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Post by almuric on Oct 21, 2021 16:45:33 GMT -5
The Omen (1976) - The 1970s were a decade that convinced a lot of people that Satan was alive and well on Planet Earth. The massive success of The Exorcist spawned a host of satanic Horror movies, of which this was the most prominent and popular. American ambassador Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Katherine (Lee Remick) lose a child. Thorn, at the urging of a priest, secretly adopts a baby boy born the same night. When the boy Damien (Harvey Spencer Stephens) reaches five years of age, the family and those around them are plagued by inexplicable and terrifying deaths.
On one hand, the theology is suspect (The rhyme, supposedly from the Book of Revelation, isn't, and how could you really kill the Antichrist?) and the metaphysics are strange (Why do omens of impending deaths show up in photos?) but director Richard Donner and the cast make it work. There's something horrible about evil in the form of a child and the way the Devil uses that to protect his offspring. The movie almost feels like a '70s paranoid thriller, but with a supernatural conspiracy in place of a political one. Amazingly, Donner went on from this to direct Superman: The Movie. Followed by the requisite sequels/reboot/TV show, as well as a curious mid-'90s Fox pilot which has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie or the Antichrist, but concerns a body-hopping entity.
Yeah, I'm confused too.
Next time: Curses, spoiled again
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Post by almuric on Oct 24, 2021 10:05:01 GMT -5
Curse of the Demon (1957) - Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in England to debunk the devil cult of Julian Karswell (a delightfully sinister Niall MacGinnis). When he's cursed to die by the cult, Holden must decide if it's all just superstition, or if there really is a demon coming to claim him. Director Jacques Tourneur wanted to make the demon subtle and ambiguous. Producer Hal Chester wanted a monster. Ray Harryhausen might have created the demon if his schedule had worked out. As it is, it's basically a giant animatronic flaming demon which is impressive for the time, but a bit out of place. There's lots of subtle, moody, suspenseful build-up, but in the end, giant flaming demon. It's still a good movie. The British version is titled Night of the Demon and runs nearly 10 minutes longer, with less flaming demon.
Next time: The kids are not alright
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Post by robp on Oct 25, 2021 8:55:57 GMT -5
Curse of the Demon (1957) - Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in England to debunk the devil cult of Julian Karswell (a delightfully sinister Niall MacGinnis). When he's cursed to die by the cult, Holden must decide if it's all just superstition, or if there really is a demon coming to claim him. Director Jacques Tourneur wanted to make the demon subtle and ambiguous. Producer Hal Chester wanted a monster. Ray Harryhausen might have created the demon if his schedule had worked out. As it is, it's basically a giant animatronic flaming demon which is impressive for the time, but a bit out of place. There's lots of subtle, moody, suspenseful build-up, but in the end, giant flaming demon. It's still a good movie. The British version is titled Night of the Demon and runs nearly 10 minutes longer, with less flaming demon.
Next time: The kids are not alright
This one's an old favourite, even with the slightly dated demon. It's an adaptation of MR James Casting the Runes. Some say Karswell was based in part on Crowley. There's also a 1979 TV adaptation that isn't bad. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 26, 2021 10:00:42 GMT -5
The Innocents (1961) - Lots of haunted houses this year. Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) takes job as a governess for two children (Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin). Soon she becomes convinced that their house is haunted by the ghosts of two previous servants (Peter Wyngarde and Clytie Jessop) who are using the children for their own twisted ends. Are the children really possessed, or has Miss Giddens become possessed by her own fears and anxieties? The film maintains a perfect ambiguity throughout, with excellent cinematography by Freddie Francis and performances from the small cast. Along with Black Sunday and Psycho, this was among the last great black and white Horror movies and probably the best new (to me) film I've seen this October. Highly recommended.
Next time: Hyde's on third
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Post by almuric on Oct 29, 2021 9:59:25 GMT -5
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) - After meeting Frankenstein and the Invisible Man I guess this was inevitable. The duo play a pair of American detectives named Slim and Tubby training with the Victorian London Metropolitan Police. I'll leave it up to you to determine which actor plays which. Karloff is Dr. Jekyll, but does not play the role of Hyde, despite wearing light makeup in the transformation scenes. That went to an uncredited Eddie Parker, a stuntman who had a number of bit parts in such movies as Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Rear Window, Tarantula and Klaris the Mummy in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. You can tell because Hyde is a lot more agile than the elderly Karloff could have possibly been. This Jekyll is more sinister than most, deliberately transforming into Hyde to do the things he can't as himself.
