ClarkWORLD (2009)
Directed by: Deren Abram
Written by: Deren Abram
Released by: Passion River Films
Written, Directed, Produced and Edited by Deren Abram who worked as a Set Designer on some of Bob Clark's later "Direct to DVD" movies such as 'Baby Geniuses' and 'Karate Dog'. 'ClarkWORLD' is a disorganized look into the life of director Bob Clark...a life which was tragically cut short in an automobile accident on April 4th, 2007.
I'm a big fan of Bob Clark's work, from his early horror films such as 'Deathdream' and 'Black Christmas', to his raunchy teen comedy 'Porky's', to the Holiday classic 'A Christmas Story'. Because I'm a fan, I thought for sure 'ClarkWORLD' would be something right up my alley and if done right it would have been...but sadly it wasn't.
I think the biggest problem with this documentary is that it was put together after the death of Bob Clark. All of the interview footage of him is stuff found on various DVD special features or old award ceremonies. Nothing but old archived footage and stuff you've probably already seen before.
They also spend too much time focusing on and interviewing actors from his later films such as 'Karate Dog', 'Blonde and Blonder' and 'Baby Geniuses'...most likely because they were easy for Abram to track down, having worked on these projects himself. I would have never thought in a million years I'd see people such as Denise Richards or former 'Happy Days' star Scott Baio show up in a documentary about Bob Clark. There are some decent interviews though with actors Kim Cattrall, Mary Steenburgen and Peter Billingsley which saves the documentary from being a total disaster.
'ClarkWORLD' touches briefly on Bob's start as a horror director/producer, mainly talking about his 1974 slasher film 'Black Christmas'...but nearly all of the interviews and footage regarding 'Black Christmas' in this documentary is taken directly from the extra features found on the 'Black Christmas' DVD release. The footage of Clark addressing his 'Black Christmas/Halloween' sequel idea was lifted directly off of youtube. Overall this was just an extremely lazy effort on the part of director Deren Abram. The documentary doesn't even mention films like 'Deathdream' or 'Deranged'...or his work on the popular Steven Spielberg series 'Amazing Stories'...and only briefly mentions his cult classic 'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things'.
The editing is also very poor which doesn't surprise me considering Abram has never been in the editing seat prior to this. The documentary jumps around all over the place. One minute they'll be talking about 'A Christmas Story' and the next they're interviewing sound editors on 'Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2', then they'll jump backwards and begin talking about 'Porky's', and then go back to 'A Christmas Story' . The entire thing is a jumbled mess.
Overall this wasn't what I was expecting and for the most part was a real let down. Instead of wasting your time here, I'd recommend heading over to Deadpit.com and check out their December 22nd, 2006 audio interview with Bob Clark where they discuss his entire career, less then 4 months before his tragic death. It's much more informative and is everything I had hoped this documentary would have been.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Written by: Deren Abram
Released by: Passion River Films
Written, Directed, Produced and Edited by Deren Abram who worked as a Set Designer on some of Bob Clark's later "Direct to DVD" movies such as 'Baby Geniuses' and 'Karate Dog'. 'ClarkWORLD' is a disorganized look into the life of director Bob Clark...a life which was tragically cut short in an automobile accident on April 4th, 2007.
I'm a big fan of Bob Clark's work, from his early horror films such as 'Deathdream' and 'Black Christmas', to his raunchy teen comedy 'Porky's', to the Holiday classic 'A Christmas Story'. Because I'm a fan, I thought for sure 'ClarkWORLD' would be something right up my alley and if done right it would have been...but sadly it wasn't.
I think the biggest problem with this documentary is that it was put together after the death of Bob Clark. All of the interview footage of him is stuff found on various DVD special features or old award ceremonies. Nothing but old archived footage and stuff you've probably already seen before.
They also spend too much time focusing on and interviewing actors from his later films such as 'Karate Dog', 'Blonde and Blonder' and 'Baby Geniuses'...most likely because they were easy for Abram to track down, having worked on these projects himself. I would have never thought in a million years I'd see people such as Denise Richards or former 'Happy Days' star Scott Baio show up in a documentary about Bob Clark. There are some decent interviews though with actors Kim Cattrall, Mary Steenburgen and Peter Billingsley which saves the documentary from being a total disaster.
'ClarkWORLD' touches briefly on Bob's start as a horror director/producer, mainly talking about his 1974 slasher film 'Black Christmas'...but nearly all of the interviews and footage regarding 'Black Christmas' in this documentary is taken directly from the extra features found on the 'Black Christmas' DVD release. The footage of Clark addressing his 'Black Christmas/Halloween' sequel idea was lifted directly off of youtube. Overall this was just an extremely lazy effort on the part of director Deren Abram. The documentary doesn't even mention films like 'Deathdream' or 'Deranged'...or his work on the popular Steven Spielberg series 'Amazing Stories'...and only briefly mentions his cult classic 'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things'.
The editing is also very poor which doesn't surprise me considering Abram has never been in the editing seat prior to this. The documentary jumps around all over the place. One minute they'll be talking about 'A Christmas Story' and the next they're interviewing sound editors on 'Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2', then they'll jump backwards and begin talking about 'Porky's', and then go back to 'A Christmas Story' . The entire thing is a jumbled mess.
Overall this wasn't what I was expecting and for the most part was a real let down. Instead of wasting your time here, I'd recommend heading over to Deadpit.com and check out their December 22nd, 2006 audio interview with Bob Clark where they discuss his entire career, less then 4 months before his tragic death. It's much more informative and is everything I had hoped this documentary would have been.
NOT RECOMMENDED
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