...And it's not because of the B-grade gore!

First of all I need to address the fact that a lot of people are comparing this movie to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, saying that it's essentially a remake.

I just watched it and it probably feels that way because the entire movie is just a pastiche of cult horror... All I can say is that I REALLY HOPE that The Devil's Rejects is better than this, because this movie probably ranks amongst the 10 worst movies I have ever seen (and don't worry, it isn't worse than The Abyss). Reading a review of the movie here claiming that anyone who doesn't like this movie "just doesn't get it" and was probably looking for more artsy-fartsy films and [ insert pretentious/derogatory comment here ] really made me feel ill; people are ACTUALLY comparing this movie with greats such as Suspiria and The Dead series?! If you rank this movie with those movies there's nothing wrong with the guy questioning the legitimacy of your rankings... but there's definitely something wrong with YOU!

The movie doesn't start out all that bad and has a kind of wacky, goofball-horror that sort of works. Anyone who doesn't either laugh or groan at the moniker of DR. Satan (muahahahahahahahaha *lightningbolts*) has probably never watched B-grade horror or can't appreciate unintentional comedy (and this movie is hopefully not both). When the hook of the movie starts the whole movie begins to plummet into a sea of bad ideas and impulsive directing. The only thing I really like about the movie is the stylized americana feel... it's kind of cozy in a way.

All in all this movie is yet another movie of the times, yet don't dismiss it because of the violence; dismiss it because it just isn't that good! Unlike the Saw movies that are ridiculous beyond belief with bad scripts, goofy traps and twists made to make you feel intellectually inferior to the writers this movie is actually all about shock and gore and good ol' fashioned fun at which... it fails. Regardless of how you rationalize it no amount of gore, camp or references to your old faves in the horror genre can save a movie with over-the-top acting, a weak script and uninspired directing.

I hold no prejudice towards anyone who likes this movie. By all means, revel in the gore if you so wish! Because when the day is done that is why you watch this movie. Some might call it a study in misanthropy... I just call it an 89 minute waste of life.


First off, all of you that gave this movie a bad review - You probably just don't understand it.

And to all of you that haven't seen it but is checking out some reviews before you decide to buy it or download it - You're in for a hell of a ride. As we all know, Rob is very much into vintage horror and having SO much to look at that it almost becomes unwatchable. He made it, it's a true masterpiece! If you're into vintage horror and just love gore - this is a movie for you! The story is simple, classic and great, it's basically the usual - some kids on a road trip doing whatever, end up in hell. Although he added some genius twists here and there. The acting is great, but you have to understand the parts to notice that. Sheri Moon's part requires the kind of acting that either is awful or awesome - she really pulls it of! The rest of the acting is just brilliant.

So watch this movie. It's sick, grotesque, beautiful and just brilliant. Rob really know what he's doing!


I have a certain respect for Rob Zombie. His love of the classic cult grind-house horror of yesteryear is very endearing and I believe him to have a certain integrity rare amongst film personalities. Unfortunately House of 1000 Corpses, while certainly expressing Zombie's love for old school shock horror, is simply too convoluted, elaborate and often boring to send a single shiver up the spine.

It is obvious that painstaking care was taken in the aesthetics of the film but unfortunately it has failed. For the most part the film looks as if the lighting and makeup designers had just come from a job on The Bold and the Beautiful with gaudy colours and super smooth skin on characters who have supposedly been on the road for days detracting greatly from any attempts at a gritty atmosphere. Even in the supposed house of 1000 corpses the production design resembles a piece of theatre more than a disturbing pit of hell and mayhem. I understand the burlesque inspiration here but even with that considered the sets shouldn't look so staged. The special effects makeup also looked more like paper mache than deformed skin, apart from Dr. Satan, who does look very effective but is unfortunately severely underused.

The acting for the most part is excruciating. Sid Haig is fun as always and completely steals the show but apart from him there is not a single character here who the audience will feel strongly for or against simply because they are all 1 dimensional stock standards played in the fashion of a high school drama class. One very disappointing aspect of the performances is that the older members of the sicko family are obviously played by college age kids and the poor makeup and acting is unable to hide this. The dialogue is obviously aiming to be quotable, and is therefore so ludicrously overwritten that it does little but add to the amateur theatricality of the film.

By the time we get to the juicy horror stuff the film takes the action in a completely convoluted direction until the audience no longer cares what this sick family is hiding or what kind of back story there may be. Simplicity is the key stroke to the art of the horror film but obviously Rob Zombie wanted to do away with that trend in House of 1000 Corpses. The same can be said of the cinematography. Negative colourization and crash cuts to grainy newsreel style footage of what is happening in another room are amateur tricks at best and more at home in an MTV music clip. To add insult to injury these tricks are overused to the point of exhaustion.

I watched this film with a friend who I consider a kindred spirit in horror fandom and we both are well watched and researched on the genre. I'm sad to say that half way through House of 1000 Corpses our silence could no longer be held and my friend finally had to open the floodgates with "Ugh, this is so bad!" Yes, it is. Kudos to your vision Mr. Zombie, but your execution is in dire need of tuning.


You would think by now that those young people would stay the hell off the back roads in Texas. I've traveled them North to South and East to West, and I can assure you that there are things you don't want to see.

I don't remember The Devil's Rejects as being as good as this film. Ron Zombie presented a visual and auditory assault on the senses that moved right along and featured an outstanding soundtrack and some of the best special effects I have seen in a horror movie about a family since those rejects in Judge Dredd.

Sid Haig was a real hoot as Captain Spaulding. He really added to the movie. Of course, Sheri Moon was fantastic as Baby Firefly.

I just can't wait for Halloween.


"House of 1000 Corpses" by Rob Zombie is a great horror/comedy film, thought so the day I saw it in the movie theater. Please don't argue the moot point that it's a remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and therefore unoriginal... us horror aficionados realize it's a homage to cheesy 70s horror films and borrows heavily from many horror/slasher films from the past 30 years. It's still damn good and fine piece of film-making. To leave the audience with such a lasting impression of your main character that they remember your villain after the movie ends is a great feat... to make such an impression that the audience breathes life into that character every Halloween and costumed convention is amazing. Zombie did the latter with EVERY character in "House" which is almost unheard of... just say the names and you can picture the face: Otis, Baby, Captain Spaulding, Tiny, Mother Firefly, Dr. Satan, Grandpa, RJ... even Goober ("that's G. Ober"). Not as technically good as "Devil's Rejects" but truly a horror classic. If you think otherwise and want to discuss it with me, buy me a drink and get ready for the long haul.


Probably the most grotesque thing that happened during this bloodbath was the voice of Frank Ifield singing I remember you-a hit song from 1962 which topped the charts and went onto score in the States on the same label which issued the Beatles before Capitol Records came to their senses. It seems totally out of place here as this isn't your usual American Graffiti type of movie! It is in fact a movie which would have been called a Video Nasty at one time and caters to the demand for Extreme Horror.And since the 70s Horror is in demand more than ever especially the kind about mad doctors who get struck off the register for conducting live autopsies! The only thing missing was David Parker Ray-I mean this wasn't fiction it really happens every other month -try reading Sadistic Killers. It delivers just what it says on the box-but you need to have some experience before you delve into it. Wide open for a sequel but somehow I couldn't see 1000 corpses.The title would have been better to just Corpses its something of a mouthful and sounds like one of those 50s horror flicks of the Night of the Flesh Eating Zombies type. As for a storyline its not of prime importance.People kill people is all you need to know


In the early to mid 90s horror wasn't exactly dead, but it was a time when our beloved genre wasn't as big a thing as it was in times such as the 40s and 60s-80s. Then came 'Scream,' a horror film that both payed tribute to and poked fun at the slasher film. Now I for one love the film, as well as it's two sequels, but like with 'Halloween,' this movie was followed by a series of clones, a lot of which were not met with a lot of praise from hardcore horror fans, myself included. Horror was hot again, but it looked like history was about to repeat itself. Then the 21st century came and a new era of horror was about to begin. Is this film from first time director Rob Zombie a contributor?

Pros: There are quite a few good things to be found, but I feel the film's greatest asset is the impressive set design. First time director Zombie makes the film a nice piece of eye candy with plenty colorful lights, filters, black and white photography, striking imagery, split screens, etc. Some very funny dialogue. Great cast of veterans and fresh faces who each give a good performance. Moves at a good clip. Not much gore, but there's plenty of the red stuff. The villains are all memorable and very mean and nasty instead of lovable like say Freddy Krueger became. Good make-up effects. A pretty good score and some great rock tunes from the likes of the Ramones and even Rob Zombie himself. Some neat homages to 70s exploitation films and old monster movies.

Cons: If it's originality you're looking for, you won't find much of that here. None of the good guys really stand out, so it's hard to pick someone to root for. The plot does wear kind of thin.

Final thoughts: After so many Scream-like flicks, this nasty little gem came along to blow them away. I don't know if I can say this film is the one responsible for the way horror is now, but at least it helped a lot. It took a while for this movie to get released, but it was well worth the wait.

My rating: 4/5


I will not waste words on plot spoilers or a quick summary. Put simply this movie scared the living crap out of me (heheheh)and I loved every minute of it. If one loves horror such as myself and loves the adrenaline a scary movie arises in oneself "House of 1000 Corpses" evoked just that. I waited so long for The Devils Rejects only to realize they took a totally different spin on the genre. Instead of scaring us to death, director Rob Zombie tried to get the audience to empathize with the serials, which the script accomplished perfectly, however lacking the absolute fear the first movie "1000 Corpses" evoked. Watch it because although in time the movie is considered cheesy it was what I call a horror movie! Had me literally on the edge of my couch right until the final scene!!!


OK, I first saw this video with my b/f, who was a huge Jennifer fan. I admit, I was taken by Jennifer's beauty, and each time we viewed it, I found myself tied, re-enacting the video for my b/f. The story is pretty basic, but Jennifer brings a sexuality to being helpless that makes it hard not to love. You find yourself rooting for the villain in the video, hoping he'll make her suffer in new ways. I even went as Kelly for Halloween one year just to keep my b/f happy. I taped my hair down over my breasts, wore not top, and only a pair of small white, silk panties. It made everyone else happy too. LOL This video is a must see. I have since dumped the b/f, and changed teams, and am now a huge Jennifer fan. This video is great!!! Watch it, act it out, it is great!!!!


