Saturday 23 May 2009

The Prowler, and Cujo...one shite, one meh...

A couple of recent viewings here, and indeed a couple which I've been meaning to see for quite a while.

The Prowler...

A while ago I posted about how I was into a whole slasher movie bonanza lately. It's kind of run out of steam now, but I finally got around to watching The Prowler - one of Savini's lesser known works.

And that's about as good as it gets - this flick features some of Savini's best work from the beginning of the 1980s, with the moments of gore really standing out head and shoulders above the rest of the film.

The film itself, aside from Savini's work however, is pish. Boring characters, dud script, poor coverage, ropey editing, pointless direction and so on. Cash-in says it all really, and if it wasn't for Tom Savini's splatter, it'd be completely without purpose.

Cujo...

I've been meaning to see this for quite some time, and having enjoyed various Stephen King adaptations over the years, I figured I'd at least like it - and sure enough, it's a decent movie. Is it great? No. Is it shite? No. It's serviceable, but it really only kicks off after the mid-way point ... and even then you do find yourself yelling at the screen for the characters to stop farting around. Still though, in the home stretch it's in full swing, which makes up for the dawdling start.

I was thinking about it in today's context too - it would pretty much be solved with a phone call on the old mobile - the only way you could not have that would be the contrived "oh I left it at home" or "damn, battery is dead" ... the sort of thing scatterbrains do, you know the sort.

I'm not a scatterbrain - I keep my phone charged - and at the very least I'd have enough juice for a text message (with proper words and everything). So therefore, I don't think I'll be finding myself trapped in a car with a the rabid precursor to Beethoven (remember that movie? It's got David Duchovny falling over in it!)

What Beethoven also had was really annoying kids crying ... perhaps it's because I don't have kids, but those snivelling little ones in Beethoven - and that non-stop-screamer in Cujo - just wound me right up, ha! You know what I'd say? I'd say "shut up, I'm on my mobile sorting this shit out!" - problem solved.

Then we'd have ice cream.

Seriously though, Cujo's an alright flick ... worth a watch, but it's not the best King adaptation out there.

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