Daredevil S02 E07: Semper Fidelis

The trial of the People of New York v. Frank Castle is on, and we open the pre-credit sequence with jury selection. It's hard, because everyone has an opinion on Frank Castle, many of them both mirroring and polarizing my own, but as the judge so succinctly says, "This is New York, everyone has an opinion about everything." Let the trial begin.

So, courtroom drama. This is kinda what I have always hoped "Daredevil" would not be about. I know that lawyer shows are popular, always have been, but despite Matt Murdock's calling, this is a superhero show. I want to see superhero stuff. Yes, it is intriguing to put the Punisher on trial, but come on, less suits and more tights please.

I shouldn't really worry however, as the dry lawyer stuff is counterbalanced by Matt playing hooky with Elektra. As with their relationship a decade before, now she is still exerting a bad influence on our horned hero. What is done to the professor who translates the Roxxon ledger is not much better than what the bad guys might have done. Daredevil and Elektra might as well have been mob enforcers.

Later when they pursue a shipment learned of from the ledger, the violence is extreme. It is almost as if Daredevil doesn't care how he's hurting his opponents and that Elektra has forgotten her promise not to kill. I enjoyed the scar discussion and was glad it didn't go where I thought it would, you know, Jaws territory. It was actually more like foreplay with no pay off.

Of course Matt's late night shenanigans with Elektra make him late for the opening remarks in the Punisher trial. Foggy has to step in, and as Elden Henson has throughout this series, supports the more powerful players. Where's his Emmy? When Elektra doesn't like being sidelined by Matt's day job, she tampers with a witness, bringing the brewing hostility between Matt and Foggy to a head.

The fight between Foggy and Matt is intense, and has been simmering since this show started. Now it threatens Matt's relationship with Karen. Matt brings all this anger to Elektra as Daredevil, and to the pseudo-Yakuza. As if to divert our attention from the emotional drama going on, Daredevil and Elektra discover the Yakuza are guarding a hole, with no bottom. Cue end credits.

Not my favorite episode, more of a placeholder really, the bane of binge-watching, but at least the story moved, character was revealed, and significant stuff happened. I just wanted more from it.

Next: Guilty as Sin!

Halloween at Biff Bam Pop!

If you've been to the Biff Bam Pop! website, you know that other than the regular pop culture features, we're all big horror fans there. As always, special for the month of October, and culminating today on Halloween is 31 Days of Horror.

31 Days of Horror takes a look at the past and present in horror movies, television, horror television, horror comics, and even horror anime.

Publisher and founder Andy Burns proclaimed the 2016 edition a tribute to women in horror and assembled an amazing crew with that in mind to write reviews and articles this year. We had guest writers Emily Klassen on The Orphanage and The Woman in Black; Monica S. Kuebler on Daybreakers; Andrea Subissati on one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Wild Zero; and Lindsay Gibb wrote about the work of Nicholas Cage.

We also had our amazing female staff writers including Loretta Sisco on The Funhouse, as well as her regular column, True Crime Corner, and reviews of "The Exorcist" TV series; Marie Gilbert on What We Do in the Shadows, Cooties, and Ken Russell's The Devils," as well as her episode-by-episode recaps of "American Horror Story;" Sarah Hawkins-Miduski on Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek and Something Wicked This Way Comes, as well as her awesome column Creations of Chaos, about the Studio Ghibli library and other anime films; Robin Renee on a different kind of monster, Pokemon GO; and last but not least, the amazing Less Lee Moore on Hostel, Saw, The Exorcist, 28 Days Later, Inside, and what to watch on Netflix, as well as her regular music column, Pump Up the Jam.

There was also Jeff Szpirglas on The Gorgon, and Luke Sneyd on Horror-Rama Canada and Bone Tomahawk. Regular columns The Wednesday Run by JP Fallavollita, The Ten Percent by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey, and By the Book by Jim Knipp also featured horror content this month.

Andy Burns also contributed articles on The Neon Demon, Rob Zombie's 31, and horror remakes. I got my grubby little hands in there too, writing about the Jaws sequels, Shin Godzilla, the Rocky Horror remake, the season seven premiere of "The Walking Dead," the 1970s Philadelphia horror host Dr. Shock, and an animated Spider-Man Halloween.

