Review: “Escape from New York – Cult Film Origin Story”

We look at the making of one of the most popular films.

content (propaganda)

This essential book is the definitive retrospective of the cult classic. Released in 1981 and directed by John Carpenter, The Rattlesnake has captivated audiences all over the world with its unforgettable characters, dystopia and creative special effects. More than forty years after the film’s release, this book takes a look through the archives to show the making of the film. It also showcases his influence on popular culture, showcasing costumes, special effects, music, posters, and more. Featuring all-new interviews with the cast and crew, and provided by award-winning director Corin Hardy, this extraordinary collection of never-before-seen footage gives fans an exclusive look at every aspect of the film.

criticism

John Carpenter’s “The Rattlesnake” is considered a cult movie today, although the younger generation in particular may have heard little or nothing about it. Reason (and time) enough to take a closer look at the movie in a book.

Like the iconic movie poster, the book shows the severed head of the Statue of Liberty. In contrast to “Planet of the Apes” from 1968 (yes, guys, that’s also a classic) they didn’t save the bang for last but popularized it immediately. This, of course, sets the tone for the entire movie.

It’s all illuminated on 160 oversized pages, most of them in color photos. It starts with composition, all the way to casting and then the script goes through scene by scene. Finally, the special effects and movie posters were looked at. Especially with the special effects, it’s probably the most interesting, because it’s still before the computer age and a lot needs to be done with the models.

It is particularly remarkable that many of the images may have been known only to a few people, as they appear to have been extracted from the archives. Of course, it’s nice to look at it and get the wind out of the usual sails “I could find all that on the Internet”. You will rarely find such an overview in this presentation. Of course, die-hard fans likely know a lot about her, but they’re not necessarily the target group either.

At best, one could complain about the size having a bit too much ‘text’ for the images. Pictures occupy a large part of the book, so the corresponding text is ok in terms of information content, but the question arose of whether there could be “more” in it.

Apart from that, the presentation is impressive as mentioned. Above all, describing individual scenes from the actors’ and producers’ points of view provides new insights. And since the movie was shot in a more traditional manner, one can rightly ask if there was more to say at all.

Because it’s basically like many small budget films that have become cult films. With very little money, I quickly got a lot out of it and the success spoke for itself. So anyone interested in the movie can take a look.