Hollywood Video Memories: Uncle Sam (1997)

One of the biggest things that influenced me when it came to choosing what horror movie I would watch next was the box covers. There were two movies in particular that had cover art that immediately grabbed my attention. Uncle Sam and Jack Frost were different than most because they were the only two horror movies that had holographic covers, more specifically I was drawn to Uncle Sam because it had a menacing face of a decaying dead Uncle Sam on the cover. To me, Jack Frost would be saved for another time. At the time, I was about 12 years old and I could hardly care less about what the plot of the movie was. All I cared about were the kills, how much it scared me and whether it lived up to its awesome VHS cover art and from what I remember… I was displeased. To me it was boring and the kills, aside from one, were pretty generic. I thought the mask the “killer” wore was silly looking and I didn’t understand what Kuwait was. The only thing memorable to me was the scene where somebody gets strapped to a wooden display and dies after erupted into a gorgeous array of red, white and blue fireworks. This was my impression of the film for years and until recently I came across it on Netflix and decided to give it another watch.

When I was younger, I always thought the film was about some kind of demonic force that takes the identity of Uncle Sam and I wasn’t that far from what the movie truly is about. Sam Harper, a decorated soldier and Purple Heart winner, was shot down in Kuwait from friendly fire. His young Nephew, Jody (yes, he’s a boy), becomes distraught over his uncle’s death. However, through some mysterious connection between nephew and uncle, Sam is brought back to life on the eve of July 4^th. Now, as the entire town celebrates the birth of America, Sam dawns the outfit of Uncle Sam and goes on a killing spree to those who dare disrespect the U.S. of A. But there is more to Sam’s past then just being soldier who enlisted purely for the fun of killing. The only real notable actor in the movie is Isaac Hayes who plays Sam’s former army buddy Jed Crowley and he gives a hammy performance as always. William Lustig, the brain behind Maniac and Maniac Cop, directs this wonderful gem of direct-to-video goodness.

As I already stated, the reason why I didn’t like this movie is because it was slow, boring and drawn out. I didn’t care for any of this “exposition” when I was younger but as I grew older I began to look at things through a different light. Uncle Sam is horror but half of the movie is a drama and the other half is a slasher so it felt lopsided and that’s what turned me away from it in the first place. The first half of the film is a young boy’s struggle to cope with his uncle’s death; an uncle who, in his eyes, set out to accomplish something and died for the good of our country. The second half has that very same uncle rise from his coffin and go on a murderous rampage of draft-dodgers and corrupt politicians. But as I look closer at the first half, it’s not that bad of a story and like myself, this half turned a lot of horror fans away from the movie but I’ve come to accept it. It’s actually a very ominous drama that keeps alluding to Sam’s horrible past but we never know it because we’re meant to see the story through Jody’s eyes.

The movie tackles some pretty interesting topics involving patriotism, what defines and hero and the quandary of war. One of the issues that are brought into the light is the dilemma soldiers have to face in war. Jody’s teacher, a draft-dodger, questioned the reason why we ever got into Vietnam and whether it was right to fight into a war they didn’t believe in. If the U.S. says you must fight for our country despite what you believe in, do you answer the call or do you avoid it? In a very unsettling scene, the movie also asks the question: in war, what defines a hero? Jeb (Isaac Hayes) believes there are no heroes in war, only people crazy enough to try something stupid and get lucky. He believes that those willing to take out an entire company with their bare hands are sick-minded but they’re decorated as heroes. Those willing to throw themselves on a bomb are crazy too but they’re viewed as heroes. For a movie that’s about a zombie soldier dressed like Uncle Sam and seeking his revenge from friendly fire, there are a lot of deep questions that it tries to provoke.

As much as it seems like I’m praising this movie, I’m not because it’s not a great movie but rather an okay movie. It’s not a B-movie because there are a lot of great special effects, explosions and fireworks that invoke a very dark and cynical July 4^th. There are still problems the movie suffers, problems that I never really paid attention to when I was younger, problems that I just now noticed as an adult. Just to name a few: Sam’s motivations are quite clear in the beginning; he kills those who do not live by the perceived American ideals, therefore he kills people who defile or deface what America is all about. However, near the end of movie he simply kills just for the pleasure of killing (then again, that’s apparently what he did before he became a zombie). This unique motivation keeps flip-flopping back and forth. The kid in the wheelchair at the end of the movie literally comes out of nowhere and almost acts like a second main character. Who is he? Where did he come from? Why wasn’t he referenced before the very end and most importantly, why is he suddenly telepathic? I also think it’s funny that Jeb, a full grown adult, casually takes orders from him. There are also a lot of small things that are wrong with it but I won’t dive into those because I don’t want to nitpick.

