Film Screening 30th October, 1999

Poster for Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe Episode 12: Doom of the Dictator!

Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe Episode 12: Doom of the Dictator! 

8:00 PM, 30th October, 1999

  • PG
  • 20 mins
  • Unknown

This week brings us to the end of the episodic adventures of Flash Gordon and Dale Arden. Tune in next semester-if we get enough positive feedback, we may consider another serial then!

Poster for The Mummy

The Mummy 

8:15 PM, 30th October, 1999
No Guests

  • M
  • 124 mins
  • Unknown
  • Stephen Sommers
  • Stephen Sommers
  • Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J.O'Connor

The sands will rise. The heavens will part. The power will be unleashed.

The best description about this film is that it's a mix of Evil Dead II, Hellraiser, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Big Trouble in Little China. And if that won't get you in to see the film, then I don't know what will.

The basic plot is a hapless explorer who finds a ruin and reads from the book of the dead. This resurrects an ancient evil known as Imhotep, a long dead High Priest of Osirus, who returns to this mortal world as a Mummy. His ultimate aim is to rule the world and resurrect his long dead girlfriend. A simple plan, which comes apart when you factor in the hero.

Don't expect too much horror from this film, as the above mentioned titles should suggest it's more of a comedy. By all accounts it is quite a fun film, and the special effects are superb. I should know, I've seen the trailer. Lastly but most important I hope you enjoy the film.

Andrew Bults

Poster for Urban Legend

Urban Legend 

8:30 PM, 30th October, 1999

  • MA
  • 99 mins
  • Unknown
  • Jamie Blanks
  • Silvio Horta
  • Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum, Loretta Devine

This is immensely silly, no doubt about it, but in some way, perversely enjoyable. The basic plot, a serial killer who uses urban legends as his modus operandi, is serviceable, if handicapped by the writer's belief that the audience are morons and it is therefore incumbent upon them to explain to the audience what an urban legend is every ten minutes. This, combined with the fact that the last couple of killings are just a bunch of random slayings with nothing much to do with urban legends, as if the killer's said 'bugger this for a stupid way to go about multiple homicide, where's the axe', tends to suggest a slight weakness in the plotting. But if you can overlook the fact that each and every one of the characters is a cliche (although the killer, once revealed, turns out to be rather fun in an over-the-top kind of way), and that the plot leads us to ask questions like 'what kind of killer spends time lighting up a couple of hundred candles in the middle of a storm in a room with open windows?'. You can have fun with this.

Notice ,for instance, how John Neville, until recently the 'Well Manicured Man' on 'The X-Files', gets to give us a Scully-like rational explanation for the fact that most of his students are dropping off the twig. Observe how the motive, once discovered, explains a grand total of one of the previous half-dozen deaths. Despite all this, Urban Legend is pretty watchable. The film manages to capture the somewhat spooky feel of most university campuses. Some of the scare-scenes provide an effective 'Boo' factor, and there's at least one disgusting little surprise that is genuinely unpredictable. Plus, if you're feeling patriotic, the director is Australian. And yes, a cast member of 'Dawson's Creek' does only appear in the movie for the first twenty minutes, after which they meet their highly deserved demise.

Simon Tolhurst