badfilm now available
Posted by:: "nu-monet v7.0"
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:17:47 -0700
--------
Now appearing on:
alt.binaries.multimedia.horror
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060536/
In the Year 2889 (1967) (TV)
A group of post A-war survivors, gathered together
in a valley, are menaced by cannibalistic human mutants
with telepathic powers. They argue and complain a lot,
which doesn't really help their situation.
"I had the misfortune to buy this film in a video sale,
and then wasted an evening watching it. As a Science
Fiction/Horror film the plot has more holes in it than
a Gruyere cheese, and even for a very low cost movie it
should have been possible to somehow indicate that
technology might have advanced slightly by the year 2889.
In addition the acting was like Birnham Wood on a bad day
and the dialog as sparkling as distilled water. I am a
fan of movies which could be classed as 'so bad they are
good' like Ed Wood's, but this is 'so bad its unwatchable'
like 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'."
--
Be Sure To Visit the 'SubGenius Reverend' Blog:
http://slackoff.blogspot.com/
***********
"A stupid movie WILL NOT make you turn
down a blowjob. Simple as that."
-- nu-monet
Posted by:: "Rev. Ivan Stang"
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 16:11:00 -0500
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In article <422754CB.2845@succeeds.com>, nu-monet v7.0
wrote:
> Now appearing on:
>
> alt.binaries.multimedia.horror
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060536/
>
> In the Year 2889 (1967) (TV)
>
> A group of post A-war survivors, gathered together
> in a valley, are menaced by cannibalistic human mutants
> with telepathic powers. They argue and complain a lot,
> which doesn't really help their situation.
>
> "I had the misfortune to buy this film in a video sale,
> and then wasted an evening watching it. As a Science
> Fiction/Horror film the plot has more holes in it than
> a Gruyere cheese, and even for a very low cost movie it
> should have been possible to somehow indicate that
> technology might have advanced slightly by the year 2889.
>
> In addition the acting was like Birnham Wood on a bad day
> and the dialog as sparkling as distilled water. I am a
> fan of movies which could be classed as 'so bad they are
> good' like Ed Wood's, but this is 'so bad its unwatchable'
> like 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'."
Bless you, nu-monet!
That is directed by the late great Larry Buchanan and written by his
friend Harold Hoffman -- MADE IN DALLAS. I interviewed both those guys
once for an article on Buchanan and his astounding output of movies
with cool concepts but somewhat inconsistent execution. MARS NEEDS
WOMEN is Buchanan's most famous (and has a rare screen appearance by
"Bob" AS "Bob"!), but DOWN ON US is his most SubGenius -- even more so
than ZONTAR, THING FROM VENUS.
I heard tales from my old employers, who worked on these films, about
the miseries of making them. Buchanan himself however was
Munchausen-like throughout. The entire budgets for these films was
around $10,000 to $20,000, and AIP's sole stipulation about these
remakes of Corman Z-graders was that they be 70 minutes long and in
color. I've had my eyes out for this particular one, which I can't
remember if I've seen or not -- the sure mark of a Buchanan film that
you HAVE SEEN.
This one features the great Billy Thurmon -- Dallas' answer to Rondo
Hattan. It may be a rewrite of Corman's "The Day the World Ended." If I
was more of a geek I'd look up my own article and find out.
There is a book coming out soon about the Buchananoid and Brownriggian
eras of badfilm in Dallas. That is gonna be TRUE badfilm enthusiast
HEAVEN. Ed Wood? He was a regular Ken Russell compared to Larry
Buchanan. Wait. What am I saying. I consider Ken Russell to be Ed Wood
with a budget.
S.F. 'Brownie' Brownrigg's son emailed me recently about wanting to do
a remake of DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, Brownrigg's most famous one.
Some of the cast are still alive! I told him I'd be interested in
ACTING in it if they ever really do it. It's about when the inmates
take over the asylum.
Hey, you were NOT KIDDING about The Phantom Empire. (Also on monter and
vintage-film) That IS some HIGH, HIGH BULLDADA.
