop himself from becoming a wolf on the next full moon.

While the film remains wholly enjoyable throughout, the undeniable highlight remains the breathtaking transformation sequence. On the night of the full moon, Naughton becomes a flesh-eating werewolf before our very eyes. Overall, I feel that this delightful combination of horror and comedy is a frighteningly funny spectacular that is sure to remain in the horror-loving heart of any fright-flick fan.

George A. Romero gave the horror world his vision of hell in 1978, with the classic "Dawn Of The Dead" - a film which is now known as the definitive zombie movie. This documentary - by Anchor Bay's Perry Martin - is a fantastic insight into the production of "Dawn", featuring rare footage of the crew filming. All of "Dawn's" major cast and crew - David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reinger, Gaylen Ross, David Crawford, David Early, Dario Argento, Claudio Argento, Tom Savini, Zilla Clinton, Michael Gornick, all the notable zombies, Christine Romero and George himself - are all interviewed and we get to hear about their experiences while making the film. As a bonus, Savini gives us gory tips on how to make it look like a zombie's cranium is getting severed off by rotating helicopter blades. Perfect.

This dull time-waster is a delirious drag from start to finish. The twisted plot involves Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff), who is conducting crazy experiments involving spinal fluid. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape breaks free and starts murdering townsfolk. The animal soon enters Adrian's lab, but the elderly scientist kills the monkey and then comes up with the devilish plan of wearing it's skin and killing more people so that he can get the desired amount of spinal fluid for his experiments. While the cheesy ape effects have some cheap charm, this typical example of forties B-grade horror is nothing but a badly-constructed bore and should therefore only be viewed by the most die-hard Karloff fans.

This below-average Hammer Frankenstein attempt was director Terence Fisher's last horror for the studio. In it, Dr. Helder is a budding scientist who plans to follow in the footsteps of his hero - Baron Frankenstein - and therefore decides to create a man using parts from various robbed cadavers. Charged guilty for his crimes against humanity, Helder is thrown into the state asylum, where he encounters the Baron (Peter Cushing in a stern performance)and his assistant. As you can predict, the two scientists combine their talents to create the perfect human but end up making a deadly monster (David Prowse of "Star Wars" fame) instead. What makes this Hammer ineffective is that the plodding storyline does not go well with Fisher's unusually slow-paced direction; also, there is a distinct lack of proper lab scenes and some of the characters are strange and don't entirely fit into the narrative. Nonetheless, Cushing delivers his goods as the Baron and the well-staged end sequence - in which the monster digs up a grave and then murders the asylum's owner - is a masterclass in atmospheric Gothic horror.

This atmospheric Italian period Gothic features one of Barbara Steele's greatest performances. When a sadistic count kills his unfaithful wife and her lover, he finds out that his wife's will stated that all her fortunes be handed over to her sister after death. Having remarried her sister, the count then starts to experience paranormal encounters with his first wife (now gruesomely deformed).

Clearly made to cash-in on the success of Mario Bava's "Black Sunday", Steele plays dual-roles as woman and monster in both films. Although Mario Caiano's directon is slow-moving and tedious, Ennio Morricone's effective score adds suitable tension to the film.

This brilliant film is a masterful mixture of sidesplitting laughs and hip, Hammer-style horror. When Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) discovers that his mysterious neighbor is a bloodsucking fiend, he immediately gets on the case and hires the help of a hapless horror TV show host Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall in a scene-stealing performance) with often hilarious results. The film is made all the better with Ken Diaz's superb "Evil Dead"-style creature make-up effects and a wonderful turn from Chris Sarandon as the prince of darkness. Bursting with energy, wit and love for the genre (there is a poster of "House Of Dracula" in Vincent's house), this is one film that is an absolute must-see for any true vampire fan.