Info About This Trash-SciFi Zombie Horror Movie With Tura Satana & John Carradine:
The Astro-Zombies, aka Space Zombies aka The Space Vampires, is a 1968 science fictionhorror film starring John Carradine, Wendell Corey (in his final film appearance) and Tura Satana. It was written, directed, and produced by Ted V. Mikels. The plot follows a disgruntled scientist who, having been fired by the space agency, decides to create superhuman monsters from the body parts of innocent murder victims. The creatures eventually escape and go on a killing spree, attracting the attention of both an international spy ring and the CIA.
The low budget movie has gained cult status along with many of Ted V. Mikels other works, inspiring him to write and direct a sequel. Mark of the Astro-Zombies was released direct-to-video in 2002 with Tura Satana reprising her role of Satana from the original film.
During a showing of the film on KTVU's Creature Features, it was noted that much of the film was shot on property owned by actor Wayne Rogers.
American horror punk band the Misfits recorded a song entitled "Astro Zombies", released on their 1982 album, Walk Among Us.
Sequel
With Mark of the Astro-Zombies was 2002 the second movie released, the third and last movie of the Trilogy will be released 2010 under the working title Astro Zombies M3: Cloned.[1]
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlockmelodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian. The cult classic was directed by Russ Meyer and co-written by Meyer and Roger Ebert.
Originally intended as a sequel to the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls – "dolls" being a slang term for depressant pills or "downers" – Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was instead revised as a parody of the commercially successful but critically reviled original.
Plot
Three young women — Kelly MacNamara (Dolly Read), Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers), and Petronella "Pet" Danforth (Marcia McBroom) — perform in a rock band, The Kelly Affair, managed by Harris Allsworth (David Gurian), Kelly's boyfriend. The four travel to Los Angeles to find Kelly's estranged aunt, Susan Lake (Phyllis Davis), heiress to a family fortune. Susan welcomes Kelly and her friends, even promising a third of her inheritance to her niece, but Susan's sleazy financial advisor Porter Hall (Duncan McLeod) discredits them as "hippies" in an attempt to embezzle her fortune himself. Undeterred, Susan introduces The Kelly Affair to a flamboyant, well-connected rock producer, Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell (John LaZar), who coaxes them into an impromptu performance at one of his outrageous parties (after a set by real-life band Strawberry Alarm Clock). The band is so well-received that Z-Man becomes their Svengali-style manager, changing their name to The Carrie Nations and starting a long-simmering feud with Harris. Kelly drifts away from Harris and takes up with Lance Rocke (Michael Blodgett), a high-priced gigolo who pursued her with designs on her inheritance. Harris fends off the aggressive attentions of porn star Ashley St. Ives (Edy Williams), but after losing Kelly weakly allows Ashley to seduce him. Ashley soon tires of his uptight nature and inability to perform sexually due to increasing drug and alcohol intake. Harris descends further into heavy drug and alcohol use, leading to a drug-addled one-night stand with Casey which results in pregnancy. Casey, distraught at getting pregnant and wary of men's foibles, has a lesbian affair with clothes designer Roxanne (Erica Gavin), who urges her to have an abortion. Petronella has a seemingly enchanted romance with law student Emerson Thorne (Harrison Page). After a meet-cute at Z-Man's party, they are shown running slow-motion through golden fields and frolicking in a haystack. Their fairy-tale romance frays when Pet sleeps with Randy Black (James Iglehart), a violent prize fighter who beats up Emerson and tries to run him down with a car. A drunk Harris challenges Lance to a fight. After Lance beats him severely, Kelly ends her affair with Lance. Susan Lake is reunited with her former fiancè Baxter Wolfe (Charles Napier). The Carrie Nations release records and continue to perform successfully, despite constant touring and drug use. Upset at being pushed to the sidelines, Harris attempts suicide by leaping from the rafters of a sound stage during a television appearance by the band. Harris survives the fall but becomes paraplegic from his injuries. Kelly devotes much time to caring for him. Emerson forgives Petronella for her infidelity. Casey and Roxanne have a steamy, intimate romance. But this idyllic existence ends when Z-Man invites Casey, Roxanne, and Lance to a psychedelic-fueled party at his house. After revealing he has female breasts and trying to seduce Lance, who spurns him, Z-Man goes on a murderous rampage: he beheads Lance with a sword (while the Twentieth-Century Fox fanfare is heard on the soundtrack), stabs his servant Otto (Henry Rowland) to death, and shoots Casey and Roxanne, killing them. Responding to a desperate phone call Casey made shortly before her death, Kelly, Harris, Pet, and Emerson arrive at Z-Man's house and try to subdue him. Petronella is wounded in the melee, which ends in Z-Man's death. After a preachy, satirical voice-over monologue during scenes of Kelly and Harris (in crutches) hiking on a log over a creek — which Roger Ebert credits to Russ Meyer's "sick sense of humor"[cite this quote] — the film ends with the wedding of three couples, Kelly and Harris, Pet and Emerson, and Susan and Baxter Wolfe, with Porter Hall observing from outside the court house window.
