Tuesday, March 3, 2020

She (1983) review; & A Conversation with Godan: Gregory Snegoff on Filming She and His Career In Dubbing




SHE 1983

Sandahl Bergman (She), David Goss (Tom), Quin Kessler (Shanda), Harrison Muller (Dick), Elena Wiedermann (Hari), Gordon Mitchell (Hector), Laurie Sherman (Taphir), Andrew McLeay (Tark), Cyrus Elias (Kram), David Brandon (Pretty Boy), Susan Adler (Pretty Girl), Gregory Snegoff (Godan), Mary D'Antin (Eva), Mario Pedone (Rudolph), Donald Hodson (Rabel), Maria Quasimodo (Moona), David Traylor (Xenon)

Directed by Avi Nesher

"I didn't write [SHE] the way you do normal, conventional, well-organized cinema. I didn't even think it would happen. It was so far from the original novel, and it was so far from the way these movies are normally shot... I thought the producer would look at it and say 'that's bullshit' and it would never happen... and they greenlit the movie, much to my astonishment."--Director Avi Nesher, SHE blu-ray interview

The Short Version: Award-winning Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher is responsible for what is ostensibly the nuttiest, most incomprehensible of both the sword and sorcery and post-apocalyptic actioners in the wake of THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981) and CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982); the clones of which laid waste to video store shelves everywhere in the 1980s. Beyond the brainless onslaught of chainsaw-wielding mutants, toga-wearing lycanthropes, telekinetic communists, and wisecracking aliens that can regenerate severed limbs are plentiful sight gags and a smart sense of humor. The plot is about as rich as the junk-man art decor; but fun is truly had in what amounts to a 100+ minute rock and metal music video. SHE is unpredictable and has numerous mood swings, but SHE certainly knows how to show you a good time.

 
After a nuclear holocaust, a new society arises ruled by an array of gangs modeled on historical figures; some of which are led by beings with supernatural powers and some of whom call themselves gods. Among these is She, an immortal goddess of the Eurich and ruler of a society of women that dominates and enslaves men. When a man's sister is abducted by the Norks, She reluctantly sides with the men to find the sister. They embark on a bizarre journey that leads them to the Nork stronghold inside a crumbling city destroyed by the bomb.


Fresh off her success in the big budget CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman takes center stage in the smaller scaled, futuristic barbarian flick, SHE. A bone-headed reworking of H. Rider Haggard's popular novel, 'She: A History of Adventure', Nesher's wildly out of control interpretation has as much familiarity to its source material as it does adherence to narrative cohesiveness.


Unfolding like any of your finer 80s rock/heavy metal videos, SHE makes about as much sense as one, too. Opening with an animated sequence of global Armageddon replete with burning bodies and the Grim Reaper (see below), the picture segues into live-action with a title card stating it's "Year 23 after the Cancellation". From there it's a typical "pillage the village" sequence that introduces the villains a la CONAN THE BARBARIAN; but instead of Wagnerian accompaniment, it's metal music as Hector (played by Euro-cult mainstay, Gordon Mitchell) and his colorfully costumed Nork soldiers ransack Heaven's Gate; a tiny community big on product placement and named after a bomb of another kind from 1980.


The plot is virtually non-existent and episodic in nature. It's a 'capture and rescue' tale to find a kidnapped sister who has no lines, being held by a lead villain whom we never learn anything about. We discover as much about the protagonists as well. Even the title warrior woman has very little revealed about her.


Nesher's script is pure anarchy on paper. According to an interview on the blu-ray, he intentionally wrote the picture this way, with the sole purpose of getting as far away from a linear narrative as you could get. Another example of how in on the joke Nesher was, his main characters are all named Tom, Dick and Hari. If you go into the movie expecting clarity, SHE will frustrate the hell out of you (you can read our 2009 review HERE). Just the same, Nesher's deliberately fragmented flick presents some fascinating themes and ideas--creating a post-holocaust society that has started over and every historical dictator, time period, and bizarre fashion sense has mutated into a single era. 


