Village of the Giants
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Movie Reviews of Village of the Giants
Movie Review: Cool cringeworthy camp classic; DVD looks fine, honest!
Summary: 4 Stars
As much as I love this movie, I had basically written off buying this disc based on the variety of (conflicting) complaints in other reviews here about the quality of the transfer (i.e., the print is pan-and-scan, picture looks 'squeezed,' color is faded, not up to the usual Midnite Movies standards, yada, yada, yada). My own skepticism and a quick look at IMDb convinced me to purchase the disc and evaluate it myself. I have to say I think this is a case of Amazon reviewers [commenting] about mostly imaginary problems. First of all, according to IMDb (and fairly obviously from the framing of the opening credits and the movie in general) Village of the Giants was shot on 35mm, at approximately 1.33:1, NOT in widescreen format. Cropped fake-widescreen prints may have been shown in theatres, but I see nothing to indicate that this movie was ever actually true widescreen. Second, my disc showed no evidence of any 'squeezing' effect (maybe that was a defective copy). Third, while the color is certainly not up to Herbert and Natalie Kalmus standards, it is certainly not faded much, if at all; it's just poorly balanced, and probably looks as good as it ever did. The reds, blues, greens, are all richly saturated in the expected places. The fleshtones are unspectacular but that's just sixties-era cheap color film stock, folks, it's never gonna look like Gone with the Wind. (The credits don't identify the lab but it's probably Eastman, Pathe, or DeLuxe, most certainly not Technicolor.) All in all, the print looks very good to excellent in my book: the overall brightness, contrast, and detail are just fine. True, it's not as stunning as some others in the Midnite Movies series, but very respectable; acceptably sharp and sure to make any VHS copy look inferior. Physical damage is limited to some occasional very light speckling. At the bargain price it's definitely worth grabbing for fans, even with no extras besides the French and Spanish subtitles.As far as the movie itself, Village of the Giants is perhaps the apotheosis of Bert I. Gordon's career, his Ivan the Terrible Part II as it were: a brilliant/warped synthesis of his early giant-mutant teenflicks (Amazing Colossal Man, The Cyclops) and smarmy mid-period adult-oriented fare (Tormented, Picture Mommy Dead). Mainstream moviegoers will probably find Village of the Giants unbearable torture; masochistic fans of nails-on-a-blackboard style camp will be in bad movie heaven. Start with that quintessential cheese-lover's cast: Tommy Kirk (The Monkey's Uncle, Pajama Party, Mars Needs Women, Blood of Ghastly Horror), Beau Bridges (no doubt still trying to live this movie down), Johnny Crawford (Mickey Mouse Club, The Rifleman), Oscar-winning director (!) Ron Howard (Andy Griffith, Door-to-Door Maniac), third-string starlets Tisha Sterling, Joy Harmon, and Charla Doherty (Days of Our Lives, In the Year 2889), Tim Rooney (Mickey's son, of course) , choreographer Toni Basil (New Wave one-hit wonder a decade later with "[Hey] Mickey"), Rance Howard (Ron and Clint's dad), and Joseph Turkel (cult icon who's played numerous rough characters, often coincidentally named Joe Turkel, in everything from The Human Jungle to Paths of Glory, The Devil's 8, and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, etc.). Whew! Plus you get nearly-complete excellent non-hit musical numbers by Freddy Cannon (Little Bitty Corrine) and the Beau Brummels (When It Comes to Your Love; Woman) that are almost worth the price of the disc by themselves. (The Brummels perform accompanied by caged, befringed go-go dancers.) Drippy teen dream Mike Clifford also croons one instantly-forgettable ballad.
The story of grown-huge teens menacing the whitebread populace of a small town, ostensibly based on, of all things, H. G. Wells' Food of the Gods (a source Gordon would desecrate again in the 1970s) is basically just an excuse for Bert and Flora's usual wildly variable special effects (this time with a healthy assist from process photography legend Farciot Edouart), and lots of gratuitous exploitation of jiggling breasts and cleavage as the fast-growing teens come ripping out of their normal-sized clothes. Try and decide which looks worse: Beau Bridges in a toga or the laughably pathetic giant-size props of his skinny, hairy legs. Also check out the way Gordon has the giants walk in 'slow motion,' exaggeratedly swinging their arms, so we can see how 'big' they are. The dialogue, performances, and production values are uniformly cringe-inducing, and the scenes of the teen giants gyrating in slo-mo to Jack Nitzsche's terrific snaky, pulsating theme music inspire a unique combination of genuine awe and mortal embarrassment. Perhaps the most inappropriately titillating movie ever pitched to the kiddie matinee crowd (right up there with The Brain that Wouldn't Die), and an amazing, excruciating 1960s camp relic.
