Thursday, January 26, 2006
Biggest Lie Told on a Director's Commentary to a Film
No question: Larry Cohen on 1974's It's Alive. Cohen states:
"And I think the picure has really stood the test of time."
I say: 'Fraid not.
Rather: there is no picture which has fallen so dramatically when facing the test of time. Maybe it's the wild and crazy 70s outfits everyone's wearing. Maybe it's the straight performances from the actors. Or maybe it's in the ultra-cheap special effects -- effects which were so poor even back in their day that they took pains to only show brief glimpses of the monster. This -- instead of frightening viewers during a death scene -- only makes them wonder: howd that little thing, that only caused a scar, kill that big guy?
Larry, it was a schlock B-movie. I'm sorry 32 years have passed, and nobody told you. The monster baby just wasn't that scary.
"And I think the picure has really stood the test of time."
I say: 'Fraid not.
Rather: there is no picture which has fallen so dramatically when facing the test of time. Maybe it's the wild and crazy 70s outfits everyone's wearing. Maybe it's the straight performances from the actors. Or maybe it's in the ultra-cheap special effects -- effects which were so poor even back in their day that they took pains to only show brief glimpses of the monster. This -- instead of frightening viewers during a death scene -- only makes them wonder: howd that little thing, that only caused a scar, kill that big guy?
Larry, it was a schlock B-movie. I'm sorry 32 years have passed, and nobody told you. The monster baby just wasn't that scary.
