Forgotten Gems: Darkstalkers

The Halloween season is in full effect, and what better time for an injection of monsters....

Last year, I talked about the Ghosts n Goblins video game spin-off series, Gargoyle's Quest, and more specifically, the third game in that series, Demon's Crest. Well, talking about a game series full of ghouls and ghosts and demons is certainly fitting of the Halloween theme. But what could be even more fitting, would be a game that actually featured incarnations of the classic monster archetypes. And that game series, also made by Capcom, was called Darkstalkers. Capcom as a company became well known in the 90s for fighting games, most especially the one that is still to this day their most famous, Street Fighter II. Now Street Fighter was and is probably my favorite fighting game of all time, but when I first saw Darkstalkers in the arcade, it was amazing to me, because it was the same basic brand of awesome gameplay, but with MONSTERS in it! That meant, of course, that it instantly won me over.

Colorful cast of monster characters? Check.

So about the monsters, the cast of characters in the game is truly unique, at least among fighting games, and it happens to cover a lot of those monster archetypes I mentioned as well. You have parallels to the four major classic Universal Studios monsters, in the form of Dimitri Maximoff the vampire, Victor von Gerdenheim the Frankenstein's monster type creation, Anakaris the undead mummy, and Jon Talbain the werewolf. Hell, the name Jon Talbain is even a direct homage to the original 1940s classic The Wolf Man, whose main character (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) was Larry Talbot, son of Sir John Talbot. Other characters include the zombie punk rocker Lord Raptor, the gillman Rikuo, the ghost samurai Bishimon, the succubus Morrigan Aensland, a magical cat who can turn into a human-ish woman Felicia, and a sasquatch appropriately named....Sasquatch.

Tell me that doesn't look bad ass.

While I like most of the original cast of the first game, my favorite character by far, is the "wolf man", British werewolf character Jon Talbain. Not only do I like the concept of werewolves in general, but as you can see above, I've always personally really liked his specific werewolf design. I think it's arguably the best and coolest looking that I've ever seen. But the thing is, Talbain isn't JUST a werewolf, even though that would be enough. No, he's a werewolf, who also happens to be a good guy, and a bad ass martial artist who uses nunchaku, or "nunchucks" as a weapon.  Oh, and he also happens to have one of the coolest moves in fighting game history, on TOP of the nunchaku flurry attack he uses, appropriately called the "Beast Cannon", wherein he hurls himself like a flaming comet at his opponent, and this can be done both horizontally, as well as diagonally, even crashing down from above.

"Beast Cannon" in action.

I also happened to really like Rikuo the merman, and Felicia the cat-woman, early on as a young teen. AS a young teen boy, I suppose part of Felicia's appeal would be obvious: that being the fact that she pretty much goes down in history as THE single most "scantily clad" female character in gaming history (just about anyway). In all fairness, while she IS very scantily clad, she's also a cat....who has no use for clothes, who can turn into a girl.....and has strips of fur that conveniently cover up all of her "sensitive spots". Ok so I thought she was hot...who can blame me? But she also happens to be an awesome character just the same, and in a game full of several aggressive or even outright evil monsters, she happens to be the genuinely nicest of the bunch. Plus one of her moves is literally kicking up dirt/kitty litter at people, and she chases balls of yarn. I mean c'mon. Her character is cool as a hot chick, granted, but in all honesty she would have been even more awesome/hilarious if they had just left her as a cat. A playable cat in a fighting game, would have been classic. But I digress.

Pretty much my two fav. characters in the series.

The two "main characters" of the game are actually, more or less, supposed to be Demitri and Morrigan, as they are the two leading members of noble families of an alternate monster realm, who are basically in it fighting for control of said realm. The basic plot of the series in general, deals with that realm, called "Makai", which basically just means "Demon World". Though (presumably) unrelated, this also carries over to the original Japanese name for Capcom's own Ghosts n Goblins series, which is "Makaimaru", which apparently roughly means "Demon World Village". Yeah....Ghosts n Goblins does have a nicer ring to it. But regardless, this demon world exists parallel to our own, and certain characters, such as Demitri for example, live instead in our world, Earth. Though in Demitri's case, he was apparently banished, and so instead lives as basically a Count Dracula type of figure on Earth. In the events of Darkstalkers, he has his chance to not only return to his homeworld, but to rule it if he wins the tournament. Meanwhile Morrigan, as the adopted daughter of the deceased demon lord Belial, is fighting to retain her father's former throne.

The main boss of the first two games, is a giant fire demon named Pyron, who just so happens to return to earth after eons of absence right at the time of the tournament, and himself wishes to control the Darkstalkers as well as finish what he apparently started thousands of years ago, which was to destroy the human world. In general, the plot isn't super great, certainly not as interesting (at least in my opinion), as the original Mortal Kombat games. But it still suffices, and is certainly more creative than the generic "lets fight to see who's the best" fighting game plot-line (even though, admittedly, that's kind of still what they're doing).

Sasquatch is also a pretty cool character..... Get it?

So the original game, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, released in 1994. It would go on to have two sequels, completing a kind of "trilogy" I suppose, in 1995's Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge (known in Japan as Vampire Hunter) and 1997's Darkstalkers 3 (known in Japan as Vampire Savior). The sequels are good games, and add little wrinkles to the gameplay itself, though much like Street Fighter II, the additions to the roster never quite match up to the original game's cast. In Night Warriors, pretty much the entire cast from the first game returns, along with two newcomers: a Chinese undead demon hunter named Hsien-Ko, who hops around like old-school Asian style vampires/zombies, and Donovan Baine, a long-haired fighting Buddhist monk, who also happens to be a "dhampir" (a half-vampire). He also happens to wield a giant possessed blade that he uses to destroy monsters, and he is the guardian of a young psychic girl named Anita, who assists him in his quest. The third game also introduced four more new characters, while omitting poor Donovan: a weird hybrid bee-woman named Q-Bee, the clone/twin/whatever of Morrigan named Lilith, a little girl who fights monsters and sports an machine gun named B. B. Hood, and a resurrected evil demon/vampire lord named Jedah. In all honesty, Donovan is the best and only truly interesting character, at least in my opinion, out of all those new additions.