Production
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was originally intended as a straightforward sequel to the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls. Jacqueline Susann, author of the novel Valley of the Dolls, had been asked to write a screenplay but declined. Susann herself had come up with the title while she was writing her second novel The Love Machine. 20th Century Fox rejected two screenplay drafts, and the final version, written by director Russ Meyer and novice screenwriter Roger Ebert in six weeks, was not only a spoof of the original film, but, in Ebert's words "a satire of Hollywood conventions, genres, situations, dialogue, characters and success formulas, heavily overlaid with such shocking violence that some critics didn't know whether the movie 'knew' it was a comedy."[3] Meyer's intention was for the film to "simultaneously be a satire, a serious melodrama, a rock musical, a comedy, a violent exploitation picture, a skin flick and a moralistic expose (so soon after the Sharon Tate murders) of what the opening crawl called 'the oft-times nightmarish world of Show Business.'"[3] As a result, the studio placed a disclaimer at the beginning of the film informing the audience that the two films were not intended to be connected. Posters for the movie read, "This is not a sequel — there has never been anything like it". Upon its initial release, the film was given an X rating by the MPAA;[4] in 1990, it was re-classified as NC-17. Meyer's response to the original X rating was to attempt to re-edit the film to insert more nudity and sex, but Fox wanted to get the movie released quickly and wouldn't give him the time.[3] Beyond the Valley of the Dolls – sometimes referred to as BVD – is the first of two films produced by independent filmmaker Meyer for 20th Century Fox – it was followed by The Seven Minutes, although Meyer's original deal was for three films[3] – and one of three movies that film critic Ebert co-wrote with Meyer. Ebert has said that Beyond the Valley of the Dolls seemed "like a movie that got made by accident when the lunatics took over the asylum."[5] Because the film was put together so quickly, some plot decisions, such as the character Z-Man being revealed as a transvestite woman, were made on the spot, without the chance to bring previous already-shot scenes into alignment with the new development.[3] As they were shooting, the cast was uncertain whether the dialogue was intended to be comic or not, which would alter their approach to acting it. Because Meyer always discussed their roles and the film so seriously, they did not want to unintentionally insult him by asking, so they broached the question to Ebert instead. Meyer's intention was to have the actors perform the material in a straightforward manner, saying "If the actors perform as if they know they have funny lines, it won't work." Ebert describes the resulting tone as "curious".[3] In 1980, Ebert looked back on the film and said of it:
I think of it as an essay on our generic expectations. It's an anthology of stock situations, characters, dialogue, clichés and stereotypes, set to music and manipulated to work as exposition and satire at the same time; it's cause and effect, a wind-up machine to generate emotions, pure movie without message.[3]
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was made while Fox was being sued by Jacqueline Susann, according to Irving Mansfield's memoir Jackie and Me. The suit did not come to trial until after the death of Jacqueline Susann, and her estate won a $2 million verdict against the studio.
Music and soundtrack
Most of the film's music was written by Stu Phillips, whose composing credits include The Donna Reed Show, The Monkees, McCloud, and the original film and television versions of Battlestar Galactica. Phillips adapted Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice for the psychedelic scene at Z-Man's house near the film's end.[6] Members of the fictitious Carrie Nations neither sing nor play their own instruments in the film. Vocals for the lip-synced songs were performed by Lynn Carey, a blue-eyed soul singer based in Los Angeles. Carey's voice is showcased on the apocalyptic rocker "Find It", the earnest folk anthem "Come With the Gentle People", the raunchy R&B of "Sweet Talking Candyman", the lilting ballad "In the Long Run", and the soulful strut of "Look On Up At the Bottom". Strawberry Alarm Clock perform their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints", the mid-tempo rocker "Girl from the City", and the power pop anthem "I'm Comin' Home" during the first party scene at Z-Man's house. The film's title song was performed by A&M artists The Sandpipers. Different versions of the soundtrack album exist because of disputes over royalties.[6] The original vinyl soundtrack, reissued in the early 2000s, substitutes Amy Rushes' vocals for Lynn Carey's originals; it also includes one song, "Once I Had Love", not on the 2003 CD reissue. However, the CD edition of the soundtrack contains 25 songs compared to the 12 songs on the vinyl version. "Incense and Peppermints", some incidental music, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock's Hammond organ instrumental "Toy Boy" are missing from all soundtrack releases.