Movie Review: DVD dud
Summary: 1 Stars
Boy o boy what a major disappointment! ....I liked Village of the Giants as a kid and I never had a chance to see it in the theater, so when I saw it was available on DVD - you know, that wonderful format that is keenly reserved for 16:9, I thought I was finally going get to see a decent version of this film after all. Not! It's a lousy pan & scan transfer with faded color and poor contrast. MGM has been releasing a lot of older films lately under their Midnight Movies title and most of them look great. This one however turned out to be a real dud. If this is an example of how older films are going to end up on DVD, I might as well go back to watching VHS tape! Blaa.Movie Review: Oh the pain...
Summary: 4 Stars
A 3:30 movie staple (during the 1970s) finally arrives in DVD! A terrible movie, but fascinating in a car-wreck kind of way.The first thing that comes to mind is the costuming...this movie was made in 1965, but everyone's dressed for the sock hop! One exception is the Beau Brummells, featured as a club band early in the film...one look at these guys and you'll believe that yes, even native Californian's tried to emulate the look and the sound of the Beatles. Great band (and they actually wrote some pretty good music)...but their efforts to look like the Ed Sullivan-ear Fab Four is laughable.
Speaking of the club...it's located in the fictional city of Hainesville, California and its called the "Whisky-A-Go-Go". I don't get out much, but my recollection is that the Whisky is on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood!
It's a great chance to see some early performances by future prominent actors...you'll see the hairiest Beau Bridges you can stand (this movie is Beau-tiful), Ron Howard (looks exactly like Opie to the point of distraction, Tony Basil (yes, that Toni Basil), Tish Sterling (daughter of Ann Sothern), and Tim Rooney (Mickey's son).
Someone pointed out to me recently that the giant ducks were controlled by attaching strings to their legs and wings...no way to no for sure except to watch, and sure enough, you can see the strings. Sort of took the fun out of it for me.
Watch for one of the most offensive endings ever committed to film. Highly recommended for camp value. If you ever get the chance, see the MST3K treatment of this film.
Movie Review: Made in the 60's, looks like the 50's
Summary: 4 Stars
I couldn't figure out why this movie is so oddly compelling (aside from the fact that it was an afternoon movie staple during the 1970's). Then it hit me...this movie was made in the mid-1960's by people who didn't realize the 1950's were over! Note the doo-wop crooning (a la Fabian), the barefoot dancing, the 1950's dress (particularly among the adults). The background and establishing shots look more like "Grease" than like "Hair". The 1960's does manifest itself, primarily in featuring the then-popular Beau Brummels in the Whisky-a-go-go scene. They were a fine band...but they take pains to look like a popular British band of the era that their (quite good) music is lost in the background. That being said, this godawful film has established itself as a cult favorite. If you've never imagined Beau Bridges as a handsome (in a fleshy, hairy sort of way) protagonist then you MUST see this film. Many of the other young actors were also notable, including the son of Mickey Rooney, Tommy Kirk, Toni Basil (that's right, the "Oh Mickey" lady) and some others.
The suspension of disbelief required to enjoy this movie is formidaable...but at 1 hour 21 minutes it's mercifully short, and for some reason it's quite engrossing. At the beginning, we get treated to the bad teens cavorting in the mud during a rainstorm, despite the obvious presence of sunlight and hard shadows. Although Bert I. Gordon has never been afraid of too much exposition, we are led to believe that the newly-grown giants have a readily-tailored set of giant clothes conveniently stashed in a conveniently empty theater. (The theater is a device for one of the simplest "giant effects", i.e. the "giant" characters are simply projected on a movie screen that the other characters interact with). But never mind.
As for the rest of it, well, you just have to accept what you see without being critical. Yes, there are cheesy optical effects, plaster giant "feet", obvious forced perspective shots. And I've heard that the Whisky-A-Go-Go may actually be in Los Angeles, not "Hainesville".
As a cult film, a vision of mid-1960's youth, and a curiosity it's highly recommended (especially at this price). Like many others, this movie would have been perfect had it been released in it's "Mystery Science Theater" format.
Movie Review: Truly bad movie, one of the all time worst.
Summary: 1 Stars
There's a reason this appears on almost every compilation of the all time worst movies....An unintentional classic, on par with Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. This movie will appeal to anyone enjoying Bert Gordon or Ed Wood films, or Joy Harmon's chest.
No goodies on the DVD version, which is too bad. I would have to loved to see what Ron Howard or Beau Bridges would have to say about this movie a few decades later.