SHOCK MAGAZINE, STEVE PUCHALSKI

STAR WARS MOCK REVIEW, issue # 23, (page 44) Fall-Winter 2003

Back in SC#21 I cheered the mind-roasting dementia of Damon Packard's REFLECTIONS OF EVIL and the cult genius of Damon continues with his hilarious trashing of the recent entries in the STAR WARS cashcow. Packard fearlessly embraces one goal; make george Lucas look like a pompous ass, with 45 minutes of unapologetically sophmoric humor that delivers bigger laughs than any Hollywood comedy in the last 10 years! (and became even funnier after I downed a few drinks) He begins by screwing around with the unsufferable ATTACK OF THE CLONES, cleverly re-dubbing/cutting footage with foul language and inserts of obscure italian horror films like Lenzi's "Nightmare City" (which, to no-one's surprise substantially improves the movie) The laughs really kick in when Packard begins to subversively alter the making-of footage, by inserting himself and his colleagues as tired, disgruntled Lucasfilm employees. Their forced to chant the mantra "Digital Characters Rule!" A fed-up on-the-edge crew member blows up at Lucas for being such a rich, out-of-touch dweeb, and the crew ventures into the inner city Los Angeles in order to record and capture "psychotic homeless black people" for future CGI-character templates. Best of all there's a trip a first showing of CLONES, with a rabid audience of light-saber armed STAR WARS freaks--who are instead treated to scenes from Ken Russell's WOMEN IN LOVE including the male nude wrestling sequence. One of it's most telling moments is a scene utilizing an early moment in APOCALYPSE NOW, listening to an audio tape of loony Colonel Kurtz, with Brando's voice replaced by Lucas' self-important blathering. The horror...the horror...The video also includes an hour's worth of strange yet amazingly inventive and creative highlights of Packard's past 20 years of home made projects and short films.

The unfathomably odd SAGE STALLONE: PORTRAIT OF A MADMAN (2003) has raw footage of Sly's kid freaking out in his home, interspersed with vintage ABC TV spots and commercials for THIS IS TOM JONES (1971) Other Super8 shorts include a delightfully deranged demon epic DAWN OF AN EVIL MILLENNIUM, and a no-budget yet charming attempt at lighthearted fantasy with APPLE. One can only imagine what Packard would do with millions, something this reviewer truly hopes to see some day.