Clicky-clicky, come on by Biff Bam Pop! and check out 31 Days of Horror. It's the best way to celebrate Halloween!

The Frankenstein Theory

The Frankenstein Theory ~ Shot similarly to The Blair Witch Project, a documentary crew follows the obsessed Professor John Venkenheim to the Arctic where he intends to prove that Frankenstein was not only true, but about his ancestor, and to vindicate his reputation once and for all. He believes he can find the Frankenstein monster.

This is a fascinating concept, and the film moves between actual movie and shaky cam documentary style well. Writer/director Andrew Weiner's background is in Troma and low budget horror, but this is a step above. I liked it.

Kris Lemche plays Venkenheim with perfect obsessive creepiness, but just enough compassion that you care about him. It's just this side of pity, but you do care for the buggy little fella. Joe Egender does him one better as the antsy paranoid meth-head and witness to the monster's present day shenanigans.

Tiny role, but camera crewman Brian Henderson made me laugh doing a funnier Dane Cook than Dane Cook. Timothy V. Murphy playing the wilderness guide who channels Robert Shaw in Jaws wonderfully is pretty entertaining too. I absolutely love him and his campfire story. Beautiful.

Granted, the film does fall apart a bit toward the last act, but there are enough good parts here to push it above say, Sharknado. I really kinda dug it, recommended for horror fans.

Richard Matheson 1926-2013

We have truly lost one of the legends of the writing game. Celebrated multiple award-winning author Richard Matheson passed away this weekend, surrounded by family and friends. He was 87.

Even if you didn't know his name (shame on you!), you know his work. Here is just a sampler - the following movies are all based on his work - The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come, Real Steel, Trilogy of Terror, The Box, Loose Cannons, The Legend of Hell House Burn Witch Burn, Jaws 3-D (hey, a paycheck is a paycheck), and the these last three, all based on the same novel, The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, and I Am Legend.

That's not all, all of the good "Twilight Zone" episodes that weren't written by Rod Serling, they're all Matheson too. He wrote hundreds of short stories and books, and countless hours of television in many different genres, including episodes for "Star Trek," "Combat!," "Have Gun Will Travel," "Thriller," and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." Other than "The Twilight Zone," possibly his two greatest contributions to television were the Steven Spielberg-directed Duel and The Night Stalker, which became a fondly remembered cult TV series.

We have lost another legend.

Shark Attack

Shark Attack ~ Seeking to cash in on the theatrical release of the clever horror flick Deep Blue Sea and the always bankable shark phenomenon, this 1999 made-for-TV rip-off doesn’t really have much going for it. Casper Van Dien is always at his best playing the same character he always plays, and the sharks are good, even when they don’t match the footage of the humans they are supposedly attacking. It’s a blatant steal from a much better movie. The only thing worth watching here is another brilliant performance from one of Hollywood’s most underrated character actors, Ernie Hudson. When are he and Samuel L. Jackson gonna make a movie together?

1941

1941 ~ Infamously known as Steven Spielberg’s only notable box office flop, this movie about the hysteria that strikes California days after the attack on Pearl Harbor is not really as bad as its reputation suggests. It rolls on with a madcap flair similar to that of Animal House and Meatballs and has many of the Spielbergian elements that would reappear in his later more successful films.

The best scene in my opinion is the opening, which is a parody of Spielberg’s own opening of Jaws. In this age of Scary Movies and other movie satires, it’s ironic that Spielberg may have been the first person to throw that spin on his own work.

While pushed initially as a Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi flick, they are barely in it, but what little they do do is entertaining. The real stars here are Slim Pickens and Nancy Allen who are just hilarious. Also good are the performances of Toshiro Mifume and Christopher Lee is surprisingly comedic roles in the Japanese sub lost offshore finding their way with a Crackerjack compass. Good stuff.

Roy Scheider 1932-2008

After an illness of a few years, Roy Scheider passed away today. He was probably best known for his roles in Jaws (above), All That Jazz and The French Connection. He'll be missed.