Thursday, April 5, 2018

Thursday Movie Picks: Underground


Comin' straight from the sewer, I biggity-be's the rough slang slinger
Singer, dame look at me swing it like a swinger
I riggity-rock the miggity-microphone, I'm goin to rock it
Don't jock it, I'm quiggity-quick-quick, thiggity-thick, yo drop it

It's okay if you couldn't make sense of that. Those lines are from the 1992 song by Das Efx (pronounced dos effects) titled "Straight From the Sewer." They were known for all the biggity/riggity stuff going on, there. Why would I open a post with this? It's simple, the topic for this week's Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, is underground. What's more underground than the sewer? Since the correct answer is nothing, that's where I'm going for my picks...and I'm not even going to mention a certain clown movie.


Alligator
(1980)
A teenage girl buys a baby alligator while on a family vacation in Florida. When she gets home to Chicago, dad wants nothing more than to get rid of it and flushes the little guy down the toilet. Fast-forward 20 years, and the once tiny alligator has survived all this time in the sewer by eating discarded carcasses of animals who had been given an experimental growth formula. So yeah, he's pretty damn big. Since he's constantly growing, he's also pretty damn hungry. And humans are on the menu. Yes, it's a Jaws ripoff, one of many. Yes, it's goofy. But man is it fun!


C.H.U.D.
(1984)
A bunch of homeless folks have gone missing, seeming to have disappeared into the city's sewer system. They are turning up dead, or worse. What could be worse? Thanks to all the toxic waste down there, many are transformed into "Cannabilistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers." So yeah, they're pretty damn hungry. And humans are on the menu. This one borrows from the general outline of Godzilla, amping up the exploitation aspects a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's horrible. But man is it fun!


Mimic
(1997)
Before Guillermo del Toro showed us The Shape of Water, or even took us through Pan's Labyrinth he gave us a movie about roaches. Sorta. Roaches are actually eradicated by a specially designed breed of insect that was supposed to spread a fatal disease to the roaches then quickly die off itself. Well, it did the first part, but it definitely didn't die. In fact it mutated to the point where it grows to be the size of a man and can even mimic one. Yeah, that's a problem. Given the pedigree of the director and the cast (it includes Mira Sorvino, Ben Kingsley, Josh Brolin, Charles S. Dutton, and F. Murray Abraham, among others), it's clearly a "better" movie than my other two choices. It still isn't great. But man is it fun!



20 comments:

  1. I wrote a list that's entirely different as I thought it would be about underground cinema rather than films set in the underground. I was confused. Oh well... C.H.U.D. I've been interesting in seeing as Criterion made an announcement about releasing the film on DVD/Blu-Ray as an April Fool's joke but it made people wanting to see it. Mimic I have seen in both its original theatrical cut and a director's cut made in 2011. The director's cut is superior but still a flawed film as I still think it's Guillermo's weakest film of his career so far.

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    1. I was confused, too. The term underground is pretty vague so I went this route. Hadn't heard about the Criterion joke. That's hilarious. Can't see them being the company to bring it to Blu-ray. Agreed, Mimic is GDT's weakest film.

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  2. All three of these sound really fun. Now I'd like to see them. This week worried me because I wasn't sure if I was taking "underground" too literally lol.

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    1. I think everyone is a bit confused by this theme. It's very vague.

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    2. The vagueness is what made it fun. I was thinking of underground cinema like the poster above, as well as underground resistance movements like Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. Ultimately I decided to go with the more conventional underground.

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    3. Agreed, not being quite sure of what to do made it more interesting.

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  3. I'm skipping this week because I haven't seen any movie set underground and I'm not really sure what underground movies are. Anyway, these sound fun!

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  4. Oh my God Alligator looks AMAZING. I've heard of C.H.U.D. and Mimic but haven't seen either.

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    1. Alligator is amazing in the best/worst of ways.

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  5. Quite an interesting theme within the theme. I've only seen parts of C.H.U.D sucked in by the fact that it starred John Heard and Daniel Stern which made me think "How bad can it be?" Very would be the answer! Actually that's what's kept me away from Mimic. I'm not falling for that cast list again. I remember when Alligator came out, it was one of a flood of Jaws reworkings along with Piranha, Grizzly etc. and it looked just as silly as the others.

    My first thought was the original Pelham One Two Three, a great film, but I've used it before so I cast around and came up with these instead.

    Transatlantic Tunnel (1935)-Engineer Richard "Mack" McAllan (Richard Dix) proposes the building of a tunnel to connect England and the United States though revolutionary new technology. The film follows the many years and problems encountered as the realization of the project progresses. Futuristic early sci-fi posits the construction of an undersea tunnel linking England with the United States was one of the first film allegories to attempt to strengthen the US/UK bond as the dark clouds of war began to waft through Europe. Though little known today this was a high profile project at the time with two of the most esteemed actors in film, Walter Huston and George Arliss, as the President of the United States and Prime Minister respectively.

    Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)-Sir Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scottish geologist (James Mason) and his assistant Alec McEwan (Pat Boone!) set off on an expedition to the center of the earth after finding directions in an inscription hidden in volcanic rock. Along the way to an Iceland volcano to begin their journey Carla Göteborg (Arlene Dahl) the widow of a famous scientist, Icelander Hans Bjelke (Peter Ronson) and his pet duck Gertrud join their party. On their way they encounter, treacherous terrain, subterranean oceans, prehistoric monsters and rival scientist Count Saknussemm (Thayer David) who is on their trail. The sets and effects are very dated by today’s standards but still a fun adventure.

    Daylight (1996)-When robbers fleeing police collide with trucks carrying toxic waste inside New York’s Holland Tunnel a fireball results collapsing both ends and trapping a disparate group of survivors who turn to the disgraced former chief of Emergency Services Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) now working as a cab driver and trapped with them “the only man capable of saving the day!” Typical Stallone nonsense but vigorous and actiony if undemanding.

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    1. The original Pelham One Two Three would be a great choice. I haven't heard of Transatlantic Tunnel, but it sounds fascinating. I saw parts of the original Journey as a kid, but I don't think I watched the whole thing. I have seen the remake, but the less said about that the better. Daylight is one of the few Sylvester Stallone movies I haven't seen.

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  6. I feel like you've gone straight into my nightmares with these picks!!!

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    1. Into the nightmares of a lot of people, probably.

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  7. I actually saw a part of Alligator...before I got too scared and turned the channel...yes, that is sad. I have not seen the other 2 but I have seen The Swarm with huge guest stars as well as Tentacles about a giant Octupus that stars John Huston and Henry Fonda!

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    1. Since I haven't seen either of the ones you just mentioned, I'd say we're even.

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  8. I’m from London so underground means tube and a different set of films altogether. Not sure what mine would be. Third Man would be too though. WOuld The Turtles count?

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  9. Mimic is the only one I'm familiar with and may have seen part of it.

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  10. I love to watch horror and sci-fi movie and this movie had both for me I am looking for this kind of movie. Thanks for aware me about the movie. I check your blog but I did not seen Deadpool movie. Recently I heared and Watch deadpool 2 online trailer. Pls give a review on Deadpool 2.

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