Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9503010030
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Both men are alternative auteurs, and both have made the transition to home video without losing sight of their low-budget vision. Corman's Concorde-New Horizons company has produced a steady stream of features since it was founded in 1983. Lee Frost has just returned to the scene with "Private Obsession," a thriller that could have had a successful run at the Lee-Hi drive-in, where his features played in the 1970s. The moment I learned that he was back in the business, I arranged a telephone interview.
His new film is essentially a two-character drama about a reclusive weirdo (Michael Christian) who kidnaps a feminist fashion model (Shannon Whirry) and imprisons her in his house. From that premise, you can predict just about everything else that's going to happen, though the plot does venture onto some strange side roads.
What sets this one apart from your run-of-the-mill video original is its rough-edged energy. That comes from Frost's keep-it-in-the-family philosophy of filmmaking. He wrote, directed and edited the film, and appears on screen as Jerry the manager. His wife, Phyllis, produced. Virtually the entire film was shot in his own house.
"It took six weeks," he said, with that cocky confidence you find in so many movie people, "but we could've done it in five."
He was also quick to volunteer that he intends to be "politically incorrect at all levels," and has tossed in material that could offend everyone from feminists to bleating dittoheads. At the same time, he created two believable characters with solid performances from the leads. And that's the real trick with low-budget films: to live within their means and not attempt so much that the monetary limits show. In this case, it meant that the stars lived in his house while they were shooting, and pitched in with all phases of the creative process, including taking out the trash.
Frost noted rightly that most low-budget features run into trouble with big gunfights, explosions and chases. "People will spend more on one action sequence than we spent on the whole film. I was trying to tell a simple story, and I wanted to have fun with the characters."
That's what he's done, and I heartily recommend "Private Obsession" to unrepentant drive-in fans. Among Frost's other films available on tape are "Chrome and Hot Leather," "Chain Gang Women," "Race with the Devil" (writer), "Policewomen," "Dixie Dynamite" and "The Thing With Two Heads," his own favorite.
Roger Corman's newest is a sequel, "Carnosaur 2." Like its predecessor, this film is unashamedly trying to catch a ride on the ultra-successful coattails of "Jurassic Park." But Corman and his fellow filmmakers are really looking to James Cameron's "Aliens" for their inspiration.
Fans will remember that the first "Carnosaur" had to do with a Tyrannosaurus reconstructed at a secret government laboratory through mutant chicken eggs - or something to that effect; I'm sure that mutant chickens were involved somehow. This time the setting is a secret government underground installation (actually nuclear waste depository) and there are a couple of none-too-convincing Velociraptors to go along with the T-Rex.
In the opening scenes, they remain off-camera as they run amuck and massacre just about everyone in the place. Knowing only that something is wrong, nasty government flunky McQuade (Cliff DeYoung) enlists the help of Jack Reed (John Savage) and his crack underground-installation repair crew (including Corman veteran Rick Dean) to fix things. He doesn't tell them about the critters.
In no time flat, our heroes are trapped, the monsters are looking for human Happy Meals, and the whole place is about to reach critical mass.
Overall, the acting is better than average, and the dialogue has that gritty quality that makes Cameron's early work so much fun. Director Louis Morneau keeps things moving quickly enough that the plot lapses and less-than-stellar special effects aren't fatally laughable. Parents should be warned that the violence does become extreme toward the end - arms bitten off on camera, etc. - though the setting and situation are so fantastic that it's not very realistic.
While we're speaking of Roger Corman, James Cameron, sequels and mutant critters, you might want to wander to the back of the local video store to find "Piranha 2: The Spawning." It's Cameron's pre-"Terminator" sequel to the John Sayles-Joe Dante horror spoof. There's not much to the flick, but it does have a few good moments, fair characters and a sense of humor. It never takes itself too seriously, but then, how could it when the monsters are mutant flying fish?
While we're back here among the older releases, another venerable drive-in classic comes to mind. Made in 1969 by the prolific John Hayes, "The Cutthroats" is an exploitative rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen" about GIs at the end of World War II stealing loot from German officers. It's most notable for rock bottom production values. Someone involved with the project must have had access to some Western props because one character wears a cowboy hat, and several others carry six-shooters, double-barrelled shotguns and bows and arrows. The cheesy sets include what appear to be hand-painted swastikas. The only recognizable member of the cast is an uncredited Uschi Digart who went on to achieve a degree of fame working with Russ Meyer.
Next week: Meryl Streep!
Private Obsession *** Triboro. 93 min. Rated R for nudity, strong sexual material, language.
Carnosaur 2 ** Concorde-New Horizons. 83 min. Rated R for violence, strong language.
Piranha 2: The Spawning ** New Line Home Video. 95 min. Rated R for violence, strong language, brief nudity.
The Cutthroats * American Video. 80 min. Rated R for nudity, sexual material, violence.
by CNB