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I've got no real theme this year other than watching things I haven't seen before: Frankenstein (1910) The Golem (1920) Faust (1926) The Fall of the House of Usher (1928, Epstein) Son of Kong (1933) Mad Love (1935) Dracula's Daughter (1936) Son of Frankenstein (1939) The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) Bluebeard (1944) House of Wax (1953) The Fly (1958) Return of the Fly (1959) The Brides of Dracula (1960) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Carnival of Souls (1962) Onibaba (1964) Kwaidan (1964) Taste of the Blood of Dracula (1970) Belladonna of Sadness (1973) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Day of the Dead (1985) The Fly (1986) Sweet Home (1989) Cronos (1993) Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000) Shadow of the Blair Witch (2000) Shadow of the Vampire (2000) The Devil's Backbone (2001) My Name is Bruce (2007) Evil Dead (2013) It Follows (2014) The Babadook (2014) Crimson Peak (2015) Shin Godzilla (2016) Gonna try and watch all of this in order of release, though I'll end up sneaking Shin Godzilla in there early. I also had Resident Evil: Damnation as a part of this list originally, and while I watched and enjoyed that the other day it ended up being more of an action film than a horror film. EDIT: Added in Son of Kong and My Name is Bruce. EDIT 2: Added in Frankenstein (1910) and Dracula's Daughter because why not. I think this list is finalized for now, but that will probably change. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Sep 30, 2016 |
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Sep 30, 2016 01:27
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1. Frankenstein (1910) This is a weird movie, especially for a relatively early silent. I think the implication is that the Monster doesn't actually exist, and only existed in Dr. Frankenstein's head? Can't say I've ever seen a take on the story like that before- especially from this time period. Interesting design for the Monster that kind of resembles more what I think of, I dunno, Renfield to look like in Dracula adaptations, but I don't have much else to say about the film I'm afraid. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Sep 30, 2016 |
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Sep 30, 2016 18:16
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2. The Golem Not sure what to make of this one. Oppressed Jews use their magic to make a clay monster, though eventually the monster goes out of control. Visually it is great to look at, being in the same expressionist mold as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the like. I think it's overall a more effective movie, though I'm really wrestling with it thematically. I can't quite decide if I think it's more about empowering an oppressed people, or about how those crafty Jews use their Jewish magic to make a big, scary Jewish monster (This is still a German film after all, made for a people that would become the Nazis in just a few years). There might be just as much evidence to support either reading of sympathy or propaganda, and I'd be curious to know what others think of this. Either way it's still got some great special effects and set design. Choco1980 posted:Fun fact: The special effects process for making the monster on camera is the same one they used for Frank coming back to life in Hellraiser, and Freddy in NoES 3: Melt a wax dummy with layers to it, and film it in reverse!
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Sep 30, 2016 21:24
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3. Faust (1926) Can't say I'm familiar with the source material at all, but I ended up really liking this adaptation from Murnau. God and the Devil make a bet about the nature of the soul of a doctor named Faust. The Devil bets that he can corrupt him, and tempts him. Faust gives into temptation in order to help others, but is rejected by those he wants to help, and isn't satisfied with anything else the Devil can offer...until he falls in love. I've only seen Emil Jannings in one other film (Murnau's own The Last Laugh), and his performance is wildly different here. He plays the Devil as this really exaggerated dude that is just so happy to be loving with people and it's great to watch. Like with The Golem there are some cool early special effects, like the rings of fire. or the characters flying around, or the Devil growing huge. Asiina posted:I watched the English one so I could knit at the same time, but from what I was able to tell when choosing a version they are functionally identical.
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Oct 2, 2016 04:38
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4. The Fall of the House of Usher (1928, Jean Epstein) The story follows Roderick Usher, a man worried that his wife Madeline (His sister in the original Edgar Allen Poe story) will die. She eventually does and is buried. Roderick summons a friend to their mansion in his grief for the sake of company, though the friend soon learns that all is not what it seems... I had never read the original Poe short story before, so I gave that a look this morning and enjoyed it quite a bit- wonderfully strange and gothic story. Epstein's film adaptation (Co-written by Luis Bunuel) is quite good in its own right, with a lot of off-kilter shots that bring a wonderful sense of unease with this world- a visual way of doing what Poe did through his descriptive writing. The long, open and lonely hallways and the like of the mansion even remind me of the set design of Xanadu in Citizen Kane[/i ] too- I wonder if this was an inspiration on it. Also, I swear the monster-cam tracking shot from [i]Evil Dead originated here, though with some scary wind instead of whatever the hell was chasing Ash Williams.
