Orca – The Killer Whale (1977) (Movie Review)

   With killer whales as the main attraction to water theme parks like “Sea World”, and the stars of family films like “Free Willy”, you never once get that same feeling of fear and dread that comes from sharks, even though killer whales can be just as dangerous, if not more so. Back in the 1970’s, horror movies were going through a trend where mankind’s worst enemy wasn’t a supernatural monster, but creatures already present in nature, and after the massive success of films like “The Birds” and “Jaws”, countless others tried to follow in their success. The 1977 picture titled “Orca” is often regarded as the first in a long line of “Jaws” rip-offs. However, it’s far more like “Moby Dick” in both tone and theme. This makes it stand apart from other movies banking on the success of “Jaws”, but does that make it a good movie on its own ... let’s dive in, and find out.

  Our seafaring horror story begins appropriately enough with a Great White Shark attacking a group of scuba divers. The shark is also being hunted by a group of fisherman and their Captain Nolan, who's played by the late great Richard Harries. Before the shark makes a meal out of the team, a killer whale takes out the shark with one blow, as if to say “Screw you Jaws, I’m the real danger in the sea”. The hunters quickly lose interest in hunting sharks and soon set their sights on caging a whale. In an effort to capture one whale, the captain unintentionally slays a female killer whale that was with child, and the male (her mate) looks on and silently declares vengeance on the man who poached her. As the captain returns to his village, the whale follows him and quickly begins terrorizing the small town in an effort to draw out his enemy. Realizing that he brought this on himself and the village, Captain Nolan sets out to sea to face the killer whale on his terms.

  For the most part, the film uses a professionally trained killer whale, and it’s a big treat to see a real animal in a film as opposed to fake looking animatronics or CGI creatures. It’s also kind of eerie to see such a peaceful and adorable creature like a killer whale turned into the central monster of the film. There’s a scene at the beginning of the movie in a which a marine biologist gives a lecture on Orcas, what their names mean, their high brain functions, their brut strength, and their predatorily side, which is a nice set-up. 

This is also a rare case in which you find yourself cheering more for the animal then any of the human characters. Whenever something negative happens to this whale, it just makes you feel sick, and the death of its mate is a genuinely heart breaking scene. Also when the whale attacks the village, it doesn’t attack random people on the beach the same way killer sharks in movies always do. This Orca actually does things on a much larger scale. He attacks an industrial plant that’s just off the shore, which erupts into a fiery explosion. Captain Nolan’s house is also conveniently on the docks, which allows our whale to break all the pillars underneath, and sinks his house ... yeah, this whale actually sinks an entire house. It’s incredibly over the top, but it’s also a lot more fun than just having random people get picked off at a beach. He also sinks several ships in a harbor, with the exception of the one owned by Captain Nolan ... that’s his way of calling him out.

   While I can’t make an argument that this is a great movie or anything really special, I do like that the film at least tries to interject themes and maybe even substance into its average story of a killer animal. The first issue raised in the film is “who’s the real monster?”. The whale obviously wasn’t a rouge killing machine the same way Jaws was, and it probably wouldn’t have done anything if the captain didn’t slay it’s family, making him come off as more of a monster then our killer whale. However, while Captain Nolan’s actions were bad, the man himself isn’t evil, as he acknowledges that he made a mistake, wishes that he could take it back, and wants to set things right. This leads into the next theme of the movie ... “history repeating itself, and people making the same mistake again.” At one point in the film, Captain Nolan relays a back-story in which a drunk driver crashed into his car, and killed his pregnant wife, which was an incident that shattered his spirit. In a sense, the Captain became that drunk driver when he killed the whales pregnant mate. Usually in an animal attack movie you’ll have one good man versus one evil monster, but “Orca” isn’t so one sided. Both players are victims of random unfortunate acts of life, and now vengeance has blackened both their souls, transforming them into monsters.