Sandahl Bergman was the 'It Girl' in the action genre in those days; her role in CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) made her popular with teenage boys at the time and it wasn't unusual to see pin-ups and posters of her on some kids bedroom wall. Both she and Schwarzenegger trained with noted Japanese martial artist Kiyoshi Yamazaki for their parts. With her skills as a dancer, she was a natural for this type of action--without the need of a double, and she looks fantastic in the fight scenes. Bergman genuinely comes off better than anyone else while leaping and dodging and clashing blades with the stuntmen. It's her film, but the non-stop craziness of the "anything goes" script undermines her character at times.


After passing through a gauntlet of swordsmen dressed like knights and a robot Frankenstein's Monster, She heals herself in a magical bath, giving an opportunity for Bergman to show off her breasts and regenerate her life anew. This is one of the fleeting connections to Haggard's novel. It teases another with a prophecy that the love of a man will one day destroy her; but this is abandoned during the finale so that She will retain her youthful vibrance for another cycle, waiting decades for the planned sequel that never materialized.


From there the lunacy intensifies as the man-hating She and her second-in-command, Shanda, eventually team-up with Tom and Dick. Our quartet of heroes commence on a bizarre quest that takes them to a factory inhabited by loose-limbed, cloth-wrapped mutants brandishing chainsaws; then on to a hedonistic hamlet of toga-wearing werewolves who listen to vinyl records during the day, and dine on any passersby during the night; next is the villa occupied by a super-powered, telekinetic communist named Godan (played by Gregory Snegoff); when our heroes escape from there, they find themselves once again captured by a mad scientist and his silent, Bud Spencer-like bodyguard wearing a ballerina outfit living inside an expansive oxygen tent filled with various fauna and animals. 


They then run afoul of Xenon, the film's most memorable personality; guarding the bridge leading into the Norks domain. A matte painting depicts the Norkian stronghold inside an irradiated, destroyed city; but several wide shots clearly reveal farmland and a dirt road beyond the big wall (see pic above). As much intentional goofiness as SHE revels in, it's flubs like this that only make this low budget delicacy all the more delicious.


American David Traylor was a popular comedian in Italy at the time (and still working today) so his participation in SHE gave the film some marquee value in those markets. His skills as a mime were suited to the role of the wacky Xenon, a strange, alien being with both a vast knowledge of American pop culture references and one-liners, but also an ability to regenerate into a clone of himself whenever a limb is cut off. Out of all the onscreen insanity, Xenon's shtick is the film's most unforgettable and hilarious sequence. 


Gordon Mitchell (see insert) started out playing good guys but his granite-faced visage had other ideas, making him a big star essaying countless villains of one sort or other. He headlined or guest-starred in dozens of muscleman movies, Italian westerns, horror, action, etc. He's one of the most familiar faces in all of international cinema. In SHE, you think he's the lead antagonist, but he's not. He looks menacing in a few scenes but does even less than Boba Fett in the STAR WARS movies. The real main villain is the Nork God Erraton (see above), who speaks through a voice box and wears what looks like a diving suit covered in glitter and sits on a throne made of two monster truck tires. 

David Brandon, an Irish actor of stage and screen (David Cain Haughton), is another familiar face; and a welcome personality to bolster the film's appeal with the Euro-cult fans. He had the lead in Joe D'Amato's absurdly trashy CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY (1982); the main villain with the Fu Manchu mustache in D'Amato's unintentionally hilarious ATOR sequel, THE BLADE MASTER (1984); and one of his best roles in Michele Soavi's superb Italo-slasher STAGE FRIGHT (1987). In SHE, Brandon plays Pretty Boy, the leader of a strange commune of hedonists partially built on the Roman Empire. During the day, they're all about a good time; but at night, the groups lupine nature comes out. Brandon's in his element and, despite his brief time onscreen, is the best actor of the many featured.


Other than an international selection of actors, virtually none of the main cast on the SHE roster went on to lengthy careers in the industry. David Goss had leading man looks but did very little afterward. The gorgeous Quin Kessler was announced as the lead in Cannon's lady Tarzan flick JANE in 1983 but it was never made. She did a few TV show appearances and movies like the quirky comedy WISHMAN in 1992 before quitting the industry. Harrison Muller, as the annoying but aptly named Dick, co-starred in a handful of 80s barbarian and post-nuke movies before calling it quits by 1989.

