Jaws 2

 Released Year: 1978

Directed by Jeannot Szwarc

Casted by:

Roy Scheider as Chief Martin Brody

Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody

Murray Hamilton as Mayor Larry Vaughn

Joseph Mascolo as Leonard "Len" Peterson

 Story: 

Prior to a new hotel opening on Amity Island, an enormous great white shark ambushes and kills two divers who are photographing the wreck of the Orca, the late Quint's boat. A couple of days later, their camera is recovered, and the shark goes after a female water skier and speedboat driver, devouring the skier while the driver fends off the shark using a gas tank and flare gun, causing the boat to explode, which kills her and severely burns the shark's face.

Along with these disappearances, a killer whale bearing large wounds is beached. Police Chief Martin Brody believes these events are the work of a shark. Brody explains his concerns to Mayor Larry Vaughn, who doubts the town has another shark problem. Later, Brody finds a piece of the destroyed speedboat in the surf just off the beach. He wades over to retrieve it and uncovers the boat driver's burnt remains.

The following day, at the beach, Brody sees a dark shadow that approaches the swimmers. Thinking it is a shark, he frantically orders everyone out of the water and causes a panic by firing his gun. However, the shadow is revealed to be a school of bluefish, making people think Brody's insane. His fears are later confirmed when he acquires a close-up picture of the shark from the diver's camera. The Amity town council, including local developer Len Peterson, deny the evidence and vote Brody out as Police Chief.

The next morning, Brody's teenage son Mike disobeys his father by sneaking out to go sailing with his friends after his love interest Jackie Peters goads him to, but his younger brother Sean catches him, and encourages Mike to bring him along. After an argument at the dock, Marge, one of Mike's friends, playfully lets Sean come in her boat with her, and after a couple other grouping arrangements, they head out, going past a team of divers, led by instructor Tom Andrews. Moments after going underwater, one of the divers encounters the shark. Panicking, he rushes to the surface, causing an embolism. Soon after, the shark hits teenagers Tina Wilcox and Eddie Marchand; Eddie falls in the water and is killed by the shark.

Brody and his wife Ellen follow an ambulance to the docks, where they find Tom as he is put on a stretcher; the divers suspect something scared him underwater. Deputy Len Hendricks, Brody's replacement, tells them Mike went sailing with his friends, so Brody, along with Ellen and Hendricks, takes the police boat to rescue them. While searching, they come across Tina's boat, and find her hiding in the bow; she fearfully mentions the shark's presence. Hendricks and Ellen take Tina to shore, where the truth is revealed, while Brody goes on to find the kids.

Meanwhile, the shark attacks the other kids, hitting one of their boats and causing most of them to capsize and crash into each other in the ensuing panic, throwing several of them, including Mike and Sean, in the water. The other teens help them out of the water while two of them pull Mike out as the shark goes for him and head back to get help. Sean and the others remain adrift on the wreckage of tangled boats. A Coast Guard marine helicopter that Brody contacted arrives to tow them to shore. Before the pilot can tow them, the shark attacks and sinks the chopper, and then knocks Sean into the water, but Marge sacrifices herself to save him from the shark.

Brody runs into Mike, who tells his father that Sean is with his friends, drifting towards Cable Junction, a small island housing an electrical relay station, and apologizes for not knowing about the shark. Brody accepts his apology while telling him to get to safety and quickly finds them, but when the shark reappears, he panics and maroons the police boat on Cable Junction. He then tries to pull them with a winch but hooks an underwater power cable. The shark's next attack sends most of the teenagers into the water, and they swim to Cable Junction while Sean and Jackie are trapped on the boats. Using an inflatable raft, Brody hits the power cable with an oar to attract the shark and encourages it to bite the cable; the shark is fatally electrocuted, and its corpse sinks to the bottom of the sea. The shaken kids rejoice as Brody picks up Sean and Jackie and they join them on Cable Junction to await rescue.

