Twilight Upon the Twenties – Horror Films of the 2020’s

 

2020’s – Twilight Upon the Twenties

“And so my friends, we’ll say good night, for time has claimed his prize” – Styx

“And now the end is near, And so (we) face the final curtain” – Frank Sinatra

“This is the end, beautiful friend, the end” –  The Doors

“Hootchie Mamas , up with it!” – 2 Live Crew (I don’t know why I put this in here.)

 

We already covered the twenties. Is time repeating and are we in the Twilight Zone?  We are covering the first half of the twenty-twenties and we are toward the end of this list. Twilight is upon us, but we are not in its “Zone.”  

Since this decade is not yet over, it’s difficult to assess any themes that might have influenced horror cinema. Such an assessment usually comes years later, when we can look back and reflect. Besides, there are still four more years left. Maybe a certain horror movie will premiere in 2026, one that will align the planets,  unite the world in peace. You never know.

I can say that the Covid epidemic influenced the plot of one of the movies on this list. James Wan and Robert Eggers return to give us some treats. There’s at least one film from Blumhouse Productions. Another  on this list was nominated for several Oscar awards, rare for a horror movie.  And we have the final Stephen King book turned movie.

Well everyone, enjoy your Halloween. It’s been a blast. Too-da-Boo! 


The Invisible Man – 2020

Here we have a twenty-first century reboot of H.G. Wells’ (author) and James Whale’s (original movie) The Invisible Man.  Only, it’s nothing like either of them. I mean, there’s a man, he becomes invisible. Other than that, there aren’t many similarities. 

The main character is not The Invisible Man. Instead, it’s a woman named Cee, played by Elizabeth Moss.  The Invisible Man is her ex, an abuser and stalker. Sucks to be stalked by an invisible person. But this whole supernatural situation makes the situation a whole lot creepier.

This movie is more serious in tone than the original. It’s a psychological thriller as well as a horror film as Cee has to question herself. Is she really insisting she has an invisible stalker?  This invisible man is subtle in his movements. There is no creepy pair of pants dancing around.  He is quiet. Sometimes she hears him breathing. Then not. Is he fogging up her mirrors?

This is an intriguing reimagining of the original story for sure.

 

 

Host – 2020

Influenced by the found-footage genre, Host is a film of a Zoom chat.  Sounds boring, huh?  You’re probably thinking, “What the hell, man, I sit through that shit at work everyday. Why would I want to watch a movie about that?”  Because, my friends, there’s a demon in the chat.

Host is a British film that takes place during the quarantine of the Covid pandemic. Several friends decide it would be fun to conduct a seance over Zoom. They are led by a professional medium, so nothing can go wrong.  A lot goes wrong.  A demon joins the chat. One by one, the women (It’s mostly women, one dude), experience supernatural attacks which are witnessed by the others that are watching.

This is an inventive film, a nice expansion of the found-footage genre.  It’s a very short film exclusive to Shudder.

 

Malignant – 2021

I seem to get this film mixed up with Sinister. Both are one word films and the definitions of these words are slightly similar.  When I was reviewing movie titles to put on this list, Malignant  popped up and I had to ask myself, “Did I see this?” The answer was “no.”  It was Sinister I had seen. Once I had it all straightened out, I rented Malignant to watch and review for this list. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed it.

Welcome to the twenty-twenties, James Wan!  Thank you for making this film about a woman who, when she goes to sleep, appears at murder scenes, watching a crazed looking, unnaturally flexible killer slay his victims.  These end up being real murders. 

The first half of the film I found a bit boring.  But once the revelations started rolling in, I was hooked.  

 

The Black Phone – 2021

I had seen the promotional images for this film without really knowing what it was all about. When I saw it was a 2021 film, I be like “Cool, I can watch this for the sake of this project.”  “Maybe,” Dan thought to himself, “This will fit in some sort of theme pertaining to the fear of modern technology.”  For surely this film is about a black cell phone, right?

Nope, Dan.  It’s an old fashioned rotary phone. See Dan, this film takes place in 1978.  

“Ohhhhhh,” said Dan to Dan.

There is a child murderer on the loose. He has killed before and he will kill again if no one stops him. Wearing an evil jester mask, the killer has kidnapped the young protagonist, Finney, and has him locked in a basement.  There’s a black phone on the wall. It’s disconnected. Then why are people calling Finney on the phone? Who are these callers?  

The serial killer/child abductor is played by Ethan Hawke.  Ethan has been doing a lot of horror the last ten years or so. If I didn’t mention it, he stars in The Purge and Sinister.  He’s come a long way since Dead Poet’s Society, when he played a shy kid afraid to even speak. He was scared shitless when Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) made him recite a poem in front of the class. Guess that experience traumatized him.

 

 

Presence – 2024

I had to rent this on YouTube to watch for this project. It wasn’t available at iTunes, where I normally rent from. Oh well.

This is another haunted house-in-suburbia film. A presence haunts a family of four; two parents, two teenagers. The pluses of the film – the moving camera. It creeps around the entire house. It retreats into a closet and allows viewers a vantage point from a hidden location. Very deftly filmed. The minuses – the film seems incomplete. Side plots were teased but never fulfilled.  Also, there aren’t many twists regarding the “presence.”

This is an above average film I will say and leave it at that.

 

Oddity – 2024

This is the first Irish horror film for this project, I do believe.  I could be mistaken though. Me making a mistake wouldn’t be an “oddity.” Speaking of oddities, this film features a psychic blind lady that operates an oddity shop. Many of the trinkets she sells possess magical properties, for better or worse. 

Darcy (pssst! That’s the psychic blind lady) sets out to investigate the peculiar circumstances in which her twin sister was murdered. This sister, Dani, is thought to have been murdered by one of her husband’s psychiatric patients (pssst 2.0 – Dani’s husband is a psychiatrist).  Is this really what happened?

Darcy ships a trunk/chest to Dr. Ted Timmins (psssst 3.0 – this is Dani’s husband) Inside is a golem; a wooden statue in a sitting position that looks quite ghastly. It freaks Ted’s new girlfriend out.  Darcy will use this golem for whatever means necessary to solve the murder mystery.

I’m not sure how many theaters this movie appeared in. Several in Ireland and the U.K in general, I think.  For us United Statians, it’s on Shudder.

Overall I enjoyed this film. I watched it specifically for this project. It’s not the best horror movie out there, but it’s good enough, whatever that means.

 

The Substance – 2024

The Substance brought back 80’s/90’s star Demi Moore.  It was so nice to revisit with her. I really missed Demi.  She was nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Oscars for this role. I was disappointed when she didn’t win.

Demi plays an aging fitness model who is forced into retirement.  Despairing over her aging, she is invited to participate in a clandestine medical procedure which will allow her to have a youthful body again. The catch is – she must alternate between her younger self and older self every seven days. See, the younger self emerges from a slit in her back!  Two are one, even though they develop different personalities that grow to hate each.  One of the tag lines is “You must coexist.”  Or, something like that.  Of course they refuse to do this.  There are also dangerous, grotesque side effects.

This is a body–horror film. It’s also comedic; a satire on the entertainment industries’ toxic obsession with youth and beauty.  I loved this film.  Parts of it blew me away.

 

Nosferatu2024

This was a treat to see in a theater. Robert Eggers is back with a retelling of the Nosferatu story. If I haven’t emphasized it well enough earlier, Nosferatu and Dracula are essentially the same story.  Much like Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola, this film features modern visual flair. But it succeeds at this where Coppola’’s film falls short.

Coppola’s film is over-styled, sometimes bordering on camp, Eggers is pure Gothic horror, and any effects that add to the creepy tone are done subtly.  Careful attention is given to Count Orlock’s appearance. In the end the vampire is creepy in a very unique way.

I love the scene with the villagers that the real estate agent encounters on the way to the Count’s castle. They’re like a carnival troupe of eccentricities.

There are some things I could criticize but dear me, I forgot what its shortcomings were.  Something to do with dialogue, or some awkward scenes?  Well if I can’t remember, guess I can’t bitch. Oh btw, this film is considered arthouse. 

 

The Long Walk – 2025

It’s been nice strolling the decades with you folks. What a “long walk” it’s been!

 Tada! The last entry on this list.  This hit theaters September of this year. Though other horror films are premiering this month for Halloween season, such as Black Phone 2, I was not able to see them. That’s okay, The Long Walk is a great way to end on a high note.

Like many people, I read Stephen King’s The Long Walk back in the day. The problem is, back in the day I was only fourteen.  The book came out 1979 but I read it as part of a compilation under the title The Bachman Books which hit the bookstore in 1985.  

I remembered the basic plot but couldn’t remember the characters. At fourteen, the impact was lost on me. It’s a story set in an alternate timeline, in a dystopian America.  It’s a contest. Fifty or so participants. Walk down the roads of America until you’re dead. Go under three miles per hour, a following troupe of soldiers will shoot you.  There is only one winner.  I remember the horror of it, but couldn’t imagine it as anything else but a fictional story.  As an adult, I’m able to take in the consequences of such an ordeal, even though it’s fiction.

Based on my limited memory, the film follows the book pretty closely. The ending is different.

Mark Hamill does an excellent job playing the Major, the military man that runs the contest. I never thought I would see the day Hamill plays a bad guy. The Major has a gruff voice, which Mark does well. He is a voice actor and is well known for voicing The Joker in Batman the Animated Series. 

The film is graphic and brutal. But excellent 

T-t-t-t-t-hat’s all folks!

 

 

Thematic Terrors of the Teens – Horror Films of the 2010s

2010’s – Thematic Terrors of the Teens

Some call them the years of the horror renaissance. Some call it the decade of elevated horror( Some people call me Boris, cause I speak of Frankenstein love – The Cheely Miller Band)  Some of the non-horror folks simply call these years the Twenty-Teens. And some of your low-brow horror-folks refer to these twenty-teens as the years where horror sucked. 

Let me reassure you, horror in this decade doesn’t suck. Maybe a vampire within one of the movies might extract blood from your jugular vein, but otherwise the movies of the twenty-teens don’t succumb to the force of a vacuum.  

So, what were studios churning out in this decade?  According to the opinions expressed in article above concerning a  horror renaissance:

“I think it was just way too much time of horror being played out, and dull. A lot of what came out before was pretty run of the mill, a lot of jump scares, very basic plots … Audiences wanted something interesting, and it pushed studios to fund those smaller, weirder scripts … It’s not all demon possessions and jump scares. Snore. Snore!

 

And…

Once, mainstream horror was not dissimilar from a roller coaster, something to shock and excite and then be discarded; enjoyable, frightful in the moment and then forgotten. This new, “arthouse” form of horror walks a different path, following in the footsteps of films like “Eraserhead,” “Tetsuo: The Iron Man,” “Antichrist,” “Haus” and other wildly experimental works. 

 

So just what in the heck is this “arthouse” stuff? Also referred to as “art horror” and “elevated horror,” Wikipedia describes it this way:

Art-horror films tend to rely on atmosphere building, psychological character development, cinematic style and philosophical themes for effect – rather than straightforward scares.

 

Not every horror buff goes for these kinds of movies.  I’ve encountered Facebook postings where some AI or bot-generated meme might ask opinions on films such as, oh, I don’t know, say… Babadook from 2014 (Gee, I wonder if that film will be on this list?)  While many will testify to its greatness, others will equate it to trash, complain how boring it is, and spew other bile against it. These are the types that cringe at “art horror stuff”, preferring movies that feature Michael Meyers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger or Leatherface. I try to keep and open mind. I do love those four amicable, sweetie-pie, serial killers, but I also love intelligent movies that make me think.  I enjoy admiring cinematography that makes use of the camera in new and interesting ways. I love the creativity involved in expressing mood. 

To be clear, art horror is not new. Some of the first horror movies are considered arthouse (i.e. Nosferatu).  So why am I and others singling out this decade as an art horror era, or one filled with “thematic terrors?” (Like it says in the title, see see?)

Yeah yeah, one of the opinions above mentioned “Audiences wanted something interesting, and it pushed studios to fund those smaller, weirder scripts .”  This might be true, but it’s not that simple. There’s more to it than that.

First, I cannot say with certainty the twenty-teens produced more art horror than other decades. What’s different from previous decades is the accessibility. As mentioned before, Netflix streaming only started in 2007. With its success, an avalanche of streaming services became available, including Shudder in 2015, an all horror movie-viewing platform. Previously, viewers needed to attend a film-festival or  visit a small, independent theater in order to see these kinds of movies. International films were very tough to come by.  With streaming services, this changed considerably.

Then there was Blumhouse Productions. Founded by Jason Blum in 2000, Blumhouse’s mission was based on  “producing micro-budget films that give directors full creative control.”  Instead of  a typical formula-focused strategy stressing the familiar, the old “this is what sells” motto, Blumhouse provided creators with an incentive to make original films. Since 2014, the company has partnered with Universal Pictures; Universal distributes Blumhouse’s films, thereby increasing viewership. Toward the beginning of this project, I emphasized Universal’s contribution to horror cinema. We’ve come full circle!

Paranormal Activity , a Blumhouse film, was listed in the previous decade. Several more films from this production company appear on this decade’s list. 

Also in the twenty-teens, we saw the rise of new or relatively new directors of horror. Some of their films are considered elevated-horror, some not. James Wan, not a director known for producing art horror, appears on last decade’s list with his hit Saw. A couple more of his films make this list. However, meet Ari Aster. His name is synonymous with arthouse horror, so much so I’m going to call him “Arthouse Ari.”  He is brand spanking new, with his first film premiering in 2018. Two of his films are on this list. Then there’s Michael Flannagan, famous for several horror miniseries that premiered on Netflix (The Haunting of Hill House,  Midnight Mass). With his cerebral themes, he is often associated with art horror. A couple of his films make the cut. Finally, we can’t forget about Robert Eggers. Though I only include one of his films in this section, another will appear in the 2020s.

Also, we will also explore some more found-footage films. Remember kids, once we’ve found one set of footage, more will always follow. 

Whew! I just couldn’t stop writing. Don’t worry, I’m done now. Let’s go to the movies!

Insidious – 2010

Let’s begin with Blumhouse. Let’s begin with James Wan. Let’s begin with a little boy who goes to sleep but can’t wake up.  No he’s not dead. I guess he’s in sort of a coma, but this isn’t a medical issue. It turns out, unbeknownst to the boy, he had the ability to astral project. He accidently did some projecting when sleeping, and ended up in a realm called The Further. Poor boy thought he was dreaming. Not so!  As he lay trapped in sleep, supernatural things start happening around his house. Mother and father are scared and confused. 

With this film, a franchise was born, spawning several sequels and prequels. I really loved this film and was surprised to learn it was treated only lukewarmly by critics. Oh well.

 

The Cabin in the Woods – 2012

Hey movie, what are you doing here in the twenty-teens?  You belong in the 90s!

Hello gang, welcome to The Cabin in the Woods. What we have here is another self-aware movie. Remember just a short while ago when I was writing about Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare and Scream?   While this film is not directed by Wes Craven, it resembles his work in many ways.

Dew Goodard directs this film. He’s the dude that created the Netflix Daredevil series for Marvel. (Great series, dude! Great fucking series!)  Anyway, Cabin in the Woods concerns itself with a group of young men and women who vacay at a cabin in the woods. There they experience every horror trope imaginable.  But, these tropes are being programmed by a group of scientists in an underground lab somewhere.

This is a horror comedy, a spoof film.  To learn more about it, read what I wrote here:  Cabin in The Woods

 

Sinister – 2012

I can’t do it this time.  I just can’t. (What can’t you do?). But I want to. I wish I could (Spill it! What the hell are you talking about?)  I wish I could just extract a description of this film from somewhere in this blog, post a link and move on.  Truth is, I never reviewed this film. I saw it. I do consider it a haunted house film. I should have reviewed it. But I failed. I’m bad.

I think I skipped a review because it’s a bit complicated to describe the nature of the haunting. It’s not just one house that is haunted. The haunting spreads.

This true crime writer guy (Ethan Hawke) moves into a house with his family (wife and kids, the whole package). He finds snuff videos of children being murdered. After viewing these, his house suddenly starts experiencing ghostly activity.

I realize now to indulge more would be a spoiler. So as to my comment about “the haunting spreads”, it will just have to hang there.  Sorry.

This is another film produced by Jason Blum. It is not considered arthouse.  Gee, three movies post 2010 and still no art horror? After all the mumbo jumbo in the intro and still nothing? 

Wait, my dear children, wait. Art is coming (It’s either Art Garfunkel or Art Carney).

 

The Conjuring – 2013

Hey Mr. James Wan, are you able to conjure up another horror movie so we can put it on this list?

He is and he did.  I remember renting this film soon after I began this blog and started The Haunted House ProjectThe goal was to see as many haunted house films and read as many haunted house publications as possible. It was one of the first ones.  It was exciting to see a fresh haunted house flick. It had been years since I had seen one, at least a modern haunted house movie.

I liked it. Similar yet better than anything Amityville. And yet there is a connection. Ed and Lorraine Warren, two famous experts of the paranormal, are hired by the family that lives in the Conjuring house to help them rid the place of spirits. This boo-namic duo had also done some despookifying in the Amityville house. By the way, I mean actors and actresses portraying Ed and Lorraine and the Conjuring family. I hope you all understood that. But of course you did, you’re a bunch of smart readers.

Nope, no arthouse yet. Sorry Charlie. Moving on…

 

The Purge – 2013

This is a dystopian thriller set in the far future of 2022 (That was like soooo three years ago!) Society had become so crime-ridden, so violent that the “New Founding Fathers” (I don’t know either, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s great great  great grandchildren?) of the United States enacted “The Purge”, an annual event where most laws are suspended for a twelve-hour period. Yes kids, this means murder is legal for a half a day. The idea behind this is – by allowing an annual release of built-up grievances, society in the long run is better off.

Ethan Hawk, home security-system salesman, lives the good life in his upper middle class neighborhood with his wife and two children. No one would want to harm him or his family (HA!). Besides, his house has a state-of-the-art security system. No one can break in. Well, that’s not necessarily so. He’ll find this out.

This is an average movie that could have been so much better. It challenges us with mental exercises about this situation but cannot provide logistics when the thought process is complete. (If one is caught planning a murder a month in advance of the event, can they be charged with conspiracy to commit murder?  How do people who murder their bosses show up to work the next day? Are their jobs still secure?)  Also, the film only focuses on one family.  On the news, they watch what is happening abroad, all the chaos in the streets.  But we don’t get to see any of this. Why not? 

All in all, it’s “a bold but gutless film”. Not a metaphor having to do with the lack of gore (there is gore), but instead equating guts to “nuts and bolts”  – to details.  This film is trying to make a statement, and it does but there are too many holes.

This is a Blumhouse film.  (But is it arthouse?) Uh, no no, nope, naw, not yet.

Oh, and I saw this for the first time while working on this project.

 

The Babadook – 2014

Here we go. If we were feeling a bit down before, now we can be “elevated.” Here be a horror film that is considered arthouse – The Babadook.

Who is Mister Babadook?
He is grief, he is fear
He is bitterness, he is near.

Where does he come from?

He comes from pain.
He comes from a book
He’s sneaking to the surface
Come, have a look!

A family suffering. A grieving shrew.

A boy dealing with a loss he never knew.

All of this and a pop-up book; here he comes – Mister Babadook.”

 

Would you please yours truly wrote the above poem?  I call it my “perspective-in-a-nutshell”.   In other words, this is the short version of the crux of this story.  So now you have an understanding of the basic plot of the story, right?. You are saying, “um, no I don’t.”  Fine.  It’s about a storybook creature who haunts a boy and his mother. But there is so much more to this film. There is symbolism, there are hidden meanings. To say more would force me into spoilers territory.  But if you want to go there, ready what I wrote:

The Babadook     

This is an Australian film written and directed by Jennifer Kent. This is her feature directorial debut.