"RADIO RANCH" looks EXACTLY like "OR KILL ME RADIO" at Brushwood during
X-Days. The kids all talk the same way too. I have only seen the first
half so far.
So strange to be watching the shittiest most low budget artifact from
the 1930s, on a holocube.
--
The SubGenius Foundation, Inc.
(4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected, Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
Dobbs-Approved Authorized Commercial Outreach of The Church of the SubGenius
SubSITE: http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB
Posted by:: "Rev. Ivan Stang"
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 16:11:01 -0500
--------
In article <422754CB.2845@succeeds.com>, nu-monet v7.0
wrote:
> Now appearing on:
>
> alt.binaries.multimedia.horror
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060536/
>
> In the Year 2889 (1967) (TV)
>
Jesus fucking christ, look how much commentary this movie got on imdb:
Are you ready for this? This is one of a string of little or no budget
remakes by filmmaker Larry Buchanan for AIP. IN THE YEAR 2889 is a
remake of Roger Corman's THE END OF THE WORLD(1956). A stick in the mud
retired Navy Captain John Ramsey(Neil Fletcher)and his daughter
Joanna(Charla Doherty)survive a nuclear disaster in their built
specially for the occasion home in the bottom of a canyon. With very
little food to thrive on an array of uninvited guests drop in for
shelter. A chain smoking young man Steve(Paul Peterson)and his brother
Granger(Max Anderson)arrive first. Granger has already become a
radioactive mutant. Soon arrives a stripper(Quinn O'Hara)and her sleazy
manager Mickey(Hugh Feagin). Oddly enough the next to appear is an
alcoholic farmer Tim(Bill Thurman). This strange collection of folks
are not only in fear of radioactive fallout; but also the raw meat
eating mutants like Granger that keeps coming closer and closer to the
house. Lust, drunkenness and murder are interrupted when fresh rain
falls and saves Joanna from a telepathic mutant that has carried her
off to the woods. Will this rainfall be mankind's salvation? The
mutant(in an awkward rubber mask)is played by Byron Lord.
*****
It's been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If
that's true, then Roger Corman must feel very flattered. AIP's 1967 "In
The Year 2889" is an almost word-for-word remake of Corman's campy 1956
"The Day The World Ended" only with - would you believe? - worse
acting, worse direction, worse editing, and a Halloween mask monster.
Larry Buchanan did such a terrible job with this neutron bomb of a
movie that it's almost painful to sit through. On the other hand, the
house is nicer and it was shot in color. Paul Petersen reprises the
role of Steve, originally played by Richard Denning, but is so wooden
in some scenes that it's hard to believe that this is the same guy who
performed so well on "The Donna Reed Show". Incidentally, we have
nothing against Mr. Petersen who, after being dumped on by Hollywood,
went on to found "A Minor Affair", a very worthwhile organization to
aid other child stars. But, back to the movie: we had an uncle who was
a wine taster, and he once said that if you took excrement, put it in a
bottle with a nice label, aged it for ten years, when you uncorked it
you'd still have excrement. Corman's original film might have been
junk, but at least it was entertaining junk, and Paul Blaisdell's
monster was, if nothing else, imaginative. The "monster" in this film
is so unimpressive that it's hard to describe, unless you've seen "Fire
Maidens of Outer Space" which, on reflection, compares well with this
loser, having about the same production values. In short, no matter how
starved you may be for entertainment, don't even consider watching this
awful, awful movie.
As another commentator said, Larry Buchanan has to be the 1960's
version of Ed Wood. However, where at least Ed Wood more or less was
very original in his thinking, Buchanan never had an original thought
in his whole career. The only original films he ever made was 1969's
"Its Alive" and his most infamous film, the epic schlockfest "Mars
Needs Women" but even those epics had to work hard to reach the bottom
of the heap. This essentially is a remake of Roger Corman's 1950's epic
"The Day the World Ended". However, where Corman was able to use his
B-pictures to make some social commentary, Buchanan never was able to
rise above being boring. Also, whereas Corman was a great scout of
young talent both in front of the camera and behind it, Buchanan relied
on washed up has beens (eg. Paul Petersen of "Donna Reed Show" fame").
