The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 88

gbe Atlanta ftmtmal AND CONSTITUTION FRIDAY. JANUARY 23, 1987 Hhjiji Tiwif i' ft Giants plays OOVIS I2EVIEW i 'From Beyond' not for the squeamish a variety By Scott Cain Staff Writer ill'-1 jjp' 4sn 1 I GIANTS: John Flansburgh (left) and John Linnell. The same crowd responsible for the gore-galore extravaganza "Re-Animator" has brought forth "From Bevond," another thriller suitable only for. audiences with cast-iron stomachs. For those who can stand the bloodshed, this is quite a trip.

The team director Stuart Gordon, Eroducer Brian Yuzna, author HP. ovecraft, cinematographer Mac Ahlberg, composer Richard Band, actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton know what they're doing. They're polished professionals, maybe not the type you would want to live next door, but gifted storytellers. The campiness of "Re-Animator" is abandoned in this new saga, which is a straightforward horror story with the kind of special effects that make you pull down into the safety of your theater seat. (Effects credited to John Buechler, Anthony Doublin, John Naulin and Mark Shostrom.) The action is started, as usual, by a mad scientist, Dr.

Pretorious (played by Ted Sorel). He builds an instrument called the Resonator, which stimulates the pineal gland and heightens its sensory capabilities. The Resonator gives Dr. Pretorious a sinful amount of sexual pleasure, but also brings him into contact with monsters from a fourth dimension. Obviously, this is a mixed blessing.

In fact, a gooey creature bites off the head of the enraptured scientist, who then becomes a slimy and mutating zombie in the nether world. Police think that the culprit is the doctor's pale and twitchy assistant, Crawford Tillinghast (played to creepy perfection by "Re-Animator" star Jeffrey Combs). A psychiatrist (played with a multitude of perverse suggestions by gorgeous Barbara Crampton) offers to investigate Tillinghast's wild story. Accompanied by a policeman (Ken Foree), they visit the spooky house plho Emerson This band plays loony little Itfies over the telephone for intl-Jfiriudiences of jj According to John Flansburgh," guitarist, and, John Linnell, "rock with They Might Be giants, the band hai reached out nd touched a brand new public jith its Dial-A-Song service. (For samples, call Flansburgh's answering machine at 718-387-6962, which Jpjays a new ditty each day.

You jpay for the "They're not real jght-lifers," says Linnell of his Jhone followers. "They're usually Jfaoplf.who work in offices and are jjjck of. their jobs and just want to all somebody." On the other side of TMBG's piebald demographic" are fans of jte live shows at New York City hot ijpots such as Danceteria, CBGB, Pyramid and parinka. This week 3Se group performs outside the New JJTork metro area for the first time, in the'T'They Might Be Giants 'Bring ile the Head of Kenny Rogers' World Tour 1987." TMBG will be at Rollick tonight. The tour doesn't truthfully circle the globe, but it does amble across much of the United States in a pattern that re-Sjfembles a noose.

"I hope that's not jjmlnous," says Linnell. 5 If their pathway is ominous, so 3 their music cheerfully oml-: dark, silly and surreal. All the yeople are so happy now their heads 4re caving inI'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber 2sWn, Is the message in "Nothing's fionna Change My Clothes," a tune jfrom their debut album on Bar-Wone records. Speak softly, drive a Sherman SankLaugh hard, it's a long way to hbink, they sing on "Rhythm jgectieft Want Ad." Among the 19 compositions on the record, there is 3 lusty drinking song That I Jfeet Old Before I a country lament for the melody from a Bugs "Bunny, cartoon, Section Want While their pieces adhere to the honored pop conventions, with A ABA! construction and Elvis Cos-tello-ish chord changes, they employ 4 "fy 'FROM BEYOND': Carolyn Purdy-Gordon cannot believe her eyes. Square, the pair adopted their present handle from a 1971 movie featuring George C.

Scott, whose addled character thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. Linnell says the movie's Quixotic overtones are suited to the band, which he describes as either an exercise in futility or a noble quest. In addition to accordion, Linnell Slays baritone sax. He adds that "At lis moment I am studying the banjo, from across the room. I've been thinking about starting another band called BanJovi.

"We're ready for the bootleggers," says Linnell. "We have a lot of songs and we desperately need to get rid of our backlog. That was the purpose of the Dial-A-Song service." In that function, Flansburgh's answering machine has served well. It has also accepted numerous recorded messages, both clean and obscene, from followers around the country, but very few of them have turned out to be from attractive single women. Says Linnell, "As a dating service, it's been a failure." They Might Be Giants.

Tonight at The Rollick, 688 Spring St. N.W. Doors open 9 p.m.; music begins with Think Jet. Tickets $5 at the door. Call 881-1193 for information.

fractured meaning and bizarre in- -strumentation, including a phoned-in guitar solo on one tune called "Absolutely Bill's Mood." If this sounds like a couple of goofy art rockers with no commercial potential, consider that TMBG has put a song in regular rotation on MTV Your Hand Inside The Puppet has been featured in People and Spin magazines and reviewed in The Village Voice and The New York Times and has become a regular on the "Joe Franklin Show. Of their lyrics, Flansburgh says "Most of them are pretty oblique. We're not that worried about being misunderstood, but Gordon Llghtfoot would say the same thing. Very positive, in a Bertolt-Brecht-meets-the-Lovin'-Spoonful sort of way." Collaboration between the two Johns, both natives of Lincoln, began in high school when they invented a mimeographed underground comic book called Dark Brown Funnies. Both moved to New York about five years ago.

"And we started working together, realizing that we were both musical geniuses," says Flansburgh; What happens when geniuses collide? "Oh, it's been really jolly," he adds. Though they performed once at a Central Park Sandinista rally under the name Circle Gets the took a single gulp and swallowed Tillinghast from his head down to his navel. Tillinghast is rescued, but the incident leaves him bald and, understandably, a little pooped. "From Beyond." Based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft and directed by Stuart Gordon.

because of abundant violence. where Pretorious had his laboratory. What happens there is not for the squeamish. To obtain an rating, director Gordon was forced to leave out several of his gorier moments. Still, there are really astonishing (disgusting?) sights.

In an Atlanta theater the other day, the entire audience leaped in fright when a giant wormlike creature Guess who's playing doctor? TirnTlr" i -inrnrT 1 -it "AS "JHEBEST FLM OF 1986. great movie." fSKEl. 8f 17 1 1HI MSVES "SHATTFRIIUC fig 4 A cV, isin f.CCETJ.'.HT -vrvW, terae, exceptionally movlng. the tension builds and never lets up." -fticwGt Tt Nim ow rmt AMmiCANMOVE This violent, deeply moving elegy of war will leave you shaking; i One comes out excited yet shaken and close to tears." t7 "YOU WILL NEVER LOOK AT A WAR PICTURE IN QUITE THE SAME WAY AGAIN AFTER SEEING 'PLATOON" THE YEAR'S MOST POITOULFttJW. shot and edited." -Mat 0 KM TOM A comedy of epidemic proportions.

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