u/Mgellis

Movie of the day...Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965).

This is a very trippy movie.

A giant turtle is freed from its icy prison in the arctic by an atomic explosion. After destroying a nearby arctic research vessel with fire breath, it disappears for a while. But then the world experiences a rash of UFO sightings. The UFO turns out to be the turtle because apparently giant turtles can fly.

The lore in this first Gamera film is so demented that all you can do is shrug and tell yourself, “Just go with it.” And once you do that, it’s actually kind of fun.

I like how the too-stupid-to-live child character who loves turtles keeps insisting Gamera is not bad. Why don’t you tell that to all the kids whose parents were just killed by Gamera, you little twerp?

I normally recommend watching Japanese movies in the original language with subtitles, but in this case I don’t think it really matters.

Rating: C-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera,_the_Giant_Monster

Movie of the day...Event Horizon (1997).

Best idea ever for why you can’t go faster than light.

In 2040, the Event Horizon, a gigantic, experimental spacecraft testing a secret faster-than-light propulsion system disappeared without a trace. Seven years later, she mysteriously shows up in orbit around Neptune. No one knows where she has been or what her crew may have experienced.

Rescue ship Lewis and Clark, commanded by Captain S. J. Miller (Laurence Fishburne), is sent with her crew to investigate. Joining them is Dr. William Weir (Sam Neil), the man who built the Event Horizon, and a man haunted by the memory of his dead wife.

When they reach the Event Horizon, it is clear something has gone terribly wrong. The inside of the ship looks like a slaughterhouse. The last transmission from the crew of the ship consists of tortured, incoherent screams. And it is not long before the crew of the Lewis and Clark begin to experience horrifying visions. The real question may not be where the Event Horizon has been all these years, but what she has brought back from that terrible place.

The movie is an interesting attempt to do “Lovecraft in space,” but it is not entirely successful. The idea that a new technology capable of letting people go beyond normal space might also expose them to something beyond human experience is an intriguing one—it is effectively the same idea we get in From Beyond. And the movie is visually impressive. The special effects are spectacular. The jump scares are plentiful. The gory deaths and the horrific visions Weir and the crew experience are often quite disturbing.

The biggest problem is the script. The cast turns in solid performances, but the crew of the Lewis and Clark are supposed to be highly trained professionals, and the plot has them make some really stupid decisions. And while Weir is clearly a deeply troubled man even before he joins them, we do not get enough development to make his obsession credible. Yes, the things-man-was-not-meant-to-know starship drive, which somehow turns itself on when they enter the ship, has clearly affected their minds, but even taking that into account, their behavior is not very believable.

Rating: B-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_(film)