It's not the best A&C movie, but it manages to generate a few decent laughs, most notably when Costello imbibes one of Jekyll's potions and turns into a mouse-man: "He turned me into a mouse, the rat!" The four-way chase at the end is also a hoot. Watch for a scene in a wax museum which features some (slightly anachronistic) wax dummies of Frankenstein and Dracula.
Next time: Good Phibe-rations
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 29, 2021 13:29:48 GMT -5
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) - After meeting Frankenstein and the Invisible Man I guess this was inevitable. The duo play a pair of American detectives named Slim and Tubby training with the Victorian London Metropolitan Police. I'll leave it up to you to determine which actor plays which. Karloff is Dr. Jekyll, but does not play the role of Hyde, despite wearing light makeup in the transformation scenes. That went to an uncredited Eddie Parker, a stuntman who had a number of bit parts in such movies as Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, Rear Window, Tarantula and Klaris the Mummy in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. You can tell because Hyde is a lot more agile than the elderly Karloff could have possibly been. This Jekyll is more sinister than most, deliberately transforming into Hyde to do the things he can't as himself.
It's not the best A&C movie, but it manages to generate a few decent laughs, most notably when Costello imbibes one of Jekyll's potions and turns into a mouse-man: "He turned me into a mouse, the rat!" The four-way chase at the end is also a hoot. Watch for a scene in a wax museum which features some (slightly anachronistic) wax dummies of Frankenstein and Dracula.
Next time: Good Phibe-rations
We used to imitate Mr Hyde's demise falling off of the jungle gym after climbing up the outside. This was certainly among the better A&C's from the 50s. The next "meet"ing (Keystone Kops) is probably their last great one. The Meets after that, not so much. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 30, 2021 19:28:39 GMT -5
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) - When the brilliant Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) loses his wife on the operating table, he goes literally underground and plots a series of vengeful murders against the physicians he holds responsible, using the Ten Plagues of Egypt as his basis. This is a pretty weird movie for the time period. Phibes's increasingly baroque murders are interspersed with oddly upbeat musical interludes with Phibes on his organ and his female assistant (Virginia North) conducting an orchestra of clockwork automatons. Like I said, weird, but very cool.
Price doesn't get to use his magnificent voice much in this one, and when he does, it's when he connects his throat to a Victorola. Because Phibes's face was destroyed, whenever we see Price's face, he's wearing light makeup to suggest wax and he largely keeps his features immobile, emoting mostly with his eyes. It's a great performance and I think without it the film might not have the impact it does. One thing's for sure, you'll never hear "Over the Rainbow" the same way again. Followed somehow by a sequel, though it's hard to see how, judging by the ending. But hey, if Hammer's Dracula can come back from being reduced to dust half a dozen times, I guess this isn't that much of a stretch.
Well, that's all for new stuff this year. Tomorrow I'll be rewatching Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
Happy Halloween!
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Post by almuric on Sept 5, 2022 10:14:30 GMT -5
Head's up: On September 15, TCM is showing a number of Fay Wray movies, including Doctor X, The Most Dangerous Game, Mystery of the Wax Museum, King Kong, and The Vampire Bat.
Last year the Horror movie reviews felt a bit random and unfocused, so this year I'm going back to my roots with a twist. This October I'm going back to Universal with a handful of classic offerings I hadn't seen before and I'm branching out to the Science-Fictional horrors of the 1950s from Universal and others. Space invaders and giant bugs are on the menu! Keep watching the skies!
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Post by johnnypt on Sept 5, 2022 16:37:30 GMT -5
Head's up: On September 15, TCM is showing a number of Fay Wray movies, including Doctor X, The Most Dangerous Game, Mystery of the Wax Museum, King Kong, and The Vampire Bat.
Last year the Horror movie reviews felt a bit random and unfocused, so this year I'm going back to my roots with a twist. This October I'm going back to Universal with a handful of classic offerings I hadn't seen before and I'm branching out to the Science-Fictional horrors of the 1950s from Universal and others. Space invaders and giant bugs are on the menu! Keep watching the skies!
I actually just looked at their schedule and noticed a Fay Wray day. And they just had Summer Under the Stars! I never got around to picking up the collections they made of the 50s horror films. I saw a bunch of them on TV and they did some on MST3K during the SciFi years. Would like to someday go back and get them. Was thinking about repurposing my old horror reviews into some Valleys of Numenor episodes after the series ends for the season. Probably won't be all of them, maybe just one or two depending on how much time I have. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 3, 2022 19:30:02 GMT -5
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) - Robert Florey, having not directed Frankenstein, set his sights on this Poe-inspired production as a chance for redemption. Bela Lugosi, having not played the Frankenstein Monster, saw the role of Dr. Mirakle as his chance for redemption. The results are very mixed, but still fascinating.
