The Stand – Character Description
Stu Redman
– Stu is a high school graduate normal worker. After all the people around him die, he dreams about Mother Abigail. He joins the community, known as “Boulder Free Zone (BFZ)”, with many people that he met on his way. He becomes the first leader of the congress of BFZ. He gets chosen as one of the 4 men to defeat the Darkman, and becomes the first witness of god’s judgment.
Nick Andros
-Nich is a deaf, mute person who travels around the country. After the great epidemic, he meets Tom Cullen, and Ralph Brentner, and becomes one of the first members of BFZ by meeting Mother Abigail. He gets killed because of a bomb terror by the Darkman’s person, however his soul stays on the Earth, and protects Tom Cullen.
Tom Cullen
-Tom Cullen is a man with a retarded man, who is the only survivor of his town. He meets Nick who passes by his town, and joins BFZ. Later, he gets chosen as the spy who will be sent to Las Vegas. Even the Darkman’s psychic power couldn’t look through Tom’s retarded, but impeccably pure mind, so Tom finishes his job as a spy and returns successfully to BFZ.
Harold Lauder
-Harold is a boy with weak, narrow mind. In the beginning of the story, he is just a pure, innocent person. Because of the stress of his journey for survival, he changes into a different person. The Darkman soon realizes about Harold, and seduces him to his world. Harold couldn’t resist against it, and bombs the congress meeting of BFZ, and kills 3 members of the congress. After he runs away from BFZ to Las Vegas, he gets betrayed by the Darkman, and becomes unmovable because of injuries. He ends his life my unloading a pistol in his mouth.
Mother Abigail
-Mother Abigail is the spiritual leader of BFZ. She gathers the survivors that are on the good side, and establishes BFZ as the god tells her to do. She gets a message from the god, and goes on a journey by herself to find out what it means. She returns after 3 weeks, and performs a miracle by saving 5 members of the congress from a devastating dynamite terrorism and healing the wounds of the survivors of the terrorism. Mother Abigail tells the people that 4 men of BFZ must go to Las Vegas to defeat the evil and dies.
The Darkman
-The Darkman represents evil Satan who goes against the god. He gathers people in Nevada, around Las Vegas, and establishes his own kingdom. With his satanic powers, he watches everyone in America, including the people of BFZ, by becoming the spirits of animals. He successfully kills the spies of BFZ in Las Vegas except Tom cullen, and 3 members of the congress of Boulder. Later, the god’s furious judgment of nuclear bomb smites his kingdom and the Darkman himself. Everything goes away from the nuclear bomb. However, the Darkman survives this ordeal and starts a new kingdom in a undeveloped, barbaric tribe of an unknown jungle.
The Stand (1994)
Director: Mick Garris
Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe
The Stand is a series of 4 films. It is based on Stephen King’s novel, “The Stand”. It is about apocalypse, the ultimate battle between good and evil, and the meaning of the existence of humans and their minds.
Around year 1990, a great epidemic called Captain Trips, a.k.a Superflu, strikes America and wipes out 99.7% of the population. The survivors of this plague dream about two different people. One is Mother Abigail, who is an old, religious black lady. In the dream, she tells that the god is waiting. Another one is Randal Flagg, a.k.a the Darkman, who tells the survivors that he and his followers will rule the world with iron fist and fire. Different people choose different communities to go;Mother Abigail, the good, peaceful, or the Darkman, evil and terrifying, but organized. People who followed the lady builds up a community in Boulder, Colorado. Followers of the Darkman builds a kingdom in Las Vegas. As soon as they builds their home, the war between good and evil begins, and they fight with each other until one gets destroyed.
Kill Bill (2003)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Uma Thurman, Lucy Liux, David Carradine
Kill Bill is an extraordinary, but amazing film created by Quentin Tarantino, who is crazy about movies. Some people consider this film horrible, and bizarre. However most film manias who understand the true side of this film don’t criticize this film at all. It is a amazing piece of work, full of hommages to the films that Quentin Tarantino watched when he was working in a video rental shop.
List of Hommages
-70’s~80’s Japanese Samurai films
-80’s Hong Kong action,noir movies
-Japanese animation, a.k.a Anime
– Western movies
-Asian films that focus the story on vengeance
Beatrix Kido, a.k.a the Bride, a.k.a Black Mamba is a woman who lost her husband and child by her former coworkers. She gets into coma, and wakes up after 4 years. She walks out of the hospital as soon as she wakes up, and starts killing the 5 people who are related to the brutal murder of her husband, friends, and daughter in the wedding chapel.
Kill Bill is known as the film that completed the world of Tarantino’s films. The mania codes such as the Crazy 88 and Gogo Yubari show his love to B-movies and Asian films. The story is very simple, however it comes really interesting to the audience by the conversations that are leading the situation created by Tarantino, who is also known as a great raconteur.
Jui Kuen (1978)
Director: Yuen Woo-Ping
Chéng Lóng (a.k.a Jackie Chan), Siu Tien Yuen
Jui Kuen, also known as “The Drunken Master”, is one of the earliest films of Jackie Chan’s career. Thousands of people all around the continent went to the cinema to see this well made film, and Jui Kuen simply dominated the box office of Asia. Jui Kuen started many syndromes that still have great impacts on today’s film industry.
1. It started the legend of Jackie Chan by bringing him into main stream, who later becomes one of the most successful Asian in Hollywood, with his films such as the Rush Hour trilogy, and Police story.
2. It started the Hong Kong Kung Fu action films syndrome.
3. It made Jui Kuen, which is also a type of Kung Fu in the film, very popular among people. The fighting style known as Jui Kuen was later used in many other medias.
Wong Fei Hung is a typical active boy main character. In the beginning of the film, he is just a troublemaker who just makes problems and gets chewed by his father, who is a very well-known Kung Fu master. But with the harsh training of Su Hua Chi, he becomes the second man who mastered Jui Kuen, and gains victory from the fight between the bounty hunter.
Su Hua Chi is the great master of Jui Kuen, who is humorous and strong. People know him as a drunk, but he drinks to always be able to fight. Because of master Wong’s request, he teaches Fei Hung the Jui Kuen skills, and makes Fei Hung capable of destroying anyone with a bottle of alcohol. Later, Fei Hung and Hua Chi become best drinking friends, and become known as the great Kung Fu fighters in the town.
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