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| packmule | Aug 29 2009, 11:13 AM |
Site founder - Your best nightmare
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Gang Green: The Green Slime(1968) - Revisited Producers: Walter Manley, Ivan Reiner Theatrical distributor: MGM(U.S.), Toei(Japan) Japanese title: Gamma 3: Operation Outer Space Run time(U.S. version): 90 minutes - (Japanese version): 77 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2:35.1 widescreen Japan theatrical release date: 12/19/1968 U.S. theatrical release date: 5/21/1969 Director: Kinji Fukasaku(1930-2003) Media releases: Region 2 DVD(Toei-Japanese language only/2:35.1 widescreen), VHS(MGM/UA Video) Primary cast: Robert Horton ......................... "CDR Jack Rankin" Richard Jaeckel......................."CDR Vince Elliot" Luciana Paluzzi........................"Dr. Lisa Benson" Robert Dunham......................."Captain Martin" Ted Gunther............................."Hans Halvorsen" Bud Widom..............................."General Jonathan Thompson" Linda Miller................................(nurse) There are obviously many sci-fi and horror movies that are, from a critical standpoint, poorly received because they're, well, not very well made. The Green Slime would no doubt be categorized as a bad film. Find a review of this movie on the internet and chances are the reviewer is lampooning the film. Maybe it's in my genes or maybe my periodic sympathetic nature is what draws me to campy, less than serious, and often outrageous movies in the science fiction and horror genres. It will be, as I get older, something to continue to ponder. In the meantime, there's The Green Slime, a film I watched yesterday after getting rained out from work. I watched the Region 2 DVD: it was the first Region 2 disc I bought after buying a Yamakawa multi-region DVD player four years ago. I bought this disc from Yesasia and paid nearly $60 for a film that's in Japanese audio only and with no English subtitles, and all to watch this movie in it's original 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. I suppose this purchase would qualify me as a sci fi "fanboy'. Maybe it' was just temporary insanity. I watched my DVD-R of the American version(in English dubbed language) immediately after viewing the Region 2 DVD. My comments will be mostly about the American version. The film's story: a giant asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. This revelation understandably triggers a great deal of anxiety and panic. To deal with this threat to our planet a team of astronauts, lead by "go to" guy Commander Jack Rankin(Robert Horton) are dispatched to a nearby space station, the "Gamma 3", from which they'll transit to the asteroid, land on it and install a huge nuclear bomb to blow it up. The commanding officer of the space station is Commander Vince Elliot(Richard Jaeckel), a friend of Jack Rankin's and also the fiance of Rankin's former girlfriend, the Gamma 3's medical officer, Dr. Lisa Benson(Luciana Paluzzi). There's an immediate and palpable tension between Rankin, Elliot and the beautiful Dr. Benson. Amidst the simmering rivalry of this trio the mission to the asteroid is a success. The object is blasted into dust. The problem: a member of the team sent to the asteroid inadvertently brings back a green, gooey substance aboard the space station. In time the substance grows into a tentacled, hostile, one eyed monster that discharges lethal electric shocks. The monster multiplies, to the chagrin of the station members. Soon Gamma 3 is overrun by the tentacled monsters, the station members engaging the monsters in a chaotic fight for survival...(no other spoilers) Observations, some good and some not so good - Thumbs up: 1. Director Kinji Fukasaku, known mostly for his gangster films, manages to create a fairly well paced, action packed story. 2. The audio effects of the one-eyed, tentacled creatures: the sound made by these hostile monsters is original and not copied from anything else as far as I can tell. 3. Some of the miniature effects are quite good. 4. Luciana Paluzzi, who looks, as always, absolutely gorgeous.  Thumbs down: 1. The effects shots of the asteroid(from a distance) left a great deal to be desired. 2. the "thumbs up" hand gesture by CDR Jack Rankin to his boss General Thompson: it struck me as very tacky. 3. the entire Rankin-Elliot-Benson love "triangle": at the end of the day I could still do without this sub plot in the American version(it's absent in the Japanese version, which is 13 minutes shorter) The trailer for The Green Slime(1968): The MGM/UA Video VHS tape of the American version for sale at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Slime-VHS-Robert-Horton/dp/6302181755 The Region 2 DVD for sale at Yesasia: http://www.yesasia.com/us/the-green-slime-japan-version/1003607292-0-0-0-en/info.html The entire movie(the American version) can be watched as a streaming video by clicking this link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6706178308693392486&ei=LzqZSqKNNJTiqgKak9ynDQ&q=The+Green+Slime&hl=en&client=firefox-a |
 Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
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| Packmule's Picks · Science Fiction - Horror | |
2:30 AM Nov 29
