Published: May 01, 2008 09:58 pm            

KEN HART: Best Kentucky film? It’s a no-brainer!

I have a question, Gentle Reader, that I would like to pose to you on this fine post-Kentucky Derby Sunday:

What do you consider to be the best-ever motion picture set — in whole or in part — in Kentucky?

I’m not talking about pictures that were filmed, in whole or in part, in Kentucky, such as “Seabiscuit.” In that admittedly excellent 2003 film, Keeneland doubled for Baltimore’s Pimlico raceway, but the movie didn’t have any sort of Kentucky-themed story line.

What I’m talking about are films that either are set in our beloved commonwealth or are about its people. There really haven’t been all that many that I am aware of.

An obvious choice, I think, would be “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” a truly great film, in my humble opinion, and one for which I am always willing to put down my remote whenever I run across it while channel-surfing.

But, because my movie tastes lean toward the subversive — and because I’m a sucker for zombie flicks — the Loretta Lynn biopic is edged out as my nominee for best bluegrass flick by 1985’s “The Return of the Living Dead.”

I saw this movie when it was first released at the University Cinema in Morehead. The other night, I watched it for perhaps the umpteenth time on the Independent Film Channel.

One of things I love about “Return” is the fact that the viewer doesn’t know it takes place in Kentucky until the very end. (Spoiler alert: If you’ve never seen it before and don’t want to know how it ends, please don’t read the next couple of paragraphs.)

The finale of “Return” has the U.S. military launching a tactical nuclear strike on Louisville to keep the plague of zombies that has laid waste to the city from spreading. These particular undead beings have been created by the accidental release of a top-secret gas that has not only brought them back from the grave, but has given them ravenous appetites for the brains of the living.

There are no visual cues whatsoever during the movie — like shots of the twin spires of Churchill Downs, say — to indicate that it’s taking place in Louisville. One gets the idea that the filmmakers could’ve selected the city as their setting by throwing a dart at a map.

I have no problem with that. I’m just glad that they did.

“Return” is by no means an example of great movie-making. The acting is wooden, the dialogue is silly and the pre-CGI special effects aren’t very special at all.

It’s still great, gory fun, though, because it’s a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously. In fact, the picture fairly revels in its B-movie, drive-in aesthetic.

In other words, it may be pure cheese, but it’s great cheese. And, cheese that has aged well, I might add.

Seriously, how can you not love a movie with a tagline like “They’re back from the grave and ready to party?” Or one where the end credits roll to the strains of “Surfin’ Dead” by the Cramps, perhaps the greatest punkabilly-shlock-horror-movie band ever?

So there you have it, my choice for the greatest Kentucky film of all time.

I’d love to know yours. Send them to me at the e-mail address at the end of this column.

If I get enough responses, I just might make them the subject of a future column.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

        

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