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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Thursday Guilty Pleasure: Week Two

Well, kids, it's The Vault of Horror's third anniversary today--and what better way to celebrate than to regale you with my love for cheesy Japanese monsters and little boys in ridiculous shorts? That's right, it's time for another edition of Thursday Guilty Pleasure, brought to by yours truly and Missy Yearian of Chickapin Parish, the poor misguided soul who seems to derive joy from the nadir of Dario Argento's career. Read on...

Godzilla's Revenge (1968)

Speaking of nadirs, this happens to be, by everyone's estimation, the ultimate lowpoint of the entire classic Showa series of Godzilla films from Toho. To that I say, pshaw. That's right! Pshaw. Because Godzilla's Revenge--as you would know if you listened to my recent Vaultcast with Miguel Rodriguez--brings me, and has always brought me, a disproportionate amount of pleasure.

By the late 1960s, Toho had completely given in to the fact that the main fans of the Godzilla series were little children. And so, instead of trying to make truly excellent films like Ishiro Honda's original Gojira, they started cranking out blatant kiddie fare, created without any intention of being anything but fluff. But once you accept that this isn't Gojira...well, Godzilla's Revenge can be a whole lot of fun.

You've got the little boy Ichiro, who aroused more jealousy in me than any other cinematic boy aside from possibly Elliot in E.T. You see, Ichiro had a magical machine that could transport him to Monster Island to hang out Big G and the rest of the gang. OK, so he was only dreaming, but that didn't make it any less awesome to me. I wanted to be that boy, and I wanted to chill with Anguirus, Gorosaurus and the rest of the kaiju crew.

Then, of course, there's Minya. That's right, I was the world's biggest Minya fan. Godzilla's little son (although paternity was never incontrovertibly established) completely captured my imagination, with his Don Knotts-like voice and classic smoke-ring blowing abilities. Yes, he may be the most maligned member of the Japanese movie monster fraternity, but I'm not too much of a snob to admit I loved the goofy-looking guy--and somewhere, in my grown-up heart, I still do. So take that, purists!

Godzilla's Revenge is a whole lot fun--not to mention the perfect gateway Godzilla film for little kids. So let's all get off the high horse, kick back and enjoy it's silly goodness, shall we? After all, what better way to learn a lesson about how to deal with bullying than by watching Godzilla duke it out with something that looks like a cross between a giraffe and a cat?



And now, I toss it over to Ms. Yearian, and her Guilty Pleasure for this week...

Mother of Tears (2007)

There is something special about Italian horror, no? All of us genre fans have a little place in our heart for those crazy Italians—mostly Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. They make what we like to call “style over substance” movies. Hell, I’ve never seen a Lucio Fulci movie make much sense. Argento, however, is somehow a master at this particular kind of filmmaking. His movies are generally among the most visually beautiful you’ll ever see (see Suspiria or Tenebre).

This is why I was so surprised to discover that he’d botched Mother of Tears so badly. Holy hell, is that movie a mess or what? I mean, the acting is abysmal. The visuals are absurd. The story makes no sense. It should be the greatest cinematic disappointment of the decade.

But for some reason, it just isn’t. Don’t get me wrong. This is one of the worst horror movies I have ever seen. It’s an absolute disaster. But I’ve got such a girl boner for it that I can hardly believe it. That’s right, folks. I love Mother of Tears.

What makes the movie such a treat is the absolute shamelessness with which Argento made it. From the beginning, wherein a woman is strangled with her own intestines, the film is an experiment in absurdity. If I were to give you a highlight reel, it would look like the worst films of the eighties (a decade Argento seems to still be stuck in). A good example of this is the monkey (is it really a monkey? A baboon? Who knows?) that chases Sarah all over Italy. One could also cite the people chasing her on the train, what with their decidedly Duran Duran hairdos and makeup stylings.

But the real treat of Mother of Tears is the titular witch. Sporting a big, bouncy hairdo and the glossiest red lips you’ve ever seen, she’s no more terrifying than your average glance at your family photo albums. Upon first seeing her, I thought, “What? This is the worst of the three mothers? But she’s so eighties!”

All right, all right, truth be told, when I first saw Mother of Tears, I thought it was awful. I thought it was the worst possible ending to a fantastic trilogy. But then I saw it again. And, I don’t know, folks. You’ve got to admire Argento’s moxy. He made one atrociously bad movie (and yes, a bad ending to the trilogy), but it’s sure got style, doesn’t it?



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Yes, you read correctly up there at the top. Today is the third birthday of The Vault of Horror--which began here, if you'd care to check out the very first, completely unimpressive post. So to just keep it brief, I'd like to thank everyone, both colleagues and readers alike, for supporting this blog and helping it grow into what it is today. I can assure you... you ain't seen nothing yet.

10 comments:

  1. Allow me to be the first (probably not, but in this box anyway!) to say happy anniversary! You are an inspiration and a true erejout (that's the verification word and I'm sticking to it).

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  2. I'll take second, and second to Emily is quite the honor!

    Congrats, Brian, you are a true gentlemen and you have done so much for so many people in the horror blogging scene.

    Whenever you first contacted me about taking part in whatever it was (maybe one of the Cyber-horror elite things?), it meant a lot to a budding horror blogger and certainly gave me a little boost in my confidence. Not many people in this community are that selfless to where they will go out of their way to extend a hand out to others, but you sir, you do that with grace and elegance.

    Sorry, sounds like I'm trying to bed you or some shit...happy blogday!

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  3. i hate Godzilla's Revenge and Minya so much that i can't even begin to be rational about it. but as much as i hate them, i love that you love them and you wrote about it. maybe i'll go examine my own feelings about them now.

    happy anniversary!

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  4. A happy, happy birthday from Golden Corral to you! A happy, happy birthday, may all your dreams come true!

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  5. Happy Birthday, VoH!!! You are a creepy touchstone in the crumbling tower of Castle Blog'n'Fright...or something like that.

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  6. I saw Mother of Tears at the Seattle International Film Festival a few years back at midnight and was so disappointed I don't think I was able to appreciate its camp value. Like most fans I was hoping for a decent follow up to Suspiria and instead we got this weird, over the top movie. The thing is, some of my favorite Argento movies are the sillier ones--Phenomena for example. I'll have to give Mother of Tears another try, just with different expectations. Thanks for the review.

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  7. Emily, Matt, Theron, GWLH, Missy, Carol and everyone else, thanks so much for the kind wishes! It's an honor knowing all of you, and sharing in this love of horror that makes us all the nuts we are.

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  8. I LOVE Mother of Tears. I bought it like the day the DVD dropped, which is kind of embarrassing. My favorite terrible moment from the movie (aside from the Duran Duran chase scenes, omg) is when the chick is reading from the book and all of a sudden it's a guy's voice going "THE MOTHER OF TEARS." LIKE HER INTERNAL VOICE IS A MAN. It's so silly I almost peed when I saw it in the theater.

    And happy anniversary :)

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