Excalibur (1981)

When it comes to Western mythology and legends, there is one name that looms large, King Arthur. Just mention this British monarch to anyone in the Western world and you are likely to hear about swords in stones, love triangles and a wizard named Merlin. Because the stories are so well known, you would think people would be tired of revisiting them. But it didn’t stop director John Boorman from bringing his own take to the screen right before the Barbarian Age of fantasy films kicked in.

Summary:

Some of this may be familiar to you. Merlin (Nicol Williamson) is trying to get some order going around these Dark Ages, so he helps out Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) by giving him the sword of power: Excalibur. Unfortunately Uther is a lustful hothead that destroys all of Merlin’s plans. Merlin is able to smuggle baby Arthur away from all the bloody insanity to be brought up by a good knight. Many years later Arthur (Nigel Terry) pulls a sword from a stone, starts a civil war and battles alongside Captain Picard… I mean Leodegrance (Patrick Stewart) much to the delight of Guinevere (Cherie Lunghi). Arthur forges the Table Round, builds Camelot and marries his queen.

But things start going downhill once Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) shows up. He is a master knight, but falls for the Queen. Prodded by the plotting, scheming Morgana (Helen Mirren), Sir Gawaine (Liam Neeson) challenges Lancelot to a mighty duel. But Lancelot proves his innocence in a contest of arms. That doesn’t mean too much, because eventually Arthur finds his wife and best friend naked in the forest. The King is unable to slay them, and leaves Excalibur behind, plunging the land into famine and despair. The only hope for The Knights of the Round Table is to find the Holy Grail. Sir Perceval (Paul Geoffrey) nearly achieves the quest, but discovers that Morgana and her unholy son Mordred (Robert Addie) are preparing to wrest the kingdom from the ailing Arthur. Can Perceval obtain the grail and return it to the King? And even if he manages that, does Arthur have any hope against the deadly Mordred without Excalibur at his side?

Good Points:

• Very impressive visual style that creates a mythic feel
• Admirable job condensing all the key events of the legend into 140 minutes
• The use of classical music works wonders in many key scenes 

Bad Points:

• The film is not subtle at all, some of the acting and visuals are over the top
• Some of the actors are miscast
• Tries to cram in so many elements that you never get a lot of depth to the characters

Overall:

This is Arthurian legend presented as mythic saga, not afraid of the blood or sex that saturate the narrative. Boorman uses impressive location shooting, eye-popping color and visual storytelling to bring the stories to life. The side effect is that diving into all the passions of the Arthurian saga leads to some over the top dialogue, acting and settings. It gives the movie the feel of the dream at times. For all its enthusiasm the film manages to be entertaining and powerful. I feel this is still the definitive film version of the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Scores(out of 5)

Visuals:  5

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 5

Total:  4

In Depth Review

King, Queen and Champion stand before God at the Table Round.

Arriving in screens in 1981,Excalibur was a strange film for Orion Pictures to release. Arthurian legend hadn’t had a big budget release since Camelot in 1967. But studios were giving big budget fantasy and science fiction films a try after Star Wars raked in massive amounts of cash in 1977. Many of these post Star Wars fantasy films weren’t well recieved, and it wouldn’t be until the release of Conan the Barbarian in 1982 that the fantasy renaissance of the 1980s really kicked in. So Excalibur was ahead of the curve (kind of like Hawk the Slayer in that way). That ends up being a good thing, because Excalibur isn’t like any other fantasy film of the 1980s. It has its own feel, its own methods and its own themes that it explores.

Merlin is about to get this party started!

Boorman wanted to show us Arthurian Legend stripped of the pageantry and the staid nobility of previous Hollywood versions. He reduced down the characters and story to passions. There are many moments where the film feels almost operatic in tone and acting (and the opera music by Richard Wagner helps as well). The film is one that dives into the heart of the tale – one that revolves around the need to control our desires. Characters that lose control in this film end up dooming themselves and others. Those who are not slaves to their passions are rewarded.

Uther does not understand the power of a king, and wastes Excalibur.

To illustrate this, we are thrown into a primal world where the Dark Ages are truly dark. Boorman is a very visual director, and he does not shy away from bold symbols and colors to execute visual storytelling. I wrote an extensive breakdown of the first few scenes of Excalibur, examining how Boorman uses various images and style to set up his reoccurring themes. Needless to say, nearly every shot in the film is crafted with skill and an eye to not just plot and characters, but to themes and mood. 

All the knights in these early scene are wearing black or grey armor.

One interesting visual aspect of the film that ends up supporting the story and yet is never remarked upon by the characters is the armor. When the film opens, Uther and his contemporaries are dressed in black and matte grey armor. It is often spattered in blood and mud. 