Character influences
Roger Ebert revealed that many of BVD's themes and characters were based upon real people and events, but because neither Ebert nor Russ Meyer actually met these people, their characterizations were based on pure speculation.
Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell - The fictional eccentric rock producer turned Carrie Nations manager was loosely based on real life producer Phil Spector.[7] More than three decades later Spector was convicted of murder after the body of Lana Clarkson was found at his mansion, which is somewhat reminiscent of the events of the film's climax.
The climactic, violent ending, which was not in the original script, was inspired by the real life Tate-LaBianca murders perpetrated by the Manson Family. The film began production on December 2, 1969, shortly after the murders, which were covered heavily by the media.[9]Valley of the Dolls star Sharon Tate was among the murder victims, as was Jay Sebring. Vocalist Lynn Carey, who was dating Sebring and had been invited to join him the night of the Tate-LaBianca murders, refused his invitation, according to her comments on the DVD extras.
Porter Hall - This scheming lawyer shares the name of a character actor who often played movie villains.[10]
Susan Lake and Baxter Wolfe were, in an original draft script, Anne Welles and Lyon Burke from Valley of the Dolls. Their back-story stated in BVD ("He proposed to her but it was the wrong time", "It's been three years..."), matches the ending of the original. Following Jacqueline Susann's legal-action proceedings against 20th Century Fox, the characters were renamed and recast.[11]Barbara Parkins, who played Anne, was originally under contract to appear in BVD and was disappointed when she was abruptly removed from the project.[12] The BVD special edition DVD features a screen test with Michael Blodgett and Cynthia Myers enacting the bedroom scene between Lance and Kelly. Obviously based on an early script, the dialogue has them make reference to Anne Welles, not Susan Lake, as Kelly's Aunt.
Legacy
Since its release in 1970, BVD has acquired a cult following and has even been included in various "best of" lists by movie critics. In 2000, Canadian magazine Take One included BVD in their "Best Films of the 1970s" critics poll.[13] In 2001, the Village Voice named the film #87 on its list of the 100 Greatest Films of the Century.[14] Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was released as a two-disc, special-edition DVD set on June 13, 2006.
La sua vicenda editoriale è intimamente collegata alla sua concorrente storica (la Edifumetto). Nel 1966 il poliedrico scrittore di fumetti Renzo Barbieri crea la Editrice 66 e, ispirandosi a soggetti cinematografici e letterari del momento (come Angelica e James Bond), cominciò ad elaborare le trame dei suoi due primi albi: Isabella e Goldrake (disegnati dal bravo e prolifico Sandro Angiolini). È da notare come, precedendo di ben 12 anni l'importazione in Italia e l'adattamento della serie animata giapponese Grendizer (reso in italiano appunto "Goldrake"), la serie erotico/spionistica dell' "agente playboy" non avesse nulla a che fare col robot nagaiano, ma derivasse il suo nome dal termine inglese "Rake" (abbreviazione di "Rakehell"), cioè "libertino", come i personaggi che popolavano le tavole di Hogarth. Riuscì a pubblicare pochi numeri, prima del tracollo finanziario. La ricerca di finanziatori non fu semplice, si legge in un'intervista da lui rilasciata, ma poi incontra Giorgio Cavedon, con il quale fonda la ErreGI. La società riesce a pubblicare un buon numero di testate (la succitata Isabella, Jacula, Lucrezia, ecc), sinché, nel 1972, divergenze e necessità di reinvestire il capitale per far fronte alla nascente concorrenza nel settore erotico, i due imprenditori si dividono. Cavedon compra per intero la ErreGi (ivi comprese le testate, ormai famose, di Isabella e Jacula) e Barbieri fonda la EdiFumetto. Altre etichette editoriali che faranno capo a Renzo Barbieri sono le Edizioni GEIS, la SEGI, seguite poi da Edizioni Lo Squalo/Squalo Comics srl e dalla Renzo Barbieri Editore srl. La ErreGi diventerà invece la EdiPeriodici, forse la maggior concorrente di Barbieri, in quegli anni.