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Oct 2, 2016 17:44
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5. Son of Kong (1933) Baby Kong died this is some loving bullshit. Good movie, though it was more of an adventure movie than a horror movie or even a typical monster movie. Really makes me want to watch the original King Kong again, as I haven't seen it in like 10 years. Interesting how they don't actually get back to Skull Island until like 40 minutes into this 70 minute film too- most of it is just the characters dealing with the fallout of first film, some time later.
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Oct 3, 2016 04:26
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6. Mad Love (1935) This is a weird one. Peter Lorre plays a surgeon in love with an actress. One day the actress's husband is in the same train crash as an infamous murderer, and loses his hands in the wreck. Lorre then crafts the murderer's hands onto the husband's body. All seems well, but the husband finds that the hands may be doing things out of his control... Meanwhile, Lorre continues his obsession with the actress. In a way the movie kind of reminds me of some of the Val Lewton movies from the 40's- it's less of a focus on scary monsters or gore, but there is a nice atmosphere and a good focus on how twisted Lorre's character is (His bald head in the movie even seems to recall Count Orlok to a degree). Even the weird thing with the husband's new hands kind of plays out less like a stereotypical spooky horror plot, and more like a case of what we now call PTSD from having survived a terrible event (Perhaps it is meant to deal with World War I trauma a la Ulmer's The Black Cat). It's less than 70 minutes long and will be airing on TCM in a few days- check it out if you want something a little different. EDIT: Also it was directed by Karl Freund, the man who shot The Golem, The Last Laugh, Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, and Metropolis. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Oct 4, 2016 |
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Oct 4, 2016 04:59
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7. Dracula's Daughter (1936) A weird, lesbian-overtoned sequel to the Bela Lugosi classic. Dracula's daughter sees a therapist to try and get over wanting to suck the blood of her victims (Mostly young attractive women). She tries to do this without revealing her vampirism, though the doctor begins to suspect things after reuniting with his old professor- Dr. Van Helsing. I don't really know what else to say about this one. I think it's certainly better than it's 6.4 average rating on IMDb would suggest- perhaps it just isn't as popular because there's no Lugosi at all in the movie.
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Oct 5, 2016 01:45
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8. Vice Presidential Debate (2016) I dunno why the media felt the need to hype up this movie so much for the last couple of days, to the point where it debuted on multiple channels at the same time. Despite being about very scary things in the real world, it somehow ended up being really boring to watch- there wasn't even any blood or anything. The obvious sequel baiting at the end was really annoying too. The 90+ minute uninterrupted long-take was kind of impressive I guess, though it felt kind of stagey after a while. Not really a movie I'd recommend for repeat viewings.
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Oct 5, 2016 04:46
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Got a little behind the past few days, but now I should be mostly all caught up now on my schedule. Gonna try and get another movie in later today. 9. Son of Frankenstein (1939) - Every bit as good as the first two James Whale films. It follows Wolf Frankenstein (Son of the original Dr. Frankenstein, played by Basil Rathorne) as he comes into town with his family to claim his father's estate. Wolf meets up with an old Ygor (Spelled with a "Y" for some reason, and played wonderfully by Bela Lugosi), and together they continue the old Doctor's research and revive the Monster. Acting and set design is wonderful all around, and it's a neat exploration on legacy and how it can corrupt future generations. The title is a play on words- the Monster as the Doctor's metaphorical "son", Wolf as the biological son (The monster is even described as his brother), and Wolf's own son who is potentially endangered throughout the film. If you've seen the original and The Bride of Frankenstein, you owe it to yourself to give this one a watch too. 10. The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) - The same year he was in Son of Frankenstein as the Monster, Boris Karloff starred in this lesser seen film. It's kind of a reversal of the typical Frankenstein story actually- Karloff plays a mad scientist who believes he has discovered a way to bring the dead back to life. A man volunteers to die for the experiment, he is killed, and right as Karloff is attempting to bring him back...the police bust in. Karloff is put on trial for murder, unsuccessfully tries to argue the man willingly volunteered for the experiment and then is sentenced to die via hanging. This first part of the movie kind of resembles euthenasia debates today, which give the whole premise relevance to the world today. The