   Now even with all that stated, let’s be honest, many of us have seen other films that not only had these exact same themes and subjects, but have also done them a million times more effectively. While the themes of vengeance corrupting an innocent soul, history repeating itself and the nature of the beast are all present in this movie, the material just doesn’t stick with you as well as it should, at least not in the contents of this film. I give the movie credit for being a little different from your usual animal attack movie, but that doesn’t make it great either, just slightly above average. 

I will say that some of the technical aspects of the film are done very well, as there are some memorable visuals, and some terrific cinematography. Plus, the musical score composed by Ennio Morricone dose a great job conveying an atmosphere that’s both beautiful and haunting all at once, as opposed to just being eerie the same way John Williams classic “Jaws” theme was. Even the cast dose a decent job, although many of the supporting actors like Bo Derek and Keenan Wynn have little to nothing to do in the film. Richard Harries of course is best known for his roles like King Arthur in the 1967 musical “Camelot”, and for playing Dumbledore in the first two “Harry Potter” movies. It’s kind of strange to see him in a film like this, but he plays the part of Captain Nolan fairly well. His Irish accent is a little distracting sense he’s a British actor, but he’s clearly committed to the role, and he even took offence to the critics who panned this movie for being a “Jaws” rip-off.

  The pacing is slow and steady, giving just enough to hold your attention, but not enough to come off as really exciting. In the final act, our captain hits the seas with a small group of people that get picked off one at a time. This is the closest the film gets to feeling like “Jaws”, but once again the finale dose something completely different, and works great on its own. After hunting the beast at sea for days, the Orca leads them to an icy area in the North Arctic, where the final showdown takes place. It’s an awesome setting for the climax, and it allows our characters to cover more ground as the boat sinks, and our survivors run on icy terrain with the whale biting at their heels. Seriously, it can just pop-up at any time. Spoiler alert, but the ending actually has a twist ... the whale gets his vengeance by killing the captain, and swims off into the sunset triumphantly. Yeah ... usually the human slays the animal, and is victories, but this is a rare case in which the killer animal wins. The marine biologist played by Charlotte Rampling dose survive, but that’s it. It’s not a bad ending, but it does leave you feeling kind of empty at the same time.

   While the movie was both a box office and critical disaster, it has gained cult status among fans of “man versus nature” movies. Personally, I admire the movie more for what it aimed to be, rather then what it became on film. I think “Orca” has some really good concepts, a captivating musical score, maybe even a touch of substance, and definitely enough material to separate itself from being a cheap “Jaws” rip-off. However, it’s certainly no masterpiece the same way “Moby Dick” was a literary marvel. It’s definitely not a film you’ll think about afterword or care to re-watch again, but I think it’s better then what its reputation suggests. At best, it’s just okay, and I do like this films overall take on the premise of a killer beast from the ocean. The action scenes are definitely exciting enough, but when all is said and done, it’s a mostly average animal attack film that doesn’t offer much, is very joyless in tone, and has little to no re-watch value. If you’re curious enough, give it a single viewing, but don’t expect the experience to stick with you after words.

Thanks for reading my review of 1977's B-List Horror movie “Orca” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you love. 

Bats (1999) (Movie Review)

    Halloween is a holiday with many recognizable mascots ranging from Jack O’ Lanterns, to Ghosts, to Witches, and one common creature that gets just as much marketing around this time of year is a bat. We see them with Halloween decorations, their always on October wall-paper, bats are basically a staple of the holiday. You’d think they’d be the perfect creatures to revolve a horror movie around, but for some reason, they don’t have nearly as many monster movies as spiders, snakes or sharks do. Maybe because vampires are so popular, and regular everyday bats really aren’t as lethal as some fear them to be. Well, in 1999 we finally got a horror movie simply titled “Bats”, it didn’t involve supernatural bats or vampires, just plain old bats wreaking havoc where ever they go. It’s a concept with a lot of potential, but unfortunately, if you were to call this the modern day equivalent of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, you’d be sourly mistaken. 