From a gameplay standpoint, Darkstalkers is nothing truly unique or special, though it does provide a step in the evolution of old school Capcom fighting games. It was preceded by 1993's Super Street Fighter II, and in early 1994 the "Turbo" edition of that game also came before it. Where those games introduced nuances like the existence of "super moves", moves that you can only perform once a special bar is full, Darkstalkers certainly refined that, and also added a somewhat more intricate combo move system and more sophisticated graphics, elements which in turn were carried on into other 1994/1995 Capcom games such as Street Fighter Alpha and X-Men: Children of the Atom. While a minor quibble, I would have to say that I think Capcom really missed out on an opportunity with the series, however. That being the aforementioned very loose connection to their Ghosts n Goblins series of games. Both games share the "Makai" Demon World, and it would have been great for them to just go ahead and make the connection explicit, and even including the characters of the knight Arthur and the demon Firebrand (or if you prefer, "Red Arrimer") in the games as playable characters. Not only would that have been a perfect fit, but it also would have been an awesome thing for the fans. But, even though that is an opportunity I really feel Capcom should have thought of, the series still stands on it's own, especially the original game.

Donovan seriously deserves his own action game. Then again....so does Jon Talbain.

I clearly remember walking into what I'm pretty sure was a Roundtable Pizza when I was about 12 or 13 years old, and first seeing the original game, thinking to myself "holy shit, this actually exists!" Already being a fighting game nut (even though I rarely got to play them at that point...you know...quarters), I was instantly smitten. I couldn't believe a game looked that good, or could have such an awesome cast of monsters. They are interesting and unique, and I feel like they've kind of fallen by the wayside, while other creations Capcom has made get overexposed. Along with the awesome GnG crossover idea, I also think that Capcom really should have made a 2D beat 'em up starring some of the characters and set in that world, in the style of older games like Final Fight or Knights of the Round. It also wouldn't kill them, even though Capcom really kind of sucks nowadays, to make some sort of 3D action game starring a few of the characters. It would be cool anyway, that is so long as they didn't find a way to mess it up.

 If you've never played these games, you can probably find the first and third entries on Playstation 1 for cheap (and can download Darkstalkers 3 on PSN). For some reason the second game was only ever ported to the Sega Saturn. However, you can also download Darkstalkers Resurrection on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, which is a compilation that includes the original arcade editions of both the second and third games (though oddly not the original, which would have made the package complete). Either way, it's the perfect type of game to play during this time of year. 

Silver Screen Stories: The Blob

It's that time of year again, with October just around the corner. So let's kick off the festivities a bit early......

Now THAT, is poster art.

It's well documented by now that around age 8 or 9, around 1989 or 1990, I became a "monster nut". It had started at an earlier age, as for many years in my early childhood I was obsessed with dinosaurs. By the late 80s, this evolved into also loving movie monsters, and all manner of creatures from mythology and folklore that I could possibly learn about. And of course, my passionate love affair with Godzilla. Part of what helped this love along, of course, was the fact that by the late 80s, at some point, we finally got a VCR in my household. Before that, it had just been basic network channels or cable TV, so I certainly saw movies on TV, even monster movies from time to time, but I don't really have strong memories of any of them. With an introduction to VHS and home video in my life, however, two things happened. One of them, was that we started renting movies from local video stores (something young people today, I'm sure, are becoming increasingly unfamiliar with). The other, was that we bought blank tapes, and would record various things when they were on TV.

It was in this way that I slowly but surely started getting introduced to, but also being allowed repeat watchings of many old classic sci-fi, horror and monster films. One of the early tapes I remember us buying, aside from ones that would later become "mine", such as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero or The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, was the 1958 gem entitled The Blob. Now, mind you, by today's sadly desensitized standards, this movie is probably kind of corny (because of it's super strong 50s stylings, and the lack of gore), but for 1958, I'm sure it was terrifying. And to a little kid, who had not yet been (somewhat) desensitized to graphic gore and killing depictions on TV and movies, who also took movies at face value and got caught up in the stories they were telling no matter what (with very few exceptions), it genuinely creeped me out when I first saw it too.

The Blob, as it was first discovered.

Shoulda left that shit alone, pops........

So for those unfamiliar, the basic setup for this tale, deals with the titular Blob, naturally. At the beginning of the film, a "shooting star" is seen falling to earth, and what's left of the fairly tiny meteorite, happens to land out in the boondocks, near some old man's cabin. Now, of course, as you can see above, the old man is impossibly curious (if he wasn't maybe there would be no film), so he goes poking around, and comes in contact with what at first looks like a small, clear/colorless pile of snot. The Blob itself, though never really explained (on purpose) in the movie, seems to be some sort of amorphous organism from, one would assume, somewhere in deep space, that had been drifting around for who knows how long, dormant in the cold vacuum.

You might wanna get that looked at...

So of course, the colorless goop that he's inspecting on a stick, starts gooping it's way towards his hand, and when he turns the stick upside down, to try and use gravity against it (because really, who wants space snot on their hand?), it reveals itself to be alive, and keeps coming for his hand, quickly enveloping the whole thing. The man screams in pain, and (understandably) freaks out, running off into the night. Meanwhile, our intrepid young heroes, who had seen the "shooting star" while sitting out at (where else) "Lover's Lane", had taken off in their car, to try to find the meteor for themselves. They instead find the old man out in the road, almost hitting him, before they see the grotesque thing that is by now covering most of his arm, and decide to try and rush him to the local town doctor's office.

Dr. Hallen is on the case.

Now the young heroes, of course, are actors Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut, both of whom were starring in their first feature film roles. That's right, the legendary Steve McQueen, got his start in a "cheesy" monster movie. You'd be surprised just how many big stars of yesteryear did (just ask Clint Eastwood). Corsaut would go on to be a prolific television actress, most well known for a long stint on the Andy Griffith Show, while of course McQueen would go on to be one of the biggest actors of his era (until his unfortunate death). They managed to get to "The Doc" just in time, as fate would have it he was just leaving to go out of town (he should have). Dr. Hallen tried his best to treat the patient, even calling his nurse Kate back into work to help him. But the damn unidentified snot-like thing just kept enveloping more and more of the man, and there was little time to really study the case, let alone help him. The kids are sent off by the "Doc" to go see if they can find anyone out in the boonies who knows who grandpa is, and he and his nurse are soon left alone with the creature of the feature.

The terror begins....

Not even acid affects it!

