Escape from New York (1981)

Title: Escape from New York (1981)

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau

Review:

The first thing you notice about Escape from New York is how very dark it is. Everything is black on this one, the characters are dressed in black, the cars are black, the helicopters are black, the entire landscape of this movie is black! The whole film takes place during the course of one night in which famous criminal/ex-soldier Snake Plissken is forced to go to Manhattan Island (which has been turned into a prison island) to rescue the President of the United States. You see, Air Force One was hijacked by a group of terrorists called ‘The National Liberation Front of America’. The terrorist say they’ve struck a fatal blow in the name of all of the oppressed by sending the President of the United States to the inhuman prison he created himself. They mean to let him rot and die down there, in the hands of some of the worst criminals on the planet. and teach him a lesson or two about humility. But of course, the United States government isn’t just gonna sit back and let this happen. They have brought in Snake Plissken, the only man capable of getting the job done. Like Hauk tells Snake while trying to convince him to do the job: “You flew the ‘Gulfire’ over Leningrad; you know how to go in quiet; you’re all I’ve got!”

Escape from New York is an interesting film because whenever you talk about post apocalyptic movies, you really can’t leave this one out even though technically speaking; it isn’t a post apocalyptic film. There has been no nuclear holocaust, no deadly virus; the apocalypse in this future exists solely behind the walls of the island of Manhattan, which has been transformed into a penitentiary. So the apocalypse in Escape from New York is actually a social one. Within the walls of this huge jail cell, there’s no rules, no regulations, no cops, only “the prisoners and the worlds they’ve created”. So it’s not really a post apocalyptic film, but at the same time, its the best post apocalyptic film. Carpenter’s Manhattan is one evil looking place. I think this is what makes this film so fascinating; this prison world populated by the lowest of the low. It’s the most evil scum bags that walk through this prison worlds pitch black alleys and streets. When I was a kid and first saw this movie I was frightened by it, the characters that lived with in Manhattan seemed truly evil to me, especially this guy:

Snake Plissken’s the ultimate rebel; he hates “the man” or doing anything for him, in fact if there’s anything that he can take from “the man”, he will. Case in point: when the film opens up, Plissken is handcuffed and being taken to the Manhattan penitentiary. What we don’t know is that he is being taken their because he was holding up the Federal Reserve Depository, a scene that was later cut out of the film because Carpenter didn’t consider it necessary; I agree, it’s more intense just to meet Snake, not knowing where he is coming from. Kurt Russell describes Plissken as a mercenary, a mix between Bruce Lee, The Executioner, Darth Vader and Clint Eastwood. He’s a guy who only cares about the next 60 seconds of his life. This rebellious character goes in accordance with some of Carpenter’s films, which have always had a rebellious streak to them. For example, They Live (1988) which is about how the powers that be control our minds through marketing and subliminal messages; Escape from New York is about an imperialistic fascist America. Escape from L.A. (1996) is also anti-establishment, but in a whole other way that I will get into when I review it soon. So what we got here is a film made by two rebellious, freedom loving  individuals, Carpenter and Russell.

Kurt Russell and John Carpenter have worked together on various films, here they are together on the set of Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Plissken is Kurt Russell’s favorite character. To Russell, the character represents America, the idealistic free America all true Americans want; that idealistic version of America where people can be truly free to do as they choose. Through it’s science fiction story, Escape from New York commented on the status quo of the country during the late 70’s, a time when liberty and freedom of expression were constantly under attack. Some might label Escape from New York as an anti-government film, and I would have to say that it is. Escape from New York is the kind of film that warns us of what could come should governments get more oppressive or fascist. Rule, after rule after rule until you can’t barely move. This film and it’s sequel is ruled by a government that tells its citizens that they can’t smoke, can’t  drink, can’t have premarital sex, can’t try drugs, can’t speak foul language, can’t, can’t, can’t. Now I ain’t saying doing all these things equals liberty, but a person should be able to choose what they want to do, no matter what it is. It’s all about true freedom of the self. There is a distinct amount of cynicism towards the figure of the President of the United States  on this film. He is portrayed as a selfish, self absorbed individual. A cold man who doesn’t give a damn about the people who die for him, he has this fakeness to him. He says one thing to your face but means another. But we have to understand that Carpenter wrote this film coming out of the whole Nixon era, a time when no American trusted their president, where human rights were constantly being violated in the country. Escape from New York is a reflection of that time when most Americans agreed they had a madman in power.

