23rd Century DVD Review: William Shatner's Mysteries Of The Gods (1977, Charles Romine)

"They have been here before. They will come again... SOON!"

I was never good at science at school. In fact I downright hated it. As I have become mature I have realised that was a pretty dickish thing to do. Anyway, I'm not here to bore you with school stories or my ignorance I am here to talk about a documentary that covers a subject that has puzzled scientists for years and. In a time where TV stations  like the History Channel would rather show us reality TV and talk about the Bible it's refreshing to look back at documentaries of the past. Of course, the subject of this documentary was covered recently in Ancient Aliens which of course made the crazy haired Giorgio A. Tsoukalos a household name. So although made in 1976, this piece of celluloid genius is both hilariously dated and relevant at the same time! Let us stop waffling and get on with it shall we?

Mysteries Of The Gods was originally a German production from 1976 directed by Harald Reinl and based on the book of the same name written by Eric Von Däniken. The version I watched was of course the American version directed by Charles Romine and released in 1977. I have no idea what the differences in terms of content (apart from the potential language difference) but what I can tell you is William Shatner is our host and narrator... You need to see this purely for that alone right? Before I continue, I am not going to go in depth about the content and my own personal opinions and theories on the subjects but I am pretty damn sure science has come a long way since this and there have probably been a lot more breakthroughs making the information old but that's the beauty of science!

I went into this one blind and was expecting a low budget sci-fi flick but man was I surprised when I found out this was a documentary! With this realisation I continued to leave my neurotic, disturbing mind well and truly turned off. What I experienced for the next 84 minutes (according to the DVD itself, the IMDB page states it's an 87 minute feature) was just sheer bliss for so many reasons. The first reason was the whole feel of the documentary. What I love for docs of this nature and era is that almost chilling b movie feeling. The film boasts a terrific synth score throughout from a guy called Peter Thomas who I'm sure I will spend many an hour looking for pieces of his work. Another key reason why I loved this was it's almost hallucinogenic and hypnotic use of space photography, illustration and film footage. Oh and come on, William Shatner was in it asking the academics the hard hitting questions in all his campy glory!

There where countless other small touches in this that I wouldn't even be able to touch upon because this would be more of an essay than a review plus, it's another gem (or crystal skull) that you have to experience for yourself. Marvel at some of the characters that Shatner interviews. We have scientists who have more hair on their chins than they do at the top of their heads and people who claim they can telepathically communicate with intelligent life out there. If you love your campy 70's sci-fi movies then this is going to be a real treat. It's a documentary that deals with a genuinely interesting yet unintentionally interesting way. This has cult classic written all over it but I have never heard hardly anyone mention it! Although the subject matter is one that is a hard one for me to really ponder and take in, it did genuinely make me think about the idea that we being watched by another species and my mind is now crammed with potential ideas for future film projects.

Overall, this is a great time capsule that looks backs to a time where scientific documentaries where genuinely interesting and had a theatrical aspect to them. The use of dated editing technology combined with that terrific spaced out synth score is really mesmerising. It doesn't matter if you are here for the intellectual content or if you are here to marvel at a campy, dated aesthetics, there is something here for many people. The transfer on the DVD is another VHS transfer but again it adds to the charm. Again, if you find this in your local pound or charity shop you have to pick it up to experience. However, you can watch this in it's entirety thanks to wonders of Youtube so there's really no excuse! Now if you excuse me... I am off to listen to a bit of Space!

Live long and prosper!



PDx

23rd Century DVD Review: Thunder Squad (1985, Umberto Lenzi)

"Call it bravery... Call it courage... Call it guts. Whatever you call it, they've got it!"

Before I start the review I would like to give a few words about the DVD release of this film. From what I gather, the label 23rd Century is a grey market label based in Manchester. I am yet to do major research so you can expect a full post some time in the future. From what I read, these guys put out mainly public domain titles that are mostly ported from degraded VHS tapes. I thought I would celebrate this label and labels like that because for me personally, this is the way you should be watching these crap-tastic gems and not on sparkling blu-ray transfers. I apologise to all you HD elitist fascist types out there but that's just the way I see it. Anyway, welcome to the first 23rd Century review. If you want to see what titles this label has to offer, check out this awesome blog.

Thunder Squad is a 1985 action flick by the cult maestro, Umberto Lenzi and stars the equally iconic Antonio Sabato. The story is pretty simple. A South American rebel leader is taking refuge in Florida and finds out his son has been kidnapped! A crack team of five mercs are assigned the task of finding and rescuing the child. Once they save the kid (no it's not a spoiler... you should know the formula of these films enough by now) things get a little "complicated" to say the least and our band of grunts have to fight their way through hoards of henchmen. Will they survive? What actually happens? That's something I will leave for you to find out for yourselves! Yeah, I'm mean but what can you do?

It may not be the most action packed or violent film of it's type (It's only a 15 rated movie) but it sure kept my attention for it's run time. I would say this s a classic example of "so bad it's good" cinema. There are many moments that stand out in this one including an obscenely terrific sequence where I kid you not, psychoanalysts are used to telepathically locate where the kid is being held captive. If I didn't have a beer belly, I would have broken my jaw on the floor at how terrific that is. Another highlight for me is the absolutely terrible German accent used for Werner Pocath's character. I have no idea if the Austrian dubbed his own voice or not but either way... it's one of the most painfully awful yet amazing accents I have heard! It definitely gives the cliché Nazi evil genius voice we all know and love a run for it's money. It's another one of those films where there are just tiny moments of absurdity that will have you yelping with laughter and disbelief all the way through!

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this piece of euro trash. It's stuff you have seen before so even though I haven't really given too much of the story away, you won't be too surprised by the plot. That being said, it's fairly solid. The DVD itself is what you would expect it to be. It's clearly a rip from some VHS so the quality of the picture isn't amazing but it's passable to those who waste time stressing about that. You are supposed to see these films like this in this way, it's part of the novelty. There are no special features at all and it boasts one of the worst DVD menus of all time which had me laughing before I even pressed play. The most important thing is that the film is uncut (from my comparing the run times to the IMDB page and various blogs. You really have no excuse not to pick this up if you see it in your local charity or pound shop. Saving pennies and enjoying cinema does not get any better than this!

Hopefully you enjoyed this little review. I am hoping to get my hands on more of these titles because it's a great way to see some really obscure gems that you can pay obscene amounts for on import. Just leave your snobbery and brain at the door for these. If anyone has some good suggestions of other 23rd Century releases or similar grey market labels, let me know!

PDx