Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008)

aka Kôkaku kidôtai (Japan)

Directed by Mamoru Oshii
Written by Masamune Shirow and Kazunori Itô

Rated R for animated violence, language and nudity

"Ghost in the Shell 2.0" is a CG-laden revisualization of Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyber-punk classic. I had mixed expectations about this release. On the one hand, "2.0" releases of movies are seldom more than double-dipping on the part of the filmmakers. Rarely does anything come out of these re-edits that actually improves upon the theatrical versions. On the other hand, Oshii himself (for whom I have great respect) helmed the project, and the original voice actors were on board to re-record their lines. When a project's original creator wants to redo a film, you generally assume they have good reason (unless they are George Lucas). The biggest draw for me is that "2.0" is the first version of the original "Ghost in the Shell" to feature full surround sound.

After watching it, I still had mixed feelings. The new scenes are pretty and exciting (especially the lingering close-ups on the Major's computer-generated breasts) but don't add much to the film. Computer generated graphics clash pretty badly with the original animation, though some scenes did benefit from color touch-ups.

One color-changing choice I did not agree with was changing the green tint in some scenes to a sepia-tone. This was apparently done to distance "Ghost in the Shell" from "the Matrix". Long story short: the green looked better. "Ghost in the Shell" predated "the Matrix" by five years, so it's strange they felt the need to go out of their way to avoid "imitating" something that is itself imitative of "Ghost in the Shell".

The dialogue for "2.0" has all been newly recorded by the original cast. I believe some new dialogue has been added in this release, but am not sure as I haven't seen the original in a few years. If there are changes, they don't affect the plot in any major way.

This brings me to another gripe: DVD extras. The "Ghost in the Shell 2.0" DVD has NO SPECIAL FEATURES!!! While you are allowed to chose between dubbing and subtitling and select different audio options, (thank heaven for small favors!) there are no "Bonus Features" whatsoever. This is particularly disappointing because it means several great opportunities were missed. It would have been nice if this DVD included the original theatrical cut of "Ghost in the Shell". Then you could buy both versions of the film at once. It would be even better if in addition to this they added a viewing option in which you can watch both versions side-by-side to compare "2.0" to the original. Maybe there is a fully loaded "2.0" DVD available in Japan, but us Americans are left with a bare-bones DVD. According to other reviews, the Blu-Ray version is just as flawed, though it does includes a few paltry special features.

"2.0" has its biggest success in its soundtrack. The surround sound is great, and uses many of the "panning" techniques that make surround sound fun to have. Inexplicably, some of the music has been changed from the original. I always loved the original soundtrack, so I am a bit befuddled about the seemingly arbitrary changes from the original music. In general, the surround sound is one of the main reasons to watch "2.0" over the original.

I'd give "Ghost in the Shell 2.0" an 8/10. The original "Ghost in the Shell" was a masterpiece of contemporary animation, one of the best animated films of all time. The visual effects they achieved with traditional animation techniques are much more impressive than any of the new CG scenes. "Ghost in the Shell 2.0" turned out to be a case of "if it's not broke, don't fix it." The changes they made were mostly unnecessary and tend to detract from the original film. That being said, if you are a huge fan of "Ghost in the Shell", you may want "2.0" for your collection. It's worth watching to see a shiny new take on a classic, but it is no substitute for the original.













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Corridors of Blood (1958)

Directed by Robert Day
Written by Jean Scott Rogers

Rated R for drug use and violence

"Corridors of Blood" has been made available to watch for free online by AMCTV here.

"Corridors of Blood" stars an aging Boris Karloff (most famous as Frankenstein's monster in "Frankenstein" (1939)) as Dr. Thomas Bolton, a surgeon who has become famous in 1840's London for his speed and skill at surgery. Speed is particularly important because the film takes place before the invention of anesthesia. Dr. Bolton is horrified by the pain he sees when he operates on conscious patients. His peers tell him that pain during surgery is unavoidable. "Can't have operations without screams. Pain and the knife are inseperable." In spite of this, Dr. Bolton makes it his personal quest to discover and popularize "painless surgery".

In addition to performing surgeries at a large hospital, Dr. Bolton also contributes one day a week to seeing patients in London's seedy "Seven Dials" district, street people and beggars who can't afford to pay for medical assistance. His charity work brings him into contact with some unsavory characters, including "Black Ben", who runs a tavern in Seven Dials. Ben's tavern is home to pickpockets and prostitutes, killers and con-men. Ben himself is the worst of these, working with "Resurrection Joe" (Christopher Lee, "Count Dracula and his Vampire Brides") to trick Dr. Bolton into signing fake accidental death certificates for Ben and Joe's murder victims so that they can sell the cadavers to hospitals for medical research.