The not-so-good is that this suffers from one of the problems that plagued the early Universals: sappy romantic interludes. First-billed Sydney Fox features prominently in these. The good is that it has all the advantages of having been made before the Production Code came down. Being pre-Code, this one has saucy material like dancing girls and a glimpse of Sydney Fox's nipples, as well a shocking, sacreligious murder of a crucified prostitute by Mirakle that ranks among the best scenes of 1930s Horror. Everything else in the film labors in the shadow of that scene. Lots of great expressionistic cinematography courtesy of Karl Freund. Oh, and Dr. Mirakle's ape Erik is played by frequent Hollywood ape-actor Charles Gemora, who also played the gorilla in The Monster and the Girl.
This movie also shows evidence of re-editing that create a number of strange narrative problems. As Gregory Mank points out in his commentary, the theatrical order of events is puzzling: Mirakle sets his sights on Camille . . . only to hunt a completely different woman first, before going after Camille. Evidence suggests that the murder originally came first. The re-ordered version created a few years ago is available on a different Blu-Ray release, but sadly not this one. It doesn't solve the lovey-dovey stuff, but it would certainly help. A minor, though interesting, Universal Horror.
Next time: Play A Dangerous Game
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 3, 2022 20:41:21 GMT -5
I always liked the shot on the swing, that was interesting for the time. You also get Leon Ames decades before he costarred with Mr. Ed under his original name.
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Post by bonesaw on Oct 7, 2022 6:59:37 GMT -5
Looking forward to watching Creature from the Black Lagoon and Wolf Man with my kids next weekend. I don't think they would go for Dracula or Frankenstein quite yet.
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 7, 2022 9:03:13 GMT -5
Looking forward to watching Creature from the Black Lagoon and Wolf Man with my kids next weekend. I don't think they would go for Dracula or Frankenstein quite yet. My wife doesn't like any horror movies at all, so I didn't get my chance to introduce her son to all those films the same way I did: through Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein! I do think those two films are more "kid friendly" compared to the other 4 tentpole films from the 30s, though Wolf Man kind of walks that line. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 7, 2022 11:03:09 GMT -5
The Most Dangerous Game (1932) - The first of many screen adaptations of Richard Connell's famous short story from Fay Wray's heyday as Scream Queen. Leslie Banks as Zaroff is a wonderfully sinister creation, hiding his streak of homicidal insanity behind a genial veneer. Robert Armstrong's too-drunk-to-understand comic relief is actually funny (and it helps he's not around to undercut the dramatic tension later in the movie). Praise should also be given to the art direction, including the sinister artwork adorning Zaroff's castle and his grisly "trophy room". Being pre-Code, the film has the freedom to explore violence and sexual themes in ways that films wouldn't be just a few years later. A strange pattern with both the movies I've reviewed so far: Noble Johnson, who was black, is cast as an Eastern European in both! Boy, the past really was a foreign country, wasn't it?
Has been remade, rehashed, ripped-offed and parodied more times than I could possibly list.
Next time: Guys and Devil-Dolls
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 7, 2022 14:37:34 GMT -5
The Most Dangerous Game (1932) - The first of many screen adaptations of Richard Connell's famous short story from Fay Wray's heyday as Scream Queen. Leslie Banks as Zaroff is a wonderfully sinister creation, hiding his streak of homicidal insanity behind a genial veneer. Robert Armstrong's too-drunk-to-understand comic relief is actually funny (and it helps he's not around to undercut the dramatic tension later in the movie). Praise should also be given to the art direction, including the sinister artwork adorning Zaroff's castle and his grisly "trophy room". Being pre-Code, the film has the freedom to explore violence and sexual themes in ways that films wouldn't be just a few years later. A strange pattern with both the movies I've reviewed so far: Noble Johnson, who was black, is cast as an Eastern European in both! Boy, the past really was a foreign country, wasn't it?
Has been remade, rehashed, ripped-offed and parodied more times than I could possibly list.
Next time: Guys and Devil Dolls
Many of the same sets and actors were used in the director's next film that took place in a jungle..and on top of the Empire State Building. My favorite remake was the one on Gilligan's Island. |
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