Twitch-O-Meter: Collin’s MEGA-ToM! (Twitch-O-Meter turns 50, part four)

Michael Bay - there will be, some may regret to hear, no stopping Michael Bay. A director who has made his name by consistently upping the ante of cinematic excess, Bay has produced some of the most visually and physically ambitious American action pictures of the last 15 years, deftly blending CGI and large-scale practical stunts and FX into a unique, high-dollar stew.  Bay’s work, steeped in flash-cut aesthetics and delightfully hokey characterizations, throttles toward the viewer with such nonstop abandon it becomes impossible to withstand its bombastic charms.  His films won’t raise your cinematic IQ, but there’s no denying the unbridled fun found therein.

Must-See Bay: The Rock, Bad Boys 2, & Transformers

John Carpenter - forever playing on the fringe of the vaunted film school culture that redefined American cinema in the ‘70s and ‘80s, USC alum Carpenter has amassed a body of work as diverse and influential as that of his peers, though it’s rarely recognized as such.  Drawing inspiration from the baroque aesthetics of Mario Bava and John Ford’s stoic, emotionally isolated leading men, Carpenter’s films are frequently a wild, bloody blend of themes and flavors.  His recent work for Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series has shown his transgressive tics are only growing stronger with age.

Must-See Carpenter: Halloween, The Thing, & “Cigarette Burns”

Dan Curtis - no one melded camp and creep better than Curtis, a genre TV stalwart responsible for, among many other classic tropes, “Dark Shadows” and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”.  Curtis’ work possesses an easy charm, enhanced by a kickline of familiar vintage thesps and waffling production values.  It also holds unexpectedly potent powers to unnerve and upset, digging at the primal dread of the unknown alive inside us all.  With an increasing number of his films turning up on DVD and a big screen “Dark Shadows” revival (rumored to be headlined by Johnny Depp) in the offing, we may well be in the midst of a much-deserved Curtis renaissance.

Must-See Curtis: “The Night Stalker” (as producer), “Trilogy of Terror”, & “Intruders”

Kiyoshi Kurosawa - one of a handful of auteurs responsible for tipping contemporary Japanese cinema into the international market’s mainstream in the late ‘90s, Kurosawa’s fevered takes on shopworn potboilers (police procedurals, gangster films, ghost stories) have resulted in a catalog of contemporary classics including the hypnotic shocker Cure and the terrifying, ethereal Pulse among a litany of smaller but no-less affecting titles.  Not afraid to stretch, Kurosawa’s dipped into more dramatic territory lately and in his younger days tried his hand at comedy.  His films possess impeccably realized visuals and deeply unsettling themes.

Must-See Kurosawa: Cure, Pulse, & Bright Future

George Romero - indie before indie was, well, indie, Romero – not unlike his contemporary Carpenter – seems increasingly attuned to culture’s foibles as time rolls by.  His gory skewerings of the varied pros and cons of American life have spanned five decades, and he shows no signs of slowing down after the recent positive critical reception of his latest, the first-person zombie romp Diary of the Dead (a follow-up has already been announced).  Romero’s ability to sashay between studio work and independently financed films has allowed him great freedom throughout his career, and has resulted in a body of work that includes touchstones within not only his beloved genre but classic American cinema.

Must-See Romero: Night of the Living Dead, Martin, & Dawn of the Dead

Related Links

• Joey's MEGA-ToM (part one)
• Todd's MEGA-ToM (part two)
• Ardvark's MEGA-ToM (part three)
• Kurt's MEGA-ToM (part five)
• Stefan's MEGA-ToM (part six)
• Timo's MEGA-ToM (part seven)
• Peter's MEGA-ToM (part eight)
• Swarez's MEGA-ToM (part nine)
• JMaruyama's MEGA-ToM Aftershock (late submission)