digitalconquest Blog

Under discussion:

Survive!  (1977)

In the later months of 1972 a plane crashed in the Andes Mountains and those not killed went to the furthest imaginable extremes to survive. This is that story. The focus is on the plight itself, the business of living through the circumstances these unfortunate people have found themselves in. Due to a miscalculation concerning the plane’s course and equipment, the rescue parties are never searching in the right place! When the weeks pass and the food runs out those still alive must come to a horrible realization… the only way they can go on is by eating the flesh of their friends who have already died in the accident! This is a fantastic and gripping film that has as many touching scenes as it has grisly ones; there is no shortage of either. Survive is intense and unrelenting but it is also hopeful and, in many ways, uplifting. For a long time you could only see this highly recommended movie on late night cable and that was often the cut version.  Make sure to seek out the uncut version!

Under discussion:

White Dog  (1982)

The full uncut version of the film that scared studios so much that they withdrew the movie from U.S. theaters, even after severe cuts were made! Rarely seen due to controversy, Samuel Fuller’s horrific tale of blind racism is a powerful and engaging movie. Kristy McNichol accidentally hits a beautiful white German Shepard with her car on the way home. She saves the dog and then decides to keep it when it returns the favor after a serial rapist attacks her! It doesn’t take long before she is convinced that her new pet and protector is a White Dog, trained to attack black people by racist monsters! Knowing it isn’t the dog’s fault she turns to Burl Ives and Paul Winfield to kill the hate rather than the animal! It’s all highly illegal and their good intentions may land them in prison if the dog escapes and kills again! Not only does this version contain the film the way director Samuel Fuller intended it also has an incredible score by Ennio Morricone and brilliant cinematography by Clint Eastwood’s regular cameraman Bruce Surtees! Prosthetics for some of the bloodier effects are by Stan Winston and keep a sharp eye out for cameos from Samuel Fuller himself as well as Dick Miller and Paul Bartel!