    Here’s our set up, the government is doing lab work on bats in an effort to transform them into ideal killing machines that can be used as weapons. But an evil doctor wants to control the bats himself, so he releases them, and they spread their disease to other bats across the country, thus conjuring a massive army of rapid killers. Unfortunately for the evil doctor, the bats are getting smarter, are no longer under his control, and begin to wreak havoc in a local town in Texas. With the diseased bats spreading like wild fire, and the death count building up, a local sheriff teams up with a female Zoologist that has an expertise on Bats. Together, they battle swarms of the winged beast and try their best to come up with a plan to stop them. Time isn’t on their side as the military plan on nuking the town, which would only cause the bats to migrate across North America, spreading their disease to even more bats and ultimately over throwing the human race. Sounds pretty extreme, but it’s never as epic or as scary as it should be.  

    I’ll say this, the movie gives you exactly what you’d expect, bats attack people, and there’s lots of it. Most movies of this sort would spend a lot of time with characters talking, and while there is some exposition in the opening, it’s mostly just a non-stop, action packed ride, with over the top bat attacks, explosions and carnage. That’s all good, but there’s a noticeable lack of suspense or scares throughout the whole film. Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” admittedly had a lot of boring conversations with characters that we didn’t care for, but it helped build up the suspense, and it made the action all the more thrilling. 

“The Birds” also had a lot more mystery and kept the audience guessing, because we never knew what was causing the birds to act so crazy, and that made the whole situation come off as more terrifying. By contrast, “Bats” hits us over the head with plot exposition right from the beginning, which spoils all the tension, and having a generic evil doctor as the cause behind the killer bats is beyond stupid-clichéd. Also with so many action scenes, the movie never takes the time to establish an eerie atmosphere, or even do anything that creepy with its concept, which just makes it feel like wasted potential. Whenever the movie does aim for something creepy, it results in unintentional comedy. Now there is one effectively creepy moment with a bat crawling into a babies cradle, but it only lasts for a second or two before the situation is completely dropped. There’s also lots of stupid jump scares that you can see coming from a mile away.

    Dina Meyer is our star, playing the lead Zoologist, and while none of the actors give outstanding performances, she at least holds her own in the film. Before this movie, she was fighting off giant bugs in “Starship Troopers”, and later she’d star in “Parana 3D”. Admittedly she has a fairly commanding screen presence, delivers the best performance she can with what little she has to work with, and she’s naturally beautiful without being overly sexualized. Lou Diamond Phillips from “The Big Hit” plays the local sheriff, and he has a harder time working with a bad script, resulting in a rather boring character. Then there’s a comedic side character played by Leon, who I remember best as one of the villains from “Cliffhanger”. He has his moments, but he has just as many stupid scenes and occasionally poor delivery on his lines. The evil doctor is as boring and generic as they get, but worse is that he’s played by Bob Gunton who’s a talented actor and deserves better than this. I’ll always remember him best as the evil prison Warden from “The Shawshank Redemption”. To be fair, I don’t think anyone was expecting really great characters to come from a film of this sort, but in all honestly, I’ve seen much worse, even if their just there to be victims to the bats when they strike.

    The bat attacks themselves are a mixed bag. They come in a nice variety and do something different with each encounter, which is great. There’s a scene is which our hero’s are all boarded up in a school while the bats are trying to brake in. It’s good stuff and has no shortage of overblown, electrical explosions and fireworks. The best scene of all is when the bats launch an all out attack on the town, resulting in lots of destruction, vehicles crashing into buildings, and people fighting them off with shot guns and other weapons. There’s a moment in which our female heroin is trapped in a glass ticket box, which is a nice little tribute to the classic phone booth scene from “The Birds”. While it’s all exciting and bombastic, the action scenes themselves are shot terribly. The shaky camera is probably the worst I’ve ever seen, and the editing is just a random mess of sped up imagery which makes it impossible to tell what your even looking at.