L² Scored: 4/10

L² Comment:

This is the second movie of the Jaws series movie and apparently the movie is getting more and more boring compare to the first movie. As mentioned in my previous blog entry on the first movie, the movie only gets a bit better towards the ending part... But this second movie, even with the shark attack, it did not bring that much exciting feeling to me at all compare to the first movie~

Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell

Released Year: 1978

Directed by Elinor Karpf & Steven Karpf

Casted by:

Richard Crenna as Mike Barry

Yvette Mimieux as Betty Barry

Kim Richards as Bonnie Barry

Ike Eisenmann as Charlie Barry

 Story: 

The Barry family acquire a German Shepherd puppy after their old one dies in an accident. They buy the puppy from a seemingly friendly fruit vendor who is actually a satanist who bred the dog during an evil ceremony, causing it to be possessed. They sell the dog to wreak havoc in the hope Satan will overcome good once and for all. The dog acts very strangely when they bring it home, leading the father Mike, and the family maid to believe there is something wrong with the dog. Mike believes so after the maid is killed in a fire while she was watching the dog, and himself being forced to stick his arm into a lawnmower while the dog is present. Mike barely avoids having his arm chopped off and soon, the dog begins to exhibit mental control that allows him to kill, injure, or control many victims. Eventually, the family's souls are possessed by the hound causing them to act strangely, including Mike's son framing a student by stealing a watch and planting it in a classmate's locker, allowing him to win the student election. Mike decides the dog has overstayed his welcome when he finds a secret shrine to Satan in the attic. Mike tries to shoot the demonic beast to put an end to the hardships, but it is unharmed.

Realizing the dog is possessed, Mike finally makes a special trip to Ecuador to determine how to destroy the animal. Unfortunately, there is no way to kill it, but if you hold a holy symbol to its eye, you can imprison it in Hell for 1,000 years. He takes it to a showdown at his work plant, but there the dog turns into a demon and begins to wreak havoc. When he is cornered by the monster, he holds the sign he made on his hand right up to the beast's eye. This causes the beast to be engulfed in fire and be imprisoned, getting his family's souls back. The final scene shows the family loading the family car for a vacation, and one of the children mentioning there were several more puppies the vendor was selling, suggesting there are more satanic dogs and that it is not over yet.

 L² Scored: 4.5/10

L² Comment:

 I kinda like the storyline actually, but too bad the horror part is not strong enough to make the movie a blast. Its very difficult to shoot a dog as an evil, usually well trained and calm dog will be in this kind of movie, but they are not fierce enough... If the producer really find a fierce crazy dog in it, there might be some unhappy incident happening in this case...

I Spit On Your Grave 1978

Released Year: 1978
Directed by Meir Zarchi

Casted by:
Camille Keaton as Jennifer Hills
Eron Tabor as Johnny
Richard Pace as Matthew Lucas
Anthony Nichols as Stanley
Gunter Kleemanns as Andy
Story:

New York short story writer Jennifer Hills rents an isolated cottage by a lake in the countryside to write her first novel. The arrival in town of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny, the gas station manager, and Stanley and Andy, two unemployed youths who hang around the gas station. Jennifer receives a grocery delivery from Matthew, who is shy and apparently mildly mentally retarded, and befriends him. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming he saw her breasts.

Stanley and Andy start cruising by the cottage in their speedboat and apparently prowl around the house at night. One day, while Jennifer is relaxing in her canoe, they surprise her in their speedboat and tow her to shore. As she tries to escape, she is met by Johnny, while Matthew hides in bushes nearby. She realizes they planned her abduction so Matthew can lose his virginity. Jennifer fights but is chased by the men through the forest. Matthew refuses to have sex with her, so Johnny rapes her. They allow her to escape but track her down shortly afterward and Andy brutally rapes her anally. After she crawls back to her house, they attack her again. Matthew finally rapes her after drinking alcohol, but he says that he can not reach orgasm with the other men watching. The other men ridicule her book and rip up the manuscript, and Stanley sexually assaults her. She passes out and the men leave. Johnny realizes she is a witness to their crimes and orders Matthew to stab her to death. Matthew cannot bring himself to do this, so dabs the knife in her blood and returns to the other men claiming he has killed her.