While visiting the tavern to see to a patient, Dr. Bolton runs into one of his former patients, an amputee who suffers post traumatic stress disorder associated with the pain of un-anesthetized amputation. When Bolton sees what the horrors of primitive surgery have done to the man, he becomes even more convinced to discover a concoction that will end surgery patients' suffering.

This is where the tale takes a Jekyll & Hyde twist. Bolton begins experimenting on himself, inhaling chemical fumes in an attempt to eliminate the sensation of pain. When he has a partial success with a mixture based on nitrous oxide, he arranges a demonstration of his new technique for the board of directors at the hospital. When his demonstration goes horribly wrong, the Doctor decides he needs stronger chemicals.

So Dr. Bolton begins experimenting with tincture of opium, laudanum and vitriol. He is encouraged by the progress of his research, but testing the drugs on himself is gradually causing him to lose his grip on reality. He cannot discern whether the horrible things he sees while inhaling his potions are real or hallucinatory. His memory suffers and he is constantly late to work. Instead of inhaling what he calls "Formula 28" strictly for his research, he begins to abuse it daily, sneaking around his son and housekeepers to get his fix.

If there's one thing Boris Karloff knows how to play, it's someone on drugs. His face-acting during the "getting high" scenes is so realistic you have to wonder if he was really huffing opium and laudanum during the filming of these scenes.

Though he remembers nothing when he sobers up, Dr. Bolton has, during a series of drug-induced sleepwalking excursions, written even more faked death certificates for Black Ben and Resurrection Joe. When his inability to perform surgery with his former speed and skill nearly kills several patients, the hospital finally suspends Bolton, encouraging him to take a holiday and cease his unhealthy experiments. The hospital's dispensary denies him any further chemicals until he is reinstated. Desperate, Bolton enlists the help of Black Ben and Resurrection Joe to steal the chemicals he needs from the hospital, killing a night watchman in the process.

"And even now, knowing that I've caused the most terrible crimes, I cannot resist the craving for another inhalation." - Bolton

The police suspect Bolton of the hospital robbery/murder when they discover that the items stolen were the same ingredients Bolton requested regularly. A team is sent to the Seven Dials to raid Black Ben's tavern. The ensuing showdown fatally wounds Bolton, but his medical journal is passed down to his son, and becomes the basis for the invention of "painless surgery", as Bolton had intended all along.

I give "Corridors of Blood" an 8/10. It's got some beautiful Hitchcockian black and white cinematography, and manages to be deeply conceptually unnerving without using too much gore. Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee give outstanding performances. The horrors of early medical science are laid bare for all to see. The second half drags a bit, but the descent of Dr. Bolton into madness is a trip worth taking. Watch with popcorn and soda.


Notes on the Criterion DVD:
I recently purchased the Criterion four movie set "Monsters and Madmen". The set includes two horror and two sci-fi films; "Corridors of Blood", "The Haunted Strangler", "First Man Into Space" and "The Atomic Submarine". Upon watching the Criterion transfer of "Corridors...", I was blown away by the image quality. There are virtually no blemishes at all on this transfer. If you watch the free online version of the film, you see right away that it is an aged transfer. The Criterion DVD version is completely remastered and looks shiny and new, even 50+ years later. In addition to a great transfer of the film, the DVD also boasts several interesting special features. An audio interview with actress Yvonne Romain was fairly interesting. I didn't listen to the whole thing, just the part concerning "Corridors..." and the section on "Devil Doll", another great Yvonne Romain horror role. There was also a great featurette called "Corridor Rumors" in which the filmmakers recount their experiences working on the film and working with Boris Karloff. My favorite feature had to be the deleted scenes, which were accompanied by a sneak peak at the letter from the film board that requested these scenes be censored. All of the deleted scenes were just gorier versions of existing scenes, but would have added to the film and made it more visceral as a whole. For hard-core fans, I highly recommend the set "Monsters and Madmen".















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Halloween II (2009)

Directed and Written by Rob Zombie

Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, terror, disturbing graphic images, language, and some crude sexual content and nudity.

It has been almost 3 years since Rob Zombie resurrected the aging Halloween horror series. His first entry in the series, "Halloween" (2007) upgraded the murderous Michael Meyers for a new generation of horror audiences. In addition to the added stylized gore and nudity he gave Michael Meyers a back-story that explains the character's rage and psychosis more fully than ever before.

With "Halloween II", Zombie takes us a step further, into the very mind of Michael Meyers. A marked departure from the preexisting films in the series, Rob Zombie's "Halloween II" reinterprets the series' villain through the lens of Freudian dream psychology. Michael's dead mother, a white horse, and a manifestation of Michael as a child (wearing the iconic clown suit) haunt Michael throughout the film. The child-Michael and the adult-Michael often appear side-by-side, moving in unison. The eerie juxtaposition between the child and adult is an apt metaphor for the combination of Meyers' child-like brain and his monstrous physical presence. While this heavy-handed dream imagery has garnered it's share of criticism, I found these scenes to be the defining moments that kept this from being just another Halloween movie.