Anyway, as you can imagine, shit starts to get heavy. By the time Nurse Kate arrives on the scene, Doc Hallen asks her to check on the patient, only for her to find the operating room empty. The old man was nowhere to be found, and instead, there was just a bigger, redder Blob, creeping about the place, ready for it's next victim. As it would turn out, this amorphous piece of monstrosity, absorbed living organic matter at a frightening (and increasing rate). It also turned out, the damn thing was fairly indestructible, as acid failed to dissolve it. Not to get too spoilerific, but things don't look too good for the Doc and poor Kate. Not even a RIFLE affects it (who knew...it's a Blob)!

Steve and Jane, the main kids, wind up running into some other 50s townies, pals of theirs, and after some 50s street car hijinks, they all take off up to Old Man River's place to see what cooks. All they find is his poor little dog left behind, and no real sign of who the dude was. Long story short, they get back into town, can't find the Doc, and get into some shit with the police (though to be fair, while Sgt. Jim can't stand those goddamn kids, his boss Lt. Dave, is a pretty swell guy). Naturally they try to tell the cops that some Blob monster is on the loose, gobbling people right up, but adults just don't understand. Until it's too late that is.

The infamous movie theater scene.

The kids sneak back out of their homes after the police ordeal, knowing that they've got to do something with this monster out there, so they round up their pals again, and this time try to warn people, even though people are still assholes and won't listen. Steve and Jane even wind up cornered and almost eaten (SPOILERS) in a grocery store, looking for that poor dog. So they get all their cars together and raise hell, honking and whatnot, till half the town and the firemen and cops arrive to see what the hell's going on. They make their last plea to be heard, and the cops check out the store only to find nothing, and it looks hopeless. That is, until.....the infamous scene at the now equally infamous Colonial Theater (in Pheonixville, Pennsylvania), where patrons of a late-night spook-fest, come swarming out of the place, running for their lives, after that jerk of a Blob crept in and started eatin' folks. After that, the cops FINALLY believe those damn kids, and it's off to the races, trying to find a way to stop this unstoppable juggernaut of jello.

Lt. Dave is an O-K Cat.

All humor aside, while The Blob might seem quaint and even funny by today's standards, because it is just so 1950s, it also happens to be a really good, and fun movie. It manages to pull off a handful of a genuinely creepy little moments, quiet moments when people are alone with this disgusting evil from space, while at the same time having a "period piece" humor and charm to it. It's really a perfectly distilled piece of the 50s, and is a perfect representative of what 50s era monster movies and science fiction was all about. When I first saw it, as I said, it did scare my young self, but upon repeated watching, I grew to enjoy it a lot (even though I genuinely felt sorry for all those people getting absorbed....what can I say, I've always been a bit of a softy like that). And of course in my adult years, I appreciate it for all new reasons, as well.

The climactic diner scene.

One thing to note, is that while it certainly can come off as "hokey" to many modern day viewers, The Blob is hardly poorly written, or acted. In fact the acting by some, such as young McQueen himself, is top notch, and overall, you genuinely care about these characters and their sleepy little town. There are also moments, such as (without giving too much away), the climatic battle at the diner, where the "punk kids" and the cops, etc., all come together to try and destroy this thing and save lives, that are honestly quite touching. I'll leave the ending to your imagination, as incentive to see it yourselves.

It certainly does. How rude!

 The film was made independently, on only a $110,000 budget, and it wound up becoming a modest hit in 1958, making over 4 million at the box office. It was more of a "drive in" hit to be sure, but it also became a cult classic, and is to this day highly regarded as one of the gems of it's era. And that is a status I feel it richly deserves. It's not epic like War of the Worlds or Forbidden Planet, nor is it deeply thought provoking like The Day the Earth Stood Still or The Incredible Shrinking Man, but what it does have is a ton of heart, and it tells a genuinely good and interesting story.

Today, every year in Phoenixville (home of the Colonial Theater and one of the locations the film was shot in), they hold the annual "Blobfest", where they show the original film in all it's theatrical glory, as well as other classic films of the era. And they always have fans re-enact the theater scene, with everyone running out together. There was a horribly made "sequel" in the 70s called Beware the Blob, that I cannot even recommend seeing as a curiosity, because it was so bad I didn't even get very far into it before quitting. For as low as the budget was for the original, it doesn't show. The "sequel" looked very cheaply shot, and acted, and written, etc. They also got around to making a remake in the 1980s, but I also wouldn't recommend that, personally. As with many horror remakes, all it did was up the gore, and try to market itself by grossing you out. If that's your thing, though, give it a whirl, but it has nothing on the 50s film as far as quality and class goes.

I would highly recommend including the original 1958 classic in your rotation of Halloween time movies to watch, though, as it is a very well done and highly entertaining flick. There's far more Halloween madness to come, but for now, I'll leave you folks with the super catchy intro tune....

 

Top Favorite Movies of All Time Pt. 2

So here we go with round two of my Top Favorite Movies of all time. Since I already covered basically my Top Five in the last article, this one will pretty much be rounding things out to an even Top Ten. So away we go!

Klassic Kaiju greatness.

6. Invasion of the Astro-Monster aka Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965) - Those who have followed my blog long enough know I love Godzilla. Obviously. And I've mentioned in my original Godzilla Chronicles article, that this happens to be my top favorite G-film of all time. Truth be told, most of my favorites are from the 1960s, the height of the so-called "Showa Era" (or original series) of Godzilla films. But while I love films like King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, and Destroy All Monsters, all from that same decade, this one takes the cake on every level as far as I'm concerned.

King Ghidorah, Godzilla's ultimate enemy.

It happens to be the only Godzilla film, in any of the eras/series (Showa, Heisei or Millennium), in which Godzilla himself actually, if even only temporarily, leaves planet Earth. In this film, he and Rodan make a special trip to none other than the mysterious Planet X, additional planet to our solar system, conveniently hidden from our view behind the enormous Jupiter. They go there just to (allegedly) fight the demonic space dragon known as Ghidorah, a three headed giant terror who is able to spit electric "gravity beams" of incredible destructive force from his mouths. But beyond that novelty, I mean Ghidorah is basically the best Godzilla villain, the Planet X people are a unique and memorable "invading alien race", which would be done again in later movies with other races, but never anywhere near as well designed, written, or executed. It has the surprisingly charismatic duo of Akira Takarada and American actor Nick Adams. I say surprisingly, because as Toho tended to do at the time, Adams simply spoke his lines in English, while all the Japanese actors around him spoke theirs in Japanese. Yet in spite of that, the two have undeniable chemistry, and really do come across as the kind of close friends their characters are supposed to be. You've also got the single most annoying noise-making invention in human history, flying saucers, and of course, one of the best soundtracks composer Akira  Ifukube ever produced. Oh right, and the awesome Godzilla Dance!