A young King Arthur is about to meet his match... and his Champion.

Even after Arthur becomes king, he and his knights are dressed in similar armor.

The stark contrast between the fallen King and the noble shimmering Champion.

But then we see Lancelot, and his armor shimmers like silver. He is the paragon of knights, something that all knights, including Arthur, aspire to be. It is after Arthur unites the kingdom do his knights also appear in silver armor. 

The wedding sequence is awash in silver for the knights, and green for
the natural world. "The Land and the King are one."

This visual persists until Arthur plunges Excalibur into the earth between the naked Lancelot and Guinevere. After he loses his sword, the armor of the Knights of the Round Table starts to lose its luster. 

The quest isn't going so well.

As we follow Perceval on his Quest for the Holy Grail, his armor becomes more and more rusty, more dented and soon without any shine to it. 

Mordred doubts the veracity of your claim.

In contrast Mordred appears in golden armor, hinting at his conceit that he is superior to Arthur and his knights. But Mordred’s armor is also gaudy looking, with the helm giving him the look of a statue of Alexander the Great, a young conqueror, who many see as a power hungry brat. 

The final ride from Camelot

Mordred’s army are all dressed in black armor, harkening back to the dark times of the opening of the film. Mordred’s reign will be a return to a dark age. When Arthur and his knights ride into battle the last time, their armor is gleaming in the sun, silver and pure once again.

You would think Percival would wipe some of Mordred's blood off of
Excalibur before he returned it to the Lady of the Lake.

Time and again Boorman allows the visuals in Excalibur to speak to the themes of the story. His use of locations shots not only creates some amazing and beautiful moments in the film, but also ties the natural world to the story. There is a scene that occurs in a ring of stones involving Uther and Merlin, and the scene is mirrored near the end between Arthur and Merlin. The contrast is powerful as we see the two kings interacting with the magician in very different ways. The use of challises in the film not only foreshadows the quest for the grail, but provide twisted mirrors of the holy object. Even the scene where Perceval returns Excalibur to the lake is a mirror to Merlin’s retrieval of the sword at the opening of the film. Boorman’s use of these mirror scenes give the film a feeling of resonance beyond what we expect.

You wold think that if anyone could pull the sword from the stone,
it would be the captain of the Enterprise.

To match the visuals the sound effects work very well. The battle scenes are awash with metal on metal clangs and the soundscape fills with thundering hooves in several key scenes. Boorman also injects some natural sounds into the mix, especially during the Grail Quest, when the knights search the known world, and are battered by rains, snow and wind.

Boorman said that Mirren and Williamson disliked each other, but
it added to the rivalry between Morgana and Merlin.

Boorman is no stranger to using classical pieces as score in his films. Excalibur continues this trend, and this may be one of the most effective uses in his filmography. Most of the music heard in the film is from composer Richard Wagner for his operas Tristan und Isolde, Götterdämmerung and Parsifal. Each of the pieces is an instrumental overture, interlude or prelude, so no singing Valkyries here. Instead the music does a lot of the heavy lifting in key scenes. Whenever Lancelot and Guinevere’s eyes meet we get the swelling lush notes of Tristan und Isolde. The grail’s appearances are scored with music from Parsifal. This may explain why Boorman selects Perceval as his Grail hero instead of the usual Galahad. Finally, the sword itself (as well as opening and ending credits) are scored by the funeral march from Götterdämmerung. This gives these scenes a grim but powerful feel that certainly sticks in the mind.

The Quest for the Holy Grail begins as the land is plunged into
uncertainty. "The King without a sword, the land without a king!"

The other classical music we hear in the film is Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. You know the piece when you hear it. This choral piece has been used in countless movies, televisions shows and commercials. These days it often shows up in parodies when something “epic” occurs. If you hear a composer using bombastic choral moments, such as Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, you will hear folks saying how it sounds like Carmina Burana. 

The moment where Arthur forges the knighthood, and the Round Table.

Excalibur used the piece before it became a cliché, and hell, it may have inspired those clichés. The piece is based on actual medieval texts, so it fits a movie about King Arthur. It also has an intrinsic power behind it, something primal. It is showcased in the film near the end, when Arthur and his knights ride into battle one last time, and the land springs back to life. It really works wonders in the scene. But you also hear it a couple times before that during moments of triumph.

Arthur knew the Lady of the Lake was around, because of 70s synths.

Boorman did hire composer Trevor Jones for some original score material in the movie. But most of it is limited to scenes of magic. Jones uses some late 70s synths as well as orchestra in these moments, and they work well enough. He has some ghostly wordless female vocals for the Lady of the Lake sequences, and it adds an uncanny feel to these dreamlike moments. I will say that Jones’ material contrasts a bit with the classical pieces, but it also adds that surreal disconnect that works in the movie’s favor.  

