Reviews

Come on, folks! Coleman deserves a break. If the film's credits said DIRECTED BY JEAN LUC GODARD critics would praise it as revolutionary "new wave" cinema.

Coleman challenges our conventional notions of narrative & structure. Coleman challenges our suspension of disbelief by DELIBERATELY making things fake & unconvincing, by distorting time, place & sequence in true "cinema verite" fashion. Remember, there are people out there who think Marcus Welby & Obi Wan Kenobi are REAL - so, rather than exploit the viewer, Coleman DEMANDS that we face our concepts of "reality."

Try an experiment: take just about ANY Godard film (but especially NUMERO DEUX) and pretend it's a COLEMAN FRANCIS film; you'll see what I mean. ANYONE can make a horrid self indulgent incompetent "movie" & be successful if the film has a European (preferably French) director's name on the credits... [note that Numero Deux is French for "#2" - translation: caca] ...Ok... RED ZONE CUBA really did hurt; it was abysmal; it was obvious that many script pages blew away while shooting & Coleman never noticed. It deserves a special place of honor with MONSTER A GO-GO, PLAN 9, ROBOT MONSTER and MANOS as one of the all time worst.

Coleman hurt me; I think I'm suffering the movie watcher's equivalent of the Stockholm syndrome... pardon me while I check out BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS again; I am sure to find relief therein. I will imagine BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS is a Jean Luc Godard film...

This is NOT a Godzilla film: it's BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS meets JURASSIC PARK.

Godzilla fans will be sorely disappointed, but shouldn't be shocked: Hollywood simply can't do Godzilla, because they don't understand why fans love the Big Guy. Ironically the producers already had a pre-sold audience (Star Trek & Star Wars being other examples of pre-sold audiences). If they had simply delivered on their promise - a GODZILLA film - it could've been a slam-dunk hit. But they simply expected us to ooh and aah over technical effects *we've already seen* in lieu of plot, story & character; here's what any Godzilla fan will tell you what belongs in a Godzilla film:

1. Godzilla has PERSONALITY - namely, a bad attitude and is clearly "masculine" - NOT "just an animal" as defined in this remake, and definitely NOT an egg-laying mother (!)

2. Godzilla *always* battles another monster; he first emerges for a destructive temper-tantrum, then goes head-to-head with another beast intent on destroying the world; Godzilla never intends to destroy the world; he just keeps us in our place, then saves us all from something *really bad*.

3. Godzilla does not get killed - ever - especially not by humans, as in this one; although in Toho's most recent GODZILLA VS DESTROYAH, Big G is self-immolated by his own radioactive heart, he will most definitely return in one form or another.

You get the idea; pass on this turkey and pick up GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH instead.

Don't believe the Maltin review (his reviews on older horror/sci-fi's are nearly always dismissive & undoubtedly written when appreciating the B movie was not "chic").

Curse of the Fly is a gloomy neo-gothic that captures the real sense of doom that befalls the Delambres; mutants locked in old horse stables, kept like animals; everyone transported with the Delambre machine suffers some form of deformity or disease, and they struggle to perfect it before they all eventually succumb to mental and (literally) physical disintegration. Very downbeat, not for all tastes, but a personal favorite.

A jaw-droppingly stupid idea (giant carnivorous bunny rabbits on a rampage) makes for a surprisingly fun, entertaining movie. The effects are reasonably convincing, it's briskly paced, with a blast of an ending. It's all played perfectly straight, and good for many a giggle.

Dumb? You bet. Fun? Abso-wootwy (as Elmer Fudd would say). Plus it stars DeForest Kelly. Bad film buffs will adore it!

Boring doesn't begin to describe this waste of time. Just talk, talk, talk about a scheme to lure tourists to a sculptor's museum. Karloff's minimal role adds nothing, not even curiosity value. Unlike "fun" bad movies (such as Horror of Party Beach, The Creeping Terror, etc.) there's no fun in this empty Cauldron at all; it's just plain bad. Pass this one by - you're not missing anything.