All in all, to me anyway, it's the best Godzilla movie ever made.

The Dance.Yes it's cheesy. But it's also amazing.

There are honestly few pairings greater...

7. Throw Mama From the Train (1987) - In deliberating about what movies would round out this Top Ten list, this is one I kept coming back to. And beyond the fact that it is a really fantastic movie, and I can basically watch it any time, I think one of the reasons I love this movie so much, and why it resonates so well with me, is that underneath the silly circumstances and hilarious comedy, it is a story about a struggling writer. And that is a story I am very much familiar with. So I suppose that I am, as a writer myself, able to appreciate it and take it in on multiple levels.

But really, it is also just an incredibly well done, well written, well filmed, and genuinely funny movie. It happened to be Danny DeVito's first theatrical directorial debut, and I'd wager you can't have much more of a successful first film than this. It was a hit at the box office, and became a "cult classic" to boot. The chemistry between DeVito and Billy Chrystal is just short of amazing. Their characters just gel super well, and their dialogue and interactions are just very smooth and natural. It also features the last major acting role of Anne Ramsey, who had unfortunately gained this role's signature sound via the throat cancer that she had been battling earlier in the 80s. The cancer would sadly return, and she died less than a year after this film's release. But this was a very memorable film, for all the major parties involved, and it remains a fantastic movie to this day, and a rare combination of comedy and "Hitchcock" style drama/noir, that really works.

"I don't want to say over the phone. All I can say is that I killed her last night."

The embodiment of the 80s.

8. The Goonies (1985) - It is purely coincidence that Anne Ramsey shows up twice on my list, let alone back to back, but it just so happens she starred in two of the best films of the 80s late in her career. This being a rare "family film" turn for director Richard Donner, and based on a story by producer Steven Spielberg, it's one of those rare films where everything just kind of came together, and made movie gold. It is one of the most memorable, and endlessly quotable films of the 1980s, and out of all of the amazing films that that decade produced, outside of perhaps Ghostbusters or Karate Kid, this really embodies "The 80s". It also happens to be one hell of a fun film, with a great cast of kids, an interesting plot, and a real sense of childhood adventure. When I look back on it, the 80s was a decade ripe with these sorts of "kids going off on some unsupervised adventure" type movies. But, of course, The Goonies is the best of the bunch, even if many of the other candidates were also great (such as Monster Squad, Stand By Me, Explorers, etc.). This is one of those films that I'm sorry to report, I never got to see until my teens, but I still remember it fondly, and as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best movies ever made.

Goonies never say "Die".

Just.....so good.

9. The 'Burbs (1989) - In my list deliberations, this was another one that kept popping up, and I figure, if I'm going to have a John Carpenter film represented in the Top Ten, then I might as well have another of my favorite directors, Joe Dante, as well. As it happens, Dante was similarly on fire in the 1980s, as a young up-and-coming director himself. And I was almost tempted to include another film instead, his far more famous cult-classic Gremlins, as that is a great, great film and one of my favorites. But as it turns out, my favorite Joe Dante film of all time, as cool as Gremlins is, happens to be The 'Burbs.

Just your average suburban neighborhood...

This is another one of those films where everything just works, and it helps that it has a stellar cast, led by the always great Tom Hanks as everyman Ray Peterson. It features Corey Feldman as the "metal-head" teen neighbor, Bruce Dern as the crazy ex-soldier, Carrie Fisher as Ray's more grounded wife Carol, and character actor Rick Duccomun as the annoying but lovable oaf-next-door, Art. It also features truly fantastic villain roles by character actors Henry Gibson (who I had grown up seeing on re-runs of the TV skit show Laugh-In), and Brother Theodore Gottlieb, who by the way was also the amazing voice actor for Gollum in the 1977 The Hobbit cartoon. This was one of Theodore's rare memorable live action roles, and probably his most well known, but again, just like with Gollum, he really kills it. It's a wonder the guy didn't have a more prolific career. Hell, the movie even has a great cameo appearance by Dante regulars Robert Picardo and Dick Miller as garbage men, in one of the quirkier, more memorable scenes (and that's saying something).

Where Gremlins fused comedy with horror, and Innerspace fused comedy with science fiction, with The 'Burbs, Joe Dante tried his hand at fusing a more Alfred Hitchcock type of tone with comedy. And, of course, it works beautifully, thanks in part to a great script, and a stellar cast that all own their roles and gel together perfectly. It may not have AS many readily quotable lines as something like The Goonies or Ghostbusters, but it's certainly got it's fair share. Overall, at it's core, what you have is a film that takes place in it's entirety, in one little Cul-de-sac neighborhood, and while it's certainly got those mystery and horror elements at play, what it really is at heart, is a hilarious take on typical, boring, everyday "suburban life", and what can often be hiding underneath. Silly, ridiculous films with quiet, understated social commentary layered underneath the comedy, are often the best kind.

Theodore, Gibson, and.....Courtney Gains? The Family Klopek.

One of the greatest fantasy films ever made. Arguably THE greatest.

10. The Dark Crystal (1982) - In the 1980s, Jim Henson was one busy motherfucker. He always had that "workaholic" type personality, but it seems like he went into overdrive in the 80s. At various points, he was finishing up his classic The Muppet Show, working on Sesame Street, creating and producing shows like Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock, making various TV specials, working with his "Creature Shop" special effects studio on various films, making content for HBO like the great Storyteller, AND working on several films. Sadly, all of this non-stop work, and over-stuffed schedule, is what eventually led to his death, as he caught what is known as "walking pneumonia", and simply refused to take time to rest and get better, because he "needed to work". Regardless, the man undeniably created magic with almost everything he touched, and he created some of THE best content in movies or television, without question. And as far as I'm concerned, The Dark Crystal was his masterpiece, THE centerpiece of the brand of "Muppetry" that he himself innovated.

Such an incredible, organic, surreal world.

Based on concepts he thought of and developed in the 1970s, this movie represented to Jim Henson, I believe, the ultimate evolution and extension of the puppetry and special effects techniques that he had been innovating and perfecting for decades. And really, what he and his crew managed to craft, is nothing short of amazing, that has never once been duplicated, or even really successfully emulated since. And that is, a total fantasy world, created using nothing but practical special effects, with not one human actor or "Familiar" element, not one creature based on anything from the real world, everything totally alien and fabricated, and every character some form of highly advanced "Muppetry". The film was the brainchild and baby of Mr. Henson, but of course he had the help of some pretty amazing talent to make it reality, including co-director and long-time cohort Frank Oz, illustrator Brian Froud (who helped forge the look of the world and it's creatures), and of course many of his regular Muppet crew members.