This is definitely a piece of crap.
This movie made Ed Wood's films look like Orson Welles. The "mutant"
was just a man wearing a really bad mask. The "plot" is non existant
and I've seen grade school plays that have better actors in them. The
"plot" or lack of is a post apoclypse style story and unless the film
is "Mad Max" or the sort don't expect that type of story to be good. i
saw this monsterosity on one of the many "stars" cable channels and for
some reason it carried an NC-17 rating. I don't know why there was no
nudity or sex and very little violence. Also the technical aspects were
also pretty bad as well as the lighting was so dark you could barely
see anything. This movie gets a -* or a -3/10 in my book. It's SOOOO
aweful.
Here we go! Its Larry Buchanan and this is another incredibly inept
film that is fascinating to watch for the same reason. Story is about
survivors after a nuclear bomb has put an end to the world but a few
people did survive because they were in a canyon that lies below the
radiation mists that hover at the top of the hills. At the bottom of
the canyon is a home that is owned by a retired Navy Officer named
Captain John Ramsey (Neil Fletcher) and his daughter Joanna (Charla
Doherty). They have enough food for just the two of them but suddenly
they get unwanted guests like Steve (Paul Petersen) and his brother
Granger (Max W. Anderson) who has been exposed to dangerous levels of
radiation and scarred. Then a sleazeball named Mickey (Hugh Feagin) and
his stripper girlfriend Jada (Quinn O'Hara) bust in and Joanna pleads
with her father that they just can't send them away. The next day Tim
(Bill Thurman) who is a ranch farmer from over the hill stumbles in and
they are forced to allow him to stay. John proclaims himself in charge
of the group and that Steve is second in charge and he will decide how
much to eat everyday. John has guns and the key to the store room where
all the food is kept. John and Steve notice tracks around their
property and they figure out that certain creatures have survived the
bomb but have become mutated monsters that feed on raw meat!
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Mickey is in love with Joanna and keeps hitting on her but she and
Steve have become romantic. Jada tells Joanna to watch out for Mickey
because he's her man. Mickey keeps trying to get John's gun so he can
take over and have Joanna all to himself but John has decided to act
like the Captain of the ship and marry his daughter to Steve.
Just like all of Buchanan's films this is technically a disaster and
one of the things that stand out is the bad sound and editing. The
Radiation Meter makes a strange noise that sounds like some kid
stuffing popcorn in his mouth. Also, in at least two scenes their is a
very quick cut to another scene in mid-verse. Just as a character is
speaking the scene quickly ends and we never hear the end of the
sentence! The mutant that lumbers around in this film suspiciously
looks like the monster in another Buchanan classic called "It's Alive".
Its probably the same mask and make-up and one of the other mutants has
a ping-pong ball on one side of his face. Neil Fletcher is a Buchanan
regular and so is big Bill Thurman, you can't have a film directed by
Buchanan without big Bill having a role. Doherty was in "Village of the
Giants" and she never had much of an acting career after this. One of
the funny things in this film is the character John. Talk about
illusions of grandeur! One of the first things he tells Steve is that
he should kill his brother. Then he says he won't bother feeding him
since he'll probably die anyway. He even tells his daughter that he
will marry her off like a sea Captain and tells Steve that she should
have kids as fast as she can. Finally he tells Steve that he should
kill Mickey since he's trouble. One guy was making all of these life
and death decisions, I guess he didn't want to consult with the others
on anything. And you can't help but notice that it's suppose to be 2889
but they still dress like its the 60's. So much for progress! I have to
say that I love Buchanan's films for all of their low budget silliness
and cheesy dialogue and waiting for Thurman to make his appearance. He
makes the best he can with practically no budget and the end result is
usually unintentional laughs. I can't wait to see more of his films!