    I will say that the bat effects are very amusing. The swarms of them are mostly CGI, but there are occasionally some real bats, and there’s lots of animatronics and puppets for the individual bats, which are fairly cool. The bat designs are kind of unique too, close up’s of their face make them look like savage dogs with rabies. Their eye’s also glow yellow, which is a silly but a welcome edition. The movie does have some good visuals, for example I love the shots of the bat swam silhouetted against the full moon. One really stupid gimmick in this movie is that the title is always spelt upside down, it’s on the poster and even the opening title screen is upside down. I remember the first time I saw the poster, I thought the title was “STAB”, but no it’s just “BATS” upside down, which is ridiculous. We never even see a bat hanging upside down in the film, their always flying or crawling on all fours, so what were they thinking?

    At the end, our hero’s discover that all the bats are roosting in a mine. A plan is soon orchestrated to drop a freezing devise underground, which will kill all the bats. It may sound a little anti-climactic, but it at least leads to a somewhat exciting action scene in which our team is chased down throughout the mines and have to escape before it gets sealed or nuked by the military. There’s a funny little closing scene in which it looks like one bat escaped, only for it to get squashed by a car before it can fly away. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the Sci-Fi channel from releasing a sequel in 2007 titled “Bats: Human Harvest”, I didn’t watch it, but it looked really bad, which I’m sure it was.  

                        

    Over the years, “Bats” has become one of those cult favorite films, and while I certainly wouldn’t call this a good film, I can see the appeal some may have with it. The movie plays less like a horror and more like an unintentional comedy. Personally, this film has always been kind of a “guilty pleasure”, I know it’s all around a bad movie, but I can’t help but enjoy it on some level. I guise I’m just easy to please when it comes to cheesy B monster movies. I’d say it’s better than the average animal attack film, but I’d only recommend it to fans of the genera. If you want a really good movie with some real scares, watch “The Birds” instead, but if a mindless creature feature with non-stop action is more up your ally, then “Bats” probably won’t disappoint.  

Thanks for reading my review of the 1999 creature feature “Bats” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!  

Anaconda (1997) (Movie Review)

  Earlier this month, I commented that no animal on earth scares me or bothers me more than spiders ... but on the opposite side of that coin, one of my favorite animals that I personally adore are snakes. Ever sense I was a little kid, I loved snakes, and I even had snakes for pets. Of all the different snakes on the planet, it was the anaconda that I was the most obsessed with. Back then, anacondas stood out among snakes just like how the T-Rex always stands out as the coolest dinosaur. When the 1997 horror adventure movie “Anaconda” came out, you can bet I was excited to see it. I was probably six or seven years old at the time, but that didn’t stop me from seeing it. I actually remember my parents getting very concerned that the film might be too disturbing or scary, but I loved every second of it. This was actually one of the very first horror movie experiences I ever had in my life, so I can’t help but look back on it while wearing the nostalgia goggles. Still, how has it aged over the years ... is it really any good? To be very straight forward, the answer is no ... in fact you could call this movie the pore man's version of “Jaws” ... but it is still a lot of fun to watch, and a small, yet classic product of the 90’s?  

  The movie begins with scrolling text all “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” style, as it tries to put you in the mindset that what you’re about to see is based on real events revolving around people attacked by giant snakes. That tone is immediately shot in the foot with the opening snake attack scene, in which an anaconda attacks a boat house. This scene is incredibly cheesy and over the top, but at least they keep the snake off screen during this attack, that way it can still surprise us later. Our real adventure begins in the Amazon, with a film crew who are sailing down the river in search for a mysterious tribe, and all in hopes to shoot a documentary revolving around their culture. However, they find themselves taking on an unexpected passenger, who claims to know the rivers well, and offers to help guide them on their expedition. In truth, this mysterious man is actually a snake hunter, and leads the boat off-course in hopes to hunt down a massive, and deadly anaconda. Passengers are suddenly disappearing, and the river seems to take one nasty turn after another. The film crew soon find themselves up the Amazon River without a paddle, are at the mercy of an unstable poacher, and an even more dangerous river monster that won’t hesitate to make meals out of them. 