Bergman headlined another Trans World production in 1987 titled PROGRAMMED TO KILL (aka THE RETALIATOR), a film that was essentially remade as the nearly identical EVE OF DESTRUCTION in 1991. After FATAL ATTRACTION (1986) and BASIC INSTINCT (1992) were huge hits, the market for erotic thrillers exploded and Sandahl found herself cast in a slew of them and a number of television appearances.


Co-financed through Continental Motion Pictures and Trans World Entertainment for the brother and sister team, Eduard and Helen Sarlui, Trans World was something of a competitor for the Cannon Group during an approximate ten year period between 1983-1993. Founded by Sarlui and Moshe Diamant, Trans World managed to steal Sho Kosugi away from Cannon for PRAY FOR DEATH (1985) and RAGE OF HONOR (1987); while also producing a video series titled Ninja Theater with Kosugi acting as host to a healthy line of Chinese Kung Fu movies. 

 
In 1988, Trans World execs Moshe Diamant and Eduard Sarlui failed to bring Marlon Brando's 'Jericho' to the big screen in a $65 million co-production with Brando associate Elliott Kastner before they were swallowed up with other small label production companies in the Giancarlo Parretti scandal of the late 80s-early 90s. Diamant eventually began a working relationship with Jean Claude Van Damme, producing several movies with him. Diamant remains a big Hollywood producer today.

In those days, both Continental and Trans World produced and distributed a handful of Drive-in style pictures that got frequent airplay on television and, whether through them or another company, theatrical and video distribution with titles like WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD (1983), CREATURE (1985), and ALIEN PREDATORS (1986); SHE (1983) being among them.


As stated above, SHE is comparable to a heavy metal video. This is highlighted by an eclectic soundtrack of international rock and metal artists; some of whom were well known. The soundtrack is very good and it's surprising an album was never produced. Motorhead contributed musical cues; Rick Wakeman of Yes wrote 'Rescue Me', sang by Scottish singer Maggie Bell; The Boppers, a Swedish rock band, furnished the Doo Wop styled 'Why?'; director Avi Nesher wrote two metal numbers titled 'Scream In the Night' and 'War', both of which were performed by a band called Bastard; Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues wrote and performed a ballad, the melancholic and catchy 'Eternal Woman'. In a film as confounding and out of control as SHE is, the soundtrack certainly fits with its array of musical styles; and a score that's typically, and suitably 80s.

A CONVERSATION WITH GODAN: GREGORY SNEGOFF ON FILMING SHE AND HIS CAREER IN DUBBING

As an added attraction, we've included an interview with Gregory Snegoff, Godan himself; where he talks not only about working on the film, but his career on the whole. Snegoff comes from a family of Hollywood performers. His brother Tom, for example, is a prolific stuntman who has amassed over 440 credits just in stunts alone. Gregory has acted in front of the camera, but found his calling behind it, working predominantly in the dubbing studio. If you're a fan of Italian exploitation movies and Japanese anime, you've heard his voice many times. Enjoy the interview.

VENOMS5: Tell me a bit about yourself and how you got involved in the film industry.

GREGORY SNEGOFF: I'm a 3rd generation actor. I've always been in the film industry. When I was 23 I moved to Rome. I ended up staying and continued working as an actor. I discovered I had a knack for dubbing which didn't really exist in America at the time. We're talking late 70s-early 80s. Rome was the dubbing center of the world. Not just for Italy but for films all over the world. So there was quite a lot of work. I did work on thousands of radio commercials and acted and directed commercials and in mid-1984, I was shooting a six hour mini-series called CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. It was the first of a bunch of mini-series about Columbus. I came back to the states in 1985 and started a dubbing business in LA and worked in dubbing animation. In 1991 I went back and forth and in 1992, I moved back to Rome and stayed.

V5: Was it more difficult being an onscreen actor versus being a dubber?

