Horror in the 90s Meet the Applegates

Meet the Applegates (1991) 

Directed by Michael Lehmann 

Written by Michael Lehmann, Redbeard Simmons 

Starring Ed Begley Jr, Stockard Channing, Dabney Coleman

Release Date February 1st, 1991 

Box Office $485,000 

Writer-Director Michael Lehmann is to be respected for his... big choices. After making a splashy debut with Heathers, now beloved cult classic, Lehmann continued taking big risks. He made Hudson Hawk and allowed star Bruce Willis to walk all over him while no one could agree on what the movie should be. Lehmann's Hudson Hawk experience led him down a path to directing some of the most conventional yet memorable comedies of the late 90s, movies like Airheads and The Truth About Cats and Dogs. It's clear that Hudson Hawk chased the weird out of Michael Lehmann. 

My thesis statement for that observation is Lehmann's other pre-Hudson Hawk endeavor. While Heathers is remembered for its wild dark humor and unexpected levels of deathly violence, Lehmann took things a step further and a step stranger in 1991's Meet the Applegates. Despite having a cast led by three veteran actors of remarkable reputation, Ed Begley Jr., Stockard Channing, and Dabney Coleman, Meet the Applegates is one of the most bizarre, awkward, and peculiar movies ever made. 

In the jungles of South America, a remarkably racist and bleakly comic scene unfolds. Missionaries are teaching a collection of horrifying stereotypes about what America is like. The lesson tells the story of a family of four, parents Dick and Jane and their kids, Sally and Johnny. These four people, who don't exist, are the ideal 'nuclear family.' Just as the missionaries are completing their lesson, a construction crew breaks through and begins clearing the jungle. They are tearing down the rainforest and strip mining the place. 

In this process however, the construction crew unleashes a dormant type bug with... unique powers. These bugs, the Brazilian Cocorada, use chameleon-like powers to impersonate other species. In this case, the species they choose is human. Finding the book about the perfect nuclear family, four of the bugs take on the personas of Dick (Ed Begley Jr.), Jane (Stockard Channing), Sally (Camille Cooper) and Johnny (Robert Jayne). Using these human shells, the bugs move to the suburbs with a plan to destroy America in revenge for the destruction of the rainforest. 

This is all inferred on my part. The film quite jarringly shows the bugs murdering the missionaries and then credits. Then we are in the suburbs and a few visual clues tell us that these are the bugs in human form. Their mission becomes clear only after an expository conversation with Aunt Bea (Dabney Coleman). Aunt Bea is also a bug in disguise and he/she acts as the handler for the Applegates, giving them their mission and helping them to carry it out. Dabney Coleman in a dress is a haunting visual that should be funny but never is. 

Read my full length review at Horror.Media

Movie Review The Creator

The Creator (2023) 

Directed by Gareth Edwards 

Written by Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz 

Starring John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney 

Release Date September 29th, 2023 

Published October 2nd, 2023 

The Creator stars John David Washington as Joshua Taylor. Make note of that biblical name, it means something. Joshua is a double agent of the future. In this future world, A.I was built to make life easier for Americans. That worked until the A.I got too real and decided to nuke Los Angeles. Some time after that, America has banned A.I and is at war with New Asia, a country that has become a haven for A.I living in among the human population as equals. Joshua is a spy who was tasked with getting close to Maya (Gemma Chan), who is believed to be the daughter of the Nirmata, the A.I creator. 

Nirmata, we are told, has been working on a weapon that could turn the tide of the war between America and New Asia. This new A.I weapon is evolving quickly and will carry the ability to destroy non-A.I technology, like that used by the U.S military. Joshua's assignment works better than expected as not only does he get close to Maya, the two fall in love and Maya gets pregnant. That's when things hit the fan as the Americans decide to attack without warning Joshua first. In the attack, it appears that Maya and the rest of Joshua's band of A.I brothers, are killed. 

Returning to America, Joshua takes a crappy job and appears ready to spend the rest of his life guiltily drinking himself to death. That's when he's approached by General Andrews (Ralph Ineson) and Colonel Howell (Allison Janney). They have proof that Maya is still alive and they want Joshua to go to New Asia on a mission to reconnect with her and by extension, get close to the new A.I weapon so that it can be destroyed before it evolves to destroy the American military. That's the plan anyway, these things in movies tend to fall apart and fall apart they do. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939) 

Directed by Victor Fleming 

Written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allen Woolf 

Starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Burt Lahr, Jack Haley 

Release Date August 25th 1939 

Published September 25th, 2023 

The Wizard of Oz is a rich template for movie makers past and present. It's a movie that created a dynamic that became the model for thousands of movies that followed it. Movies that you would never assume have a connection to The Wizard of Oz are in many unique ways connected back to Victor Fleming's wildly imaginative, influential and generationally beloved adventure. In 2022, an entire documentary was released that charted the many ways David Lynch movies were influenced by Lynch's unending fascination with The Wizard of Oz. That's how wildly influential and groundbreaking The Wizard of Oz was and is more than 80 years later. 

Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) is a sheltered child living in Kansas on a farm that seems days away from any neighbor or civilized area. It's close enough for her to attend school and for her to cross paths with a vile neighbor named Almira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton). Ms. Gulch claims that Dorothy's beloved Dog Toto chased her cat and bit her. She has talked to the local sheriff and intends to take Toto to be euthanized. Toto manages to escape and return to Dorothy and the two make a run for it, running away from the only life Dorothy has ever known. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media