Neeson embraces the boorish nature of Sir Gawain.

When it comes to acting in Excalibur, things get a little strange. You have several very fine actors from the British Isles in early performances. We’ve seen many of them do wonderful things in later films. Here, well there is no way to put it delicately, they are all pretty much going over the top. Gabriel Byrne and Patrick Stewart seem to shout all their lines. Liam Neeson is a brooding hulking and drooling (not kidding here) brute. Helen Mirren vamps it up wonderfully in some scenes and other times draws her cloak around her face like silent film villainess.

"Look lady, I've seen the future. I know what you do with your brother.
See a therapist. I hear Sir Bors is a good listener."

Nicol Williamson pretty much steals the acting show with his take on Merlin. Williamson uses strange inflections for his lines. He makes some expressive faces of annoyance and joy. But he is also disturbing when he channels the power of The Dragon, or lurks nightmare-like in his final confrontation with Morgana. He goes out of his way to be otherworldly and it works. When Morgana accuses him of being a creature, we believe it. He also has some of the best lines in Excalibur, acting as Arthur’s Yoda on several occasions.

Did I mention that Mirren vamps it up a little bit... just a touch.

All this big acting will annoy some viewers and pull them right out of the film. But as I mentioned, Excalibur is not going for subtly and realism. It is bringing this primal myth to life in a big way. Passion is the name of the game, and that passion comes through in the acting, especially by the folk we would come to know later in their career.

Would you trust this guy to find anything, much less the HOLY GRAIL!?

Some of other members of the cast play things a little lower key, but seem a bit out of their depth. Paul Geoffrey never quite sells Perceval to me. He seems too simple minded as the thief turned squire in the middle of the film, and he just doesn’t feel like the best and bravest of the knights to achieve the Grail. He’s never horrible, but he never seems to rise to the role, admittedly a difficult one. 

Young Arthur ignoring the spirited advice from Merlin about love.

In a similar boat is Nigel Terry as Arthur. This role is very, very challenging, and would test an experienced actor. Boorman cast Terry to play Arthur as a young squire all the way up to being the older king riding into his final battle. Terry is at his best when playing Arthur in those later years, with the gravitas and power at his command. When he is playing the young squire he is just too old to be all that naïve. He isn’t bad in the role, and his interactions with Merlin are some of the best parts of the film. But I wonder if Excalibur would have benefited from different actors playing the part at different ages (as Boorman did with Mordred). 

"Come father. Let us embrace at last."

Speaking of Mordred, Addie does a good job being both arrogant and unsettling all at once. But a big part of that is also how well young Charley Boorman plays him in earlier scenes. The kid is just creepy with that laugh and the casual cruelty he displays.

Guinevere tries to chat up Lancelot, but he is "sworn to the quest".
I doesn't last long.

Wrapping things up are the two lovers. I think Clay does a fine job as Lancelot. He has the nobility of spirit and determination down. You believe he is the best knight in the land, and his dedication to that is palatable. Clay is always the image of Lancelot in my mind and one of the reason I found Richard Gere’s casting in First Knight such a confusing one. However the love angle falls a bit flat. I don’t think this has anything to do with Clay’s acting, but the simple fact that the film spends very little time on it. As I mentioned the music does the heavy lifting in those scenes, and Clay does the best he can with the material. I do think that he does a fine job later in the film when you can see the conflict and anguish overtaking him when Guinevere finally comes to him in the forest. I also love crazy ass hermit Lancelot at the end of the film.

Husband and wife, King and Queen, meet one last time.

Cherie Lunghi gives us a Guinevere we hadn’t seen before. Lunghi plays very naturally, playful and impressed by Arthur in her youth. Resentful of her husband’s duty to order and law in her maturity. And wonderfully wise in her final scenes with Arthur. In fact, that sequence is one of my favorite from Excalibur. Lunghi and Terry do a great job in this scene, and it makes you wish the film had slowed down enough for more scenes between these two (and Lancelot) to really build that love triangle. Again, the love angle feels underplayed, but not really because of Lunghi’s commitment to the role, but just because of the short amount of screen time it does get.

The Round Table is revealed to Percival and the audience from an upper
gallery.

So let’s take a look at the script for Excalibur. It is ambitious to be sure. These days the Arthurian legend would be drawn out across multiple films or in the form of a television series (as both were attempted in the 2010s). But Boorman didn’t have the luxury. He was lucky enough to convince Orion that the film concept could be a crowd pleaser, even if it was going to be rated R because of all the blood and nudity. Boorman felt that the story needed to show the arc of Arthur from boy to man, life to death. It needed to show the world before, as well as the world Arthur created. It needed to have the redemption of Grail and horrors of the final battle against Mordred. And of course you had to have Merlin, even The Sword in the Stone had Merlin.

