WINTERBEAST (1991) Directed by Christopher Thies
Tempe Video VHS
THE FILM
Love it! Love it! Love it!
That's the "brave, new" style of Bleeding Skull reviewing we've instigated over the break.
If you find Winterbeast, watch it. Then, watch it again.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Beautiful. The audio is terrible. Much of the dialogue is garbled. It requires a second listen to decipher some of the words. The music is way too loud and far too awesome. The picture goes from hazy to grainy to fuzzy. I wouldn't want it any other way.
EXTRAS
"The B's Nest". J.R. Bookwalter talks about the movie he's currently working on. Except my copy stopped after the movie. So, I never got to see it. Sorry.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Good things feel nice. Swell things feel awesome. Watch Winterbeast. You'll smile. You'll laugh. You'll tell your friends.
MORE FINAL THOUGHTS
I was asked to add a little more about the movie.
Well -- It's set in the woods somewhere in Massachusetts or Rhode Island in the vicinity of the Wild Geese Lodge. Monsters are appearing. People are vanishing. The rangers can't figure it out. There is talk of the legend of the Winterbeast. And, the man who runs the lodge is one of the oddest characters I've ever seen.
As with other films of this sort, I can tell you details about it until the end of the day. But, it really doesn't matter. That's really not what this is about. This is a film that breathes the rarefied air of Don't Go In The Woods, The Last Slumber Party, R.O.T.O.R. or Tales From The Quadead Zone. It is touted as being "The Evil Dead meets Northern Exposure". In its heart, it is. In reality, there are laughs but they are in strange places. The bits that are outright comedy are tough to spot. And, some moments (like the carved penis in the talisman box) seem like comedy but the tone is so odd that you just can't tell.
The dubbing is sometimes perfect. Then, sometimes, it slips. During a five minute chat between forest rangers in a cabin (my favorite part of the film), the dialogue slips in and out of the actor's mouths. It matches, it doesn't. Other scenes have live dialogue. You never know what you're going to get. And, whenever a monster attacks, the music goes way up and no dialogue is spoken. It's brilliant.
The monsters are stop-motion animation and are a lot of fun. They, generally, don't really fit in with the world around them but they're certainly energetic. With the synths and the drum machine pounding behind them, I was convinced. The non-stop motion main monster is the Winterbeast. It brawls with the ranger and a guy in the last ten minutes. Possibly the weirdest final fight I've ever seen. Apart from one shot, the guys are never on screen with the monster. It certainly heightens the tension because you can't tell where folks are in relation to one another.
This film drips with weirdness. Camera angels and frame compositions. The sets. The David lynch-inspired oddness of the "So Long At The Fair" scene that wins out as the "Scene guaranteed to give you nightmares". It's all one big pile of greatness all the way up to the final dubbed line that inspires a hearty laugh from the people onscreen but sounds dubbed by completely different people. This review has become the sort I used to write but don't like much now. The ones that give out way too much info. The ones that list all the things that a movie does. The ones that seem to think the reader will never watch the film themselves. So, I'm going to wrap it up now.
Suffice it to say, Winterbeast is loaded with weird goodness. You'll watch and it'll make you feel nice. Find it!
— Dan Budnik, 12.06.07 | 
Leggo my Mego
There is a time and place for comedy and it is now.
There be Winterbeast
Thank you, Christopher Thies
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