In 1969, during the Vietnam War, an American military squad receives orders to secure a village against North Vietnamese forces. Private Luc Devereaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) discovers members of his squad and various villagers dead, all with their ears removed. The culprit behind the mutilations is revealed to be leading officer Sergeant Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), who has gone insane. Deveraux finds Scott holding a string of severed ears and also holding a young boy and girl hostage. Devereaux, who is near the end of his tour of duty, tries to reason with Scott, saying that the war is over and that he just wants to go home. Scott becomes infuriated and shoots the boy. He then orders Devereaux to shoot the girl to prove his loyalty. Deveraux refuses and stops Scott from shooting her. The girl attempts to escape but Scott kills her with a grenade. Devereaux turns on Scott and both shoot each other to death. The next morning, a U.S. Special Forces squad finds their bodies. The commanding officer orders the bodies to be bagged and iced and to officially cover up their deaths as "missing in action".
In 1992, terrorists have taken over the Hoover Dam and the police agencies are ordered not to intervene or make any attempt to rescue the hostages. Instead, the "Universal Soldiers" (or "UniSols"), an elite counter terrorism unit, are brought in. Among the team are the long-dead Luc Devereaux (now designated "GR44") and Andrew Scott (now designated "GR13"). They are wearing high-tech computer equipment over their left eye and have apparently been reanimated with no memory of their previous lives. Devereaux and Scott are sent in to dispatch several of the terrorists, with Devereaux using efficient means, but Scott using excessive force. Their camera feeds sent back to the command post cause concern among the project technicians that even though the UniSols are supposed to be emotionless, Scott is enjoying it. As the team infiltrate the area, they demonstrate their superior training and physical abilities against the armed terrorists, as one of them (Ralf Möller as GR74) is shown surviving close-range automatic gunfire. After the area is secured, Devereaux begins to regain patches of memory from his former life after witnessing two hostages who strongly resemble the villagers he tried to save in Vietnam. Turning around, he looks at Scott (who is also experiencing the same memory) but as a UniSol, he cannot say anything. This causes him to ignore radio commands from the control team and become unresponsive.
Back in the mobile command center, the Unisol technician team is trying to figure out what happened at Hoover Dam with Devereaux. They reveal that the UniSols are genetically augmented soldiers with enhanced healing abilities and superior strength but also have a tendency to overheat and shut down. They are also given a neural serum to keep their minds under control and their previous memories suppressed. All of the UniSols are ordered to go back into their cooling units and inject themselves with the serum. As a result of the glitch, Woodward (Leon Rippy), one of the technicians on the project, feels it may be better to remove Devereaux from the team until he can be further analyzed. However, Colonel Perry (Ed O'Ross), the commander in charge of the UniSol operation, disagrees with the suggestion. TV journalist Veronica Roberts (Ally Walker) tries to get a story on the UniSol project in an attempt to get her job back, since she was fired while covering the Hoover Dam incident. Speaking with representatives from the project, she only gets evasive answers. She later sneaks onto the base with a camera to investigate, only to discover GR74, immersed in ice, who is still alive despite normally-fatal injuries.
When she tries to escape from the complex, Devereaux and Scott are ordered to bring her back. She gets to her cameraman's car, but they crash and overturn while trying to escape. Scott mercilessly executes the cameraman, against the orders of his superiors, while Devereaux intervenes, preventing him from shooting Roberts. Together, Devereaux and Roberts escape in a UniSol vehicle. After escaping, Scott mumbles about Devereaux being a traitor, but no one on the UniSol team hears it. Colonel Perry wants to chase Roberts and Devereaux down to prevent knowledge of the UniSols from getting out, not only to the public, but to the Pentagon, who does not know the true nature of the project. As Devereaux and Roberts flee and try to get evidence of the UniSol program to the media, they arrive at a motel. Roberts turns on the television and discovers she has already been framed for the murder of her cameraman. Scott's previously insane personality begins to emerge, causing him to kill innocents. Perry and the technicians are killed as they attempt to stop him. Scott then takes command over the UniSol team, ambushing a truck stop and a supermarket in his search for Devereaux. The remaining UniSol scientists try and fail to subdue Scott and are both killed.
Devereaux continues to rebuild his memory and realize that he is truly alive. Roberts tries to find more information about the UniSol program. They meet Dr. Christopher Gregor (Jerry Orbach), the creator of the program. He informs them that the UniSol project was started in the 1960's in order to develop the perfect soldier. Although they learned how to reanimate dead human remains, they were never able to overcome the body's need for constant cooling. The other major problem is that the memories of the last moments of life are greatly amplified. In Devereaux's case, he still believes he is a soldier who wants to go home, while Scott believes he is still in Vietnam fighting the insurgents. When Devereaux and Roberts leave the doctor's office, they are caught and arrested by the police. On the way to jail, the police convoy is ambushed by Scott and GR74. After an intense chase, they barely manage to escape when the police bus and the UniSol truck both drive off the edge of a cliff at Grand Canyon and explode. Presuming that Scott and GR74 are all dead, Devereaux and Roberts head to Devereaux's family's farm in Louisiana.