But Plissken’s all about freeing ourselves from all of that; about living the ideal American dream of freedom and doing whatever the hell you want with your life, which is probably why this film is such a cult favorite; people just love Plisskens ‘take no shit from nobody’ attitude. This freedom theme goes in accordance to Russell’s own personal Libertarian point of view. Yes my friends, Kurt Russell’s neither Democrat nor Republican, he’s a Libertarian, and Libertarians are all about maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state in our lives. They believe in free will and freedom of expression and thought. Just like Plissken, Russell’s an outcast because of his beliefs, not everyone agrees with the Libertarians point of view, especially not Hollywood. Still, this hasn’t stopped Russell and Carpenter from making a distinctively rebellious film. It’s obvious that Russell’s put a lot of his own rebellious persona into Snake Plissken. But I felt that he put more of himself into the way the character was portrayed in the sequel, but more on that in my future review for Escape from L.A. Final words on Escape from New York is that it’s a real cult classic, an extremely influential film and simply put, it's a film that just won’t die. New generations keep discovering it and liking it. I believe that the publics long lasting affection with the film stems from Snake Plissken and what he represents; our perennial search for personal freedom in this world; in the end that’s what we all want and need; and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Italian Poster 

Two Evil Eyes (1991)

                         

Title: Two Evil Eyes (1991)

Directors: George Romero, Dario Argento

Cast: Harvey Keitel, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins

Review:

Two great horror masters Dario Argento and George Romero unite their creative efforts to create a homage to the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Ive been a fan of both of these directors for some time now. When I found out that they worked together on this film I knew sooner or later it would have to form part of my DVD collection. I mean two of the greats! Romeros Dead Quadrilogy and his other fine films such as Martin, Monkey Shines and The Dark Half, among others have made him one of horrordoms most beloved directors, and his still working today. Still making zombie movies, a die hard horror director till the very end! His films are always infused with an air of rebellion to them. Things are not preatty in Romeros films...humans are often times the real enemy!

Dario Argento the grand guignol master of stylish Italian giallos. The man can orchestrate a murder sequence and make it look like a work of art. A director who doesnt let his camara shy away from a knife slashing the throat of its victim. We know him from his previous masterpieces Suspiria, Opera, Inferno, Deep Red and countless others wich he has made across the years. Not only a fine artiste but also a true lover of horror and the occult. Though I will have to admit, Argento's recent work has been on the dissapointing side. His true classics reside in his earlier work. I dont think any of Argento's recent work is of worthy of a "masterpiece" status like his older films. I am of the mind that his last great film came in 1987 with Opera. Still, I cant say Im completely informed. Ive yet to see more of the films he made in the 90's. But his most recent films like Mother of Tears was just cringe inducing.

What's great about a project like Two Evil Eyes is that it brought together these two legendary horror directors in one film. Both of them bring their own style and fashion in Two Evil Eyes, both of them have their moments to shine. Each of the two stories lasts about an hour each, so its almost like getting two movies in one. How can we go wrong with this one?

First of, we have George Romeros The Facts of the Case of M. Valdermar. In it Adrienne Barbeau and her lover hypnotize her old rich husband and make him sign over his fortune to them against his will. Then all they have to do is let him die and all the money goes to them. Problem is, this old man wont stay dead! A very cool story, its the kind of story that Romero loves to do. You mess with the dead, you die like the rest. He did it in Creepshow in which we get the story of a vengeful dead father who comes back for his "Fathers Day" cake Killing all his greedy sons and daughters who only care about the money he left them. And in the same movie we have two lovers who are drowned by the jealous husband only to have them come back from the dead to kill him. But what makes the zombie story in Two Evil Eyes interesting is the brilliant idea of adding the hypnosis angle to it.

