ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604090039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: It came from the video store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
This week, the subject is science-fiction comedy, and the five films presented for your consideration show just how much (or how little) can be done with limited funds. We begin with an unqualified delight for the drive-in crowd.
"They Bite" is the legitimate cinematic heir to "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster." It's a low-budget horror satire with a Florida setting. The subject, appropriately, is the filming of a low-budget horror movie. While the schlockmeisters (including porn star Ron Jeremy) are making their flick, real fish monsters and other weird guys are invading the beaches. Ichthyologist Melody Duncan (Donna Frotscher) is on the case.
It's obvious that writer-director Brett Piper loves his subject matter. (True cognoscenti will catch his arcane reference to another low-budget epic, ``The Boogens.") The effects range from really silly rubber suits to good model work. The acting (both professional and non) is fine, but it's the sharp comic touches based on conventions of the genre that make this one so much fun. Required viewing for fans.
"Tremors 2: Aftershocks" is a good sequel. It re-creates the 1990 original's sense of humor and builds on the inventive special effects that were so much fun before. Fred Ward and Michael Gross reprise their roles as cowboy and survivalist. Writer-director S.S. Wilson co-wrote the first film, so this one retains its offbeat sensibility.
The monster earthworms, called "Graboids," have returned to the oilfields of Chiapas, Mexico. Since Earl Bassett (Ward) has frittered away the wealth and fame that came from his earlier triumph over the monsters, he accepts an offer from the Mexican government to hunt down this new infestation. Off he goes with new sidekick Grady (Christopher Gartin).
Not surprisingly, this one isn't as lively or as explosive as the first film - sequels almost never are - but it's still enjoyable because the characters are treated seriously, and the violence isn't excessive. Fine fare for younger audiences.
"Suspect Device" combines the premise of "Three Days of the Condor" with a plot borrowed from a good episode of "The Twilight Zone." To reveal which episode would give the game away.
Dan Jerico (C. Thomas Howell) works for a government intelligence outfit, and suffers from vivid, violent dreams of mass slaughter. When those visions become real, his friend's reaction makes no sense.
Though the story won't stand up to much scrutiny, video veteran Rick Jacobson handles things with a sense of humor. He also got good performances from Howell and co-star Jonathan Fuller as an unreconstructed half-mad hippie doctor.
What is it that makes some of us enjoy movies about guys in silly rubber suits knocking down miniature cities? Maybe our folks wouldn't let us be destructive enough with our blocks. In any case, there's something about the giant lizard creature feature that's innately appealing, and "Zarkorr! The Invader" pushes all the right buttons. Actually, it has distilled the formula down to the essentials. In the opening scene Zarkorr! The Irrepressible bursts out of a mountain and goes amok.
Presently, an alien being disguised as a "tiny teen-aged mall tramp" appears to postal worker Tommy Ward (Rees Christian Pugh). She says that it's up to him to save the world, explaining why he's been chosen, what the ground rules are, etc. etc. Then it's up to Tommy.
Whenever Zarkorr! The Industrial isn't squashing buildings or knocking down power lines, the story tends to drag, but the filmmakers' sense of humor is in tune with their target audience, and they have fun with the material. So, why quibble about shortcomings? Perhaps a sequel, "Zarkorr! The Interpositional" is on the way.
"Out There" treats the currently hot topic of alien abduction with the irreverence it so richly deserves.
Photographer Delbert Mosley (Bill Campbell) buys an old Kodak Brownie at a yard sale and finds exposed film inside. The developed pictures show what might be a flying saucer, aliens and two fellows in a pickup truck. Turns out the guys disappeared in 1969. Were they spirited away to outer space? Or did they stumble onto the set of a cheap s-f movie - "Escape From Uranus" - and decide to run away from home?
Delbert and Paige (Wendy Schaal), the Nixon-obsessed daughter of one of the missing, set off to find the truth. They get considerable help from a supporting cast of familiar yet unexpected faces - Jill St. John, Julie Brown, Paul Dooley, P.J. Soles, Bill Cobbs, David Rasche, June Lockhart.
The plot has a deceptively disjointed quality, and despite some slow moments, the film is brassy and colorful. The satire is generally understated, arriving at a terrific universal-conspiracy conclusion. "X-Files" fans, take a look.
Next week: Youth Will Be Served!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491, or by e-mail at 75331.2603compuserve.com
New releases this week:
Vampire in Brooklyn ***1/2
Starring Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Kadeem Hardison. Directed by Wes Craven. Paramount. 100 min. Rated R for violence, bloody effects, language, sexual situations.
Yucky laughs, fairly inventive effects and Murphy doing another star-turn are the main attractions here. Not so evident is the offbeat innovation that director Wes Craven has brought to the genre. Like "An American Werewolf in London," the approach to horror is a combination of the serious and the spoofy.
- MM
Smoke *** 1/2
Starring Harvey Keitel, William Hurt and Harold Perrineau. Directed by Wayne Wang. Miramax. 112 min. Rated R for profanity and adult situations.
Director Wayne Wang (``The Joy Luck Club'') and writer Paul Auster create a colorful exposition of the ``right-thing-for-the-wrong-reason'' debate. The movie stars Keitel as the owner of a Brooklyn smoke shop, Hurt as a grieving writer and Perrineau as a street kid. A paper bag full of money causes a series of events to unfold that open a window into the characters - and bring them closer together. It's a fascinating film and demonstrates again Wang's appreciation for the spoken - and written - word.
- Katherine Reed
The Essentials:
They Bite *** 96 MTI Home Video. 96 min. Unrated and R-rated for nudity, comic violence, strong language.
Tremors 2: Aftershocks ** 1/2 MCA/Universal. 100 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, a little strong language and suggestive sexual material.
Suspect Device ** 1/2 Concorde-New Horizons. 95 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, brief nudity, sexual content.
Zarkorr! The Invader ** 1/2 Amazing Fantasy Entertainment. 74 min. Rated PG-13 for comic violence, strong language.
Out There *** Paramount. 98 min. Rating pending, probably PG or PG-13 for a little strong language, comic violence.
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Police detective Rita Veder (Angela Bassett) discovers aby CNBmysterious coffin aboard a ship filled with death in Wes Craven's
``Vampire in Brooklyn,'' which is new on video shelves this week.