The Ice Storm (1997) - Lee makes one of the year's great American films

♥♥♥♥♥

 

Elongated, eye-focused peaks at three of the film's stars make up most of this blue-toned poster for Ang Lee's The Ice Storm

The father in a nice-looking Connecticut family in the bold 1970s has an affair with the neighbor's wife, while their daughter fools around with two brothers from the same neighborhood, and their son goes to New York during an ice storm.

 

The Ice Storm is written by James Schamus (Indignation (2016)), adapting the same-titled 1994 novel by Rick Moody (Garden State (1992)), and directed by Taiwanese-American master filmmaker Ang Lee (Pushing Hands/Tui shou (1991)), whose 5th feature it is.

An intelligent, stealing meditation of family, sexual identity-making and the dangers in the modern world, The Ice Storm stands out as an excellent drama.

In the glorious cast, durable work is turned in by Kevin Kline (Ricki and the Flash (2015)), Joan Allen (Death Race (2008)), Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man 3 (2007)), Christina Ricci (Miranda (2002)), Sigourney Weaver (Madman (1978)) and Elijah Wood (The Good Son (1993)). The Ice Storm ends powerfully and is a beautiful drama.

 

Related posts:

Ang Lee: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]  
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date   

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
Life of Pi (2012) - Lee's triumphant, stunning faith-builder 

Top 10: Best erotic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Lust, Caution/色，戒/Sè, Jiè/Sik1Gaai3 (2007) - Lee's erotic spy thriller is an exquisite, complex masterpiece 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Weren't Possible  

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Hulk (2003) - Lee's fantastic comics adaptation drama 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly 16 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.88 times its cost)

[The Ice Storm premiered 12 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 1996 in New York and Connecticut. The film opened #17 to a 75k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, where it grossed 8 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross). The foreign gross numbers are not made public, but it is ascertained at The-Numbers.com that the film made almost as much internationally, which would rank it as a huge flop. It won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, an award in Cannes, losing the Palme d'Or to Taste of Cherry, and was nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Lee returned with Ride with the Devil (1999). Kline returned in In & Out (1997); Allen in Face/Off (1997); and Weaver in Alien: Resurrection (1997). The Ice Storm is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Ice Storm?

Gremlins (1984) - Dante's 1980s puppetry classic

♥♥♥♥

Something intriguing is peeping out of the box on this classic poster for Joe Dante's Gremlins

A struggling inventor buys a strange creature for his teenage son for Christmas, but young Billy has trouble obeying the mysterious three rules that come along with the furry cutey.

Gremlins is written by Chris Columbus (Heartbreak Hotel (1988)) and directed by Joe Dante (Hollywood Boulevard (1976)).
It is an original and funny genre hybrid, which fuses horror and comedy successfully. It is effects-driven, and it is incredible how much the special effects team get out of some relatively primitive dolls, lighting and wacky sounds. Main mogwai Gizmo understandably became a worldwide adorable creature favorite.
Jerry Goldsmith's (Air Force One (1997)) catchy soundtrack helps establish Gremlins as a kind of 1980s classic, despite the film's slightly primitive allure and Zach Galligan's (The Storytellers (1999)) dumb protagonist Billy. Frances Lee McCain (Preacher (2016, TV-series)) and Hoyt Axton (Number One Fan (1995)) are good as his mother and father though.

Related posts:

Joe Dante: Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology (segment director)

Watch an original trailer for the film here

Cost: 11 mil. $
Box office: 153.3 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit (returned 13.93 times its cost)
[Gremlins opened 8 June (USA) and runs 106 minutes. The 'gremlin' was invented as a malicious creature responsible for engine failures in the (British) RAF during WWII. Columbus has stated that his impetus for writing the script was a mouse infestation in his attic. An attempt at using a monkey to don the gremlin head was scrapped after it panicked. The first script was much darker and horrific than the final one. Shooting took place in California from April - July 1983. Executive producer Steven Spielberg opposed the scene of the story of a Santa Claus breaking his neck in the chimney but let Dante keep it in, despite having the creative last word. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Ghostbusters, to a 12.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 8 weeks in the top 5 and grossed 144.3 mil. $ in its original release. It scored another 4.9 mil. $ in its 1985 re-release and has had smaller 2010, 2017 and 2019 re-releases. Regrettably the international gross numbers are kept hidden; the film's world gross may well exceed 250 mil. $. The PG rating of Gremlins and Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), both films with gory scenes, drew criticism, making Spielberg suggest the MPAA make another rating, which was born with the PG-13 rating first imposed upon Red Dawn (1984). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, in line with this review. Massive merchandising production was launched based on the film's success among children and youths, and the video release made 79.5 mil. $ in the North-American rental market alone. Several less successful attempts to mimic the film were made. Dante made sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) with a much bigger budget, and a much smaller gross. A second sequel has been in talks for decades, and an animated series about Gremlins in China is currently in pre-production for HBO Max in 2021. Dante first returned with Explorers (1985). Gremlins is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.37/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gremlins?