 

It Follows – 2014

Yeah but I don’t follow it.  I mean, I saw it, forgot about it, have no interest in seeing any sequels (if there are any) and simply don’t care to revisit it. I wasn’t as impressed with this film as everyone else was.

Don’t listen to me.  It scores a 95% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes .The film must have something to say.

I praise its originality. Young people are engaging in sexuality once again. But this time a curse is involved.  The affected pass it to their partners in the form of a supernatural entity that will follow its victims, eventually killing them.  The way I see it, these sex-crazed youngsters are getting killed off anyway, and according to the “rules of horror” as laid out in the movie Scream, fornicators always die, so might as well have a deadly presence at the scene to seal the deal.

Obviously, the threat in the film is an allegory for STDs. Or maybe even something else.  When social issues are embedded and hidden in the larger framework of a story, I’m all for it. But somewhere half way through the film, I started losing interest. I couldn’t “follow”.   I can’t remember exactly why. Oh well.

 

The Witch –  2015

Here we go. An arthouse horror film by Robert Eggers.  Another arthouse film of his is The Lighthouse. I saw The Lighthouse, didn’t think it was as good as The Witch, and I’m not sure it qualifies as horror, so I didn’t include it in this list.  But we’re not here to shed light on any houses, art or otherwise, so let’s get witchin!’

I really enjoyed this film, so much so I had a spot for it on my top 50 horror film list. I’m sure it would still make the cut ten years later.

Set in the 1620s in New England, this is a tale of the historical witch hunt hysteria. Believe it or not, one family in particular breaks away from their local church because they believe the church community is not taking the witch scare seriously enough.  They isolate themselves on their farm and hope for the best.  Hint: the best stays away but the worst shows up.

Some viewers complained they couldn’t understand the dialogue.  The characters speak in Pre-colonial English. Between the unique accents and antiquated dialect, comprehension can be challenging. For me, I just clicked on the modern English subtitles.  Problem solved.  Besides, I wouldn’t want it any other way.  Having the actors speak this way brought a sense of authenticity to the film.

 

Train to Busan – 2016

Trains have been rocking and rolling on the big screen for some time.  There’s been Murders on the Orient Express, Polar Express trains to the North Pole, and there have even been choices – Planes, Trains or Automobiles.  But now, ladies and gentlemen, we have zombies on a train.

Once upon a time, there were Snakes on a Plane. These slithering little bastards ain’t got nothing on these here zombies! Imagine the carnage of trying to get to a safer car with zombies chasing you. Hell it’s difficult to do this with normal train passengers (then again, there a lot of freaks on trains) 

This is a Korean film and a worthy addition to the zombie genre.

 

10 Cloverfield Lane – 2016

I watched this film specifically for this project. I guess this story runs parallel to an earlier film simply called Cloverfield. I missed that film. I had it on my list of films to see for this project but time was running out.

This is an alien invasion apocalypse movie.  Someone crashes into a young woman driving along a country road. When she wakes up, she is sealed in a bunker. Lo and Behold, it is John Goodman himself who brings her down there (well, he plays the part of the bunker keeper). Convinced the air outside is contaminated, he insists no one is to leave. There’s one other person in the bunker, some other guy.

The John Goodman character is not the nicest guy. In fact, he’s acting very suspiciously. Might it be that he has done some bad, bad things?

This is a pretty good movie.  Nothing overly original but it’s entertaining.

 

Get Out – 2017

These are the two words The Amityville House said to one of its inhabitants. Could this be one of the many Amityville Horror sequels?  

No way, Jose!  This is a much higher brow film than any Amityville movie. AI tells me this may not be an arthouse film, but it certainly belongs in the category of elevated horror “because it combines a popular genre with sophisticated artistic and social commentary.”  

This is another film from Blumhouse. It was nominated for Academy Awards. It’s the story of an interracial young couple, he’s black, she’s white. He is going home with her to another town to meet her rich but very liberal parents.  The parents are connected to a community that thinks much like them.  This is a mostly white community, but there are a few African Americans and they stand out, not necessarily because of the color of their skin, but by their behavior.  It’s almost as if they are in some sort of trance.  In other words, things are not alright in this community. Something horrific is going on. (And that’s why it’s a horror movie!)

I remember watching this film, along with Hidden Figures, which came out around the same time. Both films are commentaries on racism, set in different times. I thought Hidden Figures was too embellished while Get Out was poignant and creative. My neighbor was so inspired by Hidden Figures but thought Get Out was “trash” because of its horror elements.

 

Halloween 2018 – 2018

No, no, there is no typo in this section’s subtitle.  This is a sequel to the great Halloween movie of 1978. It asks you to reject all the other sequels that came out since then. That was fine with me; I didn’t like most of those anyway. So to distinguish this title from the original, I have it as Halloween 2018.  But to keep my date formula going, I have this as Halloween 2018, premiering in 2018. See how it all works now? 

This is my second favorite movie of the Halloween Franchise. Of course nothing will beat the original.  Set many years after the events of the first film, Michael Meyers has been in an institution this whole time. A few young reporters are allowed into the asylum yard where all the inmates are outside getting air. Michael is one of them.  Oh ho ho ho, is this a creepy scene!

Michael will escape ( I can’t remember how), and Jamie Lee Curtis is back and the two will go toe to toe.

This film is more suspenseful than the rest of the sequels  and brings back the voyeuristic camera. It’s a Blumhouse film.

This film was followed by two sequels; Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.  These had poor reviews so I didn’t watch them.

 

Heredity – 2018

I saw this in the theater the year it came out. Don’t let the haters sway you from this decent film. Directed by Ari Aster. Remember, he’s the guy I nicknamed “Arthouse Ari!”. Yes this is arthouse horror and yes it’s a good film. But oh gee, delving too much into it might bring spoilers into light, and we don’t want to do that!

Let’s just say there’s this family. A nice little family. All of a sudden, disaster strikes. A tragic moment comes out of nowhere, catching viewers by surprise. It would cheapen the scene to label it a jump scare. It’s so much better than that. It’s more like a WTF scare.

As the family tries to cope in the wake of the tragedy, they learn of their heredity – they are from a lineage of witches. There will be some crazy rituals before the movie’s end. People will become possessed. 

I don’t know if I should say anymore about this film. So, I won’t.

 

Dr Sleep – 2019

“Hey Doc, what do I do about all my snoring?”

Wrong doctor, dude!  This sleep doctor is actually an orderly, but he helps dying patients cross over to the other side. This is why they call Daniel Torrence “Dr. Sleep.”  If that name sounds familiar to you, it’s because this is little Danny Torrence of The Shining all grown up.

This is a sequel to The Shining based on Stephen King’s book. Here’s a point to note: King’s novel Dr. Sleep is a sequel to his book The Shining. However, Michael Flannagan’s film  Dr. Sleep is a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. Understand the difference? You are saying “no.” Sigh!  Let’s just say the book  The Shining had an entirely different ending than the corresponding film. However, the way the film ended, we are allowed to come play at The Overlook Hotel again. And we do! Hooray!!!!!!

Ewan McGregor plays the role of Daniel Torrance. He is still haunted by his abilities, his “shining”. But now he is helping a young girl who also shines. She is being sought after by psychic vampires. They want to kill her and feed off of her psychic energy. But not if Daniel can stop them.

I loved this film but it seems it didn’t get a whole lot of fanfare. Too bad. People don’t know what they are missing. I prefer this movie over the novel. Sorry Stephen!

 

Midsommar – 2019

I finally saw this film. People have been recommending this to me for years and years and years. (Hmm, it’s only been out for six years. Well, 2 years + 2 years + 2 years = years and years and years). I always meant to watch this during our midsummer. So long as I got to see it, that’s what counts. And see it I did in preparation for this project.. It’s so good.

Arthouse Ari is at the helm again and he treats us to a “midsommar” festival in Sweden. Being that it’s summer, there is 24 hours of sunlight. Perhaps this is the only horror movie to not have any dark night scenes? (Even Jaws has some night time moments of darkness).

Here’s the basic plot. A Swedish college-age student studying in America invites several friends to come to his home community and attend the several day long Midsommar Festival. They agree. 

The community is basically a commune. They wear white robes all the time. Technology is limited or absent. Nature is plentiful. Can this group fit in with this community? When it’s too late, these visitors realize this is a cult and they are well in over their heads.

There are scenes of people doing “shrooms”.  Uh oh, dug usage!!

There are similarities between this movie and The film Wicker Man and the book Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. Folk horror with strange communities usually have direct or implied sexualization rituals. They also feature human sacrifices.  While Midsommar might have those things (I’m not going to tell you!), it stands on its own. What a great, great film! 

P.S. – People who say this film sucks are poopy heads.

 

Oculus –  2013

Wait a minute, isn’t this the name of the company that made those virtual reality headsets? But they’re now Reality Labs, right?

Uh…I dunno. I’m here to talk about Oculus the movie by Michael Flannagan. It’s about a girl, a boy and a mirror.  Sounds like some kind children’s fantasy movie – The Girl, the Boy, and the Mirror, eh?  Well it’s not.  

Tim and Kaylie, age 10 and 12 respectively,  are the sole survivors after an incident involving their parents, who had been acting quite strangely. All on account of an antique mirror. Supposedly.  See, this mirror induces hallucinations, hypnotizes. In short, it fucks with you. Again, supposedly.

As adults, Tim is trying to put the past behind him. He has been institutionalized, and he has come to learn that what he thought was the truth was actually delusions caused by mental illness, not some dumb ol’ mirror. Kaylie still believes the mirror is the culprit.  She coaxes her brother into a plan that will prove once and for all that, at the very least, the mirror is haunted.

I saw this movie once. I was a little bit buzzing when I saw this. Who am I kidding, I was shitfaced, and the rest of the details are fuzzy. Do me a favor, watch this movie and fill me in.

 

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night  –  2014

I got a different kind of film for ya!  An Iranian vampire film. The first ever Iranian vampire film according to Ana Lily Amirpur, the filmmaker.  Dialogue is spoken in the Farsi language with English subtitles.  

The story takes place in “the Iranian ghost-town of Bad City” and leaves it at that. However it’s an American film and was produced in California.  Filmed in black and white, the town  is always quiet and somewhat barren. This is especially true at night. This gives the film a Western feel to it.. At the same time, there are industrial machines in the  desertlike background  Perhaps this kind of background is influenced by.the cyberpunk movement.

Don’t let the remoteness fool you though. There’s a nasty element out in the streets. Bad City has drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, and nightclubs where the drug Ecstacy is sold.  And vampires. At least one. It’s a she.

She walks the streets in her chador and hijab. If you encounter her on the other side of the street, you might see her mimic your movement.  If you cross her path, she might not let you pass. If you move to your left she will move to her right.

It goes without saying this is an arthouse film. It is greatly praised on Rotten Tomatoes, with a  96% approval rating. All this and I was a little disappointed. First of all, I thought it was going to be an animated film.  The  feature image is a cartoon, so I thought maybe -.  Well, anyway, another thing, this is a slow burn. I’m all for a good slow burn, but damn, it seemed like the fuse was never going to reach the end in some parts.  Often when describing an atmospheric film, I state how I enjoy a patient camera that lets the scenery sink in.  The opposite is also true. I grow impatient when the camera is focused on one thing for too long and nothing is happening. This happens a lot in this film.

This is a relatively unknown film and despite some misgivings I am placing here in the Hidden Gems sections (or – under the Radar) since it’s a highly praised film.

Oh yeah, I saw this film for the first time in preparation for this list.

 

The Houses October Built  –  2014

I reviewed this already as a haunted house movie. And, it really isn’t a haunted house movie. It’s a movie about “haunts”.  These are what others call amusement haunted houses.  They are found at carnivals and amusement parks.  They pop up everywhere around Halloween time. Some are in permanent structures; very active in September and October,  less active other months, although they may host a Christmas or Valentine’s Day haunted attraction.  Off season they can be escape rooms, or offer a night of “shooting zombies,” etc.

This is a found footage movie. A group of youngsters have hit the road, seeking the ultimate haunt. Their trip takes them across several states. There is a rumor of this “off the grid” extreme haunt. It’s a word of mouth thing. To find its location, it’s about finding the right people and following the clues they leave. 

Remember the old biblical and maybe even Muslim adage:  Take one step toward God/Allah, and He will take two steps toward you.  This is sort of what happens to these folks. The haunt will seek them out. The final meeting will not be pleasant.

I enjoyed this film. I worked at a haunt and a few coworkers said they didn’t like it.  Oh well for them.  There is a sequel and all that does is retread old ground.

 

Hell House LLC – 2015

It’s De’ja vu time. We’re we just reviewing a horror movie about haunted house amusement attractions, or simply referred to as “haunts”?  Well guess, what? We’re going to do it all over again.

Wait! Come back! This isn’t a repeat review of The Houses October Built.  This is another film – Hell House LLC. The first was about the haunted; the paying customers seeking thrills.. This movie is about the haunters – the ones who operate the attraction.  Now here’s a twist – the haunters will become the haunted. oooooo oooooOOOOOO!

There’s this group of experienced haunters. They rent out an abandoned hotel to host their attraction. It just so happens that a long time ago, some occult dude was hosting evil, Satanic rituals on the property. Oh not to worry, he’s long since dead. On second thought…no, worry your freaking ass off.  You’re in a horror movie for Christ’s sake! This cannot be good.

This is a found-footage movie. As the film begins, we see the shaking camera trying to focus on all the customers inside the haunt on opening night. They are backtracking through the haunted house, running for their lives. Something has happened at the very end of the attraction. Turn back, turn back!

This film is a Shudder exclusive. It has sequels. I saw the second movie, liked it, but I guess the critics didn’t think too much of it.  I still want to see the third film

This film may not be well known since, as I said, it’s exclusive to Shudder. That’s why I have it here in this section.

 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe –  2016

Wow!  Oh wow! Awww wow!  I’m running out of sound effect words that express excitement and praise.  Can you tell I like this movie?

 I have written an article stating how things on screen rarely scare me. I’m terrified of many things off the screen, but usually when I look into a world behind fiberglass  or glass with liquid crystals, what appears there, stays there – in fantasy.  In fantasy there is no fear. This film, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, blurred those lines. Yes, yes, I know it’s fantasy. But a little bit of that fear exhibited on the screen leaked out. I felt it. It didn’t overcome me, but it was there, sitting next to me like a living room phantom. 

Father and son medical examiners work late doing an autopsy on a woman with no known identity. The son gave up a date for this. Bad mistake. I’d say 85% of the movie takes place in the morgue. As they do what they need to do with the body of Jane Doe, there are many bodies surrounding them. In boxes. Bells tied to their toes, just in case a live one (ooo! We got a live on here!) was interred by mistake.  

The more these two men dissect the body, the stranger things get. Are there markings on the inside of her skin? There are. More than markings. Her inside skin is a canvas and what appears on it…well, watch the movie.  

Not enough people know of this film. I discovered it on Netflix. To my knowledge, it’s no longer there. Find it wherever it is. But don’t let it find you!

 

 

 

 

Abroad with the Autumnal Aughts – Horror Films of the 2000’s

2000’s – Abroad with the Autumnal Aughts

This list is from the geographical perspective of the United States. Overseas, horror was- a-happening, and the screams and shrieks were cresting the waves on their way to the shores of America. I know, I know. Since the beginning of the medium, great horror films made overseas have found their way across the ocean. Did I already forget the 1920 section of this list with films from Germany, Sweden and elsewhere?  Am I ignorant of the fact that motion pictures as a form of entertainment for paying customers began in France? ( See Short History of Cinema)  

And for goodness sake, what was the point of listing all those films of Italian cinema?

Those are all good questions. What I’m getting at is – a renewed interest in horror films abroad helped reclaim the reputation of the horror industry 

Remember how I recently stated the 1990s weren’t the best years for horror films? Originally, as I explained, I wanted to wipe away 90s’ horror films like they were shit stains inside an asshole. But I found some redeeming qualities at the end. There was some experimentation that paid off well, but look what happened – successful films like Scream spawned a slasher revival, and many of these revived plotlines should have stayed dead. 

   So what does one do when their home-based products come up short in the quality department? Why, they look elsewhere. They look across the seas. They import .This is what I believe was happening in the 2000s – the aughts. Much of the memorable horror films of that decade came from afar.  I don’t claim to be an expert on which countries have the kind of autumn that the midwestern states of America experience. But the autumn season is about Halloween, and Halloween is about horror. So with those fine bits of logic gymnastics, we were importing the autumnal films from abroad in the aughts.

What else was going on in the aughts?  We survived the Y2K scare. The horror that was not! But that horror that ‘was’ (spelled backwards) also brought us Director James Wan. Most of his films premiered in the twenty teens, but his first major horror film premiered in this decade. (Remember, horror that “was”…spelled backwards. You see? (past tense of last word)

Further notes about the aughts: 

More found-footage films.  After The Blair Witch Project started the trend, wouldn’t you know it, production companies suddenly found all kinds of abandoned footage of fears. Who knew they were all lying around some place waiting to be found! 

Blumhouse Productions was born in the aughts. Quasi-Indie films reaching the masses. More on this in the next decade.

Oh oh oh, and this was the decade that introduced streaming service . Netflix began its streaming service in 2007. More companies would follow later.  Now, there were other avenues to pursue horror films.

Let us now pursue the horror of the next millennium, shall we?


American Psycho – 2000

Why not begin the decade and the millennium with a self-obsessed yuppie who is a 1980’s Wall Street broker by day, serial killer by night. He applies all kinds of special lotions to his body in the morning to keep his skin smooth, and splatters the blood of victims after dark. He will only go to elite restaurants, he is always returning video tapes, and he gets pissed at a proprietor  at the cleaners store when he questions him about the red stains that are always on his sheets. He obsesses over having the sharpest looking business card. I’m sure the apparatuses he uses for killing are sharp as well.

This movie is a satire on capitalism based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis. The book is better. Ellis is one of my favorite authors. He writes transgressive fiction based on hedonistic characters from the 1980s. Less Than Zero was another well known movie based on his book.

 

The Others – 2001

Directed by Alejandro Amenabar, this is sort of a hybrid Spain/United States film, with most of the scenes shot in Spain, but released in the U.S. first.

Here we have my favorite horror genre – haunted houses. Nicole Kidman stars as a mother raising her two young children in a spooky old house in Jersey, an island in North western Europe.  It is 1945 and her husband is away at war, leaving her as the sole caretaker of her children. That is, until three household servants arrive to help. There is something mysterious about these three – who are they?

The poor children have a light sensitivity, so the windows are draped shut. But some mysterious presence keeps opening them.

This is an understated film with a nice twist

 

28 Days Later – 2002

Zombie-like things from the U.K. wreck havoc in this film by Danny Boyle.  Boyle is one of my favorite filmmakers. While 28 Days Later is good, I prefer other Boyle films, such as Trainspotting 1 & 2, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours.

Technically, this is not a zombie film, despite what I wrote in the first paragraph. A contagious disease causes the living to become rabid, feral and lethal.  They gather in packs and run pretty damn fast. But it revived the genre, so, uh, yeah..that.

I’ve seen this once in the theater, and another time over ten years ago. The general premise is clear but the details are fuzzy.  Want more details? Watch the film.

 

Ju-On – The Grudge 2002

J-Horror marvels us once again with this fine piece of work. Simply stated, this is a haunted house movie, but hold your horses! The house in this film is cursed, and the curse can attach itself to anyone who enters the home. That way, the visitor who leaves the house still isn’t safe. S/he takes the curse home, or to school, or wherever they go.

