{"id":25402,"date":"2017-05-30T22:03:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T02:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=25402"},"modified":"2017-05-30T22:00:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T02:00:06","slug":"ben-1972-blu-raydvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/30\/ben-1972-blu-raydvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben (1972) [Blu-Ray\/DVD]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There aren\u2019t many movies out there that offer audiences a sequel that is so drastically different in tone. The biggest comparison I can draw is the original horror thriller \u201cCat People\u201d and dramatic \u201cThe Curse of the Cat People.\u201d While \u201cWillard\u201d was basically a twisted thriller involving a dysfunctional young man\u2019s self destructive relationship with rats, \u201cBen\u201d is a more dramatic family film with elements of horror thrown in. It\u2019s a very tonally confused and muddled melodrama that doesn\u2019t do much to make Ben in to an interesting horror villain. To prove how utterly confused the movie is in terms of intentions, watch the final scene in which Ben stares in to the camera menacingly in the vein of the climax of \u201cWillard\u201d while the sappy \u201cBen\u2019s Song\u201d from Michael Jackson plays as the credits roll. So\u2014what are we supposed to feel by this?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cBen\u201d begins with a recollection of downfall of Willard Stiles, and then segues in to a film in which the head rat, Ben, decides to survive with his massive horde of rats. After Willard betrayed him, Ben barely escapes and manages to go out in to the wilderness with his surviving army. There, he discovers a very sick boy named Danny who lives alone with his mother and big sister. Danny and Ben begin to bond, as Ben and his army of rats begin wreaking havoc around the community, and Danny soon has to decide if he wants to remain loyal to his new friend or his family. \u201cBen\u201d isn\u2019t a totally remarkable sequel, as it\u2019s only memorable by virtue of Michael Jackson who famously sang the theme song \u201cBen.\u201d The movie itself is kind of goofy at times spending way too much screen time on Ben as he roams around neighborhoods watching people, and unleashing his army of rats upon unsuspecting victims.<\/p>\n

Not to mention he\u2019s evading a detective who is trying to track the source of the rats that killed Willard. Ben is pretty much the main character of the film and I\u2019m frankly surprised he\u2019s not given an inner monologue, or subtitles whenever he\u2019s communicating with his army. You can often sense the director zooming in on the stunt rats that play Ben in hopes of trying to convey to the audience what he\u2019s probably feeling or thinking. Zoom in on Ben: He\u2019s pondering about raiding the local supermarket with his army. Cut to Ben looking at Danny play with his marionettes: He is so compelled by his puppetry. \u201cBen\u201d compared to \u201cWillard\u201d doesn\u2019t have much of a storyline and reaches for a lot of material and filler during its ninety minute run time.<\/p>\n

The writers seem to struggle to build an interesting narrative for Danny, and depend too much on the detective sub-plot and Ben\u2019s own point of view. \u201cBen\u201d tries to be many things from a family drama, a disaster film, and a nature run amok film, and neither of them is ever very good or entertaining. \u201cBen\u201d is an awkward, sometimes dull follow up with at least some camp value and a memorable theme song.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a warning in the opening of the disc that explains that Shout! did everything they could to restore and upgrade the best print of \u201cBen\u201d that they could find, since the original negatives for \u201cBen\u201d are gone. The Scream Factory release comes with a DVD edition of \u201cBen\u201d and the blu-ray comes packed with an audio commentary with lead actor Lee Montgomery who plays young Danny. \u201cThe Kid With The Rat\u201d is a nine minute interview with actor Lee Montgomery who discusses his role in the film, being star struck with original star Bruce Davison, and much more. It\u2019s a fine conversation. Finally there are three minutes of theatrical trailers, TV Spots, Ben\/Willard Double Feature TV Spots, a radio spot, and an HD Still Gallery from the film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There aren\u2019t many movies out there that offer audiences a sequel that is so drastically different in tone. The biggest comparison I can draw is the original horror thriller \u201cCat People\u201d and dramatic \u201cThe Curse of the Cat People.\u201d While \u201cWillard\u201d was basically a twisted thriller involving a dysfunctional young man\u2019s self destructive relationship with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[302,340,922,1008,1087],"class_list":["post-25402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-family","tag-sequel","tag-supernatural","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25404,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25402\/revisions\/25404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}