I have no idea why she isn't a bigger name! I first became a fan hen she had her forum on Compuserve and was starting out. I loved this film, and the other version, but I prefer the extended cut of this version. Jennifer plays a seemingly clueless but horny girl having a torrid one night stand. Back at home she finds the date lurking. He drugs her, and ties her up. She does get free, but gets caught again, and tied up naked. Watching her struggle is one of the hottest things I have seen. What a body! You must see this!


OK, so as far as plots go, nothing too dramatic here, but I agree, I can't take my eyes off of Jennifer Simon's amazingly tight body as it struggles to get free. I could have watched her for hours on end! Loved the ending, about time we women come out the hero! Bravo! How about a sequal?


Fantastic! While not overly plot driven (what porn is?), this video gives us the chance to watch the amazing and beautiful Jennifer Simon as she struggles, and shows her helpless side (among others). I love the twist at the end. All around, a very enjoyable film!


I'm pretty cynical when it comes to independent features emerging from Wales,made by welsh film makers. I think there's an abundance of talent in the country and certainly there's definitely film makers of real talent who have produced moments of real quality. Yet in recent memory I can't remember a welsh independent film that really swung for the fences in a major way. I haven't really seen a welsh independent feature made by a welsh film maker that really feels like it could break out further than Wales and find a global audience. Until now . . .

Prior to it's premiere screening I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of 'Footsteps', written and directed by Gareth Evans and produced by Random Films. In 80 minutes my opinion of welsh indie film changed dramatically. Here is a film that from the first minute grabs you by the scruff of the neck and never lets go. A film that,in terms of independent film making,doesn't just push the envelope but sets fire to it and pisses on the ashes.

The plot primarily focuses on a young guy,Andrew,who is detached and dissilusioned by a life that is far from happy. He eventually falls in with some very unsavoury characters and trawls the seedy underworld of Cardiff with them, desperately trying to find his place in the world as his new found companions indulge in violence and criminality.

With Andrew (Brilliantly portrayed by Nicholas Bool) the writer/director has definitely created a character that will join Donnie Darko and Travis Bickle as an icon for the dissilusioned and disenfranchised. But this film doesn't just settle for that,it aims to be far more and succeeds on every level.

For the casual audience member who might take 'Footsteps' at face value, it is likely that the grimly realistic violence will be what lingers in the memory for them. Indeed,the violence is brutal and remarkably well executed for such a low budget film. In fact there are at least three scenes near the climax of the film that are right up there with the "home invasion" scene in 'Henry:Potrait of a Serial Killer' in terms of how gripping and considerably harrowing the action is. But if the violence is primarily what people talk about after seeing the film then that would be a real crime because the film is packed full of wonderful moments of real human emotion. A scene where two lovers heading for the end of their relationship are making love and going through the motions is one such moment and it's genuinely heart breaking.

'Footsteps' as a whole is a real lesson for any film maker in how to tell a story visually rather than relying on dialogue to convey emotion and carry the narrative. The film's most effective emotional moments are all done without a single word between the characters involved. This is most evident in the ending,where one character's slow burn facial expression imbues the film with this incredible final moment that conveys such emotion and speaks a thousand words without a single line of dialogue.

Performance wise,as well as Bool and a strong supporting cast the film boasts a dynamic individual performance by Mads Koudal. A real magnetic screen prescence who manages to play anger and cold heartedness without ever resorting to pantomime. His controlled and spontaneous moments of aggression light up the screen and he manages to steal every scene he's in, which is quite a feat considering even the smallest roles are portrayed by really strong actors.

'Footsteps' is a creative amalgamation of the best elements from other pioneering films by the likes of Roeg,Peckinpah and Godard. But whatever the influences behind the film may be, the writer/director has took the standard cinematic conventions,stood them on their head, and created not only the most unique and important Welsh independent film of the last decade but also the most unique and important British film of the last decade.


Bloody, brutal and disturbingly beautiful, Footsteps' blend of taut psychological horror and unflinching graphic ultra-gore is definitely not for the squeamish. G.H. Evans's innovative thriller is infinitely clever (with artistic nods to Toshiaki Toyoda's Pornostar and flashes of the inimitable Takashi Miike at his darkest and most violent) but also visually gorgeous: the composition and imagery is beguilingly rich and compelling. In particular, the opening sequence ranks among the most uncomfortable and harsh beginnings to any movie I've seen and immediately draws the viewer into the grim world of Evans' nightmare urban dystopia.

The soundtrack suits the mood and visuals perfectly, matching ear-battering electronica to eye-watering gore and elegant, melancholic strings to passages of raw emotion, and occasionally interspersed with long moments of silence which serve to heighten the main character Andrew's obvious social isolation and introversion.

Evans' love for and expert knowledge of Japanese extreme movie-making has clearly informed Footsteps, and he has applied that dynamic to an inherently Western tale of societal breakdown, which will be familiar to anyone who lives in the UK in particular. The plot also faintly echoes Joel Schumacher's Falling Down as well as Martin Scorsese's seminal Taxi Driver, as a morality tale of an ordinary working joe who is given more than adequate incentive to revenge himself on society.

As for the performances, they are never anything less than intriguing and fully credible. Nicholas Bool is stunningly charismatic and powerful in the role of Andrew, portraying him as a somewhat sympathetic hero of sorts, an ingenue out of his depth in the criminal underworld, with just the right mix of aloofness and alienation: his lack of social skills is so accurate, it's almost painful to watch at times. Also of note is Mads Koudal, who delivers a superb, standout performance as the charmless, ruthless and utterly evil Paul.

Set in a clever and complex narrative structure of flashbacks and flashforwards (which occasionally recalls Japanese director Shinji Aoyama's equally intricate plotting), the story follows the failing fortunes of a depressed, uncommunicative young man named Andrew (Nicholas Bool), who is an unskilled factory worker by day and a lonely loser by night. He comes from a broken home - his mother died when he was young, and his father married a much younger woman - and has next to no emotional connection with his long-suffering girlfriend, Sera, who leaves him because he just won't talk to her.

It's not long before Andrew's fragile world is broken down even further by the death of his father, leaving him with no surviving family. The final straw comes at almost exactly the same time, when he is made redundant only days after his dad has died.

Reeling from this final tragedy, he goes home - but instead of unlocking the door and going inside to continue his life of loss, pain, being ground underfoot by Lady Luck, and honest graft being rewarded by nothing but poverty and misery, he makes a snap decision, he loses his last marble, and embarks on a very different life path indeed - one steeped in violence, rage and brutality.

In doing so, Andrew is discovered by a gang of snuff filmmakers, who organise and carry out real-life beatings, murders, sex and drugs, which they then capture on DV camera, and he begins his journey into the filthy underworld of criminal society - and into more danger than he could possibly ever have imagined.

Footsteps presents a disturbing portrait of a bleak, doomed society filled only with drudgery, the threat of imminent redundancy, living on or beneath the poverty line, joyless sex, vicarious thrills and the possibility that at any time, one might get one's head stove in with a baseball bat by someone with no motive other than to make money and get kicks out of your suffering. It's profoundly affecting and edgy, and will strike a deep chord with anyone who's ever felt that British society was going to the dogs thanks to binge drinking, late-night violence, the ever-darkening world of reality TV, and boredom. Yet in Evans' vision, even in the darkness there is still a glimmer of hope for redemption.

This brooding, nihilistic and enigmatic depiction of Britain's vile criminal underworld - or indeed, an extension of its mainstream Saturday night vicious chav culture, come to that - replete with sex, drugs, more drugs, in-your-face violence, amorality and no respect for human life is a highly accomplished and self-assured work and places G.H. Evans right at the forefront of young, cutting-edge British film-making.


I read the previous review, and I thought I'd have my say.

For me footsteps, is an excellent film. If Hollywood violence and sexy performances are what you're after then possibly this film isn't for you. What footsteps delivers is one mans journey through darkness.

I commend Gareth Evans for this film, I don't quite understand what the previous comment meant when they said it was amateurish, for me this is one of the best films to be shot on DV. Excellent in style, and while the pace of the film does start quite slow, it does draw you in, I thought Nicholas Bool was fantastic in it. If your expecting Tarantino Esq dialogue and charisma then yes you'll be disappointed, but Evans has clearly not set out to make that sort of film and I thought he got an excellent performance out of Bool.

It has some heavy violence, and no its not pretty its horrible, but Mr Evans is clearly not setting out to make an exploitation picture here, he presents this dark world as, well dark. I believed I could have been in the scene, it was that realistic.

The film has won awards and rightly so, while everyone is entitled to their opinion I personally believe the last review was a poor one and that this is a film to be commended.


As usual the cast and crew have written the first few reviews! I wonder why they bother when surely everybody by now knows that anything with a decent rating and a low number of votes must just be being pimped by the people who made it.

Please don't waste your time watching this total garbage. It looks like it was made by schoolkids. The violence is laughably badly done (think 8 year olds pretending to play war or something - punches that don't connect, blood out of a ketchup bottle, etc. etc.). The endless 'thoughtful' silences at least have the decency to let you know the film is going to be boring as hell within the first 10 minutes.

The camera work is awful, with the usual shaky-cam work trying to give it a gritty feel (I would suggest changing the sheets on your bed Mr Director - bound to be some grit floating about there), sometimes the main subject of a shot is out of focus while, for instance, a bus window frame is in focus... poor poor poor. If they can't even get the basic mechanics of film-making right it's no wonder the end result is a total waste of film, money, effort and more importantly the viewer's time.

Watching Battlefield Earth is a better use of your time.


Painfully slow,amateurish and downright poorly acted first effort from a writer director who's clearly been renting Gaspar Noe/Toshiaki Toyoda style films out at blockbusters a long time. This as none of the wit originally or charm of other lower budget British directors like Simon Rumley or Chris Cooke. Save your time on this and go watch the likes of Red Road or This Is England.