Little Children (2006) - Field's second film is a great, scathing adaptation about middle class suburbanites

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year

Intense darkness and the naked bodies of two of the film's stars, with a drop of sweat on Patrick Wilson's torso, indicates both something dark and sensual on this poster for Todd Field's Little Children

A pent-up, unhappy housewife has an affair with the prom king of her high school days, while a flasher moves into her suburban neighborhood.

Little Children is written by great co-writer/co-producer/director Todd Field (In the Bedroom (2001)) and Tom Perrotta (The Leftovers (2011), novel), based on his same-titled 2004 novel. It is Field's 2nd theatrical feature. It is a very fine film about miserable 'little children' (adults, really) of suburbia.
Little Children is extremely well-written, directed, acted and shot (by Antonio Calvache (Sleeping Luck (2003))).
Kate Winslet (Iris (2001)) plays the unresolved wife and mother character that she has portrayed well in other films as well. The sex offender is played phenomenally by Jackie Earle Haley (All the King's Men (2006)).
The themes and feelings stirred by the film are so related to those from Sam Mendes' modern classic American Beauty (1999), - the film's composer Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks (2013)) was also contracted and made the score for Little Children, - and the similarities may explain why Little Children wasn't nearly as successful as American Beauty, even though it may be a tiny bit better.
This love-themed drama is for the most part a depressing time, which I write in the best possible way.

Related posts:

 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 14.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.56 times the cost)
[Little Children premiered 1 September (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 137 minutes. Field and Perrotta have reportedly deliberately changed the film's story to some degree from the one in the novel. Shooting took place in Boston, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Maine, California and New Jersey from July - September 2005. It opened #42 to a 97k $ opening weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #27 and in 115 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 5.4 mil. $ (36.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 1.1 mil. $ (7.4 %) and the UK with 0.8 mil. $ (5.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to two notches harder than this one. The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Actress (Winslet), lost to Helen Mirren in The Queen), Supporting Actor (Haley), lost to Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine, and Adapted Screenplay, lost to William Monahan for The Departed. It was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes and received many other honors. Field has yet to return as a director: He has pursued a now abandoned war drama titled America's Last Prisoner of War, and is set to direct for the Daniel Craig-starring TV-series Purity; he is also pursuing adaptation The Creed of Violence. Winslet returned in All the King's Men (2006), Jennifer Connelly (Noah (2014)) in Blood Diamond (2006), and Patrick Wilson (Fargo (2015), TV-series) in Running with Scissors (2006). Little Children is certified fresh at 80 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Little Children?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment, the ultimate in movie magic

♥♥♥♥♥♥

One of the marvelous posters for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which references Michelangelo's classical painting The Creation of Adam and underscores the film's religious undercurrent

In a nice suburban neighborhood near Los Angeles lives the boy Elliott with his big brother, little sister and mother. Their father/husband has left them for Mexico. A creature from space meets Elliott, they bond, and it benefits from his warm child's heart.

E.T. is the second masterpiece of master Ohioan filmmaker Steven Spielberg's (Saving Private Ryan (1998)) incredible career, the first one, of course, being Jaws (1975). Every time I have watched it, it has moved me tremendously, like no other film. E.T. is a film that is made with such technical and visual mastery, humanity, artfulness and forcefulness, - it makes you swell up with warmth inside, and after seeing it feel positively purified. - What other films can you name that does all of that?
John Williams' (Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) Oscar-winning score is sheer perfection, musically storytelling in the best possible way, boosting every moment of the film with wonder, adventure and emotion.

The story, developed by Spielberg with recently passed, great screenwriter Melissa Mathison (The BFG (2016)), is wonderful. Henry Thomas (The Last Ride (2012)), Drew Barrymore (Blended (2014)) and everyone else are fantastic in it. Thomas is especially phenomenal, and so, of course, is Carlo Rambaldi's legendary creature design of E.T.
E.T. can be enjoyed as a religious reminder of the existence and importance of goodness and innocence in the world, with E.T. interpreted as a Jesus-like character or a symbol of childhood. At the same time the film's entirety works as a unique allegory of the full passage of life; with its dangers, mysteries, losses, adventures, unity and love.
E.T. is Spielberg's greatest accomplishment to date, one that is impossible to top. An absolutely spectacular film.

