Commando (1985) - Soundtrack

Jeff Bond's liner note describes James Horner's score for Commando as "exchanging the thematic, leitmotif aspect of his symphonic scores for a style that was as single-minded as John Matrix's pursuit of his daughter..."

The core elements of Horner's score for the film are used to great effect in the film's robust and memorable Main Title. Bond lists those elements as "pulsating electronica riffs, crashing Simmons drums, a growl of no-nonsense orchestral menace from low brass, a calypso-like steel drum tune, an undulating, almost breezy saxophone riff and the exotic sound of Japanese shakuhachi flute."

One thing I feel compelled to note, or point out, is that the score's "no-nonsense brass" and "calypso-like steel drum" textures and flourishes sound very much like the brass and steel drum textures and flourishes Horner composed for 1982's 48hrs. Something not at all surprising considering Horner's well known, and self-admitted, habit of reusing his past compositions. That observation is in no way meant to disparage Horner's superlative work here and elsewhere. It was part of his process and good music is good music, period.

The Main Title also contains a brief and gentle melody, played by the orchestra's string instruments, heard during a montage of scenes showing the loving bond between father and daughter. It only appears here and nowhere else in the movie.

What follows the Main Title is some fifty-plus minutes of gnashing and grinding action cues. "Horner's score becomes the musical equivalent of Schwarzenegger's stone face as the movie progresses," Bond observes in his notes. "It is largely unvarying, but it gains power through sheer repetition, reinforcing Matrix's unstoppable determination."

Leviathan (1989) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 16, 1989

I saw this at the Presidio and it was one of the more memorable junk cinema experiences of 1989 for me.

Just like DeepStar Six, which came out around the same time, Leviathan was yet another underwater monster movie eager to siphon some cash from the growing excitement for James Cameron's undersea adventure movie The Abyss, which was slated for a late summer release that very same year. And, just like DeepStar Six, Leviathan fell short of profit making expectations.

While most of the necessary elements are there for Leviathan to work, it lacks the most vital creative element. The touch of a director who understands and appreciates the material. George P. Cosmatos, of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra fame, seems disinterested in unnerving the audience and, even worse, reluctant to utilize the impressive creature effects that were designed and created for the film. Which is too bad, as this could have been a creature feature worthy of the films that it so obviously trying to emulate (i.e. 1979's Alien and 1982's The Thing).

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #10

Datalog: Approx. 0:400 Hours, Day 2

Andrews announced that prisoner Murphy was killed by a strong rush of air the pulled him into the huge exhaust fan in Ventshaft 17. But I didn't get a chance to investigate - Clemens wouldn't allow it. Clemens did say that he found a burn mark near the site. Could that mean...?

House On Bare Mountain (1962) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1964

I have yet to see this nudie-cutie, and probably won't, but if I were ever to subject myself to one it would be this one. Because... it features a bunch of familiar and beloved monsters.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #45

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The Funhouse (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 12, 1981

My memory of this film is that it seemed to take forever and a day to reach theaters and drive-ins near me. Even then, I failed in seeing it on the big screen. Because, by that time, I read the novelization by Owen West (Dean Koontz), which I had not cared for all that much.

It turns out that Dean Koontiz himself had not cared for it either and had taken some liberties with the script, in regards to backstory and motivation and so on and so forth. This would also be the only novelization that Koontz would ever write.

The film itself is not all that bad, really. Tobe Hooper's oh-so-unique brand of southern fried insanity pulses in just about every frame and, despite some effect moments of outlandish and over-the-top theatrical bombast, this movie really works well in its quieter, creepier moments. Of which there are quite a few.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #9

Datalog: Approx. 0:200, Day 2

An Alien can develop very quickly. I've seen chestbursters grow with amazing speed, shedding their skin with each phase of development. After the chestburster phase comes the quadruped phase - the four legged creatures. They always seem to be growing - and eating.

With each new entry in the franchise the gestation, birth, and growth of the 'Alien' (as it is called in this card series) shortened and quickened, because audiences knew what was coming and the filmmakers, or producers, felt it better to speed run through the established lore. More of than not, this was to the detriment of the film over all. So it goes.

The Beast Within (1982) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 11, 1982

I had torn through, and enjoyed, Edward Levy's fast paced source novel, so I walked into a 1983 screening of The Beast Within with some degree of high expectations. I also knew/recognized actor-turned Poe scholar Paul Clemens from his reoccurring role on Quincy, M.E., where he effectively (at least as I recall it) played a young man that suffering from the misunderstand and misrepresented condition known as Tourette's Syndrome. Which just so happened to have captured the attention of both online discourse and, inevitably, outrage from reasons that have nothing to do with the condition and everything to do with the spectacle.

Actor turned screenwriter Tom Holland, who would go on to pen the better than it has any right being Psycho II, as well as writing and directing Fright Night, among others, struggles to craft a coherent and understandable cinematic story from Levy's multi-viewpoint and multi-generation novel. It almost works, and might have worked, if director Philippe Mora had handled the material with a more serious attitude and less tongue in cheek contempt.

Although it falls short of being impactful as a straight horror film, it still has an energetic and atmospheric vibe that will keep the more forgiving viewer(s) entertained and somewhat engaged.

It also has a terrific score by the late, great Les Baxter.

Fright Flicks - Trading Cards #44

Fright Night (1985)

Evil Ed living his best vampiric life, albeit for only a night or so. Maybe...?

Isle of the Dead (1945) / Zombies on Broadway (1945) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 10, 1946

RKO double-bill featuring Boris Karloff headlining another fine offering from producer Val Lewton, Isle of the Dead. Bela Lugosi is the selling point of the second feature, which, despite the blurbs shouting EERIE! and SCAREY!, was actually of comedy featuring the duo of Brown and Carney. A pair of Abbott and Costello wannabes that never quite made it. So it goes.

Isle of the Dead was directed by Mark Robson, who I know best for directing Earthquake (1974). Zombies on Broadway was directed by Gordon Douglas, a journeyman workhorse who would go on to helm the better received, and far more fondly remembered, giant ant feature THEM! (1954).