Normally I'd be the 1st to give a first time writer/director a break, but its a shame we get sham reviewers building films up to be more than they are. In who's book honestly is this a 9 or 10 ? They are clearly insider comments/ratings, sad as I highly respect mandiapple having read her reviews for years, she's oddly been someone who's pointed me in the direction of the film makers who's style Footsteps is clearly trying to emulate.

For me I'd of most likely given this film a 4 for a nice first attempt but to balance the way off other ratings its getting a 2. I do hope you come back soon Gareth, hopefully you could learn one big lesson with this first feature and try make the people in front of the camera feel more comfortable, that way the viewer would feel more comfy and be able to enjoy the film.


When i was watching this film i thought that it was going to be yet another failed Britsh attempt at movie making, how wrong was I. The film is about Andrew who is a man that pushes everyone he loves away from him just to stop himself getting hurt again. The person playing Andrew is a young man called Nick Bool and his performance was outstanding. Andrew then meets two men who force people into a dark and depraved world. Andrew down on his luck with nothing going his way finds himself embroiled in a bitter world of dog eat dog. The subtle romantic pieces between Andrew and Sara make it a touching film that although violent never seems nihilistic. All the actors were very impressive, especially the person playing Andrews girlfriend Emma Powell, who was very good. And i must say a huge well done to everybody involed with this piece of work. Can't wait for the next one.


This cartoon adaptation of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" is relatively unknown, compared to creators Bass and Rankin, Jr.'s more famous "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." It came relatively late in the cycle of original prime-time animation for television - before video eliminated the market. But it's no less memorable than its predecessors. A high-powered cast for this type of cartoon - particularly Matthau - helps enormously. The animation is fine, but the songs are really a standout. Neglected, and unjustly so.


This movie is one of the best renditions of "a Christmas carol" that i have ever seen, and yet most people have never heard of it! it doesn't get to all aspects of Dickens' original work, but it hits all the major points, and is coupled with great creative and original songs that get stuck in your head for days. The third person narration by B.A.H. Humbug it a very cute extra touch. In my opinion, the movie is neck-in-neck with Mickey Mouse for the best take on "Carol." It doesn't always get a yearly playing, but it is definitely worth keeping your eye out when scanning your TV guide around Christmas. It is really a fantastic retelling of a classic!!


This is the only animated version of "Stingy" I've seen,and it's great, but for years at the Cabaret Supper Theater in Fort Sill, OK, we did this show every year on the stage. The music is superb; the songs wonderful, and the opportunity for children to 'be in a show" are boundless. Our director, the late Ray Shermeyer (who played Scrooge, naturally) held open auditions and cast just about every kid who showed up. He started this around 1967 and when the Cabaret finally was forced to close its doors (as many "supper theaters" did) in 1989, many of those children, then in their late teens or early twenties, came to the mike and said it had given them the confidence to get into shows. Several went on to showbiz careers.

It's a wonderful show for the Christmas season, and it's even a more wonderful play for amateurs (and especially children) to feel the thrill of being on the stage for the first time. HOLLY-HO!


I LOVE this movie. This movie is a great Christmas movie and is amazing. I like how they can do a musical retelling of this story. This was actually based on a old play written by two unknown playwrights Fred Speilman and Janice Toore, however they closed the play after one night. After a lot of the legal dust was settled and the slander was lifted they reissued the play at my old acting school. I was one person to play Marley's Ghost and Christmas Future. I also noticed that Fezziwig was seen in a once shot but didn't get any speaking words. The past scene mostly focused on Scrooge's romance with Belle, and the present scene had Tiny Tim and family, and a scene with Fred. I would have liked it if they had a longer future scene, and more scenes. I would also like to say THank you, Charles Dickens, he's long dead, but he's with us in spirit, for this great story.


When I saw the advertisement in TVGuide for this animation it was touted as an original work by Randkin and Bass. It so happened that the original TV airing in '56 with Basil Rathbone in the lead was a fond memory, especially the music. The original show featured Rathbone as Scrooge and a great cast of 50's names including Vic Damone, Patrice Munsel, Johnny Desmond and many other talents. The re-make in the seventies featured some great personalities as well but did not have the charm of the original broadcast live on the Alcoa Theater. Hearing Rathbone sing was unique. The other talents speak for themselves. I guess I really objected to the claim that the '70s production was an original work. I guess they thought that the original was a faded memory. Perhaps, since it was live and there is no video or film of the original to keep. The songs are exactly the same as they were in the '56 production but without the same charm.


If you're a fan of Abbott and Costello routines, then "The Noose Hangs High" is for you. Numerous routines are packed into this film, including "Dress/Undress," "Someplace Else," "Fodder/Mudder," etc. The boys display these routines with flair and show how much they enjoy them.

The plot involves A&C as window washers mistaken as messengers by a bookie who must make good a $50,000 bet with a man who never loses a bet (played by Leon Errol). The money ends up in an envelope sent to a secretary (Cathy Downs) who spends all but $2,000 of it. The comedy and plot follows A&C and Downs as they try to raise the rest of the money.

"Noose Hangs High" was filmed in late 1947 at Eagle-Lion studios. A&C's new contract with Universal allowed them one independent production a year, and "Noose" was it. Not part of the Universal package when their films were syndicated to television, "Noose" has fallen through the cracks and is one of their least familiar films to moviewatchers. The fact that the film has almost no reputation does not hinder its quality; the laughs are constant and the plot is good, ranking this film among A&C's best. 8 out of 10.


THE NOOSE HANGS HIGH is not really one of the more commonly known films from Abbott & Costello, but it has been recently released on DVD and is recommended for fans of the comedy team. It features Bud and Lou as window washers in the big city who get unwittingly involved with crooks and $50,000 of their loot.

While the plot itself may be typical and no great shakes, the selling point of this comedy are the funny A&C routines that are peppered throughout the movie... We get to see Abbott prove to a gangster that he is not actually here but rather "Someplace Else"; funnyman Leon Errol drives Costello bonkers by discussing horses and how "Mudders eat their Fodder"; Bud makes Lou continually "Dress and Undress".

The real gem of this feature is a terrific scene near the end, as Abbott and Costello engage in an endless array of crazy conversations, and it's one of the best things they ever did that managed to get captured on film: the boys are eating dinner at a fancy restaurant in an effort to run up a huge bill to get deliberately arrested when they cannot pay the check... all the while they're tangled up in a delicious diatribe where Abbott rants about the values of "Mustard", going into the "Ball Park," having a "Headache," asking Costello how he could "Marry a 10 Year Old Girl", and more! This one's worth watching for these golden exchanges alone.


The Noose Hangs High marks Abbott&Costello's only film for the short lived Eagle-Lion Productions. This was an effort by J. Arthur Rank over across the pond to break into the American film market with his own production and distribution company.

Bud&Lou are a pair of window washers who are mistaken for messengers that are employed by bookie Joseph Calleia. It seems as though he's been taken to the cleaners by one of his bettors and though it hurts he has to pay off. The messengers are to get the money from Ben Welden and deliver it to Calleia.

Of course Welden has ideas of having the boys held up and stealing the money for himself. Costello actually eludes the crooks, but sends the money to Cathy Downs by mistake. Now he and Bud have 48 hours to come up with the money or ELSE.

Leon Errol is along for the ride as his usual drunken playboy and he subs for Abbott as Lou's straight-man a couple of times. Though in those routines I can't tell who's the one really getting the laughs.

What always gets me about The Noose Hangs High is Calleia and how he could be that dumb to mistake these two for good help. What's that say about him. Proof of that is a routine where both Abbott and Costello make a monkey out of big dumb leg breaker Mike Mazurki.

The Noose Hangs High is a remake of the Universal film For Love Or Money. I haven't seen the original, but the material was definitely rewritten to suit Bud&Lou. It becomes nothing more than a vehicle for the boys to do several of their burlesque routines. Which for their fans is more than enough.


In their heyday, Bud Abbot and Lou Costello were so often sought after for personal appearances by adoring fans, studio executives and a host of worthwhile organizations. It's of little wonder as they gave the 40's the much needed laughter of their era. In the movies, they provided audiences with many memorable skits, vaudeville routines and standard films. This movie is one of the least known of all their successful runs. It's called " The Noose Hangs High. " The story is of a couple of window washers, (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) who are mistaken for a delivery service, entrusted to deliver $50,000 to Nick Craig, a dangerous bookmaker (Joseph Calleia). The tasks goes awry when they inadvertently lose it. The female lead (Cathy Downs) who accidentally receives the money goes on a spending spree and explains she no longer has their money. When the mob boss promises to harms the boys, they all go on a mad quest to find someway to repay the debt. Although the movie does not contain their most memorable routines, it nevertheless has a few like 'better dress, no don't dress!' and 'Here's one for me, one for you, two for me, One, TWO for you.' The film also features big Mike Mazurki and Fritz Feld. This is one film which definitely belongs with anyone's Abbot and Costello collection. Good fun. ****


While many A&C fans rate "Meet Frankenstein" as their favorite, Abbott & Costello's 1948 MGM effort, "The Noose Hangs High" is mine.

This highly polished gem of a motion picture presents Bud and Lou with a tightly written script. Granted it is a little far-fetched at times, and the boys sure dress well for a couple of window washers. And how Cathy Downs, as a servant, could spend almost $50,000 in one day (in 1948 no less), is incredible.

What really makes the film enjoyable is the boys' superb comedic timing. The last routine of the movie, which incorporates "Bore a Hole in the Wall", "Mustard", and "Marry a Little Girl", is the epitome of their career. Bud truly shows why he was known as the greatest straight-man of all time. Earlier in the flick, when Mike Mazurki starts to stumble through the "You're Not Here" bit, Lou's timing pulls the routine through.

Being an MGM movie, the production values are a few notches better than the Universal films. "Noose" also doesn't appear on any of the A&C compilations either, but it is now available as a single on DVD. By all means, check it out.


