Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills

Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills, made by Ptereo Pictures Inc. and Troma Entertainment in 1995, is a live-action farcical horror film, written and directed by Philippe Mora. The film stars Beverly D'Angelo, Aron Eisenberg and Brion James. Australian entertainer Barry Humphries has a cameo, playing three parts in the same scene: a grocery store clerk, the store manager and a "lady shopper" who is clearly his stage character Dame Edna Everage.[1] The film had a limited cinematic release in January 1996 and was released on video by Troma in 1997.

Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills
Directed byPhilippe Mora
Produced byBruce Critchley
Written byPhilippe Mora
StarringBeverly D'Angelo
Aron Eisenberg
Barry Humphries
Brion James
Music byRoy Hay
CinematographyWalter Bal
Edited byRoss Guidici
Production
company
Distributed byTroma Team Video
Release date
  • January 24, 1996 (1996-01-24)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Paleontologist Dick Chandler (Brad Wilson) discovers a dinosaur egg, prompting an eccentric witchdoctor named Salvador Dali (Brion James) to put a curse on Chandler's wife, Pixie (Beverly D'Angelo), causing her to slowly and intermittently transform into a pterodactyl. After Pixie lays an egg, Dick tracks down Salvador Dali and apologizes, and the curse is lifted.[2]

Cast

Music

The film's music was composed by Roy Hay, the guitarist/keyboardist of British band Culture Club.

Critical reception

Critics panned Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills for being dull and unfunny. Variety magazine's review declared "all the actors ... are defeated by the drab material". The film was also criticized for being a "classic case of a title in search of a movie", unable to decide whether it seeks to spoof Los Angeles lifestyles or the science fiction genre.[3]

Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C- and noted that "silly isn’t necessarily funny, and after an hour and a half of Bev’s squawking and stooping, you may find yourself wishing this species of movie were extinct."[4]

The Dinosaur Filmography book describes the film as "a wildly uneven hodgepodge of sight gags, satire, and silliness, with just enough cleverness and intelligence to avoid laying an egg."[2]

References
  1. Paul Matthew St Pierre (30 September 2004). A Portrait of the Artist as Australian: L'Oeuvre bizarre de Barry Humphries. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 284–. ISBN 978-0-7735-7162-4.
  2. Mark F. Berry (16 August 2005). The Dinosaur Filmography. McFarland. pp. 336–. ISBN 978-1-4766-0674-3.
  3. Harvey, Dennis. "Review: 'Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills'". Variety Media. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  4. D'Ángelo, Mike. "Video Review: 'Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills'". EW.com. Time Inc. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.