TheMgnt

I picked this up one bored night looking for something stupid to watch. Yes, it fit the bill, but I also laughed myself silly. Unfortunately the film starts to fall flat in the second half, when the murder mystery takes over, but the first half was a hoot!

In the rare times I've recommended this film I always added the disclaimer that you really need to be in the mood to watch something stupid. If you go in with a straight face you won't enjoy it.

And, hey, it features a Too Much Joy song. That alone is worth the price of admission!

About half way through this film I found myself wondering why Stone remade Red Rock West. There were a few small changes but the essence of the film was the same: small town, odd-ball characters, kill my wife plot, inability to leave... Checking here I find it wasn't a remake at all! Now, I always enjoy what I call Bad Day films; where the main character just can't get a break (ie: After Hours) and I was amused and entertained by this one. But I felt it lacked the humor so well done in Red Rock West. (The cast in that is just as good: Nick Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle. Cage, when asked, said this was his favorite film) It perhaps ran a little too long as well.

Who's ripping off who? Red Rock vs U Turn: rent em and decide for yourself.

To begin, this is a twenty year old film. Few films remain as suspenseful today as they did when it came out. (see: Night of the Living Dead -- had people running from the theatres when released but is very tame today). Clearly a movie fan brought up on the standards of today's movies will fail to find enjoyment of such 'classic' films. But when watching Halloween today perhaps it helps to consider a few things: Halloween was a low budget film (read: bad acting, poor special effects) made for only $300,000. It was not a product of Hollywood but a bunch of 20 year olds. This was the first film to feature the Boogeyman that Wouldn't Die which has been ripped off time and time again in the Friday the 13th, Elm Street, Scream, etc. You're used to it now, but Halloween did it first. Even Scream ripped off the look of the villian in Halloween. The theme of teenagers being stalked by a madman has been ripped of numerous times as well (again, Halloween did it first) but what seperates Halloween from the imitators is that it plays on traditional fears: The Thing that Wouldn't Die; the Boogeyman coming to get you; being followed and stalked; the boyfriend returning to the room under a bedsheet -- and it's not really him; someone hiding in the car... all things that have made our skin crawl in real life at one time or another. Watching Halloween tonight again for the first time in years I found myself again on the edge of my seat. Classic? Hell, yes. Maybe not to a generation who feels Scream was a 'good' horror movie but a classic none the less.