練歌廳：火辣的女人們

尼可曼斯

　　莫妮卡·貝魯奇加盟科幻恐怖片[尼可曼斯](Nekromancer，暫譯)。影片由澳大利亞導演凱·瑞奇-特納及凱兄弟兩人執導。影片卡司還包括本·奧圖爾([底特律])、泰絲·哈烏布里奇([機器之血])。該片由eOne聯合Screen Australia、 Create NSW投資制作。影片今年于悉尼開拍，劇情未知。

大怪獸巴朗

　　科學萬能の現代、だが未だ地球上には解明できぬ謎が殘されている……。東北地方に、婆羅陀魏山神という神をまつる村があった。訪れた調査隊はそこで生ける神?バラダキを目撃する。それは湖に棲息する中生代の恐竜?バランであった。急遽出動した自衛隊の攻撃を逃れ、バランは空へと舞い上がる。やがて姿を現したバランは、浦賀水道から東京上陸を狙う。３６ミリ機関砲さえ跳ね返すバランに対し、自衛隊はダイナマイトの２０倍もの威力を誇る特殊火薬をもって対抗するが……。ミニチュアワークは相変わらず冴えているが、“未知の謎”を主題にしているわりにはストーリーが平板。冒頭からバランの全身を出し、その破壊力の描寫に終始している感がある。資料によっては「東洋の怪物」のサブタイトルも見受けられるが、フィルム?クレジット上には存在しない。

老兄救命

等待方舟

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

瑞典魚雷

　　World War II is around the corner, but the only thing Sally Bauer can think of is the ocean. Her dream is to swim across the English Channel. Her father has tried to exorcise her obsession with swimming since she was a toddler, without success. An unwanted pregnancy forces her to abandon her dream – and herself. The child’s father does not want to be involved, so as a woman in the ‘30s in Sweden, Sally has no choice but to do what is expected of her: to be a mother. There is no place left for her dreams and Sally is pulled into bottomless darkness, until her sister Carla saves her. With renewed purpose, together the sisters begin to dismantle the conventions they are constantly facing. In late August 1939, Sally stands on the shore at Dover and takes her first step into the English Channel. She swims across the open and icy sea for 15 hours, waving to the Navy who are readying for war. A couple of days after Sally swims ashore at Calais, Poland is invaded.

舞臺恐嚇

　　炎炎夏日，一輛輛黃色的校車載著熱愛歌唱和舞蹈的青年男女來到了一處郊外的夏令營。孩子們興致勃勃，渴望在這里盡情釋放對音樂的熱愛。今年年輕導演阿特·蓋茨雄心勃勃，決定將十年沒有排演過的經典名作《歌劇魅影》搬上舞臺。這一消息，令在廚房幫廚的卡梅拉（艾莉·麥克唐納 Allie MacDonald 飾）和巴迪（道格拉斯·史密斯 Douglas Smith 飾）深受觸動。原來十年前，姐弟倆那身為著名歌劇演員的媽媽在《歌劇魅影》的演出后被人殺害。該事件讓他們封閉了自己，可是卡梅拉無法抑制心底對歌唱的渴望，終于她鼓起勇氣報名參加了女主角索菲婭的遴選。然而伴隨著她走向陽光，十年前那個恐怖惡魔似乎也從沉寂中醒來……　　本片根據真實事件改編。