Uncle Sam is a strange one out of the holiday-themed slasher movies because it’s part serial killer and part zombie flick but in the overall plot, it’s part drama and part horror. It’s certainly not an awful movie but it’s also not great… it’s just okay. I’ve gotten past some of the minor things and saw what appeared to be a movie trying real hard to be solemn and political. Part of me is still in 12-year-old mode where I just want to see somebody dressed as Uncle Sam fillet somebody on an American Flag staff. The way I see it, if somebody ever asks me about it (not like they would), I can give them an honest opinion instead of saying something like, “It’s a shitty movie with shitty acting and it’s too boring!” Now I can say, “It’s an okay movie with okay acting but it drags on in the first half.”

Side note: Every time I saw Robert Forster in a movie I would say, "Oh my god it's Max Cherry!" obviously from Jackie Brown. Now when I see him I'll probably laugh and say that I got to see him explode in a celebration of fireworks.

Super 8 and My Childhood

I finally placed my finger on why I feel so coupled with Super 8 and it’s not because I followed the viral marketing (because I didn’t) but because of what it brought back. Cloverfield will always be an unforgettable experience because of how exciting it was to follow all the viral marketing campaigns but all I had to go on with Super 8 was the trailer and immediately I thought of Close Encounters. I saw Close Encounters when I was young, about 8 or 9 years old, and as I watched the trailer all I could feel was this overwhelming sense of nostalgia. For about 3 minutes I felt like a kid watching the trailer for an action-packed summer movie; sort of how I felt when I first saw Jurassic Park and when I saw the trailers for Jurassic Park II. I brought back memories of being truly exciting for a film that will make me escape my life and temporarily put into an ideal adventure movie. Not since Raiders of the Lost Ark did I feel like I wanted to participate in the film. But, oddly, that isn’t the exact reason but one major reason why I feel so close to this film. Instead, the reason lies within the subplot of the film.

The subplot of the film is about a group of kids that want to make a zombie movie (titled The Case) using a Super 8 camera so that they could enter it into a contest. Aside from a monster attacking their town, a bunch of things go wrong: fuzzy footage, broken cameras, unwilling cast and crew, prolonged film development and of course lots of last-minute script changes. Not only do the kids, specifically Charles and Cary, remind me of people that I grew up with but it reminded me of my friends and how we use to take my dad’s camcorder and record random movies. I saw myself in all the kids and I could relate to their burning passion to do what ever it takes to get the movie done. On my own time, I would take my dad’s camcorder and record Blair Witch style home videos and edit them in camera. I would create wild stories using my Legos and action figures as characters and I would synch up end credits music to each scene and record it in real-time. I would use my grandparents and whoever else was around at the time to play the characters in my films and even shamelessly recorded the scene in Independence Day where the White House blew up to use in my movie.

The film provoked the inner young filmmaker in me and I think that’s why I really love this film. It brought me back to those days where my friends were loyal, where our crushes ran rampant and where we wanted to all be filmmakers. I even remember talking to one of my friends, when I was 9, and told him that he will be my editor when I begin directing movies. Super 8 brought out the inner child in me and I couldn’t be happier. As nostalgic as it was, I miss those days of innocents and big, ignorant aspirations. As a side note, if you want a great review of this film, check out The Cinemassacre.

Review - Super 8 (2011)

The first time I saw the Super 8 teaser trailer my eyes lit up like when I first saw the teaser for Cloverfield. However, I didn’t feel that spark of curiosity as I did with Cloverfield but nevertheless… I wanted to see it. I trucked along with the viral marketing (everything from Rocket Poppeteers to Scariest Think I Ever Saw all the way to Hook, Line and Minker) but it still didn’t make me feel that spark of utter nostalgia. Perhaps, deep down inside I underestimated the movie and I’m here to say that I was making a grave mistake for this movie is not only a great homage to the 70’s Spielbergian films but it also took me back to my childhood where moviemaking and horror movies were my bread and butter. It captured that sense of adventure, escapism and nostalgic beauty that you so rarely find in theaters and I’m glad that I was there to see it. Now, since I haven’t kept up with the viral marketing that must I don’t know if there are any movie connections but if there are… please feel free to let me know. In the meantime, I will try to do a review of this film without rambling.

