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My movie year (so far)

Nezulla, the Rat Monster (2002 - Japan), directed by Tagawa Mikita. It's been argued that this Grade-Z biohorror dud was the inspiration for the great recent Hong Kong film, The Host, but its story-- arrogant American military pollutes irresponsibly, creating both a deadly virus and a giant mutation-- has been around since the '50s. Too bad Nezulla didn't have any of the things that made The Host so much fun, like exciting action scenes, interesting characters, and, especially, a title creature that looked scary, not like a goo-covered plastic bunny. The subtitles, on the other hand, appear to have been composed by someone who enjoyed the work-- besides the above declaration, there are plenty of lines like, "Damn these white people! It's like they planted a bomb inside us!"

Gam gai aka Golden Chicken (2002 - Hong Kong), directed by Leung Chun 'Samson' Chiu. It's not every romantic comedy that features its female star as a blow-up doll on the movie poster. Sandra Ng plays a prostitute who gets stuck in an ATM kiosk with a guy who just tried to mug her, and she keeps him amused with Sheherazade-like stories of her colorful past. Ng is a pleasure to watch, and does a fantastic impersonation of Jackie Chan. Besides, how could any movie with a shot like this not be funny?

Le Cochon danseur (1907 - France). Also known as The Dancing Pig, it's a four-minute vaudeville bit committed to film, that now (100 years later!) looks like genuine magic. Best of all, at the very end, the charming little routine turns abruptly into a horror movie, with the pig's costume becoming almost Giger-esque!

Posted by Steve Monaco at May 2, 2008 6:41 PM

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