Scout Taylor-Compton reprises her role as Laurie Strode, the long-lost baby sister of Michael Meyers. After surviving the trials of the first film, Laurie spent the subsequent two years trying to piece her life back together. We get a realistic (although not optimistic) view of a young girl whose life has been irreparably scarred by the trauma of her experience with Michael Meyers. Her relationships with her friends have begun to suffer, along with her mental health. She sees a therapist throughout the course of the film, but this serves only to reveal to the audience the extent of her growing depravity. She manifests the same anger and rage that Michael Meyers did as a child, lashing out at those closest to her. By the end of the movie, Zombie has drawn a startling parallel between Laurie and Michael, leaving us to wonder whether she might not be the killer in Halloween 3.

At one point in Halloween II, someone asks Dr. Samuel Loomis (another survivor from the first movie) whether he believes that Michael Meyers was created by nature or nurture. The strong parallels between Laurie and Michael in Halloween II seem to imply that there is a genetic element to Meyers' madness. That he is in fact a "Bad Seed", with a genetically inherited predisposition to behave murderously, and that Laurie has been tainted by this innate evil as well. She even seems to be psychically connected to Michael, and has several hallucinatory episodes relating to Michael and his crimes. This would seem to support the "nature" argument. But Michael Meyers is shown in "Halloween" (2007) to have suffered abuse at the hands of classmates and his stepfather. And Laurie suffered horrible emotional trauma at the hands of Michael Meyers. Rob Zombie (like Dr. Loomis) dances around answering the nature vs. nurture question by making both answers not only possible, but likely. It could be that Michael and Laurie both inherited their murderous rage from one of their parents (making the question of who their biological father is very intriguing, since Zombie's films have yet to mention him). It could also be that Michael was pushed to his path of violence by childhood abuse and trauma (for which we see plenty of evidence in H1) and that Laurie's experience with Michael in H1 was emotionally damaging enough to push her to madness as well. In the end, both nature and nurture play a role. As Dr. Loomis says in H1, Michael is "a perfect storm"; the perfect combination of nature and nurture elements to create the perfect monster.

Dr. Loomis' character has changed the most since the last movie. In H1, Loomis (played by the amazing Malcolm McDowell) is a sympathetic everyman trying desperately to reign in the horror of the only patient he couldn't save. In H2, Loomis has become a cheap con-man, trying to cash in on his inside knowledge of Meyers by publishing books that expose the gruesome details of his crimes. Loomis was close to Michael when he was in prison as a child, but abandoned his case when Michael became introverted, unresponsive and silent. Child-Michael saw Loomis as a father-figure in H1, the last in a long series of father figures to disappoint him. His biological father is a virtual unknown, his step-father was abusive (and one of Michael's first victims) and Loomis left him to rot in prison when he needed human contact the most. In a riveting climax, Meyers confronts Loomis for all the crimes of all of his fathers, letting out a thundering shout of "Die" as he throws himself at Loomis. This is the only word that adult-Michael speaks in the film's franchise history.

Another thing that struck me about H1 was the amazing use of music. I particularly enjoy the murder scene in which the guitar jam portion of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" is playing as Michael chases one of his victims around a house. H2 just didn't do as well in the music department. While "Nights in White Satin" is used to some effect, the overall soundscape seemed to fall victim to several different horror soundtrack cliches, including going silent during shocking, violent scenes and using slow-motion and heartbeat sound effects during action sequences. These are common and forgivable errors within the horror soundtrack genre, but I had expected more from Mr. Zombie, him being a musician and all.

One major detractor for me was the absence of Daeg Faerch, the boy who played young Michael Meyers in H1. His performance of a boy on the edge of madness completely sold me on Rob Zombie's version of Meyers' back-story. Faerch's H2 replacement, Chase Wright Vanek, is just not as good. He doesn't look as creepy, and he's not as good an actor.

Overall, I'd give it an 8/10. If you've watched Zombie's other films (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and H1) there is very little chance you will not enjoy this movie. There is plenty of gore, seasoned with occasional, strikingly beautiful cinematography. The story is above-par for the series, and takes the characters of the original places they've never been before. It fell a tad short of H1 (in my opinion, Zombie's best film to-date), but expanded the series in a valuable way that has set us up for several interesting possibilities in Halloween 3. Is Michael alive? Will Laurie become a killer? Will we hear from Michael's long-lost father? I, for one, am eager to find out. 












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