The film opens up in 1979 with the tragic death of our hero’s mother, who died in a factory accident. Our hero is young Joe Lamb who, during summer vacation, agrees to help his friend Charles with a zombie movie for a Super 8 competition. He becomes more excited to work on it when his school crush Alice becomes the lead actress. But then things spiral out of control when the group of young filmmakers witness a planned train crash mere yards from their set. They then realize that the train was holding something dangerous, something that’s living and possibly extraterrestrial. Strange things begin happening around the town like missing pets, motors from cars torn right out of the hoods, missing people and power outages. It’s up to the group of friends to discover what was in that train? Why is the military being so secretive? Why go through all the trouble to destroy it? And what are the mysterious cubes that the military was excavating from the crash?

I want to dive right into this and talk about how the movie feels to me. It was obvious that when I saw Spielberg’s name attached to the trailer, that it would be a throwback to classic films such as Close Encounters or E.T. but I didn’t know to what extent. The film is set in the 70’s and it automatically gives us that Close Encounters feel and even some of the wide shots of the night sky beautifully homage the beginning of Close Encounters. However, it goes further than that. Scenes that show the friends rebelling against the military are very reminiscent of E.T. where Elliot convinces his brother to steal the military van. Much like E.T. it is carried out in such a fun and whimsical manner. There is one scene in particular, and I won’t spoil it, that takes place underground that is almost a direct homage to Temple of Doom of the Indiana Jones series. Essentially the film captures that timeless, childhood innocents that Spielberg loves to experiment with and for a brief moment I felt like a kid again. But what about Abrams? It was his movie. There is enough Abrams to go around. The first thing I noticed was his camera flare, which isn’t as overused as it was in Star Trek but it gives the movie a nice touch of surrealism. The action scenes, though they aren’t taking place in space or a major city, are stunningly choreographed and put you on the edge of your seat.

The cast was absolutely terrific but features mostly no-name actors and actresses. Those that are familiar were in supporting roles. On the ‘name’ actors/actresses we have Kyle Chandler who plays Joe’s father Deputy Jackson Lamb. Chandler was terrific and when I saw the trailer for this I thought he would be overdoing his role but he perfectly executes a father who has truly lost something dear to him. He was very believable and went against the cliché of parents not believing their kid’s about monsters taking over the town. Ron Eldard, who plays Alice’s father, is fantastic as a father who has been crushed by the realization that he may have inadvertently killed Joe’s mom. But the real stars of the show are the kids; first-timers Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths, and supporting cast Ryan Lee, Zach Mills and Elle Fanning are all outstanding. They really bring that sense of childhood adventure and imagination to the screen and they embody the characters they are portraying, making them believable. Mixing innocent love with some outright funny lines, they stole the show from their parents as well as the monster itself. Again, I had never had a fun time laughing and being scared in my life.

Now, lets talk about the scares and the monster. I won’t give too much away but the monster reminds me a lot like the Cloverfield monster. It’s vague enough to resemble it but at the same time it’s completely different. All I have to say is that, it’s not hidden as much as Cloverfield was but damn… the growls and moans that thing makes is chilling. Kind reminds me of the raptors in Jurassic Park. The scares are great because, like films from the 70’s and early 80’s, the scares are built on silence, the unexpected audience and sudden bolt of shrilling music and heavy sound effects. Though the film isn’t a horror movie per say, it definitely has enough elements in it to be considered into the genre. I still say it’s a science fiction/action adventure. The scares are limited but when they happen, they certainly catch you off guard. The other good thing is that the humor from the kids is so witty and funny that it douses some of the tension making it all the better to endure.

I might be giving Super 8 a glowing review and I might be over-indulging myself with the film but there was something about it that went beyond just entertainment for me. I’m not sure what it was but I felt like the film was how I wanted my childhood to be like. It brought me back to the days when I use to watch films like E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park or even non-Spielberg films like Home Alone. I could imagine myself, as a young kid, reenacting all the action scenes in this film. Super 8 is a film that puts the audience into a kid’s shoes and sends them on an adventure of a lifetime and I miss that about the movies. I miss the sense of escaping my boring, mundane life to watch a true adventure unfold. I’m seeing it again, that goes without saying, and maybe the second time I could put my finger on why I connected so much with it. Until then, I recommend this movie to anybody who wants to live those nostalgic days when aliens, adventure and childhood innocents was prime.