One day I was looking up some of the movies that Abbott and Costello made, and I saw that this was one of them, and considering the fact that I am a really huge fan of Abbott and Costello, I decided to see this movie, so I got onto the internet and found this one a website to watch, and so I began to watch this movie. My opinion on this movie is that it is a pretty funny Abbott and Costello movie that I got some laughs out of! This movie I can say is not one of Abbott and Costello's best movies, but it is just a funny film that is a good one that Abbott and Costello managed to make!

This movie features the return of one of my all time favorite Abbott and Costello routines, pack and unpack, in which Costello is going back and forth changing his pants while Abbott is trying to make up his mind if they should escape or not. Why doesn't he make up his mind?! Abbott and Costello have some really hysterical comedy routines that really caused me to laugh at!

If you really love Abbott and Costello, then you will probably really want to see this movie, because you might like it, but if you are not a fan of the Perfect Straight Man and the Perfect Buffoon, then you will probably not like this movie, but I like Abbott and Costello, and so I did like this movie!

8/10


The Noose Hangs High contains what I consider one of the funniest scenes ever in a A&C movie. Very early on Lou's toothache brings him to Dr.Richards the "painless dentist". The minute they walk into the office the patient from the next room lets out a scream and Lou is up and leaving. Abbot pulls him back and a woman exits the office with a bandage wrapped around her face. Lou gets up again and Abbott pulls him back again. Then the crazy doctor appears signaling for Lou. The next 5 minutes inside the office are amazing. The timing, sound effects, EVERYTHING is just incredible. These 5 minutes alone are worth the price of admission. Whenever I watch this scene time stops for me. This is what makes Lou Costello so enjoyable. Pure humor! The rest of the movie is classic A&C at their best. Trust me!!


There are some lovely, touching and dryly amusing scenes in this film. Kanin and the scriptwriters manage to form a substantive, if occasionally gossamer light, whole out of the playing of fine leads and canny comic incidents. The basic story may be the oldest of chestnuts, but it is here embellished with some degree of incisiveness. Grant's scene by the pool with Dunne and Scott reaches a fine pitch of hilarity, and who can forget the impressionistic scene of Scott's diving coming into Grant's mind and being presented in miniature on-screen?

That master player of light, witty material, Grant, is of course sublime, and I was surprised by Irene Dunne - who I had never previously seen in a lead film role. She was magnificently feline, as Pauline Kael says; dispensing slinky, fluttering phrases and quips, and making it clear what a laugh the character is having; she seems rather to be getting off on the entangled situation. The speech patterns are drolly created by Dunne; wonderful Southern hamming, or archetypal screwball dame quick-talk... Her warming, gadding-about voice is charms, along with deft facial acting; look at the "Oh Bianca..." scene at the hotel early on, where she sensuously reclines on a settee and gets Grant to pretend he is entering the room and kissing his new wife. Minxish mischief of the most heartwarming kind, aye...!

Remarkable to think that Ms. Dunne was over forty when this was made. She has the bearing of many years younger and conveys an impressive vigour. One takes to her unconventional good looks; her slight awkwardness as a 'star' is amusingly alluded to, under the surface, in her son's dialogue late on; very poignant little moment, that. Like Rosalind Russell and Kate Hepburn, she is no textbook beauty, and it is her characterful playing conveys a winking, winning attractiveness. Why is it that we have so few similarly idiosyncratic actresses around today? All - or rather much - has to be homogenised; pop star product looks are apparently required, and conveyor-belted into mainstream films. Film is missing the enticing depths of real-life when it opts for the conformist teenage boy's supposed 'dream woman' - mass-media-fostered - over a greater variety of people and appearances, as one encounters in actual reality.

The actor playing the world-weary, rather Robb Wilton-esquire magistrate ought to have been involved more than he was; an enjoyable turn, that would have been effectively woven deeper into the narrative. Randolph Scott amused slightly too, in his support role; a worthy foil. Things did perhaps get rather sentimental with the involvement of the couple's children, although this is hardly the worst such offender in Hollywood history. The insidious wryness seems completely blunted by the end, when the couple are finally reconciled. One may be charmed by the actors' performances, but it all starts to seem a bit indulgent, and the feeling grows that chances were missed.

But really, one must be indulgent, critically; there is priceless stuff in this film's fibre, and while it fires not on all screwball-comedy cylinders, it is a very pleasant feature with glorious screen presences making (deceptively) light of life.


I agree that Move Over Darling is a very good remake of My Favorite Wife, but Doris Day and James Garner, much as I like them, cannot reach the level of sophistication of Grant/Dunne. Randolph Scott does nothing to detract from the picture. Certainly no more than Chuck Connors does in the same role in Move Over Darling. The courtroom scenes with Grant and Granville Bates as the judge are superior, and Donald McBride as the hotel clerk is exceptional. Cary Grant's facial expression on the elevator when he first sees Dunne after 7 years is so memorable that I can still remember it 35 years after first seeing it. If you are a Grant fan, you have to see this movie.


...albeit a little slow-paced in the first half. Leo McCarey's chaotic pace which made The Awful Truth so much fun is missed here, but Garson Kanin directs capably in his absence and the script and actors deliver enough good wit and chemistry to keep it all balanced out in the end.

Cary Grant gets himself into an unwitting romantic pickle when he's confronted by his thought to be long dead wife on his honeymoon with his new bride. Hilarity ensues, as it does in every brilliant screwball comedy Grant was the star of, and there are some priceless moments along the way.

As in The Awful Truth, Grant and Irene Dunne make a fetching and compatible screen couple. Dunne's comedic felinity and tendency to affect nutty stereotypes in order to get what she wants is better than Katharine Hepburn's imitation of her in Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Grant and Hepburn were terrific in their movies together too, and not taking anything away from Great Kate, but Grant and Dunne's chemistry was just that much better and it's a shame they never made more comedies together.

Hilarious in-jokey scenes between Grant and Randolph Scott, and a near scene stealing turn by Granville Bates as The Judge round out a pretty funny flick.

The Doris Day/James Garner remake "Move Over, Darling" is memorable in its own right and viewed right after this would make for a good video double-bill.


Cary Grant's got a real problem on his hands. He thinks his wife was killed in a plane crash seven years ago. So he goes to court with Gail Patrick who he now intends to marry after getting the judge to declare Irene Dunne legally dead.

Wouldn't you know it, Dunne turns up the day of the honeymoon and puts Cary in an awful pickle. He's a lawyer and he's busy trying to work out all the ramifications of what's happened.

I've thought about it for a while and I came to the conclusion that it's Grant's professional training that prevents him from just confessing to one and all what's happened. Where a lot of the laughs come in is Grant trying to avoid marital consummation with Patrick until he can work it out.

Another factor comes into play when Grant learns that Dunne spent several years on the desert island with hunky Randolph Scott. Grant starts to feel a little less guilty then.

The whole mess is dumped on the judge who originally declared Dunne legally dead, Granville Bates. His role as the judge gives him some of the best lines in My Favorite Wife.

I do feel sorry for Gail Patrick though. Usually she plays a lot of bad girls and other women in movies. But she really is the wronged party here.

Dunne and Grant worked well together in another marital comedy, The Awful Truth and they were just as bright in My Favorite Wife as they were in the first film.

One interesting footnote it was a remake of this film Something's Gotta Give that Marilyn Monroe did not complete. Eventually it was made over with Doris Day and James Garner.

That one was good, but this one is great.


After his shipwrecked wife is declared dead and he takes on a new wife, Grant's first wife resurfaces, rescued after seven years on an island. This reteaming of Grant and Dunne after their success with "The Awful Truth" is pretty funny for the most part, as Grant tries to solve the problem of one wife too many while dealing with jealousy after learning that Dunne had a male companion (Scott) on that island. The only complaint is that the laughs stop in the last quarter of the movie, which is rather uninteresting as the focus shifts from comedy to romance. Bates, who is hilarious as a flustered judge, died in July 1940 but managed to act in 12 films released that year!


This splendid comedy is the one about the wife 'who comes back from the dead' only to find her husband, just that morning, remarried. Of course, she was never dead in the first place but stranded on a desert island with a hunky athlete as her only companion. The resulting complications are the stuff of a classic screwball farce and when the husband is Cary Grant and the wife is Irene Dunne and the writers are Sam and Bella Spewack you know you have a winner on your hands.

Bits of this movie have found their way into homages to the genre over the years and the whole thing was remade in 1963 as a vehicle for Doris Day and with considerably less zing. Leo McCarey, who directed Grant and Dunne in "The Awful Truth", (and won an Oscar for doing so), acts as producer here, leaving the direction to Garson Kanin who makes a very fine job of it. The supporting cast are pretty top-notch as well, with terrific cameos from Donald Mc Bride as an hotel clerk and Granville Bates as a somewhat bewildered judge. Even the children can act in this one and aren't in the least obnoxious in the way of most American moppets of the period.


The silliness of Cary Grant being too embarrassed and afraid of hurting his bride's feelings to tell her what happened--and the screwball results--gives way at the end to an interesting play of sexual tension between husband and wife as the wife refuses to give "privileges" till her husband affirms, not just his passion, but his commitment to her and the family.

For a comic but sophisticated peek at what men and women need from each other, it joins Friendly Persuasion and The Quiet Man.

Casting is excellent--you can't feel very sorry for the wronged bride or for the cheerful disappointed suitor; the kids are funny, neither sentimentalized nor smart alecky; the judge and hotel manager are gems; and Cary Grant and Irene Dunne manage to generate sparks while seeming as comfortable together as old shoes.


Two attempted remakes and dozens of rip offs have failed to diminish the hilarious complications and romantic musings of this often-imitated, never duplicated screwball farce. Loosely based on the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem "Enoch Arden" (Tennyson does not receive a screen credit in the finished film), MY FAVORITE WIFE piles on the fast-paced, snappy dialogue and outrageous, comedic misunderstandings at a frantic rate. Director Garson Kanin skillfully maintains the perfect serio-comedic tone throughout the film's runtime, and the picture is easily respected screenwriter's best film as a director. Interestingly enough, Kanin took over the directing duties from Leo McCarey (an Oscar winner as Best Director for 1937's THE AWFUL TRUTH, which also starred Grant and Dunne) after McCarey was injured in an automobile accident (McCarey also co-wrote the screenplay with Kanin and Sam and Bella Spewack).