This is the third installment in the Ju-On franchise. The first two films, Ju-On The Curse and Ju-On The Curse Part 2, are short films not well known in the United States. American filmmakers at least heard of this one, because they did their own version simply named The Gudge. I never saw it but I heard that was a stinker. Time was not on my side so I didn’t bother watching it

Want more details? I wrote a whole piece on it:

Ju-On – The Grudge

 

Saw – 2004

Please welcome warmly – James Wan! (YAY! CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!). He’ll appear a few more times on this list.  Wan is an Australian filmmaker originally from Malaysia. His first well known horror film is Saw.  I saw it once, and was impressed enough to place it in my top 50 horror movie list. This list is ten years old; I don’t know if I would still rank it the same.

The plot is a bit complicated, so I will borrow a one sentence summary from Wikipedia

“The film tells a nonlinear narrative revolving around the mystery of the Jigsaw Killer, who tests his victims’ will to live by putting them through deadly “games” where they must inflict great physical pain upon themselves to survive.”

So, yeah – what Wiki said!

 

Shaun of the Dead – 2004

I first saw this film a couple weeks ago in preparation for this list. It’s billed as a zombie comedy.  Oh no, I thought while I was twenty minutes in. What if this doesn’t meet the criteria of horror? In the beginning, the people on the streets are all acting zombie-like, but they aren’t biting, chewing, or tearing apart the living limb by limb. What if this is a metaphorical zombie film, a satire on modern, everyday society?

Though it is a satire film, the zombies do indeed get into the guts of the situation , literally. So yes, it’s a horror film. It can stay,  Yay!

This film is from the United Kingdom. Thanks be to the Crown for sending us colonists the film! It’s hilarious, it’s gruesome. In short, it’s a lot of fun!

 

The Descent – 2005

Here we have yet another British film, although this was released in the states a few days earlier than the U.K.  However, the story takes place in the United States, deep in the bowels of Appalachia. Further down than the dwelling regions or inbreds of other films that want to make you squeal like a pig. Several female friends from the UK are taking thrill-seeking adventures in the US, and they want to go caving.  I don’t even like those guided tour cave experiences, and yet these ladies decide they want to go through some cave hole that’s at the bottom of some cliff they would have to go down. Crazy! 

This is a very claustrophobic movie. Don’t these gals know when you wander around in an uncharted system of caves, you might never reemerge? This is especially true if there are cave-dwelling creatures at the very bottom. Hint: there are cave-dwelling creatures at the very bottom.

 

Pan’s Labyrinth – 2006

Wouldn’t you know it, I almost forgot to include this film. I’m glad I didn’t neglect good ol’ Guillermo Del Toro.  He’s one of modern horror’s greatest geniuses; a visionary whose films are often a colorful spectacle of creative designs and backgrounds. His films feature fabulous looking creatures and specters. 

I guess I wouldn’t be too remiss if this film wasn’t on the list. It’s more dark fantasy than horror. But if Beetlejuice is considered by some to be a horror film, then by golly gumdrops, certainly Pan’s Labyrinth qualifies.

The story takes place in 1944 Francoist Spain. On one level is about a resistance movement fighting against facism, with a mother and child in secret cahoots with the mother’s fascist husband. On another level, the more fanciful, the child, Ofelia, believes she is a princess of a secret, magical underworld and that her real father, the leader of this magical place,  built her a labyrinth that acts as a portal to transport her back and forth to this fantastic kingdom.  To avoid the harshness of her worn-torn reality here on earth, she retreats to this fantasy world. But is it really just a fantasy?

There is much more to the story than that but we must move on. This movie was filmed in both Spain and Mexico, Guillermo’s home country.  Likewise it was first released in Spain, then Mexico until finally it reached the USA.  It’s a Spanish language film with English subtitles.

 

 

REC – 2007

This film is on Shudder, which I subscribe to, and I watched it for the first time a week or so ago in preparation for this list.  This is a Spanish film, from Spain

I heard somewhere this is considered the best of the found-footage films. I’m not sure I agree, but I can see why some may think so. It’s non-stop action and suspense from beginning to end. A film crew of two go for ride-alongs with an emergency/fire team.  They stumble upon, only to get trapped in, an apartment complex soon to be populated with zombies.

If you’re a fan of modern day haunted house amusement attractions, you might like this film. People move through corridors, up and down stairs, while zombies are in the corners, ready to jump out fast. Of course the camera is shaking quite a bit, but these jerky motions fit better in this film than The Blair Witch Project. Chaos is everywhere and the shaking camera reflects this, whereas in the Blair Witch Project, the damn thing is shaking even on the most casual strolls down wooded trails.

 

Paranormal Activity  – 2007

Now this is a found-footage film I can get behind. Why can I get behind it? Because the camera isn’t zigzagging . It stays still so I can get behind it.  The most scary parts of the story are shown through the security cameras. A guy has rigged up cameras all over his girlfriend’s house in order to hopefully capture some paranormal activity. See, the girlfriend has been complaining about hauntings and stuff. The cameras capture some real interesting things.

If I had my way, this film would bear the title Best Found Footage Film. Perhaps the cameras are just too darn stable to be worthy of such an honor?

This is one of my favorite horror films. It most certainly made my top 50. It is a demon that is causing the mischief and this makes the situation a whole lot more frightening. Behind the demonology, outside the found-footage, this qualifies as a haunted house movie. I have been wanting to review this film for my Haunted House Project section of this blog. Alas, I never got around to doing so.

This film became a franchise. I saw the sequel. It’s nowhere as good as the first. I never bothered checking out the third, or fourth, or however many other films there are in the series.

This film was produced by Blumhouse Productions. We’ll see more of “Da Blum” when we cross into the next decade.

 

Lake Mungo – 2008

Our world tour of horror films is making a stop in Australia. More specifically, we’re going to Lake Mungo. Yes, it is a real place, although the story in this film is fictional. The way this film is presented; documentary-style, with a few seconds here and there of the found-footage variety, many people thought this was a true story.

I saw this for the first time preparing for the list.  It’s a story about Alice, a girl who goes missing on a family trip to Lake Mungo.  Apparently, she has drowned, but her family isn’t sure of this and they want closure. The family consists of the mother and father and a teenage son. Alice is a little bit younger than her brother.

The thing is, the family keeps seeing Alice. She pops up in photos taken long after she went missing. They hear her roaming about.

This film mimics shows like Dateline NBC. I guess that’s why they include segments that lead nowhere. Dead ends. Personally, when all was said and done, the segments annoyed me.  But it was an above-average horror film. I guess.

 

Drag Me to Hell – 2009

Oh Sam Raimi, creator of the Evil Dead saga, have you led us horror fans astray with your Spiderman series? Have you not, Dear Creator, another horror film at your disposal?  

Sammy heard this prayer and he delivered!  Drag Me to Hell is a great effing movie!

Once upon a time, there was this banker lady who would not extend a loan to one of her clients, an elderly Romani woman. For revenge, this woman curses her. It’s the most unique curse I’ve ever seen in movies. Hell is literally trying to claim her. She has attached a demon to her who will torture her for three days before dragging her to Hell!

I saw this film for the first time about a year ago. I believe it was during the last Halloween season. It’s a great film for Halloween.  It’s scary as, well, Hell.

 

The Human Centipede  – 2009

I just had to list this film. It’s one of the most notorious, controversial horror films out there.  This is a Dutch film released on the independent circuit. Its infamy helped with its promotion. Though officially reviewed by Roger Ebert, he confessed his piece was not so much of a review but more of a public service message.  In order to convey just exactly what a human centipede is, he had a diagram, though it doesn’t appear in the link.  It’s a chain of three humans surgically connected from mouth-to anus. Although he gave it 0 stars, he didn’t really say it was a bad film.

I am required to award stars to movies I review. This time, I refuse to do it. The star rating system is unsuited to this film. Is the movie good? Is it bad? Does it matter? It is what it is and occupies a world where the stars don’t shine

 

I guess in the universe of reviews, an “I refuse” translates to no stars.

Two girls travelling abroad in Europe stumble upon this mad scientist’s house when their car breaks down during a storm. This nice man lets them in, shows some hospitality, and just when you think this is going to be a hallmark story about people helping people, he surgically attaches them to a young man he kept captive. The young dude is the head of the centipede and what he eats travels through the first young woman, her mouth sewed to his anus, to finally pass through the second woman who is attached to butt of the first. It is this second woman last who will  deposit the remains to the world at large.

Maybe I’m some sort of sicko, but I don’t think the movie is half bad. It takes itself seriously. I don’t think I elicited one chuckle. I was actually en”gross”ed in the mad doctor’s scheming.  And you gotta admit, this is different, right? Creative even. Demented and depraved yes, but creative.

 

 

A Tale of Two Sisters – 2003 

Earlier this list brought you a fine helping of J-Horror.  Let’s proceed down the alphabet. K…STOP!  Welcome to K-Horror with a film made in Korea,

Not enough people know about A Tale of Two Sisters. Too bad, it’s a great film. It’s very intense psychological horror. Throw in some ghosts, maybe. A possible haunted house (could be!) and a dysfunctional family. Keep the Internet near you when watching because when the movie is over, you’ll need to Google the film’s plot to figure out what in the hell you just watched. Yes, it’s one of those kinds of films. But it’s so good.

I already wrote about this film, so here’s the link:

A Tale of Two Sisters

 

The Orphanage – 2007

J.A. Bayona (Director) and Guillermo Del Toro (Executive Producer) have joined forces and the results are phenomenal. The product of this union is The Orphanage – an exceptional haunted house film.”

 

I stole the above quote, you know. Bad me. Worse yet, I stole it from myself.  Where oh where can I find some self-respect?

This is a film from Spain. It’s another international great!  Given that I’m in lazy mode, the same mode I was in when I listed A Tale of Two Sisters, I will once again lead you to a link.. Same source – me

The Orphanage

I meant to find the trailer, but I accidentally found the whole film. I thinks it’s in Spanish though w/out subtitles.

 

Let The Right One In – 2008

What do you know? I found a film I haven’t written about. This is mainly because it’s not a haunted house flick. It’s a vampire movie. And a very, very good vampire movie.

This is a Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfreson. It’s a story of a lonesome, bullied young boy who meets a little girl who just moved into the neighborhood. She is lonesome too, because she is a vampire. Think about it; it’s pretty difficult to stay in relationships when you’ve “got the bats”. This is true even for such a pretty, young girl. I keep using “young” but that word is misleading. When the boy asks her about her birthday, she doesn’t know what that is. So who knows how long she has been roaming about the earth snatching the lives of innocent people.

There are so many interesting relationship dynamics. The boy and his mother, the boy and the girl, the girl and the older gentleman she lives with. Is he her father?

This is a sweet, scary and even love story all rolled into one.  It’s also a story about revenge against bullies.  Filmed in scenes of moody, snowy nights, it’s also a beautiful film to look at.

 

 

 

 

The New Nightmares of the Nineties – Horror Films of the 1990s

1990’s – The New Nightmares of the Nineties

Oh the paradox!  This is the 90s.  I went into this project with a preconceived notion of nineties horror not being up to par with the rest of the decades. In short, I thought nineties horror was pretty lame. This was based on memories of initial viewings without any revisits whatsoever. The horror of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s I had encountered several times. I never wanted to revisit the 90s.  But for this project, I did. Now my feelings about the decade are less cut and dry. It’s a more complicated situation than a “nineties sucked” attitude.  I had written intro paragraphs for this section based on my former opinions. I  had some rewriting to do.

Initially, I wrote things such as this:

The 90’s saw a revival of slashers, but the suspenseful scares found in the movie Halloween just weren’t there. Some of the more campier horror films were more annoying than funny. And it seemed as if this industry was so concerned with casting  familiar and “oh so pretty/handsome” faces that these young twenty/thirty-somethings only distracted audiences from the horror they were trying to sell.

No doubt, I prefer the 70s and 80s horror. But I neglected some of the more positive aspects of the 90s. Also, there were good films I missed entirely. I saw them for the first time when making this list.  As to my negative comments concerning the “revival of slashers”, I now have a better idea of what was going on.  Let’s begin with that.

Audiences were getting tired of slashers. This is due in no small part to disappointing recurrences of the modern movie monsters they once loved. With sequel after sequel, slashing menaces such as Michael Meyers, Jason, Freddy and Leather Face were becoming caricatures of themselves. Nothing new creatively was going one with these dudes. They became more comedic than frightening, and not in a good way. No doubt, this bombardment of groan-worthy pictures took place during the 80s. But these sequels leaked into the early nineties, leaving potential audiences with the feeling, “Is this shit still going on? We’re in a new decade now, come on!”

What the movie-going public didn’t realize was they were “Craving the Crave.” This would be Wes Craven, creator of Freddy Krueger and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He would retool his work and give us horror films that were self-aware. According to WorldFilmCarnival, this happens when a film  “acknowledges its existence as a piece of entertainment, poking fun at its own tropes, clichés, and conventions.   With films such as Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (hey, that’s part of this decade’s title!) and Scream,  Craven was hoping audiences would reinvest in the horror genre with his new blueprint. Generally speaking, he was successful in his endeavors. His new style was well received. The specifics of these particular films will be discussed later in this list.

In the italicized paragraph three paragraphs above, I mentioned “The 90’s saw a revival of slashers”  In order to be revived, they would have had to have been killed off just like their onscreen victims. I don’t think they died but perhaps they took a nap for a few years. After the success of Scream, they woke up and were ready to party. Alas, most of these should have stayed in bed.  

While we’re on the subject of changes brought about by Scream, check this out. In past decades, horror films, especially slashers, used relatively unknown actors and actresses. For some reason, 90s slashers featured familiar faces, many being TV stars. This is especially true with Scream but also the lame slashers films that followed. Examples of these “followers” will appear on this list. 

I still prefer horror films that trust their material enough without having to succumb  to the  gimmicks of self-awareness. Too much self-awareness leads to too much parody in my opinion. But that’s just me. Still, I ended up liking some of these “unlikeable” films more than I thought I would.

Other things were going on in the nineties besides slashers.  There were crime thrillers that had just enough of that “something” to qualify them for the horror category. They showed us movie serial killers didn’t have to be mute or beastly in appearance like Jason, Michael or Freddy of Leatherface. They could be human on the outside but inhuman on the inside.  A couple of these films appear on this list.

There were some period horror pieces in the 90s.  I have three films on his list as examples.  Also, there were innovations in black horror cinema.  These are horror movies that also deal with social issues. Some examples will be included in the section.

Finally, there will be some trend senders – late 90’s movies that set a pattern for things to come in the 2000 aughts, including what is said to be the first found-footage film.


Silence of the Lambs – 1991

This past year, I have read Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon (Not a prequel as some think since this book was published well before Silence of the Lambs), and I am currently working on Hanibal, the third book in the series.  Yup, I’m plunging into the sordid depths of one Hannibal Lecter, the genius psychiatrist/serial killer and cannibal who is one of the antagonists of Silence of the Lambs.  I just might (remember, “might” I say. A BIG might, bigger than Mighty Mouse) prefer the film over the book. This of course has to do with the splendid performances of Anthony Hopkins and Jody Foster.

For a long time, I never thought of this as a horror movie. Crime thriller – yes. Horror? Well everyone else thinks it’s horror, so here it is, on the list, perhaps foreshadowed in the intro when I wrote of crime thrillers.

 

The People Under the Stairs  –  1991

Here be a Wes Craven movie. But not any that I alluded to in the intro. But even with The People Under The Stairs I guess he had realized Freddy Krueger’s days as a horror comedian were coming to an end, so he decided to make this horror-comedy.  I found it more annoying than funny.  Rottentomatoes reviews hold at 67% positive. This number is lukewarm at best, only slightly favorable.

I wrote about this once already and really don’t feel like retreading, so, here – a link

People Under The Stairs

“Links are cool, links are fun, I wish one on everyone!”  – By Danny Cheely – the awesome poet.

(Pssst – This is a movie about people who are kept locked under the stairs! So sorry for the spoiler.)

 

Bram Stoker’s Dracula – 1992

I first saw this back in the 90s, not in the theater but on video. I remember I wasn’t so impressed. I revisited this movie for the purposes of this list to see if my opinion had changed. It did. I found it  more favorable after a second viewing after a thirty-year gap. Still, this movie is far from flawless.

If memory serves me correctly, this film was advertised as the closest portrayal of Bram Stoker’s work to date. Hence the name, not “Dracula” but “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”  I read the novel and I can say this film takes all kinds of story-telling liberties. So perhaps it should be called Almost Bram Stoker’s Dracula?

I get that the original film mixed up characters, showing Renfield as the real estate agent that gets trapped in Dracula’s castle rather than Johnathon Harker, as both this film and the novel depict. But this film created a love story where none had existed, having Dracula discovering the Mia character is the reincarnation of his long-lost love. She too comes to realize this and begins to fancy Drac over her fiance Harker.  There are many other inconsistencies. Too many to name.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula boasts an all star cast with a renowned director. Francis Ford Coppola helms this project. Cast members included Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Winona  Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins. It’s a big production with a loud musical score, fancy camera work, crazy shadows (too many).  Much of the atmospheric shots are subtle in other films. Not so here.  This is a bombastic movie. It is too self-consciously artsy.  It’s a good film though, just not great.

 

The Candyman – 1992

This is a film I had to revisit. I only saw it one time back in 1993 on video. I remember thinking it was a fair film.  After seeing it again, I upgraded my rating from fair to good.

As a kid, there was the Bloody Mary legend. Look into a mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times and she will appear in the mirror next to your reflection. What does she look like? I had no idea because she never appeared. “That’s because you were supposed to chant it 10 times,” someone would say. Tried. Again…nada.  “Did you turn off the lights?” Tried/nope. “Did you throw water on the  mirror?”  Tried/nope.  “You’re not supposed to use water. You’re supposed to use blood”. Oh fuck off.

In the movie, the legend is true, only it’s the name “Candyman” one is to recite.  The ritual is mostly known among urban black Americans. In particular, The Candyman haunts the Cabrini Green Chicago housing projects. Several murders have been attributed to him

A female graduate student is studying urban legends and gets in way over her head when she does field research in the projects.  The Candyman, a son of a slave who was lynched for impregnating a white woman, stalks her from beyond and frames her for multiple murders.

This film has a powerful message about historical racism and current day injustices caused by institutional racism. 

Tony Todd, who played Candyman, passed away almost a year ago at age 69.  May he rest in peace.

 

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare – 1994

For the longest time I avoided this movie. My attitude was “Why on earth would I want to see yet another lame-ass Freddy Krueger movie”.  While I thought Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3 were good, the rest of the Freddy films blew chunks.  Later in life, I heard this film was different from those subpar sequels. Better.

A couple weeks ago, I saw Wes Craven’s New Nightmare for the first time in preparation for this list. I was surprised in a good way.  This wasn’t the same stale and corny Freddy that had overstayed his welcome at the movie theaters. He wasn’t trying to break a record for the most groan-worthy attempts at catch phrases. In fact, he barely spoke at all. He was more mysterious, much like his depiction in the very first Nightmare on Elm Street film.

Wes Craven chose to reboot the saga in an interesting way. This time, Freddy haunts, not the characters of his previous films, but the actors that played them. It’s a film within a film. Wes Craven the director, Heather Langenkamp the scream queen, Robert Englund the man behind the Freddy makeup, John Saxon the scream queen’s father; they all play themselves, victims of a script Wes is being compelled to write by forces unknown.

This is a unique film and its creativity pays off.

 

Interview With the Vampire – 1994

Let’s give a warm welcome to Brad Pitt! (Yay and clap.)  Please give it up for Tom Cruise! (Yay and clap.) Ladies and Gentlemen, Antonio Banderas has entered the house! (Yay and clap!)  And let’s not forget the pretty and charming little girl, Kirsten Dunst (Yay and clap!)

Surely, you are saying, this is an example of what is spouted in the italicized section of the intro concerning the oversaturation of famous young actors/actresses in 90’s horror, the  “oh so pretty/handome.”  You are right, it is. Still, I like this movie.