GS: Some actors are better at dubbing than others. Some may not be able to see sync. In film and TV when an actor has to loop his own lines, some actors are terrible at it, nevermind dubbing other people. They don't have a musical ear. It's like dealing with rhythm. Dancers do it quite well. If you're a good actor and you know how to dub you'll be good at it. It takes a certain ability to put emotion into your dialog when you're standing in your jeans and T-shirt and you don't see the script ahead of time. It's broken up into loops, requiring some serious memorization skills. In America now we cut the loops down really short. When I first came back in 1984 I hit up some of the dubbing studios. I had learned from the Italians don't cut up the loops like that, because you'd memorize a page at the time. Here, it was annoying so I'd do a page at a time and ended up making a name for myself. We've gotten a bit lazy now for chopping up the loops so small. The ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement) systems are much more accurate today, though. The perks for dubbing versus acting in front of a camera is not sitting in a chair for hours in makeup and you don't have to dress up for the part. A lot of people think being famous is great but it ain't necessarily so. You think about Stallone and Willis on the street and being approached a lot; but when you're a voice actor nobody bothers you so long as you keep your mouth shut (laugh).

V5: How did your role in SHE come about?

GS: Italy was never terribly big on auditions. It's still rare for them to do auditions. If they like your face, you get the job. In this case, I may have read for Avi, I can't recall. Godan became the big baddie in the film. I still may have a Godan poster from the movie, too; the ones you see plastered everywhere. I had one in my apartment and when people would come over it would scare the shit out of them (laughs).

V5: What did you think of the film at the time?

GS: Avi was good to work with, but I didn't think much of it, actually. It wasn't a terrific film then or now. It was Sandahl's movie and she'd just come off a successful Broadway show and then she did CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982).

V5: What was your experience working with her?

GS: A very nice lady and a good sport. Very pleasant to work with. A low budget isn't terribly easy to work in. The script wasn't great and she made the best of things. David Traylor had it the easiest with all the silly lines.

V5: He's the funniest part of the movie.

GS: He and I arrived in Rome at the same time. We both went on English language radio and did separate shows and he became insanely famous over there. Unfortunately, he made a poor career choice. He wanted to be a standup comic so he quit his show and wanted to come back to America to be a comedian. He went to LA and got as far as doing an act on the Tonight Show. David's an extremely talented man, but his comedy is limited in the sense that if you're an American who speaks both languages then you'll love it. He tried to do stuff here and I had gone back to Rome and was working on a new satellite network called Orbit for the Arab countries. On one of their channels I was the voice of the network there called The Fun Channel, which was for kids. I told them you have to see this guy he'd be the perfect mascot so he became huge on that network for a while. As for SHE, Traylor ad-libbed his role. He made up most of that. Ask him to do any voice or character and he's astounding. That wasn't Nesher's doing, that was all David. He's a compendium of television trivia and he'll throw it at you 24 hours a day if you let him.

V5: How many days did you work on the picture and do you have any stories about David Goss or Quin Kessler? They did little else after this movie.

GS: A week or two, maybe? It wasn't a particularly difficult role, it was all shot in Rome in an abandoned villa. I remember Goss and Kessler, sitting in the dressing room with them. With Quin, I recall her being really concerned that her top would drop off and her breasts would fall out. She was constantly adjusting her top. That's why she was hired for the movie, actually. As for David, he would talk for hours about what he was going to do. He'd gone to acting school and would tell me how he was going to do this and do that in front of the camera, and this is my subtext, and so on. We'd go to filming the scene and I kept waiting for all that stuff to come out of David and it never did. He didn't seem nervous, he was very serious--and ended up with just two expressions like what Leone said about Eastwood's expressiveness--one with the cigar and one without.

V5: Gordon Mitchell?

GS: I didn't see him much on the picture, but Gordon Mitchell was a character and had an interesting face. Rome is a small town and the acting community is even smaller. Gordon was well liked so in Italy, if the word got around you're easy to work with, not fussy about money, you'd do an extra day, then they'd throw you in a film and he did a lot of them over there.

V5: Did you ever meet Roger Browne (you can read our interview with Roger HERE)? He was president of ELDA (English Language Dubbers Association) from 1966 to 1975.

