Synopsis
A post-apocalyptic teenage miracle, shot on Super 8 in 1989.
Doctor Death
1989 Directed by Webster Colcord
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A post nuclear holocaustic super 8 world of drive-by nitroglycerine firebombings and CRT TV destruction. Cocteau Twin synths rumble and chime as Doctor Death thrives in the mutant wasteland.
Apocalyptic no budget tech-ingenuity. Modified helmets, baseball nukes and wheelchair fireworks. Mangled flesh, meat and burning cars. Rubber extremities, ragdolls and a dog teddy. Mushroom cloud-chic in a land of sound FX, lasers and arson.
A love letter to the form.
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The most explosive post-apocalyptic battledrome of 1989 isn’t CYBORG — it’s DOCTOR DEATH. Shot on Super 8 by teenager Webster Colcord and pals in Portland, this 18-minute killdozer miraculously combines the experimental tinkering of Stan Brakhage with the reckless energy of Damon Packard’s DAWN OF AN EVIL MILLENNIUM to forge a new barometer of bliss. Mutants wearing Moon Boots and puffy jackets! Stop-motion face-melting! A very dangerous explosion every 10 seconds! And amidst the carnage, a wonderfully surreal scene of Dr. Death (Colcord, looking like a wee version of MR. FREEDOM) smashing a wall of television sets on the side of a road in slow motion while roman candle fireworks erupt around him. Doctor Death is a triumph of clever…
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"Cinema is the history of boys photographing girls." -- Jean-Luc Godard
"Or, cinema is the history of boys photographing themselves blowing things up. Just, blowing up cars and buses and TVs and rocks and dogs and other boys and... just, like... fuckin' EVERYTHING." -- someone who isn't Jean-Luc Godard
"Doctor Death was actually what my first draft of Alphaville looked like." -- Jean-Luc Godard, probably
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Steve Carlson graciously demurred when I big-upped him on Twitter for finding this for the betterment of all humanity, pointing out that he was but a vessel for the work of Bleeding Skull, but fuck it. My Bleeding Skull mileage varies considerably, but Steve's an unfailing sherpa when it comes to navigating the outer limits of crazy disreputable cinema, and I wouldn't have checked out this shot-on-film by bored crazy teenagers postapocalyptic 19 minute epic without his guidance, and thanks to that I had possibly the most concentrated best time I had in this whole 48 film project.
So yeah, give the dude a follow if you haven't.
44/48
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A bunch of teenage boys make what's essentially their Super8 take on Mad Max with a plot that's essentially just a series of escalating explosions, and it's just as inentive and damn near as kinetic as the real thing.
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Amazing production design and execution. Makes almost every Italian post-apocalyptic film of this era look like a kindergarten project. Beautiful.
Bonus points for the ai.ple but gorgeous synth score that sounds very much like Biggles: Adventure In Time.
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Wildly impressive nuclear post-apocalyptic super-8 violence from a group of teens. Funny, cool, inventive, and clearly an absolute blast to make. Makes me want to romanticize American adolescence thinking about its production.
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Stomps the shit out of the Raimi Super-8 stuff, absolutely irresistible backyard mayhem vibe to this that also involves some surprisingly legit gore/pyrotechnics???? God bless Eugene, Oregon
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Part of the reason I was born was to know that this film existed.
What a cinematic teenage super8 punk fever dream.
Triumphant and spectacular.
I wanted 90 more minutes of this.
It’s like a young Sam Raimi did Mad Max.
And did I read that correctly???
Webster Colcord would grow up to work on effects for such films as The Matrix Revolutions, Minority Report, Godzilla (2014), Deadpool, Grindhouse, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Stranger Things???
All I can say to that is HELL YEAH!
Viva la cinema !
Watched here -
The wonderful thing about DOCTOR DEATH is that DOCTOR DEATH is a wonderful thing. Read some more coherent thoughts about this mini-marvel of a movie over at Aquarium Drunkard.
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For something made by high schoolers on no budget, this is an absolute marvel. Seriously impressive, highly entertaining short!
This is legitimately better than some studio films.