After a year or more of excuses and failed attempts – six months ago I had misplaced hopes of getting this and the sequels done for the ‘special subjects’ Roundtable – I have given my Jaws review an overhaul.
This means that I can move on to giving a bunch of related material a facelift too—since “No shark films or Jaws rip-offs for you, young lady” has been my way of trying to force myself to knuckle down.
So—I have:
– revised and added screenshots to Jaws (1975)
– revised and added screenshots to Shark Kill (1976)
– transferred Grizzly (1976)
– revised Mako: The Jaws Of Death (1976)
When adding my post for Wake In Fright, I forgot to mention that I had also transferred over my review of Homesdale (1971).
There are also two recent Et Al. updates, for October and November.
#1 by Ken on November 26, 2019 - 9:34 pm
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Reading your review of The Sea Beast (“it has no Ishmael”), for a brief moment I thought they’d gone in completely the opposite direction from the usual production – making a movie of the 95% of Melville’s book that’s a whaling manual, instead of the tale of destructive obsession that makes up the rest.
#2 by lyzard on November 27, 2019 - 1:14 am
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Ew. I’ve had enough of that sort of thing recently. (Although of course there’s more to come…)
No, they did something that makes even less sense. 😀
#3 by ronald on November 28, 2019 - 8:21 pm
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Wonderful work, as always. 🙂
An a separate note, consider:
Willard (1971) rats
Stanley (1972) snakes (or at least one snake)
Mako: The Jaws of Death (1976) sharks
Phenomena (1985) flies and other insects
Seems like there are bound to have been more, doesn’t it…?
#4 by lyzard on November 30, 2019 - 5:12 pm
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Willard – on the list
Stanley – no thanks
Mako – ummm…??
Phenomena – oh, yeah!
#5 by ronald on December 7, 2019 - 12:56 pm
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It occurred to me that, inasmuch as the era of the ANIMALS ATTACK horror film more or less coincided with the era of the DEMONIC CHILD horror film, it’s kind of odd that few if any horror films combined the two to present a DEMONIC CHILD who could command ANIMALS to ATTACK (IMHO having a hellhound at one’s beck and call, as Damien did, isn’t quite the same thing). Unless one counts “Phenomena,” I don’t recall any at the moment. How is it possible that no film maker recognized the box office gold of a creepy kid who could command an army of (as just one example) frogs?
Come to think of it, maybe that explains all the inexplicable animal attacks in such movies, there was a demonic child behind the scenes each and every time. But probably not.
#6 by lyzard on December 19, 2019 - 3:25 pm
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To me that would be diluting both: when I’m watching a killer animal film, I want a killer animal film*; and when I’m watching a demonic child film, I want a demonic child film.
But of course, that’s just me; and you’re right that this particular mash-up of elements has not really been tried; though there are several examples of adults “commanding” animals, either supernaturally or directly.
(*I like the animals to be in charge of their own attack!)
#7 by ronald on December 16, 2019 - 11:54 am
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I have no idea if you’re still checking this thread, but I came across a reference to another animal controller that you might or might not know about:
Jennifer (1978) snakes
#8 by lyzard on December 19, 2019 - 3:26 pm
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I know of pretty much all of them; getting to them is another matter. 🙂
#9 by ronald on December 21, 2019 - 10:39 am
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Hoping to help, is all.