My Review Of Shocking Dark (1989)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Before I begin with my review of Shocking Dark (1989), I first want to explain who Bruno Mattei is, and what mockbusters are, because I feel it’ll help in giving context on all that’s needed to know about Shocking Dark, to better help fully understand its existence considering it’s a movie I know not a lot of people are even aware of is even real despite what I will saying for this review of the film. Bruno Mattei was an Italian film-maker known for making a ton of exploitation B-movies (including mockbusters) who sadly passed away in 2007, and a mockbuster is essentially a film that is a low-budget imitator that’s made to jump on the bandwagon in an attempt to make a financial profit off of a much more well-known, and successful movie a mockbuster happens to be imitating (even if it’s solely an imitation of the genre alone that the other film has).

1989’s Shocking Dark, easily without any doubt fits well into the category of it being a mockbuster due to the fact that it heavily copies from both of James Cameron’s Aliens (1986 & 1991 in regards to the “Special Edition” version), and Terminator (1984), to the point that even going as far as to being marketed under the title known simply as “Terminator 2” in it’s original release in Italy as a means to trick audiences thinking it was an actual sequel to the first Terminator, even though it really isn’t (which is kind of ironic seeing how the real official Terminator 2 made by James Cameron would come out in 1991).

As a result of the obvious legal reasons, Brunto Mattei’s Shocking Dark was unable to get an official release in the United States Of America from a copyright concerns point of view, but thankfully in the year 2018, Severin Films was able to finally get it officially distributed and put out in the USA on DVD & Blu-Ray at last with it also being an official Region Free home video release digitally remastered in 2k, and while this movie does heavily copy both Terminator, and Aliens, Shocking Dark is a film that is still (surprisingly) able to be a highly entertaining guilty pleasure from beginning until the end, and I say such without being sarcastic in the slightest.

Shocking Dark really does achieve the impossible in that it’s a mockbuster that manages in being enjoyably cheesy despite all of its poor qualities that range from the mediocre acting, average effects, absurd logic (or the lack of logic thereof if you wanna go as far as to describe it that way), and the blatant lack of originally with the premise, story, plot, and characters since all of it it basically a low-budget version of both Aliens, and Terminator.

The only nitpick I have to say about Shocking Dark is that the creatures the characters encounter are often obscured from the camera which at times makes it impossible to fully see them, and I’m not sure why that is the case. I can only assume it was a budgetary reason, but I strongly doubt that was the main reason. Also, there seems to be a lack of subtitles for when watching the film in a different language based on my knowledge with the Severin Films DVD I have of the movie.

In regards to old-school mockbusters from the 1980s is concerned, Bruno Mattei succeeded in making Shocking Dark one of the greatest ones ever made in the ironic sense at least in that it truly is so bad its good, and the 2k transfer scan in the official DVD release of it by Severin Films is visually appeasing to look at (which does help in the viewing experience of seeing Shocking Dark in all of its schlock-filled glory).

I give Shocking Dark (1989) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

Stay tuned as my very next review after this one is none other but another mockbuster Bruno Mattei made that was released a year earlier than Shocking Dark, which is the 1988 low-budget knock-off of Predator (1987) called “Robowar” (and yes, it very much does exist).

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My Review Of Woody Woodpecker: The Movie (2017-2018)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

Woody Woodpecker: The Movie, is an actual live action film adaptation of the iconic character known simply as Woody Woodpecker by Universal Entertainment, and the movie was released in theaters in Brazil in 2017 due to the character’s strong popularity in that country, while it only got a direct-to-home video release in 2018 in the United States Of America.

When I had first of this movie thanks to discovering a Brazilian trailer for it on Youtube, I’ll admit that I have been somewhat intrigued & curious about this film for a while until I also discovered that it is currently available to officially stream on Netflix at the time of this review.

I decided to watch the film hoping that it would simply just be an okay movie, but what I instead got myself into is without a doubt one of the worst films that I have ever seen in my entire whole life, and while that does seem (and sound) harsh to say about for a movie simply called Woody Woodpecker: The Movie, there are way too many negatives in this film that I will do my very best to explain on as to why I absolutely hate this movie.

Before this specific review in particular, my previous two reviews were that of Robots (2005), and Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996), which are both films made for the demographic of families and children, and I consider Robots to still be a very fun animated movie, while Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame is a highly ambitious achievement in animation that’s also a true masterpiece when it comes to film-making in general overall. What makes them both good movies to watch regardless of your age is that they both have great qualities about them in regards to how they were made in order to appeal to everyone no matter how old they are. Woody Woodpecker: The Movie, fails to satisfy everybody even with its intended demographic as it is way too immature for adults, way too dumb of teenagers, and way too stupid for even kids to enjoy as its biggest flaw is the poor writing all throughout it, and the completely generic story & plot it has to where it doesn’t even feel much like a Woody Woodpecker movie at all, for the actual character himself feels like he was shoehorned in alongside very dull & boring human characters.