The cast is marvelous, topped by yet another Oscar-worthy performance by Irene Dunne, who offers a multi-dimensional portrayal in a genre where one-note characterizations typically run rampant. Dunne was indeed a rare actress who could peerlessly balance madcap humor and genuine pathos, without ever appearing forced or contrived. Cary Grant is every bit Dunne's match as the befuddled husband who finds himself with one wife too many. Although his role doesn't permit him to display the jaw-dropping physical prowess that was showcased so remarkably in THE AWFUL TRUTH, Grant's mastery of internal comedy is given ample screen time here - especially in the final two-third when he discovers he may have a romantic rival.

The supporting cast is also diligently cast, although there's no animal scene-stealer, a la canine performer Asta's memorable turn as Mr. Smith in THE AWFUL TRUTH. Platinum-haired beefcake Randolph Scott is fun as Grant's rival for Dunne's affections, and the fact that Grant and Scott were lifelong friends and roommates only makes their scenes together even funnier (there's also a hilarious sight gag involving the two of them that will have even the most reserved viewer rolling on the floor with laughter). The appropriately rigid Gail Patrick plays the role of the stereotypical shrew as well as anyone could, and director Kanin also pulls natural performances from the two children in the cast. A comedy with a large dosage of wit and an ample amount of intelligence is quite rare, and MY FAVORITE WIFE has all of that and more in abundance - it's simply a picture where everything works.


Cary Grant and Irene Dunne were great together, and though "My Favorite Wife" is not as funny as "The Awful Truth," it's still pretty good. Ellen, lost at sea and presumed dead, returns after 7 years to find her husband Nick has remarried. She goes to his honeymoon hotel, which is a setup for one of Grant's best bits - he sees her as the elevator is closing and his head follows the door until it closes. However, he can't seem to tell his bride Bianca (Gail Patrick). Then he finds out that Ellen wasn't alone on the island but spent the 7 years with one Stephen Burkett. In another funny scene, Ellen gets a sheepish, short, bald shoe salesman to pose as Burkett. Nick has tracked the real Burkett down, and Stephen looks a lot more like Randolph Scott than the shoe salesman. In fact, he's played by Randolph Scott.

Grant is his usual riot and extremely handsome. He spends a lot of time talking to himself as he acts out what he's going to say to Bianca. Also, as in "Bringing Up Baby" and "I Was a Male War Bride," he gets to do something with women's clothing - this time standing in front a mirror and trying to figure out what to bring Ellen to wear. Dunne is very funny, posing as a southern friend when she meets Bianca, and also is quite touching when she first sees her children.

The only problem is that it all gets a little tired, particularly at the end with a prolonged scene having to do with Grant in the attic. As others have pointed out, the script has some holes, particularly the fact that a woman returning after 7 years gets no publicity. And poor Bianca comes off like a villain when she's a victim. Go figure. As amusing as "My Favorite Wife" is, it could have been better.

Nevertheless, with these stars, it's a delightful film, and some of the funniest scenes take place in the courtroom. The Judge, played by Granville Bates, is hilarious and a good example of "no small parts." He sure makes the most of his role.


"Quiet! I'll have no laughter in the courtroom," says the deadpan judge, but in fact the scenes in the courtroom deliver the only laughs in this movie, because they deliver the only breaths of fresh, honest air in the script.

Cary Grant's comedic flair shines as always, even when he's mugging for Garson Kanin (a director who should have stuck to writing). Too bad his character, the only remotely attractive one, is stuck with a lousy screenplay and two loser wives.

Nothing against Gail Patrick, who exudes cool intelligence and can deliver a cynical remark like a brunette Eve Arden. Unfortunately, most of her roles are thankless, and none more so than this one. As Wife No. 2, she's pure plot device, manipulated to the needs of the story.

But, as usual with her movies, it is Irene Dunne who makes this almost unwatchable, particularly in close-ups, when her ever-visible tongue threatens to flop out of her usually open mouth.

If you get stuck watching this, check out the score and the sound editing. Both are aggressively silly, in an attempt to make up for the lack of comedy throughout the film. A futile attempt.


I am not the biggest screwball comedy fan, since most movies just don't seem to really quite got 'it' and are more or less often too much more of the same and they get drowned by the movie its clever story and low key sentiments. "My Favorite Wife" was however a screwball movie that I really enjoyed watching.

It features all of the typical screwball elements, in which an odd unusual situations and how the characters handle them plays the central key element of the movie. Things get worse and worse when they get deeper and deeper into trouble when more facts slowly surface. It's a well written story that offers plenty of surprises with its moments and main plot-line, even though of course the movie in a sense is mostly predictable, just like any other genre movie.

Who knows, perhaps the movie would had been even better if indeed Leo McCarey ended up directing it, like originally was intended. He however got involved in an automobile accident shortly before the filming of this movie and he had to pass on the directing honers to less experienced Garson Kanin. Kanin obviously didn't do a bad job with it but McCarey was of course more experienced in the genre and was definitely most at ease and in his element with directing these type of movies. He has some great classics below his belt, also prior to the release of this movie. McCarey still served as the writer and producer of the movie though, so his touch is still notable within the movie.

The more I see of Cary Grant as a comedy actor, the more I start to like and appreciate him as one. He is of course still best known for the roles he played in Alfred Hitchcock movies but he successfully started off his career with movies such as this one. He was a great comedy actor who could play a regular guy, despite his always good look. While watching this movie it by the way also made me think; 'Wow, this guy would had made a great James Bond!'. Later I found out that he was actually asked to play the James Bond character in the first 1962 Bond movie "Dr. No" but he turned it down because he believed to be too old already at the time to play the character. He stars in this movie with Irene Dunn, with who he has appeared in in several movies together throughout their career, which also all happen to be the same type of movies. Both were just 2 of the best and most successful genre actors at the time.

One of the better movies that the '30's screwball genre has to offer.

8/10


A lot of ''serious'' film critics consider the ''New French Cinema''(with Luc Besson as the biggest exponent)as an artistic prostitution which destroys Godard's,Truffaut's and Rohmer's legacy.I have to say I appreciate a lot that kind of movies because they take the Hollywood's clichés and they give them ''new life''.In other words,films like Dobermann,La Femme Nikita and The Crimson Rivers take the typical clichés but,in the hands of talented directors and screenwriters,they take ''new life'' so the final result is something innovative.L'Empire des Loups is another example of what I just mentioned.This film adapts the North American clichés to the French style and the result is a very entertaining and interesting thriller with a lot of energy.Director Chris Nahon and his screenwriters(Nahon is also one of them)do not stop in giving too much explanations in this movie,so the spectator has to pay a lot of attention.And I really appreciated that as the best element from this movie.I'm tired of the Hollywood movies which explain everything thinking the spectator is stupid.Nahon and his screenwriters trust that the spectator will be enough intelligent for taking out conclusions.This film always keeps the suspense and there are some really unexpected revelations.The fail I found on this movie was that,near the ending of the film,there's an imbalance.I mean,this film has a mysterious noir style and near the ending,the film suddenly becomes in an action film with explosions,chases and shootings.That parts are fun and exciting for themselves but they seem like out of place.In spite of that,L'Empire des Loups is a very entertaining and tense thriller that I totally recommend.


I'm starting to like French action movies. This one reminded me a little bit in its feel of Kiss of the Dragon, minus the kung-fu.

The colouring and mood of the film are dark and edgy, as are its characters. Jean Reno delivers a good time, as per usual.

I will say that the plot twists to the point of nonsense, but it's still a good ride.

The film also has a hint of an Islamophobic air, given the current geopolitical climate, but not to the point of being overt.

In all, one of the best action films I've seen in a while, highly recommended within its genre.


This excellent thriller owes most of the credits to it's author (the book) Jean Christophe Grange and actor Jean Reno. You will find some similarities of the film with Crimson Rivers, which is also based on Grange's book and Jean Reno played the lead character Commissioner Pierre Niemans. Like Crimson Rivers, the movie begins with seemingly two different events and a pair of cops trying to unravel the mystery. Anna Heymes (Arly Jover), the wife of a respected government official Laurent (Philippe Bas) is having a rare amnesia and nightmarish hallucinations of horrible murders, while in the Turkish neighborhood of Paris, Police Captian Paul Nerteaux (Jocelyn Quivrin) is trying to solve the possible serial killings of the illegal Turkish women with the help of an ex-cop Jean-Louis Schiffer (Jean Reno), who is also an expert in Turkish underworld and organized crime. Eventually these two seemingly unrelated worlds begin to collide into a web of danger and dark mysteries. As usual, Grange's work made this movie a cerebral action thriller. Cherish it.


Although this movie is in French and dubbed in English, the most important thing required to enjoy this movie is using the English subtitles even though the speech is in English...the voice over seems to be competing with the background movie sound (rain, music) so it is difficult to make out the conversations without it.

The movie is a bit difficult to follow during the first portion of the movie, but that alone is usually a positive for me as this isn't a movie whose plot is known 10 minutes into the movie. The movie takes place predominantly in France, so the scenery is pleasant. Due to the voice over, the dialog is sub par but the pace and mystery of the movie is very good and the story line isn't bad for a thriller type movie.

The biggest disappointment for me was not having Jean Reno dub his own voice, but other than that, I did enjoy the movie.


You can always recognize a good movie by these elements : 1- good story with an interesting intrigue 2- great actors 3- a few young & promising new faces in movies

This one has it all. The views are great, the ambiance is dark, the dialogs precise & intriguing, a lot of twists and turns, never really understand how it'll play out until the final chapter is upon you.

In short, if you like police movies with some political twists & some great suspense and action, you're @ the right stop !!!

Enjoy this one.

Peace


Well, imagine, there is one girl who lost her memory, they try to understand using "scientific methods" what she might be doing in he previous life. The "scientist" finds a trace of henna in her finger nails, and he concludes that she is a Turk, because that particular henna is grown in Anatolia. Come on, if I go and they test me they may conclude that I am Chinese, as almost everything we use nowadays are made in china. CRAP BIG TIME

There are many other problems in the plot. The way Turks are portrayed is offensive, and although "wolves" exist as a right wing fraction in Turkey, they have nothing to do with the stuff they are associated with in this movie.


