In its own way director John Badham’s 1977 masterpiece “Saturday Night Fever” is dated in every imaginable way, but it’s because of that, that it’s a classic, and is very appreciated. And it’s also the swan song of a music fad that couldn’t have lasted. John Travolta really was a dynamo back in the days of his early career, with a trifecta of frenetic films like “Grease” which would come only a year later, and “Urban Cowboy” which made a real impact as a one of a kind film. What “Saturday Night Fever” is about, in its truest sense, is growing up. Get past the dated styles, and hair, and lingo and look deep down in to its narrative and you’ll find a truly excellent story about growing up and moving on leaving your childish things behind and starting a new life.
Tag Archives: Drama
The Conjuring (2013)
It’s amazing how James Wan once went from the man who brought us movies about a maniac torturing people to one of the most horrifying ghost tales ever brought to the big screen. “The Conjuring” lives up to its hype as a slow boil and immensely scary supernatural tale about an average family terrorized by a vicious demonic entity that’s intent on ruining their foundation from the inside out.
Damien: Omen II (1978)
Seven years after his adopted father failed to murder him and spare the world many lives, Damien now lives with his uncle and aunt. A famous industrialist, Richard Thorn is played with great zeal by William Holden, who is wonderful as the well meaning uncle of Damien who is seemingly the first among his family to realize who and what Damien is. “Damien: Omen II” is considered the lesser of the trilogy, and while it has its problem it’s a generally entertaining and creepy thriller. It just can sadly never get over one hurdle: How did Damien forget he was the anti-christ?
The Omen (1976)
Director Richard Donner’s “The Omen” is the fall out of the success of “The Exorcist.” And while it does subscribe to the evil child formula that became prominent after the success of the William Friedkin movie, it doesn’t try to top the former in terror. “The Omen” reaches for heights of slow boil horror followed by immediate shocks, and even for a film once considered a wannabe of “The Exorcist” it stands alone as a wonderful horror thriller.
The Fly (1986)
While 1958’s Universal horror film “The Fly” was in fact a truly creepy and bleak horror drama with little to no story elements that signaled a clear cut resolution for anyone that would ensure a life of sanity, it almost seemed like a film that held unrealized potential. The story itself was much too ahead of its time for the fifties and could have given us something more. It’s a classic, but not one that gives a hundred percent. Cue David Cronenberg who had the foresight to realize the almost Lovecraftian potential of the story and transformed a creature feature in to a rather brilliant and incredibly iconic horror drama that mixed elements of Lovecraft, Giger, his own surreal craftsmanship, along with a hint of Frankenstein for good measure.
Freaks (1932)
For a very long time I avidly avoided Tod Browning’s “Freaks” simply because it was one of those films that I was intimidated by. While very few films leave me tainted, “Freaks” is a film I was afraid would be cheap, exploitative, and nauseating. “Freaks” is by all accounts one of the most downbeat horror classics ever made. Especially in the face of director Browning’s horror classic “Dracula.”
Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)
“The Howling” seems to go for broke this time, choosing instead to channel Tod Browning’s “Freaks” mixed with a tacked on werewolf vs. vampire battle, than actually trying to delve in to the werewolf mythos like the former movies. Like the previous films, “The Freaks” really has no relevance to future storylines, and no references to the previous plot points. There are no werewolf communities, or satanic cults. It’s just another Gothic romance drama posing as a horror film, yet again.