In the following days, a traumatized Jennifer pieces both herself and her manuscript back together. She goes to church and asks for forgiveness. The men learn Jennifer has survived and beat Matthew up for deceiving them. Jennifer calls in a grocery order, knowing Matthew will deliver it. He takes the groceries, and a knife. At the cabin Jennifer entices him to have sex with her under a tree. As he becomes oblivious to his surroundings, she strings a noose around his neck and hangs him. Jennifer cuts the rope and drops the body in the river.

Jennifer seductively collects Johnny from the gas station in her car. She stops halfway to her house and turns a gun on him and orders him to remove all his clothing. Johnny insists the rapes were her fault because she enticed the men by parading around in revealing clothing. She apparently believes this, lowers her gun, and invites him back to her cottage for a hot bath. Jennifer manually stimulates him in her bathtub. When Johnny says that Matthew has been reported missing, Jennifer says she killed Matthew. Johnny thinks she is joking. As he nears orgasm, Jennifer takes the knife Matthew brought with him from its hiding place under the bathmat and severs Johnny's genitals. He screams in terror while bleeding to death. Jennifer calmly leaves the room and locks Johnny in from the outside. He dies from blood loss. Jennifer dumps the body in the basement and burns his clothes in the fireplace.

Stanley and Andy learn that Johnny is missing and take their boat to Jennifer's cabin. Andy goes ashore with an axe. Jennifer swims out to the boat and climbs aboard before Stanley realizes what she is doing. She pushes him overboard and Stanley has trouble staying afloat. Andy tries to attack her when she speeds past him in the boat, but she escapes with the axe. Andy swims out to rescue Stanley but Jennifer plunges the axe into Andy's back. She backs the boat up to Stanley who grabs hold of the motor to climb aboard, begging Jennifer not to kill him. She quotes what he said while assaulting her: "Suck it, Bitch!" and starts the engine, disemboweling him. Jennifer smiles slightly as she speeds away in the boat.

L² Scored: 6/10

L² Comment:

Another rape-revenge movie for me. I feel a bit uncomfortable after watching this movie, how come there's rape case in this world? I never can understand those rapist. How can they rape a girl when they scream, cry and fight back in terror? Sex suppose to be a things to enjoy, right?

Grease

 Released Year: 1978

Directed by Randal Kleiser

Casted by:

John Travolta as Danny Zuko
Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson
  Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo

Jeff Conaway as Kenickie

 Story:

 In the summer of 1958, local teenager Danny Zuko and vacationing Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy, who is going back to Australia, worries that they may never see each other again, but Danny tells her that their love is "only the beginning". Later, on the first day of Danny's senior year at Rydell High School, meets with his friends, the T-Birds, who like Danny, are greasers. The group consists of his best friend Kenickie, Doody, Putzie and Sonny. A group of girls, the "Pink Ladies", consisting of Betty Rizzo, Frenchie, Jan and Marty, declare they want to "rule the school". Sandy, unbeknownst to Danny, is also at the school, having enrolled after her parents decided not to return to Australia. Sandy befriends Pink Lady Frenchie, who considers dropping out of school to become a beautician. Oblivious to each other's presence at school, Danny and Sandy tell the T-Birds and Pink Ladies their respective accounts of their summer romance.