After Devereaux reunites with his family, Scott tracks them down and takes the family and Roberts hostage. A brutal fight ensues, and Scott's use of muscle enhancers enables him to mercilessly beat Devereaux. Roberts manages to escape from her bonds only to be seemingly killed by a grenade thrown by Scott. Even when Devereaux is enraged, he cannot gain an advantage. Scott continues to dominate until Devereaux grabs the muscle enhancers Scott used and injects himself with one. With their strengths now matched, Devereaux fights back and is able to impale Scott on the spikes of a hay harvester. Devereaux then starts the machine up, grinding Scott to death. Finally, Devereaux checks on Roberts, who survived the explosion and the two embrace.
Alternate ending
The Special Edition DVD release features an alternative ending which takes place shortly after Scott takes Deveraux's family and Roberts hostage. As Deveraux grabs a shotgun in the kitchen, the front door opens and he sees his mother before Scott shoots her to death. In the final fight between Deveraux and Scott, Deveraux does not use Scott's muscle enhancers. Shortly after grinding Scott to death, Deveraux is shot by his father before Dr. Christopher Gregor and his men appear.
Gregor explains that he had Deveraux set up to get to him and Scott, and that Deveraux was living with people posing as his parents. He then has his men shoot down Deveraux, but before Deveraux dies, police and Roberts' news crew arrive. The news crew douse Deveraux with a fire extinguisher to stabilize him while Dr. Gregor and his men are arrested. Roberts is given the microphone to cover the arrest, but she loses all composure while on the air, dropping the microphone to comfort Deveraux.
Several days later, Deveraux is reunited with his real parents. The film ends with a eulogy narrated by Roberts, who explains that Deveraux rejected all life-prolonging medications before dying a natural death.
Reception
Universal Soldier opened in theaters on July 10, 1992 where it grossed $10,057,084 from 1916 theaters with a $5,249 per screen average and taking #2 behind A League of Their Own's second weekend. From there, it made $36,299,898 in US ticket sales, becoming a moderate hit. Overseas, it was much more popular, mostly opening at #1, making over $65 million overseas, which earned the film a total of $102 million worldwide, on a $23 million budget.[2]
Despite being a box office hit, it was not well-received by critics. Mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a Terminator 2 clone, or as a typical, mindless action film.[4][5][6][7] The film currently holds a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Set in a desolate post apocalyptic world where a once thriving golden age of man and cyborgs has ended. Cyborgs are now at the mercy of men who hunt for their parts. Cash (Haje), a female cyborg and the star of the previous film learns from Doc Edford (Margaret Avery) that she has somehow become pregnant (the previous film shows her companion "Cash" dying of old age, and there is no mention of her being pregnant, so, this might be an error in continuity, or the conception takes a longer period of time). She searches for the obscure city of Cytown to find Evans (Zach Galligan), a creator of cyborgs, to find out more about her condition. She is followed by Anton Lewellyn (Richard Lynch) and his assistant Jocko (Andrew Bryniarski). Lewellyn makes a living hunting cyborgs to sell their parts. Though he has long wanted to find Cytown (the last haven for cyborgs), he becomes obsessed in getting Cash and her child.
Cyborg 2, released in some countries as Glass Shadow, is a 1993 science fiction action film directed by Michael Schroeder. It is an unrelated sequel to the 1989 film Cyborg, although footage from the original is used in a dream sequence. It is notable as the first film to feature Angelina Jolie in a starring role (she had previously made one earlier film as a child actress). It was followed by the 1995 direct-to-video release Cyborg 3: The Recycler.
Plot
In the year 2074, cybernetics market is dominated by two rival companies: USA's Pinwheel Robotics and Japan's Kobayashi Electronics. Cyborgs are commonplace, used for anything from soldiers in the field to prostitutes in the streets. Casella Reese (Angelina Jolie) is a top-of-the-line cyborg developed for corporate espionage and assassination and is filled with a kind of liquid explosive called Glass Shadow: Pinwheel plans to eliminate the entire Kobayashi board of directors with the aid of Casella. Casella is programmed to mimic human senses and emotions such as fear, love, pain and hatred. Guided by the renegade prototype cyborg Mercy (Jack Palance), who can communicate through any television screen, she and combat trainer Colton Ricks (Elias Koteas) escape the Pinwheel facility so she can avoid her fate of self-destruction, one that faces most corporate espionage cyborgs, and they're relentlessly pursued by Pinwheel hired killer, master Daniel Bench (Billy Drago).