Percival's armor probably smells as bad as it looks by this point.

It is a lot of plot elements to work into the story. Along with that there are themes flowing throughout the film: Christianity vs. Paganism, Order vs. Chaos, Law vs. Passion, New Paths vs. Traditions, Truth vs. Lies. Each of these comes into play during the film and some of them carry all the way through the film in plot, visuals and dialogue. It is a lot to chew on, and because of that Excalibur feels like an epic film. But it also feels rushed in places.

"How spicy do you want your Hot Wings?"

The love story at heart of the fall of Arthur feels incomplete. Boorman has stated that the original film was three hours long and included a sequence where Lancelot rescues Guinevere from a group of bandits. Some of this can be seen in the trailer. A scene like that, or even a dialogue scene between the two would have done wonders to build their relationship. As the movie plays out now, it goes for the love at first sight swooning that just doesn’t work, even in a film as operatic as this.

I double checked, and that is not the Grail shaped beacon. It is the real thing!

I also think the finale of the film with Perceval returning Excalibur to the lake and seeing Arthurs final voyage play out very rushed. I think the reason is that Boorman wanted to edit the sequence to the eight-minute Funeral March from Götterdämmerung. When you watch the sequence it fits the music perfectly. And damn if it doesn’t work as an amazing short film right there. But as the finale to all that came before, it just feels abrupt. An epilogue of some kind dealing with Perceval’s fate, or the fate of the kingdom after Arthur’s departure would give some needed closure here. Or if the sequence was allowed to play out a little longer, and not so tied to the music (and Boorman had allowed Trevor Jones to compose music to the sequence) it might have worked. As it stands, I’m always surprised when the credits just start. Not as abrupt as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but few films are.

The once and future king is taken to Avalon.

Excalibur never feels its 140 minutes. Boorman’s enthusiasm for the story and telling it in such a rich and visual way really carries the film along. I love that he went for the R rating, because the passions of war and love need to play out fully in this version. It makes it stand out against the older versions of the tale, as well as the television versions. It is not a perfect fantasy film, but it does so many things right. Even some its faults are endearing at this point (and I’m sure that is nostalgia talking). I would love to see this same approach taken with King Arthur again, but given time to breathe and flow. A television series or a trilogy of films could do it justice… and yet, we’ve had both in this decade and they fell short. Excalibur is still theking of Arthurian legend for me, and whenever I think of these characters I usually see the cast in this film and hear Wagner’s motif from Götterdämmerungin my mind.

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The sun sets on Arthur's story. Excalibur is drenched in blood.
The king is dead, long live the king.

Exploring a Scene – Excalibur

Back in 1981 John Boorman wanted to craft a film version of the Arthurian legend that we had never seen or experienced before. He rejected the stately and ornate pageantry of the 1950s and 60s epics and went for a more visceral approach. Excalibur was bloody, lusty and surreal all at once. It is a movie with some powerful imagery in it. But it also presents its themes in a clearly visual way.

I’m going to explore the opening scenes of Excalibur to show just how Boorman sets up several of the struggles we will witness in the film. 

I do want to point out that the film starts with The Funeral March from Gotterdammerung by famous operatic composer Richard Wagner. The foreboding introduction scores the opening logos, as well as the prologue sequence. This same piece of music is played during the final scenes at the end of the film and into the end credits acting as an audio bookend for the movie. 

The live performance below sounds really great for a YouTube video and man is the conductor getting into this! He knocks his stand down at near the end, but keeps right on going. Bravo sir!

Now lets get to the visuals. The prologue tells us of the “dark ages” and indeed the screen is black with the words in a dull off-white color. 

But the words of the prologue keep pace with the music, telling us of the coming of the sword of power. 

The music hits its crescendo (at about 1:41 into the track above) and the title Excalibur appears on the screen.

The lettering for the title is made of shimmering silver metal. This is a visual cue, although we don’t know it yet. Once Arthur’s knights achieve their true purpose in the Round Table, they will all be garbed in shimmering silver armor. Indeed, the titular sword itself is one of the few that actually seems to always be shimmering just like the letters of the title. 

Then we finally start the movie proper. The film opens in darkness and flames. A fire rages behind a hill. It truly is the dark ages.

Mounted knights ride up, silhouetted against the crackling orange and yellow light. 