The ultimate end product, wound up being quite possibly the most dense, organic, living and vibrant fantasy world ever put to film, and that is including all of the massive-budget CGI films of the modern day. With a sweeping, majestic musical score, a dark but endearing story that Henson himself wanted to reflect the original, darker Grimm's Fairy Tales type material, a lot of deep spirituality and philosophy hidden in subtle layers throughout the film's world, and characters that were not only visually stunning and lifelike, but genuinely memorable. I remember seeing this movie as a young child, and having it evoke so many things from me at such a young age: fear, wonder, excitement, inspiration, you name it. I truly don't think this movie gets nearly the recognition it deserves, both for the almost impossible, monumental achievement it's even getting made and coming out like it did represents, but also for just genuinely being an amazing piece of film. And to think that the studios producing this master-work, were going to gimp it and give it minimal advertising, basically sending it out to die, because they "didn't get it". Thankfully, Jim cared so much about his baby, that he bought it back from the studio, and funded it's release himself, just to make sure it got a fair shake.

There were, of course, many other films that I thought of that could have gone in this spot, as the Tenth spot on such Top Ten lists is often the hardest to decide. But in the end it wasn't all that hard to decide, as Jim Henson is one of my heroes and his work played a huge part in my childhood. While I love all the movies I've listed, and obviously think all of them are fantastic in their own way, I think The Dark Crystal might be the only one that I would, without hesitation, call a "masterpiece". I think the rest of them all are, in their own way, but only this film was a long-term, arduous and incredible labor of love, that broke boundaries and made history, in it's own small, understated way.

The heroes of the tale, Jen and Kira (and Fizzgig).

So, that's Ten. I may come back and come up with even more, but for now, a Top Ten list is a very solid foundation, and gives you an idea of my overall taste in films (even though it does, of course, go far beyond this). Naturally, as always when I write these articles about movies (or anything) I love, I would highly suggest that if you've never seen any of these, to make it a point to try and watch them. Many if not all of them are available to rent on DVD from Netflix, and at least a couple are available to watch online in various forms. But however you watch them, you won't regret doing so, because, if I'm allowed to say so myself, I have fairly awesome taste. Cheers.

Top Favorite Movies of All Time Pt. 1

So I've done this before, in multiple installments actually, for my Top Comedies of All Time. I covered about 20 in total in that genre, and I could easily have gone on to cover 30 or more. I also just last year capped off the Christmas season with a Top Christmas Movies list. It is entirely probable that at some point down the road, I will make similar articles dealing with my favorite Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Animated, etc. type movies. But for now, I'm going to cover a much broader, but in some ways much more difficult topic: my top favorite movies of all time, in ANY genre.

My criteria for any "best ever" is simple. Just as it was for my Favorite Video Games list, for movies it's largely based on the simple principle of "I can sit down and watch it at almost any time". With games, of course, that translated more to "I can sit down and play this any time", or at least games I've played many, many times over because of how much I love them. Well, it's not much different for movies. Films I've considered my absolute favorites have certainly changed over my life, as with many things. There was a time in my late teens when I considered my favorite movie of all time to be Dragonheart, and to be perfectly fair, that is still one of my favorites....it's just not anywhere in the Top 10 anymore, or likely even the Top 20. Similarly, Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment in his (not nearly as awful as the later Hobbit films would be) Lord of the Rings trilogy, I considered for a brief time to be my favorite movie of all time. I think, in that particular case, I was just more enamored at the time with seeing The Lord of the Rings represented competently (though in hindsight not as great as they COULD have been), in live action cinema.

But much like my favorite games list, in my "older age", I think I have settled upon what my TOP favorite movies of all time are, and likely shall remain, certainly at least the Top Five or Six, which are pretty well set in stone by now. So without further exposition, let's get down to business.

Favorite Comedy, Favorite Movie Period.

1. Young Frankenstein (1974) - I already described why this was my favorite movie of all time in my Top Comedies entry, but I'll elucidate a bit further here. As I've said, my "favorite movie ever" has jumped around quite a bit from my early childhood until right now. I'm quite certain that at a certain age in the late 1980s, my favorite film of all time was The Land Before Time, because I was obsessed with dinosaurs at that age, and Don Bluth's 80s output was mind-blowing. At certain other points, I'm sure my favorite movie floated around from perhaps a Godzilla film, to Dragonheart, to whatever. But I eventually decided, through deep introspection and deductive reasoning, that Mel Brooks' quintisential classic, and quite frankly masterpiece, was my top movie ever.
 

There is absolutely nothing NOT good about this film.

To be perfectly honest, I think that Young Frankenstein might just be my favorite movie of all time, because it is, at least in this man's humble opinion, quite possibly THE perfect film, as in the most perfect film ever crafted. Why, you ask? And how could I possibly make such a claim? Well, it's simple really. The problem that you run into with many horror and comedy films alike, is that these genres really rely strongly on the aspect of the unknown, they count on you not knowing what's coming and thus being able to surprise you, to elicit either fear or laughter. Once you've seen many horror or comedy films that first time, the surprise is over, you know what happens, you know what's coming, so while you may still like it, the impact is dulled. It likely may very well never be anywhere near as scary or as funny as the first time you saw it. But with Young Frankenstein, it is a perfectly concocted, perfectly blended mix of both. It IS, in certain ways, at least a loving tribute to the classic golden age of horror. And it IS, most certainly, a comedy, one of the highest order in fact. It is arguably, as I've stated in that other article, Mel Brooks' and Gene Wilder's finest work, as they collaborated on the project completely, and it was Wilder's brainchild.

But again, where a great many comedy or horror films lean heavily on their laughs or chills, they also often lack much outside of those  key elements. That is not true with this masterpiece, however. It is, in my view, the perfect film, because it is such a finely tuned and lovingly crafted mixture of so many things. It is a love letter to classic horror and comedy films, but a strong story in its own right, with fantastic writing by Wilder, superb acting by pretty much everyone involved, even the small cameo roles, and it is without a doubt Mel Brooks' finest work in a legendary portfolio of films. It stands strong in repeated viewings because of all of these things, and more. It's just, at the end of the day, a damn good movie, and I can literally put it on at any time, and enjoy it, and be entertained by it.