Upon learning Danny was Sandy's summer romance, Rizzo arranges for the two to reunite, but Danny is forced to maintain his nonchalant badboy attitude in front of his friends, which upsets Sandy, who sees Danny as pretentious. Frenchie invites the girls to a sleepover, but Sandy gets sick after Frenchie pierces her ears. The T-Birds almost crash the party, but a guilty Danny leaves just as Rizzo sneaks out of the house. Kenickie tells the rest of the T-Birds to leave the car so he can be alone with his girlfriend. Rizzo and Kenickie head to lover's lane and have sex in the back seat, but the condom Kenickie has been carrying in his wallet since junior school breaks, and they decide to go ahead anyway. They are disturbed by Leo, leader of the T-Birds' rival gang, the Scorpions, and his girlfriend Cha-Cha, who bump into Kenickie's fender. Kenickie yells at Leo for criticizing his car. Wishing to win his way back into Sandy's affection after Danny spies her flirting with Rydell's muscular football star, Danny turns to Coach Calhoun to get into sports, eventually becoming a runner. He reunites with Sandy and they attempt to go on a date, but their friends crash it, resulting in Kenickie and Rizzo breaking up over a fight. Left alone, Frenchie is visited by a guardian angel who advises her to return to high school.

The school dance arrives, broadcast live on television and hosted by DJ Vince Fontaine who flirts with Marty. Rizzo and Kenickie attempt to spite one another by bringing Leo and Cha Cha as their dates, while Danny and Sandy come together. During a dance, Danny and Cha Cha reunite, once boyfriend and girlfriend, and win a dance-off. Danny tries to make it up to Sandy by taking her to a drive-in theatre but ends up making several passes at her, causing Sandy to flee. Meanwhile, Rizzo fears she is pregnant after missing a period and confides to Marty, who tells Sonny, who in turn spreads the rumour which eventually reaches Kenickie, who is the potential father. Kenickie apologizes to Rizzo for their fight and says he'll be there for her and the baby, but Rizzo tells him out of spite that it isn't his. The implication is that it's Leo's, and Leo and Kenickie challenge each other to a car race.

The race arrives and Sandy is desperate to find Danny. She happens by Rizzo, who is being mocked by Patty Simcox and her crew. Sandy offers to be there for Rizzo and they two share a friendly moment. Rizzo ponders her future and her relationship with Kenickie but is startled when she sees him in the distance. Rizzo runs off as Kenickie heads for the race track and Sandy goes to watch.

They are ready to race, but Kenickie is knocked out by Putzie when he opened the door and hit Kenickie while he was reaching down for a penny so Danny takes up the challenge. He and Leo race until Leo crashes and is left humiliated, with Danny as the victor. Sandy watches from afar, concluding she still loves Danny and decides to change her attitude and look to impress him. On the last day of school, while Principal McGee and her assistant Blanche sob about the departing class, the class celebrate their graduation at the fair on the school grounds. Rizzo discovers she is not pregnant after all and an overjoyed Kenickie offers to "make an honest woman" of her as they reconcile. Danny has become a jock but is shocked when Sandy appears smoking and dressed in black leather and teased hair. In song, the two admit they love each other and reunite. The film ends with Danny and Sandy departing in Danny's car which takes flight, and wave goodbye to their friends as they leave. The film ends with credits in the style of a yearbook.

  L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

How couldn't i not to score this a 10/10 for this movie? This is most probably the best film in that period ever, even my parent is a huge fans of this film. John Travolta is so good looking at his young age, but watching him and his behavior nowadays, i wonder how he could ever spoil his image in front of his fans who have been loving him all these years... 

Back to the storyline, its been fun and nice to watch with. The dances and songs are nothing to be pin-point of, especially the scenery that keep on changing, feel like a Bollywood movie for me :) I haven't watch the Grease 2 (1982), hopefully it will be nice as well...

Eyes Of Laura Mars

Released Year: 1978
Directed by Irvin Kershner

Casted by:
Faye Dunaway as Laura Mars
Tommy Lee Jones as Lieutenant John Neville
Brad Dourif as Tommy Ludlow
Rene Auberjonois as Donald Phelps
Raúl Juliá as Michael Reisler
Story:

Laura Mars is a fashion photographer who specializes in stylized violence. In her luxurious Manhattan apartment, she has a nightmare that Doris Spencer is viciously murdered with an ice pick, her eyeballs stabbed. Laura wakes up and looks through a soon-to-be-published coffee table book of her photos, titled The Eyes of Mars, which Doris had edited. In it, there is a picture of Doris...identical to an image she had in the dream. Laura calls Doris but she gets no answer. That evening, she attends a reception at the Elaine Cassell Gallery in SoHo for an exhibit of her work. A controversial figure, she is besieged by questions from reporters about whether her photos glorify violence and are demeaning to women. A handsome stranger questions the work as well. The success of the exhibit is disrupted by the news that Doris has been found dead, in the same manner that she was murdered in Laura's dream. Laura hears this from her good friend and agent, Donald Phelps. Later, she hears that sales of her photographs increased as news of the killing spread. Laura gets a call from Elaine, the owner of the gallery, who is all business and who talks Laura into going on with a shoot the next day.

Unbeknownst to Laura, Elaine has been having an affair with Laura's ex-husband, Michael. The shoot in Columbus Circle starts off well. The whole thing is being overseen by Bert, a representative from the ad agency. Donald is on hand, as are two of her favorite models, Lulu and Michele. Typical of her layouts, Laura has the models dressed in sexy lingerie and engaged in a catfight, posed against the backdrop of a car wreck and burning vehicles.

Suddenly, Laura gets a psychic vision. As with her previous nightmare, it is in the first person. This time, it is Elaine who is in danger. Laura stops shooting and tells Donald she is feeling dizzy. Heading downtown towards Elaine's apartment, Laura's taxicab stalls in traffic and she decides to walk the rest of the way. But another vision comes to her. She sees Elaine murdered, punctured in the eye like Doris and then thrown down a flight of stairs just outside her apartment. She runs towards Elaine's building, but she is too late. The place is swarming with onlookers and police officers. When one cop tries to stop her from going into the building, Laura tells him she saw what happened. Naturally, the police believe they may have a witness. Detective Sergeant Sal Volpe questions her but he is perplexed when Laura cannot describe the killer, and especially when she tells him she was actually "a few blocks away." Still, Sergeant Volpe is interested in this lead and Laura is taken to the precinct for a statement. Some of the other people who knew Elaine are there too. In addition, Laura's driver Tommy Ludlow, is also questioned. Tommy, who carries a switchblade and has an arrest record, is immediately under suspicion.

Laura recognizes Lieutenant John Neville as the handsome stranger from the gallery. He belittles her statement but even Laura understands how preposterous her "eyewitness account" sounds to others. Lt. Neville shows her a copy of her book that has a tear over the cover photo of Laura, directly over an eye. Laura tells him she has seen it before, in a nightmare. Lt. Neville then shows her photographs of unsolved murders that mirror those that are in her book. Laura says that she began to have images of violence about two years before, around the time when the earlier crimes were committed. They go to Elaine's apartment and Neville asks Laura to help identify some male clothing hanging in a closet. She recognizes them as belonging to her ex-husband and is surprised because she thought he had been living in San Francisco.

Laura replies that Michael couldn't kill anyone; Lt. Neville accompanies Laura back to her residence and gives her his card. She is to call him anytime. Inside her apartment, Laura is startled by Michael, who still retains a set of keys and is now avoiding the police. He says he is innocent with regard to Elaine's murder. He remarks that she had been his best "meal ticket." Laura gives him 50 dollars to leave her alone. Donald and Tommy pick Laura up to take her to her studio for her next session; this is located in a huge warehouse on a Manhattan pier. In the car, Tommy confesses to his boss that he served time in prison for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. The news does not faze Laura. However, she seems surprised that Donald hired Tommy knowing about his arrest history, and yet failed to tell her.

