Gargoyles
|
Our Price: $46.48 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Gargoyles
Movie Review: Scared the crap out of me as a kid
Summary: 4 Stars
And it is still scares the kid in me (that seemingly deformed skeleton, racing down the road as the roof is ripped open), yes kinda campy now but I thought I might not ever see it again till I found it on here. So cool to have it now.Movie Review: "Get yer stinkin' hands off me you darn dirty gargoyle!"
Summary: 3 Stars
"Gargoyles" is the greatest made-for-TV movie ever made about gargoyles starring Cornel Wilde. Seriously, this movie scared the heck out of me as a kid and my elementary school classmates were in an uproar the following day. We spent many a sleepless night imagining those gargoyle claws slowly reaching over the foot of the bed - yikes!
There are additional memorable images from this silly horror film, and perhaps this well-remembered monster movie is the perfect choice for kids on Halloween night. When viewing "Gargoyles" today, I am genuinely impressed by the makeup effects of the gargoyles. Actor Bernie Casey is unrecognizable as the lead gargoyle, and he gives a menacing performance. "Planet of the Apes" had come out a few years prior, and its pretty clear that sci-fi classic inspired this film. Watching the gargoyles hop around, snorting and sniveling, I was reminded of Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter in full makeup, frantically trying to save Chuck Heston from a lobotomy.
Wilde is an eccentric anthropologist who likes to toodle around New Mexico in a puke green station wagon (this movie was filmed on location in Carlsbad, with the cave sequences I am assuming filmed in Carlsbad Caverns). His daughter (the lovely Jennifer Salt) hitches a ride and they discover a skeleton of what appears to be a gargoyle. Well, all hell soon breaks loose as the surviving gargoyles try to take the skeleton back, and then for no apparent reason, kidnap Wilde's daughter.
While Jennifer Salt, adorned in white halter top and skin-tight jeans, has intellectual conversations with the king gargoyle in the echoing confines of Carlsbad Caverns, a frantic Wilde forms a posse made up of the local Barney Fife's. They recruit a long-haired motorcycle gang led by a very young Scott Glenn (in one of his first roles), and they head to the desert with everything from torches to pump shotguns. They then precede to take pot shots at anything that moves.
It's all fun, and about the only violent scene you'll find is a blood-covered seat in a pick-up truck. But when watching "Gargoyles" today, I feel a sense of warm nostalgia during these ugly days of Reality TV. Little Movie-of-the-Week horror films were quite common during this late 60s/early 70s era. Many a night I recall watching "Crowhaven Farm," "Something Evil," "The House That Would Not Die," "A Taste of Evil" and "The Night Stalker" (which later became a famous TV series) and walking to school the next morning with friends to discuss the eerie particulars. It was an innocent time, and "Gargoyles" is a perfect example of that great TV period.
Movie Review: "How Much For Your Women?"
Summary: 3 Stars
Pop-anthropologist/occultist Cornel Wilde and daughter Jennifer Salt are shown a bizarre skeleton, by an old desert coot out to make a fast buck. The wheezy geezer insists the bones are intact as he found them, but Wilde's experienced eye is certain it has to be a fake - even if an expert one. What kind of creature has bull's horns, a beak, and oversized bat's wings? The question is quickly answered, as the deceased beastie's living relatives besiege the shack, starting a fire that kills the old man and sends Wilde and Salt fleeing. They are bedeviled for the rest of their road trip by the demonic beings, who initially are intent on retrieving the skull Wilde took with him from the shack. Once they have that, their leader takes a shine to Salt, and decides she'd make a wonderful mother of monsters to begin a breeding overrun of the Earth...The gargoyle masks and costumes won an award, and half deserved it - some of them look great (like the leader, Bernie Casey), and others look very much like the vacuformed plastic outfits they are. They're seen far too often to remain convincing for long. There's atmosphere to spare, but almost no suspense - a prologue to the movie gives away everything to come, in the first minute. The script should either have been expanded and developed, or shortened into a much scarier Night Gallery episode, which is essentially how it performs. The plot is pretty thin even for the short running time, and is heavily padded - a lot of time is taken up showing nothing more than gargoyles loping along the road. The ending, and a few of the plot transitions, are too abrupt.
The cast, however, are quite good, and there's enough lurking-in-the-dark creepiness to keep things moving. Scott Glenn appears in one of his first roles, as a dirt biker who has some problems with local law enforcement, and Dark Shadows' Grayson Hall has a good minor support role as an alcoholic motel owner. The location photography is terrific, and the film's colors are especially vivid. The production is handsomely mounted.
Uneven, but enjoyable.
Movie Review: GARGOYLES !! WHEN TIMES WERE SIMPLE!
Summary: 3 Stars
There was a time when it didn't take much to get a kid excited! I remember scanning through my TV guide back in the day and all of a sudden BLAM! There it was....GARGOYOLES! 8PM Friday Night! The TV promo was really well cut and I remember the added soundtrack to the voice of one of the gargoyles in the TV spot. Sadly this was not used in the actual movie. Regardless, I watched this movie everytime it came on television and was happy to see it available on DVD. I bought this movie on DVD a while back when it was in a bargin bin, but now that it is OOP, I have seen it fetch a pretty hefty sum.
The movie brings back great childhood memories for me and the legion of kids who watched it when they were growing up, but the film in truth is not nearly as good as I remembered it to be. It isn't that it is a bad film, but sometimes memories are better than reality. If you can find it cheap by all means pick it up, just don't drop a lot of scrilla-bops on this fondly remembered TV movie. Unless you've got $$$ to burn.
Movie Review: This Is Not The Same Gargoyle Movie I Remember!
Summary: 3 Stars
Please Help, This is driving me crazy. I bought this DVD several months ago and just watched it with my visiting 36 yr. old son,and we both say we never saw this movie before!
The one I remember takes place in a small town with a 2-story brown brick school, and several other buildings,not just a gas station and motel stuck out in nowhere,in the desert.Also had scenes of stone gargoyles atop city buildings becoming fully animated (alive, through animation) and flying all around wreaking havoc on all the town's citizens.
Plus "ALL" the gargoyles had wings,not just 2 adults and a newly "hatched" one(demons from eggs,how HOKEY is that) The movie we remember did not even have the caverns and gargoyle eggs,but was a much better movie,because the winged gargoyles are so much creepier. They did not look like they were wearing rubber suits! Does anyone else remember the same version,my son and I do,and know if it is available?