I Am Legend (1954) - Richard Matheson - Book Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="350"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

You know there is a novel that I would say is probably in the top 5 of the most valuable horror novels ever written... Not just because it revolutionized it's subgenre, but also because it helped set the stage (and in some ways could be said to be one of the bars), that filmmakers aspire to try to emulate when they are making their movies... that of course being the book that author Bram Stoker (1847 - 1912) wrote in 1897... 'Dracula'!

Another one that I would say that did that as well... But to a slightly lesser extent is, 'Richard Matheson's seminal 1954 horror novel, 'I Am Legend'!

Now if you could say that each generation there is some one who creates a work of art that helps to revolutionize the whole genre until the next generation... Well then I would say that the work that Richard Matheson did in, 'I Am Legend' is to the most recently previous generation, what Bram Stoker did for his generation!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="150"] A true masterpiece![/caption]

What I mean by this is that I think people like, 'George A. Romero', and other filmmakers emulated this novel when they created their masterpieces... (In the same way as Bram Stoker's work used to be emulated)..

But in the end, what I really liked about this novel is that it changed the concept of the (Zombie/Vampire) novel, and took the super natural element out of it, and replaced it with a more down home ailment, that nearly destroys the world!

As a side note, besides the fact that this novel has been emulated before, it has also been made in to movies that have stared the likes of Vincent Price (The Pit And The Pendulum) & Charlton Heston (Planet Of The Apes)!

In the end, this novel is an awful lot of fun, and if you get a chance to check it out, you might find that you like it!

Soylent Green (1973) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"] Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

When I was younger there was a show on TV called, ‘Millennium’. This show really kicked ass, I mean it had some amazing star power to it, including, Lance Henriksen (The Terminator), Terry O’Quinn (Stepfather), Meghan Gallagher (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Bill Smitrovich (Independence Day)… Just to name a few!

Now this show initially had to do with a group of ex-law-enforcement officials that investigated some of the worst of the worst when it came to crimes! And later on when Frank’s access to the, ‘Millennium Group’ was raised (The Millennium Group was the name of the organization that the lead character in the show was a part of...) Anyway, when his access in the group was raised, he was given a special voice print pass code that was a some sort of, ‘Movie reference’.

One of the co-stars (and people who Frank (The lead character in the show) worked with in the show) had the password ‘Open The Pod Bay Doors Please, Hal’, and Frank’s was, ‘Soylent Green is people’… Now I had found this particular reference to be rather amusing, if anything because I had heard it before but had never actually seen the movie that this reference was made from!

Of course that was till a few years ago when my friend and ABM CEO, Matt Dowling, had actually told me about this movie (at the time I was starting to delve real heavily in to 70s movies), and I thought it sounded like fun and picked it up to watch!

And boy what a movie this was! I mean besides the fact that it starred Film Legends like Charlton Heston (Planet Of The Apes), Edward G. Robinson (this movie would prove to be his final role), and not to mention Chuck Conners (Summer Camp Nightmares), Brock Peters (Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home), and Joseph Cotten (Baron Blood), to name a few… The story, both in how it was written and also in how impactful it was on the screen would blow your mind and really make you think!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="479"] Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) and his old friend, Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson) are on the case and will stop at nothing to find out what is wrong with, 'Soylent Green'![/caption]

The reason that I mention this you see, is that this movie tells the story of a dying Earth, a planet where the pitfalls of what mankind has been doing to the planet on an environmental level has become to much!

Now during this time there has become a major class divide in that those that are even comparatively moderately wealthy live in swanky and cool apartments where they can sometimes eat a piece of meat or eat a piece of a vegetable…

On the poor side though, there is a Detective by the name of Thorn (Heston) who, while taking care of the old man (Robinson) comes across a conspiracy that ends up having planet wide implications when he investigates the murder of a rich man!

You see this rich man happens to be working for the, ‘Soylent Corporation’ a company that is feeding the world using food that is supposedly coming from the ocean’s floor!

