Tag: Famous directors

Really Awful Movies: Ep 279 – Little Shop of Horrors

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A casting director’s dream of a movie, Little Shop of Horrors features Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, John Candy, and Christopher Guest.

It’s a creature feature with songs, but in this case…the creature in question is a plant, the incomparable Venus Fly Trap, Audrey II.

This is a fun one, with a showstopping scene involving a sadistic dentist (is there any other kind?)

During production, director Oz shot a lengthy ending based on the off-Broadway musical on which this 1986 production is based. However, after test audiences did not react positively to it, the ending had to be rewritten and re-shot for the theatrical release with a happier, cloyingly romantic ending. We obviously prefer the carnage.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk about pharmaceuticals, musicals, fear of dentists, horticulture, and the legacy of the late, great John Candy.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 271 – Hatchet for the Honeymoon

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We are not in flavor country, we are in Bava Country. And on this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Mario Bava’s fun giallo, Hatchet for the Honeymoon.

The film was lusciously shot in Barcelona and Rome with the working title Un’accetta per la luna di miele. And Bava completed shooting in October 1969. The setting is wonderful: a sprawling villa with immaculately kept grounds.

It follows the misadventures of John Harrington (Stephen Forsyth), who, with the assistance of his estranged wife, runs a boutique wedding fashion house. He tends to a small hot house flower garden as well.

John though, has a wandering eye…and also an eye for killing models.

As models start to go missing, Inspector Russell begins poking his nose around.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon is not a true giallo (there’s no black glove killer, for example, and the killer’s identity is revealed right off the bat). However, there are little touches of yellow flavoring throughout.

Fans of Mario Bava will get a kick out of this, and fans of genre film as well.

Tune in, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast (and tell all your friends). And also, help support the show by picking up a copy of our acclaimed book, Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons.

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 269 – Q The Winged Serpent

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A monster movie set in New York City? That’s enough to hook us in that’s for sure. With the passing of noted horror/genre director Larry Cohen, we decided to take a look at one of his lesser-known efforts with Q The Winged Serpent.

Produced and directed by Larry Cohen and starring the awesome Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, and the incredible David Carradine, and Richard Roundtree, this one is an exercise in guerrilla film-making. There doesn’t seem to be a permit to be found for some of these location shoots.

A bunch of Big Apple dwellers end up dead, their heads torn off. And NYPD detectives Carradine and Roundtree (Shaft!) are tasked to get to the bottom of it.

And Michael Moriarty is a sad-sack bank robber who’s the getaway driver for a bunch of jewel thieves. He’s the one who first gets wind of the crazy attacks and doesn’t know what to do.

Ultimately, Q is a monster movie, a throwback to those 50s creature features we’ve come to know and love. It’s got incredible location shots including Canal Street, and of course the iconic Chrysler Building. And Moriarty gets to show off some piano chops. David Carradine brings a certain charming indifference to the cop role, but hey, it’s still super fun. You’ll have fun watching this one.