Many movies I would get tired or even sick of, and certainly have to be in a "mood" to want to watch them. But while I have not tried to test the extreme limit of my love for this film, and likely wouldn't, I really can just watch it any old time. And it never stops being good, and it never stops being funny, or charming, or giving me that almost indescribable, warm fuzzy feeling inside when you partake in something you really, genuinely love. So yep......that is why Young Frankenstein is, without a shadow of a doubt, and shall forever remain, my number one favorite movie of all time.

"Puttin' on the Ritz!"

It doesn't have poster art, but this looks awesome anyway.

2. The Hobbit (1977) - I will state, for the record, in a moment of what I suppose could be construed as "movie snobbery", that it genuinely makes me sad that what most people now know as "The Hobbit", are the stretched out, overly long, 50%+ worth of filler content, "we like money so let's stretch what by all rights should have been one film into three, and stuff in a ton of completely made up bullshit because why not" Peter Jackson films that released in recent years. It makes me sad because The Hobbit is one of my favorite stories of all time. It is something that holds a very special place in my heart, from my childhood. It was something that was read to me when I was too small too read. It was something I read myself when I was old enough, and it was a world in general, this Middle Earth, that I totally loved growing up. Part of that, and certainly not at all a small part, was the 1977 television production of The Hobbit, which I watched countless times throughout my childhood years.

"The Greatest Adventure is what lies ahead...."

It was produced by Rankin/Bass, a company most known for their holiday specials, most notably their classic stop-motion adaptation of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But they also did their fair share of non-holiday fare, including many fantasy offerings, such as this, the 1980 sequel The Return of the King, and their later 80s films The Last Unicorn and Flight of Dragons. And while the character art specifically, might strike one right off the bat as "odd", as it was handled by animators that would largely later be responsible for Rankin/Bass shows like Thundercats and Silverhawks (in fact you can tell, because the Goblins in these movies look very much like the minion monsters in Thundercats), it's also a very signature look. And what's more, as you can see from the promo shot above, the production crew took great care to model the look of Middle Earth and it's landscapes, directly off of illustration work that Tolkien did himself. Everything in this film, from Hobbiton, to Mirkwood, to the Lonely Mountain, look very much how Tolkien himself drew them.

"Down, down to Goblin Town..."

But beyond looks and aesthetics, this adaptation, in my humble opinion, kicks the shit out of the bloated, grotesque crap that Jackson, who did an alright job with the previous Lord of the Rings films, just pooped out for money's sake, because it manages to cover in it's meager "for television" 77 minutes, all of the key points of the book. And while it certainly leaves some things out (for that matter, with something like 9 hours of total film, and ALL the ridiculous shit they just made up, Jackson's films ALSO still left some key things out), it still manages, by a country mile, to be far more accurate and true to Tolkien's actual work. Yes, Gollum looks "weird", "frog-like", whatever the Japanese animators decided to make him look like....but you know what? He also looks awesome, and for my money, this cartoon features THE best Gollum performance, in no small part due to the fact that the voice actor, Brother Theodore, is just flat out fantastic and owns the role. John Huston is also an awesome Gandalf the Grey, Orson Bean shines as Bilbo Baggins, and everyone else, from the 13 dwarves to Elrond to the dragon Smaug himself, are performed beautifully.

The film was made as a family film, and features (as many of Rankin/Bass' productions did) songs throughout the film, but the fact of the matter is that outside of the opening theme song ("The Greatest Adventure", a great song performed by folk singer Glenn Yarbrough), all of the songs in the film are songs directly from the Hobbit book itself, which was chock full of songs, poems and riddles. But even so, being a "family film", it holds little back, with very real danger, war, death, and everything else you could imagine from this epic fantasy tale. It's full of fun and whimsy, like the book, but like the book it's also full of some very dark moments. And all in all, very similarly to Young Frankenstein, the reason it's my second favorite film of all time, and I can watch it pretty much any time, is because it is.....at least in my opinion, pretty close to perfect. The only conceivable way it could have been better, is if it had been a bit longer, and included a few more things from the book, such as Beorn the shapechanger, or the talking Ravens, or the Arkenstone. But even without those things, most everything from the book is represented, and represented well. I loved Tolkien's world growing up, but it's fair to say that I may very well have not loved it AS much, if it had not been for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings cartoons, which built up and cemented that love.

THIS will always be Thorin and Company to me.

One of the most bad ass movie posters of all time.

3. Big Trouble in Little China (1986) -  I may or may not have yet quite gotten around, in this blog of mine, to professing my love for one John Carpenter, but it should be stated here, if it hasn't before, that he is absolutely one of my top favorite directors of all time (a topic that deserves an article of it's own someday, both on him, and on my fav. directors). I don't love every one of his films, by any means, but I at least like most of them, and a good handful of them, I genuinely love. And Big Trouble in Little China, more than any of his other works, I love the most of all.

"You know what ol' Jack Burton says at at time like this...."

It's another of those films that kind of just has a bit of everything. It's a modernized "western" story. It's a martial arts/action flick. It's a fantasy film. It's a comedy. Just as (bad ass) sorcerer Egg Shen states in the film, it's just like Asian buffet, you take what you like and leave the rest. Perhaps one of the best aspects to the film, is that in all of it's tongue-in-cheek comedic moments and over the top "80s" styling at times, it is also steeped in respect for not only Chinese culture and mythology (many elements from the story, such as Lo Pan, come from actual Chinese legends), but also martial arts, with Carpenter loading the cast with mostly real martial artists, and some serious choreography. The film, in a way, is a love letter to 70s Hong Kong "Shaw Bros." type movies, and the rest is just filled to the brim with John Carpenter awesomeness. This movie has so many little things going on, that even though you can totally just sit back, "turn your brain off" and enjoy the ride, upon repeated viewings, there is just so much going on that you still notice little things here and there, years later. Ultimately, there is just so much packed into this awesome little film, from memorable, snappy dialogue, to great action, to pure (but great) ridiculousness, that it just lends itself to watching it time and time again.

The Three Storms.