GS: I did, although I didn't know Roger well. When I arrived in January of 1979, the Italian film industry was bottoming out of a ten year slide after producing over 500 films a year. Hollywood wasn't doing that. I might be stretching it, but most of their output was of a pornographic nature. It's a pity because they're very talented technicians over there and that industry disappeared.

V5: You did an episode of CHEERS in 1985.

GS: That was the first thing I did when I returned to the US. I come back and they cast me as an Italian bellboy (laughs).

V5: You dubbed Miles O'Keeffe in two of his ATOR movies, correct?

GS: (laughs) Yeah, that's me on those. For some odd reason during my career I have re-voiced or imitated the voice of pretty much all the muscle guys. We're talking about Miles, Reb Brown, Stallone, Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Schwarzenegger, and others. I could imitate all their voices and the producers would oftentimes call me for that reason; particularly with Schwarzenegger because of his heavy accent. Producers would call and tell me he had all these coaches on set and they'd be concerned about his acting. So they'd call me in to help with the lines. And the producer would say, "but for God's sake don't tell anybody!" (laughs); but I re-voiced about a third of his lines on some of his films; this being after CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982). For Stallone I did the grunts and groans during the fights. These guys would sometimes be so busy they couldn't come in and do the looping so they'd call me in to do it. I often dubbed Franco Nero, too. He speaks perfect English, but he has an accent. He knew I was dubbing him and he didn't mind it. I saw him recently in Italy at an event where we both won an award. Other actors think they should dub themselves and they shouldn't (laughs). During the big boom of Italian cinema, nobody dubbed their own voice. Even Marcello Mastroianni was dubbed and he had a beautiful voice. It wasn't till later that you'd hear the actor's real voice.

V5: Do you know Michael Forrest? He was a voiceover artist as well; famously as being Maurizio Merli's English dubber.

GS: Michael is wonderful. A funny story about him: he's the dead guy in the bed in Madonna's BODY OF EVIDENCE (1993). That's Michael Forrest. He made a crack to me once that he'd made love to Madonna the night before. He's made a great living going back and forth between Italy and America and selling his autographs. He did it for years.

V5: When you dub these movies do you ever have any input or problems from the filmmakers?

GS: No, not really. Dubbing pornos was the worst, though. We'd dub the entire film minus the sex portions. When I'd be asked to adapt these things they wouldn't even have a guide track. Some of them would take place in different time periods. I'd desperately try to make them more interesting by playing around with the dialog and they'd come back and tell me, "you can't do that" (laughs).

V5: When did you transition from Italian movies to Japanese anime?

GS: That was when I came back to the US and went to NY to visit friends and I walked around some sound studios and I asked about dubbing and got word about studios in LA. So I went to LA to Intersound and that's where I got onto ROBOTECH (1985). It is still on the air and Sony is about to do a live-action feature of the property. I wrote, directed and supervised ROBOTECH and most of those people are still working and that's been since 1985 when we started that. We're into our third generation of fans. Every once in a while I'm in a store and I put down my email which is Khyron13 and sometimes a 35 year old man will snap up all wide-eyed and ask about it and get really excited. We did CAPTAIN HARLOCK and other oddball feature films. I did a lot of films for Carl Macek of Streamline Pictures. I'm not tooting my own horn, but the reason you have the anime phenomenon today is because of us. Japanese producers tried to give it away back then but nobody wanted it. Carl knew the potential was there and he said, "Look, give me this film, that film, give it to me free, I will pay for the dubbing and distribution, and if it makes any money we'll split it 50/50". And because of the success of things like ROBOTECH, we did CRYING FREEMAN, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, WICKED CITY, and many others. Everything that said written and directed by Carl it was actually me. Carl did not write till much later. Also, the Japanese will insist we dub their films literally. We'd argue back and forth that you can't say this in English; one example being this title from 2019 called SCIENCE FELL IN LOVE, SO I TRIED TO PROVE IT. They want us to keep all the Japanese stuff in even if you don't understand it. The distributors have bowed down to the hardcore fans who sent us hate mail after taking issue with us for changing things to suit the market. If you give me a film to write and direct I want do it my way because we care about the product. I do a quality of dubbing that nobody else does. I charge double the money. My productions cost twice as much as everybody elses because I spend twice as much time in the studio because ours looks like it's originally made in English. A lot of people think it's an American production.