   

  I have to say, for a cheap “B” grade monster movie, it actually has a respectable cast of talented actors, including Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, Danny Trejo and Jonathan Hyde. All the characters are your typical, cardboard cut-out’s you’d expect from a film like this, but the cast actually makes them salvageable.

Jennifer Lopez is our star, and I have to say, she holds herself very well in this film and has a fairly captivating screen presence. Now, I’m not just saying that just because she’s incredibly beautiful (which she certainly is), but for all that she was given to work with, she looks totally committed to the role, and dose everything in her power to deliver a believable performance. Obviously not Oscar worthy, but still good considering what little she had to work with, and I love that her character manages to stay strong without becoming your typical, over the top action star who always shows off. This was also at the peak of Jennifer Lopez's acting career, when she was making a credible name for herself, and before staring in disposable romantic comedies like 2001's "The Wedding Planner". Jonathan Hyde plays a typical cranky rich guy, but I grew up with the actor in so many films from the 90’s, like “Jumanji”, “Titanic”, “The Mummy”, and it’s always a treat to have him in a film. He also has some of the best lines, like when he knocks-out the bad guy with a golf club and says ... "Ass Hole-in-one!" Owen Wilson is very restrained as the comedic relief turned Judas, as he sides with the villain at the cost of his friends. Eric Stoltz is okay as a victimized boyfriend but isn't given much time to leave an impression ... poor guy. He at least went on to act in some decent films, like 2000's "Almost Famous", and 2004's "The Butterfly Effect". Ice Cube plays the typical “cool tough guy”, and to be fair, he actually has his cool moments and stands out when he’s on screen. This was actually a good warm-up point in his career, before acting in quality action films like 1999's "Three Kings", as well as franchise pictures like 2005's "xXx: State of Union".

  Of course, the star who completely steels the show is Jon Voight as the film's generic evil hunter, who’s obsessed with capturing the snake. I swear, Jon Voight is having the time of his life in this role as a scary snake hunter, and he’s just savoring every juicy moment of the film. You can tell, he knows what kind of film this is, he knows how clichéd his character is, and he’s just going to take the role and run with it. While his performance is enjoyably over-the-top, he dose still shine in some scary moments. Now, in all seriousness, Jon Voight is a very respectable actor and has turned in some truly Oscar worthy performances in his carrier. If fact, as far back as 1978 he won the best actor Oscar for his leading role in "Coming Home". Yet, that only makes it all the more fun to see him go so over-the-top in this film. For the actor, he must have been treating it like a mini vacation away from all the quality films he’s used to staring in. Funny enough, his attempts to return to quality films resulted in movies like 2001's "Pearl Harbor", which was honestly just as corny ... although Jon Voight did make for a dignified Pres. Roosevelt.

 With all the characters addressed, lets finally talk about the main event, which is the movies giant snake. It’s not clear how many different anacondas attack our hero’s, because we see the characters kill more than one, but regardless, I’ve often regarded the anaconda in this film as a memorable movie monster in its own right ... maybe not on par with the shark from "Jaws", but still an icon among B-Monster movies. It goes without saying, but this is a monster movie, and it will depict anacondas as anything but realistic. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to be like ... yet so many people feel the need to point out the obvious. While giant snakes are real, they’d never do any of the things depicted in this film. Come on guys ... it’s a monster movie, it’s supposed to be over-the-top, and for whatever it’s worth, the goofy scenes are actually kind of subtle when compared to what other monster movies have done. The creature effects are all really good, but they’re not class art either. There’s some serviceable CGI, but for the most part the snake is a mechanical puppet ... which looks awesome! Much like the Giant ants from the 50’s classic “Them!”, or even the shark from "Jaws", the monster doesn’t look real, and yet it’s still a spectacle whenever it’s on screen. Plus, it’s just really nice to have something practical on the set with the actors, as opposed to a monster that only exists in a computer.

