I love the seventies version of the Don Seagal classic. Why? Well, because it ain't really a remake as much as it is a sequel. And I love that aspect. The best part being, that you don't know it's a sequel till about halfway through, when you see a key climatic event from the end of the original.
I love the tilting back of the head, the pointing and that unearthly wail. After seeing the film, you just can't help but walk around, all zomie-eyed and pointing at people and emulating the scream. It's just so dang fashionable. Try it at the next coctail luncheon, or at a wedding reception. It's the best.
One of the best things about this film is the cast. Ya have Donald Sutherland, who was just about as cool an actor as you could be in the seventies. He just had this feel to him that was perfect. Take a look at him in this and in KLUTE, THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE, MASH, etc... He just about kicks everyone's ass. And here, when he goes into the kitchen of that restaurant looking for rat turds... well... he's the scariest Health Inspector ever. He's cool. The scene has me in stiches.
Then you have Jeff Goldblum, who's just coming off of raping Charles Bronson's daughter in DEATH WISH, but here, he's really showing off. Like a cocky unconfident Woody Allen, he deals out psychosis and paranoaisms like fresh vegetables at a market. And his wife in the film. The wonderful Frog-eater, the berry-barfer, the psycho-chic is sooooo perfect as the quirky attractive woman you would want to marry and have a mud bath center with.
Finally ya have Leonard Nimoy, who I loooooooooove in this film, because he's not Spock. He's an entirely different character. When he throws Goldblum against that wall and wails into him... he's a god. He could of been such a fun actor, if people only utilized him, and played him against 'Spock-type'. Here as the intellectual psychiatrist... he's just perfect.
The film is filled with great cameos like Kevin McCarthy, and Don Siegal as the taxi cab driver... And there is the classic scene with the dog that is soooo much better than the similar one in MARS ATTACKS. Then we also have the cool scene with Sutherland with a hoe. Go take a look at this film, it holds up damn well, and is a great frigging movie in it's own right.
The audience played into it perfectly. Elijah was into it. He was excited. He was thrilled. The actors all got together and began talking about the film, how it played into theirs, and it served the perfect purpose. Ahhh... nothing like a good similar themed movie.
Next on the line up was...