Anne Rice (may she rest in peace 🙁 ) was skeptical about Tom Cruise playing a somewhat androgynous vampire with a few hundred years under his belt. She was surprised at the final result and so was I. Tom Cruise, the cocky jock, slipping into the role of the effeminate Vampire Lestat? He did it.  Brad Pitt was “okay” at playing Louis the Vampire, the protege of LeStat. He mesmerized audiences with his appearance, as he does in many of his movies. For me this only helps the film if his character is supposed to possess hypnotic beauty.  In this movie, that is important to his character.

Kirsten Dunst, the charming little girl that she was, is excellent playing a dual character. Sweet and innocent but also a blood sucking little terror. Antonio Banderas – I believe he was miscast. The vampire he plays, according to the book at least, is youthful, thin and unassuming, not this mature Latin lover type.

This movie got me interested in the book series, Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. By showing viewers what the world is like from the vampires’ perspective, the anguish and loneliness that comes from being damned to a near-eternal life, I was introduced to a whole new way of understanding vampire mythology.  All on account of Anne Rice, of course, but it was this film that led me to her. 

 

Se7en – 1995

Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt go against Kevin Spacey in a movie about a serial killer who kills victims in accordance with the seven deadly sins. People, and I mean everyday people, are running around in this world giving into sloth, pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, and gluttony without any repercussions. Whatever happened to the deadly part of the deal, hmmm? That’s where Kevin Spacey comes along. He’ll overstuff a fat person, commit nasty atrocities on one who is lustful, you get the picture. It’s up to detectives Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt to stop him.

This film is a very suspenseful crime thriller. The gruesome parts make this a horror movie. There’s an interesting, unexpected ending as well.

 

Tales From The Hood – 1995

This is a story about a mechanic who opens the hood of a customer’s car. He takes in all the machinery for about a minute before looking over to his customer.

“Yes siree, Bob. I can already tell the guts of your car have quite the history.  In just these few seconds I already know things about your engine, battery, transmission, belts and so much more. I’m a gonna relay to you what I know.”

I’m just kidding y’all!  Let me begin again.  This is a black horror anthology beginning with a funeral parlor director who accepts three street thugs into his place of business, supposedly to make some exchange. He’s got the stuff and the thugs want it.  What stuff and where is it and what’s the street value? Well, the director dude doesn’t tell them any of that. Not yet. Instead he shows them around the place, introduces them to several corpses resting in their coffins. He tells these punks stories about how they died.

The mortician tells the four stories. I won’t get into all the details but they are mostly  horror revenge stories against corrupt and abusive racist white cops,  abusive fathers, and former Klansmen politicians. Gang bangers get their comeuppance too. 

I saw this for the first time in preparation for this list. I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It was a fair movie. Too much overacting and exaggerated dialogue. The best tale was the one that involved the funeral director and the three punks (Goldilocks and the three bears?). It wraps up quite nicely.

 

The Craft 1996

Party of Five TV star Neve Campbell teams up with Fairuza Balk (known for her Goth appeal) , Robin Tunney and Rachel True (the latter two also known from television shows) to play outcast high school girls who experiment with witchcraft.  Lo and behold, the experiment works. They can do magic., usually at the expense of someone.

I would say this is an above average horror movie. It turned Campbell into a scream queen and exposed Balk for her talent at playing wild girls.

 

Scream – 1996

Let’s go back to 1996 or 1997, whenever it was when me and a buddy rented this and watched it on my VCR. The movie finished and I was like “meh.”  I don’t know if that word existed yet, but that was the feeling. My buddy thought it was good.

Here in good ol’ 2025 as I was making this list, I knew Scream had to be on it. It’s a movie that “screams” of the 90s.  If I posed a directive to an unsuspecting person who lived through the nineties that went something like, “Quick, name a 90’s horror movie. Don’t think about it, just name one. On your mark, get set, go!,” I’m guessing most people would mention Scream. I decided before I go ahead and rip it to shreds, I better revisit the film. So I did. Guess what? I liked it better the second time around. A near thirty year gap between viewings softens a person I guess.

Mind you, Scream still would not make my top 50 horror movie list. But I understand it for what it is now.  What is it?  A self-aware horror film about horror films. 

Teenagers in some rich California town are getting killed by someone in a ghost face mask.  The killer seems obsessed with horror movies and quizzes some of his victims of movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th before hacking them. There are horror movie Easter eggs here and there, like a high school janitor who dresses and looks like Freddy Krueger.  People are getting stalked and killed with the Halloween music in the background.  Someone even explains “the rules” of horror movies. (virgins are spared, horny fuckers die, etc.)

What we have here is a Wes Craven who, once again, is experimenting and trying to create a fresh new way of making horror movies. (Oh yeah, Wes Craven makes the Scream movies). Scream was successful enough to become a franchise.  Back at first viewing, I just wanted a slasher movie, not all this parody stuff. Now I accept it. I Still like the 70’s and early 80s straightforward slasher movies better though

I guess after Party of Five’s Neve Campbell finished The Craft, she be like “Horror if fun. I want more!”  So she was given the starring role in this film.  Some of her costars are Drew Barrymore, Courtney Cox (Friends star) and Henry Winkler. (The Fonz! “I don’t Scream, I just go ayyyyeeee!”) 

 

I Know What You Did Last Summer 1997

I watched this film specifically so it could be on this list.  Otherwise, I would have no interest in seeing this. I had none back when it came out, and very little later in life. I say “very little” because obviously there was some interest because I did watch it. I was kind of excited to see how bad it was going to be. I was disappointed. Why? Because it wasn’t as much of a stinkaroo as I thought it would be.

To be clear, this is not a great movie, nor is it a good movie. I’d say it’s your average slasher, which accounts for the mostly negative reviews. Remember, I said people were tired of the same old formula. This movie has the same old formula.  All that said, it is scary and suspenseful at times.

Four teenagers (Boy, girl, boy, girl) do something they regret the summer after high school graduation. They pay for their misdeeds the next summer when they all reunite.  That pretty much sums up the plot. It’s obvious by the film’s title, isn’t it?

Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt of Party of Five fame and Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. More faces from TV that want their pretty  mugs slashed apart in horror movies. Jennifer Love Hewitt be like, “Um, like, my co-star in Party of Five, Neve Campbell,  got to be in Scream, so, like, shouldn’t I be in a horror movie?

 

Urban Legend – 1998

I think this film thought it was going to be the next Scream. Or maybe the next Candyman. It failed miserably.  A killer is wiping out students at and around some university. The killer does so by mimicking urban legends, making them real. It references the murder scenes from horror movies of the past w/out giving credit, calling them instead “urban legends”. A killer is hiding in the back seat or your car. The movie depicts a creepy gas station attendant trying to break into a woman’s car as she’s trying to drive away, all the while trying to warn her about someone hiding in her back seat. A twist! Yeah, but this exact setup was done in a 1983 horror anthology Nightmares. It also depicts a killer harassing someone over the telephone, only to be revealed to be hiding somewhere in the house.  This was lifted from the film When a Stranger Calls 1979.

This is a film I watched solely for the purposes of making this list. I thought it would be stupid and it didn’t disappoint. Hooray, it met my low expectations beautifully! Starring Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, and somebody from Dawson’s Creek, some Joshua Jackson dude,   Oh and how can I forget! Starring Robert Englund! Nice try at getting Freddy. It didn’t help though.

 

Ringu – 1998

What’s this, we have a good movie on the list finally?  Yes, Ringu is very well done. It’s a J-horror film (Japanese horror). Several years later, an American version hit theaters (simply titled The Ring), but this is both the original and superior film.

Ya know that warning about leaving stray baggage alone? The same should apply to video tapes. Even if there was such a warning, teenage girls would never abide by it. After playing a tape, they receive a phone call. The voice on the phone says “Seven Days”. This means they are to die in seven days.

The video tape features a girl with hair so long it covers her head. She is climbing out of a well.

This is one of those trend setting films I discussed in the introduction. What is the trend? Watching films made outside of America in order to see  good horror films.

 

The Sixth Sense – 1999

What’s going on here, we have two good horror movies in a row?  Yes we do. 

For those who don’t know, this is the “I see dead people” movie. Haley Joel Osmond stars as a nine-year-old boy who for reasons unknown, attracts stray spirits.They haunt him everywhere, at home, at school, at birthday parties. Other kids make fun of him because he freaks out a lot.  If they only knew!  I mean, wouldn’t you freak out if ghosts jumped out at you every day of your life? 

Bruce Willis plays a child psychologist who tries to help him.  He thinks the poor kid is mentally disturbed. He will learn in big ways things are not always what they seem.

   This film is known for its big twist of an ending. It fooled me, because it was so cleverly done.  A big hit for director M Night Shyaman. He followed with many more horror/suspense films. None of them could top what he did in this movie. In fact, many of them were stinky-poo. One of his films, The Last Airbender, is listed as one of the worst films of all time. But hey, he always will have The Sixth Sense. (If this is the case, wouldn’t he have the sense not to make stupid movies?) (Oh SHUT UP!)

 

The Mummy – 1999

Here comes the final period piece on this list. Just before the millennium was set to close, right in the nick of time arrived a high-budget Mummy movie. The world had never seen one of those before. With all those low budget mummy movies of the 40s with a bandaged creep  limping along in the woods, we now have a walking CGI corpse, skin all rotted away to reveal bulging blood vessels, muscles and tendons. I don’t think the film ever shows a bandaged mummy.

Once the Mummy regains his flesh, he has powers. He can create sand storms and place a giant version of his face in the encroaching sand.

All this “wow” and still not nearly as good as the original 1932  Mummy with Borris Karloff. Less is better, less is better.

Yet, I remember his film being all the rage. I remember this came out the same time as Star Wars The Phantom Menace.  Folks disappointed with this long-awaited film were wishing they had seen The Mummy instead.

I don’t know. It was okay but I don’t get all the love and hype.

 

The Blair Witch Project  – 1999

Ta da! What we have here is the first found-footage film that blazed the trail for many stray, roaming filmmakers (Those found-footage filmmakers in the 2000s). Too bad it couldn’t forge a trail for this movie’s story characters lost in the woods

I get it. Some of you out there be like, “Oh that movie sucked!  I mean, seriously, all that camera shaking, that annoying bitch that got everyone lost, and there was never anything worth looking at in the whole damn film!”

The premise: Three college-aged filmmakers with camera equipment wander the woods in search of the legendary house of the Blaire Witch. They film everything, night and day. They get lost. Weird things happen. Every morning, some artifact is left outside their tents. They are frightened.  This footage is the film itself.

I too would have preferred a still camera. I couldn’t see with any detail just exactly what those sticks left outside their tent every night looked like.  Yes, the lead character was annoying.

The Blair Witch Project isn’t my favorite horror film, but I recognize its strengths and why it was hyped. Nothing like this had been done before. It succeeds at mimicking real life footage, thus making the situation very real. If viewers can just accept the shaky camera and focus on the characters’ plight, then the story will be absorbing.  

The ending of this movie is also criticized. I think it was brilliant.

 

Eeking Out Over The Extravagant Eighties – Horror Films of the 1980s

1980’s = Eeking Out Over The Extravagant Eighties

Eek!! Are you r-r-r-eady for the 80s’ Extravaganza? This will probably be the decade where I list the most films. (Edit: I see have more films in other decades.)(Then why not just remove that sentence?)(Because I got to write “edit” and “edit” begins with “e”) That doesn’t mean they are better than previous or forthcoming films. Some eighties horror films were just plain stink-a-roo! So much was so much going on and I want to cover as much as I can.

So, what’s so extravagant about the 80s? Answer – the style. Among other things. (What other things?)(Oh I don’t know, just shut up.) Everything was colorful, over-the-top, kitsch with a lot of flair. Maybe MTV and music videos had something to do with this. Nevertheless, this trend leaked into the cinematic world of horror. This resulted in several campy horror films. Horror with the Ha Ha’s! Horror movies with one-liners.

The decade didn’t begin this way. It’s like the early 80s thought they were still in the late 70s. I guess that’s true with the beginnings of all decades. Oh well. Early 80s gives us more movies from John Carpenter. It shows us movies with a serious tone.  As the decade progresses, horror becomes more silly. Sometimes in a fun way, sometimes in a stupid way.

Wasn’t it Stevie Wonder who sang, “Slashers! Keep on slashing”?  Okay, I got a word mixed up, but the sharp, bladelike point of the slasher remains. If we accept a “slasher” to describe a movie with a killer or killers taking the lives of several people throughout the film, running up a huge body count, then we can say they were born in the 70s, but grew up in the 80s.  Some of these 80s slashers turned out to be unintentionally comical. We will see a few on this list.

Then there was the VCR. While the VCR was around in the 1970s, the 1980s saw its rise in popularity. By the mid-late 80s, for most Americans the VCR was a living room staple as much as the TV itself.  Whoopie! We can watch movies at home now.  Thus, a new phenomenon was born; direct-to-video movies This means some movies skipped the theater all together and ended up in small rectangular boxes on video store shelves. 

At most video rental stores, there was a wall displaying horror movies. Scary, gruesome monsters stared at customers from video boxes. It was as if they were speaking. “Rent me! Rent me!”  In many “cases”, this worked (See,the case the movie came in did the selling).  The more wild and attention-getting the box was, the more chance it had of being rented.  This was true also for movies that had a limited theater release. If the films couldn’t pull people into the theater, they might at least go home with them on “movie nights” (a sometimes planned phenomenon where people went out into the world just to forage for movies and bring them home.)  Weird-ass box covers went home with the oh-so-normal American populace. I remember my friend Joey, at the video store his mom worked at, pointed to a video box cover. It showed a man, full-faced, grimacing with camouflaged paint stripes on his cheeks,  popping his head up from some field of long grass holding a bloody military knife. He be like, “YEAH! Let’s rent this!!”  Henceforth, I poked fun at him, saying he only liked movies with mean-ass army dudes.  Anyway, several “Video store movies” appear on this list.

Well, that’s all I have to say about this.  Let’s get to the movies!


Friday the 13th  – 1980

See what  I mean? The blades used in Seventies’ slashers are piercing their way into the eighties. And they just happened to do so on one particular Friday the 13th. 

I’m sure I don’t have to explain this series to you, do I?  What’s that? There’s someone out there who’s been living under a rock since the 70s? They just crawled out and somehow know all about getting Internet access and finding my blog, but they don’t know about the Friday the 13th movies?   Fine.

Camp Crystal Lake is opening again after spending many years on hiatus due to some murders that took place twenty odd years ago. Several teenaged camp counselors and perhaps some early twentysomething folks are there early to set things up. But they are partying, smoking Gods’ green stuff and having sex for the sake of pleasure rather than to procreate.. One by one they are picked off. Murdered. Stabbed. Axed. Hung. Choked.  Spoiler: A woman is doing all this. She’s sore because back when the camp was open, her little boy drowned on account of the counselors that were partying, smoking Gods’ green stuff and having sex for the selfish reason of pleasure. All that fun and no one was watching her poor little Jason.

More spoilers.  After Jason rises from the water at the end of this flick, he comes back as the killer in part 2, part 3, and so on.

FACT – we don’t see the iconic image of Jason wearing the hockey mask until Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D.  I saw that film in the theater.  It might be my favorite of all the films in this series. ( I don’t know why I put “fact” in all-caps. I just wanted to.) 

Are these good movies?  Most critics say “no”.  I guess I agree though I like to bring Jason back into my life now and then for nostalgia sake.

P.S.  Kevin Bacon stars in this film. 

 

The Shining – 1980

This is not my favorite haunted house movie, but it is my favorite haunted house book. It’s a great movie though, despite what the haters tell you.  One such hater is Stephen King.  He has good reasons.  As its author, he has a right to despise a film that strays heavily from his work.

Director Stanley Kubrick incorporated his own vision of this story into the film. Likewise, he has good reasons for making some changes. A two-hour film just cannot capture all that is involved in a somewhat lengthy novel. 

The most debated difference has to do with the main character, Jack Torrence.  Jack, a recovering alcoholic, is a  writer/former school teacher with anger issues. He accepts a job as a caretaker for the gigantic hotel up in the snowy mountains during the height of the winter. He and his family are snowed in.  The Hotel – The Overlook, is supernaturally charged and reflects all the horrors that have happened on its premise to those sensitive to paranormal activity (called “The Shining”) and the psychologically vulnerable. His little boy Danny has The Shining. Jack is psychologically vulnerable.

In the book, Jack experiences a slow descent into madness.  In the film, Jack (played also by a “Jack”, Jack Nicholson) seems a bit off the moment the camera captures him. We all know that’s just how Nicholson the performer is. As Mad Magazine once said, “Jack Nicholson doesn’t mean to make horror movies. His romantic comedies just turn out that way.”

Ah, but Nicholson gave us the famous one-liner. After he chops his way into a locked room with an axe, he pushes his head through the hole in the door to say “Heeeere’s Johnny!”

The general public loved this film though, including yours truly.  Camera shots such as area and wide and distorted angels set  an eerie tone.  Scenes that show a vast amount of space contrasted with a lone person create an effect of hopelessness, as if vast forces have it in for isolated individuals, which in fact, in this movie, they do.

One of the best horror films out there.

By the way, this is the second Stephen King book turned film on this list. I’m skipping most of the rest.  

Except for two.

Sorry,  Children of the Corn is not among them.

Be prepared to wait a while.

 

The Fog – 1980

Hello John Carpenter, welcome back!  See everyone, I told you he’d stick his head in here a couple of more times. You could barely see it with all that “fog”

We’re still in serious horror mode.  So many people love this film. “It’s a classic!” they will say. They’re not wrong. It’s just that this isn’t one of my favorite horror films. The overall atmosphere is awesome, very creepy with the fog that comes off the bay and into the town, carrying with it the ghosts of killer lepers. They seek revenge on the town for the sins committed against them by the founders. But the plot involving the characters and how they all come together at the end is convoluted.

What else to say? Adrienne Barbeau stars in this film. She was in several other famous sci-fi/horror films. She was once married to John Carpenter.  Sadly, this is her first and final appearance on this list.

 

American Werewolf In London  – 1981

Okay, the zero year is over and we have finally entered the “ones” of the 80s, which means we can allow for some humor, right?

This isn’t the flamboyant kind of humor I mentioned in the introduction but it is billed as a horror comedy.  The name of the film is a spoof on the title of the first popular werewolf film: Werewolf of London from the 1930s (sorry, I didn’t have it on the list).  See, we’re already rolling in laughter and the film hasn’t even started yet.

Two American backpackers are hiking at night. One is killed by a werewolf, the other is mauled but survives. Guess what? Now he is a werewolf.

Some funny moments; undead victims of werewolves tend to pop up out of nowhere to warn our hero about his infliction.  This one time (little kids love that phrase) he loses his clothes in the transformation. When he’s human again, he has to use a bunch of balloons to cover his naked body. Also, all these upbeat songs are used in the film simply because the lyrics are about the moon.

Not so funny moment – his first transition into a werewolf. The special effects were pretty good.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this. I wish I could remember more of it. I meant to revisit it before making the list, but I ran out of time.  Drat!

Below is the transformation scene.  I swear, I remember CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising” playing during this scene. Guess they edited it out for this piece.. Damn musical copyright laws!

 

The Evil Dead – 1981   

What we have here is one of those films marketed for the drive-in theater crowd. Made by amateurs, acted by amateurs, low budget, little expectations, and then…?   (Then what?) Oh, then it went on to be one of the most loved horror films of all time!

A group of people are staying in a cabin in the woods.  They read from “The Book of the Dead” and all hell breaks loose. Literally.  One by one they become possessed by demons.

I’m not going to say too much because I said it all before.  Right here:  Evil Dead 2

 

Poltergeist  1982

“They’re heeeeere!”   Another horror-film catch phrase, said by a little girl, who knows the spirits have entered the house.

We know we’re in the 80s now.  It’s not a haunted house in some isolated manor; it’s a haunted house right smack dab in the middle of suburbia.  Gothic tropes are left far behind. The most haunted object in the house is a TV set.  