A plague, called the living death, sweeps across a civilization already ruined by “anarchy, genocide and starvation,” a small group of surviving scientists and doctors — located in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the CDC — work on a cure to save what’s left of humanity. To complete their work they need information stored on a computer system in New York City. CDR Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon) volunteers for the dangerous courier mission and she is made into a cyborg through surgical augmentation. Pearl, accompanied by LT Marshall Strat, a man assigned to protect her, retrieves the data in New York, but is pursued by the vicious Fender Tremolo (Vincent Klyn) and his gang of “pirates”. Fender wants the cure so he can have a monopoly on its production. Strat, badly injured in a skirmish with the pirates, tells Pearl to leave him and get to the Bronx township to look for a mercenary, known as a “slinger”, that can escort her to safety. She gets cornered, but is saved by a slinger, Gibson Rickenbacker (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who specializes in getting people out of the city. No sooner does she explain her situation than they are overrun by Fender’s gang and Gibson is knocked out by falling debris. Fender, having beheaded Strat, dangles his head in front of Pearl and tells her that he is going with her to Atlanta. There, she must bring him the cure or else she will “get the horror show.” Fender's gang slaughter a family and steals their boat. They head south for Atlanta via the Intracoastal Waterway with the captive Pearl. Gibson, who had been tracking the pirates, arrives at the scene of slaughter later that night. A shadowy figure moves to attack him, but he throws a knife that takes the attacker down. She turns out to be Nady Simmons (Deborah Richter), a young woman who’d been hiding since the pirate attack and thought Gibson was one of their gang. After they had time to recover, Nady reveals that her family was wiped out by the plague and that she wants to help Gibson and Pearl. Gibson, meanwhile, is less concerned with a cure for the plague than with finding Fender and eliminating him. Gibson and Nady trek southward through the wastelands, and are ambushed by bandits. He tries to persuade Nady to stay away, saying he does not want to see her die. She tells him she does not want to see him die and offers her body to him, but he refuses: destroying Fender is his only goal. In flashbacks that haunt Gibson, it is revealed that he had once fallen in love and settled down in an abandoned country house with a client, Mary, and her two young siblings after escorting them from the city. Fender killed Mary and her brother and abducted her sister Haley, forcing Gibson to take up the “slinger” lifestyle once again. Intercepting Fender and his crew near Charleston, South Carolina, Gibson eliminates several of his henchmen in an abandoned warehouse. Gibson manages to get to Fender's guard. As he kills the last one, Fender, watching, opens fire with his own air-rifle. Now nursing a gunshot wound he realizes Haley is now a loyal member of Fender’s crew. He flees and is chased by a dozen of his pirates, Gibson outsmarts them and is alone with Pearl and Nady. Pearl refuses to go with him—she calculates that Gibson is not strong enough to defeat Fender and will be unable to get her to Atlanta safely. She says she will go along with Fender and lure him to his death in Atlanta where she has resources at her disposal. Tired, out of ammunition, wounded and badly outnumbered, Gibson flees with Nady through the sewer—where he ambushes and kills Brick Bardo—and then into a salt marsh where they are pursued by the rest of the pirates and eventually separated from each other in the boggy terrain. Gibson is overpowered, captured, beaten unconscious by Fender and crucified high on the mast of a beached, derelict ship. Haley lingers at the scene, but must leave with Fender. Gibson spends the night on the cross. In the morning, near death, he kicks the mast repeatedly with his dangling feet in a last fit of rage. The mast snaps, sending him crashing to the ground, his arms still nailed to the cross. Finally, Nady appears out of the marsh to free him. Gibson and Nady intercept Fender once again in Atlanta, and this time are better prepared. The rest of Fender’s gang are taken down one by one until he and Gibson finally meet alone. During their fight, Nady rushes Fender with a knife, but he gashes her with a blade of his own, killing her. Gibson downs Fender with a deep stab wound to the chest. Thinking him dead, Gibson turns around to greet Haley, who is finally free. However, Fender gets back up and they continue to battle in a nearby shed, where Gibson leaves Fender impaled on a large meat hook. Gibson and Haley escort Pearl to her destination, where they leave her and head back "out there".
Production Cannon Films initially intended to make a sequel to the 1987 He-Man film Masters of the Universe and a live-action version of 'Spider-Man'. Both projects were planned to shoot simultaneously by Albert Pyun. Cannon, however, was in financial trouble and had to cancel deals with both Mattel and Marvel Entertainment, the owners of He-Man and Spider-Man, respectively. Cannon had already spent $2 million on costumes and sets for both films, and decided to start a new project to recoup the money spent on them. Then Pyun wrote the storyline for Cyborg in one weekend. Pyun had Chuck Norris in mind for the lead, but co-producer Menahem Golan cast Jean-Claude Van Damme. The film was shot for less than $500,000 and was filmed in 24 days.[3] Several of the characters' names are references to well-known manufacturers and models of guitars and other musical instruments.
