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
|