Was the above comment useful to you?
I rate "1", movies which are so awful that the actors seemingly know
it; and "2", awful films wherein the actors seem to be still tryin'. So
this gets a "2" from me. Sometimes I reach the "total loser" conclusion
and point to the inferior sound and/or lighting in the mix. But even
though those elements are adequate here, this misfortune accomplishes
"sheer mess" status by virtue of nothing more than most of the cast,
and, the extreme unbelievability of the unfolding developments. And -
oh yeah - I WILL say that some of the dialogue was noticeably
re-recorded AFTER the action; "noticeable", for example, as one
character incongruously exhales a giggle, simultaneous with his
swallowing moonshine from a jug. In a nutshell, the plot consists of a
retiree and his daughter butting heads with a quintet of visitors on
the day after a series of nuclear bombs have wiped out the rest of
humanity. (THEY are not effected because of the strong updrafts in
their neighborhood.) My only other storyline sentence refers to the
contradictoriness of much of what follows; contrived, it seems, as we
go along; not thought-out. It's one of those classic, head-shaking,
shoulder-shruggers which makes you smile because it's so ridiculous.
Was the above comment useful to you?
Okay, can we now take Edward D. Wood Jr off that pedestle he has been
placed on by retrophiles and acknowledge there are other directors out
there whose films fall into the So-Bad-They're-Memorable category? Such
a director is the one I am here to talk about, submitted for your
approval Mr. Larry Buchanan. Now on this board we have to review one
movie at a time so this is as good a place as any to start, especially
since IN THE YEAR 2889 just resurfaced on DVD. Larry was hired to
remake four of American-International's B movies from the 1950's to be
released stright to television. This is his do-over of THE DAY WORLD
ENDED (1957). Former child star Paul Peterson plays the Richard Denning
role and Charly Doherty fills in for Lori Nelson. The movie begins one
day after a nuclear war has wiped out most of the world (but I guess
THE DAY AFTER THE WORLD ENDED would have been a silly title, right?)
but not necessarily as far in the future as 2889. If you have seen the
original you already know the plot. Despite being given only a $20K
budget Larry puts his own stamp on the film to make it more than just a
remake. It was only hinted at in the original that the mutant prowling
around the house was Lori Nelson's brother. In this movie it is spelled
out for us in block letters. The one eyed, fanged, claw handed beast is
even wearing the remains of a business suit! A rubber mask fills in for
Paul Blaisdell's original concept. Not impressive really but it sure
saved money. Notice how the "lake" Ms. Doherty and Quinn O'Hara go
swimming in is bordered on one side by a brick wall. Also Larry's
infamous "night shots" in broad daylight are in abundance. Notice also
how we are supposed to go to freeze frame for the final shot in the
movie but thrifty Larry saved a lab cost by just having the actors
freeze in mid-motion! You may also want to check out THE EYE
CREATURES, Larry's remake of INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN; ZONTAR THE
THING FROM VENUS (IT CONQUERED THE WORLD); and CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION
(THE SHE CREATURE). For the sake of your own mental health I suggest
you not watch them all in one day.
Was the above comment useful to you?
2889 used to appear regularly on one of our local syndicates in the
Seventies. Those who need their memories' jogged will perhaps remember
the image of the mutated monster with snow white clown hair and
piranha-like pearly whites stalked the woods in search of sustenance
(raw meat).
Summary:
It is 1966, title notwithstanding.
A motley band of survivors of a nuclear holocaust struggle to keep from
killing/kissing one another faced with a shortage of food, fresh water
and alcohol. Captain John, an retired navy officer, and survivalist's
valley home is situated as to be fall-out resistant. With food enough
for he and his daughter, an unwelcomed crew of interlopers threaten the
Captain's post-apocalyptic paradise. A stripper and her
manager/boyfriend, an athletic (though chain-smoking) heart-throb and
his radioactive brother, and a perpetually sweat-drenched drunk round
out the cast of stragglers.