We dubbed movies from all over the world including Hong Kong and the Philippines. We did the dub for CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN TIGER (2000). They made a bad decision in wanting Chinese accents but the sync is there and it looks like it was shot in English. SO CLOSE (2002) is another. Dubbing Asian movies in the past, they did not give a rats ass. They would pick whoever they could find off the street, from a bar, or wherever, and put them in front of a microphone. I did an animated Korean series THE LEGEND OF BLUE (2002), which was a 26 episode series and we did the first 13 episodes. For the rest, it sounded like they had guys from a bar and that's what it was. We also did the dubbing for THE WORLD OF YOR (YOR, THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE [1983]). I dubbed Reb Brown, a California surfer who got into acting. It was shot in English. That scene where he and his woman are coming out of a desert heading towards the ocean, and for some reason Yor knows the sea water is poisonous. She doesn't. She's running towards the water and he yells out, "Don't go in the water it'll make you dead!" We tried for an hour to come up with any phrase to replace that line and couldn't do it.

V5: What's the most memorable thing you've done and a project you wish you'd never participated in?

GS: Actually there's a TV series I dubbed I'm proud of called SQAUDRA ANTIMAFIA (2009-2016). It's a good copy of an American cop show. I put it on Free TV dubbed and we did a very good job. Nobody has a clue that show was dubbed. When the studio brought it to the lab to make the master copy they were waiting for it and the engineer running the machine said there was something wrong, that in some places it looks like a frame was out of sync. He had no idea it was an Italian production dubbed into English.

Something I wish I hadn't done... I'd say any of the Italian exploitation things were pretty bad. If you can at least finish the film it can generally make its money back. There was an Italian producer who made the worst, most ghastly exploitation films who went out of business. That's how bad those were. He produced lots of things shot in the South American jungle; didn't want to pay the crew nor the cast and some would walk off the set. Some of these guys would have an allergy towards payment. I did a bunch of films for another guy, and after the third job I'd say, "I'd like to get paid now". And he'd start shaking like he had no intentions on paying us. Another producer was paying people to steal copies of films. He'd pay for the dub and distribute the film, but they were films he did not have the rights to. When we found that out we dropped everything and fled. This guy is still in the film industry in a different capacity, still working, and never went to jail.

A huge thanks to Mr. Snegoff for giving his time for this interview. We wish him continued success in all his future endeavors.


SHE (1983) is one of the most bewildering, rule-breaking motion pictures; that description possibly being key to its growing cult status. It's even more odd in that director and writer Avi Nesher is one of Israel's most famous filmmakers. His work has been the subject of retrospectives and festivals in recent years. In one example, some of his acclaimed and award-winning films (like 1979s THE TROUPE; 1984s RAGE & GLORY) shared the screen with the likes of the oddball SHE at a festival at the Olamot Center in Indiana University. A selection of his serious, dramatic works rubbing elbows with a raucous, rebelliously nonsensical movie is as jarring as anything in the film itself.

 

Nesher's unbridled approach was possibly the reason the film never found a distributor for a US theatrical release. However, it was released to theaters around the world in European territories and the Middle East (where Nesher's name was listed as the pseudonymous Anthony Johnson). According to film historian Chris Poggiali, the picture was never submitted for an MPAA rating. Completed in 1983, SHE went straight to video in America, released on the Lightning Video label in 1985. 


The first time I saw SHE (1983) was around 1985 or 1986. It was on this channel out of Greensboro, NC. WGGT-TV48 was a monster kid's dream network. Monster and fantasy and kung fu movies were on any day during the week, and particularly on the weekends. This Saturday program called Billy Bob's Action Theater hosted by Billy Bob (basically a local version of Ernest P. Worrell) aired the three aforementioned genres, and night SHE was the evening's entertainment. I was ten or eleven and found it to be one of the strangest movies I'd ever seen. Several years later I'd purchase a used VHS of the Lightning Video release; then came the Italian Storm DVD; and now, finally, the belated blu-ray release in the United States where the film will hopefully garner a new, wider audience.