Colorful, scary film with a lot of state of the art effects.

Since I’ve written great detail on this film, why reinvent my own wheel?

Read more here:  Poltergeist 

 

Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D 1982

I have this on the list because we need at least one movie where Jason is the killer. As noted before, this is the first movie where he dons his iconic hockey mask. I believe he steals it from one of his victims. Why the victim brought a hockey mask to the cottages he and his friends rented on Crystal Lake for summer-fun-turned-terror, I can’t remember.

I saw this in the theater with my mom, my mom’s friend Karen, and Karen’s son Larry. I was twelve and Larry was maybe thirteen.  Funny that I remember this because I only saw the Karen/Larry team like twice in my life.

Back to the film. A slew of teenagers go to the aforementioned lake and die one by one. Three members of a motorcycle gang join in the fun, harassing the teens, but they meet their fate too.  One poor guy, Jason either had the dude in a vice or he used his strong hands in a vice-like manner on either side of his head. His head squished, then squished some more. A little bit more……finally, his eyeball popped out in 3D! I think it landed in my bag of popcorn.

 

The Thing – 1982

Well hello again, John Carpenter! I see you have done the unthinkable. They say “don’t mess with the classics. And what did you do?  You messed. Thank God you did because you made a film that is better than the original.

Yes folks, this is a remake of A Thing from Another World. You remember reading about earlier on the list. (Yes you do!!). I don’t mean to disrespect the original, but this is more terrifying. It features grotesque shape-shifting and lots of gore.  I’m not saying “gore is more,” but in this case, it works beautifully. 

Kurt Russell and his science team buddies are at one of the freezing poles trying their best to survive the continuous onslaught of an alien that can slip into bodies and duplicate the cell structure and turn itself into part human/part Blech Abominations

 

Nightmare on Elm Street – 1983

“Finally Freddy”.  No, that’s not a rock band. I mean to say at last we meet everyone’s favorite 80’s horror icon – Freddy Krueger.  

Like with other successful firsts, this movie spawned many spinoffs and sequels. We won’t get into all those..  But the original is considered by most critics to be the best of them all.

Freddy haunts your dreams. Well, he haunts the Elm Street teenagers’ dreams anyway. With his signature dirty brown hat, burned face, and razorblade fingernails, he chases them and kills them while they are fast asleep.  If they die in the dream, they die in real life. Bystanders watching the sleeping person struggle will see bloody blade marks streaking across their skin and not know where they are coming from.

This first in the franchise is the most serious of the films. They grow more comedic as the series progresses. Freddy will have funny one liners. Here are some from Nightmare on Elm Street 3 – Dream Warriors (My second favorite Freddy film.)

(Scenario 1 – teen girl wants to be a movie star. She falls asleep watching a TV bolted on a high wall. Freddy’s head forms from the TV, the TV grows arms and lifts her into the air.

“Here’s your big break in TV! Fucking prime time, bitch!”

With that, he smashes her head into the picture tube.)

(Scenario 2 – Freddy is disguised as a hot nurse who climbs on top of a mute teenager named Joey as he lies in bed. Her tongue turns snakelike and shoots out of her mouth – four times! The tongues detach from the source and rope around each of Joey’s appendages to tie him to the bed posts. Then the nurse is Freddy and he says:

“What’s the matter, Joey? Feeling tongue-tied?” ) 

Freddy kills, kills, and kills and the laughs keep on coming!

 

Fright Night – 1985

I saw this movie in the theater back in 1985, then I saw bits and pieces a year or two later on video. Besides remembering it was about a vampire living next door to a teenage boy, who elicits the help of a TV horror host/fictional vampire killer to rid the block of this fanged menace, I couldn’t remember any of the details.  But I  knew there was “something” about it; what that something is I wasn’t sure. Something special? Something notorious? A film so bad it’s good?  The “somethingness” of this movie was lost on me, but the fact that it reeks of “somethingness” meant it needed to be on this list. Something like that anyway.

So now here we are in  2025 (wow! Forty fucking years since its premiere).  I thought to myself, I better rewatch this if it’s to be on this list so I know what the hell I’m yapping about. So watch it I did.  I was surprised.

First, I didn’t realize it was a cult film that spawned a sequel, a remake, a video game, and an origin story that’s in the works. Second, I was like “Hey, that’s Marcy Darcy on Married With Children. What’s Al Bundy’s neighbor doing here?”  She plays the girlfriend of the teen boy who lives next door to a vampire, even though she was probably in her late twenties. Sorry, but I could only see her as Marcy, and kept waiting for the vampire to mimic a chicken the same way Al Bundy did to make fun of her physique.

Despite my Marcy Darcy hurdle, I found this to be a really good film. Sure it’s dated, has some of that 80s’ cheese melted into its overall production. But the special effects look good, the vampire dude is a good actor, and there are some scary scenes in this movie.

I’m glad I took the time to revisit this film.

 

Return of the Living Dead – 1985

The soundtrack is almost as good as the movie. Punk rock. Who are the people that are killed by the living dead? Mostly punk rockers, partying in the cemetery with their boombox. They wear mohawks and leather. There’s a girl doing a graveside strip tease. Oh my!

The dead that rise out of their graves to attack the living don’t only chow down on punks. They go for cemetery caretakers, paramedics, and cops as well.  What part of the body do they love the most?  Brains!  This is the movie that specifically added  brains to a zombies diet plan.

Though it uses the “Living Dead” phrase, this is not a George Romero film. In fact, somehow Romero lost the rights to that phrase. His next two films after Night of the Living Dead are Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. (sorry, they are not on this list). No “Living”.  I believe his former partner won the rights to that phrase and used it for this movie. Something like that.

This is another funny movie with catchphrases such as “Braaaaains!” and “Send more cops” (The living dead have called on the police radio because they want to eat more brains.)

 

House – 1985

Wait, we already had a “House” on this list. Well, that was Hausu, House is the english version of the Japanese movie. This is something altogether different.  No, it’s not as good as the Japanese horror movie from the seventies, but, you know, it’s okay.  And it’s funny! How is it funny? I can’t remember. It’s been a while and I really don’t want to revisit it.

Here’s more info about it –  House

Stealing from my own writing from within the link above:

This film smacks of the 1980s.  It’s colorful, simplistic, goes for appearance over depth,  –

it’s  a glam punk kind of movie. As mentioned, the things that haunt this place look creepy, insane and ridiculous

 

A Vietnam War vet  suffering from PTSD moves into a house, and the house goes nuts.  That’s the best way to describe this film.  

I can’t neglect to mention; George Wendt stars in this movie.  NORM!!!!

 

Evil Dead 2 – Dead by Dawn  – 1987

This is one of the few times I list a sequel.  Many say it’s better than the first. It certainly has a different tone. This one if more, I could say “comedic”, but I think  “goofy” is better.  It’s like The Three Stooges in a horror film.  And it’s not really a sequel, nor is it a remake.  It’s a “requel”.  What the hell is that, you ask?  I wrote about it. Read about it.

Evil Dead 2

Oh, and there is a catchphrase. Ash, the hero, after blowing a “deadite” (that’s what these demonic things are called in this series) apart, he says “Groovy!”

 

The Lost Boys – 1987

“Say hello to the night! (Lost Boys!)

Lost in the shadows!”

Isn’t that a great song? Came from this here movie, it did. Sung by Lou Gramm, the vocalist of Foreigner. The soundtrack is awesome. Sometimes I think they make certain movies just to sell music. This was certainly true of the 80s.

The vampires in this film resemble rock stars. Long and glammed-up hair, wearing metal bracelets and riding motorcycles along the coast of the ocean. ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

This film is fun for many different kinds of people. Teenagers will love the rebellious troupe of vampires that prowl the boardwalk and live in a cave with a cool-ass Jim Morrison portrait on the walls (well, 80s teens did, like I was). Horror fans will love things like vampires dropping from cliffs and disappearing into the mist. And those with a funny bone will love the humor. 

 

Hellraiser – 1987

I’m guessing Cliver Barker is a better director than a writer.  I just can’t get into his books. This movie, Hellraiser, is based on his book The Hellbound Heart. I confess, I haven’t read it. I think it’s his signature novel.  But some of his other pieces are either okay tor yuck. I do like this film and Barker is at the helm.

The movie involves opening a magic puzzle box and releasing the Cenobites; terrible beings from some other dimension that are skilled in the art of sadomasochism.  The alpha being is appropriately named “Pinhead.”  Or was this the nickname fans coined after the fact?  I don’t know, but he has all these pins stuck in his head and face.  There are four Cenobites, one female and three males. Trust me, you don’t want to mess around with this crew..

Also in the film, a woman is trying to resurrect her dead lover by using the blood of victims she lures into her attic. Her lover is in some kind of gelatinous state but gradually takes on proper form with each and every victim they kill

Lots of body horror in this film, body mutilations. Not for the faint of heart.

 

Child’s Play 1988

I saw this for the first time the other day in preparation for this list. Seriously. The serial killer doll name Chucky just hadn’t slashed his way into my life as he had done for so many people. 

I knew the premise of the story. (Criminal dies. Through magical means, he transfers his soul into a “Good Guy doll” named Chucky). I had even seen parts of one of the sequels, but never the original.  It was better than I expected.

There have been many evil doll stories before Child’s Play and I’m sure there will be plenty more.  What was new, I think, was the doll’s ability to roam the city of Chicago. He takes the train, he chases cars.  He’s not confined to the apartment where he is the toy of a little boy, but there are plenty of scary scenes in there.

Examining the credits, I noticed the name Jack Colvin. That’s “Mr. McGee!” I said to myself, excited. He played a reporter who chased after The Incredible Hulk in the 1970s TV show.. I was hoping Chucky would approach him and say the signature line from that show, “Mr McGee, don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like it when I’m angry.”  And…that didn’t happen.

 

Beetlejuice 1988

On Wikipedia,

this film is first listed as American Gothic, then dark fantasy, followed by comedy, and the word “horror” brings up the rear. As such, I almost didn’t list this film. But it was such a huge success, everyone seems to love it, and it is saturated with 80s camp and glam, so therefore, I feared an exclusion would rile someone up, especially a die hard Tim Burton fan.

Director Tim Burton is not my favorite. I view his films as too childlike for adults but too dark for young kids. Always the fanciful one, his films are not my style, or, I should say, it has too much style.  There will be no more Tim Burton films on this list. I’m sorry, no The Nightmare Before Christmas, no Corpse’s Bride, no Sleepy Hollow.

Beetlejuice stars Michael Keaton as a Betelgeuse, a sordid ghost who is a”bio-exorcist;”  he his hired by other ghosts to rid humans from houses.  A young Winonna Ryder stars in the film as well.

The most memorable scene is the dinner party, where ghosts possess the snooty diners and make them dance to Harry Belafonte’s music.

 

Puppet Master 1989

I promised you a direct to video movie, didn’t I? Well here’s one. It might not be well known, but I didn’t want to toss it in the “Under the Radar” section because I can’t recommend this as a good movie. Some of the films in the “Under the Radar” listings may not be honored in a critical sense, but there is still something offbeat, something unique about them. This movie, however, it’s, well…it’s a bunch of little puppet people running around a house killing its occupants. I guess that can be fun. 

Despite its negative reviews, the movie spawned several sequels, so some people adore this franchise.

 

Basket Case 1982

If Little Red Riding Hood had been carrying the basket from this movie, contents included, the Wolf wouldn’t have bothered her. Had he looked inside, chances are, he wouldn’t be alive to run off to Grandma’s house to do what he did with her.

The main character of Basket Case carries around his twin brother in a basket. Suffice it to say, they aren’t identical. The brother outside the case is a seemingly normal, bipedal human male struggling to make it through life, living in the seediest motel/apartment complex there is.  See, being your brother’s keeper is a rough lot in life, especially when having a brother of a certain disposition.

The “basket bro” has no legs, no hair. He does have creeping arms, bulging eyes, a big nose, a giant mouth and sharp teeth.  He looks a little like a baby Jabba the Hutt, only, believe it or not, more gruesome. He doesn’t speak. He snarls, and makes all kinds of gross sounds.  Oh, and he likes to bite people that open his cage. For a little guy he has a big appetite. He’ll eat you whole.

Basket Case became a cult classic and spawned a few sequels. I saw some of them. In one movie, the Basket Case is sent to a house of “freaks”,  So many things with all kinds of grotesque abnormalities. In another, he becomes a father. The doctor removes the children (he has many) from his wife’s, uh,,,,whatever biological mechanism she has for shooting out babies.  They are tied together on one umbilical cord. “The doctor shouts One! Two! Three! …..Nine…Ten!

By my description, I’m sure you can tell this movie is way over the top. On gore, on concept, on everything!  But it’s so damn fun. And funny.  

The film is directed by Frank Hennenloter, known for his horror comedies. He gave us other treasures, such as the Frankenhooker.

 

Killer Klowns from Outer Space – 1988

This movie is sooo crazy. It hurled down to Earth from some far, unknown galaxy. It landed not in  theaters but into video stores across America. 

Imagine a circus tent as a spaceship. Picture a clown car getting stopped by a police officer. See with your mind’s eyes several clowns exiting the tiny car. Feel empathy for the poor police officer who gets pied to death, only to be turned into a desert.

Beware of these klowns! They will trap you inside cotton candy cocoons. Or, they will sic their balloon-sculpted dogs on you. See for yourself as one clown on a tricycle frightens an entire motorcycle gang! 

I just love the creativity in this movie. Sure it’s silly, but clowns themselves are silly, are they not?

The Slashing, Satanic Seventies – Horror Films of the 1970’s

1970’s – The Slashing, Satanic Seventies

Whew, we survived the 60s.  Wouldn’t you know it, the 60’s threw us right into the 70s. We go now from Hendrix to Hendrix.  I’ll explain.

Sadly, the world lost a great guitarist in 1970. R.I.P. Jimi Hendrix. It just so happens I’m going to use the help of another Hendrix to explain a 70’s phenomenon.  

In 2017, Grady Hendrix published his book Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of 70’s and 80s’ Horror Fiction.  After the sudden success of paperback horror books such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, Hendrix explains,  suddenly everyone wanted to be the next best selling-horror author. This resulted in the publication of many trashy books.  Several were decent though, and several were made into movies.  We’ll see some of these on the list, including movies based on some works by this one author guy, guess he sold a book or two. Don’t know if you’ve heard of him. His name is Stephen King (though only one from the seventies).

What do Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist have in common?  Answer – Satan! Though Satan himself sidestepped these stories, his offspring and/or minions stood in for the great horned beast.  Thus, the world of horror fiction learned that Satan sells!  So there will be a couple of horror movies on this list that feature such hellish beasts.

 What else was happening in the 70’s world of horror films?  Well, slashers were slashing their way onto the screen. Successful splatter films of the 60s bred more slasher films.  Many were low budget and cheesy, for a lack of a better word. Would theaters go for this?  Some would, some wouldn’t.  Some of the ones that did were drive-in movie theaters. Declining in popularity as a fun-for-the-whole-family place of entertainment,  drive-ins were struggling to stay afloat, so these low budget, definitely lowbrow films that major theaters rejected. Though the “sophisticated” film aficionado, or even the average movie goer would not take in this kind of thing, teenagers and twenty-somethings ate them up.  Theaters and drive-ins that showed these kinds of films were known as “grindhouses”.  Thus, the types of films shown at these theaters were called grindhouse films. According to Nofilmschool.com, a grindhouse film is  low budget and might include graphic violence and sexuality, exploitation, and taboo subjects. There were hundreds of these films.

So, what’s the difference between a slasher, splatter or grindhouse film? Gosh, I don’t know. Some film nerd may have taken the time to find distinguishing characteristics for each label, but I ain’t gonna.  Anyway, on this list I include a film that grew out of its “lowly” status as a grindhouse film to become one of the more iconic horror films. I also include one of the “more known lesser knowns” (hope that makes sense) to represent the all cheap and trashy horror drive-in films.  You know, like the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit.

If forced for a definition, I’d say a “slasher” film contains at least one killer who kills several characters throughout the film in a graphic way. Often with a knife. Knives slash, guns don’t. I include a certain low-budget slasher film, which might be the most famous slasher film of all time (assuming we’re not including Psycho as a slasher film).

While on the subject of  low-budget films, what might be their polar opposite? That would be the blockbuster, of course –  a high-budget film with mass appeal. This label as used to describe movies has been around since the early days of film, but the “blockbuster era” began in the 1970s with one particular horror film that came out early in the summer. Thus, “the summer blockbuster” was born. Two summer blockbuster horror films appear on this list.

Finally, let’s not discount made-for-TV horror films. Most sources say these first came on the horizon in the 1970s. There are several good ones (and of course, many bad ones). I include two on this list.

“Oh, just one more thing!” (Columbo), Another Giallo film makes this list

Good gosh, this is a long intro. Maybe it’s because the 1970’s are my favorite decade for horror films? Be that as it may, I won’t harangue any longer. To the films! Let’s go!


I Drink Your Blood – 1970

What do you get when you mix rabid satanic hippies with rabid, unsophisticated construction workers?  Answer: this movie

This is an example of a grindhouse film as referred to in the intro.  For the price of one, teenagers at drive-ins could see this trash along with, oh I don’t know, a film about fanged bat-winged women devouring fleshless fishermen? 

Obviously this is not a quality film but it is entertaining in parts. Got to give it some points for that.

Grindhouse films have been covered.  Moving on…

 

The Abominable Dr. Phibes  – 1971

Arguably Vincent Price’s best performance in a horror movie.  And you never see his mouth move!  I had originally written the “Abdominal” Dr. Phibes! I’d be spoon-feeding you  a spoonerism that would make even Archie Bunker stop and think. 

Don’t worry, this isn’t a film about Vincent Price eating so many people that his tummy hurts. His character, however, Dr. Phibes, does have some strange physicalities going on. Thought to have been killed in a car accident, Phibes is alive, but his face is torn up and he has lost his voice. As a doctor of music,  he is very attuned to sound manipulation. He figured out how to speak without moving his mouth. He wears a false-face made of prosthetics. 

So, is this a story about a good man with physical oddities trying to survive in a world where deformities are looked down upon? No, silly.  He is a mad man, bent on revenge. His wife died in a surgery mishap (supposedly), and he seeks to kill all those involved in his wife’s death.

This eccentric gentleman is often seen sitting at his organ in his hideout, making his music while females in costumes dance.  This is a campy film, not a silly kind of campy, more like an eerie style of campy. It’s billed as a comedy horror. 

Woo Hoo! Full movie on YouTube! If it’s gone, then Boo Hoo!

 

Kolchak the Night Stalker/ The Night Strangler – 1972/1973

I’m cheating. I’m listing two films in the same slot. The second is a sequel to the first. I should only be mentioning Kolchak the Night Stalker. It is the better of the two, but I hadn’t seen The Night Strangler, and gosh-diddily-darn, I missed this not once but twice on Svengoolie, the last miss occurring 9/27/25. As an excuse to watch this on my own (w/out good ol’ Svengoolie, sob sob!), I decided to include it in this list. That way,  I wasn’t taking it in for any guilty pleasure but instead for purposes of a larger project.  See..

(Will you shut up already and tell us about these movies already?!?)

Sorry, will do. You don’t have to be so rude! 

These are two made-for-tv movies directed/produced by Dan Curtis, who has quite the resume when it comes to television productions.  There will be another Curtis , made-for-TV horror movie later on this list. 

The success of these movies led to a TV Series with the same title as the first movie. I’m going to get ahead of myself and talk about the series first.

The main character is an odd and tenacious reporter named Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin (He’s the dad in A Christmas Story). With his blue/gray blazer (sometimes tan), necktie and straw hat, he’s always chasing a story, which is regularly  linked to supernatural events. He will stop at nothing to prove a vampire is the culprit. Or a space alien. Or a werewolf. His editor and his foil is Tony Vincenzo, played by Simon Oakland. Kolchak drives Vincenzo nuts with all his theories of ghosts and goblins. “CARL!!” he might yell “This is a respectable paper! We can’t run a headline claiming a headless motorcyclist is responsible for killing those women. We’ll be laughed out of the business!”  To which Kolchak might reply, “But these are the FACTS, Tony! I can prove it!”