Nady Simmons: Nady Sound Systems, Simmons electric drums
Jackson "Rock" Pinckney, who played one of Fender's pirates, lost his eye during filming when Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally struck his eye with a prop knife. Pinckney sued Van Damme in a North Carolina court and was awarded $485,000.[4]
Violent scenes were heavily cut to gain an "R" rating rather than an "X", including a throat-slitting and some blood and gore during the village massacre. Also excised was the death of a man Van Damme was fighting, which caused an inconsistency that made him look like he suddenly disappeared.[5][6]
In the song "Judgment Day" from Method Man's album Tical 2000: Judgement Day, the opening lyrics use most of Fender's opening words to the film. The lyrics are slightly modified. The intro is also in the opening of the song "World Damnation" by the death metal band Mortician. The intro of Fender talking about death and starvation is thought as the official opening of metal band Chimairas' song "Resurrection." It is often played at live shows as an intro.
Reception
Cyborg received a generally negative reception from critics.[7][8][9][10] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 14% positive score, based on 14 reviews, certifying it "Rotten", with an average rating of 2.9/10.[11] However, it retained a cult status.
In early 2011, director Albert Pyun Curnan Pictures got hold of the missing tapes of the original cut of Cyborg through Albert’s original choice for score artist; Tony Riparetti. This director's cut of the film features his editing and some previously-unreleased scenes, and is commercially available through the director himself.[12]
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. A major critical and commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.
Directed in a highly stylized manner, Pulp Fiction joins the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters' senses of humor and perspectives on life. The film's title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp". The plot, as in many of Tarantino's other works, is presented out of chronological sequence.
The picture's self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a prime example of postmodern film. Considered by some critics a black comedy,[2] the film is also frequently labeled a "neo-noir".[3] Critic Geoffrey O'Brien argues otherwise: "The old-time noir passions, the brooding melancholy and operatic death scenes, would be altogether out of place in the crisp and brightly lit wonderland that Tarantino conjures up. [It is] neither neo-noir nor a parody of noir".[4] Similarly, Nicholas Christopher calls it "more gangland camp than neo-noir",[5] and Foster Hirsch suggests that its "trippy fantasy landscape" characterizes it more definitively than any genre label.[6]Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema (although it is not an independent film itself). Considered a cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction's influence has been felt in several other media.
Narrative structure
In keeping with writer-director Quentin Tarantino's trademark of nonlinear storytelling, the narrative is presented out of sequence. Pulp Fiction is structured around three distinct but interrelated storylines—in Tarantino's conception, mob hitman Vincent Vega is the lead of the first story, prizefighter Butch Coolidge is the lead of the second, and Vincent's fellow contract killer, Jules Winnfield, is the lead of the third.[7] Although each storyline focuses on a different series of incidents, they connect and intersect in various ways. The film starts out with a diner hold-up staged by "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny", then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, Butch, and several other important characters, including mob kingpin Marsellus Wallace, his wife, Mia, and underworld problem-solver Winston Wolf. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner: Vincent and Jules, who have stopped in for a bite, find themselves embroiled in the hold-up. There are a total of seven narrative sequences—the three primary storylines are preceded by identifying intertitles on a black screen:
Prologue—The Diner (i)
Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
"Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a—flashback, b—present)
"The Gold Watch"
"The Bonnie Situation"
Epilogue—The Diner (ii)
If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run: 4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5. Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view; the same is true of sequences 2 and 6. In Philip Parker's description, the structural form is "an episodic narrative with circular events adding a beginning and end and allowing references to elements of each separate episode to be made throughout the narrative."[8] Other analysts describe the structure simply as a "circular narrative".[9]
Plot
Prologue
"Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) are having breakfast in a diner. They decide to rob it after realizing they could make money off the customers as well as the business, as they did during their previous heist. Moments after they initiate the hold-up, the scene breaks off and the title credits roll.
Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
As Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) drives, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) talks about his experiences in Europe, from where he has just returned: the hash bars in Amsterdam, the French McDonald's and its "Royale with Cheese". The pair—both wearing dress suits—are on their way to retrieve a briefcase from Brett (Frank Whaley), who has transgressed against their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. Jules tells Vincent that Marsellus had someone thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for giving his wife a foot massage. Vincent says that Marsellus has asked him to escort his wife while Marsellus is out of town. They conclude their banter and "get into character", which soon involves executing Brett in dramatic fashion after Jules recites a baleful "biblical" pronouncement.
Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife
In a virtually empty cocktail lounge, aging prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from Marsellus (Ving Rhames), agreeing to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent and Jules—now dressed in T-shirts and shorts—arrive to deliver the briefcase, and Butch and Vincent briefly cross paths. The next day, Vincent drops by the house of Lance (Eric Stoltz) and Jody (Rosanna Arquette) to purchase high-grade heroin. He shoots up before driving over to meet Mrs. Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and take her out. They head to Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of the decade's pop icons. Mia recounts her experience acting in a failed television pilot, "Fox Force Five".
After participating in a twist contest, they return to the Wallace house with the trophy. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his stash of heroin in his coat pocket. Mistaking it for cocaine, she snorts it and overdoses. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house for help. Together, they administer an adrenaline shot to Mia's heart, reviving her. Before parting ways, Mia and Vincent agree not to tell Marsellus of the incident.
Prelude to "The Gold Watch"
Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through generations of Coolidge men since World War I. Butch's father died of dysentery while in a POW camp, and at his dying request Koons hid the watch in his rectum for two years in order to deliver it to Butch. A bell rings, startling the adult Butch out of this reverie. He is in his boxing colors—it is time for the fight he has been paid to throw.
The Gold Watch
Butch flees the arena, having won the bout. Making his getaway by taxi, he learns from the death-obsessed driver, Esmarelda Villalobos (Angela Jones), that he killed the opposing fighter. Butch has double-crossed Marsellus, betting his payoff on himself at very favorable odds. The next morning, at the motel where he and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros), are lying low, Butch discovers that she has forgotten to pack the irreplaceable watch. He returns to his apartment to retrieve it, although Marsellus's men are almost certainly looking for him. Butch finds the watch quickly, but thinking he is alone, pauses for a snack. Only then does he notice a submachine gun on the kitchen counter. Hearing the toilet flush, Butch readies the gun in time to kill a startled Vincent Vega exiting the bathroom.
Butch drives away but while waiting at a traffic light, Marsellus walks by and recognizes him. Butch rams Marsellus with the car, then another automobile collides with his. After a foot chase the two men land in a pawnshop. The shopowner, Maynard (Duane Whitaker), captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in a half-basement area. Maynard is joined by Zed (Peter Greene); they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving a silent masked figure referred to as "the gimp" to watch a tied-up Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp. He is about to flee when he decides to save Marsellus. As Zed is sodomizing Marsellus on a pommel horse, Butch kills Maynard with a katana. Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun and shoots Zed in the groin. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even with respect to the botched fight fix, so long as he never tells anyone about the rape and departs Los Angeles forever. Butch agrees and returns to pick up Fabienne on Zed's chopper.
The Bonnie Situation
The story returns to Vincent and Jules at Brett's. After they execute him, another man (Alexis Arquette) bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at them, missing every time before an astonished Jules and Vincent return fire. Jules decides this is a miracle and a sign from God for him to retire as a hitman. They drive off with one of Brett's associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), their informant. Vincent asks Marvin for his opinion about the "miracle", and accidentally shoots him in the face.
Forced to remove their bloodied car from the road, Jules calls upon the house of his friend Jimmie (Quentin Tarantino). Jimmie's wife, Bonnie, is due back from work soon and he is very anxious that she not encounter the scene. At Jules's request, Marsellus arranges for the help of Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel). "The Wolf" takes charge of the situation, ordering Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their own bloody clothes, and change into T-shirts and shorts provided by Jimmie. They drive the car to a junkyard, from where Wolf and the owner's daughter, Raquel (Julia Sweeney), head off to breakfast and Jules and Vincent decide to do the same.
Epilogue
As Jules and Vincent eat breakfast in a coffee shop the discussion returns to Jules's decision to retire. In a brief cutaway, we see "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" shortly before they initiate the hold-up from the movie's first scene. While Vincent is in the bathroom, the hold-up commences. "Pumpkin" demands all of the patrons' valuables, including Jules's mysterious case. Jules surprises "Pumpkin" (whom he calls "Ringo"), holding him at gunpoint. "Honey Bunny", hysterical, trains her gun on Jules. Vincent emerges from the restroom with his gun trained on her, creating a Mexican standoff. Reprising his pseudo-biblical passage, Jules expresses his ambivalence about his life of crime. As his first act of redemption, he allows the two robbers to take the cash they have stolen and leave, pondering how they were spared and leaving the briefcase to be returned to Marsellus, finishing the hitman's final job for his boss.
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