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 10.5 mil. $
Box office: 792.9 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial premiered May 26 (Cannes) and runs 117 minutes. The story is inspired by the divorce of Spielberg's parents in 1960, his estrangement from his father and development of a fantasy friend. E.T. began development as Spielberg's darker sci-fi project Night Skies, about evil aliens, collapsed. Columbia Pictures made one of the great errors of movie history when their management at the time passed on E.T., calling it "a wimpy Walt Disney movie." The E.T. puppet took 3 months and 1.5 mil. $ to make, but was still so ugly, in the nervous eyes of some, that Mars, Incorporated refused the use of M&Ms in the film. The Hershey Company then jumped in, and their profits rose 65 % after the release of the film, prominently featuring their Reese's Pieces candy. Filming took place from September - December 1981, mostly in Culver City, LA. The shoot was mostly chronological, especially to help the children's performances, and production wrapped four days early. It was the first film on which Spielberg did not use meticulous storyboarding. The film premiered at the closing gala of the Cannes Film Festival, a screening that has gone down in Cannes history as among the greatest the festival has ever enjoyed. The film opened #1 with an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for 6 consecutive weeks, fluctuating between #1 and #2 in October and returning #1 once again in December. By 1983, E.T. surpassed Star Wars (1977) as the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation). It had grossed 359 mil. $ in North America and 619 mil. $ worldwide. E.T. was re-released in 1985 and 2002, adding 60 and 68 mil. $, respectively, to its gross. The film held its top-grossing spot for 11 years until Spielberg bested it with Jurassic Park (1993), although it stayed #1 in North America until a 1997 Star Wars re-issue beat it. The North American gross stands at 435.1 mil. $ (54.9 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are Japan with 66.9 mil. $ (8.4 %) and the UK with 29.6 mil. $ (3.7 %). E.T. is still the 4th highest-grossing film in North America ever, adjusted for inflation, only bested by Gone with the Wind, Star Wars and The Sound of Music. Bengali master filmmaker Satyajit Ray has claimed that Spielberg plagiarized his 1967 script The Alien, which Spielberg has refused, although Martin Scorsese and Richard Attenborough have substantiated the claims. Spielberg has addressed the Christian undertones of the film and made clear that they are unintentional on his part, pointing to his being Jewish.  Despite much pirating of the film was reported, it made an additional 75 mil. $ on VHS sales in North America alone. E.T. was nominated for 9 Oscars, winning for Best Score, Sound, Visual Effects and Sound Effects. It lost Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing to Attenborough's Gandhi. It was nominated for 5 Golden Globes, winning for Best Picture - Drama and Best Score. A 20 year anniversary edition of E.T. was released with some minor changes made using CGI, which prompted controversy. Spielberg has decided against doing so in the future releases of his past films and recommends watching the original 1982 version of E.T. Atari, Inc. released a video game based on the film in 1982, which is widely regarded among the worst video game ever made. A 40 mil. $ theme park ride based on the film was created for the Florida Universal Studios park in 1990. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is certified fresh at 98 % with a 9.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Do you agree that it is Spielberg's greatest achievement?

Disturbia (2007) or, Good Nightia

♥♥

The lurid poster for D. J. Caruso's Disturbia trades on its theme of voyeurism

QUICK REVIEW:

Our young hero loses his father in a meaningless - and very mysterious - car accident. He then screws up and gets a house arrest sentence. He becomes obsessed with monitoring his suburban neighborhood, falls in love with the girl next door, - and sees the other neighbor commit murder!?!

Disturbia begins well, and Shia LaBeouf (Nymphomaniac (2013)) is very enthusiastic and well-playing, but the film is derailed by the innocuous teen romance, and it never manages to get our interest back. It mixes too many genres (teen romance/comedy/thriller) to shallow effect. It winds up with with an uninteresting thriller plot with David Morse (Drive Angry (2011)) as the suspicious neighbor, and it doesn't help that the climax plays out in almost complete darkness.
The obvious comparison with Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Rear Window (1954), which Disturbia is clearly influenced by, only helps it to look even more hapless and dull.
Carl Ellsworth (Red Dawn (2012)) and Christopher Landon (Scout's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)) wrote the screenplay, and great Connecticut filmmaker  D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye (2008)) directed the film. Disturbia is, in short, Hollywood shite. 