It’s a funny and scary show. The first movie has Carl in Las Vegas,  uncovering facts that lead to an unbelievable truth: a vampire is responsible for a recent string of murders.  Of course neither the police nor his boss (Tony) believes him.  But he’s right. Kolchak is always right about these kinds of things. In the end, though Carl puts an end to the vampire, he is chased out of Las Vegas.

In the second movie, Kolchak is in Seattle, and low and behold, he runs into his old boss Tony (who must have uprooted as well.) Reluctantly, Tony hires Kolchak on a local paper and right away, Kochak discovers a supernatural strangler is on the loose. Poor Tony has to go through it all over again.

I like the Tony Vincenzo character. He is kind of like a combination of MASH’s Col. Henry Blake’s and Potter. He has Potter’s temper but Blake tractability

At the end of The Night Strangler, Both Kolchak and Vincenzo  are seen leaving Seattle together, in search of a new city to write and produce news. They talk about New York but fans of the show know they end up in Sweet Home ,Chicago!!

Alas, the show only lasted one season.  Without this show, there would be no X-Files.

Both movies are on YouTube (Unless like in the movies, they run poor ol’ Kolchak out of YouTube town.)

 

 

 

The Exorcist – 1973

Come on, guys, do I really need to explain this one? Fine, in a nutshell, a little girl gets possessed by a demon and she wigs out in such a way the cinematic world had never seen before. She spits greenish goo, her head spins around, she talks with the voice of a creepy man of undetermined accent, she shoves crucifixes in her crotch, and the two priests that try to exorcise the demon wish they had called in sick that day.

It is called the best horror movie ever by many. People back in the day were fainting in the aisles. This was the Satanic Panic before that movement even got started. 

Based on the book by William Peter Blatty. 

(Oh and I can play the theme song (( Tubular Bells by Michael Oldfield) on the piano. This is a very important footnote!)

 

The Wicker Man – 1973

Please don’t confuse this with the 2006 remake of this movie. Please don’t ask, “Oh yeah, isn’t that the film where they put Nicholas Cage’s head into a cage with bees?”  No it’s not. No moments of “Cage in a cage” exist in this film.  I didn’t see the 2006 movie but based on reviews, the difference is this: the 1973 film is a great movie/ the 2006 film blows chunks.

Would you believe this is a horror musical? I shit you not. With this new bit of information, you might be thinking, “Um, are you sure you don’t have the two films mixed up? Surely the musical is the one that stinks and the “Cage in a cage” is the awesome one? No and no!  Trust me, it works.

Christopher Lee joins our list again, playing the leader of a collective people that inhabit an island off of Great Britain’s mainland. All of them practice some form of paganism. A very straight-edged, no-nonsense police officer from the mainland arrives on the island to investigate a case of a missing girl. To say there’s a culture clash is an understatement. One might even say the meeting turns horrific.  That would make this a horror movie. Guess what? It is.

 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 1974

This might be the best-known Grindhouse film. It’s a very gruesome, low budget film, but it created the horror icon “Leatherface” who lives forever in the pantheon of horror film’s most quintessential villains.   Wearing a mask made of human skin, he kills people with a chainsaw.  He comes from an insane family that collects human skin, bones, and other gruesome body parts. He has a brother (who is only slightly less deranged), a father, and a grandpa that resembles a corpse. But he is very much alive.

Directed by the famed Tobe Hopper, the film initially opened to bad reviews. Now it is a cult favorite.  It’s one of my favorites, that’s for sure. 

Enjoy the dinner scene.

 

Deep Red – 1975

Please welcome to our list –  Dario Argento (YAY! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!) We will see him again. He’s a renowned Italian director synonymous with the Giallo movement. The Italian name for this film (Therefore, the true name) is Profondo Rosso.

The film features an unknown, gloved maniac who keeps killing people. A musician gets tangled up in the mystery and he searches for the killer.  

Great camera work, intriguing story, and an awesome soundtrack from the Italian progressive rock band Goblin.

 

Trilogy of Terror – 1976

Television producer Dan Curtis is back with the best made-for-TV horror movie evah! IMHO.  

Actually, it’s three stories, with Karen Black playing the lead in all of them.  First we have her as a timid college instructor being pursued by one of her students. He takes her on a date. He wants to drug her and have his way with her. Will the poor woman put up any kind of defense? The answer may surprise you.

Then we have Karen Black playing two roles, two sisters who live in the same house. One is in need of psychiatric care.

Finally, the BIG finally, is the third story. This is the one everyone remembers. Karen’s character has imported a native Zuni doll. Long shaggy hair, big teeth and a long, scary knife. Yes folks, it comes to life and chases her around her apartment.

Here is the film! (If it’s a dead link, then it’s There it went!)

 

Jaws – 1976

The first blockbuster film, at least the first from the blockbuster era. Everyone wanted to see it. One of the highest grossing horror films (and here I thought it was the highest. Since then, a few other films beat it).  

A friend and I once caught the ending. He had never seen it before. I had. We saw the giant shark jump on the boat. He was like, “So fake-looking, and here this is supposed to be a critically acclaimed film.” See, he missed all that is good about the film. It’s not what the shark looks like, it’s about the suspense. Throughout most of the movie, we don’t see the shark. We hear John Williams’ hypnotic score of two pounding notes. We see the shark’s fin slicing the surface, moving toward its victim. We see the victim go under. Blood then rises to the surface.

This movie put Stephen Spielberg on the map. (Oh yes, Spielberg directed this)

Trailer. Watch

 

Carrie – 1976

Stephen King’s first novel. First movie based on a Stephen King novel. It’s certainly number 1 in my book!

I saw this on TV sometime in the 70s. I was a wee little lad and my mom suggested I watch it. She thought I would like it. I did. I was sent to bed before the blood-gushing prom scene. Strangely enough, Mommy said I could come down from bed and watch the final scene; the confrontation between Carrie and her mom, and Carrie’s final fate.  Looking back, I think that scene is more traumatizing than the whole “let’s kill everyone at the prom.” thing. But I believe I was more sad than frightened.  Sadscared – a brand new word and emotion

In a nutshell, the story is about a bullied teenager who develops telekinetic powers at the onset of her puberty. Telekinesis is my dream superpower. As a kid, I loved how Luke Skywalker could move objects with his mind in The Empire Strikes Back. But it was Carrie that taught me of such a phenomenon. 

I have both read the novel and seen the movie. I prefer the movie.

P.S. – this was John Travolta’s breakout film

 

The Omen – 1976

Where are we at now with Satan, three? I believe so. Three 1970’s movies with Satanic themes. Like Rosemary’s Baby, this is a story about Satan’s offspring.  

This was another film I first saw on TV as a kid, probably at the encouragement of my mom. A kid watching a movie about a kid.  In some twisted way, I guess this makes sense.

This is a story about the Anti-Christ as mentioned in the Bible’s book of Revelation. Born of a jackal but made up entirely of human features, Damien is raised by an American ambassador living in the UK with his wife. The wife is under the impression that she birthed the child. Nope. There was a switch.

Only fiveish years old, and young Damien is already acting devilish. He must be stopped. But there is only one way to kill him and it involves traveling to Israel to obtain special knives. 

This was a pretty decent film. Not a favorite of mine, but reviews fare reasonably well.

 

Susperia – 1977

Dario Argento is back again on our list. Suspiria might be his most acclaimed film. 

An American woman attends a dance/boarding school in Germany. Spooky things are a foot.  It’s quite possible the ones who run this school are witches.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, but I remember being somewhat confused about the plot. But nevermind. This isn’t a plot-centric movie. It’s about the style, the colors, the trippy visuals. Once again, the Prog Rock band Goblin teams up with Argento for a haunting soundtrack with tracks that work so well with the scenes they accompany.

There is a 2018 remake – this is a completely different animal. I only saw bits of it so I cannot judge it as good or bad.

 

Halloween – 1978

Here it is. The granddaddy of slasher films. The low-budget film that revolutionized the horror industry. Asylum-escapee Michael Meyers returns to his home town of Haddonfield, Illinois to stalk a babysitter and kill her friends on the night of Halloween.

Michael Meyers has no dialogue. He never speaks. He wears a mask void of emotion, modelled after William Shatner.  His deep breathing and simple nods of his head are more frightening than any  loud and gimmicky monster.

As to the cinematography,  I like to think of the camera as a voyeur. Shots are done from the killer’s viewpoint. Sometimes he’s at a distance from his target; standing across the street and staring at the house he will soon invade. In these scenes we don’t see him but we hear his breath and feel the tension.  This is a film built on suspense. 

My mom did not let me see this one. She went to the theater with a friend and came back to tell me how stupid it was. She was lying. Had she told me it was good, I would have wanted to see it. And I did see it with dear old mom, but I was around twelve by then.

John Carpenter directs and provides the score for this film. His simple yet eerie work on the keyboard makes for chilling background music at the most pivotal scenes.

 

Alien – 1979

I always had a difficult time thinking of Alien as a horror movie. It’s a great film, no doubt, but for me, its sci-fi nature outshined any of the horror aspects.  The rest of the world and their grandmothers disagree with me on this. I lose, they win.

“Come on, Dan, there are some scary moments in this movie,” they say.  I reply back, “You’re right.”  Inside the dark corridors of the space ship, the-tall ass alien with the gigantic head and big sharp teeth sneaking behind that dude; that was frightening.  And the smaller alien resembling the ugliest of ugly squids with its tentacles wrapped around the poor dude’s head; that’s terrifying.  And the…

Okay, there are many “and the” moments.  Point is made no need to belabour it anymore.  When seeing this film, just don’t gloss over all the cool sci-fi moments, mkay? Like the android who doesn’t need to incubate because he isn’t human. And when his body is torn apart, all that white and creamy “blood” and corresponding vessels; unattached and tangled, his severed head still speaking. Oh wait, this is horrific too. Still, yeah sci-fi! Yeah Science, Bitch!

 

P.S. forgot to mention the ground-breaking role for Sigourney Weaver – playing what might be the first female  lead action hero.

Amityville Horror – 1979

It’s fake! A family known as the Lutzes living in a haunted house that nearly killed them – all lies! The corresponding book (which came first) was based on a hoax concocted by The Lutzes and their lawyer over a bottle of wine. Got to give them credit though. One bottle of wine between a few people and they arrived at this. I would need at least two bottles of wine for myself to get such a story going.

(Oh no, no. Don’t listen to that voice that wrote the preceding paragraph.  It’s all true. Just ask the famed Ed and Lorraine Warren, true ghost hunters. They investigate the house and claim that it is indeed haunted. (oh wait, they can’t be asked; they’re dead)) 

Whether true or not, The Amityville Horror is a scary film. Perhaps the claim of being based on actual events adds to the scare factor. Gee, says the hypothetical thinker, if I visit this house, all these things could happen to me!

Windows that slam shut, trapping a little boy’s fingers underneath until they bleed. A babysitter locked in the closet for hours. A little girl befriending a ghost pig (or is this only in the book? I’m forgetting). Yup, that is some scary shit.

This film got mixed reviews but still went on to spawn over thirty sequels.  One even has the haunted house floating around in space.  Didn’t see it, so no asking how this comes to be. Some things are better left to mystery.

 

Phantasm – 1979

As a young and budding horror buff, I am ashamed to say I didn’t see this film until my forties. It certainly was one of the “must-sees” of my age group.  True, I didn’t really go to the theater to see horror films until the 80s, and I didn’t have a VCR until the mid-80s. Yet somehow, I had seen the horror films from the recent past, at least the ones my peer group deemed relevant. 

On the plus side, by waiting all those years,  I was able to see this movie in a theater. A small, indie theater was showing Phantasm and for the first time, I saw “The Tall Man.” Proprietor of a funeral home, this horror villain is old, scary, mysterious, very tall (did I have to repeat that?), and old but ageless. He also possesses supernatural powers such as super human strength and telekinesis. He throws a mean steelie; but his steel ball is equipped with blade-like wings.  He controls an army of hooded dwarfs that crawl in and out of graves.

A couple of young men and a thirteen year old boy are pitted against the Tall Man and his minions. How much success do they have? Honestly, I can’t remember the precise ending. I only know this movie has several sequels, none of which I’ve seen.

Full Movie, until it’s gone – 


Let’s Scare Jessica to Death  –  1971

I first saw this, I want to say, in the 90s?  I certainly didn’t see it the year it came out. In 1971, I was crawling around trying to make it to my first birthday. I believe I rented it from Blockbuster Video.  I didn’t care much for it. I saw it again around ten years ago. I liked it much better on second viewing. 

Jessica has recently been released from a mental institution. Her husband has brought her to a house in the country – to relax. They share the house with another couple. Poor Jessica, she just isn’t adjusting too well.  And this is before the vampires enter the picture.

A new girl has arrived. Is she a vampire? Certainly she is some kind of ghoul, a ghost perhaps.  

Viewers are seeing this movie from Jessica’s perspective. She is an unreliable narrator. Is the whole town really awash with vampires?  Are her friends and loved ones really being murdered?   See it and make up your own mind.

 

Bad Ronald – 1974

Another made for TV movie. Not enough people know about this film.  Too bad.  It’s an odd one for sure, but it’s creepy. And sad.

Arnold might not have had all his marbles to begin with. He had most, I’ll say that. His mother took a few of them away.  See, Arnold is a bright young boy; does so well at school. But he’s dreamy. He’d rather be a writer or an artist, methinks. He loves retreating to fantasy worlds of magic kingdoms. His mother, who ails from cancer, discourages him from that kind of stuff. She wants him to succeed at school and become a doctor so he can cure her disease.  That’s a lot of pressure if you ask me.

Having thick glasses and scruffy hair, Arnold is socially awkward. A girl is teasing him and he pushes her, causing her to fall and crack open her head.  The girl dies and Arnold is in trouble.

Mother hides Arnold.  In their house, she has dividers built, sacrifices a bathroom, to make a hidden living space for her son. Somehow, she still thinks he will learn what is necessary to become a doctor, behind those walls I guess.  Instead, he draws magical things and people all over the walls and creates an imaginary kingdom, and begins to loosen his grip on reality. Before, he was at least clutching it with his fingertips. After being hidden away, his fingers were free but his sanity was gone.. 

Mother dies. Arnold doesn’t know it. The house is sold, a new family moves in. Arnold is still living behind the walls!  He creeps around at night and steals from their refrigerator.  It’s such a creepy situation.

Here is a scene:

 

Hausu – 1977

This movie is trippy!  

Finally, we have a Japanese movie on the list. “Hausu” means “House” in English. It’s a story of six girls, off to spend part of their summer at the house of one of the girl’s aunts. The house is beyond haunted. It’s more like a house that took a couple of hits of acid. 

It has to be seen to be understood.  I don’t know how such surrealism and animated effects can be put to words. Guess that means I’m a bad writer. Boo to me.

It has become a cult film and has over 90% positive reviews on Rottontomatoes.com

 

 

 

 

The Splattering Sixties – Horror Films of the 1960s

The 1960s  – The Splattering Sixties

This is Wikipedia’s first time to divide the years into separate pages when listing horror films per decade. Compared to the other decades, the 60s had so many horror films! Not so for other genres. The difference is attributed to the loosening of MMPA (Motion Picture Association, what the second M means I couldn’t tell ya!) rules that prohibited certain content; content which violated the Hayes Code. With more relaxed standards came more films with sexually explicit content and more gore. Thus, some say the 60’s birthed the first “splatter” film. The film that some claim started it all is on this list. I’ll identify it as such.  (No, it’s not Psycho. But that movie is on this list)

Moving on, (where, Italy?  Correct. Huh?)  the 1960’s saw the birth and rise of certain movements in Italian horror cinema. Beginning at the end of the 50’s but continuing strong in the 60s, “Italian gothic horror” is, well, let’s let Gary Johnson tell us about it. From in his article The Golden Age of Italian Horror

Secluded castles with musty hallways, rolling fog, tree branches that reach like hands, stranded travelers, duplicitous lovers who conspire to murder, secret passageways that descend to deteriorating crypts–this is the stuff of Italian gothic horror, one of the most exciting and atmospheric sub-genres of film

Then there is “Giallo horror”, which, according to Wikipedia:

contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.

From the same article, Giallo horror is also referred to as “Spaghetti Slashers”, much like the Italian produced Westerns known as “Spaghetti Westerns.”  Giallo horror began in the 1960s.  There will be examples of films from both categories on this list.

Let’s leap to a new subject.  Proceeding sentence, second word, minus the “L”. (what the Hell?) I said “minus” “L”, that’s what. That leaves EAP, or Edgar Allen Poe

The “Poe-Corman” cycle began in the 60s. Filmmaker Roger Corman, teaming up with the one and only Vincent Price as a lead actor, produced several films for American International Pictures based on Poe’s works. Some of these will be on the list.

I would be remiss if I failed to observe how the cultural shift of the 1960s influenced its horror movies. As young kids were abandoning established institutional values of conformity for those of experimentation and self-expression, films were also expanding into new horizons. Horror films that included social commentary and psychological anguish were the style. Again, I list some of these films.

The results of all this? A “splattering”  of styles and influences. So hard to categorize, Therefore, enough boxing these films into groupings. Let’s open Pandora’s box and let some of them out!


13 Ghosts – 1960 

Before we get into all those stuffies I crammed into the opening sections, let’s revisit our good friend William Castle. He made several movies in the 60s, but we’ll be satisfied if we look at just one more.  As the title suggests, there are thirteen ghosts in this story. However, the film begins with twelve and continues with twelve, until…

 At one point in the film, there may be an inclusion of one more ghost. Does this mean someone is destined to die? If so, who will it be?

The ghosts are a bit on the cartoonish side. The overall tone of the movie is odd. I quote myself from a review I wrote of this film, “imagine if Rod Serling became the writer for Leave it to Beaver.” Some will dismiss it as corny. I say it’s good old fashioned fun.

Here’s Castle’s gimmick (Remember, I said William Castle had gimmicks for his theater audiences). Special glasses, similar to the ones worn for 3D movies, were handed out at the theater. The only way the ghosts on the screen could be seen (hey, that rhymed!) is through the lens.  

Free with ads on YouTube

Psycho – 1960

Known for the shocking scene of a woman stabbed to death in the shower, and yet this isn’t the film I was referring to when I said the 60’s produced the first splatter film. The murder itself isn’t shown but audiences know what is happening by the actions of the silhouette (the stabbing motion), the scream on actress Janet Leigh’s face, and the blood funneling down the drain. This montage was frightening enough to convince viewers a grizzly murder was happening right before their eyes. 

This is Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece of suspense. I don’t know if there is anything else to say about it that tops or even adds to  the thousands of reviews, analyses and comments throughout the years. So I will shut up now.

 

House of Usher – 1960

Whew! Three films in and we’re still in the first year of the decade. Told ya there were many films to cover.  This is the first of what’s known as the Poe-Corman cycle. Vincent Price stars as Roderick Usher, on the verge of a nervous-breakdown, suffering from noise sensitivity, among other things. He lives in a big ol’ spooky house with his narcoleptic sister. A male caller wants to marry this sister, Roderick forbids. For brother and sister are doomed in ways that are too complicated to explain.

Based on Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, this story has been translated to film numerous times. I’ve only seen a few, but so far this is my favorite. Definitely worth a viewing.

Free with ads on Youtube

 

Black Sunday – 1960

This is the first film of the 1960s cycle of Italian Gothic cinema. It is also the first film by the great Italian director Mario Bava. The setting, the scenery; these are the things that make this film stand out. If you like coffins and castles, long hallways and gloomy shadows, witches and beings who rise from the dead, this is your film.

