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Halloween Bash
Ann Arbor's favorite funk band, the Bucked, will be playing one of their
trademark energized shows to celebrate the Feast of All Saints. Dress
up, go trick or treating with your pals and then come check them out at
the Blind Pig. Doors open 9:30. Have a happy Halloween.
Page 5
Tuesday,
October 31, 1995
Wispy Powder' bites the dust
Neal C. Carruth
Daily Arts Writer
The new release "Powder" is an
dd, intriguing but ultimately un-
successful and unimpressive film.
While it is unfortunate that the film
itself will probably get lost in the
gallons of ink spilt attacking its di-
rector Victor Salva (for a criminal
conviction several years ago), this
does not represent a major loss. On
its own merits, "Powder" does not
deserve the indirect attention it may
receive as a result of the contro-
versy surrounding Salva.
Thc- h-a f rmn n-ndr s
Powder
Directed by Victor Salva
with Mary Steenburgen
and Sean Patrick Flanery
At Showcase
quite simple. After the death of his
grandparents, young Jeremy Reed
(played by the engaging Sean
Patrick Flanery, formerly the title
performer on TV's "The Young In-
diana Jones Chronicles") is discov-
ered by authorities in a small, con-
servative Texas town. At first they
are struck by his snow white flesh,
due to albinism, which earned him
the nickname Powder. When he is
transplanted to a home for wayward
boys, run by Jessie Caldwell (Mary
Steenburgen), and allowed to at-
tend classes at the local high school,
it becomes clear that Powder also
possesses unique and extraordinary
intellectual capabilities.
Science teacher Donald Ripley
(Jeff Goldblum) believes that
Powder's special abilities result
from the fact that it isn't plain old
electrochemical energy racing
through Powder's neurons. Rather,
he lives on pure electrical energy.
While the film obviously intends
to deliver as a parable about human
differences, it goes wrong by mak-
ing Powder into too much of a freak
of nature. Salva wants everyone who
has ever stood out from the herd or
been thought of as "weird" or
"freakish" to relate to Powder's situ-
ation. But Salva goes too far and
makes it difficult to relate to Pow-
der at all.
He is turned into a sort of geeky
superhero, who is just too meek to
use his powers for either good or
evil. "Powder" might have suc-
ceeded had it been more in the mold
of Peter Bogdanovich's 1985 film
"Mask." With similar themes,
"Mask" is a stellar small-scale film
about adversity and tolerance; it
doesn't resort to flashy special ef-
fects or metaphysical claptrap. But
in this era of cyber-dinosaurs and
mega-explosions, less is no longer
more. Excess rules. The balance
between the supernatural and the
genuinely human is difficult to
achieve. And Salva fails here.
Predictably, Powder, with his
abilities to read other people's
minds and serve as a conductor of
both thoughts and emotions, trig-
gers an awakening amongst the
townsfolk. They attempt to right
their wrongs and heal open wounds.
Intolerance is transformed into rec-
titude. This is pretty preachy and
"is there a sale at Meljer's?"
moralistic stuff. Not only isn't it
terribly compelling, but it comes
off as highly formulaic and me-
chanical.
The best aspect of "Powder" is prob-
ably the acting, which is uniformly
fine among the leads. Flanery turns in
a sensitive performance as the spin-
dly, androgynous Powder. The re-
strained Lance Henriksen ("Aliens")
is excellent as Sheriff Barnum. He
manages to convey a weary intensity
that is very appealing. Mary
Steenburgen is a radiant actress, well
above this second-rate material. And
that smirking clown Jeff Goldblum
manages, by way of his insidious ir-
reverence, to deflate the film's at-
tempts at loftiness. The actors and
actresses who portray Powder's peers
are variable at best and diminish the
stronger work of the principals.
"Powder" is further weakened by
Jerry Goldsmith's schmaltzy score
which tries desperately to make
mountains out of molehills. Also
disappointing is the distractingly
theatrical makeup job used to ren-
der Flanery an albino. It is difficult
to accept the alternative reality of
the film when the makeup looks as
though it was applied by Tammy
Faye Bakker.
"I'm wearing the same shirt as above,.
yet here I feel so much more ... zesty."
The Voluptuous Horror
By Ted Watts
Daily Arts Writer
The gleam in Eddie's eyes says It all.
Vampiren Bro bite
By Kelly Xlntaris
Daily Arts Writer
Opening just in time for Halloween,
"Vampire in Brooklyn" combines Di-
rector Wes "Nightmare on Elm Street"
Craven's mediocre horror tricks with
Eddie Murphy's impressive comedic
background. The exemplary efforts of
all the actors are hampered by a weak
script, which attempts to revamp the
classic Dracula formula and infuse it
with "a comic twist."
In Murphy's first shot at a serious
role, he plays Maximillian, a vampire
with a vengeance. He sails out to Brook-
lyn from the Caribbean in search of Rita
Veder (Angela Bassett), a New York
cop. Rita hardly knows of her blood
bonds to Maximillian, who is the last of
an undying breed.
Aided by his ghoulish gopher Julius
(Kadeem Hardison), who shacks him
up" at his uncle Silas's (John
Witherspoon) apartment building,
Maximillian kills his way into Veder's
heart. Veder's only hope against turn-
ing into a vampiress is her partner and
true love, Justice, played with great
gusto by Allen Payne.
Along his quest for his soul-mate,
Maximillian assumes the form ofpeople
that he does away with, such as Guido,
aruthless Mafiaunderling. Murphy also
takes on the role of whiskey-drinking
Preacher Pauly, who delivers a sermon
on the lawn to insist that "evil is good."