SHE is one of those movies you'll either enjoy the hell out of it, or find it among the most ludicrous cinematic experiences you've ever had. SHE is episodic, lacking traditional narrative technique, has a rockin' soundtrack, packed with sight gags and graffiti littering near every frame, and wears its bad movie badge with pride--daring the audience to like it. Whether you find it one of the worst movies ever made or one of the greatest unsung cult items seldom seen, SHE (1983) is certainly worth getting to know better.

***ADDENDUM: A few weeks ago, David Traylor (Xenon in the movie) got in touch with me and did an interview where he discussed his career including working on SHE. You can read that interview HERE.***

This review is representative of the Kino Lorber blu-ray. Specs and extras: 1080p 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen; interview with director Avi Nesher; theatrical trailer; running time: 01:44:53


Sunday, February 23, 2020

The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) review




THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION 1975

Steve Brodie (Dr. J.R. Vance), Barbara Hale (Dr. Jenny Langer), Robert Easton (Kester), Leslie Parrish (Ev), Alan Hale Jr. (The Sheriff), Bill Williams (Dutch), Kevin Brodie (Dave Perkins), Dianne Lee Hart (Terry), Tain Bodkin (Preacher), Paul Bentzen (Billy), Christiana Schmidtmer (Helga)

Directed by Bill Rebane

The Short Version: 15 years before ARACHNOPHOBIA (1990) merged spider horror and humor, this example of low budget, multi-legged mayhem did it first. The 50s throwback plot has geodes inside a meteorite crash into a field where these Gagbury Scream Eggs crack open to reveal a creepy spider center. With laughs of both the intentional and unintentional variety, Bill Rebane's creature feature showcases crane-operated, and Volkswagen-powered giant spiders making meals out of the residents of Gleason and Merrill, Wisconsin. A bad movie done good, and looking stunning in this blu-ray restoration, the cult following for THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1975) may find itself growing as well.


A black hole opens a gateway to a parallel universe releasing a meteorite that crashes into the Earth. A horrifying species of space spider encased within geodes are scattered all over rural Wisconsin. Once they hatch, the creepy crawlers begin feasting on the local livestock before moving on to human prey. Growing to enormous size, a number of the townspeople are killed before two scientists discover a way to kill the interstellar arachnids.


Wisconsin is known for Ed Gein, its cheese, and this here movie about a giant spider made out of a Volkswagen and steel tubing that terrorizes a small town. The most well known movie of the Latvian born Bill Rebane, it's a campy, pseudo-send up of 50s 'Big Bug' flicks. There was a resurgence of those movies in the 1970s, but they traded the atomic and alien invasion elements for an environmentally created threat as the backdrop. Rebane's movie is a throwback to the 50s style and imitates it well even if the special effects aren't very convincing; ambitious in design and execution, the money just wasn't there to make them more believable.


The script by Robert Easton and Richard L. Huff was a clash of ideas; the former wanted a jokier tone while the latter wanted to play it entirely straight. Easton thought the movie would be more palatable if camp was injected into it. According to him, some of his lighter moments didn't make the final cut. As schlocky as THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION is, its combination of horror and humor occasionally works; the latter being both intentional and unintentionally so.


One of the blackest of these comical moments is when the alcohol sponge Ev (played by former Hollywood model, actress, activist Leslie Parrish) thinks she's drinking a Bloody Mary and after taking a sip discovers its a Bloody Spider she's mixed in her blender.

Despite the budgetary shortcomings, there are instances of seriousness that imbues a few scenes with a creepy ambiance. Some of this is due to the scenes of tarantulas crawling all over everything leaving lots of webs behind. Elsewhere, there's the kooky preacher's proclamations of fire and brimstone intercut with Easton's sleazy character collecting as many of the interplanetary geodes as he can find--oblivious to their contents.