It’s the story of a witch condemned to die. Before being placed in “Satan’s Mask” (a torture device that is metallic mask with several spikes, which are pierced into the victim’s face). She vows revenge. Centuries later, she rises from the dead and resurrects a male witch as well.

There is creepy footage of a cemetery and realistic props to capture viewers into this time and setting.

This is a very creepy film.

Free on YouTube with ads

 

The Innocents – 1961

Woo hoo, we finally made it to 1961. Happy New Year!

Based on Henry James’s Turn of the Screw,  this film is all about atmosphere.  A very chilling atmosphere, mind you, of a possibly haunted manor and its surrounding landscape. A governess is convinced her two charges are being haunted, if not possessed, but the spirits of two former and deceased staff members involved in a scandalous love affair.  The butler and the maid were said to be doing the wiggity-jiggity in rooms adjacent to the poor, “innocent”, children.

This is a psychologically unsettling film. Are these manifestations real or is it all in the governess’s head?

Full movie on YouTube – until it’s gone.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  – 1962

She turned into a freak, that’s what happened. A spiteful, petty, psychotic freak. Bette Davis gives  a both chilling and hilarious performance of a former child star turned nobody. Tasked with caring for her crippled sister (enter the talented Joan Crawford!  Yay! Clap clap clap clap!), she treats her as her prisoner, because in her twisted way, Bette Davis’ character believes she is the prisoner. In truth, she is jealous because her sister’s own movie career overshadowed her success.

The performances are what make this movie. After my initial viewing I thought this was a drama. An  emotional drama perhaps?  Okay, an emotionally disturbed drama. When I mentioned to my friend that I was surprised when I saw it listed as a horror film, his response was, “Well, it certainly is disturbing.”  It is disturbing. Besides all the wicked things Jane does, her appearance itself is quite frightful, with her pasty white face, excessive blush, and braided hair  made up to look like a doll come to life. The person in the makeup is aged horribly, but the doll persona lives on.  Okay, I’m convinced, this is horror.

Let it be known that Crawford and Davis were bitter rivals in real life. Their feud caused much tension on the movie set.

See this link for more of that story.

Black Sabbath – 1963

“Generals gathered in their massesssssssssssss!”

“Just like witches at black massesssssssssssss!”

Yup-a-roonies, this film shares the same name as one of the world’s greatest metal bans. (hint: Ozzy sang the above lyrics). Let it be known, not only did this film come before the formation of the band, but the band took their name from this movie.  How about that?

Mario Bava is back with all his style in this Italian Gothic film. He gives us three separate stories to enjoy. The order varies between the American and Italian releases. I saw both, the most recent being the American, so I’ll follow that. First there’s “The Drop of Water.”  Never steal a ring from a dead witch/fortune teller. Especially one with such a petrifying appearance; long stingy, gray hair, bulging eyes (that won’t stay closed), pasty skin and an evil grimace. But the nurse steals and the retribution is quite horrifying. 

Funny, because there’s a fortune teller lady in my neighborhood that I’m told looks exactly like this corpse. Should I visit her one day? Only ten dollars a reading.

Second is The Telephone. A supposed dead man stalks a woman via the telephone.  Meh. Next!

Finally , The Wurdalak. It stars Borris Karloff as the patriarch of a family living in the desolate woods. He becomes a Wurdalak (which is similar to a vampire) and he insists that his adult children and little grandson join him in the club of the undead.

Borris Karloff introduces each story much in the same way as Alfred Hitchcock did on his TV series. 

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (or “The Evil Eye”) -1963

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (or  The Evil Eye) -1963

The item up for discussion at this moment is – another Mario Bava film. However, The Girl Who Knew Too Much does not belong in  the Italian Gothic camp. It is Italian. But its subgenre is giallo. In fact, it is said to be the very first giallo film.

Let’s refresh on what Wikipedia says about Giallo – “contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.”

For this particular film, there isn’t much sexploitation, and “slashy,” gore is either absent or kept minimal. There are hints at the supernatural, but in the film this is disproven for something more frightening – cold, hard reality.

There is definitely a synthesis of thriller and horror with cerebral scares. 

A woman is being stalked by an alphabet killer, who has killed women with names beginning with A, B, and C. Our heroine’s name begins with D.

There are scary and stylized scenes of large Italian piazzas, inside and out. A mysterious voice summons the heroine down long hallways. There are plenty of twists, and even some odd humor at surprising yet welcomed times.

Full Movie on YouTube – at least at the time of posting

Blood Feast – 1963

While gore is “absent or kept minimal” in Girl Who Knew Too Much, it makes quite the splattering in this film. In fact, Blood Feast is arguably the first splatter film. 

A man obsessed with recreating the sacrificial rites of the Egyptian goddess Istar’s “Blood Feast”, stalks and kills women. The feast calls for the consumption of select parts of female anatomy. During the killings, he removes certain body parts. Sometimes it’s a tongue, other times a liver. And with just one puncture and a deep inward reach, he somehow successfully removes the part he’s looking for. We know this because the camera zooms in on the organ.

The blood resembles some kind of cherry gelatin. The organs all look gooey, but obviously fake.

This is not a good movie by any criteria. The effects are bad, the spirit of the film is nasty, the writing sucks more than a supersonic Hoover vacuum clearer. Quick research of my own shows Ishtar was not worshiped by Egyptians but by Mesopotamians and no description of a blood feast as portrayed by this film exists. The acting is atrocious. When women aren’t being splattered to death, two male detectives in suits are reciting stale dialogue.  It was like the filmmaker was trying to make a Dragnet horror movie.

Wait! I found something “good” about it.  It was profitable. It cost less than 25 thousand to make but yielded over 4 million. Investors I’m sure were happy.

I include it on the list as an example of a “splatter” film. Mission accomplished, now we can move on

Look, it’s free on YouTube. It’s as if they’re giving it away (until they take it back)

The Haunting – 1963

Boom. Boom!  BOOM!  (What go boom?)  Sorry, getting carried away here. After seeing this film, that sound passes from ear to brain where it lasts for the duration of a lifetime. Maybe beyond. For it comes from beyond. Beyond what?  If I could answer that, I would receive the “Boo-Bel” Prize in Parapsychology

Eleanor Vance hears the booming as she tries fruitlessly to sleep in Hill House. Hill House has a notorious reputation for psychic activity and Dr Montegue wants to study it. He hires a team to live in the house and witness any such phenomenon first hand. Did you have to drag poor ol’ Eleanor in this? Though she herself is gifted with extra-sensory perception, she is not exactly stable, just as Hill House itself is a bit unbalanced. Such a pairing might be disastrous. Much of the film is dedicated to examining Eleanor’s psyche and her relationship with another woman, another house guest. There are subtle hints that this other woman is a lesbian.

This is arguably the best haunted house film ever. Like in most cases, it’s what the film doesn’t show that heightens its scare factor. Brilliantly shot, great set designs. This is based off of Shirley Jackson’s acclaimed novel The Haunting of Hill House.  There was a remake in 1999, but that film is poopie cakes.  Michael Flannagan’s multiepisode series, however, is a great reimagining.  But remember, the original film is the best.

The Birds – 1963

“Why do birds suddenly appear? Every time you are near?”

“Because the want to peck your eyes out,” said the Carpenters hired to construct sets for this film

Ha ha, I laugh at my own jokes. (For those who don’t know, The Carpenters were a band who sang a song “Close to You” which had those birdie lyrics”)

This is the second and last film on this list by Alfred Hitchcock. He made great movies, but his were more of the suspenseful thriller type rather than horror. 

For me, The Birds was an okay movie. I saw it for the first time a little over a year ago. It met my expectations.  What did I expect? I expected birds to attack people. What did I receive? I received a film about birds attacking people. Nevertheless, this is an iconic film, probably for some state-of-the-art effects.

The Masque of the Red Death – 1964

The second and last Roger Corman/Vincent Price/Edgar Allen Poe film on this list.  There are several more, but come on! I know some of you want to live forever in the 60s to tune in, turn on and drop out, but sorry, life moves on.

Except for victims of the Red Death. That plague is running rampant and Prince Prospero has quarantined thousands of his people in the palace to attend a masqued ball. They are celebrating while people outside are dying.

Vincent Price as Prince Prospero is a real son of a bitch in this film. He plays a villain to sneer at, to hate.  Oh but he will get his comeuppance. What will he do when Red Death personified shows up to his party?

This film is based on Poe’s story by the same name. It’s a good movie.

Full Movie –  for now

Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte – 1964

Due to  the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, they decided to follow it up with a similar movie. (Q: Who’s they? A: Them – Ahh, now it makes sense). This would be Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte  Same director (Robert Aldrich), same screen writer (Lukas Heller) , both films based on written works by Charles Farrell Meyers.  Best of all, Bette Davis plays the lead in both pictures.

Who they didn’t have was Joan Crawford. She was sought after to play opposite Davis, but due to complications, they cast Olivia De Havilland. The ongoing feud between the two actresses might have had something to with this.

I think I like this film better than What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? ( I just saw this a few weeks ago in preparation for this list)  Both feature Davis as a character whose sanity is in question. This time, Bette Davis as Charlotte is thought to have murdered her lover when he dissed her. There wasn’t evidence to charge her.  This was back when she was a teen.  Late in her middle age, she is still the suspect. She lives on her Daddy’s manor. Daddy has long since passed away and the state has authority to demolish the property. Charlotte won’t let them.

There is so much intriguing psychological horror in this film. Like Carrie, it’s one of those scare/sad films. A new emotion is created combining these two traits; an emotion  yet to be defined but very real.

Rosemary’s Baby – 1968

Based on Ira Levin’s novel, this is one of those films that begs the question, “Which is better, the book or the movie?”  Having absorbed the story on both mediums, I honestly can’t tell you. Both are great. The fact that one has to struggle with this question is a testament to how good the film is.  Usually the book is better. Not always. Never always.

Young Rosemary is pregnant, and everyone close to her, her neighbors, her doctor, even her husband, are behaving strangely. They all have advice on how she is to deal with her pregnancy, but something about the advice is off. It’s as if she has suddenly wandered into a cult. They don’t want her seeking help outside their circle.

Or is this just a case of manic pregnancy; is Rosemary just paranoid?

While this film is great on all levels, actress Ruth Gordon brings a special touch to this film. Her performance is outstanding. So is the rest of the cast.

This is one of three films of Roman Polanski that have been retroactively labelled “The Apartment Trilogy”.  The films are unrelated, but they stage the horror in the backdrop of apartment complexes.

Free on YouTube with ads

Night of the Living Dead – 1968

The first zombie film as we know them. Oh sure, older films featured zombies. But not en masse like this. George Romero sets the tone for the modern day zombie apocalypse trope with Night of the Living Dead.  I don’t even think they are called zombies in the movie. They are the dead that, for reasons unknown, decided to climb out of their graces and start walking the earth, killing anybody that crosses their path.

Romero’s casting of a black man as the movie’s hero was unheard of in these times. What happens to him at the end of the film can be seen as a statement; when all is going to hell in a hand basket, racism is still strong.  And that’s another statement the movie alludes to – the breakdown of society caused by mass consumption of the brain dead.

 This movie is a trailblazer with memorable characters and dialogue.  If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

Free on YouTube.  I think this has been a public domain film for some time.


Carnival of Souls – 1962

This is one of those films that is difficult to explain. To explain is to reveal, to reveal is to spoil. I don’t want to do that.

Filmed as if in a dream sequence,  a young woman is experiencing the unreal. Nothing seems to make sense. White, ghoulish-faced people haunt her. She has eerie experiences playing a church pipe organ in a cathedral.

This is one of those films appreciated long after its inception. 

Full movie below.

Repulsion – 1965

The first film of Roman Polanski’s “The Apartment Trilogy”, even though he himself didn’t know he was making such a thing. It has nothing to do with Rosemary’s Baby.

This is another movie that is difficult to describe and the best way to see what it’s about is to see the film. It’s another film with sequences of dream-like states.

Maybe it’s better to have someone else explain it. According to Criterion, “Repulsion is a surreal, mind-bending odyssey into personal horror, and it remains one of cinema’s most shocking psychological thrillers.”

The main character, Carol Ledoux, suffers mental breakdowns. Her hallucinations are the horror of this film. Some say Carol fears the mystery of sexuality.  From the Huffington Post:

“Carol is the personification of sexual mystery – she is what lurks beneath the orgasms of pleasure and pain.”

      So, like, what do these quotes from various internet pages mean?  I dunno, man. See the film.

The Fang-tastic Fifties – Horror Films of the 1950s

 

1950’s  – The Fang-tastic Fifties

In this decade, what’s known as the classic era for the Universal Monsters franchise came to an end. But it didn’t go out with a whimper. Aside from a few more sequels and some Abbott and Costello horror comedies, Universal gave the movie-going public a brand new monster.

The monsters made famous by Universal Pictures did not fade into obscurity. Rather, the lived on, thrived even. But it was time for another film production company to carry the torch. Hammer Horror, a British film company, would remake many of these classical movies with a modern flare. First, they were in color. Second, there was more gore (that rhymed!).  For the first time, vampires would finally grow some fangs. Fang-tastic! 

Outside the cinematic world, people were facing post war realities. New realizations, new fears. World War 2 ended with an unleashed atomic bomb, as if the various bombing campaigns that led up to the event weren’t frightening enough.  Terrors from the sky were a real thing. Conversely, new technologies allowed countries to launch satellites into the sky.  Throughout the 50s, there was talk of plans for a Soviet satellite (Sputnik) to be launched into space. The talk became a reality in 1957.  Who would win the space race, The Soviets or The United States? Both countries had nuclear weapons. No matter who won that race, everyone in the world stood a chance to lose.  The Cold War was on.

Many horror movies of the 50s reflected all this. Fear of the catastrophic “other.” Movies about giant beasts and alien invasions dominated the theaters. Science fiction captivated the minds of many. It wasn’t just a person strolling through the woods or a woman asleep in her bedroom that were potential victims of monstrous creatures. Whole cities and countries faced imminent danger. Sometimes the whole world paused in trepidation.

The 1950s horror genre had other treats as well. Some of the first horror films by the legendary Vincent Price premiered in this decade. Let’s not forget famed director William Castle. Most of his horror films had  gimmicks for theater audiences, allowing the popcorn-chomping masses to be thrilled by things offscreen, right there in the very aisles they sat in.

The entries in the list that follows show examples of all of the above.  Scroll and see. 


The Thing From Another World – 1950

What did I tell ya?  The fifties wasted no time giving movie audiences an alien. Critics then and now adore this film.  In fact, there’s a mandate from such-and-such organization that all critics must heap praise on this film or risk confiscation of critic credentials.  And here’s little ol’ me, who ranks this film somewhere between okay and good. Uh, but I don’t have critic credentials. And I just made up that bit about the existence of such-and-such organization – so there!

Set in the North Pole, a team of scientists are studying an alien spacecraft that crash landed in the ice. In their possession is the driver of the craft, frozen in ice. Guess what? It unfreezes and lurks somewhere around their research sight. They are trapped.

I will say the final few minutes of the film are awesome. Is that a good word for a critic?  This film was remade years later by Director John Carpenter. Gee, will his film appear on this list? Could be!

 

House of Wax  – 1953

Vincent Price arrives. Yay!!!!!!!!!  Classic, color film.  

“Ol’ man Vincent comes to play 

Oh my – oh my- oh!  

Life-like statues on display

 – Oh My Oh My Oh!”

Now Vincent, please don’t tell me the bodies of recently murdered women are ending up in your waxy statues!  Please don’t tell me that!

Great film!

Below is a clip of the best scenes of the movie – so says the title of the clip. 

 

Godzilla – 1954 – Original, Japanese Version

I’m sure you heard of his guy! Rising up from the ocean near Japan, this  giant, fire breathing reptilian causes absolute terror in its wake. That’s right, folks.  The original movie is the most serious in tone of all the Godzilla films.  It shows the aftermath of a Godzilla attack. Hundreds upon hundreds of Japanese citizens lying in cots in desperate need of medical treatment.  

There are two versions of the film; the Japanese and the American version. The American version includes actor Raymond Burr, an American journalist on site of the disaster scenes. Yes, it’s Perry Mason! This is one case he won’t solve alone. Godzilla will not break down on the witness stand.

How did Godzilla come to be? Answer – radiation. Radiation is at the root of many of these 1950’s giant monsters. We must remember that after the bombing of Hiroshima, radiation was a real threat.  This movie is an allegory of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

 

Creature From The Black Lagoon – 1954

 

I warned you about a brand spanking new Universal monster, and here he is! Meet Gill Man. He has gills (hence his nickname). This bipedal amphibian can both walk on land and swim under water, but he can’t stay above water very long.  He lives in the Amazon (the river that is; he doesn’t shack up and a distribution warehouse), and if humans would only just leave him alone all would be good. But, no. To better understand stray strands of evolutionary developments, scientists want to capture and study him.  But not if he has anything to say about it.

This movie was popular enough to spawn two sequels. There is a beautifully shot swim synchronization scene. Kay Lawrence, played by Julia Adams, is swimming near the top of the water while the creature swims below her, mimicking her movements.

 

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers – 1956

To me, this is more sci-fi/action rather than horror. But I wanted there to be one film on the list that shows off the work of animator Ray Harryhausen. He was very famous for developing innovative techniques for stop-motion animation. Of course these days, CGI and AI have replaced these “outmoded” animation techniques, but back in the day, this was the shit! Besides, it still looks good to my eyes. See for yourself by watching these flying saucers attack our world.  

I find it difficult to know where to draw the line when it comes to sci-fi films with frightening scenes. In this movie, aliens in steel armor and faceless mask abduct humans and do a mind control technique on them. That’s kind of horrifying.  Besides, some sources list this as a sci/fi/horror film, so there you go.  Harryhausen’s animation achievements appear in several giant monster movies, but we already have Godzilla on this list, and there’s another film in this decade that’s “sort-of” a giant monster, so let’s stick with Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers.

Mars Attacks from 1996 is a near parody of this film.

Free on YouTube, until it’s gone

 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers – 1958

This is a film I just recently saw for the first time in preparation for this list. I’ve seen the one from the 1970s with Donald Sutherland but I had missed the original. Though it’s been a while since I saw the remake, I think I like the original better. Many would disagree.

Pod People. (Huh? People who eat Tide Pods?). No, silly. They were spores floating in spaces for many thousand years until finally they landed on earth and grew into pods. Inside the pods, humanoid creatures formed. These creatures “snatch” the biological characteristics of nearby, sleeping humans, cloning their cellular structure, stealing their memories and in the end, becoming replicas of the corresponding person.

After seeing both films, I’m still confused if the pod-things became the replicas, while the host itself disappeared, turned to dust, etc. or if the pod creature collected all the data and then somehow transferred everything to the host. If the former, the films  do not fully explain what happens to the hosts.

Comparisons have been drawn to the themes of this film and the collectivism and paranoia associated with the McCarthy era.  

 

The Curse of Frankenstein – 1957

The  timelessness of the Universal Monsters – I just can’t “hammer” the issue home enough. Or maybe I can with these movies from Hammer Film Studios. (See what I did there!) The Frankenstein monster fills the screen again in this retconned film.  Sure, the original is better, but this one stands on its own merit.

Peter Cushing plays Dr. Frankenstein and Christopher Lee plays the monster. Both these dudes starred as Star Wars villains at one time or another.  This version is more graphical and in color. There are scenes of various organs stored in bubbling solutions. Cushing’s character is more evil than Dr. Frankenstein as played by Colin Clyde in the original. In fact, one of the sequels to this film is The Evil of Frankenstein.  

This film is directed by Terrance Fisher. He directs most of the films of the Hammer’s horror analogy. Pairing Cushing and Lee (sounds like a law firm) over and over again.  Maybe one more of o these pairings will appear on this list?

