So, here we go. It’s my first double feature sequel. I did the first ‘Post Apocalyptic Funtime’ back in April. I liked it so much; I decided to do it again. As I said before, a post-apocalyptic world is a backdrop that I will always be interested in. The story being told very often takes a back seat to the world it exists in. It could be a heartfelt drama, fantastical sci-fi or undead horror. I’ll be into it either way. What I tend to be most interested in are things such as set and costume design. If the story takes place 20 years after the apocalypse, does the present world look as though it’s been lived in for the past 20 years? Likewise, if the apocalypse was more recent, do you still see traces of modern technology and architecture?
This week’s first feature comes to us from one of the most critically acclaimed directors of all time. His acclaim comes for good reason. Andrey Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” (1979) is about a man, a ‘stalker’, who’s mental gifts enable him to lead people into the Zone, a restricted area that contains a room that your most secret desires will come true. We follow him as he guides an alcoholic, washed up writer and a quiet scientist searching for answers. This film takes it’s time to say the least. It clocks in at 163 minutes, many of which are spent watching long shots of scenery and people doing next to nothing. It’s a very patient film and requires a very patient audience. But for those of you willing to take the journey, Tarkovsky delivers one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever created…… again.
And in this corner…. Our next film is a little less critically acclaimed. Donald G. Jackson and R.J. Kizer directed “Hell Comes To Frogtown” (1987) starring “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as the titular Sam Hell. Sam is one of the very last fertile men in the nuclear wasteland the world has become. So, as one would guess, he is kidnapped by a group of beautiful women in an attempt to repopulate the Earth. It’s kinda like that game you and your cousin used to play in your Dad’s makeshift bomb shelter (a.k.a. root cellar). Only this time, the mutants are already here and not the result of inbreeding. Before he can spread his seed, Sam must rescue the fertile women from the grips of the gigantic mutant frog like things that now rule the world.
This film came out a year before Roddy Piper would star in John Carpenter’s classic Book of Mormon adaptation, “They Live” as an unemployed loser who finds a pair of magic glasses that allow him to see the world as it truly is. Unfortunately, the Academy wasn’t quite ready to award a man that jumps from the top ropes wearing a skirt….. If they only would have written his character a little more autistic….
Enjoy.
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