Friday, January 13, 2006
Hosted by: Papa Ukraine
Movies:
Friday the 13th
Scream of the Wolf
XBox:
Burnout 3
ESPN NFL 2K5
Black Hawk Down
NFL Street
Quotes:
"Well, I’m getting ready for my trip to South America."
Byron Douglas, Scream of the Wolf
"I thought you were going to Africa."
John Wetherby
"South America is
better. Less familiar. More demanding."
Byron Douglas
"The animals I kill are never more alive than in that instant before
my bullet strikes them."
Byron Douglas, Scream of the Wolf
"…I’m gonna straddle your head for a minute."
Brother Nature
"It stuck to my hand."
Brother Nature
"It stuck to your ass."
Sandman
Questions:
1. Who should have won the 2005 Hooters Swimsuit Pageant? (Judging by the Best Damn Sports Show people was tainted) Number of answers allowed per voter based on how many of the voter’s top 5 made it to the actual top 10.
| Diesel | Martinez, Nunes |
| Brother Nature | Nunes |
| Sandman | Nunes, Delvalle |
| White Russian | Nunes, Mullins, Delvalle |
| ACTUAL | A. Burns, Coggins, Martinez, S. Burns, Mullins |
Preferences:
| Winter or Summer Olympics | |
| The Diesel | Summer |
| Brother Nature | Winter |
| Sandman | Winter |
| White Russian | Winter |
Movie Review:
Scream of the Wolf
Review by White Russian
While it may not be action packed and definitely has limited replay value, Scream of the Wolf has a triple threat combo not found in many other movies – an ineffective super police force that responds en masse whenever there is a crime, a hero modeled after Mike Brady, and a villain that is a precursor to Tyler Durden. As a bonus, the movie triggered the BMTG list of ten reasons why South America is better than Africa.
Some creature is terrorizing a remote Northern California town. Whatever it is moves first on four legs, then on two legs, then disappears, leaving behind mutilated victims. After nearly every attack (all but one), the police respond with an abundance of squad cars, sometimes having to travel single file along winding dirt roads at breakneck speeds to get to the crime scene. No matter where the victim is located, at least a dozen cars blaze a trail to get there and investigate. Interestingly, the one attack they do not respond to in this way is when the police officer is the victim. Sadly, despite expending so many resources to investigate, the police are unable to solve the case or make any noticeable, positive impact, other than to bring the hero on board.
Peter Graves plays the hero as retired hunter turned writer John Wetherby. Graves looks like he could be Robert Reed’s stunt double, but that is not where his similarity to Mike Brady ends. Wetherby’s hair, dress, mannerisms, and speech all seem to be styled after the famous TV dad. His statements, while not lectures to his kids, are in the same spirit, as he talks down with a subtle air of knowing more than the other person, as well as a bit of amusement at the rest of the world’s naiveté. Like Mike Brady, his motives seem to come from a paternal nature rather than an arrogant one.
Wetherby has a tendency to leave out important details until he casually mentions them as afterthoughts. For example, after spending the day investigating the first brutal attack he is given a ride home by the sheriff. It is not until he is just about to get out of the car that he mentions that he noticed a striking difference in the weight that made the two-legged footprints versus the four-legged footprints, even though the prints were all made by the same being. Consistent with the Mike Brady persona, Wetherby seems to process things internally and waits to form a conclusion before telling others what he has noticed. It is only when he cannot come to a conclusion that he lets the sheriff know that there is something strange about the prints. And his tone is in more of a puzzled and confiding nature, rather than an informative and cooperative one, letting the sheriff know that he will continue to work on this mystery until he figures it out.
The villain, Byron Douglas, played by Clint Walker, looks like Dr. Luka Kovac of ER and has a philosophy on life that serves as a preview of Tyler Durden 25 years before the release of Fight Club. Tyler Durden is a much more dynamic character, but the two share running monologues that are noticeably similar in their message and intensity. In the restaurant and outside the courthouse are two standout examples of Byron being Tyler:
Restaurant, seated at a table are Byron, John and John’s girlfriend Sandy
JOHN – Well, Bryon and I never really thought too much alike.
BYRON – We almost did…once. But you preferred to wait in the trees.
JOHN – Yeah, well, the – the allure that mortal danger holds for you always left me a little bit cool.
BYRON – But only in mortal danger are we alive, John. Only by risking our lives can we truly appreciate it. What kind of a life are you leading now? What kind of a life is anyone around here leading now? Emasculated by society and safety.
SANDY – Well, ah, we’re enjoying it. [Sandy and John share a chuckle]
BYRON – I give life as well as take it. The animals I kill are never more alive than in that instant before my bullet strikes them.
SANDY – C’mon.
BYRON – And I’m never more alive than in that instant when they could kill me just as easily.Outside courthouse, Byron, John and Sandy
BYRON – Look at those faces.
JOHN – Oh, yeah. Don’t tell me – they’re alive.
BYRON – Alive with fear. Alert to the possibility of death hanging over their heads.
JOHN – And you think that’s just marvelous.
BYRON – It is marvelous, John. When is a man more alive than on his way to the gallows? What cigarette tastes as good as that last one, while the firing squad is waiting? You know, in a way these killings may be a benefit to everybody.Unfortunately for Scream of the Wolf, the hyper-responsive and eager police force, the Brady-like hero, and the flashes of Tyler Durden are not enough to keep the film thrilling. The attack sequences are not creative, show too little, and lack the “it factor”. And the end sequence, which leaves too many unanswered questions, is disappointing and uninspired, with the twist being a bit predictable, making it not really a twist at all. Overall and like most made for TV movies from the seventies, Scream of the Wolf is worth watching once in its entirety for its bad acting and other qualities that make it unintentionally bad, with subsequent viewings limited to selected scenes, such as when Byron is on one of his Durdenesque diatribes.
In a side note, and speaking of precursors, the Brady Bunch episode where the family goes to the dude ranch may have inspired the grossly overrated film Brokeback Mountain:
CAROL – What are you going to wear, Mike?
MIKE – Oh, I don’t know…my cowboy boots.
CAROL – [John Wayne style] Well ya better wear somthin’ else, or you’re gonna get arrested.
MIKE – Not to mention sunburn.