Even Merlin, when he appears, emerges from the fire lit haze. He is obscured, but there is more light around him than the other characters at the battle. Merlin is focused on thought and planning. His purpose is to drag humans out of endless years of blood and despair - out of the dark ages. We aren’t told this explicitly, but Boorman shows us using a couple of different visual cues. The first is the amount of light surrounding Merlin in his first appearance.

The opening battle in the dark is violent and brutal. Uther and his knights are dressed in black and dark grey armor. The only light is from flames, and the forest they fight in looks ravaged and dead. 

The only gleam we see is in the strange metallic skullcap on Merlin. This does two things. It gives Merlin a completely unique look, one that is far cry from the traditional conical hat and long beard. It adds a touch of the unusual to the character. But note, it is his head, the storehouse of knowledge and wisdom that is highly polished and gleaming. This already ties him visually to the word Excalibur as we saw it in the opening.

This first scene tells us much beyond the short prelude. It shows us about the world we are thrust into. It shows us about the kind of film we are getting (no pageantry and formality). It is brutal and bloody. It is aflame with desire – Uther demands “the sword” because he “is the strongest”. Close ups on Uther show his sweaty face, grimy armor and aggression.

This contrasts with the calm performance by Nicol Williamson as Merlin. His opening lines are almost a whisper of Uther's name that seems to carry across the battlefield. Merlin is untouched by grim or sweat. He seems otherworldly even here. These first scenes are a clash of black, orange and dull metallics. Our eyes get used to this look.

So it is quite a contrast when we suddenly switch to this next scene with Merlin obtaining Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. 

The next scene brings us the first of many picturesque moments from the film. Boorman shot all of Excalibur in Ireland, on locations not far from his home on the island. The result is that Excalibur is filled to bursting with beautiful locations, wonderful skyscapes and jaw dropping natural beauty. I wonder if Peter Jackson was inspired by this move when he decided to film Lord of the Rings in his home of New Zealand.

This scene where Merlin obtains Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake is glorious. The setting of lush green forests, towering green crags, and the pure white hand lifting the magic sword directly from the still water looks like something the Pre-Raphaelites would have conjured on canvas. It is amazingly familiar and yet also so fresh from a visual standpoint. Wagner’s music gives this scene additional power, and becomes a theme of sorts for the sword of kings. It is also key to notice that in these early scenes, no other weapon shines and shimmers like Excalibur.

That touches on another visual element in Excalibur. Many times in the film, when the sword is drawn from its sheath, Boorman shines a brilliant green light upon it. None of the characters remark on this, but we clearly see it. Does the power of Excalibur giving off an unearthly glow? Possibly. But it also ties the sword visually to a statement that Merlin makes later in the film. The sword is part of the natural world, an aspect of “The Dragon”. For the most part, we usually see dragons depicted as brilliant green beasts. This color is seen most often in the film in the lush lands surrounding the knights. No one uses the color in flags or dress. It is reserved for the natural world and Excalibur alone. It binds the two visually together and key to the latter half of the film.

In these two scenes in the film, Boorman sets up the visual conflict between the dark ages of lawlessness and bloodshed, with the shimmering silver glory of truth and peace. Excalibur stands in sharp contrast to the black armor that Uther and his fellow brutes wear. We also see the contrast between nature and the works of humans. Merlin acts as the go between, able to see and interact with the Lady of the Lake, and thus take the sword in hand. 

These two scenes set up a lot of visual touch points that are explored and developed later in the film. Excalibur is full of thematic imagery extending beyond this. The use of smoke/fog has importance. The clash of Christian imagery and pagan sorcery is touched on. There is the contrast of flesh and metal. I recommend that you give the film a rewatch (or a watch if you’ve never seen it before) to really see all the interesting visuals that Boorman crafted in this film.

One more bookend I caught while grabbing screenshots. I don't think I'll have anywhere else to put it, so here you go. The first appearance of the sword and the final appearance of the sword are studies in contrast. Dawn vs. Dusk. Radiance vs. Blood. The start of the journey (with the sword on the right side of the screen) vs the end of the journey (the sword is now on the left side of the screen). 

And the music Wagner wrote is a Funeral March for an opera about the twilight of the gods. The choice seems strange and yet fitting at the start of the film. But at the end, I can't imagine anything else working quite so well.

Score Sample: First Knight (1995)

In the 1990s Jerry Goldsmith was trying to move away from scoring action movies. He had done a ton of them in the 1980s and was looking to do some thing different. He ended up scoring romantic comedies and dumb comedies and romantic dramas... anything to avoid action music. Every once in a while he'd do a Star Trek film. But mostly it was no action. It couldn't last. And as a fan of Goldsmith's action music, I'm glad.