second half takes a turn. Karloff is revived by a colleague using his strange resurrection machine, and vows revenge on those who tried to have him killed. He tricks them into coming into a strange mansion and traps them there, promising to kill one of the "guests" every 15 minutes. It kind of reminds me of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, though despite the great premise for this part of the movie I don't think it's quite as strong as the first half. Still, Karloff is strong in his performance (He gives an interesting speech on how science is constantly misused for evil, hatred and bigotry that works as a kind of dark echo of the one Charlie Chaplin would give the next year at the end of The Great Dictator), and I do think it's fun to watch still. There's another interesting parallel here to Son of Frankenstein. Part of Karloff's plan in The Man They Could Not Hang involves using the fact he's legally dead to avoid being detected and investigated by the police. This is precisely the same thing Ygor does in Son, as he's also survived a hanging in that movie though under very different circumstances. Not sure if any kind of connection here is intended, but I thought it was worth noting. 11. Bluebeard (1944) - An artist kills young women after painting portraits of them...but eventually he suffers a dilemma once he falls in love with an unsuspecting patron who wants their portrait done. Despite really liking the previous two films I've seen by Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat and Detour, both of which are masterpieces), I couldn't really get into this one. I don't really think it's a flaw of the filmmaking (Much of the framing and period costuming looks good from what I can tell) as much as the print on Amazon Prime that I watched was in such a muddled condition that I could never quite get drawn into the film. If someone like Criterion were to give this one a solid restoration, I'd probably enjoy the movie quite a bit more. As it is though, Bluebeard really does little for me. I will say it's pretty funny though that the painter is also a puppeteer, and at the beginning of the movie he does a puppet show version of Faust. Amusing, since I watched Murnau's Faust adaptation earlier for the October Horror Challenge. Unexpected connections like that make projects such as this fun!
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Oct 8, 2016 19:24
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The VVitch didn't really work for me. I don't think it's a terrible movie now that I've had some time away from my viewing of it, but had it not been so hyped up I probably would have had more reasonable expectations for it. Same thing happened to me with Green Room.
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Oct 12, 2016 15:37
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I had a longer post typed up but I lost it somehow.  12. House of Wax (1953) - Really neat film about commerce's negative influence on art. Also there's a murderer or something running around I guess. This is a near masterpiece, though I can't help but feel the obvious 3D shots kind of bring the film down. On the other hand, the big fire in the beginning is really tragically glorious despite the limited setting and how quickly it happens into the movie. Amusingly, there are two connections to previous films I've watched this month- one of Price's assistant's is named "Igor", and one his wax exhibits depicts the Bluebeard serial killer, like in the Edgar G. Ulmer movie of the same title. 13. The Fly (1958) - Don't have too much to say about this one, but it's pretty solid. I really liked how the aspects of the family falling apart- kind of reminds me of Douglas Sirk or someone like that, but filtered through a monster movie. Invoked god a lot for a Hollywood film of the period too. The "Help me! Please, help me!" with Vincent Price sitting on the bench hit harder than I would have expected. By all means it should come off as silly, but in context it got me. 14. Return of the Fly (1959) - Kind of squarely falls into the "Son of the mad scientist from the first movie repeats the father's experiments" archetypal plotline. The only real points of interest are how it is different from the first movie. 1) It's shot in black and white and not in color like the first movie. It looks pretty good, the funeral scene in the beginning in particular looks fantastic. 2) There's a kind of gay overtone to the son's relationship with his scientist partner. Kind of reminds me of Hitchcock's Rope. 3) It's a much less cynical movie in general, which is fine but it loses some dramatic weight as a result. It's not awful but there could have been more here. 15. Shin Godzilla (2016) - This movie owned. I've talked about it a bit in other threads, but I think it's worth seeing in theaters if you can. 16. The Brides of Dracula - Loved the production design, loved Peter Cushing, loved the lesbian vampire idea (Like in Dracula's Daughter as well), but the movie had a bit of a "been here before" feeling to it. Christopher Lee might have given it a bit of "oomph", but alas he is not in this one even though it is a sequel of sorts to Horror of Dracula. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Oct 14, 2016 |
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Oct 14, 2016 03:25
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