Stay after the show. A special screening of an upcoming zombie movie will premiere during the credits.

Also, if you want to read a bit about the viral marketing you can do so by clicking here. (Note: the link takes you to the first page on the Super 8 News website. To get to more recent stuff you’ll have to scroll through the pages).

A Doll is a Child's Best Friend

Remember the good old days when playing with your toys was the greatest part of the day? When it was you, your favorite doll or action figure and your imagination. The way that you appreciated your toys so much that you were saddened when one of them was broken and was thrown out. Toys were loyal to kids; they possessed special kind of magic that made them bond with us to the very end. It sounds like Toy Story but I am actually talking about Stuart Gordon’s daunting story called Dolls, made 8 years before Toy Story came along. Even though it’s scares are a little cheap, the story is very whimsical and offers something that I haven’t seen in a horror movie before. There is a rather harmonious, magical undertone to this film and proposes something for all us horror fans to muse over.

At its core, Dolls is about a girl who has been really oppressed by her unloving father and her hateful stepmother (it already sounds like a fairy tale). While spending the night in a mansion during a storm, a very nice but creepy old man gives her a hand-made doll to play with… seeing as how a little girl should always have a doll to play with. This is the foundation in which the fairy tale of Dolls is based on. This part of the story is rather beautiful because it’s almost Gordon’s ode to childhood imagination and the innocents of being a little again. The young girl, Judy, has such a vivid imagination that the toys in the mansion begin defending her. In fact, the old man that gives her a doll tells her that imagination is the key to becoming a wise person. He defends Judy against her parents and even goes as far as to be a sort of father figure for her.

Gordon preserves her innocents and I am sure that many of us can identify with her. I’m sure that most of us, especially the creative types, were made fun of for having an overactive imagination and Gordon runs with this experience. The dolls/toys act as Judy’s imagination, stepping out of her mind and defending themselves to those who don’t believe. Considering that toys are usually the medium in which we channel our thoughts, it would make sense that they would be the ones to attack. There is a gruesome scene where Judy sees one of the guests get maimed by the dolls and she just stands there, grossed out, clutching her doll. Her face is filled with childhood ignorance and misunderstanding; as if she is too young to know what just happened.

However, the one person whom I’m sure we can all identify is a middle-aged motorist that also ends up spending the night in the mansion. He is a very lovable but sometimes clumsy man whose father told him about the toys and how they come to life when we sleep. It reminded me of a Mother Goose nursery rhyme. His father said that they also eat special kinds of toy cookies so even if you left food out, they wouldn’t eat it. I’m sure we can all relate when our parents told us stories like these to keep our imaginations flowing. Ralph is much like Judy because he is a child at heart but he told the old toymaker that he stopped believing in the magic. When asked why he said, “he grew old.” I can vouch for him because I too, as I grew older, lost my sense of imagination but as the old man stated from the film: “we’re never to old to have an imagination” let alone believe in the magic that bound us to our toys.

Here is where I believe that the film is challenging us viewers. Perhaps when we were kids we had some of the craziest stories and playtime activities because of what we created in our heads. I remember as a kid I always thought the song Rhapsody in Blue was actually Rap City and Blues. I was always under the impression that the Jeepers Creepers poster was showing a football and not stitched up body. I use to draw, paint, build legos and play ‘save the world’ with my action figures. I would create vast settings out of Legos and Playmobiles and make my action figures do crazy stunts. I wish I could go back in time and still do those things or even now but I can’t because I don’t have the imagination for it. The old man in Dolls was right, when we get older we loose touch with our creative sides but maybe we can change that if we allow ourselves to let our minds free.

I think that is what Gordon wanted us to take from his movie. That our toys, be it action figures or dolls, were our best play friends. They were always there for us when we were sad or bored or when it was rainy. If there was some bit of magic in them I am sure they would find their way back to us. In fact, I still remember my favorite toy that I had. It was a Dr. Allan Grant action figure from the ‘electronic’ Jurassic Park Command Compound playset. That toy was the best toy I ever had. Just think about it, our favorite toys were really there for us… making them our best friends.