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Post by johnnypt on Oct 1, 2018 5:47:50 GMT -5
I know the feeling, my own review series ended about 4 years ago and I haven’t had any time to back for new ones. Be happy to chime in as usual!
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Post by almuric on Oct 2, 2018 9:48:10 GMT -5
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) - Great granddaddy of them all. This was the first (unauthorized) adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (all characters are renamed and the bulk of the action relocated to Germany) and one of the earliest Horror films ever made. The early scenes are a bit of a slog, with a lovey-dovey couple, Hutter and Ellen, whose displays of affection look more like acts of violence due to the exaggerated silent-movie acting. We also meet the Renfeld analogue, Knock, who is acting crazy long before the vampire enters the picture. It picks up considerably once Hutter goes to Transylvania, where he learns about the undead and we see a werewolf. The "werewolf" is a hyena, which I'd mock, but the 1930 Dracula has armadillos in Transylvania, plus a giant bee in it's own coffin.
Max Schrek's Count Orlok is a remarkable creation. He looks and acts truly inhuman, though it does create the issue of why the heck Hutter doesn't realize there's something strange about him sooner. He's not exactly subtle. Lugosi at least appears mostly normal. And his vampiric powers are a bit inconsistent. In some scenes he can move his coffins by telekinesis, in others he's lugging them around. And he doesn't even use Knock as a servant.
It's a bit dull watching Hutter putter, but whenever Orlok shows up, the film sparks to life. Say what you will about Todd Browning, but at least he cut to the chase in the opening. Hans Erdmann's score helps carry the film past some rough patches and it's definitely worth seeing at least once.
Next: A Whale of a time
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 2, 2018 9:52:14 GMT -5
It's definitely one to watch once...and not in the dark! I actually saw it the first time back in 1980 or so on Channel 13 in NY on a Sunday afternoon at 1P (right after Abbott and Costello on WPIX). They also showed Caligari right around the same time in that time slot. Yes, in our lifetimes silent movies appeared on something other than TCM or the old AMC.
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Post by almuric on Oct 2, 2018 10:52:56 GMT -5
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 2, 2018 11:19:28 GMT -5
Who knew there were that many mummy pictures? (though if you're using Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy you're stretching just a bit...) |
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Post by themirrorthief on Oct 2, 2018 11:33:21 GMT -5
I tried to watch Robot and Azted Mummy...couldnt get very far, should have gotten wasted firs on really cheap beer I suppose
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 2, 2018 12:00:27 GMT -5
I tried to watch Robot and Azted Mummy...couldnt get very far, should have gotten wasted firs on really cheap beer I suppose I could only do it with MST3K and even that one they were hard pressed to find the jokes. |
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Post by Char-Vell on Oct 2, 2018 12:09:19 GMT -5
I watched R-v-AT stone cold sober with no joke cracking robots. no problem!
You guys are lightweights!
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Post by almuric on Oct 2, 2018 12:19:51 GMT -5
I guess I'll see what I'm made of when it airs later this month.
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Post by Char-Vell on Oct 4, 2018 12:03:44 GMT -5
I guess I'll see what I'm made of when it airs later this month. If you really want to test your fortitude, track down a copy of Wrestling Women -vs- The Aztec Mummy. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 7, 2018 10:15:22 GMT -5
The Old Dark House (1932) - How do you follow up the original Frankenstein? With something completely different. James Whale's second classic horror movie remains a grea deal of fun. Boris Karloff (here billed as KARLOFF) isn't the lead (he's the butler), but he gets top billing. Advertising for the movie explained that he really was the same actor who played the Frankenstein Monster. He once again gets a role with heavy make up and grunts in place of dialogue. I'm glad he didn't get typecast. Anyhow, the real leads are a young newlywed couple, Philip and Margaret, played by Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart. When the road is washed out, they take refuge in the home of the Femm family, Horace (Ernest Thesinger), puritanical Rebecca (Eva Moore, who keeps insisting "No beds! No beds!" for the young couples stranded at the house) and later their pyromaniac brother Saul (Brember Wills). A real oddity in the film is the casting of Elspeth Dudgeon as the family patriarch, Sir Roderick Femm. It's very obvious the performer is female. I've heard several suggestions as to why Whale did this. It's almost like some private joke he's having.
The movie is a nice mix of chills and laughs seasoned with some pre-Code sauciness. My favorite scene is Horace Femm coming down the stairs and bidding everyone a good morning after a night of mayhem. Nice to see someone slept well during all that! Universal lost the rights to the film in 1957 as well as losing the negative, but it was eventually recovered and the movie was released on Blu-Ray in 2017.
Definitely well worth your time.
Next: X-perimental cinema
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 7, 2018 14:03:03 GMT -5
Thanks to that whole situation, it’s really been a missing link in the Universal horror puzzle. It missed out on all those creature feature syndication packages and then the home video releases until Kino got it out finally.
Also what was up in 1934 that we really only got one horror picture of note (the Black Cat)? 31 has the two biggies, 32 has this, the Mummy and J&H over at Paramount, 33 had IM and King Kong then you had a boatload in 35.
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Post by almuric on Oct 13, 2018 17:05:28 GMT -5
The Quatermass X-Periment (1955) - In 1955, Hammer was still a little ways from becoming the studio we all think about when we hear the name Hammer. This was their first real foray into the fantastic, an adaptation of the BBC TV serial by Nigel Kneale. An x-perimental rocket crashlands in Britain, carrying only one of the three astronauts who went up in it. Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donleavy), who launched it, investigates what went wrong. Soon it becomes apparent that the surviving astronaut was changed by his experience and the human race is in grave danger . . .
Quatermass, almost forgotten today, has had a huge influence on British SF. You can see some of its creative DNA in Doctor Who and it was an influence on John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. It's not quite perfect, but it's still a lot of fun. Hammer would adapt the next two serials as Quatermass II (which I have never seen on TV or DVD, ever) and Quatermass And The Pit, which I'll be reviewing soon.
Next: Karloff and Lugosi Have Risen From Their Graves
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Post by deuce on Oct 13, 2018 21:21:19 GMT -5
Now that I have a PVR, I can record whenever TCM plays Hammer. Maybe next year can be Hammer Time.  Looks like it's Hammer Time, alright! |
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Post by almuric on Oct 14, 2018 9:49:42 GMT -5
Yup, got lots of Hammer this year. Maybe too much to cover this October, since I'm a bit pressed for time of late.
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