Unfortunately as a Jean Reno fan, I am very disappointed with this movie. The movie has just created an imaginary world especially while describing the Turks. The mafia of extreme rightists in Turkey never live in kappadochia caves, etc, they might live in Bosphorus in big and modern houses :)). They don't wear such silly ninja like dresses or don't live in Arabic environments as seen at the end of the movie. The backgrounds that were chosen in Turkey, better suit to one of the Star Wars episodes :)) We (me and my wife) have just watched the movie with a wide but annoyed smile on our faces.

I am not in favor of rightists :)) But the scenario and the content were so ridiculous that, this movie must be watched only as a comedy. The players' Turkish was also so funny that I had considerable difficulty in understanding what they were speaking. The story as an action-thriller movie (besides the Turk theme) was also unbelievable :)) How can Turkish mafia know very good french and know little Turkish? Sorry for all people who gave their energy for such a bad movie. The silly big head sculpture was another flaw in film. What was that? :))) Something seem to be mixed with Congo movie, or king Kong?? :)) Just awful work. Sorry. :)


I completely understand the plot it goes like this :

- Girl without memory has face changed for some reason - The police changed her memory - She changed her face because she did a drug rip-deal - Here brother likes to kill people who look like her - Actually she is a Turkish terrorist - Jean reno is involved in something - The turks kill another group of turks in a bath filled with mint

Then it gets better :

- The girl is a ninja - The drugs are in an enormous cave filled with death people - The case collapses and Reno is death - No he is not death

Never mind all that the end is amazing :

- Reno, the cop, the girl, the brother all end up in Turkey - At the same time of course, the whole France police force is also there - The girl kills here father - The cop, reno and the police kill everyone else in the village - The serial killer brother tries to serial kill the girl

The best thing about this movie however is the final end :

- Switch of DVD player, throw disk in bin, and sue the french for wasting your time.

Movie seem to be made by a bunch of spaced out french with a high budget. Awful just awful, worst waste of time and money ever (well, there's french cars which are a step below that...)


When I went to watch Crimson Rivers", another movie based on one of Grange's novels, I was really amazed by the atmosphere, but rather disappointed by the ending of the plot which I found to be rather overdone. With "Empire of the Wolves" I expected the same. However, it turns out to be one of the least convincing movies of this year, at least according to my taste. There are flaws virtually everywhere. When Nerteaux, one of the cops, asks his buddy Schiffer during one of the many unmotivated fights of the movie: "Could you explain this chaos to me?" members of the audience will nod in agreement as that is what you want to ask the makers of this movie from the first minute on. The various pieces of the plot don't fit together, the soundtrack does not at all contribute to the suspense the movie should produce. Last not least, in order to symbolize "criminalism" and "brutality" and for the deflection of sympathy the movie uses Turkish people and Turkish nationalism. I do not want to discuss in how far the portrayal of the Grey Wolves is in any case realistic. What I find immoral is that the movie uses the fear of Arabs or Arabic looking people which is generated by 9/11 and terroristic assaults to tell its tale. By doing this the movies supports prejudices that should not be supported at all - even if it is only a thriller.


It sounds interesting but don't bother. Jean Reno plays a French investigator of unusual, you can say illegal, methods who teams up with a younger, better looking cop to track down a terrorist gang. The gang is referred to as the "wolves" and they are skilled assassins who seemingly best every opponent they face. Dead bodies are turning up everywhere and the police are stymied. There is a convoluted plot with people being brainwashed and having their identities stolen, all to provide cover for the wolves. The latter are trained, it seems, in the Mideast. Reno, now a baguette-bellied and aging actor, seems unconvincing in this role. He plays a wine swilling, street/terror-wise, hard-nosed crime fighter. But his age and girth don't suggest an agile pugilist...oh well, it's a movie. They spent a little money making this flick, but ultimately it doesn't quite pass the test, even for a standard thriller. I can only recommend to the bored and hard-core Reno fans.


Jean Reno is such a great actor and I can't figure out why he would take a role like this. Times must be hard. The plot is weak, the tie ins are weaker. Someone is killing girls that look like a girl they do not want to kill? Some cop is trying to find the killer of his mother, but settles on preventing illegal aliens from being killed. A bad cop is a good cop, and the good cops are engaged in illegal research. Dead people aren't dead, weak kittens suddenly become "ninji" types, people suppose to be good with guns can't hit a target, and people shooting blindly into the dark never miss making a fatal shot. It's dumb, the actors always look dirty, the English dubbing is amateurish (Did I say it is a French movie?), etc. Jean Reno's beard on the cover should have been enough to warm me that all was not well with this movie. It is just my opinion, but the movie is worse than his beard. Blockbuster should be sued for putting it on the shelf. While I am sure the pseudo intellectual film crowd will "slobber" all over this movie, most people will want to spit on it.


Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) seems to be a typical Betty Crocker suburban housewife. Unfortunately, people are dropping like flies around her! Could this perfect mom be a serial killer?

"Serial Mom" is a ridiculously charming and clever film that never really received the credit it deserved. It is John Waters' best mainstream film, and its tongue-in-cheek portrayal of suburbia, domesticity, the media, and conventional gender roles is delightfully subversive. Kathleen Turner was criminally underrated--this was her best performance to date. The dialogue is hilarious, the murders are wickedly funny, and the overall atmosphere of the film is disturbingly bright and shiny. Co-stars Waters regulars Mink Stole, Ricki Lake, Traci Lords, and features a dynamite cameo by grunge goddesses L7. My Rating: 9/10


Just last year, Roger Ebert sang the praises of the serial killer B-movie Kalifornia, citing it -- and vastly overestimating it -- as a brilliant character study with something intelligent to say about our culture of violence. While that film took itself way too seriously, Serial Mom manages to get Kalifornia's attempted message across by a far more successful means: humor. It is a John Waters film in the purest sense, in that it's entirely IMpure. More edgy than his last movie, Cry-Baby, but not nearly as extreme as Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom is filled to the brim with his trademark over-the-top gross-out humor -- but this time it has a purpose. It tells the simple story of a conservative housewife (played indelibly by Kathleen Turner) who murders whomever is unlucky enough to get on her nerves. While her husband (acclaimed actor Sam Waterston in a different light) and two children (Matthew Lillard and Ricki Lake) begin to suspect her criminal nature, the suburban town's death toll rises as more and more people make the mistake of p***ing her off. Turner's performance does for suburbia what Al Pacino in Scarface did for the mob: it wallows in its outlandish excess (Oscar snub, anyone?). The murder scenes themselves are so outrageous (they range from stabbing a man in the back with a poker and removing some anonymous inner organ to lambasting a woman with a pot roast) that the film can't help but NOT be taken seriously, and this is where it makes its point. As Stanley Kubrick did with A Clockwork Orange, Waters rubs our faces in our own inner obsession with violence -- but unlike others who have attempted this feat, he remembers to do more than just condemn his audience. Rather, he exposes us for what we really are -- and shows that he wouldn't have it any other way. While others might have stopped as soon as Turner is caught, Waters keeps the story moving throughout her trial -- which features the most entertaining act of courtroom self-defense since Woody Allen in Bananas. One of her killings involves dropping the stage lights at a concert on the head of her son's friend and then proceeding to set him on fire while the audience applauds her sadism, but Waters doesn't glorify the act: during the trial, the prosecutor displays photographs of the burnt corpse, but everyone in the courtroom is distracted by the presence of Suzanne Somers. Critics who have attacked Waters for being gratuitous are mistaken: he DOES show the consequences of the corrupt acts he depicts -- but he also reveals the sad truth, which is that no one really cares anymore. Along with taking on our culture's passion for depravity, the film also addresses our OTHER potentially dangerous problem: repressed conservative housewives. Having no life outside of the home, Turner is so obsessed with doing the best for her family that she's willing to (permanently) get rid of anyone who gets in the way. Rather than being frightening, her killings are just examples of how soccer-mom perfectionism can go too far. In one scene, a future victim of hers is watching Annie and singing along to "Tomorrow" while her dog licks her feet: now THAT'S frightening.

Grade: B+


An uproariously witty satire on "petty" bourgeois American values, John Waters brings his own distinctive madness to the screen by focussing on cardboard cut-out caricatures of pop culture Americana.

Turning his outrageous gaze on an archetypally perfect housewife and mother from the Baltimore suburbs in Maryland, supportive to her loving husband and teenage kids and possessing a real tlent for cooking, it appears that she is everything a stable, hard-working business man could want. However, there is a slight catch. She is also a serial killer.

Mom's tendency to take bloody revenge on any poor neighbouring housewife who fails to observe her rigid socially acceptable guidelines, like not recycling rubbish or driving too fast, is so barmy you are sure to find it absurdly and darkly funny. Kathleen Turner, alternating between dizzy, unquestioning devotion to her family and clinically cool, yet psychotic anger to offending neighbours, either appears to possess a martyr's yellow halo above her head, denoting divine lightness and freshness, or a focussed smile as she carefully contemplates her next victim.

If you are on the lookout for some perfectly vibrant, yet malicious black comedy, subscribe to "Serial Mom", one of the most ruthless, patronising skits on good manners and nosey, voyeuristic neighbours ever to hit the screen. If you like Waters' latest irreverent venture into visceral, cutting black humour, then get all his other movies, because they are all even more extreme and grotesque - "Pink Flamingos", "Hairspray", "Cry Baby" - all kitschy, underrated classics in their own right.


I saw Serial Mom for the first time as a fairly young kid, and thought it was pretty good. I've just seen it for the first time as an adult, and it turns out that I'd forgotten just how good this film really is! It's certainly not to everyone's taste, and if you can't handle high camp, you definitely don't want to see this; but if you like your films wild and wicked, Serial Mom is a treat indeed! The film follows a slasher plot line, but it's clear that director John Waters didn't want to merely make a slash flick. The film is a parody of life as a housewife, the media and modern society in general; with a heavy dosage of sick humour and a very unique mean streak running throughout. Serial Mom is the sort of film that puts a smile on your face, and it follows the story of a not quite so normal American mother. While her fellow housewives are cooking dinner and cleaning the house, Beverly R. Sutphin is out dispatching people that have got on hers and her family's nerves in a variety of nasty, yet hilarious, ways. Her kids think it's cool, and her husband is duly worried...

