That Little Monster
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: C
Legendary Horror journalist, scholar and mega-collector
Forrest J. Ackerman opens up Paul Bunnell’s hour-long 1994 style exercise That
Little Monster. Part of a long line
of demented, distorted, deformed baby tales, it is interested in placing more
graphic horrors in the look and feel of the genre’s past. With some cult status of sorts, it could
appreciate the style of the piece to some extent, but especially post-David
Lynch, it needed more going for it than just more imitation than the script
could support. Bunnell has a real love
of the genre that comes through, but he needs to do more in a similar project
to really achieve the goals he is reaching for here, which still puts him above
the usual schlock.
The 1.33 X 1 image was shot by cinematographer Craig
Bassuk to look like old black and white TV in part (particularly Twilight
Zone) and David Lynch’s Eraserhead, but this is later black and
white stock and is grainy and the transfer makes it a bit hazier. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Sound is simple
stereo. The combination is fine for
what is offered here. Extras include an
audio commentary by Bunnell and his producer, a silly on camera interview with
Bunnell and a more interesting 19-minutes long color short called The
Visitant from 1981.
- Nicholas Sheffo