They're Ready to Believe You

4. Ghostbusters (1984) - As a kid, I loved The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, or what I was able to see of it. And while it wasn't totally cannon to the films, I like to think it is. Once I finally got to see the two live action movies in my teens, my love for all things ghost-busting was further cemented, and over time this movie has revealed itself to be one of those that I can watch just about any time. As I mentioned in the comedy article, I honestly really love Ghostbusters II just about as much as the first, it's really just a "five years later" continuation of the first movie, just "the further adventures of", and while it was a sequel that certainly never needed to get made, I'm glad it was, for several reasons. But really, as I also said in that article, the reason that the first, original film gets in on the top lists over the sequel, is that it IS the original. They're both really good, but the first just has that edge.....it was a complete package, and another fairly "perfect" type of film. Which is likely why a little passion project that Aykroyd and Co. didn't expect to turn into much, became not only one of the signature hits of the 80s, but a cultural phenomenon that included the cartoon, toys, clothes, Halloween costumes, you name it. And let's not forget the super catchy Ray Parker Jr. theme song, that I used to rock out to at the skating rink as a kid.

This is just a finely tuned mix of humor, science fiction, horror, mysticism, great special effects that still stand up to this day, a cool soundtrack, and "New York Charm". The players involved, again even the minor roles, were all memorable and acted with enthusiasm, and it shows. It was just a really great, novel concept, that exploded into a deserved mega-hit. It's just too bad that Mr. Bill Murray, whom I love as an actor, but sometimes kind of hate also, putzed around for so many years, never signing off on doing a third film, until the point that now, poor Harold Ramis has passed away, and they're doing what is sure to be a god awful "Chickbusters" reboot that I, as a longtime fan, want nothing at all to do with. Alas.....we'll always have the two classics that did get made.

RIP Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler)

Pure Harryhausen

5. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - I already professed my love for and paid tribute to the man himself shortly after he passed away, but it bears repeating that Ray Harryhausen was one of the things/people that had a huge influence on me growing up. Seeing his old films really fired up my imagination as a kid, and gave me a deeper appreciation for not only monsters and mythology, but also the special effects wizardry that he used to bring those things to life in his movies. I was fortunate enough to see the majority of his films on television, mainly on TNT's MonsterVision, and I loved them all. But this is the one I kept coming back to the most, not only because I owned it on VHS tape as a kid, but even into adulthood, and owning his catalog on DVD, this is still the one that I can pop in at pretty much any time and watch it. There are films he did later that were technically more impressive or epic, such as Jason and the Argonauts or Clash of the Titans, but to me, this film was a perfect balance of elements, and had a little bit of everything. It has perfect pacing, a wonderful and catchy score by Bernard Herrmann, great turns as Captain Sinbad, Princess Parisa and the sorcerer Sokurah by Kerwin Matthews, Katherine Grant and Torin Thatcher, and of course the great stop-motion work by Ray himself. But beyond even that, it just tells a good, succinct story and it plays out like a great, classic fairy tale, more so than the later Sinbad movies, which is precisely how it should feel, as the Sinbad stories were basically fairy tales, of magic and high adventure.

I clearly remember the first time I saw this as a child, I was in awe. Not just of the spectacle, but of the story and everything it encompassed. A kind genie that longs only to be set free, a demon sorcerer who will stop at nothing to command the genie's power, great monster cyclops who guard this great, mysterious island full of treasures, an engaged couple trying to avert their countries going to war, and a treacherous crew of criminals, all things that add layers to the story. It could have easily just come off as hokey 1950s Hollywood cheese. But it's played pretty straight, even with all of it's fantastical elements, and it just works. I also clearly remember the climactic battle between the dragon and the cyclops near the end of the story, and seeing it for the first time, while I thought the cyclopses were cool, I was rooting for that dragon. I've always been a dragon guy, which is probably why I fell in love with Godzilla.

It helps that the dragon is just bad ass looking, even without wings.

And that covers my Top 5. I was going to do a full Top 10 in this one article, but as usual I always have plenty to say (in fact I still had to reign myself in) about just these movies, and it took a long time to get even this far. Plus it gets a bit murkier to suss out just what should go on the list the further I get into it. In the interest of writing more regularly, I'm going to endeavor to fill out the list even more. Til then, enjoy, and don't forget to take the time to think up your own "Favorite Movies Ever" lists. If you have trouble, just remember, the most important thing to consider, when trying to think of what exactly your favorite movies of all time are, is to consider not just how often you can watch them, but also how these movies make you feel. For me personally, just these Top 5 here alone, yes I can watch each of them pretty much any time, but it goes deeper than that. These movies make me feel good when I watch them....they put a smile on my face, not just when I watch them, but even times like now, when I'm just thinking about them.

If you can find movies that make you smile and feel better just thinking about them, without even having to actively watch them, then I think you've found good candidates. Cheers.



You can read the second part to this article here, covering my Top Films 6-10.

Silver Screen Stories: They Live

In honor of the fact that legendary pro wrestler and actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper passed away at the fairly young age of 61 on July 31st, 2015, I thought it would be a good time to do an article on a John Carpenter film. Particularly, the Carpenter film that Roddy Piper famously starred in in the late 80s, called "They Live". I was going to get around to doing an article on it someday anyway, but now is as good a time as any. It seems that we've lost so many famous people in the last couple months, from Piper, to actress Mary Ellen Trainor, to wrestler Dusty Rhodes, to famous game programmer and late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, and as my last article covered, the last great horror icon, Sir Christopher Lee. I honestly thought about doing a retrospective on the career of Iwata as well, seeing as he created one of my top five favorite games of all time, Kirby's Adventure (with designer Masahiro Sakurai), but Christopher Lee died right around the same time, and I didn't want to fill up my blog with a series of obituary pieces. But with Roddy, because he starred in a great film by one of my all-time favorite directors, I figured I could make the article more about the movie, while also paying tribute to the man who made the movie such a classic. Two birds, one stone.

His future's so terrifying, he's gotta wear shades. Sorry, had to.

While not in any of my personal "top" lists, as John Carpenter made one of my Top 10 favorite films of all time (Big Trouble in Little China), and also probably my favorite modern horror film of all time (The Thing), They Live still stands out as one of Carpenter's stronger works, especially because for him, at the time of it's production, it was more of a passion project than anything. After the tragically low box office success of arguably his best work (Big Trouble), mainly due to big studio sabotaging of a sort, Carpenter decided he had had enough of dealing with bigger budget movies and big studios for a while, and decided to scale things back. For his next few films, he went for smaller budget, more "indie" style films, the kind that made him famous in the 70s. The first of which was a very dark, apocalyptic number called Prince of Darkness, which while okay, is hardly anywhere on even my Top 100 list. But then he set about making what would become They Live, and the rest is history.