Through such striking transforma-
tions reminiscent of "Coming to
America," Murphy draws out some big
laughs, if only for a short time. Don't
expect him to carry the comedy half of
Brooklyn
Directed by Wes Craven
with Eddie Murphy
At Briarwood and Showcase
the film, though, because this is clearly
his move into the realm of more dra-
matic roles.
Because Craven handles the fright
flick/comedy combo rather poorly, a
lot of Maximillian's snappy lines have
no bite. Craven shows how deftly he
has mastered the by-the-numbers hor-
ror movie genre, but he lacks an inven-
tive spin on the comedic aspects of the
storyline. The contrasting horror and
comedy just do not piece together
smoothly.
The striking special effects and
graphic footage - at one point, Julius
loses an eye and Justice steps on it -
effectively boost the scare factor. How-
ever, due to a script that packs a little
punch and minor damage, the laughs
just do not measure up. Hardison pegs
most of his funny lines, but the overall
dialogue seems disappointingly stale.
The most effective exchanges be-
tween characters happens with Veder
and Maximillian. In her portrayal as an
ill-fated woman with a darkpast, Bassett
shines when she chooses between life
as Murphy's fanged companion and
life as a mere mortal.
Murphy complements Bassett per-
fectly in his serious persona, and the
two ignite the screen with pure chemis-
try. Maximillian's appeal to Rita tojoin
him in escaping from the confines of
human life not only entices her, but also
makes her inner turmoil seem all the
more real.
Although "Vampire in Brooklyn"
continues the string of unremarkable
films Murphy has recently starred in, it
represents a turning point in his career
that may lead to a wider range of roles.
Instead of having to provide all the
laughs, Murphy settles quite nicely into
a more serious mode this time.
Craven, on the other hand, might
want to stay with horror films for a
while, at least until he faces a script
with a lot more life in it. Unfortunately,
the writers handed their actors a script
that was dead on arrival.
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
is a band heavily dependent upon perfor-
mance. One of the dancers in the group,
Noel S. Reed, was kind enough to answer
some questions about the group the other
day from the Farmer's Daughter Hotel in
Fairfax, California. For instance, what
does Karen Black have to do with the
band? "Karen Black made so many great
movies, like 'Trilogy of Terror.' She was
a great actress. That's how the name
came about. The basic underlying theme
of the look, band and performance is
horror movies. There arereferences here
and there during the performances re-
lated to voluptuous horror. Vincent Price
movies, voluptuous monsters, stuff like
that."
And the band certainly provides some
horror-related imagery. Looking more
like performance art casualties than mu-
sicians, thegroup is theatrically rendered.
The booklet for their CD "The Anti-
Naturalists" contains pix of the members
covered in body paint, wearing costumes
of varying eccentricity and includes one
particularly painful shot. Reedexplained:
"There's aphoto on the CD where Kembra
(Pfahler, vocalist) sewed her vagina shut.
(Independent filmmaker Richard) Kern
made that into a little film."
But despite the rather intensely un-
settling look of the group, they aren't
that troubling when examined closely.
"It's all about glamour, rock and glam-
our, glamour and rock," said Reed.
"Having a good show that everyone can
have fun at, either watching or just
listening to the music... When they
started, they were doing 8mm films,
and they wanted to do their own
soundtrack, and that's how they got the
idea originally for starting a band, from
their films, that is Kembra and Samoa
(guitarist). It's very film related."
The performances are probably an
offshoot of this filmic beginning, con-
sidering the abnormal focus on visuals
as well as music. "Youread the lyrics of
each one of the songs, and the visual
things that go along with the songs are
related more or less. It's a sort of theme
going along with each song, and we wil
act out that theme to a certain extent.'
Themusic itself is actually very in-
nocuous. It's fairly straight forwar
punk-like rock. The lyrics are as normal
as any number of groups. Besides a
song about a transvestite and one liken-
ing a bathtub to a coffin, the songs are
more mainstream and upstanding than
that of, say, Boyz 2 Men with their sex
songs. Unless you have some unnatural
phobia of traditionally feminine fetishes
like makeup or sewing, you will have a
difficult time being offended by mere
lyrical content. Not really the type of
thing you'd expect from a band that
often features nudity that becomes pro-
gressively obscured by paint during
shows, is it?
"We're very, what do you call it,
very, uh, pretty, you know what Imean.
Sort of normal. We're abnormal in the
way that we don't do the normal things
that typical people would be doing, you
know? Sex related things, drug related
things, the band isn't into any drugs, we
hardly drink. We're pretty sane people."
On the other hand, Pfahler has just
in't too scary
started her own religion, called
Blackolicism. "It's like an answer to all.
other religions," said Reed. "In Ca-
tholicism, people cross themselves, in-
Blackolicism you make the sign of a
chalk eraser. Back and forth like a chalk
eraser, like erasing the things... (It's
based on) Karen Black the band... If
gives people something else to look up
to. Glamour. Rock. The band itself."
The Voluptuous Horror of Karen
Black is an odd mixture of normality
and abnormality. Maybe if you can vi-
sualize Karen Black (the actress) squat-
ting on the floor and gouging at the
linoleum with a big old Bowie knife
because she's become possessed by a
demonic doll (not unlike Chucky) in
"Trilogy of Terror", yet still remember
that she's just acting, you could make a
good shot at reproducing the effect this
band will have on you. Image is not
everything.
Hello. We are horrible and voluptuous.
Department of Communication Studies
Howard R. Marsh Center for the Study of Jounalistic Performance
announces a one credit mini-course
for Fall Term, 1995
Communication 502, section 001
Reporting Political Polls
Tuesdays, 7:30- 9:30p.m.
4054 Frieze Building
October 19th through December 7th
(no class November 16th and 23rd)
Visiting Marsh Professor Warren Mitofsky
GO TO OFMCER
TRAINING
SCHOOL.
Put your college
degree to work in the Air