One of the movies that he broke the mold on was First Knight, a movie I don't care for all that much. But for Jerry it offered romance, intrigue and betrayal... as well as some kick ass action music moments. The result was a score that may be one of Goldsmith's best from the decade. He creates three themes for the film and weaves them together, or against each other to create a rich tapestry of music. It is difficult to pick just one track to sample, but my favorite might be the end credits piece. It starts with the majestic theme for King Arthur/Camelot before diving in the love theme for Guinevere and then shifts back to a more triumphant version of Arthur's theme.

So here you are the album version of Promise Me from First Knight composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Yongary: Monster from the Deep (1967) – MST3K Review

Summary:

So this may sound a little familiar. A South Korean astronaut is orbiting the earth, when he detects a strange moving earthquake making its way toward the city of Soule. The military tries to keep a lid on this, but eventually the earthquake strikes and out of it erupts the giant monster Yongary! He’s reptilian, he breathes fire and he loves smashing buildings. 

As you may have guessed the military throws all kinds of things at it, but they don’t seem to have much effect. There is also a dance sequence including the monster, but the less said about that the better. One intrepid youngster Icho (Kwang Ho Lee) follows Yongary to an oil refinery and witnesses the beast drinking oil. Armed with this information and the help of a young scientist named Illo (Oh Yoeong-il) the two concoct a way to stop the creature by attacking its allergies… no I’m not making this up. But will the plan be enough to save South Korea, or will all of Asia fall to the mighty stomp of Yongary: Monster from the Deep?

Movie Review: 

Need a swath of destruction? Call Yongary!

At some point each nation on Earth must get to work making a giant rubber monster movie. I don’t know if this all part of Joseph Campbell’s mono-myth theory or if it is some kind of offering that humans must give to the gods of celluloid. Mystery Science Theater 3000 has managed to dig up quite a few of these in the past. Frankly, I accept it as proof that the gods of celluloid are scientific fact. No, you can’t fight me on this.

So here we have a South Korean offering of the giant reptile destroying everything it lays its tail on.Yongary was released in 1967, thirteen years after Godzilla invaded the Japan the first time. So the pattern and structure of these films was well entrenched. This provides some comfort for those coming to the film for the first time. You’re going to get what you expect from this film. But for those that were hoping for something a little different, well you’re going to be disappointed. 

Now Reptilicus stuck to the strict rules of Godzilla (kind of like Gorgo).Yongary actually feels like it has more in common with the Gamera films. Our central human protagonist in Yongary is a young boy, and acts in much the same way as Kenny did in the first Gamera film. 

Unleashing the power of Icho's itchy ray!

While he is often at the center of the danger, Icho ends up thinking that Yongary is just a hungry critter, not a rampaging monster. He actually witnesses the huge creature dancing with joy after it feeds. He does end up helping his elders stop the creature, but feels remorse when it finally shuffles off the mortal coil (in one of the more disturbing death scenes in these types of films for the era). I would say that Icho is slightly less annoying than Kenny, but he still has the whole “I’m a rowdy kid and all of you need to listen to me” attitude. Most of his antics in the first half of the film involving the itch ray make us want to give him a time out. He also has the habit of running toward the danger, instead of running away from it. But I suppose the story wouldn’t move forward if he did show some sense in that regard.

To be honest most the adult characters are useless in Yongary. You have the typical politician and military characters that aren’t very good at doing anything. Most of their ideas are pointless and only make the situation more dangerous. It takes the bratty kid and the distracted young scientist to really come up with a workable plan. Taking another page from the Gamera films, this master plan is just goofy. Not as goofy as a spinning blood fountain, but inspired by the itch ray, they essentially douse him with an ammonia compound that makes him itchy and sluggish and then bleed out of his rear until he dies. No, I’m not making it up. I wish I was.

Tom tries to make the scene more interesting.

Padding out all that material is lots of scenes of the military and politicians arguing. Tanks and jets flying at Yongary and attempting to stop him, but again like Gamera, all fire based attacks only give him greater strength. You have scenes of people evacuating cities and running in panic. There is a subplot with the newlywed astronaut and his wife. And yes, you get a heaping helping of property destruction at various scales, with the creature bouncing around and destroying models.

Visually the film feels more like a Gamera production as well. The creature suit for Yongary isn’t terribly interesting. It is a reptile with a horn on his snout and he can breathe fire from what looks like a jet engine that appears in his mouth. Yongary isn’t very scary, or cute, just kind of there. He feels like he could be a second tier monster in a Gamera film, and in fact reminded me of Barugon of Gamera vs Barugon fame, but without the cool rainbow beam attack. 

To be honest, the model work and monster costume just aren’t that impressive. The production team worked with Daiei Film’s special effects staff. If that name sounds familiar, that is because they worked on all the Gamera films. I always found Toho’s work on the Godzilla movies more impressive when it came to suits and model work. So this just feels second tier.

