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juniusoliver
Reviews
The Howling (1981)
So Under rated!! This movie is the real deal!
What some of the younger viewers, by that I mean the 18-24 year olds seem to forget is for early 1980's the effects and dark nature of the story was revolutionary. This movie was shot in 1979, where most of the heroines survive at the end.Unfortunately we all know that isn't the case with this movie. To give some readers some insight into the book, the author basically wanted to comment on the dark nature of human beings and our gradual desensitized outlook on pornography and violence. Mankind (in the story and in our reality) is becoming steadily and increasingly more violent, and as result more sexual. He's trying to create a link between sex and violence, although it maybe be an old notion, he's right on the money. In addition the world that he creates is totally believable. I totally got this element of the story and therefore realized it was a metaphor for the beast, or monster that lies within us all. I think Joe Dante does an excellent job of bringing the darkness of the characters to life. Remember what sets this werewolf movie apart from the others of that time, is that the main werewolves are not ashamed of their demonic nature. In fact Eddie, TC and his sister Marsha all revel in the monstrous behavior. These aren't your father's werewolves a.k.a Lon Chaney. In the Curse of the Werewolf, the Werewolf is seen as a sympathetic character similar to that of a tragic romantic hero. There is nothing tragic about these werewolves. They love who they are and aren't trying to fit in. That aspect of the film scared the pants off me when I was 10. Most of us are used to seeing werewolves as self-hating and self-loathing but Dante flipped the script and decided to make them very self-absorbed and self-accepting. I guess that was his dark satirical spin on "getting back to nature, psycho-babble". I hope some of the younger viewers will re-examine the under-lying themes of the movies and somehow get a better appreciation for the film.
Wonder Woman (1974)
This is a concept movie you guys!
This is first of all a made for TV movie and therefore it follows the idea of creative license. This movie is not meant to represent the past Wonder Woman but rather and updated version of the super-heroine. In the 70's Wonder Woman was reduced to being a normal human being, no divine inspiration there. IT's really unsettling to see that men still have problems with powerful women, however that was the concept of the 70's super-spy Wonder Woman. There were certain elements that remained, the invisible plane (cleverly it was never show like the TV series), the Amazonian hertiage was still there, and the golden belt and lasso. Wonder Woman has always been thought to be an above average woman and in this movie she is certainly that. Howver she does not the super powers that make her a hero. At the end of the day you have to summarize this movie as version of Wonder Woman, that deserves respect as much as the original concept of the character. Remember Wonder Woman stands for truth, sensitivity and compassion, regardless of her powers.