Kathleen Turner takes the lead role, and does an excellent job of performing in a serious, yet jokey way; which does the film no end of favours on the parody front. She looks the part, acts the part...and really, I cant think of a better middle-aged actress to take the lead in this film. The support cast, which includes Matthew Lillard and Ricki Lake, is good; but it's the director that's the real star of the show. John Waters has made a name for himself by creating odd and twisted films, and although I haven't seen a great deal of them; Serial Mom is his best as far as I'm concerned. It's one of those films that constantly make you laugh (providing you've got a sick sense of humour), while poking fun at society and offending all the right people all at once! I love originality in movies, and this really is one unique film. The nineties saw the release of lots of obscure social commentaries that were lost under films like Schindler's List and Fight Club, and Serial Mom, along with Francois Ozon's 'Sitcom', is one of the best 'under the radar' films of the decade. It's not a film that everyone will like, but everyone should see it just in case!


Imagine this: the main character is a woman called Beverly Sutphin. Her husband is a dentist and she does her best to bring up her children. In short, she is a respectable human being with the particularity of being a real stickler for good manners . Maybe, a little too respectable so that when someone speaks ill of one member of her family, Beverly is ready to kill to defend her family!

Only one filmmaker seemed designated to shot this highly entertaining black comedy: John Waters, the king of bad taste and extravagance. In "Serial Mom", most of the comical situations are structured about the two quoted characteristics. The whole is condensed in one hour and a half. You don't get bored one moment and you honestly laugh in front of all these murders. In "Serial Mom", you also recognize Waters' strong taste for bloody, gore and horror movies. Moreover, for this extraordinary director, it is the occasion to harm the model image of the American family.

All in all, a delightfully politically incorrect comedy led by a Kathleen Turner on top form.


The above is just one of MANY great lines offered up by the cast of 'Serial Mom'.....

The Sutphins seem to be the picture of a normal 50's-esque family - dad (Sam Waterston) is a dentist; mom (a FANTASTIC Kathleen Turner) is a grand house wife homage to Donna Reed, June Cleaver and such; daughter (Rikki Lake) and son (Matthey Lillard) seem to be your average teens with a perfect family life.... Or is it?

Based upon actual real life events, John Waters manages to bring us another great film - and this time - he takes dead aim on the 'celebrity' we make of murderers and criminals....

I'm sure that many of us have gone through our lives, being annoyed by this person or that object and we've never done anything about it.... Not Betty Sutphin.... When this suburban mom goes off - she goes off.... From minor annoyances (white shoes after labor day!) to major anger management issues, Betty takes matters into her own hands - by going on a killing spree - taking 6 victims to an early grave....

Sure, in typical Waters way, it's a bit over the top and corny, but the film is great! Some of the humor is very low brow - in bad taste, but, as Waters mentions in interviews - bad taste can be good taste!

I gave this a 9 - a greatly enjoyable film!


I am a hardcore John Waters fan, but this is not my favorite film of his. I can't really think of anything I would want to change about it, however, other than maybe setting it in the 50's or 60's so Van Smith could have worked his costume magic. I personally consider this film and Pecker to be his weakest. However, even my least favorite Waters film beats most movies. If another director, say Robert Zemeckis or someone had directed this, then based on the subject matter, I probably wouldn't have had any interest in seeing it. But hey, any movie containing the credits "Written and Directed by John Waters" (in this case, the credit is superimposed over an image of a pulverized fly who has just been swatted by the title character...he always picks the best shots for his credit, doesn't he?) well, I'm there, no matter what the premise is. Waters' films often center on 'troubled' but lovable female characters, and this one is no exception. Kathleen Turner does a great job portraying Beverly Sutphin, a June Cleaver-esque, devoted happy homemaker who doesn't even allow gum in her house, but has a short fuse and keeps a secret scrapbook (I wonder if it was from Waters personal collection) of clippings about serial killers. We don't know how long she's been killing, but the first half of the film follows a week in her life and the various neighbors and acquaintances she dispatches simply because they pi$$ her off. Ever momentarily had an urge to kill someone when they stole a parking spot from you, badmouthed a member of your family, or committed an obvious fashion violation? We don't act on it (well, *I* don't anyway, maybe some of you have and I just don't know about it) but Serial Mom sure does.

Again, only Waters could have pulled this movie and subject matter off. If you're a Waters devotee, then you are well aware that criminal behavior, trials, and serial killers are subjects near and dear to his heart-this is a man who is a self-confessed "trial groupie". With any other filmmaker, it could have been boring. Many probably would have been extremely offended by a movie about a lovable serial killer played for laughs (especially those who knew the victim of a violent crime) but the tone of the movie is so light and over-the-top that only people with no sense of humor could think it might condone murder. Who else but Waters could think of a victim being bludgeoned to death with a slab of pork chop (because she made the mistake of not rewinding a movie before she returns it to the video store) while watching a videotape of "Annie"? This is not the funniest Waters movie I've seen, but it has its moments. Among the funniest are the scenes where Beverly torments her neighbor Mink Stole with hilariously obscene phone calls to drive her over the edge. Also very amusing are scenes where Beverly's whitebread manner ("oh honey, the only "serial" I know anything about is Rice Krispies!") contrasts with the horrified stares of her family and neighbors. Turner is best in the moments when she goes from a harmless Donna Reed to Charles Manson within seconds when someone makes the mistake of annoying her- just watch her face. Waters fans should also watch for cameos /small roles by Alan Wendel, Traci Lords, Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pearce (I only recognized her from her distinctive voice) and though he doesn't appear in the credits, Waters manages to work in Don Knotts.

This is one of the few Waters films that I rent from time to time rather than own, but it's still lots of fun. I'll take one of Waters less memorable films over a teen slasher flick or anything starring Jean-Claude Van Damme any day of the week.


I'm not a John Waters fan by any means but i thought this movie was a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Kathleen Turner plays serial murderess Beverly Sutphin who on the outside is a loving mother but upset her family in any way and she will kill you. Kathleen Turner was great in war of the roses but in this movie she was simply majestic.The way she combined her light side with her dark side was inspired. Some parts of the movie might make you turn your away in disgust and after the dentist scene I will see to it that I never have to go to the dentists again However some parts of the film are absolutely hysterical and during the masturbation scene I had to stop myself having a serious accident i was laughing so hard. Sam Waterston was superb as Beverlys husband and Matthew Lillard and Rikki Lake did a fine job as her children but this was Kathleen Turner's film from start to finish and i cant remember any film in which she has been better The way she manipulates the judge and jury at the end of the film is clever and really ,really funny.By the end you are actually hoping she will get away with it, This film is a masterpiece and deserves only the perfect score 10/10


This film won't be to everyone's liking, but is certainly an all-time favorite of mine. Only a film like this can combine so many great elements into one entertaining movie.

Kathleen Turner is just purely brilliant as sweet mother Beverly Sutphin, who would look more at home in a show like Bewitched. However, we soon learn that she's not all that she seems. I love any movie that takes a classic element (in this case the innocent housewife) and completely turns it on its head.

And so the film leads us on a journey through Beverly Sutphin's life and motivations. The film grabs on, and doesn't let go, keeping the pace until the very last scene.

In bad taste? Well, yes. Sick humor? Quite often. Good? Oh yes. If you have a dark sense of humor, don't miss it for the world.


Even after 15 years, this movie is still pretty much amazing, even though it's surely not as half as shocking as it was before. The story is fickle. You have one perfect family, on top of which a Stepford mom resides, like a queen bee. She hates swearing, bugs, and don't even think of chewing a piece of gum in her kitchen; if there's one thing she hates the most, is somebody messing with her family. She's perfect: she's the Brie Van Der Kamp of the 90s. And one might think, that she takes her parental duties a little bit too seriously. Is she? The basic core of the movie is for a viewer to confess: didn't you ever want to kill your neighbor? Of course, one might say, but I'd never do it. Didn't you ever want to kill that bitch from across the street? She's never been nice. Of course, but I'd never do it. The victims of Beverly Suthpin aren't nice people: they're fake, they're nasty, they're everything that's wrong with the world. In some people's eyes, they should be eliminated. And that's where the true genius of the movie emerges: the silly comedy has an actual moral discussion going on under the layers of ridiculous rage and gore. Waters is a genius: he knows exactly how to play with all of the ingredients of his movies. He places words in right situations as it was a breeze; he puts some black humor when it gets too serious and just a little bit of scare and creepiness when it gets too kitschy. He's always one step ahead of the viewer: he knows his stuff. Or maybe he doesn't care and just goes with his guts? Either way,


Black comedy can be a difficult genre to get right, in the cinema as well as in the theatre. We can, I am sure, all think of films which were intended to be gross but hilarious and ended up as simply gross. There are too many examples to list them all, but high on my personal list of offenders in this regard must be "The Sweetest Thing", "Beautiful Creatures" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous". On the other hand, when black comedy succeeds, the result can be superb. Two of my favourites are Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove" and Scorsese's "King of Comedy", both of which derive humour from serious subjects (nuclear war and crime) but do so with a brilliant satirical wit.

John Waters's "Serial Mom" is not quite in the same class as those two films, but is one of the better black comedies of recent years. The main character is Beverley Sutphin, a middle-aged, middle-class Middle American housewife. Beverley, happily married to dentist Eugene with two teenage children, Chip and Misty, lives in an affluent, idyllic suburb which looks as though it has been taken from a fifties sit-com. (Like most of Waters's films, this one is set in his home town of Baltimore). There is only one thing which disturbs the peace and tranquillity of the area. Beverley combines her role as a housewife and mother with a part-time career as a serial killer. Her first victim is Paul Stubbins, a teacher who makes some unkind remarks about her son at a PTA meeting, and she progresses to her daughter's unfaithful boyfriend, a couple who are rude about Eugene's dental practice and various people who commit minor social gaffes such as failing to rewind rented video tapes (the film predates the coming of DVD), failing to recycle their garbage, and wearing white shoes after Labor day. (This last is, apparently, regarded as a major fashion crime in America). Eventually she is arrested and put on trial.