"Protective marshmallows have turned him into
a human s'more!"

Due to a strange twist of fate, the original Korean version of the film was lost. So the only way to watch Yongary: Monster from the Deep is to watch the American dubbed version. It was released by American International Pictures, a name familiar to Roger Corman fans. They were well known for picking up foreign films, slapping a quickie dub and unleashing them into theaters. That is what you get here, a ridiculous dub with some hilariously bad lines, dubious acting and a couple of “did I just hear that?” moments. Fans of horrible dubs will not be disappointed.

As a film Yongary just doesn’t measure up to his older cousins. The creature isn’t terribly interesting. All the plot points were done before and better in the Gamera and Godzilla films. It doesn’t bring anything new to the table, except for the setting occurring in South Korea. It is one of those movies that would come on during a monster mash on your local station, and you’d watch it because you were a kid and you loved monsters. But I think that even as a kid, I would be disappointed by this film and wait for Gamera vs Guiron or Godzilla vs. Megalon to come in instead. 

Jonah and the bots don’t have a choice and Kinga unleashes this film on them in the middle of the eleventh season. Were they up to it after surviving Reptilicus?

Episode Review:

"Yongary's got a jet engine growing out of his mouth?
That is bad ass! I want one!"

Lots of fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are fans of the giant monster movies of the twentieth century. There were some very funny episodes, back in Season Three especially, that became fan favorites. So it wasn’t a huge surprise that some of these fans knew all about this relatively obscure film and were hoping against hope that Yongary would be featured on their favorite riffing show.

For me, the giant monster episodes are mixed. Some of them are top notch, like Godzilla vs. Megalon. But you also have a few like Gorgo that just don’t work for me. Jonah and the bots handled Reptilicus very well indeed, but that episode was saddled with a lot of additional weight, being the first episode not only of the season, but also the rebirth of the series. I was looking forward to seeing what they could do unfettered by all those other elements and going straight for the riffing.

The overall result is that the riffing for Yongary is pretty solid. The main issue here is a problem that nearly all the giant monster movies have, and it is a structure issue. The best riffing moments involve the giant monster. The giant monster doesn’t show up in the film for nearly thirty minutes. So you are left with much less riffable scenes involving boring human characters babbling about space travel and moving earthquakes. 

"CAPSULE!" "CAPSULE!" "CAPSULE!" "CAPSULE!"

The boys do their best during these opening scenes, and while the iching ray that Icho uses provides some fun riffing, the best bits are for the astronaut and his mini-adventure. You get to see the prep, the launch, the orbit and the landing of this mission and yeah it feels like padding. But riffs about the name of his ship, the strange “marshmallow” padding around his head make for some humorous moments. But the best bits are when mission control loses contact with the capsule. The lead controller keeps yelling “Capsule!” into his microphone, and this leads to Jonah and the bots to join in. Soon this spirals into a running gag whenever anyone says the word capsule, our riffers yell it back in response.

Everybody cut footloose.

Eventually Yongary shows up and the real riffing material kicks in. When our titular monster rises from the crack in the earth one of the onlookers yells, “Yongary is coming out!” to which Crow replies in a jolly voice, “Good for him.” Later when the reptile is under attack by jets and flailing around Jonah quips, “I keep waiting for Pee Wee Herman to ride by on his bike.” Later, Crow comments that “Yongary looks like the kind of monster you’d get at the 99 cent store.”

There is a funny sequence in the middle of the film where desperate citizens of the city are spending their last hours. The variety of behavior from feasting, to dancing to getting bathed in booze offer some prime riffing material, as well as inspring a host segment.

Tom joins in taunting Yongary along with the helicopter.

Soon Yongary is rinsing and repeating its plot points. Army attacks and fails. Junior scientist uses chemical and it kind of works. Then the monster awakens again, and the military attacks. You get the idea. During Yongary’s itching and scratching Jonah observes “That looks like me when I’m trying to put on my own sunscreen.” I got a kick out of Crow declaring, “This movie is more repetitive than a Ramones song.” During a final effort by the air force, one pilot hurtles right at Yongary’s head only to be roasted by the fire blast. Tom says incredulously, “You were flying right at his open mouth! What did you think was going to happen?”

It is all fun and games until someone gets smashed.

