Schlock

Schlock

So this is a shoe-string budget ($ 60.000) movie... It happens to be a brilliant movie for people who have kept alive the child in themselves. John Landis has a talent for making comedies. There are a number of fantastically executed gags in this one. Very deadpan. The body language of "Schlock" is absolutely hilarious. If you're only interested in today's slick, over-produced comedies as well as romantic movies in which Hanks/Stiller/Grant get their girl or if you need CGI, car chases, shootouts and explosions to entertain yourself then stay away from this. The bottom line and "theory" of this movie is symbolized in all the excerpts from "Blob" with a certain Steve McQueen. Here is a guy who evidently took himself serious and played some tough guys in his days. YET: Steve McQueen was in "Blob"... CONCLUSION: Don't take yourself so serious, people. Whether it's comedy or drama or action: it doesn't take 200 mio. dollars to be entertained.

I suppose I was a little hard on this film. It entertains, indeed, but it's filled with holes and inconsistencies. I suppose if you ignore the aforementioned "holes and inconsistencies" you could get a kick out of this. Childish, ridiculous, at times funny... Goofy, filled with rotten acting (and rotten bananas), bad camera-work, bad colours... It's actually kind of nice to see a pretty well established director's first film and realize it's a total B flick. I like the king kong reference. And the 2001. And the Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau would be proud... either that or roll over in his grave)

Why do they ever try to parody horror films when horror is an inherently self-parodying genre? Not funny. Get some real laughs off a real horror movie instead.

This movie did something to me, something subversive. (I can't remember what, exactly, but it was really something.) It was like lighting a bottle rocket, which whooshed up into the air and exploded my sense of humor into a million tiny bits of laughter. To this day, I cannot even THINK of this movie without laughing out loud. Even now, lo these many decades later, just watching the trailer still sends me into full-on crack-up. Looking back, I can clearly see how this film served as a kind of weird initiation that ultimately pointed me in the direction of The Church of the SubGenius™. Praise Bob! (and John Landis also...) Can anybody stop it?

The reviews for this movie here are mainly positive. And it's no surprise. This is a very, Very strong first movie. In fact, it looks almost exactly like the more famous Landis movies down to the lighting and editing. It does have some silly stuff in it, and there are scenes to make the picture longer. But the movie never feels constricted by its low budget, it successfully pokes fun at it. Landis is great as the titular ape and Rick Baker's done a great job on the mask - it even allowed Landis to emote. Eric Roberts' wife plays a blind girl who befriends Schlock thinking he's a dog, but soon she regains her sight and then!... Schlock's really funny, it looks like it's someone's first movie only for the first 15 minutes, and then it becomes big and quite enjoyable.

The Schlock really got its funny moments but there are parts that do not work very well or where the humor feels rather forced and some scenes are even rather boring. Also from a today's perspective I would add some real gore to spice things up. Therefore, I won't say that Schlock is a classic or cult (like other reviewers claim) or even a must-watch. But I am also not a great fan of director John Landis' biggest hit The Blues Brothers (good but not outstanding in my view). All in all, okay to kill some spare time - if you want to go on a nostalgic trip.

This is a truly bad film in almost every conceivable way: Poorly scripted, amateurishly acted, badly directed, and incompetently edited, but is saved by director Landis himself: His largely improvised performance in Rick Baker's excellent "monkey suit" for most of the second half of the film is laugh-out-loud funny in places, truly saving an otherwise forgettable film. Sadly, despite Mr. Landis's encyclopedic knowledge of early cinema, many opportunities to parody or pay homage to other monster movies are missed. For example, the sequence where Schlock is feeding the ducks at the pond is just asking for a reference to the "flower" scene from James Whale's "Frankenstein". (Or is this reference enough? Hmm.) Other similar opportunities are missed throughout.

'Schlock" is the often talked about, but rarely seen, first film from John Landis. The story concerns a prehistoric ape man, played by Landis, terrorizing a California community. 'Schlock' is of interest mainly because of what Landis went on to do later. Is it great filmmaking...not by a long shot. There are some good moments, but the comic timing Landis displayed in films like 'The Blues Brothers' and 'Animal House' just isn't there yet. I am a huge fan of Landis' work, but it's his first film...one shouldn't expect greatness. The best thing about 'Schlock' is the ape suit made by Rick Baker. It's very expressive, and seems somewhat out of place in this low budget environment.

Low budget comedy that helped launch the careers of director John Landis and makeup artist Rick Baker. It parodies everything from King Kong to Dragnet to 2001: A Space Odyssey and more. Funny stuff but it does lose steam the longer it goes on. Still worth a watch especially for Landis fans. I would also recommend the many would-be filmmakers whose crappy iPhone-shot home movies dominate the internet today take a look at how a proper low budget (really no budget) indie film can be done.