Related posts:

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's an interview with LaBeouf about the movie

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 117.8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Disturbia was released April 13 and runs 105 minutes. The film is based on a script written in the 1990s. Steven Spielberg suggested LaBeouf. Filming took place in Whittier and Pasadena, California January - April 2006. Disturbia opened #1 in North America with a 22.2 mil. $ opening weekend, and it, amazingly, remained #1 for 3 consecutive weekends before being yanked down by Spider-Man 3. It grossed 80.2 mil. $ (68.1 % of the total gross) in North America, and the 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were South Korea with 4 mil. $ (3.4 %) and Australia with 3.9 mil. $ (3.3 %). A lawsuit was filed in 2008 over a possible copyright clash with the 1942 short story which was the basis of Rear Window, but the claim was rejected. Disturbia is fresh at 69 % with a 6.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Disturbia?

Weeds - season 1 (2005) - Kohan's 'suburbia askew' show

♥♥♥

The main characters (except the two sons of the protagonist) under a big marijuana cloud for Jenji Kohan's Weeds

Weeds is the long-running (8 seasons) dark satire/dramedy TV-series that broke new grounds for its broadcaster Showtime and showrunner Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black (2013-15), executive producer). It presents a contemporary look at the not-so neat and clean life in an American suburb:

Nancy Botwin (Emmy-winning (2006) Mary-Louise Parker (RED (2010)) is the recently widowed mother of two boys. To sustain their high living expenses, she deals weed in the neighborhood. She has a good-for-nothing brother Andy (Justin Kirk (Modern Family (2010-13)) who comes to live with them, a good friend Celia (Elizabeth Perkins (Fierce People (2005)) who obsesses about her young daughter and contracts cancer, a regular slacker customer Doug (Kevin Nealon (Blended (2014)) who works at her son's school, and her rough-mouthed supplier Heylia (Tonye Patano (The Savages (2007)), whose handsome cousin Conrad (Romany Malco (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)) doesn't have much luck getting in contact with Nancy. Her two sons are Shane (Alexander Gould (Finding Nemo (2003), voice), a boy who acts out, and Silas (Hunter Parrish (Still Alice (2014)), a teenager who acts out.

The show establishes its brand of very busy raunch-based comedy, which mixes the wholesome suburbia image with some taboo topics (homosexuality, death, sorrow, drugs, violence, bullying etc.) to elicit effect. The style sometimes comes to feel superficial, as it nearly permeates every important aspect of the character's lives. The show pushes its indie and upbeat feel beyond my patience at times. It works hard to include lots of heavy topics without ever becoming heavy, which some may find commendable, while it at times alienated me.
Kohan pushes the liberal-minded raunch at every turn, and it becomes tiring and overbearing. Especially Nancy's brother-character Andy is an often disgusting, despicable character, often with no real purpose action-wise on the show, who gets so much room that he nullifies quite a lot of enjoyment in the show. On the other hand, Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock (2006-13)) as Nancy's young helper Sanjay is very funny and counter-weighs him some.
While Silas dates a mute girl and experiments with drugs, Nancy opens a bakery to front for her real activities, (the particulars surrounding opening such a business totally escape our (and apparently, incredibly, also Nancy's) attention. Finally, she gets talked into ending this business in favor of a more ambitious drug collective with some friends. Meanwhile, she has started, mysteriously, dating the boring father of one of Shane's karate opponents, Peter, who, in the season's 'cliffhanger' ending, turns out to be a DEA agent.
Guest stars include Jane Lynch (Glee (2009-15)), Lorna Raver (Drag Me to Hell (2009)) and Allison Janney (Bad Words (2013)). The show has a cute, poignant opening song (Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds) to fit its neat suburbia opening sequence.
The first season opens up a universe that seems fairly promising and original, but it also leaves plenty of room for future improvements.

Best episodes:

Episode 1: You Can't Miss the Bear
Written by Kohan; directed by Brian Dannelly (Struck by Lightning (2012))
Sets up the environment, style and characters.

Episode 2: Free Goat
Written by Kohan; directed by Dannelly
With Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Salvation (2014)) as the late father. Every character has their problems.

Watch the season one trailer here 

Budget: Unknown
Box office: None
= Uncertainty
[But, even without sales figures, Weeds definitely has been a profitable product for its cast, crew and production and broadcasting companies, - otherwise it simply wouldn't have lasted as long as it did!]