 

The Blob – 1958

It came from outer space. Just a gelatinous thing the size of a bowling ball. The thing is, it crawls. It eats people. And it grows.  The more it eats, the bigger it gets. This blob gets so big it takes over a movie theater. Its extensions seep down the movie screen and leak down the walls, causing teenagers to flee the theater while saying “AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

By the way, it was the teenagers that tried to warn the authorities about this Blob, long before it got too big. Did the authorities listen? Nooooo.  Oh, Steve McQueen is one of those teenagers.

This is a fun movie. And that’s all I’ll say about that! 

 

The Fly – 1958

Would you believe that yours truly had not seen this classic film until about ten days ago?  Me, a fan of noteworthy horror films across all decades – and a fan of Vincent Price (Pssst! That means he stars in this movie), had yet to take in this classic sci-fi movie.  Or maybe I had seen it. There are some scenes that were vaguely familiar, but I had to have been a wee little lad if such an exposure had taken place.

I was slightly disappointed that Vincent Prince wasn’t the fly. Or more appropriately, the part man/part fly.  That role went to actor David Hedison, who plays a scientist that invented a matter transport device. After breaking down the atomic structure of an object inside a glass chamber in one section of his lab, then transporting those atoms to another glass chamber in another location of the lab, the object is rebuilt. Problems occur when he tries this procedure on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a fly enters the chamber and tags along for the trip.  The result; a man with the head and arm of a fly, and a fly with the head and the arm of a man.

I’ll tell ya, the freakiest sight in the movie is the fly with the human head. It cries. So disturbing.  Great film.

 

The Horror of Dracula – 1958 

Terrance Fisher is at the helm again,  with the Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee duo  in Hammer Studios’ colorized version of Dracula. Cushing plays Van Helsing, the professor who always goes up against the evil in count.  Gee, can you guess who Christopher Lee plays?  If you’re thinking of Dracula, then you are correct. See how smart you are!

Unlike the original Dracula film, this movie is bloody. Blood erupts when a vampire is punctured with a stake. Blood drips out of Dracula’s mouth after he’s had a snack. Let’s not forget about the fangs! Christopher Lee, the first Dracula with fangs!

There are some fans out there that prefer Lee’s Dracula to Lugosi’s. Shot in color with Dracula all made up with fangs and blood, he looks scarier. Yet, I prefer Bela Lugosi as the famous creature of the night and therefore, I  like the original film better. This film is good though.  

There are several sequels to these films, both Frankenstein and Dracula. Cushing and Lee star in most of them. In addition to the Drac/Frank films, Hammer Studios produced several remakes of the classic horror stories, including Mummy movies, The Phantom of the Opera, and several originals. Alas, this is the last time we are visiting Hammer films. With Drac/Frank, I made my point, sharp like a wooden stake.

 

The House of Haunted Hill – 1959

This is the first William Castle film on this list. I told you about him in the intro. It stars Vincent Price as a millionaire who has invited a group of strangers into a haunted house to celebrate his wife’s birthday. They will be paid a large amount of money if they spend the night. Of course, in order to collect, they must survive.

Vincent’s character Frederick hates his wife. His wife loathes him back. Supposedly, she had tried to murder him in the past. Maybe he tried to murder her too. As you can guess, there is something fishy about this whole arrangement of a birthday party with strangers in a haunted house. Perfect scene for a murder, wouldn’t you think?

A murder does occur. Who is the murderer?

I mentioned earlier about Castle having advertising gimmicks for his movies. This film features a famous scene of a walking skeleton. In select theaters across the nation, a skeleton is rigged with wires and rolls on down to an unexpected audience during this monumental scene.    What fun. 

This is the second haunted house film on this list. Will there be more? Haunted houses are my favorite, after all.  I hope so (Hint: there will be more)

The Fighting and Frightening Forties – Horror Films of the 1940’s

1940’s – The Fighting and Frightening Forties

“Don’t you know there’s a war going on?”

This was an often quoted phrase. War changes everything.

With World War II in full swing, horror movies went on Dr. Frankenstein’s backburner. There wasn’t money for major productions and the public was more preoccupied with the real life horrors of war than supernatural monsters on the screen.

Universal Pictures trudged on, but they gave us few if any new monsters (I hear the Wolfman snarling at me; chill wolfie, I didn’t say absolutely no new monsters) Instead, the public received much B – Grade sequels to the monster movies of the 30s with several mashups (“The Monster Mash, he did the monster mash!”) to join in the fray (This monster meets that monster, etc.) Some of these are good, others are fair, and few of them are just stinkeroo. I include in this list a few that I like.

While mythical bipedal creatures were slogging familiar territories, some horror films focused more on the psychological aspects of horror, films that were critically acclaimed. This list includes a couple of these as well. 


The Wolfman 1941

See Wolfie, I didn’t forget ya! You are one of the exceptions to my “no new Universal monsters” declaration for the 1940s.  The United States hadn’t entered the war yet, so, this falls in the 1930s theme. 

Truth be told, the Wolfman is not my favorite Universal monster.  When the moon is full, a man transforms into a man-wolf. Maybe I’m more into monsters that earn their title by cheating death then by simply changing into a beast?  If this is so, then why is The Incredible Hulk one of my favorite superheroes but not Ghost Rider? Maybe these are questions for some overpaid psychiatrist, or perhaps it’s for whoever it is that claims to be Dear Ol’ Abby these days.   It could be my Dad’s bias has permanently scarred my opinion. See, he described the Wolfman as “The movie with Lon Chaney Jr. walking around on his tippy toes.”

Son of the silent horror icon Lon Chaney Sr, Lon Chaney Jr cemented his career as a horror actor for Universal Films with The Wolfman. Though not his first film (not even his first horror film), his role as Larry Talbot, a man who changes into a wolf man, defined his image. He would go on to play all of the Fab Four Universal Monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein, The Mummy) in the sequels.

Though Wolfie is not my favorite Universal Monster, I do like this film. It is superior to the 1935 film, The Werewolf of London, the first feature-length werewolf movie. ( I didn’t even mention it on my list! Shame on me). What stands out the most is a poem from the film, a prophecy of doom disguised as a childlike rhyme: 

“Even a man who is pure in heart And says his prayers by Night May become a wolf When the wolfbane blooms And the autumn moon is bright.”

The title in the trailer below is a bit misleading. It states this is a “Bela Lugosi” film. Lon is the star, but Bela does sneak in. He plays the original werewolf, a Gypsy who attacks Larry Talbot, thereby spreading the curse to poor, old Larry. 

Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man  1943

How about that, we just left the Wolf Man and he’s back already!  This is the second appearance of Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot. Always the sad sack (as my dad described Larry, or even Lon himself), Larry mopes about his inability to stay dead. See, it troubles him that he turns into a wolf man and kills people.  After stumbling across the frozen monster of Frankenstein, he hopes to deposit all his life force into the monster via electronic life-energy transfer. In Frankenstein’s old laboratory, with the help of Dr. Frankenstein’s granddaughter, they attempt this feat, only to end up duking it out; beast vs. beast.

This is the first of several Universal Pictures monster mash up movies. At best, reviews are lukewarm. But I kind of like it. I like the final duel and the music scene that happens at a traveling carnival. 

Oh, guess what? Bela Lugosi plays the Frankenstein monster in this film. That’s right. So it’s another kind of mash-up if you will  – “Dracula is Frankenstein”   

Enjoy a fun music scene and a fun monster fight scene (While the links last)

Cat People 1943

Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, Cat People was a very well-received film and deservedly so.  Among the onslaught of films featuring the same ol’ monsters retreading familiar scenes (the same sets were often used), this film was fresh with its chilling mood and suspense-filled cinematography. 

Simone Simon stars as Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian woman living in the United States. Among the things she brought with her to the new country is a curse – she transforms into a panther when she is aroused. She is a descendant of an ancient race of cat people. This predicament makes it a bit difficult to have a love life. Hell, it makes it difficult to live any kind  of normal life.

Irene falls in love, marries, but their marriage is platonic. Her husband, desirous to have a relationship that is “non platonic” (You know, the kind where husband and wife are not reading Plato to each other all the time), falls in love with another woman. Ohh, this mistress is in danger. Irene knows what’s happening. She stalks her in the night, down dark sidewalks, creeping behind hedges. 

The use of shadows in this film is amazing. There is a scene at an indoor pool. The mistress swims alone but she is followed. The reflections of the waves as they dance among the shadows on the wall, accompanied by the noise of an animal  – all this is much more scary than the sight of a one-armed mummy prancing through the woods (As the mummy does in many of its sequels, which were omitted from this list). What you don’t see is all the more frightening.

When I was ten or eleven, my Dad took me to a remake of this film. Little did we know it would be a movie about a man and woman jumping in and out of bed.  Sex everywhere with panther-chewing gore.

I saw this film for the first time in preparation for this list. Great, great film!    

Here’s a trailer

The House of Frankenstein  1944

Guess what? Universal Pictures is grouping its monsters all together again, but this time they don’t all meet each other. Dracula comes and goes in the first half of the movie. He is played not by Bela Lugosi but by John Carradine.  The second half of the movie features The Wolfman And the  Frankenstein monster. Boris Karloff joins the cast again, but not as the monster. He plays a criminal doctor who has escaped from prison and plays a key role in the monster reunion. Instead the monster is portrayed by Glenn Strange. Lon Chaney Jr. is back as Larry Talbot/The Wolfman. Whew! Some things remain the same.

Reviews are mixed but I like this movie… a little bit.

The Picture of Dorian Gray  1945

Another high-quality movie from the forties. MGM presents a film based on Oscar Wilde’s novel.  I watched this movie for the first time in preparation for this list.  I have heard of it over the years, but I guess I thought it was some kind of romance film. Certainly there is romance, but it’s labelled as a horror drama.

Dorian Gray has everything; good looks, wealth, youth. Ahh, but youth doesn’t last. Unless someone paints a portrait to absorb all the age (and evil) so the body can live on unscathed. This is what happens to Dorian. He lives his life selfishly and coldly. He’s cruel to his lovers, causing them sadness and sometimes death. Little by little, the portrait of Gray  turns wrinkled and deformed while he retains his youth throughout the years.

An absorbing story with interesting side characters.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein  1948

This is my favorite Universal Films monster mash-ups!  Obviously, the good ol’ Frankenstein monster is here (played again by Glenn Strange), along with Lon Chaney Jr once again reprising his role as Larry Talbot/The Wolfman.  Drac is back, and Bela Lugosi is back to donning the cape.  Point of trivia, this is the second and last time Lugosi plays the famous vampire.  He’s played other vampires, but Dracula only twice.  Throw in two goofballs (Abbott and Costello) and horror has never been more hilarious!

The plot is a bit circuitous at times, but it is an enjoyable movie well liked by many. Obviously, one needs to appreciate the comedic shenanigans of Abbott and Costello to admire this film. Believe it or not, there are those out there that do not! (If “you” are reading this, yes, I’m talking to you! You know who you are.)

Abbott and Costello would go on to meet other famed monsters, but this movie represents their first brushes with these frightening foes.

       

The Uninvited 1944

Perhaps this film is not so obscure. It did well at the box office back in 1944. Even by today’s standards, it ranks in the 90 percent range on Rottentomatoes.com . But compared to the horror films of the 40s that feature the famous monsters I’ve been writing about, not many people today might know of this one.

Originally distributed by Paramount Pictures, we have a story about ghosts and a haunted house. I was told this was the first film to treat the matter of creating a visual ghost seriously. Most films before this featured took a more comical approach to on-screen ghosts. I’m not sure if this is true. Heck, The Phantom Carriage featured some impressive looking ghosts. At least for the times.

Still, the visuals are frightening. The wispy light that represents the ghost works well enough for me. There’s also the wilting flowers, the fading candlelight, the fluttering drapes. All of this provides a convincingly eerie environment.  

Then there’s the phantom sobbing. A woman’s voice coming from nowhere. I showed this film to a 5-year-old and he cowered, disturbed by the haunting crying. Needless to say, I turned it off.

I wasn’t impressed with the overall plot. This is not the fault of the film, but the story itself, which is based on a book. I saw a college play of this story, and I had similar problems. This is a mystery. The problem is, the unravelling of the mystery is told rather than shown. Much of the dialogue is a group of people piecing together the backstory and thereby solving the mystery as to why the house is haunted.

Still, this is a good film to check out.

Titular Terrors of the Thirties – Horror Films of the 1930s

 

1930s – The Titular Terrors

Let’s delve into the cosmos as we step into the 1930s. We’re going to let the images of the universe be our guide. In other words, most of the horror films mentioned in this section were produced by Universal Pictures (See what I did there?).

Fans of old school horror need no explanation when seeing the word “Universal Monsters”. They are the forefathers of Freddy Kruger, Michael Meyers, The Jigsaw Killer and many other monsters of the last several decades. I’m referring to Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, The Creature of the Black Lagoon, and perhaps several others. These are the main characters for which the movies are named. Hence, they are the titular terrors of the thirties!

With the success of  Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera, all silent films of the 1920. (Sorry, I missed two of the three on my list. Remember, I warned this list is not comprehensive. But of course you remember and accept these terms!), Universal Pictures all but cornered the horror market by the time the 30s came along. If it can be said that the Universal Monsters were born in the 1920s, then I can say they grew up, matured and dominated in the next decade.

Based mostly on works of literature, these monsters are still with us today. I concede some tween would rather watch things from Five Nights at Freddy than some dumb ol’ black and white Dracula or Frankenstein movie. But they still know who they are! Show them a picture of the world’s most fearsome vampire or the monster created in the lab and they will say their names. As for my childhood in the 70s, I had action figures of these monsters. Hell, I had breakfast cereals based on these guys.

There are two films on the list that are not associated with Universal Pictures. Let others have a chance at horror, right?  But for the most part, let’s meet with these Universal Monsters. Most of you have met this bunch already, but let’s reacquaint ourselves with them, shall we?


Dracula  1931

If reading this after sundown, the proper greeting would be “Good Evening!” I hope you read that in Bela Lugosi’s signature accent. This is how his Dracula would greet you. The best part of this film is the first 30 minutes or so.  We see The Count’s carriage transport the doomed Renfield though the Carpathian woods. Is that a bat at the harnesses?

Count Dracula’s castle is ancient and spooky; dark with spider webs everywhere. When the wolves howl, the Count is quick to comment, “Creatures of the night, What beautiful music they make!”  Down in the crypts, three of Dracula’s brides rise from their coffins.  This film is all the better for being shot in black and white.

Quick point of trivia. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula is probably the most recognizable, and yet he didn’t have fangs! When the king of all vampires bites his victims, viewers see only his lips.

Directed by Tod Browning

 

Frankenstein  1931

This is my faaaaaavorite of the Universal Horror films.  Frankenstein is my faaaaavorite Universal Monster (although he really had no name; Frankenstein is his creator). This is one of my faaaaaavorite horror movies.  Hell, this is one of my favorite movies! 

      All this favoritism on my part is due in no small part to the director James Whale. His sets, his camera angles, his use of shadows, all brilliant. Though not a silent film, Frankenstein was influenced by German expressionism. Whale will appear three more times in my list of 1930s films.

      Then there’s Boris. (That phrase could be a band name).  Boris Karloff that is. Though limited to grunts and groans, he plays  the monster with such subtlety and depth.  A man behind makeup shows viewers the humanity underneath the monster’s skin. Certainly he’s got rage but also tenderness, innocence and, sadly, anguish.

The Mummy  1932

Boris Karloff is back in another Universal film, this time in bandages, wrapped up as a mummy. Surprisingly, he’s only bandaged for a few moments.  It happens in the beginning of the film.There’s a closeup of his face as he stands in his coffin. His eyes slowly open.  The camera pans down to his wrapped torso, his arm falls loose from his bandage. This mummy is indeed alive and we know he’s taking a stroll when we see the trail of bandages being pulled across the floor.   For the rest of the film, he’s in regular clothing, but man oh man is his face still creepy!

Perhaps most are familiar with the mummy staggering across the countryside, one arm wrapped to his chest while the other reaches out. These scenes are from The Mummy sequels. For me, these one or two minutes of the mummy waking up are far more creepy than the later movies with mummies strolling through the woods.

Freaks 1932

This is the second film by Tod Browning on this list, but it is not a Universal film. Much controversy surrounds this film as people with real physical abnormalities were hired as actors to play a troupe of entertainers known as “freaks”.. However, the film presents them respectfully, portraying them as regular people going about with their daily activities.

A seductive trapeze artist connives a little person into marriage, pretending to love him and that size doesn’t matter. He is rich and her goal is to slowly kill him with poison and inherit his money. The little man wises up to her scheme. The family of “freaks” come together to make sure this woman gets a taste of her own medicine.

This film was the inspiration for “Season 4 – Freakshow”  in the horror anthology series American Horror Story.

The invisible Man 1933

When I saw this as a kid, I thought, “Cool. I’m watching The Invisible Man.  The Invisible Man is a monster, and monsters are cool.”

When I saw this as a know-it-all twenty-something, I thought “How cheesy. This film blows.”

When I saw this as a wisened-up forty-something, I thought, “Wow, this is great. Such genius.” (Just let me pretend I achieved wisdom with age, please? Thank you.)

What I didn’t get was that a group of men chasing a seemingly empty pair of pants around in a circle isn’t supposed to represent nail-biting realism, but instead, inanity. In short, it’s funny!

This is another Universal classic by James Whale, who is known to inject humor into horrific situations. This is the most fun movie of all the Universal horror movies, in my humble opinion (wish there was a way to shorten that last phrase!) 

King Kong – 1933

I finally saw this original film in preparation for this list.  It follows the same story we all know and love. That is, for those of us who only saw the modern remakes. I didn’t think they would feature all the other beasts Kong fought on Skull Island. Sure, all the movements of the giant beasts are choppy, but such was the stop-motion animation of the time period. It was innovative for 1933.  This film was a trailblazer.  I would say everyone needs to see it once before they die.

The Bride of Frankenstein 1935

In only a few cases is the sequel better than the original.  The Empire Strikes Back tops Star Wars (later known as Star Wars –  A New Hope), Godfather 2 beats Godfather and The Bride of Frankenstein outshines Frankenstein. This of course is all popular opinion. Yeah I stray from popular opinion quite a bit. Sure, The Empire Strikes Back is better than its predecessor, but I like the first Godfather better than the second. And sorry folks, I like Frankenstein better than his bride.

This is the first of Universal’s sequel films, I do believe. Though I favor the first film, I love this movie. James Whale is at the helm again, and his humor is a little over the top for me. The scene with the tiny little king and queen singing inside jars. Yeah I could do without that. But this film is closer to the original work of Mary Shelley. It is more touching than horrific, if you ask me. Boris once again does a superb job playing the monster. He delivers catchy lines. That’s right folks, The Monster learns to speak! 

Elsa Lancaster’s image as The Monster’s bride is iconic. It’s interesting that there’s only a few minutes of footage of her in the monster get-up. (Elsa has more screen time portraying Mary Shelley in the movie’s intro.)

Under The Radar 

 

The Old Dark House – 1932

James Whale and Boris Karloff team up again in this Universal film about a group of people who take shelter in “an old dark house” on a stormy night. Sounds cliche, right? Well this house has quite the ensemble of eccentric characters. Boris plays an insane, mute butler who tends to go on violent rampages when drunk. There’s also a crazy pyromanic who is kept under lock and key. A strange old man is bed-ridden, and it’s an uncanny visual to see that he’s played by a woman. In the meantime, when there’s no mischief going on, the family members keep pushing potatoes on their guests! Oh, and there are crazy silhouettes on the wall in one scene. Gotta love those silhouettes!

This is billed as a Comedy/Horror. Noteworthy stars include Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Stuart and Charles Laughton.

This film might not be for everyone. It was lost for several years. A friend of mine commented “It should have stayed lost”. I disagree. I describe the tone as “Uncanny for uncanny’s sake.”