B-Movie Gazette: INSIDE (2023) - WILLEM DAFOE RUNS AMOK TRAPPED IN A NYC LUXURIOUS PENTHOUSE AND GIVES NEW MEANING TO WTF

B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - WITHOUT WARNING (1980)

Greetings All - It would be cool to do a post one time called the ten most essential B-flicks, sort of a B-Movie 101 thing. If that ever happened I would have to include this sci-fi horror classic from Graydon Clark (Black Shampoo, Satan's Cheerleaders.) This one's a don't pass go and don't collect $200 folks, just see it, Or watch it again. I'm not even going to begin to explain the plot except you have these flying disc things that attach themselves to people, in this case campers on an outing and kill and feed on them. Eventually these discs are tied to an alien, a hungry alien. A forerunner to 1987's Predator sort to speak and with a flat-out goofy cast. Jack Palance and Martin Landau, say what? And looking drugged out I might add but the real surprise here is veteran character actor Larry Storch, from the '60's, a guy who knew 150 dialects and here he is in this as a boy scout leader lol. Also known as It Came Without Warning, this gem is streaming free now only on Plex. 2.75 stars/2.75

Sunday, October 1, 2023

INSIDE (2023) - WILLEM DAFOE RUNS AMOK TRAPPED IN A NYC LUXURIOUS PENTHOUSE AND GIVES NEW MEANING TO WTF

For the ultimate example of why dialog is so essential in a film, one need look no further than Robert Redford's All Is Lost and now Willem Dafoe's Inside. However, whereas Redford's film focuses mostly on the material things his protagonist can do to get out of his predicament, Inside covers the psychological and spiritual as well. Inside is indeed a very strange beast to be taken on its own terms - a bizarre one-man slowburn and, I suspect, a metaphoric message on climate change or the human condition in general.

You probably already know Dafoe plays an art thief who gets trapped inside a luxurious penthouse which shuts down all its systems. "Nemo" has to figure out how to survive without water, temperature control or much food as well as figure out how to escape. Let's just say his journey is long and goes some desperate, ugly and insane places.

Dafoe is truly one of our greatest living thespians and in typical fashion he brings an energetic and intense performance here. But ultimately Inside is a miss and a reminder that we always need dialog in features. 2.75 stars/5