If it is, is the statement, ‘Soylent Green is people’ just the rantings of one of the mad men that is caught up in the conspiracy, or is Soylent Green really people…

If you want to known, you’ll have to check it out… And trust me when I say that you won’t be disappointed if you do!

http://youtu.be/SVpN312hYgU

Planet OF The Apes (1968) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="350"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

I would be surprised if anyone on this planet has not heard of the, Planet Of The Apes movie series in some capacity at this point! I mean after all there was a prequel to the first movie that was released a while back with, James Franco (Spider-Man) called, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)!

But for those of you newbies to the series who probably got their start watching the latest movie, but have yet to catch up with the classic original series…

Well before James Franco did his prequel, and even before Mark Wahlberg (The Perfect Storm) did his remake of the original movie, Charlton Heston (Soylent Green), did an awesome job in the first, (and still in my opinion the best of the series), movie just simply called, Planet Of The Apes (1968)!

Written by: Michael Wilson (A Place In The Sun), Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), and Directed by: Franklin L. Schaffner (Patton). Starring: Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter (A Street Car Named Desire), Roddy McDowall (Deadly Game), Maurice Evans (Rosemary’s Baby), James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption), Linda Harrison (Cocoon) and Woodrow Parfrey (Dirty Harry).

“TAKE YOUR STINKING PAWS OFF ME YOU DAMN DIRTY APE!” – George Taylor (Planet Of The Apes)

Planet Of The Apes tells the amazing tale of a group of astronauts led by Colonel George Taylor (Heston), from modern day Earth who while they are in a sort of a hyper sleep aboard their spaceship as it travels through space, end up waking up when their ship crash lands on some sort of a planet…

Of course when they first disembark, they don’t think much of the planet (as it seems like mostly a lifeless world (despite the breathable atmosphere…

So the crew sets out in search of shelter and food and the like (since their ship is now under water and currently unsalvageable…) As they are walking though, they come to discover certain interesting facts about their new planet… Like the fact that it looks like Man is an Animal and Apes reign supreme!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Taylor (Charlton Heston) as he is being held captive in a special (Human Zoo) and being studied by Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) and Zira (Kim Hunter)[/caption]

This crew gets that harsh dose of reality when they (and a group of savage humans end up being chased by a group of Apes that are trying to hunt them down and capture them!)

After they are captured, the survivors of the ship are taken to different areas where one of them is lobotomized, the other is killed and stuffed and sent to the Apes Museum, and the last one (Colonel Taylor) is left alive when he begins to not only demonstrate that he is intelligent, but that he can talk as well…

He demonstrates this to Dr. Cornelius (McDowall), and Zira (Hunter), who decide to protect him from a world where Apes treat mankind as the specimens! And now it will be up to Cornelius, Zira, and Taylor to get Taylor to safety before the rest of the Ape world gets the chance to destroy him! Because in a world like, the Planet Of The Apes, Taylor, is going to find out a truth about himself and mankind that will change both mankind and Apes in such a way that neither species will ever forget!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] 'Taylor' (Heston) with, 'Nova' (Harrison), 'Zira' (Hunter) and, 'Cornelius' (McDowall), as Zira and Cornelius try to help Taylor and Nova find a life for themselves![/caption]

Now if that hasn't got you interested yet, than let me tell you this.

A: Unfortunately just about everyone from this movie is dead… And it is a true shame, because the talent that was brought to this movie is unparalleled in how truly fantastic of a job that everyone did!

B: Unfortunately I have not had the chance to read the book that this movie is based off of… Before I continue on here, let me say this (most movies that are based on books that I have seen are usually not as good,) so I have to assume that if what I just mentioned holds true in regards to, The Planet Of The Apes, then the book will be mind-blowingly amazing!

C: The last thing that I wanted to say about this movie is this… I thought the special effects in this movie were amazing… Sure there were some campy moments in the special effect (but that was still good in my opinion… I mean after all it was the 60s…) But in the end, this movie had some of the best special effects that have come out of that era (short of Ray Harrhausen of course… But then again, he did set the standard back then…)

In the end, this movie for me was definitely worth the watch and could be for you as well!

http://youtu.be/uAH-Tw2hue8