In Memoriam: Tomas Navarro

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A werewolf passed away on a full moon

This may seem like an odd way to start, but he would have liked it. This is not going to be your usual, almost cold in memoriam piece… I was hoping to have my first piece on this filmmaker and friend be about his work, not about this.

Tomas Navarro passed away during the night of August 2nd to August 3rd, 2020 at his home in San Diego, California. He was a filmmaker, playwright, director, writer, actor, occasional model, he wrote for Cinema Crazed a few times, and amazing human being. Born and raised in San Diego, he was proud of where he was from and working toward making a name for himself in the horror film industry with his production team at SavageZack. They have produced a few short films and music videos and he was working on reshooting his first short film as a director to make it the best film it could be. His last acting part will be released soon in the film Continuance by Tony Olmos, whom he had worked with previously on the film South of 8.

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State of the Cinema Crazed 2020

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I once got in to an argument with a guy who explained that art is pointless and wholly inessential, especially in a modern society. This was a guy who played video games, by the way. For past eight months I think it’s become apparent to just about everyone that we need art now more than ever. Most of us are troubled with the ideas of what tomorrow is going to bring us, and one of the few remaining doorways in to escaping the reality and weight of our current situation has been art. I think since January we’ve all realized how much we sorely need art, and how much we take it for granted.

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A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio (2019)

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“On this stormy night, we are going to tell horror stories, because horror stories never end.”

I’m a big fan of the concept where studios or a collective of directors take various short films from indie directors and create anthology horror films in the vein of “Tales from the Darkside” or “V/H/S/.” The idea is a great one and opens up a broader audience, and allows them some great exposure. “A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio,” is one of the many that’s come along, mixing seven stellar horror shorts told by a lone radio DJ in the middle of the night.

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The Bootleg Files: Bobbie Gentry

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BOOTLEG FILES 735: “Bobbie Gentry” (1968-71 British television series starring Bobbie Gentry).

LAST SEEN: Bits and pieces can be found on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Most of the episodes from the series are considered lost and the surviving episodes would require restoration and the clearing of music and performance rights.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: None.

This week marked the 78th birthday of Bobbie Gentry, the genre-spanning singer who became a major star in 1967 with her mysteriously melancholic ballad “Ode to Billy Joe.” Gentry was a remarkable vocal talent who was equally at home in the folk, country and pop worlds, and she was also a charming on-camera presence who graced many U.S. television variety programs from the late 1960s into the early 1970s.
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Nothing But the Blood (2020)

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Intentional or not, when you go in to “Nothing But the Blood” you’re bound to have flashbacks of “Red State,” as director Daniel Tucker seems to be sewing his narrative from the same cloth. Ideas about religious fanaticism, the deadly cost of religious institutions, and the hypocrisy of religious leaders are all here. Les Best even seems to spend most of his time on screen channeling Michael Parks. Daniel Tucker tries hard to establish him as a source of evil, even beginning the movie with a fourth wall breaking prologue as Best’s character reads a long sermon and angrily preaches to us.

Why this should set up the story I was never entirely clear but—it’s black and white, so it’s eerie…?

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Promare (2020) [Blu-Ray/DVD]

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There’s nothing I hate more than a movie that has so much going for it, but has no idea how to deliver a great narrative. “Promare” is a movie that, by all accounts, should have blown me out of my seat. But by the middle of it, I was counting down the minutes, and waiting for it to get to the point. It’s so sad that a movie that looks so amazing could be so lacking in originality with government corruption, clandestine organizations, and an evil politician who has plans for the world, yadda, yadda. It’s all so old hat for such an epic looking animated movie.

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Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020) [Digital]

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The “Deep Blue Sea” movie series seems to be veering slowly away from the campy nonsense that was the original and headed more in to Peter Benchley lite fare. For a movie that followed the silly shark fest with Sam Jackson, this is a surprisingly straight faced and dull second sequel. There’s nothing really here, save for the usual riffs on “The Deep,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” and only a very small connection to the sequel, which had a very small thread tied to the original Renny Harlin cult classic. It’s all fairly standard killer shark fare.

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