The subliminal mantra of the film.

Much as he had done with 1982's The Thing, Mr. Carpenter decided to adapt something that had been based on both an older short story, as well as a comic book adaptation of said story. In this case, he took the 1963 short story by Ray Nelson, "Eight O'Clock in the Morning", which had also been adapted into an anthology piece in the sci-fi comic Alien Encounters, in a story called "Nada". The basic gist of the story, and thus of the movie, is a man who "wakes up" to the reality that the world is not what we think it is, and that the society we think we've built all on our own, was actually the construct of alien overlords who herd and control us for their own gain. Hence the mantra "They Live, We Sleep". Carpenter had featured far more subtle hints of satire and social commentary in previous films, especially his infamous cult hit Escape From New York, but by the time of the late 80s, it was obvious that he had reached a far more cynical place, personally, largely due to the frustrations he had endured with some of his 80s films and the headache of dealing with the big Hollywood machine. Because in They Live, all subtleties are purposefully dropped, and much like the nameless protagonist of the film, he just goes after our often shallow and absurd society, both barrels, guns blazing.

The infamous scene, the infamous line.

But to make such a film really work, you need one specific ingredient that even a great premise or great writing cannot help, and that is the specifically right lead actor to really bring the story to life. And there was no other "right" actor for this story, for this part, than Roddy Piper. Born Roderick Toombs in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1954, by the mid-80s, thanks to the media craze of Vince McMahon Jr.'s World Wrestling Federation, their hit event "Wrestlemania", and the MTV-fueled "Rock n Wrestling" phenomenon (which paired icons like Hulk Hogan and Mr. T with pop stars like Cindi Lauper), Piper was at the height of his mainstream popularity. Meaning that if he was ever going to make the jump to film, there was no better time than the late 80s, to "strike while the iron was hot". The fact was, Roddy was well known in the world of wrestling for his mouth, and more importantly his ability to just riff on people and go off the cuff, coming up with memorable lines. And that is precisely what John Carpenter got when he cast him, as he let Piper ad-lib many of his own lines, which led to some pure gold, including the line from the infamous scene pictured above: "I've come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum." Co-Star Keith David and some of the supporting cast absolutely do their part to make this film memorable, but the film simply wouldn't have WORKED the way it does, wouldn't have the same feel or energy, without Piper in the lead role.

"But you....real fuckin' ugly".

The foundation of the story, as the movie adaptation tells it, is that a small group of scientists accidentally discovered a TV signal that is being broadcast that makes us all blind to both the fact that there are rather ugly aliens (as seen above) living all about us, but also that our society is rife with subliminal messages and commands, from these very aliens, meant to influence and control us. The main character, called only "Nada" in the credits, but going entirely unnamed in the film itself, as portrayed by Roddy Piper, accidentally runs across these scientists and special sunglasses they've crafted, which allow people to see the truth that is being hidden from us all. A homeless drifter just looking for a chance at pay for an honest days work, "Nada" meets up with Keith David's character, Frank, after getting a temporary job working on a construction site. Frank leads him back to a make-shift homeless community (never stated, but likely somewhere in Los Angeles), where he eventually snoops around in an abandoned church across the street and discovers the subversive group and their glasses. The camp and the church get mysteriously attacked by an extreme overkill police force, and Nada later comes across one lone remaining box of these glasses, and hides them, taking one pair for himself.

Putting them on, with no way of knowing what will occur, his whole world becomes shattered as he quickly discovers he can "see" things that are completely hidden from everyone else's sight, such as the fact that our American paper money secretly bears the words "This Is Your God". Realizing that everything he's known and been told is largely a lie, he understandably goes a bit nuts, going on a rather mad, surreal escapade for awhile, that includes the semi-infamous scene where he enters the bank and spouts the pure gold line about ass-kicking and chewing gum.

Nada gains a partner.

One of the highlights of the movie, is a ridiculous, well rehearsed, but also highly ad-libbed nearly six minute fight scene between Nada and Frank, after Nada decides that he needs someone else to see what he sees, so he won't be the only one, as for all he knows the scientists who created them might be dead. The fight isn't some piece of Bruce Lee martial arts magic, but it IS highly entertaining, and the two actors really put their all into it. The humor and awesomeness of it, not to spoil too much, stems from the fact that the fight just.....keeps....going.

Two bad-ass mother-fuckers.

While drifting away from spoiling too much of the plot for folks who haven't seen this gem, needless to say, shit gets even crazier the further the movie goes along. Which is exactly how you want a surreal story like this to go. Not only does Carpenter, as usual for him, maintain a nice pacing that ramps up gradually as the adventure builds momentum, but the "wise-cracking nutcase and grounded realist" duo of Piper and David really carry the movie along. Nobody would have worked for the lead role anywhere near as well as Roddy Piper, to be sure, but to give credit where it's due, few people could have worked AS well as his "serious" counterbalance as Keith David does, with Carpenter having written the part specifically for him, wanting someone who could hold their own and not just be a run of the mill "sidekick".

Not quite as scary or cerebral as his horror classics like Halloween, The Fog, or The Thing, nor quite as outright drenched in crazy and awesome as Big Trouble or the Escape movies, They Live still stands on it's own as a great piece of work, and more importantly, stands on it's own as a very unique type of film, not only a strong sci-fi/thriller, but also one of the most potent, while still quirky and entertaining, stabs at the absurdity and often outright awfulness of American corporate and pop culture. While Roddy featured in many more films during his life, They Live also stands alone as the best work he ever did in that medium, because it's not just a "cult hit", but a genuine classic.

They so need to make a Metal Slug type They Live video game....

As stated at the beginning of this article, Roddy Piper passed away in late July 2015, in his sleep from a heart attack. It was incredibly unfortunate all around, as he had survived a bout with cancer, and was survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren. He spent much of his time alone with that family, on his property near Portland, Oregon, where I myself was born. He loved that area, and by all reports loved his family even more. He accomplished a lot in his life, and was a lot of things to a lot of people, including a hero to his many fans. But to his closest friends and family, I'm sure he was something even more important: simply a good human being. He is another that "died too young", and he surely will be missed. So if you've never seen They Live, then do yourselves a favor, fire it up, enjoy the fun, ridiculous ride it takes you on, and honor the memory of one of the most purely memorable entertainers to ever grace our screens.

RIP "Hot Rod", 1954-2015