 The music is all good, and the cinematography is excellent. I especially love all the POV shots that put you in the snake's perspective. They're even some beautiful locations, which also allow for some creative action scenes. There’s a moment when our heroes are stuck at a waterfall, and it’s the perfect setting for a big action set-piece with our deadly river beast. There’s also a fine variety of different snake attacks, as we never see the same kind of action scene twice, and the film never gives us too much of a good thing, it’s just the right amount. Plus, the pacing in this movie is terrific, and manages to stay entertaining even without the big snake. The river itself is a very exciting, mysterious, and alienating place ... with ominous totem poles, a wooden-wall full of snakes blocking their path, and there’s one scene involving a scuba diver and a poisonous wasp that was probably the most terrifying moment of the whole film. Some of the horror elements work, while others are kind of laughable. The one scene that always stood out the most to me was this goofy underwater shot of the snake swimming, and we can see the imprint of a human body inside ... which should have been scary, but it looks ridiculous.

  The adventure builds to a thrilling climax, in which our last surviving hero’s get captured by the hunter and are used to bait the anaconda into a massive boat house, where the final battle takes place. The villain gets a very memorable death, as he’s eaten alive ... with a P.O.V shot of him getting swallowed ... then vomited up, and finally his corps gives a little wink. Then the snake chases our hero’s though-out the complex, up a smokestack, blown sky high, and then Ice Cube delivers the finishing blow. Its great stuff, and probably one of my favorite finales to any animal attack movie I’ve seen. 

  

 

      

  Before I wrap up this review, let’s take a quick look at all the different sequels, crossovers and rip-offs. In 2004 there was “Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid”, which was the only “Anaconda” sequel to be released in the theater. When I was younger, I loved this sequel and found it to be every bit as fun, if not better than the first. However, it hasn’t aged well with me at all, it lacks all the charm of its predecessor, the effects are far worse, and it just takes itself much too seriously.

More sequels were released direct to TV and video, and in 2015 there was a crossover movie titled “Lake Placid vs. Anaconda”. This was also released on the Sci-Fi channel, and while it was a childhood fantasy to imagine the Anaconda meeting the Lack Placid crocodile, I never bothered to see the film. It’s probably stupid, but I might just check it out for mild curiosity's sake. After the passable success of “Anaconda”, there were several other rip-off movies that tried to bank on the concept of a giant snake. There was the “Boa” film series, the “Python” film series, and both of which had crossovers of their own. Why can’t we have snake attack movies with normal sized snakes, that might actually be scarier. In fact, I remember seeing a movie called “Silent Predators” back in 1999, which involved rattle snakes invading a neighborhood area, and that was actually kind of frightening. Then of course there was “Snakes on a Plane” in 2007, which was every bit a product of its time just like “Anaconda”, and while it was slightly entertaining, it just didn’t have the same B monster movie enjoyment that “Anaconda” mastered so perfectly.

     

  On that note, what’s my final verdict of the 1997 picture “Anaconda”? Personally, I think its outstanding B-movie trash. You won’t get much more out of this film then a simple dumb monster movie about a killer snake, but that’s all still very fun if you go in with a mind set for cheesy, enjoyable, popcorn entertainment. To be honest, I think "Anaconda" has held up better than most disposable killer animal movies. It offers me just enough action, eye candy, and monster fun to make it worth re-watching in a span of maybe eight or nine years ... so, take it for what it’s worth. It's no "Jaws", but for a cheesy, fun monster movie ... I still enjoy it.

Thanks for reading my review of 1997's B-List Horror movie “Anaconda” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!