343) Monkey Shines (1988)

343) Monkey Shines (1988) Dir: George Romero Date Released: July 1988 Date Seen: October 23, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

I maintain that if George Romero were a more technically polished filmmaker, he might stand a chance of being accepted as a thinking man's genre filmmaker (ie: David Cronenberg). Like Cronenberg, Romero doesn't care about character development; his characters are walking experiments, only this and nothing more. I never got the sense that Romero cared about Monkey Shines' athletic protagonist, just his predicament, his failed relationship with his mother and the bond he has with his helper monkey. And in that sense, I can absolutely see why the movie was not taken seriously, even when I was actually really into it and the two friends I was watching the film with clearly were not. 

This was a frustrating viewing experience because I, unlike my otherwise lovely company, had already gotten used to Romero's acquired weaknesses as a storyteller (I'm hip, I'm cool, I've seen The Dark Half on the big screen). By the time Romero made Monkey Shines, he'd already become set in his ways. He already knew just about everything he was going to learn as a filmmaker and, since he hasn't made a movie as ambitious and semi-earnest as Monkey Shines ,* he's probably not bound to learn it anytime soon. Which is unfortunate, because Romero is an American icon and I enjoy his films even when they're not completely on-target. Just wish this was a bit more polished, not necessarily more empathetic or any less preposterous.

*From what I've read about Bruiser and Two Evil Eyes, I tend to doubt that either film is bound to change my mind on this issue.

170) The Dark Half (1993)

170) The Dark Half (1993) Dir: George Romero Date Released: April 1993 Date Seen: May 15, 2010 Rating: 3/5

Though The Dark Half, writer/director George Romero's adaptation of a short story by Stephen King, seriously takes a nose-dive once George Stark (Timothy Hutton), the pen name and now evil twin of mild-mannered writer and family man Thad Beaumont (also Hutton), starts talking, there's something about the film I find irresistible. For Romero, The Dark Half is a much-needed return to a more character-driven kind of horror film, something he hasn't really tried since Martin,* which is rapidly becoming my favorite of his films. Hutton's alternately inspired and just flat-out hammy performance really is the heart of the film, not the mostly unexplored idea that man needs to become schizophrenic in order to fully express themselves. Romero's script is crude and rambling but that's because he's trying to do something he's never really nailed down: fleshing out protagonists that are people first and a series of provocative tics second.

The Dark Half is also a nice reminder that Romero does know how and hence can cognizantly direct an evocative scene. His films aren't just a collection of neat concepts that infrequently pay off in a big way: there's a craft to it, as in the film's spectacular The Birds tribute, the ending in the hidden room, a brief street scene where Stark is stalking Beaumont, the rising tension in the scene where Stark pulls over his next victim or the one where he uses someone's head as a football. They're all sub-Bava or even sub-De Palma stabs at Hitchcockian suspense and hence just a riff on an established mode but I think Romero needs that from time to time; gives him some much-needed focus. Not a perfect film but certainly one I'm glad I saw on the big screen at BAM and a very nice way to kill time on a Saturday afternoon.

*As far as I know. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

61) Survival of the Dead (2009), 62) The Revenge: A Visit from Fate (1997), 63) The Revenge: A Scar That Never Fades (1997) and 66) Morphia (2009)

61) Survival of the Dead (2009) Dir: George Romero Not Yet Released Date Seen: February 20, 2010 Rating: 2.5/5

62) The Revenge: A Visit from Fate (1997) Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Not Yet Released Date Seen: February 21, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

63) The Revenge: A Scar That Never Fades (1997) Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Not Yet Released Date Seen: February 21, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

66) Morphia (2009) Dir: Aleksey Balabanov Not Yet Released Date Seen: February 23, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Really confusing, very thoughtful and fun genre exercises and a surprisingly nuanced political cartoon. See me review all these things in my third dispatch for the New York Press on FSLC's "Film Comment Selects" 2010.

37) Martin (1977)

37) Martin (1977) Dir: George Romero Date Released: July 1978 Date Seen: February 4, 2010 Rating: 4/5

So close to being my favorite Romero. One of his most pointed, certainly. George doesn't do characters normally and yet here, I actually cared about Martin. See my review for Ugo.

292) The Crazies (1973)

292) The Crazies (1973) Dir: George Romero Date Released: March 1973 Date Seen: September 13, 2009 Rating: 3.5/5

Despite a sluggish pace and a surplus of scenes that devolve into shouting matches between military officials, The Crazies cannot be dismissed as shadows of either George Romero's Night of the Living Dead or Day of the Dead.  The horror of The Crazies does not come from the proliferation of "Trixie," the mysterious virus residents of a small Pennsylvania town have contracted, but rather from its containment. The film's lack of momentum is an organic necessity which admittedly can sometimes be irksome but ultimately pays off wonderfully by the time the film leaves its characters to scrabble like mad for a way out once there's none left.

As a result, The Crazies is also probably Romero's most satisfying portrayals of the military. While the jumpsuit and gas-mask-clad grunts running around with semi-automatics are effectively more menacing and alien than the actual "Crazies," the officials that give them their marching orders are actually human. They lose their tempers on a regular basis but again, that's a result of the impossible task their superiors have given them: find a cure for an untreatable disease or kill 'em all. 

The cost of making that daunting decision doesn't manifest itself in subtle ways but Romero has never seriously considered subtlety to be the best policy. The image of a self-immolating Christian priest about Romero's preference for blunt pessimism and thanks to his faux-doc style of shooting,* it feels pretty damn unnerving.

*It's important to note the difference between contemporary documentary style today and the kind of the '60s and '70s. The difference is that the camera used to be more distant and less obtrusive while the frame in a today's docs quake frenetically as it allows us to count the pores on its subject's face. Results vary obviously and one style is not necessarily better than the other all the time.