Left alone to do some prep work, Laura has another vision. But this time, she is the one being stalked. She runs out of her office and through the mostly deserted warehouse, screaming for Donald. He comes to her aid and Laura tells him she saw the killer looking at her. There is not enough time to become too hysterical, as the session is to begin. With throbbing music in the background, Laura gets down to work. She sets up a shot in which a male model lies dead by a pool, while Lulu stands over him holding a gun. The imagery is too much for Laura. She starts to see some of her previous psychic death visions in her head and she cannot continue. Lt. Neville is there and he tries to comfort Laura by suggesting that she is overworked. In turn, she attempts to show him what she "sees" by having him look through the lens of a video camera. In answer to Laura's question about why the killer is terrorizing her, Neville offers the theory that the person could be someone who is jealous of her success or who feels that her work "is promoting porno and decadence and he has a mission to clean up the world." Her security will be doubled, and she is advised to stay indoors as often as possible.

Later, Lulu and Michele are brought into the stationhouse to see if they've received any threats. While developing some photos, Laura has yet another psychic moment. The two beautiful models are both murdered in the apartment they share, which, of course, actually occurs. That the killer is someone they know can be deduced from Lulu having allowed the perpetrator inside. After their funeral, a mourner who is implicated to be either a close friend or a boyfriend of one of the women, who blames her for the deaths of the women, confronts Laura. Neville takes her for a walk in the woods and they kiss. After they make love, Neville gives Laura a handgun for added defense. On Donald's birthday, all his friends attend a party in his apartment. Everybody has a grand time except for Tommy, who receives instructions to come back for his boss in an hour. During the celebration, Laura receives a call from Michael. He is in Brooklyn and he says he is suicidal. A patrol car is stationed outside, and Laura, who does not want to lead the police to her ex, forms a plan. Donald dresses up in drag by wearing some of her clothing. The cops follow him, giving Laura the opportunity to give them the slip.

Unfortunately, the killer is watching Donald as well. Followed back to his building, Donald is murdered in the elevator. Blocks away, Laura sees it happen and crashes her car. Again, Neville comforts her in her apartment. The doorbell disrupts the coziness of the moment. At the door is Sgt. Volpe. There has been a break in the case, he says, and Neville is needed. A search is underway in Tommy's home and the police have found photos of Laura's models taken at various locations all over the place. Tommy is nearby and calls his apartment. He speaks with Neville and asks to see him alone. The officers pretend to leave and Tommy returns to his flat. He proclaims his innocence and explains to Neville where he was the night before. Neville produces a piece of evidence: a playing card from a deck that belongs to Tommy. It was found in the elevator under Donald's body. Sgt. Volpe appears and Tommy runs for his freedom. On his way out of the building, he stabs an officer who tries to stop him.

A chase through the streets of Hell's Kitchen ensues, and Tommy is shot to death. Laura hears that the case has been wrapped up. Neville tells her to pack her bags because he wants to take her away. He arrives at her building and finds Michael in the elevator. Just then, Laura has a terrifying vision. She sees a struggle between two men and one of them is killed. And even more frightening, the killer is headed towards her apartment. As Laura is about to call the police, someone breaks into her apartment through a window. That someone proves to be Lt. Neville. He tells her that Tommy is dead and begins to go into the background of Tommy's life to explain why he committed murder. But something is not right. Laura knows some of Tommy's life story, and Neville's statements are not making sense. Neville continues, explaining that Tommy's father slashed his mother's throat in front of the child for being a prostitute. But suddenly he begins to talk in the first person. "I sat there and watched the blood dry on her face until it was just about the color of your hair," he tells Laura. The real killer stands before her. "I'm the one you want," he says. Laura runs to her bedroom and picks up the phone but Neville is right behind her. As he is about to stab her with an ice pick, she tells him that she loves him and then reaches for the gun.

In a daze, Neville strikes the image of himself in a mirror. He approaches Laura and pleads with her to kill him. Her reluctance to pull the trigger leads Neville to take her hands and help her do it. Shot at point-blank range, Neville drops to the ground and Laura calls the authorities.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

I dunknw why, after i watch this movie, i feel sad... a bad bad childhood can really spoiled a person's life. Neville as acted by Jones is this kind of character. Sad isn't it? But anyway, Barbra Streisand sang the theme song "prisoners" is so memorable. Love this movie, but dont think i'm gonna watch it for the 3rd time.