The host segments kick off with the invention exchange. Jonah creates the tiny desk, so you can flip it in your rage and not mess up your real desk, and clean up is a snap! The Mads offer delicious Hitler Coffee, which gives you a distinctive mustache after you drink it creates all kinds of horrific awkward moments. At the first break Jonah and the bots discuss what kind of music you should play when you lift off from the launch pad to start your space mission. The options range from the overly obvious to deeply ironic. When we come back, Tom and Crow show off their new nightclub called Yongary Nights, which features real monster stomping action. Later the boys chat about which monster would they befriend if they had a chance. Tom picks Medusa! After the movie ends and the boys are traumatized by seeing Yongary bleed out of his rear, they try to sing a song to alleviate the pain. Kinga and Max are pleased by their response and promise something even more diabolical for the next episode.

"I think I made a wrong turn at Albuquerque."

In the end, Jonah and the bots are able to survive Yongary: Monster from the Deep, mostly intact. I have to say, I was hoping it would be a classic, but the structure of the film keeps it from firing on all cylinders. If you are a fan of the giant monster flicks, then I think you’ll get a kick out of this one. But I feel that Reptilicus was a bit more unique in execution and made for the better episode overall. But this one is a solid fun.

I give it three CAPSULE! out of five.

This episode is available on Netflix.

Baptism.. you're doing it wrong.

And Then This Happened... Yongary: The Monster from the Deep

After a long day at work, sometimes you just need to unwind. Some of us watch some television. Some of us play video games. Others listen to podcasts or read. A few just take a nap. But there are always the few, the special few, who will kick of their shoes and just dance - Dance like they want to WIN!

So when Yongary: The Monster from the Deep is done destroying downtown Seoul, he's got one thing on his mind - boogie fever! At least that is what the movie wants us to believe. But I get the feeling that something else may be going on in this picture. So I'll need your help to caption it.

And then this happened...

Score Sample: The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

These days if you mention director Michael Mann, most people will  immediately think of Heat or Collateral. A few people will mention Miami Vice, both the series and the movie. But not many people mention Last of the Mohicans, because it like of sticks out of filmography as a "wait a sec, he directed that?" kind of movie. But sure enough Mann tackled this historical epic before diving in the modern epic of Heat.

Mann is notorious for cobbling his film's music from different sources, sometimes even going so far as hiring a composer to score the full movie and then replacing half the original score with other pieces of unrelated electronic and techno music (just ask James Newton Howard about his experience on Collateral). For Last of the Mohicans, we have a similar oddity, two composers working on one film. Neither composer collaborating together, but each gentleman scoring different scenes. Jones was hired initially, but production delays and constant re-editing ended up running into another project he was working. Jones completed as much as he could and Randy Edelman was brought in to finish the project. Edelman provided some of the textural music, material that was lighter and used in the quieter scenes, with a few exceptions. Trevor Jones was brought in for his powerful themes and bombast. Mann managed to make it all work in the film, and as a listen on album it can be a bit uneven (especially with Edelman's uses of electronics). But still, that main theme by Jones is one of the most memorable of the 1990s.

So here is a sample of both men's work

First we have Edelman's music for a quiet scene early in the film, Cora.

And here is the dramatic Main Theme by Jones.

Beyond the Gates (2016)

Introduction:

The first game/VHS combination I ever played was Clue VCR Mystery Gamefrom 1985. It was an odd thing with goofy acting and some new characters including Miss Peach. But board games featuring VHS prompts were a bit of a thing in the late 80s and early 90s. And one of those inspired a trip Beyond the Gates.

Summary:

Two brothers, Gordon (Graham Skipper) and John (Chase Williamson) are packing up the family video store after their father disappears. We learn that both brothers have some issues with each other, not to mention their dad. Maybe this little project will bring them closer together. 

Instead they find an old VHS board game called Beyond the Gates in their father’s office. The tape is just sitting in the VCR, as if it was the last thing their father watched before he vanished. The brothers start to play the tape as a bit of a lark – and find out that there is something very dangerous about this game. You see the lady in the television (played with verve by Barbara Crampton) seems like she can see them. Each move brings new dangers, and quite a bit of blood. Will the Hardesty brothers survive this trip Beyond the Gates?

Good Points:

• Crampton is having a good old time as the enthusiastic host of the game
• When the film focuses on fun, it handles itself well
• Some effective gore and horror moments

Bad Points:

• Spends a bit too much time with the family drama set up.
• Some of the acting is a bit questionable.
• The tone shifts wildly from deep family drama to over the top gore and laughs

Overall:

I really like what they were going for. Imagine if you asked Sam Raimi to write and direct it Jumanji. Parts of the film play out that way. But focus on the brother’s angst and drama takes over too many scenes. If they had focused a bit more on the fun concept, as hinted at in those oh so 80s opening credits, I think the whole movie would have worked better. It is an enjoyable time.

Scores(out of 5)

Visuals:  3

Sound: 3

Acting:  3

Script:  3

Music: 3

Direction: 3

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

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