The few positives that I can say about this movie are that Woody Woodpecker’s design is pretty solid considering the budget (although to be fair, I’m not exactly fully sure what the budget for this film is to be completely honest), and his personality is accurate to how he is suppose to be for the most part, and the acting all-around isn’t terrible (but it is average at best is the best I’ll say about it).

Two more negatives I feel are worth mentioning in this review are that while this one is more of a nitpick as opposed to actual criticism I will admit, the voice of Woody Woodpecker felt a bit odd to me as it sounded as if it was recorded using a very outdated speaker to which it sounded like a recycled stock voice than anything else, and the second flaw that actually is a point of criticism to me is that Woody Woodpecker: The Movie, does not work at all in appealing to the Brazilian market despite Universal Entertainment’s attempts because it’s clearly obvious it was originally made in the USA in the English-speaking language at first, before it got dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese, and released in Brazilian theaters only because of how popular the character still is in Brazil, which must’ve alienated the audiences who unfortunately paid money tp watch this terrible film on the big screen in that country because of what I’ve just explained.

Woody Woodpecker: The Movie, is a perfect example of how NOT to adapt a classic cartoon character into live action, and it is a disappointing waste of time that did have the potential of being a decent film if it were made well in the first place to begin with. As it is, it’s just a horrible movie that should be avoided at all costs for it even goes as far as to fail to appeal to fans of Woody Woodpecker, for it does nothing great to keep the character relevant to newcomers, and old long-time fans of the character to begin with.

Before I do forget to talk about this one aspect, it is that this movie does have an old Woody Woodpecker animated short at the end called “Niagara Fools”, and in contrast to how bad the live action film is, Niagara Fools is actually a very entertaining short cartoon that is easily superior to the movie in every way.

I’m giving Woody Woodpecker: The Movie a deserving 1/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Down!

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My Review Of Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)

Disclaimer: The image being featured here for this review is only being shared in the purpose of fair use only. All credit solely belongs to the original makers, creators, and owners, and absolutely no infringement is intended of any kind/type at all whatsoever.

With a story as well known and popular as Victor Hugo’s novel titled The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, it only makes perfect sense for the book to be adapted into an animated major motion picture in 1996 by none other than Walt Disney Animation Studios, and while this particular adaptation makes a lot changes from the source material of the same name (although that’s the case with any other adaptation to be completely reasonable & fair), Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame manages to still have a dark tone to it with themes such as religion, lust, genocide, and discrimination, which is what Victor Hugo’s original story had despite it not being too extreme in Disney’s version of it on contrast to how it was written by Victor Hugo back in 1883 (even though the film still attracted a lot of controversy back when it first got released because of such).

But regardless of whenever or it this movie qualifies as the best adaptation of The Hunchback Of Notre by Victor Hugo, the cinematic animated adaptation of the same name from 1996 by Walt Disney Animation Studios is still in my honest & humble opinion, one of my absolute favorite animated films of all-time, and the best animated movie Disney made and put out during the 1990s, for it is also a truly good example of a film that I am unable to find any flaws in because of how spectacular it is.

The most obvious (and important) aspect when reviewing an animated movie is to always mention the overall general quality of the animation regardless of it is hand-drawn animation, or computer animation, and even though it originally came out in the year 1996 hand-drawn animated by Disney, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame still even to this day has absolutely beautiful animation that holds up extremely well as the character movements and expressions are very believable, the backgrounds are very gorgeous to look at and help make the film’s setting match the year it’s trying to represent, and many of the sound effects used throughout the movie manage to it fit well because of how much effort the the animators put into the making of it concerning its production & process. Also, the minor use of computer animation for some background stuff does look nice, and isn’t actually too noticeable (at least for me anyways respectfully-speaking).

While having many obvious plot & character differences from Victor Hugo’s book, the story for this adaptation of the novel is still a very well-written one all in thanks to it being able to convey a ton of good messages in it without them being forced whatsoever, and all of the characters are memorable as they are very well-developed, and are voiced by truly talented actors & actresses.

One thing I totally forgot to mention the beginning of this review is that Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996) is also a musical, and a great one at that too I might add. Every scene that is a musical number does a great job to help the songs flow well with the overall plot, and each and every one of them fits well into the story even if each song has a different tone from that of another one. Now when it truly comes to musicals in general, there will always be songs people really like, and songs people really dislike. In my opinion though however, all the songs in 1996’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame are wonderful to always listen to, making it a very rare example in which every song in a musical is fantastic (at least in my opinion anyways).

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame from Walt Disney Animation Studios may not be the most faithful & accurate film adaptation of the story of the same name by Victor Hugo out there ever made, but it’s clear that a lot of effort was put into making it still be a good movie that is one of the most ambitious works of animation to bear the Disney logo considering the subject matters and dark tone it has, and simply a true masterpiece in animation worth checking out if you haven’t already that achieves in being an excellent viewing experience.

I give Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996) 5/5 Stars, and Two Thumbs Up!

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