kikuchiyo-1

Do you think that "Hell of the Living Dead" is the worst zombie flick ever made? Or maybe "Zombie Lake"? Or "Oasis of the Zombies"? Well, if you think like this then I say: watch "Alien Dead" and you'll change your mind. It is not another low budget film, it is another low budget crap without one thing worth of watching. Do you want gore? There is no gore in this film; instead you can see scene where some old guy lies covered with leaves and you must believe that half of his body has been eaten. Action is slow and level of direction makes H.G. Lewis looking like Orson Welles. Finally, I can't believe that this crap was released on DVD but it really was. Funny is world we live in.

While the first part of "Ivan the Terrible" is unique, stylized and powerful historical chronicle, second part is something more: poignant tragedy of authority. Since boyars poisoned Ivan's wife and his friends betrayed him, tsar remains in lonely. Oprichniki are only people he can trust. Ivan orders to kill some of boyars for instance, then Efrosinia Staricka (his aunt) sets plot against his life. One word gives atmosphere of this film: paranoia. Every character cares burden of fear - about his life, about his political business. Pervasive fear is delivered to us with unearthly dance of shadows, dramatic Prokofiev's score, haunting acting, poetic dialogs, monumental decorations and costumes. Everything looks very artificial but, paradoxically, not false; this film works with peerless emotional strength and brings as much true about authority as Shespeare's best works, being compatible to Maciavlelian theory of authority. There are only few films in history of cinema that so heavily consider problems of power (I'd mention "The Godfather, Part II" and Kurosawa's "Kagemusha" and "Ran" beside "Boyars Plot"). Don't miss. And if you decide to watch this film, I recommend: take great Criterion DVD box set which contains also first part and "Alexander Nevsky", another Eisenstein's sound masterpiece.

This is undoubtedly one of THE worst films ever made. I would think Peter Jackson can't make films if I didn't see "Braindead" and "Bad Taste". Those films had low budget but they was made very well: dynamic, funnily, with good concept. There is different in cause of LOTR. All "LOTR" trilogy is bad but "Two Towers" is especially crappy. Cinematography is average, music is horrible (one lame theme in 2,5 h film) and absolutely nothing happens. And when finally Jackson starts with action scenes, he makes them possible worst. Battle scene is chaotic and stupidly edited; I didn't see what going on, where are good people and where are bad. Watching this film is total waste time and money. If you want good fantasy, watch better "Willow", "Neverending Story", "Excalibur" or "Conan the Barbarian". If you want good battle scene, watch "Alexander Nevsky", "Seven Samurai", "Breaveheart" or "Joan of Arc". 1/10