I have to admit that Romeros half of Two Evil Eyes feels redundant at times. It has a "been there done that" feel to it. You defenetly feel like Romero is walking on familiar ground with this zombie/revenge story. If you have already seen most of Romero's zombie films, you'll feel like that. Still, the story does have a few twists that make it new enough for you not to loose interest. I loved how the zombie can talk "from beyond" and talk about what he is seeing on the other side. Really eerie moments there. The whole angle of hypnotism and the final effects of using it! Wow! What a scene! It was perfectly spooky at times....all leading to a really cool zombie filled conclusion.

The cast includes horror film regulars. We get Adrianne Barbeau who'd worked before with Argento on Creepshow. On this flick she plays a similar character, a selfish drunkard heartless bitch. Tom Atkins a horror film veteran (Night of the Creeps, The Fog, Halloween III to name a few) appears on this one once again, playing a (wait for it) cigar chomping detective! Tom Atkins is so type casted all the time it isnt even funny! They guy always plays a variation of a cigar chomping detective on practically every movie he is on!

The make up effects are great on both stories since they were handled by another master of disaster, the one and only Tom Savini. The zombie make up is excellent! I was also impressed with how much style Romero infused his short film with. Normally Romero doesnt concern himself with style. His main focus is to just tell the story with his camera. Yet on Two Evil Eyes, there are little shots here and there that I was really amazed with....specially towards the end. Romero using visual effects? Unheard off! Yet here they are and done in a perfectly eerie and subtle fashion. Maybe there was a little bit of healthy competition going on between Romero and Dario? Both trying to out do each other? Another positive aspect of this type of film. Because there are certain moments in Argento's half that were pretty shocking!

Dario's spooky tale The Black Cat, had all the things we come to expect from an Argento tale. The first shots in Dario's film show us of the gruesome remains of a Pendulum slicing a woman in half. You see in this film, Harvey Keitel is a photographer and he takes pictures of dead people at crime scenes. We meet him taking pictures of this gruesome site and you feel like you just walked into the middle of a movie you wished you had seen. I mean just the set alone with that huge Pendulum was awesome! And to top it all off in typical Argento style, he puts the camera on the Pendulum giving us a Pendulums eye view as it slashes back and forth on the dead body. Awesome shot! Right away I knew I was going to love this film.

Harvey Keitel always wants to get the most graphic and shocking images for this new book he is doing. So one day, after being particularly fed up with his girlfriends cat desides to kill the cat, and photograph it. Unfortunately, this isnt just any old cat. This is one of those magical vengeful black cats who wont go out without a fight.

Argento does his usual exploration of ancient myths and legends giving us a little insight as to why Black Cats are considered bad luck and why they burned witches in the past. I was like "this is just like Argento to teach us a little something before blowing our brains out with the gore!" And right I was! Theres plenty of gory goodies in this story once it gets going. It has little homages to many of Poes short stories like "The Pit and the Pendulum" "The Black Cat" and "The Cask of Amontillado". It seems like Argento is the most enamored with Poe of the two directors. Argentos short film is infused with all the style, gore and story that were used to get from Argento but in short controlled bursts. I like the fact that these two short films are fast paced due to the time constraint. It forced Argento to show us strictly what was needed to make the story move along and he doesnt play around with unnecesary plot lines like in some of his other Italian films. Here its just wham! Bam! Lets go! Not only that but we get a great performance from Keitel, very intense, very violent. The man is pure evil in this film!

There was only one thing I didnt like in Darios half. Theres this scene in wich a body is hanging from a rope and for some reason wich I cannot comprehend Dario decided to use reverse photography to make it look like the body was moving back and forth as it hanged. It just came off as sloppy or maybe even lazy filmmaking. But thats really the only negative thing I can say about this great flick.

As  you can see from most of my review I was greatly pleased with this film and cant recommend it enough to Romero/Argento lovers out there. It was a once in a life time type of deal and the fruits of their labor paid off. Great work guys! The extras on this special edition double disc DVD are really great! Theres a tour through Tom Savinis mask infested home with hundreads of masks and props from all the movies that he has worked on! Interviews with Argento, Romero and Asia. Great stuff. Worth the money.

Rating: 4 out of 5