According to Rebane, the film originally didn't feature giant spiders at all. Distributor Brandon L.Chase, then President of Group 1 (later producer of movies like ALLIGATOR and THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER), wanted giant spiders to compete with a certain 25ft great white shark that was starring in a movie filmed on the east coast. So with only $10,000 available for special effects, Rebane's SPX man Bob Millay (who also performed the film's stunts) got local welders to build two gigantic spiders to his design. The one getting the most screentime was built using steel beams and tubing, and wire built around a Volkswagen chassis covered in black fur taken from fake fur coats.


The eight-legged, interplanetary monster was brought to life with the aid of seven local teens inside maneuvering the legs and fangs. Looking like any of your finer local parade floats, the performers operating it do a good job while the camera captures some great shots of it both at ground level and in aerial views.


The shots of the spider devouring people and some of the makeup effects of half-eaten victims are gruesome and surprisingly effective, too. The attack scenes are filmed enthusiastically and Rebane doesn't shy away from showing his monsters despite their lack of realism.


The other big spider was made specifically to be operated by a crane and is used a few times; most memorably during an attack on a house in a scene that recalls Mara Corday being menaced by the TARANTULA (1955); and again in a scene where a victim is attacked after driving through the alien beasts web on a country highway resulting in a car crash and explosion.


Surprisingly gory for a PG rating, there's even some brief nudity that makes one wonder what the ratings board was doing during the screening. Akin to other independent efforts like THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (1972), SPIDER was another regional success, racking up approximately $25 million and making Variety's list of top 50 movies of the year.

Other than Barbara Hale (PERRY MASON [1957--1966]) and Leslie Parrish (LIL ABNER [1959]; THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE [1962]), the film's other big star was Alan Hale, Jr., the skipper from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (1964--1967). He's the first actor you see and his first line of dialog, "Hi, little buddy", sets the tone right off the bat. Hale literally phones it in, spending most of his scenes on the phone and uttering comical lines and, at one point, breaks the fourth wall.

Robert Easton appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows; and was famous for being a dialog coach and a master of accents. If you're a GUNSMOKE (1955--1975) fan, you'll know him as Chester's brother, the "uncivilized" Magnus (he also voiced the character in the radio version a year earlier) who comes to Dodge for Christmas in the season one episode that aired December 24th, 1955. In what would seem like the earliest known precursor to slasher tropes, a crazy old preacher man warns them not to hold a Christmas dance lest they all want to die. By the end, Magnus shows Chester he's far more learned than he ever knew and saves everyone from being shotgunned to death by a murderous old man.

THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1975) had its network television debut on February 8th, 1977 as the ABC Tuesday Late Movie airing from 11:30pm to 1:10am (in some markets it aired from 12:00am to 1:40am). As Judith Crist put it in her brief summation, "The title tells all." The first time I saw it was in the mid 1980s on local channel 48; a favorite for monster kids with its frequent airings of genre fare. Being nine or ten at the time, it was a shock to see the network let the nude scene slip by; and especially during an afternoon airing.


Filmed in rural Gleason and in the city of Merrill, Wisconsin, locals were up to the task in giving this INVASION some lasting appeal. Its cult status is strong in America's Dairyland, with the film occasionally playing at local festivals and DVD releases keeping it alive. SPIDER will continue to have legs with this stunning new blu-ray release; the movie looking like it was made yesterday due to this eye-opening restoration.

 
If you're a fan of the type of low budget, regional, independently produced horror and SciFi fare like PSYCHO FROM TEXAS (1975/1981), THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977), THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER (1977), NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1980) and THE AFTERMATH (1982), then THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1975) is in the same league. There's modestly amusing humor; a capable cast of old pros; spirited, if fake-looking monster sequences; and just the right amount of exploitation for those seeking an old-fashioned, Drive-in styled entertainment.

This review is representative of the Dark Force Entertainment blu-ray. Specs and extras: New 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen HD transfer from the original 35mm negative; 2014 Bill Rebane interview; Robert Easton interview (last one before his death); Giant Spider music video; running time: 01:19:46
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