What do you think of Weeds' first season?
And the following ones, if you've seen them?

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Russell scores huge with heart-filled dysfuntion dramedy

♥♥♥♥♥

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence stare you in the face to urge you to watch them in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook

Back out in the world after nine months in a mental hospital, our young hero struggles with aggression and his bi-polar diagnosis, his somewhat similar, superstitious father and a stubborn belief that his cheating wife, who has a restraining order against him, wants him back.

 
Silver Linings Playbook is written and directed by David O. Russell's (Three Kings (1999)), based on the novel by Matthew Quick. It is a terrifically well-told story of mental deficiency, brought to real-life troubles, and how meeting a similar soul may still hold real promises. There are star-making performances from Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, both charming gifts to the silver screen. They dance to Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's Girl From the North Country, after SPOILER Lawrence has told Cooper how her husband died. There is some truth to these, the best scenes of Playbook, which also builds up to a dance competition climax that is quite thrilling.

Robert De Niro (Casino (1997)) has one of his best turns in years as Cooper's bookmaking father, and no doubt part of the film's mass appeal is its clever usage of the sports mania/gambling plot line. Chris Tucker is amusing as a patient friend of Cooper's. Though he 'movies it up' at times here, he's also a master at getting us into the mindset of a bipolar person's experience, and he serves one of the most entertaining and lovable stories on-screen of the year in Silver Linings Playbook.

Watch the trailer here

Budget: 21 mil. $
Box office: 236.4 mil. $
= Huge hit

What do you think about Silver Linings Playbook?
And Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar-win?

The Dentist 2/The Dentist 2: Brace Yourself/The Dentist 2: You Know the Drill (1998) or, Open Wide ... Again!

♥♥

A truly horrifying poster for Brian Yuzna's The Dentist 2

 

The follow-up to the low budget horror movie The Dentist (1996) is the story of how the dentist killer from the first film escapes jail and travels to a country town and sets up another dental practice under a different name and returns to his old barbaric 'habits'. In the course of the film, the dentist's tongue-deprived ex-wife finds him to take her revenge.

 
If you get excited about a synopsis like this, and you are willing to accept cheap TV-like production values, (a simplistic keyboard score, no big action scenes or stars and second-rate costumes, special effects, sets etc.), - The Dentist 2 is not so bad.
The writing and acting is pretty bad. Everything somehow revolves around teeth and toothaches wherever the dentist goes, which is a bit silly. And nothing technically distinguishes the film. The dentistry scenes are, however, often done with a 'hovering camera' technique which works. SPOILER These scenes are fairly gruesome, with many close-ups of fake gums and teeth (and strange, raspy-looking tongues...) getting pulverized or stabbed with dental instruments.
The only actor that will be remembered and appreciated in Dentist 2 is its lead, Corbin Bernsen (Eat My Dust (1976)), who is good at playing the delusional title maniac and who makes the film worth watching. As he is the main character, this is one of those serial killer films in which we follow the killer spiral downwards into murderous lunacy, in this case for the second time. There are some disturbing scenes, especially one with a clinically white surgery room towards the end, as well as a memorable ending after that, and just being aligned with the dentist killer for the entire film may also be enough to make you queasy, if you can look past many of the detracting factors in the film. Obviously this is not a thrill for the many but for the (very precious) few.

The Dentist 2 is written by Richard Dana Smith (Alone With a Stranger (2000)) and directed by Brian Yuzna (The Dentist (1996)).

Related posts:

Brian Yuzna: Beyond Re-Animator (2003) or, Once a Re-Animator Always a Re-Animator!

From Beyond (1986) - Gordon's wild and imaginative second Lovecraft adaptation (co-writer)

 

 

Here's a deranged clip from the movie

Cost: 1.8 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain

[The Dentist 2 premiered in July (Fantasia International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 100 minutes. The Dentist films are reportedly based on a real-life dentist serial killer by the name of Nick Rex; however proof of his existence are scarce online, and the true basis could likely be entirely made up. Yuzna reportedly had one week to prepare for shooting. Shooting took place from February - March 1998 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film had a TV premiere in North America in December 1998 and was almost entirely a video release. The video must have been a hit, because Trimark greenlit another Dentist sequel for Yuzna, but he was too busy establishing his company Fantastic Factory to do it. Yuzna returned with Faust (2000). Bernsen returned in Riddler's Moon (1998, TV movie) and theatrically in Kiss of a Stranger (1998). 3.8k+ IMDb users have given The Dentist 2 a 4.7/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of The Dentist 2?