commentaries – one of which features none other than the filmmaker himself (culled from a vintage in- terview). Incredibly fun and entertaining, Spine Tin- gler! will put a smile on your face. And that’s a guarantee, ladies and gentlemen!
JAMES BURRELL Jurassic Snark
THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977) DVD Starring Richard Boone, Joan Van Ark and Steven Keats
Directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Tsugunobu Kotani Written by William Overgard Warner Bros.
Rubber dino suits, Japanese cavemen, disco bal-
lads and laughable dialogue galore await in this flam- boyant and silly TV movie-of-the-week. A Japanese/ American co-production from Rankin-Bass that was intended to ride on the King Kong remake’s short hairs, The Last Dinosaur is basically The Lost World redux, except the floppy dinosaurs appear to be dis- tant relatives of Godzilla and, instead of a man of sci- ence, our Professor Challenger is a boozy, sexist big game hunter fond of calling people “ding dongs.” Surprisingly, the title actually refers to irascible ad-
salute to a showman SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM
CASTLE STORY (2007) DVD Featuring Terry Castle, Joe Dante and John Waters Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz Automat Pictures
Back in the late 1950s and early ’60s, while film-
makers such as Terence Fisher and Roger Corman were successfully crafting sumptuous Gothic chillers for Hammer and AIP, producer/director William Castle was busy carving out his own niche with a series of playful, (mainly) black-and-white shockers that, despite hokey effects and modest production values, man- aged to attract huge audiences. Help- ing to make these low-budget flicks a success was Castle’s inimitable brand of self-promotion and carnival barker showmanship – which often involved releasing the films with off- the-wall gimmicks such as “Illusion- O,” which saw placard glasses handed out to theatregoers that al- lowed them to “see” apparitions for 13 Ghosts. The movies, the gimmicks and the
man who devised them are all exam- ined in Jeffrey Schwarz’s fascinating feature-length documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story. An affectionate love letter to the grinning, cigar-chomping showman and his creepy cinematic legacy, Schwarz recounts – with the help of
RM44 R E I S S U E S
numerous interview subjects, including Castle’s daughter, Terry, and famous fans of his work such as Corman, Joe Dante, John Waters and Forrest J Acker- man – Castle’s childhood (as an orphan in New York) before moving on to his Broadway beginnings in the late 1920s, his work as a director of numerous west- erns and action flicks in the 1940s, and finally the hor- ror projects for which he is best known. Interestingly, Castle’s daughter opines that her fa-
ther used his infamous gimmickry because he was in- secure and believed his films weren’t strong enough to bring in audiences on their own. Despite the finan- cial success of his pictures, Castle always longed to make “legitimate” films and was allegedly disappointed when Rosemary’s Baby (the rights of which he bought in order to direct it himself) was handed over to Roman Polan- ski. Ironically, Castle’s market- ing ploys may have even influenced Alfred Hitchcock, who employed a similar cam- paign when exhibiting Psycho (1960). Previously available as part
of Sony’s William Castle Film Collection box set, Spine Tin- gler! (RM#95) is now available separately and is packed with bonus features, including a
making-of featurette; numerous interview outtakes; vintage footage of the 1959 Texas premiere of The Tingler; an interesting audio clip of a 1975 lecture that Castle gave at the USC Film School; as well as two
venture-seeker Masten Thrust Jr. (a bloated, 60-year- old Richard Boone) rather than his prehistoric prey, a point made explicit in the hilarious disco theme song by Nancy Wilson. Embarking on an expedition to bag himself a Tyrannosaurus rex, Thrust recruits a small crew, including a mute African guide (Luther Rackley) and, for the requisite age-inappropriate love scene, a plucky female photojournalist (Joan Van Ark). Using a specially equipped un- dersea capsule, they drill through the ocean floor with lasers and discover a Jurassic wonderland that’s just asking to be shot in the face. The half-dozen colos-
sal creatures, designed by “The Father of Godzilla” Eiji Tsubu- raya’s FX company, are decent, if cartoonish, especially compared to some of the lacklustre kaiju films that Toho was cranking out at the time. Plus, The Last Dinosaur’s crowd-pleasing bloody battle between the Tyran- nosaurus and a Triceratops that breaks out of the wall of a cave is definitely worth suffering through some of the film’s lethargic dialogue-heavy scenes. One suspects there wasn’t much budget for crea-
ture footage, though, so there’s plenty of squabbling over Thrust’s intentions, and the creepiest love trian- gle since Dorian Gray sent a suitor packing so he could spend a romantic evening with his own portrait. While the dino-less scenes are amusingly over- wrought and entertaining in their own campy way, they’re bound to disappoint those only interested in jungle-stomping monster action. But even as The Last Dinosaur regularly tests the
audience’s patience, there’s a Saturday matinee fun to the proceedings that generates a lot of goodwill. Boone’s tongue appears to be planted so deeply in his cheek that it’s amazing that he doesn’t rip a hole in it, especially as Thrust’s Ahab complex takes over in
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