The threat of irradiated rain, mutated humans and animals, and man's
inhumanity fail to raise an ounce of horror or suspense in the year
2889. But they do get big laughs.
I doubt a print still exists of this forgotten "Z movie." I'm not sure
whether to give "In the Year 2889" a 1 or a 10. As a comedy, like "Plan
9" it is quite an effort. As a drama, which is I suppose what it was
meant to be, well, you know. They don't make 'em like this anymore
that's for certain Though, I must admit, after seeing the Alien Factor
(1977) I'm not too sure.
Thanks to the cable television movie service provided by the Encore
group, including the Action Channel and The Western Channel, those of
us who subscribe to the Behemoth Comcast and who truly cannot sleep at
night ... were treated to multiple showings of In the Year 2889,
recently. Treated is a good word.
Because after seeing this incredible bit of cinematic flotsam and
jetsam, I felt like I needed 'treatment.'
There must be a name in science for the psychological disorder which
causes a normal person to arise in the middle of the night and watch
bad Science Fiction on cable !! Truly, if I didn't need 'treatment' for
it before watching "2889," I sure needed it afterwords.
At least the colors in the film as shown were true. Everything else,
absolutely everything else about the movie was simply ABOMINABLE.
Well, Charla has a very fine female form, which is semi-revealed for
about twenty seconds in an otherwise meaningless swimming pool scene.
This has all the virtues of a movie made by people who were bored one
week-end and found a camera and a lot of extra film which needed
exposing, and lowered themselves to the task.
Apparently the beaches and the liquor stores were all closed that
week-end, for nothing else accounts for the decision somebody made to
say, "ACTION," and beginning shooting film. There is no way to comment
on the director's skills for there doesn't seem to be any direction in
evidence. Once upon a time I thought the worst movie ever made was
something done by Andy Warhol or one of his confederates, where they
just rolled film on the outside of a skyscraper, slowly panning up the
building for hour after hour.
By contrast to "2889", watching that movie was truly exciting.
Honest. I wouldn't kid you about something this serious.
This is a dumb movie, but not enjoyably so. Sure, the lumpy old
gun-toting father who waves around a "renshen"-detecting Geiger counter
(which sounds like someone eating Rice Krispies) is unintentionally
funny, but only for so long. The lack of respect anyone shows for his
decidedly unfuturistic revolver while they gate crash his very pleasant
but illogically secluded home to escape the nuclear holocaust that
happened yesterday is also amusing for a moment. But this naive tale of
instant mutation through radiation soon degenerates into people milling
around a house for 80 minutes.
The plot utilizes an unseen supply shed full of canned beans as a
MacGuffin, and throws in a 'bad' guest who needlessly kills the
stripper he manages in some mad conquest for control of said shed. The
couple of on-screen mutants don't really figure into the plot at all,
as they're eventually wiped out by the main threat to the survivors
which turns out not to be a threat either. The most interesting part of
the movie is the father's series of illustrations of mutated animals
from a test some years before. How I would have loved to see that
squirrel with a hand sticking out of its chest instead of the bad
mutant masks rejected from The Time Machine! The film deserves credit
for setting the story in 2889 so that no one who saw the film would
live long enough to see it contradicted, unlike 2001 or The Terminator.
Not to give anything away, but the plot is eerily similar to that of
Signs, and just as absurd. Had M. Night Shyamalan seen this, he might
have considered another rewrite. Don't bother with this. Instead see
the director's main claim to infamy, Attack of the the Eye Creatures.
--
The SubGenius Foundation, Inc.
(4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected, Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
Dobbs-Approved Authorized Commercial Outreach of The Church of the SubGenius
SubSITE: http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB
Posted by:: brthrn@dangermedia.org
Date: 3 Mar 2005 13:15:41 -0800
--------
I GODDAMN KNEW IT! YOU *ARE* I AM JAG OFF!
PROOF! : badfilm now available by Rev. Ivan Stang - 3 new of 3
messages - 2 authors 1:11pm