Waters has the reputation of being a director to whom the notion of good taste is quite alien, and, with a plot like this, "Serial Mom" could have ended up as nothing more than horribly tasteless garbage. It is, of course, horribly tasteless and not a film to see if you are at all squeamish- Waters does not spare us sight of plenty of blood and gore- but is saved from ending up as garbage by two things. The first is an often very witty script, displaying a refreshingly cynical sense of humour, which includes some great lines such as "He killed people, mom- We all have our bad days". and "Jesus said nothing to condemn capital punishment as he hung on the cross, did he"? (the local priest is preaching a pro-death penalty sermon).

The second is Kathleen Turner's manically over-the-top performance as Beverley, alternating between a model of bourgeois domestic virtue and a bloodthirsty maniac, and playing both with equal relish. My favourite parts were the courtroom scene where Beverley conducts her own defence with great brilliance and the scenes where she makes obscene phone calls to her neighbour Dottie, a woman who can be shocked by a phrase as seemingly innocuous as "Are those pussy willows?" Turner is an actress who has somewhat disappeared from view in recent years, but in the eighties and nineties she was one of Hollywood's best known leading ladies and gave some excellent performances in films like the neo-noir thriller "Body Heat" and "The War of the Roses", another very good black comedy.

Like most good black comedies, "Serial Mom" has some serious points to make. The mores of suburbia have been fair game for satirists ever since the first suburbs were built, and here Waters is sending up the culture of middle-class conformity which all too often attaches to such places. Beverley is far from being the only all-American soccer mom who looks with horrified disfavour on her neighbours' minor deviations from accepted norms; all that distinguishes her from millions of others is the extreme lengths to which she will go to punish such deviations. The satire, however, is not just aimed at Beverley, but also at her victims, some of whom are such obnoxious individuals that it is impossible to have any sympathy for them, despite their horrific fates. There is one grotesque scene where Emma Lou Jensen (she who fails to rewind her videos) sings loudly and tunelessly along to "Tomorrow" from the musical "Annie" while allowing her dog to lick her feet all over suggesting she is, to say the least, a somewhat strange person. Stubbins, who suggests that Chip is in need of "therapy" because of his love of horror films, is the sort of arrogant, self-important teacher who thinks that he is paid not just to teach maths but also to control every aspect of his students' lives, down to their taste in films.

"Serial Mom" may not be the best cinematic satire on suburbia of recent years (that must be Sam Mendes's "American Beauty"), but it is, for all its lapses of taste, a witty and entertaining black comedy. 8/10


Serial Mom is another mainstream film in a way like Polyester (Considering both take place in suburban homes). Unlike the mom in Polyester who becomes an alcoholic, the mom in this film becomes a psychopath. Beverly Sutphin at first seems like the perfect mom. She has a great husband, Eugene, who's an orthodontist. Her son, Chip, is a horror fanatic. Her daughter, Misty, loves boy. Despite her perfect motherly image, Beverly has a dark side. Beverly secretly starts a series on phone harassments and vulgar letter to fellow neighbor Dottie just because she stole her parking space. She soon becomes a murderer after Chip's teacher criticizes about the way she raises Chip. They she does it is by running him over with her car. Soon, 2 nosy detectives try to find evidence that Beverly murderer Chip's teacher. Eventually, Beverly continues murdering people who get on her nerves. She uses fire pokers, scissors, air conditioners, and so on and so forth. Now the cops are prepared to arrest her and after that happens, she will appear in court and manipulate people into declaring her innocent. Despite being a mainstream film by John, Serial Mom shares a lot in common with Female Trouble. Both films have the leading lady committing crimes (Mostly murder), getting famous for it, and a classic courtroom. Another 10 out of 10!


This is one crazy house wife that you don't want to be a rude kid or adult because she will find you and hunt you down till you are dead.Man this was the best movie that I have seen that is based on true events that is horror that I know and love.This b****Y mom was finally on the louse and insane to kill people that are rude,dressed badly,and anyone that messes with her family,any jokes.And when she went to court was really when she became wild and made each eyewitness into trouble.She is using facts about them and her body to make them crack.And very funny when the judge was flirting with Suzanne Somers when she came in the Court.And lastly,great ending when she kill a woman for wearing

white after Labor Day.And that jury woman taught she was innocent right from the beginning,can you believe this damn woman.And she kills when she was just set free and kill,very stupid thing to do and stupider was the jury setting her free.Now she will continue her work,make a part two Mr. Waters.


I really enjoyed this movie because Kathleen Turner and John Waters just let loose with the demented psychotic energy of a parent who takes many legitimate parental urges to the next level - or maybe the next 5 levels. She is protective, proactive, and supportive where her family is concerned, just a bit more so than is good for her or the rest of the world. The movie is funny and Turner is superb. The various strategems she uses to distract witnesses at her trial are delivered with the precision of a knife and she does more acting in the defendant's chair than most actors manage in a typical Hollywood flick today. I gave it a 7 rather than something higher because the action around her is okay but delivered more as a set-up for her various exercises in family values, and the plot itself doesn't seem driven by anything other than her proclivities for a particular problem solving approach. But it is a very entertaining film, though I wouldn't watch it with a kid under the age of 15, however jaded by the media today's youths may seem to be.


Serial Mom is an absolute gem of a movie. Turner's acting is truly excellant, as is the whole casts. Although a little ridiculous at first, any flaws it has are made up for in the way Beverley carries out her murders, my favourite being the guy in the toilets gruesome demise.


Ever have that day when someone gets on your nerves and you feel like pulling the axe on them?That's exactly what John Waters demonstates in his dark comedy Serial Mom.After starring in the cheesy family movie "House of Cards", Kathleen Turner has created one of the best performances in her life as the beautiful, heroic, misunderstood, law-obeying serial killer Beverly Sutphin.Eversince six murders, she has been placed with some "terribly untrue charges" and the only 'serial' she knows "anything about is Rice Krispies!".But she has good reason for butchering six people: they all commited a crime that no one understands, like dumping her daughter, eating poultry (because Beverly loves birds),smart-alacing about her dentist husband, refusing to rewind a rental tape, critisizing about her family skills, and witnessing one of the other five crimes.You may think she's insane, but really, she's just expressing things we'd rather hide inside of us.Like, say you work in a store and someone wants to return something but they don't have the recipt.It can't be returned without the recipt, so you tell them "No can do".Then they start cursing you out like you're worthless.Wouldn't you get the urge to shove a bullet in their brain?Well then, you now know how Beverly Sutphin feels when someone decides to be a wise guy.This movie is perfect for anyone who loves to laugh.Plus, the DVD contains the theatrical trailer, a behind-the-scenes featurette, several TV spots, four interview clips, and extra behind the scenes footage.I give this one a 10/10!


This is my first John Waters film and I think I've got a good handle on his style of filmmaking. He's a sort of campy, joyful and irreverent filmmaker. He's not too much of a serious artist -- at least not from what I can tell here -- but he's a heck of an entertainer. He is, well, a master of schlock. He's nowhere near as creative as the Coen brothers and not as uproariously funny as the Farrelly brothers, but we're almost in a state of awe watching the movie, smiling, but wondering if we should be when an overly-sweet, caring mother beats a woman to death with a leg of lamb. Thing is, it never seems bad -- it's not even morally reprehensible the way Waters shows it. It's like when you've just watched a gag in extremely poor taste done pleasantly with such giddy amusement that you just shake your head and say, "That is just wrong!"

Kathleen Turner plays the mother who, underneath her thin veil of perfect mother normalcy, has a latent desire to murder those who offend her sensibilities. Sam Waterston plays her husband, a good-natured dentist who stands by his wife as long as he can. It's an interesting pairing of Sam Waterston and Kathleen Turner, two actors blessed with raspy, gasping voices. Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard play the two's children. Lake, the daughter in search of a boyfriend, is the first to suspect her mother's dark side and Lillard, the son with a love for classic gore horror movies, is interested when he's told his mother may be a killer.

It's sort of like a David Lynch movie, if you were to focus only on the "gee whiz" part of America and replace all of Lynch's darkness with campy situations, like a punk rock band called Camel Lips.

A lot of the dialogue and the satirical jabs were pretty obvious, but I wasn't quite sure whether this was just unsubtle comedy or if the joke was in how obvious some of the stuff was ("I made a killing!).

The acting by Turner reminded me of Annette Bening's in "American Beauty," but demented instead of one-note. All the leads are fine, but the big chuckles come from the supporting players like Mink Stole as poor Dottie Hinkle, the victim of a crank caller. Or Patricia Hearst, as a juror who's not in tune with what Turner sees as a fashion faux pas.

I had a big smile plastered on my face for about the first half-hour, which is the best part of the movie, and while the last half-hour loses some steam, it's still a joy to watch Turner and especially Mink Stole. It's not really a criticism, though -- most movies start with a great premise and have trouble resolving it. It's not so much that there's no satisfying resolution, it's that some of the more shocking moments come in the beginning and middle of the film.

The best way I can think to describe the movie is that it exists in a realistic place populated by unrealistic characters. It's a satirical, farcical black comedy that, despite its gruesome murders, is perpetually cheery and without a trace of mean-spiritedness. (Any modern movie that still uses wipes for editing...) With no pun intended (well, maybe some), it's a movie definition of "queer."

I think I'll have to go look for "Cry-Baby" and "Hairspray" now. And if I can find it (and be able to stomach it), I probably owe it to myself to see "Pink Flamingos," which may help me understand the "filth" label Waters is often given. This movie isn't filthy or vile; I had a good time and it's a nice break to see a movie as demented as this and not feel as if you were just subjected to watching a director stomp on someone already on the ground.

***


John Waters meets mainstream and the resulta are spectacular! This was Waters' first real studio film-- 13million budget and it really took us where we wanted to go. Kathleen Turner is perfectly cast as Beverly (Serial Mom) and this is the definite must-see for all interested in superbly written comedies!